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meet me in the Gospel of Luke chap
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chapter
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17 we're going to be in verses
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11 through
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19 Luke notes this he says this he says
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while traveling to Jerusalem he meaning
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Jesus passed between Samaria and
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Galilee as he entered a village 10 men
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with Leprosy met him they stood at a
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distance and they raised their voices
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and they said Jesus
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Master have mercy on
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us when he saw them he told them go and
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show yourselves to the priests and while
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they were going they were
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cleansed but one of them seeing that he
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was healed returned and with a loud
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voice he gave glory to God and he fell
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face down at his feet and he gave thanks
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to him this man was a Samaritan
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then Jesus said were not 10
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cleansed where are the nine didn't any
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return to give glory to God except for
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this
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Foreigner and he told them get up go on
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your way your faith has saved you father
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in the next few moments I
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pray that your Holy Spirit would help me
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that he would be my help father I pray
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that you would remove me
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you remove my words father and you would
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put your words in my mouth and in my
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heart would you speak to your people
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today that are gathered in this room and
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online for your glory and your name
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alone in Jesus name we pray amen all
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right in the early 1900s our nation was
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experiencing a
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devastating outbreak you see a virus was
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spreading throughout every Community
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both big and small a parents were
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keeping kids home from schools movie
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theaters and other gathering places to
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ensure that their kids would not get
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infected with this virus this virus we
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would later find out would be
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transmitted from person to person but it
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would take anywhere from 6 to 20 days
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for it to
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incubate and then it would once it
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incubated it would remain contagious for
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up to two weeks for up to 14 days it
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made this virus very very very difficult
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to
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contain the way the disease would strike
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was giving parents a a sense in a
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feeling of being helpless because there
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was no cure to be found in society for
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parents of this generation
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questions were
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rampant H how could they have survived
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things like the Great
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Depression fought in one in World War II
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and come back home only to to find a new
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enemy lurking around every single Corner
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except for this time it was one that
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they could not
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see just the effects of it as one
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journalist wrote he said into this
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buoyant postwar era came a fearsome
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disease to haunt the lives and spoil for
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those young parents the idolized notion
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of what family life would
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be polio would be the crack in the
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foundation
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of this fantasy for American parents you
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see polio was a disease that would
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paralyze and often times it would kill I
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believe the year was 1952 the record
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number of deaths happened it was at its
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peak of over 3,000 people died in our
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country from
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polio but behind the scenes doctors and
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scientists were hard at work to find a
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cure and years had gone by with failed
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attempt after failed attempt until
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1955 when a scientist by the name of
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Jonas sock had a breakthrough and his
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breakthrough would be the help that
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Americans had long awaited for
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finally a cure was found and help was on
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the way now when the vaccine was
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announced sulk chose not to patent it
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which was a bold bold bold move because
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he didn't want to make any money off of
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The Cure he was famously quoted as
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saying can you patent the sun meaning
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this cure is a common Grace for Humanity
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just like the sun shining on everybody's
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head all across the world how could I
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how dare I make money off of something
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that could cure
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someone his decision made the vaccine
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affordable and accessible to millions
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and it was a gesture that was applauded
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by people all all over the country now
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shortly after the vaccine was announced
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Suk received countless letters of
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thanks of people whose lives were
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touched by his invention one of those
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letters came from a man by the name of
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Basil OK Conor okay basil OK Conor is
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was the president of what we now know is
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the March of Dimes and OK Conor had
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worked four years to help raise money to
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find a cure for polio and so he had all
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this money stored up and so he writes a
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letter to Su and he says this he
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proposes an idea in his thank you letter
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he says this he says let's work together
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let's collaborate to ensure that every
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child in America can receive this cure
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regardless of their family's ability to
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pay for
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it the simple acknowledgement and
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gesture of appreciation planted the
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seeds for one of the largest public
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health Health campaigns in American
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history so and oconor teamed up and in
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their partnership the vaccine became
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available to millions of people not just
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in our country but all over the world
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and nearly eradicated polio for
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good it was a disease without a cure
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leaving
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people in fear and once that cure is
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found a simple thank you changed its
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trajectory iory and its application to
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people all over the
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world now when you get to the Gospel of
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Luke Luke the author of this passage
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provides a similar backdrop with the um
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with a similar group of people that are
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alienated with the
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same disease
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leprosy it was a disease without a cure
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and it was leaving people in fear that
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they were going to die with this disease
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and then another group of people in fear
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that they would get the
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disease y'all don't don't even mess like
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you're like oh man you know that's what
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what are people afraid of right when
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somebody coughs around you right now
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what do you do you don't like you're not
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like oh give me a hug you're like bro
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give me some space
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okay these people were longing for
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Hope longing for healing and ultimately
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in the Gospel of Luke chapter 17 they
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would find it in Jesus now what we're
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going to do over the next few minutes is
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I want to break down this text the text
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that we just read I want to go through
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it I want to break it down and I want to
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give us a few handles for us as we look
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at what Jesus does to this cure and how
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it applies to our lives today now Luke
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17 Jesus is journeying to Jerusalem now
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in the Gospel of Luke Jerusalem is
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always in the backdrop it's always the
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thing the place that Jesus is journeying
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toward
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why because that's ultimately ultimately
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what Luke is trying to get you to see is
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that Jesus life was meant to go to
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Jerusalem where he would ultimately die
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the death on the cross that he was
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condemned to die be buried and
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resurrected and Raised To Life Jerusalem
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is always in the backdrop of Luke's
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gospel and while journeying there he
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passes between two towns okay Samaria on
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one side and Galilee on the other now
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that's an interesting take that Luke
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gives us and and here's why if you're if
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you're new to Bible study or if you're
00:08:38
new to the Bible you need to know that
00:08:40
the relationship between the Jews and
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the Samaritans was not
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pretty let me let me just give you a
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couple handles here okay the Samaritans
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in the eyes of the Jews were considered
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dogs half human religious half breeds
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not worthy of interaction or even
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acknowledgment of their existence the
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Jews hated the Samaran hated them like
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literally despised them I could not even
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conjure up the amount of hate that a Jew
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had for a
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Samaritan they were not worthy in the
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eyes of the Jew the Samaritans were not
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worthy to worship God let alone even
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step foot in their sanctuary
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the Jews hated them so much that they
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would literally travel miles upon miles
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upon miles and go around Samaria around
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it around it instead of going through it
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they would take the long route to ensure
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that they came nowhere close to these
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religious Half Breed human beings they
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wanted nothing to do with them Jesus
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however it says here is that Jesus
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went right through the
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middle Galilee on one side and Samaria
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on the other and when he does that he is
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greeted by a community of people waiting
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outside the village and these people
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were
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lepers the lepers were in this community
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ostracizes from the communities that
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they were intended to live in and in
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ancient
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Israel if you were diagnosed with
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Leprosy you you were cut off for
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life you you had no relationships unless
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it was other
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lepers you had no human touch you were
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away from your family you were away from
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the community that you were designed to
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be in you were the lowest of the low
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unclean cut off without
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hope but Jesus interestingly enough
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Jesus
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walks straight to them and it looks like
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he's doing it on
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purpose he doesn't walk to one Village
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he doesn't walk to Samaria on the left
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he doesn't walk to Galilee on the right
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he splits it right down the middle as
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Charles Spurgeon makes note of In this
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passage he says it's almost as if Jesus
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is creating a visible New Jerusalem
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where both Jews and Gentiles the
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despised and the rejected are all United
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in the person of
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Jesus Jesus came to create a new
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community of
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people we keep reading he says that
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these lepers as Jesus encounters them
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they stood off at a distance and they
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raised their voice saying
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Jesus
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Master have
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mercy on
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us now many scholars would note that
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this cry for Mercy that the lepers are
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making In This Moment is actually their
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first step of faith that they would make
00:12:06
to cry out that someone could heal them
00:12:11
and their current state where they are M
00:12:15
maybe maybe Jesus the one coming to us
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maybe he could heal
00:12:23
us maybe there's some of you under the
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sound of my voice that are spiritual
00:12:29
interest interested enough that this
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could be
00:12:34
you maybe you're asking the question
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could Jesus do
00:12:43
blank maybe you're seeking maybe maybe
00:12:46
you're asking all of those questions can
00:12:48
I tell you that you are in a beautiful
00:12:51
beautiful place in that moment and I
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Think Jesus has an answer for you and
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you see it right here in this passage
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it's a cry for change it's desperation
00:13:02
let's continue he says when he saw them
00:13:03
he told them go and show yourselves to
00:13:06
the priests and while they were going
00:13:09
they were cleansed now the priests were
00:13:12
inspectors okay this is important the
00:13:14
priests were inspectors meaning the
00:13:16
priest didn't do the healing they only
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declared something over you they labeled
00:13:21
you they gave you the identity meaning
00:13:24
this group of 10 the lepers that were
00:13:26
outside of the community at some point
00:13:28
according according to the Book of
00:13:30
Leviticus these group this group of
00:13:33
people had been under the Declaration of
00:13:36
a priest that had told them that they
00:13:38
were
00:13:40
unclean are you catching that it was an
00:13:43
identity that was slapped on them
00:13:45
because of a disease that they had and
00:13:47
the priest said you are unclean and when
00:13:49
a leper was declared unclean it was the
00:13:52
very thing that they had to declare in
00:13:54
every community that they went into it
00:13:57
was who they are
00:14:00
unclean
00:14:02
unclean could you imagine walking into
00:14:04
Target or let me be a little more manly
00:14:07
Sportsman's
00:14:08
Warehouse yelling
00:14:11
unclean unclean people going to look at
00:14:13
you like you are
00:14:15
crazy these people had to declare their
00:14:19
identity everywhere that they went and
00:14:22
Jesus looks at them and he says ha I
00:14:25
want you to go and I want you to show
00:14:27
yourselves to the priests again let him
00:14:29
see
00:14:30
you let him see now an interesting thing
00:14:33
happens right here okay because I don't
00:14:35
know if you caught this or not but Jesus
00:14:37
does not heal these men on the spot he
00:14:38
doesn't look at them and say hey Jesus
00:14:41
Master have mercy on us you're
00:14:42
healed what does he say he says Ah Go
00:14:46
and show yourselves to the priest go
00:14:48
back into the community that you were
00:14:50
banned
00:14:51
from and let him declare over you your
00:14:54
new identity and it says that as they
00:14:56
were going they were cleansed
00:15:00
meaning these men had to take another
00:15:02
step of Faith even though as they were
00:15:05
walking the spots still
00:15:09
remained but as they were walking
00:15:12
something changed in a
00:15:16
moment healing came to
00:15:19
them could you
00:15:21
imagine maybe maybe maybe you've been in
00:15:25
that seat before you've been in the
00:15:26
doctor's office and Pastor Bruce talks
00:15:29
about this a lot maybe maybe you've been
00:15:31
in there and you've had this disease
00:15:33
ravaging your body and then one day you
00:15:34
show up and the doctor says it's
00:15:38
gone like are you kidding you're not
00:15:41
just going to sit there and be like I
00:15:42
knew it life was good you you're going
00:15:45
to LEAP with
00:15:48
joy because something inside of you that
00:15:51
was destroying you is now wiped
00:15:55
away but one of them the scripture says
00:15:58
seeing that he was healed returned and
00:16:00
with a loud voice he gave glory to
00:16:03
God and he fell face down at his feet
00:16:06
and he gave him thanks for this man was
00:16:08
a
00:16:10
Samaritan then Jesus said we're not 10
00:16:13
cleansed where where are the
00:16:16
rest where's the other
00:16:18
nine didn't anyone return to give glory
00:16:21
to God except for this
00:16:24
Foreigner and he told him get up and go
00:16:27
on your way your faith has saved you now
00:16:30
this is where the passage gets
00:16:33
interesting one
00:16:35
man
00:16:37
Returns the unexpected
00:16:40
one even before his disease ravaged him
00:16:44
he was according to society the lowest
00:16:47
of the
00:16:49
low he was the
00:16:51
filthiest
00:16:53
filthy he was despised and rejected by
00:16:57
men sound familiar
00:17:00
and with a loud voice the one who had
00:17:02
experienced cleansing from his disease
00:17:05
and also found acceptance from a Jewish
00:17:07
rabbi that man returns back with a loud
00:17:11
voice the Greek for that is actually
00:17:12
where we get the word
00:17:14
megaphone it's almost as if he's yelling
00:17:16
at him saying you did
00:17:20
this you but it's not a you did this
00:17:25
it's a you
00:17:29
you you did
00:17:31
this he returned back to Jesus with an
00:17:35
act of
00:17:36
gratitude
00:17:38
worship and Jesus looks at him and he
00:17:40
says get up and go your faith has saved
00:17:44
you did Jesus come for the lowest of
00:17:48
lows the outcast the despised and re
00:17:51
even a Samaritan can be
00:17:54
saved the answer to that is yeah now
00:18:00
what a passage of scripture I want to
00:18:03
give you guys the next 14 minutes I want
00:18:05
to give you guys four really simple
00:18:08
points that I want us to walk out of
00:18:09
here today and our hearts be filled with
00:18:12
the joy of Christ if you got your phone
00:18:14
go ahead and pull it out if you got
00:18:16
notes go ahead and pull out your pen and
00:18:18
I want you to write this down number
00:18:20
one suffering puts us all on Common
00:18:25
Ground suffering puts all of us
00:18:30
on Common Ground now the group of people
00:18:33
that Jesus encountered were
00:18:35
lepers a common people sharing a common
00:18:40
disease that had cut them off from
00:18:43
society suffering levels the playing
00:18:46
field for all people you don't believe
00:18:48
me just about a month and a half ago we
00:18:51
were running a distribution line out
00:18:53
here in the parking lot you know what I
00:18:56
noticed as cars rolled in you'd have a
00:18:59
car that was $150,000 and then you'd
00:19:01
have another beater right behind it that
00:19:02
could barely stay alive all people
00:19:04
needing the same thing through their
00:19:07
suffering what was it
00:19:10
relief suffering knows no boundary
00:19:14
lines people that were infected with
00:19:16
Leprosy came from both the top tier and
00:19:20
the low tier hurricane heline knew no
00:19:24
neighborhood boundaries whether you
00:19:25
lived in a mobile home or you lived in a
00:19:28
multi-million ion dollar neighborhood it
00:19:30
didn't matter it knows No Boundaries it
00:19:33
doesn't just go around because of who
00:19:35
you are or what your status is suffering
00:19:38
levels the playing field for all
00:19:43
people guys listen to
00:19:45
me apart from Christ you and I are all
00:19:48
spiritual
00:19:50
lepers we are the 10 ostracized in a
00:19:54
community apart from the one we were
00:19:57
created for because of a disease that is
00:19:59
destroying our hearts and it's the
00:20:01
disease of
00:20:03
sin the book of Ephesians gives us a
00:20:06
beautiful picture of this apart from
00:20:07
Christ one Theologian notes that you and
00:20:10
I are dead in sin he says that literally
00:20:13
we are like vertical
00:20:15
corpses walking around as if we're alive
00:20:18
but dead on the inside longing and
00:20:21
looking for a cure there is a
00:20:24
waywardness about your
00:20:27
heart our hearts are hardwired with
00:20:31
toxicity there is a waywardness to it
00:20:34
it's like as you've heard us say before
00:20:36
letting go of the steering wheel with a
00:20:37
car that's out of alignment it naturally
00:20:40
goes back into the ditch if it's not
00:20:44
re-aligned guys listen our hearts apart
00:20:47
from Christ are self-seeking self
00:20:50
centered
00:20:52
self-exalting
00:20:54
Hearts we seek to elevate ourselves and
00:20:57
de Elevate every everybody else even
00:20:59
listen even on our best of days we try
00:21:03
and clean ourselves up but y'all listen
00:21:05
we're still filthy on the
00:21:06
inside now let let me give you a little
00:21:08
example to to to just kind of flush this
00:21:10
out okay I want you to look at this
00:21:12
picture right here on the on the screen
00:21:13
this is a
00:21:16
F-150 it's got a good suspension lift
00:21:19
probably on Fox uh suspension there it's
00:21:21
got some nice rims good tires it's
00:21:23
cleaned up it looks good my dad would
00:21:25
say you can't put lipstick on a four boy
00:21:27
you can't make that thing look good
00:21:29
it's a
00:21:31
for that thing looks really good doesn't
00:21:33
it cleaned up the rins look amazing how
00:21:37
many y'all like I drive that I would
00:21:39
drive that I would drive raise your hand
00:21:40
you can just go yeah I would drive that
00:21:42
I would drive that what if I told you
00:21:43
underneath the hood was something
00:21:45
completely different because 5 days
00:21:47
earlier it looked like
00:21:52
this you
00:21:55
see we all go around our life making it
00:22:00
look like everything is
00:22:03
okay Jesus didn't come to clean up your
00:22:06
rims and give you new suspension and
00:22:07
tweak it make it look better he came to
00:22:09
give you New
00:22:12
Life apart from Christ we are the
00:22:15
flooded
00:22:16
F-150 yeah sure man can you you pull
00:22:19
that thing out of the water and crank it
00:22:20
up if you're
00:22:22
lucky but all the electrical system in
00:22:25
that thing it's hard wire and guess what
00:22:27
it is jacked up
00:22:29
up and you can try to sell that thing on
00:22:32
Facebook Marketplace all you want to but
00:22:35
as soon as someone turns the ignition
00:22:36
and that turns the key and ignition on
00:22:38
that thing or that's probably newer
00:22:39
presses the
00:22:40
button makes it turn on it you may get
00:22:43
lucky it may go it may drive a little
00:22:46
bit sure there may be just a little bit
00:22:48
of good in it but at its
00:22:51
core it's
00:22:55
broken it's broken
00:22:58
y'all apart from Christ we are these
00:23:03
lepers we're all in need of a
00:23:07
rescue we're all in need of someone to
00:23:10
save to heal to restore us back to the
00:23:12
community that we were created for we
00:23:15
need a new
00:23:17
heart y'all That's What Christmas I mean
00:23:19
we're moving into Christmas right that's
00:23:20
what Christmas is all about Jesus coming
00:23:23
in the flesh to redeem the lost and
00:23:27
broken world the Community cut off from
00:23:30
God the Father through their sin to
00:23:32
restore them back to himself never get
00:23:35
over that number two the eyes of Mercy
00:23:39
are fixed on all
00:23:42
people see the leper their cry for
00:23:46
Mercy is the very thing that led to an
00:23:49
extension of Grace from Jesus himself
00:23:52
y'all remember that game Mercy y'all
00:23:53
y'all ever play that game as a kid Mercy
00:23:55
y'all remember that okay I actually did
00:23:57
it with my son so I knew knew what it
00:23:58
was like again my youngest child Parks
00:24:00
okay he's 11 years old all bark no bite
00:24:03
you guys ever have any kids like that
00:24:05
all I mean he comes in he tries to like
00:24:07
box me punches me in the kidneys and I'm
00:24:08
like if I just unleash my fury on him I
00:24:10
would take him down in a heartbeat and I
00:24:12
would probably go to jail so I'm going
00:24:14
to play mercy with him so I'm like hey
00:24:16
bud come here let's play mercy he's like
00:24:18
what's that I was like just give me your
00:24:19
hands come here here's what we're going
00:24:20
to do all right we're going to try just
00:24:21
try to like move each other's hands
00:24:23
around whatever we're just going to grab
00:24:24
these hands and we're going to go until
00:24:26
somebody cries out to lint he's like all
00:24:29
right let's go let's go it's on
00:24:31
Thanksgiving Day we're outside doing
00:24:33
this this this is just what we do okay
00:24:35
so I'm like all right let's go boom and
00:24:36
without even a moment's notice Young
00:24:39
Buck who thinks he is on top of the
00:24:40
world I take his hands I turn him upside
00:24:43
down I flip him around and I take that
00:24:45
arm and I jab it right up his back like
00:24:47
this and I said he because he's like I
00:24:49
said in this game son you have to cry
00:24:52
out Mercy he's like
00:24:54
Mercy I'm like that's right
00:24:58
do you know why he cried out for
00:25:01
Mercy because the one with the power has
00:25:05
the ability to take away the pain in the
00:25:12
moment
00:25:14
Mercy the lepers looked at Jesus and
00:25:17
said that's the
00:25:20
one that can use his power to relent
00:25:23
this pain off of us to remove it to take
00:25:27
it away
00:25:31
way may I just tell
00:25:33
you that your
00:25:36
sin your let
00:25:38
down your
00:25:41
divorce your
00:25:43
Affair your fraudulent practices in your
00:25:47
workplace your
00:25:51
addiction the eyes of Mercy are fixed on
00:25:57
you you're never ever ever too far gone
00:26:02
for the mercy of
00:26:04
God The Well of Mercy runs
00:26:09
deep so deep that nothing that you have
00:26:12
done could ever take the eyes of Mercy
00:26:15
off of you and relent the pain and
00:26:18
suffering that you have Jesus wants to
00:26:21
fix his gaze upon you and he Longs for
00:26:24
us to cry
00:26:26
out Mercy
00:26:29
nothing you have done could ever take
00:26:32
that gaze off of you you ever you know
00:26:36
the song
00:26:38
Right Amazing
00:26:41
Grace how sweet like that saved a rich
00:26:46
like too high I'm not saying that
00:26:48
part you know who wrote that song John
00:26:52
Newton it's a song that we all know
00:26:55
we're familiar with we we can sing it
00:26:58
without looking at the words we can
00:27:00
mouth it when it gets too
00:27:02
high crazy thing the guy that wrote the
00:27:06
lyrics to Amazing Grace John
00:27:08
Newton in his early years he worked
00:27:10
aboard
00:27:12
ships some of those ships that he worked
00:27:15
on were slave
00:27:17
ships at some point in his life actually
00:27:20
he was captured and put into indentured
00:27:23
servitude he became a
00:27:26
slave he was rescued in some crazy if
00:27:29
you've never read John Newton's story
00:27:30
you should he was rescued in some crazy
00:27:32
story where his father sends out these
00:27:34
boats and ships to look for him and he's
00:27:36
found on this island he gets
00:27:38
rescued and John Newton rescued from
00:27:42
that place comes back and he goes back
00:27:45
to work on the same ships except for
00:27:47
this time he's now the captain of the
00:27:50
ship he's literally running the boat
00:27:53
he's navigating the waters taking human
00:27:57
beings made in the likeness of God to a
00:28:00
new place to be enslaved to someone else
00:28:02
and treated
00:28:04
poorly as part of his testimon as part
00:28:07
of his
00:28:09
testimony he cries out after his
00:28:12
conversion he says that was
00:28:14
me and I did it
00:28:18
freely oh but the grace of God is
00:28:23
amazing no matter how far down the
00:28:26
rabbit hole you are the grace and mercy
00:28:29
of God looks upon you in your place and
00:28:32
says come to
00:28:34
me come your past does not define you if
00:28:39
you are in Christ he's given you a new
00:28:41
label the scripture tells us if anyone
00:28:44
is in Christ the old is gone and the new
00:28:48
has
00:28:49
come the dying thief the old hyw writer
00:28:52
says Rejoice to see the fountain in his
00:28:54
day and there may I though vile as he
00:28:57
wash all my sins
00:28:59
away the dying Thief now a son in the
00:29:03
kingdom of God Washed by the blood of
00:29:06
Christ your past hurts your pain they do
00:29:10
not define you if you are in Christ only
00:29:13
he
00:29:14
does number three Thanksgiving
00:29:17
cultivates gospel joy in the
00:29:20
heart now gratitude for the healing is
00:29:24
what sent this one leper back and he was
00:29:26
overflowing with thankfulness as a
00:29:29
result of it okay have you guys ever
00:29:31
like um you guys ever like pulled up
00:29:33
Spotify and you um like search a song
00:29:36
Whatever it is for me it's probably GNA
00:29:37
be Larry Fleet okay so I'm like
00:29:39
searching a song and I play it and then
00:29:41
I get distracted and I walk outside and
00:29:43
I come back 45 minutes later and that
00:29:45
same song is still playing you ever done
00:29:47
that okay and your kids are sitting in
00:29:49
the living room like turn it off I've
00:29:51
heard it 17
00:29:53
times that's what the scripture says
00:29:55
about Thanksgiving
00:29:58
you and I were created hard while we
00:30:00
were created to give thanks to God for
00:30:04
this is God's will for you in Christ
00:30:06
Jesus this is the song that should
00:30:08
always be on repeat for the life of the
00:30:11
believer Tim Keller says it's one thing
00:30:13
to be
00:30:14
Greatful it's another thing to give
00:30:16
thanks gratitude is what you feel
00:30:19
Thanksgiving is what you
00:30:22
do gratitude is the feeling your heart
00:30:25
like oh I am so grateful for what has
00:30:27
happened to me but Thanksgiving is the
00:30:29
execution of that
00:30:31
gratitude I'm a parent of three kids I
00:30:34
know how hard it is to get a thank you
00:30:36
out of somebody hey we cooked your
00:30:38
dinner tonight that's what I
00:30:40
thought I know deep inside there when I
00:30:42
look at him I say hey you know what I'm
00:30:44
not going to cook you dinner anymore uh
00:30:46
you're going to have to do this on their
00:30:46
own I know there's gratitude that Wells
00:30:48
up but it's so hard it's so hard
00:30:50
sometimes to get a thank you out isn't
00:30:52
it and in gratitude when people are just
00:30:55
not grateful it really just stings us
00:30:58
it burns us especially when an act has
00:31:01
been done on behalf of somebody
00:31:03
else it's why thank you notes go such a
00:31:06
such a long
00:31:08
way
00:31:10
listen you and I are really good at
00:31:13
feeling grateful for the things but
00:31:14
we're not always that good at expressing
00:31:17
our gratitude through acts of
00:31:22
Thanksgiving Paul describes in Romans
00:31:25
chapter 1 what's gone wrong with the
00:31:26
world he says this this is the upending
00:31:28
of thankfulness in the creation order
00:31:30
the upending of thankfulness in the
00:31:32
created order is what got you and I in
00:31:34
this place although Romans 1:21 although
00:31:37
they knew God they did not honor him as
00:31:39
God or give thanks to him but they
00:31:43
became futile in their thinking and
00:31:44
their foolish Hearts were
00:31:47
darkened y'all we were created for
00:31:50
Thanksgiving thankfulness guys listen
00:31:52
thankfulness Springs the heart off of
00:31:55
yourself and it puts it onto the person
00:31:58
of Christ This Is The Mark of every
00:32:01
Christ follower a mark of gratitude
00:32:04
making itself known through
00:32:07
Thanksgiving I have a book um called
00:32:11
every moment
00:32:12
holy it's a liturgy and it's it's it's
00:32:15
like it's like a prayer of Thanksgiving
00:32:17
for the craziest most mundane things in
00:32:20
life and I have it sitting on my desk I
00:32:22
read it a lot I try to memorize some of
00:32:24
them let me give you a couple examples
00:32:26
there's a liturgy or a Thanksgiving for
00:32:28
changing diapers who is thanking God
00:32:31
when you're changing a
00:32:34
diaper the first fire that you build of
00:32:36
the season the paying of your bills the
00:32:39
first waking that you have when your
00:32:40
feet Hit the Floor the first cup of
00:32:43
coffee and God knows it should be
00:32:47
black even they even have one in there
00:32:50
on the first yard sale of the Year
00:32:52
remember those before Facebook
00:32:53
Marketplace yard sales those were
00:32:55
awesome thankfulness should spring
00:32:58
forward in all seasons for believers in
00:33:00
All Seasons now what I'm not saying is
00:33:03
For All
00:33:05
Seasons I don't know many people that
00:33:09
look back on the last year and say God
00:33:10
thank you so much for sending that
00:33:12
hurricane to destroy this
00:33:14
place that's not gratitude that's
00:33:18
ignorance but digging down deep listen I
00:33:22
know this is hard because three years
00:33:24
ago I watched my house burn to the
00:33:26
ground
00:33:28
it's hard in those Seasons when you lose
00:33:30
everything or your neighbor does or
00:33:32
you're not sure where to it's hard to
00:33:34
dig up gratitude in the
00:33:37
heart it's hard to dig it up but when
00:33:41
you get to the bottom of that well and
00:33:43
you start cultivating the heart of
00:33:45
gratitude and it expresses itself in
00:33:47
thankfulness I'm going to tell you what
00:33:49
the game
00:33:52
changes this man came back and said you
00:33:56
you did this
00:33:58
thank
00:34:01
you what has the Lord given
00:34:04
you job would say though the Lord gives
00:34:07
the Lord takes away my heart will choose
00:34:10
to say blessed be the name of the
00:34:14
Lord my last point I close with this
00:34:16
quickly be the
00:34:19
one be the one that comes
00:34:22
back not only did this man's obedience
00:34:24
bring the realization of his healing his
00:34:27
Return To Worship worship was a
00:34:28
demonstration of faith that actually
00:34:29
saved him there's two Miracles Happening
00:34:31
Here Miracle of the healing of the body
00:34:33
and then the salvation of the heart the
00:34:35
soul this man returned in thanks and it
00:34:38
led to his salvation this one this one
00:34:42
came back and
00:34:44
worship be the one that comes back to
00:34:48
Worship You may be the only
00:34:51
one you may have to turn away from the
00:34:53
crowd to come back to Jesus to worship
00:34:56
you may have to let the others go on
00:34:58
their way to come back to Jesus to
00:35:01
worship be the
00:35:03
one we need more
00:35:06
ones we need more worshippers we need
00:35:09
more who don't care about what the other
00:35:11
nine are doing you just got to get back
00:35:14
to the feet of Jesus and say thank
00:35:17
you we need more who don't care about
00:35:20
the laws and the rituals but care more
00:35:22
about the spirit and the truth of
00:35:24
worship that look at Jesus and say you
00:35:26
are the worthy one who did this in me
00:35:29
thank
00:35:30
you give me those type of
00:35:34
people God Longs for those type of
00:35:36
people those worshippers those that get
00:35:39
up and go on their way after they come
00:35:42
back in gratitude and say you Jesus you
00:35:45
are worthy when you get up and you walk
00:35:49
about your way you go about living a
00:35:50
life of healing and worship every single
00:35:53
day because your obedience and your
00:35:56
faith has healed you
00:35:59
what do you have to be thankful for
00:36:01
today if you're having a hard time
00:36:03
counting your blessings around you maybe
00:36:05
just look at the heart of the Gospel
00:36:07
itself and say Jesus though everything
00:36:08
else in this world is wasting away thank
00:36:11
you for redeeming
00:36:13
me when I was a spiritual leper cut off
00:36:16
from you and from The Community of Faith
00:36:18
you looked at me with the eyes of mercy
00:36:20
and Grace and said
00:36:23
restored
00:36:25
healed at the end of every one of our
00:36:27
services we we open up our altars we say
00:36:30
hey just
00:36:31
come come at the altar and thank Jesus
00:36:36
lay your life down before him praise him
00:36:38
for who he is spend some time maybe
00:36:40
that's what you need to do today because
00:36:42
you've been like the other
00:36:43
nine you've been grateful but you didn't
00:36:46
return with thanks maybe today you need
00:36:49
to return with thanks maybe you're
00:36:52
returning in thanks is just right where
00:36:53
you are singing at the top of your lungs
00:36:56
the goodness and the grace of God
00:36:58
because he is worthy of
00:37:01
it we only have a few minutes left in
00:37:03
our gathering today I want to encourage
00:37:05
you to be the
00:37:06
one come back to the feet of Jesus and
00:37:08
say
00:37:11
you you are the worthy one who has
00:37:15
redeemed my life from the pit has set my
00:37:18
feet upon the rock and now I know that I
00:37:19
can walk in your ways and spirit in
00:37:21
truth because of who I am in you the old
00:37:24
label is gone but behold the new is come
00:37:28
Jesus I'm Yours father in your name I
00:37:30
pray that over the next few moments that
00:37:33
you would have your way in this
00:37:35
place pray that your spirit would move I
00:37:37
pray that if any of our hearts are just
00:37:40
hardened God I pray even right now in
00:37:42
this moment that you would just allow us
00:37:43
to take a step of faith and come back to
00:37:45
you and just fall at your feet with
00:37:46
gratitude and say I don't have much to
00:37:49
give except for a thanks thank you thank
00:37:53
you for redeeming me and making me new
00:37:56
have you we in this place the next few
00:37:57
moments in Jesus name amen
