Recreate Church, Pastor Michael Shockley—Service, January 12, 2025

If Jesus Said It, We Can Trust It. Today, Pastor Michael is giving us a lesson remotely, as the snow and ice forced us not to hold a service at the church.  Today’s lesson is about faith.  Jesus expressed sorrow that His followers didn’t have great faith.  But Jesus did have a believer who trusted Him in His word. Here, Jesus had just finished a powerful message, returning to Capernaum.  A delegation of Jewish elders came out to meet Jesus, asking Him to help a Roman Centurion.   This Centurion had a servant who was sick.  The Centurion had heard about Jesus and his miracles, so he asked the Jewish elders to ask Jesus for help.  Jesus agreed to see the Centurion’s servant, and when He got there, another group of folks came out to meet Him. The Centurion knew Jesus only had to say the word, and his servant would be healed.  This Centurion did not even feel worthy of Jesus coming to him, but he knew Jesus had the authority to heal.  He knew the authority Jesus had and recognized Jesus as the Messiah.  This Centurion even had more faith than many followers of Jesus did at the time!  Jesus marveled at the Centurion, telling the crowd He had not seen such great faith, even in Israel.  And the servant was healed!  The Centurion saw the truth in Jesus that even Jesus’s followers did not see.  “If Jesus said it, we can trust it” is our central theme today.  Full Authority In Those Hands = FAITH. (CSB Bible Notes) 7:2-3 A centurion was a commander of a hundred men in the Roman army. This centurion was apparently a compassionate man, deeply concerned about the illness of his servant. He reached out to Jesus through some local Jewish elders (either recognized leaders in the community or respected older men). In the parallel passage in Mt 8:5-10, the centurion approached Jesus directly. Today’s verses can be found in Luke 7: 1-10. Scripture quotations marked CSB have been taken from the Christian Standard Bible®, Copyright © 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Christian Standard Bible® and CSB® are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers.