MESSAGE NOTES: STOP COMPLAINING, START THANKING

Special Focus:

1. Encounter Weekends – these weekends are a massively important part of what we do here at TCC. They focus on encountering God, yourself and others. The Women’s Weekend is September 27^th to 28^th and the Men’s Weekend is October 4^th to 5^th. The cost is $80 and they will be held at TCC. Mandatory Pre-Encounter classes start on Sunday, August 25^th for the ladies and Sunday, September 15^th for the men. Please sign up online or on the TCC APP.
2. Serving at TCC – we are in need of more volunteers coming into September. Opportunities include kids, youth, JOY Ministry (55+), TCC Creative, ushering, greeting and more. You can sign up online or go to the Welcome Desk for more info and to get a package.

Prophetic Roadmap for 2019

2019 is a year…

1. That will rise and fall on our prayer lives.
2. To step out into new things that God is doing in your life.
3. For a new level of maturity.
4. To grow in and develop our faith and to exercise our faith
5. To stand with our church family members who are believing for spouses
6. For us to focus our prayer/action on the upcoming National Elections
7. For us to contend for revival

STOP COMPLAINING, START THANKING

Matthew 7:21-27 (ESV) – 21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ 23 And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’ 24 “Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25 And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. 26 And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand.27 And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.”

My heart is being really stirred in the area of us being people who finish strong, and being people who are faithful to stand with Jesus no matter what.

One of the common threads I see when I’m listening to people’s stories who fall away from their faith is there was an area of significant disappointment in their life. A prayer wasn’t answered. There was an attack of the enemy against their life. They had a certain picture of what their life would look like but it didn’t turn out that way and so forth…

We are all going to face disappointments in this life. How we handle them will be make or break for our our walk with God, our purpose, and our destiny…

We don’t often have a choice about some of the things we face in our life but we always have a choice on how we face them: we can have a posture of thankfulness or we can have a posture of complaining.

Story: Micah and complaining

1 These 5::18 (NKJV) –  in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

Phil 2:13 (NKJV) – Do all things without complaining and disputing, 

We need to cultivate a lifestyle where we are reminding ourselves of all we have to be thankful for.

• Thankfulness = to be grateful for the good you have received
• We have so much to be thankful for – the fact that we know Jesus and have been saved is enough right there
• Often we are guilty of living in the blessing and still finding something to complain about
• The Bible didn’t say “for everything give thanks” but “in everything give thanks”
• When we live in a place of thanksgiving we keep our eyes focused on God, who He is, what He has done, what He is doing, and what He is going to do and in connection with Him

One of the enemy’s key strategies against us is to get us so focused on the things we feel God isn’t doing that we forget all the things He is (and has)

We need to guard against complaining – you cannot be thankful and complain at the same time

• To complain = To express dissatisfaction or annoyance with the state of affairs, to “complain” of a state that someone is suffering with, to state a grievance, or to make a mournful sound
• To complain is disobedience
• Complaining is a manifestation of a lack of thankfulness
• Complaining sabotages the favour of God for our lives
• The longer you complain, the longer you remain in a situation (ex: Children of Israel)
• Complaining opens the door to the enemy in our lives – 1 Cor 10:10 (ESV) – Nor grumble, as some of them did and were destroyed by the Destroyer.

God has so much for your life – you will never walk in it if you give yourself to complaining. Make a decision today that you will walk in thankfulness.

Where there are areas of delay or disappointment in your life make a decision that you won’t complain about it – but in that situation you will give thanks – and renew your trust and your faith in God!

Key Question: What is God saying in this situation? 

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