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good morning C3 Church how you guys doing this morning oh man Pastor Jean has such a long intro video and mine is so short I have to get this thing up here gets me out of breath we're starting already in case you don't know I am not Pastor Jean if you're new here and you're expecting to see Pastor Jean he will return next week uh my name is Tony I'm a volunteer here at C3 um and he's given me the opportunity to speak and I am so grateful for that opportunity I got to be honest with you doing this is much easier than what Gina just did singing up on a stage by yourself is something I've always wanted to do but you don't want me to do that I promise you she did a great job she did a great job that's the Lord didn't bless me with the ability to sing because he's like no Tony would be all selfish about it so he didn't give me that ability but I sound amazing in the shower I really do ask my wife she'll agree all right so what a time of year man this is my favorite time of year from October to December is my favorite time of year I love it I absolutely love all all the holidays uh that come in this time especially now that we're moving into we just moved past Thanksgiving uh this shirt fit a lot better but we had our Thanksgiving on Saturday and I ate a ton of stuff and so you know these holidays are so amazing and it's not just because of the food it's not just because of the lights and the and the presents and stuff like that but if you really think about it think about what the phrases and terms that begin to pop up in front of you love joy peace Thanksgiving things that are all biblical terms that all of a sudden the world is all behind right everybody's behind those terms during this time of year and whether they know it or not they are spreading portions of the gospel unknowingly and so it's so awesome to see this because you see a natural Joy about people you see people spirit's uplifted people are doing things they're giving things they're actually living a Biblical lifestyle in some sense and so it's exciting to see and so I love this time of year and so we think about it all this time of year what it brings on how much time with family time with friends things like that and we just have passed Thanksgiving and Thanksgiving is all about being thankful it's all about being grateful and so at one point in time uh Thanksgiving a majority of the United States they they settle down they take a day off there was no Black Friday sales on Thursday this time or anything like that and everybody comes together and they're grateful for something they're thankful they sit around the table like name one thing you're thankful for this year there's so many traditions and we have all of this gratitude in one day and then think about when the Gratitude ends you know when the Gratitude ends it's when you're doing the dishes you know because you've just eaten all this food you're so grateful you've watched football and the Gratitude ends as you're watching this you're like man I cannot why did we use this many dishes now I did not do that my wife did that and my son did that so I'm very grateful for them but the Gratitude ends at a certain point in time December rolls off the calendar a new year comes in and the excitement and the Gratitude all kind of it dies off and we get right back into a routine right well that's not what Christians are supposed to be Christians should not have a certain day to be grateful and then stop being grateful we don't have that as Christians we should be grateful on a regular basis and when I say Christians those who have accepted Christ as their personal savior you believe that he came down died on the cross for your sin and rose again three days later so we're going to see a great example we're going to go back into another miracle of Jesus the last time I spoke I spoke on a Mir we're going to go back because there is no greater teacher than Jesus he can do things that I couldn't even imagine doing so turn in your Bibles to Luke 17 Luke chapter 17 and we're going to start in verse 11 we're going to start in verse 11 we're going to see one of Jesus's Miracles here on Earth and we're going to break that down and Luke 17 111-119 says this as Jesus continued on towards Jerusalem he reached the border between Galilee and Samaria as he entered the village there 10 men with Leprosy stood at a distance crying out Jesus Master have mercy on us he looked at them and said go show yourselves to the priest and as they went they were cleansed of their leprosy one of them when he saw he was healed came back to Jesus shouting praise God he fell to the ground at Jesus's feet thanking him for what he had done this man was a Samaritan Jesus asked didn't I heal 10 men where are the other nine has no one returned to give glory to God except this Foreigner and Jesus said to this man stand up and go your faith has healed you what do we need to know about this passage why is this eight verses important to today why does leprosy and Thanksgiving how do they go together today Tony how are you going to relate these two well I'm glad you asked because here it is what do you need to know well the first thing you need to see is that these men were in a desperate circumstance I want you to understand back then leprosy was not good it's not good now but it was more rampid back then so what would happen is the minute you were diagnosed with leprosy or the onset symptoms started to happen they would banish you not just from the town from everywhere you went out in a camp and you you were with other lepers so the only people you know were people that had leprosy you were not allowed to come back in town you were not allowed to be around people as a matter of fact when people walk down the road like Jesus is doing down here you'd have to be across the road and they'd have to scream things like unclean unclean just to let people know don't come near me I have a disease you can't come near me what a desperate situation they're in and not only that can you see it these men are so desperate that they have eliminated the boundaries of enemies and almost like a racist feeling towards each other Jews and Samaritans did not get along you see that throughout the Bible we see the Good Samaritan we we talk about that one all the time but Jews and Samaritans did not go get along going all the way back to Ezra and Nehemiah um you see the Jews that got taken into captivity by Babylon they come back and as they come back some of the Jews that have remained behind they have intermarried and started a new religion almost they now incre they now added to Judaism and you know what the Jews came back and they're like listen you guys are half breeds you guys are dogs and so Samaritans were looked down upon by Jews but in this situation when all else fails when there's nobody else and they're all the people you know they were friends they had a common goal they had a common problem they were in a desperate situation and they're crying out for Jesus how often does it take a desperate situation in our life to call out for Christ how often do we have to be in something we can't handle we can't get over we can't fathom we can't wrap our head around and then we call out for Christ now listen there was probably more than 10 of them there too and so these people were so desperate that they were calling out for a messiah that they may have never known listen they were waiting for Jesus there's probably rumors Jesus has been teaching this entire time and there's a wave of people coming and they're going before Jesus and it's like hey the Messiah is coming who the guy who healed the dead are wait he raised somebody from the dead maybe he can heal our leprosy and so they begin to hear these rumors and they get excited and there's 10 of them there's at least 10 of them that go you know what it's worth a shot I've got nothing else I'm desperate I need something we are dying this is a death sentence and it's not a good one and so in this death situation they begin to hear rumors about this Jesus and they begin to look for the master they begin to look for the one who can save them from their current situation and I want you to think about that again can we apply that to today's life when you're suffering spiritually you're looking for something the world is looking for something right now when you work or live among the lost you will see that they are looking for something we tend to fill them in with things right now with like oh we have a drug problem we have this we have that it's called a desperation ation it's a desperation people don't understand that there's a God who loves them eternally they don't know what we know they don't know that no matter what God can forgive them they don't know that no matter what they can receive salvation and they can have eternal hope they don't have that and so they're Desperately Seeking something whatever it is that can heal them whatever it is that can fix the Brokenness in their life and they put whatever they feel like can fix that in and that's what happens that's why we see people in situations we're in unfortunately in the line of work I do I get to see a lot of that we get to see a lot of the sides of humanity where they're trying to fix their problems they're suffering they're in a desperate situation they don't have anywhere else to turn and so they turn to anything else right they turn to anything that's going to take them away from their problem these 10 men have probably tried everything and Jesus is the last resort like he's coming down the road I'm going to give it a try so so look at this though this is so cool because this is why I love this miracle the first is the Act of Faith The Act of Faith cuz they cry out for Christ they may not have seen any of his miracles they've just heard about it and these 10 men are like you know what I'm going to give this a shot and they cry out for Christ they have faith in Christ that he's got it he's going to heal them and then immediately you see an act of obedience because look at this here he says go show yourselves to the priest notice he didn't say you're healed he didn't say that right he said go show yourselves to the priest and as they begin to run they're being cleansed from the leprosy as they take one step can you imagine that can you imagine you take one step little bit Two Step a little bit more three step you start to see things happen to your body you start to see maybe fingers growing back we don't know how deep into the leprosy there was but they begin to be healed as they ran as they ran can you imagine that run got faster and faster because here's the deal the priest was the only person that could declare them cleansed to go back into the city they're the only person they had to see the priest first can you imagine that run back can you imagine if you haven't seen people if you haven't seen loved ones if you haven't been within 10t of somebody and all of a sudden there's the opportunity to be back in to be back normal Jesus cleansed me can you imagine running where your thought process is I can't wait to see my family running harder me I if I hadn't had pizza in 10 days are you kidding me I'm thinking about man I got a pizza coming I got ice cream down the way I'm going to see all my family can you imagine all the thought process pouring through their head as they begin to run and see that they were healed so it's almost like you can't blame them that they kind of forgot about who healed them because they got so excited about being healed they got so excited about what's coming up that the ground gratitude it didn't come around except for one guy as he's running he looks and he's seing himself healed and think about it he takes time to think all those things are great but I just got healed by this man right here and he goes back to express his gratitude look what he says he falls down at his feet thanking him for what he he's done he said praise God praise God I can't believe it I'm excited about all these things but you know what the Gratitude is overwhelming because my life I was desperate I was lost I was going to die and now I'm going to live and it's all because of this man right here ladies and gentlemen if you're in this room today and you're saved there is one reason why you're saved the same man that healed these nine lepers died on the cross for our sins so we can always look towards him and say praise God I have an eternal etal home in heaven no matter what's going on here no matter what's going on in our lives what kind of temporary situation we're belonging to what is happening that we don't understand we can always look towards the one that healed us spiritually and gave us eternal life and we can always look back and be like praise God I have eternal hope I have eternal life I have a reason to be grateful when most people don't because the savior is the one who healed me amazing Look what Jesus does after this Jesus said to himand up and go your way your faith has healed you now here's the deal confusing does that mean the other nine men weren't healed no he was healed spiritually and physically see the other nine got a physical healing they did but this man got a spiritual healing a man who was considered a half breed a dog came back to worship at the feet of the one who healed him and he becomes spirit spiritually healed what an amazing Miracle it's got so much to it there's so many different directions we could go Faith obedience but today I want to focus on gratitude I want to focus on gratitude why is it important this miracle well as Christians again we should need nothing in order for us to be grateful we should need no external circumstance in order for us to be grateful now that doesn't mean you can't be grateful for things certainly am God blesses all the time and sometimes the small blessings we don't see we've talked about that before where it's just the small things you know the small things being able to have dinner with your family that's a blessing some people don't get that being able to get in the car and drive wherever you're going that's a blessing some people don't have that so yes there we can be grateful but we don't need those things to be grateful we shouldn't need a desperate or external circumstance as Christians to be grateful we should always be grateful it shouldn't take a Thanksgiving holiday for us to sit around around the table and tell what we're thankful for we should always be thinking that way what has God done for us that makes us grateful well if anything you can always go back to Salvation the second thing is you're alive so here's the thing our gratitude stems from having the gift of eternal life we see this in Colossians 1 12-14 it says may you be filled with joy always thanking the father he has enabled you to share in The Inheritance that belongs to his people who live in the light for he has rescued us from the kingdom of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of his dear son who purchased our freedom and forgave our sins listen what it says always thanking the father always why why are we always thinking him well a because he allowed us to share in the inheritance of his people our Salvation is not earned or deserved our Salvation is not earned or deserved and so there should be Eternal gratitude Eternal gratitude because we have been giving we have been given grace and mercy that you cannot earn or you or you don't deserve see the problem with it is is if you're like me you grew up in a household where you work like you work hard my mom and dad are hard workers and they work hard and that taught me to work hard and so when you work hard you're like you know what I deserve this raise I deserve this promotion I've put in the work I've done the job and sometimes when we don't get that we don't understand what's happening and so that kind of throws us off because listen I deserve this I've earned this how many times have we thought that way how many times I know I've been there where I've looked at it and I've looked at something else or somebody else got something that I felt like I deserved and I'm like you know what I I've worked harder than that person I've put in more time than that person how is it that I'm not getting that well listen here's the deal no matter how good you live a life you cannot earn nor do you deserve salvation and so gratitude should be off the charts because it's not something you can can earn why else would we always be thanking the father for rescu rescuing us from a kingdom of darkness listen before we accepted Christ as our savior we were slaves to sin Pastor Jean talks about this we are slaves to sin which means you can't do anything else you have no choice but to sin you're an enemy of God that's what the Bible says and then Christ dies on the cross and God's plan is enacted and we all have the ability to become free from sin and free from death and in so in that right again always thanking the father always thanking the father for these reasons we move on our gratitude stems from experiencing the love of God we experience the love of God as Christians Listen the Lost seek love the Lost seek love we all do if you think about it when it boils down to it when people start to get when when things start to happen in their lives they begin to feel alone they begin to go inside of their shell and they think to themselves does anybody care nobody cares nobody cares I can't tell you how many times I've been on scene with a young person that is at the end of the rope and has made statements that they want to take their own life and when I'm talking young I'm talking 8 to 11 8 years old at 8 years old I'm sitting across the table from somebody who tells me they no longer want to live anymore I'm like you are eight but then I look at where they're coming from I look at the fact that their parents aren't really in the picture they don't really have much they kind of get mistreated at school and they're seeking love and acceptance and they don't have it if they had Christ they would it's often times during those meetings that I question I'm like like do you need Deputy Johnson or do you need Christian Tony to talk to you you need you need a Sunday school teacher I was blessed I had many good ones you need a pastor from this stage you need somebody to give you a hug wrap their arms around you and tells you that Jesus loves you no matter what's going on in your life we have eternal love the Bible says God loved us before he knew who we were before we were born God loved us the biggest verse in the Bible John 3 16 for God so loved the entire world that he gave his only son Jesus tells us to love God and then love our neighbors love our enemies why are these such great commands why is love so important because as human beings we seek it it's important to us the world doesn't have it so it should stem Acts 16:25 says sorry Psalms 10 1-5 almost got you Psalms 1001 5 says Shout with joy to the Lord all the Earth Worship the Lord with gladness come before him singing with joy owledge that the Lord is God he made us and we are his we are his people the Sheep of his pasture enter his gates with Thanksgiving go into his courts with praise give thanks to him and praise His name for the Lord is good his unfailing love continues forever and his faithfulness continues to each generation in the book of Psalm his love endures forever appears 41 times 41 times in chapter 136 it appears 26 times alone 41 times it says his his love endures forever why is that important because we know that God loves us it's never going to fail I can tell you as a parent well as when I was a kid I didn't understand all my parents what they did right you never understand fully your parents motives until you get older and then you start to realize cuz at times when you're young you're like oh I don't think my parents love me they don't want to give me this and it's based on certain things and now as a parent I see myself where I'm like dude you failed that time Johnson like have you ever had that talk with yourself you've made a bad decision well as a parent I've made I've made a bad decision I've said something I shouldn't have I can tell in the look of my kids face and it's like man you bombed at that one why because my love is based on a human thing right it's based on who I am as a human it's even in marriage you can your love is never perfect in marriage right it never goes right all the time there's always times where there's questions and you don't have any answers for those well God's love is not like that it doesn't fail he never makes a bad decision he never stops loving you based on what you do Christ loved you so much he died on the cross when you didn't want to accept him as his as your savior he still died for you can you imagine imagine dying for somebody that doesn't care about who you are that would spit in your face at times that would live against what you what you died for Christ died willingly willingly for our sins because God's love endures forever our gratitude should be expressed publicly listen look what he does he comes back in front of everybody and he falls at Jesus's feet thanking him for what he' done it's a public public expression of gratitude public expression of gratitude how do we publicly express our gratitude well the way we live the way we live truly grateful people don't look like we had sour grapes for breakfast all the time right truly grateful people have joy they're excited about life now listen I'm not telling you that bad things aren't going to happen and that you don't have to deal with those bad things I'm not saying that but I'm saying when they're happening we should be able to take joy in the fact that we have a God who loves us eternally and we have an eternal home and we should live that way we should live a grateful life no badmouthing what's going on in our life no being upset with what we don't have we're grateful because what we do have is a blessing should always live with that gratitude and that Joy I can tell you there are difficult things you do as a pastor so when I was back when I was a pastor the most difficult thing I could do was do a funeral of somebody who you knew was lost because a saved funeral there was Joy right a saved funeral you get to get up here you get to talk about the fact that you're going to see your loved one again someday that all their he all their wounds their sickness is gone they're going to be healed and it's a joyful experience we used to call a celebration of life because we were we were celebrating the fact that God had called home one of his Saints and so that was amazing compared to standing on a stage during a funeral for someone who's lost where's the Gratitude in a lost life we should have gratitude because of what we have so it should be publicly expressed listen acts 16:25 we're only going to touch on one verse because I'm going to finish with this and we'll go back but act acts 16:25 around midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing HS to God and other prisoners were listening let's set the stage Paul and Silas are in jail now I don't know about you but jail is not fun not that I've been let's lay that out there first okay I haven't been to jail surprisingly I mean no just kidding but I've seen jail I've been in jail sort of I've been there to drop people off and to do booking sheets and things like that uh I have somebody in the audience today who's actually works in the jail and so like he he knows this and so listen it does not look like fun to me like there's no part of me that thinks if I went to jail that I would be sitting there singing songs of gratitude and I'm talking about modern jail first of all let's talk about the Privacy issue there's a bathroom in your sale there's no walls I can't do that I wouldn't be able to go to the bathroom for days I'd be like all that can't in front of everybody everybody I mean then you have to get changed in front of everybody like these doors are see-through man anybody can just walk by and look at be like what's up be like whoa whoa whoa whoa second of all food not good not good third of all you've got somebody telling you what to do at all times gel is not fun now let's take it back to Paul's day it was a dirt hole like they they didn't have TVs they didn't have iPads they weren't able to call home they had nothing they had a dirt hole probably a hole to go to the bathroom and they're probably chained into the wall they can't move very far and let me tell you Paul and Silas are singing aloud and let me let me clue you in here it says and other prisoners were listening that's going to be vital later publicly expressing gratitude in a terrible situation terrible and they're excited how's God going to use this listen that's the way we're supposed to be that's the way we're supposed to be when we're down in the deepest darkest problems of our life that we consider to be so heavy we can't handle we're still supposed to be grateful because we have somebody who can handle our problems for us we have somebody like hey I don't understand this God but I know you're in control I don't understand this but I know you're in control and listen here's the deal if we are in these situations and we are having a problem trying to be grateful we probably need to turn back to this a little bit more I don't want to step on anybody's toes but if we have a problem trying to find joy and gratitude in our life we need to read this a little bit more because this will tell you why this will tell you why in the worst times in your life you should be grateful this will tell you why when things aren't going the way you want them to do you should have joy I smile a lot I smile a lot people at work say I smile too much it's crazy you ever get pulled over by me I'll smile at you while I'm pulling you over you'll be like dude why do you think this is good I get that question a lot first time I ever I'll tell you this story okay first time I ever did a DUI where I was standing in front of somebody doing FSS and I'm like standing there I got this big grin on my face and my training officer is like you got to stop smiling they're not enjoying this but I have joy why because everything I have is a blessing I can't explain why my life is where it is I can't explain why God has chosen to give us what he's given us I can't explain why God has chosen to bless our life I can't explain any of that I can't explain why every night I get to go home and some people don't I can't explain that joy and gratitude we live like it it's expressed publicly I'm not saying you have to walk around Praise Jesus all the time I'm not saying that I'm saying you should have a smile on your face you should be grateful we're going to get to why in a minute so let's move on so what do we got to do here well Paul kind of gives us a blueprint leave it to Paul Paul's the man this guy has got it all figured out so Colossians 31 15-1 17 says this and let the peace that comes from Christ rule in your hearts for as members of one body you are called to live in peace and always be thankful let the message about Christ in all its richness fill your lives teach and counsel each other with all the wisdom he gives sing Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs to God with thankful hearts and whatever you do or say do it as a representative of the Lord Jesus Christ giving thanks through him always to God the father so we're always to be thankful Paul tells us the first thing he says there he's like listen and always be thankful 1 Thessalonians 5:18 is the one everybody wants to go to right be thankful in all circumstances for this is God's will for you who belong to Christ Jesus now here's the deal everybody likes to say and everything give thanks be grateful in all circumstances but they leave out the comma the Comm the rest of the verse goes away it's the verse of the day the mug it's not long enough to fit on the mug so it just says be thankful in all circumstances and then it says for this is God's will for you who belong in Christ this is God's will for you to be grateful in all circumstances it's awesome that that that that that particular thing gets printed up on shirts and mugs but do we truly believe it I often find the ironic side of God during that time like I'm not grateful for somebody and I'll open the cupboard and there's the mug or I'll go to Facebook and there's the verse and you're like okay I get it all right God you're right again I'm to be thankful but oftentimes we quote scripture and do we really apply it do we have this head knowledge of the Bible but never a practical application and that's really what it's about it's about practical application of God's word not only do you need to know God's word have a head knowledge but you have a heart knowledge and you live it we're to be grateful we're to have an attitude of gratitude I have avoided that phrase oh can't believe I just said that oh let me explain I grew up very very independent fundamental Baptist and so that was always the the phrase an attitude of gratitude and my mom used to quote that to me all the time and I'm like Mom that's annoying I know it Rhymes and whoever came up with it good job but it's just it just it's been overplayed but we're to be grateful all the time listen we should have thankful hearts look what he says he says Sing Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs to God with thankful Hearts again we go back to singing not my gift but we're supposed to sing with thankful Hearts Psalms 28:7 says this the Lord is my strength and shield I trust him with all my heart he helps me my heart is filled with joy I burst out into songs of Thanksgiving the Lord is my strength and shield I trust him with all my heart listen I burst out in the songs of Thanksgiving where your heart is is what's going to be expressed physically out of your mouth through your actions your face have you ever met somebody that cannot hide their face so great isn't it like I'm talking to somebody and I could tell they're annoyed with me and I'm like yeah this person's annoy you'd written all over your face where our heart is that's what's expressed where is our heart if we have a grateful heart gratitude is expressed naturally it's just part of it it's just part of the thing it's like hey I have a grateful heart so gratitude is going to be expressed in all that I do because that's what's here whereas when we have a heart that's not great for are not full of joy it is expressed here as well in our actions in what we say and what we do so if our heart is full of gratitude we will naturally Express gratitude what are we grateful for are you grateful these are the questions that we should be asking ourselves at all times even when it's things we don't understand even when things are not going the way you want them to go and listen it happens and I I wish that I could say I've done this 100% of the time but there are times when I've done dumb things that have set me back and I sit there and I think to myself why did I just do that God why did you allow this to happen to me this shouldn't have happened to me I don't deserve this God and all of a sudden you forget you've lost everything up to that point I'll give you a great example it's a terrible story right it'll be about me that's the way this works okay so I've made mistakes before and uh sometimes they're just really bad so I was uh on duty yes I was on duty and I was turning left and I had a green light to turn left which was totally cool I was in my cruiser and I was just doing my thing I was doing exactly what I should be doing I was patrolling that's what I'm supposed to do and so as I go through the intersection all of a sudden this drunk dude walks into my car like I didn't hit him he walked into me okay let's get that straight but do you want to know my heart sink like 20 ft down because all I saw out of the corner of my eye was all I heard was thump I looked over I see this guy drop and I'm like and I'm thinking to myself I'm like I just killed somebody I'm going to jail I'm going to lose my job I don't know what my wife's going to do she's going to get remarried my kids are going to have a new dad like I'm freaking out man I'm freaking out all I can think about is using the bathroom in front of somebody I'm like I can't do this so I throw my car in park I'm trying to tell Naples dispatch that something's going on I can't get the words out of my mouth because I'm like this guy's dead and I walk around my car and he walks he's like dude I just hit your car and I'm like yes you did but it's okay but let me tell you there's nothing more embarrassing than having to tell people that because it you know the way it comes out Tony ran over pedestrian that's the way listen we're immature all right cops are immature that's the way it works and so you think to yourself you're like this is embarrassing I can't believe this just happening I was just doing my job and you begin to question things right and so it all worked out because that guy was okay but I'm like man I don't why does this happen to me what happened all was doing was turning left and doing my job and now I've got to worry like is this guy going to sue the agency am I going to have a problem like all of this stuff goes through my mind and I forget all the stuff that God did for me up to that point right I'm now in a situation and I've forgotten everything else except this and I forget that God loves me no matter what and that he's the one who gave me the job and that he's going to take care of it and that it's all part of his will the whole thing about it is this that's why we're to be grateful he says this why else should we be grateful because we represent Christ by being thankful Ephesians 5:20 says and give thanks for everything to God the father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ listen we represent Christ Our gratitude should be expressed at all times it's not based on what's happening in our lives if that were the case what would make make us different than the world than those who are lost if if everything is based on what's going on in our life why would anybody look towards Christ I want you to think about why the 10 look towards Christ because people were coming up to him and they're like the Messiah is coming the Messiah is coming can you imagine the wave of excitement that was up in front of probably miles in front of Christ people were talking about it they're like the messiah's coming there's probably some as they walk across the street they're like hey guys guys you got leprosy but the Messiah is coming we watched him raise somebody from the dead and they walk on and then another person walks guys guys the Messiah is behind us you'll never believe this he he healed a blind man he spit on some mud and put in his eyes the man could see they had somebody they're like wait a minute there's somebody that can heal us there's somebody that can take this away from us listen when the world sees gratitude in situation where gratitude should not exist they look at us and they say what do they got what do they have that I don't why are they excited about life right now what is going on are they just insane or do they have something that I don't have and they begin to investigate but if they see somebody who's not grateful or joyous about anything they're looking and going well they this the same thing that I am I mean obviously Jesus isn't doing anything for them I'm just going to go back over here we are to express our gratitude so others can look towards Christ so why do we do it it's a good question we should always be grateful a to be obedient to be obedient I want you to look at some of these words that I said always be thankful doesn't sound like a suggestion usually when somebody tells you to do something it's not a suggestion so in order to be obedient to God's word the scripture that these mention are not suggestions we are to be set apart and one of the ways we are set apart is to be obedient to the Bible we're obedient to God in his word and God in his word tells us to be thankful we should be obedient so the first thing is gratitude is a thing of obedience now I want you to notice something this miracle would not have happened without obedience right the faith part is great they call out to Christ but then if they're not obedient the miracle doesn't happen because if they don't start running they're never healed right they start running towards the priest they do exactly what Christ told them to do and they don't question would you not question is there not a part of you is just like go see the priest you're like would wait a minute well Jesus I he's the one who put me here I I don't he's just going to say the same thing he's just going to tell me I have leprosy why would I go see the priest there's some question there right they no they don't question anything they are obedient immediately immediately there's obedience we are to be grateful because it's the obedient thing we're to be obedient for Christ listen again we need to go back to this to some degree like right because one of the things that we forgotten is one of the things that that Christianity has done modern day westernized Christianity is this this is our Bible time right here or Wednesday both right we come in we hear somebody speak they tell us the Bible Wednesday we get to come in we get to have a good time answer some questions but the rest of the time it's like hey all right I'm going to go do what I want to do and we lose track of this and never read this and so we don't apply it to our lives how can you Obed be obedient to something you don't know how can we be obedient to something we don't know Pastor Gan will tell you right when he gets over to speak he will tell you facts check don't listen to me read your Bible listen the Bible is the greatest teacher of all time you know what I learned when in Ministry they're all like hey go listen to this speaker go listen to that speaker listen to this person listen to that person and you know what I learned is there's nothing that I can add to this there's nothing I can add to this there's nothing that I bring to the table that the Bible doesn't already have we have the ability to learn God's word without sitting here now I'm not telling you church is bad because church is good the Bible tells us to be in church and fellowship what I'm telling you is church is not it it's not the only thing it was never meant to be the only thing the Bible God's word is it we are to be studying this apart from even being here as a matter of fact all of us should be able to teach from this right now it's not that we all are going to be able to but all of us should know it because because if you know it you live it if you live it you teach it that's the way that works you teach it whether you know it or not you teach it whether you see the people you're teaching or not because some people are just sitting on the sideline watching you we always go back to the waitress who's having a bad day he having a terrible day you never know why why because that's that's like the modern thing right you go into a restaurant and sometimes you have a great waiter waitress and you're like man this is awesome they tend to refill my drinks more than my wife's I have no idea why it's so funny though I love to watch that happen because I'll sit there I'm like I'll be on my third whatever I'm drinking Sprite Coke whatever and she's got like nothing but ice and watered down soda I'm like this is good was like I just kind of rub it in a little bit but you know that that that person that's good we have a tendency to be like yo tip is good man 20% right 25% 30% but then we have a tendency when things are not good we're like oh you you don't deserve this are you kidding me with what we've been given somebody doesn't deserve something I get it remember the whole earn and deserve thing but you never know why that person's in that situation you never know what that person is going through that they're now affected as they come to work they probably don't want to be that way but their life circumstances have dictated it and they don't have the Gratitude and Joy from knowing the Savior that you may have and as a Christian if they saw you pray before you took your meal and then you tip them nothing Zer doar and maybe you left a note like hey get better at your job something like that what are we doing what are we doing the Bible doesn't tell us to love and be grateful and be giving when it benefits us the Bible tells us to do it all the time and here's the deal here's the thing think about it Bad Waitress bad waiter you leave them a good tip all of a sudden they go what why because people know they know when they haven't done their best job and they get that tip and you write on the Note have a great day changes things it changes things what we do reflects Christ that's the only reason it matters is what we do reflects Christ so let's go back to Paul and Silas because this is the this is the ultimate expression of gratitude in one of the worst situations you can be in and look what it does so we go back to acts 16 and we're going to do pick up in verse 26 we've already seen that they're singing and and songs and people are listening and then acts 16 26-34 picks up the rest right suddenly there was a massive earthquake and the prison was shaken to its foundation all the doors immediately flew open and the chains of every prisoner fell off the Jailer woke up to see the prison doors wide open he assumed the prisoner has escaped so he drew his sword to kill himself he knows what's going to happen he's lost his prisoners he knows he might not only be punished but his family's going to be punished he knows what's going to happen so he's like I'd rather end it myself and so but right as he's about to do that Paul from out of the darkness shouts stop don't kill yourself we are all here I think sometimes we miss this sometimes we talk about Paul and Silas being there right but it says we are all here not one person left let me tell you right now if you went down to Naples jail Center and pushed a little button that opens all the doors which they do not let me around by the way they're like nope Tony can't be around a button like that not good at I'm GNA say the majority of people would leave I'm not going to say everybody would leave I'm not going to make that generation but I'm going to say the people that I've taken there they would leave they' be like I'm out I'm yes the door is open yes and then they would praise God they'd be like thank you Jesus and run out the door but notice none of these prisoners left not just Paul and Silas not just Paul and Silas none of these prisoners left do you think the reason they didn't leave is because they heard Paul and Silas singing songs and hymns and praising God and they're like what why and you think Paul maybe didn't take the initi when the door's open he's like hey everybody stay where you're at and they probably thought to themselves why would I do that and then they're like man that guy that guy's got something I mean he's in here happy and singing we're not and they all stayed what a miracle in itself but Paul and Silas it goes further than that not only do the jailers have they listened and they've changed but after he said we're all here the Jailer called for the lights and ran to the the dungeon and fell trembling before Paul and Silas then he brought them out and asked sers what must I do to be saved what must I do to be saved isn't that the question we want everybody to ask when they see us live our lives what do you got what do you got that I don't what do I got to do to get what you got they replied believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved along with everybody in your household and they shared the word of the Lord with him and with all who lived in his household even at that hour of the night Crazy Hour of the night the Jailer cared for them and washed their wounds then he and everyone in his household were immediately baptized he brought them into his house and set a meal before them and he and his entire household rejoiced because they all believed in God that's what an expression of gratitude can accomplish Paul and Silas were grateful in a situation that gratitude didn't belong in and because of that people accepted Christ they believed in God listen everything I do kind of airs on the side of evangelism I back when we used to do the spiritual gifts test you know they like oh your spiritual gift is evangelism we should all have that gift by the way because we're supposed to tell other people about Christ that's what we do but I'm telling you right now we can impact the kingdom of Christ by the way we live by how we act in situations because people are watching us do you think Paul and Silas sang because they knew people were watching them no do you think they expected all of a sudden the prison to open no I'm sure they had an understanding about what was going to happen and then God performed a miracle you know what it led to people accepting Christ when we are grateful for what we have and people see that even in the worst times they wonder what do I got to do to be saved what do I got to do to accept Christ you never know and it could be the smallest thing that you do and that's why it's very careful it's it's it's always something we should be careful of when we are we are living for Christ it should always be a thought process is what I'm doing or saying going to impact the kingdom of Christ positively or negatively that's how heavy the weight should be I'm not saying we're going to be able to do it all the time people fail I've done multiple times where I wish I hadn't said or done something but think about that because I want you to understand this is the deal right when we talk about people accepting Christ we talk about people having eternal life compared to Eternal damnation so sometimes I think we lose that in Translation we talk about yes heaven heaven heaven and we forget to mention what else there is right we forget to mention that if somebody dies without Christ they go to an eternal hell apart from God that's it that should be so sobering should be a sobering thought to think if somebody dies without Christ they are eternally separated from God to be eternally punished in hell it's not just about us going to heaven it's about the fact that we don't want people to go to hell man we don't want people to do that how do we do it well listen I'm not saying you have to stand up and and and get in the middle of your lunchroom or in the middle of I used to tell my students in the middle of lunchroom like I'm not saying you have to hit people with your Bible at school I'm saying if you live differently if we act differently if we're grateful if we're joyous All Season not just when it boils down to this time of year people can see Christ in you and then they're going to ask questions notice that Paul and Silas didn't try to minister before they've already witnessed see their witness was in their actions their witness was in their gratitude and then they got the opportunity to minister I promise you this if we live a life of gratitude and joy you're going to get the opportunity to minister or at least some is going to get the opportunity to minister to that person and here's the coolest part is you may never know it see that same waitress that you tipped well she may go you know what I just I just don't know what happened I got to know and it may start her on a road of curiosity you say Tony that seems far-fetched but it's not let me explain it's not far-fetched so we used to do this thing back when I was a pastor up in Tampa we we had a large church and we used to do this Christmas thing where we give out these Christmas invite cards the staff was responsible for like we had this game to see who could gave out the most invite cards and take selfies it was kind of cheesy um so I took selfies with a whole lot of people I did not know um and they were like who are you but anyways we gave them a card and we would give them this card and this invite card and it would be a Christmas card it'd be a Christmas card it would say come to our Christmas services and it would list them all out so we would give these things out no we would know if they come in but I'm going to tell you there was a guy so we gave out these says in early December and there was a guy that walked into our church I want to say like mid April like we're almost past we're almost at Thanksgiving he comes in and he sits down in church and he begins to go to church and he begins to come on a regular basis and eventually accepts Jesus Christ as a savior he gets baptized it's an exciting story here's the funny part about it he got one of those Christmas invite cards not from one of us but from somebody who discarded it when we gave it to him they're just kind of like not and he picked it it up and he put it in his wallet and guess what it happened to come up when he needed it right when he needed it and I'm telling you there are things like this that happen all the time and I think sometimes we underplay these things because we don't believe they really happen but no God works in Crazy mysterious ways so somebody handed an invite card not to this individual but this individual found the invite card and right when his life was falling apart and falling to pieces he picked up a Christmas invite card in April and he thought to him himself this is where I need to go I need to see what this is about and he came into church what is what more can you do as somebody who lives a life than an invite card a piece of paper how much more can you influence somebody to find the Savior I'm going to ask you today as you leave are we living a life of gratitude are we publically expressing gratitude in the fact that Jesus Christ died for our sins we have eternal life are we expressing that on a regular basis let's pray dear God thank you for today God I just thank you for allowing us to come together and worship in your house God I ask today that as we leave we leave with grateful hearts and that we express that gratitude in the way that we live on a daily basis because God it is so amazing that you sent your son to die on the cross we didn't deserve it we didn't earn it there was nothing that we did but yet you died for our sins and gave us Eternal hope and eternal salvation and for that Lord we are eternally grateful God I'd ask today that as we go throughout this week that you guide and direct our lives and that as we make decisions we make them thinking about how this influences the kingdom for you for all these things we ask in your name honor and glory