1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:09,600 Welcome to Trinity Sermons on this Thanksgiving weekend here at Trinity Church, St. 2 00:00:09,600 --> 00:00:12,200 Here at Trinity Church, St. 3 00:00:12,200 --> 00:00:16,880 We want to share biblically based sermons that inspire and encourage you in your daily 4 00:00:16,880 --> 00:00:21,720 life while rooting you in the truth of scripture and the good news. 5 00:00:21,720 --> 00:00:26,720 This is episode 4 of our sermon series, What Makes Us Happy, and Rob Hurquhans will be 6 00:00:26,720 --> 00:00:29,880 looking specifically at gratitude. 7 00:00:29,880 --> 00:00:34,560 After all, where gratitude flows, happiness grows. 8 00:00:34,560 --> 00:00:39,400 Now before we begin, we'd like to invite you to follow our podcast, check us out on 9 00:00:39,400 --> 00:00:44,720 social media, and visit our website trinitystreepsville.org. 10 00:00:44,720 --> 00:00:49,140 On our website you can find our weekly sermon questions that can help you and your friends 11 00:00:49,140 --> 00:00:52,800 and family dive deeper into the sermons each week. 12 00:00:52,800 --> 00:00:54,760 Hope you enjoy the message today. 13 00:00:54,760 --> 00:01:02,440 God bless. 14 00:01:02,440 --> 00:01:07,360 A reading from Philippians chapter 4, verses 4 to 9. 15 00:01:07,360 --> 00:01:10,640 Rejoice in the Lord always. 16 00:01:10,640 --> 00:01:13,920 I will say it again, rejoice. 17 00:01:13,920 --> 00:01:17,760 Let your gentleness be evident to all. 18 00:01:17,760 --> 00:01:19,760 The Lord is near. 19 00:01:19,760 --> 00:01:28,520 Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition and thanksgiving, 20 00:01:28,520 --> 00:01:31,960 present your request to God. 21 00:01:31,960 --> 00:01:37,800 And the peace of God which transcends all understanding will guard your hearts and your 22 00:01:37,800 --> 00:01:40,280 minds in Christ Jesus. 23 00:01:40,280 --> 00:01:48,120 Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, 24 00:01:48,120 --> 00:01:56,200 whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable, if anything is excellent or 25 00:01:56,200 --> 00:02:00,840 praiseworthy, think about such things. 26 00:02:00,840 --> 00:02:08,000 Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me or seen in me, put it into practice 27 00:02:08,000 --> 00:02:11,480 and the God of peace will be with you. 28 00:02:11,480 --> 00:02:13,720 The words of the Lord. 29 00:02:13,720 --> 00:02:14,720 Good morning, everybody. 30 00:02:14,720 --> 00:02:19,520 How's it going? 31 00:02:19,520 --> 00:02:22,000 Water you looking at? 32 00:02:22,000 --> 00:02:26,280 No, of course, I should let you know right at the very beginning here that if you're 33 00:02:26,280 --> 00:02:32,160 sitting in the first front rows here at Trinity, you are might get a little wet this morning 34 00:02:32,160 --> 00:02:37,680 because you know how this kind of things works when you hook up a hose to a high pressure 35 00:02:37,680 --> 00:02:45,720 faucet like this one and then you put on the good old sprayer there and then you turn it 36 00:02:45,720 --> 00:02:47,120 on, then what happens? 37 00:02:47,120 --> 00:02:53,800 Of course, the water courses through the hose there and sprays out this wonderful, beautiful 38 00:02:53,800 --> 00:02:54,800 stuff. 39 00:02:54,800 --> 00:02:57,240 Water comes flying out the other end. 40 00:02:57,240 --> 00:03:01,160 And of course, we've been doing this this summer all the time. 41 00:03:01,160 --> 00:03:06,240 We've had some dry spells this summer where we've had to water our lawns and water our 42 00:03:06,240 --> 00:03:07,240 gardens. 43 00:03:07,240 --> 00:03:09,560 And you've done so you've done this exact step, right? 44 00:03:09,560 --> 00:03:14,880 You hook up the hose, you turn it on, you press the trigger and boom and away it goes. 45 00:03:14,880 --> 00:03:17,840 Now what can happen, though? 46 00:03:17,840 --> 00:03:21,880 What can sometimes happen is you do all those steps, you hook everything up, you get it 47 00:03:21,880 --> 00:03:24,440 all you think you're all ready to go. 48 00:03:24,440 --> 00:03:30,280 But then when you you go to press the button, there's actually just this little pathetic 49 00:03:30,280 --> 00:03:33,480 little trickle that just comes out and you'd be like, why? 50 00:03:33,480 --> 00:03:35,320 Why is that happening? 51 00:03:35,320 --> 00:03:36,320 Why the trickle? 52 00:03:36,320 --> 00:03:41,000 Or you might say, well, maybe maybe there's something going on here in the sprayer. 53 00:03:41,000 --> 00:03:45,400 And you look and you say, no, no, the sprayer seems seems just just fine. 54 00:03:45,400 --> 00:03:49,480 And then so you go back to where it's connected and you'll say, did I turn this on? 55 00:03:49,480 --> 00:03:51,960 Yeah, I turned lefty loosey, righty tighty. 56 00:03:51,960 --> 00:03:53,480 Yes, I turned it on. 57 00:03:53,480 --> 00:03:57,900 So you're like, oh, the water should be flowing, but the but the water is not flowing. 58 00:03:57,900 --> 00:04:01,000 And if that happens, then there's there's one other thing that could be going on. 59 00:04:01,000 --> 00:04:04,960 And that is that you've got some kind of a kink in the hose. 60 00:04:04,960 --> 00:04:08,980 And whenever there's a kink in the hose, of course, the water can't flow through it. 61 00:04:08,980 --> 00:04:11,720 So what you're going to have to do in that case is you're going to have to go all the 62 00:04:11,720 --> 00:04:15,600 way over to where you were and then you're going to have to go back and check the hose 63 00:04:15,600 --> 00:04:16,600 and check it. 64 00:04:16,600 --> 00:04:18,440 And oh, there it is. 65 00:04:18,440 --> 00:04:19,680 There's the kink in the hose. 66 00:04:19,680 --> 00:04:23,560 And then when you realize where the kink is, you can kind of work it out and bend it out 67 00:04:23,560 --> 00:04:29,120 and then the water is flowing everywhere and it's beautiful. 68 00:04:29,120 --> 00:04:32,280 And you've you've sorted it all out. 69 00:04:32,280 --> 00:04:33,760 That's how it works. 70 00:04:33,760 --> 00:04:39,080 So today we're continuing a teaching series we've been going at now for a few weeks. 71 00:04:39,080 --> 00:04:41,780 It's called What Makes Us Happy. 72 00:04:41,780 --> 00:04:46,080 And another way of describing what this teaching series is about is you could say that what 73 00:04:46,080 --> 00:04:48,480 we're trying to figure out is what is it? 74 00:04:48,480 --> 00:04:53,560 How do we grow a garden of happiness in our lives? 75 00:04:53,560 --> 00:04:59,920 How do we grow a garden of happiness in our relationships, in our family, in our marriage, 76 00:04:59,920 --> 00:05:01,800 in our workplace, in our careers? 77 00:05:01,800 --> 00:05:02,800 How do we? 78 00:05:02,800 --> 00:05:07,560 What what is it that makes us happy? 79 00:05:07,560 --> 00:05:15,640 And it's actually a good question because sometimes when we look at the lawn of our 80 00:05:15,640 --> 00:05:22,880 lives or we look at the garden of our lives, we don't see something that's green and growing 81 00:05:22,880 --> 00:05:24,760 with happiness. 82 00:05:24,760 --> 00:05:27,560 We see something that looks like dead and dying. 83 00:05:27,560 --> 00:05:28,960 There's not much happiness there. 84 00:05:28,960 --> 00:05:34,880 In fact, especially when the heat comes down and when the pressure is on, man, our happiness 85 00:05:34,880 --> 00:05:38,760 can like totally, totally evaporate. 86 00:05:38,760 --> 00:05:45,120 So it's a good question to ask, you know, what is it that makes us happy? 87 00:05:45,120 --> 00:05:52,680 And the answer is and what we're going to learn today is that just like a garden or 88 00:05:52,680 --> 00:05:57,920 a lawn, it doesn't just grow by itself, but it needs something added to it in order to 89 00:05:57,920 --> 00:05:58,920 make it grow. 90 00:05:58,920 --> 00:06:02,040 The same is true of happiness. 91 00:06:02,040 --> 00:06:10,240 Happiness also requires us to spray one thing, one thing in particular, I must say, onto 92 00:06:10,240 --> 00:06:12,360 the onto our lives. 93 00:06:12,360 --> 00:06:19,240 And if we spray that one thing into our lives and onto our lives, then actually happiness 94 00:06:19,240 --> 00:06:21,240 is able to grow. 95 00:06:21,240 --> 00:06:26,680 And this this thing that that we put on our lives is something that researchers even now 96 00:06:26,680 --> 00:06:30,800 are starting to realize, oh, that's the secret to happiness. 97 00:06:30,800 --> 00:06:34,640 It's the same thing that the Bible has been saying for thousands of years, which is the 98 00:06:34,640 --> 00:06:35,920 secret to happiness. 99 00:06:35,920 --> 00:06:37,600 So what is this one thing? 100 00:06:37,600 --> 00:06:39,600 Well, let me share it with you. 101 00:06:39,600 --> 00:06:41,360 And we can maybe even say this together. 102 00:06:41,360 --> 00:06:47,880 But the thing is where gratitude flows, happiness grows. 103 00:06:47,880 --> 00:06:49,040 Let's say that together. 104 00:06:49,040 --> 00:06:53,680 Where gratitude flows, happiness grows. 105 00:06:53,680 --> 00:07:01,720 So if you want happiness in your life, if you want to be truly happy and have a green 106 00:07:01,720 --> 00:07:04,780 garden of happiness, then you need to flood your life. 107 00:07:04,780 --> 00:07:06,560 You need to spray your life. 108 00:07:06,560 --> 00:07:13,960 You need to water your life with thanksgiving, with gratefulness and gratitude. 109 00:07:13,960 --> 00:07:22,540 Gratitude is the stuff that makes a life into a happy life, makes it flourish and grow. 110 00:07:22,540 --> 00:07:29,560 You can't actually have a happy life, I would say, if you aren't in your heart, a deeply 111 00:07:29,560 --> 00:07:35,360 grateful person, because happiness doesn't just poof grow or you can't just decide I'm 112 00:07:35,360 --> 00:07:38,760 going to be happy or I'm going to be joyful and just make it happen. 113 00:07:38,760 --> 00:07:39,760 No, no, no. 114 00:07:39,760 --> 00:07:40,760 It's a byproduct. 115 00:07:40,760 --> 00:07:44,240 It comes when something else is poured into your life. 116 00:07:44,240 --> 00:07:49,520 When you flood your life with gratitude, then you'll find that that's when happiness grows 117 00:07:49,520 --> 00:07:53,240 up all around you all by itself. 118 00:07:53,240 --> 00:07:56,920 Now like I said, even researchers are figuring this out. 119 00:07:56,920 --> 00:08:01,080 You can read that happiness or that gratitude is good for you. 120 00:08:01,080 --> 00:08:07,400 Grateful people record higher levels of positive emotion, life satisfaction, vitality, optimism. 121 00:08:07,400 --> 00:08:10,400 It's even good for your heart. 122 00:08:10,400 --> 00:08:14,760 Grateful people have better heart health than those who are not grateful. 123 00:08:14,760 --> 00:08:17,360 So psychology has figured it out. 124 00:08:17,360 --> 00:08:18,840 Science has kind of figured it out. 125 00:08:18,840 --> 00:08:26,080 But thousands of years before that, philosophers and theologians already knew this to be true. 126 00:08:26,080 --> 00:08:33,440 The great Roman statesman Cicero once said, there is no quality I would rather have and 127 00:08:33,440 --> 00:08:40,440 be thought to have than gratitude, for it is not only the greatest virtue, but it is 128 00:08:40,440 --> 00:08:42,960 the mother of all the rest. 129 00:08:42,960 --> 00:08:44,960 And what he's saying essentially is this. 130 00:08:44,960 --> 00:08:46,120 There is one hose. 131 00:08:46,120 --> 00:08:47,720 There is one tap. 132 00:08:47,720 --> 00:08:53,160 There is one thing that if you throw that onto your life, that all the other virtues, 133 00:08:53,160 --> 00:08:58,320 joy and peace and patience and kindness and happiness all grow out of that. 134 00:08:58,320 --> 00:09:03,920 And that virtue, that thing is gratitude. 135 00:09:03,920 --> 00:09:08,600 Another ancient writer that you may have heard of, he wrote half of the New Testament. 136 00:09:08,600 --> 00:09:10,560 His name was Paul. 137 00:09:10,560 --> 00:09:12,000 He wrote something very similar. 138 00:09:12,000 --> 00:09:18,480 He said, in every situation you find yourself in, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, 139 00:09:18,480 --> 00:09:21,720 with gratitude, make your requests known to God. 140 00:09:21,720 --> 00:09:23,620 And what will happen when we do that, Paul? 141 00:09:23,620 --> 00:09:29,360 There will be this peace that transcends all understanding and it will fill your heart 142 00:09:29,360 --> 00:09:31,880 and it will fill your mind. 143 00:09:31,880 --> 00:09:34,760 Paul is saying the very same thing. 144 00:09:34,760 --> 00:09:40,600 Throw gratitude on your life and you will see the happiness grow. 145 00:09:40,600 --> 00:09:46,320 And the good news is there is always, always, always an opportunity right in front of you 146 00:09:46,320 --> 00:09:50,840 to give thanks for something and to express gratitude for something. 147 00:09:50,840 --> 00:09:52,520 You don't have to look very far. 148 00:09:52,520 --> 00:09:57,280 In fact, some of the happiest people that you know in life, you know what's true about 149 00:09:57,280 --> 00:09:58,280 them? 150 00:09:58,280 --> 00:09:59,800 They're also the most grateful people. 151 00:09:59,800 --> 00:10:01,440 It doesn't matter how much they have. 152 00:10:01,440 --> 00:10:03,120 It doesn't matter what their situation is. 153 00:10:03,120 --> 00:10:07,080 They could be lying in a hospital bed and yet they're still finding something to be 154 00:10:07,080 --> 00:10:08,080 thankful for. 155 00:10:08,080 --> 00:10:12,360 They're still finding something to be grateful for and they're happy. 156 00:10:12,360 --> 00:10:13,360 Why? 157 00:10:13,360 --> 00:10:20,240 Because where gratitude flows, happiness grows. 158 00:10:20,240 --> 00:10:27,660 That's a very helpful thing for us to remember if we find we're not happy. 159 00:10:27,660 --> 00:10:28,660 Sometimes we're not happy. 160 00:10:28,660 --> 00:10:33,280 Sometimes we go through big long stretches where we're not happy. 161 00:10:33,280 --> 00:10:42,000 If the lawn of your life, if the garden of your life looks a little more like this, brown 162 00:10:42,000 --> 00:10:48,760 and dry, devoid of happiness, then maybe the thing that's missing, maybe the thing you 163 00:10:48,760 --> 00:10:54,560 haven't done is turned on the hose of gratitude and remembered the importance of thanksgiving. 164 00:10:54,560 --> 00:11:00,080 Because if you don't have gratitude, if you don't have thanksgiving, how can happiness 165 00:11:00,080 --> 00:11:01,200 grow in your life? 166 00:11:01,200 --> 00:11:04,880 It's the essential ingredient. 167 00:11:04,880 --> 00:11:05,880 And here is the thing. 168 00:11:05,880 --> 00:11:06,880 Guess what? 169 00:11:06,880 --> 00:11:11,160 Just like when you are gardening, you can run into this problem where a kink in the 170 00:11:11,160 --> 00:11:13,880 hose will prevent water from flowing. 171 00:11:13,880 --> 00:11:17,400 The same is true when it comes to gratitude. 172 00:11:17,400 --> 00:11:25,440 There are certain things in our life that can cause a huge kink to form in our ability 173 00:11:25,440 --> 00:11:28,840 to be grateful, in our ability to be thankful. 174 00:11:28,840 --> 00:11:35,520 And the result is, of course, there's nothing coming through to create a happy, happy life. 175 00:11:35,520 --> 00:11:40,720 In fact, today what I want to talk to you about is three kinks in particular that you 176 00:11:40,720 --> 00:11:43,320 have to watch out for and that you have to work out. 177 00:11:43,320 --> 00:11:44,320 That's the goal of today. 178 00:11:44,320 --> 00:11:46,480 I want to mention what these three kinks are. 179 00:11:46,480 --> 00:11:48,800 They all start with C, by the way. 180 00:11:48,800 --> 00:11:51,440 And the idea is that we can go back through our lives. 181 00:11:51,440 --> 00:11:56,640 We can go back down the hose of our life and we can work them out and get the gratitude 182 00:11:56,640 --> 00:11:59,880 flowing and therefore get the happiness growing. 183 00:11:59,880 --> 00:12:01,380 Let me just say one thing, though. 184 00:12:01,380 --> 00:12:06,440 As we go through these, I don't want you to be thinking of somebody else, right? 185 00:12:06,440 --> 00:12:10,300 When you hear about these kinks and these problems we run into, the temptation will 186 00:12:10,300 --> 00:12:14,000 be to say, oh, I know somebody like that, or I know somebody like that. 187 00:12:14,000 --> 00:12:17,720 Don't work out the kinks in somebody else's hose. 188 00:12:17,720 --> 00:12:21,680 You need to work out the kinks in your own hose. 189 00:12:21,680 --> 00:12:23,920 That's what this is about today. 190 00:12:23,920 --> 00:12:24,920 OK? 191 00:12:24,920 --> 00:12:26,320 So let's begin. 192 00:12:26,320 --> 00:12:33,440 The first kink that needs to be worked out if we're going to have a truly happy life 193 00:12:33,440 --> 00:12:38,280 is the kink of cynicism. 194 00:12:38,280 --> 00:12:42,140 Gratitude cannot flow if we are filled with cynicism. 195 00:12:42,140 --> 00:12:45,820 Because here's a cynical person, this is what a cynical person says. 196 00:12:45,820 --> 00:12:52,440 They say, yeah, you know, life is pretty good, but there's also so much wrong with the world. 197 00:12:52,440 --> 00:12:56,300 And yeah, God's good, but this is wrong and that is wrong. 198 00:12:56,300 --> 00:12:57,680 And that is awful. 199 00:12:57,680 --> 00:12:58,880 And this is broken. 200 00:12:58,880 --> 00:13:01,820 And this is all messed up. 201 00:13:01,820 --> 00:13:08,560 Cynicism occurs when all you can really see in life is the negative, is the bad, is the 202 00:13:08,560 --> 00:13:10,600 problems, right? 203 00:13:10,600 --> 00:13:12,960 Cynicism just sees the bad in life. 204 00:13:12,960 --> 00:13:17,440 And anything that maybe is good, well, a cynical person is kind of suspicious of that. 205 00:13:17,440 --> 00:13:18,440 It must be bad. 206 00:13:18,440 --> 00:13:21,120 It must be really bad, even though it looks good. 207 00:13:21,120 --> 00:13:22,280 It must be bad. 208 00:13:22,280 --> 00:13:26,960 All those bad news stories that we read on television, all those nasty influencers, all 209 00:13:26,960 --> 00:13:33,160 the doom scrolling that we do through our phones, it is a recipe for cynicism. 210 00:13:33,160 --> 00:13:37,380 Cynical people, they look at the world and see only hopelessness. 211 00:13:37,380 --> 00:13:41,700 Cynical people, they look at their situation, they see only bitterness. 212 00:13:41,700 --> 00:13:46,200 Cynical people look at life and they see only meaninglessness. 213 00:13:46,200 --> 00:13:47,880 They see hidden agendas everywhere. 214 00:13:47,880 --> 00:13:50,120 They see conspiracy theories over here. 215 00:13:50,120 --> 00:13:51,720 They see the worst in everything. 216 00:13:51,720 --> 00:13:53,320 And you know what cynical people love to do? 217 00:13:53,320 --> 00:13:54,720 They love to be right. 218 00:13:54,720 --> 00:14:01,160 They love it when people fail because they love to say, see, I told you so. 219 00:14:01,160 --> 00:14:04,960 Now of course, of course, not all criticism is bad. 220 00:14:04,960 --> 00:14:06,920 We need to be critical sometimes. 221 00:14:06,920 --> 00:14:07,920 We need to be wise. 222 00:14:07,920 --> 00:14:08,920 We need to be discerning. 223 00:14:08,920 --> 00:14:12,020 We need to learn the difference between good and evil. 224 00:14:12,020 --> 00:14:14,840 But cynical people, all they see is evil. 225 00:14:14,840 --> 00:14:18,640 And they aren't interested in finding solutions to the problems they point out. 226 00:14:18,640 --> 00:14:22,040 It is like pointing out the problems. 227 00:14:22,040 --> 00:14:23,040 Here's the thing. 228 00:14:23,040 --> 00:14:28,680 If you can't see the good in people, if you can't see the good in the world, if you can't 229 00:14:28,680 --> 00:14:35,520 see the good in yourself, if you can't acknowledge a good idea, a good thought, or a good solution, 230 00:14:35,520 --> 00:14:39,720 how on earth will you ever be happy? 231 00:14:39,720 --> 00:14:43,580 How on earth will the gratitude ever flow? 232 00:14:43,580 --> 00:14:48,040 That's a huge kink in your hose if you're one of those people. 233 00:14:48,040 --> 00:14:53,840 That gratefulness flowing through that hose, you will not be a very happy person and you 234 00:14:53,840 --> 00:14:57,840 will not be a very nice person to be around either. 235 00:14:57,840 --> 00:15:05,820 In fact, the relationship research out there says that the level of criticism in a marriage 236 00:15:05,820 --> 00:15:10,880 is directly related to the rate of divorce. 237 00:15:10,880 --> 00:15:16,360 So cynicism, it doesn't make anybody happy. 238 00:15:16,360 --> 00:15:19,680 Today though is Thanksgiving Sunday and what I want to encourage each of us to do is to 239 00:15:19,680 --> 00:15:24,360 go back and look at your hose, your hose, not somebody else's hose. 240 00:15:24,360 --> 00:15:31,220 Go back and look at your hose and see if you've got somewhere in there that kink of cynicism. 241 00:15:31,220 --> 00:15:34,600 If so, I want to encourage you to adopt a different attitude. 242 00:15:34,600 --> 00:15:38,680 I want to encourage you to adopt an attitude like the apostle Paul. 243 00:15:38,680 --> 00:15:42,000 The apostle Paul had every reason to be cynical about life. 244 00:15:42,000 --> 00:15:43,000 He was abused. 245 00:15:43,000 --> 00:15:44,240 He was betrayed. 246 00:15:44,240 --> 00:15:45,320 He was abandoned. 247 00:15:45,320 --> 00:15:47,200 He suffered great hardship. 248 00:15:47,200 --> 00:15:49,600 Paul could have looked at his life and said, it's horrible. 249 00:15:49,600 --> 00:15:50,600 It's awful. 250 00:15:50,600 --> 00:15:51,900 Isn't everything terrible? 251 00:15:51,900 --> 00:15:53,560 But do you know what he in fact said? 252 00:15:53,560 --> 00:15:58,880 He said, do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. 253 00:15:58,880 --> 00:15:59,880 You know what he said? 254 00:15:59,880 --> 00:16:04,640 He said, whatever is true and honorable and whatever is just and pure and lovely and commendable 255 00:16:04,640 --> 00:16:09,320 and excellent, think about those things, Paul said. 256 00:16:09,320 --> 00:16:11,880 Paul, he spoke about it in terms of love. 257 00:16:11,880 --> 00:16:16,240 He said, love doesn't give up or find all the faults or just criticize. 258 00:16:16,240 --> 00:16:17,880 They know love bears all things. 259 00:16:17,880 --> 00:16:19,440 It believes all things. 260 00:16:19,440 --> 00:16:21,400 Love hopes all things. 261 00:16:21,400 --> 00:16:23,680 Love endures all things. 262 00:16:23,680 --> 00:16:31,600 Please, if you're cynical today, make the decision to unkink your hose. 263 00:16:31,600 --> 00:16:34,280 Say I do not want to live this way anymore. 264 00:16:34,280 --> 00:16:38,560 I don't want to go through my whole life just fault finding and seeing the negative. 265 00:16:38,560 --> 00:16:45,600 I want to start to see the good in the world, the good in others, and the good in God. 266 00:16:45,600 --> 00:16:49,680 Because let's face it, God was not cynical. 267 00:16:49,680 --> 00:16:53,640 God did not look at your life and only see the negative in you. 268 00:16:53,640 --> 00:17:00,600 No, God looked at you and saw someone worth loving, someone worth saving, something very, 269 00:17:00,600 --> 00:17:02,340 very good. 270 00:17:02,340 --> 00:17:06,760 So that is the first kink in the hose of gratitude that we have to work out. 271 00:17:06,760 --> 00:17:10,200 It's the kink of cynicism. 272 00:17:10,200 --> 00:17:12,020 But it's only the first kink. 273 00:17:12,020 --> 00:17:17,780 There's another kink that can surely cut off our ability to be thankful and be grateful 274 00:17:17,780 --> 00:17:20,760 and just rob our life of happiness. 275 00:17:20,760 --> 00:17:24,400 And that is the kink of comparison. 276 00:17:24,400 --> 00:17:29,880 Whereas cynicism would say, hmm, life could be better. 277 00:17:29,880 --> 00:17:35,200 Comparison says what that person has is better. 278 00:17:35,200 --> 00:17:38,040 Comparison just drives so much of our thinking. 279 00:17:38,040 --> 00:17:41,680 I'm not even sure we're aware of how much it controls us. 280 00:17:41,680 --> 00:17:51,320 It's all about the err, our desire to be richer or better or wealthier or happier or smarter 281 00:17:51,320 --> 00:17:54,960 or funnier or better looking err or whatever. 282 00:17:54,960 --> 00:17:58,020 All those errors in our life. 283 00:17:58,020 --> 00:18:01,040 And we end up using each other as measuring sticks. 284 00:18:01,040 --> 00:18:04,360 Well, if I'm better than them, then I'll feel better about myself. 285 00:18:04,360 --> 00:18:08,640 If they're worse than I feel better, and if they're better than I feel worse, it's a horrible, 286 00:18:08,640 --> 00:18:09,640 horrible thing. 287 00:18:09,640 --> 00:18:16,680 Now, there's just no way you can be happy when the kink of comparison is in your hose. 288 00:18:16,680 --> 00:18:22,220 Our culture actually has two very powerful ways that it kinks our hoses and cramps them 289 00:18:22,220 --> 00:18:24,840 up so that nothing can get through. 290 00:18:24,840 --> 00:18:26,580 The first is advertising. 291 00:18:26,580 --> 00:18:29,520 Every day, do you know, every day, you don't even know it. 292 00:18:29,520 --> 00:18:35,960 Advertisers of advertisements are aimed at you with one goal, to make you unhappy, but 293 00:18:35,960 --> 00:18:43,720 to say you could be happy if you had those shoes or that car or that house or if you 294 00:18:43,720 --> 00:18:47,240 had that haircut or if you had, you know, fill in the blank. 295 00:18:47,240 --> 00:18:50,560 That's what advertisers are trying to do. 296 00:18:50,560 --> 00:18:53,680 They're twisting the hose of gratitude. 297 00:18:53,680 --> 00:18:55,000 They're trying to cut it off. 298 00:18:55,000 --> 00:18:56,920 They have to do that. 299 00:18:56,920 --> 00:19:02,940 If they didn't do that, nobody would ever buy anything from them. 300 00:19:02,940 --> 00:19:05,780 But secondly, social media. 301 00:19:05,780 --> 00:19:08,680 Social media puts a major twist. 302 00:19:08,680 --> 00:19:14,220 It mangles the hose of gratitude through comparison. 303 00:19:14,220 --> 00:19:18,360 Research on social media is just so, so clear these days. 304 00:19:18,360 --> 00:19:23,860 The rise of cell phones, the rise of social media, especially the rise of teenagers using 305 00:19:23,860 --> 00:19:31,640 cell phones for social media is directly correlated like parallel lines with the rise of teen 306 00:19:31,640 --> 00:19:37,960 depression, the rise of anxiety, the rise of self-harm. 307 00:19:37,960 --> 00:19:41,760 Why do these curves follow the same trajectory? 308 00:19:41,760 --> 00:19:50,560 It's because constant comparison devastates your soul, damages your heart, cuts off your 309 00:19:50,560 --> 00:19:56,080 gratitude, destroys your happiness. 310 00:19:56,080 --> 00:20:01,440 The 10th commandment, the last commandment, the one that we probably forget is you shall 311 00:20:01,440 --> 00:20:06,060 not covet other people's possessions. 312 00:20:06,060 --> 00:20:11,280 Don't compare yourself with what others have or who they are. 313 00:20:11,280 --> 00:20:12,280 Why? 314 00:20:12,280 --> 00:20:17,800 Why would God make a whole commandment based around this idea of comparing ourselves? 315 00:20:17,800 --> 00:20:23,480 Because it's so dangerous, because it stops us from being grateful and therefore prevents 316 00:20:23,480 --> 00:20:26,920 us from experiencing happiness in our life. 317 00:20:26,920 --> 00:20:33,520 It's like this thing I said, it's like when somebody is doing worse, we feel better. 318 00:20:33,520 --> 00:20:36,760 When someone is doing better, we feel worse. 319 00:20:36,760 --> 00:20:43,520 Tell me, how can you ever lead a happy life if you go through your days thinking that 320 00:20:43,520 --> 00:20:44,520 way? 321 00:20:44,520 --> 00:20:46,360 The answer is you can't. 322 00:20:46,360 --> 00:20:52,480 It cuts off your gratitude and dries up any hope of happiness that you'll have. 323 00:20:52,480 --> 00:20:57,160 Teddy Roosevelt once said this, he said, comparison is the thief of joy. 324 00:20:57,160 --> 00:20:58,160 And he was right. 325 00:20:58,160 --> 00:21:04,760 So how do we get the gratitude flowing again and get rid of that kink of comparison? 326 00:21:04,760 --> 00:21:05,760 Well, here's how. 327 00:21:05,760 --> 00:21:09,240 First of all, don't fall for the advertisements. 328 00:21:09,240 --> 00:21:12,040 The next time you're at home and you're watching television and some commercial comes on the 329 00:21:12,040 --> 00:21:17,040 TV trying to sell you something that you just know, you just know you don't really need. 330 00:21:17,040 --> 00:21:23,260 Why not just stand up and yell at the TV and say, what do you take me for? 331 00:21:23,260 --> 00:21:24,440 You think I'm an idiot? 332 00:21:24,440 --> 00:21:25,840 You think I'm going to fall for that? 333 00:21:25,840 --> 00:21:26,840 I'm not stupid. 334 00:21:26,840 --> 00:21:27,840 I'm serious. 335 00:21:27,840 --> 00:21:32,240 We have to start recognizing what they are doing. 336 00:21:32,240 --> 00:21:34,040 They're taking your hose, they're doing this. 337 00:21:34,040 --> 00:21:39,640 And we have to say, give me my hose back and then unkink it and not let them do that to 338 00:21:39,640 --> 00:21:40,640 us. 339 00:21:40,640 --> 00:21:41,860 We have to be wise to what's happening. 340 00:21:41,860 --> 00:21:48,240 But secondly, all I would say is let's just be very wary around our use of social media. 341 00:21:48,240 --> 00:21:53,320 Limit our social media because with every scroll and with every tap and with every like 342 00:21:53,320 --> 00:21:57,500 the hose twists and twists and twists. 343 00:21:57,500 --> 00:22:00,220 So put it down and watch what happens. 344 00:22:00,220 --> 00:22:06,560 The hose, the kink untwists, straightens out and the gratitude will begin to flow again. 345 00:22:06,560 --> 00:22:08,160 I guarantee it will happen. 346 00:22:08,160 --> 00:22:09,700 I guarantee it. 347 00:22:09,700 --> 00:22:18,000 So let's remember this too, though, that rather than every time somebody is rejoicing, we 348 00:22:18,000 --> 00:22:20,840 find ourselves mourning because they have more than us. 349 00:22:20,840 --> 00:22:25,420 Or rather than every time someone else is mourning, we find ourselves rejoicing because 350 00:22:25,420 --> 00:22:27,280 we're doing better than they are. 351 00:22:27,280 --> 00:22:28,280 Let's remember what Paul said. 352 00:22:28,280 --> 00:22:33,040 He said, rejoice with those who rejoice, mourn with those who mourn. 353 00:22:33,040 --> 00:22:36,620 Stop comparing yourselves to each other or feeling better or worse about who you are 354 00:22:36,620 --> 00:22:39,000 based on how they are doing. 355 00:22:39,000 --> 00:22:45,440 Instead, pray for each other, do good for each other, and stop competing with each other. 356 00:22:45,440 --> 00:22:49,280 Instead serve each other and you will see the hose untwists. 357 00:22:49,280 --> 00:22:51,980 Your attitude will change. 358 00:22:51,980 --> 00:22:54,280 Gratefulness will flow. 359 00:22:54,280 --> 00:22:58,360 Happiness will grow. 360 00:22:58,360 --> 00:23:00,720 So there's this first twist in our hose. 361 00:23:00,720 --> 00:23:02,380 We call it cynicism. 362 00:23:02,380 --> 00:23:05,560 There's the second kink in our hose that we call comparison. 363 00:23:05,560 --> 00:23:09,680 Let's look at the third and final way that our hose gets kinked up, and that is what 364 00:23:09,680 --> 00:23:11,560 I want to call conceit. 365 00:23:11,560 --> 00:23:12,720 Conceit. 366 00:23:12,720 --> 00:23:14,000 So here's the thing, right? 367 00:23:14,000 --> 00:23:20,520 Whereas cynicism says, oh, what can I be thankful for in a world like this? 368 00:23:20,520 --> 00:23:27,160 And comparison says, well, how can I possibly be thankful when they have that and I don't? 369 00:23:27,160 --> 00:23:31,520 Well, conceit says, you want me to be thankful? 370 00:23:31,520 --> 00:23:32,520 To who? 371 00:23:32,520 --> 00:23:33,520 Right? 372 00:23:33,520 --> 00:23:38,480 The only person around here to thank is me. 373 00:23:38,480 --> 00:23:43,320 Conceited people have nothing to be grateful for because they see themselves as the sole 374 00:23:43,320 --> 00:23:45,600 provider for everything that is good in their life. 375 00:23:45,600 --> 00:23:47,080 I did it on my own. 376 00:23:47,080 --> 00:23:48,520 I earned it on my own. 377 00:23:48,520 --> 00:23:51,800 I made it on my own. 378 00:23:51,800 --> 00:23:53,440 There's this old movie starring Jimmy Stewart. 379 00:23:53,440 --> 00:23:55,420 It's called Shenandoah. 380 00:23:55,420 --> 00:23:58,680 And there's this moment when the whole family is sitting down to Thanksgiving dinner and 381 00:23:58,680 --> 00:24:00,120 they're saying grace. 382 00:24:00,120 --> 00:24:01,120 And I just want to show you this. 383 00:24:01,120 --> 00:24:06,200 Tell me, have you ever prayed a prayer like this even secretly in your heart? 384 00:24:06,200 --> 00:24:10,280 Lord, we cleared this land. 385 00:24:10,280 --> 00:24:12,840 We plowed it, sowed it, and harvested it. 386 00:24:12,840 --> 00:24:14,440 We cooked the harvest. 387 00:24:14,440 --> 00:24:15,440 It wouldn't be here. 388 00:24:15,440 --> 00:24:18,480 We wouldn't be eating it if we hadn't done it all ourselves. 389 00:24:18,480 --> 00:24:23,080 We worked dog bone hard for every crumb and morsel, but we thank you just same anyway, 390 00:24:23,080 --> 00:24:26,080 Lord, for this food we're about to eat. 391 00:24:26,080 --> 00:24:27,080 Amen. 392 00:24:27,080 --> 00:24:28,080 Yeah. 393 00:24:28,080 --> 00:24:31,200 You know, that's what conceit does. 394 00:24:31,200 --> 00:24:36,400 It is this self-centered approach to life that forgets, as the book of Hebrews says, 395 00:24:36,400 --> 00:24:41,640 that every good and perfect gift comes down from above. 396 00:24:41,640 --> 00:24:45,600 You know, the book of Deuteronomy tells the story of when Israel came right to the brink 397 00:24:45,600 --> 00:24:47,080 of entering into the promised land. 398 00:24:47,080 --> 00:24:50,120 The promised land was truly something that had been given to them. 399 00:24:50,120 --> 00:24:51,920 They couldn't have earned it for themselves. 400 00:24:51,920 --> 00:24:53,340 It was a gift of God. 401 00:24:53,340 --> 00:24:57,200 But God wanted to make sure that when they went into that land, they didn't fall prey 402 00:24:57,200 --> 00:24:58,480 to conceit. 403 00:24:58,480 --> 00:25:03,040 He knew our tendency is sometimes to take credit for ourselves. 404 00:25:03,040 --> 00:25:08,480 And so what God says is, hey, if you start thinking to yourselves, I did all this and 405 00:25:08,480 --> 00:25:09,480 all by myself. 406 00:25:09,480 --> 00:25:11,080 I'm rich and it's all mine. 407 00:25:11,080 --> 00:25:14,480 God says, wait, just think again. 408 00:25:14,480 --> 00:25:19,720 Remember that God, your God, gave you the strength. 409 00:25:19,720 --> 00:25:26,440 We must never mix up who God is and what God does and who we are and our part. 410 00:25:26,440 --> 00:25:29,040 Now how do you work out the kink of conceit? 411 00:25:29,040 --> 00:25:31,100 There's a couple of ways to do it. 412 00:25:31,100 --> 00:25:34,400 One way is way easier than the other, but both of them work. 413 00:25:34,400 --> 00:25:37,000 And I wouldn't advise this first way. 414 00:25:37,000 --> 00:25:41,240 But one way is to simply keep on going with your life. 415 00:25:41,240 --> 00:25:43,240 Keep on thinking you're in charge. 416 00:25:43,240 --> 00:25:44,760 Keep on thinking you're in control. 417 00:25:44,760 --> 00:25:46,820 Keep on thinking you're the master of everything. 418 00:25:46,820 --> 00:25:51,480 And eventually you will, you will fail, you will fall, you will hit a wall, you will crash 419 00:25:51,480 --> 00:25:59,400 and you will burn, and as your life crumbles down around you, you'll finally say, ah, I'm 420 00:25:59,400 --> 00:26:01,240 not in charge of everything. 421 00:26:01,240 --> 00:26:03,600 Oh, and it's not all up to me. 422 00:26:03,600 --> 00:26:06,600 And in fact, it never was up to me. 423 00:26:06,600 --> 00:26:08,520 And I never did do it on my own. 424 00:26:08,520 --> 00:26:11,540 It was always, I can't control any of this. 425 00:26:11,540 --> 00:26:16,720 And that is one of the great wake up calls that we'll have in life sometimes that will 426 00:26:16,720 --> 00:26:20,120 help us work out that kink of conceit in our life. 427 00:26:20,120 --> 00:26:22,720 Like I said, I don't recommend it. 428 00:26:22,720 --> 00:26:24,420 There is a better way. 429 00:26:24,420 --> 00:26:25,680 You don't have to go that route. 430 00:26:25,680 --> 00:26:30,120 The better way is exactly what God told the Israelites in that previous piece of scripture. 431 00:26:30,120 --> 00:26:35,340 He said, remember, he said, hey, remember what I have done for you. 432 00:26:35,340 --> 00:26:40,400 Look back across your life and remember that I gave you the ability. 433 00:26:40,400 --> 00:26:42,440 Remember I'm the one who created you. 434 00:26:42,440 --> 00:26:44,240 I'm the one who gifted you. 435 00:26:44,240 --> 00:26:48,320 I'm the one who decided you would be born in a time like this, in a place like this, 436 00:26:48,320 --> 00:26:51,800 in a moment like this, with the opportunity like this right in front of you. 437 00:26:51,800 --> 00:26:52,960 You did not do that. 438 00:26:52,960 --> 00:26:54,720 You had nothing to do with that. 439 00:26:54,720 --> 00:26:57,600 That was all me. 440 00:26:57,600 --> 00:27:02,640 And also remember this, I think God would say, remember, I am the one who sent my son 441 00:27:02,640 --> 00:27:04,240 to die for you. 442 00:27:04,240 --> 00:27:06,580 You could not have done that. 443 00:27:06,580 --> 00:27:08,760 You could not have saved yourself. 444 00:27:08,760 --> 00:27:11,280 That is all me. 445 00:27:11,280 --> 00:27:13,340 Only God is God. 446 00:27:13,340 --> 00:27:18,080 And only you are you. 447 00:27:18,080 --> 00:27:22,960 Meister Eckhart famously said, he said, if the only prayer you ever said in your whole 448 00:27:22,960 --> 00:27:26,680 life was thank you, that would suffice. 449 00:27:26,680 --> 00:27:32,880 Gosh, but it's such a hard prayer to pray, especially when we have that kink of conceit 450 00:27:32,880 --> 00:27:33,880 in us. 451 00:27:33,880 --> 00:27:39,880 But every time we pray it, every time we pray it, the kinks start to go, it starts to straighten 452 00:27:39,880 --> 00:27:47,000 out, and the gratitude starts to flow, the happiness starts to grow. 453 00:27:47,000 --> 00:27:51,920 So in closing, in closing, GK Chesterton said this once. 454 00:27:51,920 --> 00:27:56,680 He said, the test of happiness is gratitude. 455 00:27:56,680 --> 00:27:59,920 So if happiness isn't flowing in your life, it's time to test. 456 00:27:59,920 --> 00:28:01,600 It's time to test your host. 457 00:28:01,600 --> 00:28:08,480 Go back and see first, is there a kink there, the kink of cynicism? 458 00:28:08,480 --> 00:28:11,920 Have you become so fixated on the negative things in life that you cannot see the good 459 00:28:11,920 --> 00:28:12,920 anymore? 460 00:28:12,920 --> 00:28:16,980 If so, then straighten it out and let the gratitude flow. 461 00:28:16,980 --> 00:28:19,980 Keep going down and see if there's a kink of comparison there. 462 00:28:19,980 --> 00:28:22,520 Are you all crumpled up because you're comparing yourself to other people? 463 00:28:22,520 --> 00:28:26,320 You're so busy looking what other people have that you fail to see what God has given you? 464 00:28:26,320 --> 00:28:28,040 Well, untwist that kink. 465 00:28:28,040 --> 00:28:31,280 Let the gratitude start flowing through your life. 466 00:28:31,280 --> 00:28:32,320 Or is it conceit? 467 00:28:32,320 --> 00:28:33,320 Go down the hose. 468 00:28:33,320 --> 00:28:34,320 Ah, there it is. 469 00:28:34,320 --> 00:28:38,360 Are you the self-made woman, the self-made man, and you don't think you've got anyone 470 00:28:38,360 --> 00:28:40,920 to thank and you take all the credit for yourself? 471 00:28:40,920 --> 00:28:42,600 Don't wait for the crash. 472 00:28:42,600 --> 00:28:44,480 Don't wait for the fall. 473 00:28:44,480 --> 00:28:46,800 Don't wait till the pipe bursts. 474 00:28:46,800 --> 00:28:53,840 But remember all that God has done for you and say, thank you. 475 00:28:53,840 --> 00:29:01,800 Because happiness grows where gratitude flows. 476 00:29:01,800 --> 00:29:09,560 Try it out and watch and see if a garden of happiness doesn't grow up all around you. 477 00:29:09,560 --> 00:29:10,560 Thanks be to God. 478 00:29:10,560 --> 00:29:11,560 Amen. 479 00:29:11,560 --> 00:29:14,240 Thank you so much for joining us today. 480 00:29:14,240 --> 00:29:17,520 And we hope that you found the sermon positive and inspiring. 481 00:29:17,520 --> 00:29:21,960 And if you enjoyed the show today, please take a minute to rate and review our podcast 482 00:29:21,960 --> 00:29:25,800 so that we can continue to spread the good news with others. 483 00:29:25,800 --> 00:29:29,400 Come back again next week and thanks again for listening. 484 00:29:29,400 --> 00:29:34,280 Today's sermon was taken from the October 8th, 2023 10 a.m. service at Trinity Church 485 00:29:34,280 --> 00:29:44,440 Streetsville in Mississauga, Ontario.