(soft piano music) It's VDWaltz, right? How long does it typically take to warm up? - We're live now, my bad. - We're live, okay. Well, hello everybody at home. I'm glad that we could gather together in these small groups to fellowship, to share in a meal and spend time together.

It's been a great Sunday, the Lord's Day, having service together and then being able to, again, spend extended time. And so tonight we're gonna be spending time in worship, we're gonna be hearing a brief encouragement and spending some time sharing. So at this time, please join me in a word of prayer as we begin this time.

Heavenly Father, we are grateful. And God, I pray that our church, we would be a people so considerate and thoughtful of you. Meaning God, that we remember and know truly what it is we have in Christ. God, that above and beyond any blessing in this earth, we have the blessings of the Lord, we have the blessings of Christ and of the Spirit.

And I pray that our hearts would be thankful always according to your will. And Lord, as we have time now to gather together in these groups, we pray that we would be very aware of the fact that all of this is possible because of our Lord. And God, that our hearts would be overjoyed to be able to enjoy this time and also to remember you.

So God, we lift our heart of gratitude to you this evening. It's in Christ and we pray, amen. (gentle music) (gentle music) ♪ The mystery of the cross I cannot comprehend ♪ ♪ The agonies of Calvary ♪ ♪ You, the perfect Holy One, Christ your Son ♪ ♪ The strength of bitter cold reserved for me ♪ ♪ Your blood has washed away my sin ♪ ♪ Jesus, thank you ♪ ♪ The Father's wrath completely satisfied ♪ ♪ Jesus, thank you ♪ ♪ Once your enemy, now seated at your table ♪ ♪ Jesus, thank you ♪ - By a perfect sacrifice.

♪ By a perfect sacrifice I've been ♪ ♪ From your enemy you've made your friend ♪ ♪ Pouring out the riches of your gloriousness ♪ ♪ Your mercy and your kindness know no end ♪ ♪ Your blood has washed away my sin ♪ ♪ Jesus, thank you ♪ ♪ The Father's wrath completely satisfied ♪ ♪ Jesus, thank you ♪ ♪ Once your enemy, now seated at your table ♪ ♪ Jesus, thank you ♪ ♪ Thank you ♪ - Lover of my soul.

♪ Lover of my soul ♪ ♪ I want to live for you ♪ ♪ I want to live for you ♪ ♪ Lover of my soul ♪ ♪ I want to live for you ♪ ♪ Lover of my soul ♪ ♪ I want to live for you ♪ ♪ Your blood has washed away my sin ♪ ♪ Jesus, thank you ♪ ♪ The Father's wrath completely satisfied ♪ ♪ Jesus, thank you ♪ ♪ Your blood has washed away my sin ♪ ♪ Jesus, thank you ♪ ♪ The Father's wrath completely satisfied ♪ ♪ Jesus, thank you ♪ ♪ Once your enemy, now seated at your table ♪ ♪ Jesus, thank you ♪ ♪ Thank you ♪ ♪ Thank you ♪ ♪ Thank you ♪ the Lord.

(gentle music) , (gentle music) the Lord. (gentle music) (gentle music) ♪ Worthy of every song we could ever sing ♪ ♪ Worthy of all the praise we could ever bring ♪ ♪ Worthy of every breath we could ever breathe ♪ ♪ We live for you ♪ (gentle music) ♪ Jesus, the name above every other name ♪ ♪ Jesus, the only one who could ever save ♪ ♪ Worthy of every breath we could ever breathe ♪ ♪ We live for you ♪ (gentle music) ♪ We live for you ♪ (gentle music) ♪ Holy, there is no one like you ♪ ♪ There is none beside you ♪ ♪ Open up my eyes in wonder ♪ ♪ Show me who you are and fill me with your heart ♪ ♪ And lead me in your love to those around me ♪ (gentle music) (gentle music) ♪ Worthy ♪ (gentle music) ♪ Worthy of every song we could ever sing ♪ ♪ Worthy of all the praise we could ever bring ♪ ♪ Worthy of every breath we could ever breathe ♪ ♪ We live for you ♪ (gentle music) ♪ Jesus, the name above every other name ♪ ♪ Jesus, the only one who could ever save ♪ (gentle music) ♪ Worthy of every breath we could ever breathe ♪ ♪ We live for you ♪ (gentle music) ♪ We live for you ♪ (gentle music) ♪ Holy, there is no one like you ♪ ♪ There is none beside you ♪ ♪ Open up my eyes in wonder ♪ ♪ Show me who you are and fill me with your heart ♪ ♪ And lead me in your love to those around me ♪ (gentle music) (gentle music) ♪ And I will build my life upon your love ♪ ♪ It is a firm foundation ♪ ♪ And I will put my trust in you alone ♪ ♪ And I will not be shaken ♪ ♪ And I will build my life upon your love ♪ ♪ It is a firm foundation ♪ ♪ And I will put my trust in you alone ♪ ♪ And I will not be shaken ♪ ♪ Holy, there is no one like you ♪ ♪ There is none beside you ♪ ♪ Open up my eyes in wonder ♪ ♪ Show me who you are and fill me with your heart ♪ ♪ And lead me in your love to those around me ♪ ♪ And I will build my life upon your love ♪ ♪ It is a firm foundation ♪ ♪ And I will put my trust in you alone ♪ ♪ And I will not be shaken ♪ ♪ And I will build my life upon your love ♪ ♪ I will build my life upon your love ♪ ♪ It is a firm foundation ♪ ♪ And I will put my trust in you alone ♪ ♪ And I will not be shaken ♪ - All right, good evening.

It's not on, okay. All right, am I looking in the right direction? All right, so good evening. We wanted to be intentional with what we are doing this evening. And I know, you know, you guys, hopefully you had a opportunity to eat your food and you're resting. But again, we wanted to be intentional with the time that we have.

I just heard before I came up here, there's about 29 different groups spread out in the region. And I know some of you guys are very sick. Shout out to the Johns. Yeah, they had a home group over there and they had to kind of spread out because their family's not doing well.

And I know other people who are home because you guys are not doing well. But hopefully you guys can enjoy the time together. Let me pray for us. And then I wanna give a short devotion so that we can have some time of intentional discussion afterwards. All right, let's pray.

Gracious Father, we thank you so much for the blessing that you've given our community that we can gather together in homes, in various places to share a meal, to break bread, to give thanks, Lord God, for your grace and love that you pour upon us. I pray that you would bless this time.

And as we have heard your word this morning, and as we will be reminded again, Father God, of who you are, help us, Lord, to truly have an attitude of gratitude in all that we have. Bless this time, bless your word. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. Well, Merry Christmas.

I know it's not Christmas. I know it's Thanksgiving, right? I mentioned this maybe about as early as I can remember, maybe like 10 to 12 years ago, I've noticed that Thanksgiving is slowly disappearing. And outside of the church, I'm not hearing this, you know, in the media or social media.

There's already advertisements going out about Black Friday, and I see Christmas decorations going up early and earlier. But if there's one holiday that, as Christians, that we really need to be intentional about is this particular holiday, you know? And so I was kind of wrestling through the years, and especially this year, why is Thanksgiving disappearing?

Even though it's a major holiday. This is not just--it's not like Columbus Day, we have one day and then people forget about it. I mean, schools are off. Some of the schools are off for the whole week. You know, I don't know anybody who's working on Thanksgiving, other than, you know, some of you guys who are, you know.

But why is this--why is Thanksgiving disappearing? And so I've actually asked some friends, like, what your thoughts are, and why do you think Thanksgiving is disappearing? And so I've heard various things, and, you know, one of the theories that came up is that maybe because of this new woke movement and maybe the pilgrims, you know, didn't treat the initial Native Americans right, and maybe that's the reason.

And it could be, you know. But if it is, there's no intentionality. I haven't heard much about it. But the more I contemplate, I think part of the reason why this day seems less and less significant, other than the fact that this is a day where there's all kinds of shopping going on, is that we're distracted.

You know, we're distracted. If there's any one particular season of the year where we can be, you know, we can focus our attentions, like everything that I've wanted, everything that I've wanted to buy, Black Friday is coming up, you know, Cyber Monday is coming up, and then we're already thinking about Christmas, thinking about what am I going to get, or what am I going to buy people?

And so I think that desire to get Christmas coming is coming earlier and earlier and earlier, and Thanksgiving is just an excuse to do that. The reason why, as Christians, why this day needs to be taken intentionally is because the Bible says in 2 Timothy 3, in the last days, and I'm not going to read the thing for you for the sake of time, he says there's specific qualities are going to be heightened in the last days before Jesus comes.

And I want to highlight those three things. Those three things he says, the lover of self. In other words, people are going to become more and more self-centered, right? The Instagram culture, where we're kind of like promoting ourselves constantly. And again, there's nothing wrong with Instagram in and of itself, but we live in a culture where self-promotion is heightened more than any time that I can remember in my life.

And it tells us that at the end times, we're going to be lovers of self. And the second thing it says is ungrateful, that Thanksgiving is basically going to be weeded out. In other words, part of the reason why Thanksgiving is being weeded out is because there's constantly things that we covet.

Whether it's physical things, relationships, or some goals, or job, or whatever it is, this bucket list that we created for ourselves, and we're constantly living and expecting, I want this, I want that, and I want that. And it kind of weeds out. The more you fill your head with things that you do not have, that you desire, you're naturally not thankful because you don't have it.

And so we live in a culture where we are bombarded, whether it's things, whether it's experience, whether it's comparing, and so it naturally weeds out thankfulness. And as a result of that, it says that there's going to hold onto a form of godliness while denying its power. If our hearts are filled with self-centeredness, with ungratefulness, naturally the end result is going to be we're going to pretend, we're going to go through the motions, we're going to sing the songs, we're going to gather together, and we might sit around tables and try to think about what are we thankful for, but it's not an overflowing of what is actually happening in our hearts.

And Pastor Peter mentioned this morning in Romans 121, that although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, corrupt in their thinking, and their hearts became hardened. If I was to ask you, what are you thankful for, which is probably what we're going to be doing during Thanksgiving, what are you thankful for?

And you'll probably sit and contemplate and say, I'm thankful for my parents, I'm thankful for my husband, my wife, my children, and we go through this list, but we have to really sit down and think, are you actually really thankful for that? But if I was to ask you, what's bothering you?

What's bothering you? Most people doesn't need much prodding. In fact, if we sit and have a conversation, give it five minutes, right? You don't have to ask, what's bothering you? If you're really open, right, most people, it's just a matter of time. They feel comfortable with you enough to be able to open up themselves, and we don't have a problem because we already have a list that we're bothered by.

That's our natural condition. Our natural conditioned heart is to focus on the things that we are not happy about, focus on the things that we do not have. And so if we're not intentional about being grateful, our natural inclination is to focus on the things that we're not happy about.

And so that's why this is so important, that as Christians we gather together and be intentional. So the opposite of thankfulness is ungratefulness or bitterness or grumbling. And the Bible is filled with warning about grumbling. In Hebrews 12:15, he says, "See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God, that no root of bitterness springs up and causes trouble, and by it, many become defiled." Do you notice here how he says the root of bitterness?

He doesn't just say the fruit of bitterness, but the root of bitterness, meaning bitterness is the root of what causes you to be defiled. So bitterness and grumbling in heart is the beginning of whatever path that you are going down. And so there's a warning in Hebrews 12, 15 to watch out for the root of bitterness and grumbling.

1 Corinthians 10, 9-10, it warns us about the nation of Israel and their history. We must not put Christ to the test, as some of them did, talking about Israelites during the 40 years of wandering, and were destroyed by serpents, nor grumble, as some of them did, and were destroyed by the destroyer.

What was the cause of their destruction? Why was judgment upon the nation of Israel? There's two things that he says. One, they tested God, right? They're constantly asking God to prove himself. If you're really God and you really care about us, you should be doing this, this, and this, and this.

So first thing that they were doing is they were constantly testing God. Do you really care? Are you really going to deliver us? Are you really going to care for us? So he said, one, they were testing God. And second, the testing led to grumbling. When God didn't act the way that they wanted God to act, they started to grumble.

And so the history of Israel during the desert is testing God, and when God didn't pass the test, they would grumble. And as a result of their grumbling, it's as some of them did and were destroyed by the destroyer. So the root of bitterness comes from testing God. Not trusting God, but testing God.

Are you going to give me what I want? Are you going to answer my prayer? Are you going to make this situation better? And then obviously when things don't work out, we tend to grumble, and grumbling is what leads to destruction. The Israelites, I think, there's many things that we can say about the Israelites, but the period of Israel in the desert, you can say it was a period of grumbling.

In Exodus 14, 11-12, as soon as God delivered, they saw God's power delivered them from the Pharaoh. The Pharaoh is the superpower of that time, and this bunch of people who were just slaves, God shows up, performs ten miracles, and you would think that they would just be awed, like, "God delivered us from Pharaoh." But as soon as they get into trouble, they hit the river, and they see Pharaoh coming, and they get scared.

This is what they say. They said to Moses, "Is it because there are no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness?" They already forgot about what God has done. "What have you done to us in bringing us out of Egypt? Is not this what we said to you in Egypt?

Leave us alone that we may serve the Egyptians." Let me stop right there. That's a bold-faced lie, right? But as soon as they ran into the wall, and they got scared, and they tested God, and God-- Is he actually going to show up? Pharaoh's actually coming. After all of that, he says, "Oh, I never wanted to come out." "I never asked you to deliver us," even though the Bible is very clear.

The only reason why God answered them is because they were crying out to God, and God had mercy on them. But here it says, "Leave us alone that we may serve the Egyptians, for it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness." That was the beginning, beginning of God's deliverance.

They grumbled about the lack of water. They grumbled about the lack of food. They grumbled about the type of food. When they got the food, they got tired of the food and said, "Is this all we're going to eat?" They grumbled about the inhabitants of the promised land. "You brought us out here to fight with these people?" Then eventually the grumbling led to the leaders.

"You led us out here?" Ultimately, in Exodus 16:8, Moses says, "All of your grumbling is not a grumbling to me or to people." He says, "Ultimately, it's a grumbling to God." In Exodus 16:8, Moses says, "Your grumblings are not against us, but against the Lord." They were known to be grumblers, constantly complaining, constantly testing God.

Again, our natural tendency is when we are not intentional. If you're not fighting against your flesh, our natural intention, our natural inclination is we look at things and we covet. "Oh, he has that car. How come I don't have it?" "Oh, their family is like this, but how come we don't have it?" "Oh, they're able to experience that, but how come I don't have it?" Then we fill ourselves with discontent, and this discontent leads to grumbling.

Then eventually, the root of bitterness of grumbling leads to destruction. You guys have known or heard that somebody in California won $2 billion. I'm sure all of you have fantasized that maybe I should have bought that ticket. I fantasized. If I bought that ticket, I said, "Okay, basketball court's going up.

We're going to buy that building and the building next to it and the one after that." I fantasized. Every time I go to India, I'm going to go first class. Somebody in California won $2 billion, and as soon as they won $2 billion, you see articles coming up saying, "$2 billion isn't really $2 billion.

If he takes the lump sum, he's actually-- if you calculate the taxes and if you calculate all the fees that they have to pay, he actually only gets-- this is the actual number that they came up with-- he only gets $300,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000. It's not actually $2 billion that he's going to get.

He's only going to get $634,000,000,000. Don't be so excited that he got $2 billion. It's only $634,000,000,000. If the tone of the article is, "They're going to take away all of that after taxes and after all the fees are paid," can you believe that? It's not $2 billion. It's only $634,000,000,000.

As ridiculous as that sounds, every Christian who lives every single day grumbling and complaining is actually much worse than that because that $2 billion is temporary. That $2 billion, we can live out our fantasy for a short period of time, but every child of God has the Holy Spirit deposited in us where we are able to call the creator of the universe who $2 billion is chump change to him.

He can literally get gold coins out of the mouth of the fish, has become our Abba Father. And that Abba Father says, "Call me your father." "If my words are provided to you, ask whatever you wish." "Ask whatever you wish," he said, "it shall be done for you." And that was given to us freely by the blood of Christ.

And yet we have a tendency to forget about that. "Only $634,000,000? You mean I have to love them? I got to do this? I don't have that?" As silly as that sounds, that's exactly what it must sound like to God. For the Israelites to be grumbling they don't have water, they don't have food, or they don't have variety of food.

See, Philippians 2, 14-16 says, "Do all things without grumbling or questioning." Do all things without grumbling or questioning. "That you may be blameless and innocent, children of God, without blemish, in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation." You notice here the crooked and twisted generation, the quality that he describes is a generation that is grumbling and complaining.

He says, "You be different, be blameless and innocent, among whom you shine as light in the world." So what does shining look like? Unlike the rest of the world who's constantly living their lives comparing and discontent and grumbling and bitter, that we live as people who have been delivered and won the greatest lottery.

He says, "Holding fast the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I may be proud that I did not run in vain or labor in vain." Life has a way of sucking joy out of us. That's why whenever you see a church filled with young people, there tends to be life.

At least it's perceived to be life. You have a church filled with old people, there tends to be a little bit lesser life or joy. I mean, that's the truth. But part of the reason why that happens is because as you live, life has a tendency to suck the joy out of you.

You go to work, you've got a bad boss, the honeymoon period of your marriage is behind you. You know what I mean? And then you have kids and that initial excitement of having kids and now you're raising them, waking up and they're sick and they're tired and they're selfish and they say hurtful things.

They have a tendency to suck it out of you. Then life eventually doesn't turn out the way you thought. By the time you were 30, you thought you were going to be a millionaire. By the time you were 40, you thought you were going to have kids. By the time you're 50, you're going to have this.

That's why people go through a midlife crisis because life doesn't turn out the way that they were hoping, which is not just two or three people. We're talking about the whole world experiences this. So the older we get, the more discontent we get, the more bitter we get, the more grumbling.

So it's very difficult to get old people excited because we've been disappointed over and over and over again. If we're not careful, that is the path that we're all on. That is the path that we're all on. What you see in the older generation that said, "I'm not going to be like that when I get older." I guarantee you 100% that's exactly where you're headed.

There's nothing new under the sun. They said the same thing when they were your age. And the generation before that said the same thing when they were younger. But life has a tendency to suck you in to the same path. Everything that you've seen gone before us is a path that everybody else is going in.

But the difference for Christians is that we are to go against the tide. We are to be intentional with our life. That's why it says, "Rejoice always. Pray without ceasing. Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you." In Genesis 50:20, even in the most dire situation, Joseph says, "What you meant for evil, God meant for good." So the source of our joy and happiness and thanksgiving is not that we have what the world has.

That through Jesus, that what they can't get by themselves, we can get through prayer and if we're good to God. And He'll give us a good family. He said, "No, that's not Christian joy." Christian joy is not based upon what they can have. It's completely otherworldly. The things that the world complains about, we rejoice over.

Things that people grumble about in the world, we rejoice over. And the reason why we rejoice over it is what seems to be evil, God means for good. What seems to be evil on the surface, God meant it for good because we believe in a sovereign God. Let me wrap it up in this.

As we are going to break up and take some time to have discussion with our groups, what causes the greatest joy, gratitude, and worship in your life? I think the answer is pretty simple. When we are given something tremendous that you didn't deserve, that's what causes gratitude. And there's a reason why the Bible says that He's given to us salvation by grace.

He says, "For by grace you have been saved through faith that is not of yourself, it is a gift of God." For what reason? So that no one may boast. Because boasting kills gratitude. Gratitude means you did it. You deserved it. You worked harder. You were more disciplined. You were more moral.

You were more committed. You were more sacrificial. And that's why you have what you have. He says, "No." He said salvation was given to you by the grace of God specifically so that you could not boast. So that you would recognize the tremendous gift that God has given you was a free gift given to you.

2 Corinthians 4:15, "For it is all for your sake so that as grace extends to more and more people, it may increase thanksgiving to the glory of God." As grace increases, as our appreciation and love for what Christ has done for us increases, what does it say? It increases in gratitude.

So when you see somebody who is always thankful as a Christian, it's because they understand grace more than you. They appreciate grace more than you. They recognize what they have in Christ more than you. And so part of what it means to grow spiritually is to become more like that, right?

Recognizing that you and I have won the biggest lottery spiritually. And for the rest of our lives that we celebrate this lottery that he's given us, that no matter what happens in this life, that we have a mansion waiting for us. We have an eternal home waiting for us.

No matter what happens, no matter what you're going through, what the world meant for evil, God meant for good. I'm going to give you some practical things to think about. You know, years ago, the first time I went to Together for the Gospel, some of you guys know that ministry.

They actually ended it. They don't have that anymore. But I remember going to that Together for the Gospel, and I was really excited because it was people from all different backgrounds. You know, all different. There's some Charismatics there. There's Baptists. There's the Presbyterians. And everybody, like we agreed on the same doctrines, core doctrines, but we are all from different denominations.

And I was so encouraged to be a part of that group because I felt like, you know, this is like the universal church coming together to praise God. But I remember my experience very clearly because there's some guys that I would meet, and the first question that they would ask me after they would ask me, "What's your name?" is, "What do you think about this doctrine?

What do you think about the doctrine of grace? What is your position on this, and what is your position on that?" So it's almost kind of like they're jockeying to say, "Can I fellowship with you?" Right? "Are you with me? Are you, you know?" And so everything became kind of like, "Okay, I've got to prove myself to this group.

I've got to say the right things to this group." But there was a group of people that I met that was there praising God, and they said, "Oh, Peter, you're a Christian? That's awesome. Isn't this awesome? Isn't this great?" And we would sing praises. They're the ones singing the loudest.

They're just happy to be there, and they say, "Hey, you going out to eat with anybody? Let's go." They would invite me, and they'd say, "Where do you live?" And I'd say, "I live in Irvine." And they'd say, "Oh, that's great. I'm going to be in Irvine next year.

I'll call you up." It's like, "I just met this guy." But they were just so excited to meet me, and they said, "Hey, if you're ever in Tennessee, let me know." And he would give me his number. "I just met you." You don't know what my doctrines are. You don't know what my position is.

But just the fact that he met another Christian, he was just excited, and I started meeting these guys from that same church. And they were all like that. So my first inclination is, "What's wrong with these people?" That was my first inclination. Like, "Whoa, what? Do they not know that we may not have the same doctrines?

Do they not know that we come from different backgrounds? Why are they just so excited?" Just because I'm a Christian. The reason why that stood out to me is because I was not like that. I was just like the other guys. I was cautious. Can I trust these people?

Are we on the same page? But when I saw the joy that they had, I remember what it was like to be like that. Just being happy to be a Christian. And fellowship that happened because they met another Christian. And they're just excited and generous. It was as if they won the lottery.

That's how they were acting. They were acting like they got something for free, and they're just eager to share it with everybody. But as time goes by, you experience hardship and pain. We become kind of more recluse. I know now, after so many years of being a Christian, I can tell a troublemaker coming before they come.

Because I've had so many experiences. The way they talk, the way they act, it's like, "Oh, that guy's going to be trouble." Then immediately my inclination is to guard my heart, stiff-arm them, just be cordial. Because I can recognize them much earlier than before. So I don't want to be caught off guard like before.

I tend to rejoice over what's happening at our church. When I see fruits at our church, when our church is growing. But when I see what's happening down there, I'm skeptical. What's going on over there? Maybe they're compromising. Maybe then the Bible's not being taught. Maybe the people who are going over there are not as serious as people coming over here.

So I have a tendency to be excited about what's happening over here, but not about the universal church. I tend to rejoice over things that directly affect me. But what's happening around the world, what's happening, what God is doing with other Christians, other missionaries, other churches, it doesn't affect me as much.

So what causes me to be thankful usually is self-centered. My thoughts naturally gravitate toward things that are bothering me. I have to work. Like today, I'm going to have to work to tell you this is what I'm grateful for. Because it doesn't come out naturally. But if you spend enough time with me, it will start to leak out what bothers me.

What kind of hardship there is in the church. Like who's causing me trouble. And I have to fight to hold my tongue. I literally have to fight to hold my tongue. But I have to work toward praising God. I don't want to be that person. And this is why Thanksgiving is so important.

Because if we're not intentional, that's where we naturally drift toward. And when we're not praising God in our hearts, we hold on to a form of godliness. We sing the songs, but it's not worship. We share the gospel, but we're just sharing information. But we're not sharing the life of Christ.

So what I want to encourage us this evening as we get into our small groups is Philippians 4, 8 through 9. That as a church, that we fight. We fight to worship. We fight and be intentional about being thankful. That we are deliberate about being joyful. Philippians 4, 8 through 9.

Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure. Whatever is lovely, whatever is good repute. If there's any excellence and if there's anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things. So we want to take some time to dwell on these things in our groups, home groups, in our small groups.

And there's four questions that was emailed out to you. And so let me just review it. And I'm going to pray or I'm going to ask the praise team to come back up. And they're going to sing and then we're going to end and let you go back to your groups.

What is it about your salvation that you are the most thankful for? Specifically, not just I got saved, you know, but what is it about specifically about your salvation are you the most thankful for? Number two, would people who are the closest to you describe you as a bitter or discontent person or a joyful person?

And I'm not talking superficially. You can always put up a good front. But I'm talking about the people who know you behind the scene. When you don't have your guards up, do they know you as a joyful, thankful, worshipful person or discontent, bitter and grumbling? Three, how does an unthankful spirit affect your daily life?

How does it affect the quality of your worship and obedience to God? Four, how can we restore an attitude of gratitude on a daily basis? Specifically, how can we be intentional so that we can worship God in spirit and in truth? Let me pray for us and let me ask the praise team to come back up.

Then after the praise is finished, we'll release you to your groups. OK, let me pray for us as our worship team comes up. Heavenly Father, we thank you for the time that you've given us to be intentional about Thanksgiving. Lord, if our hearts have drifted and that we are externally working so hard to be righteous, but yet the heart of true worship has drifted from us for a long time.

Help us, Lord God, to be intentional, to be deliberate, to fight, Lord God, toward our thoughts, our hearts, what we feel. Restore in us a joy of our salvation, that we may be people who worship you in spirit and in truth. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. Should nothing of our efforts stand, no legacy survive.

Unless the Lord does raise the house in vain, His builders strive. To you who boast tomorrow's gain, tell me what is your life? Amidst the vanishes at dawn, all glory be to Christ. All glory be to Christ our King, all glory be to Christ. His ruling will ever sing, all glory be to Christ.

His will be done, His kingdom come on earth as is above. Who wins Himself our daily bread, praise Him, the Lord of love. Let living water satisfy the thirsty without price. We'll take a cup of kindness yet, all glory be to Christ. All glory be to Christ our King, all glory be to Christ.

His ruling reign will ever sing, all glory be to Christ. When on the day of great I Am, the faithful and the true, the Lamb who was for sinners slain is making all things new. Behold, our God shall live with us and be our steadfast light. And we shall there His people be, all glory be to Christ.

All glory be to Christ our King, all glory be to Christ. His ruling reign will ever sing, all glory be to Christ. All glory be to Christ our King, all glory be to Christ. His ruling reign will ever sing, all glory be to Christ. Alright, for those discussion questions that Pastor Peter Kim mentioned, they've been emailed out to every host of each group, but also they're posted on our generic Facebook group on the Berean Community Church Facebook group.

Alright, so at this time, please go ahead and go into your groups to discuss. Have a great night of fellowship and discussion, everyone. Good night.