Speaker 1: Hi, this is Pastor Rick warrant On behalf of my
Speaker 1: family and all of our staff here at Daily Hope.
Speaker 1: We wish you and your family a very happy Thanksgiving.
Speaker 2: This is Pastor Rick's Daily Hope. Today, Rick will share
Speaker 2: a special Thanksgiving message called how God Blesses Grateful Hearts.
Speaker 2: But first, in just a few moments, we're going to
Speaker 2: tell you how you can get a beautifully illustrated devotional
Speaker 2: for children by Pastor Rick that will help them discover
Speaker 2: how much God loves them and that He has a
Speaker 2: special plan and purpose for their life. You can find
Speaker 2: out more by going to Pastorick dot com while you
Speaker 2: listen to today's message. If you want, you can just
Speaker 2: text the word Hope to eight hundred six hundred five
Speaker 2: thousand and four for more information. That's the word Hope
Speaker 2: to eight hundred six hundred five thousand and four. Right now,
Speaker 2: Pastor Rick with part one of a message called How
Speaker 2: God Blesses Grateful Hearts.
Speaker 1: Hi, everybody, have I told you lately that I love
Speaker 1: you because I do Happy Thanksgiving? You know, since this
Speaker 1: next week is Thanksgiving, I'm pausing my series that we
Speaker 1: can prepare ourselves for Thanksgiving Day, so you know what
Speaker 1: I did this last week. I read through again every
Speaker 1: reference to gratitude and thanksgiving in the Bible, and there
Speaker 1: are actually over four hundred passages that mention thanksgiving or gratitude. Now,
Speaker 1: what I saw in my Bible study were two big ideas. First,
Speaker 1: God wants gratitude to be the primary motivation behind everything
Speaker 1: we do or say or think. Let me say that again.
Speaker 1: God wants gratitude to be the primary motive, the primary
Speaker 1: motivation behind everything that we do or say or think
Speaker 1: we want. He wants us to do everything out of
Speaker 1: thanksgiving and out of gratitude. The second thing I learned
Speaker 1: is that God rewards gratitude with a long list of
Speaker 1: blessings and benefits when we live with this continual attitude
Speaker 1: of gratitude or thanksgiving. So today, if you'll get out
Speaker 1: your message notes, I want to share how God blesses
Speaker 1: grateful hearts, how God blesses grateful hearts, And I want
Speaker 1: to identify a short sample list of benefits of gratitude.
Speaker 1: And then I'm going to give you a starter list
Speaker 1: of Bible verses that you can use on Thanksgiving Day.
Speaker 1: And then we're going to practice God's three favorite ways
Speaker 1: that he loves for us to use in expressing our
Speaker 1: gratitude to him. This is what I call God's love language.
Speaker 1: Now let's start by reading the top two scriptures on
Speaker 1: the top of your outline. Deuteronomy chapter twenty eight, verses
Speaker 1: one to eight talks about the importance of obedience and
Speaker 1: the blessing that God gives when we obey his commands.
Speaker 1: It says this Deuteronomy twenty eight one eight. If you
Speaker 1: fully obey the Lord your God, and if you carefully
Speaker 1: follow all his commands, all of these blessings will be yours.
Speaker 1: And then he gives us a laundry list. The Lord
Speaker 1: will bless you in the city and in the country.
Speaker 1: He will bless your children, as well as blessing your
Speaker 1: crops and your livestock. The Lord will bless your harvest
Speaker 1: and the food you prepare. The Lord will bless wherever
Speaker 1: you go. The Lord will even defeat your enemies when
Speaker 1: they attack you. Yes, the Lord will send his blessing
Speaker 1: on all you put your hand to, and bless everything
Speaker 1: you do. Now, God promises these blessings to us if
Speaker 1: we do what He tells us to do. In other words,
Speaker 1: if we follow us instructions for life, he says, I'm
Speaker 1: going to bless everything you do. Now. This past week,
Speaker 1: as I was studying what God tells us to do
Speaker 1: about the importance of gratitude, you know what, I noticed
Speaker 1: that five different times in scripture, God tells us that
Speaker 1: gratitude is far, far more than just saying thank you
Speaker 1: every so often. No. No, Gratitude is a constant mindset,
Speaker 1: you know, I write that down. Gratitude is a constant
Speaker 1: mindset of thankfulness. It's more than just saying thank you
Speaker 1: every once in a while to God or to people.
Speaker 1: It's an attitude of gratitude that you make as your lifestyle.
Speaker 1: God wants us to respond to everything that happens in
Speaker 1: our lives with an attitude of gratitude. Now, what I
Speaker 1: want to do is read the next verse aloud together,
Speaker 1: So everybody look at that first Thesalonians five eighteen from
Speaker 1: the New Living Translation, and let's read it slowly, allow together, Okay, Ready,
Speaker 1: Always be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God's
Speaker 1: will for you. Now, always be thankful in all circumstances.
Speaker 1: That about covers everything, right, there's no loophole there. Always
Speaker 1: be thankful in all circumstances. For this is God's will
Speaker 1: for you. Now, if you obey that, God says I'm
Speaker 1: going to bless you in every area of your life.
Speaker 1: And notice that he says, this is God's will for you,
Speaker 1: God's will for your life. You say, I want to
Speaker 1: know God's will for my life. God's will is that
Speaker 1: you are always grateful. You're always thankful, You're always full
Speaker 1: of the attitude of gratitude. Now, of course, when God
Speaker 1: wants us to help us do the right thing, he
Speaker 1: always attaches a benefit or blessings to doing it. I
Speaker 1: happen to have right now in my library seventy nine
Speaker 1: different books on the topic of gratitude. So I've studied
Speaker 1: this a lot. Seventy nine different books just on the
Speaker 1: topic of gratitude. And what I've discovered is that both
Speaker 1: scripture and scientific studies show that having a mindset of
Speaker 1: gratitude yields great, great blessings. This is an important message
Speaker 1: that I'm going to share with you before Thanksgiving, but
Speaker 1: you're going to use it the rest of your life.
Speaker 1: This could actually be an entire series of messages, but
Speaker 1: let me just breeze through some bullet points there on
Speaker 1: your outline. There's a list of bull of points on
Speaker 1: the benefits of the blessings of gratitude. Notice first, gratitude
Speaker 1: improves your brain and your physical health. Did you know that.
Speaker 1: I don't have time to go into all of these
Speaker 1: and talk about them, but doctors say that gratitude is
Speaker 1: the healthiest human emotion. It improves your brain, it improves
Speaker 1: your physical health. Number two, gratitude creates happiness. If you
Speaker 1: want to be happy, develop a thankful heart. The happiest
Speaker 1: people are those who are the most grateful. Number three,
Speaker 1: Gratitude helps you sleep better. You probably didn't know that.
Speaker 1: That's a recent discovery, but the Bible told us that
Speaker 1: literally thousands of years ago in the Book of Proverbs.
Speaker 1: Gratitude Number four is the antidote to toxic emotions. In
Speaker 1: other words, it defeats things like worry and depression and
Speaker 1: anger and fear. You can't be grateful and worried at
Speaker 1: the same time, or depressed and grateful at the same time.
Speaker 1: It defeats those toxic emotions. The next one, gratitude improves relationships.
Speaker 1: You want better relationships, become a more grateful man or woman.
Speaker 1: You know what if you expressed gratitude more to your spouse,
Speaker 1: you'd have a whole lot less conflict. And then gratitude
Speaker 1: opens the door to people and to other opportunities. I
Speaker 1: had a personal example of that. I could tell you
Speaker 1: this week, but I don't have a time to tell you. Gratitude.
Speaker 1: When you were express gratitude to people, you make friends,
Speaker 1: It opens doors, It gives you opportunities. Gratitude, the Bible says,
Speaker 1: is the evidence of spiritual maturity. You want to know
Speaker 1: if your spiritual mature, how grateful are you? How much
Speaker 1: do you live with the attitude of gratitude. Glossians two
Speaker 1: nine says this, look on the screen. Plant your roots
Speaker 1: in Christ and let him be the foundation for your life.
Speaker 1: Be strong in your faith, always overflowing with circle. This thanksgiving,
Speaker 1: all right, It is a mark of maturity. The more
Speaker 1: mature you are, the more grateful you'll be. And then
Speaker 1: gratitude pleases God and it brings his blessing. The Bible says,
Speaker 1: it's the sacrifice that God loves most, the sacrifice of gratitude.
Speaker 2: This is Pastor Rick's daily hope. Rick will be back
Speaker 2: in a moment with the second half of today's message,
Speaker 2: But first, if this message has encouraged you, or if
Speaker 2: God puts someone on your mind that needs to hear it,
Speaker 2: would you share it? You'll be glad you did, and
Speaker 2: be sure to let them know about Pastor ricks free
Speaker 2: daily email devotional at pastorick dot com.
Speaker 3: Pastor Rick says it's vitally important for children to understand
Speaker 3: that even before the universe was created, God had them
Speaker 3: in mind, and that He has a special plan and
Speaker 3: purpose for their life. That's why he created The Purpose
Speaker 3: Driven Life devotional book for children. This inspirational resource uses
Speaker 3: the principles found in Pastor rix life changing bestseller The
Speaker 3: Purpose Driven Life, but delivers them as one hundred devotions
Speaker 3: that speak directly to the daily challenges kids face and
Speaker 3: gives real world applications to help them discover their purpose.
Speaker 3: Paired with powerful scripture passages and engaging illustrations, young readers
Speaker 3: will thrive on the biblical wisdom that has helped millions
Speaker 3: of people throughout the world. Will send you The Purpose
Speaker 3: Driven Life one hundred illustrated Devotions for Children today as
Speaker 3: our way of saying thanks for giving your gift to
Speaker 3: help daily hope take the hope of Jesus to people
Speaker 3: around the world. Be sure to get a copy for
Speaker 3: all of the children God is placed in your life, kids, grandkids, nieces, nephews,
Speaker 3: and the kids in your neighborhood. They'll all be blessed
Speaker 3: by this amazing resource. Go to pastorik dot com right
Speaker 3: now to get your copy, or you can call eight
Speaker 3: hundred at six hundred five zero zero four. That's Pastorick
Speaker 3: dot com. Or call eight hundred six hundred at five
Speaker 3: zero zero four. Thank you so much for your support,
Speaker 3: and don't forget to let us know which radio station
Speaker 3: you heard us on. There's only three days left to
Speaker 3: get this great resource, so don't wait.
Speaker 2: This is Pastor Rick's Daily Hope, the audio broadcast ministry
Speaker 2: of Pastor Rick Warren. Once again, here's Rick.
Speaker 1: You want to know if your spiritually mature, how much
Speaker 1: do you live with the attitude of gratitude. Glossians two
Speaker 1: nine says this look on the screen. Plant your roots
Speaker 1: in Christ and let Him be the foundation for your life.
Speaker 1: Be strong in your faith, always overflowing with circle. This thanksgiving,
Speaker 1: all right, it is a mark of maturity. The more
Speaker 1: mature you are, the more grateful you'll be. And then
Speaker 1: gratitude pleases God, and it brings his blessing. The Bible
Speaker 1: says it's the sacrifice that God loves most, the sacrifice
Speaker 1: of gratitude. Now, what has always baffled me about Thanksgiving
Speaker 1: Day is how very little actual time is given to
Speaker 1: thanksgiving of God. We spend a full day preparing the meal.
Speaker 1: We spend several hours watching football and talking and maybe
Speaker 1: just hanging out and maybe one or two men. And
Speaker 1: it's thanking God in prayer because you don't want the
Speaker 1: food to get cold with a long prayer. So even
Speaker 1: though it's Thanksgiving Day, it's what we do the least
Speaker 1: of on that day. So I want to give you
Speaker 1: some homework. It's a homework assignment for Thanksgiving Day with
Speaker 1: those that you have Thanksgiving with. Here is a starter
Speaker 1: list for thanking God this Thanksgiving. He said, I don't
Speaker 1: know what to be thankful for. Well, it's a list
Speaker 1: of verses. And what I would encourage you to is,
Speaker 1: when you're sitting at the table together, ask everybody around
Speaker 1: your table to read one of the verses, okay, and
Speaker 1: then after all the verses have been read, you might
Speaker 1: start a discussion simply asking well, which of these verses
Speaker 1: are you the most thankful for? And it may be
Speaker 1: something that's already been mentioned, or maybe something that hasn't
Speaker 1: been mentioned. What does God want us to be grateful for,
Speaker 1: not just a thanksgiving but all the time. Well, as
Speaker 1: we go through this list of verses, and again, didn't
Speaker 1: give you any blanks, so just circle the reason in
Speaker 1: each verse. Okay, here are some reasons why we need
Speaker 1: to be the most grateful people of all people. First,
Speaker 1: because God gave us life. God gave us life, Psalm
Speaker 1: one thirty nine, thirteen and fourteen. You created informed me.
Speaker 1: Circle that you created informed me in my mother's body.
Speaker 1: So I thank you because you made me. I wouldn't
Speaker 1: even be alive if it weren't for God. That's reason enough.
Speaker 1: Number two, we can be thankful that we're still alive.
Speaker 1: Are you glad you're still alive from a year ago?
Speaker 1: Ecclesiastes eleven eight says, be grateful for every year you live.
Speaker 1: That's another thing to be grateful for. Number three, we
Speaker 1: can be grateful that He saved us. So I'm thirteen
Speaker 1: verse five, My heart is happy because you saved me.
Speaker 1: Number four, we can be grateful because God is good.
Speaker 1: God is good. Circle this, I give you thanks because
Speaker 1: you are good, says Psalm fifty four, verse six. Here's
Speaker 1: another one. I can be grateful that God answers our
Speaker 1: prayers Psalm one eighteen twenty one. I praise the Lord
Speaker 1: for answering my prayers. And I can be grateful that
Speaker 1: he shows us how to live Psalm sixteen, verse seven.
Speaker 1: I praise the Lord because he guides me. Here's another
Speaker 1: one I can praise the Lord. I can thank God
Speaker 1: that he forgives me Psalm eighteen, verse one. Tell the
Speaker 1: Lord how thankful you are because he is kind and
Speaker 1: always merciful. And then number eight, I can be grateful
Speaker 1: that he will never stop loving us Psalm one oh seven,
Speaker 1: verse eight. Give thanks to the Lord for his unfailing love. Now,
Speaker 1: I want to spend the rest of our time together
Speaker 1: looking at what I call God's three favorite ways. God's
Speaker 1: three favorite ways for us to express gratitude to him.
Speaker 1: This last week, in my study of every passage in
Speaker 1: the Bible that references gratefulness or thanksgiving, I found at
Speaker 1: least a dozen different ways that God tells us to
Speaker 1: express our gratitude he tells us, But I want to
Speaker 1: focus on just the three most mentioned ways because they
Speaker 1: are mentioned more than all the others put together. These
Speaker 1: must be God's favorite expressions of gratitude, because, as I said,
Speaker 1: he refers to them, these three that I must share today,
Speaker 1: more than all the others combined. Now, the Bible has
Speaker 1: a lot to say about the songs of Thanksgiving, the
Speaker 1: offerings of Thanksgiving, and the cup of Thanksgiving. I'm sure
Speaker 1: you're aware that we all have, as human beings, different
Speaker 1: love languages. Your love language is different than the language
Speaker 1: of your spouse. What makes your spouse feel loved is
Speaker 1: different than what makes you feel loved. We like to
Speaker 1: be told that we're loved in different ways. That's because
Speaker 1: we're all different. Well, so does God. And what I'm
Speaker 1: going to share with you today are God's three top
Speaker 1: love languages. These are the ones that bring him the
Speaker 1: most pleasure. So let's look at the first one. The
Speaker 1: first habit of expressing gratitude is this write it down,
Speaker 1: singing back to God. Singing back to God. Now you
Speaker 1: may not know this. Nobody has ever told us to you,
Speaker 1: but God is a singing God. Did you know that
Speaker 1: The Bible tells us that God sings? In fact, And
Speaker 1: here's the shocker, he sings about you. He sings love
Speaker 1: songs and joyful songs about you. Zephaniah, Chapter three, verse
Speaker 1: seventeen says this, the Lord, your God is with you,
Speaker 1: and he is your mighty savior. He takes great delight
Speaker 1: in you, calming your fears with his love, and he
Speaker 1: rejoices over you with singing about you. Did you know
Speaker 1: that verse? God rejoices over you with singing about you. Now,
Speaker 1: let me just say this. Think about this. You've never
Speaker 1: heard God sing over you. But one day in heaven,
Speaker 1: you're going to hear God sing about you. And it's
Speaker 1: going to be the most beautiful, joyful sound you've ever heard.
Speaker 1: I can't wait to hear pure perfect joy. We have
Speaker 1: joy on this play it, but it's a broken joy.
Speaker 1: It's an imperfect joy. When God sings it is pure,
Speaker 1: perfect joy. And you're gonna get to hear God sing
Speaker 1: over you one day. That's something to look forward to.
Speaker 1: Have you ever listened to a mother calm her baby
Speaker 1: by quietly singing to that baby. I could never forget
Speaker 1: the sacred moments of listening to my wife, okay, love
Speaker 1: our children with lullabies. I can hear her voice in
Speaker 1: a soft voice, humming and singing to our babies. That's
Speaker 1: how God loves you. God sings. You didn't know that.
Speaker 1: In fact, the only reason music exists in the universe
Speaker 1: is because God invented it. God is a musical god,
Speaker 1: and since you were created in his image, you like
Speaker 1: music too. Verses don't like music. They're not created in
Speaker 1: his image. Worms don't like music, they're not created in
Speaker 1: his image. So let me show you just a few
Speaker 1: verses of scripture where God tells us to express our
Speaker 1: thanks to him to singing Psalm one seven, verse seven.
Speaker 1: Sing out your thanks to him. Sing praises to our God,
Speaker 1: Psalm ninety five, verse two. Let us come before him
Speaker 1: with thanksgiving, that's what we're talking about, and sing joyful
Speaker 1: songs of praise. Now now, friends, this is one of
Speaker 1: the main reasons for coming together to worship together instead
Speaker 1: of just watching a service online. You miss the value
Speaker 1: of singing praise together. You may not realize this, but
Speaker 1: you sing better when you sing with others. Right. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I don't like to hear myself sing, but I don't
Speaker 1: mind singing when there's five hundred or one thousand other
Speaker 1: people out there. Colossian three point sixteen says this sing
Speaker 1: psalms and hymns and sacred songs. Singing to God with
Speaker 1: thanksgiving in your hearts. This is the first habit of
Speaker 1: thanksgiving that God loves singing back to God. Are you
Speaker 1: doing that Soami? I don't sing? Somebody said I can't sing.
Speaker 1: Somebody said I've lost my voice, Sir, I never had it. Listen,
Speaker 1: listen closely to a pastor who loves you. God loves
Speaker 1: your voice. He gave it to you. He gave you
Speaker 1: your voice. He wants to hear your voice from you,
Speaker 1: not somebody else's, not you trying to be somebody else.
Speaker 1: He wants to hear your voice because He gave it
Speaker 1: to you. And if you are embarrassed about singing with
Speaker 1: your voice, I'll just be honest me. You've got a
Speaker 1: pride problem, you got an ego issue. You need to
Speaker 1: learn to accept yourself the way God does. God enjoys
Speaker 1: hearing you sing praise to Him.
Speaker 2: You're listening to Pastor Rick's Daily Hope. If this message
Speaker 2: has encouraged you, or if God puts someone on your
Speaker 2: mind that needs to hear it, would you share it?
Speaker 2: You'll be glad you did, and be sure to let
Speaker 2: them know about Pastor Ricks free daily email devotional at
Speaker 2: pastorick dot com. Rick will be back in just a moment,
Speaker 2: but first, Pastor Rick says it's vitally important for children
Speaker 2: to understand that even before the universe was created, God
Speaker 2: had them in mind, and that He has a special
Speaker 2: plan and purpose for their life. That's why he created
Speaker 2: the Purpose Driven Life devotional book for children. This resource
Speaker 2: uses the principles found in Pastor Rick's best selling book,
Speaker 2: The Purpose Driven Life, but delivers them as devotions that
Speaker 2: speak directly to the daily challenges kids face. Here's Rick
Speaker 2: to tell you more.
Speaker 1: You know, ever since the publication of The Purpose Driven Life,
Speaker 1: people have been asking me how they can teach their
Speaker 1: young children about the purpose of life. And they say,
Speaker 1: and I agree, that it's never too early to start
Speaker 1: teaching your children that they're loved by God and He
Speaker 1: has a purpose for their life. It's never too soon
Speaker 1: to tell a child God made you unique so you
Speaker 1: could fulfill your special life mission on earth, and God
Speaker 1: planned you just for that. Now here's the super good news.
Speaker 1: We have taken the principles that are taught in The
Speaker 1: Purpose Driven Life and we've written them into short devotionals
Speaker 1: aim specifically at children ages four to eight years old. Today,
Speaker 1: more than ever, kids at this age need need to
Speaker 1: hear the message that they're not an accident. They need
Speaker 1: to hear Even before the universe was created, God had
Speaker 1: you in mind, and he planned you for his purposes.
Speaker 1: You were made to last forever. Now. This book is
Speaker 1: called The Purpose Driven Life one hundred Illustrated Devotions for Children,
Speaker 1: and it includes engaging illustrations and devotionals that speak directly
Speaker 1: to the daily challenges that all of our kids are facing.
Speaker 1: And as a way of saying thanks to you for
Speaker 1: your financial gift to Daily Hope, I want to send
Speaker 1: you a copy of The Purpose Driven Life one hundred
Speaker 1: Illustrated Devotions for Children. This will be a great thing
Speaker 1: to give kids or to grandkids, and at the same time,
Speaker 1: your support continues to help us tell people all around
Speaker 1: the world about God's love and God's purpose for them.
Speaker 2: Will send you The Purpose Driven Life one hundred Illustrated
Speaker 2: Devotions for Children today as our way of saying thanks
Speaker 2: for your gift to help Daily Hope take the Hope
Speaker 2: of Jesus to people around the world. Be sure to
Speaker 2: get a copy for all the children God has placed
Speaker 2: in your life, kids, grandkids, nieces, nephews, and kids in
Speaker 2: your neighborhood. They will all be blessed by this amazing resource.
Speaker 2: Go to pastorick dot com right now to get your copy,
Speaker 2: or you could just call eight hundred six hundred five
Speaker 2: thousand and four. There's only three days left to get
Speaker 2: this great resource, so don't wait. That's Pastorick dot com
Speaker 2: or eight hundred six hundred five thousand and four. Thank
Speaker 2: you so much for your support, and be sure to
Speaker 2: let us know that you listen to Pastor Rick's Daily
Speaker 2: Hope on the radio. Join us next time as we
Speaker 2: look into God's word for our daily hope. This program
Speaker 2: is sponsored by Pastor Rick's Daily Hope and your generous
Speaker 2: financial support