God is Gracious! This thanksgiving display of all kinds of fruit and vegetables is meant to represent the abundance of God’s provisions for us physically and materially. Look at all the variety. We have canned fruit and vegetables. We have different kinds of jam. We have real live grapes. What happens when you step on a grape? It lets out a little wine. We have bread and butter and cheese. Did you think the little Pilgrims ate their turkey with their fingers? No, no I don’t think they ate their fingers! Father, bless us according to our thankLESSness, lest Thou bless us according to our thankfulness, and we starve. Thank God that He is faithful even when we are unfaithful for He cannot deny Himself. The communion table represents our the spiritual blessing that is ours through Jesus Christ death and resurrection. 2 Peter 1:3 “His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness…” 1 Thessalonians 5:18 “give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.” With the last three words this would be impossible. It is because of Jesus Christ that we can be thankful in all circumstances. [Referring to the thanksgiving display] If we are not careful we begin to cling to these things for life[material things], we demand them and we spend our time, our energy and our resources on acquiring them rather than seeking Jesus first and trusting Him for our physical needs as we obey Him. He is relegated to the margins of our lives. As we celebrate thanksgiving and communion let me take some time now and remind us from Isaiah 30:15-18 of the foundation of all that is good in this world and the good we experience in our individual lives. The foundation of all that is good that makes it possible to be thankful in all circumstances. Stand and read together with me Isaiah 30:15-18 Isaiah 30:18 gives us some profound insight into the heart of God. Judah refuses to repent in Isaiah’s words they “would have none of it.” So what is God’s response? Does He destroy them in a fit of well-justified rage? Does He wash His hands of them? No, as one commentator put it “in one of the greatest statements in all of scripture, He says that since Israel will not wait for Him He will have to wait to be gracious to them.” What an incredible statement. The NIV says “Yet the Lord longs to be gracious to you.” A more accurate rendering of the Hebrew would be as the KJV puts it “therefore will the LORD wait, that he may be gracious unto you,” Let’s talk about it. God is gracious! Philip Yancey, "What’s So Amazing About Grace?" “During a British conference on comparative religions, experts from around the world debated what, if any, belief was unique to the Christian faith. They began eliminating possibilities. Incarnation? Other religions had different versions of gods appearing in human form. Resurrections? Again, other religions had accounts of return from death. The debate went on for some time until C. S. Lewis wandered into the room. “What’s the rumpus about?” he asked, and heard in reply that his colleagues were discussing Christianity’s unique contribution among world religions. Lewis responded, “Oh, that’s easy. It’s grace.” After some discussion, the conferees had to agree. The notion of God’s love coming to us free of charge, no strings attached, seems to go against every instinct of humanity. . . . “ God’s grace is the foundation of all good in our world and all experience of good in our individual lives. Yet he Lord waits to be gracious to us. I think that we have a hard time understanding what grace really is. Grace has been explained this way. Suppose that someone breaks into your home. In the course of a robbery, that person kills your child. If you hunt them down yourself and kill them, that’s vengeance. If you allow the police to do their jobs and the person is apprehended and punished, that’s justice. If you take them into your home and adopt them as your son or daughter, that’s grace. God is a God that waits to be gracious. Romans 5:8 While we were still hating Him, living in open rebellion against Him, hurting Him grieving Him He adopted us as His children. In the story of the prodigal the Father stands at the road waiting to be gracious to His son if only he would come home. Remember the father in the story of the prodigal is a picture of our God who waits to be gracious. Why does God wait to be gracious? Peter tells us in 2 Peter 3:9 referring to God’s promised second coming and the fire of judgment “The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.” God waits for His is filled with compassion “He rises to show you compassion.” But then keep reading “For the Lord is a God of justice.” Back in 1830 George Wilson was convicted of robbing the U.S. Mail and was sentenced to be hanged. President Andrew Jackson issued a pardon for Wilson, but he refused to accept it. The matter went to Chief Justice Marshall, who concluded that Wilson would have to be executed. "A pardon is a slip of paper," wrote Marshall, "the value of which is determined by the acceptance of the person to be pardoned. If it is refused, it is no pardon. George Wilson must be hanged." 2,000 years ago God the Son – Jesus the Christ issues a pardon…. God issued a pardon for us, through Jesus Christ, from the consequences of our sin. BUT just like in the case of George Wilson – the value of the pardon is determined by the acceptance of the person to be pardoned… If it is refused, it is no pardon…. On the cross the grace of God and the justice of God came together. How do we accept this pardon? How is the grace of God poured out into our lives? For what does God wait? “In repentance and rest is our salvation.” He waits for us to turn away from all sin and come to Him. The narrow door, the small gate, the narrow road are all referring to a life of repentance and repentance is turning around, changing your mind about your sin, turning away from it and surrendering your life to Jesus. The people of Judah, God’s chosen people whom He brought out of slavery in Egypt wanted to go back to Egypt. They want wanted nothing to do with repentance and rest, quietness and trust they wanted to trust in their old way of doing things. Isaiah 30:1-5 This passage highlights our tendency as people to live as if God gives us strength rather than that He is our strength. Not unlike our girls learning to ride tricycle. They have surprisingly strong legs but on some occasions I need to give them a little push to help them over a hump on the parking lot. This is how we can view our own strength and how God helps us.We have our own inherent strength and God gives us a little push here and there at the points in our lives when we really need Him to. God does not give us strength God is our strength. We breath, we walk, we reason, we plan, we talk, we work, we live because God is our strength. This kind of thinking leads to the compartmentalizing of our lives with Jesus. There is a time and place for Jesus and obedience to His Word and then there are times when this certainly is not expedient, necessary or applicable. We have the tendency to rely on our own resources in a tight spot. We bring all of our energies, training, experiences, and knowledge to bear on a problem or situation trusting in the inherent strength He has given us and not the giver of strength Himself and like the Israelites, though we know that in repentance and rest is our salvation and in quietness and trust is our strength we get to places in our lives when we would have none of it. We resist complete submission. We turn our face away from God as our minds become set against Him. We go back to Egypt. We become slaves again to sin. 1 John 1:9 As we move into communion and on this thanksgiving Sunday how thankful we should be that God is a God who waits to be gracious. As one commentator said “To be given time to repent is a great mercy which should be grasped with profound gratitude.” Hebrews 12:1-3 I am going to ask the worship team to come up and as we share communion together lets sing: My Savior’s Love As they come let me read Psalm 103:8-14 Communion Bread: As we are holding the bread lets read together Isaiah 53:4-6 “Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted. 5 But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed. 6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.” Juice: There are times in a medical emergency that a person’s life can only be saved through a blood transfusion. But not just any type of blood it must match our blood type to bring us life. Without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sin. Jesus, the perfect and sinless Son of God had the right blood type to cancel our debt of sin once for all.