Respects
MATTHEW 15:22-28
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. (Notice – she was a woman of Canaan, a gentile woman – we are also gentiles)
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.
How many of us would have passed this test of faith and shown respects to God after being spoken to in this manner?
PROVERBS 13:20
20 ¶ He that walketh with wise men shall be wise: but a companion of fools shall be destroyed.
Notice – Wisdom verses Destruction is connected to the companionship of who you walk with and associate with.
Respects
Pick up from last week…
Last week Osmosis by Association
PROVERBS 22:24-25
24 ¶ Make no friendship with an angry man; and with a furious man thou shalt not go:
25 Lest thou learn his ways, and get a snare to thy soul.
A snare to the soul comes by associating with people of bad character, it is by association that you learn the ways of others, so it is very important for us to carefully choose the company of who we are associated with, and you will also learn to be respectful or disrespectful mostly by osmosis by the association of the company that you keep.
***From last week we learnt that much of our learning is done by osmosis, we pick up information and character traits up unconsciously and then act it out from that unconscious realm.
I CORINTHIANS 15:33
33 Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners.
Another translation says: Do not be deceived: “Bad company corrupts good character.”
So to be disrespectful is bad character trait that is mostly a learnt trait by association.
Opening scripture:
PROVERBS 13:20
20 ¶ He that walketh with wise men shall be wise: but a companion of fools shall be destroyed.
AMOS 3:3 Can two walk together, except they be agreed?
***Another angle of looking at this verse is that when you walk together with someone, you will often come into agreement with that person by degrees,
“He that walketh with wise men shall be wise”
So we have to be very careful who we walk with and the company that we keep; and this is why our children don’t have an option from a young age but to learn from us as parents.
*If you want to know what the girl is like – look at the traits of her mother; that is who that girl has learnt from by osmosis, and that is what is most likely sitting deep within her subconscious realm, the same applies with the father and the son because it’s one man’s influence on another.
II KINGS 2:19-24
19 ¶ And the men of the city said unto Elisha, Behold, I pray thee, the situation of this city is pleasant, as my lord seeth: but the water is naught, and the ground barren.
20 And he said, Bring me a new cruse, and put salt therein. And they brought it to him.
21 And he went forth unto the spring of the waters, and cast the salt in there, and said, Thus saith the LORD, I have healed these waters; there shall not be from thence any more death or barren land.
22 So the waters were healed unto this day, according to the saying of Elisha which he spake.
23 And he went up from thence unto Bethel: and as he was going up by the way, there came forth little children out of the city, and mocked him, and said unto him, Go up, thou bald head; go up, thou bald head.
24 And he turned back, and looked on them, and cursed them in the name of the LORD. And there came forth two she bears out of the wood, and tare forty and two children of them.
We see that in one part of Elisha’s ministry there is blessing coming from him upon the people because by the healing of the waters, and water is what brings life and prosperity to animals and crops and men and woman, but then directly after that miracle in the next few verses we see that under this same ministry, death is pronounced upon 42 innocent children by the same ministry because of their disrespect to the ministry.
**Why did these children disrespect this ministry that was only trying to be a blessing from God to them - they were only children, so what influenced them to act the way that they acted to make fun of and disrespect a man of God – and that disrespect toward God’s servant caused them to be destroyed? It was by their association with their foolish parents. Brother Branham is dealing with this question in a very deep way.
RESPECTS_ JEFF.IN V-13 N-4 SUNDAY_ 61-1015E
128 And when this young prophet walked along there, going down through the city... And he'd lost his hair, as a young man. He was going down, so these little children run behind him, said, "Hey, why didn't you go up with Elijah," said, "you old baldhead, you?" See? And they was giving disrespect. And what did Elijah do? He turned in the power of the Spirit and cursed those children. What happened? Two she bears come from the woods and killed forty-two of them. Right. Disrespects, irreverent, you can't do that. You've got to respect God.
129 If any of them kids would said now, if their father and mother had said, "Now, look, children, they say that Elijah was taken up. Now, we don't know about that, but, anyhow, I--I--I don't know whether it's so or not, but I tell you; the best thing to do is just don't say nothing about it. Just go ahead. When he passes... We hear he's coming down through the city today, going to have a street meeting up there. If he does, if you children on the road to school today meet him, just say, 'How do you do, reverend? How do you, sir?' or something like that. Speak to him."
But instead of that, no doubt they'd been told at home, oh, they heard papa and mama set at the table and laughing, one another, saying, "What do you know. They said that old holy-roller was taken up. Did you ever believe anything like that? And they said this little old baldheaded fellow, just as baldheaded as a pumpkin up there, he ain't over about thirty-five years old, and here he's coming down through there, and said he's going to hold a street meeting, expect us to believe such nonsense as that. Why, he isn't nothing but a little, just a--a mockery. That's all it is. 'Cause he won't come to our churches. He's just like Elijah was, he won't come to our churches. We'll--he'll... Probably some kind of a witchcraft, hoodoo, hoax that he's got, like Elijah." They didn't believe him. So the little children was taught that at home.
So we can see that these children were influenced by their association at home by their parents attitude of disrespect to the ministry and that is why brother Branham called it parent delinquency and not child delinquency – the sins of the parents are visited on the children – the children are being taught unconsciously by osmosis.
131 If they'd have been taught reverence and respect, they'd have walked out there before that prophet of God and have asked for prayer for themselves. But they had been taught to snicker and laugh and to make fun about like the children of today. No, too many of them today would make fun at a street meeting; they'd make fun at the preaching of the Gospel.
So Elijah cursed them in the Name of the Lord. Not because of the children, but because of the irreverent parents that'd brought the children up that way to disrespect God. Two she bears come out and killed forty-two of them. Now, that's irreverence. God demands respect. When they disrespected His prophet, they disrespected Him; no matter if they didn't believe, they ought to kept their mouth shut, stay away from it. But no, they had to put in their nickel's worth. They had to say something that they ought not have said. And what happened to them?
*So that’s on the negative side, but let’s look at the positive side of this.
RESPECTS_ JEFF.IN V-13 N-4 SUNDAY_ 61-1015E
134 Let's take some people who did respect it. Let's take the Shunammite woman to the same prophet, Elijah. She was actually not an Israelite. She was from Shunem, but she believed in God. And she seen this man pass through the town, heard him speak, she seen the signs that he done.
It's told in history; I don't know whether it's true or not, that one day a bunch of wild dogs was trying to catch a little girl. Now, this isn't the Scripture; it's just a story that I read. And said the Shunammite woman was standing on the corner, and she saw that these dogs was going to kill this little girl. And this holy man was passing through town, and he raised up his staff to God, and cried out for mercy for them little children like that, and the dogs turned and went away from them. Whether it was so or not, sounds like it could be, I don't know.
136 But anyhow, this woman said, when the Bible, when she "perceived that this was a holy man..." She perceived something had happened. She seen what he was, and perceived that he was a holy man from God. And instead of disrespecting him like Jezebel did, she respected him. She said to her husband, "We are well able to do this. I pray thee; let's build him a little house out here somewhere. Let's give him a little place, for he's weary. I've watched him. He's getting old, and I notice his gray hair as it hung down in his beard, his little old staff, his little skinny arms as he walked along, the little flabby arms like that. And here he come walking along, packing a little cruse of oil on his side, with a piece of sheepskin wrapped around him, in the hot sun, his body looked scorched and red. And I pray thee, let's make him a little station to stop here. Let's get the contractor and come out here and build him a little place, and put him up, because I perceive that his spirit--by his spirit, he's a holy man. He's a man of God." Oh, oh, what a difference.
137 Now, her husband agreed, she... He might have said, "Darling, I have noticed that man too. I've listened at him; I've watched him; I've seen his works. I know he's a holy man of God. So we'll just do that." So they called the contractor and built him a nice little place, and put him a little bed there to rest, so he could lay down and rest, fixed him a place to wash his feet, got some water and things, and fixed it in there.
And when the prophet came by, of course, that blessed his soul to see that something had been done for him. He said to Gehazi, "Go, call her, and ask her what could I do for her, could I speak to the king, to the chief captain?" He...
She said, "I dwell among my people, and there's nothing I have need of."
But Gehazi said, "She has no children. And her husband is well stricken in age; he's old. They have no children."
Then I'd imagine, Elijah laying there on this little bed that she had blessed him by making, had his feet all washed, and his beard's all washed out, and things, laying there, no doubt but what he seen a--the vision of the Lord. 'Cause, they always did that. Said--said, "Go, call her, and tell her to stand here before me." Oh, my. "Go, call her, because she has--she's respected God. Go, tell her to come here."
When she stood in the door, he said, "THUS SAITH THE LORD. About this time next year, you'll bear a baby." And about that time next year, she had the baby.
143 Then Satan, when he got to be about twelve years old, his father had him out in the field one day, and Satan said, "I'll get rid of that child," so he just give him a sunstroke. And he died in his mother's arms.
Did that discourage her? No, sir. She said, "Saddle a mule. And go forward; don't stop. Go up to Mount Carmel, to the mountain, because he just passed through here the other day." Oh, oh, oh, my. There you are. That's respect. That's respect.
And her husband said, "You're going to the man of God." Said, "It's neither new moon or sabbath; he won't be up there in his..."
She said, "All will be well, just saddle the mule and let me go on." And so away they went.
147 And they got up into the mountain. And when old Elijah looked out of the cave, and he come out there and looked at him, said, "This looks like that Shunammite woman coming." Said, "She must be grieved." He said, "Go, meet her." And when... He said, "She's grieved in her heart, and God's never told me nothing about it."
See, God don't have to tell you everything (See?), so He don't even tell His prophets everything. He just--He just does what He wants to do; He's God.
149 Here, now, Elijah said, "God..." What if Elijah said this, "Why didn't You tell me why she's coming? Why didn't You tell me all about it?" He'd have never seen a thing. But it was all right with Elijah, whatever it was...
And what if she'd have come up and said; she'd say, "You said you was a servant of God? You hypocrite. I do believe you ain't nothing but a holy-roller"? It'd have never happened. See? God tries us sometimes, see what we'll do.
151 So instead of that she run right up to his feet and worshipped, like she was to God. And she said... And she revealed to him what was the matter. And Elijah said, "Take my staff and go lay it on the child."
And when he did, the woman said, "As the Lord God liveth and your soul never dies (Oh, my,), thou servant of God, I'll not leave you. I'm going to stay here till God sends the vision." Old Elijah stayed there a little while longer; girded up his loins, and took his staff and here he went.
He went into the room where that baby was laying, a dead baby. Walked up-and-down the floor, like that, a few times. Because of a reverent woman, a woman that respected him, a man that respected him, and believed him to be a man of God, he walked back and forth up-and-down the floor until God answered. Amen. Then he laid hisself upon the baby and it sneezed seven times, and picked it up and give it to the mother. Walked on out, and back up to the cave, he went. Because she respected the man of God. Amen. God demands respect.
Walking with the Wise – Osmosis by association.
A wise man will have respect toward the ministry of God and will teach their children to have respects also, and so that attitude of respect will be passed on down to his children to bring the waters of life and blessings to them.
RESPECTS_ JEFF.IN V-13 N-4 SUNDAY_ 61-1015E
165 If you can't respect the man, respect the office he holds in God. That's exactly right (See?); respect him. If a minister comes up, your pastor, always respect him. I've heard congregations talk about their pastor, how just talk about him, run him down, ridicule him. How is that pastor ever going to do anything for you? He can't do it. You--you don't--you don't re... I don't say this church, but I mean churches I have seen, that if you... You've got to love your pastor. You've got to know that he's a human being, but yet God has made him His pastor. The Holy Ghost has made him overseer; then you've got to respect him in that manner. And no matter what the pastor's done, if you respect him in your heart as God's servant, God will respect you for doing it.
"He that--he that receiveth Me, receiveth Him that sent Me," Jesus said. "He that don't receive Me, can't receive Him." See, they said God was their Father; He said, "Your father's the devil."
So, you see, you've got to respect it and believe it, believe that He is. Yes, Martha believed it.
**For Martha and Mary, in their greatest hour of need at the death of their brother Lazarus, it looked like the man whom they had believed in so much had let them down in their greatest hour of desperation, but we see the response of Martha in respect to the ministry that had appeared to have failed her and her sister, and then we see the positive results of that respect to the ministry under those circumstances.
RESPECTS_ JEFF.IN V-13 N-4 SUNDAY_ 61-1015E
168 And that's one little thing I hit on this morning, that Syrophenician woman that time when she come up. Look how she was turned down bitterly. There He was, a Jew; she was a Gentile, and she run up to Him. She didn't know how to approach Him, but she had a need, and she knowed that He was that Son of God. She believed it. She... If--if God would answer His prayer for others, He'd answer prayer for her. And she knowed what He said was the Word of God. If it was the Word of God for the Jews, it was the Word of God for the Gentiles too, whatever He said. And Jesus give her a trial. She said, "Lord, have mercy." Now, watch. No, he said... "Thou Son of David," 'cause she'd heard the Jews saying, "Thou Son of David." Now, He wasn't Son of David to her. See? And said. "Thou Son of David..." That would've been the way a Jew would've approached Him, 'cause she had heard the rest of them. She tried to come like they did, 'cause she was trying to find respects. She was trying to show her respect. And she wasn't just making out; Jesus would knowed if it was. No, He'd have knowed it.
169 So as she come up, she said, "Thou Son of David, have mercy upon my daughter, because she's variously vexed with a devil."
He turned and looked at her and said, "It's not meet for Me to take the children's bread and cast it to the dogs." Whew. Wasn't that one? That was one: not only turned her down on her request, but called her a dog. That's right. And a dog's one of the lowest names the Bible has, you know. So He said, "Not meet for Me to take the children's bread and cast it to the dogs."
She said, "That's truth, Lord." "Lord," then she got it. He wasn't no Son of David to her, but He was Lord. Said, "True, Lord. That's right, but the children eat the scraps under the..." Or, I mean, "The--the dogs eat the scraps under the master's table." That got it. That was it. That was the respect.
Jesus turned to her, said, "Great is your faith. Now, go home, you're going to find your daughter just as you have believed it." That's it. Why? It was her approach.
RESPECTS_ JEFF.IN V-13 N-4 SUNDAY_ 61-1015E
215 Ever who calls on the Name of Jesus Christ, I'm with him whether he's Protestant, Catholic, or whatever he is. I--I might disagree with him upon theology, but I want to respect him as a servant of Christ and as my brother. See? And no matter what he does, we've got to give respects to the Holy Spirit. Exactly right. Yes, sir. And when we get to doing that, then God will go to pouring His blessings among us. Just us little group right here, about fifty or sixty, or maybe seventy-five people setting in here tonight, if we would just altogether bind ourselves together and give godly respects to God and to the Holy Spirit, and what He's doing in this day, and respect every gift and every office that He sends into our midst, God will just continue to pour out His Spirit upon us and we'll grow in numbers and multiply. Don't you believe that? Sure. (That is the answer there as to why many churches don’t grow in numbers and multiply, it is a lack of respect to the offices that God sends into our midst – if you want to see the church get smaller and smaller, then just disrespect the offices that God sends among you. I have watch that over the years) We've got to have respects unto God.
***Respect to God and the ministries that he sends you; by showing respects brings you healing and healing to your loved ones in times of trouble.
These three woman in the bible that showed respects, the two gentile woman (the woman of Canaan and the Shunammite Woman) and then Martha – notice carefully what all these woman had in common, they were in desperate need of the restoration of a loved one, and so the bible is giving us the answer to this, and that is to show respects to God, especially in times of desperation, so this is scriptural answers and Godly counsel.
**If it worked for these women in the bible, then God is obligated to make it work for us also, as individuals and as a church body of believers.