Espresso Yourself - 3
Espresso 180
October 15, 2006
Pastor Paul W Newell

[Making a cup of espresso...]

Ahh...the perfect cup of espresso!  I read an author recently who described espresso as “bold and volatile”. If you’ve ever had a straight shot or two, you know what that author meant!

Straight espresso is powerful stuff! It doesn’t take much to make an impact. It’s pretty bold. But it’s also volatile. Espresso has to be at just the right temperature to taste just right and as it quickly loses it’s temperature it quickly loses it’s taste.

I’ve been told that the best temperature for espresso is between 180-200 degrees.

180 is pretty perfect for espresso!

We are right in the middle of our monthly long look at espresso yourself. We took the first to weeks to deal with some of the negative “espressions” and how to turn them around into positive, powerful ways to espresso yourself.

This morning I want to take on the 180-degree espresso: the “espression” that makes for a perfect espresso yourself. It’s an expression that will warm everything you do to just the right temperature.

It will warm your relationships. It will warm your business deals. It will warm everything that it seasons.

If you are struggling to connect with your family, if you are having a hard time keeping friends, if you are sort of stuck when it comes to relationships

The 180-Degree Espresso? – APPRECIATION!

I know it’s a little early for our traditional Thanksgiving season, but the truth is we need to make thanksgiving and appreciation a 365-days-a-year event.

Did you know that the Bible mentions thanks, thanksgiving, appreciation, over 170 times? Thanksgiving, appreciation, is a big deal in the Bible.

There’s one story in the Bible that really packs a bold, volatile lesson about this 180-Degree espression...it’s found in Luke chapter seventeen.

 As Jesus continued on toward Jerusalem, he reached the border between Galilee and Samaria. As he entered a village there, ten lepers stood at a distance, crying out, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!”  He looked at them and said, “Go show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went, they were cleansed of their leprosy. One of them, when he saw that he was healed, came back to Jesus, shouting, “Praise God!” He fell to the ground at Jesus’ feet, thanking him for what he had done. This man was a Samaritan. Jesus asked, “Didn’t I heal ten men? Where are the other nine? Has no one returned to give glory to God except this foreigner?” And Jesus said to the man, “Stand up and go. Your faith has saved you.” (Luke 17:11-17)

This healing was amazing on so many levels. First of all, it was leprosy. Leprosy was sort of the AIDS of its day. It was incurable and highly contagious. People who had leprosy suffered rotting flesh and lose of limbs. People who had leprosy were outcast by law. They were not allowed to get close to anyone who was not infected with the disease. There was no cure – end of story. But Jesus healed their leprosy with just his words.

Second, Jesus healed ten lepers all at once. This was a mass healing. Ten cried out for healing and ten were healed!
But there is a tragedy in the midst of this miracle, only one out of ten...only one healed leper returned to say thank-you and show appreciation to the Healer. Only one!

This one thankful healed leper demonstrates the first bold, volatile truth about appreciation:

Appreciation makes us do a 180-degree focus off ourselves and onto God and others.

Appreciation 180’s Our Focus

It’s impossible to say thank-YOU with the focus on “me”. It’s not “thank-me”, it’s thank-you.

That seems pretty simple doesn’t it, but what it is is pretty BOLD!

Appreciation, thankfulness 180’s our focus.

“When he saw that he was healed, came back to Jesus” (vs.15)

 Appreciation makes us come back. It makes us rehearse someone else’s action. It focuses on them!

You know, I tend to go where my eyes go. I walk where I’m looking. And, far too often I’m looking at myself, my stuff, my needs, my wants, my actions – I sort of walk right into myself which always leads to “me-ism”. Self-centeredness, selfishness, which in turn leads to pity-parties or pride – either way it messes me up.

Just listen. People who don’t show appreciation are self-centered people. And, self-centered people are seldom happy or content.
You want to get your eyes off your worries? Start showing appreciation to others. Start looking around at who you should be appreciating.

“Paul,...I don’t get enough appreciation myself. I mean, I’m not getting appreciated for what I’m doing...and you want me to show appreciation to others?”

Yes! That’s it! Exactly. Get the focus off yourself. 180-degree your focus.

Start with the 180-degree espressions and watch what happens to your heart, your attitudes, and your outlook.

Have you got someone you just can’t stand to be around? Is there someone that’s just getting to you and you just can’t get over it?

Let me give you a hint – find a way to appreciate them – genuinely, even if it’s that you appreciate the fact that you don’t have to live with them 24/7...(or maybe you do and then you can appreciate them for all of the patience and contentment God is teaching you through them!)

Appreciation causes us to 180-Degree our focus off ourselves and onto God and others.

Appreciation also touches the heart.

Appreciation touches the heart of God and others.

Jesus asked, “Didn’t I heal ten men? Where are the other nine? Has no one returned to give glory to God except this foreigner?”

I can almost see Jesus standing there looking down at the healed man as he worships and thanks Jesus. Then I can almost see Jesus as He looks off in the distance to see nine others as they get farther and farther away.

Maybe you’re thinking what I thought. I mean, those other nine were doing exactly what Jesus had told them to do – going to Jerusalem to show themselves to the priests who would in-turn pronounce them healed and able to return to their families. They were doing exactly what Jesus told them to do. Why get on their case?

Jesus wasn’t condemning the other nine, He was disappointed in them. They had received the healing they asked for – but they missed the big picture.

Why had Jesus healed these men? Was it just because they asked? Did Jesus heal them because they needed healing? If that were the real reason, Jesus could just as easily spoke and every leper in all the world could have instantaneously been healed – as well as any other crippled or diseased  individual.

Jesus didn’t heal people just to see them well – Jesus healed to bring Glory to God.  When God works in your life and mine – He does it to bring honor, attention and glory to God. It’s not about is – it’s about Him.

The only one who got that was this lone appreciative man. And it touched God’s heart.

Appreciation touches God’s heart. Appreciation touches and opens hearts.

Did you know that God has a heart? He has feelings?

The most well-known verse in the Bible tells us about God’s heart: For God so loved the world...” (John 3:1)

God has a heart – and that heart is focused on you and me.

Psalm 139:17, “How precious are your thoughts about me, O God, They can not be numbered. I can’t even count them.”

God’s heart is focused on us – and he wants our heart focused on Him.

While I was preparing this talk I found out something interesting: the words think and thank come from the same root word. Think and thank are pretty much the same thing!

So, if you are thankful, you are “thinkful”!  And if you are thankless, you are also thinkless.

Thankless = brainless! You understand that! Have you ever thought of someone who never shows appreciation, “they just don’t get it?”.

On the other hand, I can’t tell you the number of times a simple thank-you, or I really appreciate what you’re doing has turned a person’s heart.

Try it. The next time you see someone having a bad day, a rough time, find a way to show genuine appreciation for what they are doing and who they are.

When you think, you will thank!

This man thought and as a result thanked and worshiped Jesus.

He 180ed his focus off himself and onto God, thanked Jesus and in the process, he worshiped Him.

Do you understand what worship is? It’s simply focused attention. It’s thinking about and then acting upon.
The natural outcome of 180-degree focus is worship.

I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s hard to be appreciative on the outside if you’re not appreciative on the inside. It’s hard to appreciate others if you’re not showing appreciation to God.

Appreciation is bold and volatile espresso –

It 180-Degrees our Focus
It Opens God’s heart
And Appreciation Deepens.

Appreciation Deepens Our Depth

And Jesus said to the man, “Stand up and go. Your faith has saved you.”

Your faith. This man went deep.

It’s interesting that this guy didn’t come back saying, Jesus, You the MAN! That’s wouldn’t have been entirely wrong. Jesus had healed him.

But the passage says he returned “Praising God”.

This man’s appreciation caused him to realize something much greater than just a physical healing – he realized that God has worked in his life.

Have you ever been in a “spot”? I mean a real spot. One of those spots where all you can do is cry out, “have mercy on me!”

When that mercy comes, who get’s the glory? Who gets the honor and attention?

Remember, God doesn’t heal just to heal – He does what he does to bring attention and glory to Himself.

But this guy got something far greater than just physical healing – he got forgiveness of sin. The Bible calls that salvation. This guy got saved.

The other nine got healed – this guy got saved! His appreciation caused him to go deeper and see that it wasn’t just physical relief, but a spiritual work of faith that God wanted to do in His life.

Listen to me for a moment longer...God’s working in your life and mine is always about a SPIRITUAL WORK. God is not nearly as concerned about our physical relief as He is about our spiritual growth.

Appreciation causes us to look beyond our own relief to God’s work.

Appreciation causes us to look beyond ourselves to others.

Appreciation is a bold, volatile espresso that deepens us.

Shallow people are seldom thankful people.

Appreciation deepens us. It deepens our faith and it promotes God’s agenda!

Appreciation benefits and builds both the giver and receiver of appreciation!

APPRECIATION CHANGES YOU!

It rearranges your perspective.

It opens our hearts – and the hearts of those who receive our appreciation.

It deepens us.

And...it always brings us more to be thankful for.

This guy was thankful for his physical healing and God gave him spiritual healing as well.

So as we close, let me give you to BOLD, VOLATILE espresso ways to show this 180-Degree Espression.

#1.  Make sure to take plenty of God time.  Give yourself plenty of God time. Take time to rehearse all of the things you can and should appreciate God for doing in your life.

#2. Keep quick accounts. When it comes to appreciation every one of us should have “Quick Books”. Don’t wait to show appreciation. When someone blesses you, when you see someone should be appreciated – don’t wait – take a moment to show them appreciation.

It’s a BOLD, VOLATILE way to espresso yourself.

Notes: Though the messages and majority of illustrations are original to the author, the theme and outline matierial for this message series Espresso Yourself is adapted from a copyrighted series by Ed Young Jr. used by permission and license. His series can be obtained through creativepastors.com.

To download the audio version of this message click here.