# A Roman Official - The Gospels

An episode of [Kids Bible in a Year with Julia Jeffress Sadler](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1696638708), 19 Feb 2024, 10 min.

Audio: https://podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/traffic.omny.fm/d/clips/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/f8ddd7fd-69c6-48d0-804f-b4d6010c327c/35765d5a-d7e4-430b-8380-b4d60186b4b1/audio.mp3?utm_source=Podcast&in_playlist=14e8ed60-20b2-4d5c-a832-b4d6010c3283

Join Julia Jeffress Sadler as she takes us on an incredible adventure in Episode 156. In Capernaum, a kind Roman officer who cared deeply for his sick servant sent for Jesus, believing Jesus could heal him. Impressed by the officer's faith, Jesus healed the servant from a distance, amazing everyone. Later, in a town called Nain, Jesus saw a funeral for a widow's only son and, moved by compassion, He brought the young man back to life, leaving the crowd in awe and spreading His fame even further. Sign up to receive Kids Bible in a Year devotionals in your inbox every weekday: https://www.kidsbibleinayear.com/ Get ready to experience the Bible designed specifically for children with the official KidsBibleinaYear.com podcast, led by Julia Jeffress Sadler. This captivating audio series presents the age-old wisdom of the Bible in an engaging format that will captivate your kids. Each episode Julia translates biblical teachings into real-life applications, making Bible comprehension a breeze for young minds. And if you want more Christian resources and content, you can download the Pray.com app. Pray.com is the digital destination for faith, offering over 5,000 daily prayers, meditations, bedtime Bible stories, and cinematic stories inspired by the Bible. For more resources on how to live a successful Christian life, visit Julia Jeffress Sadler's website at https://ptv.org/julia/. This episode is sponsored by Little Passports. Visit LittlePassports.com/blessed and use promo code BLESSED to receive 20% off. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

## Transcript

[0:00] Speaker 1: Fear took hold of all and they glorified God saying,
[0:05] Speaker 1: a great prophet has arisen among us and God has
[0:09] Speaker 1: visited his people. Luke 7 16. Dear God, we come
[0:15] Speaker 1: to you anytime we need you and you are always there.
[0:20] Speaker 1: Thank you for making a way for us to get
[0:22] Speaker 1: you through Jesus and for caring about the things we
[0:26] Speaker 1: care about. Thank you for sending Jesus to earth. and
[0:30] Speaker 1: for all the wonderful things you are teaching us in
[0:33] Speaker 1: your word. We love you, Lord. In Jesus' name, amen.
[0:41] Speaker 2: Thank you for praying with us today. The Kids Bible
[0:44] Speaker 2: in a Year podcast is sponsored by Little Passports, delivering
[0:47] Speaker 2: monthly activity kit subscriptions that help kids explore the world,
[0:51] Speaker 2: cultivate curiosity, and discover new interests with hands-on crafts and
[0:56] Speaker 2: activities in cooking, science, crafts, and more. all with a
[0:59] Speaker 2: unique cultural twist. Visit littlepassports.com slash blessed to learn more
[1:05] Speaker 2: and save 20% with code blessed.
[1:14] Speaker 3: A Roman official. In our last story, we learned about Jesus'
[1:20] Speaker 3: teaching on the kingdom of God called the Sermon on
[1:24] Speaker 3: the Mount.
[1:25] Speaker 2: And all the people were amazed.
[1:28] Speaker 3: In this story, Jesus continues his ministry and heals the
[1:33] Speaker 3: slave of a Roman official and raises a young man
[1:37] Speaker 3: back to life, as inspired by the Gospels.
[1:45] Speaker 1: Hi, everyone. It's Julianne Thompson, guest hosting for Julia Jeffress Sadler.
[1:49] Speaker 1: I am so glad you're here for another story from
[1:53] Speaker 1: the Kids Bible in a Year podcast. Today's story from
[1:56] Speaker 1: the gospel is about a Roman officer with a very
[2:00] Speaker 1: strong faith in Jesus. We're also going to hear about
[2:04] Speaker 1: the compassion of God and how he feels what we feel.
[2:08] Speaker 1: So let's jump in.
[2:13] Speaker 3: In the city of Capernaum lived a Roman army officer.
[2:17] Speaker 3: He was a good man that served the people of
[2:20] Speaker 3: Israel with a good heart. He had a servant that
[2:23] Speaker 3: became very sick. Near to death, the officer loved the
[2:28] Speaker 3: servant and was very concerned for him. When the officer
[2:32] Speaker 3: heard about Jesus and the miracles he had done, he
[2:35] Speaker 3: sent some Jewish leaders to him and told them, Beg
[2:40] Speaker 3: Jesus to come heal my servant. They immediately went to
[2:44] Speaker 3: Jesus and said, This is an officer worthy of your help.
[2:49] Speaker 3: He loves our nation and our people. He has even
[2:53] Speaker 3: built a synagogue for us. So Jesus began walking with
[2:57] Speaker 3: the men to the officer's home. He got near the
[3:00] Speaker 3: home when the officer sent a friend to tell Jesus.
[3:05] Speaker 4: Lord, you don't need to come to my house. I
[3:08] Speaker 4: am not good enough for you to be in my house.
[3:12] Speaker 4: You only need to say the word and my servant
[3:14] Speaker 4: will be healed. As an officer, I understand authority. I
[3:19] Speaker 4: tell one soldier to go and he goes. When Jesus
[3:22] Speaker 4: heard this, he was amazed. He turned to the crowd
[3:25] Speaker 4: following him and said, I tell you, this is the
[3:29] Speaker 4: greatest faith I have seen anywhere, even in Israel.
[3:34] Speaker 3: The Jewish leaders that had been sent to Jesus went
[3:37] Speaker 3: back to the house where they found the servant completely healed.
[3:42] Speaker 3: The next day, Jesus went to a town called Nain,
[3:47] Speaker 3: and a large crowd followed them there.
[3:50] Speaker 4: As they came near the city gates, he saw a funeral.
[3:54] Speaker 4: A mother who was a widow lost her only son.
[3:59] Speaker 3: People from the town were gathered to watch her son
[4:01] Speaker 3: be carried out.
[4:03] Speaker 4: When Jesus saw the.
[4:04] Speaker 3: Widow, he felt sorry for her and said to her,
[4:08] Speaker 3: Don't cry. He went up to the man's coffin and
[4:12] Speaker 3: touched it. The men carrying it stopped. Jesus said, Young man, I.
[4:19] Speaker 4: Tell you, get up. Suddenly the man sat up opened
[4:23] Speaker 4: his eyes and began to talk. All the people were amazed.
[4:28] Speaker 4: They began praising God and saying, God is taking care
[4:34] Speaker 4: of his people. The news about Jesus quickly spread all
[4:39] Speaker 4: through Judea and the surrounding areas.
[4:48] Speaker 1: God has visited his people.
[4:51] Speaker 5: Wow!
[4:52] Speaker 1: Aren't the stories of Jesus so amazing? We could talk
[4:56] Speaker 1: about his life all day. From this passage in Luke 7,
[5:01] Speaker 1: we meet a Roman centurion, an officer in charge of
[5:05] Speaker 1: a hundred men. The Bible tells us he was a
[5:08] Speaker 1: good man and he was kind to the Jews, unlike
[5:12] Speaker 1: other Roman officers who wanted to boss them around and
[5:16] Speaker 1: bully them every day. The centurion had a servant he
[5:20] Speaker 1: loved very much, and that servant was so sick he
[5:25] Speaker 1: was about to die. The officer was very worried about
[5:29] Speaker 1: his friend, and he was desperate to help him find healing.
[5:34] Speaker 1: Although this officer knew where to get help, he was
[5:37] Speaker 1: not Jewish or one of God's chosen people, so he
[5:41] Speaker 1: didn't think he was allowed to just walk up to
[5:44] Speaker 1: Jesus and ask him to come fix everything. Instead, he
[5:49] Speaker 1: sent some very important Jewish leaders to Jesus in his place.
[5:54] Speaker 1: And since they knew this officer was a nice guy
[5:56] Speaker 1: who helped them build a synagogue, a church, they seemed
[6:00] Speaker 1: happy to do it. Then, as we heard, when Jesus
[6:04] Speaker 1: came near the officer's house, he told Jesus that he
[6:07] Speaker 1: did not need to come into the house, but he
[6:10] Speaker 1: only needed to speak the healing from a distance. He said,
[6:15] Speaker 1: I tell people what to do all the time in
[6:17] Speaker 1: my job. And you are way more in charge than
[6:20] Speaker 1: I am. I know you can do anything by just
[6:24] Speaker 1: saying it. He was absolutely right. Jesus spoke the words
[6:30] Speaker 1: and you guessed it, the servant was healed. But then
[6:34] Speaker 1: when Jesus said something interesting, he said that in all
[6:38] Speaker 1: of Israel, he had never seen a greater faith than
[6:42] Speaker 1: the faith of this officer. Many people who study the
[6:46] Speaker 1: Bible believe that this was a sign of the future,
[6:50] Speaker 1: of all the Gentiles that would one day believe and
[6:54] Speaker 1: have faith in Jesus. And by the way, if you're
[6:57] Speaker 1: not Jewish, that includes you. If you remember, a Gentile
[7:02] Speaker 1: is someone who's not Jewish. It's someone who's not in
[7:05] Speaker 1: the family of Abraham, Moses, David, and so many other heroes.
[7:10] Speaker 2: Of the Old Testament.
[7:12] Speaker 1: You see, at this time, they still believed that only
[7:16] Speaker 1: Jews could know and follow God. They believed that God
[7:20] Speaker 1: only loved this one chosen group of people. Little did
[7:24] Speaker 1: they know, Jesus would soon change all that. Our second
[7:28] Speaker 1: story today shows us how much God cares about our sadness.
[7:33] Speaker 1: This woman whose husband had died was crying because now
[7:36] Speaker 1: her only son had died too. She was going to
[7:40] Speaker 1: be left all alone and no one to take care
[7:42] Speaker 1: of her. She was so sad and missing her son
[7:46] Speaker 1: so very, very much. When Jesus saw her, the Bible
[7:51] Speaker 1: said he had compassion on her. Compassion means that you
[7:55] Speaker 1: feel the sadness of another person. You see someone crying
[7:59] Speaker 1: and you feel what that person feels. You want to
[8:02] Speaker 1: cry too. Many verses in the Bible talk about God's compassion.
[8:08] Speaker 1: You can trust that when you're going through a hard time,
[8:11] Speaker 1: God feels for you and carries your sadness. After Jesus
[8:16] Speaker 1: touched this widow's son and he awoke from the dead,
[8:19] Speaker 1: the Bible says that the people were afraid and glorified God.
[8:24] Speaker 1: What do you think made them afraid? I think they
[8:27] Speaker 1: knew how big, powerful, and in charge Jesus was. They
[8:33] Speaker 1: knew that God had come to them in the most
[8:35] Speaker 1: unusual way through Jesus. In thinking about seeing God face
[8:39] Speaker 1: to face on earth seemed a little scary, but in
[8:44] Speaker 1: a good way. Now the only thing left to do
[8:48] Speaker 1: was worship him. Thanks for listening today. Always remember that
[8:53] Speaker 1: just like the centurion, you can go to Jesus anytime
[8:57] Speaker 1: you need. I hope you'll be back next time as
[9:00] Speaker 1: we hear about an important dinner party and a woman
[9:03] Speaker 1: who did something very surprising there. Don't forget, the Bible
[9:08] Speaker 1: is the best story ever told. It's God's story to you.
[9:12] Speaker 1: And it's all true. Had a blast with our podcast?
[9:16] Speaker 1: Share the fun with a loved one and help us
[9:19] Speaker 1: reach more kids and parents. Thanks for listening to Pray.com's
[9:23] Speaker 1: Kids Bible in a Year. For more inspiring stories and
[9:26] Speaker 1: wisdom to last a lifetime, download the Pray.com app for
[9:30] Speaker 1: free today.
[9:39] Speaker 5: Thanks for listening to Kids Bible in a Year. I
[9:41] Speaker 5: want to invite our adult listeners to check out my
[9:44] Speaker 5: other show, Unapologetic, God's Truth on Today's Topics. It's unfiltered, important, inspiring,
[9:50] Speaker 5: much for joining us. Remember that you can tune in
[9:52] Speaker 5: and we have awesome conversations and amazing guests, such as
[9:57] Speaker 5: Candice Cameron Bray, Vice President Mike Pinson, Thank you so
[10:21] Speaker 5: wherever you get your podcasts and on pray.com.

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