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A Season of Thankfulness · Wetumpka Church of Christ Online

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Message that reaches read for us is in keeping with the tone that
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2020 has set. What a weird year.
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It has been, I don't know how many of you are Watchers of the
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news or keepers of the social media.
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But if unless you've lived under a rock, I don't suppose you are
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unaware of the weird things that have happened across the world
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this year, and there's been a lot of About it.
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A lot of people have made a big deal about it.
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And I want to just kind of recap for you this morning.
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Some of the crazy things have gone on this year, you know, of
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course, we're all aware of the fact that we've all got masks
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on, or we've got masks in our pockets and we've been under a
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mask mandate for quite a while under our own State, other
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states having been under a mask mandate for perhaps even longer.
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But of course, we're all aware of This virus covid-19 that has
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swept through. Now, I guess the entire world at
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one particular Point as I recall, as it was going through
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Italy and you might remember little bit more about that than
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me, but I feel like the death rate was at like 16 percent at
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one particular point, or at least that's how it was being
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advertised through the, through the media to us.
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And, of course, that trickled on down.
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But you know what it is, you know, have any A of us lived
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through anything like this. I was talking to my dad, several
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weeks back and I was like, you know, I'm almost 40 years old.
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Now, I'm 40 and haven't experienced anything like this,
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in my lifetime and he said, I haven't experienced anything
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like this in my lifetime, you know, my dad is almost almost 70
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years old, but I don't know how many of you recall as 2020,
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began back in January. There was this whole thing about
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the murder her. It's do y'all remember hearing
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anything about the murder hornets and everybody thought,
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you know, kit kit in 2020? Get any worse.
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Somebody said back in January, shame on them for for even
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asking that question. But here's here's just a little
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tiny, quick list of a bunch of the crazy things that have gone
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on this year. Of course, after after covid,
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the worldwide pandemic, you had the the stock markets that
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crashed worldwide. The Olympics were eventually
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cancelled. You had the murder Hornet.
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She had all the Hurricanes and it seemed this year.
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And in fact, eventually there was talk of a double hurricane
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coming right up through the Gulf of Mexico.
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I saw one of the memes on social media that had a guy standing up
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at the at the bingo board with all these weird things in it.
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He turns around and he asked. All right, Who had, who had
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double hurricanes? Let's put that up there on the,
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on the list. All the shutdown's all the
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lockdowns. The stay-at-home orders, The
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Basque mandates, and, of course, let's not forget.
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About all the riots across our country.
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The presidential impeachment trial, the Boy Scouts of America
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went bankrupt, numerous celebrities musicians and
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athletes passed away. In various ways.
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There was the Iranian, the Iranian flight that was shot
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down 174, people perished in that in that plane crash and
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wildfires wildfires here in our country, but also the wildfires
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in Australia. Leah that was earlier in the
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year. I don't know if any of you have
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gone back and look, I was curious this week as I was
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prepping for some of this and I was wondering how many, how many
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acres are square miles, were burned in Australia in
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Australia. The forest fires destroyed,
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destroyed, 42,000 square miles of land Alabama.
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The state of Alabama is only 52 thousand square miles big.
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So almost a portion of Australia almost the size.
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Of Alabama burned up in flames and that's just a short list.
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You can go on the internet. I don't don't do it right now,
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but you can go on the internet and you can ask what crazy
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things have happened in 2020. And the list is really, really
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long. And of course, having social
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media or watching the news, we've been reminded of it almost
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every day all year long about how terrible how terrible this
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year has been a my, the Only one or have any of you grown, just a
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little bit. Tired of the amount of wine Enos
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and complaining of how bad the year has been hating out.
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Don't get me wrong. I've been guilty of sharing
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something from time to time on social media, as well about how
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terrible 2020 has been. So I've been one of the whiners
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like everyone else, but you know, at what point are we going
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to realize that? We're still really blessed and
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we should still be really thankful for the things that we
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do have. Maybe this year has been
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especially hard for you. Maybe none of those things that
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I've mentioned, have really affected you, but but maybe
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you've had things going on in your own life that has made this
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year. Very difficult.
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Maybe you lost your job. Maybe your health has been in
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Decline. Maybe you've had an injury and
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you've had to have surgery, or maybe you've been Diagnosed with
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cancer and you've had to start treatments.
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May be some loved one is very very sick, or maybe some loved
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one has passed away. You know, there are a lot of
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things that a lot of us have gone through this year that has
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nothing to do with that long list that I read a moment ago,
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that is affected. Maybe the way that we have felt
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about this year. Facing such circumstances can be
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tremendously difficult and it's easy to find ourselves being a
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complainer, isn't it? It's easy for us to to wine and,
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and wallow in our sorrow and, and sometimes, you know, I don't
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want to belittle the sorrow that we feel because, sometimes we
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have every right to feel sorry for the things that we're going
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through. But let's not allow the
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circumstances of life. To affect how we live our lives,
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as Christians, you know, the way the year has gone and the amount
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of dialogue that I have heard and the rhetoric that's been
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used in the media about this year.
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Really made me think a lot about the Israelites.
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I really want to real quickly. Give you some passages from the
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Old Testament, so you're not going to have time to turn to
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them, but I'll mention them really quickly, but you're
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called Israelites from the moment that Moses had helped
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them Escape. Up the clutches of the Pharaoh
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in Egypt to leave from about the moment that they left Egypt from
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being under hard, labor being slaves.
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And now they're, they're getting to escape.
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They're going to get to go start their own Nation from that time.
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They began to complain about all kinds of things.
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You're the first one that I recall is they get to the Red
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Sea and they can't cross it in Pharaoh's Army is, is bearing
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down on? They say, Moses.
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Look what you've done. You've led us out here to die.
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We'd be better off back back in Egypt and here's just a few
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extras extras 1524 and the people murmured against Moses
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saying, what shall we drink? They felt like they were dying
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of thirst, Exodus 16 to and the whole Congregation of the
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children of Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron in the
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wilderness, Exodus 17:3 and the people thirsted, therefore
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water, and the people murmured numbers 14 to and all the
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children of Israel murmured against Moses.
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And The whole congregation said to them, would God that we had
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died in the land of Egypt or would God, we had died in this
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Wilderness? They're saying he's been better
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off. Had we just died.
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Then what we're at what we're going through now numbers 14:29.
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This is what God says, your carcasses shall fill shall fall
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in the wilderness and all that were numbered of you according
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to your whole number from twenty years old and upward which have
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murmured against me number 16, 41 on the morrow.
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All the Congregation of the children of Israel murmured
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against Moses and against Aaron saying, you have killed the
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people of the Lord. What you've done that, the
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choices you've made Moses and Aaron they have caused us to
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come to a point where we're going to die.
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Exodus 16 7 in the morning. Then you shall see the glory of
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the Lord for for that. He heareth your murmurings
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against the Lord and what are we that you're murmur against us?
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Exodus 16 8 and Moses said this shall be when the Lord shall
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give you in the Evening flesh to eat.
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And in the morning bread to be full for the Lord hears your
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murmurings, which you murmur against him.
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And what are we? Your murmurings are not against
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us, but against the Lord Moses says, your, your whining against
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God. Numbers 14:27.
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How long shall I bear with this evil congregation?
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Which murmurs against me. I've heard the murmurings of the
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children of Israel, which they murmur against me, a numbers
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1436 and the men which Moses sent to search the land you
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recall. This is when the spies were sent
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into the promised land when they returned and made all the
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congregation. All the people of Israel.
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They made them all murmur against him by bringing up a
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slander upon the land. They came back.
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The promised land and they stirred up the people to believe
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that. There's no way they could take
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it. They could, there's no way they
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can have it. And so they began to whine and
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complain and say to Moses and Aaron.
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You've led us out here to die. I read those passages.
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In fact, the word murmur is use like 87 times in the Bible.
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Most of which guess what are found?
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Right smack here. Where the Israelites are doing
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all of their complaining. Does it not sound reminiscent of
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what we have heard. All this year perhaps even from
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my own mouth. I think.
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Yeah, I've heard myself. Well, I didn't complain about
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how bad this year has been. But you know what, I think about
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it. Maybe my year has not been bad
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as bad as someone else's year. Just like the Israelites,
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perhaps, we have a lot to murmur about, but let's let's go back
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to Israel and put ourselves in the mind of God as he is
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listening to their whining and complaining.
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What is God. What is God thinking?
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As he hears? The Israelites do all this
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complaining? He's thinking, I've set you free
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from pharaoh and your hard laborers.
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I've given you fresh water every time that you've asked for it.
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Leslie, you know, from a rock from a see where Moses just had
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to throw a log into it and it turned it into fresh.
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I have, I've given you guidance by day and by night, I've legs
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you, I have fed you and even when you got tired of eating one
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thing, I gave you something else to eat.
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And now I have brought you to a land that you didn't cultivate
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the ground. You didn't grow the crops.
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You didn't, you didn't plant, The Vineyards, you didn't raise.
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The cattle and you didn't build the houses, but I'm about to
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allow you to have all of it and you've done no work worthy of
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having it all. I'm just going to give it to
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you. So God looks down from heaven as
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he hears the Israelites murmuring and complaining and
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whining. And what does he say you have so
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much to be thankful for you have so much to be happy about?
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Why can't you see it? So maybe just like the
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Israelites we have much to be thankful for maybe as we think
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about this year. Perhaps, we should put ourselves
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again in the mind of God and ask ourselves, how must he be
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looking down upon us. What must he be thinking when he
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looks at us complaining when we have so many blessings.
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There was a man, a long time ago.
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We found himself in prison, separated from his friends
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separated from his comfort separated from his freedom,
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unjustly accused brutally, treated as Reese, red force, a
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moment ago. Perhaps with every footstep that
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he heard coming down the hallway.
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As he waited in his in his prison.
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I've often wondered. If he heard these footsteps
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coming, was he thinking this might be it?
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This could be, this could, this could be the end.
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This is the time of my execution and maybe The cell opens or the
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door opens and it's just another meal time for him or just
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another visitor or just someone, they're asking questions about
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the gospel that he's been preaching about, but I wonder
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every time he heard footsteps, what must have Paul thought when
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he heard those not an hour, would pass when Paul was free
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from his constant, irritation of chains and shackles or cuffs, or
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whatever. You want to call them, the
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irritation of having them on his, his wrist, perhaps, Ankles,
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maybe even causing cuts and sores and blisters as day and
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night. He was chained to a guard if
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ever there was a person who had a right to complain to be
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unhappy. It had to be Paul.
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I mean, did you hear the scripture reading a moment ago,
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what Paul talks about it was his experiences as he was serving
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the lord five times. He received of the hands of the
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Jews, 40 lashes. Less 13 times.
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He was beaten with rods. He was once stoned three times.
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He was Shipwrecked a night. In the day.
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He was adrift at Sea. He was on frequent Journeys.
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He was in danger of rivers, dangers of robbers, dangers of
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his own people dangers, from the Gentiles danger, in the city
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danger. In the wilderness danger at Sea,
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Danger from false Brothers in Toil and hardship through many
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sleepless nights in hunger and thirst.
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Going without food, and cold and exposure.
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And apart from this is a verse 28, which I did not have Reese,
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read but verse 28 says. And apart from other things.
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There is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the
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churches even amongst all these terrible hardships.
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He was facing one of his anxieties was.
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He was worried about the church. If ever a man had any reason to
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be a complainer, a murmur or a winery, it had to have been
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Paul. Yet, Paul didn't feel that way.
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Paul didn't speak as one who was a complainer or a murmur or a
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whiner Paul writes from prison in Philippians, chapter 4 verses
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4 through 7. He says rejoice in the lord
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always. And again, I say rejoice, he
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writes that from prison, let your moderation be known unto
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all men. The Lord is at hand be careful,
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or do not be anxious in anything but in everything Thing by
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prayer and supplication with Thanksgiving, let your requests
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be made known unto God and the peace of God, which passes all
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understanding Paul had Paul had peace even amidst all the
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beatings and the whippings and the stonings, and the
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shipwrecks, and the hunger, and The Thirst and all the problems
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that he had from other people. He still was able to have a
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peace that passes all understanding shall keep your
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hearts and Minds through Christ Jesus.
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Jesus Paul wrote in another one of his prison Epistles and
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Ephesians chapter 5 and verse 20.
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Again from prison. Paul writes giving.
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Thanks always for all things unto God and the father, in the
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name of our Lord. Jesus Christ giving.
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Thanks always for all things. You mean even in prison Paul,
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even when you're swimming in the Deep for 3 days and 3 nights
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because your ship has Shipwrecked even during the
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scourgings and the whippings and the beatings in the stonings.
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Being thankful for God's blessings should be one of the
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most distinctive marks of a believer of Jesus Christ being
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thankful even in the midst of difficulty.
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And not just once a year on Thanksgiving.
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I hope this lesson doesn't seem so cliche being so, so close to
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Thanksgiving. But what caused me to want to
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want to do this lesson is the fact that I thought about 2020,
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just, you know, can we just get past it?
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You know, I was thinking Then I thought you know, we're really
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blessed. I think we all need to be
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reminded of that. Being thankful for what?
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We do, have not always thinking about what's on the other side
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that pasture is greener over there.
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But thinking about what we do have and being thankful for
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those things that we have is one of those distinctive traits that
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every Christian ought to have in their lives.
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Nothing turns us, bitter and selfish or dissatisfied more
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quickly than an ungrateful heart.
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You know, being being unthankful and on the flipside, nothing
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will do more to restore our contentment and the joy of
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Salvation than a true Spirit of thankfulness.
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And that's what we need amongst us.
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As Christians is a true Spirit of thankfulness for what God has
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done for us. Jason talked to us for just a
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few moments Wednesday night about Jesus encounter with the
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ten lepers as you recall. I don't mean, I don't know how
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many of you were here Wednesday night, but just real quickly,
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Jesus encountered 10 lepers who are begging to be to be healed
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and Jesus restores them to their their full bill of health.
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An amazing miraculous thing. It's something that every leper
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longed for was to have leprosy taken from them.
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You know, it is something that is completely depict
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debilitating it transforms. The figure of the person makes
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them oftentimes hideous looking and it separates them from
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normal society in. Jesus heals them but only one
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comes back. Only one comes back to thank
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Jesus for what he had done. You know, in gratitude and
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thankless necess. Was not just a problem.
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Then in gratitude and thankless. Nastas is a major problem in our
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society today. It's because we expect, we
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expect for this to be done and I shouldn't have to thank you for
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doing it because I deserve it. I have worked for it.
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It is mine. It is rightfully belonging to
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me. Therefore.
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I have no need to thank you for that.
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One of the Bible's indictments against rebellious.
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Humanity is found in Romans, 1:21.
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And in that verse we read for although they knew God, they did
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not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became
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futile in their thinking and their foolish Hearts were
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darkened. He wanted to accusations that
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Paul makes towards Mankind and their sin is is it's not just It
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people lied. It's not just that people stole.
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It's not just that people committed murder.
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It's not just the people committed adultery and on and on
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the list we could grow. But Paul says they did not give
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thanks to God. You start at the beginning of
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the Bible and read to the very end from one end to the other.
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The Bible is chocked full of commands to be thankful.
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In fact, thankfulness. It should be the natural out
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flowing from our heart. When we We truly know who God
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is. We talked about this a little
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bit in our Young Adult class this morning, but when we come
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to know. Who God is, what he gave for us,
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his son who Jesus is and what he gave for us his life.
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The natural thing. That should should come out of
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us. Is we're incredibly thankful.
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The psalmist declared in Psalm 147 and verse 7, sing to the
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Lord with Thanksgiving. Paul says in Colossians 3 and
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verse 15. The very last part of that
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verse. He says Be Thankful.
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They Spirit of Thanksgiving is always the mark of a joyful
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Christian and I started thinking about this a little bit.
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You know, what comes first. Is it?
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Is it? I am happy.
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I'm joyful. And therefore I'm thankful or is
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it the opposite? Is it?
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I am thankful. I am grateful, and therefore, I
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am joyful. And I'm happier thought about
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that, which comes first and my thankful because I'm happy.
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Or am I happy? Because I'm thankful.
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I believe what scripture teaches us is the the true joy and the
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true happiness that we get that comes from the almighty.
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Can only be had once. Thankful for what has been given
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to us. No, true.
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Happiness can be had apart from the Salvation that is found in
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Jesus Christ because if you have happiness and you're not right
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with God, if you have happiness and your sins have not been
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washed away by the blood of Jesus Christ, how can you truly
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be happy? Apart from the Saving Grace
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found in Jesus blood we need to learn to be thankful.
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And in doing that only. Then can we find true happiness
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and true Joy? When I want to give you the last
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10 minutes of the lesson this morning.
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I want to give you real quickly for things that I think that we
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should be thankful for their. You can make a big long list.
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So if I say, hey, jot down a list real quick.
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What should we be thankful for? In this life?
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You can make a really long list. I've tried to boil it down to
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just four things. I want to try and give those to
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you. This morning of time.
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Permits. Number one.
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We should be thankful for God's material blessings that he has
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given us. That's pretty simple, right?
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Know we talk about that all the time.
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Jeremy had asked me a few days ago.
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You know, what was my lesson going to be on?
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He wanted to try and plan some songs accordingly, accordingly,
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and you did a fantastic job and I liked learning the meaning of
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that word rapture in that first song that she did.
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That was, that was absolutely right in tune with what we're
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talking about this morning. I had had my lesson a little bit
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further down where I was going to try and do an example and I
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don't know if I ever really came up with a good one, but I'm
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going to use it before I go into some of these verses.
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I think it's easier to be thankful for the things that we
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have. Let's say material things.
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When we realize that we have them be not because of our own
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doings, but because someone else has given it to us, it's let me
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say it again. It's easier.
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To be thankful for the things that we have.
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When we are given given them by someone else other than from our
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own doing. And the only way that I think
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about it is this, it's Christmas Day.
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There's a present. It's got your name on it.
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You didn't know you were getting a present.
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You had not asked for anything and it's got you who got me
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this, you know, and everybody's like, oh, we don't know.
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It's a surprise, you open your present and you use Willis
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pretty neat. I didn't know anybody was
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getting many things. You pick up that box and you
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tear open the wrapping paper and you look down here.
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I've always wanted one of these. I don't know what it is.
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It's whatever. You've always wanted and you've
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got it. There it is.
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Who did this who knew I wanted this.
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And finally, someone sheepishly raises their hands.
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And you're like, thank you so much.
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You go over and you hug them now.
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Would you have been more happy? Had you gone to the store and
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bought it for yourself? No, it was way more fun to have
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gotten it as a surprise from someone who just knew.
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However, they knew they knew that you wanted it and they
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surprised you with it. You didn't buy it.
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You didn't go to the store and get it.
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It was given to you. I don't know how many of you
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ever flown on a plane flying on a plane is miserable.
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Especially if you're a poor person like myself and you ride
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with all the poor people towards the back of the plane, where the
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seats are all super close together and, you know, for us
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bigger folks, you know, you're having to ride.
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Like this, you know, there's no Elbow Room.
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The first thing you do when you sit down, as you want to click,
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this is my armrest, you know, total stranger.
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This is where my arm will be for the remainder of the flight.
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A few years back. A couple of missionary buddies
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of mine were flying flying somewhere and they were actually
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late to making it to the gate. They were the last people
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getting on the plane. They were running down, you know
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to the gate and they get there and they ask, you know, so
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sorry, we're late, they like no worries.
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We haven't closed it up. At your good.
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Can we see your tickets? And they hand them the tickets.
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And one of the one of the individual says, is there any
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way I could get a window seat, you know, is kind of, you know,
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kind of gutsy to be begging for something when you're the last
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one, getting on the plane, but the lady says, well, let me, let
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me see here for just a second. You know, they do the little tip
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toe. Tip it and she goes.
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Oh, yes, I think I can give you an upgrade and she prints out
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some new tickets hands it to this guy and his buddy and they
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go to get on the plane and guess where they're sitting.
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First class, they had two spots left.
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It was one of those. One of those spikes that was
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kind of like a pod that closes up and you're just in there in
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the seat reclines all the way down into a bed and they brought
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in one of these goody baskets with fresh fruits and drinks and
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snacks and chocolates. How excited you think that they
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were to be riding in that particular place.
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They were ecstatic. Was it of their own doing?
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No, they couldn't afford that. It was given to them.
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Them. We are happier and we're more
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thankful. When we realize, what we have is
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something that is not of our own doing, it is given, and let me
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tell you everything, that every one of us in here.
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This morning has we have it because God has given it to us.
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Let me give you some quick passages here where they go
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here. They are Psalm 24 and verse 1.
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A Psalm of David. The Earth is the Lord's and the
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fullness thereof the world and those who dwell therein
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everything. God's James 1 verse 17.
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Every good gift. How many?
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Good gifts, which could gifts every good gift.
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And every perfect gift is from above Psalm 15 verse 10.
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For every beast of the forest is mine says God the cattle on a
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thousand hills Ephesians 2 and verse 8, for by Grace, you have
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been saved through faith, and this is not of your own doing.
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It is the gift of God. Every single thing we have is
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from God. David writes in first
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Chronicles, 29 verses 12 through 14 both riches and honor come
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from you. He's talking to God both riches
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and honor come from you and you rule over all in your hand, our
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power and might and in your hand it is to make great and to give
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strength to all and now we think you are God and praise your
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glorious name, but who am I and what is my people that we should
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be able to the Offer willingly for all things, come from you
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and of your own. Have we given you?
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In fact you read a different modern translation and that last
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part end of your own. We have given you, you know, it
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David saying there? Everything God that we give to
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you. It was already yours, you know,
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the money that I gave on the first day of the week.
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You know, it was already yours, Lord, Romans, 13, and verse.
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One tells us that even the powers that be even the people
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that are in positions of leadership, or power.
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They're there because God has allowed them to be there.
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So when we come to a realization that everything that we have,
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it's been given to us. It makes us more thankful, more
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thankful more. So thankful than had.
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We thought? I've earned this.
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I got my own job. I went in for the interview.
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I nailed it. And now I've worked hard.
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I put in my time and I'm being paid.
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I can getting raises look at the good job that I'm doing.
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I'm a great worker, careful. Now you sound like
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Nebuchadnezzar. Nebuchadnezzar walking through
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his Palace, looking at all of his great things and all of his
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great feats and bragging about what he had done and God
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reminded him. Oh, no, Nebuchadnezzar.
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What you have is because of me. Thank God for the material
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blessings that he gives you. Number two.
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We're running out of time. Number to thank God for the
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people in your life. Very simple.
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Don't forget that, you are where you are because of the help of
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other people. There's a saying that that we
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always stand upon the shoulders of Greater. and then we I got a,
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I got a text recently, real small text.
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I won't name who it is. That might embarrass the person,
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but I got a text recently that simply said I am thankful for
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your friendship. Such a small statement.
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Such a small text, a simple text, but a mountain of
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encouragement. And we need to be thankful for
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the people that are in our lives.
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Do we let other people know that we appreciate them that we're
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thankful for them. You know how many relationships
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have been shattered and eventually just completely blown
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away because of the sin of ingratitude because we didn't
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let them know how appreciative we were of having them in our
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lives. Paul writes to the church at
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Philippi in Philippians 1 and verse 3, he told them I thank my
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God upon every remembrance of you.
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Can you imagine being one of the Christians and Philip I getting
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this letter from Paul while he's in prison and they open it up
30:39
and they read it to the congregation.
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One of the first things that Paul says he says I think my God
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every time I think about you, I'm thankful for you in Acts 28,
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as Paul is on his way to Rome as he as he comes into Rome, a
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large crowd gathers to meet him there.
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Brothers and Sisters in Christ gather to meet him.
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People that he didn't even know and on seeing him acts 28 and
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verse 15 says on seeing them Paul thanked.
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God, and took courage. Paul was thankful for those
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people that he didn't even know. That we're in his life.
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We need to thank God for those people who touch our lives.
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And I think about the Ethiopian eunuch who Philip came and
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talked. And as he was baptized his sins
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were washed away. We're told that he went on his
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way rejoicing. Do you think that from time to
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time from then on to the end of the Ethiopian Unix life?
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Do you think every once in a while?
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He'd bring up this guy that he just met on the roadside.
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They taught him the gospel. How thankful.
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He was for that, man. I'm sure that he did number
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three. Thank God for even the difficult
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times. We've run out of time, and I'm
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not going to have time to go into all these.
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I was going to read you. I don't know how many of you are
31:54
familiar with and I'll throw quotes around it, the poem
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because it doesn't really rhyme the poem.
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Prince or Footprints in the Sand.
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It's a beautiful story about this individual who they look
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back over their life and they see, two sets of footprints.
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One, is the Lord's and one is there.
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Then the person begins to complain that during difficult
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times of their life. They only saw one set of
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footprints as they looked back. And they asked the Lord, you
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know, why did you abandon me? And the Lord replies?
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Those Footprints were mine as I carried you for some I'm
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paraphrasing. You know, the difficult things
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that we face in life. There's a lot of them.
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I know that a lot of you are going through some of those
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difficult things in your life right now.
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I don't know what all of you are going through.
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But I do know this that even in the midst of hardships
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heartaches difficulties trials, we can thank God.
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We can thank God because we know he is there for us.
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We can thank God in times of Temptation because First
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Corinthians 10 and verse 13 tells us that God will supply.
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A way of Escape we can thank God in the midst of Trials because
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James one versus two. Three teaches us that they teach
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us patience. We need patience.
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We can thank In the storms of life.
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Because as Peter says in First Peter 1:6 through seven, it
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refines our faith, just as fire refines gold difficulties, makes
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our faith stronger and better and more refined we can thank
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God even in the midst of chastisement because Romans 12
33:21
and verse 6 tells us that it is showing us, the love of God.
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Daniel and Daniel six when he's just learned about the law that
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has been signed, that is basically a death warrant for
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him. Self.
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What is the first thing that we see that he does?
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He goes to his room. He opens his windows towards
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Jerusalem and we read that he got down on his knees and he
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prayed giving God. Thanks.
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And the rest of the verse says, as he always had done in the
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good times, and even in the bad, Daniel Steel gave.
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Thanks 1st. Thessalonians, chapter 5 and
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verse 18 says in everything. Give thanks in everything give,
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thanks for. This is the will of God in
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Christ Jesus concerning. Serving you.
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I don't know what difficulties you face in life.
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I don't know what hardships and struggles that you that you all
34:10
have going on, but I can tell you this right now.
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We can still be thankful. Jesus said in Matthew 11:28.
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Come to me all who labor and are heavy laden and I will give you
34:22
rest. Take my yoke upon you, take my
34:25
yoke upon you and learn from me for.
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I am gentle and lowly in heart and you will find rest for your
34:32
souls. For my yoke is easy.
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Easy. And my burden is light.
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Now, that's in contrast to the burden and the yolk.
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That is in this world, what the world places upon us.
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It is heavy. And it is hard, and it is
34:45
difficult. But Jesus says, come follow me
34:48
and the burden, the small burden that you'll wear.
34:51
As you follow me compared to what you're going to face alone
34:55
without God in the world. My burden is light and my yoke
34:59
is easy. Thank God, even for the
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difficulties in life and Only this morning and probably the
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most obvious. Let's thank God for the
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Salvation that we have in Jesus Christ.
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We should never let a day go by where we're not somehow reminded
35:17
of the fact that Jesus Christ gave his life for our sins.
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We were able to remember it every first day of the week and
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we protect those emblems that represent his blood and his body
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but let's don't let Sundays. Let's don't let Thanksgiving day
35:29
in November be the only times that we reminded of things that
35:32
were to be thankful for Acts 4:12 tells us that salvation
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can't be found anywhere else except in the name of Jesus.
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Peter reminds us in John 6 and verse 6.
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Eight. That is it is only in Jesus that
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can be found the words of eternal life and Jesus tells us
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in John 14 and verse 6 that he is the way he is the truth, and
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he is the life. Let's be thankful for the
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Salvation that is found in Jesus Christ.
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Maybe you're here this morning and you're not a child of God.
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If you are not a child of God. I'm sad to tell you.
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But you don't have a whole lot to be thankful for you may be
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making millions of dollars. You may have all the friends in
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the world. You may have the fanciest cars
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and the biggest houses. But if you're outside of the
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body of Christ, if you're without the saving blood of
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Jesus, there can be no true happiness.
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We want to encourage you become a child of God, by repenting of
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your sins, confessing that Christ is Lord and be immersed
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by being immersed in water. So, those sins can be washed
36:30
away. Maybe you already are a child of
36:32
God. Maybe you have done as so many
36:35
people do from time to time. Maybe you've taken for granted
36:38
the blessings that you have in your life taking blessings for
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granted is a form of sin. Maybe you have sin in your life
36:46
that you want the congregation here to know that your repenting
36:48
of and you need encouragement. If we can help you in any way,
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please come, right now while we stand and sing.