November 24, 2025 • 39 mins
What if a simple thank you could change more than a moment—what if it could change your day, your focus, and your faith? We start with a warm, funny tour of “thank you” in different languages—gracias, merci, donobad, and the exuberant shokran awi—and use those stories to show how appreciation can turn strangers into allies and chaos into connection. From guards guiding cars through Cairo traffic to a shopkeeper who always had a bag of chips for a child, we highlight how gratitude softens edges and opens doors.
From there, we anchor the conversation in Scripture. Psalm 118 reminds us that God’s steadfast love endures forever, and Ephesians 5:20 calls us to give thanks always. We break down the daily choice to live gratefully—across 35,000 decisions a day—especially when feelings want to steer. Gratitude doesn’t deny pain; it refuses to let pain be the narrator. We unpack a classic selective attention study to reveal how easily we fixate on problems and miss the quiet gorillas of grace walking right through our field of vision. When we practice thanks, attention shifts from the problem to the Provider, and the Eeyore mindset loses its grip.
We close by elevating the why: God is worthy. With help from Charles Spurgeon, we move gratitude from a transaction—“I thank you because I got something”—to adoration—“I thank you because You are good.” We talk about forgiveness, freedom, mended pieces, and the faithful presence of Jesus who never leaves. If you’re new to faith or ready for a fresh start, you’ll hear a clear, hopeful invitation to follow Christ and a pathway to next steps in community.
If this encouraged you, subscribe, share it with a friend who needs a lift, and leave a review. Your words help more people choose gratitude and find hope this week.
Cornerstone
https://www.cornerstoneaz.org/
Follow Jesus
https://www.cornerstoneaz.org/follow-...
Life Groups
https://www.cornerstoneaz.org/life-gr...
Giving
https://cornerstoneaz.churchcenter.co...
Church Center App - Download then add Cornerstone Christian Center in Avondale, AZ
iOS
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/my-ch...
Android
https://play.google.com/store/apps/de...
----
Instagram
cornerstoneaz
Facebook
cornerstoneaz.org
Twitter
cornerstoneaz.org
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Celeste Brown (00:00):
Give thanks.
Well, happy Thanksgiving is theweek of Thanksgiving.
How many of you are excitedthat it's finally here?
Amen.
Amen.
We're gonna talk about givethanks this morning.
Um, if you don't know, I havelived in several locations all
over the world, um, probably inthe last 30 some years.
And um, people often ask methis question and they'll say,
(00:23):
Celeste, what is the scariestthing about living overseas?
And I'll think about it, andnot a lot phases me.
I'm not too scared about manythings, but um the one thing
that would always kind of get mewas when you don't speak the
language, and you just can'tcommunicate, and you're trying
to ask questions or get thingsacross, and you just don't know
(00:45):
how to communicate it.
And so knowing the language, uhnot knowing the language was
always difficult for me.
I would study the language, Iwould have private tutors, I
would go um into a classroomsetting, and there's always one
word or phrase that I wanted tolearn every time.
And I know it might shock youwhat I would ask to learn.
I mean, some people might say,Where's the bathroom?
(01:05):
That was important to them.
Um, others would say, maybe acertain food, where do I find
this?
Um, but for me, it was alwayshow do you say thank you?
And I wanted to know how to saythat.
It was just a high priority forme everywhere I lived.
There's something about beingappreciative to someone that
helps you out.
There's just something aboutit.
(01:26):
Um, just knowing how to saythank you when somebody gives of
their time or they're assistingyou.
Um, it was just a blessing toknow how to say it.
So I just want to give you alittle walk of where I've been
and how to say it.
Um, this morning somebody keptasking me, how do you say this
again?
How do you say this again?
Um, it's kind of fun just toget to know these phrases.
(01:47):
But I first started out.
Obviously, I'm um partHispanic, my dad is Mexican, and
so I always knew how to saythank you in Spanish, which is
gracias.
And then when I went toParaguay, I thought everybody
just spoke Spanish there.
And I realized um down south inSouth America, it's one of the
lower countries, down at thebottom, it's the first place I
lived outside of the US, andthey speak a mixture of guatani
(02:10):
with Spanish, and so a lot ofthings are kind of mixed
together.
So if you are in the country ofParaguay and you want to say
thank you, you would say aguje.
And that's how you would justappreciate them for whatever
they're helping you with.
Um, before I was married, Ialso lived in Bangladesh.
Bangladesh is like a country,everybody's like, where is that
place?
Um, that place is next toIndia.
(02:32):
It actually used to be part ofPakistan um not that long ago.
And then they separated andIndia's kind of in between.
And so in Bangladesh, um, ifyou were saying thank you, you
would say Donobad.
And that's how um you wouldtell people you're appreciative
of what they're doing there foryou.
Then we moved to France, Jayand I with our kids.
We served and started aninternational church inside of
(02:54):
Paris, and of course, we allthink we speak French.
Um, we all would love to speakFrench, it's just such a
beautiful language, and so um,probably the one thing everybody
knows how to say is thank you,and that is merci.
Yeah, and so we would say thatquite frequently as we were
wrangling our small children allaround the city.
Um, thank you if you dropsomething, thank you.
(03:15):
They're helping you andassisting you.
And then we move to Egypt, andEgypt uh they speak their own
Arabic.
I just want to make that veryclear.
Arabic is um, there's a lot ofcountries that speak Arabic, but
Egypt has their own Arabic.
So there's a Maya and there'sFusa.
And in Egypt, um, everybodyknows how to listen to Arabic in
(03:37):
Egypt because they are thepeople that broadcast the
movies.
So they're like the Hollywood,Bollywood of the Middle East,
and a lot of things take placethere.
And so when we were there, Ilearned quickly how to say thank
you, and that is Shokran.
And in Egypt, I learned, man,you can't just say thank you,
you can't just say shokran, butyou gotta add something to it
(03:59):
because the Egyptians are veryum loud and boisterous and fun,
and everything they do is uhwith their hands and very um
expressive.
And so if you were in Americaand you were speaking English,
if you wanted to express yourthanks a lot, you would say
thank you so much.
So much, thank you.
(04:19):
And so in Arabic, if you're inEgypt, you would add the word
awi to it.
So you would say shokran awi.
And you gotta be expressivewith it when you say it.
You gotta be loud, you gottamatch the word, the phrase.
And so I would say it all thetime.
I mean, that was like my go-tophrase everywhere I went.
And so I just wanna let youknow that if you ever visit
(04:41):
Egypt, let me explain a fewthings that you will say thank
you for.
When you go grocery shoppingfor the first time, or two years
after you've lived there andyou still can't find things, you
are grateful for anybody whowill assist you in trying to
find something that you'relooking for in your broken
language.
And I would just look at themand I would just be like,
(05:02):
Shokran, thank you so much.
Thank you, thank you, thankyou.
To the guards that were outsideof the buildings that I was
trying to park at.
Egypt is 8 million people andan 11-mile stretch.
It's crowded.
And so, if you're trying topark your car, I would drive
everywhere there.
It is a miracle that I am stillalive.
(05:24):
I just want to share that withyou.
Um, lines are a suggestion andnever abided by.
And so, when you're trying topark somewhere, you are rolling
your window down asking theguard or the boab who is
guarding that building, wherecan I park?
And I'm saying it in Englishbecause I didn't speak Arabic
very fluently there.
And the guard would literallyput his hand on my windshield
(05:46):
and walk with me as I'm drivingthe car and lead me to where to
park.
And I would be like, ShogunAoi.
I was so appreciative of him.
To the owner of the Kushk.
A Kushk is like a little marketthat's on the street and they
just sell chips and soda and icecream and candy.
There's one right strategicallyoutside of my kids' school when
(06:08):
we lived there.
He's a genius, let me tell youthat, best business guy I ever
met.
And not only was he a genius inhis location, but when we would
walk by and I carried no cash,I'd carried none.
He would always have a bag ofchips that he would hand my
smallest child.
And then they would they wouldwant everything.
(06:29):
And he would always, every dayshe walked by, he would just
give her a bag of chips.
And I would just be like,Shokran, oui, oui.
And I was so grateful that hewould give her something.
And then to my taxi driver, andI don't know if you'll ever
appreciate this unless you livethere.
My friends in from Turkey mightappreciate this.
(06:50):
When you get in a taxi, youdon't go by addresses, you go by
locations, you go by a markerin the city.
So you would say, you know, thenursery that's on Indian
school.
I need to go somewhere in thatarea.
And so to the taxi driver whowould actually take me to the
location that I needed to go, Iwould get out of the taxi, and
(07:14):
as I'm handing him the money,I'd be like, Shokran, oui, oui,
oui, oui.
Thank you so much for gettingme here.
Thank you goes a long way.
It goes a long way.
And I can remember saying thankyou to people, and I would
literally see their countenancechange.
Because I went from somebodywho was not just asking for
(07:37):
something, but I was expressingappreciation and gratefulness
for what they have done.
A thank you goes a long way.
And as we head intoThanksgiving week, I want to
encourage you this morning togive thanks.
Psalm 118, verse 1 says this: Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for (07:52):
undefined
he is good, for his steadfastlove endures forever.
Well, I want to welcome you toCornerstone.
If you're a guest with us, itis an honor to have you.
If we haven't had the chance tomeet yet, my name is Celeste,
and my husband and I, Jay, havea privilege of leading an
(08:15):
amazing team here at this churchwho our goal is to be more like
Jesus.
And if you were to walk outsideof these doors, it would only
take you about two minutes, andyou'd realize instantly that it
is very hard to be like Jesusall the time.
How many of you can relate tothat?
It only takes maybe two, threeminutes in traffic in Phoenix,
and you realize that you need tobe more like Jesus at all
(08:37):
times.
Um, but that's what we striveto do here at this church.
We just ended a season of lifegroups, and I am so just I just
feel so honored to be able tohave life groups here at this
church.
It is life outside of a Sundaymorning, and it gives you a
chance to just build communityin a smaller group setting.
(08:58):
And so we just ended thatseason.
A new one will be startingright after the holidays, and
you don't want to miss that.
Um, our our motto here at thechurch is love God, make
disciples, and reach the world.
And your world is your family,the neighborhood you live in,
the work that you go to each andevery day, the West Valley, the
(09:19):
state of Arizona, the U.S., andthe entire world.
That is your area of trying toreach the world.
And so this morning we're gonnatalk about giving thanks.
I'm gonna read Psalm 118, verseone again.
It says this, oh, give thanksto the Lord, for he is good.
For his steadfast love enduresforever.
(09:42):
So, number one, I want to talkabout give thanks.
And this is number one.
It is a choice.
I know that's hard to thinkabout, it's hard to contemplate,
but it is a choice to givethanks.
You see, when you wake up eachday, you determine how your
day's gonna go.
(10:03):
As soon as you wake up.
Studies actually say that onaverage, each human will make
about 35,000 decisions a day.
And right now, you're decidingwhether you actually do that or
not.
Do I do 35,000?
They say that those decisionsare made both consciously and
(10:23):
unconsciously, but they'rechoices that you make.
So every hour that you'reawake, you're averaging about
2,000 decisions an hour.
Now, those decisions will bedifferent.
Maybe in the morning you wakeup, your alarm goes off, you
have to determine do I wake upinstantly or do I hit that
snooze button?
Decision.
(10:44):
Maybe when you get up, you allof a sudden you have to decide,
I'm either gonna get up and I'mgonna complain that I didn't get
enough sleep, or I'm gonna getup and I'm gonna choose to be
grateful for the little sleepthat I did get.
Decision.
Maybe you have to decide whatyou're gonna wear.
Maybe you have to decide, am Ithe person that puts my sock on
(11:07):
right foot first, left footsecond, or vice versa.
Maybe you're the person thatsays, I don't brush my teeth
until I'm done with my entiremorning routine, and then I
brush it before I leave, andother people would say, I brush
it as soon as I get up, becauseI don't want anybody to smell my
breath.
Decisions.
You would be interested to knowthis that your day is not
(11:31):
determined by whether you are amorning person or not.
But many of us like to blamethat for our attitude.
You're like, ouch, yes.
We choose what we're gonna dothat day.
We choose our attitude, wechoose whether we're gonna be
grateful.
It has nothing to do withwhether we are a morning person
(11:53):
or not, but it has everything todo with the choices that you
make.
Are you choosing to givethanks?
You see, giving thanks shouldnaturally flow from our hearts
as we express gratitude to theLord and for those around us.
It should be like second natureto you.
(12:14):
It should be so easy to walk upto somebody, look at them, and
just say, thank you.
Thank you.
I've seen people before wherethey're attempting to say it and
they're like, and then theywalk off.
And you're like, what are wegonna say?
In fact, there are people inyour life right now, and you can
(12:36):
think of them instantly whenthey actually say thank you,
you're in shock because you'venever heard them say it.
And do not nudge your spouse oryour neighbor or anybody you're
sitting by.
But you can just think ofpeople who are like, actually, I
don't think I've ever heardthem say thank you.
It should be second nature tous.
You should be able to walk upand just say thank you.
(12:58):
I am so grateful for you.
I appreciate you helping me onthat project at work.
I would have never got out ofwork on time if you hadn't come
along and assisted me in that.
I am grateful and I just wantto say thank you.
If you're not naturally justsaying things like this, I want
to challenge you today to gohome, go wherever there's a
(13:19):
mirror, and just practice it.
Thank you, thank you, thankyou.
Put it as a screensaver on yourphone.
Thank you, thank you.
Just let it be second nature toyou.
You see, culture tells us thatwe should be led by our
feelings.
Even though I receivedsomething, maybe I received
(13:41):
something that was so amazingand it's great.
I did not get everything Iwanted, so therefore I'm gonna
complain and I'm just gonna sitin frustration.
I know, it doesn't sound likeanybody you know, or someone
didn't help me like they helpedthem.
Not fair.
Not fair.
(14:01):
We tend to go with ourfeelings.
My son is in university and hehas a class right now, and they
have to read these books anddiscuss them, and he's like,
mom, all they want to talk aboutis their feelings about this
book.
He's like, it drives me crazy.
He's like, I just want to talkabout the book.
(14:24):
I don't want to talk about howmade you feel, but I just want
to talk about the book.
Because culture has told usthat we should be led by our
feelings.
As a believer, we do not letour feelings lead us.
How many of you know that?
We are not led by our feelings.
In fact, if you want an exampleof real life, I will tell you
this (14:48):
that our feelings tend to lead us astray.
Because the person that you'remarried to, there was probably
people before them that youthought you were in love with.
Oh, I love them.
Well, you're not married tothem, so your feelings kind of
led you somewhere.
Your feelings will lead youastray.
(15:09):
I know even on a Sundaymorning, sometimes as a
believer, you wake up and you'relike, I don't really feel like
going to church today.
But I just want you to know,Jane, I love being here.
We would never say that.
We would never think it.
We are first, like we wake upand we're like, this is the day
the Lord has made.
Let us rejoice and be glad init.
But there's days that you justdon't feel something.
(15:33):
But we are not led by ourfeelings.
But as a believer, we shouldchoose what we're gonna do, and
our choices will lead us, andour feelings will follow.
Amen.
We should choose to give thanksat all times, not just when we
feel like it, but you have tomake the choice to be thankful.
(15:56):
It says in Ephesians 5 20,giving thanks always and for
everything to God the Father inthe name of our Lord Jesus
Christ.
This means even though thingsare not perfect in your life
right now, you give thanks.
You give thanks.
And I don't want to ruin yourweek, but things will never be
(16:18):
perfect.
Okay?
But you give thanks for whereyou are right now.
When we walk through the valleyand you feel like you're all
alone and nobody understandsyou, you give thanks.
Because you're gonna learnthings from there that are gonna
carry you on in life.
And you give thanks.
When you have a mountaintopexperience and you're like, this
(16:40):
is the best season of my life.
I have, I just feel like I'm soclose to God, everything is
just going like smoothly inorder.
Give thanks.
You didn't make that happen, Hedid.
And so you give thanks.
When we have energy and restand things are going good, we
give thanks.
(17:01):
And when we're tired andexhausted and we just want to
call it quits, we give thanks.
Giving thanks allows us toexpress our gratitude and our
appreciation for all that He hasdone.
You are giving thanks for thethings that are seen, and you're
(17:24):
giving thanks for the thingsthat are unseen in your life.
You are giving thanks.
Remember, you determine howyour day will go.
Give thanks.
It is a choice.
Number two, give thanks.
It keeps your focus on God.
You see, there's a lot ofthings going on in the world
(17:47):
right now.
You just have to turn the newson for a second or look at the
news app on your phone, or youhear rumors or rumors of this or
rumors of that, and everybodywants to give you their opinion
on what's happening.
And if you're not careful, youcan begin to shift what or who
you put your focus on by whatyou're listening to, what people
(18:11):
are telling you.
In fact, a lot of things goingon in the world today, let me
just be honest with you.
Some of it affects us, but mostof it doesn't.
The majority of it doesn't evenaffect you in your day-to-day
life.
But yet we start to shift andput our focus on something else.
In 1999, I know for some of youthat is a long time ago, but in
(18:35):
1999 there was a study done,and there were two men who were
wanting to do this experimentwith people, and they called it
a selective attention test.
It was a study where theywanted to see how people focus
on things.
So they took six individualsand they put them in a room
about the size of this stage.
(18:56):
They gave three of them a blackshirt, three of them a white
shirt, they put it on, they gavethe black shirt people a
basketball, and they gave thosewearing a white shirt a
basketball.
And they said, for a little bitof time, we want you to just
walk around and intermingle, andyou only pass the basketball to
the person wearing the samecolor shirt as you.
(19:17):
And so they filmed thisinteraction.
So they're just walking around.
And then the narrator told theaudience, they said, Listen,
your goal is you're gonna watchthe white shirts, and you are
going to hand them, you're gonnacount how many times they're
passing the basketball only to aperson in a white shirt.
And so if you're the viewer,you are just staring at that
(19:39):
screen because everybody wantsto be right, correct?
Nobody wants to be like, what?
I gotta watch this again.
I can't believe I got it wrong.
So everybody's focused on thisvideo, and they're counting how
many times they're passing itaround.
And you're trying to focus onone thing.
They're training you toconcentrate on the relevant
thing, the basketball and thewhite shirts, basketball and the
(20:01):
white shirts.
And then the video's over, andat the end, the narrator says,
How many times was a basketballpassed between the white shirts?
And it's quiet, and you giveyour answer.
And then the narrator comesback on and they said, You
probably missed something veryimportant in this entire video.
(20:23):
Did you see the man dressed asa gorilla walking from one side
of the room all the way acrossto the other side of the room?
And they said that when theydid this study, a high majority
of people never saw the gorillabecause they were so focused on
(20:45):
that basketball getting passedin between those white shirts
that they tuned and filteredeverything else out.
Selective attention.
It just proved that peoplecould actually focus on one
thing and not pay attention toanything else.
But what happens when you arefocused on the wrong thing?
(21:10):
Think about this.
You're just looking at thething in front of you, and
everything else is a blur toyou.
Maybe you're looking at thatbad relationship in your life
that you're trying to mend, andyour whole day is just focused
(21:31):
on this one issue, and you can'tsee anything else happening in
your life.
Maybe you're dealing with asickness, maybe there's a
problem, and you're just focusedon that one thing, and focusing
on it begins to create what Icall an Eeyore spirit in you.
(21:52):
I know many of you probablygrew up with Winnie the Pooh.
You may watch it now, andthat's okay.
But there's a character onthere named Eeyore, and he is a
uh donkey, and you want to lovehim.
You want to love Eeyore.
Everybody's like, oh, Eeyore.
But there's something aboutEeyore, he complains a lot.
(22:13):
I don't know if you just listento what he says, but man, he
kind of has a bad attitude.
And Eeyore has a great group offriends.
He's got Tigger.
I mean, what else do you needbesides a bouncy friend who's
trying to make you happy all thetime?
And Eeyore is just walkingaround, just kind of moping.
And one of Eeyore's sayingsthat he tends to say a lot
(22:37):
throughout the shows is thisdon't worry about me.
Go and enjoy yourself.
All stay here and be miserable.
I'm like, what a friend.
Wow, good job there.
Good job, Eeyore.
That's kind of how some of usare when we practice selective
(22:59):
attention.
We begin to focus just on thisone thing, and there's this
Eeyore spirit that rises upwithin us.
We could be at a location wherethere's a lot of life
happening.
We could be in church whereGod's doing amazing things.
We could be in a life group.
We could be at a friend'shouse, we can be somewhere where
(23:19):
it is going well, and you'rejust standing around going,
don't worry about me.
Go and enjoy yourself.
I'll just sit here and bemiserable.
Because all of your focus is onthe problem and not on his
goodness.
1 Thessalonians 5:18 says this: Rejoice always. (23:39):
undefined
Pray without ceasing.
Give thanks in allcircumstances.
For this is the will of God inChrist Jesus for you.
Are you ready to give thanksdespite what is happening right
(24:04):
in front of you?
Are you ready to focus on theLord who can do all things and
filter out all the otherdistractions?
Are you ready to give honorwhere honor is due out of a
heart of thanksgiving and justlet it flow from your mouth to
(24:24):
shift your focus back to Him.
Give thanks.
Keep your focus on God.
And number three, we givethanks because he is worthy.
He's worthy.
Psalms 118.1 says this again.
Oh, give thanks to the Lord,for he is good, for his
(24:45):
steadfast love endures forever.
There's a preacher namedCharles Spurgeon, and one of his
quotes that he said, Iabsolutely love, and is talking
about this particular verse,verse 1, it says this.
Goodness is his essence andnature, and therefore he is
(25:12):
always to be praised, whether weare receiving anything from him
or not.
Those who only praise Godbecause he does them good should
rise to a higher note and givethanks to him because he is
good.
Oh, I don't know if you heardthat very clearly.
But we don't go to God and saythank you because he gives you
(25:37):
something, but we go and praisehim and say thank you because he
is good.
He's good.
I've shared this example manytimes, is if you're a parent and
you have children and all theywant is something from you, and
they only say thank you when yougive them something.
I mean, that's great, butthere's something about them
(26:00):
just walking up to you in themiddle of nowhere for no reason
and just wrapping their armsaround you and going, thank you,
thank you, mom and dad.
And you're like, for what?
You're kind of shocked.
What did I do?
And they're like, I just wantto say thank you.
I just want to say it.
And we, as God's children,should be just like that.
(26:22):
We should be coming to FatherGod and just saying, God, thank
you.
For you are good.
Thank you.
You know that no one has everdone for you what Jesus has done
for you.
There is no one in this earththat has done what Jesus has
done for you.
He has set you free.
(26:44):
He has set you free.
You are no longer in bondage orin shackles, but you are free.
He has forgiven you.
No one else can pay that priceon your behalf, but he has
forgiven you.
He has made a way when thereseemed to be no way.
He has laid down his life sothat you can live.
(27:10):
He has mended the broken piecesback together.
He has taken what you've handedhim and made it whole.
He's mended it together.
He has brought healing to yourbody.
He has given you strength whenyou felt weak.
(27:30):
And when everyone else fadesaway, he is constant and he
never leaves.
No one will do for you what Godhas done for you.
It says in verse 1 that hissteadfast love endures forever.
The definition of steadfast isto be firm, to be loyal, to be
(27:55):
unwavering in one's faith andcommitment, even through trials
and suffering.
There have been friends thathave come and gone through each
one of our lives.
And when things got rough, allof a sudden that friend just
kind of faded away.
You're like, what happened tomy friend?
They didn't want to stick withyou through the hard things, the
(28:19):
hard seasons.
And it says here that hissteadfast love, his firm, loyal,
and unwavering love enduresforever.
He is good.
We do not give him thanks outof an abundance, but we give him
thanks out of an obedience.
(28:42):
Last week, when I was havingprivate time with the Lord, I
remember just telling him, thankyou, thank you, thank you.
And he so clearly kept tellingme, do not thank me because I
give you something, but justthank me out of an obedient
heart because you want to.
(29:03):
When I lived overseas, I wouldsay thank you to a lot of
people.
And I would thank them becauseI was so grateful and
appreciative for them helpingme.
I didn't want them to think Iwas just coming to them for
(29:24):
something.
But I wanted them to know thatI was grateful.
And it was the least thing thatI could do was just say thank
you.
There's many times that I wantto go above and beyond that.
So I would be like, You're mynew best friend.
You helped me.
Do you want to come over?
I'll give you tea, I'll makeyou a muffin.
What do you want to do?
Let's hang out.
Because you helped me, and Isurvived this crazy day here in
(29:47):
this country.
And I just wanted to express mygratitude to them so much.
It was the least I could do wasjust say, Thank you, Shokran.
Aoi, oui, oui, oui.
Shokran.
And here we have to make surethat we are doing the same thing
(30:08):
with our lives to God.
And that we are saying thankyou, thank you, thank you.
It says in Psalm 118 at thevery end of the chapter, verses
28 and 29, you are my God, and Iwill give thanks to you.
You are my God, I will extolyou.
Oh, give thanks to the Lord,for he is good, for his
(30:32):
steadfast love endures forever.
We give thanks to him, for heis worthy.
Amen.
Give thanks.
I'm gonna invite the worshipteam to come up this morning.
And I just want to reiterate toyou give thanks.
It is a choice.
So you're gonna choose each andevery day if you're gonna be
(30:53):
somebody with a grateful heartor not.
Give thanks because it keepsyour focus on God.
A lot of things out there vyingfor your time, trying to
distract you.
But keep the main thing, themain thing, and that's Jesus.
Give thanks for he is worthy.
He is worthy.
(31:14):
I'm gonna invite you to standup this morning, and I just want
to give an opportunity forpeople who may be here and they
have never made that decision tofollow Jesus.
This is your day.
Maybe you came here because youwere invited by somebody, or
you're here just because youwere looking for a church and
you just wandered in.
(31:35):
We're so grateful that you'rehere today.
We have a God who loves us andhe created us in his image, and
he has a purpose for our life.
There is a reason that you arealive, there is a reason that
you are breathing today.
He has a plan.
And many times when we gothroughout our day, we make bad
choices.
(31:55):
It's just we're we naturallyfall into sin.
We naturally do things that areagainst the will of God or do
not honor Him.
And we have to come to thatdecision whether we are going to
surrender our life back to theCreator and let Him take control
and lead us and guide us andfulfill the very reason that you
(32:18):
were created.
And something happens when youjust say, it's not about me
anymore.
I'm just gonna lay my life downand I'm gonna ask Jesus to come
in.
It says in Romans chapter 10,verses 9 and 10, because if you
confess with your mouth thatJesus is Lord and believe in
your heart that God raised himfrom the dead, you will be
saved.
(32:38):
For with the heart one believesand is justified, and with the
mouth one confesses and issaved.
It's simple.
You come to the realizationthat you cannot do things on
your own.
And you need God to help you.
And so you say, God, I'm justgonna surrender my life to you
right now.
And in return, I'm gonna askyou to come in to my heart and
(33:00):
I'm gonna believe on you.
And from this day forward, Iwant to follow you and go
wherever you're leading mebecause your ways are better
than whatever plans I had.
And when this happens, when youmake that decision, when you
say this prayer, there is afreedom that comes about in your
life.
(33:21):
It's almost like as if somebodywas pushing your shoulders
down.
You begin to feel the weightcome off.
And you realize I don't have todo this alone, but I have a
creator who will walk with meand lead me, and the Holy Spirit
will come and guide me everysingle step of the way.
It is not easy to be a followerof Jesus.
(33:45):
It isn't.
You don't get to hold daisiesin your hand and skip around and
say, oh, life's so easy.
This is amazing.
It's not like that.
But you're not alone.
And when you go through things,you have a family around you.
You have God and you havepeople that He puts into your
(34:06):
life that will walk with you onthis journey.
So this morning I'm gonna askeveryone just to bow their head
out of reverence.
And if you were in the buildingthis morning and you're just
hearing this for the first time,that there's a God who loves
you.
We want to pray with you.
We want to stand with you.
We want to see your life befulfilled.
(34:26):
And so I'm gonna ask you ifyou're in the house today, maybe
you're watching online andyou're like, Celeste, I want to
make this decision to followJesus.
It's never been presented tome.
I don't even really knoweverything, but I want to make
that decision to follow afterthe Lord with no one looking
around but myself.
I'm just gonna ask you just toput your hand up just so I can
see you.
I want to pray with you.
(34:47):
We're gonna pray together as agroup this morning.
Amen.
Amen.
God is good, God is good, Godis good.
We're gonna ask everyone torepeat this prayer after me.
God, thank you for loving me.
Thank you for sending Jesus.
I believe Jesus died on thecross for my sins.
(35:13):
I believe he rose again.
Forgive me of my sins.
I surrender my life to you.
In Christ's name.
Amen.
Amen, amen, amen.
Amen.
If you made that decision todaythat you want to follow after
(35:36):
Jesus, you're gonna see a QRcode on the screens on the side.
Just take out your phone, justuh take a picture of that, it'll
lead you.
We want to be able to getresources into your hands.
We want to give you a Bible ifyou don't have a Bible.
And the most important thing iswe want you to find a
Bible-believing church.
You got to be surrounded bypeople that can walk the journey
of faith with you.
(35:56):
If you live nearby, we inviteyou to join us.
We would love to have you here.
Give thanks.
Give thanks.
I can speak for myself, and I'msure many of you, we don't give
thanks enough.
We don't.
We wish that we did, but wedon't.
And so this altar call is gonnabe a little bit different
(36:20):
today.
But I'm gonna ask that we justfeel the front of this room
today, and that we just givehonor where honor is due, and
that is to Jesus.
That we just come with anattitude of thankfulness, with a
heart of being grateful for allthat he has done, and we just
(36:43):
fill this place with praise andadoration to the King of Kings
and the Lord of Lords.
So, Lord, I pray as the worshipteam plays that God, we would
bring praise to your name.
We're entering this week ofThanksgiving, but Lord, this is
not the only time that we bringpraise to you.
(37:06):
It should be like second natureto us.
We should be able to say, Thankyou, Lord.
I am so grateful, Father, forwhat you're doing.
We should just begin to roll itout.
In fact, when we're walkingaround and we're speaking it
audibly, people should look atus and think we're crazy because
we're constantly giving youpraise.
And so this morning, as we fillthis place, may our praise and
(37:30):
our hearts of thanksgiving justbless you this morning for all
that you have done and all thatyou are, for you are good.
In the mighty name of Jesus wepray.
Amen.
Jason Brown (37:46):
Can you believe it?
Next week we're startingChristmas here at Cornerstone.
Isn't that amazing?
We have a lot of special eventshappening every week, something
special.
So I'm gonna encourage you thatyou would come out, invite
friends to join us with you.
Uh, we have a kids uh eventthat's gonna be happening midway
through December.
We have a family service to behappening, as well as we have
Christmas Eve services on the23rd and on the 24th.
(38:09):
So make sure to put that onyour calendar and invite friends
alone.
Celeste Brown (38:13):
And tonight is the night we are going to
decorate this place.
It's gonna be beautiful.
So come and join us.
I know sometimes you go homeafter church, you put on your
pajamas, and you're done for theday.
Come in your pajamas.
We are ready for you.
Um, bring a dish to share ifyou would like.
It's gonna be fun, and there issomething for everyone.
Jason Brown (38:32):
Amen.
Before we go, I want to praythis blessing over us.
The Lord bless you and keep you.
Lord, make his face to shineupon you and be gracious to you.
Lord, lift up his countenanceupon you and give you peace.
(38:54):
Lord, I pray a blessing uponyour church, your people.
Lord, you empower us by yourspirit to live your love unto
those around us.
Pray all this in the powerfulname that is Jesus Christ.
Amen.
Amen.
God bless you, and happyThanksgiving.
Give thanks.
Well, happy Thanksgiving is theweek of Thanksgiving.
How many of you are excitedthat it's finally here?
Amen.
Amen.
We're gonna talk about givethanks this morning.
Um, if you don't know, I havelived in several locations all
over the world, um, probably inthe last 30 some years.
And um, people often ask methis question and they'll say,
(00:23):
Celeste, what is the scariestthing about living overseas?
And I'll think about it, andnot a lot phases me.
I'm not too scared about manythings, but um the one thing
that would always kind of get mewas when you don't speak the
language, and you just can'tcommunicate, and you're trying
to ask questions or get thingsacross, and you just don't know
(00:45):
how to communicate it.
And so knowing the language, uhnot knowing the language was
always difficult for me.
I would study the language, Iwould have private tutors, I
would go um into a classroomsetting, and there's always one
word or phrase that I wanted tolearn every time.
And I know it might shock youwhat I would ask to learn.
I mean, some people might say,Where's the bathroom?
(01:05):
That was important to them.
Um, others would say, maybe acertain food, where do I find
this?
Um, but for me, it was alwayshow do you say thank you?
And I wanted to know how to saythat.
It was just a high priority forme everywhere I lived.
There's something about beingappreciative to someone that
helps you out.
There's just something aboutit.
(01:26):
Um, just knowing how to saythank you when somebody gives of
their time or they're assistingyou.
Um, it was just a blessing toknow how to say it.
So I just want to give you alittle walk of where I've been
and how to say it.
Um, this morning somebody keptasking me, how do you say this
again?
How do you say this again?
Um, it's kind of fun just toget to know these phrases.
(01:47):
But I first started out.
Obviously, I'm um partHispanic, my dad is Mexican, and
so I always knew how to saythank you in Spanish, which is
gracias.
And then when I went toParaguay, I thought everybody
just spoke Spanish there.
And I realized um down south inSouth America, it's one of the
lower countries, down at thebottom, it's the first place I
lived outside of the US, andthey speak a mixture of guatani
(02:10):
with Spanish, and so a lot ofthings are kind of mixed
together.
So if you are in the country ofParaguay and you want to say
thank you, you would say aguje.
And that's how you would justappreciate them for whatever
they're helping you with.
Um, before I was married, Ialso lived in Bangladesh.
Bangladesh is like a country,everybody's like, where is that
place?
Um, that place is next toIndia.
(02:32):
It actually used to be part ofPakistan um not that long ago.
And then they separated andIndia's kind of in between.
And so in Bangladesh, um, ifyou were saying thank you, you
would say Donobad.
And that's how um you wouldtell people you're appreciative
of what they're doing there foryou.
Then we moved to France, Jayand I with our kids.
We served and started aninternational church inside of
(02:54):
Paris, and of course, we allthink we speak French.
Um, we all would love to speakFrench, it's just such a
beautiful language, and so um,probably the one thing everybody
knows how to say is thank you,and that is merci.
Yeah, and so we would say thatquite frequently as we were
wrangling our small children allaround the city.
Um, thank you if you dropsomething, thank you.
(03:15):
They're helping you andassisting you.
And then we move to Egypt, andEgypt uh they speak their own
Arabic.
I just want to make that veryclear.
Arabic is um, there's a lot ofcountries that speak Arabic, but
Egypt has their own Arabic.
So there's a Maya and there'sFusa.
And in Egypt, um, everybodyknows how to listen to Arabic in
(03:37):
Egypt because they are thepeople that broadcast the
movies.
So they're like the Hollywood,Bollywood of the Middle East,
and a lot of things take placethere.
And so when we were there, Ilearned quickly how to say thank
you, and that is Shokran.
And in Egypt, I learned, man,you can't just say thank you,
you can't just say shokran, butyou gotta add something to it
(03:59):
because the Egyptians are veryum loud and boisterous and fun,
and everything they do is uhwith their hands and very um
expressive.
And so if you were in Americaand you were speaking English,
if you wanted to express yourthanks a lot, you would say
thank you so much.
So much, thank you.
(04:19):
And so in Arabic, if you're inEgypt, you would add the word
awi to it.
So you would say shokran awi.
And you gotta be expressivewith it when you say it.
You gotta be loud, you gottamatch the word, the phrase.
And so I would say it all thetime.
I mean, that was like my go-tophrase everywhere I went.
And so I just wanna let youknow that if you ever visit
(04:41):
Egypt, let me explain a fewthings that you will say thank
you for.
When you go grocery shoppingfor the first time, or two years
after you've lived there andyou still can't find things, you
are grateful for anybody whowill assist you in trying to
find something that you'relooking for in your broken
language.
And I would just look at themand I would just be like,
(05:02):
Shokran, thank you so much.
Thank you, thank you, thankyou.
To the guards that were outsideof the buildings that I was
trying to park at.
Egypt is 8 million people andan 11-mile stretch.
It's crowded.
And so, if you're trying topark your car, I would drive
everywhere there.
It is a miracle that I am stillalive.
(05:24):
I just want to share that withyou.
Um, lines are a suggestion andnever abided by.
And so, when you're trying topark somewhere, you are rolling
your window down asking theguard or the boab who is
guarding that building, wherecan I park?
And I'm saying it in Englishbecause I didn't speak Arabic
very fluently there.
And the guard would literallyput his hand on my windshield
(05:46):
and walk with me as I'm drivingthe car and lead me to where to
park.
And I would be like, ShogunAoi.
I was so appreciative of him.
To the owner of the Kushk.
A Kushk is like a little marketthat's on the street and they
just sell chips and soda and icecream and candy.
There's one right strategicallyoutside of my kids' school when
(06:08):
we lived there.
He's a genius, let me tell youthat, best business guy I ever
met.
And not only was he a genius inhis location, but when we would
walk by and I carried no cash,I'd carried none.
He would always have a bag ofchips that he would hand my
smallest child.
And then they would they wouldwant everything.
(06:29):
And he would always, every dayshe walked by, he would just
give her a bag of chips.
And I would just be like,Shokran, oui, oui.
And I was so grateful that hewould give her something.
And then to my taxi driver, andI don't know if you'll ever
appreciate this unless you livethere.
My friends in from Turkey mightappreciate this.
(06:50):
When you get in a taxi, youdon't go by addresses, you go by
locations, you go by a markerin the city.
So you would say, you know, thenursery that's on Indian
school.
I need to go somewhere in thatarea.
And so to the taxi driver whowould actually take me to the
location that I needed to go, Iwould get out of the taxi, and
(07:14):
as I'm handing him the money,I'd be like, Shokran, oui, oui,
oui, oui.
Thank you so much for gettingme here.
Thank you goes a long way.
It goes a long way.
And I can remember saying thankyou to people, and I would
literally see their countenancechange.
Because I went from somebodywho was not just asking for
(07:37):
something, but I was expressingappreciation and gratefulness
for what they have done.
A thank you goes a long way.
And as we head intoThanksgiving week, I want to
encourage you this morning togive thanks.
Psalm 118, verse 1 says this: Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for (07:52):
undefined
he is good, for his steadfastlove endures forever.
Well, I want to welcome you toCornerstone.
If you're a guest with us, itis an honor to have you.
If we haven't had the chance tomeet yet, my name is Celeste,
and my husband and I, Jay, havea privilege of leading an
(08:15):
amazing team here at this churchwho our goal is to be more like
Jesus.
And if you were to walk outsideof these doors, it would only
take you about two minutes, andyou'd realize instantly that it
is very hard to be like Jesusall the time.
How many of you can relate tothat?
It only takes maybe two, threeminutes in traffic in Phoenix,
and you realize that you need tobe more like Jesus at all
(08:37):
times.
Um, but that's what we striveto do here at this church.
We just ended a season of lifegroups, and I am so just I just
feel so honored to be able tohave life groups here at this
church.
It is life outside of a Sundaymorning, and it gives you a
chance to just build communityin a smaller group setting.
(08:58):
And so we just ended thatseason.
A new one will be startingright after the holidays, and
you don't want to miss that.
Um, our our motto here at thechurch is love God, make
disciples, and reach the world.
And your world is your family,the neighborhood you live in,
the work that you go to each andevery day, the West Valley, the
(09:19):
state of Arizona, the U.S., andthe entire world.
That is your area of trying toreach the world.
And so this morning we're gonnatalk about giving thanks.
I'm gonna read Psalm 118, verseone again.
It says this, oh, give thanksto the Lord, for he is good.
For his steadfast love enduresforever.
(09:42):
So, number one, I want to talkabout give thanks.
And this is number one.
It is a choice.
I know that's hard to thinkabout, it's hard to contemplate,
but it is a choice to givethanks.
You see, when you wake up eachday, you determine how your
day's gonna go.
(10:03):
As soon as you wake up.
Studies actually say that onaverage, each human will make
about 35,000 decisions a day.
And right now, you're decidingwhether you actually do that or
not.
Do I do 35,000?
They say that those decisionsare made both consciously and
(10:23):
unconsciously, but they'rechoices that you make.
So every hour that you'reawake, you're averaging about
2,000 decisions an hour.
Now, those decisions will bedifferent.
Maybe in the morning you wakeup, your alarm goes off, you
have to determine do I wake upinstantly or do I hit that
snooze button?
Decision.
(10:44):
Maybe when you get up, you allof a sudden you have to decide,
I'm either gonna get up and I'mgonna complain that I didn't get
enough sleep, or I'm gonna getup and I'm gonna choose to be
grateful for the little sleepthat I did get.
Decision.
Maybe you have to decide whatyou're gonna wear.
Maybe you have to decide, am Ithe person that puts my sock on
(11:07):
right foot first, left footsecond, or vice versa.
Maybe you're the person thatsays, I don't brush my teeth
until I'm done with my entiremorning routine, and then I
brush it before I leave, andother people would say, I brush
it as soon as I get up, becauseI don't want anybody to smell my
breath.
Decisions.
You would be interested to knowthis that your day is not
(11:31):
determined by whether you are amorning person or not.
But many of us like to blamethat for our attitude.
You're like, ouch, yes.
We choose what we're gonna dothat day.
We choose our attitude, wechoose whether we're gonna be
grateful.
It has nothing to do withwhether we are a morning person
(11:53):
or not, but it has everything todo with the choices that you
make.
Are you choosing to givethanks?
You see, giving thanks shouldnaturally flow from our hearts
as we express gratitude to theLord and for those around us.
It should be like second natureto you.
(12:14):
It should be so easy to walk upto somebody, look at them, and
just say, thank you.
Thank you.
I've seen people before wherethey're attempting to say it and
they're like, and then theywalk off.
And you're like, what are wegonna say?
In fact, there are people inyour life right now, and you can
(12:36):
think of them instantly whenthey actually say thank you,
you're in shock because you'venever heard them say it.
And do not nudge your spouse oryour neighbor or anybody you're
sitting by.
But you can just think ofpeople who are like, actually, I
don't think I've ever heardthem say thank you.
It should be second nature tous.
You should be able to walk upand just say thank you.
(12:58):
I am so grateful for you.
I appreciate you helping me onthat project at work.
I would have never got out ofwork on time if you hadn't come
along and assisted me in that.
I am grateful and I just wantto say thank you.
If you're not naturally justsaying things like this, I want
to challenge you today to gohome, go wherever there's a
(13:19):
mirror, and just practice it.
Thank you, thank you, thankyou.
Put it as a screensaver on yourphone.
Thank you, thank you.
Just let it be second nature toyou.
You see, culture tells us thatwe should be led by our
feelings.
Even though I receivedsomething, maybe I received
(13:41):
something that was so amazingand it's great.
I did not get everything Iwanted, so therefore I'm gonna
complain and I'm just gonna sitin frustration.
I know, it doesn't sound likeanybody you know, or someone
didn't help me like they helpedthem.
Not fair.
Not fair.
(14:01):
We tend to go with ourfeelings.
My son is in university and hehas a class right now, and they
have to read these books anddiscuss them, and he's like,
mom, all they want to talk aboutis their feelings about this
book.
He's like, it drives me crazy.
He's like, I just want to talkabout the book.
(14:24):
I don't want to talk about howmade you feel, but I just want
to talk about the book.
Because culture has told usthat we should be led by our
feelings.
As a believer, we do not letour feelings lead us.
How many of you know that?
We are not led by our feelings.
In fact, if you want an exampleof real life, I will tell you
this (14:48):
that our feelings tend to lead us astray.
Because the person that you'remarried to, there was probably
people before them that youthought you were in love with.
Oh, I love them.
Well, you're not married tothem, so your feelings kind of
led you somewhere.
Your feelings will lead youastray.
(15:09):
I know even on a Sundaymorning, sometimes as a
believer, you wake up and you'relike, I don't really feel like
going to church today.
But I just want you to know,Jane, I love being here.
We would never say that.
We would never think it.
We are first, like we wake upand we're like, this is the day
the Lord has made.
Let us rejoice and be glad init.
But there's days that you justdon't feel something.
(15:33):
But we are not led by ourfeelings.
But as a believer, we shouldchoose what we're gonna do, and
our choices will lead us, andour feelings will follow.
Amen.
We should choose to give thanksat all times, not just when we
feel like it, but you have tomake the choice to be thankful.
(15:56):
It says in Ephesians 5 20,giving thanks always and for
everything to God the Father inthe name of our Lord Jesus
Christ.
This means even though thingsare not perfect in your life
right now, you give thanks.
You give thanks.
And I don't want to ruin yourweek, but things will never be
(16:18):
perfect.
Okay?
But you give thanks for whereyou are right now.
When we walk through the valleyand you feel like you're all
alone and nobody understandsyou, you give thanks.
Because you're gonna learnthings from there that are gonna
carry you on in life.
And you give thanks.
When you have a mountaintopexperience and you're like, this
(16:40):
is the best season of my life.
I have, I just feel like I'm soclose to God, everything is
just going like smoothly inorder.
Give thanks.
You didn't make that happen, Hedid.
And so you give thanks.
When we have energy and restand things are going good, we
give thanks.
(17:01):
And when we're tired andexhausted and we just want to
call it quits, we give thanks.
Giving thanks allows us toexpress our gratitude and our
appreciation for all that He hasdone.
You are giving thanks for thethings that are seen, and you're
(17:24):
giving thanks for the thingsthat are unseen in your life.
You are giving thanks.
Remember, you determine howyour day will go.
Give thanks.
It is a choice.
Number two, give thanks.
It keeps your focus on God.
You see, there's a lot ofthings going on in the world
(17:47):
right now.
You just have to turn the newson for a second or look at the
news app on your phone, or youhear rumors or rumors of this or
rumors of that, and everybodywants to give you their opinion
on what's happening.
And if you're not careful, youcan begin to shift what or who
you put your focus on by whatyou're listening to, what people
(18:11):
are telling you.
In fact, a lot of things goingon in the world today, let me
just be honest with you.
Some of it affects us, but mostof it doesn't.
The majority of it doesn't evenaffect you in your day-to-day
life.
But yet we start to shift andput our focus on something else.
In 1999, I know for some of youthat is a long time ago, but in
(18:35):
1999 there was a study done,and there were two men who were
wanting to do this experimentwith people, and they called it
a selective attention test.
It was a study where theywanted to see how people focus
on things.
So they took six individualsand they put them in a room
about the size of this stage.
(18:56):
They gave three of them a blackshirt, three of them a white
shirt, they put it on, they gavethe black shirt people a
basketball, and they gave thosewearing a white shirt a
basketball.
And they said, for a little bitof time, we want you to just
walk around and intermingle, andyou only pass the basketball to
the person wearing the samecolor shirt as you.
(19:17):
And so they filmed thisinteraction.
So they're just walking around.
And then the narrator told theaudience, they said, Listen,
your goal is you're gonna watchthe white shirts, and you are
going to hand them, you're gonnacount how many times they're
passing the basketball only to aperson in a white shirt.
And so if you're the viewer,you are just staring at that
(19:39):
screen because everybody wantsto be right, correct?
Nobody wants to be like, what?
I gotta watch this again.
I can't believe I got it wrong.
So everybody's focused on thisvideo, and they're counting how
many times they're passing itaround.
And you're trying to focus onone thing.
They're training you toconcentrate on the relevant
thing, the basketball and thewhite shirts, basketball and the
(20:01):
white shirts.
And then the video's over, andat the end, the narrator says,
How many times was a basketballpassed between the white shirts?
And it's quiet, and you giveyour answer.
And then the narrator comesback on and they said, You
probably missed something veryimportant in this entire video.
(20:23):
Did you see the man dressed asa gorilla walking from one side
of the room all the way acrossto the other side of the room?
And they said that when theydid this study, a high majority
of people never saw the gorillabecause they were so focused on
(20:45):
that basketball getting passedin between those white shirts
that they tuned and filteredeverything else out.
Selective attention.
It just proved that peoplecould actually focus on one
thing and not pay attention toanything else.
But what happens when you arefocused on the wrong thing?
(21:10):
Think about this.
You're just looking at thething in front of you, and
everything else is a blur toyou.
Maybe you're looking at thatbad relationship in your life
that you're trying to mend, andyour whole day is just focused
(21:31):
on this one issue, and you can'tsee anything else happening in
your life.
Maybe you're dealing with asickness, maybe there's a
problem, and you're just focusedon that one thing, and focusing
on it begins to create what Icall an Eeyore spirit in you.
(21:52):
I know many of you probablygrew up with Winnie the Pooh.
You may watch it now, andthat's okay.
But there's a character onthere named Eeyore, and he is a
uh donkey, and you want to lovehim.
You want to love Eeyore.
Everybody's like, oh, Eeyore.
But there's something aboutEeyore, he complains a lot.
(22:13):
I don't know if you just listento what he says, but man, he
kind of has a bad attitude.
And Eeyore has a great group offriends.
He's got Tigger.
I mean, what else do you needbesides a bouncy friend who's
trying to make you happy all thetime?
And Eeyore is just walkingaround, just kind of moping.
And one of Eeyore's sayingsthat he tends to say a lot
(22:37):
throughout the shows is thisdon't worry about me.
Go and enjoy yourself.
All stay here and be miserable.
I'm like, what a friend.
Wow, good job there.
Good job, Eeyore.
That's kind of how some of usare when we practice selective
(22:59):
attention.
We begin to focus just on thisone thing, and there's this
Eeyore spirit that rises upwithin us.
We could be at a location wherethere's a lot of life
happening.
We could be in church whereGod's doing amazing things.
We could be in a life group.
We could be at a friend'shouse, we can be somewhere where
(23:19):
it is going well, and you'rejust standing around going,
don't worry about me.
Go and enjoy yourself.
I'll just sit here and bemiserable.
Because all of your focus is onthe problem and not on his
goodness.
1 Thessalonians 5:18 says this: Rejoice always. (23:39):
undefined
Pray without ceasing.
Give thanks in allcircumstances.
For this is the will of God inChrist Jesus for you.
Are you ready to give thanksdespite what is happening right
(24:04):
in front of you?
Are you ready to focus on theLord who can do all things and
filter out all the otherdistractions?
Are you ready to give honorwhere honor is due out of a
heart of thanksgiving and justlet it flow from your mouth to
(24:24):
shift your focus back to Him.
Give thanks.
Keep your focus on God.
And number three, we givethanks because he is worthy.
He's worthy.
Psalms 118.1 says this again.
Oh, give thanks to the Lord,for he is good, for his
(24:45):
steadfast love endures forever.
There's a preacher namedCharles Spurgeon, and one of his
quotes that he said, Iabsolutely love, and is talking
about this particular verse,verse 1, it says this.
Goodness is his essence andnature, and therefore he is
(25:12):
always to be praised, whether weare receiving anything from him
or not.
Those who only praise Godbecause he does them good should
rise to a higher note and givethanks to him because he is
good.
Oh, I don't know if you heardthat very clearly.
But we don't go to God and saythank you because he gives you
(25:37):
something, but we go and praisehim and say thank you because he
is good.
He's good.
I've shared this example manytimes, is if you're a parent and
you have children and all theywant is something from you, and
they only say thank you when yougive them something.
I mean, that's great, butthere's something about them
(26:00):
just walking up to you in themiddle of nowhere for no reason
and just wrapping their armsaround you and going, thank you,
thank you, mom and dad.
And you're like, for what?
You're kind of shocked.
What did I do?
And they're like, I just wantto say thank you.
I just want to say it.
And we, as God's children,should be just like that.
(26:22):
We should be coming to FatherGod and just saying, God, thank
you.
For you are good.
Thank you.
You know that no one has everdone for you what Jesus has done
for you.
There is no one in this earththat has done what Jesus has
done for you.
He has set you free.
(26:44):
He has set you free.
You are no longer in bondage orin shackles, but you are free.
He has forgiven you.
No one else can pay that priceon your behalf, but he has
forgiven you.
He has made a way when thereseemed to be no way.
He has laid down his life sothat you can live.
(27:10):
He has mended the broken piecesback together.
He has taken what you've handedhim and made it whole.
He's mended it together.
He has brought healing to yourbody.
He has given you strength whenyou felt weak.
(27:30):
And when everyone else fadesaway, he is constant and he
never leaves.
No one will do for you what Godhas done for you.
It says in verse 1 that hissteadfast love endures forever.
The definition of steadfast isto be firm, to be loyal, to be
(27:55):
unwavering in one's faith andcommitment, even through trials
and suffering.
There have been friends thathave come and gone through each
one of our lives.
And when things got rough, allof a sudden that friend just
kind of faded away.
You're like, what happened tomy friend?
They didn't want to stick withyou through the hard things, the
(28:19):
hard seasons.
And it says here that hissteadfast love, his firm, loyal,
and unwavering love enduresforever.
He is good.
We do not give him thanks outof an abundance, but we give him
thanks out of an obedience.
(28:42):
Last week, when I was havingprivate time with the Lord, I
remember just telling him, thankyou, thank you, thank you.
And he so clearly kept tellingme, do not thank me because I
give you something, but justthank me out of an obedient
heart because you want to.
(29:03):
When I lived overseas, I wouldsay thank you to a lot of
people.
And I would thank them becauseI was so grateful and
appreciative for them helpingme.
I didn't want them to think Iwas just coming to them for
(29:24):
something.
But I wanted them to know thatI was grateful.
And it was the least thing thatI could do was just say thank
you.
There's many times that I wantto go above and beyond that.
So I would be like, You're mynew best friend.
You helped me.
Do you want to come over?
I'll give you tea, I'll makeyou a muffin.
What do you want to do?
Let's hang out.
Because you helped me, and Isurvived this crazy day here in
(29:47):
this country.
And I just wanted to express mygratitude to them so much.
It was the least I could do wasjust say, Thank you, Shokran.
Aoi, oui, oui, oui.
Shokran.
And here we have to make surethat we are doing the same thing
(30:08):
with our lives to God.
And that we are saying thankyou, thank you, thank you.
It says in Psalm 118 at thevery end of the chapter, verses
28 and 29, you are my God, and Iwill give thanks to you.
You are my God, I will extolyou.
Oh, give thanks to the Lord,for he is good, for his
(30:32):
steadfast love endures forever.
We give thanks to him, for heis worthy.
Amen.
Give thanks.
I'm gonna invite the worshipteam to come up this morning.
And I just want to reiterate toyou give thanks.
It is a choice.
So you're gonna choose each andevery day if you're gonna be
(30:53):
somebody with a grateful heartor not.
Give thanks because it keepsyour focus on God.
A lot of things out there vyingfor your time, trying to
distract you.
But keep the main thing, themain thing, and that's Jesus.
Give thanks for he is worthy.
He is worthy.
(31:14):
I'm gonna invite you to standup this morning, and I just want
to give an opportunity forpeople who may be here and they
have never made that decision tofollow Jesus.
This is your day.
Maybe you came here because youwere invited by somebody, or
you're here just because youwere looking for a church and
you just wandered in.
(31:35):
We're so grateful that you'rehere today.
We have a God who loves us andhe created us in his image, and
he has a purpose for our life.
There is a reason that you arealive, there is a reason that
you are breathing today.
He has a plan.
And many times when we gothroughout our day, we make bad
choices.
(31:55):
It's just we're we naturallyfall into sin.
We naturally do things that areagainst the will of God or do
not honor Him.
And we have to come to thatdecision whether we are going to
surrender our life back to theCreator and let Him take control
and lead us and guide us andfulfill the very reason that you
(32:18):
were created.
And something happens when youjust say, it's not about me
anymore.
I'm just gonna lay my life downand I'm gonna ask Jesus to come
in.
It says in Romans chapter 10,verses 9 and 10, because if you
confess with your mouth thatJesus is Lord and believe in
your heart that God raised himfrom the dead, you will be
saved.
(32:38):
For with the heart one believesand is justified, and with the
mouth one confesses and issaved.
It's simple.
You come to the realizationthat you cannot do things on
your own.
And you need God to help you.
And so you say, God, I'm justgonna surrender my life to you
right now.
And in return, I'm gonna askyou to come in to my heart and
(33:00):
I'm gonna believe on you.
And from this day forward, Iwant to follow you and go
wherever you're leading mebecause your ways are better
than whatever plans I had.
And when this happens, when youmake that decision, when you
say this prayer, there is afreedom that comes about in your
life.
(33:21):
It's almost like as if somebodywas pushing your shoulders
down.
You begin to feel the weightcome off.
And you realize I don't have todo this alone, but I have a
creator who will walk with meand lead me, and the Holy Spirit
will come and guide me everysingle step of the way.
It is not easy to be a followerof Jesus.
(33:45):
It isn't.
You don't get to hold daisiesin your hand and skip around and
say, oh, life's so easy.
This is amazing.
It's not like that.
But you're not alone.
And when you go through things,you have a family around you.
You have God and you havepeople that He puts into your
(34:06):
life that will walk with you onthis journey.
So this morning I'm gonna askeveryone just to bow their head
out of reverence.
And if you were in the buildingthis morning and you're just
hearing this for the first time,that there's a God who loves
you.
We want to pray with you.
We want to stand with you.
We want to see your life befulfilled.
(34:26):
And so I'm gonna ask you ifyou're in the house today, maybe
you're watching online andyou're like, Celeste, I want to
make this decision to followJesus.
It's never been presented tome.
I don't even really knoweverything, but I want to make
that decision to follow afterthe Lord with no one looking
around but myself.
I'm just gonna ask you just toput your hand up just so I can
see you.
I want to pray with you.
(34:47):
We're gonna pray together as agroup this morning.
Amen.
Amen.
God is good, God is good, Godis good.
We're gonna ask everyone torepeat this prayer after me.
God, thank you for loving me.
Thank you for sending Jesus.
I believe Jesus died on thecross for my sins.
(35:13):
I believe he rose again.
Forgive me of my sins.
I surrender my life to you.
In Christ's name.
Amen.
Amen, amen, amen.
Amen.
If you made that decision todaythat you want to follow after
(35:36):
Jesus, you're gonna see a QRcode on the screens on the side.
Just take out your phone, justuh take a picture of that, it'll
lead you.
We want to be able to getresources into your hands.
We want to give you a Bible ifyou don't have a Bible.
And the most important thing iswe want you to find a
Bible-believing church.
You got to be surrounded bypeople that can walk the journey
of faith with you.
(35:56):
If you live nearby, we inviteyou to join us.
We would love to have you here.
Give thanks.
Give thanks.
I can speak for myself, and I'msure many of you, we don't give
thanks enough.
We don't.
We wish that we did, but wedon't.
And so this altar call is gonnabe a little bit different
(36:20):
today.
But I'm gonna ask that we justfeel the front of this room
today, and that we just givehonor where honor is due, and
that is to Jesus.
That we just come with anattitude of thankfulness, with a
heart of being grateful for allthat he has done, and we just
(36:43):
fill this place with praise andadoration to the King of Kings
and the Lord of Lords.
So, Lord, I pray as the worshipteam plays that God, we would
bring praise to your name.
We're entering this week ofThanksgiving, but Lord, this is
not the only time that we bringpraise to you.
(37:06):
It should be like second natureto us.
We should be able to say, Thankyou, Lord.
I am so grateful, Father, forwhat you're doing.
We should just begin to roll itout.
In fact, when we're walkingaround and we're speaking it
audibly, people should look atus and think we're crazy because
we're constantly giving youpraise.
And so this morning, as we fillthis place, may our praise and
(37:30):
our hearts of thanksgiving justbless you this morning for all
that you have done and all thatyou are, for you are good.
In the mighty name of Jesus wepray.
Amen.
Jason Brown (37:46):
Can you believe it?
Next week we're startingChristmas here at Cornerstone.
Isn't that amazing?
We have a lot of special eventshappening every week, something
special.
So I'm gonna encourage you thatyou would come out, invite
friends to join us with you.
Uh, we have a kids uh eventthat's gonna be happening midway
through December.
We have a family service to behappening, as well as we have
Christmas Eve services on the23rd and on the 24th.
(38:09):
So make sure to put that onyour calendar and invite friends
alone.
Celeste Brown (38:13):
And tonight is the night we are going to
decorate this place.
It's gonna be beautiful.
So come and join us.
I know sometimes you go homeafter church, you put on your
pajamas, and you're done for theday.
Come in your pajamas.
We are ready for you.
Um, bring a dish to share ifyou would like.
It's gonna be fun, and there issomething for everyone.
Jason Brown (38:32):
Amen.
Before we go, I want to praythis blessing over us.
The Lord bless you and keep you.
Lord, make his face to shineupon you and be gracious to you.
Lord, lift up his countenanceupon you and give you peace.
(38:54):
Lord, I pray a blessing uponyour church, your people.
Lord, you empower us by yourspirit to live your love unto
those around us.
Pray all this in the powerfulname that is Jesus Christ.
Amen.
Amen.
God bless you, and happyThanksgiving.
Popular Podcasts
Las Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang
Ding dong! Join your culture consultants, Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang, on an unforgettable journey into the beating heart of CULTURE. Alongside sizzling special guests, they GET INTO the hottest pop-culture moments of the day and the formative cultural experiences that turned them into Culturistas. Produced by the Big Money Players Network and iHeartRadio.
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by Audiochuck Media Company.
The Brothers Ortiz
The Brothers Ortiz is the story of two brothers–both successful, but in very different ways. Gabe Ortiz becomes a third-highest ranking officer in all of Texas while his younger brother Larry climbs the ranks in Puro Tango Blast, a notorious Texas Prison gang. Gabe doesn’t know all the details of his brother’s nefarious dealings, and he’s made a point not to ask, to protect their relationship. But when Larry is murdered during a home invasion in a rented beach house, Gabe has no choice but to look into what happened that night. To solve Larry’s murder, Gabe, and the whole Ortiz family, must ask each other tough questions.