2819 Church - WISDOM AND WONDER | Mercy on Display | Matthew 15:21-28 | Marquavious Walker

Episode Date: January 4, 2025

In Season 4, Episode 3 of “WISDOM & WONDER,” guest communicator Marquavious Walker breaks down the great mercy of Jesus displayed in Matthew 15:21-28. Welcome to the official Youtube channel for 2819 Church. This channel features powerful and life-impacting messages from Philip Anthony Mitchell and guest communicators. As you listen to these sound biblical messages you can expect to be challenged, stirred, matured and inspired in your faith and walk with God. For more information about us visit 2819Church.org.

Do me a favor, go ahead and take a seat, say hello to someone sitting next to you, tell them they look good, if you're lying, it's alright. Man, it's so good, so good to be in God's house. It's so good to be in God's house. I am so glad to be back home, man. 28-19. What a view. Listen, I am so honored to share the word of God with you.

I am not unfamiliar with this house. I am like a stalker online. I'm like watching all on Sunday like man I just want to be in the building I have the honor to be a son of this house and I want to take the time man man of God said one time he said you know you know the importance of a person in your life because of the fact you realize that you can't replace them within 24 hours. You can't replace them within 24 hours.

You'll know they're important because you can't replace them within 24 hours. And to me, I don't know about you, to me, that is Pastor Philip Anthony Mitchell to me. That is Pastor Philip Anthony Mitchell to me. So I want to take this opportunity to honor Pastor Philip and Miss Lena. Come on. Who is absolutely amazing. Come on. I never, I never take this opportunity for granted to share the word of God. And it's always an honor. I was shocked when he called me and said, I want you to come. And I'm like, you sure you dialed the right number, sir?

And, you know, he's real serious. He's like, yeah, man, I got an idea. I'm like, all right, cool. Before we jump into the proclamation of God's word, I have two people I want to honor, or a few people I want to honor. One is my wife is here with us tonight. She's the backbone of our family. She holds us together. And, you know, I truly appreciate us. I mean, just her so much.

And another person I want to honor, some of my family is here, so I'm so grateful for that. But I want to appreciate someone who sacrificed a lot to get me off to Bible college and sacrificed a lot to just get me through school. And she's a single mom of one boy. She has two girls and one boy. And if there's any moms in here, raising a boy by yourself is a mighty task. I would add, raising a boy that God has placed his hand on is a mighty task. And it wasn't perfect, but she did it. And I want to honor, man, my mom is here on the front row. You're not going to make me cry today, okay? I'm just going to let you know.

Okay. Y'all ready to jump in God's Word? Y'all ready to feast on God's Word? I'm telling you, it's about to be good. It's about to be good. I'm going to go ahead and warn you that I feel something shifting, so just help me. I want to welcome our D2 family. Man, we're so glad. Let's welcome and honor our D2 family. We're so honored you joined us this morning for our 9 a.m. gathering. I'm so honored. Sometimes I'm in the chat with y'all watching, so listen, I feel you.

So we're in Wisdom and Wonder, I mean, season four, and we're going through the book of Matthew. Today, I'm going to be in Matthew chapter 15, verse 21 through 28 for all my note taker. I want you to take some very good notes. I believe God has something to say to us. If you are those that write in your Bible, I believe it will be good to write in your Bible today. Let's just rock with it. Can we do that? OK, since this text is also mirrored in the book of Mark, Mark, chapter seven, 24 through 30.

I'll be referencing both kind of simultaneously through our gathering or our talk today. But we'll start out in Matthew chapter 15, verse 21. I want you to turn there. If you got it, say, I got it. If you don't have it, say, hold up. All right, I hear you. I hear you. All right, come on, hurry up. I ain't got all day. Come on.

Come on, flip the page. Matthew is the first book of the New Testament. Okay, if you back there in Revelations, you too far. Okay? All right. Let's do that. Thank you, Frank. I appreciate it. Matter of fact, if you could just stay right there that'd be cool all right here we go and jesus went away from there and withdrew to the district of tyre and sidon and behold a canaanite woman from that

region came out and was crying have mercy on on me, O Lord, son of David. My dear, my daughter is severely oppressed by a demon. But he did not answer her a word. His disciples came and begged him, saying, send her away, for she is crying out after us. He answered, I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel, of the house of Israel, but she came and knelt before him saying, Lord, help me. And he answered, it is not right to give or it is not right to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs. She said, yes, Lord,

yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from the master's table. Then Jesus answered her, O woman, great is your faith. Be it done to you as you desire. And her daughter was healed instantly. I'm going to read Mark 7, 24 through 30. It just bears reading. It says this, And from there he arose and went to the region of

tyrant sidon and he entered a house and did not want anyone to know yet he could not be hidden but immediately a woman whose little daughter had been uh had an unclean spirit heard of him and came and fell at his feet and now now the woman was Gentile, a Seraphim woman by birth. And she begged him not to cast, I mean, to cast the demon out of her daughter. And he said to her, let the children be fed first, for it is not right to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs. But she answered, yes, Lord, get even the dogs under the table, eat the children's crumbs. And he answered, for this statement, you may go your way, go on your way. The demon has left your daughter and she went home and went and found her child lying in bed. the demon had gone. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for this opportunity to

share your word. I pray in the name of Jesus, within the next few moments, would you captivate our hearts, God? Would you soften our hearts to receive your word for as alive and powerful? God, I pray that you would literally divide asunder, Lord God, soul and spirit. God, would you move by your spirit in this room, God, that they would not hear a man, they would hear you. God, I pray that something of eternal significance will happen in this moment. People in the room and people that are watching online, God, that at the end of all of this, God, we want you to gain the glory that we will be in awe of you. We will be in wonder of you. And God, I pray to you with healed hearts as your word is proclaimed today in Jesus name and somebody shout amen.

If I were to give a title for our talk today, I would call it mercy on display. Mercy on display. I was, I was thinking about, you know, how would I start this message? How would I kind of jump into this message? And, you know, I believe in being, you know, honest, open, and transparent. And a lot of times with preachers or pastors, we like to, we don't want to say it,

but we like to deify them, to make you think that their lives are perfect, picture perfect, nothing is wrong, everything is going right. But I want to be transparent this morning. Is that all right? I want to be, push all my chips on the table as my pastor would say. Is that all right? All right, so I'm going to start this series or start this talk with this picture here. This is our second son, Ezra, who was born January the 9th, 2024. And you're looking at that picture, this is him in the NICU with IV lines. I have to say it right because my wife is a medical doctor, so I got to say it right. IV lines, ventilator, all of the things. And I remember being in the room when we had to decide whether we were going to do a C-section

or whether we were going to do a regular birth. But we had to do a C-section because we were to find out after the C-section that he had the cord wrapped around his neck and he had a true knot in the umbilical cord. And what's interesting about this is only 2% of babies actually make it out alive as a result of these things. And so I'm like, Lord, like like this was not what I was expecting like like normally like when you go through the process of a birth like you you kind of the mom kind of chooses how she wants them to be born right so my wife had chosen she wanted to be born in the house because she a thug like that she wanted to be born at the house you know I was kind of like I don't know you know um but she wanted to be born in the house. You know, I was kind of like, I don't know, you know,

but she wanted to be born at the house. So I'm like, all right, cool. And so the midwife told us, she was like, hey, we're at a point right now when we, you know, we're way beyond the 24-hour mark. And we're around that 36-hour mark, and she still had not given birth. And our hearts, our son's heart began to decel. And I remember my heart just dropping and I'm like, Lord, this is not what I expected. But thank you, Minister Dunn, for that beautiful theology of suffering that a lot of us don't like to grapple with. A lot of us don't like to talk about.

A lot of us don't like to embrace., a lot of us don't like to embrace, but I want to tell you that the Bible does say that in this life, you will have, it's a guarantee, you will have trouble. But take heart, for I have overcome. This is a good Bible church. The world. Come on here. So that's why in the midst of suffering, I remember I was sitting outside the delivery room, and the Lord said, turn to Philippians chapter 4. I said, okay. He said, go down there.

And it says, again, I say rejoice. And then it says, with everything, with prayer and supplication, make your requests known unto God, and the very peace of God which surpasses all understanding with God your heart and your mind in Christ Jesus. So I'm sitting there, and I'm like, okay, Lord. And he said, keep reading it. And think on these things. And I'm like, but you see my experience. He said, I know, and think on these things. And I'm like, but you see my experience. He said, I know, but think on these things.

But you know what I expected, I know, but think on these things. And in the midst of all of that, see, what was interesting about this picture is he's literally 30 minutes away from where my wife is. So I'm having to leave her and go check on him. I have to leave him and go check on her. And it's, it's, have you ever had a time where what you expected was going against your experience? That's where we find ourselves in the text, Matthew chapter 15, verse number 21. And it reads, and it says, and Jesus went away from there. Where was he coming from? He was coming from the region of Galilee. Galilee was the place where the Jews resided. So he was leaving from

that region. Why was he leaving? He was leaving from that region because he knew about the Pharisees and the Sadducees. They had been conspiring to kill him. And so in order for him not to have a premature death, watch the wisdom of Jesus, he withdrew from that region. He goes to a place called, a region called Tyre and Sidon. He goes into that region called Tyre and Sidon. He goes into that region called Tyre and Sidon. And Mark gives us a bit more of a detail as to where he went. He went into a house. The Bible says that he went into this house. Now, understand that Tyre and Sidon were Gentile places. They were what the Jews would have considered unclean. There was a place where this demographic were full of Gentiles. So the Jews did not necessarily

gel with the Gentiles. So they would have seen it as unclean. And even if you went there, they would have saw this as unclean. This was about a 41 mile journey. Watch the wisdom of Jesus. Watch this verse number 22. It says, and behold, which means all of a sudden a Canaanite woman from the region came out and was crying. That word, a Canaanite woman, and Mark, he uses the word Seraphim woman. Either they're in conflict or there's a problem here because one says Canaanite, the other says Seraphim, which one is it? So Matthew is writing to his audience, the Jews, which they would have realized that when he said Canaanite woman, he was meaning in reference a Gentile. When Mark was writing, he was writing to the Gentiles. When he said Seraphim, it was meaning her ethnicity, which is what they call the gender of a female in that particular area.

So they're not conflicted. They're just talking to their target audience. All right. So here it is. So the Canaanites, this is very interesting because the Canaanites, y'all want to go deep real quick? Okay. The Canaanites were interesting because this is not the first time we hear about the Canaanites. If you are just aware of the Bible, you would know that the Canaanites also appear in the Old Testament. Okay. Where in the Bible, you would know that the Canaanites also appear in the Old Testament. Okay? The Canaanites show up in Genesis chapter 6 because they are descendants. Read your Bible.

They are descendants of a man by the name of Ham. Ham is the son of a man by the name of Noah. Noah was a man that God tells to build an ark in a time that it did not rain from heaven yet. Have you ever had God tell you to do something that went against what you know to be reality? Okay, I thought I had some people that would understand. Have you ever had God give you a word that was totally in opposition to what you know to be true in the moment? But you have to have the faith to say, God, I trust you even though I don't understand you. So Noah built an ark and these people were, Noah takes his sons into this ark.

I'm going to speed through this. Noah takes his son into the ark. He has three sons, Sham, Ham, and Japheth. And something interesting happened in Genesis chapter 9 where Noah cultivates, this is after the flood, Noah cultivates a vineyard, he cultivates a vineyard and he gets drunk off that wine. He gets drunk off that wine, he becomes naked in his place of abiding and Ham goes in, Ham, immature, goes in, sees his dad uncovered

and he wants to go, instead of covering him, he goes and he gossips to his brothers. Now watch this. He gossips to his brothers. The two brothers hear about it. They don't want to talk about it. They go and they cover their father. Okay, they cover their father. Noah finds out about it.

Noah curses the Canaanites. Ham, the descendants of Ham, the Canaanites. Now watch this. It's going to make sense in a minute. So Matthew literally says Canaanite because he wanted them to know that's how bad of a people they were. He used that tagline to like basically really define out like that's how bad these people were. And then he says, she came out from the region and was crying. Now this is not like crying kind of like, like she's like literally crying aloud. and she first says, have mercy on me. Wait, how does, why does she say have mercy on me? Because she recognized her status in relates to Jesus. She doesn't come to him entitled as if

he owes her something. Can I talk to some of us that we go into prayer entitled, thinking that God owes us whatever we're about to request. And what happens is, is that when we come into God's presence entitled, it's a sense of pride to think that we can control the outcome. Okay, I can't get ahead of myself. I got to tease the text. Here we go. She says, have mercy on me, O Lord, son of David. O Lord, she recognized, watch this, his authority. Because Gentiles were not known to have revelation of who the Messiah was.

So she literally came to him and said, O Lord, which was the recognition of his authority. Then she said, son of David, which was to further say he was the Messiah. Because if you look at Matthew chapter one, Matthew opens up his memoir, giving credibility to the lineage of Jesus going all the way back to David and Abraham. So she literally is saying like, I know who you are. And she says, my daughter is severely oppressed by a demon. Watch Jesus, watch Jesus. He's about to break geographical barriers because Jews did not go into that region.

He's about to break ethnic barriers because they did not have interactions with women like he was about to have interactions with or ethnic barriers because Jews did not kind of co-labor with Gentiles. And then he's about to break theological barriers because the Pharisees literally had laws around how they dealt with Gentiles. They saw them as unclean. They saw them as unclean. So he says, she says, my daughter is severely oppressed by a demon. Now, a lot of us get hung up right there because we see this mom and daughter relationship. And the text doesn't tell us that the woman or she tells Jesus her age. The text doesn't tell us when she got this way.

The text doesn't even tell us if it's been in the confines of their home or has it spilled out into her school or has it spilled out into her relationship with her family or has it spilled out into her relationship with the community. Like, the text doesn't tell us that. All the text tells us is she's severely oppressed or possessed with a demon. This mom came to the border of what I call her human limits because she recognized that she could not do anything about what her daughter was dealing with. Can I get some parents in here that have ever been in a space and a place where your child is dealing with something and you have gone to your human limits that you have no means of helping them? Does it make you feel powerless? Doesn't it make you feel like you're boxed in, like you can't do absolutely nothing about what they're dealing with? And this mom comes to Jesus

with a request. Verse number 23, she says, but he did not answer her a word. Stop. Have you ever had God not answer your prayer? I want to talk to you right there because if we're not careful, we can assume offense because we don't understand God's actions. I want to talk to those who seemingly are offended by God because seemingly he does not respond the way I think he should respond. He's not showing up the way I think he should be showing up. He's not coming through the way I think he should be coming through. Notice the woman just said that her daughter is severely oppressed with the devil. You would think the son of God, the compassionate one, the one who loves, the one

who cares, the one who, you would think he would respond to her. But watch the wisdom of Jesus. She just, in verse 22, professed her faith. In verse 23, he's about to test her faith. He's about to test what she just confessed because there is no good confession if there is no good test. I'll say that again. There is no good confession if there is no test. When you go to school and you have an exam, they are testing knowledge of your previous confession. And oftentimes, teachers are silent in the midst of tests. Silent in the midst of tests. Have you ever had Jesus be silent on you? You're going through something and you're like, Lord, I need you to speak. Mute.

Nothing. I need you. You call your prayer partner like, fam, you got a word? No, I ain't got nothing. You go to get prayer thinking somebody go quick and real quick and give you a word? Nothing. They just pray God give them strength. You're like, what? You know, like, fam, come on.

I need more than that. You know what I mean? I need, I need you to say something. You know, the Lord tell you something. They're like, no, I ain't got nothing. It's like, it's like nothing. Mute. Nothing. Watch this verse, verse 23. And it says, and his disciples came begging him saying, send her away. She is crying out after us. Now, you would think the disciples is being heartless. You would think the disciples is being like careless because they're literally saying like, send her away. Like she's crying out after us. But what they're actually saying is answer her request and send her away because she's bringing too much attention to us. We just came from a place where you were literally about to die.

And now we got this woman making all this fuss, making all this noise about her daughter. Answer her and send her away. But in verse 24, watch Jesus have a dual conversation. I want to jump back to verse 23. Watch this. Notice the disciples were around Jesus and didn't quite understand Jesus' actions either. Jesus. My God. But a woman who's a Gentile has full revelation of who he is.

I'm going to slide this in. That just because you have sight doesn't mean you have vision. Just because you see doesn't mean you actually see. That you can be around the things of God and still not know him. You can be around God and still not know him. Watch the text. Verse 24, he answered,

I was only sent to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Notice he tells her the truth. Here's my question. How do you handle when Jesus tells you the truth? How do you handle when God's word bears truth on your soul? Because she's going to have two opportunities. I won't get ahead of myself. She's going to have two opportunities to literally become offended by what he's saying because it's seemingly he's stalling on her request, but he's actually testing the perseverance of her faith. Here it is, here it is, here it is. Is your faith short-sighted? Is it that I come into God's house and I can believe, but on Monday I struggle, and on Tuesday I struggle, and on Wednesday I struggle. And on Tuesday, I struggle. And on Wednesday, I struggle. And on Thursday, I struggle.

And on Friday, I struggle. And on Saturday, I struggle. And I drag myself back in God's household on Sunday. And I can believe again. But I haven't believed God all week. I just, I just, I just, I'm struggling to believe. And notice he's talking to both her and his disciples because notice they just said, send her away. So he's responding to them, but he's also responding to the woman. He said, I come to my, I come only to the lost sheep of Israel. Watch this, verse 25.

But she came before him. Watch this. Watch the humility. And she knelt before him saying, Lord, recognize his authority again. Help me. Watch this. There's something that happens in the life of a believer when your worship is paired with revelation of who Jesus is I'll say that again when you know who Jesus is man your worship looks

differently why because I don't need anything to get me started all I need to do is have a memory of who he is. And just because I have a memory, when I think of the goodness of Jesus. The Bible says she kneeled before him, which was she took a lower place as it relates to his authority. Man, I'm telling you, one of the worst things you could do in the presence of the Lord is be prideful to think that he owes you something. That's why people can stand in worship and not lift their hands. Because we think God owes us something. The very fact that you woke up this morning. The very fact that your heart

didn't stop beating while you were sleeping. The very fact that you still have a job right now. Come on, y'all. Come on. It's the things we take for granted. The very fact that your child parents have a sound mind right now. The Bible says that this woman was concerned about her daughter. She wasn't coming for herself. the Bible says that this woman was concerned about her daughter. She wasn't coming for herself.

Watch the text. Y'all sit with me? Okay. And she said, Lord, help me. One of the greatest prayers you could ever pray is not this Elizabethan English to try to get God to think you're more pious than you are. One of the greatest prayers you could ever pray is, Lord, help me. Like, I found myself in a jam. If I'm a believer, Lord, help me. Lord, I recognize your authority.

Help me because I can't help myself. Verse 26, and he answered, it is not right to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs. Now watch the text. He literally is saying to her something she would have heard in culture. Most people think Jesus is being low-key disrespectful in this text because he literally calls her like a dog in the sorts. But she would have heard it from the Jews

because that's how they refer to the Gentiles. So it wouldn't have been offensive to her because she was used to it. So she literally hears the word that it is not right for me to take the children's bread and give it to the dogs. Now let's break this down. So Jesus is literally saying like that he knows his mission. He knows who he came to, which was the Israelites. He came to the Israelites first. And he says it's not right to throw away to the dogs. Now, in our Westernized society, we have exalted the place of dogs. Yeah, you're laughing, but you know it's true. We get dogs pampered.

They get, you know, it's just, you know, your dog is your, you know, your dog is your sibling. And it's just, it's a lot, right? It's a lot. Anyway, so in the time in which they lived, dogs were not household pets. They were things that roamed around and how they got fed was the crumbs that came from the table of the people that resided there. It wasn't intentional. It's just, that's just how they got nourishment. Watch this. Verse 27, watch how she responds to truth. Watch this. She says, yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from the master's table. Now, this was good to me.

Because what she says is, I recognize the truth, but I honor your sufficiency. Watch the text. Because she said, even the crumb that falls from the master's table. So what she is saying is, even if I have a crumb, it's so sufficient in the crumb. That the crumb will meet whatever I need. My God. That's why we have to be careful to get this Jesus plus gospel away from culture. Because we cut away from an incommunicable characteristic of God, which is he is all sufficient. He is all satisfying.

And that goes against culture because we want Jesus plus. We want Jesus and. Jesus and money. Jesus and fame. Jesus and houses. Jesus and cars. And watch this woman. She says, man, the crumb is enough.

Can I get some people that just say, man, God, whatever you give, I'm okay with that. Whatever you do, I'm okay with that. Listen, watch this. That to another level of faith because you don't get a chance to control the outcome in your immature in our immaturity in faith we want God to do what we say come on let's be real here you pray and you want God to do what you say, but when you grow in faith, it's God, whatever you say. I'm okay with that because Roman 8, 28 is still true. All things work together for the good of them that love the Lord and those who are called according to his word.

So the good, the bad, the ugly, all things work together. Verse 28, and then I'm going to my seat. Verse 28, the Bible says, then Jesus answered her, O woman, great is your faith. Now, I had a conversation with my pastor on Thursday. And he said, I was like, Dad, I'm really tussling with what to say here. And he says, son, say it. And I was like, all right, cool.

Let's do it. And so here's what I'm going to say. Because if you have been in Christianity for any length of time, you've heard people preach this text and they exalt faith. Come on, sir. Jesus! They exalt faith. They exalt faith. You hear, great is your faith, right? And you think that Jesus responds because of her faith.

You decrease the deity of Jesus. Because if Jesus is the hypostatic union, which means he's both God and man, means he still has the attributes of God, which means he's all knowing, he's all wise, and he's all powerful. Watch this. If that is true, then Jesus knew what he was going to do before she even came. So he doesn't respond because of her faith. He actually exercises his authority over her life.

Can I? He commends her faith, but he exercises authority. And what we have to be careful of, believers and brothers and sisters, hear me, is not to exalt our faith above God's character. We have to be careful not to exalt our faith above his character, to say my faith did this and my faith did that because we walk around in culture. Hear me, hear me, hear me, hear me, hear me, hear me. We walk around in culture. Watch this. Hear me. Hear me. Hear me. Hear me. Hear me. Hear me.

We walk around in culture with this ungodly tie of manifesting. Yes. Oh, I'm coming. I'm coming and I'm coming down manifesting street. I'm coming.

Because this is the most perverted thing that we have bought into to think we could create our own world outside of the power of God. Watch this. It is his power that enables me because the bible says it's in him I live I move and have my being it is not of my own

volition that I'm operating it is in him I live I move and have my being so away with this manifesting gospel It is in him I live, I move, and have my being. So away with this manifesting gospel that we talk things about our faith apart from Jesus. Watch this. Because when your faith is immature, you see Jesus as the vehicle of power. But when your faith is mature, you see him as the vehicle of power. But when your faith is mature, you see him as the source

of power. Can I get any source people in here that says, God, whatever you do, I know that you are the source of power. That on the day of Pentecost, he didn't need

a vehicle of power he sent the Holy Spirit that descended on him like a dove and it fell on them like tongues of fire why because he was a source of power he was a source of power power Take your seat. Take it. I got to finish the text. I got to do I got to do good teaching So we can't exalt our faith above God's character because in the source you idolize your faith. And watch this. And what happens is you set yourself up for unnecessary disappointment. I'm going to push my chips on the table because I've been there. I remember, I remember Chicago, Illinois.

I get a call that my godmother is about to slip from this life to the next. I remember it like it was yesterday. And I'm sitting in Columbus, Ohio, and I get so depressed that I have a basement and it has no windows and I stay down in my basement. And I was disappointed because I said, God, what happened? Because I had deified my faith instead of trusting in the source of power.

Because what your mind would have you think and what the enemy would love you to think is that your faith did work. I'm going to say that again. What the enemy will have you think is your faith did not work when it doesn't work out the way you think it should. But here's what I want to tell you. Yours is to believe

and it's God's responsibility to handle the outcome. It is God's responsibility to handle the outcome. This mom didn't know how Jesus was going to respond. She just trusted in his ability because he had power. But watch this. He says, great is your faith. Be it done to you as you desire. And her daughter was healed instantly. Now, this is the part that I saved for last because I'm going to try my best to keep calm right here. In Deuteronomy chapter 7, you don't have to turn there. I'm just referencing it. Deuteronomy chapter 7, 1 and 2 for my note takers.

The Israelites were commanded to totally obliterate the people group of the Canaanites. Watch this. To totally obliterate the people group of the Canaanites. Watch this. To totally obliterate the people group of the Canaanites. Now, you might say, well then, Marquavis, how does a Canaanite woman show up in Matthew chapter 15? If they were supposed to totally obliterate them in Deuteronomy when they were headed into the promised land. They didn't fully obey God. So the woman shows up in Matthew chapter 15. You say, well, why did you call this the display of mercy? Because Jesus is both God and man, that he would have known what the Israelites was supposed to do. But because of his mercy, he extends mercy to this woman because she believed in who he was and who he came to be, which was the Messiah. What am I saying? That every time you see the working of God's power. It is a display of sorts of God's mercy.

Because mercy means simply to help one out of distress or misery. That every time you see your life, because this woman wasn't even supposed to exist. But because of his mercy, she exists and her daughter is made well i wish i had like five people in here that say man i'm not even supposed to be here but it's because of his mercy that everywhere i go i don't have to be entitled to nothing, but I exist because of his mercy. I wish I had about five people that say, man, I don't care what you say about my worship, my praise, man. I'm going to exalt Jesus. It's because of his mercy

that I didn't die it's his mercy that we ain't got age it's his mercy that I didn't get STDs when I was supposed to it's his mercy that I didn't commit suicide it's his mercy

that I'm saved it's his mercy that I'm saved. It's His mercy. God is Lord. I wish I had about 10 people that would just exalt the Lord for His mercy. That even when I didn't deserve it, I got it because of His mercy.

That even when I didn't deserve it, I got it because of his mercy. That even when I didn't deserve it, it was his... My son is alive because of his... his mercy. It's his mercy. We're not entitled to anything but what he does give is his

mercy so when you're going to work on Monday morning I'm mercy on display when you walk in your house this evening I'm mercy on display when I go this evening, I'm mercy on display. When I go to the restaurant, I'm mercy on display. No matter where I go, I'm mercy, mercy on display. It could have ended differently. Your story could have been differently, but because of his mercy. Take a seat.

I'm just waiting for somebody to get a revelation of his mercy. I'm just waiting for somebody to say, man, it's because of his. I got to, I got to land this plane. So we, we see three, we see three things in the text. We see the experience of the mother with her daughter. We see the expectation of what she believed Jesus was going to do. And we see the exception because Jesus knew he was called to the Jews. But he saw faith in the Gentiles

of recognizing who he was. So the next time you want to complain, the next time you feel ungrateful, the next time you want to complain, the next time you feel ungrateful, the next time you feel entitled, just remember it was because of his mercy. Not your faith, not your prayer life. It's his mercy. I've been studying man

the attributes of God there are incommunicable and there are communicable incommunicable means attributes God does not share with humanity communicable means attributes that God does share with humanity to an extent because we can't experience them for long

because we can experience mercy that is a communicable attribute of God. But the way in which God shows it, it's beyond our comprehension. Maybe you're in here and you're like, man, you've talked about this Jesus. And 2019 is a place where I can belong before I believe. But I don't really know this Christ you talk about. And maybe you still have questions. Maybe you're still skeptical.

But you can't deny the tugging you feel in your heart right now. The Bible says that in the day you hear him, don't harden your heart. Eyes closed, head bowed. If you know that, you know what? Today, I really, really, really need to surrender my heart to Jesus. One of the saddest things that I heard, I went to a conference one time. I went to a conference, and when I went to this conference, this pastor said, I get church people saved all the time.

And he said, do you want to know what I mean by that? This is a room full of pastors. He said, I get people that have gone to church but never got saved. People that have been around church but never knew Jesus. I don't want that to be you. I'm not trying to scare you, but I am trying to say that time is running out. That Jesus is returning. And the only thing that divides you from eternal damnation is a relationship with him. So if I'm talking to you and you know I'm talking to you,

every ear close, every eye bow. I mean, every eye close, every head bow. Would you slip that hand in the air? I'm not going to give you a lot of time because I don't have a lot of time. Slip that hand in the air. Say it's me. If you're online, type it's me. Ready? One, two, three. Hands in the air.

I'm talking to you. Hands in the air. I see that hand. I see that hand. I see that hand. I see that hand. I see that hand. I see that hand.

Come on. Come on. Raise it. Raise it. Raise it high so I can see it. I see that hand. I see that hand. If you're unashamed of Jesus, I just want you to stand where you are.

If you're raising your hand, stand where you are. Stand where you are. Stand where you are. Come on. Come on. Come on. Stand where you are. Stand where you are.

Stand where you are. Stand where you are. Stand where you are. There's God. Come on. Come on. Come on. All right. thank god remember you are there's god come on come on come on all right listen listen listen we're gonna pray we're gonna pray real quick we're gonna pray real quick because we gotta we got a second gathering we gotta get to

there's no prayer that's gonna save you it's the Holy Spirit that's regenerating your heart. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, I thank you for these that are standing. I pray right now that you would draw them to yourself. I pray that you would literally cause them to come to know who you are, would you cause them to have a desire for your word,

a desire for discipleship, a desire to have community? God, I pray that they won't just know you as head knowledge, God, but they will know you in their hearts. That, God, they will not be like the Pharisees that had a form of godliness but denied the power. But, God, would they totally, completely, as Paul said, know you, have relationship with you, teach them, empower them in Jesus' name. And if you're excited about new souls, somebody give God a shout of praise. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah.