how thankful are we?

How Thankful Are We?


Just celebrated ThanksgivingEarly Americans celebrated because of

what GOD had blessed them with, but the rest of the story is interesting as well.

How blessed we are. But more importantly - “How Thankful Are We?”

We have studied about the fact that Were Purchased with a Price.

We have studied about God’s GraceHow thankful are we for what He has

done?


In 1620 - …”Captain Miles Standish, the leader of the Pilgrims, invited Squanto, Samoset, Massasoit (the leader of the Wam–pa-no-ags), and their immediate families to join them for a celebration, but they had no idea how big Indian families could be. As the Thanksgiving feast began, the Pilgrims were overwhelmed at the large turnout of ninety relatives that Squanto and Samoset brought with them.


The Pilgrims were not prepared to feed a gathering of people that large for three days. Seeing this, Massasoit gave orders to his men within the first hour of his arrival to go home and get more food.

Thus it happened that the Indians supplied the majority of the food: Five deer, many wild turkeys, fish, beans, squash, corn soup, corn bread, and berries.


For three days the Wam-pa-no-ags feasted with the Pilgrims. It was a special time of friendship between two very different groups of people. A peace and friendship agreement was made between Massasoit and Miles Standish giving the Pilgrims the clearing in the forest where the old Patuxet village once stood to build their new town of Plymouth.


It would be very good to say that this friendship lasted a long time; but, unfortunately, that was not to be. More English people came to America, and they were not in need of help from the Indians as were the original Pilgrims. Many of the newcomers forgot the help the Indians had given them. Mistrust started to grow and the friendship weakened. The Pilgrims started telling their Indian neighbors that their Indian religion and Indian customs were wrong.


The Pilgrims displayed an intolerance toward the Indian religion similar to the intolerance displayed toward the less popular religions in Europe. The relationship deteriorated and within a few years the children of the people who ate together at the first Thanksgiving were killing one another in what came to be called King Phillip's War.


It is sad to think that this happened, but it is important to understand all of the story and not just the happy part. Today the town of Plymouth Rock has a Thanksgiving ceremony each year in remembrance of the first Thanksgiving. There are still Wampanoag people living in Massachusetts. In 1970, they asked one of them to speak at the ceremony to mark the 350th anniversary of the Pilgrim's arrival.

Here is part of what was said:


"Today is a time of celebrating for you -- a time of looking back to the first days of white people in America. But it is not a time of celebrating for me. It is with a heavy heart that I look back upon what happened to my People. When the Pilgrims arrived, we, the Wam-pa-no-ags, welcomed them with open arms, little knowing that it was the beginning of the end.


That before 50 years were to pass, the Wampanoag would no longer be a tribe. That we and other Indians living near the settlers would be killed by their guns or dead from diseases that we caught from them. Let us always remember, the Indian is and was just as human as the white people.


Although our way of life is almost gone, we, the Wam-pa-no-ags, still walk the lands of Massachusetts. What has happened cannot be changed.

But today we work toward a better America, a more Indian America where people and nature once again are important."


Was this the way to say “Thank You” to those who “saved their lives”.

They killed the very ones that saved their lives.

If it had not been for the help of the “early inhabitants” of this land, the subsequent inhabitants would have died, look how they were repaid for their “Graciousness”.


The is another story we should know from the New Testament and take notice of found in LUKE 17:11 – 19

Ask your self as we read through it - “Why did Luke give us this story?


Luke 17:11 Now it happened as He went to Jerusalem that He passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee.

Luke 17:12 Then as He entered a certain village, there met Him ten men who were lepers, who stood afar off.

Luke 17:13 And they lifted up [their] voices and said, "Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!"

Luke 17:14 So when He saw [them], He said to them, "Go, show yourselves to the priests." And so it was that as they went, they were cleansed.


Luke 17:15 And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, returned, and with a loud voice glorified God,

Luke 17:16 and fell down on [his] face at His feet, giving Him thanks. And he was a Samaritan.

Luke 17:17 So Jesus answered and said, "Were there not ten cleansed? But where [are] the nine?


Luke 17:18 Were there not any found who returned to give glory to God except this foreigner?"

Luke 17:19 And He said to him, "Arise, go your way. Your faith has made you well."


10 were sick with an illness that meant certain death.

9 - were Jews – “the people of God”1 - was a Samaritan – “the scum of the

earth to a Jew”They were following the requirement of

the lawThey see Jesus and call out to HimHe sends them to the Priest- They healed


They are healed of the “deadly disease”ONLY 1 returns to thank Him for the “Gift of Healing,

the Gift of Life.”

Where are the other 9 who received this healing Gift?

Luke 17:18 So Jesus answered and said, "Were there not ten cleansed? But where [are] the nine?

Luke 17:18 Were there not any found who returned to give glory to God except this foreigner?"


The Early settlers of this land turned their backs on the Indians that saved them from dying.

The 9 didn’t even return to tell the Lord “thank you”.

How Thankful Are We for what He has done for us?


I can just see Him standing there - looking as the one returns, but the other 9, the “religious ones”, just keep walking the other way – away from the one that gave them their lives back and He asks “WHERE ARE THEY?”

He has given us life, some have accepted that life from Him through obedience to His Word, but how thankful are we? WHERE ARE WE?


Jesus heals us when we become a Christian.

I Peter 2:24 “who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness--by whose stripes you were healed.”


And when we “Think” we have done “everything” to show our “thankfulness” we have only just begun to do that which we need to do to say “Thank you”.

LUKE 17:10 “So likewise you, when you have done all those things which you are commanded, say, 'We are unprofitable servants. We have done what was our duty to do."


I read a lot of comments, statements, and lists of things people were thankful for this past week.

How thankful are we for the blessings that God has so richly blessed us with?


When you here the rest of the story of the Pilgrims and the American Indians – many don’t want to hear that side of things – it is embarrassing and shameful to hear.

It is even sadder and more shameful to hear the story that Luke provides regarding the Lepers and the Savior - What do you take from the story?

Will we be as the 9 or as the 1?


Jesus has given us Life – the opportunity to have Eternal Life.

IN ORDER TO BE SAVED

Hear The Word Of God Romans 10:17

Believe His Word Mark 16:16, John 8:24

Repent of your sins Luke 13:3, Acts 2:38

Confess your belief Romans 10:10, Acts 8:37

Be Baptized Mark 16:16, Acts 2:38 For the Remission of Your Sins Acts 22:16

Galatians 3:26, 27

Live Faithfully Titus 2:11-14

how thankful are we?

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