The Look Of A Thankful Life | Tyrone P Jones | ThanksGiving | Full Service

a three and four-year-old class, and a pre-k class. Good morning, CTC family! Happy Sunday! We have another beautiful morning in the house waiting for us, and I don't know about you, but I am just so excited to be here. My name is Kyla, and on behalf of the team, we just want to welcome you. We're so glad that you're joining us for another Sunday, and if it's your first time here, we would love to welcome you and get to know you and help you feel a part of the CTC family. So you can either text the word GUEST to the number on the screen behind me, or you can stop by the connect table on your way out, and the team will help you get plugged in here. Now, it wouldn't be a Sunday in the house if we didn't start in the word. So we're going to be reading out of Psalms 118, and it's verses 28 through 29. It says, You are my God, and I will praise you. You are my God, and I will exalt you. Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good. His love endures forever. You know, one of my favorite things about the Lord is that every single morning when we wake up, there is a reason to give Him praise, and there is a reason to exalt Him. And I know that there's a lot going on right now. There's been crazy weather. There's all the stress of the holidays coming up, and I'm sure we're all feeling it, but I love that every single morning, no matter our circumstance, there is a reason to exalt our God, and it is because His love endures forever. And so this morning, as we go into worship, and as we go into receiving the message, and just being in the house today, I really want to encourage you to just give Him thanks, because His love endures forever. Amen? All right, church, let's go ahead and pray.

God, we thank You so much for this morning. Lord, we thank You for another Sunday, where we can not only be in Your house with Your presence, Lord, but we can be together. God, we lift up our praises to You today. Everything we have, Lord, it is all for You. It is all to give You glory. And so, Lord, we come before You today with open hearts, open minds, open ears. Lord, we say yes to whatever it is You have for us today. We receive it, God, because we know that You are good. We know that Your love is so steadfast, and it endures forever, Lord. So we thank You. We give You all the glory, honor, and praise, and we pray this in Jesus' name, amen. All right, if you're not already standing, go ahead and stand as we get ready to worship together. When I'm at my end, You're just getting started When I hit a wall, You just walk through When I face a mountain, You are the maker So it's gotta move When I'm out of faith, You are still faithful When I'm at my worst, You are still good In all of my questions, You are the answer It all points to You You're the God of the faithful When I'm breaking down, You'll be working the way through But there's no way out, there's one thing I know You're still on Your throne So whatever I feel, I'm still gonna reach out to praise Praise, praise Out of the rock, You are restoring And out of the cross, Your rivers of grace And out of the grave, a verse of revival No tomb can contain You're the God of the brave When I'm breaking down, You'll be working ♪ Keep working, awaken, when there's no way out ♪ ♪ This one thing I know, you're still on your throne ♪ ♪ So whatever I'm feeling, I still got a reason to praise ♪ ♪ Praise, praise, yeah ♪

♪ I still got a reason to praise, praise, praise ♪ ♪ I still got a reason to praise ♪ ♪ When you come around dry bones, come to life deserts ♪ ♪ To paradise, stones just start rolling away ♪ ♪ When you come around my heart starts to beat again ♪ ♪ Don't stretch to breathe your way ♪ ♪ Souls just erupt into praise ♪ ♪ When you come around dry bones, come to life deserts ♪ ♪ To paradise, stones just start rolling away ♪ ♪ When you come around my heart starts to beat again ♪ ♪ Don't stretch to breathe your way ♪ ♪ Souls just erupt into praise ♪ ♪ Cause you're the God of the breakthrough ♪ ♪ When I'm breaking down, you'll be working away too ♪ ♪ When there's no way out, this one thing I know ♪ ♪ You're still on your throne, whatever I'm feeling ♪ ♪ I still got a reason to praise, praise, praise ♪ ♪ I still got a reason to praise, praise, oh praise ♪ ♪ I still got a reason to praise, praise, praise ♪ My name is Jocelyn. Before God entered my life, I began an emotionally abusive relationship with the father of my kids. When I decided to end the relationship, my twins were four months old. God had his hand on me and continuously provided financial stability as I began a law enforcement career. I had to leave my children to attend an academy, but without me knowing, God had his hand on me then and provided financial stability. After graduating, I let pride convince me that I was stronger than I really was. And as a result, it led to promiscuity, lustful behavior. I hated being a single mother. I wanted to be away from my kids so I could be happy. But all I felt was emptiness, finding myself crying every night, asking,

what am I doing wrong? In December of 2023, my best friend, Sierra, encouraged us to both read the Bible. I began spending time with the Lord and timing his word, and I truly understand, understanding the love he has for us all. One night in prayer, I cried and I begged him to change me, to change my heart. And in my bedroom, he met me and told me he sees me in my heart and that he loves me. I gave my life to Jesus Christ in that moment. As a result of that night, desires in my heart began to change. Being with my children and pouring into them fulfills me. The world can never offer me what Jesus can't. I now belong to the kingdom and strive every day to die to my flesh, carry my cross, and live for him. Today, Jocelyn, today, Jesus said every disciple should be baptized in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. And because of your confession of faith, today I baptize you in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ for the remission of your sins. And according to scripture, you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. You shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. What an incredible testimony. The same God that changed her life is going to change yours. Just press into him. Let him speak to you right now. Just exalt his name. Thank you, Jesus. I could see. ♪ Your name for all my life and still find more to love each time ♪ ♪ Jesus be the name ever on my lips ♪ ♪ It's sweeter every time that I call on you ♪ ♪ There's something just about your name ♪

♪ There's just something about your name ♪ ♪ There's just something about your name that makes me cry holy ♪ ♪ There is no other name, there is no other name ♪ ♪ Jesus, you're worthy ♪ ♪ You have been the friend who never let our hope forget your faithful name ♪ ♪ Jesus, be the name ever on my lips, Jesus ♪ ♪ You're sweeter every time that I call on you ♪ ♪ There's just something about your name ♪ ♪ There's just something about your name ♪ ♪ There's just something about your name that makes me cry holy ♪ ♪ There is no other name, there is no other name ♪ ♪ There is no other name, Jesus, you're worthy ♪ ♪ There's just something about your name ♪ ♪ There's just something about your name, oh ♪ ♪ There's just something about your name that makes me cry holy ♪ ♪ There is no other name, there is no other name ♪ ♪ There is no other name, Jesus, you're worthy, oh ♪ ♪ Why is God so worthy, Jesus? Oh, all the honor, all the glory, yeah ♪ ♪ Oh, no sweeter name than the name of my King Jesus, oh ♪ ♪ Jesus, you're the light before the night, the one the darkness can't deny ♪ ♪ The resurrection and the life, Jesus, Jesus, you're safe with me ♪ ♪ You're naked in the stormy snow, you never fail, you never will, Jesus ♪ ♪ Jesus, the bread of life, your King for us, the wounded and the worthy one ♪ ♪ The first and last and soon to come, Jesus, Jesus, the King who overwhelmed the grave ♪ ♪ The Lord who will forever reign, the name above all other names, Jesus ♪ ♪ Jesus be the name, Jesus be the name, oh Jesus be the name that gets all the glory ♪ ♪ Jesus be the name, Jesus be the name, oh Jesus be the name that gets all the glory ♪ ♪ Jesus be the name, Jesus be the name, oh Jesus be the name that gets all the glory ♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh, Jesus, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh Jesus, oh, oh, oh, Who-o-o-oh

Who-o-o-oh Jesus I promise for you the Lord is here We fix our eyes on Christ this morning Oh the perfect Son of God In all his innocence You're walking in the dirt with you and me He knows what living is He's acquainted with our grief A man of sorrow, son of suffering Oh blood and tears How can it be There's a God who weeps There's a God who bleeds Oh praise the one Who would reach for me We sing hallelujah To the son of suffering Some imagine you Hardest thing in the world But you chase this down Immersive focus too To the sinner you embrace And the broken you embrace And in the end the proof is in your wounds You see in the end the proof is in your wounds Oh blood and tears How can it be There's a God who weeps There's a God who bleeds

Oh praise the one Who would reach for me We sing hallelujah To the son of suffering Oh Come on just lift your thanks to Jesus today We thank you Jesus We thank you Lord Your cross is my freedom Your stripes my healing Oh praise King Jesus Glory to God in heaven Your blood still speaking Your love still reaching Oh praise King Jesus Glory to God Your cross is my freedom Your stripes my healing Oh praise King Jesus Glory to God in heaven Your blood still speaking Your love still reaching Oh praise King Jesus Glory to God forever Come on we sing with one voice Glory to God forever Glory to God forever Glory to God forever Your cross is my freedom Your stripes my healing

Oh praise King Jesus Glory to God in heaven Your blood still speaking Your love still reaching Oh praise King Jesus Glory to God in heaven Your cross is my freedom Your stripes my healing Oh praise King Jesus Glory to God in heaven Your blood still speaks, Your love still reaches Glory to God, yeah Glory to God forever Glory to God We praise, we praise, we praise Oh blood and tears, how can it be There's a God who weeps, there's a God who bleeds Oh praise the one who would reach for me We sing hallelujah to the son of suffering A man of sorrows, hallelujah to the son of suffering Hallelujah to the son, oh the highest praise belongs to Jesus Hallelujah to the son of suffering Hallelujah to the son Your cross is my freedom, Your stripes my healing Oh praise King Jesus, glory to God in heaven Your blood still speaks, Your love still reaches Oh praise to God Oh praise King Jesus, oh praise King Jesus Oh praise King Jesus, glory to God in heaven Oh praise King Jesus, oh praise King Jesus

Oh praise King Jesus, glory to God forever Amen church What an amazing God we have That would love sinners so much that he would send his son to die for us And be a ransom for our sins And not just to resurrect us from the grave and resurrect us from the dead But make us a royal priesthood We're not a powerless church, we're not just sitting on the sun, the sidelines We're not just spectating But we're in the field as representatives and ambassadors for the kingdom of heaven We glorify the name of Jesus in this place Come on, just give him a shout of praise once again The only one who is worthy, who always was worthy, who always will be worthy He sits on the throne today We love you Jesus, it's in your precious name we pray Amen Come on church, we're going to continue to celebrate But before we prepare for the message Turn to someone you've never met before We're going to do what's called a minute to mingle Greet them today, tell them that you're thankful they're here in the house Well, good morning to you and welcome to Church for the City Where we'll teach the word of God and encounter the presence of him Spread the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ Whole heart and desire of course is to help people that are far from God to find life in Christ And so thank you so much for being part of that journey It's good to start the first day of the week in the house of the Lord A little abnormal Yuma weather for the last five days I kind of miss the sun honestly, so kind of miss it And so hopefully we'll see it soon.

But it's great to be in the house. I wanna give a shout out to those that are online and those that are watching us in prison and the jail. Again, continue great reports. A few things, we're going to, and I don't know if this will be on the screen in the manner that I'm presenting it, but we wanna kinda lay out the opportunity if you wanna be part of some of the missions that we have going on in 2026, three opportunities as of right now that you can join in on for the mission work. And then one is a tour of Israel. So again, I'm laying all these out. As you know, we have no idea what's gonna happen in this world tomorrow. So we've tried, we took a team to Israel a couple of years ago, tried again last year, and things didn't quite work out. And who knows in 2026, but we got it booked, we'll see. So those of you, with each of these, you can do the tap up front, right? Tap in the chair and just fill out an interest form. Israel, the date is May 18th through 29th. I know for some of you that got graduations, that kinda cuts into that. That one's May 18th through 29th. That one is 5100. It goes down as the more people that we get. The one with that one, though, if you have an interest,

we'll need to get that interest in, we have to finalize this by February 7th. You don't have to have all the money in by then, but the interest form and the registration for sure by February 7th. So if you have a desire to go to Israel, I'll be leading that tour with a rabbi. That's May 18th through 29th. Slovakia is in June. That one is 3500. That's a working and ministry team. Indonesia's July. That one's 3000, working and ministry team. South Africa's in August. That's 4000, a working and ministry team. Each of those should be on the interest form. So if you have a desire, right now all we're asking you is for that interest form to be done so we can get a pretty good idea of who we're looking at that may have a desire to do that. Now, I want to thank you every time you come into the building for your generosity. Obviously, you're given, it's important to you because it's an honor of what the Lord has encouraged us to do as a people of God. And certainly important to the house of the Lord for the work and the ministry and missions that we do here and abroad. And of course, the possibility that God has given us all

to expand the kingdom of God. So thank you for your giving. Yesterday, you might have noticed when you came in, things looked a little bit different when you came into the lobby. We had our first serve team summit yesterday where we were able to bring in all of the volunteers who were able to be here for a gathering. We had some light breakfast. We had a lot of fun and gave out some awards, a nice lunch. I'm gonna tell you, it takes over 400 people every week for us to do what we do volunteer-wise. And I'm so grateful for every one of them, the commitment that they have, the work that they do, what they invest in and commit their life to it. I believe you're gonna see a short video and then there's a couple of things I'm gonna follow up on that. Serving is an expression of worship, but serving also reflects the heart of Jesus. It's all of us together. None of us could do what we do without the other person. We get to serve together. We get to work together. We get to draw off each other's gifts. We get to add to people's lives. Everything we do is rooted in the local church and there's no greater body to serve than the body of Christ. I love to serve to help others

and it represents the image of Christ. That gives us a chance to give back to the community, especially our church community. We love this place, love the people here. I want to serve him for the rest of my life. I really love being the hands and feet of Jesus here at this house. It's really special. I love the people that I serve with. I really like feeling like I'm giving a piece of my time to God. We get to serve others. Makes a huge impact. I love to serve because it allows me to connect with our community. This church is amazing. It changed my life. I love to serve because it's. It's the least I can do after everything that Jesus has done for me. I love to serve because I just love seeing everybody's faces when they walk into church. And I just love helping and serving the community. I just enjoy helping people. I love being at church and meeting people. I love to serve because it's awesome just to meet people where they are and love on them and then just build community. I love to serve because I love to see the smiles on so many different people.

I think it's just my part of being able to give back to the family of God that the Lord has given so much to me. I love being in God's house. I love seeing my church family every week. I just love to serve. It's awesome. Boy, was it ever, ever a blast. It was so much fun. A lot of tears, just a lot of celebration of those who was given MVP awards. There was a few people that weren't able to make it. And a couple of those are in this service. And so I'm actually going to give out a couple of awards right now. What each ministry leader did was they put forth some nominations of those who have just been outstanding among their team. And then that was narrowed down and brought it down to what we called an MVP for each area, people that are well-deserved. And everyone on these serve teams, believe me, are MVPs to us. And so we're so, so thankful. But a couple of them we're going to get to celebrate together this morning. One, this is from the communications department. This leader brings a joyful, servant-hearted spirit that consistently elevates the standard of excellence with communications.

They show up ready, reliable, and willing, creating a culture of unity and encouragement for everyone around them. Their example of consistency and humility strengthens the entire team. Moises Herrera, solace. Is Moises here? Yes. Come on, Moises. God bless you, man. We don't have all the sparkles like yesterday. Love you, buddy. Thank you so much. There you go, my man. Love you. And let me give one more. This is for life groups. This couple faithfully pours into their life groups with deep commitment, biblical strength, and passion for discipleship. They open their home multiple times a week, invest intentionally in every member, and cultivate genuine fellowship and spiritual growth. Their years of steady leadership make them a gift to our community. Don and Mary Cruz. And yeah, Don and Mary are worthy of a standing ovation. They have been steady, faithful for decades. Love them. You guys are the best.

Bless you. There you go. Sorry Don's not here. We're praying for him. All right, that's awesome. So, so fun. If you are part of a serve team and missed it this year, we're going to encourage you. Try to make it next year. All right, let's go ahead and dive into the word. I've cut in a little bit of my time. I don't know how long it is, to be honest. It's a simple message on Thanksgiving. So we'll just see. Stand with me, take your Bible. Let's go to Psalm 100. Psalm 100, there's five verses there that we're going to read, and they're supported by two New Testament verses, but we won't read them up front. I'll read them as we go through. But Psalm 100, verses one through five. This is out of the ESV. I do encourage you to bring a paper Bible so that you can read the words and know where the scriptures are found. I know that we put the scriptures on the board most of the time or on the screen, but I'm telling you what I'm finding out. It was even more revealed yesterday

that you don't know where the books of the Bible are. If you just see it on the screen, you don't know where they are because that doesn't give you any indication. But you ought to want to know where the books of the Bible are. I mean, that's, you all right out there? I mean, I'm not fussing. I'm calm today. I'm nice. I'm sweet. I just want to see the sun. That's all, I just want to see the sun. But we're all right. Psalm 100, verses one through five. Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth. Serve the Lord with gladness. Come into his presence with thanksgiving. Know that the Lord, he is God. It is he who made us, and we are his. We are his people and the sheep of his pasture. Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise. Give thanks to him. Bless his name, for the Lord is good, his favor is good. steadfast love endures forever and his faithfulness to all generations. Can we all shout amen? Well, Father, I thank you for the word of God. Thank you, Lord God, for being able to read your words, what you've breathed, what you spoke to us. And Lord, this psalm certainly reflects thanksgiving to you. And Lord, I pray that I'm able to do that well in this message

to bring out those things that really encourage us to have an attitude of thanksgiving. Lord, we are thankful for so many, so many things. We pray your grace upon us in our time together now. And Lord, for every church that's gathered in this community, Lord, may the Spirit of God be present. May the man and woman of God bring forth the gospel message. May people's lives be touched everywhere. We pray, Lord God, that the Holy Spirit will be real, will be true, will be present, moving among varied people across our county, that Christ is exalted and glorified. Lord, may I decrease that you might increase. It's in his name we pray. Amen. You may be seated. Now, we started last week with a thanksgiving. The title of the series thing, thank you, Kyle, is Thanksgiving. Today, I want to talk about just taking a look at a thankful life, what that really means. There was a couple of statements that I made last week that I want to repeat, and I trust that they'll be on the screen. But here are these three statements that really is the genesis of these messages, and probably substratum of it all. When God's people practice continual gratitude and joyful generosity, they live in the flow of his promised provision. When we practice gratitude, when we practice generosity, when you cultivate a thankful, grateful, and generous heart, you position yourself to experience God's faithful provision in every area of our lives. Cultivating, again, a heart that's thankful, grateful, generous. And finally, as you live with hearts of full gratitude and hands open in generosity, you'll see that the Lord supplies all of your needs. And each one of these, and we talked about this last week, the key words there was provision and supplies on the subjective end, but the objective end of it was gratitude, thankfulness, which leads to a heart of generosity. And I won't go through the whole message, but there was three things that I wanted to express that, again, is the foundation of this. And one was learning to be content. As Paul talked about in Philippians 4.11, that I've learned to be content with whatever I have, whether it be nothing or everything. Learn the secret

in every situation. And contentment is not complacency, nor is it lack of ambition at all. It's not giving up on improvement, but it's resting in Christ regardless of circumstances, resting in Him. I'm content with what God has done, with what God will do, what God has proven Himself to do. I'm content with that. And also with that is that God provides, God's providence. God's provision and providence are not the same words. Provision is obviously what He supplies, but God's providence is how He directs things in our life to come to the place to see what God will do for you. Sometimes He does that in unorthodox ways, like when there was a famine, He told Elijah, you go by the brook, water will come out of there, and you'll be fed by ravens. That's unorthodox. Sometimes He does it through obedience. When Elijah went to the woman who said, I'm just going to make one cake for me and my son, and then we're going to eat that, and we're going to die in the Lord. Elijah said to her, well, you make it for me, and you watch what God does. And sure enough, out of her obedience, God's providence was certainly working on her behalf. And then there is, God will provide sometimes in miracles. 2 Kings 4, you might recall there, in Elijah's life when he ran across a widow who was in great debt, husband had died. He said to her, you go collect all the jars that you have and take the little bit of oil that you have and start pouring it in those jars. And she had more than enough to pay for her debt and to be able to live. It's God's providence. He does that in so many, so many ways. And so, Philippians 4.19 affirms... What we know, and what I really want you to embrace, is that God meets our needs according to his riches in Christ Jesus. He does that, he meets our needs. So we've learned to trust God fully because he's faithful. We learned to trust him completely and have a heart of contentment in trusting God. And all of our experience will prove

that God is a God that does provide. Now this is what would be called Thanksgiving Sunday. You're gonna have maybe a few days of work and then hopefully you'll get Thanksgiving off where you get to spend time with family and maybe the day after that. But it's usually a week of prep. Faith should be at the primary thing. I like the four F's of Thanksgiving. Faith, family, food, and football. Those, that's usually what happens on Thanksgiving. And I absolutely do, I hate to do this. This is probably the most humbling thing you will ever see from me, is apologizing to the Cowboy fans for the Raiders humiliating themselves to the most delusional fans on the planet. But you win, we lost. I needed this message because 38 times the Bible says Thanksgiving unto God. I needed this. 38 times, honestly, the Bible tells us that no matter what the situation is that we give, we give thanks. And you know, it's easy to read, it's easy to read the words to give thanks. It's easy to say that we're gonna give thanks. It's even easier for me to write it or to type it. But sometimes it's hard to live sincerely and consistently, moment by moment, with joyful gratitude.

Sometimes that's hard, it's, you know, we just, sometimes it's easier, it seems, to complain about something or grumble about something or to rationalize things, it seems easier. And especially when things aren't going right. And sometimes the things that we might complain about or grumble about or rationalize may prove to be true. But the scripture gives us an encouragement on how our posture should be, that it's consistent and works in all circumstances. I read something, I do not know if this was, the lady I listened to, Dr. Leaf, I don't know if it was her that said this, but whoever it was, they were proving that scientists are finding out more and more how our brain, of course, functions. And that there really is a life-transforming power that takes place even in the mind when we put gratitude in practice, when we put gratitude in practice. That the brain, it cannot stay in a state of fear and a state of appreciation at the same time. It can't stay in both. And so, obviously, you don't wanna regulate the brain to stay in a state of fear. Obviously, you want to train your thinking to stay in a state of appreciation. And so, what we're finding out, even for us, for health's sake, it's better to have a mind of gratitude, thankfulness, and appreciation.

The secret, of course, is to practice it. Tim Keller said it like this. It's one thing to be grateful. It's another thing to give thanks. Gratitude is what you feel. Thanksgiving is what you do. I think that's a great quote. I think it's a great statement. And so, there'll be many people that will go into Thanksgiving and they'll just look at it as a day. Even secular people, they do celebrate Thanksgiving, but probably with a different mindset than us. For them, Thanksgiving might be some of those things that are important to the food, the family, the football, but what they miss about it is the faith. And the scripture tells us not just to feel gratitude, not just to feel grateful, but to live that way. So, there's three passages I wanna look at in this. I got 20-some minutes left, 20 minutes left, 20 minutes, less than 20 minutes, whatever. Here it is, three verses that I'm gonna look at. One is Psalm 100, one is Philippians 4, and one is 1 Thessalonians 5. What I do think, this is, from a preacher's standpoint, this is called a. synthetic text, where you take various passages together to kind of bring out a theme. And what I want to bring out, of course, is thankfulness is not just what we do,

but it's who we become. That we become people that have the look of a thankful life. And so the first one, first point is, thanksgiving is evidenced in worship. It's evidenced in worship. That does come out of the Psalm that we read, Psalm 100. But verse number four says, enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise. Give thanks to him, bless his name. That's in that Psalm of thanksgiving. It teaches us something simple and profound. That thankfulness begins with recognizing who God is. It's interesting with the 38 times that thanksgiving is noted in the scripture, this is the only Psalm that has the heading of it as being a Psalm of thanksgiving. So the whole one is about giving thanks, but the foundation of that giving thanks, actually, is worshiping him, recognizing who he is. Verse number three tells us that he is the Lord, meaning he's sovereign in control. Talks about him being the creator, that we belong to him, that he's the shepherd. He's the one that protects us and guides us, that he is good. That he's always consistently and eternally good, and that he loves and his love endures forever,

meaning that his covenant promise of love never ends. So the Psalm teaches us that whenever we go before the presence of the Lord, whenever we engage with him, we do so with the mindset of giving thanks to him, not with complaints and not necessarily demands. As you mature in Christ, you'll learn that your prayers are petitions unto the Lord, that you're asking him, that you're not demanding. I think all of us can understand that. No one that's raising children likes to hear a child demand something from the parents, and neither should we before the Lord. We go with petitions, that we realize that we're not, we don't determine our own self-importance, but that we have a gratitude of what God has done. In the days of Israel, in the ancient days, and this is something you'll get to see if you're there, is how they went into the gates when they went to worship the Lord, how they came into the courts. The gates was the public entrance where everybody got to go in. The courts is where the worship happened. They did that first. They entered in with thanksgiving. They go into the courts worshiping God before they even get into the sanctuary to hear from him and to pray to him. They enter into that manner.

David gives us an illustration of that. When he brought the Ark of the Covenant back to Israel, he goes and gets it from where he was. The first time they tried to take the Ark, it didn't go so well. The people who was actually carrying the Ark died. They just put it on some carts and started hauling it back to Israel so that it would be there for them to enter the presence of the Lord. David recognized that some things was done wrong, and one of the things that he adjusted was in front of the Ark will be people who will worship, who will praise, because the Ark for them represented the presence of God. Now, understand this. Of course, God is everywhere. We know that to be so, but there's also that understanding that there's moments and times in our life where you go into the place where the presence of God is represented. Of course, God is with you in your car, and you want him to be. God is with you when you're teaching, and you want him to be. God is with you when you're having a meal with your family, and you want him to be, but there's those times, those specific times of your life

where you make a determination. I'm gonna go to the place and worship God where we know his presence is represented, which is what we do here every Sunday. Of course, you can sing anywhere. You can read the scriptures anywhere. You can pray anywhere, but once a week, we come and gather together as a community in the presence of the Lord, the place that he's dedicated to be his house, and so David recognized that, that what is missing here is going before the Lord in thanksgiving and in worship, and the scripture says before the presence of the Lord, David danced with all of his might. There's a recognition there that as you approach God, as you go into his presence, you do so with thanksgiving. That should be our practice, and then honestly, should. Challenge the way that you come to the house of the Lord when you come here. I know there's so many things. Listen, if there's any time the devil wants to cause a fight in the house, it's on Sunday morning. If, man, look it, that was the most amens. I didn't got the whole message. Y'all didn't have more fights than y'all didn't read the Bible. But yeah, if there's any time that the devil

wants to cause chaos, problems, it's on Sunday morning. Toilets run over. Battery won't kick over in the vehicle. You can't get the kids out of bed. All kind of nonsense. And then so then that carries on into the car. But it's a whole different mindset if you can just grab a hold of what it means to thank God at all times, in all situations. And prepare your heart and mind to come into the house of God. It honestly would relieve you of the first few minutes of singing where you just gotta get your head together, get your mind together, get your heart together. Okay, I'm in church, I need to respond, I need to sing, I need to lift my hands. What if you came onto the property with that mindset already? What if you came onto the property with a thankful attitude and a heart of gratitude, knowing I'm gonna be with the people of God and I get to worship the God who created me. And no, things may not be going the way that I want. It might have been a rough morning, but my car is moving, my family's in the vehicle, I get to be with God's people, I get to enjoy his presence. I'm starting the first day of the week worshiping our God. I'm telling you, it'll change your whole outlook. It'll change your whole outlook. And even when we do the music, listen, I get it.

You know, it depends on your background, depends on where you come from. Not all the songs that we do are songs that you might listen to in your vehicle and whatever your walk of life is, it might be a change. But just grab ahold of the words. Just start mouthing them. Just start mouthing them. If you're afraid of you're gonna get it wrong, just mouth them. You can just mouth them a little bit. You get kind of used to it. Watch how the spirit of the Lord starts to inspire you to let that voice come out a little bit more. Because you're not singing unto others. You're not even singing for others. You're singing unto him. And I tell you, the scripture is consistent that the angels of heaven love to rejoice when the people of God are rejoicing. Next thing you know, you gonna sound better than you ever sounded. Because it ain't just you. There's an angel joining with you, singing with you. And then the people of God are singing. Next thing you know, you realize people in here ain't thinking about how you sound. They ain't thinking about how you look. All they're thinking about is I get to stand before the almighty God who created me

and get to worship the almighty God. Am I talking to the right church? And so the second thing is this. Thanksgiving is the secret sauce of prayer that assures peace. The secret sauce of prayer. I really don't like that term secret sauce. I think it's getting overused. But I couldn't think of another term. I just thought, okay, what can they relate to? Six, seven, right? No, no, secret sauce. It's the secret sauce of prayer that assures peace. And it's interesting that we're looking at Philippians 4, 6, 7. Here we are. And listen what it says. Here it is. Don't worry about anything, but in everything through prayer and petition with thanksgiving, present your request to God and the peace of God which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. It's a wonderful passage. And Paul is writing this from prison. Most of the things that Paul wrote when it came to thanksgiving, if you note where he uses the word, most of the time it's times when he was in prison. He gives us the antidote to worry here.

He's saying you replace worry with prayer and you lace all prayer with thanksgiving. Anxiety has a tendency to look inward with the question of what will I do. Prayer looks upward. Lord, what will you do? Anxiety looks inward. What will I do? Or what can I do? Or what should I do? Prayer looks upward. Lord, what will you do? I know what you can do. What will you do? And so Paul is not saying that we're never gonna feel anxious, never. It is gonna happen. But thanksgiving shifts our attention from what we lack to what God has already done. From what our weaknesses is to strength. our fear is to his faithfulness. And it's proven time and time again that thanksgiving unlocks a supernatural peace. It's just a better way to live, just thanksgiving for all things. It's a declaration of trust. Lord, I believe you, I hear you, you care, and I know you're working, I know you see me, I know that you're gonna do what is best. And so thanksgiving always turns our anxiety into assurance

and the peace of God, the scripture says, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. This word here, guard, it's a military term. And what Paul is showing here, that it's like a soldier is watching over your heart to keep it from getting invaded with anxiety or with fear or with worry. When you give thanksgiving to God, there's a guard there that's keeping, no, no, no, don't want nothing entering his heart that's gonna affect him in a negative sense. Thanksgiving puts the guard there. Gratitude puts the guard there. Thanking God puts the guard there. When you're overcome with peace, when you're overcome with anxiety, when you're overcome with fear, you don't have to check too far to find out what the problem is. You let your guard go away. Thanksgiving brings that guard back. He guards the heart and the mind. Thanksgiving doesn't always change your circumstances, but it certainly changes you in the circumstance. There's a wonderful passage here, and it's rather lengthy. It's gonna be on the screen, and it's 1 Samuel 1, verse one through 20. You'll see this on the screen, I believe, reading from the ESV. There was a certain man whose name was Alcannah.

He had two wives. Now, that's the problem right there. I mean, we probably don't need to go no further. You know how this gonna go. But anyway, the name of one was Hannah, and the name of the other was Peninnah. Sorry, Peninnah, sorry, Peninnah. And Peninnah had children, but Hannah had no children. Now, this man used to go up year by year from the city to worship and to sacrifice to the Lord of Hosts at Shiloh. He was part of the priestly family. One day when Alcannah, so they had rotations of when they had to go up. One day, I'm sorry, on the day when Alcannah sacrificed, he would give portions to his wife, Peninnah, his wife, and all her sons and daughters. But Hannah, he gave a double portion. So you understand this. When they made sacrifices, of course, people brought things to the storehouse. The Levites did not gain any property like all the other 12 tribes of Israel. What the people brought, they were to live off that. So when they made sacrifices, there was portions of meat that they would take home for provisions for their family. But to Hannah, he gave a double portion because he loved her, though the Lord had closed her womb. And her rival used to provoke her grievously to irritate her, that's the other wife,

because the Lord had closed her womb. So it went on year by year. As often as she went up to the house of the Lord, she used to provoke her. So she would just, you know, just make her upset. I got children, you don't. Therefore, Hannah wept and would not eat. And Elkanah, her husband, said to her, Hannah, why do you weep? And why do you not eat? And why is your heart sad? Am I not more to you than 10 sons? Well, there he blew it again. So he basically telling the wife, ain't I good enough? You could have 10 sons, but ain't I good enough for you? Now, can I just tell you something? Every man wants to believe that. Okay, better get out of this real fast. Number nine, after they had eaten and drunken Shiloh, Hannah rose. Now Eli the priest was sitting on, we going out to dinner. I know I'm not counting on you to feed me today, baby. It's all right, we good. Now Eli the priest was sitting on the seat beside the doorpost on the temple of the Lord. She was deeply distressed and prayed to the Lord and wept bitterly. As she continued praying before the Lord, listen to this, Eli the priest observed her mouth. Hannah was speaking in her heart.

Only her lips moved and her voice was not heard. Therefore, Eli took her to be a drunken woman. And Eli said to her, how long will you go on being drunk? Put your wine away from you. But Hannah answered, no, my Lord, I'm a woman troubled in spirit. I have drunk neither wine nor strong drink. But I have been pouring out my soul before the Lord. Do not regard your servant as a worthless woman. For all along I've been speaking out of my great anxiety and vexation. Listen to that. I've been speaking out of my great anxiety and vexation. Then Eli answered her, go in peace, and the God of Israel grant your position that you've made with him. Watch this, the woman went her way and ate and her face was no longer sad. It's a beautiful story. She was so deeply troubled as you could see, consumed by anxiety that she poured her soul out to the Lord. She worships the Lord even before she sees the answer. She worships the Lord. After praying that scripture, I love it, some translation says her face was no longer downcast. That's a picture of God guarding her heart. That's a picture of that guard being there saying nope, no more anxiety. Nope, no more complaining.

Nope, no more vexation. And when her son was born, Samuel, she took him to the temple and dedicated him to the Lord. That's why we do dedications as we do now. But Hannah embodies a spirit of prayer that is filled with thanksgiving, not with worry, not with distress, and God indeed provides. Corrie ten Boom said something that is so good. She says, worry does not empty tomorrow of its sorrows, but what it will do is empty you today of your strength. It will empty you today of your strength. And so a thankful heart is not a soft, sentimental idea. It's a spiritual weapon. It defeats anxiety, causes us to lift up our eyes and strengthen our faith and open our hearts to God's provision. Here's a last thing, and that's thanksgiving is a lifestyle. In 1 Thessalonians 5, 16 through 18, it says, listen to these words, always be thankful, never stop praying, be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you who belong to Christ Jesus. And just, I guess in the simplest form of what the scripture is teaching us here is that joy should be the posture of the believer. Yes, come on up, fellas. Joy is the posture of the believer. Prayer is the practice of the believer. Thanksgiving is the lifestyle of the believer.

Joy is the posture. Prayer is the practice. Thanksgiving is the lifestyle. Notice that Paul says here, Paul does not say, sometimes people may quite misunderstand this sometimes, he says, he's not saying give thanks for all things. He's saying give thanks in all things. Some situations we go through are tough. Some are evil, honestly. Some are painful, some are confusing. We don't thank God for the situations, but we give thanks in them because the Lord is present. And there'll be other people who come alongside you, which we experience day after day here at CTC, that the Lord is working. We see that in the providence of God, even with the things that we shared last week with the widow woman and the woman that was in debt, and even with Elijah, that the Lord is present, the Lord is working, the Lord is faithful. I'm telling you, the Lord never wastes your suffering. There's always something on the other side the Lord is doing. We say it like this, you just don't waste the pain. God is doing something. You gotta trust him in it and be thankful for it. A thankful life is God's will. That passion said, this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus. Many believers may ask, what is God's will for my life?

And I'm telling you, there's three points right there. To rejoice always, to pray continually, and to give thanks in all circumstances. That is the will of God for us. To rejoice always, to pray continually, and to give thanks in all circumstances. I have another statement from Corrie Ten Boom, and a lot of it just because of just some reading lately about her, and I think this was even in the movie that portrayed her. If you saw Corrie Ten Boom's movie, The Hiding Place, that's the name of it, there was a period of time when she was obviously under the control of Nazi Germany, and they were all, the women were put into some bunks, and it got infested with fleas. And sure enough, when the guards would come in, they would see the flea infestation. They didn't care that it was on the ladies, but they didn't wanna get it on them. They didn't want the fleas to get on them. So they would stay away from the bunk. They would make sure they got their foods, but they wouldn't go in there and harass the ladies like they did before. And you find Corrie Ten Boom thanking the Lord for the fleas. Why? Because as long as the guards didn't come in, they could do Bible studies on a daily basis. It's knowing how to thank God in all situations.

Colossians 3, 17 says, and whatever you do, it's thanksgiving. say, do it as a representative of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through him to God the Father. So thanksgiving to us, it's not occasional, it's continual. It's not just a holiday. It's not a mood. It's a discipline that becomes a delight for every one of us believe. It's gratitude, becomes a language of a renewed heart. To be thankful, honestly, is not natural. It's spiritual because of what Christ does. It's not seasonal, it's daily, it's not optional, it's God's will. It just becomes part of us. When we live thankful, our worship becomes deeper, our anxiety becomes quieter, God's peace becomes stronger, and our faith begins to increase and get steadier and steadier. And so as you go into thanksgiving, as you go into this season, let thanksgiving just shape you to become the kind of person that God wants you to be, that we don't just merely celebrate thanksgiving, but we're people that live a thankful life. That's the shape of a thankful life. Everybody stand if you would. Prayer team, you can come. The greatest thing that we can thank the Lord for, obviously, is our salvation in him, that we have eternal life. And so if you're here today and you have not trusted your life in the hands of the creator, the great God and savior, here is the day that you can make that commitment. You can make that commitment and trust your hands in a savior who loves you, who doesn't just rescue you for the moment or deliver you for the season, but he eternally rescues you and eternally delivers you, that you have a hope beyond what's in front of you. You have a hope beyond what you thought life would be like or what you've settled with. You have a hope. The hope of glory is living in you. And you have an eternal savior who will keep you and sustain you. And with all things, and in all things, honestly, is the base of that,

that in all things, I got a God who says he is with me, he'll never leave me, and he'll never forsake me. I'm his child, he's my father. That begins with you trusting Jesus as your Lord and savior. The prayer team is here. Whatever prayers you need, know that these dear people will pray with you, they will love on you, they will minister to you. And our prayer, my prayer for all of you is that you will indeed have the peace of Christ guarding your heart. Enjoy your Thanksgiving season. Father, I want to thank you for this opportunity and time to be in your house with your people, to worship you, to speak of you. And Lord, to encourage and inspire that every one of us will be thankful. In all things, yes, for every one of us, there is something we can complain about, something we can grumble about, something we can be fearful about, something we can have anxiety about. But Lord, in all of that, let us be thankful that we have a God, we have a savior, we have a very present Christ and the spirit that lives in us whom we know that we can trust to be the God of all life, the God of all living, the God that hears our prayers and answers, and the God who will never leave us or forsake us. In Christ's name, we pray. Amen. God bless you. Have a great day. Amen. Amen. As pastor said, we do have an altar team up here. And so if you are in need of prayer, please do not hesitate to come up and receive it. We have a team that is ready and excited to pray for you. Now, we don't want you to leave here today without feeling like you are ready and know how to take your next steps. So whether that's saying yes to Jesus for the first time, or joining a serve team or a life group, or even just learning more about how to get plugged in here, please stop by the Connect table on your way out. Our team is ready to help you get plugged in. Now, as pastor said before, we do have some mission trips coming up. And if you are interested, we would love to get you all that

information so you can fill out a missions interest form at the Connect table. Now, lastly, this Sunday after third service, we are hosting Open House. So if you have not yet signed up, you are more than welcome to. It's a great opportunity just to get plugged in and learn more about our culture here at CTC. And that sign-up is still available. So we definitely encourage you to go ahead and do that online or at the Connect table if you haven't already. We thank you so much for joining us. We pray you have a blessed week. We will see you next Sunday. There's a God who believes, oh praise the one who would reach for me. We sing hallelujah to the son of suffering. Hallelujah to the son of suffering. Hallelujah to the son of suffering. We sing hallelujah to the son of suffering. Hallelujah to the son of suffering. Your cross is my freedom. Your stripes are my healing. Oh praise King Jesus. Glory to God in heaven. Your love is still speaking. Your love is still reaching. Oh praise King Jesus. Glory to God in heaven. Oh praise King Jesus. Oh praise King Jesus. Oh praise King Jesus. Glory to God forever. Oh praise King Jesus. Oh praise King Jesus. Oh praise King Jesus. Glory to God forever.

Amen. We love you church. Go out in love and faith. Be blessed. We'll see you next Sunday.