What do I know with Isaac Carroll
What do I know with Isaac Carroll
Today's Bible Reading: Matthew 8 - Lessons on Faith, Humility, and Trusting God's Greater Plan
What if enduring hardship serves a greater purpose in your life? In this episode of "What Do I Know," I, Isaac Carroll, invite you to join me on an exploration of Matthew 8, where profound lessons on faith and humility unfold. We begin with the touching account of Jesus healing a man with leprosy—an encounter that embodies the essence of approaching God with a heart aligned to His will rather than our own desires. I share a personal story about a friend grappling with illness, who finds peace not in seeking immediate relief, but in aligning with God's broader plan. This narrative challenges us to reconsider our mindset in times of struggle and suffering, encouraging us to prioritize divine purpose over personal comfort.
As our journey through Matthew 8 continues, we witness the remarkable faith of a Roman centurion who recognizes Jesus's authority and humbly seeks healing for his servant. This interaction highlights the power of faith and the profound impact of belief in the unseen. Through these powerful stories, we are inspired to trust in a higher plan and embrace faith amidst our daily challenges. Tune in to reflect on these enduring messages and consider how they might shape your own spiritual journey, urging you to trust the process and seek a deeper connection with the divine.
May God bless you and lead you always.
Welcome to the podcast. I'm Isaac Carroll and this is what Do I Know. All right, in the last podcast we were in Matthew 7. Today we are going to begin chapter 8. If you're ready, verse 1.
Speaker 1:When Jesus came down from the mountain, large crowds followed him and a man with leprosy came to him and bowed down before him and he said Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean. Jesus reached out his hand and he touched him, saying I am willing, be cleansed. And immediately his leprosy was cleansed. And Jesus said to him see that you tell no one, but go, show yourself to the priest, present the offerings that Moses commanded as a testimony to them. Okay, the first thing I notice about this exchange is the heart of the leper, or maybe I should say the perspective on which the leper approaches Jesus. He says if you are willing, you can make me clean.
Speaker 1:How often do we come before God with that in mind? What am I saying? God's will, we have needs, we have desires. I'm sure a man with leprosy would have a great desire to be cleansed so he could be reunited with his family, would have a great desire to be cleansed so he could be reunited with his family. But choosing God's will over our desire or wanting God's will in our life over our desire to have something or to be something? Do we really have that mindset when we come before God?
Speaker 1:I have a friend who's been really, really sick for over a month. I don't know what it is, he has some kind of new flu virus, but it was really bad, almost to the point where they're ready to admit him in the hospital. And we've both been praying over his sickness for a while and the last time I talked to him he said you know, I'm no longer praying for God to heal me, I'm praying for God's will in my life. Whatever God wants to do in my life, I want that. That's what I want. If it's to get well, praise God. If it's to impact others in this time that I'm sick, praise God. And I just. I love that about that kind of mindset in the heart of someone who has that in them.
Speaker 1:And it's hard. I understand that, because when we come before God, we come before God with a need and a desire, and it's our desire to change the situation, maybe for someone else or for ourself. But we have no idea what God's plan is, what God's will is. And someone might say well, it's never God's will for someone to suffer, and I would argue that it was God's will for Jesus to suffer for the betterment of everybody else. And that's an example to us that whatever we're suffering, praise God for it, because he won't allow this to go on. He won't allow you to have too much that you can't handle, but he's with you, he's always with you, and his glory and his plan is worth more than our comfort. Let me just say that let's move on Verse 5.
Speaker 1:And when Jesus entered Capernaum, a centurion came to him, begging him and saying Lord, my servant is lying paralyzed at home, terribly tormented. Jesus said to him I will come and heal him. But the centurion replied Lord, I am not worthy for you to come under my roof, but just say the word and my servant will be healed. For I'm also a man under authority, with soldiers under me, and I say to this one go, and he goes. And to another one come and he comes. To my slave do this, and he does it. Now, when Jesus heard this, he was amazed. He said to those who were following him and gnashing of teeth. And Jesus said to the centurion Go, it shall be done for you, as you have believed, and the servant was healed at that very moment.
Speaker 1:All right, here we have a great story in one of the Gospels, and at least it speaks to me. We have a man of authority, a Roman centurion, who it is claimed that centurions had the actual authority to discipline Roman citizens that's how high their authority was which speaks a lot, speaks volumes, and he comes before Jesus. Now, the Romans looked down on Jews, but he comes to Jesus as a servant, calls him Lord, and he comes to him humbly, in request, over a servant. Shows you this man's heart, and Jesus, recognizing this man's need and his compassion for his servant, was willing to go under this centurion, this Gentile's roof. Now, I don't know if you remember the story in Acts where Peter was on the roof of the tenor's house and he had this vision of the sheep with all the animals in it, and another centurion had sent his servants to get Peter because he'd got a message from the angel of the Lord. And so Peter went to his house, and I believe it's Acts 10, verse 28.
Speaker 1:And it reads like this you know how unlawful it is for a Jew to associate with a foreigner or to visit him. Now this would have been the same thing for Jesus Unlawful. Jesus was willing to go into this foreigner's house and basically be unclean in the eyes of. He would have had to go to a ritual cleansing to be cleansed enough to go into a temple or to a synagogue after going to this foreigner's house, but Jesus was willing. Kind of parallels Jesus' willingness to touch the leper In the previous lesson with the leper Jesus touches him. Now if someone touches a leper they're unclean. But you notice how Jesus isn't unclean. This proves that Jesus is the source of, of our cleanliness.
Speaker 1:Anyway, I just thought this was a great story and it kind of reminds me of a conversation I've been having with a brother of mine. He's a brother in Christ and he has a lot of convictions and we've had this conversation where he says to me you know, sometimes I wonder if I'm even saved the reason why he says this is because he expects to see perfection in himself, not so much perfection, but if he truly believes in Christ, then he should be living a certain way, he should be able to conduct himself in such a way that it reflects Christ and he should have that joy that comes with Christ all the time. You know, we have this mindset when we read the word that we're supposed to be, the picture of the very thing that we're reading. And we want that because we want to be in communion with God, with the Son of God. We want to be in communion with Jesus and the Holy Spirit. So he asked himself, because he doesn't picture himself in this way. He asked the question am I really even saved? Now I believe he believes he's saved 100%. It's just the question is because of how he feels, and we got to be careful how when we ever address our feelings, because feelings can be directly opposed to the truth. I may feel a certain way, but it has nothing and no bearing at all on what's actually true. That's why we don't go by how we feel. We go by what the word says, despite or in spite of what we feel.
Speaker 1:I believe it's important that we hold on to what is true and we try to align everything else to that truth. I believe that's why John in 1 John 4, says the love, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirit to see whether they are from God. We should test every feeling, every notion, every word, every text that's been given to us and see if it directly aligns with the truth of God's word, because if it doesn't, then it's not true and it's not from God. And if it's not from God, then we know it's from the enemy and it's untrue. It's meant to deceive us. So it's important that we hold on to the truth, regardless of how we feel.
Speaker 1:And you might ask well, what does this have to do with faith? When you ask for something and you believe you will receive it, how does this conversation with your friend have anything to do with faith? Well, it takes faith to believe, and we doubt. When we doubt, it allows the devil a foothold and we can't have joy, we can't have comfort in ourself and confidence that we're going to receive that which we were given. If we doubt, it robs us of the joy that we would otherwise have.
Speaker 1:This centurion man he reflects that absolute belief, because it was simple to him when you tell someone to do something, they do it. And he called Jesus Lord something, they do it. And he called Jesus Lord. If he has the ability to command and expect something to be done, how much more so was Jesus? Someone greater than himself have more authority than he does? By that same truth.
Speaker 1:We have to believe that the gift we are given, the word that God gives us, is truth. It supersedes any notion that we have any feelings, that we have our own truths, none of it matters. In the face of God's truth, we have to align what we feel, what we think, what we believe, to that truth. What we feel, what we think, what we believe, to that truth. If we do not, we will never be at peace and we'll never know true joy. We will never know true relationship, true communication with God if we don't believe his truth is absolute. All right, I think I'm going to end this one here. Okay, we'll pick back up in verse 14 in the next Bible study. Until then, this has given me much to think about. I hope it has you too. Love you guys. Until next time, goodbye.