Power and Kindness Together: Matthew 8:1-17 (Ep. 113)

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Good day. Dave here. Welcome to stories of a faithful god for kids. I've been sick for a few weeks, and I'm so sorry that's meant a break in new episodes. It also means there's lots of people to give a shout out to.

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We've got a few new families who've joined the Super Club. G'day to Bella from Peddle in Mississippi in The United States. Also in The US, g'day to Kim and her family. Thanks for joining. Here in Australia, shout out to Alistair in Sydney and also Joy and all her family in the ACT.

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So great to have you guys on board. We also have a new club member, Miranda from Bixby, Oklahoma in The US. Good day, Miranda. I hope you're enjoying all the episodes you can now access as a club member. For everyone who's been sitting at home bouncing up and down saying, I need more stories of a faithful god, just head to faithfulgod.net/membership.

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That's faithfulgod.net/membership, and join the club. Now on with the show. Let me ask you a question. If you had all the power in the world, what would you do with it? If you could do anything, if you had unlimited strength, would you build up a mighty army, go out, and conquer the world?

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Would you gather up all the teachers in the world and make them do homework every night just when their favorite TV show is on? Would you make the sun stop moving so you could go to your favorite water slide park for, like, three days straight? Even though no human, apart from Jesus, has all the power in the world, so often when people get power, any sort of power, they stop caring as much about other people. They start thinking more about themselves. They're not as bothered when other people are sad or hurting.

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Jesus does have all the power in the world. So what will he do with all that power? Can you trust him with all that power? Is he trustworthy or faithful with all that power? It's time to find out.

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Get ready for our next episode of stories of a faithful god for kids. At the end of our last episode, Jesus had just finished teaching his disciples how to live in his kingdom. The crowd of people who were listening in were amazed at the way Jesus taught. They were amazed that he didn't have to check what other people said about living for God. He just told his disciples what to do, almost as though he was in charge, as though he has all the power.

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When Jesus comes down from the mountains where he's been preaching, a man comes to him who believes that Jesus has power. This man has a disease on his skin. The Old Testament said Jewish people who have skin diseases have to live outside towns and cities, and they couldn't come to God's temple until they were better. This man must live a very sad, lonely life. In Matthew chapter eight verse two, the man bows in front of Jesus and says, Lord, you have the power to heal me if you want.

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Isn't that interesting? You have the power to heal me if you want. He believes that Jesus has the power to heal him. He's not worried about whether Jesus can heal him. He's worried about whether Jesus wants to heal him.

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You can have all the power in the world, but if you don't care about other people, you won't be kind with that power. No one else actually has the power to just make people better by saying a word even if they are really kind. Doctors have to use medicine, and it takes time. If a man with a skin disease bowed in front of me and asked this question, I'd have to say, look, mate. I wanna help you.

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I'd love to help you. I just don't have the power to help you. So what about Jesus? He has the power. What will he do with it?

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Wonderfully, Jesus is super kind. He does want to make the man well. In verse three, Jesus says, I want to heal you. Be healed. And immediately, immediately, the man is better.

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No need for doctors. No need for medicines. No need for hospitals. Jesus is just that powerful. It's like when God first made the world through Jesus.

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He said, let there be light, and immediately there was light. How wonderful that Jesus is both really powerful and really kind. Strangely, Jesus doesn't want people to know what he's done. He tells the man to not tell anyone. Instead, he has to go to the temple and do what God's Old Testament law said he had to do to prove he was better.

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Jesus says to the man, don't tell anyone about what happened, but go and show yourself to the priest and offer the gift that Moses commanded for people who are made well. This will show people that you are healed. Jesus heads back to the town of Capernaum where he'd made his kind of home base. It's on the shore of a big lake called Lake Galilee. Once he's arrived, an army officer comes to him, the sort of man who's in charge of lots of other soldiers.

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That might not sound so bad, except this man doesn't work for the Jewish army. There is no Jewish army. The whole area's been taken over by people called the Romans. The Jewish people really didn't like them, and they usually really didn't like the Jewish people. This soldier, though, just like the last man, realizes that Jesus has a lot of power.

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He comes to Jesus and begs him for help. In verse six, the officer says to Jesus, Lord, my servant is at home in bed. He can't move his body, and he's in much pain. Notice he hasn't actually asked anything yet. He's just told Jesus the problem.

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He has a servant. The servant is in a lot of pain and can't move his body. Given how lots of people know Jesus can heal people, you kind of assume he wants Jesus to come and heal the man, which is a problem because this man isn't a Jew, and Jews generally tried not to go into non Jews' houses. Of course, Jesus is much kinder, but he wants to test this guy first. You see, Jesus' first mission is to Jewish people, the people who are known as Israelites in the Old Testament.

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It's only after he dies and rises again that his mission will be to the whole world. And so he kinda says, really? You want me to come to your house to heal this guy? And you know what the soldier says? He says, no.

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Say what now? No. He doesn't want Jesus to come and heal his servant. Why not? Why on earth did he come and tell Jesus about the servant in the first place?

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Does he not like the servant, and he loves telling people, hey, everyone. Guess what? That servant I really hate can't move his body, and he's in so much pain. How funny is that? Thankfully, that's not what he's doing.

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You see, this officer understands something about Jesus, something that so far no one else has understood. He understands that Jesus is so powerful, he doesn't need to go to the sick man. He can heal him from wherever he wants. He also understands that Jesus is so much more important than him, which is weird. People who worked for the Romans generally thought of themselves as better than the other people around them.

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This soldier is not like that. He says to Jesus in verse eight, Lord, I'm not good enough for you to come into my house. All you need to do is command that my servant be healed, and he'll be healed. One of the reasons this soldier understands so well is because he understands power. He understands authority.

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He understands what it means to be in charge. He's a powerful soldier, an officer called a centurion, and he has authority over 100 other soldiers. If he wants something to happen, he doesn't go and do it himself. He commands one of the other soldiers he has power over to go and do it, and he recognizes that Jesus also has power and authority, not just over 100 men, but even over sickness itself. He says to Jesus, all you need to do is command that my servant be healed, and he'll be healed.

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I myself am a man under the authority of other men, and I have soldiers under my command. I tell one soldier, go, and he goes. I tell another soldier, come, and he comes. I say to my servant, do this, and my servant obeys me. When Jesus hears how well this guy gets it, he's amazed.

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Like, jaw on the ground, eyes wide open, amazed. The soldier isn't an Israelite, a Jewish person who's supposed to know the Old Testament, and yet he trusts Jesus more than anyone else Jesus has met so far. And Jesus tells his disciples, actually, you're gonna see more people like this. More and more people who are not from Abraham's family will start trusting Jesus and have eternal life in heaven with Abraham. Sadly, lots of Abraham's family, lots of Jewish people won't get eternal life, and the reason is they don't trust Jesus.

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Not all Jewish people. There are lots of Jewish people who do trust Jesus, and they have eternal life. But you don't get to be in God's kingdom just because of what family you're in. You join the kingdom if you trust Jesus. So Jesus says in verse 11, many people will come from the East and the West.

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They will sit and eat with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven, and these people who should have the kingdom will be thrown outside into the darkness. In that place, people will cry and grind their teeth with pain. Then Jesus turns to the soldier who trusts him and says, go home. Your servant will be healed just as you believed he would. And at that exact moment, even though Jesus isn't standing there with him, the servant is healed.

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The soldier was right to trust Jesus. Jesus heads back to Peter's house. When he arrives, there's a problem. Peter's mother-in-law, his wife's mom, is sick. She has a really high fever.

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Today, you can take medicine to bring your temperature back to normal. They didn't have that medicine in those days, though. In fact, having a fever could mean that you'd die. So this lady is in serious trouble, or she was until Jesus walked through the door. But because Jesus has so much power and he loves to use that power to be kind, things are gonna turn out well.

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Jesus simply touches her hand, and immediately, the fever leaves her. She's all better. She jumps up out of bed and starts serving Jesus. Well, the people in Capernaum have obviously heard about the kindness and power of Jesus. That evening, lots of them bring people to him.

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Some of them have demons, evil spirits in them. Those evil spirits have absolutely no power when it comes to Jesus. Jesus just speaks, and the evil spirits leave. Other people are sick, and Jesus heals them all. Everyone who comes to Jesus that night leaves happy and healthy.

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His power and kindness makes all the difference. Back in the Old Testament, God had actually said that this is what Jesus was going to do when he arrived. In verse 17, Matthew reminds us that in the book of Isaiah, God had said these amazing words about Jesus. Says, he took our suffering on him, and he felt our pain for us. How kind is that?

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Before Jesus came to Earth, he didn't have to be around suffering and sadness and pain. He lived in heaven where everything is perfect, but he came into our world where there's so much sickness and suffering and pain. He didn't run away from people. He came close to people to heal them and care for them. There are lots of people with power in the world.

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Not as much power as Jesus, but still, they have lots of power. Sadly, they don't always use that power for good. Jesus has all the power in the world. There's nothing he can't do. Thankfully, he always uses that power for good.

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He's always kind. We can always trust him to do what's best. He doesn't always do what we might want or expect. Like, because he's gone back up to heaven for the moment, he doesn't heal people as often as when he was walking around on Earth. And sometimes we might feel like, why don't you make everything better right now, Jesus?

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We won't always know the answer to that, but we can always know that Jesus does what's best. His kindness never ends, and he'll always use his power to do what's right. The next day, Jesus decides that he and his disciples need some time away from the crowd. They get ready to cross the lake to a quiet space. What happens as they cross and what happens when they get to the other side is amazing, but that's a story for next time.

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Hi, everyone. Dave here. I hope you really enjoyed the episode. If you did, could you write a review on your listening platform? It doesn't have to be long.

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It could simply say, keep up the good work, Dave, or thanks, Dave. The more people write something, the easier it is for other people to find. And don't forget, if you wanna listen to all the episodes of stories of a faithful god for kids, head to faithfulgod.net/membership. You can either pay once and buy as many episodes as you want, or you can join the club, and your episodes will keep growing. Head to faithfulgod.net/membership.

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Keep trusting Jesus. Bye for now.