Lord, Say A Word! Part 1 Series

As we learn of the centurion’s faith, how the Lord Jesus commended, when he believed that the Lord Jesus had authority over sickness. And may your faith be stirred to know that the Lord of Calvary has authority over everything in your life as well.

Lord, Say a Word, Speak a Word, Say a Word and we are going to see what the Lord is going to speak to us this night from Mathew Chapter 8. [New International Version]

5. When Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to him, asking for help.

6. “Lord,” he said, “my servant lies at home paralyzed, suffering terribly.”

7. Jesus said to him, “Shall I come and heal him?”

8. The centurion replied, “Lord, I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. But just say the word, and my servant will be healed.

9. For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and that one, ‘Come,’ and he comes. I say to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.”

10. When Jesus heard this, he was amazed and said to those following him, “Truly I tell you, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith. (Such great faith)

11. I say to you that many will come from the east and the west, and will take their places at the feast with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven.

12. But the subjects of the kingdom will be thrown outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

13. Then Jesus said to the centurion, “Go! Let it be done just as you believed it would.” And his servant was healed at that moment.

We see, over here in this chapter, that there was a man who went to Jesus, who wanted a certain thing from the Lord; and in this case, it’s healing. And if you look at this chapter, you will see that Jesus healed many people and this is one of the healing that took place. And, different types of healing take place in the gospels. Where certain people, Jesus would lay his hands on, for some people he would rebuke that sickness or that demon, and there are different approaches. For certain people, God would just say, “Go, do this”. And when they did that, their sickness went, like the lepers who came to Him, Jesus said, “Go and show yourselves to the priest.”(Luke 17:14) And even before this, we see how a leper came to Jesus and how Jesus healed him. Jesus touched him and He healed him.

What is so special about this passage that we just read now? Form verse 8 to verse 13, what is so special about it? This is very different and the Lord spoke to me once about this, and this talks about faith, and we all know when we read, that this is about faith. And Jesus very explicitly says over here that He has not seen such great faith, even in Israel. So, what is so special about this? What did the centurion do, that His own people did not do? And, that’s what we are going to focus on tonight. And, we are going to focus on the Word of Jesus.

The centurion said, “Lord, say a Word and my servant will be healed.” What is that word? And if you look at it, the centurion says that, “I am a centurion and I have soldiers under me, and when I say, ‘Go’, one person goes. When I say, ‘Come’, he comes.” And basically, he is saying that they obey me, and I have authority. So, what is that have to do with Jesus saying a word? Let’s read that verse again to get the real meaning of the verse; what the Lord is speaking to us this night. He says, verse 9, “For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and that one, ‘Come,’ and he comes. I say to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.”

And verse 10, Jesus heard this and He is saying that He has not found such great faith. Now, what is the faith that Jesus is talking about over here? What kind of faith is this? Is He talking about the faith of this man in Jesus, where he thinks that “Ok, Jesus is going to say some word like a mantra, where He says a word like kaboom or something like that.” And where his servant is going to be healed somewhere else. No! He really means what he is saying by giving an illustration of his own life. He is just relating to his everyday, day-to-day life experience and he is telling Jesus, “Lord, I am a man who has authority and I have soldiers under me.” And He is saying that “When I say something, they do it. So when you say something”…You know what this man is saying, “The sickness has to obey You.” You are …he had that revelation. This man somehow had that revelation, that understanding, that Jesus had the authority over sickness. Jesus had authority over diseases. It’s not like he said some word and that immediately somewhere else, he got healed or delivered. It’s not like a word without meaning that He’s going to say. He believed in the authority of Jesus Christ. He believed in the power that Jesus Christ had, the power over sickness, the power over demonic spirits, and that is the reason why he was able to bring out that example with his life and he was able to believe that. Because he believed that Jesus had authority, he was able to tell Jesus, “Lord, say a word and my servant will be healed”. May the Lord speak to us this night.