Gratitude in Motion: Evidence of Gratitude

Gratitude in Motion: Sermon Notes                         Pastor Brad Myers

Evidence of Gratitude                                                               November 16, 2025

Today: Evidence of Gratitude – A display of God’s presence
Next Week: Overflow of Gratitude – A release of God’s presence to the world.
Together: they fill → move → multiply

Your Gratitude creates Motion!

What’s Really Gratitude?

Gratitude is the Spirit-awakened response to God’s presence that becomes visible through our words, actions, and worship. It is not an emotion but evidence—a movement of the heart that reveals who God is and what He has done in us.

• Gratitude responds, reveals, and releases Heaven on Earth!

Gratitude is pay it forward evidence of what God has done in your life.

When the Spirit of God awakens true gratitude it becomes visible!!   

• lifestyle, obedience, worship, and witness.

Gratitude Responds to the Presence of God

Story: Paul & Silas

Acts 16:25 (ESV)

Evidence of Gratitude while in jail!

(MULTILINE REVEAL SMALL)

Psalm 100:4 (ESV)

• Gratitude turns toward God even in adversity.
• Paul and Silas didn’t wait for deliverance—they responded to God’s presence with evidence!
• Gratitude doesn’t begin when the chains fall off!

A Spirit-filled heart responds in praise even before breakthrough arrives. Gratitude becomes the ignition point for the supernatural.

Blind Bartimaeus

Mark 10:46-52 (ESV)

Faith makes us whole, but it’s gratitude that brings us into the presence of Jesus!

Why? Because

Gratitude Reveals Spiritual Vision

(MULTILINE REVEAL SMALL)

Ephesians 1:18 (NIV)

• Apostle Paul A.D. 60–62 while in Roman prison.
• One of his most spiritually rich letters
• Unveils the believer’s identity, inheritance, and position in Christ.
  • Identity: Who you really are
  • Inheritance: What you’re getting
  • Position: Where you stand

Paul prays not for material blessing, not for physical strength, but for spiritual vision.

(MULTILINE REVEAL SMALL)

“I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened…”,

Paul’s reaching into the Old Testament (“heart” means the center of understanding, will, and spiritual perception).

He’s saying:
“God turn the lights on inside our soul so we can see what’s already ours.”

• enlightened eyes — spiritual sight awakened by revelation.
• Gratitude is one of the key responses to that enlightenment.

Gratitude reveals spiritual vision because the Spirit opens the eyes of our hearts to see God at work where others cannot.

(MULTILINE REVEAL SMALL)

Story: Fanny Crosby

• One of the most influential hymn writers in Christian history, 8,000 hymns.
• Blind in infancy due to improper medical treatment
• Never viewed her blindness as a tragedy but was grateful for it!
• Believed her gratitude gave her spiritual vision.

“If I had a choice, I would still choose blindness… because when I get to heaven, the first face I will see will be the face of my Savior.” Fanny Crosby

(MULTILINE REVEAL SMALL)

Hymn: Blessed Assurance

Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine! Oh, what a foretaste of glory divine! Heir of salvation, purchase of God, Born of His Spirit, washed in His blood.

This is my story, this is my song, Praising my Savior all the day long; This is my story, this is my song, Praising my Savior all the day long.

Perfect submission, perfect delight, Visions of rapture now burst on my sight: Angels descending bring from above Echoes of mercy, whispers of love.

This is my story, this is my song, Praising my Savior all the day long; This is my story, this is my song, Praising my Savior all the day long.

Perfect submission, all is at rest, I in my Savior am happy and blest; Watching and waiting, looking above, Filled with His goodness, lost in His love,

This is my story, this is my song, Praising my Savior all the day long; This is my story, this is my song, Praising my Savior all the day long.

(MULTILINE REVEAL SMALL)

When the Spirit opens your eyes, gratitude becomes the lens through which you interpret every trial and every triumph.

Gratitude Releases a Witness Worth Watching

Matthew 5:16 (ESV)

• Sermon on the Mount, early in His ministry overlooking the Sea of Galilee.
• What Kingdom life looks like: not religious routine but transformed character.

“let your light shine before others”

• This was radical for His Jewish listeners:
• Our lives become the evidence that leads others to God.
• Jesus teaches that faith must be seen, not just believed.
• Our visible actions testify to an invisible God.
• Gratitude is high on the list!

Gratitude doesn’t just stay in your heart —it releases a visible witness.

(MULTILINE REVEAL SMALL)

Story: Evangelist Mordecai Ham

• 1934 revival services in Charlotte, North Carolina.
• Two 14-year-old boys arrived and found the tent packed!
• Usher noticed them and was so grateful he squeezed them into two seats down front.
• That small act allowed the boys to hear the message.
• 14-year-old boys: Billy Graham and friend Grady Wilson
• Billy Graham later surrendered his life to Christ.

The usher didn’t preach the sermon or lead the revival—he simply acted in gratitude for what God was doing in the tent. But heaven used that motion to open the door for a ministry that would reach millions.

(MULTILINE REVEAL SMALL)

We declare today as a church,….. that our gratitude during this Thanksgiving season……… will be the evidence of God’s presence,…….…… We commit as a church that we will respond,… will reveal,…. and will release,…… the evidence of God at work in our lives……..We choose to be a people of gratitude in motion—the living evidence that God is with us!