Gratitude
I heard a story…
A priest, a minister, and a rabbi want to see who’s best at his job.
So they each
go into the woods, find a bear, and attempt to convert it.
Later they get together.
The priest begins: “When I found the bear,
I read to him from the Catechism
sprinkled him with holy water.
and next week is his first communion.”
The minister says “I found a bear by the stream, and
preached God’s holy word.
The bear was so convicted that he let me baptize him.”
They both look down at the rabbi, who is lying on a hospital bed in a body cast.
“Looking back,” the rabbi says, “maybe I shouldn't have started with the circumcision.”
Look at Psalm 48, starting verse 12…
The psalm writer starts this Psalm talking about how
kings gathered together to attack Jerusalem,
but God intervened,
and God saved and protected his people,
and then it says this in verse 12…
Walk about Zion, go around her, count her towers, consider well her ramparts, view her citadels, that you may tell of them to the next generation. For this God is our God forever and ever; he will be our guide even to the end.
Notice he starts…
Walk about Zion, go around her, count her towers
This is a picture of someone who’s just been through a battle,
and the enemy has come against them,
and it looked really bad,
but they’re still standing,
God has protected them and brought 'em through it.
So you walk about
and you kind of take inventory,
you count the towers and say,
hey they’re all still there,
even after this huge battle.
God, you were with me,
it looked like I was going down,
it looked like the end,
it looked like I was finished,
it looked like there was no way out,
but you were with me,
and brought me through it.
How many of you have a story like that in your life,
where you were going through some deep stuff,
and it looked bad,
and it looked like you were at the end of your rope,
and you wouldn’t even be here today,
if it wasn’t for the grace of God,
Are there any grateful people here today,
who can count some blessings in your life,
and you’re grateful that God brought you through it.
Let me tell you,
I’m grateful for all God has done in us,
and all that he’s done for us,
the miracles, and the difficulties,
the times of blessing and the hard times,
I’m grateful for all of it,
and like this scripture says,
I want to tell it to the next generation,
because God was with us, every step of the way.
So we’re going to talk about gratitude today,
and I’m going to start with a few scriptures,
just as a foundation for what comes next.
Psalm 69:30
I will praise God's name in song and glorify him with thanksgiving.
This will please the Lord more than an ox, more than a bull with its horns and hooves.
What pleases God more…?
When we praise God and glorify him by giving thanks.
Gratitude is important to God,
so it needs to be important to us.
God says, it’s more important to me
that you’re thankful,
that your heart is appreciative of who I am and what I’ve done,
that’s more important to me
than oxen and bulls and sacrifices,
that’s more important to me
than acting religious and doing your religious duty.
It says, This will please God more.
You see, God is attracted to grateful people.
God will show up in the situations of people
who are grateful and praise God
in the middle of that situation,
even when the situation looks
dark and dysfunctional.
When you praise and thank God,
in the middle of your problem,
before you see any kind of answer,
that is a step of faith, and that step
will bring God’s power into your situation.
The Bible says in Psalms 22:3
that God inhabits the praises of His people
(or in another translation,
he’s enthroned on the praises of his people.
In other words,
there’s a sense in which our praise attracts God,
and brings God’s power into our situation.
In fact,
Lets look at a story in the bible where that happened.
In Acts chapter 16, it tells how…
one time Paul and Silas were severely beaten,
then thrown into prison,
with their feet and hands chained into stocks,
it was a horrible painful situation,
so what did they do?
They started singing praises to God,
And in Acts 16:25 it says
Around midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening.
Suddenly, there was a massive earthquake, and the prison was shaken to its foundations. All the doors immediately flew open, and the chains of every prisoner fell off!
They were praising God despite their painful situation,
and what happened,
the prison doors opened and their chains fell off.
Are you in a painful situation somewhere in your life,
do you need some chains to fall off?
The place to start is by showing your gratitude to God,
in the middle of that painful situation,
and praising him and thanking him,
so he will be attracted to bring his power
into your situation.
Psalm 100:4
Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise;
You see,
God has a protocol for how he wants to be approached.
He says, when you come into my presence,
the first thing I want to hear out of your mouth is,
Thank You.
You come through the gates with thanksgiving,
and then into his courts with praise.
So he says, you can ask me for anything,
but first
you thank and praise me for everything.
So God says, when you come in my presence,
before you say please,
you say thank you.
Now that’s the opposite of what we teach our kids.
We teach them that first you say please,
and then when you get it, thank you.
But with God it’s the opposite.
He says, I’m a different kind of father,
I want you to first say thank you,
and then you say please.
So before you start praying,
God I need a breakthrough,
God I need a miracle,
God I need some wisdom,
God I need some guidance,
Before you come to God with that,
you first thank Him,
God, thank you for the miracles you’ve already done in my life,
thank you for the finances you’ve already given me,
thank you for the wisdom you’ve already given me,
its just a little, but its more than I used to have,
so thank you God.
1 Thess 5:16
Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.
Notice, this is God's will.
You’re praying, God I just want to know your will,
should I buy that house,
should I take that job,
should I look for a new job,
should I date that person,
should I move to that city,
God I just want to know your will,
Well, I don’t know God’s will about all those things,
but I do know God’s will about one thing,
His will is for us to be thankful,
be grateful to God,
appreciate him, and praise his name.
What do we know about gratitude?
Years ago I was listening to a pastors conference,
and a guy started talking about gratitude,
and he made a couple points that I've never forgotten,
so I want to share those with you this today.
Gratitude is never invisible or silent
Luke 6:45
out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks.
When your heart is grateful, it’ll overflow to your mouth.
When you’re grateful, you’ll say it and you’ll show it.
When you’re grateful to God, you’ll tell him,
and you’ll show him,
you won’t just assume that he knows,
And, when you’re grateful to God for others,
you’ll tell them,
and you’ll show them.
People say things like,
well I’m grateful in my heart,
but I’m just not very good at saying it.
Hold on a second…
If you’re grateful in your heart…
out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks.
So if you’re not speaking it,
your heart isn’t really grateful,
so don’t try to pretend otherwise.
Well I’m grateful in my heart,
but I’m just not very good at showing it.
But you know my heart.
No I don’t know your heart,
what am I, a cardiologist?
I don’t know your heart,
unless you say it and show it.
From the overflow of your heart,
the mouth has to speak,
and if you’re really grateful it will show up in your life,
through your words and your actions.
We're gonna see an illustration of this…
Anybody ever watch Oprah on TV?
Anybody ever watch one of Oprahs “Favorite Things” episodes.
This is a show where she gives away a lot of stuff,
so people get excited about getting some stuff.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t1HxdxRc9UY
Do you think anybody on that show was grateful?
How could you tell?
You could see it, and you could hear it…
Now, if they can be that thankful,
for simply getting some stuff,
that will one day wear out and end up in a trash pile,
then I know the church of Jesus Christ,
ought to be able to give God the same kind of praise,
for sending his son Jesus Christ to die on the cross,
to set us free forever from our sin and guilt.
Giving us eternal life,
Are there any grateful people here today?
Is there anybody whose not just grateful in your heart,
but you’re willing to show it with your life,
you’re willing to shout it with your mouth,
GOD I’m GRATEFUL,
SO THANKFUL,
I WOULDN’T BE HERE Without You,
I’M NOTHING Apart From You
BLOOD SHED FOR ME
MERCY, GRACE
WASHING ME AS WHITE AS SNOW
PROVISION, FAVOR
OPPORTUNITY
LOVING SOMEONE LIKE ME
Gratitude is never invisible or silent
If you’re grateful, you’ll say it and you’ll show it.
Now I know that you have to be real,
I know that you can’t walk around all the time saying,
praise the Lord, about everything,
or you’ll sound phony,
but I’m telling you,
most of us are in no danger
of being too grateful to God.
that’s not what we’re struggling with.
Gratitude is never invisible or silent
The 2nd thing to know about gratitude…
Gratitude Sustains Joy and Blessing
Gratitude Sustains Joy and Blessing
in your life and my life,
in your church, in your family, in your business,
A lot of people get a blessing
but don’t know how to keep a blessing,
because they don’t know how to be grateful.
Have you ever watched a really good lead guitarist play?
You have some excellent guitarists in your band.
And when you watch a lead guitarist on a solo,
you usually notice what they’re doing with their hands,
but if you watch really close,
you’ll notice they’re also using their feet.
They have these pedal boards,
and they’re constantly pushing buttons with their feet,
and though we only notice the hands,
what they do with their feet
affects the sound just as much.
The pedal board can sustain the notes,
it can add distortion, or reverberation,
or can give the guitar a hundred different sounds.
Well,
what the pedal board is to the sound of a guitar,
gratitude is to the blessing of God in your life.
A lot of the time we’re saying,
I’d be happier if my problems would just go away,
I could be full of joy,
but first my situation needs to get better,
That’s what we think,
but that’s not really the secret to more joy in your life.
The secret to greater joy is,
you need to learn to work the notes
that God is already playing in your life,
you need to learn to sustain the blessing
that he’s already given you,
and you do that through gratitude.
Does anybody here remember a time in your life
when you relived an offense over and over again,
somebody hurt you
and you replayed that in your mind a 100 times,
through bitterness.
There is a perverted power that enables you
to re-live an offense over and over again
because of bitterness and unforgiveness,
but if you’re a follower of Christ and the Holy Spirit is in you,
then by the perfect power of the Holy Spirit,
you can relive the blessing of God
over and over and over again,
and you can sustain the blessing of God,
so that even when your situation starts to go bad,
or even when someone hurt you today,
you can flash back to the times in your life
when God was faithful,
and he worked it out, and he blessed you,
And you can rejoice once again
in his faithfulness toward you,
and by doing that you sustain the joy in your life.
Gratitude sustains joy and blessing in your life.
The 3rd thing to know about gratitude…
Gratitude Begins Where My Sense of Entitlement Ends.
Gratitude Begins Where My Sense of Entitlement Ends
You cannot be grateful for something that you feel entitled to.
That’s why people don’t write thank you notes to the IRS
when they get a tax refund.
I'm not gonna thank the IRS,
that’s my money.
I’m entitled to that money.
You owe it to me.
If you start to feel entitled to something,
then your gratefulness just immediately ends,
its gone, disappeared,
the moment you feel entitled.
22 years ago when I became pastor,
I had a bunch of feelings.
I felt completely inadequate,
because at the time I was a very poor public speaker.
I felt unworthy, because I knew that
there were other people in our church
who were probably a lot more holy than me
and sinned less than me.
I felt overwhelmed,
because I was working full time in Corporate Marketing
and I had 3 young kids at home,
and now I have to lead the church as well?
I also felt honored,
that God and the people of my church
would allow me to become the pastor.
I felt honored, because it was like,
I can’t believe I get to do this.
It is so awesome that God has allowed me,
to lead this church of his.
So I had a lot of feelings when I became pastor,
but one thing I did not feel, was entitled.
And as a result, I also felt very grateful.
You cannot be grateful for something, that you feel entitled to.
But the problem is, that entitlement feeling
tries to sneak in over time, doesn’t it.
When you first become a Christian,
and you felt that forgiveness and grace of God,
you realized what Christ had done for you on the cross,
and the huge price he paid
so you could be part of his family,
you feel so grateful, so blessed.
But what happens.
Over time you start to take it for granted,
and you start to feel entitled.
Sure, Jesus died for my sins, and gave me eternal life.
But I don’t feel very grateful,
because what has he done for me this week?
I prayed for a raise at work and I haven’t gotten one.
I prayed for a husband and I haven’t gotten one.
I prayed that you’d take that temptation away,
but I'm still being tempted,
so what's going on God,
are you asleep on the job?
You start to feel entitled,
and so your gratefulness goes out the window.
This happens in ministry all the time.
I've been a pastor for 22 years now,
and I have to admit that
there were times during that 22 years,
that I was tempted to feel a little entitled,
and not as grateful.
God, don’t you know I took a big pay cut to do this?
God those other pastors actually have some health benefits,
and God why is our church always having financial problems,
and why don’t we have more volunteers,
God, why did those people criticize me,
don’t they know I’ve invested my life in this,
I sacrificed a lot,
and on and on and on…
Fortunately when those feelings started to creep in,
It wouldn’t be long before I'd catch myself,
and remind myself that
the only thing I’m really entitled to, is hell,
and everything else good that I have,
is a gift of God,
by his grace and mercy,
so I will not take it for granted,
I will not forget his blessings,
I will not forget that its an honor just to serve him.
Because,
Over time, entitlement wants to creep in and grab hold of us,
we start to take for granted the blessings of God,
and if you let that happen,
it’ll kill your gratitude, and kill your joy.
But after 22 years I still feel honored
that God, and the people in my church
would allow me to be a pastor,
I still thank and praise God for the way he’s blessed me,
I wouldn’t want to do anything else with my life,
If I won the lottery, I’d give it all away
and keep right on doing what I’m doing,
if some corporation offered me a million dollars a year
to come work for them,
I wouldn’t care, and I wouldn’t change,
because it is a privilege for me,
that I get to do what I’m doing,
In fact, I never plan to retire from ministry,
I want to keep serving God
and I want to keep teaching about God my whole life,
There may come a time
when I can’t do it in my church anymore,
but I don’t care if have to go to a nursing home
to find somebody to talk to,
I don’t care if there’s only 3 people listening,
I want to keep teaching about God,
until I can’t talk anymore,
because I’m grateful for what God has done for me,
Just to be used by God is a blessing,
just to be touched by God,
it is an honor to be allowed to serve him,
even the privilege of knowing him is a huge blessing,
How in the world can we ever start to think
we’re entitled to any of that.
We’re not entitled to any of it,
but we are hugely blessed by God,
and we ought to be extremely grateful.
Now, the unfortunate truth is,
some people who come to church
do feel entitled.
Simply because they show up
they feel entitled to have their kids
in a great children’s ministry,
they feel entitled to a variety of classes,
groups or ministry opportunites to attend,
they feel entitled to great worship
every Sunday,
and pastor you better not have an off-week,
because we're entitled,
and since they feel entitled,
they feel no obligation to do ministry themselves…
hey, I’m a busy person,
I don’t have the time or energy.
Someone else can teach the kids, not me.
Let me tell you,
if you have that sense of entitlement in your life,
it will ultimately destroy your joy in life.
and if you don’t have a lot of joy in your life,
maybe that’s your problem.
Gratitude sustains joy and blessing,
entitlement kills it.
You don’t got to do ministry, you get to,
if you want a life full of joy.
Maybe God wants to break that off of
some of us here this morning,
an entitlement mentality,
when it comes to things in his church.
God wants you to have more joy in your life,
he wants you to be able to show gratitude,
but its not gonna happen until you realize that
Every blessing you have comes directly from God.
If he stops for a moment, then you stop breathing.
Our whole life should be an effort
to show him our love and thanks,
because there is nothing more precious to him
than your gratitude and praise.
You see, gratitude is not based on how good your situation is.
Maybe you think your situation stinks right now,
but did you know there’s a million people in Haiti,
that if they had the privilege of trading places with you,
they would be jumping up and down
just like those people on Oprah.
The bible says that God determines the places and times,
and he could have just as easily
caused you or me,
to be born in the slums of PortAuPrince,
but instead he gave you the great blessing of living here.
You ought to be so grateful for that,
and show him your gratitude every day.
One more point about gratefulness.
Grateful People Can Find A Blessing, Enlarge A Blessing, or Create A Blessing, In Almost Any Situation.
Grateful People Can Find A Blessing, Enlarge A Blessing, or Create A Blessing, In Almost Any Situation.
Have you ever known a grateful person,
that was so uplifting and encouraging,
always smiling,
always a kind word,
and it seems like wherever they go,
people feel blessed?
There are some people where it’s the opposite,
whenever they go, people feel blessed,
just to have them gone.
But…Grateful People Can Find A Blessing, Enlarge A Blessing, or Create A Blessing, In Almost Any Situation.
It seems like wherever they go, people feel blessed.
Some of you bible scholars, tell me who said this in the NT.
If you let me live, I’m gonna tell more people about Christ,
If you torture me, I’m gonna get more reward from Christ,
If you kill me, I get to go be with Christ,
so it doesn’t matter to me,
bring it on, its all Christ.
Who said that? The Apostle Paul.
Paul was grateful to God,
even though he wrote that from a prison cell,
with chains on his feet.
You see,
Grateful People Can Find A Blessing, Enlarge A Blessing, or Create A Blessing, In Almost Any Situation.
Now, the opposite of that is also true.
Negative people Can Find A Burden, Enlarge A Burden, or Create A Burden, In Almost Any Situation.
You pray and pray and pray to get a certain job,
and finally God gives you the job,
and then what happens?
2 weeks later you’re complaining about the job God gave you.
Well, my boss never says hello to me,
he seems like he’s always in a bad mood,
and the people I work with are jerks,
I don’t know what their problem is…
You’re turning a blessing of God into a burden.
Some of you prayed and prayed, for God
to bring along a husband or wife,
and now you’re married
and all you do is complain about your spouse.
(it got real quiet in here)
Negative people Can Find A Burden, Enlarge A Burden, or Create A Burden, In Almost Any Situation.
We need to be full of gratitude
for the blessings God has put in our life,
and never lose our gratitude.
Its like instant replay in sports.
I don’t know about you,
but I love that they have instant replay in baseball and football,
and that close plays can get challenged.
In football,
there’s really two ways its used,
Of course the coaches can challenge a play,
But even if they don’t challenge,
all the big plays are covered.
Anytime during a scoring play, or a turnover,
or after the two-minute warning of each half,
and in overtime,
reviews are constantly being made by the replay assistant,
who sits in the press box upstairs,
and monitors the broadcast of the game.
If he determines that a play needs review
it happens automatically
without the need for a challenge.
Now when a play gets reviewed,
and the officials have made the decision,
they’ll come out and say,
upon further review, the ruling on the field stands,
which means the official got it right,
or sometimes they’ll come out and say,
upon further review, the ruling on the field is overturned,
I love that when it happens and it helps the Bengals.
They need all the help they can get,
if they're gonna ever win a playoff game,
before I die.
But of course,
if you’re sitting in the stands watching that scoring play,
you can’t see that play up close,
and it happens so quick
you’re not really sure if that guy stepped out of bounds or not,
you’re not sure if the ball really touched the ground when he caught it.
And even if you could see it,
you don’t have the authority to make any changes.
But that replay official upstairs in the press box
does have some authority,
that official upstairs has got the authority to say,
the call on the field may have looked one way,
but the call upstairs is what it is,
and what it is, is different than what it looks like.
Now, here’s the point…
There’s some calls on the field in your life right now,
and it doesn’t look good,
and you feel like there’s reason to complain,
there’s reason to be discouraged and depressed,
you don’t have what it takes,
you don’t have what you need,
that’s the ruling on the field,
but we have an official upstairs,
and we can send our situation upstairs,
so it can be, upon further review,
and upon further review,
you don’t have to walk in depression,
upon further review,
you have everything that God needs you to have,
in order to do everything he’s called you to do.
Upon further review,
Your marriage is not dead,
your life is not over,
you’re not too old to make a difference,
and you’re not too young to make a difference.
Upon further review,
there is bright hope where there seemed like no hope,
Upon further review the situation looks way different
than it did before.
Are there any grateful people here who say,
I want to see my situation, the way
God sees my situation,
So you tell him,
God I love you,
God I thank you,
God I’m so grateful to you,
God you are amazing and awesome,
I may be weak but you are strong in me and through me,
Thank you Lord God.
Thank you Jesus.
I thank you and praise you,
I am so grateful to you.
