TOPIC: Change, Gratitude, Growth
REFERENCES: Romans 1:21, 1 Thessalonians 5:18, Romans 6:23, Ephesians 2:8-9
SERIES: It's A Brand New Year, Is It The Same Old You? | Part 1 of 6

SUMMARY
Now is the time to take a personal inventory and ask ourselves this question: Am I the person I want to be? Am I the person I ought to be? Am I the person God wants me to be? This 25 minute message is the first in a series about the basic makings of a good person, starting with gratitude.

Has anyone ever told you - you ought to be thankful? Well, being told we ought to be thankful rarely causes us to be more thankful. Gratitude happens best when we keep our eyes open to spot real gifts that come our way. In this sermon you will learn how to open your eyes to the real gifts that surround you by taking a look at 4 characteristics of a real gift.

A real gift:
1. A real gift comes with a giver attached
-not everything that we get for nothing is a gift.

2. A real gift cost something to give but nothing to get
-the person who gives it has to sacrifice something
-it never costs anything to receive a real gift
-if a gift leaves you in debt than you have gotten a loan, not a real gift
-gratitude is never coerced

3. Giving is a gamble
-the gift may be rejected, sold, thrown out
-a true gift always leaves the giver exposed
-the only kind of gift anybody is ever grateful for is a gift the giver risks giving

4. Real gifts take us by surprise
-step back and look at the big picture

MY COMMENTS
I have been to a lot of different churches recently and the one problem that I think most seem to be plagued with is that they avoid asking the tough questions. They add plenty of fluff and pie in the sky reasoning but nothing of real substance. This sermon, however, does. The reason I am attracted to this sermon in particulary is that it asks the hard questions and it answers them.

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