GOG - 19 - 271 - 2019: Turn Back And Give Him Thanks (Part 2)
www.thecarpenterschurch.org
Turn Back
And
Give Him Thanks (Part 2) Pastor Nkechi Ene 11 Now it happened as He went to Jerusalem that He passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee. 12 Then as He entered a certain village, there met Him ten men who were lepers, who stood afar off. 13 And they lifted up their voices and said, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!” 14 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. 15 And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, returned, and with a loud voice gloriSied God, 16 and fell down on his face at His feet, g iv i n g H i m t h a n ks . A n d h e wa s a Samaritan. 17 So Jesus answered and said, “Were there not ten cleansed? But where are the nine? 18 Were there not any found who returned to give glory to God except this foreigner?” 19 And He said to him, “Arise, go your way. Your faith has made you well”. Luke 17:11-19
In the Sirst part of this article, I showed you some reasons why you should stop, turn back and give God thanks. In this part, I will be sharing some results of thanksgiving. From our Bible text, only one out of ten people remembered to come back and give God thanks. It should not be that way.
You Keep Your Appointment With Jesus The leper who was healed kept his thanksgiving appointment with Jesus. An appointment is to be made by two people. In the story, Jesus said, “Where are the other nine?” That tells us that He was expecting to see them. When one
man out of the ten, came back and fell at His feet, Jesus asked if he was the only one who came back. Jesus knew that when He speaks, His words come to pass. So, He knew all the ten got healed. The other nine didn’t keep the appointment. Before Jesus said, “Where are the other nine?” He asked a question: “Were they not ten cleansed?” It means that every time you receive a miracle from God, you make a thanksgiving appointment with Him. I’m not just talking about when your miracle manifests, the Scripture says, “… believe that you receive them, and you shall have them” (Mark 11:24). So, when you pray and you believe that you receive, you immediately start thanking God. That way, you’ve booked your appointment. Jesus was surprised that ten lepers got healed, and nine of them did not return to thank Him. Do you keep your appointments with Jesus? Have you received from Him by faith and it even came to pass? Did you see the manifestation? Then, you have booked an appointment with the Master. When you burst your press, new wine gushes out. You may not see Jesus during your thanksgiving but He is there. Jesus remembers that He gave you a husband after waiting for so long, He remembers that He gave you that contract and now you own cars. Jesus remembers that He gave you a baby after several miscarriages; He remembers that He gave you that job after years of being unemployed. You finally graduated and you didn’t have to sleep with the lecturers. What has God done for you this year? You keep your thanksgiving appointment with Him when you turn back and give Him thanks.
Your Thanksgiving Results In Your Intimacy With Jesus Nine of the lepers who were healed did not come back to give glory to God, except the Samaritan among them. He was a stranger and had no business approaching the Master. The Jews considered Samaritans as inferior people. He had no business approaching the Master but as a result of his thanksgiving, he spoke with Jesus, and Jesus answered him. Intimacy or fellowship with Jesus comes as a result of thanksgiving. When you always make an appointment with somebody and he does not show up but, there is this other person that shows up. Who do you think you are likely to be more intimate with? It’s the one that always shows up. When you always break your appointment, it will hinder fellowship. In John 11:41-42, the Scripture says, “Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead man was lying. And Jesus lifted up His eyes and said, “Father, I thank You that You have heard Me. And I know that You always hear Me, but because of the people who are standing by I said this, that they may believe that You sent Me”. He didn’t say, “Oh God, creator of the universe, Adonai, Elohim, …”, He didn’t say all that. He said, “Father”. That shows intimacy and an existing relationship. If the Samaritan had no business approaching Jesus because he was a Samaritan, and he came all the same to the feet of Jesus, do you know that he would have been battling with some fears? Thanksgiving propelled him beyond his fears. He came in contact with Jesus, closer than he had ever dreamt he would get and Jesus spoke with him. Fellowship took place. When you want to particularly thank God for something you have not yet seen the
The Carpenter’s Ministry: All rights reserved. No portion of this document may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means - electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording or any other, without the prior permission of the above.