In the Gospels, only a few people truly impress Jesus. What impresses Jesus? Education? Money? Power? No. What impresses Jesus is faith.In our text for Sunday, we meet a gentile woman who amazes Jesus with her faith in Him, so much so, he exclaims, "O woman, great is your faith!" Her great faith released His great power in her life. Great faith releases great power. Why? God honors bold faith because bold faith honors God. What made this woman's faith so impressive? She humbly accepts Christ's no, while persistently asking for his yes. 

One of the great principles that came out of the Reformation, along with Sola Scriptura, Sola Gratia, Sola Fide, Solus Christus, and Soli Deo Gloria, was “Semper Reformada” – Always Reforming. This isn’t a call for the church to evolve in an ever-changing culture, but a battle cry to continuously reform the church in accord with the Scriptures. The church is formed by the Word of God and always being reformed by the Word of God. Just like individuals are. How does reformation happen in our lives and in our churches in our land? When we look into the Word of God, into the Law of God, and say, Lord, where have I added to it and where have I taken away?

Wouldn't you like to be more joyful? I think all of us would. We'd like to grow in joy. And joy isn't something that you can manufacture. It's not a personality trait. It's not like happiness. It's not like pleasure. Joy is opening your eyes to the deeper realities of life, away from the temporary to the eternal. And that's the only way to experience everlasting joy. And we all know this thing joy exists. We're all actively or passively, consciously or subconsciously, we're seeking it more than just pleasure, more than happiness. We want that joy and pleasure is felt in the body. Happiness is felt in the mind. And the feeling joy, it's felt in the soul, in the center of your being, the everlasting part of you.

When an angel of the Lord appeared to a group of shepherds to announce the birth of Jesus Christ, the angel said to them "Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people."Good news that brings with it great joy. Joy is found in knowing and receiving the good news. This news is good because it's true. The joy is grounded in truth. Happiness is in the feelings. Joy is in the facts. Joy is found in Jesus Christ. He is the only one who can give you joy because He is the only one who can change the ultimate facts of your eternal destiny.

There is a storm and it almost seems like the text is redundant but, in this episode, Jesus is not physically in the boat with the disciples. He isn't in the boat in our lives physically, He's not here physically but His physical presence isn't necessary for His sovereign rule to continue reigning because He is the great I am. That's His name, Jesus says, "I am," unchangeable, unflappable, immutable.

One of the most common adjectives used to describe God's love toward His people is: steadfast. Psalm 118:29 says "Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; for his steadfast love endures forever!"

God's love for His people is steadfast, because God is immutable (that is, He doesn't change.) Therefore, when God meets Moses at the burning bush, when Moses asks for God's name, God responds: "I am who I am." God loves us with a steadfast love, and commands us to love and serve Him with a reciprocal steadfastness.

How does God grow steadfastness in us? Through trials. James 1:2-3 says, "Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing."

If you are going to grow as a believer, you can't just take and take and take and consume. You have to take what you have consumed, the energy, and then use that in order to serve the Lord. If we're going to grow as believers in faith and effectiveness for the kingdom, we have to take both seriously, exhausting service and invigorating rest. Some of you need to take the service part more seriously. Do you ever get to the point where you are spiritually exhausted? Do you do things for the Lord that drain your energy stores spiritually, emotionally, physically? You should, and some of you should take that rest part seriously. You are not a machine, though in Boston, many of us think we are. We're not. You're not a machine. You are not more spiritual than the disciples here. You do need rest and you need recovery time.

The twelve disciples have just returned from an exhausting mission trip, chock full of preaching, exorcisms, and healings. Seeing their exhaustion, both spiritual (ministering to lots of people with lots of needs) and physical ("they had no leisure even to eat"), Jesus tells them "Come away by yourselves to a desolate place and rest a while." As they land in this desolate place, they are met with thousands of people with thousands of needs. Jesus, full of compassion for the crowd, begins to "teach them many things." The disciples, probably getting a little frustrated and hungry (hangry!), ask Jesus to send everyone away so the crowds (and disciples) could finally have something to eat. Then Jesus tells the disciples the absolute last thing they wanted to hear: "You give them something to eat." 

There's people from all over the world all around us. The Lord is drawing people from all over. They're here. This is why we exist. We are on mission to proclaim the gospel to all who would listen, to all who would hear. And we have the authority of Jesus Christ. Just as he gave to his early disciples, he has given to us as the church. He says, go and make disciples of all nations. And he says, when you do, when you make disciples of all nations, I am with you until the end of the age. We experience the fullness of Christ's presence in particular when on mission proclaiming the truth.