Sermon Transcript
“Depend on My Authority”: Sermon Transcript
(Matthew 8:5–13)
June 7, 2026
Introduction
All right, guys, we are back in Matthew 8 today. We are in Matthew 8:5–13. So, we have finished through the Sermon on the Mount. The Sermon on the Mount takes place in chapters 5 through 7. At the end of the Sermon on the Mount, it says in Matthew 7:28, “When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were astonished at His teaching, because He was teaching them like one who had authority, and not like their scribes” (Matt 7:28–29). The theme of authority is exactly what we find in the next two chapters of Matthew. Today, we’re going to focus specifically on Jesus’s supreme authority over all of life.
So, rise with me as we read Matthew 8:5–13.
“When he entered Capernaum, a centurion came to him, pleading with him, “Lord, my servant is lying at home paralyzed, in terrible agony.”
He said to him, “Am I to come and heal him?”
“Lord,” the centurion replied, “I am not worthy to have you come under my roof. But just say the word, and my servant will be healed. For I too am a man under authority, having soldiers under my command. I say to this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes; and to my servant, ‘Do this!’ and he does it.”
Hearing this, Jesus was amazed and said to those following him, “Truly I tell you, I have not found anyone in Israel with so great a faith. I tell you that many will come from east and west to share the banquet with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. But the sons of the kingdom will be thrown into the outer darkness where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” Then Jesus told the centurion, “Go. As you have believed, let it be done for you.” And his servant was healed that very moment.” (Matthew 8:5–13, CSB)
This is the word of the Lord. You may be seated.
Holy Spirit, I pray that You would come. Wash over this place, wash over this preacher. Fill my mind with all the words that You want spoken to Your people. Father, people have come to hear You speak, not me. These people want a word from God, and You are fully capable because You have all authority. Say the words, Lord, and it will be done. You are our chief shepherd. We submit to You as our King, but also as our friend. You are our Lord, but You are also the one who loves us. Please be with Your people today. Help me to do justice to this text. I pray that You would repeatedly remind us to submit to You as King in obedience, out of love for You, and to do it with great faith. Let us never forget our calling, our call to be ambassadors, because You have delegated Your authority to us. I pray that broken hearts would be healed today. I pray that doubting hearts would be filled with faith today. I pray that weak hearts would be strengthened, that feeble minds would be built up , and that our believers who are in this house today would be encouraged to know that they have the authority of Christ to dispel all demonic activity in their life. For those who are under the weight and the chains of addiction to dark things, they have the freedom, because they have the authority of Christ in them, to break the bondage that lays over their lives. Be with us today, Lord Jesus, and help us to learn from You. In Your name I pray, amen.
There comes a time in every believer’s life where you will be tested, and you will be tested mightily if He loves you. Let me say that again: you will be tested mightily if the Lord loves you. You might say to yourself, “Well, preacher, that sounds backwards. If the Lord loves me, He’ll make it easy”. That is not true. The greatest times of fellowship with your Maker will always be those times where your knees are bleeding because you’re praying so hard. You will taste and see the goodness of God when your cheeks are wet with your own tears (Ps 34:8). He will open the door for pain so that you can fly in the sky of pleasure.
I am so grateful that the Lord tests us. People will endure sickness in your life because the Lord is opening the door for you to pray and implore Him. And when you do, do it with great faith. Do it as the centurion does today, and you will see God move mightily.
And this is where we find ourselves. We find ourselves looking at the centurion story. Make no doubt, Matthew put this in here for us to see the faith of the centurion, for us to mimic his faith. The way he looks at Jesus, the way he speaks about Jesus, the way he speaks to Jesus, relies on Him—all of it is meant to be behavior that is modeled for us to mimic.
Our text begins in verse 5, where it says He enters into Capernaum. Capernaum is the city where Jesus likely sets up His home base for ministry, because according to Matthew 4:13, it says He went to go live in Capernaum. So, He’s in this town where He’s doing ministry. He has just finished the Sermon on the Mount, and in verses 1 through 4 of chapter 8, we see that He cleanses a man with leprosy. But now we see a peculiar figure come to Jesus: it’s a centurion.
Kingdom citizens implore Jesus for help in this life (5-6)
The centurion works for the Roman government. We must understand that him working for Rome is what makes this such a peculiar story. If you feel like you don’t belong, then you’re going to love this story. If you feel like you don’t deserve God’s help, you’re going to love this story. If you think that you’re broken, you’re going to love this one.
You see, the centurion worked for the Roman government, and the Jews hated the Roman government at this point. At first, they were their friends because they helped them before Christ. The Roman government kind of helped the Jewish people come from under the thumb of the Syrians during the Maccabean period. But now, the Roman government has expanded its authority and its power, so much so that the Jewish identity is being threatened. The Roman government expected their people to worship the emperor. Wherever the empire was spread, emperor worship was expected. They did give a pass to the Jewish people, though. But what they didn’t give the Jewish people a pass from was military presence. Rome basically ran the area of Judea and Israel.
Can you imagine on your street seeing tanks roll through the street with a Russian flag painted on it or a Chinese flag painted on it? This is essentially what the centurion represents to the Jewish people when he shows up on the scene. He belongs to the enemy, but our Savior has just preached a sermon where He said, “Love your enemies” (Matt 5:44). Well, He’s going to illustrate for you right now that He is a preacher that practices what He preaches.
But we must also understand that when the centurion comes to Jesus, he is exhibiting an immense amount of humility. In order to serve as a centurion in the Roman military, you have to swear allegiance to the emperor of Rome, and you have to do it in a way that recognizes that the emperor is god. And yet, this centurion shows up on the scene and he calls Jesus, “Lord”.
Centurions had a lot of reasons to be humble, because their lives were broken as well. You see, I don’t think a lot of people realize how difficult it was to live life as a centurion. They made an oath for twenty years of service. We have four-year service contracts; they had twenty. And it was against the Roman military rules for them to be married and have a family. Twenty years of singleness. And to make sure that they didn’t build relationships by accident because they were leaving a bar and found a pretty lady, they forced these men to move from one troop to the next so that they could never lay down roots. Serving as a centurion in the Roman military was a very hard job, and it was very lonely. The only family they would have had would be the servants that they hired.
So, when this centurion has his little servant boy get sick, it’s like losing a family member. He says that this servant is valuable to him, but what you must understand, he’s not saying this servant is valuable because he cost him a lot of money. In fact, a servant would only cost about two percent of a centurion’s annual salary, so it wasn’t a monetary reason. The centurion genuinely loved this servant, and he wanted to see him healed.
So, this centurion approaches the only thing he has a last glimmering hope in: a Jewish man. The Romans would have seen the Jews as just dogs—no respect for them. And yet, this man approaches what his own people would say is politically, socially, and culturally suicidal.
This is the kind of test that God calls us to. You are going to be tested by your Savior and your God, if He loves you, to lay everything you have on the line. All your political currency, your social currency. And guys, right now, most of you are from a generation where it was commonplace and expected to pray in school. It did not cost you anything. Those days in America are over. Now, your children, your grandchildren, and some of you, your great-grandchildren, you must understand that when you are asking them to come to church, you are also asking them to give up their friends, to give up their music, to give up everything that they think makes them part of a community. Asking today’s youth in America to become a part of a church and to call themselves a Christian is to do what this centurion is doing. He’s going against the grain, and he’s laying his entire career on the line.
He comes to Jesus, and it says that he implores Him. This is tantamount to begging. I don’t know if you’ve ever even been in a situation where you’ve had to beg anyone. I mean, I’ve been on my knees begging God for things in my prayer closet for sure. This man’s doing it out in the open. Can you imagine the humiliation? But he sees Jesus as the answer. Do you? Do you recognize that Jesus is the answer to marriage struggles, health struggles, addiction struggles? Do you get on your knees and implore Jesus?
Here’s the thing. Jesus says that this centurion represents what will be in the Kingdom at the end of days. He says that there will be people coming from east and west, meaning non-Jews. These are Gentiles that will be in the Kingdom, as our sister Torie read this morning in Isaiah 25. What the centurion is exhibiting are the credentials for you to enter the kingdom of heaven. And that’s why the first point is: Kingdom citizens implore Jesus for help in this life.
You might go to the doctor and ask the doctor for help, but that’s the secondary line. You go to the doctor because you think Jesus might use your doctor, not because the doctor is a backup plan in case Jesus doesn’t do what you ask. Jesus is your doctor, and you just don’t put Him in a box. If He chooses to use a human doctor to answer those prayers, so be it. But you must have faith in Jesus alone. Implore Jesus. So, we implore Jesus just like this centurion, and we do that for help in this life.
Kingdom citizens humbly recognize Jesus’ supreme authority to help in all of life (7-8)
But when the centurion does it, he does it by humbly recognizing something in Jesus, which is our next point: Kingdom citizens humbly recognize Jesus’ supreme authority to help in all of life.
That’s what sets the centurion apart. He wields the power here in the eyes of man. The centurion has political and military power over the Jewish people. He had every reason to command and bark orders at this carpenter. But that’s not what he does. In verse 6, he calls Him, “Lord”.
Now, the word kyrios in Greek can either be taken as “sir”—you know, just a polite address, so he could be saying, “Heal him, sir”—or kyrios can also be taken as a divine title. He’s recognizing that Jesus is the God of the Old Testament. Now, why would that be the case, if that is the case? I’m going to argue that he is not calling Jesus “sir,” but he’s recognizing that this is the God of salvation from the Hebrew prophets.
How would a Gentile Roman soldier know that this is the Lord, or even know about the Lord of the Old Testament, the Hebrew Bible? First of all, in Luke 7:4–5, the parallel text to this text, in Luke’s account, it says that the people of the region tell Jesus, “Please heal his servant. This man deserves it. He loves the Jewish people. He even funded the synagogue to be constructed in our area”. So, this isn’t just a centurion from Rome; this is a centurion who loves the Jewish people and has invested in their place of worship. He helped build a synagogue that he wouldn’t even be allowed to enter. So, he must have some kind of affection for the God of the Jewish people.
But also, when he says, “All You need to do is say a word and my boy will be healed,” he’s recognizing that Jesus has authority over death. Because in Luke’s account, it says more than just that this boy is in agony; it says this boy is nearing death (Luke 7:2). So, the centurion sees that Jesus has power over death. So, which of these two uses of kyrios fits? Is he calling Him sir, or is he recognizing this is the Lord of all creation? I think it’s Lord of all creation. And that’s the kind of authority that we must recognize when we go to the Lord. He has authority over death itself.
Now, when the centurion comes on the scene, you’ll notice he doesn’t make a direct request to Jesus. He does implore Him, but he just says in verse 6, “Lord, my servant is lying at home paralyzed in terrible agony”. A lot of times, my wife likes to make requests like this known to me in just statements: “The trash is full”. A good husband will say, “I’ll get right on it, honey”. An idiot husband will say, “How about that?” Don’t ask me if I’ve ever said that. That’s what the centurion does here: “My boy is sick, Jesus”. And Jesus puts him in a corner that forces him to make the request. You might have noticed this in your spouse. Your spouse is just listing things off, and sometimes, you know, I can be as dense as a concrete wall. And so I’ll just say, “Honey, are you asking me to do something? Just be outright in front with it, right?”
Well, Jesus does that to the centurion. Some English translations don’t translate Jesus’s response as a question. And the reason is that this is in the future Greek tense. The future Greek tense could be taken sometimes as a statement or as a question. So, some English translations just say that Jesus says, “I will come and heal him”. But most scholars that I’ve read take the future tense here to be what’s called a deliberative future. That means it’s formed as a question. I think that’s what Jesus is doing. You see, the man says, “My boy is sick,” but there’s no request there. So Jesus responds with, “I hear your boy is sick. Are you asking me a question? Shall I come and heal him?”
The man has already approached Jesus with humility, but Jesus pushes him even further, to the extreme of humility, and forces a Roman centurion to ask a Jewish carpenter to heal his boy. The Lord will sometimes do that to us. He will push you to the breaking point, because there is nowhere better to be than absolute and total dependence on your Savior.
I know I don’t want to make this about me. I’m only thirty-seven, but I’ve been at the breaking point three or four times in my life. I’ve been at the breaking point. There were struggles in our marriage, there were struggles with medical issues, struggles with addiction, and struggles finding a job. “Lord, I don’t see the way out. What are we going to do?” And He just puts you in the place where you’re just utterly dependent, where you say, “If You don’t do it, I’m done”. If you are there in anything in your life today, you are in a great spot, because you will see God move in a way that people who have everything handed to them will not. And I would rather see God move in my life than just have everything handed to me.
The difference [in gift giving] between God and a genie is just pain. Let that sink in: the difference [in gift giving] between God and a genie is pain. It is only because God lets you experience pain that He does not just turn into a genie in your life. God still answers your prayers, but He does it with pain, so you don’t treat Him like a genie; you treat Him as God. That’s the difference between those two: pain, tests.
And like I told somebody this week—this hit me, you know, sometimes the Spirit of God just whops you over the side of the head with a nugget of wisdom, and you have no idea where that came from, you just know it didn’t come from you. He hit me with that this week. I was counseling a guy and we were talking about dependence and feeling insufficient. And I realized that what the world calls inadequacy, or what the enemy calls inadequacy, God calls dependency. You’re going to feel inadequate in life. “I don’t feel like I’m up to it.” You’re going to feel like you’re coming up short, that it’s just not in you. And then we let the enemy tell us that we’re idiots and weaklings. But what the enemy calls inadequate, God just calls dependent. When you feel inadequate, you’re exactly where you need to be because you need to be dependent.
So, that’s where the centurion is. He humbly recognizes that he’s inadequate, but God is fully sufficient. He just needs to rely on Him. And Jesus pushes him into the corner to recognize, “I just need to ask”. And sometimes that’s just what you need to do: “Lord, if You can heal him, just say the word. Will You please heal him?” And then you just wait. You trust that He does what is best for you. If He doesn’t answer your request, it’s not because He’s not real, and it’s not because He doesn’t love you; it’s because He has something better for you. We just have to trust that.
Now, the centurion responds to Jesus when He says, “Shall I come and heal him?” The centurion says, “No, wait, I’m not worthy for that”. That’s a position a lot of Christians really need to embrace. We need to recognize that we don’t even deserve a relationship with God. I think a lot of times we take that for granted—just how holy and magnificent God truly is, and how gracious He is to permit us into His presence. It’s an immense amount of love and grace for that to happen.
This centurion gets it. He tells Him, “I am not worthy for You to enter my house”. John the Baptist said something similar when he was in the Jordan River baptizing people: “I baptize you with water, but the One who is coming after me will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. I’m not even worthy to untie the sandals on His feet” (Matt 3:11, John 1:27). What they would have considered the dirtiest part of a man: “I cannot even touch His sandals”. There’s another story in the Scriptures in Matthew 15, where we see a Gentile woman who is begging for her daughter to be healed. And He says, “I’ve come to bless the people of Israel” (Matt 15:24). And she responds, “But even the dogs are permitted to pick up the crumbs on the floor” (Matt 15:27). She compares herself to a dog.
And then my favorite is Luke 18. In Luke 18:9, listen to this:
“He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and looked down on everyone else: “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee was standing and praying like this about himself: ‘God, I thank you that I’m not like other people—greedy, unrighteous, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give a tenth of everything I get.’
“But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even raise his eyes to heaven but kept striking his chest and saying, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner!’ I tell you, this one went down to his house justified rather than the other, because everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”” (Luke 18:9–14, CSB)
That’s the disposition of the centurion.
Therefore, this man is humble, but he also recognizes that Jesus has supreme authority. He tells Jesus, “I don’t need You to come into my house. I know what kind of authority and power You have”. Do you recognize that Jesus has that kind of authority in your life, that you can say with the centurion, “Jesus, just say the word and it’s done”? In verse 8, he says, “I’m not worthy… just say the word”. In Greek, it’s even shorter. I love it. He says, “logō”—with a word. With a word, it can be done, Jesus.
And in fact, that’s what Jesus does in verse 16 of this same chapter : “When evening came, they brought to Him many who were demon-possessed. He drove out the spirits with a word and healed all who were sick” (Matt 8:16). With a word. “Go,” and the demons flee. That’s the authority that Jesus has.
And the centurion says—I love the way he does this—he says that he is a man who has authority given to him; he’s a man under authority. He’s under the authority of someone else, and even he is able to say to people, “Go,” and they do this, or “Come,” and fetch that, and it all happens. “So with me, who is under the authority of the Roman Empire as a man, then surely You can just say, ‘Be healed,’ and You’ll heal him long-distance”. Do you see the majesty in that? He has absolute faith and trust. He does not waver. Oh, that we would have that kind of unshakable faith in the Lord! He recognizes that Jesus has authority over life, death, and disease.
The theme of authority, like I said, is being developed in Matthew 8–10. After this, we’re going to see how Jesus is Lord over creation, because the wind and the seas obey Him (Matt 8:27). We’re going to see that He has authority in Matthew 9:6 to forgive sins. And He is not just keeping the authority to Himself, either. We see in chapter 10, He commissions His disciples with the authority that He has to cast out demons and to heal the sick (Matt 10:1). And it’s not just the twelve that He commissions with authority. He says in the Great Commission, which is our mantra and our identity in this Church, He says, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me. Therefore, go and make disciples…” (Matt 28:18–19). Do you hear that? Go. He has authority. Go and make disciples because Jesus has received all authority from the Father.
Eternal life in the Kingdom depends on faith, not family (10-12)
So, Kingdom citizens humbly recognize that Jesus has supreme authority to help in all of life, and as a result, we get the promise of eternal life. But something that we must understand is that eternal life in the Kingdom depends on faith, not your family members. All too often, people will say, “Yeah, I believe in Jesus,” and all they mean by that is, “My grandma goes to church. She told me about Jesus as a kid. I believe He’s real”. That will not get you into the kingdom of heaven. It is only the fact that this man exhibited absolute faith in the total, supreme authority of Jesus that gets him into the kingdom of heaven. Jesus says that it’s not their family that is helping them get there.
You might be saying, “Well, Josh, I don’t see that.” He says in verse 12, “the sons of the kingdom…”. He also says in verse 10, “I have not found anyone in Israel with so great a faith”. But He says it’s not Israel that He’s going to see dining at the table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Rather, it’s people coming from the east and the west—non-Jewish people who are exhibiting the faith of the centurion. That’s why the point in your bulletin is: eternal life in the Kingdom depends on total faith, not family. And we have to remember, this is what we must implore to our family members who think that they are good with God just because we have taught them just enough to say, “I believe Jesus is real”. Is He your King? Do you follow His marching orders? Do you give up your life to serve Him?
But my favorite part about this section in verses 10 through 12 is that it says Jesus is amazed. Constantly we see texts in the Gospels where people are amazed at the miracles that Jesus is performing. Only two times does it say that Jesus is amazed at people: this time, and in Mark 6:6, where it says He was amazed at their unbelief. Well, here He’s amazed at the centurion’s incredible faith. It amazed Him. It left Him to marvel, to be in awe. This is what the Greek word means: to marvel at or be in awe of.
So, do not think that if you choose to have faith that God will answer your prayer, that it is insignificant. Your faith causes God to be amazed. It is awe-inspiring when God sees you believe Him. It moves Him with joy.
And it’s not just God. You want to disciple your children? Parents, show your children how much faith you have in the Lord when hardships occur. When we were looking for a church to pastor, I told my children, “We need a job. We need to be praying, because as of right now, we are going to run out of money if God doesn’t answer our prayer. But I trust God’s going to answer that prayer”. Some of you might say, “Josh, that wasn’t wise. You’re going to give that child PTSD. You’re going to have that child thinking we’ve got money problems and our home’s unstable. How dare you?” No, here’s the thing: what you don’t understand is I was absolutely certain God was going to take care of us. And I wanted our children to see how God rewards faith. I was giving them something much better than the false security that comes with a bank account. You follow me?
So, you’re going to cause God to be awe-inspired and marvel at your faith, but you’re also going to compel others. Do not be surprised if the Lord brings hardship into your life, because it may just be He wants you to demonstrate what real faith looks like to other people who don’t yet believe. Do not whine. Do not complain. Just say, “Y’all see how hard this is? Watch me. I’m telling you, this is going to turn into glory and praise”. “Oh, girl, you sound crazy”. “No, I just love Jesus and I know He loves me. Watch”.
I pray over people, and I’ll tell them, “God’s going to do something for you. You just watch”. I let them exhibit that faith. I tell people, “You know, I’m a pastor. You didn’t meet me for no reason. There’s a Man who wants you here. That means that something’s wrong in your life, because He knows I’m going to talk to you about Jesus. I’m going to pray over you today,” and then I’ll pray over them and say, “A few weeks later, watch, something’s going to happen. And when it does, you remember this conversation”. That’s the kind of faith Jesus wants us to exhibit. That’s the faith of the centurion.
And it comes with blessings in the next life. These are the people who are blessed to dine at the table with the patriarchs: Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. In the next life, there’s going to be a banquet table, and God’s going to be preparing the food. I hope it’s steak. But we’re going to enjoy all of this beautiful food that’s going to be provided by divine hands , and we’re going to eat with only people who recognize Jesus as King today. Oh, that glorious day!
But what of the people who do not recognize Jesus as King over their lives today? They will be thrown into outer darkness where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth. It has become uncool to talk about hell as Christians in modern America, and I am telling you, if it’s not cool, then it’s burning hot. That’s exactly what happens when we do not remind people that hell is real. Jesus is not afraid to tell people, if He is not your King, you will be in a place where you will burn, and there won’t even be light in the flame. It will be excruciatingly painful, and there will be no light, no joy, no relief.
Why? Because by not bowing a knee to Jesus as your King today, you are committing Kingdom insurrection. You are trying to overthrow Him every waking moment you do not submit to Him. It’s treason. And all treasonous people, all traitors, deserve the death penalty. That’s what happens for those who do not exhibit absolute faith in their King. But we get the blessing of dining at the table with the patriarchs.
Kingdom citizens are blessed in this life (13)
And not just that; we have more than just the blessing of the next life, we also get the blessing of this life. That’s our next point: Kingdom citizens are blessed in this life.
What Jesus responds to the centurion with are some of the sweetest words I hope to hear: “Go. As you have believed, let it be done for you”. Here’s what I want you to remember: Mark 11:24. This has been one of the most fruitful verses I’ve memorized in the last year. “Therefore I tell you, everything you pray and ask for—believe that you have received it, and it will be yours” (Mark 11:24, CSB ). Believe that you have received it—past tense—and it will be yours. Do you pray with that kind of faith? “Jesus, You just say the word, and it will be done. I’m asking You, please do this for me.” It’s done.
But remember that Jesus says to pray in His name. Maybe you don’t know this, but doing anything in the name of a king means that the king approves of the action or the words. If today I speak in the name of King David, every word that comes from your mouth at that point, you’re saying that it’s almost as if King David said it himself. So, by praying in Jesus’ name, that means that you are praying prayers that Jesus approves of. You cannot pray for a Maserati, not receive it, and then say, “See, Jesus isn’t real”. But when you pray according to the will of God, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.
This happened for me when our daughter was sick. She was sick at two or three years old, and she was dying—no doubt about it. The doctors could not figure out what was wrong with her. She had a fever every day for over a month, and doctors had no idea where this fever was coming from. Now, this is the girl who is going to climb a tree. We genuinely considered putting a net over her crib because she was climbing out so early. We built little fences in the living room because we couldn’t stop her. She moved so fast and climbed so hard, and now she’s, you know, one week away from doing a triple axel on the ice. So, this is the girl who is always healthy, and here she just sat flat on the couch. We knew she was dying. Doctors had no idea what was going on.
And we just kept praying, and we kept praying, and we kept praying. I was terrified. I cannot say that I embraced it in the same way the centurion did. But the Lord was good. He showed up when the church elders came over, and they obeyed the verse in James. It says, “Is anyone among you sick? He should call for the elders of the church, and they are to pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord” (James 5:14, CSB). So, they anointed her with oil, and the next day was the first day she didn’t have a fever. Two days later, we got a report from the doctor saying they found staph in her lungs. And then she was healed within just a few weeks because they knew exactly what medicine to give her. The faith act was in inviting the elders to come and pray.
I’m not going to lie, Flock, I love y’all, but I find out through so-and-so that you’re sick and you’re not even asking us to pray over you. God is able to heal you. We just need to ask. So, let’s embrace the faith of the centurion and obey God’s will, submitting to Him and loving all the authority He has, believing that He loves us enough to use that authority to help us.
Conclusion
Father, I thank You so much for the gift of faith, for the gift of Your authority that presides over us and blesses us to accomplish Your will as Your ambassadors on earth. Help us to believe and trust Your authority in all areas of our lives. Your authority is not a group of shackles and chains; it is a gift and a blessing for us, Lord. We love You, and we praise You. In Jesus’ name, amen.