Who Stole My Wheels

Luke 17:11-19

Luke 17:11–19 NKJV

Now it happened as He went to Jerusalem that He passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee. Then as He entered a certain village, there met Him ten men who were lepers, who stood afar off. And they lifted up their voices and said, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!” So when He saw them, He said to them, “Go, show yourselves to the priests.” And so it was that as they went, they were cleansed. And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, returned, and with a loud voice glorified God, and fell down on his face at His feet, giving Him thanks. And he was a Samaritan. So Jesus answered and said, “Were there not ten cleansed? But where are the nine? Were there not any found who returned to give glory to God except this foreigner?” And He said to him, “Arise, go your way. Your faith has made you well.”

Mark and Denise Lewis and their three children are from Athens Ohio - And in March , they were visiting a friend ( who shared the story) in Dallas Texas. While they were there, they encountered a Big Problem , because someone stole their van. They had to get a rental car in order to go back home way to Ohio.

On the way home (in rental car), they stopped at Hope, Arkansas deciding that they wanted to see the birthplace of Former President Clinton. It was a detour , but with the nice rental, they took advantage of the different type of car and enjoyed the ride.

Almost at the destination, the whole family was stopped at a traffic light, and as they were all sitting in car, they noticed a van sitting at the same traffic light but going in the opposite direction.

That van was red like their Van

That Van had pinstripes on it like their van

When the light changed and the van passed them noticed that the van had Athens county Ohio license tags— THEIR License tag !!

There was a lot of screaming and yelling inside the car about this point, and Mark Lewis turned the car around and began to follow the van .

He followed it into a shopping center- a lady got out of the van and pretty soon a man walked up... and the two of them went into the store together.

So, Mark Lewis who just happened to have an extra key.... unlocked the van, got in, and drove it off trying to find a police station.

Mrs Lewis and the three kids kept driving the rental car, and they followed him away ..... Unfortunately Mrs Lewis got lost from her husband in the traffic.

As she was there in the traffic.. a car drove up beside her containing the woman that they had seen get out of the van , and the man who had met her.....and the man who had met her had a gun.

Mrs Lewis sped off as the gunman followed in hot pursuit… finally Mrs Lewis drove up to a restaurant ..............she got out....

And before she could ask for help, the gunman, hopped out of the van caught up to her and put a pistol to her back ......

and you will never believe what the guy said to Mrs Lewis....

He said

“Where's my van ........ You stole my WHEELS”

Fortunately the people at the restaurant saw what happened and informed this gunman that they had called the police and he and his female accomplice promptly ran off , and were later arrested in an adjacent county . You will not be surprised to learn that the car they were driving was also stolen.

Now doesn't that just about take the cake...

A thief says to the owner of a vehicle “You stole my Wheels !!!”

This morning I would like to talk to you about a class of people whose WHEELS has been stolen.... and I'm not talking this morning about literal Wheels .

I am talking about a spiritual van… I'm talking about a spiritual vehicle .....

A spiritual means of transportation ...... and there are lots of people who have had that ‘Super Power’ taken away from them.

On the possible chance that there might be somebody in this audience of whom that is true :

I ASK you ..... to ASK Yourself the following question :

Who Stole my Wheels ?

King of Prussia Mall , PA

>Christmas Week’

>Robins Shoes

>Macy Mini Store

>Walking and Walking

> My car is stolen

Standing there just exactly where I had parked it

I drove joyfully away because I considered myself fortunate :

Nobody had stolen my wheels.

Im sorry to tell you this morning that the story we read just a few minutes ago from the Word of God is a story about ten men - If I can put it this way

Nine of them had had their wheels stolen -

Only 1 had good spiritual Transportation.

Ten Lepers

At first all looked alike.

Ancient times , the disease of Leprosy covered a lot of skin ailments of various kinds

Some very severe in which the limbs and joints were eaten away by the disease.

Another type disfigured the face, or disfigured the body.

Much Leprosy turned the skin into an unsightly color.

The International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia, Volumes 1–5 (Leper, Leprosy)

A slowly progressing and intractable disease characterized by subcutaneous nodules, scabs or cuticular crusts and white shining spots appearing to be deeper than the skin. Other signs are (1) that the hairs of the affected part turn white and (2) that later there is a growth of “quick raw flesh.” This disease in an especial manner rendered its victims unclean; even contact with a leper defiled whoever touched him.

“elephantiasis “

Maybe each of these men had their own particular form of leprosy, but they were all alike because they were “lepers” and under the terms of the Old Testament All were outcasts.

tended to live together

not allowed near family

apart from friends A Sad and Lonely Predicament.

BUT One day The Lord Jesus Christ came into thier view.

They don't dare go up close to him they don't dare to draw near to him.

Jesus is a distinguished rabbi and teacher

The bible says that they stood far off -- and they lifted up their voices

They cried out : “Jesus, Master (Teacher)

“Jesus , Teacher ,

Have mercy on us

Jesus have mercy on us

There is a sense in which these 10 lepers are an almost perfect picture , an almost perfect illustration of what you and I were like before we got saved.

You see we all had the spiritual form of leprosy ; the disease of Sin

We were all unclean in the sight of God we had no right to come close to God And

No right to come close to the Lord Jesus Christ

Furthermore like these ten men, there was nothing we could do about it !

There was no good work that we could perform -

there was no religious observance that we could commit ourselves to that would do anything at all to ‘our’ ‘leprosy’— we were totally and completely dependent upon the mercy, the Mercy of Jesus Christ our Lord !

TAX COLLECTOR / PHARISEE

Remember the story that Jesus told about the Pharisee and the Tax collector who went up into the temple to pray ?

Luke 18:10–14 NKJV

“Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, ‘God, I thank You that I am not like other men—extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I possess.’ And the tax collector, standing afar off, would not so much as raise his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me a sinner!’ I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

Pharisee didn't know he had spiritual leprosy and so he bragged to GOD

Tax collector knew he had spiritual leprosy he didn't even get close to the sanctuary of God the Bible says he stood ‘afar off ‘ : maybe in one of the corners of the court

His prayer was very simple and direct he said “God be merciful to me a sinner”

You know what Jesus bottom line on that little story was ? He said “I tell you that this man, this tax collector (rather than the pharisee), this man went down to his house justified !”

Why ????

Because nobody can get saved as long as they think they are good enough to win God's favor --- they must cast themselves completely completely on the Mercy of God !

Titus 3:5–7 NKJV

not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior, that having been justified by His grace we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

It is ONLY when a person comes to God thru Faith in Jesus Christ , in order to receive the Free Gift of Everlasting Life , It is ONLY then, when they cast themselves on the Mercy of God, that they are Cleansed Forever.

Song by William Newell 1895

Years I spent in vanity and pride, Caring not my Lord was crucified, Knowing not it was for me He died on Calvary.

Refrain: Mercy there was great and grace was free, Pardon there was multiplied to me, There my burdened soul found liberty– At Calvary.

SAY IT :

We Are Saved by the Mercy of God

So there they were - crying out to Jesus for mercy

and when Jesus sees them he makes one very simple statement -

he says go show yourself to the priest

now every one of those lepers knew exactly what that meant -

they knew that when a leper was cleansed

from his leprosy, he was required to go to a priest in Jerusalem

who would declare him cured.

go through eight days of ceremony ending with sacrifices to God,

and then, but only then was he allowed to return to his family and to his friends

> When Jesus said to these ten men “go show yourselves to the priests”,

it was like saying to them ‘ by the time

you get there you'll be well you'll be cleansed !’

Guess What:

All 10 of them Believed Jesus Words and started in the direction to Jerusalem to find a Priest.

I don't really know how far they had gone on their journey : 1/2 way 2/3 , somewhere on that trip to jerusalem The miracle happened --- The promise of Jesus was fulfilled and all ten of them were cleansed from their leprosy !

What were they Thinking?

Now the bible doesn't tell us But maybe---

this is wonderful, this is tremendous — the power of God has worked in my body and i'm clean for my leprosy --- I have got to hurry up --- I gotta get down to the priest

Because the quicker I can see him the quicker I can go through the ritual, the quicker I’ll get cleared -the quicker I'll be with my friends and family !!

One of them was thinking

this is marvelous, this is wonderful, the Power of God has wrote a miracle in my body !

I've got to turn around, I've got to go back

I've got to Praise God and give thanks to Jesus

And that's what he did : and as he approached the Son of God for the second time,

He lifted up his voice and glorified God and when

He reached the Presence of Jesus he cast himself on his face at the feet of Jesus

and he said ; “ thank you , thank you, thank you”

Do You know what this Samaritan ( Foreigner) was using ?

The very best Spiritual Transportation that the world knows anything about ! Best SUPER POWER....

It Was not

Porsche 911

Corvette C8

Audi R8

Jaguar F type

BMW M240i

Mustang GT 500

But a GTG Gratitude to God

It was his gratitude to God

that brought him back from his journey toward Jerusalem, and brought him once

again in the presence of Jesus Christ. WHAT ABOUT THE OTHER NINE?

They had lost their Wheels !

Someone had stolen their wheels !

They didn’t recognize the Power of Praise and Thanksgiving - Same with us ! The Miracles that we can see in our lives, The change in the way we Feel ,the Lift we could have in our Minds, If we would just simply Act on our Faith and Open our Mouths to Thank Our Savour for His Wonderful Grace to us !

A 2010 READERS DIGEST Article Shared this Story :

Sometimes it is not only right, but it is beneficial to express gratitude to another. Beth Rittler decided to contact people in her past that had been meaningful to her. She wrote letters or made telephone calls to many old friends and acquaintances. One letter went to a popular boy in her class who had paid attention to her—HER ! a shy, awkward girl with low self-esteem—even though they were not really friends. She located him and sent a letter. He responded with a phone call and now, 25 years after they were schoolmates, they are husband and wife. Thanksgiving is a discipline that carries far beyond one holiday. We can make it a lifestyle. “Thanksliving” will bring grace to others and benefit to ourselves.

Several weeks before Christmas A New york newspaper

printed page after page after page of letters that children

had written to Santa Claus asking for this, and asking for that.

After Christmas, in an editorial , they made the observation that of all of the thousands of letters that they had printed, only one young writer wrote in to give thanks to Santa Claus

Well, thats not too bad BUT:

There is a God — there is a Creator who gives us all things richly to enjoy

And it is serious , when we fail to give thanks appropriately to Him

Paul warned the Church in his letter to the Romans, that ‘Unthankfulness’....was the beginning steps to failure in life and reaping a harvest of darkness and Pain that we truly want to avoid. Romans 1.21

Romans 1:21 NLT

Yes, they knew God, but they wouldn’t worship him as God or even give him thanks. And they began to think up foolish ideas of what God was like. As a result, their minds became dark and confused.

A man was working at a post office desk one afternoon and an elderly man came up to him and asked him for a favor

He asked him if he would address a postcard for him, so the man said he'd be glad to do it he addressed the postcard

and after addressing the postcard the elderly man asked him if he would write a message on the card and sign the old man's name

so happily the man at the post office desk did that too and when he was finished he looked up at the old man and he said is there anything more i can do for you ?

‘Yes’, said the old fella, ‘would you add A note at the bottom.............’

P.S. “ Please Excuse the handwriting”

Thats the way people are, aren't they ? Sometimes you do something for them , and you don't know whether you're going to get a ‘thank you’, or a complaint that you didn't do more — or that you didn't do it better.

Lets have a little informal gathering in a living room somewhere, and we could really stir up a conversation about

how ungrateful people are.

Somebody could say you know people are terribly terribly ungrateful now a days

Somebody else would say yeah I can't even count the number of times I've done a favor for somebody they've never said thanks !

And somebody else says “ you know it's the same way with people on Govt. assistance : instead of thanking the government for support ; they think the government owes it to them and they demand more !

And on and on and on it might go

But it's risky....... it's dangerous to talk like that ..... because before you do,

you want to check your spiritual garage, and you want to check to see if you have a spiritual vehicle there called a GTG -......... Gratitude to God !!! ............................

You know what I bet, I bet there isn't anybody in the audience this morning who who walked to church today.

old Classic

new Maserati

motorcycle

a “ Sharon Demasi” car

And we didn't come in our own vehicle we probably came in somebody else's vehicle

But hey, around Six o'clock on Tuesday Night, we won't have any transportation .

Some of us we won't be able to make it to the Tuesday Night August Prayer Meetings.

And it won't be because our Buick or our Ford suddenly broke down

It won't be because we don't have any gas and don't have the money to pay for it

It won't be because we sprung four leaks and our tires are all flat

The reason we won't be able to make it is because we're not driving a GtG - we're not driving, and driven by Gratitude to God !

And if that fits you today, you want to ask yourself the question

Who Stole My Wheels ?

Back to the Leper

So there it was folks, down to the feet of Jesus , pouring out his thanks to Jesus — guess what ?

> he was a Samaritan ... did you get that? > a Samaritan ----- he wasn't a Jew !

He wasn't a member of God's Chosen Race

He wasn't from the nation that God had guarded and guided through its centuries of history .

He was a mongrel race , he was a member of a race that the Jews despised and did their best to avoid !

The man who came back to give thanks to God was a Samaritan!

And Jesus said “were there not ten lepers cleansed where are the nine ? Was no one found to return to give Glory to God, except this foreigner ??

Oh what cutting words those are - Except this this Foreigner ?

Next Sunday or this Tuesday, if We choose not to come to the Church or the Prayer meeting,

If We choose to sit down in our easy chair or on the sofa and turn on the TV,

Here's something to think about when the commercials come on.....

While you are sitting there watching tv , there's probably a foreigner somewhere

A Chinese man or woman who believes in Christ - a Christian in Afghanistan or North Korea … a small group of believers in Somalia who converted from Islam...... there's probably a Foreigner somewhere, at that very moment, doing what you and I should be doing :

Worshiping God maybe for the second, third , or fourth time that day.

And then Jesus concludes his interview with this remarkable Samaritan with striking words : He says ‘ arise, go your way, your faith has made you well. ”

Now please understand that his faith had taken him in the direction of jerusalem : he believed the Promise of God !

But when the miracle occurred , he believed that God had done it .

And he believed that God had deserved his thanksgiving !

Make no mistake about it.... it was faith that had taken towards Jerusalem

And it was faith that brought him back to the feet ofJesus again, after his cleansing !

You know what?

The ten men who headed in the direction of jerusalem were cleansed of their leprosy .

That meant that their leprosy was stopped

That meant they didn't have the disease of leprosy anymore ..but, if they had lost a limb ,that limb was still gone.

If they were disfigured ,they were still disfigured.

If their skin was full of blotches they were still full of blotches - even though the leprosy was gone.

But when This man came back to give thanks to Jesus,

Jesus didn't just say your “faith has cleansed you” ; he was already cleansed.

Jesus said “ Your Faith has Made you Well” !!

If he had lost a limb he had it back

If he was disfigured in the face; he was no longer disfigured

If his skin was covered with blotches ; they were covered with blotches no more

“ Your Faith has made you well “

May I say this?

If you are a believer in Jesus Christ, and have received the Free Gift of Eternal Life from Him , You are cleansed from spiritual leprosy …But

If you are an ‘ungrateful’ christian,

You are still disfigured by the marks of sin..

Or to put in another way

The way to live a healthy , sound, fully vital Christian life is by being Grateful enough to act on your gratitude toward God .

Who stole your wheels ?

It wasn't the devil

It wasn't your circumstances

It wasn't your family

There is only one thief, on the face of the earth, who steals GTGs…

His name is ingratitude just plain , down to earth, garden variety,

every day ingratitude to God and to Jesus Christ our Lord.

The story is told about a little girl..... five years of age... who attended kindergarten,

and every day her class were dismissed by the singing of the the doxology.....

You know the doxology :

Praise God from whom all Blessings flow,

Praise God all creatures here below .

That the little girl had her own way of singing the doxology ....this is how she sang it:

Praise God from whom all blessings flow --- praise God all creatures “Here we go !”

You know what Pastor Jim wishes for every Christian at Harvest Church ??

That they owned a brand new, fully gassed up “GTG” ‘ Gratitude to God ‘

and about 9 or 9:30 every Sunday Morning, that every Christian at Harvest would say:

Praise God all creatures, Here we go ... to the Lord's House !

To The Lord’s House to Give Thanks to Jesus for our Cleansing from Sin- our Spiritual Leprosy !

We can return to Jesus again and receive

Wellness and Wholeness and Healing by our Faith and Gratitude to Him!