Thanksgiving Eve, 2021
7 PM Central Standard Time
Pastor Gregory L. Jackson
Bethany Lutheran Worship,
7 PM Central Standard Time
The Hymn #574 Come Ye Thankful
The Order of Vespers p. 41
The Psalmody Psalm 100 p. 144
The First Lection 1 Timothy 2:1-8
The Second Lection Luke 17:11-19
The Sermon Hymn #577 God Bless Our Native Land
Thanks to God in a Strange Land
The Prayers and Lord’s Prayer p. 44
The Collect for Peace p. 45
The Benediction p. 45
The Hymn #558 All Praise to Thee - Gounod
In Our Prayers
- Facing Surgery - Randy Anderson.
- Pastor and Mrs. Jim Shrader.
- Pastor K and Doc Lito Cruz - dealing with diabetes.
- Our military and police.
- Our media ministries - Alec Satin, Norma Boeckler, Travis and Lauren Cartee.
- President Trump, our leaders.
KJV 1 Timothy 2:1 I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; 2 For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty. 3 For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour; 4 Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth. 5 For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; 6 Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time. 7 Whereunto I am ordained a preacher, and an apostle, (I speak the truth in Christ, and lie not;) a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and verity. 8 I will therefore that men pray every where, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting.
KJV Luke 17:11 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? 18 There are not found that returned to give glory to God, save this stranger. 19 And he said unto him, Arise, go thy way: thy faith hath made thee whole.
Thanks to God in a Strange Land
KJV 1 Timothy 2:1 I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men;
We should never forget that we are recapitulating the Roman Empire, against the wishes of our Founders. They studied ancient history because they knew it was the foundation of Britain, Europe, and much of the world. The framers of our Constitution wanted the best for the future, so they provided checks and balances for government, the Four Freedoms in the Bill of Rights - religion, speech, press, and peaceful assembly to petition the government. The second amendment was just as clear.
The checks and balances were established to keep down tyranny and protect our God-given freedoms. Once a dictatorship is established, those freedoms are weakened and slowly destroyed.
The Roman Empire grew so strong and rich that they sank into a broken state of powerful men and slaves, then paying foreigners to protect them from...foreigners.
The New Testament assumed Christians were living where they will be persecuted, tortured, thrown into prison, exiled, and killed. The power of God is so great that He worked through the Apostles to teach people to pray for Him to intervene - He intervened then and He does now.
If anything is different, it is because we have leveraged and speeded up everything. The evil of mankind and destructive governments is greater than every before because of the power of weapons, whether military, medical, or the media.
For that reason, though we have many things we can do as citizens, we can always pray diligently for our leaders, the good and the evil ones.
2 For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty.
The old way was to wage war against those in authority. That even happened within the Roman government, where the emperors were removed violently and their families destroyed to make sure junior would not claim the throne later. Instead, Paul commanded the Christians to pray for all those in authority - kings leading the list. The way to real peace is accepting government rules overall and praying for improvement. My professor translated "peaceful" as quietistic - not trying to use the Church counter the government.
The New Deal and socialism came directly from the work of a small group of leaders, The Brotherhood of the Kingdom, establishing a list of reforms they wanted enforced by the government. Those reforms became the New Deal, and few realized they were promoting the socialistic ideals that were already building government bullying in Europe.
They called their reforms "The Social Gospel," which was really socialism promoted by the Christian Church. Now that is the assumption of all mainline denominations. They exist - like their seminaries and colleges - to "redeem society" with their agitations. The foundation for "woke" is that Social Gospel, and it is all Law. Their view of the Bible is rationalistic, so faith means little to them, except turning words of faith around to serve their revolution.
One way to spot these rascals is to see how they operate. They work from a church or church body and get groups to work together the goals of the moment, with money and letters of protest added. They have "Christian" lobbyists who work in the state capitals and DC.
That is why they have giant old churches with big endowments and only a few people in attendance.
As we can see the agitations for a perfect society based on law has not worked out. Now we are trying anti-law, which is even worse.
Nevertheless, Paul's inspired advice is inspired and has worked well in the past in addressing social problems peacefully through prayer, compassion, and repentance.
3 For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour; 4 Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.
Calvin may teach double-predestination, but God does not. Through the power of the Gospel Word, the worst see their sins and repent of their evil. In other circumstances, God removes the evil, as the Scriptures warn. Someone cannot work against the Word of God and persecute the Faith without consequences.
This happens in many ways, coming from many different voices. As I said in talking to the young Evangelical minister, there is nothing we have to do except preach and teach the Word of God faithfully. Interestingly, the stewardess overhead us talking and said, "I can here you. I'm on your side."
Instead of fretting whether we can make that change, all we need is the Word itself. Sometimes I simply add one Word or phrase to answering someone trying to make a point against the truth of the Word. It is the Word that has the power, not the speaker. But we should be ready to give a reason for the hope that is within us.
3 For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour; 4 Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth. 5 For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; 6 Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time.
These words mean Paul is repeating something they already know, and it is from God, who is always renewing society through the Gospel and even through persecutions. Nothing makes us desire the truth more than seeing it being taken away. The Word belongs to God alone, and His will directs it so that it accomplishes everything according and abundantly so.
7 Whereunto I am ordained a preacher, and an apostle, (I speak the truth in Christ, and lie not;) a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and verity. 8 I will therefore that men pray every where, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting.
This is a wonderful way of the Apostle to emphasize the way of peace, which is not his advice or command, but the will and Word of God, dispelling wrath and lack of faith.
