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So I rode my bicycle for a year in 2010 from Canada to Columbia.

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And as part of that journey, I discovered that basically a billion people in

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the world didn't have access to clean drinking water.

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So I began this journey and did some higher level education and

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then on a series of trips with my friends in the last six years.

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That's all led us to this spot now we've become very interested in

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small scale decentralized desalinization projects.

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It's really the future.

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Hi everyone, I'm Stokie.

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You can be with us for today's beach talk.

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I want to help us understand every word of God that's in the word of God.

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God has so many amazing things to say to us every day.

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We'll just take the time to read and listen, try to apply them to our lives.

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Now, my objective is always the same.

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It's disciples making disciples who plant churches that plant churches.

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So in this way, we can see Jesus be a beautiful grassroots movement.

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They can go anywhere God wants it to in and through our lives.

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So today we're in Matthew 15, verses one and two.

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It says, then the scribes and Pharisees who were from Jerusalem came to Jesus

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saying, why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders?

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For they don't wash their hands when they eat bread.

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Now up to this point, most of Jesus's ministry had been in the region of Galilee.

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Galilee was north of Judea where Jerusalem is.

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Now these scribes and Pharisees were an official delegation from Jerusalem

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coming to investigate and assess the words and the work of Jesus himself.

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William Barclay points out that they were genuinely bewildered.

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And in a very short time, they're going to be outraged and shocked

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by some of the things that Jesus says to them.

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These ceremonial washings were commanded by tradition, but not by scripture.

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The religious leaders refer to the traditions and not the commandments of God.

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We're going to see this drama unfold in the future chapters.

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Now the matter in question here had to do with hygiene.

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Now they were offended that the disciples didn't observe these rigid rituals for washing before meals.

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So in verse 3, he answered them and said,

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now why do you also break the commandment of God?

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Because of your tradition.

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So when the disciples were accused of sin, Jesus answered with an accusation.

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Jesus was strong in his reply because these leaders were far too concerned

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with the ceremonial trivialities versus what God was concerned about, people's hearts.

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Now this is a strong reply from Jesus.

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Now these conflicts with the religious leaders are going to escalate in the chapters to come,

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ultimately leading to his crucifixion.

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So Jesus repeated what the scribes and Pharisees had already said

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about that accusation based on the tradition.

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So they demanded that they follow the traditions instead of the commands of God.

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So verses 4 and 6, he says, honor your father and mother.

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Whoever curses his father and mother, let him be put to death.

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But whoever says to his father or mother,

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whatever profit you have received from me is a gift to God

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and he need not honor his father or mother.

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Thus you have made the commandment of God of no effect by your traditions.

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What's going on here?

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Well, there was a command of God that everyone should give honor to their father and mother,

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even stating a penalty of extreme disobedience to this command.

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So when we're adults and no longer in our parents' household or under their authority,

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we no longer have to obey our father and mother,

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yet we're still commanded to honor them.

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Now that command endures for all of time.

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Now some of the Jewish people today tried to get around that command

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to honor their father and mother and they declared that all their possessions

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or savings were a gift to God that were especially dedicated to him.

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Then they could say that their resources were unavailable to help their parents.

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You see, they were trying to twist it for their own purposes.

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Now this was a trick, but really at the heart of it was selfishness.

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And this is what Jesus was confronting.

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So verses seven through nine, he says,

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You hypocrites, didn't Isaiah say about you,

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these people draw near to me with their mouth, but they honor me with their lips,

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but their hearts are far from me.

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In vain they worship me.

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They teach as doctrines the commandments of men.

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So now this was true of the religious leaders that Jesus confronted

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and quoted the passage from Isaiah 29.

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He says, yet it may also be true of you.

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We can appear to draw near to God.

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All the while our hearts are terribly far from him.

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So it's easy to want and be impressed by the image of being near to God

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without really doing it and without our heart being transformed.

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And this is what Jesus is getting at.

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God is interested in the internal and the real,

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for we're more interested in merely external and our image.

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We must take care of the relationship with God that's on the inside,

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not the relationship with people that's on the outside.

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You see, it was described as a real problem with these religious leaders.

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They thought of man's tradition as equal to God's word.

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Never a good idea.

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Now all traditions aren't bad.

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All traditions, some can be good.

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It just depends on the intent behind them.

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So you see in verses 10 and 11, when he had called the multitude to himself,

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he said to them, hear and understand,

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not what goes into a person's mouth defiles them,

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but what comes out of their mouth.

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This defiles a person.

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So Jesus is dealing with what makes a person right.

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So Jesus now instructed the common people about authentic godliness.

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He stated a fundamental principle that eating with unclean hands

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or any other such thing isn't what makes a person unclean.

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It's what comes out of their heart.

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What comes from their heart comes out in their words.

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Now that's not to say there aren't defiling things

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that we can take into account ourselves.

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One example of this might be pornography.

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But in this specific context, Jesus spoke about ceremonial cleanliness

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in regard to food and he anticipated that under the new covenant,

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all food would be declared right before God.

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Now verse 12 and 14, then his disciples came to him and said,

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do you know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this?

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But he answered and said,

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every plant which my father in heaven has not planted will be uprooted.

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Let them alone.

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They are blind leaders of the blind and the blind leads the blind.

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Both will fall into a ditch.

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Now this is a humorous scene.

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The disciples came to Jesus saying something like,

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Jesus, did you know that you offended those guys?

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Of course Jesus knew that he offended them.

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In fact, he intended to offend them.

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But because they valued what men thought versus what God thought.

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Now this applied directly to them and everyone like them.

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Their commandments of men will not last

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because they're not rooted in either God or the truth.

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This principle should make us examine ourselves

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to see if we imitate the Pharisees in making traditions,

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our traditions, more important than God's word.

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You see, he knew that their efforts would fail

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under the weight of its own legalism.

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Now we sense that Jesus said this with sadness,

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and perhaps more sadness for those who were led by the blind

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than the blind leaders of the blind.

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In these words of Jesus,

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we see the guilt of those who are blind leaders of the blind.

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We also see the responsibility of the followers

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to make sure their leaders are not blind.

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Now verse 15 through 20,

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then Peter answered and said to him,

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explain this parable to us.

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So Jesus said, also, are you still without understanding?

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Do you not yet understand that whatever enters the mouth

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goes into the stomach and is eliminated?

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But those things which proceed out of the mouth

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come from the heart and they defile a man.

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For out of the heart proceeds evil thoughts,

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murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts,

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false witnesses, blasphemies.

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These are the things which defile a man.

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But to eat with unwashed hands doesn't make a person unclean.

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Jesus didn't really speak in a parable,

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except for the brief illustration of the blind leading the blind.

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Yet because the disciples did not understand him,

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they asked for an explanation.

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Are you also still without understanding?

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Jesus amplified the point first made in Matthew 15

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that we're defiled from the inside out

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rather than the outside in.

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And this is particularly true of ceremonial things like foods.

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Jesus boldly said that these things come from our inside.

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These aren't accidents or mistakes.

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They reveal how corrupt we are in our own hearts.

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They reveal our true character.

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We become obsessed with outward versions

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of being pure and being right before God.

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And God sees through all of it.

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You see, murder begins not with the dagger,

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but with the malice in someone's soul.

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So said plainly, many people who worry about external habits,

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what they eat or drink and other such things,

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should care more about the words that come out of their mouth.

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They do more against God as people by what they say

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than by what they eat or they drink.

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Unfortunately, the emphasis of the religious leaders in Jesus' day,

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and often in our own, is often only on the external things,

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not the internal things that make for true righteousness.

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Verse 21 and 22,

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And Jesus went out from there and departed to the region of Tyre and Sidon,

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and behold a woman, a Canaan, from that region,

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and cried out to him, saying,

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Have mercy on me, O Lord, son of David,

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my daughter is severely demon-possessed.

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So Tyre and Sidon were Gentile cities,

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they're about 50 miles away.

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And Jesus went all this way to meet one Gentile woman's need.

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This shows remarkable, unexpected love

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from Jesus to this woman.

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Think about that, how far he traveled to help just one lady.

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Very interesting.

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Jesus often travels to us to help us.

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Now it was unlikely for Jesus to go to the region of Tyre and Sidon.

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At that time, or not much later, Josephus, a historian, would write

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that the Phoenicians and the Tyrants had a terrible feeling

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towards people from Jesus' area.

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Now this woman came to intercede for her daughter,

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she provided a picture of an effective intercessor.

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Her great need taught her how to pray, when she came to Jesus,

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she made her daughter's needs her own.

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This Gentile woman also understood who Jesus was.

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Many of Jesus' own countrymen didn't know who Jesus was,

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but this woman of Canaan knew.

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Now perhaps this woman knew that Jesus had healed the Gentiles before.

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Yet what made this encounter unique is that Jesus did these miracles

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as Gentiles came to him in Jewish territory.

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Now here, Jesus came to Gentile territory and met this woman.

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Now verse 23 and 24, he answered her not a word,

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and his disciples came to him and said,

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send her away, for she cries out after us.

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But he answered and said, I was not sent,

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except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.

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So though the Gentile mother interceded for her daughter,

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Jesus did not immediately give her an encouraging reply.

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His reticence drew a more energetic and faith-filled response from a Gentile woman.

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Now it's likely that the disciples meant,

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send her away by giving her what she wants.

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It is entirely possible that they just wanted her to go away.

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They were tired of her.

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The easiest way was for Jesus to fix her problem.

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So Jesus defined the focus of his mission to his irritated disciples and the Gentile woman.

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He made it clear that he was not sent to the Gentiles like her.

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It is fair to ask whether Jesus meant the lost sheep among the house of Israel,

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or meant to say that it was Israel as a whole who were lost sheep.

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Jesus's instructions to his disciples in Matthew 10,

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rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel,

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would seem to imply the latter.

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Now verse 25 and 27,

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then she came and worshiped him saying,

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Lord help me.

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But he answered and said,

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it is not good to take the children's bread and throw it to the little dogs.

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And she said, yes, Lord,

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yet even the little dogs eat the crumbs which fall from their master's table.

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So what's happening here?

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Well, she responded to the rebuke from Jesus with increased dedication.

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To prevail on her request,

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in doing so the Gentile woman continued to show what a dedicated intercessor she was.

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So Jesus continued to say discouraging things to the woman,

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yet this was not quite as severe as in my first sound when Jesus called her one of the little dogs.

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He used little as a way to soften the harshness of calling her a big dog.

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This softened the traditional Jewish slur towards Gentiles,

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which called them dogs in the most derogatory sense.

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Now we're at a great disadvantage of not hearing the tone of Jesus's voice here as he spoke to the woman.

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But we would suspect that his tone was not harsh.

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We'd rather suspect that it was kind and loving and gracious and inviting to her.

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It is possible to speak with harsh words in a playful or winsome manner.

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Now the woman responded with great faith. She admitted that her low estate and did not debate the issue when Jesus called her a little dog.

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She did not demand to be seen as a child, but only to be blessed.

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Wow, it was as if she said,

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Jesus, I understand that the focus of your ministry is to the Jewish people,

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that they have a special place in God's redemptive plan.

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Yet I also understand that your ministry extends beyond the Jewish people,

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and I want to be part of that extended blessing.

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She had great faith.

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Now her response is especially meaningful in light of the increasing rejection of Jesus by the religious leaders.

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It was as if the woman said, I'm not asking for the portion that belongs to the children,

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just the crumbs that they don't want.

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Now in the flow of the gospel here, there was more and more that religious establishment did not want to receive what Jesus was saying.

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Now verse 28, Jesus answered and said to her, Oh woman, great is your faith, let it be to you as you desire.

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And your daughter was healed from that very hour.

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Finally, the woman will receive an encouraging word from Jesus.

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Now Jesus never said this to another person.

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He complimented the great faith of the Roman centurion who asked Jesus to heal a servant, Matthew 8.

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But he said it to the crowd, not to the centurion directly.

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Now this gentile woman heard it from Jesus directly.

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The only two people to receive this compliment from Jesus were these gentiles.

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This shows us that great faith may be found in Jesus.

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Great faith may be found in unexpected places, like we find here.

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Great faith is sometimes measured from its disadvantages.

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Their faith was great because it did not have the advantage of being nourished by the institutions, the religious leaders.

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Faith is often greatest when it's expressed on behalf of someone else's need.

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Now her faith was great enough to receive her request, what she desired from Jesus.

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Her faith was great even compared to other virtues.

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She was humble, she was patient, she was persevering, she cared for her child.

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Yet Jesus didn't compliment any of these good things, but only her faith.

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Now her faith was great because it was unlikely no one might have expected a gentile to trust Jesus so much.

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Now her faith was great because she worshipped Jesus even before she had an answer from him.

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Her faith was great because it had been tested so severely.

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It's hard to think of a greater test than a demon-possessed child,

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but her faith was also tried by the indifference or coldness of Jesus.

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Her faith was great because it was clever.

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She turned Jesus's words inside out and made what might have been taken as an insult as an open door of faith.

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Her faith was great because it concerned a need right in front of her and a real need at that.

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A lot of people have faith for everything except those things that are right in front of them.

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So her faith was also great because it would not give up.

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She did not stop until she got what she needed from Jesus.

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Now we could say that her faith conquered Jesus.

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He not only healed her daughter, but he did so immediately.

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Something that she had not even asked for.

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We read of nothing else that Jesus did during this time and time and time and time.

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It would seem that only his divine, this divine appointment was to meet this woman

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and help her with her faith and her daughter.

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In verse 29 and 31, Jesus took off from there and he went along the sea of Galilee,

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went up to a mountain and he sat down.

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Then great multitudes came to him having with them the lame and blind and mute,

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maimed and many others, and he and laid them down at Jesus's feet and he healed them.

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So the multitude marveled when they saw the mute speaking, the lame whole,

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the lame walking and the blind seeing, they glorified the God of Israel.

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Though Jesus briefly withdrew from the multitudes, he did not do so permanently.

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He still had to work, he stood among the multitudes.

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Now a lot of commentators believe this marks a unique period in Jesus's ministry

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when he did his healing and providing work in a predominantly Gentile area.

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Especially if you look at like Mark 7 and you'll see what happened there

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on the eastern side of Galilee, the region known as the Decapolis.

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So the remoteness of this place, you know, in the wilderness

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fits better with the eastern side that we talked about in Matthew.

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Now these people were probably very far from God, basically had no relationship with God.

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So Jesus healed and provided this mixed and predominantly Gentile group of people.

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He showed the miracle after miracle that the healing was for them as well.

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In this incident we read nothing about any faith on the part of those who were healed

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except for the fact that they came to Jesus for help.

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Now even in something as potentially self-promoting as the ministry of healing,

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Jesus always drew attention to God, not himself.

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The multitude, most likely predominantly Gentiles, learned to praise God.

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Now verse 32 to 39, Jesus called the disciples to himself and said,

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I have compassion on the multitude because they have now continued with me for three days

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and have nothing to eat and I do not want to send them away hungry

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lest they faint on the way.

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Then his disciples said to him, where could we get enough bread in the wilderness

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to fill such a great multitude?

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Now Jesus said to them, how many loaves do you have?

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And they said seven and a few little fish.

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So he commanded the multitude to sit down on the ground

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and he took the seven loaves and the fish and gave thanks and broke them

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and gave them to his disciples.

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And the disciples gave them to the multitudes so they all ate and were filled

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and they took up seven large baskets full of the fragments that were left

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Now those who were four thousand men besides women and children

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and he sent away the multitude got into the boat and came to the region of Magdala.

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So you see this miracle follows the same pattern as the feeding of the five thousand

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except it reveals that the disciples were generally as slow to believe as we are.

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They said, where where could we get enough bread to feed such a great multitude?

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Hadn't they learned anything?

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Perhaps the disciples did not expect Jesus to use his power

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when the crowd were Gentiles and not Jewish people.

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Jesus did what he could do but left the disciples to do what they could do

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the distribution of the food.

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You see Jesus multiplied but they distributed.

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At the end of the meal they gathered more not less.

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The seven large baskets show that God provided out of this abundance

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the way that the Messiah miraculously fed both Jews and Gentiles

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was a preview of the great Messianic banquet.

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This was greatly anticipated among the Jews of Jesus's day

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but they were offended that the Gentiles would also be there.

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Now this wraps up our time looking at the chapter in Matthew today.

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I always like to end my beach talks with a chance to pray

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and ask God for a fresh start to hit reset in our lives

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to stop doing some things to start doing others.

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Would you take a moment to pray with me right now and just say hey God

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would you give me a fresh start in my life would you help me to hit reset

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would you help me to stop doing things that are hurtful

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and help me to start doing things that are helpful in Jesus name.

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And as always I hope you have a great day.

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Thank you for your time we would love to partner with you.

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Water is a global problem it's going to take as many partners as we can to help

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solve this problem. We'd love for you to partner with us

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if you can go to our website at www.oceanwater.com

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that's ocnwtr.com we love that.