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you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you All right, good morning everyone welcome to stronghold baptist church if you can grab your head nose and open up the song 327 song 327, higher ground song 327 Let's sing this out of the verse and I have Lord, plan my feet on higher ground I want to live above the world Those saints and stars and be our world No faith, my Father, joy will sound The song of saints on higher ground For when the earth will let me stand Like faith on heaven's stable land A higher place than I have found Lord, plan my feet on higher ground I want to sail the utmost high And catch a beam of glory bright But still I'll pray till heaven I've found Lord, lead me on to higher ground For when the earth will let me stand Like faith on heaven's stable land A higher place than I have found Lord, plan my feet on higher ground Amen Amen, all right, let's turn to our next song, song number 346 All right, let's turn to our next song, song number 346 Sorry, 347, fill me now Song 347 On the first, hover for me Holy Spirit, paint my trembling heart and crown Fill me with thy hallowed presence Come, oh come, and fill me now Fill me now, fill me now Jesus, come and fill me now Fill me with thy hallowed presence Come, oh come, and fill me now Thou canst fill me, gracious Spirit Though I cannot tell me how But I need thee greatly, need thee Come, oh come, and fill me now Fill me now, fill me now Jesus, come and fill me now Fill me with thy hallowed presence Come, oh come, and fill me now I am weakness, full of weakness At thy sacred feet I bow Blessed be thy eternal Spirit Fill with power and fill me now Fill me now, fill me now Jesus, come and fill me now Fill me with thy hallowed presence Come, oh come, and fill me now On the last, cleansing, comfortless And save me, bathe, obey my heart and crown Thou art comforting and saving Thou art sweetly filling now Fill me now, fill me now Jesus, come and fill me now Fill me with thy hallowed presence Come, oh come, and fill me now Amen. All right, great singing this morning. It's great to have all of you here with us once again on a Sunday. This time we'll go through our announcements. If you do not have one of these bulletins, just slip your hand up real high and keep it held high until one of our ushers get to you. We get you one of our current bulletins here. If you open up to the first page, you'll see our service times listed there. Sunday morning at 10 30, Sunday evening at 5 p.m. and then Wednesday night 7 is our Bible site. We're starting a brand new book of the Bible this week. So come on out. We're going to start 2nd Corinthians. So be in chapter number one on Wednesday. Hopefully you can make it out to that. We've got the soul winning opportunities listed there as well as the salvation and baptisms for the month of November, as well as for the year. And let's go ahead and count up if there's any salvations to report for the week. Yes, sir. One on Thursday. One on Thursday. Very good. Anyone else have any? Yes, sir. One on Friday. One on Friday. Great. Anyone else? Excellent. All right, we'll keep up the good work. How's that soul winning time coming on Saturdays just in general, brother Austin? So far so good. So far so good. We have more people coming down. Cool. Did that help having the soul winning marathon? Yes. In Columbia? The soul winning marathon, someone who also lives in April goes soul winning. Nice. We got together and we're going to start going on soul winning too on Saturday. Brother Eugene comes down and we all change whether we go up or down. Oh, great. Great. Very good. Good to hear that. Good news. Also, speaking of soul winning, Brother Josh here, I mentioned this on Wednesday, was kind enough to put together the concept I had in my mind. He did a really good job with making this website. And the website's BW2H.com. So it's Bible Way to Heaven is obviously what that stands for, right? I wish I would have thought of that. It's a good domain. But it's excellent there. It's BW2H. Real simple. There's a QR code. We've got these cards out in the foyer. Okay. And what this is for, it leads you to this website. The website's very, very, very, very simple. And what it has on it is just the Bible Way to Heaven in every language that we know of that exists out there where we have some trust that it's an appropriate presentation of the gospel. So it's a great opportunity to give people this. I prefer this to the YouTube cards because YouTube can't control whether or not this gets shut down. So we can give out these resources to people. And then it's a real, real simple. Like I said, there's nothing else on this site other than the gospel presentation. So basically you're going to have one video on the page. And then there's a button with a globe on it to click so that it'll pop up your language. And then each language is actually written in that language. So someone who doesn't speak English can still find their native language if it's on that list. So this is an excellent resource. We've been hitting some areas in Clarkson especially where people don't speak English and they don't speak Spanish. So we could get by with Spanish because there's many people here that can communicate with Spanish a little bit easier. But when it starts getting into Swahili and some of these other languages and Arabic, we have one member of our church that's able to speak Farsi. But other than that one person, and even then still, you can't communicate if there's all these different languages. So we're running into different Muslims and just different people from all over the place. This is an excellent resource. I've said in the past, if you're out soul winning, you could use the Faith Award app if you have that on your phone. It has a section you can navigate to the plan of soul winning and then plan of salvation. And it has the audio versions of the gospel. I like playing those for people on the spot. But the cool thing about this is that they can do this on their own time. So I still encourage you to you know if they're willing to sit there and listen to a presentation. Great. But always be able to give these out as a resource for that. So this is really cool. I appreciate you taking the initiative to do that. This is excellent. And just want to make sure everybody's aware of this. We also have the invites now updated new current information. We have a whole bunch of them. So go ahead and feel free to pass those out. Of course, continuing on with our announcements here at the bottom of the page. We got the. Oh, good night. I corrected the time from last week, but it's not January. It's November. So we've got the offering totals through the month of November listed down there at the bottom of the page. Those are not the offering totals for January. So disregard that typo. Prayer requests. So. Updates here. Leslie's father had surgery a couple of weeks ago and he's he's recovering. That's going well. I forgot to add brother Lindsay and brother Micah. Brother Lindsay is good to see is back here with us in service. He had a car accident and broke your sternum. Well, broke, fractured. Same thing. Right. You got got a fractured sternum, obviously that impacts his work and stuff. But it's good to see you up and about and you know, moving. So that's good. Unfortunately, there's really nothing they can do. He's in pain and he's going to be going back to work soon. So I just pray that that he'll recover quickly and not have any any serious problems as a result of that injury. And then also, brother Micah had an accident at work. Those of you who are on the WhatsApp group, he actually fell from a roof. So thank God he's OK. He's really sore, as you might imagine. But he he was working as he works construction and he fell off of a roof. And he was in contact with them earlier in the week. But he is he was released from the hospital with no major injuries to report. So praise the Lord for that. You know, that's that. That in itself is a great blessing. I think he fell from about twenty five feet. So it's a significant fall to not have any sustaining injuries is is a huge blessing. So thank God for that. But continue to pray for him, obviously. That's that still is going to take a toll on your body. He's not he's not in the best condition right now, but he is still it's to the best of my knowledge. You know, there was nothing nothing happened. They released him from the hospital. So he's doing well. Please, please pray for him. Pray for everyone else on our list here. I added the two prayers from the retirement home ministry. I've added First Works Baptist Church Pastor Bruce Mejia. I saw that he was on a mission trip to Belize recently. I don't know if that's still I think they finished that, but I'm not positive that's done yet. Let's pray for their church and everything that they're doing. And oh, I got an update on little little Henry. There is kind of in the middle of the list. He's a two year old has cancer. It's my neighbor's grandchild. And they just did a surgery. Now they're waiting for some results. They have biopsy on his tumors that are not shrinking to see if they're malignant or not. And he said that the size of one of those tumors is like the size of an avocado, which is a pretty significant size tumor for a little for a little two year old and little two year old body. So that's pretty large. So continue prayers for him is appreciated as well. Hopefully that comes back as as non cancerous. But in any case, that's that's the update with him. And is there anyone else that has any updates to report for the people on the list here? Yes, sir. Tomorrow. OK, so Belinda is having surgery for her cancer tomorrow. So any expert you have morning every day, you have an idea, probably morning, middle of the day. OK, the middle of the day tomorrow. Belinda is having her surgery. So please, please say extra prayer for her as well. And then. If there's no other updates on the prayers, we'll continue on with the list here on the next page. Our gingerbread house making activity is combined with the Christmas caroling. Obviously, you can go to one or the other if you just want to do one or you can attend both. And if you're going to come, we are going to be providing a meal after the Christmas caroling. We'll definitely be having food here anyways for the for the gingerbread housing. Lots of snacks and refreshments and cookies and hot chocolate and. Stuff of that nature during the gingerbread house making. So it's going to be a lot of fun if you want to attend this event and you did not RSVP. Please let myself or my wife know about this so we can try to secure some more supplies for you, because we have enough, I believe, for everyone who has RSVP and is planning on attending. If you are not going to make it, if you if you need to update, you planned on coming and you let us know that you're coming. We're not able to make it. Of course. Please let us know about that as well. But I'm looking forward to this Saturday, December 10th should be a lot of fun. We've got all the times listed there from one to four. Four will be doing the gingerbread house activity and then the caroling will start at about four thirty. So if you're just coming for the caroling, they'll come before four thirty. As last year, we're going to do the instructions beginning around four o'clock of how we're going to do things, what we're going to do, getting everybody just sort of on the same page, get the plan of attack for going out. And then at four thirty, we're going to go out and do the actual caroling for roughly an hour is what seemed to work last year. And about a good amount of time to go out and do this should be a lot of fun. And then we'll have some dinner afterwards. So come on out for that. November challenge is to memorize twenty five verses of the Bible you've never memorized before. And any verses that you choose, just you have to be able to quote all of them. Younger children, if anyone's any questions about that, are also encouraged to participate in this. And based on how old they are, they have a different number of verses that they have to be able to quote consecutively in order. So if they're really young, one verse is enough at a time to be able to just quote a verse. If they're a little bit older, then they could do, you know, maybe three or four, you know, depending on their age. So if you have any questions on that, let me know. But they do everyone has to do twenty five for the month. Right. So the little kids, if they learn twenty five verses and they're able to quote one every day or whatever, then great. And then moving on from there. Oh, do I have. Just remembered. This do. So we have prizes for those who memorize the books of the Bible in order, who told me. Emerson, did you memorize all the books of the Bible in order? Did you do that? Well, come on up here. I got a prize for you. Come on. We got a prize for you. Look. We got this bookmark for you. Can you give me five? Hey, that's right. She's already back at her seat. Well, good job, Emerson. That's awesome. So anyone who's able to memorize the books of the Bible, kids and adults alike, we've got a bookmark for you. And you have to be able to quote them out loud. You know, the Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, all the way through to Revelation. If you can quote all the books of the Bible, then you'll get a bookmark for that. So very great seeing the little ones memorizing older ones. Hey, if you don't know the order of the books of the Bible. You see, you see little Emerson here. If she could do it, you can do it. All right. Yeah, I almost forgot about that. But that's a continuing thing. That's not a one. You know, that's that's a moving forward. We do that regularly. So any kids, any adults you want to get working on that? We'll we'll have a prize ready for you. All right. By memory, we're on the last week here for Hebrews Chapter five. It's a review week. So if you're able to quote all of Hebrews Chapter five word perfect, then you will earn a prize for that. We've got the upcoming birthdays listed there for the month of November. Homeschool field trips. Tomorrow is that field trip to Stone Mountain. I saw that I have. Crane family. We'll see you. I'll drop this off after the announcements. This is a parking ticket to get you in. Church is covering admission and parking. So there's a barcode that needs to be scanned when you go in to park. I believe lunch is being provided as well for this trip. So what time are you all meeting at the in the parking lot? Just before eleven. All right. So so be there to be able to enter at eleven. Please try to be prompt beyond time if you are attending that homeschool field trip and lunch. Like I said, lunch is provided and that's going to be so try to meet up right before eleven outside the gate. And if there's any more questions, you could talk to my wife about that. The rest of the activities for the rest of the year are listed there at the bottom of the page. That is about it for our announcement. So I'm going to turn the service back over to Brother Peter and he'll lead us in our next song. If you can open up your hymnals to song number one hundred forty seven. Song number one hundred forty seven, Leaning on the Everlasting Arms. Song one forty seven. On the first, what a fellowship, what a joy, Leaning on the Everlasting Arms. What a blessing this, what a peace of heart, Leaning on the Everlasting Arms. Leaning, leaning, safe and secure from all alarms, Leaning, leaning, leaning on the Everlasting Arms. Oh how sweet to walk in this pilgrim train, Leaning on the Everlasting Arms. Oh how bright the path goes from day to day, Leaning on the Everlasting Arms. Leaning, leaning, safe and secure from all alarms, Leaning, leaning, leaning on the Everlasting Arms. On the last, what have I to dread, what have I to fear, Leaning on the Everlasting Arms. I have blessed peace with my Lord so near, Leaning on the Everlasting Arms. Leaning, leaning, safe and secure from all alarms, Leaning, leaning, leaning on the Everlasting Arms. In church, great city, this time we'll reflect our Sunday morning offering. We'll pass the ushers and collect the plates. In church, while the offering plates are being passed around, if you could open up your Bibles, the book of Psalm, chapter 136. That was Psalm, chapter 136. And as we do customary here at Stronghold Baptist Church, we're going to read the entire chapter and ask brother Devin if he can please do that for us. Psalm 136, the Bible reads there, O give thanks unto the Lord, for He is good, for His mercy endureth forever. O give thanks unto the God of gods, for His mercy endureth forever. O give thanks to the Lord of lords, for His mercy endureth forever. To Him who alone doeth great wonders, for His mercy endureth forever. To Him that by wisdom made the heavens, for His mercy endureth forever. To Him that stretcheth out the earth above the waters, for His mercy endureth forever. To Him that made great lights, for His mercy endureth forever. The sun to rule by day, for His mercy endureth forever. The moon and stars to rule by night, for His mercy endureth forever. To Him that smote Egypt in their firstborn, for His mercy endureth forever. And brought out Israel from among them, for His mercy endureth forever. With a strong hand and with a stretched out arm, for His mercy endureth forever. To Him which divided the Red Sea into parts, for His mercy endureth forever. And made Israel to pass through the midst of it, for His mercy endureth forever. But overthrew Pharaoh and his host in the Red Sea, for His mercy endureth forever. To Him which led His people through the wilderness, for His mercy endureth forever. To Him which smote great kings, for His mercy endureth forever. And slew famous kings, for His mercy endureth forever. Sihon, king of the Amorites for His mercy endureth forever. and Og, the king of Bashan, for His mercy endureth forever. And gave their land for inherited, for His mercy endureth forever. forever, even in heritage unto Israel his servant, for his mercy endureth forever, who remembered us in our low estate, for his mercy endureth forever, and hath redeemed us from our enemies, for his mercy endureth forever, who giveth food to all flesh, for his mercy endureth forever. I'll give thanks unto the God of heaven, for his mercy endureth forever. Brother Chad Gonzalez, can you pray for us please? All right, before I get into the sermon for this morning, there's actually one more announcement I forgot. I can't believe how fast this month is going. Time is flying really quickly. Building update. Okay, we have the permits approved to do all of the work here on site, all the demo work, the demolition work that we're going to be doing, knocking down the walls. So that is already ready to go, and the starting date for this is going to be next one week from tomorrow, is when we're gonna have the construction starting for that. So prior to that, it would be nice if we could get the bathrooms at least painted and the doors for the bathrooms painted, so we could have those up by the time two weeks from today that we're able to get into and start using that space. Of course there's other work that would be helpful to get done, but the big thing is getting those bathrooms taken care of so we could get that work out of the way. So anyone that would like to come this weekend, of course this is the week of Thanksgiving, but you know if you have off Friday, Saturday, whatever, if you have time and you want to donate your time and help with something just as simple as painting, I guess talk to me after service. It'd be appreciated. We also have to get the areas clear by next week of the where the work is going to be done. So what I was thinking about doing today, probably after the evening service, but anyone who wants to help, is moving the stuff that's in the current storage area right now in the mother-baby room and that in that little walled off section, and moving all of that stuff to our new storage area in the new space. So that'll be helpful so we don't have to do everything next week because next week we'll be moving the sofa and the TV, you know other things that we're currently using right now, that bookshelf, all that stuff has to go because that wall by the mother-baby room is is coming down. So that's going to open up that whole space there and of course this is getting opened up as well. So there's not too much to do here other than moving the piano. That's going to have to be moved up that way. Pulp it's going to be this way. So anyways, in any case, today if you want to help out, we've got the stuff in the storage area. We're going to move to this building over here and then if you have time to do some painting, and we don't really need that many people, those bathrooms are small, the the doors, you know, whatever, we could get that knocked out. Obviously there's more to paint there but the big thing in order to to just get up and running is going to be making sure that we can we can have those bathrooms good to go and the doors ready. That's that's sort of the the highest priority. There's still the rest of the walls and trim and other things can be done but any help is greatly appreciated. All right, that is that announcement. Now let's dig into Psalm 136 and the sermon for this morning. My sermon is in everything. Give thanks. Of course, we're going to find lots of passages in the books of in the book of Psalms about giving thanks unto the Lord because it's a song book. It's a song. It's a it's a book of praises unto God and when you praise and extol the name of God, oftentimes you'll find thanksgiving with that. Of course, I'm preaching the sermon because we celebrate Thanksgiving Day in this country this week on Thursday but I really I love this holiday. I say this every single year. I preach a sermon on this every single year. I like the holiday. I think it's a great holiday. Now it's not something that's a scriptural holiday in the sense of you're gonna find in the Bible somewhere where God's ordaining to have a day set aside for Thanksgiving because in fact every day we should be giving thanks but it is still a good idea to have a day where you could reflect on your life on the year on the future you know on all the things that you should be thankful for and the reason why I preach on this is because what started off I think with that in mind is just turned into commercialism. It's just turning into covetous. It's turning into something that has practically lost its meaning. Thankfully it's still called Thanksgiving Day and not just turkey day or something else right because anyone can still think about the word Thanksgiving and understand what it's supposed to be about but these days with you've got the stores all staying open you know Black Friday just starts on Thanksgiving Day now and people are just forced to work and everything else instead of taking the time taking hold in look when it comes to holidays holidays are good to have the Lord ordained special days in Scripture multiple times a year as holy days so we get the word holiday from where you're not supposed to work there are feasts there are you know it's a joyous time but you're supposed to just enjoy and and and think about about the things that God wants you to think about on these days and of course the holy days are all geared towards biblical things scriptural things things that the Lord commands but this in again the reason why I love Thanksgiving is because this is a very biblical holiday it's a biblical thing to do and to recognize the giving of thanks for all that you have because things have turned so commercial there's this prevailing air of covetousness and I'm going to cover a little bit of what I talked about on Wednesday night Wednesday is a host of issues that came up one of those things being contentment okay and we need to have a proper spirit of contentment when we're thinking about being thankful the two go hand in hand now we started off here in Psalm 136 with all of these great praises to God Almighty if we're thinking about being thankful the Lord is who we are thankful to really for everything for everything now of course you could also be thankful for other people in your life and you should be but at the end of the day God is the one who really gets all of the credit for all things even for the people in your life God first and foremost gets all the credit and we have many many many reasons to praise and extol and thank God Psalm 136 talks about just the greatness of God it talks about creation his power how he took a small people and turned them into a mighty nation how he defended them and and and was there for them and protected them through their troubles and loved them and had grace unto them and gave them an inheritance but what I love about this chapter is how every verse ends with for his mercy endureth forever it's highlighting that huge big number one attribute of God to that deserves the praise and the honor and the glory for his mercy endureth forever you have all these other great things about the Lord but every single one is is being you have appended there at the end for his mercy endureth forever his mercy endureth forever his mercy under there you know what thank God for his mercy and we need to be thankful to the Lord for his mercy one of course first and foremost for your salvation right and and the reason why we need to go over this is because it's easy to get used to things that you've had already for a while and the more time goes by the easier it is to take for granted the things that you have so reflecting on your blessings reflecting on the things that God has given you is very very good what I mean by is that you know the longer you've been saved the more years that have gone by maybe the more spiritually you've grown you're not always thinking about everything that God saved you from the longer the more amount of time that's gone by since he saved you just like I mean this is this is human nature but we need to fight sinful human nature and be humble and think about these things and be reminded of them people who are not content get used to the blessings that they have in their life and start focusing on the things that they don't have it's you know when you live a life of covetousness and discontentment you're looking for what's the thing I don't have what's the thing that I just really need to have what do I want what do I want and then if you finally get that thing whatever that is people who are not content well they're happy for a moment right do you get this sense of joy and satisfaction wow this is great I got the the car I want I got the job I want I got the child I will whatever it is but then people just get used to it it gets old and then they're looking for the next thing now there's nothing wrong with desiring good things blessings you know just things that are godly okay desiring things that you can't get is covetousness and what I mean by that specifically some specific examples things that you can't get another person's spouse right that's something that you can't get so desiring that that's wicked that's covetousness but even beyond something like that you could just think of you know maybe just someone else's life someone else's kids someone you know things that other people have you can't have that's not yours or even things that are just way out of your range maybe you're in a certain financial situation and you say hey man I really just want to have that the Ferrari Testarossa that was that was my favorite car when I was like when I was a kid okay when I was a child and and I thought like a child that was just like oh man if I could have that thing that's just super cool best but you know what you shouldn't be spending your time daydreaming about those things and coveting those things unless you got a couple hundred grand just sitting in your bank account just burning a hole in your pocket that you need to say well you know I'm gonna go and get that because I could afford to get that that's different of you know because that obviously that would be something you could get but when you're looking on and desiring the things and lusting after the things that you can't get I mean let's face it you know rally check here probably I mean I don't know everyone's situation probably for everyone not gonna happen right out of your range out of your your what's gonna happen for you so then don't even think about it because you don't want to get covetous on these things because what happens to the covetous heart you're never satisfied never satisfied you're always gonna be looking for that next thing and you know you think about the things you have in your life and this is I'll use myself as an example especially talking about vehicles okay it's easy to get the bad attitude with the things that you have but we need to fight against that to not get the bad attitude you know it would be easy to you know for me to go oh man this stupid you know we got this van and it's like the the the handle is broken off the the aim it's not a good thing it's it's sharp right you get cut on that thing the the the the armrest thing is like is broken now like beyond repair the I mean I could go on and I could list all the things that are wrong and I don't want to do that because if I want to sell the vehicle I just don't want to have this whole you know like wait you got all these things wrong but if I could look at it like oh man my life is so hard oh I've got all these problems right you could look at things that way but instead what I need to do is look I say hey you know what this engines working great I've got transportation for my whole family like thank God for that and it's my second vehicle so praise the Lord that I even am in this situation to have extra transportation where my wife and I can both travel and thank God for that and let's say one day the engine fails you know it'd be the wicked thing wicked attitude oh man I can't believe there's anything wrong you know like hey Lord have given the Lord taken away seriously it might make some things a little bit more difficult because I've gotten used to having luxury but having the right mindset and having the right you know we need and and I got brought up on Wednesday you will have more peace and joy if you can have that right mindset of looking at things going hey this is a blessing from God it's a blessing to have this it's not a burden it's not a curse it's you know what this is a blessing this is good I'm glad I have this think about what you have and not what's broken and not what you don't have and what isn't working you know what hey if you could fix those things cool great more power to you but don't let it change your spirit or change your attitude about what God has given you because you don't want to get into a spoiled brat mentality or attitude or being unthankful or ungrateful for what you have because you might find out you're gonna end up losing even more if your heart is more of covetous if your heart is is getting hardened because you've gotten so used to everything that you have and it's just nothing's good enough and you're a complainer right easy to complain but it's wicked to complain and I'm not gonna go there you all know the story about how the complainers and the children of Israel died in the wilderness like the Lord not only did Moses get angry God got angry okay and people died as a result of their murmuring and complaining over their situation where they're in and just to remind you whether complaining about one of the things they were complaining about was their food and just so you don't you know you know you don't have the wrong idea of this they were eating the same food for every meal every day of the week for years and when they complained God got angry I mean let that sink in you want to complain about a meal that you don't like well this isn't my favorite well I don't like peas I don't like you know like look if you have food especially nutritious food in front of your face to eat to fill your belly with thank God for that thank God for that food that you have is it wrong they have different tastes and like some things no it's not wrong but don't ever complain about food that you have that's going to provide nourishment for your body don't ever complain about that food the Bible says in 1st Thessalonians 5 verse 18 in everything give thanks for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you in everything give thanks yeah even in those times where you think well how could I give thanks in this situation hey in everything give thanks you and the disciples were beaten for preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ when they were brought in arrested belittled beaten and mocked you know what they did they rejoiced and they were thankful that the Lord counted them worthy to suffer shame for the name of Christ so yeah in when it says in everything give thanks that really means in everything give thanks yes even when people might be beating you hey give thanks there's always always always a reason to give thanks I brought up brother Micah at that fall hey that's a terrible thing that happened right he's in a lot of pain now there's other things going on but you know what there's always a reason to give thanks thank God he's okay thank God right look at all the things and you could always find a reason to get there and you should be looking at your life always looking for a reason to give thanks in everything you know we're supposed to be thankful that if you're being chastened by the Lord you know you're in some sin and God's chastening you and dealing with you and disciplining you hey give thanks give thanks that the Father in heaven loves you and he's trying to correct you and that you're not some bastard out there that has no correction and no discipline and no punishment in his life hey give thanks it may not seem joyous to you at the time it isn't but give thanks anyways for a God that loves you for God that's there for you and thank God for his mercy because God extends mercy on to us that none of us deserve hence it's called mercy but look we deserve a lot more bad that's coming to us then we receive from God and thank God and thank God that his mercy endureth forever you know those people think you could lose your salvation look his mercy endureth forever forever what part of forever I don't like what part of everlasting eternal forever do people not understand seriously everlasting life means forever mercy that never ends it endures forever life that lasts forever eternal does not end it doesn't stop ever that's good news the number one reason to give thanks to God and why you can give thanks in everything God's giving you a free gift of eternal life whatever situation you find yourself in you could give thanks to God give thanks you're not going to burn in hell forever give thanks but I have this going on and that going on and this happened in my life give thanks and this is gonna help your attitude the old people who are depressed you know I found about with people who deal with depression you know what the real problem is I mean it's real simple and this is for free you don't have to go to a psychiatrist or a psychologist and and look I'm not downplaying the severity or seriousness of someone who who deals with issues and is depressed it is a big deal okay really is and I care about those people but you know what the number one theme is they're focused on themselves and their problems and the things that aren't going right for them that's why you get sad that's why you get depressed because you're focused on things that either have happened to you something that someone has done unto you something that's missing from your life something that you don't have it's this this inward looking at yourself and being sad about it instead of going look at the things that God has given me okay regardless of whatever situation loss anything that you have in your life look at the things God has given you and has done for you and then start thinking about what you can do for other people instead of thinking about failures people have had in your life why don't you overcome evil with good and be a blessing to other people and I'm telling you this is gonna work way better than Prozac or any other mind-altering substance that someone's gonna give you to try to dope you up with the dopamine and try to make you feel better and so instead of solving your problems by giving you drugs how about you solve the real problem by getting your heart right with God and focusing on what God has given you and focusing on other people and esteeming others better than yourself this works if you really put it into practice it works it works what person is I have not I've yet to speak to a person that can tell me that they've been able to help people out and do something for someone else in any way I mean there's so many different ways you can help you I'm not talking about money we would say well I don't have any money how can I help anyone look you can do a lot to help people out act in fact money is like the cheapest least effective way to help people out when you truly care about someone and invest of your time and energy into a person that helps them and that's gonna be more lasting help anyways and when you can do that for someone even if something as simple but as serious as giving someone the gospel and showing them how to be saved in leading them to Christ and then that person accepting Christ like you know I talk about so winning a lot because it's so important and you like I knew you're gonna say that well because it's true because it's true okay show me the person who's led someone to Christ and then wasn't happy afterwards I mean like you you have joy by doing something for someone else you stop thinking about your problems your you know whatever is causing you distress and anguish look be focused on other people and when you have that mindset God blesses you for that it all builds on each other it's it's amazing like and I'm let's uh I don't need to keep going here but things to be thankful for so number one salvation I've got I've got a list here and this of you know I gotta say everything right but that's too simple we need to cover some specifics salvation first and foremost eternal life number one his mercy right it goes hand in hand with salvation but God shows mercy on you even beyond your eternal life God shows mercy on us on a daily basis and and thank God for that too thank God that he loves you and can still overlook your infractions and extend mercy unto you when he sees that you're trying when he sees your do you know that look your sin debt is paid for by Jesus Christ amen but you still have this relationship with God that you need to maintain in this life to not receive the chastisement of the Lord and God extends mercy in that area as well so thank God for that thank God for your food how about that for what you eat and again I brought this up before about people complaining I'll read for you from Romans 14 verse 6 about says he that regardeth the day regardeth it unto the Lord and he that regardeth not the day to the Lord he does not regard it he that eateth eateth to the Lord for he giveth God thanks and he that eateth not to the Lord eateth not and giveth God thanks you know the Bible says in everything give thanks but I'm a firm believer that you know every time you eat this isn't a commandment necessarily from the Lord other than what we see here is like hey you know what when what you know what when you're eating give God thanks give God thanks for what you have it was about saying grace before you eat I'm a big fan of that I think that's a good idea you know the common term is saying grace right but it's what you're what you're doing is you're not even necessarily praying if you're not you're not you're always asking something from God when you eat but how about the very least just give thanks I've made it a habit in the these habits are good when you when you as long as you're not just mindlessly doing things right every time you speak to God it ought to be from your heart so I'm not a fan of just God please listen to my body amen we're like you're not even thinking about it you're just repeating words because you just have to say something before you could put food in your in your face right that's not that's not appropriate but how about you just you take a moment and you know I try to instill this at home we get the family whenever we have family meals everyone doesn't nobody can touch their food until we give God thanks why because we want to show respect and have a thankful heart every single time we eat a meal because God has provided that food for us he's provided that for you every time be thankful for it so you know what when it's not your favorite meal tell God thank you for that food the food got overcooked a little bit and it's dried out give God thanks for that food right no matter what it is thank God no matter how much or how little whether you say well I'm still gonna be hungry just thank God that you have that food seriously it's good to take the time set the time aside in your life you know for me it's it's before every meal now is it a sin if I don't tell God thanks no it's not a sin I'm gonna say it's a sin if I just don't tell God to thank you every single time there's something but you know what I think God likes the praise and likes the recognition and I know it helps me to recognize that God is doing something for us I know it's the right thing to do how about thanking God for your family turn if you go to second Thessalonians chapter 2 thank God for your family and look no one has a perfect family except for mine but no look no one has a perfect family everyone deals with problems everyone has relationship issues everyone's got different things and people who do different things that you don't like or whatever but you know what thank God for the family that you have thank God for the mother and father he's given you thank God for the children you have thank God for the people in your life thank God for the brethren second Thessalonians chapter 2 verse 13 the Bible says but we are bound to give thanks all way to God for you yeah we are bound like we have to give thanks to God all way for you brethren beloved of the Lord because God from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth whereunto he called you by our gospel to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ give thanks for the believers give thanks for the brethren give thanks for the you know the physical family but you know what give thanks to the spiritual family that God has blessed you with we are bound to give thanks you know we're supposed to love the Brotherhood give thanks for the church the body of Christ give thanks that God has given you a church a church family the Bible says in 1st Timothy 3 15 but if I Terry long that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God which is the church of living God the pillar and ground of the truth thank God that he gave you such a place that he calls the pillar and ground of the truth I mean there's lies everywhere thank God for for church that is instituted as a pillar and ground of the truth thank God for that and thank God for God's word to show us the right way that God has given us instruction through his word to help us know right from wrong to help us identify the bad path the way that you don't want to go that God has given us the information that we need to make good choices for everything that we do in this life the information is here it's up to us to read it's up to us to study it up to us to put it into practice but thank God that we have that you have that ability right here and thank God that in this day and age it's at your fingertips for free for free but I had to buy my but look why is it for free because if you don't have one we'll get one for you because this country is so prosperous because because the the publication of the Word of God is is relatively inexpensive because it's easy to get your hands on a Bible and even outside of this church you could get your hands on a King James Bible for free from many many places many places you know what thank God for that thank the Lord that his word is readily available that he's given you the right way the Bible says in Psalm 119 Psalm 119 is that you know it's a really long chapter of the Bible and it's all about the laws of commandments and the Word of God Psalm 119 verse 62 Bible says at midnight I will rise to give thanks unto thee because of thy righteous judgments in the middle of the night so you know what I'm just gonna get up to give thanks unto you Lord why for your righteous judgments because God's way is right because God has told us the right way because how he judges things it's right it's that guide it's that lamp thank God for your employment if you have work you're able to provide for your for your house for your family for yourself they thank God for that that's another area where in our society in our culture people are just expecting and demanding things instead of being thankful for opportunities to earn money and to support their families like you have great opportunities here unlike some that the world's ever seen for the common person and you can either have the spoiled brat attitude and try to demand more demand more you know what when people have that attitude and try to demand more demand more you know what those opportunities might just leave it happens it's happening we see it you know the people that don't even that that are just demanding all the money in the world for the lowest level unskilled labor well you know what when you when you hold out and you're bitter and sit instead being thankful for what you can have and what you can do now people are turning machines and outsourcing labor and going to people who will work for that money you know for that job or whatever that's it's happening that's that's part of the curse of not having the right attitude and being thankful does that mean you can never look for a better job that might be able to pay you more no of course not and there's nothing wrong with looking for another job we know it whatever job you have be thankful for it and and work as if you're serving the Lord Jesus Christ and all that you do don't go out you're only paying me this much then I'm gonna do that for you look you work as if you work and serve Lord Jesus Christ because that's what the Bible says it's what God's words you know what thank God again for his word for his judgments for him to be able to show us that that is the right way we have faith in that truth and then you know what God will bless you even if that employer never gives you another dime God blesses you for the work that you do he sees injustices he's a god of judgment and you wait on him in his time and you will receive the blessing of God however he chooses to give that to you however that works itself out you don't have to worry about it you just do what the Bible says and he will make it work for you every single time and you know what thank God thank God that he not only gives us the right way but he's still there to judge and he's still there to intervene when he needs to and he's still there to right wrongs and he's there to protect you and he's there to be your defense and he's there to provide for you just like Jesus said seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you it's a promise of God thank God for that promise thank God for looking out for his people thank God that he's there for you and that he loves you and he has mercy on you thank God and whatever situation you found yourself in thank God thank God for your clothing thank God for your housing these are the things we all take for granted now look I'll admit my clothing I don't think about that every day it's hanging up in my closet I go I put on my clothes I go I get holes in my socks I'm able to get new socks thank God for that seriously thank God for that when you are abounding because you have so much don't forget and don't lose sight and just take things for granted because you start taking these are grand then you start getting a bad attitude about it about a blessing don't ever have a bad attitude about something you've been blessed with you don't have any socks thank God you have shoes right thank God you have a shirt I mean it's just thank God for what you have thank God that he answers prayers even the thought that God hears your prayers thank God for that the more you're able to give thanks for the things that you have the better your contentment is going to be in this life when you can start noting every area and I encourage you to do this especially on Thanksgiving Day okay because it's a day we're setting aside to do this type very thing look at the things in your life look at the people in your life look at what you have and look at it in the light of what's really nice that I have this thank God for that thank God for that you know instead of looking at the things that aren't there or the things that are broken look at what they're still there what still remains what you still actually have I mean if you if you have heat where you dwell that you can turn a switch to make it warmer where you live thank God for that that's a big deal it's expected by everybody these days but that is a big deal thank God for that and go down the list for yourself you know just we need the right outlook the more you realize what has been done for you what God is still doing for you the more you're gonna see the love of God and the more appreciation you should have and in order to do this of course you need to have humility the proud person doesn't respect what God has given them the proud person expects things for themselves based on their merit what they do whatever you know what we need to treat the giving of thanks with a humble mind because if you're not humble you won't give thanks it's gonna come based off of an expectation no I deserve this I'm owed this we need the attitude from 1st Corinthians chapter 4 verse 7 the Bible says for who maketh thee to differ from another and what has thou that thou didst not receive now if thou didst receive it why does thou glory as if thou has not received it when you receive a gift what that's talking about and specifically you know knowledge in in that context when people have taught you people have shown you something people have instructed you hey you didn't have that before someone gave that to you right so so what makes you think what what why could you brag about that now but you know what that applies way more broadly than just to knowledge I mean think about everything that you have you know things that were given to you you don't have any word any room to brag and boast about things you know what thank God even just oh well I did this I bet now look I'm a strong proponent of you need to be working hard to provide your way but at the end of the day you still need to give give thanks and credit where it's due unto the Lord God's given you the brains that you have to use your brains to have gainful employment God's given that to you God's given you the strength that you have God's given you the health that you have thank God for all those things because without those things you wouldn't be able to do all these things that you think you're just doing completely on your own so you're not it's not it's nothing is completely on your own your breath is in God's hand turn if you would to Psalm 30 it's the last place we'll turn to today giving thanks isn't just for Thanksgiving Day we need we need to live with Thanksgiving in our heart every day every day have that right mentality have that right mindset so it's a humble mindset we're looking to Lord and giving thanks for everything that you have work and strive for betterment in your life great not with covetousness now with looking on things you can't have not with getting sucked into all the cares and pleasures of this world work hard thank God for what you're able to do thank God for what he's given you don't stress about what you don't have don't worry about it give thanks for what you do I'm telling you look bad attitudes God will correct that and I don't know about you but the way that I deal with bad attitudes with children not being grateful for what they have the way that I deal with that is I take things away it's the easiest solution oh you're coming to just expect all of this stuff and you're not very thankful for what you've been given well how thankful are you now when you don't have that maybe you'll start to reconsider how blessed you really are when you're lacking things what makes you think God won't do that in your life seriously you know we are we always ought to have a healthy fear of the Lord always and you start you start complaining murmuring even in your heart about all the things that you don't have and how bad this is and how bad that is and this is wrong and this is broken and my house has this wrong and this wrong and this wrong and you start focusing on all those things you have a bad attitude you know what maybe you will end up not having a house if you don't like the one that God has provided for you maybe it just won't even be there anymore don't think it can't happen you get so used to it you think oh that'll never happen you know maybe it will maybe it will I don't want to test God Psalm 30 look at verse number one the Bible says I will extol thee O Lord for thou hast lifted me up and has not made my foes to rejoice over me O Lord my God I cried unto thee and thou hast healed me O Lord thou hast brought up my soul from the grave thou has kept me alive that I should not go down to the pit sing unto the Lord O ye saints of his and give thanks at the remembrance of his holiness so I mean here he's talking about being lifted up over his enemies God's healing and brought up his soul from the grave that he that he wouldn't go down to the pit okay God's salvation right thank God for that as I brought up at the very beginning God's salvation for you thank God for his healing power thank God that he's kept you alive and given you eternal life give thanks the remembrance of his holiness jump down to verse number 11 thou hast turned for me my mourning into dancing thou hast put off my sackcloth and girded me with gladness to the end that my glory may sing praise to thee and not be silent O Lord my God I will give thanks unto thee forever forever Thanksgiving is not just for one day it's forever have the right holiday spirit stop worrying about the things you don't have don't go into debt to buy things that you don't have or other people don't have or whatever look don't get caught up into that and focused on all the things that someone's telling you you need to have and you know what and this is a separate sermon but nobody is entitled to a gift don't ever expect to receive gifts from people I don't care if it's your birthday or Christmas Day don't expect anything and no one should feel forced to have to give a gift because that changes the whole point of giving gifts it ruins it when you feel like you have to give something it's ruining it so for yourself never expect anyone to give you a gift kids included okay if mom and dad or anyone chooses to give you a gift for your birthday or for Christmas thank God that they love you and have given you a gift you could thank them for thinking of you and doing something nice for you if they're celebrating you know the birth of Jesus they're celebrating your birth hey that's great thank God for that but if your birthday or some holiday comes and goes and you don't receive anything thank God for what you have and don't be bitter about anything you say well I gave this person a gift and they didn't give me anything don't ever have that wicked thought ever because then why did you give them a gift you give people gifts because you love them because you want to do something nice for them okay it's more blessed to give than to receive that is 100% a true statement but look it's the mindset of being content and happy and you can be content and happy even if nobody got you anything cuz let's face it you probably don't need anything anyways probably don't mean honestly need I'm not gonna get into that whole ball of wax I've dealt with that so many times people's perception of what they need and what they want what do you really need I'm willing to guess that everybody in this room today has what they need I'll put it this way back to my illustration do I need another car nope nope are there a lot of things broken with it yep do I need another car nope so what thank God whatever apply that in your world because we all have things that don't work maybe multiple things but you know what so what is it a need no you have food you have clothing you have what you need you have eternal life amen thank God for his mercy endureth forever Trump's any problem that you have in this life as far as I've ordered prayer to Heavenly Father Lord we thank you so much for loving us for giving us a gift of eternal life Lord I pray that you would help us in this time especially Lord help us to maintain the right spirit help us not to get caught up in the covetousness that is just going to abound as we head into a time that's supposed to be one that's that's marked by Thanksgiving that's marked by the love of God and the joy of a Savior Lord I pray that you would please help us to maintain the right spirit and that it wouldn't just be for this time alone but for for every day of our life God help us to stay have clarity in our minds and being able to recognize all the blessings you've given us and everything that we have Lord that we could have the the spirit of job who even in the midst of everything being being stripped away from him Lord was still able to bless your name because you're good because your mercy endures forever and that and that the things that we have here you know whether we're based or whether we abound dear Lord we could still give thanks to you and praise your name because the fact that you've saved us and that you're there for us Lord it just it just so much better than anything else we could have in this life Lord thank you for loving us in Jesus name we pray amen all right we're gonna sing one last song before dismissed this morning for the Peter you it's all 439 count your blessings it's all number four and thirty-nine on the first my fellow when you are discouraged thinking all is lost count your many blessings take them one by one and it will surprise you what the Lord has done count your blessings take them one by one count your blessings see what God has done count your blessings take them one by one count your many blessings see what God has done are you ever burdened with a load of care does the cross seem heavy you are called to bear count your many blessings every doubt will fly and you will be singing as the days go by count your blessings take them one by one count your blessings take them one by one count your blessings take them one by one count your blessings see what God has done count your blessings name them one by one count your many blessings see what God has done when you look at others with their lands and gold think that Christ has promised you his wealth untold count your many blessings take them one by one count your many blessings money cannot buy you're rewarded heaven or purple on high count your blessings take them one by one count your blessings see what God has done count your blessings name them one by one count your many blessings see what God has done count your blessings take them one by one count your blessings see what God has done count your blessings take them one by one count your blessings take them one by one count your blessings see what God has done count your blessings take them one by one count your blessings see what God has done see what God has done count your blessings name them one by one count your many blessings see what God has done Amen church great singing thank you so much for coming you you