SPEAKER_01: In Christ, you are loved as Jesus is loved.
SPEAKER_01: The Father loves you as much as he loves Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: And that's uncomfortable.
SPEAKER_01: When I say that, your inner Peter goes, whoa, whoa, whoa, hey, hey.
SPEAKER_01: John 13, Jesus is washing feet.
SPEAKER_01: He gets to Peter, and Peter says, Hey, come on, come on, bro.
SPEAKER_01: This is too much.
SPEAKER_01: This is embarrassing.
SPEAKER_01: This is too much.
SPEAKER_01: I love your parables, but this is too much.
SPEAKER_01: And Jesus says to him, either I lavish you with love, or you have no share with me.
SPEAKER_01: Either I give you an embarrassing amount of love, or you have no share with me.
SPEAKER_01: There is no medium-sized love.
SPEAKER_01: Friends, we are co-heirs with Christ, seated with Christ.
SPEAKER_01: He's not ashamed to call us brothers.
SPEAKER_01: The Father loves you as much as he loves Jesus because in the family of God no one is kind of adopted.
SPEAKER_01: And even though your inner lawyer is probably activated right now, I mean, do you have the courage to copy this Roman and turn around and go home believing the outlandish thing that Jesus just said.
SPEAKER_00: This podcast is brought to you by Grand Parquet Baptist Church, helping people to know, enjoy, and glorify God.
SPEAKER_00: For more information about Grand Parquet, visit our website at Grandparkway.org.
SPEAKER_01: God, thank you that the gospel is not something we just learn, but we experience.
SPEAKER_01: And God thank you that you've done amazing things and you call us not just to witness it, but to be your witnesses.
SPEAKER_01: God, thank you that we can come and taste and see that you are good.
SPEAKER_01: And Lord, now as we transition to worship through your word, I pray that chains can break in this room.
SPEAKER_01: I pray that you can live lives that are completely submitted to your authority and we celebrate that.
SPEAKER_01: The words of my mouth, may the words of my mouth, the meditations of my heart be holy and acceptable to you, for you're my rock.
SPEAKER_01: I ask these things in your name, Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: You can be seated.
SPEAKER_01: Well, good morning.
SPEAKER_01: Hey, if you're Bibles, go ahead and grab those.
SPEAKER_01: Go to Matthew chapter 8.
SPEAKER_01: Matthew chapter 8.
SPEAKER_01: We're gonna be the first 17 verses of Matthew chapter 8.
SPEAKER_01: If you don't have a Bible, just relax.
SPEAKER_01: As the text that I'm gonna be referencing are gonna appear here on the screen, but we're gonna be in Matthew chapter 8.
SPEAKER_01: But hey, it is good to be back.
SPEAKER_01: Thanks so much.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
SPEAKER_01: Thanks so much for having me.
SPEAKER_01: This is gonna be, this is the most distracting Sunday ever.
SPEAKER_01: I'm preaching and I'm seeing familiar faces.
SPEAKER_01: I just wanna take this thing off and come and give you as I see Irene back.
SPEAKER_01: This is too much.
SPEAKER_01: This is gonna be hard.
SPEAKER_01: But uh yeah, this is um, I love you very much.
SPEAKER_01: Also, three services means that there's more faces here that I don't know, which is awesome.
SPEAKER_01: I've been rooting for that, I've been praying for that.
SPEAKER_01: Um, and to you, my name is Leo Almeida, I've been a pastor here in this area for about 10 years.
SPEAKER_01: Um, I was a guest preacher here for years, and then I came on staff here for a couple years, and after our service, um I would love to meet you and greet you and pray for you, and most importantly, um show you pictures of my son.
SPEAKER_01: That's important.
SPEAKER_01: So, speaking of that, here's the big dog right here.
SPEAKER_01: He's getting his bottle of milk right now, so I can't lion king him in this moment.
SPEAKER_01: So he's right there, but uh nevertheless, this is gonna be, this is our uh my wife and I, she's an MPP, a great mom, and an amazing mom, and um he is uh the apple of our eye, but the bane of our sleep schedule, boy.
SPEAKER_01: That's uh it's been it's been quite quite the ride.
SPEAKER_01: So if this sermon stinks, I haven't slept a lot because of this cutie pie right here.
SPEAKER_01: So just so you know.
SPEAKER_01: Um but nevertheless, hey, it's it is really, really good to be back.
SPEAKER_01: Um now, um typically when I get asked to guest preach at places, okay, um I don't care what sermon series you're doing.
SPEAKER_01: Leo's gonna Leo.
SPEAKER_01: What I typically do is I dust off my favorite sermon, I pull up with the new with the haircut and a good outfit, I do a drive-by encouragement, then I head off to lunch.
SPEAKER_01: That's typically the motto.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, for better or for worse, Leo is gonna leo.
SPEAKER_01: But when I found out where you were in your Bible study, where you were in your sermon series, I was I was 100% in.
SPEAKER_01: You just finished reading or studying or learning the Sermon on the Mount.
SPEAKER_01: So if you don't have a church background, the Sermon on the Mount is 111 verses of Jesus just preaching, and it goes down in history as the most quoted, least obeyed words of the Bible.
SPEAKER_01: Most quoted, I didn't mean the greatest hits are in there.
SPEAKER_01: Turn the other cheek.
SPEAKER_01: The golden rule, the Lord's prayer.
SPEAKER_01: Like this summer in June, if you go try to preach the gospel at a pride parade, they're not gonna stab you.
SPEAKER_01: They're gonna quote the Sermon on the Mountain back to you.
SPEAKER_01: Doesn't your Bible say judge not?
SPEAKER_01: And they're right.
SPEAKER_01: Not in that way that they're quoting it, but they're right.
SPEAKER_01: So it's the most quoted yet least obeyed part of the Bible.
SPEAKER_01: You know more professing Christians than you know Sermon on the Mount obeyers.
SPEAKER_01: It is impossible to not be convicted by the Sermon on the Mount because it reveals our lack of integration, the fact that we know more than what we live.
SPEAKER_01: And what's really interesting for our purposes here this morning is the way that Matthew punctuates that section.
SPEAKER_01: How does Matthew end the Sermon on the Mount?
SPEAKER_01: He ends the Sermon on the Mount by panning the camera away from Jesus and onto the crowd.
SPEAKER_01: He ends that section by talking about the crowd reaction.
SPEAKER_01: What was the crowd reaction?
SPEAKER_01: Did they have pitchforks and clubs and weapons ready to kill him?
SPEAKER_01: Not yet.
SPEAKER_01: Did they have a crown ready to crown him?
SPEAKER_01: Not quite.
SPEAKER_01: Rather, Matthew chapter 7, verse 28 says this when Jesus finished these sayings, the crowds were astonished.
SPEAKER_01: Some of your Bibles say amazed.
SPEAKER_01: The crowds were astonished at his teaching, for he was teaching them as one who had authority, not as their scribes.
SPEAKER_01: So they were astounded and amazed, not just at the things he thought taught, but the way that he taught.
SPEAKER_01: He taught as someone who had authority.
SPEAKER_01: And friends, if you want to understand Matthew chapter 8 and 9, that right there is the key, is the word authority.
SPEAKER_01: What Matthew is gonna try to do, he's gonna write these next two chapters to tell you here's what the authority of Jesus looked like lived out.
SPEAKER_01: Here's what his authority looks like lived out.
SPEAKER_01: So plenty of pastors jump down from their platform, their stage, their pulpit, and they live lives contrary to the one that they just preached about.
SPEAKER_01: Matthew is going to bend over backwards and say, that's not Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: He's bending over, he's gonna give you 10 miracles in a row.
SPEAKER_01: And what he's doing there is he's telling you that the authority of Jesus was not just a public speaking tactic.
SPEAKER_01: Some people use humor, other people use props, Jesus used author.
SPEAKER_01: No.
SPEAKER_01: His point in these next two chapters is saying that he actually possesses authority, and authority is something he outranks everybody else in.
SPEAKER_01: His point is this Jesus possesses absolute authority in the world, therefore, he warrants absolute allegiance from the world.
SPEAKER_01: That's the point of chapters eight and nine.
SPEAKER_01: And what when was the last time you heard a worship song about the authority of Jesus?
SPEAKER_01: We've trained our eyes to look at Jesus and be immediately spot his love, his mercy, his compassion, his grace.
SPEAKER_01: And listen, yes and amen.
SPEAKER_01: But what we're gonna do in verses 1 through 17, I want you to have your eyes and ears sensitive to the authority of Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: This might feel weird as Americans.
SPEAKER_01: Are we the land of the dependent?
SPEAKER_01: Or the land of the submissive?
SPEAKER_01: What are we?
SPEAKER_01: The land of the free.
SPEAKER_01: And we're living in a time where autonomy and self-governance is paramount.
SPEAKER_01: However, we're gonna look at this and look at the authority of Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: We're gonna investigate and hopefully celebrate his authority.
SPEAKER_01: So lean in and listen for it.
SPEAKER_01: Verses 1 through 17.
SPEAKER_01: When he came down from the mountain, so after the Sermon on the Mountain, when he came down from the mountain, great crowds followed him.
SPEAKER_01: And behold, a leper came to him and knelt before him, saying, Lord, if you will, you can make me clean.
SPEAKER_01: And Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, saying, I will be clean.
SPEAKER_01: And immediately his leprosy was cleansed.
SPEAKER_01: And Jesus said to him, See that you say nothing to anyone, but go, show yourself to the priests, and offered the gift that Moses commanded for a proof to them.
SPEAKER_01: When he had entered Capernaum, a centurion came forward, appealing to him, Lord, my servant is lying paralyzed at home, suffering terribly.
SPEAKER_01: And he said to him, I will come and I will heal him.
SPEAKER_01: But the centurion replied, Lord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof, but only say the word, and my servant will be healed.
SPEAKER_01: For I too am a man under authority, and with soldiers under me.
SPEAKER_01: And I say to one, go, and he goes, and the other one comes, and he comes, and to my servant, do this, and he does it.
SPEAKER_01: And Jesus heard this, he marveled, and said to those following him, Truly I tell you, with one, with no one in Israel have I seen or have found such faith.
SPEAKER_01: I tell you, many will come from east and west and recline at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven.
SPEAKER_01: While the sons of the kingdom will be thrown into outer darkness.
SPEAKER_01: And that place there will be weeping and the gnashing of teeth.
SPEAKER_01: And to the centurion, Jesus said, Go, let it be done to you as you've believed.
SPEAKER_01: And the servant was healed at that very moment.
SPEAKER_01: And when Jesus entered Peter's house, he saw his mother-in-law lying sick with the fever.
SPEAKER_01: He touched her hand, and the fever left her, and she rose and began to serve him.
SPEAKER_01: And that evening they brought to him many who were oppressed by demons, and he cast out the spirits with the word and healed all who were sick.
SPEAKER_01: This was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah.
SPEAKER_01: He took our illnesses and bore our diseases.
SPEAKER_01: Bicycles, Mickey Mouse, and computers.
SPEAKER_01: What are these random three things have in common?
SPEAKER_01: They were invented out of sheer desperation.
SPEAKER_01: Like the person who invented the bicycle, this happened in Indonesia.
SPEAKER_01: There was an awful, awful volcano, killed almost 90,000 people and a lot of horses, and they needed, they were desperate for a means of transportation.
SPEAKER_01: And this man, out of desperation, invented the bicycle.
SPEAKER_01: Mickey Mouse.
SPEAKER_01: Your boy Walt Disney got his first idea taken.
SPEAKER_01: So here comes Mickey Mouse.
SPEAKER_01: He was desperate.
SPEAKER_01: On and on I could go.
SPEAKER_01: But in these three bicycles, Mickey Mouse, and computers, their situation was extremely difficult and unpleasant, yet their suffering led them to a glorious discovery.
SPEAKER_01: One that the world benefits from till this day.
SPEAKER_01: In that same way, what I just read to you here in Matthew chapter 8, okay?
SPEAKER_01: This is a very random group.
SPEAKER_01: So random, it sounds like the setup of a bad joke.
SPEAKER_01: Right?
SPEAKER_01: A leper, a Roman, and a mother-in-law walk into a bar?
SPEAKER_01: What do they have in common is they're desperate.
SPEAKER_01: A lot of tears with this group.
SPEAKER_01: Yet their suffering leads them to a glorious discovery, namely Jesus' authority.
SPEAKER_01: They get to see Jesus' authority up close, and that's gonna be our operating question this morning.
SPEAKER_01: What does the authority of Jesus look like up close?
SPEAKER_01: Well, number one, it looks like a touch that changes everything.
SPEAKER_01: It looks like a touch that changes everything.
SPEAKER_01: Look at verse two.
SPEAKER_01: Says this.
SPEAKER_01: And behold, a leper came to him and knelt before him, saying, Lord, if you will, you can make me clean.
SPEAKER_01: Stop there.
SPEAKER_01: We don't know if this leper was in the audience in the Sermon on the Mount, or if he's heard of Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: At the very least, okay, he sees that there's something different about Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: His posture in kneeling and the fact that he's calling him Lord, you're not walking up to a Pharisee like Nicodemus like this.
SPEAKER_01: So you know that there's something different about Jesus, and he is a leper.
SPEAKER_01: He's a leper.
SPEAKER_01: In the ancient world, this is how you die alive.
SPEAKER_01: When you're a leper, you this is how you die alive.
SPEAKER_01: It was a terrible bacterial disease that was destructive and contagious, and it wasn't just an eyesore.
SPEAKER_01: This was attacking your nerves in such a way that major parts of your body would go numb.
SPEAKER_01: And then eventually, fingers and toes would start falling off.
SPEAKER_01: And then ultimately, your whole hand or your whole foot might fall off.
SPEAKER_01: One commentator puts like this the progress leprosy was the progressive death in which a man dies inch by inch.
SPEAKER_01: Look at me.
SPEAKER_01: That's not even the worst part of leprosy.
SPEAKER_01: It's not the worst part.
SPEAKER_01: Look again at verse 2.
SPEAKER_01: What does the leper say to Jesus?
SPEAKER_01: If you will, you can what?
SPEAKER_01: You can make me what?
SPEAKER_01: Healed?
SPEAKER_01: Clean.
SPEAKER_01: If you will, you can make me clean.
SPEAKER_01: That's because if you were a leper, you were not just different looking, you actually had a different standing.
SPEAKER_01: You were ritually unclean.
SPEAKER_01: And there's two implications to being ritually unclean like a leper.
SPEAKER_01: Number one, you can't party for Jesus like we're doing right now.
SPEAKER_01: You can't gather with God's people.
SPEAKER_01: You can't gather in the synagogue.
SPEAKER_01: You cannot gather in the temple.
SPEAKER_01: And number two, not only can you not worship with people, you can't live among people.
SPEAKER_01: You have to live outside the city.
SPEAKER_01: And I'm not talking about no suburbs either.
SPEAKER_01: You're living out there, outside the city by yourself.
SPEAKER_01: Or if you're really, really blessed with a colony of other lepers.
SPEAKER_01: But if anybody walks up to you, you have to cover your mouth and yell, unclean, unclean, unclean.
SPEAKER_01: So they'll know because they can't touch you.
SPEAKER_01: The only thing worse than touching a leper is touching a dead body.
SPEAKER_01: Friends, this is how you die alive.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, this is the men in the room, just imagine you can't kiss your wife or hug your kids or shake hands.
SPEAKER_01: This man was desperate.
SPEAKER_01: He didn't need a clinic, he needed a miracle.
SPEAKER_01: He wasn't asking Jesus to clean up his eyesore.
SPEAKER_01: He has some acne.
SPEAKER_01: Clear up my acne.
SPEAKER_01: No, he's saying, restore my body so you can restore my life again.
SPEAKER_01: This was a plea for him to get out of this permanent quarantine that he was in.
SPEAKER_01: Now look at verse 3.
SPEAKER_01: And Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, saying, I will be clean.
SPEAKER_01: Now, if you've just come last couple years since I haven't been here, hopefully someone who's been here a while has told you how I was like this close to being a professional basketball player.
SPEAKER_01: Did he tell you about that?
SPEAKER_01: Just make sure we disciple them, guys.
SPEAKER_01: Let's make sure they know I was almost on the rockets, like this close.
SPEAKER_01: No, but I played sports growing up.
SPEAKER_01: And by play it, I mean I literally did what you're doing right now.
SPEAKER_01: I was on the bench a lot.
SPEAKER_01: Right?
SPEAKER_01: And my brother, okay, my brother, nine years older than me, so he was in his 20s, would drive hours, plural, for season after season, would drive hours to watch me do exactly what you're doing right now.
SPEAKER_01: I'm just going.
SPEAKER_01: Hours.
SPEAKER_01: He would drive hours to see me do that.
SPEAKER_01: All up and down Houston, all over the tech Texas, drive hours to watch me sit on the bench and listen, that meant a lot to me back then.
SPEAKER_01: Even junior high and high school Leo can go, thanks, bud.
SPEAKER_01: That's awesome.
SPEAKER_01: Fast forward, I got to be the age that he was when he was doing that, and life was going a hundred miles an hour.
SPEAKER_01: It was going a hundred miles an hour, and for whatever reason, I thought of my brother and everything my brother did for me.
SPEAKER_01: And I realized back then I had a cell phone.
SPEAKER_01: He could have just texted me.
SPEAKER_01: He could have just called me.
SPEAKER_01: That would have been great.
SPEAKER_01: If you would have texted me a scripture or called me, that would have been great.
SPEAKER_01: But what he did was well above and beyond great.
SPEAKER_01: My appreciation for what he did went up when I realized he didn't have to do that.
SPEAKER_01: With everything he had going on in his life as a college student, he didn't have to do that.
SPEAKER_01: That's what Matthew is trying to do to you right now.
SPEAKER_01: On the next episode, in the next scene, you're gonna watch Jesus heal somebody from miles away.
SPEAKER_01: And your appreciation for what Jesus does with this leper should go up when you see Jesus heal somebody from miles away.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus didn't have to touch him.
SPEAKER_01: He didn't have to touch him.
SPEAKER_01: And yet, three out of the four gospel writers, when they document the story, say it the same way.
SPEAKER_01: He stretched out his hand and he touched him.
SPEAKER_01: That's because Jesus wasn't just physically healing him or even ritually cleansing him.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus was emotionally loving him.
SPEAKER_01: This was deep compassion.
SPEAKER_01: He goes one step further with this deep compassion.
SPEAKER_01: He was loving him.
SPEAKER_01: He knows that he had been in a touch deficit maybe for years, and he touched him.
SPEAKER_01: In Mark chapter one, it documents this exact story.
SPEAKER_01: He says Jesus was, quote, moved with pity.
SPEAKER_01: So he stretched out his arm and touched him and says, I will be clean.
SPEAKER_01: He touched them.
SPEAKER_01: This is compassion.
SPEAKER_01: Now I have a picture here.
SPEAKER_01: Who is that?
SPEAKER_01: You don't have to mumble it, you can just say it.
SPEAKER_01: Yes, Princess Diana.
SPEAKER_01: This right here is Princess Diana.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, this picture, more than a lot of pictures that she took, she was very famous, one of the most famous people in the world, one of the famous people in the 80s and 90s.
SPEAKER_01: This picture went mega viral before you could do such.
SPEAKER_01: This is the front page of a lot of publications all over the world.
SPEAKER_01: Why?
SPEAKER_01: Because the man that she's shaking hands with has AIDS.
SPEAKER_01: And here she is shaking hands with him with no gloves.
SPEAKER_01: Now, this is by 1987-ish, where the the the hysteria of AIDS was so paramount, was massive.
SPEAKER_01: And here she is with no gloves on, touching a man who has AIDS.
SPEAKER_01: Now, now this was compassionate.
SPEAKER_01: This was brave.
SPEAKER_01: This was an amazing gesture.
SPEAKER_01: But that's about it.
SPEAKER_01: This man, after this picture, goes right back into his hospital room and passes away.
SPEAKER_01: Look at verse 3b.
SPEAKER_01: The end of verse 3.
SPEAKER_01: And immediately his leprosy was cleansed.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus is not just compassionate, he has power as well.
SPEAKER_01: He's not just gonna cry at the tomb of Lazarus, he's gonna scream, and Lazarus is gonna come out.
SPEAKER_01: His authority gives him power over disease.
SPEAKER_01: Friends, the touch of Jesus changes everything.
SPEAKER_01: Look down at verses 14 and 15.
SPEAKER_01: Says this.
SPEAKER_01: When Jesus entered Peter's house, he saw his mother-in-law lying sick with the fever.
SPEAKER_01: He touched her hand and the fever left her.
SPEAKER_01: And she rose and began to serve him.
SPEAKER_01: Now her sickness was lesser than leprosy, but Jesus still cared for her.
SPEAKER_01: That's a shout out to all of you who goes, Oh, my problem isn't serious enough to go to Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: No.
SPEAKER_01: He heals her.
SPEAKER_01: Now, in the same way that Jesus takes the little kid's lunchables and heals it, or he feeds an entire stadium, what does Bible say?
SPEAKER_01: Don't say he healed or he he he he feeds an entire stadium and then he collapses because he's so tired.
SPEAKER_01: And he has to disassociate for the next couple weeks because he was so tired.
SPEAKER_01: No, they had leftovers.
SPEAKER_01: Twelve baskets of bread were leftovers.
SPEAKER_01: His power was more than enough to provide.
SPEAKER_01: In that same way, he touches her hand, and it isn't just that her fever kind of goes down, her body temperature kind of goes down, but he touches her in such a way that she gets up and starts serving him.
SPEAKER_01: The touch of Jesus changes everything.
SPEAKER_01: Do you believe that this morning?
SPEAKER_01: So I'm gonna get on the exit ramp of this point by addressing two groups that are in the room.
SPEAKER_01: And there are three words that separate the two groups that are in this room.
SPEAKER_01: And the three words are, why haven't you?
SPEAKER_01: Why haven't you?
SPEAKER_01: Bless you.
SPEAKER_01: Group number one.
SPEAKER_01: You're not praying.
SPEAKER_01: And to you I say, Why haven't you?
SPEAKER_01: Look at this.
SPEAKER_01: We're witnesses of this.
SPEAKER_01: Why haven't you?
SPEAKER_01: You know that there are parts of your life, whether it's your body, your mind, your parenthood, your kids, your spouse, your desires, you know that there are parts of your life that desperately need the touch of Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: And you see here that he is an inexhaustible fountain of compassion, and he is all-powerful.
SPEAKER_01: Why haven't you gone to him?
SPEAKER_01: I want to encourage you, do a study on the touch of Jesus throughout the scriptures.
SPEAKER_01: This is everywhere.
SPEAKER_01: The touch of Jesus bringing life, cleansing, healing, blessing, comfort.
SPEAKER_01: You would do well to study this and then realize this wasn't just meant to be examined, but this is meant to be experienced.
SPEAKER_01: Why haven't you?
SPEAKER_01: Jesus does not waste any movement, and the Bible does not waste any words.
SPEAKER_01: Why haven't you?
SPEAKER_01: He can turn things around in an instant, a dire situation on an instant.
SPEAKER_01: Whether it's a new emergency or something that you've been dealing with for 30 years and just developed a pain tolerance to?
SPEAKER_01: So my question for you is this What part of your life needs the touch of Jesus the most right now?
SPEAKER_01: Do you believe that Jesus' compassion is such that he is able and willing to go even beyond what you're asking?
SPEAKER_01: What would it look like for you to get your hopes up and copy this leper?
SPEAKER_01: Why haven't you?
SPEAKER_01: So that's group number one.
SPEAKER_01: You're not praying.
SPEAKER_01: Group number two, you're sick of praying.
SPEAKER_01: In the same way, I exhort group one and say, Man, why haven't you?
SPEAKER_01: Group number two is sick of praying, say you're looking up and going, God, why haven't you?
SPEAKER_01: Why haven't you?
SPEAKER_01: I can talk about Jesus' power over disease all day.
SPEAKER_01: But some of you, to some of you, I sound like Charlie Brown's teacher right now.
SPEAKER_01: Wah wah wah wah wah wah wah wah wah.
SPEAKER_01: It makes sense.
SPEAKER_01: Exodus chapter six, Moses is preaching good news to slaves, saying, Hey, the God of the universe is going to rip us out of slavery.
SPEAKER_01: Chains are gonna break, we are going to be redeemed, and we're going to the promised land.
SPEAKER_01: And yet the Bible says they did not listen to Moses because of their broken spirit and harsh slavery.
SPEAKER_01: The pain of their circumstances was louder than the good news.
SPEAKER_01: And I wonder how many people are experiencing that right now.
SPEAKER_01: How many people are in here suppressing the subconscious question?
SPEAKER_01: How does Jesus pick who he heals?
SPEAKER_01: Or why hasn't he healed my thing?
SPEAKER_01: So on October 25th, uh 2024, I got a phone call that changed my life completely.
SPEAKER_01: So my dad, are y'all familiar with Katie Mills Mall?
SPEAKER_01: Y'all familiar with that place?
SPEAKER_01: Y'all been?
SPEAKER_01: So my dad, in the name of exercise, he walks around Katie Mills twice.
SPEAKER_01: And one day, um, randomly in October, he walked around Katie Mills once, and he's like, gosh, this feels weird.
SPEAKER_01: He just felt wheezy.
SPEAKER_01: What is this?
SPEAKER_01: So he does what any good man does.
SPEAKER_01: He's called his wife.
SPEAKER_01: My mom.
SPEAKER_01: My mom was traveling at the time.
SPEAKER_01: She's back in Africa, back in Angola, and she calls me and says, Hey, your dad sounds like he's about to faint.
SPEAKER_01: Can you go to Katie and just see how he's doing?
SPEAKER_01: Actually, go to Katie and take him to the ER.
SPEAKER_01: So I went and I got my dad, and I he doesn't like hospitals, and I wanted to take him to the ER, and his condition was, hey, Barcelona and Real Madrid play at 1 p.m.
SPEAKER_01: as long as we can be back here by that game.
SPEAKER_01: And uh the bad news was we never really made it back home.
SPEAKER_01: Uh what happened next was this this healthy man, I spent all summer in my sabbatical walking around Europe with this guy, walking around Africa with this guy, this healthy man who who eats bread that is not white, he eats bread that has uh all sorts of berries and nuts and bullet casing.
SPEAKER_01: He's healthy, very healthy.
SPEAKER_01: Um the doctor told us, hey, he has stage four lung cancer.
SPEAKER_01: Pretty much out of out of no out of nowhere.
SPEAKER_01: And we had this seesaw where there's a doctor say he's got at least two to five years, and then I have a bunch of nurses going, get your affairs in order.
SPEAKER_01: And long story less long, from October 25th, he died on Christmas, the day after Christmas, December 26th, 2024.
SPEAKER_01: Why do I tell you that?
SPEAKER_01: To get pity?
SPEAKER_01: No, I'm good, I don't need your pity, thanks, but no.
SPEAKER_01: It's because during that era, those two months, I prayed so hard that I literally would open my eyes back up and feel dizzy and disoriented.
SPEAKER_01: I had nights where I prayed so hard.
SPEAKER_01: Remember, I tell my therapist about this.
SPEAKER_01: I had nights where I prayed so hard, I woke up in the morning feeling like I was hungover.
SPEAKER_01: Like I was like, is this what people feel?
SPEAKER_01: This is why how long was I under?
SPEAKER_01: And I prayed and I prayed and I prayed, but for whatever reason, I knew he was able, but at this point it was just not his will.
SPEAKER_01: God said no.
SPEAKER_01: In a room this big, I know I'm not alone.
SPEAKER_01: I know I'm not alone in that.
SPEAKER_01: But I just encourage him, hey, we're not alone in that.
SPEAKER_01: One of the superstars of the scriptures, the Apostle Paul, boy, and he's had it happen both ways.
SPEAKER_01: He had a time when he prayed and he said, God relented because he knew of the unceasing anguish it would cause me.
SPEAKER_01: So God did an amazing thing.
SPEAKER_01: And he had another time in 2 Corinthians chapter 12 where there's a thorn on his side, and he pleads and pleads and pleads.
SPEAKER_01: And what's interesting, the word he uses to say, I pleaded with the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: That pleaded is the word paracleo, which is the same word that used to describe the Roman centurion in the next chapter when God says yes.
SPEAKER_01: But to Paul, he says no.
SPEAKER_01: He says no.
SPEAKER_01: And here's what Paul says about this in 2 Corinthians chapter 12, says this.
SPEAKER_01: But he said to me, My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.
SPEAKER_01: Therefore I will boast all the more gladly in my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
SPEAKER_01: For the sake of Christ, then I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecution, and calamities.
SPEAKER_01: For when I am weak, then I am strong.
SPEAKER_01: So let me tell you uh where do you piece this together?
SPEAKER_01: How do you reconcile, for me, and I'm just a Bible believer, as a Bible teacher, how do you reconcile the instantaneous healing of Jesus with the fact that I now have to walk with my mom through widowhood?
SPEAKER_01: How do you reconcile those things?
SPEAKER_01: Well, it's like this God gets glory out of healing wounds.
SPEAKER_01: He also gets glory out of the ministry of the wounded.
SPEAKER_01: I'll say it another way.
SPEAKER_01: God gets glory whenever he heals someone.
SPEAKER_01: He also gets glory when someone he doesn't heal can limp away and said, He is still worthy, he is still beautiful, he is still good.
SPEAKER_01: And friends, if that's you, your heart has been touched by Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: That's faith.
SPEAKER_01: Plead for this one.
SPEAKER_01: But at the end of your prayer, your hands should look like this.
SPEAKER_01: Not my will, but yours be done, Lord.
SPEAKER_01: What does the authority of Jesus look like up close?
SPEAKER_01: A touch that changes everything.
SPEAKER_01: Number two, what is the authority of Jesus look up close?
SPEAKER_01: A word that is sufficient.
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna end our time here together.
SPEAKER_01: A word that is sufficient.
SPEAKER_01: I got about 10 minutes left.
SPEAKER_01: Um, if you're still with me, say amen.
SPEAKER_01: Oh, I haven't felt that in a while.
SPEAKER_01: That was good.
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
SPEAKER_01: Look at verses five through seven.
SPEAKER_01: When he entered Capernaum, a centurion came forward to him, appealing to him, Lord, my servant is lying paralyzed at home, suffering terribly.
SPEAKER_01: And he said to him, I will come and heal him.
SPEAKER_01: So the first guy was told not to tell anybody for the sake of focus and strategy.
SPEAKER_01: And he snitched, and here we are.
SPEAKER_01: And now there is a Roman guard, he's not a Jew, he has a sick servant back home who's paralyzed and needs healing, and Jesus agrees to go home with him.
SPEAKER_01: He had a chance to travel with Jesus back home.
SPEAKER_01: But look at verses eight and nine.
SPEAKER_01: But the centurion replied, Lord, I'm not worthy to have you come under my roof, but only say the word, and my servant will be healed.
SPEAKER_01: For I too am a man under authority with soldiers under me.
SPEAKER_01: And I say to one, go and he goes, and to another one come and he comes, and to my servant, do this, and he does it.
SPEAKER_01: What's he saying?
SPEAKER_01: Friends, his understanding of Jesus is based on his experience in the military.
SPEAKER_01: Pop quiz.
SPEAKER_01: During this time, what empire ruled the world?
SPEAKER_01: There we go.
SPEAKER_01: That's the question number one.
SPEAKER_01: The question number two is this, okay?
SPEAKER_01: America has a president, Rome had a emperor.
SPEAKER_01: Puss up.
SPEAKER_01: Yes, had an emperor.
SPEAKER_01: So in 27 BC-ish, Rome went from a republic to an empire.
SPEAKER_01: Therefore, they get themselves an emperor, and this emperor had full authority.
SPEAKER_01: The Caesar had full authority.
SPEAKER_01: So any authority a lesser officer had been it had been delegated to him by Caesar.
SPEAKER_01: There is no Roman officer, quote unquote, doing his own thing.
SPEAKER_01: They're following orders from Caesar.
SPEAKER_01: What that means is when a centurion is giving you orders, it's like Caesar giving you orders.
SPEAKER_01: To obey him is to obey Caesar, and to disobey him is to disobey Caesar.
SPEAKER_01: Now this centurion has authority.
SPEAKER_01: He has about 100 serve uh or uh soldiers that he oversees.
SPEAKER_01: And this authority was given to him by the one who has ultimate authority.
SPEAKER_01: Let me say that again.
SPEAKER_01: He has authority that was delegated to him by the one who has ultimate authority, Caesar.
SPEAKER_01: And he calculated this authority sandwich he's in.
SPEAKER_01: I have authority that was given to me by the one that's full.
SPEAKER_01: He calculated this and he goes, Jesus, send the blessing from here.
SPEAKER_01: Send it from here.
SPEAKER_01: What's the first word of verse 9 in your Bible?
SPEAKER_01: What's the first word of verse 9?
SPEAKER_01: For.
SPEAKER_01: Meaning because.
SPEAKER_01: Meaning, let me explain my reasoning.
SPEAKER_01: And what he's saying is this, hey, Jesus, you're in a similar system that I'm in.
SPEAKER_01: You're in an authority sandwich, too.
SPEAKER_01: Listen, I am under authority, Caesar, and I have authority.
SPEAKER_01: People under me are obeying me because they're ultimately obeying Caesar.
SPEAKER_01: And Jesus, that's you.
SPEAKER_01: You are under the authority of the living God.
SPEAKER_01: And you've been given authority by the living God over demons and diseases and everything in between.
SPEAKER_01: Those things have to listen to you because you speak on behalf of their creator and sustainer.
SPEAKER_01: What he's confessing is this Jesus was under God's authority and he also wielded God's authority.
SPEAKER_01: When Jesus spoke, God is speaking.
SPEAKER_01: The same way when a centurion speaks, Caesar's speaking.
SPEAKER_01: When Jesus spoke, God is speaking.
SPEAKER_01: To defy Jesus was to defy God.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus' word, therefore, has to carry authority to heal sickness.
SPEAKER_01: He just thought it through.
SPEAKER_01: He thought it through.
SPEAKER_01: And says he comes to the conclusion: God can heal somebody in Mexico and Detroit at the same time.
SPEAKER_01: He's not spatially constricted, he's given authority to this guy.
SPEAKER_01: Send it from here.
SPEAKER_01: What's Jesus' response?
SPEAKER_01: Look at verse 10.
SPEAKER_01: When Jesus heard this, he marveled and said to those who followed him, Truly I tell you, with no one in Israel have I found such faith.
SPEAKER_01: He marveled.
SPEAKER_01: That's typically people's responses to Jesus, and you see Jesus marveling at someone else.
SPEAKER_01: And then he goes on to promise this rule breaker hey, you're gonna sit with Abraham.
SPEAKER_01: You're gonna sit with one of the superstars of the old, you're gonna sit with them.
SPEAKER_01: Y'all are on the same page.
SPEAKER_01: God promised wild things to an old man named Abraham.
SPEAKER_01: And the Bible says, Abraham believed God and it was counted as righteousness.
SPEAKER_01: He didn't say, Abraham believed that God exists, or Abraham believed in God.
SPEAKER_01: Abraham believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness.
SPEAKER_01: He took God's word for it.
SPEAKER_01: And you as a Roman, you're acting like Abraham did.
SPEAKER_01: You're gonna sit with Abraham.
SPEAKER_01: And everybody else in Israel that's just kind of related to Jesus ethnically, you're gonna be out.
SPEAKER_01: The alternative is hell.
SPEAKER_01: Why?
SPEAKER_01: Because to this man, Jesus' word was enough for him.
SPEAKER_01: If the first paragraph is asking the question, are you submitted to God's will?
SPEAKER_01: This paragraph is asking the question, are you submitted to God's word?
SPEAKER_01: Is Jesus' word enough for you?
SPEAKER_01: Again, he's not just a clever public speaker who uses authority as a public speaking tactic.
SPEAKER_01: His words literally have authority.
SPEAKER_01: As you keep reading chapters eight and nine, watch how Jesus treats weather.
SPEAKER_01: There's a pretty crazy storm.
SPEAKER_01: And I want you to watch, does he like, hey Lord, can you please clear up the clip?
SPEAKER_01: No.
SPEAKER_01: Stop.
SPEAKER_01: Storm, stop, rebuke the storm.
SPEAKER_01: Storm, stop.
SPEAKER_01: There's a great calm, the Bible says.
SPEAKER_01: Or watch how he interacts with demons.
SPEAKER_01: Does he pray demons out of people?
SPEAKER_01: No, he goes, hey, scram, get out.
SPEAKER_01: His words literally have authority.
SPEAKER_01: Do they have authority for you?
SPEAKER_01: Are they enough for you?
SPEAKER_01: Will you take Jesus' word for it?
SPEAKER_01: Do you have the type of marvelous faith where you're willing to take Jesus' word for it at face value?
SPEAKER_01: Okay, if you have a knack for disbelieving Jesus or ignoring Jesus, I'll end this point with this.
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna give you an opportunity to act like this Roman right now.
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna give you an opportunity to turn around and go home and believing the outlandish thing Jesus just said.
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna give you an opportunity right now.
SPEAKER_01: John chapter 17 says this.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus is praying.
SPEAKER_01: This is called the high priestly prayer.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus is praying and says this, God, the glory that you have given me, I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one.
SPEAKER_01: I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know.
SPEAKER_01: Watch this, that the world may know that you sent me and loved them as you have loved me.
SPEAKER_01: He's talking to the Father and He says, You have loved them as you have loved me.
SPEAKER_01: Did you catch it?
SPEAKER_01: Friends, you are more loved than you have the courage to believe.
SPEAKER_01: Will you take Jesus' word for it?
SPEAKER_01: How was Jesus greeted when he ascended back up into heaven?
SPEAKER_01: Before any ministry he did, the Father was already pleased with him.
SPEAKER_01: And then he perfectly executes the Father's will.
SPEAKER_01: What do you think it was like for him to ascend back into heaven?
SPEAKER_01: What type of parade do you think there was for him?
SPEAKER_01: There was acceptance, there was love, there was joy, there was excitement.
SPEAKER_01: Now get this Jesus is the head and we are his body.
SPEAKER_01: It would be against the character of God to accept and rejoice over the head and then condemn the body.
SPEAKER_01: In Christ, you are loved as Jesus is loved.
SPEAKER_01: The Father loves you as much as he loves Jesus, and that's uncomfortable.
SPEAKER_01: When I say that, your inner Peter goes, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, hey, hey.
SPEAKER_01: John 13, Jesus is washing feet.
SPEAKER_01: He gets to Peter, and Peter says, Hey, come on, come on, bro.
SPEAKER_01: This is too much.
SPEAKER_01: This is embarrassing.
SPEAKER_01: This is too much.
SPEAKER_01: I love your parables, but this is too much.
SPEAKER_01: And Jesus says to him, either I lavish you with love, or you have no share with me.
SPEAKER_01: Either I give you an embarrassing amount of love, or you have no share with me.
SPEAKER_01: There is no medium-sized love.
SPEAKER_01: Friends, we are co-heirs with Christ, seated with Christ.
SPEAKER_01: He's not ashamed to call us brothers.
SPEAKER_01: The Father loves you as much as he loves Jesus because in the family of God no one is kind of adopted.
SPEAKER_01: And even though your inner lawyer is probably activated right now, I mean, do you have the courage to copy this Roman and turn around and go home, believe in the outlandish thing that Jesus just said?
SPEAKER_01: Christian, this is your job.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus' words is not an elective.
SPEAKER_01: This is your job.
SPEAKER_01: John 15, 4 says, may his words find a dwelling place in you.
SPEAKER_01: This is your job.
SPEAKER_01: Are his words enough for you?
SPEAKER_01: What does the authority of Jesus look like?
SPEAKER_01: It looks like a touch that changes everything, and a word that is sufficient.
SPEAKER_01: Are you under the authority of Jesus?
SPEAKER_01: Verses 16 and 17 give you summary statements as to who Jesus is.
SPEAKER_01: He's the Lord of the Sabbath.
SPEAKER_01: He's also the promised Messiah, meaning he had a full-blown resume before he had a birth certificate.
SPEAKER_01: And to quote Tim Keller, is that the type of one, the type of person you ask into your life as a personal assistant?
SPEAKER_01: Is that the type of person you go to just for advice?
SPEAKER_01: Or is that the type of person you go up to and say, command me?
SPEAKER_01: May our lives, may your lives be submitted to the will of God and to the word of God.
SPEAKER_01: May you live lives that are gladly, gladly, under the authority of Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Let me pray.
SPEAKER_01: Thank you for these precious promises, these great promises.
SPEAKER_01: God, I pray that you can make us into people who not just investigate your authority, but we celebrate your authority.
SPEAKER_01: People who gladly call you Lord.
SPEAKER_01: In a world where so many teachers, so many people who have t-shirts say, Jesus is my homeboy, and that's true.
SPEAKER_01: You are the friend of sinners.
SPEAKER_01: I pray we have a special gladness of being underneath your authority.
SPEAKER_01: Give us the courage to submit to your word and your will.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus, thank you for this word.
SPEAKER_01: I ask these things in your name.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: So we'd like to teach the Bible and give you some soul space to think about it.
SPEAKER_01: So we have some questions here up on the screen where you can take a picture of them, or you can um just take one right now and you can just pray through one of these questions right now.
SPEAKER_01: But nevertheless, this is some soul space for you to think about and reflect on what you just heard.
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna give you about 45 seconds to six seconds to think about what you've just heard.
SPEAKER_01: Holy Spirit, we're thankful that you're not just there to give us emotional snaps on the slaps on the wrist when we do wrong things, but you are in our hearts and in our bodies to testify to us that we are sons.
SPEAKER_01: We're beloved sons of yours.
SPEAKER_01: So, God, as I as I trust that you've done in the last 60 seconds, I pray that you can continue all week to ask us the question hey, am I submitted?
SPEAKER_01: Am I submitted to the authority of Jesus?
SPEAKER_01: Am I submitted to his will?
SPEAKER_01: Am I submitted to his word?
SPEAKER_01: Spirit, we're dependent on you.
SPEAKER_01: Make us into people who are completely submitted to you.
SPEAKER_01: I ask these things in your name.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you for listening to this message.
SPEAKER_00: Be sure to give us a five star rating in review and subscribe wherever you listen to your podcasts.
SPEAKER_00: If you'd like to go deeper with our sermon content, you can hear more on our Circling Back with Neil McClendon podcast at Apple, Spotify, YouTube, and wherever you listen to podcasts.