[George]

Originally Posted by Winman

Bro George

I am not offended. And I knew Jesus was only sent unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel (Matt 15:24)

I knew this. But what do the scriptures following Matt 15:24 say?

Matt 15:21 Then Jesus went thence, and departed into the coasts of Tyre and Sidon.
22 And, behold, a woman of Canaan came out of the same coasts, and cried unto him, saying, Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou Son of David; my daughter is grievously vexed with a devil.
23 But he answered her not a word. And his disciples came and besought him, saying, Send her away; for she crieth after us.
24 But he answered and said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
25 Then came she and worshipped him, saying, Lord, help me.
26 But he answered and said, It is not meet to take the children's bread, and to cast it to dogs.
27 And she said, Truth, Lord: yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters' table. 28 Then Jesus answered and said unto her, O woman, great is thy faith: be it unto thee even as thou wilt. And her daughter was made whole from that very hour.

Now, I believe in rightly dividing the word, because the Bible says we should study to be approved unto God, rightly dividing the word.

And I respect you very much as a teacher and have learned much from you. And I am not trying to offend you. But in this case you stopped short.

And this is the problem I see with "rightly dividing the word". Some seem to see the scriptures as fixed. They can only understand the scriptures as they personally see the scriptures divided. But myself, I do not always see the scriptures divided the way others do. And the verses I just showed (Matt 15:27-28) are a good example.

Aloha brother Winman,

I wasn't avoiding the verses brother, my only excuse is that my Posts are too long already. But what does the verses that you cite prove?

In Matthew 8: 5-12 & Luke 7:2-10 the Lord also deals with a Roman Centurion - that doesn't NEGATE the fact that His ministry was exclusively to the nation of Israel. He made two "exceptions" because of the extraordinary "faith" of those two Gentiles. {the Lord actually "marveled" at their "faith"}

Matthew 8:5 And when Jesus was entered into Capernaum, there came unto him a centurion, beseeching him,
6 And saying, Lord, my servant lieth at home sick of the palsy, grievously tormented.
7 And Jesus saith unto him, I will come and heal him.
8 The centurion answered and said, Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof: but speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed.
9 For I am a man under authority, having soldiers under me: and I say to this man, Go, and he goeth; and to another, Come, and he cometh; and to my servant, Do this, and he doeth it.
10 When Jesus heard it, he marvelled, and said to them that followed, Verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel.
11 And I say unto you, That many shall come from the east and west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven.
12 But the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Luke 7:2 And a certain centurion's servant, who was dear unto him, was sick, and ready to die.
3 And when he heard of Jesus, he sent unto him the elders of the Jews, beseeching him that he would come and heal his servant.
4 And when they came to Jesus, they besought him instantly, saying, That he was worthy for whom he should do this:
5 For he loveth our nation, and he hath built us a synagogue.
6 Then Jesus went with them. And when he was now not far from the house, the centurion sent friends to him, saying unto him, Lord, trouble not thyself: for I am not worthy that thou shouldest enter under my roof:
7 Wherefore neither thought I myself worthy to come unto thee: but say in a word, and my servant shall be healed.
8 For I also am a man set under authority, having under me soldiers, and I say unto one, Go, and he goeth; and to another, Come, and he cometh; and to my servant, Do this, and he doeth it.
9 When Jesus heard these things, he marvelled at him, and turned him about, and said unto the people that followed him, I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel.
10 And they that were sent, returning to the house, found the servant whole that had been sick.

I can assure you brother that I did not purposely "avoid" posting those verses. Those verses you cited and the ones I have posted here do not "disprove" that: the Lord Jesus Christ's ministry was "unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel.".

I am not making any claims that the Lord did not state to begin with - Christ said (not me):

Matthew 15:24 But he answered and said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel.

He was NOT "sent" to the two Gentiles - they "sought" Him out. And at first he refused to have anything to do with the Syro-Phonecian woman, but upon seeing her "faith" - He granted her request.

These two acts of mercy did not alter His "mission" or His "ministry" one iota. The fact is - He clearly came to earth as the Jews' Messiah and King, and while here on earth He conducted Himself as such. He did not seek out Gentile believers at all - His ministry was exclusively to His earthly people (the Jews), and in the end they REJECTED Him!

To me, it is inconceivable to imagine how "twisted" and "perverse" the hearts of the leaders of the nation of Israel were, except for the fact that when I look around at our present world political system, I realize that nothing has changed!

And I'm not convinced that we Christians are any better than the Jews in Christ's day.

Jeremiah 17:9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?