The Thankful Leper

We are celebrating Thanksgiving here in the Prospection Church, and we are talking about giving thanks from the story of the ten lepers in Luke chapter 17. So, open with us as we study together. Amen.

Good morning, church! How are you all doing this morning? Happy almost Thanksgiving to you all. Would you mind sitting down for just a moment? Don't worry; I'll make you stand up in a few minutes to open the Scriptures.

Aside from saying good morning, I wanted to share with you a little bit about the last couple of weeks. I'm glad to be back here in the States. My oldest son, Ethan, just turned 10 last month, and a group of about 25 others, some from this church and also some from Calvary Nexus in Camarillo, traveled around southwestern Turkey. We visited the seven churches of Asia.

If you have ever read through the book of Revelation, you might know that even a lot of people who don't really read the Bible have read portions of Revelation. They may have seen the Inquirer talking about the seven Bible prophecies you have to know while standing in the checkout line. They thought they should read that Revelation book, but then they get all confused.

In Revelation chapters two and three, we have seven letters that Jesus wrote to seven churches, and all of those churches existed in that ancient part of the world that is now modern Turkey. As we traveled around to the seven churches of Asia, one of the most striking things we saw was that they are all in ruin. There are a whole bunch of ruins, Roman columns, capitals on top of those columns, and large stones from buildings that once existed in a place that was once thriving but now is not.

One of the most amazing things to consider as you travel to these places is to understand that the nation that is modern-day Turkey was one of the most important strongholds for the Christian faith for nearly 1,500 years. In fact, all of the first seven councils of the church in the first thousand years happened there in what is modern-day Turkey, including the Council of Nicaea and the councils of Constantinople.

The councils of Ephesus and the councils of Chalcedon all happened in modern-day Turkey. When Paul wrote to the churches of Galatia, that was in Turkey. When he wrote to the church at Ephesus and the church at Colossae, all of those churches were located in what is now modern-day Turkey.

If you look at the arc of history in that part of the world, for 1,400 years, it was predominantly a Christian nation, almost 100% Christian, and it influenced what we hold as theologically sound and true today. If you've ever heard of the Council of Nicaea and the Nicene Creed, it came out of Turkey. A lot of what we believe was established as the strong orthodoxy of the church there in the nation of Turkey until 1453, when the Ottoman Turks destroyed Christianity in that region. Constantinople became Istanbul, and now less than 2% of the nation of Turkey identifies as non-Muslim, with a very small fraction being Christian. In fact, 98.3% of Turkey is Muslim.

There are 3,300 mosques in Istanbul, many of which were converted from churches in the 1480s. Five times a day, you hear the Muslim call to prayer, which is a striking experience when you're in a country like Turkey or if you find yourself in Jordan or other places.

As we traveled around to these churches, many people asked me if it was safe to go there. We had no issues; we met some very lovely people who were hospitable, and we really had a great trip. However, as I was driving around and we were on these buses passing tons of people living in that region, it became very apparent how much they need Jesus.

It serves as a reminder that what can be a vibrant church in one generation can become ruins in the next. We believe that Jesus said, "I will build my church, and the gates of Hell will not prevail against it." So we know that when Jesus returns, He will find a church. There is the sovereignty of God in the strength of the church, but there is also our responsibility to continue the mission of making disciples of all nations. When you go to a country like Turkey, you see what has been lost; in large part, the church and those great seven churches in Asia no longer exist.

Ruins failed to fulfill the mission in some parts that God had called them to, and it's a real challenge to us. I found myself silently thinking and praying as we were driving, "Lord, would you raise up laborers that would go into the harvest?" That's exactly what Jesus told us to pray: pray to the Lord of the harvest that He would send forth laborers. So, that's my prayer. I hope that you would pray with me towards that end as a church, and that perhaps God would raise up from within our church or other churches we are connected to, missionaries that would go into places like that.

Remember, Paul was one of the first missionaries to Turkey 2,000 years ago, to Galatia. That was his first missionary journey. His third missionary journey went to Asia Minor, which was Turkey. I pray that we would see more raised up to do the same in our day because there are a lot of people there that need Jesus in a big way. Amen.

With that, would you stand with me and take out your Bibles? If you don't have a Bible, you can raise your hand, and one of our ushers will bring you one. We are going to be today not in the book of Second Timothy, but in the Gospel of Luke. The Gospel of Luke is about two-thirds of the way through your Bible. You'll find the New Testament, and you'll find Matthew, Mark, and Luke. Luke chapter 17 is where we are going to be today, in a passage of Scripture that might be familiar to you. It's a kind of famous passage in the Gospels; if there are not any famous passages in the Gospels, this is one of them.

In chapter 17 of Luke, verse 11, we read: "Now it happened as He, Jesus, 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. 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."

Now, one of them, when he saw that he was healed, returned and with a loud voice glorified God. He fell down on his face at the feet of Jesus, giving Him thanks, and he was a Samaritan. So Jesus answered and said, "Were there not ten who were cleansed? But where are the nine? Were there not any found who returned to give glory to God except this foreigner?" He said to him, the leper from Samaria, "Arise, go your way; your faith has made you well."

Father, as we open to this text...

Of Scripture, we pray that You would open our hearts in the same way that You opened the ears of that woman from Turkey named Lydia as Paul preached the gospel to her 2,000 years ago. You opened her ears and her heart to receive from You. I pray You do the same for us. Jesus, You said, "He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches," and I pray that You would help us to have ears to hear what You want to say.

We need to understand that Your word to this leper 2,000 years ago was a word for us today. So yes, we want to have the correct interpretation, but we also want to understand what the implication of this is for us today. So God, speak, we pray. We ask this in Jesus' name, and all those agreed said, "Amen." You could be seated.

I love this passage of Scripture, and it's not unfamiliar to us because we have looked at it together before. There are some really important truths for us to glean and understand from this passage. Even just the opening words of this section of Scripture, where the first three words we read are "Now it happened," remind us that the events we are reading, recorded here by the author Luke, actually happened.

When research is done about readers in our nation, it is found that the predominant number of readers read fiction books. As a result of reading fiction, we often tend to think about things as being fictitious. But these things are not fictitious; they actually happened. Luke went and interviewed eyewitnesses of the accounts of Jesus's life and ministry and put them together for us in the Gospel of Luke and the book of Acts. He is recording an event that actually took place in the life and ministry of Jesus.

He is documenting the way in which Jesus's life and ministry impacted the lives of other people 2,000 years ago. The awesome thing to consider is that we begin to recognize and understand that the life and ministry of Jesus continue to impact people's lives today. Many of you sitting here today are a testimony of how the life and ministry of Jesus has impacted and continues to impact the lives of others. You have a story of the impact of Jesus in your life, and what you may not understand is that just as the story of...

These ten lepers, or specifically this one Samaritan leper in this passage, serve as a Gospel story for us to read and consider. Your life becomes a Gospel story too. Sometimes we get stumbled, fearful, or tripped up. What am I going to share with that neighbor, co-worker, or maybe a family member who doesn't know Jesus? People often get a little concerned about how to share the Gospel.

It is really important that we know how to share the specifics: that Jesus died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that He was buried, that He rose again on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that He was seen by witnesses. We should be able to share that part of the Gospel story. However, we should never neglect the fact that the way Jesus has impacted you is also a Gospel story.

As you gather with family members this Thursday to celebrate Thanksgiving, many of whom may not be Christians, I want to encourage you to think about how you can share the good news of the Gospel with them. This week—Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday—as you prepare for Thanksgiving, take some time to reflect on how the life of Jesus has impacted you this year.

This reflection will have a two-fold outcome in your life. First, it will produce in you gratitude, which is exactly what this week is all about. We are celebrating Thanksgiving on Thursday, and although we live in a culture that often thinks it’s all about turkey and college football, it’s really about giving thanks. Unfortunately, we often fail to do just that.

I encourage you to set aside some time this week—maybe just five minutes or during a lunch break—to think about how Jesus has impacted your life in 2018. I guarantee you will find specific ways in which He has made a difference. This reflection might stir you to have more gratitude and to give thanks to God, as the Scriptures often implore us to do.

So, number one, it will help us give thanks to God. Secondly, it will help us proclaim the praises of Him who called us out of darkness and into His marvelous light.

Jesus wants to do something significant in your life. The Apostle Peter wrote in one of his letters, 1 Peter 2:9, "You are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, God's own special people, so that you would proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness and into His marvelous light." This would be a great thing for you to do on Thursday as you are with family and friends. If some of them don't know Jesus, you can share with them the simple story about how Jesus has impacted your life. That's exactly what we're reading about here in this passage, and it actually happened.

As Jesus went to Jerusalem, one of the things that becomes really clear when you read the accounts of His life and ministry in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John is that Jesus knew He had a mission to fulfill. He was on a mission. The Gospel writer John tells us that He understood His time. At the beginning of His ministry, the first miracle of Jesus recorded in the Gospel of John is when He turned water into wine. It's an interesting story for another day, but at that moment, when He was performing that miracle at a wedding in Cana of Galilee, He told His mother, who inquired of Him, "My hour is not yet come." However, a few years later, He said, "My hour has come." He knew exactly the timeframe and the mission He was on when He was here; He was sure of it and committed to that mission.

Here's the awesome thing: though Jesus was committed to that mission and nothing was going to deter Him from it, He was never too busy to meet the needs of those who came to Him. This is both instructive and encouraging for me and for us. I don't know if you've experienced this, but I certainly have. A lot of times, when I ask people, "Hey, how have you been doing?" the number one answer I normally get is "busy." How many of you have felt busy lately? I have felt really busy lately. My wife works a full-time job as a nurse and is going to school to get her master's. We have four kids who are in school, and I'm doing some school myself. I pastor a church, and we can feel really busy.

So much so that we have so much to do that, a lot of times, we miss the things that maybe God wants us to do for His kingdom and for His name's sake. We can feel so busy that we are pressured out of doing these very important things for the kingdom of God.

Justify it, Lord. Don't you know how busy I am? I'm so busy. There's a story about that in the Gospels. There were these two sisters named Mary and Martha. One of them was really busy; her name was Martha. The other one, Mary, you kind of assume when you read the stories that Mary is probably the younger one.

We see this picture of Mary sitting at the feet of Jesus, receiving teaching from Him, while Martha was upset about this. She goes to Jesus and says, "Tell my sister to come help me in the kitchen." Jesus doesn't tell Mary to do that. Instead, He says to Martha, "She has chosen the better part, and you are worried about many things."

I don't know about you, but sometimes I find myself more in "Martha mode" than "Mary mode." It's a challenge. However, Jesus never overlooked the needs of those who were seeking Him out. We see that with the ten lepers who came to Him.

These men were the overlooked and avoided of society, yet He gave them time. This is instructive to us, but it's also encouraging. You will never find that when you come to Jesus, His door is closed, with a sign saying, "I don't have time." I'm so thankful for that. When you come to Jesus, He won't say, "Yeah, I'm really busy right now, running the things of the universe." He doesn't do that.

In fact, in the book of Hebrews, it says that we can come boldly before His throne of grace to obtain mercy and grace in our time of need. We need it so often, and it's encouraging that He is never too busy for us.

Now, we read that as He went to Jerusalem, He entered a certain village and met ten men who were lepers standing afar off. There is a lot in this passage that we are not told. We are not given the details about where this village is or what village it was. We know that it is somewhere in the area between Galilee and Jerusalem; maybe it's in Samaria, but we don't know for sure.

If you picture the nation of Israel, both today and in the past, it is a narrow strip of land called Israel, located in the northern part of the nation around the eastern part of the Mediterranean Sea.

The Sea of Galilee is located in the region of Galilee, while the southern part of the nation is home to the capital city of Jerusalem. In between these two areas lies Samaria, where the Samaritans lived. The Samaritans were somewhat ethnically connected to the Jewish people, but they were despised by them. The Scriptures specifically state in the New Testament that the Jews hated Samaritans. Often, Jewish people would avoid traveling through Samaria, much like I try to avoid Los Angeles when driving to Santa Barbara due to the traffic.

Jesus, however, frequently traveled through this area. It is plausible that this is where He was headed as He made His way to Jerusalem. During His journey, He encountered ten men who were lepers. In the first century, leprosy was a terrible disease. Although it still exists today, we do not see it as much in our nation due to modern medicine. However, in some parts of the world, leprosy remains a significant problem.

Two thousand years ago, receiving a diagnosis of leprosy was akin to receiving a death sentence. People did not fully understand how it was transmitted, nor did they know how to treat it. The best course of action for someone diagnosed with leprosy was to remove them from society to prevent potential infection. Thus, if you received a leprosy diagnosis, you faced a death sentence, and the remainder of your life would be lived in solitude. You could not enter the city, visit the marketplace, or have fellowship with your family. You were barred from the synagogue, which served as the center of society at that time, and you could not go to the temple. Effectively, you became an outcast.

The only community available to you would be with others who were similarly afflicted—other unclean, sick individuals. If you ever came near a clean person, you were required to cover your face with your clothing and cry out, "Unclean! Unclean!" People would then avoid you. This created a horrible stigma for these outcasts. Yet, here they were, gathered together, the very people society had shunned.

They would overlook the people that would be avoided. The people were blinded to them, kind of missed them, and overseen most of the time. Jesus doesn't miss them; He doesn't avoid them. In the Gospels, in fact, one of the most striking pictures of an interaction with a leper is that Jesus reaches out His hand and touches a leper, which no one would do. The ones that were avoided and overlooked, Jesus doesn't avoid or overlook. This is both instructive and encouraging. It is instructive because there are plenty of people that we have a tendency to overlook or avoid, and those are often the people that Jesus wants to reach through our lives. It is encouraging because some of you have felt like the avoided, overlooked outcasts, but Jesus didn't avoid or overlook you.

So, these ten lepers stood afar off. They knew their place in society; they couldn't come close. But they stood afar off and cried with loud voices, "Jesus, Master, have mercy on us."

Point number one: those who are hopeless are unashamed to cry out after Jesus. Sometimes people feel like they can't possibly cry out for help. They think they have to deal with these things on their own; they have to be self-sufficient. We live in a culture that highly values self-sufficiency. We look down upon people that are in need, and this is just a cultural reality, especially in Western thinking in the United States in the 21st century. As a result, sometimes we feel, "Oh, I can't possibly ask for help."

But these guys knew they were totally helpless, totally hopeless, and as a result, they were absolutely unashamed to cry out after Jesus. At this point, it may not be dignified; they had no more dignity. They had been outcasts, and every time they saw a person who was not sick, they had to cry out, "Unclean!" So, they had no problem crying out to Jesus. They offered what is really a prayer of faith. They cried out and said, "Jesus, Master, have mercy upon us."

Now, there are three components to this prayer of faith that are really, really important.

They acknowledged the person they were speaking to: Jesus. They recognized the position of the one they were crying out to, Master, or literally, Lord. They also acknowledged the power of Jesus, saying, "Lord, have mercy on us."

The interesting thing is that they probably weren't there when Jesus had "Prayer 101" with His disciples, when He taught them the Lord's Prayer. However, they prayed according to the pattern of the Lord's Prayer. Jesus said, "When you pray, pray, 'Father,'" recognizing His person—who it is that you're talking to. Then, honor Him: "Hallowed be Your name." You acknowledge His position, and then you acknowledge His power: "Give us this day our daily bread; forgive us our sins as we forgive others."

In His teaching on prayer, Jesus teaches the exact same pattern that these men followed. They offered a prayer of faith, saying, "Jesus, Master, have mercy on us." They looked upon Him with mercy and prayed the prayer of faith. The half-brother of Jesus, a man named James, wrote a letter a number of years after Jesus ascended into heaven. We have it in our Bibles called the Book of James. In James chapter 5, verse 15, he said that the prayer of faith will save the sick.

These men offered the prayer of faith, calling out, "Jesus, Master, have mercy on us." They did not hold back; they called out to Him with abandon. They were unashamed to call out to Jesus for help. The prayer of faith is not ashamed to cry out to Jesus for help, and Jesus loves to hear the prayer of faith trusting in Him.

Unfortunately, when we are self-sufficient and dignified, as our culture sees it, we may feel like we can't possibly call out to Him for help. These men were hopeless and helpless; they were in need of Jesus. When Jesus saw them, He said to them, "Go show yourselves to the priests."

Point number two: Jesus sees and answers those who call to Him in faith. Now, that, church, is good news! He sees and answers those who call to Him in faith. Here, these ten lepers cried out, "Jesus, Master, have mercy on us," in faith, trusting that He could help.

Had heard rumors about other lepers because there are other lepers spoken of in the Gospels of Matthew and Mark that were healed by Jesus. Maybe they've heard about that, and so in faith, trusting He can help, they call out to Him. Jesus sees and answers those who call to Him by faith, both then and now.

Now, it's interesting why Jesus said, "Go show yourself to the priest." An interesting thing to note from the Old Testament, the first two-thirds of the Bible, is that in the first five books, written by Moses, we call these the Pentateuch. One of those books, called Leviticus, chapter 14, contains instructions given to the priests about leprosy.

In that day, if it was thought by the community that an individual had leprosy, they would send them to the priests. The priests were the ones who were to inspect and diagnose if a person did or didn't have leprosy. If they didn't, they could go back to their families. However, if they did, they would immediately be separated and outcast. They could no longer commune with their families, go to the synagogue, or attend the temple. As I said, it was basically a death sentence if you got leprosy because they didn't know how to treat it or deal with it.

But they did know this: if perchance someone is healed of leprosy, that is of God; it's a divine thing. In the story of Scripture, rarely do we see people healed of leprosy. We read of a man from Syria named Naaman who was healed of leprosy, but other than that, there are just not a lot of people healed of leprosy in the Scriptures until the time of Jesus. They acknowledged and recognized that if someone was healed of leprosy, it is from God.

So, every time Jesus healed a leper, He would say, "Go show yourself to the priest." In the same way that the priests would diagnose a leper with leprosy, if that person was ever healed, they would go back to the priest. Only by the priest could they be accepted back into the community. They would be reassessed, and if they were found to be clean, they were to offer a sacrifice as Moses had prescribed in thanksgiving to God. The priest would recognize this as being of God.

Every time Jesus in the Gospels healed a leper, He instructed them to go show themselves to the priest, and the priests would have to give glory. They would ask, "So how did this happen?" and the leper would say, "Well, there's this guy..."

Named Jesus, He healed me, and then the priest would have to acknowledge the power of Jesus. So, He says, "Go show yourself to the priest." Now, the awesome thing is that these ten lepers had enough faith to call upon Jesus for help, but they also had enough faith to follow His command.

Point number three on your outline: faith in Jesus must produce obedience to Jesus. They were cleansed, and now they were going to receive, or I'm sorry, they called out to Jesus for help, and He says, "Go show yourself to the priest." The amazing thing is that it says, as they went, they were cleansed. As they were going to do what Jesus had commanded them to do, then they were cleansed.

Now, it is important for us to understand that as the Scriptures teach, Ephesians chapter 2, verses 8 and 9 most specifically, "For by grace are you saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is a gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast." We are saved by Jesus by trusting in Jesus, but it becomes very clear as you read through the stories and narratives of Scripture that as we trust in Jesus, that should affect the way that we live, and it should change us.

That change is what we refer to as repentance, where we change our minds and our hearts and move in a new direction, following the words of Jesus. Though you're not saved by that obedience or by those good works, that obedience and those good works are an indication that you actually trust in Jesus. It's like the guy who jumps out of the plane. I think anybody who does these kinds of things is a little bit nuts. He proves that he trusts that thing he puts on his back. He says, "I believe in parachutes," and then he jumps out. You go, "Wow, that guy really believes in parachutes," right? So, the act proves the trust.

James, again the brother of Jesus, clued us in on a really important point. He said, "Faith without works is dead." Jesus challenged a group of people who said they believed in Him in Luke's Gospel, chapter 6, verse 46. He said, "Why do you call me Lord, Lord, and do not do the things that I say?" These ten men cried out after Jesus, saying, "Jesus..."

The Lord is our master, and then He gives them a command. Their adherence to the command proved that they actually believed Him to be Lord, and in that, they experienced the power of Jesus. This brings us to verses 15 and 16, which is really the focus of what we want to look at. It says, "And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, returned and with a loud voice glorified God. He fell down on his face at Jesus's feet, giving thanks, and he was a Samaritan."

All ten of these lepers had the faith and trust to call out to Jesus for healing. They all demonstrated the fruit of faith by obeying the command of Jesus. However, only one of those who received the power of Jesus returned to praise Him for what He had done—just one in ten, a very small percentage. Charles Spurgeon, sometimes referred to as the Prince of Preachers, said that the number of those who pray is greater than the number of those who praise.

We know this to be true because we live in a culture where the vast majority of people in our nation, when polled by Gallup, Pew Research, or even Christian organizations like LifeWay Research and Barna, report that they pray. They may not always address their prayers to Jesus as Master or to the Father, hallowed be Thy name. Sometimes, they pray to things like the universe. I don't know if you've met some of these people recently, but I've encountered individuals who say, "Well, the universe really helps." They talk about the cosmos and the planets as if they are the ones providing assistance. I want to understand how that works. Do they pray, "Holy universe"? I don't know where this stuff comes from, but over 80 percent of Americans pray. Yet, how much of that percentage that prays also praises?

Charles Spurgeon reminded us to chide ourselves as we acknowledge that we offer so much more prayer than praise. In this passage, we have ten lepers who all trusted in Jesus for healing.

Healing. We had ten lepers who all followed the religious ritual that He prescribed: go offer the sacrifice of Moses. They all did religious things; they all said with their words that they trusted in Jesus. They even received a healing from Jesus, some blessing from God according to His common grace. They all received it, but only one of them returned to praise, and he was the foreigner. He was the non-religious member of the group. The religious guys went and did the religious thing, but the non-religious outcast did the pious thing. He came and fell at the feet of Jesus, giving praise.

We read in verse 17 that Jesus answered. He sees this; at His feet is a foreigner, a Samaritan who was formerly a leper, crying out with a loud voice, praising God because of what Jesus had done. Jesus answered and said, "Were there not ten cleansed?" The first words out of His mouth were, "Were there not ten? There's one. I thought there were ten, but where are the nine? Where are the others? Were there not any found to return to give glory to God except for the foreigner?"

Point number four: God acknowledges gratitude and ingratitude. The fact that Jesus acknowledges ingratitude is frightening. He takes note. In fact, Malachi chapter three in the Old Testament says God keeps a record of those who speak praises of His name. He acknowledges when we praise Him, but He also acknowledges when we don't.

In the book of Romans chapter one, there is a description of unbelievers in that passage, and one of the hallmarks of unbelievers is, as Paul says, "neither were they thankful." An indication of faith and belief is gratitude and praise. It’s challenging. We might go to church, we might give to church, we might serve at church, and we might do religious rituals. We might pray at church. The question is: Is our life dominated and characterized by gratitude and praise for God? And if it's not...

Perhaps Jesus keeps record when we are not grateful; at least in this passage, He did, which is frightening. Every single week, we gather together here at church to do churchy things. One of the things that we do—one third of our service—is to sing songs, and those songs are called songs of praise. We are to sing out the praise of God. In fact, that's one of the things God has called you and me to do as His followers.

It says in 1 Peter chapter 2, verse 9: "You are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, God's own special people." For what? That you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness and into His marvelous light. That's what He has called us to do—to proclaim His praises and to share both with other believers and with those who are not Christians, not believers, what God has done and the great things He has accomplished.

This once leprous Samaritan humbly praises Jesus, laying at Jesus's feet—a sign of total abandoning humility for the glories of His grace. Jesus responds in verse 19, saying to him, "Arise, go your way; your faith has made you well." Now, here's the interesting thing: this man is already healed, but Jesus seems, in this moment, as this man is praising, to give him an additional blessing—not just a physical healing, but something greater.

I think a clue to this being an additional blessing is found in the King James Version of the Bible. The full 1611 King James states, "Your faith has made you whole," not just healed. You see, this individual came, trusted in Jesus for healing, followed Jesus's command to go, and then returned to offer praise to Jesus. In the praise of Jesus, he receives a greater wholeness.

Point number five: Jesus brings wholeness to those who praise the glory of His grace. I want to encourage you to not miss the blessing that God has for you.

You are not just in church attendance, not in religious ritual, and not just trusting in Jesus, but in the blessing that Jesus has for you in praising the glories of His grace. I want to encourage you not to miss out on the wholeness of blessing that God wants to give to you as we sing His praises.

Now, I know because I can hear some of you that you don't have the best voice to do that. In fact, you might have a terrible voice, as Simon Cowell would say. Some of you wives are nudging your husbands right now, thinking, "That's you." But the Scriptures don't say to offer a good-sounding praise song; they say to make a joyful noise. Make a joyful noise!

You know, when Jesus was coming into Jerusalem for what we call the triumphant entry on Palm Sunday, there were people crying out loud, "Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!" They were saying, "Save now!" There was a group of religious people who said, "Tell those people to shut up." That's a modern interpretation, but that's essentially what they said. Jesus responded, "If they close their mouths, even the rocks will cry out and praise."

Now, I don't know what rocks crying out would sound like, but I'm assuming your voice is probably better than that. So, we need to make a joyful noise to the Lord. In just a few minutes, we're going to stand up and sing to the Lord, and we need to sing loud the praises of Jesus.

Here's the thing: I'm convinced that as you become more comfortable singing the praises of Jesus in the gathering of the saints, the easiest place to do it, it will become easier for you to share the praises of Jesus outside in the world. Have you ever felt embarrassed to share your faith with other people? It starts with singing the praises of Jesus with the gathering of the saints. The more comfortable you become with that, the more comfortable you'll be out in the community. I guarantee it.

You know, the early disciples tried to sing the praises of Jesus in secret. It's recorded in Acts chapter 2. Jesus said, "No, I'm not going to let that happen," and then He forced them to speak with other tongues, which was probably uncomfortable for them. It was as if they realized they couldn't keep it a secret. Jesus said, "No, that's not going to happen; it needs to become public." As we do this, Jesus brings a greater blessing.

Wholeness to our lives! Jesus brings wholeness to those who praise the glory of His grace. This week, Thanksgiving week, serves as a good and important reminder for us to be those who offer praise to the Lord.

What's really amazing is the amount of evidence that has been found—scientific research, peer-reviewed evidence—about how gratitude increases the experience of happiness. There is a whole body of peer-reviewed scientific research that shows gratitude increases happiness. We live in a culture filled with people pursuing happiness, and they wonder, "Why am I not happy?" The answer is simple: because you are not thankful. You haven't considered the fact that you are blessed. If you sat down and reflected on how blessed you are, you might realize how happy you can be.

So, why do we give thanks? Here are six quick thoughts on the reasons we give thanks:

1. It acknowledges God's greatness. 2. It testifies of God's goodness. 3. It glorifies God's grace. 4. It amplifies God's glory. 5. It exalts God's throne. 6. It invites God's blessing.

I want to encourage you this week to take some time to sit down and think about how the life of Jesus has impacted your life this year. I believe this reflection will stir you to be thankful and remind you to proclaim the praises of the One who called you out of darkness and into His marvelous light.

Would you stand with me as we close in prayer? Jesus, in talking about gratitude and Thanksgiving, I want to publicly thank You today. Through the Apostle Paul, You said that You desire we first of all lift up holy hands and give thanks to You. So, we stand in Your presence, Lord. I give thanks to You today for Your grace. None of us would be here receiving Your salvation today if it weren't for Your grace. None of us deserve it, Lord; You have freely given us Your grace.

Mercy, and we praise You today for Your grace, Lord. Beyond that, we live in such a beautiful place. Sometimes we forget that until we go somewhere cold, rotten, windy, and rainy, and then we realize how blessed we are. Thank You, Lord. I thank You, Lord, for my wife, for my kids, for my family, and for this church. We thank You, God; You've blessed us in such a great way.

Lord, I pray that You would stir us to proclaim Your praises—in gratitude and song, as we're going to do in just a moment. But also to proclaim Your praises to our neighbors, our co-workers, our friends, and our family members who have yet to know the glories of Your grace. In proclaiming Your praises, it's so evident in the Scriptures that our joy increases. So, I pray that we would be a joyful church who makes a joyful noise for Your name's sake.

It's in Jesus' name we pray, and all those who agree said, "Amen." I'm going to challenge you. Anthony's going to lead us in a song. Make a joyful noise—like times ten, louder! You can do it; I know you can! You have voices!