2015 thanksgiving worship service program

{Evangelical Orthodoxy) 925 South Shamrock Avenue, Monrovia, California Bishop Dr. Wm. LaRue Dillard Parish-shepherd/Soul-watcher Office (626)358-2136 * Fax (626) 303-2477 Email: sbcmon@aol.com www.sbcmonrovia.org November 26, 2015 CALLED TO BE A CHANNEL OF NON-STOP THANKSGIVING! “In everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” I Thessalonians 5:18 Sons and Daughters, grace to you! My love epistle to you is based upon the passage above. Is God saying to us, “Thanks and praise in everything?” Our natural response is often “really!” Many saints recoil at the admonition that we should praise God in all difficult and painful circumstances of our life. We should ask God for strength to endure, surely, but praise Him in our complexities? In sicknesses and hurting relationships? In failure and frustration? The words of the text do not budge. There it stands, mocking us at first, and then intriguing us with an invitation to a totally different way of finding out what God may be saying to us in our difficulties and hard choices. When we read this, we pause for a moment and stop ramming our wills against this immovable challenge and some very important things begin to dawn on us. The first is that the phrase is both a response to God’s greatness and goodness and the ultimate level of relinquished trust. If we can praise God for what has happened to or around us, we are affirming for ourselves His sovereignty and providence. The word “rejoice” is found more than 20 times in the epistles written through Paul. In his epistle to the Thessalonians, the word “always” is used four other times in addition to the admonition to “rejoice always.” It means “all the time, on every occasion, in every set of circumstances.” But does this really work? From years of experience trying it, I can say enthusiastically “Yes!” Whenever I say the prayer, “Lord, I don’t understand what You are doing in this, but I praise You for it,” a tenseness inside me relaxes. I know that Thanksgiving and praise open the floodgate of the power of God within me. Amen Until He Comes, I Am Serving Christ Joyfully, Bishop Dr. Wm. LaRue Dillard, Parish Under-shepherd