[0:00] Luke chapter 17, verse 11 through 19.
[0:18] On the way to Jerusalem, he was passing along between Samaria and Galilee, and as he entered a village, he was met by ten lepers who stood at a distance and lifted up their voice, saying, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.
[0:34] When he saw them, he said to them, Go and show yourselves to the priest. 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, and he fell on his face at Jesus' feet, giving him thanks.
[0:51] Now he was a Samaritan. Then Jesus answered, Were not ten cleansed? Where are the nine? Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?
[1:03] And he said to him, Rise, go on your way. Your faith has made you well. May God add a blessing to the reading of his word.
[1:13] Would you please be seated? There is a well-known, well-respected theologian and pastor named H.A. Ironside. What a great last name.
[1:25] He lived from 1876 to 1951, and for a time he served as the pastor of Moody Church in Chicago. One day he told the story of a time when he was eating in a crowded restaurant.
[1:40] And as he was seated and just as his food was served to him, a man came up to H.A. Ironside and asked if he could take the seat next to him, which Ironside was more than happy to allow him to sit next to him and share the table.
[2:01] And so as the food had come for H.A., he bowed his head in prayer. And then when he raised his head and opened his eyes, the other man was staring at him.
[2:12] And the man asked him, Do you have a headache? And Ironside replied, No. And the man asked him, Well, is there something wrong with your food?
[2:24] And Ironside replied, No. I was simply giving God thanks for my food before I eat it. And the man rolled his eyes at that response and said, Oh, you're one of those, are you?
[2:36] Well, I want you to know that I never give thanks to God. I earn my money by the sweat of my brow. And I don't give thanks to anybody when I eat.
[2:48] I just dig in. Ironside replied, Yes. You're just like my dog. That's what he does too. And then I'm sure he was very graceful to him the rest of the time that they had to eat.
[3:06] But I share that story because ingratitude is one of the most common attitudes of sinful people. Most mornings during the week before I come into the church office, I stop at Quick Trip and I get a cup of coffee.
[3:23] Before I go into the office. And whenever I'm walking out, I try to make sure that I hold the door open for someone who is either about to come in or someone who is following me out to the parking lot.
[3:39] It's just common courtesy, right? Those are things that we expect people to do in our society. And usually when I do that, that person thanks me for the gesture.
[3:54] Either they'll say thank you or they might not say thank you, but they'll smile and they'll nod. And they'll in some way show that they are thankful for that small act of kindness.
[4:08] But there have been a few occasions when I've done that, that that person walked right through the door that I held open for them without offering any kind of thanks.
[4:20] Acting as if I was not performing a kindness, but a duty. As if that's my role in life, is just to hold doors open for them. Now, most of you know me and you know that I'm a pretty easygoing person.
[4:34] I don't have a, well, I should say I don't have a short fuse. But I can't help but be really annoyed and agitated whenever I hold the door open.
[4:45] Especially if I've held it open for them for a while, you know. And if they're not trying to quicken their pace and if they go in and they act as if I wasn't there at all, that just bothers me.
[4:56] And so I can't help but in those moments say to them somewhat sarcastically as they enter, well, you're welcome. I don't know if you do that, but I do.
[5:07] It's annoying when people act and behave ungraciously. And it can also be awkward, can't it? This week, many of us will gather with family and friends to share a Thanksgiving meal.
[5:20] And likely, maybe for you at some point, someone will suggest that you go around the table and everyone shares something that they are thankful for.
[5:32] And sometimes you can tell by the facial expressions of those around the table that they would rather just eat or watch football. But they do it anyway, because how awkward would it be if they didn't participate, acting or suggesting as if they had nothing to be thankful for at all.
[5:54] And, you know, it can get awkward too whenever it's time for the kids to share something that they're thankful for. Sometimes what they share is sweet.
[6:05] It's simple, but it can be profound, and it incurs laughs and ahs from everybody around the table. But then there are other times where the kid looks like they are a deer caught in the headlights, not knowing what to say, wanting it seem, you know, to be away from that situation.
[6:27] But they're asked. And so sometimes those kids who would rather not share that answer will say something like, well, I'm thankful that we didn't have school today, or I'm thankful that I got to sleep in this morning, or I guess I'm thankful for the food that we have here to eat.
[6:46] But, you know, for a lot of parents of kids who give those kinds of answers, that's not sufficient. And so they'll prod them a little bit more for something a little bit more meaningful.
[7:00] And so, you know, mom or dad might say, well, aren't you thankful for our family? Aren't you thankful for, you know, grandma and grandpa? They traveled a long way just to be with you today.
[7:13] Aren't you thankful for that? And the kid will say, oh, yeah, yeah, I'm thankful for that. But, you know, it can be a little bit awkward when people don't know what to give thanks about.
[7:28] It's frustrating when people either act as if they have nothing to be thankful for because in their minds they believe that they've earned all that they have and they give thanks only to themselves. It's frustrating when people return kindness with ingratitude.
[7:42] And it's frustrating when people struggle to find anything to share that they are thankful for. And gratitude is an attitude that frustrates and sometimes infuriates those who feel like they've been slighted for their kindness.
[7:57] And I'm sure that we have all gone out of our way to be kind and to be generous and to be gracious to someone who failed to thank us for it.
[8:12] But however we've been made to feel slighted by that, the Bible tells us that that's nothing compared to God. The Bible says that ingratitude and forgetfulness to thank God are reprehensible to Him.
[8:31] The Bible says ingratitude is an attitude that characterizes those who reject God, those who make light of His goodness and His grace.
[8:42] In Romans 1.21, the Bible says, For although they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks to Him. But they became futile in their thinking and their foolish hearts were darkened.
[8:57] Paul, writing to Timothy, a young pastor, explained that ingratitude is one of the attitudes that characterizes the godless, those who will live in the last days, people whom Timothy is told to avoid.
[9:12] Look at 2 Timothy 3, 1-5 with me. But understand this, that in the last days, the days in which we are currently living, there will come times of difficulty. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness but denying its power.
[9:47] Avoid such people. Scripture exhorts the people of God in many places to not forget, to express their gratitude for God and for all that He's graciously done for them.
[10:01] And one of those places is Psalm 103, verses 1-5. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me. Bless His holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits, who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy, who satisfies you with good, so that your youth is renewed like the eagles.
[10:34] Here and in many places, God reminds us, and God commands us in His Word that ingratitude should be an attitude that is foreign to His people, to those whom He's saved.
[10:50] Well, why? Why is ingratitude so offensive to God? Well, because the Bible says that ingratitude trivializes God's grace.
[11:02] It makes light of the benefits God bestows upon those whom He's called to know Him. Now, let's be honest with ourselves. Because all of us, all of us are guilty of harboring ungrateful thoughts.
[11:19] times, even though we've come to know God through our salvation in Jesus Christ, that we can be ingracious.
[11:33] And we are living in those last days. And ingratitude surrounds us. We know that the squeaky wheel gets the grease.
[11:46] And so, at times, we do a lot of squeaking, don't we? Or we hear a lot of squeaking. But it shouldn't be this way. And we know it shouldn't be this way.
[11:59] And so, what we do is we attempt, at times, to act thankful. To pretend to be thankful. To force ourselves to put on a happy face.
[12:12] When the reality is, our appearance is masking a heart of ingratitude.
[12:24] And in that way, we're often like that kid at Christmas who is excited to open presents and reaches for that one present that's beautifully wrapped.
[12:36] And in their mind, they imagine that if the exterior looks so beautiful, there must be something wonderful inside.
[12:48] And so, they tear it open and they look inside. They pull out their gift and they discover that it's a new pair of underwear.
[12:59] Or new socks. Or a belt. Or a scarf. But the person who gave them the gift is with them in the room.
[13:09] And so, they smile. And they put some, they attempt to put some joy in the inflection in their voice. Saying, oh, thank you. Thank you.
[13:21] But in reality, their mind has now gone to the next present in the hopes that the next present will contain something much better. We can fool people with fake gratitude like that.
[13:35] Can't we? But we can't fool God. God knows. God sees. And He commands us to be thankful. Always.
[13:48] 1 Thessalonians 5.18. The Bible says, give thanks in all circumstances for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
[13:58] That's one of many other places I could go to where we are commanded by God in His Word to be thankful. And you can't force yourself to be thankful because God knows if you are.
[14:13] So then we ask, well, what hope is there for me? Well, the hope comes in recognition that thankfulness is a response.
[14:24] It's a genuine response to grace. And we see an example of that in our text this morning from Luke chapter 17. Jesus is on His way to Jerusalem.
[14:36] Again, we've been in the Gospel of John. We just completed chapter 14. We're there. Jesus is with His disciples and He's meeting with them for the last time before soon He will be crucified.
[14:48] So here in Luke chapter 17, we kind of hit rewind a little bit and we see that Jesus is on His way to Jerusalem where the events foreordained by God will transpire which will lead to His crucifixion.
[15:03] But at this point, He's on His way to those things. He's on His way to Jerusalem and as He goes, He encounters a group of men who have leprosy.
[15:17] He'll heal them miraculously of their incurable disease, but only one of them expresses thanks for the grace that they have received.
[15:29] And through this text, we see that Christians have the most to be thankful for of all people. And so that's the main idea from this text this morning is that Christians have the most to be thankful for of all people.
[15:47] In this text, we meet a man who recognizes where the true source of thanksgiving comes. He is a man who realizes the tremendous grace he's received and expresses his gratitude not just in what he had received, but more importantly, he expresses his gratitude in his recognition of who had given it to him.
[16:09] No doubt this man was thankful for the miracle which healed him physically, but he understood that some things are more valuable than even that. And through his example, we learn that Christians, those who know Christ truly, are those who are the most thankful of all people, or at least should be.
[16:34] And so this text can be divided into two scenes. And in scene one, we encounter ten men living in a tragic condition. ten men who are living in a tragic condition.
[16:50] Look again at verses 11 and 12 with me. On the way to Jerusalem, he was passing along between Samaria and Galilee, and he entered a village.
[17:01] He was met by ten lepers who stood at a distance. So at some point in time, these men had been stricken with leprosy.
[17:12] We don't know, but at some point. Leprosy, or Hansen's disease, as it is known today, is caused by a bacteria which is transmissible through touch and breath.
[17:25] Leprosy attacks the skin and the peripheral nerves. It forms lesions on the body, on the skin, and will disfigure the face, often causing the nose to collapse inside and cause the skin to create these folds and these ridges.
[17:47] Due to the loss of feeling, especially in the hands and the feet, people who have leprosy or had leprosy would wear down their extremities without realizing it because they couldn't feel pain, and so their fingers and their toes would fall off.
[18:03] To have leprosy in this day and age meant three things. First, it meant that you were defiled. You were defiled.
[18:15] According to Leviticus 13.3, a person believed to have leprosy would be examined by a priest. The priest looked to see if the infected area appeared deeper than just on the surface of the skin, and if it did, that person was declared unclean.
[18:35] They were defiled. And since this disease spread through close contact, that meant, secondly, that the infected person was forced to distance themselves.
[18:47] If you're defiled, then you must distance yourselves from the rest of society. Leviticus 13.46 gives that instruction. He shall remain unclean as long as he has this disease.
[19:02] He is unclean. He shall live alone. His dwelling shall be outside of the camp, outside of society, outside of where everyone else was living. The defiled person being forced to distance themselves meant that, thirdly, they were doomed.
[19:20] Defiled, distanced, doomed. Because they were cut off from society. They were cut off from their friends and their family. They were cast out of the temple.
[19:31] They were forced to live their lives forever in seclusion or in a colony with other people who shared their affliction. Their possessions, many of them, and their clothing were taken and were burned because they were contaminated.
[19:47] And again, they were shunned from the healthy, defiled, distanced, doomed. That was the life of a leper.
[20:00] At some point, these men heard about Jesus. We don't know how news of Jesus got to them, but we know that Jesus was drawing large crowds because of His amazing teaching and because of the astounding miracles that He was performing.
[20:22] And we know in Luke 5 that Jesus healed a man there who had leprosy. So it's possible that that word, and it's likely that that word got back to these ten men.
[20:35] Somehow, they found out that Jesus was nearby, and so they determined to go see Him in the hopes that in seeing Him, He would be merciful to them and would heal them of their affliction.
[20:52] So imagine their excitement when they are on their way and they see someone who matches the description that they've heard of Jesus.
[21:05] And so they get to Him, they get as close to Him as the law permitted, close enough to where they thought He could hear their cry, and in verse 13 it says, they lifted up their voices saying, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.
[21:25] And by calling Him Master, these men indicate that they understood that Jesus possessed some kind of authority, that He was able to heal them.
[21:39] They knew that their disease was incurable. They knew that their situation was hopeless, that their lives were miserable.
[21:50] And they understood that Jesus offered their only chance for deliverance. And so these men mustered what little faith they had, and in desperation, they cried out at the top of their voices for Jesus to have mercy.
[22:08] And how did Jesus respond? Ew! Go away! We all have cooties. We're clean. We're healthy.
[22:20] We don't want to be contaminated by you. There's no vaccine for what you have. Go on your way. Don't touch us. Keep your nasty disease to your nasty selves.
[22:35] Obviously, that's not what Jesus did. with a word, with a simple command. The Son of God, because He is God, did not banish them, but He banished their disease from them.
[22:52] Verse 14 says, when Jesus saw them, He said to them, go and show yourselves to the priests. And these men, by obeying His command, demonstrated their faith, at least in Jesus' words.
[23:07] in their obedience, to obey what the law required. The priest served as the local health inspector, and so there was this elaborate process whenever someone who had leprosy was to be declared clean, and that process lasted eight days.
[23:27] And so, no doubt, you can understand that these men who had been afflicted by this disease for likely a very long period of time were ready to get that process going so that they could be reunited with their friends and their family.
[23:43] And then in verse 14, we see that as they went, as they were going, they were cleansed. The tragic condition was miraculously reversed just like that due to the tremendous compassion that Jesus took on these men who had no hope.
[24:03] who had leprosy. So, what does this mean for us? Now, you might be thinking, I've never had leprosy, and I've never known anybody who has had leprosy, so what does any of this have to do with me?
[24:19] What's the point of this for me? You see, the Bible says that we all suffer from an affliction that defiles, an affliction that distances, and an affliction that dooms all of us.
[24:38] And man cannot provide a cure for this affliction. And that affliction is sin. Romans 3, 23 says, for all have sinned, all, every one of us, have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.
[24:55] The Bible tells us that sin corrupts every aspect of our being. Sin infects our minds, our bodies, and our souls, and sin distances us from our Creator who is holy.
[25:11] As Isaiah 59, 2 says, but your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden His face from you so that He does not hear.
[25:23] And worse than leprosy, sin dooms eternally. The Bible says that the person who dies in their sin is eternally separated from God in hell.
[25:36] Psalms 9, 17 says, the wicked shall return to Sheol, all the nations that forget God. Jesus said in Matthew 13, 41-42, the Son of Man shall send His angels and they will gather out of His kingdom all causes of sin and all law breakers and throw them into the fiery furnace.
[25:58] In that place, there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. That's all bad news. However, the Bible offers great news, good news.
[26:10] There is a cure for sin, that God has made a way for our sin to be removed and that cure is found in Jesus Christ alone, who took our sin upon Himself on the cross.
[26:26] As Romans 6-23, it says, for the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
[26:37] And in Romans 5-6 through 8, for while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person, though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die, but God shows His love for us, and that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
[27:00] And so while we don't suffer from leprosy, we all suffer from sin, and will suffer its consequences eternally unless you, like these men, like this one man in specific, called out to Jesus and turned to Him.
[27:20] Romans 10-9 through 10 says, because if you confess with your mouth, that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.
[27:34] For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. The cure for sin comes through God who saves you, who leads you to repent of your sin, to trust in Jesus for salvation, and then to live your life submitted to Him as your Lord.
[28:01] And so I ask you this morning, have you been saved by Him? Have you experienced His grace and His mercy? And if you have, then rejoice.
[28:15] Rejoice. But if not, understand that today through His Word, God is calling you to believe in Him, to receive His grace which saves.
[28:31] So will you turn from your sin? Will you be rescued from its defilement? Will you be brought near to the Lord through Christ, not isolated because of your sin, but becoming a child of His, not knowing eternal doom, but eternal joy and everlasting life?
[28:53] As believers though, if you do know these things, in knowing what God has saved you from, and what God has saved you for, you should be eternally grateful to Him.
[29:11] You should be thankful, and your thankfulness should be evident in all that you do, especially in the way that you worship the Lord with your life, that He has redeemed.
[29:30] And so in the next scene, this is what we see, and this is what we should see in our lives, seeing to a thankful convert, convert. A thankful convert.
[29:43] Look at the beginning of verse 16 again with me. Then one of them, one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice, and he fell on his face at Jesus' feet, giving thanks.
[30:00] You see, all ten men were physically healed, and again, they were in a hurry to show themselves to the priests, to show them that they were clean, and then to be reunited with their family members and their friends, to return to a normal way of life, to be welcomed back into society.
[30:20] But one of them, as he saw his malady vanish before his eyes, realized something the rest of them failed to grasp, and he must have thought, only God could do what has happened to me.
[30:44] Only God could do this. So I believe in that moment, he realized that he had been in the presence of God himself.
[30:58] And so he turned back, he ran back, rejoicing him. That not only was he healed, but wanting to go back to Jesus because I think he realized he needed to be saved from something much worse than his leprosy.
[31:19] You know, I wish I could have been there. I wish I could have been one of those disciples with Jesus at that moment. Now, I was kind of wondering, what were they doing? These men left, no doubt they were probably in a hurry for all the reasons I already mentioned.
[31:33] Maybe they were small talking in little groups one-on-one. Maybe Jesus was teaching. Maybe he was giving some kind of instruction.
[31:46] Maybe they were quiet. Maybe no one was talking at all. Whatever the case might have been, all of a sudden, the silence or the conversations are broken or ceased because here comes this guy running back, I think jumping and shouting for joy, and they realize, I think, this person who we just saw who maybe had fingers and toes missing, whose face was deformed, look at them.
[32:22] They're healed. They're clean. They're well. And he comes and he lays down at Jesus' feet and he begins to worship him in front of all of the rest.
[32:38] No doubt, tears of joy streaming down his face in worshiping Jesus, in affirmation that he understood that in being in Jesus' presence, he was in the presence of deity.
[32:55] The other nine were on their way to the temple to worship God there, but this man did not need religious ritual or a temple where the glory of God had long ago been withdrawn.
[33:09] Instead, this man knew what he needed to do was go be with Emmanuel, Jesus, God who is with us, and worship him there, Christ, the true temple, the one in whom all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell in bodily form.
[33:30] And what made this moment even more amazing was that as the rest of verse 16 says, this man was not a Jew, this man was a Samaritan.
[33:42] Now being a Samaritan, he wouldn't have been very welcomed by those in the temple anyway, because Jews hated Samaritans, and they never would have believed that God would heal a Samaritan or save one from their sins, but Jesus defied their traditions.
[34:02] Sin is the great equalizer. It is a problem that all of us share. Every single one of us share the same problem of sin, and he is the only cure.
[34:15] Jesus is the Savior of the world. Anyone who comes to him, the Bible says, in repentance over their sin, will be saved, no matter how unworthy religious people might be tempted to make them think that they are, they will receive the Lord's grace.
[34:35] Jesus then asked three rhetorical questions that highlight the ingratitude and indifference of the nine. And Jesus answered, were not ten cleansed, where are the nine?
[34:47] Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this man, this foreigner? And so can you hear the heartbreak in Jesus' voice as he asked these questions?
[35:02] The other nine should have been thankful and their thanks should have been expressed through worship and their gratitude for what Jesus had done for them and who Jesus was, but they felt no compulsion to return to Jesus.
[35:20] They had no desire to give him praise. They had no desire even to say, at the very least, thank you. And so the story concludes with an announcement from Jesus to the one who had returned to offer thanks in verse 19.
[35:38] And he said to him, rise and go on your way, your faith has made you well. see, this man had been transformed physically, but more important, with Jesus' words, we see that this man has been transformed spiritually.
[35:57] Because he knew that in Jesus he'd found the cure not only for the illness that he suffered, but for his sin. And again, he did not need a temple or a priest to declare him clean.
[36:10] He was saved by God's grace through faith in Jesus Christ. And if that has been the case for you, if God has saved you, brother or sister, you of all people have the most to be thankful for because you have been saved from your sins.
[36:39] And God forgive us that sometimes this is something that we hear so often that it's almost like we yawn at it. Instead of realizing that this is something that we should always marvel over every day of our existence.
[36:57] And you know, our worship services should be reflective of this, shouldn't they be? Amen, Wes. Man, when unbelievers see the people of God assemble to worship, what they should see is people who are thankful unlike anything else that they see in this world.
[37:23] And so I ask you, does your worship reflect how great a Savior that you know Jesus to be? And then I ask you again, are you known as a thankful person?
[37:35] Psalm 100 says, make a joyful noise to the Lord all the earth.
[37:47] Serve the Lord with gladness. Come into His presence with singing. Know that the Lord, He is God. It is He who made us and we are His.
[37:58] We are His people and the sheep of His pasture. Enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise. Give thanks to Him. Bless His name for the Lord is good.
[38:11] His steadfast love endures forever and His faithfulness to all generations. And that should describe us when we gather and that should describe us and how we live.
[38:29] We know what we've been rescued from. We know how great and how gracious our God is to send Jesus Christ to die on the cross for the sins that we've committed in the hope that we have in His resurrection.
[38:42] That we too have life in His name. And so no matter how difficult our circumstances may be, we as God's people always have reason to be thankful and to rejoice.
[38:56] on Friday was my 39th birthday. Thank you. Thank you. 39.
[39:09] 39. So I've made a decision that I'm done with birthdays. It's just 39 from here on out. So next year no birthday cards that say happy 40th or anything like that.
[39:23] It's 39. It's 39 until the day the Lord takes me to go and be with Him. And I'm joking about that but honestly it's I don't feel like I'm close to 40 years old.
[39:40] And so if I act strangely this year and do weird things just know that just bear with me and be patient okay because you know that midlife crisis has already begun.
[39:53] But you know as I was thinking about this text and realizing all that I have to be thankful for in the Lord I thought man I have so much to be thankful for for the past 39 years.
[40:08] God has been so good to me and He's been so gracious to me and I spent time reflecting over how ungracious and ungrateful I have been to Him you know and even complaining about you know Lord 40 years oh my goodness I feel I'm going to feel old whatever how foolish but to think back I grew up in the church and I was blessed by that to have a godly mother and father who had us in church and I heard the gospel from as early as I could remember and I was saved at a young age called into ministry when I was 16 went off to college and had the thought that you know what I've always done things or tried to do things your way God and I'm going to kind of venture out on my own here and do my own thing as a matter of fact
[41:12] I don't really think it's fair that you would call me or command me to do anything with my life maybe I don't want to be in ministry and so that's how I lived my life in college most of the time to the point where when I met my wife at the time we were dating or wanted to date her she was afraid to date me because of the reputation that I had and in that moment I realized man I am far from the Lord and I'm not happy and I wasn't yet God continued to be gracious to me though I was stubborn and though I was rebellious he always had his hand on me and he is always bringing people into my life and reminding me of his goodness and of his graciousness and I'm so thankful to know him and you know if I live to be another 39 years that's great it doesn't matter what the rest of those 39 years bring and I hope you understand what I'm saying because
[42:22] I know God I know God I'm saved I have Christ his spirit dwells in me what more could I want I might get a motorcycle but what more but honestly what more could I want I know God God knows me what more could you want or need in this life what more reason could you need to be thankful so the main point of application for this for this sermon is this that I want you to think about cultivating an attitude of gratitude in your life cultivate an attitude of gratitude in your life I came up with three questions to help you to do this because we know that we should be thankful we know we have a lot to be thankful for as God's people how can we cultivate an attitude of gratitude in our lives first of all the first question do you preach the gospel to yourself every day and if you don't preach the gospel to yourself every day that will make you thankful in realizing who you were and who you are in Christ because he saved you question number two how much of your prayer time do you spend thanking
[43:52] God how much of your prayer time do you spend thanking God because here's the deal I think a lot of times we get into prayer and it's all it's just God I need this I need this I need that I need that he wants to hear your request right but what I've noticed is when I just focus in on you know being intentional about I want to thank God and as I do that I realize just how thankful I have to be for so many things that I take for granted that will change you I believe God will change you through prayer to be a more thankful person and then question three do you care more about receiving man's praise than God's are you more concerned about receiving praise or giving praise and that will reflect what you truly are thankful for in this life so bottom line to cultivate an attitude of gratitude in your life you gotta spend time with the
[44:52] Lord and I promise you that if you do that it will be rewarding for you you will be blessed by it and it will be a blessing to your family your friends and your church and your community we have so much to be thankful for would you please bow your heads with me and let's pray God as we've gone over in your word as we've seen we have so much to be thankful to you about Lord without you we don't exist Lord without your grace and sending your son Jesus to die on the cross for our sins we have no hope we are eternally doomed but God you are so good and you've been so gracious and so loving that you've chosen to send your son who willingly died on the cross in our place for our sins that in faith in him Lord we know that as he was resurrected from on the third day so we too who have faith in him have life now and that lasts into eternity Lord forgive us forgive me that so often we focus on what we don't have and we're ungrateful we're ungracious
[46:00] Lord forgive us that often times we come into this place and we gather and we assemble together as a church and our hearts just aren't very grateful our minds are focused on other things Lord that in the long run if we would really stop and think about it just don't really matter God I pray for each one of us who knows you who you have called into a relationship with you that God you would use this word and the indwelling of your spirit to change us to help us to see every day just how much we have to be thankful for and in our thankfulness Lord we would live our lives for you in a way that pleases you in a way that is a blessing to others in a way God that communicates how good of a savior Jesus truly is as we share the gospel with our lives and with our words Lord as we later go to eat as a church God and as we depart from our building later this afternoon and as many of us travel and spend time with friends and family this week
[47:09] God may it be apparent to everyone we are around how grateful they are and may they know Lord that the source of our thankfulness is in Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior in his name we pray Amen Amen Thank you.