The Kingdom is going to the Dogs

Holding tradition above God's Word (Mark 7:1-13)

    Once again we catch the Pharisees in their groove of trying to make others live by their rules that have nothing to do with the Bible. This is called legalism and God does not want us to be legalist. Jesus warned the disciples about this in the next chapter, although they did not completely understand what he was talking about (Mark 8:11-21). We see that they were fault finders (7:2), and that they were holding what they thought above what God's word said.
    We must avoid being fault finders, and when it is necessary to point out a fault or wrong (Sometimes it is) we must do so by God's Word and not our own preferences.

Evil proceeds from the heart (Mark 7:14-23)

    Here Jesus touches on a very important concept. All evil proceeds from within, from the heart or soul of man. Man is triune (Spirit, Soul, and Body). The Soul is the mind, will, and emotion of man. It is the part of us that thinks, feels, and decides. This is the place from which all sin comes. That is we have never committed a sin that we did not first think about and decide to do it. The key way to avoid sin is to catch it in the thought processes and kill it there.
    We are told to renew our mind (Romans 12:2), not be double minded (James 1:8), and be of a sound mind (2 Timothy 1:7). If you follow God's patterns to train your mind, you can avoid sin.

1. Hide God's Word in your heart (Psalm 119:11)
2. When tempted, use God's word as your weapon against Satan (Matthew 4:1-11, Ephesians 6:17, James 4:7)
3. By catching sin in our thought processes we can force it to obey Jesus (2 Corinthians 10:1-6)
4. Repeat the process over and over again. Because you can win the battle of temptation, but the war is not over until Jesus returns and Satan will attack again (Luke 4:13)

Being called a dog (Mark 7:24-30)

    What would you do if someone called you a dog? It depends on who you believed that person to be. If it is just the average Joe, you are probably just going to turn your back on that or worse. However, if you believe that person to be God or God's representative, then you are probably going to take it and even embrace it. After all, if God says you are a dog then you are a dog.
    We don't use the term dog. We use the Biblical term SINNER. It is just as offensive as calling people dogs, maybe more. Yet you can not witness to someone without calling them a sinner (although some have tried, by making their witness all about heaven verses hell).  Now you can soften the blow by including yourself as a sinner when you accuse them, but you must make the accusation. Study the Rich Young Ruler and see if you conclude as I do that his biggest problem was that he did not see himself as a sinner (Luke18:18-23). If people aren't ready to come to grips with their sin, then they are not ready for Jesus.

Many Miracles

Deaf mute healed (Mark 7:31-37)
Feeding 4000 (Mark 8:1-10)
Blind Healed (Mark 8:22-26)

The question of who Jesus is (Mark 8:27-30)

    Everything rest on this question. First, who you say Jesus is really determines your future. If you get the right answer you will end up in heaven. If you get the wrong answer you will end up in hell. By the way, God does  not want you to be confused. He made the answer crystal clear in the Bible. There were many incorrect answers, but Peter's was right. It was the one based on what God said. Jesus is the Christ.
    Christ is a title of Jesus. It means the anointed one. He was anointed to come and die a cruel death for our sins. He was anointed to rise from the dead, proving he has power over death and the sin that causes death. He is anointed to come again in the future as Lord and King. Is that your Jesus? If not, you are in trouble.
    It is also critical that the church get the identity of Jesus right. In Matthew we are given a little more detail about this conversation. Jesus told Peter that he would build his church upon the rock (sure foundation) of that revelation of who he is (Matthew 16:16-18). The church is built on the fact that Jesus is the Christ. If we want to join Jesus in building his church the key is to build it upon the revelation of who Jesus is.

Peter rebuked for thinking he knew more than Jesus (Mark 8:31-33)

The cost of discipleship (Mark 8:34-38)

    It is  a sacrifice to follow Jesus, but the pay off is out of this world, literally.