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Amen. So keep your place in 1 Samuel chapter 2. We're going to look at the first part of the chapter. We're going to look at a certain prayer here in the Bible. Hannah's prayer specifically tonight. So in this series, we're talking about prayer. Now, I think that this series is super important, as we've seen from the first couple of sermons already. I believe it's important how we pray. I believe it's important the things that we pray for and how we approach the Lord and how we have hearts towards the Lord when we pray. I believe that that is, you know, something that will determine how our prayers, how God receives our prayers. And we can see that in the Bible. There's definitely some patterns that we can see with how people pray in the Bible that I hope that you notice. But go back. You're in 1 Samuel chapter 2. There's actually two prayers from Hannah in the Bible. So let's go back to 1 Samuel chapter 1 and just do a little bit of a recap because we're going to see in Hannah's first prayer, we're going to see some patterns that we've already been talking about as she does some things here in her first prayer that kind of reiterate what we've already talked about. Now, Hannah is a very good prayer. She's very good at prayer. She gives some really smart prayers. She does things in a very good way. Look at 1 Samuel chapter 1 in verse number 5. So look at, Hannah has a problem and she's coming to the Lord. Remember the last sermon, we're talking about where we need God to intervene for us. A certain prayer where things are going a certain way and we need God to intervene. We need God. We don't like the way things are going to turn out. So we're praying to God to change things, to intervene for us. Look at verse number 5 of 1 Samuel chapter 1. This is Hannah's first prayer. But unto Hannah, he gave a worthy portion for he loved Hannah, but the Lord had shut up her womb. It's talking about this man and his two wives and Hannah was one of these wives. And her adversary, the other wife, also provoked her sores. This is why having more than one wife never works out in the Bible. There's a reason God said to not do this because it just never worked out. So this other woman is making fun of her and she could have children and Hannah could not. So she was giving her a hard time for her to make her fret because the Lord had shut up her womb. And as he did so year by year when she went up to the house of the ward, so she provoked her. Therefore, she wept and did not eat. Then said her husband to her, Hannah, why weepest thou and why eatest thou not and why is thy heart grieved? Am not I better to thee than ten sons? So she's unable to have children, but she happens to be the favorite wife and he's saying, why am I not good enough for you? And the other wife is just being nasty and making fun of her and just giving her a hard time because she can't have children. You can see like the rivalry here. Like one is the favorite, one has the children and they're just like, you know, she's coming at Hannah. Look at verse number nine. So Hannah rose up after they had eaten in Shiloh and after they had drunk. Now Eli, the priest, after they had drunk, like they drank water, not that they were drunk. Okay. I mean, everyone thinks that the word drunk in the Bible means people were drinking alcohol, which is crazy. But anyway, they, they drank something, whatever they drank. Now Eli, the priest sat upon a seat by the post of the temple of the Lord and she was in bitterness of soul, meaning she was, she was extremely depressed. She was down and prayed under the Lord and wept sore. So now Hannah prays and she says, she vowed a vow and said, Oh Lord of hosts, if thou will indeed look upon the infliction of thine handmaid and remember me and not forget thine handmaid, but will give thy handmaid a man child. Then I will give him unto the Lord all the days of his life and there shall no razor come upon his head. She's talking about a Nazarite vow and it came to pass when as she continued praying before the Lord that Eli marked her mouth. So Hannah does things here. Hannah does things that we've already talked about. She addresses the Lord properly. First of all, she says, Oh Lord of hosts, she addresses, she doesn't say, Hey God, you know, she addresses the Lord with respect. We've already talked about this and then it's super important that we understand this enough to have to, to review it. It's, it's important that you understand this, but she needs God to intervene for us. She's asking God to intervene. So what does she do? She gives cases on how God intervening will affect the kingdom of heaven. See, she doesn't just say, Hey God, I want a baby. She says, God, give me a child. She says, Oh Lord of hosts, give me a child. Why? How will that, what does God care about? He cares about advancing the kingdom of heaven on earth. And this is Hannah's super smart prayer right here. She goes above and beyond, by the way, she doesn't just say, Hey, my child will serve you. She like vows that she will just give this child to the service of the Lord. But all that to be said, she points out what is in it for the kingdom of heaven to the Lord. In verse number 11, she doesn't just say, give me a child. So this woman will stop making fun of me. She addresses how it will help the Lord himself. She says, then I will give him unto the Lord all the days of his life. I mean, how's God going to say no to that? She gives a reason that God should answer this prayer. Super smart, super smart lady here and look serve him. Did he? This is Samuel that we're talking about here. This was the last judge that we're talking about here. The last judge before the first King of Israel. So that's the first thing. Look, the first thing that you need to understand is address the Lord properly. But if you're asking for something, explain to God, this is all review, explain to God how that will help the kingdom of heaven. You say, well, you know, um, you can't think of a reason. You have something that you want from God and you want to pray from God and you can't think of a reason how you could spin that to make it benefit the kingdom of heaven. Well, now you're into James chapter four and verse number three, where maybe if you ask and you're not getting, you're asking a miss. Okay. So it's a good filter for us on the things that we ask for. How can this benefit the kingdom of heaven? And then when we do have something that will benefit the kingdom of heaven, Hey, tell God that in your prayer, tell God that in your prayer. So look, I hope this series, all that to say this before we even start the sermon, I hope this series is changing how you pray. I mean it should, I mean it should change how you pray. Think about the things that you're asking for. Address the Lord with respect and tell God how these things, him answering this prayer will affect his kingdom on this earth. Okay. Now go back to chapter two. Let's look at Hannah's second prayer. Hannah's second prayer. Her prayer was answered. She, she was with child, she was thankful. So Hannah's second prayer is a prayer of Thanksgiving to God. Now I want to look at her second prayer and since she's such a great, um, prayer giver or such a great prayer giver, I want to look at, I'll look at some attributes of a thankful person this evening from Hannah's second prayer. So many times, first of all, just to say this, many times we pray, many times we have our prayers answered and we literally move on without being thankful. We need to be very careful about that. So just the fact that Hannah's prayer, her second prayer exists in the first place shows us that she is a thankful person. So it's not, and by the way, she doesn't just say, Hey, thank you God. We actually see the attributes of someone who is a thankful person. So we're going to look at the attributes of someone who's thankful and how that person shows thankfulness. Okay. And I'm going to show you some patterns tonight hopefully where you can see a person that's thankful. You can see a person that is thankful and you'll see some characteristics of a thankful person and how they show that thankfulness. And then we will also see in the Bible how you can see some characteristics of people who are unthankful all from Hannah's prayer. Okay. So look, I mean just, I mean, why be thankful? I mean, just put yourself in God's shoes here for a second. Okay. Put yourself in, in God's shoes or not God's shoes. Maybe put yourself in a position of someone that gives somebody something. Put yourself in the position. You've all been in this position. You know, you give somebody something, somebody needs something of you. They ask something of you, whether it's a service or help or whatever. And you, you, you do that. You go and you help them with that thing. You give them that thing. You do something for them. They take it, they're happy and they don't even acknowledge that you did anything. I mean, think about that. You know what that does. And you say, you know, well, I didn't do that. You know, I didn't do that thing to receive any praise or to receive anything back, which is good. You shouldn't, you should just give freely of your time and your energies and your gifts, whatever those things are. However, how just think about this for a second. How likely are you to do that same thing for that person in the future? Now that's how important being thankful to the Lord is because are we going to be like these people that, you know, I mean, think about how old you are right now. I'm going to, I'm going to, I'm 44 and you know, I've, do you just ask for the Lord, like, you know, stuff in your life like one time or do you have to keep coming to God in prayer, you know, to ask him to intervene for you again and again and again. Look, it's going to be a lifelong thing where you're going to have to ask for the Lord to intervene for you. It's probably best that we get this thing right. So he's not like, yeah, last time, last time you were unthankful. Okay, so let's look at Hannah. Let's look at Hannah. Let's look at some characteristics of someone who is thankful and look at, let's look at how she shows thankfulness. I'll get verse number one at first Samuel chapter two. So basically verse number one through verse number, I think it's 10 is, is Hannah's prayer. And that's what we're going to look at this evening and Hannah prayed here. She prays again. She says, my heart rejoiceth in the Lord. My horn is exalted in the Lord. My mouth is enlarged over mine enemies because I rejoice in thy salvation. So this woman is super joyful and she is super thankful to the Lord. And what does she go back to? She goes back to the basics here. You know, so that's just a, just kind of an overall note. You know, do you, do you rejoice in your salvation? Do you rejoice in the salvation? It's thy salvation. Do you rejoice in God's salvation that he gave you freely? Can you really have a bad day if you're always thankful for the fact that you're saved? Think about that. I think that's something that, you know, maybe the longer that we're saved, we take that for granted the most, but she just, she goes right back to the basics and says, you know, I'm glad that I'm saved. I'm glad and I'm thankful that I'm saved. Look at verse number two. Then look what she does. Then look what she does. This is super important and all the great men and women of the Bible that were, that are great men and women in the Bible. And I think of Daniel first when I think of this characteristics, but they all do this. They all do this. The first thing that she does, look at verse number two. There is none underline, none in your Bible. If you don't mind writing in your Bible, there is none holy as the Lord. There is none beside thee and there is any rock, neither is there any rock like our God. Three times, three times she gives God all the credit right here. She says, there's nobody else like you. There's nobody else like you. And then she said, there's no rock like our God. She gives all the credit to the Lord. She just gives all that credit to the Lord. Now look at verse number two. So look, that's the first thing you need to realize in your life. Anything good that, I mean, I don't care if it's something that you've prayed for or something that just you were blessed with. You need to just give all the credit to the Lord. You're like, yeah, but I just had this great idea. Look, that came from the Lord. All good things come from the Lord. So you just need to give that credit to the Lord right away all the time. Look at verse number three. All the greats of the Bible do that. And guess what? Just like I said, if you know, that's why God kept doing things for them because he, God never has to worry. Somebody like Hannah here, somebody like Hannah who God just did something great for. She's like, credit to God, all the credit. She's like, there's nobody else. There's none. Only rock, everything. God, the only time, look, God's just like, he never has to worry about her stealing the credit. He never has to worry about her going off and saying, you know what? I did that. Something else in Hannah's life where maybe down the road a year or two years, three years or whatever, she needs something else or he gives her something. He never has to worry. People are like, Hannah, that's really awesome. He never has to worry about Hannah. Somebody like that has this attitude being like, yeah, I am pretty awesome. So look, Hannah gives all the credit to the Lord. All the greats do this. All the greats. Look at verse number three. Now Hannah goes into, you know, now we see why in verse number three, you see why Hannah was so easily able to just give all the credit to the Lord. Now Hannah gives a great treatise here about humility in the next few verses. It's one of the, it's one of the best in the Bible, in my opinion. Look at verse number three. Talk no more. She says, talk no more exceedingly proudly. Now she's kind of giving, you know, she's kind of, she's praying, but she's kind of given an example of why we should be humble. Talk no more exceedingly proudly. Let not arrogance come out of your mouth for the Lord is a God of knowledge and by him actions are weighed. She gives all the credit to the Lord. She gives and she demonstrates her humility here. Go to James chapter four and verse number six. Go to James chapter four and verse number six. Hannah is not a proud person. She is not a proud person. You don't see her and you kind of see this in chapter one when this other woman, this other wife is like coming after her and beating her down. You can see the meekness of Hannah because Hannah is not fighting back against this. Hannah's soul is just, she's got bitterness of soul and she's just being beaten down by this woman. But look, God sees that neatness and that humility and God just rewards Hannah for that. Look at James four and look at verse number six. The Bible says, but he giveth more grace wherefore he has said, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble. What that means is that God is going to just, just be abundantly merciful and graceful and give you things you don't deserve if you are humble. If you are humble and, and he, if you're proud, the other side of it, God will resist you. He won't give you grace. You know, so you want favor from God? Be humble. That's what we're learning from Hannah here. You know, of all the things in your life, of all the things in your life to be afraid of, I think pride is God. It better be up there as one of the top five at least pride because pride will just destroy people. I mean, it's getting old to see pride in my life. It's getting old to watch pride destroy people. To be honest with you, look at first Samuel chapter two back and look at verse number four. Now Hannah gives us a lesson on humility in verse number four and verse number five. Look what she says in first Samuel chapter two and verse number four. She's going to give us a lesson on how humility works. So we see that God gives, he's abundantly graceful to those who are humble and he resists. He holds back his grace from those that are proud. But look what she says here. Look at verse number four. She says the bows of the mighty men are broken and they that stumbled are girded with strength. Notice the dichotomy here. She's giving us in these next two or three verses, she's giving us, she's kind of giving us some proverbs here. If you notice how proverbs is written, she's saying that the mighty men are broken. She's like, but the ones that are stumbled are strengthened. Okay. She's giving us, she's telling us how humility works. She's telling us how humility works and how pride works. So the first part is the bows of the mighty men are broken. And then the humble part would be they that stumbled are girded with strength. I mean, these are, these are strong men and they're broken. Look at verse number five. They that have hired themselves, they that were full, they that were full, you see another, another same type of verse in verse number five. They that were full hired themselves out for bread. These people had abundance. They had everything. Now they're like, they're working. They're working for pennies. They're working for their bread. Quite a flip there. And then they were, they were, they were hungry ceased. So there was those that were hungry and they're just no longer hungry. But we see that they that were full and got prideful. Now they're working for pennies. The Bible is saying here, and then look at this next one. So that the Baron has born seven and she that has many children is waxed people. Now she references the other, she references this other wife. She says, you know, she's, she's referencing that type of person. She's saying, you know, the person that's born many children, it was all prideful and puffed up. She's like, now they're, you know, they're, they're barren. That person is barren. And she that has many children is waxed feeble. You know what she's trying to explain here? She's trying to explain. She's trying to explain how quickly God can turn the tables. That's what she's explaining in these two verses. She's saying how quickly the pride, the prideful can be brought low. So you think you're super powerful. You see, you think you're super successful. You think you've got everything together and then you get prideful. And just like that is what Hannah is saying. That can be flipped on its head. And then on the, on the flip side of that, she's saying the humble, the humble can be raised up just as quickly, just like that. The Lord could just raise up the humble from the Baron to having children, the children, you know, to have many children as waxed feeble, both ways. God can change things very quickly. And then verse number six, he says, the Lord killeth and maketh alive. He bring down to the grave and bringeth up. So first of all, in verse number four, in verse number five, Hannah demonstrates just the power of the Lord to resist the proud and give grace to the humble and vice versa. You know how he just abundantly gives grace and then he can just take everything away from somebody that's prideful, how quickly God can turn the tides. That's a lesson that we always need to remember in our lives. And then in verse number six, she starts, she starts acknowledging how powerful God is. In verse number six, she says, the Lord killeth and maketh alive. He bring it down to the grave and bringeth up. It's like God can do anything. Verse number seven, the Lord maketh poor and maketh rich. He bringeth low and lifteth up. He raises up the poor out of the dust and lift the beggar up from the dung hill to set him among princes and to make them inherit the throne of glory for the pillars of the earth are the Lord's and he has set the world upon them. He can do anything he wants and it's going to be measured in levels of humility versus pride is what Hannah is teaching us here in this prayer. And then she says he will keep the feet of the saints and the wicked shall be silent in darkness for by strength shall no man prevail. So it's it again, just acknowledging the power of God, the avatar adversaries of the Lord should be broken to pieces out of heaven. He shall thunder upon them. The Lord shall judge the ends of the earth and she, he shall give strength unto his King and exalt the horn of his anointed. Now here's something we can't do in our prayer. She throws in a messianic prophecy here. So we can't really do that in our prayers, but it just shows you how much, I mean, just the fact that God gave that prophecy to Hannah, it shows you how much God favored this woman, you know, and he favored her because of her, her character. First of all, the way she addressed him, the way she prayed to him in chapter one, the way she acknowledged that she wanted something, but it would also, she would make sure that the kingdom of heaven was benefited from that thing. She wasn't a selfish person. And then just her great humility that she shows. And then she gives a demonstration of that humility, just acknowledging the power of God to be able to do anything. This is a very, very faithful person here that we're dealing with. And he gives her a messianic prophecy about Jesus in verse number 10. Now turn to second Timothy chapter three, turn to second Timothy chapter three. So I'll show you in the Bible that, so what do we see from Hannah's prayer? We see that thankfulness and how thankfulness and how, how much credit she gives to God. We see that that thankfulness is directly proportional to humility. So how thankful you will be in your life. It is directly proportional to how humble you are. So if you see somebody, I'll show you in second Timothy chapter three, the flip side of this is true as well. Look at second Timothy chapter three in verse number two. So what do we see? We see humbleness equals thankfulness. Okay. Humbleness equals thankful. So you're wondering, you're like, all right. You know, cause look, here's the thing. It's hard to tell who's really humble sometimes, because a lot of people, a lot of people feign humility. A lot of people, they really, they think they're really great, but they tell you, oh, I'm nothing. And I'm just trying to serve and I just want to serve and all this, but they're really very prideful. So like, how could we tell truly who is humble? Well, I mean, first of all, the Lord knows, the Lord knows, but for us, we can just, this is just something to note, right? That thankfulness equals humility. They go together, they go together. Okay. One comes with the other. Look at second Timothy chapter three in verse number two. And to prove that, look at this, look at the opposite of this. The Bible here is talking about men and what will happen, you know, in, in, you know, perilous times for men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobeed, all, all bad things, right? Some of these things are repeated. I mean, these things are so bad here that a lot of these same attributes, a lot of these same characteristics are repeated at the end of Romans chapter one, when we're talking about literal reprobates, literal people that hate God, that are just, they've turned against God at God has just literally just given them up. He just given them over. A lot of those same attributes are in this sentence right here. And it says, proud blasphemers disobeed to parents. Oh, unthankful. You see that? Look, there's no accidents in the Bible. Proud and thankful go together too. So just as we see humility and thankful, Hannah, the definition of Hannah, if there is two words that I would use to describe Hannah in the Bible, it is humble and thankful. And we see the exact opposite of that in second Timothy chapter three, in verse number two, we see someone that's proud, along with all these other horrible things, many of them very wicked, evil attributes, they're also unthankful. So look, this isn't being unthankful, all that to say this, being prideful is something we always need to be watching out for. And then because, because that will make us unthankful, we will also be unthankful. Turn to Luke chapter 17. Let's talk about just being thankful. You say I am thankful. You say I'm thankful. You know, I'm thankful all the time. But here's the thing, we need to show that we're thankful. Okay? It's not enough to just be, oh, I'm thankful. You know, I mean, I don't know, have you ever had this conversation with your spouse? You know, I feel like you don't appreciate me. You know, sometimes spouses, whether it be the husband or the wife, they feel like, you know, the other spouse doesn't appreciate them. And the other spouse is like, many times he's like, what are you talking about? I'm very thankful for you. But the problem is not that they don't feel thankful, it's that they don't show that thankfulness. You see, so it's important that we show thankfulness in our lives. I'll prove it to you. Look at Luke chapter 17. Look at verse number 11. Look at verse number 11. And it came to pass as he went to Jerusalem, Jesus, that he passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee. And he entered into a certain village there met him 10 men that were lepers, which stood afar off. And they lifted up their voices and said, Jesus, master, have mercy on us. They're, they're speaking with respect. You know, they're praying with respect here to Jesus. And when he saw them, he said to them, go show yourselves unto the priests. And it came to pass that as they went, they were cleansed. He healed them all 10. And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back with a loud voice. What did he do? He did what Hannah did. He did what Hannah did. He went and what we said, look at me. Look at how awesome I look. Whoo. I'm good looking. No, he's like glorified God. He glorified Jesus. Again, proof that Jesus is God right here. Here's another one in the Bible and fell down on his face at his feet. He glorified God at his feet. You know, Jesus being God, right? Giving him thanks. And he was a Samaritan. And Jesus answered, said, what was the first thing Jesus brought up here? You think it's a big deal? You think it's a big deal that we give credit to God, that we give glory to God? What's the first thing Jesus brings up? He's like, where are the other ones? He's like, why are only you here? Look what he says. And Jesus says, were there not 10 cleansed? But where are the nine? They are not found that returned to give what? Glory to God. Save this stranger. You think it's a big deal that God gets all the glory? How do you get saved? Think about that. Why is salvation that way? Why can't it be like, man, Jesus, what he did on the cross, like that death, burial, resurrection thing. That was super good. That was like, I'm like, that's like 90% my way to heaven. Like, but I gotta be good. I gotta live my best life now. I gotta do that. Look, that's not salvation. Why? Because you're stealing glory from God and God demands glory. God demands what? He demands all the glory. So this guy wasn't like, oh man, you know, I'm pretty good, but thanks for helping me out for the rest of that. You know? No, he's just like, he gave all glory to God. And look, Jesus proves here that God demands the glory. He demands the glory and he said in him, rise, go thy way. Thy faith have made thee whole. So what's the first thing? I mean, talking about his salvation there. Okay. Talking about his salvation there. The first thing that Jesus brings up is where are the other ones? Because they didn't give glory to God. So look, the first thing is that you better be thankful. And you know, you say, well, maybe, maybe that they were going to come back tomorrow and say, and say, thank you. But here's the thing. It needs to be done right away. You need, if you were thankful for something, you need to show that thankfulness right away. It's not an accident. It's not an accident that as soon as chapter one in first Samuel one is over and Hannah has her prayer answered that immediately it goes into her prayer of thanksfulness. That's not an accident. It's showing that right away she gives that glory to God. Right away she is showing thankfulness. So look, I mean, the thing is like delaying thankfulness in your life means that you aren't. That's how people, that's how people will take it. Look, that's how God's going to take it too. Jesus was like, right away. Where are the other husbands? Where are the nine? So don't delay it. Show it. I mean the guy, think about it. This guy showed it. Did he not? The one leper showed it. He traveled all the way back to where Jesus was. He traveled. He did something. He showed his thankfulness. It's the same thing with your wife. It's the same thing with your husband. I'm not going to beat up on husbands or wives here. I'll beat up on both of them at the same time. But the point is it's not enough for you to feel, oh, I sit at work and I'm like, oh, so thankful for my wife because I sit at work by myself. That does my wife nothing. Okay? That does, and then I go home and it's just like business as usual all the time. And you know, but I go to work and I'm by myself in a corner at work and I'm like, oh, I'm so thankful for my wife. But I do nothing for her. I say nothing to her. I don't ever do anything nice for her. I'm, look, I'm thankful. Look, you got to show it. You got to show it or there's no point. It's the same thing with your husband. You just appreciate your husband, all this, but you got to show him that you're thankful. Otherwise he's not going to know. He's not going to know. Okay. So look, it's the same thing with friends. It's the same thing with friends. It's the same thing with all your personal relationships in your life. I just find this, I check, here's a statistic that I check like once a year and it's getting worse and worse and worse. This, this, this stat is like this. You know that like 25% of people, you've heard me say this before, 25% of people, I think it's like under 40, but 25% of adults under 40 have no friends. Think about that. Like one out of four people has zero friends. Okay. Now two thirds of people, now this is getting much, much worse. Like 10 years ago it was double this in the other way, but it's getting much, much worse. Two thirds of people say they have two or less close friends. Okay. Now I think, I think as a Bible believing Christian, I think that this number is much worse than, actually turn to Proverbs chapter 18 and I'll just prove it to you. We'll just take a tangent here for a second. But I think it's much worse than, than two because what the world defines as a close friend is not what we would define as a close friend. Okay. But go to Proverbs chapter 18, go to Proverbs chapter 18. Look at that last part of the verse. We've read this many times, but I want to look at the last part of this verse. It says, a man that has friends must show himself friendly. Okay, I get that. But look at the last part. It says, and there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother. So the Bible here is saying that, you know, yeah, you know, if you want friends, you need to be friendly. I get that. We've talked about that, but the Bible here is saying that there's different kinds of friends. The Bible here is saying that you might have some friends that are closer than other friends. And a close friend is one that sticks with you, that sticks by you. Now I look, I would argue that these secular close friends that are in this two thirds number, I mean, really, what do people, I mean, think about people that, you know, out in the world that are involved with, what are they involved? I mean, people are friends with people because they buy the same brand of motorcycle. I mean, is that like a close friend? I'm like, Oh, we're really good friends. Cause we bought the, we went to the same store to buy a motorcycle. You know, it's silly, but I mean, there's all these silly little things, but look, we have friends here that are very, that are, that, that are very close friends. Like, look, we have all this in common. That that's a lot. That's like the depth of everything that we have this in common. So look, that's a huge benefit to us that you have such close friends. And I'm all about to say this. Nobody has this. Nobody has this. And it's getting worse and worse and worse. I mean, a quarter of people, no friends. What are you doing? What do you do with your time? I suppose you just watch TV all the time or whatever, right? I personally don't like being alone. So I would never be in that 25% group. But the point is this, all that to say this back to the sermon, you should be thankful for your friends. You should be thankful for your friends and you shouldn't sit in a corner by yourself and be like, Oh, you should show your friends that you're thankful. That's all I'm saying. Just like you need to show your wife, you need to show your husband, you need to show them that appreciation by, you know, doing things, you know, doing things for them. So that's how you will get closer and closer to your friends. Because being unthankful is not somewhere you want to be in your friendships. It's not somewhere you want to be in your marriage. It's definitely not somewhere you want to be with the Lord. Okay, being an unthankful person. I mean, quite frankly, being unthankful, if you get to the point, you become a proud person, and you're literally you don't even feel that thankfulness. And you're just a proud person. You're not thankful for everything. Why? Think about that for a second. Why are proud people unthankful? It makes sense, right? Because if let's say that I'm a proud person, let's say that I'm just welled up with pride. Why would that make me unthankful? Well, it would make me unthankful because what do I need anybody for? I'm super awesome. I mean, you should be thankful that you're hanging out with me, quite frankly, because I'm so great. This is the attitude of the proud person. And this is why a proud person is unthankful because there's nothing to be thankful for. If you're welled up with pride, people should be thankful for me, quite frankly. I'm so awesome, you all should be thankful that I take the time to talk to you. That's a proud person. And that's why they're unthankful because there's no need for thankfulness in the heart of a proud person. But guess what? Being unthankful, I think being unthankful is one of the things that can ruin a person. I mean, just think about the things that we see today. Think about people that you know that literally just complain about everything. I mean, have you met somebody that just complains about everything? This is an unthankful person. They complain about everything. I guess the simplest demonstration of this is someone who's just a rage driver. Someone that's just a rage driver. They're just like, idiot, idiot. They're yelling at everybody for delaying at a light for a second or looking at a phone or whatever. You shouldn't text and drive. But the point is, a rage driver is a proud person. He's like, I'm a better driver than you. But look, they complain, they become a very negative person, and they're unappreciative of things. I mean, personally, I think it's one of the worst things that could happen to a man. You know, I mean, a woman as well. But this is why welfare is so dangerous, by the way. This is why welfare is so dangerous. It's not just because it keeps people from working. It's not just because it takes money from those that are working and gives it to those that aren't. It's because it creates unthankful people. It ruins people. It ruins them. It creates people that think that they're owed a living. Look, soul winners, go out and talk to some homeless people. You will be shocked they're actually very proud people. I'm not going to blanket statement the whole thing, but when I came to California and I started soul winning all the time, I'm just like, this is going to be so easy to get these people saved. They're some of the hardest people to get saved. I'm not saying that I've never gotten them saved, but you know why the number one reason is? It's because they're proud. You're like, how could they be proud? They're proud. I remember talking to this guy who was like literally in a park, and he was, because that was kind of one of our tricks that we had at Verity. If we had kind of an unreceptive area, we'd just swing by a park sometimes, because parks are generally pretty receptive, right? They're generally pretty receptive, because you've got a bunch of people kind of just hanging around, not really doing anything, so we just go and get some salvations at a park. Well, here's this guy living out of his van in this park, and I'm like, all right, you know, this guy's not, he's literally doing nothing. Literally just laying in the back of his van, staring at the top, the ceiling of his van. And I'm like, I'm going to go get this guy saved. I have never met such a prideful person in my entire life. This guy, he's telling me about the philosophies of life. He's telling me about what the Bible is, where it came from. This guy was just like lecturing me about like, you couldn't, he had it all figured out. I'm like, man, you're living in a van that doesn't even run, that has three wheels on it. I'm like, how, you know, how could you possibly be prideful? And then he asks me for money, and then gets mad when I don't give him money. Look, it's just, it doesn't make any sense, but this is what pride will do to you. It'll make you completely unthankful. You think people are just, you know, you know, you just have to give me money. They think they deserve it. I think they deserve it, but what pride will just ruin you. It'll make you unthankful. It'll wreck you as a person. Turn to Ecclesiastes chapter three, Ecclesiastes chapter three. I mean, it's one of the worst things that could ever happen to you is to become unthankful. It'll ruin a man. Look at Ecclesiastes chapter three and verse 13. So for us, let's just remember this. Let's just remember this. Look, this is, this, this is a simple message from Hannah here, okay? But the problem is this. It's such a simple message, but, but pride sneaks up on people. Pride sneaks up on people, especially when good things start happening to you. If good things start happening to you, pretty soon you're like, I got it figured out. I got this thing figured out, man. Look at me. It's very easy for even the Christian to get like that. Look, even spiritual things can make you prideful. I've read the Bible so many times. What could you tell me about anything? I know the Bible. Look, spiritual things can make you prideful. Any pride is bad. Any pride is bad. Look at Ecclesiastes three, 13 and also that every man should eat and drink and enjoy the good of all his labor. Okay. Here's the thing. I'm happy. I'm happy that this church, everybody I'm talking to right now has been taken care of in the last two or three years. You have been taken care of when other people weren't. You've gone through hard times and the Lord's just looking out for you. I mean, the Lord's just plowing a path for you. I can see that as the pastor of this church from the perspective that I am. God is looking out for the people in this church, but here's the thing. And guess what? There's nothing wrong with being successful. There's nothing wrong with, Oh man, I grew my business X amount this year. And Oh man, you know, things are really going well. There's nothing wrong with that. Hey, we get to move to a better neighborhood. Nothing wrong with that. Nothing wrong with that. Praise God for it. As long as last part of this verse, as long as you realize that everything that happens to you is the gift of God. Well, you know, the reason I have that this, this business grew so much is because I made these three decisions. God gave you those decisions. God gave you that wisdom. God gave you everything good that has ever happened to you. Every good gift is from God. Look, it is as long as you realize, look, enjoy your life. Cause as an American, you are spoiled, you're rich, you're everything. Enjoy it all. But it is all the gift of God. It is all the gift of God. Look, it could all go away tomorrow by some wicked thing or some wicked person or whatever and just be like, well, I'm glad I had it for the time that I had it. Just remember that as long as you always realize that every single good thing that happens to you, every single monetary thing that happens to you, every single thing, whatever that happens to you and what give the God his portion, don't be stealing from God either. But the point is, and you recognize that everything that happens to you is the gift of God. You won't get prideful. You won't get prideful. You're just like, I'm just, I'm nothing. It's just, it's just thank God that you know, I'm just going to keep working. I'm going to keep working and proven to God. I'm going to, it's kind of a concept. You see this? I'm gonna keep proving to God that that blessing me and having me around is worth it for what? For the kingdom of God. Not for me. I mean, you get blessings from the Lord and you'll leave the Lord. What's God going to do? I mean, come on. You're all parents in here. What would you do? You keep giving your kids stuff and they can just keep appreciating it less and less and less. You're going to correct that mistake as a parent and God is a much better parent than us. Go to James chapter one or 17 James chapter one in verse 17. I kind of already said this, but let's read it. James chapter one in verse number 17. I have a note in my Bible talking about, um, talk James chapter one verse 17 is written by Ecclesiastes three 13 in my Bible. Look at James chapter one in verse 17. It says, every good gift and every perfect gift is from above and cometh down from the father of lights with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. So look, enjoy. So those two verses go very well together teaching you that anything good that happens in your life, anything that builds you up or anything positive that's happening to you, you must always, you must, I've met successful people. I knew successful people that I was very close to that today are very wealthy people and they have said the Lord doesn't put food on my table and you know what? They're not saved and all that, but look, that is not true. That is not true for us. Every good gift comes from God and we must always remember that and it'll keep us from being prideful. It'll keep us humble like Hannah and guess what? It'll keep us thankful. It'll keep us thankful and we'll want to show God. We want to show the church. We want to show our friends. We want to show our spouses, our spouses. Look, here's the thing, like having a great marriage is maybe one of the biggest blessings on the earth. I mean, our salvation is great, but on this earth, one of the biggest blessings that we could have is a great marriage. So if you're not married, look forward to that. If you are married and you're like, ah, you know, be thankful, show thankfulness and it will get greater every day. Just show thankfulness for your spouse because that's a great, you know what? Your marriage, your marriage, you know what? That's a good gift. That's a good gift and that came from God. You know, tell your wife, you know, here's a gift. Why? Because God provided you for me. I'm thankful to God and I'm going to show that thankfulness by giving you a gift. You know, show it. Show it. This is a problem with men. You know, I will pick on the men here. This is a problem with men. Men aren't overly emotional sometimes. Men are more tucked in than women. Women are much more like out there with their emotions. Men will many times, they'll just get so down and you know, maybe I'm speaking about myself a little bit here, but men will just get grinding and working through this life and they forget to do these things. They'll feel it, but maybe they'll forget to show their wife or forget to tell their wife and forget to show that thankfulness to the people in their lives. You know, so I think that's more of a struggle for men, but ultimately, ultimately we want to always remain thankful to the Lord. Okay? And we need to show it. We need to show it. We need to go back. We need to travel back like the leper did. We need to serve. We need to do. Right? I mean, that's just like this morning. What's the problem with the Christian today? What's the problem with everything in your life? We can sit here and we can know everything here, but we have to do. And that's what you have to do. You have to show God that thankfulness. So Hannah is just such a great woman in the Bible, just a humble woman, a thankful woman, a great example of how to show God that you're thankful and shows us the tie between thankfulness and true humility. Let's bow our heads and have a word of praise. Let's bow our heads and have a word of praise.