Sheryl Brady - Gratefulness Looks Good on You

I just want to talk to you about the subject «Gratefulness Looks Good on You.» Father, bless your word today; bless every hearer and every person that receives your word. Let it find us where we are. Anoint me, O God, to speak life today; send your anointing, God, into this room and cause it to resonate throughout the world. We will give you thanks for it in Jesus' name. Amen and amen.

Gratefulness truly looks good on you! I know that you all had an awesome holiday season, and I believe that God has been faithful to you. We gave out a lot of turkeys here at the Potter’s House of North Dallas; we provided meals and blessed over 350 families. We were able to be a blessing to people who needed it, and we are grateful for God’s provision. Even though this holiday may have seemed a little different from all the other Thanksgivings you’ve ever had, just the fact that we are alive today is an absolute blessing.

Many people have reduced Thanksgiving to a Thursday in the month of November, but Thanksgiving is so much more than a date on the calendar. Thanksgiving is not a day; it is a spirit. It is something we should possess every day of our lives, especially those of us who have come to know Jesus Christ. We understand that He didn’t have to do what He did for us, but He did it anyway, often in spite of us. He blesses us regardless, so there ought to be something in us that says, «God, I am thankful; I have gratitude.»

I want to tell you that gratitude is truly an attitude. I read the other day that it is one of the healthiest emotions a person can have. Gratitude is a stress reliever. If you are filled with stress, I dare you to stop and become grateful to God for something in your life. Gratitude makes you feel better; it can actually help us live longer. Grateful people can live longer because they don’t carry all the stress. They have an attitude of gratitude, and if you don’t have one, I suggest that you do whatever you need to do to develop one.

You may wonder, «So, how do I do that, Pastor Brady?» We do that by understanding that God, first of all, wants us to be appreciative. He wants us to be grateful. If you’re a parent, you understand that you want your children to be appreciative as well. You don’t want to be a blessing to them only for them to respond with indifference. No, God wants us to have a continuous attitude of gratitude. He wants us to continually be thankful to Him and bless His name.

In 1 Thessalonians 5:18, the Bible says, «In everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.» In everything! He didn’t necessarily say for everything, but in everything. There may be things we might not be thankful for, but while we’re in them, we want to say, «God, I’m in it, and while I’m in it, I give You thanks.» I love how the Contemporary English Version puts it: «Whatever happens, keep thanking God because of Jesus Christ. This is what God wants you to do.» So in everything, we give thanks.

Colossians 2:7 says, «Let your lives overflow with joy; let them overflow with thanksgiving.» What he is saying to us here is that giving thanks is always in season. There’s never a time when we should not be thankful in our hearts to God. If we lack an attitude of gratitude, then we need to ask God, «Please help me to cultivate an attitude of gratitude.»

How are we going to do that? I will help us today a little bit, so I trust that you have a pen and paper or something in your hand to take down a few notes. Today, I want to talk to you from the life of the Apostle Paul. Paul was a professional when it came to expressing gratitude. He was a master at it, living in a perpetual state of thanksgiving—not just to God, but to other people as well. In every letter Paul writes in the New Testament, he gives thanks to God for all the people in his life. He was a great example of how to be appreciative.

Some people just don’t know how to be appreciative, so we can look to Paul for guidance. That’s what we’re going to do today. We will look into the life of Paul to find some answers as to why we should express appreciation and what we should express appreciation for.