Matthew 15:21-39 | Verse by Verse - Audio

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If you have a Bible, you can open up to Matthew chapter 15 as we go through the book of the gospel of Matthew PERSON, verse by verse. And we're going to be in part two of Matthew chapter 15. Last week, we saw that there was quite a bit of contention with Jesus PERSON and the religious leaders. Those Pharisees and scribes, they walked the 60 miles from Jerusalem to go to the Galilean region to confront Jesus PERSON that his disciples didn't wash their hands. They didn't wash their handsaccording to the religious traditions, the way the religious elders think you should wash your hands to be righteous before God because of how you wash your hands. And we talked about this in great detail last week about how religion just is so self-righteous and aloof and condescending, whereas faith in Christ PERSON's relationship. And it's humbling and it's joyful and it's edifying and it's liberating. And so as we go forward from that text last week where there was that conflict, and Jesus PERSON made clear that it's not how youwash our hands, it's not the outside of a man or a woman that defiles them. It's what's inside of them, what's in their heart. And we finished last week with that having a good heart, that we just want to have a good heart. Our words reveal our heart. And if we fill our mind with the good things of the Lord,and we meditate on those things, it shapes and molds our character and who we are and we get the kind of heart that God wants us to have. And we can just see by our own words where our heart is in a good place or where it maybe needs adjustment or alignment. So that being said, we pick it up tonight now in Chapter 15, Part 2.We're going to be in verse 21. Then Jesus went out from there and departed to the region of Tyre and Saddam GPE. That's modern Lebanon. And behold, the woman of Canaan GPE came from that region and cried out to him saying, have mercyon me, O Lord, son of David PERSON. My daughter is severely demon possessed. But he answered her not a word. And his disciples came in urge and saying, send her away for she cries out after us.But he answered and said, I was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel GPE. Then she came and worshipped him saying, Lord, help me. But he answered and said,it is not good to take the children's bread and throw it to the little dogs. And she said, yes, Lord, even the little dogs eat the crumbs which fall from their master's table. And then Jesus PERSON answered and said to her,Oh, woman, great is your faith. Let it be to you as you desire. And her daughter was healed from that very hour. Now we'll come back to this in a minute. This is our primary text tonight. We're going to get these other passages as well.Verse 29. Jesus departed from there, skirted the sea of Galilee LOC, and went up on the mountain, and sat down there. And then great multitudes came to him, having with them the lame,the blind, the mute, the maimed, and many others. And they laid them down at Jesus PERSON' feet, and he healed them. So the multitude marveled when they saw the mute speaking, the maimed made whole,the lame walking, and the blind seeing, and they glorified the God of Israel GPE. Now, Jesus PERSON called his disciples to himself and said, I have compassion on the multitude, because they now continue with me three days and have nothing to eat. And I do not want to send them away hungry lest they faint on the way. Then his disciples said to him, well, where could we get enough bread in the wilderness to fill such a great multitude?And Jesus PERSON said to them, how many loaves do you have? And they said seven and a few little fish. So he commanded the multitude to sit down on the ground, and he took the seven loaves and the fish. He gave thanks, broke them and gave them to his disciples, and disciples gave to the multitude. So they all ate and were filled, and they took up seven loaves and the fish, he gave thanks, broke them and gave them to his disciples, and disciples gave to the multitude. So they all ate and were filled,and they took up seven large baskets full of the fragments that were left. Now those who ate were 4,000 men besides women and children, and he sent away the multitude, got into the boat, and came to the region of Magdalah GPE. So we have three different segments of this passage tonight, the Phoenician or Canaanite NORP woman.Jesus PERSON in the multitude with the healings and all that he was doing and then the feeding of the multitude. So just tying it all together, we see here that he's ministering to a large multitude and they're glorifying the God of Israel GPE, which is consistent in which he came to do, right? He came as the king of the Jews. He even told his disciples back in chapter 10 when he sent outthe 12 apostles. He said, do not go to the Samaritan NORP villages. Do not go to the Gentile nations, the non-Jewish. He said, go to the house of Israel. And we know there in the New Testament later on in the book of Romans, Paul PERSON said that the gospel of Jesus Christ is for the Jew first, then the Gentile NORP, or literally the nations. So we say, why are the Jew first? Well, because God made a covenant with Abraham 2,000 years before DATE. And Abraham's the father of the Jews NORP.And from Abraham, 500 years, we see Moses and the nation of Israel GPE, receiving the Ten Commandments LAW, and the stewardship of all the prophetic scriptures, and the Psalms WORK_OF_ART and all the other elements of scriptures that make up our Old Testament. The Jewish NORP nation, the small group of people that still the whole worldseems to center and revolve around to this day, the Jewish NORP nation was set aside by the Lord to bring his son, God himself, the son of God, into the world as the promised Messiah, going back to the fall of humanity there in the Garden of Eden with Adam PERSON and the original sin. Thus, Jesus is called the Messiah and the Second Adam, and even as we sang earlier tonight and see in the text, Son of David, that was one of those messianic titles for him. The Jews NORP were expecting their Messiah to come and deliver them. And as most of you know, they expected that deliverance to be political and geographical, to be their own people not having a yoke of Greece or the Sucid Empire GPE or Babyloniansor Assyrians or Egyptians NORP or Romans ruling over them. There was an established hierarchy. We saw that last week with the scribes and the Pharisees NORP. But it's nice to see the multitude coming to him and finding their needs metas he healed all these people supernaturally. And he healed thousands of people. And there was nothing like it before a sense in human history. It can't even be compared. In this little sleepy area of the Galilean region, he was doing these miracles,confirming that he is God of the universe healing these people. And they glorified the God of Israel GPE in these miracles. So as the religious leaders rejected him and his position as the Christ PERSON, and even as he claimed to be God, they rejected him.And as Sam pointed out a couple weeks ago, they picked up stones more than once to stone him because they considered that blasphemy. But in spite of that, there's a large number of people praising God for the miracles through Jesus PERSON. Then we get the feeding of the 4,000. Now, there's a large number of people praising God for the miracles through Jesus.Then we get the feeding of the 4,000. Now, here's what's fascinating. Of course, we know this should not be confused with the feeding of the 5,000. These are two different stories. And the 4,000 comes a little bit later. If it was interesting that the first time with the 5,000, there was 12 baskets left over.So essentially one basket per apostle. Here we started out with seven lows, and we end up with seven baskets. So it's like 10 times the multiplying. It's the multiplying element. And I always say our God is a god of multiplication. There in Genesis 1 WORK_OF_ART, he said, be fruitful. He blessed them. He made us in his image. It said, be fruitful and multiply. And God's economy ultimately is multiplication. It usually begins with addition, and then quite often there has to be a lessonfrom subtraction to get the multiplication. Most human beings are not capable of handling multiplication with the Lord without having first experienced subtraction. Like how most people that win the lottery don't know how to spend the money they won in the lottery. Life teaches you lessons through addition and subtraction before really can be entrusted with multiplication. He's the God of multiplication.And he is teaching the apostles things about multiplication here. If he taught him something with 12 baskets, he's certainly teaching them with seven left over from seven loaves of bread. You have seven baskets. And that they didn't get the lesson is known to us in the following chapter because he'll say, do you not yet understand what I was teaching you through the loavesand the multiplication? So we're going to see that next week. So the lesson he's teaching them about being a God of multiplication, the God of supernatural, they haven't really learned it yet, but we'll see that next week. So with this in mind, we come back now to our primary text, this Gentile NORP woman, now I know it's in the text tonight when we're singing in worship, and if you know we left off last week,you know it's in the text. So when we're singing Jesus' Son of David, now we know Blind Bartamaeus PERSON said the same thing. Jesus PERSON, Son of David, have mercy on me. Bartimaeus said the same thing. Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me. So the song could certainly be for him, but hey, it doesn't, it's not exclusively for the Jews NORP. It's, here we go, because isn't that what she said? We saw it in the text. Jesus, son of David PERSON, have mercy on me. And so we're introduced to thiswoman who's a Canaanite NORP. Now, this is a profound thought, and this text, the older I get in the Lord, the less it bothers me, the more I really appreciate it. Early on, you're like, oh, man, Jesus PERSON seems like he's being so hard to this person. Like, when did Jesus PERSON ever compare someone to a dog? And why is he like this?If God's love, then why did he treat this woman like this? And the devil's like, yeah, why did he do that and stuff? But as you grow in your faith or even just look at it, you're like, this is a pretty cool story. Because this woman, the real star of this story, apart from Jesus PERSON healing her, is her absolute relentlessness to have her daughter healed. Jesus PERSON answering her prayers, not for her healing, but for the healing, the deliverance of her daughter. She got what she came for.And it's like a chess match with her and Jesus, much like the woman at the well, the Samaritan NORP woman. She said, oh, we worship here and we do this, but the Jews NORP do that. And Jesus PERSON said, you worship wrong. Salvation is of the Jews NORP, so let's get that straight. But the day is coming and now is where men won't worship here or there, but will worship God and Spirit and Truth.Very similar in some ways with this woman. It's always fascinating when we see how Jesus dealt with and ministered to Samaritans, which are half Jews NORP, if you will, and Gentiles NORP, non-Jews. This reminds you a little bit of Ruth and Naomi as well in the book of Ruth, because Ruth was a Moabite, the enemies of Israel GPE. But when her husband died and her mother-in-law was going back to Israel, the other daughter-in-law chose to stay with her people in Moab GPE, but Ruthsaid, your God will be my God. And she went back to Israel GPE to an unknown land as an enemy of Israel GPE to be with her mother-in-law and start her life over again in full poverty, loving and serving and supporting her mother-in-law, who was a child of covenant, the promise is a Jew NORP, but one who had a very negative disposition and did not have the perspective of faith and confidence in the Lord. But we know the stories that Boaz PERSON comes in,who's a man who thrives in any situation, in a famine he thrived, he flourished when people left, he stayed, he inherited all the land, he prospered in the land, and he had jobs to give when people came back from the famine. And that's who God gave her as her second husband. I bring up these Gentile NORP women's and these storiesto connect us now to understand this woman. The phrase that gets our attention, or should get attention, more than anything else, is great is your faith in verse 28. That's our topic tonight. Great is your faith.We want to talk about great faith. It's kind of my favorite topic, as you know. And we crossed some passages earlier in Matthew PERSON. I didn't really go after this topic as much as I wanted to or could have. And I'm glad I get the reset tonight because I really want to teach about what we see in the scriptures tonight, not just with her in the story, but some of the things we've already read previously with Jesus PERSON and faith.But the application is great faith. Jesus PERSON said, oh woman, the woman he wouldn't even talk to, the woman he compared to little dogs, I mean, that's the only way you can conclude that passage, he says, great is your faith. What a contrast to those Pharisees NORP and scribes who are disputing with him over how you wash your hands the week before? What a contrast religion is with condescending self-righteous people versus people who are broken, humble, and open, and desiring and thirsting for righteousnessand the things of God. What a contrast this Gentile woman is to religious leaders we saw last week. So great faith. Let's talk about great faith. The first thing we see about this woman, about her faith, we have faith with expectation. This is really important.I believe that when she comes on the scene and she cries out the words of that song, we sang tonight, Jesus PERSON, Son of David, have mercy on me. I believe when she got there, she had to go through quite a few things in her mind to have the courage and the boldness to approach God himself, the son of God, the king of the Jews NORP as a Canaanite woman.Things had to happen in her life for that to happen to come to that place. So let's think about this woman. Things had to happen in her life for that to happen to come to that place. So let's think about this woman. Self-perception goes a long way how we see herself, how we think about herself. Let's think about the strikes against this woman in her lot in life at this point in time. And of course, everyone has an opinion about a woman, just like they have an opinion about a man. She's got to look herself in the mirror in the morning, just like you and I do every day. And does she frame things with a faith and a positive perspective, or does she accept the beat down and the verbal abuse that people might give her or condescending things and settle for less and settle in on less than maybe what her life is meant to be?Well, she was raised a Canaanite NORP. She was raised to hate Jews, just like people in the Middle East are raised to hate Jews today. And if you wonder how much and how deep that hatred was, you just have to look at the enemies of Israel today. Look at our own country what's going on right now. The animosity and the hatred against Jews NORP is unmatched for any other attack on a people group in human history.Believe me, the programs declare it and confirm it. It's amazing that that's just the way it is. She would have hated the Jews NORP, and they would have certainly hated her. So when Jesus said the apostles, don't go to the Samaritan NORP villages. You can see the apostles going, gosh, that's good news. I didn't want to in the first place.I don't like those people. And don't go to the Gentiles NORP. Well, that works for me. What about you, Peter, Andrew, Matthew PERSON? We're all good with it. Yeah, totally.Like, who wants to go to the Gentiles NORP? It was in their disposition to think that way and be that way. So before this woman found the courage amongst her peer group, think of the courage it took. Can you imagine like a Middle Eastern woman raised to hate the Jewish people today, crossing the line to embrace Judaism or Zionism ORG,that is the right for Israel GPE that exists as a nation? Can you imagine the hostility she'd received from her family? Well, those are honor killings with some Middle Eastern NORP cultures. They'll kill you. It's better that you're dead in some Middle Eastern cultures than that you would identify with Jews or even America GPE. It's called honor killings. So she had to consider how much rejection she'd face from her own people to go pursue Jesus PERSON, the rabbi from Nazareth, who some say is the Messiah, the king of the Jews NORP.That's a huge crossover in identity and what you stand for and your worldviews. You're switching your Canaanite NORP gods and goddesses for the God of Israel GPE. Completely different standing and probably facing rejection of what's left of your family life. So this is what she had to face to do this.Just like when Jews give their life to Christ these days, sometimes they're ostracized from their family completely. Some Jewish families have a funeral for their children who become followers of Christ PERSON. We had a couple that came here in the beginning of years of the church, and the family disowned the daughter for marrying someone of another ethnicity. What are you going to do?That's how some people are, and you can't fix them. Just make sure it's not you that needs to be fixed, right? Because they're creating God's image. There's humans, and some people are. And you can't fix them. Just make sure it's not you that needs to be fixed. Right? Because they're creating God's image. There's humans and the rest are animals. We're creating his image for His glory.So she had to deal with that. And that's worth thinking about right now, Body of Christ, W.G. And when she looked in the mirror, she had to think, well, okay, I'm going to cross this line. I'm going to call to this rabbi, Jesus PERSON, and I got to give his attention. So I'm going to not only risk the wrath and being ostracized from my culture, but even being ostracized in my new culture. Because those religious leaders are rejecting Jesus PERSON.But I'm going to call him son of David PERSON so he knows I believe in who he is in what he's come to do. And I believe he can do what I'm going to ask him to do. So these are all things that she had to work through in her life and in her mind, in her thinking, to cross that line, to identify with Jesus PERSON. She's a Canaanite NORP. She's a woman. And we certainly know that sexism in all the places in the world where it is strong,

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it is very strong in the Middle Eastern NORP culture.

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And she's a woman whose daughter is demon-possessed. Now I'm just thinking because I had a mother, my wife is a mother, and my daughters are mothers. I'm just thinking if your daughter's demon-possessed, it might affect your mothering self-esteem. You follow me?Like, if your daughter's possessed, it'd be hard. You know, when your parents and your adult kids do things that embarrass you or frustrate you or whatever, it's hard not to feel like it's on you a little bit. Can I get a witness? You can raise your hand. Like, you know, we know their adults, they're self-determined.And you look in the mirror, they're self-determined. It's their choice. They can do it. But still, you walk away going, like, man, I feel like it's still on me. Must have been something I did. I failed them when they're 14.I should have been there for this situation. It's because sin in my life. That's why they act like this. Right? We all think like that as parents. How would you think if your daughter was demon possessed?That would really affect your sense of self-worth as a mother, I would think. And she definitely had desperation. So she's a desperate woman. It's a serious situation. And before she ever came to Jesus and said, son of David PERSON, have mercy on me, she had to work through these things. Being a woman, being a Canaanite NORP, her daughter. And so really, here's my point. She had more than enough obstacles and excusesto not walk out that door and go find Jesus and call him Son of David PERSON. Wouldn't you agree? I mean, if you're looking for excuses, you could have talked yourself right out of this. Her whole world's going to change from this circumstance and situation. And if you're looking for excuses, if you're willing to let the obstacles in front of you, Canaanite NORP woman, possessed daughter, look down on by your family, going to be ostracized by your community, there's no shortage of obstacles. There's always things that can beat down, talk down,belittle, and shrink your faith. That's my point. When you're so full of faith sometimes, you're ready to move on it, you're ready to act upon it, you're ready to go for it. You know, God's in control. He's got the universe. He's got you. And it's time to get going, get your hustle on. And then you start to have these things that come in your mind like, well, could that even work? Like, what's that look like to drive across country and start a church? Who plants a church in Burlington, Vermont GPE, you know, without a job? You start getting these things in your head whereyou're like, how could that even be? Like, how does that even happen? Well, at some point in her heart, her determination, her expectation of what God could do for her superseded her excuses and obstacles that would keep her from coming to the Lord. And we're told in Hebrews NORP that faith is the substance of things hope for the evidence not yet seen. She had to have a moment where she, the faith of God was birthed in her heart, that she believed that Jesus Christ, the rabbi from Nazareth GPE, could heal her daughter and deliverher daughter from the demon. She believed that. And we're told that without faith, it's impossible to please God. So we know with the fullness of Scripture WORK_OF_ART that as she was going forward in her faith, that she's actually moving toward things that please God, even though she's a Kenanite woman and a Gentile NORP with a demon-possessed daughter.She has faith, and she's going forward in it, and that pleases God. But we also know, in Hebrews 12, that we're looking unto Jesus PERSON, the author and finisher of our faith. So faith in itself doesn't mean anything other than what it's directed toward for the confidence of its fulfillment. But when our confidence is in the Lord Jesus Christ, and the Bible WORK_OF_ART tells us he's the author and finisher of our faith, looking unto Jesus, then our confidence is in the Lord Jesus Christ, and the Bible WORK_OF_ART tells us he's the author and finisher of our faith, looking unto Jesus PERSON,then our faith is in the one who all the promises of God are yes and amen. So this woman who knew, who knows what she knew of the Old Testament WORK_OF_ART, what the Pharisees NORP taught, the scribes, or the Sadducees PERSON, or anything else,she knew on this day that she was willing to completely change her entire identity, her entire lot in life, in one moment by going after Jesus PERSON and crying out, Son of David, have mercy on me. She crossed the line and there's no going back. It's more than going forward at a Harvest Crusade EVENT.It's much more than that. She's all in, and she did so with expectation. And so on this first point, I just say to us, it's really important that we wake up every morning with a faith perspective, knowing who's on the throne, the brevity of life, the power of the Holy Spirit, the power of the promises, and that our life has purpose and meaning. And we got to get about the father's business. And when you do so with a perspective of faith and adisposition that God can, because God says, he does, he can, he will. There's so many promises in the New Testament WORK_OF_ART alone. If you have faith, you can see this mulberry tree, be thrown into the sea, it will. If you have faith, you can save this mountain, be moved in it will. Those might be hyperboleys, but why would Jesus PERSON teach those things if he didn't want us to understand how much availed powers in our life if we choose to look to Jesus and live and walk by faith? See, most people are content to be saved by faith. Free salvation, like a life insurance policy. A saving faith is like a life insurance policy sometimes. I went forward to a great glory crusade.I prayed with Rawle Reese PERSON on the radio. Mike McIntosh PERSON at a festival of life. I said the sinner's prayer. And so evangelical Christianity is pretty good with life insurance policies. Enough faith to be saved and be sure that it's going to be taken care of on the day of the Lord. But the kingdom is not a life insurance policy, for we walk by faith.We live by faith. It's a journey of faith. And without faith, it's impossible to please God. So Body of Christ, W.G., I remind you tonight, have expectation in your faith. It needs to be alive and active with expectation. Dream bigger dreams. See bigger vision. Get after it and get your hustle on with Jesus PERSON. You're going to step into attorney and you're like, oh, I should have? I should have. I'm going to stop an attorney and say I should have.I'm trying to eliminate, should have. More and more as they get closer to the day of the Lord. She had expectation. No excuses. Canaanite woman, possessed daughter, what the neighbors think, with the parents, just forget the excuses.Faith, what it is, how it pleases God, who it's looking at, and knowing that in him all the promises are yes and amen. I would much rather, like I said last week, I'd much rather believe God for great things and come up short than to downsize God in his power and his calling in the universe and shortchange what he could have done in my life or through my life for the benefit of other people.I'm going down with big faith on the day of the Lord, and so should you. Don't let the Lord find you with little faith on the day of the Lord. Let him find you with big faith. If you die from a terminal illness, let him see you die and believe in he could raise you from your deathbed right there, full healing from cancer, whatever. You believe to the last moment, because when you raise it from your deathbed in glory,you are delivered from it anyways. Believe in God with great expectation. Faith of expectation. Great expectation. The second thing we see is verse 23. That's verse 22.Verse 23 through 27 is faith with determination. I touched on this, and I want to go on this a little bit more right now. But oh my goodness, how about her determination? If this were a baseball game, and she's a batter, she's 0 for four. Look at the rejection she gets.The first thing, he answered her not a word. Oh. Now, we love Jesus PERSON and Jesus loves us, but can you imagine the silent treatment from Jesus? You're all in. You're risking your reputation. Jesus, son of David, you're confessing He's Messiah PERSON.You're a king of God. Jesus, son of David PERSON, have mercy on me. And he gives you the silent treatment. A woman being given the silent treatment from Jesus PERSON in front of other people. Not like when you're praying, he's not answering your prayers privately in 2024, but like publicly giving her the silent treatment.Most women, when a guy gives them the silent treatment like that, that hurts. It hurts guys the other way too. When women give guys a silent treatment, the silent treatment is not really silent, is it? But the second thing is the disciples send her away. So she's got silent treatment from Jesus PERSON. And then the guys that are with Jesus PERSON, his board of elders, say,send her away. Like, that's full rejection. Like, we're talking high school cafeteria rejection right here. Right? Like, she wants to come sit at the table and they got their high school cafeteria food and they're like,Jesus PERSON isn't even looking at her, won't acknowledge her. And then they're like, send her away. Send her away. That's your table. Know your place. Get over there. Send her away. That's your table. Know your place. Get over there. Send her away. That's powerful imagery. Oh, for two.The silent treatment might have sent some people home. By the way, when Jesus PERSON is silent to some people who have given their lives to the Lord, they quit walking with the Lord. Don't underestimate the silent season with the Lord and what he wants to teach you. Don't let heaven being silent stop you from waiting on the Lord and rising up like an ego with the Lord. We all get the silent treatment sometimes.Our faith is being tested. As it says in the Psalm WORK_OF_ART, when heaven's locked in silence. If the silent treatment is going to cause you to walk away at the Lord, then that's bad news. It didn't stop her. Twelve apostles who were going to change the world, they said, send her away. That's like, that's pretty, I don't know, I don't know about you, but for me, that's publichumiliation. Like, if I'm trying to get the attention of the people and they're like, hey, send her away, the whole peer group says send, hey, send her away. The whole peer group says send her away. Oh for two. Now, there's a lot of people that would have walked away right there. Send her away. They would have walked. Like, man, the Cadynight gods are my gods. These people, I don't know what these Jews NORP are doing right now. But didn't send her away. It didn't stop her.Then Jesus PERSON said this. This really gets our attention. He answered and said, I was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel GPE. So you know what that means? You are disqualified. Because she's not the lost sheep of the house of Israel GPE.She's a Canaanite NORP. She had all this courage up. She's willing to overcome the obstacle. Step out in faith. She believes he's the Messiah. She says he to overcome the obstacle, step out in faith. She believes he's the Messiah. She says he's the Messiah PERSON.This seems kind of unfair. The Pharisees are going 60 miles to attack his hand-washing methods. And she's confessing he's the son of David and Messiah PERSON right there. And he says, I wasn't sent for you. And remember, when he sent out the 12th, in Matthew 10, he said, I was sent you go to Israel GPE, the House of Israel, because the Gospels to the Jew first. The church, of course, would go to theSamaritans, the Church, the apostles would go to the Gentiles NORP and the ends of the earth. That's the book of Acts. And that's church history. That's the church today worldwide. It didn't stop her. But here's where it gets really good. All right, ladies and gentlemen, she worships him. So he gives her the silent treatment. They say, send her away, and he says, I wasn't sent for you. I mean, you talk about the God of the universe.When people accuse God of being unfair, like if God's so loving and why do you let this happen, or, you know, if Jesus PERSON is the only way, what about the pygmy and the Amazon LOC, like that kind of stuff that you hear sometimes? Jesus PERSON said to her face, I was sent to Israel GPE, not to you.She didn't walk away. What did she do? She worships. Did you see what happened? She worships him. This is such a powerful seeing body of Christ.She worships him. She's like, I'm not going to of Christ PERSON. She worships him. She's like, I'm not going to go out. She worships him, and then what does he say? She worships him, and he says, it's not good to take the children's bread and throw it to the little dogs.Wow. Why am I drawing this out and making it so clear? Because this is tenacity. This is faith that's tenacious. This is the, this is faith that's tenacious. This is faith that's relentless. This is faith that will not accept no from the God of the universe, whether she's a woman, a Canaanite, and a bad mom. She is not accepting no on this day.She is not going away.

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And Jesus would say in Luke PERSON, the gospel of Luke,

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he told the parable, the persistent widow, who badgered the judge. We're told when he teaches this in Luke PERSON, it was my devotion today in Good News for Modern Man translation, by the way. He says, hey, we should not lose heart, men should not lose heart, but pray without ceasing.That's the context of Luke 17 LAW. And then he said, now there's a widow. She badgered this judge for justice and all this. And the judge said, not because I fear God, but this woman's driving me nuts. I'm going to heed her request. Jesus thought that parable in Luke PERSON.And Jesus PERSON said, how much more can you expect from God who's good for justice and those who keep going after? But nonetheless, will the Son of Man find faith when he comes? So he's always about persistence in prayer, persistence in faith, persistence in diligence in diligence in the things of the kingdom, and staying after it. Some people are so easily discouraged.I'm not really in sale. I never really have been, but I did feel led to read Zig Zig Zigler's PERSON book on closing the sale. He wrote back in the 70s. And something he said to me really resonated with me because I've done altar calls for almost 35 years, and I've done altar calls for no-on response, and it's hard not to feel personal rejection. You know, there's 500 people and give an invitation, and you're like, any hands? You feel like they're rejecting you. But what I really appreciate about Zig Zigler PERSON, who made a living in sales, he said,you need to realize they're not rejecting you. They're rejecting the product, and you can't take it personal. And you just keep going out there, and the more calls you make, the more likely you'll have success. Keith Randolph's book, Unheard Seeker of Success WORK_OF_ART. He talks about how he just purposed to make 50 calls a day in telemarketing and he went to number one in his company in six months because he was determined to keep getting out there. He was relentless. He was persistent. That's how we want to be with our faith. We need a faith that has determination, not one that'seasily discouraged. Like, oh, I tried to start a ministry and after three weeks, nobody came and I was discouraged. And someone made fun of the fact that no one was there. And I just said, I'm not going to do the young adult ministry anymore. Pastor Joey Brand, Calrie Chapel Vista, 1998. Three weeks, young adult ministry. It went from 50 to 10 in three weeks. I think, well, that's what they're going to do, but I'm going to close the ministry down. So the next week they showed up, and I was like,there's no ministry tonight. That's so easily discouraged. This is a lost opportunity. What could God have done had I stuck with the young adult ministry in December of 1980, Calgary Chapel, V, and said the comment of one man and his wife saying, wow, everyone left, I let that so discourage me and so discourage my faith for pastoral ministry that I quit doing that ministry, and I purposed to get out of the ministry as quickly as I could because I didn't like how it felt to be humiliated publicly as a pastor.God had to take my son a month later to wake me up that I'm called to ministry. And it's too early to quit. And then he gave me the drug and alcohol ministry, which thrived for two years before we went to Virginia. We get so easily discouraged. I told my sister, you don't like your job at Home Depot ORG?Apply at other places. So she applied at Piper, because Piper Airlines has a whole thing at Viro Beach Airport FAC. And she got rejected. I'm like, that's it. She did an in-person interview. She was trembling and shaking. She was horrible, Joey. I was like, that's it. You're going to quit your dream because one interview didn't go well? I'm happy to say she's applied for six different jobs, not Piper ORG. She hasn't got one yet.But she's determined to get one. She wants to work at Piper over there at Vero Airport right near the houses there in McChance where Hannah PERSON lives. Remember, Harlan Sanders, over 300 rejections with his chicken recipe at the age of 63. But he didn't give up. And the rest is KFC. And all that he did for the kingdom of God with Billy Graham and Jerry Falwell PERSON. It's too early to quit. Faith needs to be determined. We need avery determined faith. We need faith that knows who we believe in and we're persuading, he's able to keep that which you've committed to him until that day. And we're not going to roll that. We're going to, we're like a battering ram on a siege mound with the kingdom of God, because God has called us, and we're not going to waver, and we're going to keep at it. We're not going to quit. We're going to be relentless.We're going to make the team. We're going to get it done. I've told the story of David Eckstein PERSON, the famous baseball player for the angels. When they won the World Series in 2001 or 2002, whatever it was, David Eckstein PERSON was the star of the team. Short guy, I don't think he's even like 5-8. Short guy like me. Overachiever. Years later, he was playing for the Cardinalswhen they went to the World Series, and I was there at Petco Park FAC, and I watched him bat, like in the eighth inning, and he had a fantastic hit bat, about 10 pitches, a bunch of foul balls, got a base hit, drove in the winning run. Couldn't believe it. I was like, David Eckstein, man, David Exxon PERSON. Well, then a year later, I'm there with our youth group. WG San Diego Day, I'm at Petcoe Park FAC.David Exxon is playing for the Padres, who are like 35 games out of first place. Ladies, that means they're like the losers. They have no chance of anything. They're playing for their salary. David Eckstein PERSON comes up to bat. In the late innings, the potteries are down about seven or eight runs.The bat looked exactly like the one the year before for the St. Louis Cardinals when they're continuing for a World Series EVENT. He gave the same effort with the same passion when there was nothing on the exterior that would encourage you to do so because his faith, his perspective, and his passion for baseball wasn't defined by his team or the score. It was defined by who he was and what he was doing. And God, I'll never forget what God said to me, I want you to run the first base like DavidEckstein does with me. You watch David Eckstein run to first base. You'd never know what the score of the game was or the situation. Determination in our faith. Tenacity, relentlessness in our faith. And finally, the third thing, this is the most fascinating to me in this story, is the self, I don't even know how to really phrase this,faith with self-fulfillment. That's a big word. But Jesus said to her in verse 28, Great is your faith? Now what does he say? Let it be to you as you desire.He answers her prayer. He answers her request. And he says, what you desired, what you desired, let it be. Your faith is great. What you desired, let it come to pass. Now, because some people take these type of teachings and twist them for carnal or self-serving purposes, we often shy back from these passages. We call that the name and claim it stuff. Where people like, oh, you know, claim this car,claim this house, do this, claim that, you know, whatever, you know, that's your business. But there is a balanced perspective of self-fulfilling elements with faith. And let me show you this from Matthew where we've already been.When the centurion, another non-Jew, Gentile NORP, came to Jesus PERSON for healing for a servant. He pleaded with Jesus, and there in Matthew 8, Jesus PERSON said to him, go your way, and as you have believed, so let it be done for you. Matthew 813 DATE. As you have believed, let it be done for you. Now, if this only happened once in the scriptures, you could still teach it with conviction, but the law of repetition in the scriptures gives it greater credibility. So then in Matthew 9, when the woman with the flow of blood, the 12-yearflow of blood, when she grabs Jesus PERSON tassel, he says, be of good cheer, your faith has made you well. So it's her faith that made her well. But then with the two blind men, when they say, Son of David, have mercy on us, and he heals them, he says, according to your faith, let it be done to you. So what are you saying, Pastor Joey? I'm saying that our faith within us in our very being has a lot to do with what God canand will or will not do in their personal life. And as I said earlier tonight, I would much rather have a great expectation of faith and be disappointed because it didn't go the way I thought it would than the other way around, because God is able to do exceedingly above and beyond all that we could think or ask for his glory in his church. Therefore, and heaven, I has not seen or ear heard those great things that God has prepared for us, since heaven is beyond human description or articulationor even thought, and since God is able to do in the realm of time through his church above and beyond what we could ever think or ask. Now that's a big statement, WG PERSON. We're going to close with this thought here tonight. Stay with anybody, Christ PERSON.You cannot, I cannot outbig God for the kingdom. Now, I did an event years ago in Virginia. It's called Youth 94. You know the story, 700 chairs were rented. About 50 people came. I was super disappointed.I was mad. And about 2 in the morning when I was having a tantrum with the Lord, I was like, I outbigged you. I outbigued you. I believed you for 700 chairs to be full and you filled 50. He didn't even answer me by the way. That's when God is silent thing. God never answered me. He never answered me that night. So I actually thought,I even said to God, I outbigued you. It wasn't I outbid God at all. I just didn't know how you do outreaches like that and how you really get people to come out, how you have to network and not... You got to work with other people for stuff like that. I just didn't know. I took it personal. But it's not that God couldn't fill 700 seats.Just ask great glory. So this is the key thought. There's something about our... What we expect from God. That has a lot's something about what we expect from God that has a lot to do with what we get from God. And even as we're sowing and reaping with financesand mercy and forgiveness and empathy, so too they're sowing and reaping with faith. In the measure you believe it's been done for you, as you believe so it is. There's definitely a connection of this principle of sowing and reaping with faith.So what is the key to having faith that is fulfilled where we sow and we reap a good seed and we just sow and grow? Well, I would say this. First of all, to wake up every morning believing that God is amazing, he's awesome, our God is an awesome God, like the song was back in the 90s, and believe that and live that. To truly believe that. And to live with sowing and reaping of faith and expectations of what we expect from God.To ask for things according to God's will, as best we can understand. So we're in harmony with what he wants to do. Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth is in heaven. Not my will, but thy will be done. And to ask knowing his character and how he thinks and how he is toward humanity, that God is love and God is merciful, but God also has judgment.And so to ask according to his will and understanding of his character. Whereas ambassadors, after all, we should know who we're representing. And when we're asking, we should be asking like ambassadors. And to live a life with great expectation that God wants to do great things above and beyond all that we could think or ask. Isn't that a great life to live, by the way?Who wants to wake up dumbing down God? Like nobody who thinks it through properly. So I just close to that with this exhortation. When you wake up tomorrow morning, wake up with great expectations of great things and amazing things God wants to do in your life. For now, tomorrow and the future, from here to eternity. Yes and amen.