Sermon Tone Analysis

How Grateful Are You?

Did you know the word grateful is spelled g-r-a-t-e-f-u-l?

It is ironic that a word with Great, G-R-E-A-T, in it is spelled the same way as cheese grater.

The definition of grateful is feeling or showing an appreciation of kindness; thankful.

Are you thankful for what God has done for you this morning?

Are you worshipping him from a place of thanksgiving?

Are you worshipping from a place of obligation and guilt?

Anytime we do something from a place of guilt or obligation it typically does not last long.

Our worship to God is important it is our offering to him, it is our duty to worship him with a heart filled with thanksgiving.

Jesus on his way to Jersualem for his final Passover and his meeting with the cross Jesus stops in a village in which ten lepers stood afar off.

The group of men were looking for healing, similar to many of us today In search of that healing process we have to know that without Jesus none of us would be here today.

I imagine we all have something to be thankful for, and if we are still looking for our healing understand that you are standing in the midst of Jesus.

Common Trials Negate Different Backgrounds

When people are going through trials the backgrounds do not matter anymore.

It did not matter where these ten men where from, how long they had had leprosy or whose family they belonged to.

What was important was that Jesus was there and they wanted to be healed.

When we are going through something together all that matters is that we find some relief.

This is what can make worship beautiful!

To know that I am not alone in my struggle, I have brothers and sisters that are going through the same pain, but regardless of the pain we can still worship God.

Understand that these men had leprosy and they had to stand afar off because they were considered unclean.

“As for the leper who has the infection, his clothes shall be torn, and the hair of his head shall be uncovered, and he shall cover his mustache and cry, ‘Unclean!

Unclean!’ “He shall remain unclean all the days during which he has the infection; he is unclean.

He shall live alone; his dwelling shall be outside the camp.

46 “He shall remain unclean all the days during which he has the infection; he is unclean.

He shall live alone; his dwelling shall be outside the camp.

The same people we put outside the camp are the same people that God is getting ready to save.

Historically these individuals we put outside the camp in fear of spreading the disease to other individuals.

God is to us a God of deliverances; And to GOD the Lord belong escapes from death.

You may have grew up differently than I did.

You might have been struggling with the same sin longer than I have but what matters is the fact that we are struggling and we are looking for Jesus.

New American Standard Bible: 1995 update.

(1995).

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La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.

I thankful that I have a Jesus to look for in the midst of my leprous state.

I am not worried about the background of the person sitting next to me, all I know is in the eyes of Jesus we were once in a spiritual leprous state outside of the camp but Jesus saw fit to send us to the priest and heal us on the way.

After the Healing there is Still Work to Do

Jesus says to them, “Go and show yourselves to the priest”

Even though Jesus was going to heal them, there was some cleaning up that the priest has to do.

Once it was determined that a leper was clean

And on the seventh day he shall shave off all his hair from his head, his beard, and his eyebrows.

He shall shave off all his hair, and then he shall wash his clothes and bathe his body in water, and he be clean.

Determining the cleanliness was the final act, after the cleansing or healing had happened there was some cleaning up and some sacrifice that had to be offered on behalf of the healed leper.

Just like when people give their life to Christ, that is just the beginning!

Once the healing happens, church there is still work to be done.

Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.

I know many of us are looking for our individual situations to improve but there might be someone who needs your help this morning and your help might just come by you helping someone else out.

Do Not Refuse Thanksgiving

Every good thing in our life comes from God.

The gratitude of the Samaritan grew with proclamation.

We should not be afraid of showing our thankfulness to God.

Now one of them when he saw that he had been healed, turned back, glorifying God with a loud voice.

Gratitude must compel us to move from inward recognition to outward representation.

Let the redeemed of the Lord say so.

We should verbally express our thankfulness unto God.

Come and hear, all who fear God, And I will tell of what He has done for my soul.

I cried to Him with my mouth, And He was extolled with my tongue.

If I regard wickedness in my heart, The Lord will not hear But certainly God has heard; He has given heed to the voice of my prayer Blessed be God, Who has not turned away my prayer Nor His lovingkindness from me.

The position of thankfulness: He prostrates himself at the feet of Jesus.

Understand that his life is changed and he shows Jesus accordingly.

We should not be afraid to show (outwardly) that we are thankful for every blessing!

Glorified the Lord with a loud voice:

You’ll shout about the goodness of God when he has healed you from something you did not think you could get through.

It is not about who else decides to praise.

It is not about who else decides to turn back and thank God, we have to know that it was Jesus that healed us and he deserves the highest praise.

It’s interesting sometimes, that the people who have not known Jesus that long have the greatest thankfulness.

Some of us veterans forget how good Jesus has been to us!

Verse 18 “Was no one found who returned to give glory to God, except this foreigner”.

Jesus is not coercing you to have a spirit of thanksgiving but when you truly understand that the blessing you have recieved is one that you do not deserve you ought to be thankful.