(0:00)The Danger of Spiritual Amnesia
it's human nature to forget however it is a dangerous aspect of human nature when it comes to our faith it's dangerous because Faith Builds on faith God speaks a word to you you can forget the word He blesses you you can forget the blessing and when you are now in front of a challenge it's brand new there's no God there's no word let's talk about finances I woke up this morning and my account was in overdraft right I got a notice from Bank of America I'm $35 in overdraft mind you they'll still charge another $35 on the so that's really like 70 bucks 70 and I don't know how I'm going to fix it I've got a bunch of bills that are going to hit that account and I don't know what's going to happen but halfway through the day I get oh we forgot to pay you this money I get a check my taxes I'm owing the IRS next thing I know IRS sends me an email saying hey we miscalculated the interest on this payments here's x amount un filter hi everybody welcome back to PF on filter I'm your host Esther Griffin and I am alone today tund is not here sh is not here I'm by myself but I'm really excited because I have PF here with me are you excited cuz I'm here are you excited CU tday is not here I'm excited that I'm being challenged to do something different and I'm getting to like really like step out of step outside my comfort zone okay not okay so so you're excited not because to's not here have you guys fired him again no
(1:24)Where is Tunde? (And Firing Pastors)
he's not fired he just traveled okay so you fired him he's not fired you're just not here that's what you said the last time I found out you guys fired him okay it's all right no um but no I I'm I'm genuinely happy that like I mean obviously we have a we have a personal relationship yeah um so uh when I was asked to do this I felt like it was like a privilege and an honor to like really get to connect with you in a different way than we normally do true um outside of counseling outside of you being a shepherd of our church and all the other things so it's nice to kind of like have this dialogue with you people pray for this really people pray to be close to the people that lead them they pray to be close to their pastors I I don't think of myself in those times you don't have to yeah yeah I know I know but it's when you say that you know it kind of makes me like H I'm I'm actually that guy yeah it's kind of weird but I get it I hear all the time from my friends I can't go to a church where I don't know my pastor and D I like well I don't have no problems God yeah um to that point you know we're going to be really talking about gratitude today okay okay and um
(2:30)The Struggle to Belong
that's my new favorite topic yes and I do want to start by saying this I'm really grateful to know you thank you um I'm grateful that I ended up at the at at New Covenant House um I'm grateful that me and W can call you guys mentors and counselors um I didn't initially want to come to New Covenant House really tell me what happened so at the time I was going to another church in Dallas downtown and I was driving like 40 minutes to get to church from where we lived at the time wow and while was coming here and I was going to another church which is so diabolical CU I mean if we told our parents that we were going to separate churches that would be yeah um and after a while like I was just like the Lord was just speaking to me was like why are you going why are you like rebelling like is it by force for you to go to the church that you're going to just go to right at the time Jesus house right and so um after I made the change I was like you know what I just need to get involved I need to like I can't say that I want to be um I want a church that gives me something and I'm not giving back true and I really desire a place where I can connect right um and it's interesting at the other place even though I was connected there I didn't feel like really like amongst like I didn't feel like I belong right right and when I got here I felt like I belonged right see see see I know that's one of a place to belong a place to become I know right a place to believe a place to believe um and so yeah I'm just really F that um the Lord called called me to kind of make that decision and I was actually obedient and I found myself here and you know after all these years look where I am today God is good God is faithful so I do want to ask like why do you feel like it's hard for people to be grateful or to operate out of gratitude I think
(4:19)Why Our Needs Blind Our Gratitude
the the the and and by the way I'm very grateful for you too by the way and and for w w is cool um I think the problem with folks right is not that we're not grateful yeah is that sometimes our needs overwhelm us and because our needs are the present problems when somebody says to you Esther I need $1,000 MH and you give them $500 the fact that the 500 is not a thousand many times is what people are thinking about yes not the fact that I had zero now I have 500 so they're focused on the problem not being solved as opposed to so I am halfway to a solution if that makes any sense and sometimes that's what happens to folks you know we we we're focused on what has not been done right and lose sight of what has been done yeah and losing sight of what has been done and focusing on what has not been done can make us ungrateful for what has been done that's interesting yeah it's it's a it's an interesting phenomenon because you will think that you know we would have the sense right to appreciate what has been done but usually it takes somebody calling our attention to what has been done right because our mind in going coming to you for a solution is this is how the problem is going to be solved yeah and when you meet us halfway it's not good enough it's not enough okay it's interesting that you use that example because growing up and I love my dad to death of course I love him we have a amazing relationship today but I remember being in college and my dad did not pay for a school right right I took a lot took out loans all the things and
(6:00)The 'Entitlement' Trap With Parents
I remember him even saying like oh you better take out loans if you want to go to school like I'm not paying for it right and I remember feel like what's wrong with this man like your Ms as you would say your Ms are paying for their kids to go to school but you decided that I'm taking out Lo right um I remember calling him and asking him for like $500 right and he used to do this all the time he's completely changed now but I would call him ask him for money and then he would give me half of what he said he would give me right and I would be pissed and so to the point that you've made about like you've asked somebody for something they've given you less than what you asked you should be grateful yes of course in the same capacity has my father I'm expecting that you're going to go all the way out of your way for me to give me something right and I'm expecting that you are going to be a man of your word right so in the same way how was it that I wasn't necessarily operating out of gratefulness when I asked him for money and then he gave me half of what I asked two things number one you didn't have the half he gave you mhm first of all right so he has moved you from zero to 250 okay right but he said he was going to give me 500 that is worth gratitude okay perhaps if you express some gratitude for the 250 right the next time you come around he might be willing to go all the way right but rather than Express gratitude and even if even if he promised you 500 MH and at the time when it was time to deliver all he had was 250 and he gave you the 250 you should always be grateful for somebody giving you what you don't have it doesn't matter right it's ridiculous to say well you promised me 500 right so I'm not going to say thank you for the 250 like are you kidding me exactly it's ridiculous like you don't even have the 250 yeah so now I'm giving you 250 and 250 is not good enough and you're going to hinge your lack of gratitude on the fact that I said I was going to give you 500 that's that's that's nonsense you have more than you had yeah I give it to you you didn't work for it you didn't do anything to deserve it yeah you asked me for it and at the time when I was supposed to give it to you this is what I had what if I said I wasn't getting me 250 there's there's fights there you go over what why why are we fighting cuz you're my father you should you didn't even pay for how old were you I was I had to be like 20 oh so your mates were working right and and and flipping burgers and doing what they needed to do how is this about me and you are going to be entitled he's my father you are youve reached the age of agency H which means that you are you make your own choices yeah did you have to do did you have to incure the $500 bill okay okay reflection is important it's very important in this life yeah I guess in the same way why do
(9:02)The Biblical Fix: Do Not Forget
you think that also in terms of like the way that we look at God and like being grateful why don't we remember some of the things that God has done for us in in the same way like I should be grateful for the 200 and my dad has done things in the past for me why am I not how come my heart posture is not positioned in the from that perspective I I I I I think that there there a couple of issues right I think number one human beings yeah we're very focused on now right and we sometimes forget how history influences the way that we look at now right so or how history is supposed to influence the way that we look at now they they say if you if you forget the mistakes of your past you are going to repeat them right okay if you forget the victories of your past you're going to act like you've never had a victory right if you forget the things that God has done for you you're going to deal with God like he's done nothing for you right and as human beings our nature is on with the next on with the next you know we're constantly focused on the biggest challenge in front of us yeah right and that is why God over and over says to us do not forget do not forget because he knows that we have a tendency to forget it is not a good thing sometimes right and when it comes to our relationship with God it is definitely not a good thing because if you forget the lion and the bear you will cringe in front of Goliath right and we live in a world where they are constantly going to be goliaths rising up against us right we need to keep in front of us the fact that we serve a God right who delivered us from the lion who delivered us from the bear and he will also Deliver Us from a Goliath because relative to a lion strengthwise or a bear strengthwise it's almost the same as a Goliath right so if God has done this before why wouldn't do it again yeah right I think we forget because we just get preoccupied right with the current issues with enjoying what he has done and when it's time to face a new challenge we're we're we're lost what what are some practical ways that in our day-to-day life that we can operate from that place constantly reminding yourself of what God has done no matter what is going on in front of you yeah constantly reminding yourself you know I
(11:31)The Problem with 'Autopilot' Worship
talked about this and this is from my own personal experience I I I I um I lead a prayer meeting every morning at 6:00 a.m. yeah um we have other pastors lead it but you know I'm one of the pastors who lead the prayer meeting and at the prayer meeting I realized you know for the last couple of years that I have spent the first few minutes of that meeting 30 minutes 40 minutes 20 minutes 10 minutes whatever yeah for me giving thanks to God and you know praising his name but I realize that when I sing if I must up the courage to sing when I sing I enter autopilot can you hold a note no I can't hold it I can't hear it Mercy I have no sense of it Mercy it's ridiculous I'm Tor deaf completely Tor deaf is that like medically diagnosed it's just the reality you want me to sing for you now let's just just try for us let's not let's not let's not we are trying to build our subscriber base don't want to reduce it so I I I realize that when I sing yeah I'm an autopilot I'm not really thinking about what I'm saying I'm familiar with the words so there's no examination of them there's no for me there's no connection with what you're actually saying in there's no deep connection there's a connection but it's many times it's superficial okay right but when I have to speak right I am somebody who usually chooses his words carefully right so I am thinking about what I'm going to say so father I thank you for the life in my limbs the breath in my lungs yeah I thank you that I woke up this morning on the side of life on this side of the of the Great Divide yeah right on this side of Eternity MH you know I thank you for what else do I have to thank God for so many things that's what I'm saying yeah that question right
(13:31)Excavating Your Memory for Victories
produces what do you call it an excavation of my memory and I'm like you know what yesterday you were almost in an accident day before yesterday you didn't know how you were going to pay that bill a year ago you were looking at a medical diagnosis that you just didn't know what was going to happen and you start to go back and you start to go back and you start to go back and this is happening every day right so this is what I do okay let's talk about finances yeah right I woke up this morning and my account was in overdraft right I got a notice from Bank of America I'm $35 in overdraft mind you they still charge another $35 on the so that's really like 70 bucks 70 right and I don't know how I'm going to fix it yeah I've got a bunch of bills that are going to hit that account and I don't know what's going to happen yeah right but half way through the day right I get oh we forgot to pay you this money I get a check yeah um my taxes I'm owing the IRS next thing I know IRS sends me an email saying hey we miscalculated the interest on this payments here's x amount and you go through your diary you go through the Diary of your mind so to speak and you start to find little little things in your finances alone yeah where God Has Come through for you and then you go to your health you go to your marriage you go to your children you go to your career you know the more you excavate right the more you're going to find stuff and so what that did for me is I realized that as I found those things yeah many of them I would in Excavating I would not just excavate the blessing I would excavate the situation too right so I will remember the trauma or the fear or the desper ation or the hopelessness or whatever pain or whatever thing I was a good point not just like like the whole scenario the whole scenario all you kind of go through all the things that you were feeling all the feels and so I'm praying and I get emotional I start to cry and people are like what's wrong with this guy why is he always crying on this call but what they don't realize is that I am in trying to find reason to give thanks to God that's good I'm actually looking at everything and when you remember yeah right what you were feeling at the time when you remember what you were dealing with at the time yeah and you compareed with what you dealing with now and what you're feeling now you realize that a there's so many similarities right and what you're dealing with now is not much if at all bigger than what you've dealt with in the past right and God came through on those yeah so why wouldn't he come through on these yeah right and in those moments then the Gratitude again for those things yeah because I'm like dang man you actually brought me out of that yeah like I wasn't even you know I I talk about there's a story that I told on one of the podcast about how I almost got attacked by robbers yeah in the moment right I it's easy to miss the magnitude of it that's a it's that's a serious incident yes but with time yeah and knowledge of other scenarios that have happened to other people you realize what could have happened to you right all of again that gratitude comes and what that then does for me is I've realized that the more I am I I find things to thank God for the more I trust God right so the things he did for me right you know how the Israelites had the 10 plagues which those people are very unsensible people not they're us are they really us they are very much us because I found that I don't want to learn from people's mistakes very much I don't want to learn from my own mistakes I want to learn from people's mistakes the Bible says it says do not be like the stiff necked people who did not enter because of unbelief right and and let me tell you something Esther right we are them we don't we look down on them yeah but we are them I think we should look down on them well then we should look down on each other no our this is why I say that because just like I was saying earlier right when traumatic things happen we remember if God M separated the Red Sea in front of my any any sea it's not a river it's a SE how can you forget how can you forget how can you walk through it on dry land how can you let me tell how can your enemies pursue you and then and be destroyed in it then all the other Miracles that he's done he turned water into blood lice frog frogs Yeah Darkness everything and he killed people's can I tell you can I tell you why can I tell you why the problem in front of you H is Big H the problem in front of you is Big it's so big and because you passed through those ones yeah suddenly they look small right because you've successfully escaped that it has receded into your memory and our memory has a way sometimes of romanticizing things so what pretty much is not that big of a deal yes now this is a big deal I I get how so this is what you were saying to ourselves you know what was I was it even really God maybe it was just the wind that you know that drowned the armies of pharaoh maybe I'm just trying to spiritualize all these things however this water is bitter man like this water is really bitter and Moses has no plan like how do you bring people out of the out of comfort yeah relative comfort and bring them into this place and it's hot is Dusty there sand everywhere you know you can smell sheep dong and and and there's there's no water 3 days in the wood there's no water right there's a way and that your mind exaggerates what is in front of you and minimizes what is behind you right and so you have forgotten what it was like to watch a neighbor get killed by one of Pharaoh's guards yeah you forgotten that incident all the stress and anxiety of for you forgot all of that you forgot all of that you forgotten the emotions of that when you are feeling this one it's hard to that one right in the moment it is hard however if you do the remembering before and practice the remembering it influences how you see this one that's that's the difference so these guys they see all of these Miracles right all of them and by the time they get and I I feel like the reason why God the one of the reasons I'm not you know I I don't know the mind of God like that yeah for 10 Miracles right was so that they would have 10 incidents 10 experiences because remember that these people had been in bondage for like 400 years yeah so they had no experience of God they had not seen the miraculous right so back to back to back God is trying to you know establish his credibility yeah when I when I spend time giving thanks I feel like I'm seeing my 10 Miracles right I'm seeing my 10 incidents so that when I stand in front of bitter Waters right the God who brought me through the 10 yeah who brought me through pharaoh who brought me through Dry Land who brought me through all of this stuff yeah that is the same God that stands with me by The Bitter Waters so rather than let's Stone Moses I'm like okay God what's the plan yeah the water is bitter what's the plan you had a plan for Pharaoh yeah you had a plan for his army you had a plan for the mud yeah what's the plan for the for the bitter Waters so in terms of forgetfulness would you say like it's a faith thing or a human nature thing it's human nature to forget however however it is a dangerous aspect of human nature when it comes to our faith right it's dangerous because Faith Builds on faith right God speaks a word to you you can forget the word yeah right He blesses you you can forget the blessing MH and when you are now in front of a challenge it's brand new there's no God there's no word right so what are you going to do you're going to look to yourself and when you are unable by yourself to deal with it then you get overwhelmed yeah so ultimately for me yeah it is human nature but God understood that that's why he said to people at different points build a memorial do something that will make you remember me that will make you remember my word it says you know put it in on on your on write it on your forehead just a bunch of different things to make sure that you remember yeah we forget things because we go through a lot of of very negative experiences if we remembered all of them right that can be overwhelming yeah it can right so I think God gave us that capacity to forget because we don't have the ability to hold all of these memories right but the important memories we take photographs to preserve memories right we we we we create statues and and you know and monuments to preserve memory so that history will not forget what are you doing to preserve your history with God right what are you doing to memorialize the victories people build you know um monuments to memorialize a great Victory a great battle right so there's people get tattoos even tattoos exactly there's even though people say ah tatto well some say tattoos are wrong but that's a great way to remember I would say I well yes but I'm not an advocate of tattoos or not tattoos because you know um yeah that's another story but people do get them to remember right um I have not seen it well most of the people I see getting tattoos get tattoos to remember the wrong things okay anyway but let's we'll talk about tattoo some yes another day but ultimately right if you feel like a loved one is worth remembering mhm so you get a tattoo yeah if you feel like the day you entered University is worth remembering you get a tattoo yeah the day you kiss your boyfriend or girlfriend you get a tattoo or put a scripture I know people that put scriptures yes to remember praise God but for me now right I don't need a tattoo yeah right the monument is in my heart which is where it needs to be so would you say from what you said people don't need to necessarily build physical if you need to absolutely but but you really don't need to you just have to develop a culture and a habit right of being grateful of reminiscing over the things that God has done for you right that's what I do now and I'll tell you this right I struggled I have always struggled with let not say always when I got saved I had a lot of faith I trusted God for everything I felt like you know God just had my back yeah and I had a few disappointments um early in my Christianity particularly with things that I thought God had said to me h and a lot of people experience that when they feel like God say something and then yeah and that made me very skidish around trusting God I just stopped trusting him cuz on two occasions I felt like he said something and it didn't happen I'm curious is it possible that he actually said it and then he may have wanted to okay he didn't say it and I'll tell you why no he didn't say it I know the circumstances under which I assumed he said it gotta right and he actually didn't say anything so let me tell what happened um so I got saved joined a church joined the church a year or two years after I joined I got saved joined the church started to serve and I noticed that every position that I served in MH I would be in that position for eight months Max okay and so I was assigned to assist uh Pastor mhm and after 8 months he was reassigned to the UK okay to go Pastor a church in England okay and I took over from him so I concluded that I'm going to be in this position for another eight months and then transition transition eight month comes and my pastor says to me Fe me um pack your bags let's go to the UK mhm come work with me in England exactly 8 month patterns right and so I packed my bags went to the British High commission to get a visa and I didn't get it h and that was like whoa but they had taught me that if your pastor says something he's kind of like the voice of God right but also your experience almost two eight months eight months yeah but that was not what I should have done was I should have gone to pray yeah I said God what are you saying but we you assumed I assumed gotcha right and I picked up an offense with God H right I couldn't trust him and there's so many different things right that I would say I am trusting God for I'm believing God for God has spoken a word to me and then it doesn't come to pass and what was happening is this God is building a record on on the right of all the blessings with which he's blessing me but on the left I'm also putting together uh uh a ledger of all the times he disappointed me right and what then happened is that it started to look like this was bigger than this yeah right it started to look like this mattered more than this right but with the benefit of hindsight looking back at this honestly this is actually zero this is actually zero and this is like exponentially much more than I thought it was right in that time while I was um in this position where I was um I was asked to go to England yeah to the UK and I couldn't get a Visa a lot was going on in my life right I had a job I was getting paid for it like a corporate job yeah okay yeah and you were still p and you were still leading yes but it was it was parttime were you married yet no okay that was where I met my wife that was where the relationship started that was where we got married right while all of this stuff in my in my opinion was going on so imagine if you would have went to the UK none of those things would have probably happened probably not D some of the folks who went to the UK at the time yeah came back very disillusioned right they had some experiences which only they know and understand but the the impact by the time they came back from the trip they were quite disillusioned with their faith right and with their work with and and their work in in Ministry so it's possible that I could have gone to the UK yeah and had all of those negative experiences that they had right not met the woman I married that with 25 years no 20 26 years 26 okay I'm sorry we got married in I'm sorry 27 years got married in 1998 Pastor AK 27 years Pastor Fe doesn't know when you guys got married I just said we got married in 1998 what kind of Troublemaker are you trying to stir things up anyway you get the point I'm making all that while God was doing a ton of stuff yeah and I had no idea right let me rephrase that I wasn't paying attention to them I kept looking at what he had not done and that's the problem ultimately right we keep looking at what he has not done yeah when when God said to Abraham you know ah man you're you're Bing now you're super wealthy Abraham is like yeah so I can leave it to somebody who's not my child so somebody who is a slave in my house you know one of my servants children can have it yeah like you go from leaving your father's house and family with NADA to being one of the wealthiest men in the world and you don't even realize it that's like ridiculous right you go you have this Victory you have that Victory you know you've got all this money you've got all that money D and God says yeah so you know uh great all this stuff you've got is awesome you know like yeah one of my servants will will inherit it that's all he could think about right and we we many times okay I'm going to say I've said this before well um so I guess you're saying like he let the the idea that he wanted to son so bad overwhelm overwhelm the fact that God had given him so much yes yep and that's what we do we do right I I I tell folks that Abraham did not become the father of Faith right because he got everything he prayed for he became the father of Faith right through the 25 year period where he was waiting for Isaac he learned faith in that period how he did it the Bible is not exactly clear yeah but what the Bible is clear about is that Abraham was the guy who at the first sign of somebody threatening his life he gives up his wife he says Sarah tell them right that you are my sister he literally had to learn it yeah so that's a fearful guy imagine W say came to some guy say that's mad say Esther cuz he's afraid for his life say Esther please tell them you're my sister listen I'll say I don't want to do again cuz you're not a protector exactly exactly so imagine this happened twice twice twice Abraham's wife was taken from him he allowed them take his wife twice right M then his wife comes and says sleep with my maid right he does he sleeps with the maid gives birth to a child his wife is basically at the time she meant how how do you give your wife up how how do you say that I mean I don't know any man right yeah what's the title of a man who would say to his wife go sleep with that guy to save my life right even if you are thinking it can you say it no Nobody Does that but the guy was such a scary cat he said it by the time God was done with Abraham yeah when God said Isaac your son bring him I'm going to kill you I want him as a sacrifice that means the Lord had been building up his faith for him to even get to the point where he says I I will actually kill him yes so he took Isaac up and that was 25 years 25 years by the time God was done with him he was so sure God would give him back Isaac this was the same guy who could not believe that God would protect his wife wife or protect him right after waiting for 25 years yeah you're willing to give that up you must have developed some kind of faith and confidence in God do you know what this tells me what's dinging in my brain I think for us as individuals we need to know that the Lord will teach us he will and he will help to build our faith he will but that process is not simple and it's not painless 25 years of of your wife get in her period H every month every month for 25 years and all of a sudden the period stops altoe everything just stops the Bible says her body is dead in terms of having kids yeah and your neighbors are having kids and you're holding on to this promise right and you know neighbors are having kids even the maid has a kid everybody's having kids without even trying they're having kids they don't want kids and they're having kids you want one you can't have a kid 25 years Esther written you pray for somebody they have their children some the children even come early some the children come before they get married children children children but you can't have God forbid the B thing the trauma yeah of the constant disappointment when her menopause started I'm sure they thought oh wow maybe you're pregnant and next thing the hot flashes come and they're like this is not pregnancy this is menopause right by the time you get to menopause you're like okay you know what as you even talking me I'm grateful yes I sneezed I was pregnant yep can can you imagine can you imagine can you imagine and then God says to you you'll be the father of Nations right and you are begging and you will not get pregnant but somebody and it touch her with your body small she's pregnant yeah that could not have been a pleasant experience and everybody's like Sarah don't worry we are going to fast and pray for you don't worry we're going to camp now you're at the top of our mind yeah they are doing they'll be sending you whatssapp message that's crazy of of of of they put the WhatsApp chat let's pray for Sister Sarah who is believing the Lord for the fruit of the womb every day you go to church the pastor will have a prophecy about you that today is the day of your today I see that's the way it works right yeah so when you say yeah God will build us up somehow that's sometimes that is what build it yeah we think and this is what I've come to realize that we think God works always through the good in our lives yeah but I've come to realize that many times it is in the tough times and in the that he built us up guess what I have a word to back up that back up this statement yeah so right now I'm going through a really tough season okay and with work okay and obviously you know I prayed for the job like this is something I really wanted and you know I get to travel um and I'm really grateful for the travel and it just really got difficult these past couple of months right and um I was just really in a Down Season so I was like you know let me watch something yeah you know let me watch something to help encourage me yeah and what whatever the show that I was watching on YouTube because I'm always on YouTube by the way y'all y'all can watch this on YouTube um if you're not watching it already on um YouTube subscribe um if you're watching on uh Spotify or apple podcast and the scripture that he said was count it all joy when you go through various trials and tribulations that it would pretty much breathe steadfastness that the the the testing of your faith will bre that fastness don't worry I have it James jence is James 1 patience patience will creates please find it okay all right I got it so this is NIV James 1 consider it pure joy my brothers and sisters whenever you face Trials of many kinds because you know that the testing of your faith produces person let perseverance finish its work so it says let the thing that you're going to let it finish its work so that you may be mature and complete not lacking anything right and I think that's stuck with me because I'm always saying oh I want to be excellent I want to have discipline I want to do well perseverance is is what I'm dealing with now oh God is really breathing in me a a sense of excellence and discipline but I think the word has helped me be reminded that like the things that I pray for this is what the Lord is working out of me right right and that word just pretty much confirms exactly what it is that you're talking about like yeah the Lord won't necessarily do it the exact way that you want it to that you want him to do it guarantee or the easiest 99.9% of the time he will not do it the way that you want him to he will not do it the easy way and and I think that um we've been told a lie about God right we have this impression that God is is Father CHR Santa Claus who just sits down with his white beard right and you come and sit on his knees and he says how have you been today and he gives you whatever you want yeah right and we don't realize that there is more to our existence than the life we live now yeah right there's a time period where we spend where we are MH but there's another time period that is longer where we will be somewhere else so think about it like is if you are going to be on earth for 80 years maybe 100 some people maybe 50 maybe 60 whatever mhm maybe 120 right and you're going to be in eternity forever which is of Greater priority eternity yeah so we are being prepared for eternity for eternity right and that preparation sometimes involves going through stuff yeah our faith is important our faith is important I think faith is um the most critical thing you can have people have come to a place where they think that the most critical thing is their willpower their ability to obey but what they forget is that there is no obedience that comes from a man right that God finds acceptable because it's like you're serving him great food yeah but on a dirty plate right so he says that anything you bring has to come through Christ yeah right and we're connected to Christ by faith mhm the more faith we have the stronger our connection to Christ right the more faith we have the more established we are in Christ yeah without faith is impossible to please him it's impossible to please him yeah yeah so I do want to Pivot a bit and ask you referenced this yesterday when you were preaching about um this the 10 um lepers yeah yeah yeah yeah that was that was really good I do want to ask how we how are we like the 10 lepers in that like God has done from something for us right we go and then we don't come back to say thank you and the correlation that I want to kind of bring that to is like we say thank you out of a place of like oh because we know he did because we've been taught to be to say thank you right but but like it's not really deep in our souls would you say like the 10 lepers it wasn't really deep in their souls I don't think it was I I think okay let me rephrase that I I'm not sure that it was because what Jesus did for them was not small it wasn't just you know it was literally their whole lives yeah changed changed being being returned to them yeah and as as immense as what he did was right they did not come back one came back I feel like what we do is this we say thank you and sometimes we're grateful mhm right sometimes we're saying thank you from religion what does that what does that mean when we say thank you from religion okay so that story of the 10 lepers for example right teaches that the leper the 10th leper came back and he got more so the first nine got um he he got cleansed he got cleansed when he came back he made he was made whole yeah so there's a teaching in the that when you come back when you keep saying thank you you get more right but those guys never said thank you they just went right they got healed and they kept going I think that a lot of us out of habit thank you and we keep going ah you better say thank you or he won't give you anything again thank you well like your dad is that not enough to say thank you out of like fear no not necessarily fear but like for you to have the acknowledgement that if I don't say thank you I won't get it back but also like can two things be true let me tell you why this is two things can be true but why this is a problem okay your father said you asked him for 500 I said I give you 500 he gives you 250 mhm now if he was within Striking Distance MH of your face MH would you have MTH off you'd have probably said thank you no yeah I would have said Thank you right but would you have felt grateful yeah for the 250 no no no no no I wouldn't have feel grateful exactly I'll would be mad which I was well you say thank you because that's the polite thing to do you're not grateful o i get it right God says those that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and truth so we say the Bible says these people worship me with their mouth or their hearts are far from me right you're so busy focused on what has not been done yeah right that you don't realize the magnitude of what has can we take a pause can we take a pause right there you just set me free right there okay so if he was close to me I still would have said thank you yeah you would have said thank you because genuinely I mean I'm thankful that he gave me the 200 but I'm not really thankful because it wasn't enough yes and in the same way we do the same thing with God yes he gives us something yes but because he didn't give it to us exactly the way that we wanted it the way that we wanted it when we wanted it how we wanted it and and it is not exactly what we're currently struggling with so let me explain this is good so you you you you need a house you need a house badly right and you go to a friend and say hey I need a house you know and it's going to cost me $5,000 to get a house my friend says well hey I don't have any money to give you a house but here's some money for your gas right for gas in your car yeah right and your friend gives you 50 bucks M and you're like what is this 50 bucks why am I going to do $50 then your home training kicks in and you say thank you but in your mind like but inside you're like this guy is very exactly like are you I'm serious exactly I don't want to say the word that I really want to say but you walk away with actually maybe even a little bit of resentment right so you're saying to God oh I need a child I want a child I want a child you get a promotion at work you're going to say thank you yeah but deep down life you be like is this what I asked for please now I had I have enough promotions this one is just more work not knowing that the Lord is probably giving you the promotion to provide you with enough savings so that you can have a baby whatever reason you didn't have the promotion before H it doesn't I don't even care why he gave you the promotion what matters is that if you think about it yeah if you think about it right he has blessed you whether it's $5 or gas full slop period so be thankful for that be thankful for that I I I feel like the lepers I I they they teach us some things right in the sense that they left I believe that they were they got preoccupied with life yeah and totally forgot to come back and say thank you I do I doubt that they didn't say thank you right yeah but what they were going towards was way more important to them it was way more exciting right we sometimes it is that we're so happy enjoying the job we forget who gave us the job enjoying the paycheck we forget give us the job right or we just is this I I I don't need another job I need to get married yeah so a lot of using this as an analogy now a lot of the young ladies I talk to right don't Express gratitude for the jobs they have or the cars they drive or the homes they live in or the families that they have yeah because they're not married right they're so frustrated about not being married that they miss out on all the good things they they are not I don't want to say they're not thankful they are thankful right but no it's the same example they're thankful but deep down they're like what I ask for is not what you're giving me so they don't they don't really even reflect the thankfulness yes if if you were if I give you something and you were thankful yeah would't the joy of your gratitude be visible yeah it reflect that it will reflect it and it will touch your life yeah right if if our gratitude does not touch is not visible mhm is not influence is not how I put it it's not affecting our demeanor it's not affecting our our our perspective on life right are you really thankful because when I am grateful when somebody does something for me right and I'm grateful I'm I'm happy I'm exuberant I'm so I want to tell the whole world and my axes reflector yes so being thankful right is not just saying thank you I say thank you and I and I my mother would beat me if I didn't say thank you yeah right doesn't mean I think that you've done anything wor being thankful for I'm just being polite right or I'm just being religious you know let me say thank you so that you can give me more but that I am really grateful yeah right for what you have done yeah I should forget what you have not done if I'm really grateful I should forget what you have not done but that's not what happens what we what he has not done what we have not seen ultimately is what determines our reaction not what he has done and what we have seen yeah that's a problem I think this is good yeah I I I I I I I for me this has become really important because I realize that God speaks a word mhm and you can forget his word yeah but man forgetting his blessings yeah you shouldn't forget his blessings any which God has surrounded you with enough to trust him I do want to ask this before we close what are five things that people can do or even three things that people can do in their daily lives to remember God's blessings well I can tell you one when you wake up in the morning count your blessings okay count your blessings count your blessings in the morning every time you you you you do something think about all the times when you couldn't do it just in the moment literally practicing that yes yeah when you go to the bank and you swipe your card at the ATM and you get $200 there was a time when $200 was as could have been a million dollars to you yeah right why are you not grateful in that moment okay that you've gone from being somebody who imagined and dreamt of a day when they could afford a $100 on a pair of shoes now you're buying shoes worth $500 and you're not grateful for how far the Lord has brought you you sit at a table and you're eating food you know out of your refrigerator that once upon a time you would have had to you know that was something you ate only on for celebrations and and and and and you know and and holidays yeah right we're constantly right as you and I sit here when we started this Church New Covenant House the place where we had our first service was barely bigger than this room why don't I remember that and be thankful for how far the Lord has brought the church yeah why do I want to look and say oh well the door into my office is kind of sticky why do that's why does that preoccupy my mind right it's habit it's literally you intentionally right reminding yourself yeah of all that the Lord has done for you I do it in the mornings at 6:00 a.m. okay and it carries me through the day yeah what are some other things that we can do apart from that that's it I wish there were there were more yeah that is it and that is enough is simple it's not a complex thing it's not a five syllable thing it's literally a remember do whatever you need to do to remember for me it is sitting down there closing my eyes and Excavating my past there was a day I was I was saying thank you and I was like Lord I Thank you for 1986 that was the year I entered University and I remember how I felt when I couldn't get into the university I wanted to get into and then how I felt when I got into University I got into I said God I thank you for 1987 cuz I remember the 1987 that was my second year in University and I met some friends and all sorts of stuff happened and and I went through the years and every year yeah I found something yeah that's right I found something to be thankful for a friend of mine you know who was on the call kind of laughed at me about it like you are thanking God for every year so I just join God to be thanking God with you but the the My Hope Is that people will tune out every other voice yeah including mine and focus on their own lives and how good God has been to them yeah and hopefully if we can do that then we have enough Faith to face whatever Goliath stands in front of us we're constantly talking about how oh David remembered the lion and David remembered the bear we have lions in our past and we have Bears yeah and we have elephants and we have hippopotamus we have a buch of stuff in our P if you remember them yeah you you look at gol so you get out you uncircumcised Philistine how dare you right there's a boldness that people have that we we are like oh David was this or Solomon this but there's a there's a record of how they got there right and God gave us that record so that we can be equipped yeah right so that we also can stand in that place and and just trust God yeah that the mountains can move and the mountains can move absolutely um thank you you are absolutely welcome I had a great time yeah this was so good wasn't scary listen it wasn't there you go I think anytime we do our podcast and we record together and stuff I I do walk away leaving with a lot awesome I'm glad me too um I do and so I'm really grateful for the time um I hope you guys enjoyed this this episode uh like I said it set me me free because I'd be out here ungrateful just like the Israelites even though I was doing proud before um but I'm I'm really grateful and I'm grateful for how far the Lord has brought me and I'm reminded of that today yes um yeah I hope you guys join us for the next one um subscribe comment like share if you thought this episode was good um and we we'll see you guys next time awesome take care guys unfiltered n