A Call to Gratitude

This podcast is a sermon from Luke Taylor when he was speaking at Stewartstown Fellowship! Big shoutout to them for having me and providing the audio for this podcast!

This podcast will attempt to take on the popular trend of complaining! Everyone, everywhere complains, it comes natural to us, meanwhile a posture of gratitude remains vacant!

Yet when we read the Bible, gratitude is one of the most talked about characteristics of someone who is in a relationship with God. But why? Why should we have gratitude, especially when it seems there is nothing to be grateful for?

This podcast will outline 6 reasons why anyone should practice gratitude every second, of every minute, of every hour, of every day, of every year for the rest of their lives- regardless of the circumstances that we all may face.

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Transcript

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Wildfire podcast is an extension of Wildfire Ministries, an organization that has a focus of igniting men and women of God into a deeper discipleship with Christ, instilling them with a passion to radically and relentlessly pursue Christ wherever that leads, that God's truth will spread like a wildfire.

Oh, brilliant.

Hello.

How's it going?

So, I'm really excited to be here originally.

Well, I never knew Stephen preached here.

And then, of course, he was out.

So then dad was called in.

So you've got two Titans there who are coming to preach.

And then they both didn't do it.

So you're stuck with me.

And yeah, whenever we drove in and I seen all the cars lined up, I started to get a little bit worried because I was like, there's about thousands of people, but luckily there was another church.

And a little disclaimer, I just want to say that, you know what I mean?

I was up all hours last night, 12.30, 1 a.m., looking for somebody's glasses that was left in the center, but it turned out it wasn't left in the center, it was in her handbag.

So anyway, that was good.

I enjoyed that, that was fun.

So just before I get started, I was told just to share a little bit about Wildfire.

So you've heard about Hope2Families, which is the center and the work that's going to go on there.

But the center is also going to be used for my organization, which is called Wildfire, an organization that has a focus of igniting men and women of God into a deeper discipleship with Christ.

If you've ever heard of the parable of the sower, of the different seed that falls on the path and then the rocky ground and the thorns in the bushes.

So often or not, I've seen people who have said that they were saved, but their relationship with God is shaky or it's not going well.

And we basically want to take those people and we want to ignite them with that fire that all of us should have as followers of Jesus.

And we're specifically targeting young people with that mission.

So it's really exciting.

The center is going to be used for us to hold events, which is going to be on Saturday evening.

So maybe young people here can come up.

Heck, I'll drive down and get them and bring them up because it's quite far.

So before we get started, I'm going to be preaching on a call to gratitude.

But before that, I just want to position ourselves or posture ourselves.

So I want to ask you, what can God do this morning?

What can God do this morning?

I listened to a podcast called Expositors Collective, and they basically break down what it's like to actually preach a sermon.

And they basically give you all these tips and these tools on how to do it.

But often or not, I'm not preaching a sermon.

So I thought an expositors basically just means someone who preaches.

So I thought, what about exposites?

So those who sit and hear the sermon.

What about them?

So the preachers are told what they need to do.

But what about us who are sitting down there?

Whenever someone comes up and stands up here, how do I leave changed?

How do I leave encouraged in my walk with God, ready to take something practical, not only for the week ahead before my life?

So before we begin, I just want to clarify or paint a picture from the Bible about what we are about to do.

Regardless of age, regardless of what you're going through, I want everyone to adopt the same posture of humility and openness.

And by posture, what I mean, get ready.

This is for you.

Look, he's not even paying attention.

Look, yep, that's right.

Like when you feed cows, okay?

Here we go, analogy.

You prepare for it.

You get the hay.

Yeah.

You need to graze corn stalks.

I don't even know if this is right, but it's good.

It's okay, we're going for it.

Apparently, bald stalks make a good combo feed.

Okay, good.

That's clearly going.

Or you have ammoniate corn.

Great.

Love it.

So I clearly done well there.

That's from 10 Penny Pinching Tips for Feeding Cows.

So I can send that link for anyone in here who needs it.

But what I was trying to illustrate there was, whenever you go to feed cows, what do you do?

You prepare, right?

You put yourself in a position of expectancy, or you equip yourself with everything that you need.

And so this is what I mean by posture.

Right here, right now, we sit.

We all need to come.

We all need to prepare ourselves.

We all need to equip ourselves.

And every individual needs to be expectant for something to happen.

Okay?

So what the Bible teaches, I am a life transformed.

Standing here, I'm a life transformed.

Anointed with the Spirit of God, as every follower of Jesus is.

And not only that, but I have the inspired Word of God, which we are looking at.

So you've got the Spirit of God in me, the Spirit of God in you.

And if he's not in you, that is to say, if you're not saved, then the Spirit of God's in this place.

And I've got the inspired Word of God to preach from.

So all of that being said, let me ask you, what can God do this morning?

Because it's the Spirit of God who's going to speak through me, I believe.

And I believe that it's the Spirit of God in you that is going to open your hearts.

And it's all about God.

It's all about him, the one who flung galaxies into existence.

He's going to be the one who opens hearts.

He's going to be the one who changes people here today, not me.

And so I want everyone to have that posture this morning, because if you have that, I believe that God can do incredible things this morning.

So before that, I just want to pray before we get stuck in.

Dear God, I am so thankful that we can be here this morning.

I'm so thankful that we have the privilege and the blessing to gather together, to praise your name, Lord, to lift your name high, to sing of your goodness, your mercy and your love in all of our lives.

I pray now that every individual, that they won't sit here and think this is just another talk, but rather they will recognize that you, Lord, you God, the God of the universe, can speak to them if they are willing and they are open.

So I pray that everyone will have that this morning.

In your name, we pray, Lord.

Amen.

So what we are going to talk about, a call to gratitude.

But what is gratitude?

We talk about it often, don't we?

You need to be more grateful.

Or often when things go wrong and when we complain, people often shift our focus to the things that we should be thankful for, right?

Oh, I broke my wrist.

Well, be thankful that you have a wrist to break, right?

So the Bible uses the word gratitude or the concept of gratitude approximately 157 times, okay?

And get ready, because the Greek word, I'm going into Greek, because we can, because it's cool.

The Greek word for gratitude is chartai, meaning to extend favor, give grace, gratitude or kindness.

So for us, whenever I say gratitude, we often defined it as giving thanks.

But the original Greek word, whenever the Bible uses it, it actually is attached with a practical expression.

So it's not something that you just lift up and do, rather it's something that is there for everyone to see.

It's something that you actually, it spurs you to go on and do something.

And that's the key, right?

Like everything that God does inwardly, naturally there should be an outward expression.

We're called to be doers of the word, not just hearers.

So we are going to talk about real biblical gratitude.

How I'm going to do that is I'm going to demonstrate six things from the Bible that applies to every single human for why we should be grateful, why we should practice gratitude constantly.

And why I want to do this, the short answer is because I believe that God has led it on my heart.

But why has God led it on my heart?

We live in a world where complaining is the hot trend.

It's what everyone's doing everywhere.

We have this natural inclination to complain, to be ungrateful.

You know what I mean?

In Northern Ireland especially, it's the weather, right?

One minute it's too rainy, the next minute it's too sunny, it's too cold, then it's too hot.

We always complain, we're never satisfied.

But yet as followers of Jesus, we're commanded to be salt and light.

We are called to not conform to this world.

We are called to stand out, to be pillars of Christ's love, to illustrate a life that is being transformed.

But this can only be done by being obedient to God's word.

And one of the most repudant commandments is to exercise gratitude.

So this morning, what can happen?

You see why we the church can always have gratitude no matter what, resulting in a complete change in how you see the world and how the world sees you.

That's what can happen today for you.

Or you can leave the same, stumbling in and out of ungratefulness that leaves you feeling empty and sad.

The choice is yours.

So point number one of why we should be grateful, why should we practice gratitude.

Breath.

I want everyone to take a big breath with me right now.

Okay, ready?

Three, two, one.

Yes, beautiful.

God give you that.

Do it again.

God give you that one as well.

And one more time.

Yep, God give you that one as well.

And God has give you every single breath up to this point.

And God will continue to give the breath that is in your lungs.

And we take it for granted.

Don't we?

How often do you acknowledge the breath that you take and how that's God every single time.

God's give you that breath.

And why?

Why each individual sitting here today, why is God giving you the breath?

Well, it's one of two things.

It's opportunity.

God's give you a chance to respond to the gospel, to come to know him, to be in a relationship.

And if you're in a relationship, God's giving you breath because he's not done with you yet.

Because he's saying, child of God, I've got a purpose for you, no matter what age, no matter what background.

In Genesis 2-7, it said, God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life.

And we can go further because following that, we sinned.

And because of that, we're described as being spiritually dead.

We're dead, we're breathless.

And this is shown and illustrated in Ephesians where it talks about how we're spiritually dead.

But guess what?

Ezekiel 37 6 says the following, This is what the sovereign Lord says to these bones.

I will make breath enter you and you will come to life.

I will attach tendons to you and make flesh come upon you and cover you with skin.

I will put breath in you and you will come to life.

Yes, we're spiritually dead, but yet it is God who made you spiritually alive.

Right?

I was dead and God made me spiritually alive.

It is God who gives me breath.

It is God who gives me eternal life.

If only our gratitude can match every blessing that is the breath given to us by God.

So number one, why should we practice gratitude?

Because of the breath that's in your lungs.

And because of God who took you, being spiritually dead and made you spiritually alive.

Number two, why should we practice gratitude?

Our existence, Job 33, 4 says the following.

The Spirit of God has made me.

The breath of the Almighty gives me life.

It has been said, God is like oxygen.

You can't see him, but you can't live without him.

You wouldn't be here, you wouldn't be sitting in this chair, in this church, in this place, without God.

God had created every individual in this room.

He gave you your existence.

So before you can start and do anything else, before you can start and give yourself credit, you wouldn't have even been alive without Christ.

So everything that you do, you operate in the existence that God has given you.

So you always have to be grateful by definition.

Every single thing that you do is because God gave you existence.

That's why the idea of pride as a sin is emphasized because how can we take pride for anything that we do when it is God who created all of us and it's God who gives us the breath that is in our lungs.

So why should we practice gratitude?

Because the breath that is in our lungs and because the existence that God has given every individual in this room.

I can't even comprehend that the God of the universe, before anything has ever existed, thought about me and uniquely designed me the way I am.

And yet he uniquely designed every individual in this room.

That's something to be grateful for.

The third point of why we should be grateful is the gospel.

Before we get into this, I want to give an illustration.

So, up the North Coast, we love swimming, we love cliff jumping, and every time in the summer, I go cliff jumping all the time.

I go swimming.

And one particular day, I went out with my friends, and we went down to Ballantoy.

Has anyone ever been to Ballantoy?

Yeah, so basically we walked through this cliffs.

I didn't even know where they were taking me.

I felt like Bear Grylls.

I was going through all these cliffs, and we reached the other side, and we were in this ocean, and all the waves, they were all chopping up and down.

But I'm not gonna back out.

I'm not gonna be like, I'm not gonna go in, lads.

So I jumped in, head first, woo!

And I went swimming, and I was fine in this little calm area.

You know what I mean?

It was a little rock pool, and I was great, okay?

And what about if one of my friends, he seen me and he thought I was drowning in this rock pool when I'm just sitting there, and I'm just floating, and I'm enjoying myself.

And he came, he jumped in, he's like, look, are you okay?

He started grabbing me and said, you're safe, you're safe.

I've saved you, I've got you, right?

My gratitude would be a little bit misplaced for him, because I didn't need saved.

My gratitude wasn't there.

Why?

Because the need wasn't there.

Gratitude is often like this transaction.

We are given something, and then are therefore thankful for it.

But there came a point whenever we were swimming, and I got out of that little rock pool, and I went into the to the ocean, and the waves started to go up and down, and there was a costeering group, and they all had life jackets and helmets, but I was with these three dudes, and we had nothing.

And I was out, and I was swimming, and the waves were starting to get bigger and bigger, and I found myself swimming rather aggressively.

And I went back to the destination that I wanted to get to.

But yet I found that I wasn't actually going anywhere.

I was just staying in the same spot, and I was finding myself to get a little bit exhausted, and the waves were starting to get bigger, and I started to get a little bit of water in the mouth, and then I could see the costeering group, and they were just staring at me.

They were wondering, you know, he's drowning.

And then my friend, he did jump in.

Oh, he did jump in, and he did get me.

And he basically saved me.

And so, gratitude was there.

Why?

Because I needed it.

And I feel like often or not, we're the people who sit in the rock pool.

We feel like we've got it.

Our own strength, what we can do, our own comfort, our own sufficiency.

That's what we draw upon.

And so, there's no gratitude, right?

Because there's nothing to be grateful for, because I've got it.

I'm doing it all myself.

But I want to illustrate that we're all like me, swimming aimlessly with nowhere to go.

We're all in need, and God meets that need.

What does the Bible say about us before we get in a relationship with Christ?

In Romans 3 verse 9, it says that none are righteous, no, not one.

No one understands.

No one seeks for God.

All have turned aside.

Together they have become worthless.

No one does good, not even one.

We've already talked about how we're spiritually dead.

And in Ezekiel, it talks about this idea of the valley of dry bones.

Just lifeless people.

And we're that.

We're the lifeless people.

We're the dead people.

We're the people who do not do good.

We're the people who have turned aside.

We're the unrighteous ones.

We're the sinners.

You can look to your own life, and you can look at the sin in your own life.

And that's evidence of it.

That's evidence of how unrighteous we actually are.

That's evidence of how horrible we actually are.

How incapable we actually are.

And the Bible says it is prepared on to man once to die, and then judgment.

It's your sin.

Your sin illustrates your need, how horrible we all are.

That's the reality.

That's us.

You can claim it.

You can claim that.

You can claim your sin.

That's what you can take credit for here on earth.

And not only here, but your destiny to come is separation from God, because that's what you chose.

That's what you chose.

If you don't accept relationship with God, that's what you've chose.

You've chose separation from God, and separation from God is hell.

It's the lake of fire.

And that's it.

Here on earth, that's what we are.

And to come, that's where we'll be.

That's our destiny.

That's the full stop.

That's what we're deserving of.

But God, right?

This is the gospel.

Romans 5 says, While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Christ died for both you and for me.

In my sin, in my horribleness, in my need, in me being able to bring nothing, but God, but his love for me.

He sent his only son to die on a cross for both you and for me.

In Ephesians 2.5, it says, God made us alive with Christ, even when we were dead in transgressions.

You're dead, but God made you spiritually alive.

That's the gospel.

You didn't deserve it, but God gave it to you.

That's the gospel.

How does this not fill us with hope?

Every day, every day, every morning, every night, I reflect on the goodness of God, of how he could take me, a sinner, and how he could save me.

I struggle to understand the motivation of why God would want me, but the Bible says that he does.

He wants me.

He wants a relationship with me.

And he wants a relationship with you if you accept it.

And if you have accepted it, OK, don't just be like, yeah, that's me, I've got it.

Practice gratitude.

Practice gratitude.

That's enough.

That's enough.

Your existence, God giving you that, that's enough to be grateful for the rest of your life.

The breath that's in your lungs, that's enough to be grateful for God for the rest of your life.

But stop there.

You've got the gospel as well to be grateful for.

That's why you can practice gratitude because of what God has done in your life.

And if you don't know Christ, if you're uncertain that you don't know Christ, don't leave today not knowing Christ.

Know Christ.

Why gratitude?

Because I was given something I was in need of and could never have gotten nor deserved in and of myself.

That's why we practice gratitude.

Point number four of why we should practice gratitude is identity.

Who am I?

Who are you?

Okay?

We find our identity in people.

We find our identity in the things that we do.

But our identity is in Christ.

As we've already discussed, your identity is one of two things.

A sinner, that's who you are, or a follower of Jesus.

There's no in between, there's nothing else, there's nothing else that you can be.

It's one of these two things.

And the Bible says that for a follower of Jesus, this is who you are.

God says, you, if you say you're a follower of Jesus, this is who you are.

2 Corinthians 5, a new creature.

You're new.

You're not old, you're new.

You're not who you were, you are who you are now because of Christ and what he did.

You're a new creature.

Or the Bible says in 1st John 3, you're a child of God.

And I feel often or not, what happens is we become desensitized, that is to say that we say it that much, there's no impact anymore.

But we're a child of God.

Whenever I'm called a child of Mark Taylor, I'm proud.

I'm grateful.

I'm thankful.

But no offense, dad, you suck in comparison to the heavenly father.

And so I get way more joy about being called a child of God.

And to be honest, I feel like a fraud, saying I'm a child of God.

Because to be a child of God, what does that actually mean?

It means I'm to walk in the same way as my father.

And yet often I don't.

And it's only because of Christ that I can walk in the same way as my father.

It's only because of him that I can be called a child of God.

If this doesn't get you excited, I don't know what will.

1 Peter 2, 9.

Highlight it, unhighlight it, just so you can highlight it again, because this passage is mind boggling.

You know what I mean?

Sometimes you read the Bible, and then you just read something for the first time, and you're like, why didn't nobody tell me about this sooner?

So 1 Peter 2, 9.

If you take nothing else from today, take this.

You are a chosen people.

A royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's special possession, that you may declare the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into marvellous light.

That's written in Peter, but it's about us.

It's about us, the church.

It's about being a follower of Jesus Christ.

It's about the church.

It's about what we are in Christ.

So if you want to know what your identity is, if you want to know who you are, don't look to anything else ever in your life except this.

You're a new creature.

You're a child of God.

You're a chosen nation.

You're a royal priesthood.

And you're called to proclaim this marvellous truth of how you were called to darkness into marvellous light.

Why gratitude?

Because look at who you were to who you are now.

And whenever we talked about gratitude, we talked about that Greek word and what it means, the practicality, the outward expression.

This is what we're saying.

Because of what Christ did within me, because of who I am, I'm going to shout it out for all to hear.

I can't contain my gratitude.

So people just have to deal with it.

Whenever I'm in work, I get asked often, why are you so joyful?

Why are you always thankful?

And it's nothing to do with me.

It's nothing to do with me.

I say to them, I've worked there four years, and I get asked by the same person, the same question, and my answer is always the same, and always will be the same.

I'm joyful, I'm grateful, because of what Christ did for me, and because of what He can do for you.

I can't do anything else.

Whenever you start to put your joy, your gratitude into your children, you'll get disappointed, because your children will turn out what you wanted them to be.

Whenever you get your joy from your marriage, you'll get disappointed because it won't be what you wanted it to be.

Whenever you put your joy or your gratitude in anything that is earthly, in anything that is not Christ, in school, in friends, in popularity, you will get disappointed.

And that will not be enough for your gratitude.

Think about it.

If your aim was to be grateful every single day, okay?

And the reason why you're grateful is because it's something that you get, and so you're grateful for it.

What's the best way of achieving gratitude?

Okay?

Is it relationships?

Is it marriage?

Is it parents?

Is it friends?

Insert whatever.

Is that what you need?

No, because one minute it's there, and the next minute it's gone.

That's why Jesus said, don't put your treasure here on earth.

Don't put your treasure here on the earthy things, because they're material.

They're fleeting.

They'll disappoint you.

One minute you'll be joyful, because you're on the high.

You've got the friends that you wanted.

You've got the spice that you wanted.

And in the very next day, or the very next breath, they disappoint you.

One minute you're grateful, and the next minute you're not.

So what's the key to always being grateful, to always having gratitude?

Christ.

Because Christ is unchanging.

God is unchanging.

That's why we can practice gratitude.

Point number five is mission.

Why should we practice gratitude?

Because of the mission, because of the purpose.

We've been sent by our king, we've been sent by our God.

Each and every individual has been given the same task.

Jesus knew who he was.

He knew why he was here, and he knew where he was going.

The who we are, we've looked at in our identity in Christ.

And the where we are going, we will get to in just a moment.

But the here and the now on this earth, why are we here?

It's the same duty.

Matthew 28, the Great Commission.

Go in to all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Go in to all nations.

Every individual who steps out that door, your king, the God of the universe, has given you a specific task.

And that's to proclaim the good news of the gospel.

That's to simply talk about his goodness.

Everywhere that you go, everywhere that you go, into the local shop, into the local chippy, the Chinese, those brief fleeting interactions on the street, wherever you go, you're called to preach the good news of the gospel.

And if you don't do that, if you're not preaching the gospel, if you're struggling with that, and you're just not doing it, and you're making no effort to do it, you'll find that your life lacks gratitude.

It lacks fulfilment, because you're not doing the purposes of God.

You're not abiding in Christ.

And God openly says that if we abide in Christ, then we will produce fruit.

Then good things will come.

We're all called to proclaim the good news of the gospel, every single one of us, no matter what age or background.

And 1 Corinthians 12 says that there are different gifts, but the same spirit.

Yes, we've all been given a mission to go and preach the good news of the gospel, but our King has not sent us empty handed.

He's given every individual in here specific gifts.

And right, it's important that we all recognize what our gifts are because we want to know, we want to know what God has given us to help us in this mission.

Right?

We don't want to leave another day not knowing what our gifts are.

That's why we're called to earnestly seek them, to pray after them.

So that means whenever I start my day tomorrow, I know what my gifts are.

I know what my mission is.

And that's my purpose.

Everything is secondary.

It's important that we don't focus on the circumstance and we know what the circumstance is actually there for.

And by that, I mean this.

I don't live for university.

Whenever I go to university tomorrow, that's not what I'm living for.

I'm not living for the degree.

I'm not living for doing that.

That's the circumstance.

I'm living for Christ and that's the circumstance that Christ has given me for that.

I go there to university to do one thing, preach the good news of the gospel and advance his kingdom, to illustrate God's goodness.

And if I get the degree, that is secondary.

But to be fair, I do hope I get the degree, to be honest with you, because tuition fees are expensive.

So, why gratitude?

Because I have a purpose.

Because you have a purpose.

I heard recently that if being sent on a mission by an earthly king is an honor, how can I say that being sent by a heavenly king is a sacrifice?

And that blew my mind.

So often or not, we talk about the sacrifices that we make.

In our little conversations, we talk about the sacrifices that we make just to bring it to Christ.

But it's not a sacrifice.

It's simply what we're called to do.

It's simply our duty, and it's simply our honour to talk about the good news of God, to talk about His goodness and His love and His compassion in our lives.

Do we desire what Jesus said?

In John 17, Jesus said, I have brought you glory on earth, when He's talking to God, by completing the work that Thou hast given me to do.

Do we strive to hear the words, well done, my good and faithful servant, because I do.

That's it.

I want to get to the kingdom, to the throne of God, and I want to say, I brought you glory on earth, Lord, because I completed the work that you gave me to do.

And in return, God of the universe, my father will say, well done, my good and faithful servant.

And that's enough.

It's more than enough.

So why practice gratitude?

Because of the breath that's in our lungs, right?

Take that in and of itself, and you should be grateful every single day.

Not only that, but you've got your existence.

God's given you.

God created you.

That's why you practice gratitude.

The gospel, sin to salvation, spiritually dead to spiritually alive.

Why practice gratitude?

Because of our identity in Christ, because of who you are now in Christ.

Why practice gratitude?

Because you've got a mission, you've got a purpose by the king to go and preach the goonies of the gospel.

And he has equipped you with specific gifts to do that very mission.

And finally, my last point of why we should practice gratitude.

Our expectation and hope.

We've got something to look forward to.

In Hebrews 9, 28, it says, So Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time.

Not to deal with sin, but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.

And it scares me because I think, am I eagerly waiting for Christ?

Do I wake up every morning?

Do I eat my breakfast?

Do I have my lunch?

Do I have my dinner?

Do I go to university?

And am I eagerly expecting Christ's return?

Right, because that's what we want.

We want God to return and to reign on this earth.

That's our eager expectation and hope, at least that's what it should be.

And in Revelation 2212, it says, Behold, I am coming soon, bringing my recompense with me to repay everyone for what he has done.

And we already talked about what we're deserving of.

What we have done has sinned.

We have sinned.

And so the repayment of that sin is judgment.

It is punishment.

But why should we practice gratitude?

Point number three, the gospel.

That's it.

We're saved.

We're secured.

So now, that verse for me, to repay everyone for what he has done.

I know I can be repaired with good things because I'm in Christ.

Because it's solely about what he done for me.

So I'm not scared.

I'm not fearful.

And if you're not in Christ, you should be scared.

Because if Christ returns and you're not saved, you should be scared.

Because you're going to be repaired for what you've done.

But if we're saved, if we're followers of Jesus Christ, if we're alive in him, we should be so excited.

Because when Christ returns, and I can't even imagine what that's going to look like, we're going to be reunited with him.

That's where our gratitude comes from.

This expectation and hope that we should all have.

In John 14.3, it says, I go to prepare a place for you.

God's gone to prepare a place for both you and me.

Why gratitude?

Because we have a hope, something to look forward to.

Joy immeasurable, joy unspeakable, something real, tangible, and simply incomprehensible, something that we simply can't even think of in and of ourselves.

Why practice gratitude?

Why do it?

Is there reason for us to be grateful every second of every minute of every hour of every day for the rest of our lives?

I think so.

I think so.

What have we talked about?

Gratitude.

How have we talked about it?

I've given six reasons that's applicable to every single person in this room of why you should practice gratitude.

And those things, they surpass any circumstance.

And I'm not saying that to undermine the circumstances that people are going through in their lives.

I'm not saying that to undermine the suffering that you're going through in your life.

I'm not saying that to undermine whatever you're going through whenever you think of dad and his cancer journey.

Why could he sit in that hospital bed alone?

Why should we, why should he practice gratitude?

Right?

From a secular point of view, from a person who doesn't have Christ, dad should be the most depressed person in the hospital.

There should be nothing there for him to be thankful for.

That's it, right?

Because God can say to them, no, you are the lunatics.

You are crazy.

That you would even suggest that I should not be grateful for one second of my life.

Well, what do you mean?

What do you mean?

Look at what you're going through in your life.

Look at everything that's happened to you in your life.

No, no, no, what's happened to me in my life is this.

God created me, so I'm grateful.

God gave me breath, so I'm grateful.

God saved me, so I'm grateful.

Who I am in Christ, I'm grateful.

And I have a mission, I have a purpose, I have a hope, and so I'm grateful.

No matter what happens in my life, I will always be grateful.

Because these are truths that will always be there for every single person.

Why have we talked about this?

The decision was left with you at the start and again is left with you now.

Will you allow these things that we have talked about to bring you to a place of constant gratitude that will radically change your life and the lives of others around you?

Will you obey the commandment that says, do everything without complaining and give thanks always, right?

That verse makes a little bit more sense.

Now, whenever it says in the Bible in First Thessalonians, by in everything, give thanks to the Lord.

What do you mean in everything?

How can I be thankful?

I mean, just illustrated why.

It makes a little bit more sense now.

Heck yeah, I need to be grateful all the time.

It makes no sense when I'm not.

Knowing that practicing gratitude will transform every aspect of your life, and I mean it.

I mean it, and I pray.

I want it nothing more than in Wildfire, in the young people here, in this building.

I want everyone, I want everyone to leave here completely different, and we can.

We've just illustrated why, we've illustrated why, and it's about recognizing that maybe before you came in here, you weren't practicing gratitude.

Maybe you weren't doing it to the full way that Christ wanted you to do it.

Maybe you didn't know.

I knew before this I wasn't.

And don't try and justify it.

Don't try and say that you were.

Don't try and claw back.

Just simply say, yeah, I wasn't doing it.

I wasn't practicing gratitude the same way I should, okay?

It's fine.

Heck, if all of us put our hands up, great.

Cause at least we've identified the problem.

But we can go further.

Knowing that, knowing that we weren't practicing gratitude the full way that we should, we can know that the solution is right here.

Right here, right now, you can leave grateful for everything that God has done and will continue to do in your life.

To the point that every single person will look at you and they'll see salt and they'll see light because you're always thankful, you're always joyful.

And you've got a reason for the hope that is within you.

And these are all the things that we've highlighted.

I want to leave you with a quote from AW.

Tozer, which says, Gratitude is an offering precious in the sight of God.

And it is one that the poorest of us can make and be not poor but richer for having it.

I pray that we can all practice gratitude the way God wants us to do it, and our lives will be transformed, and the lives of others will be transformed.

A call to gratitude.

Take it up this morning, please.

Let's pray.