Thanksgiving

TNG Radio, where today's culture and timeless truths come together. It's reasoned, relevant content apologetics, worldview and answers to the questions that you need to know. From Alex McFarland Evangelistic Ministries.

Welcome to Truth For A New Generation Radio. And now the man who preached in 50 states in 50 days, speaker, writer and advocate for Christian apologetics, Dr. Alex McFarland. The Bible says that God inhabits the praise of his people. That's actually a verse from Psalm 22. Psalm 22 verse 3 says, Thou art holy God who inhabits the praises of Israel.

Hi, Alex McFarland here. Hope you're doing well, and I thank you for listening to Truth For A New Generation today. Have you ever pondered on that verse, that God inhabits the praises of his people?

Well, we're going to talk about that. And the nation and much of the world right now is thinking about the season of Thanksgiving. And you know, this is one of my favorite holidays, because it's a wonderful thing to be grateful.

It's a wonderful thing to count your blessings. In fact, besides being faithful to the Word of God, it's just emotionally and psychologically healthy to cultivate a spirit of gratitude. And I think about our rich Christian heritage, the pilgrims who came here from the Netherlands, and they came to serve God and advance the Christian faith. The Mayflower Compact, our first document of civil government for the New World, said that the intent of the pilgrims was to advance the Christian faith. And yet, as one historian wrote, H.U.

Westermeyer said this, that, quote, the pilgrims made seven times more graves than huts. No Americans have been more impoverished than these who nevertheless set aside a day of Thanksgiving. You know, we're going to look at Psalm 22, and we're going to talk about five attributes of Thanksgiving.

And I think it's very appropriate to do that at this time. But Thanksgiving, what are you grateful for? It's easy to say, well, I'm grateful for life. But really, that is no glib statement.

Life is such a wonderful gift. And if you think about it, and I encourage you to think about it, that we have countless things to be grateful to God for. You know, Aldous Huxley, certainly no friend of the Christian faith. In fact, he was a Darwinian evolutionist and believed in a New World order and even using drugs to subdue people and create dictatorships of the future.

Aldous Huxley is certainly no person that you would naturally invoke when preaching a biblical sermon. But he said a few things that were very true. One time he was asked about human potential, and Aldous Huxley said, quote, human beings have an almost infinite capacity for taking things for granted.

End of quote. And that's really true. And I would say we as a nation are a very ungrateful nation right now with all this talk about social justice and demonizing our founders and denigrating what our nation was built upon. Our nation was built upon biblical principles. And really, we are a nation that has so much that we ought to be grateful to God for.

And I'm going to read from Psalm 22, and then I want to talk about being grateful. You know, about 250 to 300 years before the birth of Christ, there was the philosopher Epicurus who said, quote, Do not spoil what you have by desiring what you have not. Remember that what you now have was once among the things you only hoped for. If you're not terribly grateful for what you have in life, remember what you have right now. Probably there was a time in your life that you would have quested after what you have now. Where you are now is a state that many years ago perhaps you only dreamed of. And just think, 2,300 years ago Epicurus pointed this out. He said, Don't miss experiencing what you now have by questing after, craving, desiring what you have not.

Because what you now have was once among the things you at one time only hoped for. We have so much for which to be grateful. Now Psalm 22, let me read some of these verses. And of course Psalm 22 is almost universally recognized as a messianic Psalm. Very famously, verse 1, Christ quoted from the cross of Calvary, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?

Why art thou so far from helping me and from the words of my roaring? But very famously, verse 3 says, Thou art holy, O God, who inhabits the praises of Israel. Now, in verses 4 and 5, there is a section really that we might call trusted, cried, and delivered. Our fathers trusted in thee. They trusted and you delivered them, God. They cried unto thee and they were delivered. They trusted in thee and they were not confounded.

6, 7, and 8, here is what this section could be summarized as. Debased, ridiculed, despised, mocked. And Christ, this is so pictorial of Jesus on the cross. I am a worm and no man, a reproach of men, despised of the people. We have talked about the word toleh, the crimson worm, how Christ shed his blood on the cross to wash our sins away.

And he was, he became, the crimson worm. Remember, 2 Corinthians 5.21 says that he who knew no sin was made to be sin for us. And Jesus on the cross died for our sins. Well, Psalm 22, written about 1000 BC, he says that he was debased, ridiculed, despised, mocked.

He was a reproach, despised of the people that he was laughed at, scorned. They, verse 7 of Psalm 22, shoot out the lip, they shake their head and say, he trusted on the Lord that he would deliver him. Let him deliver him, seeing he delights in him. Now when we come back, we are going to talk more about Psalm 22 and we are going to give some attributes of the thankful life. But we see in Psalm 22, Christ being surrounded by Gentiles, his bones being pulled out of joint, the pleural fluid of the heart turning to jelly. In fact, there is a famous Christian leader who is going through a situation like that right now.

The pericardium is diseased and the heart can't beat when it is surrounded like in this wax. And then the Gentiles and the wicked assembly that have accused, and then of course in Psalm 22, verse 16, pierced my hands and my feet. Psalm 22 is a Psalm that vividly shows Christ's crucifixion on the cross one millennia before Jesus was even born. And yet, it is a Psalm with much about thanksgiving and we are going to get to that. And I want to encourage you to think about the things for which you are grateful at this time of thanksgiving.

One of the most healthy, wisest, and God-honoring, spiritually appropriate things you can do is to thank God for all of his blessings. DNG Radio Christians don't necessarily agree with one another when it comes to questions of religious pluralism, homosexuality, the role of government, abortion, and war. Too often we manage these disagreements by ignoring them. Yet we're called to engage the world for the sake of Christ.

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Alex McFarland here. We're talking about Thanksgiving reading from Psalm 22. And you know, when I think about the things that we've got to be grateful for, if we're honest with ourselves, we have much, much to praise God for. Well, in Psalm 22, we're going to pull out five attributes of gratitude, but I want to continue walking through these things about Jesus that are in this psalm that was written 1,000 years before he was even born. There is the ordination of life and the preservation and the sustenance of life. Now, in verse 9, it says in Psalm 22, But thou art he that took me out of the womb, God. God delivered you into this world, my dear friend. You were born from your parents and delivered a baby born by God's decree. God ordained the life of Jesus. God ordained your life. Now, it's interesting, Psalm 22, 9, thou didst make me hope when I was upon my mother's breast.

You were preserved from your very infancy, being nursed by your mother, growing up as a toddler, entering life in this world. Our hope is God. Our hope is in the Lord. I love verse 10 of Psalm 22, I was cast upon thee from the womb. Thou art my God from my mother's belly. Listen, when you were delivered, you were handed off into the clutches of the Lord, if we would only acknowledge that.

We live our lives. We are preserved and sustained by the hand of God. Now, verse 11, God is near and God is our only hope. Be not far from me, for trouble is near, for there is none to help. Let me say there is help in every circumstance, but it's not our strength or our abilities or even our resources or our friends. It's God.

God is our hope. Now, verses 12 and 13 of Psalm 22 talk about circumstances without, things that are outside of us. Enemies, schemes, intimidations. Many bulls have surrounded me. The bulls of Bashan have beset me around.

They gaped upon me with their mouths as a ravening and a roaring lion. Life will throw at you things that are intimidating, schemes that others set, enemies. And let me say, the church right now, like no other time in our nation's history, the church is the enemy of the progressives and the liberals and they want to take away religious freedom. And there are circumstances without. That was true in the time of Christ. It was true for Christ.

It's been true for 2,000 years of church history. It's true now that there are enemies and circumstances without. But there are circumstances within. Injuries, emotions, physical decay. Okay, 14 through 16, very famously, I'm poured out like water. My bones are out of joint. My heart is like wax melted in the midst of my bowels.

In other words, internal turmoil, much like the physical altercations that come from emotional distress. My strength is dried up like a potsherd. In other words, a shard of clay pot has as much life in it as I have.

Physical decay. Gentiles surrounding the assembly of the wicked have enclosed on me. They have pierced my hands and my feet. Okay, there is the lost world and even opposition from religious colleagues. Jesus was opposed by the religious leaders.

The Bible says he came unto his own and his own received him not. You know, it's bad enough when the world stands against you, but what really hurts is when fellow believers stand against you. There is, in 17 and 18 of Psalm 22, malicious victimization and oppression, struggle, alienation, persecution.

I may tell all my bones. They look upon me and stare. They part my garments, cast lots for my vesture or my clothing. Okay, you know how Jesus' garment was gambled for by the soldiers. Now, the church still to this day endures persecution, physical persecution, and may God grant that you never are physically beaten or persecuted or even martyred for the faith, but people stare, and right now they're trying to take away the tax-free status that the church in America has had now for well over a century. And I read blog sites how atheists and skeptics mock the fact that churches have tax-free status, and yet the church in America does so much benevolence the government could never fill in the gap if the church didn't exist. And yet the church is viewed with malice.

The church is oppressed and alienated and persecuted in so many ways. Now, we're going to change gears as Psalm 22 goes on, 19 and following, there are prayers. Be not far from me, O God, my strength, haste to help me. In other words, come quickly. That's asking God to stay close by, to help, to deliver, to save, and to hear him, and protect him from all of the predators that are around him.

Now, it goes on in 22 through 26. This is where we see really the life of gratitude, and I want to focus in on this. I will declare thy name unto my brethren. In the midst of the congregation I will praise thee. You who fear the Lord, praise him. All ye the seed of Jacob, glorify him and fear him.

All ye the seed of Israel. For he has not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted, neither has he hid his face from him, but when he cried unto him, he heard. God hears you. My praise shall be of thee, Lord, in the great congregation. I will pay my vows before them that fear him. The meek shall eat and be satisfied. They shall praise the Lord that seek him.

Your heart shall live forever. A person of gratitude declares his name, praises God's name, fears the Lord, glorifies the Lord, and above all obeys the Lord. I will declare thy name unto my brethren.

Friend, I want to ask you, are you declaring God's name, or are you pleased to speak a word for the Lord in the congregation? Do you praise God? Out in the world do you praise God? Do you declare his name and witness for the Lord and praise his name? Don't ever be ashamed to say that you love the Lord, you're grateful for the Lord. Now when we come back we're going to continue in talking about five attributes of the life of gratitude, and then we're going to pull out something I think very powerful from Psalm 22 here at this time of thanksgiving.

And we'll conclude with a prayer for the world, for our nation, for ourselves right after this break. America today is like a patient struggling to live, yet is being forcibly euthanized by her quote doctors. The life force within the patient fighting for survival is the honest citizens like yourself.

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Welcome back to Truth for a New Generation with Alex McFarland. Happy Thanksgiving. Let me say how much I am grateful for each and every one of you that listens to this program. You pray, you buy our books, you support this ministry, you participate in the conferences that we do. I get so many emails, hundreds of emails and letters throughout the year, and I want to say that I thank God for each and every one of you.

I'm so excited. We just have added staff this month. November of 2021 have added two new staff members that I'll be telling you about. And we are committed to take the gospel throughout the nation, apologetics, biblical worldview. We're doing our utmost to evangelize the lost and equip the saved. And to that end, I want to remind you about our camp coming up. Two things I want to tell you about our camp for youth, and then I'll be returning to the Cove next summer.

But listen to this. Our worldview camp is coming up July 17-22. We'll be in eastern North Carolina, right just outside of Raleigh, North Carolina.

This is for middle and high schoolers. And the theme is unashamed building your biblical worldview. Now I will be there personally to spend a week with your youth. And I'm going to teach them apologetics and what I've learned over 30 years of traveling the world, researching, writing, debating atheists. We're going to talk about how to stand up for the Christian faith, how to stand up for the United States of America. And I want your youth group to be there.

Now you can go to AlexMcFarland.com. Learn more about the camp. We're going to be talking about what it means to be a disciple, how to live as a Christian, how to overcome temptation, how to defend the Christian faith, how to defend that God exists, that the Bible is true, that America is good, and we should love America and try to better our country, not denigrate or tear down America. I also want to say to the adults, you can't come to the camp, but you can come to the Cove, the Billy Graham Training Center at the Cove. I was actually there earlier today. As I record this, I was at a meeting there at the Billy Graham Center with Will Graham and some wonderful people.

But I'll be back there at the Cove, July 8 through 10. I'll be teaching through the book of 1 Peter. In 2023, I'll be teaching through the book of 2 Peter. Oh my goodness, what a wonderful book.

The New Testament book of 1 Peter, July 8 through 10. I want to encourage you to go to the website, thecove.org. You can register, and I look forward to seeing you. Angie will be there.

It's going to be a great time next summer at the Cove. Right now, let's conclude. Let's talk about thanksgiving, because Psalm 22 goes on, and it talks about declaring His name, praising His name, fearing the Lord, giving Him glory, and then obeying the Lord. Verse 25 says, My praise shall be of Thee in the great congregation. I will pay my vows before them that fear Him.

Okay, that's not just giving offering and tithing and financial payment, but it's doing what God says to do. Have you paid your vows to the Lord who saved you? Are you living for Christ? Are you praying every day? Are you reading the Word?

Are you growing? Are you loving your family? Are you being true to your spouse?

Are you giving your employer a good day's work? Are you being a representative of Christ to the watching world around you? We are all to, quote, pay our vows and show our gratitude by obeying the Lord. But finally, our prayer, God, for the world, God to be remembered and worshiped. 27 through 31, All the ends of the world shall remember and turn to the Lord, and all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before Thee. For the Kingdom is the Lord's, and He is the Governor among the nations.

It talks about serving the Lord and all of the nations coming to God and declaring His righteousness unto a people that shall be born that He has done this. Now this is what's so amazing, that as we praise God and serve God, yes, it's a witness to this generation, but it's a witness to a generation that may not be born until centuries from now. See, you and I are the recipients of faithful folk who have preceded us. We come from a godly heritage.

We really do. Our nation was founded on biblical principles. So much we could say about the godly heritage of our nation. But let's go back to Psalm 22 verse 3 for just a moment as we close. It says that God inhabits the praises of Israel, His people.

Now what does that mean? God is in their midst. And let me say, if you need the Lord to be close to you, and you need to feel like God is near, get in the habit of praising God. He is in the praise of His people. He is in the midst of those that are acknowledging His goodness in their life. The wisest thing you could ever do is to acknowledge the Lord. I've had atheists sarcastically say, you know, oh, is God on some cosmic ego trip that He needs people to worship Him?

No, listen carefully as we close. Do you know that even in calling people to worship Him, God is showing us love, and I'll tell you why. Because I've said it many times on the program, the most alive you'll ever be is the closer you are to God, the source of life.

Conversely, the more lifeless, the more closer to death you are, the farther you are from God. God calls us to Himself out of love. And when we are praising God, we're grateful to God. See, when we are giving God glory, we're actually speaking truth and living truth, because God is eternal. God is over and victorious above any circumstances you face. God loves you. He will never abandon you, never forsake you. So get in the habit of praising God, thanking God, nurturing and cultivating that appreciative heart, and watch God be very, very present in all of your circumstances and all of your situations. Give thanks in advance. You say, but I don't know how things are going to work out.

I really don't see how things could work out. Praise God, and watch Him work things out. May God bless you. Thank you for listening, and remember to declare His name, praise His name, fear His name, give Him glory, and show our appreciation by obeying Him as well. Keep us in prayer. You can learn more about all that we do at AlexMcFarland.com, and give God the glory. And remember, we are thankful for you, and we thank God for each and every one of you listening. Have a great day in the Lord. Thank you.