1 Thessalonians 5:18 (MSG)
16-18 Be cheerful no matter what; pray all the time; thank God no matter what happens. This is the way God wants you who belong to Christ Jesus to live.
Matthew 8:5-10a,13 (NLT)
The Faith of a Roman Officer
5 When Jesus returned to Capernaum, a Roman officer[a] came and pleaded with him, 6 “Lord, my young servant[b] lies in bed, paralyzed and in terrible pain.”
7 Jesus said, “I will come and heal him.”
8 But the officer said, “Lord, I am not worthy to have you come into my home. Just say the word from where you are, and my servant will be healed. 9 I know this because I am under the authority of my superior officers, and I have authority over my soldiers. I only need to say, ‘Go,’ and they go, or ‘Come,’ and they come. And if I say to my slaves, ‘Do this,’ they do it.”
10 When Jesus heard this, he was amazed. Turning to those who were following him, he said, “I tell you the truth, I haven’t seen faith like this in all Israel!
Transcript
(Transcribed by TurboScribe)
We're ending our series on prayer today, and starting a new series next week. The new series will be called, At the Right Time. You'll have to come listen to know what it's all about, but gonna have some fun with that.
That's a four-part series that we're doing, kind of just before we hit the summer. And then I'm gonna be gone, I'm gonna leave you alone, and you'll have some other people that'll preach for you. Lord, thank you for your word.
Thank you that the word always speaks into our lives, calls us to that moment to stand before you and ask, so, so Lord, what do you ask of me? In this morning, as always, we pray. We want to see Jesus. And only Jesus.
The road of life can sometimes be long and hard, right? Especially when we hit those lonely, those desolate, those broken sections that seem to just kind of go on and on and on. And all you have is prayer. But it's also true that even the most desolate road will sometimes have its moments of beauty and comfort and care.
Maybe you'll find it sitting in the shade on a hot summer's day and just being alone for a moment and being able to speak your heart with the Lord. Just talk to him about everything in your life. Maybe it's in finding that solution for a problem that's been bugging you for so long and you've been struggling with so long.
And all of a sudden, there's the solution that you've been waiting for. Maybe it's in an answered prayer when a prodigal son or daughter finally returns home. No, the thing is this.
It is easy to be grateful and to give thanks when things are going well, things are working out for you. But it's a little more difficult to say a prayer of thanks when life is hard and things are difficult and you're struggling. So how do we do that? How do we live that? That first congregation that I told you about this morning was huge.
But the cool thing about that congregation was it was 4,000 members strong. Just, it's crazy. The average age was 43.
So that's why I baptised 23 babies. You'll understand now. So we didn't have a lot of senior folks there, but there was one beautiful, beautiful lady in that church.
75 years old. I think she was one of the oldest members in the church. 75.
The most godly, God-fearing, Christ-following person that you could ever meet in your life sold out to the Lord Jesus. It just radiated from her. Served the Lord with everything in her.
And then she got sick. And it was a horrible illness that there was no cure for. It just sucked the life out of her.
And we just saw this just going down until at some stage she was bedridden. I would often go visit her. And one day I stopped at her house and we sat talking.
I just could see it was a hard, hard day. And I said to her, I can see it's a tough day for you. She says, oh no, I've never been better.
And I said, yeah, you're a good liar like most of us. I can see that. I said, you know, your daughter called me and she said, you're not sleeping lately.
She says, yeah, that's true. I don't really sleep much at night. She says, but you know what I can do when I'm awake? I can pray.
I talk to the Lord. So every time I'm awake, I just have this wonderful time in the presence of the Lord, just talking to Him and giving my life to Him and allowing Him to speak into my life. And I sat there and boy did I have to swallow because I wanted to cry in that moment.
And I'm supposed to be this pastor guy who's there for her. I just was quiet for a little bit. And we spoke more and we read and we prayed together as we did.
When I got in that car, I bawled my eyes out. It was about five o'clock that afternoon. I got a call from her daughter.
She said, mom's gone home to be with Jesus. How do we obtain this kind of victory? How do we die with gratitude despite what's going on and the struggles and the hurts and the pains? How do we do that? How do we live that victory? Can I give you an answer? By living a life of gratitude. Listen to what the Word says.
This is not me. The Bible says this. 1 Thessalonians chapter 5 verses 16 to 18.
I'm reading from the message for you. Be cheerful no matter what. Pray all the time and thank God no matter what happens.
This is the way God wants you who belong to Christ Jesus to live. Be cheerful no matter what. Thank God no matter what happens.
This is how God wants you who belong to Jesus to live. In Scripture, giving thanks is not just something that I could decide that I want to do every now and then. In Scripture, it's written right there.
It's not a suggestion but a command. More than a hundred times you'll find it written. Give thanks to the Lord.
Give thanks to the Lord for He is good. Do not be anxious about anything but through prayer and petition and with thanksgiving. Give your requests to God over and over and over.
Give thanks. Thanks. How do we obtain that victory? By living a life of gratitude.
I think the first sin was the sin of ingratitude. Remember the story right? This man called Adam and Eve or the man called Adam and his wife Eve. They lived in this beautiful garden called Eden.
Eden that means this place of beauty and provision. God put them there and there was everything you could see, you could love, you could want, you could eat, everything. They needed nothing.
It was so beautiful that God came and just walked through this garden. That's how amazing it was. And then the snake slithered in and asked the question about a forbidden tree.
They had everything they needed. But all of a sudden Eden was not good enough. There should be more said the devil.
And ingratitude moved in like a bully on the block. Can you imagine what would have happened if gratitude won the day? If Adam and Eve scoffed at the devil and said, you get out here you snake. You have no idea.
Have you seen this place? It's got orange groves. It's got strawberry patches. It's got apple trees.
It's got blueberry bushes. It's got it all. You want a tour? Get yourself out of here.
But he hissed and he hissed and oh the hisses we hear every day. You need more. You don't have enough.
More cars, more horsepower, more money. More fame, more of this, more, more, more. Sounds like a song, doesn't it? But here's the thing.
God has given us a way to break that and to step on that thing's head. It's called gratitude. Living before the Lord with thanks no matter what.
Praying with thanksgiving no matter what. As I was preparing, I was looking for an example and I read this kind of funny, sad story. The lawyer won a case for his client and the client was really grateful for that.
And he said, can I take you out for lunch to say thank you? And then we can just square up there. I'll pay you your bill and everything is well there. But let's go for lunch and just celebrate this.
So they went for lunch, had a wonderful lunch. At the end of the lunch, the client took out of his jacket pocket a brand spanking new genuine leather wallet. And he handed that to the lawyer.
The lawyer looked at the wallet, he gave it back. He said, no, no, no, I'm sorry. My fee is $500.
Client smiled, took the wallet, opened it up. And he took out 10 $100 notes, counted out five, put five in the wallet. He gave him the wallet back, right? Don't be too quick in your assessment of God's gifts in your life.
Also in the broken and the desolate and the difficult moments. Thank God every moment, every day, I think of that woman again. It's been a tough, no, no, I'm doing well because I was in the Lord's presence.
You don't sleep. Oh, but I'm awake and I can talk to God. Don't be too quick in your assessment of God's gifts in your life.
Thank you. Father, you are good. Sermon number one.
I need help. Sermon number two. They need help.
Last week, today. Thank you. But there's one little element that still comes with that.
In the name of Jesus. Why? Another story for you. It comes from Matthew.
For this one, I need my glasses because I couldn't print it as big as the other one. Thanks, Ted. Matthew 8, 5 to 13.
When Jesus returned to Capernaum, a Roman officer came and pleaded with him. Lord, my young servant lies in bed, paralysed and in terrible pain. Jesus said, I'll come and heal him.
But the officer said, Lord, I'm not worthy to have you come into my home. Just say the word from where you are and my servant will be healed. I know this because I am under the authority of my superior officers, and I have authority over my soldiers.
I only need to say go and they go or come and they come. And if I say to my slaves, do this, they do it. When Jesus heard this, he was amazed.
And then I'm skipping to verse 13. And then Jesus said to the Roman officer, go back home because you believed it has happened. And the young servant was healed that same hour.
This Roman officer understood authority because he stood under authority, but he had authority and understood to listen to him. But when he looked at Jesus, he knew what real authority was. You don't have to come to my house.
What you have, you can stand right here and you can heal that servant. He understood the authority of Jesus. Do we? Do you know the power of the name of Jesus Christ? Do you know the authority that it has when you speak that name? Do you know that Satan and all of his devils, every time we say that name, they cringe.
When he was in their presence, you read that often. What did those devils do? Don't hurt us. Don't do this because in the name of Jesus Christ, there is so much power.
Just think about it. The Roman authority, what did they try to do? They tried to get rid of Jesus. The false religion, they tried to silence Jesus.
The devil tried to kill Jesus and they all failed. Even death couldn't hold him. He could speak a coin from the mouth of a fish.
The wind and the storm and the waves listened when he spoke. He spoke to a tree that died. He spoke to a basket and it became a banquet.
That's why we pray in the name of Jesus. Because does he not remind us, Matthew 28, 18. Anyone know what that one is? For I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth.
All authority. When we pray in the name of Jesus, we talk to our Father because of what Jesus did and because of what Jesus can do in our lives. When I pray in the name of Jesus, it's not the talisman that I'm using.
It's a declaration. Sickness is not in charge of my life. Jesus is.
The economy is not in charge. Jesus is. My grumpy old neighbour that thinks he's in charge of the world is not.
Jesus is. Because in the name of Jesus, every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that he is the Lord. And we pray in the name of Jesus.
Why do we pray? Because prayer matters. We pray because prayer is good because God is good. And when you come to those moments where you feel I don't know the words, try this.
Father, you are good. I need help. So do they.
Thank you. In Jesus' name, amen. Take a few moments, silent prayer.
Father, you are good. Your goodness and your mercy follow us all the days of our lives. Even if we tried, we could not get away from your goodness.
Many of us sit here today, Lord, and we say the words, good Father, I need help. And that might be a need for many things. Thank you that we know that you're here, that you understand, and that you are there.
But Father, there are other people too who need your help. And we pray for each other. We pray that you will hear the prayers of those that we love.
We pray that you will hear the prayers of those that we struggle to love. Thank you that you love all of us compassionately. Lord Jesus, thank you for the name above all names.
Thank you for what you are, who you are in our lives. We pray this prayer in the name of Jesus. Amen.