JUST SAY THE WORD

MATTHEW 8:8

MATTHEW 8

WHEN JESUS HAD ENTERED CAPERNAUM, A CENTURION CAME TO HIM, ASKING FOR HELP. 6 ‘LORD,’ HE SAID, ‘MY SERVANT LIES AT HOME PARALYSED, SUFFERING TERRIBLY.’ 

7 JESUS SAID TO HIM, ‘SHALL I COME AND HEAL HIM?’ 

8 THE CENTURION REPLIED, ‘LORD, I DO NOT DESERVE TO HAVE YOU COME UNDER MY ROOF. BUT JUST SAY THE WORD, AND MY SERVANT WILL BE HEALED. 9 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.’ 

MATTHEW 8

10 WHEN JESUS HEARD THIS, HE WAS AMAZED AND SAID TO THOSE FOLLOWING HIM, ‘TRULY I TELL YOU, I HAVE NOT FOUND ANYONE IN ISRAEL WITH SUCH GREAT FAITH. 11 I SAY TO YOU THAT MANY WILL COME FROM THE EAST AND THE WEST, AND WILL TAKE THEIR PLACES AT THE FEAST WITH ABRAHAM, ISAAC AND JACOB IN THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN. 12 BUT THE SUBJECTS OF THE KINGDOM WILL BE THROWN OUTSIDE, INTO THE DARKNESS, WHERE THERE WILL BE WEEPING AND GNASHING OF TEETH.’ 

13 THEN JESUS SAID TO THE CENTURION, ‘GO! IT WILL BE DONE JUST AS YOU BELIEVED IT WOULD.’ AND HIS SERVANT WAS HEALED AT THAT MOMENT.

WHAT HE GOT RIGHT

1. I DO NOT DESERVE THIS

3. I AM UNDER AUTHORITY

2. JUST SAY THE WORD

MATTHEW 8:3

• JESUS REACHED OUT HIS HAND AND TOUCHED THE MAN. ‘I AM WILLING,’ HE SAID. ‘BE CLEAN!’ IMMEDIATELY HE WAS CLEANSED OF HIS LEPROSY.

MATTHEW 8:13

THEN JESUS SAID TO THE CENTURION,

‘GO! LET IT BE DONE JUST AS YOU BELIEVED IT WOULD.’

AND HIS SERVANT WAS HEALED AT THAT MOMENT.

MATTHEW 8:26-27

HE REPLIED, ‘YOU OF LITTLE FAITH, WHY ARE YOU SO AFRAID?’ THEN HE GOT UP AND REBUKED THE WINDS AND THE WAVES, AND IT WAS COMPLETELY CALM.

FROM MARK 4:39 – “PEACE. BE STILL.”

THE MEN WERE AMAZED AND ASKED, ‘WHAT KIND OF MAN IS THIS? EVEN THE WINDS AND THE WAVES OBEY HIM!’

JOHN 11:41-44

SO THEY TOOK AWAY THE STONE. THEN JESUS LOOKED UP AND SAID, ‘FATHER, I THANK YOU THAT YOU HAVE HEARD ME. 42 I KNEW THAT YOU ALWAYS HEAR ME, BUT I SAID THIS FOR THE BENEFIT OF THE PEOPLE STANDING HERE, THAT THEY MAY BELIEVE THAT YOU SENT ME.’

43 WHEN HE HAD SAID THIS, JESUS CALLED IN A LOUD VOICE, ‘LAZARUS, COME OUT!’ 44 THE DEAD MAN CAME OUT, HIS HANDS AND FEET WRAPPED WITH STRIPS OF LINEN, AND A CLOTH ROUND HIS FACE.

MARK 9:25

WHEN JESUS SAW THAT A CROWD WAS RUNNING TO THE SCENE, HE REBUKED THE IMPURE SPIRIT. ‘YOU DEAF AND MUTE SPIRIT,’ HE SAID, ‘I COMMAND YOU, COME OUT OF HIM AND NEVER ENTER HIM AGAIN.’

ACTS 3:6 - PETER AND JOHN

THEN PETER SAID, ‘SILVER OR GOLD I DO NOT HAVE, BUT WHAT I DO HAVE I GIVE YOU.

IN THE NAME OF JESUS CHRIST OF NAZARETH, WALK.’

ACTS 9:40 - PETER

BUT PETER SENT THEM ALL OUT AND KNELT DOWN AND PRAYED, AND TURNING TO THE BODY, HE SAID,

“TABITHA, ARISE.”

AND SHE OPENED HER EYES, AND WHEN SHE SAW PETER, SHE SAT UP.

ACTS 16:18 - PAUL

SHE KEPT THIS UP FOR MANY DAYS. FINALLY PAUL BECAME SO ANNOYED THAT HE TURNED ROUND AND SAID TO THE SPIRIT,

‘IN THE NAME OF JESUS CHRIST I COMMAND YOU TO COME OUT OF HER!’

AT THAT MOMENT THE SPIRIT LEFT HER.

ACTS 28:8 - PAUL

AND IT HAPPENED THAT THE FATHER OF PUBLIUS WAS LYING IN BED AFFLICTED WITH RECURRENT FEVER AND DYSENTERY; AND PAUL WENT IN TO SEE HIM AND AFTER HE HAD PRAYED, HE LAID HIS HANDS ON HIM AND HEALED HIM.

HEAVEN BREAKING THROUGH

MINISTRY CAN HAPPEN EVEN BEFORE A COMMAND IS GIVEN.

MANY PEOPLE JUST REACHED IN FAITH TO TOUCH JESUS AND THEY WERE HEALED LONG BEFORE COMMANDS COULD BE GIVEN.

AS WITH JESUS, PAUL’S BODY ON EARTH HAD BECOME AN OUTPOST OF HEAVEN.

HEAVEN BREAKING THROUGH

HOWEVER, THE FIRST IN-BREAKINGS NORMALLY REQUIRE A COMMAND BORN OF THE AUTHORITY THAT COMES FROM TRUE SUBMISSION.

“JUST SAY THE WORD!”

NOT BOSSING GOD!

NEITHER JESUS NOR THE APOSTLES WERE GIVING COMMANDS TO GOD.

AFTER THEIR PRAYER, THEIR SUBMISSION TO GOD, THEY THEN SPOKE TO A PARTICULAR PART OF THE CREATED ORDER AS HIS REPRESENTATIVES, TELLING IT TO YIELD TO THE WILL OF GOD IN THE NAME OF JESUS.