David [00:00:37]:
Okay, everyone, today we have our special friend, brother Jackie Liston here with us. And he’s going to be sharing today, and I’ll let him introduce what he’s talking about, but I’m excited to hear what he has to say today as we continue talking about the things that we’re grateful for during this season of giving. And we’re so excited that I think I shared with you earlier, but Jackie.
David [00:01:09]:
Loves to greet people and they say, how you doing, Jackie? And he goes, oh, I’m grateful. How about you? And that always starts a conversation because people aren’t expecting that response. And so I know Jackie’s got a heart to see America overall be grateful again. And we’re on that journey with him and we praise God for him and his friendship. He and Paula, his wife, they’re dear friends. Jackie’s also a part of our board of directors here at Emerge International Church, and we’re glad to have him with us. And so, Jackie, welcome.
David [00:01:51]:
Are you there?
Jackie [00:01:52]:
Yes, I’m glad to be here, David.
David [00:01:54]:
Yes, thank you.
Jackie [00:01:55]:
Sorry.
Jackie [00:01:57]:
Yeah, I was listening. I was in. In the moment here. So, yes, glad to be here, David. It’s honored to be here with Emerge and all the. All the folks out there today. Looking forward to sharing what God’s put on my heart. And so grateful for this ministry, David, and the impact that you guys are having not only here in America, but worldwide.
David [00:02:14]:
Amen. Praise God. That’s an awesome, awesome blessing that we have. So.
Jackie [00:02:20]:
Yes.
David [00:02:21]:
All right, well, let’s get into the word.
Jackie [00:02:25]:
Sounds great, David.
David [00:02:26]:
Okay. All right.
David [00:02:29]:
Okay, Toby, I’m going to hide myself now. I really am. Sorry.
Jackie [00:02:44]:
Well, good morning. It’s a pleasure and I’m honored to be here this morning to share something special about this season. Season. We are all coming into called giving. And I’m so grateful that David and Kanye have asked me to come on today to share my heart with you. And so today my topic is the three G’s. That’s God gratefulness and generosity.
Jackie [00:03:12]:
Let’s start with God first. You know, we all. We serve an all knowing, powerful God. He created the earth and its quiet Beauty that surrounds us each day. I always like going back to the Noah Webster’s 1828 dictionary to see what Mr. Webster thought. You know, that’s our very first dictionary of our country. And here’s what Mr.
Jackie [00:03:36]:
How Mr. Webster described and defined God, the supreme being, Jehovah, the eternal and infinite Spirit, the Creator and the sovereign of the universe. So this morning when I was preparing for this, the three GS, when I got to the God part, I thought of a scripture that just popped up in my heart when it talks about to consider the wondrous works of God. And I’d like to share that scripture this morning. It’s in job 37 14, the amplified classic edition says, hear this, O Job, and stand still and consider the wondrous works of God. So this morning, let’s think about that. You know, we serve such a mighty powerful God. And just recently, and I’ll get into this a little bit in my gratefulness part about I’ve got a devotional being birthed in me and I had one here a few days ago about majesty.
Jackie [00:04:40]:
And it made me think of all the majestic things of our God that he’s created. So I’ve always considered God’s wondrous works. From a small boy growing up on a livestock farm in central Oklahoma. I was outside a lot in the elements. You know, dad said if those animals didn’t eat, I didn’t. So, you know, rain, shine no matter what, 365 days a year, usually twice a day at least I was out among the elements and especially in the summer, waiting on a water trough to fill up. Time was slow back in those days, about 8 years old. And so many times I’d look up to the sky and I’d just dream.
Jackie [00:05:19]:
I especially like finding images in the clouds. I’d see outlines of animals, etc. I remember one time I saw this big plane carrying people way up in the sky. You know, I’m eight years old. We’re out in the middle of virtually nowhere Oklahoma, right? And I thought, man, I wonder where they’re going. I wonder what sights they’re seeing. I would dream as a little boy and just be in awe of the beautiful blue skies and the clouds and all the, all the things that were around me. Being aware of that last year I had a go of capturing 52 sunrises and, or sunsets and wow, how has this changed me? Let me share a little bit how this transpired.
Jackie [00:06:00]:
And I thought, you know, it’d be a worthy go and for a variety of reasons. Because, see, when you go out to capture a sunrise or a sunset, the first thing you got to learn to do is get still.
Jackie [00:06:12]:
It was powerful. It’s a powerful thing that I started. And I noticed something along capturing last year, those 52 sunrises and sunsets, none are the same.
Jackie [00:06:23]:
Another thing that I noticed was the beauty of the art of the cloud formations, the orange, the colors, the vivid colors that actually the video and the pictures I took did not capture, as we all know, well, well know when you see the original and then the stillness and then the birds one morning, this was funny. There was a bird singing to me the most beautiful melody. And I would literally look off and he would start squawking me like, hey, I’m singing to you. Listen to me. You know, God’s got a sense of humor. So, you know. And I was. I’m a Zigler certified coach, and I was on a coaching call last year and I was sharing my goals with the coaches and Tom Zigler, Zig Ziglar’s son, said, jackie, I just read an article by a doctor and he said that people that watch sunrises and sunsets live longer.
Jackie [00:07:16]:
I went, wow, there’s a benefit I hadn’t thought about. And I have to tell you, it did something to my soul. And there again, like I said, it’s also a precious quiet time with our loving Savior, Jesus Christ, to be able to sit and bask in his love and admire his masterpieces, as I’ve come to call them. And I encourage you to try that. It’ll change you. I this year I didn’t set a go. But you know what? It’s ingrained in me now. I capture him just about every day out here on the ranch.
Jackie [00:07:49]:
I might be driving. Last night we were driving the grandson. We have our grandson with us, staying over Thanksgiving here a few days. I call him Little Britches. His name’s Jace and he loves to edit. Take a picture and edit the phone. I said, jason, look at that beautiful sunset. It was just a glorious.
Jackie [00:08:04]:
Had been a rainy day and the sun was breaking through. He captured that moment and edited and said to his mom, and she was bragging on him how beautiful that little edited picture of the sunset that he had caught. I also remember a time when I had an opportunity to go deep sea fishing in Cancun. Cancun, Mexico. This is back in the mid-1980s. And one of the things as we set out, there were two of us. We had a whole group of us. I think there was five on my, our boat and five on another.
Jackie [00:08:33]:
And the first thing I remember was the vastness of the ocean. It was just of course, beautiful waters, but vast. The one thing that they told us, it’s easy to get seasick in that area. So somebody said if you find something that’s fixed on the land, focus on it. And boy, I did. I think it was the Hilton back then. It was tall. We got out so far it looked like a little, little block of wood on the horizon.
Jackie [00:08:57]:
And wouldn’t you know, about eight of our 10 or seven of our 10 got seasick. And we were down to one boat, which is my father along, another gentleman and myself, oh my goodness, the bonita. We started catching them. They were magnificent. They were beautiful. 10 to 12 pound tuna, Benitez is what they call them. And I caught a couple of selfish and boy, they fought me for a little while and then they kind of give up and we turned them loose. And then finally I got hold, I thought of a whale.
Jackie [00:09:25]:
I mean I’m, I’m fighting this fish. And my, my father in law and the other man, Jackie, if you need help, we’ll help you. I said, no, I got this one. Finally, after about 45 minutes of fighting this fish, it was the most beautiful 40 pound black tuna. And of course we didn’t have a camera so you know, they were going, yeah, right, you caught a 40 pound black tuna. No, we really did. And I still vividly in my mind remember the beauty of that fish. It was beautiful.
Jackie [00:09:51]:
And then three years ago, I climbed with my son and son in law. We were out in Keystone, Colorado, which we dearly love going out there. And it’s in September. About three years ago, Little Britches was two then. My son Jed, he’s an adventure adventurous guy and he wanted to find a fourteener, a 14,000 foot mountain to climb. Said, son, we’re hiking. Join the family, let’s do it another time. Dad, let’s go find a fourteener.
Jackie [00:10:17]:
Finally, the night before the last day, I said, okay Jed, go find us one. He said, dad, I found a 13,200 foot mountain called Red Mountain over here in Breckenridge, Colorado. I said, let’s go for it, son. So we invited my son in law. He normally doesn’t like that type of adventure. He likes to hike, but shockingly, he wanted to go. Now we start out about 10,000 foot. And Jed, there’s this really cool app called all trails that we use for hiking.
Jackie [00:10:44]:
Now keep in mind a guy, this was not a known trail, a Guy had created a trail and that’s the one we decided to go on. We jump off in there and there are lily pads. And all of a sudden my son in law goes, oh my goodness, there’s probably moose here. I said, you’re probably right. His eyes got big and he said, oh my goodness, probably grizzly. I said, josh, you’re probably right. I said, all I know is we’re going to top this mountain. Soft we go.
Jackie [00:11:08]:
There’s several great stories that came out of this adventure.
Jackie [00:11:12]:
And we all three made it to the top. But the part I wanted to bring up today was the most beautiful view I had ever experienced. I’ve got pictures of it and it’s absolutely breathtaking at the top of that mountain. See, I’m just sitting here thinking about how that scripture in Job considered the wondrous works of God. And there’s so many more around all of us right where you are today. Whatever part of the world you’re in listening to this today, this message, it’s all around you. And the reason it’s all around you is because God created the heavens and the earth. You know, there’s really another great scripture right here.
Jackie [00:11:50]:
I’d like to interject. It’s in Psalms 4610. And this is the amplified classic version. It says, let be, let be and be still and know. Which means to recognize and understand that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations. I’ll be exalted in the earth. Amen.
Jackie [00:12:14]:
So to totally immerse in God’s beautiful creation, we need to learn to be still.
Jackie [00:12:21]:
You know, my good friend here, David Wright, a year or two ago, God spoke to him and said, david, would you just sit with me? And that had an impact on me when David shared that with our group and he had set with me and it’s so right. Will we just sit with him a while? Can we just be still and know that he is God and that he has a purpose for all of us? And when you do, just see how it changes you and how his peace that passes all understanding surrounds you. You’ll have a new pair of glasses on for sure. And see things you’ve overlooked. They are all around us. Let’s get into this next G that I call gratefulness. Oh man, I love the word grateful. And we’re going to have fun with this gratefulness this morning.
Jackie [00:13:11]:
I want you to really think about this. You know, there’s a beautiful scripture and this is the NIV version in Colossians 3:15 17 that says, Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body, you are called to peace. And be thankful in whatever you do, whether in word or deed. Do it all in the name of the Lord. Jesus gives, giving thanks to God the Father through him. What a beautiful, beautiful scripture. This morning I’d like to share a story about this, how this kind of started.
Jackie [00:13:49]:
What’S getting birthed out of me right now at this moment. As of this recording today in 2021, a good friend of mine, Tommy Carter, was struggling and God told me to start sending him what I called my Golden Nugget Daily scripture of encouragement. I was faithful to send these to Tommy daily for over a year. But an amazing thing happened in that year. I would see somebody go, hey, I’m going to start sending these little gold nugget scriptures. And by the end of that year, I was sending these to over 60 people per day by hand. It was an amazing journey. And one of the 60 people that received these was my publisher, Michelle Prince.
Jackie [00:14:29]:
Michelle expressed during this time, this would be a great devotional, Jackie. That seed got planted in the back of my head. Now, keep in mind this is a little over four years ago. Fast forward to July this year. I had another good friend struggling like Tommy was. I saw it on him. He was getting ready to turn 50 years old and he was struggling. So I asked my friend if he’d meet Tommy and me on a Monday morning.
Jackie [00:14:53]:
He agreed. Tommy came in and poured into my friend. And after the meeting, I told my friend and Tommy I’d start sending out golden nuggets again, these Golden Nugget scriptures. So I started July 16th of this year, 2025, and about two days after I started sending these out, God said, this is a devotional I’m giving you. And he said to call it A Place called Grateful. Wow. So as we speak as of this recording today, this is in the process, it’s being birthed within me. What’s the mission of A Place called Grateful? It’s a daily reminder to always be grateful.
Jackie [00:15:32]:
It’s a powerful place to be daily when we stay in this place called Grateful. Here’s the purpose, this devotional that God showed me. I want everyone to experience the road called Grateful. After all, gratitude is the healthiest of all human emotions. And you know what God told me? He said, happiness lives in a grateful heart. And that is so true. And the core value is what David said. I say, I, I’m grateful.
Jackie [00:15:57]:
How about you? See, I want everybody to experience this and so, as of this recording, just today I sent out day 132, pray for me as these get birth. And my goal was to have this published by next Thanksgiving. Just like before, I had these going out to over 60 people again. And I get the best feedback every day. That keeps me going, Jackie. These are so encouraging. These are helping me. Thank you.
Jackie [00:16:25]:
And that keeps me going. And I appreciate all those that are also helping me on this journey of gratefulness. You know, Mr. Zig Ziglar said, the more you are grateful for what you have, the more you will have to be grateful for. And I believe Mr. Ziggler is right. Because, see, when you focus on what you have and then not. Not on what you don’t have, it builds this healthy emotion inside of us that God wants us to have.
Jackie [00:16:51]:
And he wants that emotion to overflow and to pour into others gratitude, gratefulness. So God is showing me that a place called grateful is a real place, and it’s a place he wants us to live. He’s also showing me you have to work daily to stay there. There’s another great scripture I’d like to interject right here. It’s one that’s really helped me through a lot of tight places in my life. I wrote a book, a Place called through, and this is one of the most powerful scriptures that helped me in that place called through that I went through. And it continues to help me to this day. And I want to share with you today.
Jackie [00:17:28]:
First, Thessalonians 5, 16, 18. This is the NIV version, says, Rejoice always, pray continually, and give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. Why is that passage so important? Because I believe this passage is a gold standard for daily gratitude no matter what your circumstances are. Because, see, when you learn to thank God and be grateful in every situation, not for it, sometimes in brings a whole new perspective to that outlook. Mr. Zigler also said, among the things you can give and still keep are your word, a smile, and a grateful heart. Isn’t that beautiful? I think Mr. Ziggler was totally right on that as well.
Jackie [00:18:21]:
You know, I started this journey four to five years ago when I asked God what response I should give when folks ask, how are you? You know, my normal response, robot responses while I called it here in Oklahoma was pretty good. Okay. You know, just my normal general, like a robot seemed like to me. And so God said, just tell him you’re grateful, Jackie. I went, wow. And what a difference this has made in my life. Now, when someone asks, how are you, sir? I respond, I’m grateful. How about you? And they stop and they go, wow, that’s a great response, folks.
Jackie [00:19:02]:
I’m telling you, it’ll happen every time. They’ll stop if you want to stop. People in this busy world we live in, tell them you’re grateful and just watch something amazing happen. Now you’ve got their attention. I go on to say, I said, yeah. I said, you know, gratitude is the healthiest of all human emotions. They said, no, I didn’t know that. I said, yeah.
Jackie [00:19:21]:
I said, God told me happiness lives in a grateful heart. And I get them laughing a little bit. I said, you know, I don’t think you can be grouchy and grateful at the same time. Try it. Oh. They laugh like, well, I’m grateful, too. And I said, fantastic. And I’ve got these little bracelets says, I am grateful.
Jackie [00:19:39]:
And I said, would you help me? I said, I’m on a mission. Well, Mr. Liston, what’s your mission? I said, my mission is to get the whole world grateful. What would happen if the whole world got grateful? They said, be a better place, I’ll tell you that. I give them the bracelet, and folks, they put it on, and then I know I had an impact. I said, great, let’s go get the world grateful together. And they laugh and they smile. You know, something recently that’s happened, now that I’ve given these away now for two or three years, these new ones I have, they get a petite look to them.
Jackie [00:20:11]:
They start the white starting to come off. And I’ll go, hey, you need a new bracelet. Oh, no, we like it. We like the way it looks. And it’s getting a petite look. They’ve been wearing it so much, some of them say, I don’t ever take it at all, Jackie. I’m grateful. That just warms in my heart.
Jackie [00:20:27]:
Well, guess what? Now I’ve been dubbed Mr. Grateful. So I’ll take that title. I love the title Mr. Grateful. Here’s another scripture I’d like to bring to you right here at this time. It’s in Philippians 4, 6, 7. This is the NIV version.
Jackie [00:20:43]:
Do not be anxious about anything. But in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving gratefulness right in your heart, present your request to God. And here’s what will happen. This is a promise. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Why is that an important scripture wrapped around gratitude? Because gratitude isn’t just a feeling it’s a practice that brings peace. So like I said, I’m on a mission and my mission is for the whole world to be grateful. But guess what? I need help.
Jackie [00:21:30]:
So feel free to share this response, watch how it slows everyone down and share with them how important gratitude is to you. I believe together with arm’s length in gratitude we can accomplish this. I fully believe as we encourage others that gratitude will echo back into our own life, which is a true win win on life’s journey. Right? So let’s keep leading with that gratitude. How about this third G. Generosity. There’s a beautiful scripture in Second Corinthians 9 and 7. This is the ESV version that says each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion.
Jackie [00:22:17]:
Oh, get ready for God Loves a cheerful giver. Now this one got me shouting. This came early.
Jackie [00:22:26]:
This morning and God said, he calls it Happy giving. Happy giving. I said oh my goodness, I got it so excited when God gave this this morning. This is fresh. It was probably three or four o’clock this morning that God gave this to me. And so.
Jackie [00:22:46]:
I love generosity and I love to see others being generous as well, don’t you? And when you think about happy giving, what’s the first thing that comes to your mind? You want? The first thing came to my mind. It sparked joy in me when I hear happy giving. God loves a cheerful giver. So my thoughts brought me brought back many memories and stories from the past. This morning on this topic of happy giving I remember one special story and this involves my dad and I’d like to share that with you this morning from the heart. When I first got in the real estate business I was 19 almost 20 years old. I went into debt turned thousand dollars on 160 acres with my my in laws and my wife to develop this property.
Jackie [00:23:31]:
And so we borrowed the money from my hometown bank there in Jones, Oklahoma. And Kent Hayes was my banker. What a wonderful man. Ended up becoming a great friend of mine. The road expenses exceeded our budget and we were in trouble. I sure didn’t know what to do. My father in law he was kind of tapped out the bank he was at. But my dad went to our banker Kenneth and put up the deed to his house to help us obtain the extra money needed to finish the project.
Jackie [00:23:59]:
I’ll always remember what that meant to me that my dad put his house on the line for us. That’s a big deal. Years later the development was successful. There was many stories that development in my book that I had overcome. But years later, the development was doing good, and I had somebody give me a large payoff on one of the lots we carried. My dad had been going through a hard time and he needed to pick up, and I sold him my nice Chevrolet pickup. I was trading it, and I thought, dad, won’t you buy that from me, and I’ll just keep the loan in my name and you can make the payment? He did.
Jackie [00:24:35]:
And so we were out there at his ranch one day up in Jones, and I believe my son was with me. But before I went up, a day or two before and that payoff was coming, God spoke to me and said, do you remember what your dad did with his house? Wouldn’t it be nice to bless him by paying off his truck? I thought, totally agree. I said, lord, that’d be a great, great thing to do. He still owes several thousand dollars on the loan. I still remember the joy in my heart as I handed my dad that release. He said, what’s this? I said, you remember you put your house up for that development? He said, yeah. I said, dad, I wouldn’t have had this to give you if you hadn’t given to me. And that just brought back such a precious moment.
Jackie [00:25:21]:
And I still have that picture in my mind. One of my favorite scriptures on generosity is Proverbs 11:25, and it says, the generous man is a source of blessing. He shall be prosperous and enriched, and he who waters will himself be watered, reaping the generosity he has sown. It’s one of my favorite, and I think one reason it is I’m a farm boy. I come from farmers and teachers. And so growing up on a farm, you know, my grandparents farmed as well. And here in Oklahoma, we plant red winter wheat. I call it our bread and butter.
Jackie [00:25:57]:
Bread and butter crop. It’s planted in September, and if we get it to grow up a few inches before frost, it survives and grows all through the winter. We turn the cows out to graze about this time of year, and they will graze up until about early February or late February, early March. Somewhere in there, they can gain two pounds a day, which is incredible. Through the winter months, it’s a wonderful, wonderful crop. So once they’re pulled off and like I said, in the end of February or early March, then the farmer lets the wheat grow. He decides, based on the wheat prices, does he want to turn that into a what we call wheat hay, or does he want to take it to harvest in June? He has the option that’s a double crop. Like see, it’s our bread and butter here in Oklahoma.
Jackie [00:26:40]:
So the above scripture, it reminds me of the husbandman, the farmer in the Bible that talks about and aren’t we husband and farmers today on how we give of our resources, our time and just remember, God loves a cheerful giver and I call that happy giving, you know, so then I thought about the scientific studies on all three GS. I just got curious here a day or two ago. So I just thought let’s just research this a little bit. Get this. When you combine the insights of gratitude and generosity, it’s amazing what the statistics are showing. Just these two.
Jackie [00:27:21]:
What happens when this gratitude misgenders act implies benefits such as lower depression? They were up to 20 symptom reduction in the study they did. Higher life satisfaction. Isn’t that great? For instance, writing a gratitude letter and then delivering it, a generous act doubles emotional uplift compared to reflection alone doubles it. Look at the benefits of this. These practices are low effort, yet high impact. With neural evidence showing reduced. And this is an interesting word, I’ve never heard of Amidala, which is the threatening part of the brain. When a lot of something dangerous threatens, this kicks in.
Jackie [00:28:08]:
But dopamine, and so that’s the Amidala. So it’s less, it’s a threat. You get less of that threat perception when you add in gratitude and gratefulness and you also get the increased dopamine which is the reward. Right. So that’s just by a little five minute daily journaling and small acts of giving. Now get this. I said, well what happens when we combine faith? We get the main ingredient in our three GS. When you combine faith with gratefulness and generosity, get this larger and longer lasting boost in happiness, hope, purpose and optimism.
Jackie [00:28:47]:
Wow. Another great thing. Stronger reductions in anxiety, depression, stress related inflammation.
Jackie [00:28:56]:
Greater psychological benefits, lower blood pressure, what? Reduced cardiovascular risk, better immune markers. Wow. Deeper sense of meaning from giving and receiving acts still internally significant rather than just socially nice has impact. And so how about this more sustained practice? People who tie gratitude and generosity to their relationship with God stick with the habits longer, stick to nativity, got a lower dropout rate. Okay, so in short, the research shows that faith supercharges gratitude and generosity. I’ve got to say that one again. Faith supercharges gratitude and generosity. The same behaviors produce bigger, broader and more enduring improvements in health outlook when they’re offered as part of living relationship with God.
Jackie [00:29:54]:
Don’t forget faith supercharges gratitude and generosity. The three GS. God, gratefulness and generosity so my hope today is we are more present in our moments shared with our loving Savior Jesus Christ. Schedule this next year more quieter still time. And like I said, I remember a year or two ago David sharing when God said, david, would you just sit with me, sit with him and then watch your faith supercharge your gratefulness and generosity. I hope that you and your family and friends have a very, very blessed giving season. I am grateful. How about you? And with that, brother David is going to come back and give us some closing encouragement on this giving season.
Jackie [00:30:46]:
Thank you so much for letting me be here today.
