Notes from one of my favorite sermons I've ever heard, by Pastor Steven Furtick at Elevation Church in Charlotte, NC.
"God inhabits the praises of his people." ~ Psalm 22:3
"Enter his gates with thanksgiving." ~ Psalm 100:4
1. Gratitude is never invisible or silent
When we are grateful we express it. "Out of the overflow of the mouth the heart speaks." ~ Jesus. He uses Oprah to prove this with a clip from "Oprah's Favorite Things." Where people are cheering, crying, jumping up and down, falling to the ground, because they are so grateful, so thankful when they found out they were about to receiving her favorite things. "if they can get that excited that Oprah is about to give them a pair of Uggs, popcorn, and a car, surely I should give God praise for his mercy, forgiveness, love and salvation."
2. Gratitude sustains joy and blessing
He uses the example of the pedals on a piano or on electric guitars. The pedals have the effect of sustaining the note. They drag the note out longer than the instrument. It puts an after effect on it that makes the note sweeter. Gratitude works in that way. It takes a temporary blessing and carries it out for a long term affect in your life, bringing joy and contentment. I can be thankful to God today for something he did 7 years ago, thus applying the effect pedal on the note of that blessing.
3. Gratitude begins when my sense of entitlement ends
Something that we used to see as an unbelievable perk, over time, becomes just a part of the package. We begin to feel entitled to something that once was a gift. Do you get direct deposit at work? Over time you just get used to it going in and coming out of your account. We start to think it's just a part of being on the earth, but no it's not, it's a blessing to have a job, to have a pay check. We don't deserve that.
Thru Christ we get a direct deposit. His mercies are new every morning. Every morning we wake up his mercy and love, grace, forgiveness hits your account. And over time we begin to feel entitled to it, but we aren't. God could cut that off at any moment, but he doesn't cause he loves you and he's good.
"Do you want your sense of gratitude to stay sky high, keep your sense of entitlement low."
"Mature gratitude comes when we can rejoice in expected blessings and unexpected blessings."
"Gratitude has nothing to do with how good you situation is, but how good you see it to be, based on what you think you deserve."
4. Grateful people can find a blessing, enlarge a blessing or create a blessing in almost any situation.
"Ungrateful people can find a burden, enlarge a burden or create a burden in almost any situation"
"Your situation doesn't have to improve for your gratitude to increase."
