Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice insofar as you share Christ’s sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed. Good morning. That sounds kind of loud. My name is Troy Kolb. I’m the. I’m one of the elders here at Valley View. Pastor John is out of town, and, it’s kind of interesting. It’s… pastor’s out of town, time change, Sunday before the election. I don’t know what’s going to happen up here. We’ll see. But it is an honor to be here with you all. Pastor asked me to speak today. Apparently, the last time I did it did not cause too much trouble. So we’re going to give it another shot. I’m going to open up by just telling you a little bit. Kind of an interesting story. From the time I was in third grade through the 11th grade. So that’s nine years, I attended a small private Christian school here, locally called Southwest Christian School. Before I go too far, I need to get into high school mode here real quick. Hold on. I have my lovely assistant. All right. I got to get into high school mode before I tell a story about high school. Yes, I still have my high school jacket. So it still fits, too. Look at that. So. Yes. Thank you. So Southwest Christian School no longer exists, but it was located right across from the Dairy freeze out there at Valley Station and Deering Road. So you know where that is? I know you know where the Dairy Freeze is. Look across the street. That’s where it was. And, like I said, I attended there for nine years. And like any good Christian school, we had to have a Bible class. So, and by the way, that’s where I learned a lot of scripture that I still remember today. That’s why it’s important to get your, your children somewhere where they’re going to be exposed to the word and have to memorize it and recite it. We offer that here at, Valley View through our children’s programming, through Awana, Life Group– Sunday School. Get your kids reciting scripture early so that they’ll remember it a lot of the scripture I remember is because of what I had to do early on as a child, including at this school. So in my 11th grade year, I remember specifically my Bible teacher was also the principal of the school, Miss Rosemary Hatcher. And, and it was great. But periodically we would have to as part of our class at the end of the week, we would have to, write out scripture, right? We would have to memorize a passage of Scripture, maybe a psalm or, section of a chapter or something. And we would have to write that and sort of like a quiz grade so that that was okay. But one particular Friday, I was not prepared whatsoever. I got in, I don’t remember the scripture I was supposed to write. I just remember I didn’t know it. I knew like the first verse of it, but that was it. So I thought, what am I going to do? I can’t just write out 7 or 8 words and then turn in the rest of it. I’m supposed to take up the entire sheet. So I did my best. I wrote out what I knew, and then I, very accurately and with great detail, wrote out the words to the song I’m My Own Grandpa. It’s a it’s amazing. You can remember what you want to remember, but I remembered that for some reason. So I wrote that out and I thought, I’m just going to hand it in and maybe I’ll get something for what I know, and then maybe she’ll find it funny and have a little bit of grace on me, and not be too irritated that I didn’t do my homework. So I handed it in, got it back the next week, and I’m like, how’s this going to work out? And I looked at the top and I got a she doesn’t remember this, but I do. I got a 100% on that thing. Now, before we cast judgment on the reader as a teacher, I’ve been there many times. You have a lot of papers to grade. You got a lot of things to do. I’m going to look at a piece of paper. I know this guy. He’s not that big of a knucklehead. He’s probably got most of it down. I read the first few lines. He’s got it 100%. Move on to the next thing. Hey, I was feeling good about that. It’s like it worked. But what does that do? That encourages me. That encourages my bad behavior. So the next time we had a quiz, I did not do my homework either. It’s like, why at that point, right? I don’t have why should I study? I can just do this. So I did it again and I, I knew the first few lines, but that was it. I turned it in. I chose a different song. I don’t remember what that song was. And, I looked forward to receiving my homework back or my quiz back, which I got it, and it was amazingly, it had a significant amount of red ink on it. And then up at the top, she had drawn a very pretty smiley face, but this smiley face did not have an eyes, nose, or a mouth. Think about what that is. And then she put at the top. Nice try. So I got a zero on that one. So I learned my lesson. Now I remember that because Miss Hatcher gave me a lot of grace there. She could have responded differently. Right? She could have been like very insulted. How dare you do this? Like, do you think I’m stupid? I wasn’t going to read this, and she probably didn’t even know what happened the first time, but instead she went about it differently. She responded with grace, responding back to me in such a way that corrected my behavior, but still honored me as a person. I will never forget that. I need to take this off now, because I can’t talk the rest of this time in this jacket. Thank you Will. Give it up for Will everybody. All right. Today we’re going to be looking at two events in the book of Mark. Mark chapter seven. There’s two very, very interesting events that take place here. I’ve read the Bible a lot through the Bible a lot. I wasn’t familiar with one of these instances. The first one, the second one I had been, but I read it in a little different way. We’re going to see the grace of Jesus here, and his understanding and even empathy for these two individuals that we’re going to read about resonates throughout the throughout these, scenes from these events, we’ll see that Jesus loves us more than we deserve, and he always gives us exactly what we need. So we’re going to look at Mark chapter seven. If you want to turn there in your Bibles or it’ll be on the screen here. As just sort of an introduction on Wednesday nights, we have discipleship groups that take place here at church, and one of them is led by the elders here. We are actually teaching through this book, Jesus the King. It’s by Tim Keller. It’s a really easy read. And as I always tell the group when we, speak, Tim Keller is usually pretty tough to read. Like he’s very, very, very deep, sort of on a C.S. Lewis type of level. This book is not that way. It’s really, really easy to read, even for somebody like me. So if you’re looking for a good book to dive into, this is a great one. But he walks through the book of Mark. So leading into this week, when John asked me to talk, I was planning on just continuing on with the study of First Peter that we’re doing. But then I taught a couple weeks ago on a chapter in this book, and it stopped me in my tracks and I talked to John about it, and I said, I think I need to talk about this instead, because it resonated with me in such a way that I felt timing is everything, God’s timing is everything. And I felt like this was a message for some reason, for today. Maybe it’s just for me, but I hope it it sort of resonates with you as well. So let’s dive in. Look at Mark chapter seven, verses 24 through 26. 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. In fact, as soon as she heard about him, a woman whose little 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. It’s a tough situation. In this scene, we see Jesus is exhausted. We see the humanity of Jesus in this scene, he had been ministering healing and he’s exhausted. So he travels outside of the Jewish provinces into an area where he’s likely not going to be that well known to this point because Jesus was human. He was also God. The humanity of him needed to rest and recuperate. That’s what we see here. But this woman had heard of Jesus, and she heard that Jesus was in town and she had to see him. But there’s a problem with this woman. She’s not a Jew. She’s a Gentile, she’s Greek, she’s Phoenician, and she’s a woman in first century Middle Eastern culture. That’s a problem. She has no right, credentials or any purpose in seeing Jesus. She shouldn’t even be allowed to see him in that culture. And yet that doesn’t stop her. By the way, she knows all this. She knows she has no right to approach a Jewish leader like this, and that it would very likely go bad for her. But she didn’t care because she was desperate. She was desperate for help, and she has the faith that this Jesus can help her. There’s an interesting parallel passage to this scripture in the book of Matthew, chapter 15, verse 23. It’s the same scene throughout. That’s that, section of Scripture. But verse 23 adds a very different detail. But he answered her not a word. And his disciples came and urged him, saying, send her away, for she cries out after us. Even the disciples recognize, Jesus, she doesn’t… no, she doesn’t belong here. Even the disciples. And they’re still learning who Jesus is and trying to understand. And they’ve got a long way to go. And they don’t get it yet, but they’re even saying, Jesus, she should not even be here. She had no business being there. And the disciples made it known. But she continued to beg. And it’s interesting that that word plead, that word beg. The Greek connotation for that word is actually she keeps on begging. She didn’t take no for an answer. Tim Keller well, hold on, let me read this quote here. Mark chapter seven, verse 26 through 27. She begged Jesus to drive the demon out of her daughter first, and then he says, first let the children eat all they want. He told her, for it’s not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to their dogs. I’m going to let that soak in for a second because that’s like, whoa, hold on. But I’m going to go back to this, woman because she’s desperate. She’s not taking no for an answer. Tim Keller, the author of the book that we’re reading through, says it like this. There are cowards. There are regular people, there are heroes, and then there are parents. Right? And in this case, a mother. She’s not going to let anything stop her. No disciples, no cultural taboos, no whatever she even recognizes. I don’t even believe necessarily in the God this Jesus represents. But I need help in this. Jesus is in town and I’m going to see what he can do for me. I’m going to have faith that this Jesus can do what he says he can do. So we’ll go back to that, that that’s, Mark chapter seven, Scripture, verse 26 through 27, where he says, first, let the children eat all they want for it is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to their dogs. So on first glance, this is like, Jesus. Hold on, you just insulted this woman pretty bad. He just called her a dog. That’s the way it. It would be easy to read that way, but it’s a little different than that. Something to keep in mind, though, is in this first century Middle Eastern culture, dogs were not the cute, cuddly things that we have sleeping in our beds with us today, right? Our dogs are very different. Our dogs are like children sometimes in our house. You you might even refer to your dog as your baby. Or some of you might even say, refer to your dog as your fur baby. I’ve heard it. I’ve heard some of you say it, I don’t judge. This is our dog. This is George. His full name is King George H.W., called the third. Don’t judge me. But there he is, George. He’s an English bulldog with a very regal name. But you got to understand, most dogs weren’t like that. Most dogs were not. These cute little things that are taking up space in our house, and we love them. Back then, dogs were kind of nasty. They were scavengers. They were dirty. They were wild. They were running around. You didn’t want dogs around. But remember I said most dogs? There were some, though, that actually were more like house pets. They did have them to some degree that way. So it’s interesting that the word that Mark uses for dogs isn’t referencing the wild scavenger like dogs. It’s referencing house pets. More like puppies, if you will. That’s that’s the way that Mark is using that word. This response that Jesus gives is actually more like a little mini parable Jesus taught in parables. And there’s like a little version of this here. He’s actually laying out the purpose for his ministry right here. He’s saying to her, he’s trying to explain to her that it’s not time for those outside of the Jewish faith to experience him, yet he has come for the Jewish people for now. It’s not yet time for her or her people to experience his ministry, his blessing, his ministry is for the Jewish people first and then the rest of the world. The Gentiles can and will and will experience him eventually, but not yet. First the Jewish people, then the rest of the world. That’s what he’s trying to convey there. And he is saying it in, in such a way that it’s like, okay, and in your house, though, the children eat first and then we do take care of, in this case, the house pets, but they come later. We’ll feed them later. First the people eat, then the pets. He’s trying to he’s trying to convey this point on her level in a word picture that she would understand. But then she says this Mark, chapter seven, verse 28 through 30. Yes, Lord, she replied, but even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs. I pause for a second. That’s such a powerful thing that I’m going to revisit. 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. Now it would have been very easy for this woman to take offense to Jesus. How dare you talk to me that way? I came here for help and you insult me? You equate me with a dog, house pet or not, you call me a dog Jesus. She did not get insulted. She also could have been a little indignant. It’s like, well, you say who you say you are. Prove it. That’s kind of might be our natural response. We go all this way, take this chance, and somebody responds to us that way. But she didn’t do that because she gets it. She understood what he was trying to say, and she actually throws the parable back at him. She says, yes, Jesus. But even the dogs, while the children are eating, eat some of the crumbs. And he honors that. And he and he provides the healing that she wants. She understood that she didn’t belong there. She didn’t have a place at the table in this little mini parable, and she accepts it. In fact, her response seems to indicate, yes, Lord, I understand. But even the puppies eat eventually, and I need this now. And Jesus and well, Tim, Tim Keller says this. She’s not saying, Lord, give me what I deserve on the basis of my goodness. She’s saying, give me what I don’t deserve on the basis of your goodness. And that is grace. Give me what I don’t deserve, God, because you are good. She used the parable to respond to Jesus, which indicates that she both heard and understood what he was saying. She acknowledges it’s not time for her to be fed, but she is begging him for some crumbs. She says this in essence, for my daughter’s sake Jesus, drop some crumbs of healing and blessing on my family. We need it now. I can’t wait. That’s what propels her there. And Jesus honors that. Tim Keller, summarized this scene by referencing Martin Luther in the book, and he says this, this is powerful stuff. You’re more wicked than you ever believed, but at the same time, more loved and accepted than you ever dared to hope. That’s awesome. We could just stop right there. But we won’t. What’s holding you back from falling at the feet of Jesus today? This pagan woman didn’t let her upbringing or circumstances, her background, keep her from seeking Jesus. She was desperate. Are you desperate? Have you tried it on your own and it’s not working out like you had hoped? Are your problems too big? No one can help with it. What’s going on in your life that you need to take to Jesus? Remember this you’re never too far from him. There’s no problem too big or too little that he can’t handle. And you don’t have to wait for him to show up in your little pagan land. You don’t have to wait. Jesus is already waiting for you to cast your cares upon him to bring your problems to him. He wants you to fall at his feet and cast your burdens on him. And now let’s go to the next scene, Mark chapter seven, verse 31 through 37. Give you a second to find it. It’ll be on the screen too. Kind of a longer passage of Scripture. So here we go. Then Jesus left the vicinity of Tyre and went through Sidon, down to the Sea of Galilee and into the region of the of the Decapolis. There some people brought him a man who was deaf and could hardly talk. He was mute, and they begged him to place his hand on the man. Pick up the details in this. After he took him aside, away from the crowd, Jesus put his fingers into the man’s ears. Then he spit and touched the man’s tongue. He looked up to heaven, and with a deep sigh said to him, be opened. At this time the man’s ears were opened, his tongue loosened, and he began to speak plainly. Jesus commanded them not to tell anyone, but the more he did so, the more they kept talking about it. People were overwhelmed with amazement. He’s done everything well, they said. He makes the deaf hear and mute speak. So why all the drama Jesus? Did you catch in the first scene that he provided this healing for the woman with the evil spirit, the woman’s daughter with the evil spirit? By just speaking, he just he just said it. The woman’s daughter was across town and he provided that miracle. But in this case, he does a whole thing. It’s almost like a ritualistic feel. Why? Why are you doing that? Jesus. I’ll tell you the reason why he does that. He didn’t do it for himself. Jesus doesn’t need to do the fingers in the ears, touch the man’s mouth, spit, touch the tongue. That’s kind of weird and gross. Why would he do that? He did it because the man needed him to do it. The man needed that for whatever reason, because of the man’s disability. Maybe Jesus knew more about the man’s emotional state of being. He provided some very specific interaction to provide comfort and personal connection with this guy. That’s why he does what he does. Jesus is doing all this not because he needs to, but because the man needs it. And remember this. And I’m going to hit on this point a a couple more times. Jesus always gives you what you need and he knows better than you what that is. Jesus took him away in verse 33. He took him away. He removed him from the crowd. Now why would he do that? I think it’s because this man keep in mind, what’s he got wrong? He’s deaf and he’s mute. Well, back then, even today, that makes a person stand out a little bit. There’s a lot of insecurities. In fact, this guy probably got made fun of quite a bit. In fact, we’ve we we have a crowd of people in this scene. There’s a crowd of people watching. The man is not blind, right? He knows that. He knows visually what’s happening. He’s probably feeling pretty nervous and scared right now as these people thrust him – here, Jesus, heal this one. Jesus takes the man aside, away from the crowd and interacts with him on a very personal level. He did it because the man needed him to do that. He refuses to put this man in a position where he’s going to be, feel at least embarrassed and humiliated. And then what about the other stuff? Touches his ears, mouth, tongue, spit, that whole thing. This is a sort of sign language. Jesus is in this personal interaction, this time away from the others. Jesus is conveying things in such a way, physically and visually, that to put this man at ease and to let him know things are going to be okay, things are going to be different, trust me. But he does it in a very specific way that meets this guy’s needs. He comes into the man’s cognitive world and uses terms non-verbal speech that the man can understand, and Jesus gives him exactly what he needs in just the way that he needs to receive it. Remember what I said earlier? Jesus always gives you what you need and he knows better than you what that is. I’ve experienced the … the power, the healing power of Jesus personally in my life. That’s a story for another time. But he has healed me, in a way, physically before. And I’ve also seen that in the lives of others. I’ve heard Dave Walker share many times about the experiences he has seen Jesus, the power of Jesus, healing, healing people physically. But I’ve also experienced the other way. I can relate to the man in this scene, and I’m not deaf, by the way, and I’m obviously not mute. But throughout my entire life I’ve had trouble speaking. See, stuttering is a genetic problem in my family, on my father’s side. And most people don’t know this. Not most. Some people don’t realize this because sometimes I do pretty well with it. I do well at hiding it, masking it, coping. I went through a lot of speech therapy as a kid. But I’ve dealt with it my entire life. Some days are better than others. Usually Wednesdays are my hardest days for some reason. Especially, when I’m hungry, when I’m tired, when I’m feeling weak, or if I’m nervous, like today. It rears its ugly head sometimes, and it’s been tough. I mentioned the guy in this scene. He probably was made fun of quite a bit because he was deaf and mute, and he probably tried to talk, but he couldn’t, and that sounded probably pretty weird. So it left him open to ridicule. And I’ve been there, been there a lot. Middle school. Oof, middle school is tough anyway. Throw a kid with a stutter in there. Oof! High school wasn’t that much better. And as I’ve gotten older, let me tell you, adults aren’t that much better than kids sometimes. And then I went on to become a middle school teacher, and then I was principal of a middle school. I don’t know what I was thinking, but. Many times over the years, I prayed for God to take that away from me. Like God, you can obviously heal. We see it. Me next. God, take this away from me, please. Sometimes I would like you in tears begging God that I can’t take this anymore. Why me? Why do I have to deal with this? God, I could be so much more for you if I didn’t have to deal with this. And yet I still struggle with it and I have struggled with it my entire life. And then I’m reminded of this. Paul in second Corinthians 12 seven through ten, and I’ll just read parts of this. And lest I should be exalted above measure by the abundance of the revelations, a thorn in the flesh was given to me– dropping down– And then he said to me, my grace is sufficient for you. My strength is made perfect in weakness. God’s strength is made perfect in weakness, my weakness. For when I am weak, then I am strong. This thing that I so desperately wanted to be healed from, it’s kept me humble. It’s made me more resilient, and it’s helped me trust in him more. And it’s helped me to see who my real friends are throughout life. Because your real friends won’t make fun of you, they’ll be encouraging. I remember this time when I was in high school, I went to high school here at Valley View. Obviously, I went through the youth group here. And like all good youth high school groups, we went to church camp. And of course, during church camp, by the end of the week, we’re all sitting around a campfire. And, you know, we’re sharing our feelings about stuff. And I just shared my insecurities about that and how that was a struggle for me, but also how it, how it helped my faith. A friend of mine came up to me after that and told me how proud they were of me, and I’ve never forgotten that. And I’ve thought about that often throughout my life. My perceived affliction led to that word of encouragement, that word of life that impacts me even to this day. That moment of somebody speaking life into my life. And it stuck with me, throughout my life. And I think I could have missed that had I not had been dealing with this issue. Don’t be afraid to speak life into others. Your friends. Give them words of encouragement. You know they’re struggling with things. Be a word of encouragement to them and let me encourage you. No one is perfect. We’ve all got stuff wrong with us. But, and I’m not talking about sin that you need to confess and repent from. I’m not talking about that. I’m saying there are things that you’re insecure about. Maybe physically, maybe emotionally. But let me tell you something. You’re not broken. You’re not a mistake. You you’re struggling with things that maybe no one knows about. Maybe everyone knows about it. You’ve been ridiculed. You feel desperate like the woman in the first scene. But let me tell you, you’re not a mistake. God created you, and it wasn’t by accident. God has a plan for your life that you can’t even imagine. So don’t give up. Keep trusting him and keep moving forward. And just wait for he for what he has in store for you. He will meet your every need. And remember that Jesus always gives you what you need and he knows better than you what that is. So I’ve got one more thing I wanted to hit on in this scene with, with the with the deaf mute man. And I’m going to show you my sheet. It says if time allows. I think I got two minutes. There’s an even deeper connection Jesus makes with this man. And I don’t know if you picked up on it earlier in the verse, but in verse 34, he he, Jesus looks up into heaven and he gives a deep sigh. I think that’s an interesting detail that Mark puts in there. He gives a deep sigh as he looks into heaven. I don’t think he was catching his breath. He wasn’t worn out. He was connecting with this man. That word deep sigh could even be translated a moan like a deep moan. Now why would somebody moan like that? In this case, it’s an empathetic moan. He’s feeling this man’s pain. Jesus, in some ways, is probably connecting with the alienation and isolation that this man feels based on what he has struggled with his entire life. And I think we see the humanity of Jesus here connecting with him on that. He is resonating with this man. I he knows what it’s like and will be like to be alone and completely isolated, and to feel that way. How lonely this man must have been, and how deeply the humanity of Jesus must have connected with him in that moment. It’s a beautiful reminder that Jesus gets us. He understands what we’re going through, and what’s more, he wants to step into our lives and let us know that we’re not alone. Look at Matthew chapter 11, verse 28. This is a familiar passage of Scripture. Jesus says, I don’t have this for this slide. By the way, this is free. Jesus says, come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. What are you struggling with? Like I said, what are you insecure about? What are you carrying? What are you desperate for Jesus for? Take it to him. Take it to Jesus. He can handle it. And he wants you to to give it to him. And he’s waiting for you to do that. As we close, I just want to mention, if you’re ready to take that next step towards Jesus, if you’re ready to fall at his feet, if you just need prayer, if you have questions about the church in front of you, there are connection cards. We say this every week. There are connection cards in front of you. You can fill that out, mark on there how can the church pray for you, help you, help you take that next step towards Jesus? Maybe help you in taking that next step towards Valley View? Just fill those out. And then in the giving stations in the back, you can just drop that right in there. I’m going to close out in prayer, but then hold tight because I got a couple of brief announcements for us. Okay. God, we thank you for a wonderful, wonderful Sunday. Lord, we thank you for the for the details that have been provided by Mark in the scenes that we see here in Scripture God, and I pray, Lord, that we would seek after you, that we would be desperate for you, that we would cast all of our burdens upon you, God, and that we would recognize that you love us and you know us better than we even know ourselves. And you will give us exactly what we need at just the right time. God, there are those in this room that are struggling with things, their own insecurities, their own, their own illnesses, even. Lord, Lord, I pray God that that your Holy Spirit would just minister throughout this place today. God, I pray that if there’s anyone right now thinking about writing something down on that connection card, but they’re not sure God, I pray that you would just move them in that direction. That that the church here at Valley View, that we could reach out to them. God, we look forward to what you’re going to do in the life of this church and in the life of those here today. God, we pray this in Jesus name, Amen.