Thanksgiving is a matter of perspective.

Thanksgiving comes around every year and people start talking about what they are thankfully for but soon after black Friday and cyber Monday are over the thankfulness ends. We get caught up in the distractions and soon loose the mindset of thankfulness. After thinking about this I came to conclusion that if the mindset can be lost it can be gained and maintained. How to gain and maintain thankfulness Gain Realize that you are not being thankful. Find and tell yourself 3 ways to be thankful about a hard situation Tell God what you are thankful about Maintain Keep positive thinking in the forefront of your mind Choose to be thankful Have a mind change Turning on thankfulness is like the same change when god changes us into a new person and gives us a new heart and a new mind. We have a paradigm shift and start thinking different. We must change our thinking, we must let Christ change our thinking into his thinking. Galatians 2:20 I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. Psalms 51:10 Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me. Let Christ live in your life today...

Notes from the message 9/17/11

S.O.A.P Helps clean our lives 

Spend time 

God in search for us. 

James 4:7-10 

7 Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. 8 Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9 Lament and mourn and weep! Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. 10 Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up.

We need to search for him with all of our heart

Jeremiah 29:13-14

13 And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart. 14 I will be found by you, says the LORD, and I will bring you back from your captivity; I will gather you from all the nations and from all the places where I have driven you, says the LORD, and I will bring you to the place from which I cause you to be carried away captive.

Deuteronomy 4:29

29 But from there you will seek the LORD your God, and you will find Him if you seek Him with all your heart and with all your soul.

Psalm 139:23-24

 23 Search me, O God, and know my heart;
         Try me, and know my anxieties;
 24 And see if there is any wicked way in me,
         And lead me in the way everlasting.

Often not just once a week

Psalm 55:17
 17 Evening and morning and at noon
         I will pray, and cry aloud,
         And He shall hear my voice.

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

16 Rejoice always, 17 pray without ceasing, 18 in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. 

Matthew 11:28-30

28 Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”

Philippians 3:7-8

7 But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. 8 Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ

Make Appointments with God

Action: do something with what you have learned

Isaiah 30:21

21 Your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying,

      “ This is the way, walk in it,”
      Whenever you turn to the right hand
      Or whenever you turn to the left. 

Mark 12:29-31

29 Jesus answered him, “The first of all the commandments is: ‘Hear, O Israel, the LORD our God, the LORD is one. 30 And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’[a] This is the first commandment.[b] 31 And the second, like it, is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’[c] There is no other commandment greater than these.” 

Romans 10:13-15

13 For “whoever calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved.”[a]

Israel Rejects the Gospel

   

14 How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? 15 And how shall they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: 

      “ How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace,[b]

      Who bring glad tidings of good things!”[c]

Isaiah 52:7

7 How beautiful upon the mountains
      Are the feet of him who brings good news,
      Who proclaims peace,
      Who brings glad tidings of good things,
      Who proclaims salvation,
      Who says to Zion,

      “ Your God reigns!” 

When we spend time with God we lean and he wants us to share what we have experienced with Him.

By sharing it stays with us.

Purposefully: do it all with a plan not just happenstance 

Proverbs 29:18

 18Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he.

Make a plan and let God lead your life just don't let it happen by chance.

TRY

Spend time 

Often not just once a week

Action: do something with what you have learned

Purposefully: do it all with a plan not just happenstance

Mark 10:13-16

Mark 10:13-16

New King James Version (NKJV) 

13 Then they brought little children to Him, that He might touch them; but the disciples rebuked those who brought them.

 14 But when Jesus saw it, He was greatly displeased and said to them, “Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of God. 15 Assuredly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will by no means enter it.” 

16 And He took them up in His arms, laid His hands on them, and blessed them.