read aloud to show the great love the Father has lavished on believers in calling them children of God
1 See how great a love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God! For this cause the world doesn’t know us, because it didn’t know him.
cited as the prophecy that the coming Messiah would be a light to the Gentiles and bring salvation to the ends of the earth
6 Indeed, he says, “It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel? I will also give you as a light to the nations, that you may be my salvation to the end of the earth.”
the main passage for the evening, covering the faith of the Syrophoenician woman and the healing of the deaf man
24 From there he arose, and went away into the borders of Tyre and Sidon. He entered into a house, and didn’t want anyone to know it, but he couldn’t escape notice.
25 For a woman, whose little daughter had an unclean spirit, having heard of him, came and fell down at his feet.
26 Now the woman was a Greek, a Syrophoenician by race. She begged him that he would cast the demon out of her daughter.
27 But Jesus said to her, “Let the children be filled first, for it is not appropriate to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.”
28 But she answered him, “Yes, Lord. Yet even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.”
29 He said to her, “For this saying, go your way. The demon has gone out of your daughter.”
30 She went away to her house, and found the child having been laid on the bed, with the demon gone out.
31 Again he departed from the borders of Tyre and Sidon, and came to the sea of Galilee, through the middle of the region of Decapolis.
32 They brought to him one who was deaf and had an impediment in his speech. They begged him to lay his hand on him.
33 He took him aside from the multitude, privately, and put his fingers into his ears, and he spat, and touched his tongue.
34 Looking up to heaven, he sighed, and said to him, “Ephphatha!” that is, “Be opened!”
35 Immediately his ears were opened, and the impediment of his tongue was released, and he spoke clearly.
36 He commanded them that they should tell no one, but the more he commanded them, so much the more widely they proclaimed it.
37 They were astonished beyond measure, saying, “He has done all things well. He makes even the deaf hear, and the mute speak!”
quoted to connect the miracles in Mark to the good news being the power of God saving everyone who believes, Jew and Gentile alike
16 For I am not ashamed of the Good News of Christ, because it is the power of God for salvation for everyone who believes; for the Jew first, and also for the Greek.
The message in order, in a few minutes of reading.
Monday night's study brought the group to Mark 7:24-37, two miracles set in Gentile territory that center on faith, humility, and the good news reaching beyond Israel. The passage pressed the question of who the gospel is actually for, and the conversation that followed drew out personal stories that made the themes concrete. The pastor wove the two healings together around one repeated point: Jesus turns his face toward those who come to him in humility and faith.
What was said
The first thing to notice, the preacher said, is where Jesus goes. He leaves his own people and travels north to Tyre, a city the Old Testament prophets condemned for its pride and godlessness. That movement is not incidental. Isaiah had said the Messiah would be a light to the Gentiles and bring salvation to the ends of the earth, and Mark is showing that mission in action. Jesus is walking into enemy territory on purpose.
What he finds there is the opposite of what the prophets described in Tyre. Instead of pride and unbelief, he meets a Gentile woman with a possessed daughter who falls at his feet in humility and refuses to leave without an answer. Sean was honest that the exchange between Jesus and the woman makes him squirm, and he did not try to explain it away. What he did point to was what comes next: she does not argue, does not walk away, and does not demand equal standing. She simply asks to be included in the blessing.
That posture is the heart of the passage. Sean compared her to the men who tore through a roof to lower their friend to Jesus, and to the woman who pressed through the crowd to touch his garment. They all come the same way: as sinners, empty-handed, with nothing to offer but faith and persistence. A line from Dwight Moody put it plainly: Jesus sent no one away empty except those who were full of themselves.
The second miracle, the healing of the deaf and mute man in the region of the ten towns, stays in Gentile territory. The preacher admitted he does not know why Jesus used the physical gestures he did, fingers in the ears and spitting on his own fingers to touch the man's tongue. But the outcome is unambiguous: instantly the man could hear and speak. This is Isaiah's prophecy being fulfilled in front of witnesses, and the crowd cannot stop talking about it even after Jesus tells them to.
Sean drew a thread through all of Mark that the physical healings carry a spiritual meaning. Sight and hearing in the gospel are not just medical conditions. The religious leaders, people from Jesus' hometown, his own family, even his disciples at times cannot see what is right in front of them. The miracles of opened ears and restored sight are a picture of what faith and humility actually produce, and a quiet indictment of what pride and self-sufficiency close off.
The congregation picked up the discussion from there. Several people reflected on what persistent prayer for a sick child or a close family member actually costs, and how that desperation shapes a person's relationship with God. Others noticed that Jesus never makes an excuse to avoid crossing into uncomfortable territory, and that the ones farthest from him sometimes understood him more clearly than the ones walking beside him every day. The closing verse from Romans 1:16 tied it together: the good news is the power of God saving everyone who believes, the Jew first and also the Gentile.
Doing a Bible study?
Here is a guide we have prepared for you: the passages
in order, questions for the group, and room to write.
The pastor pointed out that Jesus went to Tyre, a city described as a wealthy and godless enemy of Israel, and said the gospel is for people we might not even like. Who in your life or in our culture do you find it hardest to believe the good news is really meant for?
The Syrophoenician woman did not argue with Jesus, walk away, or give up. She came in humility and faith and stayed persistent. When have you had to persist with God in prayer over something that mattered deeply to you, and what did that persistence look like?
Alright. Hey, everybody. Welcome to another Monday night.
How are we doing? Great. To see you. And also a big thank you to Felix in Guadalupe for dinner tonight. She said, oh, I'll just do something simple.
Really? That was so complex and wonderful. I loved it. So thank you guys so much. And we're making our way through the gospel of Mark.
Right now, it's conversation style, so keep that in mind if you got a little verse or a word of encouragement. Also, one more thank you. Syed, thank you so much for for, feeding our kiddos, for Awana. That was awesome of you. Just stepping right in.
Anyway, making our way through markets conversation style. Before we get there, how about we worship in song together? Just a couple songs. We're missing our mandolin player. Joni, come on up, girl.
Would you stand and we'll sing Build My Life Worthy. Worthy of every song we could ever sing. Worthy of all the praise we could ever bring. Worthy of every breath we could ever breathe and live for you. Jesus, the name.
Jesus, the name above every other name. Jesus, the only one who could ever say. Worthy of every breath we could ever breathe. We live for you. We live for you.
Let's sing holy, there's no one like. Holy, there is no one like you. There is none beside Open up my eyes and wonder. Show me who you are and fill me with your heart and lead me in love to those around me. Get on holy.
There is no one like you. There is none beside you. Open up my eyes and wonder. Show me who you are. Fill me with your heart and lead me in love to those around me.
Building his life on his love. I will build my life upon your love. It is our firm foundation. I will put my trust in you would known, and I will not be shaken and I will build my life upon your it is a firm foundation and I will not be shaken holy. There is no one like you.
There is none beside you. Open up my eyes and wonder. Show me who you are and fill me with your heart and lead me in love to those around me.
Here's a prayer from Ephesians for us. Pray that God's from God's glorious unlimited resources that he'll empower you with inner strength through his spirit, and then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust him. And your roots will grow down deep into God's love and keep you strong. Amen. Amen.
From first John three, see what great love the father's lavished on us that we should be called children of God, and that is what we
are, through faith, through belief.
I'd love to sing of it. Savior and friend.
Oh, how sweet it is. Oh, how sweet it is to be given love without end. Just to know and live in your goodness. Jesus, my savior and friend. Lost and alone, lost and alone.
Was walking in Rome. I paid with my sins in The States. You came along. You gave me a song that I'll sing for the rest of my days. Oh, how sweet.
Oh, how sweet it is to be given love without him. Just to know and live in your goodness. Jesus, my savior and friend. Year after year, year after year, you have stayed by my side. You've proven you're true to your word.
Seasons will change when, oh Lord, you remain with the kindness I don't deserve. Amen. Oh, how sweet it is to be given love without end just to know and live in your goodness. Jesus, my savior and friend. Oh, king of all kings.
Oh, king of all kings. Walking with me gives me my confidence. Oh, lord. Of heaven and earth, shows me my word, Jesus my savior and my friend. Sweet.
Oh, how sweet it is to be given love without end just to know and live in your goodness. Jesus, my savior and friend. Lord Jesus, my savior and friend.
Lord, thank you, that you would not only adopt us as your children into your family, but you would also, call us friend. Lord, thank you for your sweet love that you have lavished on us, that you've given us, that you are always leaning toward us with grace, with favor. God, that we would see that in in in tonight's scripture. In Jesus name, amen. You can have a have a seat here for a moment and we're gonna get right into right into Mark.
So like I said, we've been making our way through the the gospel of Mark, and we're up to chapter seven verses 24 through 37 tonight. This is, the faith of a Gentile woman, and Jesus heals a deaf man. And there are a lot of wonderful themes here, and I'd like to point out a few being faith and humility and the good news for all who would believe in Jesus. So faith, humility, and the good news for all who would believe in Jesus. I'll be sharing those as we read.
And would you please take note of anything that grabs a hold of you, so that we can share and bounce around a little bit more what we've read here and encourage each other with it. So starting at verse 24 in chapter seven, it says this. So then Jesus left Galilee, and he went north to the region of Tyre. And he didn't want anyone to know which house he was staying in, but he could not keep it a secret. So Mark is Mark is very, matter of fact about this, but it's it's kind of a big deal that Jesus is leaving Galilee, his own, right, his own people, and going to what would be considered the outsiders.
He's going to this Gentile, city of Tyre. And catch this. Tyre was known as a wealthy and godless oppressor of Israel. So not friends, like, really enemies. And Jesus is going there.
So take a look at this. Old Testament prophets like Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Joel, Amos, Zechariah, they all speak out against the city of Tyre. This was an interesting, little fact that I learned as I was studying here. Like this message God gave Ezekiel. Give the prince of Tyre this message from the sovereign Lord in your great pride.
This is a city known for its pride and their godlessness. It says, in your great pride, you claim, I am God. I sit on a divine throne in the heart of the city or the sea, because it was a port town. But you are only a man and not a god, though you boast that you are a god. So think about this.
That's the city that Jesus went to, to give them to give them the good news of God's love and forgiveness. Right? Enemies. Could can we just think today, context today, just for a moment as we think about that? The people that that are, you would say, far from God.
Right? And quite honestly, that you might not even like. Is the gospel for them, church? Yes. It is.
Yes. It is. That's what Jesus is doing here. He's going to those people. Why?
Because Jesus came to be a light to the nations, plural. And it is so good. I I want to remind us of this any chance I can because this is so important. It really is. Jesus came to be a light to the nations.
We're to be a light to the nations. The prophet Isaiah, here's what he says. There it is. You will do more than restore the people of Israel to me. He's talking about the future Messiah, Jesus.
And this is, like, seven hundred years plus back. I will make you a light to the Gentiles, and you will bring my salvation to the ends of the earth. That's pretty cool. That is so cool about Jesus. That was his mission.
And take a look. Let's take a look at who he meets when he arrives in Tyre. Right away, a woman who had heard about him came and fell at his feet. Her little girl was possessed by an evil spirit. So she's a desperate mother.
And she begged him to cast out the demon from her daughter. So just think about this for a second. All those, dividing lines, all the things that would separate the two, the Jews and the Gentiles, she's like, forget it. I've heard about Jesus. I believe he can do this.
I'm gonna ask him right now. Interesting. It is interesting to me that Jesus finds the opposite of pride and unbelief mentioned in the prophets. What he finds in this woman is humility and belief. Even though there's animosity between Jews and Gentiles, what he finds in her is humility and belief.
Mark points this out here. Look, the the differences between the two. Since she was a Gentile born in Syrian Phoenicia, Jesus told her, well, first, I should feed the children, my own family, the Jews. It isn't right to take food from the children and throw it to the dogs. Now, by the way, if anyone else is squirming in their seat when they when when you hear that, I'm telling you, I am too.
I I squirm when I hear that. I really do. But rather than argue it or try to explain it away, I just want to read what comes next. Okay? Verse 28.
She replied, that's true, Lord. But even the dogs under the table are allowed to eat the scraps from the children's plates. By the way, I'm still squirming when I when I hear those words, this conversation, But I will say, I don't know how it was said. I I don't know the tone. I don't know if there was a smile or not.
I I don't know. I just know my my western sensibilities are going, you can't say stuff like that to one another. But they did. That's the interaction. But she doesn't argue.
She doesn't walk away. She doesn't slap Jesus in the face. In humility and faith, she persists. So one commentary that I read, it says, the humble woman in this story does not abase herself so that she becomes a doormat. She aggressively seeks help and will not turn away.
I think that I think that nails it. She's like the men who dig through the roof and lower their friend to Jesus. You remember that early on in Mark? Or the woman who relentlessly pushes her way through the crowd to touch his garment. Do you remember that story?
She thought, if I can just touch his garment, I will be healed. That's the kind of faith that she had. And she pushes her way through the crowd to do it. That's what I see in this woman. She comes as everyone must, a sinner, poor, and needy.
And I really believe that that's the point here, that that's how we're to come to Jesus. As sinners, poor and needy, empty handed, in humility and faith and persistence. Like, not to argue with with Jesus. You know, that that was something that she maybe could have done, argued about the blessing, Jews and Gentiles. Who gets the greater share of the blessing?
But she was just content that she was included in the blessing. Do do do you hear what I'm you hear where I'm going with this, though? That's what I see here. And look at Jesus' reply in verse 29. Good answer, he said.
Now go home for the demon has left your daughter. And when she arrived home, she found her little girl lying quietly in bed, and the demon was gone. I love this miracle. I absolutely love it because, to me, it's a powerful illustration of the necessity of faith and humility. We'll say persistence too because she was very persistent.
But it also shows God's blessing for all who would believe. Not just Jesus' people there in his region, but outside of his region because he was going to the ends of the earth with this message of good news of love and forgiveness. Are you with me? There's a there's a quote from from Dwight Moody, and he said, Jesus sent no one away empty except those who were full of themselves. I think the the gospel of Mark is a good example of of this this quote here.
Those who reach out to Jesus in humility and faith, they don't walk away empty handed. Jesus always turns his face toward those who approach him in humility and faith. Just this week, I it's so cool to be a pastor because I get to hear stories about things like this. And and and just this week, hearing two stories of of two physical healings of people reaching out in faith, in earnest. And that was Jesus' answer in their lives was was physical healing.
Sometimes it's not, but in this case, it was. And I just think but to hear the stories and hear that sincerity and hum that approaching Jesus humbly and with faith, and he answers the call. Like in Psalm 34, I saw the Lord, and he answered me. He turned his face toward me. I just want you to know that.
You sitting in this room, when we humbly come to Jesus in faith, he turns his face toward us. He does not ignore us. He didn't turn he didn't turn this this woman away. It's those who already had it figured out, who came with pride and disbelief. It was like nothing could really happen in their lives because they didn't they weren't asking for Jesus to do anything in their lives.
Picking up in verse 31. Here's another miracle of Jesus. So Jesus left Tyre. He went up to Sidon before going to the Sea Of Galilee, the region of the 10 towns. So this is still Gentile territory here.
Verse 32. A deaf man with a speech impediment was brought to him, and the people begged Jesus to lay his hands on the man to heal him. Jesus led him away from the crowd so that they could be alone. He put his fingers into the man's ears, then spitting on his own fingers, he touched the man's tongue. Looking up to heaven, he sighed and said, epatha, which means be open.
Now by the way, if you're wondering, why why is it that Jesus healed the man this way? I'm wondering the same thing. I don't I don't know. It seems theatrical. It seems.
I I don't get it. I I really don't understand, but that's how Jesus chooses to do it. I just know this, verse 35. Instantly, the man could hear perfectly, and his tongue was freed so he could speak plainly. And Jesus told the crowd not to tell anyone, but the more he told them not to, the more they spread the good news.
Does this sound familiar in Mark? And then we're gonna end with verse 37 here. They were completely amazed and said again and again, everything that he does is wonderful. He even makes the deaf to hear, and he gives speech to those who cannot speak. So just a couple of thoughts on this miracle.
First, Jesus being the fulfillment of this prophecy from Isaiah rings so loud and so clear here. And when he comes, he will open the eyes of the blind and unplug the ears of the deaf. Amen. Jesus has just physically done this. No doubt, this prophecy is being fulfilled.
The thing is, in the spiritual sense, though, Mark has been communicating to us through this gospel that not everyone has ears to ears to hear and eyes to see. So think about it. As as we've been studying Mark, some of the religious leaders not listening, not paying attention. People from his hometown, not listening, not paying attention. His own family even, not listening, not paying attention.
Even his own disciples, not always understanding what's going on. Can't always see, can't always hear. We're gonna read about that more next week. When the religious leaders demand more signs, when the disciples argue about not having enough bread, there's a whole lot of adventures in missing the point. We're gonna see that a lot in the gospel.
But for tonight, I wanna point out I wanna point out these themes because I think they're really, really important for us for today. Faith, humility, and the good news for all who believe in Jesus. To me, these miracles bring new meaning to this verse right here, and it's so awesome that Ray just yesterday, the whole sermon was kinda built around this right here in Romans one sixteen. Paul says, I'm not ashamed of this good news about Christ. What is the good news?
It's the good news of God's love and forgiveness. It's the good news that the God's kingdom had come in Christ. It's the good news that it's the power of God at work saving everyone who believes. And everyone means everyone who believes, anyone who would believe. The Jew first and also the Gentiles.
That's what we're seeing in Mark, starting with this little nation of Israel and then expanding to the ends of the earth. That's why we're sitting in this room right now because we've heard this message and believed and trusted. God is the one doing the saving. Our part is to come to him in humility and faith. So those were a couple of my takeaways tonight, and I would love to hear yours too.
But before you share, can I pray one more time just on what we've read? Lord, I thank you for this word to us tonight. I believe this is what you would have for us to hear. And for this example of humility and faith and persistence of this Gentile, I want this Gentile woman, not of your own people, but she came to you in faith and humility, being persistent, and you answered that call faith. You answered that then.
You still answer that call today. Thank you, Lord, that you answer that call today. God, in light of these miracles, would you give us ears to hear and eyes to see that our hearts would be open and receptive, that we would come to you in faith and humility, that nothing in our hands we bring simply to the cross, we claim. In Jesus' name, amen. Alright.
You don't have to share. But if there was anything if in these two here, let me just go back to these themes right here. If there was anything in this passage that that really struck you about that woman's faith or the healing of the man that was, mute, and deaf, Please, I'd love to hear love to hear your thoughts on it. And I think we've got a microphone here. Just Okay.
I've always thought that a lot of the healings that Jesus does in the Bible might be a little bit easier to explain. Like, when he puts his fingers in the man's ears, he's probably digging out a blockage that created created deafness in the man, something that a very wise man at the time would know how to do that would just go over the head of people two thousand years ago who didn't have much medical knowledge. A very smart person can see, oh, this is a problem. Let me fix this.
Okay. Alright. I hear what you're saying. I hear what you're saying. Thank you.
It doesn't make it any less miraculous. It just it's just come come to me. Be faithful in me, and I'll take you in. I'll heal you. Just listen to my word.
Mhmm.
And we always see him answering that call of faith. Always. Always. Always. Thank you.
Any other thoughts?
Just to believe and see the action. You know? Mhmm. Like the woman who was suffering for so long with the blood.
Mhmm.
And she she says, I know if I touch, I will get healed. Mhmm. And she was a little bit scared, but Jesus called her daughter because she believed it. You know? Yeah.
That is one of my favorite absolute, favorite stories of faith in the gospels. Yep. Thank you.
And we'll let Blake to speak for Florenta tonight because he's sick.
Your second point of humility and you talked about squirming in your seats too. Jesus is talking about, well, I'm going to take care of my own first. Yeah. I agree. It kinda makes me squirm.
And I think her humility is the good example for us. And I wonder I don't understand why Jesus was like that. And I don't have to. I can trust in the Lord and all of his ways and lean not on my own understanding. So that's enough.
But if I'm trying to understand it, I would think that he some I would like to think that he gives room for other people to be the example and not just always him. So here in that interaction, she sets a good example of humility and of faith. And maybe she couldn't set that example if it wasn't for Jesus behaving that way or saying, no. I'm gonna take care of us first and you guys second.
Mhmm.
He's making way for her to set that example before us.
Mhmm.
That's one way I like to look at it.
Yeah. Yeah. That is a very good observation. And you wish sometimes that you had you could actually hear the interaction because it's kinda like like, sometimes if you're reading an email and you ever go, oh, is the tone what's the tone there in that? And we wonder the same.
What was the tone? Did he say that with a, you know, glimmer in his eye and a, you know, a bit of sarcasm sarcasm in his voice? Or how was that? But when I stopped squirming, the the actual you know, the the theme of coming to Jesus in faith and humility and with persistence, that's what really struck me. And I thought, she's just she's just setting an example for how to come to Jesus, and it's beautiful.
It's absolutely beautiful. She didn't back down. She didn't she didn't argue with him. She didn't fight him on it. She she, in faith, said, alright.
If this is the way you're gonna wonderful. I'm in. I'm in. However you choose to do this. Monique, have you got a thought?
Anelza?
Hello, everyone. You know, I can relate to this woman a lot. I there was a time where I had to pray a little bit harder for one of my children, and, you know, I I would quest I would ask him I would ask him. I wouldn't question his decision because I never questioned him. But I would ask him, like, what what is what's your purpose here?
What's going I I couldn't understand it. I couldn't understand his plan, but he had such a good one. For one, persistency. Hey. I'm talking to him.
I have a relationship with him. I'm I'm begging him, but the persistence is there. There's faith. I'm working my faith. I know he can make miracles.
How? I believe in him. I don't know what's to come of this, but I trust you because you're perfect. And my ways are not your ways, and and I know that you have to break me down in order for me to know what it is you're doing. So, did I have to humble myself?
Yes. Did I have to lose all control? Yes. Did I have to give him everything in me because he wants your heart, mind, and soul? I had to give him all of it.
I had to beg and plead with him. And within that, I found such a deep relationship with him. And what his promise was to me, I had to believe that. I walk had by faith and not by sight, fully by faith. So, yeah, I can relate to the woman where it's like, there's persistency.
This is my child, but I know you can do it. How? I have no idea, but I trust that you can do it. So I put he will answer. He will, not at the time that we want to because God doesn't work like that.
He doesn't work in time. He doesn't work like we do. So maybe for us, it's like like he's late. You know? He's he's always on time, and he's so perfect.
But for us, we think in that human sense, which is why it says, lean not on your own understanding, for my ways are not your ways, and my thoughts are not your thoughts. So for us, it's very easy to get in this, like, caveman mentality of, like, oh, well, he's not doing it in this time. Like, God, what what's going on? And that's where faith comes in, and that's where trusting him comes in. And once you endure, you will have the blessing, and and and I I can testify to that.
Yes. There was a huge battle. And somehow, he talked me with me through it. There was this relationship. There was this persistence.
There was this, like, I wanted to at times, I would wanna take control. And when I took control, it just damaged me. So I had to give it back to God. And we practiced that many times until, like, until patience came. And I was humble, and I had a different understanding of what God was.
But I wouldn't have known had I not gone through what I had gone through. So, yes, I can totally relate to this woman. And, I think within that, she built a relationship with him in that time. Like, how could she not? She knew what he was.
And within that, there was communication. So yeah, that's mine.
Thanks, Elsa. Thanks for sharing testimony.
So mine's kind of yeah. Maybe the opposite. Maybe we're supposed to share back to back. I feel like for me, I've experienced yeah. Maybe persistence and desperation, but not like I've called to like intercede for people probably for like twenty years so there's an element of that but I think like a mother's heart or like a wife's heart or like a close family member right there's a level of desperation and persistence that's different there, right, with, like, that relationship.
So and I think for me in times where I've had to, like, persist in situations in my life with the Lord, I think it's I don't know it's easy because it's I mean, it's not easy, but it's easier because it's just me and I'm like, Lord, I know you're good and whatever happens to me, it kinda stops here. Like, there's ripple effects to that, but it's not Yeah. I think there's a different desperation when there is a a close connection like a family member or a soul tie, a friend or something like that. And so I don't know if I've interceded, so I've experienced that like spiritually. But yeah, I appreciated that in this message, but I sense in the season ahead, might be experiencing more of that just, like, in a deeper level.
So I'm thankful just to be reading the word and, like, learning from these people who really experienced it with the Lord and how we can glean from that in preparation for like what's happening today or what's happening next month or you know so that's what stood out to me.
Yeah would you?
This is just about the little part that you said made you squirm. I think it didn't bother me so much, but I think of Jesus as a disruptor of cultural norms.
Yeah. For sure. Very different.
Traveled, you know, across to the coast and up the Phoenician. He's in another country. Mhmm. He's with people who have not honored or worshiped Yahweh. Yeah.
Similar to, like, when he went down to Samaria to the woman at the well and everyone else is like you shouldn't be talking to her. She's dirty, she's sinful. He's like but this is what I came for. Right? I feel like in this instance he is saying to the woman hey.
Here's your cultural norms. Mhmm. What shall we do about them? Mhmm. Not I I didn't hear in him, I'm not going to bless you, but Mhmm.
How are we gonna disrupt this? And she says back to him, and what you've said, it's gonna be what? Through faith. Right? Yeah.
That's how I'm gonna disrupt
this. Yep.
And he does. So he acts on her, what she gives up to him, which is her faith. Mhmm. For me, I didn't see it so much as something that made me squirm, but something that said said, oh, yeah. Oh, yeah.
Here we go. We're gonna we're gonna disrupt this again.
That.
The
going be
at the well. What
struck me most beyond faith and humility, Jesus does not hesitate to walk into the enemy's land. Do you ever hear him make an excuse? No. Do you hear humans make excuses all the time not to spread the gospel?
Mhmm. Sure.
Right. Exactly. So, I mean, when I look at that when he's going to see the going the difference
world.
To Yeah.
Amen. Amen.
Indeed. Indeed. Yeah. Good. Very good points.
I I really appreciate that. Yeah. What do you wanna Yes. He ran the opposite direction.
But he learned from it, too. Isn't that great? I love the faith of a child.
Thank you for sharing that. So that's a really cool testimony. Have you got one?
I was just going to mention that, you know, it's you don't hear enough of it in the Bible but you know, this is a time before Jesus was actually condemned or crucified. And these people, they didn't know who he really was. I mean, word-of-mouth, but they truly believed in him. They truly had faith in him. I mean, it wasn't like they weren't afraid to, like, say that.
They might go after him and, you know, be near him, touch him, stuff like that. But I've said before, the apostles, they carried on, had issues along the way, whether they had very little faith and they were next to Jesus and walking with him, but they would have they would doubt. And, you know, these complete, you know, strangers would just felt the impulse to be close to Jesus. Yeah. It's just, it's just so beautiful.
Just, you know.
It sure is. It absolutely is. Because we look at our time and place in history. We've seen his life, his death, his resurrection, his ascension, the, the church, the establishment of the church, and now living in it today. They they didn't have all that stuff.
They just saw Jesus and went, I want that. I want that. I want a faith like that. Thank you for for sharing that. Appreciate that.
Yeah. Great thoughts tonight. This is good. Have you got one, Steven?
Pleasure. Yeah. Please. Please.
Just maybe just my thinking, but Okay. The way that, at least from what I always believe, was the parables and stuff. Yeah. Jesus always had the good answer. Uh-huh.
In a parable, it seemed like she kinda turned it around on him or maybe that's possibly the way he wanted it. Yeah. Because he said something out, and she kinda, you know, dogs even get scraps on the table. Mhmm. And then he said, good answer.
Right. So, you know, that's what kinda stood out with me is all the parables that you hear where he always has the good answer. Mhmm. So for me, that kinda stuck out.
Yep. It it does. And and it's, again, not his own. It's the it's a gentile, but they get it. I mean, it really just shows a light to the nations for all people.
Sometimes the the ones closest to them would not understand, But it's it's those who are far off. They're the ones who really get it. Well, should we close in another one last song together? Would you stand with me? We'll we'll sing.
Love that will not let me go. I rest my weary soul in thee. I give thee back the life I heal that in that ocean depths it's flow may richer for her be green towards to me, and my heart restores its borrowed ray that in thy sunshine's blazing stay, may brighter for the oh joy whom joy thou seekers me through pain I cannot close my heart to thee I chase the rainbow through the rain and feel the promise is not vain that mourn shouts Oh, oh, cross that my ear.
And can I leave you with this verse here before we part? From Romans. I'm not ashamed of this good news about Jesus because it's the power of God at work, and it's saving everyone who believes, the Jew first and also the Gentile. Amen.
