 Hey, man, let's keep you placed there in 1 Thessalonians chapter number five. We're going to focus down on verse number 18 where the Bible says, In everything give thanks for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. So this sermon this morning is going to be kind of a cousin or a companion sermon to one of the sermons that I preached at Faithful Word. I preached the sermon at Faithful Word called I'm Sorry. And it was the importance of, I looked at, you know, we did a Bible study on, you know, forgiveness and having mercy with people, but mainly that sermon focused on the importance of, you know, saying I'm sorry and being sorry, having godly sorrow. This morning the sermon is titled Thank You. And that is, we're going to look at being thankful and actually showing thankfulness, which is why people say thank you. Look down to verse number 18 where Paul says, In everything give thanks, you know, many times in the Bible Paul starts out his epistles, just go to the first chapter of Thessalonians where he says, look what he says. He says in verse number two, Thessalonians chapter one, the first Thessalonians chapter one, Paul many times starts his letters like this where he says, We give thanks to God always for you all. You know, whether he's going to, you know, talk to them about something serious or not, many times Paul will begin and end his letters with Thanksgiving. And here he's saying, you know, we give thanks to God always for you all. Even in 1 Corinthians, you know, where Paul is about to just unleash, you know, some, you know, reproving to the people at the church of Corinth, Paul says, you know, we're thankful for you when he starts out the message, the letter, the epistle. So we're going to look at the importance of thankfulness this morning, the importance of, you know, saying thank you. Why do we teach our kids this? We'll look at it this morning. Turn to Psalm chapter 107. Let's just look at, let's look at the idea of being thankful for a few minutes. And then I'll show you the importance of, you know, showing thankfulness. And that's kind of the point of the sermon. So this is all introduction for the first few minutes here. Turn to Psalm chapter 107. Look at verse number one. Psalm chapter 107. Look at verse number one. The Bible says, oh, give thanks unto the Lord, for he is good, for his mercy endureth forever. So who should we be thankful? Thankful to who is the question. We should always be thankful to God. We should be thankful to people, yes, but we should always be thankful to God. Turn to Colossians chapter three. I'll read for you Ephesians chapter five. We could never go through all the verses in the Bible talking about thankfulness and how we should be thankful. Ephesians chapter five, you're going to Colossians chapter three. Ephesians five 20 says, giving thanks always, for all things unto God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Very similar to first Thessalonians chapter five and verse number 18 there, meaning in everything give thanks, we should appreciate everything. We should be thankful for everything in our lives. Look at Colossians chapter three and verse number 15. The Bible says, and let the peace of God rule in your hearts to the which you're also called in one body and what? And be thankful. Turn to Philippians chapter four. I'll read for you James chapter one. James chapter one you say, why should I be thankful for everything? Because I mean certain things I have because I work hard or certain things that I have because I did certain things right in my life and I've got things together. So if I've done something right and I got a promotion at work or I got something for that, why should I be thankful to anyone but myself for that? Well James 1.17 says, every good gift and every perfect gift is from above. And what? And comeeth down from the Father of lights. Meaning everything good that you have is from God. If it's good and you have it, it is from the Lord. That's why you should be thankful for everything to God. Look at Philippians chapter four. Philippians chapter four and verse number six. The Bible says, be careful for nothing. That means, you know, don't care too much about things but in everything by prayer and supplication which with what? Thanksgiving let your request be made known to God. So the Bible here is saying that you should be praying, you should be going to God about things but you know what should be part of your prayers? A part of every single prayer that you have should be Thanksgiving. You should be thankful to the Lord. You know, it's probably, that's a good part of the prayer at the beginning. You're going to come to God and you're going to ask God for something. The first thing you want to do is, you know, good things to start prayers with, good ways to start prayers are, you know, confessing your faults, telling God you're sorry for the things that you've done and then being thankful for the things that you have. Those are good ways to start prayers. But the problem is, the problem is when we don't give thanks, what are we doing? When we don't give thanks, when we're not thankful for things, we're taking things for granted in our lives. We start to think that things in our life are automatic, that things in our life are these things that I have, whether it be material things or my family or my church or whatever. We start to think that those things are just, they're just deserved. They're just going to always be there. This is a problem with human beings, right? Turn to 2 Timothy chapter 3. And the Bible has a word for that. When you stop being thankful or you stop showing thankfulness, the Bible has a word for that. It's called being unthankful. Unthankfulness in the Bible is a very serious sin. So let's look at that for just a couple of minutes. This is all introduction before we get into the sermon this morning. Look at 2 Timothy chapter 3 and look at verse number 1. 2 Timothy chapter 3 and verse number 1. The Bible says in 2 Timothy 3, 1, this note also that in the last days, perilous times shall come. So we know we're in the last days. We already know this. Jesus said we're in the last days, meaning the last half. We're not in the end times, but we're in the last days. So the Bible is saying in the last days, perilous times shall come. So you're going to see these things in the next coming verses. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedience of parents, and look at this, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, truce breakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good. Look, this is, this is, unthankful here is put in with a lot of serious sins. It's put in with sins like, you know, being a reprobate. It's included with this. Traders, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying the power thereof, from such turnaways. So we definitely don't want to be any one of those things. And unthankful is one of those things. But it's interesting because there's four things there that you'll see come along. There's a lot of things listed with being unthankful in that same verse. And look what it is. It's covetous, boasters, proud, and unthankful. And you'll notice that unthankful people many times are all four of those things. They're what? They're unthankful, but they're also, they're covetous, they're boasters, they're proud, and they're also unthankful. You'll notice that just people that are unthankful are all four of those things. A perfect example of this is many, and I don't want to say all, but many of these people that are homeless today. I'm talking about the 30-year-old man standing on the street with a sign saying, give me money. This person, he's an unthankful person. And what is he? He's covetous. You're like, what? He's covetous? What are you talking about? Yeah, he's covetous over what is not his. He's covetous. He's covetous over someone else's labor. He has labor. He owns labor, but he doesn't want to spend his labor. He wants your labor. The Bible says in 2nd Thessalonians chapter three that if any would not work, another should eat. That's what the Bible says. But this is a covetous person. That's why you will see many times with people like this. And look, I've gone down this road with several of these people at this point. Now let me tell you something, they are unthankful. And they're proud too. And you wouldn't think like, how could somebody that is at that state be proud but they are? Many of these people you can tell nothing to. You can go and you can lead them down this path like, hey, if you do this and this and this and this, everything will work out. And you go and just clear the path for them. They're too proud to listen to anything. Somebody that is at that state has made several missteps. They're too proud to take any advice from anyone. They're covetous and they're unthankful. And that's why they are at that state. The point being is unthankful is a very serious sin and we wanna be nowhere near it as Christians. Turn to Romans chapter one. Look, you shouldn't want other people's stuff. You shouldn't want other people's things. That's the definition of covetous. And that is somebody that is standing out saying, give me your labor, give me your money. That comes along with unthankfulness as well. It's a very serious sin in the Bible. It's in Romans chapter one at the beginning of the process where someone gets rejected by God. Look at Romans chapter one in verse number 21. Romans chapter one in verse number 21. It says, because that, this is somebody, this is somebody that as we go down the road, or Romans chapter one, this is the very beginning. This is the very beginning. Look at Romans chapter one. Actually, let's go back one chapter or one verse and let's get the whole context of the verse. Look at Romans chapter one. Let me turn there myself. But look at Romans chapter one in verse number 20. Verse number 19. Let's start in verse number 19. We're talking about, we're talking about that how no one has an excuse. No one has an excuse because everybody has this evidence of the creation around them. Nobody has an excuse to not know, to not seek who the Lord is. Verse 19 says, because that which may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has showed it unto them. God has shown himself to everybody. You say in what way? Look at verse 20. For the invisible things of him, meaning God, from the creation of the world are clearly seen. Being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power in God had, so they are without excuse. They don't have an excuse because everyone can see the creation. Everyone can see nature. Everyone can see this earth. Everyone's living on this earth. Everyone's living in God's creation that he literally spoke into existence and you have to willingly deny that. But what was the first step of these people rejecting God? Look at verse number 21. It says, because when they knew God, they glorified him not as God. So they knew that there's a God because they can see the creation and they didn't give God credit for anything. They didn't give glory to God. Neither were what? Neither were thankful. But became vain in their imagination and their foolish heart was darkened. That professing themselves to be wise, they became fools. They changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made unto man and birds and four-footed beasts and creeping things. Wherefore God also gave them up unto uncleanness. And we see that these people, we see these people rejected God. They didn't give him glory and God gave them up twice. It says he gave them up. It says he gave them over to a reprobate mind. These are people that God literally has rejected. And how did it start? They were unthankful. They saw what, they saw God was there. They saw what he created and they just neither were they thankful. It's very serious to be unthankful. It's, and look, became vain in their imaginations. You know what that means? It means they were proud. Just like, just like I just read you in the previous verse, it's like proud people are unthankful people. And you may look at people and be like, how in the world could someone in that situation be proud? Well, what pride destroys you? Pride goeth before destruction. It'll completely destroy your life. And one of the ways it does it, makes you unthankful. It's a very serious sin that I'm trying to get you to understand this morning. And it's a prelude to even worse things. Obviously, if you're saved this morning, you're never gonna become rejected by God. But this is just a lesson that being unthankful is something we want to be nowhere near. We want our kids to be nowhere near being unthankful. Turn to Romans chapter six. I mean, unthankfulness in the Bible is a gateway. If we look at Romans chapter one and we look at where that led people, it is literally a gateway to a ruined person. That's what we're looking at in Romans chapter one. It is that unthankfulness towards God that ruins a person. It creates someone that literally cannot be saved. The Bible was saying in Romans chapter one. Look at Romans chapter six, just a couple of chapters over. But look, even saved people can be unthankful. Even saved people can be unthankful. That's what Paul's talking about in Romans chapter six. We're gonna look at Romans chapter six in depth tonight. Romans chapter six, Romans chapter seven. I'm in depth tonight. But let me just show you a couple of things in Romans chapter six, verse number one. The Bible in Romans chapter six, Paul is talking about, should you take your salvation for granted? You know, if you're saved this morning, you've trusted on the Lord Jesus Christ, you're sealed by the Holy Spirit, nothing can ever make you unsaved. But you can go and you can take advantage of that salvation. You can take advantage of that eternal security that God has given you. You've been given that through no works of your own, through nothing but trusting on the work of Jesus Christ. And God has promised that he will save you. He will save you everlasting eternity. It's forever. He will never take it away from you. But you can go take advantage of that if you wanted. And that's what Paul is talking about in Romans chapter six. Look at this in verse number one. I have everywhere in my Bible where a form of the word should is used. In Romans chapter six especially, and Romans chapter seven, I have it underlined because this is just like the core of so much false doctrine. These verses in Romans chapter six and Romans chapter seven are used for so much false doctrine. And I'll show you that tonight. But look at Romans chapter six in verse number one. What shall we say then? I have shall underlined twice here. What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin? That grace may abound? Shall meaning a form of the word should. It's like shall you continue in sin? That grace may abound? What grace will abound? But should you do it? Is what he's saying? God forbid, how shall we that are dead to sin live any longer therein? Know ye not that so many of us were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death. Therefore we are buried with him when we, this is on the baptism certificates that we give this is what your baptism is all about right here in verse number four. Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father. See, look at this statement right here. As Christ was raised up, look, that's a different word than should, is it not? Christ was raised up meaning it happened. That was something that happened for sure. He was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father even so we definitely will. Is that what that says? It says even so we should walk in newness of life. This is the point of your baptism. It is an outward showing of the thankfulness that you're not gonna take that grace for granted that God gave you. That you're identifying with the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. You know what? I'm not gonna take that salvation for granted. I'm gonna show what towards God. I'm gonna show thankfulness towards God. So when I, Paul's like you should do this. Should I go and just take advantage of my salvation and go be a drunk and just take advantage of all this and just live an ungodly life? I should not do that. That's what Paul is saying. God forbid I would do that. Again, verse number six. Knowing this that our old man is crucified with him that the body of sin might be destroyed that henceforth we should not serve sin. He's saying don't do it. Again in verse 12. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body. I hate to break it to you folks, but you're saved but you still got this mortal body. You still have this flesh that you're contending with. People that twist this, they clearly are not saved and you do not understand what Paul is trying to say. Paul is trying to convince people you still have the flesh. You still have the flesh. Follow the spirit that is not within you. Not the flesh. You should do that. You should obey it in the lust thereof. Verse 15. What then? Shall we sin? Because we are not under the law but under grace. God forbid. He's trying to teach us to appreciate and be thankful for our salvation. For what? For the grace that God gave us. The free grace. If it's, look folks, if it's of works it's not of grace. It's one or the other. The Bible is clear about that. He's trying to tell us don't take advantage of that. Be what? Be thankful. So look. Thankful, good, unthankful, bad. But what I want to talk about this morning is the importance of showing thankfulness. That's why you say to someone, thank you. When I'm gone for a week and the men of the church handle things or the ladies clean and things in the bathroom get fixed or somebody brings up problems, you know what I say? I say thank you. You know what that's doing? That's showing thankfulness. Being thankful is one thing but it's important that we show thankfulness. Turn to James chapter two. You say I do appreciate things. I am thankful but there's a problem if you're not showing thankfulness in your life. Turn to James chapter two. This is the whole point of James chapter two. Maybe one of the most misused chapters in the entire Bible, James chapter two. This is the point. The point of James chapter two is showing your outward works. Showing people this. Look at James chapter two and let me just give you an example of the importance of showing things. The importance of showing outward works basically. Look at James chapter two in verse number 21. Look what the Bible says. It says was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered Isaac his son upon the altar. See us now you're like what in the world justified by works? How is that possible? I thought it was not of works lest any man should boast. See us now how fate wrought with his works and by works was faith made perfect. And we get another example here but look at verse 23 first. And the scripture was fulfilled with saying Abraham believed God and it was imputed unto him for righteousness and he was called the friend of God. You see that then by how that by works man is justified and not by faith only. People love verse number 24 that teach works-based salvation. Because they say oh see it's not just, it's not faith only. But the Bible is talking about he's saying Abraham was justified by works in verse number 21 and then it says in verse 24 again it says see how by works a man is justified by not faith only. But look at verse number 23 again where it says Abraham believed God and it was imputed unto him for righteousness. So that is salvation right there where it says Abraham believed God and it was imputed unto him for righteousness but then it says he was called the friend of God. So the question is how was Abraham justified by works? What are we talking about here? Turn to Romans chapter three. Turn to Romans chapter three. A lot of people grab one or two of these verses and twist these into works-based salvation. But remember Bible reading rule number one. Bible reading rule number one. If you are interpreting the Bible in a way that makes it contradict clear scriptures elsewhere or full by grace or you saved through faith and not of yourselves it is the gift of God not of works lest any man should boast. That's one of the clearest two script two verses in the entire Bible right there. We are not saved by works not at all. So let's explain Romans chapter. Go to Romans chapter four. Romans chapter four verse number one. Romans chapter four look at verse number one. How was Abraham justified by works? That's the question we're after here. The Bible says what shall we say then? Abraham our father as pertaining to the flesh hath found. You need to underline in your Bible as pertaining to the flesh. Meaning as pertaining to his works and people around him what has he found? For if Abraham were justified by works he hath whereof to glory but not before God. You see what the Bible is saying there? If Abraham was justified by his works he could boast. And the Bible says lest any man should boast. And it's saying here he could boast but he would not be justified before God. So what the Bible is clearly saying in Romans chapter four you are not justified by your works to God. But look at verse number three. For what say at the scripture? The Bible says Abraham believed God and it was counted unto him for righteousness. That's how Abraham was spiritually saved. That's how Abraham obtained salvation. By what? Believing on God. By trusting God. But the Bible here is clearly saying that he was justified by his works. Who called Abraham the friend of God is the question. Who called Abraham a friend of God? When he went up and he did what God asked him to do he did this amazing thing of being willing to sacrifice his own son even though God didn't. Who saw those works? What the Bible is saying is that Abraham was justified by works. He was called the friend of God by other men. The only way anyone can see your faith is by your works. So you are not justified by your works to God. You are justified by trusting on Jesus Christ to God. This is the justification that matters folks. But you are justified by men by what you do. By what they see you do because men can't see your heart. Only God sees the heart. Nobody on this planet, no man or woman can tell what you believe. That's what the Bible is explaining here. It is the only way that your faith can be shown to other people is through your works. It's not talking about being justified by works to God. All right. Go back to James chapter two. We get another example here with Rahab. With Rahab. It says she received the messengers and sent them out another way. So Rahab was justified by her faith, by her belief, but the way the Israelites could see her faith is because she helped them. Is because she hid the messengers and she did what she said she was gonna do. That's what justified her before men was her works. Look at James chapter two and verse number 18. Yeah, a man may say thou hast faith and I have works. Show me thy faith without thy works and I will show thee my faith by my works. So the only way for you to show your faith to men on this earth is through your works is what the Bible is saying here. But you're not justified by God through your works. So if we apply this to the sermon this morning, what I'm trying to get you to understand is the only way people can see your thankfulness even though you may feel thankful and you may be thankful in your mind, in your heart. The only way for other people to see your thankfulness is through your works. Is through you actually doing something. By what? Here's one. Thank you by saying thank you to people. That is an outward way of you showing that you are thankful. You know, I mean, look, this is why kids and ourselves, I mean like kids especially need to be taught, look, kids especially need to be taught to say thank you to things because they need to be taught to be thankful. The last thing you want is a bunch of spoiled kids that grow up to be unthankful adults. It's a terrible curse. I mean, a ruined man is unthankful. So think about that when you talk to your kids about making sure they say thank you about things. I mean, nothing will ruin a man faster than just giving him everything for nothing. You, I mean, it'll literally destroy someone. You say why? It's because he becomes unthankful. It leads to laziness. It's this gateway to drunkenness. Ultimately, if they're not even saved, it could lead down the path of Romans one, not even being thankful to God, not giving glory to God. It's a rejection of God. It could turn into. I mean, think about it. In order to be saved, think about why unthankfulness is such a big part of the Romans one path. In order to be saved, you need to appreciate the fact that you need a savior. Can you be saved if you don't even think that if you're just proud and you think that I don't need anything, I'm pretty good. Could you be saved if you weren't even looking for a savior? If you don't think that your sin is bad enough or maybe you think that every now and then you'll meet someone thinks that they don't sin. It's rare, but they're out there. If you have somebody that doesn't believe that they sin, that person cannot be saved. Because saved from what? They would never be searching for a savior. They would never be willing to trust in Jesus and his work on the cross to save them if they were just unthankful. Turn to Matthew chapter 12. But for men to see that you are thankful, you must show it. And look, saying thank you is a way to do that. Look at Matthew chapter 12 and look at verse number 34. So why is saying thank you so important? Why are those words so valuable to people to hear from you? Look at Matthew chapter 12 and verse 34. Jesus explains this when he's kind of rebuking the Pharisees here. This is Jesus many times how he spoke to the Pharisees. You won't hear this much today. But look at verse number 34. He says, oh, generation of vipers. You know, how's this for the real Jesus right here in the Bible? You know, everyone thinks that, you know, Jesus was just this love, love of everybody. I mean, he's like, how many people think that Jesus said this like, oh, generation of vipers? I mean, as he was just, you know, he's rebuking them sharply. He's calling them snakes. He's saying, oh, generation of vipers. How can he, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speak it. This is why saying thank you is so valuable right here. Because saying thank you, you know what? It shows that person that you're saying thank you to. It shows them that like in your heart you feel that you are thankful. So when I say thank you to the ushers, or thank you to someone for cleaning the church, or thank you to someone for doing something around here to help out, you know, when I'm gone or I couldn't do it or whatever, you know, what I'm saying is what my heart feels. And that's why that's important for that person to hear me say that. Because they're like, oh, well, you know, pastor or my brother is really thankful for what I did. Because it shows where the heart is. Because what's in your heart, you will say. That's what Jesus is saying. In Matthew chapter 12 and verse 34. Or not say. So somebody that never says thank you, somebody that you go and just help and do things for all the time, and they never say thank you. You're like, who would do that? Lots of people. You'd be shocked. You go out and you help certain people that need help and you help them and help them and help them, and they just never say thank you. You assume they're not thankful. Because what's in their heart, they will say or not say. This is why kids, kids, we need to teach things backwards. We need to teach kids things to do in their life. You need to teach kids the proper way of doing things. And then when kids get older and they grow up in that nurture and admonition of the Lord, they'll understand why they're saying those things and why they're doing those things. That's why kids, I mean, they may not understand when they're four or five or six years old why they have to say thank you to every single, they'll understand very quickly. But they may not when they're very young understand why they have to say thank you all the time. But pretty soon the doctrine of the Bible they will learn and they'll understand, oh, I should be appreciating these things. That's why my parents have been teaching me to say thank you for everything. I shouldn't just get used to things. It is super important to teach kids this. Kids, let's use the family integrated church here. Kids, you should say thank you to your mom after every time she makes you food. Kids, do you do that? You know what your mom will start to think if you don't say thank you to your mom when she makes you supper, makes you lunch, makes you breakfast, basically keeps you alive, kids. What she will start to think is, well, they're just getting used to it. And yes, it is her job to keep you alive. I get it. But you should be thankful to your mother. You should be thankful to your mother for teaching you. You should be thankful for your mother when she's frustrated with you because you're not getting your math and you're not getting your spelling and you're not getting all these things. You know what you should say? Thank you, mom. Thank you for making sure that I learn. You should be thankful when your mom and your dad sits down and reads the Bible to you every day. Because you know what? That's a rare thing in this world, kids. You should be thankful to a mom that sits down and reads the Bible to you and teaches you the Bible and teaches you the word of God. You need to appreciate these things. And you know how you appreciate things, kids? You say thank you. You say it. You say the words. Spoiled kids will be lazy, unthankful adults. And let me tell you something, folks. How do you fix a lazy, unthankful adult? I don't know. I'll let you know when I figure it out. But it is super important that we catch these things now in our children when they are young. So they are thankful, godly adults. Unfortunately, the only way, I mean actually do know the way to fix a lazy, unthankful adult. But the only way, and basically our country today makes it very difficult to fix a lazy, unthankful adult. Because in order for a lazy, unthankful adult to become not lazy and thankful, they have to go through pain and suffering. They actually have to go through a period where the Bible says, neither should he eat. They need to go through that period where you know what? I've been handed everything in my life and now I'm starving. There's nothing to eat. Standing on this corner, a healthy, strong, 32-year-old man, it makes me sick to my stomach every time I see it. Standing on that corner, a healthy, young man with two arms and two legs, that person needs to go through pain and suffering in order to get not lazy and thankful. Because when you go through pain and suffering, you start to appreciate things again. But see, our society today, it just wants to hand everybody everything so it makes that pain and suffering impossible. Let's hand them everything. Let's hand them money. Let's hand them everything that they possibly need. Let's even hand them drugs. It's the opposite of what the Bible teaches. And you will never end up being able to fix somebody that is lazy and unthankful with that. Husbands, this is a bad one. And this is something that I still try to get better at. You're like, I appreciate when I'm wife. I'm thankful for my wife. And I feel that right here, but I never do anything to show it. Men are a little bit different in this case where men will go to work and we will do things and we will get the praise of men. We will have people at work say, good job. We will have people at work say, you did a good job and I'm gonna give you a promotion. And we'll have people say, oh, I have the respect of all these people that I work with because I'm good at my job. I work hard, I show up early, I stay late, and we'll get some praise from that. We need to show our wives that we are thankful. We need to show it. How do we show it? Well, first you could say thank you to your wife. You could do things for your wife. This is why men, they're too logical sometimes. Like my wife doesn't need flowers. She has lots of flowers. She's got a garden with flowers in it. There's flowers around the house. Why does my wife need flowers? Because if I bring my wife flowers, that shows her that I'm thankful in my heart for her. It's not that she needs the flowers. It's not like us. I'm like, I need a wrench. I don't have a wrench. The flowers show thankfulness. This is just one example. Take your wife out to dinner. Why? Because I'm thankful for what you do. It's a way to show thankfulness. You wanna have a good relationship. You better show thankfulness in your life. See, many times men, we are thankful, like in here, but we just get so busy and we get so focused on our lives and we never show the thankfulness. Our wives need to see that and really what that'll show them is that we love them. It will show that we do appreciate them. We do appreciate the fact that I have a stay-at-home mom that's staying home, teaching my children the Bible, taking care of this next generation. You know what? There's nobody around. There's not an office full of coworkers laying praise on her constantly. That's my job as the husband to do. So don't forget to do that. You should do that constantly for your wife. Show your thankfulness to her. Tell her. Tell her how much you appreciate what she does. When she, when you see progress with the kids, point it out. Point it out to the kids. Tell your kids, do you know how blessed you are to have a mother that, you know, rejects what this world teaches and will stay home and teach you a worldly, a biblical worldview in this sick, twisted, perverted world that's out there? You need to show these kids what they have. Teach them to be outwardly thankful to their mother. Wives, how many times when your husband gets up at five o'clock in the morning to go out and slay dragons all day in this world, do you get up with him and see him off and say, I appreciate what you do? You know what that will do? That will show him that you are thankful. He probably knows, he probably has the head knowledge that you appreciate what he does. But you know what? You should tell him. You should tell him. You should do things to show him that you are thankful for what he does. Turn to Proverbs chapter five. Actually, turn to, I'm sorry, that's a mistake. Turn to Proverbs chapter 18. Proverbs chapter 18. Look, unthankful people will destroy relationships. And to a degree, they will actually burn down every bridge in their life. Unthankful people. And Proverbs chapter five and verse number 15, the Bible says, drink water is on thy own cistern and running water is on thy own well. The Bible is pretty strict, folks, on who deserves help. It's, you know, the Bible is like widows over 60 that have been married one time that have served the Lord and have a good report. So look, if someone does something nice for you or gives you something, you should be thankful because you definitely don't deserve it. That's what the Bible is teaching there. And if you're not thankful, folks, and people do things for you, it's probably not gonna happen repeatedly where people keep doing things for you because you frankly don't deserve somebody else's labor. You don't deserve people to just keep helping you in helping you in helping you. Be thankful. How do I do that? Are you turned up to Proverbs chapter 18? Proverbs chapter 18, look at verse number 24, the Bible says, this is a man that has friends must show himself friendly. And there's a friend that stick it closer than a brother. I mean, remember to be nice back to those that are nice to you. That's another way of showing that you're thankful. You know, you should, I mean, someone remembers your birthday, you should remember their birthday. These are simple things. I mean, it's just, don't be this person that just expects everything to be done for them. Somebody takes you to dinner, take them to dinner. You should literally, I mean, somebody helps you out of a jam, helps you on a house project, repay the favor. You, look, you should keep score with your friends unless you just wanna be this person that has friends, which means people just do things for me. But the Bible is saying in Proverbs 18, you should show yourself a friend. Be a friend, just because you have friends. This is the thing in a church. Like, people are gonna be your friend. I mean, like, we love you. Like somebody that's in this church that's not doing things right, that's maybe got, you know, things a little backwards and they need a lot of help. Look, people are gonna help you. They're gonna show you that they're your friend. But you know what? You should show that you're a friend back to people. It shows that, why? It shows you're thankful. That's what it shows. Turn to 1 John chapter four. 1 John chapter four. I mean, honestly, this is how Jesus treated us. You know, this is how Jesus treated us and the whole idea of the Christian life is that we are to show thankfulness back towards God for what Christ did for us. And that's ultimately the model here, folks. In 1 John chapter four, in verse number 19, the Bible says, it says, we love him, why? Why do we love Jesus? By, what is loving Jesus? We're actually, we're gonna define that in great detail tonight. What it means to love the Lord. What it means to love Jesus Christ. We're gonna get into that in great detail tonight. What that phrase actually means. But I mean, God said, if you love me, keep my commandments. Basically loving God means doing what he told you to do. Why do we do that? Because he first loved us. Why in the world? So when people ask me, when people ask me, are you telling me that you can go out and do whatever you want and you can just live whatever life you want and you're saved and you can never not being saved? Yes. Because I'm not saved by what I do or what I don't do. I'm saved through Jesus Christ. But why do I come to church three times a week? Why do I go out soul winning and try to get as many people saved as I possibly can? Why do I try to get sin out of my life? Why do we try to live this Christian life? Why do we sit here and listen to the Bible preached every Sunday, every Wednesday, and try to fix these things in our life? Why do we do it? It's not to get ourselves to heaven, 0%. We do it because he first loved us. We do it because I don't know about you, but I'm thankful that I'm saved. I mean, we are gonna get rewarded in heaven, but I'm just thankful that I'm not going to hell. And that's why I love Christ. Loving meaning, nodding like some butterfly feeling or some lust feeling as they've defined love today. But loving meaning, I actually do what I'm supposed to do. Loving meaning, reading the Bible, following the Bible, showing God that I love him by listening to what he tells me to do. And it shows what? It shows that I'm thankful to the God that saved me. When I deserved none of it. I deserved just like you, I deserved to go to hell. And I'm not going to hell. I mean, what more do you need? What more motivation do you need to be thankful to the Lord? But people need motivation because why? Because they take their salvation for granted. And that's what Romans chapter six is talking about. Paul's saying, you're not going to hell, but don't forget that. Don't forget that that's where you deserve to go. Don't forget that you should follow the Lord. Don't take grace for granted. Be thankful. Well, be thankful in your life. Say thank you, but more important than that, be thankful to people. Be thankful to your brothers and sisters in Christ. When people do things for you, be thankful and show that you're thankful back towards them. Let's bow our heads and have a word of praise.