<html><head></head><body><div><div><div><div><div><div><br></div>Mark 7;27-30<div><br></div><div>26b. …And she (the Syrophoenician woman)&nbsp;begged him to cast the demon out of her daughter.</div><div><b>27. &nbsp;And he said to her, “Let the children </b>(Israelites)&nbsp;<b>first be fed, for it is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.”</b></div><div><b>28. &nbsp;But she answered him, “Yes, Lord; yet even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.”</b></div><div><b>29. &nbsp;And he said to her, “For this saying you may go your way; the demon has left your daughter.”</b></div><div><b>30. &nbsp;And she went home, and found the child lying in bed, and the demon gone.</b></div><div><br></div><div>We live in a world which preaches, ‘respect yourself’, (you need to have) ‘high self-esteem’, ‘feel good about yourself’, &nbsp;‘don’t let others put you down’, and ‘stand up for yourself.’</div><div><br></div><div>But, the truth is, we are all&nbsp;unworthy sinners who justly deserve God’s temporal and eternal punishment.</div><div><br></div><div>Yet, it is not the will of the Father to destroy us, but rather to cleanse and save us through His Son,&nbsp;Christ Jesus, our Lord. &nbsp;But, in order to save us, we must first be crushed by the Law, the truth that we are poor miserable sinners who deserve nothing but punishment. &nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>This is why the outcasts of society, the prostitutes, tax-collectors, and defiled,&nbsp;unclean sinners, were so quickly drawn to Jesus and who quickly became Believers and disciples. &nbsp;<br>They were most eager to escape who they had been and become someone new, they had lost their ‘self-esteem’ a long time ago. &nbsp;You cannot be a&nbsp;‘new’ you,&nbsp;if you still love the ‘old’&nbsp;sinful, selfish&nbsp;you.</div><div><br></div><div>When Jesus called the woman and her little daughter <i>“dogs”</i>&nbsp;he was testing her to see if she knew she was unworthy and undeserving of mercy and grace, yet, still believed in the One true God who has mercy for sinners who know they are sinners. &nbsp;She did know, yet she still would not give up her hope in God’s mercy to sinners who know they are sinners.</div><div><br></div><div>This is why every worship service should begin with confession of sin and the pronouncement of forgiveness&nbsp;<span>to all who like the Syrophoenician woman agree with God, but still hope in His</span><span>&nbsp;goodness and mercy.</span></div><div><br></div><div>Prayer: &nbsp;Merciful Father in Heaven, bless us all to know our unworthiness, our sin, so the we would not trust in ourselves but in Jesus alone for true cleanness,&nbsp;health, and new life in Christ. &nbsp;In Jesus we pray, Amen.</div><div><br></div><div>Love,</div><div>Dad/Baba/Eric</div><div>Grandpa Pickle Pastor</div><div>“A chapter a day, every day, progressively, be transformed, ‘soak’ in the living Word. &nbsp;God’s Word is our habitation, and we are His.”&nbsp;<br><br><div><a href="https://mail.onelink.me/107872968?pid=nativeplacement&amp;c=Global_Acquisition_YMktg_315_Internal_EmailSignature&amp;af_sub1=Acquisition&amp;af_sub2=Global_YMktg&amp;af_sub3=&amp;af_sub4=100000604&amp;af_sub5=EmailSignature__Static_" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"></a><br></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></body></html>


Mark 7;27-30
26b. …And she (the Syrophoenician woman) begged him to cast the demon out of her daughter.27.  And he said to her, “Let the children (Israelites) first be fed, for it is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.”28.  But she answered him, “Yes, Lord; yet even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.”29.  And he said to her, “For this saying you may go your way; the demon has left your daughter.”30.  And she went home, and found the child lying in bed, and the demon gone.
We live in a world which preaches, ‘respect yourself’, (you need to have) ‘high self-esteem’, ‘feel good about yourself’,  ‘don’t let others put you down’, and ‘stand up for yourself.’
But, the truth is, we are all unworthy sinners who justly deserve God’s temporal and eternal punishment.
Yet, it is not the will of the Father to destroy us, but rather to cleanse and save us through His Son, Christ Jesus, our Lord.  But, in order to save us, we must first be crushed by the Law, the truth that we are poor miserable sinners who deserve nothing but punishment.  
This is why the outcasts of society, the prostitutes, tax-collectors, and defiled, unclean sinners, were so quickly drawn to Jesus and who quickly became Believers and disciples.  
They were most eager to escape who they had been and become someone new, they had lost their ‘self-esteem’ a long time ago.  You cannot be a ‘new’ you, if you still love the ‘old’ sinful, selfish you.
When Jesus called the woman and her little daughter “dogs” he was testing her to see if she knew she was unworthy and undeserving of mercy and grace, yet, still believed in the One true God who has mercy for sinners who know they are sinners.  She did know, yet she still would not give up her hope in God’s mercy to sinners who know they are sinners.
This is why every worship service should begin with confession of sin and the pronouncement of forgiveness to all who like the Syrophoenician woman agree with God, but still hope in His goodness and mercy.
Prayer:  Merciful Father in Heaven, bless us all to know our unworthiness, our sin, so the we would not trust in ourselves but in Jesus alone for true cleanness, health, and new life in Christ.  In Jesus we pray, Amen.
Love,Dad/Baba/EricGrandpa Pickle Pastor“A chapter a day, every day, progressively, be transformed, ‘soak’ in the living Word.  God’s Word is our habitation, and we are His.” 

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