Donna Schambach: “O Woman, Great Is Your Faith! (Matthew 15:28)

• The reference is Matthew chapter 15:22-28, it’s the Syrophoenician woman. I used to love to hear my dad preach about her, Jesus, (congregation shouting) thou Son of David, have mercy on me. And the disciple said, can’t you shut that woman up, she’s bothering us Lord. So she shouted even louder, I said Jesus, (congregation shouting) thou Son of David, over here Lord. Seem like Jesus wouldn’t listen to her, in fact it seemed like Jesus was dissing her.

00:51 - Because finally when He spoke up, He says you know I only came to the lost sheep of the House of Israel it’s not for me to give the children’s bread to dogs. But she kept on asking and she kept on moving toward Him, and she kept on pushing past where others would have stopped. I’m gonna talk about this for a minute because there’s a secret that some people have learned that Jesus has moved in a different way than human beings are moved. Jesus doesn’t deal with us after the flesh, He deals with us after the spirit. We approach him oftentimes on the base of the flesh, oh my pain, oh the disease, oh the doctor’s report, oh I feel so bad God.

01:53 - Here’s Jesus telling her you don’t belong to the right tribe, you just a little dog. A lot of people came to church they heard the pastor talk like that, they’d be so out the back door quickly and they’d never be back again. There are people who live in their self pity, there are people who live in their rejection and this is one of the things that God wants to close the door on today. This is the one thing that God wants to end today, forget about what your mother said to you 15 years ago, forget about the guy that broke your heart, forget about the one that doesn’t love you anymore. You sang the sad song, you played the violin, you cried the tears it’s over.

02:47 - Somebody say, it’s over, if you want the newness of God and you want the healing of God let go of the pain, let go of the suffering, let go of the past, let go with a pity party. Say I have come as one that Christ is going to look on the day, I’m moving toward Jesus, I’m putting a demand on his anointing and I refuse to wallow in self pity any longer. Hallelujah! He took my shame, He took my guilt, He hanged naked on the cross, He took the stripes for my healing, He’s done it all for me. I’m not gonna live in shame, I’m not gonna live in remorse, I’m not gonna live in the past any longer because it’s a completed work. Hallelujah! Oh come on praise Jesus, He did it, He did it.

03:51 - (speaking in tongues) Oh, hallelujah! We left the devil shut us down in our minds and our emotions, somebody says something stupid to us. We can live in it for a week, but honey it’s time that army starts to understand it’s not life as usual any longer but we’re gonna learn how to take the tough stuff. We’re gonna learn how to get the thick skin, we’re gonna learn how to be resilient to the lies of the enemy and we’re gonna stand up with a sword of the Lord in our hand, we’re gonna take the shield of faith above all. We’ll quench all the fiery darts of the enemy, we’re gonna be a different breed, a new breed. Hallelujah! This is the day that we push back against the lies of the enemy. Come on shout yes.

05:05 - Hallelujah! It’s a day of release, (congregation chattering) see people come to church for a healing meeting, now I’ve seen it. They come when you feel sorry for them I’ve been sick for so long, I’ve been hurt so bad and I just pray Jesus wants to heal me. Honey take it he’s here to heal you, I know but you don’t know how badly it hurt. What’s bigger Jesus or your pain? So what are you looking at the most, are you looking at the symptoms? Are you looking at Jesus? You see and I know, listen we’re also acceptable to Him, all of us I understand I’ve been in pain. I understand what that is, but there comes a time when we have to make up our mind.

06:21 - I don’t care if this pain tries to debilitate me yet will I praise him. I love the part where Jesus told this woman it wasn’t a good thing to give the children’s bread to dogs cause she didn’t get offended. It’s an unusual woman by the way, but I was reading this the other day and something you hear it 150,000 times. My dad preached at 175,000 times and I saw something for the very first time in the scripture. She said, yes Lord but even the puppies eat the crumbs that fall from the master’s table.

07:13 - Now, you know what she was saying? You’re my master, she was identifying Jesus not just as Lord but I’m taking you as my master. I recognize I might be a puppy in your household but I still belong to you, you can kick me to the curb anytime you want to. But just give me crumb or two Lord because I know of crumb from you can take care of cancer in an instant. Hallelujah! I know what an anointed crumb from you can do and Jesus was amazed at her faith but it wasn’t just that He had the power to heal her. She being a Syrophoenician woman was saying I don’t care if I’m not in your club but I’m making you the Lord of my club.

08:10 - Hallelujah! I’m making you the master, I’m gonna be the first in my city, I’m gonna be the first of my tribe that says, Jesus the Son of David is my Lord and master. And when she understood and had a revelation of who He was, Jesus said, oh woman great is thy faith. You got it go, whatever you came for it’s already done. Hallelujah! See that woman came for her daughter, everybody thought she was making noise about herself but her daughter was grievously vexed with the devil. Sometimes we don’t know what’s going on in the hearts of men and women.

09:00 - Right here in New Jersey years and years ago, brother Addison do you remember mother Velez? Mother Velez was that lady I was telling you about that used to jump up and down like that. She wore a little pillbox hat and I can still see her when she worshiped, she got excited but her worship was jumping up and down. But one time dad was taken an offering for the building here, they try to pay for the building. And he had just met with her before the service and she said brother Schambach you need to agree with me that I’m able to pay my rent this month because I’m about… I think it was $200 short, she had $300 on her.

09:42 - And when dad got up take the offering Lord spoke to her and said give the $300 toward the building. And when dad saw her give it, he said, he took the money and put it back in her hands. Cause you know when your pastor it’s a little different story than being an evangelist, he knew her situation. He says, no honey you need to save this for the rent. And she looked at him, she said brother Schambach are you trying to cheat me out of my blessing? He backed up.

10:17 - She said you didn’t ask me for it God did, give it back. She put that $300 in the offering, now what dad didn’t know is she was believing God for her two sons who were drug addicts to get saved. And she was sewing that offering for those two boys to get saved. You know back in the day they had services 21 days in a row, I mean it was just perpetual revival. And he always said the next night, so if it wasn’t the next night, I’m just quoting him okay.

10:51 - But the next night, he sees her sitting on the front row with two boys on the other side of her and he just started to grin from ear to ear. He stopped the service, he said hold it I know there’s a testimony here. Come here mother what happened? She’s a brother Schambach you knew I gave that money in the offering. Yeah. She said, last night I got a knock on the door and I got the surprise of my life. She said there were my boys, they were out in the streets and she said the power of God hit them in the streets.

11:26 - She said every taste for the drug left their body and she said the conviction of the Holy spirit fell on there. They came back to mom and they said, momma we wanna get right with God, we wanna give our lives to Jesus. And they put money in her hand and it was enough money to pay her rent for six months in the future. Hallelujah! That night they came to church with mama, gave their heart to the Lord. Hallelujah! It was a revolution in her family, this is what I’m trying to tell you.

12:00 - It may not make sense to the natural mind, God may tell you to do something that is an act of faith but when you move toward Jesus and when you just do what he tells you to do, He will never disappoint you. He’s an on time God. Hallelujah! He is never to late, He just tells you what to do and He causes you to respond. Oh come on. .