Series
Rev. Jerry Hamstra
The Book of Esther
The Book of Esther
Sermons
Rev. Jerry Hamstra
Introduction to Acts
Introduction to Acts

Thanksgiving

How to Give Thanks for Greig’s 54 Years of Service as an Elder

“It is right and proper for us to give thanks to God for the graces he has worked in other people’s lives. It is right and proper to give thanks to God for the service people have rendered to the church. But we do this in such a way as to exult in the grace of God in the gospel. Leaders are a gift to the church. God enables leaders and others in the church to serve with zeal and self-denial and love and faithfulness. But we are all sinners saved by grace. We are all worthy only of death. Our most holy acts are mixed with sin so that they alone are sufficient to condemn us. The reality is that in ourselves we are all capable of nothing but sin. We depend completely and absolutely on the forgiveness and righteousness of Christ. Anything that we do that is good and beneficial is the direct result of the grace and power of Christ through his Spirit.”
— Rev. Jerry Hamstra

The Eighth Commandment (2) Property and Wealth

“What that means in practice is that our use and enjoyment of our possessions will nurture our relationship with God rather than diminish our relationship with God. If we receive God’s gifts with thanksgiving it will increase our love for God and our respect for God. If we receive God’s gifts without thanksgiving it will be a barrier in our relationship with God. So there is a way that our enjoyment of our possession contributes to having God as our only God. And that is a beautiful thing. It contributes immensely to our enjoyment of our possession if that enjoyment treasures the love and generosity of God.”
— Rev. Jerry Hamstra

Thanksgiving

Read: Psalm 65

“Thanksgiving in the Bible is part of the response of God’s covenant people to God’s salvation and it is part of praise and part of a relationship of prayer and forgiveness and dwelling in God’s courts and being satisfied with the goodness of God’s house and the holiness of his temple. And it is in the context of that relationship that we are to think of the bounty of the harvest and celebrate the fruitfulness that is rooted in God and his favor.”
— Rev. Jerry Hamstra