Appreciation

we have been talking over the last several weeks Wednesday nights in November Thanksgiving um appreciation gratitude uh gratefulness not hatefulness uh various ways that we've talked Thessalonians of course the letter written to them said in everything give thanks right that is the will of God and then we talked about how David when he brought the ark back to the people of God he he he danced they all shouted and had a great time he gave them gifts to take home and then he said in that Psalm if you'll recall that he wrote Chronicles you can read that he he told them to give thanks and all those things to ver make sure that they on purpose gave thanks to God for his goodness and what he's done uh we we've also last week talked about when we pray we we we make supplication and intercession with what giving thanks because if you're going to pray and you're not thankful your prayer reached about the end of the sentence and it got right there and it stopped got to be thankful amen so when you make prayer supplication intercession with thankful hearts with thankfulness then God moves and God provides in everything I believe it is standard practice to give thanks look at your neighbor and say thank you for something there you go in in our everyday life we as humans of course we have to find our place in the kingdom of God God okay the will of God is what we all desire that many you're looking forward to the day where confusion settles in and you have no idea what's going on and that's just a fabulous point to be at but all of your world can fall apart chaos disruption whatever you want to call it and in the midst of all the question you can still have peace about it because you know that God's in control amen that God's plan his will is being accomplished now I believe the the scriptures as you read there's a there's a reason that you and I are going to be held accountable for this Bible that we have okay um you don't have to memorize it from Genesis to Revelation you don't have to put all the 50 kajillion words and all the 66 you don't have to put that it' be nice to have some in your memory right but you don't have to memorize it all what the word of God does listen carefully is it lets you know the character and the principles of God many times when you don't know what to say or do because you know the character of God you'll find him I mean he knows God is patient so what does he expect us to do sometimes be patient because that's his character when the Holy Ghost comes in and and and and it it fills us it it's imputed to us that Holy Ghost comes and there's evidence that the spirit of God's there what's happening is is God is identifying with his Spirit working in humanity therein is the blessings the peace the joy and all the things that come from being full of the spirit of God is that okay and so then you live your life according to that as as we get to this particular lesson tonight I I I kept going back and forth whether or not this was going to make sense and I think it might here in the next couple of minutes um the Bible said in Psalm chapter 107 the Bible said it says in Psalm 107 verse number one are you there are you waiting B got it no everybody's waiting got y y'all can read this out loud with me you ready Psalm 107 verse one you ready oh give thanks unto the Lord for he is good for his mercy endureth forever verse two let the redeemed of the Lord say so whom he hath redeemed from the hand of the enemy verse three and gathered them out of the lands from the east from the west from the north North and from the south the the scripture here and according to this Psalm if you do your your your research and you go into your into your books and you go into your concordances and whatnot you'll find here that oh give thanks to the Lord for he is good Psalm 107 that is actually directly from the song that we read about three weeks ago in Chronicles David was singing in front of the people and he prayed and then he sent them home with the bread and the meat and the the flag and of wine when he sent them out this came directly from that and so of course the Psalms when they were put together 1 through 150 this is this is the one that reflects back to the Chronicles we understand that right you give thanks to the Lord because he's good that okay now I would like to let's see my time okay I've got I think we got time way back Yonder that's Southern for few years ago um when I was in the youth group as a as a teenager we had to light candles we had to bring slates to church you know and we had to ride horse and buggy and walk up hill both ways in the snow Barefoot you know all the stories right I didn't do any of that but anyway uh we used to do in our we had Friday night youth service but Tim you remember that do you remember any details about it just it's back there in fact that's where I met my lovely bride she was at one of those Friday night youth services and she changed my life she breathed hope into me the Lord loud I'm sorry it's going whx eloquent there for a moment we used to do something though in in the youth service every once in a while our youth leader at the time he would take a few moments to help us young people to recognize how good God has been Even in our lives as teenagers and we would have what we called God bless you service you remember that Tim you want to start you got to stand this is how it goes I'm ask I'm ask brother Tim because he knows he's he's a veteran at this you stand up and I you got two minutes okay and and and you tell something that God's been good to you God's blessed you the goodness of the Lord you thank him you you you give reference to something and as long as that takes not 30 minutes but two then before he sits down he has to call a name of somebody and then they stand and then they do the same and then they call a name and it goes all the way around and everybody gets two minutes to say what they're thankful for and and that's through the blessing that's okay y y'all can help come on there's a small crowd here tonight this is not going to take us too terribly long if it goes long I'll tell you be quiet okay brother Tim start for us would you all right today and I all the blessings that God brought me since that time my grandbabies my children God has beauti wonderful Brother Don he said he was thankful for you yes yes sir go sure yeah yeah good wonderful God bless herb sure years oh sure beautiful for there okay sure very good I'm thankful for my and myter brought us here churching process that we continuing to forward I'm thankful that I have a great job here I'm thankful that we have a home I'm thankful that my mother is still with us there's just so many things to be thankful for thankful that backslider witnessed to my wife first no the other person was a donkey not certain certainly beautiful for's protction and my family his hand over my family and thankful the church bless you Grace you got to listen go you got to give it to me I'm closer to you it's going to end up like sister Keila last week y'all know I don't like this go sis I'm thankful for my husband and his family if it wasn't for them I wouldn't be in truth um my many blessings that I never thought I would have we waited six years for more kids and God gave us three more beautiful my lovely firstborn um I'm thankful for my church and for you guys um I've never had close friends or close family until I came here ah I'm thankful for all of you sure beautiful oh he was peeking through the door that's funny um I'm thankful for my family and my friends my pastor and his family this church of all the blessings God has given me they're too numerous to count but uh he's been better to me than I could have ever thought possible sure I nominate sister nurse timer I'm thankful for brother Seth to call on me you have to stand so there you go oh your microphone okay I am thankful for a God who pursues his people um I'm thankful for every trial and challenge cuz life has not been easy um but through it all he's faithful and I'm a living testimony of Miracles I should be dead or in a really awful horrible rotten no good place eating a can of worms I have everything that I prayed for and that's scary cuz kids are hard I have three beautiful daughters and that's ironic hard raising girls and feeling that you have to protect them but I'm thankful for the one who does protect them yeah thankful for my husband who God is working on even if I don't see it he's doing it yeah I'm thankful for his job that allows me to stay home and again do that hard thing and homeschool those three beautiful baby girls uh I am thankful for this church of course I always tell you guys you guys are Christmas morning to me and that's special unless you haven't had a good Christmas morning which I never did so you guys are great you're everything and more I won't do that to Robbie okay uh God bless Kira is hiding so I'm not gonna say it I'll just say Izzy I won't pick on anyone sorry Izzy I love you go Izzy oh he's waiting on the mic he's got to be heard finally I can I can talk everyone was talking so quiet I didn't know I had the right mic um I'm thankful for God's wonderful favor that he has showed me in my life uh the wonderful wisdom and guidance that has been given to me throughout my life and I'm thankful for my family um and I'm thankful for the growth that I have experienced since I have come to this church um God bless sister Bonita right Ron you're such a helper people all the way on the other side oh she's got a message I got my timer oh it's a timer I got you um I am thankful for um being here tonight and having health I'm thankful for my family I'm thankful for my church I'm thankful for the relationship that I have with God I thankful for miracles that he's given me and our family I'm thankful for my home our vehicles my job protection um I'm thankful for my Heritage been reflecting back today on memories good memories with my family my parents that's gone but I'm so thankful that they put that love in my heart sure to live for him um I'm thankful for being here with our family um it was a desire of mine to live here I guess 12 years but we're here now and I love our home sure I'm thankful for friends I'm thankful for the little things that God puts in my life daily I'm thankful um for something that um for strength that when it gets really hard I'm thankful that he sustains us God and um he brings us through and We're Never Alone um I'm thankful for the miracle that he gave us 19 years ago um it's scary to think where I would be if we hadn't have gotten a miracle and Tim would not have lived through the heart attack sure um and I think of all the blessings that he's given us through the years um I'm thankful for my family my siblings my cousins my nieces and nephews and I'm thankful to be here tonight yes somebody else um okay I um I'm thankful to be able to hear everybody's testimonies tonight it's encouraging and uplifting um I am thankful for truth I'm thankful that I know who God is who what his name is and that I've been baptized in that name and filled with the spirit I'm thankful that he gave me my husband who is very long suffering and that is one of my biggest blessings besides my children um who have recently been longsuffering and so I am um just thankful and thankful that um God doesn't leave you where you are it is a journey um Journey means that is forever going yeah it's not a destination sometimes I want to be at the destination but I'm thankful that he reminds me it's it's a journey and it's a process and um I'm thankful to pass this m to somebody okay Robbie um I am thankful for my Heritage and that I was raised in the church and that I've been kept from a lot of things um I'm very thankful for this church and for this church family um for The Hyphen group and the friends here that really kept me going throughout my college Years um what else an Eli yes Eli's cool um what um yeah just all of you I'm thankful for a job that was I was able to stay in Chattanooga that was my big thing and I was able to stay here so very thankful for that and yeah just all worked out really well good um sister Kira um I am thankful for my family um my salvation for my church family um my extended family my immediate family my siblings and my parents and everything that's not always been an excellent support system for me um so I'm grateful for Cornerstone because they stepped up and have been that for me um show me what it is to have a real family um so I'm grateful for that I am grateful for my extended children all the other ones that are here um and for all the babies that I get to love on on so I don't want more babies um um I'm thankful for God giving me the ability to be able to Hom School my children to be able to take care of them and provide for them what they need every day and for um uh the strengthened peace that he gives me um sometimes I have to search for that piece but I'm grateful for that um I'm grateful for dedicated and um Jesus L leadership um because we've been in situations I've been in situations where the leadership I have is not that and that is something that I don't want to ever take for granted um I'm thank thankful for a house to live in um and just I'm sure there's millions of other things I can't even begin to think of that he's given me that um that I wouldn't have had if it wasn't for him sure Sarah thanks um I'm sitting here going through my mind like okay let me pick and choose what I need to say here um first of all I am so thankful for my husband and my kiddos they are such blessings to me um I am so thankful for the rich Heritage of Truth in both of our families we are several Generations down I don't even know how many generations down Pentecost and it is all we have ever known okay and I feel like I take that for Gran it so much I am so thankful that this is all I've ever known God is so faithful to us I'm also really thankful for a Heritage of Godly marriage in our families I don't even have to say the attack that is on marriages these days but our parents our grand parents they have stayed so strong and showed us what that looks like I'm thankful for Godly mentors Godly Parents Godly pastors Godly Bible quiz coaches people in my life who have impacted me and shaped who I am I would not be here in this building without those people in my life um and I owe a great deal to them I'm so thankful for healing emotional spiritual mental physical our little miracle stands here God is so faithful he's healed my mother-in-law from cancer twice right twice God is so good and faithful he is such the god of the details and I love him for that how much time do I have 20 seconds go okay just today I was stressing about our turkey for tomorrow cuz I bought the wrong thing and had to take it back and then they didn't have what I need needed so I was stressing and I called Mom and I said what do I do and she said pray about it the Lord will help you and I did and have ham well yes I that we're having both gotta I did I was like at a loss at where to find this turkey and on a whim I hopped on my instacart app and fed at it Aldi and set it for pickup and I was like Lord you are faithful and you are good oh but he cares about the little things that's what I love about him is that anything that's on my heart I can bring to him and he cares it may be stupid to other people sorry that's a bad word but it matters to me and so it matters to him and I love that about him and I'm so thankful Rhonda you want to go yes how could I not stand here and tell you how thankful I am for what God has done for me certainly she's already touched on it uh I think I go back to one when I was born into a Godly home and thankful for the Heritage that I have because if I didn't have that Heritage I would not be able to be standing here today to say I was thankful for whatever I have no idea what term my life would taken and I'm so thankful that God directed My Life along the ways thankful for my husband thankful for what God has done for him yeah 21 was a change in our life but God does not change yeah he is faithful in every way beyond what we could imagine or even think and when we think that we've got it figured out or maybe we don't have it figured out and we really know we don't and he surprises us with how he navigates us through that situation and just brings us through to the other side and we look back and say wow God you've done it again and I just I can't even explain the number of times that I could be reiterating here being thankful uh for everything that he's done because it was it's a lifetime of thankfulness it's a lifetime of his faithfulness and if there's anything that I want to always be in my spirit is the faithfulness of God because if I can retain that in my spirit that he is faithful regardless of the situation or what may come my way I know he's faithful to perform what he said he would do and he will not go back on his word he can't do that go ahead and remind him when you're praying I have many times God you're going to take care of this because you will not break your promise and you will not go back on your word and uh other uh thankfulness of my heart is for our children for our grandchildren and for the ones up in Knoxville and we are just blessed to be able to be here and uh interact with them which has been the desire of our heart for a long time so God is faithful he is good just keep trusting him wonderful appreciative to the Lord for my children living for God certainly and my grandchildren amen I'm blessed I'm a blessed man beyond what I deserve yeah I'm thankful for the moments brother Sloan you probably remember those moments that uh we thought the Rapture took place I were up in the church yeah and I heard a lot about the Rapture taking place and there have been times when I couldn't find somebody and I thought the Rapture took place that's true so that happened to Don I don't know if he thought the Rapture took place but the year 2000 that was it right that's it we were all done computers were dead yeah the New Year's Eve of 2000 this boy comes downstairs shaking like a leaf and said I can't go to sleep I'm going to miss the Rapture and God spoke and in the living room on the side of that couch this boy received the Holy Ghost perfect wonderful Hallelujah so I'm thankful that there are those moments sure that the Lord knows what each one of us individually need that's right he knows there was a there was a lady that prayed for the Holy Ghost and she thought she had to see a flame of fire before she spoke in tongues because of the scripture in Acts yeah one night there was a lightning storm she was in church sitting by an outlet what else you got lightning strikes the church and Flames comes out of that outlet and she began to speak with Tong there you go so those moments God has a sense of humor doesn't he he just has this sense of humor knows each one of us individually and what we need and what he wants to do in our lives I'm so thankful for those moments amen I was just sitting here thinking about those and and those times of of that God that you went to prayer yeah yeah yeah you went to prayer you went to repenting yes amen so there are lots of those moments lately right yeah that calls for repentance that calls for his attention amen and if you want peace in your life there's a promise in Psalm 122 yeah that if you will pray for the Peace of Jerusalem yes sir I don't understand that but that's his place right that's the capital of the world yeah that's God's place and if you pray for it you will have peace in your life that's a promise from God that's right Hallelujah so here's what I'm going to tell you do not fear right have no fear we have 365 fear nights in the word of God one for every day of the year and on leap year you can pray for Jerusalem hallelujah thank you amen God bless you beautiful all right here we go um I'm thankful for a roof of my head and a bed to sleep in and and I'm glad that we moved here because I've got a lot more friends and I receive the Holy Ghost here yeah and I'm glad for older siblings for them to watch over me and protect me and GE clamp GE camp and that's it good um Evelyn I see you wonderful um I am thankful for my family and um my and um my house and I'm thankful for being able to be here tonight and um most of all I really thankful that I am that I ended up in this church because all of my friends are right here be and because or if we never moved from Florida to here I would neither see or know any of you so I'm very thankful that and um Jordan Bullard we got one or two more is that right oh Jordan good I'm thankful for moving here to Tennessee because if I want to move here I wouldn't have truly knew what God was doing for me and I wouldn't have been able I get the Holy Ghost perfect Connor Connor Connor all right come on Conor you got a mic on your headset you can talk in that one too I'm thankful for a church a family and friends perfect and my pastor thank you good job who we missing who we got oh they're in the Box Roman get to go it's sopia you guys want to you just say you're thankful for me no okay all right watch my time here some of y'all took longer than two minutes nobody escapes not we can hear you in there go um I'm I'm thankful for friends family and and church yeah and music okay I'm thankful for my friends my family every single one of my sisters and my pastor one more in there say something uh I'm thankful for family and church that it I don't know who was in the room dogs that us all right we did good thank you brother Don let's give Brother Don a hand um few weeks ago I I handed out index cards you guys remember that and I ask you to take time and just fill it up fill it up with things that you were thankful for does anybody still have that you have it would you just raise it up in the air there's there's one okay it's in your prayer closet um tonight was the verbal side of that because I'm certain probably most of you wrote down some things here here's the case and I'm I watch clock we're okay still um when you write it when you speak it it does something to you and to those around you I don't know if you noticed it some people are very comfortable using a mic talking in front of doesn't bother them and other folks are a little more nervous and some people um don't know how to express and some are challenged because there's so many things here's the thing guys here's the thing when when David we talked a couple weeks ago when David told the people to give thanks to the Lord and then the psalm we read tonight will give thanks to the Lord second part of that says for his good and because we understand the goodness of God from that very presence of God being good we establish our entire relationship not just with him but with others I I will Echo with what many of you said I I am thankful for a Heritage thankful for whatever reason uh my family my grandparents great grandparents parents um they found the word of God they wrapped their hearts and Minds around it and I'm not saying that families didn't have issues because we all understand issues right don't look around stay stay safe um issues but that's how through the test through what's going on you discover the real power and presence of God how many times have I said to you guys we all want God to be a Healer but we don't want to be sick we all want God to be a provider but we don't want to have needs we want God to be a way maker but we don't want to be lost truth is God knows that about us God knows how our phones work God understands silencing phones he's good at that God understands how to put a phone on vibr great sorry now everybody's looking that thank you her for reminding everyone I'm sorry thank you phone for reminding us here's the thing um as as you begin to reflect on what God has done in your life I have this question for you you know he's good you know he's faithful you know he's considerate you know he's kind you know he's all of the things he is how does that affect your thoughts of the future that you have with God does it solidify your walk if tomorrow someone came to you and simply said right now you can choose another way which way would you choose is there another way some of us quite honestly have no real way of knowing because you've been in church most of your life probably all of your life that you could recall and therefore to know there's other things out there what do you have to build your hope and your faith on is not only the goodness and the provision of God but what you have seen other lives go through without God is that true so here's the thing Brother Don you can you can come a as you were reflecting tonight almost all of you had in your mind and in your heart you were I'm thankful for family for spouse for children for the church family many of you said I'm thankful God brought us here will you do realize here could have been anywhere but God chose here for you so can God be good here all the time yes he can can God be a provider a protector A Healer a way maker a deliverer yes he can and this week being Thanksgiving I I trust tomorrow is not simply about getting together and this week isn't simply about fellowship and all CU that that'll be gone and some of you will be tired of leftovers next week I do enjoy leftovers that's why they're called leftovers I I do enjoy turkey and ham and things like that I do but more than that I could sit silent at our table with my blessings surrounding me and I'd be just fine it's funny how life changes isn't it funny how steps change and how things alter today I was doing some cooking and prepping and stuff at home because it's I enjoy I can't say I enjoy or smoking cuz everybody gets that Ida wrong but uh I had stuff on the smoker how's that and my little doggy fuzzy Guy starts barking he don't bark unless he's just either nervous or somebody's or he sees his shadow he gets and the garage door opens and and walks my son and daughter-in-law with my latest blessing she come to see you poppy yeah I know life's so hard for seven week old it's just a challenge and I was reminded again of his faithfulness because when we found out that our we were expecting our son she and I begin to pray for him Lord we have no clue how World Life stuff's going to happen but God bless our baby and she would sit in a rocking chair and read to him and I'd talk anybody remember that you dads remember yelling hello I'm your dad on the belly you know while we prayed for him it cuz we didn't we didn't go find out we didn't ruin it we waited till he showed up that same prayer though included God bless his wife or his husband or her husband bless their spouse God bless our grandbabies from generation to generation to generation to generation are there any guarantees you better believe there are he's faithful now people can make dumb choices and people can go Wayward yeah but God's faithful I'm not about to pin all the junk on God for what people do so it's Thanksgiving week we spent the last several Wednesday nights talking about the importance the power the need to give thanks to God so tonight stand I want y'all to stand with me you need to after tonight's service I need all of you to help Pastor will you help me I want you to tell everybody who was not here tonight that we had a testimony service y'all missed it CU y'all know I don't do that CU I don't want things to go Wayward and I can't get it back and so for those who always say man we didn't have testimony you tell them D say y'all missed it you should have been here cuz here's the thing when you talk of the goodness and the mercies and the blessings of God guys that stuff's contagious we'll do the same thing at our home we'll everybody give something you're thankful for we'll go around the table invariably they all well my son always says he's thankful for what he's about to eat because that's him and then my son-in-law come along he's thankful for what he's about to eat that Steven's not going to eat then you know say that but as people grow and as you mature and as you figure out things every single one of us have so much to be thankful for it had not been for Jesus where would you be huh why you slip your hand up just thank him right now come on open your heart right now Lord I give thanks to you because you're good your mercy endures come on somebody thank you Lord I I thank you for the ability to say thank you I thank you Lord for the little the big the the awful the terrible the wonderful the terrific I I thank you Lord I love you and I believe that you are always God it is your creation it is your spoken word it is your breath it is what you have put into us as your creatures thank you Lord for the desire to want to serve you Lord thank you for allowing us to be sold out to you 100% thank you Lord for what we're learning what we have learned and the road we're walking even now God you know where it leads us and for that we're thankful thankful for the healing power of your name thankful for the keeping power of your blood thankful God for your provision that sees us through every day thankful Lord that there's hot bread on the table daily God that we can partake of that there is Mana Lord spiritually we can partake of thank you for your grace your word Lord that breathes That Never Dies it's already settled if it came out of your mouth it's already established come on somebody thank him he's a good God I thank you Lord I Thank You Jesus let me carry Lord that attitude all year long thankful Jesus I'm thankful to you I thank you Lord I Thank You For he is good yes for he is good for he is good for he is good oh I love you Jesus aren't you glad you know him yeah thank you all so much for coming out tonight I know the rest of the week's busy it's going to be cool so it might seem like fall uh somebody forgot to say they're thankful for not living in Maine but you don't like it do you you don't like us do you both are good not getting in trouble are you I love you guys I believe in you I thank you so much for com shake hands be friendly be nice to someone have a wonderful day tomorrow don't forget we're back back here on Sunday amen don't class parties are Sunday don't forget that Pastor social is Sunday after service we want to make sure we include all of our newcomers love y'all have a great week in the Lord