The King & His Kingdom: #75 - Great Faith | Matthew 15:21-28

[00:00:15] Speaker A: Hi, my name is Tracy Carpenter, and I'm a member with Restored Church. If you're new, welcome. We are glad that you tuned in. We believe that the church is a family and not just an event. And so we would love to connect with you. There are a few ways that you can do that. The first being through our website, which is www.restoredtomecula.church, and then click on Contact. We also have a mobile app that you can get in the Apple or the Android app stores. And through that app, you can see past messages, upcoming events, and other ways for us to connect. So with all that said, we hope you enjoy the message. [00:00:58] Speaker B: Happy Father's Day, everybody. Honor everybody. The apostle Paul talks about. He writes in the New Testament. He says, you have many teachers, but not many fathers. There's a really unique thing about fathering. I'm using that as a verb because it's not limited to just biology, although that's a huge part. Man, oh, man, fathering is. It's a very, very significant blessing in the life of another person. So thankful for the ways that God fathers us and for the ways that we all experience fathering in our lives. It's a beautiful thing. Happy Father's Day. Before I jump into the passage this morning, I want to give you an update. We've been talking the last couple weeks about what's happening with this gathering space. And so we've kind of been like, what's going to happen? You know, waiting to hear back from the school district. We're so thankful to the school and to Margarita Middle School and the administration here. They've been. They've been so good to us the last several years. We've been meeting here on and off for, gosh, seven years. It's been wild, long time, but they've been wonderful to us. But we, every summer we have to kind of re up our agreement to be here. And it's not like a traditional lease, but it's kind of similar. But either way, they let us know, hey, some things are going to have to change. And they weren't sure whether they could even extend us past this month. So we were kind of in the dark. I have some good news for you. And I have some not so good news. I'm gonna share the good news first. They did approve us meeting here moving forward, so that's a good thing. We're not gonna be homeless for any unforeseen period of time. So, yes, we're able to meet here, but some things do have to change. One, which is not that big of a deal. They're changing two of our classrooms and giving us two different classrooms that we'll work out here in the next couple. So that's not going to be that big of a change. The bigger change, brace yourself for those of you that serve on various teams to put on the gathering. We're going to lose our storage, our on site storage. So I just want you to know, you know how unheard of this is that they've let us do this in the first place. It's pretty incredible. Like I've never actually I've only heard of this once and I know so many colleagues and pastors that are leading churches in schools and like schools never give you storage. We, they gave us storage for years. That's going away. So we're gonna have to kind of do the trailer thing again. And I know that's not ideal, but what I wanna say is this set up and tear down will be a little bit more difficult, at least in the short term. I wanna encourage you, seize the opportunity. Seize the opportunity. What I mean by that is we set up unto whom, Unto him. Right. We tear down unto. Like all of this is for him. And sometimes there's seasons of life where we can seize opportunities to. Yes, it might be a little more difficult, it might be a little more cost. And we can approach that with like, I want to worship, I want to worship comfort and this is getting in the way of my comfort. Or we can go, this is going to be a little bit more difficult. And he's so worthy that I want to do this as an expression of love and devotion to him. And you might be like, oh, this is just the pastor trying to make it soften the blow of this more difficult thing. Maybe a little bit of that. But honestly, we talked about this last week. Like he's so much more concerned about the condition of our heart, isn't he? That's where the worship's taking place. And so I'm excited, I'm thankful that God's continuing to provide this space. Yeah, it's gonna look a little different in the short term, but continue, I wanna encourage you church, continue to ask, seek and knock about what potential options we might have for a more stable gathering space moving forward. Let's keep that search going. I believe God has beautiful things in store for us and I'm grateful that he's continued to provide. Okay, all that being said, I'm going to jump right in because we're losing time. Grab your bibles. Matthew, chapter 15, Matthew, chapter 15. Okay. We're in a series called the King in His Kingdom. We are wanting to learn as much as we can about the king of the universe, Jesus Christ, and what his kingdom is like. The kingdom of God, the kingdom of heaven, the rule and the reign of God. What does it look like when God gets his way? That's what we're talking about. That's the lens with which we are going through Matthew's gospel. And we are now in chapter 15 and we're going to start here in verse 21. But before we do, I want to pray for us. And so I'd love it if you join me. Let's pray together. Father, we're genuinely thankful for you. Like where I'm at right now in this room, Lord, I can literally feel the air conditioner blowing on me and it feels terrific. And at the same time, I can enjoy that piece of grace that we have to be in this space and simultaneously grieve for brothers and sisters in Christ throughout the world who do not have the same privileges to worship you in such comfortable environments like we do. I thank you. You're sovereign, you're good, you're kind. And we invite you because you're so trustworthy. You demonstrated that on the cross. We invite you to teach us, Holy Spirit, teach us more about King Jesus. Teach us more about the kingdom of heaven, our true home, what we were made for. And I just pray for people in the room who need relief. I pray that they'd find it you this morning and that we would all enjoy your presence together. So teach us through your word, we pray. And all God's people said Amen. Okay, so I'm going to read a little bit. Interrupt and read some more. We're going to be verses 21 through 28. This is a fun one. Okay. It's pretty wild. Matthew chapter 15, starting in verse 21 says this. When Jesus left there, he withdrew to the area of Tyre and Sidon. Pause for a second. Bring you up to speed here. Okay, it says he left there. Where he left was the region of Galilee, the Sea of Galilee. So think like geographically. I know it's silly, but think like Lake Elsinore. Okay. Similar kind of size in the Sea of Galilee versus Elsinore. It's pretty interesting. But so he's in that region. So picture it in your mind. He's there. He's. If you remember, we've been going through a bunch of stuff of his ministry here. He's been performing these spectacular miracles, like mind blowing things. He walked on water, you Guys, remember that, like, he's doing this incredible teaching about the Kingdom of Go, and he's healing people miraculously. And he's having these kind of wild run ins with the religious leaders, right? The scribes and the Pharisees. They're confronting him because of, like, whether or not he's worshiping in the proper way. And they have these traditions and there's these clashes happening between Jesus and the religious leaders, right? So he leaves that region where all that ministry has taken place and it says that he goes north to Tyre and Sidon, right? So that's north. So again, think like he goes up from Elsinore to, I don't know, Corona, okay? So he's migrating up that, up that way. He's going north. Now here's what you got to know about that region. That region is what was known as a gentile region. Gentile just means non Jews. So the Jews aren't up there. It's a different people group. Jews stay away. It's a gentile territory, okay? Now it also says that he withdrew. So what's happening here? He's intentionally getting away. He's withdrawing, okay? Now I want you to understand why Jesus, he's experiencing in his ministry. He's experiencing Mitchell's. Hi, guys. Sorry. Love you. I'm so glad to see you back into the service, right? So Jesus is. I love you guys. He's experiencing a ton of hostility from the Jewish religious leaders, right? All these clashes. So he's withdrawing to a region where they're not gonna go. It's a gentile territory. Not only that, Jesus is like, forgive me, but he's like a rock star at this point. He can't go anywhere without people going, heal my friend and I need you, beautiful. He came to minister, but he's also. He's fully God. He's capable of incredible things, but he's also fully man. So he has human limitations, right? He signed up for it. So he's got the popularity among the Jewish people, right? All the miracles, all the ministry. He's got the hostility from the Jewish religious leaders. So he goes up to this gentile territory where he knows that he's not going to be followed up there. You get the picture? Now what's he doing? Is he being rude and mean? No, no, no, he's withdrawing. He's retreating. He's taking a break. He's just taking a breather for a bit with his boys. You get the picture? Verse 22. Just then, a Canaanite woman from that region came and kept Crying out, have mercy on me, Lord, son of David. My daughter is severely tormented by a demon. Okay, we're pause there again. There's a lot there that you have to understand what's going on. Okay? Demons, right? Weird demons. Demons. If you're not familiar with demons, you have Satan, right? Fallen angel, right. God casts them out of heaven. And then you have these fallen angels that join Satan in his rebellion against God. Right? Those demons. Evil spirits, Right? Spiritual evil. So I just want to say this really quickly because I want us to have a biblical worldview. You read the New Testament, like, it's clear. Demons were operating back then. They were existing back then. I just want to tell you they exist that then they exist now. They're still operating now. Trying to deceive people, harm people, hurt people, keep you from God's plans for your life. I just want to remind you there's an unseen realm all around you, wherever you go. It's real. It's biblical, okay? Spiritual evil is real. However, all of creation, everything, all of creation is under God's command. That means he's the highest authority and he's good, okay? Demons are no match for the God of the universe. Now, it says that this woman, it calls her a Canaanite woman. Okay? This is really significant. You read that, you might just go, okay, cool. We have some background on her ethnicity. There's way more to this. Okay, so she's a Gentile. What's a Gentile? Non Jew. Okay? So just someone who's not a Jew. So there's like, some breakdown there. Relationally, there's some conflict there, but more than that, this is way bigger than just her being a Gentile. The Jewish people had a long history with the Canaanites. If you read your Old Testament, there's some drama between the people of Israel, the Jews, and these Canaanite folks, okay? The Canaanites were Israel's most notorious enemy. Okay? So we're in Southern California. Think like Bloods and Crips, okay? Like, there's significant, like, conflict going on here, all right? Arguably Israel's greatest threat in the Old Testament was the Canaanites. So I want to recap really quickly. This woman, she is a Gentile, okay? She is a descendant from Israel, the Jews, from their greatest enemy. And look at what she does right here. It makes. What she does, it makes it pretty remarkable. Look, verse 22 again, just then, a Canaanite woman, okay? Gentile, descended from Israel's greatest enemy. Canaanite woman from the region came crying out, have mercy on Me, Lord, Son of David. She calls him and she tells him what's going on. My daughter is severely tormented by a demon. She calls Jesus Lord. In other words, master, someone that you would obey no matter what they say. Like, it's pretty significant. Okay? But what's more significant than her calling him Lord is the title that she gives him. What was it? Son of David. That's a Messianic title. So what she's doing is not just internally, externally, she is recognizing Jesus as the promised Jewish Messiah, the. The promised savior of the world. Like, this is a big deal, man. This is not typical behavior for a gentile descendant of Israel's greatest enemy. Let's keep going. Verse 23. Jesus did not say a word to her. His disciples approached him and urged him, send her away because she's crying out after us. They're annoyed by her. They're not like, oh, this poor woman, let's help her. They're like, get this Gentile woman out of here. She's annoying us. She won't stop. Verse 24. Jesus replied, I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. So I want you to get the picture here. This woman's kind of separate from them a little bit. She's crying out. She won't stop. Jesus and his disciples have this little dialogue together. So Jesus tells just his disciples, not necessarily the woman, just to the disciples between them, hey, he's saying, the people of Israel are lost sheep. The people of Israel. He's referring to their shepherds. They're lost sheep because of their shepherds. Right? He's talking about their spiritual leaders, their shepherds. He's saying that they've misled the people, they've abused them, they've harmed them in the ways that they've led them. So religiously, he's reminding his disciples, I came here. My primary mission is to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. And if you remember, I don't have time to get into this, but if you remember Abraham's call, the father of the Israelites, right, Like the father of the faith. The whole covenant was that God was going to bless the world through. Yeah, through Abraham's descendants. So the whole point was that God would start with Israel and that through Israel, it would bless the whole world. He's saying, I'm starting here. I'm. To the lost sheep of Israel. Let's keep reading. Verse 25. But then she gets closer. But she came, knelt before him and said, lord, help me. He answered, it isn't right to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs. Yes, Lord, she said, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master's table. Then Jesus replied to her, woman, your faith is great. Let it be done for you as you want. And from that moment, her daughter was healed. Okay, I was joking around with Mike and Herrick this morning. I have, like, four sermons for you. I'm not gonna get to all my points, but I'm gonna do my best. There's so much here. This is such a wild passage, right? Jesus, he calls this gentile woman a dog. Ladies, anybody cool with that? Like, how many women in the room are just like, oh, please, just call me a dog? Like, none of. No. Like, this feels. This feels very weird at first read. You're like, Jesus, you're playing with fire here. Okay, okay. So he calls this gentile woman a dog. Then he miraculously ends up healing and delivering her daughter from a demon. That isn't consistent. If there's animosity, why would he. Like, what's going on here? It's actually pretty amazing. Let's start with the dog moment, okay? We gotta understand, to the Jews, dogs were considered unclean animals. All right? We've done a lot of teaching on clean versus unclean in the Jewish heritage and all that things. But let me just say this. One Bible scholar says this quote, Jews frequently insulted gentiles by calling them dogs, which in ancient Palestine were wild, homeless scavengers. But the form Jesus uses here, the Greek word here, means little dog. It suggests a more affectionate term for domestic pets, okay? So unquote. What you need to understand is there's two Greek words for dog, okay? There's two of them. The common word for the street dog, you know, like the homeless dog, the one that you see out in the street that's roaming around and scavenging that dog. That word for dog. Jews use that as an insult to gentiles. Okay? The street dog thing. But there's a different word for dog as well. And Jesus uses that different word here. You can't see it because it's in the Greek. It just comes. But Jesus uses this different term for dog, and it means, like, little dog. Like, think like a lap dog, right? Like a dog that lives in your home, a pet, right? Now, I read more commentaries on this than I probably should have. But either way, I want to let you know, some Bible scholars say that that whole little dog version of the Greek word, right, is a term of endearment. And others are like, no, it's not. RT France, Brilliant guy. He says this quote, it's true that the Greek term is diminutive, but only a pet loving Western culture would suggest that this reduces the offense. Listen to what he says. A little dog is no less unclean than a big one. Okay? He's saying it's still offensive. Okay, so what's Jesus doing here? He continues, another quote from RT France. Dogs was a current Jewish term of abuse for gentiles. It's an insult, right? And the suggestion that the Greek term there, a diminutive, is an affectionate reference to dogs as pets, while it appeals to modern Western sentimentality, falls foul of the lack of any such idea in Judaism or of a known diminutive form to express it in Aramaic, which is what the language they would have spoken at the time. So Jesus, what he says, so Jesus is expressing the contemptuous Jewish attitude to gentiles in order to explain why her request does not fit into his mission to Israel. Listen to this. But written words cannot convey a twinkle in the eye. And it may be that Jesus was almost jokingly presenting her with the sort of language she might expect from a Jew in order to see how she would react. End quote. Okay, Personally, I think R.T. francis, spot on here, okay? And it's found what he said about written words cannot convey a twinkle in the eye. Okay? You guys know this. In communication, it's way more than just words, right? Your body language, your tone, that's a big deal in communication. So if you walk up to me and I'm like, you look great, what are you gonna think? You're gonna be like, what do you mean by that, bro? I go over to your house for dinner, you spend hours slaving over a meal, you put it down in front of me, I take a bite and I'm like, you are quite the chef. No, but like silly. But tone and body language is a massive part of communication, right? Here's the thing. The problem is that like other forms of communication, it doesn't always show up in text, does it? The. The biblical writers didn't have the blessing. That is emojis to help communicate. It says you killed it. Smiley face, though, not that you actually put it to death. And it's like this awful thing. Like there can be breakdowns in communication. In communication, things like tone and body language matter. Here's what I believe is happening here. Here's what I believe is happening here. I believe Jesus is being playful with this woman. I believe he's being playful. He uses a different word for dog than the typical insult, right? It still references the insult for sure, but in a way that softens it and seems to elicit a reply. Now, like we said, the biblical scholars, they don't all agree on this dog language part. They go back and forth, but they all agree on what Jesus is actually doing here. Jesus is testing this woman. If you're taking notes, my first point is, God will test your faith. God will test your faith. Jesus, he's testing this woman's faith. When I say faith, what am I talking about? Faith is trust. When you sit in the chair, you're trusting the chair is gonna hold you. You're putting your faith in the chair. You guys have heard all the Christianese examples of this. Faith is trust. Okay? Jesus is testing this woman's faith. What's her trust actually in? What's going on here? He's testing it. Now, what's the purpose of a test? Think about it, okay? You're in school, right? You go to school, you show up, you know you're gonna have your midterm or whatever test you're about to take. You, you sit down, you've studied, right? And at the end of that taste that taste that test, what are you going to receive? A grade, right? You're going to receive a grade for the test, ultimately, for the class, right? But you're tested. A test reveals what the student knows, okay? Some of us struggle with taking tests more than others. That's fine. But either way, you get the concept. A test reveals what the student knows. What about when you go to the doctor, you're not feeling so hot. And they run a bunch of tests, right? They run the test and what are they doing? They want to reveal any potential health issues that are going on. So tests reveal what's true. You could get a grade at the end of your test and go, like it says, D plus. And you go, yeah, but it's my opinion that I have an A. No, but the test has revealed what's true. That your understanding of those concepts negates or warrants a D plus. Does this make sense? Tests reveal what's true. Jesus is testing this woman. In other words, the test is revealing the true condition of her faith. Okay? Now the test, I don't know if you caught it. It had two parts, okay? It had two parts. Starts with her. What? She's crying out, have mercy on me, Lord. Right? Son of David, she goes, master, Messiah, like, have mercy, heal my daughter. She's being tormented by these evil spirits. And then part one of the test comes. Look at it, verse 23, Jesus did not say a word to her. You ever cried out to God for help? Like, really like, God, I need you. God, I really need you. Help. If you cry out to God for help and in response you get silence, like, nothing. Listen, if you've never experienced that, if you've been following Jesus for any length of time, maybe you've never experienced that. You will. It's part of the Christian journey. It serves a purpose. We'll get to that in a second. But part one of the test is the no reply to the request. Part one. Okay, now, at that point, this woman could have walked away, could she? Right? She could have been like, he's not responding. I'm going to go back home. But what does she do? Look at verse 25, no reply. And then she. But she came. She comes closer. She knelt before him and said, lord, help me. Okay, again, like, this is another example of how much more depth there is in the Bible in the original language of the Greek, especially the New Testament with the Greek that it was written in, there's so much more depth that we miss here. Okay, where it says, knelt before him, that Greek word, it literally means to bow down in worship. To bow down in worship. In fact, the new Living Translation translates it. She came and worshiped him, so she cries out for help, right? Part one of the test. No reply to her request. So she comes closer and she worships him. And then comes part two of the test, verse 26. Now, he answers, and listen to what he says. It isn't right to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs. Now, we know he's being playful. He's drawing out her faith, right? But in other words, he denies the request. He doesn't grant her her request. Now, at the same time he denies the request, he also provokes her, right? In a positive way, not in a negative way. He's provoking her. I believe he does it playfully. But we can all agree Jesus does not grant her the request. He engages with her in such a way that it tests what she actually believes about him and about her. So part two of the test is the request is denied. Now, again, at this point, she could just walk away. I cried out, he didn't reply. I came closer and worshiped and kept crying out and kept requesting. And he denied my request. And he's provoking me, drawing me out. She could have been like, okay, going back home. But she doesn't. Look what she does. Verse 27. Yes, Lord, can I just say, I don't know if there's a better response to God ever than those two words. Yes, Lord, yet. This is so cool. Yes, Lord, yet. Even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master's table. Then Jesus replies again, woman, your faith is great. Let it be done for you as you want. And from that moment, her daughter is miraculously healed and delivered from demonic oppression. This is incredible. This is a spectacular moment. Okay, after each phase of the test, Listen, after each phase of the test, what's revealed about the true condition of this woman's faith? Jesus says it. He says, your faith is great. What's the. Is that Tony the. Tony the Tiger? Great, Whatever. Like, it's awesome. It's significant, it's noteworthy, it's great. Guys, this is so significant. And here's one of the reasons why this is so significant. If you've been journeying with us in this season, this should be sparking some things in you. He's commenting on this woman's faith. This isn't the first time he's commented on people's faith, is it? Just prior to this. I mean, like, literally, this is chapter 15. Rewind just to chapter 14. Okay. And Jesus, you remember what happens with Peter in chapter 14? Jesus, right? It's the scene where Jesus is walking on the water. Storms happen. Jesus walking on the water. Peter's like, if it's you, Lord, call me. I don't wanna join you. Walking on the water. He does. Peter walks on the water with him, takes his eyes off of Jesus, onto the storm. What happens to Peter when he does that? He sinks. Right? And then do you remember what Jesus says to him in front of all of his boys? He goes, peter, you have little faith. Why did you doubt? So Peter, the rock that God's going to build his church on, his faith is, quote, little and not just Peter. Before this very similar scene, chapter eight of Matthew. Storm. Again similar scene. Storm on the water. They're on the. They're on. They're all the disciples on the boat with Jesus. The wind and the waves is crashing all around him. And what's Jesus doing on the boat? You remember, he's sleeping. He's fast asleep. He's totally resting despite the hurricane. Right? He's passed. He's sleeping. He's resting. And the disciples, who bear in mind most of them, not most of them, many of them were professional fishermen. The sea was not something that they were, like, foreign to. They're freaking out because the storm is so significant. We're Gonna die. Jesus, help us. We're gonna die. And do you remember what he says to them? All of them? He goes, oh, guys, you have little faith. Why are you so afraid? So get the picture here, guys, Jesus, closest disciples, they're tested, and it reveals little faith. This Gentile woman who's a descendant of Israel's enemy, she gets tested, and her faith is what? Great. Here's my next point for you. If you're taking notes. My next point is this. Great faith is possible even from the least likely of candidates. Great faith is possible even from the least likely of candidates. Friends, listen to me for a second. I don't give a rip about your resume. I don't care how old you are, how young you are. I don't care about your stage of life, your history, the things that you've been through, the things that have been done to you, the poor choices that you've made. Hear me. You can live a life of great faith. All that stuff does not have to hold you back. You can live a life of great faith. Great faith is possible even from the most unlikely of candidates. This is a Canaanite Gentile woman. Guys. Anybody who read this original text, any Jew who read this would have been. Their minds would have been blown. While we're going, oh, he's just describing our ethnicity. Great faith is possible even for the least likely of candidates. So that begs the question, okay, like, I don't know about you. I want to live a life of great faith. I want to see what happens when I do that. I want God to move. Like, what does it practically look like to live a life, have faith. That Jesus would say, that's great. That's significant, that's noteworthy. Three things really, really quickly that we see in this woman. I'm gonna go over these fast. Cause I'm running out of time. Okay? When Jesus tested her, again, tests reveal what's true. When he tested her, she responded in three ways. Okay? Obedience, right? She is calling him Lord. She is referring to him as Lord. So she's referencing, you are worthy of obedience. You are worthy of saying yes, Lord, to any time. And then she says it, yes, Lord. Right? So there's this element of obedience there. There's also the worship component. She bowed down in worship after he blew her off, after he didn't respond to her request. She still goes, you're worthy of worship. I'm coming closer now. You're still worthy of worship. And maybe the most beautiful thing that we see here is just her persistence. Gosh, it's Admirable. Her persistence. She didn't walk away, huh? She didn't stop. I confess to you right now, there are multiple times in my life where I've cried out to God for help. He hasn't responded in the way that I've wanted to. And I. And I've gone, fine, I'm going to distance my heart from yours. I'm not proud of that. I just. I need Jesus grace and his love and his mercy and his patience as much as anybody. Obedience, worship and persistence. Great faith. After each phase of the test, the no reply, the denied request, she didn't walk away. She keeps engaging. She keeps engaging. She keeps engaging with reverence and worship and obedience and persistence because who she believes he is has not changed. You see this? It's so significant, guys. Oftentimes what feels like rejection is actually God testing you. What feels like rejection is actually God drawing out the true condition of your faith. There's a difference between desiring deliverance and having faith in Christ. Anybody who's in an uncomfortable position, in an uncomfortable circumstance wants to be delivered from it. That's a good. Turning to God is good. But if you turn away when he doesn't give you what you want, that's not faith in Christ. That's. I want you for something. I want to use you for something. You have a power that I don't have. You have an authority I don't have. You have access to things that I don't have that I want. And if you don't give those to me, my loyalties are going to be elsewhere. This might bother some of you, but God has feelings too. Oftentimes what feels like rejection is actually God testing us, drawing out the true condition of our faith. Listen, I know. I know many stories in the room. I know some of you guys, you've been requesting things from God for a long time. Important things, good things, beautiful things. You've been requesting things from God and you have struggled with feeling rejected by Him. I want to encourage you with the truth found in His Word in this passage. Testing is not rejection, friends. Testing is not rejection. Testing is for revelation. It's my best attempt at alliteration. Testing's not rejection. Testing is for revelation. Right? To reveal the true condition of your faith. Now, here's the thing. Revelation for whom? Like God's testing, right? He tests our faith to reveal the true condition of it. Reveal it to who? Like Jesus? No, God. God already knows. Right? To the woman. He wants to reveal it to the woman. Yeah, right. Jesus. He wanted her to Know that the true condition of her faith was great. Like, he wanted her to know that and that the condition of her faith had implications. We're gonna get to that in a minute. He wanted her to know that. Absolutely. But who else might the revelation be for? Yeah, this is. Jesus is brilliant. He's so brilliant. Here. The other disciples, it's as much for them. Are you seeing this? It's as much for them, right? That Gentile Canaanite woman, that dog, right? Has great faith, boys. Has great faith. While Jesus disciples. Their faith was described as little. Do you see it? Jesus is teaching his disciples great faith is possible even from the least likely of candidates. Maybe God doesn't have the same prejudices that we do, huh? Youth, can I talk to you guys for just a second? Youth in the room, I'm so glad you guys are here. Youth in the room, I want you to hear me say this. You can live a great faith. Like, you can live a life with great faith, with faith. That's so noteworthy. That gets Jesus attention. And he's like, yeah, awesome. Okay. Just because you're young, just because you lack some of the experience that some of the people around you do, does not mean that you can't live a life of great faith. New Christians in the room following Jesus is new. Yeah, you don't have all the answers. You're still in this process of learning and discovering. What's this all about? Beautiful. Listen to me. You can live a life of great faith. Noteworthy, admirable, powerful, incredible faith. Longtime Christians, life has not passed you by. You, too, can live a life of great faith. Those of you that struggle with sin, you beat yourself up. The shame. You disqualify yourself. Listen, I'm not trying to downplay sin. It's a big deal. But even those of us in the room who struggle with sins, inside of us, maybe nobody knows, but inside, you know, God dang it. Gosh. I'm living contrary to what I believe is best. I'm living contrary to God's rule and reign. I'm abdicating or I'm forfeiting or I'm opting out of his kingdom in these specific ways of my life. If that's you, listen, you too can live a life of great faith. Great faith is possible even from the least likely of candidates. Okay, I'm almost done. Actually. I'm going to call the band up. I'm going to close. Here's what I want us to see, guys. I want us to see the lessons here that Jesus is teaching both the Woman and, and his disciples, okay, the lessons that he's teaching, both of them, is that the condition of your faith has implications. Think about that for a second. We talk about how God created us in his image. We talk about how he created us with such dignity that what you do, what you say, what you think, how you operate, like it actually matters. It's important. You are important, you're very valuable. But the condition of our faith has implications. That means the condition of your faith in Jesus, it actually affects things like think about it, we talked about it a little bit. Imagine if at any point, through Jesus testing this woman, imagine if at any point she walked away, she stopped engaging, what would have happened? Her daughter's not getting healed, at least not in the way we see her get healed. Her daughter doesn't get healed. The disciples don't learn that valuable lesson. Maybe there's just a lot more pride in their hearts than they think. We're pretty close to Jesus. We roll with Jesus and he's like her faith. Her faith blows your guys faith out of the water, pardon the pun. So daughter doesn't get healed, disciples don't learn a valuable lesson, right? She misses out on experiencing the king and his kingdom in a powerful way that guaranteed she takes with her the rest of her life. You think her, you think her ability, like her doubting God's trustworthiness, you think that's gonna like increase in her life or decrease in her life after this moment? No. She's gonna be like, he is so trustworthy. Even if I don't understand, even if the first answer isn't what I want, even if the second answer isn't what I want, even if the third answer and the fourth answer and the fifth answer and the sixth answer and the keep asking, seeking, knocking. Even if it's like I still am not getting my answers to my requests in the ways that I want. But he's trustworthy, isn't he? The condition of our faith has implications not just for us, but for other people. Today it's Father's day. God doesn't father his children just and isolate. He personally fathers you, but he's fathering us. Do you see this? The ways that he's fathering you affects you and it also affects other people. Your faith, it matters, friends. The condition of your faith, that has implications not just for you, but for others. So my question for you this morning is, what's the condition of your faith today? Like this morning, like right now, like in this phase of your life, your precious life, what condition if you're real, just you and the Lord right now, man, what's the condition of your faith today? Listen, maybe it's. Maybe it's Tony the Tiger. Great. Like, maybe it's off the charts and you're just like, this is awesome. Beautiful. Praise Jesus. Maybe your faith is non existent. Maybe you're. Maybe if you're honest, you're a little bitter or hurt or depressed or discouraged. What's the condition of your faith, friend? Maybe you're not sure. Maybe you're like, I'm somewhere in between. I don't know. It's like a dimmer switch. I don't know. I don't know where I am. How can you know the condition of your faith? The tests. That's why the Bible refers to them as sometimes a gift. We avoid it. We avoid struggle. We avoid the test. We avoid discomfort. We avoid suffering at all costs. Why? Because ignorance is bliss, huh? But God loves us too much. He's a father. You fathers in the room, you know, you love your kids, man. You're like, I will not allow them to be destroyed. No, no. If there's an issue, you guys are going to address it. Hey, come here. I want to talk to you about your heart, not just what you do with your hands. I want to talk to you about what's going on in here. Because you care. I watch you guys do it. It's beautiful. You know the condition of your heart through the tests, right? The tests of life. They will reveal the true condition of your faith. So question. When you cry out to God, when you ask him for help, when you make these requests of God, I need your help. I'm requesting help. And you get no reply. What do you do, friend? Examine your life. We've all, the vast majority of us in the room, we've been through this multiple times. You cry out for help, you make a request, no reply. What do you do? Do you withhold your worship? Fine, can't have this heart. Nope. Do you withhold your worship? Do you stop engaging? Do you stop asking? Do you stop obeying? Do you walk away? Do you go back home? Listen, I know. Good God, I know. Getting the silence on the other end of the line, I know that's discouraging. It can be really, really discouraging. But maybe it's his way of getting you to just come just a little bit closer. Maybe his strategy is not to hurt you or harm you. Maybe it's, I want you closer. When you ask God for some things and he see good things even when you Ask him for things. You request him of things, and he deny. He seems to deny your request. What do you do then? Do you withhold your see the pattern? Do you withhold your worship? Do you stop engaging? Do you stop asking? Do you stop obeying? Do you walk away? Do you treat him like a genie that you're going to fire? You're not giving me what I want. You're fired. Listen, I know it can be hard, but maybe he's up to something in you and in other people that you don't see yet. I don't believe this Canaanite woman, in the middle of the tests, I don't believe she had a full understanding of all that God was up to, of how he was revealing and the true condition of her faith. Not just to encourage her, but to challenge and ultimately to Father, his disciples. But after the fact, everybody walked away from that going, whoa, I need to give some attention to this. But the truth is, the same God that tests your faith is the same God that bled and died and rose to gift you that faith, that saving faith God's up to. He's committed to your faith. I hope you know that regardless of the condition of your faith today, Jesus is so radically committed to your faith. This is the way Hebrews puts it in Hebrews, chapter 12, this incredible passage. I don't have time to go through it, but like the writer gives this long list of people, this long list of people in history with a great faith. And he says this in verse 12, starting in verse 1, he says, therefore, since we also have such a large cloud of witnesses surrounding us, he's going all those people throughout history with great faith. Not perfect, great faith. They're watching you, cheering you on, right? Let us lay aside every hindrance and the sin that so easily ensnares us. Let us run with endurance the race that lies before us. Not the race that lies before your neighbor, the race that lies before you, before us. Let us run with endurance the race that lies before us is what he says, keeping our eyes on Jesus. And this is what he calls him. The pioneer and perfecter of our faith. For the joy that lay before him, he endured the cross, despising the shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Do you have any idea how passionate Jesus is about your faith, about strengthening it, about developing it, about, in a good way, lighting it on fire, getting you lit up the way that you were designed to? Jesus, he pioneered your faith. Like that means that he's the originator of some Translations say the author of it, that Jesus pioneered your faith and he's perfecting your faith with intentionality. God is fathering you to strengthen your faith over time, friend. Do you know what that means? If he's the pioneer of your faith and he's the perfecter of your faith, and that he. He literally for the joy that was before him, that's you. He endured the cross so that he could gift you with this faith then, and he can also perfect it in you. If that's true, which I'm convinced that it is, the Bible says that it is. Do you know what that means? Good God? That means you can trust him. That means you can trust him even if you don't understand what's going on. That means that every single test you face has a purpose. Listen to me. For you and for others. Will you stand with me? If you're able to pray, if you're on the prayer team, would you make your way? Would you make yourself available on the front? That would be fantastic. Yeah. Holy Spirit, we invite you to speak to us personally right now. Father, we thank you that you love us enough to test us, to test our faith. And we thank you, Jesus, that because of your life and your death and your resurrection and your ascension, your sending of your spirit, that great faith is possible even for broken people like me, even from unlikely candidates, even for young people and old people and in between people and middle aged people and men and women and boys and girls. And I can't. I can't get this out of my mind right now, but I just feel led to pray for people who feel weary. I can imagine how this Canaanite woman must have felt, the weariness that she must have experienced as a mom driven by love for her child. She's not requesting a Ferrari. She's requesting deliverance, demonic deliverance for her child. And I just pray for people. I just. I feel like there's people in the room. Like, you are weary. You feel beat down, and, you know, it's more. It's. It's circumstances. Yes. But, you know, it's like transcendental that, you know, there's a spiritual component to it, but you can't put words on it. If that's you, you need to leave today. You need to. Before you leave, you have to receive prayer. Okay. Like, please, if that's you, God, I think God wants to deliver you. I think I also feel like. I feel like God's highlighting you. Like there's. There's some of us in the room that you. You Are, you're, you're, you're, you're struggling to trust him to Father you, You feel like his plans for you actually aren't good and it's causing you to feel, there's like a fear component where you feel like you have to protect yourself from God. You know that there's things that he might be calling you to that are scary to you. It's going to require closer proximity to him so he can reignite your face so that it's great once again so you can step into things that you, that he has for you. If that's you, you gotta receive prayer this morning. Please don't go home without it. I feel like God wants to minister to you. And I also pray that I feel like God is highlighting this idea of just perspective and like, entitlement. Like we live in a broken world. God granting requests is not guaranteed. It's grace. Anything good that happens in a broken, fallen, sin infected world, anything good is grace. And so, Father, I pray that you would help us give us perspective in the same way this morning. Oh, the same way this morning when I felt that air conditioner blowing on me of just that perspective of like, this is something I take for granted. And there are so many brothers and sisters who don't even have a place to gather in safety. Their lives are at stake, let alone the temperature being uncomfortable. Father, I pray that you would give us kingdom perspective, that we would be able to enjoy more deeply the grace in our life and be able to attribute and credit that to the giver of the grace. You, you're so kind. And the greatest example of that is your cross. Jesus, you did not have to do that. You chose to do that undeserved, unmerited grace. I pray for deliverance from demonic oppression over the room. I pray for the lies that we so oftentimes are tempted to believe that we're not worth, that our value is like, attached to our performance or what people say about us or even sometimes our opinion of ourselves. No, there's a higher opinion. There's a higher authority. You are the highest authority, God. And you said with your body and your blood, with your life and your death, that we were worth your blood. And so we want to be people who respond to that. We want to be people who actually live lives of great faith, trusting you even when things don't make sense to us because you are transcendent and you're good and you demonstrate it over and over again. We have evidence, every Christian in this room has evidence of your Grace and I pray that this morning we would be reminded and our hearts would be stirred for gratitude and worship and that we would be persistent and we pursue obedience and we would pursue a lifestyle of worship because you're worthy of our trust, you're worthy of our adoration, you're worthy of our affection, you're worthy of our obedience. Let us live lives of great faith. Father, we pray in your name. Amen. Okay, friends, we're going to spend the next 10 or so minutes responding. If you want to come forward for prayer for any reason, God's stirring something in your heart. He wants to meet with you. You can come forward. There's trusted men and women up here. I'd love to pray for you. And we're gonna fill this room with gratitude, with praise. We're gonna. We're gonna literally sing to God because he's worth it and he likes it. He likes it when you sing to him. He likes it when you praise him. Eric mentioned it. You know, the Father's Day card. He loves that. Would you express your gratitude to him this morning with your. With your. With your. Your voice? All right. Love you guys very much. Enjoy him.