Attitude of Gratitude | Pastor KJay Johnson | Radiant Church TXK

Pastor KJay preached a powerful message titled “Attitude of Gratitude” 🎙️📖

✨ Key Takeaways:
 • Gratitude grows us through every season.
 • Complaining keeps us stuck, but gratitude changes our perspective.
 • Don’t get so focused on what’s next that you forget to celebrate what God is doing now.

What’s something you’re grateful for today? 👇🏽✨

📖 Ephesians 5:20 | 1 Corinthians 10:9-10

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Welcome podcast family. My name is Joanna and thank you for tuning in today. If you haven't already, please be sure to follow our podcast to stay up to date each week. We believe that God has a powerful word for you today. So let's dive into this amazing message.

SPEAKER_02 0:12

If you're taking notes, the title of my sermon is An Attitude of Gratitude. An attitude of gratitude. And that's what the Lord wants for you. He wants you to have an attitude of gratitude. And one of the biggest dangers when it comes to gratitude in life is we're grateful too late. We're grateful too late. It's not that we're not grateful. I believe every person, to a certain extent, you're grateful. If something good happens, you're grateful. If God moves, you're grateful. If God heals, you're grateful. If God does something in your life, you're grateful. But I believe sometimes we're grateful too late. And we're usually grateful in hindsight, not in real time. And we want an attitude of gratitude because it shows us how to be grateful in real time. Now the question is, why would we have an attitude of gratitude? Why? Because you go through things in life that you don't like. So isn't it just better to be grateful for things I do like and then to be angry at things I don't like? No. We're to be grateful for everything. So here's how we be grateful for everything. We understand that God moves in everything. Okay, for an example, I wouldn't be grateful that I went through pain, but I'll be grateful that God uses the pain for purpose. I wouldn't be grateful that I went through suffering, but I would be grateful that God uses the suffering to strengthen me. I wouldn't be grateful that I took some losses, but I will be grateful that God uses those losses and turn them into lessons. So it's not that I'm grateful for the bad, I'm grateful that God is in the bad and he turns all bad things good, right? And this is where our posture of gratitude comes from. It's seeing God in the bad, seeing not just looking to a situation, looking through a situation, seeing God's hand around the situation. God's hand is in every situation. You just have to see it. And what happens is our circumstances blind us to the goodness of God. Our circumstances blind us. And what you have to do is you have to be able to see the goodness of God and not be blinded by your circumstances. You have to have an attitude of gratitude. And the reason why you have to have an attitude of gratitude is because if gratitude is not in your attitude, then you're not gonna always be grateful. So what is the major things that make our attitude in life? I'll tell you, the first thing that makes our attitude one of the major things is perspective. Our perspective is how we see things, how we see things. You don't just see with your eyes, you see through your eyes with your mind. You see through your eyes with your perspective. Why? Because we can both look at the same car. One person can say it's a nice car, another person says that car is ugly. We saw the same car, or did we? No, we don't see it with our eyes, we see it through our perspective. Beliefs. What do you believe about God in the Bible? What does God say about gratitude? Understanding it's a wisdom, understanding why things happen and how God uses bad things for good. If you get enough wisdom, you can actually see gratitude in real time. But even if you can't, you can still be grateful, even if you don't have, even if you don't understand it to the until it's past. Uh the fourth one is experiences. How we reflect on our experiences determine if we have an attitude of gratitude. And last one is heart condition. Heart condition. The condition of your heart is gonna determine if gratitude comes out or not. What's the condition of your heart? Those five things create your attitude. So our job is to make sure there's gratitude in our perspective and our beliefs and our understanding and our experiences, and then we have a heart of gratitude, and now it creates an attitude of gratitude. But most people don't have an attitude of gratitude. You just got an attitude. You just get mad, you just get frustrated, you don't have gratitude, you have an attitude. And it's our job to be grateful, but in real time, we're usually not grateful, we're usually hateful, resentful, and sorrowful when trav when tragedy comes, and we're not grateful. And it's easy to be grateful when everything is good, but can you be grateful when it's bad? Easy to be grateful when everything goes your way, but can you be grateful when it don't? Easy to be grateful when God tells you yes, but can you be grateful when he tells you no? We have to learn how to be grateful even when we feel like it's something we shouldn't be grateful for. So if you have your Bibles, go to Ephesians chapter 5 and we'll kind of dig into it. Ephesians chapter 5. We'll start in verse 20. Let me know when you're there. You ain't there yet. Get the Bible with the tabs to get you there quick. I was being a super saint. A super saint is just, you know, like I know where everything is in the Bible. It's like go to Obediah. I'm like, where is that? So get the Bible with the tabs, so it made me quick. It made me quick. Alright, give you guys a second to get there. Okay, Ephesians 5, verse 20. And it reads, giving thanks always for all things to God. The Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Let's read again. Giving thanks always for all things to God. The Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, giving thanks always for all things. The Bible is saying give thanks always. Is that even possible? To always give thanks. You wake up in the morning, thank you. You you brush your teeth, thank you. You get your dinner, thank you. You go to the car, thank you. You walk in the job, hey everybody, thank you. Can you really always be thankful in all things? Like, is it really possible to always be thankful? Like just some bad happened, someone tripped you up, and you just thank you. Like, are you really gonna always gonna be thank you? Like, like, is it really possible to be thankful in all things? And the truth is it's not unless you have an attitude of gratitude. Because here's the good thing about an attitude: an attitude don't need permission. Attitude don't need permission to be. Let somebody come up to you and be like, why you wearing that? Who you talking to? You didn't need no, you didn't, you didn't even have to think. There's some people you just got an attitude. Somebody like, hey, how's your day? Well, how you get there already? Like how you go from zero to 100 that quick. You know what I'm saying? It's because you got an attitude, and that's okay. Let's just let's just add some gratitude to your attitude, and then that way you can get to thankfulness quick. That before you even realize God healed you, you're thankful. Before you even realize God bless you, you're thankful. Before you even realize God moved, you're thankful. Before you even realize He's protected you, you're thankful. Before you even realize He protected your kids, you are thankful because you have an attitude of gratitude. In order to be thankful in all things, you have to have an attitude. It has to be an attitude. In other words, it can't just be a reaction, it has to be a predecision. I don't just want a reactive gratitude because I want my gratitude pre-decided. In other words, I'm thankful for God tomorrow. Why? Because it's predecided. I'm thankful for God next week. Why? Because it's predecided. I'm thankful for God next year. Why? Because it's predecided. Do you have a gratitude that's conditional or is it predecided? Because if your gratitude is conditional, it will look like this. But if it's predecided, it will look like this. What kind of gratitude do you have? The gratitude has to be pre-decided. I'm gonna be grateful in all things. And the only way I can do that is with an attitude of gratitude. Secondly, it says it says, it says for all things. Well, how do I be grateful for all things when there's bad things? Some of you guys were abused, and you're saying you want me to be grateful for that. Some of you guys can barely pay your bills, and you're saying you want me to be grateful for that. Some of you guys got medical reports that's not positive, and you're saying, Do you want me to be grateful for that? Some of you guys have been left, and you're saying you want me to be grateful for that. Some of you guys have been rejected, and you're saying you want me to be grateful for that. Some of you guys have lost people you love. And you're saying, Do you want me to be grateful for that? The Bible didn't say be grateful for that. I said be grateful for all things to God. It's not that you're grateful for the thing, but you're grateful for God in the thing. It's not that you're grateful for the thing that happened, but you're grateful to the king that happened while the thing that happened. God is with you in the storm, He's with you in the fire, He's with you in the pain, and you're grateful to him. God, I'm grateful to you. I'm not grateful, Lord, that I grew up without a thought, but I'm grateful, Lord, that you're gonna use me as a mentor. I'm not grateful for the pain I went through, but I'm grateful that you turned pain into power. God, I'm grateful for you. I'm not grateful for the heartbreak that I went through, but I'm grateful that you're the God that put my heart back together. See, God, I'm grateful to you. I'm not saying be grateful for the thing. I'm not grateful that I got a negative medical report, but I'm grateful that my God is a healer and my God is a way maker. It's not that you're grateful for the bad things, you're just grateful for your good king during the bad things. And God says that He works all things together for for the good of those that love him, and He said, What they meant for evil, he means for good. Which means God says, if you have gratitude, I will make all bad things good. All bad things good. In other words, I'm gonna use the bad for a good reason. I'm gonna use the bad to strengthen you. I'm gonna use the bad to grow you and to refine you and to refine you and to develop you. And I'm going to use the bad. And here's the reason why we're not grateful. The reason why we're not grateful is because life is lived forward, but it's understood backwards. It's lived forward, but it's understood backwards. And the issue is this many of you guys don't know what God was doing until it's past. Because you live forward and it and you understand backwards. So now you look back at some things and you're like, okay, now I see God was protecting me. Now I see God was shielding me. Now I see God's plan. Now I see why he got me out of that relationship because it was gonna kill me. I see why he got me out of alcoholism because it was gonna kill me. I see why he got me off drugs because it was gonna kill me. But in the moment you were mad and frustrated at God. But sometimes you got to look back at some things, and if you look back at some things, you would see that God had your back all alone, that he was working things out all alone, that he had a plan all alone, but sometimes you don't understand it on the forward, but you get it on the backwards because on the back on the back side of everything, it all makes sense. It makes sense why God did what he did, it makes sense why you had to go through that fire, it makes sense why you had to go through that storm, it makes sense why you had to go through all that, it makes sense backwards, but I live forward, and the issue with gratitude is this gratitude is designed to happen in real time, which means it's not that you're not grateful to God, it's not the issue. The problem is you're grateful too late. God wants you to be grateful while you're going through the storm, not just after it. God wants you to be grateful before you go through the hardship, not just after. God wants you to be grateful while you're struggling, not just after. And the problem is we live forward but we understand backwards. And what we have to do is have an attitude of gratitude. So even when we don't understand something, we know God is still good. Even when we don't see what he's doing, he's still good. Even when we can't trace God, we know we can trust him. Even though the situation ain't good, we still trust the goodness of our God because we know he is good all the time, and all the time he is good. God, we trust you even when we don't get it. We trust God when we don't get it, we trust God when it don't make sense, we trust God when everything is bad. We trust God. We trust God and we have to trust him, and we have to have this attitude of gratitude. And what kills an attitude of gratitude? An attitude of entitlement. An attitude of entitlement. Nothing would suffocate gratitude like entitlement. It will suck all the air out of gratitude, it will suffocate it, and it would not allow gratitude to breathe, and it would not allow gratitude to live. Entitlement kills gratitude, it kills gratitude. So you have to be grateful, not entitled. And here's the danger of entitlement the danger of entitlement is this when someone is entitled, they believe they need more to cure it. But the danger of entitlement is this more doesn't cure it, more feeds it. So the more you give entitlement, the more entitled it gets. You feed it, it gets more entitled. You feed it, it gets more entitled, you feed it, it gets worse. You feed it, it gets bigger. And you had people in your life where you kept giving to them and giving to them, and they got more entitled and more entitled, and they wanted more and more and more, and you gave more, and they got more entitled, and you gave more, and they got more entitled, and you didn't know what to do with this person because the more you gave, the more entitled they got. And the reason why they got more entitled is because giving more to something doesn't cure entitlement, it feeds it. Here's what cures entitlement less. Less actually cures entitlement. For an example, you know, we have kids and mine is guilty. I meant my daughter, she is hilarious. The other day, this is what she said to me. She was like, hey, can you order me a toy on Amazon? She knows about all the ordering sites. I was like, no, daddy's reading the book right now. She said, I said, okay, I say you're getting a good breath. She said, and now she's just sitting there staring. I'm like, okay, she wants me to ask. I said, what's wrong, darling? She said, um, you and mama don't get me nothing. Y'all don't get me nothing. Anyone that knows our kid knows that's not true. The little thing's spoiled. So I said, okay, darling. I say, I grabbed her hand, I said, come with me somewhere. We're gonna go, we're gonna go on a little trip. So we go walk and we go upstairs to her room, and we take a field trip in her room. And and and this is maybe petty parenting, and maybe you shouldn't take this, but hey, I gotta have a little bit of what I grew up with. You know what I'm saying? It's like we try to leave all the parenting techniques we had. That's what got us here, okay? Mama and daddy didn't know everything, but we here, you know what I'm saying? And sometimes we here with a lot more gratitude than these little attitudinal babies we got. I'm just saying. Sometimes you gotta pull a page out your parents' book. So I started walking through a room. I was like, hey, who got this? She was like, Mama. I said, who got this? She said, Daddy. I said, who got this? Mama, daddy, mama, daddy, mama, daddy, mama, daddy. I said, okay, love. Well, I just wanted to see. I'll talk to you in a little bit. Three minutes later, she comes back to me. She was like, Daddy. I said, Yes, darling. She said, I'm so sorry. I said, What you sorry for? She said, Y'all give me everything. And sometimes in life, we're like that with God. That God has blessed you with everything, He's healed you, He's kept you, He restores you. And the one time He tells you to know, you're like God, you don't do anything for me. And if you would just walk around your life and see the blessings and the miracles and the healings and all the times that God has kept you, how could you not rejoice and give Him thanksgiving? How could you not rejoice the goodness of God when He's giving you everything? And it's the entitlement trap because Eve went through the same thing. God says, Every tree in this garden you can freely eat from, except for one tree, thousands of trees, I'm sure. One tree she can have, and the devil made her entitled. He said, See, God don't want you to eat like that, eat from that tree, because he's scared you're gonna be like him. Why can't we eat from that tree? I want that tree too. Why that tree just for God? I want to be like him too. And she forgot about all the thousands of trees she could have, focus on the one tree she couldn't have, and all the trees that God said yes to. This one tree made it like God never said yes. There's a song, and it's an old school song. He said, The first time I said no, it's like I never said yes. God said yes to all these things, and all she could see was the one no. And it's entitlement, and and and and he couldn't give her more because he had already gave her everything. And it creates entitlement. Now she wants what God has. You want to know the danger of entitlement is this most people don't want more, they just want more than you. Not that they want more, they just want more than you. You were fine until I got blessed. You was fine in your car, but when I got one, now you got a problem. You were fine with your house, now you seen mine, now you got a problem. You was fine with your situation, now you see mine, now you got an issue. It's not that we want more, it's that we want more than others. We're content until someone else has what we feel like we should. It's not that we want more, we want more than others. I want to show you something. If you have a home, own it or not, that you live in, and if you have a vehicle in this room, I just want you to know something. If you are more wealthy than the most wealthiest person God has ever blessed, which is King Solomon. I don't care how to up your car is, it's better than Solomon's horse. It can get you home faster than Solomon's horse could. I don't care how small your house is, your electricity is better than Solomon's fireplace. Which means you are the wealthiest generation that's ever existed, and we have the most anxiety, depression, ungratefulness, attitudes, and frustration, and feeling like we don't have more than any other generation because we just get on social media, we get on TV, and we see what everyone else has, coveting what they have while cursing what we have. And why will we covet what our neighbor has? Because we don't love them. That's why. You wouldn't covet what they had if you loved them, but because you don't love them, you covet. And this is the generation, and this is the age that we live in. This is the curse, and we don't fix this with more. We actually fix this with less because whenever you're like this, God starts taking stuff away from you, and he's not taking it to curse you, he's taking he's not taking it to punish you, he's taking it to prune you. Because when you're entitled, you gotta be prune. You gotta cut some things off so you can have clear perspective to see if it had not been for the goodness of God, I wouldn't even be here. Can we give him a 10-second praise break in this place? It is an attitude of gratitude. An attitude of gratitude. And sometimes it takes less to appreciate a more and the key to getting more is thankfulness. The key to getting more is thankfulness if you want. More, I'm gonna tell you how to get more. Gratitude leads to increase. Gratitude leads to increase. Gratitude leads to increase. If you want to increase, you have to be grateful. Do you know that if you want more, you can't be frustrated because of what you don't have? You have to stop and appreciate what you do have. It's appreciation. It's appreciation. Some of you guys, right now, you're so busy looking at the car you want, the house you want, the amount of money you want, the bank account you want, where you want to go, where you want to travel. Can you take a moment and breathe?

SPEAKER_01 22:34

And thank God for where you are. Thank God for what you have. It ain't what you want, but it's what you got. Thank God for what you got. Thank you for what you got.

SPEAKER_02 22:58

It's so easy to get so engrossed with what I want that I forget to celebrate what I have. My husband don't do this and he don't do that, and he don't do this, and he don't do that, he don't do this. Man, he goes to a job he hates every day to provide for you. He ain't perfect, but he paid the bills. He ain't perfect, but he loves you. He ain't perfect, but he loves those kids. He ain't perfect, but he show up every day. Sometimes you just gotta stop and say, God, thank you for my spouse. God thank you for my wife. Yeah, your kids ain't perfect, but thank you for my kids. Kids, yeah, you know, we all did it to our parents. And when soon as our parents won't get it, so some and so parents did this for them, and some and so parents did this, and some and so parents. Well, tell so-and-so to come get you then. So-and-so can come buy your car. Go live with so-and-so then. In other words, be grateful for the parents you have and all the good things they get did for you, but the one game you can't go to, you're the worst parents ever. No, you need a whooping. Man, I started getting on the new lady stuff. I was like, I don't think kids should be whooped. My child is five. I'm like, I recant. Kids should be whooped. I recant. Why? Because sometimes the more you get, the more entitled you get. And entitlement leads to entrapment.

unknown 24:33

That's good. That's good.

SPEAKER_02 24:34

Entitlement leads to entrapment. Now you get entrapped, and now you get bitter, and now you get prideful, and now you get malice, and all these things happen to you because entitlement leads to entrapment. You have to appreciate often. You have to celebrate, celebrate, celebrate. Don't get so engrossed on what you want next that you don't stop and celebrate what you have now. Don't get so busy wanting that that you can't celebrate this. Our church don't have all the bells and whistles. We're not in the best location. We ain't got the best building, but it's ours, and God's blessed us with it. And we have a place to worship Him and celebrate. God, I'm thankful. We don't want to have a hundred services, Lord. We would like a new building at some point, but we're thankful for the next one. Thank you, Lord. I remember when we used to set up our solar system outside and have to preach outside, not knowing what the weather would be like, and it's 105 degrees outside. God, thank you for what you blessed us with. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Jesus. Just because you're not where you want to be, don't mean you can't stop and give thanks for where you are. Some of you guys are living in your prayer requests by cursing God. Stop and give thanks. Stop and give thanks. Jesus was so amazing because when he had a crowd of 5,000 men, not including women or children, that crowds were hungry. The disciples had sent them home. Jesus said, You give them something to eat. They said, All we have is five loaves and two fish. Jesus said, Bring it to me. They brought it to Jesus. He grabbed it, and the Bible says he looked up and he gave thanks. Now let's pause. When he gave thanks, all he had was five breads, two fish. When he gave thanks, he had thousands of people that couldn't eat. When he gave thanks, he was he didn't have enough supply for the demand. When he gave thanks, he couldn't feed everybody. When he gave thanks, there was scarcity. When he gave thanks, there was lack. When do you give thanks? Because Jesus looked up and gave thanks for what wasn't enough. Jesus said, We got five breads and two fish, and we're gonna thank God for it. We're gonna look up and give thanks. When was the last time you gave thanks for less? When was the last time you said, Man, this car don't even start the way I want it to start, God, but I give you thanks? When are you the last time you looked at your house and you was like, Man, we got a lick in the roof, God, but I give you thanks? When's the last time you looked at your kids? Even if they're not running after God how you want them to, and say, God, I give you thanks. When's the last time you looked at your spouse and said, God, I give you thanks? Jesus gave thanks in scarcity. And we only thank God if it's abundance. Lazarus was dead, and Jesus prayed. And the first thing he said was, Father, I thank you that you hear me. When's the last time you thank God for hearing you? I wait. No, we only thank God for blessing us. But we got to get to a gratitude place where God, you don't even gotta bless me. I just thank you that you heard me, God. We thank God after the miracle, Jesus thanked God before the miracle. Why? Because he was telling the Father, you don't have to perform for my gratitude. I got a question for you, church. Does God have to perform for your gratitude? Does he? What does he need to do for you to be thankful? Activity of your limbs ain't enough, huh? Oxygen in your lungs ain't enough, huh? The fact he woke you up today ain't enough, huh? And now we may God perform for our gratitude. If God did nothing else, God, we are grateful and we just want to thank you. We want to appreciate you. We want to honor you. We want to love you, God. And here's the beautiful thing about gratitude. Gratitude actually, it actually creates increase because when Jesus, thank God, guess what? He multiplied fish and bread. Maybe you're not getting multiplication because you don't have thankfulness and appreciation. Appreciation leads to multiplication. Appreciation leads to multiplication, but you want God to multiply something that you can't even appreciate. God, I appreciate you. God, thank you. And when that's your heart posture, all of a sudden, God started moving in a supernatural way. And I want to ask you a question. Do you think that the Pharisees in the Bible got sick? Do you think that they needed healings and miracles? Like any other one, like any other people? Not a true question. Do you think they got sick and hurt and wounded and needed miracles like everyone else? You think so? Sure, of course they did. I read your Bible last night, and guess what I didn't see? I didn't see an account of one Pharisee ever getting healed by Jesus. I went through the whole gospel. I skimmed through it. There was not one Pharisee that ever got healed. There was not one Pharisee that ever got a miracle. It even happened at their house. It happened, it happened at the temple where they were surrounded. It happened in front of them, but there was never one Pharisee that ever received a miracle. I'm gonna tell you why. It's because they dishonored Jesus. They had no gratitude for Jesus, they didn't appreciate Jesus, they actually had a lack of gratitude for Jesus. They didn't celebrate Jesus, they actually cursed Jesus and they didn't worship him, they questioned him. And because of their dishonor, they lost access. Close enough to see a miracle, but so far they couldn't receive one. Because dishonor will always cause you to lose access. A lack of gratitude will cause you to lose access. You will lose what you're not grateful for. If you're not thankful for what you have, you'll be sorrowful for what you had. You gotta be thankful for what you have. Thank, thank, thank everyone in your life. Because no one owes you anything. You, my mom, you gotta do this. No, she don't. You my dad, you gotta do this. No, he don't. Nobody owes you anything, not even God. Everyone in your life is a volunteer. Your spouse is a volunteer, your parents are a volunteer, your siblings are volunteers. Nobody owes you nothing. Everything in life is bonus. No one owes you nothing. So I am thankful. I'm thankful in advance. Lord, I'm thankful that you blessed me. I'm thankful that you kept me. I'm thankful for the friends that I have in my life that love me. Because I remember I lived a season where every time I looked up, someone was trying to stab me in the back. And now I have friends that complete me and not compete with me. God, I'm thankful. I'm thankful for where I'm at. I'm thankful for this season. I'm thankful for my family. I'm thankful. You have to have gratitude. And when you have an attitude of gratitude, everything changes. I have a scripture, and I'll get ready to close surely after. You have to be thankful. 1 Corinthians chapter 10, verse 9. And it reads. As some of them also tempted. He's talking about the children of Israel. And were destroyed by serpents. Nor complained. As some of them also complained, and was destroyed by the destroyer. What is the Bible saying? The Bible is saying that the children of Israel murmured and complained. They murmured and complained. Murmured and complained. Murmured and complained. They murmured and complained against God. God sent down manna from heaven, it wasn't good enough. God protected them, it wasn't good enough. God gave them water from a rock, it wasn't good enough. God healed them of their sicknesses, it wasn't good enough. God delivered them from Egypt, it wasn't good enough. God sent ten plates to Pharaoh to get his people out wasn't good enough. God parted the Red Sea, it wasn't good enough. God let them walk on dry ground, it wasn't good enough. God kept them in the desert, it wasn't good enough. He stopped their shoes from wearing out and it wasn't good enough. Nothing was good enough, and God gave them more after more after more after more, and they got more entitled. And it wasn't good enough. And they complained and murmured, complained and murmured. And the Bible says, because they complained and murmured, the Bible says they were destroyed by serpents. What is the scripture telling us here? The apostle Paul is saying this that complaining invites the serpent in. So if you keep seeing the serpent in your life, maybe your complaining keeps opening a door to him. Maybe your murmuring keeps opening a door to him. If you feel like you keep getting destroyed, the Bible says that complaining and murmuring actually opens you up to the destroyer. That the destroyer comes when you complain. And when you complain and murmur, complain and murmur, complain and murmur. Do you know the children of Israel were supposed to go to Canaan, which is the promised land? Canaan from the wilderness was an 11-day journey. It took 40 years before they entered the promised land. Because they murmured and complained. And what does complaining mean in the Bible? It means spend another night. Every time you complain, you spend another night. Okay, let me break it down. Every time you complain in a day, you repeat that day. Every time you complain in a season, you repeat that season. And this is why they kept repeating the day and the season, and an 11-day journey turned into 40 days. Why? Because when I complain, my days turn into decades. And maybe you had a decade where you've been dealing with something. And God said, We probably could have dealt with this in a day or a few days, but we couldn't get it handled because you kept complaining and murmuring. You didn't have gratitude, and now your days turn into decades. We have to be grateful. We have to be grateful. God, thank you. God thank you. God thank you. God thank you. And sometimes to be grateful, you just gotta remember because the thing that kills your attitude of gratitude is familiarity. Familiarity kills your attitude of gratitude. You get so familiar with something that you're not grateful for it. You get so familiar with your car, you're not grateful for it. You get so familiar with your house and God's presence and God's word and his goodness that you stop being grateful. You cannot let familiarity breed dishonor, and you cannot let familiarity steal gratitude from you because guess what? Last week I noticed that I did it because I found myself Tuesday and Wednesday sick as a dog. I was sick as a dog. I had a 103 fever, I was shivering everywhere, I was coughing, I kept sneezing in my sleep, my nose was bleeding. I ain't been sick in years, I ain't had I had a cold in years because of the goodness of God keeping me. It's been years since I've been sick, and I find myself sick as a dog, and all I could do was rejoice and thank God. I'm like, God, I thank you, I thank you, I thank you. And I bet my wife was looking like crazy dude, why are you thanking God right now? I'm like, I'm thanking God because I've been healthy all these years and I ain't thanked Him for it. I've had my health and I ain't been thankful for it. Why? Because when you have something, it's just your normal. I didn't know what it was like to not have a fever. I didn't know what it was like to just be able to get up and walk and go somewhere and get in your car. I didn't know what it was like to be bedridden and not have an appetite. I forgot, and while I was sick, I remembered all the moments I felt good and all the things I can do. And I said, right here in this sickness, I'm gonna thank God because I know it's gonna leave and I'm gonna feel good again, and I don't wanna take this for granted. I don't want to take my family for granted, I don't wanna take my wife for granted, I don't wanna take my church for granted, I don't want to take you for granted, I don't want to take this opportunity for granted. God, I'm thankful. I'm thankful. And sometimes it takes lots for us to get to this place. Sometimes we gotta lose people. Do you gotta lose the friend to know you had a good friend? Do you have to lose that person to know someone you had a good person that had your back? Sometimes we gotta lose our church to know we had a good church. Sometimes we gotta lose something to be able to appreciate what we lost. Let's not wait till we lose to appreciate and to give God thanks. Thankful, God. I'm thankful. You know, when I be with preachers, you know, everyone's always talking about like how they're burnt out and they're burnt out and they're burnt out, and then they kind of come to me, and I try not to like be that guy that's just like anti. You know, I try to fit in a little bit, but I'm just like, but I ain't burnt out. Like, why? Like, because I don't deserve this mic. How can I get burnt out from something that I'm so grateful for? I'm so grateful. And I preach a ton of weeks, a ton of weeks out the year, and I don't get burnt out and I don't feel depleted by it because I don't have to do this, I get to do this. It's because of the goodness of God and the faithfulness of God that I get to do this because I don't deserve it. I don't deserve to preach his gospel, I don't deserve to stand before his people, I don't deserve to be chosen by God, but yet he still did. I don't deserve this. And so many times we can walk around our life entitled over things we don't even deserve. Asking God, God, why don't you give me what I deserve? God's like, dude, you deserve hell. You want that? Well, God, all the good I do. Yeah, you've done a little good, but let's not talk about the porn you be watching and how you still be cussing and getting drunk. You want us to want us to credit you that too? We don't want to live by our works, we want to live by the grace of God. And I've told you guys many stories about the people I led to Christ, but I also have plenty of stories about people I led away from Christ. That before I was a believer, one of my best friends was a strong Christian middle schooler, and I would go out of my way to mock God and to scoff God and to talk against God to Him. And when I moved here in high school, he messaged me one day and he was like, Man, you was right, there isn't no God, and I don't believe no more. I'm done with all that stupid stuff. And I'm like, wait, no, I believe now, and I led him away from Christ. So when I grabbed this microphone, I remember that. I ain't forgot what I've done, I ain't forgot how I messed up, I ain't forgot about the version of me that the lights and the cameras don't see, and yet God still chooses me and cover me and use me. So before you get on your high horse, you might want to remember who you are and where you came from and how God has kept you and how he's preserved you. And I'm so grateful because about a month ago, this guy messaged me and he said, Hey, I want to talk to you about God. I see that you know you're religious, and I want to talk to you about it. And I'm so excited that I'm gonna have an opportunity to share about the goodness of God and the power of God and the hand of God to Him. But I don't forget what I did, and I don't forget that I don't deserve this, and I don't have to do it, but I get to do it because of the goodness of my God. Everyone stand to your feet. Let's pray.

SPEAKER_00 41:28

Wow, what a powerful message. We hope it blessed you. Make sure to share with your friends, your family members, and your coworkers so that they can be blessed as well.