 Well, are you glad to be in the house of God on this Wednesday night? Come on, let's try it again. Are you glad to be in the house of God on this Wednesday night? We are so glad that you are here stand with us all over this house So good to see you no better place to be on a Wednesday night than right here at Pace Assembly, right? Amen Why don't you turn around and shake someone's hand let them know you're glad to see them Let there be the sound of fellowship in the house of God tonight Praise the Lord such a great crowd in God's house tonight Now before your seat, let's give God a great big hand clap offering a praise. I Tell you what don't be seated yet. We got to pray. I want us to go to the Lord in prayer There are a number of needs tonight And I want us to come together and believe God that he's going to meet needs all over this house I want us to remember two very important needs brother Rae Carmley's daughter Alice was admitted into the hospital with COVID She's in need of a touch from God in her life tonight. I also want us to remember Cindy Hudson. This is Pastor Gene Hudson his wife of Pine Forest Assembly of God She's in the hospital with COVID tonight as well and All of these needs need a touch from the Lord if you'll grab your prayer and praise How many of you walked into this house? You've got a need in your life and you need God to reach down his hand and touch you and strengthen you. I Want you to know that you walked into the right house tonight. We believe that we serve a God that heals He hears and he answers our prayers and he is well able to touch you exactly where you're at So let's come together by faith and let's believe and let's believe God for great things in this house Father we thank you tonight For the privilege we have to be in your presence No place we would rather be than in your presence It's in your presence where there's fullness of joy and it's at your right hand where there are pleasures forever more And father we're asking you to reach down your hand You know the needs that are represented across this congregation and father We're trusting you that you're going to hear and answer the prayers of your people today Right now we come together and we lift up Alice that God you would touch her go right into that hospital room and Reach down your hand and bring strength and bring healing today We pray for Cindy Hudson that God you would touch her Lord we stand upon your word that you were wounded for our Transgressions and you were bruised for our iniquities and the chastisement of our peace was upon you and it's by your Stripes that we are healed tonight and everyone that's walked into this house Wherever they're struggling at whatever they're facing in their life if they have a sense of hopelessness and despair Reach down your hand lift them up tonight Straighten them and encourage them and let them know that they're not alone that there's a God that's with them That's walking with them. That's gonna see them through we pray for this service tonight We pray for pastor T as he ministers to the youth that pastor Caleb as he reaches out to these children tonight Every aspect Lord of ministry that's taking place across his campus Lord Let the fresh anointing of the Holy Spirit be reached be stretched out over this house We give you praise or what's gonna take place? And we ask this in the mighty name of Jesus come on if you receive it and you believe that God answers prayers Lift your hands tonight and for the next few moments for the next few moments Let's give him praise your worthy God your worthy mighty God your worthy raise you we thank you Lord We thank you for your goodness We thank you for your loving kindness your tender mercies. We thank you that you're hearing our prayers We thank you Lord that you're leading us into victory father. Oh, we love you. We're so grateful for your presence We're so grateful for your hand tonight, and we love you and we praise you hallelujahs in the sanctuary Give him praise in this house the Lord is worthy the Lord is worthy you might be seated Once again, we're glad that you're in the house of God. We're looking forward to this this Sunday this weekend pastor is gonna have a word for us He has been in ku fide this past week And I'm excited about hearing some of the updates that are taking place in Israel What's taking place around the world and you know that pastor be back And he's gonna be ready to bring forth the word and I would encourage you Make sure that you are here this Sunday It's gonna be a powerful powerful weekend like it is every single weekend and our pastor is gonna come ready Like he always is and so I want you to make sure that you're here Sunday and do this I want you to think of two people or three people that maybe they're not going to church or maybe they're not connected Or maybe you haven't seen them in a season Why don't you get on the phone and just invite them to come and be a part of what's taking place? Hey, here's another idea for you if there's someone that you've been witnessing to Sharing your faith with sharing your testimony with why don't you invite them to church Sunday and do this? Hey, why don't you come to church with me Sunday and right after service? I'll take you to lunch get them here watch what God does in their life If they can just get in this atmosphere in this house Where the anointing of the Holy Spirit will move and touch You know the Bible says that Paul planted the seed Apollos watered but God gave the increase and Sometimes our role is simply to plant the seed God will bring someone else along to water the seed and God may bring someone That you don't even know That's able my friend to see them come to know Jesus to see the increase But what we're to do and what we're to be our seed planners We're just to throw the seed out and so I encourage you invite someone to church this We can and I believe as they get connected to pace assembly that God's gonna be a begin to do a work And God's gonna flourish them. How many of you believe it if you believe it say man Several things that are taking place across the campus You could find these things on the pace assembly app or you can find these on the website The men's fish fry is the 31st our sign-up sheet our star sign-up is active online As I speak right now, so I encourage you To all the men we want you to come and be a part of this men's fish fry And make sure that you get online and you sign up Also ladies you'll be able to sign up for the chat and chew that's coming up August 13th As I as I say when I'm allowed and I get the great privilege to to give the preliminaries This is the time of the season for you to get connected to the house of God to the life of the church And I encourage you to come and be a part Of many of the auxiliary ministries that are taking place I promise you you'll be strengthened and encouraged through that. Can you see man? We want to take this time and welcome all of our guests If this is your first time being with us or you haven't been with us a sea in a season We're honored that you're with us tonight those of you that are watching this online Thank you for being a part of this as well. We encourage you to stay tuned For the entirety of the service. So let's welcome our second campus our online campus And let's welcome all of our guests tonight. Thank you so much for being in the house of god We also want to thank you for your faithfulness in giving to the work of the lord So many amazing things are happening and are yet to happen God is doing great things and it's so good to be partnered and be planted in a church where we're seeing the blessings In the favor of god and you're tied that you're offering your faithfulness and the giving And the work of the kingdom is vital and important. So thank you so much Several ways in which you can give whatever is most convenient for you. We encourage you to do just that So let's pray tonight. Let's ask god to bless the tide than the offering father We thank you lord for the privilege that we have to give We ask you lord that you would reach down your hand bless the tide the offering the gift to give her a like Good measure press down shaking together running over and we'll give you praise for it in Jesus name and everybody says a man and a man god bless you today I want you to take your bibles to the book of first Thessalonians The book of first Thessalonians I feel that the lord has put a word in my spirit for you tonight And one of the things that I discover and and when the lord begins to give me a message or challenge my heart It's first I believe many times I have to look in the mirror and as I'm preparing I'm having to say god you got to help me with this Lord this at times. This is a weakness in my life. Thank you, brother at times This is a weakness in my life And and I need you to help me And as the lord begins to speak to me and as I begin to study and dig in a little bit I discover more and more in me that I'm I'm having to ask god for guidance and direction and help How many of you understand what I'm talking about tonight? And so in the book of first Thessalonians now, are you going to help me tonight? Come on. Are you going to help me tonight? Whenever you walked in you should have received a handout I hope that you grabbed one because I want you to follow along with me tonight And it's going to be I believe an encouraging word. So first Thessalonians chapter number five And I want us to start with verse number 16 The bible says this rejoice evermore Pray without ceasing In verse number 18 in everything And this is the first two words of this verse Is very difficult at times In everything In everything Give thanks For this is the will of god in christ jesus Concerning you Has there ever been a season in your life where gratitude was difficult? Have you've ever been in a place having a heart of Thanksgiving? Has been difficult. Well, don't worry every last one of us are guilty of that But what I'm believing today Tonight that from this word that there's going to be a culture That's going to be created in your home in your family and it's going to be a culture Of gratitude and when you begin to look and define the word culture it is Very simple. It is a set of shared attitudes Values goals and practices that characterizes an institution Or an organization. Let me give that to you again and follow along with me on your paper So the definition of culture is this the set of shared attitudes of values goals And practices that characterizes an institution or an organization And can I tell us tonight as a church and as a family? We have the power Listen to me. We have the power to change the environment of our family We have the power to change the environment of our employment We have the power to change the environment of our church by simply having a culture of gratitude If we've ever needed anything in our families, it is a heart of gratitude for one another If we've ever needed to have a heart of gratitude Is the fact that god has opened the doors of employment and god has opened the doors of opportunity And we need to be grateful for that But if the church has ever needed anything in this hour, the church needs to have a culture Of gratitude a culture of thanksgiving can somebody say amen at pace assembly tonight Now gratitude it is the quality of being thankful A readiness I want you to mark that word underline that word a readiness to show appreciation for and to return kindness Somebody say gratitude More families have been destroyed More careers have ended prematurely Many churches have lost ground because of the lack attitude The lack of appreciation how many of you have ever heard the term I don't feel appreciated In my years that I that I pastored and I would I would give marital counseling to couples one of the Statements that was constantly made. I feel that he or she doesn't appreciate me Times whenever I was pastoring the church and and it's always said by by some we don't feel appreciated We need to be a people that create a culture Of gratitude our spouse should never feel that they're not appreciated Our children should never feel that they're not Appreciated our employer should never get the sense from us that we don't appreciate the opportunity To work for your company or work for your ministry Somebody are you here tonight? so We need to develop a mindset that looks for God's grace and goodness at all times And when you and I lack gratitude because I've been there before I've been there with the lack of appreciation and the lack of gratitude But I want you to hear something very clearly when we lack gratitude We begin to take for granted each other It happens in the family and it happens in the place of employment When we when we lose or we don't operate in the spirit and the heart of gratitude We take our spouse our family for granted We and then we begin to take our employer For granted and we think that we're owed that it that it should be ours Because we lose the aspect of gratitude how many of you are grateful for your family tonight Let me see your hand. How many of you are grateful for your job tonight. Let me see your hand So the next question is have you shared with your family that you're grateful for them Have you shared with your employer about just getting a little card and say hey I appreciate the fact that you are employing me Now it's those kind of things where as the body of Christ and and and really as as Moral human beings we should be of people that have the heart of gratitude. Amen Now I'm preaching better than you're amen in me tonight Pastor's gonna be back sunday, okay So an attitude of thanksgiving and gratitude Should dominate the life of a believer Gratitude and thanksgiving Appreciation that should dominate your life In my life that we are living Constantly in the state Of gratitude and thanksgiving and can I tell you our worship? Is hindered when that attitude of gratitude is not in operation or his absence Now I want you to look at this statement because this statement may rub you the wrong way But watch this gratitude is a mark of the presence of God on the life And in gratitude is the mark of the devil on your life When we're not living With a heart of gratitude When we're not living with the spirit of thanksgiving That means we're not giving glory You see every good and perfect gift has come from above You're here tonight because you're blessed You're here tonight because God made a way The bible says you have not chosen me, but I have chosen you you within your own self never chose this way You never chose God rather. God Chose you somebody help me in this sanctuary. There was one day you were lost without Jesus you were doomed to a devil's hell with no With no future doom and darkness Was your slate in life outside of christ But because one day however it came god sent a man or a woman a preacher a missionary an evangelist And you came up under the message of the gospel of jesus christ And the holy spirit convicted you of your sins and you turned your life to jesus my friend Listen, you didn't choose him, but he chose you and that should be a reason We're excited and have a spirit of gratitude in this house You didn't choose him, but he chose you aren't you glad that he chose you all that listen my friend That ought to make you want to run around the church that he chose you praise the lord We should be grateful for that We should have a heart of gratitude for that Gratitude is the mark of the presence of god on the life and in gratitude is the mark of the devil I want to encourage you to have a have a heart of gratitude Be grateful for what god has put in your life Satan whispers in our ears to make us think that god has taken good things away from us He constantly whispers in our ear that we're when we're going through struggle We're going through hardship. We're going through difficulty that these are the times and the seasons that god has left us God wants us to look at what he has freely given to us The bible says in romans 8 32 he who did not spare his own son But delivered him over for us all how he will not also with him freely give us all things We have so much to be thankful for tonight So we have so much to be thankful for tonight when the nation of israel moved out of egypt In mass into the wilderness of sinai the bible says that they immediately began complaining The very first thing that they done they started complaining they complained about the conditions They complained about the water they complained about the lack of meat and their vulnerability to the egyptians God just brought them out of bondage and the very first thing they did is begin to complain God set them free from slavery But they had already forgotten what god had done for them and pace assembly. Can I ask you this question? Have you forgotten? Have you just listen? Have you forgotten? Have we gotten so called up in the time that we're in and what's taking place all around us? Have we forgotten about the goodness the grace and the mercy of god? It's easy to do It's easy to look on our problems. It's easy to look on our troubles It's easy to focus on the pressure that we're under It's easy to look at all the mountains around us and and the valleys that we're having to walk through It's easy to forget, but pace assembly. Let's not forget the good hand of the lord That has kept us that has sustained us that has held us during these times in this life Have you forgotten? The children of Israel they sing god at work like no one else have They sing it with their eyes And god made a way for them to be free from the hand of the egyptian And so quickly they forgot You see when you get your eyes off god It's so easy to quickly Forget Amen, don't lose the heart of gratitude Don't lose The heart Of thanksgiving the bible says in Colossians 3 and 17 No matter what is on your journey the the scripture is speaking here and whatever you do in word or indeed Do everything in the name of the lord jesus giving thanks to god the father through him Gratitude is the key Everything in this life Gratitude is the key appreciation and Thanksgiving is the key thankfulness and gratitude as you begin to look at those two words Gratitude and thankfulness it is a prominent theme as you read the bible First Thessalonians 5 16 17 and 18 Rejoice evermore pray without ceasing and in everything give thanks for this is the will of god in christ jesus concerning you This is the thing that i want you to see today So important that you catch this word tonight. We got to give thanks in all Circumstances give thanks in all circumstances somebody say in all circumstances Give thanks in all Circumstances of your life thankfulness and gratitude It should be a way of life for us Naturally flowing from our hearts in our mouth. It should be something that is natural for the child of god and for the believer How's your attitude? How's your attitude? Attitude check when i was a youth pastor. We used to do this attitude check and the youth group would say praise the lord So let's try that attitude check Let's try it again attitude check You see in everything that you go through when it's dark And it's dismal and you can't believe the phone call you just got You can't believe that the mail that that you just opened and this is doing that's due my friend You got to have an attitude check. Well, praise the lord. Amen somebody. I'm telling you developing that heart of gratitude you've got to give god praise in all Circumstances thankfulness And gratitude should should be a way of life for us naturally flowing from our hearts in our mouths now As you dig in the scriptures a little more deeply We understand Why we should be thankful and also how to have gratitude in different circumstances Psalms chapter 136 verse number one Give thanks unto the lord for he is good and his love endures forever In this passage there's two reasons Why we should be thankful god's constant goodness and his steadfast love God is good I said god is good Maybe i'll talk to this career over here, but god is good Are you glad about that? And his steadfast love i'm grateful for the love of god No greater love that a man would have than this that a man would lay down his life or his friend I'm grateful for the love of god and the psalmist here gives us two reasons Why we should have a grateful heart and a grateful attitude and an attitude of thank giving And it is because of the lord's constant goodness to us Can I tell you church god has been so good to me when my performance didn't line up when my life didn't line up When I had an attitude when I wanted to rebel when I wanted to do my own thing When I wanted to go in my old direction there he was still good to me and still loving on me And he's done it for you. He's done it for you and he's done it for you His love and his goodness and his mercy it keeps chasing it keeps running after me And I should have a heart of gratitude and a heart of thanksgiving Amen Gratitude and thanksgiving should be a lifestyle We got to practice it and we got to practice it on purpose On purpose An attitude of gratitude Gratefulness On purpose You can change the atmosphere of your home And let's face it the ambience of our home needs to change some in here Some of you work You work in an environment that is very toxic Change you you be the one that starts changing the culture You be the one that pays assembly That begins to show appreciation To people Hey, I appreciate you. Thank you. It's so good to see you today. I'm so grateful for you I'm so grateful that we're able to come to church together That that culture of gratitude No, oh here they come walking on the aisle. I'm going the other way You see god brings different personalities different people Into god's house It becomes like a melting pot. There's all different sorts of people that come from different backgrounds They have a different Way that they were up that they were brought up They don't talk like you do they don't act like you do but my god, they're here I said they're here They're different. They're struggling. They're battling, but man, they're here And that simple arm that we put around their shoulder Man, it's so good to see you And then they say man, I'm struggling listen struggles and all So good to see you hardships and all so good to see you Addictions and everything else so good to see you struggling in your life It's so good to see you. Can I tell you? This is a hospital for the wounded the broken the least the last of all And no matter who walks into this house a heart of gratitude because there's plenty of churches my friend They are shut down and the possibility of them being Reopened and then even staying open for many it is slim to none But god is blessed pace assembly and blessed us with a great pastor We need to have the spirit that jesus had Whosoever will let him come unto me all ye that are weary and heavy laden come and i'll give you a wrap god's gonna bring Different folks and we need to have a heart of gratitude for the people that god brings Come on give god a great big hand in this house Hey, i'm gonna tell you something and all I really believe When the church has Creates that culture of gratitude And we welcome people See first off one thing that i'm realizing I'm not the messiah and a lot of us we have a messiah complex We try to fix people and change people and we have no power to do that And then we try to have that that then we try to become the holy spirit of people And we try to bring conviction upon their life and change it and we cannot do it All right It will simply be see we've got a man of god that preaches to us every week He's got listen you get him here. You know, he's going to preach the word You know, he's going to preach with the power of the holy spirit And as he preaches the word conviction comes into the house and men and women are drawn to the altar That's why i'm telling you to get them here And it doesn't matter what their background is what they're struggling with leds listen We need to have the heart of gratitude for people Jesus came for people Jesus loved people Amen He left the 99 that were staying in the phone and he left them just to go get the one because the one meant so much to him Amen A heart of gratitude A heart of gratitude. I dare you Tonight Pace assembly hear me today. I dare you tonight and I dare you to make it A regular routine That you find somebody different every single week that you don't know not your clique Churches don't have cliques churches are filled with them Get out of your comfort zone Get out of your comfort zone and encourage and have a heart of gratitude For those that come into the house Well pastor pool. Are you saying that we don't absolutely not I would never say that But I will tell you this. I know if jason pool Can be guilty of showing the lack of gratitude and appreciation. I know everyone in this house can as well We're all guilty of it And see what god wants to do in this church god wants to bring people in Amen God wants to bring people in but why would god ever bring people into his church When they're not going to grow when they're not going to feel loved when they're not going to feel accepted when they're not going to feel like They've been forgiven and we're the when there's no gratitude. No appreciation. They don't have to come to pace Hello Do you know how many churches are in san rosa county? There's a lot of them. They don't have to cut in fact You don't have to come but you're coming for a reason because you know, there's life in this church The presence of god is real and my thing is many people can just get here And if they could just feel what I feel and if they could just know About this jesus that loves him and that cares for them man. They're life forever And that happens when we show gratitude For people in the church house and in the marketplace Gratitude somebody say gratitude We've got to create a culture change the culture of your home Change the culture of your home Make sure that you tell your children. I do this all the time. They probably get sick of hearing it But I'll always tell my man. I'm so grateful for you I'll just give them that stare And I and I said man, I'm so grateful for you katelyn So grateful for you rachel so grateful for you joseph. Thank god every day for you on a regular basis Do that in your family it had changed the culture of your home Do that to your employer Not to butter up not to get it but appreciate them Appreciate them and and let me tell you something for pastors because Last year I walked through it y'all I walked through it God saw our church through covet It was not always easy. It was a struggle at times And when I was down and discouraged I was in destined and I could call my pastor And he would encourage me and build me up When I had people at the at that time complained They wouldn't come back to church and I'd see Post on social media that they're going out of town and going on vacation or going shopping and I'm like What in the world? I'm in church and well, it's coven. I'm scared, but You're you're going to walmart and hold depot and lows and the places feel right Let me tell you because a lot of pastors felt they felt the lack of gratitude Can I just be real with you? They felt the lack of appreciation the lack of gratitude And many couldn't handle it and they quit and they gave up Let me tell you something tonight A culture of gratitude at you and myself It is so important our pastor. This has not been an easy season the last year and a half to pastor through this pandemic He listen, I'm grateful that he went against the grain of a lot of people He went against the grain of a lot of people's opinions their thoughts their ideas Well, we got to do it this way and that way Let me tell you something if we've ever needed to have a heart of gratitude for the man of god that he's placed in Your life and he's placed in my life This is the time and season that we should have a heart Of gratitude for the man of god because it hasn't been easy. Come on give god a hand of praise Because it hasn't been easy Open church closed the church This and that and and somewhere down the line. You got to say, okay, god. I'm gonna trust you And that's why the heart of gratitude is so important We have two reasons to be thankful god's constant goodness and his steadfast love psalms 30. I begin reading this today Gives praise psalms 30 gives praise to god for his deliverance and as you read psalms 30 I see seven things that this scripture points out I don't know if I put that on on your paper If not just make sure that you write it down and you'll go back and you'll read it David writes this I I will exalt you oh lord number one You lifted me out of the depths Has god left has god lifted anyone from the depths today? Look at the hands in here. That's a testimony today that god's lifted you out of the depths You have something to be thankful for And did not let my enemies gloat over me Come on somebody how many of you can give god praise for that? Oh lord my god. I called To you for help and you healed me number three. I called you for help and you healed me Have you been healed by the power of god tonight? Oh lord, you brought me up from the grave anybody ever been at death's door Anybody ever been sick in your body? Anybody ever felt just like ending it all but i'm telling you david was there and david said you brought me up from the grave Number five you spared me from going down into the pit Number six you turned my welling into dancing. Come on Give god a shout of praise for that. He's turned your morning into dancing Number seven you removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy David begins to think of all the things that god has done for him And then when he said all of that he said it for this reason that my heart may sing to you and not be silent Oh lord my god, I will give you thanks forever or in other words forever I will have a heart of gratitude Gratitude should never escape us Gratitude should never escape us His praise and his Thanksgiving should be should be forever on your lips And that's the culture we have to create in our homes The culture that we should have In a church not just this church, but god's church a heart of gratitude You didn't have to save me, but you did you woke me up this morning. Amen, and I'm grateful for it Amen And here david gives thanks to god When you begin to read psalms 30, he's obviously giving thanks to god during difficult circumstances And isn't that a hard place to be in When you're going through difficulty giving god praise One of the youth elders that's working up in the youth department tonight He was sharing with me when he was going through dealing with cancer throat cancer and going through chemotherapy and I don't mean to be gross, but he said Brother Jason every time I would Have to go to the restroom and vomit. He said I would Hallelujah Thank you jesus Thank you jesus hallelujah, well, that's okay for him pastor, but I don't know if I could do that He's up in the youth building tonight, and he's got a clean bill of health somebody shout hallelujah in every circumstance When my back's against the wall god, I don't understand it But i'm not going to get mad at you or get angry at you. I don't understand it. It's a mystery I've tried to live for you and do what's right. I don't understand it, but god regardless I'm grateful for you. Can I hear an amen in this house? It's creating a cult listen and it's not a cultural gratitude in your family Or or where you work at or in this church, but in your own life And if we can make up in our mind that no matter what place that i'm in in my life I'm always going to give god praise I'm always going to be thankful and grateful Will you say amen? listen David gives thanks to god in the difficult circumstances and this psalm of thanksgiving not only praises god in the moment But remembers god's past faithfulness Can we start for a few moments and think about god's past faithfulness? Come on That ought to make you scream for joy right now When you think about god's past faithfulness How many of you has he done it for you? Come on. Has he done it for you? Has he made a way for you in the past? Has he provided a need for you in the past? Has he healed one of your children? Has he restored your marriage? Listen has he opened some doors for you? Has he closed some doors for you when you thought you couldn't make the house payment when you thought you wasn't going to be able to Have money for groceries or medication. Did you discover him in the past? Be jahoba gyre the lord your provider come on somebody you can't forget what god has done in the past I'm not going to build a memorial about what happened in the past But I know if he did it back then I know that he's in the right now moment of my life and he's going to be with me tomorrow If I'll maintain a heart of gratitude and thanksgiving somebody shout hallelujah Lift your hands all over this sanctuary and thank god for what he's done for you in the past And what he's getting ready to do for you now Hallelujah god. I thank you lord. I thank you lord. I thank you lord a culture of gratitude A culture of gratitude a lot of families can be restored If we would have just showed Some appreciation Where would you be in your career? If you were grateful Well, I didn't like sweeping the floors I didn't like stuck in the shelves I didn't like taking the trash out And because you were grateful That door Proper door didn't open for you because god couldn't trust you with it If you will be thankful with what god is placed in your hands It right now in this moment in your life God's preparing you God's molding you and shaping you God knows how to take you from the back take you all the way to the front But he wants to get the glory the honor and the heart of gratitude from us Well, I don't understand why I don't have this opportunity and I don't get to do this and this maybe it's not your timing Well, I just feel overlooked Did you know that blind Bartimaeus when you look at Bartimaeus his name his name means overlooked But at the right time jesus came by And i'm going to tell you if we will be faithful in the small things at the right time if god sees our faithfulness Our heart of gratitude if we're blossoming where god's planted us Even if it's in the back corner Even if it's taking a trash out Even if it's stuck in whatever it is if we will be faithful in the small my new things in life He knows how to give us even more somebody It's all about gratitude It it truly is it's all about gratitude Well, for some reason pastor pulled things and my marriage is not working out. Well, have you for once Said hey, i'm thankful for you I know we clash but when it's all said into i'm thankful for you You help the rough edges of my life. Thank you And she may say you aggravate the heck out of me, but thank you And then you know what you say? Well, i'm going to try to do that later And then i'm going to do it tomorrow and i'm just going to keep aggravating you and aggravate you That that heart of gratitude appreciate one another In ministry there's going to be different personalities You're going to work with different people in different parts of the ministry And just because someone's got a different personality Don't mean you quit where god has put you in the ministry here at pace assembly You turn around and you're just grateful for them and know that god's trying to work something out in you Y'all not clapping on that one Don't don't we realize that god puts us around people That rub us the wrong way God puts us around people that challenges Listen, you got to be careful of the folks in your life that doesn't challenge you If you're the smartest person in the room, you need to go to a different room You don't need to be the sharpest knife In the drawer beta listen I've made it a mission To read books To be connected to people that are a whole lot smarter than i am because as they go up i get to go up Where does all that come from it comes from a heart Of gratitude because if i'm walking around with an attitude all the time well, they got this opportunity this happened They have this happened to them. This happened to them. I'm going nowhere Who wants to follow some prune face? Nobody wants to follow that But what people want to follow someone that's filled with the joy the lord They want to follow someone that that that appreciates and has that heart. Well, that's just not my cultural We don't say thank you. Well change how you believe then I'll never forget. I was doing some marriage counseling with a couple It's honest to god truth I'll sit down there talking to this couple and and and um We were getting into some details and he said well, I told her I loved her 35 years ago and I felt that was enough And I ain't told her ever since And I said well bucko. That's your problem then Somebody say gratitude Now if I don't stop and move on then my wife is going to tell me jason you have rambled and so Um, how many of you know what i'm talking about out there, right? So We have examples of being thankful in the midst of hard circumstances and after david cries out to god. He writes this David's going through the most difficult season of his life. Listen. He's going through one of the most difficult seasons of his life And david cries out to god and he writes his praise be to the lord For he has heard my cry for mercy The lord is my strength of my shield my heart trust in him and I am helped my heart bleeps For joy and I will give Thanks to him in song And in psalms 28 david Is giving praise in the midst Of distress Well, it's hard to give god Praise and have a heart of gratitude when you get a negative report from your doctor Or you're going through a foreclosure of a bankruptcy a repossession The irs in you a letter It's hard to give god praise when Circumstances are taking place when you're hearing of loved ones That are sick and dying or one of your children something's taking place in in your children's marriage And it's hard to give god praise And it's in the midst of hardship david remembers who god is And as a result of knowing and trusting god He gives thanks Job had a similar attitude of praise Even in the face of death the lord gave and the lord is taken away. May the name of the lord be praised There's examples of believers thankfulness in the new testament as well. Watch this the apostle paul somebody say paul Paul was heavily persecuted But yet he wrote this thanks be to god who always leads us in Triumphant possession in christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of him He was heavily persecuted But yet he kept the heart of gratitude and the heart of thanksgiving The writer of hebru says therefore since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken Let us be thankful my goodness We serve a god Of whose kingdom will reign forever and forever and forever in church if we really Absolutely really passionately Believe that then we will live a life of thanksgiving Knowing that this world is not all there is I can give god praise and thanks that there's a better world to come And if i'll live right and live for jesus and have that born to get experience that heaven is my Destination and i can live with a heart of thanksgiving and a heart of gratitude in every single Circumstance of my life hallelujah Now I know my time is getting away from me. So i want to hurry tonight One of the characteristics of the last days Is the lack of thanksgiving according to second timothy three and two Says the wicked people will be ungrateful And aren't we in that season? Wicked people That are unthankful ungrateful They don't have heart of gratitude And isn't it interesting that when we don't operate in thanksgiving And gratitude he correlates us with wicked people Think about that If we don't live A life of gratitude and thanksgiving he correlates our lives with wicked people Whatever place you're in in this life, and I don't know all of your stories I don't know some of the troubles some of you're in the difficulty the hardship That that some of you may be facing in this house And I don't think worship is preeminent above the word Think the word the word of god that is the most powerful thing on this earth Because it's god breathe that's inspired By the holy spirit written by men inspired by the holy ghost And that word is for you and that word is for me But i'm gonna tell you when you're going through hell When everything's in shambles And chaos has hit Your household chaos has hit your place of employment When chaos hits the church That better be the season That gratitude and thankfulness Steps in Amen Gratitude and thankfulness needs to be the welcome guest of your home your place of employment In your church how many of you are grateful tonight? Come on. How many of you are grateful tonight? So When we're thankful and have the attitude of gratitude our focus moves off selfish desires And off the pain of current circumstances Expressing thankfulness and gratitude helps us to remember that god is in control. Do you believe it? Do you believe that god is in control? Thankfulness gratitude then is not only appropriate But it reminds us of the bigger picture that we belong to god and that we've been blessed with every spiritual blessing According to the book of Ephesians chapter number one verse number three now When you begin to look at some of this There are some aspects of developing an attitude of gratitude that only come from walking through struggles Difficulties Are not meant to be roadblocks in your life God wants to use them to transform you and to make you more like him Gratitude produces something greater in you and something greater in others Quickly tonight Don't get ahead of me. Uh, what i'm about to give you just stay with me So i want us to look at this tonight Gratitude makes us more optimistic What does gratitude do? This is what gratitude will do to us Gratitude will cause us to be filled with hope More optimistic feel be be more cheerful be more positive Gratitude makes us more optimistic Are you seeing the glass half full or half empty? When you get a heart of gratitude It changes perception And many times the way we're looking at things we need to look at it from a different point of view And look at it in a different perception And as we do that and we we live With that heart of gratitude And optimism it causes there to be joy and hope and and you and i Walking a life that is positive gratitude reduces materialism Grateful for what god has entrusted you with Amen Gratitude reduces Materialism you'll be thankful for what you have I remember when my daughter turned 16 she was wanting a car And i said well you're gonna raise Half the money whatever you raise i'm gonna give that to you well lord jesus that girl raised over three thousand dollars She was telling she was telling me and her mom I want a bmw i said well you better get you a bmw job so so So we had to we had to give her money Right, you know what else gratitude does gratitude makes us left self-centered Have you ever met anyone that was so self-centered you wanted the spirit of slap to come on you? Come on you wanted to you you were god annoying it right now But see when you operate When you operate in gratitude You really get the spirit that john the baptist had Increase and let me decrease And that's why we need to walk with a heart of gratitude that we won't be so Self-centered you know what gratitude does it helps you to bounce back if you've ever been kicked down If you've ever gone through a difficult time Listen, I know pastor roger says this. Have you ever talked to yourself in the car? But it is true Because when you're going through it sometimes you gotta You got to look at yourself in the mirror and chew yourself out You're not going to have that attitude. You're not going to feel that way You're not going to talk that way. You're not going to be that person You're not going to be ungrateful Gratitude reduces the feelings of envy Can I just tell all of us? You may not have everything you're wanting right now But I got what I need right now Come on give god praise right now And and and I have to believe this If I will be a good steward Say I want god to be able to trust me I can't be trusted if I can't tie Tied of what god gives me If I want more if if and it's listen We need to have those financial goals and those financial dreams and I dream that my house was paid for I'm able to retire at this age and I'm able to go on this cruise or vacation and you plan and you budget for Do all of those things my friend? We got to do all those things God will make a way If he finds that we're faithful in the area of our money I had my first test with money My first youth pastor job Boy, time is getting away from me, but I'm gonna share this because I think it'll be an encouragement to you My first youth pastor job was in Pensacola and it was in the mid 90s. My wife and I we just left here was in 1996 And and I got invited to go to India And as I wasn't even 20 years old yet and I was living behind the church my wife and I we we bought us a mobile home and Number one don't ever if you ever want to be in ministry don't ever put a mobile home on church property I was not grateful for that Anyway, that's a whole other story Let me tell you my I'm gonna tell you something We had that mobile home, but we had nothing else and I mean when we had nothing We had no money And I remember walking on that porch that Sunday morning right behind the church And I put my foot on that porch going to the church And the holy spirit spoke to me To give a hundred Dollars above my tithe than offering and I know you're gonna sit here and say well, that's no big deal When you don't have nothing And you're not even bringing home 300 dollars a week I said okay, god. I'm gonna do it And that morning my first test ever in my that I can remember I gave that hundred dollars Right after service A man that came up and says I heard that you're going on a mission trip How much more money do you need? I said I got to have a thousand dollars He says god has checked me out. Here's one thousand dollars here Put it in my hands Oh That's just one of some y'all I'm a blessed man preaching to you tonight of the goodness of god that's been upon my life Because we have practice Tithe and offering So I'm saying all that to say this As you have that heart of gratitude you feel left self-centered you bounce back your feelings of envy you understand What you have is enough It's enough And if you try to keep up with the johns's well boy if your name's johns. I'm sorry, but it's just a saying, all right honey They just got that new escalade Why don't we go and you get You can't even afford it But it's a blessing the blessings of the lord maketh rich and it adds no sorrow Okay, let me get to the next part. So listen anything that you have Don't call it a blessing if it's adding sorrow Come on somebody now I shared this already with you, but gratitude helps your marriage. Oh it does try it try it Try it Well, I wanted her to be perfect. Well, have you looked in the mirror lately I want in the number 10 on the scale. Listen, you ain't even a three I wanted someone that was But look at you gratitude Helps your marriage Y'all better pray that I don't get in trouble, right? Not with her but the big dog, right? Okay real quick real quick and I promise I'm gonna I'm closing. I'm closing. All right. Here we go Five ways to cultivate a culture of gratitude. Here's five things for us to do give voice to your gratitude. Don't keep it in Don't don't keep it in if you really appreciate somebody communicate that with them talk to them. Let them know Do that You know i'm gonna tell you something I know pastor appreciation is coming up in october What a great time it would be to make sure That you voiced that heart of gratitude For our pastor Amen Come on. Amen somebody Let him know man. Thank you To be the watchman of this house watching over my soul. Thank you. I'm great. I'm grateful for you Voice give voice to your gratitude and then here's another one meditate on god's goodness remember And reflect on all the things you're thankful for and brag about how good god is Express gratitude tangibly look for practical ways you can show your thankfulness to your family friends co-workers and anyone in your life Practical ways tangible ways It's important Seek gratitude in the bible receive encouragement from the lives of godly men and women who cultivated a lifestyle of thanksgiving Lastly keep a clean heart and let go of offense To have a heart that is free from being offended offer all your offenses to the lord Listen don't allow yourself Don't allow yourself don't ever allow yourself Things may ruffle you the wrong way at times. Let it go. Don't even let a root A seed of bitterness or envy any of that in your life Live with gratitude Amen, will you stand with me tonight? Listen, I hope you're grateful for one another Hey, guess what? Here's a late breaking news bulletin. We're going to heaven together We're going that we're going to spend eternity together. So why don't we appreciate each other right now? Get right the things that need to get right Say the things that need to be said With the heart of gratitude. Amen Value heads women god, we thank you tonight. We love you Thank you for the opportunity to be able to open the word lord in my feeble attempt tonight I pray god that pace assembly Will have a culture of gratitude I pray that every family at pace assembly Will change the culture of their house With gratitude Now here's another one and this is going to be hard. Now. I want you to pray this Pray it in your own way, but all my job When it's easy to get caught up in drama in this and that Let me have a heart of gratitude That you've given me strength to work Thank you lord because I know everybody's going to appreciate that paycheck this week So god, we just thank you for the blessings of god all the things that you've done for us. You've been good to us Thank you so much Now lift your hands And let's just have a heart of thanksgiving I thank you lord. I thank you lord I thank you lord I thank you. Come on truly Give god thanks Give god thanks I give you praise. I thank you lord. I thank you lord Thank you lord Thank god for your marriage right now god. I thank you for my wife I thank you for my husband. Come on. Thank him right now. Thank god Gratitude thank him right now Thank you Thank god for your children. Come on do that right now god. I thank you for my children Well pastor pull I don't like everything that they're doing give god thanks for your children and giving thanks on credit That they're coming back in and they're going to be safe This house will be filled with the backslider and the lost sons and daughters in the name of jesus god I give you thanks That your house will be filled Now will you thank god for your church? Come on. Thank him for your church Thank you for your church God, I thank you for pace assembly. Come on. Thank him A heart of gratitude. Thank you for pace assembly. Come on. Let's thank god for our pastor god. I thank you For pastor rogers and miss rita. Thank you god. They're a gift to us Thank you lord that they've been heroes to us. They've been mentors to us counselors to us At times they've had to be the principal to us, but I thank you for all my thank you god Thank you for the people in my life Thank you for the people in this church And we give you praise In jesus name Come on. Will you give the lord some gratitude and thanksgiving? So david said I was glad when they sent in to me Let us go to the house of the lord. So david is the lord. It's with the heart of gratitude That I was able to go to the house of the lord. So guess what? Sunday you're gonna be here You're gonna be here sunday and it's gonna be with the heart of gratitude that man I don't have to come to church. I get to come to church, right? As we're leaving tonight. Look to the left. Look to the right. Tell them i'm grateful For you. Amen. God bless you tonight