Speaker 1: Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick. I'm the pastor of Elevation
Speaker 1: Church and this is our podcast. I wanted to thank
Speaker 1: you for joining us today. Hope this inspires you. Hope
Speaker 1: it builds your faith. Hope it gives your perspective to
Speaker 1: see God is moving in your life. Enjoy the message.
Speaker 1: Are you ready for the Word of God? Now? Me too.
Speaker 1: I feel like we're so blessed this morning because we've
Speaker 1: got Pastor Robert Madieu in our church bringing us the
Speaker 1: Word of God this morning. He and his wife Taylor
Speaker 1: live in Cedar Hill, Texas. He's a part of the
Speaker 1: teaching team at Trinity Church. Most of the time he's
Speaker 1: traveling the world though, preaching the Gospel, sharing the grace
Speaker 1: and love and mercy of Jesus. And we're blessed because
Speaker 1: this isn't his first time he's back with us. So
Speaker 1: could you help me welcome Pastor Robert Madeu back to
Speaker 1: the pulpit this morning. Oh, good morning, Elevation Church. Come on,
Speaker 1: do you have another praise or Hallelujah on the inside
Speaker 1: of you? Come on? Can we just take ten seconds
Speaker 1: across every location? Come on, let's give God the best
Speaker 1: praise that we die hallelujah. Oh come on, this is
Speaker 1: the day that the Lord has made. Let's rejoice and
Speaker 1: be glad in it. Who are you excited to be
Speaker 1: in God's House today? Oh? I'm telling you I am
Speaker 1: expressed so elated to be back at elevation. Can would
Speaker 1: you do me a favor before you take your seat?
Speaker 1: Across every location, I want you to look at your neighbor,
Speaker 1: whichever one you like the best, and just get in
Speaker 1: their face, get in their personal space, and just say neighbor.
Speaker 1: Come on, don't be afraid to talk to your neighbor.
Speaker 1: Come on, say neighbor. I waited all week to sit
Speaker 1: next to you. Now, see if they really meant it.
Speaker 1: See if they really meant it. Come on, give somebody
Speaker 1: a high five, show them some love. You can be seated.
Speaker 1: Oh thank you, worship team. It feels good to be
Speaker 1: in God's House today. Man. I so honored and privileged
Speaker 1: to be here for a couple of reasons. As Chris mentioned,
Speaker 1: this is my second time here on the weekend, and
Speaker 1: I kind of have a rule. I have a rule
Speaker 1: as I've been traveling that when you come to a
Speaker 1: church like the first weekend, you're still kind of in
Speaker 1: the guest category. You know, people don't know you, but
Speaker 1: if you come back a second weekend, then you just
Speaker 1: straight up family. Okay, So I hope you know I've
Speaker 1: adopted myself into the Elevation family. Y'all are stuck with me.
Speaker 1: I'm your cousin from the great country of Texas. So
Speaker 1: it's gonna be good today. It's gonna be good, especially
Speaker 1: because I just came back from Israel. I was in
Speaker 1: Israel two days ago. I felt extra anointing. So I
Speaker 1: was in the Holy Land of Israel now on the
Speaker 1: Holy Land of Charlotte, and I was walking around Israel.
Speaker 1: Is pretty signific to think that what happened on that
Speaker 1: little parcel of land through Jesus turned the world upside down.
Speaker 1: And then walking in here today just to think that
Speaker 1: just thirteen years ago, what God has done through this church,
Speaker 1: what started has now reverberated around the world. What God
Speaker 1: is doing here in Elevation. And come on, how many
Speaker 1: you know you are blessed, favored, and straight up spoiled
Speaker 1: to be a part of this church. Come on, if
Speaker 1: this church has ever blessed your life, you ought to
Speaker 1: give God some praise or this is unbelievable. I'm telling
Speaker 1: you right now, the grass is not greener anywhere else. Okay,
Speaker 1: if it is, it's astrochurch, it's not real. This right here,
Speaker 1: this is real. And God had to have somebody special
Speaker 1: to steward this, to lead this. And my wife and
Speaker 1: I we so love and appreciate the life and the
Speaker 1: leadership Pastor Stephen and Holly Ferdick. And anytime I got
Speaker 1: the mic at elevation and come on, I'm gonna give
Speaker 1: honor to where honors do. Would you help me thank
Speaker 1: God for your pastors. Come on for their vision, for
Speaker 1: their hearts to serve. Y'all could do better than that
Speaker 1: across every location. Come on, make some noise for your leaders.
Speaker 1: Pastor Stephen is undoubtedly one of the greatest preachers you
Speaker 1: will ever hear. And not only does he has really
Speaker 1: the relational equity to get anybody behind this pulpit. So
Speaker 1: it is my honor to be here today, and I'm
Speaker 1: gonna preach. I feel like preaching today. I feel like
Speaker 1: preaching from Genesis all the way to the maps in
Speaker 1: the back. So it's gonna be good. Would you stand
Speaker 1: with me to honor the reading of God's word and
Speaker 1: across every location. If you got a Bible, would you
Speaker 1: wave it in the air like you just do? Care,
Speaker 1: Come on some of your boble's a glowing thank you
Speaker 1: for charging up your Bible today. I want to look
Speaker 1: at Matthew Chapter fifteen. Today, Matthew fifteen. I want to
Speaker 1: look at verses twenty one through twenty eight. Matthew fifteen
Speaker 1: will start at verse number twenty one, and we'll land
Speaker 1: at verse number twenty eight. When you're ready to read it,
Speaker 1: why don't you say, yeah, you need some time to
Speaker 1: find it. Say hold up, that was a lot. Hold up.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna give you a moment. Matthew Chapter fifteen, starting
Speaker 1: a verse number twenty one. Look at what it says.
Speaker 1: It says. Leaving that place, Jesus withdrew to the region
Speaker 1: of Tire and Sidon, and a Canaanite woman from that
Speaker 1: vicinity came to him, crying out, Lord, son of David,
Speaker 1: have mercy on me. My daughter is demon possessed and
Speaker 1: suffering terribly. Jesus did not answer a word, so as
Speaker 1: disciples came to him and urged him send her away,
Speaker 1: for she keeps crying out after us, And he answered,
Speaker 1: I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel.
Speaker 1: The woman came and knelt before him, Lord, help me,
Speaker 1: she said, and he replied, it is not right to
Speaker 1: take the children's bread and toss it to the dogs.
Speaker 1: Yes it is, Lord, she said, Even the dogs eat
Speaker 1: the crumbs that fall from their master's table. And Jesus
Speaker 1: said to her woman, only Jesus could get away with that.
Speaker 1: By the way, woman, you have great faith. Your request
Speaker 1: is granted. And her daughter was healed six months. I'm
Speaker 1: tripping ron prescription. Let me worry that again. Her daughter
Speaker 1: was healed three days. Oh no, my bad. Her daughter
Speaker 1: was healed at that moment. It's almost like what she
Speaker 1: said in verse twenty seven activated the miracle in verse
Speaker 1: twenty eight. At that moment. I want to preach across
Speaker 1: every location today, not long, about six and a half hours.
Speaker 1: I'm playing just using this as a title. Get over it.
Speaker 1: Get over it? Would you do me a favorite? Look
Speaker 1: at your neighbor for the last time and just say, neighbor,
Speaker 1: I know this message is for you. Get them all
Speaker 1: this prayer. Father, thank you for your word across every location.
Speaker 1: Speak to our hearts today. Lord, let us leave different
Speaker 1: than the way that we came in in Jesus' name.
Speaker 1: Everybody said, man, you may be seated in the presence
Speaker 1: of the Lord. Get over it. You know, I really
Speaker 1: hate to preach before I preach, but just watch this
Speaker 1: real quick. Watch this, hear me. God will often use
Speaker 1: desperation to push you into your purpose. I will offer
Speaker 1: use desperation to push you into your destiny. In fact,
Speaker 1: watch this. Desperation is the door that breakthrough walks through.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna say that again. Desperation is the door that
Speaker 1: breakthrough walks through. Some people wonder how come I han't
Speaker 1: got my breakthrough you Sometimes it's because you hadn't got
Speaker 1: downright desperate enough for God to do it in your life,
Speaker 1: because desperation will open up doors that complacency will keep shut.
Speaker 1: I'm telling you. I'll travel and people often ask me, Robert,
Speaker 1: where's your favorite place to preach? Your favorite place to
Speaker 1: preach in To be honest, I struggle to name a
Speaker 1: place because I want to articulate to them that the
Speaker 1: effectiveness of preaching and ministry has little to do with
Speaker 1: an address or a destination of a place, but everything
Speaker 1: to do with the attitude and the disposition of the
Speaker 1: people that are in the place. Come on, I would
Speaker 1: rather preach in a basement with three desperate people than
Speaker 1: to preach on the Bahamas with thousands of bougies, stuck
Speaker 1: up people who act like they don't need God to
Speaker 1: do anything in their life. But if you give me
Speaker 1: some desperate people, miracles will break. For if you'll give
Speaker 1: me desperate people, signs and wonders will suck. If you'll
Speaker 1: give me desperate people, the atmosphere will shift and pain
Speaker 1: and God will sell himself strong and mighty when you're desperate. Hey,
Speaker 1: that's a good sermon clip right there. It's actually a
Speaker 1: good sermon. It's a good sermon. At least I thought
Speaker 1: it was. I thought it was until after I preached
Speaker 1: that message. I did what every confident, secure and emotionally
Speaker 1: healthy preacher does after a message, I went online to
Speaker 1: read the comment underneath that message. Now, in full disclosure,
Speaker 1: most of the comments ninety percent of them were positive.
Speaker 1: No comments like good word, ooh that blessed me preach bro.
Speaker 1: There are a few fire emoticons, but those aren't the
Speaker 1: comments that I have saved and snapshotted on my phone
Speaker 1: that I want to read for you today. Now, remember
Speaker 1: in that snippet. In that snippet that was not the
Speaker 1: whole sermon. I said, and I quote, I would rather
Speaker 1: preach in a basement with three people who are desperate
Speaker 1: for God than to preach in the Bahamas with thousands
Speaker 1: of stuck up, bougie people who act like they don't
Speaker 1: need God to do anything in their life. That's what
Speaker 1: I said in that clip. That was not the full sermon. Okay, Now,
Speaker 1: what I was clearly stating is that as a preacher
Speaker 1: and a pontificator of the Gospel, that a meager but
Speaker 1: eager audience in a basement would be preferred over a large,
Speaker 1: apathetic audience in the Bahamas. My juxtaposition of the Bahamas
Speaker 1: in the basement was solely to compare contrasts a magnificent
Speaker 1: environment with the mundane environment. I was in no way,
Speaker 1: shape or form trying to denegrate Behamian people or basement people.
Speaker 1: I just needed two words that started with the letter
Speaker 1: be But let me read the comments for you. It
Speaker 1: says in your message, pastor, you mentioned the Bahamas stating
Speaker 1: that it has stuck up and bougie people. How can
Speaker 1: a pastor say those things about a country? Have you
Speaker 1: met everyone in the Bahamas. Very distasteful of you to
Speaker 1: make those statements as a Bahaman. I am offended and
Speaker 1: owed an apology. Next comment, Pastor, you have greatly offended
Speaker 1: a large group of Bahamans with your comments about the Bahamas.
Speaker 1: Next comment and my favorite, the expression on his face
Speaker 1: when he made that comment about my people tells me
Speaker 1: everything I need to know. That was flesh coming through,
Speaker 1: not God. Watch it again and watch his expression closely.
Speaker 1: Hashtag apology required urgently. Next comment, Wow, just wow. Sad
Speaker 1: that he used this platform to offend hundreds and thousands
Speaker 1: of people. Oh that's about one hundred more comments where
Speaker 1: that came from. That's the edited version right there. And
Speaker 1: the irony is the irony is is I went there
Speaker 1: was one dude. He tried to cancel my ministry from
Speaker 1: coming to the Bahamas. Start a campaign on Facebook to
Speaker 1: cancel my ministry from coming to the Bahamas. And the
Speaker 1: irony is is. I would love to preach in the Bahamas.
Speaker 1: I would die to preach in the Bahamas. I'm gonna
Speaker 1: keep you one hundred. I would leave y'all right now
Speaker 1: to go preach in the Bahamas. I mean, Valentine is beautiful,
Speaker 1: but it ain't the Bahamas, and I just found it funny, interesting,
Speaker 1: and to be honest, quite sad. Some people missed the
Speaker 1: transformational truth of an entire message, not because it could
Speaker 1: not be comprehended, but because they were offended. Ladies and gentlemen,
Speaker 1: brothers and sisters. We are now living in the age,
Speaker 1: in the era of offense. Have you noticed that it
Speaker 1: seems like everybody everywhere is perpetually offended about everything all
Speaker 1: the time. Everybody is now offended. It is as if
Speaker 1: victimhood has gone viral and being easily offended is no
Speaker 1: longer seen as a weakness in your character, but is
Speaker 1: now your constitutional right to be offended? Oh you got
Speaker 1: a right to be offended. Oh that didn't offend you.
Speaker 1: Oh I'm offended for you. Everybody is offended. It's like
Speaker 1: we're no longer living in the USA. We are now
Speaker 1: in the USO because everybody is in the United State
Speaker 1: of Offense. Everybody's offended. Men are offended, women are offended,
Speaker 1: the millennials are offended, the baby boomers are offended, Democrats
Speaker 1: are offended, Republicans are offended, the atheists are offended, the
Speaker 1: saints are offended. The new Orleans Saints are still offended.
Speaker 1: You know, we're supposed to be in a super Bowl, right,
Speaker 1: we were supposed to be everybody is. The vegetarians and
Speaker 1: vegans are offended. Oh come, you heard about this, right.
Speaker 1: There's a group, there's a contingency of vegans that are offended, right,
Speaker 1: and they are now calling for the removal hear me
Speaker 1: of meat based metaphors. They want to ban on phrases
Speaker 1: like bring home the bacon. They are rallying for less
Speaker 1: offensive and more health conscious frame like bring home the Broccolian.
Speaker 1: Animal rights activists have jumped on the same bandwagon, backed
Speaker 1: by PETA. They feel that some of our commonly used
Speaker 1: phrases and idioms are offensive and are actually encouraging animal cruelty.
Speaker 1: Phrases like you're beating a dead horse and you can
Speaker 1: kill two birds with one stone should be removed and
Speaker 1: replaced with less offensive ones like you're feeding a fed
Speaker 1: horse and you can feed two birds with one scud.
Speaker 1: That is a for real article. No, I see somebody,
Speaker 1: I'll judge it. And you laugh. You're like, oh, come on, vegans,
Speaker 1: animal activists, get over it. That's silly. Understand it's silly
Speaker 1: to you but it's serious to them, so so serious
Speaker 1: that some of these animal activists actually got arrested. They
Speaker 1: were arrested because they were going to steakhouses with speakers
Speaker 1: and they were playing the sound of slaughtered cows at
Speaker 1: these states. And when the managers came out and said, no,
Speaker 1: hold up, y'all, can't do this, y'all gotta move, I
Speaker 1: had to they refused and got sent to jail. They
Speaker 1: got arrested. It was very serious to them. And this
Speaker 1: is the variability of offense that an offense that's silly
Speaker 1: to me might be serious to you, and an offense
Speaker 1: that's serious to you might be silly to me. And
Speaker 1: I don't care who you are under the sound of
Speaker 1: my voice. Every single person has something, some offense, some
Speaker 1: touchy subject that if the right person on the wrong
Speaker 1: day when you forgot to pray, hit that butty. Oh
Speaker 1: you find yourself in a jail cell right next to
Speaker 1: the animal activists. Oh what do we do with our offenses?
Speaker 1: Our offenses? You remember that game operation? Yeah, board game.
Speaker 1: This is before Fortnight. They had these board games and
Speaker 1: there was a patient on the board game. You had
Speaker 1: to get the tweezers, You had to get like his
Speaker 1: heart or his organ. But if you hit the wrong
Speaker 1: spot the patient on the board games, his nose would
Speaker 1: light up and turn red. That's you, that's me. All
Speaker 1: of us have offenses that if the right person hid it,
Speaker 1: your nose would light up like Rudolph. What do we
Speaker 1: do in a culture of offense? My Texas in Matthew
Speaker 1: chapter fifteen, But in Matthew chapter twenty four, offense comes up.
Speaker 1: The disciples privately come to Jesus and say, hey, Jesus,
Speaker 1: how can we know the end of the age. How
Speaker 1: can we know when you are coming back? You're going
Speaker 1: to return? And Jesus gives them a litany of things.
Speaker 1: He says, let no man deceive you. Many will come
Speaker 1: in my name saying I am Christ, and they will
Speaker 1: deceive many. He said, Nation will rise against nation, and
Speaker 1: kingdom against kingdom. There will be wars and rumors of wars,
Speaker 1: and earthquakes and diverse places and diseases, and Estillan says,
Speaker 1: and when you're reading Matthew twenty four, you can get
Speaker 1: lost in the suspense of the earthquakes and the diseases
Speaker 1: that you'll miss. Matthew twenty four, Verse ten, where Jesus says, oh,
Speaker 1: and then many will be offended. In other words, Jesus says,
Speaker 1: one of the blues clues from my return is that
Speaker 1: you will be in a culture, in a society of offense.
Speaker 1: Matthew in Luke seventeen, not Matthew twenty four. Jesus brings
Speaker 1: up this issue of offense, and he calls his disciples
Speaker 1: and he says, to the disciples, let's look at it.
Speaker 1: He says to the disciples, he's talking to disciples, any
Speaker 1: disciples of Jesus. Okay, not four of you. Good to
Speaker 1: see you. And look what he says to the disciples.
Speaker 1: He says, it is impossible. It is impossible. That got
Speaker 1: my attention, because you know, when the God of the
Speaker 1: impossible is saying something is impossible, you better pay close attention.
Speaker 1: What is impossible, Jesus to heal the sick, to raise
Speaker 1: the dead. He's like, oh, that's easy. Now, here's what's impossible,
Speaker 1: that no offense should come. In other words, Jesus saying,
Speaker 1: I guarantee you offenses are gonna come in your life.
Speaker 1: It is a part of being a breathing human. Offenses
Speaker 1: are gonna come. He promises you that offenses are coming
Speaker 1: he promises you. Your spouse is gonna get on your
Speaker 1: last nerve. He promises you, somebody's gonna send you the
Speaker 1: wrong text message. He promises you, somebody's gonna see you
Speaker 1: at Walmart about to pull on a parking spot which
Speaker 1: shall signal turn, and they gonna squeeze in there. And
Speaker 1: he promises you. Offenses are gonna come. He later says
Speaker 1: in the text, now don't let the offenses come through you. Now,
Speaker 1: you don't be out there just causing offenses. He says,
Speaker 1: if you do that, it would be better for you
Speaker 1: to put a millstone around your neck and jump in
Speaker 1: the bottom of the sea. A millstone was a stone
Speaker 1: about the signs of a washing machine. He said. Now,
Speaker 1: you don't be the one doing offenses. He said, But offenses, Oh,
Speaker 1: they're gonna come. It is impossible for them not to come.
Speaker 1: But I noticed in the he did not say that
Speaker 1: it is impossible for you to not get offended. Because
Speaker 1: offenses and offended are two separate and distinct things. Oh,
Speaker 1: can I teach in her a little bit today? There's
Speaker 1: a difference between offense and offended. Offense is what happened.
Speaker 1: Offended is a reaction. Offense says, you did it, offended
Speaker 1: says I'll never forgive it. Offense Pastor Stephens says, is
Speaker 1: an event. Offended is a decision. The power of what
Speaker 1: Jesus is saying in this text is that offenses, Oh,
Speaker 1: those are inevitable, but offended, now that's optional. So if
Speaker 1: offenses are inevitable, but offended is optional, that means it
Speaker 1: is possible and plausible for you to live your life.
Speaker 1: Jesus says, I got a power and a grace that
Speaker 1: not many believers tap into. But it is possible for
Speaker 1: you to live your life unoffended. Oh, So the question
Speaker 1: I've been waiting all week to ask you At every location,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna drink the water before I ask it. Hold
Speaker 1: on one second, ready, this is the question I'm been
Speaker 1: waiting all week to ask you? What is your current
Speaker 1: level of offendability? I know offendibility is not a dictionary,
Speaker 1: but you know what I mean? How much does it
Speaker 1: take for you to get offended? And the only reason
Speaker 1: I'm asking you is because in my own life, in
Speaker 1: my own life, as I was seeking God, he spoke
Speaker 1: to me so clearly and said, Robert, your level of
Speaker 1: offendability is too high. He said, I got big things
Speaker 1: in store for you, massive things in store for you,
Speaker 1: things that your eyes have not said and your ears
Speaker 1: have not heard. Neither has it entered into the heart
Speaker 1: of men. The big things I've already prepared for you.
Speaker 1: But he said, you'll never be able to handle the
Speaker 1: big thing as long as it keeps taking the smallest
Speaker 1: thing for you to get offended. He said to me
Speaker 1: that your level of offendability is actually an indicator of
Speaker 1: the level of your spiritual maturity. So what God will
Speaker 1: often do is put your miracle on the other side
Speaker 1: of an offense, so that you will be faced with
Speaker 1: a decision to stay small where you are, or to
Speaker 1: grow up and get over it. Oh I'm preaching it
Speaker 1: here today. I might not get a lot of amen's,
Speaker 1: but this is for somebody. What do we do with
Speaker 1: our offenses? And when God spoke that to me, I
Speaker 1: didn't shout, I didn't clap, I didn't do the Holy
Speaker 1: Ghost two step. I got offended. I say, God, what
Speaker 1: do you mean my current level of offendability is too
Speaker 1: I don't get offended easily. Oh, I was so man.
Speaker 1: I didn't talk to Jesus for like two weeks. No
Speaker 1: I'm for real, because you do know that God knows
Speaker 1: how to offend you. Oh, come on, can't nobody offends
Speaker 1: you like Jesus. Jesus knows how to offend you. He
Speaker 1: can't help but offend you. It's who he is. Come on,
Speaker 1: he is the way, the Oh there, it is the
Speaker 1: truth and the life and the truth. By nature it offends.
Speaker 1: Sometimes Jesus will tick you off with the truth. Before
Speaker 1: that truth can transform you, he will offend you. I'm
Speaker 1: telling Jesus is like spandex toddlers and drunk people. He
Speaker 1: gonna give you the truth, whether you will like it
Speaker 1: or not. Somebody get that tomorrow. I'm telling you, Jesus
Speaker 1: he of every relationship you have. Every relationship you have
Speaker 1: runs the risk of offense. Come on, relationship is the
Speaker 1: context of offense. You don't get offended in isolation. Come on,
Speaker 1: you don't look in the mirror talking about I can't
Speaker 1: stand what you did to me, at least not all
Speaker 1: of us. Come on, it's in the context of relationship.
Speaker 1: I submit to you that if Jesus has never offended you,
Speaker 1: you might not have relationship with Jesus. Had all, he
Speaker 1: will offend you, So all I'm saying is that sometimes
Speaker 1: Jesus is offending you, and sometimes people are offending you,
Speaker 1: and sometimes it's both at the same time. And that
Speaker 1: is exactly what is happening in our text today. In
Speaker 1: the Gospel of Matthew fifteen, the Bible says, a Canaanite woman,
Speaker 1: a Canaanite woman, She is a pagan to the Israelites.
Speaker 1: A Canaanite woman. This is years of strife, years of offense,
Speaker 1: years of arguing between the Canaanites and the Israelites. Do
Speaker 1: you know how much courage it took for that woman
Speaker 1: to roll up on this Jewish man named Jesus and
Speaker 1: his Jewish homeboys, after the years of a fence between
Speaker 1: the Canaanites and the israel Do you know how much
Speaker 1: courage it took for her to walk up to him
Speaker 1: that day? Come on, have you ever had to walk
Speaker 1: into a room that you knew the people in the
Speaker 1: room hated you, but you had to walk in anyway
Speaker 1: because your check was in there or whatever. I mean,
Speaker 1: you know how much courage it took for this woman
Speaker 1: to walk into this room. What would make a Canaanite
Speaker 1: woman walk into a room in an atmosphere with the
Speaker 1: Jewish Messiah and his disciples. I'll tell you what made
Speaker 1: her do it. The devil was messing with her daughter.
Speaker 1: And come on, when the devil is messing with your child, Oh,
Speaker 1: come on where the parents had. When the devil is
Speaker 1: messing with your child, all stuff will come out of
Speaker 1: you that you didn't even know what's there. When the
Speaker 1: devil is messing with your child, Oh you'll find a
Speaker 1: prayer room you're like, don't play that music. Come on,
Speaker 1: play on some elevation. Ha laylu You'll get costco oil
Speaker 1: and just start throwing it all over the world. Oh,
Speaker 1: come on, I didn't know this till I had kids myself,
Speaker 1: my wife and I I did not know this that
Speaker 1: It's one thing for the devil to mess with your job.
Speaker 1: It's one thing for him to mess with your Honda accord.
Speaker 1: It's a whole other thing when he starts messing with
Speaker 1: your child. Come on, have you noticed other people can
Speaker 1: say the same thing about your child that if you said,
Speaker 1: but they say it, it's a problem. Come on, you
Speaker 1: know your child will make you call on the word
Speaker 1: late and say I'm gonna be late today. Walk right
Speaker 1: into the teacher's classroom and said, what did you say
Speaker 1: about my child on this note? No, no, he's creative.
Speaker 1: You can't teach. That's the real problem. So mess with
Speaker 1: people's children. I'm telling you, Oh, your child will make
Speaker 1: you low kick A eighth grade on the playground said,
Speaker 1: I wish you would bully my kid again. Also, this woman,
Speaker 1: she walks right into that room. She said, I don't
Speaker 1: care if you're rolling your eyes, Peter, suck your teeth
Speaker 1: all you want, Judas, I don't care. I don't care.
Speaker 1: I don't care what y'all think about me. This is serious.
Speaker 1: I'm tired of the devil torment in my baby girl.
Speaker 1: I'm tired of being up all night with her. I'm
Speaker 1: tired of this. And I heard that this Jesus has
Speaker 1: the power to heal the sin and raise the tam.
Speaker 1: I heard the demon shrimble and just the mention of
Speaker 1: his matchless name. So, Jesus, if you're steal in the
Speaker 1: demon passing out business, please I feel I preach you
Speaker 1: now have mus see. Oh don't care what y'all think
Speaker 1: about me. This is my baby girl, said Lord, please,
Speaker 1: Son of David, she's a pagan talking about Son of David.
Speaker 1: I'm telling her some trouble that hits your life that'll
Speaker 1: make you say whooh, Father, God, Jaho, Vagirah, all your names.
Speaker 1: I need you, please help my baby girl. She cries
Speaker 1: out to him, and Jesus hears her. He hears her
Speaker 1: loud and clear. But after she cries out, son of David,
Speaker 1: have mercy, Jesus pulls out his phone. She just goes, Lord,
Speaker 1: son of David, have mercy my baby girl. And Jesus, oh,
Speaker 1: you don't believe it. It's in the text verse twenty three.
Speaker 1: Jesus did not answer a word. He didn't say, and
Speaker 1: she pours out her heart and he completely ignores her.
Speaker 1: Have you ever had to deal with the offense of
Speaker 1: being ignored? The offense of being ignored? Where did that
Speaker 1: come from? See, I'm so glad you brought that out there,
Speaker 1: because this is how life works. An offense is actually
Speaker 1: a stumbling block. It's a stumbling block. You're just going
Speaker 1: through your life and all of a sudden, just out
Speaker 1: of the plu you got an offense. Have you ever
Speaker 1: had to deal with the offense of being ignored? Where
Speaker 1: you cried out to Jesus he didn't say, Yes, he
Speaker 1: didn't say no, he didn't say maybe nothing at all.
Speaker 1: All the pain of the offense of being ignored is
Speaker 1: so frustrating. I can relate. I can relate to this
Speaker 1: woman because I have a father, a Nigerian father, and
Speaker 1: I remember being a kid and I would I would
Speaker 1: ask my dad like my teens and I would ask
Speaker 1: my Nigerian father. I'd be like sixteen, and I asked
Speaker 1: him a simple question. I can see it like it
Speaker 1: was yesterday. He'd be at the kitchen table reading the paper.
Speaker 1: A simple question like, Dad, I'm sixteen, I'm grown, and uh,
Speaker 1: there's a party going on this Friday at a house
Speaker 1: you don't know, with people you don't know. And I'm
Speaker 1: gonna be back probably about two am. Is it cool
Speaker 1: for me to go this party? And my Nigerian father
Speaker 1: would put down the paper and look at me. I
Speaker 1: asked the question. He would not say anything, but just
Speaker 1: give me a look like you haven't lost your mind,
Speaker 1: And I say a word, and then just go right
Speaker 1: back to reading them. And it wouldn't make me so
Speaker 1: mad because it just ignored me. All the offense of
Speaker 1: being ignored, I think being ignored is worse than being
Speaker 1: rejected because when I'm rejected. At least I know where
Speaker 1: we stand. You don't like me, cool, thank you. Next,
Speaker 1: it's fine. I know you don't like me. But when
Speaker 1: you ignore me and you don't say anything. When I
Speaker 1: send you a text message and you don't respond at
Speaker 1: all to the text and you're one of the crazy
Speaker 1: ones that got the notification where it says you let
Speaker 1: me know you saw it, didn't say anything. Ever dealt
Speaker 1: with the offense of being ignored. Wonder does anybody say, God,
Speaker 1: do you send me to other people see me? I
Speaker 1: think about David who wasn't even invited to the party
Speaker 1: when they were looking for a king. He was completely ignored.
Speaker 1: The offense of being ignored. It's so pervasive in our
Speaker 1: culture today because we live in a society where everybody
Speaker 1: has this incessant need to be noticed. Have you noticed,
Speaker 1: like don't you see me? And it can be difficult
Speaker 1: to deal with the offense of being ignored. He said,
Speaker 1: not a word if that was me. Oh, and I
Speaker 1: came to Jesus and said, my baby girl is being
Speaker 1: demon possessed and he ignored me. Oh that's it, I'm
Speaker 1: over it. Oh that's cool. Oh no, that's cool. I said,
Speaker 1: you didn't ignore blind Bartimaeus, you didn't annoy the one
Speaker 1: with the issue of blood. Yeah, they posted all they miracles,
Speaker 1: but you ain't got time for me. Now it's fine,
Speaker 1: Now it's cool. You a good, good father. Yeah right,
Speaker 1: you're a jerk. I'm over it. Not this woman, she
Speaker 1: kept asking, please, please, please. You know how crazy you
Speaker 1: look to be persistent when he didn't even say anything.
Speaker 1: But I'm telling you sometimes there's power in your persistence.
Speaker 1: I don't know who this is for, but you gave
Speaker 1: up too soon. Don't stop. Keep pushing, keep pressing. She said, please,
Speaker 1: I ain't leaving. Please. She was persistent. She didn't get
Speaker 1: a response out of Jesus. She got a response out
Speaker 1: of his disciples. This woman kept going to disciples, get annoyed.
Speaker 1: They're like, this girl, Felicia is not gonna leave. Obviously,
Speaker 1: don't worry, Jesus, we got you, Jesus. I want to
Speaker 1: see what disciples say. They said, Jesus, here's what we
Speaker 1: should do. Send her away for she keeps crying out
Speaker 1: after us. Somebody called it, send her away. She keeps
Speaker 1: crying out after us. Really, Disciples, where in the text
Speaker 1: did she cry out after you? You You can't do anything.
Speaker 1: Didn't nobody say your name that they didn't want you. See,
Speaker 1: this is the problem with some people to hang around Jesus.
Speaker 1: Sometimes they get it twisted. You think people want you. No,
Speaker 1: I want Jesus. He's the only one that's got the
Speaker 1: power to change the situal way. If you move out
Speaker 1: the way I could get to them. The disciples represent
Speaker 1: the offense of the institution the church. Disciples clearly demonstrate
Speaker 1: for us that sometimes the greatest offenses we occur are
Speaker 1: not necessarily from Jesus, but from the people who bear
Speaker 1: his name, the people who represent them. Have you ever
Speaker 1: dealt when an offense in the church the disciples come
Speaker 1: on the disciples, you're the very ones who are rejects
Speaker 1: an outcasts. Then Jesus reached out to you, and now
Speaker 1: you're rejecting people because you've been around Jesus a while.
Speaker 1: Your Instagram followers are blowing up. Now you thinking that
Speaker 1: what do you do with the offense? When you've been
Speaker 1: heard the institution of the church or people in the church,
Speaker 1: and you be shocked at the people who are not
Speaker 1: in any of the locations today and some of the
Speaker 1: people who are in them who are still wrestling with
Speaker 1: the hurt of the offense that came from somebody who
Speaker 1: bared his name. And if I could just speak to you,
Speaker 1: just for a moment, can I tell you this. I'm
Speaker 1: not saying what they did was right. I'm not saying
Speaker 1: what they did was okay. But can I tell you this,
Speaker 1: Never project the nature of man onto the character of God.
Speaker 1: Just because they forsook you. He's not gonna forsake you.
Speaker 1: Just because they were wrong. It doesn't mean God is wrong.
Speaker 1: Can I also say that God has this uncanny way
Speaker 1: of also using the church to heal your church. So
Speaker 1: don't leave. Stay planted. And this woman, she didn't leave.
Speaker 1: She said, I'm gonst stay. And because she stayed, God spoke.
Speaker 1: I don't know who that's for today, but God told
Speaker 1: me to tell you. If you'll stay, he'll speak. Don't
Speaker 1: walk away. If you stay, he will speak. But you
Speaker 1: might not like what he says, because look at what
Speaker 1: he says to her. He says, I was sent only
Speaker 1: to the lost sheep of Israel. Let me translate it
Speaker 1: for you, girl. I am here for you. You are
Speaker 1: an outsider. I am here first for the children of Israel.
Speaker 1: I'm on a mission. I'm on an assignment. This is
Speaker 1: the offense of insignificance. Can you imagine how she felt?
Speaker 1: He said, I am not here for you. You're not
Speaker 1: my focus right now. My focus is actual on the
Speaker 1: lost sheep of Israel, the offense of insignificance. And let
Speaker 1: me teach you just for a moment, y'all good? Because
Speaker 1: offenses are like lenses. Okay, anytime you have an offense
Speaker 1: with somebody, it's like a lens. Would you come up here,
Speaker 1: what's your name, Litho, Litho? Would you take off your
Speaker 1: glasses real quickly. See, let's say I got into it
Speaker 1: with Letho, like you, bro, we had an offense, we
Speaker 1: had a falling out. The moment the offense occurs, put
Speaker 1: them back on lenses. Offenses are lenses. I see it
Speaker 1: a certain way, you see it a certain way. You
Speaker 1: always see the offense from your vantage point. That's why
Speaker 1: when you tell the story, they're always the villain and
Speaker 1: you're the victim. Can you believe they did that? That's
Speaker 1: why I always asked, did they really say that? Or
Speaker 1: is that how you see it? Because if we just
Speaker 1: traded glasses, offenses or lenses. And if I put my
Speaker 1: goodness linto is blind, No wonder you saw it like that?
Speaker 1: Say yes, your issue and he's got mine on talking
Speaker 1: about man, how has he even reading the time clock?
Speaker 1: No wonder he going over? Because offenses are lenses. So
Speaker 1: when the fence comes, you gotta say, Lord, help me
Speaker 1: to see this the right way. Or even better, it
Speaker 1: gets somebody else in the situation that don't got glasses
Speaker 1: and say, both of y'all blind, both of y'all jacked up.
Speaker 1: Let me tell you what's going on. Fences or lenses.
Speaker 1: So watch this from her vantage point, I'm here only
Speaker 1: for the lost sheep of Israel. I'm insignificant, but from
Speaker 1: Jesus vantage point, it is not insignificance. It is precedents.
Speaker 1: I'm not saying you're insignificant, but I'm saying the children
Speaker 1: of Israel take precedence. And just because they take precedence
Speaker 1: doesn't mean you're insignificant. Okay, I lost some of you.
Speaker 1: This is the equivalent of you springing your ankle and
Speaker 1: going to the hospital for them to see about your ankle,
Speaker 1: and as they're rolling you in to take care of
Speaker 1: your ankle, All of a sudden, a gunshot wound victim
Speaker 1: comes in the room, so they put you to the side,
Speaker 1: throw you a bag of ice, and they cream the
Speaker 1: gunshot victim wound in and they start treating him. How
Speaker 1: crazy would you look? So? Oh, really, are you just
Speaker 1: gonna take care of him? Oh? No, it's cool. I
Speaker 1: guess I'm insignificant. Now take your ice. I'm good Now.
Speaker 1: This hospital don't love people. I'm five nahaboo boo. But
Speaker 1: now saying you're insignificant, it's just that this victim takes precedence.
Speaker 1: But in the culture where everybody is a narcissist, he
Speaker 1: focus is on you. You'll look at insignificance and go, man,
Speaker 1: I guess he doesn't care about me at all. If
Speaker 1: that was me, if that was most of us, these
Speaker 1: three what already made us be over it and be going.
Speaker 1: How many people do you know who felt like they've
Speaker 1: been ignored by God and people and the church has
Speaker 1: hurt them, and they've been made to feel insignificant so
Speaker 1: they walk away. But not this woman, Oh, this woman,
Speaker 1: watch this. She gets down on her knees, she changes
Speaker 1: her posture. She says, Jesus, please Lord, please help me
Speaker 1: she said, no, I know it's a lot of offenses,
Speaker 1: but I'm not gonna walk away. I'm just gonna worship you.
Speaker 1: Come on, you know you are on the edge of
Speaker 1: your breakthrough. When you could have walked away, you had
Speaker 1: every reason to quit, to walk away and throw on
Speaker 1: the t but thiss Dad, I just said, no, I'm
Speaker 1: gonna worship you. I'm gonna give you a glory and honor.
Speaker 1: I don't understand this. I don't know why this is happening,
Speaker 1: but I know that you're still worthy, you still deserve
Speaker 1: my worship. Please, please, please. She just worship him. Oh,
Speaker 1: they said it in the testimony video. She said, I
Speaker 1: started to seek the healer more than the healing. She
Speaker 1: just worshiped. She didn't walk away, and I would have
Speaker 1: thought that the worship would have got God's attention. Jesus
Speaker 1: turns up the heat even more, brings the hardest offense.
Speaker 1: He looks at her and says, you're worshiping, but you
Speaker 1: know it's not right to take the children's bread and
Speaker 1: toss it to the dogs. Jesus, the compassionate Savior, the
Speaker 1: loving Father full of grace, caused this woman a dog.
Speaker 1: Now there are some cultural differences that we don't understand
Speaker 1: because in that culture, if you were outside of the
Speaker 1: covenant with Abraham, you were an outsider. You were a dog.
Speaker 1: Dogs were outside. So it was very common for Jews
Speaker 1: to call gentiles dogs. Jesus were just keep him with
Speaker 1: the culture called her a dog. But if you study
Speaker 1: this text, one of the things you will find is
Speaker 1: that he doesn't use the common Greek word for dog,
Speaker 1: which was a wild dog. That's what they called him.
Speaker 1: He uses pet dog, pet dog. And if you study this,
Speaker 1: you'll see all these comentators and scholars defending Jesus like now,
Speaker 1: hold up, now, hold on now. He did call her
Speaker 1: a dog, but it was a pet dog, Okay, not
Speaker 1: a wild dog. He used a different term. It was
Speaker 1: a pet under defending Jesus, and I'm reading it going, uh,
Speaker 1: either way you look at it, it's bad. Pet dog,
Speaker 1: wild dog. He called her a dog. This is the
Speaker 1: offense of being insulted. Have you ever felt like, be honest,
Speaker 1: your situation was insulting. How can you help others people's
Speaker 1: children and your child is on drugs? How can you
Speaker 1: help so many other marriages? Your marriages is falling apart?
Speaker 1: Have you ever felt insulted. He called her a dolt. Yes,
Speaker 1: a pet dog, but it's still a dog. Oh if
Speaker 1: that was me, let's be honest, if that was most
Speaker 1: of us, we've been ignored, were made to feel insignificant, insulted. Oh,
Speaker 1: I'm over it, and I think this woman, for a
Speaker 1: moment was over it. It's like I tried everything I know.
Speaker 1: He keeps bringing a fence after a fence, and to
Speaker 1: add it, Oh, you call me a dog. Whatever, Jesus,
Speaker 1: I'm over it, but I think somewhere it hit her.
Speaker 1: You should be. Wait a minute, you call me a dog.
Speaker 1: You call me a pet dog. All the other Jewish
Speaker 1: people say wild dog, you said pet dog. Wait a minute.
Speaker 1: There's a difference between a wild dog and a pet dog.
Speaker 1: A wild dog doesn't have a place. A pet dog
Speaker 1: has a place. A pet dog can find shelter. A
Speaker 1: pet dog can be protected when it's raining, when it's
Speaker 1: cold down. So you call me a pet dog. Wait
Speaker 1: a minute. Wait a minute. What wild dogs have to
Speaker 1: scrap for food and go through trash cans and get
Speaker 1: whatever bones and leftovers they find on the street, but
Speaker 1: not a pet dog. Pet dogs get to eat whatever
Speaker 1: their master is eating. Oh, if the master's eating steak,
Speaker 1: the pet dog is eating steak. If the master's eating lobster,
Speaker 1: the pet dog is eating lips. Wait a minute, maybe
Speaker 1: it has nothing to do with the dog, but just
Speaker 1: showing me that life is predicated upon who your master is.
Speaker 1: So guess what, Jesus, I don't care if you call
Speaker 1: me a dog, a cow, or a cat. I'm not
Speaker 1: walking away just because of these offenses, the even stumbling blocks,
Speaker 1: these are actually stepping stones. So I'm the gins over it.
Speaker 1: I'm over being ignored. I'm over the church herds. I'm
Speaker 1: over being made to feel insignificancewer I'm over being insulted.
Speaker 1: Was not our sager insulted? And he hung on the cross.
Speaker 1: And that is that Father forgets them, for they know
Speaker 1: not one thing. Do I got to dip over this
Speaker 1: or somebody want to give got the best praise that
Speaker 1: you can't it over it? And at that moment, at
Speaker 1: that moment in the midical pain, at that moment, which
Speaker 1: moment the moment you get over it? Before I came
Speaker 1: in the service today, I told him they said, when
Speaker 1: do we bring the miracle out? I said, bring out
Speaker 1: the miracle the moment I get over that last offense.
Speaker 1: But the miracle was back there the whole time. I
Speaker 1: came to tell somebody to take God's got your miracle.
Speaker 1: You just gotta take a stop, get over it, Get
Speaker 1: over it ease here in my heart today I know
Speaker 1: we use it over it casually to dismiss and say
Speaker 1: that the offense wasn't not a deal. I'm telling you
Speaker 1: it could have been a big deal. I'm not saying
Speaker 1: they're right. I'm just saying you have a decision. You
Speaker 1: can stay stuck where you are. You can say I
Speaker 1: want my miracle more than any offense that comes my way.
Speaker 1: Offense is an event. Offended is a decision, and God
Speaker 1: wants to give somebody the grace today to get over it.
Speaker 1: She would have never gotten her miracle she walked away
Speaker 1: at any one of those offenses. No wonder. Jesus looks
Speaker 1: at her and says, woman, you have great faith. She
Speaker 1: is one of the only two people in the entire
Speaker 1: New Testament that Jesus commended their faith. Why does she
Speaker 1: have great faith? She said, I'm not gonna let any
Speaker 1: offense stop. Ma'am want the grace to get over it.
Speaker 1: Thank you for joining us. Special thanks to those of
Speaker 1: you who give generously to this ministry is because of
Speaker 1: you that this ministry is possible. You can click the
Speaker 1: link in the description to give now, or visit Elevationchurch
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Speaker 1: tag us at Elevation Church. Thanks again for listening. God
Speaker 1: bless you.