KEEP THE GOAL IN MIND

Gospel of Mark #24

Pastor Clanton

Woodland Church

Wednesday, May 3, 2023

(Mark 7:24–30, NLT) “Then Jesus left Galilee and went north to the region of Tyre. He didn’t want anyone to know which house he was staying in, but he couldn’t keep it a secret. Right away a woman who had heard about him came and fell at his feet. Her little girl was possessed by an evil spirit, and she begged him to cast out the demon from her daughter. Since she was a Gentile, born in Syrian Phoenicia, Jesus told her, “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.” She replied, “That’s true, Lord, but even the dogs under the table are allowed to eat the scraps from the children’s plates.” “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.”

1. NEVER GIVE UP WHEN JESUS IS SILENT.

“She begged him repeatedly.” (Verse 26, PT)

(John 11:6, NLT) “Jesus stayed where he was for the next two days.”

“God will give you the blessings you ask if you will not go any further without them; but His silence is the sign that He is bringing you into a marvelous understanding of Himself.”  -Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest, October 11th

2. JESUS PRIORITIZES.

(Mark 7:27, NLT) “Jesus told her, “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.”

3. COME TO JESUS HUMBLY AND LEAVE WITH A MIRACLE.

“Jesus sent no one away empty except those who were full of themselves.” -D.L. Moody

(Mark 7:28–29, NLT) “She replied, “That’s true, Lord, but even the dogs under the table are allowed to eat the scraps from the children’s plates.” “Good answer!” he said. “Now go home, for the demon has left your daughter.”

“It is only when humility warrants it that great graces can be obtained … And so when you perceive that you are being humiliated, look on it as the sign of a sure guarantee that grace is on the way. Just as the heart is puffed up with pride before its destruction, so it is humiliated before being honored. …. It is the possession of a joyful and genuine humility that alone enables us to receive grace.” -Bernard of Clairvaux

“Pride changed angels into devils.” -Augustine

4. JESUS CAN HEAL AND DELIVER EVERYONE.

(Mark 7:28, NLT) “She replied, “That’s true, Lord, but even the dogs under the table are allowed to eat the scraps from the children’s plates.”

GROWTHWORK

A. JESUS WORKS IN EVERYONE’S LIFE DIFFERENTLY.

(Mark 5:29, NLT) “She could feel in her body that she had been healed of her terrible condition.”

(Also, the men who dug through the roof, the story of importunate widow)

B. READ THE BIBLE CONTEXTUALLY.

(Mark 9:35, NLT) “He sat down, called the twelve disciples over to him, and said, “Whoever wants to be first must take last place and be the servant of everyone else.”

• The religious police and their man-made rules. To rest Jesus purposefully went to the land of the unclean.

• The mother’s faith dramatically contrasted with the unbelief of the Pharisees and scribes.

• The mother’s faith outshone the understanding of the disciples.

• The mother’s faith was prophetic about the spread of the Gospel.

C. PRAY FERVENTLY AND SPECIFICALLY AND IN COMMUNITY.

(Matthew 15:25, NLT) “But she came and worshiped him, pleading again, “Lord, help me!”

“The day came when I realized what real prayer meant, realized that prayer was having an audience with God, actually coming into the presence of God and asking and getting things from him.… The realization of that fact transformed my prayer life. Before that prayer had been a mere duty, and sometimes a very irksome duty, but from that time on prayer has been not merely a duty but a privilege, one of the most highly esteemed privileges of life. Before that the thought that I had was, “How much time must I spend in prayer?” The thought that now possesses me is, “How much time may I spend in prayer without neglecting the other privileges and duties of life?” –R. A. Torrey, The Power of Prayer and the Prayer of Power, p. 77