The Attitude of Gratitude

Bill Woody

Things That Accompany Salvation • Sermon • Submitted 4 years ago

Salvation

Thankfulness

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The Attitude of Gratitude

Introduction:

* A thankful heart is not only the greatest virtue, but the parent of from which all other virtues flow.

* I heard an interesting thought the other day about gratitude, or being thankful. How would you feel if the only things you had tomorrow were the only the things you thanked God for today?

* There are 138 passages of Scripture that deal with the subject of thanksgiving.

* I read a story from My Daily Bread the other day that I thought would be worth sharing with you this morning:

Scottish minister Alexander Whyte was known for his uplifting prayers in the pulpit. He always found something for which to be grateful. One Sunday morning the weather was so gloomy that one church member thought to himself, "Certainly the preacher won't think of anything for which to thank the Lord on a wretched day like this." Much to his surprise, however, Whyte began by praying, "We thank Thee, O God, that it is not always like this."

Daily Bread, August 26, 1989.

* There is always something to be thankful for!

* This week we will be observing a holiday set aside, first of all, as a tradition passed down to us from great Christians before our time, and secondly, as a declaration set forth by our own government in America.

* Christians have set aside special days to give thanks to God all throughout history.

* In the Old Testament God had set up a feast called the “Feast of Tabernacles,” a fall harvest festival that commemorated the wilderness experience of Israel and how God had miraculously provided for the people in a barren desert. (Lev. 23:33–43).

* This feast of thanksgiving is the only one of the many feasts that will still be appropriate in the new kingdom— the meaning all the other feasts will have been fulfilled, but thanksgiving will be a continual theme in Messiah’s kingdom.

* In the early church, the Lord’s Supper was a feast, similar to the Jewish feasts, a feast that was a thank offering. The Lord’s Supper proclaimed an attitude of thanksgiving, and remembrance for what Christ had done for us on the cross.

* A form of Thanksgiving Day had been practice in England on a Sunday in September after the ingathering of the harvest.

* Traditionally in every society, there has been some sort of harvest festival proclaiming a time of thanksgiving to God, or in the case of the heathen nations, to their gods.

* In America, we credit the first thanks giving

*In September 1620, during the reign of King James I, around 100 English men and women–many of them members of the English Separatist Church–set sail for the New World aboard the Mayflower, —an assortment of religious separatists seeking a new home where they could freely practice their faith.

* Nearly 40 of these passengers were Protestant Separatists–they called themselves “Saints”–who hoped to establish a new church in the New World.

* These believers had already tired to migrate to Holland, but because of persecution and fear for their children, they obtained permission from the King of England to travel to the new world.

* A prominent merchant agreed to advance the money for their journey. The Virginia Company gave them permission to establish a settlement, or “plantation,” on the East Coast of the New World.

* The journey across the Atlantic took 66 miserable days. Because of many delays, they were force to cross the ocean at the worst possible time of year.

* One of the ships, the Speedwell, began to leak, so they had to return to port, and put all the people and cargo onto the Mayflower. The ship was crowded, the passengers were sick, and the seas were treacherous. One passenger was swept overboard and died.

* After two miserable months at sea, the ship finally reached the New World. There, the Mayflower’s passengers found an abandoned Indian village and not much else.

* They also found that they were in the wrong place. Technically, the Mayflower colonists had no right to be there at all.

* The colonists spent the first winter there living onboard the Mayflower, and only 53 passengers and about half the crew, survived.

* During their first winter in America, more than half of the Plymouth colonists died from malnutrition, disease and exposure to the harsh New England weather.

* The Indians taught the survivors how to hunt animals, gather shellfish and grow corn, beans and squash. At the end of the next summer, the Plymouth colonists celebrated their first successful harvest with a three-day festival of thanksgiving. We still commemorate this feast today, and call it Thanksgiving Day.

* The Mayflower Saints and their descendants were convinced that they alone had been specially chosen by God to act as a beacon for Christians around the world.

* Their leader, William Bradford wrote:

“As one small candle may light a thousand,so the light here kindled hath shone to many, yea in some sort to our whole nation.”

* Later, our government established Thanksgiving Day as a national holiday, set aside to thank God for His unprecedented blessings on our country.

‎‎‎Massachusetts, Commonwealth (State) of (November 8, 1783), issued A Proclamation for a Day of Thanksgiving and Prayer, signed by Governor John Hancock, to celebrate the victorious conclusion of the Revolutionary War:

‎‎‎John Hancock, Esquire

‎‎‎Governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts

‎‎‎A Proclamation for a Day of Thanksgiving:

‎‎‎Whereas … these United States are not only happily rescued from the Danger and Calamities to which they have been so long exposed, but their Freedom, Sovereignty and Independence ultimately acknowledged.

‎‎‎And whereas … the Interposition of Divine Providence in our Favor hath been most abundantly and most graciously manifested, and the Citizens of these United States have every Reason for Praise and Gratitude to the God of their salvation.

‎‎‎Impressed therefore with an exalted Sense of the Blessings by which we are surrounded, and of our entire Dependence on that Almighty Being from whose Goodness and Bounty they are derived;

‎‎‎I do by and with the Advice of the Council appoint Thursday the Eleventh Day of December next (the Day recommended by the Congress to all the States) to be religiously observed as a Day of Thanksgiving and Prayer, that all the People may then assemble to celebrate … that he hath been pleased to continue to us the Light of the Blessed Gospel;.… That we also offer up fervent Supplications … to cause pure Religion and Virtue to flourish … and to fill the World with his glory.

First National Thanksgiving Proclamation

Whereas, it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favor; Whereas, both the houses of Congress have, by their joint committee, requested me

"to recommend to the people of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer, to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness!"

Now therefore, I do recommend next, to be devoted by the people of the states to the service of that great and glorious being, who is the beneficent Author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be, that we may then all unite in rendering unto Him our sincere and humble thanks for His kind care and protection of the people of this country.

George Washington, 1779.

‎

‎On February 19, 1795, Bishop Madison responded to President George Washington’s call for a National Day of Thanksgiving and Prayer by preaching a sermon, later published, entitled Manifestation of the Beneficence of Divine Providence towards America—

‎Brethren, there are few situations more interesting to the human race than that which the people of America this day presents.

‎The temples of the living God are everywhere, throughout this rising empire, this day, crowded, I trust, with worshipers, whose hearts, impressed with a just and lively sense of the great things, which He hath done for them, pour forth, in unison, the grateful tribute of praise and thanksgiving … for the history of nations doth not exhibit a people who ever had cause to offer up to the Great Author of every good the most fervent expressions of gratitude and thanksgiving.

‎Let, my brethren, the sons of irreligion, wrapped in their dark and gloomy system of fatality, refuse to open their eyes to the great luminous proofs of providential government, which America displays; let them turn from a light, which their weak vision cannot bear; but let the righteous, let those who trust God, who can trace in that good and glorious being the relations of father, friend, and governor, let them with eagle eyes look up to that full blaze of salvation, which he hath vouchsafed to this new world.

* During the American Revolution, the Continental Congress designated one or more days of thanksgiving a year.

* In 1789 George Washington issued the first Thanksgiving proclamation by the national government of the United States; in it, he called upon Americans to express their gratitude for the happy conclusion to the country’s war of independence and the successful ratification of the U.S. Constitution. His successors John Adams and James Madison also designated days of thanks during their presidencies.

* In 1817, NewYork became the first of several states to officially adopt an annual Thanksgiving holiday

* Sarah Josepha Hale, an American magazine editor, also the author of the popular nursery rhyme "Mary Had a Little Lamb" was the person who finally persuaded Abraham Lincoln to declare Thanksgiving a national holiday.

* For 36 years, Sarah Hale published numerous editorials and sent scores of letters to governors, senators, presidents and other politicians. Abraham Lincoln finally heeded her request in 1863, at the height of the Civil War, in a proclamation entreating all Americans to ask God to “commend to his tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife” and to “heal the wounds of the nation.” He scheduled Thanksgiving for the final Thursday in November, and it was celebrated on that day every year until 1939.

Abraham Lincoln's Thanksgiving Proclamation of 1863

It is the duty of nations as well as of men to own their dependence upon the overruling power of God; to confess their sins and transgressions in humble sorrow, yet with assured hope that genuine repentance will lead to mercy and pardon; and to recognize the sublime truth, announced in the Holy Scriptures and proven by all history, that those nations are blessed whose God is the Lord.

We know that by His divine law, nations, like individuals, are subjected to punishments and chastisements in this world. May we not justly fear that the awful calamity of civil war which now desolates the land may be a punishment inflicted upon us for our presumptuous sins, to the needful end of our national reformation as a whole people?

We have been the recipients of the choisest bounties of heaven; we have been preserved these many years in peace and prosperity; we have grown in numbers, wealth and power as no other nation has ever grown.

But we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us, and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own. Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us.

It has seemed to me fit and proper that God should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged, as with one heart and one voice, by the whole American people. I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November as a day of Thanksgiving and praise to our beneficent Father Who dwelleth in the heavens.

* In 1939, President Roosevelt proclaimed that Thanksgiving would take place on November 23rd, not November 30th, as a way to spur economic growth and extend the Christmas shopping season.

* President Harry Truman started a Whitehouse tradition by pardoning his son’s pet turkey.

Since 1947 the National Turkey Federation has presented two live turkeys—and a ready-to-eat turkey—to the President.

* "There are two birds, "the presidential turkey and the vice presidential turkey, which is an alternate, in case the presidential turkey is unable to perform its duties."

* Congress to passed a law on December 26, 1941, ensuring that all Americans would celebrate a unified Thanksgiving on the fourth Thursday of November every year.

* In 2001, the U.S. Postal Service issued a commemorative Thanksgiving stamp. Designed by the artist Margaret Cusack in a style resembling traditional folk-art needlework, it depicted a cornucopia overflowing with fruits and vegetables, under the phrase "We Give Thanks."

* Now, according to the American Automobile Association, Today, just about 40 million of about 308 million U.S. citizens will drive more than 50 miles from home to observe the this annual Thanksgiving holiday.

* If you include airline and rail passengers, more than 42 million Americans will travel home in order to celebrate the thanksgiving holiday with their families.

* In the US, about 280 million turkeys are sold for the Thanksgiving celebrations.

Great Thanksgiving Services in the Bible

Text: Luke 17:11–17 (KJV 1900)

11 And it came to pass, as he went to Jerusalem, that he passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee. 12 And as he entered into a certain village, there met him ten men that were lepers, which stood afar off: 13 And they lifted up their voices, and said, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us. 14 And when he saw them, he said unto them, Go shew yourselves unto the priests. And it came to pass, that, as they went, they were cleansed. 15 And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, and with a loud voice glorified God, 16 And fell down on his face at his feet, giving him thanks: and he was a Samaritan. 17 And Jesus answering said, Were there not ten cleansed? but where are the nine?

Introduction: * This morning Jesus wants to know “where are all those who claim to be saved?”

* We live in a day of un-thankfulness and in-gratitude.

* One of the most obvious places we can see this is in our children.

* We live in a nation of unthankful children.

* In my opinion, there is nothing more revolting than an ungrateful child.

William Shakespeare in King Lear wrote:

How sharper than a serpent’s tooth it is to have a thankless child.—

* I remember a conversation I had once with an old man. This man’s heart was hurting. His children had forsaken him and forgot him. I listened to his pitiful story as he told me that there is no greater pain, than the pain brought upon us by of very own children when they are unthankful.

* Our children are unthankful because we have not been thankful in front of them. We have not instilled in them the attitude of being thankful.

* We are so blessed in our society today; we no longer have any idea of why we need to be thankful.

* For most of us, we have suffered so little in our lifetime.

* There was a time in the not so far away past that people knew what it meant to suffer. * Because those who came before us knew what suffering was, our parents and grandparents were a generation of thankful people. * This nation used to be a thankful nation, but I am afraid we have been so far removed from the suffering our grandparents endured we have forgotten how to be a thankful people.

* Young people no longer see any reason to be thankful for good lives they have, but now are taking to the streets to protest, complain and whine! * This new generation in which we live is now so spoiled that they lust and long for a new form of socialist government to give them the things their parents had by hard labor and suffering.

Forgive Me When I Whine

Today upon a bus, I saw a lovely maid with golden hair; I envied her -- she seemed so gay, and how, I wished I were so fair; When suddenly she rose to leave, I saw her hobble down the aisle; she had one foot and wore a crutch, but as she passed, a smile. Oh God, forgive me when I whine, I have two feet -- the world is mine.

And when I stopped to buy some sweets, the lad who served me had such charm; he seemed to radiate good cheer, his manner was so kind and warm; I said, "It's nice to deal with you, such courtesy I seldom find"; he turned and said, "Oh, thank you sir." And then I saw that he was blind. Oh, God, forgive me when I whine, I have two eyes, the world is mine.

Then, when walking down the street, I saw a child with eyes of blue; he stood and watched the others play, it seemed he knew not what to do; I stopped a moment, then I said, "Why don't you join the others, dear?" He looked ahead without a word, and then I knew he could not hear. Oh God, forgive me when I whine, I have two ears, the world is mine.

With feet to take me where I'd go; with eyes to see the sunsets glow, with ears to hear what I would know. I am blessed indeed. The world is mine; oh, God, forgive me when I whine.

Source Unknown.

Thanksgiving is related to suffering

* One of the many paradoxes of the Christian life is that the grace of God is most keenly experienced, not in the best, but in what seem to be the worst of times.

* The Apostle Paul was constantly thanking God! Most of the time, the apostle Paul was thanking God from a cold damp cell, in chains, and in the worst of circumstances.

* When you are in a dark, dark valley, between the mountain top experiences, it is only then that you can look up and see the heaves in all their glory.

* There were 40 believers who survived terrible journey across the Atlantic ocean that were present on what we remember as the first thanksgiving in America. * They had endured a miserable journey across the ocean, then after that the cold winter. These poor people had watched their friends and children die of disease and from the cold harsh first winter in the new world. * Even after all this, they were able to see the grace that God had poured out upon them!

* Out of a heart of suffering comes a thankful attitude!

* If it were not for the great trials of your life, you and I would not turn back and thank God. *Jesus healed 10 lepers, but only 1 returned to thank Him!

* In our text we see Jesus changed the lives of 10 men who had the awful desiase of leprosy for ever. Jesus gave them their lives back! They no longer had to live as outcast separated from their families! What great things Jesus had done for them!

* If you only knew the awful state of your unsaved soul before the Lord redeemed you! You, like those 10 lepers had an awful disease of sin that was eating away at your soul!

* Look this morning how many profess to be saved! Everyone you talk to claims they are a Christian!

* If this be true then why are the Churches not full of thankful people who can’t wait to thank God saving their souls! Where were the other 9 lepers?

* Where are all the saved people this morning? They are like the 9 who were healed but didn’t follow Christ! They have no idea how sick their soul had been! They don’t even realize how close they were to an eternal hell!

* My friend it’s only the followers of Christ that go to Heaven! The rest are deceived! The rest are imposters that come up some other way!

John 10:26–27 (AV)

26 But ye believe not, because ye are not of my sheep, as I said unto you. 27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me:

* In our text we read this morning we saw 10 people healed by Jesus. You would think that these men would be filled with thanksgiving for what Jesus had done for them!

* Only one out of 9 lepers was thankful, and the Bible says that after Jesus healed him, he followed Jesus.

* Just about everybody in have ever met claims to be a Christian.

*Where are all those people who claim to be Christians? I don’t see to be able to find them when it comes time to go church!

* True Christians will be like the one leper who was thankful and returned to follow Jesus.

* Can anybody tell you are following Jesus this morning? According to Jesus; only those who take up their cross, and follow Jesus are going to be saved!

*Jesus said:

Matthew 7:19–24 (AV)

19 Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. 20 Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.

21 Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. 22 Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? 23 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity. 24 Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock:

Giving thanks to God leads to contentment

* For the Christian, giving thanks leads to contentment, and contentment is the secret of happiness.

Philippians 4:10–13 (AV)

10 But I rejoiced in the Lord greatly, that now at the last your care of me hath flourished again; wherein ye were also careful, but ye lacked opportunity.

11 Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.

12 I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. 13 I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.

* ‎Paul rejoiced and offered thanksgiving for the Philippians’ generous care for him.

* He had learned to be satisfied in whatever situation he found himself in the Lord’s service.

* This word of contentment and thanksgiving came from a man in prison facing death, a man who had been beaten, stoned, and hounded by his enemies.

* The basis for such contentment was found in his confidence that he could do everything through Christ who gave him strength. * This morning churches are holding what we would call our annual “Thanksgiving Service.”

* I would like to take the Bible and show you a picture of what a true thanksgiving service should look like. I. The great Thanksgiving Service of Nehemiah.

* In the Old Testament God’s people, the Nation of Israel had turned their back on God. * God had told Moses and Joshua to warn the people not to go into the neighboring nations and marry wives of the heathen nations.

* The Lord knew that when the people began to mix with the unbelieving nations, their hearts would be turned away from following God.

* Just as God had warned the people, this is exactly what had happened. The men of Israel taken to themselves wives from the surrounding nations and as a result had begun to worship the false gods of the other nations. * Because the people of Israel had turned their back on God, God sent a terrible judgment upon the nation of Israel. * The wicked and violent king of Babylon had besieged the people of Jerusalem until they were crushed. The king of Babylon had carried away the youth and the most educated of Israel and took them captives to Babylon.

* The city of Jerusalem lay burned, and her once great walls and gates lay in broken heaps of rubble. Because of the people of God had turned their back on God, judgment had left the people in a dark and hopeless state.

* After the predicted years of Israel’s’ punishment had passed, God in mercy, and as He had promised them by His prophets, brought his people back to their land.

* When they were allowed to return to their land, they found the city destroyed and laying in waste. The people began the slow and backbreaking task of rebuilding their lives and their nation.

* God sent a man by the name of Nehemiah to go back and re-build the broken down walls of the city. * Under Nehemiah’s leadership the people worked with a trowel in one hand, and with a sword in the other, to protect their families from their enemies. * Every family re-build the section of the wall nearest their house and the day came when all the walls were repaired and all the gates to the city were hung. * On this day, there was a great ceremony of thanks giving to God, who had enabled them to restore the walls of the city.

* When Nehemiah dedicated the walls, he set two thanksgiving choirs on the walls to sing songs of thanks for the completions of the walls.

Nehemiah 7:1 (KJV 1900)

Now it came to pass, when the wall was built, and I had set up the doors, and the porters and the singers and the Levites were appointed,

Nehemiah 8:1–3 (KJV 1900)

And all the people gathered themselves together as one man into the street that was before the water gate; and they spake unto Ezra the scribe to bring the book of the law of Moses, which the Lord had commanded to Israel. 2 And Ezra the priest brought the law before the congregation both of men and women, and all that could hear with understanding, upon the first day of the seventh month. 3 And he read therein before the street that was before the water gate from the morning until midday, before the men and the women, and those that could understand; and the ears of all the people were attentive unto the book of the law.

Nehemiah 8:4 (KJV 1900)

4 And Ezra the scribe stood upon a pulpit of wood, which they had made for the purpose;

Nehemiah 8:5–6 (KJV 1900)

5 And Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people; (for he was above all the people;) and when he opened it, all the people stood up: 6 And Ezra blessed the Lord, the great God. And all the people answered, Amen, Amen, with lifting up their hands: and they bowed their heads, and worshipped the Lord with their faces to the ground.

Nehemiah 8:7–12 (KJV 1900)

7 and the Levites, caused the people to understand the law: and the people stood in their place. 8 So they read in the book in the law of God distinctly, and gave the sense, and caused them to understand the reading.

9 And Nehemiah, which is the Tirshatha, and Ezra the priest the scribe, and the Levites that taught the people, said unto all the people, This day is holy unto the Lord your God; mourn not, nor weep. For all the people wept, when they heard the words of the law. 10 Then he said unto them, Go your way, eat the fat, and drink the sweet, and send portions unto them for whom nothing is prepared: for this day is holy unto our Lord: neither be ye sorry; for the joy of the Lord is your strength. 11 So the Levites stilled all the people, saying, Hold your peace, for the day is holy; neither be ye grieved. 12 And all the people went their way to eat, and to drink, and to send portions, and to make great mirth, because they had understood the words that were declared unto them. Nehemiah 9:1–3 (KJV 1900)

Now in the twenty and fourth day of this month the children of Israel were assembled with fasting, and with sackclothes, and earth upon them. 2 And the seed of Israel separated themselves from all strangers, and stood and confessed their sins, and the iniquities of their fathers. 3 And they stood up in their place, and read in the book of the law of the Lord their God one fourth part of the day; and another fourth part they confessed, and worshipped the Lord their God.

II. The Great Thanksgiving service by the Red Sea

* There is another great and notable thanksgiving service recorded in the Old Testament.

* W find this great thanksgiving service immediately after God delivered the nation of Israel from the armies of Pharaoh, the king of Egypt.

* The children of Israel were in a great predicament. Behind them Pharaoh and his armies were gaining on them to destroy them, and before them was a great body of water. It seemed as if there was no way out of their trouble.

* God commanded Moses to stretch out his rod over that great sea and when he did God sent a great wind and parted the water to the left and to the right, leaving a dry path between the two walls of water to pass over that great sea. * God also used this same miracle to once and for all deliver his people from their slavery to Pharaoh, king of Egypt. When pharaoh and all his armies attempted to chase the Nation of Israel through the sea God released those great walls of water on Pharaoh and his armies, delivering his people from slavery to Egypt once and for all.

* When the people of God were safe on the other side of the sea, looking out upon the bodies of their enemies scattered across the red sea, they broke out into a song of thanksgiving for God’s deliverance.

III. Those who came through the great tribulation had a thanksgiving service

* We also read of a similar thanksgiving service in the New Testament as well.

* In this particular scene in the book of the Revelations we see all those before the throne of God in heaven, who had gone through the great tribulation, and had refused the mark of the beast, singing a song of thanksgiving to Jesus the Lamb of God.

* We read, in this great thanks giving service, that they sing the same song that Moses and the people sang when God delivered them by parting the Red Sea.

Revelation 15:1–4 (KJV 1900)

And I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvellous, seven angels having the seven last plagues; for in them is filled up the wrath of God. 2 And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire: and them that had gotten the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name, stand on the sea of glass, having the harps of God. 3 And they sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and marvellous are thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints. 4 Who shall not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy name? for thou only art holy: for all nations shall come and worship before thee; for thy judgments are made manifest.

* In addition to the song of Moses they also sing the song of the Lamb found in Revelation chapter 5:

Revelation 5:1–14 (KJV 1900)

And I saw in the right hand of him that sat on the throne a book written within and on the backside, sealed with seven seals. 2 And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, Who is worthy to open the book, and to loose the seals thereof? 3 And no man in heaven, nor in earth, neither under the earth, was able to open the book, neither to look thereon. 4 And I wept much, because no man was found worthy to open and to read the book, neither to look thereon. 5 And one of the elders saith unto me, Weep not: behold, the Lion of the tribe of Juda, the Root of David, hath prevailed to open the book, and to loose the seven seals thereof. 6 And I beheld, and, lo, in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth. 7 And he came and took the book out of the right hand of him that sat upon the throne. 8 And when he had taken the book, the four beasts and four and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, having every one of them harps, and golden vials full of odours, which are the prayers of saints. 9 And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation; 10 And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth.

11 And I beheld, and I heard the voice of many angels round about the throne and the beasts and the elders: and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands; 12 Saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing. 13 And every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying, Blessing, and honour, and glory, and power, be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever. 14 And the four beasts said, Amen. And the four and twenty elders fell down and worshipped him that liveth for ever and ever.

* Lets sing this same song of thanksgiving together this morning as we prepare our hearts to give God a feast of thanks giving this coming Thursday just like these saints who will one day stand before the throne of God.