The Gathering Surf City

If you don't know who I am,

my name is Nick Adams.

Y'all let me be one of
the pastors here,

and I'm grateful for that.

If you didn't notice by some of
the songs they just sang,

it's Thanksgiving.

It's hard to be mad and thankful
at the same time.

When you sing songs of praise,

when you remember who God is,

it lifts you up.

It brings you out of
whatever you're in.

And when I start singing,

when I start remembering what
God has done for me,

it's hard not to be thankful,

right? Because it's a response
to a gift we've been given.

And when you get a gift,

do you just put it to the side?

No, you open it,

right? You have to receive it.

And I love this time of year.

I love the weather.

I love that you reflect on everything
this time of year.

Holiday season is eating season,

right?

But no,

it's my favorite time of the year.

Just because there's
a lot of gathering,

there's a lot of meeting,

there's a lot of reflecting,

a lot of celebrating.

And last week,

Pastor Bobby,

anybody remember what
he talked about?

He made a couple of slogans,

the Grat pack,

right? Said he was going
to make a T shirt.

It says grat pack.

Your attitude.

Do you have an attitude of gratitude
or even said something like

gratitude? Are you brat about it?

Are you only concerned
about yourself?

Or do you reflect and
have gratitude?

Are you grateful for things?

This is kind of part two of that.

How to Thanksgiving,

right? What is Thanksgiving?

Giving thanks.

Right? And we just talked about the
gathering priorities over the last

four weeks before last week,

and loving God,

living Jesus,

walking together.

I pointed out last time I got
an opportunity to preach,

all of those directives
have ing on them,

just like Thanksgiving,

meaning it is ongoing,

it is continued.

So how do you be continually
thankful?

That's what we're going
to talk about.

Before I keep talking,

I want to pray.

All right,

let's pray.

Lord, thank you for this day.

Help us remember that it's a gift and
that's why you call it the presence.

Help us to be present
with you right here,

right now,

dear Lord,

I just pray that your holy spirit
would just fill this place,

dear Lord,

and that you would pour out
in a way that causes us,

stirs us up to make a change,

maybe to make a decision to hear something
from you that stirs us up in a

way that people see and
come to know you,

dear Lord.

And I pray that we would
just have eyes to hear,

eyes to see.

Ears to hear.

And I just thank you for this time.

And I just pray that you just go before
me in a way that honor and

glorifies you.

Love you.

Amen. We're in Colossians,

chapter three,

if you have your Bible.

And we're going to read
verses 15 through 17,

and then we're going to kind of work
this thing in reverse today.

And I'll explain that
in just a minute.

But verses 15 through 17.

Thinking about Thanksgiving.

How to be continually grateful,

thankful not just in this season,

not just this week,

not just Thursday,

but every day,

right?

Verse 15 starts off by saying,

and let the peace that comes from
Christ rule in your hearts.

For as members of one body,

you are called to live in peace
and always be thankful.

Let the message about Christ and all
its richness fill your lives.

Teach and counsel each other
with all wisdom he gives.

Sing psalms and hymns and spiritual
songs to God with thankful hearts.

And whatever you do or say,

do it as a representative
of the Lord Jesus,

giving thanks through him
to God the Father.

So how do you continually
be thankful?

How do you.

Thanksgiving. It's funny,

the answer to that is in
the first 14 verses.

So Bobby kind of gave you this
picture of being grateful,

your attitude,

not being a brat,

having gratitude,

right? Not thinking about yourself
or what can this do for me?

Me, me,

me, right?

And in Colossians,

in chapter three,

it tells you how to do that.

But before,

it tells you how to do something.

Because I can tell you
how to do something.

But if you don't have
the heart for it,

if you're not stirred up,

if you're not infected by it,

if you're not affected by it,

you might feel motivated
to do something.

You might do it.

But it probably ain't
gonna last too long,

is it?

And so what I don't want to happen is
me to tell you to do something,

and you go do it,

but you haven't been affected
by something.

And just like that,

the songs we sang.

Thank you,

God, for your blood which
was poured out for us,

Paul, in every letter.

So Paul is a writer of Colossians.

And in verse 15.

And let the peace that comes from
Christ rule in your hearts.

It's hard to be thankful
without peace.

I'm not saying you technically
can't do it,

but I know when I don't have peace,

when I don't remember who the Creator
and source is of that,

that even when I'm not thankful,

I have somebody to go to.

I have something to go to.

I have the source of peace.

So when I call out to
them or I say Lord,

I don't.

I'm not thankful.

I can't get out of this rut.

I mean,

I can't seem to not think
about myself.

When I go back to the source,

right? And I remember that peace
that transcends understanding,

then I can do something.

Let the peace that comes from
Christ rule in your hearts.

For we're members of one body and you're
called to live in peace and

always be thankful.

So what is peace?

What is that peace he's
talking about?

How can I have it?

Anybody ask that question?

I don't know any.

Everybody in here thankful?

Do you always feel thankful?

Everybody always feeling
having gratitude,

right? You can,

I mean,

you're not going to normally
answer that question,

but a certain way,

especially sitting in
here on Sunday.

But when you get out there tomorrow,

back out there in the world,

it's hard not to think
about yourself,

right?

Especially when your circumstances
change.

Especially living in this
fallen world normally.

Especially if you've been getting short
end of the stick for a long time.

How. What's this piece
he's talking about?

Was a question I had.

Majority of our time is going to
be in verses 1 through 14.

Because it's not only going
to tell you how,

it's going to tell you why.

And that if you haven't been
infected with the gospel,

if you haven't been stirred up,

changed from the inside,

it doesn't matter what you
add to the outside.

I love that Paul always seems to tell
you who you are before he gives you

a list of things to do.

So this is what he says,

thinking about that since you have been
raised to new life with Christ,

set your sights on the
realities of heaven.

If you haven't been raised
to new life with Christ,

if you haven't been made new,

you got to start there.

If you don't know what that means,

you don't understand
what that means.

I would love for you to ask me.

I bet if you ask majority
of people in here,

they could tell you something.

Something happened in my
life and it changed.

Do not think about only things
down here on earth.

For you died when Christ died.

And your real life is hidden
with Christ in God.

And when Christ who is your real life
is revealed to the whole world,

you will share in all his glory.

That's the peace.

Why? Because we know as believers and
receivers of the gospel that all

this is temporary,

right? My peace comes from.

This is not my home.

This is not my final place.

So whatever happens here,

guess what.

I have Christ and I have a hope and
a glory and a holiness to look

forward to,

right? That's why I can have peace.

So even when things ain't going
the way I want them to,

I can always go back to that.

And it always stirs me
up to be thankful.

He says,

when Christ,

who is your real life,

is revealed to you,

when he finally comes back
and he's revealed to you,

then we'll be in that.

Then we'll be made whole,

complete and new.

Like I said,

Paul constantly reminds us who we are
in Christ and what he's done for

us. And you have to be infected by
the Gospel from the inside out,

not the other way around.

The infection produces something kind
of like when you get the flu or you

get a virus.

You have symptoms,

but the infection is already there.

You might not know it and
you have symptoms.

You can't just add things
to your life.

And like I said,

Paul is going to remind you who you
are in these next 14 verses.

He's going to do it twice.

He's going to remind you who you are
in Christ before he tells you.

This is how you continually
give thanks.

Something's got to happen on the inside
and what Christ has done for you

should affect you.

There should be some symptoms
of being made new,

being saved,

right?

Just like when you have the flu,

you might have runny nose,

cough, itchy eyes.

People can tell something's
different about you,

right?

In verse five,

he says,

so put to death the sinful earthly
things lurking within you.

Now he's going to give you
some things to do.

Have nothing to do with sexual sin,

impurity, lust,

shameful desires.

Don't be greedy for good
things of this life.

That is idolatry.

That is coveting.

That's wanting what
other people have.

That's putting other
things before God.

God's terrible anger will come upon
those who do such things.

You used to do them when your life
was still part of this world.

But now is the time to
get rid of anger,

rage, malicious behavior,

slander, dirty language.

Don't lie to each other.

For you have stripped off your old evil
nature and all its wicked deeds.

Put to death.

Kill the sin that is killing you.

You have to take it off.

Baptism is a picture of that.

We got an opportunity to do baptism
last week in the ocean.

It was cold,

but it was I love.

We always like toe the line of when it's
too cold and it's always toward

the end of November,

but I remember those very well.

But baptism is a picture of Us
being buried with Christ,

we're taking off.

You're doing something,

you're taking off that old and
you're being brought back up,

made new.

And it's a picture,

it's a witness,

it's a testimony,

it's a statement saying,

this is who I am,

this is who I believe in,

and I want everybody to
know and I don't care.

You have to take off,

put to death sinful earthly things.

There should be some symptoms
of what has affected you,

right?

Once you do those things.

In verse 10,

he says,

in its place,

you have clothed yourselves with a brand
new nature that is continually

being renewed.

As you learn more and
more about Christ,

who has created this new nature
within you in this new life,

it doesn't matter if you're a Jew,

a gentile,

circumcised, uncircumcised,

barbaric, uncivilized slave or free.

Christ is all that matters and
he lives in all of us.

So what he's saying there,

you got to put it on.

You don't.

If I went to the gym and worked out,

got shorts,

T shirt and then I decided to put these
clothes on and come in here,

you would probably notice,

right? I would smell different,

I would look a little different,

I'd probably be sweaty,

I'd probably look like
I just take a shower,

I sweat a lot.

You would notice something
different,

right? So you can't just add
those things over the top.

You can't just add Jesus
to your life.

You got to make them your life.

You got to surrender
your life and say,

jesus, I want you to be Lord,

ruler of my life because you're
the Creator and the Source.

And I know you know how to do
it way better than I do.

So we're all in the process
of taking things off,

right?

He mentions that you're continually being
renewed as you learn more and

more about Christ.

Guess what?

I'm learning more and more
about Christ every day.

Just like you.

The terrible thing we do sometimes
as Christians is compare,

right?

Or we try to put on service,

we try to put on attendance records and
let that justify our sinfulness,

right? We try to put it over the top
of these things and then people can

tell, you say you're,

you're this,

but I don't see any symptoms.

If you're infected with this,

where's the fruit?

Christ is all that matters and
he lives in all of us.

And guess what?

It's for everyone.

He just listed every kind of person.

It's for everyone to receive.

I normally Read out a new
living translation,

but 12 through 14.

I like what the ESV says
and how it says it.

Put on then as God's chosen ones,

holy and beloved.

So he tells you to do something.

Put on.

But before he tells you
what to put on,

he reminds you again who you are,

who Christ says you are,

you are chosen.

In Isaiah,

I think 41,

he says,

you are mine.

To know that the creator of heaven
and earth and all things says,

you are mine.

That affects me.

When you stop and really
think about it.

You're chosen.

You're holy.

Holy don't mean perfect.

Holy just means set apart,

be loved,

beloved. Beloved is just another
way of saying be loved.

Loved people Love people,

hurt people,

hurt people,

forgiven people,

forgive people.

When you know that you are chosen,

set apart and loved,

it affects me.

It's hard.

Not when somebody loves you unconditionally
and they just keep on and

keep on and keep on.

No matter how you act.

It's hard not to respond to that,

right?

It's hard to respond with
sin a lot of times.

What I figured out.

So you have to know who you are before
you know what you need to do.

God looks at you and says,

this one's mine.

So now that you know who you are,

there should be some symptoms,

right?

If you don't know who you are,

like I said,

come ask me.

I'd love to tell you who
God says you are.

Not because of anything you done,

but because of everything he done.

He goes on to say,

put on them compassionate hearts.

What's compassion mean?

Nobody. Compassionate hearts.

You have a longing for something.

You are passionate about it,

you can't live without it.

You think more of that
than you do you.

And when you have a compassionate
heart,

guess what follows?

Kindness, humility,

meekness and patience.

Those are the things you should
put on men in here.

How many of you want to
be described as meek?

The devil loves to try
to take the world.

The culture loves to try to
take stuff and twist it.

So that's your funeral.

Would you like somebody to
say Nick was a meek man?

Probably not,

because for some reason we think
meekness is weakness.

Probably because they rhyme and that's
not what it means at all.

If you look at the original
word translation,

meekness is described as like
a bit a bridle for a horse.

If you ever rode a horse,

you know that little piece
in their mouth controls.

You have this huge animal,

over thousand pound animal with
all its power and strength,

and it is telling you where to go and
how to and what to do and when to

do it.

That's meekness.

It's just bridled strength.

Patience. Any of you ever
prayed for patience?

What happened?

If you pray for patience right now,

you probably have a flat tire
when you leave here.

God's going to give you an opportunity
to be patient because he loves you

enough and cares about you enough.

He knows if it doesn't
cost you anything,

you're not going to value it.

It's not going to get in here.

So be careful what you pray for.

But if you want to be infected and have
symptoms and be able for people

to come up to you and say,

why do you got so much joy?

You got this glow about you,

got this gleam in your eye and
your life isn't that great,

what's wrong with you?

Those are those things.

Compassionate hearts.

You begin to see people not
as objects or projects,

like what can they do for me?

Or I know what they need.

You begin to see them
as a child of God.

When you look at everybody
as a child of God,

a child of the living God
who created all things,

it changes how I look at them.

Where are we at?

13. Bearing with one another.

Anybody ever do that?

Another symptom.

You should bear one
another's burdens.

What does it say?

Love is patient,

right?

In First Corinthians.

Anybody ever been to a wedding heard
that patience is just long

suffering. I'm willing to suffer
with you for a long time.

If we said it that way all the time,

you'd think about it
before you did it,

right?

Putting up with one another.

I'm willing to put up with your stuff
because I see you as a child of

God, right?

You're not just an object for me.

You're not just something I can use.

And if you have received Christ received
that free gift that was free to

us, but not to him.

God considers you that.

God considers you chosen,

holy, loved,

be loved.

Anybody got a complaint
about somebody?

I know you do.

Sometimes you put them
on the prayer cards.

You don't realize it.

Guess what you're supposed to do
when you have a complaint about

somebody? He tells you bearing
with one another.

And if one has a complaint
against another,

forgiving each other,

as the Lord has forgiven you,

so you must also forgive.

So what is he saying?

He's saying,

guess what you're supposed to do when
you got to complain about somebody?

You're supposed to forgive them.

Just as for God gave you.

How many times has God forgiven you?

God's forgiven me way more
than he needs to.

Supposed to.

God forgives me continually.

I probably got some stuff I need
to say sorry for right now.

A lot.

Everybody would say a lot.

He's forgiven us a lot.

Did you get it all figured out and cleaned
up and then he forgave you?

No, I don't think so.

Not actually.

He forgave me.

And it is in his forgiveness that
he's helping me work it out.

He's helping me straighten it out.

That's how you are to forgive others.

The bad thing about challenging,

thing about church is
we're all sinners,

right? And we're all here,

and we're all trying to
do life together.

We're all trying to be one body.

Well, when you put two things together
and you have friction,

it produces heat,

right?

Probably going to produce complaints
after you get enough heat.

One way a preacher described it that I
like to think about is just like a

car engine,

you got all these moving parts
that produce friction.

And if you don't have oil in there,

it's going to break down.

And the oil he's talking
about is forgiveness.

If you can't forgive people,

you're going to have
a lot of friction,

probably going to have
a lot of complaints.

And then don't matter how much we come
in here and try to celebrate and

try to learn that when you
get back out there,

people are going to be like,

why do y'all even come in here?

This is how you bear
with one another.

You forgive each other.

Maybe you ain't giving it forgiveness
because you don't have it.

You ever thought about that?

If you can't forgive,

maybe it's because you don't realize
you've been forgiven.

Psalms 38.

Taste and see that the Lord is good.

Blessed is the man who
takes refuge in him.

Maybe you haven't tasted and seen
that God is good and you haven't

accepted his forgiveness.

Just like I said,

forgiven people forgive people.

So if you're constantly complaining about
people or constantly thinking

about, how does this affect me,

we probably ain't going to
be seen as one body,

right? One big family.

When you do this,

when we live this way together,

like I said,

the world won't have such a hard time
seeing why we come in here on

Sunday.

In those 14 verses,

I know I went over them
pretty quick.

We could spend four weeks
on this one chapter.

When you can take those things
off and put these things on,

that's how you can continually
be thankful.

That's how you can be reminded,

stirred up,

because you've been infected
by something on the inside.

And it starts to come out.

And as Christians,

as brothers and sisters in Christ,

we should be reminding each other that
instead of complaining about all

sorts of things,

you feel in the blame.

Instead, everybody's on a journey,

right?

If you just got saved,

guess what?

If you just realized disinfection,

it's going to take a while,

right, for the roots to spread
and grow and come out.

So as brothers and sisters
in Christ,

we should be encouraging each other and
continually forgiving each other

instead of waiting for somebody
to offend you.

So you can use it as an excuse as to
why you don't come to church or why

you don't live the way you're
supposed to live.

So, knowing all this,

let the peace that comes from
Christ rule in your hearts.

For as members of one body,

you are called to live in peace
and always be thankful.

That's how you can always
be thankful.

Philippians 4,

6, 7 says,

don't worry about anything.

Instead, pray about everything.

Tell God what you need and thank
him for all he has done.

Then you will experience
God's peace,

which exceeds anything
we can understand.

His peace will guard your hearts and
minds as you live in Christ Jesus.

It'll keep you from doing dumb stuff.

Jesus in John,

chapter 15.

In John,

chapter 14,

he's talking to the disciples
and he says,

I'm leaving you with a gift,

peace of mind and heart.

And the peace I give,

the world cannot give.

So don't be troubled and afraid.

I got stuff the world
can't take away.

And when you are reminded of that,

it stirs me up to be thankful,

to be grateful.

And I don't know about y'all,

but when you come in here and you have
a heart and an attitude like that,

and you're singing and praising God,

it affects me.

It's hard to not be happy when you see
people responding to what God's

done for them.

One last thing I'll say.

Verse 15,

16, 17 is just how to
be being reminded,

to be thankful.

The message about Christ,

the gospel,

the good news,

all its richness and fullness,

let the message about Christ
fill your lives.

What you put in is what's
going to come out.

Teach and counsel each other with
all the wisdom that he gives.

Sing psalms and hymns and spiritual
songs to God with thankful hearts.

And whatever you do or say in
everything you do and say,

do it as a representative
of the Lord Jesus,

giving thanks through him
to God the Father.

That's how you be thankful.

So in thinking about this,

like I said,

thanksgiving is an offering.

What are you offering to others,

to God.

You can't just add God to your life.

You have to give him your life.

So I got three young kids.

Anybody know about VeggieTales?

So there's a book,

and it might be an episode
of VeggieTales,

but there's a little song that says,

a thankful heart is a happy heart.

I don't remember the
rest of the song.

A thankful heart is a happy heart.

Something, something.

When you start for the
love that he shares,

I know he cares.

That's why I say thanks every day.

That is actually a verse they
just reworded a little bit.

Proverbs 17:22.

A cheerful.

Some translations say,

a thankful heart is good medicine,

but a broken spirit saps
a person's strength.

So I got about two minutes and thinking
about all this last night,

I was,

what are some things
I'm thankful for?

And I just started listing them.

And when you write stuff down,

it hits a little bit different than
when you just think of it in your

mind. And I could list
all sorts of things,

but I'm thankful for Jesus
and salvation.

I'm thankful for my wife,

who I wouldn't be standing
here today without.

I'm thankful for my kids,

who bring so much joy into my life and
remind me of just of how God looks

at me.

The way I look at them is
how God looks at me.

And that's why kids are
such a blessing.

My family around me,

my mom,

my brother,

my uncle,

they all live within 15 minutes.

And my brother lives right
down the street.

My mama lives beside me.

Like, y'all get the sanctified
version of me.

Can you imagine what you would get
if I didn't have all that?

They hold me up.

I'm thankful for my in laws,

Chrissy's mom and dad.

Chrissy's dad's like a dad to me.

I'm thankful for this gathering.

I'm thankful for y'all.

Y'all don't know it,

but y'all get me up here
a lot of times.

The way you worship,

the way you celebrate,

the way you're in relationship
with each other,

that's what makes this gathering
a gathering,

right? That's what church.

I'm thankful for Bobby.

He's like a dad to me.

I'm thankful for Charlie,

my dog.

I'm thankful for modern medicine that
treats my daughter's diabetes,

who 100 years ago would have died,

treats my nephew,

who has leukemia,

who 100 years ago would have died.

I'm thankful for air conditioning.

We live like Kings and queens
and don't even realize it.

And sometimes it distracts
us from things above.

Right? I could go on and on and on,

but when you start to realize just
how richly God has blessed you,

it stirs something up on the
inside and it affects you.

And you start to have symptoms.

And those symptoms people see,

can you continually be thankful?

And when you can't,

go back to the peace that
is guarding your heart.

And if you don't have that peace
and don't know that peace,

please ask me.

It will change your life.

It will change the rest of
your life for eternity.

Let's pray.

God, thank you for a lot of things.

Dear Lord.

Help us not to be in such a rush,

dear Lord,

not only this season,

but each and every day.

Help us not to miss
what you're doing.

Help us to stop and reflect and
remember what Jesus did for us.

Help us to be thankful,

dear Lord.

Help us to remember that when
we think less of ourselves,

that you put more things in
us that not only help us,

but help others.

And there's no greater gift than seeing
and being a part of that,

dear Lord.

And I just pray that as we
sing this last song,

that if anybody hasn't
received that,

doesn't know it,

don't even know what
I'm talking about.

They would just have the courage,

dear Lord,

to ask,

to look to you and to say,

I want what you got.

I want to be chosen.

Holy, loved God.

I just pray that in these next few moments
that we would just respond

whichever way you ask us to.

And I love you.

I ask it all in your name.

Amen.