In Everything Give Thanks

Some of you are already preparing for Thanksgiving meal. You're thawing out the turkey already. It's interesting how you get prepared for something special. Since we're in the theme of Thanksgiving, what can we do to prepare our hearts to literally live in a way where we do what the Word of God says in regards to Thanksgiving. Paul wrote this to the Thessalonians knowing very well the reality of life and what they would face. This is what he wrote in 1 Thessalonians 5.16. Rejoice always. Always. Rejoice always. So this Thursday, it's a wonderful time for us to rejoice, but what do we do to prepare our hearts to rejoice always? Every day, in every situation, always. The first response to give thanks and rejoice always. Rejoice always. Pray without ceasing in everything. Here it is again. In everything, give thanks. What do we need to do to prepare our hearts? Our first response in everything. The first thing we say is thank you. The first thing. However difficult or pleasant it is, our first response is to give thanks to the Lord. We should always give thanks. It's interesting. I looked up the Greek word here. I read the Greek and so I noticed there was a preposition combined with the word grace. You is a preposition meaning good or well. So literally good grace. Giving thanks is seeing good grace. So I looked it up in Bible Hub. It's a program I use to see what some of the Greek scholars said about the word. It's acknowledging that God's grace works well. That's what giving thanks is. It's acknowledging, Lord, your grace is working well right now. Kind of literally, it's being thankful for God's good grace. So can you do that? Can you prepare your heart that you will say that God's grace is what I am going to be thankful for in everything? It's just learning. It's learning to do this. Preparing our hearts to do this like we prepare for Thanksgiving or like we prepare for something other's holiday special. In Hebrews 4, verses 14-16, if you want to follow with me, one of the things that we can do to prepare our hearts to give thanks in everything is draw near the throne of grace. Because at times, we're going to need some extra help. And the Bible's honest about that. It deals practically here in Hebrews 4, verse 14. Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses. So this is something that we're supposed to do even though we are weak. We have a high priest who can sympathize with our weakness. We have one who has been tempted in all things as we are and yet without sin. Therefore, having a high priest that we know can sympathize with our weakness, let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. Sometimes it doesn't seem to be there with us. We have to look for grace. Where will you find grace so that you can give thanks for God's good grace in everything? Where will you find it? You draw near the throne of grace to receive mercy. And there, asking God for it, you ask God for His grace to be able to respond in a way that's pleasing to Him in the everyday situations of life. Times of need, it's interesting that we might find grace to help us in time of need. Times of need comes from a Greek word that means it's a critical assistance that meets an urgent situation, especially in a situation of rescue. It literally comes from the word meaning to pass ropes underneath the bottom of a ship in a storm so that you support the hold of the ship from caving in to the pressure of the storm. You undergird it in this time of need. It's a time of being undergirded. So what the idea here is, when we are facing some kind of storm that's trying to wreck our lives or wreck a relationship or wreck God's blessing in us, we are to be undergirded by drawing near the throne of grace and actually receiving mercy to undergird us to do what's right before God, rather than to respond in our own natural human weakness. Yes, we're weak. But being weak in ourselves is not a reason to cave in to the pressure we will find ourselves in. At that time, we need to draw near the throne of grace and let the grace of God undergird us, support us, and hold us up so that we will respond in the right way. You know, we have no control over when the storms come. You cannot control that. But we do have control over how we react or how we respond to the storm. I hope we can hear this sound counsel. This is the way we are supposed to react the first time, not the second or the third. And yes, there's mercy from God when we miss it the first time and we act out and we panic or we open our mouth and ugly things and uncontrolled things come out. There's mercy. But I'm talking about learning to so be undergirded by the grace of God that our first response, not the second or third, is to give thanks. The first response, the first time. You know what? There's a generation that we can look at, the generation of Israel that God saved out of Egypt. They are a generation that we can look what happened to them. They didn't ever seem to get it right to give thanks in the situation that they were in. Remember, God saved them out of Egypt. But then he began to lead them into the wilderness, right? They faced several storms. They faced the storm of the Egyptian army that had them trapped between mountains to either side of them and the Red Sea in front of them. They faced the storm of traveling three days in the desert without water and no water in sight. They faced that storm. They faced the storm of going through all of the provisions they had taken with them from Egypt and now they had no meat to eat and they may have had to start slaying some of their own livestock that they needed to live on. They faced that storm. And what did they do when they faced those storms? What was their reaction? Of course, it's understandable they were weak. What would you do? Three days of no water, your children are begging you for water, there's no water in sight. They responded in their weakness. They did not respond in faith. So what came out of their mouth was not Thanksgiving. What came out of their mouth? Murmuring and complaining. And this was despite the fact that God was right there physically with them. Remember, God was right there. During the day, he was a pillar of cloud to give them shade. And at night, he became a pillar of fire to give them light. So God was right there. God was leading them. But instead of looking to him and giving him thanks, they continued to react and respond out of their weakness in murmuring and complaining. Paul writes about this. And he writes to the church of Corinth so that by reminding them of what this generation did, we would not follow their example. This is in 1 Corinthians 10. Follow with me. Write the first of the chapter. For I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and they all passed through the sea, and they were all baptized into Moses and into cloud and into sea, and they all ate the same spiritual food, and they all drank the same spiritual drink, for they were drinking from the spiritual rock which would follow them, and that rock was Christ. Nevertheless, with most of them, God was not pleased or well-pleased, for they were laid low in the wilderness. That means they died there. Now, these things happened as examples for us. I want you to remember, just like Paul wanted you to remember, what happened to the people who caved in to the storms they were in. I want you to remember that. They happened as examples for us, so that we would not crave evil things as they craved. Do not be idolaters, as some of them were, as it's written. The people sat down to eat and drink and stood up to play. Nor let us act immorally. It says, as some of them did, and 23,000 of them died in one day. Nor let us tempt the Lord, as some of them did, and were destroyed by serpents. Nor grumble, as some of them did, and were destroyed by the destroyer. And listen to this carefully. Now, these things happened to them as an example, and they were written for our instruction, upon whom the ends of the ages have come. Therefore, let him who thinks he stands take heed that he does not fall. No temptation has taken you but such as is common to man. And God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to bear up under it. So you see what Paul is saying. Everything that happened to this generation is an example for us to not respond like they did, and to lay hold of this promise. And if you have never fully laid hold of this promise, can I encourage you to lay hold of it right now? Listen to me. No temptation has ever taken you, but just common temptation. You have never been tempted more than other men. And you've never been tempted more than you're able to bear. God doesn't allow it. God sets a limit on every temptation that comes to us. And he sets a limit so that we can bear up under it and respond in the right way. So it is not true that you're not strong enough, because in your weakness, God limits the temptation for you still to be able to bear up under whatever situation you're in. And that's the truth. And not only does he limit the temptation so that it does not overwhelm you, he provides a way of escape. So that you do not have to say what you're thinking you should say. You don't have to react like you think you have to react. There is a way of escape which the Holy Spirit will guide you into each and every time. So that you can do what's right rather than what's wrong. That's the truth. So if we are overwhelmed by temptation, why is that? Is it because we're weak? Think about that question. Are we overwhelmed by temptation because we are weak? Or in our weakness, we did not draw near the throne of grace to be undergirded by the grace and power of Christ. You see, it's only half honest. It's a half-hearted lie, I will say, to say, well, I'm just so weak. I did that because I couldn't help it. I tried, but I just gave in. Liar. That's not the whole truth. You're only being half honest. Here's what you really should say. Yes, I'm weak and the temptation came. And despite the fact that God promised he wouldn't let me be tempted above what I'm able. And he showed me a way of escape, but I gave in anyway. That would be honest. I chose to give in even though God was there with me. That would be fully honest. So let me say this. All of us will face trials and temptations similar to theirs. Similar to the ones that they faced, those that came out of Egypt. But we must learn that God is faithful and that his grace will always be there to help us bear up under temptation to guide us. And knowing that, the most important thing we can have in ourselves and encourage our brothers and sisters to have is a heart of faith. A heart of faith that will draw near to God. And the writer of Hebrews warns us about the failure to have this heart of faith. In Hebrews chapter 3 verse 12 through 19 it says, Take care, brethren, that there be not in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart that falls away from the living God. But encourage one another day after day. And the word encourage, I like to translate as exhort. But exhort one another day after day. It's like a sergeant exhorting his troops to stand firm. Keep in line. Keep in step. Don't panic. Hold your ground. That's the idea. We're to encourage one another in that way. Encourage one another day after day as long as it's still called the day. So that none of you will be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. Because we've become partakers of Christ if we will hold fast the beginning of our assurance firm unto the end. So it's important that we exhort one another to have this heart of faith. Let me say this. Unbelief in our heart is not merely a weakness. Unbelief in our heart is not merely a weakness. There is a season where God considers it a weakness. Even the disciples of the Lord Jesus panicked in the storm. Remember when they were in the boat and Jesus was asleep? And they were fishermen and had been on the sea. But this was a storm so severe they feared for their life. They thought the boat was going to be swamped. Jesus was sleeping. He must have been exhausted. They woke him up and said, Master, save us. Don't you care? We're about to drown. And he rose up and he looked at them and he said, O ye of little faith. See, he did see it as little faith. That's why they panicked. That's why they gave way to fear. But here's the thing. While for a season our faith may be little. We have a responsibility to grow in faith and to become strong in faith. And I will say this. A persistent lack of faith will cause constant unbelief to become the evil heart of unbelief. Where the pattern in our life is to do wrong rather than to overcome by faith. And those who think they're being honest and think when they stand before God that he's going to be somehow gracious because they fell so many times through their life because of lack of faith, thinking he's going to say, I know, poor thing, you had some faith, it was just weak, may hear him say, depart from me, you unbelieving one. You had many opportunities to gain and grow in faith and chose instead to stay weak rather than to grow in your trust in me. And that's why I want to encourage us to grow in the Lord and be strong in faith. And part of the way we do that is to understand that our response in every situation, if it's coming from a heart of faith, will be what? If our response is looking to God every day in every situation, when the situation comes, our response will be, Lord, your grace is good. I give you thanks. Now help me do this situation. That will be that that will be the response of the heart. Philippians chapter 1 verses 12 through 16. Paul said this. So then, my beloved, just as you've always obeyed, not only in my presence, but now much more even in my absence. Work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you both to will and to work for his good pleasure. Do everything without grumbling or complaining. Everything. That means go to the hospital without murmuring or complaining. That means go to the dentist without murmuring or complaining. That means pay your taxes without murmuring and complaining. That means clean the bathroom after the person who didn't clean it after themselves without murmuring or complaining. That means change the dirty diaper without murmuring. You fit in anything. That means do what that raunchy teacher is asking you to do without murmuring and complaining. That means do what the boss who's just a mean jerk without murmuring or complaining. Do everything. And you know what that makes you? It's interesting. You know the rest of that scripture. Most of you know it. Do everything without murmuring or complaining so that you may become blameless and pure children of God in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation in whom you shine like stars in the universe holding forth the word of life. You see, when everything that comes out of your mouth is God's grace is good. I give thanks God for your grace. There's nothing to be blamed about. It's so set you apart because everyone else without God's grace naturally responds by complaining and murmuring. That's what everyone else does. And when you and I, by the help of God's grace, in everything we face, our response is God's grace is good and I give him thanks, we're blameless. And it's like stars in the universe that shine. And you know the difference between a star and a planet. It appears that the moon is much brighter than the stars to us, doesn't it? Obviously the moon is giving off much more light than the stars, or is it? Is it? The only reason the moon seems brighter is because it's reflecting the light of the nearest star. The moon has no light of its own. Stars give off light because they have this nuclear reaction going in them and this dynamic power is radiating light, though they are surrounded by darkness. Let me ask you what kind of Christian you are. Are you a planet? You know what a planet is. A planet is a body in the universe that orbits another. The word planet comes from the Greek word wonderer. Planeo is to wonder. So the planets, those that were studying the stars saw that that little white light moves. It doesn't stay in the same place. All these others stay in the same place all the time. But this one's moving. Last week it was there, this week it's here, this week it's here, this week it's there. It's wandering. It's because it's not a star. It's in the gravitational orbit from something else and it's only reflecting the light of that star, our sun. It doesn't have any light of its own. What kind of light do you walk in? Are you only reflecting the light of other Christians around you? You're simply repeating what you've been told? You've grown up in church and you're just bouncing off of you the things that you heard you're supposed to be and you're supposed to say? Or do you have dynamic spiritual power through Christ in you energizing you to be a constant light even though everything around you is darkness? See the difference? The person who in everything is giving thanks, he's that kind of different everywhere. The wife who's that way is a constant light in her home. The husband who is that way is a constant light. The father who is that way. The mother who is that way. The Christian who is that way is set apart and shines like a star in the universe. And you know when you see the stars the clearest? When do you see the stars? When are the stars most beautiful? In the darkest part of the night. The darkness is no trouble to the stars. That's when they shine the brightest. So how we react in the midst of our trials reveals whether, like I say, we're just reflecting the light from someone else or we have really power inside of us. Paul said this to the church of Ephesus in Ephesians chapter 5 verses 15 to 20. Therefore be very careful how you walk. Not as unwise but as wise. Making the most of your time because the days are evil. So then do not be foolish but understand what the will of the Lord is. Do not be drunk with wine. That would be excess. But be filled with the Spirit. Speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. Now most of us believe this. That's why we're in church. We believe we should speak to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. Making melody with our heart to the Lord. And then he adds this. Always giving thanks for all things. So what are you supposed to do when the doctor's report comes back positive? You have cancer. What are you supposed to do when you get the answer you hoped you would not? That's the question. If you give thanks, this is what pleases God. And this is what we are to always do. It's just as important as preaching. And as a matter of fact, can I tell you this? For those people in our lives that we're concerned about. That we want to influence. We want to make an impact on. Our actually doing this. Giving thanks in everything will be the most powerful sermon anyone has ever preached. Nothing you could do would make a more dynamic impact on the people in your life. Than simply giving thanks in everything. And never murmuring or complaining. You know what is wrong with us doing this right now? Again. Because sometimes we need to do it again. Just like David. I have resolved that I will not sin with my mouth. I resolve. I will let no unwholesome talk proceed forth out of my mouth ever. I will not let that temptation get in my heart and out of my mouth. I will not give in to the temptation to murmur and complain. May the words of my mouth. And the meditation of my heart be acceptable in thy sight. Oh Lord. I will honor you in this way. With my whole heart. For your namesake. So that you can have the testimony that your good grace is sufficient. Wow. Always giving thanks in all things is what sets us apart. And shows a maturity in grace. Now, several of you here have these sweet little babies. And we know how sweet little angels these babies are. As long as they are pampered. Let them get a little hungry or irritable. And these sweet little angels can be screeching demons. I mean, they can be more destructive in a few minutes time. And how is this even the same child? Okay. Take the same analysis. And look at yourself. Look at yourself carefully. Are you mature in the Lord if the only time you give thanks is when everything is going your way? It's all good. Lord, I'm so happy. I'm so happy. Here's the reason why. Jesus took my burdens all away. Once my heart was burdened with the load of care. Jesus took the load and made me free from there. Or, can you say like Joe, though he slay me, yet will I trust him. See, if you can only give thanks when the circumstances are all easy. Then basically you should pray, Lord, make my spiritual life like living on the beach in Hawaii. Same temperature all the time. Good breezes. Plenty of food. Good music. On vacation. And I'll serve you and give you thanks forever. You know, we may think that's funny. But if that's not your expectation, why are we so slow to give thanks when it becomes very difficult? Why don't we give thanks in all things? Do I need to translate that word, all? You know what the word all in Greek means? All. In every language, all. It's all things. Sometimes what we need to do is we need to hear this again. And fix it in our mind. All in everything. Okay. Paul could say this. Paul could say rejoice in the Lord and in everything give thanks. Because he himself had this experience of being pressed beyond what he thought he could handle. You remember the time he talks about it in 2 Corinthians chapter 12? Let me read a little bit of it for you. He said because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations that were given to me for this reason. To keep me from becoming conceited there was given to me a thorn in the flesh. A messenger of Satan to torment me. The word torment literally means to hit me in the face. So Paul said he was being hit in the face by a messenger of Satan. Tormented by a messenger of Satan. So he says three times I implored the Lord that it might leave me. In other words, make the situation stop. Change the situation. Take away the pain. Three times. That's what he prayed. And the Lord said to him, my grace is sufficient for you. What was the first word Paul was hoping to hear? Yes. Okay. But that's not what the Lord said. The Lord said to him, my grace is sufficient for you. For my power is made perfect in weakness. You know why we're supposed to understand our weakness? It's not so that we can explain why we fail. Our weakness is not the reason we have for not doing well. We are to recognize that we are weak so that we can say in these jars of clay we have this excellent power to show that the power is not ours but God's. We are supposed to be weak so that the power of God can be displayed in our weakness. Not as a reason we explain why we do not do well. This is what Paul was being shown. My power is made perfect in weakness. And look what Paul goes on to say. Most gladly, therefore, I will boast about my weakness so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. Therefore, I am well content with weakness, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, and with difficulties. Did you hear what he just said? I am well content with difficulties. Now some of us are getting older. And you know what you have to look forward to for the rest of your life? Increasing difficulties. I hope you're well content with that. I hope that brings a smile to your face. Because you know what? God's grace is sufficient for you. And his power is going to be just what you need for this weakness. And that's why you, like Paul, you can learn what Paul learned the secret, didn't he? Remember he said, I've learned the secret of being content in every situation. I'm content when things are abounding. And I'm content when I don't even know where the next meal's coming from. And remember what he said the secret was? I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. That is the truth we need to walk in. That in our weakness, we can give thanks because Christ is strengthening us. His grace is sufficient for us. You know, in essence, and we have to kind of read between the lines, Paul was asking God, take it away. I don't want to deal with this anymore. Change the circumstance. And God said, no, I'm not going to change the circumstance. I'm going to perfect my power in the circumstance. And isn't that beautiful? And so Paul learned the secret of being content. And this taught him more than if God had simply removed the difficulty from him. This answer to him, keeping him in the situation and leading him to lean upon the power of God, is the answer every single one of us need. And that's why God didn't simply change the situation for him. It's for you and I. Not only did he benefit, but all of us benefit in the same way. And so much so, Paul so saw this by revelation, that this became a part of his theological understanding, his doctrine, if you might want to say, in Romans chapter 5. Paul so came to understand this, and here's what he wrote in Romans chapter 5. Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have obtained our introduction into faith, into this grace in which we stand, and we exult in hope of the glory of God. But not only do we exult in the hope of glory of God, we also exult in our tribulations. Exulting in your tribulations? All right, my sweet brothers and sisters, especially my elderly ones here, guess what you have to look forward to in your increasing difficulties? The opportunity to exult. To exult in them. To rejoice in them. To give thanks into them. Why? Paul said, not only do we exult in the hope of the glory of God, we exult in our tribulation knowing this. Tribulation produces patience. Now some of you sweet saints don't have need of any patience, do you? You don't need patience. Well, you know, we would love for God to give patience to us like a Christmas present. All we have to do is unwrap it and it's ours. But that's not how he designed patience to come, is it? It takes tribulation to produce patience. And then what does patience produce? Proven character. And then proven character produces this hope that cannot be ashamed and won't be disappointed. So you see the process? We exult in tribulation if we understand what Paul did. We know that it takes tribulation to produce the endurance and patience we need. And it's through being tried and learning endurance and patience that really refines and proves our character. And it's that proven character that gives us hope. Because as we learn this way, trial after trial, we grow stronger and stronger and stronger and more like Christ. We're not necessarily any stronger in ourselves, but what we learn to do is we lean more and more and more upon the Lord. And we look to him more and more and more. And we stop excusing our weakness as the reason we do wrong. And we turn to him in faith and find his grace in the time of need to undergird us to keep the storm from ripping us apart. And our response is, we bless you, Lord. We give you thanks, Lord. Don't let me dishonor you by giving in to this feeling. Don't let me dishonor you by giving in to these thoughts. Let your power and your spirit help me take this thought captive and bring it under the obedience of Christ so that I can be like a star. Your power and your grace will shine from my life in this situation. And this is only possible by looking to God in faith. And it is a process. James also understood what Paul was saying this. Most of us that know the Scriptures know this verse that I'm about to quote in James first chapter. It's interesting that James chooses to begin his letter with this. Here's how James begins his letter. Count it all joy in Christmas and Thanksgiving and Easter and your birthday. You know what? That's the modern translation. No. Count it all joy whenever you face trials of various kinds. So here's another thing for you ladies and gentlemen to do. You're going to have trials in your body. You're going to have trials with the medical field. You're going to have trials with your insurance provider. You're going to have trials with your government. You may have trials with your pastor. And you know what you're to do? Count them all joy. You know why? You're to let patience have her perfect work. So that you may be mature and complete lacking nothing. I know most of you are nearly perfect. I know that. I know that. I got that. But some of you may still lack just a little bit. Some areas that you're not quite finished. Is it okay if God uses the last years of your difficulty to finish what he started? And make you beautiful? Beautiful to your children. Beautiful to your grandchildren. Beautiful to your great-grandchildren. A beautiful shining testimony of what the life of Christ really should look like in this world. It's okay for God to do that. To me, I see his wisdom in doing that. We know it's only temporary anyway, right? Even if we suffer another 15, 20 years. It's light and momentary compared to the far exceeding weight of glory. That far outweighs whatever difficulty we go through right now. So we do not lose heart because of our present sufferings. We do not fix our eyes on what is seen. We fix our eyes on what is unseen. For our light and momentary afflictions are achieving for us a far exceeding weight of eternal glory. And so we live by faith and not by sight. And by faith we draw near to God when we're in our storm so that he can undergird us with his grace. And we can do what he asked us to do. Show the world who you look to when the storm comes. Show the world how to respond when the storm comes. And it's oftentimes in this watching you react in your storm. That's when they're going to see your faith. They are not going to see your faith when you're murmuring and complaining. And I know we can say we're sorry. I know. But it would be so much better. That's like a sacrifice we can offer. But you know what the Bible says? To obey is better than sacrifice. And I'm so grateful that God is merciful. He's merciful. But he's merciful in such a wise way. His mercy is not merely interested in forgiving us for failing. His mercy is intended to bring us into greater and greater transformation. So that not only are our sins forgiven, but we look less and less like the person we used to be. And more and more like the person Jesus Christ is making us to be. And that's our goal. Let me close with this. Back from James. In the storm, we're going to need wisdom. Right? We don't want to trust our own thoughts. Especially when we're in the storm. So the Bible says if any man lacks wisdom, what is he supposed to do? Let him ask God and God will give generously without even finding fault. But only when God gives the answer, he says let him believe and not doubt. Because the man who doubts is like what? What's he like? He's like a wave of the sea blown and tossed by the wind. That man is a double-minded man and he's unstable in all his ways. I want us to talk just for a minute before I close. What would that look like in each of us? What would unstable in all of our ways look like? What would a double-minded man look like practically? Here's what to me it looks like. When things are good, thank you Lord, bless you Lord, Jesus is great, God is wonderful. Why did that person do that? Why didn't my boss always do that? How come she can't do this? That's what it looks like. The double-minded man is a man who grumbles and complains when things are hard. And gives thanks when things are good. That's double-minded and that's unstable. And a man like that should not think he should receive anything from the Lord. There's a whole generation that didn't go into the promised land. God saved them from Egypt to take them there. Because they were double-minded and unstable. That's what it... So this is why it's so important. Again, I call us as a church. I call myself again to resolve that in everything we will give thanks. This is the will of God in Christ Jesus. Do everything without murmuring or complaining. You see you can't do both. If you're giving thanks in everything, guess what you put a stop to? You put a stop to murmuring and complaining. You'll become blameless and pure children of God. Last statement. If we're breathing in the fresh air of inspiring faith. We will exhale the sweet breath of thanksgiving and gratitude. But if we're breathing in the toxic fumes of cynicism and anger and irritation and frustration. We will cough out the ugly breath of murmuring and complaining. It depends on what you're breathing in. Walk in the spirit. Can you see why the scripture says be filled with the Holy Spirit? And when the Holy Spirit is filling you, you'll be growing in faith. The Holy Spirit will lead you to that throne of grace. So that you can receive mercy and you can find that undergirding grace. To keep you steady in every single storm. We are going to face in this life alone. It's only in this life. We have all been promised that time. That day. When there'll be no more sorrow. No more pain. No more suffering. But that is not our present situation. As long as we live in this tent of the body. We groan. But I want my groaning to sound like. Thank you Lord. Thank you that you're with me. Let me tell you how beautiful this is. In everything give thanks. What if you had sinned and messed up? Can you give thanks then? Lord I thank you for your mercy. I thank you for Christ dying on the cross. I thank you that it's in your heart not to destroy me. But to change me and forgive me. Yes you can give thanks even when you fail. Can you give thanks when that which you hope for is not what happened? When that loved one you lost doesn't survive but they die? Yes Lord I thank you that the life is more than the body. And that you said that he that liveth and believeth on me. Though he were dead yet shall he live. You can give thanks. In everything. Because no matter how hard it is. No matter how difficult it is. You are not alone. God is with you. And you can thank him. That he's with you. And you can thank him that he will make sure you have whatever you need. To bear up. Under the situation. And if we set that before us as our goal. That in everything we will give thanks. You know what we're going to discover? We're going to discover how often we're tempted to murmur and complain. And we're going to discover more and more. That his grace is sufficient. And we will learn to find that way of escape. And bear up under it. And the more we learn to do that. The brighter we will shine like a star in the universe. Isn't that sweet? That's a goal for us. Let's take it to heart.