Jesus Christ Show | Hour 1 [11/19]

You're listening to KFI AM six forty on demand. Thanksgiving is Thursday. But unfortunately, sometimes during trying times, maybe you're going through something in your life, relationships or work, maybe finances aren't so great. All these things, Life continues to do what it does on earth regardless of holidays. Right but as Thanksgiving approaches, and you have these things in your life that have caused turmoil or pain or frustration, it can be very difficult to find things individual

things in your life to be thankful for. But being thankful shouldn't be a state saved for good times alone. If you wait till things are good and going well to only be thankful, you miss a little bit of what God's doing in your life. God calls the believer to be in a continual state of thankfulness. God's sustaining love doesn't change for you. Right in good times are bad. God doesn't say, oh, well, I don't love you

anymore. Your relationship may change with God if you're doing things that are harmful to you, or you're living a lifestyle that may be damaging. That may cause issues with your relationship. But God doesn't change how he feels about you. And good times are bad now. Likewise, your thankfulness should be the same in good times or in bad times. If you look around and you get caught up in just the circumstances in your life, you may not feel

like there's much to be thankful for. But I assure you there are things to be thankful for at every moment, in any time of your life. And if you get into that rut that why me, or woe is me? Or look at all the bad things going on in my life, you may miss the picture, the true image that God has for you and the things that He's creating for you in your life. One Thessalonians five eighteen says, give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in

Christ Jesus. So are you in that place where you can give thanks for everything, not just for what you want or what you enjoy. If you get the attitude like a child, where the child's only happy when they get what they want, when they get exactly the thing they want when they want it, then you're being like that child to God. If you get that mindset that kicking and screaming or throwing a tantrum the grocery store or the toy store or whatever it might be. You become that child to God. Your

relationship has to be bigger, broader, and more realistic. I remember seeing on one of the home video shows not too long ago, they were showing clips of the holidays, in particular Christmas. They were showing kids receiving gifts, and the parents were sometimes playing jokes on them or doing gag gifts or goofy things. And then there were some videos where it was merely them videotaping

their holidays and it would show the kid's reaction to a gift. Now, if you're a parent, you know it's not always easy to guess exactly what kids want or get the right specific one, or maybe they have an eye for a particular color or something or other, and sometimes you're going to get it wrong. Well, in this video, it's exactly what took place. Had you have this child receiving something slightly different than what they had wanted,

but it was quite sweet. I was this young child opened it up and said, oh, this is so great. It's not the exact one that I wanted, but this is so great, and that kind of attitude of well it may not be exactly what I want, but the more important thing is that this shows me that my parents care. Now, God, unlike parents, knows exactly what you need and exactly what you want, and they're not always the same thing. They're not always the things you want aren't always

what's best for you. So God, in his infinite wisdom, will always do what's best for you, and you may not always like it. But being in that state where you learn to be blessed in the place you are right now, that place you're standing right this moment, not just where you want to be, not that next time or if I get this then I'll be happy. No, being blessed in the place you are right now, knowing that that godly promise that God will never leave you or forsake you.

And it's it's difficult to be thankful all the time. It's difficult to be in that state of thankfulness, and I understand that. But the key, as always on as it is on everything, is to remain focused on God, putting God first, putting God above all all else is what puts you

in that mindset of thankfulness. Is it difficult to always be thankful? Absolutely, it is difficult, But if you're focused on God, you'll see it, you'll be in that thankful moment Psalm one oh seven, Verse one, give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever. Not getting lost in the circumstance and being lost in God is to know that God is steadfast in his love, that the things that God

promises will endure forever. During each show here on the Jesus Christ Show, I refer to you all the time, all the time, and you've heard it over and over that the trial. I refer to the trials in your life as life situations. Now we say that in the show because they change just as circumstances. Circumstances change. I want you to know that these life

situations will change. You must remind yourself that God transcends situations. God transcends something that is going on just in the moment, these situational issues, and that He has a plan for you. And I know when you're in the middle of the pain, when you're in the middle of the frustration, it's hard to remind yourself of that. It's hard to remember that God has a

plan for you. But he does. And the key to this this time of the year, with Thanksgiving just around the corner is to find that mindset of being thankful always, not being caught up in the circumstances. The enemy would love for you to be caught up in the minutia, to have the little things in life in your face all the time, to where you can't think about anything else. It's just about those things. If you get focused

on the little picture, you miss out on everything around you. And there's so much going on, so many things where God is putting blessings in your life or taking away those things that are cursing it. And like the child illustration we talked about earlier, the child may not understand that a particular sugary cereal or candy or something is not always good for them. They'll kick and scream and be frustrated and mad at you as the parent for not allowing them

to have it. But ultimately, it's not only what you give that is going to be the blessing to a child, it's what you take away and protect them from. Same way God in your life. God not only is blessing you by putting things in your life, placing the things that you need when you need them, but God blesses you by the removal of things that are damaging or threatening to you, the things that may pull you down or may have you spiral out of control down a path that's not going to be

beneficial for you. And only when you are there in that mindset, only when you sit in the present and understand that God will give you what you need when you need it and take away those things that are are not good for you. Only in that moment are you truly able to be thankful for all things, not just circumstances and the things going on around you, but

for everything. Thanksgiving right around the bend. It's coming up quickly. Unfortunately, when Thanksgiving is coming up in the primary focus of the the whole holidays to be thankful, maybe things aren't going so well in your life or you're going through something. Then when you're in the middle of that, it's hard to go, Okay, I'm going to dust it off, all of the

ugliness that I'm going through and just be thankful. Could be financial things, relationship things, but all of that plays a part in where you are in your mind, and it's hard to find that place to be thankful to God when you feel that your life is in an upheaval, When you feel that

your life is turned upside down. But God calls you as a believer to be in a continual state of thankfulness, not something that is bent or twisted by the things going on in your life, but always is steadfast focusing on the things of God, always knowing that it's about God and what God brings in your life or what God takes away, not just the stuff. So

good times, bad time, times doesn't matter. First, Thessalonians five eighteen says give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus. So it doesn't say give thanks in all circumstances except for A, B, C and D. It says, be thankful, give thanks in all circumstance. We talk about on the show often about life situations, and we say that because they change, and I want to remind you over

and over that they're going to change. So if you call today and we talk about your life situation, I want you to think, hey, this can change. If it goes from good to bad, it can go from bad to good. You got to know that God transcends any of these situations, these issues that are in your life. God has a plan for you. It's easy to be thankful when wonderful things are happening, when great things are going on. But about those desert times in your life, when God

seems to be gone and good fortune drives up. You have to be in a state of thankfulness there, so you can call them desert times versus dessert times. The dessert times everything always seems to be going well and you're thankful, But in the desert times you have to be thankful. Also, look for the little things in life you might be taking for granted. Thank the Lord for them. Thank God not only for what he provides, but also

for what he takes away. Be consistent in your gratitude towards God. Remember, life is not just those circumstances. And when you get to that place where your spirit is louder than your head, where you're aware that He is consistent regardless of what's happening around you, then you can truly be thankful in all circumstances. Jim, welcome to the Jesus Christio. Oh I would I am well? Jim? How are you? I'm good? Kind of what's going on? Well? I've got a long term amatrum shorting up just because

I know you don't have a lot of time. I have since two thousand and six been struggling with my faith in you, and I know it's not the right thing to do, but it's been a struggle. I've lost both my parents at a very young age. My dad died in two thousand and six and fifty five, and my mom died in two thousand and ten at fifty eight, and I've kind of taken it out on you and held you responsible. Now, within the last three months, I've had my dad heavily

on my mind. I've seen him in the mirror when I look just like him. I've seen him in the mirror when I looked in the mirror. I've had I don't even necessarily that there were dreams about him, but I think he's come and seen me in my dreams and basically telling me everything that I'm doing right now is wrong. And the other day I was listening to some country music and the first four songs to come on country music were my dad's favorite four gospel songs, and it was on a country music station,

not a gospel station. So it got me thinking that what I have been doing is wrong now, whether that come from my Dad. Where that come from you, I'm not sure. But what I'm calling you for today is I know that God waits patiently, He doesn't give up on us. I know. I know that you guys are gonna sit there and wait for me

to come back to you. But how do I go from in lacks of a lack of a better term, pure hatred for the loss of my parents back to where I used to be with faith in God and basically giving praise every day for the life that I have and not make it seem like it's a selfish gesture, No, I understand. Part of that is to understand that that the Father is your father as well, in the sense that it seems that your family has has all graduated to go on to heaven and you're

looking around going, hey, that that doesn't seem fair. They seem too young. But to keep in mind that that God is part of that equation as well, and that God is part of your family, and that you still do have family in a different way. Absolutely, But that's kind of the first step is to understand that that's still that still exists and that still takes place. As far as the other part goes, that being angry at God and thrusting your fist to the heavens is not the antithesis of the love

of God. There there are a lot of people you don't talk to in life that you don't know and you don't care about. This is not one of them. This is a situation where you were hurt and you want to get God's attention in a very specific way, and you do that by doing what you do in a human relationship to try and get their attention. And I don't think any of that is wrong to begin with. I think it's

okay to be mad. I think it's okay to be upset and to feel like you were cheated or that something's missing, or that too much burden was put upon you. But if you're not in God's word, if you're not reading it, if you're not trying to understand those things, if you're not in prayer, if you're just in thrusting fists mode, that it takes longer to heal because you're not actually in that relationship with God at the time, And the only thing that's going to help you heal from this and understand it

is being in that relationship. But God's not judging you. It's not like God's some sort of ex friend or something who's going to hold a grudge and say, well, I don't know, you didn't talk to me for so long, therefore I'm not gonna I'm not gonna talk to you. Now. That's not the way God works. God's ready, willing and able and right there. He never leaves you, never forsakes you, and is right there and all you need to do is need him and he'll be there. No

magic tricks. Okay, So the process is one of honesty, and I know that that's a concern of yours. It's like you don't want God to think one or the other. But God's not reading your actions that way. God's reading your heart, and to go into it honestly, start reading again, start spending time with God. You may never get an answer as to why your parents were taken at the time they were, But as you know,

there are people that grow up with their parents at all. There's everyone has their their life and the process of that life, and everybody's assumption is that it's going to go to a certain way for a certain length of time, and there's no guarantees. So the the place to be is that place of of appreciation to appreciate you. Do you feel that you appreciated your parents less because they died early? No? Not at all. Okay, do you think you would have loved them more if they stayed longer? Yeah?

How so? Well, I would have had more time to love them, I guess. I mean I still love them, don't get me wrong, But I'd have had more time to spend with them. So I don't think I would have loved them anymore, but I would have I would have had more time to love them. Yea more time to love them. But it's not like you would have loved them more in some sort of you know, qualitative sense. It's just it would have just been more and there will be

that time. There will be time to say, spend with them again, just not here. And their purpose was for God, just as your purpose is for God, and you need to go continue on that. It's it's sad and it's frustrating when you lose people. I get it, but you can't lose God. He's He's got the keys to the understanding, for one, but also that it's the first thing you learn, you learn that death is imminent. It's strange that it's the one thing that everybody knows is coming,

and that it doesn't have a particular date. It's not set the way people think it is. People think, ah, though people live to ninety or whatever, there's no set date. Yet. It's the one thing that everyone's surprised by. Yeah, can I ask you one more just one more quick question? Of course, what is I don't know the Bible very well as far as where to find things. Is there a section of the Bible that will help aid in the healing of the healing process basically, well,

go to and read the entirety a scripture. Scripture is there for understanding and healing, it really is. But if there's if you're looking for tiny morsels that will be helpful, uh, you know, just to be able to pick up and read. I would suggest reading front in the Book of Psalm. If you go through the Book of Psalms, it's filled with people in different states of pain or frustration or things going on and still in their in their their their state of loving God. The Psalm three, for instance,

is title Victory in the face of Defeat. So uh, it's often about looking for guidance in times of pain, or when you go down a path that you didn't think you were going to go down to through and I think that that can be very very helpful for you as well, just to give you some peace at times. So there's a place to start. Thank you

very much. I appreciate it. You're welcome, and I hope that we hear back from you as you kind of understand little bits and pieces or there's you know, epiphanies that you come across or you build, continue to build that bridge. Feel free to call back anytime. I will. Thanks. I appreciate that in the process of pain, in the process of going through these things, it's hard to continue to have faith. I will also recommend

as some nonscriptural books that tie into that. The problem of pain and a grief observed by C. S. Lewis are really wonderful ways of seeing somebody

deal with those with those very issues as they pertain to God. You can find them just about anywhere on any bookstore or online, but they really are a great insight towards a godly person going through or looking at, either academically or in his own life, the process of pain, losing someone and not understanding things, and it can be very powerful to see somebody be honest about those things from a theological standpoint, because the assumption is the moment you raise

your fists or you get mad, that you've cut yourself off from God, and that's just not the truth. It's still a very honest and responsive feeling. God is still listening. It's when you shut God out completely and you have indifference. As it's been said before, many, many times, the opposite of love is not hate. It's indifference. It's not caring at all, one way or the other. That's the place God doesn't want you to be. But being at a place where you're angry is at least still in

a place of caring and having real, deep and authentic emotions. And if you're still if you're in that place, that's still a place God can reach you. That's still a place that God can work with, and it's still a place of great honesty and focus upon God. It's not turning yourself away from God, it's actually focusing directly smack dab in the middle of God, just with anger. Joe in Glendora, Welcome to the Jesus Christ Show.

It's a pleasure to talk to you. Jesus. I had a question that once I knew him, I knew somebody who gave ten percent to their church. Yes, put, I think the Bible says, and then they treated people lousy the rest of a week, the church or the person. No, the person treated the people lousy always. But he gave us ten percent, so he, you know, really thought he was doing the right thing. Maybe with a ten percent, but I wanted to compare that to somebody

who couldn't afford the ten percent but treated people nice. Well ten percent, How could you not afford ten percent of something. No, I'm talking about ten percent of your income you're supposed to give to the church. Well, that's not accurate. The Bible doesn't say to give ten percent. And this is often, you know, a misconception of tithing. There's tithing deals with a tenth in Hebrew and it was an Old Testament principle and basically it was

taxes. But you pay taxes now because you're not under a theocracy. You're under in the case of the United States, you're under a republic, and that particular case, you're paying taxes and so that's taking care of the running of things. Now. The new Testament principle is different. It talks about, you know, Christians are commanded to give entirely of who they are. It's considered a living sacrifice in Romans twelve one and two when it talks about

giving materially or giving of the goods that you have. Second Corinthians eight one through five, it says give as the Lord leads, and it says to give with a joyous heart, and it says to give till it hurts at times, you know. So the sharing of material goods is absolutely a principle in Christianity, and in the New Testament the tenth giving a tenth or what people call a tithe, and the tithe doesn't exist for today, but a

lot of churches still refer to it as that. And that's fine. But taking a portion of what you get, Joe and giving it is a wonderful thing. Now, as far as saying that you knew someone who gave to ten percent of his income, but that was a jerk all all week long, well that's I don't know what to tell you. There are people that are jerks out there. I'm not sure how they coincide with one another. Because I know people who don't give to the church anything in are jerks.

So I'm not sure how I think people look for excuses not to give the church. If you don't go to church, then don't give. But if you're in that church, if you're taking from them, if you're taking the air conditioning, if you're taking the seating, if they wear and tear on the carpet, if you're hearing the message, if you're utilizing their daycare, if you're using their services as a church, you're part of that community and

you're putting in to that community. You're saying that. Listen, I don't want my pastor to have eight jobs like some of them do, because they're trying to serve God. And now they've got to be all over the place just to try and make ends meet so they can serve God. And in addition to that, they're on call twenty four to seven because people need their

pastor. And yes, there is the other side of that coin. There are pastors that live very high on the hog and they're hard to get a hold of, and they have security detail on them and people with walkie talkies and all kinds of stuff. And you're going, wait, when did church become this, but there's places in between as well, and to understand that balance and how that works, I think is important. There's nothing wrong with

a church taking in money. There's a lot of usage usage of that money that people don't know about, Joe, Philippians funds and different funds where those churches set aside that money so that when people discreetly and quietly come to them that are part of that family, not just somebody off the street saying now I want you to give me money, but somebody who's a part of that

church family is in stress or in unfortunate circumstance. Church often without blowing bugles, without you know, running around telling everybody and putting it in the daily paper help them out, and you don't see those things. Everybody wants to condemn the church for receiving money. And in the particular case that you bring before us, Joe, yeah, there are people that think that tithing is going to get them into heaven and if they just give ten percent everything say

okay. But if you know, throughout scripture there were examples the young widow who had very little money and she gave what she could, and the rich man gave more didn't mean that the rich man was worth more to God. It's about giving and making sure you're a part of it and that you're not just taking. People look for excuses not to give at church, not to give, not to spend money, not to you know that like this, make an excuse that this person thinks they're so great because they gave. Well,

no, I don't know about that person. They didn't call. But Joe, I sure hope you don't use it as an excuse not to participate if you are actually involved in the church. KFI AM sixty on demand