Luke 7
'I am not worthy!' was the centurion's confession of humility.
And his confession of faith was, 'Say the word!'
See, that was his great faith at work there.
And Jesus was astonished at the faith of this Roman centurion!
'You just say the word, Lord, and I know my servant will be healed!'
It's great faith when we trust Christ to work just by speaking the word.
We can never deserve His blessings.
But we can ask for them in faith.
True rest - Christ's invitation for us to come to Him for rest.
The sinful woman had heard that invitation and had come to Christ, and she had found rest.
She was ashamed of her past, but she was not ashamed of her Saviour, or of her tears.
She did not expect it.
Nobody knew that Jesus will arrive and break up the funeral.
Never despair, because your Lord may surprise you, at the last minute, and do the impossible for you.
He did not understand it.
We're talking about John the Baptist in Luke 7:18-35.
When the Lord is not doing what you would have expect Him to do – tell Him about it and listen to His Word.
You may feel that your ministry has failed.
But you are not the judge.
Let Jesus have the final word.
She could not hide it.
The sinful woman trusted Christ and He saved her.
Now she wanted to express her love to Him.
See, true faith cannot be hidden.
True faith shows itself in love and worship.
Our hearts are transformed as we worship God.
And the good news is, if you're looking for God – let's just begin to worship Him, because Scripture is very clear, 'God inhabits the praises of His people.'
So if you want to get into God's presence, all you have to do is lift your hands, look up and begin to worship the Lord in spirit and in truth.
And you will be in His presence.
And wisdom and the things that you need would be imparted during that time at a very deep level.
You may not be consciously aware of the work God is doing deep in your heart.
But as you worship, you may be rest assured that He is working in your heart.
Simon the Pharisee was blind.
He could not see himself, the Lord, or the woman.
He did not know the debt that he owed.
Luke 8
We'll be reading about a multitude hearing the Lord.
Jesus was not impressed by the crowds that followed Him.
Because He knew the spiritual conditions of their hearts.
The parable of the sower helps us examine our hearts to see how we respond to the Word.
But it's not enough to hear the Word, we must also obey it, and trust it when the time of testing comes.
And of course the time of testing will surely come.
What parallels do we find in Scripture with the Israelites of the Biblical days and our country today?
Ron Mel in his book, 'Right with God,' says, “when God says heed my Word, we need to remember that He had watched countless people walked across this planet. He has watched the pain and the trouble that have come from every violation of His commands.”
How could a loving God do less than warn us?
How could He do less than set His protective fences down across the landscape of our lives, and urge us to walk safely within them?
The Ten Commandments are those fences – to keep us safe.
Back in Deuteronomy 8:19, the Word says, 'If you forget the Lord your God and follow other gods, worshiping and bowing down to them. You will certainly be destroyed.'
We may think God exist to bless our nation.
But according to Scripture, our nation exists to bless God.
We'll also hear about the multitude rejecting Him.
You'd think that the healing of the Gadarene demoniacs would have endeared Jesus to the people.
But the opposite was true.
The citizens were more concerned about pigs and money than about people and mercy.
The man who begged to go with Jesus, the one who was healed – well, he's the sanest one of all.
We'll read about a multitude welcoming Him.
This was on the other side of the Sea of Galilee, near Capernaum.
Why did they welcome Him?
Probably not because of their love for Him, but because they had seen many of His miracles and wanted Him to meet their needs.
If Jesus were coming today – would you welcome Him? And why?
We'll reading about a multitude thronging Him.
The people wanted to get next to Jesus so He could help them.
But though they throng Him, they did not have the touch of faith that the poor sick woman had.
Being in the crowd is no assurance of receiving the blessing.
Sometimes God has to get you away from the crowd before He can meet the need.
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