Harvest Pointe Christian Church, Milford Ohio is a non-denominational Christian Church (Church of Christ) on the Eastside of Cincinnati OH

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Have you ever thought about
 all the different kinds of people you meet every day?

God is such an inventive being that.
 we all have different personalities.
And I believe God made us that way
 so we can be better together.

Those of you who are married,
 aren’t you glad you’re not married to
  someone just like you?
I mean, think about it.
 Could you really put up with yourself?

But we are all different.
THINK OF ALL THE DIFFERENT KINDS OF PEOPLE
 YOU MEET EVERY DAY.

You meet people who’s favorite topic is themselves and
 people who are overly humble.

You meet people who are workaholics and
 people who are lazy.

You meet people who are bossy and
 people who can’t make a decision.

Throughout your day you meet
 people who are deeply religious and
 people who aren’t all that committed, and
 people who just haven’t thought much about the topic, and people who are atheists.

And the list could go on and on.

Even people in different professions are different.

Did you hear about
 the mathematician, the biologist and the physicist
  sitting at a street café?

While they ate they were watching people
 entering and leaving the house
  on the other side of the street.

1st they saw 2 people enter the house.

Time passes.
 After a while they notice 3 people leaving the house.

The physicist said, "The measurement wasn't accurate." The biologist said, "They must have reproduced."
The mathematician said, "If one more person enters the  house then it will be empty."

As Jesus traveled around,
 He met all kinds of people.

So in the coming weeks we want to
 see how Jesus dealt with these people
because people are people and
 you meet these same kinds of people
  in your every day life.

The first person we will meet is a Roman Centurion.
 Turn in your Bibles to Luke Chapter 7. 

Now, this whole scenario really intrigues me.

A centurion was in command of
 at least 100 Roman soldiers.

Remember.  Rome had conquered most of the world,
 including Israel.

Because they were the ones winning the wars,
 they thought they had the most powerful gods.
And of course, they viewed the puny Israelites
 like we do the atheists.
  They only had 1 God!

Roman soldiers were well known
 for being arrogant.
They thought they were the greatest thing on earth.

They would grab someone along the way and
 make them carry their stuff for a mile.

If they were walking along and
 smelled some good cooking,
they would just go into the house and help themselves.

They often robbed people.

They were the conquerors.
 They could do whatever they wanted.
And that’s why they were so hated.

Capernaum was a city in Israel.
 A Roman Centurion with his army were
  stationed there to keep the peace.

Now, keeping that in mind,
 let’s read the 1st 3 Verses.

“1When Jesus had finished saying all this in the hearing of the people, he entered Capernaum. 2There a centurion's servant, whom his master valued highly, was sick and about to die. 3The centurion heard of Jesus and sent some elders of the Jews to him, asking him to come and heal his servant.”

This Roman Centurion was radically different.
 The first indication is that
  1. He highly valued his servant.

Servants were not considered human to the Romans.
 They were a thing to be used.

They had no rights.
 A master could mistreat or even kill a slave and
  no one would say anything about it.
The slave had no rights whatsoever.

William Barclay quotes a Roman writer
 on estate management
who recommended that the farmer
 examine his implements every year and
  throw out those that are old and broken, and then
 he adds, “Do the same with your slaves.”

Slaves were not considered people to the Romans.
 So if they weren’t productive anymore,
  just get rid of them.

Yet, this Centurion greatly valued his servant.
 He thought a lot of him.

Another thing to note is found in Verse 3. 
 The Centurion had heard about Jesus.

The Centurion was in charge of keeping this town in line. 
 In typical Roman fashion he would have
  his spies everywhere.

Any one of significance would be reported.
 Spies had reported about Jesus.
That means Jesus made an instant splash in the world.

And the Centurion completely trusted his informants.
 Obviously they had reported Jesus’ miracles.
And the Centurion believed them.

He believed his spies so strongly that Verse 3 says,
 “The centurion heard of Jesus and sent some elders of the Jews to him, asking him to come and heal his servant.”

A 2nd indication that this Centurion was different was
2. He believed that Jesus could heal his servant!

Apparently he had only heard of Jesus.
 He had never met Jesus.
 He had never seen a miracle with his own eyes.

Yet, word of Jesus had reached him and
 he believed only God could do these things!

So, the Centurion “sent some elders of the Jews” to Jesus!

Wait a minute!
 Wasn’t this Roman the conquering enemy?
 Didn’t the Jews hate him with a passion?

Why would the Jewish elders of all people
 help out this Roman?

Let’s hear why from their own lips.
 Luke 7:4-5.  “4When they came to Jesus, they pleaded earnestly with him, ‘This man deserves to have you do this, 5because he loves our nation and has built our synagogue.’”

The message of the One True and Living God
 had somehow gotten through to this hardened soldier.

Israel was a political hot spot at this time.
 It would get so bad that in less than 40 years
  the Roman Legions would
   completely destroy Jerusalem.

The only soldiers stationed here were
 veterans of battles.
These men were war hardened.

Maybe it was all of the death the Centurion had seen.
Maybe it was the prospect of forgiveness and
 a God who loved him
  instead of Roman gods that were feared and
   needed to be placated. 

I don’t know, but this man had a reputation for
 loving Israel.
He had even built the synagogue,
 the local Jewish church building.

So this conqueror was loved by the conquered.
 This Centurion was special.

Now, I wonder if the Roman Centurion
 was afraid Jesus would not listen to him or his men.
Jesus was a Jew.

So to stack the cards in his favor,
 he asks the Jewish elders of the city to approach Jesus.

Maybe if the plea to heal his servant came from them,
 Jesus would listen.

The Jewish elders go to Jesus and
 they make their plea in behalf of the Roman.

How did Jesus respond?

Verse 6.  “So Jesus went with them....”

Jesus cared about people.
 He didn’t care if a person was Jewish, Roman, or what.
 He didn’t care if the person was male or female.
 Jesus didn’t care if the person was powerful or not.
Jesus simply cared about people.

And we, too, should have the same attitude of Jesus.
 We should care about people.

It doesn’t matter if the person
 lives in a mansion or a shack.

It doesn’t matter if the person
 is blue collar or white collar.

It doesn’t even matter
 what color the person bleeds
  during collage basketball season,
 blue, red, or black!

The question is, do you care about people?
 If you do, you are like Jesus.

But there is something else about this Roman Centurion
 that is simply amazing.
This will just blow you away.

Luke 7:6-7.  “6So Jesus went with them.  He was not far from the house when the centurion sent friends to say to him: ‘Lord, don't trouble yourself, for I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. 7That is why I did not  even consider myself worthy to come to you. But say the word, and my servant will be healed.’”

This is a radically different kind of man.

He is a conqueror, yet
 he embraces the nation
  he has been commissioned to keep in line.
He is a foreign ruler,
 yet, the people respect and love him.

He is a master,
 yet he cares about his slave.

And now we see that even though
 he is a powerful, wealthy man,
another indication he was different was
 3. He was humble.

It was unheard of for a Roman to be humble
 in the presence of anyone not a Roman.

And it was especially remarkable that
 he would be humble before a person he was policing!

Romans were proud.
 They were better than everybody else!

But this man felt unworthy the have Jesus in his house.
 He even felt unworthy to meet Jesus.

I wonder if this is because of all people,
 this invader of Israel
  knew who Jesus is.

Whenever a person realizes
 they are in the presence of God,
  they realize their own sinfulness.

When the godly prophet, Isaiah had a vision of God
 he wrote, in Isaiah 6:5, “‘Woe to me!’ I cried. ‘I am  ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty.’”
When the Apostle Peter 1st realized who Jesus was
 we read in Luke 5:8, “When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus’ knees and said, ‘Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!’”

I wonder if the Roman Centurion
 studied all the reports on Jesus and
  determined Jesus really is God in the flesh.

Maybe it was the Roman who concluded that
 only a God could do all the things Jesus did.

A hardened Roman soldier saw
 what many of God’s chosen people did not.

And realizing who Jesus is,
 this Roman saw his own sinfulness.
He realized he was not worthy of Jesus’ presence.
 This proud man was humbled.

So he sends others to speak for him and
 his faith is so strong that
  he believes Jesus could heal his servant
   with nothing but speaking a word.

Think about it.

For 2,000 years the Israelites
 were looking for the coming of the Messiah,
  God’s King.

The only problem was,
 that after being conquered by the Romans,
  they began looking for a King
 who would defeat the Romans
  in a physical war.

They had been looking for the wrong thing for so long
 that when Jesus actually did come,
  they did not recognize
   God’s SPIRITUAL King.

Isn’t it amazing that
 a foreigner saw what
  God’s chosen people missed?
The coming of the Messiah, Christ, the King.

Now, let’s see the perfect logic of this commander.

Verse 8.  “For I myself am a man under authority, with  soldiers under me. I tell this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and that one, ‘Come,’ and he comes. I say to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.’”

When the Centurion said, “Jump!” his men jumped!
 He knew what it was to be in command.

And the 4th indication this Roman was different is
4. The Centurion recognized the authority of Jesus.

If Jesus was really God in the flesh,
 then He didn’t have to come
  to this humble soldiers house.
All Jesus had to do was say it and it happened.

I wonder if he had read from the book of Genesis.
 Listen in awe of the authority of God.

Genesis 1
“1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the  earth....
3 And God said, ‘Let there be light,’ and there was light....
6 And God said, ‘Let there be an expanse between the  waters to separate water from water.’... And it was so....
9 And God said, ‘Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear.’
 And it was so....
11 Then God said, ‘Let the land produce vegetation....’  And it was so....
14 And God said, ‘Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark seasons and days and years....’ And it was so....
20 And God said, ‘Let the water teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth ....’ 21 So God created the great creatures of the sea and every living and moving thing with which the water teems, ... and every  winged bird....

24 And God said, ‘Let the land produce living creatures ...’ And it was so....
26 Then God said, ‘Let us make man....’
 27 So God created man...
29 Then God said, ‘I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food....’  And it was so.”

God said and it was so!
 God has but to speak,
  and it happens!

And the Centurion’s great faith
 believed Jesus had but to speak and
  his servant would be healed.

Now, let’s see Jesus’ surprising response.

Luke 7:9-10.  “9When Jesus heard this, he was amazed at him, and turning to the crowd following him, he said, ‘I tell you, I have not found such great faith even in Israel.’ 10Then the men who had been sent returned to the house and found the servant well.”

Jesus was amazed at the faith of this soldier.

The Centurion’s friends thought
 Jesus should heal his servant
  because he was generous,
but Jesus helped him because of his faith.

Hebrews 11:6.  “And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.”

Pleasing God begins with faith.

Let’s take a few minutes to learn some lessons on faith.

I. Our faith is based on evidence.

Hebrews 11:1 reads, “Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.”

In other words, if you can see it,
 it is not faith.
If you can see it, it is knowing.

People often talk about blind faith.
 They base their faith on a feeling or a whim.

Even Christians will do this.

How do you know Jesus is real?
 “Because I feel Him in my heart!”

But often that type of faith does not
 carry a person through the tough times of life. 
Feelings change.

A more powerful faith is one based upon the evidence.

When you pull out your cell phone,
 you trust it will connect with another cell phone and
  you can talk to someone else.

You don’t see your voice going through the air,
 but you believe it is happening
  based on the evidence of
   the voice responding to what you say.

It is the same with our faith in God.
 It is not blind.
It is based on the evidence.

More and more scientists are finding that
 even a 1 celled organism is
  more complicated than anything we can create.
That is evidence for a Master Designer.
 It is evidence upon which our faith is based.

No one could fake
 the prophesies about Jesus in the Old Testament.
There are too many and they are too accurate.

They are evidence that the God of the Bible is real.
 Evidence upon which we base our faith.

Geographically and historically the Bible is accurate.
 More faith-building evidence.

Just like the Centurion who never saw a miracle,
 but still believed Jesus could heal his servant
  based on the evidence of eyewitness accounts,
we cannot go back in time and
 see for ourselves,
but we have an accurate record
 written by trustworthy eyewitnesses who
  died for what they wrote.

II. Our faith demands a choice.

The Centurion did not have any special evidence
 that no one else had.
In fact, he had less than many.
 But based on that evidence he CHOSE to believe.

Faith is a matter of examining the evidence and
 choosing to believe it.

Acts 19:9 tells about some people
 that the Apostle Paul met. 
They were not people of faith like the Centurion. 

It says, “But some of them became obstinate; they refused to believe and publicly maligned the Way....”

We choose whether we believe the evidence or
 we choose to be a skeptic.

But why would anyone choose to be a skeptic?
 2 reasons.
The first is PRIDE.

If a person wants people to think
 he is smarter than everyone else,
  he has to believe differently than they do.

To humble one’s self to think like everyone else
 would be a blow to the ego.

But the other reason is REBELLION.

If the God of the Bible exists,
 then there is an absolute authority and
  an absolute standard of right and wrong.

No longer can we do it if it feels good.
 No longer do I follow my feelings.

If God is real, then
  a fulfilling life is a life of obedience.

III. Our faith grows through experience.

Both our sons were born in Michigan.
 We lived across the road from Lake Huron.

So before they could walk,
 we took them to the Y and
  gave them swimming lessons.

For some unknown reason our boys
 trusted me from the start.

We would go under the water together and
 they would come up blowing water in my face and
  think it was funny!

But some of those other babies would freak out at first!
 They would thrash and
  scream when they came up.

But each time they went under,
 they were learning to trust a parent
  to bring them up again.

With the experience, came the trust.

It is the same in the spiritual realm.
 The more we go through hard times,
  The more our faith grows.

Sometimes we all have doubts.

Sometimes it seems like there is
 no light at the end of the tunnel.

Sometimes we feel like the man in Mark 9 that
 cried out to Jesus,
  “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!”

But even though we get down,
 we remain faithful and then one day,
  when the trial is over or
  maybe we just learn to live with the circumstance,
 we realize our faith has grown.

Each time you go through a rough patch in life
 your faith grows stronger.
You trust God more during the next difficult time.

IV. Our faith is active and rewarded.

James 2:17 says, “... faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.”

If the Centurion’s faith was
 not accompanied by the action of
  sending people to Jesus,
   his servant would have died.

And our faith must also be accompanied by action.

It is that kind of faith that
 carries us through when life gets tough.

It is our trust that causes us to
 hang in there,
  even when we don’t know how or when or if
   God will deliver us in this life.

It is that belief that keeps us
 faithfully serving God,
  even when we don’t feel like it.

And when we do that,
 we again see in Hebrews 11:6, “And without faith it is  impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that [He does what?] he rewards those who earnestly seek him.”

God rewards you for your faith.
 And He also rewards you for
  the actions that accompany your faith.

Galatians 6:9 challenges us, “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.”

Sometimes we just have to persistently
 keep on going.
We have to keep on serving,
 even though we wonder if it is doing any good.

Think about poor Noah.
 Serving God and preaching for many years, and
  only saved his own family.

Was that a waste?
No.

You would not be here if he hadn’t obeyed.

You may not see the reward in this life,
 but you are guaranteed to be richly rewarded in the next.

Have you begun your journey of faith?
 Is your faith accompanied by action, as James says?

What kind of actions should your faith produce?

It begins with repentance,
 turning from sin and to God.
Then there is confession,
 where we admit our belief in Christ to others.
Next we are baptized into Jesus.
But it doesn’t stop there.
We continue faithful.

This is not earning Heaven.
 These are actions that accompany faith.

If you need to act on your faith this morning,
or if you already have and
 would like to place your membership with us,
come forward as we stand and sing.