1 Thessalonians 5:18 (New International Version)

New International Version (NIV)

Psalm 118

1
Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good;
his love endures forever.

New International Version (NIV)

Luke 17:11-19 (New International Version)

Ten Healed of Leprosy

11
Now on his way to Jerusalem, Jesus traveled along the border between Samaria

and Galilee. 12As he was going into a village, ten men who had leprosy[a]met him.

They stood at a distance 13and called out in a loud voice, "Jesus, Master, have pity

on us!"

14
When he saw them, he said, "Go, show yourselves to the priests." And as they went, they were
cleansed.
15
One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice. 16He threw
himself at Jesus' feet and thanked him—and he was a Samaritan.
17
Jesus asked, "Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? 18Was no one found to
return and give praise to God except this foreigner?" 19Then he said to him, "Rise and go; your
faith has made you well."
 Good morning Church, I hope you are all having a blessed Thanksgiving

Day. First of all, let me thank my Father God for giving me such an incredible

opportunity as this to be used as His messenger. I remember my last sermon in

front you was on Thanksgiving Day last year. I feel truly honored to be back up

here before you again. I pray you are all enjoy your Thanksgiving Day so far, and,

if you don’t mind, I’d like to continue this day with the lesson portion for today’s

message. It is taken from Luke 17:11-19. If one of you brothers or sisters blessed

with a loud voice will please read it aloud for all of us, I would be very grateful..

Jesus asked, "Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine?” Let us pray.

You know, I once read a book titled Folk Psalms Of Faith by Ray Stedman. It tells of an

experience H.A. Ironside had in a crowded restaurant. Just as Ironside was about to begin his

meal, a man approached and asked if he could join him. Ironside invited his guest to have a seat.

Then, as was his custom, Ironside bowed his head in prayer. When he opened his eyes, the other

man asked, "Do you have a headache?" Ironside replied, "No, I don't." The other man asked,

"Well, is there something wrong with your food?" Ironside replied, "No, I was simply thanking

God as I always do before I eat."

The man said, "Oh, you're one of those, are you? Well, I want you to know I never give thanks. I

earn my money by the sweat of my brow and I don't have to give thanks to anybody when I eat. I

just start right in!"

Ironside said, "That’s incredible." “It isn’t that amazing,” replied the guest. “Yes it is,” answered

Ironside, “You’re the first person I’ve known that eats exactly like my dog!”
 See, H.A. Ironside knew what it meant be grateful, just like this one leper

we read of in Luke, and that is the topic for this day: being grateful. Having an

attitude of gratitude, this is what many of this nation lack today; this is what many

in our own Malayali community lack (both the youths and the adults). We have

accepted Christ’s blessings that He has graciously bestowed upon us, yet as we

enjoy His gifts, we forget to humbly come back and just give Him a simple thank

you. We, instead, have the same thinking as that of Ironside’s guest. We believe it

is all our doing, or we just simply take the blessings for granted. Yes, daily, we

are the farmers that toil the ground until we could toil no more. But is it not God

who makes sure that the weather conditions are just right to produce the harvest?

You know, in one of my appachen’s old textbooks that he’d used for teaching, I

recall reading one of his old quotes, “If someone is rejoicing now, it is because

someone before them had suffered. If someone is suffering now, it is so someone

after them will rejoice.”

We may stand high above, being on top of the world, yet so many of us

forget that we are standing on the backs of our very own forefathers. We are so

blessed for all we have, yet we take all this for granted. My father would still tell

me stories of how he, my aunts, and my uncle would work in their youth. My

father loves to tell me that the day he came to America, he was 16 years old, and

the very next day, he started working here so that maybe, someday, his legacy

would have what he lacked in his life. To the youths, you have all these nice
things. You got a place to stay.. You can go to a school. You actually get an

education SO YOU CAN SOMETHING WITH YOUR LIFE! Yet most of you

did not work a bit for it.

I’m preaching before you right now as a perfect example of such a youth.

See, I’m dressed real nice. Every day, I come home from school and don’t have to

worry about the food I have to eat that night. I don’t have to worry about having

no clothes to wear. I don’t even have to worry about not having a place to live!

Yet, I did nothing to deserve so much. My parents love to spoil me. They’ll buy

me all the nice shoes, the nice watches, the nice suits; man I even got my very

own laptop. I’m pretty sure all of you fall into a category somewhat similar to my

own. We have all these things, but all these things didn’t just come from thin air.

It’s not like you wake up one morning and see raining a pair of Jordan’s shorts or

an Express shirt growing from a tree. Your parents worked for them! For some of

you, your parents worked themselves to the bone to make sure their children have

what they need in life. Be thankful to have such people in your lives, never take

them for granted. They can be taken away from you at any time. Cherish them. At

least your parents are love each other as well as you. At least you have parents, a

wish of at least 5.5 billion in the world.

And to the adults, some of you may be saying, “You just don’t understand.

You’re still a boy. You don’t know what it’s like. I am stressed out every day

because of turbulent work life and I’m having some issues paying the bills at

times and I have to make sure the family has what it has. I feel like Atlas, with the

whole world upon my shoulders. What do I possibly have to be thankful for?”

You’re right, I am still a boy, but if this boy, who has endured so much pain and

suffering in life still manages to find a reason to thank God and you do not, how

childish are you. 1st Thessalonians 5:18 says: Give thanks in all circumstances,

for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus. Yes, your work may be a hard, but

God never promised you it was easy. In Luke 10:3, he says that he is sending us

like lambs among wolves. At least you have a job. That’s something to be thankful

for. You complain of your family issues? At least you all have family. That’s

definitely something to be thankful for. You have children who, in some way or

form, love you and admire you and want you to be pleased with them in all they

have done and who they are.

You know, I have a Facebook account, and I get on it every now and then.

And on it people will post their status, which is basically a message to all their

friends, and I remember reading on how this one guy posted as his status, I’m not

too sure, BUT I think I actually heard my dad call me "monay". Hopefully I'm not

hearing things... Your children value your opinion more than you will ever know

and that in itself is something to be thankful for.

Yet, to many of us, thankfulness seems to be a lost art today. Warren

Wiersby illustrated this problem in his commentary on Colossians. He told about

Edward Spencer, a student in a seminary in Evanston, Illinois, who was part of a

life-guard squad. In 1860, a ship was sinking in Lake Michigan near Evanston,

and Spencer plunged again and again into the frigid waters to rescue 17

passengers. In the process, his health was permanently damaged. Some years later

at his funeral, it was noted that not one of the people he rescued ever thanked him.
Many of us here are such people. We are like these 10 lepers, begging Christ,

asking Him have pity on us. Yet very many of us act as the 9 and never look back

as soon as He has given what we’ve asked for. A guy I used to know once said to

me, “You don’t need to pray all the time, just the times that you need God.” Yet

this poor, ignorant fool could not realize that we need God ALL THE TIME!

Psalm 16:2 says: I said to the LORD, “You are my Lord; apart from you I have

no good thing.” He has given us all, and we accept His gifts generously. Yet

when it is time honor him, time to give him a simple thank you, we never look

back. We forget that it is God who made us who we are, and we make ourselves

believe this weird misconception that it was us who did it all, just like Ironside’s

guest. We are fine with idea that God died for our sins, but we through a fit when

it comes time to worship Him and thank Him. This is a lukewarm Christian life.

This is not how we are to be. I’d like to quote our very own Charles Babu. “No

one buys a single shoe. He buys 2 shoes. The same is with God. If you are going

to accept Him as Your Savior and Christ, you must also accept Him as You Lord

and Master.” See, my brothers and sisters. this is the Christian mindset: to give all

the glory, all the honor, and all the thanks to God Almighty! That everything all

of us have is God-given! We DID nothing!!! We OWN nothing!!! We ARE

nothing…without God. God did it all, every minute detail of it. He is the artist

that paints on the marvelous canvases we call our lives. We are nothing more than

the simple, wooden paint brushes He uses. It is His masterpiece, not ours. We

sometimes forget that, and we lose are sense of humility and humanity. That’s

what happened at the Towel of Babel. Is it not? God bless Man. Mankind grows
and flourishes, and they let their pride get in the way. Yes, we must have that

genuine humbleness that we once had.

About sixty-two years ago, a nation of a people who were seen as the

scum of the earth gained their independence in a way no man has ever witnessed

before. They gained it, not through the guns of war, but by the words of peace.

And even tho no man fought, blood was shed. Many men had lost their lives for

this noble cause of freedom!!! Multiple families were destroyed!!! And when they

gained the freedom that they had sought for so earnestly, they took what little they

had and worked to make themselves a recognized people, thanking Heaven every

step of the way!!! And no matter what praises they were given, they remained

humble till their goal was reached. We are the descendents of that nation. Yet, I

ask you, how humble are we? How often do we thank God for all He has given

us, just as they have done? We, as a people, have lost that genuine humbleness

that our ancestors had. We must find it again, otherwise, the lives of those that

were lost for our freedom are in vain and their deaths – pointless.

Yes, we must find it again. We must humble ourselves in the presence of Christ, just as He did

once for. We must remember; we must never forget that we were brought to our current point not

by ourselves, but by Christ our God! We must have a sense of humility, and come to God’s feet.

For this is the key that will unlock God’s own heart. Then you must truly get on your knees. Just

as Isaiah had done when God had called him. Then, God will come to you and say what is in

Matthew 25:21: “Well done, My good and faithful servant.” And He will the last verse of the

lesson portion: "Rise and go; your faith has made you well."
 And so, my beloved St. Paul’s family, I leave you with this one little thing

I have left to say. God gave you a gift of 86,400 seconds today. Have you used

one to tell Him thank you? May my God Bless you all, and I pray you have a

marvelous Thanksgiving!!!