How To Amaze Jesus

And Jesus Was Amazed (How to Amaze Jesus)

Matthew 8:5-10

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.

Mark 6: 1-6

1 Jesus left there and went to his hometown, accompanied by his disciples. 2 When the Sabbath came, he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were amazed.

“Where did this man get these things?” they asked. “What’s this wisdom that has been given him? What are these remarkable miracles he is performing? 3 Isn’t this the carpenter? Isn’t this Mary’s son and the brother of James, Joseph,[a] Judas and Simon? Aren’t his sisters here with us?” And they took offense at him.

4 Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his own town, among his relatives and in his own home.” 5 He could not do any miracles there, except lay his hands on a few sick people and heal them. 6 He was amazed at their lack of faith.

EOLS: God responds when we exercise faith that comes through the revelation of His power in our lives.

As Christians, we live our lives in an attempt to walk closely with Jesus. Even when we fall woefully short, we know it, and we want to get back on track as soon as possible. Walking by faith is not always easy. The feedback loop can sometimes be muddled. God speaks to us through circumstances, through prayer, through His Word and through the Church. Sometimes as we listen we’ll know His heart instantly, but most often I find that it takes some time.

Have you ever thought about how it must have been to walk with the Lord in person; to be able to talk with him face to face in daily life? Consider with me, you’re intimate friends in person with this man who you know to be God in the flesh. You know him so well and you watch his every reaction to things that you and others around you do. You let your guard down sometimes, but you also want to please him more than anything. I imagine that the people who walked with Him personally, in the flesh knew how to read him well. They could tell if he was aggravated, happy, deep in thought or contemplative just by looking. It’s hard for me to imagine what he looked like when he was amazed. Picture the Lord just amazed, just astonished, absolutely floored by something! Today we talk about-what it takes to amaze Jesus. How have you amazed Him, has he ever been amazed with you? Let’s talk.

We all want our kids to believe that we can do great things. There’s something very gratifying about your kids believing in you. Of course we all know that there comes a time in the teenage years when your kids stop believing that you’re great, and they start to think of you as hopelessly outdated and perhaps a little on the slow side.

Not long ago my girls and I were at the gym for a workout. As we were preparing to start our respective exercises we walked through the free weights area, and S. mentioned the heavy weights that someone had left on the bench uprights. She indicated that the free weights area was typically for the heavy lifters, the real athletes.

Well, at that moment the Daddy Flag went up. I haven’t used free weights in years, but to my way of thinking that wasn’t much weight at all! Back in the day I lifted quite a bit. I said “that’s not all that much at all” and she looked at me with slightly skeptical eyes and said “really?” I could tell MJ was watching S. and picking up on some of her skepticism and lack of faith that I could do it. In that moment I was amazed at their lack of faith! It simply wasn’t that hard for me to do. It was their perspective that was faulty.

I told her “spot me Sweetie” and she began to get scared as I lay down on the bench. She said “now Daddy don’t you hurt yourself” and I enjoyed the moment that much more! I a quick prayer “help me Lord, I don’t want to miss this!” Thank God, I knocked out seven or eight reps with that barbell, and I could see the amazement now in her eyes. My amazement at her lack of faith had given way to her amazement that her