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THE POWER HIDDEN IN THANKS · truthunedited

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Speaker 1: Have you ever walked past a homeless man and watched
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Speaker 1: him smile bless you or thank God for the small
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Speaker 1: coin you dropped in his cup while you were silently
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Speaker 1: drowning in frustration over a lost bonus, a broken relationship,
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Speaker 1: or a prayer God hasn't answered. It's almost unsettling, isn't
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Speaker 1: it How someone with nothing can overflow with gratitude while
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Speaker 1: those of us with homes, jobs, families, and comfort struggle
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Speaker 1: to be thankful for anything. And it makes you wonder
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Speaker 1: who does God draw closer to the person who has
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Speaker 1: much but complains or the person who has little but
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Speaker 1: gives thanks. Because in scripture, gratitude doesn't just soften the heart,
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Speaker 1: it melts the heart of God and the heart of kings.
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Speaker 1: We've been taught to see thankfulness as a personality trait,
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Speaker 1: but in the word, it's far more than that. Gratitude
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Speaker 1: is a weapon adore, a supernatural force that unlocks the
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Speaker 1: favor of Heaven and shifts the atmosphere of everything around you.
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Speaker 1: It turns walls into gates, It turns silence into movement,
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Speaker 1: It turns brokenness into presence. And here's the part most
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Speaker 1: Christians never realize gratitude isn't a response, it's a strategy.
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Speaker 1: By the end of this teaching, you're going to see
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Speaker 1: thanksgiving in a way you never have before. You're going
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Speaker 1: to learn how a thankful heart moves not just emotions
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Speaker 1: but realms, not just feelings but kings, and not just
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Speaker 1: kings but the King of kings himself. There are moments
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Speaker 1: in scripture so subtle, so sacred that most of us
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Speaker 1: read right past them, moments that didn't split the seas
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Speaker 1: or shake the earth, but moved heaven none the less.
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Speaker 1: One of them begins in the shadows of a cave. David,
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Speaker 1: the shepherd King is not yet wearing his crown. He's running, hunted, misunderstood, good,
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Speaker 1: living in survival mode. And yet in the middle of
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Speaker 1: that darkness, David picks up a pen or whatever tool
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Speaker 1: he used to scratch on to parchment and begins to
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Speaker 1: write words. No other king in ancient history would dare
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Speaker 1: say out loud, I will bless the Lord at all times.
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Speaker 1: His praise shall continually be in my mouth Psalm thirty four,
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Speaker 1: Verse one. Not when things are better, not when the
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Speaker 1: enemies leave, not when the promise is fulfilled. At all
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Speaker 1: times do you know what David is doing here. He's
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Speaker 1: using gratitude as a weapon. Not a hall mark moment,
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Speaker 1: not a Sunday School virtue, but a strategy for survival.
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Speaker 1: Gratitude is ancient. It predates temples, it predates priests. It
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Speaker 1: it even predates commandments. When Noah stepped off the Ark
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Speaker 1: into a world washed clean but eerily silent, the first
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Speaker 1: thing he did wasn't build shelter, it was build and altared.
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Speaker 1: He gave thanks not for what he had, but from
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Speaker 1: what was spared. Abraham did the same, so did Isaac
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Speaker 1: and Jacob, not just because they were spiritual, but because,
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Speaker 1: in the earliest understanding of walking with God, gratitude wasn't
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Speaker 1: something optional, it was essential. But for the people listening
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Speaker 1: to Jesus that day, the poor, the outcast, the weary,
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Speaker 1: gratitude had been buried under centuries of religious structure, temple rituals,
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Speaker 1: levitical laws, endless obligations. And then came the moment no
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Speaker 1: one expected. Ten lepers, banish, dying, unclean, stood at a
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Speaker 1: distance and cried out to Jesus. He healed them all
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Speaker 1: ten instantly, but only one came back. One And do
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Speaker 1: you remember what Jesus said, were not all ten cleansed?
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Speaker 1: Where are the other nine? Has no one returned to
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Speaker 1: give praise to God except this foreigner Luke seventeen seventeen
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Speaker 1: to eighteen. And then something happened. Jesus looked at the
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Speaker 1: man and said, rise and go. Your faith has made
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Speaker 1: you whole, not just healed whole. Do you see it
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Speaker 1: that all ten were healed, but the one who returned
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Speaker 1: in gratitude received something more. Gratitude didn't just thank God
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Speaker 1: for the miracle. It deepened the miracle. It opened a
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Speaker 1: door for something bigger. Restoration, intimacy, wholeness. That is what
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Speaker 1: thankfulness does. It doesn't just bless you, It brings you closer.
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Speaker 1: That man with leprosy didn't just gain his health, he
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Speaker 1: gained act. Let's bring this closer to home for those
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Speaker 1: of you in your fifties, sixties, seventies. You've buried people,
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Speaker 1: You've watched dreams die. You've seen the prayers that didn't
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Speaker 1: get answered, at least not the way you hoped. You've
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Speaker 1: been disappointed by children or by churches. You've walked through
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Speaker 1: seasons where you felt like God was distant. You've been
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Speaker 1: blessed and still felt numb. You've been surrounded by people
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Speaker 1: and still felt alone. And now. Gratitude can feel like
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Speaker 1: a performance, but it was never meant to be a performance.
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Speaker 1: Gratitude in scripture is often birthed in sorrow. Think of Daniel.
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Speaker 1: He knew the cost of defying the king's order. He
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Speaker 1: knew opening his window to pray could get him thrown
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Speaker 1: into the lion's den, and he did it anyway. But
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Speaker 1: do you remember how he prayed. He got down on
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Speaker 1: his knees three times a hour and gave thanks before
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Speaker 1: his God. Daniel six ten. He gave thanks before the deliverance,
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Speaker 1: before the miracle, before he knew whether he'd live or die.
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Speaker 1: This wasn't denials, it wasn't optimism. It was spiritual warfare
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Speaker 1: because Daniel understood something we've forgotten. A thankful heart melts kings,
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Speaker 1: a thankful heart confuses enemies. The thankful heart draws God,
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Speaker 1: and that brings us to you. You're not in a
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Speaker 1: lion's den, but maybe you're surround by test results, bills,
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Speaker 1: family strain, loneliness, wounds that haven't healed. And yet if
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Speaker 1: you can whisper thanks in this place, you're not weak.
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Speaker 1: You're walking in something royal. You're moving in the spirit
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Speaker 1: of David, of Daniel, of Jesus. Yes Jesus, because on
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Speaker 1: the night he was betrayed, in a room filled with tension,
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Speaker 1: knowing death was ours away, he took the bread, gave thanks,
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Speaker 1: broke it, and said, this is my body, which is
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Speaker 1: for you first Corinthians eleven twenty four. He gave thanks
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Speaker 1: before the pain, before the cross. Gratitude came first. So
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Speaker 1: if you're wondering where to start, don't wait for the healing,
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Speaker 1: and don't wait for the answer, don't wait for the apology.
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Speaker 1: Start now with breath, with memory, with the quiet realization
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Speaker 1: God has not left you. Because here is the truth.
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Speaker 1: Gratitude is not an motion. It's a decision. It's not soft.
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Speaker 1: It's spiritual warfare. It's not irrelevant, and it's a gait.
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Speaker 1: Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise
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Speaker 1: Psalm one hundred, verse four. No thanksgiving, no entrance, no thanksgiving,
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Speaker 1: no presence. The enemy doesn't fear your comfort, he fears
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Speaker 1: your gratitude because a thankful heart is untouchable. It doesn't
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Speaker 1: mean you ignore pain. It means you refuse to give pain.
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Speaker 1: The final word you've lived through more than most. But
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Speaker 1: don't let life numb you, let it soften you, let
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Speaker 1: it make you the kind of person who still says
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Speaker 1: thank you in the dark, in the silence, and in
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Speaker 1: the waiting. That kind of heart melts Heaven, and Heaven
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Speaker 1: always answers. He should have been wearing royal robes. He
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Speaker 1: should have walked with dignified steps, regal, composed, respected, He
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Speaker 1: should have acted like a king. But David wasn't thinking
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Speaker 1: of any of that. He was thinking about the ark
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Speaker 1: of the Covenant, about the holiness of God, about the
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Speaker 1: presence that had been lost and now was coming home.
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Speaker 1: And so the King danced, and not a polite sway, as,
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Speaker 1: not a ceremonial bow. He danced like a man who
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Speaker 1: had lost everything and found it again, the Bible says,
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Speaker 1: wearing a linen ephod, David was dancing before the Lord
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Speaker 1: with all his might Second Samuel six fourteen, all his might,
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Speaker 1: a full body explosion of worship. Why because gratitude had
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Speaker 1: overwhelmed him. Let's pause there. You know what it's like
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Speaker 1: to hold yourself together, to keep your composure in the hospital,
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Speaker 1: to smile at the family gathering, even when your heart
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Speaker 1: aches to sit quietly in church while your soul is
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Speaker 1: screaming for answers. You've carried pain with dignity. But what
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Speaker 1: happens when the presence of God breaks through that dignity?
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Speaker 1: What happens when thanksgiving erupts. That's what happened to David.
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Speaker 1: He wasn't performing, he wasn't trying to prove anything, and
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Speaker 1: he was thanking because when the Ark came back, it
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Speaker 1: meant God had returned, not to a nation, to to him.
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Speaker 1: There's something powerful about how David worships. This wasn't the
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Speaker 1: first time he had shown gratitude in a way that
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Speaker 1: broke decorum. He worshiped in caves, sang while hunted, wrote
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Speaker 1: psalms with a harp instead of raising a sword. He
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Speaker 1: had every reason to stay quiet, to complain, to rage
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Speaker 1: against God for the years he spent running, but he
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Speaker 1: kept giving thanks And on this day, when the Ark
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Speaker 1: entered Jerusalem, he let it all out. But some one
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Speaker 1: was watching. A mikhal Saul's daughter, David's wife, looked down
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Speaker 1: from a window and saw him dancing, saw him stripped
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Speaker 1: of royal robes, wearing a servant's garment, and saw him
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Speaker 1: moving wildly, joyfully publicly, and she was disgusted that the
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Speaker 1: Bible says she despised him in her heart. She confronted
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Speaker 1: him later how the King of Israel distinguished himself to
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Speaker 1: day going around half naked in full view of the
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Speaker 1: slave girls Second Samuel six twenty Her words were cutting,
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Speaker 1: but but David's reply, I will become even more undignified
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Speaker 1: than this, and I will be humiliated in my own
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Speaker 1: eyes second Samuel six twenty two, because David understood something
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Speaker 1: Mikhal didn't. Gratitude has no room for pride. Here's the truth.
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Speaker 1: Gratitude will make you look foolish to people who have
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Speaker 1: forgotten what God has done. When others want you to
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Speaker 1: act proper, dignified, composed, gratitude will kneel you down in tears.
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Speaker 1: Gratitude will lift your hands in worship when you are
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Speaker 1: in pain. Gratitude will have you thanking God for breath,
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Speaker 1: even after loss, even after heartbreak. And people will misunderstand it.
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Speaker 1: They'll say you're too emotional, you're being dramatic, You need
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Speaker 1: to be realistic. But gratitude isn't a show, it's a release.
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Speaker 1: Let's bring this close and have you ever felt God
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Speaker 1: answer a prayer so small but so personal that it
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Speaker 1: broke you, Like finding the paperwork you thought was lost,
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Speaker 1: getting a call from the child who hadn't spoken to
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Speaker 1: you in years, hearing the test came back negative, feeling
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Speaker 1: peace during the funeral when you thought you'd fall apart,
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Speaker 1: and suddenly your hands went up, if your tears came down,
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Speaker 1: your heart said thank you. That's what David felt, and
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Speaker 1: he didn't care who saw. But what makes this story
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Speaker 1: even more sobering is what happened to Michal, the woman
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Speaker 1: who mocked the thanksgiving of her husband, the woman who
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Speaker 1: couldn't understand why someone would look foolish before God, the
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Speaker 1: Bible says, and Mikail's, daughter of Saul, had no children
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Speaker 1: to the day of her death. Second Samuel six twenty three.
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Speaker 1: A closed womb, a closed future. Not because she sinned
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Speaker 1: in the obvious way, but because she despised gratitude, because
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Speaker 1: she judged worship, because she valued appearances more than presents. Friend,
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Speaker 1: there's a warning here. If we lose our ability to
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Speaker 1: give thanks, if we silence those who express it boldly,
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Speaker 1: if we roll our eyes at the weeping worshiper or
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Speaker 1: the dancing elder or the man with hands lifted high.
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Speaker 1: We're not just silencing them, we may be closing something
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Speaker 1: in ourselves. David didn't get everything right, but he understood this.
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Speaker 1: God is moved by gratitude, even more than by gifting.
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Speaker 1: David was a warrior, a poet, a king, a leader.
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Speaker 1: But it was his heart that God loved, a thankful, broken, rejoicing,
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Speaker 1: humble heart. I have found David's son of Jesse, a
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Speaker 1: man after my own heart, Acts thirteen twenty two. That's
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Speaker 1: who God still looks for. Not performers, not professionals, not
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Speaker 1: those who want to look spiritual, but those who are grateful.
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Speaker 1: Let's end this section with a moment of reflection. When
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Speaker 1: was the last time you thanked God like David, not
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Speaker 1: for the big things, but the personal ones, not just
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Speaker 1: in your mind, but with your whole body. When did
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Speaker 1: you last get undignified? Maybe it's been years, maybe life
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Speaker 1: hardened you, maybe you've been too disappointed. But to day
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Speaker 1: something can shift, because the heart that melts God's heart
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Speaker 1: is the one that says, I don't care how I look.
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Speaker 1: I just want him to know I remember, and I'm grateful.
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Speaker 1: It was past midnight the walls were damp, the floor cold,
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Speaker 1: their backs bleeding from the lashes, their ankles locked in iron.
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Speaker 1: The air reeked of sweat, blood, and rats and pole.
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Speaker 1: Paul started singing, and not a whisper, not a quiet
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Speaker 1: hum in the back of his wrote, he praised, and
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Speaker 1: beside him Silas joined in, two men, battered, bruised, falsely imprisoned,
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Speaker 1: lifting voices to Heaven in worship. Let that sink in.
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Speaker 1: They weren't singing because they had been rescued. They were
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Speaker 1: singing before the miracle, because they knew something most of
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Speaker 1: us forget. Gratitude doesn't come after the breakthrough. It often
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Speaker 1: causes the breakthrough. The Bible says about midnight, Paul and
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Speaker 1: Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the
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Speaker 1: other prisoners were listening to them. Act sixteen twenty five.
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Speaker 1: They weren't preaching, they weren't fighting the guards, they weren't
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Speaker 1: asking why they were singing. And the prisoners, hardened, men,
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Speaker 1: violent men, sat in stunned silence, listening, because no one
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Speaker 1: sings in prison, not like this, not after this kind
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Speaker 1: of beating, and not unless they know something the world doesn't.
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Speaker 1: And then it happened that the Bible says, suddenly there
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Speaker 1: was a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison
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Speaker 1: were shaken. At once, all the prison doors flew open,
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Speaker 1: and everyone's chains came loose at sixteen twenty six, not
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Speaker 1: just Paul and Silas, at every one's let's pause. You
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Speaker 1: may not be in a physical cell, but maybe your
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Speaker 1: heart has been locked down by grief, by regret, by loneliness,
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Speaker 1: and by aging, and by disappointment in prayers that never
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Speaker 1: got answered. Maybe you've been sitting in a midnight hour
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Speaker 1: for longer than you care to admit, and you're waiting
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Speaker 1: for the earthquake, for the door to swing open, for
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Speaker 1: the answer to come. But what if, what if the
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Speaker 1: earthquake isn't coming first? What if the singing has to
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Speaker 1: Paul and Silas weren't faking joy, They were choosing praise
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Speaker 1: over pain. That kind of gratitude doesn't mean you feel nothing.
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Speaker 1: It means you trust through everything. Here's the deeper truth
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Speaker 1: that they didn't just sing to be rescued. They sang
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Speaker 1: because they knew who was still with them. The same
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Speaker 1: Jesus who had been whipped, the same Jesus who stood
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Speaker 1: silent before Pilot, the same Jesus, who thanked the Father
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Speaker 1: even on the cross. Paul and Silas were walking in
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Speaker 1: his footsteps. Their gratitude wasn't logical, it was spiritual warfare,
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Speaker 1: and Heaven responded. But the story doesn't stop there. Do
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Speaker 1: you remember what happened next? The jailer, the one who
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Speaker 1: locked their feet, who followed orders, ran in trembling, thinking
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Speaker 1: they had escaped us, but Paul shouted, don't harm yourself.
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Speaker 1: We're all here. And then the man fell to his
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Speaker 1: knees and said, sirs, what must I do to be saved?
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Speaker 1: The gratitude of Paul and Silas didn't just open prison doors.
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Speaker 1: It opened a man's soul. And here's where it gets personal.
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Speaker 1: How many people are watching you sing in the middle
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Speaker 1: of your midnight hour. A grandchild watching you praise though
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Speaker 1: your health is failing, A daughter watching you stay faithful
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Speaker 1: even after her betrayal. A neighbor watching you still believe
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Speaker 1: even though life has disappointed you. They see the chains,
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Speaker 1: but they also hear the hymns, and it speaks louder
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Speaker 1: than sermons ever could. Maybe you've said I have nothing
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Speaker 1: to be thankful for right now. But friend, if Paul
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Speaker 1: could praise in a Roman dungeon. You can whisper thanks
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Speaker 1: in your living room. If Silas could lift his voice
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Speaker 1: with swollen lips. You can bless God while paying another
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Speaker 1: medical bill. If chains can fall in the midnight hour,
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Speaker 1: yours can too. Because gratitude doesn't just shake walls, It
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Speaker 1: saves people. That jailer he took Paul and Silas into
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Speaker 1: his own home, washed their wounds, fed them, and he
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Speaker 1: and his whole household were baptized that very night. Why
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Speaker 1: because two men chose to thank God when most would
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Speaker 1: have cursed him at So ask yourself what would change
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Speaker 1: in your atmosphere if you turned your midnight into a melody.
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Speaker 1: What doors might open, what chains might break? What hearts
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Speaker 1: might soften? Your own included? Because here's the truth. When
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Speaker 1: praise rises, power falls, When thanksgiving fills the prison, freedom follows.
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Speaker 1: If you're in your fifties, sixties, or seventies, you've had
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Speaker 1: midnight hours, some are behind you, some you're still walking through.
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Speaker 1: But to night, if you can just thank Him for
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Speaker 1: still being God, for still being there, you might feel
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Speaker 1: the ground shake again. You might hear chains rattle, and
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Speaker 1: not only yours, but the ones around you too. Because
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Speaker 1: a thankful heart isn't passive, it's revolutionary. The sun was
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Speaker 1: beginning to dip low over the hills. The crowd had swelled,
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Speaker 1: thousands upon thousands, men, women and children, all tired, all hungry,
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Speaker 1: all following a man who spoke like no one else
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Speaker 1: had ever spoken. The disciples were worried. They did the math.
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Speaker 1: The food didn't add up, and then they found it
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Speaker 1: just five loaves, two small fish, a lunch from a boy. Insufficient,
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Speaker 1: laughable really, But Jesus didn't laugh, he didn't panic it.
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Speaker 1: He didn't scold the crowd for not bringing their own food.
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Speaker 1: He looked up to heaven and he gave thanks. Let
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Speaker 1: that settle in your soul. He gave thanks before there
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Speaker 1: was enough, Taking the five loaves and the two fish,
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Speaker 1: and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke
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Speaker 1: the loaves. Then he gave them to the disciples, and
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Speaker 1: the disciples gave them to the people. Matthew fourteen nineteen.
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Speaker 1: No angels descended from the sky, no voice thundered from heaven,
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Speaker 1: no explosion of divine power in front of the crowd,
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Speaker 1: just a quiet moment and a lifted gaze and gratitude.
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Speaker 1: And then the miracle. What does this mean that thanksgiving
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Speaker 1: isn't just a response to abundance, it's the key to multiplication.
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Speaker 1: Bring this closer to home. How many times have you
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Speaker 1: looked at what's in front of you and thought it's
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Speaker 1: not enough, not enough money, not enough strength, not enough time,
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Speaker 1: not enough years left, not enough clarity. And the enemy whispers,
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Speaker 1: you can't feed this crowd. You're not enough for this moment,
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Speaker 1: You've already missed it. But what if? What if God
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Speaker 1: isn't asking you to multiply it? What if he's only
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Speaker 1: asking you to thank him for it. Jesus didn't multiply
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Speaker 1: the loaves by force, He didn't command them to grow.
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Speaker 1: He simply looked to the Father and gave thanks. The
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Speaker 1: spiritual law here is deeper than we've been taught. Gratitude
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Speaker 1: unlocks what logic cannot. In God's hands, what looks insufficient
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Speaker 1: becomes more than enough. But here's the key. He won't
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Speaker 1: force your trust. He waits for your thanks. And now
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Speaker 1: imagine the moment Jesus tears the bread peace to each disciple.
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Speaker 1: They turned to the crowd, thousands of people, and begin
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Speaker 1: to pass it out. Still not enough, Still humanly impossible.
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Speaker 1: But every time they reach back, there's more more than before.
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Speaker 1: Not all at once, but as they gave, it grew.
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Speaker 1: That's the beauty of gratitude. It doesn't promise instant overflow.
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Speaker 1: It promises ongoing supply. You may be fifty five, sixty seven,
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Speaker 1: seventy three, and you've watched your strength fade. You've said
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Speaker 1: good bye to people you never imagined living without. You've
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Speaker 1: wondered if you still have enough years left to make
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Speaker 1: a difference. You've looked at what's in your hands and thought,
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Speaker 1: surely it's too late. But it's not about how much
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Speaker 1: is in your hands. It's about whether your heart will
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Speaker 1: thank God for it. When Jesus thanked the Father, he
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Speaker 1: wasn't just blessing food. He was demonstrating the heavenly posture
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Speaker 1: that moves the Kingdom of God into motion, because Heaven
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Speaker 1: responds to thanks not when the baskets are full, but
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Speaker 1: when they're not. Is the quiet revelation. If you withhold
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Speaker 1: thanksgiving until there's enough, you'll never see the miracle. But
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Speaker 1: if you thank him while it's still not enough, you'll
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Speaker 1: see him multiply what you never imagined. Deep Bible Stories
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Speaker 1: E book insert required in section five. If you're feeling
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Speaker 1: the weight of this story and you want to go
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Speaker 1: even deeper, We've created a set of ebooks just for you.
22:30
Speaker 1: They're not just transcripts, they're guided journeys that you'll walk
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Speaker 1: through the most powerful teachings we've ever created, like the Psalms,
22:38
Speaker 1: the Book of Romans, the Trinity, and how to Hear
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Speaker 1: the Voice of God, each one designed to help you
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Speaker 1: study the Word in quiet, personal depth, without distractions. Visit
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Speaker 1: the website in the description to explore them. Your journey
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Speaker 1: doesn't have to stop here. Sometimes the miracle is waiting
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Speaker 1: for you in the page. Let's return this scene, Jesus,
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Speaker 1: the Bread, the crowd. It teaches us that gratitude comes
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Speaker 1: before clarity. So it comes before increase, it comes before understanding,
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Speaker 1: because sometimes God wants to see. Will you thank me
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Speaker 1: when all you see is not enough. Some of you
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Speaker 1: are in the same position right now. Maybe you've lost income,
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Speaker 1: maybe your health feels fragile. Maybe your kids don't call
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Speaker 1: like they used to. Maybe the home is too quiet,
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Speaker 1: the future too uncertain, and the enemy is shouting. It's
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Speaker 1: too little, it's too late, but your father is whispering.
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Speaker 1: If you'll thank me for it. I'll show you what
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Speaker 1: I can do with it, because the hands that give
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Speaker 1: thanks are the hands God fills. First, she stood quietly,
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Speaker 1: no spotlight and no fanfare, no procession behind her, just
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Speaker 1: a frail woman and worn from years, clutching too small
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Speaker 1: copper coins. It wasn't much, In fact, it was almost nothing,
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Speaker 1: so small it barely made a sound when dropped into
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Speaker 1: the offering box. But Heaven heard it like a thunderclap,
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Speaker 1: because gratitude had weight. That day, Jesus was sitting near by,
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Speaker 1: watching not the amount given, but the heart behind it.
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Speaker 1: And when this widow dropped in her coins, her only coins,
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Speaker 1: Jesus didn't just notice it. He stopped everything to point
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Speaker 1: her out. Truly, I tell you, this poor widow has
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Speaker 1: put in more than all the others. All these people
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Speaker 1: gave their gifts out of their wealth, but she, out
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Speaker 1: of her poverty, put in all she had to live
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Speaker 1: on Look twenty one, three to four. Let's pause. It's
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Speaker 1: not just the size of her gift that moved Jesus.
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Speaker 1: It was the gratitude behind it. Because when you've lost
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Speaker 1: much and still give, when you've been through grief and
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Speaker 1: still think, when you're not sure where the next coin
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Speaker 1: will come from, but you still drop the last two in.
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Speaker 1: That's not religion, and that's worship. Some of you know
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Speaker 1: exactly what that feels like. You tithe even though the
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Speaker 1: bills keep rising. You help your children even when they
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Speaker 1: don't help you back. You keep showing up in church,
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Speaker 1: even when you feel invisible. And maybe nobody claps, nobody
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Speaker 1: sees the cost, nobody says thank you, But God does
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Speaker 1: this widow. She had every excuse to stay home and
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Speaker 1: to say I'll wait until I have more to say,
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Speaker 1: no one will notice anyway, to say it's too late
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Speaker 1: for this to matter. But she showed up and she gave,
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Speaker 1: and Jesus made sure her story would be remembered for eternity.
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Speaker 1: Why Because when gratitude costs you something, it's no longer
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Speaker 1: a sentiment. It's a sacrifice. There's a reason Scripture calls
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Speaker 1: it the sacrifice of Thanksgiving Psalm one hundred, sixteen seventeen.
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Speaker 1: Because true gratitude will always cost you something. It might
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Speaker 1: cost you pride, it might cost you safety, it might
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Speaker 1: cost you comfort, it might cost you a plan you've
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Speaker 1: clung to for years. But when you give it, when
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Speaker 1: you offer it, God receives it as holy. The world
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Speaker 1: doesn't understand this. They say, be thankful after the rays,
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Speaker 1: be grateful when it gets better, Give when you can
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Speaker 1: afford it. But heaven works backward. A gratitude comes first,
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Speaker 1: then the breakthrough it. The widow didn't give because she
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Speaker 1: had much. She gave because she had a thankful heart,
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Speaker 1: even with little. Let's bring this closer. Have you ever
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Speaker 1: looked at your life and thought, I don't have much
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Speaker 1: left to give. Your body aches in ways it never
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Speaker 1: used to. Your prayers seem slower, your days are quieter,
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Speaker 1: your impact feels smaller. But can I tell you something
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Speaker 1: that those two coins you're holding, your last strength, your
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Speaker 1: whispered prayer, your faithful worship, they matter more now than
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Speaker 1: ever before, because God doesn't measure the size of your gift.
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Speaker 1: He weighs the depth of your thanks. This widow didn't
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Speaker 1: know Jesus was watching. She didn't give to impress. She
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Speaker 1: gave because her heart was full, not her purse, her heart.
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Speaker 1: And that's what Jesus stopped for. That's what made him speak,
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Speaker 1: made him notice. You may feel unseen, but your thankfulness
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Speaker 1: it's you. Your quiet offering of trust has the power
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Speaker 1: to stop heaven in its tracks. So let me ask
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Speaker 1: you gently, what are the two coins in your life
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Speaker 1: to day? What is the small sacrificial quiet offering your holding,
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Speaker 1: thinking it won't make a difference. Could it be your
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Speaker 1: last act of obedience, your daily prayer for your prodigal child,
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Speaker 1: your generosity even while retired, your worship, even after loss.
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Speaker 1: Don't dismiss it, don't delay it, drop it in not
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Speaker 1: for applause, not for attention, but for the one who
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Speaker 1: sees it all. Because when your gratitude costs you something,
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Speaker 1: it becomes a fragrance that rises into Heaven itself. Now
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Speaker 1: we will return to Jesus, but this time in the
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Speaker 1: upper room, just hours before the cross, when the weight
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Speaker 1: of the world was resting on his shoulders, he took
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Speaker 1: the bread, broke it and gave thanks. Before the betrayal,
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Speaker 1: before the lashes, before the agony, he still gave thanks,
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Speaker 1: because true gratitude doesn't depend on comfort, It flows from surrender.
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Speaker 1: It was quiet in the upper room, the shadows flickered
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Speaker 1: from oil lamps. The table was set, and Jesus fully
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Speaker 1: god fully man sat among men he had chosen, knowing
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Speaker 1: one would betray him, knowing the hour had come. He
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Speaker 1: knew the pain that was coming, the lashes, the nails,
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Speaker 1: the rejection, the father's silence, and he knew, and still
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Speaker 1: he picked up the bread, looked toward heaven and gave thanks.
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Speaker 1: And he took bread, gave thanks, and broke it and
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Speaker 1: gave it to them, saying, this is my body given
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Speaker 1: for you do this in remembrance of me. Luke twenty
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Speaker 1: two nineteen. If you've ever wondered what spiritual maturity looks like,
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Speaker 1: it's this gratitude before agony, thanks before betrayal, praise before suffering.
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Speaker 1: Jesus didn't thank the Father after resurrection. He didn't wait
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Speaker 1: for Sunday morning. He gave thanks on Thursday night, in
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Speaker 1: the middle of the storm. He chose to walk into
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Speaker 1: Think about that. If you knew death was near, if
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Speaker 1: you knew suffering couldn't be avoided, would you thank God?
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Speaker 1: Would you bless the moment? Jesus did because his gratitude
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Speaker 1: wasn't based on comfort. It was anchored in obedience. And
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Speaker 1: here's where it gets even more personal. So many of us,
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Speaker 1: especially in this season of life, have walked into rooms.
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Speaker 1: I didn't want to be in doctor's offices, empty bedrooms,
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Speaker 1: funeral homes, court rooms, seasons of silence where God felt
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Speaker 1: far and yet we're still here, still breathing, and still
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Speaker 1: walking and still believing. That kind of perseverance, that kind
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Speaker 1: of faith. It's what Jesus demonstrated in the upper room.
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Speaker 1: He wasn't giving thanks for the pain. He was giving
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Speaker 1: thanks through it. He was saying, Father, I trust you
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Speaker 1: even in this, and that is the deepest form of gratitude.
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Speaker 1: You see, Thanksgiving is easy when life feels full, but
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Speaker 1: the deepest worship is when life feels poured out. That's
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Speaker 1: why Jesus didn't just hold the bread. He broke it,
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Speaker 1: and he didn't just sip the cup, and he offered
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Speaker 1: it in the same way. After the supper, he took
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Speaker 1: the cup, saying, this cup is the new covenant in
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Speaker 1: my blood, which is poured out for you Luke twenty
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Speaker 1: two twenty. He knew what it symbolized, the agony in
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Speaker 1: geth semone, the sweat like blood, the silence of heaven
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Speaker 1: and the mocking of soldiers, the crushing weight of sin.
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Speaker 1: And still he gave thanks because Jesus understood something we
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Speaker 1: must never forget. Gratitude doesn't just honor God. It strengthens
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Speaker 1: us for the journey. Maybe you're holding a cup of
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Speaker 1: sorrow right now, watching a spouse suffer, carrying the weight
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Speaker 1: of your own aging body, still grieving the loss that
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Speaker 1: no one else understands, wrestling with prayers that haven't been
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Speaker 1: answered in decades. You don't feel thankful, you don't feel strong.
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Speaker 1: But friend, to hear this, you can lift the bread,
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Speaker 1: you can lift the cup, and you can say, God,
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Speaker 1: are not my will, but yours be done. And that
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Speaker 1: prayer and that posture is His praise at its highest.
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Speaker 1: Because sometimes gratitude isn't the words you say. It's the
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Speaker 1: tears you cry in surrender, the silence you hold in trust,
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Speaker 1: the breath you exhale when you finally lay it all
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Speaker 1: down that moment in the upper room, Jesus gave thanks
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Speaker 1: to anchor himself in the Father's will, not to escape
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Speaker 1: the pain, but to walk through it with peace. Let
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Speaker 1: me ask you something sacred. What if the cross in
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Speaker 1: your life right now, the thing you've begged God to remove,
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Speaker 1: is the very place he's asking you to meet him,
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Speaker 1: not to suffer alone, but to be strengthened in surrender,
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Speaker 1: to learn what Jesus modeled even when it hurts, I
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Speaker 1: will lift the bread, even when it costs me everything.
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Speaker 1: I will lift the cup, even when I don't understand,
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Speaker 1: I will give thanks. That's not weakness, that's warfare. Jesus
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Speaker 1: wasn't a victim in that room. He was a warrior,
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Speaker 1: and gratitude was his first strike. Because when you say
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Speaker 1: thank you in the dark, hell trembles. The lord's supper
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Speaker 1: wasn't just a farewell meal. It was a declaration of
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Speaker 1: victory before the battle began. So now it's your turn.
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Speaker 1: Pick up your own bread and pick up your own
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Speaker 1: cup and say the words with new meaning, thank you
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Speaker 1: for this moment, thank you for being with me, Thank
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Speaker 1: you even here, because gratitude in gathsemone prepares you for resurrection.
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Speaker 1: They stood at a distance, isolated, disfigured, forgotten, ten men
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Speaker 1: marked by leprosies, living outside the camp, outside society, outside hope,
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Speaker 1: And then came Jesus that they didn't dare run to him.
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Speaker 1: They only lifted their voices, not in worship, not in confidence,
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Speaker 1: but in desperation. Jesus, Master, have mercy on us, Luke
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Speaker 1: seventeen thirteen. There was no promise in their tone, no theology,
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Speaker 1: just raw need. Jesus didn't touch them, didn't anoint them.
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Speaker 1: He simply gave a command, go show yourselves to the
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Speaker 1: priest Luke, seventeen fourteen. And as as they went, they
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Speaker 1: were healed, their skin cleared, their sores vanished, their limbs restored.
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Speaker 1: But only one stopped. Only one turned around. Only one
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Speaker 1: came back, and he ran not to the priest us,
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Speaker 1: but to the healer. And one of them, when he
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Speaker 1: saw that he was healed, came back, praising God in
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Speaker 1: a loud voice. He threw himself at Jesus feet and
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Speaker 1: thanked him. And he was a Samaritan. Luke seventeen fifteen
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Speaker 1: to sixteen. Let that sink in. All ten were healed,
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Speaker 1: but only one came back to say thank you. When
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Speaker 1: this one he wasn't a Jew, he wasn't the religious insider.
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Speaker 1: He was the outsider, a Samaritan, the one most likely
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Speaker 1: to be ignored. But in his gratitude he became center
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Speaker 1: stage in the eyes of heaven. Then Jesus asks a
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Speaker 1: question that echoes into every heart. Were not all ten cleansed?
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Speaker 1: Where are the other nine? Luke seventeen seventeen. It's a
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Speaker 1: question of ache, of heart break, and because healing was given,
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Speaker 1: but gratitude was rare. And then comes the line that
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Speaker 1: changes everything. Rise and go, Your faith has made you well,
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Speaker 1: Luke seventeen nineteen. But wait, weren't the others also healed? Yes,
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Speaker 1: healed in body, but only one was made whole. Here's
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Speaker 1: the deep revelation. Healing touches your condition. Gratitude touches your identity.
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Speaker 1: The Greek word Jesus uses here so so means more
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Speaker 1: than physical healing. It means saved, restored, delivered, made whole.
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Speaker 1: So what does that mean for us? It means you
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Speaker 1: can receive blessings, you can experience answers. You can walk
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Speaker 1: in favor and still miss intimacy with God if you
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Speaker 1: don't return with gratitude. The nine leapers were satisfied with
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Speaker 1: a changed life. The one leper wanted a changed heart.
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Speaker 1: And how did he do it? He came back, and
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Speaker 1: he fell at Jesus's feet, and he lifted his voice
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Speaker 1: in praise. He gave thanks. This is not a moment
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Speaker 1: of manners. This is a posture of surrender. Some of
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Speaker 1: you listening to this, you've survived things you thought would
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Speaker 1: destroy you. You've recovered from surgeries, grief, seasons of dryness,
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Speaker 1: decades of struggle. You've come through addiction, abandonment, regret or guilt,
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Speaker 1: and you know deep down that God touched you. But
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Speaker 1: did you return? Did you pause the journey to throw
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Speaker 1: yourself at his feet? This moment is not condemnation, it's invitation.
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Speaker 1: You don't have to live like one of the nine
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Speaker 1: healed but distant. You can be like the one whole
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Speaker 1: and close. What if to day you lifted your voice
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Speaker 1: and not in complaint, but in thanks. What if you
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Speaker 1: walked back, not out of duty, but but out of love.
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Speaker 1: What if you told Jesus, I remember what you did.
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Speaker 1: I see how far you've brought me, and I just
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Speaker 1: want to say thank you. That one phrase, whispered through
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Speaker 1: tears or shouted in your kitchen can open the door
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Speaker 1: to soso, not just healing, but restoration. This story teaches
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Speaker 1: us something sacred. God is not just moved by the
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Speaker 1: suffering you escape. He's moved by the gratitude you return with.
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Speaker 1: And maybe, just maybe that's the miracle you're still missing,
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Speaker 1: not the healing of your body, but the wholeness of
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Speaker 1: your soul. Aging doesn't rob you of that. Regret doesn't
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Speaker 1: disqualify you from that. It's just one step back and
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Speaker 1: one whispered thanks away. He read the decree with shaking hands.
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Speaker 1: The ink was fresh, the law was sealed. No prayers
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Speaker 1: were to be made to anyone except King Darius for
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Speaker 1: thirty days. To violate it was to die, not slowly,
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Speaker 1: not quietly, but publicly, thrown into the lion's den. And
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Speaker 1: what did Daniel do. He didn't retreat, He didn't compromise,
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Speaker 1: He didn't pray silently in his heart. He walked to
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Speaker 1: his window, opened it wide, facing Jerusalem, dropped to his
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Speaker 1: knees and gave thanks. Now. When Daniel learned that the
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Speaker 1: decree had been published, he went home to his upstairs room,
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Speaker 1: where the windows opened toward Jerusalem. Three times a day.
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Speaker 1: He got down on his knees and prayed, giving thanks
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Speaker 1: to his God, just as he had done before. Daniel
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Speaker 1: six ten, let those words hit you, just as he
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Speaker 1: had done before. He didn't wait until the danger passed.
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Speaker 1: He didn't plead for a delay, He didn't hide his
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Speaker 1: faith to protect his position. He gave thanks like he
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Speaker 1: always had, And for that he was arrested, betrayed, lowered
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Speaker 1: into a pit of lions. But that act of gratitude,
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Speaker 1: that refusal to let fear dictate his devotion shut the
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Speaker 1: mouths of beasts. Many of us reading this know the
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Speaker 1: lions by name. They're not beasts in a den. There
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Speaker 1: fear of the future, financial collapse, the test resulted, the
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Speaker 1: silence of adult children, the loneliness of widowhood, the guilt
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Speaker 1: of what wasn't done in our younger years, the ache
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Speaker 1: of years that can't be reclaimed, And when those lions roar,
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Speaker 1: the pressure to retreat is overwhelming. But Daniel's story reminds
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Speaker 1: us gratitude isn't weakness, it's spiritual resistance. Because every time
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Speaker 1: Daniel dropped to his knees, he was saying to the
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Speaker 1: spirit of fear, you do not own me. To the
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Speaker 1: political system, you do not silence me. To the consequence
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Speaker 1: of death, you do not frighten me. And to God,
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Speaker 1: you are still worthy of than Why did he open
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Speaker 1: the windows? Why not close them for thirty days? Why
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Speaker 1: risk exposure? Because Daniel's faith wasn't performative, his gratitude wasn't conditional,
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Speaker 1: his trust wasn't secret. He faced Jerusalem, the city of
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Speaker 1: God's promises, as a reminder that no matter what Babylon said,
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Speaker 1: his heart still belonged to another kingdom. For older believers,
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Speaker 1: this story carries a weight that most overlook because it's
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Speaker 1: not just about courage in youth, it's about consistency in aging.
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Speaker 1: Daniel wasn't a teenager here. He was in his eighties,
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Speaker 1: decades of serving pagan kings, decades of living in exile,
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Speaker 1: seeing his nation fall, prayers go unanswered, dreams delayed, and
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Speaker 1: still he knelt it. Still he gave thanks, and still
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Speaker 1: he opened the window. What about you have the lions
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Speaker 1: surrounded your peace? Do you feel like silence is safer?
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Speaker 1: Do you hesitate to pray like you used to? Than?
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Speaker 1: Let Daniel be your guide. Not every war is fought
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Speaker 1: with a sword. Some are fought on your knees, with
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Speaker 1: your windows open, with your voice lifted, with your spirit
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Speaker 1: saying thank you God. Even now, let's make this even
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Speaker 1: more personal. There's a kind of fatigue that comes with
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Speaker 1: time when you've prayed and waited, loved and been betrayed,
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Speaker 1: given and been taken from served and been forgotten. And
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Speaker 1: sometimes the enemy whispers, why keep thanking God? What has
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Speaker 1: it really changed? But gratitude isn't about what's changed. Out there.
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Speaker 1: It's about what's preserved in here. Because the real miracle
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Speaker 1: in Daniel's story was not that he survived the lions.
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Speaker 1: It's that he never stopped opening his windows. He never
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Speaker 1: let Babylon close his heart. And here's the mystery. God
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Speaker 1: didn't rescue him before the den God waited until after
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Speaker 1: the act of defiant thanks, because Heaven responds to gratitude
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Speaker 1: under pressure. So here's the invitation. If you're facing pressure,
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Speaker 1: if you're tired, disappointed, or feeling that your prayers aren't
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Speaker 1: as strong as they once were, do what Daniel did,
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Speaker 1: Do what you've always done. Open the windows again, kneel again,
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Speaker 1: lift you toward promise, even if the city feels far,
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Speaker 1: and say God, I still believe, I still trust, I
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Speaker 1: still give thanks, because lions may roar, but they don't win.
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Speaker 1: The streets were packed, the trumpets sounded. A priest carried
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Speaker 1: the Ark of the Covenant, the very symbol of God's presence,
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Speaker 1: back to Jerusalem. For years, the ark had been gone,
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Speaker 1: lost in war, separated from the people, God's glory removed,
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Speaker 1: and now it was coming home. At the front of
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Speaker 1: the procession was a man not dressed like a king,
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Speaker 1: not seated on a throne, not protected by guards, but
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Speaker 1: dancing a leaping, spinning, shouting David wearing a linenephod David
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Speaker 1: was dancing before the Lord with all his might, while
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Speaker 1: he and all Israel were bringing up the ark of
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Speaker 1: the Lord with shouts and the sound of trumpets Second
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Speaker 1: Samuel six, fourteen to fifteen. Pause and imagine the scene.
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Speaker 1: This was not a young shepherd in a private field.
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Speaker 1: This was King David, middle aged, seasoned, known, stripping off
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Speaker 1: his royal robes and dancing like a servant. No image management,
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Speaker 1: no pride, no restraint of why, Because when the presence
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Speaker 1: of God returns, gratitude becomes louder than dignity. Let's go deeper.
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Speaker 1: David wasn't just excited, he was thankful. Years earlier, he
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Speaker 1: had watched the ark fall into enemy hands. He had
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Speaker 1: seen what happened when it was mishandled. He knew the
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Speaker 1: cost of separation from God's presence, and now the presence
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Speaker 1: was returning to the city, to the people, to his
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Speaker 1: own heart. So he didn't whisper praise, He didn't nod politely,
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Speaker 1: he didn't say thank you Lord under his breath. He danced,
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Speaker 1: not a performance, but a release, not polished, but pure,
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Speaker 1: because when you've lost God's presence and you feel it return,
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Speaker 1: there are no appropriate ways to say thank you. Let's
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Speaker 1: make this personal. Have you ever felt like you drifted
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Speaker 1: from God? Not because of rebellion, but because of distraction.
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Speaker 1: Have you ever gone years doing the right thing but
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Speaker 1: not feeling his nearness, and then one day, in worship
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Speaker 1: or prayer, or even in silence, you feel it his back,
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Speaker 1: and not that he ever left, but you finally turned
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Speaker 1: back toward him. That moment when Heaven draws close again,
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Speaker 1: deserves a response. For David, that response was movement, because
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Speaker 1: gratitude will always find a way to move. If not
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Speaker 1: your feet, then your voice, If not your hands, than
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Speaker 1: your tears, If not your lips, then your soul. Let's
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Speaker 1: talk about the ephod for a moment. It wasn't a
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Speaker 1: royal robe. It was a simple linen garment usually worn
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Speaker 1: by priests. David took off his kingly garments, the signs
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Speaker 1: of status, power, control, and put on humility. Why because
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Speaker 1: in the presence of God, we are not kings and queens.
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Speaker 1: We are children. But not every one approv'd as the
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Speaker 1: ark of the Lord was entering the city of David. Mikail,
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Speaker 1: daughter of Saul, watched from a window, and when she
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Speaker 1: saw King David leaping and dancing before the Lord, she
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Speaker 1: despised him in her heart. Second Samuel six sixteen his
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Speaker 1: own wife disgusted by his passion, embarrassed by his gratitude,
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Speaker 1: and when she confronted him, David responded with a line
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Speaker 1: that echoes through eternity, I will become even more undignified
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Speaker 1: than this, and I will be humiliated in my own eyes.
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Speaker 1: Second Samuel six twenty two. Older believer hear this. Your
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Speaker 1: worship may look foolish to others, but it is beautiful
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Speaker 1: to God. You may not dance like you used to,
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Speaker 1: your body may not allow leaps or movement, but you
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Speaker 1: can still worship like David. You can still strip off
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Speaker 1: the robes of pride, lay down the weight of image,
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Speaker 1: and and say, Lords, you came back, and I missed you,
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Speaker 1: and I thank you. Gratitude that erupts in public praise
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Speaker 1: may embarrass the religious, it may confuse the cold hearted,
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Speaker 1: but it melts the heart of God because it says
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Speaker 1: you're more important than what people think. You're worth my joy,
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Speaker 1: You're worth my tears. You're worth my voice, cracking with age,
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Speaker 1: shaking with emotion, still lifting up praise. You've lived long
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Speaker 1: enough to know the presence of God isn't guaranteed that
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Speaker 1: hearts grow numb, the churches get cold, that routines can
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Speaker 1: bury fire. So when God draws close again, don't hold back,
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Speaker 1: lift your voice, clap your hands, sing the old hymn
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Speaker 1: louder than anyone else in the pew, because the presence
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Speaker 1: of God is too holy to meet with polite applause.
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Speaker 1: It calls for dancing, even if it's just in your heart.
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Speaker 1: The floor was cold, the walls were damp. Blood ran
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Speaker 1: down their backs, and their feet locked in stocks, immobile,
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Speaker 1: aching stretched unnaturally. The smell of sweat, rats, and mold
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Speaker 1: filled the air, and in the darkest part of the prison,
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Speaker 1: Paul and Silas began to sing. About midnight, Paul and
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Speaker 1: Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the
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Speaker 1: other prisoners were listening to them. Acts sixteen twenty five.
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Speaker 1: Midnight not just literal, the but emotional, The darkest hour,
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Speaker 1: the silent space between the promise and the outcome. Too
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Speaker 1: late for comforter, too early for rescue. At that hour
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Speaker 1: where your flesh begs for sleep, but your soul begs
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Speaker 1: for God. They didn't praise after the miracle. They praised
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Speaker 1: before it, before the earthquake, before the doors opened, before
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Speaker 1: the chains fell, before the warden fell to his knees,
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Speaker 1: before the revival in Philippi. They praised when there was
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Speaker 1: no visible reason to Let's slow this down. This wasn't
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Speaker 1: a choir concert, this wasn't a church service. This was
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Speaker 1: torn skin, bruised ribs, hunger and humiliation. And from that
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Speaker 1: place came thanksgiving. You have to ask how how does
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Speaker 1: someone thank God while imprisoned unjustly, after being beaten for
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Speaker 1: doing good of Castoni demity e de sin is sir
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Speaker 1: sheen is saichi deschachur discern as to hens it's is
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Speaker 1: wocious tool, after being falsely accused and thrown into the
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Speaker 1: deepest part of the cell. How here's the revelation. Gratitude
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Speaker 1: isn't a response to circumstances. It's a revelation of who
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Speaker 1: holds your future. Paul and Silas knew something we often forget.
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Speaker 1: You can be in chains and still be free. You
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Speaker 1: can be in the lowest place and still be lifted
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Speaker 1: up you can be surrounded by darkness and still be alight.
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Speaker 1: They weren't singing to escape. They were singing because even
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Speaker 1: in this God was worthy. Let's talk to the older
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Speaker 1: heart for a moment you faced your own prisons. They
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Speaker 1: don't have iron bars, but they locked just the same
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Speaker 1: at the diagnosis, the unanswered prayer, the child who won't
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Speaker 1: call back, the marriage that didn't heal, the dreams that
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Speaker 1: never came to pass. And at midnight, and when no
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Speaker 1: one is watching, you wonder, does God still hear me?
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Speaker 1: Does it still matter if I worship? Is my voice
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Speaker 1: still powerful even if it trembles? Podland Silas answer that
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Speaker 1: for you. Yes, Because their praise didn't just lift their spirits,
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Speaker 1: it shook the very foundation of the prison. Suddenly, there
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Speaker 1: was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the
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Speaker 1: prison were shaken at once. All the prison doors flew open,
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Speaker 1: and every one's chains came loose Acts sixteen twenty six.
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Speaker 1: Don't miss this. Every one's chains came loose, not just
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Speaker 1: Paul and Silas. Because when you praise in the midnight hour,
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Speaker 1: others are set free too. Your worship affects more than you.
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Speaker 1: Your gratitude opens more than your own door. Let's go
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Speaker 1: even deeper. The jailer was about to kill himself at
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Speaker 1: thinking the prisoners had escaped. He grabbed his sword, ready
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Speaker 1: to fall on it, but Paul cried out, don't harm yourself.
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Speaker 1: We are all here. Act sixteen twenty eight. And in
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Speaker 1: that moment, a hardened Roman soldier fell to his knees
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Speaker 1: and asked, sirs, what must I do to be saved?
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Speaker 1: Act sixteen thirty at you see the ripple their gratitude,
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Speaker 1: birth praise, Their praise shook foundations, that their chains fell off,
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Speaker 1: and a suicide was prevented, and a soul was saved,
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Speaker 1: and a house was baptized. Or because two men refused
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Speaker 1: to let their pain silence their thanksgiving. So what about you?
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Speaker 1: Are you in a midnight season? Are you wondering if
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Speaker 1: your voice still matters? Then let this moment awaken your heart.
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Speaker 1: You don't need sunlight to sing. You neat a memory,
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Speaker 1: a memory of what God has already done, a memory
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Speaker 1: of his faithfulness, a memory of past prisons where he
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Speaker 1: came through older believers. You carry decades of memory, decades
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Speaker 1: of miracles, of near misses, of God's protection. You sing
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Speaker 1: from it. You don't need to feel strong. You just
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Speaker 1: need to say I still trust you, I still thank you,
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Speaker 1: And even here and even now, because when the song
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Speaker 1: rises at midnight, heaven moves, chains break, souls are saved. Father,
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Speaker 1: You are good even when life isn't. You are present
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Speaker 1: even when we feel alone. You are holy even when
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Speaker 1: the world is chaotic. We thank you not because everything
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Speaker 1: feels right, but because you are always righteous. We thank
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Speaker 1: you for the air in our lungs, for the years
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Speaker 1: behind us, and for the grace ahead. We thank you
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Speaker 1: for the broken bread, for the poured out cup, for
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Speaker 1: the reminder that Jesus didn't wait for perfect circumstances to
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Speaker 1: say thank you. So teach us to be like him.
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Speaker 1: Teach us to open our windows like Daniel, to dance
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Speaker 1: like David, to sing like Paul, to give like the widow,
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Speaker 1: to return like the leper, to bless like Jesus. May
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Speaker 1: our gratitude melt hard hearts as soften bitter souls, and
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Speaker 1: draw your presence into every room we walk into. In
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Speaker 1: the name of Jesus, who thanked you. Even on the
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Speaker 1: way to the cross, we pray Amen. The table was set,
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Speaker 1: the bread unbroken, the cups untouched, the air heavy, Jesus
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Speaker 1: sat among his disciples, eyes searching, heart burdened. He knew,
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Speaker 1: he knew that in ours he would be abandoned, denied, mocked, whipped, crucified.
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Speaker 1: He knew the pain, He knew the cup he'd have
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Speaker 1: to drink, he knew the garden that would press the
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Speaker 1: blood from his skin. And still he took bread, and
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Speaker 1: when he had given thanks, he broke it and said,
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Speaker 1: this is my body, which is for you. Do this
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Speaker 1: in remembrance of me. First Corinthians eleven twenty three to
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Speaker 1: twenty four. He gave thanks, before the arrest, before the
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Speaker 1: crown of thorns, before the cross, Jesus gave thanks. As
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Speaker 1: this is not just a story about bread and wine.
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Speaker 1: It's the final act of gratitude before the greatest act
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Speaker 1: of suffering in history. The world calls it the Last Supper,
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Speaker 1: but Heaven calls it the first offering, because this meal
53:47
Speaker 1: wasn't just a farewell. It was a revelation that even
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Speaker 1: in your darkest moment, even when pain is guaranteed, even
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Speaker 1: when death is around the corner, gratitude still belongs at
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Speaker 1: the table. Older Christian, let this minister to your soul.
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Speaker 1: How many tables have you sat at where grief was present?
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Speaker 1: How many dinners marked by empty chairs, Holidays filled with
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Speaker 1: quiet sadness, conversations choked by regret. How many times have
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Speaker 1: you faced what felt like your own crucifixion, Not nails,
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Speaker 1: but divorce, diagnosis, depression, distance from those you love. And
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Speaker 1: in those moments it feels impossible to give thanks. But
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Speaker 1: Jesus shows usen thanksgiving is not just for the full,
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Speaker 1: it's for the broken. He broke the breast and said,
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Speaker 1: this is my body, as if to say, I know
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Speaker 1: what it is to be torn, to be misunderstood, to bleed,
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Speaker 1: to carry pain others will never see. And when he
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Speaker 1: lifted the cup, this is my blood. He was showing
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Speaker 1: us Gratitude isn't always pretty. Sometimes it's poured out. Let's
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Speaker 1: go even deeper. The Greek word forgave thanks here is eucharisto,
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Speaker 1: the same word from which we get eucharist. It doesn't
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Speaker 1: just mean polite gratitude. It means to acknowledge with joy
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Speaker 1: the grace that will come, even if that grace must
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Speaker 1: pass through suffering first. That means when Jesus lifted that
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Speaker 1: bread and cup, he wasn't thanking God for the pain.
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Speaker 1: He was thanking God for the purpose. Some of you
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Speaker 1: have lived long enough to see pain with purpose. You
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Speaker 1: didn't thank God for the cancer, but you thank him
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Speaker 1: now for how it brought your family back together. You
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Speaker 1: didn't thank him for the season of lack, but you
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Speaker 1: thank him now for the contentment it gave you. You
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Speaker 1: didn't thank him for the loss, but you thank him
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Speaker 1: for how it made Heaven feel real again. That's eucharistel
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Speaker 1: gratitude that trusts the unseen, Gratitude that holds the cup
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Speaker 1: with trembling hands and still lifts it to Heaven. Gratitude
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Speaker 1: that says, even if I must be broken, and let
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Speaker 1: it be for some one else's healing. That's what Jesus
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Speaker 1: showed us that thanksgiving is not about ignoring pain. It's
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Speaker 1: about surrendering in the middle of it. You may feel
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Speaker 1: like your life didn't turn out the way you hoped,
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Speaker 1: that you've missed moments, that your body is aging, and
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Speaker 1: that your voice is weaker, that your prayers seem slower.
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Speaker 1: But let me speak this over you. Your gratitude still
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Speaker 1: shakes Heaven when you lift your hands, when you whisper
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Speaker 1: thanks at the bedside, when you sit in the quiet
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Speaker 1: and say Lord, you've still been good. You are becoming
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Speaker 1: like Christ, and that is the highest honor of all