THANKSGIVING AND PRAISE TUNE TO "MAJESTIC SWEETNESS" CM WORDS BY PASTOR JIM BYRD
1. Almighty Lord of earth and sky, On Thee we all rely; Thanksgiving to Thy Name we bring, Thy praises we will sing, Thy praises we will sing.
2. We thank Thee for Thy watchful care, Thy mercies we declare; What wondrous blessings daily flow, To mortals here below, To mortals here below.
3. For Jesus Christ our Righteousness, We bow in thankfulness: By Him redemption has been made, Our ransom fully paid, Our ransom fully paid.
4. We thank Thee for the Spirit’s light, That shined into our night; Who quickened us when dead in sin, Revealing Christ within, Revealing Christ within.
SCRIPTURE READINGS TODAY: MORNING: PSALM 100 EVENING: LUKE 21:1-13
A RANSOM WAS FOUND "Then He is gracious unto him, and saith, Deliver him from going down to the pit: I have found a ransom" (Job 33:24). The law of God demands perfection and the slightest violation is punishable by death. "The soul that sinneth shall die" (Ezekiel 18:20). Divine justice held God’s people ransom, but our Lord, in His infinite wisdom, devised the way whereby the guilty would go free and the integrity of His law would be maintained; there would be no lessening of His demands and grace would reign through righteousness unto eternal life. Christ’s death was the ransom price for the redemption of the Lord’s people. The Good Shepherd came into the world as the Substitute for His sheep and rendered to justice the only ransom that would free His loved ones from law and justice, sin and death. "The Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give His life a ransom for many" (Matthew 20:28). "Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures" (1 Cor 15:3). By His sacrifice, He magnified the law, put away the sins of all those in whose stead He died, brought in everlasting righteousness, crushed the head of the serpent and paid the price of our redemption. All of the elect of God were "delivered from going down to the pit," when Christ laid down His life in our stead. Since God dealt in strictest justice with our Substitute for sins imputed to Him, His chosen people are therefore rescued from perishing in the pit. Redemption has been obtained; the triumphant Savior cried out, "It is finished" (John 19:30). "Twice payment God cannot demand, first at my bleeding Surety’s hand, and then again at mine." –Pastor Jim Byrd
A RETURN TO PREACHING THE GOSPEL The most humbling and challenging thing that I face...the great concern of my heart...is that my generation experience a return to the preaching of the Gospel of God’s grace. This generation is plagued with a gospel of works and are strangers to the gospel of redemption. I want a return to the message that takes away all of the glory and dignity of the flesh and proclaims the redemptive glory of Christ. The results of this message will be a sense of the awesome holiness of God, the inability and sinfulness of the flesh, and the total sufficiency of the Person and work of Christ. Perhaps once again we will hear men and women cry..."Depths of mercy can there be, mercy still reserved for me? Can my God His wrath forbear, me the chief of sinners spare?" –Henry Mahan
A GENERAL THANKSGIVING Since Thursday is Thanksgiving Day, I thought it would be beneficial for us to remember some of the words of our first president regarding my favorite holiday.
By the President of the United States, a 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 that November 26th next, 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. Given under my hand, at the city of New York, the third day of October, in the year of our Lord, one thousand, seven hundred and eighty-nine. --George Washington
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