I want to begin by telling you about an amazing thanksgiving that once took place.  This thanksgiving took place long before the Pilgrims.  There was no turkey dinner at this thanksgiving, but there was a sacrifice of what are called “clean birds.”  (There might have been a turkey in there.)  It is the thanksgiving that took place on the day Noah and his family finally came out of the ark when the Flood was over.  On that day, we are told, Noah built an altar to the Lord and sacrificed some of all the clean animals and clean birds. (Genesis 8:20)  Can we even begin to imagine how happy and thankful Noah must have been that the Flood was over?

Jesus is coming back.  This has been a truth preached by the apostles and confessed by the Church since its beginning.  The early Christians called the return of Jesus his “Parousia.”  Parousia means “a visible, personal presence.”  The early believers in Jesus were not expecting a secret, quiet return of Jesus.  They were expecting a visible, personal, bodily return of Jesus at the end of the ages.

Embedded in every religion on the planet is the concept of “righteousness.”  Whether or not the religion uses the word “righteousness,” it is there.  By “righteousness” we mean a right standard of conduct or obedience that will get a person into heaven.  Typically, this righteousness is sought by obedience to a prescribed set of rules.  “Do this” and “don’t do that” kind of stuff.

You have likely all heard the old saying that there are two subjects to avoid when talking to strangers:  religion and politics.  Maybe some of you here can think back on times in your life when you learned that lesson the hard way.  You made a confession of what you as a Christian believe, or you offered your political opinion, and someone said, “Them’s fighting words!”

The father’s have eaten sour grapes and their sons’ teeth are set on edge. (v. 2)  Can you picture what that means?  That means that a dad bites into a sour grape and his son puckers and winces because it is so sour.  It was a way of saying that children suffer for their parents’ sins.