Sermon Audio The outward appearance of something often tells you a lot about what is going on in general. When you go to a business and see that there are weeds growing, the paint is peeling, and dust is covering the merchandise, you know that that business is not in good shape. It is lacking the resources to keep itself in shape. A lot of times you can tell whether a person is healthy or not by looking at them. If they are pale and sweating, if they are gaunt and emaciated, if they are swollen and puffy, or any other number of signs, you know that something’s wrong. Thankfulness and praise, or the lack thereof, can serve a similar function in assessing the spiritual health of a person or community. This is because thankfulness and praise are closely related to faith. When and where the Holy Spirit gives the gift of faith, he also produces thankfulness and praise. Thus the outward sign of thankfulness and praise is an indication of faith, even though faith is something internal, something that can’t be seen. In our Gospel reading nine out of the ten go their way. They return to the lives that they were familiar with. Only one comes back thanking and praising Jesus. Jesus tells him to go in peace. “Your faith has saved you,” he says. The man’s thankfulness and praise is a sign of what is going on inside. Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. So it is only natural that if the heart is filled with the goodness of the Lord, that this should come out in what is said. On the other hand, if the heart does not know the grace of God, or believe in it, then you can’t squeeze blood out of a turnip. So what if we took stock of ourselves? What has been going on with our mouth? What has been in our heart, soul, and mind? I think we all would like to think that our thankfulness and praise has been alright, and that, therefore, our faith is in good shape. I don’t know how honest that would be though. Even if we have been better than other people in this regard, it still is falling short. Where is the praising God with a loud voice, the falling down on your face? This does not mean that you Christians do not want to be able to do this. All Christians would like to be filled completely with thanks and praise. It is a joy in and of itself. It is also, as I’ve mentioned, a sign of what is going on on the inside. We’d feel better about ourselves and more confident of our relationship with God if we were moved to worship God wholeheartedly. Worship experiences, in general, are highly sought after regardless of whether a person is Christian or not. Religious feelings are powerful and enjoyable. It’s the reason why people listen to stirring music, or go to concerts, or go to stadiums filled with thousands of people. There is a spirit that takes hold of us when we are moved by such things. As I’ve said, it is pleasant to feel this. It makes us feel alive and important. It also isn’t something that happens everyday, which makes it quite special too. Since it is rare, it is also valuable. Since Christians share this desire to be moved, as well as having the specific desire to thank and praise the true God, it is not surprising that we should find errors in regards to thanksgiving and praise. There are certain techniques that Christian churches can use to manipulate how a person feels as all entertainers know. Our country, in particular, has a long history of churches focusing on religious feelings. It started with the revival movement 200 years ago and more. Tent revivals were held on the American frontier. People would gather from miles around for these occasional services that would sometimes go on for days. They would make sure that they booked a good preacher for those occasions. You didn’t want somebody droning on, boring the people. Eventually a large library of stirring music was composed to further enhance the mood of these meetings. Almost all of what our people refer to as their “old favorites” are from this time period. R