Good afternoon. This is Elmira and You, a podcast for the members and friends of Elmira Baptist Church located about halfway between San Francisco and Sacramento. Just this week, I received an email, somebody looking for Elmira Baptist Church in Elmira, Missouri. That's not us. We're here in California. I'm Pastor Scott. Welcome to the podcast. Today is Tuesday, November 2nd, 2021. 1 Thessalonians 5.18 commands us, in everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. We're gonna be looking at this topic of gratitude in the devotionals this week. Gratitude is something that we cultivate. It's not natural to the human condition. When we walk in the flesh, it's not normal for us to be grateful. We know this from Romans 1. Romans 1 in verse 21. Romans 1. because that when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful. That's the normal condition, to refuse to recognize God and to not be thankful. Notice what happens. It says, because that when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful, but became vain in their imaginations and their foolish heart was darkened, professing themselves to be wise. They became fools. This lack of thankfulness, this ingratitude, comes with a whole complex of problems, a whole suite of problems. When we rebel against God, we refuse to glorify him as God. We become ungrateful to him and later ungrateful to others. That causes us to be vain in our imaginations, to think in fruitless pointless ways that have no profit to us, and we think we're wise, but we've really become quite foolish. That's the problem we're seeing in American society today. We've rejected God. We refuse to glorify Him as God. We've become ungrateful, first to Him, for His great blessings that He's poured out on our nation. And then I'm grateful to him for just the gifts that he's given to me as an individual, given to you as an individual. We become vain and we think that we deserve this, that we're owed this. How many people today think that government owes them health care? Government owes them housing. Government owes them a basic allowance. They're not grateful for what they have. They expect that they are owed more. And when we mix that expectation that people owe us with a lack of getting, that's where we come up with our grievance culture. I'm not being treated right. When we understand how much God has blessed us, when we glorify him as God and we're truly grateful to him, and we're truly grateful to the people around us for what they've done for us, boy, it removes that grievance culture. It removes that sense of, I'm not being treated right, I'm being treated unjustly. Because we've replaced that bitterness, we've replaced that I'm not being treated right with how good God is to me, how good are the people to me, people around me to me. We're very thankful, as I mentioned yesterday, to have a church that loves us, a church that blesses us, a church that's concerned for us, and we want to show our love. My family wants to show our love to you as well. We want to be thankful for what you've done for us. I encourage you this week to be thankful for the many things that God is doing and has done for you. Take some time today to sit down and just write a small list, a short list, of the ways that God has blessed you. Do you have a spouse that loves you? That's the blessing of the Lord. Do you have children that have any type of relationship with you? That's a blessing of the Lord. Do you have a job? Do you have a home? Do you have extended family? You certainly have, if you're listening to this podcast, you certainly have a church that loves you. You have an under-shepherd who loves you. You can be grateful for all these things and much more. Living in the United States, regular electrical service. How many nations around the world, people have to find ways to get things done when the electricity is shut off? Roads, infrastructure. Talk about how bad it is in an effort to get the government to pour more money into it. But compared to most countries, the infrastructure in the United States is absolutely astounding. So much to be thankful for. Don't allow your foolish heart to be darkened because you refuse to be grateful. You refuse to be thankful for the things that God has given to you and thankful to the people around you who have blessed your life. This is the Elmira and You podcast for Tuesday, November 2, 2021. Let me encourage you to join us tomorrow, Wednesday, 7 o'clock for a time of Bible study and prayer. We divide our Bible study up into a ladies' Bible study and a men's Bible study. And also on Sunday, 9.45 for Sunday school, 11 o'clock for morning worship, 5 o'clock for evening worship. And you can join us at 6111 California Pacific Road near Vacaville, California. Join me again on Thursday for another edition of Elmira and You, and don't forget to be thankful for God's blessings today.