So please turn there, chapter one. As you guys are well aware, our Bible study during the midweek, we're going over the book of Colossians. Our youth group is going over Colossians as well. And so I'm going to be doing just a theme of the fact that if we have Jesus Christ, the high king, who is to us then our highest riches, then our hearts should be overflowing with thankfulness.

And so with that said, let's take a moment to go before the Lord and then we'll dive into the passage. Heavenly Father, we thank you so much. God, we thank you so much for your grace. Lord, we thank you so much that you reveal to us your truth and all the more, God, that you continue to extend your love through your son, Jesus Christ.

And we also thank you that you involve us in your plan, that God, you would call us to carry the message and God, that you would continue to fill our hearts and our lives, Lord, that we would overflow to the people around us. I pray, Father, God, that we would fulfill this design, Lord, that we ourselves would be so enamored with the love of Christ and God, that our gratitude would go forth to others.

We thank you. It's in Christ's name. Amen. Okay. If you could keep your finger there on Colossians chapter one, I want to introduce the topic and introduce, go into the passage with an interesting catchphrase. This catchphrase is from a movie that was produced a long time ago, back in 1976, from a movie called The Network.

And once I say it, you might be like, "Oh, even though the movie's old, I know what you mean because many people have said it in the past." It's a quote. It sounds a little horrible, so I'm only going to say it once. And the quote is this angry man saying, "I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore." You guys remember that catchphrase?

Some of you will remember it. Many people have said it. Now, the reason why I bring this up is because it's actually been floating on lots of different news circles, whether it be BBC, whether it be New York Post saying that this long-ago 40-year-old movie has actually encapsulated how we feel right now.

And so what's really interesting is that I found it because I was just perusing and it came up. And then once I started looking at the video, I realized maybe this guy was actually onto something. I found the script. I'm going to read for you just a portion of it.

He says, "I don't have to tell you things are bad. Everybody knows things are bad. It's a depression. Everybody's out of work or scared or losing their job. The dollar buys and Nickelsworth banks are going bust. Shopkeepers keep a gun under the counter." It's horrible. The guys are running wild in the streets and there's nobody anywhere who seems to know what to do.

There's no end to it. We know that air is unfit to breathe and our food is unfit to eat. We sit just watching our TVs while the local newscasters tell us today that there's been homicides and so many violent crimes. And if that's the way it's supposed to be, we know things are bad, it's worse, it's crazy.

And everywhere, everything is crazy. We don't even go out anymore. We sit in this lousy house. And then he says, "I don't want you to riot. I don't want you to go write to your politician because I don't even know what to tell you to write. I just want you to be mad.

Stand up, open your doors, go into the street and tell them, 'I'm mad.'" And then it's really, really riveting. And all of a sudden you see the TV screen and the shots and the video go to the streets of Atlanta, New York, California, and the people are busting open their windows in the middle of the night saying, "I'm mad.

I'm not gonna take it anymore." Now what's funny about this is that the comments underneath, and I wasted my time the other day looking at this. I was starting to read the comments. And here now, many people sympathize with that kind of statement. And there are all these individuals saying, "Oh, so relevant.

It's the feels right now." And then there are other people who are trolling or whatnot. And what's really interesting is that this was then shared on lots of different blog posts. And I Googled kind of a funny thing, which is angry blogs, because there are so many people ranting and venting.

Did you know that there is a angry black man's blog and there's an angry black woman's blog and there's also angry white man and white woman, and there's also an angry Asian man's blog, which this video is where I got the fling from. To me, all that says is people have this sentiment.

The thing is, the danger to us is as we hear the news, as we see the blogs, and as we read these articles and all this kind of stuff, you and I could then share the sentiment. The world has a voice and that voice can come into us and then it'll go through us and we'll say something to that same extent.

This world is horrible, right? But we have to take a moment to stop as believers. And the thing about it is just as people trying to be wise, we have to take a moment to stop. Because we ask the question, is this the right sentiment to have? And if we actually took a step back and put ourselves in the shoes of other people in this world, would they be like, "Yeah, I agree with you." Or for example, would some of the people who are desperately trying to get into this country look at it and say, "What is wrong with you?

Why are you so thankless? Why are you so angry? I'm literally risking my life to sit where you sit watching your TV. I'm literally risking my family's life to work where you work and to walk the streets that you walk." You crazy people, right? And the thing about it is, yes, if we did open our windows and scream into the air, I'm just mad.

I'm not going to take it anymore. The spiritual truth is, we're not just speaking into the air because God hears. And if God were to hear us and also to see the sentiment of our hearts, would he also look and say, "You crazy people, why are you so thankless?

You don't realize what you have? You don't realize your privilege? You don't realize the grace?" You see, right now there is such an atmosphere of anger, disgruntled, complaining and grumbling, grievance feeling. We have to be incredibly cautious because then we can buy into the voice of the world and then we can look crazy.

So the challenge today is that from the book of Colossians and the rest of the New Testament, God desires for us to walk in a manner that's worthy of God. And in that walk, what we're going to have is an overflowing thankfulness. Let's take a look at the verse that I asked you to turn to, Colossians 1 verses 9 through 12.

We studied it this past week, but we want to take a moment to revisit and go through systematically several passages in the book of Colossians as a theme. So we take a look and this is what the passage says. For this reason also, since the day we heard of it, we have not ceased to pray for you and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will and all spiritual wisdom and understanding so that you will walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God.

Strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for the attaining of all steadfastness and patience, joyously giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. So as we take a moment to think about this, this passage is very clear.

Apostle Paul is praying and striving so that first we would have a knowledge of God's will, that we would have a filling and understanding. But what that's supposed to produce is a walk in our lives that's worthy of God. The challenge for us is not to simply have eyes to see all that's corrupt with the world because that's already been actually told to us.

It's not wrong for us to see the things that are problematic, the things that are unjust, but rather within the context of a broken and fallen world to walk in a manner that's worthy, amen? But what's interesting about this passage is Apostle Paul then describes and unpacks what is the worthy life.

And we have to ask the question, what is that? What does it mean to have a life that's worthy? And although we talked about it before, I want to refresh because it's so important. To take a moment and stop and think, wait, wait a minute, you want us to have a life worthy of God?

Isn't that striking as weird? I mean, isn't the Christian gospel all about how you're actually not worthy? Well, actually, when you look at the terms, I want to go with you to this introductory thought as a worthy walk and say the term for worthy in the Greek is axios, and what it means is of equal value.

It's worth, right? The idea is that the equation is equal. Your walk should be worthy of the Lord. The way that other passages translates it, it's suitable, it fits. The way that I want to talk about it with you today is the question, is it appropriate? Is it appropriate?

So on the next slide, I want to show you that the idea we're trying to hit today is that our walk should be worthy of God and on the trail of the various descriptions, the various descriptions of our walk being worthy of the Lord, it includes, yes, all the things of pleasing the Lord, bearing fruit, increasing, being strengthened, but notice how it concludes by saying that we must give thanks.

So we're going to tackle this question. How? How is it that thankfulness in our hearts, how is it that our attitude of gratitude is appropriate to the Lord, is appropriate to the Lord? So I want to tackle here the very first point. The very first point is going to be this, thankfulness is an appropriate response to God's instruction.

I'll repeat that. Thankfulness is an appropriate response to God's instruction. Okay? When we take a look at this passage in Colossians 1, verse 9 through 12, one of the things that we recognize is that there is a progression. Okay? There is a progression. And this progression is instruction, it's discipleship, it's sanctification.

It begins with your heart being filled, your mind being filled and being encouraged with all spiritual wisdom, sorry, all knowledge, all wisdom and understanding. So there is this instruction where it goes from doctrines and truths to skillful application, and then your mind actually maturing so that you appreciate and you perceive what's good.

And from that, then you move into a fashion in which your walk, your manner of life is pleasing to God, it's bearing fruit, and it's increasing in every way, both wisdom, knowledge, and strength. Amen? So what am I talking about here? And what I'm talking about is highlighting the idea that God as both our good teacher, the perfect disciple, and our good heavenly Father is instructing you.

And my question then is, are we then mature individuals who are having received that kind of instruction, who are having received that kind of sanctifying process of discipleship, are we looking back and saying, "Thank you"? I mean, we've all been to high school, and it's unfortunate that many students in high school look at school like drudgery.

They don't want to be in class, they don't want to take the exams, and they just cram, cram, cram, they barely get by, and they're like, "Whew," right? But that's not maturity, is it? To look at that privilege of being educated, to look at the investment of teachers and say, "Ah, I'm glad it's done and over with." No, the mature ones look back and say, "Thank you." Why?

Because that empowers me. Because that strengthens me. Yes? To exemplify this point even more, now how many of you guys had controlling parents? Or overbearing parents you could call like "tiger moms," you know, the crazy controlling mom, whatever it may be? How many of you get -- you don't have to raise your hand.

Some of us have had parents like that. Others of us, we didn't. I don't know your background, maybe you had parents who were really just hands-off. They let you have the freedom that you want to, and you made your own choices. Great. What's really interesting is that parents who have that tendency of wanting to really have input into your life, they don't let that go.

Some of you guys know this. You might be a full-grown adult and they always ask you, "Did you eat? What did you eat? And did you poop it out okay?" Like they just ask you -- they ask you the whole process. And you're sitting there thinking, "I'm a full-grown adult.

I know how to eat. I know what to eat." But you look back and you realize, "Man, ever since I was young, they had an input as to what I should dress like, who I should hang out with, when I should sleep, what grades I should get, where I should go to school.

And now that I'm even getting married, and I do this a lot when I do premarital, I ask them, "How is it with the parents?" And they'll say, "Oh my goodness, she thinks it's her way." And there's always this back and forth. Now I'm not just taking a moment to doggone parents.

You know that. What I'm saying is, the mature individual as they grow, they'll look back and realize, you know what though? You were never like this to my neighbor's child. You are not controlling to my friend. You're controlling with me. And the reason why is because you love me.

The mature individual will go back to the parent and say, "You know what? I got to call you up and talk to you right now because I got something to share with you." And I realize we fought a lot, right? We go back and forth, we bicker, we argue.

But I just want to say to you, thank you. Because in as much as you were a control freak, you the control freak love me. Because you didn't treat anybody else like this. So mom, dad, thank you for that kind of attention. Right? And then you just sit there and watch your parents cry.

"You finally appreciate my love for you." And then they'll probably scold you, "Oh, what took you so long? You were grateful." But think about that for a moment. There is a maturity of growth that leads to a product or a result when you look back and say, "Yes, perhaps." And Hebrews talks about this and says, "Your earthly father tries to treat you as they know how." Do you recognize for a moment God your father rules over your life?

As a matter of fact, if you talk about an individual who is constantly trying to instruct you, it's God Almighty, amen? The difference is his words are perfect. His plan for us is absolutely sure. But now it's on us, not like immature children to look and say, "Well, just leave me be.

Let me make my own decisions." No, it's maturity for us to look back and say, "God, thank you so much that you cared for every detail. That every little stage of my life, you instructed me. You gave me wisdom. Every hard moment, every joyous moment, you were there with your presence and your word.

Thank you so much that you cared to that detail." That's gratitude and it's appropriate. The flip side would be absolutely unsuitable. To have your arms crossed like, "Oh, here you go again." To complain, "This isn't good." To not recognize the value of somebody wanting for you to be better.

This is one of the things that I've been really harking on the students in the youth group is this. The gospel is not just simply that you have freedom from evil stuff. The scripture says the righteousness of God is being revealed. Why? Because God is fulfilling the law in you.

He's not leaving you be. It's a harder love to try to change you. And the amazing truth of the gospel that it's transformative. It's actually causing you to be better, righteous like him. Think about that for parents. I don't know how many parents, their main objective is, "I want you to live a better life than mine." Right?

Every parent in here has that kind of heart. And it's upon us to have an appropriate gratitude for that. Amen? Now, as we continue to look upon the passages, that was the first point that thankfulness is appropriate to his instruction. But what's more, thankfulness is appropriate to the overflow from God's grace.

Thankfulness is appropriate to the overflow, as an overflow of God's grace. Okay? Now, may I please ask you to turn over just the page to Colossians chapter 2, verse 7. Colossians chapter 2, verse 7. And in this passage, so this is the second point here. Thankfulness is appropriate to overflow from God's grace.

And Colossians chapter 2, verse 7 says, "Therefore, as you have received Christ Jesus, the Lord, so walk in him, having been firmly rooted and now being built up in him and established in your faith, just as you were instructed and what? Overflowing with gratitude." So it ties in this idea.

Listen, you were instructed, you'd be thankful. You've been filled with Christ, you'd be thankful. What's interesting is, is actually from that passage, if you scroll up and you review verses 1 through 4, this is what Apostle Paul says. He says, "I want you to know how great a struggle I have on your behalf.

And for those who are at Laodicea, and for all those who have not personally seen my face, that," okay, this is what Apostle Paul wants, "their hearts may be encouraged, having been knit together in love and attending to all the wealth that comes from the full assurance of his standing, resulting in a true knowledge of God's mystery, that is Christ himself, in whom are hidden," what?

"All the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. I say this so that no one will delude you with persuasive argument." Notice how he repeats this idea. I want you to have it all. I want you to have it to the full. I want you to have the true, the entire wealth of it all.

You see that pattern, right? What's he saying? I want you to be so capped full, you're just overflowing with gratitude. And so one of the things that Apostle Paul does in the book of Colossians is he gives you what you call like the laundry list. Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom.

This is what you have. And typically I don't like doing this because it takes so long, but we have to because Apostle Paul then, starting from chapter one to two, gives you a list, and I'm going to go through it then with you quite quickly, okay? I have this in the slide later on if you guys want to turn there.

Here, the way I want to present it to you, it's a list, but rather than calling it a laundry list, I want to call it your trophy case, and there's going to be a reason why. This is your trophy case, a trophy case that you did not earn, but a trophy case where you treasure the things that you have.

Beginning with, it says this. In chapter one, verse 12, he qualified us to share the inheritance with the saints. In verse 13, he rescued us from the domain of darkness. Also in verse 13, he transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved son. In verse 21, he reconciled us, although we were alienated, hostile, and evil.

Verse 22, he presents us holy, blameless, and beyond reproach. Verse 27, he reveals the riches of the glories of Christ. Chapter two, verse 10, he says, "In him, you are absolutely complete." Chapter two, verse 11, you have spiritual circumcision. If circumcision in the Old Testament was the indication, the identifier, you belong to God in the New Testament so much so.

You belong to the Lord. What's more, verse 12, you have the true baptism, a oneness with Christ. What's more, verse 14, you have your certificate of debt canceled, having it nailed to the cross. That's just some of the various things Apostle Paul says, "Look at what you have in full." It's pretty amazing.

And so I share this question to you. For us to have an overflow, you have to have an understanding. Look at my treasure chest. And in order for us to be encouraged by this, I just want to tackle one, the very first thing on the list, which I said was God has qualified you.

Now, again, we tackled it on Wednesday, but I want to spend some time on it because, you know, to think of God qualifying us, you have to wrestle with a few things. When you think of qualifications, you automatically think, "Oh, goodness, that means there's some kind of rubric. That means there's some kind of measure and standard.

How is it that we become qualified?" You know what's an interesting idea? Here he says, "You've been qualified for inheritance." Have you sat there to think about this? There's absolutely no way for us to be qualified by our own power. You do not get to go to Bill Gates and say, "My goodness, look at the size of your inheritance.

Do you have tryouts today? I made this cool little app." You know, like, you can't do that. He's going to look at you and say, "You nerd. There is no such thing as qualifiers for my inheritance. You're either my son or you're not." Here's another thing. Apostle Paul, take a moment to think about this.

I'm just going to reference this passage for you, 2 Corinthians 5, verse 9. Okay, 2 Corinthians 5, verse 9. He says this, "Therefore, we have as our ambition, whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to him." He said, "This is my ambition. I want to please the Lord.

I want to serve him." Verse 10, he says, "For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body," listen to this, "according to what he has done, whether good or bad." Okay, please think with me this idea of qualification.

Apostle Paul says, "We must all come before the judgment seat, and we are going to be judged whether good or bad." I wrestled with this passage quite a bit. You know, people in here who are individuals who are driven by performance, want to accomplish every task, you're pretty ambitious or whatever it may be, and you're very, very scared of failure, yes?

This passage is going to rock your world. And I wrestled with it because I asked the question, "What does this mean? Does this mean that if I do something bad as a Christian, that in some way there's some punitive measure?" You got to wrestle with that. And then there was another wrestling.

It's like, there were times when I used to think, like, "You know what? This is kind of weird." Early on as a Christian, I remember thinking the 11th hour dilemma, which is, you live as a pagan doing all sorts of wicked stuff, stealing, lying, lust, and all this kind of crazy stuff, and let's say you did something really, really, really immoral, the unmentionables, and then you're about to die and some guy comes and preaches the gospel to you, and now you're saved.

People have a big problem with that. It's like, "What? No." You don't get to live like a pagan. Confess Christ at the end of your life and everything will be peachy, right? And then there's that question, "What if you are a Christian and then you do other stuff that are sinful, which we have?" I've done sinful stuff.

Have I ever lied after becoming a Christian? I have. Have I ever lusted after becoming a Christian? I have. What happens? Now, I don't have the time here and now to wrestle with all of you now, but the reason why I'm bringing this up is because I want you to focus on what a treasure, what a huge, unmentionable, indescribable treasure it is to be qualified by Christ.

I do believe we are all going to show up on Judgment Day. I do believe Christ's account is perfect. It's precise and he sees everything. It's Jesus Christ who said, "You know that careless word you spoke? Guess what? It's going to be judged. You know what Jesus says? You've heard it said, 'Do not do X, Y, and Z, but I see your heart.'" And what Scripture says is that when we come before this judgment seat, things will be manifest, evidently clear.

That Judgment Day is going to be the most emotional day ever and no one's going to ask, "Do you have tryouts?" No one will dare ask that on that day. And even us as saints, we're going to come before the Lord and we're going to be shown all that we are.

And then Christ is going to say, "But if you bear my name and if my blood covers you, I have become your sin and I've nailed it to the cross. You're qualified." That's incredible. Do you get what I'm saying? That's incredible. No one can ask to be qualified. That's actually called injustice.

But God says, "I qualify you for my inheritance because I make you a son. When you are in Christ, you are fellow heir." Those are the kind of treasures you can't even ask for. It seems inappropriate. And therefore, when our hearts are filled with that understanding, you give thanks to God as an overflow.

"Lord, you grant me mercies that I didn't even know how to ask for. And yes, if my sin be before me and be made manifest, there's even no way I'm going to ask for a test. Thank you that you qualified me." Amen? That's just one, just one of the things Apostle Paul mentions as a list of the things that cause us to overflow with gratitude.

And so if you turn over to Colossians chapter 3, verse 15, Colossians chapter 3, verse 15, Apostle Paul says this, "Let the peace of Christ rule in your heart, to which indeed you were called in one body, and be thankful." Verse 16, "Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom, teaching, admonishing one another, with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God." This is appropriate.

But when you hear the sweet words of God, when you have the amazing peace of Christ, then you are going to be overflowing and singing with gratitude. Amen? This is what we're aspiring to. Now if you look at verse 17, it introduces our next thought, which says, "Whatever you do then, in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through him to God the Father." And my third point is going to be this, thankfulness is appropriate to the glory of God.

Okay, point number three, thankfulness is appropriate to the glory of God. Now each one of these points, that it's appropriate to the instruction of God, that it's appropriate to the overflow of God's grace, these aren't like new profound statements, but it's important for us to think through, especially this one, that thankfulness is appropriate to the glory of God.

The passage in Colossians chapter 3, 17 says very clearly, "Whatever you do," right? This is what Apostle Paul says in 1 Corinthians chapter 10, "Whatever you do, even if you eat, drink, sleep or awake, do all to the glory of God." Paul recognized here, he's tying that with thankfulness, that your thankfulness is appropriate because the glory of God inspires your thankfulness and therefore is the reason for your thankfulness, but also your thankfulness then results in the further glory of God.

Your thankfulness is tied intrinsically that God would be glorified. I'm going to borrow a famous statement by Pastor John Piper. If you guys read his book, "Let the Nations Be Glad," he says this, "Missions exist because worship does not." I'm going to borrow that and use it for my sermon, which is, "Missions exist because thanksgiving does not." Missions exist because thanksgiving does not.

Why do I say this? Because in the passage in Romans chapter 1, verse 21, what the scripture says is that mankind has oppressed truth. They see God, but they do not acknowledge Him. Once more it says, "Although it is evident, they neither give thanks to God or worship Him." They don't give thanks to the Lord, but rather they do what?

They keep exchanging the madman stuff rather than give honor to God. And now, if you would please turn to 2 Corinthians, turn in your Bibles to 2 Corinthians chapter 4. 2 Corinthians chapter 4, verse 15. I'm going to read actually verse 13 to 15. Apostle Paul then gives the premise for my statement, "Missions exist because thanksgiving does not." He says this, "Having the same spirit of faith according to what is written, I believe, and therefore I spoke.

We also believe, therefore we also speak, knowing that he who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and will present us with you." Listen to this, "For all things are for your sake so that the grace which is spreading to more and more people may cause the giving of thanks to abound to the glory of God." Your thanksgiving is going to abound to the glory of God.

This is appropriate. And now to bring then conviction, if we buy into the voice of the age, "Because my education is horrible, because my job is horrible, because X, Y, and Z is horrible, I have every reason just to be upset, angry, and you know what? I'm not going to take it anymore." Inappropriate to the glory of God.

We have to ask the question, "In what I am saying, in my attitude, in what I am feeling, is this giving further abounding glory to the Lord? Is this going to inspire thanksgiving amongst all the people, to the people that I shine the light, to the people that I witness and evangelize?

Is it going to then produce greater thanksgiving to God? Or are they going to be confused looking at you? I don't get it. Why are you acting like a crazy person, opening up your window at night, walking through the street screaming, "I'm mad and I'm not going to take it anymore." What's wrong with you?" Unfortunately, unfortunately, as I read articles, it's a little bit discouraging, because people keep buying into this rant, vent, maybe because it feels good.

I'm going to close by bringing this idea, the sermon title is actually "Thankfulness, a Shield for Falsehood." And the reason why I say this is because when the full kind of process of God goes from instruction, knowledge, to walking, to bearing fruit, and it's going to produce in you a thanksgiving, right?

That's going to actually build strength in you. And what Apostle Paul is doing, if you guys recall, in Colossians, Apostle Paul is writing to them because he's also trying to protect them. He says, "I write this so that you will not be deluded with persuasive arguments, things that are trying to trick you in many ways." It actually makes sense to some degree, and that's why people buy into it.

You know what's really interesting is, again, I wasted my time reading all these comments on the video, right? And so there are some trolls, you know, people who make fun of each other, and then somebody said, "Oh, this predicted the future. We're here now with Trump and the government and media, blah, blah, blah, blah." And what's really funny is one of the trolls was like, "Oh my goodness, I can tell you never watched the movie." But the man who says, "I'm mad, I'm not going to take it anymore," who's actually, he's an anchor who gets fired.

He's so mad, guess what? He says, "I'm going to commit suicide on live TV." And rather than putting him down, the network says, "Let's show him. Let's show him to the world so that," what? "Our ratings go up." Do you know what the moral of the movie is? When you scream like that, you're crazy.

And when the world thinks you're crazy, they don't listen to you. It doesn't change anything. The only thing that's done is push the ratings. That's the moral of the story. So one of the guys are trolling like, "You never seen the movie, you idiot, blah, blah, blah, blah." And then one of the people they write back is like, "No, but it really captures the sentiment of our age.

And whether it actually makes a change or not, that's not the point. The point is we came together in something we felt deeply. Doesn't it feel good?" The world isn't going to say stuff like to you. Doesn't it feel refreshing? Sometimes to just break a plate, sometimes to vent and let it out.

Here's an interesting point though. Maybe. But we're asking the question, is it appropriate to the instruction of God? Is it appropriate to the grace I've received? Is it appropriate to the glory of God? If we are as believers are keeping sober about those things, we are going to be protected and guarded from all these idiocies, all this frivolous attempts to feel a little better, gain a little this and gain a little that.

You are not going to sit there buying into that kind of garbage. Because honestly speaking, if you are thankless, our enemy is going to attack you. He's going to look for you because all he knows then is he just needs to inspire a thankless person to get angry and then ungodly.

But if you're being sober and your heart is overflowing, you're going to recognize, you know what? It's not only full, it's actually gushing over. I've got no room for your sureliness. Let's aspire to walk lives that are worthy of God, overflowing with gratitude in everything that we're doing. Amen?

Let's pray. Our God, we thank you so much for your grace. Lord, your scripture says that your will is for us to be thankful. God's scripture says you want your will for us just to pray. Your will for us is to do your will in this life. I pray, Father God, that whatever it is, the climate of the age, help us to be strong in you.

Not to buy into the sentiments, the feelings. But God, as we're maturing children of God, I pray, Lord, that we would emulate the Savior, Jesus Christ. That in all things, we would first consider you and then overflow to gratitude. We thank you, it's in Christ's name.