hi i'm pastor scott pastor of the oasis church listen we are so excited that you decide to join us for the preaching and teaching of god's word we just pray that this will stir your affections towards christ but we have one encouragement we want to leave you with please do not allow this to take the place of the local body of believers we pray that you will be involved in a local congregation a local church that you can find yourself submitting under the eldership and the leadership of a local church we pray that you will find yourself stirred towards christ and that your joy in christ will be ever increasing enjoy
as we continue through the book of mark we realize that jesus doesn't always do the things in the way we would do them and the reason for that is because we recognize especially when we come to work to the word of god we realize that god is not like us and this is good news is it not praise god because when we come into contact with the word of god we are incredibly convicted incredibly humbled by the fact that god does not think like us and he calls us to think like him what i love is when the christian when the believer spends time in prayer he realizes one undeniable unshakeable truth and that is how great god is and how small we are amen and lord get give me courage to say this if we are not coming to god daily in our prayers we will miss how small we are and we will find our chests puffed up and we will miss the greatness and the glory of god i love the fact that my that when i spend time in prayer i am incredibly humbled and what i love we've been walking through deuteronomy as a church in our reading plans and i love how god just calls on you he calls on me he calls on his people i want to bring a nuclear bomb on all of the idols you and i hold so dear so many times we're in deuteronomy destroy the idols destroy the idols destroy the idols and that is not an old testament thing that is an everyday thing why do we know first john the whole book about assurance i'm writing this so that you may know that you may know that you may may know that you may know he ends that letter with what my little children keep away from idols and i'm here to tell you church this morning that god will destroy the idols in your heart why because he cares about your soul he will knock down those walls quicker than you can blink and you can either look at that in one of two ways you can look at that as one of great miraculous glorious miracles of god although it will hurt or you can whine complain and bemoan and become embittered to what god is doing through sanctification and this is what i want to tell you sanctification hurts but it is for your good amen and this is what we realize when we even just read one page of the bible we realize one fact that god is in control of all things and we may be in here well have you looked at the world and i'm going to say i'm going to tell you no matter what is happening there is always a god working who has never and will never surrender authority and this gives you and i great confidence unshakable unmoving confidence as we walk together in life through faith that god has not surrendered his authority that everything that is happening right now is according to his sovereign rule reign and plan in our lives amen a lot of you don't believe me so i had a i knew i had to come with scripture so here we go psalm 115 says that psalm 115 says this is verses one through three not to us o lord not to us but to your name give glory for the sake of your steadfast love and your faithfulness why should everyone else say where is their god our god is in heaven and he does all that he pleases let me give you a little hebrew kind of lesson for you this morning all means all everything that is happening is happening according to the good pleasure of god amen is your god that big in your prayers may he be that big in our lives and we may be in here well sure doesn't seem like that to be the case and allow me to encourage you this morning and i want to encourage you with this not one drop of christ's blood on that cross was wasted now one drop of that blood was wasted that blood was used to purchase his church he is calling his people to himself he is creating for himself his people that was the point of the cross that he may redeem a people unto himself and that blood is at work within all who believe god did not waste his blood on anyone but his church amen and this gives us great confidence this morning why because that cross is having amazing eternal consequences on us today and that is what gives us reason to praise this gives us reason on sunday morning to come into the church and be so excited to be with god's people to sing god's praises to hear the teaching and preaching god's word why because god has designed his praise and worship that way and this is the good news and so when we come into worship we are constantly put in front of us this one question am i worshiping god or am i worshiping something else is god and his glory and his majesty in him being high and lifted up is that my purpose for my living or is it something and anything else and this is why deuteronomy is so important it says destroy those idols because anything else will trip you it will weigh you down to run the race set before you and so we destroy idols why because we know the one truth that if we were given all that we wanted in this world we would still not be satisfied why because you and i were not made for this world and you know that to be true all the gold in the world would not satisfy you because you were made for something so much greater than money so much greater than sex so much greater than drugs so much greater than everything else because eternity is written on your heart and you know that to be true this world is way too small to captivate you because you were not made for this world
that's what we must think through so we must ask the question is the call of discipleship on my heart the call of jesus if you want to be my disciple you must deny yourself pick up your cross and come follow me i've got a decrease that he may increase is that how you worship not only on sunday but on monday and tuesday and wednesday and thursday and friday and saturday and guess what happens sunday comes again and that is the question we must be asking as god's people is his glory preeminent in our hearts if you have your bibles go ahead grab them we're gonna be in mark chapter seven we're finishing up mark chapter seven we're gonna run into mark chapter eight next week and so what we see here this morning is we see probably one of the most um kind of notoriously scary kind of stories in all of the gospel the ones that people are like that just doesn't fit in with this crisp clean secret sensitive jesus that other people are preaching and this is our first lesson when we come to mark chapter 7 is simply this if we see jesus just as useful if we see jesus as a person to come and fix our problems fix our marriages fix our country fix our culture if that's all we see jesus says this story will make zero sense and we'll be like um that's just we'll leave that one for the pastor and we'll just kind of keep going let's get to the good stuff but if we see jesus for who he truly is king of kings lord of lords the god of the heavens and the earth who is in heaven doing all that he pleases if we see it that way this passage gives us great confidence to go to him in faith amen and so i want to encourage you do not see jesus as useful see him as king jesus is just not an add-on to your life he is your life christian and so here's what we're going to do because this is kind of like a scandalous type of a passage i'm going to have my friend lee he's going to come up and what i want lee to do i want lee to read this whole text in its entirety verses 24 is it 24 to the end yeah 24-30 he's going to read this in its entirety so we can see the whole thing why because i don't want some sort of plot twist on you i want you to know where we're going from the beginning and so lee is going to read for us mark 7 verses 24 through 30. all right mark 7 starting verse 24 and from there he arose and went away to the region of tyre and 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 an unclean spirit heard of him and came and fell down at his feet now the woman was a gentile a syrophoenician by birth and she begged him 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 him yes lord even the dogs under the table eat the children's crumbs and he said to her for this statement you may go your way the demon has left your daughter and she went home and found the child lying in bed and the demon gone let's pray father god we thank you for your perfect word your holy word without error
sufficient for all of us and all the questions we have in life god we thank you for this woman we thank you how she teaches us and humbles us this morning and so god may you teach us and humble us through your word this morning now church sites just pray for me pray that i'll be helpful to you pray that god will speak through me that he'll humble me beneath and behind his cross so christ may be high and lifted up through the preaching and teaching of god's word
now church let's just pray for yourself pray that god will open up your ears your heart your mind to hear from him this morning and that he will break your heart for what breaks his
father god this time is yours we pray these things because of your son's atoning work on the cross to a spirit that's alive and active with all who believe amen amen i love this jesus calls for a dog and we're all thinking where is my jesus and what have you done with him right love it the question so many people are asking when they come across this text what's interesting if you read matthew's account of this matthew actually kind of doubles down if mark seems harsh matthew seems intensely harsh mark is actually the more tame of the two of these stories and so here's our first lesson church if ever we're reading the bible and something doesn't sit well with us realize the problem's not in the text it's in us and so we must recognize that the bi god does not need you and i to get the bible off the hook right it just doesn't need that god's fine on his own the heart the point of the bible is to reorient our hearts to see and so here's what i want to encourage you when you see a passage like this that is really difficult to understand because i'm going to i'm going to kind of take it the other way if you weren't just kind of bristled by the fact he called a woman a dog i'm not sure you're reading either so here's what i want to just tell you ask really good questions of the text and most people miss the thrust of this text because they miss such an important detail so let's ask some good questions verse 24 verse 24 and from there he erodes and went away to the region of tyre and sidon and he entered a house and did not want anyone to know yet he could not be hidden i want us to see the heart of jesus i want us to see the heart of jesus because what jesus has a heart for you and i the church the disciples of jesus has a heart for do not miss really important small details we can so easily in our bible reading just run past verse 24 but if you miss verse 24 verses 25-30 we'll make zero to no sense so recognize where did jesus go jesus he takes not only a couple days but a couple weeks probably up to a month and a half's journey to tyre and sidon well where is that well that is modern day lebanon does that sound like that's a fun place to go to today there is still turmoil thousands and thousands and thousands of years of fighting still going on there today joseph has said that tyre and sidon was israel's most bitter enemies there is no love lost between these places they were hated by the jews and jesus intentionally walks there
and this is what we realize church first point is this that what you hold most dear what you hold most here god will remove we already said that but number two is simply this you are the greatest danger to your own joy and your own fulfillment in your christian walk it is not them it is not they they're not taking your culture you are the one that is the greatest danger to your christian walk that's why a few weeks ago i had the painstaking difficulty of having to walk through legalism that hurt man that was not a fun you know passage to preach but we have to realize that we can so easily slide into legalism and we realize what we are our greatest enemies and that you may that's offensive to everyone yet my point is try to deny it try to deny it and you will soon realize that you are the one that is the biggest one that gets in your way and so we must realize then seth came on last week and he said it just even more succinctly even better than i like people are like i'm not sure we need you anymore he came and said hey here you go bro the problem's in your heart the problem's not outside of you it's within you this is jesus's central message your life you're missing the point the problems within you not outside of you you are your biggest problem and this is the whole point of the gospel is that the gospel comes and does what it makes you a new creation so your your hearts your affections your joys are changed not from the things outside of you but from the gospel and who jesus christ is and so we see that the gospel changes everything about us our heart our mind our soul and our strength heart mind soul and strength and let me just share this with you if you are neglecting one of those four your heart is going to be a breeding ground for sin and legalism i don't want to think deeply about christ what do you think heaven's going to be learning about an infinite god for all of eternity isn't it great that we will never reach the depths of god and say i got them fully and so what i love about this is the problem with the human condition is that we have bought into lie that god's glory and our joy are somehow opposed to one another when in fact god's glory and our joy are one and the same for those who are in christ and so tyre and sidon was considered unclean you remember the last two weeks what did jesus do i am the one that considers things clean and unclean and he said what last week it's not outside of you that's unclean it's inside of you and so realize seth god at the heart now jesus is going to walk that out why because where does he go to those outside of israel they're not unclean because i'm going to make them clean well jesus there's so many problems in israel so many pharisees don't believe you yeah i know but i'm here to show you that it's not them that makes you unclean it's right here and so many of us would be tempted to think jesus when wanted to get away to our to get some r r some rest and relaxation i'm not sure how many of us are choosing lebanon as our rest in relaxation and so neither is jesus jesus is on a mission to teach his disciples a lesson one thing i have just noticed that i think mark has hit home and home and home and home with me again is simply this jesus seems more annoyed with the crowds than energized with crowds and so he's wanting to get away and by the way introverts no not because he's an introvert i love you i know y'all like there it is jesus is an introvert ha ha extroverts sorry that's not what's happening he's going to use a canaanite woman as a sermon analogy to teach his disciples the purpose of his people so there is a difference between the crowd and the disciples there's always a difference between the crowd and the disciples the crowd sees jesus as there to serve their life while the disciple sees their life as a life to serve their king the motivation for the crowd is to follow jesus to get stuff from jesus the motivation for the disciple is to follow jesus to get jesus and so he's going to teach his disciples the role they are to play now we have to get some background into this okay because here is the problem we don't understand the old testament the purpose of israel and then we don't understand therefore the new covenant the purpose of the church so in the old testament right in the old testament it was a come and see religion right god said you you follow me you obey my rules i will bless you with riches beyond your imagination that language is almost absent in the new testament why because the old testament was come into israel come see how god has blessed us and you are going to want to be in god's economy the new testament is not a come and see but it is a go and tell so this is why paul says i'm content with even the smallest little bread i have so much contentment more than the richest roman because my contentment is given to me through the holy spirit and this is why matthew 28 says i will be with you always go tell i'm giving you authority it is no longer a come and see but a go and tell and so this is why when you read the old testament you must have that lens when you see the promises of riches or you will totally misunderstand the purpose of the gospel and going out to all the nations to declare christ and so we must remember come and see versus go and tell so israel was a priestly nation they were the intercessors for the other nation and jesus is going to teach his disciples you have missed that purpose that was a promise all the way back to abraham wherever you go you will be a blessing math jesus basically takes that same thing and mirrors it when he sends out the disciples in matthew 28 so he now jesus is teaching them this is a go and tell religion no longer a come and see verse 25 through 26. but immediately a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit heard of him and came and fell down at his feet now the woman was a gentile a syrophoenician by birth and she begged him to cast a demon out of her daughter so here they are right the only other place we see house all the way throughout the book of markets it's used as a rest and relaxation and she came and she was continually begging jesus cast out this demon from my daughter and here we get to see one of the most amazing truths that mark just keeps bringing out over and over and over that the most unlikely people the people you would not count to be some of jesus's best followers are the people jesus often use and this is encouraging to you and to me because if we ever think we're so far gone we don't have the gifting we're way out of god's grace we have done way too much so god would not love us if we're ever tempted to think that we just have to read a few passages of scripture and we realize that's not true what i love about this woman is we noticed her qualifications if you remember back to philippians philippians 3 paul gives his qualifications i was a hebrew of hebrew of jewish jew a pharisee of pharisees circumcised on the eight day all of this grand great stuff and he says what but i count it all as lost i count it all as trash i can't count it all as literally dog poop literally dog poop that's what i count all of my works outside of me trash compared to the surpassing knowledge of knowing christ jesus and so if paul had the best outward resume this woman has the worst outward resume if there is anyone who should never be in the presence of jesus it is this woman and this is what we are supposed to see matthew tells us that this woman was a canaanite woman why is that important we've been reading through the old testament as a church for years now you know the what god commanded the israelites go destroy the canaanites what they feel to do destroy the canaanites well fine go be a priestly nation what else did they fail to do they saw them as unclean they never went they never declared god's glory to them they were never that priestly nation so they failed there as well and so this woman i want to make sure we understand not just a woman she was a woman of grotesque immorality she did not care about the values of god unbridled idolatry no desire for god at all the most wicked person in the land and she comes up begging jesus she's pleading with jesus save my little girl we will find ourselves in desperate prayer when we realize that jesus is the only one who can save if we ever think we can somehow fix if we ever think we can somehow do work and do what is necessary prayer will seem pointless and useless to us the more we understand the greatness of god and the smallness of ourselves the more we will recognize our need for prayer if we ever think we have control over something prayer will seem pointless and we'll only need it when we feel like it
and i think this is why prayer becomes so difficult for us i think this is why prayer becomes so difficult for me because there are times when i actually believe is prayer actually really even doing anything well i gotta do something there's gotta be action to get done pastor said a prayer i think he's thinking too small
that whole bible thing though gets in the way of that doesn't it and so prayer becomes what eternal action eternal action and i want us to see the faith of this idolatrous woman she doesn't come and go yo jesus can you heal my daughter no she comes in and she begs jesus she pleads with jesus over and over jesus heal my daughter heal my daughter heal my daughter please please please please lord just heal her matthew's account tells us what that she begged him so much that the disciples started to beg jesus to send her away so here think about jesus's dinner right now got this woman begging him as he's trying to eat and now you got the disciples begging him to send her away how obnoxious is that and so there's all this begging going on and we realize how she's begging first she comes in humility if humility is not central to your prayer life you truly are will not be praying this is why the lord's prayer starts how our father who is in heaven he's grand i'm small and i'm going to the only one who can do anything so a few texts for you of where that came from psalm 103 19 the lord has established his throne in heaven and his kingdom rules over all psalm 135 6 the lord does all that he pleases in the heavens and on earth and in the seas and in the depths so therefore we realize that what god is doing currently right now is for the sake of his name god is working all things in all means all both in greek and hebrew all means all all things together for the sake of his name so his name may go to all of the nations and all the tribes and all the tongues and all of the language this is the god of the bible that god is working all things together for his good romans chapter 8. and this is the next part we realize about humility and prayer prayer is not about getting stuff from god prayer is not about making god do our vision and our will prayer is about orienting our minds and our hearts to have an eternal perspective and so prayer is done persistently and constantly next prayer and bible reading go hand in hand they're married not divorced it's like breathing in and breathing out two sides of one coin in any other analogy you want to use so let your bible reading be filled with prayer and let your prayer be filled with the bible and this is prayer and this is my final appeal in prayer without the doctrine of who god is and what his word declares we will be prone to complain more than we pray what do i mean by this prayer is the way in which we express our love for god in the same way men who are married when you take your wife out on a date it expresses your love for her i don't have money to go out great start cooking bro youtube it's the same way in which in which a friend says to another friend hey can we go get some coffee i just want to talk one love on you i want to hear about your life i want to pray for you prayer is the expression of our love for god if prayer is not our first response we'll become embittered to what is happening around us we'll be angry with god god why are you doing it this way if prayer is not our first response we will find more joy in complaining to one another than spending time at the feet of jesus and we have instant access boldness to the throne of grace according to the writer of hebrews do you spend more time in prayer or more time complaining does your facebook wall does your text message do your emails do your conversations reflect your prayer life
pastor's convicting not sure i like this that's right let you deal with it if christ is not your supreme joy prayer will seem like a waste of time if christ is not king of your life you will find yourself bored with prayer and with his word but when you recognize the joy of being a disciple there's no place you'd rather be than worshipping at the feet of jesus christ himself amen the king of kings the lord of lords you will find yourself like this woman at jesus's feet pleading begging oh lord help me o lord help me and you will not be letting go let us look at jesus's response verses 27-28 and he said to her let the children be fed first for it is not right to take children's bread and throw it to the dogs but she answered him yes lord yet even the dogs under the table eat the children's crumbs i want to meet this lady in heaven i want to meet this lady she is wise she is smart and so i want to i want us to understand this text i don't want us to diminish this text i want us to understand the thrust of this text first if you listen to people who do not love god's word who do not love christ they're going to try to say this is jesus being a misogynist racist
okay but realize what she says and what he says and this is why we're so glad that peter was not live tweeting this hashtag things jesus said right right like come on and so so first we must note this that dog is only mentioned a few times in the new testament in matthew's mirror account of this story here in mark philippians chapter 3 when when paul says false teacher are dogs second peter when when peter says um like a dog returns to vomit so does a sinner return to his folly and in revelation that the dogs are outside they're the sorcerers the sexually immoral the unclean practicing of falsehood how about david when he stands before goliath don't let this dog talk to the people of god this way right so i want us to note dog is not a happy fluffy term like we in 21st century america would have now i know y'all love dogs good don't please don't tell me about how much you love dogs my wife wanted us to get two dogs in him calvin and luther and i said absolutely not so um no i mean two greatest theologians right that was tempting but what is going on here is simply this simply this realize you don't need to know greek or hebrew to understand this text because many pastors come in sometimes well this is the dimunitive form well that you don't know what that means i don't even know what that means so you look at the analogy that jesus is giving pay careful attention to the analogy he is giving when i was in honduras i did a week-long mission trip in honduras i'll never forget this moment it's like the one thing about this mistrip i remember like it was yesterday we did the whole taco in the bag you know where you take the taco meat and you throw it in the doritos bag and you shake it up with all your little fixings and there's your taco meat the single people like dinner right um great so that's what we were doing and i remember one of our senior girls i saw her sitting down and there was this dog and it was like the like you know the sarah mclaughlin commercials where it's like in the arms of an angel and they're showing these terrible pictures of all these dogs like this dog looked like that you could see it's like rib cages it just looked terrible and she's feeding this dog her little taco me and one of the missionaries came up to me and said hey scott can you get her to stop and i'm like absolutely but why and he said you see food is scarce here and the kids would rather have that food than give it to the dogs i will never forget that moment i'll never forget that because as i'm looking at this text i'm like ah it's like it came out in front of me and so notice what jesus says he says in the text let the children be fed first he's not denying food to the dogs he's just saying my children need to be fed first this is how god has set up his economy remember i am giving the lie israel israel you go be a priestly nation and now he is saying paul says the same thing romans chapter 1 for i'm not ashamed of the gospel for the power of salvation first to the jew then to the greek first to the child then to the dog amen the children must be fed first they must be fed first you see the analogy don't you he is not talking to the woman he is talking to his disciples hey toddlers guess what your job is throw that food to the dogs throw the food i give you to the dogs you can picture this right the toddlers in their little high chair and they just drop it for the little for the little dogs and parents like well it's on the ground dogs might well get it right this is the point of the disciples this is why i have brought you to israel to to tyre inside and out of israel's you must realize this is your purpose
and how do i know that that's what's going on because who is it that is going to go and preach the gospel to the gentiles the disciples you will be my witnesses in jerusalem judea samaria and to the ends of the earth this is how god has intended his gospel to go out and then i love her response i love her response look at the text she says but she answered him yes lord man she doesn't get all huffy how dare you call me a dog you know who i am do you know what i've done he says fine i'm a dog i get it i'm so far away from you i understand who i am i get it these disciples they may not know who you are but i know who you are because i know who i am she doesn't say how dare you call me a dog my little girl has a demon possession she says fine but give me a crumb cause the most minuscule crumb from your table is better than the buffet of the world even the dogs eat the crumbs and where have you seen this in the book of mark mark chapter 4 if you have faith the size of a mustard seed you have all of christ
i think there's a distinction here i think there's a subtle contrast mark is making right here do you remember back to genesis chapter 3 the first woman do you remember what she said when satan tempted her we may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden but we shall not eat of this one tree that one sentence causes issues for the whole human race if you miss that one sentence you will miss everything because what did jesus what did god actually say you may eat of every tree in this garden all the trees as far north south east west and everything in between it's all yours adam and eve but just this one not tree and what do we realize eve does she focuses on what god prohibits rather than what god gives does this sound familiar sound like your life in my life if not come disciple me i need help because man i know there are times when i'm so prone to complain about those things god has prohibited from me rather than to enjoy what god has given me the crumb from jesus is the greatest treasure the crumb from the table of jesus is far greater than the buffet of the world we will often miss the amazing blessings given to us because we'll be too preoccupied focusing on what god has kept from us we never truly see and satisfy and savor the beauty of the breadcrumb because our eyes are focused on food that cannot satisfy and she leans into this one faith this is what the lord delights in my friends the lord delights in hungry faith he delights in faith that persists a faith that refuses to let go regardless of how bleak things seem this is pleasing to the lord verses 29 through 30. but she answered him yes lord yet even to the dogs on her table or sorry and he said to her for this statement you may go away the demon has left your daughter and she went home and found the child lying in the bed and the demon was gone i think there's one other contrast that mark is so carefully making here a few weeks ago a few months ago i guess we read through the book of genesis this is the contrast account to that story in genesis you all know which one i'm talking about genesis 32 my man jacob goes who does he wrestle with god remember he holds on to god and what does he say i will not let you go until you bless me i'm not gonna let you go jacob says to god i'm not gonna let you go god breaks his hip and said fine now you're israel israel means what wrestles with god this canaanite syrophoenician greek speaking gentile woman is acting more like an israelite than israel actually was this is what and this is why paul says in romans not all of israel is israel this is the point that god is glorified through our faith through our refusal to let him go this is the life of the christian i refuse to let you go christ because where else would i go where else has hope where else has joy where would i go it's you who's purchased me it's you who is sanctifying me it's you who will glorify me and he says what your daughter as well have you noticed that this this commendation of this woman is the best commendation jesus has given anyone so far in the book of mark why because without faith it is impossible to please god so what does faith look like for us today faith looks like us realizing in our mind and our heart and our actions that christ is our supreme treasure nothing in our life keeps us from beholding from seeking from clinging to the glory of god friends this is how the church changed the world because they lifted christ up high and savored him as their treasure and jesus healed this girl
one other thing i want you to notice only gentiles are healed from afar and only jews are healed by touch why because all throughout the gospels it is the gentiles and for by the way for us who are gentiles so i want a 21st century what this would be for us is those most immoral people you can think of that would be a gentile to you and me today those people that you're like no way they would ever be saved and it is their faith that is greater than israel's
this is showed by jesus saying what the law is working itself out in my midst the law is so much more than do's and don'ts we do not talk about behavioral change we talk about seeking and savoring the glory and the majesty of christ so how do we live this on purpose a few closing thoughts for you this morning first show me where you spend your time show me where you go when things look bleak show me how you respond in difficult times and i will show you what you worship prayer is not a last resort is our first option how to pray effectively and efficiently is by praying consistently praying specifically and praying expectantly pray bold prayers pray long prayers pray short prayers but never neglect your prayer life because prayer will ignite us into action prayer is not pacifism it is eternal action if prayer is not part of your daily rhythm spiritual apathy will set in
you'll be theologically obese yet faithfully anorexic next know the joy of being in the presence of christ know the joy of beholding christ know the joy of being like jacob and this woman i'm not letting you go live each day on purpose to lift up and behold the greatness and the majesty of god and when you are attempted to despair when you're tempted to complain look to the cross behold the fact that christ has purchased you and you are free indeed let that be what defines you amen finally let prayer and scripture reading be a consistent and constant rhythm of your day
if you're going to miss a day of scripture reading if you're going to miss a day of scripture reading i hope you're also missing a day of eating because if you have time to eat you have time to read knowing god means knowing his word seeing his word is beautiful and when you behold his word praise will fro flow from your lips may we be a people who praise god not only on the mountaintops but also in the valley let us be a people who praise god in all things for all things because our god is in the heavens and he does all that he pleases let us pray father god we thank you for this word we thank you for this woman who has ignited us into faith that we are to cling to you and say jesus you are everything there's no place i'd rather be than here with you there's no other answer there's no other option but you and you alone god may that be our hearts desire for you this morning so father god we thank you for this woman we thank you for the lesson of faith let us go be a people on mission we pray this in christ's name amen you