Gratitude in the Gray [Part 2]

Pastor, author, and Bible teacher, Alan Wright.

It's a simple step to say yes to his saving mercy, and God in his infinite grace makes you his child and grafts you into the body of Christ, and you receive the covenantal blessings of God in Jesus Christ. That's Pastor Alan Wright. Welcome to another message of good news that will help you see your life in a whole new light. I'm Daniel Britt, excited for you to hear the teaching today in the series You'll See as presented at Reynolda Church in North Carolina. If you're not able to stay with us throughout the entire program, I want to make sure you know how to get our special resource right now. It can be yours for your donation this month to Alan Wright Ministries.

As you listen to today's message, go deeper as we send you today's special offer. Contact us at PastorAlan.org. That's PastorAlan.org or call 877-544-4860.

That's 877-544-4860. More on that later in the program. But right now, let's get started with today's teaching.

Here is Alan Wright. All joy comes into our lives through the connection of grace causing gratitude to well up in our hearts. Brene Brown, secular researcher at University of Houston, who's done so much research famously about shame and empathy, has also studied joy. And she said in 12 years of research with 11,000 different data points of interviews, she said that never one single time did she find a person who was characterized by joy in their life who did not practice gratitude.

Not a single time. Gratitude focuses you upon grace. And grace is the secret of the Christian's joy because we know that God has loved us despite all of our sin. So the first reason that gratitude is so powerful is that it recognizes grace. And secondly, because gratitude causes you to remember God in your life. That's what the Passover Feast was all about. It was about remembering.

That's what we learned from Exodus chapter 12. This day shall be for you a memorial day and you shall keep it as a feast to the Lord throughout your generations as a statute forever you shall keep it as a feast. A memorial day.

In chapter 13 you can see similarly that there's an invitation. Moses said to the people, remember this day. Remember this day you shall keep it as a feast. In other words, the whole of the Passover celebration was all about remembering.

Remember, remember, commemorate it because what gratitude does is it makes you remember all God's good gifts. I was just looking through my phone, some pictures the other day, particularly stressful day, a lot going on. News continued to be bad as we're watching the news, more cases of the virus and all. Anyway, I just happened to be looking through some pictures and I came upon one. I just had to walk in and say, Ann, look at this, sweetie.

Shoulder on my phone. It was a picture of us last summer when we had a delicious trip like a second honeymoon up through Vermont and into Canada all the way up to Quebec City. And from there we went up another 50 or 100 miles north to a port where we got on a boat and went out and looked at whales. And I had caught a picture of her at the front of the boat, nobody else around her just looking out over this beautiful, beautiful scene where we had seen fin whales 60 feet long and white beluga whales. And it's been one of the most magical days. And it was just her gazing out.

And I said, hon, just pause and look at this. You know that feeling how a memory can just flood your whole soul with not just the recollection of it, but it's like you relive it. When you have gratitude in your life, you remember all of God's good gifts. Ann has put together a book. She just calls it her Book of Remembrance. Sometimes when you send us a text or an email or a letter and you tell us about something God's done in your life, it shows up in Ann's Book of Remembrance.

Miracles are in there. And sometimes we just bring it out and just remember and remember gratitude is associated with how you remember your life. And it orients you to reality because the fact of the matter is God has always been there for you.

You might not have noticed it all the time. And sometimes today's current pain and suffering can make you think that he's not really there. But when you remember God, it activates some kind of faith inside of you. Remember David? He was trying to convince Saul to let him go fight Goliath. And Saul said, but you're just a youth. And David in 1 Samuel 17, he said to Saul, your servant used to keep the sheep for his father. And when there came a lion or a bear and took a lamb from the flock, I went after him and struck him and delivered it out of his mouth. And if he arose against me, I caught him by his beard and struck him and killed him. Your servant has struck down both lions and bears.

And this uncircumcised Philistine shall be like one of them for he has defied the armies of the living God. In other words, he's saying, I remember how God's been in my life before. And so I know he'll be with me now. So gratitude is powerful because you recognize and accentuate grace every time you give thanks and you activate your memory of God's goodness in your life. And thirdly, gratitude is powerful because it rejoices in all that is good.

Everything good. In the middle of the Passover feast, there are songs that the families will sing together. And one of the favorites is a song called Dayenu.

And it comes from the Hebrew word Dayenu that means enough or it is enough. And it's a happy little song, Dayenu, Dayenu, Dayenu, Dayenu, Dayenu. There's a little chorus. And then it has like 13 different verses. And each one is saying, if God had only done this piece of it, it would have been enough. It's such a happy thought to think of it.

Here's the lyrics. If he brought us out from Egypt and had not carried out judgments against them, Dayenu, it would have been enough. If he had carried out judgments against them and not against their idols, Dayenu, it would have been enough. If he had destroyed their idols and had not smitten their firstborn, Dayenu, it would have been enough.

If he had smitten their firstborn and not given us their wealth, it would have been enough. If he had given us their wealth and not split the sea for us, Dayenu, it would have been enough. If he had split the sea for us and not taken us through on dry land, Dayenu, it would have been enough. If he'd taken us through the sea on dry land and not drowned out our oppressors in it, Dayenu, it would have been enough.

If he had drowned our oppressors in it and not supplied our needs in the desert for 40 years, Dayenu, it would have been enough. If he had supplied had weighed our needs in the desert for 40 years and not fed us the manna. Danu, it would have been enough if he had fed us the manna, had not given us the Shabbat, the Sabbath. Danu, it would have been enough if he'd given us the Shabbat and had not brought us before Mount Sinai. Danu, it would have been enough if he'd brought us before Mount Sinai and physically had not given us the Torah. Danu, it would have been enough if he'd given us the Torah and had not brought us into the land of Israel. Diane you, it would have been enough.

Diane you, Diane you, Diane you. If God had just saved us from our sin so that we get to go and live with Him forever in heaven, that would have been enough. Enough to give Him thanks for the rest of our lives. But He didn't just give you a ticket to heaven. Oh, He also restored us. He made us new, He gave us new life.

We're born again in Christ. We have been remade, restored and given authority again in the spirit realm that we once had. If He had just given us restoration, it would have been enough, but He didn't just do that. He not only made us children who've been restored into fellowship with Him and reigning in authority in the spiritual realm, but He made us heirs. He made us a people that have a rich inheritance in front of us that we didn't merit. And if He just made us heirs, that would have been enough. But He didn't just make us heirs, He made us co-heirs with Christ. And as co-heirs with Christ, a great exchange took place and He who knew no sin became our sin that we might become His righteousness. And in this great exchange, what happened was the blessings that should have been reserved for Jesus were shared with every Christian so that Paul said, we've been blessed with every spiritual blessing in Christ. We're co-heirs with Christ and we're seated with Christ. And if He had just seated with us with Christ as co-heirs, that would have been more than enough.

But He didn't just do that. He made us into the body of Christ on earth and gave every member of it gifts, gifts of the Holy Spirit so that we would continue the ministry of Jesus until He comes again. And if that weren't enough, He's gonna come and make a new heaven and a new earth and we will reign with Him forever and ever in the new heaven and the new earth.

You see, what happens when you have the sense of dying you is that God makes your heart content because you are recognizing everything good in your life. That's Alan Wright, and we'll have more teaching in a moment from today's important series. Want to give someone a present this Christmas that they'll never forget? Let us help you give a gift that money can't buy. This Christmas, give someone your blessing, a positive, biblically-based, faith-filled vision for their life.

In the beginning, God blessed Adam and Eve and then told them to be fruitful and mindful because in God's design, blessing isn't the reward for productivity, it's the fuel for it. Now, more than ever, someone you love needs your blessing and we're here to help you craft it. This month's special offer from Alan Wright is a beautiful booklet that will teach you how to craft a meaningful blessing. The easy step-by-step instructions are biblically-based and even include a worksheet that helps you write your blessing. So this Christmas, give someone you love a present not found in stores, a gift from your own heart that will encourage and empower. Write down the blessing and put it in a package under the tree or put it in your Christmas card.

They'll never forget it. When you make your gift to Alan Wright Ministries this month, we'll send you this booklet as our thank you so you can discover the power to bless. Call us at 877-544-4860 or visit pastorallen.org.

Today's teaching now continues. Here once again is Alan Wright. I think I may have told you before, some years ago, a dear friend, a former parishioner in the church I served many years ago in Durham, North Carolina, suddenly lost his wife to a heart attack. She died in her 70s and I went to the funeral and I went to the funeral and I went to the funeral and I went to embrace Roy at the end and I said, how are you, Roy? And he said, I'm sad and I'm grieving. He said, but I'm not bitter and I don't feel slighted.

He said, I could never feel cheated out of anything because we had 40 some years of marriage together and they were wonderful, Alan. He said, what we've had and how good God's been to us and our two children, all of that, I'm just so grateful so I'm grieving but I'm grateful as I grieve. In other words, gratitude enables your soul to rest. It is the secret of contentment.

When it seems like you're losing so much, how can you be content in the midst of it? Gratitude, the focus of gratitude on the good gifts of God, rejoicing in all of those good gifts. I'm not sure which is my favorite Christmas special. Is it Charlie Brown or is it the Grinch who stole Christmas? I think it might be the Grinch because I love it at the end where the Grinch has stolen every present, every ornament, the tree in the center of town and the crumbs that were too small for their mouses and he just waits to hear all the who's down in Whoville cry out boo hoo on Christmas morning. He just knows that it's gonna be a terrible thing and the Grinch is there listening and he hears every who down in Whoville, the tall and the small, they're down there singing without any presents at all and he realized he had not stopped Christmas from coming and somehow or other, he realizes that Christmas is something more, he stood there and he says, how could it be so?

And I love the line, he said, it came without ribbons, it came without tags, it came without packages, boxes or bags and the who's are just there singing happily with no presents. Gratitude causes a rest of our souls because there's always something that you can be thankful for, always. And that's why Jesus, even though he was about to experience the most horrendous day and a half imaginable, he was grateful. He took the cup and he said, it's the cup of a new covenant. So his heart was thankful because he knew in advance all that he was accomplishing through his death and resurrection. He was so thankful that the Father with whom he had perfect oneness had been utterly faithful in his ministry. And Jesus was announcing a new covenant, not like the old that was based on law, the people of God agreeing to follow God's law, this is a new covenant. It wasn't about your obedience, it wasn't about my obedience, it was a covenant between the Father and the Son. And the Son had been obedient, perfectly obedient, even obedient unto the cross. And he had won for us through his own righteousness, covenantal blessings that we only receive by being in the new covenant, by being children of God, by just trusting in Christ.

And if you've yet to trust in Christ, it's a simple step to say yes to his saving mercy. And God in his infinite grace makes you his child and grafts you into the body of Christ and you receive the covenantal blessings of God in Jesus Christ. That's what we're ultimately thankful for, people of God, is not so much thank you that I had this financial provision, but thank you that I'm in a covenant and you're my Father and you have pledged protection and provision in my life. You see, there's a big difference between thank you for helping me in this particular need, which is a blessing, versus saying thank you that I am inseparably connected to you, God, because of the finished work of Jesus and a new covenant that he has founded that has changed everything about who I am. In other words, our thanksgiving is deepest when we are mindful of the covenant that God has made for us in Jesus Christ that is a new covenant, born of his shed blood. You're a child of God and all the blessings that you didn't deserve are therefore yours. There's our covenantal joy.

It's a new identity. It was 1952, a cold night inside 100 yards inside of enemy lines in North Korea. Snow was falling on the two Marines that were best friends.

They were preparing to crawl across and look for mines, sweep them so that their fellow soldiers the next morning could make their way. These two best friends, Richard Manning and Ray Brennan inside the bunker, and they were passing a candy bar back and forth between the two of them when suddenly a grenade was lobbed in by an undetected North Korean. And what Richard Manning said happened was very simple, that nonchalantly, Ray Brennan handed him the candy and fell onto the grenade, which instantly exploded with Ray Brennan's stomach absorbing all of the blow so Richard Manning was completely unharmed. His best friend died for him. Eight years later, Richard Manning is becoming a Franciscan priest. Tradition had always had it for years and years that the Franciscan priest would change his name to the name of a saint, but they had just inaugurated a change that would allow the priest candidate to choose his own new name. And so that's how Richard Manning became Brennan Manning, well-known author, teacher, now in heaven. He took the name of the man who died for him because that's what gratitude does. Once you have a gratitude that deep, you just are identified by it. And that's what it means to be a Christ one. That's what it means to be a Christian. It means that we have the name of Christ because we live every single day grateful that he died in our place. I hope I don't have any more dreams about running around trying to finalize a final exam.

I'm not in college anymore. In fact, the more that I practice gratitude, the more my heart focuses in on grace and remembers God in my life and rejoices in every good thing he's done, I think the more peace settles into our hearts, don't you? Every single day in the midst of such global uncertainties that we've never seen in our lifetime, the invitation of the gospel is to remember Jesus Christ. Remember what he's done for you. Remember the sacrifice he made for you. And every single day, beloved, there's something for which you can be grateful.

There is always, always, always something you can be thankful for, and that's the gospel. Alan Wright, today's good news message, Gratitude in the Gray, from the series you'll see. Pastor Alan is back with us here in the studio in a few moments with today's parting good news thought. Want to give someone a present this Christmas that they'll never forget? Let us help you give a gift that money can't buy. This Christmas, give someone your blessing, a positive, biblically-based, faith-filled vision for their life.

In the beginning, God blessed Adam and Eve and then told them to be fruitful and multiply because in God's design, blessing isn't the reward for productivity, it's the fuel for it. Now, more than ever, someone you love needs your blessing and we're here to help you craft it. This month's special offer from Alan Wright is a beautiful booklet that will teach you how to craft a meaningful blessing. The easy step-by-step instructions are biblically-based and even include a worksheet that helps you write your blessing. So this Christmas, give someone you love a present not found in stores, a gift from your own heart that will encourage and empower. Write down the blessing and put it in a package under the tree or put it in your Christmas card. They'll never forget it. When you make your gift to Alan Wright Ministries this month we'll send you this booklet as our thank you so you can discover the power to bless.

Call us at 877-544-4860 or visit pastorallen.org. Back here in the studio sharing Pastor Alan's parting good news thought for the day and on a teaching like this, Gratitude in the Gray, which was preached in the very early days of the 2020 pandemic, which I think we were all thinking this would be just a few days or a few weeks of gray. And that certainly, it certainly was hard in those times to find the gratitude. One thing was for certain, and we heard it over and over, maybe we were tired of hearing it. We were all in it together. We were all experiencing that gray.

Yeah, we all know what that means. Let's reiterate our key takeaways from this teaching that gratitude is so powerful because it recognizes grace. It remembers God, remembers his faithfulness and rejoices in everything that is good.

Recognizing grace all around you, remembering God, remembering him in your life, remembering what he's done and rejoicing in everything good that you can think of. This is what gratitude does. And that's why gratitude leads to joy. So if you want joy, practice gratitude. If you wanna practice gratitude, ask Jesus to give you his vision and he'll show you his faithfulness. Over and over, over and over again, he has been faithful.

Remember it well, rehearse it well, rejoice in it always. If you only caught part of today's teaching, not only can you listen again online, but also get a daily email devotional that matches today's teaching delivered right to your email inbox free. Find out more about these and other resources at pastorallen.org. That's pastorallen.org. Today's good news message is a listener supported production of Allen Wright Ministries.