"Kingdom Reality"

You are listening to a message from Southwood Presbyterian Church in Huntsville, Alabama.

Our passion is to experience and express grace. Join us.

Pray with me, if you will, as we get started.

Father, we're grateful for your love and your care for us, your people.

So, greedy and thankless as we can be, you showed us love that we can't fathom or imagine in your son, Jesus.

You chase us down in time and space and put us in a place like this, even this morning, to hear your word.

I pray that your Holy Spirit would be active and present among us individually and amongst us as a group

to illumine our hearts and minds to the truth that you want to show us today.

Pray that the words of my mouth and the meditations of all of our hearts will be pleasing unto you

for the sake of your kingdom and in the name of King Jesus. Amen.

We're going to continue our break from the book of Luke today and we'll be in the book of 1 Thessalonians.

So, if you have your Bibles, you're welcome to turn there. I'll start out in chapter 1.

Paul's relationship to the Thessalonians is a really interesting and wonderful story.

Paul went there and ministered to them.

And as I was telling the children earlier, he came to Thessalonica, which is a metropolitan city in Macedonia.

And he showed up to the synagogue and he started preaching Jesus in the synagogue.

And they let him do it for three weeks in a row.

And then people got sick of hearing about this Jesus.

And they kicked him out.

And it didn't stop him.

Paul continued to preach about this Jesus on the streets to the Gentiles that were around.

And there was great response, both from the Jews and from the Gentiles.

And many people turned to Jesus in ways that were miraculous and powerful

and can only happen because of the presence of the Holy Spirit.

As was wont to happen to Paul, a lot of people were really upset by it as well.

And the Jewish people who were in some kind of power petitioned the Romans and the Greeks

and a lot of the people that were around and found some rabble-rousers.

And they began to form mobs and to persecute Paul heavily,

to persecute the converts heavily.

And things went really bad for them and continued to be really bad for them,

to the point that Paul had to leave just to try to lighten the tension on what was going on there.

And he writes a letter to them.

This letter will be in today, 1 Thessalonians, which is a little different for Paul.

Because Paul, if you read Romans, you know, this great diatribe theological masterpiece

that you can hang everything on.

Or he writes to the Corinthians because of all of the terrible things going on in their church

to guide them in back-and-forth communication on how to right the ship,

how to correct things, how to do things better.

And this letter to the Thessalonians is really unique

because Paul so wanted to know what was going on with him,

so he sent Timothy back to him.

And Timothy came to Paul with a report of a people who were remaining faithful.

who had some simple questions about life and theology that Paul hadn't answered.

And so this letter is actually the letter of a pastor

whose heart is broken for a people that he's led to Christ.

He's in wonder and awe of what the Holy Spirit is doing,

keeping them together, faithful,

even in the midst of rampant idolatry and wanton sexuality

and things like that that were just regular parts of everyday life

in a mixed culture like this.

And Paul is grieving for these people

and his heart is breaking for these people

as they continue in this persecution.

And he sends them a letter that's a love letter,

encouraging them how to stay faithful.

There are a couple of different parts to the letter,

but we're going to focus on the very beginning and the very end today.

So join me as I read 1 Thessalonians 1,

beginning in verse 1,

and we'll read through verse 10.

Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy,

to the Church of the Thessalonians,

in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ,

grace to you and peace.

We give thanks to God always for all of you,

constantly mentioning you in our prayers,

remembering before our God and Father

your work of faith and labor of love

and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.

For we know, brothers loved by God,

that he's chosen you.

Because our gospel came to you not only in word,

but also in power,

and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction,

you know what kind of men we proved to be among you for your sake.

And you became imitators of us and of the Lord.

For you received the word in much affliction,

with the joy of the Holy Spirit,

so that you became an example to all the believers

in Macedonia and Achaia.

For not only has the word of the Lord sounded forth from you,

in Macedonia and Achaia,

but your faith has gone forth everywhere,

so that we need not say anything.

For they themselves report concerning us

the kind of reception we had among you,

and how you turned to God for Midals

to serve the living and true God,

and to wait for his Son from heaven,

whom he raised from the dead,

Jesus,

who delivers us from the wrath to come.

And for a couple chapters,

he goes on about how he wants to see them,

what's going on with him,

what his relationship is to them.

He encourages them to live lives

worthy of their calling.

They had a question,

because people were dying around them,

and their hearts were broken,

because it had almost been 20 years

since Jesus died,

and he was supposed to come back,

and these people were dead.

Are they going to be with us forever,

as you promised?

And he lovingly answered those questions.

And then he turns at the end of chapter 5,

beginning in verse 16,

from a focus on themselves

and a focus on human questions,

to a focus on God

and who he is.

Rejoice always.

Pray without ceasing.

Give thanks in all circumstances,

for this is the will of God

in Christ Jesus for you.

One of the hardest moments

extended periods of time in my life,

certainly in my marriage,

began at the end of 2009,

as many dominoes began to fall,

and I lost my businesses

that up to that point

had been somewhat prospering.

And it took,

I've mentioned this in many forms,

I'm hopeful to give a more personal take

on it this time,

it took away from us

a sense of stability,

a sense of things

that we were building toward.

I had to sell our automobiles,

my bank account dwindled,

and then my savings account dwindled,

and then there was nothing.

I wasn't able to take a paycheck

for a long time,

I wasn't able to have any money coming in.

And most importantly,

what was happening to me

was the thing I had poured myself into

was going away,

was going away rapidly.

And my identity in that

began to show itself.

My identity was not steeped in

anything but that at the time.

As a person,

I was made to feel worthless.

And as a failure,

letting that many employees go,

letting my family down,

letting my pride issues

from business partners

and things like that

begin to affect my life.

As a husband,

I was unreliable.

My wife had decided,

my wife could do anything.

She's probably the most

incredible person I know.

And she decided she wanted

to stay home and have kids.

And my end of the bargain was,

okay,

I'll make that happen for you.

And so I became unreliable.

I was somebody that she

couldn't count on anymore

because I couldn't do

what I had promised to do.

I had two sons at the time,

and I was absent.

I was working 90, 100,

120 hours a week.

You kind of have to.

And it was taken away

by something that

a Monday morning quarterback

could have seen.

But really,

it was just a bigger fish

swam into my pond

and ate me.

There's nothing I could do about it.

It's business.

But at the time,

I didn't see it that way.

What I was doing was,

I was working so hard

at this business

to insulate myself

from suffering

and from want

and from the need

of anything else

that I couldn't supply

for myself,

that I was lost.

And I was in that moment.

And in April of 2011,

I closed my last business

and liquidated

the last set of items

that were there.

and there I was

with a house to pay for,

a family to raise,

and really feeling

completely destitute

because I was so wounded

and ashamed

that I didn't even want

to take another step forward

in life.

And I didn't know

how to do it.

There's a sense there

of true grief

and true human emotion

that needs to be engaged

and I need to walk through.

But there's also a sense there

of an unprepared,

immature Christian

who encountered

a hardship in life

and I didn't know

what to do with it.

I was so focused

on myself

and the things

that I was doing

that I'd lost focus

on God,

on my Heavenly Father

and the things

that He is doing

in the world.

We ought to do

what God's commanded us to do,

not because of some set

of rules that earns us

a righteous place

in His sight,

but because His Son

came for us

and gave us

His righteousness.

and rose again

to an eternal hope

for all of us.

The commands are a joy.

It allows us to live

as a taste

in the world

of His kingdom.

That's what we're seeing

from the Thessalonians.

They didn't know

what they were doing.

For a lot of these people,

this is a brand new thought.

And Paul comes along

and encourages them

in the way

that they should go,

how to focus on God

and not focus on themselves,

even in these difficult

times of trial.

And he did it in three ways there.

We see them.

He tells them to rejoice,

to pray,

and to give thanks.

If you see your outline,

that's as simple as it gets.

We're going to spend

the next few minutes

walking through those things.

The first thing he tells them

to do is rejoice.

I don't know how helpful

that is

to a group of people

who are

having their livelihoods destroyed.

Many of them have been

ostracized from their families.

We read of Jason

in Acts 17

who actually had to

pay the Romans.

Him and a lot of people

had to pay the Romans

to continue protecting them

because so many people

were coming after them.

And then people

are trying to kill them.

And every day

is a real life struggle

to do anything.

I don't think many of us

are thinking about

going to Publix

or to a restaurant

after church

or even going home

and considering,

well, what am I going to stumble upon

along the way?

But that's a real life

encounter for these people

who Paul says,

hey, rejoice always.

So what does rejoicing look like?

Why do they rejoice?

Because these circumstances

don't offer much room

for rejoicing.

So I went to the Psalms

and I pulled a few passages

out of the Psalms

to give us an idea

of what true rejoicing

might look like.

The first one is from Psalm 32.

It's verse 11.

Be glad in the Lord

and rejoice,

O righteous,

and shout for joy

all you who are upright in heart.

Why are you glad?

Why are they rejoicing?

Simply in the Lord.

It doesn't give us a context

of circumstance

or what's going on.

Psalm 92.4,

For you, O Lord,

have made me glad

by your work.

At the works of your hands

I rejoice.

Psalm 119,

I encourage all of you

to spend a lot of time

in Psalm 119

even though it seems daunting.

Psalm 119.162,

I rejoice at your word

like one who finds

a great spoil.

Rejoicing comes from

a gladness in the Lord,

a knowledge of his works,

his actual things happening

in time and in space

and at his word.

In the New Testament,

we hear Jesus talking about it

in Luke 10, verse 20.

Luke 10:20

One of us preached

a great sermon on this.

I don't remember

which one of us it was.

Do you not admit

that he sent out some people

and they came back to him

and they were amazed

at the power that they had

over the demons

and over the spirits

as they were going forth

in the name of Jesus.

And Jesus said,

wait a second,

don't rejoice in this

that the spirits

are subject to you.

Rejoice that your names

are written in heaven.

Philippians 4.4,

Paul writes,

the famous one, right?

Rejoice in the Lord always.

Again, I say rejoice.

Grace.

In Romans 5.2,

through Jesus,

we've obtained access

by faith into this grace

in which we stand.

We rejoice in the hope

of the glory of God.

All of this rejoicing

from the Psalms

and through the New Testament

has nothing to do

with our circumstances.

It has nothing to do

with us.

It has everything to do

with the perfection of God

and who he is

and what he's doing

in the world.

His constant faithfulness

to us.

The way he's shown us that.

Rejoicing is not

some cognitive

ascent to something.

Rejoicing is an emotion

that you can't control.

It's a gift.

I was about 10 or 9.

We would go every year

to my grandparents' house

in Charleston, South Carolina.

Well, Somerville,

for anybody that's actually

been there,

for Thanksgiving.

And while we were there,

we would do Thanksgiving,

of course.

And then we would do Christmas

because we didn't see

my grandparents all the time.

These are my fraternal

grandparents.

And man,

I loved my grandpa.

He and I had this

like super special

relationship

that I can't really

think about any other way.

It was just amazing.

He would call me.

He made me like the Braves

when they were terrible

and watch them.

He also saved

all his Kellogg's box tops

to get me the

worst to first t-shirt

when they won.

In this particular year,

I went and my brother

got some really cool

electronic gadget

from them of some sort.

My sister got something

really cool as well.

And I got

a giant pack

of Calvin Klein underwear.

and I turned

into the

most childish

child

I could possibly

be at the time.

And I remember

getting up

out of the room

that we were in

and angry crying.

You know,

I wasn't like,

oh, cute,

the kid's really sad crying.

It was like,

wow, what a brat crying.

And I got up

and I went into

the other room

and I continued

in my fit

and my poor grandfather

follows me

and he was a huge man

as well.

And he came in

and he was like,

buddy,

don't you want these?

Look,

they're Calvin Kleens.

They're really nice.

And I just continued

to persist

in my ways there

in my childishness.

About 15 years ago,

it will be 15 years

this coming May,

I had the opportunity

to sit with him

for about his last week

of hospice,

I guess the last

five days or so.

And

as sad as it was

to sit there

with my grandfather

who was this mountain

of a man

who'd wasted away

to nothing

to hold his hand

to see that he needed

everything done for him.

It was really incredible

just to be there

with my grandpa

and to

experience that

love

that I have

that I have

for him

and the relationship

that we had.

He was a good man.

He was a nice guy.

And he worked hard.

And he taught me

a lot of things.

And I was able

to be in that space

just simply rejoicing

over him

and his life

and who

he was,

who God

had made him to be.

And I feel like

that reflects

in

all of our stories

a little bit,

certainly in mine,

that

more often

than not

I do

the navel-gazing thing.

And I kick

and I scream

because the gift

I got

was a pair

of underwear

when the other people

around me

got bigger

and better stuff.

or because

the providential hand

handed me something

that I wasn't

wanting or expecting.

Whereas the people

around me

don't have

any problems.

And I picked

out six passages

but what we see

from the entire

corpus of scripture

is that that's

not what joy

is.

Joy

is the Holy

Spirit

given experience

of God's

fatherly love

for us

shown in

Jesus Christ.

It's an experience.

And rejoicing

is an expression

of what that

experience is.

This is my

definition.

This isn't a

concrete definition.

You're welcome

to try to tear it

apart at places

but I feel like

it's pretty solid.

And this rejoicing,

this recognition

of who Jesus is,

it's Holy Spirit

given.

It's not something

we can drum up

in and of

ourselves.

We can't do it.

When your mind

is illumined

to the reality

of who God is,

you can't help

but rejoice

in his character

and begin to dwell

more and more

there.

And you're not

expected to.

It's actually

a promise

that that's

what is going

to be given

to you.

The only thing

we can do

is dwell

on ourselves

more

and try to

thwart that

process.

And that's

not what God

would have for us.

That's not what

God would have

for us

in our lives

at all.

So Paul's

giving us

these three

things,

rejoicing,

prayer,

and thanksgiving

as a set

of building blocks

to go one

on top of

the other.

Because once

you're able

to rejoice,

then you're

able to

understand

prayer

and what

prayer should

be.

prayer to

us

and to

a lot

of

people.

I don't

know how

you pray

in your

home.

Perhaps

it's over

breakfast

as a meal.

Perhaps

it is

with your

kids as

you're

tucking

them in

at night.

Perhaps

you go

to lunch

with a

friend.

Maybe

you have

legit

quiet

times

in the

morning

as a

discipline.

Prayer

tends to be

pretty

ritualistic

for us.

And it

was certainly

no different

for the

Thessalonians,

especially a

lot of

them coming

out of a

pagan

background,

even a

Jewish

background.

You pray

when you're

supposed to

pray.

But it

feels like

this distant

thing that

we have to

work through

because we

don't know

how to do

it.

I'm

certainly

there.

I was

listening to

someone speak

the other

day and

they said,

you know,

I'm not

sure I know

how to

pray anymore.

I'm not

sure I

have the

words.

I

certainly

understand

that as

well.

But

prayer as

an activity

is not

really what

Paul's

talking about

here.

He's talking

about prayer

as a

posture.

Because he

says pray

always.

Pray

continually.

Don't

stop doing

it.

And he's

not saying

to these

people,

hey,

whatever you're

doing,

just stop

and you

be in

prayer all

the time.

That's not

it.

There's some

literary device

happening here.

This is

hyperbole.

But it's

speaking to

what your

relationship to

God is

supposed to

be based

upon prayer.

Because I

think for a

lot of us,

we don't have

a posture

that's

willing to

pray.

And so

Paul says,

have a

posture that

is willing

to pursue

communication.

The writer of

Hebrews said

this,

That's not

what he

says.

He says,

because he

who is

faithful has

promised it.

That's

why.

We have

this access

to God

that we

take for

granted.

I take

for granted.

It's not

intended to

be a

ritualistic,

cold thing.

It's

supposed to

be some

kind of

constant line

of communication.

And when we

forget that

Jesus actually

tore the

veil,

we're able

to go

before God

because Jesus

is intercessing

for us.

It should

change our

attitude toward

prayer at

all.

From a

willingness to

try to

something more

of a need

to try,

a need to

pursue this

communication.

Y'all,

I'm lost.

I know it.

I'm amazed

every single

day when I

consider who

I am.

My past,

my present,

the sins that

confront me all

around,

that I am

able to

do anything

that remotely

seems encouraging

to believers,

certainly not to

be a vocational

Christian.

And I can't

help but see

myself in some

of these verses

as I consider

my posture

needing to

pursue

communication.

Psalm 10

4,

this is me

and the pride

of his face,

the wicked

does not

seek him.

All his

thoughts are

there is no

God.

Maybe I

don't say

that out

loud,

but I

function that

way a lot.

Psalm 58

3,

the wicked

are estranged

from the

womb.

They go

astray from

birth speaking

lies.

The good

Calvinist in

me wants

to say that.

Romans 8

7,

the mind

that's set

on the

flesh is

hostile to

God.

It doesn't

submit to

God's law

and it

can't.

Then here's

the big

one and

a great

place to

start when

we consider

prayer and

its importance.

If we say

we have no

sin, we

deceive

ourselves and

the truth

isn't in

us.

But if we

confess our

sins, he's

faithful and

he's just to

forgive us of

our sins and

to cleanse us

from all

unrighteousness.

Because if we

say we haven't

sinned, we

make him a

liar and we

know that his

word is not

in us.

That's not

where we want

to be and

that's not

where Paul's

encouraging us

to be.

Believer, he's

saying, this

isn't you.

Jesus has

done something

in you that

you couldn't

earn and

that you

can't maintain.

And what

God wants

for you is

to continue

in prayer all

the time and

to have a

dialogue with

him that

recognizes that

and that

understands that.

So we go

from this

willing posture,

and I'm

talking about

sanctification as

I'm saying,

so we go from

this willing

posture,

to this

needing

posture,

and we

get to this

wanting

posture.

Jesus says

this great

thing in

Matthew 7,

a lot of

great things

in Matthew

7.

I'm going to

pick this

one.

7 verse

11,

if you then

who are evil

know how to

give good

gifts to your

children,

how much

more will

your father

who's in

heaven give

good gifts

and good

things to

those who

ask him?

That's our

relationship with

God.

That was

2005, I

was on a

job site in

West Ocean

City, Maryland,

the first time I

received a text

message on my

phone.

At the time, I

made a vow to

the people who

were around me

that I would

never again

receive a text

message or send

a text message.

I was going to

get rid of

whatever this

thing was

happening that

caused people to

not want to

pick up the

phone and call

each other

and not try

to sit there

and tap my

phone.

Youth in the

room, you

used to have to

tap every button

multiple times in

order to get a

letter to appear

and if you

missed it, you

had to do it

all over again

and you got the

numbers and the

symbols and

everything that

was associated

with it.

It was a very

frustrating process.

It wasn't very

long after that

that I saw that

this was going to

catch on and

so I showed some

kind of a

willingness to do

it because it

just made sense.

Two-way radios

are cumbersome.

Phone calls

became cumbersome.

Everything that

I'd ever believed

in my whole life

ever since the

first time I

turned a phone

was thrown out

the window for

text messaging.

And I see it

today a lot,

especially working

with youth.

The beauty of

your Galaxy S

and your iPhone

is that when you

do text messaging

it holds your

whole conversation

there, right?

So I went from

this willingness

to participate

to seeing this

need, this

technological need

to reach out

and be connected

to people,

not by calling

them or going

to visit them,

but by texting

them.

There's an absolute

need for it.

But when I can

open up my phone

and see every bit

of the conversation

that my wife

and I just had

and have had

over recent time,

I really want to

be texting my

wife and I want

to look back

at the funny

things we've

said to each

other, the

picture that

she sent me

of the boys

or the dogs

or whatever.

Friends that are

all around the

country, we can

have this

never-ending

conversation.

And we keep

ourselves locked

into this

ritualistic

communication with

the Heavenly

Father who sent

us a book about

His love for us

and chased us

down in time

and space

through His

works because

of who He is,

told us about

it in His

Word.

And I don't

want to

communicate with

God in that

way, the way

that I want to

communicate with

my wife.

Certainly it's

more than that.

Every metaphor

breaks at some

point.

But it's at

least that too.

That's the

wanting posture

Paul's talking

about, about

praying constantly.

It's this

constant attitude

of knowing

where you stand

with your

Heavenly Father.

It's a gift

to us.

You're rejoicing

in who He is.

Pray continually.

And that can

bring us to

the third thing

there, giving

thanks.

This is the

most unnatural

one, in my

opinion.

People who

have lived

through hard

times in our

country, understand

that it's not

easy to give

thanks.

I grew up in a

pretty privileged

generation, I

would say.

People behind me

are pretty privileged

as well.

And we live in

this place now, as I

said about me in

the intro.

My goal is to

insulate myself from

suffering because I

think it can't touch

me.

And so when even a

small thing happens

to me, the idea

of giving thanks is

not the first place

I rush.

Not by a long

shot.

And Paul's writing

to these Thessalonians.

These aren't unique

to the Thessalonians,

right?

If you look at

other books and

letters that Paul's

written, he gives

these commands to

everybody.

But especially to

this group of

people who he's

thankful for and

he's seen are

faithful and who

are living in this

time of constant

persecution.

Imagine just being

thrown out by your

family and figure it

out.

Your last dime's

paid so that

someone else can't

come and kill you,

but you might not

be able to work

because how are

you going to eat?

And Paul says

give thanks all

ways.

And as I shared

there, Paul,

with the kids,

Paul was stoned,

beaten, spent two

years of his life

on house arrest,

finally imprisoned

again in Rome and

killed by Nero.

And he still didn't

think he was worthy

of the call.

He is the worst

sinner of everybody

according to himself.

We don't know why.

Maybe there were some

sins that we don't

know about.

But I bet it was

more than rhetorical.

I think that that

was a real emotion

that he felt.

And yet he could

say things like he

says in Colossians

3.17,

whatever you do

in word or in deed,

do everything in the

name of the Lord

Jesus,

giving thanks to God

the Father through

him.

It's insanity.

I'm supposed to be

thankful watching my

grandfather die.

I'm supposed to be

thankful watching

friends die,

people around me

commit suicide,

my business fail,

heartache upon

heartache of people

around me from

miscarriage to

you name it.

bad diagnoses,

lost jobs,

giving thanks

always and in all

circumstances is

kind of a crazy

thing.

And we're usually

not very helpful to

each other, are we,

in that time?

We try to minimize

what's going on.

We try to minimize

the process that Paul

is actually walking

us through,

focusing on rejoicing

and who God is

because that'll let

you pray to him

about what he's

doing.

And ultimately,

that knowledge is

where we can sit in

a place of gratitude

and thanksgiving.

I don't know if

you've ever seen the

movie Shadowlands.

I like it a lot.

It stars Anthony

Hopkins as C.S.

Lewis' character

and basically goes

through the life

of the relationship

between C.S.

Lewis and his

wife Joy.

And spoiler alert,

Joy dies.

That wasn't meant

to be humorous.

That's where it's

leading and you know

it from the beginning.

And after Joy's

death,

C.S.

Lewis' character

named Jack.

I don't know

C.S.

Lewis, I didn't,

so I don't know if

Jack is what people

called him, but

that's what I believe

because the movie

told me so.

He brings himself

out of being a

recluse and finally

gets back around

his colleagues

and he enters a

cigar and brandy

kind of party

where people are

talking and

one of the people

you've seen

throughout the movie,

a guy named Harry,

walks up to him

and says,

well done,

Jack.

Life must go on.

Have you ever

said that to

somebody trying

to comfort them

and then immediately

wish you hadn't

opened your mouth?

You know,

I feel like I do

that because you

don't know what to

say but you want

to be comforting

or sometimes you're

really just frustrated

that people are

living in a place

that you've not

experienced or that

you didn't let God

work on your heart

and so you've

hardened yourself

to that situation

and they're not

allowed to exist

there either so I'm

going to push

them past that.

Well,

Jack responds,

well I don't know

if life must go on

but it does

and he kind of

sits there

broken hearted

for a little while

frustrated,

irritated and

eventually walks

out of the party

and there's several

scenes that lead

up to that

but we have

this expectation

from each other

that we take

these statements

in a vacuum

and for some

reason give thanks

is the place

that we rush to.

Oh, you lost

a kidney?

Give thanks that

you have another

one and they're

dialysis machines.

These things

might be true

and they might

be helpful in

time, it's

probably not

what someone

needs to hear

at the cusp

of a diagnosis.

Because of God

revealing himself

to us through

his spirit,

because of him

inviting us

into communion

and relationship

with him,

it has to alter

our minds

away from

ourselves,

away from who

we are

in and of

ourselves

and who he

is and what

he's doing.

And the only

way to be able

to give thanks

in a circumstance,

especially a really

dark circumstance,

for anything

is through an

acknowledgement of

God, who he is

and what he's doing

in the world,

the promises

he's made to us.

He's bringing

all things,

reconciling them

all to himself.

And this ability

to give thanks

is the ultimate

gift given

by the Holy

Spirit to

those who

have experienced

God's fatherly

love for us,

shown in Jesus.

Our Father

wouldn't bring

something like

this or allow

this to happen

unknowingly

or unwittingly

because it's

not who he is.

This isn't

the person

with whom

I have a

relationship.

If there's

a misunderstanding

in the party,

it's certainly

my misunderstanding.

It's not

God's

misunderstanding.

But we don't

practice that

very well.

I've heard a few

things recently

that I thought

were great.

Do you ever

sit down with

these types of

things and write

down five ways

that you could

rejoice over

God today?

Five little

prayers you

could have

said.

Five things

to be thankful

for.

It's a 60

degree day in

late November.

We're going to

drive out of here

one way or the

other on Carl T.

You're going to,

well, some of you

might go that way.

Sorry.

You're going to see

beautiful blue sky

and a sun and

green mountain and

all of this amazing

stuff.

And it's little,

it's really little,

but it's stuff that

we can look at and

go, man,

that's amazing.

Maybe it needs to

be a little more

simple than that.

You woke up this

morning.

We're breathing.

We're here.

We have ailments.

We have all sorts

of stuff going on

in life.

But we rush past

these things we're

supposed to be

thankful for.

And we rush to

what's wrong.

And that's my

heart's inclination

to be focused on

me, not to be

focused on God

and what he's

doing in the

world.

The end of my

story is I

became a pastor

at Southwood

Presbyterian Church

in Huntsville.

Again, that was a

spoiler alert.

But from April

through August of

that year, we had

no idea what we

were going to do.

And the

pettiness of

what was going

on has become

really evident to

me over time.

We lived in a

very progressive

state in Maryland.

I can assure you,

nobody in Maryland

who pursues it

will go hungry.

Nobody's kids will

go without health

care.

I had great

business relationships.

People were

offering me jobs.

You know, my

well-being was not

at stake as far

as personal care

in the world

goes.

And somehow God

brought us through

that process.

I would say me,

I won't speak for

Emily, kicking and

screaming.

Because I became

very content in

whatever was

happening next and I

didn't know what

was happening next.

And it didn't make

sense and people

would ask me and I

didn't give them a

great spiritual

platitude like,

well, I'm rejoicing in

who God is and I've

prayed about it

thoroughly so now I

give thanks for all

of my situations.

I didn't say things

like that.

I didn't know what

was going on.

I was a very wounded

and hurting person.

And all I knew was,

well, somehow this is

all going to be okay.

I have no idea

what's going to

happen.

And we moved to

St. Louis.

That was a miraculous

story again.

And we began to have

these little things

that we could write

down where we

didn't have to trust

in God's faithfulness

for other people.

We could see it in

our own lives.

And he led us to a

place now where we're

still working on all

of those things and

trying to understand

it.

But I'm kind of

headed back down into

that place of,

well, everything's okay

now.

And the danger for me

is that I can live

in self-sufficiency.

And I can return to

that place very easily.

And I heard somebody

say recently that the

reason you give thanks

in all of the small

things, it becomes

easier and it becomes

a habit to give thanks

in all of the small

things.

And when you can give

thanks in all of the

small things, whenever

a big thing hits you,

you're more prepared to

give thanks in that

situation as well.

And I thought, man,

pop psychology is

fantastic.

They must have read

what I've been

studying.

And then I realized,

man, that must be so

hopeless because it's

based on nothing.

If you have that hope

and your hope is not

in Jesus, it's not

hope.

Because all that's

waiting to happen is

for you to screw up

again and start

forgetting and then

everything goes back

in the toilet.

What Paul's given us

here, he's more Tony

Robbins than Tony

Robbins.

He says rejoice.

Always.

Pray constantly.

Give thanks in all

things.

This is the best

advice he could give

to people who are

going through trials

and tribulations.

It's the best advice

he can give to

privileged people in

South Huntsville.

Turn our minds from

ourselves.

And be patient and

aware that God is

working in the world.

He promised it.

God, thank you for

your love and your

care shown to us.

Thank you for your

word.

Thank you for the

ability to come

together without

persecution, worship

you and proclaim your

name.

And I pray that you

would equip us to see

you for who you are.

Be receptive to the

relationship that you

activate in us and

bring about in us.

I pray that we would

learn many different

ways to give thanks to

you.

That we would

understand that giving

thanks is indeed

your will for us.

Not your will because

you've sovereignly

said this is how you're

going to give thanks,

but because it's how you

want us to operate.

It's the way you

showed the Thessalonians

how to live in the

world and they became

a people that reeked

of you.

That were able to

encourage the other

people from around

their area to know

who you are.

To become renowned

not because of how

great they were, but

because of their

faithfulness to you.

I pray that you would

bring that about in us

in a powerful way

through the work of

the person of your

Holy Spirit, not by

accident.

And again, we pray

this for the sake of

your kingdom and in the

name of King Jesus.

Amen.

For more information,

visit us online at

southwood.org.

Thank you.