Greater Wealth

[Slide #1]

Legacy: A gift by will, especially of money or other personal property: A bequest. 2) Something transmitted by or received from an ancestor or predecessor or from the past 

A legacy that is shared is even sweeter because it keeps us accountable:

• We’re reminded that it is not from/for us.
• We’re chosen for a purpose
• God’s gifts are given for a purpose

Israel’s great sin was they didn’t hear (hearken) God’s heart as he explained their heritage to them. They created a parallel reality that allowed them to justify their blessings. 

• (It is easier to believe that undeserving creatures deserve God’s blessings than it is to believe that a perfect God would chose to leave us a legacy!”)

• We are so duped by the enemy that we believe that God calls fun sin. Actually, the only things that are true sins are the things which destroy our shared legacy with God.

• The magical message of Advent is as humbling as it is astounding!
• God didn’t merely come to Earth to die for us...
• God didn’t merely come to Earth so we live for Him
• God didn’t merely come to Earth so that we could live in Heaven together
• God came to Earth in order to share Himself with us so that we’d share ourselves with Him and with others

God came to Earth to live out Heaven’s reality in a realm that once ousted Him.

[Slide #2]

By faith Moses, when he was grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, ²⁵ choosing rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. ²⁶ He considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking to the reward. Hebrews 11:24-26 (ESV)

Sermon Title: Greater Wealth

Sermon Series: Shared Legacy

Sunday, December 23, 2012

Sermon Aim: Help redefine wealth and rethink a better strategy for acquiring it.

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Biblical Commands:

• Love your neighbor as yourself
• Love your wives as your own bodies
• Love your enemies

• We see acts of kindness today. We rarely see the Mo. Theresa acts:
• The individuals who deny they rights to access, privilege, prestige so that other may indulge in the same.

• Lady Di
• We are the world; Comic Relief; Farm Aid, etc. (they help but...)
• Line from Soul Man (C. Thomas Howell)

• What did Moses see, hear or feel that caused him to turn his back on it all?
• What is all?
• What did Jesus see?
• What is joy? How did it obscure...or better yet...downplay the ridicule of the cross?
• How did Moses calculate wealth?

[Slide #3]

Challenge/Questions/Next Steps:

• Rethink legacy for your life. Ask God for a revelation of it. (Challenge)

• What is it that God is offering you that is too large to receive on your own? What is so grandiose that God is sending people to you to help you accept it? (Question)

• Begin to undo the lies of our sworn enemy that say: “I’ve got this on my own!” (Next Steps)
• www.folmadison.org

Mary's Why (2012 Christmas Celebration Program)

[Slide #1]

Sermon Title: Mary’s Why

Sermon Theme: Shared Legacy

Aim: That believer’s will know their Why

He cares for me, his humble servant. From now on, all people will say God has blessed me. (Luke 1:48 CEV)

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⁴⁸ because he has ·shown his concern for [noticed; looked favorably on] his ·humble [lowly] servant girl [1 Sam. 1:11]. [^LFor look/^Tbehold] From now on, all ·people [^Lgenerations] will ·say that I am [call me] blessed [Ps. 138:6], (Luke 1:48 EXB)

☛ Mary’s miracle was costly and embarrassing

☛ Good News: Not only good because of what it stated, but to whom it stated!

☛ God’s fate...and plan for the world is in the hands...and wombs...of two willing women

• God sends messages to...(Luke’s account):
• Zechariah from priestly family of Abijah (Luke 1/ 1 Chronicles 24)
• One month later God sent Gabriel to Nazareth to Mary who was about 15 years old (Lk 1.26) & told her about Jesus and about Elizabeth/John (Lk 1.36)
• Mary leaves Nazareth for Galilee to see Cousin Elizabeth
• Elizabeth hears Mary’s voice and John leaps in her womb
• Elizabeth confirms God’s gift and Gabriel’s message to Mary.

[Slide #2]

Mary’s Song: (Luke 1.46-55)

• So be it
• I praise God because He cares for me and the humble
• He drags rulers from their thrones and scatters the proud
• He feeds the hungry
• He is always merciful to His people
• The made this promise to Abraham and our ancestors... (Shared Legacy!)
• This was Mary’s Why!

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[Slide #3]

What did the why cost her? 

Positioning yourself for a miracle

• Accept it’s reality...miracles defy reality and reason.
• The acceptance of God’s promise is the end of normal life!

• Accept it’s cost...it’ll make you an outcast (My grandmother’s story re: Popoff)

• Travel to nurture it...put yourself out!

• Hang with miracle magnets

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Umbilically connected with God 

• Joined together by or heavily dependent in a close relationship.

• Adjacent to or located near the navel; 

• Serving as or containing a conduit through which power is transferred, 

[Slide #4]

The umbilical cord carries nourishment from the mother to the fetus and metabolic waste from the fetus to the mother via the blood circulation. The umbilical cord enters the fetus in the center of its abdomen. The umbilical arteries carry blood from the fetus to the placenta, which delivers oxygen and NUTRIENTS to the blood. The umbilical vein then carries the oxygenated blood back to the fetus. (Beltina.org encyclopedia of health)

Because o the faith and faithfulness of Mary: “THE SON OF THE MOST HIGH WAS “UMBILICALLY”TIED TO A LOWLY JEWISH GIRL” ~ Gire from his Moments Series

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⁷⁷ You will tell his people that they can be saved when their sins are forgiven. ⁷⁸ God’s love and kindness will shine upon us like the sun that rises in the sky. ⁷⁹ On us who live in the dark shadow of death this light will shine to guide us into a life of peace. (Luke 1.77-79 CEV) ~ Zechariah to his son, John at his birth.www.folmadison.org

We Interrupt The Regularly Scheduled Program...

[Slide #1]

Sermon Title: We Interrupt The Regularly Scheduled Program...

Sermon Series: Shared Legacy

Key Scripture:

Sermon Aim: That we’d develop Holy Expectation in this season.

☞Shared Legacy: A invitation for Creation’s Creator to join forces in life

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Legacy: a gift by will especially of money or other personal property : bequest 2 something transmitted by or received from an ancestor or predecessor or from the past 

• This is about our Place/Purpose/Position

[Slide #2]

☞Shared Legacy verses:

• Come, let us reason together (Is 1.18)
• Let us make man is Our Own Image (Gen 1.26)
• I will be your Father and you shall be my children (2 Cor 6.18)
• Where I am, you shall be also (John 17.24)
• ...That they may be One in us (John 17)
• ...That they may know that you have loved them as you have loved me (John 17)
• I am going to my God and your God...my Father and your Father (John 20.17)
• I have loved you with an everlasting love (Jeremiah 31.3)
• The Holy Spirit will take what is mine and reveal it to you (John 14)

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☞Advent: Coming. Expectation. God’s first physical step towards Sharing a Divine Legacy with humanity since Eden.

[Slide #3]

☞What does Advent say to us about the nature of God?

• What was people’s expectation? What is our expectation now?
• What was God’s expectation? What is it now?

• Look at the nuts in Jesus’ family tree: child murderers, prostitution, idolators, outsiders, etc. 

• Although He’d just arrived~ He’s been pursuing us since the fall.

God’s blood was mingled with tainted blood in order to pull us forward. He had to become “flooded” with weakness and shame of our past in order to PULL us into His glorious future.

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[Slide #4]

☞Interruptions! When? Why?

• The person who interrupts assumes that what they have to say is more important~

What does Advent say to us about the nature of God?

• He interrupts often
• He is inconvenient in that He inconveniences

What happened during interruptions? A recalibration of our heart takes place!! (This are not to avoided...that’s why they sneak up on us!”

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Mary’s response to the interruptions: “May it be done to me...as you have said.”

• Theological introspection: Could Mary’s status in life made it harder it easier to say this? Was she accustomed to interruptions?

• Is that what Jesus meant about Children and the Kingdom?

He told people in the bible: I want to interrupt what was previously scheduled...in order to share something very important with you...

• He wanted to share something with Mary, Joseph, Israel, Bethlehem, Egypt, Galilee (Nazareth)

Look at the itinerary of Joseph the Carpenter:

• Met a sweet PYT
• Got engaged (season of preparing/waiting): God interrupted his waiting!
• Mary saved herself sexually in order to obey law, tradition and to avoid the embarrassing stigma of unwed pregnancy~ God interrupted that!

• Note to self: God doesn’t care about your reputation when He’s the one ruining it. HIs destruction of your reputation is very different from your destruction of it.

• Planned a “quiet divorce”~ God interrupted that!
• Was a righteous guy~ accepted the culpability of Mary’s illegal lover
• Takes wife on 80 mile journey on donkey-back while she’s almost ready to deliver
• Delivers an unplanned pregnancy at an unplanned time in an unplanned place for an unplanned purpose.
• Inconvenience of strange people wanted to hold your baby (+ words/ - words)
• Inconvenience of being an enemy of the State
• Fleeing authorities at night
• Moving to a foreign country
• Raising your family in unfamiliar territory (Inconvenience of separation*)

T.D. Jakes asks “Can you stand to be blessed?!”...I ask...

• Can you stand to be inconvenienced by God?

[Slide #5]

Challenge/Next Steps:

• Study Jesus’ birth (genealogy and actually arrival) in Matt/Luke and ask for new insights that’ll inform your faith
• What legacy or agreement do you currently have to jeopardizes the Legacy that God wants to Share with you?
• What expectations have you lost? God wants to restore you and give you a Legacy.

Gimme A Sign

[Slide #1] Sermon Title: Gimme a sign! (Sign=Reminder)

Sermon Text: Mark 15:29-31

²⁹ And they that passed by railed on him, wagging their heads, and saying, Ah, thou that destroyest the temple, and buildest it in three days, ³⁰ Save thyself, and come down from the cross. ³¹ Likewise also the chief priests mocking said among themselves with the scribes, He saved others; himself he cannot save. Mark 15:29-31(KJV)

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[Slide #2] ☞The Story of the Exodus:

• Israel had gone into to Egypt on good terms: Joseph was 2nd in command to Pharaoh
• Jacob’s son
• Isaac’s grandson
• Abraham’s great grand son

• Israel became too populated and hence a threat to Egyptians. Pharaoh decreed a genocide against Hebrew boys.

• Roughly 400 years of life in Egypt had taken place & God planned to rescue His people from the bondage of slavery and farce of polytheism.

• Moses, a foreshadow of Christ, left the riches of Egyptian blue-bloodedness, denounced his right to Pharaoh’s throne, and sided with Pharaoh’s enemy/servants: The Hebrews.

• Although Moses left the household of Pharaoh, he didn’t leave all his training as a member of Egypt’s First Family: Military training, training in business/economics, philosophy and leadership development.

[Slide #3] ☞The Sign of Passover:

• After many warnings, pharaoh still refused to release the Hebrews
• God sent plaques, the last of which was death upon the first born of Egypt. Pharaoh was defeated and deflated and released the Hebrews.

• God, clearly aware of who His enemies were and who His chosen people were, still required a sign...

• A sign which reminded the chosen of their chosenness
• This sign wasn’t merely a precaution against Israel’s forgetfulness
• Yahweh-God wasn’t merely reminding Hebrews of Who saved them
• Yahweh wanted them to remember Who Loved them! They were loved!
• Israel was instructed to sacrifice a lamb and put some of it’s blood on the door for protection from The Angel-of-Death’s assignment.

• Interestingly enough, the very firstborn sons who were spared, were required to be presented before The Lord annually.

• It wasn’t a matter of being presented to God repeatedly
• It was a matter of being reminded repeated that God presented them BACK to their parents.

[Slide #4] ☞Our Sign of the Cross

• A reminder of a monstrous corporal punishment tool which was once outlawed due to its inhumane cruelty to convicted individuals.

• It, rather than a manger, a fish, a saw or carpenter’s belt, a loaf of bread, a lamb, a light, a shepherd’s staff, 

• When we remember Christ’s crucifixion and how he was handed over for judgement...we ought to remember that we were not.

• The cross isn’t merely a reminder of how much God loved us.
• The cross is a reminder of how much God still loves us

• The cross is also a reminder that in losing our lives (not via martyrdom, but via service)...We show the deep gratitude for our faith, our freedom and our Savior’s amazing grace & love towards us.

☞ This is interesting because the goal of crucifixion isn’t death, it is dissuasion.

• I am not dissuaded from following God’s love and Christ’s example of selfless love. (It was gruesome, humiliating and slow)

[Slide #5] Questions & Challenges:

• Will our new sign lie?
• Will our street sign say that we meet on Saturdays if we meet on Sundays.
• Will the sign of the cross betray our cross-less lifestyles?
• How will your new perception of the Image of the Cross cause you to live differently. 

²⁴ Then after Moses grew up, his faith made him refuse to be called Pharaoh’s grandson. ²⁵ He chose to be mistreated with God’s people instead of having the good time that sin could bring for a little while. ²⁶ Moses knew that the treasures of Egypt were not as wonderful as what he would receive from suffering for the Messiah, and he looked forward to his reward. (Hebrews 11:24-26)

www.folmadison.org

Thankful Hearts Pt. 2 (Sunday After Thanksgiving 2012)

[Slide #1]I wash my hands in innocence, and go about your altar, Lord, proclaiming aloud your praise and telling of all your wonderful deeds. Lord, I love the house where you live, the place where your glory dwells. (Ps 26.6-8)

(People were not able to enter God’s presence empty handed. It was how their guilt (punishment) was shifted to another creature. Praise is equally powerful (as a sacrifice) and we should NEVER be without it. Praise brings us into God’s presence!)

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[Slide #2] Sermon Title: Thankful Hearts

Sermon Text: Psalm 26/Exodus 11-13

• Thanksgiving is important to God, because it tells that you know the story
• You know the background
• You know the outcome
• You know your role
• You understand and expect the Lord to be faithful to His role

• C.S. Lewis “Therefore praise is not merely expresses but completes the enjoyment; it is its appointed consummation…In commanding us to glorify Him, God is inviting us to enjoy Him”

• In other words, gratitude is its own reward!

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[Slide #3]

• Thanksgiving usually means that you see what others have refused to look into yet.

• Thankfulness is twofold.
• It acknowledges the strength of your recent victory...
• And it prepares you by elevated your heart & vision to places where God shows your more of what is to come.

• Thankfulness, therefore, is a connector of the soul!
• It is the cord between where you have been and where you going
• These two places (been/going) are more connected than what you think

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☞Story of the Exodus (Exodus 12)

• Thankfulness is an attitude, which shapes...
• How you think
• What you expect
• What your first item of business is when you see victory
• What your first item of business UNTIL you see victory
• What your first item of business AFTER you see victory
• Because...how you treat victory determines IF/HOW you’ll see continued victory.
• Celebrating victory thru thanksgiving was so important that God did the following things:
• Told Israel to celebrate
• Told Israel when to celebrate
• Told Israel how to celebrate

• Thanksgiving was never to empty handed. 
• Israel celebrated that God had spared their firstborn while killing Egypt’s first born...
• However, God’s idea of celebrating is the dedicate to Him what he saved/spared.

[Slide #4] When Thanksgiving lacks a sacrifice...it communicates 3 things to the Lord:

1. You trust your own strength (not the Lord’s)...and you’re no different that Pharaoh & Nebuchadnezzar who challenged God. You become God’s opponent. God ALWAYS wins.

2. You miss WHY the Lord spares us.

• He spared Israel’s firstborn & then asked them to become dedicated to God.

3. You miss the clearest reminders of God’s faithfulness, love and abiding presence.

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*Webster says that to be grateful is to have a sense of benefits received. It means to be thankful. It is derived from an old English word that means thought. Lately, I have been giving a lot of thought to this topic and I have realized the following things about gratitude:

• It is hard to remain angry while being grateful, truly grateful.
• It is hard to be selfish while being grateful, truly grateful.
• It is hard to keep score on the times you’ve been wronged while being grateful, truly grateful.
• And it is hard to be greedy and self-centered while being grateful, truly grateful.

[Slide #5] ☞Thanksgiving changes the make-up of the heart!

Proverbs 4:22-24 (AMP) 22 For they are life to those who find them, healing and health to all their flesh. Keep and guard your heart with all vigilance and above all that you guard, for out of it flow the springs of life.

Proverbs 17:22 A cheerful heart makes you healthy. But a broken spirit dries you up. 

Proverbs 12:25 Anxiety weighs down the heart, but a kind word cheers it up.

Proverbs 15:13 A happy heart makes the face cheerful, but heartache crushes the spirit.

Proverbs 15:15 All the days of the oppressed are wretched, but the cheerful heart has a continual feast.

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Medicine /med·i·cine/ (med´ĭ-sin)

1. any drug or remedy.

2. the diagnosis and treatment of disease and the maintenance of health.

1. the treatment of disease by nonsurgical means.

1. The science or practice of the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of disease (in technical use often taken to exclude surgery).

Peace/Joy:

• Peace is a sense that wherever I am...God is present and shaping me through and with everything that looks like success or failure. This calm is ever with my soul.

• Peace = absence of war. I’m not fighting with life because God is blocking for me...I can thrive wherever I am. I can relax and roll with punches life offers me or scale the walls that life presents me with.

• Joy = rooted in the fact that that my life isn’t haphazard. God is not bothered nor surprised by whatever comes my way...everything leads me closer to God.

• Peace rests and heals us. Joy fuels and energizes us.

[Slide #6] Challenge/Next Steps:

• Tweet/text/FB/journal relentless statements about what you’re grateful for this week
• Ask others what they are grateful for
• Decide how and where will you schedule opportunities praise?
• Ask God to help you to grow in thanksgiving and praisewww.folmadison.org

What Can You Do About Stress? (This post accompanies the Thankful Heart sermon)

What can you do about stress?

The good news is that you can learn ways to manage stress. To get stress under control:

• Find out what is causing stress in your life.
• Look for ways to reduce the amount of stress in your life.
• Learn healthy ways to relieve stress or reduce its harmful effects.

How can you avoid stress?

Stress is a fact of life for most people. You may not be able to get rid of stress, but you can look for ways to lower it.

You might try some of these ideas:

• Learn better ways to manage your time. You may get more done with less stress if you make a schedule. Think about which things are most important, and do those first.
• Find better ways to cope. Look at how you have been dealing with stress. Be honest about what works and what does not. Think about other things that might work better.
• Take good care of yourself. Get plenty of rest. Eat well. Don't smoke. Limit how much alcohol you drink.
• Try out new ways of thinking. When you find yourself starting to worry, try to stop the thoughts. Work on letting go of things you cannot change. Learn to say "no."
• Speak up. Not being able to talk about your needs and concerns creates stress and can make negative feelings worse. Assertive communication can help you express how you feel in a thoughtful, tactful way.
• Ask for help. People who have a strong network of family and friends manage stress better.

http://www.webmd.com/balance/stress-management/stress-management-topic-overviewhttp://www.webmd.com/balance/stress-management/stress-management-topic-overview (link for stress management information)

Thanksful Hearts (Background scriptures re: Thanksgiving)

Scriptural references for thanksgiving:www.folmadison.org

1. Nehemiah 12:46
   For in the days of David and Asaph of old there were chief of the singers, and songs of praise and thanksgiving unto God.
2. Psalm 26:7
   That I may publish with the voice of thanksgiving, and tell of all thy wondrous works.
3. Psalm 50:14
   Offer unto God thanksgiving; and pay thy vows unto the most High:
4. Psalm 69:30
   I will praise the name of God with a song, and will magnify him with thanksgiving.
5. Psalm 95:2
   Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving, and make a joyful noise unto him with psalms.
6. Psalm 100:4
   Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name.
7. Psalm 107:22*
   And let them sacrifice the sacrifices of thanksgiving, and declare his works with rejoicing.
8. Psalm 116:17*
   I will offer to thee the sacrifice of thanksgiving, and will call upon the name of the LORD.
9. Psalm 147:7
   Sing unto the LORD with thanksgiving; sing praise upon the harp unto our God:
10. Isaiah 51:3
    For the LORD shall comfort Zion: he will comfort all her waste places; and he will make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the LORD; joy and gladness shall be found therein, thanksgiving, and the voice of melody.
11. Jeremiah 30:19
    And out of them shall proceed thanksgiving and the voice of them that make merry: and I will multiply them, and they shall not be few; I will also glorify them, and they shall not be small.
12. Amos 4:5
    And offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving with leaven, and proclaim and publish the free offerings: for this liketh you, O ye children of Israel, saith the Lord GOD.
13. Jonah 2:9
    But I will sacrifice unto thee with the voice of thanksgiving; I will pay that that I have vowed. Salvation is of the LORD.
14. Philippians 4:6
    Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.
15. Colossians 2:7
    Rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving.
16. Colossians 4:2
    Continue in prayer, and watch in the same with thanksgiving;
17. 1 Timothy 4:3
    Forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth.

Thankful Hearts (Sermon Notes)

I wash my hands in innocence, and go about your altar, Lord, proclaiming aloud your praise and telling of all your wonderful deeds. Lord, I love the house where you live, the place where your glory dwells. (Ps 26.6-8)

Sermon Title: Thankful Hearts

Sermon Text: Psalm 26/Exodus 11-13

• Thanksgiving is important to God, because it tells that you know the story
• You know the background
• You know the outcome
• You know your role
• You understand and expect the Lord to be faithful to His role

• C.S. Lewis “Therefore praise is not merely expresses but completes the enjoyment; it is its appointed consummation…In commanding us to glorify Him, God is inviting us to enjoy Him”

• In other words, gratitude is its own reward!

• Thanksgiving usually means that you see what others have refused to look into yet.

• Thankfulness is twofold.
• It acknowledges the strength of your recent victory...
• And it prepares you by elevated your heart & vision to places where God shows your more of what is to come.

• Thankfulness, therefore, is a connector of the soul!
• It is the cord between where you have been and where you going
• These two places (been/going) are more connected than what you think

Story of the Exodus (Exodus 12)

• Thankfulness is an attitude, which shapes...
• How you think
• What you expect
• What your first item of business is when you see victory
• It is your first item of business UNTIL you see victory
• It is your first item of business AFTER you see victory
• Because...how you treat victory determines IF you’ll see continued victory.
• Celebrating victory thru thanksgiving was some important that God did the following things:
• Told Israel to celebrate
• Told Israel when to celebrate
• Told Israel how to celebrate
• Thanksgiving was never to empty handed. 
• Israel celebrated that God had spared their firstborn while killing Egypt’s first born...
• However, God’s idea of celebrating is the dedicate to Him what he saved/spared.

When Thanksgiving lacks a sacrifice...it communicates 3 things to the Lord:

• You trust your own strength (not the Lord’s)...and you’re no different that Pharaoh & Nebuchadnezzar who challenged God. You become God’s opponent. God ALWAYS wins.

• You miss WHY the Lord spares us.
• He spared Israel’s firstborn & then asked them to become dedicated to God.

• You miss the clearest reminders of God’s faithfulness, love and abiding presence.

*Webster says that to be grateful is to have a sense of benefits received. It means to be thankful. It is derived from an old English word that means thought. Lately, I have been giving a lot of thought to this topic and I have realized the following things about gratitude:

• It is hard to remain angry while being grateful, truly grateful.
• It is hard to be selfish while being grateful, truly grateful.
• It is hard to keep score on the times you’ve been wronged while being grateful, truly grateful.
• And it is hard to be greedy and self-centered while being grateful, truly grateful.

Challenge/Next Steps:

• Tweet/text/FB/journal relentless statements about what you’re grateful for this week
• Ask others what they are grateful for
• Decide how and where will you schedule opportunities praise?
• Ask God to help you to grow in thanksgiving and praisewww.folmadison.org