🎵Music🎵
Good afternoon, everybody, and welcome to
Steadfast Baptist Church. Go ahead and find
our seats. We'll go ahead and get started.
Once you find a seat, go ahead and find a hymnal.
And then you can find song number
23.
Song number
23,
Power in the Blood.
Song number
23,
There is Power in the Blood.
🎵Would you be free from your
burden of sin?
There's power in the blood,
power in the blood.
Would you
bore evil of victory
when
there's wonderful power
in the blood?
There's power,
power,
wonder-working blood
in the blood
of the land.
There's power,
power,
wonder-working blood
in the precious blood
of the land.
Would you be free
from your passion
and pride? There's power
in the blood,
power in the blood.
There's power,
power,
wonder-working blood
in the blood
of the land.
There's power,
power,
wonder-working blood
in the precious
blood of the land.
Would you
be
wider, much
wider
than snow?
There's power in the blood,
power in the blood.
Since
things are lost in
its mighty flow,
there's wonderful
power in the blood.
There's power,
power,
wonder-working blood
in the blood
of the land.
There's power,
power,
wonder-working blood
in the precious blood
of the land.
Would you do
service for Jesus,
your King? There's power
in the blood,
power in the blood.
Would you live daily
as praises to
sing? There's wonderful
power in the blood.
There is power,
power,
wonder-working blood
in the blood
of the land.
There is power,
power,
wonder-working blood
in the precious blood
of the land.
All right, for our next song,
let's go to song number 119.
Song number 119,
Till the
Storm Passes By.
Song number 119.
In the
dark of the
midnight half-eye
oft in my
face, while the
storm howls above
me, and there's
no hiding place
with the
crash of the thunder.
Precious Lord,
hear my cry,
keep me safe
till the storm
passes by.
Till the storm
passes over,
till the thunder
sounds the warm,
till the clouds
roll forever
from the sky.
Hold me
fast, let me
stand in the
hollow of the hand.
Keep me safe
till the storm
passes by.
Many times,
Satan whispered,
there is no
need to try,
for there's no
end of sorrow,
there's no hope
by and by.
But I know,
now work with me,
and tomorrow
arrives, where the
storms never
dark in the skies.
Till the storm
passes over,
till the thunder
sounds the warm,
till the clouds
roll forever
from the sky.
Hold me
fast, let me
stand in the hollow
of the hand.
Keep me safe
till the storm
passes by.
When the long
night has ended,
and the storms
come no more,
let me stand
in thy presence
on that bright
peaceful shore,
in that land
where the tempest
never comes.
Lord, may I
dwell with thee,
when the storm
passes by.
Till the storm
passes over,
till the thunder
sounds the warm,
till the clouds
roll forever
from the sky.
Hold me
fast, let me
stand in the hollow
of the hand.
Keep me safe
till the storm
passes by.
We're getting closer on that.
Hopefully you're still working.
On the inside service and soul winning
times, our church stats, please
make sure you're turning that into your soul winning captains.
On the right, we have the list of
expecting ladies. Several to be in prayer
for, so please be praying for
our ladies on the down
below upcoming events.
We have a preaching class
this Saturday, and then
also on the 16th is the
baby shower from Mariah Jackson.
The 30th is a soul winning marathon that's
going to meet here,
and then we're going to go out, and
we have these nicer Easter
invites, so you can be using those as well.
It's a great opportunity to
invite people. The 31st
is going to be our
communion service as well. We're going to have that
as the evening service, so if you'd like to
participate. One other note I
had made mention of in the morning sermon, but
next Sunday night
we're going to just have our annual business
review meeting where we just
share
all the financials and just everything
that we normally do every single
six months or year,
and then also
April 9th through
the 10th, that is
going to be an event
by Verdi Baptist Church. It's a
youth rally. There is a sign up sheet.
I notice there's definitely a handful of
teenagers that are signed up, so if you
want to communicate with them, you can.
Also, April 13th is
the Shreveport Louisiana
Solenia Marathon, so very
exciting for that. The back
has the details about that baby shower. It's 12
30. Please also repeat to Miss Milstead,
and if you'd like to get them a gift, they're registered
on Baby List. It is nursing's
only preferred. Also, down
below we have our prayer list. If you'd like to be
added, please email
us or fill out a communication card, and we'd love
to add you to our prayer list.
That's really all I have. We're going to go ahead and
sing Psalm 149.
Psalm 149
in your special handout,
or you can use your Bible.
All right.
That was Psalm chapter 149
in your laminated handout or in your
King James Bible. Psalm
chapter 149.
Raise ye the Lord,
sing unto the Lord
a new song
and his
praise in the
congregation of
saints. Let
Israel rejoice in
him that made him.
Let the children
of God be
joyful in their
King.
Let them praise
his name in the dance.
Let them sing
praises unto
him with the
temple and
heart for the
Lord.
Make him pleasure in
his people. He
will beautify
the evil sounding
child.
Let the saints
be joyful in
glory.
Let them sing
aloud upon
their
path. Let the
high praises of God
be in their
mouth and a
two-edged sword
in their hand.
To
execute vengeance
upon the
even
and punishments
upon the
people
to find their
kings with chains
and their
nobles with
their
survivors.
To execute
upon them the
judgment written
dishonor
have all
his saints praise
ye the
Lord.
Alright, great singing everybody.
Now as the offering plates are being passed around go
ahead and turn in your Bibles to 1 Thessalonians
chapter 5.
That's 1 Thessalonians chapter number 5.
1 Thessalonians chapter 5.
The Bible reads
but of the times
and the seasons
brethren ye have no need
that I write unto you. For yourselves
know perfectly that the day of the Lord
so cometh as a thief in the night.
For when ye have no need
that I write unto you.
For yourselves know perfectly
that the day of the Lord
so cometh as a thief in the night.
For when ye have no need
so cometh as a thief in the night.
For when they shall say peace and safety
then sudden destruction cometh
upon them as travail upon a woman
with child and they shall not
escape. But ye
brethren are not in darkness that that day
should overtake you as a thief.
Ye are all the children of light and
the children of the day. We are not
of the night nor of darkness.
Therefore let us not sleep as do
others but let us watch and be
sober. For they that sleep sleep
in the night and they that be drunken
are drunken in the night. But let us
who are of the day
be sober putting on
the breastplate of faith and love
and for in helmet the hope of salvation.
For God hath not appointed
us to wrath but to obtain salvation
by our Lord Jesus Christ
who died for us that
whether we wake or sleep we should
live together with him.
Wherefore comfort yourselves together
and edify one another even
as ye even as also ye do
and we beseech you brethren to
know them which labor among you and are
over you in the Lord and admonish you
and to esteem
them very highly in love for their work
sake and be at peace
among yourselves. Now we exhort
you brethren warn them that are
unruly comfort the feeble-minded
support the weak be
patient toward all men.
See that none render evil for evil
unto any man
but ever follow that which is good
both among yourselves and to all
men. Rejoice evermore
pray without ceasing
in everything give thanks
for this is the will of God in Christ
Jesus concerning you. Quench
not the spirit. Despise
not prophesying. Prove
all things. Hold fast that
which is good. Abstain
from all appearance of evil and
the very God of peace sanctify
you wholly and I pray God
your whole spirit and soul and body
be preserved blameless unto the coming
of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Faithful is he that calleth you
who also will do it.
Brethren pray for us.
Greet all the brethren with an holy kiss.
I charge you by the Lord that this epistle
be read unto all the holy brethren.
The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ
be with you. Amen.
Let's pray. Dear Heavenly Father
thank you for this church. Thank you for this day.
Thank you for the soul winning and the souls saved today.
I ask you to fill Pastor Shelley with your Holy Spirit
and help him to preach your word in Jesus name. Amen.
Amen.
I want to focus on
a very specific verse here.
Verse number 18
the Bible says in everything
give thanks
for this is the will of God
in Christ Jesus concerning you.
1 Thessalonians chapter 5
towards the end just gives a lot of just general
instructions. Just
a lot of verses and just
all the different good things that we should be doing.
One of them specifically
is giving thanks and notice
in everything
give thanks.
I feel like I feel very convicted
by verses like this
just because I don't feel like
I give enough thanks to the Lord
and I don't feel like
most people are probably appreciating
all the things that God does for us
in general. I kind of want to preach
a little bit of a unique sermon this evening
but the title of my sermon
is just Count Your Blessings
and I got the idea because I was
just kind of pondering this week
and I had been thinking about it at some point
and it just kind of struck me like
you know I have just so many good things
going for me in my life
and I just have so many blessings
in my life
that I really
should just kind of like think about that more
often and like tell God
thank you for that more often
and even you know I think we should be
thanking people in our lives
as well and
what I kind of want to do is
I kind of want to just go through and just
really tell you a lot of things that I'm thankful for
and I know
that it's going to come across like from my
perspective so maybe
not everybody is in the exact same situation
I'm in, you're a little bit different
but I think that
generally a lot of these things are going to apply
to all of us and I want to look at
a lot of Bible because I think there's a lot of
Bible on this subject and so
I really just want to hammer this point in
but go if you want to always all the way to Leviticus
chapter 7 for a moment
go to Leviticus chapter, such a great
chapter of the Bible or book of the Bible
Leviticus right
but I really feel like
kind of two part
mentality for this sermon
number one we should just be thankful
but really when I'm
thinking about the things that I'm thankful for
often it's also how
those things in my life
offer me opportunities
there's a lot of things that I'm very thankful for
that I have and I'm going to
address a lot of these things such as church
my wife, my family and things like that
but I'm really thankful for the opportunities
and all the work
and the potential that I have in the
future and I think that
sometimes we don't
think about the things that we have that are
good and it causes
us to have a negative attitude towards life
or maybe we're focused on
problems or issues or
we just kind of are down in the dumps
and I feel like we need
to really work on
being thankful because it changes your attitude
all of us need to
work on counting our blessings more often
being focused on the things that
are a blessing in our lives
and being thankful and I think if you
paused and really thought about it
there's a lot more that you're
thankful for than you really give yourself credit
or that you give God's credit for
now Leviticus chapter 7
this is interesting because we're talking about the sacrifices
look at verse 11
and this is the law of the sacrifice of peace offerings
which he shall offer unto the Lord
if he offer it for a thanksgiving
then he shall offer with the
sacrifice of thanksgiving
unleavened cakes mingled
with oil and unleavened wafers
anointed with oil and cakes mingled
with oil and of fine flour
fried
verse 13 besides the cakes he shall offer
for his offering
leavened bread with the sacrifice of
thanksgiving of his peace offering
so we often think about
a lot of sacrifices being like a
sin offering or getting
right with God but some of the
sacrifices are different and this one
specifically is a thanksgiving
sacrifice where you're just offering
praise and thanks
to God for him being
your God and I think that sometimes
we don't really
do that I think that maybe at least
myself I feel guilty about man I don't feel like
I'm as thankful as I should be in
my life and of course
this is an Old Testament thing so we
can't go and offer some lamb
or some burnt sacrifices of
thanksgiving or a sacrifice offering
of the Lord but go to Hebrews chapter 13
now go to Hebrews chapter 13
and I want to show you
how this applies in the New Testament
because of course I can't offer animal
sacrifices that would be blasphemous
we don't offer sacrifices
anybody that's offering sacrifices
like this would be
rejecting the Lord Jesus Christ
because he's our lamb offering
and yet the Bible
does have a parallel here look what it says
in Hebrews chapter 13 verse 15
by him therefore
let us offer the
sacrifice of praise
to God continually that is
the fruit of our lips
giving thanks to his name
so notice the sacrifice of
thanksgiving in the Old Testament
could be offering a lamb or some kind of burnt
sacrifice in the New Testament
it's spiritualized in the sense that
how do we give thanksgiving it's with our
lips it's by literally
just praising God with our mouth
saying thank you to the Lord
these type of activities and really
we should be doing this a lot
go to Psalm 50 now go to Psalm chapter
15 we're going to be turning a lot of place
all over the Bible and I want
to make this clear
I'm going to give you a list of all these things
I'm thankful for it's not
necessarily an order of importance
okay so
don't hold me to that and I'm
going to kind of come back to some things
from different angles so I may cover a subject
and then come back again and talk about
it again so don't get offended
if you can be offended
I don't know people get offended by everything right
this is a sermon where I'm saying thank you
and then people get offended right
I'm also not going to
name every single person in this room
but I am thankful for everyone that's here
and I will name some
people but again
the goal is not because I think
some people are better than others in fact
there's some people that I really appreciate and I know
I'm not going to name them on purpose
so just because I do or don't name you
doesn't even mean anything either
I was kind of thinking about
a lot of different stuff and I also
believe there's plenty of things I'm thankful
for that I probably won't mention
in this sermon and you know
that's just because our blessings
in many cases are innumerable
we have so much good that God is so good
and there's so many good things
that it's so difficult
to even quantify all
of the things and so I feel like
I'm just trying to help myself
and even you to be inspired
to just thank God for more things
now Psalm chapter 50
look at verse 14
offer unto God thanksgiving
and pay thy vows unto the most high
the Bible reiterates this
over and over
giving thanks
unto God it's something that should be
a daily habit
it should be something that we're constantly thanking God
and appreciative to what God is
doing for us you really
can't overdo it
honestly there's just so much
go over to Psalm 20 now
if I were to
try and quantify or think about
what's the most important and I did that at
first I think salvation
is the thing we should be the most thankful for
and then I believe that
is true for myself now apart from that
the sermon is not going to always
be in order of importance but I at least wanted
to think about like if I were to try and put
something in you know order of importance
salvation is just it's what
it is right I don't have to go to hell
like how I have to
be really thankful about that because when you
read about hell it's really bad
okay Psalm 20 look
at verse 5 we
will rejoice in thy
salvation and in the name
of our God we will set up
our banners the Lord
fulfill all thy petitions
you know what we should be rejoicing about
salvation all the time you should
always be happy that you're saved
and in fact you know it
really doesn't matter what else is going on
we could technically be happy because we're
saved and it's not to try and
undermine sadness or grief or sorrow
there's a time and a place but just generally
speaking we should always be able to lift
our spirits when we just consider
and realize that we're saved
we're saved from hell you
specifically deserve to burn for all of
eternity I deserve to burn for all
of eternity and we never will even taste
of it not even for a second
no purgatory no thousand
years or something and then we get out
just never just I don't
even know what it's like I never will
know what it's like I don't I mean
that's amazing go
to Psalm 136
again like I said this is a
sword drill here we're gonna we're gonna bounce all over the
Bible but I want
you to notice the theme of
the sermon being thankful
and counting your blessings now
it's it's a little bit of a
a phrase that's not
literal because I'm not going to give you a number
at the end of the sermon okay
but it's what's the idea or the
concept is just thinking about oh wow I
actually have a lot of things to be thankful for
I have a lot of things to be appreciative of
and you'll notice when Jesus
prays he often thanks God
for the things that they have and
we need to thank God more often
in our daily lives Psalm 136
look at verse number one
oh give thanks unto the Lord
for he is good for his
mercy endureth forever
that's a good thing at no point
will he be like no I'm just
tired of you go to hell
you know like you've been bothering me
for a while you've been irritating me for a while
I'm done no no no his mercy
endureth forever
that's a that's a great thing
oh verse two oh give thanks
unto the God of gods
for his mercy endureth
forever oh give thanks
to the Lord of lords
for his mercy endureth
forever to him
who alone doeth great wonders
for his mercy endureth
forever this is a cool song
this is one that I want to be I think
could be really cool but it's just like
it's so amazing and it's giving
thanks unto God it's
a shame that we don't have
all of these in songs
that we can sing right away you
know we should be working on that
now look at
go back to Psalm 33
for a moment go to Psalm 33
we need to rejoice
in God giving us salvation
for his mercy enduring
forever God is good
we should constantly be telling
him thank you for that
Psalm 33 look at verse 21
for our heart shall rejoice
in him because
we have trusted in his holy name
you know we should rejoice at salvation
you know it's kind of sad that
when Jesus Christ heals the ten lepers
only one came back
to give thanks and then what
does Jesus say
where are the nine notice that Jesus
recognizes people not giving
thanks when they should give thanks
and we should rejoice
in our salvation and be very thankful
for our salvation how many people get
saved and don't really
say thanks to God for that or
very appreciative of that look at verse
9 of chapter 35
so it should be like on the same page
verse 9 and my soul shall be
joyful in the Lord it shall
rejoice in his salvation
you know God's so
good that we should constantly
be in joy and rejoicing
and just knowing that we're saved
like it doesn't matter what evil we
go through we're saved
like there's no pain
like you can't
torture me even close to
what hell is like you know
this is the only thing that's helped me
because unfortunately I've done a
deep dive on torture and don't
do this okay go to 2 Corinthians
chapter 9 just reading about
all the horrible ways that people
have been killed and you know you read
about foxes book of martyrs
or you read about what communists
have done communism is evil
is pure satanism
the horrible torture that communist
does I actually read a little bit about
North Korea recently
and kind of what they are doing to people
what China does to people
and this is the only thing that kind of brought me
comfort is the idea is like I can't
experience all of them
like you can't kill me
with every single technique because I can only
die once okay
so I was like well I can't be sauna sunder
hung and burnt with fire
and like I can't get all of it
you know so that gave me some solace
it's like hey I'm reading about
all these torture techniques god willing
I'll never be tortured but at least
99% of them I'll never
have to experience
isn't that great news
to me that was great
that like many of these things are not
going to happen for sure because you can't have them
all happen okay you can't be killed
in every single possible way so
that was just that was a blessing in my mind
you know that I only have to die once
isn't that nice
I mean you have to suffer for Christ but you
can only be killed once
that's kind of nice and then after that
there's nothing else they can do unto you
the bible literally tells us not to fear man
because after he kills us
it's over and you know
a lot of the torture techniques are designed
to try and keep you alive because
they're all disappointed once you finally die
you know it's kind of like aw man
how we can't do anything to them anymore
or they're sad when you go unconscious
or adrenaline or all these
different things that god's given us so
you know what praise god for adrenaline
and going being knocked out
cold or whatever
you know it's like they can't hurt
you as much as he's going to hurt them
I mean hell is so
eternal and awful and
we need to appreciate
what god has done for us
salvation I mean we deserve hell
jesus literally went to hell for us
and he went through that excruciating pain
there is literally no suffering you can
ever go through on this earth to ever compare
with what jesus did for you
and that's something we should be thankful
for and I believe that that's
in context
of what we have in this verse in verse
15 notice this thanks be unto
god for his
unspeakable gift
I don't know why but this verse
is just a really special verse to me
and I always think about it how it says
his unspeakable
gift meaning like I cannot
with words describe truly
what god has actually done for us
it's that amazing it's something
that we should be so appreciative
of like I don't care what
pain or sorrow or how bad your
life is you'll never go to hell by being
saved and it's just something to just be thankful
for the fact that we get
to go to heaven we don't have to burn for all of eternity
I mean it's just so amazing
now go to chapter 2 2nd
Corinthians chapter number 2
so I'm very thankful
for salvation oh
it's amazing and it's
you know it's a really like it lifts
a lot of burden like because you don't
you don't have to worry about that ever again
it helps you
lose fear because
you don't have to be afraid of death anymore
I remember being young being terrified
of death but you know as you get older
sometimes you start thinking like there's days where you're just
kind of like that doesn't sound bad at all you know
like it's like take me home
you know that's not even
that big a deal and I'm sure when we get
older I'm not like very old yet
but I'm sure when I'm really old
it's just going to sound great you know
it's just like you know when every part of my
body hurts and you know
how wicked the world may be
I know lots of old people that they kind
of like I'm ready to go
I love you guys and
I'll miss you but heaven just sounds nice
and you know what a
blessing but I also
I'm really thankful not only that I get
spiritual salvation but how
God constantly just gives us
the victory how we
just constantly win
and our church has just won
so many battles and
it just keeps winning and we just
keep getting victory after victory after
victory and the Bible tells us
to rejoice in the Lord look at
2 Corinthians chapter 2 verse 14
Now
thanks be unto God which
always causeth
us to triumph in Christ
and maketh manifest the saviour
of his knowledge by us in every place
Hey we just always win
you know who doesn't always win?
Donald Trump but you know what those in Christ
are always winning
we're the ones who are always winning
I just love how he words this he's like
which always causes
us to triumph in Christ
it's like you just can't beat
the Christians I mean you take
Stephen and you take him out and you
stone him to death and oh man
oops Christianity spread even more
oops the Apostle
Paul is now going to convert and become a
Christian you just made
the worst enemy for yourselves in the
Apostle Paul by stoning Stephen
it's like no matter what they do
they just lose and we just
always win and we should just be so
thankful to God that those
who are faithful under the scripture
who do what Christ said he always
causes us to triumph
he always gives us the victory
you know what thank God for steadfast
Baptist Church who's just constantly
giving us so much victory
and so much winning
you know we haven't won because of our
strength or our might
or our wisdom the only reason
we're here the only reason we've had the
success we've had is because of God
thank you so much to God for that
you know what I'm really thankful for a
King James Bible
oh man I'm so thankful
for the King James Bible I'm so thankful
for the men that literally
risked their life and
gave their life so that I could have this book in my hand
I mean men like
William Tyndale who were literally burned
at the stake for smuggling
Bibles and translating
the word of God so that we could even
read it I mean what an
amazing I'm so glad that I don't live in a country
dominated by Catholicism
where I can't even read the Bible
and if I teach my kids the Lord's prayer
I could be put to death you know
I'm so glad that men actually stood
up and lost their life
so that I could have that freedom
and often times people
who allow freedom to triumph
had to sacrifice everything
you know
there's a lot of countries in this world where they can't have freedom
right now and unfortunately
you know this is the sad part in order for people
to get freedom in those countries and those places again
somebody's going to have to probably take
the total sacrifice
there's going to have to be people that are willing to give up their life
go to prison be killed
for the cause of Christ just to allow freedom
to reign in that area again
you know what praise God
to all the men who are willing to die
and to fight so that I could have a Bible
you know
praise God for all the men that worked tirelessly
on giving us the King James Bible
you know and it wasn't necessarily
politically advantageous for all of them
they had to fight
against the Catholics
I mean King James there was plots to kill him
and to dethrone him
I mean there's a lot of people that
made a lot of sacrifice just so we could
even have this book
and it makes me sad to think about
how much sacrifice so many people
have made and then
how carelessly people are
with continuing
the faith of the Bible
like they'll just eh it's all the same
the NIV you know whatever
people bled and died for this thing
and it's like how can we
not then champion and fight
for the King James Bible
how can we just be a generation that just says
oh they're all the same who cares whatever
and just let the whole next
generation go to hell in a hand
basket no we should fight for the King James
Bible you know we should be
thankful for what God has given us
and we should appreciate it and you know I'm so
thankful that I could go home right now
and I could just read this
I'm so thankful that tomorrow I can just read this
I'm so thankful for the opportunities
I have that I can keep preaching sermons
and you know what praise God
I can preach Leviticus 2013
with no fear
praise God that I can just let
my Bible fall open and just preach any verse
and we live in a country where I can actually
still preach the word of God right now
you know praise God that we even have this book
to preach from praise God
for the 66 books that we have
I mean there's so much to be thankful
for and I have just gotten started
go to Ephesians chapter 5
I mean this book that we have in our hand
is a masterpiece
I mean if you lived in another part of the country
or spoke another language
you would not have the masterpiece of the
King James Bible
I mean even if you were
born speaking Greek
you wouldn't have the Old Testament
like you have the King James Bible
if you were born speaking Hebrew
you wouldn't have the New Testament
like you have in the King James Bible
I mean you are born with the English tongue
where you get to know the majesty
of the Old and New Testament
as if it was literally
spoken in English by God himself
I mean it's amazing
this thing that we have in our hands
and there's so many people that don't speak English
or don't have a Bible in their language
you know we should be so thankful
for what God has given us
and I'm really thankful
that not only do we have the Bible
and we can read it
but we can sing it
we can literally sing it
look at what it says in Ephesians 5
verse 18
notice what the Bible says
that we should be giving thanks
always for all things
unto God
we should be constantly giving thanks to God
for everything that we have
praise God that we have the psalms
to read and to sing
and I'm just so thankful that I have a church
that is willing to
show up and sing
psalms with me
it's such a special blessing
that I can work on trying to put
psalms to music and other people have worked on
putting psalms to music
we have a congregation
we have people who learn how to play those on instruments
and how we as a congregation
get to literally sing the Bible to each other
I mean it's a special blessing
you know without this church
we couldn't be singing
this to each other
and you know music is so much better
with lots of people and the instruments
and everything
some of the psalms that I've written
brother Richard has put the guitar
and it sounds amazing
the 119 what he put to the guitar
it just sounds so much cooler
when I get to hear the guitar
I'm just disappointed when I'm not
getting to hear the guitar piece with it
or all the other instruments that are chimed in
it's just a special blessing to me
if you went to psalm 69
psalm 69
I appreciate that other people
at least take joy in it
and sing with their hearts
making melody
we should be constantly praising God for these things
psalm 69
look at verse number 30
psalm 69 verse 30
the Bible says
I will praise the name of God
with a song
and will magnify him
with thanksgiving
notice that the Bible says it wants us to sing songs
but he wants us to do it with
thanksgiving
we should constantly be giving thanksgiving unto God
go to 1 Thessalonians chapter 1
I'm going kind of everywhere
I'm just really thankful that I have this church
I'm so thankful for Steadfast Baptist Church
you know so many people act like
Steadfast Baptist Church is terrible and awful
and whatever hate cult
but I'm like I just love it
and you know Steadfast Baptist Church is not a building
it's the people
I'm just really thankful for this group
of people
I've visited a lot of churches
I've been to a lot of churches in my life
and there's something special about this church
there's so many people
and I constantly am even
told by others
or visitors
they really enjoy the church
they really enjoy the people
they really enjoy the spirit
the camaraderie
and there's just something special about this church
not everybody has a church like this
that they can go to
not everybody has this kind of an opportunity
and I'm just very thankful to be a part of it
and to get to pastor it
and you know I think about the apostle Paul
when he talks to some of the churches
that he visits
this is what he says in 1 Thessalonians
chapter 1 verse 2
we give thanks to God always
for you all
he's just making mention of you in prayer
you know Paul's just like I'm just so thankful
for all the people in that church
because it's just an awesome church
and you know what we should just be thanking God
for awesome churches
it's just really special
I'm really thankful for
the members
who were in this church before me
and had to go through a really hard transition
and have stuck with us
like I'm just really thankful
you know because it would have been really hard
if I had come here and tried to help this church go
and just everybody quit
or if everybody just started leaving in droves
then maybe it could have discouraged the church a lot
and it wouldn't have ever grown
and a lot of people
would have never even moved here
it wouldn't even be what it is
the only reason Steadfast Baptist Church is here
is because a lot of members
decided to be Steadfast Literally
and because of that
we have the name
Steadfast Baptist Church
they could have quit
and the going got hard
and I'm just so thankful
for a lot of the church members that stuck with it
I mean it's not easy to go to this church
for any reason
but let alone when you're making the papers
for how your former pastor
is like involved with prostitutes
and financial issues
like that stain
is just so awful
and visible
and for someone to say you know what
I'm willing to stick with that church
that shows a special
character in that person
and I'm just really thankful for those people
I really thank you
that you would do that
because it's really hard
it's really difficult to want to do something like that
some people could have felt
a lot of pressure
I'm pretty sure someone told me
that at their workplace
someone came up and was like
hey is this your church and the papers or whatever
like during that time
and it's like yeah
I mean that's got to be kind of embarrassing
or frustrating or difficult
but you know what I'm really thankful for people that would stick it out
I'm also really thankful for the new people
that have joined as a result of that
you know it's funny to me I'm thankful for people
like the Scotts who
it was like literally their first service
when Romero stepped down
and they're still here
it's just crazy
like I can't imagine what's the worst
possible time to show up
it's like that might be the worst
service to show up for
but to still be here I mean what an amazing
blessing I mean I'm just thankful for that
that's really cool
you know I'm really thankful for my mom
who made church such a priority
so that
and made it really serious
so that I would think that church is really serious
and you know don't underestimate
the power of a mom or a dad
to influence their children for a lifetime
and I'm just really thankful for her
I'm really thankful that she forced me to play piano
and that I learned how to play piano
so then I can write songs
because I would have never been able to do any of that
or be able to play anything
I'm just so thankful that she
did that for me
I'm really thankful that we have a piano
and that I have a piano at home
and you know what I'm really really thankful for
is someone who played the piano this evening
because I'm just like
you don't even know how much I prayed for
and asked for extra piano players
just so we could have a piano player for every service
I mean that's just
I'm just really thankful for that
and we have a lot of talent here too
it's not even they're just over here like
I was praying for that
but then I got so much more
and I'm just so thankful
I'm really thankful for Jared Plant
who almost
by himself played the trumpet
for so many services
and I was just so thankful that we had at least
an instrument
because I'm like we're running a church over 100
and we don't even have one instrumentalist
it was kind of embarrassing
yeah we're a real church
it's nice to have
other people playing
and the music
I mean I'm going and visiting our church plants
that have 20 people
and they have like 3 pianists
and it's like we have like over 100 people
and we couldn't even get a single person to play the piano
and I was thinking like man
where are our instruments
but you know I'm so thankful that we have
a crop of young people
that are interested in playing instruments
and they've been adding to all the music
and we've had so many more people join
playing instruments
I love the hymns
and what we were singing
really thankful for the extra piano players
you don't even know
how much I talked about that
so I'm really thankful for y'all
and they learned how to play my psalms
so I really appreciate that as well
go over to Proverbs 19
I'm really thankful that my mom taught me
a lot of things about life
and specifically wanted me
to marry
a godly young woman
because
without my mom
instilling a lot of great
principles on marriage and who to marry
I probably could have made some mistakes
or done some really
dumb decisions that would have caused me
to not end up having the wife that I do
and you know what I'm so
appreciative of the wife that I do have
but I have to be honest that the reason
a lot of the reason why I have the wife
that I have is because of my mom
and it's not like my mom
set us up or something
my mom tried to hang up on my wife
when she called
she wasn't helping the situation at all
but just the principles that my mom
taught me about young women
and who to marry
and who to desire
were really influential
and gave me a
great wife
I have to be really thankful for that
Proverbs 19 verse 14
the Bible says this
and a prudent wife
is from the Lord
praise God for my wife because
women today, there's so many bad women
and a lot of times
you can't even tell or you don't even know
and I think about all the girls
that I
grew up with or was around
whether that be in high school or college
like so many of them
wow I'm so glad
I'm not with that person
and I'm just so thankful that I have the wife
that I do because she's an amazing wife
I'm really thankful for my dad
and him teaching me a lot of things
I'm so glad he taught me how to play golf
and he gave me a lot of wisdom
he gave me a sarcastic attitude
so thanks for that
but I'm really appreciative of that
go to Psalm 133
I have a great dad
and I still have a great relationship with him
and I really appreciate him
he's been really influential
in my life
and I learned a lot
he's very smart
you don't get to pick your parents at all
you have zero control over who your parents are
the only thing I can do
is just thank God for the parents that I have
because it's just such a big impact
on someone's life
it makes a huge difference in who you are
and I'm just really thankful for
the mom and the dad that I had
I'm also really thankful for some of my friends
that none of you all know
some friends that really
meant a lot to me
and helped me with
even starting Pure Words Baptist Church
or just teaching me a lot of things
I had a friend, a coworker
who I started a job
doing coding
and I didn't know a lot
and he actually would just spend
his own personal time during lunches
and before work just helping me learn how to code
and just not
I didn't pay him anything
really it was just being a friend to me
and it was just an invaluable experience
and I really just appreciate him a lot
he's a really close friend to me
I'm really thankful for some of the
old jobs that I have
because they really taught me how to have a lot of character
and a lot of integrity
and some of the men in those jobs
they were really special to me
in fact, I was thinking about this a few months ago
and I kind of realized there was a person
in my life that helped me
to be the person that I am
and I didn't feel like I had been very appreciative of it
so I just kind of messaged that person
and I just said, hey, I just wanted to let you know
that I'm really thankful for all the things you did
for me in my life and how you helped me
and we had a good conversation about it
but I was just
really reflecting on
I'm really appreciative of this person's influence
because he's a really manly guy
very masculine
very spirit filled guy
he cares a lot about spiritual things
and works really hard
and even though he's not necessarily a fundamental Baptist
or he's probably wrong on some things
he had a lot of things right
and I just really appreciated
how that rubbed off on me
and helped me
and I'm really appreciative of the current job I have
I have a job right now that's helping me pay a lot of bills
and it's just a blessing
that I have that
you know, we should be thankful for the jobs that we have
I'm really thankful for a job that was awful
because it forced me to learn how to be a better coder
when I was working at it
he was like the worst boss ever
but it made me a much better person
just being around him
so I'm really appreciative that I even got those opportunities
I'm really appreciative
of the fact that I have a lot of friends here
not just the friends I've had in my life
but the friends here because
you know
friendships are
sometimes hard
to get
I don't want you to take a friendship for granted
because a lot of people want friends
and they can't have them
or it's difficult to have friends
but I feel like our church creates an environment
where it's much easier to have friends
than a lot of other places
and not just a friend
but like good friends
people that actually care about you
and you can have like a deep relationship with
of course it's not automatic
you know the Bible says
a man that has friends must show himself friendly
so if you want friends
or you want to get more friends
it's nice to have a lot of friends here
and a lot of people here are really special to me
and I'm really thankful for that
the Bible says in Psalm 133
in verse 1
behold how good and how pleasant it is
for brethren to dwell together in unity
you know growing up
and I had friends in high school
in college, I've had work friends
I have really close relationships with a lot of my family
but what's crazy is
I feel like I have so much deeper
and closer relationships with people here
in church than I do from a lot of
from all those other places of life
and you know notice what the Bible says
like how good and how pleasant it is
for brethren to dwell together in unity
I'm so glad that we have a church that's not filled with
a bunch of like flat earthers
or idiots or weirdos
or whatever
like I'm so glad that we all have a very
unified church
we're all very similar
and we have a lot of commonality
when it comes to doctrine
a lot of people disagree on some things
but the big picture stuff
I mean we have so much unity
I'm so glad that I can get up and preach
the Sodomite deception
and show it as a movie for our church
and I'm not worried that everyone is going to leave
or something
I'm so glad that I have people that are actually
unified on that doctrine with me
praise God for that
I'm really thankful for an old church
that I used to attend
Arden Road Baptist Church
it's because
I was going through a hard time in my life
at one point where me and my wife were
transitioning and we didn't
we were kind of trying to make a change in church
and we didn't know where to go
and we were making a lot of spiritual changes
and it was a really frustrating time in our life
and Arden Road Baptist Church
was just like
a big
prayer request answer
just a prayer answer to us
that when we found it, it was such a blessing
I really loved that pastor
Pastor Bingham was a really great pastor
really great man, really nice
and that was just
that really helped us in our lives
Arden Road Baptist Church
I'm really thankful that church existed
I'm just really thankful there's lots of other Baptist churches in this world
sometimes we
we think like
New IFB or nothing
but that's kind of a bad attitude
because I think there's a lot of other great churches out there
and a lot of other great Christians out there
I'm really thankful that other Christians are out there
and you know, one thing you have to admit
a lot of these other Christians
that go to these other Baptist churches
they're some of the most gracious and nicest people
I mean that might be the only sermon
they ever hear
you know, every single Sunday
but I at least appreciate that they're really nice and gracious
I mean some of them are some of the most nice, gracious people
some of those people are some of the most loyal people
I mean when
I went to Arden Road Baptist Church, I mean there are people
they were there at every service, hundreds of people
at every service, sacrificing, giving
I mean those churches
make you pay for everything
and they pay for everything, you know
I mean you guys are a bunch of freeloaders
no I'm just kidding
I'm just saying like, it's amazing
how many great Christians are out there
and often those people will never meet
because they're so loyal to their church
they wouldn't even want to come to ours
even if it was better
because they just are so loyal to their church
and they just love it and they're just great Christians
praise God for churches like that
praise God that when we go out soul winning
sometimes we run into tracks on the door
from another God-fearing church
that actually preaches salvation by faith
you know, there's other churches like that in our area
praise God for them
and I'm really thankful that
even though I went through that hard time
I got to go through it with my wife
and you know, I really
I can't appreciate my wife enough
but one of the things that I was really thinking about
that I'm really thankful for
is I'm really thankful for how great a singer my wife is
because she's honestly
an amazing singer
she knows it, but she is, okay
and you know, what I'm excited about
is how
I have an opportunity to make more music
for our church
and I've wanted to be able to use her talents
for making more music for the church
and that makes me excited
I'm really thankful that my wife can then
teach my children how to sing
because there's something special about children singing
I don't know what it is
but it's just so amazing
and I'm really excited about
hearing them sing
I'm excited about the idea that I can have a family choir
you know, this would be amazing
I have so many children
I have six beautiful children
and I just can't imagine what it would be like
when they're all, you know, adult
and they can sing
I'm sure it's going to be great
I have a desire, because she wants to visit
Austria
because she likes the sound of music
and I'm like, okay, well I want you
to reenact that skit
you've got to get all the kids
because there's this famous skit
this play that all the kids do, and it's really cool
and I'm like, if you can get them all to do it, then we'll go
so I'm really excited
that happens
tears will probably roll down my eyes
and I'm just really thankful
I have six beautiful children
I mean, just one child is amazing
but I have six of them
that I wish to be thankful for
and I'm so thankful that I have an opportunity to get them saved
to get them baptized
I'm thankful that I have an opportunity to give them a high level education
I saw this meme and it was funny
it was like, what homeschooling's like
and it's this guy
teaching his kids
and he's showing them a picture
of basically airplanes
flying near buildings
and he's like, now
do you see this airline?
it doesn't really look like it has an airline logo
it has a black thing under it
it doesn't look like a traditional plane, does it?
flying into this building
and they're like, here's a picture of the pentagon with a big hole in it
but you don't see any aircraft
you know, anywhere, what does this look like?
and the little girl's like, it looks like a missile
and he's like, you're right
and I'm like, this is what homeschooling's like
okay, praise God for that
you know
praise God for homeschooling
thank God
you know, you couldn't homeschool, think about this
what would it be to live in a country
or in a time in the past
where your kids were literally
drugged to a Catholic school
against their will
I mean, you and I both know how much
pedophilia and nonsense
is going on in those places
dark hell holes
and if you taught your children the word of God
they could literally
literally be killed and you could be killed
you know what's crazy
and I highly recommend this book
I'm not trying to give any spoilers
but there's a book called The Bridge at Andow
I highly recommend reading this
but there's a section that's really
it was really emotional for me
but the children
in these communist areas have to be taken
to the school against their will
there's no homeschooling
and the teachers constantly hound the children
to find out if their parents
are true communist
loyalists or if they're defectors
and they're constantly
trying to get the kids to rat out
their parents for having
negative views towards communism
or the state or the government
or rat them out for teaching them
any kind of homeschool curriculum
teaching them the Bible or anything
and so in the book
it talks about how these parents
have to decide at some point
if they're going
when is the age that I can trust my child
enough to tell them the secret
that we're going to homeschool them and that we want them
to be Christian but they can never
tell anybody at school or they'll kill us
and what was really
heart wrenching was the fact
that the parents
you know what was a big deal for the parents?
to be able to spank their children
so a dad is
sitting here with the proposition
I have to spank my children so they're not a brat
but then I have to spank my child
and then him not go and rat me out
to the government or something for having
disciplined him or teaching them the Bible
think about the leverage perspective
the children have a lot of leverage against their parents
and think about just the fact
that children are silly
foolishness is bound in the heart of a child
how much a child could just accidentally say something
or slip or have a bad attitude
and I mean literally they'll just come
and execute you and your wife
and drag them off to prison
that is what communism really is like
and it was just heart wrenching
and it's just like I'm so thankful
that I live in a country where I can literally
teach them anything in the Bible
and you know it's sad how many parents have this ability
and they teach them nothing
you know we should be
educating our children and teaching them the Bible
and you know it's so encouraging to see
how many parents are taking their kids
out soul winning this afternoon
I mean praise God
thankfully we can take our children out soul winning
I'm so thankful that I can teach my kids
sports and games
because you know what I love sports and I love games
and I'm excited about the day
when my children are going to be
athletic and older
and able to compete
because obviously right now dad just wins
no matter what right
and dad will always win don't worry
but it'll be fun to
fight and actually have some real
competition it feels like
but you know it's fun because
for now I play against
my dad in sports
and unfortunately for him
I win now but at the end of the day
there was a time when I couldn't beat dad
and I couldn't beat him at a lot of things
and now the tables have turned
but the tables will never turn
ok
and it's just so much fun
it's fun to wrestle with my kids
I'm so thankful I can wrestle with them
play games with them
teach them lots of things
I'm just thankful that I was born in America
go if you would to Acts 22
you know we talk about America
being Babylon
I think it's very realistic that it's Babylon
but at the same time
I'm so glad I was born in America
because I have so much freedom
having been born in America
and we should take that freedom
and use it for God
because you could be born
in a lot of countries and not have a lot of freedom
to travel abroad
but think about how many missions trips
and soul winning opportunities we have as Americans
we can almost go anywhere
not North Korea ok
not Korea on a soul winning trip
it's not real ok folks
the last American to go
came back like lobotomized
or something alright you don't want that
Acts 22
look at verse 28
this is Paul
and the chief captain answered
and Paul said
but I was free born
you know Paul was born as a Roman citizen
but he used that for God
we need to take the fact
and use that for God
and use that
to travel and to do works for God
and to appreciate being born in America
almost everybody in this world envies
the idea of being born in America
and having the privileges and the freedoms
and everything that we have
I'm so glad that I live in Texas
and that I can go soul winning in Texas
go if you would to first
Timothy 4
I'm so glad that I live in a free country
that's very receptive
there are lots of parts of America that we could even be in
that soul winning would be frustrating
I've been soul winning in other parts of the country
and it's just like man this is rough
this is difficult
people are not that interested
it's hard to get anybody saved
there's not a lot of opportunity
in fact I don't even think I'd be a very good soul winner
because of the fact that I have a lack of experience
you know I'm so thankful
I live in Texas where I have a lot of experience
and it's helped me to be a lot better soul winner
1 Timothy 4
look at verse 3
I'm so thankful for bacon
I mean I just love bacon
I love bacon
I love brisket
I love steak
praise God for Texas
praise God for Texas brisket
praise God for Texas chili
these things are great
and wonderful
you don't even understand how much of a blessing this is
ok folks
this is amazing
I appreciate milk too
I just love milk
I mean the Bible talks positively about the land flowing with milk and honey
and I just love milk
my family loves milk
I mean we can't buy enough milk
we're just downing the milk
I'll tell you what
but it's great
I love it
I love the weather in Texas too
I'll tell you what
go to Psalm 127
I'm just really thankful
I'm really thankful for this church
for the great people here
how sincere
so many people are here
how hard working
many of the people are here
the sacrifices I've seen from so many people here
it just really
it's really something to be thankful for
because
church is not a one man show
and this church for sure is not a one man show
this church
could not be the church it is without other people
and I'm just so thankful that we have
so many people who do so many things
and really help out
and really pitch in
and put a lot of effort and energy
and I'm really thankful for those people
it just wouldn't be that church
and you know when you have a small church
you have to do a lot more
and as your church grows it's just a great blessing
and I just really appreciate how much
I don't have to do
there's so many tasks that are done here
for our church or activities that I don't have to do
and I'm just really appreciative
of the fact that other people do them for me
Psalm 127
verse 3 the Bible says
lo children are inherited to the Lord
and the fruit of the womb
is his reward
I'm so thankful that when I open up my bulletin
all these ladies are pregnant
and I'm so thankful that
I have six children
it's an incredible blessing
and notice it's a reward even
that's what the Bible describes children as
not a burden
not a curse
I'm just so thankful for them
I'm thankful for the mission trips we've taken
I'm thankful for the church members
that influenced me to go to the Bahamas
thank God for the Bahamas
boy, that was one of the coolest
experiences of my life
it's so much fun
the water is so beautiful
and it's just such an enjoying
it's the most joyful experience
from a soul winning perspective
you're going to basically have
the people there are great
it's really fun
I'm just really thankful that that even exists
and I'm really thankful for the fact that we have a building
you don't even know
how many prayers
and how much work and effort
came into having a building
and you know what?
some people think of it like
oh this yellow tin can is gross
or it's out in the boonies
and I'm like I'm so thankful for it
thank you God so much
you don't even understand
for the last four years
I've spent hundreds and hundreds of hours
working on building
the last like six months
I've had to not do that at all
and it's just such a blessing
thank you God so much
and it's so great
and you know there's things about it
that aren't perfect and I would love different things
but you know what? I'm just so thankful for it
and you know
God willing we'll even have a nicer building in the future
but I'm so thankful for the one that we have
and I'm so thankful that I have an employee
so thankful for Dylan specifically
because
there was a point
where I was really kind of low
and I was like working really hard
and I remember being very interested in Dylan
but he didn't know it
and I remember talking with my wife
and this is my wife
she says what are you going to do if Dylan doesn't work for you?
and I was just like
I'm not going to worry about it because he's going to work for me
I was like
I don't want to know what my life will be like
if he doesn't come work for me at the time that he did
because I really needed the work
I really needed the help
and I really needed someone that was loyal
and I knew that Dylan would be loyal
and you know what?
He was just a big blessing to me
so I really appreciate him
and I really appreciate all of our ushers in this church
a lot of them do a lot of things for me
that really help out
I'm really, really thankful that we have a Spanish ministry
and it's still going
and I know it's been slow
and we haven't really had a lot of new people
but I'm just really thankful that someone's even trying
and that they're still working on it
and I'm really thankful for how faithful they've been
because I've been very hands off
and they've really just kept it going
and there's been specific people
that have really made it just keep going
and put a lot of effort into it
and I'm really thankful for them
I'm really thankful for the people that we found
to publish our Spanish Bible
because that was a headache
and I'm just really thankful that we have those New Testaments
and we're actually getting another shipment
of a whole bunch more of those
and I'm really thankful that we can make them
I'm really thankful for Pastor Gomez
for giving us the opportunity to publish them
so we can have them
and I'm really thankful for the fact that other people
even make Bibles
isn't it nice that you have a nice Bible
I'm just really thankful that people are making this stuff
and they make King James Bibles affordable
I mean those New Testaments are like a buck
and when we manufacture stuff
it's way more expensive
I don't know how they're doing it
probably China or something
it's cheap
I'm thankful for ministries like Sword of the Lord
who produce our hymnals
I mean it'd be so easy for somebody to say
like nobody needs old hymnals anymore
and just stop making them
I'm so thankful for ministries like that
and I hope that we can be a blessing like that
to future generations where we make ministries
or organizations or programs or whatever
to produce materials so that other people can use it
I'm really thankful for Pastor Hyles
creating a book
I wrote a book called The Pastor Manual
because it was really helpful
it was like hey the first person comes up to me
like I want to get married
I have no idea what to do
but then you read Pastor Hyles manual
and he tells you everything exactly what to do
and I was just like I'm so thankful that someone
literally wrote down exactly what to say
and do and everything
because I was just like I have no idea what to do
and how to do funerals
how to do all kinds of stuff
I'm really thankful that Pastor Hyles wrote a book
Reaching on Preaching because I love that book
that is a great book
I'm really thankful for the Red Hot Preaching Conference
boy that thing is exciting
I'm really thankful for people like Pastor Jimenez
who are so organized
and they make me feel like not a very good Christian
but then they inspire me
to be better okay
I'm really thankful for people like him
you know I'm thankful for Ken Ham
debating Bill Nye
just because it inspired me
to get more serious about the things of God
and I'm thankful for Ken Hovind
debating all kinds of people
because it also caused me
to be really excited about
creation and the King James Bible
and all kinds of different things
and I'm really thankful that people are willing to go
put themselves out there and debate
and to contend for the faith
and really kind of challenge the public square
on ideas because if they never had
I would have never found out
and I wouldn't be the person that I am
I'm really thankful for people who did things like that
I'm thankful that Pastor Anderson made a video
mocking James White
because that's the reason I found out about him
you know
literally the only reason I found out about Pastor Anderson
because I was researching the King James Bible issue
and I found someone making fun of James White
mispronouncing words in the King James Bible
and it's like one of my favorite videos ever
okay
and I'm really thankful for our Friends churches
I'm really thankful for Pastor Anderson specifically
because he's just such a good friend
and I talk to him actually a lot
and I just really appreciate that
he's really willing to spend a lot of time
talking to me about the Bible
or just issues and
it just really helps me to be a better person
and he's so busy that he wouldn't have to do that
but he does give me a lot of help
and I just really appreciate that
and I also
I appreciate all of our Friends
I'm not going to be able to mention all of them
but you know I'm really thankful for someone
who I'm not really hanging out with much
but he just inspires me is Pastor Matthew Stuckey
I mean the guy is just like
just a spiritual beast
I mean the guys out there are just
you know
I want to say a lot of words but they probably wouldn't
people would get mad at me for them
but I'm just thinking like
he's just doing a really good job over there in the Philippines
and he works really hard and he's really spiritual
and he just really inspires me
to be a better Christian and soul winner
and I'm really thankful for people like him
he takes me very seriously
and he's very sober
and just a great guy
I'm really thankful for just sports
and games existing so I can play them
I love golf
I'm not that thankful for softball
I'm just going to put it out there
I'm really thankful that I have a home
I really like having a home
and you know what I'm actually thankful
for something you might think is weird
but go to Romans chapter 5
I'm actually thankful for the protests
against our church
and you know what's funny is like
there's a few people that actually have come to our church
or joined our church as a result of the protests
and I'm really thankful
I'm willing to have those people
and you know the Bible literally talks about
negative things being a positive thing
in a sense
and the protests against our church
I think they've really helped us in a lot of ways
they've helped us have more character, more integrity
to really tighten down
on certain doctrines
and to just be even more close knit
as a church
going through those battles have caused us to have a
closer friendship and camaraderie
than we would if we hadn't
and so I think we have to appreciate those things
and look what the Bible says in
Romans 5 verse 3
not only so
but we glory in tribulations also
knowing that tribulation
worketh patience
you know the Bible says that we should glory in tribulation
you know
and that's just a carnal perspective of what I'm saying
why I appreciate those things
how about this
you get spiritual rewards for being persecuted
you don't even know
how much spiritual reward you've had
because of the protests
and it's like thank God we've been protested
like we could have spent our whole lives
and we get to heaven
it's just like you didn't do much, no reward
it's like if you go to heaven
going through lots of persecution and evil
you're going to get a big reward
thank you
you know it's like thanks so much
you're helping me so much
it's like oh but you're losing money or whatever
it's like I don't care about that
thy money perish with thee
you know what I'm getting spiritual rewards in heaven
and you know what praise God
that we have the opportunity
to stand up for the Lord Jesus Christ
praise God that we could be counted
worthy to suffer shame
for his name
I mean to me
it's almost like a mark of God not being embarrassed of you
like think about it
no one ever knows who you are
and nobody cares
it's like is God kind of embarrassed
it's like when you are in the front center
of the devil's
you know minions
you got to know someone's paying attention
right?
and you should be thankful that that happened
not discouraged
go to Psalm 92
I'm going to wrap up
but I guarantee there's so much more
that I could be thankful for and I haven't mentioned it
but I have mentioned a lot
and I hope that
you know in a sermon like this
you're not thinking really about what I said
I want you to kind of think about you
and I hope that
me bringing things up
you'll think about what you have
you'll think about your spouse
and your children and your jobs
and your parents
and the people that are influenced in your life
I'm thankful for my in-laws
who offer to watch our kids
and allow me and my wife to
travel sometimes or go on a date
I'm really thankful for them
and having good in-laws
who love God and love
the Lord Jesus Christ and are saved
I mean not everybody has that
I'm really thankful that I have people like that
I know that they pray for me
and they pray for our church
they visit our church
I know that
a lot of people have worse
way worse situations
when it comes to parents or in-laws
and I'm just really thankful for a lot of people in my life
and I think that we as God's people
need to just work on being more thankful
because I think when you're thinking on
pure things
you're thinking on things that are lovely
you're thinking on all the blessings that God's given you
you're thinking about all the opportunities that you have
I mean I have so many opportunities
in the future for me right now
you have so many opportunities for you
we have so many soul winning trips
foreign missions trips
we have so many preaching events
we have so many conferences
we have so many children to raise
we have just so much stuff to do
and so much work to do
and the enemy
is raging
there's so many enemies to fight
and so much evil to accomplish
I mean there's so much stuff to do
we should be so thankful that God is giving us an opportunity
to do something
thankful to be alive in 2024 America
thankful to be in Texas
thankful to be a part of Steadfast Baptist Church
and to have these great opportunities
and we need to constantly be telling God thank you
look what it says in Psalm 92 verse 1
it is a good thing
to give thanks unto the Lord
and to sing praises unto thy name
almost high
and if nothing else
at least just the rest of my life just giving thanks to God
that's an opportunity you always have
you know when Paul and Silas are thrown in prison
they didn't know if they were going to get out
but they just sang praises to God anyways
I can just
you know what I can sing a salvation no matter what
if I've lost all of my body parts
and I'm just a brain hanging on
I can still just be thankful I'm not going to hell
right? I mean like no matter what situation I'm in
I can just be thankful
Job lost his children
lost all of his money
but you know what blessed be the name of the Lord is what he said
why? because we can always give thanks
thanks unto God and let us be a group
of people that are constantly giving
thanks to God for what we have
Psalm 95 look at verse 2
look at 105 verse 1
Psalm 105 verse 1
verse 1
oh give thanks unto the Lord
call upon his name
notice this
make known his deeds among the people
that's what I've been doing this evening
is I've been making known his deeds
praise God for all the blessings
he's given me in my life
my parents and my wife and my children
and the people in this room
and the King James Bible and salvation
and all the amazing things that I have
you know what? that's the deeds of the Lord
that is God's hand
working directly in my life
and you know what? praise God for him
praise the Lord
look at 118 verse 1
Psalm 118
verse 1
the Bible says
oh give thanks unto the Lord
for he is good
because his mercy endureth
forever
look at verse 29
oh give thanks unto the Lord
for his mercy endureth
forever
look at Psalm 119 verse 62
the Bible says
at midnight
I will rise to give thanks
unto thee because of thy righteous
judgments
praise God for the Word of God
praise God for the statutes of the Lord
praise God for his wisdom
praise God that we could have a sermon this morning
where we actually learn how to be clean
and not just stay dirty the rest of our lives
praise God that I don't live in India
in a bunch of filth
praise God I don't live in Africa
in a bunch of filth
praise God I don't live in San Francisco
where I have to walk up and down the streets
and watch out for poop, literally
and I can have his righteous
judgments and his righteous statutes
and know what is right
praise God for that
I don't have to guess
go to one more place, go to Psalm 147
Psalm 147
praise God for the Word of God
it's a light unto
my feet
it's a light unto my path
and a lamp unto my feet
Psalm 147 look at verse 7
the Bible says
sing unto the Lord with thanksgiving
sing praise
upon the harp
unto our God
we need to sing unto the Lord with thanksgiving
we need to constantly praise God
and you know what, I'm so glad that we can sing
songs like that, but we need to do that
not just at church
all day
just every day, you know if you're not having a
good attitude, just start thanking
God for all the things you have in your life
if you feel like you've been
struggling with having the right attitude
or being sad
or depressed or having a bad day
or just bad season
or bad month or whatever
just literally
count your blessings
just literally, just get out a notepad
and just say, you know what
what are things that I appreciate
and at first you might think, like, nothing
because you have a bad attitude
okay
but I already told a bunch of things
hey, I'm saved, you're just kind of like
saved, you know
baptized, you know
got the King James Bible, then you'll slowly
start getting into it
then you'll start realizing, you know what, you got a lot of stuff
you have a lot of cool things
you know, God is so good to us
and I think that we need to have
a change of attitude
on a regular basis
and we can do that through singing
and you know what, sing to God a lot
God loves us to sing to him
pick a song, sing it
you know, we have lots of songs
we've been trying to help you with
but that is going to
help us to have the right attitude
and I think when we have the right attitude
God is going to do even more for us
God is going to do even more
the more thankful that we are for what we have now
I believe the more God is going to give us
and the less thankful we are
the less God is going to do for us
and if we want to do even greater works in 2024
if we want to even do bigger things
if we want even bigger blessings
let us make sure to count our blessings now
let's close in prayer
thank you Heavenly Father so much for what you've given us
thank you so much for this church and this group of people
thank you for giving us the Bible
thank you for giving us the Bible and salvation
I pray that we would just get the right mentality
and the right attitude in our hearts and our minds
that you would help us
to recognize and realize
how much we have to be thankful for
and I pray that you would just help fill our hearts
with thanksgiving and with joy
and that we could rejoice in the Lord
I pray that you would put a song
in everybody's mouth
a song of joy
and happiness and joy in the Lord
that we could recognize the salvation
that you've given us
and I pray that you would help us to have the right mentality
towards life
and I just thank you for all the opportunities you've given us already
I pray that we would be appreciative
of the ones that come in the future
and in Jesus' name we pray, amen
alright, in closing, let's go to song number 439
song number 439
count your blessings
song number 439
everybody sing it on the first
when upon life's billows
you are tempest
cost
when you are discouraged
thinking all is lost
count your many blessings
name them one by one
and it will surprise you
what the Lord has done
count your blessings
name them one by one
count your blessings
name them one by one
count your blessings
see what God has done
count your blessings
name them one by one
count your many blessings
see what God has done
are you ever burdened
with the load of care
does the crossing heavy
you are called to bear
count your many blessings
every doubt will fly
and you will be singing
as the days go by
count your blessings
name them one by one
count your blessings
see what God has done
count your blessings
name them one by one
count your many blessings
see what God has done
when you look at others
with their lands and gold
think that Christ has promised
you his wealth untold
count your many blessings
money cannot buy
your reward in heaven
or your home on high
count your blessings
name them one by one
count your blessings
see what God has done
count your blessings
name them one by one
count your many blessings
see what God has done
so amid the conflict
whether great or small
do not be discouraged
God is over all
count your many blessings
angels will attend
help and comfort
give you to your journeys
and
count your blessings
name them one by one
count your blessings
see what God has done
count your blessings
name them one by one
count your many blessings
see what God has done