Using faith like a muscle

What kind of faith gets Heaven’s attention? In Luke 7, Jesus was amazed by a Roman centurion’s faith—not a religious leader, but a soldier who understood authority and believed Jesus could heal his servant with just a word...

Notes

The Roman soldier’s amazing faith got Heaven’s attention.
 
Weak or strong, everyone has a form of faith.
  
Read Luke 7:1–10
 
Luke 7:9
When Jesus heard this, He was amazed. Turning to the crowd that was following Him, He said, "I tell you, I haven't seen faith like this in all Israel!"
 
Everything about Jesus was amazing.
 
Matthew 8:27
They were amazed and said, "What kind of Man is this? Even the winds and the waves obey Him!"
  
Luke 7:9
When Jesus heard this, He was amazed.
 
Roman centurions were significant people.  
 
This centurion somehow knew Jesus could heal his beloved servant.
 
Sometimes non-believers have more faith than believers.
 
The two disciples on the Emmaus Road summed it up, “We had hoped He was the One.”
 
The non-believers remembered what Jesus said would happen after He died.
 
Matthew 27:63
We remember that while He was still alive that deceiver said, 'After three days I will rise again.'
 
Where does sickness come from?
 
Sickness and death were not part of God’s original plan for us.
 
Romans 5:12
Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned.
 
Satan brought the afflictions in Job's life.
 
God will, on occasion, allow sickness in our lives to keep us humble, to teach us lessons, and to prepare us for the future.
 
#1 Natural healing is what God built into the human body.
 
#2 There is supernatural healing too.
 
There is a promise of healing in the book of Isaiah.
(Isaiah 53:4–5)
 
1 Peter 2:24
"He himself bore our sins" in His body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; "by His wounds you have been healed."
 
Lay hold of this promise when you need His healing touch.
 
Why are some of us still sick?
One reason is simply a lack of asking.
(James. 4:2)
 
Mark 6:5–6
And because of their unbelief, he couldn't do any miracles among them except to place his hands on a few sick people and heal them. And he was amazed at their unbelief.
 
The people who knew Jesus best couldn’t see Him for who He really was.
 
Hebrews 11:1
Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
 
The safest place to put your faith is in God.
 
Faith is belief plus action.
 
Faith does things.
 
Amazing faith is to be used, applied, and put through its paces.
 
The Christian life is lived by and through faith.
 
Faith can make the difference between something happening and not happening.
 
God is the One who works.
But He chooses to work through humans living by faith.
 
Even death is not the end.
 
Jesus said, “I am the living One. I died, but look—I am alive forever and ever!
I hold the keys of death and the grave.”
 
The powerful centurion had rank, influence, and resources.
The widow had nothing.  
 
The centurion reached out to Jesus.
But Jesus reached out to the woman.
 
Read Luke 7:11–17
 
Luke 7:13
When the Lord saw her, His heart overflowed with compassion. "Don't cry!" He said.
 
Jesus was deeply moved by the widow’s plight.
 
Jonah knew the nature of God was to forgive.
 
Jesus feels sorrow and compassion for those who have lost loved ones.
 
We will see our loved ones who died in faith again.
 
Paul uses the word “harpazō”, translated as “caught up.”
(1 Thessalonians 4:16–17)
 
The centurion demonstrated amazing faith.
 
For the people of Nazareth, their familiarity bred contempt.
 
The church is a dangerous place.

Every time you hear the gospel and do not respond, your heart gets harder.
 —

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