Good morning my “Walking with Jesus” friends all around the world.
For many of you today is a very special day… ‘THANKSGIVING Day’! I grew up in a country outside the United States, but my parents are American, so even though we were thousands of miles away from America, on this day we still celebrated “Thanksgiving”, when I was a boy. It was very special because many others, some Americans, some from many other countries, also lived in that foreign city and we all joined together for a great day of food, fun, friendships… and thanking God! Now, more than 60 years later, those memories of my childhood are among my favorites. I hope no matter where you are, that is your experience today, Thanksgiving Day 2022.
Perhaps you know the roots of “Thanksgiving Day” in America stretch all the way back to the year 1621 and the first immigrants who found people already living in America when they arrived! They are often referred to as Native Americans, meaning they were here before the pilgrims, or pioneers moved to what later became known as the United States of America. Thanks to the help of those native Indians, the pilgrims survived that first year and they joined together that November to thank God for all He had done to help them arrive safely in a new land and find kind people to help them make this new land their home. Probably, as you think back over your life journey, it’s not difficult for you to identify some kind people who have helped you survive difficult times. Today, I urge you to reach to them and thank them, if you can, but especially thank God for all HE has done to help you in your life journey.
No matter who you are, no matter where you live, the truth is we all are living today in the shadow of those who have gone before us. May I ask, how much do you know about the history of where you live? What types of people have lived there? What major events have shaped the story of where you live? Why is your town or city what it is today? And one final question… what are you MOST thankful for today, November 24, 2022?We’ve been spending time lately with the apostle Peter as he is writing his first letter to Christians living scattered all across the Roman Empire in the first century. I use the word “scattered” because Peter used it in his opening greeting: “To God’s chosen exiles scattered throughout the provinces…” (1 Peter 1:1) In their case that word ‘scattered’ was very painful for many of them had forcibly been run out of their home, out of their towns, even out of the provinces in which they had lived for generations. Why were they on the run? Because people of all kinds were persecuting them. Roman soldiers, Jewish legalists and others chased them out of their towns for only one reason… they had become Christians! So, these first century Christians lived now as refugees trying to build a new life wherever they could find a place to live unharassed while they celebrated the salvation God had given them through their faith in Jesus Christ as their Savior.
Peter now rolls out his parchment and picks up his stylus to begin writing to these ‘scattered, persecuted, exiles’: “Concerning this salvation, the prophets, who spoke of the grace that was to come to you, searched intently and with the greatest care, trying to find out the time and circumstances to which the Spirit of God in them was pointing, when He predicted the sufferings of the Messiah and the glories that would follow.” (1 Peter 1:10,11) Peter is referring to the Old Testament writers who had written of a Savior whom they called ‘Messiah’, who would someday come from God to rescue His people. Notice Peter is confirming that those prophets wrote under the very same Holy Spirit guidance that Peter was writing his letter! Peter is confirming that while they wrote what the Spirit of God told them to write, they didn’t fully understand it, nor did it come to pass in their generations!
Peter is probably referring especially to the prophet Isaiah who wrote about 650 years before Jesus was born, but his 53rd chapter is an amazingly accurate detail of the sufferings of Jesus in His crucifixion experience on Passover/Easter weekend. When Peter writes about “the glories that would follow” of course Peter is talking about the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, and the ascension of Jesus back to heaven after He had spent 40 days alive, among His friends, continuing His teachings. And of course, Peter is referring to the glorious, amazing miracle of the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost and the birth of the global church as by the time Peter was writing this letter, the Gospel of Jesus was being taken to the far corners of the Roman empire! So again, I ask you my friends, what is the history of the place where you live…especially the SPIRITUAL history? How long has the Gospel of Jesus Christ been known in your part of the world? How long has the Bible been available in the languages spoken where you live? What has been the influence of the Gospel and Christian people on the culture of your part of the world?
Let’s watch as Peter writes one more sentence today… “It was revealed to them [the old prophets] that they were not serving themselves but you, when they spoke of the things that have now been told to you by those who have preached the Gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. Even angels long to look into these things.” (1 Peter 1:12) Oh my, do you see three powerful things Peter is writing here? Those who wrote God’s Word, the Old Testament, especially those things related to the coming Messiah, were primarily writing for the benefit of those people who lived in the first part of the first century when Messiah, Jesus Christ, actually came from God to live on earth! Those prophets were led by the Holy Spirit to write so Jesus would be recognized as the promised Jewish Messiah. But now, these living in the later part of the first century had never seen Jesus. But Peter, who had been a friend and disciple of Jesus, wants them to understand that those prophets were guided by the Holy Spirit to write in such a way that all people who live AFTER Jesus returned back to heaven can evaluate the record of Jesus’ life and we can conclude, without question, that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, sent to earth by God, to become our Savior! Finally, do you see Peter gives us a glimpse into heaven with that closing statement: “Even angels long to look into these things.” It means the angels in heaven can watch what goes on both in heaven and on earth, but they too are learning as they observe what God is doing. The angels are fascinated that God would love our human race so much that He would send His Son Jesus, to die an atonement death on the cross to pay for our sin so God could forgive our sins and draw us into relationship with Him and then bring us to heaven when we die, so we can spend eternity in heaven with the angels, with Jesus, with God the Father and all Christians from all time and all places on earth! Now THAT my friends is worth a huge THANKSGIVING Day celebration, would you agree??
So, I urge you to do that… make all day today a day of thanks and praise to God, starting right now, and here’s a song to help you…
Today’s Scripture is 1 Peter 1:10-12.
Choose below to read or listen.
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Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.
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Pastor Doug Anderson 262.441.8785
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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