Celebrating God's Blessings Through Life's Peaks and Valleys

### Bible Study Discussion Guide

#### Bible Reading
1. **Psalm 84:11** - "For the Lord God is a sun and shield; the Lord bestows favor and honor. No good thing does he withhold from those who walk uprightly."
2. **John 10:10** - "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full."
3. **Luke 17:11-19** - The story of the ten lepers, where only one returns to thank Jesus.

#### Observation Questions
1. What does Psalm 84:11 say about the nature of God's blessings? How does this relate to the sermon’s message about recognizing every good thing as a gift from God?
2. In John 10:10, what kind of life does Jesus say He came to give? How does this align with the sermon’s emphasis on Christians being the happiest people because of the new life in Jesus? [37:33]
3. In the story of the ten lepers (Luke 17:11-19), how many lepers were healed, and how many returned to thank Jesus? What does this illustrate about the rarity of gratitude? [55:47]

#### Interpretation Questions
1. How does the concept of God being a "sun and shield" in Psalm 84:11 help believers trust Him during life's valleys and plateaus? [35:08]
2. What does it mean to have life "to the full" as described in John 10:10? How can this perspective change a believer's approach to both peaks and valleys in life? [37:33]
3. Reflecting on the story of the ten lepers, why do you think only one returned to thank Jesus? What does this say about human nature and the importance of gratitude? [55:47]

#### Application Questions
1. **Trusting in Valleys**: Think about a recent low point in your life. How did you handle it? What steps can you take to trust God more during these times? [35:08]
2. **Building in Plateaus**: During the mundane or "meh" periods of life, how can you use this time to prepare for future challenges and blessings? What practical steps can you take to build during these seasons? [36:19]
3. **Celebrating Peaks**: When was the last time you experienced a "mountaintop" moment? Did you take the time to celebrate it? How can you make celebration a regular practice in your life? [48:34]
4. **Gratitude Practice**: Reflect on the blessings in your life that you may have overlooked. How can you make a habit of saying "wow, thank you, Jesus" daily? [47:10]
5. **Perspective Shift**: Identify a current challenge you are facing. How can you shift your perspective to focus on the blessings and reasons to be grateful in this situation? [01:00:22]
6. **Expressing Gratitude**: Think of a specific blessing or achievement in your life. How can you publicly express your gratitude for this blessing, fostering a culture of celebration within your community? [49:50]
7. **Hope in Dark Times**: When facing difficult times, how can you remind yourself of the hope and joy found in Jesus? What practical steps can you take to maintain this perspective? [01:04:35]

This guide is designed to help your small group delve deeper into the themes of trust, gratitude, and celebration as presented in the sermon "Peaks and Valleys." Use these questions to foster meaningful discussion and personal reflection.

Day 1: Embracing Valleys with Trust
In life's valleys, one is not alone; God's presence offers strength and courage. These low points are opportunities for growth and preparation for what lies ahead. Recognizing God's gifts during these times can lead to a more joyful and resilient spirit. [07:40]

James 1:2-4 - "Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance."
Reflection: How can you view your current struggles as opportunities for growth and trust in God's plan for you?

Day 2: Choosing Gratitude in All Circumstances
Gratitude is a deliberate choice, not dependent on one's situation. By acknowledging even the smallest blessings, such as the breath of life, believers can maintain joy and hope. This choice can profoundly influence one's outlook and ability to endure hardships. [07:40]

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 - "Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus."
Reflection: What is one thing you can be thankful for today, and how can you express that gratitude to God and others?

Day 3: Celebrating as a Spiritual Act
Celebration is not just an act of joy but a spiritual discipline that acknowledges and honors God's goodness. It is a biblical command to rejoice, reflecting the celebratory nature of heaven itself. Engaging in celebration can deepen one's faith and connection to the divine. [07:40]

Luke 15:10 - "In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents."
Reflection: How can you incorporate celebration into your daily spiritual practice to honor God's goodness in your life?

Day 4: Being the One Who Returns to Give Thanks
The rarity of gratitude, as shown in the story of the ten lepers, is a reminder to be the one who returns to thank Jesus. This act of thankfulness is not only polite but a profound acknowledgment of God's active role in our lives. [07:40]

Luke 17:15-16 - "One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice. He threw himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him—and he was a Samaritan."
Reflection: Can you think of a recent blessing for which you have not yet thanked God? How can you show your gratitude today?

Day 5: Proclaiming God's Grace with Awe
Celebrating God's grace should be a heartfelt and exuberant response to His work in our lives. This celebration is not just a private affair but a public declaration that can inspire and encourage others within the community. [07:40]

Psalm 150:2 - "Praise him for his acts of power; praise him for his surpassing greatness."
Reflection: What are some specific ways you can publicly celebrate God's grace in your life this week?

All right, so today we get to close out our series, "Peaks and Valleys," with a bang. This is going to be a fun Sunday. But before we get into that, I hope that this series has been a blessing for your life as we've been learning how to navigate the seasons of life.

I mean, life has ups and downs, right? Like there's good moments, there's not so good moments. And the reality is for us, we have to learn how to navigate those changing landscapes. Or else we can end up falling from the peaks. We can get stuck in the valleys. We can end up lost in the plateaus. So we really do need to learn how to navigate those ever-changing seasons.

And so Pastor Chris started our series a couple of weeks ago by giving us some hope for when we are in the valleys. And she taught us that we need to trust God in the valleys. That it's in those low moments where we really need to just lean into God. That he's the one who gives us the strength and the courage to keep putting one foot in front of the other. And when you are in desperate need of a miracle, he still is the God of the valleys. And he is still a miracle-working God. And so we can trust him when life is at its worst.

And then last week, Pastor Sol walked us through those plateau seasons. And not only do you spend the majority of your time in the kind of the boring, the mundane, the average, the meh moments of life where it's not great, it's not horrible, it just kind of is. Not only do you spend most of your time in that place, but it's also the most important time of your life if you will use that time well.

And so if you will learn how to build in the boring, then you will be better equipped to be able to navigate those peaks and those valleys when they do come. And that brings us to today. And I'll be honest, I'm tired of talking about the negative and the bad and the boring and all that junk. So today, can we just talk about the good times? Can we just get, can we talk about the mountaintops and the peaks and the fun and the excitement?

Because look, contrary to what some of my pessimist friends in the room may think, yeah, the glass is half empty and filled with poison. You're such a ray of sunshine. But here's the reality. God does pour out blessings in our lives. There are amazing things in this world. There are blessings in our lives. And we need to learn how to navigate the peaks just like we need to learn how to navigate everything else.

Because our God is a God of blessings. And yeah, he'll use the valleys and he'll use the plateaus to develop us and grow us. But he also opens up heaven and pours out blessings on us. There are mountaintop experiences. In fact, Psalm 84:11 says that the Lord God is our protector and glorious king. And what does he do? He blesses us with kindness and honor. The Lord freely gives every good thing to those who do what is right.

And look, God's not withholding things from you. In fact, every single good thing you have in your life was a gift that was freely given to you by God. In fact, Jesus adds to this in John 10:10. He says that a thief comes to steal, kill, and destroy. But I came to give life. And then he tells you what kind of life he came to give, right? He gave you a life that is full and good, right? Come on now.

Look, Christians, we should be the happiest people on the planet because we've been given new life in Jesus. And the life he gives us is not bad or boring or mundane. It is not sad or depressing. No, the life that he gives us is full and good. He gives us peaks in our lives so that we have something to enjoy, so that we have something to celebrate. It is part of his blessings on us.

And I think that how a Christian navigates those peaks becomes a vital part of our walk with God. That if we don't learn how to navigate the peaks, the good moments, if we don't learn how to navigate those things well, it can have disastrous results, not just for ourselves, but also for the people around us. And if you don't navigate the peaks in the right way, you can end up falling hard and fast from those moments. And you may even miss out on the next big moment that God had for you because you hadn't learned the lesson yet.

And so I've got a little bit of experience with literal mountaintops. When I lived in Colorado, I got the chance to climb several 14ers. And so a 14er is a 14,000-plus foot mountain. And I'll be honest, there were some highs and lows in climbing those. I'll be here all day. In those moments, there were some great experiences and there were some memories that I wish I could forget. There were some rough moments as well.

But here's the one that I will never forget: it was the first 14er I climbed, and that was this guy right here. This is called Pike's Peak. It's right there in Colorado Springs. And it is absolutely gorgeous. And for a month, the first month I lived in Colorado, I woke up every day looking at that mountain. Like it's just right outside the window. And I just, I don't know, there's something, maybe it's a guy thing, but there was just something in me that was like, I want to conquer that. Like I want to, I want to get to the top.

Like I've enjoyed the view from here to there, but I want to see the view from there to here. Right? Anybody else ever kind of gotten in that moment where you're like, let's do this? Nobody, because y'all live in Chicago and there ain't no mountains. All you got is the Sears Tower. And so, but I was excited because what happened is we had just put in like a 16-hour day at the church and we were exhausted and we're tired. We just want to go home and crash.

And the director of the program that I was in came up to us and gave us a piece of paper with an address on it. He said, you need to be there at 6 a.m. tomorrow because tomorrow we climb Pike's Peak. And I was like, yeah, this is awesome. And I had no idea what to expect because I grew up here where there are no mountains. There's barely a hill to look at. But I was excited anyways.

And so I got with this group and I got there early and our group was setting out and we're laughing and we're talking. We're having a great time. And then this excitement quickly turned into boredom because I don't know in my mind, I thought like when you climbed a mountain, it was like you remember the movie "Cliffhanger," right? Like I thought that was what we were about to do. But no, this is what we were about to do. It's a walk through the woods. You don't even get to see the mountain for most of it because it's just all trees around you.

And so it got really boring because what I didn't tell you is that this is a 13-mile journey. And you're going up about 8,000 feet in elevation from start to finish. And so it's basically just a long, long, long walk up a hill. That's all it is. And so I'm just hiking and I'm getting tired and bored. And then the group that I was with, there were a few people in the group that started to kind of pull ahead. They wanted to see how fast they could get to the top.

But I was in the middle of conversation with some people. And so I just kind of let them run off ahead. And then I realized that I had made a mistake because the people I was talking with, they didn't keep the pace. They just kept getting slower and slower and slower. And I'm thinking I'm going to be walking through these woods for like the rest of my life.

And so I had a bright idea. And usually when I have a bright idea, it means it's a really bad idea, but I don't know it until later. And so I thought I had this great idea of I'm just going to catch up with the other group because I'm tired of just being back here at the back. I want to get with the group ahead. But they had already gotten about a 30-minute to an hour head start on me going double our pace.

And so what I quickly learned is that you don't make up that kind of distance on a mountain. And so what really happened is I just ended up with no group. So I'm just in the middle of nowhere. A kid that doesn't know anything about a mountain. I'm just wondering if Sasquatch is going to jump out from behind this rock as I'm just walking all by myself.

And so this boredom and this isolation just goes on and on until I reached what's called the tree line. Anybody know what a tree line is? A couple of you. But again, we're in Chicago, so you wouldn't know nothing about this. But there's an elevation around the earth where once you hit that place, trees don't grow. It's a line. And on one side of the line, trees; on the other side of the line, nothing because the altitude, the oxygen is lower, the temperature is lower, and just nothing grows.

And so for the majority of the walk, it was this. And then I turned a corner and it was this. That's a different kind of walk while you're all by yourself. But then I also discovered something else. I learned two things that day. I learned about the tree line and I learned about this little thing called altitude sickness.

Anybody know what altitude sickness is? See, you got that one. But here's the deal. I was not prepared for what happened as I hit the tree line. I couldn't breathe. My head felt like the Hulk was just trying to squeeze my eyes out. It was the worst pain in my head that I've ever experienced. And I couldn't breathe and my body felt dehydrated, but I was drinking plenty of water like I didn't know what was going on.

And I'm not with anybody to explain to this kid from Chicago what altitude sickness is. And so I just thought I was dying. Like I just, this is the end. I'm just, I'm done on the side of a mountain in Colorado. Teach me a lesson of never going to the mountains. And I remember I sat down on a rock and I was literally contemplating. I was trying to figure out if I die up here, how does my body get back down? Like my mother needs a body to bury. How does she get it? Who's going to throw me over their shoulder and go back down this mountain?

And I don't know what it was about that thought, but it kind of snapped me out of it. I got back up and I finished walking to the top and I reached the summit out of breath, exhausted, in so much pain. And honestly, this is not a proud moment of my life, but I got to the top and I was bitter. Like I was just mad. I was angry. I was like, this is stupid. I was for something that I had been wanting so desperately to get to the top. I finally got there and I hated it.

I was mad at myself because I didn't get there as fast as other people did. I was mad at them because they didn't look like I felt. I felt like I was dying, and they're all laughing and smiling and high-fiving and like running around like this is so cool. And it was, I'm like, this isn't fair. I'm dying and you're fine. It's not fair. And so I'm bitter and I'm angry.

And then it got worse when I heard little kids laughing. And I look over and I see this big family and the dad is drinking a Coke and eating a candy bar. And that's when I realized that there were multiple ways to get to the top of this mountain. We took the hard way, but you could have ridden the train; like there's literally a trolley that you can ride to the top of the mountain. You think that's bad? You can also load up your family in your minivan and it takes about 30 minutes and costs forty dollars for you to drive to the top of the mountain.

And I'm up there and I'm thinking, you don't deserve this. Right? I worked to get up here. All you did was swipe your credit card. This is not fair. Oh, I was so bitter. I was so angry. I'm ready to like punt a little kid off of the mountain. It's just, it's just bad. It's so bad.

And in that moment, a friend of mine came. I don't know if he saw how upset I was, but he came up to me, grabbed me by the shoulders. He yelled in my face. He said, dude, you did it. And then he spun me around to actually for the first time, actually look out from the top of the mountain. And this is the view that I had. And the picture doesn't do it justice. I mean, you've got to be there to see it.

So go ahead and swipe your credit card. Swipe your credit card. Do the forty dollars drive to the top. Get the experience because it is absolutely breathtaking. And in that moment, the comparisons of me and them and the frustrations, the kids, and the exhaustion and the pain and all of the bitterness, all of it just faded away.

And I let out the biggest scream of my life. And I'm a pretty reserved person. I don't do a lot of screaming. But in that moment, on that mountain, I screamed. And then I found this rock and I just kind of sat down. I looked out at this view and I just looked at God's creation. And I remember just thinking, wow, thank you, Jesus. I thank you for bringing me to this place. Thank you for giving me the strength in my body to actually make it here. But thank you so much that there's a view to see like, God, you created this for us to enjoy.

And I was just so in awe of God in that moment. So thank you, Jesus. And I think that the key to navigating the peaks of our lives is found in those four little words saying, wow, thank you, Jesus. And if we can learn how to say this in the highs and we'll practice this phrase daily, I think that we'll navigate the good moments much better than anyone else.

For those of you that maybe you're struggling today and you're saying, Brent, there is no good. And you're missing out on the beauty of what God has created for you, the blessings that God has for your life, because you're so focused on what's not going right. Can I just, I just want to be the friend today that just grabs you by the shoulders, maybe yells in your face a little bit, but spins you around so that you can see what you've been missing.

So that you can find every single day a reason to say, wow, thank you, Jesus. So that's our goal. And so in the valley, what do you do? You trust. And in the boring, you build. And on the peak, you celebrate the simple idea. But I think this is the most important thing that we can do on the mountaintop is we can celebrate. That's really what the phrase, wow, thank you, Jesus, is right. It's a phrase of celebration. It's saying, God, you're awesome.

And I think that that should be our go-to phrase. Wow, thank you, Jesus. In fact, why don't we try it out real quick on the count of three? Just give me your best, wow, thank you, Jesus. Three, two, one. Come on now. That was pretty good. That was all right. I think we can do better in a little bit, but that was not bad.

But when you're on the mountaintop, what do you got to do? You got to celebrate. That's what we got to do. And in the eternally wise words of the poets and psalmists, Kool & The Gang, celebrate good times. Come on. Come on. Like celebrate good times. Come on.

And so when God blesses you, when he answers a prayer, when there's a miracle in your life, when you get married, when you have a kid, when you get a raise, when you get a new job, when you find twenty dollars in your pocket you didn't know you had, but you really needed. When you drive home from work and there's no traffic, when there's a parking space right up front, when your friend says, yeah, I'll go to church with you, when the Bears win a game, when your crush smiles at you, when somebody cooks your favorite meal, when your boss says great job on that report, when your teacher gives you an A on that paper.

When good things happen, celebrate. Come on. We got to celebrate. You need to celebrate those moments. In fact, in my experience, the more you celebrate, the more you're going to find to celebrate. And the opposite is sadly also true. If you don't learn how to celebrate those moments, you'll end up missing out on the moments that are really worth celebrating because you're so focused on what you don't have. You don't pay attention to what you do have.

It said that comparison is the thief of joy. So please do not let the size of someone else's victory keep you from being able to celebrate your own. But not only that, don't let what you had hoped to celebrate rob you of what you can celebrate. OK, we need to be people that know how to celebrate when you're in the peak moment of life. The most important thing you can do is celebrate.

In fact, some of you are thinking, man, this doesn't feel like a very spiritual message, but the reality is celebration is a spiritual discipline that God wants you to have. You know how I know that? Well, because God is a God of celebration. Open your Bibles. It is all throughout scripture, right? God gave the Israelites seven different feasts to celebrate every year, and he gave them specific instructions on how to throw those parties, right?

When the Ark of the Covenant returned, David celebrated by dancing in the street. When Jesus was born, there was a choir of angels in celebration. There were gifts being given. Jesus says that every time one sinner repents, there is a party in heaven. There's a celebration that happens as a result. Do you know what the Bible says is waiting for you when you get to heaven? A party. It's referred to as a wedding feast. There is a celebration waiting for you when you get to heaven.

The Bible is just filled with celebration after celebration after celebration, and God gives us reasons to celebrate over and over again. In fact, in the book of Nehemiah, which is, to me, it's the best book of the Bible because it's the weirdest book of the Bible. It has no right being so good because it is literally a book in your Bible about people building a wall. That is not exciting, but yet somehow Nehemiah is such an amazing book of the Bible, and when they finally finish rebuilding this wall, it takes 17 verses to describe the party that they throw when they finish building the wall.

Seventeen verses to describe the singing and the dancing and the music and everything that's going on, and then it ends in verse 43 with this. It says they offered great sacrifices that day and rejoiced, for God had made them rejoice with great joy. The women and children also rejoiced, and the joy of Jerusalem was heard far away. Let me tell you, you know it's a good party when you can hear the party even when you're not at the party, right? This was a party.

But did you catch the word that gets repeated three times in this verse? Rejoice, rejoice, rejoice. In fact, the Bible uses this word rejoice around 300 times. You know what I think that means? I think that means it's something that we should probably be doing. In fact, this is how Paul describes it in Philippians 4:4. Paul says, rejoice in the Lord when you feel like it. Rejoice in the Lord when things are good. Rejoice in the Lord when you're on the peak.

Yeah, you're right. Rejoice in the Lord always. And then Paul is just, he's careful. He's like, I don't want them to miss the instructions, so he repeats himself. I'll say it again. Rejoice. This is what we're supposed to be doing. In fact, the word that Paul uses for rejoice, it literally means to be favorably disposed to God's grace. How cool is that? That's what we're doing when we celebrate. We're saying I am favorably disposed to God's grace.

And some of you are looking at me funny because that's not really language we use. So let me simplify it for you. What we're doing when we celebrate rejoicing is saying, God, I see what you did there and I like it. God, I see what you're doing in my family and I like it. God, I see what you're doing in my health and I like it. God, I see what you've been doing in my finances as you've been providing for me and I like it. God, I saw that sunrise this morning. It was a thing of beauty. God, I like it. God, I see what you're doing in my life and I'm in favor of it. This is a good thing.

And that is why we celebrate with this phrase, wow, thank you, Jesus. In fact, why don't we take that phrase and why don't we spend the next few minutes just kind of breaking this down. And so we're going to start right here with the thank you. We'll come back to the wow in just a moment. But this may be news to you, but these two words, when you put them together, thank you is a phrase of gratitude. That's what that is. Something happens that's good and you say, thank you.

Somebody says nice shoes and you say, thank you. Somebody gives you a present and you say, thank you. It is our response to someone else's goodness. We say, thank you. And so when God shows off, we say, thank you. And you would think that saying thank you to a good God, doing good things in our lives would come naturally, it would come easily. But sadly, it actually doesn't.

In fact, there's a miracle that is recorded in Luke chapter 17 that tells us about these 10 lepers that receive healing. And it says, on the way to Jerusalem, he was passing along between Samaria and Galilee, that's Jesus. And as he entered a village, he was met by 10 lepers. How many of them? Ten. Remember that number for later. Ten lepers who stood at a distance and lifted up their voices saying, Jesus, master, have mercy on us.

And when he saw them, he said to them, go and show yourself to the priests. And as they went, they were cleansed. Amazing moment. Then it continues, then one of them, how many of them? One. How many were there originally? Ten. How many are left? One. One, there's one left. I mean, yeah, ten minus one is not good. Works either way. But we're going to focus on the one of them. When he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice. And he fell on his face at Jesus' feet, giving him thanks.

Ten men received an incredible miracle. Supernatural healing. Ten of them, supernaturally healed. Ten of them are what could only be described as a mountaintop moment in their lives. Ten of them who thought they were going to die in agony and isolation and now have been given new life because of Jesus. Now ten guys get to go home to their families and their friends. Ten incredible moments. But only one said thank you.

So the question is, which one are you going to be? When the good things happen, are you going to be the one that stops and says thank you to the one that made it possible? Or are you just going to take it for granted? Are you just going to be one of the nine that just runs off and forgets all about the good? And when you're experiencing blessings, when you're riding high, when you're on the peak of life, you need to be the one that says thank you. Thank you.

And the big stuff, and the little stuff, and all the stuff, we say thank you. But that thank you has to be directed at someone, right? This is our phrase, thank you, Jesus. It's not thank you, universe. It's not thank you, me, because I'm so awesome and I work so hard and I'm so great and I deserve all this. No, no, no. Our gratitude is pointed at Jesus because this thank you, Jesus, is not just a statement of gratitude. It's also a statement of recognition.

It's saying I'm not the one that made this happen. He is. It's not that I work so hard. It's that he's so good. It's not because I'm awesome. It's because he's awesome. And so we say, wow, thank you, Jesus, because everything good in my life I owe to my creator. In fact, Psalm 16:2, David said, I said to the Lord, you are my master. Every good thing I have comes from you. It was true for David. It's true for you and me today as well.

And so we say, thank you, Jesus. I don't know why you chose to bless me, but thank you, Jesus. I know I couldn't have gotten through that situation without your wisdom and your strength in me. So thank you, Jesus. I didn't know what I was going to do in that situation. And then you showed up and made all the difference. So thank you. I may have climbed to the top of the mountain, but Jesus is the one who made the view. So I say thank you to him.

And in our celebrations, we express gratitude, but we also express recognition that I'm not the one who's awesome. Jesus is the one who's awesome. And without him, there is nothing in my life worth celebrating. And so I don't want to ever neglect the primary ingredient to my success, Jesus. So we say, thank you, Jesus.

And we get back to the start of the phrase. Wow. I love that word. It's one of those cool words. It works frontwards and backwards. It's a great word. Wow. But it's a word I don't think people use enough. I mean, maybe sarcastically we use it a lot, but I think we need to use it. I know, right? Wow.

But if we could start using this word, wow, authentically, genuinely more in our lives, I think what happens is too many of us get so focused on the negative and the bad and the stuff that we don't have. And we're looking at the world and we're just saying the world is just a cold, dark place like a Chicago winter in the bear season. There's nothing good. There's never anything good. Brent, you don't know what you're talking about. There are no peaks. It's all valleys after valleys after valleys, one dark day after another.

And if you're thinking that right now, then you're probably right with that perspective. You're probably right. But if you will learn how to change your perspective, I think you'll be able to see that there's a lot more good than bad in the world. If we could learn to just adjust our perspective to see because the truth is the glass, it's always half empty and half full. Both are always true. But your perspective, your attitude towards the glass is what changes.

So is it half empty or is it half full? Are you looking at the negative? Are you looking at the bad or are you looking for the good? And this wow is honestly, it's a matter of perspective. That's what it's there for. And it's when we say wow, we shift our perspective from the problem onto the problem solver. We shift our perspective from what's going wrong to what's going right. We turn our attention to the God who blesses us.

And when you see how awesome God is, you can't help but say wow. I mean, when I was on that mountain, as long as I was looking at the people and the problems and the pain that I was experiencing, when my perspective was focused on the negative, I was miserable. But the moment somebody spun me around and I saw what God had created, it changed my perspective. And in that moment, I could say wow, because that's all you can really say.

And honestly, I fully believe that how bad or how good your life is, is really just a matter of perspective. What are you choosing to focus on? Andy Bernard on "The Office," my favorite TV show, he once said, I wish there was a way to know you were in the good old days before you've actually left them. And guess what, Andy? There is. Just look for the good every day. There are no good old days if every day is a good day. If you will look for the positive.

And I know somebody is in here going, Brent, but you have no idea what I've been through this year. You have no idea the pain and the loss and the suffering that I've experienced. And you are absolutely right. I don't know. And I don't for a moment want to make light of the pain that you've been experiencing. And I don't for a minute want to try and sell you onto this idea that because you're a Christian, it's always going to be rainbows and sunshine and blessings. And it's all going to be good all the time because that is not how life works.

But I will tell you that as believers, even in the darkest valley, there is always something worth celebrating. If you will look for it, even in the worst moments, there is always something that we can be grateful for if we will shift our perspectives. In fact, Psalm 118:24 says, This is the day that the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it.

So if you have no other reason to celebrate today, the fact you woke up with breath in your lungs is a reason to celebrate. Psalm 16:11 says, You make known to me the path of life; in your presence, there is what? There is fullness of joy. So if you've got no other reason to celebrate today, you can celebrate the fact that God invites you into his presence. That is worth celebrating.

And if you're in a place where you're like, Brent, there is nothing good in my life. I have nothing that I can celebrate when everything is going wrong. You can still celebrate in the hope that you have in Jesus. Because here's, I am fully convinced that no matter how bad life is, no matter how horrible the situation is, there is always, always, always, always, always, always, always. I'm going to say it a few more times because I need you to get this. There is always, always, always, not sometimes, not every once in a while, but there is always, always, always, always. There is always hope.

That is the promise that we have in Jesus that no matter what you face, there is always hope. And Romans 12:12 tells us that we can rejoice in hope. So if you don't have any other reason to celebrate today, you can rejoice in the hope that you have. And there's a promise in Proverbs 10:28 that says that the hope of the righteous brings joy. And so you can have joy today despite what you may be going through, despite the situations that are going wrong in your life because you have hope.

And in that hope in Jesus, what does it bring us? It brings us joy. So you can have joy today because of the hope you have in him. And so here's the deal. I think it's time we stop talking about it and we start doing it. I think it's time that we turn this church service into a party. What do you think? Does anybody in the room got something worth celebrating today? Enough talking about it. Let's put it into practice.

Because look, when you're on the mountaintop, what do you got to do? You got to celebrate. And so I'm going to read you one more scripture. But before I do, I want to give you a question. I want you to think about this question for a moment. OK, here's your question. And then we're going to celebrate together. But here's your question. What have I not properly celebrated this year?

What did you miss in the busyness, in the distractions, in the moments where you're so focused on what's not going right that you missed the blessing that God had in your life? What did you forget to celebrate this year? Maybe something great, amazing happened for you, but it was right in the middle of 18 things going wrong. And so you just neglected it. You missed it. You were like, well, that's good, but I got all these other focuses.

Or maybe something great happened in your life, but you didn't feel like you could celebrate it because the people around you were having a hard time. And so like you got a new job, but your friend lost theirs. And so you couldn't celebrate your job because your friend was hurting and you didn't want to make it weird for them. You couldn't celebrate your pregnancy announcement because your friend didn't have a kid.

And there's something in your life that was worthy of celebration, but because of the feelings of others, you held it to yourself. Or maybe you're the person in the room that there was something that was worth celebrating in your life. But the moment you went to celebrate it, there was somebody there that cut you out, cut your legs out from under you. That right when you were about to celebrate that thing, somebody came in and said, that's not that great. That's not that impressive. I could have done better. You only got that because boss plays favorites. You didn't really deserve it.

And in that moment where you were ready to celebrate and jump up and down with joy, somebody just knocked you flat. Don't you think it's time you celebrated? Not just what happened, but the God who put it in motion. So what have you failed to celebrate properly this year?

And for those of you that are still kind of struggling to find something worth celebrating, I got one more verse for you. You might want to memorize this one. It's good. Psalm 103 says, let all that I am praise the Lord. With my whole heart, I will praise his holy name. Let all that I am praise the Lord. May I never forget the good things he does for me.

I don't care if it happened 10 minutes ago or 10 years ago. I don't ever want to forget the good things that he does for me. And then the author of Psalms walks us through a few things that he does so that you could remember them. He says, he forgives all of my sins and heals all my diseases. He redeems me from death and crowns me with love and tender mercies. He fills my life with good things.

This is what God does for you. He forgives you. He heals you. He redeems you. He crowns you. And if you can't get excited about that, I don't know what to tell you today. So are you ready to celebrate?

All right, we got our celebration phrase. Wow, thank you, Jesus. And so I think it's time that we used it. But here's the thing. This can't be one of those pathetic, just kind of like the preacher told me to say something, so I'm going to... This has got to be a wow, thank you, Jesus, worthy of the one we owe everything to.

And look, if the people around Israel could hear the celebration happening in Jerusalem over a wall being built, I think it would be pretty cool if we could get our neighbors to kind of poke their heads out the window and wonder what's happening at CLC today when we celebrate what Jesus has done in our lives. Are you ready for this?

Yeah. So here's what I need you to do. I need you to stand up. You need to kind of loosen up, stretch out a little bit, get some space, maybe touch your toes a little bit. Nobody want to pull a hammy doing this thing. All right. If you don't know the people around you, just go ahead and apologize to them in advance. Just say, hey, look, I'm usually much more well-behaved and well-mannered in church, but it's a special day.

Work on your vocal cords, right? Do some me-me-mes, do-re-mes. Get those vocal cords ready so no cotton mouth when you're about to do this. And on the count of three, we're going to take that thing that we have failed to celebrate this year or maybe even the thing you celebrated a bunch, but you don't mind celebrating it again because it was awesome.

So you're going to take that in the forefront of your mind. On the count of three, we are going to let out the biggest wow thank you, Jesus that we've got in us. Are you ready for this?

Yeah. All right. Here we go. Soul's ready for it. All right, here we go. Count of three. We'll count down. Three, two, one. All right! Hey! That was pretty good!

All right, so here's the deal. That was great, but I don't think that was enough. So out in the lobby we got some music, we got some cookies. We're just going to keep this celebration going. Let's keep partying, let's have a great time.

And now may the Lord bless you and keep you. May he make his face shine upon you and be gracious unto you. May he lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace in Jesus' name. Amen, amen. Let's go celebrate!

"And I think that the key to navigating the peaks of our lives is found in those four little words saying, wow, thank you, Jesus. And if we can learn how to say this in the highs and we'll practice this phrase daily, I think that we'll navigate the good moments much better than anyone else." [48:30] (Download)

"In my experience, the more you celebrate, the more you're going to find to celebrate. And the opposite is sadly also true. If you don't learn how to celebrate those moments, you'll end up missing out on the moments that are really worth celebrating because you're so focused on what you don't have." [49:50] (Download)

"But I will tell you that as believers, even in the darkest valley, there is always something worth celebrating. If you will look for it, even in the worst moments, there is always something that we can be grateful for." [01:03:26] (Download)

"Celebration is a spiritual discipline that God wants you to have. God is a God of celebration... There is a celebration waiting for you when you get to heaven." [51:58] (Download)

"I may have climbed to the top of the mountain, but Jesus is the one who made the view. So I say thank you to him. And in our celebrations, we express gratitude, but we also express recognition that I'm not the one who's awesome. Jesus is the one who's awesome." [59:25] (Download)

"But if you will learn how to change your perspective, I think you'll be able to see that there's a lot more good than bad in the world. If we could learn to just adjust our perspective to see because the truth is the glass, it's always half empty and half full." [01:00:11] (Download)

"And it's when we say wow, we shift our perspective from the problem onto the problem solver. We shift our perspective from what's going wrong to what's going right. We turn our attention to the God who blesses us. And when you see how awesome God is, you can't help but say wow." [01:01:13] (Download)

"And when you are in desperate need of a miracle, he still is the God of the valleys. And he is still a miracle working God. And so we can trust him when life is at its worst." [35:13] (Download)

"But he also opens up heaven and pours out blessings on us. There are mountaintop experiences... The Lord freely gives every good thing to those who do what is right." [37:49] (Download)

"Look, Christians, we should be the happiest people on the planet because we've been given new life in Jesus. And the life he gives us is not bad or boring or mundane. It is full and good." [37:49] (Download)