Transcript
Speaker: Good morning. morning You know it is difficult for all of us to reach the 30 million residents who live in the state of Texas. And so what a wonderful way that we can give to an offering and it equips different ones across the state to share the gospel in Spanish or in Japanese or Korean or whatever might be the case and to spread the gospel beyond Columbus.
Speaker: And so I thank the Lord for what he's doing here in Columbus. But of course, we know that Jesus went to the cross for every tribe, every tongue, every people, every nation. And the Lord's bringing in many of them to us, to Texas. So we want to be faithful with the gospel, just like his the pastor was saying.
Speaker: This morning, I have a question for you. How often do you give thanks to God? you know, the Bible says, give thanks in all circumstances, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
Speaker: Did you know that giving thanks or thankfulness, all of those kind of things, thanksgiving, it's mentioned 133 times in the Bible. David wrote in Psalm 9 verse 1, I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart.
Speaker: I will recount all of your wonderful deeds. You know, the last book in the Bible is called Revelation. And it pulls back the curtains and gives us a brief glimpse. What are they doing up there in heaven?
Speaker: What's going on? Well, if you look in Revelation chapter four, Revelation chapter five, what you'll discover is going on is there's just hot, red hot worship happening for the Lord.
Speaker: They're giving thanks and they're worshiping him. But you know, what they're saying to the Lord over and over again is you're worthy. You're worthy. You're worthy. And that's what worship means. When you're convinced that someone is worth it, then you give them your thanks. You give them your worship and so forth.
Speaker: And so I just wondered, you know does God have to give you something in order for you to be thankful to him? Or do you say, Lord, you're just so good. You're just so gracious.
Speaker: You're just so faithful. you know Just so and wise and so powerful. I just want to worship you and I want to give you thanks. But I know that most of us, we give thanks whenever God does something special in our lives.
Speaker: ah Back in the Iron Age, when I was a youth pastor, I was in Lake Dallas, Texas, and my senior pastor was a man named Steve Gaines.
Speaker: And they let me live with them during the summer. So I was able to stay in their home and live with them. So I had an inside track on what was going on. And one thing that happened that particular summer was Steve and Donna Gaines found out that their two-year-old son, Grant, was diagnosed with leukemia.
Speaker: So we began to pray and I was in the house, so I would pray with him. We would pray, God, please be merciful. Please heal Grant. I pray that this is not right. And so we would just continue to pray for him. And I knew that on this one given week that there was a special appointment coming up that they've been doing a lot of testing. And they said, Steve and Donna, if you want to come in, we'll tell you the results of the test.
Speaker: So they said, okay. So when they were ready to go for the test, I noticed Steve was whistling. He was praising God in the hallway. And so I said, are you are you feeling good about today and everything? And he said, yes. He said, I read a verse in scripture in Exodus chapter 14, verse 13.
Speaker: And he said, I feel like God was saying, this is what I'm going to do. Exodus 14, 13 says, Fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation of the Lord, which He will work for you today.
Speaker: For the Egyptians whom you see today, you will never see again. What's amazing, when you see what God said to him through His Word, and what happened when he went to the doctor, when he went to the doctor, the doctor told Stephen Donovan, I don't know how this happened.
Speaker: He said, I know he had leukemia before, but right now we can't see leukemia anywhere in your son's life. He was only two years of age. I put a photo there just so you know that I'm not just spinning a tail.
Speaker: This is real. That is a picture of Steve Gaines, the the man that was the pastor, and his son Grant. And that was taken six years ago on Grant's 37th birthday.
Speaker: Today, Grant is 43 years of age. He serves as the pastor of Bel Air Baptist Church in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. Steve Gaines, his dad, is now in heaven with Lord.
Speaker: But you know what? I know what Steve's doing. He's up there saying, you're worthy. You're worthy. And I don't think he's only saying that the Lord is worthy because he healed his son. I think he's saying, you're worthy because of who you are.
Speaker: So he's praising God for his attributes. So I would like for you to stand and I want to share ah another passage with you. a true story of someone who also said, I'm going to thank God for what he did for me. Are you thankful every day for what God gives to you?
Speaker: On the way to Jerusalem in Luke 17, verse 11, on the way to Jerusalem, he was passing along between Samaria and Galilee. And as he entered a village, he was met by 10 lepers who stood at a distance and lifted up their voices saying, Jesus, master, have mercy on us. Amen.
Speaker: When we saw them, he said, go and show yourselves to the priests. And as they went, they were cleansed. Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice.
Speaker: And he fell on his face at Jesus' feet, giving him thanks. Now he was a Samaritan. Then Jesus answered, were not 10 cleansed?
Speaker: Where are the nine? Was no one found to return and give thanks to God except this foreigner? And he said to him, rise and go your way.
Speaker: Your faith has made you well. Let's go the Father in prayer. Lord, sometimes we need you to sort of prime the pump. when it comes to giving thanks.
Speaker: We get to looking around us and we're having hard times. Perhaps some are even facing something as serious as leprosy. And it's really difficult, Lord. And so I pray that you would take this true account.
Speaker: And just really prime the pump so that we are able to every day say, I'm so thankful for what God has done for me. Just recently, I saw where someone challenged us to write down three things we're thankful for, for the next 21 days.
Speaker: I pray that the next 21 days, people would hear us giving thanks to you for all that you are and for all that you've done for us. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. Thank you. you may be seated.
Speaker: Leprosy today is called Hansen's disease. I don't know if you've ever looked it up to see what happens when someone has leprosy, but it's a long-term infection.
Speaker: It affects the nerves, the skin, the eyes, the vocal cords, the respiratory tract. It makes you where you have to stand at a social distance. At least it did back then. And you have to announce, you know, unclean,
Speaker: See, for a leper, it meant they were gonna live an isolated, lonely, separated life from their family. I can remember when I was a missionary in Japan, our first assignment was on Okinawa.
Speaker: And on the island of Okinawa, at that time, they still had a leper colony. And so we took a Christian entertainer, a Christian singer, and we went there and he sang for the people at that leper colony.
Speaker: you know it's hard whenever people have to stand at a distance. But aren't you glad that even though like we sang earlier about God being holy, aren't you glad he came to us?
Speaker: There's a song that says that. The song says, the gulf that separated me from Christ my Lord, it was so vast, the crossing I could never ford.
Speaker: From where I was to his domain, it seems so far. I cried, dear Lord, I cannot come to where you are. He came to me.
Speaker: Oh, he came to me. When I could not come to where he was, he came to me. That's why he died on Calvary. When I could not come to where he was,
Speaker: He came to me. Beautiful words, powerful song based on a powerful truth. So i want us to look at this passage and think, what could we see that we could give thanks for in 2026? So let me give you a few things to think about. The first one is from verses 11 12.
Speaker: Are you thankful that God's presence is with us this morning? Could you sense that God was here? Maybe you sent something unusual. You came in today. and Maybe you're visiting with us. And you said, it almost kind of seems spooky. It seemed like God, something was there.
Speaker: That something is someone. It's God. And he wants to go with you through your week. He doesn't want to just hang out here in the building. or He'll go with you. He'll face whatever you're facing so that you're not alone.
Speaker: I'm so thankful for his presence. And so when I read verse 11 and 12 and I see where Jesus, it says on his way to Jerusalem, he was passing along between Samaria and Galilee.
Speaker: It's almost like he was on the borderlands. overlapping you know it's almost like shingles have you ever shingled i remember one time i was uh helping a man shingle his uh roof in fort worth and it was like i needed windshield wipers on my glasses i thought i can't see i'm sweating so much because it was in the summer but there jesus was along the borderlands between samaria and galilee and which village did he enter Which one does it say?
Speaker: It doesn't say. I wonder if it doesn't say because the Lord wants you to know that He can enter our village, our town, our city, just like He could could their place where they lived.
Speaker: So that region, I'm told, was very risky. There was a lot of animosity toward Jewish people. If you want to see about the animosity up close, go back in Luke to chapter 9, verses 51 to 56, because one of the Samaritan villages said, if this is Jesus coming with his disciples, tell him no thanks.
Speaker: We don't want any Jews in our village here in Samaria. A lot of animosity. But it wasn't just on one side. It was like on both sides. Because on the other side, the the brothers, the what do they call them? The brothers of thunder.
Speaker: You know, James and John, they asked Jesus, Lord, you want to call down some fire from heaven and smite them? We'll get right with it. He's like, no, you know. But anyway, was like, man, a lot.
Speaker: But what I thought is amazing is, think about all the other places he could have gone. But Jesus went to their village. I believe he knew they were going to be there. He knew you were going to be here today.
Speaker: And that's why you came in this building and he's here. And he wants to help you in your life. He wants to help you with whatever it is that you're facing. But just think about Philippians chapter 2 verses 5 through 11 tells us something that Jesus did that maybe it's not on the forefront of your mind.
Speaker: But I just want to remind you. that he was in heaven receiving all kind of praise and worship and honor and glory from those who've gone on, from all the angels and all the hosts of heaven. They were worshiping the Lord Jesus. But you know what?
Speaker: Jesus gave all that up and he came and entered into our world. So it's almost like he brought heaven down here. So it's like overlapping, you see. And so for him to be among us, it's an incredible thing.
Speaker: So incredible that whenever Jesus was going to be born, you remember the dream that Joseph had? The Lord told Joseph, you're going to name your son Emmanuel because that name means God with us.
Speaker: God is with us. But I also like there's one other thing that we're told in Romans chapter 8 verse 31. God's not just with us. He could be with us for judgment.
Speaker: But you know what? When Jesus came, God's for us. God's not against us. He's for us. Yet sometimes when we have something like leprosy that we face, we feel like, God, why are you against me?
Speaker: But God's not against you. God's for you. And he's going to help you to get through whatever it is that you're going through. There's a great song that I like over in Psalm 46. It talks about God being a very present help in trouble.
Speaker: And then it says something in the next few verses that I wanted to bring out. Because it doesn't matter the circumstance. It doesn't matter what situation or scenario you're living in.
Speaker: It says in verse 2, He's going to be a present help. Therefore, we will not fear though the earth gives way. Though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble at its swelling.
Speaker: You see, when God is here is there, when God is with you he doesn't matter what's coming. He can handle it. You know why? Because he made everything. So he can handle it So if you were to interview this man in this story, this true life story, then you would say, why are you so thankful?
Speaker: I think you would say, you know I'm thankful? I'm thankful because there was one day he came to me. He came to my village. He came and he talked to the 10 lepers. But then the second thing you could say that you're thankful for like him would be, he would say, I'm also thankful that he helped me.
Speaker: He helped me because I was facing an overwhelming need and I couldn't get out of it by myself. You know, leprosy was really tough. Arnold Fruchtenbaum is an Old Testament scholar. And here's what he wrote about leprosy.
Speaker: I've never thought about this. So listen to what he says all the way to the end. From the time the Mosaic law was completed. Remember, by the time he was completed, there was no record of any Jew who had been healed of leprosy. And yet...
Speaker: Specific instructions were given for after a leper was healed. So rabbis taught that only the Messiah can heal a leper.
Speaker: Isn't that amazing? Only the Messiah. So that's why these 10 men, it must have been so transforming. that the Lord took away their leprosy because nine of them were Jews. One was a Samaritan, but nine were Jews.
Speaker: Can you imagine when nine different guys go in and bear witness, do I have leprosy anymore? And the priest check him out and examine him and say, you don't have it anymore.
Speaker: How did that happen? And they said, well, there's somebody named Jesus down there. And he just told us to come and tell you. You know, what Paul says in 2 Corinthians chapter 1 verses 8 through 11, that he was burdened beyond his strength.
Speaker: Burdened beyond. Have you ever had anything in your life? Maybe today you've come and you've come to God's house. You've come to listen to God's word. You want to sing the praises of the Lord because you're facing something you can't handle.
Speaker: on your own. Let me tell you about somebody who faced something they couldn't handle on their own. He was a pastor. His name was Martin Rinkhart. Martin Rinkhart.
Speaker: he He served in a place called Ellenberg in Saxony, Germany. And he served a long time ago. And he served during something called the 30-year war.
Speaker: The 30-year war. Can you imagine? During the 30 year war, there were many people who died in his city of Ellenberg, but also there were many people outside of his city because those people who were outside, they didn't have walls around their city.
Speaker: So they would bring the wounded into the safe city so that they could recover. Well, You won't believe how many people he buried in his lifetime.
Speaker: Get this. It's a historical record. 4,480 funerals that one pastor performed over the course of the 30-year Do you know he at one time was doing 50 funerals a day? 50 day.
Speaker: Can you imagine the emotional toll that took on that man? If you want Jesus to help you with an overwhelming need, then let me just give you three words of advice from verses 12 and 13.
Speaker: Look closely at those verses. And as he entered a village, he was met by 10 lepers who stood at a distance. The first thing I would say to you, if you want Jesus to help you with an overwhelming need, is move closer to the Lord.
Speaker: Move closer to Him, not further away. Move closer to Jesus. Don't walk away from Him. Don't run away from Him. Move closer and he can help you. the The second thing I would say is based on verse 13, where what did they do?
Speaker: What did these 10 lepers do? They faced something they couldn't solve. So you know what they did? They lifted up their voices. They lifted up their voices saying, Jesus, master.
Speaker: I wonder if, secondly, we would talk more to the Lord, not less. If you're going through a hard time, increase your prayer life. Don't decrease your prayer life. Increase your prayer life.
Speaker: Talk to Him more. Draw closer to Him. And also I would say when they said have mercy on us, I would say also approach the Lord in humility, not pride, not entitlement.
Speaker: Don't say, Lord, you owe me. No, you go to the Lord and say, Lord, I'm just asking for mercy. That's exactly what they were asking for. Do you know what mercy and grace are?
Speaker: Mercy, I'm told, is when God does not give us what we deserve. What do you deserve? I'll tell you what I deserve. I deserve punishment. I deserve judgment for all of my sins I committed in high school and college and then even beyond.
Speaker: But you know what? God had mercy and he did not give me what I deserved. You know how I know that? Because when Jesus was on the cross, he said, I'm going to take that punishment that you deserve.
Speaker: I'm going to take it upon me. And that's mercy. But you know what grace is? Grace is when we are given what we know we don't deserve.
Speaker: And I think salvation, God's love, God's grace and God's mercy, God's healing, God's presence. Think about all that he gives us constantly. And we would say, I deserve that.
Speaker: No, we should say, Lord, I need mercy and I need grace. Do you know that the words have mercy, just those two words together, have mercy, it's mentioned 15 times in the New Testament. And guess what? Most times people were saying have mercy about physical healing.
Speaker: Most of the time, out of those 15 times in the New Testament, when it was have mercy, it was about physical healing. For example, two blind men said, have mercy on us in mark chapter Matthew verse 27. There was a Canaanite woman whose daughter had a demon, and she said, have mercy upon me.
Speaker: There was another man who had a demon-possessed son in Matthew 17, 15. He said, mercy. And it goes on and on. But I encourage you to look up mercy. It'd be a worthwhile Bible study.
Speaker: Do a word study on the word mercy and see where it takes you. It'll take you right to the Lord. So go to him when you have an overwhelming need. But I think the third thing that we can be thankful for is for God's guidance.
Speaker: God's guidance. And maybe you would say, yeah, the only thing is he's going to ask me to do something that's going to be over the top. Yeah, he probably will. So I'm going to go ahead and tell you, it'll be an overextending command, just like it was in verse 14.
Speaker: What did he tell them to do? He said to these guys, go to the priest and show yourself. That's what he told them to do. So the only problem with that is he didn't tell the leprosy to leave yet.
Speaker: So here they are. They're told, go to the priest and show yourself. So how are they going to go from where they're standing to get to wherever the priest is without being around people?
Speaker: They're going to have to tell people all along the way, you know, unclean, unclean, I'm a leper. You know, they're going to have to be saying that. But notice what the rest of the verse says. Whenever they simply trusted Jesus and did what he said, look at what happened.
Speaker: And as they went. They were cleansed. Not at the beginning when they're just standing in there. These guys turn, they pivot and they start going toward the priest.
Speaker: And somewhere along the way, we don't know how many, how long it took, but somewhere along the way, they can't, they were cleansed. And it was definitely what they were looking for.
Speaker: You know, it's interesting that they began to obey the Lord before they were healed. You ever say, if you'll heal me, if you'll help me with this test, if you'll give me this raise or you'll open the door for this job, I'll do this and I'll do that.
Speaker: You know what they did? They said, I'll obey before you give me. Have you ever thought the Lord's already done a lot? I wonder sometimes, I'm just guessing, right?
Speaker: But sometimes I wonder if the gratitude for the goodness the for the goodness of God If I'm robbing that, you know why?
Speaker: Because I am not walking in obedience. I'm walking in disobedience to the guidance of God. If I would simply do what he says, then he's going to work.
Speaker: But here's what I want sometimes. do You ever want this? You ever want him to be a bless me anyway? Bless me anyway. You know, it's like, I know he's a God of grace and mercy, so I don't have to turn from that evil. I can just ask God, bless me anyway.
Speaker: He doesn't work that way. There was a man in the Old Testament named King Saul. God made it clear what he wanted from him, but he disobeyed. And so when Samuel the prophet showed up, he said, did you do what God said? he said, oh yeah, I did.
Speaker: He didn't. And pretty soon it became evident that he didn't. And so the prophet Samuel said, has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the Lord?
Speaker: Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice and to listen than the fat of rams. So what God's wanting are we going to do what he says? If we do what he says, it's amazing how transformative that will be.
Speaker: But there's also another thing, a fourth thing. I think we can be thankful for God's goodness. And I think you'll see in this passage overflowing gratitude.
Speaker: You know what overflowing gratitude is? It's when you just can't help it. You can't help it It just flows out of your life. You know, whenever you see God's goodness to you, you're going to have overflowing gratitude.
Speaker: Exodus chapter 34, verse 6, God is describing who he is. And one of the things he says is he's abounding in goodness and truth. Sometimes we want him to abound in goodness, but we don't want to hear the truth.
Speaker: But he's abounding in both. He's both at the same time. Ezra 3.11 says, "'He's good for his mercy endures forever.'" Aren't you glad? I'm glad.
Speaker: I am so glad his mercy endures forever. What if out there in eternity, he said, you know, I changed my mind. This guy nothing but a knucklehead. So I'm just going to go ahead and zap him. No, he said, my, um my loving kindness, my mercy endures forever.
Speaker: James 1 17 says every good gift, every good gift in your life. You know where that came from? God. God, you may say, no, i've worked for them. I'm not saying you didn't work for it.
Speaker: I'm saying you did do a lot of work. But who gave you the arms, the legs, the mind, the eyes, the ears? Who gave you what you needed in order to do that job?
Speaker: Well, that's where I'd say God did that. Psalm 27 verse 13 says, I would have lost heart unless I believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.
Speaker: Are you about to lose heart? Count home the goodness of God to help you through whatever it is you're going through. it What are the distinctives of overflowing gratitude? Let me mention three that I see here.
Speaker: Overflowing gratitude doesn't care what others do. You may say, how do you know that? Well, look what it says. Then one of them. than just one of them. There were 10 of them, but only one of them, one of them turned back and gave thanks, right?
Speaker: So overflowing gratitude doesn't care what others do. What if nobody else gets saved today? What if nobody else were to go to the altar and pray or nobody else follows Christ? Would you say, I don't care what others do.
Speaker: I'm so grateful he saved me. I'm so glad he wiped away my sin. I'm so glad he's made me a place in heaven. i don't care what others do. There's a second thing about overflowing gratitude. Overflowing gratitude doesn't mind if others hear.
Speaker: Maybe when we were singing, you just got sort of overwhelmed by the goodness of God and your gratitude. And you just started singing. And that's when everybody around you started looking.
Speaker: They were like, dude, you know, this is hurting my hearing. But you don't care. you don't care if other people hear whenever you're praising God with a loud voice like this guy was.
Speaker: Overflowing gratitude also doesn't care if others see it. You ever afraid, you know, somebody that you know is going to come by the church when you're walking in the door?
Speaker: I think that this guy, this Samaritan, he wouldn't have How do you know he wouldn't care? Because he fell down on his face. Think about Jesus. He's standing there surrounded by 12 disciples.
Speaker: Would you be willing to bow down to Jesus Christ when 13 other men are looking? When 13 other ladies are looking? When 13 other teenagers are looking? When 13 other children are looking?
Speaker: Would you be willing to say, I don't care. I'm just so grateful for what he's done for me. It all reminds me of Jim Cimbala. One time in Japan when I was a missionary there, he came to Yokohama and he he gave a concert. Not him, but his praise and worship team.
Speaker: They came and sang. The whole Japanese place was moving. It was like I was getting seasick in the room. I thought, man, I think they're swaying, you know. But anyway, i was the only blonde-headed guy in the room. I know it's white now, but at that time it was blonde. But anyway, it was just an amazing sight to see all these Japanese people worshiping.
Speaker: And then when Jim Symbali gets up there, he took one verse and he said, I want to share Psalm 34, verse eight. Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good. Blessed is the man who trusts in him.
Speaker: He told him, me he said, I know that all of y'all are going hate me, but he said, i thought that sushi was terrible. So I wasn't ever going to try it. He said, but my wife loves sushi.
Speaker: And of course the crowd and bananas. And so anyway, she they were like, yeah, we like the wife better than you, you know. But anyway, he said, give me time now. He said, on her birthday, I said, I'll give you anything you want. What do you want?
Speaker: She said, I want take out sushi. Bring it back and let's eat it together. So he said, okay. So he said, I was thinking, I'm not going to like this. I'm not going to like this. I'm not going like this.
Speaker: And he said, you know what happened from the very first taste? He said, I loved it. And he said, i thought about how some of you are turning away from God because you think God's boring. God's dull.
Speaker: God's a killjoy. No, you know what? You need to taste and see that the Lord is good. He's so good. Well, let me give two others and then we'll be done here. Thankful for his blessings.
Speaker: There's a tendency sometimes to overlook some things that are very important. And so there's a tendency toward overlooking something. You see, Jesus didn't command these lepers to give thanks, did he He didn't say, no, make sure you come back here and give thanks.
Speaker: He didn't command that. And yet he was surprised when none of them didn't come back and give thanks. He was surprised only one of them did. And so he gives these three rhetorical questions. And the first question was basically saying, didn't 10 of y'all get a physical blessing today?
Speaker: And then he moves on and says, well, if 10 of y'all received a physical blessing, why is it only one has come back to give spiritual thanks? And so Jesus was trying to understand it.
Speaker: The third rhetorical question was, why is it that this one that should have been an outsider, he was a foreigner at that time, most of the Jews, they were the only ones, everyone else was worshiping idols and so forth.
Speaker: But the Jews, they knew the truth. And so he was thinking, why is it that the biblical example is someone that we didn't expect? Someone from the outside.
Speaker: You know, the quickest way to avoid overlooking an attitude of gratitude is to simply say, you know what? I'm not going to wait until God does something good. for I'm going to thank God every day just for who he is.
Speaker: He loves me. He's had mercy on me. He's given me grace. He's made a place in heaven for me. He's given his Holy Spirit to me. He's given me a copy of the Bible. Let me end with this one last thing. I think it's really the most important thing.
Speaker: Are you thankful for his salvation? Are you thankful for his salvation? It's one thing to be thankful for his blessings. But you know, sometimes I wonder if everybody who says, I'm so grateful for my job. I'm so grateful for this or that.
Speaker: I wonder if they're really giving thanks to God or they're just saying makes me happy that all this has worked out in my life. But what about when that's not happening? Would you say to God then, you know what? I'm still thankful for who you are.
Speaker: I may be going through a hard time right now, but I'm thankful your strength is what's going to get me through. That's God-centered. That's God-centered gratitude. Well, these 10 men were evidently declared healed of their physical illness.
Speaker: That's great. That's something to celebrate. Nine men celebrated that and that alone. But one man said, yes, I know you've declared me healed physically, but there's something else that he was declared when he went back to Jesus.
Speaker: Because really what the Lord did should have led all of them to go back to Jesus. And here's what he says. He said to him, Jesus says to that one leper who came back, rise and go your way.
Speaker: Your faith has made you well. Something happened for him that didn't happen for the other nine. Oh yeah, the other nine, they were healed physically. That's great.
Speaker: But you know what? Only he, see, he was also restored in his soul. See, the others were klan declared clean by the priest.
Speaker: But this guy, he was declared saved by the Savior. Will the Lord, when you stand before him, will he say, that one belongs to me? That one belongs to me. Come in here. I've been waiting on you to come.
Speaker: But some people won't hear that. Some will hear, depart from me, you workers of iniquity, for I never knew you. And so it's like so important. But notice that it says your faith.
Speaker: has saved you. Your faith has made you well. That's exactly what it says in Luke 7.50, when this woman, she was a sinful woman, but she fell at Jesus' feet.
Speaker: She humbled herself and wiped His feet. And so He says, I want you to go in peace. And you know the word he used? It's the same word as well here in verse 19.
Speaker: But you know what the word is? It's sozo. Sozo is a Greek word that means physical wellness, but it also means spiritual wellness.
Speaker: It means saved. It's talking about salvation. But notice what Jesus said, save the leper. Your faith. Faith.
Speaker: See, leper hadn't done anything for Jesus. He didn't earn this. He simply trusted Jesus. He placed his faith in the Lord. You know, we should give thanks for his cleansing, not from leprosy.
Speaker: but his cleansing from sin. Hebrews 9.14 explains in brief how our conscience can be purified from dead works. Christ's offering was without blemish to God.
Speaker: That's why by his blood and through his spirit, we can be pronounced not only clean, but also safe One of God's. How much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.
Speaker: See, some people carry guilt around all their life. Their conscience won't let it go. You know how to get that conscience cleansed? Come to Christ. Come to Christ so they can cleanse you of whatever that is.
Speaker: As I extend this invitation to trust Christ as your personal Lord and Savior, let's renew let's review how this leader, how this leper rather, came to Jesus.
Speaker: He returned to Jesus what? Personally. Personally. He wasn't depending on his mom, his dad, somebody else. He returned to Jesus personally.
Speaker: But he also returned to Jesus publicly, didn't he? mean, he came. There's all these disciples. Who knows how many crowds might have been around Jesus. And he comes back and he just falls down. And he's like, thank you.
Speaker: Thank you so much for healing me, cleansing me. So he came to the Lord gratefully that this is something he couldn't do for himself. But he also came to the Lord like Jesus said.
Speaker: Jesus noted it. Oh, he came in faith. That's a difference. Have you ever put your faith and trust in what Jesus did for you on the cross? That's what makes all the difference.
Speaker: Whenever we trust him. Whenever we say, I'm willing to turn from sin and put my faith and my trust in what Jesus did for me on the cross, he can do that to you as well. So why don't we all stand together? We're going to have a closing song that really tells that the story.
Speaker: It says, come as you are. You can come as you are and watch what the Lord will do in your life. Let's pray. Lord, thank you so much for this time to look into your word. Thank you again for speaking to us about...
Speaker: Thanksgiving, about being grateful to you. Lord, help us be grateful for who you are, but also grateful for what you've done. and what I mean is what you did for us on the cross.
Speaker: I pray if anyone is not turned from sin, they've never trusted in the finished work of Christ on the cross, that they would do that today because you're alive. you're You've risen from the dead and you can change their lives.
Speaker: You'll be present with them just like you came to this lefer's town. So bless us as we go through this time of invitation. You draw all the ones you're speaking to today. In Jesus' name, amen.
Speaker: This is a ministry of First Baptist Church located at 1700 Milam Street, Columbus, Texas.
