Day 20 and 21 - Advent Morning Minute with Pastor Jason Cullum VERSES: Matthew 8:5-13 When Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to him, asking for help. “Lord,” he said, “my servant lies at home paralyzed, suffering terribly.” Jesus said to him, “Shall I come and heal him?” The centurion replied, “Lord, I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. But just say the word, and my servant will be healed. For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and that one, ‘Come,’ and he comes. I say to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.” When Jesus heard this, he was amazed and said to those following him, “Truly I tell you, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith. I say to you that many will come from the east and the west, and will take their places at the feast with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. But the subjects of the kingdom will be thrown outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” Then Jesus said to the centurion, “Go! Let it be done just as you believed it would.” And his servant was healed at that moment. KEY THOUGHT: A soldiers’ job is to follow orders. Remember the classic scene from A Few Good Men? No…not the you can’t handle the truth! scene. I so knew you were going there. The scene when the verdict comes in and one of the soldiers kept saying, “but we were following orders.” That is a soldiers’ responsibility…to execute the mission according to plan. There’s probably no better example of a hierarchy than the military. And everyone knows you follow the orders that are passed down to you. It doesn’t work the other way. You never hear of a Private telling a General what to do. The Bible says that this man is a Centurion, which is not a run of the mill soldier. He was a Special Forces guy. To even earn that title you had to be experienced in battle. (that’s’ the polite way of saying he killed a few people) So this weathered soldier was stationed in Capernaum and had no less than 100 Roman soldiers under his direction. He was there to keep the peace and exact Roman law. Many things could of stood between him and Jesus- pride, doubt, money, language, distance, time, self-sufficiency, power, race or religion. Yet he did not let any of those barriers stop him. Of all the people to ask Jesus for help, this may be the last person anyone would expect. Instead of being heartless, we see compassion and faith. This amazing encounter Jesus has with a military man reveals what this soldier believed about Jesus. There was no one more powerful than Jesus! Sorry…there was NOTHING more powerful than Jesus! This soldier believed Jesus’ power was so great that all he needed to do was mutter the words, and his servant would be healed. Jesus doesn’t even need to make an appearance. And here’s the amazing contrast. The Jews couldn’t or refused to buy into Jesus. They did not believe He was the Messiah. But here is this dirty, death dealing, hated Gentile, sinner, Roman soldier who believes Jesus is the Savior. And I love Jesus’ response…He’s astonished! Can you imagine Jesus being astonished at your faith? Pretty cool! And I’m also pretty sure Jesus was thinking…if this guy can get it, then why can’t the rest of these jokers get it? You know the Bible says Jesus was astonished two times…this Centurion’s faith was one time. The other time was over the Jews…lack of faith. Both head shaking moments. And here’s what I believed happened. After Jesus left, the Centurion went running home to check on his servant and found him perfectly well. And this man of great faith had his faith grow a little bit more. Isn’t that the way faith works sometimes. When we see God move in our life it grows our faith and trust in Him. Trusting God is the best way to live. PRAYER: Dear God, help me to hand over all my doubts and concerns to You. With words you spoke the world into existence. With words Jesus healed the servant. And with the words, it is finished, you rescued me and healed my sickness. No matter what I face today, this week or this year, your words have more power than any of it. I will trust in You.
Posted on: Sat, 20 Dec 2014 12:19:36 +0000
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