10-15-13 “Believing is not Seeing”
2 Samuel 7:22
“How great you are, O Sovereign Lord! There is no one like you. We have never even heard of another God like you!”
The Bible is full of firsthand, eyewitness accounts of the amazing things God has done. God miraculously and faithfully preserved them for us so that we too in our day and age know about Him and how amazing He is. There is no one who even comes close to doing the things God does. Even after all these many years, we still have never even heard of another God like God!
Rob was teaching last Sunday from Luke 7 where a Roman officer hears about Jesus and sends his servants to go find Jesus so Jesus can come heal his highly valued slave. In fact, the officer believed in Jesus’ authority so much he sent word to those servants to not trouble Jesus with traveling all the way to his home. Just before they arrived at the house, the officer sent some friends to say, “Lord, don’t trouble yourself by coming to my home, for I am not worthy of such an honor. I am not even worthy to come and meet you. Just say the word from where you are, and my servant will be healed. I know this because I am under the authority of my superior officers, and I have authority over my soldiers. I only need to say, ‘Go,’ and they go, or ‘Come,’ and they come. And if I say to my slaves, ‘Do this,’ they do it.” (Luke 7:6-8)
When Jesus heard this, he was amazed. Turning to the crowd that was following him, he said, “I tell you, I haven’t seen faith like this in all Israel!” And when the officer’s friends returned to his house, they found the slave completely healed. (Luke 7:9-10)
Jesus even says later, “Blessed are those who believe without seeing.” (John 20:29) Blessed are those who recognized the authority of God and believe. Blessed are the people with faith. And faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen; it gives us assurance about things we cannot see. (Hebrews 11:1)
Jesus’ disciple, John, saw everything firsthand and later writes his personal recollections for us. He was there. And in conclusion, he says, “I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.” I can believe without seeing for myself, I can have faith in what I’ve read, God’s Word was written so that I may know. God’s Word came to earth (John 1:14) so that I may know.
I don’t need to be a firsthand experiencer. I don’t need to have lived over 2,000 years ago in Capernaum and have seen Jesus for myself to be sure. The Roman officer didn’t need Jesus to come to his house. He believed by faith back then, so I can too. For everything that has been written about our God is amazing. I have yet to hear of another God like ours!
Dear God,
Thank you for YOU and your amazing qualities. Thank you for your Son. Thank you that I haven’t missed out on anything. Your forgiveness, grace, love, and power is available to me now as it was for those who lived long ago. Thank you that I can just trust you, that your Holy Spirit defies the distance in our long distance relationship. Thank you for the invisible miraculous qualities of faith. Thank you for preserving your Word so that I too can believe by hearing your Word, and that I can be SURE! I love you and praise you in Jesus’ name, amen.
2 Samuel 7:22
“How great you are, O Sovereign Lord! There is no one like you. We have never even heard of another God like you!”
The Bible is full of firsthand, eyewitness accounts of the amazing things God has done. God miraculously and faithfully preserved them for us so that we too in our day and age know about Him and how amazing He is. There is no one who even comes close to doing the things God does. Even after all these many years, we still have never even heard of another God like God!
Rob was teaching last Sunday from Luke 7 where a Roman officer hears about Jesus and sends his servants to go find Jesus so Jesus can come heal his highly valued slave. In fact, the officer believed in Jesus’ authority so much he sent word to those servants to not trouble Jesus with traveling all the way to his home. Just before they arrived at the house, the officer sent some friends to say, “Lord, don’t trouble yourself by coming to my home, for I am not worthy of such an honor. I am not even worthy to come and meet you. Just say the word from where you are, and my servant will be healed. I know this because I am under the authority of my superior officers, and I have authority over my soldiers. I only need to say, ‘Go,’ and they go, or ‘Come,’ and they come. And if I say to my slaves, ‘Do this,’ they do it.” (Luke 7:6-8)
When Jesus heard this, he was amazed. Turning to the crowd that was following him, he said, “I tell you, I haven’t seen faith like this in all Israel!” And when the officer’s friends returned to his house, they found the slave completely healed. (Luke 7:9-10)
Jesus even says later, “Blessed are those who believe without seeing.” (John 20:29) Blessed are those who recognized the authority of God and believe. Blessed are the people with faith. And faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen; it gives us assurance about things we cannot see. (Hebrews 11:1)
Jesus’ disciple, John, saw everything firsthand and later writes his personal recollections for us. He was there. And in conclusion, he says, “I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.” I can believe without seeing for myself, I can have faith in what I’ve read, God’s Word was written so that I may know. God’s Word came to earth (John 1:14) so that I may know.
I don’t need to be a firsthand experiencer. I don’t need to have lived over 2,000 years ago in Capernaum and have seen Jesus for myself to be sure. The Roman officer didn’t need Jesus to come to his house. He believed by faith back then, so I can too. For everything that has been written about our God is amazing. I have yet to hear of another God like ours!
Dear God,
Thank you for YOU and your amazing qualities. Thank you for your Son. Thank you that I haven’t missed out on anything. Your forgiveness, grace, love, and power is available to me now as it was for those who lived long ago. Thank you that I can just trust you, that your Holy Spirit defies the distance in our long distance relationship. Thank you for the invisible miraculous qualities of faith. Thank you for preserving your Word so that I too can believe by hearing your Word, and that I can be SURE! I love you and praise you in Jesus’ name, amen.
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