Shoes | Week Four

Combat Boots | Matthew 8:5-15

Matthew 8:5-6 “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.”

What keeps a person from having an encounter with Him?
1. Fear holds us back.

2. We might feel like we don’t know enough.

3. Pride holds us back.

4. Some don’t think that God will accept them. 
Romans 5:6-8 “You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. 7 Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. 8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

5. Some of us don’t believe what God has said.

2 Peter 3:10 (MSG) “But when the Day of God’s Judgment does come, it will be unannounced, like a thief. The sky will collapse with a thunderous bang, everything disintegrating in a raging inferno, earth and all its works exposed to the scrutiny of Judgment”

Key Point: The Gospel is for everyone.

Q. Why would a Roman soldier think a Rabbi would have the power to heal?

Matthew 8:7 “Jesus said to him, ‘Shall I come and heal him?’”

Matthew 8:7 “Jesus said, ‘I’ll come and heal him.’” (MSG).

Matthew 8:8 “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.”

Matthew 8:9 “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.’”

Mark 9:21-24 “Jesus asked the boy’s father, “How long has he been like this?” “From childhood,” he answered. 22 “It has often thrown him into fire or water to kill him. But if you can do anything, take pity on us and help us.” 23 “‘If you can’?” said Jesus. “Everything is possible for one who believes.”
24 Immediately the boy’s father exclaimed, “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!”
Matthew 8:10 “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.”

Isaiah 35:5-6 “Then will the eyes of the blind be opened and the ears of the deaf unstopped. 6 Then will the lame leap like a deer, and the mute tongue shout for joy.”
Matthew 8:11-12 “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.”

Matthew 8:13 “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.”
2 Takeaways

Be courageous on behalf of those who need an encounter with Jesus.

2. If your faith is deficient then ask God to strengthen your faith.

James 1:5 “But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him” (NASB).

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