Speaker 1: You know, Thanksgiving is not an easy holiday for a
Speaker 1: lot of people. How do you be thankful when you've
Speaker 1: just gotten really bad news? I mean, some people this
Speaker 1: week all over the world heard the news the dreaded
Speaker 1: word cancer. How do you be thankful at Thanksgiving when
Speaker 1: the doctor just told you you have cancer? How do
Speaker 1: you be thankful Thanksgiving when you just got laid off?
Speaker 1: How do you be thankful Thanksgiving when the person you
Speaker 1: love the most just told you I don't love you anymore.
Speaker 2: And I'm walking out.
Speaker 1: How do you be thankful when you have a chronic
Speaker 1: illness that isn't getting any better. How do you be
Speaker 1: thankful when your dream has exploded, when an economic tsunami
Speaker 1: has wiped out all of your retirement. Well, the Bible
Speaker 1: says it like this in Onest Thessalonians, chapter five, verse eighteen,
Speaker 1: give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will
Speaker 1: for you in Christ Jesus.
Speaker 2: Now, the key to that verse is the word in.
Speaker 1: It doesn't say for give thanks in all circumstances. It
Speaker 1: doesn't say give thanks for all circumstances. There's a lot
Speaker 1: of things in life you shouldn't be grateful for. If
Speaker 1: somebody gets leukemia. I'm not grateful for that. If a
Speaker 1: woman gets raped, I'm not grateful for that. If somebody
Speaker 1: is put through the indignity of racial profiling and is
Speaker 1: treated unjustly, I'm not grateful for that. We're not to
Speaker 1: be grateful for sin.
Speaker 2: We're not to be.
Speaker 1: Grateful for evil and be grateful for the suffering that
Speaker 1: comes as a result of those things that would make
Speaker 1: God and make you a masochist. To be thankful for
Speaker 1: everything would be masochistic. To be thankful in everything is maturity.
Speaker 1: Why because even in the darkest days of your life,
Speaker 1: there are always some things you can be grateful for.
Speaker 1: And no matter what you're going through, there are five
Speaker 1: things you can thank God and express your thanks and
Speaker 1: gratitude him for. Number One, I can always thank God
Speaker 1: for the grace He has shown me.
Speaker 2: What is grace.
Speaker 1: Grace is when God gives me what I need, not
Speaker 1: what I deserve. If I got to what I deserved,
Speaker 1: I wouldn't be alive and needed with jew. Grace is
Speaker 1: God's riches at Christ's expense. Grace is everything God is
Speaker 1: able to do in your life, not because of who
Speaker 1: you are, but because of what Jesus did for you.
Speaker 1: Grace is God's free gift, and the Bible says in
Speaker 1: Ephesians two eight, you have been saved by grace through
Speaker 1: faith or through believing. You do not save yourselves. It
Speaker 1: was the gift of God. I can't earn my salvation.
Speaker 1: I can't work for my salvation. I can't deserve my salvation.
Speaker 1: I can't be religious enough to earn my salvation. I
Speaker 1: can't bargain with God. I can't bribe with God. It's
Speaker 1: simply a gift that's called grace. And because it's a
Speaker 1: gift to grace, not dependent upon me, I can always
Speaker 1: be thankful that God forgives me, not because they deserve it,
Speaker 1: but because of his grace. That God loves me, not
Speaker 1: because he deserves it, but because of his grace. That
Speaker 1: God blesses me and uses me and protects me and
Speaker 1: takes me to heaven, not because of what I do,
Speaker 1: but because of His grace. That is an incontrovertible truth,
Speaker 1: and it is a gift of God. Now, in the
Speaker 1: Book of Psalms, chapter one oh three psal one oh three,
Speaker 1: it gives us a list of God's gifts of grace.
Speaker 2: Let me read them to you.
Speaker 1: David is having a thanksgiving psalm, and he says, I
Speaker 1: will not forget the glorious things or the gracious things
Speaker 1: that God does for me. He forgives all my sins.
Speaker 1: That's grace. He heals me, that's grace. He ramsoms me
Speaker 1: from hell, that's grace. He surrounds me with love. He
Speaker 1: fills my life with good things. He's merciful and ten
Speaker 1: towards those who don't deserve it. He's slow to get angry.
Speaker 1: That's grace. He never bears a grudge. I'm really grateful
Speaker 1: for that one, aren't you That God does not hold
Speaker 1: a grudge. He has not punished us as we deserve
Speaker 1: for our sins. That's grace. And no matter what happens
Speaker 1: in my life, I can say God, I thank you
Speaker 1: for the grace of God in my life.
Speaker 2: The air I breathe is a gift of God.
Speaker 1: The fact that I can hear, that I can see,
Speaker 1: that I can talk to you, that I can think,
Speaker 1: those are all everything in your life is a gift
Speaker 1: of God's grace. Now, the first way the Bible tells
Speaker 1: us to express thanksgiving is by singing, and all through
Speaker 1: the Book of Psalms, it says make a joyful noise. Now,
Speaker 1: even pigs do that when they're eating. So it doesn't
Speaker 1: mean you have to be on key. It doesn't mean
Speaker 1: you have to have the correct note. You could be
Speaker 1: a prison singer, always behind a few bars and.
Speaker 2: Never have the right key.
Speaker 1: But the Bible says, make a joyful noise. Psalm ninety five,
Speaker 1: Verse two says, let us come to God with thanksgiving,
Speaker 1: singing songs of thanks to him. Number two is for
Speaker 1: the plans He has for me. I could always thank
Speaker 1: God for the good plans that He has for my life.
Speaker 2: Now.
Speaker 1: Life is not always good. In fact, it's bad. A
Speaker 1: lot of the time.
Speaker 2: Life is tough.
Speaker 1: And I'm not going to stand here as some Pollyanna
Speaker 1: pastor and lie to you and tell you, well, just
Speaker 1: believe the sun will come out tomorrow, because he doesn't
Speaker 1: always come out tomorrow. There are a lot of bad
Speaker 1: things happening in the world all the time. Life is
Speaker 1: not always good. But God is always good, and his
Speaker 1: plan for your life is always good. Now, not everything
Speaker 1: that happens in your life is something he planned, but
Speaker 1: everything that happens in your life he fits into your plan.
Speaker 1: Here's what the Bible says, Jeremiah twenty nine to eleven.
Speaker 1: I have good plans for you. I have good plans
Speaker 1: for you, says the Lord. I don't plan to hurt you.
Speaker 1: I plan to give you hope and a good future.
Speaker 1: A lot of people will go around think of God's
Speaker 1: mad at him. God isn't mad at you. God is
Speaker 1: mad about you. He loves you more than anybody else.
Speaker 1: The only reason you're alive is because God created you
Speaker 1: to love you. If God didn't want to love you, you
Speaker 1: wouldn't take your next breath. You are alive because God
Speaker 1: made you to love you. He's mad about you, and
Speaker 1: he says, I have good plans for your life, not
Speaker 1: bad plans. Some people worship of God, who they think
Speaker 1: causes all their suffering. I worship a God who bears
Speaker 1: all my suffering.
Speaker 2: Look at the cross.
Speaker 1: The Bible says, he was bruised for our transgressions, He
Speaker 1: was wounded for our inick gooities.
Speaker 2: By his stripes, your healed.
Speaker 1: He took my suffering, my sin, my shame, my guilt
Speaker 1: on him. We have a God who suffers not just
Speaker 1: with us, but he suffers for us.
Speaker 2: That's good news.
Speaker 1: God says, I have the plans for you and their
Speaker 1: good plans. Now, as I said, God doesn't plan your sins,
Speaker 1: and a lot of things that happen in your life
Speaker 1: are because of dumb decisions. God didn't plan those things.
Speaker 1: A lot of things happen because people make bad decisions.
Speaker 1: So God doesn't plan the sins done by you, and
Speaker 1: God doesn't plan the sins of other people done against
Speaker 1: you that hurt you and leave you as.
Speaker 2: An innocent victim.
Speaker 1: But what God says is, you make choices, but I
Speaker 1: already know in advance all the choice you're going to make.
Speaker 1: So God says, I can fit that into the plan.
Speaker 1: I can fit that in the plan. And God looks
Speaker 1: at all of the dumb decisions I'm going to make
Speaker 1: in life, I can fit that in.
Speaker 2: I can fit that in. I can fit that in.
Speaker 1: God has no plan B for your life because he
Speaker 1: already knows all the other things that other people will
Speaker 1: do that he didn't agree with, and other things that
Speaker 1: you'll do that he didn't agree with. God's plan for
Speaker 1: you is good, and he says, I'll even take the
Speaker 1: bad and bring good out of it. I liken God's
Speaker 1: will and your will to like a cruise line. You
Speaker 1: have a free will, but it's not completely free. You're
Speaker 1: only free to do certain things, and it is limited.
Speaker 1: For instance, if you and I were to get on
Speaker 1: a cruise line and we were to go from La
Speaker 1: to Tokyo, you'd have a lot of freedom for the
Speaker 1: next ten days on that cruise. You could go to
Speaker 1: all seven buffets, even the midnight one. You could pack
Speaker 1: on the pounds. You could walk around the cruise ship.
Speaker 1: You could go swimming, you could go dancing, you could
Speaker 1: go probably buy some stuff. You could sleep on the
Speaker 1: sun deck, you could do listen to the entertainment. There's
Speaker 1: lots of freedom you could do. But no matter what
Speaker 1: you do, that's ship's going to Tokyo and you're not
Speaker 1: stopping it. And God's great or plan for your life
Speaker 1: is much bigger than the problems you're going through. God's
Speaker 1: purpose for your life is bigger than the problems, even
Speaker 1: the ones you bring on yourself. And he says, I
Speaker 1: can fit that in, I can even use that. I
Speaker 1: can even use the harmful things that people do against you,
Speaker 1: and I can bring good out of those. God loves
Speaker 1: to turn crucifixions into resurrections.
Speaker 2: He specializes in it.
Speaker 1: When we go through a difficult time when we face
Speaker 1: a tragedy, when something happens, a road wind hits us
Speaker 1: and we have no idea where it came from or
Speaker 1: why it happened. We always want an explanation, and we
Speaker 1: start with all the why why why why why? Explanations
Speaker 1: do not comfort. What comforts is the presence of God.
Speaker 2: You don't need an explanation.
Speaker 1: All my explanations are never going to In fact, my
Speaker 1: brain is too small to understand why everything happens in
Speaker 1: the world. You don't understand either, and you're not gonna
Speaker 1: know why most things happen in your life until you
Speaker 1: get to heaven. So you need to stop worrying about it,
Speaker 1: and instead you need to thank God that his grace
Speaker 1: is sufficient to show you what you need.
Speaker 2: His plan is good for you.
Speaker 1: And the other thing is that we can be thankful
Speaker 1: in bad times because of this.
Speaker 2: Verse Romans eight twenty eight.
Speaker 1: We know that in all things, not just the good things,
Speaker 1: in all things, in all things, God works, God works
Speaker 1: for the good.
Speaker 2: Doesn't say all things are good. They're not.
Speaker 1: But God works in all things for good for those
Speaker 1: who love Him, not for everybody, but for those who
Speaker 1: place their lives in him and have been called according
Speaker 1: to his purpose. Now, I don't know what has you worried.
Speaker 1: You may be worried about your finances. You may be
Speaker 1: worried about your health. You may be worried. Are we
Speaker 1: ever going to work out these marriage problems? Am I
Speaker 1: ever going to get married? Will we ever have a baby?
Speaker 1: Will I ever get hired again? And I don't know,
Speaker 1: But you feel the tension and the anxiety and the
Speaker 1: insecurity welling up inside of you, and you go, how
Speaker 1: in the world can I be thankful in this situation
Speaker 1: right now?
Speaker 2: Because we know if you've put.
Speaker 1: Your hand in the hand of the Lord, in all things,
Speaker 1: God is working for the good. You've got somebody on
Speaker 1: your side. In all things, God is working for the
Speaker 1: good of those who love him. And I don't know
Speaker 1: what's got you nervous, what's got you worried right now?
Speaker 1: But I do know the antidote. And the antidote is
Speaker 1: the second way we express thanksgiving to God. The first
Speaker 1: is by singing, second is by praying. And all through
Speaker 1: Scripture we are told to cast our cares, our anxieties,
Speaker 1: our worries on God.
Speaker 2: We're to not worry. Instead, we're to pray.
Speaker 1: Do you remember that verse we looked at and the
Speaker 1: Philippians study Philippians four to six. It's there in your outline.
Speaker 1: Don't be anxious or worried about anything. Instead pray about everything.
Speaker 1: If you're not praying, you're worrying. If you're worrying, you're
Speaker 1: not praying. The Bible says, don't be anxious or worried
Speaker 1: about anything. Instead pray about everything, always making your request
Speaker 1: to God. Read it aloud with me, with thanksgiving. With thanksgiving,
Speaker 1: that's the second way you show thanksgiving to God. First
Speaker 1: is by singing, the second is by praying. So I
Speaker 1: want us to pause right now.
Speaker 2: I want you to bow your head.
Speaker 1: I want you to think about what you're worried about
Speaker 1: most right now, and then listen to this verse again.
Speaker 1: Don't be anxious or worried. Instead pray about everything and
Speaker 1: make your request to God with thanksgiving.
Speaker 2: So here's how I.
Speaker 1: Want you to say, God, you know this problem that
Speaker 1: I'm worrying about, and mention it to him. God, you
Speaker 1: know this problem. You know it's got me upset and
Speaker 1: I'm stressed out about it. And here's what I want
Speaker 1: you to do and make your request to God.
Speaker 2: Ask him. Right now, here's what I want to take
Speaker 2: the problem away.
Speaker 1: Solve the problem, resolve the problem, show me the answer,
Speaker 1: show me the way out. And then it says with thanksgiving.
Speaker 1: So right now in your heart, say, Dear God, thank
Speaker 1: you for the grace that you've shown me, that you
Speaker 1: forgive me, you ransom me from hell, you surround me
Speaker 1: with love, you fill my life with good things. Thank
Speaker 1: you for all the gifts of grace, and thank you
Speaker 1: for your plan that it's a good plan. Others people
Speaker 1: may have a bad plan for my life, but your
Speaker 1: plan is good. And God, I want to thank you
Speaker 1: that in all things that are happening in my life,
Speaker 1: you are working for the good of my life. Because
Speaker 1: I love you and I want to fulfill your purpose.
Speaker 1: Thank you in your name, I pray Amen.
Speaker 2: Okay.
Speaker 1: Number three, The third thing I can be thankful for
Speaker 1: no matter how bad things get in my life is this.
Speaker 1: I can always thank God for his promise.
Speaker 2: To never leave me. That's a big one.
Speaker 1: I can always thank God, no matter what I'm going through,
Speaker 1: for his promise to never leave me. You will never
Speaker 1: go through anything in your life on your own. You
Speaker 1: might feel alone, but you're not on your loan on you.
Speaker 1: You're just not aware of it. There is no moment
Speaker 1: in your life when God is not with you. The
Speaker 1: Bible says this for Hebrews thirteen six thirteen five. I
Speaker 1: will never leave you, and I will never abandon you. Now,
Speaker 1: I looked up that word in the original Greek in
Speaker 1: the Bible, and the word means never never never never
Speaker 1: never never never never never never never never never, never
Speaker 1: never never. For the next ten years, it means no way, Jose,
Speaker 1: not a zero, no zip, not a chance, not on
Speaker 1: your life. Forget about it, don't worry about it. I
Speaker 1: will never leave you. I will never abandon you. There
Speaker 1: will never be a second in your life when you're
Speaker 1: going through the darkest dungeons and valleys of life.
Speaker 2: God says, I'm going to be with you. I'm not
Speaker 2: just gonna watch you. I'm going to be with you.
Speaker 1: That's where thanking God for that. He will never leave me.
Speaker 1: He will never Some of you have been abandoned by
Speaker 1: your dad. Some of you are abandoned by your mother.
Speaker 1: Some of you are abandoned by a husband or a wife,
Speaker 1: or a boyfriend or a friend or somebody who are
Speaker 1: counting on God will never do that.
Speaker 2: He said, I will never leave you.
Speaker 1: I will never aband I can thank God no matter
Speaker 1: what I'm going through, He's going through it with me.
Speaker 1: We have a God who doesn't just watch our suffering,
Speaker 1: who doesn't just care about our suffering.
Speaker 2: He suffers with us.
Speaker 1: The Bible says this in Isaiah forty three too, when
Speaker 1: you go through deep waters, I will be with you.
Speaker 1: When you pass through rivers of difficulty, you will not drown.
Speaker 1: And when you walk through the fire, you will not
Speaker 1: be burned. It will not consume you. That's promise, and
Speaker 1: I can always be thankful for that when you go
Speaker 1: through deep waters. You know, there's a song popular song
Speaker 1: we sing it side of that called Oceans, and it
Speaker 1: has a line in that says, your grace abounds in
Speaker 1: deepest waters.
Speaker 2: Your grace abounds in deepest water. That's true. What does
Speaker 2: that mean?
Speaker 1: It means you don't know God is all you need
Speaker 1: until God's all you got. When you come to the
Speaker 1: point that you've got no support, no financial support, no
Speaker 1: emotional support, no relational support, you feel like, man, I'm
Speaker 1: out here on my own, I'm on the point, and
Speaker 1: I'm by myself, and there's nobody with me. God says,
Speaker 1: I'm with you. I'm with you, and you don't know
Speaker 1: God is all you need until God is all you got.
Speaker 1: Number four, I can always be thankful no matter what
Speaker 1: happens in my life. I can be thankful for the
Speaker 1: changes God's make in me because he's not letting me
Speaker 1: stay by myself. He's changing me on the inside. I
Speaker 1: can thank God for the grace he's shown me, for
Speaker 1: the plans he has for me, for the promise that
Speaker 1: he'll never leave me, and for the changes he's making
Speaker 1: in me now. The Bible says in Romans five, three
Speaker 1: and four, we can have joy even in our troubles.
Speaker 2: In other words, we can be thankful than even in.
Speaker 1: Dark days because we know that these troubles produce endurance,
Speaker 1: and endurance produces character, and character produces hope. Now, what's
Speaker 1: the big deal about character? Why should I be so
Speaker 1: concerned about my character? You see, you're not interested in
Speaker 1: your character most time, you're interested in your comfort. God
Speaker 1: is far more interested in your character than your comfort.
Speaker 1: God's goal in your life is not to make your
Speaker 1: life easy. God's goal in your life is to grow
Speaker 1: you up. Why because this life is preparation.
Speaker 2: For the next.
Speaker 1: The comfort is coming in eternity, forever and ever and
Speaker 1: ever and ever and ever. No more sorrow, no more suffering,
Speaker 1: no more sickness, stormer sadness, no more depression, no more disease,
Speaker 1: no more.
Speaker 2: Despair, none of that.
Speaker 1: The comfort is coming forever and ever in eternity. Right now,
Speaker 1: you're in the get ready stage. And why is God
Speaker 1: interested in your character? Because it's the only thing you're
Speaker 1: taken with you. You're not taking your money with you,
Speaker 1: you're not taking your reputation with you. You're not taking
Speaker 1: your career or your car, or your china or your clothes,
Speaker 1: but you are taking your character. It's the only thing
Speaker 1: that's going to heaven you. And so you better be
Speaker 1: working on your character because that's all you've got for eternity.
Speaker 1: You could pile up all kinds of stuff here on
Speaker 1: this planet and have a little, tiny, weak, wimpy character,
Speaker 1: and that's what you're stuck with. Really, God is more
Speaker 1: interested in who you are than what you do.
Speaker 2: We're always a god. Which job should I take? Which
Speaker 2: job you want me to?
Speaker 1: God's probably saying, you know, any one of those dozen
Speaker 1: jobs will be fine, because I'm more interested in what
Speaker 1: you become.
Speaker 2: Than who you work for.
Speaker 1: And God says, I want you to be working on that,
Speaker 1: and He's making changes in me. And that's why we
Speaker 1: can have joy in our troubles, because God says, even
Speaker 1: in troubles, I'm refining you. I'm polishing you, I'm making you.
Speaker 1: I'm developing endurance. I'm developing patience. Love and joy and
Speaker 1: peace and patience, all those things, I'm building them in
Speaker 1: your life even in the tough times. So I can
Speaker 1: thank God that he's working inside me, He's changing me.
Speaker 1: The great musician, concert musician, it's a pearlman. One time
Speaker 1: he was doing a concert at Lincoln Center and he
Speaker 1: walked out on stage, and you know, he has to
Speaker 1: wear leg braces and takes quite a long time to
Speaker 1: walk down on stage, take the braces off, sit down
Speaker 1: to start playing. And as he got ready to play,
Speaker 1: he broke a string and everybody heard it break. The
Speaker 1: whole concert hall heard it break. Now he's either got
Speaker 1: to get up, put those braces on, and walk back
Speaker 1: off stage and change and get a new string, or
Speaker 1: go on the way he is. And as a great
Speaker 1: musician that he was, he went ahead and played that
Speaker 1: entire concert with one less string. He played that entire
Speaker 1: concert on a broken instrument, and at the end of
Speaker 1: the conference, as one person, the entire audience rose to
Speaker 1: its feet in thunderous applause for this magnificent feet. They
Speaker 1: had just watched a man play an entire concert on
Speaker 1: a broken instrument, and it's not Pearlman said something very profound,
Speaker 1: and it applies to your life.
Speaker 2: He said this, Sometimes it is.
Speaker 1: The artist's task to find out how much music you
Speaker 1: can still play with what you have left between now
Speaker 1: and when you die. How much music can you make
Speaker 1: with your life for the glory of God with what
Speaker 1: you have left. You don't have the body you used
Speaker 1: to have, you don't have the energy you used to have.
Speaker 2: You may not have.
Speaker 1: All the supports system around you you used to have.
Speaker 1: It is sometimes the duty of the artist to find
Speaker 1: out how much music you can play.
Speaker 2: Still with what you have left.
Speaker 1: You need to stop focusing on what you've lost, and
Speaker 1: you need to start focusing on what's left. Stop looking
Speaker 1: at what's lost, and start looking at what's left and
Speaker 1: what you can do to make the most of what
Speaker 1: you still got for the glory of God. That's character.
Speaker 1: That's not being a victim. That's character. The Bible says
Speaker 1: this in Philippians two thirteen. For God is working in you,
Speaker 1: giving you the desire to obey him and the power
Speaker 1: to do what pleases him.
Speaker 2: Tewod Corinthians three eighteen.
Speaker 1: As the spirit of the Lord works within us, we
Speaker 1: become more and more like him.
Speaker 2: I'll think about this.
Speaker 1: God not only says I'm going to be with you
Speaker 1: the rest of your life.
Speaker 2: He says I'm going to be in you the rest
Speaker 2: of your life. I'm going to put my power in you. Now.
Speaker 1: Often we don't feel that power. In fact, oftentimes we
Speaker 1: feel pretty weak. We think I don't have the energy
Speaker 1: to get out of bed, I don't have the energy
Speaker 1: to face all the demands on my life. I'm sick
Speaker 1: and tired of being sick and tired.
Speaker 2: I just feel weak. And God says that.
Speaker 1: Is when my strength shows up, and I can be
Speaker 1: grateful for the changes He's making in me. Two Corinthians
Speaker 1: twelfth nine says this. God said to Paul, my grace
Speaker 1: is all you need when you're weak. My power is
Speaker 1: made perfect in you. So Paul says, I'm happy to
Speaker 1: brag about my weaknesses.
Speaker 2: Then Christ's power can live in me.
Speaker 1: I get God's presence, I get God's peace, I get
Speaker 1: God's pardon, and I get God's power. I get God's
Speaker 1: plan and I get God's purpose. These are things I
Speaker 1: can thank God for when my life is falling apart
Speaker 1: and when the roague winds are blowing me over sideways.
Speaker 1: When was the last time you thank God really for
Speaker 1: the grace that he's shown you, for the good plan
Speaker 1: that he has for you, for the changes he's making
Speaker 1: in you, and for the promise that He's never going
Speaker 1: to leave you. The Bible says this giving thanks is
Speaker 1: a sacrifice that truly honors me. Did you know that
Speaker 1: every time you say thanks to God? God says, that's
Speaker 1: like a sacrifice. It's like a sacrificial gift to me
Speaker 1: as God. Every time you remember to say thanks, Let
Speaker 1: me show you another verse Psalm ninety seven, verse twelve.
Speaker 1: Remember what your Holy God has done for you, and
Speaker 1: give thanks to him. This is the third way we
Speaker 1: express thanks at thanksgiving. This is how we give thanks
Speaker 1: by remembering what we have been given. Let me give
Speaker 1: you the fifth thing you can always thank God for
Speaker 1: no matter how bad things get in your life, no
Speaker 1: matter how terrible the situation is that you're going through
Speaker 1: at that moment, and it's this, I can always thank God.
Speaker 2: For the home he's prepared for me. I'm talking about Heaven.
Speaker 1: I can thank God for the home he's prepared for me,
Speaker 1: the grace he's shown me, the plans he has for me,
Speaker 1: the promise he'll never leave me, the changes that he's
Speaker 1: making in me, and the home he's prepared for me.
Speaker 1: By the way those changes he's making in me, you know,
Speaker 1: I love this fact that I'm not all that I
Speaker 1: should be, and by the way, neither are your. I'm
Speaker 1: not all I should be, But thank God I'm not
Speaker 1: what I used to be, and neither are you. That's
Speaker 1: something to be grateful for. You can say three things
Speaker 1: with confidence, say thank God, I'm not what I used
Speaker 1: to be. Thank God I am what I am right now.
Speaker 1: Thank God, I'm not what I'm going to be.
Speaker 2: If you don't like me, just hang around.
Speaker 1: I'm getting better and one day I'm going to be
Speaker 1: made into perfection in Christ. And that's going to happen
Speaker 1: in that home that God has prepared for me. I
Speaker 1: am grateful that this life is not all there is.
Speaker 1: I'm grateful that this isn't the end of the story.
Speaker 1: I am grateful that the final chapter on my life,
Speaker 1: your life, and everybody else hasn't been written yet. That
Speaker 1: there is more to life than here and now, that
Speaker 1: there is an ever after that's going to go on
Speaker 1: and on and on. That you were made to last
Speaker 1: for eternity. The Bible says, God has put eternity in
Speaker 1: your hearts. It's why sometimes you go, there's got to
Speaker 1: be more to life than this, because there is. You
Speaker 1: were made for more than just this life. You were
Speaker 1: made for eternity. And I could always be thankful no
Speaker 1: matter what I'm going through, the pain I'm going through,
Speaker 1: for the hope of heaven, that He's preparing a place
Speaker 1: for me. Jesus said it like this, John fourteen two
Speaker 1: and three. I am going there where heaven. I'm going
Speaker 1: there to prepare a place for you. And if I
Speaker 1: go and prepare a place for you, I'll come back.
Speaker 1: I'll come back and I'll take you to be with me,
Speaker 1: that you may be where I am. God has been
Speaker 1: preparing a place for you. It's called heaven. You want
Speaker 1: to know how long He's been decorating that place. You
Speaker 1: want to know how long God has been preparing a
Speaker 1: place for you, his family, his child. Look at the
Speaker 1: next verse, Jesus said it here, then the King will say, come, you,
Speaker 1: who are blessed of my father, Take your inheritance. The
Speaker 1: kingdom prepared for you. Since the creation of the world.
Speaker 1: That's a long time to beating.
Speaker 2: That's a long.
Speaker 1: Time, you know, you know how long? What is heaven
Speaker 1: going to be like? It's amazing when you think about it,
Speaker 1: because most people have this really boring image of heaven white,
Speaker 1: everything is white.
Speaker 2: You think the god.
Speaker 1: Who invented color is going to make everything white in heaven.
Speaker 1: That you're going to sit in a white robe with angels,
Speaker 1: wings on a on a you know, on a cloud,
Speaker 1: and play a harp. That would be hell. I can't
Speaker 1: think of anything more boring. I don't know how people
Speaker 1: make heaven, you know, think of the greatest experiences that
Speaker 1: you can think of here on Earth, like sunsets okay,
Speaker 1: and beautiful beaches and bora borer. There's a lot of
Speaker 1: cool things on this planet, and it's broken. This is
Speaker 1: an imperfect place, and there's still a lot of beauty
Speaker 1: and cool things on this planet. Think of a place
Speaker 1: with perfection, with no sorrow, no sadness, no economic disasters,
Speaker 1: no environmental disasters, no man messing it all up.
Speaker 2: It's a perfect It's going to be unbelievable.
Speaker 1: The Bible says, I has not seen, hear, has not heard,
Speaker 1: neither hath entered into the heart of man, the wonderful
Speaker 1: things that God has prepared for.
Speaker 2: Those who love him in heaven.
Speaker 1: We know at least four things. We know we will
Speaker 1: be reunited with those that we love. I have a
Speaker 1: father in heaven. I have a mother in heaven. I
Speaker 1: have a brother in heaven, and I now have a
Speaker 1: son in heaven. I have a father in law, and
Speaker 1: I have many others. We will be reunited with those
Speaker 1: who love the Lord. I know that we will be released.
Speaker 1: The Bible says there will be no more pain, no
Speaker 1: more sorrow, no more tears, no more sadness, because there
Speaker 1: will be no more death. The Bible says there will
Speaker 1: be no disease, no despair, no discouragement, no depression. There
Speaker 1: will be no broken minds, there will be no broken bodies,
Speaker 1: there will be no broken relationships, there will be no
Speaker 1: broken promises. It will all be made whole. We will
Speaker 1: be reunited. We will be released. The Bible says, we
Speaker 1: will be rewarded. There will be rewards in heaven based
Speaker 1: on what did you do with what I gave you.
Speaker 1: The Bible says, if you're faithful and little things, you'll
Speaker 1: be faithful. And much are you storing up treasure in heaven?
Speaker 1: Are you spending it all on yourself right now? And
Speaker 1: the Bible says, we will not only be rewarded, we
Speaker 1: will be reassigned. You're not going to around on your
Speaker 1: blessed assurance in heaven.
Speaker 2: You're going to work. Only.
Speaker 1: It's going to be work that you like to do,
Speaker 1: and there won't be problems and weeds in it. But
Speaker 1: you will have things to do that are fulfilling, and
Speaker 1: you will be useful to yourself and to others.
Speaker 2: Here's what the Bible says.
Speaker 1: First, Peter, God has reserved for his children the priceless
Speaker 1: gift of eternal life.
Speaker 2: And I want to stop right there first. It says
Speaker 2: God is reserved.
Speaker 1: That reservation for you has already been made. It's been
Speaker 1: made long before you need it. God has put a
Speaker 1: reservation in heaven for you, for his children. Is everybody
Speaker 1: going to be in heaven? Absolutely? Not only his children
Speaker 1: are going to heaven. Is everybody a child of God?
Speaker 1: Absolutely not. Everybody is loved by God. Everybody is created
Speaker 1: by God. God has never made a person he didn't
Speaker 1: want in heaven. God has never made a person love.
Speaker 1: God has never made a person he doesn't want to
Speaker 1: know him. But you got to choose to be in
Speaker 1: God's family. And God is not going to force you
Speaker 1: to love him. And you can thumb your nose God
Speaker 1: and say, God, I'm going to be my own God.
Speaker 1: I don't need Jesus, I don't need a savior, I
Speaker 1: don't need any grace. I'm good enough in your dreams.
Speaker 1: There's not a snowball's chance in hell. You're getting into
Speaker 1: Heaven on your own effort. The only way you're getting
Speaker 1: in is God's way. And Jesus said it like this,
Speaker 1: I am the way, not on one way, not I'm
Speaker 1: a good way, Not I'm a best way, not in
Speaker 1: one of the ways.
Speaker 2: I'm the way.
Speaker 1: Now, either Jesus is true or he's the biggest liar
Speaker 1: ever lived. I'm betting my life that he was right.
Speaker 1: What are you betting your life on? You need to decide,
Speaker 1: am I going to accept or reject the love of God?
Speaker 2: To miss heaven.
Speaker 1: You have to have so much pride you say, I
Speaker 1: don't need God's grace. I don't need Jesus to die
Speaker 1: for me. I don't need salvation. I'm good enough on
Speaker 1: my own. Are you kidding me? That is the ultimate
Speaker 1: audacious arrogance. If you haven't settled this issue, you need
Speaker 1: to settle it. The greatest thing you need to do
Speaker 1: is you need to humbly say to God, God, there's
Speaker 1: no way I'm getting into heaven on my own, and
Speaker 1: I know it. I've done too many wrong things. I'm
Speaker 1: not perfect, and I need you to be my savior.
Speaker 2: God.
Speaker 1: I need grace, I need forgiveness. And if you haven't
Speaker 1: done that, I would encourage you to do it. In
Speaker 1: the heavens, the Bible says God gives us the hope
Speaker 1: of heaven that He's prepared for us. This is why
Speaker 1: we believe Second Corinthians for That says this. We often suffer,
Speaker 1: but we're never crushed. Even when we don't know what
Speaker 1: to do. We never give up. In time trouble, God
Speaker 1: is with us, and when we're knocked down, we get
Speaker 1: up again. We know that God raised the Lord back
Speaker 1: to life, and just as he raised Jesus. He will
Speaker 1: also raise us back to life, will bring us into
Speaker 1: His presence together. So we don't focus on the trouble,
Speaker 1: the pain, the sorrow, the suffering that we see right now.
Speaker 1: Instead we look forward to what we don't see yet.
Speaker 1: For the troubles we see are temporary, but the joys
Speaker 1: to come will last forever. I am so thankful I'm
Speaker 1: not going to have to live with pain forever. I'm
Speaker 1: grateful for death on this earth because I don't want
Speaker 1: to live on a broken planet forever. I wasn't made
Speaker 1: to live on a broken planet, for I was made
Speaker 1: to live in the presence of God forever.
Speaker 2: And God will wipe everyway, every tear, no more.
Speaker 1: Or death, no more mourning, no more suffering. And I
Speaker 1: can be thankful for that no matter what's going on
Speaker 1: in my life.
Speaker 2: That's power. Heads.
Speaker 1: Have you settled the issue of eternity? If you were
Speaker 1: to die tonight, are you absolutely certain you'd go to heaven?
Speaker 1: If God were to say to you, why should I
Speaker 1: let you into my heaven?
Speaker 2: What would you say? Would you know the right answer?
Speaker 1: Would you say, because I humbly admitted I cannot save
Speaker 1: myself because I've developed a relationship with you, and I
Speaker 1: got to know you.
Speaker 2: Lord.
Speaker 1: I've been a friend of Jesus Christ for over fifty years,
Speaker 1: and I know he sees, he cares, and he suffers
Speaker 1: through everything that I go through. I want you to
Speaker 1: have that relationship to him. I'm going to pray a
Speaker 1: prayer right now. You may have been in church your
Speaker 1: entire life, but you're not sure of it.
Speaker 2: It's time to settle this issue.
Speaker 1: Whether you're saying or not, you need to pray this
Speaker 1: prayer right now and mean it sincerely, to say it
Speaker 1: in your mind. Dear God, I humbly admit I cannot
Speaker 1: save myself. I humbly admit that I have done wrong things.
Speaker 1: I have rebelled, I've done things that you didn't want
Speaker 1: me to do, and I'm sorry for my sin. I
Speaker 1: need your grace, I need your forgiveness. I need your
Speaker 1: love in my life. I want to be grateful for
Speaker 1: the grace you've shown to me. I want to be
Speaker 1: grateful for the good plan you have for my life,
Speaker 1: and I want to follow that plan as best I
Speaker 1: know how.
Speaker 2: I want the rest of my life to be the
Speaker 2: best of my life.
Speaker 1: Thank you for the promise that you will never leave me.
Speaker 1: Thank you that you're working in me. I'm not what
Speaker 1: I I used to be, but I'm not what I'm
Speaker 1: going to be. And I thank you that you have
Speaker 1: prepared heaven for me. And today I trust my life
Speaker 1: into your hands. I want you to be the manager
Speaker 1: of the rest of my life, my Lord and my savior,
Speaker 1: and I humbly pray this in your name.
Speaker 2: Amen.