Thanksgiving Mode
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Thanksgiving Mode | Pastor Dean Deguara
Thanksgiving isn’t denial, it's alignment
Philippians 2:1–5 (AMP)
Therefore if there is any encouragement and comfort in Christ [as there certainly is in abundance], if there is any consolation of love, if there is any fellowship [that we share] in the Spirit, if [there is] any [great depth of] affection and compassion,
2 make my joy complete by being of the same mind, having the same love [toward one another], knit together in spirit, intent on one purpose [and living a life that reflects your faith and spreads the gospel—the good news regarding salvation through faith in Christ].
3 Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit [through factional motives, or strife], but with [an attitude of] humility [being neither arrogant nor self-righteous], regard others as more important than yourselves.
Do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others. 5 Have this same attitude in yourselves which was in Christ Jesus [look to Him as your example in selfless humility]
Point 1 | THANKSGIVING ALIGNS ME WITH HEAVEN’S REALITY
Life brings pressure, unexpected texts, job losses, disappointments.
Philippians 1:27 (NLT)
Above all, you must live as citizens of heaven, conducting yourselves in a manner worthy of the Good News about Christ. Then, whether I come and see you again or only hear about you, I will know that you are standing together with one spirit and one purpose, fighting together for the faith, which is the Good News.
Psalm 100:4-5 (AMP)
Enter His gates with a song of thanksgiving And His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him, bless and praise His name.5 For the Lord is good; His mercy and lovingkindness are everlasting, His faithfulness [endures] to all generations.
Thanksgiving gives me access to heaven's abundance when I’m experiencing scarcity in my life.
Point 2 | THANKSGIVING RESHAPES MY ATTITUDE WITH CHRIST’S MINDSET
Philippians 2:1-2 (AMP)
Therefore if there is any encouragement and comfort in Christ [as there certainly is in abundance], if there is any consolation of love, if there is any fellowship [that we share] in the Spirit, if [there is] any [great depth of] affection and compassion, 2 make my joy complete by being of the same mind, having the same love [toward one another], knit together in spirit, intent on one purpose [and living a life that reflects your faith and spreads the gospel—the good news regarding salvation through faith in Christ].
Where your thoughts go, your life follows
Point 3 | THANKSGIVING REALIGNS MY POSTURE FROM PRIDE TO HUMILITY
Philippians 2:3-4 (AMP)
Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit [through factional motives, or strife], but with [an attitude of] humility [being neither arrogant nor self-righteous], regard others as more important than yourselves. 4 Do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others.
3 Unity Killers that Throw Us Off Course:
Empty Conceit – a hollow sense of self-importance that lacks substance.
Factional Motives – a thankless spirit that prioritizes control and internal conflict over shared purpose.
Strife – bitter conflict that grows from anger, pride, and jealousy.
Grateful people are graceful people
Breakthrough doesn’t begin when everything changes around you — it begins when something shifts inside you.
Philippians 2:5 (AMP)
Have this same attitude in yourselves which was in Christ Jesus [look to Him as your example in selfless humility]
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How many of you guys appreciate Pastor Taylor?
Come on.
Hey, just a few things.
I just want to share my heart a little bit.
First of all, I just want to say thank you for rallying around the Chastain family last Sunday.
I offered you two ways that we can support this family.
The first was prayer.
We had 63 people right now covering them in prayer through the prayer chain.
So thank you for praying for them.
Remember to pray for them each and every day.
Things got delayed, so I thought they had left last Saturday.
They actually left yesterday.
And so treatments will start here tomorrow for Andrew.
And then I wanted to just express my gratitude to you.
We raised last Sunday and put them over their $20,000 goal.
We raised $4,000 last week.
So thank you for being a part of Andrew's angel army.
And, man, I know that they were very, very thankful yesterday.
for this church body, and so thank you so much.
Also, several people have asked me what Real Life Church is doing about families being impacted by the government shutdown.
Well, Pastor Michelle and the outreach team
To be honest, through our nonprofit, Love Natomas, we've been meeting our community needs consistently all year long.
So what we're doing now is not reactionary.
It's something that we already do.
And so this is not a reaction to what's going on in our world.
It's just what we do.
It's who we are.
And so yesterday we had Love Natoma Saturday.
Again, we've got several partnerships, but we distributed groceries and then some household items to about 130 families yesterday.
So we're thankful that we're able to do that.
And so...
we want to just keep doing what we're doing and we're believing God for more resources, especially as we approach the holiday.
And then as pastor Taylor mentioned, if you could commit by putting together a Thanksgiving bag, uh, we're going to have a distribution event on the 22nd.
It'll be a drive through event where people just drive through in their cars and we drop off the groceries.
And so I'm thankful for that.
Also, um,
We have the holidays approaching.
Last December, over 4,000 people walked through our doors in December.
And then Easter alone this last year, 2,300 people came on Easter Sunday.
So what's that mean for us?
That means we've gotta beef up our teams.
We're a church of 1,500 plus.
There should be no reason why anybody is burning out here.
We had some guys step up today and so appreciate that.
But if you could step up, especially during the holidays, take a shift.
We're not looking for you to work each and every Sunday, but if everybody just took one Sunday and said, hey, I wanna serve, I wanna give my best to God, it would help us serve people well and it would avoid people getting burned out around here.
And so it's not just one team managing four services.
We literally have four churches.
Meeting on one campus, all right?
And so we need teams for every service.
So if you can help, again, the Discovery Track is this Wednesday.
If you haven't taken that, we'd love to get you through that and get you serving ASAP.
And so that would be a tremendous blessing.
Are you guys ready to get in the Word today?
All the notes are in the YouVersion app.
You can download that app and go to events, Real Life Church Sacramento.
All the notes are there to encourage and strengthen you.
And when you share those, it just expands our influence as a community.
You can tag myself.
You can tag the church.
And we share those as well.
So thank you so much for spreading the word.
Last week, we started the series, Thanks Anyway, Developing a Durable Spirit.
How many know we need some durable Christians in the hour that we're living in?
We need some people who got a tough spirit.
Anybody?
Come on, not a tough heart.
Come on.
But a tender heart, come on, with a tough spirit.
And last week, we talked about giving God thanks anyway.
advance and I mentioned that facts are real but with God come on they're not final and as I mentioned last week thanking God in advance isn't denying reality it's actually acknowledging heavens reality and inviting heaven to invade your life
Thanksgiving lifts us above the facts of our situation.
How many of you have ever had to face the facts?
Three people.
How many of you have ever had to face the facts?
And when I express thanks to God for my situation or that difficult person in my life or my bad day or whatever it may be, when I give God thanks...
Listen, I begin to trust God's will for my life.
Thanksgiving lifts me above the facts of my situation into a place of faith where I trust God's will won't be hindered even when life feels uncertain.
Say this with me.
Facts are real, but they're not final.
Facts are real, but they're not final.
No.
Walking by faith does not mean you won't face hard things.
It actually means you will face them with heaven's perspective and God's abundance backing you up.
How many of you, come on, how many of you know God, you can walk confidently knowing that God has your back?
man, the front really, how about the back back there?
How many of you can walk confidently knowing that God has your back?
Faith is simply this.
Faith is simply this, having confidence in the character of God.
In other words, believing that who he says he is, he actually is.
Again, it's not ignoring pain, but it's reframing it through the attitude of Christ.
And this is what many of us succumb to in life, unhealthy attitudes.
Anybody ever have an unhealthy attitude or a bad attitude?
And what happens in the life of a believer is that unhealthy attitudes, the Bible refers to unhealthy attitudes as strongholds.
Strongholds are mindsets impregnated with hopelessness that believe things cannot change, even when it contradicts God's word.
This is why Paul instructed us to cast down every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God.
Amen.
Because, listen, what you don't cast down, listen, you will build up in your mind.
And, listen, how many of you have had a mental block before?
You literally set up a stronghold where the enemy takes a fortress in your head, in your thought life.
Thanksgiving, however, breaks all of that up and it dismantles what we see as unchangeable.
And that's why gratitude isn't just a response.
It actually resets our mind to think, act, and become more like our Savior, Jesus Christ.
So when I thank God in advance, I'm not pretending things are perfect.
Come on, I'm not oblivious to what's going on outside of me, but it just fixes me on the promises of God instead of the problems of life.
I can focus, listen, on the promise and get hope.
Come on.
And ask heaven to invade my circumstance, my situation.
This is what God has for us.
And gratitude, this is why gratitude isn't just a response.
It's a reset.
Everybody say reset.
Last Monday, I got to travel to Dallas and see my son play on Monday night.
Yes, they won.
It was a good game.
And it was exciting to be there first time in a, you know, Jerry world or whatever they call it.
And Josiah is actually 2-0 now in that stadium.
So that was a good thing.
But my first time there.
And he had a good game, played a lot, did a lot of blocking.
And then Tuesday came.
And so did the text.
Dad, I don't want you to see it on social media.
I'm being released.
So he called.
I was on my way to the airport getting ready to fly home.
And he said, dad, I saw it coming, but it's out of my control.
And I said, did you watch my message last week?
He said, no, I haven't had time to watch it yet.
I said, you need to watch it because right now we're going to thank God in advance for what he's about to do.
So how many know, come on, pastors got to practice what they preach.
And so right there, right before I got in the TSA line, I just began to thank God.
God, I thank you that he's going to the Niners.
No, I'm just playing.
God, I thank you.
I thank you that he's going to the Raiders, you know, whatever, right?
Somewhere close in Jesus' name.
Hallelujah.
Hallelujah.
And I began to just give God thanks.
And I said, I told them this.
I said, God's already got it taken care of.
One door, I said, one door shuts, another one's about to open.
You see, the facts for Josiah were, you're being released.
Many of us stop right there.
But the reality of heaven for Josiah said, hey, Josiah, I'm not done writing your story yet.
The facts of life said, you lost your spot.
Reality of heaven said, I'm positioning you for something greater.
Amen.
So how many are you thankful for Wednesday?
Because Tuesday wasn't a lot of good news.
A lot of prayer and a lot of thanksgiving going up on Tuesday.
And Wednesday I'm in my devotional time and Josiah calls and he says, he said, Miami called.
He said, my agent doesn't want me to go to Miami because it's a dumpster fire right now.
I said, okay.
He said, Denver called.
They want me to sign.
Come on.
He said, but they play tomorrow night, and they can't sign me until after the game.
He said, but the Cardinals didn't want to lose me, so they signed me right back.
Hallelujah.
Hallelujah.
Come on.
Listen, thanksgiving, come on, can look at your release on one day.
Listen, you've lost your spot on one day.
And thanksgiving, come on, by thanking God in advance, he's already opening doors that you and I can't open on our own.
Again, thanksgiving isn't denial.
It's alignment.
And so today we're going to look at Philippians chapter 2, verses 1 through 5.
That's as far as we're going to get.
Again, this is not an expository sermon series.
It's just an overview of these four chapters.
And it says this, Therefore...
If there is any encouragement and comfort in Christ, as there certainly is an abundance, I'm reading out of the Amplified this morning.
If there is any consolation of love, if there is any fellowship that we share in the Spirit, if there is any great depth of affection and compassion, verse 2, make my joy complete by being the same mind, having the same love toward one another, knit together in spirit, intent on one purpose.
and living a life that reflects your faith and spreads the gospel, the good news regarding salvation through faith in Christ.
How many know our lives should reflect heaven?
Verse 4, do not merely, whoops, verse 3, do nothing from selfish or empty conceit through factional motives or strife, but with an attitude of humility, be neither arrogant nor self-righteous, regard others as more important than yourselves.
How many of you know that's hard to do?
Do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others.
Have this same attitude.
Everybody say attitude.
Have this same attitude in yourself, which was in Christ Jesus.
Look to him as your example in selfless humility.
In selfless humility.
Today I want to talk to you about thanksgiving mode aligning with heaven in the heat of life.
Aligning with heaven in the heat of life.
It leads me to my first point and it's this.
Thanksgiving aligns me, as we've discussed, with heaven's reality.
You see, life brings pressure.
Life brings unexpected texts.
Life brings sudden job losses, a sudden change of plans, disappointments that we didn't see coming.
I have a friend in Texas that Amy and I went to youth group with when we were younger and
Last week, her house burned down due to a faulty furnace.
And today, on her feed, it was just full of thanksgiving.
I thank you that God saved my family.
I'm thankful for my neighbor who's allowing us to take a shower.
I'm thankful for the fire department.
I'm thankful for my church family.
She's not focused on what she's lost.
She's focused on what God's been giving her through the love of her community.
You see, gratitude isn't a reaction to what's happening.
It's a reset to what's already true in heaven.
And you'll notice chapter 2 starts out with therefore.
And whenever you see a therefore, you guys know this, you've got to ask the question, what is it therefore?
So Paul, at the end of chapter 1, gives them instruction.
We're going to look at that verse.
Verse 27, it says this.
Above all, you must live as citizens of heaven.
How many know how we live matters?
Yes.
Listen, it doesn't matter if you come to church.
Come on, dress in your Sunday's best.
Come on, if you're not, come on, if you're not acting like heaven outside of these four walls, come on, they call that contradiction.
Above all, you must live as citizens of heaven, conducting yourselves in a manner worthy of the good news about Christ.
Then whether I come and see you again or only hear about you, I will know that you are standing together with one spirit, one purpose, fighting together.
How many know there's a difference between fighting together and fighting with one another?
And Paul is addressing what's going on in the community.
And he's saying, listen...
I will know that you're standing together with one spirit, one purpose, fighting together for the faith, which is the good news.
This is where actually real life gets its vision statement.
A church that looks, lives, and leads like heaven.
These are the qualities that we want to see in people's life who call this church their home.
So that when people look at your life, come on, they'll see heaven reflect in heaven's glory.
Amen?
When we live like heaven, we are walking in heaven's abundance.
And that doesn't have anything to do with finances necessarily.
But it does include, it includes finances, but also include his love.
Come on, his mercy.
Come on, his grace, his favor that's upon our life.
And then when we lead like heaven, we are walking in heaven's humility.
And Paul is saying, don't let it be said that we're fighting one another.
We already have an enemy to fight.
Instead, he's saying, unite yourselves in spirit and in purpose in the fight to advance the gospel.
And this is where Paul says, therefore, this is how you're going to do this.
You know, our zip code may say Sacramento, but how many know our mindset needs to be shaped by heaven?
Yesterday, again, we had people lined up all the way down Arena.
And I'm just telling you, I don't care if you're at the DMV or Costco.
People don't like when you cut.
I mean, and so we prayed together.
We prayed for the event.
30 seconds later, they're like, Pastor D, you need to get to the line.
There's some tension over there.
I said to myself, what am I going to do, right?
Right?
But you know, there was another lady from another ministry there.
Pastor Michelle got busy.
We just went over there.
We stood.
We tried to calm everybody down.
It was funny because one guy goes, he goes, he goes, I'm from the Bay Area.
This is the kind of, this was going back and forth for a while.
He goes, I'm from the Bay Area.
And the other lady said, I'm from Sacramento.
You need to go back home, right?
Like.
But after a few minutes, you know what quenched the argument?
Heaven's abundance.
grace, peace that Pastor Michelle and this other lady were carrying.
And we just stood there, and I just was praying, and I was just watching and making sure that things were good.
But listen, listen, God's abundance quenched what could have been a bigger deal.
You see, we're not reacting.
We're responding to the best of our ability, come on, with the good news.
Our citizenship is in heaven and how we know our mindset should match it.
Psalm 100 verse 4 and 5 says this, enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise.
Be thankful to him, bless and praise his name.
So what happens when I do that?
Verse 5, for the Lord is
is good his mercy and loving kindness are everlasting his faithfulness endures to all generations so thanksgiving gives you and i access to heaven's abundance when i'm experiencing scarcity in my life
Listen, if you don't have love for somebody, just begin to thank God for that person, and you will encounter his love, not just for yourself, but for others.
Listen, you're running out of grace.
Come on.
How many got some EGRs in your life?
Extra grace required.
Come on.
You got some EGRs in your life.
Listen, just thank God, and listen, you'll encounter his grace that he has for you, and you'll have grace for somebody else.
Amen.
Thanksgiving not only gives me access to his presence, it gives me access to heaven's abundance when I'm experiencing scarcity in my life.
Can I just say this?
Heaven is not running out.
Heaven is running over with everything that you and I need to access, and we access it through Thanksgiving.
I think somebody should throw up their hands in the air right now and just say, God, I'm not running out.
I'm running over.
Amen.
Yeah, even when things go sideways, we step through the gates of gratitude in the presence of God, where there's an abundance of everything I need, peace, purpose, provision, promise, because gratitude gets us out of our head and into his heart.
Amen.
You see, it's not that the pain disappears.
It's that you rise above it.
It's not that the suffering stops because suffering is real.
It's that he strengthens you through it.
And so this year we're learning that Thanksgiving is not just a holiday.
Come on, it's a habit we need to practice.
So if you're choosing gratitude this week, can you just say, I'm hitting the switch.
Come on, somebody.
Secondly, thanksgiving reshapes my attitude with Christ's mindset.
Philippians 2, 1 through 2, starting in verse 2, it says this.
Make my joy complete by being of the same mind, having the same love towards one another, knit together in spirit, intent on one purpose, and living a life that reflects your faith and spreads the gospel, the good news regarding salvation through faith in Christ.
You see, thanksgiving isn't just about changing the way you feel.
It's about renewing the way you think.
Paul isn't after good behavior in chapter 2.
He's actually after dismantling strongholds in our life that keep us divided.
Come on, they keep us in our buckets, all these things that we've talked about.
He's after kingdom mindsets.
He says this in verse five, which we'll look at a little later.
Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ.
You see, you can't have unity, the unity of Christ, without the mindset of Christ.
And the mind of Christ begins with gratitude.
Having no gratitude will change your attitude.
And when your attitude changes, your atmosphere will change.
See, some of you, you've got to switch your mindset from being thermometers and you need to become thermostats.
Listen, when you walk in the room, listen, the atmosphere needs to change because you have an attitude, come on, that is Christ-like.
Yes.
Come on, when everybody's frowning, come on, when everybody's complaining, you need to walk in with a smile.
Come on, no matter what, no matter what, you walk in with a smile.
How many know somebody's smile can change your day?
When you don't walk in thanksgiving, your mind will drift.
It'll drift towards entitlement.
And you'll start saying things like, I deserve better than this.
It'll drift towards negativity.
This ain't never gonna change.
No, it's not gonna change unless you change.
Comparison, your mind will drift towards it.
Why do they have it easier than me?
Or even worse, your mind, when you're not grateful, your mind will drift towards suspicion.
They're out to get me.
Everybody's out to get me.
But Thanksgiving, come on, resets the drift and it detoxes my mind from the false arguments, come on, that I'm having with, come on, that I'm having all by myself.
I talked about this last week, right?
How many of you have argued with yourself before?
Come on, about somebody else, come on.
Everybody say, that's unhealthy.
Come on, when you find yourself doing that, listen, you need to detox.
Come on, and give God praise.
You need to detox and thank God for that person, come on, that you're cussing out in your mind.
Well, I should have said that.
And if they said that to me, and you're talking about something that happened two weeks ago.
Thanksgiving mode is how you evict the lies that try to live rent-free in your mind and erode truth about your circumstances, come on, and the people God has placed in your life.
Instead of why me, come on, Thanksgiving mode will take you to God, what are you wanting to do in me?
It'll take you from this is pointless to no, there is purpose in this pain.
There is purpose in this problem.
I see the promise in the problem.
It'll take you from I can't take it anymore to God, your grace is enough.
Your grace is sufficient for me.
And when I think like Jesus, come on, I'll begin to reflect his life and his light through my life.
Yes.
You know, all our phones, we have airplane mode.
We have do not disturb.
How many know we need Thanksgiving mode?
Every time a notification of annoyance pops up, come on.
When you're in traffic, come on.
When you've been delayed, come on.
When you've missed your flight, when somebody else is criticizing you, come on.
You need to just hit that toggle on your phone and you need to thank before you think.
If you're cut off in traffic, you need to say, Lord, thank you that we're safe.
Hallelujah.
Plans change unexpectedly.
You say, Lord, I thank you that you're in control.
Listen, criticism begins to hit.
Somebody's saying something about you.
You just say, Lord, thank you for keeping my heart soft and tender towards them.
And by the end of the day, the problems were the same, but you handled them differently.
And you have a better outlook because of it.
Because this is the, here's the truth.
Gratitude doesn't always change the situation, but it will change the one standing in the situation.
I'm going to take this song that Pastor Brandon, that song, I want to be tried by, I do not want to be tried by the fire, but...
I'm like, do we have to sing that every Sunday this week?
I don't want to be tried by the fire.
But when I am, here's the thing.
Listen, when I am, I don't necessarily see the fourth man in the fire when I'm walking through the fire.
But the people who are watching me, they see the fourth man in the fire.
And thanksgiving will reframe our pain and lift us out of the negativity and replace why me with God.
What are you doing in me?
What are you wanting to do through my life?
Come on, if you're choosing gratitude this week, say, I'm hitting the switch.
You need to ask yourself, what am I rehearsing in my mind all day?
Am I ruminating on complaint or am I meditating on what's true?
Am I shaping my attitude around what's wrong or who Christ is?
And here's the thing that I've discovered.
Where your thoughts go, come on, your life will follow.
Where your thoughts go, come on, your mind, well, God never shows up for me.
Keep rehearsing that.
God never shows up for me.
He does it for them, but he never does it for me.
Where's the expectation?
Where's the faith?
This is what gratitude does.
It takes you.
It takes your spirit from down here.
Come on to up here.
Gives you a durable spirit.
We all have a default mental mode.
Some people live in critic mode.
Not you, but somebody else, right?
Some stay stuck in victim mode.
Others operate in control mode.
But when you activate thanksgiving mode, come on, you're switching to Christ's mindset.
You're not just silencing negativity.
Here's the key.
You're tuning in to heaven's frequency.
Listen, I always get a kick about people...
Folks that are good about identifying problems.
You guys know any people like that?
Problems are not hard to identify.
I want to hear what God is saying in the midst of the problem.
I know what the problem is.
I see the problem.
I hear about the problem.
People are complaining about the problem.
Come on, I want to hear heaven's solution regarding the problem.
Anybody besides me?
Thanksgiving rewires my mind for unity, maturity, and clarity.
And when I'm grateful, it clears the clutter out of my mind so God can renew it.
It's not just about positive thoughts.
It's about spiritual transformation.
How many of you know Jesus had all authority?
You can read on in this chapter.
It talks about this.
He had all authority, yet he chose humility.
He served with joy, and he faced betrayal with peace.
And Paul is saying the same thing to you and I, that you can have the same attitude.
Everything was going against him, but come on, he yielded to heaven.
And how many know heaven had its way?
Thanksgiving is the spiritual reset button that clears frustration and downloads faith.
And it leads me to my third and final point today.
Thanksgiving realigns my posture from pride to humility.
Amen.
Thanksgiving realigns my posture from pride to humility.
Look at this, verse 3 and 4, chapter 2.
Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, through factional motives or strife, but with an attitude of humility, being neither arrogant nor self-righteous, regard others as more important than yourselves.
Do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others."
Real thanksgiving isn't just words coming out of your mouth.
It actually helps posture you for what God wants to do in your life.
It causes me to bow my knee and yield my heart when what I want to control, come on, is out of my control.
Let me just say that again.
It causes me to bow my knee and yield my heart when what I want to control is out of my control.
And it positions me.
How many know humility is a good thing for us?
It positions me to receive instead of resist.
It recognizes the hard circumstance, the difficult person, the wilderness that I'm walking through.
And it says, I recognize that these things are happening because they're developing something that's durable and lasting in my life.
In other words, it's not happening to me.
It's happening for me.
How many know there's a difference?
Look at all these things that are happening to me, but a person with a durable spirit says, look what's happening for me.
In other words, it keeps my life in submission to God's will and plan for my life when my soul, how many know we have an unredeemed soul?
Come on, mind, will, and emotions.
When my soul, my unrenewed mind, my strong will, my unhealthy emotions want me to do something contrary to God's will and word in my life.
See, this is the one thing that I've seen and I've learned.
Where humility is absent, pride is always present.
And pride, this is what we have to understand, pride is the enemy of unity.
And it's a sign of thanklessness.
Paul exposes three unity killers.
And the reason why I'm preaching on this this morning is because for about two months, the Lord has had the group of intercessors here at Real Life praying to protect the unity of the house.
Because how many know the enemy, come on, would like to get in and mess up what God is doing in this place?
Come on, and he doesn't have to send, come on, he doesn't send the enemy.
He doesn't just send the devil.
Come on, he uses people.
Yes.
Come on, he uses people.
Paul exposes three unity killers that throw us off course.
Number one, empty conceit is a hollow sense of self-importance that lacks substance.
When self-interest takes the lead, how many know unity takes the hit?
The second thing that's mentioned in the Amplified, factional motives.
A thankless spirit that prioritizes control and internal conflict over shared purpose.
In other words, listen, we need to get excited about, come on, sharing the purposes of God and what he's doing in this place.
Listen, Wednesday night, listen, we baptized 20 people.
That is amazing in itself.
You know how many people we baptized this year?
You know how many people we baptized this year?
181 people have been baptized this year.
Listen, that doesn't happen without people sharing his purpose, his plan to our community.
The enemy is furious.
Listen, last year we baptized almost 200 people.
Listen, God is on the move and the enemy would love to destroy.
He would love to divide.
He would love to distract us.
But I don't know about you.
I'm going to get locked in on what heaven is saying, what heaven is doing because God is on the move.
We used to get excited about 20 people getting baptized too.
All right.
Factional motives put me above we, and when that happens, the mission always suffers.
Then there's strife.
Paul's mentioning these things, these unity killers.
Bitter conflict that grows from anger, pride, and jealousy.
Every time self-interest wins, the spirit of unity loses ground.
Here's the key.
Thanksgiving, on the other hand, realigns my heart with God's heart.
It pulls me out of pride and back into humility, preserving the spirit of unity.
Where the spirit of unity is, Psalm 133 says, you will find the Lord's blessing.
He commands the blessing on unity.
And when we start thanking God for the people around us, how many know something will shift in how we think about them?
And you stop seeing them through offense and you start seeing them through grace.
And here's the last thing I want you to take home.
Grateful people are always graceful people.
Say it with me.
Grateful people are
takes me from why aren't they better to thank you, God, for what you're doing in their lives and what you're doing in me.
It pulls me out of comparison and it plants me in compassion.
And it takes me from a posture of pride to a place of humility, from criticism to encouragement, from isolation to a place of unity.
And when you're living in gratitude, how many know it's hard to stay offended and bitter?
And that's where the Spirit of God moves.
Humility, everybody say humility, invites heaven's harmony into the very places the enemy is trying to create havoc.
That's what happened in the line yesterday.
Listen, there was all kinds of pride.
Come on, going back and forth.
You go back to the Bay Area, you know, it's all that.
But listen, heaven came in.
And this is what happens.
We just went up there humble.
We didn't go there.
Y'all need to be quiet.
Y'all need to shut up.
We didn't do any of that.
We just walked there and we said, hey, everything's going to be all right.
There's enough food for everybody.
Everybody's going home with something today.
Pretty soon, heaven's peace came.
God can do that in our relationships.
Amen.
He could do that in your marriage.
He could do that in your family.
He could do that in your Thanksgiving table today.
Amen.
Let us be the kind of people who reflect, come on, thankful hearts and lives marked with gratitude.
Amen?
Church, before we close, I want to just give anybody a chance to hit the switch this morning.
Not just with your attitude, but in your heart.
We've talked about thanksgiving mode, but here's the truth.
You can't think like Jesus or thank Jesus until his spirit lives inside of you.
Amen?
So maybe today you're here and you realize I've been trying to reset my attitude, but what I really need is a savior.
If that's you this morning, with every head bowed and every eye closed, will you just say, Pastor Dean, will you pray for me?
I need a holy reset in my life.
Is there anybody in here?
You say, Pastor Dean, I need prayer.
Yes, thank you so much.
We appreciate you praying right over here.
Yes, thank you so much.
Anybody else, thank you so much.
We're gonna pray with these couple of folks that...
boldly raise their hand.
We thank God for you.
The prayer is up on the screen.
We're gonna pray it together on the count of three.
If you raised your hand or you wanted to raise your hand and you didn't, will you pray this prayer after me?
One, two, three.
Dear Lord Jesus, I know that I'm a sinner and I ask for your forgiveness.
I believe you died for my sins and rose from the dead.
Right now, I turn from my sins and invite you to come into my heart and life.
I want to trust and follow you from this day forward.
I confess you as my personal Lord and Savior.
Thank you for saving me.
In Jesus' name, amen.
Can we give God praise?
Come on.
I'm going to ask our prayer ministers to come up.
If our prayer ministers are here, listen, if you prayed that prayer, we believe that you got born again.
We'd love to put a resource packet in your hand.
There's a new Bible in here as well as some next steps that you can take.
My friend Jeff is in the lobby.
We'd love to get that in your hand.
Just hand him that card and he'll take care of you there.
Will you stand with me, church?
I want to pray over you, but if you need prayer in any area of your life, our prayer ministers are trained to bring you to a place, come on, of gratitude and thanksgiving and let them thank God for the hard stuff with you.
You don't have to do it alone.
Amen?
I said you don't have to do it alone, amen?
Will you lift your hands this morning?
Father, I thank you for this word and this house.
Reset our minds, reshape our attitudes, realign our posture.
Where there's heaviness, release joy.
Where there's striving, bring rest.
And may the same mind that was in Christ Jesus be alive in us so our city sees heaven through real life church.
In Jesus' name.
And everybody said amen.
Amen.
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# Aligning With Heaven: The Power of Thanksgiving Mode
Life has a way of delivering unexpected texts, sudden changes, and disappointments we never saw coming. One moment everything seems stable, the next we're facing facts that feel final and unchangeable. But what if the facts of our situation aren't the final word? What if there's a reality beyond what we can see—a heavenly perspective that transforms how we navigate life's most challenging moments?
## Facts Are Real, But They're Not Final
We've all had to face the facts at some point. The diagnosis is real. The job loss is real. The broken relationship is real. The financial strain is real. But here's a truth that can revolutionize how we approach difficulty: facts are real, but with God, they're not final.
Walking by faith doesn't mean we won't face hard things. It actually means we'll face them with heaven's perspective and God's abundance backing us up. Faith is simply having confidence in the character of God—believing that who He says He is, He actually is. It's not about ignoring pain; it's about reframing it through the attitude of Christ.
The challenge many of us face is succumbing to unhealthy attitudes. The Bible refers to these as strongholds—mindsets impregnated with hopelessness that believe things cannot change, even when it contradicts God's Word. These mental blocks become fortresses in our thought life where the enemy takes up residence.
But thanksgiving breaks all of that up. It dismantles what we see as unchangeable. Gratitude isn't just a response; it's a reset that fixes us on the promises of God instead of the problems of life.
## Thanksgiving Gives Access to Heaven's Reality
Psalm 100:4-5 provides a powerful blueprint: "Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise. Be thankful to him, bless and praise his name. For the Lord is good; his mercy and loving kindness are everlasting; his faithfulness endures to all generations."
Notice the progression: thanksgiving gives us access to His presence, and His presence gives us access to heaven's abundance when we're experiencing scarcity in our lives.
Running out of love for someone? Thank God for that person, and you'll encounter His love—not just for yourself, but for them. Running out of grace? Thank God, and you'll have grace for those extra-grace-required people in your life. Heaven isn't running out; heaven is running over with everything we need, and we access it through thanksgiving.
Gratitude doesn't make the pain disappear, but it lifts us above it. The suffering doesn't stop, but He strengthens us through it. Thanksgiving isn't just a holiday; it's a habit we need to practice daily.
## Reshaping Our Attitude With Christ's Mindset
Philippians 2:2 challenges us to be "of the same mind, having the same love towards one another, knit together in spirit, intent on one purpose, and living a life that reflects your faith and spreads the gospel."
Thanksgiving isn't just about changing how we feel; it's about renewing how we think. We can't have the unity of Christ without the mindset of Christ, and the mind of Christ begins with gratitude.
When we lack gratitude, our minds drift in dangerous directions:
- Toward entitlement: "I deserve better than this"
- Toward negativity: "This is never going to change"
- Toward comparison: "Why do they have it easier than me?"
- Toward suspicion: "Everyone is out to get me"
But thanksgiving resets this drift and detoxes our minds from false arguments we're having all by ourselves. It evicts the lies that try to live rent-free in our minds and erode the truth about our circumstances and the people God has placed in our lives.
Instead of "Why me?" thanksgiving takes us to "God, what are You wanting to do in me?" It transforms "This is pointless" into "There is purpose in this pain." It shifts us from "I can't take it anymore" to "God, Your grace is enough."
## Activating Thanksgiving Mode
We all have airplane mode and do not disturb settings on our phones. What we need is thanksgiving mode—a spiritual toggle we can activate every time a notification of annoyance pops up.
Cut off in traffic? "Lord, thank You that we're safe."
Plans change unexpectedly? "Lord, I thank You that You're in control."
Criticism hits? "Lord, thank You for keeping my heart soft and tender toward them."
The truth is this: gratitude doesn't always change the situation, but it will change the one standing in the situation. People watching us walk through fire may see what we can't—the fourth man in the fire with us.
Where our thoughts go, our lives will follow. We all have a default mental mode. Some people live in critic mode, others in victim mode, still others in control mode. But when we activate thanksgiving mode, we're switching to Christ's mindset. We're not just silencing negativity; we're tuning in to heaven's frequency.
## From Pride to Humility
Philippians 2:3-4 instructs us: "Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, through factional motives or strife, but with an attitude of humility, being neither arrogant nor self-righteous, regard others as more important than yourselves."
Real thanksgiving isn't just words; it postures us for what God wants to do in our lives. It causes us to bow our knees and yield our hearts when what we want to control is out of our control. It positions us to receive instead of resist.
Humility recognizes that hard circumstances, difficult people, and wilderness seasons are developing something durable and lasting in us. They're not happening to us; they're happening for us.
Where humility is absent, pride is always present. And pride is the enemy of unity—a sign of thanklessness. When we start thanking God for the people around us, something shifts in how we think about them. We stop seeing them through offense and start seeing them through grace.
Here's a principle worth remembering: grateful people are always graceful people.
Gratitude takes us from "Why aren't they better?" to "Thank You, God, for what You're doing in their lives and in me." It pulls us out of comparison and plants us in compassion. It moves us from a posture of pride to a place of humility, from criticism to encouragement, from isolation to unity.
When we're living in gratitude, it's hard to stay offended and bitter. That's where the Spirit of God moves. Humility invites heaven's harmony into the very places the enemy is trying to create havoc.
## The Reset We All Need
Perhaps you've been trying to reset your attitude, but what you really need is a Savior. You can't think like Jesus or thank Jesus until His Spirit lives inside of you. The good news is that transformation is available right now, in this moment.
Thanksgiving mode isn't just about positive thinking—it's about spiritual transformation. It's about aligning with heaven in the heat of life, choosing gratitude when everything around us screams for complaint, and trusting that God is writing a story we can't yet see.
So today, hit the switch. Activate thanksgiving mode. Thank God in advance for what He's about to do. Choose to see your release as repositioning, your closed door as preparation for something greater, your wilderness as the path to promise.
Because when we thank God in advance, we're not pretending things are perfect. We're fixing ourselves on the promises of God instead of the problems of life, and inviting heaven to invade our circumstances.
The facts may be real, but they're not final. Heaven has the final word.