Amen. Give the Lord good praise this morning. Continue to praise him. Continue to thank
him for his goodness and his mercy. That endures forever. If you have your Bibles, turn with
me to Psalm 92. Man, thank y'all for leading us in the presence of the Lord this morning.
Amen. Wonderful. Y'all did a great job today. You always do, but I mean exceptional this
morning. Hallelujah. Amen. I heard Pastor Brian did well last week. You're here, so
he did okay. Amen. I'm glad to know that I can go and not have nothing to worry about.
A lot of guys can't say that, so they just don't go. I can go and feel good about it.
Not be happy I'm gone, but feel good about it. I have to worry about you. In good hands.
He's coming on, amen. He gets full-grown and dried behind the ears, he's going to make
a good one. He's not in here. He's wetting his whistle, so he didn't hear that. Amen.
Psalm 92. Again, so good to see you in the house of the Lord today. It's good to be back
in worship with you. Appreciate your prayers last week. We felt them as we ministered at
the Linden Church. Thank you for that. Amen. Psalm 92, verse one reads, it is a good thing
to give thanks unto the Lord and to sing praises unto thy name, O Most High. Sound familiar?
To show forth thy loving kindness in the morning and thy faithfulness every night upon an instrument
of ten strings and upon a psaltery, upon the harp with a solemn sound. That doesn't mean
sad, it means in tune. It means harmonious, together, like what we heard this morning.
That's a solemn, it's sound. Amen. It's in tune. For thou, O Lord, hast made me glad
through thy work. I will triumph in the works of your hands. O Lord, how great are thy
works and thy thoughts are very deep. A brutish or senseless man knoweth not, neither doth
a fool understand this. But I got it. Have you got it this morning? I want to appreciate
you on a simple thought for the next little bit. Gratitude is an attitude. Gratitude is
an attitude. Amen. Now this can go one or two or three different directions. So you
pray that it stays on the right way. What's the right way? Positive. Uplifting, right?
Because if you're not careful, you'll see a sire face and you'll just shift gears. So
smile while I'm preaching and we won't shift the gear. Amen. Somebody was here last week
and I wasn't thinking, is this really the guy? Yep. Father, I love you. I thank you
again for your goodness and your mercy and for the anointing that we feel in this house
today. And you're truly here with us. Help us now Lord. Help me. Help me Lord to preach
what's pleasing to you and edifying to the body of Christ. And may our attitude be that
of gratitude. In Jesus name, the church say it. Now tell your neighbor, smile at him.
He gets along if you don't. We're approaching the magical Thursday, turkey day, lethargic
day, lethargy sets in after turkey. It's something chemically in it and it'll just pull you to
a couch, a recliner, an afternoon nap. It just does it. So eat ham. Unless you want
to take a nap and then load up. We're going to belabor the point just a little bit today.
So as not to rush to the next holiday before we've really taken full account of this one.
What was that little blow up thing we saw in somebody's yard the other day? I saw it
somewhere, like a snowman mashing a turkey. You know, like just getting right on through
not even taking time. But we to fully appreciate the next season that is about to approach,
you need to really take account of this holiday. Amen. To really appreciate Christ's birth,
you've got to be thankful and to be thankful to have gratitude. We live in a society that
is overwhelmed with ingratitude. You know, it's very selfish. It's very self-centered
in our culture and our society. And you can't be self-centered and be a child of God because
your focus must be on him and not on yourself. And when we begin to think about it, Thanksgiving
is foundational for the child of God. It is a platform for every believer that we must
live on and live through. It's a response for the believer. It's a recognition that
we truly acknowledge that we're not in control, but God is. And he's a better driver of your
life than you are if you'll just let him, let Jesus take the wheel. If you'll do that,
life will begin to turn out a lot better. Recognition that God has blessed us, that
you are where you are today because of the goodness of God and the great things that
God has in store for us. That's where we are. But unless we become very intentional, we
won't be people of gratitude. You have to be intentional about gratitude. You have to
condition yourself, amen, to be grateful and to be thankful and to respond with that. Children
today, you know, when you were raised and when your parents raised you and when you
raised your children, you know, it is a taught response. They just grab the sucker and run,
right? You grab them before they get out of arms reach. What are you supposed to say?
Right? Gratitude is a taught response. Same way for the child of God. You have to teach
your heart to be grateful for everything that God has done for you. And it's foundational
in the life of a child of God. If the foundation be destroyed, then what can the righteous
do? If the foundation and one of the foundations of our faith is gratitude, if it gets destroyed,
then woe be unto us because the good things from God will stop flowing. Amen. Just like
you are with your children. If they refuse to be grateful, refuse to be thankful, we
say, well, okay, we're going to learn a lesson. Well, I don't want to learn that lesson from
God. And it's a whole lot easier for me to condition myself to be grateful and to be
thankful for all the good things that God brings into my life. As it is foundational,
David found out in first Chronicles 16, four through seven, there was a, it was a wonderful
time David had reclaimed the Ark of the covenant. They brought it back. They've had that, that
wonderful worship for March where they would stop every few places and offer up sacrifice.
And they finally got back in to the city of David and David's built a new tent and he's
put it over the tabernacle and he wants everyone to rejoice. He wants everyone to know how
thankful and how grateful he is for God's presence to be back in. So he gives everybody
some bread. He gives everyone something to drink and they just keep sacrificing and worshiping
God. But after the said party was over, David had done something that I think is very mindful
for us to do. He said some Levi's over in the temple and he gave her in the round the
tabernacle and he gave them a charge. He said, here's what I want you to do. I want you to
get in there and I want you to record. I want you to thank, and I want you to praise God
for all that he has done for Israel. And I think that's something we can be mindful of
today that we need to stop and do a little self revelation and get some insight back.
And we need to sit down and begin to record how good God has been. And if you were to
start writing it down, I guarantee you the good's going to outweigh the negative that
the world brings in and what the devil brings against you. And you can begin to record that.
And when you begin to record it, there's something that automatically begins to rise up in you.
And that is a grateful heart. Oh Lord, you were good right here. Oh God, you were faithful
right here. Oh Lord, you provided right there. Oh God, I remember you protected me right
over here. Let me write that down. Oh, and when you begin to cultivate your thought process,
you begin to remind yourself of how good God really is. And when you think about how good
God really is, a heart of gratitude begins to rise up and it's not hard to thank him.
It's not hard to thank. And before you know it, that Thanksgiving go click right over
into an attitude of praise. And before you know it, you are on your feet and your voice
is being lifted up. You're putting your hands together. Oh Lord, how great are your works.
Hallelujah. And you begin to magnify his name and you keep recording and you keep thanking
and you keep praising him because it's a repetitive condition of the heart of a child of God.
And I'm telling you, gratitude is an attitude. And when your attitude begins to adjust to
the goodness of God, then the goodness of God begins to well up in your soul and you begin
to thank him. You begin to praise him and you can't stop recording how good he really
is because he really is good and he's really good to you. He's really good to me. And I'm
telling you, it's a conditioned thought process because how many of you know what he-haul
is? Come on, I'm on data. Raise your hand, you he-haul people. How many of you have no
clue what he-haul is? Google it. There was a little skit they always done on their own
despair and agony on me. If it wasn't for bad luck, I'd have no luck at all, right?
That's the way we get in life sometimes. We are quickly and easily do we write down all
the bad junk, all the negative that people say, all the stuff that the enemy brings against
us. But you have to condition your mind to the goodness of God because God does such
good things in such subtle ways. You really have to concentrate and to see how good God
is because you see it's a condition for the life of the believer. He just automatically
brings goodness and blessing into your life. But you have to slow down to see the goodness
and the graciousness of God and develop an attitude of gratitude so that you can record
it, so that you can recall it, so that you can be thankful and praise him.
Woodrow Wilson said, a nation which does not remember what it was yesterday does not know
what it is today. I think we got a bunch of folks that's forgotten a lot of stuff, nor
what it is trying to do. We're not trying to do a futile thing if we do not know where
we came from or what we have been about. Works that same way in the life of a child of God.
If you don't know where he brought you from to where you are, then you don't know what
you are today. Can I tell you, I know what he brought me out of. I know what he's redeemed
me from and I know what I am today. And by virtue of knowing what I am today, I know
what I am about to do this day and tomorrow, no matter the sunshine, shadow or rain. Amen.
I know what I'm going to do. I'm going to record the goodness of the Lord. I'm going
to endeavor to be a psalmist and sing in tune or maybe out of tune on certain occasions,
but I'm still going to lift my voice and let the Lord know that I am thankful for all of
the goodness that he's brought to my life. I'm thankful that he created us in his own
likeness and his own image. Psalm 103 verse four says, or 100 verse three and four, know
you that the Lord, he is God. You know, that's something you need to figure out real quick.
He's God and you're not. He does the telling, you do the listening, not the other way around.
Oh, he's never done anything I've told him to do. Once I recall, amen, I was talking
to our niece, Kathy's niece, Charlotte last night. We were talking about it. I said, you
know, he's never done anything I've told him to do. I guess he figures he knows better
and don't think I don't tell him. I've told him stuff about you. I've told him what I'd
like for him to do to you. Y'all just automatically think it was bad for some reason, the way you're
chuckling. No, I told him to bless you and you are getting blessed. Some of you finding
money, some of you getting checks in the mail, getting raises, getting better jobs. So I
mean, he's listening to a degree, but I think he was going to do that anyway because he
loves you. And I'm just reminding him that he loves you. Amen. But then there's some
of those other things I've told him as well. I said, Lord, you know which ones need an
attitude adjustment? Would you kindly tune them up? You think I'm being funny, but I'm
not. I'm telling you the truth. It may be funny, but I'm telling you the truth. There
are times we need some attitude adjustments, but an attitude of gratitude needs less tuning
I better see it. Now y'all, y'all just see how we all, you see how it can get away? Do
you see how it can get away? Lord, let me get back to this. Know you that the Lord,
he is good and it is he that's made us and not we ourselves. We are his people and the
sheep of his pastor enter into his gates with thanksgiving. Come to his courts with praise.
Be thankful unto him and bless his holy name. I think that behooves you and I today when
I think that I've created an image in the likeness of God and into our lungs, he breathed
his breath and we became living souls. Hallelujah. From the very beginning, but into the image,
expressed image of his beloved son, we are now being transformed into. I don't know about
you, but I'm grateful and thankful for the transformation that old things have passed
away. Behold all things to become new because I am a new creation in Christ. I am thankful
for that. I am grateful today because of the expressed image of the son of the living God
that I am being transformed into to be in alignment to his word, in alignment with his
principle. I'm telling you today, I am grateful for his image and likeness. Let me hurry.
I'm grateful for him sending his son. You see why you got to have gratitude before you
get to Christmas morning. You got to know what it was that was sent. Amen. You got to
know the value of the gift. Can I tell you the value of the gift is not always on the
price sticker. Some of the least expensive gifts monetarily are the most valuable sentimentally.
Right? Socks, for instance. You get them for Christmas. Oh, it's a pair of socks. But no,
it's a pair of socks. Got mallard ducks on. Hello? It's not just a pair of socks. If it
was just a pair of socks, I got other blue ones that I would wear with these paints that
make them look better. But I like the mallard duck. Hello? It's not the sock, it's the duck.
It is the monetary value. It's the heart from which it was given, the gratitude for which
it was received. And every time I put the sock on, I know who gave it. And I'm thankful.
Hello? It's the value that's in our heart. And I am grateful and thankful. Paul wrote
it this way. Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift. Hallelujah. I'm grateful that God sent
his son. I don't know how I would do with the law. Just to be honest with you, I don't
know how I would function under the law. I'd be offering up goats all the time. I'd be
having to round up peace offerings all the time. Without the transformation, oh, come
on now, without the transforming action into the expressed image of God's son, without
that transformation, I wouldn't have been a good law keeper. I'd have probably been
running with old Barabbas. Just to be honest with you, I wouldn't have been running where
I needed to be. And I sure wouldn't be where I am today, this morning, without the sending
of the son. So I'm grateful for that unspeakable gift. Hallelujah. That has been bestowed.
And then that unspeakable gift performed an unspeakable act by the redeeming of his blood
for the remission of my sin. Hey. Now when I get to Christmas, my mind automatically
goes ahead to Easter. Hallelujah. When we get to Christmas, when I see the manger and
I begin to focus on, oh, holy night, and when I begin to sing Silent Night, and when we
begin to sing Joy to the World, my mind's already in March or April. I'm already looking
toward Calvary because I know if it hadn't been for the unspeakable gift of Christmas,
there would not have been a Calvary's Hill. But there was a Calvary's Hill which soaked
up the shed blood of the redeeming grace of Jesus. And I am grateful. Woo. Most of you
wouldn't like me without that redeeming grace. That's true. You'd say he's a smart aleck
and all that stuff. You'd probably say that anyway. But I'm a saved smart aleck. Do you
like that, Sister Gail? She just cackled right out on that one. Hey. It's all right. Go ahead,
Sister. Let's get you blessed. If it wasn't for the redeeming grace, you know, more people
may like you when you get redeemed if you're not already. And if you are, act like it.
Woo. I got to move on. See how quick it can take a, let's keep it on the upside. For his
redeeming blood, I'm grateful. John the Revelator put it this way in 5 and 9. And they sung
a new song saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, to open the seals thereof. And thou
was slain and has redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred and tongue and
people and nation. Peter would put it like this in the first, first letter, first chapter,
18th verse. For as much as you know that you were not redeemed with corruptible things,
for as much as you know that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, money can't
buy you out. Amen. Prosperity can't buy you out. Friends can't get you out. And that's
not what has redeemed us. But we have been redeemed with the precious blood of Christ
as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. And I for one am grateful. I am thankful this
morning for the shed blood of Jesus Christ. I'm thankful for the invitation. I'm thankful
for the opportunity. I'm grateful that when I was a sinner, he redeemed me there. Hallelujah.
When I was lost and undone, he came on a search for Oak Cliff waters. When I was without him,
when I was backslid and running from him, when I was doing things I shouldn't have been
doing, he didn't give up on me. But my gratitude for his pursuing after me, I am grateful today.
Hallelujah for the giftings and the calling of God that I have through Christ, the Redeemer
of my lost soul. And I am grateful for the shed blood of Jesus Christ. Now we live in
a culture that would love to do away with the blood and the power and the effect of
sin. I'm going to do my thing. I'm going to interpret the way I want to and live the way
I think is right. Well, that's good while you're here. But without the shed blood and
repentance on my and your part and a turning away, a departure from the sin that has us
condemned from the day of our birth, without accepting that unspeakable gift, without being
washed in that redeeming force of the flood of Calvary, we are just as lost and undone
when we take our last breath. But I'm so grateful. Hallelujah. You can be grateful for you, but
I am so grateful for the Highway 28 Church of my God and a pastor who preached truth
and hell hot in heaven, sweet and the convicting power of the Holy Ghost that brought an old
sinner boy back to an altar and reapplied a fresh coat of that shed blood and washed
my sin away. I'm thankful that he's holy. Psalm 97 and 12 says, rejoice in the Lord
you righteous and give thanks at the remembrance of his holiness. Give thanks at the remember
of his holiness. Unlike the God of this world, he's not out to destroy you. He has nothing
but good in mind for you. Blessing in store for you. You do realize the devil is taking
you down the wrong path, just getting you there to kill you and destroy you, right?
To get you to have part in his end. He already knows what's happening to him. You know, the
devil's insane. You know the definition of insanity, doing the same thing over and over
and expecting you're going to get a different result the next time. No, the devil's insane.
He thinks in his mind somehow he can still win. I'm so grateful the end has already been
written. Amen. And I've told you this before, one of my favorite phrases in scriptures,
there's an angel in heaven and he's polishing a chain. Hallelujah. And he's going to wrap
around that old devil and he's going to be cast into a pit for a thousand years. He's
going to be let out and then it's over, honey. It's going to be done. I'm grateful for that.
I really am. And if I could get close enough to slap him in the mouth before he goes in,
I'd love the opportunity. I'm so mad at him right now. He better be glad I'm preaching
happy this morning. You say you're happy? I am full of joy. I have a grateful heart
for his mercy because I've just experienced some of it probably not before you're very
young. I'm grateful for his mercy. I deserved like us all. I deserve punishment. Right?
Let me remember some of the stupid stuff you did. Don't just dwell on my stupidity. Let's
all get in this together. Shit, Cathy, I've heard your testimony. So you grateful this
morning? Oh yeah. There's some more of you in here over and abundantly grateful too because
you've got a story behind you. But aren't you glad for his mercy? Aren't you thankful
for his mercy that when he could have taken you out, he didn't? When he could have let
you in your stupidity and something you knew better than to do and you've done it anyway
and put your life in great peril, he kept you from dying. Maybe just to get you to Hope
Well Church of God on the 24th of November in the 2400 year of our Lord, just to get
you here to hear this fat preacher tell you how grateful you ought to be. That God spares
you in your mercy. His mercy, grace extended, he has spared you. I have flashbacks in my
mind of different occasions that the Lord could have had opportunity to take me out.
But his hand, his hand, you hear me? I'm grateful for his hand of mercy that spared me and give
me another opportunity. If you've been spared and haven't received and accepted the opportunity
for that redeeming blood, you're, hey, you just don't know how blessed you are to be
here today. He's got you in the place that the rest of your life can be totally transformed
and be different. I'm grateful for his mercy. What time is it? We're getting late. I'm grateful
for his goodness as a shepherd. The Lord is my shepherd. Right? The psalmist said in 7913,
so we, thy people and sheep of thy pasture will give thee thanks forever. We will show
forth thy praises to all generations. Let that serve as a reminder to us this morning.
How will the next generation know how to praise if they don't witness you praise? Huh? How
are they going to ever see an example of a gratitude and grateful hearts if they don't
see them in church? Right? Stand with me. I'm going to make myself quit. I'm not dumb,
but I'm going to make myself quit. I'm grateful for you, other believers, fellow believers.
Paul would pray often. Philippians 1 3 is an example. I thank my God upon every remembrance
of you. When we're not here, we think of you. We speak of you. Just as quickly as I can,
I send a message. What's the count? I don't know how many of you were here. Then when
I get back and I get to talking, Brian and I or whoever, who was out? Who was missing
from our fellowship? Everything okay? Right? Or is you just like me out of pocket? We're
grateful for you. I thank God for you because think how special we are for such a time as
this. We've all been assembled in this season of life. Each of us. If you think you're here
by accident, then you don't know the sovereign God that we serve. He directs and orders and
sets up appointments. So I'm thankful for you. I'm thankful for the promise of his
return. I'm grateful for, as Paul would tell the Thessalonians for anything and everything.
In everything give thanks for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.
Now everything is a big subject. Be thankful in everything. Well, that's hard. Anybody
else find it a little difficult? It's hard to be grateful in the middle of crisis. Isn't
it? It's hard to be, whoo, when you just got the wind knocked out of you and you're laying
flat on your back trying to catch your breath. Right? Ain't many owls get run then. That's
why we have each other. Right? That's why we have each other. So the Philippians, Paul
would further say this, be careful for nothing. Don't worry. Don't be anxious. Don't stress.
Don't fret for anything. But in everything, there's that word again, by prayer and supplication
with Thanksgiving. Let your request be made known unto God. There's that everything again.
And if we got prayer and supplication going on, then we've got trouble somewhere. Right?
Something isn't in order if there's supplication and prayer taking place. Some things are out
of alignment. But in that, we're still supposed to be thankful. We're still supposed to be
grateful. Well, how and why? How is by His grace. Why? Because His word instructs us to
know that we can find the help that we need. And the time that we need it. Third, it keeps
you from being focused on yourself and your problem. Because you can't focus on the goodness
of God and your problem at the same time. Say, hey, you know that because we're having
to do that. After we regrouped a little. Right? Gratitude's an attitude. And the things that
I shared with you this morning is why I've got a smile on my face today. Amen? Why I've
got a praise in my heart this morning. Because, says Katharine, I had to get a little attitude
adjustment over this past week. There's mothers in here that you probably need an attitude
adjustment as well. Because the crisis seems overwhelming. The situation seems impossible.
And to you and I, it may very well be all of that. But not with God. Because according
to His word, which has yet to be proven wrong, all things are possible to those who believe.
Amen? So, come on down here, baby. Let's stand right there in front. If you've got a situation
and a crisis and you've been struggling with your gratitude and you need a little attitude
adjustment in it, come on down. We're going to pray. I'm going to have you pray for us.