Good morning. Welcome to Victoria's Faith. I'm Cherry Campbell and happy Thanksgiving. I pray that you have a very blessed day today. And today I want to share with you some things about thankfulness. It says in 2 Timothy chapter 3 that one of the signs of the end times in 2 Timothy 3 verses 1 and 2, it says, "But mark this, there will be terrible times in the last days." Well, we have seen that. And that word terrible is also a word that means perilous and it also means dangerous. And this is a sign of the last days. It says in verse 2, "People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, unthankful, and unholy." Well, I know that we can recognize almost every one of these descriptions as conditions in the world today. And here in America we are blessed and honored to have a day that is called Thanksgiving Day, a day that was set aside by the four fathers of this nation in which to honor God and give thanks to God for the goodness and the blessings that He has given to us. However, today we are living in a time where all across this nation, many people, millions will each turkey or celebrate in some way and they will not even say a prayer of thanks to God. They will not be thankful. And that we see in 2 Timothy 3 2 is another sign of the last days. Unthankfulness. Let's go back. I taught a lesson about grace. There is a side of grace that I have not heard taught. And this is something I discovered in my study and research, especially looking at the Greek word, grace and Hebrew. And actually I went back even in the English language to where our English word comes from. It actually comes from the Latin word. And the word grace in the Latin is the word gratis, GRATUS. Now that word gratis means to give freely and liberally generously. And as I've said before, grace simply means free gift. If it's given by grace, it means it is a free gift. One word to summarize grace is the word free, F-R-E-E. Free, take one. But there's another side of this word grace that is not taught. And if you study this, you can look it up in the Vine's Expository Dictionary, W-E Vine's Expository Dictionary of the New Testament. And he shows, and you studied out in there, that one side of grace is on the part of the giver. It is the benevolent attitude and disposition that he gives by. But there is another side of grace, and it's like a two-sided coin. On the other side of grace, it is in the heart of the receiver, the receiver being grateful for what was received, the gift that was received. Now you can see that the word gratis, we also have the word gratis, GRAT, IS, in the English language, when we say, "Well, we'll just give this to you gratis." That means free. But on the other side of it, think of our word, "great full." Gratitude, "gratitude" comes from the same word as gratis, and it's showing the two-sided coin. So on the one side of the coin, it's the heart of the giver, but on the other side of the coin, it's the heart of the receiver. It's the heart of the receiver being grateful, having gratitude, gratefulness, thankfulness for the gift received. Now we can see this easily also in Spanish, in the Spanish language. The word grace is gracia. The word thank you is gracias. Same word with an S on the end. Thank you, thank you. Now I have been in places, and I've even seen, I was in a culture, I was in a country one time, where I was talking about this, and I was talking to the pastor about saying, "Thank you." He said, "We don't say thank you in our culture." That's not our cultural practice to say thank you. Well I said to him, "When your culture does not line up with and agree with the teaching of the Bible, then your culture is wrong. And you need to change and live by a biblical culture rather than the culture you grew up in." Because the Bible teaches that we should be thankful, and that being thankful, notice with the word grace, you can only receive as much grace as you are thankful. Gracias, gracia, gratitude, grace, you can only receive as much grace from God as you are grateful for what He has given to you and what He has done for you. And we are taught this throughout the Bible that we are to be thankful. Let me remind you of some more scriptures, Colossians 3, 17, "Whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him." So in everything whatever you do, giving thanks to God, and that's very much like 1 Thessalonians 5-18, "Give thanks in all circumstances. For this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus." Now that does not mean give thanks for everything. We don't give thanks for things that are bad, but in every circumstance we can give thanks to God. Why? Because He's faithful, because He will deliver us, because He will take care of us, praise the Lord. Do you remember in Psalm 100 verse 4 it says, "Enter His gates with thanksgiving." And His courts with praise give thanks to Him and praise His name, and also like that Psalm 95 verse 2, "Let us come before Him with thanksgiving and extol Him with music and song." And then also in the New Testament it says, "In Philippians 4-6, do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and petition with thanksgiving present your request to God." So again it shows us that in our prayer, even in petitioning we should still always be giving thanks. And this is one of the teachings that we learn about prayer, that every time we begin a time of prayer, whether we are at the table or whether we're having our daily prayer, how do you come before God? You start by thanking Him. Thank Him first for what He has done for you, for what He has given to you, for what He has saved you from. You might not think you've got very much, but you just need to open your eyes and see what you've been given. First of all, I mean as I have traveled around the world and I've lived in lots of different cultures, and I've lived without electricity, without running water. I've lived among insects and bugs and rats, I've lived in dirty places, I've slept on a concrete floor, I've slept on wooden boards. Whenever I'm at home and I lay down in a soft bed at night, I am continually thankful, "Thank you Lord, for this soft bed tonight. I'm not sleeping on a board. I'm also extremely grateful when I'm not sleeping on an airplane. When I have to sit up in a crowded seat, scrunched up and tried to sleep on a 16 hour flight, and not hardly be able to stretch my legs. When I can stretch out on a bed and lie flat in a soft bed, I am so thankful. Also, when I get to have a shower, I'm thankful because many places, I mean an actual shower head that shoots water out because most places I've traveled, I end up taking a bucket bath. So having a shower that sprays water is a wonderful blessing, having hot water coming out of the faucet rather than having to boil it on the stove and pour it into your bucket and scoop it over you. All these things are blessings. Even we're taught in Deuteronomy 26 that when we give our tides and offerings to the Lord, that when we bring our tides and offerings to him, we're supposed to start by saying "Thank you Lord, I'm bringing this tithe and offering to you because you have blessed me. Because you have given to me, I have something to give back to you. And I thank you Father." So let's today be thankful for our families, be thankful for our food, that we have, our clothes, the house that we live in, even if it's not the best, and even if it's not what you're desiring. Be thankful for what you have. And then consider the spiritual side of things. Be thankful that you're saved and you're born again and you're going to heaven and not to hell. Be thankful that you've been translated out of the kingdom of darkness and into the kingdom of God's dear Son. Be thankful that you have received an inheritance from God, that you have an inheritance in God in Christ Jesus, and you are receiving your inheritance right now and you've received the deposit, the Holy Spirit. And every day you are receiving more. You see, we develop our thankfulness. Even let me remind you of this in Philippians 4.6. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and petition with thanksgiving, present your request to God. Never present your request without thanks. And thankfulness is one of your strongest acts of faith. When you are standing in faith, we are using the God kind of faith and you're saying, "I believe I'm healed. I believe I receive a new job. I believe I receive the money to pay my bills." The way you stand firm in faith, unmovable, unshakable, one of the greatest things is to thank God. Daily even a thousand times a day. Thank you Lord, I'm healed. Thank you Lord, I'm healed. Thank you Lord, I have the money to pay my bills. Thank you Lord for my new job. Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you. And saying thank you for what you are believing for is the key to receiving what you don't have yet. You thank Him for it before you receive it and then that is your faith acting so you can receive. And today on this wonderful Thanksgiving day, you be thankful for what you do have already. The blessings that you have and don't be forgetful. Look around your house. Thank God for your chair, your table. Thank God for the plates and the silverware and the knives and the forks. Thank God for pictures on the wall. Thank God for a bed. Thank God for the Bible that you have on your table. Thank God for your family, your church. Thank God for your salvation, for Jesus Christ, for the Holy Spirit, for the Word, the blood, the name of Jesus. Be thankful. And then thank God for what you don't yet have that you're believing for. And say thank you Lord, I receive. Thank you Lord, I'm healed. Thank you Lord, I have the money I need. Thank you Lord, I have my new job and say and continually be thankful for what you don't yet have because that is your key, the act of your faith to receive what you don't yet have. Glory to God. Now I want to bless you, I bless you today, have a blessed Thanksgiving, enjoy your food, enjoy your family and remember that God loves you and he is blessing you every day. You are blessed, rejoice in the Lord today and be thankful. You are blessed and highly favored by the Lord.
