This transcript was generated by whisper.ai.

This is day four together of our look through the book of Nehemiah in week two,
and we've been looking at the power of appreciation this week, the power of
appreciation for rebuilding your life. Nehemiah is teaching us how to say thank
you. It's one of the greatest life skills that you can build, and I love how
Nehemiah chapter us how to say thank you, how to be specific about who you're
appreciating, you use names, and what you're appreciating them for.

You talk about details, and yesterday we talked about how to be sensitive, how
to look past the surface as you say thank you. And now today, a third thing, how
to be searching. How do you intentionally motivate yourself to appreciate
others?

Because most of us, let's just be honest, tend to focus more on ourselves.
Unfortunately, we tend to focus more on the fact that we are not being
appreciated rather than focusing on how we can appreciate others. So how do you
intentionally motivate yourself to appreciate others?

How do you be searching? I mean, Nehemiah, he had all these people who had
helped in rebuilding the wall, person after person after person that he mentions
in this chapter. How did he remember them all?

Well notice, if you read chapter three, you're going to see that Nehemiah had a
system. He remembered them by going in order around the wall. Let me give you an
example, verses 17 and 18 in chapter three.

Next to him, the repairs were made by the Levites under Rehum son of Bani.
Beside him, Hashabiah, ruler of half the district of Keyilah, carried out
repairs for his district. Next to him, the repairs were made by their countrymen
under Benui.

You see how it goes, again and again and again, next to him, next to him, next
to him. He found a way to remember. And when it comes to giving thanks, you've
got to find a way to think about your thanks.

You've got to find a way to prompt your praise. You use a system to aid your
memory. Now let me just give you some ideas for systems that can aid your memory
in giving thanks.

Some people use the days of the week. And so they, for instance, focus on their
family on Monday, on fellow believers on Tuesday, on people around the world on
Wednesday, on unbelievers on Thursday, on government leaders on Friday. It
doesn't matter how you do it.

It's just a way to prompt your praise, to think about how to give thanks. Other
people, they're more spatial in their thinking, and so they actually use the
rooms in their house or their office. So like when I walk through this room, I
give thanks to this person, it prompts me.

When I walk through this room, I give thanks for this person. Other people, they
like logical things written down, so they use their weekly planner. You could
write down in your weekly planner every week, you have a little spot to write
down five people you want to give thanks for each week.

You might even just start with one if you've never done this. One's better than
none, that's for sure. Five people that you're going to give thanks for and
maybe even send a note of encouragement to this week.

It helps a lot of people in this system of giving thanks to use special
occasions, birthdays and anniversaries, but instead of just signing your name to
a card, how often have you gotten a card like that? It's your birthday, somebody
sends you a card, they just sign their name, because nobody knows what to say. I
mean, you only have a few minutes to write it down, why don't you give a thanks?

I am thankful that, and then use these things that we've just learned from
Nehemiah to give one thanksgiving for that person's life. I am thankful that you
did this for me this last year. I'm thankful that you're this kind of person.

I'm thankful that you have this kind of character. Just one short sentence can
make all the difference in that person's life. Now beyond these systems, which
are good ways to remind yourself, to prompt yourself to give thanks, let me tell
you two of the most powerful ways to motivate yourself to say thank you.

It's when you're being appreciated and when you're feeling unappreciated. Those
are the two most powerful times to motivate yourself to say thank you. When
you're being appreciated, you look for someone else to appreciate, you pass it
along to someone else.

You don't just take it in, take it in, take it in. You're being appreciated, you
look around and think, who else can I appreciate? That's important.

Even more important, and even more motivating to saying thank you is when you're
feeling unappreciated, and we all feel that way sometimes, guess what? If you're
feeling unappreciated, there's someone else feeling unappreciated, and they need
someone to say thank you. So when you're feeling unappreciated, use that as a
motivation to appreciate someone else.

All of a sudden you turn things around. Instead of feeling how unappreciated you
are, you're encouraging yourself and that other person by saying thank you to
them. One of the most powerful motivators for saying thank you.

So who do you need to say thank you to? Decide to do it right now. A little
note, a quick text.

Who do you need to say thank you to? Before we end this look at saying thanks,
Nehemiah 3 is obviously about thanking people, but don't forget that the most
important person that we have to give thanks for and give thanks to is God. We
need to say thank you to the Father and Son and Holy Spirit.

In this passage that's about thanking people, actually you can turn it and see
how it teaches us to thank God. So as we end this look at thanking people, I
want to end it by thanking the most important person in all of our lives, by
thanking God. What lessons can we learn from what we just learned from Nehemiah?

Well Nehemiah taught us to use names. So when you thank God, use His name. Jesus
taught us to pray Father, our Father.

Use the name Father, which is thanking God that He is the Creator, He is the one
who cares for you. There are a lot of names for God in the Bible. Jehovah Shema
means God is present with me.

So you thank God that He's present with you in every circumstance. Jehovah Rohe
means God is my shepherd. You thank God that He cares for you.

He guides you through every circumstance. You might do that in your mind right
now. Thank you God.

That's using God's names to thank Him. Jehovah Shalom, you might recognize the
word Shalom, means God is my peace. So thank God right now in your heart for the
peace that He gives into your life.

Jehovah Jireh means God is my provider. Thank you God for the provision that
you've given in my life. Right now in your mind, thank God.

Thank God for who He is and what He's done, how He has guided you, how He has
given you peace, how He's provided for you. That's learning from Nehemiah how to
thank God. You use His names.

You also talk about the details. Talk about the details when you're praising
Him. If you want to learn how to talk about the details when you're praising
God, read Psalm 103 and 104 and 105 to learn about how to talk to God about the
details when you're praising Him.

Read these Psalms and you learn how to talk to God about the details of your own
health and what's going on in your body, how to talk to God about the details of
the world around you that you have air to breathe, that God has created and
provided for everything in all of His creation to thank God for the details of
the sun and the sky and all the things that give us life and joy in every day of
our lives. When's the last time you thanked God for the sun? Sure glad it's
there.

When's the last time you thanked God for enough air to breathe? Sure glad it's
there. Small details, but when you start thanking God for the details, there's
an endless supply of things to thank God for.

Thank you God for the details. Nehemiah also teaches us to talk about the heart.
So when you do this with God, how do you do this?

Well you don't just talk to God about what He's done for you. You talk to God
about who He is. You talk to God about His character.

So it's not just God thank you that you've given me peace, but thank you that
you are the God of peace. Thank you for what a wonderful God you are. Thank you
for what a caring God you are.

You're such an awesome God. And just taking some time to thank God for who He is
apart from what He's done for you is a very healthy thing to do. And Nehemiah
teaches us to do that.

And remember he also taught us to use a system, something that will prompt you
to praise the Lord. I know a lot of people who will use some kind of a small
trigger, a special coin they put in their pocket that they feel or in their
purse that they feel when they reach in that reminds them, "Oh, I'm thanking God
right now. " Or something they put on their wrist.

Every time they see it, it reminds them to thank God right now. For many years,
I've encouraged people to set an alarm for a little while, maybe a week or so
that's based on your birthday as a prompt to thank God, to praise God. So not
like if you're born January 23rd, you set an alarm for 1/23.

You can set it for 1/23 a. m. if you're incredibly spiritual.

I do it for p. m. So it's just right after lunch, you hear your alarm go off, it
reminds you to thank God.

Whatever your birth date is, you just set it for that birth date. Trust me,
it'll work. And you thank God at that moment.

It's just a way to remind yourself because we just get busy with our lives. We
forget to thank the most important person in our lives. So right now we have an
opportunity to do that.

Let's thank him right now. Our Father, we thank you. Thank you for who you are,
the awesome God, the Almighty God.

God above all, a God we can trust in every circumstance. Thank you that you are
the Father of lights and you're the Father of us. We thank you for who you are
and we thank you for what you've done in our lives.

The provision and the peace and the care and the guidance and the love that you
show us every day of our lives. And we come to you and in gratefulness we tell
you how grateful we are for how you each day of our lives. Give us the bread
that we need.

Give us the hope that we need. Give us the strength to make a decision. Give us
the peace when the decision isn't yet made.

Thank you that you are there. No matter what, you are there. And so God, before
we thank anybody else, we thank you for who you are, for what you've done, for
how we can trust you.

In Jesus' name we thank you. Amen. Join us tomorrow.

We begin to talk about the next key to rebuilding, how to face opposition.