Faith is everything

BIBLE STUDY #837 – CHURCH IN THE HOUSES FROM: NOVEMBER 18 - 24, 2014

TOPIC: “Faith is everything” Mark 7:24 - 30 FAITH is what can deliver us from everything that can do us wrong or can harm us. According to our faith what we ask for will be done. (Matthew 9:29 "Then he touched their eyes and said, “According to your faith will it be done to you.") We need FAITH to guide us to God and ask or beg for something that we want Him to do for us. Therefore, to obtain a response from God what we need to have is FAITH. It is to have that confidence that He will do. The Scriptures well says in Hebrews 11:6 “And without FAITH it is impossible to please God…” Also in Luke 18:8 says “…However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find FAITH on the earth?" Will He find FAITH on the earth? Jesus gave a glance to the future and could see that at the end of the days the conditions would exist to allow this to be true. The world is closed to the Scriptures, they do not want the Commandments, they do not know the Gospel and they also cite some sayings as if they were verses. Faith involves evidence in the heart about things that cannot be seen. It is to have the faith of one day or years while the issue is still not resolved; it is to wait believing that God will see our affliction and will come at our favor for our well-being. Although Jesus in those moments wanted to hide from people, He couldn’t. Mark 7:24 "Jesus left that place and went to the vicinity of Tyre. He entered a house and did not want anyone to know it; yet he could not keep his presence secret.” The necessity that a woman had discovered Him! Mark 7: 25-26 "In fact, as soon as she heard about him, a woman whose daughter was possessed by an evil spirit came and fell at his feet. The woman was a Greek, born in Syrian Phoenicia. She begged Jesus to drive the demon out of her daughter.” Your necessity discovers where He is so that He can do His mighty work in what overwhelms you. Jesus had gone to the northern region of Tyre and Sidon, those lands were Gentile territory. Jesus would be over towards the north seeking for a temporary escape. However, it could be that He was seeking an encounter with someone who was desperate and needed His power. His nation, the Jewish people, had marked Him as He was a sinner. Surely, according to them, someone who was a sinner could not help them. Those people believed that they were greater than anyone and therefore rejected the Just, the Messenger of God, the Messiah, and Savior. But, the gentile woman indeed went to Jesus to ask for her daughter. She did not do as some people do, the more they need to come closer to Jesus the more they flee from His presence. This is done out of fear that Jesus would rejects us, for fear of saying what is happening to us, how terrible we are! Jesus spoke to the woman and told her that it was not right to take the children's bread and give it to “the dogs.” Mark 7:27 “First let the children eat all they want,” he told her, “For it is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to their dogs.” So, at first, Jesus did not grant her what she wanted. She had to convince the Lord that she had faith in Him, convince Him that she believed in Him. This is similar to what each and one of us is living. What Jesus said to her seemed to be a negative and painful response. But, when Jesus talked about the dogs He hinted a little hope, like saying: “But there may be something for you." Although it appears that whatever little they could pick up, even if they were crumbs. Jesus said to her that she could not give food to the dogs and she knew how to answer Him; she did it with such faith and humility before the great King. She became a wise woman! That Syrophoenician woman, who was not Jewish but gentile, knew the heart of the one who was in front of her; she knew that He was not just any man: IT WAS GOD! He was someone who could control the demons, it was our Jesus who dominates the demons, who loves, who cares and hears someone fragile

like her. Mark 7:28 "Yes, Lord,” she replied, “but even the dogs under the table eat the children's crumbs.” She responded something like this: Give me whether crumbs, because the crumbs for me will be the greatest of my life if it comes from you! She knew that Jesus spoke to her with a smile for her, she knew that the door was ajar to come and obtain what she wanted. She knew how to push that door of faith and break through to the miracle she needed. THAT IS HOW WE SHOULD GO TO JESUS! You should also push the door! You will find a big smile from your Creator! In those times and place people ate with their hands, a piece of bread was taken after and some of it was tossed to the dogs of the house. So the woman seemed to say: "I know that children are given to eat first, but:" Are you not going to leave me some scrap of the leftover from the children?" Jesus loved that response. Mark 7:29, 30 "Then he told her, “For such a reply, you may go; the demon has left your daughter.” She went home and found her child lying on the bed, and the demon gone.” "JESUS FOUND FAITH IN THAT GREEK AND SYROPHOENICIAN NATION WOMAN! A luminous faith that did not accept the negative as a response. She was a woman with the tragedy of an unhappy daughter and even though her faith had been tested she emerged triumphant. Her prayer had been answered affirmatively! There was not a demon who could resist so much faith in a woman towards her Lord! THE NEGATIVE AND ADVERSE THINGS ARE NOTHING BEFORE SUCH FAITH IN THE POWERFUL LORD! Let us have a faith like this, that doesn’t give up! Amen.