Elevation with Steven Furtick - Get Over It (Robert Madu)

Episode Date: June 24, 2019

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This is an I-Heart podcast. Guaranteed Human. Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick. I'm the pastor of Elevation Church, and this is our podcast. I wanted to thank you for joining us today. Hope this inspires you. Hope it builds your fate. Hope it gives you perspective to see God is moving in your life.

Enjoy the message. Are you ready for the Word of God now? Me too. I feel like we're so blessed this morning because we've got Pastor Robert Madoo in our church. bringing us the word of God this morning. He and his wife Taylor live in Cedar Hill, Texas. He's a part of the teaching team at Trinity Church. Most of the time he's traveling the world, though, preaching the gospel, sharing the grace and love and mercy of Jesus. And we're blessed because this isn't his first time. He's back with us. So could you help me? Welcome Pastor Robert Madhu back to the pulpit this morning. Oh, good morning. Elevation Church. Come on, do you have another praise or a hallelujah on the inside of you? Come on, can we just take 10 seconds across every location?

Come on, let's give God the best praise that we've got. Oh, come on, this is the day that the Lord has made. Let's rejoice and be glad in it. Are you excited to be in God's house today? Oh, I'm telling you, I am espresso-elated to be back at elevation. Would you do me a favor before you take your seat? see it across every location. I want you to look at your neighbor, whichever one you like the best, and just get in their face, get in their personal space, and just say neighbor. Come on, don't be

afraid to talk to your neighbor. Come on, say neighbor. I waited all week to sit next to you. Now, see if they really meant it. See if they really meant it. Come on, give somebody a high-fives, show them some love. You can be seated. Oh, thank you. Worship team. It feels good to be in God's house today. Man, I'm so honored and privileged to be here for a couple of reasons, as Chris mentioned, this is my second time here on the weekend. And I kind of have a rule. I have a rule as I've been traveling that when you come to a church, like the first weekend, you're still kind of in the guest category. You know, people don't know you, but if you come back a second weekend, then you're just straight up family. Okay, so I hope you know I've adopted myself into the elevation family. Y'all are

stuck with me. I'm your cousin from the great country of Texas. So it's going to be good today. It's going to be good, especially because I just came back from Israel. I was in Israel two days ago. I felt extra anointing. So I was in the Holy Land of Israel, now in the Holy Land of Charlotte. And I was walking around Israel. It was pretty significant to think that what happened on that little parcel of land through Jesus turned the world upside down and then walking. in here today just to think that just 13 years ago what God has done through this church

what started has now reverberated around the world what God is doing here in elevation and come on how many you know you are blessed favored and straight up spoiled to be a part of this church come on if this church has ever blessed your life

you ought to give God some praise this is unbelievable I'm telling you right now, the grass is not greener anywhere else. If it is, it's astro-turf. It's not real. This right here, this is real. And God had to have somebody special to steward this, to lead this. And my wife and I, we so love and appreciate the life and the leadership of Pastor Stephen

and Holly Ferdick. And anytime I got the mic at elevation, come on, I'm going to give honor to where honors do. Would you help me thank God for your pastors? Come on, for their vision, for their hearts to serve. Y'all can do better than that across every location. Come on, make some noise for your leaders. Pastor Stephen is undoubtedly one of the greatest preachers you will ever hear. Not only there, he has really the relational equity to get anybody behind this pulpit.

So it is my honor to be here today. And I'm going to preach. I feel like preaching today. I feel like preaching from Genesis all the way to the maps in the back. So it's going to be good. Would you stand with me to honor the reading of God's Word? And across every location, if you got a Bible, would you wave it in the air like you just do care? Come on, some of your Bibles are glowing.

Thank you for charging up your Bible today. I want to look at Matthew Chapter 15 today. Matthew 15. I want to look at verses 21 through 28. Matthew 15, we'll start at verse number 21 and we'll land at verse number 28. When you're ready to read it, why don't you say, yeah? You need some time to find it. Say, hold up.

That was a lot hold-ups. I'm going to give you a moment. Matthew chapter 15, starting of verse number 21. Look at what it says. It says, leaving that place, Jesus withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon. And a Canaanite woman from that vicinity came to him crying out, Lord, son of David, have mercy on me. my daughter is demon-possessed and suffering terribly. Jesus did not answer a word. So his disciples came to him and urged him, send her away, for she keeps crying out after us. And he answered, I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel. The woman came and knelt before him, Lord, help me, she said.

And he replied, it is not right to take the children's bread and turn. toss it to the dogs. Yes, it is, Lord, she said. Even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master's table. And Jesus said to her, woman, only Jesus can get away with that, by the way. A woman, you have great faith. Your request is granted. And her daughter was healed six months last. I'm tripping. Wrong prescription. Let me read that again. Her daughter was healed three days. Oh no, my bad. Her daughter was healed at that moment. It's almost like what she said in verse 27 activated the miracle in verse 28 at that moment. I want to preach across every location today, not long, about six and a half hours. I'm playing. Just using this as a

title, get over it. Get over it. Would you do me a favor? Look at your neighbor for the last time and just say, neighbor. I know this message is for you. Come on. Let's pray. Father, thank you for your word across every location. Speak to our hearts today. Lord, let us leave different than the way that we came in. In Jesus' name. Everybody said? Amen. You may be seated in the presence of the Lord. Get over it. You know, I really hate to preach before I preach, but just watch this real quick. Watch this. Hear me, God will often use desperation to push you into your purpose. God will often use desperation to push you into your destiny. In fact, watch this. Desperation is the door that breakthrough walks through.

I'm going to say that again. Desperation is the door that breakthrough walks through. Some people wonder, how come I hadn't got my breakthrough yet? Sometimes it's because you hadn't got downright desperate enough for God to do it in your life because desperation will open up doors that complacency will keep shut. I'm telling you, I'm traveling. People often ask me, Robert, where's your favorite place to preach? Your favorite place to preach, and to be honest, I struggle to name a place. Because I want to articulate to them that the effectiveness of preaching

and ministry has little to do with an address or a destination of a place, but everything to do with the attitude and the disposition of the people that are in the place. Come on, I would rather preach in a basement with three desperate people than to preach in the Bahamas with thousands of bougies stuck-up people who act like they don't need God to do anything in their life. But if you give me some desperate people, miracles will break forth. If you give me desperate people, signs and wonders will shut. If you give me desperate people, the atmosphere will ship and change.

And mighty when you're desperate. Hey, that's a good sermon clip right there. It's actually a good sermon. It's a good sermon. At least I thought it was. I thought it was until after I preached that message, I did what every confident, secure, and emotionally healthy preacher does after a message. I went online to read the comments.

underneath that message. Now, in full disclosure, most of the comments, 90% of them were positive. No, comments like, good word, ooh, that bless me, preach bro. There were a few fire emoticons. But those aren't the comments that I have saved and snapshoted on my phone that I want to read for you today. Now, remember, in that snippet, in that snippet that was not the whole sermon, I said, and I quote, I would rather preach in a basement with three people who are desperate for God than to preach in the Bahamas with thousands of stuck-up boozy people who act like they don't need God to do anything in their life. That's what I said in that clip that was not the full sermon. Now, what I was clearly stating is that as a preacher and a pontificator of the gospel, that a meager but eager audience in a basement would be preferred over a large apple. pathetic audience in the Bahamas. My juxtaposition of the Bahamas in the basement was solely to compare

contrast, a magnificent environment with the mundane environment. I was in no way, shape, or form trying to denigrate Bahamian people or basement people. I just needed two words that started with the letter B. But let me read the comments for you. It says, in your message, pastor, you mentioned the Bahamas stating that it has stuck up and bougie people. How can a pastor say those things about a country? Have you met everyone in the Bahamas? Very distasteful of you to make those statements. As a Bahamian, I am offended and owed an apology. Next comment. Pastor, you have greatly offended a large group of Bahamians with your comments about the Bahamas. Next comment. and my favorite. The expression on his face when he made that comment about my people tells me

everything I need to know. That was flesh coming through, not God. Watch it again and watch his expression closely. Hashtag apology required urgently. Next comment. Wow, just wow. Sad that he used this platform to offend hundreds and thousands. of people. Oh, that's about a hundred more comments where that came from. That's the edited version right there. And the irony is, the irony is, is I would, there was one dude, he tried to cancel my ministry from coming to Bahamas. Start the campaign on Facebook to cancel my ministry from coming to the Bahamas. And the irony is, is I would love to preach in the Bahamas. I would die to preach in the Bahamas. I'm going to keep it 100. I would leave y'all right now

to go preach in the Bahamas. I mean, Valentine is beautiful, but it ain't the Bahamas. I just found it funny, interesting, and to be honest, quite sad, that some people missed the transformational truth of an entire message, not because it could not be comprehended, but because they were offended. Ladies and gentlemen, brothers and sisters, we are now living in the age and the era of offense. Have you noticed that it seems like everybody, everywhere, is perpetually offended about everything all the time? Everybody is now offended.

It is as if victimhood has gone viral. And being easily offended is no longer seen as a woman. weakness in your character, but is now your constitutional right to be offended. Oh, you got a right to be offended. Oh, that didn't offend you? Oh, I'm offended for you there. Everybody is offended. It's like we're no longer living in the USA. We are now living in the U.S.O because everybody is in the United States of offense. Everybody's offended. Men are offended. Women are offended. The millennials are offended. The baby boomers are offended. Democrats are offended. Republicans are offended. The atheists are offended. The saints are offended. The New Orleans saints are still

offended. You know we're supposed to be in the Super Bowl, right? We were supposed to be. Everybody is a Vegetarians and vegans are offended. Oh, come, you heard about this, right? There's a group, there's a contingency of vegans that are offended, right? And they are now calling for the removal, hear me, of meat-based metaphors. They want to ban on phrases like, bring home the bacon. They are rallying for less offensive and more health-conscious phrases like, Bring home the broccoli.

Animal rights activists have jumped on the same thing. Van Wagon, backed by Pita, they feel that some of our commonly used phrases and idioms are offensive and are actually encouraging animal cruelty. Phrases like, you're beating a dead horse and you can kill two birds with one stone, should be removed and replaced with less offensive ones like you're feeding a fed horse, and you can feed two birds with one scorn. That is a for real artist. See some of y'all judging and you laugh. you're like, oh, come on, vegans, animal activists, get over it. That's silly. Understand, it's silly to you, but it's serious to them. So, so serious that some of these animal activists actually got arrested. They were arrested because they were going to stakehouses with speakers,

and they were playing the sound of slaughtered cows at these steakhouses. And when the managers came out and said, no, hold up, y'all can't do this. Y'all got to move. I had to. They refused and got sent to jail. They got arrested. It was very serious to them. And this is the variability of offense. That an offense that's silly to me might be serious to you. And an offense that's serious to you might be silly to me. And I don't care who you are under the sound of my voice. Every single person has something, some offense, some touchy subject that if the right person on the wrong day when you forgot to pray, hit that button. Oh, you find yourself in a jail cell right next to the animal activist. Oh, what do we do with our offenses? Our offenses. You remember that game, operation? That board game, this is before Fortnite. They had these board games, and there was a patient on the board game. You had to get the tweezers. You had to get like his heart or his organ, but if you hit the wrong spot, the patient on the board game, his nose would light up

and turn red. That's you. That's me. All of us have offenses that if the right person hit it, your nose would light up like Rudolph. What do we do in a culture of offense? My text is in Matthew chapter 15, but in Matthew chapter 24, offense comes up. The disciples privately come to Jesus and say, hey, Jesus, how can we know the end of the age? How can we know when you are coming back, you're going to return? And Jesus gives them a litany of things. He says, let no man deceive you. Many will come in my name saying I am Christ and they will deceive many. He said, nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom. There will be wars and rumors of wars and earthquakes and places and diseases and pestilences. And when you're reading Matthew 24, you can get lost in the suspense of the earthquakes and the diseases that you'll miss, Matthew.

24 verse 10, where Jesus says, oh, and then many will be offended. In other words, Jesus says, one of the blues clues for my return is that you will be in a culture and a society of offense. In Luke 17, not Matthew 24, Jesus brings up this issue of offense. He calls his disciples, and he says to the disciples, let's look at it. He says to the disciples, he's talking to the disciples. Any of Jesus? Not four of you. Good to see you. And look what he says to the disciples. He says, it is impossible. It is impossible.

That got my attention. Because you know when the God of the impossible is saying something is impossible, you better pay close attention. What is impossible, Jesus, to heal the sick, to raise the dead? He's like, oh, that's easy. Now, here's what's impossible, that no offenses should come. In other words, Jesus is saying, I guarantee you offenses are going to come in your life. It is a part of being a breathing human. Offenses are going to come. He promises you that

offenses are coming. He promises you your spouse is going to get on your last nerve. He promises you. Somebody's going to send you the wrong text message. He promises you. Somebody's going to see you at Walmart about to pull in a parking spot with your signal turn and they're going squeeze in there and that he promises you offenses are going to come. He later says in the text, Now, don't let the offenses come through you. You don't be out there just causing offenses. He said, if you do that, it would be better for you to put a millstone around your neck and jump in the bottom of the sea. A millstone was a stone about the size of a washing machine.

He said, now, you don't be the one doing offenses. He said, but offenses, oh, they're going to come. It is impossible for them not to come. But I noticed in the text, he did not say that it is impossible for you to not get offended. Because offenses and offended are two separate and distinct things. Oh, can I teach in here a little bit today? There's a difference between offense and offended. Offense is what happened.

Offended is a reaction. Offense says, you did it. Offended says, I'll never forgive it. offense, Pastor Stephen says, is an event. Offended is a decision. The power of what Jesus is saying in this text is that offenses, oh, those are inevitable. But offended, now that's optional. So if offenses are inevitable, but offended is optional.

That means it is possible and plausible for you to live your life unoffended. Jesus says, I got a power and a grace that not many believers tap into, but it is possible for you to live your life unoffended. So the question I've been waiting all week to ask you at every location, I'm going to drink some water before I ask it. Hold on one second. Ready? This is the question I've been waiting all week to ask you. What is your current level of offendability? I know offendability is not a dictionary, but you're not a dictionary.

you know what I mean. How much does it take for you to get offended? And the only reason I'm asking you is because in my own life, in my own life, as I was seeking God, he spoke to me so clearly and said, Robert, your level of offendability is too high. He said, I got big things in store for you, massive things in store for you, things that your eyes have not seen, and your ears have not heard. Neither has it entered into the heart of men. The big things I've already prepared for you. But he said, you'll never

be able to handle the big thing as long as it keeps taking the smallest thing for you to get offended. He said to me that your level of offendability is actually an indicator of the level

of your spiritual maturity. So what God will often do is put your miracle on the other side of an offense so that you will be faced with a decision to stay small where you are or to grow up and get over it. Oh, I'm preaching in here today. I might not get a lot of amen's, but this is for somebody. What do we do with our offenses? And when God spoke that to me, I didn't shout, I didn't clap, I didn't do the Holy Ghost two step. I got offended. I said, God, what do you mean my current level of offendability?

I don't get offended easily. Oh, I was so mad. I didn't talk to Jesus for like two weeks. No, I'm for real. Because you do know that God knows how to offend you. Oh, come on. Can't nobody offend you like Jesus. Jesus knows how to offend you.

He can't help but offend you. It's who he is. Come on. He is the way. The... Oh, there it is. The truth and the light. and the truth by nature, it offends. Sometimes Jesus will tick you off with the truth before that

truth can transform you. He will offend you. I'm telling you, Jesus is like spandex, toddlers, and drunk people. He's going to give you the truth whether you would like it or not. Somebody get that tomorrow. I'm telling you, Jesus, he offends every relationship. Every relationship. you have. Every relationship you have runs the risk of offense. Come on, relationship is the context of offense. You don't get offended in isolation. Come on, you don't look in the mirror and talk about, I can't stand what you did to me. He's not all of us. Come on. It's in the context of relationship. I submit to you that if Jesus has never offended you, you might not have relationship with Jesus at all. He will offend you. So all I'm saying is that sometimes Jesus is offending you.

and sometimes people are offending you, and sometimes it's both at the same time. And that is exactly what is happening in our text today in the Gospel of Matthew chapter 15. The Bible says a Canaanite woman. A Canaanite woman. She is a pagan to the Israelites. A Canaanite woman. This is years of strife, years of offense, years of arguing between the Canaanites and the Israelites. Do you know how much courage it took for that woman to roll up on this Jewish man named Jesus and his Jewish homeboys?

After the years of offense between the Canaanites and the Israel, do you know how much courage it took for her to walk up to him that day? Come on, have you ever had to walk into a room that you knew the people in the room hated you? But you had to walk in anyway, because your check was in there. Whatever. How much courage it took for this woman to walk into this room? What would make a Canaanite woman walk into a room in the atmosphere with the Jewish Messiah and his disciples? I'll tell you what made her do it. The devil was messing with her daughter.

And come on, when the devil is messing with your child, oh, come on, where the parents are at? When the devil is messing with your child, all stuff will come out of you that you didn't even know was there. When the devil is messing with your child, oh, you'll find a prayer room. You're like, don't play that music. Come on, put on some elevation. Hallelujah. You get Costco oil and just start throwing it all over the wrong. Oh, come on.

I didn't know this until I had kids myself. My wife and I, I didn't know this, that it's one thing for the devil to mess with your job. It's one thing for him to mess with your Honda Accord. It's a whole other thing when he starts messing with your child. Come on. Have you noticed other people can say the same thing about your child? that if you said but they say it, it's a problem. Come on, your child will make you call on the work late and say,

I'm going to be late today. Walk right into the teacher's classroom and say, what did you say about my child on this note? No, no, he's creative. You can't teach. That's the real problem. Don't mess with people's children. I'm telling you.

Oh, your child will make you low kick an eighth grader on the playground. Said, I wish you would bully my kid again. Oh, so this woman, she walked a real. right into that room. She said, I don't care if you're rolling your eyes, Peter. Suck your teeth all you want, Judas. I don't care. I don't care.

I don't care what y'all think about me. This is serious. I'm tired of the devil tormenting my baby girl. I'm tired of being up all night with her. I'm tired of this. And I heard that this Jesus has the power to heal the sick and to raise the tear. I heard that demons tremble

at just the mention of his matchless name. So Jesus, if you're still in the demon, passing our business, please. I feel like preaching now. I don't care what y'all think about me. This is my baby girl. I said, Lord, please, son of David. She's a pagan talking about son of David.

I'm dead. That's some trouble that hits your life that will make you say, ooh, Father God, Jehovah Jira, all your names. I need you. Please help my baby girl. She cries out to him. And Jesus hears her. He hears her loud and clear.

But after she cries out, Son of David, have mercy. Jesus pulls out his phone. Just goes, mercy. My baby girl. Jesus. Oh, you don't believe it?

It's in the text. Verse 23, Jesus did not answer a word. He didn't say, and she pours out her heart and he completely ignores her. Have you ever had to deal with the offense of being ignored? The offense of being ignored. Where did that come from? See, I'm so glad you brought that out there because this is how life works.

And offense is actually a stumbling block. It's a stumbling block. You're just going through your life and all of a sudden, just out of the plume, you got an offense. Have you ever had to deal with the offense of being ignored? Where you cried out to Jesus, he didn't say yes, he didn't say no, he didn't say maybe nothing at all. All the pain of the offense of being ignored is so frustrating. I can relate. I can relate to this woman because I have a father, a Nigerian father. And I remember being a kid and I would ask my dad, like in my teens, and I would ask my Nigerian father, I'd be like 16, and I asked him a simple question.

I can see it like it was yesterday. He'd be at the kitchen table reading the paper. Simple question, like, Dad, I'm 16, I'm grown. And there's a party going on this Friday at a house you don't know, with people you don't know, and I'm going to be back probably about 2 a.m. Is it cool for me to go, this party? And my Nigerian father would put down the paper and look at me. I asked the question.

He would not say anything, but just give me a look. Like, you have lost your mind. A word, and then just go right back. It would make me so mad. Because he just ignored me. All the offense of being ignored. I think being ignored is worse than being rejected. Because when I'm rejected, at least I know where we stand.

You don't like me, cool. Thank you. Next. It's fine. I know. You don't like it. me. But when you ignore me and you don't say anything, when I send you a text message and you don't respond at all to the text, and you're one of the crazy ones that got the notification

where it says, you saw it, didn't say anything. Have you ever dealt with the offense? I've been ignored. I wonder, does anybody say, God, do you send me to other people see me? I'll think about David, who wasn't even invited to the party when they were looking for a king, he was completely ignored. The offense of being ignored is so pervasive in our culture today because we live in a society where everybody has this incessant need to be noticed. Have you noticed? Like, don't you see me? It can be difficult to deal with the offense of being ignored. He said not a word. If that was me, and I came to Jesus and said, my baby girl, is being demon possessed, and he ignored me?

Oh, that's it. I'm over it. Oh, that's cool. Oh, no, that's cool. I said, you didn't ignore blind Bartimaeus. You didn't ignore the one with the issue of blood. Yeah, they posted all their miracles, but you ain't got time for me. No, it's fine. No, it's cool. You're a good, good father? Yeah, right, you're a jerk. I'm over it. Not this woman. She kept asking, please, please, please.

You know how crazy you look to be persistent when he didn't even say anything? But I'm telling you, sometimes there's power in your persistence. I don't know who this is for, but you gave up too soon. Don't stop. Keep pushing. Keep pressing. She said, please. She was persistent.

She didn't get a response out of Jesus. She got a response out of his disciples. This woman kept going and disciples get annoyed. They're like, oh, Felicia is not going to leave, obvious. No worry, Jesus. We got you, Jesus. I want to see what the disciples say. They say, Jesus, here's what you should do.

Send her away, for she keeps crying out after us. Somebody caught it. Send her away. She keeps crying out after us. Really, disciples? Where in the text did she cry out after you? You can't do anything. Did nobody say your name?

They don't want you. See, this is the problem with some people to hang around Jesus. Sometimes they get it twisted. You think people want you? No, I want Jesus. He's the only one that's got the power to change the situation. Matter of fact, if you move out the way, I can get to them. The disciples represent the offense of the institution.

The church. Disciples clearly didn't. demonstrate for us that sometimes the greatest offenses we occur are not necessarily from Jesus, but from the people who bear his name. The people who represent them. Have you ever dealt with an offense in the church? The disciples, come on, the disciple. You're the very ones who are rejects and outcast, and Jesus reached out to you.

And now you're rejecting people. because you've been around Jesus a while and your Instagram followers are blowing up. Now you think, what do you do with the offense when you've been hurt by the institution of the church or people in the church? And you'd be shocked at the people who are not in any of the locations today and some of the people who are in them who are still wrestling with the heart of the offense that came from somebody who bared his name. And if I could just speak to you just for a moment, can I tell you this?

I'm not saying what they did was right. I'm not saying what they did was okay. But can I tell you this? Never project the nature of man onto the character of God. Never project the nature of man onto the character of God. Just because they forsake you, he's not going to forsake you. just because they were wrong, it doesn't mean God is wrong. Can I also say that God has this uncanny way of also using the church to heal your church hurt?

So don't leave. Stay planted. And this woman, she didn't leave. She said, I'm going to stay. And because she stayed, God spoke. I don't know who that's for today. But God told me to tell you, if you'll stay, he'll speak. Don't walk away. If you stay, he will speak. But you might not like what he says.

Look at what he says to her. He says, I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel. Let me translate it for you. Girl, I ain't here for you. You are an outsider. I am here first for the children of Israel. I'm on a mission. I'm on an assignment. This is the offense of of insignificance. Can you imagine how she felt? He said, I am not here for you. You're not my focus right now. My focus is actually on the lost sheep of Israel, the offense of insignificance. And let me teach here just for a moment. Y'all good? Because offenses are like lenses. Okay, anytime you have an offense with somebody, it's like a lens. Would you come up here? What's your name? Litho.

Leto, would you take off your glasses real quick? Let's say I got into it with Lito. Like you, bro. We had an offense. We had a falling out. The moment the offense occurs, put them back on. Lenses. Offenses are lenses.

I see it a certain way. You see it a certain way. You always see the offense from your vantage point. That's why when you tell the story, they're always the villain. and you're the victim. Can you believe they did that? That's why I always ask, did they really say that? Or is that how you see it?

Because if we just traded glasses or fences or lenses, and if I put, my goodness, Lito is blind. No wonder you saw it like that. And he's got mine on talking about, man, how is he even reading the time clock? wonder, he's going over. Because the fences are lenses. So when a fence comes, you've got to say, Lord, help me to see this the right way. Or even better, get somebody else in the situation

that don't got glasses and say, both y'all blind, both y'all jacked up. Let me tell you what's going on. Fences are lenses. So watch this. From her vantage point, I'm here only for the lost sheep of Israel. I'm insignificant. But from Jesus' vantage point, it is not insignificance. It is precedence. I'm not saying you're insignificant, but I'm saying the children of Israel take precedence. And just because they take precedence doesn't mean you're insignificant. Okay, I lost some of you.

This is the equivalent of you springing your ankle and going to the hospital for them to see about your ankle. And as they're rolling you in to take care of your ankle, all of a sudden a gunshot, wound victim comes in the room. So they put you to the side, throw you a bag of ice. They bring the gunshot victim wound in and they start treating him. How crazy would you look? Oh, really? Are you just going to take care of him? Oh, no, it's cool. I guess I'm insignificant. Now, take your ice. I'm good. Now, this hospital don't love people. I'm fine. No, boo-boo. We're not saying You're insignificant is just that this victim takes precedence. But in a culture where everybody is a narcissist and focuses on you, you'll look at insignificance

and go, man, I guess he doesn't care about me at all. If that was me, if that was most of us, these three would already make us be over it. And how many people do you know who felt like they've been ignored by God and people? And the church has heard them. And they've been made to feel insignificant. So they walk away. But not this woman. Oh, this woman, watch this.

She gets down on her knees. She changes her posture. She says, Jesus, please, Lord, please help me. She said, no, I know it's a lot of offenses, but I'm not going to walk away. I'm just going to worship you. Come on, you know you are on the edge of your breakthrough. When you could have walked away, you had every reason to quit to walk away and throw on the towel. But instead you said, no, I'm going to worship you.

I'm going to give you glory and honor. I know this is happening, but I know that you're still worthy. You still deserve my worship. Please, please, please. She just worship him. Oh, they said it in the testimony video. She said, I started to seek the healer more than the healing. She just worshipped.

She didn't walk away. And I would have thought that the worship would have got God's attention. But Jesus turns up the heat even more. It brings the hardest offense. He looks at her and says, You're worshiping, but, you know, it's not right to take the children's bread and toss it to the dogs. Jesus, the compassionate Savior, the loving father, full of grace, cause this woman.

Now, there are some cultural differences that we don't understand. Because in that culture, if you were outside of the covenant, with Abraham you were an outsider you were a dog dogs dogs were outside it was very common for jews to call gentiles dogs Jesus was just keeping with the culture called her a dog but if you study this text one of the things you'll find is that he doesn't use the common Greek word for dog which was a wild dog is what they called him he uses pet pet dog and if you study this you'll see all these commentations and scholars defending Jesus. Like, now, hold up now, hold on now. He did call her a dog, but it was a pet dog, okay? Not a wild dog. He used a different term. It was a pet dog. And they're

defending Jesus, and I'm reading it going, uh, either way you look at it, it's bad. Pet dog, wild dog, he called her a dog. This is the offense of being insulted. Have ever felt like, be honest, your situation was insulting? How can you help others? people's children and your child is on drugs. How can you help so many other marriages? Your marriages is falling apart. Have you ever felt insulted? He called her a dog. Yes, a pet dog, but is still a dog. Oh, if that was me. Let's be honest, if that was most of us, we've been ignored, rejected, made to feel insignificant,

insulted? Oh, and I think this woman for a moment was over it. I tried everything I know. He keeps bringing offense after a fence and to add it, oh, you call me a dog.

Jesus, I'm over it. I think somewhere it hit her. She went, wait a minute. You call me a dog. What you call me a pet dog? All the other Jewish people say, wild dog. You said pet dog. Wait a minute.

There is a difference between a wild dog and a pet dog. A wild dog doesn't have a place. A pet dog has a place. A pet dog can find shelter. A pet dog can be protected when it's raining, when it's cold outside. You call me a pet dog. A minute, wait a minute. Wild dogs have to scrap for food and go through trash cans and get whatever bones and leftovers they find on the street.

But not a pet dog. Pet dogs get to eat whatever their master is eating. Oh, if the master's eating steak, the pet dog is eating steak. If the master is eating lobster, the pet dog is eating lots. Wait a minute. Maybe it has nothing to do with the dog, but just showing me that life is predicated upon who your master is. So guess what, Jesus? I don't care if you call me a dog, a cat walking away just because of these are senses, bones.

So difficult. I'm motted. Was not our Savior? You get over it. Before I came in the service today, I told them, they said, when do we bring the miracle out? I said, bring out the miracle the moment I get over that last offense. But the miracle was back there the whole time. I came to tell somebody to take it.

Bees here in my heart today. I know we use get over it casually to dismiss and say that the offense was not a big deal. I'm telling you, it could have been a big. deal. I'm not saying they're right. I'm just saying you have a decision. You can stay stuck where you are. You can say, I want my miracle more than any offense that comes my way. Offense is an event. Offended is a decision. And God wants to give somebody the grace today. She would have never gotten her miracle. She walked away at any one of those offenses.

No wonder Jesus looks at her and says, woman, you have great faith. She is one of the only two people in the entire New Testament that Jesus commended their faith. Why does she have great faith? She said, I'm not going to let any offense stop me. Thank you for joining us. Special thanks to those of you who give generously to this ministry

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