The Caring Centurion - Bro Jesse Howell 4-8-2026

We miss our pastor, Amen. Amen. We miss our pastor

very much.

We miss our first lady, Amen, and we miss brother Nathaniel.

Amen. We do miss them.

You all know they're on a mission for the King, Amen,

and they're doing the Lord's work there and and it's

just beautiful and marvelous in our eyes.

Amen.

I miss him just like y'all do. I wish he

was preaching, just like you do.

Amen.

But he did ask me to be ready to preach,

So we're going to try to preach tonight.

I talked to a pastor.

I've talked to him every day since he's been gone,

been able to communicate just a little bit. And I

talked to him this morning or today this afternoon rather,

and he told me to tell y'all that he loves you,

that he loves each one, and that he's praying for you.

Amen.

And I do earnestly believe that, Amen. Even though he's

on a mission for the King right now. Amen, I

believe that Bethel is still amen, right there in his heart, Amen,

And he cares about us, and I'm sure he's thinking

he's probably he's preaching tonight there at the Crusade, Amen.

And we're just believing the Lord will help him. Amen.

And I'm sure that right in the middle of his preaching.

I know how my father is. He can multitask like

no one I've ever seen in my life.

Amen.

So I'm sure he's got them Dominikin's best interest in

mine right now.

Amen.

But in the same time, I guarantee you he's thinking

about Bethel.

Amen.

I guarantee you he's thinking about us here tonight and

about the service and praying for us.

Amen. I'm sure he will listen to this.

So I want to say, Pastor, I love you and

I appreciate this opportunity.

Amen. I appreciate the offering. Thank you all for your giving. Amen.

May God richly bless you for it. Amen.

As far as I know, they will be returning home tomorrow.

So they will be traveling tomorrow as far as I know,

unless something changes.

Amen.

The last I heard, which I believe was before they left,

I heard they were flying out Monday, flying back Thursday.

Amen.

So as far as I know, the last I heard,

they will be flying back tomorrow tomorrow. So keep them

in your prayers, amen, looking forward to what God is

going to do for us tonight.

Ain't you, Amen, I want to.

I want to talk to us about about something that

I feel like the Lord laid on my heart.

I couldn't get away from it.

I want to preach a gospel message, Amen, I want to.

I want to preach a message that most of us

can get behind. And it's not what I chose, I

promise you, amen, because I was struggling with it there

at first. I was having a hard time getting what

I felt like God wanted me, so I was trying

to change it, you know, Amen. But I do feel

like I got a word from the Lord for us.

Here tonight, turn with me. Please to the Book of Matthew,

chapter number eight. Matthew, chapter number eight. We're gonna read

a handful of verses here tonight. Hell you man, when

you got it, stand please for the reading of the

Lord's word verse number five. And when Jesus was entered

into Capernaum, there came unto him a centurion, beseeching him

and saying, Lord, my servant lieth at home, sick of

the palsy, grievously tormented. And Jesus said, unto him, I

will come and heal him. The centurion answered and said,

Lord I am not worthy that thou shouldst come under

my roof. But speak the word only, and my servant

shall be healed. For I am a man under authority,

having soldiers under me. And I say to this man,

go and he goeth, and to another come and he cometh.

And to my servant, do this, and he doeth it.

When Jesus heard it, he marveled and said unto them

that followed. Verily, I say unto you, I have not

found so great faith, no, not in Israel. And I

say unto you that many shall come from the east

and west and shall sit down with Abraham and Isaac

and Jacob in the Kingdom of Heaven. But the children

of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness,

and there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. And

Jesus said, unto the centurion, go thy ways, and as

thou hast believed, so be it done unto thee And

his servant was healed the self same hour.

I don't want to preach. I don't have nothing new tonight. Amen.

I don't feel like I've dug nothing new up.

Out of the Word of God. But I do want

to preach. Amen.

A title that I feel like preaching tonight and I

want to title this the Caring Centurion.

Amen.

Would you lift your hand and ask the Lord help

us tonight. Lord, we thank you so much for your

goodness and your mercy. Lord, we thank you for your

grace and your kindness to each and every one of us. God,

we asked that you would help us tonight, that you

would move on us, that you would speak to us

and through us. God, help us to be your oracle. Lord,

Let us just be your mouth Peace God, God. Let

us Lord, let us, Lord speak the truth of the

Word of God, and this truth of the Holy God

speak through us. I pray, help us to touch a

heart and a lie tonight. We love you, we praise you,

we thank you, and we pray in the wonderful name

of Jesus. Amen and Amen. The gospel rioter here, Amen, Matthew.

Matthew gave us a very brief introduction. And I might

be a little different getting started, Amen, tonight, because I

want to deal with something before I get into the message.

Amen.

The Gospel writer here, Matthew. He gave us a brief

introduction to this centurion. Amen, This Roman centurion that lived

in Capernaium. Now Israel was under Roman rule during this time.

Amen.

So the centurion here was sent to Capernaum by the

Roman government with a band of soldiers most most say,

most historians would say that it was a hundred or more. So,

we had a band of soldiers there that was sent

to Capernaium just to enforce the Roman government, Amen, just

to assert their authority there in Capernaum.

Amen.

And this was a common thing while they were in

under the rule of the of the Romans, that they

would send these soldiers to these little towns, Amen, to

make sure that they didn't lose their grip on these people.

Amen.

So so, uh, Copernaum was not this centurion's homeland.

Amen.

He was not a native to this He was not

a Jew, Amen, he was a Roman. He was a

gentile that had been sent on a mission, Amen, to

go to Capernaum, to go to this place and to

ensure that the.

Romans had their way in this town. Amen.

But in our text, Jesus looked at this man, and

after some communication with him, he looks at the crowd,

and he says verse number ten, he said, I have

not found so great faith. No, not an Israel What

a shame whenever it took Amen, that the man that

Jesus found the most faith in there in Israel was

not even in Israel life.

Amen, It was not even a Jew.

He was a gentile, Amen, that came from Rome, not

because he chose to come to Puirnium, but because he

was sent. And when Jesus had some conversation with this

God and with this centurion, he said, this right here,

I've not found greater faith than this right here. What

a wonderful compliment, Amen, What a wonderful honor Jesus bestowed

upon this centurion. Whenever he said, out of all the people,

and this is early on in Jesus's ministry, but he said,

out of all of the people in Israel, this man

has the greatest measure of faith. This man, this centurion,

is the one that has the most faith in me.

Jesus saw great faith in this man. Someone.

This man is someone that didn't let his situation or

his occupation, Amen, determine his belief and faith in Jesus

and his miraculous power. It would have been easy for

this guy to bring over the same pagan ideas, Amen,

into this land. And I can tell you if he

had the same pagan ideas and the same pagan ide

ideologies that the Roman government carried, Jesus would not have

gave him that great affirmation and that great honor of

bearing the title of the man with the greatest faith.

Amen. Jesus wouldn't have done it.

So I realized, Amen, that this man had had come

to to Copernium there, and he had embraced.

The Jews there. He had embraced Copernium.

And this is what I told you I want to

deal with quickly before we get going too far.

I thought about breathing over this.

Uh, most most probably would just not mention it, Amen,

because because some people believe it would tend to bring

some confusion.

Amen.

But most of the Bible scholars among us know that

this Amen, this event that happened is recorded in two

of the four Gospels.

Amen.

And those two gospels are Matthew, which we read our

text from tonight, and the second gospel is the Book

of Luke. Now, if you read the Book of Luke

and the Book of Matthew, there is.

Enough there's enough facts in the in the in.

The text that will let you know that this is

the same event, Amen, that this, this is the same centurion,

that this is.

The same Jesus, that this is the same servant. Amen.

But there's some details that Luke gives that Matthew just

breathes over. And the critics, the critics, they love to

choose scriptures like this, and they try to disprove the

whole Bible.

Amen.

And that's why I'm saying, because Matthew said the centurion

came to Jesus, Luke said, the centurion said, I'm not

worthy to come to Jesus. And first he sent elders

of the Jews, and then he sent friends, but he

never came to Jesus himself. And they believe until later

on in the very ending, when Jesus said, Amen, your

servant's been healed. So the critics, amen, And the skeptics

and the just plain old devils, Amen, that's what they

are because they don't they read the Bible with.

A pretense of proving it wrong. Amen.

People like that don't read the Bible to try to

figure out if it's true or if it's false.

They just try to jump to conclusions.

And when they see something like this in the Word

of God, they say, oh, there you go. The gospel

writers didn't agree. They got some details, they got their

line all twisted up. And Luke said that the centurion said,

I'm not worthy to come to Jesus, so I'm not

going to And Matthew said, the centurion came to Jesus.

Amen.

So I thought about that, and I, honestly, sincerely I

took it to prayer because my first reaction, i'll be

honest with you, was to breeze over it, Amen, and

not bring up the second the seventh chapter of Luke. Amen,

because ninety percent of us would have never really put

it together. Amen, that there was two different accounts of

this gospel of this event.

Amen. And so I went to prayer about this. Amen.

I went to prayer about this, and I genuinely prayed

about it, and said, God, what do you have to

say about this?

Amen? And you gotta you gotta pray to God.

About some things, and he'll talk to you, and he'll

speak to you.

And and I don't know if he gave me this answer, Amen.

But as I was praying, I was on my knees Amen,

in what I call my upper chamber at work.

Amen.

I was there in a little chair, and I was praying,

and I said, God, what about this? What about this?

And what what came to my mind? I'm talking five

seconds after I prayed that. So, and I hadn't had

understanding on it for several hours, Amen, because I had

read it at the start of my shift.

Amen.

And then by lunchtime, I've just been stewing on it,

thanking God, how does this work?

Amen?

How does this happen? How does Matthew and Luke say this?

What happened here? So I've been stewing on it. So

by the time I got I couldn't come up with

an answer.

Amen.

I couldn't figure out what had happened. So it was

it was messing with me.

Amen. And I never doubted the Bible. Amen.

I just knew I had to figure it out. I

just knew I had to pray about it. And that's

the attitude that we've got to have.

Amen. People are quick to.

Just discount and throw away and discard because they think

they see something.

Amen.

A lot of people come up to things like this

with a completely wrong attitude.

Amen. So I said, God, I'm.

Gonna have this for myself, and I declare, I'm telling you,

I was praying and h this is cardinal.

But this is how it made sense to me. This

is how it made sense to me.

Have y'all seen the gas prices lately, Go to your

job tomorrow and ask them who did that? I'll tell

you who they'll say, because I hear it every day.

Thanks Donald Trump, Thanks Trump. Ask about all the war

going on in the world, and see what they say.

Say who calls this?

Donald Trump calls that Donald Trump did that. That's what

Matthew's saying. This centurion was a man in power. This

centurion was a man in dominion. He's said things and

people did things. Donald Trump, our president, says things, and

people do things, and things happen, and the snowball snowballs

and it gets bigger.

And Donald Trump is to blame amen the war?

Right now, who's to blame Donald Trump? Donald Trump never

pulled a trigger. All the murders going on over there,

Donald Trump never pulled a trigger. But because he's said

to do it, because he gave his word to do it,

Donald Trump is responsible for it. So Matthew says, the

centurion is responsible for this.

The centurion did do this. The centurion it did come to.

Jesus because he sent people that could not tell him no.

Amen. He sent people that could not refuse.

His command, and the centurion said go to Jesus, and

they said yes, sir. Now Matthew said, the centurion is responsible.

Amen.

And I hope that made sense to you, because it

sure does make sense to me. And I just feel

like that the Lord answered that question for me, Amen,

and I'm thankful for it.

Amen. So Matthew and Luke was not disagreeing.

Matthew sought one something one way and Luke's repeated it

and re recorded it another way.

It's the same event.

It happened the same way, and the centurion was responsible

for coming to Jesus.

The centurion did go to Jesus.

Amen, because we are held Matthew held him responsible for

his words.

Amen. He held him.

Responsible for the things that he made other people do

or he requested other people to do.

Amen.

So if people, if people try to twist you up

with that one, Amen, just tell them they off the

rocker and and they don't know what. And normally the people,

the people that will try to twist you up on

something like that is the same people that will blame

Donald Trump for the gas prices.

So you can get them real easy with that. Amen.

You could just stop him right with here and say,

who why is the gas price is so high? Well,

because of the war, because of Donald Trump and on.

You got them right there, Amen. Matthew wasn't wrong. He

simply held this cince here. I told you, I sorry.

I wanted to I wanted to handle that real quick,

because I don't know, Amen, if anyone's ever seen that, amen,

or anyone's ever noticed the difference in the Gospels there, Amen.

And I noticed it when I was reading, and I said, oh, man,

I was studying this scripture and pastors taught me. Now, Amen,

I confess I made a mistake, and pastor taught me, hey,

you look, look at all the information before you make

a decision.

Amen.

I messed up one time and I said something, and

I learned my lesson.

So that's what I was doing in this Amen. Amen.

He recrrected me right here in front of the church

and everybody, and I thank God for it.

Amen. I want to get into my message now.

I just wanted to share that with you because I

felt like the Lord had given it to me.

Amen.

And I was just excited about Amen, God speaking to

me and revealing something to me that I had prayed about, Amen,

something for myself.

Amen.

That I didn't understand it, that I didn't see how

this happened. But God laid it out there for me,

and I had perfect understanding.

Amen. And I just appreciate the Lord for that. Luke.

Chapter number seven and verse number seven says this, wherefore

neither thought I myself worthy to come to thee, but

saying a word, and my servant shall be healed. This centurion, Amen,

he felt completely unworthy to come to Jesus. Jesus was

a Jew, he was a holy man, he was a

righteous man, and he and he and he heard about Jesus,

and he knew about Jesus, and he said, Jesus is

a Jew. Hey, he's a holy man. And I'm just

I'm a Roman. I'm a gentile. They don't, they don't

they're better than us. They think they're better than us,

because we think we're better than them too.

Amen.

Everybody just thought they were better than everybody else. What

a lovely world.

Amen.

The Romans were better than the Jews, and the Jews

were better than the Romans, and everybody was better than everybody.

Amen.

So this centurion figure Jesus thought the same way. He

didn't think that way. He said, I'm unworthy.

There was something different about and I want to prove

it tonight. Amen.

It's the burden of my heart. There was something different

about this centurion.

Amen. He said, I'm not worthy. Amen.

I've done nothing to to to gain the ability. Amen,

to come to this man Jesus and request of him

to heal my servant, Amen, to request of him to

touch my household.

He said, I am unworthy. Amen.

So what he does here is he sins some some

of the Jews.

Amen.

The Bible said there in Luke chapter number seven, the

elders of the Jews, he went and man in his

ignorant self, Amen.

And I don't mean that in a bad way.

I just mean he was unlearned, and he was uneducated

in this so in his mind. Amen, what I need

to do is get some of Jesus's people, some of

the people that Jesus would respect, amen.

And that he would have confidence in.

And let me go get these Jews, and let me

bring them and I'll have them go the elders.

Let me go get the elders.

Of Capernium, and I'll get them to go to Jesus

because I'm not worthy, but surely he will them, and

I stand my best chance of getting a response from

these Jews.

Amen.

So he gets these Jews together and they go to Jesus.

Amen.

Now, this centurion, though he was a stranger in this land,

though he was a stranger in Campernium, he had taken

to the people there.

Amen. He had become one with the people.

He loved the people, and the people, no doubt loved him.

Amen.

Because you can see in their conversation to Jesus that

they loved him, that they appreciated him, Amen, that he

meant something to them.

Amen, the people Amen. Amen.

Luke gives us a much more in depth Amen. Look

at this man than Matthew did. Matthew just breezed over it, Amen,

and Luke just dives in like he's known to do. Amen,

and just give you detail after detail after detail.

Amen.

And Luke said, Luke said, whenever the Jewish men, when

the Jews, when the elders of the Jews, I apologize

if this is too slow for you, aymen, I want

to get somewhere tonight. But Luke said, whenever, when the

Jews came to Jesus. They said, they said this right here,

I paraphrase. He was worthy, He loveth our nation, and

he has built us a synagogue.

From these Jews testimony.

I see a man that has embraced his life there

in Capernaium. I see a stranger, Amen, that should not

fit in here. He should be the odd ball and

the one that everybody dislikes. Aymen, because he's making them

do things that they don't really want to do.

Amen.

He's enforcing things like if they have a tax or

or anything that they were to pay the Romans, he

was responsible, Amen for receiving it. So I see a

man that should have been hated in this town. But

he instead that endears himself to him. This man did

not build a pagan Roman temple.

Amen.

He did not bring the ideas and the ideolgic ideas

Amen of the Romans into Capernaum.

Amen.

Instead, when he gets to Capernaum here he sees something

different about them.

Amen.

And he and he and he embraces what he sees,

and he becomes.

One of them.

And he said, I'm gonna build you a temple. They

are a synagogue. Amen, I'm gonna build you a synagogue.

And the Jews when they came to Jesus, they said,

he loveth our nation, he cares about us. We can

tell he's genuine in the things that he's doing. We

can tell he's genuine in the way he's acting. He's

not just putting on a front. But he spent his

own money. He spent his own time, and he's spend

his he's spend on his own finances to build us

a synagogue. He cares about us. He has become one

of us. He fits in with us.

Amen.

And that's what the Jews tell Jesus. They said he's worthy.

He loves our nation.

Amen.

He loves the way we worship, Amen. He loves the

way we praise, he loves the way we get in,

he loves the way we have church, Amen, and is

just God right in here with us.

Amen.

Has just become one of us, and he has just

become part of the team.

And we can tell that he's all in. Amen.

We can tell that he's got our back, Amen, and

that we're going the same direction.

Ay Man.

We can tell that he was a stranger with the

gout here, but he ain't no stranger no more.

Amen. Now he loves us. Amen. Now he's part of us. Amen.

He build us a synagogue. He's not trying to do

things his way, Amen. But he's became a team player.

Amen. We're all working for the same goal.

What a beautiful, beautiful thing it is when we come together, Amen,

from all walks of life, Amen, from all different areas,

but we come together, and we get under the same mind,

and we get under the same vision, and we work together.

For the same goal. Amen. I want the Lord to helpless,

deny you. Amen.

We come in one place, we come in one mind,

we come in one.

Accord, and we worship together. Amen.

The teachers catch the pastor's vision. Amen, and the students

catch the teacher's vision.

Amen. And everybody just starts working together. Amen. And you

just become Amen.

Such a such a wonderful thing Amen, when everybody just

comes together, Amen, it begins to work for one goal.

Amen.

There are a few facts about this passage that grabbed

my attention as I read and prayed and studied on

this text.

Amen.

One of the one of one of the first facts

that I that I realized was this guy. And I've

said it before, I've said it multiple times already.

He was a gentile.

He was not a Jew, and recorded in scripture this

is the first. He was not the only, but he

was the first gentile to ever get the courage enough

to come to Jesus.

He was the first one that was not a Jew. Amen.

That that that that cared enough, Amen, and that had

enough courage to come to Jesus to risk coming to

Jesus and asking for something and asking for help.

Amen.

He was the first one. He was not the only one, Amen,

but he was the first one. Number two, Amen, that

I noticed is his humility.

Amen.

The Jews said, this guy has every reason for you

to touch. This guy has every reason for you to

work in his life. But they said he's worthy. He said,

I'm not worthy. He said, I've done nothing to deserve

anything from that man. I've done nothing. All that I've done, aymen,

I counted but done. Hey, man, just to realize that

I have done nothing, Amen, to be worthy of Jesus.

There is nothing that we will.

Ever do, have ever done, or could ever do, Amen

to make us worthy. This man had a right. Amen.

This man was honest and he was humble, and he said,

there's nothing that I've done.

Yes, I've tried my best. Yes, I've done all that

I could. Yes, I gave my own.

But there's nothing.

That I have done, There's nothing that I could do

to ever earn the worthiness to come to Jesus and

ask for something. The third thing I noticed tonight, and

this is where I want to spend most of my time.

This is the only account in the Gospels.

Where someone, an individual, a man or woman, came to

Jesus on behalf of a servant. Friends, carried friends up

on the roof and tore a hole in it and

let down a friend.

Amen. That's understandable. Amen.

There's a brotherly love and a sisterly loved there.

Amen.

I understand that. I understand that love, and I understand friends.

Amen.

Bringing friends to Jesus. Fathers brought children to Jesus. What

about Jerius Amen? And his daughter Amen. He said, I'm

bringing her to Jesus. I've gotta have something done. Mothers

Amen came to Jesus and said, please please touch my child,

Please touch my children.

Amen.

But no one else in the scripture, no one else

in the Gospels ever.

Care enough for no useless servant Amen to bring him

to Jesus.

No one else in the Gospels, ever care enough to

care someone care for someone that was useless and hopeless

and helpless, had to bring onto Jesus. But this man did.

This man was different than everybody else. This man was

different than the rest.

Amen. He had a heart inside. He had a humble heart.

He realized, if I can't get to Jesus, I can't

get help. Though he was a man of great power,

and though he was a man which carried great authority,

what he said went, what he said, do they did it.

But he cared about the little ones. He cared about

the nobody's and he cared about the worthless ones. Amen,

he cared about those that most people, Brother Caleb would

say had no value. If this servant ever did have value,

which he did, if he ever did a carry value

to this centurion, he don't know more.

Matthew said, he was.

He had the palsy. It's paralysis. He can't do like

he once did. He can't go like he once went.

I believe it was, Luke said, he lay sick, ready

to die. This man was worth nothing. He was useless.

He gave no value to this centurion at this point,

at this point in his life. And though He was

a man of great power and great authority. He cared

for a servant.

Amen.

He saw something in someone that they probably didn't even

see in themselves. What about those in the world that

most people look at and they say, they're not worth nothing,

They're not worth anything, They're completely useless. They might have

been worth something a couple of years ago, they might

have been worth something a little while ago, but as

it stands right now, I look at them and I

see no value. What about those ones that ninety percent

of the world will look at them and see no

value at all. There's a lot a lot of people,

ay man, that look at the skid row bun Amen,

and they look at the town drunk in the streets

of La Belle, and they say, I don't know if

that could ever change. I don't know if their heart

could ever change. I see no value in them. I

see no worth in them. They're not worth anything. What

preacher told a member in his church, he said, you

ain't worth fifteen cents.

Amen.

I'm glad that this centurion saw more in this servant

than most people would. This man was the captain of

a Roman army. He was the man in charge. He

was the top dog. He answered directly to Rome for Capernaum.

He was the man that everyone knew. This man runs

this town. This man is in charge of this town.

If anything goes awry in the streets, go get the centurion.

If someone stole, go get the centurion.

Aymen.

This man was the people, was the one that people

knew he was in charge.

He carried weight in compernium.

He carried the ability and the authority to dismiss his

servant with a snap of a finger. He could have

gave up on this man. He could have gave up

on this servant and in no time could have replaced

this man. It was one word away, It was one

sentence away.

Amen.

He had copernium, Amen in his hand. What he wanted

to do, he would do it. But he chose not

to Aymen. Instead of dismissing this servant Amen, like he

could have, and like most would have, Amen, he said.

No, I'm gonna try to do a little extra. I'm

gonna try to go a little further, and.

I'm gonna see if I can Amen, find some good

in this man.

This servant served no more purpose to the centurion. He

was a slave. What good is a slave that can't work.

What good is a slave that's lying there dying? Most

would leave them in the street. I read Frederick Douglas's book,

and I remember some of the stories of how they

were treated.

Slaves were not cared for.

Like this man was. This was abnormal. This was not

the way most people cared for a slave. When one

would fall, they would go to the next and they

would beat them for if they tripped, they would slide

them on the way down. If they fell sick, they

would beat them for being sick. This man was different

than that.

This servant.

Was ready to die. But someone cared, Someone cared enough.

For this servant.

Then, when I saw no value in myself, hey man went.

All I saw was a worthless vessel, hey man, carrying.

No value through this whole world.

Then Jesus stepped in and he said, I know you

don't see no earth.

I know you don't see no value.

But you can't see what I see. This century has said,

this man is dear to me. Jesus, I said, you're.

Dear to me. I know you feel like you ain't

worth nothing.

I feel I know you feel like the good you

what's had, carries no more.

But God said, you're dear to me. When you don't

see the value, then he sees the value. He cared

enough when I was like this servant. When we were

like this servant, and we.

Were all there, Amen, we were all dead in trespassing

skin ay man, when we were like this servant. Then

Jesus cared enough to raise us to new life.

Amen.

Jesus cared enough and saw enough in us, amen, to

take time for us. I know it's simple. I told

you it's nothing new. Aren't you thankful tonight that when

most people would have or did write you off, Amen,

and did see no more value, and did see no

more use in working.

Amen.

And they said, I'll just go to the next it's hopeless,

cause I'll just go to the next servant. I'll just

go to the next vessel. Then I'll try it. I'll

see if there are any better.

Amen.

When we had no value, when we were worth nothing,

when we were just a servant to sin that was dying.

Then the Good Master looked at us and he said,

I see something worth saving. I see something worth worth healing.

I see something worth binding up the broken hearted. As

I was studying this text tonight, I seen two parallels.

In this scripture. The first is the spiritual.

Which I have been talking about about Jesus seeing worth

in us, had seeing value in us when really we

had no value. There was no value to be seen.

But Jesus' sow value. The second parallel I see is

a physical parallel.

When I see this centurion.

In my mind, when I see this man that cared

for someone that had no worth, that most people sow

no use in trying to save, then I also see

our men of God.

Amen.

I see the pastor that God has given to us. Heymen,

because we've all been there.

Whatever.

If we're honest with ourselves, the people around us really

didn't see no value in us. They really didn't see

no potential in us.

Amen.

But God put us in a place Amen, under the

authority and under the leadership of a man of God

that can look past the brokenness, and it can look

past the scars, and it can look past the sickness,

and it can look and see what we could be.

Amen. When our families are broken. Amen.

Whenever we look at our families, then we say, how

how did this happen?

How can this be fixed?

Then God put a caring heart in someone like this centurion,

and he said, I can see what could be.

Amen, somehow, like this centurion, he sees something in me

and you, And he said, there's something inside of them. Amen,

there's something inside of them that's worth me going to

Jesus about.

Amen.

There's something inside of him that's worth me waking up

to pray for them. Amen, there's something worth me trying

to help them, just one more time, just reaching out

one more time.

Amen.

I don't know if this servant was born with a

slow dehabilitating palsy Amen, where it happened gradually over time, Amen,

where it wasn't quite as noticeable when he was younger.

Amen.

I've seen I've seen young men like that and and

a young women like that, where at first, in their

younger years, they they seemed fine.

But the older that god, the worse their condition got. Amen.

And they started out being able to walk, and they

started out being able to hobble a little bit.

But as time went on, they would get.

Worse, and their condition would to get worse and worse

and worse.

And I don't know if this was the case with

this man.

I don't know if he was born with this condition

and the centurion knew it, Amen, and he just cared

enough for him to let him work while he could, Amen,

to let him provide while he could. Or perhaps some

accident happened later on in life, after he had been

working for the centurion, after he had been provided for,

this man, and maybe something happened which caused him, Amen,

to become sick like this, to become paralyzed and not

be able to do Amen like he wanted to do.

Amen.

I don't know how it happened. I don't know where

it happened. I don't know when it happened. But the

centurion didn't care about none of that. This man didn't

care about how it happened. He didn't care about what happened.

He didn't care about when it happened. All he did

was he saw the potential. Amen always saw was what.

Could be Amen. He saw what could.

Happen if Jesus would heal him, if Jesus would touch him.

Jesus already knows how it happened, why it happened. Amen,

He isn't worried about all of that. He already knows

all that. I've heard pastors say it for years. I

don't want to dig in nobody's past. I don't want

to know what happened, why you feel like that, why

you feel defeated, why you feel broken, why you feel useless.

I don't need to know none of that.

All I need you to know is that I see, Amen,

that the bed of God sees hope. Amen, and he

cares for the broken ones. Pastor just wants to see

us mended. He just wants to see us healed. Jesus

just wants to see you healed. He knew what shape

you were in. He knew what shape you would be

in when he came to this world to give himself

for us to die on an old rugged cross.

He knew that he would find us paralyzed.

He knew he would find us useless and broken and worthless.

He knew the case that he would.

Find us in.

But he loved us anyway, But he cared for us anyway.

Easter Sunday, I think I heard two of the most

beautiful messages of restoration that I have possibly ever heard

in my life.

Both of them. Amen.

We like to we love it, and we be lying

if we said we didn't, But we love it. When

Pastor is plowing up, Amen, some fallow Graham. Heymen, we

love it whenever Pastor sets the plow deep and he

plows up our row, and he plows up our neighbor's row. Amen,

because we know we're growing. But Sunday Pastor didn't do that.

Amen.

Sunday Pastor didn't do that. Sunday he came back with

the precious seed.

Amen.

In those furrows that he had, I believe that's what

they're called that. And in those furrows that he had plowed,

then he became begun to cast the seeds of restoration.

Amen.

He preached Sunday morning. He got up, so should you.

That's not a beat me a message. That's not a

doom in glue message. That's a message of hope. That's

a message that this centurion would have preached.

Amen.

That was a message that this centurion would have said, Hey,

I know you're.

Down right now.

I know you're down right now, but you can get up.

I believe that you can get up. That's what that

message was. He got up, and so should we, should you?

Sunday night, From filth to field, from filthy to field,

he didn't say, from filthy to destroyed. He could have.

He could have preached that you're sick, and you know

you're sick, and you're laid. They're useless, and you know

you're laid. They're useless, and there's nothing you can do

about it, and you know there's nothing you can do

about it. And God's going to come in and he's

going to clean house. That's what he could have preached.

But no, he offered hope, just one more time. He

reached with hope with restoration, just one more time, and

he said, you're filthy. You've got some things in there

that you know not to be there. But he didn't

stop there, and he offered hope. He said, you can

be filthy, you can be cleansed, and you can be feeled.

That's hope, that's restoration. But that leaves it up to us.

One day, I'm closing. One day, Jesus was traveling and

he had to go somewhere. He could not miss out.

The Bible said he must needs go through Samaria.

He must.

He had no choice. The god man was already there. Amen,

his god nature is omnipresent. The man nature had to

make the journey. Hey man, he must needs go through Samaria.

He needed to go.

To a town specifically though, Samaria was a region, and

in that region of Samaria there was a little town

called Cycar.

And he comes to this town and it comes up

to a well, and there's a little woman there. She's

a Samaritan.

She knows what she is, she knows how people looked

at her. She knew what people thought about her, and

she expected Jesus to think no less. She already had

Jesus figured out before he ever got there.

That's one of them Jews.

That's another one of them Jews that just think we're useless,

and they think we're worth nothing, and they think they're

better than us. That's another one of them. But Jesus

said I must go there. He meets a woman that

don't understand him. She can't figure Jesus out. How is

it you, being a Jew, would talk to me?

That's a Mearitan? How is that? That's a great question?

How is that?

It don't it don't add up. It don't add up

on paper. The mercy of God don't add up on paper.

It never will. The centurion's love for this servant don't

add up on paper. Most would not think like that,

most would not act like that. This woman said How

is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me?

Jesus said, give me a drink? How is it that you,

being a Jew, be asked us a drink of me?

Which you am a woman of Samaritan? For the Jews

have no dealings with the Samaritans. Your top don't deal

with me, your time, don't have time for me.

How is it that you.

Have time for me?

How is that? How is it that Jesus, the King of.

Kings and the Lord of lords.

Have time for me?

How is it that he had time for you? I

have the same question. I share the same sentiments with

the Samaritan. Yah.

You know why he needed.

To go through Samaria. It's about through Samaria. You know

why he needed to go through cycor because he knew

in two thousand in LaBelle, Florida that Bethel Hols Church,

someone would hear that he had time for the useless ones.

Because all these years later, that's why he needed to go.

That's why he said, I must go through there, because

there's a little creature boy that ain't worth fifteen cents.

Named jesse Hell that needs to know.

That I care for those broken ones, and I care

for those ones.

That most would look at him say they ain't worth nothing.

But I must go through there.

So that they can read this scripture, so that they

can read the text that they can realize.

But I do love them, but I do have time

for them.

But I do care about the state that they're in.

But I do care about their broken condition.

But I do care.

About their broken families, and I do care about the heartache.

What the centurion saw in the paralyzed servant, I'll never know.

And what Jesus sees in us, I'll never know. But

he has proved his love time.

And time.

This centurion proved his love for that servant. Whenever he

went through extra steps. He did everything that he could

do to see to it that that man didn't die,

to see to it that that man was healed, He

went through extra steps. He went as much as he could. Friend,

Jesus took the steps. Jesus took the walk.

To Calvary to prove to us that he cares. Can

we stand this evening?

He let us know that he cares and that he

wants to make us hole. What a day it was

when the servant returned to work. Can you imagine with me, Amen,

whenever he's laying there on that cotoner, laying there on

that floor.

I don't know. Centurion was good to his servants. He

might have had a.

He might not have been banished to the floor. Could

you imagine when he's laying there and he's hurting and

he's sick, he's paralyzed, he can't move. Matthew said, he

had the palsy, was paralysis if you look it up.

He's laying there and he can't move, and he knows

his time is near. Luke said, he's ready to die.

I don't think that means he was tired of living.

That just means that he had got to a point

in his health where the next step was death.

Imagine with me.

That little boy, or that young man, or that elderly man,

whatever the case is, as he lays there and all

of the sudden he felt life. Jesus didn't come to

the house. Jesus sent his word and he healed him.

That man never saw Jesus, He never laid eyes on

Jesus unless he went to him after the fact and

said thank you, which with this top of Centurion this was,

he might have said, can I go see that Centurion

would have said absolutely absolutely. But imagine that centure, that

that that servant, that slave, as he lays there, completely helpless,

and out of nowhere, new life springs up.

What just happened to me? I've got new life. I've

had a new birth.

I didn't see the man, I didn't see Jesus, but

I sure felt his life at my heart.

I sure felt the power of living water. Yah.

We might not, but we can feel him.

The servant never saw him, But you try to tell

him that.

Next morning, while he's whistling around the house and he's

bringing his master a cup of water, you try to

tell him that Jesus didn't touch him.

You try to tell him that he don't have new life.

He'll say, I was dead, I was useless, I was broken.

I had no life in me. But something happened. I'm

a new man. I've got new life. What a day.

He thought he would never serve again. He thought he

would never be normal again. And if it wasn't for instance,

and if it wasn't for Jesus allowing us the opportunity

and go in the extra mile and reaching for us,

we would never be raised to new life.

We would never find this new life in Christ Jesus.

They met.

All things passed away, Sicknesses passed away, mind, battles passed away,

struggles passed away, All these things passed away. I'm done tonight.

I've delivered my heart. I wonder if we have someone

tonight that would be honest with himself. Bethel as a

whole is living in that new life. We're living in

that resurrected power. We're living in that easter power Amen,

where we have allowed Jesus to come and raise us

to new life. But I wonder if there's a heart tonight.

I've never done an altar like this, but I don't

want to open altars just yet. I wonder if there's

a heart that would say, I don't see I don't

I don't see the value. I don't see the worth.

But I recognize that there is someone that cared enough

for me. There's someone that went the extra mile. His

name is Jesus. He died that we don't have to die.

He lives so that we can live.

Hey man, anyone tonight before we open the altars up, God,

I see a hand outstretched with abundant life, with new life,

with living life.

Mhm ooh, God, oh.

God help us.

All right, Church, let's pray. He gave to us when

we didn't deserve it, when we had no worth. Still

he saved us. Still he dealt with us.

Amen.