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Transcript

Biblical Thanksgiving_ More Than a Holiday · truthunedited

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Speaker 1: You talk like you're grateful, so you don't live like it,
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Speaker 1: and deep down you feel it. You thank God on
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Speaker 1: the days when life behaves, when things finally go your way,
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Speaker 1: when the pressure lifts just long enough for you to breathe.
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Speaker 1: On those rare, peaceful days, your heart softens and you whisper,
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Speaker 1: thank you God. But the rest of the year, you're
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Speaker 1: drowning and worried. You're exhausted, you're running on empty it
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Speaker 1: and gratitude disappears the moment life stops co operating. What
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Speaker 1: if the problem isn't your life, but your definition of gratitude.
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Speaker 1: What if you've been taught the smallest, weakest version of thankfulness,
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Speaker 1: the kind that only comes when the world treats you gently,
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Speaker 1: while God has been trying to grow something deeper, stronger,
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Speaker 1: unshakable inside you. Because real gratitude doesn't wait for good days.
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Speaker 1: Real gratitude creates them. You don't need more thanksgiving days,
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Speaker 1: you need a thanksgiving heart before we move on. If
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Speaker 1: you're already feeling stirred, it's because you were made for more,
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Speaker 1: that ache in your heart for deeper connection, deeper meaning.
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Speaker 1: That's why deep Bible stories exists. Every week we unpack
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Speaker 1: entire books of the Bible, like Psalms, Romans, and Proverbs
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Speaker 1: in a way that doesn't just inform you, it transforms you.
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Speaker 1: Share this with someone who needs to live grateful again.
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Speaker 1: There's a table in the wilderness. It's not dressed with
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Speaker 1: silverware or wine. It's barren, cracked by sun and scorched
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Speaker 1: by sand. But something divine happens there. Provision falls from heaven,
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Speaker 1: manna from above, water from a rock, quail that rains
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Speaker 1: down at dusk. And at that table Moses sits, not
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Speaker 1: just as Israel's leader, but as your first teacher in
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Speaker 1: the school of gratitude. Moses doesn't preach prosperity. He preaches memory.
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Speaker 1: He watches a nation rescued by power become forgetful by comfort.
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Speaker 1: God parted sees for them, crushed pharaohs for them, fed
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Speaker 1: them by miracle, clothed them with garments that never wore out.
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Speaker 1: But the moment thirst struck their tongues, or hunger gnawed
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Speaker 1: at their stomachs, they forgot. And here's the devastating truth.
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Speaker 1: So do we we thank God when provision lands, But
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Speaker 1: when He withholds, we panic, complain, accuse Moses confronts it.
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Speaker 1: In Deuteronomy eight, he stands before the generation born in
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Speaker 1: the wild and thunders, Remember how the Lord, your God
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Speaker 1: led you all the way in the wilderness to humble
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Speaker 1: and test you. He humbled you, causing you to hunger,
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Speaker 1: and then feeding you with manner to teach you that
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Speaker 1: man does not live on bread alone, but on every
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Speaker 1: word that comes from the mouth of the Lord verse
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Speaker 1: two to three. Do you hear it? Gratitude was never
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Speaker 1: about the bread, it was about the word. The manner
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Speaker 1: was never the goal. It was the reminder. God fed
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Speaker 1: Israel not just to satisfy their bodies, but to train
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Speaker 1: their hearts to depend upon him. The wilderness was not punishment,
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Speaker 1: it was preparation, and thankfulness was not a suggestion, it
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Speaker 1: was survival. Moses teaches the first form of gratitude, thank
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Speaker 1: God when he provides, when the job comes through, when
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Speaker 1: the healing happens, that when the doors open, when the
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Speaker 1: rain falls, when the check clears, when the prayer is answered.
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Speaker 1: That this is the entry level table of thanks. It's
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Speaker 1: where we all begin, but it's not where we're meant
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Speaker 1: to stay. Because this level of gratitude is fragile. It
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Speaker 1: sings loud when life is full, but it falls silent
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Speaker 1: when God says wait. It dances in the over flow
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Speaker 1: and doubts in the dry land. It praises with hands
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Speaker 1: lifted until expectations are unmet. That's why Moses warns them
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Speaker 1: with trembling words, be careful that you do not forget
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Speaker 1: the Lord your God Deuteronomy eight eleven. Otherwise, when you
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Speaker 1: eat and are satisfied, then your heart will become proud,
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Speaker 1: and you will forget the Lord Verses twelve to fourteen.
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Speaker 1: In other words, provision without remembrance leads to pride, and
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Speaker 1: pride kills gratitude, and pride says I earned this, and
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Speaker 1: pride says I deserve this. Pride turns worship into entitlement.
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Speaker 1: So Moses gives them a warning and a way forward.
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Speaker 1: You may say to yourself, my power and the strength
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Speaker 1: of my hands have produced this wealth for me. But
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Speaker 1: remember the Lord your God, for it is he who
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Speaker 1: gives you the ability to produce wealth Verses seventeen to eighteen.
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Speaker 1: Do you hear the urgecy Gratitude must become a discipline,
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Speaker 1: not just a reaction, a way of seeing, thinking, breathing,
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Speaker 1: not just thanking, Because Forgetfulness is not just a human issue,
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Speaker 1: It is a spiritual disease, and Moses knows if they
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Speaker 1: forget in the wilderness, they'll worship idols in the promised Land.
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Speaker 1: If they forget when they're fed, they'll fall when they're full.
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Speaker 1: So before they ever cross into Canaan, Moses seats them
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Speaker 1: at a table in the desert and asks the same question.
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Speaker 1: The spirit now asks you. Will you remember the provider
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Speaker 1: or only the provision? Will your praise be tied to
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Speaker 1: results or rooted in revelation. This is the first table
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Speaker 1: of gratitude, and it's holy. It teaches us to thank
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Speaker 1: God for food, for freedom, for family, for shelter, for breath.
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Speaker 1: It trains us to see God's hand in daily mercies.
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Speaker 1: It breaks entitlement, It opens the eyes. But it is
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Speaker 1: not the final table, because life will not always look
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Speaker 1: like answered prayers and parting seas. Manna will not always fall,
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Speaker 1: water will not always gush from rocks, And if your
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Speaker 1: gratitude depends on what your eyes can see, you will
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Speaker 1: fall into bitterness when life breaks. So to day, honor
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Speaker 1: the Moses level, thank him for his provision, but prepare
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Speaker 1: to graduate it because the next table is not set
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Speaker 1: in the wilderness. It's spread in the valley, lit by
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Speaker 1: the shadows, surrounded by enemies, and filled with the kind
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Speaker 1: of gratitude the world can't understand. There's a difference between
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Speaker 1: a prayer whispered over bread and a song sung in
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Speaker 1: the dark. Moses taught us how to say thank you
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Speaker 1: for the miracle, but David, David teaches us how to
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Speaker 1: say thank you through the madness. Because David didn't write
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Speaker 1: his psalms from palaces alone. He wrote them from caves,
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Speaker 1: from cliffs, from fields, and from the battle field of
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Speaker 1: his own soul. He was the shepherd who became king,
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Speaker 1: the giant slayer who would later weep for his own failures,
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Speaker 1: the man after God's heart, who knew what it was
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Speaker 1: like to feel God and also to cry out, my God,
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Speaker 1: why have you forsaken me? David's table was not spread
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Speaker 1: in the sunshine of predictability. His banquet was prepared in
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Speaker 1: the wilderness of waiting, and it was there that David
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Speaker 1: graduated from thank you for to thank you. Even though
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Speaker 1: Psalm twenty three is not a children's bedtime verse, it
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Speaker 1: is a warrior's declaration in the middle of conflict, even
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Speaker 1: though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
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Speaker 1: I will fear no evil, for you are with me.
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Speaker 1: Even though even though I don't see the answer yet,
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Speaker 1: even though the diagnosis is still terminal, even though they
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Speaker 1: betrayed me, even though my heart is shattered, even though
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Speaker 1: the future is on clear, I will not fear because
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Speaker 1: you are still here. This is mature gratitude. This is
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Speaker 1: not the child at the table asking what's for dessert.
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Speaker 1: This is the soldier in the storm saying you are
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Speaker 1: still my portion. Moses. Thank God for the manner. David
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Speaker 1: thanked God in the valley, and the valley wasn't just metaphorical.
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Speaker 1: David was chased by Saul, his own king, slandered by
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Speaker 1: his own son Absalom, mocked by enemies, tempted by lust,
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Speaker 1: torn by grief, haunted by the consequences of his own sins,
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Speaker 1: and still he wrote, I will bless the Lord at
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Speaker 1: all times. His praise shall continually be in my mouth
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Speaker 1: Psalm thirty four, Verse one. Who says that not a beginner,
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Speaker 1: not a casual church goer, not someone whose faith is
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Speaker 1: based on goose bumps, only some one who has walked
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Speaker 1: with God through the shadows David's worship didn't rise because
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Speaker 1: life was perfect. It rose because because God was present.
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Speaker 1: Gratitude became his warfare, his anchor, his breath. And maybe
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Speaker 1: that's where you are right now, not in the promised Land,
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Speaker 1: not in the palace, but in the pressure. And God
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Speaker 1: is inviting you to a deeper table, a table where
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Speaker 1: your praise is no longer dependent on what's on your plate.
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Speaker 1: But who is at the head of the table. David
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Speaker 1: wrote something else in Psalm thirteen, How long, Lord, will
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Speaker 1: you forget me forever? How long will you hide your
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Speaker 1: face from me? Verse one? But then only a few
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Speaker 1: verses later, he says, but I trust in your unfailing love.
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Speaker 1: My heart rejoices in your salvation. I will sing the
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Speaker 1: Lord's praise, for he has been good to MEO is
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Speaker 1: in five to six. Even in unanswered questions, David found
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Speaker 1: unshakable gratitude. Why because gratitude isn't about getting answers, It's
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Speaker 1: about knowing the one who is the answer. David's table
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Speaker 1: shows us there is a banquet to be had in brokenness.
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Speaker 1: There is oil for our heads. In the presence of wolves.
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Speaker 1: There is goodness and mercy chasing us. Even when the
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Speaker 1: world says we're losing. So let me ask you. Can
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Speaker 1: you thank him when nothing changes? Can you say it
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Speaker 1: is well before the red sea parts. Can you sing
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Speaker 1: in the cave, worship in the wilderness, and feast in
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Speaker 1: the valley. That is the mark of a graduate, not
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Speaker 1: just gratitude for provision, but gratitude through pain. Because the
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Speaker 1: valley will come, the shadow will stretch long, the silence
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Speaker 1: will scream. But if you can still whisper, thank you,
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Speaker 1: you have found the banquet David never stopped eating from
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Speaker 1: There comes a day when childlike gratitude breaks, when thanking
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Speaker 1: God for what He's given isn't enough to carry you
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Speaker 1: through what he allows. You look around and the blessings
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Speaker 1: you used to count on, the prayers you shouted are
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Speaker 1: still unanswered. The room, once full of God's nearness, now
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Speaker 1: echoes with silence. And it's here that faith reaches its
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Speaker 1: cross roads. Will you only praise God for the sunlight,
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Speaker 1: or will you bless Him in the shadows? Psalm twenty three,
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Speaker 1: verse four is not a poetic cliche. It is a test,
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Speaker 1: a torch, a dividing line between infant faith and grown
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Speaker 1: up worship. Even though I walk through the valley of
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Speaker 1: the shadow of death. I will fear no evil for
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Speaker 1: you are with me, even though those two words are
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Speaker 1: what separate spiritual children from warriors. Even though the valley
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Speaker 1: is dark, even though the miracle didn't come, even though
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Speaker 1: the divorce papers were signed, even though the casket was lowered,
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Speaker 1: even though the diagnosis was not reversed, even though I'm
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Speaker 1: still waiting, still, I will praise you. This is the
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Speaker 1: graduation point, the day you stop living from the hand
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Speaker 1: of God and start anchoring your heart in his presence.
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Speaker 1: Let's be honest. Immature faith needs evidence. It needs goose bumps,
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Speaker 1: It needs a good worship set, It needs the healing,
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Speaker 1: the breakthrough, the story wrapped in a bow. But warrior
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Speaker 1: faith doesn't need proof. It only needs the promise. And
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Speaker 1: the promise is not that the valley will disappear. It's
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Speaker 1: that you won't walk it alone, for you are with me.
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Speaker 1: That's the shift. That's the power. Not God changed it,
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Speaker 1: but God stayed with me through it. Real gratitude begins
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Speaker 1: when you learn to praise God not because of what
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Speaker 1: he's doing, but because of who He is, unchanging, unshaken, undefeated.
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Speaker 1: This is where the soul learns to sing even with
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Speaker 1: a limp. It's where you meet people who don't shout
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Speaker 1: the loudest in worship, but they're quiet. Thank you carries
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Speaker 1: weight because it came through fire. There's a sacredness in
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Speaker 1: broken holle lujahs asked Job, he lost everything, his wealth,
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Speaker 1: his children, his health, and still in the ashes, he said,
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Speaker 1: though he slay me, yet will I trust him? Job
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Speaker 1: thirteen fifteen, ask Hebaccuk. He saw famine, destruction, hopelessness, and
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Speaker 1: yet he declared, though the fig tree does not bud
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Speaker 1: yet I will rejoice in the Lord. Habakkuk three seventeen
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Speaker 1: to eighteen, ask Jesus sweating blood in gathsemone, saying, not
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Speaker 1: get me out, but not my will, but yours be done.
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Speaker 1: This is the even though kind of praise. It is
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Speaker 1: not flashy, It does not trend, It won't get applause,
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Speaker 1: but it shakes hell because when Satan sees a believer
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Speaker 1: refused to stop worshiping, even when life looks like God's absence,
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Speaker 1: he knows that heart belongs fully to the King. Any
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Speaker 1: One can praise when the sun is up, but only
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Speaker 1: the matured can praise when it's night. When it's raining
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Speaker 1: when thing makes sense and still say you are good.
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Speaker 1: Let me ask you what valley are you walking through?
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Speaker 1: What unanswered prayer is still hanging in the air. What
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Speaker 1: pain has been begging you to go silent? Don't fake joy,
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Speaker 1: don't pretend the ache isn't there. But don't stop singing,
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Speaker 1: because that broken, breathless whisper God, I still trust you
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Speaker 1: is the most powerful sound in the universe. The valley
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Speaker 1: is not your end, it's your training ground. And when
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Speaker 1: you graduate from thank you for to thank you. Even
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Speaker 1: though you're no longer sitting at the kiddie table, you
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Speaker 1: are dining with kings and prophets. You are feasting at
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Speaker 1: the table of the lamb, whose scars prove that even
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Speaker 1: suffering can serve the glory of God. There is a
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Speaker 1: table God sets for his children, But it's not where
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Speaker 1: you'd expect. It's not in a quiet garden. It's not
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Speaker 1: in a cozy house. It's not surrounded by safety or silence.
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Speaker 1: You prepare a table before me in the present of
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Speaker 1: my enemies Psalm twenty three five, not in their absence,
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Speaker 1: not after the victory, in their presence. What kind of
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Speaker 1: God sets a banquet in the middle of a battlefield.
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Speaker 1: What kind of father calls you to sit and eat
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Speaker 1: while your enemies hiss, while fear stares you down, while
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Speaker 1: the voices of the past scream that you are unworthy.
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Speaker 1: Your God does Because mature gratitude is not learned in
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Speaker 1: the absence of pressure. It's learned under its weight, in
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Speaker 1: the fires, in the noise, in the tension of the unresolved.
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Speaker 1: The table of presence is not about perfect circumstances. It's
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Speaker 1: about the perfect nearness of God in imperfect moments. Imagine
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Speaker 1: David surrounded by spears, armies, betrayal, and God whispers. Sit,
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Speaker 1: Sit while enemies circle, while arrows fly, while the battle
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Speaker 1: isn't over. Yes, it's it. Because worship isn't a break
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Speaker 1: from the war. It's your victory cry in the middle
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Speaker 1: of it. This is where God matures the believer, not
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Speaker 1: by removing enemies, but by making you unbothered in their presence,
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Speaker 1: by training your eyes to focus not on who's around you,
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Speaker 1: but on who is with you. That's the shift. Immature
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Speaker 1: gratitude says God, make it stop and I'll thank you.
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Speaker 1: Mature gratitude says, even if it never stops, I'll feast
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Speaker 1: in your presence. God doesn't want to silence your enemies
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Speaker 1: before you praise. He wants you to praise so confidently,
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Speaker 1: so defiantly, that your enemies are silenced in awe. And
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Speaker 1: this is where the feast begins. It's not about food,
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Speaker 1: it's about confidence. It's about communion. It's about a table
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Speaker 1: where your soul is filled not by the absence of fear,
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Speaker 1: but by the fullness of God. Here's what most don't realize.
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Speaker 1: The presence of enemies is a sign of elevation. You
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Speaker 1: don't draw fire unless you're gaining ground. You don't get
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Speaker 1: surrounded unless the enemy feels threatened. You don't get assigned
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Speaker 1: a table unless Heaven has decided it's time for you
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Speaker 1: to eat. That anxiety trying to steal your sleep, that
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Speaker 1: betrayal still echoing in your heart, that opposition rising against
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Speaker 1: your calling, they're not signs of God's absence. They're signs
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Speaker 1: of his preparation. The table is being set, and the
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Speaker 1: menu isn't fear, it's favor. You anoint my head with oil.
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Speaker 1: My cup overflows anointing not after the battle, but during it.
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Speaker 1: Overflow not after the stress is gone, but while the
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Speaker 1: pressure is still here. That's the way of the kingdom.
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Speaker 1: So let me ask you something uncomfortable. Can you stay
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Speaker 1: seated when the enemy walks in the room. Can you
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Speaker 1: keep eating when the arrows fly? Can you say thank
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Speaker 1: you Lord when the diagnosis comes, when the child walks away,
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Speaker 1: when the answer doesn't. Because that's when the table becomes sacred.
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Speaker 1: When you don't just sing about victory, You dine in
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Speaker 1: the presence of threats. When your worship isn't a retreat,
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Speaker 1: it's a declaration. When your thanksgiving is not because you
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Speaker 1: escaped the fire, but because God sat in it with you.
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Speaker 1: This is where babies in the faith become sons and
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Speaker 1: daughters of the king. This is where weak praise becomes
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Speaker 1: war songs, where gratitude becomes rebellion against despair, Where fear
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Speaker 1: comes to watch and ends up watching you feast. Don't
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Speaker 1: miss the invitation. God is not rushing to rescue you
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Speaker 1: out of the room. He's asking you to sit at
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Speaker 1: the table with trembling hands, with real questions, and lift
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Speaker 1: your eyes to him. Let them stare, Let the enemy whish,
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Speaker 1: but let the voices rage. But you you lift your fork,
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Speaker 1: you raise your head, and you say even here, you
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Speaker 1: are worthy because the table is not for cowards. It's
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Speaker 1: for conquerors in training. And your enemies they didn't come
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Speaker 1: to defeat you. They came to witness your meal. There
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Speaker 1: is a moment in every believer's life if they stay
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Speaker 1: seated at the table long enough, when something unexpected happens.
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Speaker 1: The enemies who once mocked you is now have to
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Speaker 1: serve you, not because they wanted to, not because they changed,
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Speaker 1: but because God turned the table. The same soul who
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Speaker 1: threw spears at David would later fall on his own.
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Speaker 1: The same accusers who dragged Daniel's name through political fire
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Speaker 1: were the ones who were devoured in the den. They
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Speaker 1: prepared the same cross that was supposed to silence Christ
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Speaker 1: became his eternal platform. When God prepares the table for
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Speaker 1: you in the presence of your enemies, he's not just
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Speaker 1: feeding you. He's making a statement. The table is not
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Speaker 1: just about survival, it's about vindication. Let's go back to
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Speaker 1: Psalm twenty three, verse five. You prepare a table before
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Speaker 1: me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my
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Speaker 1: head with oil. My cup overflows. Notice the verbs God prepares,
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Speaker 1: God anoints, God overflows you just sit while your enemies
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Speaker 1: watching and wait on you. See, we often pray for
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Speaker 1: God to remove our enemies, but sometimes He prefers to
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Speaker 1: reassign them. The same mouths that gossiped about you now
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Speaker 1: must witness your promotion. The same systems that tried to
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Speaker 1: crush you now become the platform for your purpose. The
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Speaker 1: same devils that taunted you in the dark, now here
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Speaker 1: you sing in the light of dawn. That's what happens
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Speaker 1: when gratitude grows up. You stop running from battles, you
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Speaker 1: stop begging for escape, and you start realizing this pain
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Speaker 1: is about to feed me. David said in Psalm one
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Speaker 1: hundred nineteen, verse seventy one, it was good for me
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Speaker 1: to be afflicted so that I might learn your decrees.
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Speaker 1: Good for me, not comfortable, not fair, but good because
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Speaker 1: what was meant to break ukes became bred for you.
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Speaker 1: Your betrayal became your breakthrough. Your rejection launched your redirection.
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Speaker 1: Your delay trained your dependents, and your enemies. They're now
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Speaker 1: your waiters. They don't get to sit at the table,
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Speaker 1: they don't get to eat what you eat, but they
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Speaker 1: serve what God is placing on your plate. It's divine reversal.
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Speaker 1: Joseph was thrown into a pit by brothers who hated him, sold, forgotten, framed, imprisoned.
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Speaker 1: But years later, what did he say? You meant evil
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Speaker 1: against me, but God meant it for good, to save
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Speaker 1: many lives Genesis fifty twenty. God turned the betrayal into
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Speaker 1: a buffet. Joseph feasted, Pharaoh honored him, Egypt fed by
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Speaker 1: his wisdom, and the very brothers who left him to
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Speaker 1: die watched him fulfill destiny. So let me ask you,
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Speaker 1: what pain have you been running from that God wants
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Speaker 1: to turn into a meal. What enemies have you cursed
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Speaker 1: that God is about to use for your elevation. Don't
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Speaker 1: just ask God to remove the obstacle, ask him to
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Speaker 1: redeem it. Because mature gratitude doesn't just say thank you
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Speaker 1: for delivering me. It says thank you for what you
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Speaker 1: taught me through the ones who tried to destroy me.
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Speaker 1: Real thanksgiving sounds like this, thank you for the boss
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Speaker 1: who broke me because it taught me to serve with humility.
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Speaker 1: Thank you for the sickness because it forced me to
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Speaker 1: see healing isn't just physical. Thank you for the closed
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Speaker 1: doors because now I know which ones you opened. Thank
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Speaker 1: you for the loneliness, because it drove me to your presence.
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Speaker 1: That's when your enemies become your waiters, when every weapon
22:56
Speaker 1: formed against you fails, when every accusation became evidence of
23:01
Speaker 1: God's mercy, when the ones who came to harm you
23:04
Speaker 1: now carry your harvest, and all the while you stay seated,
23:08
Speaker 1: you eat, you overflow, you smile, You forgive because you
23:12
Speaker 1: no longer need revenge. You've been fed. And when God
23:16
Speaker 1: feeds you, you don't fight small battles. You don't explain
23:19
Speaker 1: your favor, you don't prove your worth. You just feast
23:22
Speaker 1: in the face of devils. That's what Thanksgiving looks like
23:26
Speaker 1: in the life of a grown believer. So stop praying
23:29
Speaker 1: for a life without enemies. Pray for a table in
23:31
Speaker 1: their presence, because when God sets that table, even your
23:36
Speaker 1: pain has to serve his purpose. For most of the world,
23:40
Speaker 1: Thanksgiving is a day, a meal, a memory wrapped in
23:44
Speaker 1: warm spices, old stories, and a short prayer before the
23:47
Speaker 1: turkey is carved. One day of thanks one moment of reflection,
23:52
Speaker 1: then back to complaining, scrolling, worrying, rushing. But Heaven never
23:56
Speaker 1: called you to visit Thanksgiving. Heaven called you to live it.
24:01
Speaker 1: What if God is grieved not because we don't say
24:04
Speaker 1: thank you, but because we only say it when the
24:07
Speaker 1: calendar reminds us to What if you've built your entire
24:10
Speaker 1: life around moments of gratitude instead of a mindset of gratitude.
24:16
Speaker 1: Psalm fifty twenty three declares it clearly, the one who
24:20
Speaker 1: offers thanksgiving as his sacrifice glorifies me. Not the one
24:24
Speaker 1: who sings the loudest, not the one who attends every service,
24:28
Speaker 1: not the one who quotes the most verses, but the
24:31
Speaker 1: one who lives in thanksgiving daily, deeply, deliberately. This is
24:37
Speaker 1: where we confront something dangerous. Gratitude has become seasonal. We
24:42
Speaker 1: treat it like we treat Christmas lights, beautiful when it's on,
24:47
Speaker 1: but packed away for most of the year. But in
24:50
Speaker 1: the Kingdom of God, thanksgiving is not an accessory. It
24:54
Speaker 1: is a weapon, a compass, a lens that reshapes how
24:58
Speaker 1: we see the world and walk with our God. When
25:02
Speaker 1: Paul wrote give thanks in all circumstances First Thessalonians five eighteen,
25:07
Speaker 1: he wasn't offering advice. He was issuing a command forged
25:11
Speaker 1: in the furnace of suffering. This is the man who
25:14
Speaker 1: was shipwrecked, beaten, imprisoned, stoned, and betrayed. And yet he
25:19
Speaker 1: didn't say, give thanks when life is fair, he said,
25:22
Speaker 1: in all circumstances, because thanksgiving is not agreement with what's happening.
25:27
Speaker 1: It's alignment with who's in control. That's why the enemy
25:32
Speaker 1: doesn't fear a Christian who prays only for things to change.
25:36
Speaker 1: He fears the one who says, even if it doesn't,
25:39
Speaker 1: I'll thank him anyway. Because that kind of heart cannot
25:44
Speaker 1: be manipulated, it cannot be silenced, and it cannot be bought.
25:50
Speaker 1: That heart has graduated. Let's get honest, when is the
25:54
Speaker 1: last time you thanked God not just with your lips,
25:57
Speaker 1: but with your lifestyle. Not just in a moment of
25:59
Speaker 1: break through, but when the breakthrough didn't come. Not just
26:03
Speaker 1: during a worship set, but in a hospital room. Not
26:07
Speaker 1: just when the child was born, but when the child
26:10
Speaker 1: walked away. We don't just need thanksgiving sermons. We need
26:15
Speaker 1: a thanksgiving spirit, one that wakes up in the morning
26:18
Speaker 1: and says, thank you for another breath, thank you for
26:21
Speaker 1: this roof, thank you for your mercy that met me
26:24
Speaker 1: before my feet hit the floor, thank you for the storm.
26:29
Speaker 1: Because I've never seen you fail me in one. Do
26:33
Speaker 1: you want to know what spiritual maturity looks like. It's
26:36
Speaker 1: not someone who's memorized doctrine. It's someone who, through hell
26:40
Speaker 1: and high water, still whispers thank you Lord. Because that
26:45
Speaker 1: kind of believer has stopped treating gratitude as a holiday
26:50
Speaker 1: and started living it as a holy calling. Gratitude is
26:53
Speaker 1: not a moment. It's not a mood. It's a mirror
26:57
Speaker 1: reflecting what you really believe about God. When you live
27:00
Speaker 1: a life of thanksgiving, it shifts everything. It doesn't mean
27:05
Speaker 1: every day is easy. It means every day has meaning.
27:09
Speaker 1: It doesn't mean you deny pain. It means you declare
27:12
Speaker 1: God is still good in your pain. It doesn't mean
27:16
Speaker 1: you fake joy. It means you've tasted something deeper than happiness,
27:20
Speaker 1: his presence. Let me say this boldly. Gratitude is not
27:25
Speaker 1: just a response. It's a resistance. Every time you give thanks,
27:29
Speaker 1: you defy bitterness, You overthrow anxiety, you kick pride off
27:33
Speaker 1: the throne. You invite God to rule your emotions, not
27:37
Speaker 1: your circumstances. Because when God finds a grateful heart, he
27:42
Speaker 1: fills it. He doesn't wait for perfect behavior. He looks
27:45
Speaker 1: for a thankful posture. That's why some of the most
27:48
Speaker 1: powerful believers you'll ever meet are the quiet ones, the
27:52
Speaker 1: ones who suffered, long, walked through fire, buried dreams, and
27:58
Speaker 1: yet still say He's worthy. They've learned the secret. Thanksgiving
28:04
Speaker 1: is not a dinner table. It's a life style altar,
28:07
Speaker 1: and every time they kneel on it, the fire of
28:10
Speaker 1: heaven falls. So to day, don't wait for the meal,
28:13
Speaker 1: don't wait for the miracle, don't wait for the music
28:16
Speaker 1: to swell or the emotions to rise. Look at your
28:20
Speaker 1: life right now and say it with trembling, with tears,
28:24
Speaker 1: or with triumph. Thank you God for what I see,
28:27
Speaker 1: for what I don't, for what I have, for who
28:30
Speaker 1: you are. Because when you do, you're not just giving thanks,
28:34
Speaker 1: your offering worship that makes hell tremble. Before there was
28:38
Speaker 1: a cross, before there was an upper room, Before there
28:41
Speaker 1: was a psalm written or a sermon preached, there was
28:44
Speaker 1: fire on an altar and the scent of thanksgiving rising
28:49
Speaker 1: in smoke. Welcome to the school of gratitude Old Testament style.
28:57
Speaker 1: Not the gratitude that waits until blessings, not the kind
29:01
Speaker 1: that flutters when the day is good, but a gritty disciplined,
29:05
Speaker 1: bloody gratitude woven into the rhythm of life, sacrifice, and survival.
29:11
Speaker 1: Because God didn't suggest thanksgiving in ancient Israel, he commanded
29:16
Speaker 1: it every morning, every evening, and every season, every harvest,
29:21
Speaker 1: every battle won, every sin forgiven. He baked gratitude into
29:25
Speaker 1: their calendar, their rituals, their very identity. Noviticus seven describes
29:30
Speaker 1: the thank offering a specific kind of sacrifice, not required
29:35
Speaker 1: like the sin offering, not mandated like the burnt offering,
29:38
Speaker 1: but voluntarily given out of a heart that knew God
29:42
Speaker 1: has been faithful, and I must respond. This was not
29:47
Speaker 1: a whispered thanks God. This was an animal, a fire,
29:53
Speaker 1: a priest, a public act. It costs something, because in
29:56
Speaker 1: the Old Testament, thanksgiving wasn't a feeling, it a flame.
30:01
Speaker 1: God told his people to bring the best, unblemished, costly chosen.
30:06
Speaker 1: He told them to offer it in the presence of community.
30:09
Speaker 1: He told them to eat of it quickly before it's spoiled,
30:13
Speaker 1: because gratitude delayed becomes gratitude decayed. And He did all
30:19
Speaker 1: this for one reason, to train their memory it because
30:22
Speaker 1: forgetfulness isn't harmless, it's lethal. Every time Israel forgot to
30:27
Speaker 1: give thanks. They wandered. Every time they neglected the altar,
30:31
Speaker 1: they turned to widols. Every time they grew casual with gratitude,
30:35
Speaker 1: their hearts grew cold toward God. And here's the truth.
30:39
Speaker 1: We are no different. We don't build altars, we build routines.
30:43
Speaker 1: We don't sacrifice bulls, we scroll feeds. We don't burn offerings.
30:48
Speaker 1: We burn out. And in our modern speed, we've lost
30:51
Speaker 1: the ancient art of remembrance. But the call still stands.
30:56
Speaker 1: Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good. His
30:58
Speaker 1: love endures forever. First Chronicle, sixteen thirty four. That verse
31:04
Speaker 1: wasn't a lyric. It was a command of survival. To
31:07
Speaker 1: thank God, not just when you felt it, but to
31:10
Speaker 1: keep your soul from forgetting who he is. Because spiritual
31:14
Speaker 1: forgetfulness is the seed bed of idolatry. It's what made
31:19
Speaker 1: Israel trade Yahweh for a golden calf. It's what made
31:23
Speaker 1: them complain about manna whilst standing under Heaven's daily miracle.
31:27
Speaker 1: It's what made them grumble in the wilderness with shoes
31:31
Speaker 1: that never wore out. So God gave them rituals, not
31:34
Speaker 1: to enslave them, but to preserve them. He told them
31:38
Speaker 1: to give thanks in the morning to start the day, remembering,
31:41
Speaker 1: I didn't wake myself up. I didn't create this air.
31:45
Speaker 1: I didn't make the sun rise. He told them to
31:48
Speaker 1: give thanks in the evening to end the day, declaring
31:51
Speaker 1: I made it through because of His mercy. I laid
31:54
Speaker 1: down in peace because He sustained me. He told them
31:57
Speaker 1: to bring first fruits, declareing, before I touch this harvest,
32:03
Speaker 1: God gets his portion. He told them to gather three
32:08
Speaker 1: times a year in celebration to remember He delivered them
32:12
Speaker 1: from Egypt, gave them a land, fought their battles forgave
32:15
Speaker 1: their sins. God was not just training their actions, He
32:19
Speaker 1: was forming their identity. And here's the beauty. The Old
32:23
Speaker 1: Testament shadows have become New Testament substance. You don't have
32:27
Speaker 1: to offer grain. You are the offering, present your bodies
32:32
Speaker 1: as a living sacrifice wholly acceptable to God, which is
32:36
Speaker 1: your reasonable act of worship Romans twelve one. Your daily
32:41
Speaker 1: obedience is incense. Your whispered thanks in the car is fire.
32:46
Speaker 1: Your faith in the valley is a fragrance Heaven can't ignore.
32:50
Speaker 1: But don't forget this. God still commands it. Gratitude is
32:53
Speaker 1: not optional, It is your spiritual defense against amnesia, against pride,
33:00
Speaker 1: against apathy. It is how you say every day, I
33:03
Speaker 1: remember what you did, I know who you are. I
33:07
Speaker 1: haven't forgotten. You don't need a festival, you don't need
33:11
Speaker 1: a sanctuary, you don't need a holiday. You just need
33:15
Speaker 1: a heart that knows everything I have came from Him.
33:19
Speaker 1: So to day, don't wait for the feeling. Let the
33:21
Speaker 1: fire of thanks burn early and often, morning and evening,
33:25
Speaker 1: in little things and big ones, in tears and in triumph.
33:29
Speaker 1: Because the same God who trained Israel through altars is
33:33
Speaker 1: training you through remembrance. What if I told you that
33:37
Speaker 1: every time you withhold gratitude, something sacred inside you begins
33:42
Speaker 1: to die. Not just your joy, not just your peace,
33:46
Speaker 1: but your memory of who God is and who you
33:49
Speaker 1: are because of him. Gratitude is not just a reaction
33:53
Speaker 1: to blessing. It is a guard rail that protects revelation.
33:57
Speaker 1: You are not designed to carry glory, designed to return it.
34:02
Speaker 1: And when you don't return it in thanks, pride creeps in,
34:05
Speaker 1: then spiritual amnesia, then entitlement, then idolatry. This is why
34:13
Speaker 1: gratitude is not just a virtue, It's a defense system.
34:17
Speaker 1: Let's pause and look at what gratitude protects. One You
34:21
Speaker 1: were chosen before the foundation of the world Ephesians one four,
34:27
Speaker 1: long before your name was whispered by your parents. It
34:30
Speaker 1: was written in heaven. You were not random. You were
34:33
Speaker 1: selected seen before time, not based on merit, but on mercy.
34:39
Speaker 1: Gratitude for this truth keeps you from striving. It humbles you,
34:43
Speaker 1: anchors you, silences the lie that you are forgotten. Without gratitude,
34:48
Speaker 1: election becomes arrogance, but with gratitude it becomes awe. Two.
34:54
Speaker 1: You were adopted into sonship Ephesians one five. You are
34:59
Speaker 1: not an orphan trying to earn love. You are a son,
35:02
Speaker 1: a daughter, with full rights, access, and inheritance. Gratitude protects
35:08
Speaker 1: your identity because the enemy doesn't need to steal your calling.
35:13
Speaker 1: He only needs to make you forget you're a child
35:16
Speaker 1: of God. When you give thanks for your adoption, you
35:19
Speaker 1: stop begging like a servant and start worshiping like a son. Three.
35:26
Speaker 1: You were redeemed and forgiven Ephesians one seven. Your record
35:31
Speaker 1: was erased, your sin buried, your shame shattered. Gratitude is
35:36
Speaker 1: the only proper response to mercy. Without it, you drift
35:39
Speaker 1: into legalism. A worse spiritual amnesia, where you act like
35:44
Speaker 1: you never needed grace to begin with. A grateful soul
35:48
Speaker 1: never forgets the weight of sin or the beauty of
35:52
Speaker 1: being washed. Four you were sealed with the Holy Spirit
35:56
Speaker 1: at Ephesians one thirteen. God didn't just save you. He
36:00
Speaker 1: stamped you, sealed you, filled you with the down payment
36:05
Speaker 1: of eternity. Gratitude protects your intimacy with the Spirit. When
36:10
Speaker 1: you're thankful, you become sensitive to his whispers. When you're forgetful,
36:15
Speaker 1: you become numb to his presence. Five you were given
36:20
Speaker 1: the Word of God, a sword in your hand, a
36:24
Speaker 1: lamp to your feet, an anchor for your soul. Gratitude
36:28
Speaker 1: protects the reverence of scripture. It keeps the Bible from
36:32
Speaker 1: becoming background noise. It reminds you this is not just text,
36:38
Speaker 1: It is God speaking. If you've lost hunger for the Word,
36:41
Speaker 1: go back and give thanks for the privilege of holding it.
36:45
Speaker 1: Six you were promised resurrection Ephesian's one eighteen to twenty.
36:51
Speaker 1: This world is not your end. Death is not your defeat.
36:55
Speaker 1: You are destined for glory. Gratitude keeps your eyes on
36:59
Speaker 1: the finish line. When you give thanks for eternity. You
37:02
Speaker 1: stop living like this life is all there is. You
37:05
Speaker 1: suffer differently, you hope harder, you resist, compromise, and all
37:10
Speaker 1: of this, every privilege, every promise, is protected by gratitude,
37:15
Speaker 1: because in gratitude is not just rudeness, its rebellion. Romans
37:20
Speaker 1: one twenty one says, for although they knew God, they
37:24
Speaker 1: neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him.
37:27
Speaker 1: But their thinking became futile, and their foolish hearts were darkened.
37:32
Speaker 1: Do you see it? And no thanks equals no clarity,
37:35
Speaker 1: No thanks equals a darkened heart. No thanks equals spiritual erosion.
37:40
Speaker 1: That's why Satan doesn't need to get you to worship him.
37:43
Speaker 1: He just wants you to stop thanking God. Because once
37:47
Speaker 1: your thanks dries up, your memory of God's goodness follows,
37:51
Speaker 1: and then you're vulnerable. So what do we do? We
37:54
Speaker 1: give thanks on purpose, not to flatter God, but to
37:58
Speaker 1: fortify ourselves, because thankfulness is how we fight the fog.
38:03
Speaker 1: It's how we remember the privileges we've been given. It's
38:06
Speaker 1: how we protect the truths that shape us. It's how
38:10
Speaker 1: we stay tender in a calloused world. Let me ask you,
38:13
Speaker 1: have you lost gratitude for what can't be taken from you.
38:17
Speaker 1: Forget the job, the house, the news cycle, the noise.
38:21
Speaker 1: Have you forgotten your chosen that you're sealed, that you
38:25
Speaker 1: have His spirit, his word, his name written on your life.
38:29
Speaker 1: If so, return not to religion and to remembrance, because
38:33
Speaker 1: your praise isn't just a sound. It's a shield. And
38:36
Speaker 1: when you lift it, you don't just glorify God. You
38:40
Speaker 1: protect your soul. Gratitude isn't a polite gesture. It's not
38:45
Speaker 1: a sweet word you whisper before dinner. It's not a
38:48
Speaker 1: smile after a lucky day. Gratitude is a supernatural force,
38:54
Speaker 1: a holy detonator in the soul of a believer. It
38:58
Speaker 1: changes everything, and the moment you reduce it to manners
39:01
Speaker 1: or mood, you rob it of its eternal fire. Because
39:05
Speaker 1: gratitude doesn't just decorate your life, it transforms it. Gratitude
39:10
Speaker 1: doesn't wait for the atmosphere to shift, It creates the atmosphere.
39:15
Speaker 1: It is the sound that breaks chains, the song that
39:18
Speaker 1: silences the accuser, the language that confuses hell and summons heaven.
39:23
Speaker 1: Want to see your life shift? Start here. One Gratitude
39:28
Speaker 1: keeps you aware of God's presence. When you choose thanks,
39:32
Speaker 1: you tether your awareness back to God. In Exodus thirty three,
39:35
Speaker 1: Moses says, if your presence does not go with us,
39:39
Speaker 1: do not bring us up from here. What keeps us
39:42
Speaker 1: aware of His presence? Not just worship music, not just goosebumps.
39:47
Speaker 1: Gratitude Thankfulness sharpens your senses. It reminds you that God
39:52
Speaker 1: isn't far. He's right here, in the breath, in the ache,
39:55
Speaker 1: in the silence. Two. Gratitude submits your will to his.
40:02
Speaker 1: You can't say thank you in my way. At the
40:04
Speaker 1: same time, when you thank God, even when you don't
40:08
Speaker 1: understand him, you're surrendering control. You're declaring your ways are higher,
40:13
Speaker 1: your will is better. Even this, yes, even this is
40:17
Speaker 1: working for my good. It's how Jesus broke breadth the
40:20
Speaker 1: night before the cross. He gave thanks while betrayal lurked,
40:25
Speaker 1: while blood loomed, while the nails were already echoing in eternity.
40:30
Speaker 1: Because even when pain was coming, Jesus said thank you. Three.
40:37
Speaker 1: A gratitude lifts emotional burdens. Philippians four six to seven
40:41
Speaker 1: doesn't say pray and you'll have peace. It says, with
40:44
Speaker 1: thanksgiving present your request to God, and the peace of
40:48
Speaker 1: God will guard your hearts and minds. Why Because anxiety
40:54
Speaker 1: says what if? But Thanksgiving says God already has. It's
40:58
Speaker 1: not that your circumstances change instantly, it's that you do.
41:03
Speaker 1: Your posture shifts, your breath slows, your heart stops racing
41:07
Speaker 1: and starts resting, because Thanksgiving realigns your focus from chaos
41:12
Speaker 1: to Christ. Four. Gratitude reduces anxiety when your lips say
41:20
Speaker 1: thank you. Your mind stops spinning because you stop rehearsing
41:25
Speaker 1: what's wrong and start remembering what's right. Gratitude shrinks the
41:30
Speaker 1: voice of fear. It says, I may not have what
41:33
Speaker 1: I want, but I remember who never left. I may
41:37
Speaker 1: not understand this path, but I trust the one who
41:40
Speaker 1: drew it. The enemy thrives in the atmosphere of worry,
41:45
Speaker 1: but he suffocates in the atmosphere of thanks Five. Gratitude
41:50
Speaker 1: strengthens trust. The more you thank him for the past,
41:54
Speaker 1: the stronger you trust him with the future. You start
41:57
Speaker 1: remembering he provided, Then he healed, Then he showed up
42:02
Speaker 1: in that moment. He walked me through that fire, So
42:05
Speaker 1: why would he leave me? Now? Gratitude builds a trail
42:09
Speaker 1: of testimonies behind you, so you never question who walks
42:13
Speaker 1: ahead of you. Six Gratitude cleanses the heart of bitterness.
42:22
Speaker 1: Bitterness grows in forgetfulness. When you stop seeing God's goodness,
42:26
Speaker 1: you start resenting his process. Gratitude is the weed killer.
42:32
Speaker 1: It chokes out of fence as its silence is envy.
42:35
Speaker 1: It confronts entitlement, and it keeps your heart tender even
42:38
Speaker 1: when life hardens around you. Try it. Thank God for
42:41
Speaker 1: the one who hurt you. Thank Him for the lesson,
42:44
Speaker 1: for the growth, for the roots that went deeper. Watch
42:48
Speaker 1: what happens. Seven Gratitude energizes your spirit. Gratitude breathes wind
42:55
Speaker 1: into your tired lungs. It lifts the slumped shoulders. It
42:59
Speaker 1: turns and survival into song. Isiah sixty one three calls
43:03
Speaker 1: it the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness.
43:07
Speaker 1: Gratitude is that garment. It wraps around you when depression
43:11
Speaker 1: tries to strangle you. It becomes your mourning alarm clock,
43:15
Speaker 1: your worship playlist, your nighttime prayer. It doesn't ignore pain,
43:20
Speaker 1: It just reminds your soul there's still more to be
43:23
Speaker 1: thankful for than afraid of Gratitude is not a nice idea.
43:28
Speaker 1: It's warfare, and the enemy knows if you ever begin
43:32
Speaker 1: to thank God not just for what feels good, but
43:35
Speaker 1: for who he is, even when it doesn't, he loses
43:39
Speaker 1: power over you because the enemy cannot manipulate a heart
43:42
Speaker 1: that says, I thank you Lord, when you give and
43:46
Speaker 1: when you take away. I thank you Lord. In the
43:49
Speaker 1: abundance and in the waiting, I thank you Lord, not
43:52
Speaker 1: because it's easy, but because you are enough. Let me
43:57
Speaker 1: ask you what would shift in your life if you
43:59
Speaker 1: began to live like that? What would happen in your family,
44:03
Speaker 1: in your thoughts, in your atmosphere, if Thanksgiving wasn't just
44:06
Speaker 1: a phrase, but you're fuel. If you want breakthrough, start
44:10
Speaker 1: with thanks. And if you want clarity, start with thanks that.
44:14
Speaker 1: If you want intimacy, strength, peace, joy, it all starts
44:18
Speaker 1: with thanks, not once a year, but every breath. Because
44:22
Speaker 1: gratitude doesn't just bless God, it rebuilds you. There is
44:27
Speaker 1: a moment in every believer's life when the Bible must
44:30
Speaker 1: stop being a book and become a sword. It's not
44:34
Speaker 1: enough to say the word says, There comes a moment
44:38
Speaker 1: when you must rise up and declare I say it
44:41
Speaker 1: because I believe it, I live it, I breathe it,
44:43
Speaker 1: I become it. The word of God is not just holy,
44:46
Speaker 1: it's personal. But it only becomes powerful when it leaves
44:50
Speaker 1: the page and becomes your confession. That's why this section
44:56
Speaker 1: is not about theology alone. It's about your voice, your
44:59
Speaker 1: war cry, your stand. It's about taking the promises of
45:03
Speaker 1: God and forging them into weapons with the one word
45:07
Speaker 1: that unlocks the power I David did not say some
45:11
Speaker 1: one enters his gates with thanksgiving. He said I will
45:16
Speaker 1: enter his gates with thanksgiving, Psalm one hundred, verse four.
45:20
Speaker 1: That's not theory, that's defiance. David wasn't waiting for the
45:25
Speaker 1: mood to change. He wasn't reacting to a good deare.
45:28
Speaker 1: He was commanding his soul, summoning praise from his bones,
45:33
Speaker 1: raising thanksgiving like a sword against every enemy of despair.
45:38
Speaker 1: There's a difference between knowing the truth and owning it.
45:42
Speaker 1: You may have Psalm twenty three memorized, but you say
45:45
Speaker 1: it with your own blood. The Lord is my shepherd.
45:48
Speaker 1: I shall not want He restores my soul. I will
45:52
Speaker 1: fear no evil. Do you see it? And David didn't
45:56
Speaker 1: teach it like a professor. He claimed it like a
45:58
Speaker 1: soldier in battle. Because you don't defeat depression with abstract theology,
46:04
Speaker 1: you defeat it with your declaration. You don't silence anxiety
46:08
Speaker 1: with general truth. You silence it by saying, I will
46:11
Speaker 1: trust and not be afraid. I will bless the Lord
46:15
Speaker 1: at all times. I will give thanks in all circumstances.
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Speaker 1: Because gratitude that stays locked in theory is powerless. But
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Speaker 1: gratitude spoken becomes spiritual fire. Look at the great confessions
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Speaker 1: of Scripture. Job in agony said, though he slay me,
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Speaker 1: yet will I trust him? Abackock, surrounded by famine, said
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Speaker 1: yet I will rejoice in the Lord. I will be
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Speaker 1: joyful in God, my savior. Paul in prison wrote, I
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Speaker 1: have learned the secret of being content. Jesus, facing crucifixion, said,
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Speaker 1: I lay down my life of my own accord. You
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Speaker 1: see the thread. It's not just truth, its ownership. And
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Speaker 1: now it's your turn. You've heard the word, You've studied
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Speaker 1: the promises. But will you speak them? Will you prophesy
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Speaker 1: them over your mind, your memories, your future? Try it?
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Speaker 1: Say it out loud right now. I will not forget
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Speaker 1: what God has done for me. I will bless him
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Speaker 1: even in the waiting. I will give thanks even in
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Speaker 1: the storm. I will feast at the table, even with
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Speaker 1: enemies around me. I will carry peace in chaos, joy
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Speaker 1: and pain, purpose in pressure. I will finish my race.
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Speaker 1: I will see the goodness of the Lord in the
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Speaker 1: land of the living. Let your voice be the match
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Speaker 1: that sets Thanksgiving on fire. Because hell doesn't tremble when
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Speaker 1: you know verses. Hell trembles when you declare them. This
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Speaker 1: is why Satan wants to silence you. He doesn't mind
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Speaker 1: you highlighting the Bible as long as you never wield it.
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Speaker 1: But the moment you rise up and say, I will
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Speaker 1: enter his gates with thanksgiving, I will live with a
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Speaker 1: grateful heart. I will remember who I am and who
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Speaker 1: my God is, that's the moment the lies start to break.
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Speaker 1: And that's when depression gets confused. That's when heaviness starts
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Speaker 1: to lift. That's when the darkness realizes this one knows
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Speaker 1: who they are. So here's your invitation. Stop waiting for
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Speaker 1: the right mood. Stop postponing gratitude until circumstances shift. Speak
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Speaker 1: the word. Speak it until your fear hears it, Speak
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Speaker 1: it until your trauma loses its grip. Speak it until
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Speaker 1: your faith stands up straighter. Speak it until your thanksgiving
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Speaker 1: is no longer reaction, it's your identity. Because when you
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Speaker 1: say ay, you are no longer quoting someone else's praise.
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Speaker 1: You are taking your seat at the table. You are
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Speaker 1: lifting your fork in the presence of fear. You are
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Speaker 1: anointing your own head with oil. You are graduating from
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Speaker 1: reading truth to living it. There is a kind of
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Speaker 1: gratitude that breaks chains, there's a kind of praise that
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Speaker 1: shatters hell, and there is a kind of thanks that
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Speaker 1: becomes your graduation ceremony. But none of them compare to this.
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Speaker 1: The moment you stop being thankful for things and become
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Speaker 1: thankful for a person, the moment you stop saying thank
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Speaker 1: you for what you've done and you finally whisper thank
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Speaker 1: you for saving me. Because at the very center of
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Speaker 1: everything you've learned, everything you've gained, everything you've survived, there
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Speaker 1: stands a rugged cross, blood soaked wood, torn flesh, innocent lamb.
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Speaker 1: And the final graduation is not into wisdom or knowledge
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Speaker 1: or even maturity. It's into worship, pure trembling, surrendered thanksgiving
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Speaker 1: for salvation. Let me ask you a question many avoid.
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Speaker 1: When was the last time you thanked God not for
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Speaker 1: healing your body, but for saving your soul. We've grown
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Speaker 1: numb to it. We quote it where it sing it,
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Speaker 1: but the gospel has become wallpaper. We shout over financial blessings,
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Speaker 1: we dance over promotions, but we yawn over the blood.
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Speaker 1: Why because the greatest miracle has become our most forgotten memory.
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Speaker 1: Yet it was salvation that rewrote your name, Salvation that
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Speaker 1: emptied Hell's claim, Salvation that carried you out of death
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Speaker 1: and seated you in glory. Salvation that covered what you
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Speaker 1: couldn't fix, paid what you couldn't afford, redeemed what you
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Speaker 1: had ruined. And it didn't come wrapped in comfort. It
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Speaker 1: came wrapped in agony. We did not climb a ladder
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Speaker 1: into heaven. He climbed across into earth. And on that cross,
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Speaker 1: Jesus didn't just feel nails, He felt forsakenness. He didn't
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Speaker 1: just wear a crown of thorns. He wore the wrath
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Speaker 1: of God that belonged to you. He didn't just bleed,
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Speaker 1: He absorbed judgment so you could stand in mercy. But
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Speaker 1: God demonstrates his own love for us in this while
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Speaker 1: we were still sinners. Christ died for us Romans five eight,
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Speaker 1: not after we cleaned up, not once we prayed hard enough,
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Speaker 1: while we were still sinners. Salvation is not self improvement.
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Speaker 1: It is sole resurrection. And here's the scandal. You didn't
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Speaker 1: earn it, you didn't deserve it, you don't even fully
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Speaker 1: understand it. But you've been given it. You've been justified, adopted, sealed, raised, sanctified,
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Speaker 1: and soon glorified. And every breath you take from this
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Speaker 1: moment forward is not a right, it's a mercy. So
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Speaker 1: to day, drop the checklist, tear up the performance report,
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Speaker 1: step off the treadmill of trying to be enough, and
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Speaker 1: come to the cross again, not with strategy, but with thanks.
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Speaker 1: Fall on your knees and say it. Roar, say it, broken,
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Speaker 1: say it, burning, thank you for saving me. Say it
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Speaker 1: like the thief on the cross who had nothing to
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Speaker 1: offer but his need. Say it, like the woman who
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Speaker 1: wept at his feet, washing his body with her tears.
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Speaker 1: Say it, like the jailer who almost ended his life
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Speaker 1: but found new life at midnight. Say it. Because the
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Speaker 1: gospel is not just how you start, and it's the
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Speaker 1: anchor of everything. We don't graduate from the cross, we
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Speaker 1: graduate to it because gratitude is not complete until it
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Speaker 1: bows in worship, until it says, if you never do
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Speaker 1: another thing for me, I'll praise you forever for the blood.
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Speaker 1: So let this be your final graduation from God bless
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Speaker 1: me to God saved me from give me more to
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Speaker 1: you gave me yourself. And if you have not yet
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Speaker 1: surrendered to Christ, this is your moment, not to thank
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Speaker 1: him from a distance, but to know him, not to
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Speaker 1: admire his teachings, but to be washed by his blood.
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Speaker 1: If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord,
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Speaker 1: and believe in your heart that God raised him from
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Speaker 1: the dead, you will be saved Romans ten nine. This
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Speaker 1: is the final thanks. This is the ultimate hallelujah. This
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Speaker 1: is the heartbeat of heaven, a sinner saved, a soul rescued,
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Speaker 1: and a rebel redeemed. And when you graduate into that
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Speaker 1: kind of gratitude, the kind that falls at the foot
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Speaker 1: of the cross, you never see the world the same again,
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Speaker 1: because everything becomes a gift. Every breath, grace, every trial, training,
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Speaker 1: every blessing, worship, every moment an altar, and it all
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Speaker 1: flows from one phrase, thank you for saving me. If
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Speaker 1: you made it to the end of this teaching on
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Speaker 1: gratitude and salvation. Thank you. It means you're not just curious,
53:38
Speaker 1: you're hungry for the truth, and that's rare. Our hope
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Speaker 1: is that this didn't just inform you, but awaken something
53:45
Speaker 1: inside you, a reminder, a warning, or maybe an invitation
53:50
Speaker 1: back to God. If this blessed you, know there is
53:53
Speaker 1: more waiting add free distraction free on our website. Every
53:57
Speaker 1: book of the Bible, every prophecy, every teaching organize to
54:02
Speaker 1: walk you through the word. And if you prefer to
54:04
Speaker 1: read or study offline, our e books were made for that.
54:09
Speaker 1: Some of our most powerful videos are now helping people
54:12
Speaker 1: go deeper in written form. We're not here to go viral.
54:16
Speaker 1: We're here to go deeper. And if that's your heart too,
54:20
Speaker 1: you're part of this family you always have been. You
54:22
Speaker 1: can support what we're doing by sharing this video, subscribing,
54:26
Speaker 1: or exploring the links below. Every clique helps keep the
54:30
Speaker 1: word alive and helps someone else find what you just did.
54:35
Speaker 1: May God speak to you even after this video ends.
54:41
Speaker 1: May you carry what you've learned into your day, your family,
54:44
Speaker 1: your world, and may you never forget He's still speaking
54:48
Speaker 1: you're still called. The story isn't over. This is deep
54:52
Speaker 1: Bible stories, where the word speaks deeper. Stay blessed,