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The Faith of a Desperate Mother | Pastor Daniel Batarseh (Gospel of Mark Bible Study Series) · Bible Study with Pr. Daniel Batarseh | Verse by Verse Series | Maranatha Bible Church - Chicago

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  Thank you for singing The Way You Sang today.
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  Wasn't it? A blessing?
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  I could have kept going. Amen.
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  Amen. It's a privilege to be in a
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  house that loves the Lord with all their hearts and I know that
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  you don't just love singing, you love singing the word of God and
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  because of that God is honored and we are edified and we
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  continue to Worship in the word of God.
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  So meet me in Mark chapter 7 in verse 24.
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  We will read a few verses and we'll see what the spirit of the
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  Lord has to say to us today. Mark 7:24.
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  And from there, he arose and went to the region of Tyre and
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  sidon and he entered a house and did not want anyone to know yet.
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  He could not be hidden, but immediately a woman whose little
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  daughter had an unclean Spirit heard of him and came and fell
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  down at his feet. Now, the woman was a gentile a
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  syrophoenician by birth and she begged him to cast The Demon out
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  of her daughter and he sent to her.
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  Let the Don't be fed first for it, is not right to take the
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  children's bread and throw it to the dogs, but she answered him.
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  Yes. Lord yet, even the dogs under
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  the table, eat the children's crumbs and he said to her, for
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  this statement, you may go your way, the demon has left your
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  daughter, and she went home and found the child lying in bed and
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  the demon gone. Among all the fears and all the
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  concerns that our culture is facing today.
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  None can be more unsettling than that, which relates to the
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  safety, the Purity, the development of our children.
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  I'm not speaking about the natural concerns and anxieties
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  that we might have for our little ones.
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  That is not the primary voice of concern that we are hearing
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  across this nation. I'm speaking about a disturbing
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  notion that is Raising protests from people all across This
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  Beloved Country. And as you know, there is a
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  gross level of evil and perversion that is being pushed
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  on in our classrooms, in our libraries, in our media, outlets
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  and they are preying on the most vulnerable Among Us, the most
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  impressionable. And those who defend such an
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  agenda, identify this type of movement as being Progressive as
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  being educational. But anybody who has a basic
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  biblical worldview can attest and discern.
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  That this is something much more cynical.
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  Much more concerning that there is a force behind this
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  propaganda. It's more than a political plan.
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  It's more than liberal ideas. it's even more than demented,
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  people in power who are imposing their Twisted lust, On those
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  that we love deeply. Know what, we see what we
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  perceive, because of what we have in our hands, the word of
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  God, we can safely conclude that at the center of it all is
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  demonic Powers at work. Unseen forces influencing the
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  minds of people to adopt doctrines that are deadly and so
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  many ways. And it seems unprecedented,
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  right? Like we haven't seen this before
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  and there are some aspects to that that is true.
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  But the concept the possibility of unclean spirits harassing
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  preying on influencing tormenting children is no new
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  idea, concerning the word of God.
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  It's throughout the scriptures and one of the strongest
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  examples of that. Tragic reality is what we have
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  here before us in this text. Here we have an incident here we
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  have a testimony of a young little girl who's under the grip
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  of the evil one. And more than that.
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  We see here that there is lessons instructions, insights
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  that proved more than just the highlighting of demonic
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  activity, that is an example more than just, what the Lord is
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  able to do over these dark Forces, something that we've
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  covered over and over. Again, know what we have here,
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  primarily something that I hope will inspire you and it is this
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  how one's faith? Properly exercised.
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  Can actually overcome these forces of darkness in the lives
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  of those, that we deeply care for.
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  That's the essence of the story. You have a mother, resilient a
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  mother courageous, a mother Fearless who goes to Great
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  Lengths to stand in the gap for her precious little baby and it
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  really shows simply that your faith can go beyond what God can
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  do for your own life. But what he can do in the lives
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  of those that you desire to see changed.
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  And my prayer in preparation for this message is to fold, it's
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  very simple. Number one, if you have lost
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  your grip, if you have lost your Zeal, if you have abandoned your
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  post in the place of intercession.
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  That you would be freshly inspired by the word of God.
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  To put your hands back on the plow and to believe him again
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  that through your faith, things can happen.
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  And if you are praying, if you're still believing, I pray
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  that this message would serve which serve you like the hands
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  of air and Earth who kept the hands of Moses up, while he was
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  standing in the gap for Joshua while he was fighting the
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  amalekites. And so what we have before us is
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  quite simple. What we have before us here is a
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  teaching about a woman's Faith, a woman's faith that has certain
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  qualities. That make it not just Faith, but
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  great faith. The best way to go about this
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  teaching is to have marks account with Matthews, version
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  opened before us. And so I encourage you even from
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  now, go to Matthew 15 and tuck your hand there while you have
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  Mark chapter 7 with you because we're going to go back and forth
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  between these two together. Get a holistic view of what's
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  Happening Here. And if you don't think that this
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  is worthy of our time, if you don't think that we need to dig
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  into this, I want you to let Christ concluding statement
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  about this woman and her encounter with Christ to settle
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  the matter. Look there in verse 28 of
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  Matthew 15. What is Jesus exclaim?
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  He says Hear o woman. Great is your faith.
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  Great is your faith. What About This Woman's Faith
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  was so great. And why is it important for you?
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  And I to know, well I can only think of one main reason why
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  it's important to know because Hebrews 11:6 tells us that with
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  him. It is impossible.
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  It is impossible to please him without faith.
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  So, here's the point. If you are a person in this
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  place who desires, who experienced the regenerating
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  work of God and including in that work, is this desire to,
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  please? God to actually give him Joy.
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  A to bless him, then you'll be concerned with this message, if
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  you don't have that ambition in life, then this will mean
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  nothing to you, absolutely nothing.
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  So I hope that it will touch you to consider it.
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  And so we want to know what it is that pleases God, it's Faith,
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  okay. But there is a measure of faith
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  that Christ commends, there are different levels of faith.
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  And what we want to strive for is the greatest because he is
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  worthy of the greatest. And so this is more than just
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  examining a woman's Faith. This is actually looking at the
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  qualities of great faith, great faith.
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  And for my personal study, we will draw five qualities.
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  Of great faith. That come from a desperate
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  mother. Let's read again in verse 24 and
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  preparation for this encounter. Mark informs Us in great.
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  Detail of the whereabouts of Christ.
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  We're told her that he went to a home, that's not uncommon Jesus
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  visited many homes, but what is strange and interesting to us is
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  the location of this home in the region of Tyre and sidon which
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  is modern-day Lebanon. And why is that interesting?
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  Because and this mission for some reason, Jesus goes beyond
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  the borders of Israel and stays within Gentile territory.
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  Why? Well, from the impression of
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  this tax, it is not for Ministry purposes and we know that Jesus
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  primary mission was what To the lost sheep of Israel, not to the
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  Gentiles. And so from that, we can
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  conclude that Jesus is not there to necessarily do what he did
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  within the boundaries of Jewish country know.
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  Jesus is there for some kind of repose, he's seeking some kind
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  of solitude. He perhaps is even seeking a
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  place where he can instruct his disciples privately, something
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  that he can barely do within the cities of his upbringing and
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  around Israel itself. But what's more with meditation,
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  here is Mark's additional phrase because Matthew tells us he goes
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  to the tyre and sidon but Mark add something else to verse 24
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  and it is this yet, he could not be hidden.
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  I love that. And that's to be expected.
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  And the reason why it's to be expected is because the people
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  of Tyre and sidon according to Mark 3, you've been with us in
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  Mark, came to Jesus in Israel because they've heard of him,
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  his influence went beyond the borders and you had some of
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  these Lebanese people, right? Coming into Israel and seeking
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  for a touch from this Jesus that they have heard of.
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  And so it is no surprise that when Christ comes with his, his
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  group of disciples that he was noticed, they were able to
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  recognize him and As we know the new spread very quickly, he
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  could not be hidden the commentary for this context but
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  a principle that lives on today, isn't that right?
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  Christ cannot be hidden in many places.
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  History. Has to acknowledge Him.
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  Philosophers cannot ignore him. World, religions and cults.
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  Cannot silence him. And you have even those who with
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  all the faces of different faiths, choose to use his name
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  to Proclaim, dishonorable blasphemies Christ, can't be
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  hidden. They've tried to buried him,
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  they try to bury his book and he still dominates history.
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  He influenced time itself. And if that is true with the
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  things around our world, how much more true is it?
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  When Christ chooses to abide in the heart of the repentant, how
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  much true is it? That when Christ lives in the
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  home of your soul, he cannot be hidden.
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  He cannot be ignored. Something happens those around.
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  You will recognize something about you.
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  You know, Paul said, many astounding things in his letters
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  and one of the things that I believe are just remarkable,
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  Able as a statement, something that we memorize in the danger
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  of memorization to become familiar and familiarity can rob
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  us of the power of such statements.
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  And he says this, I'm crucified with Christ.
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  Nevertheless, I live and who lives?
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  It's Christ, who lives in me? It is no longer I who live but
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  Christ who lives in me, lives in you.
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  What does that mean? Or you can have a series of
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  messages on what that means. Christ lives in me.
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  No wonder this man was unordinary.
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  No wonder he was different. No wonder.
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  He interpreted life itself with a different frame of mind
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  because this unordinary man had an extraordinary person
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  animating him and energizing and Christ lives in me.
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  That cannot be a statement made without there being implications
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  observable implications. He cannot be hidden when he has
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  received things change. When he has received people
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  perceive and they'll do a better days than others.
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  When we walk in the spirit, the fragrance of Jesus, surely
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  remains on us, but that's not the main point of the message.
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  What we have here is this woman now in this setting coming to
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  Christ, and you heard me say that, we're going to look at
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  five qualities of great faith. And here is the first quality of
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  great. Faith.
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  Number one, Faith that is put into action.
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  When the news of Jesus is arrival became known this woman
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  according to Mark with this very, very, very familiar word.
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  In Mark's gospel immediately went to him She did not delay.
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  She did not wait and this is no insignificant detail.
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  Because it highlights her urgency and her urgency
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  communicates. The high honor that she held for
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  Christ, the great trust that she had in Christ.
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  She came to him as soon as she could and I believe it's because
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  this woman knew that the opportunity at hand would be
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  soon, quickly lost. It's not very common for Christ
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  to come into this place and I will not miss out on this
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  opportunity. Must find them because of Christ
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  says who he says he is and if he can do what he says, he can do
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  what other people says he can do that.
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  I must come to him before. I lose this opportunity, I will
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  not wait, any longer, and it's clear that she had some level of
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  understanding of who he was as a person because Matthew versions
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  tells us what that when she came to Christ, she identified them
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  as the son of David. The son of David.
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  This is a Canaanite, this is a gentile, this is the one who
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  lived among pagans and idols. And this is someone who
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  acknowledged and understood Christ in a way that the Jews
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  didn't even acknowledge the Jews called Jesus, many things.
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  And a rarity was the son of David.
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  And yet this woman confidently, approaches Christ and
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  acknowledges his Messianic title.
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  You are the one that the Old Testament for told you are the
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  one that was Aside about I see you as such.
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  And so with this knowledge, she acts on it, that's the main
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  point with what she knew she acted upon, and she did not
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  delay and I'm afraid that the posture of this woman's heart is
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  rarely imitated week after week. How many people hear about
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  Christ? Week after week, how many people
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  hear about, who he is, what he can do.
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  The promises in the rewards that await for those who turn from
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  their sin and embrace him. And yet, with all of that in
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  our, in our free country, how much of what we learn is applied
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  with urgency. If applied, at all, let's be
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  honest. Let me give you a test, my
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  brother. Let me give you a test my
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  sister, if you remember, I challenge you at the end of this
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  message at the end of this message.
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  Pause and listen to your heart. What will they say?
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  Will it be something along the lines of that was pretty
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  thought-provoking? I never heard a sermon on this
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  syrophoenician woman like that maybe won't be impressed at all.
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  Or will your heart turn to the Lord and hopeful confession?
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  And utter something along the lines of, oh, God.
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  If that is what great faith is to you.
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  I want it. You see the difference?
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  Do you hear the difference between hearing truth and
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  letting your faith connect with that truth?
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  You see the difference between it, reaching your ears and it
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  coming down into your heart and possessing the seat of your will
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  and your affections. There's a great difference.
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  Hearing something about Christ is not the same as linking, your
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  faith with it and linking your faith activating.
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  Your faith is not some passive thing that awaits emotional
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  stimulation to engage in. It's a conscious choice.
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  If this is true, I will believe it and I will act on it and
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  whatever this truth demands will demand my obedience that's Faith
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  whether your emotions accompany it or not.
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  What we do with what we here, greatly matters to God.
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  Greatly matters to God and ultimately our faith is
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  demonstrated and materialized with exactly that.
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  Here's what I will do based on what I just learned be ye doers
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  of the word and not hearers. Only what kind of command is
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  that, that's a command that indicates that we are very
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  susceptible to just being. Here's this woman was not such a
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  person, she heard about Christ. She knew something about Christ.
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  And when the opportunity came, she moved on it.
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  And she said, this is my faith. That's the basis.
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  Not just of great faith. That's the basis of faith.
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  Faith without works is absolutely dead.
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  It's lifeless, it has no breath in it.
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  And so we see this woman who acts on her faith and all.
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  There's a desperation. All, there's an urgency.
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  Oh, she prioritizes this moment and this is something that Jesus
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  Will recognize as great because it will be built on which brings
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  us to the second Point. Her faith was not only acted on
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  the second element is second aspect of great.
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  Faith is seen here. Her faith was humble.
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  Great. Faith is humble faith.
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  And here in verse 25, we see here that this woman not only
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  came to Christ but fell down at his feet and in Matthew, 15 22.
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  We realized that there's a full of picture provided about her
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  humility and it is in her statement.
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  She says the first thing, she says, when she comes to Christ
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  she says have mercy on me. O Lord have mercy on me so you
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  have the physical posture of humility and you have what is
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  abiding in her heart overflowing out of her mouth.
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  Have mercy on me. O Lord.
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  Lord, This Woman's Faith was great know this because her
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  request was presented on the basis of the mercy of the Lord
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  Jesus Christ. Prayer alone does not guarantee
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  God's ear. It's the heart behind the
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  petition that determines whether we win his attention or not.
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  And there are so many clear and explicit versus about that, but
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  one of the most striking teachings is from the Lord
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  himself from the Lord himself, who gives a teaching about
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  prayer that inspires those who are discouraged but also
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  provides warning and gives us a fearful possibility of what can
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  happen to prayer to what we do with prayer.
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  And this is where, if you don't have the ESV, it will be more
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  clear, but if you if you do still, you can still follow
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  along but quickly go with me to Luke 18 and I want you to see a
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  verse. There's actually a phrase in a
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  verse that is often missed. And if you have something like
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  the King, James of the new King James or the NTSB, it's going to
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  be more obvious, Luke 18, and verse 11, Jesus teaches about
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  prayer. Any teachers here in this
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  chapter about the Pharisee and the tax collector and he
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  Compares and contrasts as the two and here, in verse 11, we
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  have the Pharisee and it says, the Pharisee standing by himself
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  prayed. Thus God, I thank you that I am
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  not like the other men extortioners unjust adulterers
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  or even like this tax collector. Okay.
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  Do you see The annotation there by the word parade if you have
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  the ESV? See, the number one there.
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  When you look at the reference, you'll notice that there is an
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  additional phrase and the additional phrase is something
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  that was actually added by those translations that I just
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  mentioned to you. And it is this prayed with
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  himself or prayed to himself you see that some of you are nodding
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  your head because you see that prayed with himself, pray to
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  himself. The ESV for some reason,
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  translates it as standing. By himself prayed res.
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  The other transistors would say, standing prayed with himself, or
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  pray to himself. There's a big difference.
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  I don't think that this is being given to us to indicate that the
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  man prayed in audibly. Or that he prayed at a distance.
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  There's something here that distinguishes, his kind of
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  praying, it was self-congratulatory praying.
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  It was a recitation of his own goodness and his own
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  righteousness and his own worthiness, it was words
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  packaged. Yes to deliver to God, but
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  ultimately for him to open up himself in to enjoy himself.
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  What you have here is a man. Essentially, you ready for this
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  in his praying talking to himself, God didn't recognize
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  it. God didn't hear it.
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  Oh sure, he addressed God in it. But how much of our praying can
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  actually be addressed to God, but for other people to hear,
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  you see, he prayed to him self. And I read that and I thought to
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  myself, Lord, how many people who are actually praying are in
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  reality talking to themselves? What a frightful miserable
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  possibility? I don't want that.
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  Look at this. We're told that this man came to
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  the temple. We're told that he stood.
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  We're told that he took him time to, I guess verbalize something
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  some kind of spiritual discipline and the Lord
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  overlooked it completely. This man's fruitfulness, and the
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  effectiveness of his praying was as good as somebody talking to
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  themselves in a room by themselves.
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  Wow. How do we assure ourselves?
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  That this is not something that we fall into?
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  How do we assure ourselves that our prayers will actually reach
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  the throne of grace, instead of just remaining in the chambers
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  of Our Own Heart? Well, you don't have to fear,
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  Jesus gives us the key and it's not what this Pharisee.
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  It's with the tax collector and you scroll down and you see in
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  verse 13. But Luke 11, 18 rather verse 13,
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  but the tax collector standing far off with not even lift up
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  his eyes to heaven. But beat his breast saying, God,
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  be merciful to me. A sinner.
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  We're told later that this man went away Justified and the
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  Pharisee didn't? And what was, what was the key
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  that swung open the doors of Heaven?
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  It was this man knowing that he deserved, absolutely nothing
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  that he asked for. That's the difference.
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  If there's going to be any self awareness in your praying, Let
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  It Be An acknowledgement of your absolute unworthiness and God's
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  willingness out of his kindness to Grant you what it is that you
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  are seeking him for and if we come with the confidence of our
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  own Merit and the false notion that we are deserving of what
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  God Can give as though we're doing God.
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  A favor when we come to him, all right?
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  Lord. You want us to pray?
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  Okay, here I am. Let's see what you can do.
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  Ah, aha. No.
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  You're gonna be praying by yourself and to yourself.
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  The know we're no better than the Pharisee in this story.
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  But this woman, this woman reflected, the attitude of the
• 23:56
  tax collector. I am not appealing to my own
• 24:00
  Holiness or my own godliness. I'm not coming in my arrogance
• 24:04
  to assume that just because you are God, and you have this power
• 24:07
  that nobody else has that. You have this responsibility to
• 24:10
  do something for me, I am appealing solely upon your
• 24:15
  mercy. In other words, if you're not
• 24:19
  merciful to me, there is no point in me praying.
• 24:23
  Might as well pack up my stuff and go and never show my face in
• 24:26
  the temple again. The Prophet Daniel was, and is
• 24:33
  one of the most recognized men of Prayer in Redemptive history,
• 24:37
  and the holy spirit. Gives us one of the most
• 24:39
  astounding prayers ever recorded in all of holy writ.
• 24:43
  And there in Daniel 19, you don't have to turn there.
• 24:45
  This is how he concludes his prayer.
• 24:47
  For we do not present are pleased to you because of our
• 24:50
  righteousness. For we do not present our please
• 24:53
  before you because of our righteousness.
• 24:55
  But because of your great Mercy. It's your mercy.
• 25:00
  It's you being willing to give me what I don't deserve.
• 25:05
  And so if you come to the Lord great but come to him, broken
• 25:09
  come to him needy, come to him with a realization that apart
• 25:13
  from him, overlooking your sin, overlooking your faults,
• 25:19
  overlooking your inconsistencies because you are clothed with
• 25:21
  Christ, then there's no praying. There's no point to it at all.
• 25:28
  But if you do have that, you'll arrive that much closer to great
• 25:31
  faith. Faith.
• 25:34
  That has action faith. That is humble thirdly, what?
• 25:39
  Makes This Woman's Faith. Great!
• 25:40
  That makes us Inspire to see great faith.
• 25:44
  Her faith was persistent. Verse 26 of Mark.
• 25:48
  Now the woman was a gentile and we're told they're in the second
• 25:51
  part of the verse, she begged him begged him to cast The Demon
• 25:56
  out of her daughter. The persistence is here in the
• 26:01
  begging and other instances. The Lord is willing and has
• 26:04
  answered prayer answered request answered, please.
• 26:07
  Almost immediately, but he knows exactly what to do with each of
• 26:11
  us. And for most of us, if not, all
• 26:15
  of us, if our faith is going to be great, if it's going to be
• 26:19
  stretched, if it's going to grow that, it must be met with some
• 26:23
  kind of challenge. There must be adversity, there
• 26:26
  must be something that demands us to lean in demands us to push
• 26:31
  forward. The man's ass to, to shine a
• 26:35
  little bit brighter as things get Grimmer.
• 26:39
  And in This Woman's case was she experienced that called for
• 26:43
  greater faith is something you're very familiar with.
• 26:46
  I'm sure of it. I'm no Prophet nor my son of a
• 26:49
  prophet. But I have a feeling.
• 26:53
  What was she met with that? Caused her to beg sound in
• 26:57
  Matthew? 15 23.
• 27:00
  But he did not answer her a word.
• 27:04
  But he did not answer her a word and his disciples came and
• 27:07
  begged him. Now, the disciples are begging
• 27:09
  saying, send her away for she is crying out after us.
• 27:13
  Many reasons why we grow faint and prayer and I think one of
• 27:17
  the most devastating blows to consistency.
• 27:21
  Is divinely ordained delay. When God chooses not to answer
• 27:27
  as quickly as you would like, and how discouraging is that
• 27:31
  when you give days and weeks to something?
• 27:35
  Only did see no change. Only for the Lord to seem to be
• 27:40
  indifferent or maybe even in our gross, interpretation
• 27:44
  distracted. But I looked at the store and I
• 27:47
  thought to myself, there's another perspective on this.
• 27:51
  If I'm experiencing that suspenseful Silence from the
• 27:55
  Lord. I should not see this as a
• 27:59
  discouraging thing, but as a opportunity, what do I mean by
• 28:03
  that? If it was not for this delay we
• 28:07
  would not have this display of great faith.
• 28:09
  Do you realize that It was through the Lord.
• 28:13
  Choosing not to answer that this woman was able to be pulled into
• 28:18
  Greater Heights of trust, and to Greater Heights of worship.
• 28:24
  The Lord silence here is not a sign for her to give up.
• 28:26
  Nor is it a sign for you to give up?
• 28:29
  See it as an opportunity to even give him more pleasure.
• 28:34
  Look at it this way when he chooses to remain mute, it only
• 28:38
  pulled something more out of her and it is no different for you.
• 28:40
  And I if we choose to give faith in that moment, what happens
• 28:45
  here in Matthew 15:24. It says in 23, he did not answer
• 28:48
  a word. Look at what happens.
• 28:50
  She doesn't decrease, she increases she doesn't pull away.
• 28:55
  She moves forward, she doesn't stop, she succeeds and verse 24.
• 29:01
  He answered, I was sent only to the lost sheep of the House of
• 29:04
  Israel, but she came and knelt before him saying Saying Lord
• 29:09
  help me. And he answered it is not right
• 29:12
  to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs.
• 29:14
  She said yes. Lord, yet even the dogs eat the
• 29:17
  crumbs that fall from their master's table.
• 29:19
  Okay, you're not going to answer me things actually look like
• 29:21
  they're going in the opposite direction.
• 29:23
  I'm sure you felt that too. I felt it.
• 29:26
  It's as though my prayers are putting things in reverse and
• 29:29
  yet this woman still has the faith to call him Lord Your
• 29:35
  silent. The answers are not coming the
• 29:38
  way I thought they would come Lord.
• 29:41
  Lord, You're Still Lord. I think for many people when
• 29:48
  they don't see God doing what they want, they they reconsider
• 29:51
  the lordship of Jesus Christ. Now, here's this woman
• 29:54
  reinforcing it doubling down. Remain.
• 29:59
  Absolutely unshakable. I'm sure you've noticed
• 30:03
  something here. That's not easy to ignore that.
• 30:05
  We have to address Jesus reference to dogs, right?
• 30:09
  All the enemies of the Gospel love to use this text to show
• 30:12
  some kind of fault in the Saviour.
• 30:14
  So let's look at it. It's not a derogatory term, it's
• 30:16
  not a term that the Jews often use to identify the Gentiles
• 30:21
  know. If you look at the Greek, it's a
• 30:22
  unique word and it's a word that describes a little dog, a
• 30:25
  household pet, something that was cared for by families.
• 30:29
  So Jesus here is not speaking about necessarily her identity
• 30:32
  as a dog more. So as an analogy of priority
• 30:37
  that if you're in a house, the food is going to come to the
• 30:40
  children before it comes to the animals.
• 30:42
  And the response of this woman gives us the assurance that she
• 30:46
  understood the illustration, the Gentiles are second, and this
• 30:51
  period of Redemptive history and this part of God's program, the
• 30:54
  Jews are to receive a chance and accepting their Messiah.
• 30:59
  And so, she sees that right? Because even, Jesus alludes to
• 31:02
  that. It says, here about the children
• 31:05
  being fed first, this is not an outright denial.
• 31:09
  This is a matter of delay and this woman saw that.
• 31:14
  And she, and this place recognizes what Christ is
• 31:17
  saying. And that's again, something that
• 31:19
  is unfamiliar, unfamiliar in the sense that Jesus experienced so
• 31:24
  much of the Jews. Who did not understand his
• 31:28
  sayings and here's a woman with great Insight, she was able to
• 31:30
  perceive it. And based on what Christ said
• 31:34
  that positions, her not as the priority.
• 31:37
  Not only does she understand the saying, unlike many of the Jews?
• 31:40
  She was willing to accept it. How much of the encounters that
• 31:45
  Jesus had with the leaders of the Jewish people especially
• 31:49
  aroused, arrogance, and pride and self-righteousness.
• 31:51
  Not. So with this woman, So as Jesus
• 31:55
  resist in a way all it does is highlight her humility.
• 31:59
  Even more highlight. Her faith, even more you and I
• 32:02
  had the same opportunity to remember that.
• 32:04
  Again, that's a conscious Choice Gaylord.
• 32:07
  If I'm going to be challenged here, that I'm going to continue
• 32:10
  to pray and I will continue to trust in you.
• 32:16
  She accepted it. Okay, I'm second place.
• 32:19
  Let me be second place. I'm not even going to argue for
• 32:22
  the full meal. Is there crumbs left for me.
• 32:26
  Do you have any crumbs? Anything from the table that I
• 32:29
  can have? Because the crumbs of your mercy
• 32:32
  are enough for me. If your power comes to me in
• 32:36
  crumbs, I know that it's enough to heal my daughter.
• 32:38
  Do you see the faith? Doesn't it move?
• 32:41
  You aren't we inspired? Yes, and you should be, but what
• 32:45
  did it require delay? What did it require not
• 32:49
  immediate Jeannie like answers resistance.
• 32:54
  Time. Pressure circumstances that seem
• 32:56
  to contradict. And then in that moment, we have
• 33:02
  an opportunity to demonstrate and develop.
• 33:06
  A beautiful thing of worship. This woman here.
• 33:12
  Essentially saying, I may be wrestling for an answer, but you
• 33:14
  are still Lord. And I'm not going anywhere.
• 33:18
  Now, I don't think that point is new, you know, this point,
• 33:22
  prayer, perseverance, prayer persistence don't give up
• 33:24
  praying, we all know that. Okay, I'm sure of that.
• 33:28
  But over the years, I've heard a very common question and usually
• 33:31
  from those who actually do pray. And this is a question that I
• 33:34
  really appreciate a question that I've thought about, and the
• 33:36
  question goes something like this.
• 33:38
  Well, what do I know when to stop?
• 33:41
  How do I know that God's silence in this season of prayer is him
• 33:48
  demanding? More faith from me?
• 33:49
  Or is it him? Just asking me to move on.
• 33:52
  Do I continue do I intensify do I put more energy into this?
• 33:58
  Is there any indication? Is there anything in the word of
• 34:01
  God that instructs me to know when to see spraying?
• 34:06
  You know, what's fascinating? That is not even an instruction.
• 34:13
  In the Bible, the emphasis is always to continue to strive to
• 34:18
  be fervent. Not to give up to ask seek the
• 34:22
  there's very little to work with that would encourage and or
• 34:26
  entertain the concept of calculating and estimating when
• 34:30
  it is that we should stop. You see the opposite?
• 34:35
  To continue to press on but it's still a valid question.
• 34:40
  It's still a valid question and here's the thing.
• 34:43
  According to my own studies, there are one maybe two
• 34:46
  instances in all of the Bible where you get an explicit
• 34:49
  command from God not to pray, and it's not given and didactic
• 34:55
  literature, it's given in a unique instance, does anybody
• 34:59
  know one specific? The clearest example, where
• 35:04
  Someone was told not to pray. Jeremiah.
• 35:11
  I want you to see it for yourself in Jeremiah 7:16.
• 35:13
  This is not the only time Jeremiah was instructed by the
• 35:16
  Lord, not to pray, but it is the first one and notice what the
• 35:19
  Lord says to Jeremiah, Jeremiah 7:16. as for you, do not pray
• 35:40
  for this people or lift up a cry or prayer for them and do not
• 35:46
  intercede with me for. I will not hear you.
• 35:52
  That is the most explicit example of God.
• 35:55
  Telling a servant not to pray. You go to the New Testament.
• 35:59
  You see the exact opposite? So how do we reconcile these two
• 36:04
  things? Well, it's not clear but this is
• 36:07
  what I believe we can make of it.
• 36:10
  That if you want to know when it is that you need to see sprang
• 36:13
  for something one, you got to ask yourself.
• 36:14
  Is it even according to the will of God?
• 36:16
  Many of us are praying about something that God has already
• 36:17
  made. Clear?
• 36:19
  Okay. Should I keep praying?
• 36:21
  Yes, you should have stopped praying a long time ago.
• 36:22
  Actually, God made it already clear.
• 36:25
  His word says what it says besides that.
• 36:29
  For the unknowns, right? For the gray areas for things
• 36:32
  that are not necessarily mapped out, in the Bible concerning my
• 36:35
  life. How do I know?
• 36:37
  Well, based on this and the rest of scripture, I think the best
• 36:39
  way to know is when God lets, you know, when he makes it
• 36:43
  abundantly clear, whether you should move forward or not, and
• 36:46
  he can do that. Super naturally, I believe that.
• 36:49
  And more often, he does a providentially where you will
• 36:52
  know the spirit will give you wisdom to know, okay?
• 36:55
  This is where I stop. Let me give you an example.
• 36:58
  If you're praying about that person being your spouse.
• 37:01
  If you're asking the Lord is this, the person I am to marry.
• 37:06
  And that girl gets married. You can stop praying.
• 37:13
  Okay, you don't need to know. Why should I stop praying?
• 37:16
  It's not move on. If somebody else.
• 37:19
  All right. Many examples, we can we can we
• 37:23
  can look at how do I know if I keep praying for healing?
• 37:26
  How do I know if I keep praying for his healing?
• 37:28
  Well, you keep praying you keep playing until God, heals or God
• 37:31
  takes him home, you keep praying.
• 37:34
  And I think that is the attitude that the Bible gives us and
• 37:37
  calls us to persistent immovable, constant prayer,
• 37:42
  until he makes it known. Here's another example, with
• 37:44
  Paul in second, Corinthians 12 and verse 8, three times.
• 37:48
  I pleaded with the Lord three times.
• 37:50
  I pleaded Are you speaking about the sort thorn in his flesh?
• 37:53
  Three times. I came to God and he said to me,
• 37:56
  what did he say to me, right? Then he tells them about how his
• 37:59
  grace is. Sufficient.
• 38:01
  I wonder if the Lord did not speak to him three times.
• 38:03
  How many more times Paul would have prayed?
• 38:07
  It's on the third time that the Lord chose to reveal says look,
• 38:09
  this is not going anywhere. My grace is sufficient for you,
• 38:12
  this is staying, but you're going to know my power in your
• 38:14
  weakness. So I see another example there.
• 38:17
  Paul kept praying until some kind of answer came, some kind
• 38:20
  of clarity, some kind of Revelation.
• 38:24
  And this woman was persistent, she believed and even in Christ
• 38:30
  answer that seemed to be a no it wasn't really a no?
• 38:32
  Remember it was the children must be fed first.
• 38:38
  And so she saw an Open Door there with those piercing eyes
• 38:42
  of faith. Okay, fine.
• 38:44
  But they're still crumbs. Can I have some?
• 38:50
  That doesn't offend God. It moves, God persistence.
• 38:57
  Did you lose your persistence? Did you receive clear indication
• 39:00
  that you should stop? Or did you just lose heart?
• 39:07
  Persistent, faith is great faith but it's not the only thing that
• 39:11
  makes Faith grade. We see here in Matthew now, In
• 39:15
  the same verse that I quoted to you about the Lord, not
• 39:17
  answering her word. Look at Matthew, 15:23 for the
• 39:20
  fourth. Mark of great faith.
• 39:23
  It says your, but he did not answer her word and his
• 39:25
  disciples came and begging him saying, send her away for.
• 39:29
  She is crying out after us. So this is close to number
• 39:34
  three, but it's not really. Number three, is her.
• 39:36
  Faith was persistent and the battle with her persistence was
• 39:39
  mainly between her and the Lord. But here in point number four,
• 39:43
  is her. Faith was immovable immovable,
• 39:46
  not by her own doubts, not by her.
• 39:49
  Own sense of discouragement by outside forces.
• 39:51
  This is actually my favorite point.
• 39:55
  Her faith was a movable. So, what happens here is that,
• 39:57
  this Lord, that this woman is clearly coming to the Lord, in a
• 39:59
  way, that's very, very obvious. And so obvious was that the
• 40:03
  disciples were right there, and they were engaging in this
• 40:06
  moment, they were aware of it and it annoyed them.
• 40:10
  I don't know how she did it but I just try to imagine there's a
• 40:14
  lord. Slightly leaning over to the
• 40:17
  other side. And here's this woman trying to
• 40:18
  get his attention and they're the disciples around saying when
• 40:21
  is this woman gonna stop? We came here, not for this.
• 40:25
  All of that kind of stuff is back there in Israel.
• 40:27
  We're here on a little vacation and Lord do something please.
• 40:33
  You got to put an end to this. And I realized you that this
• 40:38
  woman was not just challenging her faith by silence, or by
• 40:41
  Bleak, hope it was confronted by the lack of spirituality of the
• 40:45
  Disciples of Jesus Christ. Magic coming to Jesus with your
• 40:50
  problem, hearing those, who traveled to them, those who were
• 40:53
  closest to him treat you in this way, Express how annoying you
• 40:58
  are. that your presence is actually a pesky thing in that
• 41:05
  you just want her to go away. Whether her problem is solved or
• 41:07
  not, imagine being a gentile. Holy heard from a distance of
• 41:12
  this Messiah and what he could do.
• 41:15
  And when you were visited by his Representatives, this is the
• 41:18
  kind of stinking attitude. They give is it a strange
• 41:23
  concept for those who claim to follow answer Jesus to
• 41:25
  demonstrate disappointing? Behavior?
• 41:28
  Answer? No, no it's not a strange thing
• 41:33
  at all. Unfortunately too common That's
• 41:35
  exactly what this woman is facing.
• 41:38
  You know what's so sad? Is that that's all it takes for
• 41:42
  people to lose faith. That's all it takes for people
• 41:48
  to cut their commitment with Christ just because some of his
• 41:50
  disciples treated you or said something about you.
• 41:55
  Write your parents come to church.
• 41:58
  Hallelujah. Amen.
• 41:59
  When they go to, when they go home, they cuss and throw things
• 42:02
  at each other. This is Christianity.
• 42:08
  This is Christianity. Mom and Dad.
• 42:09
  Come in here. Amen.
• 42:10
  Brother. How are you in the car?
• 42:11
  They were eating each other alive.
• 42:12
  This is Christianity. Are you coming to this place?
• 42:17
  And you see people worshipping, you see?
• 42:19
  Even people may be in Ministry and then you go on their social
• 42:21
  media during the week and they look no different than the
• 42:22
  heathen. They post worldly things, they
• 42:26
  look worthy, they sound worldly. This is the same person at
• 42:30
  church. And here is this, what?
• 42:32
  Christian, I don't think I want anything to do this.
• 42:33
  If this is Christianity, especially if they're serving in
• 42:35
  Ministry teams. No, thanks.
• 42:37
  Huh. Or how about this one?
• 42:40
  This one might hit close to home.
• 42:41
  Forgive me. You know, my friends don't go to
• 42:46
  Prairie meeting anymore. Not really worth it.
• 42:54
  If they go, I'll go. But they haven't been in a
• 42:57
  while. I think I'll just hang out at
• 42:59
  home. It's not great faith.
• 43:08
  That's bottom of the barrel faith.
• 43:12
  That your commitment to the cause of Christ vacillates based
• 43:18
  on your environment, namely the people around you.
• 43:25
  Here you have these disciples begging Jesus, to send this
• 43:28
  woman away. Can you imagine that?
• 43:31
  You don't want to my first exposures as a born-again
• 43:33
  Christian when I went to a meeting.
• 43:36
  As I went there, freshly fresh out of the oven saved.
• 43:42
  And somebody in this room can attest to that because they were
• 43:44
  there with me, there are people there openly making fun of me.
• 43:50
  During that I'm not trying to like poor on that.
• 43:51
  There's not like counseling session.
• 43:52
  I'm just trying to make a point. And I couldn't believe it.
• 44:02
  This happens. This happens.
• 44:06
  What are you going to do? Are you going to let your faith
• 44:09
  be dependent upon what other people claim to be Disciples of
• 44:11
  Jesus do to you? Nothing of the sort with this
• 44:16
  woman. This woman did not allow the
• 44:19
  poor attitudes of others, even Christ closest followers to
• 44:23
  deter her prize. Run Christ, her eyes were on
• 44:27
  Jesus. Her eyes was on his power, his
• 44:30
  character, his word, his will. And so she stayed laser focus on
• 44:35
  him and him alone. And that is what Grace Faith,
• 44:38
  entails that you stay. The course, no matter what other
• 44:41
  people do there and with their Lane, you just stay the course.
• 44:46
  And you trust. That as Christ Caesar
• 44:50
  conviction. Being unmoved.
• 44:54
  That Commendation is on the way Commendation is on the way
• 44:59
  immovable faith, not dependent upon people grow or not grow,
• 45:02
  whether people are consistent or inconsistent with pure people
• 45:04
  are hypocritical or faithful who cares?
• 45:08
  This is Christ in me. I will be held accountable for
• 45:13
  the Lord. He is worthy of My Worship.
• 45:16
  Let the world go in a different direction, let people in my
• 45:19
  church, Go a different direction.
• 45:20
  This is between me and my master is their Mutual accountability.
• 45:24
  Yes. Is there a called for us to look
• 45:26
  at each other and to call each other out?
• 45:28
  When we need to it? Yes.
• 45:30
  Does that mean that we should tolerate people's sin?
• 45:32
  No. But your faith is your faith.
• 45:38
  Is it a movable? we see here the last and final
• 45:43
  point of great faith and it's really perhaps to us a strange
• 45:46
  characteristic but it has biblical verification Great
• 45:51
  faith is not only faith that moves in action.
• 45:54
  It's not only a faith. That radiates humility.
• 45:56
  It's not only a faith that is persistent.
• 45:58
  It's not only a faith. That is immovable.
• 46:00
  It is a faith. That knows how to stand in the
• 46:02
  gap. There are only two places in all
• 46:07
  of the New Testament where Jesus identifies somebody's Faith as
• 46:09
  great. Here, we see it in Matthew 15.
• 46:13
  We see it in Mark 7, and we see it.
• 46:14
  Also Matthew chapter 8 with the Centurion.
• 46:17
  What are the both of those things have in common?
• 46:18
  Yes, they were Gentiles. I understand that fully, I'm
• 46:21
  fully aware that what made these people's Faith grades that they
• 46:24
  were Outsiders, who showed more trust and belief than the people
• 46:27
  that you would expect it from but there's more to it.
• 46:30
  There's something about these two instances right where you
• 46:32
  have the Roman Centurion and this woman coming to Christ and
• 46:36
  I believe one of those things. Additionally to the fact that
• 46:38
  they were Gentiles is that they sought God.
• 46:41
  For someone else. The Roman Centurion for his
• 46:45
  servant this woman for her daughter.
• 46:50
  And I think we can learn from this.
• 46:52
  And what we can learn is that the Lord is deeply moved and
• 46:55
  pleased. When he sees us exercising our
• 46:58
  faith on behalf of someone else And this is where the message
• 47:05
  comes full circle, right? What you have here is a young
• 47:09
  girl tormented by a demon and you have a mother who comes with
• 47:13
  absolute trust in the Lord that she can experience his grace.
• 47:20
  And we don't know the details of her condition, but it was enough
• 47:22
  for her, as a mother to discern. This is not erratic Behavior.
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  This is not some psychological disorder.
• 47:27
  This is Satan attacking my baby. And so, she obviously Discerning
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  that knew where to go. Evidently whatever she trying to
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  do in the natural had no success.
• 47:43
  It came to no avail. And so with what she knew, she
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  came to Christ. And she said I have no strength.
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  I have no strategy. I have no solution.
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  You have to step in. Give me some crumbs.
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  You need to do something here. As I was meditating on this, I
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  thought that perhaps many parents are feeling the same
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  many uncles, aunts, grandparents, you've done
• 48:09
  everything that you can and all you're really doing.
• 48:11
  At this point, is witnessing. Someone that you invested so
• 48:15
  much in slipping away into the hands of the evil one.
• 48:19
  Their minds being infiltrated by demonic Doctrine, Satan's agents
• 48:23
  being sent to entice them away from The will of God that you
• 48:28
  would hope that your son or daughter would walk in.
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  And you've done your part years of EBS years of Sunday, school
• 48:36
  years of personal discipleship to come to what And so you're
• 48:43
  discouraged and even more discouraged because whenever you
• 48:46
  sit down with that teenager, whenever you sit down with that
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  college student, you have the serious conversation, you tried
• 48:52
  to be as as Discerning as gentle as possible, and all you're met
• 48:56
  with is blank stares. Like, you could talk about
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  anything else in the world and their eyes will light up when it
• 49:02
  comes to faith in Christ. And his word is, Will you're
• 49:05
  talking to a hollow shell, maybe even worse with others
• 49:10
  resistance? Rejection.
• 49:13
  Mockery. And there's this almost Panic as
• 49:21
  you're seeing somebody become a vessel for the evil one.
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  Instead of a vessel for God. Let me quote j.c.
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  Ryle to you and I hope this encourages you quote, even when
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  they being your children, even when they will not let us speak
• 49:39
  to them about religion, they cannot prevent us speaking for
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  them to God. That is right.
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  Be like this woman. All right, you're not going to
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  let me talk to you. I'll talk to God for you.
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  They're up against something when you do that.
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  Let me encourage you. That's going to be a lot more
• 50:05
  difficult for them to sin when you do that.
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  Let me tell you that there will be like, lot Divine
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  interruptions even though while they live in Sodom.
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  That's that's the whole point. I love that story about Abraham
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  and lot. Here's a man who does not know
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  whether he wants to evade judgment or stay with the people
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  that are going to experience the judgment.
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  And we're told there in Genesis that it was because the Lord
• 50:29
  remembered Abraham that law was delivered.
• 50:32
  Not because of lots Faith. Abraham's faith.
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  Have you lost that? Hope are you seeing them going?
• 50:40
  Wayward do you see no sign, no pulse of Life, are you praying?
• 50:45
  I'm not trying to beat you here over over your head with a
• 50:47
  Bible. So you better be praying.
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  Trying to give you hope. I'm trying to get you excited
• 50:50
  not to condemn you into the closet.
• 50:53
  Are you praying? Have you called upon Heavens
• 50:56
  resources? Have you called upon the holy
• 50:58
  spirit as an agent to come and to knock on their hearts and in
• 51:03
  a holy way to hunt them? until they realize their need
• 51:09
  Great faith knows how to intercede.
• 51:11
  Great faith says, I'm not just believing what God can do for
• 51:14
  me. I'm believing that what I can
• 51:15
  do. Yes, poor little me.
• 51:17
  What I can do in prayer because of God's greatness, and mercy
• 51:21
  can change somebody else that moves God, you believe that if
• 51:27
  you pray for someone so I can do it, watch me do it.
• 51:32
  It's a wonder to God. It's a spectacle.
• 51:36
  It's something that he actually Praises.
• 51:38
  You know? What's so sad?
• 51:40
  The opposite is just as much as a Wonder to God.
• 51:43
  Let me prove that to you and Isaiah 59. 16, we're told them
• 51:46
  that verse he saw about God, he saw that.
• 51:49
  There was no man he saw that. There is no man and wondered
• 51:53
  that there was no one to intercede.
• 52:00
  When Judah was going to hell in a handbasket.
• 52:03
  You know what are the one of the things that made God Wonder as
• 52:06
  he looked down whose interceding Who has the faith, who has the
• 52:13
  heart to actually believe that. If they stand in the Gap, in
• 52:15
  prayer, I can do something. And it says, here that no one,
• 52:19
  no one. No one to intercede.
• 52:27
  He wondered How is it that nobody's taking advantage of
• 52:32
  this weapon? How is it that?
• 52:34
  Nobody is actually boldly coming to my throne and believing that
• 52:38
  I can do something from my Throne, how is it?
• 52:42
  He wondered but in this case with this woman, he wondered of
• 52:46
  her faith because in love she came and prayer. you know,
• 52:52
  someone cleverly made a contrast between Mark chapter 6 and Mark
• 52:56
  chapter 7, In Mark, chapter 6, you have another mother.
• 53:03
  Who influenced her daughter for evil, remember herodias.
• 53:08
  She encouraged and stimulated. Her daughter to sin for her
• 53:11
  selfish pleasure. And then you come to Mark
• 53:13
  chapter 7 and you see a completely different mother.
• 53:17
  One who came in, love for her daughter, and prayed for her.
• 53:24
  This week, we were away for a funeral.
• 53:26
  Had a chance to sit with Some of jewels family members to hear
• 53:33
  different just hearing different testimonies, you know, the one
• 53:36
  thing I came away with those conversations.
• 53:39
  Is that those Saints those early Saints?
• 53:43
  The saints that had less distractions in life.
• 53:46
  They prayed. They put that's why I took they
• 53:49
  prayed very simple people. Nothing Fancy no big churches.
• 53:54
  But boy, did they have testimonies and the common
• 53:57
  denominator was? They prayed a lot, they prayed a
• 54:02
  lot. One of the stories I heard was
• 54:06
  how one of the men. Whenever a guest would come
• 54:10
  over, he wouldn't do anything before they prayed together.
• 54:15
  If anybody came or if you're going to somebody's house,
• 54:16
  you're going to pray with that guy before you do anything else.
• 54:20
  And I thought to myself, he jokingly said that made some
• 54:23
  people not want to go over to his house.
• 54:28
  But they had testimonies they had stories.
• 54:33
  And I was convicted. I was convicted.
• 54:40
  And one of the things that touch me as well. was from one person
• 54:43
  who said, To this day, I'll never forget.
• 54:48
  Waking up every single morning as a teenager and hearing my
• 54:53
  father in the other room. Pray, and the way he prayed some
• 54:59
  mornings made me weep the way he talked to god.
• 55:03
  Father mother What kind of Legacy are you going to leave?
• 55:11
  Look at this woman. She pray.
• 55:12
  Look at her tortillas. What she made her daughter
• 55:15
  worldly. She made her daughter since she
• 55:17
  encouraged her daughter to go out to dance.
• 55:21
  In an evil wave before an evil man.
• 55:24
  And you come to this mother while her baby was sick.
• 55:27
  She went and prayed. I'm sure that when she came back
• 55:30
  home and she found her daughter lying on her bed that they had,
• 55:33
  an amazing conversation of that encounter with Christ.
• 55:38
  I wonder what the relationship became like after they learned.
• 55:44
  Of a mother's faith and a daughter's need.
• 55:49
  Be encouraged today. You and I can graduate in faith.
• 55:54
  You've been given the curriculum you've been given the answers.
• 55:57
  You got a cheat sheet. You and I can do great faith by
• 56:02
  five simple elements. I'm sure there's some you can
• 56:04
  add, but let me give you five from this chapter again.
• 56:07
  Fate that is acted upon. Let me remind you of the test.
• 56:11
  What will your hearts say when we say Amen?
• 56:13
  Today will say, well, Pastor did better than last week.
• 56:20
  Will you say Lord if that's what great faith is.
• 56:24
  I want it. Are you humbled today?
• 56:29
  Because Christ is attracted to humility.
• 56:31
  Or is there a part of us that says I believed in you, I walked
• 56:35
  away from my family. I walked away from my sin and
• 56:37
  this is how you're going to treat me.
• 56:39
  You're praying to yourself. Persistence the hardest thing,
• 56:44
  trust me it's hard. The persistence have I given up
• 56:49
  I've given up, why did I give up?
• 56:52
  Here's the beauty of it. If you get back if you get back
• 56:55
  he is so merciful to hear he does not condemn us.
• 56:57
  He does not frown upon us. He encourages us.
• 56:59
  He knows how fickle we are. He knows how far away we are
• 57:02
  from time to time. He knows that's why we have his
• 57:04
  word. That's what we have sermons like
• 57:05
  this. To remind it.
• 57:06
  Hey, get back. Her faith was immovable,
• 57:10
  immovable, the disciples, didn't influence her, even the fact of
• 57:14
  her Gentile neighbors. Imagine that in a pagan place,
• 57:17
  she comes to Christ when she was essentially, doing is turning
• 57:19
  her back on these Idols. They do nothing.
• 57:22
  I'm coming to the Living God. So you have enemies of this God
• 57:26
  and you have people who claim to be for this God being your
• 57:28
  enemy. What are you gonna do?
• 57:32
  Say, I'm never gonna go to church again and watch Facebook
• 57:34
  live and that will be my church. That's not the will of God.
• 57:40
  And her faith was so big, so great.
• 57:43
  That it could not stay for herself.
• 57:46
  I believe that my faith connected to God's mercy can
• 57:50
  touch that person. I'm going to pray for my son.
• 57:55
  I'm going to make through my prayers and God's goodness.
• 57:58
  Him absolutely miserable in his sin.
• 58:03
  A Praying mom is a scary mom. Trust me, I know.
• 58:09
  And so be encouraged, leave this place to say, great faith.
• 58:14
  Lord, this is what I desire. Enable be my, your mercy, to be
• 58:16
  able to do it to walk in and to grow in it, and he will do it.
• 58:20
  Amen. Amen.
• 58:23
  But we thank you for this word. Oh, we bless you, Lord.
• 58:26
  We bless you. Thank you for reminding us.
• 58:29
  What great Faith Can Do. Thank you for reminding us that
• 58:33
  great faith is not dependent upon societal status.
• 58:37
  Not even based upon knowledge. Just by taking you by your word.
• 58:44
  And remaining there in your word.
• 58:48
  Lord, we ask that if names have come to us That you would help
• 58:52
  us to Target them again. Lord, we ask that when we feel
• 58:57
  weak. That these words would remind us
• 59:00
  again that in those moments of testing and trials and delays
• 59:03
  and circumstances, that contradict what we're asking
• 59:07
  for. Then those moments is an
• 59:10
  opportunity to say I will give you my faith still, I will give
• 59:14
  you my worship still, I will acknowledge my unworthiness and
• 59:18
  your worthiness still and in those moments where I don't see
• 59:21
  what I need, I will ask you for the crumbs.
• 59:26
  And Lord, we pray that in the disappointments of people in the
• 59:29
  Church of Believers, a family members helped us put our faith
• 59:33
  in you. Not them, you, you alone?
• 59:37
  And to be a testament to the world, a watching world that you
• 59:40
  are worthy of our devotion. At all times and all places,
• 59:46
  Lord, a word like this can easily condemned, but that is
• 59:50
  not our desire. We pray to be inspired Not our
• 59:54
  obedience from this place would be from Love.
• 59:58
  We asked, oh God, that you would help us to hear your voice of
• 1:00:01
  love and to give you back our love and Jesus name.
• 1:00:05
  We pray. Amen.
• 1:00:06
  Well, let's stand together and Worship the Lord shall we?
• 59:58
  We asked, oh God, that you would help us to hear your voice of
• 1:00:01
  love and to give you back our love and Jesus name.
• 1:00:05
  We pray. Amen.
• 1:00:06
  Well, let's stand together and Worship the Lord shall we?