Another Sermon Illustration Collection Perfect for Thanksgiving Day

Thanksgiving Day is fast approaching. So here is a collection of sermon illustration that you can use for Thanksgiving Day Sermon.

You can also use these collection in your sermon about being thankful to God. Sometimes, we overlooked our lives and only see all the negative things that are happening. But behind all that, God never left us in all those trails and sorrowful days of our lives.

May these stories and illustrations affect the way we respond to God in all circumstances we are in.

God’s Provision

The words “harvest” and “thanksgiving” are linked together in many cultures. Most who till the soil know that our feeble human efforts do not produce crops; crops require sun and rain and other variables that are beyond our control. The early settlers and the indigenous people they found here also recognized the importance of God’s provision for survival. Hundreds of years later, a commemorative meal serves as a reminder for us to thank God for those things necessary for our survival.

Safiyah Fosua
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Let Us Show Thanks in Our Example

An international gathering of youth met for a full week to discuss how better to promulgate Christ’s message to the world. Those assembled for the conference read many informative essays, heard many fine speakers, watched a few videos, and had ample time to discuss with each other. As the conference was beginning to break up and the those attending were packing to leave, a young woman from East Africa arose and said, “In my country when we hear that a pagan village is ready to accept the Gospel we don’t send books, videos, a Bible or even an evangelist. Rather we send the best Christian family we can find because we have found that the example of a good family speaks louder and more clearly than all the books, speeches, and videos in the world.”

The truly important things in life are generally the intangibles, like the way we present ourselves to others. The one that is often forgotten and undoubtedly the most important is our faith. It is only through faith that we come together as a community to give thanks to God this day. It is our faith in peoples, institutions, and ideas which allows our society to progress. As we gather around the dining room table and celebrate with family, friends, and loved ones, sharing the produce of the land, let us be mindful of the great gifts God has given us.

Richard E. Gribble, CSC, Sundays after Pentecost: Conversion to Christ, CSS Publishing Company

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With Heart and Hand and Voices

Martin Rinkert was a minister in the little town of Eilenburg in Germany some 350 years ago. He was the son of a poor coppersmith, but somehow, he managed to work his way through an education. Finally, in the year 1617, he was offered the post of Archdeacon in his hometown parish. A year later, what has come to be known as the Thirty-Years-War broke out. His town was caught right in the middle. In 1637, the massive plague that swept across the continent hit Eilenburg… people died at the rate of fifty a day and the man called upon to bury most of them was Martin Rinkert. In all, over 8,000 people died, including Martin’s own wife. His labors finally came to an end about 11 years later, just one year after the conclusion of the war. His ministry spanned 32 years, all but the first and the last overwhelmed by the great conflict that engulfed his town. Tough circumstances in which to be thankful. But he managed. And he wrote these words:

Now thank we all our God

With heart and hands and voices;

Who wondrous things hath done,

In whom his world rejoices.

It takes a magnificent spirit to come through such hardship and express gratitude. Here is a great lesson. Surrounded by tremendous adversity, thanksgiving will deliver you…with heart and hand and voices.

Brett Blair, www.eSermons.com

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How to Be a Pilgrim

The Pilgrims had the courage to act on their commitments, no matter what. Do we?

Sociologist Robert Bellah, author of Habits of the Heart, is impressed by the power of religion. He once said, “We should not underestimate the significance of the small group of people who have a new vision of a just and gentle world. The quality of a culture may be changed when two percent of its people have a new vision (and act on it).”

Christians make up far more than two percent of our town, far more than two percent of Massachusetts, far more than two percent of Americans. So, why don’t we have a greater effect: on issues of the environment, on justice for the needy, on the quality of life on Cape Cod? Could it be we need more courage to act on our commitments? To be a Pilgrim means to stand up for what you believe, no matter what.

To be a Pilgrim also means sharing what you have, and turning thanks into giving. The Pilgrim colonists willingly shared all they had. During their first three years, all property was held in common. At one point, they were down to five kernels of corn per day for food. Still, they divided the corn kernels up equally. And, the original group of fifty that survived the first winter shared their limited food with the sixty newcomers who arrived in the spring.

One of their finest moments came in 1623, at the first real Thanksgiving. The small colony hosted over ninety Native American braves for three days. There was eating and drinking, wrestling, footraces, and gun and arrow-shooting competitions. It was the Pilgrims’ way of saying “Thank you” to God, and to the Native Americans who had helped them survive. To be a Pilgrim means sharing and turning thanks into giving. How thankful and giving are we?

Alex A. Gondola, Jr., Holidays Are Holy Days: Sermons for Special Sundays, CSS Publishing Company

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Tomorrow Will Be Anxious for Itself

An ancient Chinese parable tells of Old Tan Chang who had a small farm overshadowed by a towering mountain. One day he got the notion to get rid of the mountain. With the help of his wife and sons, he began to hack at the rock around its base. A neighbor walked by and scoffed, “You will never finish the job, old man! There are not enough days in the year for you to do this.”

But Tan replied confidently, “I am not as foolish as you think, my friend. I may be old and feeble, but after I am gone, my sons will continue to peck away at the mountain. Then their sons and their sons” sons will do the same. Since the mountain cannot grow, someday it will be level with the ground, and the sun will shine upon our land.”

Many of the problems we cannot eliminate instantly can be moved one piece at a time, one day at a time. Did not Jesus share in Matthew 6: 25-34 read a few moments ago, “So do not be anxious about tomorrow, tomorrow will be anxious for itself.”

Eric S. Ritz, www.Sermons.com

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For That I Am Especially Thankful

During a harvest festival in India, an old widow arrived at her church with an extraordinarily large offering of rice – far more than the poor woman could be expected to afford. The itinerant pastor of the church did not know the widow well. But he did know that she was very poor and so he asked her if she were making the offering in gratitude for some unusual blessing. “Yes,” replied the woman. “My son was sick and I promised a large gift to God if he got well.” “And your son has recovered?” asked the pastor. The widow paused. “No,” she said. “He died last week. But I know that he is in God’s care; for that I am especially thankful.”

Traditional

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Talking Turkey – Humor

This morning we want to talk about food. That’s a relevant subject for most of us.

The two biggest sellers in any bookstore, according to Andy Rooney, are the cookbooks and the diet books. The cookbooks tell you how to prepare the food and the diet books tell you how not to eat any of it.

Orson Welles once said, “My doctor has advised me to give up those intimate little dinners for four, unless, of course, there are three other people eating with me.”

Champion archer Rick McKinney confesses that he regularly eats chocolate chip cookies for breakfast. He refers to “the basic four food groups” as a Big Mac, fries, a shake and a lemon tart. A California scientist has computed that the average human being eats 16 times his or her own weight in an average year, while a horse eats only eight times its weight. This all seems to prove that if you want to lose weight, you should eat like a horse.

A young fellow watched as his dad finished a heavy meal and then loosened his belt. “Look, Mom,” he said. “Pop’s just moved his decimal point over two places.”

King Duncan, Collected Sermons, www.Sermons.com

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Try Christianity

The famous American editor, Horace Greeley, told of receiving a letter from a woman who wrote: “Our church is in dire financial straits. We’ve tried everything to keep it going: a strawberry festival, an oyster supper, a donkey party, a turkey dinner, and, finally, a box social. Will you please tells us, Dr. Greeley, how to keep a struggling church from disbanding?” Dr. Greeley wrote back to her a message in two words: Try Christianity!

What did he mean by that? Look at it in this way. The ancient world failed to help men and women meet the problem of life, because, although their wise men could teach, they could not supply the power to put it into practice. The Old Testament prophets could explain the Law of Moses, but were unable to provide the power needed to fulfill it. Then, into the midst of the ages, came this man Jesus and, before the wondering eyes of men and women, he declared, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” These people saw truth coming alive in his amazing personality; and, when his enemies finally killed him, his great spirit was liberated to be wherever needy souls cried out for him. In all the ages since, for all those who have received him as the bread of life by committing their lives to him, he has brought power over their every weakness, victory over every failure, and conduct and character that have made the world a better place in which to live.

Donald MacLeod, Know the Way, Keep the Truth, Win the Life, CSS Publishing Company