Cornerstone Christian Center
Cornerstone Christian Center
Are you Thankful? | Thanksgiving 2024
Have you ever found profound joy in something as simple as a humble cup of meat? Reflecting on early days in Santa Barbara, we share a personal story of financial strain and the unexpected blessings of gratitude, faith, and resilience. Discover how a mishap with paychecks, the birth of our child, and looming foreclosure became a powerful testament to the transformative power of community and faith. Inspired by 1 Thessalonians 5:18, we invite you to journey with us through the ups and downs of life, exploring how these challenges can lead to meaningful growth and a renewed commitment to gratitude.
As Thanksgiving approaches, we reflect on the importance of giving thanks. This episode serves as a heartfelt invitation to renew your commitment to Christ and celebrate the community of believers who stand by you. Let this be a reminder of the blessings received and the transformative power of faith and gratitude.
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Give thanks in all things. In this season of Thanksgiving, it's so important for us to give thanks in all things. You know, I was thinking back to my time when I lived in Santa Barbara, california, and if you've ever been, it's an absolutely beautiful place, but it is an expensive place and I was young and I had no money. I couldn't pay attention. It was so hard to live there, and so we had four roommates in a small apartment and all of my roommates though they're very successful men today families and the whole thing they're doing very well. At the time, they were 100% sponsored by their parents. Anybody know what I'm talking about. Like they had parents on the shirt of every shirt they wore, you know. Like they pay for all their food and their gas and their vehicles and the whole nine yards. And I had just graduated university and I was not sponsored in the same way that they were sponsored. I had the stark reality of being a grown person and I wasn't mad or envious at all about all the things they had, or their spending money or going out to eat money or their nice four-wheel drive vehicles. I wasn't mad that I had to go on a skateboard from place to place. No, no, it's fine, it was totally fine.
Speaker 1:I'll tell you this, though man Iron Chef has nothing on me guys, because I am a ramen master. I'm over there, salt Bay, all the seasonings, anybody else? Ramen people. You survived a season of a ramen People. They don't get out of this season. This is living in the ramen season, and it's true, it's true.
Speaker 1:And I was like man. I would make it up in sauce. I'd be taking, you know, packets from like other things that came into the house, like pizza. I'd be adding sprinkles of soft stuff on there. I'm like Parmesan cheese, that's right, it's now in the ramen. Sweet and sour sauce from whatever place brought this thing here we are in the ramen, but ramen can only take you so far, right, like you end up where you're not satiated by that. And so I was like man, if I could only get like some meat consistent in my life, I couldn't afford it.
Speaker 1:And so we would go to a life group of a church that would host meals as part of their life group and we always would show up for the meal life groups, and they kind of figured this out. They're like young guys, do you guys only come when we have food? I'm like oh, do we Do? We only come when the food is here. She's like you guys need food.
Speaker 1:All my roommates just look at me, like I was a little more aerodynamic back then. You guys got to imagine in your deep mind, and I was like yes, please. She said well, I'll see what I have. Goes to the freezer. She had a big box, like a big frozen box, of hamburger patties from random storecom. You know, it was like some random place. It wasn't like a bougie place, a nice place, just frozen hamburger patties. You guys, I was so excited. I can't tell you how excited I was.
Speaker 1:And here's the thing about it, though, is that because all of my roommates were sponsored at the time, they did not like to do any of the things for themselves, so they did not know how to do dishes. So I was doing all the dishes all the time and I'm like listen, everybody's got to do their own dishes. They didn't want to do them, so I just let all the dishes pile up. I never did another dish, except for my one cup. I had one cup, not as beautiful as this cornerstone cup, but I had a cup, and the only thing I did, everything in my life. The coffee I drank was in the cup, washed the cup out. Ramen in the same cup. You guys know what I'm talking about. This is the advantage.
Speaker 1:Also, when it came time to get those meat patties in my body broke up. The meat patty put it in the cup. Cup of meat in the microwave. You guys, amazing, so gourmet. The burn smell, it's amazing. It's like it just makes you salivate. Cup of meat. You guys are going to try it later. I know you were to try it.
Speaker 1:The whole thing is amazing about that is that, like my version of me now wants to slap the old version of me then you guys know what I'm talking about. But you know it's a different frame of reference. I'm a different person, I'm in a different place financially and that's not the same thing. Now I've had all these blessings. I don't mind not even be thankful unto God for all the things that I have Not thinking about. Back then, how thankful I was for cup of meat, and now I have all the options and all the things in the fridge that I don't feel like eating right now. How many times are we not being thankful for the blessings that God has given to us? In all things we give thanks, and that's what it's about for us.
Speaker 1:The theme that we have for scripture today, as we hear from Pastor Angus and Pastor Celeste, is 1 Thessalonians 5.18. We talked about it in our 7C series is this give thanks in all circumstances, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. Are you thankful? It's a blessing to be able to worship together here at Cornerstone. If you haven't met, my name is Jay, and we very much see ourselves as people who are broken and in need of a savior.
Speaker 1:None of us is perfect. All of us are in need of a savior. We are seeing ourselves on a journey following Jesus. So we use this imagery of Jesus with the disciples because that's who we see ourselves as being is that we are on a journey following Jesus. So we use this imagery of Jesus with the disciples because that's who we see ourselves as being is, that we are those that are walking after Christ, where he's leading us to go. We want to be more like Jesus and since that's true, then we can collectively love God and make disciples and reach the world. And we do that in intentionality, in life groups, how we connect with each other and we connect and we grow. We serve together. So we challenge you in this, as life groups have come to an end for this semester, that I would challenge you to pre-decide to get involved in the new year, as we have a new semester coming to say, hey, I'm going to grow in my faith in God in this new year it's going to be a powerful thing and make that decision now to be intentional, to give thanks to God, amen.
Speaker 1:So in Thanksgiving we come back to this scripture and we look at it here. So you have your Bible, your tablet, your phone. I encourage you to highlight it, to write it down and to think about it and dwell on it this next week. That 1 Thessalonians 5.18,. Give thanks in all circumstances. Lord, we thank you for your word. We pray over it today more that you would breathe upon it. You'd make it alive in us, transform us. We pray In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Speaker 3:Good morning church. How are you Fantastic? Hey, I got a suggestion that well. I had an idea while Pastor Jay was talking. I think we should do cup of meat at the next family event. We could just we could grill it out there on the grill and then we just put it in the cups right as you come through. We've got ketchup. You can just fill your cup with ketchup. My wife's not for that one.
Speaker 3:Well, speaking of being an adult and coming into adulthood, how many of you are adults in here? You don't have to necessarily act like one to actually be one. I'm just asking how many of you, chronologically, are adults. You see, because for me and for Annie, we kind of have this kind of joke that we've shared over the years that when we accomplish something in our lives, we go. Does that mean we're adults now? Because you know, up until you accomplish a task, you don't know how to do it, and up until then your parents would do it for you or you'd ask for help or whatever. And so one of those instances was when we bought our house. We bought a house and we're like we're adults now. This is awesome, but I'll tell you, the other thing too is I still don't always feel like an adult. I still feel like I'm 18 years old in my mind. My body says otherwise, but my mind says 18. And so I still accomplish other things that I'm like man. I'm an adult now. I still accomplish other things that I'm like man. I'm an adult now.
Speaker 3:But early on, when we had, when we had our house, we ended up in a tight spot because you see, what had happened was Annie is a teacher and her the way her paycheck would work is at the end of the year she'd get a large check that would was supposed to last us for the summer year. She'd get a large check that was supposed to last us for the summer, and that was also the year that Gavin was born. And when he was born they neglected to take six months of insurance premium out of Annie's paychecks. So they did that at her last paycheck. So her $7,000 check that was supposed to get us through the summer was $3,000. And our mortgage was $986.67. So after paying our mortgage, we didn't have money for electricity in the summer in Arizona. My wife was also pregnant, so air conditioning is an absolute necessity, right? If the husband wants to make it through the pregnancy, then the wife must be air conditioned. I learned this, and so we couldn't pay for water, we couldn't pay for electricity and food and we couldn't pay our mortgage as well, and so I ended up, after we started to fall behind, I ended up on the phone every day, at a minimum of four times a day, with Wells Fargo, our mortgage lender, and so they would call me and I would explain everything, and then I'd have to explain it again and again, and I ended up with where I would sometimes get 12 calls a day, and it was absolutely demoralizing to tell them yes, I want to keep my house, but I can't afford it. And here's the situation. And every time I spoke to somebody new and I had to explain it, and it was so frustrating.
Speaker 3:Now, while this was going on, we had started attending Cornerstone. We'd gotten involved in a life group, and I'll tell you that when we had Gavin, we were not involved in a church, and then, by the time we had Faith, we were involved in a church, and so we had gotten involved in life groups and we had a church family and the experience was completely different. So I'll encourage you if you haven't gotten involved in a life group, get involved because it's absolutely critical. So we're now in a new house, we've got one child and another one on the way and we started tithing. After a little while of walking that out, we started to tithe, and that's important because we were starting to walk, step out that faith little by little. And then we one night were going to a life group meeting and we were the only ones who showed up and it was God-orchestrated because our life group leader, steve and Noemi, they said, hey, you know what we're really feeling? God call us to marriage ministry, but we don't want our group to die and we really think that you guys would be amazing leaders, would you guys take over our group? And we said, let me pray about it. But then we ultimately said yes and we became small group leaders, ultimately said yes and we became small group leaders.
Speaker 3:Right after we said yes to being these life group leaders, I got a letter that said our house was going to be foreclosed. Guys, I'll tell you I was less than happy. In fact I was really mad. In fact I was mad at God. See, because in Malachi, 3.10, it says test me in this right, bring your tithe to the storehouse and see if I don't take care of you. That's my translation, but it's the basics. And so I could take you to the spot in my office. And so I could take you to the spot in my office, which is now a child's room. But when I stood in the office I was really upset because our house we had gotten a letter was going to be auctioned off November 5th. Faith was due home November 12th. We had started tithing. We said yes to God to be a life group leader, and now I don't know where I'm going to bring my baby girl home to.
Speaker 3:I was a little upset and so I told God. I said what are you doing? You told me to test you in this. I did my part. What are you going to do yours? I was mad, and I want to say that just as a side note. God gave us the emotions, so he's not scared of them. So if you have some emotions towards God, take them to him so that you can talk about it. I probably could have done it in a better way, but I had reached the end of me. I said Lord, what's going on? I'm tithing. I said yes to being a leader and at that point my wife was still the spiritual head of our home, because she had grown up in church and I didn't, and so I was stepping out to be a leader to people who had been Christians longer than I had been alive, after saying, yes, god's going to take my house, or let my house be taken.
Speaker 3:So, as I'm standing there having a moment with God, all of a sudden I had this thought that you know these banks. They got all this bailout money. There's got to be some recourse. They got my tax dollars. There's got to be some recourse. Because by the time I got to this point, now Annie's back to work and she's getting a paycheck. Now Annie's back to work and she's getting a paycheck. And I called the bank and I said, look, I've got money, I'm ready to pay. And they said, sorry, it's too late. I said, no, but I've got two months worth of mortgage. Take it. Sorry, it's too late. So now I had the money and I couldn't give it to them and I thought so they won't take my money, but they'll take my tax money.
Speaker 3:And then I had this thought that never had entered my mind before and I went to the government's website. Ever been, ever been. When you're trying to find something. There's a lot of stuff on the federal government's website A lot. But see, the Lord led me there. And because he led me to that website, in three clicks, three clicks I was where I needed to be, which was the Federal Consumer Complaint Commission, which I had never even heard of. I didn't know what I was looking for when I went to the website, but in three clicks I knew I was there. If you don't know what it is, it's kind of like the Better Business Bureau, but on the federal level, and you can submit legitimate complaints.
Speaker 3:And so I submitted my story. I said look, you know this is what happened. I put all the details, submitted my story. I said look, you know this is what happened. I put all the details, everything that I had been telling all these people four to 12 times a day for the last three to six months, whatever it was. And I put it all in, submitted it with not much hope, hope. See, there is a lot of scripture to give us hope. This one here in that first scripture, guys, matthew 6, 26,. It says look at the birds of the air. They neither sow nor reap, nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father, father, feeds them. Are you not more valuable than they? See? I didn't feel like I was more valuable than them and and all that, and so I had a very little hope.
Speaker 3:When I sent off that request and I can't remember exactly how long, but it was, I'm pretty sure within 48 hours I had an executive at my bank working on my case. In fact, I had an executive vice president, one of the top three people working on my case, and she said you know, we got your complaint and I just want to figure out what's going on. So I told her everything that had been going on for the last time. It was the last time I'd ever had to say it, because she told me she goes, from this point on, you only speak to me. I'm going to take you off of all the lists on our company so you shouldn't get any robocalls, but if you do mention my name and let them know that you'll talk to me. And I did.
Speaker 3:And from that point she had me submit in triplicate, multiple times, all the documentation that I needed when I first applied for the house, and it was such a painful and long process. But she told me she said we're going to save your house, so I was willing to fill out anything that she told me I'd go to wherever I needed to go to find whatever I needed to whatever receipt or proof, to wherever I needed to go to find whatever I needed to whatever receipt or proof. And at the end of it, what they ended up doing was they rolled all the payments that we missed back into our mortgage, which was awesome, but then they also canceled all of our fees, all the late fees, all of the fees that they charge you to send you the letters that you're late at least that's what they used to do. All of those fees, thousands of dollars went away. And, as if that's not good enough, we went from a five point something percent to a three point something percent, and so God took our mortgage and he lowered it $200 a month, because God knows how expensive diapers are. And so we were able to take that money that we were now saving on our mortgage and put it towards diapers and raising our children, that money that we were now saving on our mortgage and put it towards diapers and raising our children.
Speaker 3:See, and here's what I'm so thankful for is the understanding from the scripture in James. James 1, 2, and 3 says consider it all joy, my brothers, when you meet the trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. Without that experience, without God getting involved in that time in our lives, we may still be in a similar situation as far as our mortgage goes. But see, in order for him to reshape the entire situation, he had to break it down to its foundation and he had to start again. See we, a lot of times we want to patch the problems instead of starting over, but sometimes the only way is to start over, and that's what he did. He took us back down to the very basics and built us back up better, which is exactly what he wants to do to us.
Speaker 3:And then, as we are able to share these stories because here's the thing, if that didn't happen, I wouldn't be here sharing that story with you, because I know how difficult it is to go from not tithing to tithing. I know how difficult it is because we were there and it took us a while and we went from not tithing to tithing of our net and then, as people started to take care of my lunches and things like that, and God would expand our finances just a little bit and things were still covered and things like that. And God would expand our finances just a little bit and things were still covered. We went to our gross. And now it's to the point we do it on every increase.
Speaker 3:And not only that, but we know that we can't out-give God, so it's almost a competition. It's like, okay, let's give to this and see what God does. God will absolutely change and reframe your situation if you allow him to. But just know that when you ask him to, he may not just put some spackle on the walls. He may have to take the situation all the way down to its foundation. He may have to take you all the way down to your foundation. That's painful. It could get loud between you and the Lord. Like we said, he's not scared, but once he gets it down to where he can start to work, he'll build something else completely new in your life. Thank you, amen.
Speaker 2:What are you thankful for? When I was living in Bangladesh and you live overseas any amount of time you'll see things that you don't normally see in America, and so when I was living there, I would often go to an outside market. That is where they sold clothes and different items for the home, and I remember walking through the market and it's very crowded. It's one of the most densely populated nations in the world and I was walking through and I began to hear this very eerie sound of voices that were crying out really loud. I didn't know what it was. They were speaking in Bengali. My Bengali was not that fluent, but I could hear it and it was screeching high and I suddenly began to see the crowd of people at the market. They began to separate and they left an aisle in the middle and in come about a dozen lepers.
Speaker 2:You don't see that in America, but everywhere else in the world they will have villages where they take those with leprosy and they remove them from normal civilization and they place them out in a village on their own, and this one day in particular, while I was at the market, these lepers were making their way in. They had a flat piece of wood with wheels underneath it, kind of like a skateboard, and they would be on it. They were wearing a wet suit that you would wear in the ocean and it was cut up in pieces and they would put it on and try to cover the open wounds all over their body. And they came in together, they were wheeling themselves through and they were screaming really loud we have leprosy make room. We have leprosy make room. And I'll never forget that noise. I remember going home thinking, wow, I've never grown up in a country where I've seen that ever before.
Speaker 2:And oftentimes, when I lived overseas and I would see something that I wasn't used to, I would take a journal and I would begin to write the scenario down and then I would find it in Matthew, mark, luke or John, where the same situation took place, and I would parallel what I saw versus what was in scripture. And if you have your Bible with you this morning, I want you to open up to the book of Luke, chapter 17. I'm going to start reading in verse 11, and it tells a story about 10 lepers. It says this on the way to Jerusalem, he, jesus, was passing along between Samaria and Galilee and as he entered a village, he was met by 10 lepers who stood at a distance and lifted up their voices saying Jesus, master, have mercy on us. When he saw them, he said to them go and show yourselves to the priests. And as they went, they were cleansed. Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, he turned back praising God with a loud voice and he fell on his face at Jesus's feet giving him thanks. Now he was a Samaritan.
Speaker 2:Here we are, in verse 12, and we see that there's 10 lepers. They're not even all of the same cultural background, but the one thing they have in common is that they all have leprosy, so they have been banned from society. No one is to touch them or they will be marked unclean, and so they remove them from everyone else. And so these 10 people full of leprosy, their body is in anguish, they have open wounds, open sores. Nobody looks at them the way that people look at you, and they're dealing with this desperation that if someone can help them, if just one person can make them whole, their whole life would be changed.
Speaker 2:Verse 13 says that they recognized Jesus and they recognized that he could help them. I want you to know that I have been around people who do not believe in God at all. I want you to know that I have been around people who do not believe in God at all, but when it comes to that place in their life, when they are desperate for something, they know who to go to. I have seen people who have practiced different faiths throughout their whole life and when they're on their deathbed and they know my next step is into eternity, they turn to Jesus. There is something about Jesus. And so these 10 lepers are coming into the area and they see Jesus. 10 people all from different backgrounds, they weren't even raised the same way, but they look at him and they say him. Even raised the same way, but they look at him and they say him, he can make us whole. This one right here. And it begins to say that they lifted their voices asking him Lord, have mercy on us, heal us. And this is how good our savior is.
Speaker 2:In verse 14,. Without hesitation, he didn't make them stand up and say where are you from? Where are you from? Where are you from? Okay, you, you and you, this side, the rest of you. I'm sorry he didn't say that, but he instantly looked at him and he said listen. I want you to go to the priest. Go, show yourselves to them. They are banned from society, they are not allowed to stand in the presence of a priest.
Speaker 2:And here they go, they turn around and they go, as scripture very clearly says that instantly they were healed and they were cleansed immediately. I have not ever suffered a skin disease to that devastation. But I will tell you, if you are physically hurting in your body and you are standing before Jesus and you turn around, and from the top of your head to the soles of your feet, everything has been made whole, you got a lot to celebrate when all of a sudden, wounds begin to close up and you begin to move freely and you have health back. When you were sent away and people said don't come, don't look at me, I don't want what you have. But now you are like them, you have something to praise about. And then, sadly, we see in scripture that only one turned around, one, it says. He turned around when he saw that he was healed and he praised God with a loud voice and he fell on his face at Jesus's feet giving him thanks.
Speaker 2:There have been things in my life that I probably didn't stop and give God praise for when I should have. I think every one of us in this room can say we are in that same situation. There are others of us who cried desperately God help me, this is the final straw, this is it. And if you help me, and then you make a promise, and in that moment one person turned around and said I'm going to give all glory and all honor to you and you alone, because you have touched me completely. When I think about the church and I think about how much God has blessed us with as we head into the week of Thanksgiving, we have so much to be grateful for, and there are times that I look at the nine who did not turn around to say thank you to God and I think, oh Lord, have mercy on the church if we're not one of those nine who stop and turn and say thank you Jesus. In fact, it's said that he said it very loudly so the other nine heard and they still didn't turn. Maybe you're the type of person who comes to God and you lay your requests down and then he answers you and you just say thank you. Lay your request down and then he answers you and you just say thank you, Instead of shouting it from the rooftops of what he has done for you.
Speaker 2:Revelation says that by the word of our testimony things change, it goes on to say. Then Jesus answered we're not 10 cleansed? Where are the nine? Was no one found to return and give praise to God, except this foreigner? They mentioned the foreigner by culture. He was a Samaritan and if you study history, you will know that Samaritans and Jews did not coincide with each other. They did not hang out and so Jesus heals him, and the one who turned around was the least likely person to do so. But he turned around and gave honor to Jesus with a loud praise. Loud praise, it says in verse 19,. Jesus said to him rise and go on your way. Your faith has made you well. And I believe at that moment he didn't just get a physical touch in his body, but he got a heart change and God said your faith, the thing that you've now put your trust in, has changed you forever and you've been changed from the inside out.
Speaker 2:As we head into this week of Thanksgiving and we focus on the things that we are grateful for, my prayer is that you would focus on all that Jesus has done for you. We live in a culture where we have been told once you receive what you want, you turn and you complain about the next thing. Think about it. The gratefulness has been gone and all of a sudden we ask, and we ask, and we ask and we ask to the point we're not really satisfied. And God's looking down and he's saying if they only knew what I have in store for them, they would be lifting up the biggest shot of praise right now that they ever could.
Speaker 2:My prayer is that you sit at that Thanksgiving table this week and you look at your own family. I will tell you this we all have messed up families. Let's just start there. Nobody's family is perfect. But when you sit at that table this week and you begin to look around, don't think about the things that annoy you or drive you crazy or they owe you, but you look at them and you say I am so blessed that you are in my life. I am so grateful for you, I love you. God puts you in my family for a reason. So here we are. I am who I am because of you, chaos and all I am who I am because of you, and you begin to count your blessings, saying thank you, lord.
Speaker 2:It says in 1 Thessalonians 5.18,. We give thanks in all circumstances, for this is the will of God. In Christ Jesus. For you, two things. Number one I want you to read this scripture again and you'll find this that even after the nine who continued going on, never turning around to give thanks to Jesus, he didn't take their healing away. They were still healed, because that's how faithful he is. Even when they didn't turn around and say thank you, they were still healed. And number two let me leave you with something very practical.
Speaker 2:How many of you are parents in the room? You have children, you will know as a parent, the one thing that drives you crazy is that when a kid comes to you like I need, I want, I have to have this, and they do it over and over and over again, and you're like really Is I want, I have to have this? And they do it over and over and over again, and you're like really, is there anything else you want to talk to me about? Because, like I'm your mom, I invest a lot into you. You're dad, we love you. All you're doing is asking for things.
Speaker 2:But if my kids come up to me and they look at me and they're like I love you, mom, and they just give me a big hug and then they walk away. I'm like what can I give you? What do you want? I love you. You're amazing. You feel like a million bucks. And so my challenge to you is this this week, as you come to the presence of the Lord, lift up his name, exalt his name, praise his name. He is due all honor, all glory. Did you know that Jesus, right now, is seated at the right hand of God, making intercession for you daily? He loves you that much and when you begin to enter into his gates with thanksgiving, when you begin to come and lift up the name of Jesus, his arms are open, wide and he will continually meet every one of your needs. But my challenge is that you don't become one of the nine who receive and turn around and just act like you were owed it. What are you thankful for today?
Speaker 1:Praise the Lord. Aren't you thankful for these guys? Give thanks in all circumstances. What an encouraging set of stories. I'm so thankful for Pastor Angus and Pastor Celeste sharing those stories with us today.
Speaker 1:Friends, that is the challenge that we would give God thanks it talks about, like this, apostle Paul writing to the church and to the Colossians. He says, therefore as you receive Christ Jesus, the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving. What is he saying? He's saying if you're a Christ follower, then act like a Christ follower. If you're someone who has experienced all of these great things in your life and forgiveness and been made new and transformed and you're called a child of God, then guess what? Act like it and be thankful to our Father who gives all these things to us. Give thanks to God for all the blessings in our life, even in the midst of difficult circumstances. We can give God praise. Friends, that we would have that kind of attitude, that we would have that kind of perspective to give God praise. In a few moments we're gonna open up this altar and I challenge you in this that you would come and give thanks to God to all the things that he's done in your life and in all attributes, in all places. Maybe you skipped some places where you've needed to say thanks to him, that you'd come and you would just make an altar with God and say thank you, lord, for all these things, what you're doing in my life and in my marriage and in my family, lord, what you're doing with my children and my grandchildren. Maybe things aren't perfect, but, god, you are working in that circumstance, lord, I give you thanks for that. Thank you, lord, for provision in my life and thank you for opportunity and skill set. Thank you for all the things you're doing. Thank you how you are the God who makes a way. Friends, in all things, give thanks. It says this in Colossians 3, let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which, indeed, you are called. One body and be thankful. Friends. That's my prayer over you in this Thanksgiving week is that the peace of God would rest upon you, would be in your life and in your family and be in your heart. Be in your life and in your family, would be in your heart and in your thoughts and in your speech, that you would experience the peace of God in a transformative way. The weight of the peace of God would be upon you and it would be so tangible that you couldn't shake it, because God has that kind of intentionality towards you, and in the midst of circumstances that otherwise would be chaotic, that you have. The peace of God rest upon your life, friends. What are you thankful for? Are you living a thankful life?
Speaker 1:Today we have this opportunity to respond here at the altar, as we give thanks in all things. But before we go there, we have a question for everyone here. It's have you embraced Jesus? See, for those of us that are Christ followers, we've said yes to Christ. We say Jesus, I believe you are who you say you are and I believe, lord, that you came and you lived a sinless life, that you became the sacrifice, the holy sacrifice for a holy God, because we know, as broken people, what do we have to offer a holy God? What can I possibly do to earn that presence and that forgiveness? Nothing, that's the answer. Nothing but Jesus, through his great mercy for us. He came and instead he took the weight of our mistakes. He took our mistakes upon himself and he paid for those mistakes with his life. That's why the symbol of the cross is one that's so transformative, so powerful for us as Christ followers, because we see the symbol of the cross as one of freedom, one of forgiveness, one of mercy, where God took on my mistakes. He took on my sin, my brokenness, he took on yours, and it's upon the cross that he paid for all of those things with his life, that he paid for all of those things with his life. But the amazing thing about it is that even death could not hold him back. And so, as Jesus is alive today, we have a relationship with him and it's because of that we invite him into our hearts and lives to make ourselves have a new relationship in him through faith in what he has done on our behalf. Friends, it says it like this in scripture because if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. But with the heart one believes and is justified, with the mouth one confesses and is saved.
Speaker 1:Friends, today is your day. It's your opportunity to say yes to Jesus, to invite him into your heart and life, to start a new relationship with him. Maybe you're here. You've never made that decision. Today is the day for you to say yes to Jesus, to invite him into your heart and life, to ask him to forgive you of your sin, start a new relationship with him. Or maybe you are here and you have made that decision in the past, but you've walked away from living after God. Today's an opportunity for you to recommit your heart and life back to Christ. But you say, lord, I'm so sorry, forgive me. I want to recommit my heart and life back to Christ that you say, lord, I'm so sorry, forgive me. I wanna recommit my heart to you. I wanna live this thing for real and not let these other paths get in the way of what I need to be doing and living for you.
Speaker 1:I'm gonna ask, if you're in the room, if you just stand up right where you're at, bow your head and just be open to what God wants to do. If you're online, same. If you just open your heart for what God is doing, wherever you are today With heads bowed in the room. If that's you, you say, pastor, include me in that prayer today. I wanna invite Christ into my heart and life. I wanna make a commitment to Christ today. If that's you, if you just raise your hand right where you're at, making a commitment to Christ.
Speaker 1:Thank you, jesus, making a commitment to Christ. Thank you, jesus. Thank you, jesus. People raising a hand today, thank you, lord. Other hands that are there, thank you, lord. Other people making commitments to God. See those hands, see that hand. Thank you, jesus. Praise the Lord.
Speaker 1:Friends, I'm gonna ask everyone to pray this prayer aloud together. Lord, thank you for loving me. Thank you for sending Jesus. I believe Jesus died on the cross for my sins. I believe he rose again. Forgive me of my sins. I surrender my life to you. In Christ's name. I pray Amen, amen. Friends, we rejoice in you making a decision today, many hands going up making a decision for God today. Praise the Lord. We have some resources for you back at the prayer banner at the cafe. Connect with them. Let them know what decision you made today. We want to put some resources into your hands. If you're online, message us. We want to connect with you so that you're not alone in this process of living after God.
Speaker 1:Friends, today we've been challenged by these stories of what God has done and what God can do. Today, I challenge you to come to this altar and give thanks to God for wherever you're at and whatever season you're in, because he is worthy of praise. Lord, we thank you so much. Lord, we open up our hearts to you. We say Lord, jesus, be glorified in our lives. Lord, we give you thanks in our lives today.
Speaker 1:Lord, I thank you for the provision for my family. Lord, I thank you for my family. I thank you for my wife and for my marriage. Lord, I thank you for the relationships that you've rekindled in my life and I thank you for friends. Lord, I thank you for a past that you brought me out of, lord. I thank you for that. I'm no longer in darkness, but I'm in the light of God. Lord that I'm no longer called by the shame of my past. I have now a future and a living. God, lord, that you call me your child and that you love me and you value me.
Speaker 1:God, and I thank you for the vision in my life and I thank you, lord, for the provision in this church and I thank you, lord, for the peace of God which rests upon us as we walk by your spirit. Lord, I thank you are the God, our healer, and you're the one that meets us where we are God, and you are the one who provides for us. You're the one who forgives us of all of these transgressions and sin. Lord, you're the one who helps us forgive others, lord, as you've forgiven us much and you give us mercy when we don't deserve it. God, we give you thanks and we give you praise for all of these things, for you are a God who loves us. Lord, as we come to this altar, we do so, lord. Have a heart of thanksgiving, saying thank you, god, for all of these things and more. We pray this in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Speaker 1:Hey, I just want to say a special thanks to our worship team. I also want you to be blessed by the worship team today. I'm so very thankful for them. What an amazing thing and I want to say thanks to our tech team and all those who serve in video. They worked so hard. We had everything go wrong this morning before the first service, and they've been scrambling to do such a good job. I'm so appreciative of them and how they make it available for us to worship online and also be blessed in that way. Aren't you thankful for these people that serve Me too?
Speaker 2:Amen. We have a really fun day today. I know you're going to go home and eat lunch and maybe watch a football game, but we'd love for you to join us tonight from 5 to 7. We're going to be decorating the inside and the outside of the church. It's going to look gorgeous next week, but it's fun and I promise you we're going to play Christmas music before Thanksgiving this evening, so come and join us.
Speaker 1:Before we go, I'm going to pray this blessing over us today. The Lord bless you and keep you. Lord, make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. Lord, lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace. Lord, I pray a blessing upon your church, your people. How do you empower us by your spirit to leave your love out to those around us? We pray this in the powerful name of Jesus Christ. Amen, amen, know this. We love you very much here at Cornerstone. God bless you and happy Thanksgiving.