Grateful for the Fellowship - Oscar Goss

Hey! Good morning everybody!

Thank you so much.

Alright.

Okay.

It's been a long time since I've had this wonderful opportunity to uh to lead you guys in the in the morning, uh Sunday morning lesson.

So, in that vein, let's go to God in prayer for this morning.

Dear Heavenly Father, thank you so much for this morning.

Thank you for this opportunity to gather together and look at your word.

God, help our help our minds be unified in facing you.

Help our hearts to be open and willing to accept a message that can sometimes be difficult, but and it can many times be challenging.

But God, we know that it's your heart for us to know you and to know you better, minute by minute, second by second.

God, we love you so much.

Thank you for Jesus.

Thank you for his word, and it's in his name we pray.

Amen.

Okay, so I wanted to um to do a quote before we got started because this message is something that probably everybody in here has already heard before, and this is the point where you turn your brain off.

I've heard this, I don't need to know anything about it.

So, one of the smartest people that I know of, his name is Neil DeBrice Tassin.

Have you guys ever heard Neil DeBrice Tassin?

Some people say I look like him.

What do you think?

I met someone, I actually met someone who met him and said, You look just like him.

Yeah, you look handsome.

Well, this is one of his quotes.

You guys probably heard this.

A great challenge of life is knowing enough to think you're right.

Right?

But not knowing enough to know that you're wrong.

That's a huge talent.

Most of us have a hard time with that.

We think we know, but do we know we're wrong?

Because that's really the challenge, right?

What I'm going to talk about today is something that we probably figure, oh, I got that on the street.

Please doubt yourself.

All right?

A wise person using discernment will take this moment to doubt themselves.

That's a challenge.

Yeah.

But it's also something to ascend to.

The smartest people in the world, they ascend to this challenge.

I'm challenging you to ascend to it.

Don't turn your brains off.

All right.

All right.

All right.

Bring it.

All right, here we go.

Grateful for the fellowship.

I know everybody's saying, yeah, I'm grateful for my fellowship.

I wouldn't be here otherwise, right?

But let's just think for a second.

What are some of the things that we are thankful for?

Um some people might say that I'm thankful for my family, I'm thankful for my health, I'm thankful for my job, my home, God's blessings.

And we should be thankful for those things, their blessings, right?

Right.

How were you as a kid, when you were a kid growing up and you were learning your little lessons from mom and dad, how did they teach you how to be grateful?

How did they teach you how to be grateful?

Alright, so you know you're supposed to say thank you, right?

You're welcome, please, right?

But what are some other ways that your parents specifically taught you to be thankful?

Anybody?

My mom showed me, uh, she brought me to church when I was a kid.

Yeah, bring me to church.

What's some ways that your parents taught you, like specifically?

This is how you show things.

To be nice or kind, like if somebody gives you a gift to treat it well, to show that you appreciate it, and to to maybe not just rip up the packages.

Yeah.

Yeah, that's probably not good.

Save the wrapping paper.

Save the wrapping paper.

I don't think my mom ever said anything, but I think just showed me because she was very nice.

She was very um giving and knowing and thankful.

Right.

Just by her, who she was.

She was an example.

Um the correction from the Paris correction.

Yep, I can feel you.

Somewhat stern.

There you go.

But I took our granddaughter to the Johnny Appleseed Festival yesterday, and we went, we were row by row, booth by booth, to get all the freebie stuff, and there was a lot of it.

Um but each time, like sometimes she said thank you on her own, but sometimes I would say, What do you say?

Prompt her to say thank you.

So that's just a way of teaching.

Yeah, kind of a teaching that my parent, my dad taught me, he taught me many things.

Uh, this is one of the better ones, uh, is like if you borrow something to return it in as good or better conditions.

Condition, exactly.

My mom was, if anybody was had the privilege knowing Phyllis Goss, as my mother's name, she would say, act like it.

That's what she would say.

Are you happy?

You act like it.

Are you grateful?

Yeah, act like it.

That's what she would say.

And and see, I knew what that meant.

Right?

And anybody that was raised by a woman like my mom knew it's get that look off your face.

You know what I mean?

Act like it.

If you're grateful for something, you act like you're grateful for it.

Yeah, right.

That's what happens with especially things like this, that we start to take things for granted.

We start to take things for granted, like um, you know, it's it's you know, are we thankful for the people that God put in our church?

We might take those things for granted.

Um we're not specifically grateful for the building, although we are grateful.

Or the programs, and not specifically the chairs.

I mean, you know, when you're going from one situation to another, you know, it could be easy to be grateful for those things because you know what it means to be without, right?

Right.

But one of the things that we take for granted is the people.

Sometimes we're not grateful for the people, the people that are sitting right beside you, the person who encouraged you when you were discouraged, right?

The person who prayed for you when you didn't really know what to pray.

All of these things have happened to me, and I'm sure have happened to you.

The person who called you when you didn't come to church, maybe, or you missed a special event, or you know, a birthday party, or something you was invited to, the person who serves quietly without receiving any um, without receiving any, like telling you that you did a good job, the person who may challenge you when you really need correction.

Um, the person who serves quietly without receiving right and just it would away.

Um the person who welcomes you when you first walk into the doors, the person who simply sat beside you during a difficult time in your life, or sometimes God's greatest blessings aren't the things that He specifically gives us.

Sometimes they are the people.

Where am I?

Let's read um, oh wait a minute, not yet, wait.

I would stick to my notes so I don't get messed up here.

Okay, let's go to uh 1 Thessalonians 5, 16 through 18.

And then it's not my notes, but we can turn it to there.

Come on, Oscar.

Oh, thank you.

Let me see.

1 Thessalonians.

Is anybody there yet?

125, yeah.

You're there?

Why don't you go ahead and read 1 Thessalonians 5, 16 through 18?

Okay.

Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

Amen.

So, you know, God wants us to be thankful.

That's why it's always good to go back to this teaching and say, okay, well, what does that even mean?

Don't take for granted that you know.

Remember what I said earlier.

Don't take for granted that you know, because you might not know.

Um let's read Philippians 1, 3 through 5.

It says, I thank my God every time I remember you because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now.

Alright, so sometimes uh Paul doesn't simply thank God for what the Philippians had, right?

He thanks God for who they are.

You know, that's that's that that's that's his that's the treasure that he found in these people.

Because they are, because they are who they are.

And we're all very different.

All of us are very different people, and that's the secret to gratitude.

You know, being grateful for somebody because of who they are, not specifically because of the fact that they belong to, you know, that we're all in the same church, but specifically, individually, who they are.

That makes it so much deeper, right?

Yeah.

Um the relationship that we have with one another, that matters.

The partnership that we have, that matters.

The faithfulness matters.

Their presence in his life specifically matters.

This is an important lesson for us because sometimes we become so focused on what our church needs that we forget to appreciate what our church already has.

All right.

You know, we might see things that need to be fixed, some repairs.

Um we might we might uh we might see people who may need more than others.

Um, we might see a ministry that's not working, or who isn't here?

Um, and we try to think about things that how can this be better?

Like our minds are wired to do that, and I'm not necessarily saying that that's a bad thing, you know, because some people in the church, I'm talking about elders and so on and so forth, that's what they're called to do.

That's their job.

They're the shepherds.

They're, you know.

So it's not a bad thing, but what's more, the the better thing is concentrating on individual relationships.

That's what's that's the more that's the bigger thing.

But gratitude, but gratitude causes us to stop and say, look at what God has already given us.

Look at the people around us, look at the friendships, look at the marriages, look at the families, look at the people who are growing, look at the people who are serving, look at the people who are struggling but still showing up, and look at the people who refuse to give up.

God has given us each other.

Yep.

I hope I'm keeping up with the things here.

There we go.

I'm still there.

Alright, God has given us each other.

The church is not just a crowd.

Alright?

The church is a family.

And this this I I went to Kenya.

I don't know.

All you guys are sick of hearing about me going to Kenya.

But I went to Kenya.

And uh there's this idea in Kenya that's a very real thing.

It's the idea of tribes.

In America, we don't have tribes, we don't have formal tribes.

Right?

We might belong to a specific group of people.

I'm African American, some people might be Italian, you know, German, whatever.

In Kenya, they have tribes, their ancestors tribes together.

And these this is a uh this this I saw the pride that these Africans had in their tribes.

It's amazing.

It's something that I don't know.

I don't have that.

But they had their own unique individual tribe that they belonged to.

Um the church is not just the church, it's not a crowd of people.

You know, one of the dangers of church life is becoming familiar with the people without actually becoming connected to them.

Right?

We can attend the same service, right?

We could sit in the same room, we could sing the same songs, we can listen to the same sermon, we can and yet remain strangers to one another.

It can happen.

I'm I'm an introverted person, all right.

For me to sit and have a conversation is like having daggers stabbed in my eyes.

I it's it's it's it's it's tough.

It's hard.

I my wife will tell you, you know, I I um I I I I don't connect in that way.

That's not how I connect, you know, but it's so important that you connect on that level, that you have that individual.

It could be so easy for me to walk in and walk out.

I'll tell you something else.

I'm I'm I had this conversation with my wife.

I was like, um, I would rather come in at 7:30 in the morning, set everything up, put everything away, do all that stuff, and be able to leave after church is over rather than stay for 15 minutes and have a conversation.

I'm just confessing to you guys.

It's not the matter of time, it's the energy and effort that goes into it.

Right.

And then see, this sticks with me specifically because I really have now many of you don't have that problem.

I do.

So I have to go out of my way to come over and and and and have a conversation with you.

Um and of course, I married a woman who is a prolific conversationalist.

That's what I call it.

Jesus.

You have a nice, a nice, fulfilling conversation where you walk away like, wow.

I mean, your whole worldview changes.

Sit with my wife for a few minutes and have a conversation.

Um yet we remain standards.

But scripture gives us a very different picture of the church.

Let's go to Romans 12, 4 through 5.

For just as each of us has one body with many members, so in Christ so in Christ, we through many form one body.

And each member belongs to all the others.

This is an important point that we sometimes overlook.

Each member belongs to the others.

Now, this might conjure up in your mind one side of this, which is you're mine.

That's what a lot of people think that.

Well, you're mine.

You belong to me, right?

There's a whole other side to that, guys.

You know what I mean?

I belong to you.

And that's the part that we sometimes will neglect.

You know, we'll neglect that part.

And that's, and you want to know why that is?

Because you're not grateful.

You're not grateful for that other person.

If you can't give of yourself, and it's obvious in your relationship that you're not, you're not grateful.

I can say that in all confidence.

It's a two-sided, you gotta act like it.

Stop talking for a second and let them say something.

You know, my wife and I, we were uh at a breakfast one day, and there was there was a uh a couple of women over here, and we had a 45-minute breakfast.

The poor woman didn't get a word in edgewise.

She was sitting there listening to the other woman the entire time.

I'm not passing a judgment.

Maybe she didn't want to talk, maybe she was deaf, I don't know.

But she didn't get a chance to say anything.

And I'm thinking to myself, from the outside, that looks like that's a one-sided relationship.

That's what it looks like to me.

It might not have been, but I don't want anybody to sit down with me and feel like all I did was talk the whole time.

Right.

You know, that's where the eye stabbing comes in.

I would rather that they feel like I got something from them.

Everybody wants to give, right?

Yeah.

You know?

And people love it.

They love, they love to hear their own names.

They like this, be you're affirmed in their own thoughts.

They love it.

That's my way of giving.

And that shows gratitude.

Amen.

Um, let's see.

Great stuff.

Thank you.

Each member, and that is a powerful statement.

We don't simply attend church, we belong to one another.

I belong to you, and you belong to me.

Um, that means that your faith affects my faith.

And my faith affects yours.

Hebrews 11 6 says, it is impossible, impossible, right, to please God without faith.

Right.

We want our faith to be strong because we want to please God.

Your encouragement can strengthen me, your discouragement can actually can actually affect me.

Your faithfulness can inspire someone else, and your absence can be felt.

Your service matters.

What you do matters.

Sometimes some people are not as good as other people in one thing, but if when you overcome that, it inspires people.

When you overcome shyness, when you overcome speaking in public, when you overcome learning how to play the piano, when you overcome these things, it inspires it inspires other people.

Um, but mostly your prayers matter.

And how would people know what prayers you need if you don't have a relationship with that, right?

You know, if you ask somebody, how how can I pray for you?

Oh, pray that my strength, my faith is strengthened.

That's not an answer.

No, don't say how can I pray for you.

So, what's going on, man?

How you been?

That's the question that you ask them.

I've been going all right, you know.

What's going on?

How's your wife?

How's your kids?

Remembering these things.

Last time I talked, your son had the flu.

How's he doing?

You know, like those kinds of things that you can, it inspires other people.

You matter.

The church is not just a collection of individuals who happen to worship in the same place.

Right.

Um, it's a body.

And when one part of the body is hurting, the rest of the body should care.

All right, let's see.

Be thankful for those who encourage you.

Right now, after this is over with, I'm prayerful that all you guys will be out there encouraging one another.

All right.

So let's be grateful for that.

Let's not turn these people off.

Let's bring it on, bring on the gratitude.

Turn to Hebrews 10, 24 through 25.

It says, and let us consider how to spur one another towards love and good deeds and not giving up meeting together, but encouraging one another.

We need one another because following Jesus isn't easy.

Right?

Right.

Um, there's there are Sundays when we walk into the church excited, but there's also Sundays when we walk through the doors carrying burdens that nobody else can see.

Nobody knows these things.

Some people might be dealing with family challenges, financial pressures, loneliness, grief, doubt, discouragement, temptation, fear about the future.

And sometimes, and sometimes they don't need another lecture.

They need a brother or a sister who says, I'm glad you're here.

You know, how are you really doing?

Where's Oz?

So Oz has to deal with police.

Could you imagine?

It's the police, that's the police.

You know, they just people don't, whatever, you're a public servant.

How much encouragement does he need?

You think when um I get pulled over for a ticket, I'm looking at Oz saying, hey, huh?

I'm glad you're here.

How often do you, how often, how how are you doing?

No, you don't hear that.

Um, he might, you know, you might ask somebody else, how can I pray for you?

And and just letting someone know that I'm here for you.

You know, I I one of my greatest examples is Ben.

Out of nowhere, he'll come up to me and say, Wow, Oscar, you put a little extra on that song today.

Like he'll let me know that he notices, you know, and it just makes you feel better, like that count.

You may never know that these words, what these words mean to someone.

A simple encouragement can change someone's entire week.

Let's go to Proverbs, and we're gonna read Proverbs 25.

Anxiety weighs down the heart, but a kind word cheers up.

Your words matter, your presence matter, your encouragement matters.

And and Joe will let you know that I have to be reminded of this all the time.

I'm again, I'm not good at this part right here, going up and telling somebody how much you matter.

I don't, I'm, I it's not natural to me, but it doesn't matter, me, right?

It matters how it affects the other person, right?

Here's a hard one.

Be thankful for those who challenge you.

Now, this might be a little more difficult, but it also goes to gratitude.

If you're if you if something, if somebody is trying to help you and correcting you, and you reply negatively to that, what does that mean?

You're not grateful.

And I can say that clearly.

Somebody comes up to you and and challenges and corrects you, the first thing in your mind is, I don't need this today, right?

That's the first thing in your mind.

That means you're not grateful.

So, how do you show gratitude when someone's trying to correct you?

Because it's easy, it's very easy to be grateful for people who agree with you, right?

That's very easy.

It's harder to be grateful who challenge us, but sometimes a person who challenges us.

Is one of God's greatest gifts.

He doesn't want you to be stunted in your growth.

He doesn't want you to stop where you are, to not mature.

He wants you to mature.

He wants you to grow.

And sometimes he uses people.

Let's turn to Proverbs 27:17.

Proverbs 27:17

It says, as iron sharpens iron, so a person sharpens one another.

When I was in the army, one of the first things they taught me how to do was take care of my weapon.

I had never touched a weapon before in my life.

I had to be taught from scratch how to do it.

And the drill sergeant, I think I was called out like seven or eight times because I didn't clean my weapon correctly.

You can understand in the military, if you don't clean your weapon correctly, what the repercussions could be, right?

That's the same idea in this verse.

As iron sharpens iron, you're calling yourself to go to battle with a dull iron.

I'm gonna go to battle with a butter knife.

Angel's gonna come up with this big old sword.

I got a butter knife.

All right, Oscar, you can go to the back of the line, please.

I'll take Angela.

She has gone through to make sure that her weapon is solid.

Just like iron sharpens iron, that's what we do to one another.

And as one of God's weapons to deliver the gospel, we need to be sharp.

And we need to be sharpening one another.

If somebody's trying to do that to you and you react negatively, you are not grateful.

If someone's trying to do that for you and you are, you're more useful to God, number one.

But you are a grateful person.

I know as a as a supervisor, if someone's having a problem or issue and they don't tell me, right, I'm I first my first thought is, you know, they need they need to be written up, we gotta figure something out.

My my but my but actually, what I should be thinking is how come this person doesn't trust me enough to let me know that there's an issue?

You know, I'm your first line in defense for your job.

I'm called to stand up for you, I'm called to advocate for you.

I won't know what to advocate for you if I don't know.

Be approachable, let people correct you.

Um sometimes there's friction, sometimes there's resistance, sometimes there's discomfort, and sometimes church fellowship becomes uncomfortable.

People don't always agree with you.

People have different personalities, different backgrounds, different opinions, different expectations, but God uses those differences to shape us.

You ever heard the word diversity?

God uses other types of people to sharpen you.

Brothers who challenge your attitude may be helping you to become more like Christ, and sisters who ask you a difficult question might be helping you to examine your heart.

Sometimes, who sees something in you that you don't may be helping you to grow.

So instead of saying, Why are they bothering me?

You should ask, what is God trying to teach me through them?

This is this is the attitude that demonstrates gratitude.

Gratitude changes how we treat one another.

Paul gives the uh church some practical commands in Colossians, starting in chapter 3, 12 to 14.

Clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience, bear with one another, and forgive one another.

And over all these virtues, put on love.

Think about these words.

As this can be challenging, but it brings the church closer.

When you see something that needs correction, make sure that you're demonstrating compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience, forgiveness, and most especially love.

How can you do that while at the same time correcting someone?

Come on, Oscar.

This is not man, this is not, you know, um brain science.

This is this is simple.

How do you like to be true?

It's very simple.

How do you like to do you like to be listened to?

Listen to that person.

Do you like advice?

Take some advice.

These things, this is what it means.

Put yourself in their shoes.

How is how would I get some?

First of all, you gotta admit that you're wrong.

That's number one.

And number two, you have to admit that I need correction.

And then once you do that, everything else falls into place.

How would I correct myself?

Also, find somebody in the fellowship that you respect, love, you know, have a great relationship with, and build a higher relationship with them so that when an issue comes, you have somebody to go to.

Don't wait till the house is on fire to pull out a glass of water.

No.

Um, these aren't just good qualities in our private lives.

They're essential to a healthy church.

Because eventually, church people will disappoint in one another.

Someone will say the wrong thing, someone will forget about something, somebody's gonna make a mistake, someone won't meet our expectations, and someone will hurt your feelings.

And when that happens, we have a choice.

We can keep a record, we can become bitter, we can distance ourselves, or we can remember.

I am thankful for grace because I need it too.

Right.

I'm thankful for grace.

I'm I'm upset right now, but I need some grace.

I'm bitter right now, but I need some grace.

You know, I I'm and I'm grateful to have it.

The church is not a gathering of perfect people, right?

Right, it's a gathering of people who need Jesus.

And we always remember in these situations, there's two sides.

Right?

You know, there's always two sides.

Be an advocate for both.

God loves both of you guys.

Amen.

Say, stay on both sides.

Be careful not to take a side.

Let's go to uh the next slide.

Appreciate the servants among us.

This is um personal to me because this is how I show gratitude.

When I first started coming to the church, I saw maybe this is a church about 200, seven people doing stuff.

And I said, that ain't right.

These guys are these 200 people here, right?

193 of them are just coming and going, and seven of them are doing everything.

And I said, I'll bet you one of those seven people would be grateful if I stepped up.

Now, let me tell you something.

I have no idea what I'm doing.

This this singing thing, I just started doing what, two years ago?

And I'm still not really good at it.

And then I've seen Rich, who's been doing for 30 years, struggle through songs.

40.

40, sorry, 40, struggle through songs, right?

You're never gonna be, you're never gonna be good at it.

You'll always be trying.

That's all God wants.

That's all Rich wants, that's all Jennifer wants.

Are you trying?

And then here's the challenge.

Once they see you're trying, try harder.

If Rich says, if Rich says to me, Oscar, I'm so proud of you, blah, blah, blah, I want him to say, I'm so proud of you, blah, blah, blah, I'm so proud of you, blah blah blah.

I'm so proud of that.

That's how he continues to show how he's grateful to me.

Yeah.

Because I know I'm demonstrating it.

Yeah, yeah.

How do you demonstrate it?

Um, the people, oh, the people church are not perfect.

We already went through that.

Okay.

There are people in the church who uh serve quietly.

Not me.

I serve loudly.

Um they arrive early, they stay late, they clean, they set up things, they teach, they lead, they make phone calls, right?

They visit people, they pray, they give, they encourage, they notice needs that nobody else notices, and often their work goes unnotices, but God sees it.

Now, as I was going through this list, somebody's somebody came up in your mind, didn't it?

Someone who visits, someone who does it, someone who does, somebody didn't.

Get with that person, learn from them.

Make sure that you're going to them.

Isn't it hard coming in early?

Isn't it hard staying late?

What do you do?

How do you motivate yourself?

That builds a church of gratitude.

When you see people doing that, you know those people are grateful.

They're gonna come to me, Oscar.

Man, I saw you led Kids Kingdom.

What's your secret?

I've actually had people call me.

How do you lead Kids' Kingdom?

What do you do?

What's what's give me some steps?

And then they were leading Kids Kingdom.

I know that person was grateful.

They didn't just come in here and take advantage.

Give me, give me, give me.

They wanted to do something.

Is that your attitude?

Because that doesn't go unnoticed.

God knows it.

Let's turn to Hebrews 6:10.

Hebrews 6:10

God is not unjust, he will not forget your work and the love you have shown him as you have helped his people.

That's a beautiful promise.

Angel and I used to encourage with other with treasures in heaven.

Treasures in heaven.

You know, it might be hard, it might be difficult, but there's treasures waiting for in heaven.

God does not forget.

Mabel sometimes people don't notice.

Maybe nobody applauds, maybe you don't receive recognition.

But God sees, and we should see too.

We should become a church that says thank you.

When you're serving, you're saying thank you.

That's what you're doing.

And our parents taught us, just like Jennifer's teaching her granddaughter, what do you say?

Thank you.

That's what we should be doing.

Thank you for serving, thank you for praying, thank you for teaching, thank you for giving, thank you for showing up, thank you for caring, thank you for being faithful.

Giving me something to um imitate.

Sometimes the most spiritual things we can say to someone is simply, I appreciate you.

Okay, sorry, got the next one.

Gratitude protects the church from division.

One of Satan's greatest weapons against the church is division.

Um, this is the difference between feeling gratitude and showing gratitude.

Act like it, right?

We can become focused on me, my preferences, my opinions, my way, my ministry, my recognition.

Right?

We can be focused on my needs.

But gratitude shifts our focus.

Instead of asking, what am I getting from this church?

We should be asking, what can I give to this church?

If everybody's taking, who's giving?

What can I do?

Instead of saying, why isn't someone encouraging me?

We should ask, who can I encourage?

Why doesn't anybody notice me?

We can say, Who can I notice?

What gratitude does is it changes the perspective.

Jesus gave us the perfect example.

If we want to understand gratitude and fellowship, we ultimately have to look at Jesus.

Jesus doesn't simply print preach to people, he lived with them, he ate with them, he traveled with them, he listened to them, he served them, he washed their feet, he cried with them, he corrected them, he forgave them and he loved them.

And on the night before his crucifixion, Jesus prayed for his followers.

John 17, 21 goes, My prayer is not for them alone.

I pray for also for those who will believe in me through their message.

Yes, that all of them may be one.

Yes, that they may be one.

Jesus cares about the unity of his people.

Our fellowship matters to him, our relationships matter to him.

How can we treat one another?

Matters to him.

Make gratitude personal.

Jesus cares about the unity of his people.

I'm sorry.

So what should we do with this message?

I want to challenge each one of us to do something very simple.

Not simple for me, so but it is simple for you.

Alright?

Think of three people in this church that you are thankful for.

Not three people you necessarily know well, three people God has placed in your life.

Maybe your spouse, maybe your Bible talk leader, maybe an elder, maybe someone who serves, maybe the person who sits next to you, maybe it's someone that you don't know very well.

Now ask yourself have I ever told them that I appreciate them?

I'm thankful that God has put you in my life.

Because sometimes you might assume that people know this, they really don't.

A church of gratitude becomes a church of encouragement.

Imagine now what would happen if every person in this fellowship made gratitude a daily practice.

Imagine walking through the doors on Sunday and knowing these people are glad that I'm here.

Could you imagine?

When you came in, instead of thinking I'm so tired, I wish I got some more sleep, that everybody sees you is glad to see you.

Could you imagine?

Yeah.

Yeah, it would be awesome.

Imagine what would happen.

Imagine walking through the doors on Sunday and knowing that.

Imagine someone's praying for me.

Imagine someone cares what happens in my life.

Someone will notice of my missing, someone will encourage me when I'm discouraged, someone will challenge me when I'm drifting, someone will forgive me when I fail.

Someone will celebrate when I succeed.

That's church.

That's fellowship.

That's the body of Christ.

That's what it should look like.

Come on.

Amen.

Thank God for one another.

Paul says in Philippians 1:3, I thank God every time I remember you.

Philippians 1:3

Every time I remember you.

Could you imagine?

If you every time you remember somebody, the first thing you do is thank God for them.

That's awesome.

Not what they said to you that might have hurt your feelings, not what they thought of the last conversation you had, not how you corrected them the other day, not how they smell, not how they dress.

You thank God for them.

Right?

Could you imagine?

Um thank God for one another.

What if that became our attitude?

When we think about our church, instead of immediately thinking about what is wrong, we first thank God for what is right.

I thank you for these people.

Thank you for the people who welcomed me.

Thank you for the people who taught me.

Thank you for the people who challenged me.

Thank you for the people who prayed for me.

Thank you for the people who forgave me.

Thank you for the people who stood beside me.

Thank you for the people who helped me become more like Jesus.

And perhaps most importantly, thank you for allowing me to be part of something bigger than myself.

This week, don't just feel gratitude.

Act like that.

Express it.

Find someone in the fellowship and tell them, I'm thankful that you're part of this church.

Send them a text, make a phone call, write a note, sit down with someone after service.

That's a hard one for me.

But I'm gonna try.

This is a challenge for me.

Invite someone to dinner, pray with someone, encourage someone, and don't wait for Thanksgiving or Christmas.

Because for Christians, gratitude isn't something just supposed to be just done on a holiday.

Gratitude is supported by their very way of life.

1 Thessalonians 5.16, 18 says, Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.

So let's be a church that gives thanks.

Amen?

Let's just not wait for God.

Let's just wait a minute.

Not just for what has given us, but for who God has given us.

Let's be grateful for our brothers and sisters.

Let's protect our fellowship.

Let's encourage one another.

Let's forgive one another.

Let's serve one another.

Let's love one another.

And every time we gather together, let's remember we're not just sitting next to people.

We are sitting next to our church family, our tribe.

And that is something worth being grateful for.

Amen.

Thank you.

I never went long.

I am so sorry, but thank you so much.