Core Values of the Believer - Part 20 - Pastor Philip Steele - September 9th, 2026

Hi, my name is Michelle Steele.

Pastor Phillip and I want to thank you for listening to this message from Life of Faith First.

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Amen.

Let's go to 1 Thessalonians chapter 5.

1 Thessalonians 5 · chapter mention

And we're going to continue looking at this, what we've been looking at, the core values of the believer.

And there are seven of them that we've been dealing with.

And we've been centered up on for the last few weeks.

We had been on determining to walk by faith.

And uh here over the last three or four services, we've been looking at being determined to be thankful.

Determined to be thankful.

Amen.

Pastor Michelle sends her love.

She is in California tonight, has been there all week at Pastor Nancy's women's conference.

And uh just having a good time.

And so Lily and I are holding the fort down.

Amen.

She's she's making it.

Praise God.

About one more night, and that'll be about all she can be away from mom.

But Hallelujah.

1 Thessalonians 5 and verse 18.

One statement in the middle of these closing points that Paul's making to the church at Thessalonica, and it's very simple.

He says, in everything, give thanks.

In everything, give thanks.

And I won't spend a lot of time on this because we've been taught well on this, that he did not say for everything.

He said, in everything, give thanks.

That's important because everything that comes along, obviously, in our life, is not a good thing.

Everything that comes along is not from God.

And so everything is not, I'm not thankful for everything, but in everything, I'm thankful.

Right?

One translation says, be cheerful no matter what.

Another says, thank God in everything, no matter the circumstances.

And so no matter what I face in life, I'm to remain thankful.

All right, I'm to remain grateful.

There's always something to be thankful for.

Ever what you're dealing with, there's always something to be thankful for.

If I keep that attitude of thanksgiving, then what happens is bitterness and uh uh hard-heartedness, it can't slip in there because I'm too busy being thankful.

You know, you'll never take for granted somebody that you're always thankful for.

Yeah.

Right?

If you're always thankful, if you're thankful for your friends, you're thankful for your spouse, you're thankful for your family, you'll never take them for granted.

You don't ever have to worry about treating anybody wrong if you're constantly thankful for that person.

Amen.

And the reason that's so important is because no matter what I face in life, I can stay thankful.

I'm not thankful for the circumstances, but to God in the circumstances.

Amen.

The the pronoun this, when it says in everything, give thanks, for this is the will of God.

The pronoun this points back to giving of thanks as being the will of God.

This is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you, giving of thanks.

That's the will of God.

And I know that people have taken this over the years and say, well, you know, the Bible says, uh, you know, right there to thank God for everything.

It's not what it said.

It said, in everything, give thanks to God.

Now that's so important because I've got to always recognize the difference between stealing, killing, and destroying and temptation, testing, and trial.

I'm gonna be tempted, I'm gonna be tested, I'm gonna face trials.

All right?

Some of those things are from the enemy, but stealing and killing and destroying are always from the enemy.

So if it involves stealing, killing, and destroying, there's nothing to be thankful for.

Right?

But if I'm going through a trial, if I'm going through a tight place, if I'm going through a test, I can be thankful in the test.

Amen.

And come out better for it.

I'll learn something in the test if I'm thankful.

Amen.

And remember, we're we're defining testing, temptation, and trial.

It's not sickness, disease, poverty, and destruction.

That's not a test or a temptation or a trial.

God doesn't use poverty to test people.

He doesn't use destruction in any form.

And so I've heard people say, I'm a part of a men's group that's all across America, and they have an app and these different things.

And and uh anyway, uh a guy put a post on there the other day and he said, I want your prayers, brothers.

He said, because God has thought me worthy to allow me to go through leukemia.

Well, you know, uh uh on on a uh, you know, social, you want to call it social media, it's not, but social media app, that's not the place to try to correct somebody's theology.

Right?

The only thing you can do is think, well, my Lord, where did he learn that?

That we're to be thankful for leukemia.

We're to be thankful for that.

No, we're not to be thankful for that.

Right?

We're to resist that.

Right?

Why?

That's the curse.

That's that's an attempt of the enemy.

And so religion has tried to get people over into this attitude of non-resistance by just be thankful for everything.

Well, when you're thankful for something, when you're thankful for it, you're embracing it.

Right?

You're close to it, you're grateful for it.

You can't be grateful for something that's the curse because there's nothing to be grateful for.

The end result is death.

The end result is destruction.

And so if I'm facing that, then I'm grateful that God's my healer.

I'm thankful that the word is working mightily in me right now.

I'm thankful that I'm redeemed from the curse of the law.

Is that right?

Hallelujah.

Amen.

So this points back to the giving of thanks as being the will of God.

Now, Romans 8.

Hallelujah.

I just love coming to this church.

Praise God.

If I wasn't the pastor, I'd come here anyway.

Romans 8 and 28.

Now, this is a familiar verse.

You hear Chris laugh?

What is he laughing?

He's laughing at me.

Romans 8 and 28.

We know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.

Hallelujah.

We know that all things work together for the good.

To them that love God and are the called according to his purpose.

The word work there, it means to cooperate.

All right?

We know that all things cooperate together for good to them that love God.

Everything in a believer's life must cooperate with them so that good comes out of it.

That's what he's saying.

Everything in the believer's life must cooperate with them so that good comes out of it.

One translation says, the Berkeley translation says, we know that for those who love God, for those called in agreement with his purpose, he cooperates in all things for what is good.

God cooperates for what is good.

God does not cooperate for what is not good.

You can never put not good on God's side.

Because he's only good.

Alright?

Paul gives us the key to all things working for good in our lives.

Thanksgiving.

Romans 8 and 31.

Notice.

What shall we say then to these things?

Well, what things?

Those things that you're facing, those things that are coming against you.

What do we say to these things?

If God be for us, who can be against us?

I've taught you this before, but it's so important to remember that the who there is emphatic.

It's like Paul is literally holding up a list of things that are against you, and he's contrasting the two.

He says, if God is for you.

Now, here's the issue.

There would be an answer there.

If God is for you.

So we would say, Is God for you?

Yes.

Right?

What's that?

Yes.

What do you say?

Is God for you?

Yes.

Okay, if yes is the answer, then here's the other part.

Who can be against you?

No one.

Who can possibly be against you?

No one.

Right?

No one can possibly be against you.

Why?

Because God's for you.

And so what do you say in all of those things?

All of those things that come against you in your life.

God's for me.

God's for me.

I win.

I'm going to come out of this.

Everything's going to be alright.

God's for me.

Nothing can be against me.

Oh, hallelujah.

Do you see that?

Romans 836, 835.

Who shall separate us from the love of God?

Or the love of Christ?

Tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, peril, or sword?

As it is written, For your sake we're killed all the day long.

We're counted as sheep for the slaughter.

No, no, no.

In all these things we're more than conquerors through him that loved us.

So what does that mean?

It means this.

Paul in verse 36 is quoting the psalmist.

But he said, watch, he says, For your sake we're killed all the day long, we're accounted as sheep for the slaughter.

No, nope, that's not what happens to us.

We're not accounted as sheep for the slaughter.

No! In all these things, we're more than conquerors through him that loved us.

Oh, hallelujah.

Amen.

See, if you're thankful for victory, victory will always be there.

Amen.

You can't fail to have an attitude of thanksgiving and walk in victory.

Hallelujah.

Verse 37.

No, in all these things we're more than conquerors through him that loved us, but I am persuaded that neither death nor life, angels, principalities, powers, things present, or things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

So Paul lets us know that we should be thankful.

Nothing can separate us from the anointing and the love of God.

Nothing.

Nothing.

And what does that mean?

Which we should say after what we taught over the offering, the anointing, the love, or the favor of God.

Nothing can separate us.

Because what?

That will change your circumstance.

The anointing, the love of God, the favor of God, that'll change your circumstance.

And nothing can separate you from that.

The Bible talks about your thanksgiving being an odor.

It puts off a smell to God.

The smell of thanksgiving.

Now, I don't know what it smells like, but evidently it smells good.

Because he said it's a pleasing aroma.

So, so, in other words, thanksgiving has a look, thanksgiving has an attitude, right?

Thanksgiving, thanksgiving has a an aura about it.

When you're around thankful people, you recognize it because they're just thankful.

Oh, hallelujah! Glory to God.

Too many people try to get through things in life with no joy and without being thankful, and that's why it's so hard for them.

Right?

Because there's no joy and there's no thanksgiving.

Hallelujah.

You know, I've I've been thinking about this a lot over a long period of time now.

Just been cultivating it in my spirit.

Of, you know, when you're thankful for everything, have you ever been around anyone and it's like no matter what you talk about, it's like they have something bad to say about it, or they have like it's a problem.

Right?

You'll you'll walk out on their back deck and you'll go, boy, this is a nice deck.

Oh, this thing's a pain to clean.

Right?

Or or whatever.

Oh, this is a wonderful house.

Boy, you got a nice big house here.

Oh, you ought to clean the baseboards.

Be thankful you have baseboards.

Right?

Amen.

My wife was telling me the other day, she said, okay, now this coming up Saturday, she said, me and you and Lily got a job.

I said, What is it?

Cleaning baseboards.

I'm like, that's why I got that.

That's why I got that vacuum cleaner with the long attachment.

It's all good.

Right?

But you understand?

Be thankful.

Be thankful.

Because there's things you got to know going in.

You know, understand that.

If God's gonna give you a big house with a big lawn, you're either gonna mow the lawn a lot or you're gonna hire somebody to mow the lawn a lot.

Get thankful for a big lawn.

Right?

Don't start complaining.

Because you start complaining, and what will happen is that you won't have any joy, you won't have any strength.

Amen.

Proverbs 24 and verse 10.

Hallelujah.

Yeah, but I got a lot I gotta fix.

Be thankful.

Be thankful.

Be thankful that God gave you that house and God will give you the resources.

God will give you everything you need for it.

Amen.

Why?

Because he gave it to you.

Oh, hallelujah.

Amen.

And and and and and remember, he said, in everything give thanks.

Well, you know, a house is a thing, so just give thanks.

Sit there in the recliner and be thankful.

Proverbs 24 and verse 10.

If you faint in the day of adversity, your strength is small.

Can you show me that in the Amplified Bible, please?

I'm gonna spend a period of time here, but if you faint in the day of adversity, your strength was small.

So notice it says the same thing.

If you faint in the day of adversity, your strength is small.

Hallelujah.

When it says faint, it means let go, abandon, or to let drop.

To let go or abandon or let drop.

So in other words, when adversity comes and you just let it go, you just drop it, there's a reason.

He says, your strength is small.

Hallelujah.

Well, joy is strength.

Nehemiah 8:10, he said, Go your way, eat the good, uh, eat the fat, drink the good, and don't be sorrowful, because the joy of the Lord is your strength.

Nehemiah 8:10

The joy of the Lord is your strength.

That word strength, it means a fortified place, a defense, a rock, strength.

So joy is your rock.

Joy is your defense.

Joy is your strength.

Hallelujah.

And so when you're dealing with things, you're dealing with that adversity, you're dealing with these things that come.

Joy is one of the main issues.

Thankful people are joyful.

Amen.

I'm joyful about it.

Hallelujah.

Adversity, if you faint in the day of adversity, adversity is those all things in Romans 8.

Amen.

When he said that God cooperates with us in all things, working it together for our good.

Adversity here means tightness or tribulation or trouble.

So if you faint in the day of tightness or tribulation or trouble, here's why.

Strength was small.

And if my strength was small, no joy.

No thankfulness.

Hallelujah.

When things come, if a person falls to pieces, there was no thanksgiving and no joy in their life.

Hallelujah.

One translation says, I for I didn't write down the translation, but it says this.

If it says, if trouble comes and you fall to pieces, there wasn't much to you anyway.

Right?

I mean, no, no, no, no strength.

Because joy is strength.

And so that's why you're always stirring up that joy and stirring up that thanksgiving and talking about how thankful you are.

I'll come in the living room and I'll ask my wife, what are we thankful for?

What are we thankful for today?

Why?

Because we want to stir ourselves up in that.

Hallelujah.

I learned that.

See, I didn't learn to be thankful when God brought us to the place that we're at now.

I learned to be thankful driving cars that other people wouldn't drive around the block.

I learned to be thankful because I'm at least I'm driving.

Right?

Somebody gave me the car, somebody blessed me with the car, right?

But I had to learn to be thankful.

At least it runs.

At least it's getting us where we need to be.

Right?

Now I wasn't satisfied to stay there.

I didn't thank God for the car in the sense of, boy, this is a wonderful car.

It wasn't.

But I'm not walking.

Is that right?

Amen.

The first, the first house we, you know, the first house we moved into, it was a mobile home, the first house we ever owned.

Now it wasn't bad.

I mean, it was great.

The people that had owned it before us had fixed it up.

It was very nice.

But I remember thinking, this is better than anything we've ever had, but it's not all we're ever going to have.

But God, I'm thankful.

I'm thankful for this place.

I'm thankful.

Amen.

I'm thankful.

And then, you know, the day came God told us to sow that to somebody.

And we showed it to them.

And God kept moving us forward.

But I've learned to be thankful.

So I learned to be thankful when times were tough.

Because thanksgiving is victory.

Right?

Thanksgiving is victory.

You have to have joy to be thankful.

There are no grumpy, joyful people.

There are no grumpy, joyful people.

Amen.

I don't know about you, but boy, I've worked with some people and they were grumpy about everything.

I mean, from the temperature in the room to their paycheck to their bonus, whatever it was.

Grumpy, grumpy, grumpy, grumpy, grumpy.

No joy.

And they couldn't enjoy anything.

They weren't grateful for anything.

They weren't thankful for anything.

Hallelujah.

Is that right?

You know, if they come to you at your job tomorrow and they say, uh, hey, we're going to give you a bonus.

What are you right there?

What are you?

Thankful.

I don't even know how much it is, but I'm thankful.

Right?

And then they give it to you.

Maybe it isn't that, you know, significant, but they gave you one.

Is that right?

They gave you one.

So I'm thankful.

I'm thankful for it.

Amen.

What does that ensure?

That ensures that there'll be greater on the radar for me.

Because the thankful people get the blessings.

The thankful people get the favor.

Oh, hallelujah.

Hallelujah.

You know, if you're thankful for this job, if you own a business, if you're thankful for this job, God will give you another one.

And if you're thankful for that one, He'll give you another one.

Yes, He will.

Hallelujah.

And if you're thankful enough, he'll give you so much that now you've got to hire somebody else.

Right?

And now you now you got a uh a full-fledged business going on because you were thankful.

Is that right?

Because I was thankful.

I'm grateful.

Say it out loud.

I'm thankful.

See, grumpy people are never thankful.

They'll complain and criticize, but they're never thankful.

You don't do anything but complain.

Don't complain.

Oh, Pastor, you just don't understand.

No, no, no, no.

Don't complain.

People that complain die in the wilderness.

That's the number one problem with the people of Israel.

They complained.

Nothing was ever good enough.

Hallelujah.

We're tired of this manna.

Manna, manna, manna, manna, manna, manna.

Angels' food.

Food straight from heaven.

And manna, manna, manna, manna, manna.

And God said, okay, you tell these complaining people that tomorrow I'm going to send quail.

Right?

And it says, He sent quail through that camp, three feet off the ground.

And it says, the one that gathered the least gathered a, and in our measuring system, 50 gallon drum full of quail.

50 gallons full of quail.

You know, you go to a restaurant that serves an order quail and tell me how much you pay for it.

You'll think, are we buying three meals here or just one?

It's very good.

It's very good.

And what's it say?

It says, while they were eating and had the quail in their mouth, they complained.

They complained.

They got what they wanted and complained.

They wanted to be delivered out of bondage.

And they got delivered out of bondage and they complained.

They wanted water and God brought water out of a rock and they complained.

They wanted to meet with God and God came down on the mountain.

God came down to meet with them and they wouldn't go.

And the next day they complained.

And so that generation, and you know this, but that generation wandered in circles for 40 years till they complained themselves to death.

Right?

And then you watch the next generation, they never complain.

They never complain.

Hopefully they learned a lesson.

Don't ever complain.

Yeah, but you don't know what I got going on.

I may not, but I can tell you that complaining is not going to help you.

Amen.

Amen.

Think about this.

If you were to complain about how hot it's been, did it change anything?

It didn't change anything, did it?

Not one thing.

Amen.

Let's just be thankful that the sun does go down eventually.

Right?

And winter will show up.

Fall will get here.

And we're going to be thankful.

But then when that shows up, don't complain about the cold.

Right?

I'm helping you.

When we're thankful and joyful in the circumstances, then the power of God shows up.

When I'm thankful, because I become a conduit, I become a landing place for the power of God.

Because I'm thankful.

I said this in the very first message.

I may not understand everything I'm facing, but Lord, I'm thankful.

I don't understand why I'm facing this, but I'm thankful.

You're going to bring me out.

I'm thankful.

Amen.

I would rather be able to be thankful and have no money in my pocket than to have everything that I need and be ungrateful.

Right?

Because I can have zero balance and be thankful, and God can change that in a matter of days.

But if I've got everything that's that's a result of God's goodness, and I'm not thankful, then God's not going to help me keep it.

He's not going to take it away from me, but he's not going to help me keep it.

Because he helps the thankful.

I said he helps the thankful.

I remember one time we we had a giveaway at the church over Christmas, and uh we we had uh at one time we were doing, we we called it Operation Sunshine, and we had uh uh a bus that we had taken, we had uh made a stage, it folded out of the side, and and we would go around uh all of the, I say all six different housing complexes there in the Kansas City area.

And so we we went to six of them on on Saturday.

We worked all day on Saturday with that, and we were giving away uh Christmas gifts and uh a lot of sports stuff, and so we had them for the boys, and and and you know, they're in line.

And I can't I can't guarantee that you're gonna get what you want, right?

But a lot of those kids standing in the line, if they didn't get something from us, they weren't getting anything.

And so this young man came up, and somebody had gone out and bought uh you know brand new Rollins baseball glove, leather, you know, it's in a box, and and he opened it up.

I'll never forget.

He he he opened it up and he goes, baseball glove.

And the young and the one of the young men that was helping me goes, take it away from him.

Just take it away from him.

He he's not gonna be thankful for it, he don't need nothing.

And he said, No, don't take it.

He said, No, you're not thankful for it.

Right?

You don't have anything, and you're not thankful for something that somebody comes and gives you.

Freely gives you.

Right?

How can more come to that person?

How can more come to that person?

It cannot.

Because the thankful gets the blessing.

Oh, hallelujah.

Have you have now many of you in here raised kids?

Some of you are still raising them.

I'm still raising them.

Here's the thing.

But in my older kids, I've seen this before.

You'd say, What do you want for your birthday?

Ah, I don't care.

All right, now your birthday's coming.

What do you want for your birthday?

Ah, I don't care.

How do you think they would feel if they got to their birthday and there was nothing there?

Well, you act like you didn't care.

Right?

Yeah, you act like it didn't matter.

If you're thankful, mom and dad are asking you, what would you like me to get you for your birthday?

If I'm thankful, what do I do?

I tell them what I want.

Is that right?

We're going to read the verse in a minute, Philippians.

He said, in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, present your request to God.

Amen.

I'm thankful.

And so if I'm thankful, somebody's asking me, what do you want?

Here's what I want.

Right?

And what happens to the thankful?

They get their request.

They get their request.

Oh, hallelujah.

Look at here's that verse I was telling you about Philippians 4.

And that's why you have to cultivate that attitude of thanksgiving and cultivate a mindset of thanksgiving in every area of life.

Philippians 4, 6 and 7, it says, do not be careful for nothing.

Of course, a better word is anxious for nothing.

But in everything, by prayer and supplication, or by all kinds of prayer and definite requests, along with thanksgiving, let your request be made known to God.

The peace of God that passes all understanding will keep your hearts and minds through Christ.

Hallelujah.

So he says he starts off with don't be anxious or don't fret or have anxiety about anything.

When we're worried and fretful, we cannot be thankful.

Right?

When I'm worried and fretful, I cannot be thankful.

Hallelujah.

Being thankful requires you to focus on the answer, not the problem.

Hallelujah.

Being thankful proves you're in faith.

So I'm thankful.

Every time you say thank you, Lord, and you may not even see it, but Lord, I thank you.

Every day of your life you're saying, Lord, thank you.

All of our debts are paid.

Thank you, Father.

We're debt-free in Jesus' name.

Right?

Thank you.

Whatever you're believing for.

You may not see it, but you're thanking Him for it in advance.

In advance of what?

It's showing up.

It's coming.

Right?

Amen.

The Lord helped me years ago to keep my focus along these lines.

And understand this the check's in the mail.

It's coming.

Right?

Now we don't have to tell them that much now, but you know, years ago, somebody called and they say, hey, I'm calling you about this such and such bill or whatever.

Yeah, I mailed the check yesterday.

It's in the mail.

Right?

It's coming.

Well, now they're expecting something.

The only thing left for them to say is, oh, thank you.

Right?

Well, if the check's in the mail, what do you say?

Thank you.

Right?

Did God say, I'll supply all of your need according to my riches in global?

Thank you.

Would debt freedom be a need?

It would be a need.

Then God's supplying your debt freedom.

He's going to supply you with the finances to be debt free.

He's going to supply you with the finances to pay those things off.

Paid-off house, paid-off car, paid off everything.

Amen.

Why?

Because he said I could.

And so I'm just thankful.

And so you talk about your house that way.

Thank you, Lord, for this paid-off house.

Amen.

Whatever your address is.

Thank you, Lord.

ABC Johnson Street is paid off.

Hallelujah.

Thank you for my paid-off car.

Amen.

That's it.

1514.

Paid off Johnson Street.

Yeah.

Right?

Anything, whatever it may be, you're laying hands on those bills.

Thank you that these debts are paid in the name of Jesus.

Amen.

Oh, hallelujah.

See, and if if you've if, and and this doesn't apply to everyone, I understand, but you know, if you made some mistakes, don't get over there and get into condemnation and shame, because that's not thanksgiving.

Guilt and shame and condemnation.

Well, I shouldn't have done this and I shouldn't have done that.

Well, we all know that.

Be thankful that God's bringing you out.

Right?

You don't get out of a hole by digging a deeper one.

Is that right?

Well, I just messed up.

I just messed up.

Well, look, oh, okay.

So you messed up.

How long can you say, I met, do you not realize that when you keep talking about how you messed up, here's what it is.

Your wheels are just spinning.

You're not going anywhere.

It's when you stop and say, Yes, I messed up.

I repent.

I ask you to forgive me.

I shouldn't have done that.

And with your help and your grace, I'll never do it again.

And I thank you for bringing me out.

Now what happens?

Now you've opened up the door for the provision of God to come in.

You know, when we were believing to be out of debt, I've said this before.

But, you know, God gave us insights and concepts and ideas.

The largest amount of money that we received to come out of debt was$25,000.

And I was over, at that time, over$200,000 in debt,$210,000.

And the Lord told me things to do.

Like He told me to, He told me to call our mortgage company and talk to them and say, this is what I want to do concerning this.

This is what we're going to do.

He said, You say it just like that.

This is what we're going to do.

And I called him.

And the lady said, Well, we'll have to meet about that.

The board will have to meet about that.

We'll have to see.

And I said, Well, that's fine.

You go ahead and meet, but this is what we're going to do.

And she called me back in about three hours and said, Yeah, we got together.

That's fine.

That'll work.

We can do that.

Amen.

And he started, he's he started talking to me about calling people and asking them for settlements.

And I and I called this one place.

And I said, you know, I'd like to see about settling this uh account.

And the lady said, uh, well, how much do you want to settle it for?

I said, 25%.

25%.

And she said, no, I don't, I don't know if we can do that.

She said, I'll let you have to let you talk to the manager.

I said, okay.

And I was on hold for maybe a couple minutes.

And the the lady got on the phone.

That's how she picked up the phone.

She goes, Pastor Steele.

I said, Yes, ma'am.

She said, Hallelujah.

I got a Christian.

Yeah.

Right?

And she said, I believe we can help you.

Amen.

And she just talked about how good God was, and we just praised the Lord together.

And so those things kept happening.

But here's the thing.

We got down to where we owed like, we had like$24,962.63, I think.

And we went to the minister's conference at KCM.

And Pastor Michelle had printed out all the debt that we had, and at the bottom she had stamped in red paid in full over the debt.

And so we were carrying that with us.

You know why we were carrying that with us?

Because we'd been in too many meetings where ministers had said the Lord had told them, if you're in here and you want to be debt-free, the Lord told me to pay off your debt.

If you know how much you owe.

And we've we thought, if that happens, we're going to know.

We're going to know.

Right?

We're not going to take it for granted.

Amen.

And so so we I we were we were going in the in the in the uh the sanctuary.

And this is back before we helped the Caldwells.

And so you had to fight for a seat back then.

You could leave your Bible in between uh uh services, but it when you went in the morning or you came back in the evening, you had to fight to get in.

And so we don't have to do that no more because we got special seating.

But anyway, that's the favor of God, by the way.

But the the the point is, is uh so we were going in and I heard Michelle go, oh no.

And I thought, what?

Did you know, is it a run and her pantyhose or heel break or what's going on here, right?

And uh she said, I forgot my list.

And here she's trotting back out.

It's cold, it's cold and snowy, and she's running back out to get her list.

But anyway, so we we came back home from the minister's conference, and it would we got back home, it would have been on a Friday, and so it was the following Wednesday.

I'm walking through the church, my phone, my phone, my phone goes off.

It's a message.

Here's the message.

How much money do you need?

I text back$24,963 and 63 cents.

Okay, that's all.

Okay, all right.

That night a guy came to me and gave me$25,000 of cash.

That was all the debt, paid the debt off.

Now understand, in that debt was debts that people say you can't hardly pay off.

Student loans paid off.

Paid off.

Right?

Why?

Because you start getting thankful.

Thank you, Lord.

Right?

If if you have this much debt and you pay the smallest one off, you're thankful that you paid one off.

Right?

You're thankful.

You're thankful, you're grateful.

Don't don't worry about this one.

You got this one taken care of.

Oh, hallelujah.

Boy, that's good.

Amen.

Now let me finish here.

Ephesians 5.

But the key, the key with that, you know, I've I've never claimed to be a financial whiz.

I I know how to make a budget, I know how to balance a checkbook.

I I understand that you can't spend more than you make and be successful.

I know you got to invest long term.

People will come and say, what investment should I make?

I'm a pastor, not a not a banker.

Right?

I can put you in touch with a guy.

He can help you.

But but that's not my job.

But here, yeah, what I'm saying to you, the reason I'm saying that, anything that we've done financially, God showed us how to do it, and I learned I've got to be thankful for it.

Amen.

I've got to be thankful.

Ephesians 5.18, it says, and do not be drunk with wine wherein is excess, but be filled with the spirit.

Speak into yourselves in Psalms, hymns, spiritual songs, singing, making melody in your heart to the Lord, giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

So Paul gives the key to staying thankful is being stay staying filled with the Spirit.

The more I stay filled with the Spirit, the more thankful I am.

And the understanding here is that at all times, no matter the situation, I'm thankful.

At all times, no matter the situation, I'm thankful.

Hallelujah.

The Phillips translation says, thank God at all times.

That's why I like singing that song.

I thank God.

Hallelujah.

The Rotherham translation says, at all times, be thankful.

At all times.

So we don't give thanks for what the devil's done, but for the opportunity to see God work.

I'm thankful for the opportunity to see you work.

You know, I heard, I, and I believe it was Brother Jerry years ago.

This has been, oh my goodness, probably 40 years ago.

And he made, he made the statement, he said, you know, when you're going through a trial, he said, it's just another opportunity to see God move the mountain.

Just another opportunity.

Amen.

And the and those challenges come.

Challenges are going to come to all of us.

But if I stay thankful, there's nothing the enemy cannot overcome that attitude of thanksgiving.

Just cannot.

He just cannot.

Amen.

It's an opportunity to see God work and for the fact that we'll get to see this.

God work everything out for our good.

Hallelujah.

I want you to just take a minute before we go home.

Just think about whatever is, and and I understand that issues that people face, you know, they're greater or lesser to a certain degree.

I mean, if right now, if if I look at my life, I have no physical issues, I have no financial issues in the sense of pressing things.

I mean, that when you're the head of a ministry, you've always got things you're believing God for, right?

If you gave a million dollars to me tonight in six months, we'd have it spent.

I mean, it's just that that's just the reality of it.

Because we got a lot that God wants us to do.

But here's the point that I want you to see is whatever the issue is, if you just take a moment, just right there where you're sitting, just take a moment, just close your eyes and just take a moment and just see that whole thing work together for your good.

How's that going to look that it all just works together for your good?

Whether it's debt freedom, whether it's getting a house, whether it's getting something fixed, a relationship getting turned around.

In the name of Jesus, I declare that all of those things will work together for your good in the name of Jesus, as we are thankful and grateful for what God's done for us in the name of Jesus.

Oh, hallelujah.

Isn't the Lord good?

Hallelujah.

We'll try it out one time.

Say out loud, I'm thankful for all God has done.

I'm thankful for all God will do.

And I thank you that I'll see all things work together for my good in Jesus' name.

Oh, hallelujah.

Let's stand up tonight, shall we?

Praise God.