Practicing Thankfulness

This powerful message takes us on a journey through Scripture to explore a truth we often overlook: thankfulness isn't natural—it's a discipline we must intentionally cultivate. Beginning with Joshua 4, we discover God commanding the Israelites to stack twelve stones as a memorial after crossing the Jordan River. Why would God need to tell them to remember? Because we're forgetful people. Even after miraculous deliverance, we drift toward ingratitude unless we deliberately pause to recount God's faithfulness. The sermon draws a compelling parallel to our own lives—we're like those Israelites, delivered from slavery to sin, brought into abundant life through Christ, yet prone to forget the journey. The story of the ten lepers in Luke 17 reinforces this reality: only one returned to thank Jesus, and significantly, he was a Samaritan—the outsider, the unexpected one. This challenges us to examine whether we're among the nine who rush off to enjoy our blessings or the one who returns with gratitude. The call isn't just to feel thankful but to practice thankfulness until it becomes muscle memory, woven into the fabric of who we are. When we stop to recount God's work in our lives—telling our children, our friends, ourselves—we're building memorial stones that point others to the source of all good things.