Thanksgiving & Caleb Testimony

1. Amen, you may be said, thank God. It’s great to see everybody this morning. I’m excited, you’ll get to taste my stuffing in the turkey. It’s so exciting to be together today, as a family to sit at the table together. The more I read in the New Testament, after Jesus went back to heaven to be with His Father, we read so much that the early Church met regularly at the table together, to share meals together. And I don’t know about you, but I find it very difficult to sit at a table, and eat food with somebody, that I’m angry with. The food doesn’t go down very well. So, we either move to another table or we just look across and say, ‘I got to get over this’. So, I think it’s a good practice for us to eat together and just get over it.
2. I love what it says in 1 John 1:7-8, “Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.” Let us love one another. Amen.
3. Well, today is the first Sunday of Advent, so, we’re going to light our Advent candle today, and each Sunday we’ll light an Advent candle, and remember the promise of Jesus’ coming.
4. You know it may seem a little like liturgy, or ritual to us, but it’s good for us to look in the Word and remember that it was prophesied that Jesus would come, and I’ll tell you that if you’re interested in reading a devotional during Advent, we do have a reading that you can ask for and we’ll give you a copy. There was a promise in the Old Testament, thank the Lord that, Jesus would be born to a virgin, so, we’ll look very quickly at the book of Isaiah 7:10-14, “Again the Lord spoke to Ahaz, ‘Ask the Lord your God for a sign, whether in the deepest depths or in the highest heights.’ But Ahaz said, ‘I will not ask; I will not put the Lord to the test. Then Isaiah said, ‘Hear now, you house of David! Is it not enough to try the patience of men? Will you try the patience of my God also? Therefore, the Lord Himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a Son, and will call Him Immanuel’.”
5. God, we thank You today, that there is so much evidence Lord, that much of the Word has been fulfilled, we thank You that truly, Jesus was born to a virgin. He came into the world with no sin, but He took our sins upon Him on the cross, and Lord thank You for His great love, that because of Jesus, we know that our sins can be forgiven, we can say the name, Immanuel, and we can know that God is with us. Thank you, Lord. We celebrate, Jesus is alive. Amen, God bless you.
6. I’d like you to greet someone and say, ‘I’m glad you’re here on the first Sunday of Advent.’ Well, you all look really good.
7. Caleb is going to share a little bit with us.
8. Billy’s bringing the Word today. It’s really good to be here today again. And this is a special day. We’ll find out – I think you know. I’ll start by reading form the Bible, Psalm 136: 1, “Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good. His love endures forever.” We’ll read one more, Colossians 1:16-17, “For in Him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through Him and for Him. He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.” And one more, Deuteronomy 8: 17-18, “You may say to yourself, “My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me.” But remember the Lord your God, for it is He who gives you the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms His covenant, which He swore to your ancestors, as it is today.”
9. The theme today is “Thanksgiving”. And I think it was 2-3 days ago, in a small country somewhere to the west, I’ve heard about it. I don’t even know the name of the country. So, it is really risky to have someone who doesn’t celebrate this day in this country to talk about it. When a gift is given, and it is received, to whom do we say thank you to? Does anybody know? The Giver, yeah, I think it’s a good idea, it makes sense. And this day, we think and reflect that all good gives come from above as it says in the Bible. I don’t know a lot about the history of this day, but I know that about 400 years ago, people fled from Europe actually, they were persecuted, and they arrived in this strange country far away. At first it was very difficult and they were almost starving, and really struggling, and then they began to cultivate the earth, and slowly, slowly things began to grow.
10. Eventually, when they went through the first year, I think people died from starvation, but some made it and they had their first harvest, their first crop. And so they decided to have a feast and celebrate and have a meal all together. People that were seeking refuge from persecution, and they found a haven where they could live, and they saw this as a gift of God. The earth belongs to God. We are supposed to share it, and care for it, and share the produce that it produces. We don’t always do that. We grab and we rob others, with what is not really ours. That’s obvious even today. And we fight over land, over who it belongs to and are ready to kill for it. That’s not how God intended it to be. Everything belongs to Him. Everything is a gift from Him. And we are created to enjoy it, but not to enjoy it only for ourselves but to share it.
11. In one sense, this festivity of thanksgiving and celebration of a harvest is something we find in the Old Testament in the Bible. And even there it is a reminder, look how good God is, how He has provided. So, harvest time was a time of celebration. But it was not just a time to be thankful and celebrate, but it was also important to remember those who were poor and to share whatever we have. And it’s great to celebrate this.
12. I think it’s harder for us in one way, a lot of things are easier for us, but maybe this is harder for us. You know, if almost all of the community are working in the fields, everyday plowing, sowing, watering, whatever you do. Almost every day you’re out in the fields, working to get a harvest, and maybe it starts with just putting a seed; you don’t know what’s going to happen. We’re just putting a seed; you don’t know what’s going to happen. You bring the seed and whatever else it needs, water, and you see something green begin to grow; in the end it brings a fruit, a vegetable, a whatever it is. But you really see that this is God bringing the harvest.
13. For most of us today, we’re not out in the fields every day, working and waiting to eventually have a few more potatoes. We just go to the shop and buy them, if we have money. We don’t really see where it comes from. But everything comes from God.
14. We read here from Deuteronomy, it said, “You may say to yourself, ‘My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me.’ But remember the Lord your God, for it is He who gives you the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms His covenant, which He swore to your ancestors, as it is today.” And no matter how hard we work, we can never get it to grow, it’s God who gives the growth. We need to be reminded of this today, because we can do a lot of things, we are always fascinated and impressed by new technology. Artificial Intelligence, it seems a lot of people are putting their hopes on that – it’s going to solve everything. Some people say it’s going to be a disaster, it’s going to destroy this earth. We’ll see. Bit remember, even in these days of high technology, everything, every good gift comes from God.
15. We can celebrate with different attitudes; this is just a little pep talk for the real celebration that’s going to happen upstairs. We can say, ‘Oh look what I have accomplished this year, this is mine. Let’s protect this now and keep it’. Or we can have a different attitude, ‘Oh, look what good things God has given to us; let’s rejoice and let’s share it’. And I surely prefer the second one. So, this is a time to be thankful, for what God has given, but also a time to share and to remind ourselves that what we have actually belongs to God. And we are here just to care and to share.
16. I know that in America it’s a time for families to get together, which is a wonderful thing. You know I have a big family, and I love getting together with them and celebrating and just being together. I lost count. In case someone doesn’t know I have 5 children, and 4 grandchildren. It’s great to be with family and those who are close to us. But it is also a great time to include others. God wants all of us to feel that we have a home and family with Him. And we have that privilege to be that together. I think that’s one of the most important things we can do; to create a home, to create a family. And that’s for all of us. And I hope we can catch a small glimpse of that as we sit all together at the table upstairs, and it’s for everyone.
17. Celebrating together shows that we live in this world together, and it’s not right that one of us has plenty on their plate, and another one has very little or is actually starving. But if we are honest, this is what it’s like in the world today. A few people, if we break it down to smaller numbers, have so much that they can’t even cope. They even get sick, because they have too much. Others have enough, but very, very many don’t have enough to eat their full. I don’t think we are going to do it, but it would be an interesting thing to do upstairs when we go to eat, that maybe 3 or 4 of us, first take as much food as we can, and load the plate up, and throw it around, everywhere, on the floor, and then have 12-14 others, have enough, and then the majority of us here, hardly have anything on our plates (We obviously won’t do this). But that’s really what it’s like in this world. And I’m convinced that’s not what God wants. And it shouldn’t be acceptable to us.
18. So, later when we sit down at the tables, just look around and see that you’re part of a family. Maybe you don’t know everyone, maybe you don’t even like everyone, but you are there around the table. And you are accepted – all of us are accepted – all are welcome at the table.  And it is because of Jesus, that we can all sit around the table, while coming from different nations and backgrounds and whatever else. And this we experience regularly when we partake of the holy communion, or the thanksgiving meal that is the Eucharist.
19. So, what attitude do we have, to what God has created? I’m tempted and not just tempted; I think many times – this is mine. In a sense it’s a good feeling to be able to say this is mine. But God wants us to look beyond ourselves, and see, yeah, it’s mine, I’m here to care for it, but I’m also here to share what I have. And we need to ask ourselves, ’What attitude do I have to what God has created?’ To the Earth? Can we exploit it as we want, as we wish? To people? Can we take advantage and be silent when we see injustice? This is challenging. We all have needs and we are happy when out needs are met, and we should be. But living in God’s family, we need to look out for one another.
20. When we see this world in all its beauty, with all its potential, how incredibly wonderful this creation is, we should be struck with awe and wonder and worship the creator. When we see that it belongs to God, things come into the right perspective. And we should rejoice over what God has given. It’s not wrong, it’s right to give thanks to Him! But we should take it one step further. We are to share the good things that God has given us. And we can rejoice more, because we can rejoice together.
21. Someone else wrote this, I’m just going to read it. ‘We live in a broken world, surrounded by violence, war, religious persecution, racial intolerance, as well as natural disasters that all this has destroyed God’s beautiful creation. And we must pray for healing in our world. And for unity and peace to prevail’.
22. And I think it’s so evident at this time – this world needs healing. And God has allowed us and called us to bring that healing to the world. It started with Jesus coming to this earth, going through the cross, going into death, being raised to life again. Now this power, this healing is here – the world needs it more than ever. And as we, very soon move upstairs to the tables, just being there together, from so many countries, you name it, whatever, faiths and non-faiths, backgrounds, we can be brought together at the table. God is calling humanity to His table, and we can simply invite people to come. There is place for everyone.
23. So, I’m going to finish here, but I want us to, I know you are probably hungry and looking forward to the food and wish that I would stop talking, but I think it’s a really beautiful thing to sit down, we’re spoiled with food, we’re spoiled, especially here in Greece, we’re spoiled with good food. We’re spoiled with good friends, we’re spoiled with having good friends around the table, eating good food. But just as you’re there, be aware that Jesus is there at the table - He’s among us, God is always near us, He’s actually closer that our own breath.
24. So, when you sit there, be thankful to God, what He has given this last year, and see how we can share, both the material things we have, but also share the love He has put in our hearts. I was going to say, I often quote songs, but I often quote them wrong, there’s a song that says, ‘What the world needs now, is love, sweet love…’  It’s not a quote from the Bible, I was Jackie DeShannon, but I think a lot of us what we need right now is love, God’s love and we can share it. So, do that and receive it. God bless you.