Take a Lesson from the Tree

I have a bit of a peculiar introduction to a Thanksgiving sermon. I am using a passage that has probably never been used in conjunction with Thanksgiving, but it is the one God directed me to use, so here we go. I want to tell you a story about a tree. Actually it is not my story. It is God's. Listen to this story about a great tree. I am reading from Ezekiel 31. Our tree here was awesome. It had no comparison in its height and breadth. It was magnificent, beautiful and strong. Many came and found rest in its shadow. It was the envy of all tress. I can't say it better than God - it was the tree of all trees. Right up to the point God cut it down. It may be great and look stronger than anything else, but God can bring a tree down the moment He decides. The tree had become proud. It began to believe it was the source of is greatness. It began to believe it was the source of all it had. You do know God is not talking about trees here. He is talking about nations, about churches, about people, maybe you. When we begin to believe that we are the source of what is good in life, when we do not acknowledge that it is from God, we are literally making ourselves to be God. It is the biblical definition of pride and arrogance. It is the sin of Satan and it is the sin that brought about a fallen world. Arrogance and pride puts us a nation, a church, a person on a collision course with God.