Thanks for tuning in to the Sandals Church podcast.
Our vision as a church is to be real with ourselves, God, and others.
We're glad you're here, and we hope you enjoy this message.
Hi, guys.
Happy Thanksgiving.
Man, I'm so glad you're at church this weekend or you're watching from somewhere else
around America.
Two weeks ago, Tammy and I had the opportunity to go to Ireland, and we had a great time.
I'm going to talk a lot about the trip in this sermon, but one of the things I noticed
right when we hit the ground in Ireland on November 1 was all the Christmas stuff.
It was all Christmas everywhere.
Christmas decorations, Santa Claus, Christmas singing.
And I was like, Where's Thanksgiving?
Are the Irish not thankful?
And if you were raised Irish, you know no.
You know?
No, we're not.
But I asked somebody, I said, do you guys not have Thanksgiving thinking that the world
celebrates a holiday called Thanksgiving?
And I was talking to one of the pastors, and he said, you know, one of the things that I
think you miss about being American.
And I was like, oh, here we go.
Gonna be insulted right when I land.
And he said no.
He said, Americans don't know how generous they are.
He said, And I believe it's because of the holiday of Thanksgiving.
He said, I believe that's one of the things that shapes America as a culture is the
celebrating of giving thanks.
And so I just want to say happy Thanksgiving to you and your family, and I pray that it
was a wonderful day.
And if it wasn't, you don't have to do it again until next year.
So today we're going to talk about learning to be thankful like Jesus.
One of the things that I've done over the years as I read through the Bible is I just make
notes.
There are some people, some Christians who feel like you shouldn't write in your Bible.
I write in my Bible so much, I tend to wear them out about every three to four years.
They're just destroyed.
And I make little notes because I like to know where I was or what I was doing the last
time I read that.
But I remember one time, as I read through the Gospels, I just started underlining the
word thanks.
And one of the things I was struck by is how many times it was Jesus saying thanks.
Just think about that.
The guy who owns it all has it all.
He's the Son of God.
Everything is his already.
And he's saying, thanks for little things.
Thank you for his disciples.
Thank you for God hearing him.
Thank you for the miracle that he's going to do.
And today we're going to talk about just when he taught us how to give thanks to the
Lord's Supper.
A lot of you guys are new to Sandals Church.
And so every single week when you walk in church, you walk right by the people in the red
shirts who are trying to get you to take something and it looks weird, maybe like medicine
or NyQuil or whatever.
But what it is is it's just a little container full of juice and full of a cracker.
And some people have no idea what that was.
A friend of mine brought a non church person and he was literally like, oh, cool, snacks.
And he took like six.
He thought it was snack time just in case he got bored in the middle of service, but it's
not snacks.
And so if you grew up a Catholic, you call it mass.
If you grew up Baptist like me, we call it Lord's Supper, which is a little weird.
How do you call a supper?
A cracker and a piece of juice?
You're like, you guys are skimpy.
If this is a supper, some of you grew up calling it communion, and some of you, you have
no idea what it is.
And so we're going to talk about today what it really means in the Scriptures.
In the Scriptures, the Bible was written in Greek, so not in English, not in Hebrew, but
it was written in Greek, the Christian Bible.
And the word in the Greek is Eucharist.
You say, well, what does it mean?
It means thanks.
That's what the word means.
It's giving thanks.
And so one of the things that I was struck over the last couple of years, the 20s have
been tough for me personally, and I'm going to talk a little bit about that through the
message.
It's been a hard time to lead, it's been a hard time to understand.
And one of the things I realized is we got to get right back to the very core of what it
means to be a Christian.
And that's why we started doing the Lord's Supper each and every week, even though it's
just juice and it's just a cracker.
That's a big expense for us as a church, because of COVID we changed the way that we did
it.
And I don't know about you, but I don't even like buffets anymore after COVID it's ruined
me.
And so that's why we put it in the container.
It's a more expensive way to do it, but I felt like we needed to get back to the basics of
what it means to be a Christian.
And at the end of service today, you're going to have an opportunity to give thanks to God
and participate by drinking some juice and eating a cracker, because it's our way that we
say thanks.
So if you're watching at home, at line or online, feel free to get something.
And it can be any kind of liquid and any kind of bread.
God doesn't care about the method that you choose to remember Him.
He just wants you to remember Him.
And so be ready.
Maybe you got to press this on pause and watch at the end.
But if you're here, we have it available for you.
And if you forgot, you can grab one out in the lobby, or maybe someone will pass, ask you
an extra one, because I do that from time to time.
Sometimes I find an extra one.
I forgot to take Lord Supper last week.
I'm like, oh, sorry about that, Jesus.
I forgot to say thank you last week.
Hey, thank you so much for joining us for service today.
I want to invite you to give to the work that God is doing in and through Sandals Church,
and you can do so by going to donate SC.
For now, let's jump back into the message with Pastor Matt.
So in Luke 20 214 through 19, it says, when the time came, jesus and the apostles sat down
together it's a huge word there together at the table and listen to the words of the Lord
Jesus.
I don't know if you're looking forward to Thanksgiving this week, but Jesus was looking
forward to Passover with his disciples.
He said, I have been very eager to eat this Passover meal with you before my suffering
begins, for I tell you that I won't eat this meal again until its meaning is fulfilled in
the kingdom of God.
And then he took a cup of wine, and he gave thanks to it, for God for it.
And some of you are like, yeah, I do too, Pastor.
Okay, well, settle down.
And then he said, Take this and share it amongst yourselves.
He said, For I will not drink wine again until the kingdom of God has come.
And then he took some bread, and he gave thanks to God for it.
And then he broke it into pieces, and he gave it to the disciples, saying, this is my body
which was given for you.
Do this in remembrance of me.
And here's what I want you to know about being a Christian.
We're in this series called Generous Like Jesus.
If you're taking notes, I want you to write this down.
And this could be a talking point, maybe over a meal tonight as a family, maybe in your
small group or maybe with your friends.
But I want you to be able to say this and agree with this statement.
I will never become generous until I learn to be grateful.
You see, if you're not grateful, the offering at the end of service is offensive to you
because you're not grateful for what you have.
You're not in a position to give.
When my kids were little, when you're younger, you can eat French fries.
When you get older, you should stop.
Just stop.
French fries and cigarettes, that's free.
Give up both of those things.
But when I was younger and my kids were little, we would go to McDonald's.
And I love McDonald's french fries.
Love it because it's not real French fries.
I don't know what it is, but the aliens made it, and it tastes wonderful.
And so we'd go to McDonald's, and I don't know, sometimes as parents, you feel
conscientious when you're ordering, so you're like, no fries today.
Well, my son has no conscience at that time.
So he ordered a large thing of fries, and we were sitting down, and he's got his whole
pile of fries.
It's bigger than his head.
He got, like, an extra large.
You know, the fries the fries at McDonald's are just obscene.
It's like small, medium, large, and I hate myself size, right?
It's just huge.
And he's got this huge thing he can't possibly eat of them all.
And I reach over to grab one, and he smacks my hand.
And I said, who do you think paid for these fries?
He said they're my fries.
I said, I want you to know every single fry in that pile is mine.
And you only have them because I gave them to you.
And I could feel my wife reaching over to touch.
She's like, don't cause a scene.
I was like, oh, I'm going to cause a scene.
But a lot of us, when it comes to generosity, we're like, my son, when he was four, god's
given us all these French fries.
And the time for the offering, god says, hey, can I have one back?
And you're like, slap his no, no.
And you know why that is?
It's because you're not grateful.
And some of you say, well, Pastor Matt, I work hard.
Well, who do you think gave you that work ethic?
You say, well, my parents did.
Well, who gave you your parents?
Well, I went to school and I worked hard.
Well, who gave you your brain?
Because not everybody has a brain that allows them to go to school, okay?
That's just the truth.
Not everybody is equally smart.
Well, Pastor, I've done this.
And let me tell you something.
Everything in your life has been orchestrated by God.
All your fries come from Him.
And until you understand that, you're never, ever going to be generous.
And so gratitude is huge for us.
So I want us to learn from Jesus on how to say thanks.
So Jesus, number one, he teaches me how to be thankful for the good times.
Some of you miss this when you read this story.
Jesus said, I've been very eager to eat this Passover meal with you.
Listen to this before my suffering begins.
This is why so many young people are devastated by life.
They thought it would always be good times.
Let me tell you something.
Life will not always be good, okay?
Dating couples, marriage isn't always good.
Amen.
Married people I mean, children.
Children are not always good.
One of my favorite things to do when I go to Disneyland is just watch parents try not to
harm their children.
Do you know how much money we paid.
Oh, my gosh.
Here's what the Bible says.
This is a book of wisdom.
It's called the Book of Ecclesiastes.
And here's what Solomon says.
He says there's a time for everything and a season for every activity under heaven.
A time to be born and what?
A time to die.
A time to plant and a time to uproot.
A time to tear down, and a time to build.
A time to weep and a time to laugh.
Man, I had a guy a couple of weeks ago who challenged me.
He doesn't like my sermons.
He said I'm too funny, which I took as a compliment.
I mean, if you're going to insult somebody, you are way too funny.
And you know why that is?
He's been raised in a church experience where you never laugh.
The Bible says there is a time to laugh.
And you know when that time is?
When I see something funny, the Lord's, like it's time to laugh.
That's the time.
The Holy Spirit's, like, this is the moment.
And there's a time to mourn.
And if you're Baptist, even a time to dance, I know, pray about it.
This is the word of the Lord.
Can I just say this to the young people?
Don't miss the good times.
Don't miss them.
And I know some of you are parenting small children and you're not sleeping and you smell
a vomit right now as you sit.
And it's not your vomit.
That's how you know when you're a know, you didn't throw up on yourself, but someone did.
And you're saying, oh, my gosh, this is never going to end.
Oh, yes, it will.
And you'll miss it.
You'll miss it.
You know, when Tammy and I first got married, we were so poor.
And I remember our first time camping, and it was awful.
The whole thing was horrible.
And you know what?
When I look back, I love it.
I love every aspect of it.
I even love the struggle, you know, the vacation stunk.
But it was our vacation.
We went on vacation and it was fun.
It was fun to figure things out.
And some of you men, you're so stuck right here.
You can't see the beauty that God has blessed you with.
You're missing out.
Some of us, though, that are older, we're so stuck in the past.
We're so wounded by the past.
We're missing out on the present.
And then others of us, oh, my gosh, we're so worried about the future.
We're missing the gift of this moment.
That's why they call it the present.
Do you hear the word in English?
It's a present.
And so many of you, you're wasting your life because you're missing the beauty of right
now.
And this is what I love about Jesus.
He knows what he's going to see.
You and I, we don't know what tomorrow holds.
He knew.
He knew it was the cross.
And here's the thing is, he doesn't ruin the evening because he knows what tomorrow holds.
He enjoyed the evening.
I wonder what you would do if you knew you only had one day to live.
We know what Jesus did.
He enjoyed it.
Oh, how long I've been waiting to share this meal with you guys.
Isn't that amazing?
He knew how to celebrate the moment.
You see, one of the things that Jesus knows that you and I forget constantly is the gift
of time.
It's such a gift, and it's flying by.
So thank God for the good times.
Enjoy them.
Because many of you are robbing yourself.
Because you're either stuck in the past or you're worried about the future.
And you're not in the present, and you're not enjoying this.
Matthew 20 618 jesus replied.
He said, Go into the city and a certain man and tell him, the teacher says, my appointed
time is near.
I'm going to listen to this word.
Celebrate the Passover with my disciples at your house.
You see, Passover is a celebration of how God liberated the people of Israel from Egypt.
They were slaves for 400 years in Egypt, and God delivered them and set them free.
And they praised God for it.
They celebrated that.
And so Passover, jesus is celebrating Passover for what God did for the Jewish people.
And why is that?
Because he's about to do that for all people of every tribe, every tongue, every nation.
He's about ready to deliver us all.
Not from Egypt, but from sin.
And let me say this.
Every single weekend at Senate's Church is a celebration.
It's a celebration.
And so many churches, maybe your church history forgot that.
It's a celebration.
No matter how bad our weeks were, jesus rose.
He rose on a Sunday morning.
And so you know what that means?
If you're going through a divorce, if you're battling addiction, if you've been diagnosed
with cancer, it means there's always hope.
There's always hope.
Amen.
And some of you as Christians, your spiritual gift is doom and gloom.
I knew it.
This is the end.
It's over.
Let me tell you something.
It's not over until God says it's over.
And I don't care what the doctor said.
Six weeks, eight weeks, you're not going home until Jesus calls you home.
And so celebrate today.
Celebrate today.
Hug your loved ones.
Hug your kids.
Be nice to people.
Don't hug strangers.
I've done that before.
One time in an airport, a lady smiled at me and I hugged her.
And I said, how long you been going to Sandals?
And she said, what is sandals?
I'm going to stop touching you right now.
That happened.
Oh, yeah.
Welcome to my life.
So Jesus teaches me to be thankful for the good times.
Do you know why many of you are depressed?
You've skipped over good times, but, boy, you got laser focus on the bad times.
Don't mean some of you guys are like George Costanza.
You celebrate festivus, not Jesus.
And if you don't know festivus, the first rule of festivus is the celebrating and airing
of grievances.
Here's all the things that have gone wrong.
Look at Christians.
We need to be reminded of the things that go right.
That go right.
Next.
Jesus teaches me to be thankful for Godly people.
Matthew 1125.
At that time, Jesus prayed this prayer.
He says, O Father, Lord of heaven, thank you for hiding these things from those who think
themselves are wise and clever and for revealing them to the childlike.
You want to know why I'm so immature?
Because I'm a follower of Jesus.
My wife's like, what, are you going to grow up?
Never.
Oh my gosh.
I laugh at things and she's like, you are always going to be twelve.
I said, I hope so.
I hope so.
Because when you're twelve, life is awesome.
Awesome.
But listen to what he said.
I didn't reveal myself to the super cool, the super influential, the super famous, the
super beautiful.
I revealed myself to the simple and the childlike.
God is so thankful for you.
He's so thankful for you that you're not too full of yourself to miss out on him, man.
God is thankful for you.
In Luke 20 214, when the time came, jesus and the apostles sat down together at the table
together.
Jesus teaches me how to be thankful for Godly people.
God thanked us, like, for the simple, goofy, silly, childlike people.
That's us.
Jesus like, I love you guys.
Thank you.
Team Goofy.
That's us.
When's the last time you thank God for the goofy people in your life that make your life
worth living?
I want to challenge you to think about three groups of people your friends, your family
and your church.
When's the last time you thanked God for your friends?
This is what I tell my kids.
Friends are rare and they should be appreciated and thanked.
I've had a lot of people in my life tell me they were my friend.
I've had very, very few people actually act like it.
And I need to praise God for those people, man.
I have friends.
I have friends that call me pastor.
Do you realize how weird that is to know everything about me, still love me?
Yeah.
You think you know somebody, marry them, then you'll discover who they are.
Oh, yeah.
But when's the last time you just said thank you?
Maybe this weekend.
What you need to do is you need to sit down, turn the game off, because you don't know
those people and they don't know you.
And you need to write a note to a friend.
Guys, you got to ask a woman where the cards are in the grocery store.
It's really hard to find them.
You've walked by them your entire life and write a card says, I appreciate you.
Thank you.
Or don't send a card.
Just tell your friends, hey, man, thanks.
I'm grateful for you.
Next.
How about family?
A lot of times, we tend to focus on all the things our family didn't do for us.
When's the last time you thank God for the things they did do?
I'm grateful for the things my mom and dad did, the things that they sacrificed for the
life that they provided for me.
I'm thankful.
Maybe it was an aunt.
Maybe it was an uncle.
Maybe it was a cousin.
Maybe it was a brother or sister that looked out for you, man.
I had a friend of mine, a good friend of mine, he grew up in a very abusive home.
He had a sibling that would lock him up and kidnap him and do just awful things.
But, you know, he had another brother that would come looking for him.
You see, you need to thank God for that brother.
And maybe your family's terrible.
Maybe it was a teacher.
You had a teacher that noticed you, that saw potential in you.
Family is a bigger word than I think we give it credit for.
And then how about this?
How about your church?
Can I just tell you, one of the things I've been super convicted about this year is I
don't thank God enough for you guys.
I don't.
I was super convicted this last week while I was writing this message.
It's a miracle that Sandals Church made it through COVID, made it through the 2020
election, made it through the George Floyd issues, made it through the Ukraine war.
It is a miracle of God.
Sandals Church is a living, breathing miracle because of you.
And I just want to say, from the bottom of my heart, I can never thank you enough.
And here's the reality.
I've not led perfectly the last four years.
I've made mistakes.
I've said dumb things, done dumb things, doubled down on dumb things.
Anybody ever do that?
I'm going to double down on stupid, because this makes sense.
And I was talking with our executive pastor this week, and I said, I'm just so bummed
about all the mistakes I've made.
You know what he said?
He's all, yeah, that's executive.
He wasn't like, no, you haven't.
No, he just literally text back, yeah.
But I want to say this today.
I want to thank you for hanging in there at Sandals Church.
And I know a lot of you have lost friends that have gone to other churches because they
say I've gone nuts or I've gone woke or I'm a Trumpster or whatever.
It's amazing how crazy I am to people in every direction.
I'm like, can I be both?
They're like, yes.
I'm like, okay.
But I just want to thank you, because some of you guys, you've hung in there with us, and
you keep giving, you keep serving, you keep coming, you keep celebrating, and you show up
every single week, and I get paid to be here, but you don't.
And I just want to read this scripture.
And I want you to know that when I read this, I had to stop and I thanked God for you.
Paul says this as he writes a letter to his church in Ephesus.
He says, I have not stopped thanking God for you, and I pray for you constantly.
I want you to know as your pastor, I thank God for you.
I thank God for your service, for your heart, and for your faithfulness.
And I especially thank God for those of you who were with me in 2020 and are still with me
today.
Because I realize this has been bumpy for four years and there have been times as the
pilot, I have steered into turbulence because I'm super gifted that way.
And I apologize for that.
And here's the thing is, if I'm honest, if I said if I go back and do it again, I'd just
make different mistakes because I didn't know how to lead.
Never been through a pandemic before, never seen anything in my life, what America is
going through like now, never seen it.
So thank you.
Thank you for sticking with us and for those who are new to the church.
I'm an amazing leader, and you're going to love it here.
You're going to love it.
It's going to be good.
Okay, let's move forward.
I don't know why there's all the laughter.
Next.
And let me say this.
If you're not a Christian yet, you need to be.
There's no one like Jesus.
No one.
Jesus teaches me to be thankful for the little things, man.
You want to fix your marriage, start thanking God for the little things, the little
things.
You want to have friends.
Thank him for the little things you like.
We all think about the friend that doesn't call us back, that doesn't invite us.
When did we thank the friend that does call us that does invite us?
Luke 20 217 then he took the cup of wine and he gave thanks to God for it.
He's thanking God for a glass of wine.
When's the last time many of you don't even thank God when you eat.
You need to change that.
That's why we thank God, because we get to eat.
Because there's been Christians throughout the last 2000 years who've not eaten, who have
starved to death.
Thank God for it.
I was on a flight and I was all mad and bitter because I fly enough.
I get upgraded.
So I get upgraded.
And I always love that.
When you get upgraded to business class, you walk past the coach people, you're like, I
have been summoned to the front.
It's so funny.
When I walk past business class, I just like, you greedy people.
And then when it's me, I'm like, Mick way.
But anyways, I didn't get upgraded.
I was in coach and the guy next to me.
We were very close.
We were strangers in the night.
And I am pressed against the window, and I'm so mad at him.
God, everything.
And he's coming on top of me, and he's asleep.
He's one of these guys.
I was so tempted just to drop something in there, but then I'd be on the news, and so I
was so mad.
And there's no free video on this thing.
You got to look at your own phone and watch a movie.
And so I was just so angry.
So I picked Nacho Libre.
And if you haven't seen this movie, it's the dumbest movie that every Christian needs to
see.
And there's this line in this movie that forever, like when we go to heaven, jesus is
going to quote Nacho Libre.
And Nacho's discouraged about his life.
He's not happy.
He's not getting the girl.
He's not getting the attention.
And he says this quote.
He says, I know the wrestlers get all the fancy ladies and clothes, the fancy creams and
lotions, but my life is good, really good.
I get to wake up every morning at 05:00 a.m.
And make some soup.
I'm dying on the airplane.
I'm dying laughing.
When's the last time you thank God that you get to get up at 05:00 a.m.?
Because not everybody did today.
What are the blessings that you might be missing so many Christians?
Pastor Rd prayer.
What, for a job?
Didn't we pray for a job last month?
Yeah, I got that job.
What happened?
It didn't work out.
At least you have a job.
A lot of people are losing their jobs right now, losing their livelihood, have not been
paid in months.
I have a friend of mine works in Hollywood.
Because of the strike, he's made $0 this year, zero.
I was like, man, I've never thought about feeling sad for Hollywood.
People still not going to do it.
But I thought about know, I'm such a good pastor.
How about this?
Your health, man.
You don't thank God for it until you don't have it and you're healthy.
When's the last time you thank God that your lung works, your brain works, your body
works, your foot works?
When did you just thank God?
How about a good night's sleep?
Oh, man.
You know, Tammy and I went to Ireland, and I have a new form of appreciation and sympathy
for those of you who struggle sleeping.
Both Tammy and I, we got insomnia in Ireland.
I've never had it before, never experienced it before, and I just never want to experience
it.
You know, whenever you travel, sleep is always weird for a couple of days.
But the conference I was speaking at was in a movie theater.
And these are new churches.
These are young churches in Europe.
They don't have a good budget.
And so the truth is, the movie theater was super dark, and I was in it all day, every day.
And we missed sunlight for three nights.
And then we went to a pharmacist.
And I know they think they speak English in Ireland, but I asked for Benadryl, and they
gave me Zequil.
And Zequil does the opposite to me.
Zequil.
And let me just explain it.
If I had three hamsters in my brain and they all snorted cocaine, that's what Zekel does.
And they just party.
They party all night long.
And let me tell you something.
I'm leading.
I'm preaching, I'm teaching.
I'm smiling.
I got an IV with coffee in my arm every day.
And this went on for six nights.
I know six.
I didn't sleep for six nights.
And I kept Tammy up for most of those six nights because we're married.
We're one.
If I can't sleep, you can't sleep.
And I went and preached at the town where my family left Ireland.
Cork.
Think about that.
My family left, came to America.
There were signs said, no dogs, no blacks and no Irish.
That was the American dream when they came here.
But I was there, and they said, is there anything we can do for you, Pastor?
I said yeah.
I said, I need some sleep.
Is there a doctor I need to talk to?
I need a doctor.
And I'll tell you what, I didn't sleep night six.
I didn't sleep night seven, but I did night eight.
And I got to tell you, I wept when I woke up in the morning and I realized I'd fallen
asleep.
And I said, God, thank you for sleep.
Did you know the Bible says Psalm 127 two the Lord blesses his beloved with sleep.
Do you know how hard it is to shut off your brain if you slept last night?
God did it for you.
Sleep, man.
For some of you, it might not be your work.
It might not be your health.
It might not be sleep.
It was this message.
You need to thank God for this message today.
This is what you needed.
Because the truth is, you've become ungrateful.
And the Lord has blessed you.
The Lord has blessed you.
You know why your kids are bored?
Because they're blessed.
100 years ago, working on the farm, get it?
For you know what?
They weren't bored.
They were never bored.
They were starving, but they weren't bored.
Some of you, you've blessed your children too much.
That's why they're bored.
My kids oh, my gosh.
There's nothing to watch on TV.
I was like, when I was a kid, we had three channels.
Three channels.
Click, click.
You have 3000 movies on your phone.
Don't talk to me about bored.
Think about it.
Kids today have more movies on their phone than Blockbuster had in the store.
Remember?
We were walking around.
Anyways, I'm old.
Okay, next.
Jesus teaches me to be thankful for opportunities.
Wait for it.
You've liked the message so far?
Jesus teaches me to be thankful for opportunities to give.
Then he took some bread, and he gave thanks to God for it.
Okay, but what is the bread?
Then he broke it and he gave it to the disciples, saying, this is my body which is given
for you.
Man if you're a Christian, your life should be marked by giving, giving to God and his
church to reach the world for Christ.
That's what Jesus is doing.
He's giving God to the church to reach the world to Him.
Let me say this.
Every Christian every Christian should support their church financially.
I don't understand this.
One of the things I'm doing with the church in Europe.
The church in Europe is alive.
It's growing.
Man I met pastors from Germany.
I met pastors who planted a church in Paris, pastors in Ireland, pastors in Scandinavia,
in Italy, all over the world.
And you know what?
They're all afraid to talk about?
Money.
And I said, you can't grow a church without money.
It won't work.
You got to challenge your people to give.
And they're like, we can't do it.
I said, Fly me here, I'll do it.
I'll do it.
Every single believer should celebrate the fact that God wants me to participate with Him
to build his kingdom.
I get to be a part.
I should celebrate that and never apologize for it.
Two Corinthians nine seven says this each one must give as he has decided in his heart,
not reluctantly or under compulsion, because God loves a cheerful giver.
When you get God, you get giving.
And if you don't get giving, you haven't gotten God.
You feel a golf clap?
Yeah, okay.
Like I'm clapping, but I'm kind of convicted.
Listen, Christians, you need to be givers.
God won't grow Sandals financially without you.
And he doesn't need some rich dude to write a check.
He needs you to be faithful.
And let me say this.
There are many Christians right now.
Maybe you're attending Sandals Church because it's Thanksgiving weekend and you're
visiting us.
You don't have to give, but you could.
And let me tell you why, especially those who watch every single week online.
But you attend another church.
I want to challenge you.
Christians from other churches that are blessed by the ministry of Santa's Church should
help support Santa's church.
I run into so many people.
I go to such and such church, but I watch you every week.
Great.
Give an offering.
Tammy and I were in Ireland.
We flow.
We flew to Ireland.
They didn't pay for the flights.
We stayed in a hotel for eight nights.
They didn't pay for the hotels.
We rented our car.
We paid for our gas.
You want to know why?
They got no money in Europe.
They're barely making it.
I spoke for free.
I don't know how you make your living.
I make my living speaking and writing.
I paid thousands of dollars to go to Europe.
Why is that?
Because Jesus is the hope of the world, and the church is his tool to share the Gospel.
And then they gave an offering.
And you know what my wife said?
Are we going to give?
You know why she said that?
Because I handle the money.
You know what she's saying?
We're giving.
That's what she's saying.
So I'm doing just like you do.
I'm trying to figure out on the app how to give.
What do I give?
And you know what I gave?
What the Holy Spirit said.
That's what I gave.
And when we went and spoke at that church in Cork, you know what we did?
We gave.
You know why?
God was there.
God was there, and God was moving, and God was working.
And here's the thing.
At the conference I spoke at, I was blessed.
And that little church that's struggling in Cork, do you know what they did at the end?
They wanted to pay us an offering.
I refused.
I said, there's no way I'm taking money from you guys.
They said, well, could we pray over you?
I said yes, please.
And I wept like a baby in front of hundreds of Irish people.
It was beautiful.
Tammy and I were blessed to be a part of what God's doing.
Look, if you listen on the weekends and you go to another church and I hear, I love the
debrief, then support it.
Support it.
Why are Christians so cheap?
I don't get it.
Why want that for free?
Well, you want me to make a list of things I want?
Come on, guys.
I love that.
I have a wife that says, Are we going to give?
Are we going to give?
My wife is still talking about the sermon some other dude preached.
What's that about?
She even said this.
She said he's really good.
Maybe he could replace you when you retire at Senate.
I was like, now we've gone too far.
We just went from blessing to insulting.
But he was really good.
He was really good.
And then lastly, Jesus teaches me to be thankful for his sacrifice.
After supper, he took another cup of wine and he said, this cup is a new covenant between
God and his people.
Listen to this.
You're like.
What's?
A covenant?
Okay.
He'll tell us.
An agreement confirmed with my blood, which is poured out as a sacrifice for you.
If you're not a Christian today, you are separated from God, and there's nothing you can
ever do to fix it.
That's why God sent Jesus, because he's the only one who could fix your broken
relationship with yourself, with the people you love, and with God, who's in heaven.
And Jesus Christ fixed all of those relationships by dying for you on the cross.
And all you have to do is accept the offering.
Isn't that crazy?
Jesus taught us to remember his sacrifice.
It's a pretty good deal, right?
I die.
You just say thanks.
And some are like, I'll pray about it.
He dies, we say thanks.
The Eucharist, and remember what it means.
Thanks.
So in just a minute, if you're at church and we take the Lord's supper, all you're doing
is saying thanks.
Thanks.
Why am I saying thanks?
Because it wasn't my body that was on that cross.
And it wasn't my blood that was shed.
It was his.
And why was he on that cross?
For his sin.
Oh, no.
For my sin.
Chronicles 16 eight says this give thanks to the Lord and proclaim his greatness.
Let the whole world know what he has done.
What he has done.
When I interact with Buddhists and Muslims, they always want to know why I'm a Christian.
And here's the answer.
Because Jesus died for me.
What did Buddha do for you?
What did Muhammad do for you?
They may or may not have an answer.
I know what Jesus did for me.
He died on the cross for me.
First Colossians.
Not first colossians.
Sorry.
Colossians 317.
And whatever you do or say, whatever, do it as a representative of the Lord Jesus.
Listen to this.
Giving thanks through him to God the Father.
As we prepare our hearts to take the Lord's supper, let's just say thanks.
Thank you.
Because we will never be generous until what church?
Grateful.
We're grateful.
Our offerings that we give are just a small portion of what we've received.
And this is what my wife always says.
If you ask her why she's a giver, she tells our kids this all the time.
She says you can never outgive God.
Ever.
Let's pray.
Heavenly Father, we just pray right now, Lord, that you would teach us to say thanks.
It's Thanksgiving weekend and we need to say thanks.
Thank you, God, for the good times.
Thank you, God, for our friends, the godly people in our life, this church.
Lord, thank you for the opportunity to give.
And thank you, Lord Jesus, for your sacrifice, for dying for us.
On the cross, we say thank you.
Thank you, thank you.
Thank you.
In the name of Jesus, we say thank you.
And the church said, Amen.