By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of
​our lips giving thanks to his name.  Heb 13:15

"We must thank God for the mercies we have, or else we shall not have others. In the early days when the Puritans settled in New England they were always having fast days. They had a fast day because their bread was getting short; another fast day because the Red Indians invaded them; another fast day because a ship had not arrived that they expected; and they had so many fast days that they began to get exceedingly weak. At length, one very wise brother said, “Did they not think it would be as well, now and then, to vary the thing, and to have a feast day occasionally? Would it not be quite as acceptable to God if instead of mourning over mercies they wanted, they were to thank Him for mercies enjoyed?” So they instituted what is called the thanksgiving day, which became a perpetual ordinance afterwards—the thanksgiving for mercies received. There is reason and wisdom in such a course. How dare you go and ask for anything else till you have been thankful for what you have? What do you with poor people who depend upon you? You gave the man some relief yesterday, and he walked away with an ungrateful face, shrugging shoulders, as much as to say, “That’s all!” Sometimes when you have given charity to a very greedy person, have you not seen him stand and look at it? What has been your rule when he comes next time? You have sent him away empty, and very properly is he punished. But how is it the Lord does not serve you the same? You ask Him for a mercy and you get it, and you either look at it as though it were not worth having, or else you enjoy it for a time and then forget you have ever had it, and never think of thanking Him; and then you knock at His door again, and expect that He will wait upon your lusts when you will not wait upon His throne with thanksgiving. (C. H. Spurgeon)

​Thanksgiving, Then and Now
by louis gander © 2021

The food was very scarce there back in sixteen twenty one.
The old and young went hungry with no time for games and fun

The ship had brought them to a land of opportunities,
but food was somewhat diff'rent than the food from overseas.

And sixteen out of twenty women died one winter there,
but summer months thereafter brought a feast the rest would share.

The Wampanoag had welcomed them near shores of Plymouth Bay
with Chief, Massasoit, a man who lived in Godly way.

With both the treaty and the harvest all but fully done,
the feast that they partook of was a good and healthy one.

We can't compare their hardships to the ones we have today
so we should be most thankful for the food that's on display.

With table set so perfectly so we can all enjoy
a feast of great abundance and a feast for girl and boy.

For God gives us aplenty; things that we do not deserve.
so prayer of thanks is warranted with willingness to serve.

With turkey and the trimmings and the table full of food,
we should give many thanks to God before its fully chewed.

It's difficult to really put ourselves in Pilgrim's shoes
when here we sit among our friends on soft and comfy pews.

++++++++++++++++

Note: Two excellent teachings on the very beginning history of America-and the first Thanksgiving.
Thanksgiving: America's Challenge - Session 1 - Chuck Missler
https://youtu.be/hvqRVMoxRX0?si=q2d77gyUTwYMmwxo

Thanksgiving: America's Challenge - Session 2 - Chuck Missler
https://youtu.be/6_IYa5ax9nk?si=MVVOZAKGDFNYVYwE
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Psa 18:49  Therefore will I give thanks unto thee, O LORD, among the heathen, and sing praises unto thy name. 
Psa 30:12  To the end that my glory may sing praise to thee, and not be silent. O LORD my God, I will give thanks unto thee for ever. 
Rev 7:12  Saying, Amen: Blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honour, and power, and might, be unto our God for ever and ever. Amen.

But Mary stood without at the sepulchre weeping: and as she wept, she stooped down,
​and looked into the sepulchre, 
And seeth two angels in white sitting, the one at the head, and the other at the feet,
where the body of Jesus had lain. 
And they say unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? She saith unto them, Because they have
taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have laid him. 
And when she had thus said, she turned herself back, and saw Jesus standing,
and knew not that it was Jesus. 
Jesus saith unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? whom seekest thou? She, supposing him to be
the gardener, saith unto him, Sir, if thou have borne him hence, tell me where thou hast laid him,
and I will take him away. 
Jesus saith unto her, Mary. She turned herself, and saith unto him,
Rabboni; which is to say, Master. Mat 20:11-16
​
First Appearance of the Risen Lord

Mary wept with hopeless sorrow, with no thought that Jesus was risen, and anxious only to secure the body of her dear Master and Friend. It is because we know so little of the inner meaning of events which are happening around us, under the hand of God, that we weep so bitterly. What we suppose we have lost is really close at hand, and what we count disastrous is part of the process designed to irradiate our lives for evermore.
​
In her grief Mary mistook Jesus for the gardener, but who shall say that she was greatly mistaken? for surely Jesus is the Keeper of the Church, which may fitly be compared to a garden. At that moment He had come into it to lift up one drooping flower. She recognized the intonation of His voice, for speech is ever a telltale. In the resurrection we shall hear again tones that we have not heard since childhood. In Joh_20:17-18 women receive the highest authority for acting as evangelists. Let them tell out the glad news of a love that is stronger than death, and which passes through death undiminished and unchanged. Our beloved are waiting for us in the garden of Paradise. We shall hear and see them and be with them forever.  (F.B. Meyer)

Joh 20:17  Jesus saith unto her, Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father: but go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God. 
Joh 20:18  Mary Magdalene came and told the disciples that she had seen the Lord, and that he had spoken these things unto her. 

WHEN THE disciples had returned to their home, Mary stood at the door of the sepulchre, weeping. Then she took one more look at the place where He had lain. Thus still we look down into the grave of ordinances, of past emotions, of old and sacred memories, seeking for the Redeemer. The angel-guards sought in vain to comfort her; but what could they do for her, who longed to hear His Voice only?
The sense of a Presence behind, or perhaps, as St. Chrysostom finely suggests, because of an expression of love and awe that passed over the angels' faces—led her to turn herself, and she saw One standing there whom she supposed to be the gardener. Then He called her by the old familiar name, with the same intonation of voice, and she knew that it was her Lord. The knowledge that He was there, to Whom she owed all, thrilled her and she answered in the country tongue they both knew so well, "Rabboni!"
​
Does not this suggest that in that new life, which lies beyond, we shall hear again the voices speak with which we have been familiar? "'As we have borne the image of the earthly, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly, and shall have fellowship again with those whom we have lost awhile."

"Rabboni" is "my Master." We must take the Risen Lord not only as our Savior, but our Master. Too many look to Him only for what He shall do for them in the way of salvation and deliverance from sin, but we shall never realize the fullness of either until we fall at His feet and own Him Master and Lord.
It must be a personal act—"My Master." It is not enough that He should be Lord of others, or of His Church. He must be thine. Give your all for His all. Begin to live as if there were none but He and you in this world. He is ever appealing to us: "Son! Daughter! Give Me thine heart, thy love."

When He is Master, we obey His bidding. It is useless to call Him "Lord, Lord," and not do the things which He says. Ours must be the alert ear, the swift foot. "Go, tell!" So He speaks still.
​(Our Daily Bread)

On that quiet, still morning, Jesus first appears to a woman, of whom he had cast out seven devils. She remained, waiting, mourning, longing to hear the voice of Him who had redeemed her.

Christ’s first resurrection word was one of consoling sympathy—not of power, victory, or vengeance. He is tender, loving still. He spake to Mary, and to womanhood through her. He knew how often woman weeps unseen, what a martyrdom of grief she often undergoes by sensibilities wounded, yearnings unsatisfied, love unrequited, closest ties torn asunder, anxieties and toils which only love like hers could enable her to endure, and wounds hidden from all eyes, which only love like hers could bear and yet conceal; and so Christ’s first word after His resurrection was one of sympathy with woman’s grief. Seeking Jesus is the best antidote to weeping.

True love may be combined with deficient knowledge. “Sir, if Thou have borne Him hence. No name had been mentioned, but Mary speaks as if because He was uppermost in her feelings all the world besides must think of “Him” too. So let the thought of Jesus be in our hearts. Will He be pleased? What would He have me do? In this enterprise, in that company, shall I have His presence and enjoy His blessing?

Christ knows His disciples individually. He addresses her by the old familiar name (Joh_20:16). The friend of former days was still individually dear. Are we in sorrow, inconsolable, forgetting Him who sends it for our good? He reminds us of His presence, saying, “Mary!” Are we fearing some danger as though we had no Almighty Friend to protect us? He places Himself between us and it, and says, “Mary!” Are we becoming worldly, restraining prayer, toying with temptation, looking at some forbidden fruit till it becomes pleasant in our eyes? Jesus, in a tone of faithful remonstrance, says, “Mary!”

Every true disciple recognizes the Savior’s voice (Joh_20:16). Do we thus confess Him to be “Master,” saying, “Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do?” In sorrow, do we submit with patience, and say, “Rabboni”? In danger, do we trust with holy confidence and repeat, “Rabboni”? When tempted, do we turn at His reproof and penitently, resolutely exclaim, “Rabboni”? At death, Jesus will say, “Mary!” It will be the voice not of an enemy, but of our best, our heavenly Friend. It will be Jesus coming to take us to Himself. Shall we be ready at once to welcome Him as Rabboni? When He sits on the throne of judgment He will invite to His kingdom every one of His faithful followers, with an individual recognition, calling each by name—Mary! Shall we be among them and joyfully respond, “Rabboni”?
(Newman Hall, LL. B.)
​​Rabboni: Joh_20:28, Joh_1:38, Joh_1:49, Joh_3:2, Joh_6:25, Joh_11:28, Joh_13:13; Mat_23:8-10

God's Appeal for Reason
Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall
be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. Isa 1:18

We are obliged to speak of the Lord after the manner of men, and in doing so we are clearly authorized to say that He does not look upon human sin merely with the eye of a judge who condemns it, but with the eye of a friend who, while he censures the offender, deeply laments that there should be such faults to condemn. Hear, “O heavens, and give ear, O earth: I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against Me,” is not merely an exclamation of surprise, or an accusation of injured justice, but it contains a note of grief, as though the Most High represented Himself to us as mourning like an ill-treated parent, and deploring that after having dealt so well with His offspring they had made Him so base a return. God is grieved that man should sin. That thought should encourage everyone who is conscious of having offended God to come back to Him. If thou lament thy transgression, the Lord laments it too. (C. H. Spurgeon)

​The prophet points out, first the misery that had overtaken the country,

and then the sins of the ruling classes,
​Isa 1:10  Hear the word of the LORD, ye rulers of Sodom; give ear unto the law of our God, ye people of Gomorrah. 
Isa 1:17  Learn to do well; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow.
​Isa 1:21  How is the faithful city become an harlot! it was full of judgment; righteousness lodged in it; but now murderers. 
Isa 1:22  Thy silver is become dross, thy wine mixed with water: 
Isa 1:23  Thy princes are rebellious, and companions of thieves: every one loveth gifts, and followeth after rewards: they judge not the fatherless, neither doth the cause of the widow come unto them. 

What may be called personal and private sins, such as drunkenness, vanity, bribery, and the oppression of the poor, are viewed in their public hearing, as bringing wrath and disaster on the whole nation. No man can sin by himself. His most private sins react on the whole community. Thistle-down floats far and wide. In reply, the nation pointed to the splendid ritual and innumerable sacrifices of the Temple service. But these observances only added to the tale of their sins, because they were formal and perfunctory. The sacrifice of God is a broken and contrite heart. The outward is absolutely worthless, unless it is the expression of the inward and the spiritual. But where a pure and holy spirit is present, the simplest forms are magnificent in their significance and value. To atone becomes the base of a ladder to heaven, and the thorn-bush flames with Deity. But forgiveness is freely offered to the guilty. Crimson and scarlet are the most lasting of all colors, and their removal impresses the completeness of God’s pardoning love.  (F.B. Meyer)

​God reasons with men on the basis of His own Fatherhood. You will see how in this chapter He reminds all men of it, gives men proofs of it, tells men He has fulfilled it in relation to them. He says, “You are not simply My creatures. You are more—you are nearer to Me. I have done more for you. Hear, O heavens; give ear, O earth. I have nourished and brought up these children; that is My plea.” He declares His Fatherhood by calling them children. He says, “It is not a name with Me; I have fulfilled a Father’s part; you owe everything to Me. Look at your life and see what it looks like in the light of this relationship which I have sustained and fulfilled towards you. Admit,” He says, “My Fatherhood—and you cannot but admit it—and what does your life look like in the light of it? How unnatural and base it becomes. You sink below the brute, you are steeped in more absolute stupidity than the ox or the ass, for the ox knoweth its owner and the ass its master’s crib, but Israel does not know My people.” This is God’s reasoning, and who of us can stand against it? God, our Father, to whom we owe our being, from whom all gifts have come to us, upon whom we depend for everything—what has been our conduct towards Him? “I have nourished and brought up children, and ye have rebelled against Me, flung off My authority, despised My love, lifted your hands against Me”—what can we say to reasoning like this? We cannot excuse ourselves, we cannot justify ourselves; we can only hang our heads in silence and in shame while God says, “Come, and let us bring this reasoning to an end—you know you have nothing to say: admit it.”

Thus in this chapter also God reasons with man on the basis of sin’s results. He says, “You have rebelled against Me; has it justified itself in its success? You have rebelled against Me; what good has it done you? Has it brought you freedom and happiness? Has it brought to the land and the nation peace and prosperity?” God Himself gives the answer in searching and terrible words: “Why should ye be stricken any more? Ye will revolt more and more: the whole head is sick and the whole heart faint. From the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in it; but wounds, and bruises, and putrefying sores; and your country is desolate, your cities are burned with fire—that is what sin has done for you.” He points them to the terrible and pitiful results which have come to pass for the individual and the nation through their disobedience towards God; and He challenges them and says, “Now look at it as I have reasoned it out with you.” (Note: W. Perkins)

Isaiah begins his prophecy by calling upon the heavens and the earth to witness the exceeding sinfulness of God’s chosen people. “Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth, for the Lord hath spoken: I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me. The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master’s crib: but Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider.” Such ingratitude and sin as this, he naturally supposes, would shock the very heavens and earth. Then follows a vehement and terrible rebuke. The elect people of God are called “Sodom” and “Gomorrah.” “Hear the word of the Lord, ye rulers of Sodom; give ear unto the law of our God, ye people of Gomorrah.” “Why should ye be stricken any more? ye will revolt more and more.”
​
This outflow of holy displeasure would prepare us to expect an everlasting rejection of the rebellious and unfaithful people, but it is strangely followed by the most yearning and melting entreaty ever addressed by the Most High to the creatures of His hand: “Come now, and let us reason together: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.”

​The sequel of the reasoning is that sins which are scarlet become white as snow, sins which are crimson become as wool. Acknowledgment of the utter sinfulness of the heart and life is followed by pardon, cleansing, and new obedience.
​
“I recollect,” says Spurgeon, “that I used to say to myself, when I was quite a lad, ‘If God does not punish me for my sin, He ought to do so.’ That thought used to come to me again and again. I felt that God was just, and that He knew that I did not wish Him to be anything but just; for even my imperfect knowledge of God included my recognition that He was a just and holy God. If I could have been certain of salvation by any method in which God would have ceased to be just, I could not have accepted even salvation on those terms; I should have felt that it was derogatory to the dignity of the Most High, and that it was contrary to the universal laws of right. But this was the question that puzzled me—How can I be saved, since I have sinned, and sin must be punished? You see, in our text, the blessed answer which the Lord Himself gives, ‘Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.’ That is to say, the Lord means, ‘You shall have no sin to be punished, for I will so effectively remove it that there shall be none left upon you. I will be as sternly just to you as a righteous and holy God must be, yet I shall not smite you, for I see nothing in you, or upon you, which I ought to smite.’ O wondrous miracle of mercy and grace!”   (Great Texts)

Isa 44:22  I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, thy transgressions, and, as a cloud, thy sins: return unto me; for I have redeemed thee. 
​Mic 7:18  Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage? he retaineth not his anger for ever, because he delighteth in mercy. 
Mic 7:19  He will turn again, he will have compassion upon us; he will subdue our iniquities; and thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea. 
​Eph 1:5  Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, 
Eph 1:6  To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved. 
Eph 1:7  In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace;
2Co 5:21  For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. 
​2Co 5:17  Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. 

Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever. Heb 13:8
​Christ-From Everlasting to Everlasting

The great glory of our Christian faith is that we have not to do with a dead Christ, but with a Christ who is living still, and who is to all disciples to-day just what He was to disciples who saw and heard Him twenty centuries ago. His biography is not the biography of one who sleeps now, and has slept for ages, in a Syrian tomb; it is the biography of an earthly life that is continued in the heavens, the life of a Divine Redeemer who is “alive for evermore,” the same in love and power as once He was, the unchanged and unchangeable One. The sinful to-day find Him the same Forgiver as of old; the ignorant find Him the same Teacher, the sorrowful the same Comforter, the despairing the same Deliverer, as He ever was. And what He is to-day the same He will be found to be when heaven comes. Every disciple, seeing Him as He is, will recognize at once the same Jesus who loved him, and whom he loved, long before.
Whatever may have been the original grounds of the faith of the great majority of Christian people, their faith has been verified in their own personal experience. They trusted in Christ for the remission of sins, and they have been liberated from the sense of guilt; for deliverance from sin, and the chains of evil habits have been broken or loosened, and the fires of evil passion have been quenched or subdued. They trusted in Christ for a firmer strength to resist temptation and to live righteously, and the strength has come. They have received from Him—they are sure of it—a new life, a life akin to the life of God. They have been drawn into a wonderful personal union with Christ Himself; “in Christ” they have found God, and have passed into that invisible and eternal order which is described as “the kingdom of God.” Whatever uncertainties there may be about the historical worth of the four narratives which profess to tell the story of Christ’s earthly ministry, their faith in Him is firm, because they know by their experience that the Living Christ is the Lord and Savior of men.… For Christian faith it is enough to know the Living Christ; a knowledge of Christ “after the flesh”—in His place in the visible and earthly order—is not indispensable. But for the perfect strength and joy of the Christian life we must know both the Christ who lived and died in the Holy Land eighteen hundred years ago, and the Christ who, ever since His resurrection, has been saving and ruling men.
(Note: R. W. Dale, The Living Christ and the Four Gospels)

​Having warned the Hebrews against the dangers of selfishness, fleshly lusts, and covetousness, the Apostle proceeds to warn them against the dangers threatening their faith and loyalty to Christ. He reminds them of the guides, the teachers and rulers, whom God had given to them—men who labored in the ministry of the Lord, and sealed their testimony with their death. They had passed away, but the great Prophet, the great Apostle and High Priest, the true Shepherd, remained, Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today, and for ever. He is the only foundation, and His the only name. The heart finds rest in thinking of Him, the Rock of ages, the eternal unchanging Son of God, our Lord, Savior, and Mediator.

We who believe possess the true altar. Of the type of this altar they who served the tabernacle were allowed to eat, but the reality was hid from them. By faith we behold it, and our hearts are stablished.

A joyous heart is also a generous heart. When we praise the Lord, the bountiful Giver, and thank Him for the gifts of His grace, gifts so undeserved, precious, and abundant, our hearts will be liberal. We shall not forget to do good and communicate; rather shall we be anxious to discover the good works ordained for us, that we may walk in them, to find out the poor and needy, the lowly and afflicted members of Christ, that we may help and cheer them. And as both the praise and the works are fruits of the Spirit, brought forth by the living branches, so it is by Christ’s intercession that they ascend unto the Father and are well-pleasing unto Him.  (A. Saphir, Lectures on Hebrews, vol. ii., p. 423)

In every sense of the word Jesus was and is the same, both in the sense that His character was the same all through, and that it is unchanged and unchangeable. His aim was one; His character was always the same. The character of Jesus stands up unabashed under that inconceivably great trial of the question, Is it suitable to the idea of God manifest in the flesh? It is. There is no break where weakness appears—no pride, no vanity, no rashness, no violence, no sentimental weakness, no levity, no presumption, though “thinking it not robbery to be equal with God.” By an easy transition we rise from this sameness of Jesus to the sameness of His unchangeableness in glory. Other men change in the different periods of their life, and often within short spaces of time. But Jesus is the same everywhere and always. And this same Jesus was taken up from us into heaven unchanged and unchangeable. It is the same Jesus who is “within the veil.” And He is there, what He was below, the soul of comfort.
(Edward White)

The Everlasting Name. Ages are to roll by; nations are to die, and nations are to rise and to take their places; laws are to grow old, and from new germs laws are to unfold; old civilization's are to crumble, and new eras are to dawn with higher culture; but to the end of time it will be seen that this Figure stands high above every other in the history of man! “A name which is above every name” was given to Him—not for the sake of fame, but in a wholly different sense; a name of power; a name of moral influence; a name that shall teach men how to live, and what it is to be men in Christ Jesus.
(H. Ward Beecher)