The Healing Process Series

Healing the Hurts You Don’t Deserve:

The Healing Process

Scripture Reading: Luke 17:11-17

Good morning. My name is Bob Hostetler, and

I’m not a patient man.

I know--I know,

some of you are shocked.

I know my kids are thinking,

“Yes you are, Dad, you’re VERY patient.”

But it’s true.

I have a character flaw that tends to expect

fast food (when I’m hungry, FEED ME NOW),

miracle diets (whaddya mean I can’t lose 15

pounds TODAY?)

and quick fixes.

My wife Robin and I had been married

only a few months

when our kitchen sink clogged up.

Now I knew

--and she did not hesitate to remind me--

that I could drive to the grocery store for some Drano and be back in less than 15 minutes.

But why should I wait 15 minutes

when I could poke

an unfolded wire clothes hanger

down the drain and

have that thing unstopped NOW?!?!

Oh, yeah, I also happen to be cheap,

and Drano cost money,

and the clothes hanger was already there.

Of course, I ended up poking the hanger

through the u-joint below the sink ,

and making things much worse--

and more expensive--

than they would’ve been if I had

just taken the time to go to the store.

I tend to do the same thing

when it comes to healing.

When a cut or a sore starts to heal,

I can’t leave it alone.

I know I shouldn’t pick at the scab,

but I have a hard time just giving it

the time it needs to heal.

And though I hate to admit it,

I’m often no different when it comes to

internal hurts, the emotional kind,

the kind we’ve been talking about

these past few weeks.

This morning at Cobblestone Community Church we’re in the third week of a four-week series of messages from the Bible, entitled “Healing the Hurts You Don’t Deserve.”

Three weeks ago, we studied John 5,

and discovered step one in the healing process,

and that is “The Healing Choice,”

choosing healing over hurt.

Two Sundays ago, we looked at John 11,

and discussed “The Healing Power” of comfort,

and the necessity of receiving comfort from God and from others as another important step in the healing process.

Last week, we looked

at a parable Jesus told

in Matthew, chapter 18,

as we talked about “The Healing Path” of forgiveness.

This morning, in our final installment in this series on “Healing the Hurts You Don’t Deserve,” we’re going to discuss “The Healing Process” as we turn in the Bible to the Gospel of Luke.

Now, if you worship here regularly, I encourage you to get in the habit of bringing your Bible with you so you can read for yourself

with your own eyes

from your own Bible

what’s being taught up here at the front.

If you’re here without a Bible of your own this morning, please feel free to use on of the copies we provide for you in the center of each table.

And if you don’t have a Bible of your own, we would love for you to take one of ours home with you. . . Consider it your souvenir.

So, having said all that,

I would like for you to turn in your Bibles, please,

to the Gospel of Luke, chapter 17. . . .

Luke, the seventeenth chapter . . .

And our text in God’s Word this morning will begin at the 11th verse of that chapter. . . .

So, beginning at Luke 17:11, we’re going to consider an extraordinary passage of Scripture

that has much to teach us about

the final step I want to cover in the process of healing the hurts you don’t deserve.

So, if you’ll look with me at Luke 17, verse 11,

and, by the way, I’ll be reading from the New International Version--we read:

Now on his way to Jerusalem, Jesus travelled along the border between Samaria and Galilee.

Jesus was making a lengthy and dusty journey, on foot, from Galilee to Jerusalem, on a route that lay between Samaria and the region sometimes called “Galilee beyond the Jordan” or Perea.

Finally, his tired, sandalled feet approached a village, where he might be able to rest or eat.

But as he approached the town, his attention was diverted by a group of lepers, ten of them, who- because they were lepers--

had to stay outside the village,

in isolation from everyone except other lepers,

lest they infect others with their dreadful disease.

Look at verse 12:

12 As he was going into a village, ten men who had leprosy met him. They stood at a distance

13 and called out in a loud voice, "Jesus, Master, have pity on us!"

Now, here’s something interesting:

notice they called out to him by name,