PRESENTER: Dr. JoAnne P. King
Good morning, Saints and welcome to Exousia Ministries. Today, we will cover Part 4 of our sermon series: “Seven Mountains in the Life and Ministry of Jesus Christ Provide a Framework for Christian Living!” and will be based on Matthew 15:29-39 Amp. which says:
"Jesus went on from there and passed along by [the eastern shore of] the Sea of Galilee. then He went up on the hillside and was sitting there.
"And great crowds came to Him, bringing with them the lame, crippled, blind, mute, and many others, and they put them down at His feet; and He healed them.
So, the crowd was amazed when they saw the mute speaking, the crippled restored, the lame walking, and the blind seeing; and they praised and glorified the God of Israel.
"Then Jesus called His disciples to Him, and said, 'I feel compassion for the crowd, because they have been with Me now three days and have nothing [left] to eat; and I do not want to send them away hungry, because they might faint [from exhaustion] on the way [home].' [Mark 8:1-2]
"The disciples said to Him, 'Where are we to get enough bread in this isolated place to feed so large a crowd?'
"And Jesus asked them, 'How many loaves [of bread] do you have?' They replied, 'Seven, and a few small fish.'
"He directed the crowd to sit down on the ground,
"And He took the seven loaves and the fish; and when He had given thanks, He broke them and started giving them to the disciples, and the disciples [gave them] to the people.
"And they did all eat, and were filled; and they took up of the broken meat that was left seven baskets full.
"And they that did eat were four thousand men, beside women and children.
"And he sent away the multitude, and took ship, and came into the coasts of Magdala."
At this time, Jesus was purposely avoiding King Herod the Tetrarch. And knowing that His time was short, He wanted to spend time with His disciples teaching them things that He wanted them to do and be able to carry on after He had ascended back to His heavenly Father.
The only place He could find freedom from crowds and from His opponents was in the northern area, the area bordering Gentile territory. No Jew was likely to enter Gentile areas. From this point until He entered the coasts of Magdala [Mt. 15:39], the miracles He performed were on behalf of the Gentiles.
As they entered the coasts of the Gentiles, Jesus and His disciples came upon a desperate Gentile mother. Through this example, Jesus was demonstrating to his disciples “just what it takes to receive things from God.” Most of you remember this mother who was coming to Jesus on behalf of her daughter. The first thing she did was to cry out for three things:
She uttered a cry of Intercession or need. She cried for mercy. No matter the need, Jesus can never turn from a desperate cry for His mercy. Two things are essential: one must cry for mercy, and one must cry to Him, the true Lord. Many cry, but not to Him!
She cried for Jesus to hear her.
She cried out not for herself but for her child.
Jesus said, "I was commissioned by God and sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel."
Persistence: she had a persistence that would not quit.
Despite Jesus’ silence.
Despite the objection of the disciples.
And, He replied: "It is not good (appropriate, fair) to take the children's bread and throw it to the pet dogs."
Despite her being undeserving. Many of us would have lost it right there.
Instead, she replied, "Yes Lord; but even the pet dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their [young] masters' table."
Jesus made these statements to her because the woman needed to learn persistence, humility, and trust. And secondly, she needed to learn that there is only one true religion and only one true Messiah. She was a Greek from a proud pagan society. She had been and probably still was a worshipper of false gods; therefore, she was undeserving of being heard by the true Messiah or true Lord. She had recognized Him as the Son of David, as the miracle worker of the Jews, etc. What she really needed to see was that He was the only Messiah of all and the only hope of all. He alone was to be the Lord and Master whom she was to worship. She had to learn the same lesson the Samaritan woman at the well had to learn: salvation is of the Jews. [Jn 4:22]
There is a great lesson here for believers. The woman was a heathen, yet she knew and did some-thing that so many of us have never learned. She would not be deterred or quit!
Worship: A spirit that worships Jesus as Lord. The woman came to Jesus and worshipped Him as Lord. She called Him “Lord” before (v 22) but now she took the one essential step: she worshipped Him as Lord.
At first, the woman did what so many do; she approached Jesus only as a great man, not as the Lord who is to be worshipped. God will never honor such a low view of His Son. What is needed is to experience what she did in this verse: a growth in seeing who Jesus really is, the true Lord who is to be worshipped by all.
Humility: a spirit of humility and surrender. As I mentioned earlier, the woman was a Greek, a proud people with a rich heritage who despised the Jews. She was a worshipper of false gods, a heathen, an outsider, a sinner; and He was the Messiah, the Master of all lives. Was she willing to humble and surrender herself to Him as the Master of her life?
With great spiritual insight, she clearly saw and confessed in humility that she was nothing spiritually: she was only “a dog,” but being a dog of the family, she had the right to eat the crumbs that fell from His table.
Faith: the woman had great faith. One thing rises above all others in the experience of this mother: she believed that Jesus could meet her need, and she would not let Him go until He met her need. Her belief was so strong that she would not quit—despite being met with silence, irritation, opposition, apparent rebuff, and being told that she was undeserving. There is no way to describe the scene except O woman great is thy faith. Additionally, she believed that Christ’s power could overcome space and time. Her daughter was back home! What enormous faith!
This message is important because the introduction [Matt. 15:21-28] sets the context for the message from our text. It is important to note that the above woman was one of only two individuals whose faith Jesus pronounced to be great: this woman’s and the centurion. Both were Gentiles. [Mt. 8:10] It is important to note from the above lesson what is great faith? The steps taken by this Gentile woman tell us: 1) It is a desperate cry of need. 2) It is a persistence that will not quit. 3) It is a spirit that worships Jesus as Lord. 4) It is a spirit of humility and surrender to the Lord. And 5) It is a faith that receives its request. The lesson learned from this is Just what it takes to receive from Jesus.
From this point on to the end of our text of today, Jesus is ministering to Gentiles. As I mentioned earlier, Jesus and his disciples are taking the long way around to avoid King Herod the Tetrarch’s territory which included Galilee and land to the east of the Jordan River. This detour would have brought Jesus back to the place where He had sent some demons into a herd of pigs [Matt. 8:28-34] and kept Him in a Gentile region instead of a Jewish area.
In our text this morning, Jesus was doing two things in this passage.
Jesus was demonstrating His Messiah-ship in order to drive the truth more and more deeply into the disciples’ hearts.
In a most direct way, He was teaching His disciples that they were to minister to the needy no matter who they were. In this event, He was ministering primarily to Gentiles. The Jews considered the Gentiles to be heathen; they were lost and thought to be outcasts by God. The prejudice against the Gentiles ran deep. Nevertheless, Christ had come to save all, not only the Jews, and the disciples had to learn this truth so that they would go out and minister to all after His return to the Father.
In a very simple and forceful demonstration, Christ showed the disciples step by step how they were to minister to the lost, to the outcast, and to the needy of society. It is estimated that Jesus was in Gentile territory for 6 months and ministered only to the desperate woman and this event where He fed the four thousand. As mentioned earlier, He entered the Gentile areas in order to prepare Himself and His disciples for His departure from this earthly realm. Apparently, the disciples had six months of uninterrupted and intensive training at the feet of Jesus.
Before leaving the Gentile area, Jesus felt it necessary to reinforce in His disciples the great need to minister to all. He wanted to foreshadow for them, what they must do after He was gone: minister to the Gentiles, as well as, to the Jews. They must reach all who are lost, outcast, and needy.
Jesus wanted His disciples and you and I to learn from today’s text: How to Minister with Christ’s Compassion to Man’s Physical Need?
During this sermon, I will answer 5 questions:
How does one make themselves ready?
How does one have or show compassion?
How does one meet the need?
How does one minister to the need?
After the above 4 things, what is required of the minister?
How does one make themselves ready?
I pointed out to you in an earlier sermon that Jesus after ministering always managed to go up in a mountain and spend alone time with His Father. If Jesus had to do this, certainly we do also. So, following Jesus’ lead, we must:
Make oneself ready by spending alone time with the Lord where we can receive instructions from Him and a fresh infilling of the Holy Spirit. He knows the needs of the people that you are going to minister to and He will equip you.
After our time with the Lord, we must go or be where the people are that we are to minister to. They are not coming to your house. After we arrive at the place where we are to minister, we must make ourselves available to the needy so that they feel free to come to us.
As Jesus was approachable, because no one was too repulsive, they only had to come to Him, we must be the same way. By spending time with the Lord first, when we enter the place where the needy are gathered, the atmosphere around you should be inviting and welcoming to even the most outcast looking person.
Always remember, you cannot minister from an empty vessel.
Please do not miss this important point:
Jesus can conquer all the enemies of mankind, but one thing is needed. Jesus’ Disciples must bring people to Him. They must go after everyone, not just after the acceptable and appealing.
Note: Always remember: the people who are most needful are neglected by men everywhere. As long as they are neglected, they have little chance to rise above their need! This is why Pastor Joyce asks you to invite everybody to Church.
How does one have or show compassion?
We are to do the opposite of what the disciples did. We know from the text that the disciples had no compassion at all for the multitudes and had no thought of helping them.
Isn’t this, like so many Christians who profess Christ! They have no love or compassion for certain types of people. They do not observe what they do or what they have. They have little concern and no thought of helping them.
When we accepted the Lord Jesus as our savior, the kingdom of God came into us. And in this Kingdom came all the attributes and/or characteristics of God, the Holy Spirit, and the Fruit and Gifts of the Spirit. I want to prove to you that the kingdom of God is within you.
What is the Kingdom of God?
Rom 14:17: “For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.”
Colossians 1:12-14 shows us being brought into the kingdom of His Son: [12]"…giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light. [13] "For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, [14] "in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. **The “kingdom of light” [12] and the kingdom of the Son” [13] appear to be synonymous expressions. *** Verse 13 shows God as having delivered us [KJV] from the devil’s dominion into the Son’s kingdom. Every person alive right now lives in two of the three kingdoms: [1] an earthly, geo- graphically defined “kingdom,” i.e., America, Canada, France, etc.; and [2] a spiritual kingdom either [a] God’s or [b] the devil’s. Our initial entrance “into” the Lord’s kingdom seems to be at the point of our salvation, when we are born again, redeemed, and forgiven our sins and filled with His Holy Spirit evidenced by speaking in tongues. This is your witness that the Kingdom of God is within you!
****The Expositor’s Bible Commentary [P. 179] has an illuminating comment on the Greek grammar concerning God having “qualified” believers “to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light.” The tense of the verb is aorist, pointing to the time of the Colossians’ conversion. The suggestion is that the qualifying is not a process but an instantaneous act. As our God is a right now God, our qualifying for the Kingdom of God is a right now act.
Where is the Kingdom of God located?
(Luke 17:20-21) says: “And when He was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come, He answered them and said, the kingdom of God cometh not with observation: "Neither shall they say, Lo here! Or, lo there! For, behold the kingdom of God is within you."
Therefore, since the kingdom of God is within you, your Spirit, soul, and soul-mind have been perfected. It is your mind-thought life that is imperfect. Unfortunately, most Christians have been letting their mind-thought life rule and not their Spirit man. In teaching His disciples compassion, Jesus wanted to stir up their compassion by having them look at the following needs in each person, and so should we:
look at every need.
observe what the needy man did and what he had.
be concerned over any lack, and “fainting.” And,
be gripped with a determination to help.
So, compassion is located in our Spirit man and when ministering to the needy, we need to let our Spirit man rule. Let the compassion or passion in your Spirit man come out when you are looking at the above four items. And when you do, God’s wisdom and whatever gift(s) that are needed will be revealed or come out as well.
How does one meet the need?
In the example above, we were to use our Spirit man’s passion and look on the need, observe what the person did and what he had; to be concerned over any lack and fainting; and to be gripped with a determination to help. During this process, you will determine what the need is and what if anything the person has. You will be given God’s wisdom as to how to meet that need. You must be willing to meet the need at hand without objecting or finding excuses, if necessary.
Note: When resources are mentioned, many object. Few are willing to give what they have, especially to those who are thought to be outcasts.
Jesus said that we should see what the need is and what if anything the needy person has. Let’s look at a biblical example of this principle in 2 Kings 4:2-7. You probably remember this miracle performed by the Prophet Elisha, where this widow was the wife of a deceased prophet; had two sons and a creditor wanted to take her two sons as bondmen to pay the debt. Elisha asked her, what do you have in your house? She replied: nothing saved a pot of oil. The widow didn’t see any worth to the pot of oil, but Elisha through the eyes of passion, that allowed wisdom to come in, saw it as the solution to her problem. He told her to borrow from her neighbors' empty vessels and not to borrow a few. After borrowing the vessels, shut the door to your house on you and your sons and pour oil into the empty vessels. When all the vessels were full, the oil stayed. Elisha told her to sell the oil; pay the debt and for her family to live off the rest.
How does one minister to the need?
One ministers to the need by learning to minister to the need at hand. In our text scripture, Jesus fed 4 thousand people. However, before feeding the 4 thousand, three things were done:
The people were prepared. The needs of the people were not met in a haphazard way. The people were arranged and organized to receive the provision. The people had to be obedient and follow the Lord’s instructions before their needs would be met.
God was given thanks. In every case before any need was fulfilled, Jesus gave thanks to God. This was to let them know that God was their source.
Then and only then, the need was met.
If you noticed, in each case, we have to do what Jesus did. When we are ministering to the need, we have to prepare the people. You prepare the people by giving them what God gave you in your alone time with Him. Whatever God has given you will set the people up for a blessing and receiving from Him. Whatever God gives you, it will be perfect for that situation whether it is healing, financial, spiritual, etc. It may be a case like Elisha’s where he had to find out what the widow had in her house. You may be led to give them a scripture and/or a testimony because faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. This is done to increase their faith. While we are doing this, we are listening to see if we hear anything else from the Lord that He wants done. Because Jesus said and I paraphrase: that He only did or said what He saw His Father do or say.
You always point them to God who is the provider for their need and you and they give Him thanks for what they are about to receive. If it is a need that you can meet, then you take care of the need. If it’s not, then you wait on the manifestation of it without doubting or saying anything negative that will negate it. (For example: If it’s healing. The person will not turn around and reclaim the disease—Oh my so and so is hurting or has come back, etc.) Any need that you can’t take care of, GOD WILL, YOU CAN COUNT ON IT!!!
Some of you have heard this testimony before but I want the new members to hear it because it shows the above steps that were used in ministering to the need of a young man who had been given one year to live. This young man was only 30 years old when he was given this diagnosis. When I heard it, my compassion went out to him. I asked his aunt if she would bring him to my house after Thanksgiving dinner so I could minister to him. She said that she would. However, when Thanksgiving came, I was late in getting my dinner ready, the guest were late, etc.
The aunt called to say that she couldn’t bring him because he was in such pain. She had quite a few people over to her house, and they had prayed and sung songs praising God but He was in excruciating pain and was stretched out on a sofa with a blanket over him. I told her that He couldn’t come to me but I would come to him as soon as I finished dinner. That was a labor of love, because anybody who knows me, knows that I do not like highways and you had to take highways to get there.
I had a nice alone time as I drove down to southern Maryland. I sang songs to God and told Him that I was going to represent Him and that He had to do this! As I was driving, He told me what to do. He said: “I want you to grow his leg out and once he sees this, he will have enough faith for anything else. He had multiple myelomas a very deadly form of Cancer.
When I arrived, the Spirit was high because so many prayers and singing praises had gone forth. There were around 15 people or so that were there. He was stretched out on the sofa with the cover over him. I had to organize and prepare people just as todays’ message. I asked for a chair and I asked him to get up and sit in the chair. Then, I explained to the 15 people or so to listen as I prayed and agree with me but I wanted only my voice to be heard because I wanted him to hear what I was saying.
Then, I measured his legs since the Lord said to grow one out. Sure enough, one of them was shorter than the other. I pointed this out to him and the others. I warned him not to blink because when I pray that leg is going to grow out so fast, that if you blink you will miss it. I prayed and that leg grew out so fast that everyone including him were amazed. I pointed him and everybody else to God by indicating that I couldn’t grow that leg out only God could do that. He agreed only God could do that. I said if God grew your leg out; He can take care of anything else as well. Do you believe this? He said yes. Then, I had him to stand up, and I commanded different parts of his body to line up and stay in place in the name of Jesus.
Afterwards, I said as an act of your faith, I want you to do something you couldn’t do before. He bent over to touch his toes and turned from side to side. I asked him if he had any pain. He said he had a little pain in a portion of his upper back. God didn’t tell me; he had one arm that was shorter. I said, oh you have one arm shorter, so when I measured the arm; one was shorter. So, God grew that arm out as well. Then I asked if there was any pain. He turned from side to side, reached down to the floor, etc. He said I don’t have any pain. Everybody in the room went off, there was dancing, shouting, singing and praising God for what He had done. That gentleman is alive today and that was over 30 years ago. Don’t be afraid of a diagnosis, do what God tells you to do and He will work it out!
After the above 4 things, what is required of the minister?
In learning to minister to the needs of others, the minister is witnessing the Lord’s power and provision.
When the needy are brought to Christ, He meets their needs and His provision satisfies. In fact, He meets their needs and His provision is abundant. This is vitally important. They were physically fed because they were hungering and thirsting after Jesus Christ.
There is a great reward in bringing the needy to Christ. We get to see the Lord’s power and provision in action. The more people we bring, the more of His power and provision we see; and the more we see of His power and provision, the more our own faith is strengthened. Bringing the needy to Christ is one of the most effective ways for growing spiritually. I want to point out something to you in the feeding of the 5,000 Jews and the 4,000 Gentiles. The baskets collected after the feeding of the 5,000 Jews were 12 baskets, while the baskets collected after the feeding of the 4,000 Gentiles were 7 baskets full. When comparing 12 to 7 baskets, you might think that the Jews collected more when in fact they did not! Why? Because the Jew’s baskets were small pouch-like baskets usually carried by Jews to hold their food when journeying. On the other hand, the Gentiles carried large wicker baskets, hamper-like baskets--that were often large enough to carry a man inside.
Why was the Gentile’s carry away portion larger than the Jews? The scripture says: “that those who hunger and thirst after righteousness shall be filled." These outcasts as judged by the Jews, hungered and thirsted after righteousness evidently, more than the Jews, because the text said that they listened to Jesus for 3 days with little or no food. Some of us are so spoiled that we don't want to listen to a sermon more than 30 minutes. This explains why some prayers are not answered--you are not hungering and thirsting after righteousness!
In conclusion, I want to point out to you in the example of the Gentile woman who came to Jesus for her daughter. Jesus said to her that: “it wasn’t meet to take the children’s bread and to cast it to dogs.” The children’s bread here refers to the benefits that the Messiah was to bring to them, which included salvation for the body, soul, and spirit –salvation from sin, sickness, demons, and satanic powers. These are family rights, legal rights, promised rights, human rights, Divine rights, and redemptive rights of all children of God. Children can have whole loaves, if dogs can have crumbs.
Additionally, we learned that Jesus wants His disciples to be available to listen to the needy and to minister to them with compassion and without being judgmental. Jesus showed His disciples by example that all people were to be ministered to, Jew and Gentile alike and that this was the way in which His followers were to spread the Gospel beyond the Nation of Israel.
When we are co-laboring with the Lord in the field of ministering to the needy, nothing will be impossible for you, you just have to believe! What you can’t do in the natural, He will take care of it. God will not let you down!!
This is a message to anyone who is suffering from any kind of need. I hope that you have gleaned from this message: That all you have to do is hunger and thirst after righteousness for Jesus and He will take care of all of your physical, financial and spiritual needs.
Additionally, the passage where Jesus feeds a crowd of 4,000 people with just seven loaves of bread and a few fish--offers three central lessons.
Inclusivity for all: Jesus demonstrates that His grace and salvation extend beyond the Jewish people to include Gentiles (non-Jews). He came for every one!
Supernatural Provision: When human resources are completely exhausted, Jesus steps in to provide more than enough. Not only did everyone eat and have their fill, but there were seven full baskets of food leftover.
Compassion in Action: Jesus genuinely cares for both the spiritual and physical well-being of the people, seeing their hunger and choosing to meet it.
I want you to remember the core lessons and themes from the Greek mother who came for the healing of her daughter and apply them in your requests.
Persistent Faith: Despite facing multiple obstacles--including the disciples wanting her sent away and Jesus' initial silence--she did not give up. She refused to be deterred.
Humility in the Face of Rebuff: When Jesus compared the Gentiles to "dogs" receiving the children's bread, she did not become offended. Instead, she responded with profound humility and quick wit, stating that even the "little dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master's table."
A Lesson on Grace: The event served as a teaching moment, proving that God's love and mercy are not limited to one specific group but are accessible to anyone with true faith.
Trusting the Word: The woman left with no physical proof other than Jesus' spoken word that her daughter was well, and she trusted that her request had been granted.
Give the Lord a praise offering for His glorious message to us on the "Seven Mountains in the Life and Ministry of Jesus Christ Provide a Framework for Christian Living!" Amen and Amen and so let it be done!