### Quotes for Outreach

1. "Aren't you glad he's not the bread of death? Stop and think about this. There's no place in Scripture where Jesus killed anybody or took anyone's life. He kept bringing people back to life. When Peter struck the high priest's ear off with his sword, Jesus said, Put your sword away. He said, Don't you know I could call legions of angels to wipe out my enemies right now? But he didn't do it." [40:58] (33 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)




2. "Sin leaves a stain on all of us. So many of us have sinned and we still aren't over the stain. We even know we're forgiven, but there's still a mark. There's still a stain. The enemy uses that sin to haunt us. But Jesus said he was going to shed his blood. He said, Take this cup. And he said, All of you drink it. He says, This is a cup of my blood. The blood of the new and everlasting covenant. And he said it's shed for your sins and all men's sins can be forgiven." [41:55] (44 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)




3. "If you're in here, how many people here ever watch the news? Or check out social media? Or what's going on in this country? Come on, be honest. You're in church. It can get you hopeless, can't it? You can watch this stuff and listen to it. But Friday night we went to watch the guys ride those bulls, you know? And there were a whole bunch of us from Mount Zion there. And I found so much hope in this cowboy that prayed." [44:08] (34 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)




4. "Do you believe God's word today? No worries. I can trust him. Now here's your next point. Jesus cared about the widow. You know, it says he looked at her, his heart went out to her. He cared about her. Let's think about her for just a minute. It says she was a widow and this was her only son. You know what this means? That means with her son's death, nobody was there to care for her." [01:01:57] (26 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)




5. "Do you understand today that God is here to help you? Any voice inside your head that tells you God's not here to help you and he doesn't care about you, that is from the enemy. And you may be going through difficult times, but God is right here and he knows what's going on and he loves you. And he wants you to be with him for eternity." [01:05:15] (24 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)




### Quotes for Members

1. "The centurion cared about his servant. You know, they don't translate it. They translate it servant. But really, you can translate that word as slave. This servant was a slave to the centurion. The centurion owned him. But because the centurion saw the value of his servant, and the servant probably cared about the well-being of the centurion, this centurion cared about him enough that when he was on his deathbed, he sent people to Jesus to heal him. That's how much he cared about him." [48:40] (40 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)




2. "The Jewish elders and the centurion had different opinions about what they deserved. I have a friend, every time I call him on the phone, I say, how you doing? He says, I'm doing better than I deserve. It's such a great message online. It's like he says, I'm better than I deserve. Do we realize what we deserve? We're sinners. We're lost. We can't redeem ourselves." [52:26] (26 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)




3. "How do you approach every situation that you're in and what you're going through today? Do you approach it with I don't deserve this? Or do you say, you know what, Lord, here I am. I'm in your hands. I'm going to humble myself in your presence. And Lord, I'm going to look to you and I'm going to trust you and I'm going to put my faith in you. See, that's what the centurion did. He said, Jesus, I don't even deserve to have you come to my home." [54:39] (37 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)




4. "The will and the word of God have power to raise the dead. It can raise the dead. Jesus spoke to the young man. He had compassion on the mom. Alright? Let's talk about the son for just a minute, okay? This guy was going to have to die twice, do you know that? He raised him from the dead, right? He was dead. He died. He went through the death's door. Now Jesus raises him back to life. Him, Lazarus, Jairus' daughter. How many people did Jesus bring up from the dead? And then they had to die again." [01:00:25] (44 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)




5. "Do you know today that God can change your situation in a moment just like that? If we back up a little bit, are you humble? Do you understand his authority? And do you put your faith in Jesus? Because that's what's going on right here. This mom, she had no clue he was even coming to town. And what does he do? He comes in there and he gives her her son back." [01:03:39] (28 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)

We just want to thank you for Jesus. Jesus said to the Jewish leaders, he said, "I'm the bread that came down from heaven." We know him as the bread of life. Aren't you glad he's not the bread of death?

Stop and think about this. There's no place in Scripture where Jesus killed anybody or took anyone's life. He kept bringing people back to life. When Peter struck the high priest's ear off with his sword, Jesus said, "Put your sword away." He said, "Don't you know I could call legions of angels to wipe out my enemies right now?" But he didn't do it. He said, "I'm the bread of life. I'm going to the cross. This is my body. It's broken for you."

Lord Jesus, we remember you today. We remember what you did for us. We thank you and we praise you, Lord Jesus, that you're not the bread of death. You are the bread of life. And when we eat, we're proclaiming your death. And we are so thankful because it gives us life. Let's eat.

Sin leaves a stain on all of us. So many of us have sinned and we still aren't over the stain. We even know we're forgiven, but there's still a mark. There's still a stain. The enemy uses that sin to haunt us. But Jesus said he was going to shed his blood. He said, "Take this cup." And he said, "All of you drink it." He says, "This is a cup of my blood. The blood of the new and everlasting covenant." And he said it's shed for your sins and all men's sins can be forgiven.

What we celebrate today is the greatest stain remover in history: the blood of Jesus. It cleanses us. It wipes us clean. It erases the sins. And we stand righteous before a holy God.

Lord Jesus, you did for us what nobody else could do, what we couldn't do for ourselves. And we remember that you shed your blood. The joy that was set before you, it was all of us, Lord. So you endured the cross for us. We thank you. We praise you. We remember what you did. Let's drink.

Lord, I pray that you would heal our body. Heal the body of Christ. Lord, physically, mentally, and spiritually. Lord, if there's anybody in here in a crisis of faith right now, I pray in the name of Jesus that you replace fear and worry and anxiety with faith. So that we know you like we've never known you before, Jesus. And I ask you to touch bodies and bring healing. Make the sick whole today. Lord, give us your mind so that our bodies can carry out your will. In Jesus' precious name.

Good morning. You may be seated. We're in the Gospel of Luke, Chapter 7 this morning. If you're in here, how many people here ever watch the news? Or check out social media? Or what's going on in this country? Come on, be honest. You're in church. It can get you hopeless, can't it? You can watch this stuff and listen to it.

But Friday night we went to watch the guys ride those bulls, you know? And there were a whole bunch of us from Mount Zion there. And I found so much hope in this cowboy that prayed. They ought to pray because they could die any minute. You've got to think about it. They're riding an 1,800-pound bull. But that man prayed one of the best prayers I've heard. And he prayed for our nation.

And, you know, I had this crazy thought. If those guys in Washington and the people leading our country think they're tougher than them guys riding bulls, they're wrong. And those guys knelt when he prayed. And so, turn to somebody and say there's hope. Amen. We don't hear that enough, do we? What if they came on the 10 o'clock news tonight and said, "There's hope?" You would say, "What happened?" But there really is hope.

So, chapter 7, the Gospel of Luke, all right? And we're going to begin. I'm going to read the first 17 verses, all right?

When Jesus had finished saying all this to the people who were listening, he entered Capernaum. There a centurion's servant, whom his master valued highly, was sick and about to die. The centurion heard this. He heard of Jesus and sent some elders of the Jews to him, asking him to come and heal his servant. When they came to Jesus, they pleaded earnestly with him. "This man deserves to have you do this because he loves our nation and has built our synagogue."

So 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. That is why I did not even consider myself worthy to come to you, but say the word and my servant will be healed. I myself am a man under authority and 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 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." Then the men who had been sent returned to the house and found the servant well.

Soon afterward, Jesus went to the town called Nain, and his disciples and a large crowd went along with him. As he approached the town gate, a dead person was being carried out—the only son of his mother, and she was a widow, and a large crowd from town was with her.

Now don't miss this verse. When the Lord saw her, his heart went out to her, and he said, "Don't cry." Then he went up and he touched the bier they were carrying him on, and the bearers stood still. He said, "Young man, I say to you, get up." The dead man sat up and began to talk. Jesus gave him back to his mother. They were all filled with awe and praised God. "A great prophet has appeared among us," they said. "God has come to help his people." This news about Jesus spread throughout Judea and the surrounding country.

Father, I pray that you would breathe life into these words. That, Lord, you would let us hear the message that you love us, you care about us, you give us hope. And that, Lord, it would become a reality inside of us. In Jesus' name, amen.

Your first point this morning, the centurion cared about his servant. You know, they don't translate it. They translate it servant. But really, you can translate that word as slave. This servant was a slave to the centurion. The centurion owned him. But because the centurion saw the value of his servant, and the servant probably cared about the well-being of the centurion, this centurion cared about him enough that when he was on his deathbed, he sent people to Jesus to heal him. That's how much he cared about him.

I love a video that Old Dominion has. It's a video where they take, there's this famous guy that cuts hair for all the movie stars. And he comes out and he cuts the hair of homeless people. And they buy pizza for him and they give him clothes in California. And they do this whole video. And at the end, one of the homeless men, he says, "It's not the food and the clothes and the haircut." He said, "What matters is that somebody cares about us."

Jesus cares about you. This centurion cared about his servant. And we have to come to the realization that Jesus cares about us. This centurion cared. He seems to be a righteous man.

Now look at your next point. The Jewish elders cared about the centurion and their synagogue. Isn't it interesting? They come to Jesus and they say, "This man deserves to have you do this because he loves our nation and has built our synagogue." It's such an interesting event here when he says he deserves it. They come. They cared about the centurion.

Now we got to think about motive here, don't we? What if the centurion didn't build the synagogue? You know, the remains of this are still in Capernaum. You can walk through this. You can walk around it. When I was in Israel with my wife, we walked around there. We were in that place. But you have to think about motive. You know, why do we do what we do? Why did they do this?

And when I get to heaven, I could be corrected. You know, these Jewish leaders could say you had that all wrong when you preached it. And I'll say, I'm sorry. But what is the motive? You see, everything good in this world we do needs to come because out of our heart we're serving God and we want to be like Him. It's motive.

When I was dating my wife and I told her she was beautiful and I loved her and I wanted to marry her, she was so happy and she would smile. And now we've been married for 40-some years and I say, "Hon, you're just beautiful. Man, I love you so much." And she gives me that roll of her eyes like, "What's he doing here? What's his motive?" You see?

Anybody? What's the motive? Can you love somebody forever? Yes, you can. Does Jesus love us? Yes, He does. And as we look at this, we have to look at the motive.

Now, look at your next point. The Jewish elders and the centurion had different opinions about what they deserved. I have a friend, every time I call him on the phone, I say, "How you doing?" He says, "I'm doing better than I deserve." It's such a great message online. It's like he says, "I'm better than I deserve."

Do we realize what we deserve? We're sinners. We're lost. We can't redeem ourselves. And look at the difference here in the opinion. Because the Jewish elders came and said, "Now, Jesus, this man deserves this." And what's the centurion do? He sends men and he says, "I don't even deserve, Lord, to have you come under my roof." He said, "I didn't come to you personally because I don't deserve to be in your presence."

We can't have this idea that we're entitled to something. We have to be humble and know what we really deserve. I used to teach junior high students on Wednesday night. And the last Wednesday before Christmas, I used to love it. I prayed this prayer every year. And I would say, "You know, because they were going to Christmas and they were all excited. You know, you couldn't keep ordering a room like that for anything."

And I would say, "Dear Lord, would you please give us what we deserve for Christmas?" And they would scream, "No, not what we deserve." And I said, "I think you guys are learning."

There was a difference of opinion. There's such a contrast in the text. Jesus is on the way. Request. Jesus said, "I don't even see faith like this among my own people in my own nation." And so it says his servant was healed when the men went back. The servant was well.

Now, I want to ask you a question. How do you approach every situation that you're in and what you're going through today? Do you approach it with "I don't deserve this?" Or do you say, "You know what, Lord, here I am. I'm in your hands. I'm going to humble myself in your presence. And Lord, I'm going to look to you and I'm going to trust you and I'm going to put my faith in you."

See, that's what the centurion did. He said, "Jesus, I don't even deserve to have you come to my home. But Lord, I know your word." We're coming to that. And he said, "Just speak the word. My servant will be well. It will be done."

Humility and faith. How are you doing in that department right now? You see, we live in a world that can get you so crusty and so upset and so angry when you see the things going on. And we have to be different, church. I have to be different. I struggle to be different. I come from a culture where you took them out back at the stockyards and you duped them out. And I can't be like that. That's not what Jesus did. Jesus loved the unlovable.

And as a result of this man's humility, saying, "I don't deserve to have you come under my roof, Lord," he knew his position. And Jesus healed his servant.

Look at your next point. The centurion understood authority. The Jewish elders thought they were authorities. You know, I'm not just basing it on this part of the text. But as you look at the Jewish leaders throughout Jesus' life, man, they just thought they had it. And they were trying to test Jesus. And he wasn't like them. And so they struggled with him. And so they thought they were the authority.

And Jesus came up against them. And if they could have humbled themselves. If you're in here today and you're kicking against the goads. You know, you're saying, "I don't deserve this. And Lord, why am I in this position?" The best advice I can give you today is just say, "Lord, I'm in this spot. I don't like being in this spot. You know the situation. But Lord, I'm looking to you."

And I believe with all my heart that opens the doors. It opens the floodgates of heaven for God to come through and to help us. This man understood authority. He said to Jesus, "I have men under me. I tell them, go they go. I tell them, come they come. I say, you do this, they do this."

So he looked at Jesus and he realized he was the creator of the universe. He had power and authority over hell, death, sin. And he said, "Just speak the word."

I want you to think about that for a minute today. He said, "Speak the word." That's the word of God. One day it says he rides a white horse and a sword comes out of his mouth. And that word is going to make everything right. I want to make sure I'm with Jesus on his side when that happens.

You speak that word. One day the Father is going to say, "Son, go get your bride." You aren't going to stop that. And what happens? The one thing that will quench a relationship with God is when you think you know more than he knows. And you become independent. And I know this and I can handle this. And I'm here to tell you you're in for quite a ride then.

But he understood authority and he bowed to the authority of Jesus. This is one of the highest authorities in Capernaum right now. This guy could bring the armies down on all the Jewish citizens. And he said, "Lord, I get authority and I'm bowing to you."

Now from here we go to the next story where Jesus goes to Nain. From Capernaum to Nain. It's about 30 some miles. If you go by car it's 47 minutes. If you go walking it's 11 hours. And if you ride your bike it's 3 hours and 34 minutes. Jesus didn't have a car or a bike. So what do you think he did? I think he had to walk, didn't he? So he walked 11 hours to get to this town.

And when he gets there he comes to a funeral. I want to go to a funeral like this someday. Because he comes to the funeral and it says that he saw them carrying this casket. And the mourners were there and the mom was weeping. And it says, I love it when it says his heart went out. His heart was touched by the compassion in him. And his heart was touched for that mother. And he says to her, "Don't cry."

Isn't that something? Maybe somebody in here today has to have Jesus say to them, "Don't cry, I got this." And he stops the procession. And he goes up to the casket or the stretcher that they're carrying the young man on. And he just says, "Young man, get up." And it says he started to speak. It's amazing, isn't it?

Now here's your point. The will and the word of God have power to raise the dead. It can raise the dead. Jesus spoke to the young man. He had compassion on the mom.

Alright? Let's talk about the son for just a minute, okay? This guy was going to have to die twice, do you know that? He raised him from the dead, right? He was dead. He died. He went through the death's door. Now Jesus raises him back to life. Him, Lazarus, Jairus' daughter. How many people did Jesus bring up from the dead? And then they had to die again.

In the case of Lazarus, he's no more than out of the grave. And the Jewish leaders were plotting to kill him again because he was such a great witness. And there's a difference between being raised from the dead like this man and the resurrection that we all are looking forward to because I want to go through that door one time and then I want to be with Jesus forever, okay?

But I want you to see the difference today. Because I'm going to be with Jesus forever. To be absent from this body is to be present with the Lord. And I want you to have hope in that today. He had to die twice. But again, that word that was spoken is powerful.

When you read the word of God and what he says is going to happen in our future, he's going to come back again. That he went to prepare a place for us. I want you to believe it because just like he said to that young man, "Get up," he's going to come back for us, church. And it's going to happen. And all the doubters and all the naysayers, they're going to find out they were wrong.

Do you believe God's word today? No worries. I can trust him.

Now here's your next point. Jesus cared about the widow. You know, it says he looked at her, his heart went out to her. He cared about her. Let's think about her for just a minute. It says she was a widow and this was her only son. You know what this means? That means with her son's death, nobody was there to care for her.

Pure and undefiled religion, James tells us, is to care for orphans and widows. Listen to this. And what does Jesus do? He comes up here, he sees the mom. This was the guy that was going to take care of her. You see, you can count on social security all you want. You can count on the government all you want. But they're going to fail you.

You know what will keep you? The loved ones from your family. That's God's plan. It's God's plan for families and bodies of Christ like this to come together and take care of each other. That's what's going on this weekend, right? With what's going on with Love Thy Neighbor. To care for people. To tell people out there, "Hey, the church cares about you."

And he cared for the widow. I wonder, when Jesus walked into town, if he had just flashed ahead for a little while, and if he saw his mom at the cross, and that he knew he was going to go to the cross. And I wonder if that touched his heart. And he walked up to that casket and he said, "Hey, young man, get up. You've got work to do. You're going to take care of your mom now."

And he sat up and he started to talk. And that funeral, I'm here to tell you, it went from a dirge to dancing in a moment. And the mom was so sad. And in a moment's time, she had her son back and somebody to care for her. And it changed in an instant.

Do you know today that God can change your situation in a moment just like that? If we back up a little bit, are you humble? Do you understand his authority? And do you put your faith in Jesus? Because that's what's going on right here. This mom, she had no clue he was even coming to town. And what does he do? He comes in there and he gives her her son back.

Now, I love this part of the text, okay? If you go to the second to last verse of the text, it says, "They were filled with awe and they praised God. A great prophet has appeared among us." Listen to this. And they said, "God has come to help his people."

That's your last point. God has come to help his people. Do you realize that? You see, the devil tries to get in our head and say, "Why would God allow this?" You know, and try to make you think God did something bad to you. No, he did not. And God cares about you. And he has come to help us.

God with us for good. And he loves you. Seek me with all of your heart. I will be found by you, declares the Lord. And I will bring you back from captivity. I will gather you from all the nations and places where I have banished you, declares the Lord. I will bring you back to the place from which I carried you into exile.

Do you understand today that God is here to help you? Any voice inside your head that tells you God's not here to help you and he doesn't care about you, that is from the enemy. And you may be going through difficult times, but God is right here and he knows what's going on and he loves you. And he wants you to be with him for eternity.

The centurion sought Jesus and he found him. He said, "I need this man Jesus." He sent messengers. The messengers went and he never even saw Jesus. Never saw him face to face. Never spoke to him. He just sought him out and Jesus healed his servant.

This widow was crushed. She had no one to care for her. She was at the funeral procession. They were weeping and wailing and they were mourning. And Jesus came in and said to that young man, "Young man, get up." And he got up and he started to talk and he gave him back to his mother.

And she went from being crushed and in the worst day of her life to the greatest moment she probably ever experienced. Where are you at this morning? Do you have hope? You see, we live in this era where all of the media and everything is swinging us one way or the other. And I'm here to tell you, take this book, read it, and believe it. Take it to heart.

When it looks like there's no hope, call on the name of Jesus. It's the name above every name. Every situation in your life has to bend its knee to Jesus.

I grew up with a man that had a gift of faith. I mean, my dad, the one thing you never did, when somebody told my dad, "You can't do something," my brother and I looked at each other and said, "Oh, why did you say that?" Because if you told my dad he couldn't do something, he was going to figure out a way to do it.

And I still remember one night, it was like 12:30 a.m., 1 a.m. in the morning, and we were trying to get a combine fixed. We had it red hot with a torch. We were beating it with a post mall. And we couldn't get this big pulley off. And I said to my dad, "Man, it's getting late." And my dad said, "Here's what we're going to do." He said, "We'll get a good night's rest."

I said, "Dad, it's 1 a.m. We got to get up in three hours." My dad said, "Sleep fast." My goodness. So we got a few hours of sleep. Man, it was harvest time. We needed that machine. My brother and I got up. We milked cows. By the time we were done milking cows, my dad had that machine apart the next morning, and he had it all put back together, and we were ready to go out and harvest grain.

And I looked at him. I said, "Did you even sleep last night?" You see, he slept, but he had faith. He knew. He knew it could be done.

And I'm here to speak to you this morning. Do you understand how powerful God is, his authority? Do you understand what we were singing this morning? He loves us. I thought about this one day. You know, I had a job, and I have to do this, and I have to do this, and I have to do that. And one day God said to me, "Well, you're my job."

I was like, "Cut it out." He was like, "Wait a minute. You got this whole universe." He goes, "No, no, no. It's all, it's my people." Jesus came to die for us. And somehow the enemy, he gets us all twisted up, and we don't realize he loves us, and he cares for us, and he's here for us.

Heavenly Father, we come to you today. Lord, you know the situation of everybody here. You know the situation of everybody watching online. And Lord, you know every little detail. Father, it's my prayer today that we could humble ourselves before your mighty hand.

We can understand what we really deserve, and then what you have available for us. The authority that you have in this world, and the authority you've given us. And then, Lord, I pray you would increase our faith that we would speak hope into every situation in the name of Jesus.

Father, I believe if we'll humble ourselves before your mighty hand, recognize what we deserve, fall on our knees and pray that when we come together tonight, Lord, to pray here in this sanctuary that, Lord, mountains will move. That mountains will move, Lord Jesus. That sin will be swept away. That holiness will be back in your body of Christ, in the church.

So, Father, take your word this morning, Lord. Let it accomplish in each of us what you've sent it to do. But guide us. Guide us. So that, Lord, we can live the way you want us to live. And that we can represent you properly in this world that we live in. Because, Lord, that's where the hope is.

In Jesus' name, amen. If our prayer teams could come up. If you need prayer, we want to pray for you. If not, go out there and have hope in our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.