The Guide To Gratitude
Gratitude in Action – Living from a Thankful Heart
SERMON TRANSCRIPT
The story goes that husband and wife, they're retiree, they had grown kids and they were living life in another state, say Florida, and picked up the phone and he called his daughter and he said, babe, mom and I, we're getting a divorce. We've been married 50 years, it's time, she's driving me nuts, I can't do it anymore, but just wanted you to hear it from me that we're going to be separating. And the daughter is just distraught on the phone and she's like, I can't believe this, how could this happen? And he goes, hey, can you call your brother? I just, I can't call him and tell him the news. So yeah, dad, you got it. So she immediately hangs up, calls her brother who lives in another state and says, mom and dad are divorcing. They're splitting after all this time. And he's like, what? Are you kidding me? There's no way. We have to do something. And she goes, well, what do you think we should do? He's like, well, let me call dad and I'll call you back and we'll figure out a plan. And so he calls dad and he's like, dad, how could you do this? You guys have been married. For so long. How could you let this happen? Don't make any rash decisions before my sister and I get there to be with you guys. And he's like, dad, promise me you're not going to do anything until we get there. And he goes, okay, I promise you. And he hangs up the phone with a smile on his face, turns to his wife, said, hey, babe, I want to let you know tomorrow the kids are coming for Thanksgiving and they're paying for their own flights. What does that have to do with gratitude? I don't know. It's a funny. It's a funny story. I want to share with you.
No, we're starting a series today and on a gearing up to Thanksgiving and we're calling it the guide to gratitude. And we want to take this this month as some of us usually do and have more of a mindset towards being thankful, right? Thanksgiving, we usually maybe sit around the table and you tell maybe something that you're grateful for for the year. But I want us to take this whole month and make it a whole month of gratitude. And so today. We're going to start and it's going to really talk about what it means to have like a foundation of gratitude in our lives. And that starts with a heart of Thanksgiving. It says in scripture so many different places to talk about having a heart of gratitude to having a heart of Thanksgiving to have a mindset of giving praise to God and giving glory to him. But gratitude is really a spiritual practice. It's something we have to work at. This isn't. It's something that we just one day randomly just pick up and we get to carry with us. But I think I want us to shift our mindset to think about what does it mean to really be having a heart of gratitude and thinking about it as practice. I thought about this. I grew up playing saxophone in elementary school and up through like sophomore, junior year of high school. And when I picked up saxophone, it was horrible. Grace and peace to my parents who had to sit there. And listen to three blind mice played as if I was blind. And it was terrible. Honestly, those first couple of years, it was awkward. It was clunky. There was lots of squeaking and honking. Not really like what you would think the sound coming out of a saxophone would be. But it took practice. And eventually I figured out the different notes. I could look at the sheet music and go, OK, that G, this is how I play a G on the saxophone. And then you would learn a scale and you would learn. And you would practice this over and over again. And over time, you would have to celebrate the little victories because there are times where it was really bad. Not going to lie. It was bad at times. But you had to celebrate the little victories. You learned a scale. Maybe you learned a song and you played it for the first time and you didn't mess up. You're like, yeah, look what I did. Like twinkle, twinkle, little star. I own like, yes, I know this. I got this. And then you would show up and you'd play. You'd play with your friends at school and you would have band practice. And you would figure out when like the time you guys are struggling through a piece of music and then you finally get it. It was just exciting.
But it took practice. The same would be said about learning a language. Anybody tried to learn another language? It's hard. It takes time. You start with the basics. Like, donde esta la baño? Like, you have to know the basics. You learn your colors. You learn your numbers. You learn the little things. And you. You start working through to learn to grow and you become better and better and better. And the same is true for us with gratitude. When we see the progress and we see how far we've come, it's incredible. Right? It's so amazing and exciting when you see that. But you don't stop there. I know some of the best professional basketball athletes in the world that take upwards of 800 to 1,000 shots every single day in practice. I know some of the best professional basketball athletes in the world that take upwards of 800 to 1,000 shots every single day in practice. Just because they've arrived at the big leagues, they have the contract, they don't stop practicing. Because they know that how they practice is critical to their success. Repetition. Time in and time out. Every single day. Because it changes who we are. Our repetition and our practice and rhythms eventually change who we are. And when that changes who we are, it begins to live a life reflected. Out of our relationship to God. Our life begins to be gratitude. We don't just give thanks anymore. We live thanks. We live that out with people in our lives. Did you know that a musician only plays about 10% of what he practices? Why? Because he's only mastered 10% of everything that he plays. And we see these musicians and talented people who play these beautiful, beautiful songs. And we go, man, how many hours of practice did you get to learn that song? And they would say, it's not about the practice of the song. It's about my practice overall. That I learned to become better in my song. Just a sliver of it is actually seen and heard before regular people. There's something about when we don't practice, though, that we begin to lose it, right? I can't pick up a saxophone. I could. I could pick up a saxophone right now and try to play. And it would be just as bad when I started in fifth grade. There wouldn't be anything better to it. I would know notes. I would have some head knowledge. But I would get out of breath. My embouchure would just burn. It would hurt my mouth. Because I don't have those muscles. Because I haven't practiced. Could I know some? Yes. I don't think you lose all of it. But when you get out of practice, you lose some of that progress that you've made. So we have to think of it as a skill. As something that we continue to learn on and have a regular rhythm. Gratitude is not just something we do during the month of November. But it is something that needs to be in our week and week out habits.
I love what it says in Psalm 104. It says, “Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise. Give thanks to him being God and praise his name.” This is an incredible psalm that was written for worship. It was written for those who, as they enter, entered into the presence of the temple or the church for the Israelites, they would give praise to him. But something there key, I don't, we kind of maybe read over real quick. But it says, Enter his gates, enter his courts. What does that mean? Well, the temple, the way it was built, would have these huge courts and gates around the temple. So if we were to take this psalm to heart, we would be praising God even before we get into church. They are praising God as they come before. They're not even inside church yet. And they're giving praise. It may sound like enter the parking lot with thanksgiving. Get out of your car with praise. We are called to worship God at every moment of our lives. Not just when we're in church and there's good music around us and, and things are going good. No, we're called to live a life of practicing praise all the time so that we can give a lifestyle. A life of praise and gratitude to him. This is why we gather weekly. Is to have a practice session. This is our practice together. Welcome. I'm running, running stingers here in a moment. But we're giving praise to God and who he is together so that we can learn. We can practice. We've become better. So then when we go out, we go out into the world. We know how to give practice and give gratitude to, to God. It keeps us in tune with who God is. This habit keeps us disciplined in a weekly routine to keep. Our lives.
And gratitude is, is a superpower. It, there, there have been thousands and thousands of studies on the physical change that gratitude brings into our, our brain literally rewires itself. It changes the nuclear molecules in our brain. When we have gratitude, that is a superpower. I don't know anything else that rewires our brains. It's pretty amazing. But there's just, there's power in Thanksgiving. Gratitude shifts our perspectives from focusing on what we lack to what we have. Did you know the average person will be exposed to upwards of 10,000 advertisements a day? 10,000. From billboards to apps to websites to mail to email to sign social media, TV, streaming games, texts, notifications. We are constantly bombarded with people telling us what we need to buy, what we need to own, what we need to eat, what we need to do, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. And gratitude is a superpower to push back against those 10,000 lies that we hear every single day. To shift our perspective from what we don't have in our lives to truly thinking about what we do and what God has already blessed us with. We have friends. We have family. We have, we drove here in a car today. We have a roof over our head. There's food in our homes. We have, we have access to healthcare. And even greater than that, we have forgiveness in Christ Jesus. We have peace. We have God's hope. We have God's love. And so on and so on and so on. We are so blessed when we truly take a moment and begin to think about what God has blessed us with, which leads us into grounding us in God's provision. What do you mean? What do you mean grounding us in God's provision? God is our provider. God is the one that has given us everything in life. It's all because of him. When you think about what you own, your house, your possessions, your clothes, the phone probably in your pocket, the keys that you drove your car with today. He's the one who's blessed us with those things. Well, you think, well, pastor, you know what? I, I had to work the job. I had to save the money. Who gave you that ability to work that job? Who gave you the blessings of other things so that you could maybe save some money and put it aside? But pastor, I'm the one who drives to the store. I'm the one who bought it with my own money. I'm the one who brought it home. Who do you think gave you the car to drive to the store? Who do you think gave you the ability to even go to a store to purchase something and then to bring it home? Who do you think gave you the ability to even go to a store to purchase something and then to bring it home? It's God. God is our provider.
I love this word in the Bible. It's called Jehovah Jireh. There is literally a name of God that means the Lord will provide. That is one of the aspects of who God is. He is our provider. He is the one that has blessed us with everything that we have. It says in Philippians 4:19, “and my God,” Paul writes to the church in Philippi, “will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus.” Another translation here puts it as God will take care of all of your needs. God will fulfill all of your needs. God will provide. God will supply. God will fill up until full. All of your needs. All of your needs. God will overflow into your life. Your needs. That's our God. This brings such great and amazing peace to our lives. Amen. It brings peace to our lives so that we don't have to worry about having everything figured out. We don't have to worry about how things are going to play out. We don't have to worry about how things are going to play out. We don't have to worry about how things are going to play out in life. Why? Because God has got us. Jehovah Jireh is on our side. That's something to give praise about. And that God in this will take care of us. Now, now, careful. We don't need to get lazy with this. Right? We can just not, I don't have to work my job anymore, God. You will provide. You're walking a dangerous line there, buddy. We do have a part to play in that. God provides us with a gift. With a job, we go, we work that job. We're there for a reason at that job. You ever thought about that? You have a job and God has called you to that place for a reason? Start praying about that when you show up at work. God, what do you have for me to do here at this work today? For your kingdom, not for my paycheck. That was a bonus point right there. But the pressure isn't all on us. God is working. God is moving. God is providing. Who better? Who better? To provide than the person who knows us even better than ourselves. Right? Who better to know all the things about us and all the things that we need to sustain us? God is there providing. He's the best person for the job. It's my God. That's my God. And the power of God is directly working in our lives. And this power is unleashed through thanksgiving. To him and for him. But things aren't always good, right?
Life isn't always just cruise control. And especially, especially when things are not good, we're called to give thanks in all circumstances. It says in 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18, "Rejoice always. Pray continually. Give thanks in all circumstances. For this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.” Gratitude isn't something that's dependent on circumstances. Well, you know, I'll give thanks when life is good. I'll give thanks when life is easy. I'll give thanks when my bank account is full. I'll give thanks when I finally get, the newest iPhone. I'll give thanks when I'm having a good hair day. I'll give thanks when I'm on vacation. When my toes are in the sand, God, I'm giving you thanks. I'll give thanks when I finally hit the lottery. Is that what that scripture says? No. It says I'll give thanks even when life is hard. I'll give thanks when I know, I don't know how I'm going to pay my bills. I'm going to give thanks even when my kids are not there. I'm not listening. Oh, pray for me in that. I'll give thanks when my boss is dumping more and more and more on my plate that I can't handle. I'll give thanks when I'm having a bad hair day. I'll give thanks even when I can't go on vacation. I'm going to give thanks when my phone is acting up. I'm going to give thanks when life is burdensome and heavy. No. We give thanks. Why? Because of who God is. You know, happiness is based on happenstance. But the joy of the Lord that is deep down in our hearts is rooted in the foundation of who he is. True joy is deep, deep, deep, deep down into God. And because of that, we can give thanks in all circumstances. Because God is almighty God. And he has overcome everything in Christ. That's why we give thanks. That's why we give thanks. So whatever we're facing in this short time that we're here down on earth, we know that God has already taken care of our eternity. We can give thanks no matter what we face this afternoon or tomorrow, this week, this month, this next year in 2025. We can give thanks to God because of who he is. The enemy would love to do nothing more. The enemy would love to do nothing more than make sure our gratitude is only based on our circumstances. That's where he gets us. That's where he comes after us and he starts poking us. Poking us. Poking us and telling us lies. Saying, you don't got it. You're not going to make it. You're not going to pay your bills this month. You're not going to have what you need. You're not going to be able to provide. You're not going to be able to take care of your kids. You're not going to be able to do this. You're not going to make it at work. Tells us over and over again. And we have to have a practice of gratitude, of rehearsing gratitude in our hearts and in our lives so that when those lies of the enemy come in, we can see them clear as day and go, not today, Satan. That ain't happening. We can push back.
Gratitude is an expression of faith in God's goodness, even in our difficult times. I see this as gratitude as like a handle we can hold on to life. Because life's getting crazy. Right? I don't know anybody who hasn't told me that life is not a roller coaster. It's life. Everybody who is asleep is just like, what's going on? Gratitude is the handle on that roller coaster that we get to hold on for dear life sometimes. And it's a blessing that God gives this to us. I'm thankful for some of you that right now life is great. I love it. It makes me so happy. But we know it always won't be like that. For some others in this room, life is hard right now. It's coming at us. We feel like we're stuck on that roller coaster and it's just on loop and we cannot get off and it will not slow down. But we got the handlebar of gratitude to hold on to even in the midst of all of that. We have to have a mindset or a rhythm of rejoicing always with God. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. as the scripture says, of praying continually. Always having a mindset towards God in whatever we're facing, wherever we're at. It doesn't mean we need to be walking around with our eyes closed and our hands folded the whole time. That's not what pray continually means. It means that we have our mindset on heaven. Where we're looking to Jesus to go, you're my sustainer, you're my life, you're my hope. You are the reason that I can even put one foot in front of the other. That's how we pray continually. And in that we give thanks in all circumstances that we can grab on to hold the handle of that gratitude in our life. When times are good, especially when times are tough, holding on with everything we have because God is good. God is good all the time and all the time God is good.
Part of our series in gratitude this month is we have a card for you today. And this is, this is gonna be handed out, ushers are coming. And they're gonna give you one of these. And what this is, is we wanted something that would be more than just Sunday. We wanted something that would take us through our week and not just be a Sunday morning kind of a practice. And so we're gonna give you a card. And for the next 30 days, we're gonna challenge one another to take a moment every single day in prayer and in your time with God. Maybe you wanna do it while you're in the word with him during that time, maybe morning and evening. You wanna take a moment during your lunch break and just pause your busyness of life and to think about and to begin to inventory our lives and to practice gratitude every single day. And so when you're looking at the card, at the bottom, there's some examples. We wanna give you some prompts here to try to help you. Now, if you notice, there aren't enough prompts to do one of those every day, you're gonna have to come up with some of your own. But these are examples of things that you can think through during this month. And we're gonna do this every Sunday together as a part of our worship service. So you're gonna get at least four checked off. And right now, right in this time in our service, I wanna invite Daryl up. And he's just gonna, he's gonna play some piano in the background for us. We're gonna do three right now together.
So what I wanna ask you to do is I want you to just bow your head, go before God, and we're gonna take a couple minutes here. And I want you to specifically begin to think about three different things that you're thankful for. And if you're joining us online, maybe grab a scratch paper or pull out your phone, make a note, and be able just to begin to pray to God and say, Jesus, thank you for this. God, it's such a blessing in my life. God, thank you for, thank you for my car. God, it may not run right all the time. May have problems here or there. But God, thank you for my car. I know because I have a car, I'm in the top one, two percent of the world in wealth because I have a vehicle that can transport me. God, thank you for the blessing that is in my life. Thank you for that you've given that to me. God, may I use it for your glory. God, when I drive around town, God, may I be a kind driver to others to even be a blessing to somebody else around me. So take some time, I'm gonna take a couple minutes here. Begin to think and pray through three specific things in your life of what you're thankful for to God. As we start this month together. As you think of those things, maybe just instead of a check mark, I was just thinking about this, writing down what you were thankful for that day. So you can remember, you can go back at the end of the month and you can see the 30 different things that you're thankful for God in your life.
God, we are so thankful for who you are, Jesus. God, you're an incredible God. You're a loving God. And Jesus, we thank you for the many things that you blessed us in our life. God, I pray for us as we begin this journey of 30 days of gratitude together as a church. God, I'm reminded of our vision that we shared this summer of 20 salvations and baptisms, 10 new families, three key leaders, and our one united heart of gratitude to you, God. God, may we grow in our gratitude this month as you guide us in your word and through your scriptures and through our daily practice of gratitude. God, may we give thanks for who you are in our lives. May we practice with giving thanks for the things that you have done, God, but also in that knowing that we will grow in our gratitude to where we can begin to have a heart of gratitude. A heart for the things that you have yet to bless us with. For the things that you have yet to do in our hearts and in our lives. For the things that you have yet to do in our families, in our kids, in our communities, in our Rocklin, Roseville families. God, you are going to do some incredible things this year, God, but we have to learn how to practice gratitude even now. So Jesus, I pray that you would bless us and that we would stand tall with one another, to not let the enemy come into our hearts and begin to throw us off, but that we would have a foundation of thanksgiving deep, deep, deep down into you, God. That we will be reminded of so many things that you've blessed us with and so many things that we have yet to receive. You are Jehovah Jireh. You are the God who will provide. God, let that truth be locked into our hearts today. May we not forget that. Because we also know what comes in Thanksgiving. Wanting to buy things and shopping and evaluating what we have and what isn't good enough. And what isn't good enough. And how we need an upgrade. And these 10,000 lies daily of advertisers that come in and begins to cloud our mind. And sometimes it's hard to see you, God. I pray that our heart of thanksgiving with superpower would push back all of those lies. And we'd be able to continue to focus on you, Jesus. Not only throughout Thanksgiving, but even throughout Christmas. And the end of the year. God, may we practice and learn gratitude to set ourselves up for a year of gratitude in 2025, Jesus. God, thank you for who you are. God, we give thanks for everything in our lives. May we give thanks in all circumstances. May our gratitude be founded in the grace of God. May we give thanks in the goodness of who you are. So that we can rejoice always. We can pray continually. And we can give thanks in all circumstances. We love you, Jesus. We pray all of this in your son's name. Amen. Amen.
Well, I'm excited to see where this 30 days of gratitude goes. If you along the way have something that happened or you have a friend that you love, have a story to tell, please come tell myself or Pastor Andre when he gets back. We would love to hear your stories of gratitude. And we're looking forward on the fourth Sunday of the month. It will be our Friendsgiving, our annual Friendsgiving meal. We're actually going to have our service. We're going to have a time of testimony of gratitude of what God has done in our lives. So I'm looking forward to that Sunday together. Well, blessings on you guys. I love that you're here with us. Thank you so much for being here. I will be out under the green tent on the way. I will be out if you want to say hello. But may God bless you and keep you. May the Lord make his face shine upon you, be gracious to you, turn his face towards you and give you peace. Amen. Go in Jesus today.