After giving thanks what should we do? We should go from thanksgiving to thanks-living.

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OC Church of Christ

Wow.

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Look at that.

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What a warm Welcome to North O.

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C.

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Man, I know these guys have probably

been working on that all week.

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Thank you guys.

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Uh, well guys, it's

great to be with you all.

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For those who don't know who I

am, my name is Kyle Lounsberry.

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Along with my wife, Jasmine Lounsberry.

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We lead our campus ministry

here in Orange County.

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And we are so grateful to be here.

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Amen?

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Um, let's see if this works.

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There is a picture of our family.

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We have a newborn named Luca.

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Luca Lounsberry, for

those who haven't met him.

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He is there in the back with my wife.

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Feel free to go back there and say hi.

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Uh, we are so grateful for

truly just the support.

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And the, the meals from some of you

from the, the barbers and the barons

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and the halls and many of you just

pouring out and loving us, we're so

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grateful, um, for your guys support.

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During Jasmine's pregnancy and even

during the birth of our baby boy and a

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few weeks, uh, of him being a newborn.

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And it's been a great time, lots of fun.

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And we're so grateful to be

able to be back and serving and

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being able to speak here today.

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I'm so grateful.

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So thank you guys.

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I just want to personally

thank the Norto's.

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You have a special place in our

hearts and we truly are grateful.

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For all that you've done for our family.

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Amen.

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So thank you guys.

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Love you guys.

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Yes.

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Love you.

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Um, for those who don't know, we actually

recently transitioned to the Central

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OC Ministry down in Irvine to help with

our campus ministry at UC Irvine and

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some of the surrounding schools there.

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And that's been a lot of fun.

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Um, but quick update, we haven't

physically moved down there yet.

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So I'm still 10 minutes away here in Brea.

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So that was an awesome drive this morning.

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Not having to go all

the way down to Irvine.

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But, uh, what I will say is that we

actually found a place and we'll be

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moving in the middle of December.

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Um, so we're very excited and

grateful and looking forward to that.

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So campus, I'll be

needing your help moving.

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Okay, Evan?

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Alright.

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Um, so that'll be an awesome time.

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You know, this past week we

all celebrated, well most of us

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probably celebrated Thanksgiving.

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Thanksgiving is an amazing holiday.

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You know, in my family, my great

grandfather, my dad's dad, uh, it's

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really the only holiday he celebrates.

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He's not religious, he's an atheist, he

doesn't really like Christmas or Easter,

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um, but he loves Thanksgiving because it

brings the whole family together and it's

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an opportunity to be able to give thanks

for how much we have been blessed with.

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And that's one holiday that has

a special place in my heart.

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So this past weekend we went up to Uh,

Pismo Beach area and we got to celebrate

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Thanksgiving with my great grandpa

and, uh, my dad's side of the family.

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That was a great time bringing the

little one up there and showing

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him off to the whole family.

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Um, so hopefully you had

a great Thanksgiving.

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Um, what I will say is last week

Marcel started a two part series,

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uh, on the idea of giving thanks.

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Last week they, you guys, uh, you

guys discussed how Thanksgiving's

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more than just a turkey, right?

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More than a turkey.

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And this week, we're going to

talk a little bit more into

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this idea of giving thanks.

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I want to share here the

definition Marcel brought up.

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And I love this because it's the

expression of gratitude, right?

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So I'm going to use the word

gratitude quite often today.

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And so if you hear that,

it's interchangeable with

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this idea of giving thanks.

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But it's especially great to God.

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Amen?

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And when we give thanks, it's

something we can do to our Lord Jesus.

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And he also mentioned how giving

thanks is important to God.

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It's something that, as

Christians, is very vital for our

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spirituality, to give thanks to

God, because it's important to Him.

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And so today, Marcel mentioned this

last week, but today we're going to

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be talking about how living thanks...

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is important to God.

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And so the title of today's

message is, thanks, living.

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Alright?

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Not just giving it, but also living it.

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Amen?

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You with me?

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So let's go ahead, let's say a

word of prayer, and we'll jump

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into God's word this morning.

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Lord, thank you so much for this

time to be able to worship you.

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So grateful for my family

here in the North O.

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C.

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and being able to see people who

have just been amazing disciples and

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so faithful to you for many years.

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Thank you so much for the family

that we've been able to develop here.

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Uh, Jasmine and I just being here for a

few short years in the north and building

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the relationships we've got to build.

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God, I'm so eternally grateful

for how much you've blessed us.

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And God, I pray that this morning as

we read your word, as we talk through

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this idea of living out our thanks and

living out our gratitude, God, that

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we can truly have a heart of humility.

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Have a heart of desiring to

please you with our lives.

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We love you.

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Please speak through me this morning that

it's not me speaking, rather it's you.

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We love you and thank you in Jesus name.

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Amen.

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Alright.

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Today we're gonna turn again

to the book of Leviticus.

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Alright.

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Marcel mentioned Leviticus last week.

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I'm not gonna hang out in this chapter too

long because then I would just get lost.

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Alright.

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But we're gonna look at one passage here

in the book of Leviticus, chapter 22.

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Alright.

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In verse 29, it says, When you

sacrifice a vain offering to the

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Lord, sacrifice it in such a way that

it will be accepted on your behalf.

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It must be in that same day.

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Leave none of it till morning.

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I am the Lord.

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So why am I bringing this up?

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You know, the book of Leviticus

is about the Jewish law, right?

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There's tons of laws in there.

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I believe there's over 600 laws.

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This specific passage is describing

and talking about a vanquish offering.

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That in this time there was an

opportunity for, for the Jews to

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be able to vanquish God through

an offering, through a sacrifice.

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But what we see here that I think is

really unique is the, the phrasing that it

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says, that, uh, sacrifice it in such a way

that it will be accepted on your behalf.

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Who here has ever received a gift before?

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Okay, all of us received a gift, right?

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Who here has ever received a

gift that you're like, I don't

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really have any use for this?

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Or I don't really like this?

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Some of us?

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Okay, yeah.

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So when you receive that gift,

you're kind of like, Okay, thank you.

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Right?

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But it has no use for you.

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You with me?

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Well, if there's a sacrifice or an

offering that's useful, or that is,

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excuse me, accepted by God, Wouldn't

you think there could be an offering or

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a sacrifice that isn't accepted by God?

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Right?

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That's an observation here.

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A vain offering that is acceptable

to God means that there can

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be one that is unacceptable.

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So we're going to look a little bit into

this today and what that might mean.

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But I think it's important we

draw from that scripture this idea

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that God looks for a specific...

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Thanks.

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Specific gratitude in the

way we live our lives.

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He's looking for something in our hearts.

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He's looking for something

the way that we live.

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You with me?

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And there's a cool parallel

passage that we're going to focus

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in on today in the New Testament.

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Turn with me in your Bibles, if

you will, to Luke chapter 17.

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Alright?

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Many of you know this passage,

Luke chapter 17, verse 11.

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We're going to pick up here.

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And it reads, He's now

on his way to Jerusalem.

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Jesus traveled along the border

between Samaria and Galilee.

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As he was going into a village,

ten men who had leprosy met him.

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They stood at a distance and

called out in a loud voice,

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Jesus, Master, have pity on us.

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When he saw them, he said, Go show

yourselves to the priests, and they went.

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They were cleansed.

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One of them, when he saw he was healed,

came back praising God in a loud voice.

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He threw himself at Jesus

feet and thanked him.

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And he was a Samaritan.

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Jesus asked, We're not all ten cleansed?

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Where are the other nine?

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Has no one returned to give praise

to God except this foreigner?

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Then he said to him, Rise.

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Go.

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Your faith has made you well.

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Alright.

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So let's paint the

picture here for a second.

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We have this really cool passage

where we see ten men with leprosy.

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Now, leprosy was a horrible skin

disease that, in that time, if you

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had that disease, you were outcasted.

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You had to stay away.

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Think of social distancing

times ten, right?

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You were gone, you could

not interact with anybody.

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Most of you know this, right?

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But that's what leprosy was.

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And so, ten of them, let's look

back, ten of them come to Jesus with

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leprosy, and it says they stood at a

distance, and they yelled out to him.

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Jesus, Master.

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They reference him as Master.

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It's interesting.

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Have pity on us.

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Asking for pity.

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And when he saw them, he said, go

show yourselves to the priests.

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He says, go get cleansed.

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And as they went, they were cleansed.

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So, here's an observation.

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These guys go, based on their

faith that Jesus told them to go.

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Because they could have

gone and nothing happened.

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But they decide, you know what,

we're going to trust you, Lord.

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We're going to trust you, Jesus.

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They call him Master.

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They reference him as Master.

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The Lord.

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Okay, we're going to go.

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And they go, and they're healed.

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They're cleansed.

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Cleansed from their horrible skin disease.

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I was going to put a picture up

there, but it's just too graphic.

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Alright, I wasn't going to put it up there

because I was like, this is really bad.

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They get healed.

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But only one of them returns.

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Only one of the ten.

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That's ten percent.

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Comes back and praises God.

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Says he came back praising

God in a loud voice.

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He threw himself at Jesus feet.

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On his knees, praising Jesus.

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Thanking Him.

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Now think about this.

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Imagine if you were that leper.

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Imagine if for years you had

this horrible skin disease.

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This horrible ailment that outcasted you.

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You had no friends.

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Your only friends were other lepers.

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First, imagine what you would

be feeling for all those years.

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Imagine the pain, imagine the

suffering, imagine the loneliness.

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Now think about the joy he must

have felt when he was healed.

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He takes himself, he goes over to Jesus,

and he kisses his feet, thank you.

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He expresses his gratitude

with true, genuine action.

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And I believe, brothers and sisters,

that this morning, as we think through

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what it means to live a life of

gratitude, that it has to be genuine.

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It has to have a response of, man, this

is my heart, this, thank you, Lord.

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The other nine, they took it for granted.

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The other nine, they ran off,

they're like, we're healed,

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we can go do whatever we want.

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But the one said, no.

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It's because of you.

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Immediately, he made the connection,

this is only possible because of Jesus.

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And I think for, for some of us, we

may not realize that we, it's essential

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to express our gratitude to God.

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Sometimes we receive so much in our lives,

we receive healing, we receive counsel,

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we receive advice, we receive joy, we

receive forgiveness of sins, but we still

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live a life taking things for granted.

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We still live lives not

expressing our heart to God.

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You with me?

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I know I can be this way.

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And what we can see from this

passage is that a response

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of gratitude glorifies God.

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It is glorifying to God.

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It's not just a thank you.

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It's not just a nice gift.

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It glorifies Him.

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It honors Him.

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It makes Him the main character

in the story and not you.

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Jesus was honored by that one man.

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And he ends up saving this man's soul.

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It says that your faith has made you well.

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Saves his soul because of his

faith and his gratitude in response

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to what Jesus did in his life.

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You with me?

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So I want to ask you this

question this morning.

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How do we respond when Jesus

does miracles in our lives?

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Are we grateful?

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Do we respond with gratitude

or do we just blow it off or

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say, Oh, it's just coincidence.

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Or, oh, that just happens to people.

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Or, are we full of gratitude?

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Do we have a response of, Man, I just

want to beg you and thank you, Lord,

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for what you've done in my life.

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Sometimes we can be unaware, let's

be honest for a second, of the good

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things God is doing in our lives.

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Sometimes we're just totally

unaware, we're aloof to it.

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God is doing miracles

amongst our lives today.

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But we don't even realize it sometimes.

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Either, one, we're just disconnected

from it, we're not really realizing

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that it's God working there, or...

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We choose not to believe that it's God.

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We choose not to believe or,

or, or accredit it to God.

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Are you, this morning, unaware of the

good things God's doing in your life

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or in the lives of people around you?

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I think it's important we, we get

in touch and get in tune with what

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God's doing so that we can live a

life of thanks and gratitude to Him.

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Amen?

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We must live lives full of gratitude.

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You know, something starts to happen in

our hearts In our lives, in our minds,

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when we have a mentality of gratitude.

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You with me?

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Uh, I'm sure there's tons of studies.

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I think Marcel brought it up last week

that, that it's, it changes your mind.

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When you're grateful, when you're

praying to God, when you're thanking

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God, when you're thinking about how

much God is doing in your life, you

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start having a very positive outlook.

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You start having an optimistic mentality.

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You start having a faithful mentality.

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You start thinking about things

from a, God point of view rather

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than a worldly point of view.

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You with me?

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And you know what starts

to happen in our hearts?

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We become Servants.

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We start to give.

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We want to help people.

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We want to spread what

God's doing in our lives.

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We want to share the

good news about Christ.

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We want to share what

God's doing in our lives.

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We become givers rather than takers.

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And we start realizing

life's not really about me.

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It's not about myself anymore.

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It's not about how good I look,

or how much money I make, or

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what it is I, I'm always doing.

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It's not about me, but we desire

to serve and give for Christ.

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Amen?

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You know, when we live thankful

lives, we desire to give and serve.

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Let's live lives full of gratitude.

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So that way we can also pass on to

others what God has passed on to us.

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But, here's the, the reality.

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When we lack gratitude, We take

things for granted and become selfish.

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Just what happens.

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We take things for granted.

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We become selfish.

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It's all about us.

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You know, lately I've been hearing

this analogy going around different

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churches and even in our fellowship

and it's a great analogy that I think

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is so practical and helpful for us

to truly apply this type of heart.

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Amen?

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Being a new father, my son's not here

yet, but eventually he's going to start

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wearing a bib when he eats, right?

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Right now he's just eating milk.

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But eventually he'll start wearing

a bib so that way when he makes a

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mess, it doesn't get on his clothes,

it gets on his bib, you with me?

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So here's a bib, right?

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Feed me!

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Well, sometimes in our lives as

Christians, we like to wear the bib.

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We like to come to church wearing a bib.

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Feed me.

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Give to me.

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Consumer mentality.

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You with me?

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We, we put on a bib mentality.

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I do this all the time.

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What can I receive?

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Right?

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What can I get?

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You know, I'll share.

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This past week, we got

home from Thanksgiving.

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It was a long drive.

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Pismo Beach.

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Four hour drive home.

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We got home Thursday night.

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It was late.

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And our son was, his sleep schedule was

very off because we're traveling all day.

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Right?

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And we get home, and my wife is amazing.

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Alright, let me just say this first.

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My wife is an amazing

mother, an amazing servant.

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She, she embodies this mentality.

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Okay?

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Not the bib mentality, but

the mentality of a servant.

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Right?

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I embody the mentality of a bib.

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Okay?

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If I'm just being honest.

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And we get home, it's like 11.

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30 and I'm wiped.

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I'm tired.

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She even drove some of the way.

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Um, she's just amazing.

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We get home, and she's like, Hey, can

you just help me stay up and take care

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of him, burp him, let's get him to sleep.

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And I'm like, yeah, yeah, I'll help.

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Well, twenty minutes

later, I'm passed out.

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On the bed.

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And she, obviously, she's mad.

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Alright?

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She's mad at me, cause I'm being selfish.

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And, you know, I end up waking up briefly

and she's like, Thanks for nothing.

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Like, you're not even helping me.

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I was like, oh man.

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So I'm like, okay, how can I help?

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How can I help?

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Like, you want me to

throw away his diaper?

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So I go throw away the diaper.

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But she's already mad at me and

I already, I already lost, right?

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And so then, you know,

finally gets to sleep.

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It's like 12.

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30am.

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She was up for an extra hour.

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And, uh, the next morning I'm like,

Oh man, she's gonna be mad at me.

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She didn't sleep.

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So luckily, I, I feel like I

somewhat redeemed myself, you

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can ask her if I did or not.

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I got up with him when he first woke up,

took him out of the room, burped him,

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let him nap a little bit more, and, you

know, let her sleep for a couple hours.

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But I was being selfish, alright?

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I was taking on the bib mentality.

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Brothers and sisters, we gotta

take on the apron mentality.

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We gotta put on the apron.

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We put on the apron when we're

full of gratitude for Christ.

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For what God's doing in our lives.

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We want to go up to church to serve.

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We want to hang out with each

other to serve one another.

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During family group or Bible talks

or whatever it is, we're here to

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serve and give to one another.

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We're going to serve the community

because we are so filled with

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the gratitude God has given us.

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How much God has given us.

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We're full of this gratitude.

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And so we desire, at your

service, how can I give to you?

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Campus students, how can we give?

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Yeah, I'm going to call you out.

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You're my ministry.

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We talk to you all the time.

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How can we serve one another?

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How can we serve our parents?

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How can we serve our families?

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We've got to take on this heart and this

mentality because the Bible says that the

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greatest among you is the servant of all.

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In fact, it says the slave of all.

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Jesus wants us to take on the

mentality, the heart of a servant.

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This is how we ought to act.

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This is the mentality we ought to take on.

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And there's a huge difference.

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So I want us to imagine for a

second, imagine the impact, and I,

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I do want to just say, our church

is full of apron servants, amen?

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Tons of you serve, getting here this

morning, seeing the kids kingdom workers

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serving, getting here early, setting

up for our kids, seeing the welcome

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booth, the worship team, the AV team,

people serve, not just on Sunday,

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but throughout the whole week, amen?

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So we have many servants,

but imagine if all of us...

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Took on this heart and this mentality

to put on the apron and think about the

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impact we could have in our community.

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Just for a second, think about it.

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Imagine how you might feel if you show up

and you don't have to serve all the time

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because so many people are serving you.

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It's just this big cycle

of serving and giving.

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That's awesome.

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That's special.

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That's something that God is glorified by.

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Amen?

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And that's how we ought to live our lives.

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When we have a serving

mindset, it glorifies God and

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it encourages the fellowship.

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It encourages others.

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So why should we serve and

give to God out of gratitude?

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Why should we do it?

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God deserves our best.

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God deserves our best.

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Amen?

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He deserves our best in everything we do.

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God deserves the best.

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He doesn't deserve the leftovers.

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He deserves the best.

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Romans 12 verse 1.

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It says, Therefore, I urge you, brothers

and sisters, in view of God's mercy.

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For a second, just think about that.

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The mercy God's given us, in view of

that, offer your bodies as a living

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sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God.

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This is your true and proper worship.

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In view of God's mercy.

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Again, we're accrediting this to God.

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It's because of God.

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That we live this way.

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It's because of God

that we have gratitude.

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It's because of God we are

doing the things we're doing.

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So, therefore, offer your

bodies as a living sacrifice.

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Jesus sacrificed his life for all of us.

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For our sins.

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Well, let's offer our lives

as a daily living sacrifice.

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So, what is that going to mean for you?

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What does it mean to offer

yourself to God on a daily basis?

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as a living sacrifice.

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We talked earlier about a

sacrifice that's acceptable to God.

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Right?

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Well, an acceptable sacrifice for

our lives is to do it every day.

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Denying myself.

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Carrying my cross.

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What can I give up to honor God?

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What can I maybe not spend as much

time doing to help serve others?

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To serve God?

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You with me?

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Giving God our best.

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It requires sacrifice.

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We can't just give God our best and just

like, poof, here it is God, took no work.

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No, giving God our best

requires sacrifice.

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It requires it.

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We have to sacrifice daily

to give God our best.

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You with me?

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So maybe for some of us, maybe for some of

the newer Christians, or people who have

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been disciples or Christians for a long

time, maybe we've gotten out of the habit

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or out of the practice of just the basics.

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Just the simplest, simple little things

that we know draw us nearer to God.

497

Maybe that's a prayer time.

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Maybe that's, for some of us, we know

getting out of the house and praying

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helps us connect better to God, but we've

been too lazy, or we've been too busy,

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or we haven't really prioritized that, so

we're just praying quickly in our homes.

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That's a small little sacrifice

you can apply just like that.

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We've got to require, our

best requires sacrifice.

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We have to sacrifice in

our lives for Christ.

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Amen?

505

I want to share one last example here.

506

That I think is really key.

507

And Marcel, I'm going to

credit this one to Marcel.

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This is a good one.

509

Imagine on Thanksgiving, this past

Thursday, you had your whole family over.

510

You showed up.

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You know, you, you, you

know, planned this out.

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You even sent an invite out.

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And you've never really hosted

your house, but you're like, I'm

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having the whole family over.

515

In fact, I'm going to

bring some friends over.

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People who, you know,

whose families live far.

517

I'm going to have the

whole crew at the house.

518

Right?

519

I'm sure many of you did that.

520

But imagine if you did that,

and for Thanksgiving dinner, you

521

laid out yesterday's leftovers.

522

Imagine.

523

Say, alright guys, this is

turkey I made last week.

524

It's been sitting in the fridge.

525

You know, I actually chewed up the carrots

for you guys, and then spit it out.

526

I grabbed some of the salad out of

the trash and threw it on there.

527

Like, the leftovers, right?

528

Imagine if that's what

you served your guests.

529

How would they be feeling?

530

They will walk out that house so fast,

you'll be like, this guy's crazy.

531

There's no way, right?

532

Because that's not your best.

533

That's not how we give,

that's not what we give God.

534

We don't give God our leftovers.

535

What do we do?

536

We give Him our best.

537

We lay out the whole spread.

538

We get the nice silverware

out of the cabinet.

539

We get the plates.

540

We don't just get paper plates.

541

We go and we buy the porcelain

plates, or whatever they call it.

542

Did I get that right?

543

Okay, China plates.

544

We brine the turkey.

545

24 hours.

546

Maybe 48 for some of you.

547

We put in the extra effort.

548

We think through how

it smells in the house.

549

We think through all the things,

because it's our best for God.

550

We want to give our best to God.

551

Not our leftovers.

552

Not our second.

553

Our absolute best.

554

You with me?

555

Church, how can we give our best to God?

556

As we walk out of this building today.

557

What are the ways we're going to

be able to start giving our best?

558

Maybe you are giving your best in one

area, but in another area you're like,

559

Oh, I know, I don't really want to.

560

It's going to take more time and effort.

561

How can we give our best?

562

Living sacrifice.

563

We're called to be living

sacrifices for Christ.

564

What can we do to improve

God's kingdom with one another?

565

Let's give our best to Him.

566

Amen?

567

Giving God our best,

it requires sacrifice.

568

Let's not give them our leftovers.

569

Let's give them the best

feast we can possibly provide.

570

So we've got to put in time.

571

We've got to put in effort.

572

It's going to take a lot of

soul searching for some of us.

573

And we put in thought into

how we serve and give to God.

574

Amen?

575

And so let's get real practical here.

576

Let's look at some action steps.

577

Alright?

578

Some action steps are key here.

579

Let's think about the ways

you maybe have worn a bit.

580

What are some of the ways that you

have this selfish mindset, where

581

you're wearing a bib, maybe when you

wear that bib, it makes you critical.

582

Maybe you just start pointing out all

the flaws because you're only consuming.

583

What are the ways that

you've been wearing a bib?

584

Another one is, I think it's

important we commit as a church.

585

What's one new serving opportunity?

586

What's one way I can put on the apron?

587

Alright, it can be something

small, it can be something big.

588

Wherever God is convicting

your heart, how can you...

589

Commit to one new serving opportunity.

590

And lastly, I want you to share with a

friend one way you can give God your best.

591

One way you can start improving

and giving God your best.

592

In your own times with Him, whether it's

in your servitude, whether it's in your

593

relationships, whatever it is, what's

one way you can give God your best?

594

And please, let's share it with one

another to have some accountability.

595

Amen?

596

You know, as we are closing out

today, we're going to go ahead

597

and be taking the communion here.

598

And as we take the Communion, we read that

scripture in Romans 12 that talks about

599

how we have to be a living sacrifice.

600

Well, we know that the greatest

sacrifice in all of humankind,

601

mankind, is the sacrifice of Jesus

dying on the cross for our sins.

602

Amen?

603

And so as we pray, as we reflect,

and as we take the Communion, let's

604

remember that the sacrifice that

Jesus gave for our lives prompts

605

us, out of gratitude, to live.

606

Sacrificially in our lives.

607

Let's pray.

608

God, thank you so much for this

morning, and this time, to be able

609

to worship you, to be able to think

about living a life full of gratitude.

610

God, that, our gratitude isn't just a

lip service, isn't just something we say,

611

but it's something we actually live out.

612

That our gratitude for you, for the

blessings you've given us, For many

613

things that you've given us, God,

I pray that that gratitude urges us

614

to live a life full of sacrifice.

615

To live a life that's

giving our best to you.

616

To live a life that's not putting on

the bib and consuming, God, but it's

617

putting on the apron and serving.

618

Giving to you.

619

And Lord, I pray that this morning, as

we think through even some of the action

620

steps in our lives, that we are motivated

by your Son, Jesus, dying on the cross.

621

That we're not doing this just because...

622

I'm up here telling us to do

it, but we want to, we want to

623

truly apply these things because

we're motivated by the cross.

624

We're moved by the love you've shown us.

625

And God, I pray that we can live

our lives in devotion to you always.

626

In Jesus name I pray, Amen.