Transcription
The motivation behind this series, "After God's Own Heart," is reading about the life of David. And I'm not preaching about David today, but reading about the life of David. He had one of the biggest compliments, I think, a human could ever have: to be labeled someone after God's Own Heart. And if I had a prayer, I would pray that when God saw me, He would feel like I'm a person that's after His own heart. So I'm gonna take the next couple of weeks to teach you how to be a person that's after God's Own Heart. Which means we're going to have to reflect and look at our hearts and figure out what's going on inside of our hearts to make us a people after God's Own Heart. And if you were after the heart of God, the pain, the worry, the anxiety, the guilt, the shame, the bruises, all the broken things you've been through in life, I believe that they would just be eradicated. And I believe joy will be unearthed, and purpose will be unearthed, and faith would be unearthed, and happiness will be unearthed if you were just after God's Own Heart.
And the problem with us today in the American Church, we're not after the heart of God. We're after God's stuff. And we get so caught up in blessing and so caught up in trying to keep up with the Joneses and and our social image and social media, that we forget that we were called to be people after God's heart. That we would be the offspring of God, we will be the expression of God, like Jesus. Well, we will be a baby logos, and we would walk, and the world would flow out. And if people never met Jesus, they would see Jesus through us. That was what we was created to be. And we have drifted so far that the church has become a social club for people to come hang out and see who dressed the best, or who looks the best, or who has the most money. And it's not about that. It's about us being after the heart of God.
So today, um, I'm going to be talking about being after the heart of God. And I usually sound my "hollaback preacher," but I'm not going to do that. You can still holler at me, but I'm not going to say I'm a "hollaback preacher." But I would just say, lean in. And I believe if you lean in, God is going to unlock some things in your life that's going to release some things in your heart to get you to that next phase of your faith. So today, if you're taking notes, the title of my sermon is "An Attitude of Gratitude." An attitude of gratitude. I believe one of the most important components in the life of a believer. If you want to be after the heart of God, you have to have a heart of gratitude. You have to have an attitude of gratitude. And I believe that more stress, and more pain, and more fear, and more worry, and more doubt is released in our lives because we don't have an attitude of gratitude.
And a beautiful thing about gratitude is, gratitude doesn't require you to have the goods in life. We always say, "If I just had this, if I just had that. If I had more money, if I had a better job, if I was married, if I had a better car, if I had these things, things, then I'll be happy." But the truth of gratitude is, you don't need anything to be grateful. You don't need anything to be grateful. You can be grateful right where you are, right with what you have, right with what you know, right with who's surrounding you. Y'all gotta holler back at me, I ain't preaching to myself. You can be grateful right now. And what I want to transform us into, church, is not a church that's waiting to be happy, not a church that's waiting to be grateful. You have something to be grateful about. You have something to be grateful about. If your eyes opened this morning, you have something to be grateful about. And I know you may be walking around feeling like it's a bad day, but it's a bad day, but thank God it's not the last day. You get another one to try again. You get another one to bless God. You have to have gratitude. You have to be thankful.
And one of the things that kills gratitude is an attitude of entitlement. I'm telling you, you ain't never seen entitlement until you see some middle schoolers. I'm telling you, you got some middle schoolers in the room. You have never seen entitlement like middle schoolers. I remember when I was the pastor of youth group, and I would talk to the middle schoolers, and they would just come, you're like, "Yeah, you know, my mom, she just came, and she's got me a room, and she got me a new bed, and she got me this, and she got me that, and she took me to school, she picked me up, and she got me new shoes for sports, and this." And they're going through all these things their parents got. "And she didn't cut my sandwich, and I'm just so mad, and I'm done with her." I'm like, "Bro, I don't know which one I'm talking to, but you mean to tell me you got a bed? You mean to tell me you got pillows? You got a house? You, you didn't ride the bus to school? You got a ride?" [Applause] "And you had a packed lunch? Some people had to eat that little milk carton and that square pizza, and you mad 'cause somebody didn't cut your sandwich?" This attitude of entitlement. Middle schoolers are so entitled. And if their friends get something, "My friend has a new iPhone, and I don't." You shouldn't even have a phone. You need a whooping. Sorry, middle schoolers. And you talking about a new phone? You need a new belt. So get whipped. When I grew up, we didn't have no phone. We didn't have no iPad. We didn't have no TV. We was outside playing with rocks and dirt. I'm telling you, we grew up in the era where you was about to get a whooping, and you had to go get your own switch. And you would break one for a small one, and your mom would send you back and say, "Go get a bigger one." And you would bring another one back, and she would say, "It ain't big enough." And you mean to tell me you deserve a phone? No, no, no, no, no, no, no. You deserve a whooping. And everybody knows that. We've been praying for your mom to whoop you all year. I'm sorry, this ain't got nothing to do with myself, but you know them kids. You just like, like when their mama finally get them, you'll be tempted to laugh. You're like, "Let me not get caught watching them whoop their kids." So the mama finally gonna be like, "You should have been with little Joker. You should have been whooped them." But anyways, if I have any middle schoolers in a room, first of all, I'm sorry, and I love you. Um, second of all, instead of demanding from your parents, instead of requesting from your parents, they don't owe you nothing. "That's my mom, she has to do that." Really? Now, there's a lot of moms that don't do that. "That's my dad, he has to pick me up." Really? There's a lot of people walking home. They don't have to do anything. And if you would just go to somebody, maybe they stay in the middle school, or maybe this is a spouse, maybe this is a daughter, I don't know who it is. But if you would just go to them and say, "Hey, thank you for taking me to school. Thank you for fixing me food. Thank you. I appreciate you." If you did that, A, it would melt their hearts, and B, it would show them appreciation, and it would mobilize them to do more. Because no one owes you nothing.
And let me tell you, everybody in your life, including God, is a volunteer. Is a volunteer. Nobody works for you. No one's on staff for you. Nobody owes you nothing in this life. Everyone is a volunteer. Which means if somebody serves you, it's because they want to. If somebody helps you, it's because they want to. And somebody blesses you, it's because they wanted to. If God heals you, it's because He wanted to. If He restores your faith, it's because He wanted to. You don't deserve anything. But God gave us everything in Jesus. And all that God requested of us is that we would be grateful. Is that we would have an attitude of gratitude and say, "God, thank you for blessing me. God, thank you for healing me. God, thank you for giving me the opportunity to come to Your presence and actually lift up a Hallelujah, because I deserve to be in hell." And what happens is, what's robbing us of celebrating God and thanking God and blessing God is this spirit of entitlement. We feel like we deserve something. "God, I don't see why I'm going through this pain." Really? Now, really? In other words, you're saying you don't deserve to go through pain because you're entitled. Who told you you didn't have to go through pain? Who told you you deserved a bigger house? Who told you you deserved a car? We don't deserve anything but hell. But God loved us so much that He sent His Son on the cross to bleed for us and die for us and be broken for us and to resurrect for us, so we don't ever have to go to hell. But I want you to know that's what you deserve. And the one person that didn't deserve death, He got it on your behalf. So everything in your life is bonus. Everything is bonus. God, you don't deserve the promises of God. He told you He'll give them to you, but you don't deserve it. Everything is bonus.
And the way you kill gratitude is by inaugurating an attitude of entitlement. We see it in the garden. We have Eve in the garden, and she's in the garden. And the Spirit of the Lord said, "Of every tree in the garden, you can freely eat." And she's walking around, "God didn't bless me. I'm blessed, blessed, and highly favored. Praise God." And she's walking around eating of every tree, happy. And then the snake, this is a snake, you gotta, you know, put that with him. He comes in the garden, and it's like, "Hey, Eve, God said you can't eat any trees." And she's like, "Wait, no, no, no. God said I just can't eat one tree in the midst of the garden." And the Satan said, "See, God don't want you to eat that tree because He knows if you ate of that tree, you were no good and evil. And if you deserve to know good and evil, you deserve to be enlightened. You deserve a seat at the table. God is keeping you out the table. You deserve to come inside the room. You deserve, you deserve, you deserve." And then Eve walked around like, "I think his name Tank," and she was like, "Maybe I deserve." And she said, "Some of y'all don't know that I shouldn't have did that." But he walked out the garden, and she felt like, "Maybe I deserved to know good and evil. Maybe I deserved to see the things of God. Maybe I deserved to be enlightened." And it was a temptation. He literally snatched her from gratitude to attitude by telling her she deserved more. And he told her she deserves something that would eventually bring desolation to her soul. But because she thought she was missing out, she was so entitled to what she didn't have that she forgot everything she did have. And she set her eyes on one tree. When I'm sure there was hundreds of thousands of trees she could freely from. But it was the one tree she couldn't have that made her envious at God. How many times did I do it in your life? You got everything. You got a healthy body. You got a car. You got a job. You got a home. "Girl, you're 32 and you're still not married." "Yeah, God is just crushing me." No, He's not. He's blessing you. And if you were sitting around, some married women will tell you, it ain't all that. All he do is want something to eat with his lazy self, and then he gonna dirty the house, and you got to clean it. All the ladies said, "Amen." Don't say it too loud, your husband's next to you. So what I'm saying is, just because your life is missing something doesn't mean you're not whole. Doesn't mean you're not blessed. Doesn't mean that God's not with you. Never get an attitude of entitlement.
And let me tell you how you get rid of entitlement. You get rid of entitlement with gratitude. Because gratitude and entitlement can exist at the same time. They can't co-exist. Which means you have to be grateful. And when you're grateful, and you're blessing God, and you're loving on God, your whole attitude of entitlement. Believe if some of you guys are in this room, you're frustrated, you're unhappy, and you're just mad. Here's what you need to do. When you get home, you need to get a cedar paper and write out everything you're grateful for. "God, I'm grateful that my body works. God, I'm grateful that my car works. God, I'm grateful that I got AC in the house. God, I'm grateful that I got a meal for today, and I can see a meal tomorrow. God, I'm grateful that I got shoes on my feet. God, I'm grateful, God, that I get to come to church. That I get to serve. That I get to bless You." Some of you guys are so busy saying you "have to" that you're forgetting that you "get to." You don't have to serve, you get to serve. You don't have to be a mom, you get to be a mom. You don't have to go to that job, you get to go to that job. You don't have to get that little check, you get to get that little check. You don't have to, you get to. And God said, if we would shift from complaining to blessing, our life will change. Right off that list of all the good things that God is doing in your life, and you would see there's two or three things you want that you can't get, and it's robbing your peace. Because without gratitude, there will be no peace and no joy.
And the thing about gratitude is, it's just a choice. It's a choice. It's an inward and outward confession. It starts with the heart, but it hits the tongue. Some of you guys said, "I'm very grateful." When was the last time you told somebody you were grateful? The Bible says, "Let the redeemed of the Lord say so." When is the last time you said, "So"? Yeah, they bought you food. When was the last time you said, "Thank you"? Yeah, they served you. When was the last time you said, "Thanks"? Yeah, your wife fixed your food. When's the last time you said, "Thank you"? Say so. And some of you guys are saying you're grateful in your heart, but it's not on your tongue. The Lord wants you to say that's why He said, "Bless the Lord always." He wants you to enter His gates with what? Thanksgiving. In other words, He said, "If you ain't thankful, don't come in My gates." But if you would come in My gates with Thanksgiving, and if you would come in My gates with praise, the atmosphere will begin to change. Because you can't truly praise God if you're not grateful for Him. I don't care how loud you sing and how high you lift your hands. If you don't have a heart of gratitude, you're not praising God. You can't even enter the gates. You're on the outside of the gates, claiming you're shouting, but none's happening. Because worship starts here, not here. So, so come in the gates of coming in with thankfulness. Be thankful to God. Be thankful for everyone around you.
I'm going to illustrate this. If you have your Bibles, if you have your Bibles, go to Luke chapter 17. You guys enjoying this? Luke chapter 17. It says, "Now on his way to Jerusalem, Jesus traveled along the border between Samaria and Galilee. And he was going into a village. Ten men who had leprosy met him. They stood at a distance and called out to him in a loud voice, 'Jesus, Master, have pity on us!' When he saw them, he said, 'Go, show yourselves to the priests.' And as they went, they were cleansed." That'll preach. Verse 15: "One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back praising God in a loud voice. He threw himself at Jesus's feet and thanked him, and he was a Samaritan. Jesus replied, 'Were there not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? Has no one returned to give praise to God except for this foreigner?' Then he said to him, 'Rise and go; your faith has made you well.'" We have ten lepers here. And these ten lepers, they are sitting there, broken. Leprosy, if you don't know what that is, it was a skin disease, and and it was when you would have these calluses all over your skin and these big sores and these big wounds. In that day, there was no cure for leprosy. So when you had leprosy, you were deemed unclean, and you had to be separated from your family. You immediately had to be homeless. I mean, you could have been rich, and they would strip you from your home. You had to be separated from your family. You can't come near your kids or your wife ever again. And if they came and saw you, they would have to stay 20 feet back because they couldn't come near you because you were unclean. And it was such a bad thing that no one wanted to be around because it was deemed to be contagious. That if someone happened to walk by you and they didn't see you, and you saw them, you had to shout, "Unclean! Unclean!" Imagine that. You're feeling this external filth, and you feel dirty, and you're marginalized, and no one wants to come around you. And the moment someone gets near you, you have to shout, "Unclean!" because you have leprosy. Imagine the pain and the turmoil and the guilt and the shame of having to scream every time someone walked by, "Unclean!" Imagine if your condition was external, and every time somebody walked past you, you had to shout out your sin or your shame. Imagine the guilt. Imagine the internal pain. You wouldn't just have calluses on your skin, you will begin to have calluses on your heart. And imagine these people. And then Jesus came, and Jesus said, "Go, show yourselves to the priest." Now, I love Jesus because every miracle requires obedience. Let me say it again. Every miracle requires obedience. Jesus didn't just heal him immediately. He gave them instruction, and He said, "Go, show yourself to the priest." And as they went, they began to get cleansed. Some of you guys aren't seeing the miracle of God in the hand of God, in the blessing of God, because you pray for something, and God said, "Go," and you said, "No." And because you didn't go, you didn't get cleansed. Because you didn't step out, you didn't get cleansed. Because you didn't walk into the things of God, you didn't get cleansed. Some of you guys are waiting on a touch from God, and God is saying, "I have a touch for you where I assigned you." If you would go to the place I assigned you at, there'll be a touch waiting on you. If you would pray for the people I asked you to pray for, there'll be a touch waiting on you. If you would step into ministry and start serving like I called you to serve, there will be a touch waiting from you. But many of you guys aren't getting the touch because you won't step out of your comfort zone and begin to go. Show yourself. [Music] Why? Because Jesus was saying, "I want to do something on the inside before I do something on the outside." And I want you to have the faith in me to show yourself full of calluses. And if you would have that kind of faith, I will remove the calluses. Here's the only problem. When Jesus removed the calluses, and they were all cleansed, one came back, and nine kept going. And the reason why nine kept going is they were so busy enjoying the blessing, they forgot the blesser. They were so busy enjoying the goodness of God, they forgot the good God. They were so busy enjoying the redemption, they forgot the Redeemer. They were so busy enjoying being cleansed, they forgot the cleanser. And nine of them left because they didn't have an attitude of gratitude.
But there was one man that ran back. He fell down and he thanked God. I'm going to tell you something. Gratitude releases things in the spiritual. Gratitude releases things. It's a spiritual principle. Because when he thanked God, something happened. He got something that the ungrateful people didn't get. They all got cleansed, but he got made well. See, they got the calluses removed on the outside, but he got the calluses removed on the inside. They got their skin fixed, but he got his heart fixed. And when it said he was made well, it meant redemption, it meant salvation, and it meant internal healing. In other words, they thought they needed their skin fixed, but they really needed their heart fixed. But because they were so ungrateful, they didn't see it. And I'm going to tell you something, don't be ungrateful. Don't not come back to God and bless Him. Run back to God and bless Him. Be grateful. Because the truth is, we're all lepers. No, maybe not externally, but internally. Those sins, that shame, that guilt, those lies, that betrayal, you're a leper too. And Jesus came, and He said, "When you came into His presence, He cleansed you, and He redeemed you, and He saved you." And now you're no longer a leper. Will you come back and give God thanks, or you go your merry way? Come back and give God's thanks because you're no longer a leper. You have been cleansed by the blood of Jesus. You have been cleansed by the price of Jesus on Calvary's Cross. You're not a leper. Will you come back and give thanks? And I'm telling you, so many people won't come back and have gratitude. So many people won't come back and give thanks. Thank God that you're not who you used to be. Thank God that you don't do what you used to do. Thank God you don't go where you used to go. Thank God you don't think how you used to think. You have been transformed and bought with a price. Somebody bless God. Oh, come on, somebody.
So gratitude releases healing. Gratitude releases healing. That if you would be thankful and grateful for God, you can get healing. Could you be sick in this room because of your lack of gratitude? Do you know that your attitude actually releases disease? It is scientifically proven that people that's angry and people with an attitude are more likely to get sick than people that's not. I'm telling you, gratitude will heal you. The Bible says, "A merry heart doeth good like medicine." God says, "If you would have a merry heart, if you would bless God, if you were walking in Thanksgiving, I would start healing things on the inside of you." I'm telling you right now, church, gratitude releases healing. And if you say, "I need internal healing. If you say, "I got anxiety." Anxiety and gratitude can't exist at the same time. Everything you're anxious about, thank God for it. Yeah, yeah. "I don't know about this new job, but I thank God I got an opportunity." "I don't know about these friends, but I thank God I got some friends." "I don't know about this opportunity, but I thank God." Because nothing stops the blessing like complaining. Nothing stops the blessing like complaining. You guys who have been stuck on a level, you've been stuck at a job, you've been stuck in a situation, and you go to God and you're saying, "God, give me another job. God, take me to another level. God, take me to another dimension." And God is saying, "Why would I take you to another level if all you do is complain on this level? If my last blessing I gave you was frustrating you, why would I give you a bigger one? It's the church of 200 is making you mad, and they're frustrating you, why would I give you 2,000? Why am I going to take you higher when you're frustrated about being lower? Because the higher you go, there's just more pressure, there's just more haters, there's just more criticism. So if you can't bless God here, why would I take you there? If you can't bless God here, why would I take you there?" And we see it in the children of Israel that was in the wilderness for 40 years. And they kept walking around. It was a two-week journey from the wilderness to the promised land, but they was there for 40 years because they kept murmuring and complaining. You want to know what I found on complaining means in the Bible? Spend another night. You missed it. Let me say it again. Complaining means spend another night. Okay, for those of you guys still didn't get it, what it simply means is every day they complained, they repeated it. They murmured, they repeated the day. They murmured, they repeated the day. They complained, they repeated the day. They murmured, they repeated the day. They complained, they repeated the day. And 40 years they stayed in the place they should have been in for 14 days because they kept complaining. And because they kept complaining, they kept repeating. What do you keep repeating because you're complaining about? Could you keep repeating the days at this job because you keep complaining? Because you keep repeating this dimension, dementia of ministry, because you keep complaining? Could you keep repeating your current condition because you keep complaining? Because your marriage failures keep repeating because you keep complaining? Because the campaign means to spend another night. And if you don't want to spend another night in your current situation, stop complaining and start creating. The Bible says, "Death is in the power of your tongue." You can use that tongue to complain with, or you can use it to create with. Create an opportunity to bless God. Create an opportunity to praise God. And if you did that, you will quit repeating the same day. Oh, give God a shout of praise. That's better than your amen.
The next thing, the next thing that I'm going to show you when it comes down to gratitude. The next thing I want to show you is this: gratitude is not reactive, it's proactive. It's not reactive. See, some of you guys, you're not grateful because you're waiting on something. "God, bless me, then I'll celebrate. God, promote me, then I'll celebrate. God, give me my prayer requests because you are my genie." Right? Then I'll celebrate. But, but let me show you the person of Jesus in the heart of gratitude that Jesus had. There was a crowd of people, and they were hungry. And as they was hungry, the disciples, the little entitled disciples, they got gratitude and acts. But all throughout the gospel, they was entitled. But in the book of Acts, they finally got an attitude of gratitude. Praise God. So instantly, when the people got hungry, this attitude of entitlement of the disciples said, "Let's send the people away, they're hungry, and we ain't feeding them." And then Jesus said, "You give them something to eat." And then at that point, "All we have is five loaves and two fish." Jesus said, "Bring it to me." They brought it to Jesus, and when they brought it to Jesus, the Bible says He looked up and He thanked God. I mean, you mean to tell me you got 5,000 men, which means if you bring and include the women and the children, you got 20,000 people. You got five loaves and two fish, which means you are way underqualified. You don't have enough to feed everybody. That's a very frustrating point. But instead of complaining and being frustrated and being entitled to feeding everybody, because He was God, the first thing He did was He looked at what He had, and He looked up and He thanked God. [Applause] And not only did He thank God, but He blessed what He had. And when He thanked God for little, and when He blessed little, God turned little into much. God started multiplying a little. God started distributing little. Because He thanked God. He didn't thank God when the crowd was fat. He didn't thank God when there was enough. He didn't thank God when provision came. He thanked God in advance. I'm telling you, some of you guys need to put an advance praise on it. I'm not going to praise God when I get the job. I'm going to praise God till I get the job. I'm not going to praise God when I get the healing. I'm going to praise God until I get the healing. Y'all better be glad my voice is weak. I can't preach like I want to. In other words, Jesus said, "I'm not going to wait to bless God." What are you waiting to bless God for? What are you waiting for? The new job? Oh, when I get this new house, and I got room for the kids, then I'll bless God. News flash, you may never get that house. Because we see that the multiplication came after the thankfulness. If you're not thankful for what you have, God's not going to give you more. There's a kingdom principle, and that kingdom principle is gratitude. And if you would have an attitude of gratitude and be grateful for what you have, God will give you more. God will not bring increase until you intimately thank Him for less. You won't get increase. That's why you still make the same money you made five years ago. That's why you're still driving the same car, living in the same house, dealing with the same struggles and the same frustrations. Because you've been cursing what God called you to bless. And you can't curse your way up. You can only bless your way up. And if you keep cursing, you will keep repeating. Gratitude, gratitude, gratitude. Yeah, I know he gets on your nerves. But have you thanked Him? I know he gets on your nerves. But have you honored them? Because if you don't, you're going to get the same version of a husband you always had. Every man has two things in them. Every man has a prince and a puck in him. You get the one you talk to. If you complain, you get a puck. But if you would go and praise Him, you'll get a prince. The kids, if you keep talking to your kids like they're dumb, they'll be dumb. But if you talk to them like they are world changers and they've been called to be set on fire for God, and if you would speak to the king and the queen in your town, they would rise up to the standard. Stop murmuring because murmuring gives forth to repeating. You will always repeat what you complain about. Let's stop complaining. The number one blesser, the number one blocker of blessing, is complaining. It's going to always block the blessing.
Now, let me say this to you, church. And my minister of music can come up. Let me say this. You're not going to be thankful for all things. Let me say it again. You're not going to be thankful for all things, but you should be thankful in all things. You won't be thankful for all things, but you should be thankful in all things. "God, I'm not thankful for the abuse I went through, but I am thankful that in my abuse, You came and made me whole. I'm not thankful for the crushing I went through, but I am thankful that as I was crushed, You're the God that can put the pieces back together again. I'm not thankful for the betrayal I went through, but I am thankful that You stick closer than a brother and a sister. I'm not thankful for being knocked down, but I am thankful You picked me up. I'm not thankful for being looked over, but I am thankful that You look down from heaven and You saw me. God, I'm not thankful for being in this field and in this desert and in this drug place, but I do thank You that the mountaintop God will come down in the valley and lay with me. God, I'm not thankful for being in a pit, but I am thankful that I serve the Prince of Peace. I'm not thankful for all things, but I'm thankful in all things because I know You work all things together for the good of those that love Me." If you love Him, He'll work it together for your good. I'm not thankful for what happened, but I'm thankful for the One that was there when it happened. I didn't want the pain. I didn't want the fear. I didn't want the anxiety. But I'm thankful that I was able to lean on my God in this time of brokenness. I'm not thankful for my health condition, but I am thankful for my healer. Not thankful for my sin, but I am thankful for my Savior. And I'm telling you, if you're waiting on everything to be good to be grateful, you will never be grateful. Because in this life, I can promise you two things: there will always be someone that has it better than you, and there will always be someone that has it worse than you. And what takes away our right to complain is, there's somebody that has it worse than you. Smelling bigger than you. [Music] God, I don't have shoes. There's somebody that don't have feet. [Music] God, I don't have a spouse. There's somebody that don't have a spouse and no family. God, I don't want to eat healthy food. I want to eat out more. There are some people that's not eating. And you have to have a great attitude of gratitude. God, thank You. God, thank You. God, thank You. God, thank You. Thank You, God. I don't have everything I want, but I thank You, God. I thank You because I understand that I may never have the best, but I'm going to make the best of what I have. I may never have the best, but I'm gonna make the best of what I have. Because the most important thing in this life, you have, and that's God. Everything else will come and pass away, but the presence of God remains. I'm thankful. Reminds me of this story in closing. And this story was about this lawyer. And this particular lawyer, he was the best lawyer ever, and he had never lost a case. And there was this young protege, and he had to work for this lawyer because this lawyer, he was a car wreck lawyer. And I mean, he's never lost. Every time he had a client, he won thousands of cases and never lost one. And then the young lawyer was like, "I want to be like him. I want to be like him." And he started taking on cases, and he started losing. And he said, "Tell me how you win every case." And the older lawyer told him, he said, "I can't tell you 'cause you won't get it. You won't understand." And he said, "Please, please tell me." And then finally, he said, "I'll pick you up tomorrow at six." And the older lawyer picked up the younger lawyer, and went to Walmart, and they began to buy hundreds of dollars worth of groceries. They put it up in a truck, and he said, "Why is this man taking me grocery shopping? I'm gonna learn how to be the best lawyer." And I got inside of the car, and they started driving, and they drove for 30 minutes. And he's like, "Where are we going?" He said, "I can't tell you." They drove for an hour. They drove for two hours. They drove for three hours. They drove for four hours. And then finally, they pulled up to this country road. It's about a mile long, and it went down the road. And they parked. The old lawyer just began to weep. And the young lawyer is like, "What is going on?" He said, "Grab the groceries." They grabbed the groceries, and they walked up, they knocked on the door. As they knocked on the door, and the door was open, the first thing the young lawyer could see was this, this, this baby. He was like eight, and he was sitting in a wheelchair with no legs. And the old man went, and he knelt before him, and he grabbed him, and he grabbed them by his thighs, and they began to just weep over him. And he said, "I'm here for you, and I'm praying for you, and I'm sorry that this happened to you." And he served them, and he ate with them, and they played Uno, and they hung out, and he fed them, and he cooked food for them, and he loved them, and he hugged on them. And they got in the car. The young lawyer didn't know what was going on. He was just weeping. He was weeping, he was weeping. And the old man said, "That's my next client, and I'm fighting his case." And he said, "I always come and I connect with my clients." And the reason why I connect with my clients is because I had a car wreck, and I was paralyzed for two years, and I couldn't walk, and I couldn't get up. And I just remember saying, "God, if You would ever give me strength to walk again, God, I would fight for those that can't walk. I would advance those that can't avenge themselves. I would protect those that can't protect themselves." And he said, "The reason you keep losing is because for you, this is a job. But for me, this is my life. For you, you're trying to win a case. For me, I'm trying to change a soul." And if you would just have an attitude of gratitude, you're walking around and you never thank God for walking. I never get out without blessing God for these legs. And I told God, "As long as I have legs, I would walk to serve the broken." And he said, "I sit with my clients, and I cry with them, and I feel their pain. And when I walk in the courtroom, I am them, and I could represent them with passion and heart and soul because I know what it's like to not be able to walk and to be injured in a car wreck." And until you have that attitude of gratitude, you would never win like that. Because it was never about winning, it was always about serving. And I'm telling you, you don't know what your Savior did on your behalf. You don't know the cross He hung on. You don't know the cross He bled on. You don't know the crown of thorns that was in His head. You don't know the pain that He went through in the turmoil of being separated from His Father so you can have an attitude of gratitude. And we come to church, and we say, "I don't like that song. I'm not worshiping. I don't like that serving. I'm not preaching." And I'm not copying. I don't feel like praising no one, or complimenting no one, or serving no one. And God said, "I died so you can do this. I didn't just live for this, I'll die for this. And you have the nerve to walk around entitled and everything you have, you don't even deserve. And yet, I didn't deserve bearing your sins, but I had the faith to say, 'Nevertheless, God, Your will be done.'" I'm telling you, gratitude changes things. It changes your heart. It changes your life. It will remove fear, anxiety, depression. You don't have to, you get to. Or somebody bless God.