[0:00] Two things happen when a congregation gets a little large. The old principle of the ninety and nine, they tend to make so much noise that the lost sheep get even loster.
[0:16] And that's why it's important that all of you are engaged in the business of finding the lost sheep. And that's why we have a visitation program at the end of the month that I hope you're all going to take part in, in one respect or another.
[0:35] Another thing that makes this morning's service special is that in our offering this morning, we're going to offer our pledge cards for the financial support of the ministry in this church during nineteen, in and through this church during 1990.
[0:57] And I hope you've come prepared for that. And if you haven't, I hope you will make other arrangements that are suitable to you. Following the service this morning, there is going to be an epilogue service in the chapel.
[1:12] That's right over there. And that's going to be ten minutes after the postlude concludes. And it's going to last about twenty minutes.
[1:23] And in it, two ways to live will be presented. There are two reasons you might be interested. One is, if you have a friend who comes to you and says, how do I become a Christian?
[1:41] You say, well, you recognize there are two ways to live, and you choose one of them. Probably the different one than you're living right now.
[1:53] And so you might want to know how to do that. On the other hand, you might be such a person as has spent a lot or a little time at church and not be really sure what being a Christian means, and you want to know.
[2:12] And so the chapel service is meant for you as well, that you might know what the choice is that's involved in our increasingly complex world, what's involved in being a Christian.
[2:27] So two ways to live in the chapel ten minutes after the postlude. Now, this is the first Sunday in November, and you'll need to take your prayer book to figure out where we're going and what we're doing.
[2:44] And if you turn to the very beginning of morning prayer on page four, you'll see how the sermons for the month of November were put together.
[2:56] They were put together from the exhortation. Now, this is the prayer book. The original sort of author and editor of the prayer book was Thomas Cranmer.
[3:10] Thomas Cranmer was born 500 years ago this year, and so we're sort of commemorating him by looking at what he prepared and gave to us, the heritage we have from him, the heritage for which he died at the stake in Oxford.
[3:32] The passage I want you to look for is paragraph two of the passage that begins, Dearly Beloved Brethren.
[3:42] Do you see that on page four? There it is. It says, We ought at all times humbly to acknowledge our sins before God.
[3:53] Yet ought we most chiefly so to do when we assemble and meet together, and then the four sermons for November begin.
[4:06] This morning, to render thanks for the great benefits that we have received at his hands. That's the first thing we're to do when we meet together.
[4:17] The second thing we do when we meet together is to set forth his most worthy praise. And we have Trinity Western helping us do that this morning.
[4:30] The third thing for the third Sunday in November will be to hear his most holy word, how we do that. And the fourth Sunday in November will be to ask those things which are requisite and necessary, as well for the body as the soul.
[4:50] So those are the four topics for the November sermons. And I begin this morning with the one which says, You are to render thanks for the great benefits that we have received at his hands.
[5:07] Now, what I would like to do to you, I mean, what I really trust this service does for you, is to render to you an account, the money that you owe, the thing that you owe.
[5:28] You are hopelessly in debt to God. And if you were to take all the moments of all the days that remain to you, and to spend the whole of them in seeking to repay this debt, you would not begin to.
[5:49] Such is the debt of thankfulness that we owe to God. So to understand what it means, a bill has been rendered to you, when we tell you of the gospel of Jesus Christ, and Christ's death on the cross, you see how much you owe.
[6:11] Remember that lovely hymn, where the whole realm of nature mind, that were an offering far too small, love so amazing, so divine, demands my life, my soul, my all.
[6:26] So you are hopelessly in debt. But you have wonderful resources to call on, and that's what you have to do, is to call on those resources by which you might render to God thanks for the great benefits that he has bestowed upon you.
[6:50] I visited a man who was terminally ill with cancer last night, late last night, and said to him, if I have to preach on Thanksgiving tomorrow morning, what have you got to be thankful for?
[7:08] And he said that I'm still here. And so I don't think you will ever come to the end of the responsibility that you have to give thanks.
[7:24] This occurred to me on the way to church this morning, and it's hopelessly corny, but it may help you to get hold of what we're doing today, what we're doing here.
[7:35] You know that when some great company has a great project in mind, they bring together all their leading researchers, and they take them apart for a few days, and they have a think tank.
[7:53] That is, they exhaust their brains trying to think how to deal with a particular problem. Well, do you see it coming?
[8:04] Anyway, we are gathered together as a thank tank. One, and we have enormous resources on which we can call among ourselves in order to give expression to the thanks that we owe.
[8:30] And I want you to search your heart as think tanks search the mind, so thank tanks are to research, to search the heart, to see how much reason you have to give thanks.
[8:48] Now, the passages and the reason that the way this is put together, and if you look at if you look at the Bible study for next week in here for November the 5th, you'll see the quotations from Scripture.
[9:16] Well, I have an old, old book, you know, not this one, but another one I have at home. The covers come off it, but it has all the words of the prayer book just written down the margins.
[9:31] And then, where those marginal references are, there's paragraphs of scriptural references to which the prayer book refers in saying things like to render thanks for the great benefits that we have received at his hands.
[9:49] So that the texts which belong to this word from the prayer book, the texts from which this is derived, which Cranmer wove together into this exhortation, are these.
[10:08] There's Psalm 100, verse 4, and 1 Chronicles 16, verse 8 and 9, and Psalm 103, verse 2 and 3, and Psalm 35, verse 18.
[10:26] You may want to write those down, but I'll come to them. Now, what I want to do is just ask these questions. And, the first question I want to ask is, how do we render thanks?
[10:44] And if you were to turn to 1 Chronicles, chapter 16, verse 8 and 9, you will see what David said to the people who were part of his kingdom when they brought the Ark of the Covenant into Zion, the city of David.
[11:04] He said to them, give thanks, see, this is, this is 1 Chronicles 16, verse 8 and 9. He said to them, give thanks unto the Lord, call upon his name, make known his deeds among the people, sing unto him, sing psalms unto him, talk ye of all his wondrous works.
[11:29] So, how do we render thanks? We render thanks by calling upon his name. We render thanks by making known his deeds among the people.
[11:41] We render thanks by singing unto him and having Trinity Western Choir to come and help us do it. And by singing psalms unto him and by talking of all his wondrous works.
[12:00] You see, what we do is we become very much aware of who God is and how he is at work among us.
[12:10] And that's why we call on his name. And that's why we make known his deeds among the people. Now, the people may not want to know them, but nevertheless, it's our responsibility.
[12:25] In fact, the whole evangelistic thrust of having a mission here in January is to make known in this community and to this congregation and even wider if possible, to make known his deeds among the people.
[12:43] People need to know what God has done and is doing. And part of our thankfulness is in making known his deeds, in celebrating them so that people will know what God has done and what God is doing.
[13:04] I, you know, I don't know where singing would be or even where music would be apart from the Christian faith and the business man has of making a joyful noise unto the Lord.
[13:24] Singing is so much a part of Christian worship. It's so woven into Christian worship. I mean, where else do you sing in the course of the week unless you sing O Canada at the Canada Club luncheon on noon on Wednesday?
[13:40] You're not liable to be called on to sing at any other time in the week until you come to church and then you spend half your time doing it. And that's appropriate because that's one way that we give thanks unto God is singing unto him and talking of all his wondrous works.
[14:00] Well, if you look a little ahead in this passage, the passage from 1 Chronicles, you'll see that what David did was he gave bread, meat, and a cake of raisins to all the people.
[14:22] That was a gift he gave them. And that was to provide for their immediate bodily necessities in order that they would have the energy and the appetite to give themselves to the praise and worship of God.
[14:40] And that indeed is why we have wedding feasts and why the father of the groom has to lay it on with one prominent lawyer in town said to me at the wedding reception of a judge's daughter.
[15:00] He said, well, that's not bad for a judge. He laid it on fairly well. But the expectation is that the expectation is that we will provide all the needs that people have so that they can give themselves to the business of thanksgiving or that they can celebrate the marriage of my daughter.
[15:25] I want them to come and I don't want them to worry about food or drink. I'll even supply them with a wedding garment. And all this is done in order that that person may give themselves totally to enjoying themselves at the wedding no matter what their personal circumstances may be.
[15:46] they may not be able to buy a new suit. They may not be able to buy a loaf of bread. But while they're here they will be provided for so that they can give themselves to this celebration.
[15:59] And we are provided for, all of us, with the most expensive feast that could ever be in the Holy Communion to provide for all of us equally for rich and poor, for the wise man and the fool, for the young and for the old, for everybody, we are provided with this feast which meets all our basic needs so that we can give ourselves to the business of giving thanks, so that the whole of our life might be a giving of thanks to God.
[16:36] He has wonderfully provided for us as David provided for those who came together to celebrate the return of the Ark of the Covenant into the city of Zion.
[16:53] Then, that's what you're to do. Now, what are the great benefits for which we are to give thanks? And if you look at Psalm 103 verses 2 to 3, you'll see what are the great benefits.
[17:10] And they're listed for you there. Remember, bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits. In other words, you remember them.
[17:23] And then it lists what they are. He forgives all your iniquity. He heals all your diseases. He redeems your life from destruction.
[17:36] He crowns you with loving kindness and tender mercy. So those are the benefits that we have at God's hand. That our sins are forgiven.
[17:48] That's a completed action. That's something that is right here and right now. That's something you don't leave the church this morning without knowing that in your relationship to God, your sins are forgiven.
[18:04] That's done, accomplished, finished. It's all over with. And if you don't have that sense, then you shouldn't leave church until you do.
[18:15] Because that's the nature of God's forgiveness, that you are forgiven. And if you're not forgiven and don't appreciate that, then there is a break in your relationship with God until you do.
[18:30] And the assurance that your sins are forgiven is at the very heart of the service of Holy Communion. The second thing it says is that he heals all your diseases.
[18:48] Well, now, healing doesn't take place as fast as forgiving does sometimes. Often there is a process involved in healing, but immediate forgiveness is ours because forgiveness breaks our relationship to God.
[19:06] Healing sometimes takes longer, or even a very long time indeed, because suffering tends to strengthen our relationship to God, that we learn obedience through the things that we suffer.
[19:25] So that God intends that we should even learn in the process of suffering to give thanks, knowing that the God, who has made himself known to us in Christ, will heal all our diseases, and we trust them to him.
[19:46] So we're forgiven, we are healed of our diseases, he redeems our life from destruction. That means our life is not as it appears to be, something that can be taken away from us, but that he gives us life that can't be taken away from us.
[20:07] You can't annihilate us because God has saved our life from destruction. Our life is something of eternal value to him, and that's why he has given us eternal life.
[20:24] We sometimes treat it as though it had no value at all. but it is a life that God saves from destruction.
[20:36] Human life potentially is not subject to death because of Jesus Christ. The implications for that are very considerable.
[20:50] And the fourth benefit that it speaks of is that he crowns us with loving kindness and tender mercy, with love and compassion.
[21:01] We can know his love and compassion. Just to give you one simple illustration of this, you know how it says blessed are the poor in spirit.
[21:15] When I'm talking to you about giving thanks to God, of us being a thank tank, I'm not talking about giving thanks for the fact that you've got a good job or you've got a high income or you've got a nice wife or you've got a nice family.
[21:32] I'm talking about the things which if all those things were taken away, you would still have reason to give thanks to God. Those are the things which you need to be most aware of.
[21:45] And those are the things. That's why he's careful to say to you, he forgives your iniquities, he heals your diseases, he redeems your life from destruction, and he crowns you with loving kindness and tender mercy.
[22:05] You still have all that when everything else is gone. And so you still have ample reason to be exceedingly thankful.
[22:18] And if you look in Psalm 35 verse 18, you'll see where you are to worship, and it says you're to worship in the great congregation, you're to worship among much people.
[22:36] Now the motivation for that I think may be similar to what happens when the Rolling Stones come to town, you know, that everybody's got to be there, I just got to be there, you know, I don't care what the tickets cost, I don't care how far I have to travel, I don't care how long I have to stand in line, I got to be there.
[22:57] Well, that's the spirit at least, though I trust the motivation, dangerous ground this, I trust the motivation may be different, and that to be in the great congregation giving thanks to God is the thing we should long for, we should sell anything in order to be there, we should go into debt, anything to be there to give thanks.
[23:27] In fact, the very function of this church is to provide a congregation within which all the people of the community can come together to give thanks, that it's not just a private matter between you and God, it's something that involves everybody here, and where the whole church packed to 30 feet deep with people, all giving thanks to God, that would be entirely appropriate and entirely right, that we should give thanks to God in the great congregation, we should assemble together to do it, we should do anything we can to be there, and that's what song, that's why we need to recognize this common debt, and we need to come together in order to pay it off, in giving thanks to God, and if people have no other motivation than to come to give thanks to God, they should be welcomed here because they have come for that reason, and learn some of the implications of it, no doubt, but they need to give thanks to
[24:39] God. God, so that's the way Thomas Cranmer backs up this thing that we are met together to render thanks to God for all the benefits that we have received at his hands.
[24:58] Now, there's one verse I haven't touched upon yet, and that's from Psalm 100, where it quotes Psalm 100 in saying, enter into his gates with thanksgiving and into his courts with praise.
[25:13] And I want just to leave this with you, because it is because of Jesus Christ that we can enter into his gates, we can enter into his courts with thanksgiving and with praise.
[25:26] The gates which were locked to us and the courts which were impassable for us to get to, those have been flung wide open by Jesus Christ so that we can enter into the very presence of God.
[25:46] And that's why we sing, O be joyful in the Lord all ye lands, serve the Lord with gladness, and come into his presence with thanksgiving, enter his gates with praise.
[26:01] all these things are ours because of what Jesus Christ has done. Look will you, and I'll finish with this, but look will you at Hebrews chapter 10 and verse 19 following.
[26:16] And just so you see how Christ has made available the very throne of God so that we can approach him with our thanks.
[26:31] Have you got it all? Just read it with me because we can exhort one another as we read verses 19 to 25 of chapter 10.
[26:46] Therefore, brethren, since we have confidence to enter the sanctuary by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way which he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, and since we have a great high priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed action.
[27:21] Let us go past and let us theensible one of his ears, not neglecting to meet together as to God of Son, but encouraging one another, and all the more that you see and take on you.
[27:49] Thanksgiving is a wonderful medicine that people very much need to take large doses of. And it's a medicine which is, strangely enough, infectious.
[28:02] When you meet somebody who is filled with Thanksgiving, you can hardly help but becoming thankful yourself. And we have this responsibility one to another to offer to God our whole heart's thanks.
[28:19] And I pray that as we enter this Thanksgiving service, as every communion service is, that we might infect one another with our thanksgiving to God for the inestimable benefits that He has given us in Jesus Christ.
[28:38] Amen. May we pray.
[28:53] Amen. May we pray. and as we commence our intercessions, we pray firstly for our church.
[29:15] And what we pray for our church here, we would pray for the Christian church throughout the world. Father, we pray that we might be a joyful church, rejoicing in our great salvation, and rejoicing in the glorious hope that we have in Jesus Christ.
[29:45] May we be also a praying church, believing in prayer, and praying earnestly for one another and for the needs of the world.
[30:02] May we be an evangelistic church, reaching out to tell others of the gospel of Christ. We pray especially for the Chapman mission in January, that a great many will come to trust in Christ.
[30:21] And may we be an extravagant church, giving cheerfully out of the abundance of what God has given to us.
[30:39] Bless the commitments that we make on this commitment Sunday. May we be also a caring church, and we pray particularly for Sandy Spidell today.
[30:59] We pray for our church and for the church of Jesus Christ worldwide. Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer.
[31:15] We pray next for ourselves, that we might have right desires. Father, how we need to have right desires.
[31:27] Give us a desire to know the truths of the Bible. May we not rely on any word of man, for you have given us your word.
[31:41] Lord, give us a desire to serve others, rather than serve ourself.
[31:54] We recognize our natural tendency to sacrifice others to serve ourself. help us to sacrifice ourself, to serve others.
[32:11] Give us a desire to do your will. Lord, we know that ultimately, your will will be done throughout the universe.
[32:25] So help us to seek and do your will here and now. And give us a desire for the fruits of the Spirit, for those qualities of life that only the Spirit of Christ can bring.
[32:46] Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, self-control.
[32:58] And as we conclude, we want to render our thanks for the great benefits we have received at your hand.
[33:11] We want to thank you for what you have done for us. Thank you, Lord, for coming to earth to die for us.
[33:26] How can it be that the Lord of the universe should concern himself with us? We marvel that we should be the recipients of divine love.
[33:44] We stand amazed in the presence of Jesus the Nazarene and wonder how he could love us. Sinners condemned.
[33:57] Unclean. How wonderful it is that by simply trusting in you, you give us new life here on earth and eternal life in the world to come.
[34:16] We praise you. We worship you. and we want to serve you. Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer.
[34:27] man and positive notre mort We stand and sing now our offertory hymn, hymn number 32, Give Thanks.
[35:08] Amen. Amen.
[36:08] Amen. Amen. Amen. The Holy Spirit of the Holy Spirit of the Holy Spirit of the Holy Spirit of the Holy Spirit of the Holy Spirit of the Holy Spirit of the Holy Spirit
[37:25] I wish who took my sword And my God's lady It was still in the country It was still in the country It was still in the country You remember почвер oyster By the worship of the Lord, to Он will be at thealt Эдмон, our воспитатели, or inневógenOS, Thank you.
[38:39] Thank you.
[39:09] Thank you.
[39:39] Thank you.
[40:09] Thank you.
[40:39] Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
[40:51] Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Amen.
[41:30] Thank you.
[42:02] Thank you. Thank you.
[42:34] Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Amen. Amen.
[43:14] Thank you.
[43:46] Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
[43:58] Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
[44:10] Thank you. Thank you. to our Lord God. It is meaning to write us, O Lord. It is very deep, right in our bounded duty that we should at all times and in all places give thanks unto thee, O Lord, Holy Father, almighty, everlasting God, creator and preserver of all things. Therefore, with angels and archangels, with all the company of heaven, we laud and magnify thy glorious name evermore praising thee and singing.
[44:47] . . .
[45:01] . . . . .
[45:13] .
[45:37] . Blessing and glory and thanksgiving be unto the Almighty God our Heavenly Father, who invite Him to mercy is given by only Son Jesus Christ, to take our nature upon Him, and to suffer death upon the cross for our redemption.
[45:56] The main prayer of life is an oblation of Himself once under it, a full, perfect, and sufficient sacrifice, oblation and satisfaction for the sins of the whole world.
[46:09] And it is that Holy Gospel command us to continue a perpetual memorial of that His precious death until His coming again.
[46:20] Hear us, O merciful Father, we most humbly decease thee, and grant that we receive these Thy creatures of bread and white, according to Thy Son our Savior, Jesus Christ's holy institution, in remembrance of His death and passion, may be partakers of His most blessed body and blood, who on the same night that He was betrayed, took bread.
[46:49] And when He had given thanks, He prayed. And David to his disciples, saying, Take, eat, this is my body, which is given for you.
[47:01] Do this in remembrance of David. Likewise, after supper, He took the cup. And when He had given thanks, He gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of this, For this is my blood of the new covenant, which is shed for you and for many for the remission of sin.
[47:23] Do this as long as ye shall break it in remembrance of me. And together, Wherefore, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, we provide on the service, with the Lord of the Holy Church, remembering the precious death by the love of the Son, His mighty resurrection, and glorious ascension, and the living Lord is coming again in glory, to make it before thee, in this sacrament of the Holy Bread, eternal life, and the power of everlasting salvation, the memorial which ye have commanded.
[48:06] And we, in charge of the desire of all the good of us, for mercy to be the acceptance of our sacrifice, for praise and thanksgiving, for those come to be seeking to be your friend, that by your parents and the death of my Son, Jesus Christ, and through faith and His blood, we in the law of the Holy Church, have made the image of our sins, and all the benefits of His passion.
[48:35] And we pray, and pray for the power of Thy Holy Spirit, all we who are partakers of this only communion, may be fulfilled with Thy grace and heavenly meditation.
[48:47] Through Jesus Christ, our Lord, I do with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, all honor and glory in humanity, all power and life, world without end.
[49:03] Amen. The peace of the Lord be always with you, and with God's Spirit, when we do not presume the time of this by a table of the wish of the Lord, confessing our own righteousness, but in our land and hope and great mercy, we are now willing to come together, from the time of the night we hold, the power of the singing Lord, whose property is all Jesus Christ.
[49:33] Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.