Welcome to the Daily Blade. The Word of God is described as the Sword of the Spirit, the primary spiritual weapon in the Christians' armor against the forces of evil. Your hosts are Joby Martin and Kyle Thompson, and they stand ready to equip men for the fight. Let's sharpen up.

All right, day four of the Christmas edition of the Daily Blade. If you want to win at Christmas, don't spend too much, watch your calendar, forgive. And today we're gonna I'm gonna tell you if you want to be a winner this year at Christmas, be grateful. Every single one of us live on a continuum between gratitude and entitlement. And I'm telling you, you hardly look at a screen that does not scream entitlement. It tells you what you deserve. The Bible says this in Luke chapter 17, verse 11. On the way to Jerusalem, Jesus was passing along between Samaria and Galilee, and as he entered a village, he was met by ten lepers who stood at a distance and lifted up their voices, saying, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us. When he saw them, he said to them, Go and show yourselves to the priest. And as they went, they were cleansed. And then one of them, that's right, one out of the ten, then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, he turned back, praising God with a loud voice. And he fell on his face at Jesus' feet, giving him thanks. Now he was a Samaritan, and Jesus answered, Were not ten cleansed? Where are the nine? Was no one found to return and give praise to God except the foreigner? And he said to the foreigner, Rise, go on your way, your faith has made you well. So let me just ask you this question. Do you have an attitude of gratitude? I mean, are you the kind of person that spends more time complaining about what you don't have or focused on what you do? You've probably heard me and Kyle talk about a gratitude list before. If you want to win at Christmas this year, I would implore you to create or write a gratitude list. What this means is this. I just kind of made it up, okay? For every year you have been alive, you should write down one thing to God that you were grateful for. Now it does not happen have to happen in the year that you were alive. I am 52 years old. And a part of the reason I came up with this list is one day I was in the woods, like working on a sermon and hunting, and I began to feel sorry for myself. I began to wonder why I get treated this way. And I remember I just had like this check in my spirit. I feel like the Spirit of God just impressed upon me how grateful I ought to be for all the many blessings. And so I keep a list. I just put it on my notes and my phone, and I don't read it every day, I don't read it all the time, but especially when I'm beginning to feel like I am entitled, when I'm beginning to feel sorry for myself, when I'm beginning to want some stuff that I don't have, instead of being grateful for the stuff that I do, I just pop this list out and it's amazing. I rarely have to go through all 52 before it completely changes my attitude. Now I'm gonna read you my list. Some of you are not gonna like my list. I don't really care. It's not your list. And some of these things are very, very important. And some of these things you might think are silly. That's okay. These are things I want to give thanks to God in all circumstances. So here's my gratitude list. Number one, salvation. Number two, my wife, Gretchen. Number three, my kids, JP and Reagan. Number four, the church of 1122. Number five, a mom and dad that have loved me in their own way, even though they couldn't love each other very well. Number six, my health. Number seven, my wealth, globally speaking. Number eight, a staff team that follows and respects me. Number nine, being American. Number ten, being southern. Number 11, the elders of the church. Number 12, friends like Ben and Charles and Brad and Jeff. Number 13, a sharp mind. Number 14, Pastor Jerry Sweat and Beach Church. Number 15, Coach Bull Lee and Camp Pine Hill, Baptist Retreat Center. Number 16, the gift of preaching. Number 17, I get to work with my friends. Number 18, religious freedom. Number 19, Mert. That's my grandma, my dad's mom, who is with the Lord now. Number 20, Lynn Turner for inviting me to serve at Youth. She's the first youth minister I ever worked for. Number 21, the woods of South Georgia, especially our retreat center. Number 22, Dr. Bill Ross for giving me a chance. He hired me out of seminary. Number 23, the life and legacy of Mackenzie Wilson, a 15-year-old girl here who got saved and passed away, and God used her story to save all kinds of people. Number 24, my in-laws. That's right. I'll say it again. My in-laws. I have great in-laws. Number 25, modern medicine. I had an appendectomy about 20 years ago. 100 years ago, I would be dead. So thank God for the modern medicine. 26, Taco Tuesday and Sunday fun days. That's just code for family friends. Number 27, people that constantly pray for me. Number 28, clean running water. Number 29, cool fall mornings. Number 30, living in Jacksonville. I think it's the greatest place on the planet. Number 31, the beach. Number 32, ministry connections. Number 33, good bourbon. Number 34, my neighborhood. Number 35, Gretchen's Gift of Singing and Devotional Writing. Number 36, Pheasant Hunting in South Dakota. Number 37, our house. Number 38, my children's friends. Number 39, my truck. Number 40, my calling. 41, Grace. It counted for me. 42, God's Word is so accessible. 43, opportunity to invest in other pastors. 44. All the campuses of the Church of 1122. Number 45, the opportunity to impact one more generation. 46. Being able to take the gospel into prisons. I had baptized 67 people the day that I wrote that one down in a prison. Number 47, my dad's salvation, which I prayed for for 30 years, by the way. Number 48, my brother Russ. I'm so proud of him. 49, Friday Night Lights. 50 back-to-back national champions for the Georgia Bulldogs. Number 51, our Georgia House. And number 52, Gretchen's smile. I don't know how to explain it, but just counting the blessings of God in my life gets my attitude off of me and onto him. You want to win this year at Christmas? Have an attitude of gratitude. To help you get there, write a gratitude list. See you tomorrow.

Thank you for listening to today's episode. Before you go, if you want to help equip other men for the fight, share this podcast around and leave us a five star rating and review. Stay sharp.