What Real Gratitude Looks Like | Phil Kniesel

Happy Thanksgiving! 🍂

This weekend, Pastor Phil reminds us that real thankfulness isn’t just about being grateful for the good moments, it’s about trusting God in every circumstance. Whether you’re celebrating something beautiful or walking through something difficult, gratitude can anchor your heart to who God is, not just what’s happening around you.

🙌 Connect with Us:

• New? - hopecity.ca/new
• Stay Connected - hopecity.ca/weekly
• Following Jesus - hopecity.ca/life
• Giving - hopecity.ca/give
• Follow us on Instagram: @HopeCityYEG
• Visit our Website: hopecity.ca
• Follow us on TikTok: @HopeCityYEG
• Find other ways to listen to the podcast: hopecity.ca/podcast

🙏 Need Prayer?
Please leave a comment or reach out to us directly—we’re here for you!

Transcript

0:16

- Hey, this is Phil Kal, lead pastor at Hope City Church. Thanks for tuning into our podcast. My prayer is that this helps and encourages you, gives you some practical ways to live out your faith and ultimately fills you with hope. Enjoy the message.- Happy Thanksgiving. Hope City. I want to start today by asking a question. What are you thankful for? Now, if you're saying Costco, pumpkin pie, you're my kind of person, . I'm grateful for a lot of things. I'm grateful for the baptisms that we're doing this weekend. I'm grateful for Jesus who came, died for our sins, resurrected and ascended to heaven, and offers each of us life and life eternally. And I'm also grateful for all of you across all our campuses. We have so much to be thankful for, don't we? Yeah. You know, we asked some of you on social media what you're thankful for, and here's what came in. I'm thankful for my kids, for my church, for my friends. I'm thankful for sunsets. Someone said, I'm thankful for hugs from four ladies at church this past Sunday. And just so we're clear, I promise you that was not a single guy, okay? Lots to be thankful for. Now, I'm curious, what kind of person would you say you are? Do you lean to be someone who's more filled with gratitude or do you lean to be someone who's more filled with in gratitude like the grass always looks greener in someone else's life? You know, often when we think about gratitude, we reflect on the blessings. What? What God has provided, what he has done, where he has sustained, where he is, come through. Now we should do that. That makes sense. But scripture calls us to something even deeper. The apostle Paul says it this way, give thanks in all circumstances for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus, does he really mean all? Like that's that's a great thing to write. But seriously, how in the world can I give thanks when my life is falling apart? Now, this is written in a command format, not a suggestion. So this doesn't need to be taken seriously. It's not just like, Hey, if you can try live this way. Try to give thanks in all things. If you're able to know, he says, give thanks in all circumstances I want, I want us to understand what Paul is not saying. He's not suggesting that we call bad things good. So a cancer diagnosis, a betrayal, a job loss, they're not good in and of themselves. And when reading the Bible, we always have to allow scripture to interpret scripture. And this is not just a standalone verse. So we need to compare what it says with other things in the Bible. And the Bible is clear that evil and suffering are real and grievous. So Paul is not saying we call bad things good. He's also not saying to pretend it's fine, meaning you don't plaster smile on your face and say it's all good when it clearly isn't. The Old Testament book of Psalms shows repeatedly that it's okay to lament, cry out and even question God. And I'm gonna take you to one of those psalms in a moment. When Paul says, give thanks in all circumstances, he's referring to a heart posture. One that looks for God's presence, purposes and promises. No matter what we face, it's acknowledging that even in the chaos, God is in control. He's sovereign, which means the God who is ruling the world can and is ruling your life. And the posture of thankfulness is important because it keeps us anchored to who God is and not to what's happening. Listen, our circumstances will shift, our situations will change, but God's character, it doesn't. He's the same yesterday, today, and forever. That means he is still God. Amidst the pain, amidst the loss and amidst the tension. And the posture of thankfulness is also important because it acts. It acts like a weapon. It's something we need for the physical and emotional fight of life because gratitude is not just a feel good idea, it's practical. It helps you take control of what the enemy wants to wreck. And that's so often begins with your emotions. Think about it. When things go sideways, what typically happens, there's fear, frustration, anger, worry, stress, these emotions cloud your decisions and they throw you off balance and gratitude flips that script. It shifts your focus from what's wrong to what's still right, who's still in control and who's still on the throne. There's an oral tradition in the church that's been passed down for decades and you may have heard it before. It says this, God is good all the time. All the time. God is good. And it kind of builds on this very verse from Paul where he says, give thanks in all circumstances. And many churches over the years have adopted this saying where the speaker says God is good. And the congregation responds with all the time. And then the speaker says all the time and the congregation responds with God is good. And so I want to try that with all of us today across all our campuses. So Hope City, he help me out here, okay? God is good all the time. All the time. God is good. Okay, that that's subpar. That's subpar. I want you to really mean it. And we're gonna do it one more time and let me hear you. God is good all the time. That's better all the time. God's good. That's a fun tradition. Yeah, it's great. But I want to ask you the real question. Do you believe it? You see when life is rolling along great for sure, God is good. I passed the exam, we got pregnant, I got the house. She said Yes, the results came back negative. God is good. And I say, yeah, praise God. He is good. And I'm thankful for moments like that. But what if, what if you fail the exam, you can't get pregnant, you lose the house. She says no. And the results come back positive. Is God still good? Yes. Because here's the truth, life will not may throw something at you that doesn't fit your definition of good. If your belief in God says, God is only good when my life is good, you're gonna be shaken. But if your belief in God says God is good all the time, even when your life isn't good, your faith has a foundation, not just a feeling. And I like how Pastor Graham, he's our exec pastor, I like how he says it. He's been diagnosed with incurable brain cancer and he's living with this reality. And he says, a line that succinctly says it all, God always wins. How do you get there? How can you say God is good all the time? And all the time God is good and really mean it? How can you give thanks in all circumstances? What does that kind of thankfulness actually look like? And so I want to take you to a psalm. It's written by a guy named Asaf to help us understand real thankfulness. He was a worship leader in the church. Think of him kind of like the Chris Tomlin of the Old Testament of that name means anything to you. He gives us a roadmap to real thankfulness. And on this Thanksgiving weekend, no matter who you are, I wanna give you five keys to real thankfulness so that you truly can give thanks in all circumstances. And the first one is this, real thankfulness needs to be rooted in right theology. Let's go to Psalm 73. This is how ASAP begins this psalm. He says, surely God is good to Israel to those who are pure in heart. And I just want you to notice his opening line. Surely God is good. This is not wishful thinking. It's a declaration. The word surely can be translated or also stated as truly, or God is indeed good. There's no doubt about it. He's stating a fact. Goodness is the settled character of God. In Psalm 34. It says, taste and see that the Lord is good, not was good or can be good or will be good. The Lord is good. Psalm 1 36 echoes. It says, give thanks to the Lord for he is what? Good goodness is the settled character of God. This is right theology meaning right thinking about God. So that means when my circumstances change, God's goodness isn't fragile, it's secure. Even when my plans shift because of things outta my control, God's goodness isn't circumstantial. And so hope city, listen to me, God is good, no ands is or buts about it. And because of that fact, thankfulness or gratitude becomes our amen are so be it to this settled truth. How would you finish this statement? God is good because how would you fill in that blank? I wanna challenge you to start every day by saying God is good because, and you fill in the blank. When you declare this truth, it provokes thankfulness. When you declare this truth, you know what you're doing. You're putting the banner up before the battle begins. Real thankfulness needs to be rooted in right theology. The second key to giving thanks in all circumstances is real thankfulness, defeats, envy and comparison. So following the opening line, AEF spends a lot of time comparing his life to those he calls wicked, meaning those who don't follow God. Listen to what he says, he says, but as for me, my feet had almost slipped. I had nearly lost my foothold for I envied. Remember that word, the arrogant When I saw the prosperity of the wicked, they have no struggles. Their bodies are healthy and strong. They are free from common human burdens. They are not plagued by human ills. And he goes on, he talks about how the arrogant live without apparent consequences. How the proud, the violent, the mocking, those who oppress others, those who deny God, how they have a better life than he does. And he says, it seems that people seem to prosper when they're not with God, but those in the faith seem to struggle. And it almost messed him up. He said, I nearly lost my foothold, meaning I nearly missed understanding and seeing that God is good because I was looking at all the wrong things. I almost believe the lie. I almost walked away from God because of this. And his rent continues. He says, this is what the wicked are like, always free of care. They go on amassing wealth. Surely in vain, I've kept my heart pure and have washed my hands in innocence. All day long I've been afflicted and every morning brings new punishments. If I had spoken out like that, I would've betrayed your children. He's basically saying, God, it seems like people who ignore you are doing better than I am. And this is eating me up. He's calling out the tension he's living in. He's being honest. He's not denying his current reality. Sometimes it seems like those who don't follow God have an easier life ever been there. Friends, often life is unfair. Asf said, he envied those who have it all together outside of following God. It's really easy to start envying others thinking someone else's life is so much better than yours. But here's what envy does. It makes you misread your story and it makes you misread God's story. Envy clouds your judgment and your perception. It blurs your outlook and your focus envy as the Old Testament book of Proverbs says, rots the bones. And if left alone, envy always leads to cynicism. So Asif, he's drowning in comparison. He's looking at his hard life and everyone else's highlight reel. Now we all deal with envy and comparison from time to time. They have a massive house. I can barely pay rent. They have a gorgeous car I drive an oh seven rust bucket. They went on an amazing trip. I went to Red Deer, like nothing wrong with Red deer just said, , it's easy to drown in comparison. And when we allow envy to take root, the byproduct is always cynicism. And you cannot have a posture of thankfulness when you're full of cynicism. And here's the antidote to envy in comparison. Here's how you overcome this internal tension with gratitude, thankfulness retrains our focus. It moves it from their abundance to God's faithfulness. Paul writes something in the New Testament book of Romans that's it's pretty hard hitting. And I want you to notice what he says. He says, for although they knew God. So these people had a understanding a little bit about who God was. They neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him. But their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Do you notice that Paul is saying ingratitude is a step toward darkened thinking? Darkened thinking includes things like envy and comparison. Being thankful keeps our thinking clear. It's not a denial of our current reality. It's a defender against darkened thinking. And so the next time you feel envy creeping in your heart, the next time you start comparing your life to someone else's speak thankfulness, it makes you look. It makes you look at God's faithfulness over someone else's abundance. So real thankfulness is rooted in right theology, real thankfulness, defeats, envy and comparison. And thirdly, real thankfulness is motivated through church. So Asos, he's playing this comparison game. He's stating his perspective on those who don't follow God. And then check out what he says next. He this is what he says. When I tried to understand all this, when I tried to figure this out'cause it wasn't making sense to me it deeply or it troubled me deeply till I entered the sanctuary of God, then I understood their final destiny. It was at the temple, it was at church where this guy got clarity like I tried to understand all this stuff, why people who don't follow God seemed to have a better life than me. And it didn't make sense until I entered the sanctuary. It was there. He grasped that life is not just about here and now it's about living for eternity. Listen, there's something about coming to church no matter how you join us, which campus you may be at if you're online, when we gather as a church, we experience God's presence. We hear God's word and God's people recalibrate our souls. And it was in the sanctuary where ASAP clearly saw ultimate realities, the slippery ground of the wicked. And if you were to read further, he would state that God takes care of those who are unfaithful to him. That's not a problem. ASAP needs to worry about things made spiritually sense for him at the sanctuary. He was able to see what he couldn't see before. And I just want to encourage you to make church non-negotiable. It's in church where you hear the word of God. And what God's word brings you is truth over feelings. It's in church where we worship. And what worship brings you is the ability to praise God despite what may be going on, the ability to praise them before things ever change. It's also in church where you're surrounded by great Christian community. And what that brings you is the help to stay the course and stay focused on what matters most. I like, I like how the writer of Hebrew says it, and let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. Not giving up meeting together as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another all the more. As you see the day approaching, spur one another on, cheer each other on in the faith. And one way we do this is by not giving up meeting together. And it's all the more, as you see the coming of Jesus rapidly approaching the writer of Psalm 100 says, enter his gates, enter his temple with thanksgiving, enter his courts with praise. Give thanks to him and praise his name. That's what ASAP was getting at the temple. God's church. The sanctuary reframes everything. Real thankfulness is motivated through church. So how can you give thanks in all circumstances? Understand that real thankfulness is rooted in right theology. It defeats envy n comparison. It's motivated through church. And the fourth key real thankfulness says God is enough. So a says, he's saying, okay, it looks like all these people who don't follow God have it better than me. I get perspective in church, so that helps me. And then here's what he says next. He says this and he's talking to God. Yet I am always with you. You hold me by my right hand. You guide me with your counsel, and afterwards you will take me into glory. Whom have I in heaven? But you and earth has nothing I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. Notice what he's doing. He's recentering on who God is. He calls God his portion, which means inheritance. It's satisfaction. It actually just means He's enough. No matter how dissatisfied he may feel God is enough. And notice at this point, his circumstances haven't changed. It's his center that has my flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. God is enough friends, listen, even if the worst happens, God is enough. Even if the diagnosis is scary, God is enough. Even if the job is uncertain, God is enough. Even if the waiting is difficult, God is enough. But the flip side of that is also true. Even if you get that promotion, God is enough. Even if you find that perfect house, God is enough, even if any and every situation happens in your life, God is enough. The psalmist says, I have nothing on earth that I desire, but you and I get it. Some people would say, well, gratitude feels a little fake when I'm hurting. But there's something about willing yourself to do this. It's why the Bible actually calls it a sacrifice of praise. It says this through Jesus, meaning the only way you can do this is through Jesus. Therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise, a sacrifice of thanksgiving. The fruit of lips that openly profess his name. Sacrifice means this is gonna cost you. You're gonna feel it, but through Jesus, friend, you can do this. And so maybe you're saying, yeah, but thankfulness won't pay my bills or heal my body. True. But it guards your heart and mind with God's peace. Or maybe you're saying thankfulness won't erase the pain or change the past. True. But it allows you to have an eternal perspective. And one that states God is enough hope city, no matter what you are facing three words, God is enough. So real thankfulness needs to be rooted in right theology, real thankfulness, defeats, envy and comparison. Real thankfulness is motivated through church real thankfulness says God is enough in key. Number five, real thankfulness, propels witness. Listen to the final verse of this psalm. This is what he says, but as for me, it is good to be near God. Friends, it is so good to stay close to God. I have made the sovereign Lord my refuge. I will tell of all your deeds, I'm gonna stick close to God in my life, even when I can't make sense of all this stuff that goes on in other people's lives. Even when I can't make sense of what's going on in my life, I'm gonna make him my refuge. And because of that, I will tell. I will speak of his deeds. This is the overflow of the heart. Thankfulness always propels witness about who God is and what he has done. It's kind of how we move forward. It's verbal affirmation of what you know to be true about God. And what this shows us is that thankfulness is the language of faith in the middle, not just at the end, speaking of what God has done, telling of his deeds. This is defiant hope. It's solidifying the truth about who God is in your mind, in your heart, and in your soul.'cause here's what it does. Speaking allows you to hear and internalize the truth of God, and it allows others to hear and internalize the truth of God. When you speak it, you believe it more and others start to believe it too. That's how thankfulness becomes contagious. Real thankfulness propels witness. It causes you to speak about what God has done and is doing. Which then brings us full circle here. When we speak about who God is and what he has done, no matter our situation, it allows us to say with conviction, with confidence, and with full belief, God is good all the time. And all the time God is good hope city, say it with me again. God is good all the time. All the time. Life is good. Real thankfulness, propels witness. And so on This Thanksgiving weekend, I want to challenge you to live with a posture of thankfulness, not just a moment. One that looks to God's presence, purposes and promises. No matter what you may be facing, hear the words of the apostle Paul. Again, give thanks in all circumstances for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus. Why should you even care about this? Why does this even matter? Because Paul says, this is God's will for you. Did you know that there are only two times in all of Paul's writings in the New Testament where he says, this is God's will for you. It's this point. And the other one where he says God's will is that you should avoid sexual immorality. So apparently God takes both gratitude and holiness. Seriously. Let's be a church that practices both. Let's be a church that gives thanks in all circumstances. Let's be a church that lives out real thankfulness. How do you do that? Understand what it entails. Real thankfulness is rooted in right theology, real thankfulness, defeats, envy and comparison. Real thankfulness is motivated through church real thankfulness says God is enough and real thankfulness propels witness. You know, I asked you the question when I started, what are you thankful for today? Friends, what if? What if your answer was, is and can be? I'm thankful for all circumstances. I'm thankful for the good and the hard. I'm thankful for the victories and the struggles. I'm thankful for the wins and the losses. May this be the posture of your heart. May your heart always be one of real thankfulness. I'm gonna ask you to stand if you are able to. I want to pray over and for you today, and I'm just gonna ask you to have your heads bowed and maybe not looking around because I want to ask a personal question. And that is, how many of you would say, I'm not great at being thankful like I look at others' lives? I I, I just, I just need some help in this today. If that's you, I'm just gonna ask you very nonchalantly, essentially where you're at. Just raise your hands in a receiving posture so I can pray for you this morning. You're saying, I need to reframe thankfulness in my life. Thank you. Let me pray for you. God, I begin by declaring truth over all of us here today. You are good. No matter the situation, no matter the circumstance, you are good. And so I pray that truth, that reality might just drive deep into every heart, into every life, and to every mind. I pray that they may know that no matter what it is that they have to come up against, that they know you are good and they can defend themselves in that and put trust in that. Lord, I pray that you help us when we look to others instead of looking to you. Help us to be grateful for what you have done in our lives. What you're doing in our lives. Despite the trials, we say thank you God. And so may we have that perspective. Lord, I pray that you keep us focused on you. I pray that you help us to recognize in and through every circumstance you are enough. My heart and my flesh may fail, but you are the portion of my heart. You are my strength forever. You are my savior. You are my God. You are enough. And may we walk in that may we own that. May we live that. And out of the overflow of the heart, may our mouth speak about how good you are despite God. We say truly you are good all the time. And we wanna live that in a posture of thankfulness towards you across all our campuses. I've asked our worship teams to come and sing a song that states, we have so much to be thankful for no matter what's going on. And it's saying, it's said in this way, God, you are so, so good. And so as they come now, I'm gonna ask you to enter in, allow these words to be a reflection of your heart on this Thanksgiving weekend. Come on team.- All right, come on, let's put our hands together. Let's sing this out. This is my story. I'll testify the blessings on blessings you born on my life. When I start remembering how good you been. Come on. Fear turns to worship. Fear turns to worship, dear turn to praise chains of depression broken by grace. When I start, remember how good you been?- Come on.- Yeah. You've been so, so, so, so, so,- So good- To me. Yeah. You've been so, so, so, so, so,- So good to me.- The enemy's weapons fall to the ground. Armies of heaven always surround when- I star remembering how you- My cross,- Call me by neighbor, love me like I was, but you didn't leave me. That was dead now. 11. Yeah, that's what you- Did.- Oh, you been- So, so, so,- So, so yeah,- So, so, so,- So- To me,- From morning tonight, lows and the highs. I look back on my life. I see, oh, you've been so, so, so, so, so, so good- To me,- So good, so good, so good, so good. And when I say God is good, when I say God is good, you say all the time. When I say all the time, you say God is good. When I say God is good, you say all the time. When I say all the time, come on sing. God is good. When I say God is good, you say all the time. When I say all the time, you say God is good. When I say God is good, you say all the time. When I say you say, God, so, so, so good- Me.- Yeah. You've been so, so, so, so, so, so good- To me.- I look back life from to the lows and high. I look back on my life and yeah. So, so, so, so, so,- So- Good. So good. So good.- Oh,- You been so,- You've- Been so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so,- You,- So, so, so, so, so, so good. Oh,- Good. God- Is good- All the time and all the- Time.- Good.- May you walk in that posture- This week.- I do wanna say this. If you're- Joining us and you don't know Jesus personally, friend, let me tell you, Jesus went to the cross to die for your sins. He rose, he offers you life, both now and forever. And that incredible, that best decision of your life starts with you making a choice. The choice to follow him, to call him Savior and Lord. And if you wanna make that choice today, I just want to pray a quick prayer to help you put into words what it means to know and just move forward with Jesus. So let's pray. God, I thank you that you went to the cross for my sins. I thank you that you rose to offer me life, both now and forever. And so today I put my faith in you. I put my trust in you, and I put my hope in you. I wanna follow you all my life. I wanna make you Lord and leader. And so help me to understand and know what it means to just be a disciple of you, Jesus, to be a Christian. And so I give you my heart. I give you my life. And God, I pray over every individual, every couple, and every family. I ask as they go into this week, may they walk in your strength, in your power, in your might. I pray, holy Spirit, that you speak to them, that you move in and through them, that you work in their heart. And I pray that they may truly live with a posture of thankfulness. I pray this in the incredible and wonderful name of Jesus. Amen.- Amen.- If you prayed that prayer of surrendering your life to Jesus this morning, can I ask you just to scan the QR code that's on the screen? We got a digital booklet. We'd love to get in your hands, and it helps us get to know you because we'd love to get to know you personally. If you want prayer over anything in your life, we're gonna have a prayer team available down at the front, left here. They would love to pray over and for you as well as you go into this week. Remember, give thanks in all circumstances for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus. Happy Thanksgiving. Hope City. Love you guys lots. Thanks for being in church today.