This is the transcript of Restitutio episode 576: Thank God by Sean Finnegan

This transcript was auto-generated and only approximates the contents of this episode.

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576 Sean Finnegan - Thank God.mp3

Transcript

00:00
Hey there, I'm Sean Finnegan. And you are listening to restitutio, a podcast that seeks to recover authentic Christianity and live it out today.

00:12
Happy Thanksgiving, everyone. Now, I realize many of you are listening from other countries outside the USA, so you may not have this holiday where you live. That's fine. Still, I do appreciate how we set aside a day each year in this country to practice gratitude.

00:27
And what follows, we'll consider a great biblical example of thankfulness. Hannah, my hope is that by considering her amazing story, you will be inspired to give God thanks for your blessings as well. And this message about gratitude is good for you any time of the year. In all honesty, here now is Episode 576. Thank God.

00:55
I want to begin by mentioning the TV show alone.

00:59
Because I observed something in this show, has anyone seen this one? Some of you have. Maybe it's where they drop off 10 people in the middle of nowhere and they give them 10 items. They can pick basically whatever they want. Well, there are some limitations and that it's a survival game where people have to survive.

01:20
As long as they can living off the land, everyone has cameras, so they really are alone. There's not like a camera crew. They record them.

01:29
Themselves and whoever lasts the longest wins half $1,000,000.

01:35
It's a starvation game, makes for good TV in my opinion. Something in watching this show that really struck me was the gratitude that people have when they get food.

01:50
Because if you've seen the show, you'll see this where somebody will be just absolutely.

01:57
Starving, literally starving. And they haven't had food for days. And then they'll catch a rabbit.

02:03
Or they'll catch a fish. And by the way, they're very selection biased. They do not take many Christians. They did, however, take a pastor in season 2 and he won the show. Just going to say that right there, you know, one of.

02:18
My.

02:18
Brothers, one of my brothers, and he did not look like he had any.

02:22
Hope I don't know how he did it.

02:24
But he he did win the show, but generally they they thank they thank the fish.

02:29
You know, they serve like, catch a fish. Oh, thank you. Fish like the fish can understand them or they thank the place.

02:35
Ohh thank you to this location that I meant. Thank you to this island. Thank you. Vancouver Island. The show was there. Or thank you. Patagonia. They did a show in Patagonia. Like a place can hear you say thank you. Or they'll say thank you to the universe.

02:52
Or thank you to the ancestral spirits. You know, there's a lot of spiritual types, spiritualist types in these shows.

03:00
I was always struck by watching the show and seeing like, just this overwhelming, I mean. And they're not just saying thank you. They're weeping. They're shaking. They're just overwhelmed by having some piece of food.

03:15
Or they'll find some berries or whatever, and they're just overwhelmed. And and it's like God made us so that when we're deprived and then we get what we need, that we're just overwhelmed with gratitude. And I fear that for so many of us.

03:30
We just don't get deprived very much. We have pretty easy lives, at least as far as food goes and temperature. You know, we have this whole concept of inside. It's magnificent. I love the idea of inside that we could be in a space that is different than.

03:49
The weather outside, right?

03:51
But we do get deprived every year, don't we? And when it first happens and the snow first falls, it's idyllic, right. And we're like, you know, and the the kids are like, oh, look, it's snowing. And like the adults are like, oh, look, it's snow. It's like a snow globe. It's beautiful, like, you know, the snow is going to fall.

04:11
They're like, oh, this should be a painting, right? And then.

04:14
Then you know February gets here and we're just like, oh, it's all the snow is all crusted over and old and dirty. And we've got these walls along our streets and sidewalks, and we're starting to question life itself. And then March comes and we're just sort of banging our heads saying why.

04:34
Why? Why?

04:37
But then spring spring comes eventually every year, spring comes and I and I, I notice this every year. There's a definitive day when I go outside and the sky is blue and the birds are chirping and the sun is shining and there's this smell, a spring smell. I don't know what it's called and I'm just like overwhelmed with gratitude. You ever have that experience?

04:59
In the South, they don't get this. Maybe when the summer ends they get it more.

05:06
Spring is something to be grateful for, right?

05:09
The Bible has a number of incidents that talk about gratitude, and I I was kind of going back and forth on what I should cover with you this morning, but I was thinking that it would be good to cover Hannah in the Bible. I think Hannah is a really great example, so it's going to be a first name if you want to go to first Samuel Chapter 1.

05:30
We're going to look at that and I think we can learn some lessons of gratitude from the example of Hannah.

05:36
Because you want to be thankful. Listen to me.

05:40
You want to be thankful this is not a Jedi mind trick. It's just the truth, OK? And you might say to yourself, well, why do I want to be thankful? That seems kind of like what? Like a hallmark movie. Or, like, who cares? This little sentimental. Why do I want to be thankful? Let me give you some reasons. There are emotional benefits to gratitude. You feel better. You're more relaxed.

06:01
You're more resilient. You're less envious. You have happier memories. Literally your memories are happier if you're a thankful person.

06:10
You have personality benefits. You're less materialistic, less self-centered, more optimistic, increased self esteem and you're more spiritual.

06:19
You have social benefits of gratitude. You're more social, kinder, healthier marriage, more friendships, deeper relationships, as it turns out, we like you more if you're thankful.

06:34
You have career benefits of gratitude, better management, improved networking, goal achievement, improved decision making, increased productivity. So what I'm saying to you is that gratitude is.

06:47
Good for you, you.

06:48
You will even get health benefits. Look at this. You get better sleep if you're thankful. I would not have guessed that, but it makes sense.

06:57
You're less sick, you have greater longevity. You have increased energy and you exercise more.

07:06
You want to be thankful? That's what I'm saying. You want to be thankful. So let's take a look at Hannah as an example of a woman of God that can teach us about gratitude.

07:18
Now Hannah lived in the time of the judges. Those of you familiar with the Bible know that the judges was chaotic. Period of what? Of a lot of vigilantes and a lot of, well, they. They sum it up with the phrase everyone did. What is right in his own eyes.

07:37
Kind of reminds me of the Wild West. If such a thing ever existed outside of Hollywood. But you know, this idea of that, like, everyone's just doing their own their own thing. And we read about Hannah in verse. One of Samuel one. It says there was a certain man of Ramathaim Zochem of the Hill Country of Ephraim, whose name was alquina, the son of.

07:57
Jeroham, son of Elihu, son of Toho, son of Zuf and Ephrathite.

08:03
He had two wives. Hello. The name of the one was Hannah. The name of the other Panina and Panina had children, and she had a sandwich named after her too.

08:15
But Hannah had no children. That's terrible.

08:18
That's really bad.

08:21
Hannah was probably the first wife that would be my guess. You you don't often end up with two wives. It happens from time to time in the Old Testament, typically with like really wealthy people like kings. But it would happen for regular people. If your wife didn't have any children for an extended period of time. It was common not just in.

08:42
In Israel, but other ancient countries as well to.

08:46
Take a second wife and this is probably what happened.

08:48
With.

08:49
Abraham and Hagar, you know very similar kind of thing. And it was a it was an understood, accepted practice because children were really essential. You gotta have kids in order to take care of the property in order to pass on the inheritance. That's probably what happened. It doesn't really say it.

09:07
He says he had two wives, but we do know that Hannah didn't have any children and that that was a major plot point in the whole scenario here, look at verse three now. This man used to go up al Qaeda as the man.

09:21
Year by year, from the city to worship and to sacrifice to Yahweh of hosts and Shiloh, where the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phineas were priests of the Lord. On the day when Elkanah sacrificed, he would give portions to Penina his wife, and to all her sons and daughters. But to Hannah he gave a double portion.

09:42
Because he loved her, though Yahweh or the Lord had closed her womb.

09:48
Al Qaida is playing favorites.

09:50
Yes.

09:51
He's playing favorites. He's got his wife, that has no kids and he's got his wife. That's had has all these kids. And even though his wife has given him all these kids, he's giving a double portion to his wife. That has no kids. This aggravates the other wife.

10:08
You know, it's it's funny the the the Bible never says, at least not in the Old Testament. Don't marry more than one woman or more than one man. It never says that. But every single time somebody does it is bad.

10:23
So like you judge for yourself, you know, like you're supposed to get the point anyhow.

10:28
I want to point out something here. It says in verse three. Once again, he used to go up year by year.

10:34
And what did he go up to do? He went up to the place where the sacrifices were made. He would either bring money and then buy an animal, or he would actually bring an animal. Depends on how far it was.

10:47
And sacrifices in the ancient world, sacrifices were opportunities for rejoicing. They were basically barbecues and times of great feasting. Sacrifices were good. Everybody enjoyed the sacrifice, the priests, the family that brought the animal, random poor people that needed.

11:05
Food, anybody that was around, I mean it takes.

11:08
A lot of.

11:09
People to eat a cow or a bull. I mean, how many people can eat a pig roast? What, like 20 guys, you know, forget about it. If it's a bull or a cow. My goodness, you could feed a village for a day. So they used to do that every year they go up every year. And when they had to sacrifice.

11:25
Hannah's got a double portion. She got the prime.

11:30
Cut of the.

11:31
Meat. Steak. Come on. Who's with me?

11:32
Hmm.

11:36
All right, verse 6 and her rival used to provoke her grievously to irritate her because the Lord had closed her womb, so it went on year by year, as often as she went up to the House of the Lord. She used to provoke her. Therefore, Hannah wept and would not eat, and elkanah, her husband said to her.

11:56
Anna, why do you weep? And why do you not eat? And why is your heart sad? Am I not more to you than 10 so?

12:03
Guns.

12:04
So this whole favoritism thing totally backfires on Al Qaeda, right? He is trying to bless her because she doesn't have any children, which is aggravates the other wife because he's playing favorites and he's totally it's funny how clueless he is. Like, why doesn't this work? You know, it's so simple. It just gives you more meat.

12:25
You'll be happy she has kids. She'll be happy. Everyone is a big, happy family. Does this not remind you of?

12:33
Thanksgiving. Not that you have multiple wives at Thanksgiving, but like, just like the dynamics at the Thanksgiving meal.

12:40
Can you? Can you see this as like a Thanksgiving meal? Can you see it? Because you know they're bringing animal? I mean, they're not eating Turkey.

12:48
But like they're they're bringing an animal, they're cooking the animal. Maybe there was a long table, I don't know. But, like, you know, they're they're sitting around and they're eating. And the one wife says to the other one. Why does she get the Turkey leg? She's not eating for two.

13:08
And then Hannahs over there and and she just, you know, puts her stuff down, gets up from the table and walks away crying. And she says, I'm not gonna. This is just like a Thanksgiving meal that many of us.

13:18
Would have right where?

13:20
What? What's the phrase they use there in verse 6 provoke her grievously to irritate her?

13:27
How many Thanksgivings have you been?

13:29
To.

13:30
Where you felt provoked grievously and irritated.

13:35
It happens, you know, sometimes family is difficult.

13:40
They're having a big family eating a big meal together and the the wives are fighting.

13:45
Look at verse 9. After they had eaten and drunk in Shiloh, Hannah arose. Now Eli the priest was sitting on the seat beside the door post of the Temple of the Lord. She was deeply distressed and prayed to Yahweh, and wept bitterly, and she vowed, avow, and said. Ohh. Yahweh of her.

14:03
Yes.

14:04
If you will indeed look on the affliction of your servant and Remember Me and not forget your servant, but will give your servant a son.

14:13
Then I will give him to Yahweh all the days of my life, and no razor shall touch his head. What do you do in your sadness? I mean, here's Hannah. She's really upset.

14:24
She's so upset. She's so beaten down by the facts that she's barren and barrenness is hard in any age, but especially in a world where a woman's value, her own self worth.

14:42
Was connected to how fertile she was.

14:45
What? What a terrible place to be in for this woman. You know, I'm sure to some degree looks were considered valuable, right? And I'm sure to some degree, intelligence was considered valuable. Or if she had money, but really, if she could have kids, that was, that was really the prime goal.

15:05
Of this kind of society.

15:09
It says in verse 10 she was deeply distressed.

15:12
And she wept bitterly. I mean, she's really at the end of her rope. She doesn't know what to do with her husband. He keeps giving her extra meat. It's not helping, right. She's probably a vegetarian or something, right?

15:26
Enough with the extra meat, honey, you just you just making panina angry. So she's at this point of distress. She's in this point of sadness. She's devalued in her culture. And she what does she do? She prays to God. And you notice too. She makes a deal with God.

15:43
Did you catch that 11? She vowed a vow and said Ohh. Yahweh host if you will, do you look on the affliction of your servant or Remember Me and not forget your servant, but we'll give to your servant a son. Then I will give him to Yahweh all the days of his life and no haircuts. Right? So she's making a deal with God.

16:01
Have you ever done this?

16:02
In a prayer.

16:04
Come on. We I feel like we all do it from time to time. Do you ever? Do you ever wonder like what God thinks about that? You think like he's up in heaven and he's like, he's listening to Hannahs prayer and.

16:16
He's just like.

16:18
Deal.

16:20
Yeah.

16:22
I don't. I don't know how it how it works. I I think you got to be careful with vows for sure, which we'll come back to. I don't know if that's really that really works or not. Just for the record, I'm just going to say I don't. I'm not going to recommend it, but maybe it, I don't know, verse 12.

16:40
As she continued praying before the Lord, Eli observed her mouth. Hannah was speaking in her heart. Only her lips moved and her voice was not heard. Therefore, Eli took her to be a drunken woman.

16:55
And Eli said to.

16:56
Her how long will you go on being drunk? Put your wine away from you.

17:04
But Hannah answered no, my Lord. I am a woman troubled in spirit. I have drunk neither wine nor strong drink. But I have been pouring out my soul before Yahweh, do not regard your servant as a worthless woman for all along. I have been speaking out of my great anxiety and vexation.

17:23
Then Eli answered. Go in peace and the God of Israel, grant your petition that you have made to him.

17:31
And she said let your servant find favor in your eyes. Then the woman went her way and ate, and her face was no longer sad. I always feel that way after I eat. My face is no longer sad. Just throwing that in there. But I mean, what? What an interesting exchange. So she's praying and in the.

17:51
In the ancient world, seems like people were really public with if they read or if they prayed, you know it was spoken. It wasn't just like in your head, in our society we believe.

18:02
And a lot of privacy. And so like most of our prayers, I don't know about you, but most of my prayers are just like in my head. They're not spoken sometimes spoken, you know, certainly when we pray for food, we usually speak them out loud, but not always. You might be in a restaurant or something and you might just do it in your mind. So she's just she's.

18:19
Praying. And she's not moving her lips.

18:22
For whatever reason, Eli thinks that means she's drunk because drunk people always pray with their lips moving, but no sound. I mean, I I just to me, I don't get it. Like, where? Where is he coming from? So he totally blunders and look.

18:39
As a spiritual leader, we do get it wrong sometimes. Just going to say that sometimes we misread a situation. Sometimes we act too quickly and sometimes we act too slowly. It happens. I have been been on the wrong end of this plenty of times, but what I'm so amazed by is not Elis incompetence, but Hannah's.

18:59
Grace.

19:02
What a graceful woman.

19:05
Wow.

19:06
Here he accuses her. She's at the deep distress.

19:12
Her life is terrible. She's got nothing to look forward to other than watching this competition, wife raising her children and every time that child that a new, you know, she's got all these kids, she's the most fertile lady in the land, right? And Danita has another kid and another kid. And you know this 10, this one's crawling. Everyone should celebrate.

19:33
Oh, this one is walking. Oh, everyone should celebrate. And here's Hannah. You know, with her extra piece of meat.

19:41
Right. Her life is terrible. She's miserable. And this guy, this priest.

19:49
Accuses her of being drunk just to add on top of it.

19:53
And instead of taking offense and saying some priest.

19:57
You are if you were.

19:59
Really close to God. You would know what's really going on here, idiot.

20:05
She could easily have taken offence right here, right, very easily. She's falsely accused most of us. If we're falsely accused, it's go time. At least for me. I mean, if you if you want to see me get get. What is that word? Pugnacious.

20:21
Just falsely accused me of something.

20:23
And she's not. She's graceful. And she just explains the situation and she does not press into it.

20:32
This is a quality woman.

20:36
What does she say? She says.

20:38
No, my Lord. I'm a woman troubled in spirit.

20:41
You know, ** *** just diffuses it.

20:43
I'm speaking out of my great anxiety and vexation, and then she gets kind of like a blessing from the guy he's like, go in peace, you know, go and a.

20:51
Mayor request be granted.

20:54
And then she goes and she says let your servant find favor in your eyes. Just incredible humility and grace in this woman, wouldn't you say?

21:04
Verse 19. They rose early in the morning and worshipped before the Lord before Yahweh. Then they went back to their house at Rama, and Elkana knew Hannah his wife.

21:16
And Yahweh remembered her, and in due time, Hannah conceived and bore a son, and she called his name Samuel, where she said I have asked for him from the Lord.

21:29
All this time she wanted a child.

21:32
And she finally got one. Can Can you imagine her gratitude? You know, year after year? Ohh. It's not happening or month after month. Really. It's not happening. It's not happening. It's not happening. It's not happening. She finally gets a child. This woman had gratitude. Why did she have gratitude? Because.

21:49
She was deprived.

21:50
For so long and then now she had.

21:53
Her child, and she wasn't deprived anymore. She was fruitful, and she's just thrilled.

21:59
She bore a son and she called his name Samuel.

22:03
How thankful was she? What do you think?

22:07
On a scale of like one to 10, she's like at A10. She's just like this is this is literally changed my entire life.

22:16
And this boy called Samuel will come to be one of the most significant people in the entire Kingdom.

22:25
Probably the most significant person in the entire who actually wasn't even called the Kingdom. It was just 12 tribes of these, you know, a confederation with with random charismatic leaders that would arise from time to time. And, you know, rally people together. Samuel, her son, would be the one to hear the voice of God.

22:45
And he would be the one to speak to the people and to judge the people and to bring justice, establish justice in the land. He had a circuit, and he would ride from one city to another city to another city, and he would hear cases and he would dispense justice.

23:00
And then when it came time for it, he was the one that God said. I want you to go annoying Saul to be the first King of Israel. That was Samuel.

23:11
Hannahs son.

23:13
One of the most significant people in the Old Testament and then when Saul had gone badly gone in a bad direction, what? What did? What did he do? God called him and said I want you to go to the House of Jesse. And it was Samuel who stood there. Well, Jesse brought in the oldest of his sons.

23:31
And a guy named Eliab son named Eliab, and to God, Samuel said that's not the one. And then he brought in the next one and the next son and the next son. Those of you familiar with the story until the there, there were no more sons left. And Samuel's still standing there. And Samuel says to to Jesse. He says don't you have any other kids? It's like, well, there's little David out in the field.

23:52
You know what's he going to do?

23:55
Bring him.

23:55
In.

23:56
And he sees little David most unimpressive, good looking, but not big or strong or important, he says. That's the Lord's anointed. That was Samuel, who blessed David, who anointed David, who made David the king.

24:12
This is a very significant person that Hannah bore this this miracle baby for her.

24:20
Of course, she doesn't know any of that. Sorry, I got ahead of myself a little bit. She doesn't know any of that. She's pregnant. OK, that's where we're at. And then she bore her son and she and and she said I asked him from the Lord, you know, the boys name means that or something similar.

24:35
Now she's got to do the hardest thing in the world. She made this vow.

24:40
Ohh, I'll have a son. I'll give him to the service of the Lord.

24:44
So she this is crazy. She finally gets her son, and now she's gotta give him away.

24:52
It's a good reason not to make vows, you know? Just like polygamy doesn't work well in the Old Testament. People who make vows in the Old Testament generally, it goes badly for them, Jesus said. This is way after the time of Hannah, so it's not like she would be accountable for this. But Jesus said don't make any vows just like, say what you mean? Say let your yes be yes and.

25:11
Your no be no.

25:13
The brother of Jesus, James said above everything else just don't swear.

25:19
Don't swear. Don't make vows. Right. Just be people of integrity. If you're going to do something, do it. If you say you're gonna do it, do it. Don't swear and make an oath. And you know all this other stuff. But she that's what she did. So now she's got to bring in the boy. It says in verse 21, the man, al Qaeda and all his house went up to offer to Yahweh, the yearly sacrifice.

25:39
And to pay his vow. But Hannah did not go up. Uh, for she said to her husband, as soon as the child is weaned, I will bring him so that he may appear in the presence of Yahweh and dwell there forever.

25:53
OK, now her husband said to her.

25:56
Sounds good, honey. No, he said. Do what seems best to you. Wait until you have weaned him. Only may y'all. Wait. Establish his word. So the woman remained and nursed her son until she weaned him. And when she had weaned him, she took him up with her, along with a three-year Old Bull and Efaw flower and a skin of wine. And she brought him to the house.

26:17
Of Yahweh at Shiloh and the child was young. Then they slaughtered the bull and they brought the child to Eli.

26:25
Weaning just for those of you who don't know, it means the child.

26:28
Is no.

26:28
Longer nursing, OK, you can wean yourself off something, right? Use it with, like, drug addiction and stuff. Wean yourself off drugs. But weaning it could be just like diminishing your dependence on something. But in this case, it's talking about nursing the child. You know, we have our own culture in the United States.

26:46
About how long is long enough, OK.

26:50
There's not much information about this in the ancient world. You only like really have stuff where people talk about it, right? So like, unless somebody wrote something down about this subject, we don't really know what ancient people did, like how old was this kid? That's my question. Right. Well, we do have a little document from Egypt.

27:10
And then we have another little statement from Second Maccabees, which is a Jewish document, and they both say about three years that they nurse their kids for about 3 years so.

27:23
I think that would just about kill my wife, but whatever. You know, like, once the teeth come in, it's like, you know, alright, let's get on some baby food here. But these kids are like having conversations with their parents, you know, like more.

27:33
Yeah.

27:36
Please, you know like.

27:39
Three years old. My goodness, I think some tribes even do it longer than that. I I don't know. I'm not here to judge, OK?

27:46
We want to get the kid to a point where he is somewhat independent, somewhat able to, like, eat on his own, use the bathroom, right, do those kinds of things because you're going to be donating this kid to the service of God and the priests. And Eli is not going to be trying to change diaper. It's not at this point, you know what I'm saying?

28:04
So maybe he's 3 or 4 years old, but still incredibly young, right? And So what does she do? She shows up with a bull and she has an efaa flower. And she's got a skin of one. I asked myself the question, why did she bring these things? When I look at the various sacrifices in the Old Testament, especially in the Book of Leviticus, I think this is a Thanksgiving.

28:24
Offering.

28:25
It says in Leviticus 711 and this is the law of the sacrifice of peace offerings that one may offer to Yahweh if he offers it for a Thanksgiving.

28:37
Then he shall offer, with the Thanksgiving sacrifice, unloving loaves mixed with oil, unleavened wafers smeared with oil, and loaves of fine flour well mixed.

28:48
Soil with the sacrifice of his peace offerings. For Thanksgiving, he shall bring his offering with loaves of leaven bread, and from it he shall offer one loaf from each offering as a gift to Yahweh. It shall belong to the priest who throws the blood of the peace offerings, and the flesh of the sacrifice of his peace offerings, for Thanksgiving shall be eaten.

29:08
On the day of his offering, he shall not leave any of it until the morning.

29:14
This is a law about a particular kind of sacrifice. This sounds really strange to us today, right? Like the priest job was to throw the blood against the altar, right? I'm so glad.

29:25
That's not my job, but people look at Old Testament stuff. People look at the law, the Torah, the Law of Israel. They have different reactions, right? Some people look at it and they're like, ohh, how primitive. Look at these people. They didn't even have TikTok, you know? And then other people look at them and they say.

29:44
I think I can learn something from this and I I hope you're in that category because I think there's something really profound here to learn about what Hannah did. Because Hannah didn't just say thank you.

29:59
She didn't just say thank you to God.

30:01
She did something.

30:03
And and to me, that's a that's a great challenge, right? And it and it took logistics. It took money. It took effort. She had to bring that bull and the flower and the wine. Where does wine come from? I know what you're gonna say. The liquor store. But they don't have liquor stores, right?

30:22
Grapes. Where do the grapes come from? They you know? So we're talking about a long process here. You know, they've they had to pick the grapes. They had to mush them. They had to wait. They had, you know, when it comes to the bowl, that's a long process. A lot of feeding over time, watching over the animal, making sure it didn't misbehave with the cows.

30:42
Or misbehave in the right kinds of ways, or the right kinds of times, right? You know, like there's a lot that goes into this, that the final end of the whole thing, you get a meal.

30:52
A Thanksgiving meal. OK, not American, but an ancient Hebrew Thanksgiving sacrificial offering. And the rule is this.

31:02
No leftovers.

31:05
No leftovers.

31:07
I mean, we eat a Turkey and the next day we have leftovers. Actually not in my my family actually is is so big that we have to cook a.

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Separate.

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Turkey so that we have leftovers. Right, I think we we do that like a the leftover Turkey. But the rule there was no leftovers. So we're talking about.

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People are feasting.

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People are not holding back. People are feasting. This is going to be a great time of celebration.

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And the priest is going to be taken care of. And whatever priests are around, they're they're all going to be taken care of. Everyone's going to be rejoicing.

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Any poor people.

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That are around are going to be invited in. There are laws about that too, and it's going to be a time of great rejoicing.

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People survived in those days on grains and seasonal produce.

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To get meat was exciting. It was a time for rejoicing. Verse 26 and she said Ohh, my Lord, as you live, my Lord, I am the woman who was standing here in your presence, praying to Yahweh for this child. I prayed and Yahweh has granted me my petition that I made to him.

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Therefore, I have lent him to Yahweh as long as he lives, he is lent to Yahweh and he.

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The the three-year old the.

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4 year old whatever.

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He was worshipped the Lord there.

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Is that something little?

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The boy bowed to God. You know, he was raised, right? Might not be the older educated too much. You know, how much can you educate A3 or A4 year old? Right? But he knew enough to worship the Lord.

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She gave him to the service of God. I mean, come on. This is a woman of faith.

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You're gonna. You're gonna pray and pray and pray and be miserable and pray and pray and pray. And then you finally get what you're praying for. And now you give him up to basically to adoption.

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Just what she did that.

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Is a woman of faith. That is a profound example.

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We read in Chapter 2.

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Verse 18.

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The rest of the story we're gonna have to skip over the song of Hannah and the poem and all that. But chapter 2, verse 18 says Samuel was ministering before the Lord. A boy clothed with the linen ephod.

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And his mother used to make for.

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Him a little.

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Robe and take it to him each year when she went up with her husband to offer the yearly sacrifice. Then Eli would bless Al Qaeda and his wife and say, May Yahweh give you children by this woman for the petition she asked of Yahweh. So then they would return to their home. And here's.

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The key verse.

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Verse 21.

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Indeed, Yahweh visited Hannah, and she conceived and bore three sons and two daughters.

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And the boy Samuel grew in the presence.

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The Lord.

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She had five more kids.

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I bet she was the most grateful woman in that.

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Right. Because she had gone without and then she had this whole ordeal and she and and and then she gave the child away. And then God said, alright, let's just let's bless this woman look.

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I want a blessing from God. You want a blessing from.

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God.

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Be grateful, be thankful.

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It's not the only thing, but it's it's an important thing. God took care of Hannah, and she was probably so thankful for those kids.

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Which makes me think that depriving yourself sometimes is a good thing.

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And for those of you who are parents, depriving your kids?

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Can be a good thing too. Obviously if you overdo it and there's chronic anxiety or food insecurity, that will generate problems, OK.

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That's not what I'm talking about. You got to provide for your kids, but doesn't mean you buy them the newest doodad, the newest gadget, the newest. Whatever you do, what you think is right. OK. But my point is this.

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All gets in the room.

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I'm so nervous. My point is we got Christmas coming up.

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My point is this. Like if you can't afford it, then don't buy it, you know, buy the used version or say where we're going to save up for this. Listen, depriving your children can make them grateful for the rest of their lives.

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I'm reminded of the time our family, when I was a boy, my brothers can attest to this and my sister's here, that we would go out to a restaurant not that many times. I don't. I don't really know. My parents too are here. We go out to a restaurant few times. We weren't poor, but we weren't really allowed to order soda.

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At the restaurant and you know, sodas expensive. We were five kids, 2 parents, 7 people. So everything is time 7. I remember, like, you know, being a teenager, I'm sure my parents probably remember this too. And you know, the waitress would come around and she never asked the parents what are what are the, what are the kids drinking?

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Yes, they ask you.

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This is an opportunity, right?

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I could feel the eyes just like staring daggers.

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Into my soul, say water, say water.

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I think I water soda once and that was the first and last time.

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But look, you know, like if, if, if. If I had gone out to eat all the time as a kid, I would have a different attitude towards it today because we didn't get to go out that much. And when we went out, we didn't order an appetizer. We didn't order a dessert. You know, we we stuck to the basic.

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Every time I go out to eat now as an adult, I'm thankful.

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Isn't that something? What a gift?

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What a gift. It's it's hard in the present because you're like, oh, I don't want to deprive. I don't want you.

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Know everybody wants to spoil their kids.

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Well.

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It's not always the right thing to do. Sometimes it is. You figure it out.

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So what's my point? My point is be thankful.

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Think to yourself of times when you were deprived, when you, when you were sick, and now you're healthy. Think of times when you were alone or you had other things that you've gone through struggles that you've gone through that are now resolved and you can be a grateful person. And here's the other thing. I want to encourage you to do. I want to challenge you to do is that when God answers your prayer.

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I want you to find a.

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Way to show gratitude.

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I think it's great to say thank you, God, or thank God, right. I think that's great. But look.

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We want to be, at least at the same level as Old Testament morality, right? And the Old Testament they offered a bull and effa flower. All this stuff with oil and and wine, and it's like and. And we just like, oh, thanks God.

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Come on. Like we need to be able to show it. You know, whatever that looks like for you. Let God lead you in how you do that. Whether you show it to God or you show it to other people in the name of God. Right. But you know, that's the challenge. I want to leave you with. Now, today we have the opportunity to take communion together.

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And this is perfect for us because the greatest reason we have to thank God is for the salvation he brought about through his son.

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So we're going to take some time to consider what God did for us through Christ.

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We were unworthy.

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Of a savior, yet Christ died anyhow.

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We could not have saved ourselves.

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But God provided a way. We were ignorant of our desperate state.

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Yet Christ suffered in full knowledge of what he was doing.

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We could not contribute to our salvation, yet God provided all we could ever need.

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We have defied God.

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And living in disobedience. And yet Christ was obedient to the point of death, even death on a.

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Cross.

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We've corrupted ourselves with sin, yet he was the perfect Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

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And this salvation that God has accomplished through Christ has brought us forgiveness from sins.

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That's huge forgiveness from sins we can say I'm no longer held accountable. I can be set free. I can.

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Have a fresh start.

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It made us children of God, adopted into his family. It is actually a verse in the Bible that says we are able to cry out ABBA father.

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You don't have a right to call the creator of the universe father. Apart from what Christ has done to make you a child of God.

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He brought us into a new covenant arrangement with God won us freedom from the law and from sin. He conquered the devil and demons, giving us victory, showing us a sterling example of how to live, how to go through suffering. You think Jesus didn't know about suffering?

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Not just in his crucifixion, either. His whole life he he faced a lot of suffering, a lot of a lot of criticism.

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Even sometimes where people try to beat him up until they finally did beat.

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Him.

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Up, right. And he went through that out of obedience to the father out of love.

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And for you?

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This salvation also gives us a hope in the coming resurrection and the Kingdom of God. We have so much to be thankful for.

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If you're married, thank God for your spouse. That person lives with you.

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My goodness, I think about my wife. I'm like.

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Year after year, 20 years now, she.

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Lives with me.

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I'm not that easy.

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I'm really not and and if you have kids, thank God for your kids. If you're not sick right now. Thank God for your health.

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And if you have a job, thank God for your job, even if it has problems, right, at least you.

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Have a job.

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How many of us have been without jobs for a time and and we were anxious and we were praying and praying and we're praying, right?

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And now we got a job job.

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Is a blessing from God. You know there's so much to be thankful for, but most of.

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All.

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It's because we have a relationship with God because of what Christ.

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Did.

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Well, that brings this teaching to a close. What did you think? Come on over to restitutio.org and find episode 576. Thank God and leave your feedback there. Well, I'm back from my trip in the Philippines and new.

41:48
And home safe and sound back in New York. And lo and behold, it's Thanksgiving Day, and it is snowing like crazy. Actually, I woke up this morning and noticed that the forecast predicted 8 to 12 inches, which, who knows? That may change as the day progresses. But what an exciting.

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Day and what an exciting change. I went from 80 to 90° in the Philippines with high humidity to in the 60s in New Zealand.

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To in the 30s in in New York with snowing, and then my son and I ran a Turkey trot this morning, a one mile race for grade school kids. He's only 7, my son Ezra, and in the town we ran in, it was just a little S so it was actually just pouring rain. So go figure anyhow.

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I hope you're all having a great day today and that this message helped you to consider why it is so important to give God thanks.

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Just a couple words about my trip. Visiting the Philippines was a real delight. I had gone to visit the churches there in 2005. So 19 years ago, which is kind of interesting because kids 11 and 12 and 13 year old kids that I saw there last time.

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Are now fully grown adults with their own kids and a number of the older folks that were there when I was there last still more or less look the same, which is God's blessing, I would say, and it was a delight to visit.

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Churches in Manila or as they like to say, Manila in the Quezon City area as well as the San Juan area and then we got to visit a group of believers and a home fellowship in Nueva Sinha. And then we had a weekend event at BACNOTAN in the LA Union Province.

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In the north by the sea got to swim in the South China Sea or as they like to call it, the West.

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PNC and then down to Mindanao in the South visited a church in Napon, which is a couple hours drive outside of Davao City, and that was a that was a delight to to see all the banana plants and coconuts, trees and just incredible.

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Countryside there. So yeah, it was. It was really encouraging to meet up with a number of Christians over there that are part of the Living Hope International ministries.

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And I also got to go down to New Zealand to help launch the first ever Unitarian Christian Alliance conference.

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In New Zealand, which was attended by somewhere between 90 and 100 people, which is fantastic, most of them were Kiwis. People from New Zealand and a number of others from Australia came over and participated in the conference and that was a real delight.

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Got to hang out with the Burke brothers. A couple of Christadelphians that I was thinking back. I'm like, you know, I think I also have known these guys for about 20 years as well. Maybe maybe not quite 20 years, but a long time since the early days when I was just having a blog called Kingdom ready.org. It was an early attempt at just.

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Getting a team together to put out some Christian content on.

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A regular basis. I think we had at one point maybe four or five post going out every week on that blog. So anyhow, I had met Jonathan Burke on there and it was good. It was great to meet him in the flesh as well as Dave Burke. There were about 15 Christadelphians in attendance at the New Zealand Conference. Got to play Ultimate Frisbee.

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With a few of their teenagers on Saturday afternoon last Saturday.

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Really had a lovely time with Zach and Kayla Mayo as well as Kaylan's parents, Vaughan and Sharon, and a number of others that I got to see their people who have been listeners of restitutio for a long time, or even just for a little while, really so gratifying to discover that this podcast.

45:55
Is getting out there even to the bottom of the world even way down in New Zealand, where we go far enough South that the weather starts to feel like where I live in the north so.

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Best fund I so appreciate how this message of Biblical Unitarianism is spreading so much in our time. Just having spent so much time in Asia and in the Pacific and seeing and meeting the people. And look, it's just stats when you're looking at a website analytics.

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Interface. But when you actually meet the people, it's not stats anymore. These are real living breathing made in the image of God.

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Human beings that have families and they have struggles, and there's just so much of suffering that people go through where they change their beliefs on this or that, and then they get ostracized by their community of faith. So we're looking to build communities of faith that are compatible and that are not ostracizing.

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People who honestly approach scripture and happen to discover that Jesus is a human being and not a God man. So anyhow, hopefully we can continue planting churches around the world, and if you're interested in starting a church, please get in touch because either my organization Living Hope International ministries can help you, or I might know.

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Another organization that's more compatible with your belief system that can help you get started as a biblical Unitarian church in your.

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Area. So anyhow, that's it for today. Thanks everyone for listening. If you'd like to support restitutio, you can do that on our website restitutio.org. I think our donation app was having some problems. So I fixed the code on that a couple of days ago and hopefully that now works on all devices. So check that out if you're interested in giving.

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That's it for me for today. Have a great week and remember, the truth has nothing to fear.