I always say in the midst of something His purpose is bigger than my issues. If you can remind yourself of that that He actually has a purpose for you, you're not just floating through life, that His purpose and plan for you is bigger than your troubles. Just put that somewhere in your brain. ♪ ♪ ♪ Now I wonder how many people, and I don't want answers, it's basically just something to think about; I wonder how many people actually if you really understand what the, the Greek is for “church,” you have two words kuriakon and the “out-called one” ekklesia, those are the two Greek words that are used, so you are part of the Lord's people and part of those who were called out. I'm not sure, but for me it resonates with me that that should elicit some form of deep gratitude for being included in God's purpose, in God's plan. A lot of people don't think of it like that, so this is where my message starts. And let me just say a few things about this word eucharisto, or in this case eucharistoi. It is a compound, so eu in the Greek is “good” and this word here is from where we get charis, “grace.” If you are to comb Paul's writing in total, he is very fond of and repeats often these words of being thankful, to give thanks, to be grateful. We get kind of a better idea in, in some liturgical circles, especially if you are part of either the Anglican or the Catholic Church, which tend to use the word “Eucharist” for a high liturgical communion. But if you go to the Lord's Supper and if you read it in the Gospels, first of all, and I'm just saying a sidebar for those who are even interested, the Lord's Supper was not a high liturgical ceremonial replete with censers, smoke, and fancy costumes. It was a simple meal amongst brethren and the Lord, a simple meal. And interestingly enough, when He took the cup and He gave thanks, the cup when He gave thanks, eucharistos, when He took the bread, eulogio or eulogatos. So one is expressing what we're talking about, good grace, thanksgiving for the cup. The other one is to be eulogatos; eu, good, log, with words, so “good words,” blessing with good words for the bread. There's a lot of confusion because a lot of people use the term “Eucharist” and they want to make it describe every part of the Lord's Supper, which it does not. And as I repeat, it was not a high liturgical event. Any church, oh, I'm going to say it; any church that makes you qualify to take communion, go and confess your sins before communion, any anything like that, my friends, go the other way! That is unbiblical; it is the last thing Jesus Christ ever wanted from His followers. Can you imagine? He gathers the followers around the table and says, “Now, you must confess, and you've got to go clean up, and you've got to go do something else!” Come on, really? I'm so sick of people perverting this book and making it into something it never was, but hey, there's a whole host of people out there that don't read this book that just go along with what they're told by a religious entity, so good luck to you out there if you do that. Good luck finding your way to God, because I find it egregious, at this point in my life as a believer, that people are still going through the motions as if they live in the Dark Ages. And there was an excuse in the Dark Ages; they didn't have a book to go and check out what the priest or the pastor is saying versus this day and age where there is no excuse. There is no excuse for ignorance regarding God's word or the things of God. So it is up to the individual to take it upon themselves. If you cannot educate yourself, find someone who can offer you an education in this book; a proper rightly dividing, rightly opening up this book that is not leading you down a rabbit trail of hocus pocus. And quite frankly I do find this one very egregious. I heard from several people that I know that they've been denied, denied taking communion for whatever the reason. Any person, man or woman, who denies you taking communion, you ought to just say, “I deny even knowing you,” because the book plainly tells us this was something we are all invited to do. In fact, no, we're not invited to do it; we're told to it: Do this till He returns in remembrance of Him. Not making you the target; He is the focus. But what I want to talk to you today, really, I'm using this Colossians as a launching pad to do something else, but it all has to do with thanksgiving. I want to talk to you about an attitude of gratitude. I hate when people do stuff like this, but it━I didn't plan it this way, okay. It's always these cheesy little catch phrases; that's not intended, believe me. But that each of us should be able to grasp a simple concept that is in giving thanks to God if one acknowledges what God has done, essentially that is it the hallmark of a regenerate heart and mind. See, someone who doesn't know what the Lord's done for them doesn't even know really the Lord Himself, cannot give thanks. They don't even know what they're giving thanks for. Now, let me give you a very carnal, very simple illustration which makes my point perfectly. You know, if you come and go out of buildings, public places, have you ever━I'm sure this has happened to you, you ever hold the door open for somebody, you see them coming, you hold the door open as gesture of kindness, and they come through the door, and they don't even turn around and say, “Thank you.” Has that ever happened to you? Okay, now I want you to think this. You know, either they're clueless, but in any event somebody did an act of kindness, which was for that person coming through the door was unmerited. It was actually an act of grace; you didn't need to do it. So the person who can't, in the flesh, recognize your gesture and say “Thank yo”" is, well, let's call them a piece of work. But now let's put this, let's make the same application: God opened a door for you and He held the door open for you and let you come through it. And as I said, not every person gets to come through that door. By the way, He is the Door, and He opens the Door and He lets you come through the Door, if that makes any sense to you. So if we know this, there's something automatic immediately that should be within our hearts and that's gratitude that He held the Door open for us to let us into His kingdom. So I, I use the, the fleshly example, if you will, because it, it really strikes the right equation. The person holding the door wasn't asked to; it was an unmerited act that they did. God actually preveniently but unmerited opened the Door for you, so if you can't muster up “Thank You, Lord, for turning my silly ass around and saving me,” you have a problem, okay. I'm just, I just say it like it is. I speak like where the rubber meets the road. I'm tired of people making this whole experience into something that's so elevated and so far away that you, you can't bring yourself to understand you owe a thanks to God just in the act, that one act that He did in opening a Door for you. Now we ought to not be like the people who can't turn around and say “Thank you,” But I thought, you know, I'm going to take this and I'm going to use this as what I call a launching pad to discuss this subject, because I really believe that there are a lot of people within the body, within the church, within this, we'll call it sound of my voice, who maybe have not taken the time to analyze all the different perspectives within your daily life that you really ought to be thankful for. It's kind of sad if you have to tell someone, you know, like a child, “Did you say 'thank you'?” you know, for taking━somebody gives something to your child, you have to say, “Did you say━thank the individual, thank the person.” You who have kids know that's kind of the pattern. You have to start slowly to teach, but at a certain point, you either know what's been done for you and have a heart of gratitude or somebody is standing right here explaining it and you have a heart of gratitude. But if somebody can't be grateful for what God has done, it either means ignorance to what He has done or simply a disconnected, unregenerate heart and mind because I've often said I know where I was, I know the path or the direction I was going on, which was the wrong direction. And I know that God basically plucked me from the precipice of hell. There's never going to be a time where I'll stand in front of you, and I think I've said this for the last 16 years-plus. I don't know why, but I'm not arguing, I'm grateful. I don't know why He'd choose me, but it's all good. The psalmist in Psalm 97:12 says, “Give thanks at the remembrance of his holiness.” And that's something, you know, you can start somewhere by analyzing a little bit of God's attributes to really recognize, you know, He's all-sovereign, He's all-powerful, He's merciful; everything that God is we should be able to think how that has applied to me. And if I haven't turned around and said, “God, thank You,” maybe my hope today is to stir something in the minds of my listeners where thanksgiving becomes an integral part of your faith commitment. See, I know this is weird, but I really believe when Paul was writing, and I've said this many a time, he had to lay some basic of the basics down for people who had no clue. You know, somebody who's never been to church before, and let's just talk even in the now; somebody who's never been in a church may not know what happens in a church. And you think that's silly, but I remember the first time I came to this church and I actually was a little bit afraid, because I didn't know what was going to happen. How many, how many that's your experience? You didn't know what it was going to be like when you came in the door? Come on, some of you are BS'ing now, okay. Really? Save it for somebody else; this is pretty much the lot of most people. It's perfectly natural to have reservations about what you might be going into. Why, because there's so much nutty stuff out there that who knows? So I'd say to you, you know, you can start off that way, but then once you start learning and once you start having the knowledge of God's word, something should start changing in the, in the brain a little bit. I, I realize that there are a lot of people who are just starting their, their faith journey in the word and they have absolutely no clue. And I don't; it's okay, everybody has to start somewhere, but they have no clue concerning spiritual things. You know, people, some people may watch on TV and they think this is church, but the reality is, is church is much more than Sunday morning. Church is sometimes, for me, making teachable moments of real-time events that we can all take in and learn from. Church is molding and fashioning people according to this word, not according to my wills or desires, or yours. So very easily it's like saying God has provided something for us. And I can keep going down every level to realize if thanksgiving is not part of your equation, maybe today you should consider that it should be. Many times people who are in times of trouble and tribulation, they cannot give thanks. I remember several years ago, there was an individual who had just recently been diagnosed with cancer. And I remember reading the letter that said, “You know, I know the Scripture says God enters into all things, but I can't see how God's going to use this.” Well, I stood in the same place as that person. You never want to hear a doctor say the C-word to you, but I can tell you for a person who's steeped in this word, your first thing is God's got a lesson in this for me. God's got something to teach me, whether it's strengthening my faith, whether it's showing what is lacking; there's always something. God will use every morsel of everything that happens to teach and instruct us. Don't think that even the smallest thing that happens, God can't use as a lesson in our life. And how else are we supposed to grow into the image and likeness of Christ if He's not using real examples that are unique to each one of us? My troubles or my issues are maybe unique to me. That doesn't mean that they're uniquely mine, but my mine may not be the same as yours over there, Rich. So depending on what our issues are, but everybody has something. God uses each and every person's issues. And that is how we get to be thankful in the midst of trouble and affliction. I always say in the midst of something His purpose is bigger than my issues. If you can remind yourself of that that He actually has a purpose for you, you're not just floating through life, that His purpose and plan for you is bigger than your troubles. Just put that somewhere in your brain. Why, because I know, see, this is how faith works. Faith at the first if you've never exercised faith it's kind of scary to step out and try and stand on something you can't see, but once you've stepped out in faith and you realize, “Oh, this, this is holding me up here! This word, this promise, this something that God gave me as a comfort, it's supporting me,” well, then I can take another step. And this next step is a little stronger because I've experienced what God does. And then the next step I take is even stronger. It doesn't mean I keep going in a linear fashion upwards, because there's ebbs and flows of faith. But I learn little by little, and in that process I become stronger in my faith. I come through just like Peter talks about the testing of metal, more precious than gold when it comes through the fire, dedrossified, if you want. That's my word. But I can't think of anything more important than to give thanks to God, even in the midst of a crisis. This is going to sound really weird to you, and I hope nobody twists what I'm going to say, but I'm now starting to see this current what's happened in our country, even the Coronavirus, I'm seeing all of this is actually, in a strange way, I'm seeing this as a blessing. Do you know why? It's actually helping me to see clearly and put perspective on things and to understand that maybe the things that I thought were as they were are not. You know, scales can fall from your eyes and there you can turn around and say, “Thank God I've been delivered, I've been set free.” So I, I'm actually in the process of transitioning from someone who's been very irritated and kind of a little bit mad for the last year and a half or two, to someone who's actually now turning this around and giving thanks, because I'm also seeing that people are being separated by the way they behave, their actions, their words. And believe me, this is something that I think God actually━I'm not saying that He designed, but I'm sure this is a process of sorting people out big time. And for some of you who've experienced it, the separation where people distance themselves from you, whether it's because you believe one thing and they believe another, whether it's political or whether it's by health; whatever you want, true colors come out in crisis. You can actually tell what somebody's really made of. In the midst of a crisis are they panicking or have they gone mad or are they cool, calm, and collected, and standing firm on the solid Rock Jesus Christ? This is what we have to kind of━so I'm, I'm giving thanks. I'm giving thanks because I realize that God is helping me along. I maybe didn't come to that real quick, so sorry, God, to be so slow. But God's helping me along to see a lot of things and sort a lot of things out. And I, I'm praying that some of you will start to turn this around and see the blessing for what it is in the midst of it, not good things happening, but God does enter in. And it's His purpose and His good, so ultimately if we're not taking it back to Him, again, we have a problem. But here's my question for you: Do you take life for granted? I'm just going to ask this, but it, it's somewhat, well, it's true but it's rhetorical at the same time. When was the last time you got out of bed and spontaneously the first thing out of your mouth you thank God? Maybe your mouth was still shut but you thank God for waking you up, getting you out of bed, for giving you another day, because there are no guarantees about anything. So it's small things like that. And I, I wrote down, I actually have them in front of me. If you want to turn, we're going to be doing a lot of different Bible verses today, but I wanted to give you examples of how we can thank God. We live, love, breathe, and worship. There are abundant Scriptures that talk about specifics of, of the why part; why to be thankful. I know, listen, here's the other side. There'll be people listening to me who maybe have not yet been woken up by God; I don't know. And they'll say, “That's the silliest thing. Why should I thank God?” Maybe for some they do a little, they say a little grace before one meal, Thanksgiving; it's an annual grace and that's that and it's end of story. But Psalm 136, verses 3-9 says, “O give thanks to the Lord of lords: for his mercy endureth for ever. To him who alone doeth great wonders: for his mercy endureth for ever. To him by wisdom made the heavens . . . . To him that stretched out the earth . . . . To him that made great lights . . . to rule, the sun to rule by day . . . the moon and the stars by night . . . .” This is thanking God for His creation, which, by the way, includes you. But again it depends on where you've been indoctrinated that may not be true. You may actually be a product of evolution. We'll leave that for those who are interested. Isaiah 43 says, “But now saith the LORD that created thee . . . , I have formed thee . . . . Fear not: for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name; thou art mine.” You know, it's kind of mind-boggling because I, I wrote these all out. God's saying, “You belong to Me.” God, not man, not a human being, not an indi━God: “You are mine.” That's kind of wild. I wonder how many people really believe when they read that God's saying, “I called thee by name; thou art mine” that that you really belong to Him, because if you belong to Him, just in identification alone recognizing that you've been chosen like; it's like winning a lottery. I hate to say it. You've been chosen. You know those things where you get something in the mail and it says, “You've been chosen! You've been selected,” and you, you get all excited, right. But then you realize it's probably sent to everybody else, too. This is a very selective choosing, because it's God's. So there's a real reason to give thanks that He chose you when He could have done otherwise. I know that's, for me, that's at the top of my list. I'm going to say there's not a day that doesn't go by that I think to myself, as I just said to you, I, it still boggles my mind. Psalm 100 and verse 3 says, “Know ye that the LORD he is good: it is he that made us, not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.” So again and again and again thanksgiving for the creation, thanksgiving for making you; the gift, by the way, of life which is very precious, He created all of it. So this just may be one reason to give thanks. I give thanks because He promised to never leave me no forsake me, and I know that the Scripture says, “God is not a man to lie”" So if He said He's always going to be there for me, He's always going to be there for me. He's always going to be there for you. Once more from Isaiah 43:2, “When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee.” It means in whatever circumstance I find myself, God will be with me. He doesn't, see, this is the thing. A lot of people skew the Scriptures and they'd like to make that mean that God will deliver you out of everything. No, He won't. There are some things God's not going to deliver you out of because you have to go through them. That's part of your life lesson or my life lesson. But He says, “I'll be with you; I will not abandon you.” Now if you really believe that it means you always have Him with you. That should be reason enough to give thanks. And I know, I'll be honest with you, I know my behavior at times probably irritates God. The fact that He still sticks with me and proves that He's longsuffering, by the way, for all of us. That's reason to give thanks. The other thing is when I think about this, the foretelling in Isaiah, you know, when it says, “Unto thee a child is given,” that's the prophecy of the virgin, “Unto thee a child it given.” And I was reading that for another purpose, but was or “is given,” which was a prophecy not yet fulfilled, speaking of Mary and Jesus Christ, “a child is given.” I thought to myself that's another reason to give thanks that God didn't just put it in one place in the Bible, but He put it in multiple places, this God gave this child to us, and you read in the next verse, “and his name shall be called Immanuel.” And I've taught on that, Immanuel means “God with us” or the “with-us God,” which means again I'm just reiterating what I just said, His promise, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” He is always with us. You know, that's interesting. I, I remember once teaching a message and reminding━some weird things do come out of my mouth━reminding the people, you know, like I think people have this weird caricature of God. You know, God's with you when you're driving or God's with you when you're talking to people, but God's not with you when you go to the bathroom, right. He's just━“Excuse me, I'll be right back. No, thank you,” right? He's with you all the time. He sees everything, and I mean everything. Okay, that, if that doesn't freak you out we're still good. So then the next question is there'll be people that will say, “Well, I find it hard to give thanks when I'm going through things, especially when I'm feeling low, or I'm almost broken. How can I give thanks when I'm broken down?” I once more turn to the Psalms. Psalm 34 and verse 18 says, “The LORD is nigh,” close to “them that are of a broken heart . . . Many are the afflictions of the righteous: but the LORD delivereth him out of them all”" So that's why you should praise Him and give Him thanks. It says He's close to those broken in heart. Do you ever notice when you have a heart break, something devastating happens, it really does, I think for me at least, I pray all the time, but this drives my prayer to a deeper level because I know I have nowhere else to turn but God. It drives me to deeper level, especially when I'm feeling close to broken, I know He understands. He's not judging me; He's not telling me to, you know, “Scott, get it together! You know, keep yourself in check.” It's okay, God says it's okay. If He says it's okay, it's okay. The other thing is I know, again, I'm going through these because I decided to write them all out. I probably will miss some, but I'm going to try and get as many as I can. As I started off by saying God chose you, but He didn't just choose you. He did something for you. Each time I have taught this part of Scripture I've said scratch “the world” and put your name in when it says, “God so loved the world,” scratch out “the world,” put your name in “that he gave his only begotten Son.” Gave, remember I just quoted out of Isaiah, “Unto you a child is given,” well, here the giving part right here, not just that He came into the earth and on earth, but that “He gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should have everlasting life; not perish.” That's something remarkable. See, the problem is I'm not sure when I speak these words that people actually believe one hundred percent that if, if Jesus said you'll have everlasting life, you won't perish, it doesn't mean you're not going to die. You're going to die here. We're all, we're all destined for that because of Adam. Adam and Eve created death for us; “By one man death was introduced; by one man eternal life,” Jesus Christ; Romans 5 describes the whole scene. So what I'm saying to you is it's important for us to understand it's not just that you were called and chosen, but there was a sacrifice made for you, there was a sacrifice made for me in the death of Jesus Christ. Now I don't know about you, but I have not yet met anyone who has actually died for me except Him. Can you name anyone that's died for you except Him? So, I mean if, if somebody does come along and gives their life; I don't know why they'd give their life for me, but if they did, I'd have a sense of indebtedness. I'd have a sense of gratitude or I'd━probably no words could ever fill. So imagine, take that to the next level. See, we, we are capable of connecting things in the flesh, but somehow when you get to the spiritual things there's not the same impact. See, if I said to you, “What would you, how would you feel if somebody ran in front of a bus to push you out of the way, and they died instead of you?” Wow, that's pretty staggering. I, you probably would be so traumatized you wouldn't know what to do with yourself. But when I say Jesus Christ died for you, “Aw, yeah, that's great.” Do you see what I'm saying? The impact of our fleshly minds is stronger than the spirituality and reality of God giving His only begotten Son to die on a cross, hang in open shame for you and for me. Somehow the two don't have, for some people, the same impact, so I'm trying to get there. We can also thank Him for His faithfulness to His word; to His word, why, because first His word was established, “Forever O Lord, thy word is established in heaven.” Then you've got something like this out of Jeremiah, “Thy words were found, and I did eat them; and thy word was unto me joy, and rejoicing of mine heart.” So the word for me; I speak for me, not for you today; the word for me gives me hope, perspective, understanding, wisdom, it gives me grace, it give me the help I need that when I go to this book I can look up, I can explore, I can━so I should be grateful God did not leave me without resources and tools. You have to be grateful for that. I'm not done here. Keep going. Equally faithful to His word in so many ways, and now I'll make the point. You remember when Jesus is telling His disciples, “It's expedient that I go away, because if I go not away the Comforter, the Holy Spirit, can't come.” Just, just something very simple; He said, “I must go away so that the Holy Spirit may come.” And then fast forward to the day of Pentecost, there's the outpouring of the Holy Spirit; is that not faithful to the word that He professed Himself? And there's so many of these where He said, “This will be that,” and that happens that we should look at that track record and say, “God has made good on His promises that every time we lean on those promises God is not saying, “Uh, I take it back because you weren't too good to Me.” His promises are His word, and His word is His bond, and we act on that bond in faith. So it's important to turn around and be grateful for that word. See, I can't, I don't think I would be able say this thirty years ago. Thirty years ago, I hadn't even picked up a Bible. I didn't know what was in it thirty years ago. Now I can't imagine life without the knowledge of what's in this book. Why, because this book opened up, and everything that's contained in it, the good, the bad, the ugly, opened up my eyes to a reality that previously I could not receive. So I have gratitude for the fact that when I was yet ungodly and a sinner, God's love was poured out to me. Romans 5:8 declares that. We should be grateful that He, as I go back to where I started, He opened the Door and held the Door open for me to come through. If that doesn't merit thanksgiving, I'm not quite sure what does. Out of Lamentations 3:22, “It is the LORD'S mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not.” It means for me, I'm grateful for the God that I've come to know that I serve. This is not a god, you know, sometimes I think people make caricatures out of God; “He's an angry god! He's a malicious god! He's a killjoy. He won't let me do anything.” No. That's part of a real caricature of what the Bible actually teaches. He came to give us life and life more abundantly. That means we live life to the fullest. You don't become less of you. You become more like Him in your understanding and therefore the growth that one experiences, you should be able to turn around like having had a paid education somewhere. Maybe your friends, your parents, or maybe you got a student loan, but you went through school and you got an education. At some point you turn around and you say, “Wow, I'm so grateful I did that.” Well, here's an ongoing education out of this book, ongoing every single week to glean new material, to glean new understanding. Why wouldn't you be thankful? So let me give you an example of something, because I'm going to say something strange now that most people may think is a little bit weird, but I don't. If you turn with me; I've been reading verses, but turn with me to Luke 17. I believe that gratitude can actually bring us closer to God. Did you ever think of it that way? Gratitude, expressing gratitude can bring you closer to God. Now let me give you the example right here. Here you have Jesus, a familiar passage, cleansing the ten lepers. Beginning in Luke 17, beginning at verse 11: “And it came to pass, as he went to Jerusalem, that he passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee. And he, as he entered into a certain village, there met him ten men that were lepers, which stood afar off: they lifted up their voices, and said, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us. And when he saw them, he said unto them, Go shew yourselves unto the priests. It came to pass, that, as they went, they were cleansed.” They were made clean. In fact, it's interesting, I wish I could teach on this passage, but not the day for it in depth. But they were cleansed; they were made clean. “And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, and with a loud voice glorified God, fell down on his face at his feet, giving him thanks: as he was a Samaritan. Jesus answering said, Were there not ten cleansed? but where are the nine? There are not found that returned to give glory to God, save this stranger. And he said unto him, Arise, and go thy way: thy faith hath made thee whole”" The message out of that passage is very simple. When we express gratitude we fast approach the heart of God. That can bring us closer to Him. You know what? Someone who's a stranger, and they're referring to this man as a stranger, but someone who's a stranger to the things of God may not get this principle, but we are actually, out of Thessalonians, it says, “Give thanks in everything.” So there's something to this. I would just say to you sometimes when we understand that it can take our faith to a new level, it can bring us joy to actually give thanks to God. There's━I told you we're going to go all over the map today. There's another passage, actually it's the whole Psalm 126 that kind of expresses that gratitude in a different way. So it says, “When the LORD turned again the captivity of Zion, we were like them that dream,” when He returned the people, “Then was our mouth filled with laughter, and our tongue with singing: then said they among the heathen, The LORD hath done great things for them. The LORD hath done great things for us; whereof we are glad. Turn again our captivity, O LORD, as the streams in the south. They that sow in tears shall reap in joy. He that goes forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him.” In other words, God is able not only to bless you but also to deepen your faith. And that faith expressed in gratitude; just read. These are folks who were basically taken away out of their homeland and held in captivity in a foreign land. So you can see clearly it's not always thanksgiving on a sunny day on the mountaintop. But here we go, there's more of these. We are to glorify and give thanks to God, why, another psalm, Psalm 50. I try to keep everything in the Scriptures. I could have paraphrased, but I'm wanting you to see these things for yourself. Psalm 50 and verse 23 says, “Whoso offereth praise glorifieth me,” it's the Lord speaking through the psalmist, “Whosoever offereth praise glorify me: and to him that ordereth his conversation aright will I shew, will I shew the salvation of God.” He that disposes his way, but “Whoever offereth praise glorify me,” in other words being thankful to God glorifies God. Just a very simple thought, or you can get the same thing out of the New Testament, it want it in New Testament words, and some of you are going, “Wow, I can; my fingers are hurting.” Now, poor you, we'll pass the Kleenex box for you after we're done. All right, 2 Corinthians 4 and verse 15: “For all things are for your sakes, that the abundant grace might through the thanksgiving of many redound to the glory of God.” So you have Old and New Testament saying essentially the same thing. It's pretty easy to kind of go through and glean everything line by line. We could thank Him for His goodness, and when I say that I don't mean that cheaply but “How great is thy goodness, which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee.” His goodness as in His plans, His thought, His will, His design; all designed, you know, think of it this way. God designed something very intricate and very unique for each and every one of us. He didn't say, “One size fits all”" like a cookie cutter. Each person in the sound of my voice is completely unique and individual, and He has a plan that is uniquely for you, unique and individual. You know, again, I don't know about you, but I have to do a lot of planning in my day to day life, so it's nice to know there are things that God has taken care of for me that I don't even have to think about. But that's just my perspective. You can thank God for His provision from the smallest thing, the disciples praying, “Give us this day our daily bread,” the provision. And we ought to not be like the children of Israel. And there's many people that come into the church and they're just like the children of Israel. They want to say, “I made this money; it's my riches. I, I made wealth.” No, it's the Lord that gave you the power and the grace and the wisdom to make that wealth. Now the children of Israel were hotheads and they were really; see, they could have spent those forty years, and they wouldn't have been forty years in the wilderness, had they not been mumbling and murmuring against God, but praising Him because He did say━think of, think of the faithfulness of God. Decades or actually generations before the children of Israel came out of Egypt's bondage God told Abraham, “They're going to go in and in four generations-plus I will bring them out and they will be people so numerous, they'll be blessed,” on and on and on. Well, that that actually happened. It was told to Abraham and four hundred and some thirty years down the road God makes good on His promise. Is that not reason to be thankful? Of course it is! But to the children of Israel, and don't say, “Well, they didn't know what God's conversation with Abraham.” I believe that, although there was no Bible, there was no Old Testament perhaps penned. Oral tradition communicated what God had done. So it's almost like this. You know, you can spend your life complaining about how things aren't going your way and things are bad, or you can actually spend your life giving thanks to God in recognition for what He's done, and maybe things would have been infinitely worse, right; who knows, had God not entered in. So there is that and I, I really believe provision, don't just think provision in the tangibles, think of provision as in━how many of you had a day where you wake up and you know you've got giants to face, but you just have zero strength? There's a provision for you right there. The God, the God of this book says He will be my strength. When I'm weak He's strong, He'll be strong for me when I cannot. That's provision right there. Provision isn't just simply tangible things, but if you want to go down that pathway, Daniel said, “I thank thee and praise thee, O thou God of my fathers who has given me wisdom and might, and has made known unto me now what we desired of thee.” In other words, provision that God can give can be the revelation of His will, His plan, your particular purpose. Provision can be, can come in all shapes and sizes, not just as I said, the tangibles. We can also thank God for His protection. And you know the Psalm 34 and verse 7 and 8: “The LORD, the angel of the LORD encampeth around about them that fear and delivereth them.” So don't, don't just think of gratitude as a one-dimensional for one thing. There are so many different avenues to go down. We can, I can keep going on this. How about the fact that we have a high priest who ever liveth to make intercession for us, a living person who is interceding for us at the throne of God? Now I don't know about you, but I only can envision what that is. I can't say that I know. I can only envision it. But if the vision is right, how did I, and I'm going to use the word “lucky,” how did I get lucky to have Somebody who is able to actually put my thoughts, my prayers, my concerns, my fears, my rejoicing, my thanksgiving; put what I say right into the ear of God the Father? If you think about it that's what that means, a high priest that ever liveth to make intercession for us. I don't know about you, I don't want a priest on earth making intercession for me. I don't need that. That's just another human being, but I have all-God, the man-God Jesus Christ, but all-God at this point that is making intercession for me or making intercession for you. So this is why I'm saying to you, how can you go about not thanking Him? And maybe it's the act of finding the specific places in God's book, because they're so diverse. Don't say, “Well, I don't, I don't know where I'd start.” Sit down if you have to, get a piece of paper out, and write down in bullet point the things that you absolutely, absolutely know. Carry that list around. Maybe it's a list of two things, maybe it's ten things; maybe it's a long list where you need a scroll, but you carry it around with you. I wouldn't advise carrying around a scroll, by the way, it's not very transportable, but a little piece of paper that you pull out every━maybe it's, maybe it's something that you put inside your Bible, things that maybe you don't do it every day, but maybe you go to that. That's your go-to to remind you when you're starting to slip into self: self-preservation, self-loathing, self-loving, self-deification; self, self, self, self. This little list right here may help you to get out of yourself and get a right focus again. So I'd say if that's what helps you, do it. I can speak on this wise and say I thank God daily for my health. And as most of you know, I, I think I have the Martin Luther plague, which is, you know, Martin Luther was plagued by little what we call paper cuts. You know, he had a sick stomach, he had insomnia; he had all kinds of things like that. I think that's what God blessed me with. So I, I periodically, I do, I'm not going to lie to you, I periodically will slip and lose my grip and complain about certain things, and then I realize to myself, why am I complaining? Because it could be worse, I could have something infinitely worse. God has taken care of me. I; there's a lot of things that could have happened. And I'm speaking for me, but it's all true for you as well. Finding out that you have something in your body that's not functioning properly, well, we serve the great Physician; He can fix it or He can point me in the direction of a physician who is in the exact line with what I need, a specialist, that helps me out and I can attribute that to God leading me in the right path. So there's another place to give thanks. Not just for my good health, but on the days when I'm not feeling so good that remind me about all the good days I felt great. You get what I'm saying? There's a lot of reasons to give thanks. In fact, there's a passage out of 3 John, where it says, “I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health.” Now that's a wish John is writing to some individual, but we know that through the Bible, over and over again “I am the Lord that healeth thee,” the great Physician. So if God is faithful to His word, it doesn't, again, it doesn't mean that God's some genie in a bottle that when you need God you snap your fingers and He appears and He does it all for you. Sometimes God will point you in the direction you should go. He will not take you by the hand and say, “Okay, come here now.” Sometimes He'll point you in the direction. It's that, what we've called that still, small, quiet voice, the urging of the Holy Spirit, which is not most of the time audible, but something that's impressed upon you that you believe for whatever the reason. This is what I'm talking about. We should give thanks to God for past, present, and future. And you may say, “What on earth does that mean?” I'll tell you what it means. There's something so profound out of Isaiah. This I want you to turn and, and look at this verse with me because even as━I actually wrote it out and even as I wrote it out and it's on the paper in front of me it's kind of mind-boggling. Isaiah 46, verses 9 and 10, where it says, “Remember the former things of old,” God is speaking through the prophet Isaiah, “Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me,” this is what's mind-boggling, “declaring the end from the beginning,” I want you to think about those words “declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure.” Don't you think that's mind boggling: “declaring the end from the beginning”? It means that when God created everything when He did, in the day of creation He also foretold the end before the beginning was even finished. That means purpose, plan; this is not some willy-nilly, you're not going through life like, you know, the people that think, “Oh, there's, there's so many years left on earth.” That may be true but that's for God to know. So I'm going to say to you I'm thankful that this verse tells me first of all, past, present, and future that He could, He could know the past, actually, you know, the past kind of before it happened, which would be the future to some people in this book, or for us. And the present, which for some people in this book hadn't occurred, because it would still be the future. I know that's sounds like rhetoric, but if you read the passage, it's saying basically, “I, God, have knowledge of everything from the beginning, from the genesis of the beginning, and at the beginning in the genesis, in the creation I foretold of the end, which means I also foretold of you, you, you, you, you,” no one's an accident here, no coincidence. So I ask you, if that's the God we serve, that's another reason to be grateful. Now, God may know every step that I may take, but I do not; is that clear? Which means I can still veer off the path, I can still fall down, I still make mistakes, I can certainly still sin; I do that really good and so do you. But this is why I think thanksgiving is really needed. When you start to consider the magnitude of what's in this book that's spelt out for us, and I, I'm going to keep going. We, we can give thanks to God for the people He has placed in our life. And I know out of Colossians that opening kind of says that, but there are many different Scriptures that I could turn to, that speak of how God has blessed us, whether it is a faithful husband or a faithful wife, or the potential. All things start and have a beginning; a boyfriend, a girlfriend, a sister, a brother in the Lord that God brings people. I've said this before; God brings people into our pathway. I know it's not an accident. Some people that I've met over the course of ministry that, who could have known? Who could have known, right? And here we are how many years later; who could have known? So what I'm saying to you is there's a lot to be grateful for. I wish people would get this. It's, it's something that is pretty powerful. As I was just saying, we are usually bound to thank God for the obvious, but maybe the not so obvious. So let me, I've been talking about words, okay. A lot of this is expression with the mouth, but there are other ways to express gratitude. We can say we can express gratitude with words, with deeds or action, and there's another way to express gratitude, which we'll get to, which is psalms, songs, hymns; things that really if you think about it, we read Psalm 126. You could sit and read that in your own devotional and then take it to heart and that becomes an opening to converse with God in thankfulness. See, I'm saying a lot of times you don't know how to get started. We don't even know what to do. So I'm kind of giving you the breadcrumbs. You use them how you see fit, but that's what I'm trying to say. Now there's one last expression of thanksgiving that people will either rejoice over that I'm talking about or they will cringe and recoil back. But you can also express thanksgiving with your pocketbook. Now there's a lot of people out there in ministry-land that are on TV that are constantly asking people for money. I call them beg-a-thons or whatever you want call them on TV. But there is, and I've tried to say this, there is dignity. If you're reading this book and you're not acting like a three-dollar bill, there's dignity and honor in giving God's way. Now you can give with your time and you can give with your money. And that's another expression of thankfulness. Somebody who is completely disconnected; now let's move away the ministry for a minute, so I can make this point, because it seems like I make fleshly analysis and people go, “Yeah! Yeah, of course!” The analogies hit home. So let's take this kind of in a different way. Let's just say you're a person who expresses care or affection by maybe you like to give people cards, or maybe you like to give people small gifts randomly like that. I don't know, some, some people are like that. I have encountered people that are the complete opposite of that: they never give anything, they are anti-givers, in fact, when it comes like holiday time, you know, you hear people say, “Aw, it's Christmas party, and they're going to have a gift exchange,” and “AW! A gift exchange! Oho, oh!” It's like you just told them that a nuclear bomb went off somewhere, because, because they'll actually have to reach in their pocket for twenty bucks to buy somebody a gift. Really, well, that's the end of the universe right there. I've met people that are so cheap that you just kind of have to go, “Oh, I'm sorry, I've got to leave,” because I don't want to be contaminated with that. Because why? The Bible says God loves a hilarious giver. God does, I'm sorry; God does not like cheap people. That's biblical. You reap what you sow. If you sow spare━this is repeated in the Bible at least five different times in five different books: You sow sparingly, you will reap sparingly. That's just a biblical principle, so for all those people out there, who, “Oh, I, I could never give to a church.” You're not giving to a church. You make the checks out to me. I'm the teacher. You pay as Galatians 6 says, “You pay the one who teaches you.” That's a form of thanksgiving in and of itself, an expression, whether it's by money or by time. Somebody that will give their time to come and answer phones, we have people that come and clean floors and vacuum and get the sanctuary ready for Sunday. That's thanksgiving. Now, as I said, there's so many different methods, manners, ways. The important thing is to not be like the person you think in your mind to hold the door open and somebody just walks right through it. In other words, you must work here, or you're the resident doormat, or you're just doing this because you're a chump. No, you did this because it was in your heart to do that. You maybe even, it wasn't even premeditated. But don't be like the person who walks through, who doesn't turn around to express gratitude even for the smallest act. Now, take that fleshly concept and expand it God-ward and you find out that probably most of us walk around as ingrates in the eyes of God. And I hate to say that, but I speak the truth, including yours truly. I never say anything to you that I don't believe is true of myself. That speaks volumes and says maybe it's time for us to do a little digging and look at all the different dimensions of God's grace, of His benevolence towards us in, I tried to cover as many as I could, and I know I've missed a lot. But at least on what I've covered today should give each and every person in the sound of my voice something to think about, something to pray about, because there's lots to give thanks for. In this particular day and age, in the climate we're living in, I'll be honest with you. The state of our country is not good. The state of our affairs in this country is not good. But that doesn't mean that I should stand and say I'm not proud to be an American. Why, because America has survived and gone through many ups and downs, just like, just like believers do, just like the faith does: up and down. And a little bit of down doesn't make our past, our present, or future invalid or not good. It just means I have something now to look at, hope, and pray for something that will improve, but I should be in the meantime giving thanks. So we're, we are a very blessed people to live in a country, at least, at least right now, where we have rights and privileges that other countries, other people do not have. And if you think about it, the most important of those rights, actually there are three of them, but the two that I'd like to address, and when I say these are the two, because they, they tie into this, which is the freedom to worship, and the right to free speech. Those two things we should actually be grateful for that our nation was founded on biblical principles. The founding fathers, you might say they weren't all as devout, maybe some were more or less, but founded on biblical, God-fearing principles that if we really take a look at that we should A, be grateful that God founded this nation on those principles and not on some other principle as we see in other countries how they don't have rights, how they don't have freedom of speech. That's why I said to you as Christian and as an American I will fight for those rights because they are precious, they are dear, they are God-given, and I will not with the last of my breath let any individual take those God-given rights away. So I thank God that He gave this country and those freedoms. But I'm not done there. I'm saying to you I still thank God that I came to this country. I still thank God that I'm an American. And I still thank God that no matter what it looks like to all of us right now God is still in control. I don't know what the future holds, but I do know who holds the future, therefore I fear not, and I will be grateful, because I know He is in control. That's my message. You have been watching me, Pastor Melissa Scott, live from Glendale, California at Faith Center. If you would like to attend the service with us, Sunday morning at 11am, simply call 1-800-338-3030 to receive your pass. If you'd like more teaching and you would like to go straight to our website, the address is www.PastorMelissaScott.com
