How to Be Thankful IN Your Circumstances // Russ

I got a couple things I want to hit on

real quick. First of all, for all of you

who had every excuse in the book to stay

at home and yet are here right now, can

we give ourselves a round of applause?

This is a big deal.

I believe I believe the church

experience is something that I'm so glad

that we get to communicate online, but

it's different in person, right? And so

for those of you who were not able to

make it, I totally get it. You got all

the grace, but man, I'm so grateful that

you joined us online today, uh,

seriously, there's a special blessing of

being together as the body of Christ.

And I'm so grateful for those of you who

trudged through the snow, survived the

ice and the roads and the cold and the

wind and we could just keep it going,

right? Like we could go for a little bit

with this. Oh man, for real. Thank you

guys. Uh I want to highlight

specifically our setup tearown team and

uh and and Russ came in here early. He

was helping us shovel, make sure that we

could move it in. Can we give a hand for

Russ to the setup tear down team? Let's

go.

So, last week we had our faith offering

and we had a bigger goal than we ever

had. If you don't know what the faith

offering is, if this is your first week,

this is it's my favorite offering. It's

my favorite opportunity of the whole

year because we give to local, global,

and future causes. It's beyond

ourselves. And we were able in one

Sunday and one weekend, we raised

$33,000.

$363,

which means we are 1,640,

if I got that right, $637

short.

I wanna I want to invite us. I want to

invite us. If you today the g the the

the the random dollars and stuff like

that that's just going into general our

faith offering is done. But if you want

to if you want to close this thing out

and get us back and get us all the way

up to that 35,000. What that's going to

do is that's going to allow for our full

gift to be able to be given to all of

our uh our project uh partners that we

have all around the world for church

planting, for college ministry, for

helping with those in need, for those

who just lost their homes, for emergency

services, for uh for for those who are

reaching the lost and the unreached

world, for so many different things that

we're doing, including

Project Rescue. So, if you want to help

close that out, we uh I'd love would you

in the offering right in front of you,

you'll see a little offering envelope

and you can designate just write faith

offering on that and that'll help

designate that. I'd love to see if we

can close this out to the full 35,000.

Once again, this is not coming to

collective. This is going through

collective. It's a much higher purpose.

If you want to uh if if you want to live

for beyond yourselves, don't just let it

be done in your actions. Let it be done

in your finances. Let it be done not

just on Sundays. Let it be done all week

long. This is why Jesus says in Matthew

Matthew 25:35

25:35,

and you don't have this on the screen. I

literally just I I just found out I was

doing that this this morning. So, uh you

don't got it. Don't worry. Jesus said

this. He says, "I was hungry

and you gave me food. I was thirsty and

you gave me drink. I was a stranger and

you welcomed me. I was naked and you

clothed me. I was sick and you visited

me. I was in prison and you came to me.

And this is this is what he says it's

going to be like when we meet him for

the first time. And this is the type of

conversation that he's going to have

with us.

And then we respond, "Listen, Jesus,

I got to be honest. I never met a

brown-skinned bearded man that had a

halo on his head, that I gave food to,

that I gave clothes to, that I did any

of that." What are you talking about?

Verse 40, it says,

"Truly I say to you, as you did to one

of the least of these, my brothers, you

did it to me.

these gifts,

this service that these things, this is

what we are called to do, who we are

called to be. And it I believe that the

way we respond in generosity

outside when I am not when I benefit

zero is actually going to tell us more

about our heart and is actually going to

reflect more in that conversation with

the king

once we have passed from here than

most of our actions Jesus says than

almost all of our actions.

So I want to challenge us in that. But

you can give. We got the buckets. Can we

get the ushers here? What I want to be

able to do is I wanna I want to invite

us into an opportunity to give. I want

to invite us into this. This is a time

of worship. And worship is always about

sacrifice. Worship is always about

giving. So I want to pray over this

before we jump in. Heavenly Father, I

thank you. I thank you for the insane

generosity

that we are seeing here at Collective

Church. at this little church is seeing

THE FINGERPRINT OF THIS CHURCH ALL

AROUND THE WORLD and seeing your kingdom

grow and your kingdom advance ALL AROUND

THE WORLD because of the generosity HERE

LORD I PRAY FATHER GOD WOULD YOU HONOR

the gifts would you honor would you

bless the giver God in all the ways

whether it's here whether it's in the

faith offering whether it's in a tithe

or a general gift Lord I pray that

father god would you bring about a

supernatural blessing on these dollars

on each person. We trust you with this

and we submit it all to you. In the

mighty name of Jesus, we pray. Amen.

Amen. Guys, I'm so glad. I cannot

believe that we got 33,000. I just I'm

just blown away by that, guys. I am

insanely I just it I it gets me like

giddy in when I when I when I think

about this. I want to close it out, but

man, I'm just already blown away. Thank

you guys so much for your generosity to

see God use this church for beyond just

us. Uh, but today you are in for a treat

cuz I'm done talking.

Hallelujah. Steve, stop a little slower

with that. Uh, no. Today, I am so

excited.

We get to have one of the first people

that joined us, Morgan and I, in our

living room to dream up what this church

could be.

And uh uh he he's going to come and he's

going to deliver a word. This is a man

who's called to ministry. This is a man

who's got an anointing. This is a man

who I want to challenge us. Listen, I

want to I want to encourage us to shift

our posture real quick. If you find

you're slouching a little bit, just

scoot your butt back. If you find you're

you got your back on your seat, just

would you scoot your butt up? Actually,

just like lean forward and open up your

notebooks, grab out YOUR PENS. I PROMISE

YOU. I promise you. I don't know exactly

what it's going to be, but I know that

God is going to speak through Russ to

you. Come on. Can we give a hand for my

man Russell Protherero? Let's go.

Awesome.

God is good, right? Amen. I love what

he's doing here. And uh just being a

part I don't know how many faith

offerings we've we've been a you know

doing over the years and uh I'm just

always blown away what God can do

through us as a church body through big

faith. And uh not all these chairs are

filled yet.

Think about it. Think about what we

could do if all these chairs in this

auditorium were filled. Imagine what

that number would look like.

>> That's faith.

>> And I believe that. And I'm not the only

one that believes that. Two people over

here believe that.

That water bottle believes that, too.

Yeah. Was it open?

>> Oops. surprise.

A little bit of only happens to me. All

right. So, my name is Russ and I am the

ministry director here at Collective

Church. Thank you. And I'm I'm so

excited today because I believe God has

given not just me a word for you, but as

I was preparing this message,

it was for me, too. Um, so don't mind

me. I might pause a little bit. I might

get a little bit emotional up here. Uh

I'm not trying to be showy. Uh this is

real. This is something that is real to

me. And I hope today it speaks to you.

And I'm just so glad y'all made it

today. I'm so glad that you were able to

get up, roll out of bed, and experience

cold and snow

and wind in parking lots that are filled

where you have to walk a mile to get to

the front door. Right. And you're here.

And I'm so glad you're here today. And I

I pray that God just uses me to speak to

your heart where you're at today. So,

let me pray. God, thank you so much.

Thank you so much for everything you've

done. Thank you so much for your mercy,

your goodness. And God, today

I just ask God out for your Holy Spirit

to rest upon hearts

in whatever circumstance

we are in right now in Jesus name. Amen.

All right. So, can I be a little real

with you? I mean, I think I'm just going

to be real with you. So, the last couple

weeks have been really hard.

Uh I last week I uh I hit both my knees

uh one backstage here and one at home

and I was down for the count. Uh and not

only that, I was preparing for one of my

first uh messages here at Collective. I

was wrestling with some uh old stuff,

old hurt in my my heart when it comes to

just doing new things. Uh a lot of old

things come up. And I was also just

being bombarded with so many lies. Uh,

and I I it was hard last Monday. Uh, I

didn't want to get out of bed. It was

that bad. I was unmotivated. I just was

spent. And, uh, I was hurting. And

every lie that was coming at me, it just

felt like every lie had my number. like

the spam calls that you get from those

random calls in in Nebraska. Uh r random

small towns in Nebraska. Uh I don't know

if you've ever felt this way before. And

I know it's supposed to be Thanksgiving,

right? We're supposed to be thankful.

We're supposed to be filled with thanks,

but it's hard.

It's hard when I have this thing in

front of me

and you're telling me to be thankful.

You're telling me to be grateful for

this thing. Here I am preparing a

message on gratitude

and I'm standing right in front of a

wall and I'm like, what is what is this

thing?

I'm face to face with this thing

preventing me from seeing anything else

because of the circumstance that I was

in and the circumstance that I've been

in. It can be easy to be thankful when

good things are happening. Family is

around. You're getting the job

promotions.

You know, it's it's easy to be thankful

when you're healthy as an ox. you know,

when you're not feeling it, when you hit

your knees on things the morning and

stuff, you're you're thankful. But how

in the world can you be grateful when

life is hard? You lose your job, you're

living paycheck to paycheck, and you

just received your diagnosis from the

doctor, and it's not what you wanted.

How can we be thankful in all our

circumstances,

the good, the bad,

and the worse?

I prepared this message sitting at my

wall, seeing through my circumstances

into the very words I'm going to share

with you today. And I pray

wherever you're at today, whatever wall

you're in front of right now, that these

words will encourage you, will meet you

at that wall in Jesus name.

So, we're going to dig a little bit in

scripture. Uh let's uh turn to 1

1 Thessalonians 5:16–18

Thessalonians 5:16-18

and it will be up here on the screen.

And it says this, "Rejoice always. Pray

continually.

Give thanks in all circumstances for

this is God's will for you in Christ

Jesus." Whatever the circumstance,

give thanks. Great God. Very simple.

Thank you.

But let's break this down a little bit.

I don't I don't think we just leave

there and I drop the mic and we're done,

right? I'm going to break this down.

Notice the words

in all circumstances. In all,

his truth tells us to give thanks in,

not for.

How can we give thanks when our

circumstances just feel way too much?

How can we live this verse out when life

just feels so much

and you don't know what way is up and

what way is down.

Before I dive into how to give thanks,

let's go on a journey through scripture

of some circumstances where people in

the Bible faced specific circumstances

over the years. And I I just pray the

Holy Spirit will will speak to you, will

highlight certain things to you. Whether

it's for you or someone you know, I hope

these words

carry with you outside of this room.

So in scripture we get many different

pictures of circumstances people face.

It's clear all throughout history uh

that humankind has seen some hard

things. Right?

As I read scripture, I allow the words

of people's circumstances to speak to my

soul. I allow the words to meet me where

I'm at. I don't try to just go try to

find it and find understanding where

it's at. I really allow the words in

scripture to meet me where I'm at. And

they are there for a reason. And right

now, they are here for you. In in

scripture, the first circumstance that

you see in scripture is valley. In

scripture, valley circumstances are

mentioned a lot. The valley represents

periods of trial, hardship, and

suffering. And I believe the valley in

life for us looks the same. The valley

is a place of fear, depression,

and hurt, and so much pain.

David says this in Psalm 23, "Even

though I walk through the darkest

valley,

valleys are dark,

you don't see much past what is right

now.

You received a diagnosis from your

doctor the other day, and that's all you

see. Nothing feels the same. You have

been faced with thoughts of suicide for

weeks

and there's no end in sight. You have a

chronic pain that has been bothering you

for years and you wake up every morning

and you feel it.

The valley

is dark.

Another circumstance we see in the Bible

is highlighted in the book of Daniel.

And Daniel was a faithful follower of

God. He did all he could to live a life

following him.

Him and his some of his friends were

surrounded by poor leaders that had no

order or structure to them. They lived

in chaos.

Daniel, Daniel's friends, Shadrach,

Meshach, and Abedneo. They faced

a poor leader and uh the leader

issued some laws and stuff and they

didn't follow him. So, what did the

leader do? Okay, go in the furnace.

You're toast.

Boom. Roasted. I wanted to put that in

there.

In Daniel 3, we see this. The king

ordered the furnace to be heated seven

times hotter than usual and commanded

some of the strongest soldiers in him in

his army to tie up Shadrach, Meshach,

and Abedneo

and throw them into the blazing furnace.

Not too long later, the same thing

happened to Daniel. A new king, a new

law, and he was thrown in a furnace, a

furnace, but a pit of lions.

In Daniel 3, oh, not Daniel 3, Daniel 6.

So the king gave orders for Daniel to be

taken and thrown into the pit filled

with lions. And the king said to Daniel,

"May your God whom you serve loyally

rescue you."

Pits and fires are are circumstances you

don't see coming that someone else may

be causing. You get thrown into a pit

because of someone's else's decision.

You have a boss at work that keeps on

nagging you about your performance when

really it's their leadership that is

making the job hard. Your spouse chooses

to drink alcohol excessively

and expects you to take care of the

whole family and all the chores around

the house.

Being thrown into fire unexpectedly can

look like you're getting handed another

thing to do on top of all the other

things you were juggling at home and

work and you feel like that famous this

is fine meme when really nothing is

fine.

There's chaos and you're losing yourself

in the fire.

You're losing who you're supposed to be

in Christ because you're surrounded by

the fire around you and the fire burns

up everything you are. Pits and fires

are chaotic. Another circumstance in

scripture is in Acts. It's Acts 16. This

is Paul and Silas.

The crowd joined and attacked against

Paul and Silas. and the magistrates

ordered them to be stripped and beaten

with rods. After they have been severely

flogged, they were thrown into prison.

Paul and Silas are going about spreading

the gospel, living a life worthy of the

call, healing the blind, bringing new

life to hopeless areas, and the crowd

turns on them.

This circumstance feels like you're

doing everything you're supposed to be

doing and everyone you once knew or are

helping

keeps on ghosting you and you are not

included in anything they're doing.

Prison is a product of rejection.

The prison is a place where your family

puts you when you choose to follow Jesus

and they are like you do your thing. I

don't need that.

Or you have a friend that you had your

whole life turns on you and tells you

that they're no longer your friend and

leaves you. A spouse cheats on you and

tells you they don't want to be with you

anymore. The prison is isolating.

One of the final circumstances we see in

scripture is the wilderness.

And the second book of the Bible shows

us a long story about a group of people

who were given everything they needed

and more. But it took longer than they

wanted.

When you're in the wilderness,

everything feels like it takes forever.

Shout out to Sandlot.

Killing me, Smalls.

The wilderness in your life can look

like unknown answers to a long list of

questions about your faith in Jesus. You

may have been questioning God in your

life and doubting some of the things

you've been seeing around you. And your

prayers consist of why God,

where are you?

The Israelites,

the ones that were in the wilderness at

the time in Exodus, did that quite a

bit. Where are you, God? This isn't as

good as it once was. The common thought

in the wilderness is in Exodus 17. Is

the Lord among us or not? You're

questioning things because it's taken

forever.

You sought him for answers and you're

not seeing them. The wilderness is

quiet.

These circumstances are real and they

can take you down and you can live in

them your whole life. And going back on

the first Thessalonians verse,

how can I be grateful in these

circumstances?

How do we see through the reality of all

our circumstances? How do we see through

that wall that is right in front of us?

the circumstances that seem so hard,

that are hard, those voices, those lies,

you're just that's all you see. How do

you see through your circumstance and be

grateful in them?

The good thing is

when you start to see where you are and

where and who God is in our

circumstances,

you can start to see beyond the

circumstance and be thankful in your

circumstance.

We have truths that form a solid

foundation for us to rest on no matter

the circumstance. These truths, when

spoken and repeated, will help clear up

the walls surrounding you and allow you

to see more than just the circumstance

you're in.

These are the truths that we can rest in

and know. No matter what we're facing,

no matter what we're in, no matter what

the wall looks like,

no matter what the wall looks like,

these truths hold.

They hold our feet on solid ground.

These truths are solid for us. So,

what's the truth in a wilderness? If

you're in the wilderness right now, this

is what the truth says.

He will never leave you nor forsake you.

Deuteronomy 3:18, "The Lord himself goes

Deuteronomy 3:18

before you and will be with you. He will

never leave you nor forsake you. Do not

be afraid. Do not be discouraged.

He will not leave you. You are not alone

in the wilderness.

He will take those questions of yours.

Don't be afraid to bring those questions

to him. Don't stop speaking to God that

seems so distant. He promises he won't

leave. Whatever the question is,

if you feel like you're sitting in a

prison right now and there is no way

out, you feel like everyone is just

going to keep rejecting you and letting

you down.

His word says he sees you.

Psalm 32:8, I will instruct you and

Psalms 32:8

teach you in the way you should go. I

will counsel you with my loving eye on

you.

He will counsel you with his loving eye

on you. He sees you and wants you to

know he has not rejected you. He wants

to help you get through this life and

give you a way of seeing past the pain

of rejection.

Come on. This is a truth we we can hold

on to in our circumstances.

When life feels chaotic and you don't

feel fine, even if you're telling

yourself that

you're surrounded by the fires and

thrown into the pits, the truth says he

is with you.

In second Timothy 4, at my first

defense, no one stood with me, but

everyone deserted me. May it not be

charged against him. But the Lord stood

with me

and strengthened me.

He is with you in the pits and the fires

and will deliver you from the chaos

around you. You have nothing to fear.

You will not be burned up. You will not

be devoured.

The valley is dark.

No end in sight.

The truth says,

"He is your strength."

Isaiah 41:10,

Isaiah 41:10

"Do not fear, for I am with you. Do not

be dismayed, for I am your God. I will

strengthen you and help you. I will

uphold you with my righteous hand.

He is your strength in the valley. He's

not asking you to be strong right now.

He's wanting you depend more on him

right now in the darkest valley because

he will hold you up.

He will strengthen you. He's not asking

you to be the strongest person right

now. He's not asking you to be the

strongest person right now because he is

your strength. You're not alone in the

valley. He's right there with you,

B. You can come on up.

In the valley,

he is your strength.

In the pits and fires, he is with you.

In the prison, he sees you.

In the wilderness,

he will never leave you.

The circumstances still may be present.

The wall may still be there,

but now you're able to see through it.

This

this is possible

when you speak those truths

in

your circumstances.

The wall is still here.

It's still there,

but you can see through it.

this quote, you know, I I think this is

something that we can hold on to where I

can be grateful right now in any

situation,

even if I can't be grateful for the

situation quite yet.

And I also believe

there's so many more questions attached

to this being thankful in circumstances.

And I think one of one of the big

questions that I hear a lot is why do

these circumstances happen if we have a

good God?

Well, that's a good question

and I ask it myself, too.

And we won't sit in the wilderness with

it today though.

There is a truth that Jesus says and I

remind myself of often when I have the

same question

and it's in John 16 and these words are

from Jesus's mouth

and he says this.

I have told you these things so that in

me you have you may have peace

in this world

you will have trouble

but take heart.

I have overcome the world. Jesus has

overcome

the world. These words are from his

mouth. And the more we place our trust

in the more we place our life in Jesus,

the more we recite these truths that he

is for us. He is with us. He will never

leave us or forsake us. He sees me.

The more we we take heart,

the more we're able to see through

any circumstance,

the more we can see through the

circumstances that we're going through

at work,

the job that you don't like going to on

Monday mornings,

he sees you.

He is with you.

the relationships that are falling apart

around you because you're choosing to

follow Jesus. Whether it's a spouse, a

family member, a friend, a friend group,

he sees you. He is your strength. He is

for you.

that diagnosis that you may have just

received

or you received a year ago and you're

still feeling it today.

He is your strength.

You're able to see through it.

Going back on Monday, I I was sitting at

the wall on my floor after I finally got

out of bed

and I'm like, "God, help me be thankful

in this."

And these words came came to me,

the words that I just shared with you.

I had to remind myself of the truth

because with the truth,

he cleared up my day. He cleared up my

week.

It was still I'm still here.

I'm still here.

But

it's clear and I'm able to see.

So, let's stay here.

and thank God in our circumstances.

Thank him for his strength.

Thank him for never leaving you.

Thank him for seeing you and noticing

you

when no one else

is.

Thank him

for the strength he gives you

as a single parent,

for the strength he gives you in that

relationship that's just been so hard

and just bringing you down. He gives you

strength in that. His word says that and

they don't fail.

He has never failed. And I'm standing

here and I know

I'm up here

because I believe this and I believe

these words and I've been through

valleys. I've been through some very

dark valleys

and I can go back on some of the

journals that I had back then and I look

I sometimes I go back and I look and I'm

like, man, how was I saying these words

in that place?

And I'm here.

I'm so humbled to just be here

daily. I just see my day just being a

blessing, being a gift, that I get to do

this,

that I'm able to get up and go and set

up a church and and love on people and

bring these truths. in this truth and

all these things to whether it's one

person or 10 people or 20 people or

whatever

cuz God is good.

Take these promises with you. I'm going

to encourage you and hold them near to

you in whatever circumstance you are in

and let them soak into your heart, into

the very depths of your soul. Let these

words

go with you everywhere you go. Make a

lock screen on your phone. Say things in

the morning when you wake up. Say these

things over and over. He is with me. He

is my strength. He is for me. He will

never leave me. He sees me. Just say

that. Say those things and watch your

heart and your life shift.

You're going to start seeing seeing

through those circumstances and you're

going to be able to be thankful in them

because that's what this is all about.

And I don't know where you are today.

I don't know what your wall looks like

today. I don't know what your

circumstance looks like today,

but God does.

And I want to take just some time to

respond.

And if you if you want to stand,

if you're able to,

and I just want you to close your eyes

and think about the circumstances you're

in right now.

Only you can think that right now. Only

you know the circumstance that you're

in.

If it's questioning

why God is good.

If it's if it's the valley where it's

just every day just seems dark.

Every moment you just feel this weight

of the valley upon you and you're just

getting lower and you're lower and it's

this burden that you're bearing.

If it's the fires or a pit where you

just feel like you can't get out of it

because you have to pay the bills or you

have to do these things with these

people or their family

and I just have to be there for them.

Whatever the circumstance is right now,

I want you to speak one of these truths

over it right now.

You can say it quietly to yourself

and just keep on repeating it.

That's all it takes.

He is for me.

He is my strength.

He sees me. He sees me.

He will never leave me.

He will never forsake me.

He is with me.

And if this is your first time doing

something like this

in the concept of Jesus and you know

you've heard his name spoken today that

he has overcome and if you

have never made Jesus

an overcomer in your heart if you've

never declared those words

that he has overcome become the world

and the the stuff that you're in. This

is your moment.

I don't want you to just like respond

right now, but over here when we go into

worship, I want you to come over here to

Pastor Drew over by the prayer banner

and he'll have that conversation with

you about Jesus and how good he is in

your circumstances right now. And for

the rest of us, this is our moment

to give thanks

in our circumstance.

You you just thought about the

circumstance you're in. You just said

some truth. But now, let's press in.

Let's press into a time of giving praise

to a God who deserves it all, who makes

walls clear.

We serve a God and we worship a God who

makes our walls clear.

So, if you want to come up to the front

while we step into a time of worship

and then Taye and Steve will come up

here and close us out. But this is your

time to respond in your circumstance.

Whatever it is, recite one of these

truths.

Just like the song we were singing

earlier today, we throw up our hands.

We give you praise, Lord.

It is all yours.

It is yours.

>> Hey, thanks so much for watching today's

message. Our prayer is more than the

words that were spoken in the message

that you would remember the things that

God spoke to your heart.

>> Yeah. And no matter what it was that God

spoke to you, I know that part of your

journey is other people being in a

community because we are better

together. So if you made a decision to

follow Jesus today, would you click the

link below and fill out the form? This

is going to help us so that we can

celebrate with you and equip you with

some tools so that your next steps are

great steps.

>> Yeah. Thanks so much for watching. We're

praying for you. We're cheering you on.

We believe that the best days are ahead

of you.