We Are Venture: Gratitude

Awesome to hear stories like that from people who have been around a long long

time, like the Baylists family. Welcome to Venture Church. If this is

your first time here, man, we're so grateful to have you here.

My name is Morgan Blessed Be, one of the pastors on staff, and

you guys are here on a pretty I don't know if you know this,

but this is a pretty monumental Sunday in the history of our church. This

Sunday is Sunday number one of Venture Church's twentieth year of existence. Come on,

I mean, that's we're excited about that. What you just heard from

Ryan is a guy who's been here since the church started. And there is

a handful of people even here in this service right now. Just raise your

hand. If you were here from day one, would you just raise your

hand really quick? Yeah, I mean, come on, you see in

hands pop up all over the blaze back here. There's still people who have

been here ever since the church started, and we're gonna spend the entire year

just celebrating all that God has done here at Venture Church. Today is also

kind of a special day because this Sunday is also the four year anniversary of

the day that we opened the doors to this miracle of a building four years

ago, and we've seen God just do incredible things. We also saw COVID

come and nobody be here, So the dichotomy of those two things is pretty

incredible, but pretty big Sunday for us, we're kicking off the year celebrating

twenty years of Venture Church. You'll hear a lot about that. You'll hear

other testimony videos like Ryan's, and for the next few weeks we're going to

be hitting on some themes that we really want to focus on in our twentieth

year of existence. It's surreal to think what God has accomplished in and through

our church in twenty years. My wife Nicole and I have been blessed to

be here at the church for sixteen of those twenty years, which is wild.

I had a little bit of hair when we first were here, not

much, but it was there a little bit, and just an incredible,

incredible journey of God's faithfulness, of incredible leaders leading the way, and an

incredible community of people all gathering together to see Jesus made famous. And I

was going through pictures of the last sixteen years. Have you ever done this

you open up Facebook and you just start scrolling. Oh dear Lord, right

like you never know what you're going to find. But I found some pictures

here of some of my favorite memories of my time. Me and Nicole were

the youth pastors here at the church for a long time. Look at this

is Nicole right here. This is Ariel Tony's wife. And look here here's

a familiar figure Pastor Tony. Here also other camps that we've done. This

was the last camp at our EVMA campus back in Everick. We pulled this

camp off in literally twenty four hours. It was insane. The past shut

down summer camps just been incradible. Just nothing like seeing kids, hands raised,

missions trips with youth kids. We went to Costa Rica. Doesn't get

better than that. We built a church in Mexico. Got to stand on

the street. Many of you are there on that trip. Here's our Evmont

campus. Just God fill in this building. Look Pastor Christian's even speaking there,

he is, He's he's back, man. Just incredible, incredible things,

an incredible team of youth leaders that we got the opportunity to lead.

So many of these people around this circle still here at the church, serving

in so many different capacities, our young adults at the church, so many

of these people now married, was like a this is like a dating spot

apparently. And then all of these people, most of them got mar trunk

retreat. I mean, come on, you got to throw that in there.

Honestly, just being able to introduce our kids and our family to the

church has been so special over the years. Men's ministry. Come on now,

Mike and his Utah cut off shirt. And then just being able to

partner with these people go to Israel. Just incredible, incredible, incredible,

incredible things that we've been able to be in part of. And it's impossible

to think back on all that God has done, all the salvations, all

the baptisms, all the lives and the families changed, all the community that's

been built, all the miracles that we've witnessed, the ministry that's taken place.

It's impossible to think back on all of that and to be filled with

anything less than just absolute, total, utter gratitude, just so unbelievably thankful

for God's goodness in the midst of all of it. And this year we

want to make sure that as a church, we are people that are filled

with gratitude, Amen that corporately and personally for all that God has done in

our lives. After serving for ten years in the youth ministry at the church

here, I collected quite a few gifts over the years. There are some

awesome gifts that I was given from kids and families, and the gifts were

not all extravagant. Some of them are just super intentional and loving and we're

given with just a really sincere heart. At least that's the way I've received

it. I don't really care the way they gived it. That's the way

I received it. But for me more than any of the gifts. And

some of my old youth students will know this is true that the things that

I cherished most were when students wrote me handwritten cards. I would take all

these cards and in the second drawer of my desk, I had a pile

of these handwritten cards from students over the years, and I would open up

that drawer and right and just pop out of cards. And but let me

tell you, friends, I would go to that drawer often. I would

go to that drawer when I was discouraged. I would go to that drawer

when I was getting beat up. I would get go to that drawer when

I was I was feeling down and forgetting why I was doing what I was

doing. And I was up at three o'clock in the morning doing an all

nighter asking myself why, God, Why, or go to that drawer and

it would encourage me. And it sounds really cheesy. I know I'm a

words of affirmation person, but those cards help remind me of why I did

what I did in some of those seasons. I think that sometimes we think

of gratitude as the spontaneous ration of emotion that happens when something good happens in

our life. We get an extravagant, extravagant gift, a burst of emotion

right a burst of gratitude comes out. We see a miracle occur, A

burst of gratitude comes out this gratitude. It explodes out of us in response

to a moment. And Yet every time I pulled those cards out from my

desk and I began reading through them, I was reminded that gratitude is so

much more than that. I learned that gratitude is not just about a moment,

but a gratitude is about discipline, something that you make yourself do to

direct your life in the right direction. Discipline save us from being human ping

pong balls right that are constantly batted around by emotions or urges, or circumstances

or desires. The Apostle Paul talks about this in his letter to the Church

in the Thessalonika. He says, in verse five of first Thessalonians, look

at what he says here. He's chapter five of verse first Tessalonians. He

says, make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong, but always strive

to do what is good for each other and for everyone else. Listen to

this, rejoice, always pray continually, and what give thanks in all circumstances,

for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus. As we dive

into twenty twenty four, we celebrate twenty years of venture Church, I want

us to start by exploring why I believe that God wants our lives to be

alive shaped by gratitude. Are you with me? Let me start by saying

this, I truly believe that this is God's desire for our life to be

people of gratitude. Even those in secular realms of thinking believe that those who

are grateful people are healthier in so many different ways. There are hundreds of

books that have been written, research projects, medical journal articles that have been

written grateful people. In all of them, the results come back the same.

Grateful people are more positive, they are more mentally healthy, they are

more emotionally balanced, and after looking at some of the research, multiple studies

refer to gratitude as positive noticing, meaning this that gratitude focuses our attention on

what is good and positive in life. When I start thinking about what this

looks like from a practical standpoint, I immediately started thinking about some of the

people that I enjoy hanging out with the most. You have your people,

I have my people. But let me tell you one of the character traits

that all of my people have in common that I like to hang out with

is there are people of gratitude. They are people of joy. They are

people who, in their attitudes, in their actions, in their words,

seem to just give thanks and be thankful constantly in life. These are people

who I believe have tapped into the secret of First Thessalonians five eighteen. And

this is where I want us to look today, specifically at Verse eighteen of

the Scripture the apostle Paul says this, and I want to read it again,

in give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you,

in Christ Jesus. Here's what I want you to walk away with today

in regards to gratitude. It's a simple thought. When it comes to gratitude.

We have a command. We have a context, and we have a

calling. We have a command. We have a context and we have a

calling. Look at what Paul begins to map out here in this one short

verse in chapter five, verse eighteen, he says, we have a command.

What is the command to give thanks? It's that simple, to give

thanks in all circumstances, for this is the will of Christ Jesus for you.

And let me just tell you, God's not subtle about this command either.

You know how we know he's not subtle about it. All you got

to do is open up the Bible and see how many times Scripture talks about

giving thanks. Thanks is recorded in the Bible almost one hundred and fifty times.

Thirty eight of those variations, we are specifically told to give thanks.

It's like an action on our part given from us to God. To give

thanks thirty eight times. Now, the Greek word for thanks is this word

that if you've spent some time around the church, you may be familiar with,

or you may notice. It's this word eucharistio. And that word might

sound familiar to you because it's commonly referred to in the realms of communion the

Lord's Supper. And if you went to Sunday Mass, like I did on

Eastern Christmas, you remember the Eucharist being talked about by the priest eu Christio.

It's this word that Jesus used when he was sharing the Lord's Supper,

the Last Supper with his disciples, and they broke bread. And what does

it say that Jesus said. It says that he gave thanks when they broke

the bread. When we take communion together even today, that's literally what we

are doing in that moment. We are literally giving things in remembrance of what

Jesus has done for our life. I kind of nerd it out on this

part because I just think this is fun sometimes. But in Hebrew, I

don't speak Hebrew. So if you're here and you speak Hebrew, first of

all, congratulations, you're really smart. Second of all, I apologize for

any of these words that I absolutely butcher. There are at least seven words

for praise and thanks in Hebrew. This is crazy. Look at some of

these. I wanted to write them down so that you could see him as

well. The first one here, toda. It refers to a thanksgiving choir.

Another word barack, to kneel in thanksgiving. There's a word in Hebrew

tehuila. Don't get confused, it's not tequila, okay. And this word

refers to this action of singing a song of thanksgiving. You drink tequila and

you sing a different song. Okay. That's for another message hellal to give

thanks by boasting or praising God. It's where we get the word hallelujah yadah.

To give thanks with expressive gratitude. I love this one. It's because,

in other words, what could this possibly look look like to give thanks

with expressive gratitude? In other words, when you come in on a Sunday

morning and you see people raising their hands in worship, Friends, this isn't

just a Pentecostal thing. This is a Bible thing. This is what the

Bible's telling us to live our lives in praise life an expressive gratitude zamar to

give thanks with musical instruments. It's what we just did for twenty minutes,

is as our worship team came up here and led us in singing praise shabakh

to give thanks in a loud tone, to shout to the Lord. It's

kind of interesting to see what the original Hebrew language would say about giving thanks

and giving praise. Four out of these seven words are found in one single

psalm of Scripture, Psalm one hundred, verse four. Maybe this verse is

familiar to as I start reading it, I added some of the Hebrew words

in there. Enter his great gates with hadah thanksgiving choir, and into his

courts with Tahila, singing praises Yadah. Extend your hands to him, barack,

kneel in thanksgiving before him. You see friends giving thanks. Expressing gratitude

is supposed to be so intricately, intricately connected to who we are as followers

of Jesus that it literally causes us to sing praise, that it literally causes

us to shout his praise, that it literally causes us to lift his hands,

lift our hands in worship. That it causes us to fall to our

knees in praise. Some of you maybe wondering, maybe you haven't been around

the church very much, and you come in on a Sunday and you come

to a worship in prayer nite and you're a little freaked out because people are

raising their hands and you know, it looks like they're holding a TV but

there's nothing there, right, and they're doing the Titanic right, and they're

like, what's happening? Right? People are singing out loud. You're like,

they have a terrible voice. Why why are they singing? People are

crying, people are running to the altar. People are crying out in church,

and we think that it's weird if we're not familiar to it. Let

me just share to you on a personal level, why that is oftentimes my

expression when I worship and when I praise. It's for the simple reason,

friends, It's because I understand who I am giving thanks to. I understand

who my thanks is directed to. My worship. Our worship is directed at

a person, friends, and gratitude is what causes worship to come out of

our life. Can I just tell you you will never experience true worship if

you are not grateful for who Jesus is in your life. Now, Please

don't get mad at me for saying that. I'm not saying that if you

don't worship like this, and you don't worship like this, then you don't

love Jesus. That's not what I'm saying at all. The point I'm trying

to make is that our thanksgiving and our gratitude at some point is going to

flow from inside of our hearts and begin to affect our actions. And it's

gonna look different for every single person, maybe even depending on your personality type.

But this type of gratitude, friends, it's repeated, it's instructed,

it's expected, it's commanded over and over and over in the Bible. Psalm

ninety two says it's good to give thanks to God, to sing praises to

your name, O, God Most High. See, when we talk about

this idea of giving thanks and extending gratitude, it is completely connected to who

God is for our life, to who He is. We give thanks to

the Lord. We sing praises to his name. And the more that we

learn about who God is, the more we want and should praise who He

is in our life. Are you guys with me this morning? And guess

what. The way that you and I as Christians express gratitude should look very

different from the way the rest of the world expresses gratitude. The way we

practice gratitude in our culture is largely in response to celebrating the good things that

are happening around us, looking for the silver linings and what's happening, focusing

on the positives of what life may throw at us. At Thanksgiving just a

couple months ago, families gathered around the table all around America. And what

do you think they sat around the table and gave thanks for. They gave

thanks for things like their health and their job, and their finances and their

home and their belongings and family and etc. And while there's nothing wrong to

be thankful for any and all of those things, what should lead believers to

expressing gratitude isn't just a response to the good things in life. It isn't

just in response to the silver linings or the good things that life may throw

at us. Our gratitude is expressed through simply knowing who walks with us in

every season of our life. It's so connected about who God is. It's

not about the circumstances It's not about just the good things. It's not just

about the blessings in life. It is all connected to the who our gratitude

is directed to. Giving thanks is a command that we've been given. Gratefulness

isn't just expressed when life goes good. Living grateful every day is the simple

response of acknowledging and recognizing that we have a good good good. Let me

just say it again, good God. Amen. It's a simple acknowledgment of

where our praise and where our attention is directed. And friends, we can

make living with gratefulness a discipline in a life. Did you know that you

can practice being grateful? In fact, I encourage you this year practice being

grateful in your life really quickly, practically. What it can it look like

to turn gratitude into a discipline? What if we started putting the discipline of

gratitude in every area of our life? Friends, For some of us,

we could use the discipline of gratitude in our marriages, Scott, really quiet,

it would probably benefit to put the discipline of gratitude in our marriage.

It maybe you feel emotionally distanced from your spouse. Can I just encourage you

start doing the things that you did when you were dating. To try to

win them over, express gratitude for who they are. Write them notes,

buy them flowers, ladies. Come home with a bag of cheeseburgers and put

them in front of your husband. I guarantee you he will receive text them

throughout the day. Do things you did at first right, get out of

your joggers, take a shower, get dressed, take them on a date.

Show gratitude for who they are, for who they've been. What happens?

What would happen if we tried to implement the practice and the discipline of

gratitude into the workplace. How much would we stand out from the rest of

the workplace. What would happen if if once a week we send an email

to a coworker who we noticed and we spent time encouraging them. Man,

I saw you do this, I saw the way that you handled this situation,

and I just wanted you to know I'm proud of the way that you

handled that. So simple. What would happen if if you sent an email

to a coworker and said, Hey, I really appreciated the way that you

handled that tension. I really appreciated the way that you handled that confrontation.

I really appreciated the way that you handled that situation. What would happen if

we practiced the discipline of gratitude in our spiritual life? What if every night

we took five minutes to replay the day and ask the simple question, God,

where did I see you in my life today? Thank you God for

who you are today in my life. What if every morning, when you

read your Bible, you wrote down one way that God has been faithful to

you. You and I can practice gratitude in our life. We can practice

having a thankful heart. It's why I Psalm one oh seven two says let

the redeemed of the Lord say so, say so, not just think so,

say so. It's a command. Paul shows us that gratitude is a

command for us to practice in our life. But we also see from one

Thessalonians five the context of gratitude. He says, give thanks in all circumstances.

For this is the will of God in Christ Jesus. For you,

our command is to give things. Our context is to give things in all

circumstances, in all circumstances. Notice that this says to give things in all

circumstances, not for all circumstances. How many of you are very thankful for

that? Can I just tell you that this is a very important distinction for

you and I. We are not called to be thankful for every circumstance in

every situation in or life. Jesus himself literally said, in this world you

will have trouble. He knew that there would be things that you and I

would be faced with that would not be enjoyable to walk through. He was

aware of that. But this doesn't say be thankful for all circumstances. It

says be thankful in all circumstances. This is one of the lessons that I

think that somebody could communicate better by having walked through some stuff in their life.

If we got somebody up on stage here, if I pulled doctor Vick

up on stage, he could walk you through a story of helping you and

I realize that the walk of a Christian man or woman is not a walk

of purely standing on the mountaintop. Walk with God long enough, and you're

gonna go through some things that on one hand you would never wish upon your

greatest enemy. But on the other hand, you are incredibly grateful for because

you got to know God on a deeper level than you had ever imagined.

You see, you learn to be thankful in the hard times, even though

you're not thankful for the hard times. I know in this room are some

people who are not grateful for what is going on in their life right now.

Can I just tell you God is not commanding you to be thankful for

the job that you just got laid off from. He is not commanding you

to be thankful for the empty seat at your Christmas table because you just lost

a level. He's not commanding you to be thankful for the betrayal that you

just experienced. He's not commanding you to be thankful for the seasonal effect effectiveness

disorder that brings depression and anxiety this time of the year. We're not commanded

to be thankful for all circumstances, Church. We're called to be thankful in

all circumstances. You're probably like a Castmorian. I see what you did there.

That was clever, But you don't know my sichu. You don't know

my circumstance. You don't know what I'm going through. You have no idea

the things that me and my family are experiencing. You have no idea the

kind of things that are going on. No person in the right mind would

give thanks if they were in my circumstances, And gosh, if this is

you, please hear me say. What I don't want you to hear me

say right now, is that what you need to do is just change your

perspective and praise will follow. While that may be some good encouragement for you,

it's not comforting. I recognize that whatever you're going through, though I

may not know your specific pain, But what I want to remind you is

that you are shoulder to shoulder with other believers who have walked through loss,

who have walked through heartache, who have walked through financial hardship and depression.

There are people who can stand beside you as you navigate that situation that you're

in. But even more important and truthfully, more valuable than that, I

want you to know, if you hear nothing else from me today, that

Jesus himself knows what it's like to hurt. He knows Jesus knows what it's

like to be betrayed. Jesus knows what it's like to be misunderstood. Jesus

knows what it's like to be slandered and lied about, and hunted down and

broken and hungry and abused. He knows what it's like to lose a loved

one and weep. Church. You and I do not serve a God who

is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, with our wounds, or with our

wearies. And while you may hope that he takes you out of your situation,

I want you to hear my voice when I say this this morning.

What you can know for sure is that your God is in your situation,

that he sympathizes with you, that he will never leave you, He will

never forsake you. And it's because of the knowledge that we have that you

and I can still give thanks. Because His presence is with us in all

circumstances. We are commanded to give thanks in all contexts, and that's because

it's crucial to our calling. Paul lays this out for us. He says,

what give thanks? It's the command in all circumstances. That's the context.

But what's this part? He says, for this is the will of

God in Christ Jesus. For you. We all want to know what God's

will for our life is. You know how I know everybody wants to know,

because every single pastor is putting out a book on what is God's Will

for your life? You can buy that for fourteen ninety nine in the lobby

right after service. Right, everybody wants to know. Everybody wants to answer

that question. So what does this mean when Paul says, give thanks in

all circumstances? For this is the will of God and Jesus Christ for you.

For this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. First

of all, this implies not just to applies not just to our verse here

in verse eighteen, but it backs up two verses earlier to verse sixteen,

which are very short verses. And what it says when we put all of

that together, is that God's will for your and my life is to rejoice,

always, pray continually without ceasing, and give thanks in all circumstances.

It is God's will for your life to rejoice, to pray, and to

be filled with gratitude. That's it. That's what He literally wants for you

in my life, that we would rejoice, that we would pray, and

that we would give thanks in our life. Secondly, we need to realize

who this applies to Let's do a little grammar study. It says, for

this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you, meaning for those

of you in Christ, those of you who have received salvation, who have

accepted that invitation into relationship with Him, you have walked with him. Friends,

this is for you. This is God's will for your life. Christians,

Being thankful always is not God's will for the world. Why because the

world can't be joyful and thankful always because they don't know the source the source

of joy and gratitude. They don't know Jesus. They don't know about salvation,

they don't know about the free gift of grace. They don't know where

the source of joy and gratitude come from. But friends, you do,

You and I we know where it comes from. Being thankful is always God's

will for your life. Christian, follower of Jesus, you're calling at its

most core root level in life with it is to live with joy and gratitude

for everything Christ has done for us. That's it. Now, you're like

Morgan, this is gonna be hard for me because I'm not naturally an optimistic

person. I am not the happy, go lucky, super positive, optimistic

person that you appear to be. I want to be thankful, but it

just doesn't come naturally to me. Maybe if this situation was different, I'd

be a little more thankful, but it just doesn't come natural to me when

I'm put in one of these situations. When I'm in one of these circumstances.

Friends, here's some good news for you and I. We don't have

to do it alone. This is not just God's will for you to will

it in your life. This is God's will for you to work it in

your life. Look at this verse in Philippians two thirteen. It says,

for it is God God. For it is God who works in you both

to will and to work for his good pleasure. He wills it and he

works it. If you are in Christ, friend, hear me say you

are not alone. The command to live with gratitude is not for you and

you alone to carry. Friends, you have the Great advocate with you,

and friends, hear me say this by the power of the Holy Spirit living

inside of you. When you do not feel filled with joy and gratitude,

can I tell you His Spirit is working inside of you. You can call

on His name to breathe that joy into your life in all circumstances. You

are not alone. He wills it and he works it. My encouragement to

you is to invite the Holy Spirit to begin working in you the spirit of

joy, the kind of joy that can give thanks in all circumstances. And

as you do that, I believe the gratefulness will become as natural as breathing

to you and I because the Spirit of God is willing and working inside of

you, and the result of that work is thanksgiving. This is God's will

for our life. God desires for us to stand out from the world in

such a way. And what happens when we live a life of gratitude.

We live grateful in all circumstances because we are empowered by God's spirit. We

live grateful not just for what happens to us from one season to another,

but because we are loved, We are protected, we are filled by a

good, good, good Father who is always with us. We want this

to be a year as a church and as individuals we stand before God and

simply can say this, Thank you Man, God, Thank you for who

you have been, for who you will always be in my life. Thank

you for who you are. Thank for who you have been. Thankful that

you will walk by my side. Thank you that you save, thank you

that you redeem, thank you that you heal, thank you that you free.

That this would be a year that we learned the discipline of gratitude in

our life, and that the discipline of gratitude would make us stand out in

a world that often struggles to be. I wanted to end our service and

begin our year by taking that action, by spending time just saying God,

thank you, thank you for who you are, thank you for who you've

been, thank you for who you will be. But before we do that,

I want to give us an opportunity to just respond this morning, just

so that God himself knows where you're at in your life. Would you stand

your feet with me this morning, and as you do that, I want

to just invite you to bow your head and close your eyes really quick.

I don't do this for any spiritual reason. It's just an opportunity for you

to be alone. I have two questions for you today. Maybe you're here

this morning and maybe you've never been to church. Maybe you haven't been to

church in a long time, and you recognize in your life you hear this

pastor talking about this joy and gratitude in life, and you're looking at the

way life has been throwing things at you, and you would just say,

that's far different from the stance that I have when I look at my life.

Friends, Can I just tell you, if that is you here this

morning, God has a joy for your life that is far greater than what

you walk through in life. There is a God who desires to meet with

you on such a personal level and walk with you. He will never leave

you, he will never forsake you. And if that's you here this morning,

maybe you've never asked to begin a relationship with Jesus. Maybe you've never

taken that step. Maybe you're here and you did a long time ago,

but you recognize you're a far far away from where you once were. If

you're here this morning, and you would say, Morgan, I'm gonna start

this year by saying, God, I trust you, I'm gonna walk with

you. I want to know what that joy for my life is like with

you in it. If that's you here this morning, with every head bout

every I cooch, would you just slip your hand up just so I can

see you. Thank you man, Thank you, thank you. I see

that. Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank

you, thank you, thank you. I see that, thank you,

thank you. You can put your hands in Come on, can we just

celebrate that? Just do them on right there? That is the greatest decision

you will ever make in your entire life. Are there? But here's one

more invitation. Maybe you're here this morning, and you would say, Morgan,

it is impossible right now for me to look with a thankful heart in

the midst of what I'm walking through. If you knew my situation, if

you my circumstance, you would understand why it's been hard for me. But

friends, can I tell you God has so much more in your life,

more than those things. He's got so much more in store for your life

than to dwell on what you cannot control on your own. But friends,

let me tell you there is an opportunity, and there's an invitation being extended

to you to walk in step with a God who is with you. He

will never leave you, he will never forsake you. And you have the

power through Christ's spirit in you to walk with authority, walk with confidence in

and through all circumstances. And so if that's you here today, and you

would just say, Morgan, I need to be reminded of that today.

And I'm choosing to look to Him in the midst of my circumstances. I'm

choosing to thank Him in the midst of all circumstances I walk through. If

that's you, would you just slip your hand up because I want to pray

over us this morning. I know there's many people in their hands up all

over this room. Come on, you don't have to be shy about that.

You can just say God, I need you this morning. God.

I give you all the praise, I give you all the things. I

recognize who you are in my life. We're gonna spend some time worshiping,

and we're gonna spend some time at the beginning of this year just saying God,

thank you for who you are in my life, in the midst of

all circumstances. God, in the midst of all the things, all the

doubts, all the worries, God that I have racked up in my brain.

God, you see each in every hand in this room. God,

you see those at home online who are sitting in their living rooms and having

trouble. God, believing that you have more for their life outside of the

circumstances they're in. And God, I pray right now for your spirit,

God, to just begin to fill us. God. God, that we

would be filled by your confidence. God, that we would be filled with

the joy that you possessed, that we don't always feel like we have.

God, that we would be filled with a spirit that can walk with confidence

and strength and power through any obstacle God, any circumstance. God, I

know that in this room there's marriages that are on the men. God,

you are marking them back together. And God, I pray for a spirit

of gratitude for what you've given them. God, that they would look to

you and know that you are with them. God, not forsaken them.

You have not forgotten them. God. I know that there are people in

this room with health issues, God, cancer issues, God, that seem

dire. And Father, I pray right now that we would thank you.

We don't thank you for the circumstance, but God, we can stand with

the confidence of who you are and our life and we can say, God,

I'm gonna praise you in the midst of this thing. And so God,

it's you we look to this morning. It's You. We direct our

praise to God, and it's you we desire to say thank you to this

year. God, we love you and we praise you in Jesus. May remember