Matthew 8:5-13

And when Jesus was entered into Capernaum, there came unto him a centurion, beseeching him, And saying, Lord, my servant lieth at home sick of the palsy, grievously tormented.  And Jesus saith unto him, I will come and heal him. The centurion answered and said, Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof: but speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed. For I am a man under authority, having soldiers under me: and I say to this man, Go, and he goeth; and to another, Come, and he cometh; and to my servant, Do this, and he doeth it. When Jesus heard it, he marvelled, and said to them that followed, Verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel. And I say unto you, That many shall come from the east and west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven. But the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. And Jesus said unto the centurion, Go thy way; and as thou hast believed, so be it done unto thee. And his servant was healed in the selfsame hour.

This man of the Roman army, a leader of the Roman army came to Him and said “My servant…” One thing we have to understand is that he cared about those under his authority, under his leadership. Jesus marveled. Why did He marvel? When the Centurion said he tells the one to go and he goes, when he tells the one to sit down, he sits down. Why are the Children of God so disobedient? When you were at school and your teacher told you to be quiet, you sat down and were quiet. At your job, the boss tells you go pick up that thing and bring it over here and put this together. You don’t look at him and say why. If you do, you won’t have a job long. If you challenge the one in authority, he can ask you why are you here? “I’m here because I need the money and have nothing else to do.” So he will ask, didn’t you sign some papers saying you will abide by the rules of this company? The point is, when God gives us authority, we have to obey His authority. We want people to do what we say, but we won’t do what they say. Can you imagine the sight of Christ saying that He’d not found so great faith in Israel, after having been teaching to His disciples on faith? The Centurion had great faith in Jesus Who commands the air, the spirits. The Centurion believed that Jesus authority was sure. He had enough faith in Jesus that He had authority. He knew that when Jesus said it, it would be done. He knew that all power was in Christ hands. He had not found one, no not even in Israel as faithful. Can He say that to you today? The Children of the Kingdom will be cast out..those who walk around thinking they are Christians when they aren’t. Because the servants boss had faith, the results went to the servant. It wasn’t about the servants boss, but about God because of the Centurions faith.

Do we have faith like that today? Or do we need something to crank us up? So if you’re going through something, could it be you’re the one going through, and its waiting on you?

Matthew 8:14-16

And when Jesus was come into Peter’s house, he saw his wife’s mother laid, and sick of a fever. And he touched her hand, and the fever left her: and she arose, and ministered unto them. When the even was come, they brought unto him many that were possessed with devils: and he cast out the spirits with his word, and healed all that were sick:

God was showing His authority over sickness. Some people are sick because they want to be sick. If you serve a God who can heal, why are you sick? We sometimes use sickness as a crutch. Has your salvation become a crutch so that people will look at you and praise you instead of God? Sometimes things may not seem so clear as to where we are in Him. We’ll do things because we’re not sure where He is or where we are, to test our faith to see if Christ will be there to help us out. We’ll stretch the limit, come almost there to only find out that maybe He’s not really watching me right now…”God are you there?” Sometimes things might not seem so clear where we are in Him, even if we may have strayed away from salvation, a little off mark from the high calling of salvation.

What do you tell children when crossing the street? You stop, look both ways and listen. Have we done that in our lives with our sin, and asked how it will affect our walk in Christ, affect my Salvation? Do you know its a personal walk, not a public one? You don’t need anyone poisoning your walk by their views or understanding. Words are powerful, and even more so to the feeble-minded. It’s important that you get the right info the right way and in all you’re getting get an understanding. It’s important that we stop look and listen for the Breath of God. People breathing down our neck, talking to about everything under the sun except the Son. Misery loves company, and company has friends. He has been exhaling in our lives, but we continue doing what we’re doing in hope that He understands. We’ve used that term before “He understands me. We’re that tight.” He understands what we are doing, walking by sight and kind of by faith. At one time or another we’ve done that. The Bible tells us we walk by faith and not by sight. But most of us blend it: a little bit of sight a little bit of faith. We comfortably do that. When your mind is walking by sight, then your mind is influenced around you, you are walking by others. When they are jacked up, you’re jacked up. Sometimes we allow things, emotions and situations to dominate our walk. In most cases we begin to second guess ourselves and our faith begins to wean, leading to faithlessness.

Hebrews 11:1-6

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. For by it the elders obtained a good report. Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear. By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it he being dead yet speaketh. By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him: for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God. But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.

Everywhere you see faith in these passages, substitute for “complete trust.”

Have you ever gone to someone who you know can’t help you? Most of the time we go to someone who can help. You have faith that they can do what you know can be done. If you can’t trust in anybody, then you’ll not go to the “body,” but go to another body to help you take care of your body! We’re sick because we want to be sick, laid up, stressed out, and prostrate before everyone because we get attention. We’re sick because we want attention. What about those who really are sick? Where is their faith? The case of the missing faith. If you have the faith of a grain of a mustard seed…

I have a concept of what faith is: trusting in something that you don’t have an idea or clue about, because you have complete trust. You exhibit and use complete trust everyday. When you get out of your bed do you step on a cloud or the floor? You trust that the floor is going to hold you. You don’t have to think about it because you trust it completely. This is how it should be with Jesus. We don’t have to think about Him because we know He is faithful. This is what faith is, not having to worry about your salvation. Not arrogantly, but not having to worry about if you are going to be healed, or going back with Him. Why do we read the Word of God? Because we completely trust in it. Do you completely trust God? Then why are you limping? By His stripes you are healed. Our complete trust is conditional. What we don’t want to accept is we’ve given Him conditions for our life, when He never gave us conditions. How many love the Lord? We love Him on conditions and completely trust Him on conditions. Have we lost our hope? Or more than that, have we quietly lost our hope in Christ Jesus? Maybe a dream we’ve had that didn’t come to pass or a relationship that did go the way you planned and you quietly blamed Jesus because it didn’t come to fruition. And now you sit in your pity, patty party, blaming yourself and Jesus too, instead of standing on your most holy faith and asking the Lord to forgive you and forgive yourself. Hope lost. You have no faith when hope is lost. Without faith you can’t please God. Hopelessness sets into you.

In conclusion, we can’t allow our self pity to rule or ruin our walk in Christ Jesus.

Romans 12:1-16

I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God. For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith. For as we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same office: So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another. Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, whether prophecy, let us prophesy according to the proportion of faith; Or ministry, let us wait on our ministering: or he that teacheth, on teaching; Or he that exhorteth, on exhortation: he that giveth, let him do it with simplicity; he that ruleth, with diligence; he that sheweth mercy, with cheerfulness. Let love be without dissimulation. Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good. Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love; in honour preferring one another; Not slothful in business; fervent in spirit; serving the Lord; Rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation; continuing instant in prayer; Distributing to the necessity of saints; given to hospitality. Bless them which persecute you: bless, and curse not. Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep. Be of the same mind one toward another. Mind not high things, but condescend to men of low estate. Be not wise in your own conceits.

5 Points to remember:

1 Do not lean-to your own understanding, Proverbs 3:5-6

2 Change the way you have been thinking from a selfish worldy mind to a Christ Jesus mind, Romans 12:2-4

3 Don’t allow things or your situations to dictate your walk, Ephesians 4:14-16

4 Without faith you cannot please God, Hebrews 11:6

5 You can do all things through Christ, Philippians 4:13