November 9, 2025 • 36 mins
We trace Luke 17:11–19 from desperate plea to grateful worship, showing how mercy “as you go” turns outsiders into witnesses. We look back in thanks for God’s faithfulness to our church and look forward in faith to the work still ahead.
• Jesus heads toward Jerusalem and the cross
• Ten lepers cry for mercy and obey
• Healing arrives on the road, not on demand
• One returns to thank and worship Jesus
• Faith saves deeper than physical healing
• Our story mirrored in their mercy and obedience
• Gratitude fuels mission and community life
• Looking back in thanks, moving forward in faith
“Would today be the day they come to know you? … If they want to come down and chat with me about that, I'd love nothing more.”
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_00 (00:03):
Hello and welcome to the FBC El Doredo Sermon
Podcast.
My name is Taylor Gare, and Ihave the privilege of being the
pastor here at First Baptist,and I want to thank you for
listening into our sermon thisweek.
And I want to tell you this ifyou're in our area and you don't
have a church home, we wouldlove to see you any Sunday
morning at First Baptist ElDoredo.
(00:25):
Would you join me now inlistening to our sermon from
this week?
Amen.
If you'll open up with me toLuke chapter 17.
Luke chapter 17.
(00:57):
I'll give you just a moment tofind Luke chapter 17, 11 through
19.
Allow me to pray for us as webegin.
Lord Jesus, as what a morningit's been, Lord.
(01:18):
Even now, would you uh speak byyour spirit?
Give us uh the word thattransforms.
We ask this in Christ's name.
Amen.
Well, looking back and lookingforward, critical things to do
in all of life, in our normallife, looking back and looking
forward, but certainly as wethink about the Christian life,
(01:41):
in fact, all of the Christianlife really kind of lives within
that uh looking back and lookingforward idea.
We are people who look backultimately to the first coming
of Christ Jesus, who came to diefor sin, to rise from the grave,
but we're also a people thatlook forward to a second coming
of Christ Jesus when he willcome and uh dwell with man and
(02:05):
we will dwell with him forever.
We are kind of just a peoplethat look backward and look
forward.
That's certainly what we'redoing this morning, and
certainly what I want us to seein Luke chapter 17 of one
specific story that's really allabout looking backward and
looking forward.
And it begins right here inverse 11.
On the way to Jerusalem, he, hebeing Jesus, was passing along
(02:29):
between Samaria and Galilee.
And so we catch up with Jesus inLuke 17.
He's he's passing on his way,and it says he's going towards
Jerusalem.
Now, in the second half of theGospel of Luke, what we see is
Jesus heading towards Jerusalem,but it's it's more than just
telling us a little bit abouthis itinerary.
(02:51):
What it's really showing us isthat Jesus is heading towards
the cross.
When it talks about in thesecond half of Luke that Jesus
is heading towards Jerusalem,what he means by that is he is
heading towards everything thatwill take place in Jerusalem.
Everything that the entirety ofJesus' life and ministry has led
up to.
He is heading towards thetriumphal entry, heading towards
(03:14):
a trial, heading towards across, heading towards an empty
tomb.
And as he's going, what it says,he's passing along between
Samaria and Galilee.
So he's in the north of Israel,the northern region, between
these two places, Samaria andGalilee.
And we talked a few weeks agoabout Samaritans and Samaria in
(03:36):
general.
Many, many years ago, whenAssyria came in and took over,
they moved many of the Jewishpeople out and moved these
foreigners in.
And there were some Jews thatintermarried with these
foreigners, and because of this,the Jews that did not do that,
they thought that the ones whointermarried, that they just
(03:57):
sold out, that they justbetrayed their people.
And so if you were a Jew, youyou you really just hated the
Samaritans.
You couldn't stand them.
How could they do this to theirpeople?
These two groups did not getalong, and right in the middle
of these two groups, instepsJesus, and then we see chapter
(04:18):
12, or excuse me, verse 12, andas he entered a village, he was
met by ten lepers who stood at adistance.
So here's Jesus entering thisvillage.
You kind of have a picture ofhim on the outskirts of town,
but coming into town, and youhave these ten lepers that meet
(04:41):
him.
Now, when it calls them lepers,certainly I'm sure some of them
had leprosy, the formal term,but but probably these ten had
any various kind of skindiseases.
It could have been multiplethings.
You could read in Leviticus 13about all the various skin
diseases and what you do if ifthat inflicts you, and is
(05:05):
probably many here among theseten had had different variations
of skin diseases.
No matter what it was, it keptthem on the outskirts of town,
because they had become completeoutcast in their own town.
And it's interesting thatbecause of this skin condition,
uh they are now on theoutskirts, but they formed this
community.
(05:26):
And now we'll see in a minutethat there's at least one
Samaritan among them.
And so within this ten, we don'tknow exactly the dynamic, uh,
how many of which, but we knowthere are Jews and Samaritans
living together.
And I just want to ask thequestion.
Isn't it interesting howdesperation kind of levels the
playing field?
(05:49):
That desperation completelylevels the playing field because
suddenly you got these ten men.
They're all inflicted, infectedwith this skin disease that has
caused them to move to theoutskirts of town.
And it's fascinating they'reliving together because suddenly
there's no longer Jew andSamaritan.
(06:11):
Desperation just does have a wayof just uh bringing people
together.
You remember uh nationaltragedies after 9-11, the days
that followed, desperatemoments.
In that moment, there really wasno Republicans or Democrats, us
or them, them or us after 9-11.
The country kind of cametogether.
Desperation just has a way ofdoing that.
(06:32):
Desperate situations have a hasa way of bringing people
together.
And these ten men, in theirbroken condition, they have
found community among oneanother.
Because I want you to thinkabout something.
These men know maybe better thananybody what it means to be in a
desperate situation.
(06:54):
Because as they've beeninflicted with this skin
disease, think about what thatmeans.
And and and let's go deeper ontowhat that could mean because the
reality is this.
When this skin disease came uponthem, in that moment, they had
to sit their family down at adistance and say goodbye to
(07:17):
them.
And they had to move out oftown.
They had to give up any idea ofdropping their child off on his
or her first day ofkindergarten.
It couldn't happen.
The dreams of walking theirdaughter down the aisle, those
are gone.
Seeing a grandchild born, thoseno longer exist.
(07:41):
In this skin condition, they arenow outcasts, and everything
they know, every dream they hadfor life had been crushed, and
their future was confined to theoutskirts of town, to the
company of these nine other menjust like them, who are dealing
with this devastating skincondition, and this is all they
(08:01):
know.
And outside of a miracle, thisis all they will ever know.
These men know what it is to bedesperate.
They know what it is to needhelp and help of a certain kind.
And so when they hear that Jesuswas coming to town, they go find
(08:23):
him.
Verse 12 again, he enters thevillage.
He was met by ten lepers, theystand at a distance.
Again, they know what it meansto social distance.
Before we knew what it meant tosocial distance, they stand back
far enough away.
They don't want to get in Jesus'way or get too close to him.
And they lifted up their voices,verse 13, saying this.
(08:46):
Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.
Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.
First of all, they call Jesus byname.
Secondly, they call Jesus by atitle, Master.
It's actually interesting, justthese 10 men, what they must
have known and heard aboutJesus.
(09:08):
The rumors that were goingaround, the messages that were
being passed around about thisrabbi that was walking through
towns and suddenly he could justheal people.
And he was saying things wereally hadn't heard before and
doing things we had never seenbefore.
They had heard stories and theyknew enough to call him someone
who was in authority, this namemaster, which is interesting
because up to this point inLuke, the only ones to use that
(09:31):
phrase master for Jesus are thedisciples themselves.
Yet there's something in theselepers that just know there is
something about this man that'sjust a little different.
That maybe in my desperatecondition, if I can just get a
hold of him, something mightcould change.
And here's their call.
(09:51):
Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.
I just want mercy.
You know what it's been like inour desperate condition?
(10:13):
You know what it is to be on theoutskirts of town?
Lord, have mercy on us.
And then verse 14, and when hesaw them, he said to them, Go
and show yourselves to thepriests.
Now, this is interesting to mebecause this is not what I
(10:33):
expected.
What I expected is when theseten lepers come to Jesus and
say, Jesus, have mercy on us,for Jesus to say something like,
Okay, right now be healed.
It's a done deal.
And in a moment, with the snapof a finger, right standing in
front of Jesus, that these menwould go from inflicted with
(10:54):
this skin condition to totallyhealed right then, right there.
In fact, I'm even questioningwhat Jesus is up to in this
moment because what does he do?
He says, Go and show yourselvesto the priests.
Not only am I wondering, Jesus,are you actually going to heal
these men?
But Jesus is starting to soundlike you're just delegating the
task, like you're giving thisjob to someone else.
(11:15):
But those are Jesus' words, goand show yourself to the priest.
Is Jesus going to heal?
Is Jesus just delegating thisresponsibility?
I'm going to tell you thismorning, Jesus is actually doing
something even more incrediblethan we can realize.
In Leviticus chapter 14, in theOld Testament law, in that
(11:35):
chapter 14 of Leviticus, ittalks about what a person should
do if they find themselveshealed of a skin condition.
That if you find yourself nowhealed of a skin condition, you
have something you need to do,you go to the priest.
You go to the priest, let himinspect, let him validate, let
(12:00):
him confirm that you are healed,let him give you that
certificate of healing so thatthen you can go back to your
life.
And so what does Jesus mean whenhe says to these ten lepers, go
and show yourselves to thepriest?
What he means is this by thetime you get to the priest, you
will have something to showthem.
You will have something that isworth seeing for them.
(12:24):
And these men knew enough aboutJesus and knew enough about
Leviticus chapter 14 that theyknew this.
If Jesus knows I'm a leper andJesus is telling me to go see
the priest, then I got a feelingthat by the time I get to the
priest, something's gonna bedifferent about my life.
And what do they do?
They just start to go, and theend of verse 14 says this, and
(12:45):
as they went, they werecleansed.
Do you know Jesus doesn't evenhave to be next door to you to
do a miracle?
That even from afar, as Jesussends these men walking down the
road, from afar, he giveshealing.
(13:09):
Reminds me of John chapter 4.
There's an official whose son isvery sick, and it looks like
he's going to die.
And so this man runs to Jesusbecause it's the only place he
knows to go.
And he falls before Jesus andsays, Jesus, my son is sick.
And Jesus announces healing.
(13:30):
He says, Your son's health willbe restored.
You can go home.
And the man starts to go home,and the next day, as he's
getting close to home, it's along journey.
His servants run out to him andthey say, I've got great news.
Your son is making a recovery.
And the official says this,well, tell me this.
When did that recovery kind ofstart to begin?
(13:51):
And they say it was it wasyesterday at about the seventh
hour, which is one in theafternoon.
And this guy looks at hiscalendar of events yesterday and
realizes the seventh hour, oneo'clock.
That's exactly when I wastalking to Jesus.
That from afar Jesus can do whathe wants to do.
That Jesus can announce healingin someone's life from wherever
(14:15):
he is, wherever they are,however they come to him,
whenever they come to him, Jesusis able to heal.
And as these men head towardsthe priest, as we see in 14,
they go and they are cleansed.
Verse 15.
Then one of them, when he sawthat he was healed, turned back,
(14:36):
praising God with a loud voice.
Now, I will say this.
I mean, I know the whole pointof the story, and spoiler alert,
is that only one travels back togive thanks to Jesus, and the
other nine go to the priest andgo about their business.
(14:57):
Should the nine have turned backto Jesus as well?
Of course they should have.
But I do think about what theywere up to.
They were going to the priest,and then you gotta think what's
going on in their mind.
They're walking down the road,and as all ten of them are
walking down the road, whereformerly uh the their skin, it
was it was just this gruelingcondition.
(15:17):
Now their skin is starting to beremade and reformed, and it's
it's soft, and it's it's like itused to be.
And all they can think about isI need to get to my priest, I
need to give him my certificateof wellness so that I can get
back to my family, get back tomy life.
I can't wait to hug my son andmy daughter and my wife and my
parents and all these things.
(15:39):
They just want to get back toall these things.
And so I can't exactly blamethem for that, but then that
really just even magnifies thestory of this one other.
Because this one individual, I'msure he had the same amount of
family as the other nine.
I'm sure he had the same ideasin mind of things I can't wait
(16:01):
to get back to, of meals Ihaven't had in decades, of all
these things that he can't waitfor.
And yet, even in that moment,the sacrifice he chose to make
was before any of that, I needto make sure I'm going to the
source of what has made all thispossible.
Before any of the benefits of myhealing, I need to get to the
(16:26):
healer and just say, Thank you.
Just praise him.
And so what does he do?
Again, verse 15.
The one of them, when he sawthat he was healed, he he turned
back.
He turned around, he lookedback, praising God with a loud
voice.
And then here's verse 16.
And he fell on his face atJesus' feet, giving him thanks.
(16:52):
And now he was a Samaritan.
But I think about the turn from15 to 16.
And I think about the faith, andI think about the realization of
this Samaritan man.
Because look again, verse 15,turning back, he praises God
with a loud voice.
(17:12):
16, and he fell on his face atJesus' feet.
Think about what this person issaying about the magnitude of
the person who has healed him.
He's praising God with a loudvoice, and he's falling at the
feet of Jesus.
And in this person's mind, Iwould imagine, 15 and 16, that
(17:35):
those are one and the same.
That there is enough faith inthis man that he has seen Jesus
do something that only he coulddo, and see his life change in a
way that could only be possibleby God Himself, that he now sees
that this man who healed me isnot just some traveling rabbi or
traveling physician or somereally good doctor or nurse.
(17:58):
No, no.
It's more than that, that Godhas visited me today.
And so he worships God, and lookat this.
He fell on his face at Jesus'feet just a few verses before.
The closest he would come was tospeak to Jesus at a distance.
But now on the other side ofhealing, he comes and falls at
the feet of Jesus, and he justgives him thanks.
(18:20):
Verse 16 says, Now he was aSamaritan.
Why does it make a point to saythat?
Because it wants us to remind usthat sometimes it's those that
we would least expect to return.
We saw this a few weeks ago inLuke chapter 10, when we were
talking about, you know, Jesussaying, Who is my neighbor?
or us asking Jesus that, and itwasn't the in this story, it
(18:42):
wasn't a priest or a Levite.
It was actually the Samaritanthat helped this broken man get
to the hospital and findhealing.
We were surprised then, and nowonce again, we're surprised to
see that the Samaritan, the onewe would maybe least expect to
return, what does he do?
He turns around and he comes tothe source of his healing and he
(19:02):
just says this thank you.
Thank you.
Then Jesus answered, Were notten cleansed?
Where are the nine?
Was no one found to return andgive praise to God except this
foreigner, except the Samaritan,except for the one that maybe
culture and society would leastexpect?
(19:23):
And then look at verse 19.
And he said to them, Rise and goyour way.
Your faith has made you well.
As this Samaritan man who's beenhealed returns to Jesus, first
of all, he gives worship andpraise and his thankfulness, and
(19:45):
then Jesus says somethingbeautiful.
Get up and go forward.
That you now walk into a newlife, a life of healing, a life
that has been radically turnedupside down.
So rise up and now go.
(20:05):
It's really an invitation tostep out and step forward into
everything that is coming forhim in this life, that you now
have a new way to live, and sorise and go.
And he says this your faith hasmade you well.
And this is a deeper term, thismade you well, deeper than just
simply you've now been healed ofyour leprosy.
(20:26):
Maybe your translation says yourfaith has saved you, that even
deeper than being made wellphysically, rise and go your
way.
You've been made wellspiritually.
You've seen the Savior, you'veacknowledged him as God, you've
seen his power, you've respondedin worship.
And so now there's a newtrajectory for your life.
(20:49):
So rise and go your way.
As I think about the directionof Luke 17, verses 11 through
19, I can't help but think ofthis reality that in these few
verses, the entirety of theChristian life is really
summarized.
That for every person in thisroom who knows Jesus Christ,
(21:13):
your life is really summarizedin these verses.
For everyone in this room thatmaybe even this morning will
come to know Jesus Christ, yourlife can be summarized in these
verses.
Because as I think about theseverses, I can't help but think
of the entire trajectory of theChristian life, because uh you
and I uh were the ones who werethe outcast on the outside of
(21:35):
town.
You and I very much in every waywere on the outside looking in.
But the problem for you and I, Igotta tell you, it was a lot
worse than a skin condition.
It was a lot worse thansomething physical.
See, our problem, as we'vecertainly learned as we've
walked through Romans this year,is deeper than just the skin.
The problem is our own sin, oursinfulness that has caused us
(21:59):
separation from the God wholoves us so deeply, yet in our
rebellion, we rebelled againsthim and we are lost in sin.
As we've learned on Wednesdaynights through Ephesians, we've
seen that we are dead intrespasses and sins.
Our condition is worse than justthese men on the outskirts of
town.
We are dead in trespasses andsins.
But here's what I love about it,and here's why this shows the
(22:21):
Christian life that while youand I were on the outskirts and
the outside looking in, here'sthe thing Christ came towards
the village of our lives.
That at just the right time,Christ came for us.
(22:53):
Before you were even born orthought of, and before you were
able to call out for him, hecame for you.
And our story is now the same asthe story of these men, that we
just look up and we've saidthese same words, Jesus, Master,
(23:14):
have mercy on us.
And that now, because of that,we're able to proclaim that
there is a Savior who's hadmercy on us.
That in Christ Jesus, by hiswork, by what only he could do,
he came to the cross for us,took our sin upon himself, died
the death we deserve, paid forsin, now can forgive sin, has
(23:34):
been risen from the grave, andnow in his resurrection, you and
I have life in him.
Everything about this story isshowing us the trajectory of our
very lives.
And not only as we come toChrist Jesus, do we are now are
we able now to respond inabsolute thankfulness?
We even hear those beautifulwords of rise and go, your faith
(23:57):
has made you well, that inChrist Jesus, Christ has not
just saved us from something,but he's saved us for something,
and now we're called to go forthand live the life he's called us
to live.
This is really the beauty of thegospel, that this story is our
story.
And the reality is this.
I wonder this morning, and Imean this even now, if you're in
(24:18):
the room and you just say, I wasjust passing by and thought I'd
come in.
I wasn't ready for a video andthis, that, and the other, and I
hear we're taking a pictureafterwards.
I don't know, I uh I don't knowwhat's going on.
And you just say this, but butbut there's something about
Jesus.
And there's just something aboutthis man in this book that can
(24:42):
do this thing that's sodifferent from everything else
I've had out there.
And there's just something aboutit that everywhere else I've
looked, I've just ended upcoming up short.
But maybe there's somethingabout this Jesus that if I could
just get a hold of him and say,Jesus, have mercy on me, that he
might be able and willing.
(25:02):
I'm just here to tell you he is.
And I wonder this morning, if ina few minutes, as we worship
together again, and I invite anyto come down, that you might
just want to say, This morningis gonna be my morning.
(25:26):
That this morning is gonna be mychance.
That I'm not gonna miss Jesusthis morning as he passes
through this neighborhood in mylife in this moment, that I want
the salvation, the life that isfound in him.
It can be your morning.
(25:48):
In a few moments, I pray it willbe.
Because I do want to think aboutthis from one other angle as
(26:08):
well.
As we think about looking backand looking forward, obviously,
from this text ultimately, webetter look nowhere else than
the story of our salvation.
We better look nowhere else thanthe fact that Jesus has done
this miraculous thing that youand I could be healed, could be
cleansed, to have new life.
But also on a morning like this,I can't help but think about
(26:31):
this church.
As on a morning like this, wecome here to look back in
gratitude, in worship, inpraise, and to look forward into
all that God has for us in thesedays and years ahead.
I can't help but look back andlook forward.
(26:52):
I think about our story as achurch, even as we've seen it in
summary this morning in thatvideo, and we've seen where God
has taken us over these last 180years.
I can't help but just be sothankful for the absolute act of
grace and favor and mercy on thepart of our God to walk with
(27:13):
this church through 180 years,through the most beautiful of
days, through the hardest ofdays, and every day in between
that he has walked us to thismoment.
And our job this morning, as wethink about those 180 years, it
better be to do this.
It better be, like we see inthis story, to just return to
Jesus and say these words, thankyou.
(27:35):
Just over and over again say,Jesus, thank you.
A history like that is onlypossible through your grace.
That just down the road uh in alaw courthouse, these seven
members and these four travelingpreachers just got together and
said, Let's make a little bit ofthe name of Jesus in this town,
(27:57):
and 180 years later in thisroom, in this moment, here we
all are.
There's only one move in thatmoment, and it's just to turn
around and look at Jesus andsay, with all of our hearts, say
thank you.
But then also to look ahead.
Seeing exactly what Jesus hasdone for us, we say thank you,
(28:22):
but then we also rise and go.
We also go as individuals andcertainly as a church into the
future that God has for us.
Because all throughout ourhistory, that there were just
these days and these momentswhen the church just came
(28:42):
together and said, Hey, we'rejust moving forward and we're
gonna walk towards Jesus andthis thing that's coming up, or
this thing that's ahead, orwhatever's on the horizon, it
seems big and it seems hard, andit seems difficult, and there's
a lot of moving parts, and thechurch just came together and
said, Hey, if if the spirit iswith us, and if we're centered
(29:03):
on the gospel, we're just gonnatake the next step forward and
we're just gonna see what God'sup to in this church.
And I just want to call us as achurch to whatever is ahead, and
the Lord only knows what isahead, that you and I will walk
towards it together through thepower of the Spirit, because we
don't just look back inthankfulness, we look forward in
(29:23):
faith.
Because I believe there are 180years of God's faithfulness in
the past, but there are someincredible days in the future.
There are some incredible daysahead for this church.
There are some days ahead forthis church that we will make
(29:46):
much of Jesus in this time andthis place, so that for
generations to come, uh muchwould continue to be made of
Jesus.
Because I do want to tell yousomething.
And you almost hate to end thissermon on any kind of a down
(30:09):
note, because I don't want to dothat, but I do want to say this.
Do you know this?
That there will be a day whenthis church closes its doors.
Do you know that?
There's gonna be a day when thelast sermon is preached from
this pulpit.
For the last time we clear outof those doors and those doors
close behind, the last offeringwill be taken up, and this
(30:31):
church will close its doors.
Well, Taylor, why would you saythat?
Because there will be a day whenChrist Jesus returns.
And instead of meeting in thisplace, we will go straight to
the throne room of God, wherefrom every tongue and tribe and
nation we will come together inworship.
(30:54):
And even this beautiful place,we won't meet here.
We'll go to the throne itself,and we will make much of Jesus
for all eternity because we'vehad so much practice at it in
this room for all of this lifeand for the rest of our days, we
will make much of Jesus.
I just want to tell you a fewstories.
I just think they're gonna betrue.
(31:16):
That when you're at the throneroom of God, I just think a few
things are gonna be told to youthat someone's gonna be there
and they're gonna look at youand say, I just want to thank
you for helping me get here.
And you're gonna say, I don'tknow how much I did, and they'll
just say this.
You were so tired that onesummer, but you gave up five
(31:39):
mornings in a row to dress inthe most ridiculous costume,
come into this room and dance tosome music that is extremely
loud and wild.
And you just worked in a VBSroom and you told me a little
bit about Jesus.
And here I am now.
(31:59):
Then somebody might come to youand say, Thank you for what you
did for me.
You say, My friend, I'm not surewe we met on that side of
eternity.
So we didn't, but you were atthe grocery store one day and
you just you just wanted to getan extra six-pack of Chef Boy RD
ravioli, and you put it in a boxright up here, and it was the
(32:21):
end of the school day on aFriday afternoon, and somebody
weighed down my backpack withthat bag of food, and me and my
sister were able to eat foodfrom Friday to Monday, and I
realized that if there's somechurch that loves me enough,
even though they haven't met me,loves me enough to do that, then
I want to know a little bitabout the Jesus that they
worship.
(32:41):
And here I am.
They may say that you hadn't metme, but it was a cold night at
the Christmas parade, and youguys were just out front passing
out coffee and cookies.
And I needed that coffee thatnight more than you could ever
imagine.
And that led to an invitation tobe in this room, and that led to
(33:01):
getting to know others in thisroom, and that led to me coming
to know Jesus.
It may be that uh you've nevermet me, but you gave towards
this church's global missionsoffering, and you thought you
were just putting$15 in a globalmissions offering on the
offering plate one Sunday.
What you have no idea is themoney you gave meant that this
missionary got to go to thisunreached people group, and
(33:24):
these people heard the gospel,or these people got the word of
God in their language.
You have no idea what you didthrough First Baptist Church of
El Doredo in 2025 to make muchof Jesus, and it has changed
everything for eternity.
These are the stories I reallybelieve that we'll hear.
And after all of these stories,what we will do is in no way
(33:47):
say, aren't I something?
Didn't I do good?
No, no.
We'll lay down our crowns beforethe throne, we'll put all of
these at Jesus' feet and say,hey, isn't Jesus something?
That we were able to make muchof him in this time that the 300
of us had together in Eldered orArkansas in these days, and it
(34:12):
has changed everything for thekingdom of God.
We look back today, we do.
But we don't simply look back,we look forward to all that God
has for us as individualsgrowing us in our faith.
But as a church, because Ibelieve this First Baptist
(34:34):
Church of El Dorado has had somegood, good days, but I do
believe that the best days arestill ahead of us.
And I believe that we willfollow our great captain, Jesus
Christ the righteous, into thosedays ahead.
And by his spirit, we will makemuch of him and we will do it
(34:56):
together.
Pray with me.
Lord Jesus, we thank you for thegospel.
We thank you for the truth ofyour word.
We thank you for allowing us,allowing us to be here together,
to serve you together, to loveyou together.
(35:20):
What a gift it is.
And Lord, you are worthy of allof our worship.
And so, Lord, we return thismorning, just as that one man
did, we return to say thank you.
Lord, as a church, we say thankyou.
We worship you for the miraclethat you have done.
For 180 years, you have been sofaithful.
(35:40):
And we take your call to goforward.
But Lord, for someone thismorning, it may be deeper than
just celebrating the life of achurch.
Maybe for someone this morning,it's celebrating new life in
Christ.
And if there is one in this roomthat today wants to say, Jesus,
I want to know that I know thatmy sins are forgiven and that my
(36:02):
eternity is secured in you.
Would today be the day they cometo know you?
Lord, even during thisinvitation, if they want to come
down and chat with me aboutthat, I'd love nothing more.
Someone wants to come down andjoin this church family.
If someone wants to come downand talk about baptism or just
let me pray over, and Lord,whatever that may be, Lord,
(36:23):
would your will be done?
Would we respond according toyour will?
We ask this in Christ's name.
Amen.
Would you stand now as weworship?
I invite you to come.
Hello and welcome to the FBC El Doredo Sermon
Podcast.
My name is Taylor Gare, and Ihave the privilege of being the
pastor here at First Baptist,and I want to thank you for
listening into our sermon thisweek.
And I want to tell you this ifyou're in our area and you don't
have a church home, we wouldlove to see you any Sunday
morning at First Baptist ElDoredo.
(00:25):
Would you join me now inlistening to our sermon from
this week?
Amen.
If you'll open up with me toLuke chapter 17.
Luke chapter 17.
(00:57):
I'll give you just a moment tofind Luke chapter 17, 11 through
19.
Allow me to pray for us as webegin.
Lord Jesus, as what a morningit's been, Lord.
(01:18):
Even now, would you uh speak byyour spirit?
Give us uh the word thattransforms.
We ask this in Christ's name.
Amen.
Well, looking back and lookingforward, critical things to do
in all of life, in our normallife, looking back and looking
forward, but certainly as wethink about the Christian life,
(01:41):
in fact, all of the Christianlife really kind of lives within
that uh looking back and lookingforward idea.
We are people who look backultimately to the first coming
of Christ Jesus, who came to diefor sin, to rise from the grave,
but we're also a people thatlook forward to a second coming
of Christ Jesus when he willcome and uh dwell with man and
(02:05):
we will dwell with him forever.
We are kind of just a peoplethat look backward and look
forward.
That's certainly what we'redoing this morning, and
certainly what I want us to seein Luke chapter 17 of one
specific story that's really allabout looking backward and
looking forward.
And it begins right here inverse 11.
On the way to Jerusalem, he, hebeing Jesus, was passing along
(02:29):
between Samaria and Galilee.
And so we catch up with Jesus inLuke 17.
He's he's passing on his way,and it says he's going towards
Jerusalem.
Now, in the second half of theGospel of Luke, what we see is
Jesus heading towards Jerusalem,but it's it's more than just
telling us a little bit abouthis itinerary.
(02:51):
What it's really showing us isthat Jesus is heading towards
the cross.
When it talks about in thesecond half of Luke that Jesus
is heading towards Jerusalem,what he means by that is he is
heading towards everything thatwill take place in Jerusalem.
Everything that the entirety ofJesus' life and ministry has led
up to.
He is heading towards thetriumphal entry, heading towards
(03:14):
a trial, heading towards across, heading towards an empty
tomb.
And as he's going, what it says,he's passing along between
Samaria and Galilee.
So he's in the north of Israel,the northern region, between
these two places, Samaria andGalilee.
And we talked a few weeks agoabout Samaritans and Samaria in
(03:36):
general.
Many, many years ago, whenAssyria came in and took over,
they moved many of the Jewishpeople out and moved these
foreigners in.
And there were some Jews thatintermarried with these
foreigners, and because of this,the Jews that did not do that,
they thought that the ones whointermarried, that they just
(03:57):
sold out, that they justbetrayed their people.
And so if you were a Jew, youyou you really just hated the
Samaritans.
You couldn't stand them.
How could they do this to theirpeople?
These two groups did not getalong, and right in the middle
of these two groups, instepsJesus, and then we see chapter
(04:18):
12, or excuse me, verse 12, andas he entered a village, he was
met by ten lepers who stood at adistance.
So here's Jesus entering thisvillage.
You kind of have a picture ofhim on the outskirts of town,
but coming into town, and youhave these ten lepers that meet
(04:41):
him.
Now, when it calls them lepers,certainly I'm sure some of them
had leprosy, the formal term,but but probably these ten had
any various kind of skindiseases.
It could have been multiplethings.
You could read in Leviticus 13about all the various skin
diseases and what you do if ifthat inflicts you, and is
(05:05):
probably many here among theseten had had different variations
of skin diseases.
No matter what it was, it keptthem on the outskirts of town,
because they had become completeoutcast in their own town.
And it's interesting thatbecause of this skin condition,
uh they are now on theoutskirts, but they formed this
community.
(05:26):
And now we'll see in a minutethat there's at least one
Samaritan among them.
And so within this ten, we don'tknow exactly the dynamic, uh,
how many of which, but we knowthere are Jews and Samaritans
living together.
And I just want to ask thequestion.
Isn't it interesting howdesperation kind of levels the
playing field?
(05:49):
That desperation completelylevels the playing field because
suddenly you got these ten men.
They're all inflicted, infectedwith this skin disease that has
caused them to move to theoutskirts of town.
And it's fascinating they'reliving together because suddenly
there's no longer Jew andSamaritan.
(06:11):
Desperation just does have a wayof just uh bringing people
together.
You remember uh nationaltragedies after 9-11, the days
that followed, desperatemoments.
In that moment, there really wasno Republicans or Democrats, us
or them, them or us after 9-11.
The country kind of cametogether.
Desperation just has a way ofdoing that.
(06:32):
Desperate situations have a hasa way of bringing people
together.
And these ten men, in theirbroken condition, they have
found community among oneanother.
Because I want you to thinkabout something.
These men know maybe better thananybody what it means to be in a
desperate situation.
(06:54):
Because as they've beeninflicted with this skin
disease, think about what thatmeans.
And and and let's go deeper ontowhat that could mean because the
reality is this.
When this skin disease came uponthem, in that moment, they had
to sit their family down at adistance and say goodbye to
(07:17):
them.
And they had to move out oftown.
They had to give up any idea ofdropping their child off on his
or her first day ofkindergarten.
It couldn't happen.
The dreams of walking theirdaughter down the aisle, those
are gone.
Seeing a grandchild born, thoseno longer exist.
(07:41):
In this skin condition, they arenow outcasts, and everything
they know, every dream they hadfor life had been crushed, and
their future was confined to theoutskirts of town, to the
company of these nine other menjust like them, who are dealing
with this devastating skincondition, and this is all they
(08:01):
know.
And outside of a miracle, thisis all they will ever know.
These men know what it is to bedesperate.
They know what it is to needhelp and help of a certain kind.
And so when they hear that Jesuswas coming to town, they go find
(08:23):
him.
Verse 12 again, he enters thevillage.
He was met by ten lepers, theystand at a distance.
Again, they know what it meansto social distance.
Before we knew what it meant tosocial distance, they stand back
far enough away.
They don't want to get in Jesus'way or get too close to him.
And they lifted up their voices,verse 13, saying this.
(08:46):
Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.
Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.
First of all, they call Jesus byname.
Secondly, they call Jesus by atitle, Master.
It's actually interesting, justthese 10 men, what they must
have known and heard aboutJesus.
(09:08):
The rumors that were goingaround, the messages that were
being passed around about thisrabbi that was walking through
towns and suddenly he could justheal people.
And he was saying things wereally hadn't heard before and
doing things we had never seenbefore.
They had heard stories and theyknew enough to call him someone
who was in authority, this namemaster, which is interesting
because up to this point inLuke, the only ones to use that
(09:31):
phrase master for Jesus are thedisciples themselves.
Yet there's something in theselepers that just know there is
something about this man that'sjust a little different.
That maybe in my desperatecondition, if I can just get a
hold of him, something mightcould change.
And here's their call.
(09:51):
Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.
I just want mercy.
You know what it's been like inour desperate condition?
(10:13):
You know what it is to be on theoutskirts of town?
Lord, have mercy on us.
And then verse 14, and when hesaw them, he said to them, Go
and show yourselves to thepriests.
Now, this is interesting to mebecause this is not what I
(10:33):
expected.
What I expected is when theseten lepers come to Jesus and
say, Jesus, have mercy on us,for Jesus to say something like,
Okay, right now be healed.
It's a done deal.
And in a moment, with the snapof a finger, right standing in
front of Jesus, that these menwould go from inflicted with
(10:54):
this skin condition to totallyhealed right then, right there.
In fact, I'm even questioningwhat Jesus is up to in this
moment because what does he do?
He says, Go and show yourselvesto the priests.
Not only am I wondering, Jesus,are you actually going to heal
these men?
But Jesus is starting to soundlike you're just delegating the
task, like you're giving thisjob to someone else.
(11:15):
But those are Jesus' words, goand show yourself to the priest.
Is Jesus going to heal?
Is Jesus just delegating thisresponsibility?
I'm going to tell you thismorning, Jesus is actually doing
something even more incrediblethan we can realize.
In Leviticus chapter 14, in theOld Testament law, in that
(11:35):
chapter 14 of Leviticus, ittalks about what a person should
do if they find themselveshealed of a skin condition.
That if you find yourself nowhealed of a skin condition, you
have something you need to do,you go to the priest.
You go to the priest, let himinspect, let him validate, let
(12:00):
him confirm that you are healed,let him give you that
certificate of healing so thatthen you can go back to your
life.
And so what does Jesus mean whenhe says to these ten lepers, go
and show yourselves to thepriest?
What he means is this by thetime you get to the priest, you
will have something to showthem.
You will have something that isworth seeing for them.
(12:24):
And these men knew enough aboutJesus and knew enough about
Leviticus chapter 14 that theyknew this.
If Jesus knows I'm a leper andJesus is telling me to go see
the priest, then I got a feelingthat by the time I get to the
priest, something's gonna bedifferent about my life.
And what do they do?
They just start to go, and theend of verse 14 says this, and
(12:45):
as they went, they werecleansed.
Do you know Jesus doesn't evenhave to be next door to you to
do a miracle?
That even from afar, as Jesussends these men walking down the
road, from afar, he giveshealing.
(13:09):
Reminds me of John chapter 4.
There's an official whose son isvery sick, and it looks like
he's going to die.
And so this man runs to Jesusbecause it's the only place he
knows to go.
And he falls before Jesus andsays, Jesus, my son is sick.
And Jesus announces healing.
(13:30):
He says, Your son's health willbe restored.
You can go home.
And the man starts to go home,and the next day, as he's
getting close to home, it's along journey.
His servants run out to him andthey say, I've got great news.
Your son is making a recovery.
And the official says this,well, tell me this.
When did that recovery kind ofstart to begin?
(13:51):
And they say it was it wasyesterday at about the seventh
hour, which is one in theafternoon.
And this guy looks at hiscalendar of events yesterday and
realizes the seventh hour, oneo'clock.
That's exactly when I wastalking to Jesus.
That from afar Jesus can do whathe wants to do.
That Jesus can announce healingin someone's life from wherever
(14:15):
he is, wherever they are,however they come to him,
whenever they come to him, Jesusis able to heal.
And as these men head towardsthe priest, as we see in 14,
they go and they are cleansed.
Verse 15.
Then one of them, when he sawthat he was healed, turned back,
(14:36):
praising God with a loud voice.
Now, I will say this.
I mean, I know the whole pointof the story, and spoiler alert,
is that only one travels back togive thanks to Jesus, and the
other nine go to the priest andgo about their business.
(14:57):
Should the nine have turned backto Jesus as well?
Of course they should have.
But I do think about what theywere up to.
They were going to the priest,and then you gotta think what's
going on in their mind.
They're walking down the road,and as all ten of them are
walking down the road, whereformerly uh the their skin, it
was it was just this gruelingcondition.
(15:17):
Now their skin is starting to beremade and reformed, and it's
it's soft, and it's it's like itused to be.
And all they can think about isI need to get to my priest, I
need to give him my certificateof wellness so that I can get
back to my family, get back tomy life.
I can't wait to hug my son andmy daughter and my wife and my
parents and all these things.
(15:39):
They just want to get back toall these things.
And so I can't exactly blamethem for that, but then that
really just even magnifies thestory of this one other.
Because this one individual, I'msure he had the same amount of
family as the other nine.
I'm sure he had the same ideasin mind of things I can't wait
(16:01):
to get back to, of meals Ihaven't had in decades, of all
these things that he can't waitfor.
And yet, even in that moment,the sacrifice he chose to make
was before any of that, I needto make sure I'm going to the
source of what has made all thispossible.
Before any of the benefits of myhealing, I need to get to the
(16:26):
healer and just say, Thank you.
Just praise him.
And so what does he do?
Again, verse 15.
The one of them, when he sawthat he was healed, he he turned
back.
He turned around, he lookedback, praising God with a loud
voice.
And then here's verse 16.
And he fell on his face atJesus' feet, giving him thanks.
(16:52):
And now he was a Samaritan.
But I think about the turn from15 to 16.
And I think about the faith, andI think about the realization of
this Samaritan man.
Because look again, verse 15,turning back, he praises God
with a loud voice.
(17:12):
16, and he fell on his face atJesus' feet.
Think about what this person issaying about the magnitude of
the person who has healed him.
He's praising God with a loudvoice, and he's falling at the
feet of Jesus.
And in this person's mind, Iwould imagine, 15 and 16, that
(17:35):
those are one and the same.
That there is enough faith inthis man that he has seen Jesus
do something that only he coulddo, and see his life change in a
way that could only be possibleby God Himself, that he now sees
that this man who healed me isnot just some traveling rabbi or
traveling physician or somereally good doctor or nurse.
(17:58):
No, no.
It's more than that, that Godhas visited me today.
And so he worships God, and lookat this.
He fell on his face at Jesus'feet just a few verses before.
The closest he would come was tospeak to Jesus at a distance.
But now on the other side ofhealing, he comes and falls at
the feet of Jesus, and he justgives him thanks.
(18:20):
Verse 16 says, Now he was aSamaritan.
Why does it make a point to saythat?
Because it wants us to remind usthat sometimes it's those that
we would least expect to return.
We saw this a few weeks ago inLuke chapter 10, when we were
talking about, you know, Jesussaying, Who is my neighbor?
or us asking Jesus that, and itwasn't the in this story, it
(18:42):
wasn't a priest or a Levite.
It was actually the Samaritanthat helped this broken man get
to the hospital and findhealing.
We were surprised then, and nowonce again, we're surprised to
see that the Samaritan, the onewe would maybe least expect to
return, what does he do?
He turns around and he comes tothe source of his healing and he
(19:02):
just says this thank you.
Thank you.
Then Jesus answered, Were notten cleansed?
Where are the nine?
Was no one found to return andgive praise to God except this
foreigner, except the Samaritan,except for the one that maybe
culture and society would leastexpect?
(19:23):
And then look at verse 19.
And he said to them, Rise and goyour way.
Your faith has made you well.
As this Samaritan man who's beenhealed returns to Jesus, first
of all, he gives worship andpraise and his thankfulness, and
(19:45):
then Jesus says somethingbeautiful.
Get up and go forward.
That you now walk into a newlife, a life of healing, a life
that has been radically turnedupside down.
So rise up and now go.
(20:05):
It's really an invitation tostep out and step forward into
everything that is coming forhim in this life, that you now
have a new way to live, and sorise and go.
And he says this your faith hasmade you well.
And this is a deeper term, thismade you well, deeper than just
simply you've now been healed ofyour leprosy.
(20:26):
Maybe your translation says yourfaith has saved you, that even
deeper than being made wellphysically, rise and go your
way.
You've been made wellspiritually.
You've seen the Savior, you'veacknowledged him as God, you've
seen his power, you've respondedin worship.
And so now there's a newtrajectory for your life.
(20:49):
So rise and go your way.
As I think about the directionof Luke 17, verses 11 through
19, I can't help but think ofthis reality that in these few
verses, the entirety of theChristian life is really
summarized.
That for every person in thisroom who knows Jesus Christ,
(21:13):
your life is really summarizedin these verses.
For everyone in this room thatmaybe even this morning will
come to know Jesus Christ, yourlife can be summarized in these
verses.
Because as I think about theseverses, I can't help but think
of the entire trajectory of theChristian life, because uh you
and I uh were the ones who werethe outcast on the outside of
(21:35):
town.
You and I very much in every waywere on the outside looking in.
But the problem for you and I, Igotta tell you, it was a lot
worse than a skin condition.
It was a lot worse thansomething physical.
See, our problem, as we'vecertainly learned as we've
walked through Romans this year,is deeper than just the skin.
The problem is our own sin, oursinfulness that has caused us
(21:59):
separation from the God wholoves us so deeply, yet in our
rebellion, we rebelled againsthim and we are lost in sin.
As we've learned on Wednesdaynights through Ephesians, we've
seen that we are dead intrespasses and sins.
Our condition is worse than justthese men on the outskirts of
town.
We are dead in trespasses andsins.
But here's what I love about it,and here's why this shows the
(22:21):
Christian life that while youand I were on the outskirts and
the outside looking in, here'sthe thing Christ came towards
the village of our lives.
That at just the right time,Christ came for us.
(22:53):
Before you were even born orthought of, and before you were
able to call out for him, hecame for you.
And our story is now the same asthe story of these men, that we
just look up and we've saidthese same words, Jesus, Master,
(23:14):
have mercy on us.
And that now, because of that,we're able to proclaim that
there is a Savior who's hadmercy on us.
That in Christ Jesus, by hiswork, by what only he could do,
he came to the cross for us,took our sin upon himself, died
the death we deserve, paid forsin, now can forgive sin, has
(23:34):
been risen from the grave, andnow in his resurrection, you and
I have life in him.
Everything about this story isshowing us the trajectory of our
very lives.
And not only as we come toChrist Jesus, do we are now are
we able now to respond inabsolute thankfulness?
We even hear those beautifulwords of rise and go, your faith
(23:57):
has made you well, that inChrist Jesus, Christ has not
just saved us from something,but he's saved us for something,
and now we're called to go forthand live the life he's called us
to live.
This is really the beauty of thegospel, that this story is our
story.
And the reality is this.
I wonder this morning, and Imean this even now, if you're in
(24:18):
the room and you just say, I wasjust passing by and thought I'd
come in.
I wasn't ready for a video andthis, that, and the other, and I
hear we're taking a pictureafterwards.
I don't know, I uh I don't knowwhat's going on.
And you just say this, but butbut there's something about
Jesus.
And there's just something aboutthis man in this book that can
(24:42):
do this thing that's sodifferent from everything else
I've had out there.
And there's just something aboutit that everywhere else I've
looked, I've just ended upcoming up short.
But maybe there's somethingabout this Jesus that if I could
just get a hold of him and say,Jesus, have mercy on me, that he
might be able and willing.
(25:02):
I'm just here to tell you he is.
And I wonder this morning, if ina few minutes, as we worship
together again, and I invite anyto come down, that you might
just want to say, This morningis gonna be my morning.
(25:26):
That this morning is gonna be mychance.
That I'm not gonna miss Jesusthis morning as he passes
through this neighborhood in mylife in this moment, that I want
the salvation, the life that isfound in him.
It can be your morning.
(25:48):
In a few moments, I pray it willbe.
Because I do want to think aboutthis from one other angle as
(26:08):
well.
As we think about looking backand looking forward, obviously,
from this text ultimately, webetter look nowhere else than
the story of our salvation.
We better look nowhere else thanthe fact that Jesus has done
this miraculous thing that youand I could be healed, could be
cleansed, to have new life.
But also on a morning like this,I can't help but think about
(26:31):
this church.
As on a morning like this, wecome here to look back in
gratitude, in worship, inpraise, and to look forward into
all that God has for us in thesedays and years ahead.
I can't help but look back andlook forward.
(26:52):
I think about our story as achurch, even as we've seen it in
summary this morning in thatvideo, and we've seen where God
has taken us over these last 180years.
I can't help but just be sothankful for the absolute act of
grace and favor and mercy on thepart of our God to walk with
(27:13):
this church through 180 years,through the most beautiful of
days, through the hardest ofdays, and every day in between
that he has walked us to thismoment.
And our job this morning, as wethink about those 180 years, it
better be to do this.
It better be, like we see inthis story, to just return to
Jesus and say these words, thankyou.
(27:35):
Just over and over again say,Jesus, thank you.
A history like that is onlypossible through your grace.
That just down the road uh in alaw courthouse, these seven
members and these four travelingpreachers just got together and
said, Let's make a little bit ofthe name of Jesus in this town,
(27:57):
and 180 years later in thisroom, in this moment, here we
all are.
There's only one move in thatmoment, and it's just to turn
around and look at Jesus andsay, with all of our hearts, say
thank you.
But then also to look ahead.
Seeing exactly what Jesus hasdone for us, we say thank you,
(28:22):
but then we also rise and go.
We also go as individuals andcertainly as a church into the
future that God has for us.
Because all throughout ourhistory, that there were just
these days and these momentswhen the church just came
(28:42):
together and said, Hey, we'rejust moving forward and we're
gonna walk towards Jesus andthis thing that's coming up, or
this thing that's ahead, orwhatever's on the horizon, it
seems big and it seems hard, andit seems difficult, and there's
a lot of moving parts, and thechurch just came together and
said, Hey, if if the spirit iswith us, and if we're centered
(29:03):
on the gospel, we're just gonnatake the next step forward and
we're just gonna see what God'sup to in this church.
And I just want to call us as achurch to whatever is ahead, and
the Lord only knows what isahead, that you and I will walk
towards it together through thepower of the Spirit, because we
don't just look back inthankfulness, we look forward in
(29:23):
faith.
Because I believe there are 180years of God's faithfulness in
the past, but there are someincredible days in the future.
There are some incredible daysahead for this church.
There are some days ahead forthis church that we will make
(29:46):
much of Jesus in this time andthis place, so that for
generations to come, uh muchwould continue to be made of
Jesus.
Because I do want to tell yousomething.
And you almost hate to end thissermon on any kind of a down
(30:09):
note, because I don't want to dothat, but I do want to say this.
Do you know this?
That there will be a day whenthis church closes its doors.
Do you know that?
There's gonna be a day when thelast sermon is preached from
this pulpit.
For the last time we clear outof those doors and those doors
close behind, the last offeringwill be taken up, and this
(30:31):
church will close its doors.
Well, Taylor, why would you saythat?
Because there will be a day whenChrist Jesus returns.
And instead of meeting in thisplace, we will go straight to
the throne room of God, wherefrom every tongue and tribe and
nation we will come together inworship.
(30:54):
And even this beautiful place,we won't meet here.
We'll go to the throne itself,and we will make much of Jesus
for all eternity because we'vehad so much practice at it in
this room for all of this lifeand for the rest of our days, we
will make much of Jesus.
I just want to tell you a fewstories.
I just think they're gonna betrue.
(31:16):
That when you're at the throneroom of God, I just think a few
things are gonna be told to youthat someone's gonna be there
and they're gonna look at youand say, I just want to thank
you for helping me get here.
And you're gonna say, I don'tknow how much I did, and they'll
just say this.
You were so tired that onesummer, but you gave up five
(31:39):
mornings in a row to dress inthe most ridiculous costume,
come into this room and dance tosome music that is extremely
loud and wild.
And you just worked in a VBSroom and you told me a little
bit about Jesus.
And here I am now.
(31:59):
Then somebody might come to youand say, Thank you for what you
did for me.
You say, My friend, I'm not surewe we met on that side of
eternity.
So we didn't, but you were atthe grocery store one day and
you just you just wanted to getan extra six-pack of Chef Boy RD
ravioli, and you put it in a boxright up here, and it was the
(32:21):
end of the school day on aFriday afternoon, and somebody
weighed down my backpack withthat bag of food, and me and my
sister were able to eat foodfrom Friday to Monday, and I
realized that if there's somechurch that loves me enough,
even though they haven't met me,loves me enough to do that, then
I want to know a little bitabout the Jesus that they
worship.
(32:41):
And here I am.
They may say that you hadn't metme, but it was a cold night at
the Christmas parade, and youguys were just out front passing
out coffee and cookies.
And I needed that coffee thatnight more than you could ever
imagine.
And that led to an invitation tobe in this room, and that led to
(33:01):
getting to know others in thisroom, and that led to me coming
to know Jesus.
It may be that uh you've nevermet me, but you gave towards
this church's global missionsoffering, and you thought you
were just putting$15 in a globalmissions offering on the
offering plate one Sunday.
What you have no idea is themoney you gave meant that this
missionary got to go to thisunreached people group, and
(33:24):
these people heard the gospel,or these people got the word of
God in their language.
You have no idea what you didthrough First Baptist Church of
El Doredo in 2025 to make muchof Jesus, and it has changed
everything for eternity.
These are the stories I reallybelieve that we'll hear.
And after all of these stories,what we will do is in no way
(33:47):
say, aren't I something?
Didn't I do good?
No, no.
We'll lay down our crowns beforethe throne, we'll put all of
these at Jesus' feet and say,hey, isn't Jesus something?
That we were able to make muchof him in this time that the 300
of us had together in Eldered orArkansas in these days, and it
(34:12):
has changed everything for thekingdom of God.
We look back today, we do.
But we don't simply look back,we look forward to all that God
has for us as individualsgrowing us in our faith.
But as a church, because Ibelieve this First Baptist
(34:34):
Church of El Dorado has had somegood, good days, but I do
believe that the best days arestill ahead of us.
And I believe that we willfollow our great captain, Jesus
Christ the righteous, into thosedays ahead.
And by his spirit, we will makemuch of him and we will do it
(34:56):
together.
Pray with me.
Lord Jesus, we thank you for thegospel.
We thank you for the truth ofyour word.
We thank you for allowing us,allowing us to be here together,
to serve you together, to loveyou together.
(35:20):
What a gift it is.
And Lord, you are worthy of allof our worship.
And so, Lord, we return thismorning, just as that one man
did, we return to say thank you.
Lord, as a church, we say thankyou.
We worship you for the miraclethat you have done.
For 180 years, you have been sofaithful.
(35:40):
And we take your call to goforward.
But Lord, for someone thismorning, it may be deeper than
just celebrating the life of achurch.
Maybe for someone this morning,it's celebrating new life in
Christ.
And if there is one in this roomthat today wants to say, Jesus,
I want to know that I know thatmy sins are forgiven and that my
(36:02):
eternity is secured in you.
Would today be the day they cometo know you?
Lord, even during thisinvitation, if they want to come
down and chat with me aboutthat, I'd love nothing more.
Someone wants to come down andjoin this church family.
If someone wants to come downand talk about baptism or just
let me pray over, and Lord,whatever that may be, Lord,
(36:23):
would your will be done?
Would we respond according toyour will?
We ask this in Christ's name.
Amen.
Would you stand now as weworship?
I invite you to come.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
The Male Room with Dr. Jesse Mills
As Director of The Men’s Clinic at UCLA, Dr. Jesse Mills has spent his career helping men understand their bodies, their hormones, and their health. Now he’s bringing that expertise to The Male Room — a podcast where data-driven medicine meets common sense. Each episode separates fact from hype, science from snake oil, and gives men the tools to live longer, stronger, and happier lives. With candor, humor, and real-world experience from the exam room and the operating room, Dr. Mills breaks down the latest health headlines, dissects trends, and explains what actually works — and what doesn’t. Smart, straightforward, and entertaining, The Male Room is the show that helps men take charge of their health without the jargon.