GREAT PREACHING ON

THANKSGIVING

COMPILED BY

CURTIS HUTSON

P.O.BOX 1099, MURFREESBORD, TN 37133

© Copyright, 1987, by

SWORD OF THE LORD PUBLISHERS

ISBN 0-87398-325-4

ePub-ISBN 9781087723761

SECOND PRINTING: March, 1992

Preface

The word “thanks” in one form or another is found some 140 times in the Bible.

David probably used it more times than any other Bible character. Paul, who lived continually in the spirit of thanksgiving, runs him a close second, for praise was as natural to him as breathing.

Paul was ever on the lookout to find some cause for gratitude. He sang in prison, his feet in the stocks, his wrists in chains. He sang in the storm, when the fierce Euroclydon tossed the little ship on mountainous waves and every moment threatened disaster. When criticism and contempt were heaped upon him, and the cold shoulder was offered to his loving approaches, the spirit of praise and rejoicing never left him.

And Paul exhorted the churches not merely to give thanks sometimes but at all times—and for all things.

Daniel, whose life was threatened, “prayed and gave thanks before his God.”

Jonah, being chastened of the Lord, voiced his thanks: “I will sacrifice unto thee with the voice of thanksgiving.”

And Christ is the personification of praise and thanks. He gave thanks for the bread and cup used in the Lord’s Supper. On another occasion He prayed, “I thank thee, O Father … because thou hast hidden these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes.” At the tomb of Lazarus, Jesus prayed, “Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me.” When Jesus took the five barley loaves and two fishes from the little boy in order to feed the multitude, He first gave thanks.

So giving thanks is not only taught by precept but also taught many times by the matchless example of Jesus.

We, too, must learn to give “thanks always for all things.…” For accelerating inflation? for physical ills? for lack of a job? for an automobile accident? Apparently, for in requesting help out of our troubles, we are to let our requests, by prayer and supplication, be made known unto God WITH THANKSGIVING. It is not to the honor of our gracious Master that we should ‘sit under juniper trees and hang our harps upon willows.’ “I won’t be unhappy,” vowed a fine old saint; “It is all I have to give to God and I will praise and thank and glorify Him by a happy face and a radiant life.”

Thankfulness, or its opposite, is the thermometer by which our spiritual temperature is gauged, the “oil of gladness” that lubricates life’s activities.

Here you will find incorporated into one book a broad scope of thanksgiving messages formerly found only by looking from book to book, or not found in print at all. Our prayer is that this collection by varied Spirit-filled authors of the past and present, messages chosen from the pages of THE SWORD OF THE LORD over the past 52 years—the best to be found on thanksgiving—will prove medicine for your heart in times of grief, comfort for ...