Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope that everyone reading this was able to have a wonderful Thanksgiving celebration! I'm most thankful that God saved me from His wrath through the substitutionary death of Jesus Christ. Further, I'm thankful for how God executes his decrees in creation and providence. I'm thankful for many things, but here's a few more: (1) salvation in my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ (2) my family (3) the elders at my church who have gently and lovingly taught my wife and me more about Scripture and God's grace in the gospel (4) the deepening Christian fellowship we have had at our church and with friends both old and new (5) the great privilege it is to be an ambassador for Christ as a Christian.

Ted and Meryl Freeman had a bunch of us over to their place for Thanksgiving. We had great conversation and sang some great hymns: Now Thank We All Our God; For the Beauty of The Earth; We Gather Together; There is a Fountain; and Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing. It was great! Here's a picture of us all at the dinner table:

Below is a devotion from Charles Spurgeon's Morning by Morning that Lindsey and I read on the morning before Thanksgiving. This is a great reason to give thanks!

November 25

...to proclaim liberty to the captives.

Luke 4:18

No one but Jesus can give deliverance to captives. Real liberty comes from Him alone. It is a liberty rightly granted; for the Son, who is Heir of all things, has a right to make men free. The saints honor the justice of God, which now secures their salvation. It is a liberty that has been dearly purchased. Christ reveals it by His power, but He bought it by His blood. He makes you free, but it is by His own bonds. You go clear because He bore your burden for you: You are set at liberty because He has suffered in your place. Although the purchase price was great, Jesus gives it freely. He asks nothing of us as a preparation for this liberty. He finds us sitting in sackcloth and ashes and invites us to wear the fitting garment of freedom; He saves us just as we are and without any help from us. When Jesus sets us free, the liberty is perpetually enjoyed; no chains can bind again. Let the Master say to me, "Captive, I have delivered you," and it is done forever. Satan may plot to enslave us, but if the Lord is on our side, whom shall we fear? The world, with its temptations, may seek to ensnare us, but He who is for us is mightier than all those who are against us. The movements of our own deceitful hearts may harass and annoy us, but He who has begun the good work in us will bring it to completion in the end. The enemies of God and the antagonists of man may gather their forces together and come with concentrated fury against us, but if God acquits, who is he that condemns? The eagle that flies to its rocky perch and afterwards soars above the clouds is no more free than the soul delivered by Christ. If we are no longer under the law but free from its curse, let our liberty be practically displayed as we serve God with gratitude and delight. "I am your servant; the son of your maidservant. You have loosed my bonds." (Psalm 116:16)

Spurgeon, C. H. Spurgeon's Morning by Morning Revised and updated by Alistair Begg (Wheaton: Crossway, 2007), 345.