Give Thanks | Todd Jones

Welcome this morning. So glad that you are here.

Welcome to those of you online, from wherever

it is you find yourself watching. We are so glad

that you're with us this morning. Several years

ago, when my kids were little, I had my oldest

were about four and my youngest was two, and

we were at home and we heard the sound of doors

slamming throughout the house. Now, if you're

a parent of young kids, you know this is a sound

you do not want to hear because little fingers

and doors are not a good combination. And so

we're hearing the sounding of doors slamming,

and then all of a sudden we hear a blood -curdling

scream of a finger that got caught in a door.

And yes, it got slammed in the door. Not the

door side, the hinge side. Oh, yeah, yeah, like

smashed, like bone, blood, like things you don't

want to hear about when you come to church, right?

Like some of you are already like lightheaded

right now. Yeah, so slammed. We're like, we got

to take her to the emergency room. And so I got

the other, the girls together and we were like,

man, this is really bad. My wife was going to

take her to the emergency room and I was going

to stay with the other two. And before they left,

I said, we need to pray. for your sister right

now. Like, this isn't good. And so I prayed first

and we prayed for her finger. We prayed for the

doctors. We prayed for the pain. We prayed that

everything would be okay. And then I said, well,

would one of you like to pray? I just kind of

showed exactly what this type of prayer would

look like. And my two -year -old, she volunteered

to pray. She was the culprit, by the way. And

she volunteered to pray for her sister in this

moment. And it was so special. She was going

to pray for her sister. She's hurting and she

prays and she says, dear God, thank you for this

day. Thank you for this food, amen. And that

was her prayer, man. But here's the thing. I

think that for a lot of us, we get caught in

routines when it comes to our prayer life. We

get caught in routines of saying the same things

and doing the same things, and we get stuck in

these routines. And I know for me, when I'm getting

stressed out, it's like, man, I know right away,

I'm gonna go, okay, God, I trust you, and I'm

gonna turn it over to him there. All right, I

know when I need something, then I'm gonna go,

okay, God, I need something now. Life's getting

hard. I'm gonna ask for this right now. All right,

I'm not gonna tune into them before that, but

when things get hard, that's what I'm gonna turn

to. All right, we know that when the food is

set in front of us, that's our cue then to thank

God for the food. But I think a lot of times

we just fall into these routines, especially

when it comes to prayer. And I think that when

we get stuck in these routines, we limit ourself

from experiencing the full joy of prayer. If

you've been with us over the last couple of weeks,

we've been talking through this idea of prayer.

And the first week we looked at what prayer is.

Prayer is watering the seeds that God has planted

in your life. Our prayer is the water that allows

the seeds that God has planted in our life to

grow. If you were here the next week, we talked

about going through winter seasons where we do

not see growth, where we do not see any new life.

We don't see anything good. And we go, God, where

are you in the middle of this? And really we

learned that that through these winter seasons,

prayer is an invitation to sit at the table with

God, to talk with him in the midst of these seasons.

We learn that prayer is plugging into the power

source. And through our prayers can be powerful

because we are plugged into the power source

that is God. He is the source of power. Therefore,

when we pray, we are tapping into that source.

And then last week we learned that prayer is

declaring war. These daily bread prayers that

we have is declaring war on the lies that the

enemy is telling us. We have an offensive weapon

in prayer to go, that's not true because God

says this and we have a prayer that we can pray

that combats the lies of the enemy. And we've

learned about prayer. And for a lot of you, I

think you would go, okay, I've learned a lot

and that's great. But you're still going, my

prayer life could improve. And I think the bottom

line comes to this is what we started this whole

collection with is you can learn all you want,

but the bottom line is that you have to do it.

If you wanna improve at prayer, you have to pray.

You have to actually get down to praying and

doing it. What prayer is, is prayer is entering

into the presence of God. We have an invitation

to enter into the presence of God. And that's

what prayer is. So here's what the scripture

says. about how to enter into the presence of

God. It says in Psalm 100, verse one, shout for

joy to the Lord, all the earth. Shout for joy

to the Lord. And then a couple of verses later,

it says this, enter his gates, right? If prayer's

entering into the presence of the Lord, then

it says this, enter his gates with thanksgiving

and into his courts with praise. Give thanks

to him and praise his name. I enter into prayer,

into the presence of God with prayers of thanksgiving,

with prayers of celebration, with prayers of

praise to him because God has given us what we

have and therefore we are to enter his presence

with praise. And when we enter God's presence

with praise and thanksgiving, it does something

to us. A couple of weeks ago, We had our winter

camp for our youth, our middle schoolers and

high schoolers. We took them to winter camp.

We got some of them in here. They're pumped about

it. It was an incredible time. We had so much

fun at camp. And I could spend the entire morning

just telling you stories from camp. But we get

to camp and it's the very first night. It's Friday

night and we had chapel. And so we did our chapel

session. And then after that, we go into our

cabin time. And as we head to our cabin time,

we finished up and I get to lead the freshman

boys group. And for some of you are like, why

are you leading a group? Well, I'm leading a

group because we didn't have enough adults to

step in and to lead. I'm just gonna leave that

there. You can do with it what you want, but

that's all I'm gonna say about it, okay? And

so I'm leading these freshman boys and we get

done with our first night of discussion and we're

kind of out on the porch and Pastor Austin walks

by and he looks a little distraught and he's

on the phone and he hangs up the phone and I

go, hey, is everything okay? And he goes, well,

I just got the call that the girls, the junior

senior girls cabin down the way, they found mice

in their cabin so they have to move cabins. And

he's like, so we're going to have to move all

their stuff right now. If you guys want to come

help, that's fine. I said, okay. So I go into

my guys, to my freshman boys. And I say, hey,

the junior senior girls need help. All they heard

was junior senior girls. And they said, yes,

we're in. What do I need to do? Like, we need

to go help them. And so they're like, okay, let's

go. And so I go to help them. And the boys were

coming a little behind me. And I'm not kidding

when I tell you, I smelled them before I saw

them. Like literally, they had like two bottles

worth of cologne on as they come walking out.

And as they walk past me, they have the audacity

then with two bottles of cologne on them to stop

and go, hey, Todd, do I smell okay? I'm like,

bro, you smell like the cologne factory blew

up on you. I don't know if that's okay or not,

but that's what you smell like. And they're like,

okay, good. This is what we're going for. I'm

like, all right, bold choice, but okay, right?

And so they go, and man, they're doing everything

they can for the girls. They're like, let me

grab your bags. Let me grab more bags. What else

can I do for you, right? And then these boys

are like, okay, I get this. This is my opportunity,

right? And they start trying to talk to these

girls as they're carrying their bag. Anything

else I can do for you, ma 'am, right? And so

we get there. get them in their new cabin, set

them up. And these boys, two of them may be sitting

somewhere in this area right here right now.

And two of these boys, they get there and they

write their phone number in the dirt in front

of their cabin. And they're like, call me, call

me, right? I'm like, bro, don't hold your breath.

It ain't happening, right? Like it's not happening

right now. We don't need to point at them. They're

already red. But so here's the thing. The rest

of the camp, these boys. thought that this was

an invitation to flirt with the junior senior

girls, right? They're like, I got an in already.

Like I helped them, right? And so I watched this.

And the funny part is, is the junior senior girls

were like, no, not happening, right? But did

it stop them? Absolutely not. And so the freshman

boys are like, okay, here we go. The thing is,

there was a couple of them that did have a little

bit of game. I'm not gonna lie. Like they had

a little bit of game. And so I would see these

freshman boys coming to these junior, senior

girls and I would be standing there waiting for

it going, okay, here it comes. And the junior,

senior girls are like, nope, not happening. And

they would come up and they would start right

away and they go, hey, that's the most beautiful

sweatshirt I've ever seen in my life. And then

they would proceed with what they were gonna

say. And I watched this happen knowing the junior,

senior girls were like, uh -uh. But when they

disarmed them with the compliment, it changed

the conversation. They were a little more receptive.

They were like, okay. Okay, right, the answer

was still no, but they were willing to listen

a little bit more. See, when we enter into God's

presence with thanksgiving, it doesn't change

God, right? You're not buttering up God. God,

thank you, now give me my Lamborghini, right?

That's not how it works. But when you enter in

God's presence with thanksgiving, it does not

change God, it changes you. It changes your heart.

What prayers of thanksgiving, what prayers of

celebration does is it trains your heart. It

trains your heart. It recalibrates your heart.

And I don't know about you, but I need recalibration

of my heart often. The Bible says our heart is

desperately wicked. And we need to recalibrate

our heart. And what prayers of thanksgiving or

prayers of celebration do is it recalibrates

our heart as we go into the presence of the Lord.

Now, how does it recalibrate our heart? If you're

taking notes, the first thing is this, is it

shifts the spotlight. It shifts the spotlight.

All right, thanksgiving and prayers of thanksgiving

doesn't deny hardship in your life. It just refuses

to let hardship be the loudest voice in your

life. It's not just happy talk. When you go into

God's presence with thanksgiving, God, thank

you for what you've done for me. God, I wanna

thank you for this. It does not take away from

the fact that life is hard. Like life is hard.

It does not take away from the fact that things

are difficult. Hardship does exist and it's not

easy. But what thanksgiving does is it does not

let it drag you into its dark hole. Because we

live in a culture that says if things are hard

and things are bad, that's all you can focus

on. And you need to just find yourself in this

cave of depression because that's all you can

see. And what we find in scripture is that yes,

bad things happen, but they also exist with a

good God. Both can be true. And what Thanksgiving

does is it declares war, right? If you were here

last week, it's pulling that card out that declares

war and says, no, I will not allow my circumstance,

I will not allow the difficulty in my life to

drag me into the hole that it wants to because

I declare war knowing that God is still good.

And what prayers of Thanksgiving do is it trains

our heart to shift the spotlight. It's not highlighting

all the stuff we don't wanna deal with. Say,

man, I want to focus on the right things. It's

reorienting our focus. Say, I'm just going to

shift my focus a little bit. And what it does

is it moves the burden. It moves the burden from

us to him. You don't have to shoulder it on your

own. When you're entering into prayers of thanksgiving

and prayers of celebration to God, you're allowing

him to shoulder the burden with you. You're giving

it to him. You don't have to deal with all the

struggles on your own. It shifts the focus. It

shifts the spotlight. Next is this, is it humbles

us. Prayers of thanksgiving and praise humble

us. Some of you guys came to church just for

this today and you didn't know that and you're

not gonna like it. But I gotta tell you this,

it's not all about you. Some of you are like,

what? No, yes it is. You don't like that. But

the truth is, is it's not all about you. And

what prayers of thanksgiving does is it humbles

us because we often see everything we have through

a wrong lens and we think it's a result of us,

not him. Oh, I earned it. That's my car because

I earned it. That's my house. That's my accomplishment.

That's my job. That's all a result of me because

what I have done. What prayers of thanksgiving

does is it allows us to be humbled to realize

that everything you have isn't because you worked

hard, isn't because you earned it, isn't because

of what you did. I had the privilege at our camp

to be the speaker for the weekend, which means

I delivered six messages in about a 65 -hour

span. And so I knew going into the camp that

some of my messages were good, some of them were

pretty awful. And I was like, let's just see.

how this goes. And so one of the days I'm at

camp and Pastor David shows up. Pastor David

was doing his thing behind the camera. He's a

ninja when it comes to camera and video and all

that kind of stuff. And so he's doing his thing.

And Pastor David is also one of my best friends.

And so he comes up to me and he's like, say,

so how has it been going when it comes to the

messages and speaking and everything this weekend?

And I told him, I said, I think it's been okay

so far, but I know coming up the next message

I have, it really stinks. Like it's not a good

one. And I'm pretty nervous for how this evening's

gonna go because I know my message is not good.

I don't think it's going to go over well. And

I don't think it's going to be successful. I

just don't think it's a good message. And Pastor

David, in Pastor David fashion, if you know him,

this is very much on brand for him. He looks

at me and he goes, well, good thing success isn't

determined by what you do. And he walks away.

I was like, thanks, bro. You could have just

punched me in the face, right? Like, sweet. But

he's like, it's not about you. It reminds me

of the Dominicans. I've gone to the Dominican

three times in the last year. And anytime you're

with the Dominicans at a church service and you

share something as a compliment to them, every

time their response is this, glory to God. It's

like compliments just bounce off of them to God.

They're like, nope, glory to God. It's not about

us. And you need to understand that when we go

to God in thanksgiving, what we do is we're humbling

ourself. All right, we're humbling ourself. Oh

God, thank you for this. Thank you for what you've

given me in my life. Thank you for this blessing.

Thank you for all. And what you're saying is

I needed you for this. It wasn't me. And the

way that it reorients our heart, the way that

it shifts our focus is that it realizes that

it humbles us. It reminds us that you didn't

earn all of this. It's because of him. All right,

next is this, is it shifts us from consumer to

worshiper. It shifts us from consumer to worshiper.

And a consumer asks this, what am I getting?

Is this meeting my needs? Am I satisfied with

whatever it is that I've come to? And if I gotta

be honest, some of you, that's how you walk into

church. Is this meeting my needs? Is this what

I wanted? Some of you already, as soon as I walked

out, you're like, oh my gosh, that's the bald

guy today. I didn't want the bald guy. I wanted

the older gray -haired guy. Yes, I did say that.

You can tell him I said that. Way older than

me, all right? You can tell him I said that.

All right, but some of you, that's your attitude

when it comes to church is you're just evaluating,

did it meet my needs? I don't like this. They

didn't sing the song I want. I'm going to another

church. I'm out of here. Like you come in with

a posture of being a consumer instead of being

a worshiper. And a lot of times we approach God

in prayer in the same manner. We approach God

in prayer as a consumer going, God, did you fulfill

what I wanted? Did you give me what I wanted,

God? The big giant Santa Claus in the sky, you

didn't do what I wanted. And we approach him

like that instead of a worshiper. A worshiper

asks, man, who is God? What has he done and how

do I respond to what he has done? And the shift

from consumer to worshiper is a shift from evaluation

to adoration. It's not just evaluating. Some

of you have an evaluation list to God. How'd

you do today, God? Did you meet my needs? Check.

Who are you to tell God whether or not he met

your needs? The shift is from us being an evaluator,

right? It's from evaluation to adoration. A couple

of years ago. I finally said yes to an invitation

that I had been given many, many, many times.

And over the years, I just wasn't ready for it.

I wasn't ready. I'm not ready yet. I'm not ready

yet. I'm not ready yet. But I finally said yes

to playing slow pitch softball. And I was like,

you know what? I've been removed enough from

playing. And so I can just play. slow -pitch

softball. And I was kind of excited because my

daughters had heard stories, but they'd never

actually seen me play a game that involved a

bat, a ball, and a glove. And so I'm like, they're

going to get an opportunity to see me play, right?

I'm going to make them proud. It's not quite

the same game that I'm used to. In fact, I learned

that very quickly when I got to my first at -bat,

and I was like, I'm going to hit this ball like

10 miles. And it went like eight feet. And I

was like, oh, this game is not the same. But

I got through the game and man, I made a couple

of plays. I did some stuff and I was so excited

because as I walked off the field, I knew my

daughters were gonna be so excited to come to

me and to tell me how great I did. And I had

proved to them that I was worth them loving me.

And as I walked off, they ran up and they gave

me a huge hug and it felt so good. And I'm like,

did you see what I did? Did you see all that

stuff? And they're like, dad, when does the game

start? And I was like, well, the game's over.

What do you mean? And they're like, oh, we didn't

know. We were just playing with chalk over here

the whole time. And I'm like, so you didn't see

any of that. Why did you come give me a hug then?

And they're like, because you're our dad. Because

it doesn't matter what you do. I still love you.

I think sometimes we go, okay, God, if you meet

my needs, if you give me what I want, then I'll

worship you, God. And he's going, no, I am your

father. I have created you. I loved you. You

are even breathing because of me. It has nothing

to do. And a lot of times we show up with a valuation

instead of adoration, but the shift. when we

allow ourself to come to him in a posture of

celebration, a posture of thanksgiving, a posture

of gratitude, it moves God in our life from vendor

to king. And it allows us to embrace this idea

of gratitude and gratitude turns us from entitlement

to awe. It shifts our heart. Next is this, is

it forms trust. It forms trust. It forms trust

because when we thank God for what he has done,

we understand that if God has done it in the

past, then I can trust he can do it again in

the future. If you're going through something,

a lot of times remembering the fact that God

has got you through it will help you get through

whatever it is you're going through. A couple

of days ago, I was driving with my wife and I

think there's two types of people in. The world,

there's those that have a sense of direction

to know if I've been somewhere one time, I can

get back there again. I know how to do it. And

then there's other type of people in the world

that have no clue where they are at all times,

right? And they need directions everywhere they

go. And they're like, I don't know how to get

there. I don't even know where I'm at. And I

firmly believe that those two types of people

marry each other, right? And I think my wife

still had to use directions to get here this

morning. So I'll just, that's just to tell you

which one she is. And so I'm driving with her

the other day and we get to this road and the

road is closed in front of us. And the road is

how we get home, but the road is closed. And

so immediately I turn and I take a couple of

side streets and I turn here, turn there, turn

this place. And I get us to exactly where we

needed to go by skipping the road that was closed.

And she looks at me and she's like, how did you

do that? And I was like, cause I am amazing.

That's how I did that. But three days before

that, that road was closed and I did the same

thing, but I turned and I hit like five dead

ends and I was like, I don't know how to get

out of here. And I figured it out. And so I knew

where to go. You know why? Because my past experience

helped my present problem. And see, when you

go to God and you go, God, thank you for what

you have done. I'm gonna remember your faithfulness.

I'm gonna remember your goodness. I'm gonna remember

what you have done. Your past allows you to be

ready for your present. Your past experience

gives you present confidence and God's faithfulness

in the past gives you hope for now. And what

it does to our hearts is it puts us in a place

where it forms trust with God because we remember,

God, thank you for this. God, I'm celebrating

what you've done. God, I'm giving you gratitude

and you're positioning yourself to trust him

more and more knowing that if he did it, he can

do it. So what should we celebrate? If celebration

changes our hearts, if thankfulness, if prayers

of thanksgiving changes our hearts, then how

should we celebrate? First is this, is we need

to celebrate God himself. Celebrate God himself.

God, you are so good. It says in Psalm 107 .1,

give thanks to the Lord for he is good. His love

endures forever. In my prayer times, I set aside

time in the beginning to literally just list

out who God is. God, thank you for who you are.

Thank you for what you have done. Not even talking

about me or my life or anything, but just who

God is. God is everlasting. God is all -knowing.

God is all -powerful. God is all -loving. God

is merciful. God is patient. God is sovereign.

God is unchanging. This is the God that we serve.

This is who he is. And when we put ourself in

a place where we can celebrate God for who he

is, it reminds us to keep the right order in

our life because we are none of those things.

We are none of those things. And it allows us

to remember our need for him and it postures

us in a way to go, okay, God, I'm just starting

by telling you who you are. By declaring who

you are, by praising who you are and your characteristics.

We need to celebrate God himself. Next is this,

is we need to celebrate the people God has put

in our life. God has put specific people in your

life. In fact, it's not by accident that any

of the people around you are around you. The

people that you see, the people that you interact

with, the people that are around you in your

daily life are there because God has put them

there. That's who he's arranged for you to interact

with. It says in 1 Thessalonians 1, 2, it says,

we always thank God for all of you and continually

mention you in our prayers. We're always thanking

God for the people in our life. The people that

are around you are an opportunity for you to

thank God for them. But specifically this, in

verse 3, it continues, and it says, we remember

before our God and Father, this is what we're

thanking him for. Your work produced by faith,

your labor prompted by love, and your endurance

inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. All

right, you're thanking God for what the people

in your life are doing for God because God uses

people to accomplish his mission. We have an

example of people in our life that God uses,

clear example that we can go, man, according

to this, I wanna thank God for them because these

are people that have labored. in love. These

are people that have worked by faith, right?

These are people that have endured by hope. Like,

listen, we have such an opportunity in our life

to thank God for people that have labored in

love, that have showed up in faith. I think of

Pastor John. And we are so blessed to have a

lead pastor that says, because of my faith, that

is what I work in. That is what I work through.

I work by faith. faith. And sure, a lot of you,

you come and you hear him preach and you see

him on a weekend and you're like, either you

liked it, you didn't, whatever, right? You came

in as an evaluator. I don't know what you thought,

but you see him here. I get to see him off the

stage. And church, I can't tell you how grateful

we as a church should be that we have a lead

pastor that is not making things just about him,

but about moving God's mission forward, right?

That is willing to go, hey, I'm working by faith

and my faith guides everything I do. That's an

opportunity to thank God for the people in your

life. I think of thanking God for the people

in our life that labor with love, that labor

with love. I don't think of a clearer example

than Nathan who runs our recovery ministry. A

ministry where people come in and they are down

and out, man. People that come in and they are

broken. People that are in the darkest, hardest

part of their life going, I don't know how I'm

gonna move forward. And he says, I'm going to

love you because it is a labor of love. When

they relapse and he goes, hey, I'm gonna show

up again because it is a labor of love. I think

of our kids in youth ministry. I think of our

kids in youth ministry. Listen, if you don't

think it's a labor of love, you haven't smelled

a middle school boy's room at camp. I'm just

telling you, that's a labor of love. I had in

our kids ministry. We had a record, right? We

had like three or four weeks in a row going right

now where a kid did not quite make it to the

restroom before they. did what they were gonna

do. Four weeks in a row, we were like, this is

amazing. We've continued to go this long, right?

I'll spare you the details, but it was unpleasant.

It's the labor of love. We have an opportunity

to thank God for people that are laboring in

love. We have an opportunity to thank God for

people that have endured by hope, endurance by

hope. I have hope in Jesus, so I'm gonna endure.

I think of Pastor Bob. Pastor Bob has been on

staff at Heights for 20 years. 20 years. Those

of you that are clapping, you understand why

that's a big deal. It's because he's dealt with

you for 20 years. He's endured. I'm going to

have endurance because of the hope that I have.

And this is who I'm thanking God for. You have

people in your life that you get to thank God

for. And here's the cool thing is that when people

are on mission, when they're living on kingdom

mission in their life, the world sees it. It

says in Romans 1 verse 8, first, I thank my God

Romans 1:8

through Jesus Christ for all of you because of

your faith is being reported all over the world,

spreading all over the world. We thank God for

the people in our life. And last is this, is

we thank God for the blessings in your life.

You are blessed. You are so blessed. It says

in James 1, verse 17, every good and perfect

James 1:17

gift is from above, coming down from the Father

of heavenly lights, who does not change like

shifting shadows. Every good thing you have.

All right, every good thing you have. Every time

you start your car, it should be a reminder to

thank God for the blessings in your life. Every

time you wash your hands and have running water,

it should be a reminder to thank God for the

blessings in your life. Every time you put your

shoes on, every time you flip on the air conditioning,

you flip on the heater, you put a jacket on,

you breathe air. It should be a reminder in your

life to say, God, thank you for the blessings

that I have. You are so, so blessed. But I recognize

this. I recognize that some people came in here

today and maybe you came in going, I don't really

have anything to be thankful for. I don't have

any blessings in my life and I don't really feel

like celebrating. What if it feels like you just

don't have anything to celebrate? And I get that.

Here's what it says in Philippians 4 .4. It says,

rejoice in the Lord always. I'll say it again.

Rejoice. And it's always. It's not just when

things feel good. It's not when things are just

easy. It says rejoice in the Lord always. It's

not a suggestion, it's a command. Our head baseball

coach over at Embry -Riddle that I have the privilege

of coaching under his leadership over there,

he tells our guys this, when things are tough,

when things aren't going the way that maybe we

had hoped for. He'll say, the sun will rise tomorrow.

And he tells them this. He says, I've yet to

live a day that the sun didn't rise. And you

know what that is? That's a reminder of God's

faithfulness. His mercies are new every single

day. And the sun will rise every single day.

And I've yet to live a day that the sun didn't

rise because God is good. You have something

to be thankful for. You have something to celebrate

God for who he is, even in the midst of our difficulty,

even in the midst of our pain, even in the midst

of when things aren't going how you wanted them

to go, we have reason to celebrate. And church,

I know this, whether you believe this or not,

we have opportunity and reason to celebrate the

good news that is the gospel. Whether you walked

in today and you do not believe this, It does

not change the fact that it is true. Whether

you have believed this sometime in your life

or you believe it now, it is still true. And

the truth is this, is that God sent his son,

Jesus, to die on a cross for you because of love.

He sent his son because you and I cannot make

a way to God on our own. He sent Jesus to pay

the price that you could not pay, which is the

penalty for your sin. And Jesus went to a cross

and he paid the penalty for your sin so that

you could have a relationship with God. That

is the good news. That is the gospel. And that

is worth celebrating. We have an opportunity

to celebrate. And so I just want to give you

an opportunity to celebrate. And for some of

you, celebration sounds weird because you're

not in a place to celebrate. But it's as easy

as saying, God, thank you. It's thanking God

for who he is. It's thanking God for the people

in your life. It's thanking God for what he's

blessed you with. So I'm gonna give you just

a couple moments to celebrate, just to pray on

your own, just you and God. to thank him for

the blessing he's given you. Thank him for who

he is. Thank him for the people in your life.

And then I'll come back out and we're gonna celebrate

through baptism, through celebration weekend.

But right now, just you and God, thank God. Just

thank God right now. Lord, we thank you. God,

we just come before you with gratitude. We thank

you for who you are, God, that you are good,

that you are loving, that you are all powerful.

God, we thank you for the blessings in our life.

We thank you that you allow us to celebrate.

And God, we thank you for the life change that

we will celebrate as a church. We pray this in

your name.