Welcome this morning. So glad that you are here.
Welcome to those of you online, from wherever
it is you find yourself watching. We are so glad
that you're with us this morning. Several years
ago, when my kids were little, I had my oldest
were about four and my youngest was two, and
we were at home and we heard the sound of doors
slamming throughout the house. Now, if you're
a parent of young kids, you know this is a sound
you do not want to hear because little fingers
and doors are not a good combination. And so
we're hearing the sounding of doors slamming,
and then all of a sudden we hear a blood -curdling
scream of a finger that got caught in a door.
And yes, it got slammed in the door. Not the
door side, the hinge side. Oh, yeah, yeah, like
smashed, like bone, blood, like things you don't
want to hear about when you come to church, right?
Like some of you are already like lightheaded
right now. Yeah, so slammed. We're like, we got
to take her to the emergency room. And so I got
the other, the girls together and we were like,
man, this is really bad. My wife was going to
take her to the emergency room and I was going
to stay with the other two. And before they left,
I said, we need to pray. for your sister right
now. Like, this isn't good. And so I prayed first
and we prayed for her finger. We prayed for the
doctors. We prayed for the pain. We prayed that
everything would be okay. And then I said, well,
would one of you like to pray? I just kind of
showed exactly what this type of prayer would
look like. And my two -year -old, she volunteered
to pray. She was the culprit, by the way. And
she volunteered to pray for her sister in this
moment. And it was so special. She was going
to pray for her sister. She's hurting and she
prays and she says, dear God, thank you for this
day. Thank you for this food, amen. And that
was her prayer, man. But here's the thing. I
think that for a lot of us, we get caught in
routines when it comes to our prayer life. We
get caught in routines of saying the same things
and doing the same things, and we get stuck in
these routines. And I know for me, when I'm getting
stressed out, it's like, man, I know right away,
I'm gonna go, okay, God, I trust you, and I'm
gonna turn it over to him there. All right, I
know when I need something, then I'm gonna go,
okay, God, I need something now. Life's getting
hard. I'm gonna ask for this right now. All right,
I'm not gonna tune into them before that, but
when things get hard, that's what I'm gonna turn
to. All right, we know that when the food is
set in front of us, that's our cue then to thank
God for the food. But I think a lot of times
we just fall into these routines, especially
when it comes to prayer. And I think that when
we get stuck in these routines, we limit ourself
from experiencing the full joy of prayer. If
you've been with us over the last couple of weeks,
we've been talking through this idea of prayer.
And the first week we looked at what prayer is.
Prayer is watering the seeds that God has planted
in your life. Our prayer is the water that allows
the seeds that God has planted in our life to
grow. If you were here the next week, we talked
about going through winter seasons where we do
not see growth, where we do not see any new life.
We don't see anything good. And we go, God, where
are you in the middle of this? And really we
learned that that through these winter seasons,
prayer is an invitation to sit at the table with
God, to talk with him in the midst of these seasons.
We learn that prayer is plugging into the power
source. And through our prayers can be powerful
because we are plugged into the power source
that is God. He is the source of power. Therefore,
when we pray, we are tapping into that source.
And then last week we learned that prayer is
declaring war. These daily bread prayers that
we have is declaring war on the lies that the
enemy is telling us. We have an offensive weapon
in prayer to go, that's not true because God
says this and we have a prayer that we can pray
that combats the lies of the enemy. And we've
learned about prayer. And for a lot of you, I
think you would go, okay, I've learned a lot
and that's great. But you're still going, my
prayer life could improve. And I think the bottom
line comes to this is what we started this whole
collection with is you can learn all you want,
but the bottom line is that you have to do it.
If you wanna improve at prayer, you have to pray.
You have to actually get down to praying and
doing it. What prayer is, is prayer is entering
into the presence of God. We have an invitation
to enter into the presence of God. And that's
what prayer is. So here's what the scripture
says. about how to enter into the presence of
God. It says in Psalm 100, verse one, shout for
joy to the Lord, all the earth. Shout for joy
to the Lord. And then a couple of verses later,
it says this, enter his gates, right? If prayer's
entering into the presence of the Lord, then
it says this, enter his gates with thanksgiving
and into his courts with praise. Give thanks
to him and praise his name. I enter into prayer,
into the presence of God with prayers of thanksgiving,
with prayers of celebration, with prayers of
praise to him because God has given us what we
have and therefore we are to enter his presence
with praise. And when we enter God's presence
with praise and thanksgiving, it does something
to us. A couple of weeks ago, We had our winter
camp for our youth, our middle schoolers and
high schoolers. We took them to winter camp.
We got some of them in here. They're pumped about
it. It was an incredible time. We had so much
fun at camp. And I could spend the entire morning
just telling you stories from camp. But we get
to camp and it's the very first night. It's Friday
night and we had chapel. And so we did our chapel
session. And then after that, we go into our
cabin time. And as we head to our cabin time,
we finished up and I get to lead the freshman
boys group. And for some of you are like, why
are you leading a group? Well, I'm leading a
group because we didn't have enough adults to
step in and to lead. I'm just gonna leave that
there. You can do with it what you want, but
that's all I'm gonna say about it, okay? And
so I'm leading these freshman boys and we get
done with our first night of discussion and we're
kind of out on the porch and Pastor Austin walks
by and he looks a little distraught and he's
on the phone and he hangs up the phone and I
go, hey, is everything okay? And he goes, well,
I just got the call that the girls, the junior
senior girls cabin down the way, they found mice
in their cabin so they have to move cabins. And
he's like, so we're going to have to move all
their stuff right now. If you guys want to come
help, that's fine. I said, okay. So I go into
my guys, to my freshman boys. And I say, hey,
the junior senior girls need help. All they heard
was junior senior girls. And they said, yes,
we're in. What do I need to do? Like, we need
to go help them. And so they're like, okay, let's
go. And so I go to help them. And the boys were
coming a little behind me. And I'm not kidding
when I tell you, I smelled them before I saw
them. Like literally, they had like two bottles
worth of cologne on as they come walking out.
And as they walk past me, they have the audacity
then with two bottles of cologne on them to stop
and go, hey, Todd, do I smell okay? I'm like,
bro, you smell like the cologne factory blew
up on you. I don't know if that's okay or not,
but that's what you smell like. And they're like,
okay, good. This is what we're going for. I'm
like, all right, bold choice, but okay, right?
And so they go, and man, they're doing everything
they can for the girls. They're like, let me
grab your bags. Let me grab more bags. What else
can I do for you, right? And then these boys
are like, okay, I get this. This is my opportunity,
right? And they start trying to talk to these
girls as they're carrying their bag. Anything
else I can do for you, ma 'am, right? And so
we get there. get them in their new cabin, set
them up. And these boys, two of them may be sitting
somewhere in this area right here right now.
And two of these boys, they get there and they
write their phone number in the dirt in front
of their cabin. And they're like, call me, call
me, right? I'm like, bro, don't hold your breath.
It ain't happening, right? Like it's not happening
right now. We don't need to point at them. They're
already red. But so here's the thing. The rest
of the camp, these boys. thought that this was
an invitation to flirt with the junior senior
girls, right? They're like, I got an in already.
Like I helped them, right? And so I watched this.
And the funny part is, is the junior senior girls
were like, no, not happening, right? But did
it stop them? Absolutely not. And so the freshman
boys are like, okay, here we go. The thing is,
there was a couple of them that did have a little
bit of game. I'm not gonna lie. Like they had
a little bit of game. And so I would see these
freshman boys coming to these junior, senior
girls and I would be standing there waiting for
it going, okay, here it comes. And the junior,
senior girls are like, nope, not happening. And
they would come up and they would start right
away and they go, hey, that's the most beautiful
sweatshirt I've ever seen in my life. And then
they would proceed with what they were gonna
say. And I watched this happen knowing the junior,
senior girls were like, uh -uh. But when they
disarmed them with the compliment, it changed
the conversation. They were a little more receptive.
They were like, okay. Okay, right, the answer
was still no, but they were willing to listen
a little bit more. See, when we enter into God's
presence with thanksgiving, it doesn't change
God, right? You're not buttering up God. God,
thank you, now give me my Lamborghini, right?
That's not how it works. But when you enter in
God's presence with thanksgiving, it does not
change God, it changes you. It changes your heart.
What prayers of thanksgiving, what prayers of
celebration does is it trains your heart. It
trains your heart. It recalibrates your heart.
And I don't know about you, but I need recalibration
of my heart often. The Bible says our heart is
desperately wicked. And we need to recalibrate
our heart. And what prayers of thanksgiving or
prayers of celebration do is it recalibrates
our heart as we go into the presence of the Lord.
Now, how does it recalibrate our heart? If you're
taking notes, the first thing is this, is it
shifts the spotlight. It shifts the spotlight.
All right, thanksgiving and prayers of thanksgiving
doesn't deny hardship in your life. It just refuses
to let hardship be the loudest voice in your
life. It's not just happy talk. When you go into
God's presence with thanksgiving, God, thank
you for what you've done for me. God, I wanna
thank you for this. It does not take away from
the fact that life is hard. Like life is hard.
It does not take away from the fact that things
are difficult. Hardship does exist and it's not
easy. But what thanksgiving does is it does not
let it drag you into its dark hole. Because we
live in a culture that says if things are hard
and things are bad, that's all you can focus
on. And you need to just find yourself in this
cave of depression because that's all you can
see. And what we find in scripture is that yes,
bad things happen, but they also exist with a
good God. Both can be true. And what Thanksgiving
does is it declares war, right? If you were here
last week, it's pulling that card out that declares
war and says, no, I will not allow my circumstance,
I will not allow the difficulty in my life to
drag me into the hole that it wants to because
I declare war knowing that God is still good.
And what prayers of Thanksgiving do is it trains
our heart to shift the spotlight. It's not highlighting
all the stuff we don't wanna deal with. Say,
man, I want to focus on the right things. It's
reorienting our focus. Say, I'm just going to
shift my focus a little bit. And what it does
is it moves the burden. It moves the burden from
us to him. You don't have to shoulder it on your
own. When you're entering into prayers of thanksgiving
and prayers of celebration to God, you're allowing
him to shoulder the burden with you. You're giving
it to him. You don't have to deal with all the
struggles on your own. It shifts the focus. It
shifts the spotlight. Next is this, is it humbles
us. Prayers of thanksgiving and praise humble
us. Some of you guys came to church just for
this today and you didn't know that and you're
not gonna like it. But I gotta tell you this,
it's not all about you. Some of you are like,
what? No, yes it is. You don't like that. But
the truth is, is it's not all about you. And
what prayers of thanksgiving does is it humbles
us because we often see everything we have through
a wrong lens and we think it's a result of us,
not him. Oh, I earned it. That's my car because
I earned it. That's my house. That's my accomplishment.
That's my job. That's all a result of me because
what I have done. What prayers of thanksgiving
does is it allows us to be humbled to realize
that everything you have isn't because you worked
hard, isn't because you earned it, isn't because
of what you did. I had the privilege at our camp
to be the speaker for the weekend, which means
I delivered six messages in about a 65 -hour
span. And so I knew going into the camp that
some of my messages were good, some of them were
pretty awful. And I was like, let's just see.
how this goes. And so one of the days I'm at
camp and Pastor David shows up. Pastor David
was doing his thing behind the camera. He's a
ninja when it comes to camera and video and all
that kind of stuff. And so he's doing his thing.
And Pastor David is also one of my best friends.
And so he comes up to me and he's like, say,
so how has it been going when it comes to the
messages and speaking and everything this weekend?
And I told him, I said, I think it's been okay
so far, but I know coming up the next message
I have, it really stinks. Like it's not a good
one. And I'm pretty nervous for how this evening's
gonna go because I know my message is not good.
I don't think it's going to go over well. And
I don't think it's going to be successful. I
just don't think it's a good message. And Pastor
David, in Pastor David fashion, if you know him,
this is very much on brand for him. He looks
at me and he goes, well, good thing success isn't
determined by what you do. And he walks away.
I was like, thanks, bro. You could have just
punched me in the face, right? Like, sweet. But
he's like, it's not about you. It reminds me
of the Dominicans. I've gone to the Dominican
three times in the last year. And anytime you're
with the Dominicans at a church service and you
share something as a compliment to them, every
time their response is this, glory to God. It's
like compliments just bounce off of them to God.
They're like, nope, glory to God. It's not about
us. And you need to understand that when we go
to God in thanksgiving, what we do is we're humbling
ourself. All right, we're humbling ourself. Oh
God, thank you for this. Thank you for what you've
given me in my life. Thank you for this blessing.
Thank you for all. And what you're saying is
I needed you for this. It wasn't me. And the
way that it reorients our heart, the way that
it shifts our focus is that it realizes that
it humbles us. It reminds us that you didn't
earn all of this. It's because of him. All right,
next is this, is it shifts us from consumer to
worshiper. It shifts us from consumer to worshiper.
And a consumer asks this, what am I getting?
Is this meeting my needs? Am I satisfied with
whatever it is that I've come to? And if I gotta
be honest, some of you, that's how you walk into
church. Is this meeting my needs? Is this what
I wanted? Some of you already, as soon as I walked
out, you're like, oh my gosh, that's the bald
guy today. I didn't want the bald guy. I wanted
the older gray -haired guy. Yes, I did say that.
You can tell him I said that. Way older than
me, all right? You can tell him I said that.
All right, but some of you, that's your attitude
when it comes to church is you're just evaluating,
did it meet my needs? I don't like this. They
didn't sing the song I want. I'm going to another
church. I'm out of here. Like you come in with
a posture of being a consumer instead of being
a worshiper. And a lot of times we approach God
in prayer in the same manner. We approach God
in prayer as a consumer going, God, did you fulfill
what I wanted? Did you give me what I wanted,
God? The big giant Santa Claus in the sky, you
didn't do what I wanted. And we approach him
like that instead of a worshiper. A worshiper
asks, man, who is God? What has he done and how
do I respond to what he has done? And the shift
from consumer to worshiper is a shift from evaluation
to adoration. It's not just evaluating. Some
of you have an evaluation list to God. How'd
you do today, God? Did you meet my needs? Check.
Who are you to tell God whether or not he met
your needs? The shift is from us being an evaluator,
right? It's from evaluation to adoration. A couple
of years ago. I finally said yes to an invitation
that I had been given many, many, many times.
And over the years, I just wasn't ready for it.
I wasn't ready. I'm not ready yet. I'm not ready
yet. I'm not ready yet. But I finally said yes
to playing slow pitch softball. And I was like,
you know what? I've been removed enough from
playing. And so I can just play. slow -pitch
softball. And I was kind of excited because my
daughters had heard stories, but they'd never
actually seen me play a game that involved a
bat, a ball, and a glove. And so I'm like, they're
going to get an opportunity to see me play, right?
I'm going to make them proud. It's not quite
the same game that I'm used to. In fact, I learned
that very quickly when I got to my first at -bat,
and I was like, I'm going to hit this ball like
10 miles. And it went like eight feet. And I
was like, oh, this game is not the same. But
I got through the game and man, I made a couple
of plays. I did some stuff and I was so excited
because as I walked off the field, I knew my
daughters were gonna be so excited to come to
me and to tell me how great I did. And I had
proved to them that I was worth them loving me.
And as I walked off, they ran up and they gave
me a huge hug and it felt so good. And I'm like,
did you see what I did? Did you see all that
stuff? And they're like, dad, when does the game
start? And I was like, well, the game's over.
What do you mean? And they're like, oh, we didn't
know. We were just playing with chalk over here
the whole time. And I'm like, so you didn't see
any of that. Why did you come give me a hug then?
And they're like, because you're our dad. Because
it doesn't matter what you do. I still love you.
I think sometimes we go, okay, God, if you meet
my needs, if you give me what I want, then I'll
worship you, God. And he's going, no, I am your
father. I have created you. I loved you. You
are even breathing because of me. It has nothing
to do. And a lot of times we show up with a valuation
instead of adoration, but the shift. when we
allow ourself to come to him in a posture of
celebration, a posture of thanksgiving, a posture
of gratitude, it moves God in our life from vendor
to king. And it allows us to embrace this idea
of gratitude and gratitude turns us from entitlement
to awe. It shifts our heart. Next is this, is
it forms trust. It forms trust. It forms trust
because when we thank God for what he has done,
we understand that if God has done it in the
past, then I can trust he can do it again in
the future. If you're going through something,
a lot of times remembering the fact that God
has got you through it will help you get through
whatever it is you're going through. A couple
of days ago, I was driving with my wife and I
think there's two types of people in. The world,
there's those that have a sense of direction
to know if I've been somewhere one time, I can
get back there again. I know how to do it. And
then there's other type of people in the world
that have no clue where they are at all times,
right? And they need directions everywhere they
go. And they're like, I don't know how to get
there. I don't even know where I'm at. And I
firmly believe that those two types of people
marry each other, right? And I think my wife
still had to use directions to get here this
morning. So I'll just, that's just to tell you
which one she is. And so I'm driving with her
the other day and we get to this road and the
road is closed in front of us. And the road is
how we get home, but the road is closed. And
so immediately I turn and I take a couple of
side streets and I turn here, turn there, turn
this place. And I get us to exactly where we
needed to go by skipping the road that was closed.
And she looks at me and she's like, how did you
do that? And I was like, cause I am amazing.
That's how I did that. But three days before
that, that road was closed and I did the same
thing, but I turned and I hit like five dead
ends and I was like, I don't know how to get
out of here. And I figured it out. And so I knew
where to go. You know why? Because my past experience
helped my present problem. And see, when you
go to God and you go, God, thank you for what
you have done. I'm gonna remember your faithfulness.
I'm gonna remember your goodness. I'm gonna remember
what you have done. Your past allows you to be
ready for your present. Your past experience
gives you present confidence and God's faithfulness
in the past gives you hope for now. And what
it does to our hearts is it puts us in a place
where it forms trust with God because we remember,
God, thank you for this. God, I'm celebrating
what you've done. God, I'm giving you gratitude
and you're positioning yourself to trust him
more and more knowing that if he did it, he can
do it. So what should we celebrate? If celebration
changes our hearts, if thankfulness, if prayers
of thanksgiving changes our hearts, then how
should we celebrate? First is this, is we need
to celebrate God himself. Celebrate God himself.
God, you are so good. It says in Psalm 107 .1,
give thanks to the Lord for he is good. His love
endures forever. In my prayer times, I set aside
time in the beginning to literally just list
out who God is. God, thank you for who you are.
Thank you for what you have done. Not even talking
about me or my life or anything, but just who
God is. God is everlasting. God is all -knowing.
God is all -powerful. God is all -loving. God
is merciful. God is patient. God is sovereign.
God is unchanging. This is the God that we serve.
This is who he is. And when we put ourself in
a place where we can celebrate God for who he
is, it reminds us to keep the right order in
our life because we are none of those things.
We are none of those things. And it allows us
to remember our need for him and it postures
us in a way to go, okay, God, I'm just starting
by telling you who you are. By declaring who
you are, by praising who you are and your characteristics.
We need to celebrate God himself. Next is this,
is we need to celebrate the people God has put
in our life. God has put specific people in your
life. In fact, it's not by accident that any
of the people around you are around you. The
people that you see, the people that you interact
with, the people that are around you in your
daily life are there because God has put them
there. That's who he's arranged for you to interact
with. It says in 1 Thessalonians 1, 2, it says,
we always thank God for all of you and continually
mention you in our prayers. We're always thanking
God for the people in our life. The people that
are around you are an opportunity for you to
thank God for them. But specifically this, in
verse 3, it continues, and it says, we remember
before our God and Father, this is what we're
thanking him for. Your work produced by faith,
your labor prompted by love, and your endurance
inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. All
right, you're thanking God for what the people
in your life are doing for God because God uses
people to accomplish his mission. We have an
example of people in our life that God uses,
clear example that we can go, man, according
to this, I wanna thank God for them because these
are people that have labored. in love. These
are people that have worked by faith, right?
These are people that have endured by hope. Like,
listen, we have such an opportunity in our life
to thank God for people that have labored in
love, that have showed up in faith. I think of
Pastor John. And we are so blessed to have a
lead pastor that says, because of my faith, that
is what I work in. That is what I work through.
I work by faith. faith. And sure, a lot of you,
you come and you hear him preach and you see
him on a weekend and you're like, either you
liked it, you didn't, whatever, right? You came
in as an evaluator. I don't know what you thought,
but you see him here. I get to see him off the
stage. And church, I can't tell you how grateful
we as a church should be that we have a lead
pastor that is not making things just about him,
but about moving God's mission forward, right?
That is willing to go, hey, I'm working by faith
and my faith guides everything I do. That's an
opportunity to thank God for the people in your
life. I think of thanking God for the people
in our life that labor with love, that labor
with love. I don't think of a clearer example
than Nathan who runs our recovery ministry. A
ministry where people come in and they are down
and out, man. People that come in and they are
broken. People that are in the darkest, hardest
part of their life going, I don't know how I'm
gonna move forward. And he says, I'm going to
love you because it is a labor of love. When
they relapse and he goes, hey, I'm gonna show
up again because it is a labor of love. I think
of our kids in youth ministry. I think of our
kids in youth ministry. Listen, if you don't
think it's a labor of love, you haven't smelled
a middle school boy's room at camp. I'm just
telling you, that's a labor of love. I had in
our kids ministry. We had a record, right? We
had like three or four weeks in a row going right
now where a kid did not quite make it to the
restroom before they. did what they were gonna
do. Four weeks in a row, we were like, this is
amazing. We've continued to go this long, right?
I'll spare you the details, but it was unpleasant.
It's the labor of love. We have an opportunity
to thank God for people that are laboring in
love. We have an opportunity to thank God for
people that have endured by hope, endurance by
hope. I have hope in Jesus, so I'm gonna endure.
I think of Pastor Bob. Pastor Bob has been on
staff at Heights for 20 years. 20 years. Those
of you that are clapping, you understand why
that's a big deal. It's because he's dealt with
you for 20 years. He's endured. I'm going to
have endurance because of the hope that I have.
And this is who I'm thanking God for. You have
people in your life that you get to thank God
for. And here's the cool thing is that when people
are on mission, when they're living on kingdom
mission in their life, the world sees it. It
says in Romans 1 verse 8, first, I thank my God
through Jesus Christ for all of you because of
your faith is being reported all over the world,
spreading all over the world. We thank God for
the people in our life. And last is this, is
we thank God for the blessings in your life.
You are blessed. You are so blessed. It says
in James 1, verse 17, every good and perfect
gift is from above, coming down from the Father
of heavenly lights, who does not change like
shifting shadows. Every good thing you have.
All right, every good thing you have. Every time
you start your car, it should be a reminder to
thank God for the blessings in your life. Every
time you wash your hands and have running water,
it should be a reminder to thank God for the
blessings in your life. Every time you put your
shoes on, every time you flip on the air conditioning,
you flip on the heater, you put a jacket on,
you breathe air. It should be a reminder in your
life to say, God, thank you for the blessings
that I have. You are so, so blessed. But I recognize
this. I recognize that some people came in here
today and maybe you came in going, I don't really
have anything to be thankful for. I don't have
any blessings in my life and I don't really feel
like celebrating. What if it feels like you just
don't have anything to celebrate? And I get that.
Here's what it says in Philippians 4 .4. It says,
rejoice in the Lord always. I'll say it again.
Rejoice. And it's always. It's not just when
things feel good. It's not when things are just
easy. It says rejoice in the Lord always. It's
not a suggestion, it's a command. Our head baseball
coach over at Embry -Riddle that I have the privilege
of coaching under his leadership over there,
he tells our guys this, when things are tough,
when things aren't going the way that maybe we
had hoped for. He'll say, the sun will rise tomorrow.
And he tells them this. He says, I've yet to
live a day that the sun didn't rise. And you
know what that is? That's a reminder of God's
faithfulness. His mercies are new every single
day. And the sun will rise every single day.
And I've yet to live a day that the sun didn't
rise because God is good. You have something
to be thankful for. You have something to celebrate
God for who he is, even in the midst of our difficulty,
even in the midst of our pain, even in the midst
of when things aren't going how you wanted them
to go, we have reason to celebrate. And church,
I know this, whether you believe this or not,
we have opportunity and reason to celebrate the
good news that is the gospel. Whether you walked
in today and you do not believe this, It does
not change the fact that it is true. Whether
you have believed this sometime in your life
or you believe it now, it is still true. And
the truth is this, is that God sent his son,
Jesus, to die on a cross for you because of love.
He sent his son because you and I cannot make
a way to God on our own. He sent Jesus to pay
the price that you could not pay, which is the
penalty for your sin. And Jesus went to a cross
and he paid the penalty for your sin so that
you could have a relationship with God. That
is the good news. That is the gospel. And that
is worth celebrating. We have an opportunity
to celebrate. And so I just want to give you
an opportunity to celebrate. And for some of
you, celebration sounds weird because you're
not in a place to celebrate. But it's as easy
as saying, God, thank you. It's thanking God
for who he is. It's thanking God for the people
in your life. It's thanking God for what he's
blessed you with. So I'm gonna give you just
a couple moments to celebrate, just to pray on
your own, just you and God. to thank him for
the blessing he's given you. Thank him for who
he is. Thank him for the people in your life.
And then I'll come back out and we're gonna celebrate
through baptism, through celebration weekend.
But right now, just you and God, thank God. Just
thank God right now. Lord, we thank you. God,
we just come before you with gratitude. We thank
you for who you are, God, that you are good,
that you are loving, that you are all powerful.
God, we thank you for the blessings in our life.
We thank you that you allow us to celebrate.
And God, we thank you for the life change that
we will celebrate as a church. We pray this in
your name.