I Choose to be Grateful

Hey, my name is Russ.

I'm so excited about today, and I want to say happy Mother's Day to you.

It breaks my heart that I can't hug every mother as they come through the doors of Church at the Grove, but we are excited to celebrate you today on Mother's Day.

We continue our series, renew today.

And it's this idea that we are in a battle.

We are in a war.

That's why we can't meet together.

But the war is not what we think it is, which is the physical issue of COVID-19.

The war is in our mind.

The battle is in our minds.

As a matter of fact, the very first week we introduced the scripture where Paul says in Romans 12, 2, he says, do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.

And so we said that, hey, we've got to we've got to fight this battle in our minds.

Paul says in other areas in Ephesians, he says, we war not against flesh and blood, but we war against the powers and the principalities that are in the air.

And so he says in his second letter to the church at Corinth, he says we've got to take captive our thoughts.

We're fighting strongholds that are in the mind, not physically.

And so the second week of the series, we wanted to give you some tools.

And the tool of the second week was to be still and know that God is with you.

You choose to be still with God.

Psalm 46, 10 says, says, I'm going to be still and know that He is God.

And so Nathan talked about this practice of being still, and he gave us some practical ideas of being in the presence of God.

James says, if we will draw near to God, he promises to come close to us.

And so this past week, we gave you another tool.

We said the tool is this, is to choose to surrender your fears to God.

You know, Paul says in his letter in Philippians 4, and we looked at that scripture last week.

He says, do not be anxious about anything, but in prayer and supplication, giving thanks and everything, let your request be made known to God.

And we talked about this idea of you speaking to your heart.

The heart sometimes can tell us things that are not true.

And so we want to speak truth to our heart.

And so that's what we talked about last week, is that we need to focus on the truth.

So this week we're looking at a different uh tool.

And it's this idea of choosing joy, choosing to be courageous, choosing in the circumstances, regardless of what they are, to trust the Lord.

See, here's the thing.

A lot of times you're gonna go through circumstances that may feel like you're suffering.

You have no control over them.

Some of you feel that way right now.

And so when we're dealing with difficult suffer circumstances, when we're dealing with suffering, we can choose one or two avenues.

You can choose to play the victim.

You see, the victim always leads to that downward spiral.

We talked about it last week.

Or you can choose the other avenue, and you can choose to see your situation as an opportunity to trust God and to see the goodness of God at work.

And so I want to encourage you to choose that avenue.

Choose to trust God, choose joy, choose the avenue where you say, hey, maybe I am struggling, maybe this is a difficult time, maybe there's physical suffering, there's financial difficulty, there's been some anxiety and there's been some fear.

But you know what?

Regardless of what it is, this is an opportunity for God to show himself and that he is good and that he is faithful.

So you're about to hear Nathan teach, and then you're gonna hear an incredible story.

But here's the interesting thing.

You know where this story comes from, where Paul writes from?

He writes from a jail cell.

He's writing from prison when he shares this.

So if anybody understands what we're talking about, it's the apostle Paul.

So as Russ mentioned this morning, we're talking about choosing to be grateful.

We're talking about joy.

And we're really looking at a letter in the Bible that a man named Paul wrote.

And as Russ talked about Paul was someone who suffered much.

In fact, he's writing this letter while in jail.

But even though he was someone that was chosen to suffer, he was someone that chose to be grateful and joyful in all circumstances.

Now, listen, you you think that somebody with the caliber and the pedigree of Paul, someone who is probably the most influential person in Christianity next to Jesus, who was the author of most of the New Testament, would have this easy-going life, this life that was just all sunshines and butterflies and rainbows, but that was definitely not Paul's story.

In fact, when he first came to know Jesus back in Acts chapter 9, this is what is told about Paul's life and what ultimately would unfold.

Acts 9 · chapter mention

It says this in verse 15, it says, But the Lord said to him, Go, talking about Paul here, for he is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel, for I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name.

Now, isn't that interesting that at the very beginning, when Paul first becomes a Christian, when he's first chosen to be sent out on this mission from God, we're told that he has been chosen to suffer greatly.

So this is Paul's story.

Paul was someone that had been threatened a number of times.

He had been stoned to death and left for dead.

He had been in this constantly, he had faced opposition and controversy.

He experienced a loss of friendship.

He was beaten with rods, he was mocked, he was flogged, he was scourged, he was shipwrecked on an island, he experienced a snake bite, he was imprisoned in Rome.

Paul's life was marked with suffering.

But even though it was marked with suffering, Paul made a deterrent decision that he was going to be joyful, that he was going to be grateful in even the worst of conditions, in the worst of circumstances.

And so Paul's call, and for our call for our lives, and the choice that we must make for our lives is that we must choose to be grateful.

Now, when we face trials, our natural reaction is to complain.

In fact, in our world and our culture today, we have made it an art form to complain about anything and everything.

Just jump on social media, and it's just everyone's opportunity to share what they think about every situation and every restaurant experience they have ever had.

And oftentimes it's in a negative way.

We complain, even right now, I'm complaining about people complaining.

Like that's just the natural tendency of our world and our culture today, is just to be people that complain.

And if we're not careful, what we tend to do is we tend to let our circumstances dictate how we feel and how we respond.

We become a victim to our circumstances.

But that's not what God intended.

God did not intend for us to be a victim to our circumstances, but rather He wanted our circumstances to provide an opportunity to experience the goodness of God.

That our experiences, the good times and the bad times that we all have in life, that those are opportunities for God to break through and move in new and exciting ways.

And so when we become people of complaints and when we are constantly complaining about the things that are happening to us, we oftentimes will fall into that victim category rather than relishing in the fact and in the knowledge that God is working and God is maybe doing a new work in this season.

Listen to how Paul said in the letter to the Philippian church, in Philippians chapter 1, starting in verse 3, he says this He says, I thank my God every time I remember you.

Philippians 1 · chapter mention

In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy.

So here he is talking to the church in Philippi, and he's telling them that he remembers them with joy, and he's praying for them in joy.

Now remember, this is while he's being locked in a prison cell in Rome.

But he says, Because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

So how and why could Paul be grateful in the midst of his circumstances?

Because he knew that God was working out a bigger plan, that God not only had started to do a work in his life, but that God was going to complete the work that he had already started.

He continues in his joy and in his praise here in verse 12.

It says in Philippians 1:12, it says, Now I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that what has happened to me has actually served to advance the gospel.

Philippians 1:12

So not only did Paul recognize that God was doing a great work and that every suffering and every trial that he experienced was God doing something behind the scenes, but he was also recognizing that it was an opportunity for the message of the gospel to be expanded, for the message to advance to a new population and to a new group of people.

Here he is in the prison in Rome, and even though he's pretty much on house arrest, he's getting to preach and to share the gospel message of Jesus to the guards that he would have never had the opportunity to share with before.

So Paul was recognizing not only that God was working something in his life, but that God was also using his sufferings and using his trials to accomplish and to uh to continue to share the message of the hope of Jesus.

And that's really where this all comes from.

Hope and joy.

Hope and joy are almost uh uh super connected.

They are they are totally uh on the same parallel.

Um you can't have hope without joy, and you can't have joy without hope.

And so Paul recognized that there was great hope in following Jesus.

In John 14, verse 1, he says, uh Jesus is talking here and it says, Do not let your hearts be troubled.

John 14:1

You believe in God, believe also in me.

My father's house has many rooms.

If that were not so, would I have not told you that I am going to prepare a place for you?

And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me, that you also may be where I am.

So there was a hope of what was to come, that there was an eternity waiting for Paul and for us today.

In Revelation chapter 21, verse 5, God declares that He's making all things new.

Revelation 21:5

And so we can have joy even in the midst of difficult seasons and trials and life and suffering, because we have hope in what is to come.

We have hope in what awaits us in eternity.

We have hope in knowing that God is redeeming and working and making all things new.

We have hope that He has gone to prepare a place for us.

So even in the midst of dire circumstances, even in the midst of deadly viruses, even in the midst of financial collapse and ruin, we can have hope which ultimately leads to joy.

These promises we hold on to and they become the hope which leads to our everlasting joy.

See, here's the thing about joy.

Joy is not conditional, but it's positional.

Joy is not conditional, but it's positional.

It's not about your condition of life and the circumstances that you're going through, but rather it's about the position that you find yourself in.

And when we know Jesus as our Lord and Savior, then because of the new identity that we have been given, because of the new position that we now occupy, we can have joy even in the midst of difficult circumstances.

So sometimes, in order to not view, let our circumstances determine how we view life, we've got to get a different perspective.

I love what Paul writes, not in the letter to the Philippians, but instead to the Thessalonica.

Uh he writes in verse uh chapter 5, verse 16 through 18, he says, Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.

So what is our what is God's will for our lives?

His will for our lives is not for us to be people of criticism, it's not to be people that are always looking down, it's not to be the eeures of life, but rather to rejoice always, to be to be grateful in all circumstances, to pray all the time, to pray continually.

This is what God's will is for our lives.

And this is where true freedom is found.

When our thoughts begin to spiral downward, when the spiritual battle is attacking us, when we're told that we need to be critical rather than be grateful, this is where true freedom is found.

When we decide, we choose to be grateful.

In fact, the word grateful actually comes from the word gratis, which means free.

And so when we have a grateful heart, we have a heart that is free.

When we have an ungrateful heart, we have a heart that is bound.

So we must choose in this season and in every season of life, we must choose to consciously be grateful in all circumstances of life.

Now we're gonna hear a story of someone in our church that's going through trying circumstances in her life right now, but she's choosing in the midst of the difficult circumstances to be grateful.

I'm Tim Rogers.

I'm Ingrid Rogers, and we're members here at Church of the Grove, and we have been for, I guess, about three years now, three and a half years.

Um, we actually knew the butcher family um way back when Russ was at North Star, and we had moved to Texas, then we moved back to the Loganville area, and um, so it's easy for us to find a church home.

We have three children Harrison, who's seven, Emmeline, who's four, and Darcy, who is nine months.

And we are expecting again in June with another girl.

Um, when our third child was three months old, we found out that we were expecting again, which was um quite a shock.

Um but we really felt God was telling us that He has four children for our family, and that this child is meant to be here.

So um, fast forward a little.

We did find out it was another girl, uh, which was another shock to have three girls, and um and fast forward again to our anatomy scan.

Uh, we were taken by surprise when we found out that um she wasn't 100% okay.

Um we had our ultrasound done and we sat down in the room with a midwife, and she said to us, um, overall, your daughter looks good.

But and what came after that butt was my mind was racing.

What was she gonna say?

Um, a lot of fear set in, and she explained to us that the ventricles in her brain are enlarged, and um, this can or cannot be diagnosed as something called hydroscephalus, and she probably needs surgery as soon as she's born to place a shunt to help the fluid drain correctly.

And um, she kind of set up what our next steps were and meeting with a specialist um and getting a better ultrasound done.

Um, so we did have that done, and he did confirm that yes, this is hydrocephalus, and um look there's not a lot they can tell us about her development because we won't really know until she's developing outside the womb.

But he said it could be she could be totally fine or she could be um someone who can't walk or can't feed themselves the rest of their life and is completely dependent, um, which is a wide range, but she um will need surgery, and so our next step was to get a fetal MRI done.

So we had the fetal MRI done, and um the radiologist went over the scans with us right after and confirmed again everything that we kept hearing, and um the pictures were a little clearer, so she was able to tell us that her hydrocephalus is considered severe and that her prognosis was not good.

And this was, you know, it's very upsetting to hear that your child um is not perfect, and um through all this, you know, of course we prayed a lot, and we really felt this overwhelming peace come over us, and the Lord telling us, don't be scared, don't fear.

Um she's my child, she is in perfect hands, and she's exactly how I want her to be.

And as the radiologist was talking to us, Tim and I were just kind of sitting there frozen, listening to her, and I think she was a little shocked that we weren't in tears.

And when we got back to the car, Tim said to me, he said, when she was talking and telling us these results, I just felt this overwhelming peace come over me.

And I really felt like God was saying, You can listen to her, but you need to trust me.

And I told him that I felt the exact same thing, and um, which you know, when that happens to two people, it really solidifies the presence of the Lord in that room and the fact that he does have this, and that we don't need to fear, and that we need to find the joy in this, that this child is going to be a testimony of God's work, and um, so we really leaned on that and have chosen that we're not gonna be, you know, this isn't gonna tear us down, this isn't gonna make us sad, this is we have to find the joy in this, and we have to find the positives.

And I remember just throughout all this, I've had this weird feeling, like just this joy and this positivity, and uh something that you normally wouldn't feel when you hear this kind of news.

And I remember telling Tim, I can't wait to see what she does.

I can't wait to see how God works in her.

I can't wait to hear her testimony, and I can't wait to see how she impacts other people.

And um, so our next step was to meet with the neurosurgeon at Children's.

Um, so we met with him and um he went over that she will indeed need surgery.

There, it could be for a shunt, but it could be something called a third vent third endoscopic, third ventriculostomy, um, which is a riskier surgery but a better outcome.

Um, so we are praying that she's a candidate for that.

Um that he was just meeting with him was very encouraging because he's not basing everything off of data and numbers and studies, but off of what he's really seen.

And he's told us that if she's gonna have hydrocephalus, this is the best kind to have, um, and that he thinks her prognosis is good.

So um it was really encouraging to hear him, and again, just brought more joy to us that you know, not everybody's giving us bad news.

Um so we have and in fact he did say this is probably the best news that you've gotten so far because everything leading up to that point with the radiologists and everything else, of course, they're giving you the worst possible scenario that you could ever imagine.

So everything we had heard up until that point was was very, very um hard to hear.

You know, we um like Ingrid was saying, that a lot of of of what we were doing was, you know, really putting our faith in God, and we really felt like that meeting with uh with the surgeon was a huge um godsend for us.

Um so we did end up um getting connected with a a mom who had actually she's done this seven years ago, um, and her story is very similar to ours, including the size of the ventricles and everything.

Um, and so I'm very thankful that we got set up with her just for encouragement for someone who's walked through this.

Again, it's not just a study or data, but it's a personal experience, and that's been very encouraging.

And um she had told me how she switched doctors so that she could deliver at Northside in Atlanta so that she um would be closer to children's health care.

So we have actually done the same thing.

Um I was supposed to deliver in Athens, but now we're delivering in Atlanta in order to be closer um to the children's hospital because she will be transferred probably same day or next day.

Um and I will have to have a C-section, which is new to me as well, um, and I'll have to stay in the hospital longer.

So um we really feel like um that God has kind of placed people in our path to encourage us and to keep us um joyful in this and to not worry and fear, but just reminders here and there that he's he's got this.

Don't worry, don't you don't need to be scared.

I've formed her exactly how I want to form her, and I have a story ready for her, and this is part of it.

And so we do have a scheduled C-section on June 17th, which is when I'll be 39 weeks.

Um, and due to all the COVID um things going on, we um aren't really sure what that day's gonna hold as far as restrictions on the hospital and restrictions on us going back and forth to see her, and um but we are choosing not to fear, we're choosing not to worry about this because God has given us no reason to worry through this whole thing.

And I know that a lot of us are going through a lot right now, whether it's through pregnancies or losing a job or struggling financially, and my encouragement to you would be just to choose joy and don't fear.

If we choose joy and amidst the pain and the suffering and the sorrow, it's amazing to see what God does and how God works and really what he has for us.

So I would just encourage you to open your hearts and be willing to let God in and show you that joy that he has for you.

Wow.

What an incredible story.

What I love about Ingrid to Tim the most is the part where they talked about the influence of their relationship with Jesus on their circumstances.

And that is the most important part.

And I want to encourage you, if you've never trusted Jesus, the same Jesus that has given them strength in the midst of their story, can come and change your story right now.

So I want to encourage you.

We say at Church at the Grove that turning to follow Jesus is as simple as ABC.

You admit that you need a rescuer, you admit that you're a sinner, broken, in need of a savior, and then you believe and you trust in what Jesus has provided in his life and his death and his resurrection, and you confess Jesus as the Lord of your life.

That confession is what gives Tim and Ingram strength and hope in the midst of their story and their circumstances.

And so I want to encourage you, maybe you're somebody who wants to take your first step to follow Jesus today.

And here's what I want you to do is I'm gonna pray for you in a second.

And after I pray, I'm gonna ask you to text us 9700.

Start to follow.

Text the one word, no spaces, start to follow to 9700.

But here's the prayer.

It would be something like this.

It doesn't have to be the exact words, but dear Jesus, I come to you right now, admitting that I need a Savior, I need a rescuer.

And I want you to come and live inside of me.

I believe and trust in what you provided in your life and your death and your resurrection to be sufficient and to be enough to save me and to give me eternal life, to give me a relationship with my Heavenly Father.

And I confess you as my Lord.

And so you can join with Tim and Ingrid and so many others who have professed Jesus as Lord and Savior and received the same strength, the same encouragement, the same hope, the same courage and the same joy that they just shared in their story.

But here's something else I want us to do before we close.

Because of COVID-19, we can't gather physically and lay hands on Tim and Ingrid and on this little girl that they're about to have.

And so I want to pray right now.

Right now.

They had requested the elders of the church to come and pray over them and pray over this baby girl.

And so I want you to do something.

This may seem a little bit weird, but I'm gonna ask you to stretch your hand out to your screen, whether it's a computer, a tablet, a phone, or a television.

And I just want you to, in a sense, put your hands forward to pray over this baby girl that Ingrid is carrying, and pray for Tim and Ingrid as they continue this journey.

So would you pray for me?

Pray with me for them.

Heavenly Father, we pray for this baby girl.

We pray for healing in her body, her physical body.

We know that you are Jehovah Rafa.

You have the ability to heal with just your touch.

But we also pray for every doctor, every nurse, every physician that is giving care.

Lord, that you would watch over them, watch over the delivery, watch over the surgery.

And Lord, we pray for healing.

We pray for a miracle.

We pray for a testimony and a story that will be that will be talked about for years and years for her entire life.

And I pray that you would encourage Tim and Ingrid to give that, continue to give them strength and joy in the story that they're continuing to live out.

Father, we ask that you would do a miracle.

In Jesus' name we pray.

Amen.