Gratitude Series Pt. 5 - Chaffee Campus with Associate Pastor Matt Passmore - November 30, 2025

Ministering to the heart of Western Arkansas's River Valley for over 165 years, welcome to Chapter and First, the Bible Teaching Ministry of Fort Smith's First Baptist Church.

You'll find sermons and teachings from Pastor Greg, our ministry staff, and guest speakers.

Thank you for listening.

My name's Matt.

I'm one of the pastors of the church, and this is my first time coming to this church.

And I'm uh I'm I'm excited.

I'm grateful.

I've heard lots about it.

And um, if you had gone online and you came today from miles away to hear Pastor Greg, I am so sorry.

He'll be back next week.

Okay, he'll be back next week.

Uh he's took took some time with Thanksgiving with his family.

Grateful to be here.

One thing I'm super grateful for.

I got to ride in the car with my wife to church.

I cannot tell you the last time we did that together.

In fact, when I was getting in the car, my my son goes, Where are you going, Dad?

I got to go to church together with my family, and we got to ride, and so it was grateful.

And I just live right over here.

It took me about three minutes to get to church versus 18 minutes to get all the way across town with all the soft lights.

So today is good, and I'm so grateful to be here.

And as we talk about gratitude, as we think about the word gratitude, you know, uh Greg came to me a couple weeks ago and he said, Um, I'm gonna I'm gonna be out.

Can you fill in for me?

And um about three or four weeks ago, right?

The first week of this, uh I spoke at the men's luncheon and and I had a testimony of gratitude.

And so Greg goes, can you can you kind of speak into that?

So we've talked about gratitude, and then today I just want to take time to give you a testimony of what the Lord did in my heart through this series of gratitude.

And so, if you will, if you have your Bibles, open it to Ephesians, um, and we're gonna read that in just a second.

But I just want to, as we are are getting and diving in, you know, Pastor Greg has the little booklets, the brew booklets.

Um, so just like all of us did, and I I'll just be honest, I had a little extra pressure on me to do the brew booklet because I didn't know if he would come into my office and say, What was your brew today?

You know what I'm saying?

So I had a little extra pressure to make sure I was doing the brew booklet, you know, and so week one, I get to my office usually about 45 minutes earlier than I need to, so that I can shut my door and I can have my quiet time.

I got my uh I have a little kid at the house.

It's just hard to do it at my house.

I would love to do it at my house, but I get distracted.

And so I get to work a little early, shut my door.

I go in, everyone in the office knows that I when they first get there, I'm in my office.

And so uh, I'll just be honest.

It was Monday morning.

I sit down, I take a deep breath, I say a little prayer to the Lord.

Hey, Lord, use this time, speak to my heart.

And I pull out the book and I read Ephesians, and we'll we'll we'll dig deeper into it for a second.

But I'm just telling that morning, this was what was happening in my life.

In Ephesians, it says, Don't get drunk with wine, which leads to reckless living, but be filled with the Spirit, speaking to the one, um, speaking to one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing and making music with your heart to the Lord, giving thanks always for everything to God, and it continues.

So, okay, I read that.

You know, how many times do we read something?

It's like, okay, and we're just kind of going through our day.

And then Greg has taken some time to pick one word and write about that word.

So I read the verse, and then all of a sudden I read the word.

Always.

Then this is what he said.

Always is simple, is a simple word, yet incredible in its meaning.

It literally means all the time.

Then I'm gonna skip down some.

The word always is completely inclusive.

It doesn't say we should be thankful often or much of the time.

The word always captures every single moment of time in which we find ourselves.

And when I read that, I set my booklet down and I was a little angry.

I'm just gonna be honest.

I was sitting there that morning as I was reading that, and I was thinking, I do not want to be, I'm sorry, I am not thankful right now.

On my ride to the church that morning, just some things in my own life almost put me in a little bit of a pity party.

And when I read that, it was like, God, how can I be thankful when I'm going through this, this, this, and this?

And to be honest, I don't know how it's even possible to do it always.

Because today I am not real happy.

Today, actually, Lord, after reading that, I'm a little angry.

Have you ever been there?

Have you ever been, Lord?

I don't know how to be thankful today.

I know we spent four weeks saying, be gratitude, uh, have gratitude.

But today's not the day.

And Lord, I'll be honest, I feel like a little bit of a hypocrite because it says to do it always, and I can't do it today.

And I was this close, I was this close to saying, you know what, I'm gonna put it away, told the pastor I did it, and I've done what I need to do today.

But like it says in the brew, believe it, read and repeat, look at each word, and then write it down.

I read it again.

And that takes me to what I want to teach you, what the Lord did in my heart that morning.

So if you have your Bibles, if you will, will you look with me?

We're gonna reread this, but I want to read it now as part of the message, and it should be on the screen right here.

Read it with me.

Ephesians 5, starting in verse 18.

Listen to what it says.

And don't get drunk with wine, which leads to reckless living, but be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing and making music with your heart to the Lord, giving thanks always for everything to God the Father in the name of the Lord, our in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Paul's writing to the church in Ephesus here.

He's given an opinion, he's given a suggestion.

He's even really given them a course of action, if you think about it.

And as you look at that, it's kind of tough.

He tells us something.

But as we're looking at that, I do want to stop for just a second, if you will.

That's the verse the Lord just hammered me with that morning.

But as I took time to read it and reread it, then I thought, you know what, I need to go.

Listen to what it says.

Look back up a little bit higher.

Look in verse 15 with me.

It says, pay attention then to how you walk.

Not as unwise people, but as wise, making the most of the time, because the days are evil.

So do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord's will is.

That day I was struggling.

I was a little angry.

And as I was reading it, it was like, Lord, I what is your will for me?

Lord, I as I sit here and as I'm struggling to things, all of a sudden the Lord is like, and have you ever just thought, what is the Lord's will?

You know, so many times in church we use church words, but what does, when we see, when it says the Lord's will, what is that talking about?

The Lord's will is how we live to have a relationship with him.

The Lord's will is that we form our life around his word.

And when you think about that just for a second, and we go back to this, we see here that in Ephesians 18 and 19, Paul gives some advice.

But the advice we see here has two contrasts.

If we look the first one here, in verse 18, it says reckless living.

Some translations say demockery.

And you say, what in the world does that mean?

It's a it it's it's sinking to a state of low moral standards.

Have you ever been there?

Honestly, that's where I was that day.

I was sinking into a pity party of all the things in my life that were lining up that just was making life hard.

And in the cycle of that, what was I thinking about just how bad Matt Passmore has it?

Reckless living.

How easy is it to get into reckless living?

You know, the scripture even says that sin is fun for the moment.

And that reckless living, when we take it back up and we look at the reckless living, the warning here it says don't get drunk with wine.

And I don't want to get deep into drinking and wine, but I do want to point out something here.

I think, one, I do think that there's no alcohol, at times there's no good about it.

But I do want to say this the God that the Ephesians worshiped, or one of the gods that they worshiped, was I I think I'm pronouncing this right, Bacchus.

And Bacchus was the god of wine and of drunken pleasures.

Think about that just for a second.

The God of wine and drunken pleasure.

Sounds like a man made that up.

You know what I'm saying?

You know, and so going after that was the point of this.

When when God, or when Paul went into it, it says, don't get drunk on wine, which leads to what?

Getting us out of control.

Isn't that what the world wants us to do?

To be out of control?

Because when we get out of control, what happens then?

We start trying to what?

Figure out ourselves.

So the first warning he gives us here of the contrast was reckless living, stay away from it.

But then number two was filled by the spirit.

And that morning, as I was sitting there, this is what hit me.

This was the word I went after.

What is the spirit?

We know this.

The spirit is as a believer, the spirit, the Holy Spirit comes and indwells in us.

You say, what does that mean?

Did you know this?

That as a Christian, we have all the spirit we need.

We have all the Holy Spirit that we need.

Think about that just for a second.

As a Christian, we have all the Holy Spirit that we need to live our lives.

But this verse isn't talking about the Holy Spirit that lives in our life.

I think this verse is speaking into this.

And you can see it on the on the uh, if you'll go that next slide right there, there it goes.

As a Christian, we have all the spirit, and I like to add, we need, but the command here is to let the spirit have all of us.

You see the difference?

We have the spirit, but it's like, who's in charge of you?

Are we trying to control the spirit, or are we letting the spirit have all of us?

So as we were, as I was just thinking of that, and we can even see, did you know when Jesus was about to leave, he was with his disciples, and he's with his disciples, and he tells his disciples this, he says, this, it is good that I'm leaving so that the Holy Spirit can come here.

And here's what the Holy Spirit does: the Holy Spirit can live in me, live in you.

You see, it is beneficial that the Holy Spirit came.

And now the Holy Spirit is here, but think about this for a second.

We know this.

The Holy Spirit is part of, and this is why I'm hitting on this and why it was what the Lord was dealing in my life at this time.

The Holy Spirit is part of the Trinity, and we know what the Trinity is: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, right?

They're all one, they're three in one, right?

And so many times we get to thinking, oh, the Holy Spirit, and all yeah.

Think about who the Holy Spirit is.

Have you ever really just thought about who the Holy Spirit is?

It's easy to say, oh yeah, the Holy Spirit lives inside of me.

But have you really took time to really think who is the Holy Spirit and what is the Holy Spirit living in it?

Who is it?

It takes me back to an Exodus.

One of my favorite passages is in Exodus when Moses is at the bush.

Remember, God had said, hey, Moses, take your shoes off, because the place you're standing is holy ground, and God is speaking to Moses through the burning bush.

Remember that?

So he's studying there, speaking to him, and and and you remember Moses did not want to go back to the Israelites.

He's making all the excuses.

So he asked the question.

And we see this in Exodus 3, 13.

Then Moses said to God, If I go to the Israelites and say to them, The God of your ancestor has sent me to you, and they ask me, What is his name?

What should I say?

And God says, reply to them, I am who I am.

This Holy Spirit that's living inside of us can't even be named.

When Moses, when God told Moses, I am who I am, think about that just for a second.

There is no name that we can give God to describe who God is.

Have you ever thought of that?

There's not a name that we can call out to God and be the name that describes who He is.

And when He says, I am who I am, it even made me stop and think.

A guy the other day I was listening to speaking, he said, most people are giving their name by someone that was there before them.

Think about God.

No one was there before him.

Who can give him a name?

Do you see why it's so important?

I am who I am.

And then he says, I want to continue in that because I think it's kind of funny.

And it's God, and then he says, as you keep reading, it says, This is what you are to say to the Israelites.

I am has sent me to you.

And God said to Moses, say this to the Israelites.

The Lord, the God of the ancestor, of your ancestors, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob has sent you.

Okay, if they don't quite understand when you say, I am who I am, remind them that I am the God of Jacob, Isaac, and Abraham.

And that's important to them because that was who they looked up to.

But I think it's important to realize that God wasn't defined by Abraham.

Abraham was defined by God.

You see what I'm saying?

Jacob.

God wasn't defined by Jacob.

Jacob was defined by God.

So when we see that, then it reminds me in Genesis 1.1.

When God says in Genesis 1.1, in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

Have we ever thought about what God really did?

When God just spoke and it happened, He created everything in seven days by just saying it.

And it's perfect.

It's kind of comical every time, every after every day, when he completed something, he goes, Ooh, that is good.

Ooh, that is good.

And you think about it.

I mean, scientists say if we were a couple inches closer to the sun, we would burn up.

And if we were a couple inches away from the sun, we would freeze.

I went the other day, I'm getting older.

I went to the eye doctor.

And as he was showing me different things in his eyes, and how I look at something, it turns it upside down in my brain.

I mean, he was describing stuff, I'm thinking, really?

And I'm thinking, wow, God did that by just speaking, and my eyes do that kind of stuff?

You know, it's just crazy.

And then if you will, I want you to write this down.

If you have a pen, if you don't, remember this.

But in Isaiah 40, you talk about a chapter that describes a God that has no name.

And when I say a God that has no name, I'm saying because we can't name him.

I'm just going to read a little bit.

You need to go read Isaiah 40.

But listen to what it says.

Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand?

Who has held the dust of the earth in a basket?

Who has understood the mind of the Lord?

Or instructed him and counseled him?

Whom did the Lord consult to enlighten him?

Who taught him the right way?

Think about that for a second.

The other day, my son, this has been a while back, he's like, Where did God come from?

I mean, that's kind of hard to say.

To a kid.

And then as the more I thought about it, the harder it got for me to understand it.

So as I was as I on that particular day, I'm writing and I'm thinking about the spirit.

I kid you not.

I set myself aside and you know, I'm praying now.

I'm reading through this book, and this is the verse I read that day as I continued my study.

So if you'll look with me in Galatians 4, starting in verse 3.

Galatians 4, and it'll be on the screen here if you if you need that.

In the same way, we also, when we were children, were in slavery under the elements of the world.

When the time came to completion.

Okay, now.

Starting back over in verse 3, in the same way, we also, when we were children, were in slavery under the elements of the world.

As a sinner, I'm enslaved to the world.

But in verse 4, when the time came to completion, when that perfect time, that God looked over at Jesus and said, Now's the time.

God sent his son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.

And because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts crying, Abba Father.

So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then God has made you an heir.

After I read that morning.

But I just broke down.

Received adoption into God's family.

Adopt.

I looked it up just to look it up in the dictionary.

To take someone or something by choice into a relationship.

I don't know, many of you don't even know me.

I have four adopted kids.

So when this verse was read, when I when I I that morning when I read this verse, I cannot describe really what was going on in my mind because I've I told my kids all the time, they've come to me as different stages of their lives.

They've said, you know, why did my mom or my dad not want me?

I don't know.

All I could tell them was, I chose you.

I chose your little blue eyes.

I have a little son, he's actually with us today.

At the age of 45, I was not looking to have kids.

If you know what I mean.

We were fostering some kids because we were later in life.

We wanted to help, but we just did not want to raise any more kids.

Well, I didn't.

I was finally getting to golf a little bit.

I was finally getting to do go out on a date with my wife every now and then because our other kids were older.

We get a phone call as we were fostering and um run in.

You know, I'm driving home from work.

I get a phone call.

It was DHS, and DHS says, Hey, we got a kid that we think would be good in your family.

I'm like, tell me about it.

Because we had signed up and we were told them we would take anywhere from first to sixth grade.

And they said, Oh, he'll be perfect for your family.

And I'm like, tell me a little bit about it.

And they go, Well, he's not born yet.

How do you know he's gonna be perfect?

You know, and so with your family, and I'm like, so I come, I said, nah, you know, we're not interested.

My uh we've already talked about it, they need to be first through fifth grade.

I pull into the driveway, I open the garage door to walk in, and all of a sudden my wife's coming from the door to the to my car.

And she goes, Matt, what if he's perfect?

I'm like, quit using the word perfect.

We have no idea.

You know, I mean, everyone's she's coming to the car and telling me what it what and I'm like, he's we we already discussed this.

We're not taking a baby.

And she goes, Well, will you pray about it?

So, to make a long story short, we got a little baby out of the hospital, and uh we fostered him for one year, and then we adopted at the age of 46.

And um, but telling you that, and then be adopted into the family.

I will say this the little boy right there, he honestly does not deserve me.

Now be be careful, listen to my whole statement.

He doesn't have any of my blood.

You get where I'm going?

He does not, honestly, I don't deserve him either.

So I want to be careful with that.

I go into his room at night, and I love just watching his chest breathe.

Because why?

I know that when he is sleeping peacefully, he feels loved, he feels cared.

You see where I'm going with this?

In fact, the other day he comes in to me, and we did something.

I can't remember, I can't even remember what it was.

He came in and he goes, Dad, you're the best.

I love you.

At that moment, I would have pulled out my checkbook and bought him anything he wanted.

You you get where I'm going with it?

You see what I'm saying?

Easy.

You're not supposed to be listening.

Now it takes me back to do you see the picture of adoption?

God has chosen us to be a part of his family.

When we come to faith in Christ, our debts are canceled, and we are given a new name, and we are given all the rights of an heir of God.

And you think about the people that God adopts.

When a God adopted me into his family as a believer, I really had nothing to give him.

In fact, the day I gave my life to Christ, I was broken.

There wasn't a pride deal.

It was I needed Jesus and I needed him right then.

God doesn't adopt us because we're worthy, he adopts us because of his grace.

And becoming a child of God is the highest and most humbling honor.

Because of it, we have a new relationship with God and a new standing before him.

That should allow us, when we're struggling, when we're hurting, to run to him instead of like Adam and Eve, what did they do?

They ran from him.

When we look at God, the Holy Spirit that is living inside of us as Abba Father.

And we we see that, we saw that in Scripture.

Abba Father.

Another word for that is just daddy.

You know, there's a difference between daddy and father.

You know what I'm saying?

The fathers that strict, they're the same if you understand what I'm saying.

But I love when my kids call me dad.

Daddy.

So today, as we as we think through and as we close, I want to go back to the verse in Ephesians.

And I want to read it one more time.

So in Ephesians 5, starting in verse 18 again, it says, Don't get drunk with wine which leads to reckless living, but be filled with the Holy Spirit.

Speaking to one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, and singing and making music with your heart to the Lord, give thanks always for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

That morning I realized something.

When I'm filled with the Holy Spirit, I can't help but be thankful.

You understand what I'm saying?

When it becomes about who God is and how little I am, I can't help but to be thankful.

I would love to tell you three weeks ago when I had this in my office on Monday, that it's been easy just to be thankful all the time.

But I will tell you this when I get my pity party, it's easy to go back to remembering who God is, and then I can't be that thankful that I need to be.

And I think thankfulness, the picture of gratitude that we are talking about here is the idea of who God really is.

Maybe today we're sitting here and we're thinking, maybe there's someone in the room has never given their life to Christ.

And as you're sitting there as an unbeliever, you do not have the Holy Spirit.

So maybe today you need to give your life to Christ.

Maybe you need to talk about being baptized.

Maybe today you know without doubt you've given your life to Christ, but you've taken control of your life.

Maybe you're in control, the Holy Spirit's not.

I was reading a book the other day.

You're filled with something.

You're filled with something.

It could be your own wants, your own desires.

But the Lord's telling us to be filled with Him and the Holy Spirit.

And it's easy to say, just be filled.

But today I want to challenge you.

Being filled with the Holy Spirit takes some work.

I think it starts with reading your Bible.

And that was one of the reasons we did the gratitude every morning.

Read your word.

Get into God's word.

It's fellowship.

We can encourage each other.

I will say this: life is hard.

God never says it's easy.

He just says, I'll go through it with you.

We are starting in January.

We're starting a uh, it's called the Bible recap.

We're challenging everyone to read through the Bible in 2025.

And we think it's that important to get into God's word and see what the Lord has done through his word and through his scripture that really changes our hearts.

And so as you think about that, I think we're even starting out here a class that recaps that at the end of you've read that for the week, you will read it or be able to get together and go through that together.

The campus, our main campus downtown, we're encouraging that through our Sunday school classes to get into God's Word and go completely through it and see how it, chronological, how it fits together and the purpose of God's word.

Because like I that morning, I was so mad at God, looking at God, and so in a pity party that I had forgot all the things that God had done in my life and what God had taught in his scripture because I got wrapped up in my own pity party.

So today I want to challenge you as I'm about to pray here.

I want you to pray with me.

And I want you to think about who God really is to you.

And honestly, it doesn't matter who he is really to you.

Think about who God really is.

Pray with me.

Dear God, I just come before you now and just so grateful for your word, your challenges.

And Lord, that day just sitting in my office, the hard struggle I had, and Lord, just how the picture of who you really are and how you want a relationship with me.

It just blows my mind.

And not just a relationship, Lord, but I am one of your adopted kids, just like many people in this room.

And Lord, help me never take that for granted.

And Lord, those days that I'm struggling, remind me of that so that I can truly be grateful for who you are.

Lord, if someone here is too struggling today, Lord, I ask you just to uh give them the uh the willingness to ask questions, the willingness to cry out to you.

Thank you, Lord, for all that you do.

In Jesus' name I pray.

Amen.

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Thank you for listening to chapter and first, the Bible teaching ministry of Fort Smith First Baptist Church.