 Hey man, so I'm going to tell you two stories from the Bible tonight and then kind of give us an application towards it for this Thanksgiving weekend that's ahead of us here. I'm going to show you some, I'm not going to keep you too long, I know we've got a stack of pies out there so, you know, we'll try to learn something quickly and I won't preach for an hour and a half or anything like that. But look down at 1 Samuel chapter 31, I want to tell you two very different stories from the Bible in the same general period of time and then see what we can learn from that this evening. Look down at 1 Samuel chapter 31, so in 1 Samuel chapter 31 we see the end of Saul, so the first king of Israel and we see him and his sons are killed by the Philistines in this great battle. Look at verse number eight of 1 Samuel chapter 31 and let's look at the first story this evening. The Bible says in verse number eight of 1 Samuel 31, it came to pass on the tomorrow when the Philistines came to strip the slain that they found Saul and his three sons fallen in Mount Gilboa and they cut off his head and stripped off his armor and sent into the land of the Philistines round about to publish it in the house of their idols and among the people and they put his armor in the house of Ashtaroth and they fastened his body to the wall of Bethshan. So here Saul, you know, was kind of, he was kind of right to want to be dead when these people found him because they obviously hated Saul, they hated his sons, they hated the Israelites and he represented them, he had fought them throughout his kingdom and they basically abused his dead body here, they cut off his head and they strip it and they hang him and his sons, the bodies, you know, kind of a gruesome picture here but this is what happened in the Bible, they hung his body as a trophy and as a way of disrespecting him, you know, they weren't going to allow him to be buried as you should be and they hung him from this wall, it was kind of a curse upon him, you know, and it was kind of just a way to have a final disrespect against Saul and his family and his kingdom. But look at verse number 11, it says the inhabitants of Jabash-Gilead heard of that which the Philistines had done to Saul, all the valiant men arose. So there is these certain people in this town of Jabash, this city of Jabash-Gilead where they went and this really upset them and this was a, you know, a town in Israel and they, the valiant men, the warriors of that city, this specific city rose up and went and risked themselves to take the bodies down off the wall. This was in a Philistine city so this wasn't like, hey, we're going to go ask them for the bodies back. This was a brave thing that these men did, they rose, they went all night and took the body of Saul and the bodies of his son from the wall of Beshan and came to Jabash and burnt them there. So these men risked their lives, they went on this, you know, covert mission to recover these bodies, they were just bodies, you know, Saul is, his soul is gone, he's in heaven, I believe, he's in heaven and they just, they were there to get the bodies from being disrespected, they risked their own lives, they were still alive to get these bodies back and give Saul as much of a burial, a proper burial as they could at that point. They took their bones, buried them under a tree at Jabash and fasted seven days. So the question is, who were these men and why this city? Turn back to 1 Samuel chapter 11. In order to answer that question, we have to go back, excuse me, we have to go back 40 years. I mean, Saul's reign 40 years, we have to go back 40 years to the beginning of Saul's reign in 1 Samuel chapter 11, Saul at the beginning of 1 Samuel chapter 11 has just been anointed king, the people, some people don't like it, some people do, but he's just started his kingdom, or his reign as king. This is the first actual king, remember Samuel, you know, the prophet Samuel was actually the last judge. So we went from the judges to the kings and Samuel was kind of that transition from judge to king as far as that transition goes. But look down at 1 Samuel chapter 11, look at verse number one, look at who these men of this city, Jabash and Jabash Gilead is, then Nahash verse number one, the Ammonite came up. So the Ammonites are, these are people that, you know, should have been utterly destroyed when they came into the Promised Land, but of course they were still hanging around, that's why they still have trouble with all these people. They camped against Jabash Gilead, so they camped against this very city. And all the men of Jabash said unto Nahash, make a covenant with us, and we will serve thee. And Nahash the Ammonite answered them, on this condition, while I make a covenant with you, that I may thrust out all your right eyes and lay it for reproach upon all Israel. So this warrior, this king of the Ammonites is sieging this city and the men, they are willing to give up. They say, hey, we'll serve you. This kind of reminds me of, if you've ever read about Genghis Khan and what he would do, basically Genghis Khan would go into an area, a city, and he would allow them to surrender. And there would be no problems at all, like if they surrendered, they were treated well, they were many of his, actually many of his generals of Genghis Khan were, you know, leaders of the cities that he took over that became loyal to him. But if they didn't surrender, he slaughtered everybody. So this kind of became this, you know, this terror, this fear of Genghis Khan. But kind of a similar thing is happening here. So this king came to them, he's besieging them, and I don't know, for whatever reason, maybe they just don't think they can win. I'm not going to call them cowards, but maybe they just don't think that they can win. Maybe it's an overwhelming army and they know they're beaten. Whatever it is, they are willing to be subservient to him, they say, we give up, we'll serve you. But then he gives this kind of this perverse demand that, yes, I will allow you to give up, but I'm going to remove the right eye from every single one of you. So this is like a horrible, you know, deal, right? I mean, not only do you have to surrender to this invading army, but now he's going to literally cut out one of your eyes. But look at verse number three. It says, the elders of JBash said unto him, Give us seven days respite, that we may send messengers unto all the coasts of Israel, and there be no man to save us, we will come out to thee. Then came the messengers to Gibiah of Saul and told the tidings in the ears of the people, and all the people lifted up their voices and wept. They're all upset. This is a terrible thing. And behold, Saul came after the herd out of the field, and Saul said, what aileth the people that they weep, and they told them the tidings of the men of JBash. Don't miss this in verse number six. The spirit of God came upon Saul when he heard those tidings, and his anger was kindled greatly. I'm going to reference back to that later in the sermon. So don't forget that this wasn't like, Saul had this great idea. Is the spirit of God came upon Saul, and then Saul did these things. Right? It's not like Saul's just like awesome, and he's like, I'm going to be awesome and go save these people. No, the spirit of God came upon Saul. Look at verse number seven. He took a yoke of oxen, hewed them in pieces, sent them through all the coasts of Israel by the hands of the messengers saying, whoever come not forth after Saul and after Samuel, so shall it be done unto his oxen. So he tells all the people in Israel, all the tribes of Israel, you better get in this fight, and then look at verse number seven. So they all come to the fight. Look down to verse number 11 for sake of time here. And it was so on the moral that Saul put the people in three companies. They came into the midst of the host in the morning watch and slew the Ammonites until the heat of the day. I think it says up in verse number 80, he had 300,000 people that he gathered together out of the tribes. And he came and he just, he destroys the Ammonites. And the people said unto Samuel, who is he that said, shall Saul reign over us, bring the men that we may put them to death. So there was kind of a little bit of an argument right before chapter number 11 on people that didn't want a king, but now everybody's saying, look how awesome the king is, and let's just put the people to death that didn't want Saul as king because look what he's done. He's done this great thing. He saved the people of Jabesh Gilead here. Look at verse number 13. And Saul said, there shall not be a man put to death this day, for today the Lord hath wrought salvation in Israel. There's the last good thing Saul did. No, I'm just kidding. But I mean, he started out OK, right? So basically, Saul did this wonderful thing in the spirit of the Lord led him to save this people, this city that was under this terrible siege. But this was some 40 years earlier of 1 Samuel chapter 31, where Saul was killed, and then the valiant men of Jabesh Gilead risked themselves to go take down his body and give him a decent burial with his sons. And look, think about this for a second. Not only was it 40 years earlier, but it was 40 years, they did this great thing by taking him down and giving him a burial with his sons after a 40 year, pretty much wicked reign of Saul. Saul was not a good king on any measure. He did all sorts of terrible things. He murdered priests. I mean, God literally took him off this earth. Saul was such a wicked king. But even after that, these men of Jabesh Gilead still remembered what? They remembered the good that was done to them. That's the point I'm trying to get. I mean, literally, men like that that would remember decades later, even after many bad things were done by King Saul that would still remember the good that was done unto them, those are kind of the men that just, you kind of got to think that they just won't forget good. They're just the kind of people that just will always remember good that was done unto them. Now let's contrast this, turn to 1 Samuel chapter 23. So I mean, that's a good story. That's a good story of men that are just not forgetting the good that was bestowed upon them, no matter how much time or how many bad deeds were in between that good that happened to them. Look at 1 Samuel chapter 23. 1 Samuel chapter 23. Now we see a story of David. It's generally the same time. It's during that time of the reign of Saul. It's in between 1 Samuel chapter 11 and 1 Samuel chapter 31, which is a chronological history. But look at verse number one of 1 Samuel 23. It says, then they told David saying, so David is running from Saul at this point. David is trying to get away from Saul. He's going to be the new king. He's anointed the king. And he was anointed the king back in chapter 15 of 1 Samuel. So he's already the anointed king, but Saul is hanging onto the kingdom. God wants David to be the king. Saul knows that David is going to be the king. Saul is hunting David. But look at verse number one. It says, then they told David saying, behold, the Philistines fight against Kela, and they rob the threshing floors. Therefore, David inquired of the Lord. So here's the Lord involved in this again, saying, shall I go and smite these Philistines? And the Lord said unto David, go and smite the Philistines and save Kela. Verse number three. And David's men said unto him, behold, we be afraid here in Judah. How much more than if we come to Kela against the armies of the Philistines? He's like, we're not safe here. I mean, how much more if you want us to go run into a war? He's like, we've got the army of Israel chasing us, Saul's chasing us. And you want us to go and fight the Philistines too? He's like, why don't we just make enemies of the whole world? Imagine their tone and their voice here. But then in David, David, verse number four, inquired of the Lord yet again. And the Lord answered to him and said, arise, go down to Kela, for I will deliver the Philistines into thine hand. So David and his men went to Kela and fought with the Philistines and brought away their cattle and smote them with a great slaughter. So David saved the inhabitants of Kela. So twice in these eight verses that I read you, it says David was to save Kela, but twice it also says that David inquired of the Lord. So the Lord sent David to save Kela here. Similarly as Saul was led by the spirit of the Lord to save the men of Jabesh Gilead. It's a very similar story when you look at it from that perspective. However, let's keep reading a couple of verses down. Now keep in mind that verse number eight, we're gonna skip a couple of verses here just for a second time, but verse number eight is not 40 years later. Verse number eight is like right away at the same time. Look at verse number eight. It says, Saul called all the people together to go to war to go down to Kela. Why? To besiege David and his men. So here he heard, you know, I mean this, I'm sure this made the news, right? That David had destroyed the Philistines at Kela. Saul hears about it and he goes and he's like, all right, I know where David is. So he takes his army to go destroy David and David knew that Saul secretly practiced mischief against him. And he said to Abed-e-Athero, the priest, bring hither the ephod. Then said David, oh Lord God of Israel, thy servant hath certainly heard that Saul seeketh to come to Kela to destroy the city for my sake. Will the men of Kela deliver me up into his hand? David asks a question to the Lord here. Will Saul come down and as thy servant hath heard? Oh Lord God of Israel, I besiege thee, tell thy servant. And the Lord said, he will come down. So the first thing the Lord answers, David, he answers David's second question. He says yes, Saul is going to come. And then David asks again. Then said David, will the men of Kela deliver me up, deliver me and my men into the hand of Saul? I mean, should David even have to ask this question? I mean, it's a good thing he did, but he just saved the city. He just saved them from the Philistines and now unfortunately he has to ask the Lord, are they gonna betray me? Are they gonna throw me over the wall to Saul when Saul comes after the city? And look at what the Lord says. And the Lord said, they will deliver thee up. Then David and his men, which were about 600, arose and departed out of Kela and withers wherever they could go and it was told that Saul that David had escaped from Kela and he had forbear to go forth. So here you have the men of Jabash Gilead that after 40 years would not forget the good that Saul did to them. And then in this case you have David who saves a city Kela and within five minutes the people are just willing to give them up. The Bible clearly says that God says they're gonna give you over within just a few days of being saved like physically saved from the Philistines. They were completely unthankful. So that's kind of the title of the sermon tonight is as we're on Thanksgiving evening here heading into the Thanksgiving weekend the title of the sermon is just remember the goodness in your life, remember the goodness. Because look, there's a lot of people that don't remember the good that has been done to them. Turn to Proverbs chapter 17. Turn to Proverbs. And look, if you don't remember the goodness and this is really what I wanna get across tonight if you don't remember goodness, it's really bad. Like it's really a serious sin in the Bible to not remember goodness. And I'm gonna explain to you why that is tonight. Look at Proverbs chapter 17. Look at verse number 13. So this was the people of Kela right here. It says, who so ever or who so rewarded evil for good? Evil shall not depart from his house. So we don't wanna be in that crowd. I mean, we want to be able to reward good for good. That's the first thing that we need to understand. But the real problem is this. Why is it such a big deal to not reward good for good or not recognize good or God forbid reward evil for good? Meaning, do bad things to someone who has done good things for you. Like the people of Kela, we're gonna do with David. Turn to James chapter one. The first thing that we need to realize is where does good come from? What is good? And where do good things come from? Look at James chapter one. Look at verse number 17. Look at James chapter one and verse number 17. Why is it such a big deal to not recognize the good? James chapter one, verse number 17. The Bible says, every good gift and every perfect gift is from above. And cometh down from the father of lights with whom is no variableness neither shadow of turning. So that's the first thing that is really kind of the core of the sermon this evening is that if you have something good, it is from God. Anything good in your life that is truly good is from the Lord. And that's why you see in the story of Saul, Saul, it wasn't Saul that saved J. Bashgill yet. That goodness that came in the form of Saul, Saul just did the labor as we're gonna look at in just a couple minutes. Saul did the labor, but it was the spirit of the Lord that sent him there. It was the spirit of God just as David came from God. God sent David. That's why David asked twice, should I really go? Should I really go? His men are saying, don't go, don't go. If you were to listen to man, David wouldn't have gone. But God told him twice, you go. So God was the one that sent David. So the good, really the true good came from God for Kila and for J. Bashgill yet. David was just the labor. Saul was just the labor. But it was good so it came from God. And you clearly see that in the Bible, even in Job. Job two, verse number 10, I'll just read it for you. After, you know, Job chapter one, like the man lost everything in one day, his whole family, everything that he owned. But he said on his wife is trying to discourage him. But he said unto her, I'll speak as one of the foolish women speaketh. What shall we receive? She's saying, you know, just, you know why don't you just curse God and die? She's telling him, you know, why are you still? Why aren't you mad at God? And this is what Job says, he says, shall we receive good at the hand of God and not receive evil? And all this did not Job sin with his lips, the Bible says. So Job is simply saying here, he's saying, look, I mean, Job is like the ultimate optimist. When you look at it, I mean, he lost everything. And he's saying, look, just because God gives us good things, just because I had good things and those good things are clearly from God, doesn't mean I should just expect good things all the time. That's what Job is trying to tell his wife here. So the point is, is that we need to recognize the first thing that we need to do is we need to recognize the good, why? Because if we don't recognize the good, we are being unthankful to God in our life. That's the first connection that you need to see. If you don't recognize the good in your life, you're being unthankful to the Lord himself. Let me just think about just the simplest thing, like tonight. So tonight, we're gonna have pie and we're gonna pray for the food, right? Don't we always do that? We always pray for the food and we always ask God to be thankful. Turn to Ecclesiastes chapter five. We always, I mean, I hope that you pray for your food, you know, at home when you eat, you should be thankful for your food. But I mean, you know, it kind of can get routine, right? I mean, you're kind of just saying a prayer just so we can, let's get the prayer out of the way so we can really eat. You know, I mean, but it's something that we should really think about every single time that we eat. And in 2 Thessalonians 3, I read it for you on Sunday. The Bible says in verse 10, for even though when we were with you, this we commanded you, that if any would not work, neither should he eat. So the Bible there is connecting two things that I want you to see this evening. It's connecting work with food. And I talked about that on Sunday morning and that's not the point I'm trying to make now. But the point is, is that you should be thankful for your food even though you worked for that food. Look at Ecclesiastes chapter five and look at verse number 19. Because why? Because bread, I mean, the 2 Thessalonians 3 is saying that bread comes from your labor. Just like the pies tonight, you know, the pies tonight came from our labor. The pies tonight came from my wife's labor and your wife's labor. And even the labor of men that went out and made money to buy ingredients or maybe some people bought a pie or whatever. But the point is, is that, you know, that good thing came from labor. Those two things are connected. God gave you your labor, is what I'm trying to get you to see here. Look at verse number 19 of Ecclesiastes chapter five. You should be thankful not just for your food because I mean, I've even known someone and I've told you this before, I've even known someone that was a very hard worker that told me God doesn't put food on my table. Somebody that claimed to be a Christian and says God, because my work puts food on my table. No, God gave you your labor. Look at verse number 19 of Ecclesiastes chapter five. It says, every man also to whom God have given riches and wealth and have given him power to eat thereof and to take his portion and to what? To rejoice in his labor. This is the gift of God. Look, the labor is part of it. You see that? You see how it's not just the good things, it's not just the pies and the riches and the wealth and the blessings and the good things that you have in your life, but the labor is part of it too. This is why, by the way, just a practical application here. I mean, this is a great example of like how the Bible is true, whether you believe it or not. Like whether somebody doesn't believe a word of the Bible, it's still gonna be true for them in their life. This is why people that, look at what the Bible says in verse 19, look at it again. It says, and to rejoice in his labor. It doesn't say to rejoice in his Bugatti or whatever. It doesn't say to rejoice in his stuff, rejoice in, you know, the labor, the labor is a key part of the rejoicing there, but say somebody doesn't believe the Bible. Well, whatever, this is still true because guess what? Where there's no labor, there's no rejoicing. You give a bunch of people for free, and what do they do? They don't appreciate any of it. They don't rejoice in any of it. If you just hand people things, it's through labor that the rejoicing comes. Look at verse, actually just stay there. Turn to Proverbs chapter 18. Turn to Proverbs chapter number 18. This is why in Proverbs chapter 18 and verse number nine, these two things are connected together. Look at this in verse number nine of Proverbs 18. Where there's no rejoicing, there is no labor. Where there is no labor, there is no rejoicing. Because God gives the good gifts through labor, see? Look at verse number nine of Proverbs 18. The Bible says this, he that is slothful in his work is brother to him that is a great waster. What is somebody that wastes things? It's somebody that doesn't appreciate anything. They just waste everything. They just throw it all away. We were talking about when we were in the other night, I don't know who we were visiting with. We were talking about when we went to the Philippines, how if the buffet or the breakfast place at the hotel would charge you by what you left on your plate. Imagine that happening in America. Everybody would be broke. But I mean, literally they didn't want you taking too much food. They didn't want you a bunch of big fat Americans coming in there just plowing their plates and just throwing all the food away. I'm an American, I could say that. But the point is, is that if you're a waster, if you're a waster, it means you didn't work for it. Somebody that didn't work for it is gonna just waste things more and more and more because they're not rejoicing in those gifts. This is why Proverbs 189 is such a beautiful verse. It shows like someone that is given everything appreciates nothing. And that's what we're taught today. If people just had more, they would be happier. That's not true at all. The opposite is true. This is the whole bumper sticker that says built not bought. This is the guy that built his own truck, right? He bought some piece of junk and he fixed it up himself and he wrenches on it himself and he builds it himself and I've said it many times myself, it's not yours until you modify it. It's not yours until you've added stuff onto it and all those types of things. We would, as kids, we look at the guy that brought the brand new whatever. We were like, you know, spoiled brat or whatever we'd say. You know, because we all had these junkie old cars that we've duct taped together and we put all these things that cost no money on them. We put our labor into it and we rejoiced in our junk. We rejoiced in junk when somebody that had brand new things that we would never see didn't appreciate them at all. I mean, it's so true. Whether you believe the Bible or not, it's still true. The Bible here is talking about Ecclesiastes chapter five, Proverbs chapter 18. It's talking about the rejoicing that comes from labor. Labor is part of the gift, folks. So, I mean, the Bible is saying, you know, that new house, I mean, just worldly things, that new house, that car, whatever it is, work hard, save, tithe, you know, listen to Bible advice and then, you know, it ends in rejoicing if you work for all those things. And the Bible says if you work hard and you're able to buy a nicer car for your family or a nicer whatever for your family, there's nothing wrong with that. The Bible is saying enjoy it. Don't put it before God, but enjoy it. If it came from your labor, eat your own bread. Drink out of your own sister's. This is why entitled people in this country, they're not only not thankful for things that they have, they're not thankful for their labor. Because you know what they're doing? They're wasting their labor. Every man has labor. Every man that is able to work has labor. So, yeah, I mean, they waste their things, they waste the things that are given to them, but ultimately what they're really wasting and they're really unthankful for is the labor that those things come from. Because the labor is a gift from God too. It's the original thing. They squander their own labor. Think about it. Everything comes from it. That's how God wants it to be. But ultimately being entitled, it makes you feel like, and this should never be us in any way. Being entitled, being unthankful, it makes you feel like you deserve things. It makes you feel like you deserve things without working for those things. That is not in the Bible. That's the opposite of what the Bible says. And that shouldn't be listed amongst any of us. Look, it's unthankfulness all the way through is what this entitlement attitude leads. And look, this, back to the point of the sermon, the entitlement attitude and the unthankfulness that it encompasses, it leads to a complete inability to recognize good. You just, you can't recognize goodness. This is why I've said that like it ruins a man. It ruins you because you can't, soon life becomes about, soon life doesn't become about what you have, it becomes about what you don't have. It becomes about what someone didn't do for me. It becomes just all about just bitterness. About somebody that has something that you don't have. This is the keeping up with the Joneses. This is social justice right here. That's what this is. It's complete unthankfulness. It's unthankfulness for everything. This is leftist ideology in general. It's just we need to keep people unthankful. We need to keep people disenfranchised. We need to keep people discontented. We need to keep people angry. And you know what? It works because pretty soon if people listen to this too much, they can't recognize any good. They can't recognize any good. This is why I love the Up from Slavery book that we went through a couple years ago. Here's a guy that he was, I mean he had everything against him. He had every reason to be angry. He had every reason to be discontented, to be upset. But what did he do? He wasn't angry. He was joyful. Because you know what? You know what he said? You know what Booker T. Washington said? I don't care what color I am. I don't care what's happened to me in my life. You know what? I have my labor. And I'm gonna go and I'm gonna work. And look at how much good he had in his life. I'm telling you this entitlement ideology, this woke-ism, this leftist, give me everything. It's all everybody else's fault. It is a life killer. It is the best possible way to destroy a human being. Because you completely cannot recognize good. Good can be right in front of you. And you won't recognize it. Here's another one. Here's another one for us. I know we don't have any woke social justice warriors in here. But here's one for you. What if you don't recognize good in your life? Because look, I know some pretty pessimistic Christians. I mean, you can find some people that are pretty negative about just about everything. And they're just as saved as all of us. I mean, maybe I get too negative sometimes. But the point is, what are the odds God is gonna give you more good if you don't recognize the good that you already have? I mean, you can't even see the good he's given you. And God's like, yeah, I'm gonna give you more good. Look at all the good you have. You can't even see it. You're blind to it. So this is really the message for tonight. Recognize the good in your life. Recognize that goodness comes from God and recognize the good in your life. Recognize your family. Bible says children are in heritage from the Lord. The Bible says that who so findeth the wife as we talked about Sunday night, findeth a good thing, good. Where's it from? God, that's what? That's where your wife is from. God. I remember a few years ago, I was at a different job and there was this older grumpy guy in the office and he said something. I didn't hear what he said, but this lady, this lady brought this older grumpy guy over to my office and she said, tell Jared what you just told me. She said, and this older grumpy guy, he looks at me and he goes, well, I was just telling Nancy here, I'm sorry, I don't know her name was Nancy, I don't know why I thought that. I'm sorry Nancy. I was just telling so and so that in marriage, this was kind of an old grumpy guy, he was always really negative about his marriage, and always really, have you ever met this guy before? And he said, well, I was just telling this gal that in marriage there's three rings. I was telling her about the three rings of marriage. There's the engagement ring and then there's the wedding ring and then there's the suffering. And I just said to him, I just said, and this lady looks right at me and she goes, because she wants to know what I think about it. She knew I was a Christian and I said, well, I said, I've heard that's how it is for some people. I kind of like subtly insulted him, but I've always despised people that like insult their wife at work, that throw their wife under the bus at work. I don't know what's going on in your house, but a good thing is what my wife is. Look, you should appreciate the good in your life. Everybody here has good in their life. You have your family, you have your wife, you have your children, you have your brothers and sisters in Christ. These are all good gifts from God. How about this one? How about the gospel? Can anything happen to you in your life where that is taken away from you? This is how you have Christians burned at the stake and they're rejoicing and singing hymns as they're dying. Because nothing could ever take that away from you. You know, Job lost everything. He lost his whole family. He lost all his material items, his wealth, everything, but you can never lose your salvation. Not only did your salvation save you, but it's, you know, the gospel saved you, but it's also entrusted to you. I mean, what are the odds that you're gonna do anything with it if you don't appreciate what it's done for you? If you can't see the good that it's done for you, what are the odds that his second Corinthians five says that you'll be a good ambassador for Christ? Ambassador is like a representative of a king. And you're an ambassador for Christ, the Bible says. So if you don't recognize the good of the gospel for yourself personally, how many Christians are there that don't recognize the good of the gospel? How many people do we get, go out, preach the gospel to them? They get saved. I mean, they are just like, they're just in tears. They understand they're as saved as me and you and they'll do nothing in their life. Why? Does it mean they're not saved? No, they're saved. They just, they don't appreciate the good. They're the men of Kila is what they are. They don't appreciate the good that has been done for them. If you won't rejoice in your own salvation, you're not gonna carry it anywhere. You're not gonna do any labor for it. So look, I mean, we're on Thanksgiving, weekend here, but really, we shouldn't need a holiday to recognize the good in our life. We shouldn't need a day where, oh, I'm thankful. By the way, when I say, oh, I'm thankful, I'm thankful to God. You hear people say, it's like people won't say Christ in Christmas anymore. It's the same thing with Thanksgiving. Oh, I'm so thankful. I'm so thankful. Who are you thankful to? I'm not thankful to my wife. I'm thankful to God for my wife. I'm not thankful to my children. I'm thankful to God for my children. Cause everything good comes from God. We should need a holiday for that. Look, it's really, especially for Americans, it's a perspective problem. It really is. I mean, I was looking up some trends on, you know, America's not even anywhere near the happiest nation in the world. Do you know that? I like, what, we're America, America. If you do polls, America is not even, I think we're like top 20, or number 20 or something. And in like 10 years, it's getting worse and worse and worse. You know, I like these trends that are getting horrible. But it's getting worse every single year. Americans are getting more and more and more unhappy every single year. It's just happening. Americans more and more cannot see the good. And look, you say, well, Pastor, I mean, look what you preach on. I mean, look at all the things that you say from the pulpit. But here's what you need to understand. It's a perspective problem. And I read this article on the latest survey that was done in 2023, how America is like, we're gonna fall into the number 20 here pretty soon. Whereas 10 years ago, we were number 10. And it says, and then it says, you know what the problems are? And then the article, which is like some mainstream media journalist or something. It says the reasons for this, this unhappiness in America, is because of racial tensions and income inequality. I'm like, you know, whatever. But the point is, I mean, the point is, maybe that's true even. Maybe if you talk to somebody why they're so unhappy, they're like, because of racial tensions, like, ah! You know, and they don't even know why or what that means for them personally, but they've been so worked up into a negative frenzy. Income inequality, I actually believe that one. Because I've been seeing this one for ever since I started working. I've been seeing this for 25 years and I've never understood it. I never understood how it makes you unhappy to realize somebody else makes more money than you. Does anybody explain that to me? How does my happiness have anything to do with what Bob makes, or if he makes less than me or more than me? That's why if two people at work ever find out how much each other make, it's always a bad disaster. Because like, you know, Bob finds out what Jim makes and he's like, Bob's like, well, Jim's an idiot and I should make more than him, but he makes more than me and I'm mad, you know. But here's the thing, if you don't have enough money, this is why I haven't even said this to people. If you don't have enough money, I mean, people will come up to you at work and they'll say, can you believe what those guys make over there? I'm like, what does that have to do with us? What does that have to do with you? If you need more money, why don't you go make more money? Why don't you do something that's more valuable and make more money? What does it has nothing to do with anything, how much anybody else makes? Yeah, I believe that many people are unhappy because of that. Because they just work themselves up into a frenzy. They're entitled. And what does that mean? It means they're unthankful. If I'm upset because somebody else makes $3 more an hour than me, you know what that means? I'm unthankful for what I make. I'm unthankful for the company that pays me that money or the boss that pays me that money or whatever. It's just unthankfulness. But back to the perspective problem. It's really, in the United States today, it is a perspective problem. And look, I get it. There's a lot of negative things going on. There's a lot of things I scream and spit from the pulpit up here that are wrong with this country. I get it. But don't ever, look, don't let knowing the truth ever get you to the point where you can't recognize the goodness. Because look, the goodness and the truth are all, I mean, how stupid would that be? The truth and the goodness are all coming from the same place. The truth comes from God. God opens our eyes. Aren't you glad that you know what's going on in the world? Aren't you happy that when all this perversion gets everybody else and people watch movies for 20 years and all this, they're like, I love homos. And I think everyone should be a homo. That you're just like, you're crazy. Are you nuts? I mean, aren't you glad you have that perspective because of the truth? But look, don't ever let that make you such a negative person where you can't recognize the goodness in your life. You can't look, you can't recognize the goodness in your country because guess what? We can still freely preach. We can still freely preach the gospel. And I've said this many times, but there's a lot of countries out there that don't put up, that wouldn't put up with a lot of the sick perverted stuff that the United States does, or the West in general does at this point. But you know what, you can't preach the gospel there. You can't preach the gospel in China. You can't go door-to-door and Russia preaching the gospel. So you know what, I'll take the gospel. We can still freely preach here. We can still freely labor here. You know, you give the government their cut. You can still freely labor though. You can still freely have a life here. You can still freely live here. And we need to use that goodness that we still have here for what? We need to use that goodness that we still have here to push God's agenda here. And if we don't recognize any goodness anymore, eventually, we will stop being those ambassadors. And we'll stop doing what? We'll stop doing that labor, because you know what? We'll start to feel like we're entitled. I'm saved. I got a couple of people saved last year. It's good enough. That's entitlement. That's Christian entitlement right there. I'm saved. God's not going to take this thing away from me. Look, you don't deserve to be saved. You're never going to not be saved. But don't be unthankful. Always recognize the good. You know what? And it will keep you going forward as a Christian. It'll keep your heart. As we prayed in the prayer, it'll keep your heart soft towards the lost. Look, that's important, because sometimes the labor gets tough. Sometimes the labor feels like it's not rewarding at times. It's that soft heart that's going to keep you going back. And that is someone that always recognizes and keeps that goodness in front of them, because it's all from the Lord. So let's remember that on Thanksgiving. We don't need a holiday to recognize the goodness from God. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer.