Well, good morning. I do not know why Fred would apologize for Thanksgiving. I’m fired up about Thanksgiving. Anybody else fired up for Thanksgiving? Well, there’s like nine of you.

Okay. Lemme explain a few things about what’s about to happen, okay? Eating, napping, watching football, they’re not just going to happen. Someone’s gonna encourage you to do those things. I mean, praise God for that man. What an amazing time it’s gonna be. I’m thankful that you are here because when you’re the backup to the backup, it’s good when people come to church, okay? So thank you for being, that makes this whole thing less awkward. And I’m thankful for what God is doing in the life of our church, what he is doing through our church. And really, man, my family’s just so blessed to be a part of it all. I don’t know if you have had time yet to jot down your Thanksgiving list. I don’t know if you’ve had time to write down the things that you are thankful for, but on the off chance that you’re gonna go to one of those gatherings where the host is like, let’s go around the table.

Let’s all say what we’re thankful for before we eat. Okay? That’s a risky game to play by the way. But if you’re like panic, feel free to steal my list. Okay? That’s how I got through college. And I’m ab I’m about to give you, I’m about to give you the top five things that Americans are thankful for in 2024. The list is out. I think it’s probably making its national debut because surely no other pastors preaching on Thanksgiving today, just me. But here are the top five things. Number five on the list, personal achievements. Number four on the list was their personal wealth. That’s, that’s good. Number three, the freedoms of being an American. That’s, that’s a good thing to be thankful for, isn’t it? Number two was health. And the number one thing that Americans were thankful for in 2024 was their family. You know what just really hit me as I, as I just poured over this list is, that’s a boring list right there, that.

What is that? So I decided I would go to the source of all things honesty, the kids’ ministry. So I spent a little time asking the Cherry Hills kids, kids, what is it that you are thankful for? Okay. I got a pretty good top five list. I I found a little girl in a classroom. I said, Hey, I’m, I’m here to ask some questions. Ask this little girl. I said, Hey, tell me what you’re thankful for. I had to jot it down ’cause her answer was wrong long. I said, tell me what you’re thankful for. And she said my mom has a white car. And, and did you know my d my dog? I, I saw a big truck one time.

And I was just like, me too. Praise God. <Laugh>. There was a, there was a preschool boy. I asked a group, I said, what are you thankful for? He raised my hand and his hand and he said that my mom’s baby was not a girl.

That’s a good one. There were two little boys together. They both took some time to agree. I said, what are you guys thankful for? They said, pickles. I was like, A bowl or a jar. Yeah. They were like, yeah, pickles number two on my list. Nearly made it number one. ’cause I asked this little boy in this classroom, I said, what are you thankful for? He was super excited. He said, I’m thankful for dinosaurs plastic, not wheel.

Because that would be a problem. And I went back and forth on what I would put at number one. But, but there seemed to be a consensus when this little kid threw this out. The number one thing I think Cherry Hills kids were thankful for was jumping. And the reality is some of you can no longer safely jump. And so like that, when you think about it, that’s kinda worth being thankful for.

But it really produces an alternate perspective, doesn’t it? Because this week I was asked, well, what are you preaching on? Listen, there’s not a lot of new creative ways to preach about Thanksgiving. I’m sorry, that’s just so what you’re gonna get. But my guess is how we polled, like as you came in, Hey, what are you thankful for? Your list probably would look like the average American, like some just tangible piece. Had we asked, Hey, how are things going in your life? You’d have probably said, Hey, they’re good. Like, like we kind of hit these holiday strides and we hit these moments. That I think just kind of become a little mundane and a little routine. And, and I think the problem with that is so often we, that approach can cause us to miss out on things that God’s doing all around us. And just as we talk to these kids and we produce this, this perspective that’s really different.

That’s what I, I want us to try and do in our brief time this morning to, to just take a, a different look to, to just take a different approach. To just be really honest this morning and say, what does it look like to be thankful, even when being thankful is just really hard. Did you know Thanksgiving hasn’t always looked the way that the holiday looks today? Thanksgiving 1863, Lincoln declares a Thanksgiving holiday. He declares it to fall on the final Thursday of the month of November. But 1939, the midst of the great Depression, FDR moves it up to the fourth Thursday of the month in order to give struggling retailers an extra week during the shopping season. That’s right. Kids, people didn’t used to celebrate Christmas until after Thanksgiving. Those were the days.

But what I think is incredible about these facts is that, is that what what we have is we’ve got this holiday called Thanksgiving where we’re supposed to be thankful, but the reality is when we really dig in, it’s a holiday that was first proclaimed in the middle of the Civil War and established and formalized in the Great Depression. And I think so often what it does is, is it gives us this perspective that while it’s a holiday about being thankful it was never a holiday meant to be solely about how good things currently are, but this idea that there’s a hope of how good things can be. And so today we’re gonna stop and be thankful for sure. ’cause We got a lot to be thankful for. We’re not even to December yet. And did you know we’re nearly at 200 baptisms at Cherry Hills? Can you believe that? Crazy. We had over a thousand kids, just kids come to vacation Bible school this summer. That’s crazy. Two weeks ago, our student ministry, God just put it on their heart to just present the gospel on just a regular Sunday. Eight kids gave their life to Christ on just a regular Sunday. Can you believe that

We’ve got the greater things campaign that is just on an amazing trajectory to truly do greater things. And as we sit here at the end of 2024, cherry Hills Community Church is a healthy, growing, vibrant church. Praise God for that.

And yet we can still set our sights and we can still set our hope on all that God is still yet to do. We can still be mindful that there is truly more to come. And so how do we look at this idea of being thankful, even if today being thankful is hard for you? How is it that I become prayerful in all things in order to be thankful for everything that God is doing and above all else, just praise him. How do I do that? Well, if you have your bibles, let’s open to Psalm 1 0 7. We’re gonna be in Psalm 1 0 7. That’s the only place we’re gonna be. So if you still open up and go there, all the notes, all the slides are in the Cherry Hills app as well. But Psalm 1 0 7 beginning in verse one says this, oh, give thanks to the Lord for he’s good, for his loving kindness is everlasting.

That word translates to eternal. Okay? We see a literal explanation here from the beginning. The loving kindness of God literally never ends. And you see the command for us this morning is that we are commanded to give thanks. Not because a president declared it a calendar, decrees it not because our life is perfect. Not because everything is great in your life, not because your storehouses are bursting at the seams. But no, we are to give thanks and we are to be people who live with thanksgiving because God is good. And that never changes. There’s an amazing truth for us this morning that there has never been a promise God made that was too good to be true. And we can hope in that and we can cling to that and we can hold tight to that. But here’s why I think that’s so hard sometimes today because this week our daughters, we were all putting together our Christmas lists at our house.

We’re very old school. We do it the old school way, you know, through Amazon. So putting together those lists, and that got us talking about favorite gifts and most memorable gifts. And there is one particular toy that my girls played with for a long time. It was actually a toy that was given to my parents at a baby shower for me. Now I’m 27. And so you can ish, you could do the math, but it’s this little plastic fake radio that literally is just a windup toy and it plays somewhere over the rainbow. And my daughters love that toy and that toy made every move. But con compare that to, to items that your kids likely got or even items that you got last Christmas that are not still functioning or even present by this Christmas, right? It’s just the reality of the world today.

Toys don’t last like they used to. And, and I that, that whole thing, I started thinking about how the length of time, how the length of time things last can impact and influence our view of God. That is relationships and promises and styles don’t last Technology, which is the biggest thing that really influences our time in this generation, they often say is out of date before it even comes to market, right? That by time we experience a new technology, there is something else already in development that’s better than that. And we live in this world like that. But that’s not how it works with God. And this morning, something that I just really want you to understand from the very beginning is that your current problems that you may be facing in your life are not an indication of God’s failed promises. They’re, they’re the result of a broken world.

That the shifting, changing, ever evolving world that we’re in is no match for an unchanging, steadfast, eternally constant God, but that he is good, period. And the psalmist tells us, proclaim that make much of that today. And we see that in verse two. Let the redeemed of the Lord say so whom he has redeemed from the hand of the adversary and gathered from the lands, from the east and from the west, from the north and from the south. And I, I hope that this morning as we look at this idea of just being thankful, even when it’s hard, I, I hope you understand, I’m not trying to be insensitive. I’m not trying to downplay whatever’s going on in your life today. I I completely understand that for some of you, you would say this year has been really, really hard. I would totally understand that there is someone in this room who would say, Hey, I promise you life cannot get any worse.

I remember the Thanksgiving and Christmas season that immediately followed my dad’s sudden death. I remember just a few months later, right? Like, we’re just to a spot where you’re like, okay, I’m kind of functioning again. I’m just to a spot where like it doesn’t just overwhelm my emotions on a daily basis. Like, like we’re finally in a, in a, in a, in a spot where we’re learning to handle it. And the holidays arrive like a cruel trick that’s being played on you. Like I, I get that for some of you today. I get that some of you are right there on the doorstep of knowing this is gonna be the first holiday without that loved one. That this is gonna be the first holiday after that sudden shift in your life, that sudden financial shift, that sudden relationship shift. Some of you’re staring down the first holiday since that diagnosis that just changed everything in your family’s life.

And yet there are others who say, Hey, I’m headed to a gathering. It’s really hard just to be locked in because we, we think this is probably our last Thanksgiving with this loved one. Some of you’re in a space where you’re like, I just dread this whole approach because between Thanksgiving and then pull off Christmas, like I just don’t know how I’m gonna make ends meet. I don’t even know how I’m gonna provide for my family. And I understand that all too well. And I want to be so sensitive to that as I lay these biblical truths out this morning because I love this stretch from Thanksgiving into Christmas into New Year’s. But I understand that for some of you as the Thanksgiving holiday approaches, it just triggers these emotions and memories that come flooding back. And that there is someone in this room this morning whose prayer is just let 2025 hurry up and get here.

I remember believing that after my dad’s death of like, Hey, I know time heals and I just remember praying God pass the time. But there is a very clear command in verse two that that giving thinks when giving thinks is hard, is not a command for all the peoples. We have to separate those two things. Christmas comes with a command and a decree that is for all the people. That’s not what this is. In verse two, if you look closely, it says, let the redeem, that’s the Hebrew word, ow. Let let those who have been healed, those who have been restored. It’s literal translation mean those who have been made new by a price. The command from the Psalm says, let those who have redeemed by the Lord let those who are in a relationship with Jesus, that’s who is to give things today. That when you look at your life from an earthly perspective or based on earthly circumstances according to the world, there may be very little in your life to be thankful for today.

But if you have been redeemed, if you know Jesus as savior, if you have been bought with a price and had the punishment for your sin forgiven, then we of all people have reason to be thankful today. And to praise and to proclaim God is good no matter what is going on in our life that we see this truth that comes out that says, so being thankful is a result of God’s character, not the circumstances in our life that we’re facing, that we can be thankful because he has a character that is good, even if the circumstances of our life aren’t that because of who God is, because of what he’s done. There is redemption for our life, not retribution to our life. And that is worth praising God for. And we see that right here in verse four, that they wandered in the wilderness and a desert region.

They did not find a way to an inhabited city. They were hungry and thirsty. They’re so fainted within them. I mean, the circumstances are not very good. Maybe today you two can relate. Say, yeah, I’m, I’m, I’m wondering a little bit, I’m trying to figure out what’s next. Some of you had a crossroads in your career, in your family, trying to figure out, I think God’s calling us to this, but I’m not really sure some of you are in, are in a state today where you would just say, man, I’m, I’m spiritually just hungry. I’m, I’m searching. I heard that for this semester. We had nearly 700 people in Bible study this semester. That’s people who are spiritually hungry searching for answers. And maybe you would say, I’m, I’m just looking for community. I’m just tired of being alone.

You know, I, I coach high school athletes. I see this constant battle with them of searching for like this value and this worth that’s defined outside of the world’s context. Maybe you would say like, yeah, I, I can relate to those things. In fact, in Psalm 1 0 7, there’s four separate stories of just searching and a journey and looking through. And I, and I hope that we’re just gonna quickly look at ’em real fast to help you see, hey, there’s others doing that. Look at verse 10. It says, there were those who dwell in darkness and in the shadow of death, prisoners and misery and chains. Verse 12 says, so therefore he humbled their heart with labor. They stumbled and there was none to help them. They are literally in dungeons in chains locked up. They’re cold, they’re alone. That’s a horrible place to be. Verse 17 says that because of their rebellious ways, they were afflicted their soul, hated all kinds of food.

I could never imagine being in a place like that. And they drew near to the gates of death. What a horrible, miserable place to be. Verse 26 says, they rose up to the heavens and they went down to the depths. Their soul melted away in their misery. They reeled and staggered like a drunken man. And were at their wits in. Now I know that has to be a bad situation because as a kid, whenever my mom was at her wits end, it was never good for me. It was never good for me and my brother. So I know this has to be a horrible, horrible situation. But what we see is that Psalm 1 0 7 is just pain and agony over and over and over again. And maybe as you read that biblical truth, you’re hearing these problems, you would still say that’s minor compared to what I’m going through.

Now, maybe today you would hear that and you’d say, Hey Bronson, I, I get what you’re trying to do. I appreciate it, but you don’t know what I’m going through. And I’m just telling you my life is worse. And if that’s true of you today, please know, I’m very sorry. My heart breaks for that. And I just tell you right now, I would love to pray with you. There are pastors all in this room and here today who would love to pray with you. Trailhead would be an amazing spot to just go. Counselors and pastors on staff are at Trailhead as soon as the service is over who just wanna pray with you. But maybe as you read through Psalm 1 0 7 and you hear it over and over and over again, you would say, you know, that does bring a little perspective to what we’re going through, that that does bring a little alternate shift to the things that are going on in our life or in our family’s life.

But regardless of where you find yourself, what I hope you understand is that you’re not alone in walking through that. And I think it’s one of the greatest tactics that the enemy uses to pull us away from a heart of gratitude is to convince you, you are the only person on planet earth walking through what you’re walking through. And you are all alone with no one to talk about it with or walk through it with that, that the enemy loves to convince you that you are in the situation you are in today. Because God is bad. He is not faithful, he is not a good loving God. And he has put you in this position all by yourself. And I’m just here to tell you, there is a 100% chance that there is someone else in this room, in this very service this morning who either has been or is exactly where you are right now. There’s a 100% chance that there is someone who wants to come alongside of you and walk this journey with you and to pray with you and to see you through it.

And those are lies from the enemy. And when we go back to verse six and we see how bad it is, we see this answer right here in verse six. It says, then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble and he delivered them out of their distresses. Now be honest, who saw that shift coming in the story? Now my wife did because she likes to scroll ahead in the slides and see what’s coming up next. Okay, that’s cheating. But if you’re just playing along at home in real time, that catches you off guard. Because let’s just be honest, if we were to do a self-assessment of this situation, if we were to do a self-assessment of the situation we often find ourselves in, that’s probably not how we tend to respond, do we? Do we get angry with God? Do do we question God? Have you ever blamed God? Have you ever blamed others? Have you ever blamed circumstance? It’s not a generational thing today, it’s a societal thing. It’s like it’s gotta be someone else’s fault.

And I’m gonna blame him. I’m gonna run from this. You see, what separates those of us who are in Christ from those who are in the world isn’t the amount of problems that we face. It’s the amount of faith that we face those problems with, that having a relationship with Jesus doesn’t remove the adversity from your life, but it should determine your response to the adversities that you face. And when I think back just what we talked about earlier that hey, the circumstances in my life to the world through the lens of the world, it may look like I have nothing to be thankful for. The world may say, I can’t believe you are dealing with all of that today. How are you thankful? But what you understand is that having a right perspective leads us to a right response, that it leads us to be thankful for what’s taken place.

And when I think about the times in my life where I have questioned God, when I think about the times in my life where I have been angry at God, when I think about the times where I have called God not good, I think about the single greatest life altering moment in my life. Seven fourteen twenty one, Amarillo, Texas. My phone rings and says, my dad went for a bike ride and he never came back. I said, God, you’re not good. I said, God, this doesn’t make any sense. How can you be faithful? That what? Why are you doing this to my family? Why would you do this? But you see, what I understand is that I was always going to be in the wrong because my perspective was on me instead of on him.

And you see, what happens is this, when you end up living with an earthly perspective, you miss out on an eternal blessing. It says, my eyes are fixed all the round here. Could be really hard to be thankful today, but it’s causing me to miss out on this perspective that produces this response because a right perspective. Look at verse 13. Remember they were in a dungeon, then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble and he saved them out of their distresses. Verse 19, they were near the gates of death, but they cried out to the Lord in their trouble and he saved them out of their distresses. Verse 28, they were at their wits end, but they cried out to the Lord in their trouble and he brought them out of their distresses. Today you can be thankful because you have the opportunity to enter into a relationship and serve a God who hears you when you cry out to him, that response, that perspective, it changes the situation that you’re walking through.

Hey, we have a God who hears our cries. Amen. Amen. Isn’t that crazy? And you see, what we see from the truth of the Psalm today is that when we choose that response is that prayer produces both a praise and a provision to the problems that we’re walking through. That when we choose this proper response, then it changes how we see it. It changes how we walk through it, and it changes our entire approach. The Lord hears us when we pray. Philip Brooks said this, do not pray for easy lives. Pray to be stronger men. Do not pray for tasks equal to your powers. Pray for powers equal to your tasks, then the doing of your work shall be no miracle, but you shall be a miracle. And every day you shall wonder, not at yourself, but at the richness of life which has come to you by the grace of God, man, prayer changes everything.

And I understand that for some of you here this morning, you would say, Hey Bronson, I, I really appreciate your effort, but I don’t really need this sermon. Life is really good for us. Thank this is probably gonna be our easiest thanksgiving to be thankful ever. Can I just say then hit your knees and praise God for that. I’m not asking you to feel guilty if your family is saved this year from sickness and hurt and li praise God that he spared you from that. And if this morning you would say, man, there is just despair all around. I am not looking forward to entering into this. I have very little to be thankful for today. Can I just say, hit your knees and praise God because he’s still good and he’s still faithful. If today you’re in a room, you’re listening online and you say, I sit at a place where I’m at the highest of highest, praise God for that.

And if this morning you’ll say, man, we are just in a dark place. It is hard to see the light. It is cold, it is lonely. Can I just say, hit your knees and cry out to God because he’s faithful and he’s good even when life isn’t? Because check out how this story ends. Verse seven has the most incredible ending ever. It says He led them also by a straight way to an inhabited city. No confusion, no twists and turns, not to a place where they are alone, not to a place where they are isolated. If you mark in your Bible, there are two powerful words right there, straight and an inhabited. That is, they are in this situation, says, man, it is really hard to see God working. It is really hard to be thankful. God says, no, I’m gonna take care of this.

He, they cry out to him and he produces a straight path to a place with people, to a place with community, to a place with belonging. It’s an unbelievable answer to a heartbreaking story, isn’t it? But you see, here’s maybe the greatest truth you could take away this morning. If you are looking for a way to be thankful, no matter how bad your situation may be, is that the Lord saves through reversals. He is a God who takes what looks one way and constantly reverses it the other, the death of Jesus to the world look like the end of it all, till God reversed it and made it the beginning of it all. The punishment for your sin was going to be death until God reversed it and put it on Jesus instead of on you. That he is a God who takes what looks like the worst of situations and reverses them for his good and for his glory. And because of that, today, no matter what you’re walking through, no matter what you’re facing, you can stand and you can proclaim. He is good and I am thankful. Let’s pray. Father, thank you for just this truth of your word this morning.

Thank you that even though all across this room, heartbreak is real difficulty and loss is real, that the circumstances of our life may look hopeless, but your character is holy. And because of that, no matter where we find ourselves today, we can be thankful for the one in here who is dreading this holiday season. Would you give them comfort? Would you grant them peace? Would you provide them hope to the one that is excited and thankful for this holiday season that is to come? Would you remind them of your eternal goodness? Would you be near to them?

Would you provide them with the same comfort and the same praise of this holy God, that even when life is difficult, you are good and that never changes. Thank you for the opportunity to come into this space this morning and to praise you for that. It’s in the name of Jesus we pray. Amen.