Yes, But…

We are continuing on in a series called Seven Words That Can Change Your Life. And it’s built around the premise that one word, even a little word like “YES” of “NO” or “ENOUGH” or “SORRY” can, and often does change your life. And oftentimes, it's the simplest words that can be the most impactful. And that’s the case with the word we’re looking at today which is… THANKS

Thanks is a word which I believe, we tend to underestimate when it comes to the significance, it can have in our lives. I mean, we all know that it's polite to say “Thank you.” That’s why we try to teach our kids that if a waiter or waitress brings them their food or refills their drink, they should say “Thank you.”

If someone gives my kids something, I might prompt them by telling them….”Now what do you say?” Because I want them to learn to be appreciative and polite. But does that change a person's life? Because that's the premise of this series, that these are seven words that can change your life, as I began to study, what I realized is that gratitude is not a one-time “Thank you.” Gratitude is a mindset. And that’s what I hope we’ll see today.

But before we get into that. . . I just want to mention to you that through the years, I have from time to time had conversations with people who were really wrestling with the question . . . What is God’s will for my life? What’s God’s plan for my life? What’s God’s direction for my life? Does God want me to have this job or this job? Does he want me to, to live in this city? Or this city? Does he want me to go to this college or this one over here? And and I think it's good.

I think it's right, if you’re a follower of Jesus Christ to be concerned with those qeustions. Admittedly, IF YOU’RE NOT YET a follower of Jesus, if you’re just kind of checking things out, chances are those questions won’t concern you yet. But, if God is real, and he has revealed Himself to us through the person of Jesus, then it's reasonable to think that he has a plan and purpose for our lives, and that it would be in our best interest to align ourselves with that plan.

But having said that, I want to tell you that what I’ve seen all too often is individuals really wrestling with these intricate questions relating to the details of the will of God. All the while, ignoring what he has already told us about the revealed Will of God. At the top of your notes you’ll find. . . Three things that He has told us ARE his will. We don’t have to wonder about these three, We don’t have to pray about whether these things are His will. He’s told us they are.

1 Thessalonians 4:3 - “God’s will is for you to be holy, so stay away from all sexual sin.”

Again the good news is you don’t have to wonder about this. You don’t have to pray about this. You just do it. Stay away from sexual sin. So no more affairs, no more lusting, no more pornography, I'm going to be holy because that is God's will.

There are others that are a little more complex, like the next one- 1st Peter 2:15 says . . . “It is God’s will that your honorable lives should silence those ignorant people who make foolish accusations against you.”

One of the most popular allegations to level against Christ’s church, and against followers of Jesus Christ, is to say that they are all a bunch of hypocrites. Do you know the best way to answer that charge? The good news is you don’t need to sign up for a course in apologetics, to respond to that allegation. You don’t need to come up with six clever arguments. The best way to refute that charge is simply to live a life of integrity. Stop lying. Be a person of your word, follow through on the things that you say you're going to do. That is God’s Will for you.

And then there’s a third verse there. And it’s our Memory Verse for this week. And it comes from 1 Thessalonians 5:18 and it says . . . . “Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”

That verse seems pretty clear. Is it telling us to give thanks… In some of my circumstances?, no, In most of my circumstances? No. It says Give thanks in ALL circumstances…. As I’m sharing this with you, I need to let you know that I believe that here at ERBC we are made up of a congregation of very thankful people. People who are very good at expressing gratitude. And this is something that I am reminded of again and again.

Just last week, one of our members was looking for a way to say “Thank You” to our staff and she discovered a very creative way. The local Christian Radio station here in town KKLA, is running a promotion in which listeners can nominate their church for something that the station is calling “Thankful Thursday,” and if their church is selected it means that the staff of that church gets a free lunch, courtesy of KKLA.

Well our own Rose Bystrom, put our name in for that honor, and we were selected, and I’d like you to hear the nice things she said about us. . . . Thankful Thursday Image I want to say a big Thank You to Rose Bystrom, for Thinking Of, and for Thanking Us. Because if you’ve been around our church for any length of time, you’ve heard me say. . . The only thing better than food, is . . . FREE FOOD

And we had a great lunch, so thank you.

But . . . “Give thanks in ALL circumstances; Is that really possible? What about those times when you don’t FEEL particularly thankful? I mean. . . How does a person who gets a bad doctor's diagnosis give thanks? How does a person who's lost their job give thanks? How does a person going through a divorce give thanks? I mean, isn’t there some wiggle room in this? Does ALL circumstances really mean ALL circumstances? The short answer is YES it does. But before we go to the reasons we can be thankful, I want to talk about one distinction that our memory verse makes that most of you have probably already picked up on.

And that is that this verse says . . . Be thankful, IN all circumstances, It does not say be thankful, FOR all circumstances, and that’s an important distinction, because there's a big difference between those two.

It would be weird to say, “God thank you for cancer…” Or, or the “Thank you for the job loss. . .” Or “Thank you for the divorce. . .” Those are not things you can be thankful FOR. Yet in the midst of those things you can still find reasons to give thanks. And this leads into the Big Idea For this weekend which is that. . . Thankfulness is by CHOICE not by CHANCE.

So the premise of the message today basically is that thankfulness is a choice, I make…. Not a feeling I wait to over overwhelm me. It's a choice that I make, it's not a feeling that I wait for. That means that this is an expectation that God has for me… To “Be thankful, in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.” Some of you hear that and you think . . . “That’s not possible” And to that I would simply respond, you’re right. It’s not possible. In fact, I might go so far as to say “It’s impossible” But what you and I need to remember is that when Jesus walked this earth, He regularly asked people to do things that were impossible to do.

Like one time we walked up to a lame person. And he said, “Pick up your mat, and walk.” The lame person could have responded, “What part of being lame do you not understand? “I'm lame. I cannot walk - That's why they call it lame.” But that's not what the person did. What he did was he stood up and he picked up his mat. And he walked because Jesus had asked him to do something that was absolutely impossible. And then he empowered him to do it.

Jesus did that all the time, He walked up to someone who was blind, and he said “See!” And the person saw. One two different occasions Jesus went to a funeral where he told the dead person to get up. Generally speaking, dead people don’t get up. It’s impossible for them to get up. And yet, that's what Jesus told them to do. And because he asked them to do it, he empowered them to do what was ordinarily impossible. And he does the same thing for you and for me.

In Philippians 2:13 Paul tell us . . . “For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him.” God is working in you, giving you the what? He’s giving you the, desire. And that’s important because if you’re anything like me, you may not always feel like doing what God wants you to do. But the good news is God not only tells me to do something, but then he gives me the desire to do it. And beyond that, if it’s something that I’m tempted to think is IMPOSSIBLE He doesn’t just give me the desire, he also gives me the power to do what pleases Him. And when it comes to giving thanks in all circumstances, sometimes we need both.

The desire and the power to do it.

Why Should I Be Thankful? Let me give you two reasons . . .

Thankfulness makes me BETTER

There have been all kinds of studies done on this that just show that gratitude is good for you. There's been all kinds of research done on this. In one study, two psychologists, Dr. Robert Emmons of the University of California, and Dr. Michael McAuliffe of the University of Miami, they did some research on gratitude. And what they did is they took a group, a study group of people, and they divided them into thirds, And 1/3, they told to every single day, at the end of the day, they were to write down something during the day that they were thankful for grateful for. The second third, they were told to write something that bothered them down something that irritated them. And then the third group, they weren't given direction.

They were just told the journal at the end of the day, whatever thoughts they had, And what they found was that after 10 weeks of this exercise, the ones who wrote down what they were thankful for, they were more optimistic, and they felt better about life than the people who wrote down what they were irritated by. Not only that, they had a tendency to exercise more, and go to the doctor less. Why? Because gratitude is good for you. It's just better for you.

We live in what one author has called . . . . The Culture Of Complaint. In his book, the writer, Robert Hughes says that in American society - - Over the last several years we have developed this expectation that all of our needs should be met; That all of our desires should be fulfilled. That somehow it is our right … You know life, liberty and the guarantee of happiness. If things don’t go the way we wish they would go then our default setting has become complaining: the culture of compliant.

Now, how should we respond to that? Let me give you two choices. . .

We can say . . . . Ain’t it awful? We can gripe, and grumble, and grouse, and complain about how people ought to be more grateful….

Or, we can see it as an opportunity, to live in a way that is counter-cultural.

The verse there on your notes from Philippians 2 says . . . “Do everything without complaining and arguing, so that no one can criticize you. Live clean, innocent lives as children of God." If you live like that. . . If you do everything without complaining and arguing. . . Do you know what’s going to happen? You’ll stand out, and people will notice. As Paul says you will . . . "shining like bright lights in a world full of crooked and perverse people.” Simply because you are thankful. Thankfulness makes you BETTER

Another reason to be thankful in all circumstances is because you know that. . .

Adversity Can Make Me STRONGER

Some of us have bought into the lie that there is a way to live, in which you can experience a problem-free, an adversity-free life. Some people buy into the lie, that if you can just accumulate enough money, it will insulate you against the perils of adversity. Tell that to Steve Jobs. More money than he could ever spend. It didn’t enable him to make it to the age of 60. Tell it to Jeff Bezos, of Bill Gates. More money than almost anyone on the planet, but it didn’t enable them to keep their marriages together. Unlimited wealth apparently doesn’t guarantee you happiness at home.

Now clearly, some of the adversity we experience comes our way, simply because we live in a broken world. Other times the adversity we experience is self-inflicted. But either way, it has the potential to make us stronger.

Take a look at what James, the half-brother of our Lord, wrote in the letter that bears his name. James chapter 1, verse 2-4 he says . . . “Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles of any kind come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing.”

A couple of things I want you to notice in those verses. First he says . . . “. . . when troubles of any kind come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy." Notice, it’s not automatic, it’s an opportunity. He writes further and says . . . “For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. Once again, not automatic. . . Just an opportunity. You and I know people who have gone through ADVERSITY and they didn’t come out BETTER, they can out BITTER. Why? Because your response, is your responsibility. Adversity CAN make you stronger, but the choice is yours. It can also make you just a more miserable person.

When troubles come your way, it’s an opportunity for joy. It’s an opportunity for your endurance to grow. It’s an opportunity for thankfulness. All of us have gone through STUFF in our lives, that you most likely would not want to ever repeat, but you can look back and see how God was at work in it.

A verse that is frequently misquoted is. . . Romans 8:28 tells us. . . “And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.”

That verse doesn’t say that God causes everything. God does not cause sin. That verse doesn’t says that everything is good. . . It says God can work everything together for good. There are things that you have gone through. There are things that I have gone through that were not good. But God redeemed them. He brought something good out of them.

When I was 20 years old, I was involved in an auto accident. A single car accident. No one at fault other than myself. I easily could have killed myself. I easily could have killed someone else. Thankfully neither of those things happened. What I did suffer as a result of that accident was a dislocated hip, that had to be corrected by surgery, and a three-week stay in the hospital, over Christmas and New Years. Three weeks with my leg in traction after that surgery, Three weeks during which I couldn’t get out of bed. At that time, if you had asked me, “How is God working this for good?” I couldn’t have told you. I wasn’t a follower of Jesus Christ. I wasn’t thinking about God at all.

But now, years later, as someone who has spent a lot of his life visiting patients in the hospital, I can tell you how God used that experience to help me to understand what it feels like to ride in the back of an ambulance, What it feels like to lie on an operating table, And what it feels like to spend three weeks confined to a hospital bed. Couldn’t see any purpose in it at the time, but now, looking back, I clearly can.

Do you have a desire to become more thankful? Let me suggest two things you can do . . .

Eliminate When & Then Thinking

You know what this is. . . When you’re in High School you think. . . When I get out of High school and go to College, then life's really gonna get going. If you’re single you think . . .when I get married, then I won't be so lonely. And then you get married and you think, you know, when we have kids, then we'll be happy. And then you have kids. And you say, Well, it must be when they get out of diapers, you know, I think that's when you really start to get happy. And then you think maybe it's when they move out of the house, When and then thinking believes that there is some event, some person, some possession, some vacation out there, that when it happens is going to fix the void and emptiness that's in your life.

The problem with When & Then thinking is it blocks gratitude because it never allows you to enjoy the season that you're in. You're always looking forward to the next season, the next breakthrough that's going to fix everything in your life. But the problem is it never comes. Here's what the Bible says in Psalm 118 says “This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.”

This is the day. Today. Not tomorrow, not next week or next year, not the next season of your life. Not when you retire. Not when you go on vacation to Hawaii. He says today is the day that the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in

Psalm 90 verse 12 says “Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.”

Two things I love about that verse . . . I love that phrase "number our days." That’s reminding us that our time here is finite. None of us is going to live here on earth forever. Each of us has a limited amount of time that God has given to us. We would be wise to remember that and live accordingly.

The second thing I appreciate are those two words. . . "Teach us" That’s telling us that this is something we have to learn. Days don't number themselves. We need to learn to number them. Someone once said. . . “Yesterday is a cancelled check; tomorrow is a promissory note; today is the only cash you have - so spend it wisely.”

Eliminate When & Then Thinking.

Last point on your notes. . .

Be The One Who Circles Back

Now what do I mean by that? In Luke chapter 17, we’re told of a time when Jesus was heading towards Jerusalem. And he's on the border of Galilee and Samaria. He enters into this little village and 10 lepers come out to meet him, and they cry out, Lord Jesus have mercy on me. Leprosy was a skin disease where Boils would break out all over your body. It was extremely painful. It was also thought to be extremely contagious, to the point where if you had leprosy, you had to be quarantined from everybody else. You had to live apart from everyone else, outside of the city. If you were walking down the street, and you saw someone coming towards you who didn't have leprosy, you would have to cry out leper unclean. And by doing that you were warning that other person to get to the other side of the street because you don't want to be around me.

Jesus encountered 10 men who had that disease. And he healed all 10. And the result was their lives were changed forever. They could return to the city. They could return to their families. They could return to their lives. But look at what it says next. says “One of them, when he saw that he was healed, came back to Jesus, shouting, “Praise God!” He fell to the ground at Jesus’ feet, thanking him for what he had done… Jesus asked, “Didn’t I heal ten men? Where are the other nine? Has no one returned to give glory to God except this foreigner?” - Luke 17:15-18

Ten people were healed. Only one of them said thank you. Will you be the one?

Statistically speaking, most people will forget. God will give them life. He will give them breath, He will give them talents and abilities, He will love for them care for them provide for them, He will be faithful to them, and they will run off. And they'll get so wrapped up in their career and their kids and their own dreams and ambitions that they will forget to circle back to God and say thank you.

Will you be the one? The one who daily pauses to give thanks. We appreciate people who say thank you. . . I received a great thank you note this week, I want to share it with you, but to do that I need to share the back story as well.

Two weeks ago, I shared with you about a ministry that we’re partnering with as a church called CARE PORTAL. I shared with you that CarePortal is a technology that works with the Foster Care System in order to brings the needs of hurting children and families in our community to our attention. Caseworkers uncover needs. CarePortal makes local churches and community members aware, giving them a real-time opportunity to respond to those needs. And then you can decide if that need has your name on it. When a case-worker submits a need to this platform, it goes out to everyone who has indicated an interested in being informed. Every church, every individual, everyone who has said. . . “Let me know when there’s a need in the community around me, because maybe, just maybe it might turn out that, that need has my name on it.”

I shared with you that if you want to learn more about this . .. All you have to do is let us know on your connection card. . . And you can do that again this weekend. . . I also shared with you that I’m on that list that receives those email requests as their sent out . . . But I received one about a week ago that I couldn’t make sense of . . . And I’m putting it up on the screen so you can see it. . . It says. . . .

“Foster youth and mother are working toward reunification. Youth has made great progress in the last year, engaging in all services available to her. Youth has been able to have overnight visits at home with mom and siblings. She loves her siblings. Family needs used or new bunk bed, full size on bottom and twin on top. And then it tells you what the cost is to meet these needs, so that you can decide whether you can help at all, or help in part, or help in full.

The total value of what was needed was $500. But then as it broke it down, to itemize how that would be divided, it said . . . Bunk Bed Frame (Need met in full). Full Mattress (Need met in full). Twin Mattress (Need met in full). And as I read that, I thought, “Praise God that this need has been met.” That’s awesome! But it left me with a question. If this need has been met, then why is the request still out there. And then I found out.

The church that was taking the lead on this request is “The ROCK” church in South L.A. Led by Pastor Peter & Didi Watts. If you’ve been around here for any length of time, you know that every year in August they come and their choir leads us in worship, and Pastor Pete brings a message. Well again, I was really thankful that the ROCK church was able to meet this need but I didn’t understand why it was still showing up on CAREPORTAL until I received and email from Pastor Pete. He told me that they had the bunk bed, They had the full size mattress. They had the twin mattress. What they were lacking were a couple of men who could help with the assembly I put an email out to about 8 guys, and almost immediately I got two who said they could help.

The two guys and Pastor Pete connected by phone. They met up with him at the address he provided They began the work of assembly. And in no time flat. The Bed Was Assembled Perfectly With parts left over. That was last Saturday. Two days later, I got this email from Pastor Pete. I want to read it to you . . .

Again, this need has been met, but there are others. And if you want to learn more about CAREPORTAL Just let us know on your connection card and we’ll get you that info. BTW, we have other partnerships planned with The ROCK Church In just a few weeks we’re doing an event called. . . . Backpack Blessing In that event we’ll be collecting backpacks and school supplies to fill them with. And then we’ll deliver them to the ROCK church so that they in turn can deliver them to kids in need. You’ll hear more about that in the weeks ahead, but if you want to get a head start. Check the box on the your connection card and Raquel can send you a list of the items they’ll be collecting.

One more NEXT STEP you can take to grow in gratitude. It’s called the “Three Blessing Exercise” If you want to learn more about that. . . . Just check the box on your connection card, and I’ll send you a one page sheet that tells you all you need to know.

One last story I wanted to share with you…. In his book, Grace is Greater, Pastor Kyle Idleman, tells a story about a man who requested that their church pay for his grave marker. It's rather unusual to have someone ask you to pay for their gravestone. And so Pastor Idleman decided that he wanted to meet this man and find out a little bit more about his story. So they got together for lunch, and the man's name was Marcus. And Marcus shared his story with Pastor Kyle He told him that one morning he woke up severely jaundiced. He described himself as being “Orange as a pumpkin.” He told Idleman that he had been a heavy drinker early in his life. So he assumed it was cirrhosis of the liver. He rushed to the ER and within an hour, they told him that what he had was not cirrhosis of the liver, but pancreatic cancer and that he would die in two days. Now chemotherapy slowed that down a little bit. But he said as it did, “I started to notice a shift in my spirit.” He said, he started to become grateful for things that he had never even thought about before. He was thankful for his next meal. And he was thankful for just a friend who might come and visit. He said and then he noticed himself becoming thankful for stuff that he couldn't even see with his own two eyes. He was thankful for Jesus Christ and the hope of eternal life. And he was so thankful that Jesus promises that he's going to give him a new body, one that's not being destroyed by cancer, and that he will have that body for all of eternity.

He said it was the strangest thing. But these last couple of days, he has had more joy than almost the whole rest of his life combined. And so he said, here's what I want written on my gravestone. “Lord, forgive me. For the days, when I was not ungrateful.” He said, “My hope is that one person will be walking through the cemetery and they will notice.” And in one sentence, they will see my problem. I wasn't grateful. But in that same sentence, they will see the solution.

Lord, forgive me.

Lord, forgive me.

For the days that I was ungrateful.

He said, that's the message that I want people to see.

Would you join with me as we close in prayer.

More Messages from Dr. Rick Mandl

From Series: "Seven Words That Will Change Your Life"

Words have power. Even the simplest words can change the trajectory of your life. Words like Help can set an addict toward recovery. Yes can open doors to new dreams. Sorry and Thanks can heal families. When you use these small words, God can do big things in your life.

Sermon Notes