Sermon Central
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Lessons Learned From The Grateful Leper
Contributed by Anthony Zibolski on May 28, 2010 (message contributor)
Summary: We can learn alot about ourselves through the 9 ungrateful lepers as well as the one grateful. We are one of them.
Lessons learned from a thankful leper
Introduction-
Anyone ever have a bad day? Somewhere everything goes wrong?
One side of this coin is out of our control.
Someone has wronged you. Someone has said some hurtful things.
A miserable boss, a defiant child. Something that you had no control of.
SOMEONE ELSE CAUSED YOU TO HAVE A BAD DAY.
The other side is or was in our control.
We have done a wrong and we are paying a consequence.
Someone warned us don’t do it and we did it anyway.
Maybe even God. Warning us that there will be a consequence.
YOU HAVE CAUSE YOUR OWN BAD DAY
Jesus gave his disciples here laws of Christian life.
If you are a follower of me... listen up
Jesus is a realist
He says things that cause people to sin are bound to come up.
That is the nature of sin.
Sinners sin.
Hurt people hurt people
Woe unto the one who causes little ones to stumble or hurt young and impressionable people.
He goes as far to say it is better to put a stone around your neck and be thrown into the sea than to cause someone to purposely stumble because of you.
(V3) So watch yourself. Remember he is talking to his disciples.
If your brother sins, rebuke him, (correct him) and if he repents, forgive him. Even if he comes several times, if he/she repents forgive them.
After Jesus said that to them- they replied., Increase our faith Why?
Because they realized that they could not do it by themselves.
In ourselves, we cannot forgive, in ourselves, we do not have the kind of faith that moves mountains.
I want mountain moving faith. Don’t you?
I want to uproot things that God is not pleased with,
I want to plant what God desires of me.
I want to obey God. Not once in a while, but all the time.
Jesus says there will be temptations. “Things that cause people to sin are bound to come” (v1)
The Greek word used there is Scandalon, and it is where we get the word scandal.
It has two meanings.
(1) any stumbling block placed in the way to trip us up.
(2) Bait glue-pad.
I don’t know about you, but I have felt like both at times.
I felt like there were stumbling blocks everywhere, and that you are constantly dodging them. I have felt like a bait stripe. I don’t know if you have had any dealing with a bait pad, but one time I stepped on one and had to throw my shoes out.
We need to stop blaming the devil for what we do.
Take our eyes off of others and worry about what we are doing.
Avoid stumbling blocks, avoid those bait traps, and put our eyes toward Jesus Christ.
He Illustrates it in v7-10 read.
Suppose you had a servant, he’s plowing the fields, looking after the sheep, cooking your meals.
He shouldn’t have to be thanked and rewarded for doing what he is suppose to do.
Doing his duty. Listen
Kids today thinking that the parents should reward them for doing what they are suppose to do. They have to be paid to be part of the family.
Employees that feel cheated when they are not rewarded for doing what they are suppose to do. I am not talking about above average, but what they are suppose to be doing. Sleeping 4 days at the computer and working one and considering themselves good employees.
We have people that they think they should be begged to come to church, and if you are not constantly inviting them to their own church or requesting their presence, they feel like nobody cares for them.
Jesus says that there is sin in the world. Expect it.
There will always be stumbling blocks , ones we put in our way and ones from other people.
Our faith will be as much as we put into it. We can have mountain- moving faith or we can have a faith that is tossed to and fro in our lives.
(19) “would he thank the servant because he did what he was told to do? So you also, when you have done everything you were told to do, should say we are unworthy servants who have only done our duty.”
Here is the thought and the text this morning.
It is our responsibility and duty to nurture our faith.
It is our responsibility to adhere to the things of God.
It is our responsibility to keep ourselves from falling into temptations and traps we know are out there.
It is our responsibility to be thankful and grateful for what the Lord is doing and has done in our lives.
