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Thanksgiving, More than a Word (November 23, 2025)

• Organic Church • Season 2 • Episode 55

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What if gratitude wasn’t a seasonal sentiment but the bedrock of a resilient life? We dig into the difference between saying “thanks” and living with a spirit of thanksgiving that holds when schedules overflow, family dynamics get tense, and plans fall apart. Starting with Scripture’s promises—God goes before us, will not abandon us, and shapes our future for good—we trace how gratitude reframes setbacks into seasons and turns ordinary days into places of encounter.

We talk honestly about holiday pressure, the courage to set holy boundaries, and why choosing presence over performance can restore peace. You’ll hear how honoring legacy and listening to those who came before us fill gaps our screens can’t, and how simple practices—thanking God for breath, mercy, and small provisions—can lighten anxiety’s load. Along the way, we unpack obedience in real life: finishing assignments, trusting the still small voice, and welcoming refinement when conflict or disappointment arrives.

Generosity naturally flows from this posture. Beyond money, we explore the power of time, presence, prayer, and open tables to meet needs all year, not just in a festive season. Gratitude becomes the engine that multiplies blessings rather than burying them. We close with an invitation to anchor faith in God’s unfailing goodness—not after life improves, but right in the thick of it—so thanksgiving becomes a daily foundation rather than a reaction. If this resonates, share it with a friend, subscribe for more, and leave a review to help others find the message.

SPEAKER_01:

Amen. We'll let the children move. And as they're doing that, I want to tell you something, and I know that you know this, but today is the day that the Lord has made. Amen. Let us rejoice and be glad in it. Hallelujah. Psalms 118-24. It says specifically, today is the day that the Lord has made, and we will rejoice and be glad in it. I know that this part of the service gets a little chaotic because everybody's leaving and there's some hustle and bustle, but I'll tell you, I want to jump right in because I don't want to miss a minute of this message today. And I want to say this to you, whether you came here feeling strong or feeling weary, whether you walked into the sanctuary with a shout or with a sigh, I want you to know that God has set apart this time specifically for you. He has not forgotten about you. If you look at Deuteronomy 31, 6, you got that one? We're going to get there. It says, The Lord said to Moses, You are about to die and join your ancestors. After you are gone, these people will begin to worship foreign gods. I don't think this is the passage that I wanted. The gods of the land, where they are going, they will abandon me and break my covenant that I have made with them. That is not what I wanted. What is that? It should have been six. So that is why it's not what I wanted. But that's my fault, but that's okay. God has not abandoned you, and God is ready to breathe fresh life into your spirit today. Listen, some of us walk into this place burdened, and we're be strong and courageous, do not be afraid. Amen. And do not panic before them, for the Lord your God will personally go ahead of you. He will neither fail you nor abandon you. Can you believe that today? I will tell you that God has gone before me in situations that I didn't think God could show up in. Amen? He showed up in ways and done things for me that I could have never believed in, but I'll tell you, this is not just something that He does for me, He does it for all of us. There is a very easy way of saying the words thank you, right? It's so easy to just say, hey, thank you. Thanks. I appreciate that, right? We can all do that? It's pretty easy. But can we truly live with a spirit of thanksgiving? So there's a difference. Because I'm thankful for a lot of things, right? I'm thankful for mostly good health. I am thankful for my church family. I'm thankful for my personal family. I am thankful for a lot of things. But when the going gets tough, amen? When the going gets tough, can I be tough enough to stand and say, God is still good in all things? Or do I want to argue and say, well, God is good, but He's really putting me through it today? Listen, God can be good and you can still go through it. Amen? You can suffer and you can see things that you would have never believed that you could see, believing that God is good, because He will never leave you nor forsake you. He says, Be strong and courageous, do not be afraid and do not panic before them. For the Lord your God will personally go ahead of you. Do you hear me? The Lord your God will personally go ahead of you. He will neither fail you nor abandon you. I have felt abandoned in my life by people around me. Amen. It feels like the world will scoop you up and it'll hold you tight for a little while and then it just drops you. Anybody ever been dropped by something of the world? And I'll tell you, I have been picked up by Jesus many a times because the world has let me down. But I will tell you that Jesus doesn't pick me up because the world let me down. Jesus picks me up because that's where he desires me in his arms. Amen. Amen. I I don't get picked up because of something that has happened. I don't get picked up because I get picked up because I have surrendered. I have given Jesus everything. It's not easy to do. I just want to say that as we continue through this message, that we're gonna we're gonna experience and we're gonna talk about and think about all of the things that are a true spirit of Thanksgiving and not just the words, thanks. Right? Because how many of us at Thanksgiving will sit around the table and we'll talk about the things that we're thankful for? Or we'll argue with our family, right? It'll be one of those two. Right? And sometimes it's both, right? We say all the things we're thankful for and then we end up in a fight? Right? Okay, I just want to make sure I wasn't the only one. Listen, there are some family functions I avoid because of the pressure that comes with it. Right? Have you ever felt pressure to perform? Like you have to be on your best behavior, you have to do this, you have to do that. Listen, it's exhausting. Right? I want to be places where I can just be me. I want to be places, I want to be around people that accept me for who I am. Now that's not to say that I get to misbehave and act foolish, right? But I don't want the I don't want to walk into a situation in the world when they look at me and they look at me because I'm different, because I have Jesus Christ in my life. Right? So when I enter situations like that, I find that if I remove myself, that I can live more for Jesus and less for the world. Right? There's no rule that says we have to spend every holiday with our families. Andrew was just saying that. Andrew, that is confirmation, my friend. Right? I'm not saying you don't have to love them, I'm not saying you ignore people, but I'm saying that there are situations in our lives and we have to learn to be thankful for the distance sometimes, right? Listen, I love my family. I love them to death. If I see my sister more than three times a year, there's a guaranteed blowout coming, right? Because she's gonna say something, or I'm it's usually me that's gonna say something, but I'm gonna say something, and it's gonna pick a fight. That's okay. But I have to learn to be thankful for what is truly present in my life and what I can truly touch and be thankful for. Listen, there are hearts in this room that are heavy with the holidays coming up. There are people who are sitting here trying to figure out how they're gonna tear themselves in a million directions, and I want to encourage you that today we need to center ourselves on Christ. We need to put ourselves in a spirit of Thanksgiving, forget about the world and the traditions that the world has called us to, and focus on what matters, and that's relationship with Christ. Amen. So when I walk into Thanksgiving this year, now listen, my grandma, she's not here, she's not feeling well. Look around, by the way. Most of the empty seats you see are people who are not feeling well today. I probably had seven text messages in the past two days of people who aren't feeling well. So we're gonna lift them up in prayer today. Um, but my grandma, in in true grandma fashion, texted me two days ago to tell me she's having Thanksgiving at her house. Now, we've already made plans. Anybody who knows me and knows my family knows that you can't just call us and ask us to do something. Because chances are my kids got something going on, right? My kids have a better social life than I have, and that's the truth. It says it's my social life is whoever they're friends with, right? That's how that works. I spend more time with children than I do with adults. But the thing is, I don't even know where I was going with that. What was I saying? Oh, my grandma, thank you. My grandma, she sends me a text. Well, we've already got plans. If you know us, you know that you can't just call us because we've already got somewhere to be. But I said to my wife, the things that matter in life trump what we want and what we are choosing to do, right? Now, let's be honest with each other. If we are grandparents or maybe we still have grandparents, most of us know our grandparents won't be around forever, right? And we have to accept that, but we also have to live in that and spend time with the people that we love and that we care about. See, I am not an emotional person. For those of you who know me, know that that's true, right? But when you think about the legacy that somebody leaves behind, and I believe that my legacy is left through my children, right? It's nothing that I'm going to do, it's what how my children behave in the world. That is my legacy. And I think, you know, my grandparents left a legacy in their children, and their children are leaving a legacy in my generation, and I'm leaving it in the next. And I have to be willing to observe and to listen and to hear the things that they have experienced in life. Did you know, young people, our grandparents didn't have cell phones? Many of them were around when the first TVs came out. And now you watch YouTube on your phone while you drive. It's true. Why? Only when the Browns are on, stop it. Why would you even risk your life to watch that? You know they're gonna lose. If I'm gonna risk my life for something, it's gonna be something worth risking my life for, right? Anyhow, anyhow, we realize that they grew up in a different time than us, and they have a sense of direction that we lack today, right? They've experienced things in life that we could never experience, and we have to be willing to hear that and absorb that. But oftentimes we'll run from it because we think that our feelings are more important than what God has called us to do. Okay. Where are we at? I'm allowing the spirit to lead me this morning. I've got notes here. We haven't touched any of them yet. There is a difference between saying thank you and having a spirit of thanksgiving. Anyone can walk in and say thank you when things are going right. Amen? You can walk into the room and you get the best coffee Dawn has ever made, right? And listen, I like to brag when I get a good coffee because I'm telling you, when you get that latte just right, that's like heaven on earth. Right? And you can be thankful for those things. But when you get that coffee that's a little bit bitter, now I'm a peppermint mocha guy all year long.

unknown:

Right?

SPEAKER_01:

I'll roll up to Starbucks in the middle of summer and get a hot peppermint mocha. That's my jam. And then I get them and they taste bad and I complain about it. Right? You know what that Starbucks telling me? Drink something else, man. Right? Who's drinking peppermint in the summer months? But the problem that I have, me too, Staff. I mean, that's all year long. The problem that I have is that I can celebrate in the good times. I can thank God, I can have a spirit of thanksgiving in the good times. But in the bad times, I lack that spirit of thanksgiving. In the bad times, I tend to blame the world for my shortcomings. But can I tell you that oftentimes I have to blame myself? More often than not, I need to blame, I need to talk to myself about the things that are going on. Okay. Maybe today you're facing a struggle that you didn't expect. Anybody facing struggles today? Hallelujah. Thank you, Jesus. Here's the thing that struggle is not just there to watch you struggle. Life will shift in that struggle, but you have to find the balance. See, the enemy will whisper, you are alone, you are forgotten, and you are not enough. But the word of God will always declare that I will never leave you nor forsake you. You are not lost, you are being led, you are not forgotten, you are being held. And if God says this to you, you have to remember that it's true and know the plans that I have for you. Plans to give you hope and a future. Jeremiah 29, 11 is one of the very first verses of scripture that we ever had our children learn. For I know the plans that I have for you, says the Lord. They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope. Do you realize what our children experience today? Those of you who grew up without television and without smartphones, I'm gonna tell you something. You have a different life than we have today. Right? So I remember growing up and we had a home computer, but it was like dial up internet. Like you, we used to go to Walmart and get those free AOL discs. I probably got 70 or 80 AOL usernames because you had to make a new one every time you got it, right? But then you'd get into chat rooms and you'd start talking to people that you didn't know, talking about things that didn't matter in life, and that was the beginning of the end, truly. Because what happened, we reached out into the world, and everything became accessible to us with the click of a button, but we became distant with the people who were sitting right next to us.

unknown:

Right?

SPEAKER_01:

Have you ever been in a room with somebody and you text them? Right? My wife did it to me this morning. She was standing over here, I was sitting over there, she just sent me a text. What's wrong with us? Do you know what's wrong with us? We have given up personal connection to be connected to the world. I think we are failing ourselves because we don't understand that the world will forsake us. The world will leave us at a moment's notice. But Jesus, for I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord. They are plans for good and not disaster to give you a future and a hope. There is nobody in the world doing that for us. It's Jesus.

SPEAKER_00:

It is Jesus.

SPEAKER_01:

When you begin to thank God, even for the small things, the atmosphere starts to shift. A spirit of thanksgiving will begin to break the heaviness. Yes? Any of us carry a lot of weight around with us? That pressure to be in the world, that pressure to do all of the things. How many of us have anxiety? How many of us have stress? Right? Can I tell you that when we live in a spirit of thanksgiving, those things become lighter? Amen. Now, some of us are like, well, Pastor Michael, I do that every day, and I'm still experiencing it. Because the problem is, is we choose to experience it. See, the world wants us to feel all of the ways, but Jesus says you don't have to. Jesus says you can lay it down at the foot of the cross. Amen. We choose to get his burden is light. Our burden is heavy. Now, we cannot have salvation. We can, I said this last week, I think it was last week. We cannot have that salvation without first carrying the cross, right? We have to crucify all of the things with Jesus so that then we can have a lighter sentence. Amen. Remember, he died so that we wouldn't experience what the world is telling us to experience. And we're still walking in the world and experiencing it, right? Listen, I experience it too. I want to be clear. I am not perfect. I don't have a life of ease just because I was called to preach. What I have is a higher accountability, right? So when I preach the gospel, I am responsible for the words that come out of my mouth. I am responsible ultimately for the words that come out of your mouth. When I get to heaven, he's gonna say, Yeah. But all of those other people that you didn't really feed, I don't water down the gospel for you guys anymore. Yeah, I used to. Okay, when I first started preaching, it was easier to water it down than it was to tell you the truth because if I watered it down, it was more palatable. You would come and you would listen. But now the problem is we have a church, not this church, but the church body in general, is full of weak-minded Christians who don't know what it means to truly stand up for the gospel of Jesus Christ. Amen. We're not living in a spirit of thanksgiving, we're living in a spirit of complacency where we can stand and say, listen, I'm comfortable with where I am, and I don't need to shake that. I'm gonna tell you, if you are complacent in the spirit, you are sliding backwards. The spirit of God, if if you are sitting still, you are moving backwards. The spirit of God will not allow you to stay in one place. He will call you to grow from season to season, from moment to moment. Is Jenny on that?

unknown:

Yes, she is.

SPEAKER_01:

Hi, Jenny.

unknown:

She was just backwards like my cow.

SPEAKER_01:

Oh, that's super awesome. She did wave at me though, so. Hey, listen, if you're listening to this after the fact and you're missing church right now, I mean Jenny's honestly on live stream, right now. She's watching from somebody's FaceTime. So, what's your excuse? That's all I'm asking. Anyhow. Anyhow. Thanksgiving will always stir joy. Scripture tells us that we enter into the gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise. It's Psalms 104. Do you have that one? I think it's on there. It says, Enter his gates with thanksgiving, go into his courts with praise, give thanks to him and praise his name. That's why we start every church service with music ministry, because that sets the tone for the spirit, right? Listen, I was asked this morning, would you rather have people clap off beat or sing out of tune? We get a little of both in this place. I would rather hear you sing off key. I'd rather you be out of tune. Do you know why? Because when we lift our praises to Jesus, listen, clapping hands is fine. But listen, it is our voice crying out to the Lord. Right? I would rather you be singing off key. The person next to you might not appreciate it. But he says it is a joyful noise unto his ears to hear us giving him praise. Amen. And so I that's why we always start with music ministry because it allows us to stir up joy. It tells us that we can enter into his courts with praise, that we can give him thanksgiving. Listen, we have to start thanking him for the easy stuff. My heat, my feet hit the floor. Thank you, Lord, for waking me up because somebody didn't get that blessing today. Amen. Thank you for your mercy. Thank you for your grace. Every time you say it, something in your life will begin to break open. Thanksgiving is not for those who are weak, it is for the strong. When we can give him thanks, even in the things that we don't feel like we should be thanking him for. Listen, when I lost my job, I did not thank God for that, right? But when I realized that he had a greater purpose, I said, Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord, for taking away what was meant to be taken away and placing me where you knew that I needed to be. Amen. That's not easy to do, but we have to shift our mindset that God will not leave us nor forsake us. Therefore, everything that He is doing in our lives is for our good and not meant for evil. Amen. I know I'm not telling you guys anything you don't know, but I'm hoping that there's revelation in this. That you're hearing this and you're saying, you know what? I've been blaming the world or I have been blaming God for all of the things that are happening. And I know at the end of the day that if I turn that from complaints into praise, that all of those walls will begin to fall. The walls that surround all of the good things that God is doing will begin to fall. And I will be living in the overflow because He is working for my good. Amen. When you feel loss, a spirit of thanksgiving will redirect you onto the one who cannot fail you. Amen. It's not physically possible for God to fail you. If we believe, and I hope that everybody in this building believes that all good things come from God, he cannot fail. It's not in his nature to fail. If you are failing, it is because you are not focusing on what God wants in your life. Listen, I failed at a couple of things in my life. I started a podcast that bombed, and then I started another one that took off. And then we've got another one. We had, we hit 1,500 or we hit 1,500 downloads on the podcast for our Sunday morning services two days ago. Now, I want you to understand that. 1,500 downloads on a podcast from a little old church that literally all we do is record this and upload it to the internet, right? 1,500 downloads. That means the gospel is reaching 1,500 more people than the people who sit in this room. Right? That is a blessing. Pastor Holly will tell you, I when I decided I was gonna do that, I had never done it before. All of the people who are who have been with me since season one of Growing Together, we had no idea what we were doing. We would do it live sometimes, and then sometimes it wouldn't work right. And Alva would call us while we were recording and say, it sounds like poop, fix it. And we would get it right and we would do it, and now we're taking off on this. Listen, God is doing something good. He is He is giving us wisdom in places that we would never naturally have wisdom. Amen? Are you experiencing that in your own life? Is God speaking to you and telling you, hey, shift from this to that? Hey, stop looking at this and focus on that. Amen? God is constantly redirecting and re-guiding my footsteps because he knows that my ADD brain will end up looking at something else nice and shiny, right? I was in the shower this morning and I was like, Lord, whatever it is that you're gonna do with me today, I pray that it is big, I pray that it is bold, and Lord, just continue to lead me, guide me, and direct me. And he said, You remember that thing you started? And I said, Yes, Lord. He said, You need to finish it. And I said, I don't want to. And he said, Then what do you want from me? I'm giving you direction and you're arguing with me.

SPEAKER_00:

I didn't ask you to finish it. I told you to finish it.

SPEAKER_01:

And when we listen to that still small voice and we follow through with what God has called us to do, he will bless it. And after he blesses that, guess what he's gonna do? Set you into something else. See, everything is a season. And sometimes I think that the season that he has put me in doesn't always make a lot of sense. Lord, if this is what you want me to do, show me. Right? Any of us ever said that to him? Has he ever shown you? And then have you ever not done it? And then he doesn't show you anymore, or somebody else does it, and you can't understand why you didn't get that blessing and that person did. Let me tell you, when God is speaking, you have to stop and listen. That still small voice will continue to speak to you as you ask him for that wisdom. Now the challenge becomes when he tells you to do something that you don't want to do, has he ever asked you to volunteer in kids' ministry? Ain't nobody raising their hands for that one because they know what that means. Right? If he calls you to that and you disobey, or you say, Not today, Lord, or Lord, show me, guide me, direct me, and then you don't follow through, he's gonna have some questions for you. Right? And then he's gonna start to surround you with things that you don't understand to redirect you, to set your feet on solid ground. Because see, when he sets the foundation of your life, it is not your choice, it is his choice. I don't think that God called me to preach initially, he called me into ministry to lead worship, and when he did that, I was ecstatic. I was like, this is exactly where I want to be, Lord. And when he decided that he was gonna call me into ministry and have me preach, I said, Lord, you're gonna have to do something with my life because your word is not a priority.

SPEAKER_00:

It's true. And there are some of us sitting here who are going, it's not a priority in my life either.

SPEAKER_01:

Do you know the fastest way for God to change your life, for him to move, for him to express himself to you, is through his word. Because you open that Bible to a passage of scripture that you've never seen before, you may have read it a hundred times, but it's never spoken to your heart. They say that the word is alive and that when we read it, that we get fresh revelation. That's what I pray for you guys every day. That when you choose to open the word of God, that there is fresh revelation. I don't know if that truly happens for you or not, but I pray that's what it is. I want to tell you that if you are feeling lost, a spirit of thanksgiving is not pretending that everything is fine. It's believing that God is still working even when nothing looks fine. Have you been in the fire? Have you walked through the chaos? Have you felt the storm? I'm okay being the only one that's experienced that, just so we're clear. Because I know that when I'm experiencing those things, God is moving in my life. Right? He's not allowing me to sit still. He's saying, you've been there, you've done that, now it's time to be refined. It is time to move to the next level. Listen, there are people who will encourage you to grow. They'll tell you, hey, you know, if you would just, if you would just, if you would stop and think about, if you would go and do, listen, that's wonderful.

SPEAKER_00:

But surround yourself with people who will take you with them. Right?

SPEAKER_01:

When I was called to this ministry, I believed that every person that sat under me, every person that that joined me on the mission to grow the kingdom of Jesus Christ, that they would raise as I rose. Right? Listen, I've been through some seasons. Uh-huh. I've been through some seasons. I went through a season where half the people on my council hated me. It's true. Pastor Roger laughed because he he remembers that season of my life. Do you know how hard it is to have a body of people who are supposed to be standing with you and believing with you and governing with you, and they physically hate your guts? And you think I'm kidding, but I'm not. Didn't want to look at me, didn't want to have a conversation with me. And you know what God said? We don't minister to emotion. We're not here to make somebody like us, we're here to tell the world the truth. And the truth will sometimes make you unlikable. Right? Because you're gonna say something to somebody like, hey, God has been, I've been, I've been in the word and I've been really spending a lot of time in the word, and God has said to me that I need to remove myself from this situation. And when I remove myself from that situation, those people go, but why don't you like me anymore? Why don't you want to be my friend? It's not that I don't like you, and it's not that I don't want to be your friend. It's that God has showed me a weakness in myself. And that when I go to that weakness, I fall into the traps of the enemy. I came out of that season of my life frustrated and hurt and somewhat angry. And then God said, Yeah, but what did you learn? I does God talk to you guys like that, right? Like when I'm when I'm arguing with him, because God and I wrestle quite a bit, I'm like, Lord, I know what you're telling me, and I want to do that because it's what you've called me to do, but Lord, remember when? And he says, Yeah, but what did you learn? And when I humble myself and I realize that I learned that not everybody will be for me. I learned that some people will still attend a church of a pastor that they hate.

SPEAKER_00:

It's true. They'll show up every Sunday.

SPEAKER_01:

Sit in their seat. This isn't anybody in this building. I just want you guys to know that. I love all of you very much. They'll sit in their seat and then they'll walk out to the parking lot and immediately start texting people. Can you believe he said that? I know he was talking about you.

SPEAKER_00:

It's true. I don't understand it. The gospel is not about me.

SPEAKER_01:

The gospel is about the body of Christ. And when Jesus wants to move in the body, he's gonna pick somebody to move in. Now the problem is, is when the enemy wants to move in the body, guess what? He's gonna pick somebody.

SPEAKER_00:

And he's gonna pick the person who doesn't read the word. He's gonna pick the person. Somebody's getting a phone call.

SPEAKER_01:

It's a text from Jesus. No, they just sent a text. Can you believe he just said that about you? And that was the response. Wanna bet? Wanna bet? Who was it? Let's read it. Come on. Here's what I want to say to you. And and I'm thankful that Jenny is listening. I don't, is Marcus there with her? Do you know? He is? Great. Because I actually started reading or writing this message, and I was telling my tech team, I was like, guys, I don't have a message yet. This was yesterday afternoon, and I hadn't completed the message. And here's what I realized that this message was probably about Jenny and Marcus more than anybody it was about in this church. And here's why. Did you guys know that Marcus almost cut his thumb off? Can't trust him with anything. Give him a power tool. Almost takes his thumb off. So he calls me from the ambulance. Because that's what you do, right? He says, Pastor Michael, I'm high on fentanyl. He says, I'm in the back of the ambulance, they're taking me to Akron. My immediate immediate thought was he at work has touched something that was that had fentanyl on it, and he's like got like this. That's what I was thinking. No, turns out, dude almost cut his thumb off. And they've got him drugged up so he doesn't feel the pain. Well, he's cut the tendon or the tendon? And I think so. In his thumb, and now they have to stitch it back together. Okay. He's texting me updates. He gets home from the hospital about 10 o'clock at night. He's sending me pictures too. Do you want me to put them on the screen for you? You don't, I promise. About five o'clock in the morning, I get a text message from him that says, I'm taking Jenny to the ER. Her face is swollen. It looks like she got really bad Botox. Now, I had seen on social media the picture of her face, and I was like, Oh, it's not that bad, but it's obviously infected, and yeah, good thing she's doing that. And then I saw another picture, and the whole side of her face looked like she had swallowed a balloon, right? Her whole face was swollen. And every text message that I would send to them, they would say, but God's got this. Dude's got a thumb hanging on by a piece of skin. She's got an infection that's as close to her brain as it can possibly get, and they keep saying, God's got this. Right? When you can praise God in the worst of circumstances, and they said, We must be doing something right. God must have something really good on the edge of our seats because the enemy's trying real hard to wipe us out. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Listen, there are things in our lives that will make us feel like God does not care about us, that we have been abandoned, that we have been forgotten. But I promise you, there is no circumstance in which he is not standing next to you. But being able to give him praise in those, being able to give him thanksgiving, being able to lift him up and not ourselves. Listen, when good things happen to us, you cannot say it was because I did it. It was because God did it through me. Right? Listen, I found favor with God a long time ago. And my wife and I, I say this to a lot of people. I'm incredibly wealthy, not with money, but with blessings that God continues to pour over my family. Right? You know, there have been times when we didn't know where what we were gonna eat next. There have been times when we weren't sure what was gonna happen, and we live very comfortably now, but we don't have an abundance. There was a time in our lives when we had too much, and guess what we did with it? We squandered it, right? How do you think a person buys 16 Elvis jumpsuits? They got too much money, right? Lord Jesus. But God had to remove that from us in order to humble us. Amen? God ever humbled you? Feels like a kick in the teeth? Yeah? For those of you who who have who have ever retired, right? Used to living like a certain way, and then all of a sudden you ain't living that way. Hey, you can't say that. You got a swimming pool. Just kidding. Yeah, baptisms next year at her house, and Rhonda's having baptisms at her house next year. No, I'm kidding. We we have to realize that God will humble us and he will take things away from us that we don't necessarily need. Now, a lot of times God will humble us so that he can lift us to the next level, right? You live without for so long and then he blesses you with such abundance that you don't know what to do with it? Can I tell you that we shouldn't bury that? Do you remember the parable of the three servants who were given money and the the master told them to do with it as they pleased to make sure that when he came back? Listen, the one guy buried it. Master wasn't happy enough with the money that he got back. He wanted tenfold. Can I tell you that God wants tenfold in everything? Because when we become blessed, we should be blessing the people around us. Right? It's not always a blessing of money. Listen, some of us just have good attitudes, right? It's not me, but some of us, right, have really good attitudes. And when we have a good attitude, we should be blessing other people with that love and that kindness, right? Generosity isn't always financial. Sometimes it's just that text that says, hey, you know, I was thinking about you, and I really pray that God is moving in your life today. Doesn't that mean something to you? Because it means a lot to me. It means a lot to me to hear that somebody has prayed for me or somebody is thinking about me. But sometimes we forget about that and we think, well, I can't bless them because I have nothing to give. I promise you that your prayers is all you need to give. When it comes to Jesus, your worship is all you need to give. As I was thinking about this message, I was thinking, you know, oftentimes we forget to thank Jesus for just giving us our breath, the breath in our lungs. The breath that we have in our lungs is the breath that Adam had in his lungs. Amen? And you understand what that means. That means that breath was breathed directly into us from God. Yes?

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So everything inside of us should reveal God in our lives. Is that what we're doing today?

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So we're coming into a season where there's stress and there's chaos, there's worry and concern, and there are people who are today sitting here thinking, how am I going to buy Christmas for my family? And I want to tell you something. Christmas is not about gifts. And it's wonderful when you can give people gifts, but I'll tell you something, and I my wife and I tell people this all the time. We don't want gifts. So long as we know that you love us, that's what matters the most to us. Right? I have all the junk in the world. I don't need more. Dave said amen. He's like, No, my wife got all the junk in the world. He said to me, Can't even get into his garage. He opens the car door and it hits boxes. And he just built it. All I want is to know that somebody cares about me and that somebody thinks about me. And that sounds funny, or maybe it sounds odd to some people, but I want to promise you that as we're walking into this season, take the stress out of the holidays. Stop worrying about what you can give physically and start to give of your time. Spend time with the people who matter the most, right? I'm telling you that if you are if you are experiencing heartache or frustration, somebody said to me the other day, oh, I hate this statement, but it's true.

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Reconciliation is greater than revenge. Is it? It's true though. It doesn't always feel good.

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But sometimes, rather than looking for revenge in bad situations, reconciliation will take us much further. In this season, that's what we should be concerned concerning ourselves with. Doing what God has called us to do. Lord, before I walk into this, into this family function, give me the words to speak, Lord. Give me all of your glory, Lord, so that when I walk through the door, that you shine through me. Father, that my flesh would be dead and that your spirit would be alive inside of me. Lord, don't allow me to fall for the enemy's traps.

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It's hard to do, but it's the truth. And that's where we should be.

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A spirit of thanksgiving doesn't just come this time of year. We should be living in a spirit of Thanksgiving at all times. This is the time of year that we focus on it. You know, I was talking to somebody else about during this time of year, there's always somebody giving something, right? Everybody wants to put together Thanksgiving baskets and bless a family with a Thanksgiving basket. This time of year, everybody wants to give money to um what's the Salvation Army? Salvation Army, that's not the one I was thinking of. What's the bottom? That one's a great one. The shoeboxes that we pack and send to other countries. What's the um Toys for Tots? That's the one. That's the one. We want to donate all of these toys and we want to do all of these things, but my question to you is what do we do on the days that aren't Christmas or Thanksgiving? Right? What if those families are still in need then? Right? And we forget about them. Listen, my wife and I, my kids are always dragging somebody to our house for something, right? There's always a kid in the driveway, in the garage, getting a popsicle, getting the water, whatever. We treat those children like they're our own. Because we we don't know what they come from. I don't know the kind of love they get at home. Maybe they don't get any. There are some kids in my neighborhood that I genuinely believe are feral. I think they sleep in somebody's garage and they just they're out all hours of the day. But you know what? We love those kids just the same because sometimes we don't know what they're getting. Amen. My kids will say, Hey, can so and so stay for dinner? Absolutely. There's no questions asked. There are no do you know why?

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They may not be getting a meal otherwise, right? My question is, is there our adults feeling the same thing? And what are we doing for that?

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Beth often questions me on how much money she has for cupboard of po. Well, how much money can I buy for how much money can I spend on groceries? And I tell her the same thing every time. Don't worry about it. Get what you need. How many families did we feed last where she? How many families did we feed? 47 people in two weeks. Right? If the money that comes into this storehouse is spent feeding people who are in need, God bless us. Right? This isn't about us getting something out of it. This is about God getting the glory through the works in his house. Amen. I remember Beth and I were having a conversation. There was one lady who comes pretty regularly, and she's, I don't want to say she's standoffish, but she never lets Beth pray for her. She always just wants the box and wants to run. And this time she came in and she got teary-eyed and spent time with Beth, and Beth was able to pray with her. Can I tell you that when the seed is planted in such a way, we're doing the right thing? It's not about money. It's not about finding, it's not about even feeding their bodies. We feed their bodies as a physical need, but our desire is to feed their spirit. Right? We should be doing that every day when we walk out of this place. Give to all of the organizations, please. Give as much as you can afford to give, but at the same time, give of your spirit. Give of your heart, give of your love. There are some of you who may not ever want to bless a family. Margie's not here, but the Burrowway ladies are, and they may not want to bless a family, but they'll bless an animal. Amen? And that's equally as important. Right? There are, how many cats does Margie have at her house? I think it's 15 at this point. How many of you guys have? Six? But they care for listen, all of God's creatures deserve that love. It doesn't mean that what they're doing is less important than something that somebody else is doing. Amen? We need people that will care about the world, about the people that God is, the things that God has called us to all the same. Remember, thanksgiving is not a reaction, it is a foundation. Amen. Write it down. Thanksgiving, it's not a reaction to good things happening. It is the foundation of all things when we are in the spirit. It is not based on your feelings. Yes? We don't minister to feelings. It is not based on our feelings, it is based on your faith. Hallelujah. Thank you, Jesus. Right? My thanksgiving is not based on how I feel. My ability to give thanks is based on my faith and knowing that God is good in all things. Good, bad, or indifferent, God is good. Yes? Yes? Do we agree? If you don't think that God is good, I have to ask you, what do you think he is? What do you think he is? Do you think he just shows up when he wants to, does some things, and then bounces out? God is good in all things. He is omnipresent. He is always there, regardless of where you are. If two or more are gathered in his name, he is also there. Can I tell you that that means when you are at home with your family?

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When you're out on a date, who just giggled? Jeez.

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Listen, God is there so long as you are there in his name. Lord, bring me the perfect spouse.

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I never prayed that. And somehow he still did it. Right?

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And if he wouldn't have had, I would have been on a path of self-destruction, I can promise you that. We wouldn't be here together today. I would probably be drunk somewhere. I'm not kidding, I'm telling you the truth. Do you think that I don't thank God every day for what he has done in my life to bring me to where I am today? And I don't mean to this pulpit. I mean to a self of or a place of believing in myself and knowing that God is going to do something good, a place where I don't have to worry about what the world thinks of me because all I'm concerning myself with is what God thinks of me. Thanksgiving doesn't wait for the blessing.

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The spirit of thanksgiving calls the blessing forward. I want to be blessed. I want to be blessed and highly favored.

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And so I constantly thank the Lord for what he has done, what he is doing, and what he's going to do. Psalms 34, 1. I think we have that one, if I got it right today. Yes, no? It says, be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you who belong in Christ Jesus. And I want to just point this out. It says, be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you who belong in Christ Jesus. This says, be thankful in You guys can read. Great. All circumstances, not some, not on occasion, in all circumstances. Give thanks in every season and trust that God is working all things together for your good. Amen? I know that the building feels a little bit empty today, and I know that sometimes when that happens, we feel like something is happening in the building. I want to tell you this.

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God called you here today for this moment.

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There are some of us sitting in our seat who have not accepted Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. Some of us who say I show up to church on Sunday and I do my thing and then I go home and I forget about what God is truly doing in my life. I ignore the move of the Spirit past this building on Sunday morning. Amen. I want to encourage you today to give your life to Jesus. I want to tell you that when you do it, your life is not going to get easier. It's just going to change. Because, see, when you give your life to the Lord, the enemy knows that he has to come at you harder and more often in hopes of making you break. But God is working all things together for your good. Amen. Let's bow our heads and let's pray together. Father, in the mighty name of Jesus, we thank you and we praise you for the move that's happening in this building today, Lord, for hearts set on fire. Father, I am praying right now that the people who are sitting in their seats that just want to give their lives to you, Father, that they are, that they're they're just waiting for that invitation, Lord. And now is that time, Father. I want to just encourage your body, the people who have come to your house today, to know you more fully. Not that they would not that they would sit in their seat and say, I think that's what I want to do, but they would proclaim the name of Jesus. As we thank you for what you accomplished on the cross. And Father, we thank you for sending your son to accomplish those things. I pray that as we walk into this house, Father, as we walk into this season, as we walk into everyday life, that we are living in a spirit of thanksgiving. Lord, I give you the praise, the honor, and glory for all that you're doing in our lives. Father, I pray that you continue to move inside of this ministry. I want to lift up those who are sick today, Father God. You know your we know that your healing knows no distance. You know those who are under the weather, Lord, and I pray that you touch them, that you make them whole and complete today in the mighty name of Jesus. Give them the warmth of your love today, Father God. Healing power in the name of Jesus. Father, we give you glory this day. Honor and glory. Honor and glory. Church, with every head bowed and every eye closed, I'd just like to do a quick prayer of salvation and I'll explain it as we're sitting here. And what it is, is this is an opportunity to surrender your flesh. This is an opportunity to say less of me, more of you, Father God. This is an invitation to join the family of God. You know, there are so many of us who have never been to church or maybe have been to church and experienced hurt, and I want to tell you that if you have experienced hurt in the church that was not Jesus Christ, that was the spirit of religion, those were people and not Jesus. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus. Every head bowed, every eye closed. Everyone can repeat this. Come into my life and make me whole. I thank you, Lord, for delivering me. In Jesus' name. Amen. If you said that prayer today for the first time, you want to know a little bit more about what that means for your life, see me after service. I'll be floating around. You can also see Pastor Roger standing back here. Um, you know, we want to pray with you if this is something that you've done for the first time, but I want to encourage you today that if you set it to live it, because this is a moment that you should remember for the rest of your life. Father, bless us as we leave this place. Guide us, direct us. Allow us to live in a spirit of thanksgiving through this entire season. All the praise, honor, and glory in the mighty name of Jesus in the church says, Amen. Love you guys. We'll see you next Sunday.

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You allow you to the dog.