Weekly Podcast from Cornerstone Wesleyan Church, North Gower, Ontario
www.knowgrowshow.ca
The One Thing
Jesus relishes bold prayers. Don't be polite: allow your faith to thump on Jesus’ door.
Know
- Have you ever met anyone famous? Did you get a signature / photo?
Grow
- Last week Dan preached on “trading tradition for truth” (Mark 7:9-23), about how nothing can defile us from the outside in. This week Jesus spent time with a Syrophoenician (i.e. non-Jewish) woman. What connects the two passages?
- Read Matthew 15:23 – how do you explain the disciples’ response to this woman in Matthew’s account? Look at the surrounding verses for context.
- Mark 7:25 – take some time to imagine what this woman’s life might have been like. What were her struggles on a daily / weekly basis? What emotional state do you think she was in before she knew Jesus was in town?
- Read Mark 7:26-28 What do you make of the “verbal sparring” that Jesus gets into with her? Why didn’t he just heal the girl as soon as she asked?
- This was an ‘at distance’ healing. Why do you think Jesus didn’t go with her to the place and do the healing on site, like He did at other times?
- Dan said that the word used for “dog” is “little dog” (“pet dog” or “puppy”) – how might this change our reading of the seemingly offensive words that Jesus says in verse 27?
- Read verse 28 and 29: why did Jesus interpret the woman’s words as an act of faith?
- Can you think of any other verses that encourage us to be bold in our prayers?
Show
- What can you apply from the Syrophoenician woman to your own prayer life?
