The One Leper

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That's a RNI CAR E.com/I heart Connie and Atlantic Mayor Mema with storytime name and answered prayer for stories that point children to God on the Truth Network for kids your chosen Truth Network podcast is starting just a few seconds. Enjoy it, share it the most of all, thank you for listening to The Truth Podcast Network. This is the Truth Network, the resurrection power of Jesus Christ is absolute, transforming and restoring lives healing her making all things. This power sent Michael home in the captivity darkness hell of addiction and delivered God this is Jesus breaks the chain below series Truth Network is likable or blessed greatly received his word of love and truth.

This podcast is titled the one leper in this podcast we will be discussing the story where Jesus fuels the 10 lepers and is found in Luke chapter 17 I want to go through before we read the Scripture. I want to give you a history or background about the lepers and the disease that they had that they were healed from Susan, get a better understanding of the concept of gratitude that we can learn from this story will get in the later but to die right here and let's talk about leprosy. What kind of disease is this in and what it it due to people and wanted it because their lives to be like when they contracted this disease. We start off leprosy is an infectious disease it causes severe disfiguring skin source and nerve damage in the arms, legs, and skin areas around your body affects the entire body. Leprosy has been around since ancient times, or when is been recorded in transcription and in the Bible in different historical books over the times and we we also know that outbreaks of effective people all over the world on every continent. The term leprosy, which includes the word leper lepers leprosy and leprous it occurs 68 times in the Bible 58 times in the Old Testament, and 13 times in the New Testament in the Old Testament. It is described by the word to Sarai, half and in the end, and that's the Hebrew word, and in the New Testament there is a Greek word for leprosy and its left pros, or (in the Old Testament, the instances of leprosy. We believe met a variety of infectious keys.skin diseases.

But even sometimes that word to Sarai, it referred to mold or mildew on clothing and walls. The precise meaning of leprosy in both the old and New Testament is still in in a little bit of dispute, but it probably includes the modern Hansons disease, especially in the New Testament where it is when they talk about lepers and leper were we know about most definitely it is describing an infectious skin condition or an infectious skin disease. Like in Luke 17 were we start talking about how Jesus encountered the 10 lepers and in and healed them with the touch of his hand and and that's very interesting work in a grid diving that just a minute when a stillborn leprosy a little bit more so we can understand the impact that Jesus had on these lepers. So many have thought that leprosy and as you see it with your eyes and the condition and and and and the disease itself, and what it does to the human body. Many believe it's just a disease of the skin, but it but it's far worse than that. It's really a disease of the central nervous system because leprosy bacterium.

The bacteria that the bacteria that causes the disease of lepers leprosy it done attacked the skin it attacks the nerves but we see the symptoms come out in in different areas of the body. The symptoms start in the skin and in the peripheral nervous system outside the brain and spinal cord that it spreads to other parts of the body such as the hands, feet, face and earlobes and as we notice the most, especially with the hands and feet in the face.

Even the nose. Your people. Leprosy experience serious disfigurement of the skin and bones not only just the skin and the superficial features of the face, but the but the bones of the body and there's a thing that happens a twisting of the limbs or hands twist her toes curl the feet and ankles get twisted in an and there's a thing called claw hand that the fingers will form like a claw and they can't use her hands anymore.

Can you imagine how devastating this disease would be even in our modern times with our medicine. But think about biblical times and the type of medicine and technology that they had but this is something that is devastating that that that that is really there was no cure for it was a death sentence when you were known to start showing the symptoms of leprosy. You are a dead man walking. You are an outcast and nobody want to be around in and people could first see this because your face would start to change, which include a thickening of the outer ear in the collapsing of the nose.

The nose would literally almost fall off a leprosy lepers face and also to my gross call lip (months would form on the skin and even in the respiratory tract it in the lungs, which would which would cause a difficulty in breathing, and sometimes lepers would die from that nodding and not being able to get enough oxygen into the body and in the make matters worse, since it is a nerve disease. It attacked the optic nerve it because many of them to go blind slowly go blind because optic nerve would deteriorate in a leprosy such a painful disease and people were terrified of it because of its terrible disfiguring effects and death sentence. You know when when you got it you it was just a black cloud over your head and in wood and in the thing is you couldn't hide it you knew if you got it. People would see it and then you would be banished. You would be kicked out of society because P doesn't happen people with leprosy. They were sent away from the rest of society. If you lived in the town or a city and you were showing the symptoms of leprosy. You were kicked out, they they establish leper colonies that were way outside of town out in the countryside way for away from from the rest of the people in your banished their and sent away and deemed unclean and and and nobody wanted to touch you. Could you imagine going through life where you don't, nobody will even touch you, because they're afraid of you afraid of your disease. Can you imagine what that must feel like I'm a weakened Lycan that some of our own struggles will we feel worthless or dirty. Again, our sin and our shame, and maybe we've done things that we are that we are not proud of, or, or that we that we think make us unclean in the people want to be around us.

I know I speak for myself that when I was in my drug addiction.

I became just a horrible person and nobody want to be around me and and so I can I can somewhat on one level relate to be in an outcast being, nobody wanted to be around me to being just just told to get away. We want to be around us. It was because my own doing because I chose to use drugs and in deal with the symptoms drug the disease of drug addiction has symptoms to just like any other disease and and so I can understand to an extent but but not on a level of leprosy is in my understanding that this is this is just on a whole different level.

You know you can you can understand how is just like recently when people come down the coven. We had a little bit of this with the covert scare, and when when COBE came into our it into our society and started make getting people sick of people started dying from it.

If you really caught coven. Nobody want to be around you so so we can state we can understand a little bit about what these lepers might be feel and think about it when you got: nobody want to be around you. You had to go. Separate yourself. Nobody else and it was a good thing because we had to do that we do not want the disease spread, but is the same thing true leper but but on a whole different scale because it it was a stigma report stigmatize when you are leper were dirty, unclean, unfit for society thrown away trash, garbage throw you way out there for them for yourself. We want to be around you. We want to touch it. We don't even want to look at you because to look at leper it is. It is a hard sight to behold took to have to look at some of whose faces fall apart whose limbs are twisting. It's a very uncomfortable thing so so that's what these lepers were going through at the time.

That's what they were feeling. They knew what was happening to the body and they knew from from a physical perspective but also from a spiritual it and in a heart's perspective.

They were being crushed in their spirit and in the hearts were being broken. These lepers think about it. Think about what that must've felt like all alone suffering in and no help a death sentence.

Your people look down on lepers. They want to go near him in and they were the least of these during biblical times. They were the ones that were despise their unclean less than human outcast of society.

Can you imagine what it must have been like for leper and in addition to the pain and disfiguration, biblical leprosy or Hansons diseases as we believe that there were talk about our modern day Hansons disease were both dreaded and people were shunned the Hebrew to Sarai at the include environment variety of elements in the Old Testament a variety of elements and is most frequently seen in Leviticus and re-pick up the book, Leviticus and and and read about it in their were referred primary to uncleanliness or imperfections. According to biblical standards.

A person with any scaly blemish was to Soth in the second or the Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible to Sartre was translated as a leprous these words in Greek implied a skin condition that spread over the entire body. References the left. Leprosy have a different emphasis in the New Testament. They stressed God's desire to heal so in the Old Testament words on it represented uncleanliness imperfections and disease and in a rejection in the Old Testament in the New Testament the references to let leprosy gave a chance for healing and God's desire to heal and so we can just see this concept of being outcast it through through in using leprosy, as as a symbol of that of God coming in and cleaning that which was was unclean with sin. Hallelujah, and in Jesus touching the people with leprosy in the story in Luke 17 Jesus touching the lepers that nobody else would touch Jesus freely touch them know he came to save that which was lost. He came to clean clans that watch which was unclean. So this is a beautiful story I'm about to read beginning in Luke 17 and and and I want to say this while people leprosy traditionally suffered banishment from family and neighbors.

Jesus broke from that tradition. Just like he broke from all the traditions of the time. He treated lepers with compassion anyway to their any touch them and he healed them.

Oh, what a mighty God we serve all how great our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ is he will go to the least of these, and touch them and save them.

He came to me and touch me in the depth of my addiction and unclean life that I was living at the time in prison and he touched me, and he healed me of my disease, and the hero he will heal you of whatever disease you have.

He will touch you. He will bring you into him. If you feel alone despise rejected. He will come to you. He will touch you, he will receive you now own arena. Luke 17 verse 11 through 19 and Morgan to talk about the story of the 10 lepers. Now it happened, as he went to Jerusalem that he passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee. Then as he entered a certain village there met him 10 men who were lepers who stood afar off. Now you notice in the Scripture. They stood afar off. They were with the rest.

They had to stand away. Afar also there already outcast. This is a picture of the human outcast the 10 were far off. They stood away from the rest, and they lifted up their voices said and they start crying out to Jesus. Just like I cried out to Jesus in that prison and they lifted up their voices and said Jesus master, have mercy on us, have mercy on us. Jesus 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 and one of them. When he saw that he was healed, returned, and with a loud voice glorified God and fell down on his face at his feet, giving him thanks and he was a Samaritan.

So Jesus answered and said, where there not 10 clans, but where are the nine were there not any founder returned to give glory to God except this foreigner said to him, arise, go your way, your faith has made you well. While what a beautiful picture of healing that was and what a lesson of gratitude that only one at all. 10 that were healed. Only one came back to give glory to God and to give thanks to God for what he had done for him and and end up in the praise Jesus for what he did for him only one showed gratitude one out of the 10 only one out of the 10 realized he had been completely healed and filled with gratitude and ran back to Jesus not just walk but ran back to Jesus, praising God in a loud voice, and he threw himself at the feet of Jesus to thank him.

Interesting enough, this man, this leper this for leper who was completely healed.

He was a Samaritan and if if you know anything about those times. This is this is really going against tradition. Not only going against tradition of not touching or being around lepers, but the tradition about Jews and Samaritans because the Jews hated the Samaritans and considered them to be half breeds and very unspiritual and unclean that when he would touch at a Samaritan when you want to be around them. So this one leper who returned to Jesus and gratitude was actually an outcast of the outcast, so he was an outcast for being a Samaritan first, then he was an outcast for being a Samaritan with leprosy and outcast of an outcast. Being a Samaritan and a leper. It was a double strike against him yet he was the only one who returned he was only one that showed gratitude at this point the story Jesus asked the profound question were not all 10 lepers cleansed, where are the other nine has no one returned to give praise to God other than this foreigner so so in this Jesus is speaking to this this double jeopardy of this leper. He calls him a foreigner and he talks about them being a leper and and only one came back. My question for you right now is this. Since the Lord has touched you in your life has shown you, his salvation hallelujah has brought you into the family of God, because you believed and received him and had faith in him as your Lord and Savior and and now that your life is changing. You might've been healed from some sort of disease might I know you're healed from a spiritual disease and in a disconnectedness. My question for you right now is this argue that one leper who returned to Jesus and gratitude when you were saved and set free from sin, or you like the other nine forgot the giver and only focused on the gift for yourself which one are you are you the one or you. The other nine.

What does your life look like since you were saved in cleansed of your sin, made new reborn. Have you use your newfound freedom to glorify yourself does your life glorify God.

Galatians 513 to 25 says you, my brothers and sisters were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh.

Rather, serve one another humbly in love for the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command. Love your neighbor as yourself.

If you buy into value devour each other. Watch out or you will be destroyed by each other so I say, walk by the Spirit you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.

For the flesh desires what is contrary to the spirit and the spirit what is contrary to the flesh, they are in conflict with each other so that you are not to do whatever you want but if you are led by the spirit. You're not under the law.

The actual/obvious sexual morality, impurity and debauchery, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, subdivision, dissensions, factions in the envy, drunkenness, orgies, and the like.

I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God. This is the important and important piece that I want to focus on in Scripture, but the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patients or forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking an Indian each other is important for you to understand what the one leper understood. We are found by God and delivered in healed of our sinful nature. He was healed of his leprosy, but he was also I believe healed of the simple nature so that we we're who we are healed. We are delivered.

We are say so that we can be a witness of the love of God in Jesus Christ, that while we were yet still unclean sinners that Jesus died for us. Jesus died for us so that we would not have to remain dead, separated from God for eternity. He died so that we would not have to be separate from God, like the lepers were separated from society we are saved by grace through faith in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We are saved is set free from sin.

We are to use our salvation and freedom to bring glory to God in the story. One leper came back and glorify God. This is what were supposed to do when we have been given the gift of salvation.

We don't use it for ourselves to continue to live in the flesh.

We use it to bear the fruits of God we are to live a new life as a new creation in Jesus Christ. We are to live in the spirit and in that we are pleasing to God.

And in that we glorify God we bear these spiritual fruits of God and show them to this world.

We are to love the unlovable, like Jesus loves us. We are law are to love the rejected and despised like Jesus love the lepers we are to bring people in close and share the love of Jesus Christ with them so they too can come to believe in him and find their own salvation and freedom.

So my question to you still remained argue that one leper are you the other nine. How do you live your life now that you have been say do you share your faith with others bring glory to God and pleasing God or you keep this treasure all to yourself. Do you live a life of gratitude or do you live a life of thankfulness I say. Never ever forget the giver of the gift. So many times we can be so excited about the gift. We are given that we get lost in the gift and totally forget who gave us that precious gift. If we truly realize what it cost God to give us this gift of salvation we would praise his holy name.

Every day the rest. The days of our lives.

It cost God everything. John 316 says for God so loved the world that he gave his only son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life's and Greg is 521 God made him who had no sin to be sin for us that in him we might become the righteousness of God deliver the perfect life on earth, but at the cross of Calvary. God placed all of mankind's sins upon him there at the cross, our Savior experience the fullness of our transgressions, along with all the guilt, shame and regret.

He must. The field despised broken rejected by all. Can you just imagine he actually became like a leper upon the cross, despised and rejected by all shame and guilt. He bore our transgressions, he bore our shame and guilt on himself so that we would not have to die in our sins and be separated from God that we can become new creations in Jesus Christ by believing on him and believing in his name and that we could become one with him and God forever for time and eternity. We been given a gift so precious we are to use this gift every day to glorify God.

Second, graded, five, 14 to 20 says, for Christ's love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died and he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again when those left without one leper came back who was healed and glorify God. He no longer live for himself, but he lived for the one who healed him.

Jesus Christ again glorify God in his life. Clarissa days back in Scripture. So from now on we regard no one from the Worley point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, here is the new creationist come the old is gone, the new is here. All this is from God reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people's sins against them, and he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We employ on price gap be reconciled to God for me to be saved and set free as a disciple and ambassador for Jesus Christ is the love Dalai Lama heart, soul, mind and strength and love others as myself and to be conformed to the image and likeness of Jesus Christ and show this image and likeness as a witness to the world in power and, indeed, in this I bring glory to God in this. I plead I am pleasing to God.

My life is pleasing to God. In this I am showing gratitude to God when I reach out and help his children come to know him like I know him in this.

I am like the one leper who returned to Jesus in gratitude for his healing. Let us now take another look at what Jesus lasted to the one leper would return in verse 19 he said.

Then he said to him rise and go your faith has made you well. So I say to you all now arise and go.

Your faith has made you well share the gospel with those that are still lost and who are unclean in their sin. Those who feel despised, rejected, and for like outcast load of them. Tell them about the God you serve. Tell them what Jesus did in your life.

Give them your testimony so that they too can come to believe in in in in the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ I say, hate the sin and not the center will not do not be afraid to approach the sinner in his guilt and shame and in the nastiness of his sin rise and go forth to reach out to the lost where they may be go to the least of these, the highways and byways go to the drug houses the streets go to the hospital's go to the supermarket go everywhere you can.

When you're riding the bus speak to someone about Jesus glorify God, be pleasing to God. Show your gratitude that you were say is our duty as free men and women ambassador Jesus Christ to share this gospel that is saved us, and where to share with every does the word says with every creature in the world where to take it to every nation, every tone every try every jail every prison every hospital, every store, every corner of this earth.

Who is your preacher, what is your nation that you will approach and deliver this ministry of reconciliation to this message of hope this message of salvation is urination at your workplace is your preacher, your boss or coworker is urination your neighbor and your creature your name is urination your neighborhood and your creature your neighbor is urination's bus stop in your creature. The man women sitting next to you on the bench waiting for a bus ride is urination your school and your creature. The student sitting by themselves all alone that has no friends where is urination and Hoosier creature you can share the love of Jesus Christ with an glorify God. In doing so we can show our gratitude for our gift of salvation and freedom from sin by sharing that gift with others.

Hebrews 12 122 says, I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercy of God, you present your bodies a living sacrifice wholly acceptable to God which is your reasonable service. I love you all and I pray that you too can find the freedom that I found in Jesus Christ. Jesus breaks to change. It is my gratitude to God for what he is done in my life to Jesus Christ. That gives me my purpose in my new life as his ambassador. I want to help, God give this gift of salvation, healing and freedom to others as he did for me. I know what a profound effect it had on me. I don't change my life. I know that it made me a new person I was reborn and given a spirit, his spirit.

Hallelujah, power and hope and love. And I believe that the one leper is a great example of how we should respond to such a great gift. Is this the gift of eternal life that God gave his own son for despised and rejected the leper was despised and rejected by the society belong to one leper was made whole by his faith and was accepted by God. We are to respond to this great gift we have been given by living a life in Jesus Christ and bring glory to God to do this by sharing the gospel saved us and set us free, is the greatest live I've ever live living my life in Jesus Christ is God bless you all in Jesus name I pray, thank you for listening. For more information on Michael Billings ministry sons and daughters of thunder visit sons and daughters of thunder.org and remember there is no addiction in Jesus Christ. Jesus breaks the chains. This is the Truth Network