Bible Pickers: The Centurion's Faith, 5/03/15

Sermon 5-3-15 bible pickers the centurions faith

Today’s Scripture: Matthew 8:5-13 NIV

⁵ When Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to him, asking for help. ⁶ “Lord,” he said, “my servant lies at home paralyzed, suffering terribly.” ⁷ Jesus said to him, “Shall I come and heal him?” ⁸ 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. ⁹ 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.” ¹⁰ 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. ¹¹ 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. ¹² But the subjects of the kingdom will be thrown outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” ¹³ 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.

Bible pickers, the series

American pickers the show.

Great stories from  Matthew…… one snuck in from John.

Today, the faith of the centurion.

Miracles and  Faith

Miracles – do you believe in miracles?

God can do anything

Abraham issac and Jacob are in the kingdom.

A boy was sitting on a park bench with one hand resting on an open Bible. He was loudly exclaiming his praise to God. "Hallelujah! Hallelujah! God is great!" he yelled without worrying whether anyone heard him or not.
Shortly after, along came a man who had recently completed some studies at a local university. Feeling himself very enlightened in the ways of truth and very eager to show this enlightenment, he asked the boy about the source of his joy.
"Hey" asked the boy in return with a bright laugh, "Don't you have any idea what God is able to do? I just read that God opened up the waves of the Red Sea and led the whole nation of Israel right through the middle."
The enlightened man laughed lightly, sat down next to the boy and began to try to open his eyes to the "realities" of the miracles of the Bible. "That can all be very easily explained. Modern scholarship has shown that the Red Sea in that area was only 10-inches deep at that time. It was no problem for the Israelites to wade across."
The boy was stumped. His eyes wandered from the man back to the Bible laying open in his lap. The man, content that he had enlightened a poor, naive young person to the finer points of scientific insight, turned to go. Scarcely had he taken two steps when the boy began to rejoice and praise louder than before. The man turned to ask the reason for this resumed jubilation.
"Wow!" exclaimed the boy happily, "God is greater than I thought! Not only did He lead the whole nation of Israel through the Red Sea, He topped it off by drowning the whole Egyptian army in 10 inches of water!"

Not everyone got healed.

The pool of siloam…. When the angel troubles the waters

Jesus didn’t clear the pool deck

That is why I am skeptical of travelling preachers churches that advertize healing

We are not in control of it

What do I have to thank and praise god for

Andre crouch – how can I say thanks for the things you have done for me

I have an audience with jesus

Awakenings……..you bet when he got sick I asked why

Were you not popular?

Were you picked last

Do you have low self esteem

I have an audience with jesus

God can do anything

Miracles happen

We do not control them

Stories of great miracles. Bob spence

Faith- lets talk about faith

I have an audience with jesus

The press of the crowd, the woman with the issue of blood

If I can just touch the hem of his garment……..

Jesus heart is warm toward this man.

He sees thru the soldier garb…….. he sees the man……

The soldier doesn’t see himself as a soldier……..he is a man. A man in need.

I do not deserve to have you come underneath my roof

Honor and respect for god

World of the Pharisees was about rules, not about faith

There was a time in my life when I respected my knowledge of god, but I did not respect god

For as controversial as it would be for Jesus to exclaim that He has never seen this amazing faith in Israel, it's unusual for the centurion to talk to Jesus so respectfully.

The romans were in charge and many mistreated the jews but

In Luke, we learn that the centurion had given $$$ to build the local synagogue

Actually cares about Israel … has a faith in God of Abraham & Jacob

Not only that…

Having someone who is important to you get real sick levels the playing field.

Everyone … no matter what

·        Religion

·        Race

·        Economic class

·        Preferred political party

·        Favorite baseball team

Everyone gets desperate and wants God to intervene when you’re in a situation like that

The centurion

The  first shall be last and the last shall be first

Those who think they are in better not get cocky or then will be out

NEED TO strike a balance between a cocky swagger about knowing God and a weak faith that isn't sure about anything

Some Christians are cocky.

Here is a story about some cocky guys

A couple of hunters chartered a plane to fly them into forest
territory. Two weeks later the pilot came to take them back.
He took a look at the animals they had shot and said, " This
plane won't take more than one wild buffalo. You'll have to
leave the other behind."

"But last year the pilot let us take two in a plane this size,"
the hunters protested.

The pilot was doubtful, but finally he said, "Well, if you did
it last year I guess we can do it again."

So the plane took off with the three men and two buffaloes.
But it couldn't gain height and crashed into a neighboring
hill. The men climbed out and looked around. One hunter
said to the other, "Where do you think we are?" The other
inspected the surroundings and said, "I think we're about two
miles to the left of where we crashed last year."

Here is another story about faith……….

An elephant had a flea in his ear.

The elephant broke loose from the herd and charged across a wooden bridge. The worn-out bridge shivered and groaned, barely able to support the weight. When they reached the other side, the flea puffed out its chest and declared, “Boy, did we shake that bridge.”

Is this a story of arrogance?  Maybe.  I tell it at funerals because it reminds me that whether we know it or not, we are being carried by something much greater than we are.

We can have faith in God

The centurion is a roman and he is in.  the kingdom is upside down

Finally - You can be filled with faith

When you go to the hospital

You can pray for what you want

Trust pray for what you want but trust in god no matter what.

Lets approach him with confidence

Lets be  thankful for what God has done

We have much to celebrate

Brian ferry – dance with life…….

All the way home you know the guy is doing a dance.

We have much to be thankful for