Please take your Bibles and go to Ephesians chapter 4 if you would please, Ephesians chapter 4. I trust and encourage your message this evening on five words to remember to grow by. It's not a sentence, it's just five separate words that I trust will be an encouragement to you as you think about them and seek to apply the truth that they represent to your life as a believer. The Christian's life is not, as they would say, a sprint, but a marathon. It's not a destination, but it's definitely a journey, as we could probably all attest. We know that life begins at conception, but matures through a process of time. When we think theologically, this is not new to you, but when we think theologically, we have what we call a positional sanctification, which means that we've been passed from death to life and that happens at salvation. We think of perfect sanctification and that's when we're going to be in the presence of the Lord. And then what we're going through right now is what we would call progressive sanctification. And it's a process that is taking place from the moment you get saved to the moment you go to meet the Savior or He comes to take us to glory. Amen? Amen. You know, it's a special thing to be present for the birth of a child. I had the privilege to be present for all eight. of our children that were born. I remember the first one, Laura, when she was born, we didn't go through a single class. We just, you know, we just did what people do. They had a baby. But I remember we thought, you know, for Michael and the rest, we're gonna go ahead and take a class and we'll just, you know, do that. So we went and took our classes and I was more nervous for the rest of them than I was for the first one because then I knew how it all should work, you know? And yet the thrill has been, yes, to see them born, but also to see them grow and to mature as children and into adulthood. You know, I can remember the excitement of when they started walking. And, you know, every parent knows that it's an exciting time when their children begin to walk. Well, most of the time, I would say. Then they get to those, that stage where you're putting, you know, rubber bands on all the door, cabinet doors and stuff like that, because they get into everything and pots and pans and all of that. But it is an exciting time when they say their first word, which is not usually mama. It's usually daddy, amen, dadda, dadda. Now I don't know if that's what they're actually saying, but it sure does sound like it, doesn't it? I like to fool myself anyway. But you know, it's an exciting thing to see them mature. And you know, for a believer, when we see someone come to the saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, it's an exciting thing. I was thinking about this in Luke chapter 15, verse 10, you don't have to turn there. Jesus says, likewise, I say unto you, there's joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth. And you think about that. A lot of times we have this vision in our minds that it's the angels that are just so excited that someone gets saved, and that's not really what that verse says. And you can play it in your mind like you wanna play it, but I don't know how God acts when someone gets saved, but I'd sorta like to believe that when it says here, there's joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth, it's God who's rejoicing. I really do believe that because that's why he gave his son. You know, he sacrificed that which was most precious to him so that we could have life everlasting. And so I'd like to think, I don't know if he's sitting on the throne and then all of a sudden when someone gets saved, he stands and shouts a hallelujah or amen or glory be my name or what, you know, I don't know how that all goes down up there, but I think it could be an exciting, exciting time up in glory to just be there and observe that. You think of maturing and how exciting it must be for the Lord to see his servants reach certain milestones in their life. You know, we look forward, we read that passage of scripture that talks about how that God has gifted some people with one gift, some with five, some with 10, and so on, and how they take that and put it to work, and how they gain more, and they receive those words, well done, thou good and faithful servant, and what parent is not proud as their children reach certain milestones, and it makes them proud, and it makes them happy, and they say, well done, good job, you know, look forward and I trust you do too about hearing those words. Well done. Well done. Amen. Amen. Ephesians chapter 4 when we think of the maturing process let's look at verse 11 it says, and He gave some apostles, and some prophets, and some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers. And of course He is referencing here within the context of the local church it says, for the perfecting of the saints. It says, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come into the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God unto a perfect man, that means complete, that means fully mature, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. that we henceforth be no more children tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine by the sight of men and cunning craftiness whereby they lie in wait to deceive. If you go to Hebrews chapter six, it says these words in verse one, just verses one and two, therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection. not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, of the doctrine of baptisms and of laying on of hands and of resurrection of the dead and of eternal judgment." What he's saying here is it's not just enough to be saved and have those elementary truths of the Christian life down. You need to continue on. You need to go forward. You need to continue to grow and mature in your Christian life. So I've just had five words that just sort of stood out to me that I'd like to just leave with you this evening in regards to just maybe as you think on these words it'll help you to grow, some things to remember. And the first one is the word believe. The word believe. Take your Bibles and go to Matthew chapter 9 if you would. Here's the account of the healing of two blind men. And when I think of the word believe, I guess you could just simply say in this particular context, have faith in God. in God. Hebrews chapter 11 verse 1 says, Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. And then the Lord spends the next 39 verses of Scripture in Hebrews chapter 11 just giving us illustration, after illustration, after illustration of men and women just like you and me, sinners by choice. And yet at the same time they had a great God and they put their faith and trust in Him. And and He saw them through the various circumstances of life. In other words our God could be trusted. And I know we hear that a lot but we need to let it sink into our subconscious so that when we encounter the situations of life we trust God. We believe God. In Matthew chapter 9 verse 27 Bible says these words, and when Jesus departed thence, two blind men followed Him, crying and saying, Thou Son of David, have mercy on us. And when He was coming to the house, the blind men came to Him, and Jesus saith unto them, Believe ye that I am able to do this. And they said unto Him, Yea, Lord. then touched he their eyes, saying, According to your faith, be it unto you. And their eyes were opened, and Jesus straightly charged them, saying, See that no man know it. But they, when they were departed, spread abroad his fame in all that country. And the reason he was not saying, Don't go out and witness for me, he just knew that his time wasn't yet fulfilled for Him to go to the cross and the more people knew about Him the more it would get to the authorities and so on. And they would try to circumvent the plan of God and so He was trying to squelch them from doing that. But the thing I want to draw your attention to in this particular passage of Scripture, notice Jesus said, Believe ye that I am able to do this. And as I was thinking about this, I thought, how big is our God? How big is our God to us? You know, we can go through the pages of scripture and we can see how big he is in bringing the walls of Jericho down, how big he is to give Elijah that ability to call down fire from heaven and lick up the sacrifice and 450 prophets of Baal are destroyed. I mean, our God is a big God. And he can do anything he wants to do whenever he wants to do it. And we see where he takes 30,000 troops and whittles them down to 10,000 that whittles them down again to 300 and defeats a huge army. That's our big God. And so our God is big, but yet when we think of God in our life, how big is he? Here's these blind men, they're talking to the creator of the world. Remember in the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth. Remember, in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him, and without him was not anything made that was made. So here they're talking to the creator. And so Jesus asks them, believe ye that I am able to do this? And so as we get into our circumstances of life, Jesus comes to us and says, do you believe I can handle this? Do you believe I'm able to do this? And I trust we'd have the same answer that these two blind men had. They said, yeah, Lord. Yeah, Lord. And Jesus said, because your trust is in me, everything's gonna be all right. I think that song, everything's all right in my father's house. In my father's house, in my father's house, everything's all right in my father's house where there's joy, joy, joy, amen. You think of two boys out in the, Playground and you know how it gets sometimes they start comparing notes and one will look at the other and say my daddy Can beat up your daddy? Or my daddy is stronger than your daddy And the fact of the matter is, to those boys, their daddy is the prime example of manhood and of strength, of power, of might. And folks, as the children of God, we ought to be able to look at our God and say, our God can do anything. And we look at circumstances and we say, there's no way I can do it, but my daddy can do it. How many children break a toy and bring that toy to dad or mom and say, You know fix this they just know if anybody can fix it mom and dad can fix it And we ought to be able to go to the God of heaven and say oh god. I'm in a mess right now I've got a circumstance in my life, and I don't know what to do. I can't fix this I can't handle this, but I know you can just like these blind men. Oh, you know these blind men They couldn't see The Bible doesn't say that they went around trying to find out if they could be healed or not, but just above these verses of Scripture, we have the woman with the issue of blood, and the Bible says that she spent all her living for 12 years trying to get healed, and she went to doctor after doctor after doctor and could not be healed. And finally, she said, if I could just touch the hem of Jesus' garment, I could be made whole. And she had enough faith to reach out and touch that garment. And you know what happened? She was healed. She simply believed God. And folks, when you think about growing in your faith, as I mentioned this morning, life is perplexing. I mean, life is difficult at times. And the older you get, the more circumstances you're gonna go through and situations you'll have to face. And you're gonna have to know that your God is able. Your God is able. Matt, where are you? You're gonna help me tonight. How many of you know the song, God is able, or he is able? He is able, he is able, I know he is able. Now, if you thought this was gonna be a standard sermon, you're in for a surprise. Amen? Every child's gonna go home singing this song and teaching it to the old folks. Okay? Now, we're gonna sing it. Now, one thing about singing these songs, and I think we have to be careful with our children with these. You know, we have fun singing the songs, and we're gonna have fun in just a moment. And we're gonna sing. But there's a powerful truth to this song. It's not just a matter of singing these little chorus and saying, yeah, that's good. Oh, that's cute. Boy, that's right, our God is able. No, we need to understand, there is a powerful truth that needs to sink into the minds and the subconscious of our children, that our God is able. He's able. Okay, Matt. Do they need to stand? Okay, why don't you stand? You're gonna say, boy, we've never been part of a sermon like this before. And you know what? We're just getting started. Amen. Regular, then the little man version, and then the he-man version. Matt, do you know the he-man version? How many of you know the he-man version? Okay, how many of you know the, what is that? The who? The pee-wee. The pee-wee? Yes, sir. The pee-wee version, okay. All right, he's able. Ready, just regular, and then. Amen. Okay. Ready, here we go. He's able, he's able. I know he's able. I know my Lord is able to carry me through. He's able, He's able, I know He's able, I know my Lord is able to carry me through. He heals the brokenhearted, and He sets the captives free. He makes the lane to walk again, and because the blind to see, PINKIE BOO! He's able, he's able, I know he's able, I know my Lord is able to carry me through. He's able. Alright, here we go. Ready? Get your pinkie there. He's able. He's able. I know He's able. I know my Lord is able to carry me through. He's able. He's able. I know He's able. I know my Lord is able to carry me through. He heals the broken heart And he sets the captive free. He makes the lame to walk again. And he calls the blind to see. Peek-a-boo! He's able. He's able. I know he's able. I know my Lord is able to carry me through. He's able, amen? Here we go. Here we go. Ready? He's able. He's able. I know He's able, I know my Lord is able to carry me through. He's able, He's able, I know He's able, I know my Lord is able to carry me through. He heals the brokenhearted, and He sets the captive free. ♪ He makes the lame to walk again ♪ And he caused the blind to see picture proof ♪ He's able, he's able ♪ I know he's able ♪ I know my Lord is able to carry me through Amen, you may be seated. And all the children said, You know what's interesting? You know, I'm up here and I'm looking, and some of these adults, they're not going, but they're going like this. You know, they're just smiling away. You just need to relax. What's he doing? Folks, the first word is believe. Our God is able. Amen. Number two, there's the word immediately. The word immediately. Take your Bibles if you wouldn't go to Matthew chapter four. We should learn to obey God immediately. You know, it's interesting that whenever you see God talking to his servants, they didn't say, Lord, give me some time to think this thing through and let me count the cost and let me do this and let me do that and I'll catch you next week. No, let's look at this passage of Scripture and the calling of some of the disciples. In Matthew 4, verse 18, the Scripture says these words, And Jesus, walking by the sea of Galilee, saw two brethren. Simon called Peter and Andrew his brother, casting Aned into the sea, for they were fishers. And he saith unto them, Jesus does, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men. and they straightway it's interesting the same greek word for immediately is the same for straightway And here you see in your King James Bible how it's a self-defining book, because as you see the calling in these other passages of Scripture, he uses the same word. It means right away. It means you don't pause, you don't procrastinate. When God shows you something, when God tells you something, you just need to get in the habit and say, you know what, that's what the Bible says. That's what God says, I'm just going to do it. I'm going to do what God says to do. And you know what? You'll grow so much in your Christian life if you'll just get in the habit of when God shows you a truth where you say, that's what I'm going to do. And I'm going to do it right now. He says these words right here. He says, and they straightway left their nets and followed him. And going on from thence he saw other two brethren. James the son of Zebedee and John his brother in a ship with Zebedee their father mending their nets and he called them and they immediately left the ship and their father and followed him. They didn't have a family meeting. They didn't check what that meant as far as their retirement program. No, they just said, you know, the Savior is calling us. It's time for us to go, and it's time for us to go right now. And that's exactly what they did. Take your Bibles and go to chapter 9 of Matthew. and you hear this, just one verse of scripture here in verse nine, talks about Matthew, the publican. He says, and Jesus, as Jesus passed forth from thence, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the receipt of custom. He was a tax collector, and he saith unto him, follow me, and he arose and followed him. Just right away, he just got up and said, hey, Jesus is calling, I'm out of here, I'm gone, I'm gonna follow him. And you know, we need to learn in our Christian life to simply obey God immediately. Amen? Folks, simple truths, but powerful truths if we'll apply it to our life. Matthew, we're gonna sing about Jonah. How many of you know Jonah? I'm not talking about the four chapters in the Old Testament. That's good to know too, amen? I'm talking about the song Jonah. Jonah, Jonah did not obey God immediately. You know that one? We're gonna let him and you sing it. You don't have to put up with me. Let's sing it out good and loud. Come and listen to my fearful tale of the ocean blue. How a man got swallowed by a whale. Yes, I know it is true. Jonah, Jonah, did not obey God immediately Jonah, Jonah, down in the depths of the deep blue sea If you try to run from God, beware, you'll discover too, that the Lord above is everywhere, watching all you do. Jonah did not obey God immediately. Jonah, Jonah, down in the depths of the deep blue sea. Amen. First word is believe. Our God is able. The second one is immediately. Learn to just obey God immediately, right away. Amen. Number three is the word disciple. The word disciple. In Matthew chapter 10 verse 24 you have these words, the disciple is not above his master, nor the servant above his Lord. In other words a disciple is not just one who believes, a disciple we would call him a student, Some people may call him a pupil. They might call him a learner if you please. Someone would even say in a broader definition that he is a disciplined follower of Christ. He is one who has given himself to learn all that he can about the Lord Jesus Christ and When I think about this word and I think about this character trait and this name that's attached, I trust even to your name that you are a disciple of the Lord. That means you're a learner. That means you study the word of God. You've given yourself, as it says in 2 Timothy 2.15, study to show thyself approved, undue God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. And so we need to be students, we need to be a disciple. And I trust that as you think of your Christian growth, that you think, yes, I believe God can do anything, even in my life, no matter the situation, I'm gonna obey God immediately. Whenever he says that I'm to do something, I'm just gonna mark it down right here, right now, I'm gonna do it. And then I am gonna give my life. to know all I can know about the Lord Jesus Christ. That's not just in book learning, even though that's included, but it's also in the various circumstances of life. And so you're gonna give yourself to that, and that's gonna mean study. You're gonna study the Bible. You're gonna study good Christians. You're going to meditate on scripture. And that's what the scriptures talk about in Joshua chapter one in verse eight. And then you're going to study and meditate upon truth and you're going to learn to think. Have you ever stopped and just think? You know, we're so connected with technology and noise that when was the last time we just shut everything down and we just thought about what God was trying to do in our lives, the things He was trying to show us, the lessons that He's been trying to teach us. When was the last time we just stopped and thought about that? And we need to be a disciple. God, what do you want from my life? What lesson are you trying to teach me through this particular circumstance? And then of course, let me encourage you to read 2 Timothy chapter four. I want to go there and show you something. You know, every once in a while we've had someone come along and they say, you know what? I don't need other books. I'm just going to read my Bible and boy, that's noble and that's good. And that's great. But you know, even the apostle Paul read other books. And he says this in 2 Timothy chapter four and verse 13. He says, the cloak that I left at Troas with Carpus. In other words, he said, I've got a coat, it gets a little bit damp and chilly here. And now that I'm under house arrest, and so I need someone to bring me my cloak. I need to keep warm. So he had to take care of himself physically, did he not? I mean, that's a truth. It says here, when thou comest bring with thee and the books, but especially the parchments, he says, bring me the word of God. That's the most important book that I can have, but bring me the other books too. Let me ask you a question. What other books are you reading today? What other books are you studying? Who do you read after? I'm not talking about your love stories and stuff like that. I'm talking about maybe some good Christian biographies. What books are you reading? I know many of us on staff, we're going through a master's program. And so we're studying and we're reading a whole lot of other books. And I happen in the next couple of months to be studying the life of Spurgeon. So I'm reading two biographies on Spurgeon, but I also wanna keep some other books going. And on my nightstand, I have a book that I've read a lot, many times in the course of my life, but it's a truth that I need to have just be reminded of over and over again. It's the Calvary Road by Roy Hessian. and how I need that truth. And so I wanna read that over and over and over again. And so I pick it up from time to time and I read a few words here and a few words there, and it just keeps me going that direction. But you know what? I also wanna be learning in other areas too. And I'm reading a book on keeping deputation spiritual. Folks, do you realize how long it's been since I've been on deputation? You know what deputation is, is when you go around raising support to be a missionary, to be a church planter. It's over 30 years ago. And yet here's a book I'm reading on making and keeping deputation spiritual. And it's by a Canadian fella. And I'm getting a blessing from it. Why am I reading it? Because I need to keep learning. I need to keep learning what our missionaries are going through and the challenges that they face. And I need to do it so that I can say, hey, this is a good book. Hey, missionary, this was one I'd like to recommend to you to read. And so we have to keep learning and we have to be a student of the scriptures and a student of people and a student of society and we need to be well read. And so study how God is using other men and women in this day and in days gone by and in the scriptures. And that's a motivator because every single one of them Even those that aren't in scriptures. We find that they've gone through some unbelievable Circumstances and as they look to God who is able and they obeyed him immediately Oh my they were able to learn some great truth and keep pressing on for the glory of God When you think of growth Think of learning all you can learn all the lessons that God is trying to tell you I don't know how you learn and I don't know how you retain what you learn, but you have probably a system or you have a way that when someone maybe fires off a phone number or they give you directions to a restaurant, they say, this is good. It's amazing how we can memorize those things. But then when we get to scripture and whatnot, we say, oh, I can't memorize that. I think it's all right up here. A little pun intended, but it's in your mind, isn't it? You have to give yourself to it. And so I don't know what it's going to take for you to actually learn the lessons God is trying to teach you. But could it very well be that maybe I'm not saying this in every case, but maybe you keep encountering the same situations in your life. because you're not learning the lessons that God is trying to tell you through those circumstances. And so it's just like ACE, as I mentioned some time ago, you have to score a certain number, a percentage on your pace before you can go to the next one. And so the Lord says, look, until you can handle this, I can't let you go to the next thing. I can't let you experience the next blessing I have for you because you've not learned what you need to learn here. I mean, what parent, if their child is struggling with a bike with training wheels, are gonna yank those training wheels off and say, let's go. Wee! Crash. No parent's going to do that. And our God is a good father. And he's not going to give us more than we can bear. And many times because we're not learning those lessons, we're not proceeding and going forward in our Christian life. And so I want to encourage you. When you have a difficulty, when you have a blessing, what is God teaching you through that? And it may be that you have to write it down. I'm old school, I write down. You might have to say, I gotta put it in my phone, just let me do this. You may do it that way. Whatever it is, do it. God is trying to mature you into a fit vessel for his use, amen? So we have a disciple. A learner, I trust you are. Then there's a whole aspect of the word serve. Serve, wait on Christ. You know what I was thinking about? Waiting on Christ and serving Christ. I thought about the missions trip we took to Thailand. I think it was the first time. And we landed there in Bangkok and we stayed there at the hotel there that's connected with the airport. And I well remember sitting at the table And I mean, they had a waiter here and a waiter there and a waitress there. And I mean, I would take a sip of my water and I put my glass down and I don't think it went down a quarter of an inch. And they were right there. I mean, they were right there filling my glass one more time with some more water. They were just my every need. They were bending over backwards, so to speak, to make sure that my needs were met. And when we think about service, I'm afraid that we've missed the boat in our service. We've got this idea that You know, I'm playing the piano for the crowd. I'm playing the organ for the congregation or I'm singing in the choir for the live stream or for the congregation. I'm doing it and I wanna do it well because so-and-so's gonna hear me and I want them to think well of me. My friend, we need to understand, it ought to be as unto the Lord. God, I'm singing this song to you. Please hear my voice as I sing praise to you. God, this is for you. My service on a bus route is not because I like my bus captain or my bus driver or my coworkers or the children. It's because I serve you and as I serve you, you give me that love for those that I work with. That service. Take your Bibles and go to Colossians chapter three. Colossians chapter three, it's interesting that this sort of mirrors the truth of Ephesians chapters five and six, but he goes and he's talking about the home, he's talking about the workplace. And in verse 24, he says, knowing that of the Lord, you shall receive the reward of the inheritance for ye serve the Lord Christ. And how many times it says in the Word of God that we have to do this and that, as unto the Lord, as unto the Lord. You realize I have to prepare my messages as unto the Lord. I can't just say, I think I'm gonna give the people this. I said, oh man, they'll like this or more, they're gonna get mad at this. And that all may be true in the human sense of things, but yet I've got to find the mind of God and say, God, what do you want me to say? How do you want me to bring this across? What truth do you have for this hour for us? As unto the Lord. And we can walk away. And no matter what the response is, we can know that everything's all right if we do it as unto the Lord. If he's pleased, if we have his smile, if we have his okay, then it's okay. It's okay. And so when I think about service, when I think about waiting on the Lord, and I'm not talking about waiting as we think about waiting on the street corner and saying, okay, where is the Lord? Where's that ride that was promised me? It's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about where we're serving Him. We're doing things for Him. And you know, when you are playing, I trust it is for Him. And as you do it for Him, we're blessed. Amen? Amen. When you sing, folks, I admire the choir so much. And I'm not just saying this, trying to stroke anyone tonight, but my, While many of us are napping, they're here practicing. They're preparing. They don't just get up and sing a song like they did this morning and just sort of say, well, we'll just whip this one out. It takes practice. And it takes hours of practice. Do you realize in just, I don't wanna scare anyone, but just in about another month, you're gonna start practicing for the cantata that will happen in December. Hours will go into that, but it has to be for the Lord. If you don't do it for the Lord, you're gonna be one miserable individual in the service of the King. I've had the privilege of being immersed, I guess you could say, in a lot of various ministries, Christian ministries. Temple, Hiles Anderson, Sower of the Lord, Bill Rice Ranch, other ministries. And I've worked within those ministries as an employee. and so on and you know if working with several individuals there if you don't keep your eyes on the savior and you look at man what's gonna happen you're gonna lose sight of it all you're gonna get bitter offended sour frustrated and miserable you have to keep your eyes on the lord I've used this illustration before, but I remember the first year my folks were at the Bill Rice Ranch, and we were there, and my dad was a printer there, and as he was at the Bill Rice Ranch, and that first summer, I had, we lived in a trailer. three bedroom trailer. I have two sisters and I was in the smaller bedroom. And you know, a lot of those trailers back in those days, they were just like, it's like you can put your fist through it. It's like cardboard walls, so to speak. And I could hear my mom, dad talking through that that first summer there, and there was talk because there were some things that, you know, it's one thing to read about it in the paper, glorious paper and everything going, well, wow, that must be the greatest place since sliced bread, you know, and wow, it's exciting. They don't realize that, hey, you work with people, with sinners who are maturing. who are growing, and some faster than others, and some are regressing, and some are backsliding, yes, for sure. But at the same time, you know what boiled down to this? We know that God led us here, and we need to stay here until God leads us away. So it doesn't matter what everybody else is doing. If you're in the center of the will of God, you stay in the center of the will of God. And you don't get out because someone gets mean with you, does something to offend you. Jesus had it down, didn't he? Behold, offenses will come. But woe to him by whom the offense cometh. says, vengeance is mine I will repay saith the Lord. You just need to let God handle it. You keep a sweet attitude. You keep walking with God. You keep serving God. You keep waiting on Him. And you let Him take care of all the other stuff. Amen. Amen. Serve. Lastly I think of the word thankful. 1 Thessalonians chapter 5 and verse 18 you know it well. But it's one that we need to cultivate that attitude of thankfulness. And when we think of being thankful, it says in everything give thanks for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. I mean, when it says thankful, it means full of thanks. And we need to be a grateful people. And we need to cultivate that attitude of gratefulness and quit expecting things all the time. Well, God, you're not meeting my expectations or my husband's not meeting my expectations. My wife is not meeting my expectations. My children aren't meeting my expectations. My church is not meeting my expectations. My fellow Christians are not meeting my expectations. If you put expectations on someone, this is elementary premarital counseling 101 the moment you put an expectation on someone you set yourself up for disappointment and for failure First Corinthians chapter 7 You're to render due benevolence And as you have that disposition to do good and God has a principle in his word that you give and it shall be given but as soon as you put a stipulation on someone given to you and you're gonna be disappointed. But when you give of yourself over and over and over, you say, you know what, I'm gonna give myself 100%, then it doesn't matter what they do. Because you don't have any other expectation. And folks, we need to cultivate that attitude of thankfulness. Thankfulness for life. Thankfulness for the blessings of God. Is it just a verse of the Bible? And I'm not mocking the scriptures, but is it just a verse to us where he says, he daily loatheth us with benefits? Is that just a verse that we quote in church? Is that one that we just memorize and we just talk about? And is it one that we just pair it to someone else, but yet when it happens to us, where's our thankfulness? Where's our gratefulness? Do we count our blessings? We need to be cultivating a spirit of praise all the time. Take your song book if you would, the blue one, and to page 442. Let's all stand if we would. Matthew's gonna come and lead us in this song. Believe is a word I want you to remember. Immediately is a word I want you to remember. Disciple is a word I want you to remember. Folks, service is a word I want you to remember. And then thankful. Be ye thankful. Amen? Be thankful. Let's sing praise him, praise him. 442. Praise Him, praise Him, praise Him, praise Him. Hail Him! Hail Him! Highest Archangels in glory, Strength and honor give to His holy name. Like a shepherd, Jesus will guard His children in His arms. He carries them all day long. Praise Him! Praise Him! Tell of His excellent greatness. Praise Him! Praise Him! Ever in joyful song. Praise Him! Praise Him! Jesus, our blessed Redeemer! For our sins He suffered and bled and died. He, our Rock, our hope of eternal salvation! Hail Him! Hail Him! Jesus, the Crucified! Sound His praises! Jesus, who bore our sorrows! Love unbounded, wonderful, deep, and strong. Praise Him! Praise Him! Tell of His excellent greatness. Praise Him! Praise Him! Ever in joyful song. Praise Him! Praise Him! ♪ Jesus our blessed Redeemer ♪ Heavenly mortals aloud with hosannas ring ♪ Jesus, Savior, reigneth forever and ever ♪ Crown Him, crown Him, prophet and priest and King ♪ Christ is coming over the world victorious ♪ Power and glory Let's remain standing, heads bowed, eyes closed. If you'll continue playing that song, that'd be wonderful. God has spoken to you in a special way through the message, and there's a decision that he has impressed your mind and heart about tonight. I'm gonna ask you to make that decision now. Just nail it down now. Remember, we talked about our God is able, you need to believe him, and then to act immediately. And that's one reason why we give an invitation, so that you can act immediately upon the truth that you've heard and upon the move The conviction, the prompting that the Holy Spirit of God has placed on your life. So if you need to come, would you come? I ask you tonight, are you born again? Are you born again? I believe it was in Job, it says, will a man live again? Will man live again? Oh yes, he will. Oh yes, he will.