<TITLE>18. Par 165-172</TITLE>L-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.

L-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.

L-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.

L-172 What if she'd have turned around and said... He turned around, said, "It's not meet for Me to take... "In other words, it's not proper."
Say, a Catholic come up and say, "Oh, Brother Branham, I know God hears your prayers for these people here. Will you pray for me?"
And I'd say, "Well, it's not right for me to take these children's time up here. I'm here to pray for these Pentecostals, not for you bunch of Catholics." See? What would she had said? Oh, man, I imagine you'd stomped out of here like everything. See?
But she turned and she said, "That's true, Lord. That's true, Lord. But we're--we're willing to... The dogs are willing to eat the scraps under the Master's table."
See, that caught Him right quick. He turned and said, "Great is your faith." And then we find another case... See, it was her approach, her respects. She was respecting God as she respected Him.


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