Gratitude

·40 min·4 clips

Southside Church commits to raising half a million dollars so no child in Chilliwack goes without a Christmas present.

The episode opens with the speaker welcoming listeners to the Southside Church podcast from Chilliwack, British Columbia. He references quotes from Seneca, Yogi Berra, and Henry David Thoreau about direction and aspiration, linking them to the church's core values. He states that core value one is 'Jesus saves,' which is personal and transformative. The speaker explains that the church is God's 'plan A' for spreading this good news. He then introduces core values two through seven as aspirational targets, including generosity, invitation, excellence, ownership, belonging, and finally gratitude as value seven. He argues that gratitude can radically change one's life, relationships, and parenting. The speaker turns to the parable of the prodigal son in Luke 15 to illustrate ingratitude. He describes the younger son's request for his inheritance as akin to wishing his father dead, highlighting the ugliness of ingratitude. The speaker contrasts grateful people as more content, happier, more generous, more creative, more intelligent, and wiser. He shares that Southside Church is pledging $500,000 for its 'All Is Bright' Christmas initiative to ensure no child in Chilliwack goes without a present. He connects this generosity to the congregation's gratitude for God's gifts. The sermon delves into the parable's details: the younger son squanders his wealth, experiences famine, and ends up feeding pigs. The speaker likens this to life without Jesus—desperately wanting but never satisfied. The son decides to return home, planning to humiliate himself as a hired servant, which the speaker ties to a scarcity mindset rooted in jealousy, bitterness, and guilt. When the father sees his son returning, he runs to him, shows compassion, and restores him fully—a demonstration of mercy and grace. The speaker defines mercy as not getting the bad we deserve and grace as getting good we don't deserve. He then shifts to the older son in the parable, who is angry and ungrateful, missing the celebration due to his ingratitude. The speaker warns that ingratitude causes us to miss out on life's blessings. He shares an anecdote about Hugo Dyson, who shouted down J.R.R. Tolkien during Inklings meetings, missing the masterpiece that 'The Lord of the Rings' would become. The speaker applies this to daily life, urging listeners not to complain about ordinary moments. He then tells a personal story about his wife Corinne, who was raised in a dysfunctional family. After a decade of estrangement, her father agreed to meet but then publicly berated her at a basketball game, leading to permanent separation. The speaker recounts advising the father to emulate the prodigal son's father, but he refused. The sermon concludes by emphasizing that gratitude is a choice God can help with. The speaker encourages starting each day with thankfulness, being thankful for each other, and considering believer's baptism as an act of gratitude. He invites listeners to text 'dunk' to a number if interested in baptism and leads a prayer of gratitude and confession.

As heard by us

A warm, insistent sermon linking gratitude with abundance, grace and a full welcome home.

Southside Church roots gratitude in abundance, asking listeners to trust a good father whose provision never runs out. The returning son gives the sermon its shape. Mercy means being spared deserved consequences, while grace means receiving undeserved good.

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Why you'd press play

You trade a scarcity mindset for gratitude through the returning son's welcome, celebration and complete restoration.

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