Friendsgiving

One Off Messages • Sermon • Submitted 6 months ago • Presented 6 months ago

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Game

All students and leaders will participate in this game. Have students form two lines. Students will be lined up shoulder to shoulder, and both lines will be facing one another.

Students will then be given 30 seconds to share three things with the student across from them. They will share their name, something cool about themselves, and something that they are thankful for.

After the 30 second timer buzzes, students will then move to their right, and repeat the process until they have ended up where they started.

Announcements

1 // Grow group

Grow group is November 20th! Going through James chapter 5! Boys meet at Dario on University at 6:30, girls meet at Dario in King at 6!

2 // No Students Thanksgiving Week

We do this every year, so it shouldn’t surprise you, but we will not be meeting on Wednesday, November 22nd because of the Thanksgiving Holiday! We will miss each of you so much, but we hope that you have a great time celebrating with friends and family.

3 // YouTube Channel Launching:

We are finally getting out of the stone age! We are launching a REVO Students YouTube channel on November 22nd, the night that we are not meeting. This channel is going to provide you with content that will give you some laughs, promote upcoming events, and most importantly give you resources to help you grow deeper towards Jesus! What to do in the meantime?! Follow our YouTube channel by scanning this QR code, or by clicking on the link in our Instagram Bio! Be sure to subscribe and hit the bell so you will be notified when we drop our first video on November 22nd!!

4 // Christmas at the Movies:

On Friday, December 15th REVO Students will be going to the movies! While we are still finalizing the details for this event, we wanted to put it on your calendar so that it could be blocked off. We are in talks with the Grand Theatre about hosting our Christmas party in a private theatre where we will have a Christmas themed service, play some Christmas themed games, and finish the night off by watching a Christmas movie!

Intro

As we are moving into the Thanksgiving season we wanted to change things up a little bit

Thus why you are sitting at tables with our small group

And today we are going to talk about the topic of gratitude

Gratitude is the quality of being thankful

Quite literally gratitude is being thankful for where you are and what you are facing

Especially grateful to God

But let’s be honest, gratitude is not always easy

There has been big stretches of my life where gratitude is not something that I showed

I remember just getting married to Kase, moving to Winston, starting at REVO, and working a full-time job at Lowes Food

Me and Kase had very little money, but somehow our bills were paid

We had food, and on the outside it looked like everything was going good

It should have been a time where I was super thankful to God for allowing us to survive

But instead I was bitter because I felt like all we ever did was struggle - we had no money and quite literally me buying a mountain dew at work could cause us to not have food that week

I couldn’t see how God was taking care of us, and preparing us for today, all I could see was the struggle

Because of this I wasn’t grateful for how God was taking care of us, until someone pointed it out

It took me almost a year to praise God for what He did

And here’s the reality, everyone of us in this room probably has a similar story

Of a time where God took care of us, and we missed it, we weren’t thankful, but instead were bitter

But what if I told you, that being thankful for the circumstances you are in right now, is not what God is saying when he says to be thankful?

Here’s the reality, if we are only thankful for our circumstances, we are only thankful for a small moment because life is hard

Instead we need to learn this truth

We can always be grateful, no matter what is happening around us

Bible and Gratitude

Did you realize that the Bible has a lot to say about gratitude?

Here is just a few examples:

Daniel was thankful even though he was thrown in the lions den

Jonah showed gratitude toward God while he was in the belly of the whale

Paul had gratitude while being beaten and thrown in prison

Jesus had gratitude even while he was heading to the cross

All over the Bible gratitude is a common theme

So much so that you get verses like this from Paul

1 Thessalonians 5:16 ESV

16 Rejoice always,

He is telling us to rejoice, or show gratitude, always despite our circumstances

You get Psalms like this:

Psalm 100 ESV

A Psalm for giving thanks. 1 Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth! 2 Serve the Lord with gladness! Come into his presence with singing! 3 Know that the Lord, he is God! It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. 4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise! Give thanks to him; bless his name! 5 For the Lord is good; his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations.

Where David writes and tells us to make a joyful noise to the Lord, enter his gates with thanksgiving

Quite literally show gratitude!

Now Paul and David aren’t writing this because you should never have a bad day, or struggle some

Instead they are trying to teach us something about gratitude

They are showing us that we can be thankful, despite our circumstances

To help us understand that we are going to look at three categories we can often struggle to show gratitude towards, and as a table you will be able to discuss gratitude

Be grateful for what you have

Here’s the first one:

Be grateful for what you have

So often we aren’t grateful for the things we have

Not because they aren’t nice, or because we don’t like them, but simply because they aren’t the newest thing

Or maybe you got the iPhone 15, but your friend got the iPhone 15 Pro

Instead of being grateful for your new phone all you can focus on is the fact that your friend got the better one

Or maybe you are super grateful for your stuff, until you go to social media and see how everyone else has better stuff

So as a table I want you to discuss how you can be grateful for what you have

Do you struggle to be grateful for the things that you have? Why do you think that is?

What are some things in your life that you can be very grateful that you have? Things that maybe you don’t even deserve.

Be grateful for who you have

Here is the second thing:

Be grateful for who you have

The reality is, we oftentimes take the people in our lives for granted

We just expect them to show up and help us, give us the answer, care for us, take care of us, etc.

But we never stop and actually give thanks to God for them

We never show them any kind of appreciation, but instead just expect them to do things

In your groups I want you to discuss how you can be grateful for who you have

Do you ever find it hard to be grateful for the people that God has put in your life? If so, why?

Who are a couple of people you are grateful for in your life? Why are you grateful for them?

Send a text right now to everyone you are grateful for in your life. Be specific about the things you are grateful for when it comes to them!

Be grateful for who God is

Here’s the last thing:

Be grateful for who God is

Even when life is tough, and it can be hard to pinpoint things that we are grateful for, we can always remember that God is with us through everything

God doesn't change, and he is constantly someone that we can put our hope and trust in

He is someone we can always count on to be grateful for, he will never disappoint

We even know what His Word says about our circumstances:

Romans 8:28 ESV

28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.

He is working things out for our good

So even if we don’t see it, we know that He is working it out for good

We know God is good, and He cares for us

So at your tables I want to close out this time by discussing how you can be grateful for who God is

Obviously we know that we can be grateful for who God is, but why is that difficult for us sometimes?

What are some things about God that you are grateful for? Why?

How can you build gratefulness for God into your daily rhythms? Wouldn’t life be better if we could focus ourselves on who God truly is?

Conclusion

Gratitude is an attitude we need to learn to adopt

Gratitude and thankfulness cannot be based on our feelings about a situation, but instead is a heart posture we need to learn to adopt into our life

Instead of focusing on the problems, seek to be grateful for the little things

Praise God for who He is, and where He has put you

Show gratitude for the things He has given you

Show gratitude for the people He has put in your life

Show gratitude for who He is

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