Remembering To Thank The Giver

Minister:
Date: AM (Thanksgiving Day)
Text: Deuteronomy 8:17,18
Psalters: 404, 82, 169, 400
  1. The Abundance.
    1. After the deprivations of Egypt and the wilderness Israel would experience a tremendous contrast in Canaan.
      1. While they never lacked, they did live day to day without any surplus.
      2. Canaan did flow with milk and honey: plenty of water, fertile soil, already mature vineyards and orchards.
      3. Moses is alerting them so they can prepare themselves to handle this sharp and quick contrast.
    2. Canaan’s prosperity is an Old Dispensational type of God’s rich blessings to His people in the covenant.
    3. Today the church in western civilization enjoys much materially.
      1. In the New Dispensation earthly things no longer are types of God’s blessing (as in the Old).
      2. However, like Israel, we must learn how to use properly the plenty (as well as the little).
  2. There is a very real danger in both dispensations which comes with prosperity: heart lifted up and forget God.
    1. Everything comes with spiritual dangers.
      1. Thankfulness is not natural to man; by nature we are unthankful to any outside of ourselves.
      2. It is a spiritual gift of the Holy Spirit to be thankful.
    2. In prosperity our hearts are easily lifted up (14).
    3. Further, prosperity can slowly intoxicate, so we trust in riches rather than in the God who gave them (I Tim. 6:17).
    4. And we easily take credit for the prosperity, claiming that we got it by our might and by our efforts (17).
  3. Our calling arises from the covenant God established with us: render grateful returns of ardent love.
    1. First, we are to “remember,” i.e., not forget where we have come from (14-16).
      1. Remember where we came from (what we are by nature, James 1:23,24) and what we really deserve (hell).
      2. Especially remember His covenant relationship with us.
    2. We are to bless Jehovah our God (10), i.e., to speak beautiful words to and about the I Am.
      1. We bless Jehovah by sanctifying and enjoying all our material possessions.
      2. We bless Jehovah by asking Him to forgive our ingratitude.
      3. We bless Him by thanking Him, over and over acknowledging that He is the Giver of all that we are and all we have.