Give Thanks!

November 27, 2025

Host: Dr. Jamie Mitchell

Co-host: Sam Rohrer

Note: This transcript is taken from a Stand in the Gap Today program aired on 11/27/25. To listen to the podcast, click HERE.

Jamie Mitchell:

Well, good afternoon and happy Thanksgiving. We pray that you’re taking time today to gather with friends and loved ones, enjoy the day reflecting on all that God has provided and done and how he’s protected us. This year on this very special Thanksgiving edition of Stand of the Gap. Today I’m spending the hour with my friend and the primary voice of Stand in the Gap, the honorable Sam Roar. We want to spend this hour together about talking about being thankful and reminding ourselves of the ways that we can be grateful this year. Sam, happy Thanksgiving my friend. So I have a question for you. What does the Rohr family do today and what kind of special Thanksgiving traditions will you roll out this day?

Sam Rohrer:

Well, Jamie, happy Thanksgiving Day to you as well and your family for ours. Fortunately, all of our children all married now all live within 20 minutes of Ruth Ann and I, which is a tremendous blessing and just about all of them are able to have the entire 32 or 33 of us when we put everybody together at their homes. And so today we’re planning on being Atlas something comes up or planning on being at one of our oldest children’s home and everybody will be gathering there. And so nothing special really other than being together, although we do take a time of talking about things and sharing some things that have been a blessing in the past year. So we’ll plan on doing that.

Jamie Mitchell:

Well, Sam, I want to look today at some different aspects of our lives and what we should be thankful for To start our discussion, I want to look at the topic of the gratefulness and Thanksgiving and the Bible tells us in Philippians four, don’t be anxious about anything but rather bring up all of your quests to God in your prayers and petitions along with giving thanks and the peace of God will exceed all understanding and keep your hearts and minds safe in Christ. Sam being thankful is good for us. There’s a value to it. It’s helpful to us. Why is being thankful so important and why is this day a value to us personally?

Sam Rohrer:

Well, let me start with the second part of that question first. Thanksgiving day is a great day because it’s within its name. Now, I don’t know that all Americans sit around and when they gather together to eat and get together family, that they actually take any time to express those things for which they should be grateful. But it is a day that is set aside for that point. In some respects, Jamie, it almost is a day that makes it so that no one has any excuse to say for what they should be thankful, but in a general sense, why is it good? I think that’s a great question. Being thankful is good. Well, it’s good because it’s a demonstration of an attitude that says we have not made for ourselves and done for ourselves. The things that we have, even the food on the table that we eat did not come from us.

Being thankful puts us in a position where we recognize that there are others. Ultimately, it’s being thankful to God. That’s really essential. That is a very, very thing because being thankful Jamie has a way of elevating others above ourselves and ultimately properly done. It elevates God above all and I think it helps us to calibrate and recalibrate our priorities in life, being thankful, being full of gratitude. It produces an attitude of service and of love and an appreciation and an understanding of the goodness of God. There’s a lot I just said in there, but I think that’s a part of what being grateful, having gratitude should do and does.

Jamie Mitchell:

I just love being around grateful people. They’re so uplifting, but people who either refuse to show gratitude or struggled to find some things to be thankful for, you see the effects on their lives. What are the negative effects of just not being thankful? I mean, how does it manifest itself in our lives if we just refuse to take a moment and be grateful?

Sam Rohrer:

Jamie, there’s a passage in Romans chapter one that God lays out there. The apostle Paul lays out that says that when we refuse to honor God for who he is, then there’s a dec unclench, there’s a move into sin and evilness, and then that’s the balance of Romans chapter one. But so let’s put it this way. There are the negative effects of not being grateful, not being thankful are enormous. One major one is pride. The devil manifested that when he came to Eve and the garden and self-sufficiency is another one. When he made her think that, well, perhaps God hadn’t given her all that she’d deserved, she wasn’t so pride.

I think there’s another attitude that comes along kind of like a companion of those two, and that’s Arrogancy. A person who walks along in this life feeling that they are a self-made man, so to speak, proud self-sufficient, we can do it ourselves. It manifests they have no fear of God. They’re clearly is an awareness that they do not expect to give an account to God for all we do, which scripture says that we will one day give account for all that we do and ultimately not giving thanks. Jamie ends up in a person embracing idolatry because what it does is it removes God from the position of supreme worship and it pulls them down and it puts something that we did, something that somebody else did, something that we think about ourselves. It puts us out of alignment in authority to God who’s ranked authority.

We think that we’re a little bit equal to him. There are a lot of things that come as a result of it, and frankly, Jamie, none of them are good. Deuteronomy chapter eight is a great chapter that where God told Israel, I’m going to take you into a land which he did. I’m going to give you blessings, which he did. I’m going to give you houses which you didn’t build, and he did. I’m going to give you wealth that you didn’t deserve. But he warned to me, he said, but at which point you get to the point where you think that all of those things that I did, you got for yourself, pride, self-sufficiency, idolatry. He said, then I will turn and I will take all of those blessings and remove them from you in the form of cursings and judgment. So it is for an individual, it’s extraordinary. For a nation, it means collapse. That’s what God says to Israel. So it’s a big deal. It’s a big deal not to be grateful.

Jamie Mitchell:

Hey, Psalm 92 says, it’s a good thing to thank the Lord a good thing. That is what we want to do today. Encourage you to be thankful when we return. Can we be thankful as Americans? This Thanksgiving, we’re going to focus on our nation next for this special Thanksgiving edition of Stand In the Gap Today. Well welcome back on this Thanksgiving Day edition of Stand in the Gap. Today I’m here with Sam Rohr and we’re trying to stir up a grateful spirit in our hearts today. Sam Thanksgiving is a holiday rooted in our nation’s history. It’s unique to the American experience. The whole reason was to give thanks for sustaining the early founders and settlers of this land. So it’s right to turn our attention to why we should be grateful as American citizens. Sam, I know this is something you are passionate about. We’re not a perfect nation, but what should we remind ourselves about this thanksgiving, about the exceptional nature of the United States of America?

Sam Rohrer:

Well, Jamie, I don’t know if we have enough time to talk about this, but in reality there is so much that can be said. But you know what I was thinking, and I’m thinking about your question there, and there was a key word that you used, used the word exceptional in regard to the United States. Of course that’s a word that we have used. A lot of people have used that word, but as I think about that, I think about Thanksgiving day, I think about our founders that caused them, or the early pilgrims that began that practice of giving thanks to God for his provision that was later then incorporated and became a national holiday or holy day that we now are still celebrating. I think the thing that has changed, Jamie, that I would like to take it back to is this. I think our founders would’ve used the word exceptional also, but I don’t know that they would’ve used the word exceptional about this country.

He said, well, what are you saying? What they clearly made exceptional was God and God’s blessing and God’s pattern because from those days of the early founders, the pilgrims, the Puritans, and all the way through a hundred years even time William Penn came here in Pennsylvania where I’m sitting 16 92, 82, through that period of time, up through the Declaration of Independence, that entire time was a time where this nation was developing its attitude toward God and they didn’t know whether this nation was ever going to come into anything or not. William Penn called it a holy experiment had never been done before. A holy experiment of doing what? Well, could a nation actually lay down its laws and its attitude and understanding of God in a way that by doing the right things biblically as they called it out, that God then would bless. That was the whole experiment part.

They didn’t know. They did not know whether that would come about or not, but they did know that if it were to come about, they had to lay down the right foundation, which recognized that God was exceptional. He was God and God alone. He was the granter of blessings. He was the sovereign God who raised up nations and put them down and raised up people and put them down, and that unless they did what God’s word said, they could not expect this holy experiment to ever get off the ground. And Jamie, that’s how I’d like to rephrase and have people think differently about Thanksgiving day and exceptional people talk about exceptionalism. I have a real problem with many who talk about it because they have a tendency to think that they can make America great again. We can make America exceptional. No man ever made America exceptional or great from the beginning God and God alone made this nation great, but it was because there were people who had a vision of a great God and they recognized that all that we had came from his hands and that all that may come in the future would come only through his hands.

So that’s just what I thought I’d lay down here right now. Jamie, in response to that question? Good question,

Jamie Mitchell:

Sam. I think of it in a very personal way. As I sit in my office here today, I have a picture of my dad here and I think of him often when it comes to America. Here he was a 9-year-old boy who traveled with his mom and sister to join his father here in America from Scotland. He had to take storage in a standard oil barge. That’s who my grandfather worked for. He was a Cooper, a barrel maker for standard oil, and he came to America. And growing up, my dad used to talk about what it was like coming to this country as an immigrant and seeing the ravages of what was happening in Europe at the time and his little understanding as a nine-year-old boy, but all of the opportunities, all of the things that he was able to experience here. And I cherish that, Sam, because I think a lot of my attitude of America as imperfect as we may be, comes from a father who came here from another country and now myself having traveled the world and seeing what other countries are like. I know every time I return back here to America, I say thank you God for America. Thank you for what you have done in this nation. But Sam, we acknowledge that modern day America is going through some difficult, difficult times and we could be weighed down with all that’s wrong. Nevertheless, as you look over this past year, what can be thankful for as we look at the landscape of our country? And while you’re at it, maybe two or three things that we should pray for our nation even today at Thanksgiving around our tables.

Sam Rohrer:

Lemme start with the last one again. What should we pray for? Jamie? I go to the word of God like we do regularly in this program. What does God say that we should pray? Well, we should pray that. Pray for all of those who are in authority. Why that we should live a quiet and peaceful life. What do we pray for those in authority, our president, those in Congress and those in positions where they’re making policy decisions that affect us? Well, we should pray that they have a fear of God, that they understand that they will give an account to God for what they do, that they will understand that they are not kings nor tyrants, but servants of God, ministers of God, Romans 13 calls them and that they are servants of the people, that their attitude should be one of not doing that which is best for them.

But that which reflects the purposes that God has laid down for government, which is to praise those and protect those who do well, keep the law, do that which is morally right and to punish justly those who break the law. Those are things, Jamie, that we should pray for the early church. Were to pray for that even in the time of a cruel room and rule. So whether we have godly rulers or we have ungodly rulers, I’ll say that’s for those things we should pray. Now, what are we thankful for? Well, first of all that we, I’m going to go directly to God. I’m going to thank God on this day for God who made this nation great, that God alone is truly great. I thank God that he is God and does not change. His promises don’t change. And when we repent as individuals and a nation run to him, he will hear.

I think that we can be thankful that for the moment we still have freedom to worship God freely and that we still can travel and choose to work and live where we feel God would lead us. But we also need to be aware that these freedoms are fleeting faster than ever. So that’s part of what I pray for as well. Lord, continue to give us this freedom so that we can raise our children, train them up in the ways, in the fear of God that we can gather to worship without being afraid as many people are in many countries, that they will be hauled off to jail or their churches done, that kind of thing. And then the third, I think we can be thankful that Jesus Christ is returning soon for his bride and that the days in which we live in these last days of the church age and they really are because we know Israel’s back in the land. That’s not a question of some future time. We’re in that time that the Lord himself is coming back and we are to comfort ourselves and others with that thought that God’s plan of redemption is being carried out and literally we can watch it take place almost day by day. Those are things Jamie, for which I am thankful and those are, that’s how I’m praying for those who are today in authority.

Jamie Mitchell:

Sam, in two Timothy three, Paul writes young Timothy and he uses this phrase, he says, be careful or be on your guard for the dangerous seasons that we have experienced. And he was talking primarily about the church. But as I look back in our history, America has gone through dangerous seasons. There’s been different philosophies, there’s been different nations, there’s been different enemies. But one thing is that God has continued to shed his grace and mercy on us. And I would pray that we would continue to acknowledge that the phrases on our coinage in God we trust won’t just be some little slogan, but will be a reality. Listen, friends, we strive for a more perfect union. We are ever struggling, we are ever changing. We are ever attempting to become what the founders had desired. And with God’s grace, may we continue to pursue that when we come back.

How to be thankful in our homes. Probably you’re meeting with your family, your friends, your loved ones, people who are close to you today. We hope you do. We hope you have a glorious celebration today of God’s goodness. When we come back, Sam and I want to talk about how to be thankful family and friends on this special edition stand in the gap today. I know you’re probably getting the Turkey ready or putting the finishing touches on your mother’s cranberry sauce recipe. But while you’re doing that and making all the preparations for today, keep your radio on and you can listen to Sam Roar and I as we spend a few minutes this day encouraging you on how to be thankful. Sam, to encourage our listening family. Here’s a couple of my favorite Thanksgiving passages, Psalm 28, 7. The Lord is my strength and my shield in him, my heart trust, and I am helped my heart exalts. And with my song, I give thanks to him Psalm one 16, I will give you a thanks offering and I will call on the Lord’s name. And then Paul writes in Colossians three, everything you do or say should be done to obey as you are a representative of the name of the Lord Jesus. And in all you do give thanks to God the Father through Jesus. Sam, do you have a favorite passage regarding gratefulness that you want to share today?

Sam Rohrer:

I do. There are so many because the great thing about it, Jamie, is that throughout the scripture, this concept we’re talking about of giving thanks hearts of gratitude, giving praise to God, well what is giving praise to God? What is worshiping God other than manifesting thanks to him for what he has done? You know what I mean? So it’s all through scripture here, just a couple verses. The Apostle Paul in First Thessalonians chapter five in verse 16 to 18, he just says, these things says rejoice always. So that’s one thing. Pray without ceasing, that’s another closely associated one. And then in everything give thanks for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. And what I like about that, Jamie, is that the apostle Paul is saying there is that true thanks and a grateful spirit. Giving thanks is something that should be done in all circumstances, not just the ones that we like, that we say, Lord, I really like what’s happened today.

I’m going to give you thanks for it. But then the next day things don’t go so bad or they’ll go so well, and Lord, what are you doing to me? And we forget to give thanks. Nobody says give thanks in all circumstances because the giving of thanks is an attitude that should be a manifestation of a way of life naturally flowing from our hearts and mouths. So that even as the apostle Paul when he was in prison, shackled, dark, dank, rant, rats running around, I am sure in that prison they sang to the Lord. They were giving thanks even in that circumstance. So I think that’s a big one because at the end of the day, nothing that we will go through, no circumstance in which we can be placed will equal the pain and the suffering that Christ went through for us. So under no circumstance can we ever, ever experience anything that approximates the time that Jesus hung on the cross, shed his blood and had his father turned himself away from him.

Anyways, that’s what makes me think of that is one. Another one is Psalm, Psalm 1 36, 1 where it says, give thanks to the Lord for he is good. His love endures forever. I say, why is that? Well constant, God’s goodness is constant. It doesn’t change. It’s like the north star. It doesn’t ever move. And his love endures forever. His love is steadfast. We can count on it. It does not change because he cannot change. So to me, Jamie, those are a couple of them, but with thanks and with gratefulness, there’s always an object that ought to be the Lord. And when we focus on him in all circumstances, it really can carry us through the very, very most difficult times. And as you said, our country, we’ve had difficult times in this country. Each of us have gone through difficult times, but if we’ve trusted in the Lord, he’s given us what we need to go through. He’s great.

Jamie Mitchell:

Sam, I want to hit on two issues here because relationships are so important, especially this day. We’re going to spend time with loved ones, maybe family, friends, and I want you to touch on two issues. The first is how do we encourage folks today in regard to showing or demonstrating or stating their gratitude to their family or friends? But then secondly, and maybe this is probably the most important thing I want to touch on is Sam, you have a large family. You just mentioned that how many dozens of people will be together and you got a lot of kids and grandkids around. Why is it so important to teach young people to be grateful, especially in a culture and a world that is just filled with envy and rights and expectations? Why is it or how do you poor that spirit of gratefulness into our next generation

Sam Rohrer:

Again, Jamie? Yeah, the Lord’s given us six children. We have 18 grandchildren. So we get together, we have like 30 some, and it’s a big crew. And when I look around at them when we gather, I say, well, thank you Lord for what you have done. And that is part of what I just said. Right there is part of God’s plan for passing along the spirit of Thanksgiving. And what is it that causes that? Is that when we are together as a family, it doesn’t have to be just our own personal family, it could be within our church family, it can be a care group family. It is that time is spent thanking God for what he has done in raising of children. That concept is there beginning in, well, Deuteronomy chapter six is a great one. It says Fathers how to train their children and their sons and their sons sons.

But the principle is day by day we talk of the goodness of God. When we get up in the morning and when we walk during the day and we work together and we do things, and when we sit down to eat and before we go to sleep, the communicating of a grateful attitude is demonstrated by mom and dad. Those are in charge and lived out day by day gratitude. And the attitude of gratitude can never be and is never imparted on a single lesson. It’s imparted on a walk through life. And that’s why the Deuteronomy chapter six passage is so very, very, very important. And in that whole section as well as setting up things called like memorials, reminders, plaques on the wall in the home that has a Bible verse as an example, that when you look at it and you see a promise of God, when Joshua crossed the Jordan River, Israel went into the land.

God told ’em, take 12 stones out of this and river and put ’em on the bank and for what purpose? Well, so that when your children’s children, children to come look at that pile of stones, they say, why’d you put them there? You then remind them just as Deuteronomy chapter six says with your children, remind them of all that God has done. He promised Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the promises of God. And we sinned and took us into bondage in Egypt and we suffered for 400 years. And then God came and redeemed us and brought us out into this new land. Recall every one of those things, how he opened up the Red Sea as he provided man A for us along the way, and they opened up the rock and they gave us water. You remind your children of these things which God has done.

So Jamie, there is a process, but it is always the same point back to God, what he has done, what he has done, gratefulness, thank you God for what you have done. And moms and dads can impart that in their own lives. If they’re not grateful, their children are not going to learn to be grateful. If they’re not thankful and demonstrate it in all circumstances, their children won’t when difficult times come. But when it’s done God’s way, it’ll be communicated. And then we can raise up another generation that knows who God is, fears him and is thankful to him for what he’s done.

Jamie Mitchell:

Sam, it’s so easy to find a negative. You just ask somebody, so how was your day? And inevitably they go to what went wrong. They go to what didn’t work. And with our own son and with ourselves, we really have to be very intentional to be grateful. So when we’re around our loved ones, our friends, our family, our spouse, be intentional about showing Thanksgiving. Say specifically what you’re thankful for. Be personal with a word of encouragement and take the time to say to a person why you are grateful for them. We need that. It’s so easy to go to the negative, but especially on a day like today, like Thanksgiving, friends, you get a chance to express to people and do it personally. And boy, what a difference, what a model that serves to everyone. Thanks, Sam. That’s great insights. Well, friends, do not go anywhere.

We have one last segment and Sam and I, well, we want to talk about you. We want to talk about our listening audience, our, I call it the Invisible congregation of Stand in the Gap when we come back, why we’re thankful for this ministry and the people that God has given to us to encourage each day Don’t go anywhere. I wish I had the ability to smell through my headset. Sam, I bet you that there are some great aromas moving through the homes of our listening Stand in the Gap family. And though we are so grateful that you have turned on the program today, while you’re making all those preparations and letting us be a part of your holidays, Sam, as we come to the end of this program, we would be remiss not to give thanks for the opportunity that God has given us to serve with the American Pastor’s Network and to minister through Stand in the Gap today through Radio. Sam, why are you grateful for this ministry and especially for our radio audience?

Sam Rohrer:

Well, Jamie, I am thankful. And that’s a good question. I thank the Lord every day, or at least I try to every day. Thank the Lord for our standing in the gap today, family. That’s how I view them. Jamie, you’ve pastored a church. You’re preaching again, you have a congregation. Okay? For us here, we really have a congregation of millions because around this world in Africa, in Eastern Europe and in all 50 states, this signal goes every day. One of the amazing things about it is, Jamie, is that on radio we have no idea who happens to be turning on the radio at any given point in time. We don’t know because we don’t hear from everybody. Obviously, what particular thing that may be said on the program is being used by the Holy Spirit to encourage or edify someone who is listening, who just at that moment in time happens to have an issue for which maybe they were praying.

And I’ll share a letter in a little bit about someone who shared just that very thing. Most of the time we don’t know. So I thank the Lord every day for the opportunity that you and I and Isaac and others that we will have on the, and our guests have to communicate to millions of people and to be as if we’re standing behind a pulpit because we view this as a pulpit. It’s a place from which we can communicate the truth of God’s word in application to the things of the day. So that’s how the program was put together. But to be able to do that now us personally, all of us I know, we thank the Lord for that opportunity to do so. It brings a great deal of accountability or responsibility because we are speaking to so many people. So that’s why when we ask and I ask people to pray, pray for us, pray for our team, pray for wisdom, pray for discernment.

It’s for that purpose because we’re going to give an account to God because of what we say. So I thank the Lord for every person that he has tuned in, for people who are regular listeners, of which there are so many, and it’s so obvious for those who have chosen to stand with us in prayer, I thank the Lord for those who have chosen to stand with us financially because we have to have dollars in order to be able to continue this. And that’s a daily request before God. So for all of these things, Jamie, because you know what?

Each of us, and we say it on the PR regularly, each of us as believers has a responsibility to not only seek growth in our own life, but life, but try to disciple others. Now, it could be our children, it could be our grandchildren, it could be a congregation, it could be someone that we led to the Lord, but we should be in that mode of discipleship and helping to people to walk in the ways that Christ would have them to walk. Well, this program is something that God has brought up that allows that to take place. So it’s a blessing. And I’m thankful for being able to be impart God’s word into the lives of people. Though I do not and cannot see them, I know that they are there and God is directing his word. Jamie, I don’t know how else to describe it, but it’s just that this program wouldn’t be a program without the listeners, without those who are listening to me right now. Without you, why would we have the program? But you’re listening because the Lord has directed you to listen. We are here because we’re trying to be responsive to God’s call in our lives and together then that aspect of discipleship and training up others, it all works together. But that’s such a wonderful thing,

Jamie Mitchell:

Sam, you say you don’t get to see the audience, which occasionally you do, but in my role as director of church culture and pastoral engagement, I head out every year to numerous pastoral conferences representing a PN. And it’s inevitable. Sometime during that conference, somebody will walk past our booth, they’ll see our display, they’ll come up to me and they’ll say, Hey, stand in the gap. I listened to your program, or I was listening to your program, or a member of my church sent me a link for one of your programs, and here is how you made an impact on me. And so Sam, I get the joy of being around a lot of pastors in a given year who utilize Stand in the Cap and they listen and they’re blessed. But I know you hear from people via letters and emails. Sam, do you have a word from one of our listeners of an encouragement of how standing the gap has made a difference in their life?

Sam Rohrer:

Yeah, Jamie, there are many, and I can’t fail to go out and just walk around and people will come up and testify the same thing. And so I know that those people are there, but as we behind this microphone, I don’t see, that’s what I’m saying. Literally I don’t see, but I know. Now, one letter we got recently was from a Muslim convert in Albania, a Muslim convert in Albania. Our stand in the Gap minute program runs there, and I’d done a program, they’re testifying a series of programs for a week had been done on Israel and how we as believers should respond to Israel. This Muslim convert said that that series on Israel helped her as a Muslim convert to understand why her attitude toward Israel and Jews should be different than what she was trained to be. And it was because of her understanding, because of standing the gap.

Minute on why God chose Abraham, Isaac and Jacob chose a, people chose a nation, chose a city. That’s just one. Here’s another one. One just came, and let me just read this to you. I’ll just say this. This lady, her name’s Cindy, she said, I listened to Friday’s Ask Sam program, and that was just a couple of weeks ago with Isaac, she said, and as soon as I got home from my son’s house, the last thing he and I discussed before I left was a dilemma I face. Imagine my surprise. When you and Isaac touched on the exact same topic once again, the Lord is working through you all to reach the remnant. She goes on to write, I write now to ask your perspective on my dilemma. I do not want to put you in a difficult position with my question, so feel free not to opine.

She said, I may be asking too much from you all, and for that I apologize. I do not feel that any pastors at my church can or will address this topic. You and your guest and your programming are the rare lights that shine in this dark age in which we live and highlight so many relevant prophetic developments. So I thought to write you, since you address this yesterday, goes on to say this, I thank you all with all my heart for your faithfulness to your calling, for helping to equip us remnant believers with the truth that we need to navigate these waters until Jesus comes for his church. Again, I say, you’re your energy is amazing. Thank you all for what you do. In Jesus’ mighty name, and for his glory, I pray for you all and your team at a PN and for all his wisdom and might to continue equipping the saints. I thank God for you all, Jamie. That’s fantastic. And it sums up what so many, many people think and say, and I thank them for that.

Jamie Mitchell:

Well, as we close this special Thanksgiving edition, we’re reminded of what the apostle Paul said. I thank God for his indescribable gift and on this Thanksgiving, we thank mainly is for Jesus Christ, our Savior, our Lord Messiah, our friend, and soon coming King for Sam, Tim, the rest of the APN team. We pray that you have a most wonderful thank.