May you please be upstanding as we welcome Pastor Chris to come
and give us the Word. Let's stand up and encourage
Pastor Chris to give us the Word.
Actually, it's not me speaking today, it's someone very special
that I'd love to introduce to you.
God's house do have a seat. And this is this is Susie.
Actually, just give her a Clapper.
She's coming forward. Let's celebrate Susie.
I'm excited God's house to be able to introduce you to Susie.
She's someone who has a a real passion for Africa, spent lots
of time in Uganda, S South Africa, sister lives in Tanzania
and probably some other countries.
Kenya. Is there a Kenya connection?
Oh, granny's in Kenya. OK, was in Kenya.
So this is Susie. And Pastor Fatima also asked me
to mention that Susie's a doctor and AGP and she started a
charity, an organisation called Papaya, which is which stands
for Parents Against Phone Addiction in Young Adults, Young
Adolescents. And it's a wonderful charity,
national reach now quite a big impact across the country.
She's written a book which we really recommend.
And Pastor Fatima was asking if there's a way that you guys can
have copies and we've got quite a good stock at Hope Chapel.
So yeah, just want to commend Susie to you in many ways as and
she's going to share an encouragement with us now.
Oh, thank you very much. It's great to be with you here
today. And we're just going to think
about thankfulness and how important our perspective is on
thankfulness. So to start with, I think the
kids have been amazing. But I actually was going to
start by reading the children a story, but I think it's quite
relevant to the the grown-ups too.
So should we go on to the next of some pictures?
Yes. Brilliant.
You might know this one. A little old lady lived all by
herself, with a table and chairs and a jug on the shelf.
A wise old man heard her grumble and grouse.
There's not enough room in my house, wise old man.
Won't you help me, please? My house is a squash and a
squeeze. Take in your hen, said the wise
old man. Take in my hen.
What a curious plan. Well, the hen laid an egg on the
far side rug and flapped around the room, knocking over the jug.
The little old lady cried. What shall I do?
It was perfect for one and it's tiny for two.
My nose has a tickle and there's no room to sneeze.
My house is a squash and a squeeze.
And she said, Wise old man, won't you help me, please?
My house is a squash and a squeeze.
Take in your goat, said the wise old man.
Taking my goat. What a curious plan.
Or the goat chewed the curtains and trogged on the egg and sat
down and nibbled the table leg. The little old lady cried Glory
Bee. It was tiny for two and it's
titty for three. The henpeck's a goat and the
goat's got fleas. My house is a squash and a
squeeze, she said. Wise old man, won't you play
with me, please? My house is a squash and a
squeeze will it glows on to say the little old lady cried,
Heavens alive. It was teeny for four and it's
wincey for five. I'm tearing my hair out, I'm
down on my knees. My house is a squash and a
squeeze, she said. Wise old man, won't you help me,
please? My house is a squash and a
squeeze. Take them all out, said the wise
old man. But then I'll be back when I
first began. So she opened the window and out
through the hen. That's better.
At least I can sneeze again. She shooed out the goat and she
shoved out the pig. My house is beginning to feel
pretty big. She huffed and she puffed and
she pushed out the cow. Just look at my house.
It's a normal enormous now. Thank you, old man, for the work
you have done. It was weenie for five.
It's gigantic. For one.
There's no need to grumble. There's no need to grouse.
There's plenty of room in my house and now she's full of
frolics and fiddledy dees. It isn't a squash and it isn't a
squeeze. Yes, she's full of frocks and
fiddledy Dee. So it isn't a squash and it
isn't a squeeze. So today I think we're going to
look through the eyes of a children's storybook to really
focus on thankfulness and our perspective that actually the
lens with which we choose to see our situation is so key.
Because actually the little old lady, her house didn't change
size at all, did it? It was exactly the same house.
But through changing her perspective on it, she actually
was able to be thankful. Or, you know, this is the
classic, is your cup half empty or half full?
It's the same cup, isn't it? But I want to stay here today in
Jesus name. Our cup is actually full.
None of us have 1/2 empty cup. Our cup is full.
So our perspective is the difference between joy and
sorrow, gratitude and UN ungratefulness, forgiveness and
unforgiveness. And our perspective can even
make the difference between faith and unbelief.
And why is it some people can navigate challenges with a
smile, whilst others are flawed by seemingly small events?
And I would just want to say, I often think it's down to the
lens or the perspective with which we see things.
So. So today we're going to focus on
thankfulness and why our perspective is so important.
Now what I love, we've already done this this morning.
Fatima has already LED us in being thankful.
But we're going to do it again because we can never do it
enough. Let's take a moment to think
about what we have to be thankful for.
The birth of Jesus. The wonder of a servant king who
was born and saved the world. God's miraculous intervention to
save mankind by sending his own Son.
God's gift of grace. We've heard about that just in
the birthday of an 18 year old girl here.
God's gift of grace to each one of us.
His unconditional love for us, His kindness, His mercy, His
forgiveness, His death on the cross so that each one of us may
be forgiven, That on the cross sin was defeated once and for
all. Jesus is healing, a miraculous
power in our in our lives, His provision of our needs.
We've heard that in the testimonies for today.
He provides for us. We are intimately alone and
loved by God. We have the scripture, the truth
to live by. We are forgiven.
And in that we have the truth that we can forgive others and
the freedom to forgive others, that God's Kingdom is upside
down In his Kingdom, all are welcome.
We know the truth and the freedom, and we find life in
him. So that's just a few.
And actually, I want us to keep going.
I know we've done this already, but let's just shout out a few
more truths of the Kingdom of God that we're thankful for,
because in that we change our perspective.
Let's just have one or two more thankfulness shouted out things
that we're thankful for today. The Holy Spirit, I missed that
one out. I'm so glad you're here.
We have the Holy Spirit that we're thankful for.
Let's have some more things that we're thankful for in Christ
healing, God's healing power that is readily available for
each one of us. Salvation, that in Christ we are
saved. So amazing.
I just want us to focus. And I love the fact that this
has been building this morning, that we have an attitude of
gratitude. Our mindsets and thoughts are
fixed on Jesus. And I hope, you know, I'm
feeling better from being in this place of worship and
spending, you know, this amazing time thanking God, this service
of Thanksgiving. And we're already there.
And I think as Christians, we are inherently thankful.
I really believe this. Think about it, all the things
that we have to be thankful for, to be grateful for.
And if we strip back everything to our salvation and what God's
done for us, I really think if we're just focusing on the cross
and on Jesus and on his birth and resurrection, our
overwhelming emotion, all that we have actually is
thankfulness. Think about that.
If you take away everything else, what are we left with when
we focus on the cross? It's thankfulness.
But I think for some of us, life can get in the way.
What is it that stops us waking up in the morning just
proclaiming that good news with that heart of thankfulness?
Because I feel like I should be skipping down the street
praising Jesus. But why is it that I find it
hard sometimes that I'm bogged down in the morning, that that's
not the attitude that I wake up with, and that but I love the
fact that it grows when we're in God's presence.
And as Christians, I'm, I think I'm gonna just for myself say
that I don't always walk in the thankfulness that I should.
I'm not going to call anyone else out, but I think in me, I
have blocks to my thankfulness. And I want us to think about,
I'm going to talk about 3 blocks to our thankfulness today that
if any of them resonate and we can shift them away, then I
think our attitude of gratitude can comes back.
So one, we're just going to think about comparison.
So we live in a world where actually everyone else seems to
have so much. We can see everyone else's lives
on social media, can't we? We know what people have for
breakfast, where they go on holiday, What Car they're
driving, what their kids are wearing.
And I think sometimes this means we're less able to be happy with
our own lives. And because of the fall, we are
drawn to compare ourselves to other people.
And it means that if we look at our lives through the lens of
other people, it's much harder to be thankful for what we've
got. And this is where the charity I
I run, Papaya, is actually a secular charity.
But I believe we're bringing the good news to young people as we
teach them not to view their lives through the perspective of
social media, but to believe that they're enough as they are.
Because social media has meant that we are.
We're just drawn to compare ourselves.
And actually that's so unhealthy when we think about comparison
because you can see 1000 other people's lives and all that
they're doing. And actually it can make you
feel less happy with yourself because comparison is the the
thief of joy. The truth is in Jesus we are
enough and in Jesus we have enough.
In Jesus we are enough and in Jesus we have enough.
There will always be someone who has more than you, that's more
successful, that seems their life seems to be going better,
that's healthier, that has more money, but the challenge is in
Jesus. Can we focus on that?
We're chosen, called, loved, forgiven, that we have the gift
of the Holy Spirit, and that actually, if we're going through
a hard time, I would say often that means we're in alignment
with His Kingdom because we're called to pick up our cross and
follow Him. So I think going through
hardship does not mean we're out of alignment sometimes.
Again, it's about the perspective with which we see
it. I'm going to now mention the
cares of the world as the second thing that can block us from our
thankfulness. Now our cares are very, very
real. Many of us struggle with many
things in life. If you're a young person here,
you might have exams to worry about, friendships, worried
about the future, school where you're going to go to school, so
many things that can be a care and a worry.
If you're a little bit older like me, you might be worried
about your finances, your job, paying the bills, elderly
relatives, your Children's Health, friends, family, your
own health. There are so many cares that can
come up and war it worry us and rob us of our thankfulness.
But if we remember the parable of the sower, that seed was sown
and was beginning to grow up beautifully.
But the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of
deceitfulness of wealth and the desire for wealth all came in
and choked that plant from growing.
And this can happen so subtly. The thing about our cares and
worry is that I think often we don't even notice them.
I have loads of patients who just tell me I'm a warrior, I
worry, my family worry. It's just natural to worry, and
on some levels it is. But that worry can rob us of
being thankful. And the the silent killer is
that it chokes so silently that worry just kind of creeps in and
stops us being thankful. I've got lots of patients who
have health anxiety, so they're completely fit and well and
actually they spend their whole time worrying about an illness
that they actually have. And my job is just to often look
them in the eye and to call out the worry and say actually, you
know, you are well, but it's the worry making you ill, not an
illness you don't have. Because.
And actually, we all need to recognise where worry can creep
in and rob us of our thankfulness.
Now the final CI want to look at before we can think about how we
can walk out into the fullness of thankfulness is is criticism.
Because criticism again, it can rob our thankfulness.
Now, there's always something that could be better.
You can definitely walk out of here today and say, oh, the
talk, the talk could have been better.
Or you might walk. You might think, Oh, my kids
could have been better behaved. You know, there's always things
in life that can be better. We lived as a family in South
Africa for seven months. And when we, my husband had been
out to visit, we were living in an Iris community.
And he said all Suzy, he said, you're gonna love it.
They've got a luxury. They've got a luxury VIP cabin
that they've said you can, we can have as a family.
So I went out thinking we're fine, we've got the luxury
cabin. And then we got there late one
night, they said, here's where you're going to live for the
next seven months. And you know, without sounding
too critical, it, it wasn't the luxury cabin.
It was this tiny little shoebox. And from my shoebox, I could
look out on the luxury cabin, which was empty.
Yeah. But God, every morning spoke to
me about being thankful for the roof we had over our heads and
the house that we were living in.
And actually, we weren't learnt so much as a family by sharing
and inhabiting this space together.
And God taught me so much about not coveting my neighbour's
cabin, but on the wall of our cabin, our beautiful cabin that
was our home for seven months and we have very fond memories
of, there was a sign. And it said life doesn't have to
be perfect to be beautiful. And I just think that's so
powerful when we're thinking about how we can not be critical
or complain. Life doesn't have to be perfect
to be beautiful. And actually, I think it's so
powerful when we hold that as a truth.
Things don't have to be perfect. And actually, if we want to be
happy, accepting that life isn't perfect is really powerful.
Because often I'm not allowed. I won't use the less happy
people I know. I don't want to use the word
grumpy, but often the thing that marks them is that complaining
isn't it and criticism. And actually it doesn't make
that person happier if they're complaining all the time or
criticising. And it doesn't make the person
on the receiving end happier easier either, either.
So criticism, it's not benign. It has real power.
And we can take so much for granted in what we have in our
lives. I had the privilege of visiting
my sister who we mentioned who lives in Tanzania.
But when we were there, we we actually got caught up in some
really nasty political unrest. So instead of being on holiday,
we had to hide in her house and we could hear bombs going off
and gunfire. And then we had to like make a
dash to the airport an amazing, amazingly, our plane was one of
the only ones leaving Tanzania at the time.
So we were able to leave safely. But actually, even that two or
three days of experiencing political unrest has just made
me take stock of how grateful I am that actually we live in a
largely really peaceful country and that we have so much to be
grateful for when we're here. And I, we can all get into the
habit of criticising our country and the things that don't work
as well as they should. But actually, if we can be
thankful, we would all feel so much happier.
So I now need, I need 4 volunteers to look at
practically how we can change our perspective.
I need someone to hold the cross for me who's going to come and
be my cross carrier. Yep, come up, let's have the
cross. So this, when we focus on the
cross, when we put it at the forefront, we have that attitude
of gratitude. Now I need three people to come
and carry up the three CS that can block our perspective.
I need 3 volunteers. You have to be quite strong.
I've got some proper. Yeah.
Come up. Got some rocks for you.
Yeah, Come up. I need one more.
Yeah. You just need to not drop.
Yeah. At the back as long as you have
Now what I want you to do. If you imagine the three CS,
we've got comparison. I want you to block the cross
with the comparison. We've got cares and worries, and
I need one more person and we've got criticism.
So these are all little blocks from the garden this morning.
And can you see that when we put them?
Yeah. In front of the cross, we just
lose sight of Jesus. But what happens when there are
all these rocks? I want you to come behind the
cross. Yeah.
What? Or no further behind.
Let's go right behind. Yeah, right behind.
So we haven't, they haven't necessarily completely gone
away, although let's put them, let's completely hide them.
Because actually, if we change our perspective, if we reposture
ourselves towards thankfulness and put them behind Jesus, put
them behind the cross, we've actually got an amazing antidote
and the thankfulness that we've all walked in today.
We can walk in every day of our lives because every day actually
should be a Thanksgiving Sunday, shouldn't it?
Let's challenge ourselves to have that attitude of gratitude
we've had this morning, every single day when we wake up, what
are we thankful for? But right, thank you very much.
You can sit back down. I don't.
Want to let me? Just hide these away.
So just to finish, I'm going to give you just my favourite verse
in Scripture, which is I think the practical outworking of
those 3C's, Philippians 4, six to seven.
Don't worry about anything. Instead, pray about everything.
Tell God what you need and thank Him for what He's already done.
Then you will experience God's peace, which exceeds everything
and anything you can understand. His peace will guard your heart
and your minds as you live in Him.
So just as we finish, don't worry about anything, God, that
He is with us in our cares, our comparison, and our criticism,
all of those things are actually rooted in worry or fear that we
don't have enough or we won't have enough.
But let's follow the biblical principle.
Let's not worry about these things.
Let's give them to Jesus. Let's pray about everything.
So actually let's take those worries and burdens to the
cross. Tell God what you need and thank
Him for what He's already done. Now what I love is it says tell
God what you need, not what you want.
Tell Him what we need and actually thank Him.
This is where thankfulness is the power.
Thank Him for what he's already done.
Remember His miraculous provision, His healing, the
words of knowledge, the things He's done in your life.
Do not let that worry silently rob you of your thankfulness,
but instead, remember the times that God's come through for you.
And don't let those worries and problems rob you of your
thankfulness in Jesus. So let's refocus our perspective
on the cross. Let's not let comparison, cares
or criticisms block our thankfulness.
And let's really, really every day, every morning, focus and
remember on what he's done. And then we get to live the
wonderful, beautiful, God filled exciting adventure with Jesus
that he's called each one of us to that thank you and have a
great Sunday. Thank you very much.
Shall we clip our hands and appreciate the gift of God in
our sister and Doc, Thank you very much.
I'm sure all of us. There's one of the Seas you can
identify with there that you've done before in this month of
December. Some even maybe this morning,
one of them. Maybe it's a care.
Maybe you've been worrying like a real warrior, worry of worry.
Worry is borrowing tomorrow's problems, which will never
happen. So we're going to pray.
We've been told to post our hearts.
These things are going to block the cross from us.
And we don't want to finish the year without seeing the cross
because there is a care there. So we are going to cast our
burdens on Jesus and also a critical spirit.
Some of us we are criticising. We always see what's wrong.
If you enter a room, what's wrong?
If you go to a place, what's wrong?
You don't have an eye that sees what's right until you end up
criticising even yourself, even yourself.
I'm not good enough. I'm this, I'm that yourself talk
even you don't realise I'm actually criticising myself now
no longer somebody else. So we're just going to respond
to this word to say, Lord, as we finish this year, we we repent
where we've been worrying because you told us in Matthew 6
not to worry about anything and we've been disobedience.
Worry is disobedience. So we want to say, Lord, forgive
me where I've been disobedient. Maybe I was worrying about my
health as we've heard. Maybe I was worrying about my
marriage. Maybe I was worrying about my
children, my nation, Whatever we worried about, we just want to
say to the Lord forgive us for that because there is no faith
in worry and there is no faith in fear.
And also if you you were criticising yourself or someone
else. Let us ask God for that grace
that you want me to see people through the eyes of love and let
me be patient, give people room to grow.
We are all a works in programme good.
We are God's construction site is not finished with us.
Therefore we have to be patient with those who are not who are
not where we are yet. So we're going to ask God for
the grace and we are going to ask God that we don't compare
ourselves. Actually, I was reading this
this week. The Bible calls it unwise.
Another version say it's foolish foolishness to compare yourself
with someone. So maybe some of us will unwise.
We compared yourself with someone.
Maybe you compared even your child with someone's child, even
the two children or 3 some way. There's no way God will give us
this word in our thankfulness day if we are not doing any of
that. So maybe it's one of us.
Maybe it's two of us. I can even see myself in this
message. So I am repenting where I have
had cares. So let's just respond so the
enemy does not come and steal this word from us before we seal
it in our hearts. So I'm going to just take time
and say, Lord, you have spoken to me this word and my response
to you is I'm turning around, you open my eyes.
I don't want anything to block the cross.
Maybe it's not even one of these three CS that is blocking the
cross for you. It can be any other thing.
Say Lord, whatever might be blocking me from seeing Jesus is
he really is and seeing people through the eyes of Jesus.
Lord, let it be removed in this heavies right here right now.
So I'm just giving us a few minutes.
You pray the anchor scripture we've been given Philippians
467. Don't worry about anything.
Instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need and thank
Him for all He has done. Then you will experience God's
peace, which exceeds anything we can understand.
His peace will guard your hearts and your minds as you live in
Christ Jesus. Just pray your own prayer
silently before your God. I just give us 2 minutes to do
that still. God, what's your what's
condition of your heart in light of the word you had?