Count Your Blessings

Not a word from this service when I do a Veggie Tails video last week,

but I show that and y'all laugh. All right, Okay, how

many of you already have your Christmas lights up? If not, I got

a guy Morgan Butcher. He'll put them up for you. We want to

remind everyone that next week, December third, is our Crazy Christmas Sweater Sunday.

It's kind of a tradition here. If you're new to venture, the

craziest Christmas sweater, the better. So come if you're not wearing a Christmas

sweater, you're gonna look weird. So and you got to try to top

the staff. So that's what we have going on. Grab your Bible's turn

to First Samuel, chapter twelve, verse twenty four is where we're going to

start. I want to welcome those that are watching online listening to this podcast.

Who thinks that the day after Christmas or the day after Thanksgiving is officially

the beginning of Christmas? Anybody who thinks Christmas doesn't officially start to like December

first, who thinks Christmas started long before Thanksgiving? Okay, somewhere in between,

we want to let you know that Pastor Tony and I are weekly podcast,

Pastor's Unfiltered. Our last episode that just dropped last week was our Christmas

special and Tony and I talk about our five favorite Christmas movies. Is a

chance that one might be up there on the list. We also talk about

our family Christmas traditions and different things like that. Courage you to check that

out. It'll help get you in the spirit of Christmas. First Samuel twelve

twenty four. This was the prophet Samuel, the one who anointed David when

he was a boy to be king. This is the Prophet Samuel giving his

farewell speech. He has a captive audience. He was deeply loved, deeply

respected. He was a man who influenced nations, He influenced kings. And

now Samuel is heading off into retirement and he gives this speech, and this

is the last line of his speech, and he says this. He says,

be sure to fear the Lord and serve him faithfully with all of your

heart, and consider what great things he has done for you. I want

to ask everyone to buy your heads, close your eyes, repeat this prayer

after me. Everyone said, Jesus, speak to my heart, change my

life in Jesus' name. Amen. He says, be sure to fear the

Lord and to serve him faithfully with all of your heart. And consider what

great things God has done for you. I love it the way the NLT

says it the New Living Translation. It says, think of all the wonderful

things God has done for you. Think of all the wonderful things that God

has done for you. Think of all the wonderful things God has done for

you. Have you ever heard the phrase count your blessings. I want to

give you permission this Christmas season. Not that you need by permission, but

maybe some of you it's like you do need permission to do this. But

I want to give you permission this Christmas season. I have an attitude adjustment.

Let this season be a season that instead of looking at everything that you're

missing, or all of the problems in the world, instead of focusing on

all of the relational challenges, instead step back with an attitude of thankfulness,

an attitude of gratefulness, an attitude of gratitude. Count your blessings. I

want you to step back and look around at all the wonderful things God has

done for you. I want to give you permission to go into these holidays

with a positive attitude, where you're thankful, where you're grateful, where you

count your blessings. There was a study that was done for a doctoral dissertation

and two hundred graduate level students were involved in this study. They were divided

into three different groups and they were tested for a ten week period of time.

Before they began the study, they were given a test that questioned them

on their physical health, their mental health, and the depth of their personal

interpersonal relationships. And these three groups were divided into one group was called the

Gratitude group, and these people were required to meet together for ten weeks once

a week and when they met, they were to share five things that happened

to them in the last week that they were super thankful for, that they

were grateful for the blessings that had happened. And so they would get together

for ten weeks and each one of them would share, these are all the

things that I'm thankful for this week. And then there's another group. It

was called the hassles group. This was the group that was to get together

once a week and discuss the five hassles, irritations or annoyances that happened to

them this week. This is the group that I call counted all of their

bummers during a week, like everything that could go wrong, they announced,

this person cut me off. Oh the traffic was terrible. Have you seen

how much gas prices are? The state of the economy? Did you see

the president Kate tripped again? And these are those people. They're really good

at noticing everything that went wrong in the last week. These are people that

are like the Cougar's lost again. It's those people. So you got the

gratitude group, you got the hassles group, and then finally you have the

downward social group. What this group was supposed to do is get together once

a week for ten weeks and talk about how much better off they were than

someone else. So this would be like, yeah, the economy is tough,

interest rates are high, I just lost my job, but at least

I'm not a Cougar fan. These are those people, so they're forced to

Their job was to think of how much better off they are than someone else.

This is the group that would say, well, at least I'm not

them. So after ten weeks they were tested again and this was the result

of this study. Those that were in the gratitude group had a dramatic improvement

in their optimism. They went into each week excited about the coming week.

They slept better, they exercised more frequently, they had more significant social interactions.

Overall, their mental health, their physical health, and their interpersonal relationships

flourished and improved. This was the result of the Hassles group. After ten

weeks, they found themselves tired, They had trouble sleeping, They exercised much

less frequently because of how tired they were. They tended to isolate themselves,

and they found themselves going into each week pretty irritated. I mean, if

you spent an entire meeting talking about how terrible the week before was, you're

gonna go into the next week irritated before it even begins. And then finally

there was the downward social group. They tended to sleep find but they exercised

less because for some reason they lacked motivation. They found themselves unmotivated each week.

They also found themselves more exclusive in their relationships. They only hung out

with the people that were close to them, and they only allowed a handful

of people into their life. The conclusion of this study was gratitude thankfulness helps

people that when you have a positive attitude and you live a life of gratitude

and you live a life of thankfulness when you count your blessings. When you

were a person that rather than counting all of your bummers, I will tell

you know how easy it is to count your bummers. It doesn't take a

smart person to count bummers. But when you step back and you just count

your blessings, and it starts with looking at all the wonderful things that God

has done, it almost seems like it's a game to be able to talk

about how much worse my life is than someone else's life. Oh yeah,

you're you're going through this. Well, here's what's happening to me. And

you can get together with people and it's like one bummer heaped on top of

another bummer after another bummer. Did you know that that's really easy to do.

But when you step back and you look at all of the challenges that

you have in life, if you look close enough, you will always see

Jesus. You will always be reminded of the wonderful things that God has done.

So the results of this survey, they concluded two things. They concluded

Number one, gratitude helped people focus on the positive aspects of their life.

It made them more optimistic. Believe it or not, it made them less

materialistic because people that are full of thankfulness and gratitude don't need off to fill

empty gaps they have in their life. I think we all know someone who

just is a person that lives a bummer. Maybe they have a bummer marriage,

they have bummer relationships, and it seems that those people rally around purchases.

They get really excited to buy a new motorcycle, and then they buy

the motorcycle and after the excitement of that purchase wears off, life's still a

bummer. Their marriage is still a bummer. So you people that have garages

full of toys but don't have any joy, gratefulness, thankfulness, blessing in

their relationships or in their life. But gratitude makes people less materialistic. Did

you know that gratitude makes people more generous? So not only do they can

the gratitude helps people focus on the positive aspects of their life, but they

also concluded that gratitude helps people build and maintain relationships with others. I'm gonna

share with you probably the most relationally endearing thing that you can hear. People

like being around encouraging people. Yea, it builds them up, It cheers

them up. Have you ever spent five minutes with Sean King. Sean King

has this amazing ability to make you feel like you can leap tall buildings in

a single bound. Not only being around Shawn you always feel tall, but

he makes you feel really great and he usually will pay for your coffee or

pay for your lunch. So take chun out. There are those certain people

that you're around and they just make you feel excited about life. It makes

you excited about the future of your business, it makes you excited about your

family. You want to be around those people. We all also have people

that we have to prepare ourselves before we spend time with them. I had

someone that I met with for on a regular basis, and what I couldn't

figure out is why I always had to psych myself up to connect with this

person, and then after I met with them, I always wanted to take

a nap. I always called it the post lunch blues. I blamed it

on the Mexican food, but it wasn't that fault. It was because I

would meet with that person and they would just keep one bummer on me.

After another, and I was so emotionally exhausted from how terrible life and the

economy and their marriage and their kids and all of this was that I was

just like totally worn out. Did you know that this study also showed that

gratitude makes us better leaders at work. It makes us better managers employees when

they feel when they have a boss who shows gratitude, they feel more successful,

they feel more needed. Gratitude makes you less impatient, which allows you

to make better decisions. Gratitude allows you to find deep meaning in your work.

What they discovered is that when workplaces are led by bosses or owners that

are full of gratitude and thankfulness and appreciation, that those companies have less turnover.

That employees are willing to take less money to work in a place where

they feel like they're your job has purpose, that it's appreciated, and their

job has meaning. So count your blessings. Follow the advice of Samuel.

He says you need to leve the Lord your God with all your heart,

and you also need to consider all the things he's done for you. Instead

of looking at your life and seeing what you're absent, look at your life

and focus on the blessings. So I'm gonna give you permission this Christmas season

to be different than everybody around you, because you're gonna walk into this grateful,

thankful, optimistic, positive because instead of focusing on interest rates and the

economy and gas prices and the weather and all of the these other things,

you are focusing on the wonderful things that God has done for you. And

if you do that, people will want to be around you. Count your

blessings. It'll make you feel better. Count your blessings. It'll make you

more optimistic about your future. Count your blessings. You'll be a better boss.

Count your blessings. You'll sleep better, exercise more. Count your blessings.

People will want to be around you. One of the things that I

want venture to continue to do is to have the focus that we started this

fall. One of the reasons we went into this theme of I Found God

in Seattle is our hope was we would begin to change the narrative and attitude

that people have about Seattle. Because we know when people hear Seattle, the

first thing they think is, ooh, graffiti, it smells tons of homeless

people. I mean, that's like our natural response. And I was like,

let's stop focusing on all the negative things, and let's start focusing on

the fact that God is moving in Seattle, that you found God in Seattle,

that Seattle involves this entire area. It's not just those who live in

the city limits. It's the entire region. And when you bad mouth Seattle,

you are bad mouthing you. Whether you and I like it or not,

we are the Seattle area. We reflect people in the Seattle area.

If people complain about the Seattle freeze, they're complaining about you, and our

response should be I found God. Set change the narrative, change the thinking.

Our goal then was to have people stop focusing on the negative and look

to the positive. Instead of saying it always rains around here, say man,

this place is absolutely beautiful. By the way, did you see the

weather around here yesterday? It is crazy. Instead of being sad that the

Mariners missed the playoffs again the Hoskis are twelve and zero. Instead of being

so sad that my friends keep moving away to Red States, instead look at

all these amazing new people that God is brought into your life. The potential

opportunity, what do you have for new relationships? And the cool thing is

if you are a positive, grateful, optimistic person, all these new people

will want to be your friend. Because we don't need more friends that count

their bummers. We want friends the count their blessings. So listen to Samuel's

advice. Think of all the wonderful things that God has done for you.

I've shared this story many times. Is probably my second year as a youth

pastor, and young ministers struggle with this. I think it's one of the

blessings of being a seasoned minister because I've been doing this for thirty years,

so I understand how to have the perspective of my services now. But when

you're a young minister, whether this is right or wrong, your attitude usually

depends on how well your service went. So if the people were engaged,

if the worship sounded good, if attendance was great, if the offering was

good, all of those things made you feel positive about the service and optimistic

about the service. But if there were certain people that were missing, or

maybe the sound was off in the service, or the offering wasn't what you

needed it to be, you would leave the service fairly upset and depressed.

Now that is normal for a young minister. So I was two years into

being the youth pastor at the church and Everett and I don't know what happened

at the Wednesday night service. I just know that it was a bummer.

It was bad. And I went to bed that night and I was miserable.

Die fell asleep and I just laid there unable to sleep, exactly like

that survey said. So Finally, after about an hour and a half of

tossing and turning, I got up out of bed and I started pacing our

condo and I started having a vent gripe session with Jesus. Any of you

done that one. I'm like, Lord, this isn't fair. Why did

this happen? And I am complaining. I'm like trying everything I can.

And this is when you start saying, maybe I'm just not in the right

place, Maybe this isn't where I'm supposed to be. And I started complaining

to God, and then the Lord brought me to this passage of scripture in

First Thessalonians. Now, at this point in my life, I'd only been

saved for four or five years, and I had not read the entire Bible,

so I was not familiar with this passage. Of scripture. I think

I can honestly say at this moment it was the first time I'd ever read

first Desalonians five sixteen. So the Lord laid this verse on my heart.

I opened up my Bible. Remember, I am fully counting my bummers.

It has affected my attitude. I am about as irritated as I could possibly

be, down on myself, throwing a pity party. You fill in all

the blanks. That's where I was in that moment. And this was the

word of advice that God gave me. It said, rejoice, always,

pray, continually give thanks in all circumstances. How do you think I felt

when I read that there is nothing you want to hear less when you were

counting your bummers, then you should be joyful always Like I'm literally pacing my

condo irritated with God, saying, well, how does that help me?

I know that I should be these things, but this doesn't help me.

Did you see that service? It's stump By the way, when you've been

doing this for thirty years, you don't worry about one's service. You know

why, because there's always another Sunday next week. And just as you never

remember any of the good things I say. You also never remember all the

things I shouldn't have said. So I've learned now as a seasoned minister that

there's always next week. But I didn't know it back then, And so

I'm wrestling through this. Rejoice, always, pray, continually, give thanks

in all circumstances. And it wasn't helping. And then the Holy Spirit deposited

this one in my heart. Brandon read the next verse, for this is

God's will for you in Christ Jesus. Have you ever read the Bible.

Maybe you've read the same words over and over again, but it was just

in that moment you read something and the words leaped off the page. One

of the creeds. At Venture Churches, we believe that the Gospel changes lives,

that if you read the Bible consistently, it will transform your life from

the inside out. You can read the same things, the same stories,

over and over again, but at just the right moment, the Holy Spirit

will deposit something in your heart that will forever mold and shape you. And

it was in that moment the words for this is God's will for you in

Christ Jesus. I was twenty four years old, and like every twenty something,

the number one question I constantly had for God was Lord, what is

your will for me? What am I supposed to do with my life?

What is God's will? Am I supposed to lead a big church? And

so whenever anything difficult happens, you start saying, well, what if this

isn't the right thing? What is God's will for me? And in that

moment I have this absolute epiphany. Can I tell you right now, whether

you are fifteen or seventy five, this is God's will for you? In

Christ Jesus, be joyful, always pray, continually give thanks in all circumstances.

In other words, because you are a person that constantly counts your blessings,

that constantly steps back and doesn't focus on all of the bummers of life,

but instead focuses on all the wonderful things He's done. You are just

different than everyone else. You're different than your neighbors, You're different than your

friends. You're different than the people that on Sunday morning don't go to church

regularly. There's got to be more different about you then the fact that you

go to church occasionally on Sundays. And the biggest difference is we view everything

that happens in the world. We view all of our circumstances with a supernatural

perspective that we are able to look past all of the junk that happens in

our life and all of the challenges, and we were able to step back

and say, but God, he did this. He did that if I

look close enough, I will always see Jesus in the middle of all my

circumstances. Paul made this great statement. He said, to live is Christ,

to die is gain. Most people love the to die is Gain part

because that means our hope is heaven. When the world ends for us,

when life passes before us, we got to see Jesus. So to die

is game. But that whole to live is Christ part wasn't supposed to be

a bad thing. It's basically saying, if you were a follower of Jesus,

to live is Christ. You got to go through all of the challenges,

and you got to go through the natural parts of life. And instead

of being a person who just counts their bummers, you were able to count

your blessings. And what I realized really quickly was God's will for me wasn't

to have a huge youth ministry. His will for me was me and him.

God's will for me wasn't that I have an absolutely thriving marriage and incredible

family. Is actual will for me was me and him. His will for

me wasn't that I pastored a big church some day. His will for me

was me and him. And you know why, because I could have all

that other stuff, but if I don't have the me and Him, everything

was for loss. In the end. The only way that you were going

to ever be a person that can be joyful, always pray continually and give

thanks and in all circumstances is if Jesus is the center of your life.

And Jesus being the center of your life allows you to count your blessings.

Here's how I want to close the service. We're going to take a special

offering for one day to feed the world. We do this it's a tradition

at Venture. Once a year we take a special offering for people that need

food. We just came off of the Thanksgiving season and we gorged ourselves silly.

But there are people around the world that don't have the basic food to

eat, and so churches from around America partner together to give to one day

to feed the world. The idea is that you and I are to consider

how much do we earn in one day, and that we are then to

give that in an offering, knowing that one hundred percent of what comes in

in that offering will go to feed the hungry. So this is our opportunity

to make sure that people have food for the next month. So we partner

together with other churches and we give through our partner Convoy of Hope, so

that other people can have food. I want you to begin to pray and

to begin to ask yourself how much you want to see it in this offering.