Latest / INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living / Sustaining an Attitude of Gratitude │ Msg 36 - Pastor Chuck Swindoll Insight for Living

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Sustaining an Attitude of Gratitude │ Msg 36 - Pastor Chuck Swindoll Insight for Living · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

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  Speaker 1: Thank you for being here.
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  Speaker 2: I'm always honored to be invited to speak. And it's
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  Speaker 2: not an easy thing to decide on what to.
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  Speaker 1: Talk about when you come to the chapel here.
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  Speaker 2: I know you recently heard from Charles Stanley.
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  Speaker 1: Is that correct? Charles Stanley was here. Great.
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  Speaker 2: Never forget the lady who finished the... the day at
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  Speaker 2: our church, we had had our worship service, and she
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  Speaker 2: came down with one of Dr. Stanley's books, and she said,
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  Speaker 2: I want to thank you, Dr. Stanley, for that message today.
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  Speaker 2: She said, I'm very grateful, and I wonder if you'd
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  Speaker 2: sign your book.
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  Speaker 1: I said, I'll be glad to. So I signed it.
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  Speaker 2: Had to remember Charles, not Andy Stanley, so I wrote
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  Speaker 2: Charles Stanley, and she said, oh, thank you. I'll treasure
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  Speaker 2: this the rest of my life. She walked out just
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  Speaker 2: so grateful that she had been There to hear Dr.
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  Speaker 2: Charles Stanley speak.
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  Speaker 1: Who cares, you know?
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  Speaker 2: Well, the way we started off today was perfect for
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  Speaker 2: what I want to talk on because I want to
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  Speaker 2: talk to you about sustaining the spirit of a heart
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  Speaker 2: of gratitude. That's what's on my mind today. And I
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  Speaker 2: believe in it wholeheartedly. In fact, I think an attitude
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  Speaker 2: of gratitude is one of the most contagious of all
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  Speaker 2: attitudes we can sustain. And being around a person who
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  Speaker 2: is grateful and frequently uses those two marvelous words, thank you, often.
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  Speaker 1: Is just a therapy. They make us smile. They lift
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  Speaker 1: our spirits. They really do.
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  Speaker 2: Change our environment within and around us. They impact others.
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  Speaker 2: It can be as simple as a little five-year-old boy
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  Speaker 2: who was telling his mother that he was even thankful
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  Speaker 2: that he wears glasses, and she wanted to know, why
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  Speaker 2: are you thankful for that? And His answer was quick
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  Speaker 2: and simple. He said, it keeps the boys from hitting
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  Speaker 2: me and keeps the girls from kissing me.
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  Speaker 1: So glasses work.
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  Speaker 2: All of that's going to change, buddy, before too long.
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  Speaker 2: So you're in for a surprise. I remember the words
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  Speaker 2: of the man who wrote, he who forgets the language
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  Speaker 2: of gratitude is can never be on speaking terms with happiness.
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  Speaker 2: Even more profound are the words of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who wrote,
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  Speaker 2: In ordinary life, we hardly realize that we receive a
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  Speaker 2: great deal more than we give. And it is only
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  Speaker 2: with gratitude that life becomes rich.
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  Speaker 1: Love that line.
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  Speaker 2: It's only with gratitude life becomes rich. It is very
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  Speaker 2: easy to overestimate the importance of our own achievements in
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  Speaker 2: comparison to what we owe others. I have to add
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  Speaker 2: along with that the flip side of the same coin,
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  Speaker 2: and that is that there is nothing more offensive or
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  Speaker 2: oppressive than an attitude of ingratitude. Which is a characteristic
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  Speaker 2: of our age. That shouldn't surprise us. Paul writes of
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  Speaker 2: it in Romans 1 just as much as in the
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  Speaker 2: last piece that he wrote when he wrote Timothy. In
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  Speaker 2: Romans 1 he writes of the magnificence of God's artwork
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  Speaker 2: in the natural realm. We call it here at the
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  Speaker 2: seminary general revelation. And in spite of God writing his
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  Speaker 2: glory across the skies, which mankind is able to read
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  Speaker 2: every day of our lives, still he remains ungrateful. Still
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  Speaker 2: there's an attitude of ingratitude. When I look at Paul's
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  Speaker 2: words in 2 Timothy 3, And.
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  Speaker 1: I read of the savage days in which we live.
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  Speaker 2: That's the way one of my mentors used to handle
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  Speaker 2: the word difficult in verse 1 of 2 Timothy 3.
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  Speaker 2: In the last days, difficult or savage times will come.
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  Speaker 1: And then he begins from there through verse 8.
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  Speaker 2: To describe the times in which we live when men
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  Speaker 2: and women will be lovers of money and boastful and
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  Speaker 2: arrogant and revilers and disobedient to parents. And in the
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  Speaker 2: middle of all of it, he mentions ungrateful along with unholy,
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  Speaker 2: along with unforgiving.
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  Speaker 1: Ungrateful.
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  Speaker 2: The spirit of thanksgiving needs to remain. And I hope
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  Speaker 2: it is remaining. I hope you today have not relegated
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  Speaker 2: that spirit of gratitude to a holiday and left it
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  Speaker 2: there and failed to bring it into today, tomorrow, next week.
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  Speaker 2: the week of finals, the week beyond finals, next semester,
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  Speaker 2: into your ministry. As I'll tell you, if a spirit
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  Speaker 2: of ingratitude grips you strong enough and long enough, you'll change.
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  Speaker 2: And your ministry will change. And it won't take a
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  Speaker 2: really insightful person to know that you're difficult to be
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  Speaker 2: around because ungrateful people repel others. Now, why are we
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  Speaker 2: so ungrateful? Why are our times marked by such ingratitude,
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  Speaker 2: as Paul mentions in Romans and in 2 Timothy and
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  Speaker 2: in so many other places? At the risk of being
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  Speaker 2: simplistic in my analysis, I think a major reason is pride.
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  Speaker 2: Proud people don't say thank you. They don't think thank you.
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  Speaker 1: Pride is, of course, filled with self.
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  Speaker 2: And when that is true, we hold back our thank
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  Speaker 2: you to others because we're so self-important. I'll tell you
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  Speaker 2: who will say thank you and do so frequently. Humble people.
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  Speaker 2: Broken people. crushed, contrite people are quick to say thank you.
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  Speaker 1: Thank you.
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  Speaker 2: Thank you for the little things. Thank you for the
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  Speaker 2: unexpected things. Paul writes to his friends in Thessalonica, I'm
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  Speaker 2: turning there for the rest of my time with you,
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  Speaker 2: 1 Thessalonians chapter 5, Toward the end of that letter,
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  Speaker 2: there's sort of a staccato set of statements. They're brief,
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  Speaker 2: and he punches them out. When I was taking oboe
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  Speaker 2: in high school, and Mr. Volani, who had the chair of,
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  Speaker 2: first chair of oboe in the Houston Symphony, would come.
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  Speaker 2: They made house calls in those days, and He was
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  Speaker 2: my teacher.
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  Speaker 1: I loved Mr. Villani.
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  Speaker 2: And as I would play duets with him, I sometimes
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  Speaker 2: couldn't continue. He was so good, and I was so
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  Speaker 2: bad that it just didn't, it hardly blended. But we
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  Speaker 2: did a couple of duets that worked beautifully, and I
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  Speaker 2: on occasion would stop, and I would just look at him,
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  Speaker 2: and I would say, you know, how do.
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  Speaker 1: You do it?
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  Speaker 2: How can you play so well all the time? Of course,
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  Speaker 2: he made his own reeds, and he'd been playing since
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  Speaker 2: he was just a little boy and from another country,
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  Speaker 2: had come over and, of all things, had worked his
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  Speaker 2: way into the symphony. And when we'd get to those
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  Speaker 2: places that were staccato, he would say to me, punch
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  Speaker 2: it out, punch it out. Put your tongue on that
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  Speaker 2: reed and punch.
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  Speaker 1: Out those notes.
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  Speaker 2: That's what Paul does at the end of this letter.
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  Speaker 2: He punches out these statements again. including the shortest verse
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  Speaker 2: in the entire Greek New Testament.
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  Speaker 1: It isn't Jesus wept. We'll get to it in a moment.
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  Speaker 2: But he begins at verse 12 by reminding us to
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  Speaker 2: be grateful for, in this case, in our context, a
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  Speaker 2: body of people who pour themselves into your lives, and
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  Speaker 2: that would be the faculty of this school. So let's
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  Speaker 2: have them in mind as I punch out this 12th
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  Speaker 2: verse with you, We request of you, brothers and sisters,
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  Speaker 2: that you appreciate those who diligently labor among you and
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  Speaker 2: have charge over you in the Lord and.
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  Speaker 1: Give you instruction. Appreciate them. He goes on.
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  Speaker 2: And that you esteem them very highly in love because
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  Speaker 2: of their work.
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  Speaker 1: Isn't that great?
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  Speaker 2: Don't let this semester pass without pausing with each one
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  Speaker 2: of your profs for at least a few seconds to
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  Speaker 2: look them in the eye or with your own hand.
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  Speaker 1: Not an email. That's a cheap way to write a
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  Speaker 1: thank you.
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  Speaker 2: Do it by hand. You who still have some kind
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  Speaker 2: of penmanship left. All of us starting to write like
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  Speaker 2: physicians it looks these days. But if you're still cultivating
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  Speaker 2: your penmanship, write it in your own hand and say
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  Speaker 2: it in a fresh, creative way. Specifically naming what particular
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  Speaker 2: thing stands out in that particular teacher that has meant
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  Speaker 2: much to you. Express your appreciation. I am still thanking
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  Speaker 2: my profs. And most of them aren't left. But those
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  Speaker 2: who are, it is not uncommon when I see them
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  Speaker 2: to thank them again for teaching me what they taught me.
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  Speaker 2: Which was more than an ability to handle the biblical text.
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  Speaker 1: It was a touch.
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  Speaker 2: Kind of like the difference between a piano player and
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  Speaker 2: a pianist.
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  Speaker 1: It's touch.
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  Speaker 2: Great profs help you with touch in lives and touch
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  Speaker 2: with the text. And those who work with you in
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  Speaker 2: the skill of communicating, they help you do that better.
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  Speaker 2: And I'm honest to this day when I preach, I
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  Speaker 2: think I learned that technique from that particular person. I
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  Speaker 2: think he's gone now, but I think, thank you, Lord,
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  Speaker 2: for the privilege of rubbing up next to him and
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  Speaker 2: sitting in his home in a class of eight individuals
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  Speaker 2: as he poured into us some techniques on communication that
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  Speaker 2: I still use. And I esteem him very highly in love.
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  Speaker 2: And sometimes a prophet has to reprove and thank him
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  Speaker 2: for that. Faithful are the wounds of a friend. But
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  Speaker 2: deceitful are the kisses of an enemy.
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  Speaker 1: Proverbs 27.6.
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  Speaker 2: I've always loved the story that my homiletics prof told us,
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  Speaker 2: that he had a young man that was convinced he
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  Speaker 2: had the gift of preaching, and he didn't. He just
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  Speaker 2: couldn't preach as well to a paper bag, and he
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  Speaker 2: just was convinced he should preach, and his mother was
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  Speaker 2: convinced he should preach, and his grandmother was convinced he
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  Speaker 2: should preach, and the prof just did his best to
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  Speaker 2: endure it, And finally, by the third year, which was
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  Speaker 2: a particular year when we came to terms with some
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  Speaker 2: of these things, he just told a young man, look,
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  Speaker 2: you just don't have the gift of preaching. That takes
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  Speaker 2: guts to say that to a young person, young man.
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  Speaker 1: He said, oh, yes, I do. He said, well, okay.
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  Speaker 2: The prophet said, then let me put it this way.
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  Speaker 2: Nobody I know has the gift of listening to you.
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  Speaker 1: So That worked.
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  Speaker 2: And as I recall, he didn't go into a preaching ministry.
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  Speaker 2: And he went into a successful ministry. I'm not going
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  Speaker 2: to tell you what it is because you'll laugh. But thankfully,
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  Speaker 2: he didn't go into the pulpit and shouldn't have. Not
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  Speaker 2: everybody ought to be in a pulpit to carry out
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  Speaker 2: their ministry. We have a prof to thank for telling him.
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  Speaker 2: And that's a tough part of your job. Keep telling him.
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  Speaker 2: Keep telling the truth. So that we hear it and
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  Speaker 2: we thank you for it. And so let's just make
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  Speaker 2: the concentric circles go a little broader and let's include
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  Speaker 2: now our family members. Look at the end of verse 13.
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  Speaker 2: Live in peace with each other.
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  Speaker 1: We urge you. Here's another one of those little staccato moments.
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  Speaker 1: We urge you.
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  Speaker 2: Admonish the unruly. You have to do that sometime in
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  Speaker 2: a family. Encourage the faint-hearted. Help the weak. Be patient
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  Speaker 2: with everyone. Be patient with everyone. And then the circle
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  Speaker 2: broadens with friends and with others in life. See that
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  Speaker 2: no one repays another with evil for evil, but always
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  Speaker 2: seek after that which is good for one another and
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  Speaker 2: for all peoples. And then begins a real brief statement.
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  Speaker 2: Rejoice always. There's the shortest verse.
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  Speaker 1: Shortest in all the.
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  Speaker 2: Bible, but what a grand command. I want to be
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  Speaker 2: around people like that. I want to be around those
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  Speaker 2: that are.
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  Speaker 1: Finding joy in life in spite of their circumstances.
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  Speaker 2: And here's another one. Pray without ceasing. The idea of
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  Speaker 2: a hacking cough. Pray in that kind of consistency. Pray continually, constantly.
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  Speaker 2: Prayer on your heart. Prayer on your lips. Prayer for
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  Speaker 2: specific individuals. Specific needs.
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  Speaker 1: And here we are.
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  Speaker 2: In everything give thanks to For this is God's will
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  Speaker 2: for you in Christ Jesus. This has reference to every circumstance.
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  Speaker 2: Every circumstance. There's not one that he doesn't include. In
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  Speaker 2: your circumstances today, be thankful, grateful. I wrote a piece
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  Speaker 2: for our board of directors at Insightful Living today. And
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  Speaker 2: I want to read it to you. I don't usually
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  Speaker 2: do this, but I want to do it today. It
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  Speaker 2: has everything to do with being a thankful person. And
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  Speaker 2: I'll try to keep it interesting, though I'm reading what
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  Speaker 2: I'm sharing with you.
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  Speaker 1: I'll never forget the day, even though I was only
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  Speaker 1: 10 years old. It was a Wednesday.
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  Speaker 2: Wednesday.
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  Speaker 1: It was the day before Thanksgiving.
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  Speaker 2: I was standing Ramrod Street next to my desk in
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  Speaker 2: Southmate Elementary School, hand over my heart as we were
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  Speaker 2: together as students pledging our allegiance to the flag of
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  Speaker 2: the United States of America, which we did every morning.
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  Speaker 2: Hanging by the flag that was draped before us in
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  Speaker 2: the class was a large framed picture of.
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  Speaker 1: Our president who was gripped with.
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  Speaker 2: Polio when he was younger, but he had a big
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  Speaker 2: smiling face and it was familiar to all of us
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  Speaker 2: because he's a very popular president. And I had to
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  Speaker 2: remind myself that he had had polio because he It
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  Speaker 2: was never emphasized and he never referred to it. There
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  Speaker 2: he stood smiling at the class as we pledged allegiance.
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  Speaker 2: Following our pledge, our teacher, as she had always done,
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  Speaker 2: paused to pray. So she bowed in prayer and we
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  Speaker 2: bowed with her. And I noticed it wasn't very long
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  Speaker 2: before her voice broke. I've never heard our teacher.
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  Speaker 1: Cry. And before long, she just couldn't continue. And she
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  Speaker 1: just had heaves of sobbing.
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  Speaker 2: And my heart went out to her, whatever it was.
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  Speaker 2: I didn't know what it was until later. She was
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  Speaker 2: in deep grief. We were, of course, in a double war.
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  Speaker 2: on each side of our country. It was a pretty
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  Speaker 2: bleak time, and she had lost her husband on the
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  Speaker 2: shores of Normandy. It's 1944, and she was going on
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  Speaker 2: without him, and this was her first Thanksgiving without him,
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  Speaker 2: and her heart was breaking. This brave woman refused to
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  Speaker 2: allow her grief to eclipse the significance of giving thanks
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  Speaker 2: so she finally was able to get hold of her
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  Speaker 2: emotions and she returned to thanking God for a number
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  Speaker 2: of things I was lost in sympathy for her and
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  Speaker 2: a little boy's pity for his teacher when I was
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  Speaker 2: walking home that crisp November afternoon in East Houston. And
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  Speaker 2: that was the day I really fell in love with Thanksgiving.
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  Speaker 2: I've loved it ever since. My all-time favorite holiday. And
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  Speaker 2: I'll tell you why momentarily. I stopped on the way.
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  Speaker 1: Home and I.
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  Speaker 1: I thank God.
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  Speaker 2: For my teacher, for our school, for my friends, for
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  Speaker 2: my church, for my family, for my country. I still
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  Speaker 2: remember as a little boy swearing before the Lord that
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  Speaker 2: if I ever was able to do so, I would.
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  Speaker 1: Defend our country.
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  Speaker 2: And I didn't understand fully all that that meant, but
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  Speaker 2: I remember saying, Thirteen years later, when I had the privilege,
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  Speaker 2: having earned the right to wear the dress blues, wearing
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  Speaker 2: the uniform of the Marine Corps and standing and pledging
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  Speaker 2: allegiance to the flag, and more often than not saluting
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  Speaker 2: it as it was raised and lowered each morning and
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  Speaker 2: evening on the island of Okinawa, because I was 8,000
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  Speaker 2: miles away from home. It's interesting how on those occasions
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  Speaker 2: I would remember my 10-year-old experience and my teacher. And
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  Speaker 2: to this day, I remember her. Thanksgiving puts steel in
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  Speaker 2: our bones. It reminds us of our enviable, magnificent heritage.
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  Speaker 2: It carries us back with grateful nostalgia to that first
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  Speaker 2: bitter winter season at Plymouth, where less than half of
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  Speaker 2: those early pilgrims survived. It speaks in clear, crisp tones,
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  Speaker 2: reminding us of the important terms like courage and integrity,
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  Speaker 2: determination and discipline, duty and honor and vigilance, and sacrifice
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  Speaker 2: and godliness. Cynics of our day would call those words
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  Speaker 2: corny and naive. I call them powerful and essential for
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  Speaker 2: our survival. It was those truths our forefathers declared to
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  Speaker 2: be self-evident and worthy of our best efforts.
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  Speaker 1: It was those very truths.
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  Speaker 2: That motivated our minute men in a Revolutionary War before
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  Speaker 2: we ever had a Constitution. to leave home and family
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  Speaker 2: and the love of all they held dear, to face
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  Speaker 2: the Redcoats against insuperable odds. Surrendering to tyrants and terrorists
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  Speaker 2: of any kind of enemy was unthinkable for our great
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  Speaker 2: country then and now.
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  Speaker 1: And let's never forget that.
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  Speaker 2: When Thanksgiving arrived, I was able to hear again in
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  Speaker 2: the back of my mind the great voices from the
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  Speaker 2: halls of our nation's structures. Those being dead still speak.
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  Speaker 2: Voices like Washington and Adams and Franklin and Jefferson and
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  Speaker 2: Henry and Lincoln and Grant and Lee and Roosevelt and
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  Speaker 2: then the battlefield, MacArthur and Eisenhower and in the presidency, Reagan,
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  Speaker 2: and in the ranks of life, Martin Luther King Jr.
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  Speaker 1: and on and on.
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  Speaker 2: I can name them, strong words of assurance and secure
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  Speaker 2: confidence that challenge us to trim off the fat of
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  Speaker 2: indolence and passivity and compromise, to rid ourselves of pettiness
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  Speaker 2: and prejudice. and the scourge and stigma of hatred and
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  Speaker 2: strife that tear our country apart. Thanksgiving arrived without flair
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  Speaker 2: or fanfare.
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  Speaker 1: And left the same way.
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  Speaker 2: In its characteristic understated manner, that quiet, unheralded day slipped
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  Speaker 2: by and will be forgotten for another year. unless we
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  Speaker 2: sustain it with the spirit of gratitude. It slides in
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  Speaker 2: between jack-o'-lanterns and jingle bells, arrives without any applause, expecting
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  Speaker 2: nothing but grateful hearts. I was thumbing through some things
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  Speaker 2: from Thanksgiving in my files and came across a piece
• 25:30
  Speaker 2: I'd never read before. And the title, it was Yellow
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  Speaker 2: with Age.
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  Speaker 1: Almost brought it to show it to you.
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  Speaker 2: It was an old Irma Bombeck piece called The Holiday
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  Speaker 2: Without Any of the Hoopla, where she, as only she
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  Speaker 2: could do it. She said, among other things, it's one
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  Speaker 2: of the few times a family assembles for no reason whatever.
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  Speaker 2: The will isn't being read. No one is getting married.
• 26:04
  Speaker 2: No one's celebrating a birthday. There's no anniversary. No one died.
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: There are no speeches to give.
• 26:12
  Speaker 2: No entertainment. No one has to dress up in a costume.
• 26:16
  Speaker 2: Thanksgiving is like a kiss from your husband or wife
• 26:20
  Speaker 2: for no reason. It's like a phone call from one
• 26:24
  Speaker 2: of your kids who don't want anything but just to
• 26:26
  Speaker 2: talk and then to close by saying, I love you.
• 26:32
  Speaker 1: It's comparable to a smile on a baby's face as
• 26:35
  Speaker 1: he sleeps. Oh, that was a good line. There's no
• 26:39
  Speaker 1: parallel with Thanksgiving.
• 26:44
  Speaker 2: Maybe the only thing that's analogous to it is the family.
• 26:48
  Speaker 2: No brilliant flashes light up the sky, bright colors that dazzle.
• 26:53
  Speaker 2: Families aren't Halloween. There are no masks to hide behind.
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: They all know us too well for pretense.
• 27:01
  Speaker 2: If you get uppity over some recent success event, Families
• 27:05
  Speaker 2: have a way of putting it all in perspective by
• 27:09
  Speaker 2: reminding you that you went to bed at church.
• 27:12
  Speaker 1: Camp, which I thought was a good line. Families aren't
• 27:16
  Speaker 1: Christmas either.
• 27:18
  Speaker 2: Relationships aren't based on designer gift wrapping or mistletoe.
• 27:25
  Speaker 1: We push the pause button and we simply give thanks.
• 27:31
  Speaker 2: Unfortunately, just once a year, on purpose. And the rest
• 27:37
  Speaker 2: is left for the voluntary giving of thanks for little
• 27:42
  Speaker 2: things and big things, for a son.
• 27:47
  Speaker 1: That gets off drugs or a daughter that.
• 27:51
  Speaker 2: Comes off the street, for healing of cancer, for at
• 27:57
  Speaker 2: least a reprieve in the pain, for a new baby.
• 28:03
  Speaker 1: And a thousand other things I could name.
• 28:07
  Speaker 2: When we come to Thanksgiving, we're able to look up,
• 28:11
  Speaker 2: look around, and look within. And all of that fits,
• 28:18
  Speaker 2: beginning with the word thank you.
• 28:20
  Speaker 1: So here we go.
• 28:22
  Speaker 2: Looking up, thank you, Lord, for your sovereign control over
• 28:27
  Speaker 2: our lives.
• 28:30
  Speaker 1: All the details. and every circumstance. Thank you. Thank you
• 28:36
  Speaker 1: that none of it is accidental, that all of it
• 28:40
  Speaker 1: will work together for good.
• 28:43
  Speaker 2: Thank you for your holy character and for your standard
• 28:47
  Speaker 2: in spite of our selfishness and sinfulness. Thank you for
• 28:52
  Speaker 2: your word that shines like a lamp to clean up
• 28:55
  Speaker 2: our minds, our thoughts, and to guide our steps. Thank
• 29:02
  Speaker 2: you for your love that warms our hearts when they
• 29:05
  Speaker 2: would otherwise grow cold. And for holding us close to
• 29:10
  Speaker 2: you and to others when we would otherwise seek isolation.
• 29:17
  Speaker 2: Thank you for your compassion in all our sorrows and
• 29:20
  Speaker 2: your mercy in all our messes.
• 29:24
  Speaker 1: And we have a lot of both. So looking up,
• 29:30
  Speaker 1: thank you, Lord. Thank you.
• 29:34
  Speaker 2: Looking around, thank you, Lord, for our wonderful nation. So blessed,
• 29:41
  Speaker 2: so bountiful, so beautiful. Such a pleasure to be living
• 29:46
  Speaker 2: in it.
• 29:48
  Speaker 1: Thank you for our school. Look at this. You're a
• 29:53
  Speaker 1: student here.
• 29:54
  Speaker 2: Look at that. Think about that. They accepted you. They
• 30:02
  Speaker 2: said yes. They're willing to teach you and to love
• 30:09
  Speaker 2: you in the process and to pray for you and
• 30:14
  Speaker 2: not forget you when you're gone. I can tell you
• 30:18
  Speaker 2: that's true. Thank you for our family, so valuable, so affirming,
• 30:24
  Speaker 2: so accepting, so forgiving.
• 30:28
  Speaker 1: So understanding.
• 30:31
  Speaker 2: Thank you for the joy of watching children mature and
• 30:36
  Speaker 2: stub their toes and make mistakes and grow through them
• 30:40
  Speaker 2: and ultimately do a better job at parenting than we did.
• 30:46
  Speaker 1: Thank you for our kids.
• 30:50
  Speaker 2: Thank you for the comfort of our home, for clothing
• 30:54
  Speaker 2: that's warm in the winter and comfortable to wear for
• 31:00
  Speaker 2: good food to eat more than we need, and clean
• 31:04
  Speaker 2: water to drink in abundance. Thank you for friends who
• 31:09
  Speaker 2: encourage us and enrich our lives every day.
• 31:17
  Speaker 1: Every day.
• 31:18
  Speaker 2: I have friends who write me, send me emails, send
• 31:21
  Speaker 2: me notes. They are simply there for me.
• 31:28
  Speaker 1: Always. Always. Regardless. And as several of them say to me,
• 31:36
  Speaker 1: you need something, you call me anytime.
• 31:39
  Speaker 2: Forget the time. I'll be there as soon as I
• 31:44
  Speaker 2: can crank up my car and get there.
• 31:48
  Speaker 1: That's a friend. I got a circle of them. I
• 31:53
  Speaker 1: don't deserve one of them.
• 31:56
  Speaker 2: Thank you for our calling, which enables us to make
• 31:59
  Speaker 2: a living, and to reach true fulfillment. And now looking within,
• 32:06
  Speaker 2: thank you, Lord, for the gift of good health, hidden
• 32:10
  Speaker 2: treasures so easily overlooked, for eyes that can see and
• 32:15
  Speaker 2: ears that can hear and tongues.
• 32:17
  Speaker 1: That can articulate words.
• 32:22
  Speaker 2: Last Sunday, I had a man come up who's had
• 32:24
  Speaker 2: a stroke, and he Talks like this. Two months ago,
• 32:34
  Speaker 2: he could speak better than any of us. Most likely,
• 32:40
  Speaker 2: that's changed. Thank you, Lord, for the ability to speak.
• 32:46
  Speaker 2: For the wide range of stimulation brought on by taste
• 32:50
  Speaker 2: and touch. How seldom we thank him for that. Can
• 32:55
  Speaker 2: taste our food. We can touch our babies and grandbabies.
• 33:03
  Speaker 2: Thank you for hands and fingers to work and to
• 33:06
  Speaker 2: write with and legs to walk and run with. For
• 33:11
  Speaker 2: a sense of humor that brightens our day and brings
• 33:14
  Speaker 2: healing to our souls.
• 33:17
  Speaker 1: And I could go on and on. These and a
• 33:19
  Speaker 1: thousand other benefits come our way every day. Every day.
• 33:27
  Speaker 2: Because of our gracious God. The holiday is correctly named Thanksgiving,
• 33:35
  Speaker 2: not Thanksgiving. We keep enough things for ourselves. Let's get
• 33:42
  Speaker 2: better at giving things. Just give it away. You don't
• 33:47
  Speaker 2: need to give it to somebody. By him, therefore, let
• 33:51
  Speaker 2: us offer the sacrifice to praise to God continually.
• 33:55
  Speaker 1: Continually. That is the fruit of our lips. giving thanks
• 34:01
  Speaker 1: to his name. Love that verse.
• 34:04
  Speaker 2: Sacrifice of praise. That means when it's hard to praise,
• 34:10
  Speaker 2: and we praise him. I close with a true story
• 34:16
  Speaker 2: that leads to a hymn you won't know.
• 34:18
  Speaker 1: It's okay.
• 34:21
  Speaker 2: Travel back to me to the year 1636. In the
• 34:27
  Speaker 2: little German village of Eilenburg, Saxony, where a man named
• 34:33
  Speaker 2: Martin Rinkert, R-I-N-K-A-R-T, Lutheran pastor, was ministering day and night
• 34:45
  Speaker 2: to a congregation broken by grief and sorrow. Times were
• 34:52
  Speaker 2: at their most treacherous. The Thirty Years' War was raging.
• 34:58
  Speaker 2: through Germany, the relentless Swedish army had encompassed the little
• 35:03
  Speaker 2: village's gates. Inside the walls, there was nothing but plague
• 35:08
  Speaker 2: and famine, fear and death. 800 homes had been destroyed
• 35:14
  Speaker 2: and people were dying in increasing numbers.
• 35:19
  Speaker 1: There was a tremendous strain on all.
• 35:21
  Speaker 2: The pastors in that village who spent every bit of
• 35:26
  Speaker 2: their strength preaching the truth and caring for the sick,
• 35:32
  Speaker 2: mainly burying the dead. Many of the pastors perished while
• 35:39
  Speaker 2: in the process of serving others in their parish. It
• 35:45
  Speaker 2: was estimated that Martin Rinkert alone buried 5,000 of his
• 35:50
  Speaker 2: own parishioners in one year. Some days he conducted as
• 35:56
  Speaker 2: many as 15 funerals, some days more than that.
• 36:02
  Speaker 1: Do the math.
• 36:04
  Speaker 2: Finally, the encroaching army demanded a huge ransom. It was
• 36:10
  Speaker 2: Martin Raker who left the safety of his home and
• 36:13
  Speaker 2: the city, walked through the gates, and began to negotiate
• 36:18
  Speaker 2: with the enemy, hostile, dreadful, brutal enemy that they were,
• 36:24
  Speaker 2: But the suffering.
• 36:25
  Speaker 1: Came to a halt thanks to his wisdom and patience
• 36:31
  Speaker 1: and grace.
• 36:34
  Speaker 2: Though his parish was ravaged by death and economic disaster,
• 36:40
  Speaker 2: he knew there could be no healing without thanksgiving. Crucial
• 36:45
  Speaker 2: line in the story. There could be no healing without thanksgiving.
• 36:50
  Speaker 2: So he sat down and wrote out this table grace
• 36:56
  Speaker 2: for his children that they might learn in everything to
• 37:00
  Speaker 2: give thanks. This became, to his surprise, a hymn for
• 37:08
  Speaker 2: the survivors of Eilenburg Saxony. They sang it together and
• 37:15
  Speaker 2: before too many years it began to be known and
• 37:19
  Speaker 2: sung around Europe and ultimately around the world. Now thank
• 37:27
  Speaker 2: we all our God with heart and hand and voices
• 37:33
  Speaker 2: who wondrous things have done in whom this world rejoices.
• 37:39
  Speaker 2: Who from our mother's arms have blessed us on our
• 37:42
  Speaker 2: way with countless gifts of love.
• 37:46
  Speaker 1: And still is ours today.
• 37:49
  Speaker 2: O may this bounteous God through all our life be
• 37:54
  Speaker 2: near us with ever joyful hearts and blessed peace to
• 37:58
  Speaker 2: cheer us and keep us in his grace and guide
• 38:03
  Speaker 2: us when perplexed and free us from all ills in
• 38:07
  Speaker 2: this world and the next.
• 38:11
  Speaker 1: All praise and thanks.
• 38:13
  Speaker 2: To God, the Father now be given, the Son and
• 38:17
  Speaker 2: him who reigns with them in highest heaven, the one
• 38:21
  Speaker 2: eternal God, whom heaven and earth adore.
• 38:26
  Speaker 1: For thus it was, is now, and shall be evermore. Amen.
• 38:34
  Speaker 3: Amen.
• 38:35
  Speaker 1: Amen.
• 38:38
  Speaker 2: Oh God, how thankful we are. How thankful we are
• 38:43
  Speaker 2: for you and all you keep doing for us, including
• 38:49
  Speaker 2: what you withhold, what you deny, Thank you for what
• 38:54
  Speaker 2: you take as well as for what you give us.
• 38:57
  Speaker 2: To you, you alone able to guard us from stumbling
• 39:02
  Speaker 2: and to present us faultless before your presence with great joy.
• 39:08
  Speaker 2: To the only wise God, our Savior. Through Jesus Christ,
• 39:14
  Speaker 2: our Lord, be glory and majesty, dominion and authority before
• 39:20
  Speaker 2: all time now. and forevermore. Everybody said, Amen.
• 39:29
  Speaker 3: The preceding message, Sustaining an Attitude of Gratitude, was copyrighted
• 39:33
  Speaker 3: in 2018 and 2019, and the sound recording was copyrighted
• 39:38
  Speaker 3: in 2019 by Charles Arslandall, Inc. All rights are reserved worldwide.
• 39:44
  Speaker 3: Duplication of copyrighted material for commercial use is strictly prohibited.