Dr. R.A. Vernon -- I Can’t Thank Him Enough!
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00:00 All right, let's get it.
00:01 It's Thanksgiving weekend.
00:02 I'm preaching.
00:03 I can't thank him enough.
00:05 Enough said.
00:06 Let's get it.
00:08 Luke 17, verse 16, message version.
00:11 He kneeled at Jesus' feet so grateful he couldn't thank him enough, and he was a Samaritan.
00:20 He kneeled at Jesus' feet so grateful he couldn't thank him enough.
00:28 And then Luke tells us this without us asking, and he was a Samaritan.
00:33 Remember that.
00:34 And he was a Samaritan.
00:35 Do me a favor on this Thanksgiving weekend, point at five people, high five three of them,
00:40 and tell them I can't thank him enough.
00:42 Go ahead, tell them right quick.
00:44 I can't.
00:45 I said five people.
00:46 I said three high fives and two waves.
00:49 Tell them I can't thank him enough.
00:55 You may be seated.
00:56 All right.
00:57 We ought to do something interesting on Facebook.
01:00 Maybe sort of list your top five holidays in order of importance to you.
01:08 Your top five National American holidays.
01:10 I don't know, maybe some people would pick January 16th commemorating Dr. Martin Luther
01:17 King who convicted the conscience of America and told her to do what you said on paper.
01:24 Maybe many of you would pick Memorial Day in May, which is kind of the official jump
01:30 off of summer.
01:32 Maybe many of you would pick July 4th for all of the fireworks and festivities that
01:38 go along with us being manumitted from Britain.
01:43 Maybe others of you would pick Mary Had a Little Lamb, Christmas Day.
01:47 And then others of you may pick the fact that he got up so we could get up on Easter Sunday.
01:54 I guess, put a gun to my head and ask me my top holiday, if you've been here five minutes
01:59 you know this, Pastor Loves Thanksgiving.
02:03 There is something about Thanksgiving that I just love.
02:06 Okay, go ahead.
02:07 Family, food, football, what you want.
02:11 Family, food, football, but coupled with that it is the idea that it's on Thanksgiving that
02:17 even sinners have to stop and say thank you.
02:20 It is on Thanksgiving that our nation recognizes there's something bigger than us.
02:26 And even if stuff is not perfect in your life, let's at least pause this one official day
02:32 of the year to say thank you to something higher and bigger than us.
02:37 I just love Thanksgiving.
02:40 Dinner starts at 3 p.m.
02:41 If 301 comes, you are late.
02:44 When I first married my wife, they used to eat at 9 o'clock like ghetto black people,
02:47 praise God.
02:48 I said, "No, we gonna eat at 12 noon."
02:52 I tried, then I finally got them to meet at 3 p.m. because I like to eat.
02:57 Matter of fact, anybody eating at 12, I'll stop through.
02:59 Raise your hand, praise God.
03:00 I like to get, like, okay, nobody, praise God, amen.
03:03 Black church, praise God, amen, amen.
03:06 But I'm serious.
03:07 And speaking of Thanksgiving, as we kind of tiptoe to our text, it is in Luke 17 that
03:13 we see something powerful.
03:14 This pericope is powerful.
03:16 I preached it before.
03:17 When you've been here five years, 10 years, 15, 20, then you've heard me deal with these
03:22 10 lepers who all, here it is, get healed at the end of this dreaded disease called
03:30 leprosy.
03:31 Why do it again?
03:32 I started to preach Psalms 116, I did.
03:35 And then I started to preach Psalms 100.
03:37 I started to preach when David gave thanks until his clothes came off.
03:41 There were so many powerful pericopes I could have picked, but God took me back to this
03:48 one.
03:49 I tried to run from it.
03:50 I've dealt with it before.
03:51 Those who have come on Thanksgiving Eve services, you've heard me touch these 10 men who have
03:56 leprosy and get healed from this dreaded skin disease, leprosy, the Old Testament equivalent
04:04 of full-blown AIDS.
04:06 Not HIV, magic got that.
04:08 He's had it 30 years.
04:09 Now, there are medicines and things of that nature that you can live with HIV for the
04:13 entirety of your life.
04:15 But now full-blown AIDS, whole 'nother thing.
04:19 Many people, if not most people, don't come back from full-blown AIDS.
04:25 Leprosy in Scripture was a death sentence.
04:27 There was no cure.
04:29 There was no medicine outside of a miracle that could save you from dying if you had
04:36 leprosy.
04:37 You need to keep that in the back of your mind as I'm preaching this.
04:40 Leprosy mean you were gone.
04:41 It was just a matter of time, not hospital, but hospice.
04:46 It's over.
04:47 You don't have a chance.
04:48 You're dead.
04:49 It's just a matter of time.
04:51 This dreaded skin disease would ravage your skin and then eventually stop you from breathing
04:56 properly and then eventually you'd be gone.
04:59 This is the plight of these 10 men that we see in Luke 17.
05:05 All right, take your phones out.
05:06 Everybody, just be obedient.
05:08 Or take like a piece of paper out or a pen or something because I'm gonna need you to
05:12 take some mental notes.
05:13 If you can remember, don't write it.
05:15 If you can't, write it down because in order for you to stick with me, you're gonna have
05:19 to remember a few of these mental notes I'm gonna give you.
05:22 Here's what it says in verse 12.
05:23 "As he entered the village, 10 men, all lepers, met him.
05:29 They kept their difference."
05:30 If there was some womanist theologians here, they would talk about the fact that the Bible
05:34 always mentions the men who have leprosy like women don't get sick too.
05:38 If there was some womanist theologians here, they would talk about the fact that the Bible
05:42 doesn't seem to mention women with leprosy like only men got it.
05:45 The Bible can be a bit patriarchal.
05:48 That's another teaching for some preachers who wanna learn deeply.
05:51 But I do want you to catch this.
05:52 The Bible says 10 men had leprosy, full-blown AIDS as it were, and they kept their distance.
05:59 First mental note, write it down.
06:00 And they kept their distance.
06:01 Write it down.
06:02 They kept their distance.
06:03 I'm gonna action class what I said, so remember that.
06:07 And they kept their distance.
06:08 Verse 13 says, "And they approached Jesus and said, 'Hey, teacher, Jesus, have mercy
06:14 on us.'"
06:15 Wow.
06:16 Take another mental note, write it down.
06:18 They said, "Have mercy on us."
06:20 Take a mental note.
06:21 "Have mercy on us."
06:23 Verse 14 is on the screens.
06:25 Look what it says.
06:26 Verse 14 says, "He looked at them and says, 'Go, show thyself to the priest.'
06:30 And as they went, as they went, they were cleansed of their leprosy."
06:34 Third, third, third thing you wanna write down, "As they went."
06:38 So right now we got three things we've written down.
06:40 What's the first one?
06:42 They kept their distance.
06:43 What's the second one?
06:45 And then the third mental note is what?
06:47 Okay, that's so cold-blooded.
06:49 So here's what I did not know.
06:50 I can't believe I'm preaching two for one again.
06:53 Because all these years I've been preaching about the 10 and didn't notice the one.
06:59 Because the 10 brothers in Luke 17 is mean.
07:02 I love preaching that.
07:03 But there's this singular brother with the same disease in Luke 5.
07:08 I want you to read about him because you're gonna trip and please forgive me, I'm gonna
07:12 become a better preacher as I go.
07:13 I'm gonna get better at pastoring and better at studying and better at learning as I go.
07:17 I missed this, I'm sorry.
07:18 I'll try to make it up to you today because here's something I saw that absolutely blew
07:22 my mind because Luke 5, Luke 5 verse 12 says, "One day in one of the villages there was
07:27 a man covered with leprosy.
07:29 When he saw Jesus, he fell down before him in prayer."
07:34 Wait a minute, when he saw Jesus, he fell down.
07:37 This is another brother.
07:38 This is not the 10 brothers in Luke 17.
07:40 This is the one brother.
07:41 He got the same exact disease they got.
07:44 The Bible says, "When he saw Jesus, he fell down before him."
07:49 Wait a minute, class.
07:50 What's the first mental note I asked you to take?
07:54 That they kept their distance.
07:55 Wait a minute.
07:56 They kept their distance, but he fell down.
07:58 Let me try this one more time.
07:59 They kept their distance.
08:01 When he saw Jesus, he fell down.
08:04 Now somebody already missed a major observation.
08:09 I wanna read something to you.
08:11 I was gonna try to be like all smart and paraphrase.
08:14 Forget that, I'm reading it.
08:15 One scholar said something that he could just say better than I could paraphrase, so I'll
08:19 give him credit.
08:20 He says, "Jesus is approached by a leper with the request to be cleansed.
08:24 The leper in the story acted contrary to the instructions stipulated in Leviticus 13 of
08:30 how persons with skin diseases should act.
08:33 Being contagious and unclean, persons lepers were supposed to isolate themselves from others,
08:39 demonstrate their impurity, and warn people of their illness.
08:42 They had to wear torn clothes, let their hair be unkept and nappy, cover the lower part
08:47 of their faces, and shout, 'Unclean!
08:50 Unclean!
08:51 Tame!
08:52 We!
08:53 Unclean!
08:54 We!
08:55 Unclean!
08:56 Stay away!"
08:57 You missed it, let me see if I'm right.
08:58 Leviticus 13, let's see if the scholar was right.
09:00 Verse 45 and verse 46, I'm going somewhere, trust me, you're gonna be glad you waited.
09:03 23 years, you gotta preach stuff from a different angle, stick with me.
09:07 Any person with a serious skin disease must wear torn clothes, leave his hair loose, unbrush,
09:12 cover his upper lip and cry out, "Unclean!
09:14 Unclean!"
09:15 As long as anyone has the sores, that individual is ritually unclean, that person must live
09:20 alone, he or she must live outside the camp.
09:23 Instead of shouting, "Unclean!
09:25 Unclean!"
09:26 Which implies, be warned, I am unclean and will make you unclean too, the leper in the
09:31 story says, "Make me clean."
09:33 Which implies, you are clean and you can make me clean too.
09:37 OK, OK, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait.
09:41 The Bible says in Leviticus, if you had leprosy or full-blown AIDS, you were supposed to stay
09:47 away and not only stay away, you were supposed to shout out loud, "I'm nasty!
09:52 I'm unclean!
09:53 Touch me, you're gonna die!
09:55 Get away!
09:56 I'm unclean!"
09:57 You had to warn everybody, which is why the ten men kept their distance.
10:02 But this brother, when he saw Jesus, thought to himself, "I'm dead anyway.
10:12 I ain't got nothing to lose, and I ain't got time for church ruse."
10:17 So when he saw Jesus, he said, "Forget that," ran up on Jesus, fell down at His feet.
10:24 Y'all just missed y'all shout.
10:26 You ready for your first point?
10:28 Because we got the same problem does not mean we have the same posture.
10:32 OK, OK.
10:35 Because we have the same pathology does not mean we have the same personality.
10:39 No, no, no, this brother said, "I'm coming a different way.
10:44 Please do not be stereotypical with my spiritual.
10:48 Don't put me in the same bag with somebody that got my same problem.
10:53 Don't try to size me up because I'm a woman with a child and no husband, so you think
10:57 I'm easy.
10:58 Don't put me in the same bag with her because we got the same problem of no man in the house.
11:04 I come at Jesus a different way than she comes at Jesus, so please do not put us all — I
11:09 know he from the projects, I'm from the projects.
11:13 His daddy wasn't in his life, my daddy wasn't in my life, but don't put us in the same category
11:17 because my approach is different than his approach because I need what I need and I'm
11:22 doing what I gotta do to get what I gotta get.
11:25 Don't put me in the same bag."
11:32 Because we have the same problem doesn't mean we have the same posture.
11:37 Because we have the same pathology does not mean we have the same personality.
11:41 No, we don't have the same approach.
11:43 These ten brothers decided, "I ain't mad at 'em, let's follow church rules."
11:48 This one brother said, "I need some stuff."
11:51 Y'all ready?
11:52 Here's what's gonna bless your life.
11:54 The Bible says that he said to Jesus, try not to shout, "If you want to, you can cleanse
12:02 me."
12:03 I thought I knew this Bible.
12:05 I don't know nothing.
12:06 Seminary, ten years of school, still don't know nothing.
12:09 I thought I knew the Bible.
12:10 Y'all pray for me so I can keep studying.
12:12 How have I missed this brother all my preaching career?
12:15 The ten brothers kept their distance and said, "Please have mercy."
12:18 That's not what he said.
12:19 He said, "If you want to."
12:20 Let me try this again.
12:22 If you want to, if you want to, you can cleanse me.
12:29 If you want to, I don't want to be presumptuous and assume what you gonna do.
12:35 But if you want to, okay, y'all just missed your second shot.
12:39 I got a God that may not do whatever I want Him to do, but if He wants to, He can fix
12:46 every situation in my life.
12:49 If He wants to.
12:51 There's some people in your family that even if they want to, they can't.
12:56 But God is a God that can and will fix whatever.
12:59 I wish I had ten people.
13:03 He says, "If you want to."
13:05 I'm sorry class.
13:06 I'm sorry class.
13:07 What's the second mental note I asked you to take?
13:11 Come on class, what's the second mental note?
13:13 Okay, okay.
13:15 So when the ten brothers saw Jesus, they said, "Have mercy."
13:20 In the Greek, "Elio."
13:22 It is to have compassion.
13:25 It is to have pity on.
13:26 Let's try this again.
13:27 When the ten brothers saw Jesus, here's what they said.
13:29 They did not say, "Would you heal us, sir?"
13:31 They said, "Have mercy."
13:33 I'm not mad.
13:35 Have mercy is a wonderful thing.
13:36 But it is not the same as, "You can heal me."
13:38 Let me try this one more time.
13:40 They said, "Have mercy."
13:42 Have mercy can be subjective.
13:44 Have mercy on my spiritual life, have mercy on my physical ailments, have mercy on my
13:48 past, have mercy on my bad thoughts.
13:50 There's a lot going on with have mercy.
13:52 It just means have pity.
13:53 Have pity on what?
13:54 Have pity on your mama?
13:55 Have pity on who raised you?
13:56 Have pity on who you dated?
13:57 Have pity on who you got married to?
13:59 Have pity on what's going on in your mind?
14:00 Have pity on your issues, your addictions?
14:02 Have pity on what?
14:03 That's not what He said.
14:04 He was more specific.
14:05 He didn't say, "Have mercy."
14:06 He didn't say no church stuff.
14:08 He said, "If you want to."
14:10 OK.
14:11 So, first of all, this brother bum-rushed Jesus when the ten brothers stayed back.
14:16 Number two, you'll love this, he says to Jesus, "If you want to, you can heal me right now."
14:22 They never said, "Would you heal us?"
14:25 They just said, "Have mercy."
14:26 Some of you say semantics don't matter but the text is the text.
14:30 They said, "Have mercy."
14:31 He said, "If you want to."
14:32 The next verse, Jesus says, "Try not to run out of here, I want to."
14:38 I wish, I wish I had 12 people that would thank God that you got a God that wants to
14:45 see you get to the next level, that wants to see you come out of debt, that wants to
14:51 see you be single and celibate, that wants to see you be delivered from your bondage.
14:57 God is a God that, that wants to.
15:02 If you want to, you can, you can heal me.
15:06 Can I tell you something that absolutely blew my mind?
15:09 Y'all sit down or stand up.
15:12 Please catch this because this is not "try not to shout and jump right back up," this
15:17 is not the season for ambiguity but specificity.
15:21 OK, in case you don't know, ambiguity, uncertainty, no, this is not, this is not the season for
15:29 throwing stuff out at God.
15:30 This is not the season for ambiguous rhetoric.
15:34 This is the season, this is not the season for some esoteric language.
15:39 No, this, this is, tell 'em what you want.
15:42 Y'all missed that.
15:43 I need some people to say, "Lord, if possible, six-foot-one, dark-skinned, nice set of teeth,
15:51 a job, Jesus.
15:54 If not the teeth, I'll take five-nine, job, Jesus."
15:58 OK, OK, I wish, I wish I had some real women, all the single ladies, all the single ladies.
16:06 Grandma said, "Call 'em up and tell 'em what you—" Do I have anybody here that believes
16:12 He is a God that can answer you specifically and personally?
16:18 I wish I had ten people.
16:27 Lady Vernon told me after the nine o'clock, she's my coach, she said, "Baby, that word
16:32 was so good."
16:33 She said, "Whatever you do, don't let 'em rush you at 11 because they need exactly what
16:37 you gave 9 a.m."
16:38 I said, "Yes, ma'am."
16:40 I said, "Yes, ma'am, I'm submitted to that critique."
16:44 And can I critique this text culturally?
16:46 Where are my thinking people?
16:48 Raise your hand.
16:49 Where are my thinking people?
16:50 Can I critique this text culturally?
16:51 I want to read something to you.
16:53 People who don't like to think, this would be a good time to look at your phone or something,
16:56 but the people who like to think—seriously, I don't want to bore you—but the people
17:00 who like to think, this is going to bless you because another scholar says something
17:03 that absolutely blew my mind.
17:04 He says, "To understand the impact of this desired healing, one has to consider what's
17:08 being implied, what's being implied in the ancient Mediterranean world.
17:13 Healing involved more than physical healing from a disease.
17:17 Even today, healing implies the restoration of the total well-being of a person."
17:23 That's what Pilch said in 1988.
17:25 This includes the restoration and meaning of life and honor.
17:29 A healed person can again fully participate in societal activities.
17:33 Healing therefore is culturally constructed in this regard.
17:36 One has to consider the difference between disease and illness.
17:41 A disease causes sickness and is a pathological issue.
17:45 Illness on the other hand refers to misfortune and well-being beyond a pathological state.
17:51 An ill person is a socially disvalued person.
17:55 Let me vernonize it.
17:57 All healing ain't physical.
18:02 Because she got a nice body don't mean she healed.
18:06 Because they got a big house don't mean their marriage is healed.
18:09 Because they look good on Sunday don't mean they healed.
18:11 Because she be smiling and acting like she cute with her purse don't mean she healed.
18:15 You may not have a purse, you may not have a house, you may not have a man, but slap
18:19 somebody and say, "I'm healed."
18:20 Go ahead.
18:21 Can I, can I, can I tell you what real healing is?
18:26 It's when God fixes you from the inside out.
18:30 I may look alright on the outside, but you have no idea He fixed my heart.
18:36 He fixed my soul.
18:37 He fixed my personality.
18:39 He fixed my temper.
18:40 Slap five people and say, "I'm healed for real."
18:54 All healing ain't physical.
18:56 Some people want their pathology fixed.
18:59 That is the idea that you look better on the outside.
19:03 But this is a societal issue.
19:07 This is a societal construct.
19:10 In that, since He can't, since they got this AIDS, not only are they sick physically, they
19:19 sick socially.
19:21 Forget the fact they gonna die.
19:24 Couple with that, they can't make love to their wives.
19:27 They can't kiss their little new grandbaby like I've been doing for two weeks.
19:31 They can't say goodbye to their mother when she leaves.
19:35 They can't go nowhere near their house.
19:37 They're really, they really have to stay on the outside of the city.
19:41 They not even supposed to be in the city.
19:43 There was these places where all the sick people hung together.
19:47 Be careful when all of us sick in the same place.
19:52 The last thing you need to do when you sick is hang with sick people.
19:57 The last thing you need to do when you sick is hang with sick people.
20:01 You gotta step away from sick people and get close to somebody that can heal you of your
20:07 sickness.
20:08 This brother said, "Y'all can stay together at a distance.
20:11 I'm going to His feet."
20:13 Because there's healing at His feet.
20:16 There's a right spirit at His feet.
20:24 Can y'all handle one more observation?
20:27 Jesus said, "Bruh, here's what I'm gonna do.
20:31 I'm gonna heal you right now.
20:32 I want to.
20:33 Be healed."
20:34 OK, wait a minute.
20:38 What I'm about to say only three of you gonna catch.
20:41 And Jesus touched him and said, "Be clean."
20:51 Did I tell you that if you had leprosy, whoever touched you was unclean?
20:56 And whoever you touched was unclean.
20:58 Jesus, the brother, says, "Wait a minute.
21:02 If you clean, then put your clean on me."
21:06 OK, wait a minute.
21:09 That's the crux of Christianity.
21:11 That's the crux of imputed righteousness.
21:14 That's the crux of imputed righteousness that would show dirty self.
21:19 The reason why you get to go to heaven if you die today.
21:22 The reason why you get to enjoy Thanksgiving meal with peace in your heart is not because
21:27 you're so clean, but because He put His clean on you.
21:32 What can wash away my sins?
21:40 What can make me whole again?
21:41 Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
21:44 The Bible says He put His hands on him.
21:48 You know people were watching, don't you?
21:52 Just to be a church dude and touching that nasty man.
21:56 Look at the Pharisees and the Sadducees and the Herodians and the Zealots.
22:01 All these religious sects who are more interested in church than kingdom.
22:07 More interested in looking holy than being holy.
22:10 Jesus, this new rabbi in the country, this new hot thing that they hate, breaks church
22:17 rules and says, "Just because you asked me.
22:21 If you bold enough to ask me.
22:24 If you bold enough to forget all these church people and bum-rush the altar like that, I'm
22:29 gonna put my hands on you.
22:32 If you willing to acknowledge me publicly, I'm willing to heal you publicly."
22:37 He put His hands on him.
22:44 He says, "Now here's what I want you to do for me.
22:47 If you appreciate what I did, I want you to do one thing for me."
22:49 Here's your last mental note.
22:50 He says, "One last thing I want you to do for me.
22:53 Don't tell nobody what I did.
22:56 Just keep it on the low."
22:57 Remember that.
22:58 You guys remember that?
23:00 He says, "Keep it on the low.
23:01 Don't tell nobody what I did for you."
23:03 OK, so, so, so He heals, He heals him instantly, but He gives them an instruction.
23:11 OK, this gets better and better.
23:14 Now that you're healed, go tell the priest and go get it validated by the priest.
23:21 Go show yourself to the priest.
23:23 What you need the priest for when Jesus heals you, I'll tell you why.
23:26 Because according to the Levitical law, to the law, Jesus said, "I came not to destroy
23:30 the law but to fulfill it."
23:32 He says, "Since, since your little church rules say that you only can be validated by
23:37 the high priest, go see him."
23:39 So you would go to the priest and the priest would look you up and down and say, "Cool,
23:43 you're back in society."
23:44 So Jesus tells the man, after He heals him, "Go show yourself to the priest and show him
23:51 what I already did."
23:54 But that's not what He told the ten.
23:56 He told the ten, "Go show yourself to the priest," but they weren't healed yet.
24:04 So what exactly do you want me to show the priest?
24:07 Because I still got AIDS.
24:09 He got instant, they got an instruction.
24:13 I'm preaching way better than you responded.
24:15 Don't sit there no more.
24:17 Because let me try this one more time.
24:20 He got instant, they got an instruction.
24:24 He got instant.
24:25 Boop, healed.
24:26 Boop, done.
24:27 Go tell him what I, go show him, you good.
24:31 Other guys, He said, "Go show yourself."
24:33 How much faith does it take to start going toward the priest to get validated?
24:43 To get announced when you still got it?
24:47 Imagine their conversation when Jesus says, "Go show yourself to the priest," and they
24:52 all walking thinking, "Now why would He tell us?
24:57 You know He gonna turn us down.
25:00 You know He gonna reject us.
25:01 You know He gonna send us right back to the leper colony.
25:05 I ain't really understanding this, but I'm gonna keep walking."
25:10 Somebody gonna shout.
25:13 Somebody gonna shout, huh?
25:14 It don't make no sense to me.
25:17 It don't make no sense to me to stay celibate in my prime sex years.
25:22 But the instructions say don't let nobody touch you until they marry you.
25:26 So I'm just gonna keep walking.
25:29 It don't make no sense to be faithful to a woman who don't even honor me, but we married
25:33 so I'm just gonna keep walking.
25:35 It don't make no sense to keep praying for kids who won't change and keep forgiving people
25:39 who I need to cuss out.
25:41 But the man said, "Keep walking.
25:44 I wanna talk to somebody."
25:45 That you didn't get instant, you got instructions.
25:50 OK y'all missed this.
25:53 You missed this, because the next verse says, "While they were walking, they became."
25:58 Wait a minute.
25:59 "While they were walking, they became."
26:02 If you knew how good this was, you'd take off running around the church.
26:08 "While they were walking, they became."
26:11 Please don't hate on me because I'm still becoming.
26:15 I wish I, I know some of y'all got healed right away.
26:22 I know some of y'all, as soon as you met Jesus, you stopped everything.
26:26 I'm so proud of you and God bless you.
26:28 But some of us are still becoming.
26:33 Some of us still need instructions because it didn't happen instantaneously.
26:40 He's still working on me.
26:42 He's still changing me.
26:44 And I'm just walking 'til it happened.
26:47 I'm just, I'm just walking.
26:48 It don't make sense to me.
26:50 But the Bible says — OK, you know what, some of y'all missed this.
26:53 Some of you, some of you, as soon as God got ahold of you, it's a bunch of you, I met you,
26:56 I know who you are.
26:57 As soon as God got ahold of you, you put crack down, you ain't never look back.
27:01 First day, I'm done.
27:02 Cigarettes, 30 years.
27:03 Put it down, never picked it up again.
27:07 Recognizer, not like a street sister, but definitely like the company of different men.
27:12 Human, anthropological attractions, at least whatever, I need a man to fulfill certain
27:17 needs.
27:18 And boom, met God, ain't a brother touched you since you made a commitment to Christ.
27:22 I love it, it was instant.
27:24 Many of you, He fixed your mind, He fixed your personality, it was all instant.
27:29 But others of you like me, He's doing it by process.
27:35 You used to cuss people out in 10 seconds, now you wait at least 10 minutes.
27:42 Now that's a 9 minute and 50 second, that's 9 minutes and 50 seconds of change and maturity.
27:51 I wish I had 10 people.
27:53 Some of y'all stuck up.
27:55 To all you instant people, God bless you.
27:58 But to the rest of us that He's still working on and He's doing it step by step, I'm sorry,
28:05 but go grandma, hit 5 people, say "please be patient with me, God is not through with
28:12 me yet."
28:13 I want to, I want to take 30 seconds and praise God for people who are still becoming.
28:35 It was Martin Lloyd who said that "Christianity is not a matter of doing, but rather it is
28:42 a matter of becoming."
28:43 And can I tell all of you who are becoming more and more like him, sometimes you look
28:49 at Instagram too long and you look at it wrong.
28:52 Other times you say "I'm through with this," you take it off your whole phone for a minute.
28:56 There's some weeks you don't play no games at all.
28:58 Other weeks you fall back into stuff you said you was done with.
29:01 The devil tries to tell you, "you're not saved at all."
29:04 It's the struggle that validates your salvation.
29:09 If for the 100th time, sinners don't struggle with sin, they just sin.
29:19 Saints struggle.
29:21 Saints have to hold their mouth.
29:25 May the words of my life—saints have to fight the devil back.
29:30 Saints be wrestling in their flesh.
29:33 Saints have to hold theyself at night and say "don't let him come over, don't let him
29:36 come over, don't go over there."
29:38 But can I tell you, you ought to thank God that He's still working on you, still perfecting
29:43 you, still making you, still shaping you.
29:48 You are the clay, He is the powder.
29:52 You in—I'll say another sermon.
29:55 Oh, Sukie, Sukie.
30:01 I'm done, y'all.
30:03 Y'all about tired of me now.
30:04 I can't believe, I can't believe I'm preaching two for one again.
30:09 He told the one brother, "since I've healed you, go show the priest, show yourself, get
30:16 it validated."
30:17 To the ten he said, "if you want to be healed, go show yourself."
30:24 I could really argue on Christology and how God approaches us all differently.
30:30 Stop comparing yourself to me, because God deals with me different based on my personality.
30:37 God knew He couldn't give me everything I wanted instantly, because I would have walked
30:41 away.
30:42 So He's been progressively giving me what I can handle to keep me close to the cross.
30:50 God knew He could bless you right away and you never turn back.
30:55 God knows with me and my personality, He has to incrementally give me some stuff and hold
31:02 some stuff back to keep me knit across.
31:05 So I ain't comparing my healing to your healing, I'm just glad we both getting healed.
31:11 I'm just glad we both know the same Savior.
31:20 And one of them got healed immediately, I'm done.
31:25 The other ten are just walking.
31:30 Confused but walking.
31:33 Still nasty, but walking.
31:37 Don't know what to do, but following instructions.
31:41 I just show up every Sunday and whatever He preached, I go home Sunday night and try to
31:46 apply it to my life.
31:48 It's a slow process, I still feel dirty.
31:51 I ain't got what I want, but I'm just walking.
31:54 The Bible says, "try not to shout, but as they went."
31:59 We may as well turn up for Thanksgiving.
32:02 We may as well turn up for Thanksgiving, let's go and turn up.
32:05 But as they went, I started to preach "healed as they went."
32:09 As they went, watch this, as they went, they just walking, they confused but walking.
32:14 They confused but following instructions, they confused but walking by His Word.
32:19 And as they're walking, they start looking down.
32:22 And the old folks said they looked at their hand, and their hand looked new.
32:29 They looked at their feet, and they did too, I feel like preaching.
32:34 Scabs started falling off, chains started breaking, skin got smooth.
32:39 Who am I talking to?
32:42 Hit three people, say, "He's working on me right now, go ahead."
32:46 They weren't what they wanted to be, but they weren't what they used to be.
32:51 The Bible says, "as they went, as they walked."
32:55 He got His hands instantly, they got theirs progressively.
32:59 I wish I had time to work like I wanna work.
33:02 I ain't got time to work like I wanna work.
33:04 Instantaneously progressively, instantaneously progressively.
33:07 Progressively as they walked, they start getting healed.
33:09 And all of a sudden, they looked and the leprosy was gone.
33:14 They looked and I thought, "I'm gonna do better, I'm gonna do better.
33:19 This second half of pastoring you guys, I'm gonna do better at studying, do better at
33:22 being a better pastor, I gotta get better."
33:24 Because how did I miss this?
33:26 The text never told me if they ever went to the priest.
33:32 Text tells me as they went, they got healed.
33:37 They jumping, I wasn't there, let me burn the knives.
33:39 And what would you be doing?
33:40 Shouting, tripping on the miracle.
33:41 One like, "Oh my goodness, I'm to Elder Dave Gulley's Barbershop.
33:50 I ain't had a cut in two and a half years."
33:56 When nobody put their clippers in my head, one be like, "I'm going to see Samantha."
34:02 Samantha broke up with me as soon as I started breaking out.
34:04 As soon as I started breaking out, she was like, "I don't like your skin like that."
34:07 She left me.
34:08 One brother like, "I get to hug my daughter."
34:10 One brother like, "I get to go see my wife."
34:14 And I understand, I understand, the Bible says they're all, they're all healed.
34:18 Here's the part you know by heart, but one of them, when he saw that he was healed, I
34:27 feel like preaching to myself, but one of them, when he realized he was healed, turned
34:33 around and came back shouting, he couldn't thank him enough.
34:39 But one of them, when he saw, he couldn't thank him enough.
34:47 And then Luke tells me something that I didn't ask Luke.
34:50 Marcus Hood, Marcus Ghetto.
34:51 Luke's a physician by trade, OK?
34:53 Others are fishermen, but Luke's a physician, so he likes specificity.
34:57 Luke tells me something.
34:58 Luke says, "And he was a Samaritan."
35:00 I'm gone, y'all tired.
35:02 You know what that means?
35:03 A Samaritan is a half-breed.
35:06 The Jews didn't like them.
35:08 They looked at them as half-breeds between Assyrians and Jewish people.
35:14 Between Assyrians, this half-breed mix, Assyrians had taken over Israel, captured them, slept
35:20 with their women, so now you're something between Jewish and Assyrian, half-breeds,
35:25 a Samaritan.
35:26 Implicit in that is that the other nine were Jewish or church guys.
35:32 If they're church guys, that means they had to memorize the Torah, first five books of
35:37 the Bible, before they were 13.
35:40 And you had to say it at your 13th birthday, by heart.
35:44 So they know the Torah, they know church, but they ain't come back.
35:51 The dude from the streets, the dude that didn't grow up in church, the dude that didn't go
36:01 to Sunday school said, "I don't know much, but I know I'm going back.
36:06 I don't know the Old Testament, but I know I used to be one way, and what you did for
36:13 me fixed me, and I came back.
36:16 I don't even speak in tongues.
36:18 I don't know no church songs.
36:19 I just came to tell you thank you."
36:26 And I wish I had some people on this Sunday morning that would get out your sanctified
36:31 seats, think about how much God has done for you, open up your mouth as loud as you can,
36:39 and say, "I just came to thank you."
37:02 That's the wrong person.
37:23 I just came to say, "Lord, thank you for another chance.
37:47 I just came to say, "Lord, thank you for another chance."
37:54 I just came to say, "Lord, thank you for another chance."
38:00 I just came to say, "Lord, thank you for another chance."
38:05 I just came to say, "Lord, thank you for another chance."
38:09 I just came to say, "Lord, thank you for another chance."
38:13 Don't tell nobody, but before that, the Bible says, "As they went, as they went, they were
38:23 healed."
38:24 But the last mental note, don't tell nobody.
38:28 He told the man, one more time, "Don't tell nobody.
38:32 Would you do me a favor and go grab my stuff and tell your neighbor?"
38:36 I said, "I wouldn't go tell nobody, but I can't keep it to myself when the Lord has
38:47 been good to you.
38:49 Do me a favor and happy Thanksgiving with your fine one partner and grab him by the
38:56 hand and say, "I need somebody to testify to with your fine one person."
39:04 I said, "Fine one person, grab him by the hand.
39:08 Now shake him and rock him.
39:11 Rock him and shake.
39:13 Shake him and rock him.
39:16 Rock him and shake."
39:18 He said, "Neighbor, you don't know like I know what the Lord has done for me.
39:28 He put clapping in my hands, running in my feet, joy in my heart, a smile on my face."
39:38 Keep preaching to your neighbor.
39:40 He said, "He put food on my table, clothes on my back, gas in my car, paid my utilities.
39:50 It's the Lord's doing and it's marvelous in our eyes."
39:56 Good evening, y'all, and happy Thanksgiving.
39:59 But can I get somebody on Thanksgiving Eve to start praising him?
40:06 Open your mouth and praise him.
40:09 I feel like preaching here.
40:11 Praise him like the Lord has been good to you.
40:16 If the Lord has been good to you on this Thanksgiving, forget about your neighbor and jump in the
40:25 crowd and tell somebody, "Excuse me, but I can't thank him enough.
40:33 I can't thank him enough.
40:37 He picked me up, turned me around, placed my feet on solid ground."
40:46 I feel like preaching here.
40:48 Would you find somebody and shake their hand like you're going to shake it off?
40:54 Shake that hand.
40:55 I said, "Shake that hand.
40:56 Shake that hand."
40:57 And say, "Name, I got to shake it."
41:01 Keep shaking.
41:02 "I got to shake it till you get your joy back.
41:05 I got to shake it till you get your joy back.
41:09 I got to shake it till you get your joy back."
41:13 I want to know, will you throw up your hands, open up your mouth, say, "I."
41:33 I feel something.
41:41 Break it out.
41:49 Before you cut that turkey, before you cook that pie, before you peel them greens, take
42:01 30 seconds and pray.
42:05 Praise Him in your house.
42:20 Praise Him in your kitchen.
42:22 Praise Him in your office.
42:24 Put the phone down.
42:26 Praise Him in the red light.
42:35 Oh, I feel God.
42:37 I feel something breaking out.
42:46 Wait, wait, wait.
42:47 It's not ready yet.
42:48 Keep it.
42:49 Let it brew, let it brew.
42:50 Let it brew, Eric.
42:51 Let it brew, Eric.
42:54 We got to go cook.
42:56 We got to go home.
42:58 But it could have been your child on that school bus in Columbus.
43:03 It could be you, but the Lord lets you live.
43:07 You may not have everything.
43:09 You may not have the man you want, the house you want, the perfect husband, the perfect
43:13 life, but if God has done anything for you, I need my outsiders to bum-brush the altar
43:19 right quick because it could have been y'all on that school bus.
43:23 Come praise God you wasn't on that school bus.
43:26 Everybody praise.
43:28 One, two, three, dance.
43:30 I can't hear you.
43:47 Woo.
44:15 I can't thank him enough.
44:17 I can't thank him enough.
44:19 I can't thank him enough.
44:21 What shall I render unto God for all his mercies?
44:25 Come to the altar.
44:36 Come here.
44:37 Come on.
44:38 Come across.
44:39 Come across.
44:40 Come across.
44:41 Come across.
44:42 Come all the way up.
44:43 Thank you for not walking.
44:45 Hey, if my words and my presence carry any weight in your life, then please don't walk.
44:56 Don't leave today until I'm finished.
44:58 We're not coming Wednesday.
44:59 Offices will be closed Wednesday at noon.
45:01 We're going to let you enjoy your holiday, so just honor me with your presence another
45:05 few minutes because the homiletician in me, pray for me, is that seminary stuff.
45:11 It strains your mind that you got to finish a text so you can sleep.
45:14 So let me finish the text.
45:16 The homiletician in me got to finish because when the brother ran up on Jesus and says,
45:25 "I came back to say thank you," Jesus asked a rhetorical question.
45:32 He says, "What, in the tent of y'all?"
45:39 And yet none came back.
45:43 You grew up on King James, huh?
45:46 Where are the nine?
45:48 A couple years ago, I preached a sermon.
45:51 The Bible says that one came back.
45:53 I preached a sermon called "I'm the One."
45:56 I am not, and you don't have to say, "Yes, you are, pastor.
46:00 This is not some humble brag or attempt for you to make me feel good."
46:04 Don't do that right now.
46:05 I am not the best pastor in the country by a long shot.
46:08 Watch this.
46:09 But I do think I'm the most grateful.
46:13 I'll compete with anybody in the country for most grateful.
46:21 I'm not supposed to be here.
46:23 I don't come from no preaching parents.
46:25 I don't come from--I'm grateful.
46:29 I'm not the best, but I'm grateful.
46:31 Sam, I love you.
46:32 I'm grateful.
46:37 And on this Thanksgiving--y'all ready?
46:40 Jesus said something.
46:42 I told you guys I'm going to study better before I retire.
46:45 Never saw it.
46:46 One version says, "Get up and get going."
46:49 Lady Verna helps me preach, so we studied together, and we saw the message version said something different.
46:56 When Jesus saw the brother came back and the brother said, "Thank you," and Jesus asked, "Where are the nine?"
47:00 He says, "Brother, you are healed. Enjoy it."
47:03 Watch this.
47:04 He said, "Get up and go home."
47:08 Go home.
47:10 Your faith has made you well.
47:13 You missed it.
47:16 Don't get healed and go to the club.
47:20 Don't get healed and go see all your friends.
47:24 Because why not go see the people who suffered before you got delivered?
47:35 Go see the people who you not being delivered affected.
47:42 Don't get delivered and then go celebrate with people who didn't pray for you.
47:49 The only thing I want you to do is take that deliverance home and make it up to the people who missed your presence before you got delivered.
48:04 Thank you, Ray. I love you.
48:06 Pastor, while Ray preached for you Sunday, where was you at out of town?
48:09 Uh-uh. I was at home.
48:11 Why?
48:13 Baby born, granddaughter beautiful but premature, Shanae having some heart murmurs back and forth to the hospital, and then mom-in-law, praise God, coming back this way.
48:23 The surgery, didn't tell y'all again, beat her up more than we thought it was.
48:26 So Lady Vernon been like 24 hours a day at Mother Williams' house.
48:30 Who does that leave with Shanae?
48:32 So I got to go home.
48:34 So Pastor, Mega, all that, forget all that if a man won't go home.
48:40 And can't no nanny do that for me.
48:47 That's my grandbaby.
48:49 And so I've been Jason in the Air Force and finishing up his tech stuff.
48:55 He'll be back to get his family and love him, pray for him.
48:58 But in the meantime, I got to be daddy.
49:00 And so we keep the baby half a night and got to work and all that.
49:03 Then she come get her and back and forth to the hospital, everybody, because some of you, you every place except home.
49:14 And this Thanksgiving, my prophetic word for you, you ready? It's deep.
49:17 Go home.
49:20 Hug your wife.
49:23 Pastor, I'm not married. Hug your children.
49:26 Pastor, whatever, go see your mama.
49:29 Thank God for your sister who's closer than any of your friends.
49:33 Thank God for your auntie who raised you better than your mama did.
49:36 Thank God for your uncle who tried to be a father when your daddy wasn't.
49:45 If you at this altar, you got a mom and a daddy, stop taking that for granted.
49:49 A lot of teenagers would kill to be you.
49:52 If your mama love you into something, you treat everybody better than you treat your mama.
49:57 And she the only one think about you all the time.
50:00 And your father.
50:02 My word is to go home.
50:05 Unapologetically, Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday.
50:09 Even sinners have to pause and say, thank you.
50:11 I hope this word bless you. Enjoy your family.
50:14 Let's say thank you for all that God has done.
50:17 Maybe you thank him differently than I do, but we all need to tell him thank you.
50:21 Hope this bless you. Listen, be a blessing to somebody this week.
50:24 Send this to somebody who needs to know how thankful they ought to be to our Savior.
50:30 Enjoy your Thanksgiving.