The Powerful, The Powerless, And The Prophet

As I was looking at Luke chapter 7, what’s going on in Japan and right now, really ties in with what God is going show us today in the scripture, I believe. So open your Bible to Luke chapter 7. And the title of this morning’s topic is The Powerful the Powerless and the Prophet; The Powerful the powerless and the prophet. So Luke Chapter7, Jesus has just preached the greatest sermon of all time, the Sermon on the Mount.

And in Luke chapter 6, you can read that. And these are huge ideas. I mean, big kingdom ideas are presented in Luke chapter 6. And then Jesus goes for a walk. He starts -- goes on a stroll. And He ends up in front of a roman centurion who has a servant who is sick and He ends up in a small town where a widow has just lost her only son. And we see the Kingdom of Heaven coming to both places.

What kind of people do you think that Jesus really pays attention to? How do you think that the Kingdom of Heaven comes to a group of people? Do you think that maybe the Kingdom of Heaven comes to a group of people who know all the right things to say? Follow all the rules? Who have their lives in order? Know all the Bible verses? Does the Kingdom of Heaven come to people like that? Sure. Absolutely, the Kingdom of Heaven comes to people whose lives are in order; lives seem perfect. They’re following the rules. They’re doing the best they can. They might have influence. Their lives might be productive and fruitful.

But does the Kingdom of Heaven come to people who aren’t seeking Him? Does the Kingdom of Heaven come to someone who is broken and lost and not seeking God? Caught up in their own mess? Does the Kingdom of Heaven come to people like that? Yes He does. Yes it does.

And so this morning we’re going to look at a roman centurion, a man who was powerful. Who was leading a garrison of soldiers, who the only person he’d answer to was the general, the leader of the army in Cessoria. This man was powerful yet the Kingdom of Heaven came to a powerful man; a man who had his life in order, who had everything going for him, who was successful.

And then we’re going to look at a widow, whose life was broken and miserable and she was experiencing probably the darkest day of her life. And she was not really seeking God. She didn’t make any request from God, yet the Kingdom of Heaven came.

Now in the first service, this first gathering this morning, I want to tell you how it’s going to end. I’m going to tell you how this is going to end. So I’ll going to prepare you for it. We probably prayed for hundreds of people this morning, for healing. And we’re going to pray for hundreds of people in this gathering for healing because I believe God is present today to heal.

So I want to encourage you this morning if you’re here and you need healing in your body. In just a few minutes, we’re going to pray for healing. So I want you to prepare your heart not only to pray for healing but to receive healing in your own bodies.

Let’s look at this story, okay? Luke chapter 7 verse 1, “When Jesus had finished saying all this in the hearing of the people, He entered Capernaum. There a centurion’s servant, whom his master valued highly, was sick and about to die. The centurion heard of Jesus and sent some elders of the Jews to Him, asking Him to heal his servant.”

Notice, it’s the elders of the Jews. Most likely, these were men who sat at the city gates settling disputes among the people of the city. These were men of good reputation. They knew about Jesus. They knew about the roman centurion. And literally, quite honestly as we see in the story, they wanted to do a favor for this guy. Let’s keep reading, all right?

“The centurion…” verse 4, “…when they came to Jesus, they pleaded earnestly with Him, ‘This man deserves to have You do this.” Let’s stop here for a minute. Notice that the Jewish people still had not caught the Heart of Dad; the heart of the Father. They based their request on how -- on his good behavior. They said, “This guy deserves this. This guy has done good deeds. His life is in order therefore, he deserves something good to happen to him.” Notice that they had not caught, Grace. They had not caught the Heart of Dad yet.

Let’s keep reading. Look what Jesus does, “… because he loves our nation and he has built our synagogues.” So Jesus went with them. And He was not far from the house when the centurion sent friends to say to him, “Lord, don’t trouble Yourself for do not deserve to have You come under my roof.” Immediately, that was exactly what God was looking for. This is exactly the heart and the message that Jesus was trying to tell the crowds. It’s not about being clean or unclean. It’s not about being deserving or undeserving. It’s about Grace.