WEBVTT 00:00:00.160 --> 00:00:04.719 Well, I'm excited about this morning and this passage that we get to read, Luke 17. 00:00:04.879 --> 00:00:07.360 Obviously, it's picked for Thanksgiving week. 00:00:07.519 --> 00:00:10.400 We just finished our series on 1 John. 00:00:10.560 --> 00:00:13.759 What a great book for us to have worked our way through for three months. 00:00:13.839 --> 00:00:16.239 And so we'll have this week talking about Thanksgiving. 00:00:16.320 --> 00:00:21.280 And hopefully, my hope in this is that we will contemplate the story for a few minutes. 00:00:21.440 --> 00:00:34.719 We'll have a little more extended worship on the backside of the Sermon and Communion, but as well for this to be preparation for our hearts, not just for the remainder 35 minutes of worship, but for this upcoming week of Thanksgiving. 00:00:34.960 --> 00:00:48.960 So I nerded out a little this week on some Thanksgiving and gratitude research, and one study, it was published in Harvard Health Publishing, and the study was done by these top, two top psychologists on the research of gratitude. 00:00:49.280 --> 00:00:49.600 Dr. 00:00:49.679 --> 00:00:52.399 Robert Emmons of the University of California, Davis, Dr. 00:00:52.479 --> 00:00:56.560 Michael McCullough of the University of Miami, leading researchers on gratitude. 00:00:56.799 --> 00:01:08.079 And they did this study, and their first group, they had this first group write down each week for 10 weeks, all the participants wrote down a few sentences each week about things they were grateful for. 00:01:08.400 --> 00:01:09.840 Then they formed a second group. 00:01:10.000 --> 00:01:12.879 The second group wrote down daily irritations. 00:01:13.359 --> 00:01:23.680 Then the third group wrote down neither positive or negative, just things that happened during the week, but they had neither positive or negative sort of repercussions or feelings or emphasis about them. 00:01:23.760 --> 00:01:27.200 So after 10 weeks, you already know the results, right? 00:01:27.280 --> 00:01:28.959 I don't have to really share the results. 00:01:29.120 --> 00:01:30.000 You know the results. 00:01:30.159 --> 00:01:35.439 The people practicing gratitude felt better about their lives. 00:01:36.079 --> 00:01:37.359 So that's good news, right? 00:01:37.519 --> 00:01:39.439 I mean, that's good news for us to enter a week. 00:01:39.920 --> 00:01:46.719 That is perhaps our culture's healthiest holiday, is what this means. 00:01:46.959 --> 00:01:52.159 So there's more research though, as I dug a little bit, got way deep on the interwebs. 00:01:52.400 --> 00:01:56.079 2015 survey by a survey company called Healthline. 00:01:56.400 --> 00:02:05.760 Said 62% of respondents described stress levels as very or somewhat higher during the holiday season. 00:02:06.319 --> 00:02:08.639 So does anybody want to guess what the main stressors were? 00:02:08.800 --> 00:02:10.159 That these people listed, anybody want to guess? 00:02:10.240 --> 00:02:11.360 Maybe you just want to yell yours out. 00:02:11.439 --> 00:02:12.479 I don't you can. 00:02:12.719 --> 00:02:13.520 You're welcome to. 00:02:13.680 --> 00:02:15.039 Might feel good, might feel freeing. 00:02:15.120 --> 00:02:20.240 Does anybody want to guess what the major stressors that people said on this survey? 00:02:20.400 --> 00:02:21.280 Anyone want to guess one? 00:02:22.319 --> 00:02:23.759 Family, that is one. 00:02:24.960 --> 00:02:26.159 Money was two. 00:02:27.439 --> 00:02:29.759 One time, no, that's a good one. 00:02:30.960 --> 00:02:33.039 Loneliness, that's that's good. 00:02:34.240 --> 00:02:36.000 It kind of those kind of wrap in. 00:02:36.080 --> 00:02:37.759 The third one was was health. 00:02:38.080 --> 00:02:38.960 Health. 00:02:39.919 --> 00:02:42.560 Money, family, health. 00:02:42.960 --> 00:02:45.120 So maybe you don't think you're in the 62%. 00:02:45.439 --> 00:02:46.479 So let's say you're not. 00:02:46.639 --> 00:02:46.800 Okay? 00:02:47.039 --> 00:02:49.599 So let's say that those aren't stressors for you. 00:02:49.759 --> 00:02:56.960 But you kind of get caught up in the next fact that a survey showed, and that was that only 10% reported that they had no stress. 00:02:57.120 --> 00:03:07.120 So most likely you got some measure of stress during the season of gratitude, by which the gratitude research shows that uh you'll be happier. 00:03:07.199 --> 00:03:16.080 So the gratitude research says this week you should be happier, and yet the research shows that this week will also have increased levels of stress for you. 00:03:16.719 --> 00:03:26.240 I mean, speaking of family, do any of you, any of you, have anybody in your family that causes any amount of stress? 00:03:26.400 --> 00:03:27.360 Just raise your hand. 00:03:27.520 --> 00:03:27.840 Okay. 00:03:28.080 --> 00:03:28.479 Right? 00:03:28.639 --> 00:03:30.080 My hand is up, too. 00:03:30.319 --> 00:03:32.159 I will not say their name. 00:03:32.800 --> 00:03:33.120 Right? 00:03:33.280 --> 00:03:34.240 Of course we do. 00:03:34.479 --> 00:03:36.080 And let me blow your mind. 00:03:36.319 --> 00:03:37.520 I'll blow your mind. 00:03:37.680 --> 00:03:41.199 There's a family member right now sitting in a church. 00:03:41.439 --> 00:03:43.120 A family member of yours sitting in a church. 00:03:43.280 --> 00:03:44.960 The same question might have been asked of them. 00:03:45.120 --> 00:03:48.719 And they raise their hand, and they're thinking about you, right? 00:03:49.360 --> 00:03:52.240 And they're thinking about me because I'm causing stress. 00:03:53.280 --> 00:03:55.280 That's just how it works. 00:03:55.759 --> 00:03:58.319 Families are dynamic places of joy and stress. 00:03:58.400 --> 00:04:04.800 So of course, this week has both, and of course, this week requires a lot of grace to other people and a lot of grace to ourselves. 00:04:04.960 --> 00:04:06.080 And life is like this. 00:04:06.159 --> 00:04:09.280 Life is a dynamic place of joy and stress. 00:04:09.439 --> 00:04:11.039 And so that's just good to know, right? 00:04:11.120 --> 00:04:22.160 Like it's good to know that because what it means is holidays, hopefully, like life, and hopefully like family or relationships or church, uh, you don't have to pretend to be something you're not. 00:04:22.560 --> 00:04:24.000 Of course you feel both. 00:04:24.240 --> 00:04:30.720 Of course you can almost simultaneously feel incredibly grateful and still be stressed. 00:04:31.360 --> 00:04:34.319 Now you don't have to ignore stress or anxiety to be thankful. 00:04:34.480 --> 00:04:36.800 And that's just kind of good news for us. 00:04:37.199 --> 00:04:38.720 Now here's the passage. 00:04:39.040 --> 00:04:41.839 Sort of priming us into this passage, Luke 17. 00:04:41.920 --> 00:04:45.839 I'll read it, it won't be as beautiful as Jill's accent, but I'll read it. 00:04:46.240 --> 00:04:49.199 Luke 17, 14 through 19. 00:04:50.160 --> 00:04:54.560 When he saw them, he said to them, Go and show yourselves to the priest. 00:04:56.560 --> 00:04:58.879 And as they went, they were cleansed. 00:04:59.680 --> 00:05:08.879 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. 00:05:09.199 --> 00:05:10.720 Now he was a Samaritan. 00:05:11.759 --> 00:05:16.560 Then Jesus answered, We're not ten cleansed, where are the nine? 00:05:16.879 --> 00:05:21.600 Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner? 00:05:21.920 --> 00:05:24.399 And he said to him, Rise and go your way. 00:05:24.560 --> 00:05:27.519 Your faith has made you well. 00:05:28.800 --> 00:05:31.680 So a few points to kind of guide us here for the next few minutes. 00:05:31.759 --> 00:05:37.279 Point number one is this is gratitude seems to be about slowing down and remembering. 00:05:37.439 --> 00:05:41.040 Gratitude is about slowing down and remembering. 00:05:42.000 --> 00:05:44.480 One guy returns to Jesus, and what does he do? 00:05:44.639 --> 00:05:48.879 Well, he falls down on his face, giving thanks. 00:05:49.759 --> 00:05:56.000 That's a posture of slowness and stillness, and I have nothing left, nothing to move on to. 00:05:56.319 --> 00:05:58.079 And that's not easy. 00:05:58.639 --> 00:06:00.160 We just love to keep moving on. 00:06:00.319 --> 00:06:01.199 Just move to the next thing. 00:06:01.360 --> 00:06:02.240 Think about the next thing. 00:06:02.399 --> 00:06:09.680 I mean, even this morning, I went for a walk this morning, early this morning, I went for a walk, and as I set out, it's okay, you know, I'm gonna be preaching on Thanksgiving. 00:06:09.920 --> 00:06:17.600 Let's try not to think too much about the sermon Russ, and let's just kind of enter into, you know, maybe a 20-minute walk of Thanksgiving. 00:06:18.720 --> 00:06:35.680 And I did that for about three and a half minutes, and then I found myself thinking about the sermon, and how I'm gonna work my way from one thing, transition from one thing to the next, you know, and all that, and thinking about Thanksgiving travel plans, and thinking about I bought some new running shoes on Friday, and when are they arriving today? 00:06:35.759 --> 00:06:39.839 Because they are arriving today, and what time today, and get caught up in that. 00:06:40.000 --> 00:06:41.199 I'm looking forward to those shoes. 00:06:41.279 --> 00:06:52.720 So I was thinking about that for about four minutes, and then you return back to thankfulness that you could buy a pair of running shoes or you have shoes. 00:06:53.439 --> 00:06:55.759 I mean, so much that we just sort of overlook, right? 00:06:55.839 --> 00:07:01.600 And I think for a lot of us, we resist this sort of slowness, this bowing down, this stillness. 00:07:01.759 --> 00:07:10.079 I mean, even a lot of times we'll get still in prayer, and then we'll jump straight into reading something else or learning something new. 00:07:10.319 --> 00:07:18.079 And not that those things are bad, but there's something about being completely still and thankful that's very different. 00:07:19.680 --> 00:07:21.920 It requires a lot of humility. 00:07:22.560 --> 00:07:25.759 And then I think something else happens when we're in this position. 00:07:26.000 --> 00:07:29.439 When we're in this position of gratitude. 00:07:29.839 --> 00:07:32.720 Gratitude doesn't show up by itself. 00:07:33.839 --> 00:07:36.240 Now, this is maybe a little bit separate from the passage. 00:07:36.399 --> 00:07:38.639 I mean, I can make an assumption about this guy. 00:07:38.800 --> 00:07:42.800 He was a Samaritan, he had leprosy for who knows how long. 00:07:43.040 --> 00:07:46.079 You have to assume he had a certain amount of emotional woundedness. 00:07:46.879 --> 00:07:54.160 And you gotta think, even in his gratitude, he's being thankful for certain things, but the things he's being thankful for perhaps are very hurtful. 00:07:55.439 --> 00:07:59.279 So, along with gratitude showing up, hurt and sin show up. 00:08:04.879 --> 00:08:11.519 And so we become still enough, and like we talked about last week, we want to get to that intersection of our woundedness and our sin. 00:08:12.160 --> 00:08:13.600 To find our idolatry. 00:08:13.759 --> 00:08:17.360 What is it that's driving a lot of the unhealthy habits in our life? 00:08:17.600 --> 00:08:20.800 What is it driving us to be so busy in our hearts? 00:08:23.199 --> 00:08:25.600 And then what do you do when you get to that place? 00:08:26.560 --> 00:08:35.600 When you're in that place of stillness and you have this mix of gratitude, and you have this mix of being overwhelmed, you have this mix of stress, you have this mix of uh sin and woundedness. 00:08:36.720 --> 00:08:42.240 Do you hear the loving voice of Jesus that welcomes you in, or do you hear a condemning voice? 00:08:42.720 --> 00:08:45.440 I think it brings us to a couple of healthy questions. 00:08:45.519 --> 00:08:52.720 The first one is this Do I have a regular practice of slowing down my busy heart in order to be thankful? 00:08:53.440 --> 00:08:54.960 Now that's a yes or no question. 00:08:55.039 --> 00:08:58.480 So if you answer yes, you feel very prideful, and if you answer no, you feel condemned, right? 00:08:58.559 --> 00:09:00.080 I kind of set you up there. 00:09:01.039 --> 00:09:09.519 But it's not to say, you know, shame on you, but it's to say, how much freer could you be in Jesus just by beginning to slow down? 00:09:09.919 --> 00:09:11.279 What might you see? 00:09:11.519 --> 00:09:13.519 What might you be grateful for? 00:09:14.720 --> 00:09:22.879 Second question would be Am I preoccupied by trying to get somewhere or something rather than resting in Christ in the present moment? 00:09:22.960 --> 00:09:29.519 Now, this is a question we have in our monthly church prayer meeting that we have once a month on a Tuesday from 11 to 12. 00:09:29.600 --> 00:09:30.639 This is in the prayer guide. 00:09:30.879 --> 00:09:35.840 It jumps out at me every single month because this question nails me. 00:09:37.279 --> 00:09:39.840 And it also relieves me that I get to do this, right? 00:09:39.919 --> 00:09:49.279 Like it's like, oh man, I do that, but it's like, oh, there's not a voice of condemnation in that, there's a voice of the love of Jesus that welcomes me then to say, hey, you don't have to be preoccupied. 00:09:50.799 --> 00:09:56.399 You can rest in my healing, my wholeness, my salvation for you. 00:09:56.879 --> 00:09:58.559 Your identity is beloved. 00:09:59.039 --> 00:10:00.559 You don't have to move on. 00:10:01.200 --> 00:10:03.440 But nine of them moved on, right? 00:10:03.759 --> 00:10:04.720 The other nine. 00:10:04.879 --> 00:10:07.440 They went to the temple, they all went to the temple. 00:10:07.919 --> 00:10:13.759 To be accepted back into society, to be accepted into religious culture, but to be accepted into society. 00:10:14.559 --> 00:10:16.240 And nine moved on. 00:10:16.960 --> 00:10:18.879 But why do you think they got busy? 00:10:18.960 --> 00:10:20.240 Why do you think they moved on? 00:10:20.399 --> 00:10:22.720 And this is what I think is a safe speculation. 00:10:22.960 --> 00:10:29.600 Point number two idolatry of religion and approval can easily enslave our hearts. 00:10:30.559 --> 00:10:32.080 Can you imagine? 00:10:33.120 --> 00:10:45.519 Can you imagine for years and years and years, maybe decades, having been rejected, separated from family and friends in society for years because of your disease on your skin, leprosy. 00:10:45.759 --> 00:10:48.639 And you know inside of you there's nothing wrong with you. 00:10:49.679 --> 00:10:51.759 And everybody's rejected you. 00:10:52.399 --> 00:10:54.159 And then you're healed. 00:10:54.879 --> 00:10:56.399 And they'll have you back. 00:10:57.679 --> 00:11:02.000 I mean, you've been wondering for a long time if you are lovable or not. 00:11:02.799 --> 00:11:12.080 And in an instance, you you are accepted by those people, by that system, by that place, right? 00:11:12.399 --> 00:11:19.039 The friends will finally have you, the ones you've wanted your whole life, or your dad finally approves of you because of some achievement, right? 00:11:19.120 --> 00:11:20.559 The club welcomes you, right? 00:11:20.720 --> 00:11:24.000 The thing that you thought you'd never get to, finally you have it. 00:11:24.320 --> 00:11:29.200 How intoxicating this would be for your heart. 00:11:30.480 --> 00:11:36.240 This week I read a quote by psychologist Gene Veneer. 00:11:36.559 --> 00:11:40.559 He said this uh we we don't just want to be loved. 00:11:41.200 --> 00:11:42.879 That's what we think at first. 00:11:45.279 --> 00:11:47.279 We actually want to know if we're lovable. 00:11:47.759 --> 00:11:49.120 And that's even deeper. 00:11:50.879 --> 00:12:06.480 And I think these nine, they were healed on their skin in an external way, and then they got accepted back into a religious system that validated them and into an approval of society that that validated them. 00:12:06.559 --> 00:12:10.000 Can you imagine that they would have felt lovable? 00:12:10.159 --> 00:12:13.840 Now, how long they felt lovable, we don't know. 00:12:15.039 --> 00:12:16.559 Probably not very long. 00:12:16.720 --> 00:12:20.320 And we know that because this is how idols work, right? 00:12:20.559 --> 00:12:30.960 They promise us some group of people, some religious system is gonna be enough for the inside of yourself, for your soul, for your heart to be validated. 00:12:33.039 --> 00:12:35.600 But it actually doesn't hold power. 00:12:36.240 --> 00:12:38.639 The gospel's what holds power. 00:12:40.799 --> 00:12:46.240 Remember last week we showed we showed this, Tim Keller and his book, his study, Gospel and Life. 00:12:46.320 --> 00:12:52.159 He talks about idolatry, and I picked back out these two because I thought it was affable into this story. 00:12:52.559 --> 00:12:55.679 Approval idolatry and religious idolatry. 00:12:56.000 --> 00:12:58.960 And here's how he frames it up for us to grab hold of it. 00:12:59.279 --> 00:13:10.399 Idolatry in our hearts begins with a sentence like this Life only has meaning, or I only have worth if I am loved and respected by. 00:13:15.440 --> 00:13:26.240 Or life only has meaning, or I only have worth if I am fulfilling my religious duties, my moral codes, and accomplishing what is expected of me. 00:13:27.039 --> 00:13:30.000 Approval, idolatry, and religious idolatry. 00:13:32.639 --> 00:13:40.159 And these ways of life end up being a lot of promises, but never true deliverance. 00:13:40.399 --> 00:13:41.200 It never lasts. 00:13:41.279 --> 00:13:44.320 You always have something else to do, someone else to please. 00:13:45.600 --> 00:13:49.279 It's a performance idolatry at its core. 00:13:49.600 --> 00:13:53.840 And it's not what the gospel is, the good news that the work's already been done for you. 00:13:54.480 --> 00:14:01.279 Like the God who created you, who loves you, welcomes you, and deems you righteous. 00:14:01.519 --> 00:14:13.679 Your sin cast upon him, his righteousness given to you, so you are forever beloved, and that for you in wholeness and fulfillment in life is more about rooting yourself and your identity back in Jesus. 00:14:14.240 --> 00:14:17.679 Point number three is this such good news. 00:14:17.840 --> 00:14:23.600 We are not only given blessings by God, but we are saved and made whole. 00:14:24.480 --> 00:14:26.240 So here's how we see this in this passage. 00:14:26.320 --> 00:14:26.879 There's two words. 00:14:26.960 --> 00:14:31.039 There's this word cleansed, and so cleansed, all ten were cleansed. 00:14:31.120 --> 00:14:34.000 And the idea here is that they were physically made whole. 00:14:34.080 --> 00:14:41.360 They were cleansed of their leprosy, that skin disease, that on the external everything was made fine. 00:14:42.240 --> 00:14:46.879 So it would be sort of like if all of your finances were fine. 00:14:47.120 --> 00:14:47.840 They're just good. 00:14:47.919 --> 00:14:50.320 They're good, they're gonna be fine, they're fine. 00:14:51.120 --> 00:14:53.200 Or your social status was fine. 00:14:53.440 --> 00:14:54.639 It was fine. 00:14:55.679 --> 00:14:58.639 Or your romances or your health or your family situation. 00:14:58.720 --> 00:14:59.360 It's just fine. 00:14:59.440 --> 00:15:01.759 Everything's just fine. 00:15:03.360 --> 00:15:04.799 And don't we know? 00:15:05.200 --> 00:15:16.879 I think we know, we can get all of that, all the external fine, and still our inner selves, our hearts can be hurting. 00:15:17.840 --> 00:15:22.399 So there's this second word, and this is the word only the one gets who comes back. 00:15:22.960 --> 00:15:25.600 Because he comes back to Jesus and says, hey, that wasn't enough. 00:15:25.679 --> 00:15:27.919 Like I get it, that that was that was cleansing. 00:15:28.000 --> 00:15:32.240 That was the external, but I have more problems than that, and he knows that. 00:15:34.080 --> 00:15:40.320 And he comes back, and then Jesus says to him, Your faith has made you well. 00:15:40.799 --> 00:15:45.519 So not some merit, not some performance, but a trusting in Jesus' sufficiency for him. 00:15:45.679 --> 00:15:50.799 And that word well means to be saved from the burden of sin, shame, and guilt. 00:15:50.879 --> 00:15:55.120 It means to be made whole on the inside by God's grace through Christ. 00:15:55.279 --> 00:15:58.399 It's about the core of who you are, your identity in Christ. 00:16:00.799 --> 00:16:06.480 Not running from woundedness, but bringing it to him, not running from your sin, but bringing it to Jesus. 00:16:07.120 --> 00:16:10.639 And then the text says, it points out very clearly two different ways. 00:16:10.720 --> 00:16:15.840 One time it says, now the man was a Samaritan, then Jesus says that just this foreigner is returned. 00:16:16.320 --> 00:16:21.200 So in the context of the time, this man would have been rejected upon rejected. 00:16:21.360 --> 00:16:24.320 Even once cleansed, he was rejected. 00:16:24.639 --> 00:16:28.000 He might have had his skin all cleared up, but he was still a Samaritan. 00:16:28.320 --> 00:16:33.679 So racially inferior, would not have held great position in that temple or in the society. 00:16:36.559 --> 00:16:39.600 I wonder if you've ever not been welcomed, maybe left out. 00:16:39.759 --> 00:16:47.840 Have you ever had to say, as my friend Kurt says, that the two worst words in the human English language are what party? 00:16:50.320 --> 00:16:50.960 Right? 00:16:51.679 --> 00:16:53.360 Have you ever said that? 00:16:54.399 --> 00:16:57.600 That's a horrible moment because you were left out. 00:16:58.080 --> 00:16:59.919 You were excluded. 00:17:01.679 --> 00:17:03.840 Maybe you've never felt like you fit in. 00:17:04.160 --> 00:17:05.519 Maybe it's just always been for you. 00:17:05.599 --> 00:17:10.480 Like you got to the table and everybody had a seat, and for whatever reason, the chair wasn't there for you. 00:17:12.720 --> 00:17:16.880 Or maybe you've been able to fit in along the way, the whole way. 00:17:18.319 --> 00:17:22.480 But underneath, you do wonder, because I wonder it. 00:17:23.039 --> 00:17:25.119 If someone really knew me. 00:17:25.759 --> 00:17:34.799 Like if somebody really knew that intersection of wounded my woundedness and my sin, if somebody knew that, if someone really knew me, would they welcome me? 00:17:35.920 --> 00:17:37.279 Would they love me? 00:17:38.960 --> 00:17:40.880 Or would I be rejected? 00:17:41.440 --> 00:17:48.000 And what this Samaritan shows us, that Jesus welcomes this Samaritan and points it out. 00:17:48.240 --> 00:17:51.519 It's not just a lesson about us being thankful, it is. 00:17:52.240 --> 00:18:00.480 But it's also a lesson about the welcome of God to all of us who feel like and know we're outsiders and we don't have our acts together. 00:18:04.240 --> 00:18:05.839 You come as you are. 00:18:06.799 --> 00:18:09.119 And Jesus is just fine with that. 00:18:10.720 --> 00:18:13.359 So this man is healed, this one. 00:18:13.839 --> 00:18:15.279 He is made well. 00:18:16.640 --> 00:18:20.640 So he's healed, but he's also moving in that healing. 00:18:20.720 --> 00:18:22.160 And that's important to say. 00:18:22.400 --> 00:18:26.880 Because you can get the idea here of, like, oh, and he goes on forever and everything's wonderful. 00:18:26.960 --> 00:18:29.680 But don't forget that he's still a person, right? 00:18:29.839 --> 00:18:31.359 He's still a sinner. 00:18:31.680 --> 00:18:32.960 He still has a background. 00:18:33.119 --> 00:18:37.920 He still has, good gosh, who knows what's happened in his life for him to process through. 00:18:38.400 --> 00:18:41.039 So he is healed, but he is also healing. 00:18:41.119 --> 00:18:43.759 This is the already, but not yet, of the Christian faith. 00:18:43.839 --> 00:18:47.920 We're already beloved, and yet we're still growing in our belovedness. 00:18:48.880 --> 00:18:50.960 The last bit of good news. 00:18:51.519 --> 00:18:52.559 And I love this. 00:18:52.720 --> 00:18:54.400 I love that this is hidden in this text. 00:18:54.720 --> 00:18:55.599 Point number four. 00:18:55.920 --> 00:19:00.000 Jesus fully loves both the grateful and the ungrateful. 00:19:01.440 --> 00:19:03.680 Here's what we overlook in this story. 00:19:04.000 --> 00:19:06.799 Jesus didn't strike down the other nine. 00:19:08.319 --> 00:19:10.000 He didn't say, oh, they weren't thankful. 00:19:10.240 --> 00:19:12.559 I'm going to pull back that healing. 00:19:13.200 --> 00:19:17.039 Jesus didn't reverse the healing because they didn't show gratitude. 00:19:17.279 --> 00:19:23.200 And this is good news because we are not always grateful. 00:19:24.240 --> 00:19:30.880 What we are is we are thankful at times, and then we are brats at times. 00:19:31.119 --> 00:19:33.359 And sometimes we're both at the same time. 00:19:33.519 --> 00:19:37.839 And sometimes you think you're thankful, but really you're brat, and sometimes maybe you think you're a brat, but actually you're being thankful. 00:19:38.480 --> 00:19:39.200 It's hard, right? 00:19:39.279 --> 00:19:40.480 It's just difficult. 00:19:42.319 --> 00:19:50.160 But to know that you are loved by Jesus in your gratitude and also when you're a brat, isn't that amazing? 00:19:51.119 --> 00:20:02.000 And isn't it interesting that knowing that sort of grace that pursues you and is enough for you apart from your performance is incredibly relieving and freeing. 00:20:02.480 --> 00:20:10.960 And paradoxically, maybe, maybe, maybe, maybe, it begins to form a little bit of gratitude in you. 00:20:12.160 --> 00:20:20.880 I close with this quote as we go in to celebrate communion and we go to worship, we move into a week of hopefully slowing down in some measure to be thankful. 00:20:21.119 --> 00:20:25.119 I ran into this quote this week by author and apologist Ravi Zacharias. 00:20:25.359 --> 00:20:26.319 Love this quote. 00:20:26.640 --> 00:20:30.240 Gratitude comes from the same word as freedom. 00:20:30.960 --> 00:20:34.319 Gratitude comes from the same word as freedom. 00:20:35.440 --> 00:20:43.839 Gratitude is the freeing expression of a free heart toward one who freely gave. 00:20:44.480 --> 00:20:46.079 Let's pray together. 00:20:46.720 --> 00:20:53.279 God, thank you for the gift of Jesus that is enough for our woundedness, enough for our sin, enough for our guilt, enough for our shame. 00:20:53.519 --> 00:20:56.240 Thank you that in Jesus you welcome us. 00:20:57.920 --> 00:21:01.839 That you welcome us while we're messy. 00:21:02.640 --> 00:21:08.400 You welcome us as we are outsiders, you welcome us before we have our acts together. 00:21:10.559 --> 00:21:17.920 Thank you that while we are grateful you love us, and while we're ungrateful, you love us, and boy, does that give us a lot to be grateful for. 00:21:19.920 --> 00:21:48.480 God, would you give us enough faith and trust this week to begin to slow our hearts down to not just think about the stressors that exist in our relationships, our finances, and our health, but also to think about your goodness and all those things, your presence even amidst hurt, your sustaining, and ultimately that you welcome and love us. 00:21:50.000 --> 00:21:51.759 And that we're never alone. 00:21:53.759 --> 00:21:58.720 God, we thank you for the gift of Jesus that is enough for us this morning and always. 00:21:59.200 --> 00:22:01.279 In his powerful name we pray. 00:22:01.519 --> 00:22:02.160 Amen.