Well, you can take your Bibles and if you've been with us for the past year, they probably open automatically to First Corinthians. See if your Bible will go over to Luke. And that's where our text is this morning, Luke chapter 17. While you're turning, let me say why I think this text is important for us this morning. There's a man named Henry Scooter, S-C-U-D-D-E-R, who wrote a book entitled The Christian's Daily Walk. There was a book that some of the great English Puritans used in their own devotional practice. In fact, a John Owen and Richard Baxter, two of my favorite Puritans, would read Scooter on a regular basis and they commended Scooter. And one thing that Henry Scooter said in The Christian's Daily Walk, as I've used it myself, is that there is no more common sin than the sin of unthankfulness. Or we could put in modern day terms and say, you know, there's no more common failure among ordinary people than the failure to thank someone for what they've done for you. And you know, one evidence of this seems to me to be, if you grew up in a small town like I did, you know, the paper would have, during the whole month of December, all the letters to Santa Claus addressed in the North Pole. I was wondering how the paper ended up with my letters, but they'd always publish these things in the Daily Post Athenian, in Athens, Tennessee. And if you grew up in a town like that, one thing you'll always notice here after a year, is that the letters are published right up to Christmas and then after Christmas, there were no letters posted to Santa Claus, nobody writes, no, the kids write and say, hey, thanks, Santa. I mean, I never sold it in the paper. And it's just reflective of the way we all live, we're really good at asking for things and intercessory prayers and begging and pleading and even demanding sometimes, but not so quick to give thanks already. Well, the Bible teaches us much about it. You find the call to Thanksgiving throughout the Psalms or really throughout the scriptures, including the New Testament and including the life of the Lord Jesus Christ. And there is one story that is truly a remarkable event. This really happened. It's not a parable. It's not just a moral lesson that Jesus tells. This is an actual event in the life of Jesus. They reflected something about this human nature. It also reflected something about how that human nature can change, how it can be healed, how it can be restored, how it can be made healthy. It's a phenomenal story as I hope you see as we study it together. Luke chapter 17 verses 11 through 19. Let us first look to the Lord in prayer. Father, this morning we thank you for your word. It is a lamp into our feet and a light into our path. It gives us direction for life. The Lord, even more importantly, your word is the means by which we get to know you and draw near to you and develop a warm relationship with you. So Lord, we look forward to hearing your word, reflecting upon it, and obeying it. And so our prayer, O Lord, is speak O Lord for your servants, listen, Amen. Luke 17 verses 11 through 19, hear the word of God. Now on his way to Jerusalem, Jesus traveled along the border between Samaria and Galilee. As he was going into a village, ten men who had leprosy met him. They stood at a distance and called out in a loud voice, Jesus, Master, have pity on us. When he saw them, he said, go show yourselves to the priests. And as they went, they were cleansed. One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back praising God in a loud voice. He threw himself at Jesus' feet and thanked him. And he was a Samaritan. Jesus asked, were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner? When he said to him, rise and go, your faith has made you well. All men are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field. The grass withers, and the flowers fall, but the word of our God stands forever, Amen. Just past week I spent five days in New York City in Queens to be precise, with about a thousand people from across primarily the United States, through our ministering in what we call under-resourced communities. They are seeking to bring the gospel in word and deed to those communities that need it most in one urban area to another. I know that I must not have been the only senior minister of the suburban church there, but I didn't meet any other ones among the one thousand. I'm sure they were there somewhere. It was primarily those who were actually serving among the poor in the city. It was useful for me to be among people that I don't normally associate with in ministry, but would like to. It was useful not to be known by other people, to be quiet, believe it or not, and to listen for five days. And as I listened to them and the problems that are being dealt with among our ethnic groups, not just the African Americans, but the Native Americans, the Asian Americans, the Latino Americans. When I listened to the problems that my brothers and sisters are dealing with in ministry to those who are under-resourced, and I hear about communities in our major urban areas where there is no bank, there is no restaurant to go out and eat, there is no grocery store. And when you send your kids to school, you're not thinking so much about what kind of education they're getting as much as you are, you hope they come back in the afternoon in one piece. I realize that primarily, speaking for myself, and I suppose most of you would fit in the same category, I don't hear those voices very often. And if I talk to my friends who are ministering there, they'll say to me, well, it's not because we're not shouting, but I have to admit that I don't hear it very much. I live in somewhat of a cocoon, and most of you do really too. There could be some people with some incredible needs living really not too far from us, and we can't even hear them. And those of you, there are seven families bereaved this week having lost a loved one. And when you've been bereaved, the sorrow and the pain goes so deep with you, know that no one else really understands, except those who are grieving as much as you are. And some of you who've been through divorce, and who are single parents, and have special burdens to carry. Sometimes you feel as though there's no one who's really listening to you, and really understanding what you're going through. And some of you who've been widowed, and are in continual grief, that really will not be resolved until the second coming of Jesus Christ, or until you go home too, realize that none of the young people could really understand what it means, the sorrow, and the loneliness. And some of you who are in very difficult and conflicted relationships, and you get all the pious advice from many quarters, but you also understand a very few really hear you, and know how to understand. I have some good news for you. And that is the Lord really hears you. And he really does heal. No one could have been more distressed, more alienated, more disenfranchised than the lepers of Jesus' day. No one could possibly understand how they felt, and that was the reason that their fellowship crossed all boundaries, not just ethnic boundaries but even religious boundaries, because no one understood them but themselves. Because by Jewish law they were forbidden to be in the presence of people who didn't have leprosy, or to be more precise, or really more general about it, it was just a skin disease. We don't know precisely what the skin disease was. We call it leprosy, we're not absolutely sure. But if you had what was perceived to be a contagious skin disease, you could read about it in Leviticus 13 and 14, you were exiled from the people of God, first of all for medical reasons, just simply to quarantine the disease, but secondly for religious reasons, because we know that God is holy, and we know that what comes into his presence, what must be made clean, or he destroys it. We see that over and over again in the Old Testament, and in the Old Testament there was if you will a sacrament of this idea, among the people of God, if you had anything about you that was considered religiously unclean, you were not to be with his people, worshipping him in his presence until you were made clean, it was a religious idea. So because of that, the rabbis and the Jewish people had piled more regulations upon it, and they really never crossed the boundary, as I look at these 10 leprosy, I wonder if anybody ever went up to them and asked them how they felt or what their life experience was like, or asked them what they could do to help them. The rabbis tell us that the unclean would keep a distance of 50 yards if they were a windward of their subjects. And therefore 50 yards away, half of a football field away was the closest they could come to you. And I read no account in either Older New Testament, where someone who was clean was willing to risk their body, their health, and their weak's worship in the presence of God by crossing the boundary and touching and speaking and embracing and serving the leprosy. Surely if there was anyone who ever felt completely misunderstood or not understood at all, it would have been the leprosy. And yet they had heard about Jesus, here's one who crosses all the boundaries. They tried everything else it ended in work, so why not call out to him? And we were told that they lifted up their voices, they shouted at the top of their lungs, Jesus, Master, have pity on us. They had probably tried that before and got no response. But this time the Master actually hears them. He actually turns to look at them. He actually sees what their problem is. And he actually gives them a way to be healed of their disease or their dysfunction. And he says, go and show the priest. No, he may be saying, why does he send them to the priest? He's the Master, he's the healer, why doesn't he just heal them? Dear friends, this is the point, the leprosy knew what he was saying. We may not understand it, but the leprosy understood it. The Old Testament regulated that if you had a contagious skin disease and had been quarantined, the only way that you could come back into society was to go to the priests who ended up being the medical examiners, if you will. And they would see if the symptoms of healing were actually there and you could be reintroduced to society. So you went to the priest not to get healed, but to prove that you had been healed. And Jesus simply said to them, go to the priests and let them examine that you have been healed. Now folks, this sounds a little ridiculous. They're sitting there with all their leprosy and Jesus says, go and be examined. What good is that going to do? I got leprosy. But I want you to notice that although 9 out of 10 of these do not end up to be very thankful, do they? I want you to notice that all 10 of them took him at his word. And my dear friends, I want you to know something very important this morning. It doesn't matter what you believe. It doesn't matter whether you're a Christian or a Jew. It doesn't matter whether you're Hindu or a Muslim. It doesn't matter whether you don't believe anything about God. He hears your cry. It's an amazing thing. He actually hears the cry of people who earnestly seek His help. And he will give you some things to do. And sometimes if you do them, you will receive healing. I'll sing this over and over again in alcoholic anonymous. People who don't profess to be flowers of Christ, but they go to AA and they get into a program which was designed by Christian people and they do certain things. And you know what? Oftentimes they find a healing, a physical or an emotional healing. And Jesus loves the entire world. And as representatives of Christ, if you consider yourself one, you were to go out into this world and we are to hear what He hears. When you go to work tomorrow morning, some of you, obviously you'll be listening to the stock exchange and you'll be listening to the financial reports and you'll be reading the PNL statements and you'll be looking at your balance sheet and you'll be listening to the problems among your employees and you'll be listening to the marketplace. There's another thing that the Christian man or woman does. She listens and hears what God hears. And Jesus Christ hears different things. He hears the cries of a disenfranchised and broken world. He hears it and he heals it. And we're His followers. We hear it and we engage in healing it. What a beautiful picture this is. Jesus breaking into a broken world and healing the disenfranchised and the broken hearted. You will notice dear friends that these folks go to the priests without being healed and as they go they find their healed. It's so often you know you stop, you say, I'm not sure Jesus can heal me of this. I'm not sure He can take care of a broken heart. I'm not sure He can put my financial life in order. I'm not sure He can do anything with my marriage. I look around and I don't see much hope and you don't try anything. You don't take the first step and you're not healed. These people could have done the same thing but they obeyed Him and they found healing. What's the next step for you? Some of you have thought about who Jesus is. Some of you have thought about the meaning of His death. Some of you have thought about whether He was resurrected or not. Some of you have thought about maybe there's some love in the body of Christ. Some of you have not found it anywhere else and you just keep thinking about it. You just keep thinking about it. I want you to notice what Jesus does. He always puts you on the march, He just goes to the priests. He's saying to you, go to the people of God. He's saying to you, get in there, stop trying to abstractly figure this thing out. You start walking and you'll find the work of God in your life. Now dear friends, I want you to notice this morning that all 10 people were healed. But only one was healed deeply. They were all healed physically. Only one was healed in his heart. Only one had spiritual healing. This is vital for us to understand. I was dealing with a good friend of mine who had been involved in the church for many years. In fact, I'd grown up in the church. She came from a highly dysfunctional family. She had been abused in various ways. And so her life inside was a total mess. On the outside, she was taking some steps to deal with it. And I remember she went off to get inpatient counseling or a period of time. And when she came back, she had made some marvelous discoveries with the help of Jesus Christ who gives every good and perfect gift. She made some marvelous discoveries about herself and was kind of walking through her childhood again and walking through now functional thinking, rather than dysfunctional thinking, and was so liberating to her, she said, and telling me about it, she said, you know what, this is my salvation. Now I understand how the woman feels. Certainly if you've been liberating, come to a clear understanding about something. It feels like salvation, but dear friends, what we're going to see in the text, it is physical emotional salvation, but it's not all that Jesus offers. There's only one out of ten who found it. You'll notice if you read history that in the Massachusetts Bay colony, a colony that we think of as made up of pious and holy and Christian people, was mostly made up of merchants who were there for a great business opportunity and they found it and they've been continuing to find it ever since. About 15% of them were devoted Christian people. That's all. You know what we do find about one in ten who have been given great and wondrous gifts, but who know how to thank God for it. It's a wonderful thing that our nation calls us together once a year, simply to thank the creator who gave us all the things, the sustainer who has in his providence given us our nation and given us the harvest of this fall, just like they did 400 plus, 480 years ago. And some of us will come. One out of ten maybe. Look how, that's the way it always is, but you'll notice first of all that Jesus hears and he heals. He's merciful and compassionate. Now, when you look at verses 15 and 16, you'll see that some will praise and thank him. Here's the one out of ten. Now, once you'll notice in verses 15 and 16, what this Thanksgiving looks like. Here we have a beautiful display of what real Thanksgiving is like. First of all, you'll notice that it says in verse 14 or rather 15, one of them when he saw he was healed, when he saw that he was healed. Do you realize the first thing to our giving thanksgiving to the one who's given you everything that you have? He's given the Muslim. Jesus Christ has given the Muslim the food that he eats. Jesus Christ has given the clothes that the Jewish man wears. Jesus Christ has given the job that the secularist takes and uses. Week after week, Jesus Christ has given it all, but the first thing about the one who acknowledges it is that he sees what has been given. Henry Scutter and his book The Christians Daily Walk, a book that the Puritans used broadly in their own day says that one of the impediments to giving thanksgiving is that we attribute things to secondary causes and to ourselves rather than to God. Boy, thank Mother Nature for that great reign that we just had. Well, I thank my parents for everything in my life, and I want to say I wouldn't be anything without my spells. I just wouldn't have anything. If it weren't for health, I just wouldn't have anything in life at all. When you got your health, you got everything. You know, I'm just so grateful that I've got some brains, you know, so that I can be successful in work. Now this truth, you should be thankful for all these things, but you're attributing ultimately to secondary causes rather than primary causation. Here you will see that he saw the primary cause for his healing. Have you been healed of a cold? Have you been given a good friend? Have you been given a spouse and children? Do you thank the Lord as the ultimate and primary giver of these things? He saw it. I've told you the story before about the man who was roofing about on a three-story house, and he was up there roofing, he started to slip, and he was scared to death, and you had ended up either dead with a broken neck, and he cried out, oh God, help me! And he kept sliding, sliding like God, please help me! He got to the end right where the gutter is, and the back loop on his pants caught on the nail. And he was hanging there, and he said, God, never mind my pants caught on the nail. Some people can't see. Some people can't see the ultimate causation. This man saw it, and he knew what to do with it. He saw he was healed. The difference some of you told me that you're a little embarrassed because when you really became a follower of Jesus Christ, he was as a result of a great tragedy, or something that scared the holy bejabbers out of you, like in warfare, I've heard some of you say, you know, I really became a follower of Christ when I was in the trench, and I thought I was going to die, and I made a deal. And it's embarrassing to have one of these foxhole conversions. I tell you what, I'll take a conversion anyway, God gives it. I'm thankful for the foxhole! I'm thankful and saved you! There's only one thing worse than a foxhole conversion, and that's foxhole forgetfulness. This leper had a foxhole conversion. It would have been worse if he did not notice it all, but he saw it. He saw the hand of Jesus Christ in his life. Now secondly, not only did he see it, but notice he came back, or literally the word is he turned. It's the same word that is used at times for the word repentance. You heard that word? What we're doing is we're going down our way. We're saying, oh it's so nice to have your health. It is so nice to have a good church to worship him. It's so nice to have a good education. It's so nice to have a paycheck at the end of the month. And then plume, you see it. You see where it all came from, and you turn. From giving praise to secondary causes, to giving praise to the living God for every good and perfect gift. There's a repentance. There's a turning there, and you see this is exactly what happened to this man. Now don't know about you, but if I had had leprosy or if we had cancer, and some of you have been healed from your cancer, what's the first thing you want to do? I'm going to go show Mama. I'm going to tell my kids. I'm going to spread around the church over to tell everybody what has happened to me. Look at my body it's healed. And truly we do do these things. There's nothing wrong with it unless that's your first move. You see what happened with the leprosy? His first move was to turn and go back to Jesus. He'll tell the family later. He'll get reconciled to the worshiping community later. He'll get a job later. He'll build his house later. But the first thing he's got to do is to get glory and praise to the Lord Jesus Christ. Now when he gets there, notice what he does. This is the third thing. He sees, he comes back, and then we're told praising God. He praises him. Folks, this is very important in your life of Thanksgiving. You will notice that praise comes before we're told that he thanked him. What's the difference? Thank returning thanks to God is to say, God, thank you for this that you've done for me. Thank you for this you've done in world history. Thank you for this that you've done in our country. It's thanking him for things we have personally experienced. But when we praise him, we are extolling him for his greatness. Whereas evangelism is going out and telling the world how great God is, this praise is telling him how great he is. It's boasting about him to his face. And that takes place here before he starts to thank Jesus Christ for healing his body. He simply exalts him as the great Mastery King of the entire universe. Now I don't know what the man said. But it says here that he used a very good Presbyterian literature. It says here that he, I mean, he's probably saying, and I suppose he's saying, handle. Now if he had been trained as a worshiper, I suppose he would have sung hand. And anybody who worships God would like to learn how to sing handle. One of these days I'm going to you too and I get in heaven. I'll be able to sing it. And my liturgy, I hope my personal liturgy, my personal prayers, I hope they're growing. And I hope Presbyterian liturgy does cause you to grow. And your worship with God, but dear friends, it just is he gave a loud shout. And I doubt that he shouted on key. I doubt that it was sophisticated liturgical language. He just simply roared with victory because he had met the King. Now dear friends, we're more sophisticated than this. And we're living in a literate society. We know better language. We actually are Presbyterian shout. Praise God from whom all blessings flow. That's a Presbyterian shout. I'm dead serious. What else is a shout around here? I mean, when I go to the Pentecostals, I get a shout. When I'm with the Presbyterians, we shout in our own way. My question is, do you shout? Henry Scudder says, the first evidence of a thankful heart are praising lips. Are your lips praising God? Are they engaged? You see, there's a deeper healing than laughing with joy because of what God's done for you along your way. It's the healing of drawing into personal relationship with him. What you say to his face, God, you are great. You are glorious. It's the shout that is often missing in the churches of our own day. Think about it. Are you a shouter? Then fourthly, he not only saw, came back, praised God with a loud voice and the words there are literally megaphone. He used a megaphone. He had shouted for help. Now he's shouting for praise. Beforefully, he threw himself at the feet of Jesus. Folks, this is vital. Before we give thanks from a healed heart, it is a heart that is absolutely bowed down before him, prostrate before his presence. It's the posture of one who is not on the offense. It's the posture of one who is no longer on defense. It is the posture of one who said, I give up. I am totally your subject, your servant. You do with me as you will. It is the praise of the life given over as a sacrifice to God. For this, we know from what Paul says, is reasonable worship, is simply to lay your life down. Presbyterians usually sit. We sometimes stand, but you'll find in the Bible they're often on their face when they're worshiping God because there's no offense. There's no defense. It's total surrender and submission to God. This is the posture of a heart that is being thankfully healed out of a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. And then you'll notice, fifthly, he thanks him. He thanks him. You know, some of you have told me that we live in a decade or we just came out of a decade where all kinds of money has been made. And some of you going, huh? Really? Yeah. As what they're saying, folks, that folks have just made a ton of money and you can just look at the macroeconomic picture and you can see that that is true. And because of that, in the Christian community, many are asking the question, you know, can I retire at 50? Can I say I'm retired 40? And if I do, what am I going to do that gives meaning to my life? And so there's a there's a baby of books, you know, rising up now. Some good ones. A one by Bob Buford that some of you have read called half time. I always wonder about men who are 50 reading about half time. They think they're going to live to 100, I suppose. But the half time, which is this is the half time in your life, now, what are you going to do with the next, the next half of your life so that your life has meaning and purpose? And they're friends, if you're following Christ, certainly one thing that is a great blessing to me is my life has meaning and purpose. And I commend the life of Christ to any of you that it may have meaning and purpose. But I want you to notice there's something deeper and higher than that. This lapper did not fall prostrate before Jesus Christ because he was looking for meaning in his life. He didn't submit to Jesus Christ because he wanted a little more direction and purpose in his life. He fell down before Christ because he was grateful to Christ. And this is the motive of one who would make a difference in her world. It's not because you're looking for purpose in your life, it's because you are looking for a way to say thank you to Christ. That's what he did. He thanked him. So you see then that Jesus hears and heals us physically and emotionally and some will come back and praise and thank him. But when you get to verses 17 through 19 you see the final point we want to observe and that is that Jesus hears us and heals us spiritually. Now notice at the end of verse 16 a very scandalous phrase, it is truly scandalous for those who first heard the message. It says and he was a Samaritan. It would be like my saying that there was a healing service as sacrifice here in church and people from all over the community came and everybody went out the door and the only ones who came back to worship God and to thank him were the Muslims.
The only ones to worship Jesus Christ and to thank him for healing them were the Muslims. That's what it would be like. Or perhaps we could say there was a healing service down in Morgan, Keegan. And everybody downtown came and the only ones who stayed to worship Jesus Christ were the new age people. That's how scandalous this is and he was a Samaritan. You had nine church people, one non-church person and the only one who gave Jesus Christ glory was a non-church person. This is not a parable. Remember it's not a parable. It's not like a good Samaritan. It's not a story that Jesus told to make a point. This actually happened and Jesus addresses two groups. First of all the church gives disciples and then he addresses the leper. To the disciples he has three questions. He says kind of like Colombo. Honestly, now let me do a little arithmetic. weren't there 10? He knows how many there were weren't there 10? What happened to the nine? Why is it that the only one who came back and he uses this word? Al-Oganese which is the word that's used on the temple gates to tell the Al-Oganese the foreigner that they must keep out. It's a word that says you're not welcomed in the worship of God at the temple because you are a Gentile. Al-Oganese. And Jesus said only this Al-Oganese comes to worship. He has three questions and here's the summary of it. He says where's my church? Where are the people of God? They're running off doing lots of things. Where are their hearts? You know, when I traveled to place like I did this past week that I told you about people left. Tell me about second. I'm always telling them what a loving, wonderful place it is and I mean that will hold my heart. And they inevitably ask as preachers do, well how many people do you have your membership wrote? I said how about 3,400? Well how many come to worship? Oh about 14,500? 2,000 people. Some of them are six. Some of them are shut in. Some of them are traveling. All kinds of reasons. But what about the other 1,500? You see how works. Just because we're included have our names on a membership role. Does this mean that we're one out of 10? Does this mean that we've actually been healed? Because we go to church or because we call ourselves Christians? You see there's a deeper healing folks that comes from entering into that personal relationship of praise and submission and thanksgiving that draws you closer to him. This is why, secondarily, how long for us to be a praying church? First of all, for God to get his glory. Jesus Christ to get his exaltation but then for us to get the healing. That's the reason that I'm wasting nights. We have old prayer meeting. Everybody's invited. 25 show up. I was fine. A lot of people do things at 5, 15 and a whiz they can't get here. But that's where healing takes place. It's in worship and thanks and prayer. And Jesus is saying where's the church? Then secondly, he looks at the leper. He's already been healed physically. But because of that relationship of submission and thanks and praise, he says to the leper, get up and go because you have been healed. You have been healed. Dear friends, I am so thankful. I really am for so many things in my life. I don't have time this morning to give you the litany. But I had parents who really loved me. My mother's still living. She loves me. Things I'm great. Don't tell all the truth, please. My father went on to be with the Lord. He thought I was wonderful. Encourage me. They gave me a great education. I met a young little life grader when I was the ninth grader. I ended up marrying her. She's wonderful. I'm so thankful for my wife. We have five children. They're all healthy. They're bright. They're fun. We all love the family. I'm so thankful. I'm so thankful to live in a country of laws and justice, although sometimes it's stretched, isn't it? But we live in a country made of laws. We have a heritage. We have heroes. We have a tradition. We have something to appeal to. We live in a great land of massive resources. And I am thankful. I'm thankful to be a minister of the gospel. If my dad said before, to me before he died, so there's no greater thing. I'm grateful to be a second-presterian church with the people who really love God and love each other, doing wonderful things in our city. I'm thankful. I'll tell you about all these things. I am most thankful to Jesus Christ because he has healed me and has healed many, many of you. And I say to those of you who continue to give of yourself sacrificially with your time, your treasures, your talents, you are earnestly seeking him. You want to know him and you are serving him and you are honoring him. I tell you, rise up and go, you've been healed. And your day is coming when you will not only have the outward demeanor healed, but you will be healed from the inside out. And they will bring great joy. I close with this in New York this past week with his dear friends, new friends serving all of the country in very difficult places seeking to do the Lord's will. You should be with him when they worship. I don't know how much you've worshipped in under-resourced places, but you know, they seem to be the happiest people in the world. And these people who are ministering in far out places and very depressed places. When they come together to worship, I'm telling you there's the glow of God's glory on their faces. There are a happy bunch. And I noticed it and I enjoyed it and basked in the reflected glory. But I discovered something. They're not happy because they're poor. And they're not happy because they minister to the poor. They're happy because they've been healed. To God be the glory. To God alone be the glory for the great things he has done by the spray. Lord Jesus Christ, who has humbled yourself and lived among us the poor of the universe and have emptied yourself that we may be rich. We give you praise and we would see this morning what you've done. It is magnificent. It is gracious and compassionate. It is beyond all discovery by limited human minds like ours. But we know that it is infinite in glory. We worship you. We submit to you. We praise you and we thank you for the first touch of healing by which you made our lives much better than they would have been on this earth. And for the second healing which drew us close to yourself and gave us a song to sing and a life to live and a hope for the future. For this we give you eternal praise and glory. In the name of Jesus Christ, our master, the one who has had pity on us who continues to hear our prayers and continues to heal.