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At Sandals Church, our vision is to be real with ourselves, God and others. This channel features sermons and teaching from Pastor Matt Brown and other members of the Sandals Church preaching team. You can find sermon notes, videos and more content at http://sandalschurch.com/watch
There's gonna be moments in our lives where we desperately need something from God. And you don't ever know when that moment comes. I mean, some of you are in church today, you're watching this message because there was a phone call, there was an accident. You got called into the boss's office and all of a sudden right, life has changed and you need something from God. You found out about you know your kids are into something or or your roommate doesn't have rent or you're not gonna pass that class.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And and all of a sudden, right, whatever the issue is we need something from God. And we're all gonna find ourselves in that position at some point in time in life. And so I wanna talk today about how to get what you need from God when you're desperate. How do you do that? And so I just gotta warn you, trigger warning, this is an extremely difficult passage of scripture to study.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:It's going to challenge just kind of our our modern sensibilities. Jesus is gonna use language that's offensive. Jesus is gonna speak to a woman in offensive way and he's even gonna use a word that if we're honest feels like a pejorative. It's just it's just shocking. So I just want you to put your seat belt on, turbulence ahead, and just remember ladies, I didn't say it.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Jesus said it. Okay? It was Jesus. I'm accountable for what I say that's offensive, but Jesus is this is on him. Amen.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:You know what I'm saying? This is on him. So let's open our Bibles to Matthew 15 and we're gonna start in verse 21. And this is this is a tough passage. We're just gonna read through it, and then we're gonna pray, and everybody's gonna take a deep breath.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Amen? And ladies, nobody's gonna throw anything at me. Here we go. Alright. Let's take a look at Matthew fifteen twenty one.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And then Jesus left Galilee and went north to the region of Tyre and Sidon. Check this out. A Gentile woman who lived there came to him pleading, have mercy on me o Lord, son of David. For my daughter is possessed by a demon. And some are like, I have that daughter.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Amen. You know I'm saying? Just kidding. For my daughter is possessed by a demon that torments her severely. But Jesus gave her no reply.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Ain't that interesting? Not even a word. Then his disciples urged him, send her away. Tell her to go away. She is bothering us with all her begging.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And then Jesus said to the woman, I was only sent to help God's lost sheep, the people of Israel. But she came and she worshiped him pleading again, Lord help me. And Jesus responded, it isn't right to take food from the children and throw it to the dogs. She replied, that's true Lord. But even the dogs are allowed to eat the scraps that fall beneath their master's table.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And then Jesus changes his tone. Dear woman, Jesus said to her, your faith is great and your request is granted. And her daughter was instantly healed. Can I get an amen? Let's pray.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Come on. Heavenly father, let us pump the brakes Lord on our offense. And Lord, let us today understand what we can from this important passage. And Lord, let us apply these truths to our lives when we need a miracle, when we are in desperate need of something for our family, for our health, or for our finances. Lord, whatever it is we need, Lord, let us learn today.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:We pray this in Jesus name. Amen. Alright. Here we go. In order to get what I desperately need from God, I want you to listen to this.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:This is important. I must never ever miss an opportunity to connect with Jesus. Now here's kind of how we think. Right? Whenever I'm ready, God will be ready.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Like whenever I put my yes on the table, God's gonna be right there. Here's the thing that you need to understand. There are moments in your life where God is speaking, God is close, and if you miss that moment, you may not get another one. You just gotta understand that. Theologically, we just kinda believe God's always there, always knocking, And whenever I get around to making time for God, God will be there for me.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I want you to understand there are moments when you're in church and God speaks in a very unique way. K? And I I wish that we felt this every single week. I wish that when I spoke you heard from God every single week. Here's the thing.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I'm not God. I don't know how he's gonna show up, where he's gonna show up, or when he's gonna show up through my messages. So when he shows up, listen to me, it's upon you to do something about it. So if Jesus sits next to you during the message today and it's like, hey, and you're like, let me get back to you when I can. That's on you.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:So I want you to notice this. Okay? We gotta put on our Bible scholar hats and really unpack this. Matthew fifteen twenty one through 22. Look at this.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Then Jesus left Galilee. Did you know this is the only time in the Bible where Jesus leaves his own country? His whole ministry is in Israel. He only leaves the borders of Israel one time. Do you know what time that is?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:This time. This is her moment. She's never gonna see him in Israel. Then Jesus left Galilee and he went north to the region of Tyre and Sidon. Okay?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:So to think Lebanon. This is Lebanon. So Jesus has left Israel. He's gone up to Lebanon, which isn't a nation yet. It's called Tyre and Sidon.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And a Gentile woman who lived there came to him. So Jesus crossed the borders. He's left his home country. He's gone to another country. And then we have two other issues here.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:We have a woman and in Jesus day and age, right, Jewish rabbis don't speak to women publicly and they don't connect with people of other races. They just don't. The entire premise of Judaism is built upon this idea that we need to be different. That's why you gotta go back to last week's message and look at that passage where they say, hey Jesus you don't wash your hands, you're not doing all this right. What the pharisees are saying is you're not living as separate as you should.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:You're not living as pure of Judaism as we feel like you should. So they won't eat with Gentiles, they wash their hands, they won't eat in certain foods, they won't eat certain clothes because to be Jewish means to be separate from the world. So this woman not only is she not separate, she's of the world. And she's from a Greek city which would have been considered the most unclean, the most repulsive, the most grotesque in the world at that time. Okay.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:The conflict nowadays, right, is Israel Palestine. In Jesus day, it was really Hebrew culture versus Greek culture. Okay. So I mean, it's just you think Middletown America versus Vegas. It's literally as as as different as you could possibly get.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And so here she comes a woman from another culture, a scandalous culture, she's not male and yet what does she do? She runs up to him pleading. She runs up to him and she says have mercy on me. Underline this, oh Lord, she has some sense of who he is. Jesus' reputation is extended beyond the boundaries of Israel.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Ain't that crazy? He's the greatest celebrity of his age. She says have mercy on me, oh Lord son of David. So she has an understanding of who he is and she has a little understanding of Judaism. She says, for my daughter is possessed by a demon that torments her severely.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Now I made a little joke about teenage daughters and those are super fun. They will grow up. Hang on. Hang on. They'll come back.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:They'll come back. But it's hard to be a teenager, but it's hard to be a parent of a teenager. But here's the thing is this isn't funny, this is severe. And let me say this, nothing is harder in life than seeing someone you love suffer. I mean, there's just nothing like this.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:You wait till it's your mom that's sick. It's your dad that's sick. Right? They've saved up their whole life and they're ready to retire and the second they retire, boom, they lose their health. All these dreams, all these plans.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Okay, my wife's own mom, you know what she has parked in her front yard? An RV. You wanna know why? Their dream was to be an RV the last ten fifteen years of their life. It's sitting in the driveway because of health issues.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And that happens sometimes. Right? Sometimes, man, it's our marriage, it's our kids, it's our mom, it's our dad, it's our job, it's our mental health. But here's the thing I want you to know, everything I need, everything you need from God, listen to me very carefully, is found in Jesus. So don't miss your moment with Jesus.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:This is the one thing that you can't miss in life. This is the most important thing. Now to my Jewish and Muslim friends, we do not agree on who Jesus is. So to my Jewish friends, they would say Jesus is a great rabbi, a great teacher. But he's not the son of God.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:My Muslim friends would say Jesus is a prophet. They might even say he's the greatest prophet second only to Muhammad. But what both of them will deny is the deity of Jesus. Here's why this is important. There is no way for you to get to God except by Jesus.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Okay? Mohammed can't get you there and listen to me, not even this can get you there. Do you know what Jesus said about this? And I and let me tell you, I want you to read your Bibles. Jesus said, you study the scriptures because you think in them contains eternal life.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:You know what he says? This all reveals him. Him. It's pointing to him. The Bible doesn't point to itself, it points to Jesus.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:So let's take a look what the Bible says about Jesus, Colossians one fifteen. Christ and for those of you who are new to Christianity, that's not his last name. He's Jesus of Nazareth, but Christ is a title. Okay? So Jesus the Christ is the visible image of the invisible God.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:So who is Jesus? The God you can't see? You can see him in Jesus. He's not just a prophet. He's not just a teacher.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:He's the son of the living God. So whatever God is, Jesus is. And here's the thing listen to me. This woman is not about to miss that moment. Now think about in our church, right?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:We give an altar call. We give an altar call and you guys like, I don't know this woman would be upfront, man. We wouldn't have to sing a song, man. She's upfront. She's right there.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:It always cracks me up. I'm like, if you guys need prayer, come forward and then you tackle me in the lobby. I'm like, did you hear what I said? Did you hear what I said? Like that was your moment.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Listen to what Jesus says in Revelation three twenty. He says, look, I stand at the door and knock. If you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in and we will share a meal together as friends. But he's not gonna knock forever. He's not gonna stand out front forever.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Don't miss your moment. And that's the thing you got to see here. Some of you and I hate to say this, the weekend you needed the message the most is the weekend you miss. Do you know how many times that happens? Like your family's falling apart, the one week we preach on family, know, you got to watch a game.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I mean, I love sports, but it's not gonna fix your marriage. It's not gonna fix your family. It's not, but Jesus can. So in order to get what I desperately need from God, look at this. I must not interpret God's silence as my final answer.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:There's gonna be moments in your Christian life where you feel God's presence, you you hear God's voice, you you you just can't imagine. And we get a little judgmental as Christian. I don't know why nobody else gets it. I mean, God's there. He's with me every day.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And that's great, but there's gonna be moments where he's silent. And here's the thing, you need his silence as much as you need his presence. Both are required. So this woman man, she takes a risk, right? She's of another race.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:She's of another religion, right? She's the wrong gender but she takes her shot. She goes for it and she begs Jesus. She acknowledges him as Lord, right? She does it right.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:She says the right prayer. But look at Matthew fifteen twenty three, but Jesus gave her no reply. I want you to underline this, not even a word. Now this is hard for us because when you're going through divorce, you know what you're gonna feel, you're not gonna feel God's presence. You're gonna feel his absence.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:When you've got a diagnosis that says cancer, you might not feel God's presence in that moment. You might you might feel silence. But let me say this, just because God is not speaking does not mean he is not working. There's a guy in my life I've been praying for for almost thirty years. I love this guy.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:How many of you guys have somebody in your life that's just so talented, but they just don't get God? Anybody have like that? Okay. This guy, man, I've loved him. When he was in my church, when we were in Huntington Beach, man, he would tell people, hey, when he was three years old that I was his best friend, which was not true, but it was cute.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:You know what I'm saying? It was cute. And I've been praying for this guy. I believe this guy is just multi talented. I I believe that there's a call in his life.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And so about six months ago, he called me and he surrendered his life to Jesus. He said, I'm all in. I'm all in. Right? I'm all in.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Amen? Like and and I don't mean Listen, I I don't mean like he got saved. I mean he's like, I'm called to ministry. I like, I know. I've been waiting for you to know.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Like he's all in. So we're on the phone this week and he's frustrated at God. You know, just like some of you. And here's what he said. He said, don't understand.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:God has been waiting on me for fifteen, twenty years and I finally say yes and he's not doing anything. And I said, oh. Oh. So God has to wait for you for twenty years, but when you say yes, you can't wait a couple months. You know what I'm saying?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And he's like, well, when you put it like that, but that's what we all do. Right? We want God to wait forever, but we want him to act instantly. Look, I'm sorry God is silent right now. But here's what I know, there's a reason.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:You're like, what is it? I don't know, I'm not God. But there's a reason. There's a reason. Ephesians three twenty, look at this verse.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Now all glory to God who is able through his mighty power. I want you to see this. At work, that's the present tense. At work. Where?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Within us. What is God doing right now whether you feel it or not, whether you know it or not, whether sense it or not, right now he is working in your life. Okay? Right now. And here's the thing, he's speaking right now whether you hear him or not.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:So even if you're not a Christian, listen to me. Right now the spirit of God is working on you to point you to Jesus right now. Even if you've rejected God, he's working. To do what? To accomplish infinitely more infinitely more than we might ask or think.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:You see, sometimes God has to be silent for a while to get you ready for his answer. In order to get what I desperately need from God, I must refuse to let the attitudes and opinions of others keep me from Jesus. Man, do you know how many people I meet that no longer go to church because of something someone said? Because of something a church did? Let me just help you out.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Okay? The Christian church is team idiot. Just just know that. That's that's us. We get in our way all the time.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:We get in the way all the time. I was on the phone this week with a pastor that frustrated me with something that they did. And it's so funny, my wife was listening to the phone call. She thought I was apologizing. She has just assumed I did something wrong.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And you know why that is? Because she lives with me. She she knows me. So here's the thing. Stop focusing on what people have said or what people have done and start focusing again on Jesus.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:So let's take a look. These are the handpicked disciples of Jesus. K. This isn't Sandals Church. This is his crew.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:This is his team. Matthew fifteen twenty three. Then his disciples urged him to send her away. Let's get rid of this hurting needy woman. She's bothering us.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I mean, underline, she's bothering us with all her what? Her begging. Some are like, I think I went to that church. Yeah. Don't allow hurtful words from others.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Don't allow it to rob you of the help you need from Jesus. Listen, if you went to church and you got bad advice, You went to mass and you got a grumpy priest. Like it it happens, man. It happens. You've been hurt by a leader.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:You've been hurt by a minister. Listen to me, they don't represent Jesus. Jesus represents Jesus. Okay. Let Jesus be Jesus.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Let people be people and don't confuse the two. I had to go testify before a city commission this week And I was super frustrated with the decision they were making and what was going on. And so there's about 20 residents in there. And I could hear them all when I walked in there like, oh, the minister's here. The minister's here.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:The minister's here. And you know what they're thinking is we're gonna win. We got God on our side. We lost four one. The only person I convinced was the the the the female council member because I was just looking at her trying to get a tear, and it worked.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:All the dudes were like, no. You know why I'm not Jesus. But they all thought, oh, we won now. No, no, no, no. Look, I try as best I can to represent him, I am not him.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Quit being upset at God because of what his team members did or said or didn't do. And by the way, if Christians hurt you just remember it was religious people who crucified Jesus. Okay. So if you leave church because of what people said or did, listen to me, you could miss out on what Jesus wants to do. And I just think in general in our society, we run away from relationships way too quickly.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:We just do. And here's the thing, for me, I don't know what your theology of church is, but for me, my theology of church is more like a marriage than it is a friendship. Okay. I'm committed to my wife, I love my wife, I'm gonna hang in there unless it's abusive. And what I would encourage you, you know, I'm not saying stay in an abusive church.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:But what I'm saying is just because you get offended doesn't mean that you should run. That might mean you need to stay and grow. And let me tell you, my wife has offended me a lot in our marriage. But you know what? Sometimes the offense is exactly what I needed to grow.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Okay? And I'm not saying what she did was right. What I'm saying is God used what she said, God used what she did to make me a better husband, pastor, and Christian. And if you keep running from churches every time you get wounded, you might miss out on the growth you desperately need. Okay?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Alright. It gets gets worse from here, so just hang on. In order to get what I desperately need from God, I must look at this. I must be willing to be deeply offended by Jesus. Do you know why the world hates Christianity?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Jesus is deeply offensive with some of the things he says. Now that doesn't give me permission to be offensive. You know, there's pastors, you know, that are offensive. I've been offensive. There are pastors that are rude.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I've been rude. It doesn't give me permission to be a jerk. We don't need any more jerks for Jesus. Amen. We got enough.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Like we're good. But here's the thing, the gospel is offensive. It says you can't save yourself. It says that you are broken. It says that apart from Jesus, you are unsalvageable.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:You cannot be saved. So just think about that in this next portion of the conversation because there's just no way around this. This is really hard. Matthew fifteen twelve. Then the disciples came to him and said, do you realize that you offended the pharisees by what you just said?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Like that's from last week's passage. Jesus is like, whatever. Like he he doesn't care at all because they care more about what's going on in the outside than they do on what's the inside and listen to me. The inside is what matters to God. Like we all spend all this time prepping, prepping for how we look, prepping for how we're perceived.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:My favorite part of Justin's message last week was was the aura farming. I'd not heard that, that was so good. You know, that's when you know you're old, when you hear words you're like, oh, what does that mean? But we all Orapharm, right? We all do that.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And obviously God could care very little about how we look on the outside. Can I get an amen? Look around like, you know. Right? We all look different.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I mean, many of you would have selected how you look to be slightly different? Raise your hands. I would have. My nose, I would have gone medium. Amen?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I would have said, let's go with a medium. And the Lord was like, let's go large. So let's go large. Let's go large. Let's go You know, mean we all right.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:We all get a little when we see ourselves in the mirror. You know, it's just true. You know what Peter calls Jesus in first Peter two eight, listen to this, the rock of offense. Think about that. The rock of the offense.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And let me say this, if God has never offended you, then you have probably never heard from God. And part of the reason we are where we are as a culture is there was an amazing movement in the nineties. It was called the seeker movement. And I'm I'm not anti seeker. I think that we should try to reach people who are seeking God.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Like if if you're seeking God, I hope that this message reach reaches you. But it shifted from just reaching seekers to going after people who aren't interested. And then it tried to recruit people who were just against us. And we so dumbed down the gospel, our culture quit hearing it. I mean, do you if you're at the doctor's office, how do you say you have cancer in a way that's not offensive?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I mean, you can apologize. You can say I'm so sorry to give you this information. Telling someone they're going to die or they could die, it's offence, it's jarring. It's hard to tell somebody the truth. I mean, it's hard to hear those words even from a family member if they're like, hey, I think your kid has has some special needs.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:That's hard. I've seen it end friendships. What do you mean my kid has special needs? I'm like, what do you mean your kid doesn't have special needs? Right?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Like we all know and we love them and I'm not making fun of kids. I'm just saying it's hard to say, hey, there there might be an issue here. There might be an issue here. Like just think about the times you've tried to talk to a friend about their marriage. Hey, what's going on with your marriage?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:What do you mean what's going on with marriage? What's going on with your marriage? You know? It's it's hard to talk to somebody about health. Just just throw this out there somewhere.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Hey, you've been gaining weight? Just throw it just throw it out. You like the Snickers bars, don't you? Right? I mean just k.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Now now now listen. We we all know we all know that health health matters. Right? And if we don't deal with it, we could die, but just try having those conversations. So here's the thing.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:It's impossible to be completely unoffensive when lives are on the line. It's impossible. And in some countries like Japan, when you have terminal cancer, do know what the doctor says? Fine. Go home.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Did you know that? In Japan, they won't tell you the truth. You're great. Go enjoy your life. That's not God.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:God wants to tell you the truth. And here's the truth, there's some really bad news before there's the good news. Matthew fifteen twenty four, let's look at this. And then Jesus said to the woman, I was sent only to help God's lost sheep. So she's begging, she's crying out, the disciples are rude, Jesus is silent.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:He finally speaks and what he says is I'm not interested. Now that's tough, right? That's difficult for us. I was sent only to help God's lost sheep. Now I want you to understand we're in Matthew's gospel.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Matthew's gospel is written specifically to Jewish people to help them understand that Jesus is the Jewish Messiah. And when we get to the end of Matthew's gospel, we're going to find that Jesus sends his disciples to all nations, to all peoples. Everybody matters. Okay? But we're not there yet.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:So Jesus says, I was sent only to help God's lost sheep, the people of Israel. He says no. She says no. But look at her response. But she came and worshiped him.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Listen to this, pleading again. And let me tell you something, there's no pain like when your kids are hurting. They're just they're just man. A mama bear will do whatever she can to save her baby cub. She just will.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:It's a beautiful thing. You see what matters more to her is not her being offended, it's her daughter being healed. That's what matters. She doesn't care. Look at her response.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:But she came and worshiped him. Hold on, let's go back. But she came and worshiped him pleading again. Again, she did it again. So now Jesus is gonna be cool, right?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Oh, you're sincere. Oh, you're real. Oh, this is awesome. But Jesus responded, it gets worse. This may be the most offensive line in the Bible.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Jesus says, it isn't right to take food from the children and throw it to the dogs. If you're not offended, didn't hear what I just said. We got a desperate mom with a suffering child and Jesus says, no, no, no, I'm here for the people of Israel and she begs him, she worships him, she's honored him and he says it isn't right to take food from the children and throw it to the dogs. Now this is two thousand years ago. This isn't like our culture.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Right? We love our dogs. Let's be honest, a little too much. Okay. I was jogging on the beach and there was this grandma and she was pushing two of her kids and I thought I'm a grandpa.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I'm gonna go say hi to this grandma. And I turned around like, oh my gosh, they're so And it's not kids. It's two dogs. She's pushing two dogs in a stroller. We have gotten weird.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Can I get an amen? Like we I thought she was pushing grandkids. It was two dogs. And I don't even think the dogs wanted to be in the stroller. Know?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:So two thousand years ago, listen to me, dogs would have been seen as vile, disease ridden and disgusting. Not our culture, a dog's mouth is cleaner than a human mouth. I just don't believe that. I just don't. I you know?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I've had a dog. I see what they do. I mean, if your dog's a Christian, they backslide a lot. Amen? You know I'm saying?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:They they do things they shouldn't be doing. I'll just let your mind run right there. But here here's the thing is, he called her a dog. Okay. So so listen to me, even though we love our pets, we still use that language, right, to to be offensive.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:See Jesus, this is not the Jesus that you know, but this is the real Jesus. He says it's not right. There's no there's no way around this. He just called her a dog. And here's the thing, some of you think, well, he's just being rude.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:No. No. No. He's being real. He's being real.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And here's the thing, God will never move in your life and you will never get what you desperately need from him until you understand who you are in comparison to who he is. Listen to me, you're a dog. I love you, you're a dog. And if that offends you, it's because you don't understand the gospel. Let me just share you what the gospel is.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:The son of God left his table and he became a dog so you could have a seat at the table and become a son. Amen? That's that's the gospel. He emptied himself of everything so that you could have everything. So he challenges her.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:The problem is not what's going on with your daughter. The problem is what's happening in your heart. And if we go back to last week's message, right, what did the Pharisees do? They left. They were offended.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:They were not saved. They did not get saved. And so Jesus left the Jewish people and he went to the people who were supposedly as far away from God as possible. And it turns out that they're a little closer than the people that go to church every Sunday. In order to get what I desperately need from God, look at this, I must believe that Jesus is God and he has grace for me.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:He's not calling her a dog to offend her. He's calling her a dog to save her. Because let's be honest, Greek culture is is a pagan sexualized culture. Do you know what our culture is? A pagan overly sexualized culture.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And a lot of us act a whole lot more like animals than we ever do angels. And God is trying to save you from that. And there's a lot of churches today, they don't wanna be offensive, they wanna be inclusive. And what they're saying is it's okay for you to act like a dog and follow your desires. That's what a dog does.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:You're not called to be a dog, you're called to be a son or a daughter of the king. Amen? And what that means is we gotta live differently. It's not right Jesus says to take food from the table and give it to the dogs. Listen to me, dogs don't belong on the table.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:If you didn't know that, write that down. Amen. They don't belong on the table. Listen to her reply. But she replied, that's true Lord.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:You can't offend this woman. You cannot. She says that's true. That's true. Listen to this.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:But even dogs are allowed to eat the scraps that fall beneath their master's table. Jesus called her a dog. She's unfazed. She's unfazed. That's true Lord.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Dogs don't belong up here, but they are down there. And here's what she's saying. She's saying, I believe you're a good master who will not only feed his children, but you will allow the scraps to fall from the table and I will be fed and my daughter will be well. And then Jesus changes. He's no longer offensive.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Listen to what he says. Dear woman, do you see that? She matters. She's important. She's loved.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:He wasn't trying to drive her away. He was trying to reach her. So many of you, you struggle with addiction and you make excuses day after day, week after week, and you're like I don't really have a problem. Somebody needs to shake you And say, don't you understand that you are on the road to death? You have a problem.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:You're an addict and you have to be offensive. It's called an intervention. We have to shake people out of their madness. And Jesus has to shake her out of her culture. Dear woman, Jesus said to her, look at this, your faith is great.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Your faith is great and your request is granted. Man. And her daughter was instantly healed. Man. Listen to me.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Amen. I mean, that incredible? Listen to me. I I I mean, I know I know. I know there's some offensive things in this book.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I I know. I know there's some hard things in this book. But God loves you too much to lie to you. And we live in a culture of lies, we live in a culture of untruth. And unfortunately, we've become more like Japan's culture where they just tell elderly people you're fine, go home.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Jesus says you're not fine. But here's the thing, he wasn't trying to drive the woman away. Listen to me, he's trying to get her home. Do you understand that? And I know that you're going through some hard things.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I know you're going through some difficult things. One of my favorite authors of all time is CS Lewis and he has a book called a boy and his horse. And if you've ever read that, the boy is chased in the middle of the night at midnight in the blackest darkest night by a lion. And he can feel the breath of the lion on his neck, he can hear the paws pounding behind him and he's terrified. And he asks God at the end of the book whose name is Aslan.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Why didn't you protect me from the lion? And Aslan says, I was the lion. I didn't wanna harm you, he says, I wanted you home. Listen to me. Some of the hard things that you're going through, some of the disasters that you were facing are meant to bring you home.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Amen? The gospel is good news because there's some really bad news. And the really bad news is you have a terminal illness called sin and there is no cure. No hospital in the world can save you. So God sent his one and only son from heaven to save you.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:He lived the life you can't live and he died the death you can't die to save your soul. Listen to me, and to bring you home. And that's what we need. Let's pray right now church. And let's just confess to God, we're too easily offended.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Heavenly father, we as a church, we're a part of our culture, our culture is so easily offended. God, let us choose in this moment obedience rather than offense, and let us push through Lord, all of our insecurities and the things that we face and let us be like this woman who wants healing, who wants miracles. Let us come before you in a desperate way like her. Lord, so that we can find great faith. Lord, so that we can be changed, so that we can be saved.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:God move in this church in the same way that you moved in her life. Holy Spirit move in our lives. We pray this in Jesus name and all God's people said, amen. Amen. Come