The Healing Word

Narrator (Male): The Healing Word ministry on One Place is brought to you by the generous donations of people like you. At any time during today's message, feel free to send a prayer request or make a donation using the links provided. Now, I pray you will be blessed as Pastor Jack Morris delivers a message from the Word of God that will encourage and strengthen your faith in him.

Pastor Jack Morris: Friend, when you give thanks back there, look out, there's more coming this way. All the time. You cannot outdo God. You and I need to come back to the altar today and say, "Thank you for saving my soul. Thank you for the blood that cleansed me. Thank you for hearing my confession. Thank you for putting my name in the Lamb's Book of Life. Thank you for clothing me, feeding me, housing me, blessing me, my family, health, strength, and on and on and on, a thousand times over, the blessings of the Lord."

Narrator (Male): Welcome to The Healing Word, a ministry dedicated to offering strength and encouragement through God's word for anyone facing life's challenges. Today's message is here to meet you at your point of need, bringing hope and renewing your faith. Now, here's Pastor Jack Morris.

Pastor Jack Morris: Thanksgiving is two-directional. It's looking back at what God has already done, remembering and giving thanks. But it is also looking ahead, because when we look back and give thanks, God opens a window of heaven through which His grace shines through and more blessings come our way.

We live in a world of selfishness. I believe it was the historian Will Durant who said that it's not the nations of the world coming against a particular country and subduing that country and overcoming it. It's not the power of radical Islam and terrorists that will bring any country down, and we don't need to fear radical Islam and terrorists. What we need to fear most of all is the deterioration of morals in the American life.

Things have gone south on us, so to speak, because of the power to look at the things of the world and to desire material gain, and it has so disturbed us and taken our attention away from that which is spiritual that we have now lost spirituality to a great degree and have coveted the material. But God will help us and bless us and even revive us, as the choir sang just a moment ago, if we will look to Him and seek Him and humble ourselves and seek His face.

Now, we can't bargain with God. That's not the purpose, and that's not the way of bargaining to get answers to prayer and to cajole God in some way to see things our way. I heard this story just this past week of a little boy that was trying to get a new bicycle, and he was praying that God would give him a new bicycle.

He said, "God, I'll be good for two months. I'll be a good boy for two months." And then he thought a moment and he thought, "Well, that's a long time to be a good boy." And he said, "God, I'll be good for six weeks. I'll be a good boy for six weeks." Then he brought it down to a month, and then he thought, "That's going to be tough being a good boy for a month. God, I'll tell you what. If you'll give me a new bicycle, I'll be a good boy for an entire week."

And then he thought, "That's going to be a long time to be a good boy." And he said, "God, I'll be a good boy for a whole day if you'll give me a new bicycle." And he thought, "A whole day." And so he looks over here and he sees a statue of the Virgin Mary, and he takes a pillowcase and he wraps her all up and puts it under the bed and he said, "God, if you ever want to see your mother again..."

So you don't go at prayer that way. You don't say, "God, if you'll do this for me, I'll be obedient, and if you'll do that for me, I'll pay my tithe" or whatever. You don't bargain with God. God is a good God and He desires to be good, and all He asks is that we obey His word. And when we do, that window of sunshine of His grace opens and shines through upon us. Isn't God a good God and a wonderful God to bless us in this fashion?

Now I want you to take your Bible and open it to Luke chapter 17, and we're going to begin at verse 11 and look at this story of Jesus healing ten lepers. And we're going to see how blessing came as they gave thanks for the past, but blessing also came as they looked to the future because they remembered the past. History dictates the future.

Now look at verse 11. Luke 17, verse 11, together: "Now on his way to Jerusalem, Jesus traveled along the borders between Samaria and Galilee." Let's stop just there. Jesus knows where he's going, and he knows where you and I are at. And he comes to us to bless us where we are, and he's going to visit us where we are.

There's absolutely no accident at all that you're in church this morning. He knows exactly where you are, and he has a special blessing and he has traveled our way. We've traveled here, but he has also traveled here, and he traveled here with you in mind.

Now look at verse 12. "As he was going into a village, ten men who had leprosy met him. And they stood at a distance." Jesus was there where the need was, and he looked and ten men who had a desperate need met him there. These men had leprosy. Leprosy kills people. It's a slow, horrible death. A leg will fall off, toes will fall off, fingers will fall off, an ear will fall off. It's a slow death, the worst kind of death.

Jesus met these men who were lepers. He met them. He came to them. They came to him, and a great miracle took place. Notice it says they stood at a distance, meaning that they were very reverent and very respectful. For when a person had leprosy, they had to stand at a distance, at least 50 yards away. It was thought that leprosy was contagious, and a leper would have to stand at a distance and call out "Unclean" so that people wouldn't come near him. And so they stood at a distance.

Look at verse 13. "And called out in a loud voice, 'Jesus, Master, have pity on us.'" Now, these men were desperate. They were an outcast. They had been separated from their family because of leprosy. They couldn't go home. They roamed in the wilderness and on the city outskirts. They couldn't come into town. It was a desperate situation for them.

But Jesus visited them where they were, and they stood at a distance, and at a distance they called with a loud voice 50 yards away, "Jesus, Master." The word "Master" simply means chief commander. It's the same word that Peter used when he was in the boat. They had toiled all night, and Jesus stood on the shore, told Peter, "Go out into the deep, cast on the other side of the boat." And that's when Peter called out and said, "Master, we have toiled all night and caught nothing, but nevertheless at thy word we will obey."

And they went out. So that's what the word means, chief commander. These men, these ten lepers, believed that Jesus had power to do great and mighty things for them. I don't know how they found out about Jesus, but they had no doubt heard and it had been rumored that this man could do great things, and this man had come near them and they believed and they received and they called out.

Friend, listen to me. Do you need something today from Jesus? Well, then call out. Jesus will hear the prayer, even the faintest prayer, but a prayer that is prayed in earnest, he will respect and he will answer that prayer. You don't bargain with God; you just call out. Ask and it will be given. So whatever your need is, you ask him today.

I hear a lot of amens; I see heads shaking. Well, I'm so happy to tell you today, if you'll call out, there is a chief commander that he can command the situation that you're in and bring about a blessing and bring about deliverance. He is the chief commander. Say it: "He's the chief commander." Say it this way: "Jesus is the chief commander."

You're not saying it like those ten lepers said it. They said it because their situation was desperate. Yours must not be very desperate. Yours must be somewhat far beneath the difficulty that these men were in. These men were separated from their families. They hadn't been home in a long time. They couldn't work at their job. They couldn't provide for their family. They were desperate.

See, friends, when you get sincere, real sincere, and you get desperate, you're going to pray differently. They called out, "Jesus, Master, have pity on me." I don't want people to pity me. We have strong egos, and we don't want that. We feel self-reliant; we have self-esteem. But these men had absolutely nothing. They had lost everything and now were about to lose their life.

Fingers and ears and toes and maybe a leg, maybe an arm. These men were absolutely desperate and they were dying a slow, horrible death. And no family member could do anything for them. People would take food and they would take it out and put it down and then they would turn and run away. They couldn't get near them. These men were desperate. But you know, there's nothing too hard for the chief commander. Nothing too hard, nothing too difficult for Jesus our Lord and Savior.

Narrator (Male): If today's message from The Healing Word spoke to your heart, we'd love to hear from you. Visit us online at thehealingword.com, a place where you can connect, share your prayer requests, and know that others are praying with and for you. And while you're there, you can also listen to more messages from Pastor Jack Morris and learn more about how his ministry is reaching lives around the world with the hope of Jesus Christ. That's thehealingword.com, where faith is strengthened, prayers are lifted, and hearts are healed through the power of God's Word.

Pastor Jack Morris: Now, take verse 14 and read it. "When he saw them, he said, 'Go, show yourself to the priest.' And as they went, they were cleansed." Now notice this, when he saw them, and he did see them. And then he says to them, "Go show yourselves to the priest." Well, they were looking for mercy. They were looking for healing. They were looking to go home again and see their family, go back to work and provide like they used to.

They had heard that this man Jesus can do these wonderful things, and they were looking for something wonderful from him to them. It's in listening, it's in hearing, faith comes by hearing the word of God. These men had heard about Jesus. And now that he is near them, somehow they begin to believe. I don't know how it happened, but yet I do know how it happened.

It was rumored to them that there's an itinerant preacher named Jesus who's going around doing good and healing and blessing, and now here's that itinerant preacher named Jesus who heals and blesses. He's right here. He's here. This is our day. This is our opportunity. Don't let it pass. He's here.

Notice it said at verse 14, and when he saw them, when Jesus saw them he said, "Go show yourselves to the priest." Did God ever answer your prayer in a different way than you expected it to be answered? These fellows never expected this. They thought that the miracle of healing would take place just like they'd heard about Jesus doing things other places.

Now that he's here, he's going to do it here. Sometimes we hear how God has blessed a particular person in a particular situation. Now we are in that same situation and we think that God is just going to do almost exactly the same thing, sort of rubber stamp us like he stamped them. But you know, God is a God of creativity. He's a genius God, and he knows exactly how to answer our prayers that will bless us, that will bring glory to him but will bless us.

And he told these men, "Go show yourselves to the priest." Now, you know what these men could have done? They could have said, "Hey, what we heard hasn't been true. This guy's putting us off. He's not going to do anything for us. Actually, he's trying to get rid of us. He said go show yourself to the priest."

But you know what they did? They didn't say those negative things that I just said, but they turned and they went. And as they went, they were cleansed. Friend, do it his way. Do it Jesus' way. Don't try to figure it out. Don't try to strategize. Just obey. Just obey. Say it: "Just obey." That's all you have to do. When you try to put it together and figure it out and arrive at the answer and know what's going on, friend, you don't have to know what's going on. All you have to do is do.

Now, we had Thanksgiving, but Thanksgiving is not over for the child of God, is it? It continues on. We're living in thanksgiving to the Lord, and we will remember and we will give thanks to the Lord for all his goodness and mercy because he's done great and mighty things for us, and he's not over doing great and mighty things for us.

And as they went, they were cleansed. Can you imagine those fellows walking along and one of them looked at the other and said, "Hey, that red spot in your skin and that white as snow under your skin, your skin pigmentation is coming back"? They were looking at themselves as they went, as they obeyed, all because they listened. Friend, are you listening to this?

And they were healed. And they were on their way and one of them just stopped. "Hey, I'm healed. Where is that man? I'm going back to thank him." And the others said, "Well, I'm so excited." Have you ever wondered why only one went back and the other nine didn't go back? Well, I've wondered about that too, and I'm not sure, but I may have an idea or so.

These men had been away from home for a long, long time. They hadn't kissed their babies. They were unclean. They had a death odor, an odor of corruption. Their bodies were corrupt. They hadn't touched another human being, not a family member. I can imagine they were so excited. Tip-toe excitement. "Look at me! Look at me! I'm not going to die, I'm going to live! I'm not going to wander on the outskirts of the city, I'm going home!"

Verse 15. "One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back praising God in a loud voice. He threw himself at Jesus' feet and thanked him, and he was a Samaritan." Only one did it the way it should have been done. "I've been away from home," the man must have thought, "all of these years. I don't know what's going on with my family. I can take at least ten more minutes and go back and say thank you and then go home. I can at least say thank you to the Lord who did it."

But it wasn't a quiet thank you. Look at verse 15. "One of them when he saw," you could see the healing taking place in his body. When he saw he was healed, came back praising God in a loud voice. It wasn't a little whisper. This man was overjoyed. This man was literally physically rotting to death, and he threw himself at Jesus' feet and thanked him individually.

Friend, if all your friends, there were ten of them, nine of them went on their way. Ten of them prayed. Ten of them received. One of them gave thanks. I wonder how many of us this morning are really giving thanks? I mean heartfelt, sincere thanks. This one man thought, "I'm not going to be persuaded by nine people. They can do it their way, but if family doesn't go with me, I'm going to go back, I'm going to serve Jesus. If my friends don't go with me, I'm going to go back and serve Jesus."

You know, sometimes our friends are more important to us than serving Jesus. It's so strange how easily people can be influenced by their neighbor, by their friend, by their best friend, or even their family. Family and friends sometimes talk us out of doing God's will. But here was one man who knew his healer, and he went back and he threw himself. I don't know that I've done that myself, literally throw myself at Jesus' feet.

But wouldn't that be some way to praise the Lord and give praise to God with a loud voice? And he did it immediately. Friend, if you're going to serve God, do it now.