Live Free with Josh Howerton - Jesus Was Amazed | Ep. 418 | Wednesday, September 11, 2024

Episode Date: September 11, 2024

Want to impress God or want to truly amaze Jesus? Then, be humbled, surrender, and recognize the authority of God’s word. “When Jesus heard this, he was amazed at him, and turning to the crowd following him, he said, ‘I tell you, I have not found such great faith even in Israel.’ Then the men who had been sent returned to the house and found the servant well.” (Luke 7: 9-10 NIV) For more information, visit lakepointe.church/dailydrive

Thanks for tuning in to today's Daily Drive with Lake Point Church, a daily dose of God's word for your morning drive. When the word, not the world, becomes the majority of your week, your life will start to change. For that reason, our prayer is that God will speak to you through today's devotional. For more digital content to feed your faith, visit lakepoint.comit. And now let's dive in to today's devotional. Hey, thanks for joining us on the Daily Drive today. I'm Mike Bro, an honor to be on this journey of pursuing God with you. You know, I just realized that today is September the 11th,

and many of us remember where we were on this day 23 years ago. I was taking a drive to the country with my wife when we heard the news on the radio of my truck. And when this date pops up every year, I'm always reminded to pray for the families that were devastated by those horrible events. And I always pray, Father, may your kingdom come, your will be done on. earth as it is in heaven. In other words, I pray, oh God, may up there come down here and bring it through me today. So maybe we could all take a moment to remember and pray that kind of prayer sometime today. Well, we've been unpacking a story from Luke chapter 7. It's an encounter that Jesus has with a Roman commander who totally understands the chain of authority. He has the

sixth servant whom he loves. So he gets word to Jesus asking him to come to the house and heal him. We read this yesterday. So Jesus went with them. He was not far from the house when the centurion sent friends to say to him, Lord, don't trouble yourself. For I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. That is why I did not even consider myself worthy to come to you.

But say the word, and my servant will be healed. I love how this man of authority acknowledges Jesus' ultimate authority calls him Lord, and he tells them, you are so great. you don't even have to come to the house. I believe you can do anything from anywhere. Just say the word. That's what flows out of this guy's heart.

Verse 9. When Jesus heard this, he was amazed at him. And turning to the crowd and following him, he said, I tell you, I have not found such great faith even in Israel. Then the men who had been sent returned to the house. And they found the servant well. Now don't miss the very cool ending of the story that Jesus actually never made it to the house

and still the servant was healed just like the centurion believed could happen so as Luke was writing he wanted to make sure that we all knew that Jesus does have that kind of power but even as awesome as that is that's not even the main takeaway from this encounter if you will read through the Gospels Matthew Mark and John those first four books of the New Testament

you'll see that Jesus experienced a wide range of emotions. He had sudden sympathy for a guy with leprosy. He had compassion for a woman thrown down the dirt. He got excited over his disciples' successes. He had blasts of anger at cold-hearted, legalistic people. He was full of joy in the presence of little kids. He expressed disappointment over an unreceptive Jerusalem. He experienced heart-wrenching grief over the death of a close friend.

Three times he cries just loses it in front of his disqualification. disciples. Then there are the cries of anguish in the garden of Gassimony and on the cross. But only two times in the Gospels does it say. Jesus was amazed. One is over Mark, chapter 6, verse 6, where he goes back to his hometown, this little hick town called Nazareth. And word is spreading about his miracles, and they hear him speak with incredible wisdom, but then they say to each other, come on. Isn't this the guy that used to be on Joseph's framing crew? He's a carpenter. He's Mary's boy. I know his brothers and sisters. They live down the street from me. And they totally redone.

object him, and it says, Jesus was amazed at their lack of faith. The other time is right here in this text, when Jesus is amazed in a positive way, at this soldier's abundance of faith. The New Testament was written in Greek, the universal language of the day, and the Greek word used here for amazed is Thumazo,

which means to marvel, to be struck with admiration, or to be impressed. Now, here's the thought. Isn't it cool to think that the one who designed chromosomes, the one who came up with photosynthesis and beaches and flowers and penguins and snowflakes and the human anatomy and galaxies

could still be amazed? In this moment, Jesus was amazed, struck with admiration, impressed with this guy. So what's it take to impress God? What makes God stand back and go, wow, now that, that right there, is amazing. Well, let's let him answer that.

Isaiah 66, verse 2, this is God speaking. This is the one I esteem, who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word. The Old Testament word used here for esteem is Nabat, which means to regard with pleasure, to respect, or to be impressed. You see, God has always been impressed, always been amazed by the same thing. He's impressed by those who are humble, surrendered and recognized the authority of his word. And this humble, hard-working blue-collar Roman soldiers said, Lord, you just say the word.

I respect your word. You could just speak a word, and it will be done. I believe he sensed in some way, that Jesus was the same God who spoke to the universe. Let there be light. To a leper, be clean, to a paralyzed guy, take up your mat and walk, to a raging sea, peace be still, to a man who had been dead for four days, Lazarus, come out.

I like what Bethmore says. Christ's word is action. What he commands, he accomplishes. That's a fact. What impresses Christ, however, is when we believe it's a fact. And Jesus was amazed at this man's belief. He was humble, surrendered, and trembled at Jesus' word, and that impressed Jesus.

So what do you say? We try to impress Jesus today. Let's all stay humble, and we'll pick this back up tomorrow. Hope you have a great day. Thanks for tuning in today. For more biblical teaching and worship, join us for our church online live weekend services on Saturdays and Sundays. For more information about all the digital ministries of Lake Point,

visit lakepoint.church slash daily drive. Also, if this podcast was helpful to you, would you be sure to rate, review, and share this podcast to help get the word out.