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[ Silence ] [Music] Oh, beautiful for spacious skies, for amber waves of grain, for purple mountain majesties, for all the fruited plain.

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♪ America, America ♪ ♪ God shed his grace on thee ♪ ♪ And crown thy good with brotherhood ♪ ♪ From sea to shining sea ♪

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♪ Oh beautiful for pictures seen ♪ ♪ Whose broad stripes and bright stars ♪ ♪ Through the perilous fight ♪ ♪ O'er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming ♪

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♪ And the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air ♪ ♪ Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there ♪ ♪ Who comforted the soul in self-control ♪ ♪ By liberty in law ♪

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♪ O beautiful for He was born ♪ ♪ In liberating triumph ♪ ♪ O Lord, accept that country love ♪ ♪ And mercy, Lord, and life ♪

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♪ America, America ♪ ♪ Hail, thou light of the free ♪ ♪ Till all success be done ♪ ♪ Goodness and every gain divine ♪

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♪ Oh beautiful for patriot dream ♪ ♪ That sees beyond the years ♪ ♪ White on the westward sea ♪ ♪ Blossom in thy hill of dreams ♪

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♪ America, America ♪ ♪ Watched in his grace on thee ♪ ♪ And brotherhood, with brotherhood ♪ ♪ Continued to shine in thee ♪

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[ Music ] >> Living on Thanksgiving Street. [ Pause ] An old man got up once in a meeting and said he had lived

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nearly all his life on Grumling Street. [laughter] But not long ago, he said he had moved over to Thanksgiving Street. His face showed it because he was a radiant Christian.

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He lived in an attitude of gratitude. Paul's admonition to the Christians at Ephesus is, "Always give thanks for everything to our God and Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. It seems here that the apostle is a perennial optimist.

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I would say that he might well be recommended as president of the Optimist Club. He sees good in everything. it is an experience which consists of sunshine and shatters and to fully appreciate life is to be grateful for the sunshine as well as the shatters. For the rain as well as for

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the snow. And we think of the optimist as being one who continually searches for the bright side, believing that every dark cloud has a silver lining. There's a bright side somewhere. So keep on searching until you find it because there's a bright side somewhere. So the optimist, while understanding how to deal with the dark side, keeps seeking for

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the bright side, able to appreciate sunshine and shatters. And so often we are tempted to compartmentalize human existence, either the sunny side of the street or the shady side of the street, and we ask people to take their

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There was a song that was very popular when I was a youngster that gives a somewhat secular interpretation of the gospel. Life can be so sweet on the sunny side of the street. The words said something like this that,

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"If I never had another penny I'd be rich as Rockefeller. Gold dust at my feet on the sunny side of the street. Get your hat, get your coat, leave your worries on the doorstep, 'cause life can be so sweet on the sunny side

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of the street. Well, the truth of the matter is that the street is not sunny all the time. Some days are obscured by dense fog. The sun is hidden by clouds. The rains come, storms arise. And we need to learn how to thank God for the sunshine and the shatters. And in order to do this, we must move from

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grumbling street to thanksgiving street. Now, grumbling street It is the dwelling place for those who murmur and complain no matter what life brings. Those who dwell on grumbling street may be considered a sad sack, a sourpuss. Nothing satisfies.

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There was a lady when we were first married, we stayed with in Cleveland, she and her husband, the Simons, they were rather elderly people, and she would get up in the morning and she would ask her husband, she called him Mr. Simon, and she said, "Mr. Simon, would you like to have egg for breakfast?" And he said, "Yes, Geneva, I think I would." And she said,

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"You don't ever say no. Every time I ask you something, you say yes." Always grumbling. Grumbling. To live on grumbling street is to be on the lookout for what you can complain on the lookout for what you can complain about or to protest against. People who live on Grumbling Street have no love for God or country. They have a full-time

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occupation of grumbling and they love it well. Now the Bible tells us about some people who live on rumbling street. Some of those experiences are recorded and they're quite vivid. Israel was delivered from Egyptian bondage, she was snatched from the jaws of death, miraculously led through the waters of the Red Sea, and

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And she was in the desert for three days and could not find water until finally they came to the waters of Merah. And those waters were bitter, too bitter for them to drink and they began to grumble. They forgot all about the other blessings. They forgot all about how God had blessed them with freedom from Pharaoh.

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And they were complaining about their hardships. And they murmured against Moses, their leader. They murmured against God, their deliverer. They established residence on Grumling Street.

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And they could not concentrate on where they were going for worrying about where they had come from. They lived on Grumbling Street. Now the person who lives on Grumbling Street mutilates his dreams because Israel preferred the junk food of bondage to the

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nutritive diet of freedom. She preferred the segregated society of Egypt to the integrated joys of Canaan. She never lived, many of them did not live to see their dreams come true. In fact, everyone who was over 20 died in the wilderness. They died on

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grumbling street. For you see, the perpetual grumbler dies in the wilderness. The chronic complainer, the individual who feasts on fussing, frustrates his dreams and destroys his purposes. Be careful about where you take up your residence. Spies representing the 12 tribes gave their report concerning

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land and the people began to grumble. Brought us way out here and we are left to contend against giants and in their presence we are like grasshoppers. They'll slaughter us. We don't have a ghost of a chance. Let's go back to Egypt. Why did you bring us out here anyway. We are like grasshoppers and our opponents are like giants. You see they had a negative

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self-image. They lacked the courage to be themselves. And so they were dwellers on grumbling And the story of the laborers in the vineyard, they went out to labor. Some of them went early in the morning. Some went later. But we find some of them grumbling. They're grumbling about what the other laborers get. They got what they were promised, but they're grumbling

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about what somebody else has. They're jealous. And so they're grumbling. They're grumbling with God about what God has done for somebody else. They can't appreciate their blessings because of jealousy concerning another's blessing. It's a terrible thing to live on Grumling Street. The early church almost got over there on Grumling Street because of differences

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involving class and race and cultural credentials. You have to be careful about that. That you permit your cultural credentials to create a breach between you and others to establish a barrier. And this happened and there became a murmuring in the church involving the Greek speaking Jews and the Hebrew speaking Jews over the ministry of the church but

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while they were tempted to move on Grumling Street the temptation was overcome and the church avoided division and disaster. Dwellings on Grumling Street have been condemned. Those who reside there need to move out. The houses there are substandard. They're unsafe. Sanitary conditions are undesirable. Garbage there on Grumling

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Street accumulates and accumulates and it's never moved and it's best to change dwelling places because it's not only unsafe it's dangerous dangerous thing to live on Grumling Street. A woman called her minister to her home and she said,

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"I want to tell you about my troubles." So he sat down in a soft chair and he took out his watch and he placed it on the table nearby and he said to the dear sister. He said, "Now, I will allot 30 minutes for you to

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tell about your troubles and 15 minutes for you to tell about your blessings. But first, we want you to spend the 15 minutes telling about your blessings before you spend the telling about your troubles. And she said, after she thought for a moment, she said,

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"Well, maybe we'll just spend the entire 40 minutes, 45 minutes talking about the blessings." She had realized what it is to be a chronic complainer. Well, what I would like for us to consider today is what it really means to live on Thanksgiving Street, to move

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from Grumbling Street to Thanksgiving Street. That's what Paul is saying. Give thanks always for everything. Give thanks always for everything.

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Paul, do you really mean what you're saying there? To give thanks at all times and in all circumstances? You see, those who live on Thanksgiving Street live in a restricted subdivision.

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It's restricted to the believing community. And only those who have authentic faith can live on Thanksgiving Street. Be able to give thanks always for everything.

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And this is the testimony of faith. Oh, for a faith that will not shrink though pressed by every foe, that will not murmur on the brink

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of any earthly woe, that will not murmur or complain beneath the chastening rod, but in the hour of grief or pain

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will lean upon its guard." Faith, a dynamic faith, will equip us to live on Thanksgiving Street.

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For it is through faith that we have come thus far. And only through faith

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are we able to thank God for everything. Faith says, I had fainted unless I had

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believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. That's what faith says.

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Life gets hard. It gets very difficult. And yet Paul says give thanks always for everything. Live on Thanksgiving Street.

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I think Shakespeare expresses this thought beautifully when he says Sweet are the uses of adversity, which like the toad, ugly and venomous, wears yet a precious jewel in his head. And though our life exempt from public haunt,

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finds tongues in trees, books in the running brooks, Sermons in stones and good in everything. And good in everything. So on Thanksgiving Street, one sees good in everything

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and you can only do that when you are looking through the eyes of faith. Paul says, "I have learned that in whatsoever state therewith to be content.

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In other words, I can say this to you, to you Christians in Ephesus, I can say that because I have learned

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through experience what it means to live on Thanksgiving Street. Oh, I've had some experiences,

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I can even tell you about some experiences I've had right there where you are in Ephesus. at Ephesus. When I was in Ephesus, Paul said I was involved in a riot in

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Ephesus. And I stayed in Ephesus for about two or three years, you remember, and while I was in Ephesus I fought with beasts in Ephesus. That's what he said. In other words, he's saying I had hell in Ephesus. That's what he's saying. But in In spite of all of that, I want you to remember as the people of God that in everything, all

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times, wherever you are, and whatever may be your condition of circumstance, give thanks. Live on Thanksgiving Street. Give thanks for everything. The older people used to pray, "Oh, thank God that we live in a Bible land and a gospel

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country. Give thanks for everything." Well, what does it mean in Thanksgiving season today in 1978 in the midst of a situation our times don't look too prosperous, they tell us.

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economists tell us that we are on the verge of a recession. They tell us that the dollar is deteriorating not only at home but abroad. They tell us, we know this ourselves, that the taxes are continually rising and that we are in a period of growing inflation and unemployment is on the rise. Yes, these are

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difficult times. There was a wave of uncertainty and yet in these times give thanks. Give thanks. Give thanks to God for everything no matter what it is. To give thanks. Give thanks. Matthew Henry was an outstanding Bible commentator. He wrote a commentary on the Bible that's very popular. He was a very dedicated,

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devout Christian. One day, Matthew Henry was robbed, and that night he wrote in his diary, "Let me be thankful." He said, "Let me be thankful first because I was never robbed before." And he said, "Let me be thankful in the second place that although he took my purse that he didn't take my life and in the third place he said although he

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took everything that I had that it wasn't much and he said in the fourth fourth place, he said, "I'm thankful that I was the one robbed and not the robber." So in every experience there is something to be thankful for. Man said, "I was without shoes and complained until I met a man without any feet." That's what it means to live on

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Thanksgiving Street. So if somehow you have been tempted to grumble, if somehow you have been tempted to murmur and complain, let's move over on Thanksgiving Street and say to God that we are thankful. That's what it means. Thanksgiving isn't just a day. That's not the real meaning of Thanksgiving. Having turkey on the table and seeing the football game on that day and resting and going to sleep after it's all over. That's not really Thanksgiving. But Thanksgiving is an attitude of gratitude.

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I say Lord, I'm thankful that you've been so good to me. And I just want to say thank you to live on Thanksgiving Street, live on Thanksgiving Street.

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To just, in all that God does for us, to live on Thanksgiving Street. Well, some talk about walking on Mercy Boulevard and going around on

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Hallelujah Square. That's all very fine. That's all good. But I'd like to talk about

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living on Thanksgiving Street every day of your life. That's the street I wanna establish my residence on.

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I like to think about how God has led me and how God has blessed me. and how he has fed me.

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God is good. I like to think about how God has bowled up my broken heart.

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When I've been sad, he's made me glad. I know what it is to live on Thanksgiving Street.

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And I know those of you out there know what it means. Many of you have had many experiences that verify

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to live on Thanksgiving Street. For Thanksgiving Street, you know, it's a broad street. It's not a one-way street. No, no.

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People who think that it's just one way, something happens. They say, well, Reverend, I can't come to church. I have illness in my family. I can't come to church.

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Well, I've been discouraged. my wife quit me. You know, what circumstance? What would happen? God doesn't stop giving us the blessings no matter how we act and no matter how life treats us. It's a rather broad street. You see, Thanksgiving Street is a two-way street. It's not one way. But

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I'll thank God when I'm well and healthy and when I'm sick and when there's pains in my body, I'll lift up my voice and my heart to God. Say thank you. Thank you. That when I've fallen, He's there to lift me. It's a broad street. Always give thanks to God for he's good.

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His mercy is everlasting. It's a broad street. Joy, yes! Sorrows, yes!

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But God is there with our joys and in our sorrows. He's always there. No matter what happens,

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he's always there. In our prosperity, yes, he's with us then. He's also with us there.

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Wherever we are, whatever our condition, our circumstance, always give thanks. For He's always there to comfort us, to give us hope, even in the midst of despair. And so, that's what it means. It's to say, "Thank you, Lord. Thank you."

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[ Silence ]