(soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) - Good morning, Church family.

Happy Lord's Day. Psalm 86, verse 11, it reads, "Teach me your way, O Lord, "that I may walk in your truth, "unite my heart to fear your name." Perhaps we come today with a lot of things going on in our lives. Perhaps we have a lot of things on our mind, and perhaps a lot of things competing for our affections and for our worship.

But may it be our prayer today as we begin our service that we would desire to have a focus and undivided heart and devotion to our Lord. (soft music) (soft music) Let's sing, "Teach me your way." ♪ Teach me your way, O Lord ♪ ♪ And I will walk in your truth ♪ ♪ Show me your path, O Lord ♪ ♪ For I am devoted to you ♪ ♪ Purify my heart's desire ♪ ♪ I long to be your servant ♪ ♪ Give me an undivided heart ♪ ♪ That I may fear your name ♪ ♪ Give me an undivided heart ♪ ♪ No other gods, no other love ♪ ♪ No other gods before you ♪ Teach me.

♪ Teach me your way, O Lord ♪ ♪ And I will walk in your truth ♪ (soft music) ♪ Show me your path, O Lord ♪ ♪ For I am devoted to you ♪ ♪ Purify my heart's desire ♪ ♪ I long to be your servant ♪ ♪ Give me an undivided heart ♪ ♪ That I may fear your name ♪ ♪ Give me an undivided heart ♪ ♪ No other gods, no other love ♪ ♪ No other gods before you ♪ Teach me.

♪ Give me an undivided heart ♪ ♪ That I may fear your name ♪ ♪ Give me an undivided heart ♪ ♪ No other gods, no other love ♪ ♪ No other gods before you ♪ No other gods. ♪ No other gods, no other love ♪ ♪ No other gods before you ♪ All right, good morning and welcome to Green Community Church.

First of all, our family ministry has a Christmas gathering here today after service. So if some of you guys can please help out after the second service to clear out all the chairs and then we're gonna be setting up tables here. I think the instructions are gonna be on the screen.

So at least, even if you're not part of the family ministry, if you guys can help us out to at least move all the chairs out. And so we'll set up the tables in here. And then I've been informed that there's so many families who have sick children or they're not able to make it.

And even if you haven't signed up, they said it's open for you to sign up today. So because there's some space open because some people are sick. So you can go outside and then there's a table outside. So if you haven't signed up, you can sign up and you're more than welcome to join us today.

See, oh, yeah. So as you're coming in, you should have received one of these cards as a reminder and an invitation for the Christmas service that we're having on Christmas Eve on the 24th. This is for you so that you can be intentional about Christmas coming. And every year when we have Christmas, we try to encourage you guys to use that time wisely.

There's people who are more willing to come to church at Christmas, during Christmas time than any other time. And so I wanna encourage you, highly encourage you not to spend this Christmas like any other week or just like the rest of the world, just busy collecting gifts and having family gatherings, knowing that the secular world is singing Christmas songs, singing Christmas songs about Christ and what he's done without really thinking through what it is that they're celebrating.

So it's a great opportunity for you to be able to share the gospel. So as you're inviting them to come to church, at the least, to have a conversation with them. And so why, do you understand what Christmas is and why Christians make a big deal about this? And so if they come, that's great.

So if they come, they will be able to present the gospel, the meaning of Christmas to them. And if not, at least you're able to share the gospel, at least share with them the purpose and spend this Christmas season purposefully. So this is there for you, keep it in your Bible and you can take more than you want.

If we run out, we can always print more. So make sure you grab plenty of these. So just even if it's just a pass out and invite them to come to the service. So again, please take this with you. The college study hall, it's end of the year already.

And so starting from today, after our Christmas party, and so at three or four o'clock, so we need the cafe and the other side cleared out because the children are gonna be watching in that area. So the cafe is gonna be closed. You can go grab your coffee, but please don't linger around there because they're gonna clear that space out so that the children can be watched there.

And the college students are gonna be having, it's at 6 p.m., but at three to four o'clock, we should be done. So if you guys wanted to come and stay in there. And if you wanna bring food, those of you who signed up for it, just bring it and then you can drop it off over there.

And even if you didn't sign up, you wanna bring some food or snacks or whatever to encourage our college students in their study hall, just bring it and drop it off there and then the students will be able to enjoy that. And that's today, tomorrow, and Tuesday. Let me see, New Year's Eve ping pong.

If you are planning to play the ping pong, please sign up for that as soon as possible so they can organize it. And the cost of that is $5. I think you can sign up by yourself or you can sign up together with other people. Your skill level doesn't have to be that great.

You just won't win. But you're more than welcome to come and play, okay? And just enjoy the fellowship before we have our New Year's Eve service, okay? There's a couple more announcements. Bible Lab. If you are somewhat new to the church or you've been to church and you want to learn more about how to do inductive Bible study, on January 21st, 27th, and February 4th, there is a Bible Lab where Pastor Mark will be going over how to do inductive Bible study, how to ask questions, how to get insights.

So that'll help you in the weekday Bible study, whether you're in home group or whether you're in a small group. So that will be taking place on January 21st. So this Wednesday, or this week is our last week of regular Bible study, and then there's gonna be about seven or eight week break in between.

But we do need you to sign up for the next session so that we can know and prepare enough small groups, enough Bible study, enough home groups. So even though you are in a home group and you know you're gonna come, and you told your home group or small group leaders, please sign up for it as soon as possible so that we can better organize that together, okay?

And then Living Well Baby Bottle Drive. Today is the day that you need to turn it in. So if you brought it, please turn that in. For whatever the reason, if you forgot it, please let them know, 'cause today is the last day to turn that in. And then one last thing.

On Christmas, on the day of Christmas, we're gonna be having our Lottie Moon Christmas Mission Offering. This is something that we do every year. And so we collect that and we hand it over to our International Mission Board, and they'll use that to support missionaries who are overseas. And so every year, we ask you to be prayerful about that at the end of the year.

If you have offering you wanna give for that, please be prayerful about it. And then when you give it, just mark it that this is for the Lottie Moon Mission Fund, and then all of that will be sent over as soon as we receive it. So we'll remind you another couple weeks, but it is every Christmas, we ask that you would be prayerful about that.

And then when you give your offering, make sure you distinguish that from the regular offering, because that will be going to them, okay? All right, I think that's it for the announcements. After I pray for the offering, our brother Michael Lee's gonna come up and he's gonna give his testimony and be baptized.

For those of you who have a physical offering that you wanna give, again, our box is in the back as you're exiting, okay? All right, let's pray. Father, we thank you so much for constant grace, constant patience over our lives. Lord, you know how easily we get entangled with the things, Lord, of this world.

I pray that each and every Sunday that you would remind us, Lord God, that we are not citizens of this world, but we have a home, Lord, that is waiting for us. Help us to live as aliens and strangers who are just sojourning, that we would not be overly focused and concerned for temporary things, Lord God, of this world.

We pray that our service would be a reminder of who you are, that you'd open our eyes to see the glory of the gospel that you've given us. I pray that you would bless this offering, make it be given to you intentionally, joyfully, bountifully, Lord God, that it may be multiplied for your use in your kingdom.

In Jesus' name we pray, amen. (gentle piano music) (gentle piano music) (gentle piano music) (gentle piano music) (gentle piano music) (gentle piano music) (gentle piano music) (gentle piano music) - Let us all rise as we continue our worship. But before we do, if we could spend a few moments just greeting the neighbors around us.

(audience chattering) (audience chattering) (audience chattering) (audience chattering) (audience chattering) (audience chattering) (upbeat music) ♪ No eye has seen ♪ ♪ No eye has seen ♪ ♪ And no ear has heard ♪ ♪ And no mind has ever conceived ♪ ♪ No pristine ♪ ♪ That you have prepared ♪ ♪ For everyone who has believed ♪ ♪ You brought us here ♪ ♪ And you called us your own ♪ ♪ And made us good heirs with your Son ♪ ♪ How high ♪ ♪ How high and how wide ♪ ♪ How deep and how long ♪ ♪ How sweet and how strong is your love ♪ ♪ Oh how lavish your grace ♪ ♪ How faithful your ways ♪ ♪ How great is your love ♪ ♪ Oh Lord ♪ - Objects of mercy.

♪ Objects of mercy ♪ ♪ Should have no wrath ♪ ♪ Were filled with unspeakable joy ♪ ♪ Fetches of wisdom ♪ ♪ Searchable well ♪ ♪ And the wonder of knowing your voice ♪ ♪ You are our treasure ♪ ♪ And our great reward ♪ ♪ Our hope and our glorious King ♪ ♪ How high and how wide ♪ ♪ How deep and how long ♪ ♪ How sweet and how strong is your love ♪ ♪ Oh how lavish your grace ♪ ♪ How faithful your ways ♪ ♪ How great is your love ♪ ♪ Oh Lord ♪ - How high.

♪ How high and how wide ♪ ♪ How deep and how long ♪ ♪ How sweet and how strong is your love ♪ ♪ Oh how lavish your grace ♪ ♪ How faithful your ways ♪ ♪ How great is your love ♪ ♪ Oh Lord ♪ ♪ How great is your love ♪ ♪ Oh Lord ♪ - How great.

♪ How great is your love ♪ ♪ Oh Lord ♪ (gentle music) ♪ Jesus your mercy is all my faith ♪ ♪ I have no defense ♪ ♪ My guilt runs too deep ♪ ♪ The best of my works pierced your hands and your feet ♪ ♪ Jesus your mercy is all my faith ♪ (gentle music) ♪ Jesus your mercy is all my trust ♪ ♪ Goodness I claim the grounds of my home ♪ ♪ Whenever I lack it's still what I need most ♪ ♪ Jesus your mercy is all my faith ♪ ♪ Great the king who bore my sin ♪ ♪ Took my place when I stood content ♪ ♪ Oh how good you've always been to me ♪ ♪ I will sing of your mercy ♪ (gentle music) ♪ Jesus your mercy is all my rest ♪ ♪ My fears weigh me down and enemies press ♪ ♪ Oh come for I cling to in life and in death ♪ ♪ Jesus your mercy is all my rest ♪ (gentle music) ♪ Great the king who bore my sin ♪ ♪ Took my place when I stood content ♪ ♪ Oh how good you've always been to me ♪ ♪ I will sing of your mercy ♪ (gentle music) ♪ Jesus your mercy ♪ ♪ Jesus your mercy is all my joy ♪ ♪ Forever I'll lift my heart and my voice ♪ ♪ Sing of a treasure no power can destroy ♪ ♪ Jesus your mercy is all my joy ♪ (gentle music) ♪ Great the king who bore my sin ♪ ♪ Took my place when I stood content ♪ ♪ Oh how good you've always been to me ♪ ♪ I will sing ♪ ♪ Great the king who bore my sin ♪ ♪ Took my place when I stood content ♪ ♪ Oh how good you've always been to me ♪ ♪ I will sing of your mercy ♪ - And now you may be seated.

(gentle music) - Morning church, my name is Michael and this is my testimony. I'm grateful to have been blessed with two loving parents who are of the faith and who raised me in a Christian household. I grew up going to various churches in LA. Our family's movement from one to another being based on my dad's discernment as to whether that church adhered to the word.

Because I saw from a young age how scripture guided my dad in all his decisions, I assumed that I would inherit that wisdom and so inherit the faith. Because of this, I thought genuinely that I was a believer, but in hindsight, I know that I believed only in the idea of God and that not for who he was, but for what I thought I could gain from him.

As I grew, avenues for pride naturally became more and more appealing. And so because of this, I chased after satisfaction and temporary joy through worldly pursuits, believing in God because I thought he might bless me with success. Philippians 4.13 says, "I can do all things "through him who strengthens me." We all know this verse very well and I'd quote this verse before swim meets, not with a heart of contentment as the Apostle Paul had intended, but with a depraved mind so focused on exalting myself.

I became so infatuated with this pride that at some point I no longer wanted anything to do with God. In my mind, I no longer needed him. Only when I could not be satisfied with my performance did I turn to him, reading a chapter of my dusty Bible in hopes that he'd be pleased and so bless me with what I wanted of this world.

Despite years of my unfaithfulness, he remained faithful. Though it seemed then like failure, he stripped me of the major sources of pride in my life. And though I was defeated then, I saw in that Christ's victory already won for me. And by his grace, he led me to a church where his word would have its way in my heart, not my own.

Galatians 6:14 reads, "But may it never be that I would boast "except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, "through which the world has been crucified to me "and I to the world. "Though this world yet has its appeals, "my hope is in Christ who gave his life for me, "in whom I have satisfaction and joy eternal." Thank you.

(audience applauding) (audience laughing) - Michael, do you understand when you're going into the water you're being united by death, and when you come out, you're being united with the resurrected life? God's writing name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit. (audience applauding) - All right, thank you, college students, for coming to support.

And thank you for that encouraging testimony. If you can turn your Bibles with me to Luke chapter seven, verses one through 10. Luke chapter seven, verses one through 10. Reading out of the NASB. When he had completed all his discourse in the hearing of the people, he went to Capernaum, and a centurion slave, who was highly regarded by him, was sick and about to die.

When he heard about Jesus, he sent some Jewish elders asking him to come and save the life of his slave. When they came to Jesus, they earnestly implored him, saying, "He is worthy for you to grant this to him, "for he loves our nation, "and it was he who built us our synagogue." Now Jesus started on his way with them, and when he was not far from the house, the centurion sent friends, saying to him, "Lord, do not trouble yourself further, "for I am not worthy for you to come under my roof.

"For this reason, I did not even consider myself "worthy to come to you, "but just say the word, "and my servant will be healed. "For also am I a man placed under authority, "with soldiers under me. "And I say to this one, go, and he goes, "and to another, come, and he comes.

"And to my slave, do this, and he does it." Now when Jesus heard this, he marveled at him, and turned and said to the crowd that was following him, "I say to you, not even in Israel "have I found such great faith." When those who had been sent returned to the house, they found the slave in good health.

Let's pray. (coughing) Father, we thank you so much for your constant grace and love that you pour upon us. You are a God truly worthy of our praise. I pray that your word would speak to us by the power of your Holy Spirit. I pray that you would grip our minds, our hearts, our very lives, Lord God, that we would desire with all our being to honor you, to love you, to worship you.

May his name, and his name alone be magnified. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. May I ask you a question this morning? When was the last time you were amazed at something? Like amazed at something? I know at our church I am known as a hater. Pastor Peter, don't hype things to Pastor Peter because he's gonna knock it down.

And it is true, right? It's 'cause I don't get impressed easily. So when I, where I see reviews of 4.5 star, five star, and say, oh, you gotta try this, blah, blah, blah. My first reaction isn't, oh, I wanna go see it. My first reaction is, yeah, right, right?

And I notice that the older we get it, that we have a tendency to do that. So when, in our Jubilee Fellowship, it's very difficult, right, to get them excited. Because the longer you live, you've seen everything, and it's like, wow, you've tasted everything. And so very rarely you experience something, it's like, wow, this is so awesome.

Or you've been somewhere, it's like, oh, I haven't seen that before. You know, the younger you are, the more easily amused or amazed you get. Like you can just go peek-a-boo, and then they're like, whoa. (congregation laughing) Right, I got a magic trick, look at this, right? But the older we get, the harder it is to impress.

Because we just experience, we've experienced a lot of things, seen a lot of things, right? I'm saying all of this to introduce the sermon this morning 'cause something happens in this story that amazes Jesus. I mean, if it's hard for older people to get amazed by something, imagine what was it about this man that amazed Jesus?

Now, this is not a statement that we see commonly in the New Testament. You don't see Jesus like surprised or amazed. In fact, he knew. When people were coming to him, he knew what was in their heart. So he wasn't amazed, oh, it's such a large crowd coming, we wanna make you king.

Jesus was not amazed with that. He would look at that and say, he knew what was in their heart. You're coming to me because you ate, and you want more of it, you don't know who I am. So it is not common that we see that Jesus is almost surprised, right?

Surprised and amazed by the reaction of this centurion. So the question that we need to ask ourselves is that if this is this rare, and it surprises and amazes our Savior, what was it about him that caused our Savior to be amazed? So this morning, I wanna look at about four, or I think it's about, yeah, four things about this man.

And obviously, the conclusion is going to be at the tail end but it'll kind of give us the context in which it'll help us to understand who this man is and what was it, and what was it about this encounter that caused Jesus to be amazed? First thing that we need to understand about the centurion was he was a very accomplished man.

Even in our military, you hear stories about people who became an officer because they went to a certain school or they had better education, or after a certain point, there's a lot of political things going on. That's what I hear from lifetime soldiers, and so they get promoted at a certain point because of these connections.

And then you have some soldiers who come in as privates and they do the hard work. They grind it out, they're at war, they've been shot at, almost risked their lives, and so they get commendations. And so they come up the rank as a result of getting their hands dirty and risking their lives.

Well, a centurion was one of those people. Centurion was not a soldier because he was connected, and typically, they were very uneducated people that came up the ranks because during the midst of battle, that he showed a certain level of heroism. And so this is a man's man. This is not a guy who was politically connected that came up the ranks.

This is a guy that if you were to ask the soldiers, who would you follow, and this is that guy. So typically, a centurion was a guy who came up the ranks because of what he did in battle. So that already kind of gives you a picture of who this man is.

So this was not a man who just held onto a title. This is a man who was overseeing 100 soldiers, and the 100 soldiers really looked up to him, respected him. He had 100 guys who, out of their ranks, became the cream of the crop, right? So he was either brave or he risked his life or he got hurt or whatever the reason.

He was a very accomplished man. In the Roman soldiers, in their system, they really wanted to encourage bravery so when somebody would come up this rank, they would pay them accordingly. And that's why a centurion was a very wealthy man. A typical Roman soldier's pay would be about 225 denarii.

A typical centurion's salary was 3,750 to 7,500. So anything between 150 times to 2,000 times a regular soldier's pay. So this was not just a higher-ranking individual. This is a very wealthy man because he came up the ranks. And as I mentioned, he had 100 soldiers under his care and he is very wealthy, so he was a powerful man.

He was a wealthy man. And that's why he is described as an individual who loved Israel and he built their synagogue. Just out of his generosity, out of his own pocket, he just built the synagogue and that's why he became prominent. Now, the reason why this is so important is because when, if you were a Jew in the first century and if you were to think who is the enemy of Israel, before they think of the big government, before they think of Caesar or Rome, the first person that they would think of is the centurion because he was given the task to keep the peace.

He was the one, if anybody rebelled, he would take his 100 soldiers and squash any kind of rebellion. He was the one, if the tax collectors were having a hard time collecting taxes, he would send his soldiers. So this is the guy who was given charge to kill people, put them in prison, to beat them, to suppress any kind of rebellion.

So in any other circumstance, a centurion would have been an enemy of Israel. And now, all of this is not by chance. And we're gonna see this later, why this is so significant. So we know, one, he was an accomplished man. He's a wealthy man. Two, he's described as a very loving man.

Despite who he is to Israel, he's described to us as a loving man. You remember in Matthew 5.41, Jesus says, "Whoever forces you to go one mile, go with him two." Now, Jesus was not just pulling this out of nowhere. There was actually a law that the Romans put against all their subjects, that if a soldier is walking into town and his equipment is too heavy, it was required by law that if a soldier tells you to take my equipment and go with me a mile, by law, they had to do that, by law.

So Jesus was saying, so when they think about loving your enemy, the first thing that they would have thought of is, anytime a soldier comes into town, anytime they see a soldier around the village, they can tell them to stop whatever it is they're doing. Imagine a young mother walking with a child and said, "I need your help," and she has to drop whatever she's doing.

Imagine a field worker in the middle of the heat and a soldier comes in, "I need your help." By law, he had to stop what he's doing and carry that equipment one mile. And at the end of that mile, he would just pick another person and he said, "Now you help me." By law, they had to do that.

So can you imagine the animosity that the Jews had toward these soldiers in particular? And the centurion is a captain of these soldiers. Despite that, we are told that the elders of the Jews came pleading on his behalf. Now, if the centurion did, like, force them to, by sword, "My servant is sick, "so you better go get Jesus to come heal," that's not how it's described.

In Luke chapter 7, 4 to 5, it says, "When they came to Jesus, they earnestly implored, "saying, 'The elders of Israel, of the synagogue, "'earnestly implored him.'" So they weren't forced to, right? It wasn't because he had a knife to the throat that you better go get him. He said, "They came to Jesus on his behalf.

"He's worthy for you to grant this to him, "for he loves our nation, "and it was he who built us our synagogue." A centurion, the soldiers that were stationed locally, these are not just some figures way out in Rome, these are not the Pontius Pilate, this is not Caesar.

The actual soldiers that enforced Roman law would have been under the centurion's care, the hundred soldiers that were walking around the villages making sure, and they were either either mercenaries, taxed soldiers, or policemen. So in other words, they were the ones. They were the ones that were enforcing all the laws that they hated.

And yet, this centurion is represented by the leaders of Israel begging on his behalf, "Lord, he is worthy." And he's described as somebody who loves Israel, and he paid out of his own pocket to build the synagogue. Naturally, he would have been an enemy. So just that fact alone, a Jew who's reading this in the first century, it's like, a centurion did this?

That enemy, that enemy that represents our enemy, he did this? It tells us that even though, naturally, he would have been an enemy, he's described as a friend of Israel. He builds a synagogue for them. And then, he's concerned for his own slave. I mean, again, it's not because of money, right?

'Cause he was a filthy rich man. If one of his slaves died, I mean, that was considered his property. If they didn't behave, he could have whooped him and then literally killed him and just got another slave. 'Cause I mean, this is a filthy rich man. And yet, he shows compassion to his slave.

You see, he's described to us as an accomplished man. He's described to us as a loving man, even though he's in a position of authority and power over Israel and the Jews. He's in the position of power over his slave. He's compassionate, he's gracious, he's loving. You know, oftentimes, if you wanna see the character of a man, see how he treats somebody who is beneath him.

You know, people learn how to kiss up to their peers or kiss up to people who have something that you'll benefit from if you do that. But watch how he treats people that are beneath him or he considers beneath them. Who are less than him, knows less than him, in lesser position than him.

At a restaurant, servants, people that you may not have any specific benefit by being good to them. See how that man treats that person and you'll see his character. Well, this man had nothing to benefit from being nice to the Jews. He had nothing to benefit from pleading on the behalf of his servant, and yet, he's presented to us, despite his position, despite his authority, despite his power, he was a very gentle, loving, and gracious man.

He was also a very humble man. In Luke 7, six through seven, it says, now Jesus started on his way with them and when he was not far from the house, the centurions sent friends saying to him, Lord, again, let's stop right there. Centurion is the highest ranking position in that area.

He would have been the governor. Everybody would be beneath him. Only a Roman aristocrat would be above him. And yet, he sees this lowly rabbi walk around with his disciples and even the way he addresses him, Lord, not hey, Jew, hey, you, and that would have been a natural thing for him to do, but he humbles himself, said, Lord, do not trouble yourself further, for I am not worthy for you to come under my roof.

You notice how the Jews, when they presented him to Jesus, they said, he is worthy of your attention. And the reasoning they give is that he was good to us. He was good to Israel and he built a synagogue. You notice how typically we tend to measure other people's righteousness by our righteousness?

Whatever it is that we are good at, that's the measuring stick. And I confess, when I was heavily involved with the homeless ministry, that was the measuring stick that I used to measure everybody. They're gonna help or not. Do you care or not? So if you happen to be a person who is deep into theology, that's your measuring stick.

You study a lot, so who studies? Who studies more than me? If you happen to be somebody who is compassionate, that's your measuring stick. Are they compassionate? If you happen to be somebody who's disciplined, well, who's more disciplined? If you happen to be somebody who's generous, that's your measuring stick.

If you serve more, who's serving more than me? Our natural tendency is to use our righteousness to measure other people's righteousness. And so the Jews said, he is worthy, he's a righteous man because he loves what we love. He loves Israel. He built it, so therefore he is worthy.

But when he encounters Jesus, he recognizes how unworthy he is. The exact opposite of what they say. He said, for this reason, I did not even consider myself worthy to come to you. I did not come to you. And that's probably why the elders of Israel went on his behalf because he wouldn't go.

I'm a centurion, I'm a soldier. Jews naturally hate me. I don't know, am I in a position to ask the rabbi of Israel to come to my house? Again, from a human point of view, he would have every right. He could have asserted his authority. He could have asserted his sword, his power.

He could have sent 100 soldiers with him to get him to forcefully come. Instead, he recognizes Christ. The Bible doesn't describe who he is. It doesn't describe the details of who he is. But the Bible does describe other Jews who are God-fearers, who didn't necessarily convert to Judaism, but they were worshipers of Yahweh.

So they were Gentiles who admired the faith of the Jews, the system of the God of the Jews, and yet they never truly converted. So this is probably one of those men, who are God-fearers, who had faith in God, but didn't convert to Judaism. In fact, this man did not love Israel because of the Jews.

In fact, remember what Paul says in Romans 2:24? He's indicting the Israelites. He said, "The name of God is blasphemed among you Gentiles "because of you." The Jews did such a poor job representing God to the nations, even though their whole calling was to magnify who God is, to represent who he is, but they did such a poor job that the Gentiles actually ended up hating God because of them.

So this man did not become a God-fearer because of them. It's despite the fact. And remember, the Jews hated the Romans. Remember we talked about a while back, the zealots actually used to carry a knife around? And so their whole thing was, if we see our enemy, we're willing to die, we're willing to kill them.

So the top of that list would have been tax collectors, and then those who supported the tax collectors, which would have been a centurion. So on the Jewish side, it would have been a tax collector, and on the Roman side, the top of that list would have been a centurion.

So imagine, despite that, despite all of that, he became a God-fearer, and he won the respect of these people. The centurion by position could have assorted authority, could have had whatever he wanted, he could have bought anything he wanted with his money, and yet he came to Jesus and he humbled himself.

So he was an accomplished man. He was a gracious, loving man. And he was even a humble man. But if we stop right here, you would miss the whole point of what's going on. You would miss the whole point of what's going on. Because Jesus was not amazed by his accomplishment.

If he was, he would have been amazed by Nicodemus. He would have been amazed by these rich people. That's not what amazed him. He wasn't amazed because of his position or his power. He wasn't amazed simply because he was a gracious man. There's plenty of gracious people who are not Christians, who are not believers.

There's a lot of humble people. That's not what amazed him. What amazed him was his faith. His faith. In Luke 7, 7-9, it says, "But just say the word, and my servant will be healed. "For I also am a man placed under authority, "with soldiers under me. "And I say to this one, 'Go,' and he goes.

"And to another, 'Come,' and he comes. "And to my slave, 'Do this,' and he does it. "Now when Jesus heard this, he marveled at him." In other words, Jesus was amazed. Imagine if it's hard for us, those of you who are in Jubilee. It's hard for us to be amazed and marveled.

I mean, yeah, I've seen it. It's like, oh, this boba is fantastic. You know, is it really better than the other 100 bobas that we've tasted? Jesus marveled, was amazed at what this man was saying, and turned and said to the crowd that was following him, "I say to you, not even in Israel "have I found such great faith." In fact, if you look into the scripture, there's two other instances where a centurion shows up.

The first instance outside of this is when Jesus is hanging on the cross. And as Jesus is suffering, being crucified, it was a centurion soldier who looked up at him and recognizes this was an innocent man that we crucified. And as the centurion, the enemy of Israel, out of his mouth comes, "This was injustice." And then we go to Acts chapter 10.

When the Holy Spirit falls upon the church and Peter falls into a deep sleep and says, "The gospel has come to the Gentiles. "Do not claim what is unclean, or clean, unclean. "If I tell you it's clean, it's clean." And God sends him to where? To the centurion's house.

So the first converts that come to Christ is a centurion. The enemy of Israel, the one who was oppressing. Now this was not by accident. Remember prior to in the address, Jesus was teaching them, "Love your enemies. "Bless those who curse you to turn the other cheek." And after the discourse happens, the first person that he encounters is the enemy of Israel.

And this enemy is the one that he commends. This enemy of Israel that he just told the nation of Israel. He said, "The reason why what I'm telling you "is difficult for you to swallow "is because your leaders are blind, and you are blind, "and they're leading you into a ditch." And then he goes to the enemy, the centurion, the people that they thought were enemies of Israel, and he was the one practicing grace and love.

This is not by accident. This was a commendation for the centurion, but this was a slap in the face to Israel. Despite him being a Gentile, despite the fact that Israel hated him, despite the fact that Israel did such a poor job representing who God is, he became a God-fearer.

And when Jesus showed up, he recognized who he is. He said, "Lord, I'm unworthy of you coming even to my house." Yet the Israelites, who had centuries after centuries of the prophets coming, telling them, they have the word of God, the spirit of God. They've seen miracles, they have generations, they have festivals implanted in their community, generation after generation after generation, and yet when the Messiah came, they didn't recognize him.

This was an indictment against the nation of Israel, as much as it is an amazement for this man's faith. You and I are in the same danger. As the Israelites. Because there's no other generation that has been more privileged with the truth than me and you. We have access to the greatest speakers in our generation.

In fact, my favorite preacher is Martin Lloyd-Jones, and it's been decades since he passed away, but they have recordings of him. We have people who've lived 200, 300 years ago, and we have the writing that we can read. We can just push a button and it shows up at my house.

If I don't like reading, I can get an audible. If I don't like opening books, it'll come digitally. I can wake up three in the morning, and I'm like, "Oh, I wonder what he says about this," and I can just go online and type it, and it just pops up.

We have more access to more teaching than we have to education. It is easier to come to church, nice air-conditioned building, with nice parking, with food, everything that we need provided, and yet, and yet, constant grumbling of how we don't have enough. I remember years ago when we were coming out of China, was coming into Beijing, we were all praying because we wanna go there, we wanna plant a church, we're gonna send missionaries, so we had this great plan to do this, but because of the Communist Party, we always had to kind of do it in the background, and we couldn't freely function, so we were all praying, "Lord, use this Olympic to open the doors "so that we can come, and people would have more freedom," and then we met some of the underground church leaders, and they were reluctant to share, but they told us that they're praying that the doors would not open.

That was kind of, I knew exactly what they were saying when they said that. They said, "We don't want the doors open "'cause we don't want Western influence, "Western Christian influence coming in." They wanted finance because we have finances, we have books, we have know-hows, so they wanted that support, but they didn't want our faith.

They said the underground church was much more vibrant, much more powerful before the Westerners started coming in. Now, it's a slap in the face. We're spending all this money going out to China, and they're praying that the doors would open. Well, guess whose prayer God listened to? Their prayers were much more effective.

You and I have been exposed to so much. Let's be honest. We've gotten so spoiled. We've gotten so spoiled that if the situation just simply isn't perfect, it's like, "Well, I can't 'cause of this. "I don't have any older people here. "I don't have any younger people. "I don't know, it's too far." Our service is going, "What time is it?

"How can I come to a church?" Yet, you and I have everything that we need. You know when the church had everything that they needed for a life of godliness? In the first century. In the first century. In the first century. As soon as Jesus was crucified and was resurrected, as soon as the Holy Spirit came, they had everything that they needed for a life of godliness and the knowledge of his son, Jesus Christ, and yet, 2,000 years later, with all the books, all the translations, all the preaching, all the teaching, all the organization, all the money that you and I can possibly imagine, and yet, we are the weakest.

See, the Jews had all the privilege. Centuries. They are more privileged than anyone in history, and yet, they did not recognize Christ. That's why Jesus was amazed. In Hebrews chapter 11, six, it says, "And without faith, it is impossible to please him." Let that sink in. Without faith, it is impossible to please him.

You can work harder, but God is not pleased. You can give more, but God is not pleased. You can worship louder. You can be better organized. You can have a fantastic discipleship program, but it says, "If without faith, it is impossible to please him. For he who comes to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of those who seek him." We have a natural tendency, because we have so many resources, that we think that if we just get more resources, if we just apply ourselves more, if we just get organized a certain way, but he says, "Without faith, it is impossible to please him." Faith is not something that you can muster up.

You're not gonna wake up one day and say, "I'm just gonna have more faith today." You can't just get faith. Faith is something that requires us to come and receive by the grace of God. So if something has gone wrong, our first reaction should not be, "Let's get better organized.

Let's have more accountability. Let's have more programs." The first and the most important thing that God calls us to do is to come before him and ask him and beg him and urge him, "Increase my faith." It's because you and I have so much resources that we think that if we pour more resources, more right people, more training, that we can get this done.

It is not something that you and I can do by our own power. Is that something new to us? No, it's because we have the resources, so much resources. More than 99.9999% of any Christian who has ever lived, you and I have access to more than that than any Christian who has ever lived.

And yet we are the most prayerless. We're the most prayerless. Because we think that if we apply ourselves more, if we just do more, if we just give more, if we just read more, if we just organize more, Jesus wasn't amazed by his accomplishment. He wasn't amazed because he had good character.

He was amazed because of his great faith. It was his faith that made him great. It was his faith that made him loving. It was his faith that made him humble. An accomplished man without faith is an arrogant man. A powerful man without faith becomes a tyrant. Someone who has the great standing, who is very wealthy, becomes a very proud and oppressive person without faith.

Without faith. In fact, you can see it the other way. The opposite is also true. A man who hasn't accomplished much without faith is a depressed man. A man who had goals and didn't quite reach it and doesn't have the kind of money that other people do is an anxious man.

(silence) Somebody who measures with other people and they don't quite measure up, and they are a depressed man without faith. What amazed Jesus was not his accomplishment. It was his faith. I'm gonna read you, this is a quote of a quote of J.C. Riles on faith, but it's, I want, 'cause I think he articulates it so well.

I wanna read the whole thing to you. In walking with God, a man will go just as far as he believes and no further. His life will always be proportioned to his faith. His peace, his patience, his course, his zeal, his works, all will be according to his faith.

Riles then catalogs a number of great Christians such as John Wesley and George Whitefield and Robert Murray McChain, pointing out that it was faith that made them great. Some might say that it was prayer that strengthened them, to which Riles replies, why did they pray so much? Simply because they had much faith.

What is prayer but faith speaking to God? Others might account their success to diligence and labor to which he responds. What is Christian diligence but faith at work? Perhaps it was his boldness, but what is Christian boldness but faith honestly doing its duty? If then we desire to be pleasing to God and useful to those around us, Riles commends to us faith.

Faith is the root of real Christian character. Let your root be right and your fruit will soon abound. Let me say that again. Let your root be right and your fruit will soon abound. Your spiritual prosperity will always be according to your faith. He that believeth shall not only be saved, but shall never thirst, shall overcome, shall be established, shall walk firmly on waters of this world, and shall do great works.

Everything that we do must be because of our faith. Without faith, hard work naturally becomes pride. Without faith, your success becomes arrogance. Without faith, all your achievements, all your fruits becomes a source of judgment to other people. That's why he was amazed. Why didn't Israel, after everything, after all the benefits that they had, and yet this centurion who had nothing, despite the poor witness, despite centuries of not having a witness, how did he recognize?

In Luke chapter 17 through to five, I want you to pay very close attention to this because he reiterates what Jesus just said. Be on your guard if your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him, and if he sins against you seven times a day, returns to you seven times saying, I repent, forgive him.

Now, that's what Jesus was saying, right, before in his discourse. Turn the other cheek, bless those who curse you, love your enemies. Jesus says that to his disciples, and look at the response. The apostle said to the Lord, increase our faith. They didn't ask the question, Lord, how do we do that?

What do we do? Right? Well, get together with other people and have accountability. Ask them five questions. Did you do this? Who are the people that you have a hard time loving? Make a list of them, and then make sure, like give five action items to go down the list, and then go and make sure you take care of this.

Read some books together. Lord, how do I turn the other cheek? How do I love my enemy? I can not hit them back. I can try not to speak evil of them, but how do I love them? How do I love them when everything in my heart hates them?

How do I just turn that off? So the apostles, when they heard this from Jesus, they knew what Jesus was asking them was impossible. That's why they returned and asked him, Lord, increase our faith. Until we open our eyes to see that Jesus is much more beautiful than anything else, how can you possibly love your enemy?

How can you possibly desire the best for them? What discipline, what organization, what teaching, what book are you gonna read to love somebody who is there to hurt you? The only way that a natural man could possibly do this is he opens his eyes and he sees that the reward coming with Christ is greater than any damage that this man could do, that I begin to see the sinner through the lens of Christ, that I begin to see him with compassion as Jesus saw compassion with me.

And only a man who has faith and seeing things through the eyes of his faith, of the treasure of Christ, can even contemplate, even entertain the thought of loving somebody that is difficult to love. That's why the apostles, in response to that, says, increase my faith. He didn't say, how do I do it?

What people do I need to, what discipler do I need to get? Lord, increase my faith. In other words, this is impossible for me. Second Thessalonians 1.3, it says, we ought always to give thanks to God for you, brethren, as is only fitting because your faith is greatly enlarged and the love for each one of you toward one another grows ever greater.

You noticed here, he says, that their love is growing because of what? Because their faith is increasing. Because their faith is increasing. Christianity isn't about being better organized. A man who has great faith, but little knowledge, is much more powerful than a man who has studied and experienced all his life and yet has little faith.

We don't gain right standing with God because of our hard work. Our prayers are not powerful because we know better theology. We're not more effective. We don't bear more fruit because we try harder than other people, because we sacrifice more than other people. It is by faith. By faith.

It's because we believe. We obey because we believe. We worship because we believe. We give because we believe. We share because we believe. We sacrifice, we worship, and we love because we believe. So the greatest thing that any Christian can do, the greatest thing, the most important, not the only thing, but the greatest thing that a Christian can do is to beseech the Lord of the harvest, is to pray.

To pray. Before you organize, before you read, before you implement, before you proclaim, is to come before the Lord and to pray. I believe. Lord, help my unbelief. Open my eyes. Open my eyes. The things that I sing about, the things that I know, that it will become more real to me.

Yeah, we believe it. We confess it. But as soon as the service is over, as soon as we get back into our life, it doesn't seem real. It just seems like wishful thought. And because of that, we're constantly struggling to not to love the things of this world because it's never become rubbish.

It just become things that we shouldn't do. But only when you are able to see Christ in the eyes of faith, in light of the surpassing knowledge of knowing Jesus Christ, it becomes rubbish because of our faith. Because we're able to see heaven in our faith. We're able to see his glory in faith.

We're able to see his deep love when we have faith. What amazed Jesus was not his character, was not his sacrifice, was not his accomplishments, but his faith. Shouldn't that be our greatest pursuit? Shouldn't that be our greatest desire? Shouldn't that be our greatest prayer request? Lord, I believe, help my unbelief, increase my faith.

Let's pray. Father, increase our faith. Lord, we struggle with our flesh. We struggle to sacrifice. We struggle to be sober. We struggle with the entanglements of this world, with foolish pleasures, Lord God, that we know will pass and will mean nothing, and yet we are so tempted week to week.

Open our eyes to see the glory that you have already given us. Increase our faith, Lord. Help us, Lord God. Help us, Lord God, that we would become men and women of great faith, that because we believe you, that we would love you, we would worship you, and that we would obey you.

Lord, increase our faith. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. Let's all stand up for the closing praise. (congregation applauding) (gentle music) Sing, "Ode to Sea." ♪ Ode to sea, the dawn ♪ ♪ Of the darkest day ♪ ♪ Christ on the road to Calvary ♪ ♪ Tried by sinful men ♪ ♪ Torn and beaten then ♪ ♪ Nailed to a cross of wood ♪ ♪ This the power of the cross ♪ ♪ The cross Christ became ♪ ♪ Sent for us ♪ ♪ Took the blame ♪ ♪ Wore the wrath we stand forgiven ♪ ♪ And the cross ♪ ♪ Ode to sea ♪ ♪ Ode to sea, the pain ♪ ♪ Written on your face ♪ ♪ Buried the awesome weight of sin ♪ ♪ Every bitter thought ♪ ♪ Every evil deed ♪ ♪ The crowning of bloodstained brow ♪ ♪ This the power of the cross ♪ ♪ Christ became ♪ ♪ Sent for us ♪ ♪ Took the blame ♪ ♪ Wore the wrath we stand forgiven ♪ ♪ And the cross ♪ (gentle music) - Now the daylight.

♪ Now the daylight flees ♪ ♪ Now the ground beneath ♪ ♪ Quakes as its maker ♪ ♪ Bows his head ♪ ♪ Curtain torn in two ♪ ♪ Dead are raised to life ♪ ♪ Finish the victory cry ♪ ♪ This the power of the cross ♪ ♪ Christ became ♪ ♪ Sent for us ♪ ♪ Took the blame ♪ ♪ Wore the wrath we stand forgiven ♪ ♪ And the cross ♪ - Note to sea my name.

♪ Note to sea my name ♪ ♪ Written in the wounds ♪ ♪ Born to your son ♪ ♪ I am free ♪ ♪ Death is crushed to death ♪ ♪ Life is mine to live ♪ ♪ One to your selfless love ♪ ♪ This the power of the cross ♪ ♪ Son of God ♪ ♪ Sling for us ♪ ♪ What a life ♪ ♪ What a cross we stand forgiven ♪ ♪ And the cross ♪ - This the power.

♪ This the power of the cross ♪ ♪ Son of God ♪ ♪ Sling for us ♪ ♪ What a life ♪ ♪ What a cross we stand forgiven ♪ ♪ And the cross ♪ ♪ Son of God ♪ - Let's pray. Now the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the fellowship, and the intercession of the Holy Spirit, and the eternal deep, deep love of God the Father, rest, restore, encourage, build, and challenge those who have come to worship your name in spirit and in truth.

I pray Lord God that you would increase our faith, that we would live to worship you, to honor you, to obey you, and bear fruit for you wherever you send us this week. In Jesus name we pray, amen. ♪ God sends his son ♪ ♪ They called him Jesus ♪ ♪ He came to love ♪ ♪ He lived for good ♪ ♪ He lived and died ♪ ♪ To buy my pocket ♪ ♪ An empty grave is there to ♪ ♪ My Savior lives ♪ ♪ Because he lives ♪ ♪ I can face tomorrow ♪ ♪ Because he lives ♪ ♪ All fear is gone ♪ ♪ Because I know ♪ ♪ He holds the future ♪ ♪ And life is worth the living ♪ ♪ Just because he lives ♪ ♪ Faced the whole earth with holy thunder ♪ ♪ And Jesus breathed ♪ - If some of you guys can help us, just grab the chairs, you know, take that stuff on the top, if you can just move it aside, and then if you can help us with the chairs.

Also, I found out that, Helen, what was the name? The Samaritan Purse, those of you who signed up for that, they said that they're all fulfilled so they don't need help, so that event is no longer necessary. Okay. ♪ That you would take my place ♪ ♪ That you would bear my cross ♪ ♪ You laid down your life ♪ ♪ That I would be set free ♪ ♪ For you ♪ ♪ Jesus, I sing for all that you've done for me ♪ (upbeat music)