Amen. All right, we're in 1 Samuel 18, and I actually messed up with how much I had Brother Holt read. I want him, I should have told him to go a little bit further, but look at verses 17 and 18. The Bible says here, And Saul said to David, Behold my elder daughter Merib, her will I give thee to wife. Only be thou valiant for me, and fight the Lord's battles. For Saul said, Let not my hand be upon him, but let the hand of the Philistines be upon him." And look at what David says here in verse 18. And David said unto Saul, Who am I? And I want you to underline, I want you to circle this phrase. This has been ringing in my heart all week. Who am I? And what is my life? Or my father's family in Israel that I should be son-in-law to the king. And this phrase, David repeats several times in his life. I want you to go to 1 Chronicles 17. But what is this? This is an attitude of humility. This is a posture of humility here. 1 Chronicles 17 And when you get here, in this passage, when you start out, David said, you know, I'm living in this big house and it's nice and made out of cedar. I want to build something for the Lord. And Nathan says, do whatever is in your heart. God is with you. And then the Lord told Nathan to go back in verse 4 and said, no. Don't build me a house. And then look what he says in verse 7. Say unto My servant David, Thus saith the Lord, I took you from the sheep caught, from following the sheep, that thou shouldest be ruler over My people Israel. And I have been with you. In verse 10, I have subdued all your enemies before you. And then he says this in verse 11, it comes to pass after you're dead. He said, I will raise up thy seed after thee, which shall be of thy sons, and I will establish his kingdom. In verse 12, and he shall build a house. And then look at David's response to God's no. No, you can't do that. I have someone else to do that. Look at his response. And David the king came and sat before the Lord and said, Who am I, O Lord God? And what is my house that thou hast brought me hitherto? And then look at 1 Chronicles chapter 29, and we will look at some stuff in the New Testament. 1 Chronicles 29, and David knows he can't build the house, but what is he doing? He's preparing, he's setting up his son to be able to build the house of the Lord. He's bringing all these offerings, people are giving, David's giving his wealth, his substance to God. And look what he says after he brings all of these offerings in, and everybody gives to God, he says in verse 13, now therefore, 1 Chronicles 29, 13, now therefore, our God, we thank thee. Isn't it at Thanksgiving? And praise thy glorious name. But here it is again, you see this phrase? Who am I? And what is my people that we should be able to offer so willingly after this story? Who am I that I get the opportunity to be son-in-law of the king? Who am I that God tells me no and then gives me something better that my son's gonna build the house? Who am I that God is so good to me? Who am I that I get to give? God gives me so much that I get to give to Him. Who am I and what is my people that we should be able to offer so willingly after this word? For all things come of thee. God, you gave us stuff, and of thine own hand we have given thee. God, you handed us stuff and you said, okay, now give this back to me, and you let us give it back to you. Who am I? Do you see that posture of humility, that posture of gratitude? And I was thinking that there's a lot of people, go to the New Testament, 2 Timothy chapter three, and then we'll go back to 1 Samuel, 2 Timothy chapter three, but there's a lot of people that are ungrateful. And a lot of what I've done as a preacher is said, you're bad for being ungrateful. And that's true. Okay? You terrible person for being unthankful, why don't you be thankful? Well, even though that's true, that's not always helpful. Okay? You know what we need to do? We need to cultivate this attitude of gratitude. And I don't like how that sounds, because it sounds like I'm trying to make it rhyme, and it does, but we need to cultivate thankfulness in our hearts. It's not something that we're gonna produce ourself. It's something that God's going to do within us. The seed is the word of God. When you cultivate something, you put something in the ground that has life and you care for it. You move the weeds out of the way, you bust up the fallow ground and that seed comes to life. And you have the Holy Spirit if you're saved, and you have the Word of God. So if we want to be thankful people this morning, we have to cultivate that to get to this attitude that David had his whole life, where over and over he said, who am I that I should be able to do this? And I should have this opportunity, and we're gonna talk about that, but I wanna look at 2 Timothy chapter three, and he talks about the dangerous times that are coming in the last days, perilous times. And this is where we're at, and I saw something incredible here. It says, for men, verse two, shall be lovers of their own selves. And I want you to look at the grouping of these things. They're lovers of their own selves. Instagram selfies, right? Everything, me, me, me. Covetous. Black Friday. Boasters. We all do that. I'm better at it than you are, though. OK? Proud. Blasphemers. Disobedient to parents. Unthankful. Unholy, without natural affection, truth breakers, false accusers, incontinent, they're uncontrollable fears, despisers of those that are good. I don't like him. Well, it's because he's good, maybe. Traitors, heady, their head's in the books all the time. That's written for you athletes, right? High-minded, Lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God. And now, with all of these things, this is what it says. If any of us meet any of this criteria, then we have a form of godliness. So if we're unthankful, we have a form of godliness this morning, but we deny the power thereof. If we're unthankful this morning, in verse 6, we creep into houses and lead captive silly women. So we're destructive in other people's lives. We don't help them. Verse seven, we are ever learning, but we never come to the knowledge of the truth. You see, some of these attitudes that we don't think are a big deal, they prevent us from learning and coming to the knowledge of the truth. Verse eight, as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, those musicians, so do these also resist. If I'm unthankful this morning, I resist the truth, I'm destructive, I'm unable to learn, and I have a form of godliness. And look at this, they resist the truth, Men of corrupt minds reprobate concerning the faith. That means when it comes to the life of faith, I'm worthless. Verse nine, these shall proceed no further. You're not gonna go further in your Christian life if you're unthankful. And their folly shall be manifest unto all men. Unthankfulness reveals much more than a bad attitude. It's a systemic problem of the heart. And it's somebody that is so prideful that they think they deserve more and they can never enjoy life because nothing is ever good enough. And it's impossible to live the Christian life if you're unthankful. And you know what God wants to do? He wants to transform us this morning into thankful people. 1 Thessalonians 5 says, Rejoice evermore, pray without ceasing, and everything give thanks, for this is the will of God, in Christ Jesus concerning you. It is the will of God the specific written will of God for every one of us this morning to give thanks and rejoice every morning. And it says after that, quench not the spirit. You know what quenches the spirit of God? You know what grieves the Holy Spirit that lives inside of us? Unthankfulness. I don't have enough, I want more. And what is the problem? The Bible says in Philippians 3.18, I tell you, weeping, that these people, they walk as enemies of the cross. It says whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly. What is that? Their God is consuming. It's satisfying their desires. And this is Thanksgiving week, right? You know what I've heard mostly about this week? Black Friday. It's a good time to, oh, Black Friday. I'm like, why is Christmas Thanksgiving that's supposed to be about giving, why is it mostly about consumerism And what is it mostly that depression and suicide and negativity and being sad increase during the season? Oh, life is terrible. I'm all alone. Look at them, they're going shopping and I have nothing. What was me? That is not cultivating. thankfulness in the Christian life. You know, in the Muslim community, they have a holiday called Ramadan, where they gorge themselves all night, okay, and then they don't eat during the day, mostly sleep, and they call it fasting, and they gain weight. And the food consumption of the entire country doubles And people go to the hospital because they have problems from eating too much food. They call feasting fasting. Well, we have to be careful as Christians that we don't call Thanksgiving consumerism. It's the same thing. And so, how do we cultivate an attitude of gratitude? I need to find something else to say. How do we cultivate this Thanksgiving in our life? Well, I have points this morning, okay? So number one, and they're all from 1 Samuel, we stay small. So, number one, stay small. 1 Samuel 18, look at verse 17. And he said this, verse 18, who am I? And what is my life or my father's life that I should be son-in-law to the king? He said, hey, I'm gonna give you my daughter. Just fight the Lord's battles for me. And he's like, who am I? This is after much success in his life. And he said, what am I? You know, I was just a shepherd boy. There were thousands of shepherd boys in Israel. What's my father's family? You know, I come from a long line of nobodies. When God wanted me to be anointed, it's so bad that my dad didn't even think of it. He didn't even consider me. And now I get this opportunity? You know, we all came from dirt. You know that? We all came from dirt. You know, David, whenever he thought of himself, and you can see this in the Psalms, he never connected his value to his accomplishments. but he connected it to God. Wondrous are the works of thy hands. He looked at himself as if every good thing he saw was an extension of the grace of God. Do you know in my life, in your life, the only thing we can claim responsibility for 100% is the bad things? Oh, I deserve this. Really? I mean, really, do you? The only thing that I can claim responsibility is the destruction and the sin. Who am I that I get the opportunity to serve the Lord? After what I've done and coming from dirt and this is what God does, who am I apart from the grace of God? You know, the Bible says that, woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes. The Bible says in Romans 12, three, I say through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith. He said, think about your soberly and only, he said, your value is measured by how much faith God is able to entrust you with. You're not measured by how much money you have or how much strength you have or how many Philistines you've killed. You are measured according to faith. Not your IQ. How much faith do you have this morning? Don't think of yourself higher than you ought to think, but how much faith has God given me to do something for him knowing that he will help me? If a man thinketh of himself to be something when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself. What is your life? It's just a vapor. Don't think about Yourself, Paul said, above that which is written. And don't be puffed up one against another and compare yourselves one against another. You know, we all came from a long line of sinners too, didn't we? You know, I get people do the ancestry stuff, you know. I'm not saying that's wrong. I've dabbled in that myself, right? Okay. And you know what people say? Oh, I'm connected to royalty. You know, all that means is your family's sins are better documented. That's all that means. I mean, who wants to be related to Prince Andrew right now? Anybody? Oh, I'm related to a prince. You're my brother, but don't come to my birthday party. Yeah, but King Henry's sins are well documented too, aren't they? You know, the part of the blessing about not coming from royalty is we don't know how evil our fathers were. But who am I and what is my father's house? We have to stay small in our own minds. I think that one of the great illustrations of that is 2 Chronicles 26. And if you'll turn there, we'll just look at that briefly, and then we'll go on. But there is Uzziah, and he's 16 years old when he becomes the king. And it says in 2 Chronicles 4 that he did that was right in the sight of the Lord. And it says in verse 5, As long as he sought the Lord, God made him to prosper. And it says in verse 7, God helped him against the Philistines. And it says in verse 9 that he built towers in Jerusalem. And 10, he built towers in the desert. And verse 11, he had a host of fighting men. And verse 13, it tells you how big his army was with mighty power to help the king. In verse 15, look at this. He made in Jerusalem engines invented by cunning men to be on the towers and the bulwarks to shoot arrows and great stones withal. And his name was spread abroad. And look at this. For what? Verse 15. You have to get this underlined in your Bible or highlighted. He was marvelously helped at the end of verse 15. He was marvelously, what? Helped until He was strong. And look at the next statement, verse 16. But when He was strong, what happened? His heart was lifted up to His destruction. And then he started taking ownership and liberties that he should not take. You know what David did? He saw that the battle is not to the swift, nor the race to the strong, but time and chance happeneth to them all. So how do we be grateful this morning? We stay small. Who am I that I'm able to walk into church this morning? Who am I that I'm able to walk into this house? And who am I that God would give me these children, this family? Who am I that God would give me the ability to eat food and enjoy it? Who am I that I get to see what God has done? He was marvelously helped until he was strong. Number two, how do we cultivate an attitude of gratitude? Verse five, and David, it's 1 Samuel 18, five, and David went out whithersoever Saul sent him, and he, look, behaved himself wisely. And Saul sent him over the men of war, and he was accepted in the sight of all the people. In verse 13, and Saul removed him and made him his captain over a thousand. And he went out and came in before the people. In verse 14, and David behaved himself wisely in all his ways. Look at verse 30, the end of verse 30. David has behaved himself more wisely than all the servants, so that his name was much such by. So number two, if you want to cultivate this, just do what you're told. What is God telling you to do? Just be obedient, do what you're told. Remember Saul, when he didn't obey God? He said, when you were little in your own sight, you were different. But now, why have you not done what God told you? You know, when we become big in our own sight, We start bucking up against authority, don't we? Who are you to tell me what to do? You're not doing it, what are you doing? Why don't you just do what God told you to do? Well, my boss is this way and boss is that way. God said to do it. Do it. But what happens is we become prideful and we start thinking that we can rewrite all the rules. and we become unthankful for the opportunity to serve God. What did God tell you to do at home? What did he tell you to do at church? Because it's written in here. What did he tell you to do when you go out into the world and you're around lost people? Do you think you're the boss? Or is God the boss? What if we just do what he told us to do? Don't take liberty and change what God said. One of the principles that has helped me so much in life is this, I am just middle management. I'm just middle management. God's the boss, I'm just here to help him and carry out the orders. Be thankful. All right, number three, here's another thing, okay? Don't let success get to you. Don't let success get to you. Man, there must be something going on in the water. I think people's bladders are real small this morning. I'm like, there's probably, I know it was nobody in this room, but I think people, 100 people have gotten up and sat down. I have no idea who it was, but I should just go on, right, honey? Just keep going. Sorry about that. Look at verse six. And it came to pass, as they came and David was returned from the slaughter of the Philistines, that the women came out of all the cities, singing and dancing, to meet King Saul with tablets, joy, instruments, and music. And verse seven, and the women answered one another as they played and said, Saul has slain his thousands. And what? You know what, a lot of people do, they let success get to them. Is there anything that we have that we didn't receive? You know, people can say, you're doing a good job. Yes, but maybe you've been given a good opportunity. I mean, could you do the same thing if you were born in the Middle East? If you were born in Afghanistan, would you be as wealthy and as successful as you are? My neighbor gets her grass mowed by a doctor. And the doctor was a doctor in Colombia. And he says, I make more money mowing grass here than I did doing surgeries there. Don't let the success get to you. You know, people say, hey, you guys are doing a good job there. Yeah, but who gets given a building that we owe nothing on in a city of three million people with a good, generous congregation? Like, if you can't do a good job with that, you can't ever do a good job. Look, nobody is given the same ability, and nobody's given the same opportunity. You're judged where your ability and your opportunity meet, and I'm telling you this, there are many people that could have done a better job. But you have to get to the point where you, don't let success get to you. Don't believe all of the things that you're as great as you think you are. Just be thankful for the position God put you in to serve. The other thing I say that goes along with this, number four, don't read your own press release. Look at verse seven, and the women answered one another as they played, and they said, what did they say? Saul has slain his thousands, and David his 10,000. I don't know how they set the song up, right? But it made Saul so angry. But did David really slay 10,000 people? Not by himself. He was helped. It was part of a team effort. It was part of a group effort where God was helping him. And he has this fan base. But you know what? If you live for the praise of men, it's fickle. It changes. You know, one of the worst things on earth would to be the president and have to see your approval rating every day. You know, a hurricane can come that you have no control over. And as soon as there's a hurricane in the ocean headed towards America, your approval rating will drop. Because if people are miserable, they don't like you and they want to blame their problems on you. But it changes like the weather. So why in the world? would you modify the way you live and live for a press report, and live for that? They live for it, they try to get that, and you know, a lot of people, they modify their behavior so they can receive the praise of men. You ever notice that sometimes we're different at home, and then we're different at work, and we're different at church? We talk different, we act different. Who are you really? You know why people do that? You know why we do that? Because we want the press report. We want the praise of men. But you know who you really are? When you need God, and you're talking to God, and you're earnest before the Lord, That's who you really are. That's the tone you have. That's the accent you have. That's how you behave yourself. C.S. Lewis said, you never really find yourself till you find yourself in God. And the more you can spend of your life being like that in every other area, the better it will be. But do not live for the praise of men, because it changes. And that's another way that we cultivate this attitude and this authority in our thankfulness in our life. Number five, okay? Look at verse 10. And it came to pass on the morrow that the evil spirit from God came upon Saul and he prophesied in the midst of the house and David played with his hand as at other times. And there was a javelin in Saul's hand. And Saul cast the javelin, for he said, I will smite David even to the wall with it. And David avoided out of his presence twice. And Saul was afraid of David because the Lord was with him. Now, do you think you have a bad boss? Are they that bad? where they keep a spear beside them. Every once in a while they just chuck it at you to try to kill you. So I would like to say number five, don't get bitter at authority. Don't get bitter at them. You know the boss's problems are the boss's problems. It wasn't David's job to correct Saul. That wasn't his responsibility. You know why an unthankful person, we get bitter at authority? Because we pridefully believe we deserve to have a better boss, a better pastor, better husband, a better father, better mother, Better wife, right? We believe that we deserve a better leader. But do you not remember the New Testament said, servants, be obedient. Even if they treat you wrong, you do it and you do it for the Lord. That's not your responsibility. God will take care of that. You're serving the Lord. Do it for the Lord and he will reward you whether they recognize it or not. You know, all anger eventually goes back to God. But a lot of people start ignoring God because they don't like the boss. It's not your responsibility to correct it. And just avoid it where you can and let God take care of it. You know, God dealt with Saul. David never did. God held him accountable. David never did. David just did his job, and you know, if you read the book of Psalms, look at Psalm 62. A lot of the wonderful things we read in the book of Psalms, you know what they come from? David taking his boss' problems to God. David taking those injustices to God, and David working them out with God, and David depending on God for that. Look at Psalm 62 in verse one. He says, truly my soul waiteth upon God. From him cometh my salvation. He only is my rock and my salvation. He is my defense. Look what he says here. I shall not be greatly moved. You know, I'm really not that worried about it. He might be throwing the javelin, but look, God's my defense. God's my shield, verse three. How long will you imagine mischief against me? You shall be slain, all of you, as a, here's how he looked at it, as a bowing wall shall you be and a tottering fence. Keep drawing that javelin. The wall's about to fall down. God is the one that will hold you accountable. Verse four, they only consult to cast him down from his excellency, the delight in lies, they bless with their mouths, they curse inwardly. My soul wait thou only upon God, for my expectation is from him. We'll never be thankful people as long as we have in our hearts bitterness, against the boss, against authority that God has placed in our life. You leave that to God and let Him take care of it. Depend on Him. Work it out with God. And He'll bring it to pass. Number six. Don't get disillusioned. Look at verse 17. And Saul said to David, Behold my elder daughter, her will I give thee to wife. Only be thou valiant for me. Look at verse 19, and it came to pass when Mirabal Saul's daughter should have been given to David, what happened? Verse 18, she was given to Adriel, the Methoathite wife. But you promised. You said you would do this. And there were promises made that were unfulfilled, and they were pretty big ones, don't you think? I mean, can you imagine a young man doing well, serving well, of utmost character, the king says, I'm gonna give you my daughter, I'll let her marry you. And then one day you see a wedding taking place, and the woman you were supposed to marry is given to someone else? I mean, that has to be a tough pill to swallow, don't you think? Won't most people be extremely disillusioned and they would quit on God? They would quit everything and say, I'm out of here. I will not serve in these conditions. You said you're a liar. I don't know anybody that would have a easy time. That could not have been easy for David. But you know what David's attitude was? In verse 23, and Saul's servant spake those words in the years of David, and David said, Seemeth it to a light thing to be the king's son-in-law, seeing I am a poor man in lightly esteem? He's like, well, I mean, maybe that makes sense. I mean, maybe I, I mean, I am a poor man. And maybe it's something that's above my pay grade, and maybe it's not something that I'm ready for, and God knows. But I'm in the same position I was before. I was single then, I'm single now, God's still taking care of me. And he didn't become disillusioned. And there's so many people in the Christian life, they become unthankful because they have this expectation. that life should be this way, or I should get this, or that person should return this, or I should be getting paid this much, or I should do this, or somebody should recognize this about me. And they don't get it, and they get bitter and angry and unthankful, and they just don't say, you know, God knows. Who am I anyway? I mean, look at God's already given me so much. Don't become disillusioned. God knows. And it's not a light thing, what He's already given you. It's not a light thing. And then lastly, I would like to say this. If you want to cultivate this, do the hard work. Verse 20. Michael, Saul's daughter, loved David. And they told Saul, and the thing pleased him. And Saul said, I will give her to him, that she may be a snare to him, and that the hand of the Philistines may be against him. Wherefore, Saul said to David, thou shalt this day be my son-in-law to one of the twain. And Saul commanded his servants, saying, Communion with David secretly, saying, Behold, the king hath delight in thee, now therefore be this king's son-in-law. And verse 24, the servants of Saul said unto him, On this matter spake David, and Saul said, Thus shall you say to David, The king desireth not any dowry, but a hundred foreskins of the Philistines, that to be avenged of the king's enemies, and Saul thought to make David fall by the hand of the Philistines. told David these words, look. It pleased David well to be the king's son-in-law, and the days were not expired. And when David arose, he went in his men and slew of the Philistines 200 men, and David brought their four skins, and they gave them in full tale to the king that he might be the king's son-in-law. Verse 28, and Saul saw and knew the Lord was with David, and Michael, Saul's daughter, loved him. You know what a lot of people would do if they'd say, you know what, that's too much. You know, yeah. Yeah. They put it out of reach for a regular man. He knows I can't do that. I'll never do it. I'm not even going to try. It's too hard. But you know what a thankful person does? Hey, I want that mountain. Isn't that what Caleb said? I want it. Oh, there's these rewards that God will give you if you serve him, and there's these crowns, and you can take them and lay them at the, David did that, and he brought it there to please the king. I did it, and I did it above what you were asking, and I took advantage of the opportunity that you gave me. And if you want to be thankful in life, you have to take advantage of the opportunities that God's giving you right now. And there's so many opportunities God's given you. Every day, every moment, every conversation, you have an opportunity to do something for the Lord. But an unthankful person says, you know, let me tell you who I am and all the things that I've done, and I'm not going to do this, and I'm not going to do this, and they get dissatisfied and disgruntled, and they will not take advantage of the opportunities at hand because you're not giving them the right opportunity. and they get bitter, and they get angry, and they say it's out of reach, you can never fit in there, everybody already has a position to do, you can't get in, there's all these things, and they just don't take advantage of what God has given them. And you know what? God has given us so much to be thankful for, so much to be grateful for, so much to thank and praise him for, and I think that This shows us that thankfulness grows where humility lives. And I want you to, this week, who am I? Who am I? And be thankful. Don't forget where you came from. Don't forget the pasture and the sheep and where God lifted you out of. Don't be like Saul or Uzziah, where you start getting lifted up and esteem yourself. And an unthankful heart is not just a bad attitude, it's a spiritual disorder. It's saying, God, you're not good. I deserve more, and you're not enough. And it grieves the Spirit of God. And so let's obey what God wants us to do this morning, to rejoice evermore, to pray without ceasing, and everything give thanks. So here's the challenge this week. Will you stay small? Will you stay small? And so, every time this week before you're complaining, before you're getting ready to complain, remember what David said, who am I? Maybe God will tell you no this week. No, you can't do that. Well, who am I that you've even given me this opportunity and I can still be involved in what you want? When you walk into your house this week, I want you to open the door and say, who am I that I should have a nice, warm place to stay? Every time you eat a bite of food, Who am I that God should give me this? When anything happens, when someone else receives a praise or a promotion or a blessing and you get overlooked, who am I? When God gives you another day, who am I? And let's cultivate a spirit that God can bless. I do wanna say this or it will bother me all week. I'm sorry for pointing out the fact that people were getting up, okay? I hope I did not throw you off. Who am I that I should expect people not to go to the bathroom, okay? So I'm sorry about that. So if we'll have the piano player come forward and let's just bow our heads and thank the Lord for what he's done in our life. Are you small? Or are you big in your own eyes? Are you doing what God has told you to do? Are you disillusioned? Better at authority? You working hard? Lord, help us. Lord Moses said, who am I? And he didn't want to go and said it for a different reason. Because the law looks at itself. But David said, who am I? And he took advantage of the grace and the opportunities. And Solomon said, who am I? And took advantage of the opportunities you have given him. Help us not to say, who am I? And pride and not want to do what God says. But help us all be like David. Say, who am I? Of course, I'm thankful. I'm grateful for the opportunity. And Lord, I pray the Holy Spirit would help us transform into thankful people as we cultivate this attitude. In Jesus' name. Let's pray a minute.