Revelation chapter 4, the very last book in the Bible, in Revelation chapter 4 we have a picture of the church in heaven. Immediately following the rapture, we have the living beasts, the living creatures, the beast, which are the seraphim, mentioned in Isaiah chapter 6, 1 to 8 they are glorifying and giving honor to the Lord Jesus Christ, and then you will notice in verse 9, Revelation chapter 4, and when those living creatures, those beasts give glory and honor and thanks to Him that is seated or sat on the throne who live it forever and ever. Giving thanks to the Lord Jesus Christ, and that's what we're going to look at this morning. Thanks to the Lord Jesus Christ because thanksgiving is coming and we need to know what we're thinking and who we're thinking and why we're doing it I don't know about you, but I thank the Lord Jesus Christ every day But thanksgiving is a special day when you're gathered with family or whatever you're doing and there are a lot of people gathered there It's an opportunity to get thanks to the Lord Jesus Christ openly so that other people will know what it's all about The Bible says in John chapter 3 verse 16, 4, God so loved the world that you and me, that he gave his only begotten son, that's Jesus Christ, that whosoever, that's you and me. Believe it in him, shall never perish but have everlasting life. I don't know if you may have any idea what the Lord Jesus Christ went through, what he suffered, just so you and I can have our sins paid for and have eternal life. You know, there's one thing I agree with Barack Obama about. We do not live in a Christian nation. I don't believe the United States of America is a Christian nation. All we have people in church is just we do. We have people that are saved, the literal church, yes, we do. But there's no more people go to church and worship the Lord Jesus Christ in this country than they do anywhere else in the world. In other places in the world, they have to worship in secret. Of course, you can go to a church that doesn't believe Jesus Christ is the Savior. You can go and be religious anywhere. You can pray to some saint. You can pray to this. You can pray to the Virgin. You can do all you want to do anywhere in the world. But when it comes to serving the Lord Jesus Christ in truth, it doesn't happen very often. Serving the Lord Jesus Christ in truth, for God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ. But whosoever, that's you, believe it in him, shall never perish, but have everlasting life, gave him up on the cross. And all you have to do is believe in his death, burial, and resurrection, and your sins are paid. And you know how many people go to church today and honestly believe that? Not very many. You know one of the worst doctrines in the Bible, in my opinion, is the word repent, and where they say the word repent means to turn from sin in my opinion. That is the most damnable doctrine in the world today. If turning from sin was part of the salvation process then God lied. Jesus Christ wasted his time. It was a mistake. He died on the cross. It was a mistake. Why did he bother going through there? What a stupid thing for God to do if you can repent of your sin and go to heaven. What a stupid thing for God to do, we keep saying? Why would God die on a cross if you could die on, if you could repent of your sin or confess to some man your sins or do this or do that? God lied, he was ignorant, he was stupid, he wasted his time because you can go to heaven on your own merits. What a damnable doctor. God is not stupid. He's not ignorant. He went to the cross to pay for your sins in mind. He didn't have to. He did it because he wanted to, because he cared about his creation. He wants to redeem his creation, including all humanity. No, he's not stupid. Humanity is stupid. Revelation chapter 5. Verse 1, and I saw on the right hand of him that sat on the throne a book, written within and on the backside back sealed with seven seals, and I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice who was worthy to open the book to seal the scroll and loose its seals. And no man pay attention to those words underlined them in your Bible. No man in heaven, nor in earth, neither under the earth was able to open the book to scroll neither to look on it, and John wept. I don't know what, I don't know about you, but John knew what it meant. I'm going to explain shortly what it meant, but John wept much because, no, you know why? Because John knew that this was the title deed to the earth. You know what this is? It's paper rolled up. That's what it is. It's symbolic of the scroll that Christ held in his hand with seven seals. He was the only one that could open the seal. Verse 5. And one of the elders said unto me, weep not, behold the lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David, had prevailed to open the book and to loose its seven seals. By the way, how did he do that? How did he prevail? He died. He died. He died, shed his blood and rose again. He created the universe, it's his, belongs to him. He created you and I, created Adam and Eve, created everything, even created Satan. Everything belongs to him. He is the only one worthy to open the seals, the Seventh Seals of the book. Next week we're going to take a look at the redemption, the process of redemption. But shortly, probably, Thursday, I believe is Thanksgiving, as a matter of fact, I know it is. And we're going to celebrate Thanksgiving. Do you know the first Thanksgiving celebrated in this country was, I think it was in 1600 somewhere around a 1623? But first Thanksgiving, let me give you a brief history of the world, if I may. In 800 AD, Charlemagne reunited the church and the state. Charlemagne thought of himself as a Christian, I don't know if he was or not, but he thought he was. And him along with Pope Leo III, united the church and state, and things have been pretty much that way ever since. Together they ruled the people, it worked out great. Charlemagne the ruler, Leo the Pope, together you got government and religion ruling the people. It's a good concept if the government is Christian, and the leader of the religiously desert Christian is a good concept. However, I doubt if any of them work. Polycarp from lit from 69 to 155 was burned at the stake 86 years old because he preached the truth. John of Antioch lived from 347 to 407 AD and he was banished into the desert where he died because he preached the truth. John Wycliffe from 1320 to 1384 was prohibited by the bishop from preaching because he preached the truth. He translated the Bible from Latin into English. 31 years after he died, his bones were dug up, and everything he written, including his bones were burned, and the ashes were cost into the Thames River because of the truth. They hate the truth, don't they? John Huss, from 1369 to 1415, preached the truth. In 1414, the emperor and the The Pope gave a mock trial, and Hus was burned at the stake, but tradition says that he didn't really burn. The fire wouldn't consume him, though, so they took a sword and thrust through it. John Hus was martyred for preaching the truth. The pilgrims that lived in Great Britain were tired of the fact that the state and the church told them how to worship God. And so King James, by the way, I don't know if you're aware of this, but King James I and the Archbishop were ruled the world at that time. King James was a homosexual, I don't know if you're aware of that. And yet he's the one that gave us the King James Bible, the best Bible ever produced. Isn't that amazing? And I can give you some quotes of what King James said, but anyway, it's irrelevant. Anyway, they rejected the truth. King James, even though he had the Bible translated, he did that because he was mad at the church, by the way. The church didn't want the people to have a Bible. They didn't want them to know the truth. So he was mad at the church because they could tell him he shouldn't be a homosexual. He said, okay, I'll have the Bible translated and give it to everybody. Isn't that great? Worked out fine for me. I don't know about all them, but whatever. Anyway, during that period of time, a man by the name of Robinson, Brewster, and Bradford Decided that they couldn't live with the lie anymore. They decided that eventually That they would come to the United States of America. So they came to this country And I don't know if it's true or not, but some people say that The captain of the ship was paid some money the maplower To take not to take him to Virginia where the original columns were but to take him up north into England where they landed at Plenty of throng could be true. I don't know, but that's where they landed in November By that time the winter had set in and so when I got to this country and in That period of time in the year, but the time spring came their food had almost all ran out Almost all ran out many of them died the diseases starvation whatever so in the following spring The people that gave them the money to come to this country was called the company. The company gave them orders. When you get to this new land, the land will not be divided up, it will be a commune. You will all work the land together. By the way, if you add the words or the letters, I.S.M. to commune, you know what you come up with? Communism. Communism. Communism would first begin at Clement Rock They said we're gonna you're gonna everything you produce you keep what you need and you send the rest to the company and you'll do it together Okay, well they tried it didn't work What happened was some of the people wouldn't work they they had one big plot of land. They all worked together some of the people didn't work And so when winter came there wasn't enough food to go around And then you have the welfare system. You feel mayor with the welfare system? Those who wouldn't work had to share with what those who did acquire. You ever hear of taxing the rich? That's basically the same thing. Yeah, those rich people. Why should they keep all their money? They need to give their money to the government so the government can share it with the poor people that won't work. No, those lazy poor people on welfare that won't work, somebody has to take care of those poor people who will communism and welfare. So at the following year, Bradford said, you know this ain't working. And they were Christian. He said, you know, oh, by the way, let me just point this out to what if I may. There were two concepts when the pilgrims came to this country. They were Calvinism and Armenianism. That was the beginning of religion in this country, I don't know if you're aware of that. Both of them are a joke. They were probably Christians, I don't know, but Calvinism doesn't agree with Armenianism, they don't go together, they don't job, and so immediately this country was split down the middle. That's another story. Bradford said, this won't work, so he went to the Bible and he showed them some biblical concepts. The Bible says, every man will sit under his own tree and produce his own goods. In other words, you provide your own needs, you work, you go to work, and maybe you have a physical problem. Well, that's another story, but you go to work, you provide your own needs, the harder you work, the more you acquire it belongs to you. It's yours. You work hard, you get it, it's yours. And Bradford said, from now on, we're not going to do what they wanted us to do. going to divide the property up into sections. Each person gets their own section and you will farm that, you will work that and whatever you acquire is yours and if you don't work your section then tough you will starve. You know what that's called? The Free Enterprise, the American Way. Worked out great. They started acquiring goods, they started it, they didn't starve anymore and then they met a couple Indians that showed them how to how to plant corn and how to catch fish and how to how to hunt and so forth and and there's everything started doing great. All they had to do was eliminate the wrong system and that's basically how this country began and then in 1621 because things were going good Bradford invited the Indians over and they had their first Thanksgiving dinner. thanking God for what he had provided, thanking the Lord for what he had provided. Turn in your Bibles to 1 Timothy chapter 4 if you will. Next week we're going to get back on the redemption in Revelation chapter 5, but being that this is Thanksgiving week. 1 Timothy chapter 4, if you will. Now, the Spirit speaks of the expressly that in the latter time some shall depart from faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils. By the way, we are there, speaking lies and hypocrisy, having their conscience seared with a hot iron religion. Oh, we are religious, we are a religious people, forbidding to marry. That sounds familiar? And commanding to abstain from meats. That sounds familiar too. Which God had created to be received with thanksgiving by who? Notice the last part of that verse. God has created to be with thanks received with thanksgiving by them who believe and know the truth. This is one of the verses that Bradford went to when he started the first thanksgiving dinner. God has created all this. He gave it to us. We are prospering. Let's thank him for it. And as the story goes, apparently, when they had their first Thanksgiving dinner, the Indians were invited, and they went out and shot a bunch of wild turkeys. And I don't know if it's true or not, but that's where the tradition of turkey on Thanksgiving comes from. In the strange, the Indians who showed the pilgrims how to live and survive, we finally killed all of them. Isn't humanity wonderful? Anyway, for every creature of God is good and nothing is to be refused if it is to be if it is received with thanksgiving, for it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer. You know what you should give thanks for this coming week? If you know the truth, you should give thanks. If you know the truth, and you know the demerce between the truth and a lie, you should give thanks. If you believe that Jesus Christ died on the cross for your sins, and you believe that He's in heaven, ready to come back and take His shirts home, you should give thanks. If you believe that Christ died on the cross, your sins are paid for. You have eternal life. Someday the Lord is going to gather His church together. You should give thanks for the fact that when He does that, if you believe in Him, you have forgotten you will be gathered together with the rest of the church. You will spend all eternity with the Lord Jesus Christ in a perfect environment. You will live forever. You will have no more aches, no more pains, no more worries. You will live forever. You should give thanks. In Revelation chapter 5, the Lord Jesus Christ is ready to open the seven sealed book, which is the title deed to the planet earth. And when he does that, he We will open seven seals that will be total destruction on this world for seven years. A time of unbelievable torment and aggravation. But if you're safe, born again Christian, you will be taken out of that. You know what you need to do? Give thanks. If you know someone that's in false religion and you recognize the fact that what they're in is false, give thanks. In 1817, the State of New York instituted a day of Thanksgiving. In 1863, Abraham Lincoln called Thanksgiving a national day. Turn in your Bibles to Luke, chapter 22. If you get the opportunity and you have a strong scorn cordons in home, look up the word thanks and thanksgiving when you get time. Shortly, we are going to have the Lord suffer. One of the reasons I decided to do that is because this is Thanksgiving week seem to like a good time to me Luke chapter 22 and When the hour was come he sat down and the twelve apostles with him the Lord suffered and he said unto him with desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffered in other words before I go to the cross For I say unto you, I will not any more eat of it until it be fulfilled in the kingdom of God. Someday the Lord Jesus Christ will have His supper in the kingdom in the future. And He took the cup and gave thanks and said, take this and divide it among yourselves. For I say unto you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God shall come. And he took the bread and gave thanks and broke it and gave unto them saying, this is my body which is given for you. This do in remembrance of me. Why do we have the Lord's Supper? Are you allowed to partake in the Lord's Supper? Anyone? You don't have to be the member of a church. You don't have to be perfectly That's all a lie created by our churches. You don't have to be a Baptist, a Methodist, a Lutheran, a Catholic. You don't have to be anything. When you take the Lord's Supper, you do it and remembrance of Him. The fact that He died, He was buried, and He rose again. He shed His blood. He didn't have to do that. He came down from heaven, took on flesh and blood like you and I suffered on the cross. cross and yet when he had the Lord's supper he gave thanks even before he went to the cross and he knew he was going isn't it amazing yet we should be thanking him don't you think we should be thanking him this is my body which is given for you this do and remember it's of me likewise also the cup after supper saying, this cup is a new testament in my blood which is shed for you. And then he gave thanks for that also. He gave thanks for the fact that he was the bread represented his body and the wine represented his blood and he gave thanks. That's amazing. When When we do the Lord suffer shortly, we get thanks. We get thanks to the Lord Jesus Christ for dying on the cross for our sins. We get thanks to the Lord Jesus Christ, you should thank Him daily, by the way. You have more things from the Lord Jesus Christ than you realize. I have in the bulletin here a little thing you know there's a new movement out called prosperity movement. Well it's not real no but it's really getting big. And we've all these TV preachers telling you that God wants you to have everything. He doesn't want you to suffer. Well is that true? No. Actually it is. It is. He does want you to have everything. Yes that's key. He does want you to prosper. He doesn't want you to go to bed at night and suffer. He wants you to go to bed at night and comfortable, relaxed, warm, cozy, but maybe he won't. And there's a reason why. Does he want you to be rich? Yeah, I'm sure he does. Everything God has is yours, but he just might not give it to you. There are reasons why. And I gave some of the references in your bulletin here. You might want to look them up and determine if you're not rich Why? And maybe it's a good thing. I'm not rich, financially. I think I'm rich in a lot of other ways. I have a rich bald head. Yeah. And I have decided that if I lose any more hair, I'm going to have less hair than I do right now. That's what I've come to that conclusion. That's enough of that. Anyhow, before we have the Lord's supper, Let me just show you this, okay, and then we'll do the Lord's Supper. I do have a burning wallet, but I don't need to do it. I'll use the burning wallet. Anyway, God loved you and I so much that he gave his son Jesus Christ. For God so loved the world, that's you. That's you. That he gave his only begotten son, that's Jesus Christ. That who's so ever, that's you. Believe it in him. She'll never perish but have everlasting life. It works like this. We're all sinners. I'm a sinner Always have been I'm good at it. I have a degree in it. It's called a D a D. S a Doctorative sin I'm good at it. Been working at it all my life matter of fact. I perfected the art of sin I bet I'm better at it than you are if there's one thing I can do that God can't do It's sin I'm good at it. This represents my sin. Now most preachers won't tell you that by the way because they don't want you to real know that they're sinners but they are. But the Bible says the very second I believe in the Lord Jesus Christ he died on the cross was buried and rose again. He takes my sin and marks it paid. You know what? If you believe that you ought to thank him. And if you don't believe it you ought to thank him anyway because he did it. Isn't that something? or you could die and go to hell and pay for your own, but it's awful hot down there. I don't want to go. Let's have a brief word of prayer and then we'll do the Lord's supper. Dear Lord, we thank You for Christ, we thank You for everything He did for us. We do. Take everything that we get with thanksgiving. Everything that we give us, everything that we've received with thanksgiving. and we thank you for. Dear Lord, we ask your blessings on those that are here today in Christ's name. Amen. Okay. We will take a minute and do the Lord's supper. I have a couple of guys telling the Lord. Jeremy, why are you? Overest. Hold that Bob, thanks. Okay, I want to be able to bless the bread and the other one in the wine. I want to run downstairs and tell the others. Okay, okay, yeah, we'll do that. I'm just like, good idea. Good idea. Good idea in the bread guys. Yes. Yes sir. Those croutons. Might be croutons.