Just The 2 Of Us

0:00:02.040 --> 0:00:04.600 Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick. I'm the pastor of Elevation 0:00:04.880 --> 0:00:07.080 Church and this is our podcast. I wanted to thank 0:00:07.120 --> 0:00:10.440 you for joining us today. Hope this inspires you. Hope 0:00:10.440 --> 0:00:12.520 it builds your faith. Hope it gives your perspective to 0:00:12.520 --> 0:00:18.280 see God is moving in your life. Enjoy the message. 0:00:19.079 --> 0:00:24.040 Come on, everybody, praise the Lord. Let everything that has 0:00:24.120 --> 0:00:29.440 spread that includes you too, whether you're in a soup 0:00:29.680 --> 0:00:35.680 or a bathrobe, come on, give him praise today. Oh, 0:00:35.680 --> 0:00:38.839 praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. Thank you, Thank you, 0:00:38.920 --> 0:00:45.000 thank you. How are you doing? I know my sermon 0:00:45.080 --> 0:00:48.440 last week was called did I ask? But I'm asking, 0:00:48.520 --> 0:00:51.639 how are you? Come on, let me know how you're 0:00:51.680 --> 0:00:55.120 doing right there in the chat. Use your favorite emoji 0:00:55.200 --> 0:00:59.520 to tell me how you're doing, your favorite church appropriate emoji. 0:01:00.680 --> 0:01:04.160 You gotta specify. Got all kind of people that tune in. 0:01:04.200 --> 0:01:06.640 You know, you never know what they'll I don't want 0:01:06.680 --> 0:01:10.600 the Holy Spirit to leave the YouTube page. Give God praise. 0:01:10.720 --> 0:01:13.560 If you hold on, we're gonna bring it back. Give 0:01:13.640 --> 0:01:17.600 God praise if you're doing better than could be expected. 0:01:19.600 --> 0:01:23.639 So in other words, like hey, preacher, that's a complicated question. 0:01:24.520 --> 0:01:26.520 But when I think about where I could have been, 0:01:26.600 --> 0:01:28.959 should have been, would have been. I want to put 0:01:29.040 --> 0:01:32.800 up one of those, one of those worship hand emojis. 0:01:33.640 --> 0:01:36.080 Come on, throw a worse of hand emoji in the 0:01:36.240 --> 0:01:41.920 chat all the way from Paul Kong to parties fill 0:01:42.080 --> 0:01:45.280 South Carolina. If you got a reason of praise and 0:01:45.440 --> 0:01:57.000 praise it whoo wow. So anyway, I just I thank 0:01:57.040 --> 0:01:59.600 God for this opportunity to minister the word of God 0:01:59.640 --> 0:02:03.840 to you. And you may notice that it feels a 0:02:03.840 --> 0:02:06.880 little different. We're going to do it a little different today. 0:02:06.920 --> 0:02:09.840 We're having to do almost everything different right now. Anyway, 0:02:10.480 --> 0:02:14.960 But so what happened to me was that after I 0:02:15.000 --> 0:02:18.880 got done preaching to you last week, God kept speaking. 0:02:19.560 --> 0:02:22.639 That's a weird sensation to be done preaching. But God's 0:02:22.680 --> 0:02:26.000 not done speaking. And I wasn't seeking God for a 0:02:26.040 --> 0:02:28.400 sermon or anything. And me and Holly went for a 0:02:28.400 --> 0:02:31.400 walk and she started sharing with me something God was 0:02:31.400 --> 0:02:34.280 speaking to her. And what God was speaking to her 0:02:34.360 --> 0:02:36.000 was kind of like what God was speaking to me. 0:02:37.280 --> 0:02:40.320 And I said, I'm going to take that and preach it. 0:02:40.360 --> 0:02:42.280 She said, you can't. I'm preaching soon. I'm going to 0:02:42.320 --> 0:02:44.799 preach it. I said, oh, I'm taking that in preaching it. 0:02:45.000 --> 0:02:47.120 She said, you can't have it. I said, you're like 0:02:47.200 --> 0:02:51.240 our kids when we go and buy them. Did you 0:02:51.240 --> 0:02:53.280 ever buy your kids a whole meal? And then you 0:02:53.320 --> 0:02:56.800 wanted one fry, and you wanted one fry, and it 0:02:56.840 --> 0:02:59.560 wasn't even a hot fry, it was one cold fry 0:02:59.600 --> 0:03:02.200 in the It was one of those bottom of the 0:03:02.280 --> 0:03:04.640 bag fries. And you went to get that one fry. 0:03:04.880 --> 0:03:06.800 She told me about this one verse in the Bible. 0:03:06.880 --> 0:03:08.160 I'm going to show you. I said, I want to 0:03:08.160 --> 0:03:09.839 preach that. She said, you can't have it. I said, 0:03:09.880 --> 0:03:15.200 give me that fry. Girl. So this sermon today was 0:03:15.320 --> 0:03:21.480 stolen from the woman of God, Holly Ferdie. How appropriate. 0:03:23.440 --> 0:03:25.760 I told her, I'm taking your sermon, but you can 0:03:25.760 --> 0:03:27.880 come here me preach it. And I said, to make 0:03:27.919 --> 0:03:29.519 it up to you. I'll preach it just to you. 0:03:30.440 --> 0:03:34.000 And so I've got some of the most amazing musicians 0:03:34.000 --> 0:03:36.480 in the world here today and some of our staff 0:03:36.520 --> 0:03:39.080 that snuck in who were here working. I told him 0:03:39.080 --> 0:03:42.440 you could sit in the back, but I wanted to 0:03:43.080 --> 0:03:45.040 in addition to just those who are here helping me 0:03:45.080 --> 0:03:47.640 get this recorded. I asked him, how quick can you 0:03:47.680 --> 0:03:49.600 get over here? It helped me record this message that 0:03:49.640 --> 0:03:55.440 God kave Holly that I that I came from her, 0:03:55.920 --> 0:03:57.760 and they said, we can do it in an hour. 0:03:58.600 --> 0:04:01.200 And so here we are to bring God's word to 0:04:01.240 --> 0:04:04.120 you fresh and relevant, and I believe that God is 0:04:04.120 --> 0:04:05.760 going to give you a personal You know what you 0:04:05.840 --> 0:04:07.640 might want to say in the chat right now, say 0:04:07.680 --> 0:04:10.040 this one's for me, This one's for me, And those 0:04:10.040 --> 0:04:11.560 of you who are in the room, come on, Shay, 0:04:11.680 --> 0:04:15.040 tell Dom, this one's for me, This one for me. 0:04:15.120 --> 0:04:18.440 Little drummer boy Dom look back at Shay and say, 0:04:18.520 --> 0:04:23.279 oh no, you long haired bass playing hippie, This one's 0:04:23.279 --> 0:04:26.120 for me. This one's mine. Come on, if you know 0:04:26.240 --> 0:04:28.960 this one's for you, say it in the chat, This 0:04:29.000 --> 0:04:35.120 one's for me, This one's for me. Amen. I want 0:04:35.120 --> 0:04:37.480 to share with you a scripture today from tewod Kings, 0:04:37.560 --> 0:04:41.480 chapter four, kind of a continuation of did I ask. 0:04:41.560 --> 0:04:44.560 We were saying last week that when we stop asking 0:04:44.640 --> 0:04:46.960 God what he wants to do in our lives and 0:04:47.040 --> 0:04:49.840 what he put inside of us, and start assuming we 0:04:49.920 --> 0:04:53.600 limit the potential that is in us because we kind 0:04:53.600 --> 0:04:57.480 of confine ourselves. And I believe that there's so much 0:04:57.520 --> 0:04:59.360 more that God wants to do than what we can 0:04:59.440 --> 0:05:02.960 ask or imagine. And so I want to share this 0:05:03.000 --> 0:05:06.839 passage with you today. L Jason, it's only three of 0:05:06.920 --> 0:05:09.320 us in the room, Go ahead and keep playing for 0:05:09.360 --> 0:05:14.599 a moment. And the message that I want to minister 0:05:14.720 --> 0:05:19.719 today is actually appropriate that it's just a few in 0:05:19.760 --> 0:05:22.800 the room, because I want to talk to you today 0:05:22.839 --> 0:05:27.360 about just the two of us, just the two of us, 0:05:29.800 --> 0:05:32.680 And so as we share this time together today, I 0:05:32.680 --> 0:05:35.200 want you to hear it in a personal way. The 0:05:35.240 --> 0:05:38.320 Bible says in verse eight, one day Elisha went to 0:05:38.360 --> 0:05:41.440 shun him, and a well to do woman was there 0:05:42.120 --> 0:05:45.880 who urged him to stay for a meal. So whenever 0:05:45.920 --> 0:05:49.479 he came by, he stopped there to eat. And she 0:05:49.560 --> 0:05:53.800 said to her husband, I know that this is I 0:05:53.839 --> 0:05:55.920 know that this man who often comes our way is 0:05:55.960 --> 0:05:59.200 a holy man of God. Let's make a small room 0:05:59.240 --> 0:06:02.560 on the roof and put in it a bed and 0:06:02.640 --> 0:06:07.279 a table. Bought us a chair and a lamb. Let's 0:06:07.279 --> 0:06:11.200 put a lamb to go over there to Ikia, and 0:06:12.560 --> 0:06:15.479 let's hook up this man of God. Then he can 0:06:15.560 --> 0:06:19.040 stay there whenever he comes to us. Now, one day, 0:06:19.040 --> 0:06:22.120 when Elisha came, he went up to his room and 0:06:22.240 --> 0:06:25.840 lay down there. So he said to his servant Gehese, 0:06:26.360 --> 0:06:29.920 call the Shounamite. So he called her, and she stood 0:06:29.960 --> 0:06:34.640 before him. Elishah said to him, tell her, you have 0:06:34.680 --> 0:06:40.360 gone to all this trouble for us. Now what can 0:06:40.400 --> 0:06:44.920 be done for you? Can we speak on your behalf 0:06:45.000 --> 0:06:48.479 to the king or the commander of the army. She replied, 0:06:48.520 --> 0:06:52.160 I have a home among my own people. What can 0:06:52.200 --> 0:06:56.520 be done for her? Elisha asked, wonder what I could 0:06:56.520 --> 0:06:59.160 do for? I wonder what I could do for? What 0:06:59.200 --> 0:07:01.760 if God is not inspiring about how to curse you? 0:07:03.400 --> 0:07:07.119 What if God is brainstorming how to bless you today? 0:07:07.480 --> 0:07:10.360 What if God isn't up in heaven trying to figure 0:07:10.400 --> 0:07:12.680 out when to hit you with a lightning bolt or 0:07:12.680 --> 0:07:15.360 a hernia or a flat tire to get you back 0:07:15.640 --> 0:07:18.440 for what you did in tenth grade? What if God 0:07:18.600 --> 0:07:22.280 is think? What if God and the angels today are 0:07:22.440 --> 0:07:29.000 brainstorming away to bless you in this season? So gehees 0:07:29.080 --> 0:07:34.040 I said, she had no son and her husband is old. 0:07:35.360 --> 0:07:39.440 Then Elisha said, call her. So he called her and 0:07:39.480 --> 0:07:43.559 she stood in the doorway. I love this, she stood 0:07:43.560 --> 0:07:47.640 in the doorway. About this time next year, how many 0:07:47.640 --> 0:07:51.559 of y'all are ready for next year. About this time 0:07:51.640 --> 0:07:54.960 next year, Elisha said, you will hold a son in 0:07:55.040 --> 0:08:06.680 your arms. No, no, my lord, not that she objected, 0:08:08.040 --> 0:08:14.640 gave up on that, not that, please, Man of God, 0:08:15.600 --> 0:08:21.840 don't mislead your servant. But the woman became pregnant, and 0:08:21.880 --> 0:08:25.280 the next year, about that same time, she gave birth 0:08:25.320 --> 0:08:28.640 to a son, just as Elisha had told her. Can 0:08:28.680 --> 0:08:31.520 I read a few more verses? Because the child grew 0:08:32.280 --> 0:08:34.280 and one day he went out to his father, who 0:08:34.360 --> 0:08:37.360 was with the reapers. He said to his father, my head, 0:08:37.440 --> 0:08:39.560 my head. His father told a servant carry him to 0:08:39.600 --> 0:08:42.400 his mother. After the servant had lifted him up and 0:08:42.440 --> 0:08:45.000 carried him to his mother, the boy sat on her 0:08:45.040 --> 0:08:49.679 lap until noon, and then he died, and she went 0:08:49.760 --> 0:08:51.720 up and laid him on the bed of the Man 0:08:51.760 --> 0:08:56.560 of God. Then shut the door, shut the door, and 0:08:56.600 --> 0:08:59.880 went out. She called her husband and said, please send 0:08:59.880 --> 0:09:02.320 me one of the servants and a donkey, so I 0:09:02.320 --> 0:09:04.640 can go to the Man of God quickly and return. 0:09:05.440 --> 0:09:08.079 Why go to him today, he asked, it's not the 0:09:08.120 --> 0:09:11.680 new moon or the sabbath. That's all right, she said. 0:09:12.880 --> 0:09:14.800 She sat with the donkey and said to her servant, 0:09:15.600 --> 0:09:20.040 lead on. Don't slow down for me unless I tell you. 0:09:21.280 --> 0:09:23.000 She set out and came to the Man of God 0:09:23.000 --> 0:09:25.959 at Mount Carmel, and when he saw her in the distance, 0:09:26.000 --> 0:09:29.600 the Man of God said to his servant, Ghesi, I've 0:09:29.640 --> 0:09:31.679 been saying Gahazi and Gajese. I don't know how to 0:09:31.720 --> 0:09:34.520 pronounce his name. But he was a scoundrel anyway, and 0:09:34.559 --> 0:09:39.959 so watch this. The Man of God said to Gehesi, Gahazi, look, 0:09:40.200 --> 0:09:42.680 there's the shoe of mine. Run to meet her and 0:09:42.720 --> 0:09:46.840 ask her, are you all right? Is your husband all right? 0:09:47.800 --> 0:09:54.439 Is your child all right? Everything is all right? She said. 0:09:56.679 --> 0:09:59.880 When she reached the Man of God at the mountain, 0:10:00.760 --> 0:10:03.480 she took hold of his feet. Hey as I came 0:10:03.520 --> 0:10:05.839 over to push her away, but the Man of God said, 0:10:06.800 --> 0:10:10.720 leave her alone. She is in bitter distress. But the 0:10:10.800 --> 0:10:14.520 Lord has hidden it from me and has not told 0:10:14.559 --> 0:10:17.880 me why. Just the two of us, Lord, would you 0:10:17.920 --> 0:10:21.400 fill every heart with your presence in this moment? Would 0:10:21.400 --> 0:10:23.480 you make it so that there is a direct connection 0:10:23.559 --> 0:10:25.559 from Heaven to their heart and they could hear from 0:10:25.600 --> 0:10:27.960 you the words that they need to make it in 0:10:28.040 --> 0:10:31.280 this season of their life. We thank you that anything 0:10:31.360 --> 0:10:34.040 is possible in your presence. We thank you that nothing 0:10:34.320 --> 0:10:38.360 is impossible for you. Is there anything too hard for you? 0:10:38.760 --> 0:10:41.960 There's nothing too hard for you. Is there anything too 0:10:42.000 --> 0:10:44.960 small for you? Nothing is too small for you. You You 0:10:45.080 --> 0:10:48.840 can do anything. We believe it, and we receive it 0:10:48.840 --> 0:10:54.240 in Jesus' name. Amen. Well, you may be seated, Holly 0:10:55.480 --> 0:10:59.800 and others, just the two of us. This is kind 0:10:59.800 --> 0:11:04.600 of girl. You get a personal life sermon. Never before. Well, 0:11:04.679 --> 0:11:10.640 this is been close because people were asking me, what 0:11:10.720 --> 0:11:12.520 was it like preaching in an empty room? That's one 0:11:12.559 --> 0:11:14.920 of the questions. I was preaching about questions last week, 0:11:15.080 --> 0:11:17.480 and people will say, was it like preaching in an 0:11:17.480 --> 0:11:20.120 empty room? I said, kind of. It kind of takes 0:11:20.160 --> 0:11:23.560 me back. I said, I kind of like it. And 0:11:23.600 --> 0:11:25.680 then I could see they were offended. They were like, 0:11:25.720 --> 0:11:27.760 you don't like having us there. You don't want us there, 0:11:28.000 --> 0:11:29.079 you don't want us in the room. I was like, 0:11:29.200 --> 0:11:32.160 it's not that. But sometimes it's good to go back. 0:11:34.120 --> 0:11:37.839 Sometimes it's good to go back. And there were times 0:11:38.200 --> 0:11:42.040 when we first started, like our ministry didn't start when 0:11:42.080 --> 0:11:46.880 people saw it, and what you see now is not 0:11:47.640 --> 0:11:50.680 how we started. How many would say that about your life. 0:11:51.240 --> 0:11:54.640 You should have seen me you should have seen the 0:11:54.679 --> 0:11:58.640 beta version of me. Oh you think I'm messed up? Now, 0:11:58.760 --> 0:12:02.400 God's really been working on me. And the crazy thing 0:12:02.440 --> 0:12:05.720 about this season of Quarantine was I kind of knew 0:12:05.960 --> 0:12:08.520 when they were saying, you know, we can't have mass 0:12:08.559 --> 0:12:10.839 gatherings of church and all that, I knew that if 0:12:10.840 --> 0:12:14.000 it came down to it, that Holly would hold the camera. 0:12:14.840 --> 0:12:17.000 In fact, the first thing I did when they started 0:12:17.040 --> 0:12:20.600 shutting everything down, I called many of these same people 0:12:20.640 --> 0:12:22.960 who are in here running the cameras today in this building. 0:12:23.040 --> 0:12:25.040 I called him in I said, get over to my house. 0:12:25.240 --> 0:12:27.160 I want a camera in the basement. I want a 0:12:27.240 --> 0:12:30.360 laminated instruction thing printed out so I can see how 0:12:30.360 --> 0:12:33.360 to run it. Because if it comes to it, I 0:12:33.400 --> 0:12:36.200 know that I can put Holly behind that camera. And 0:12:36.240 --> 0:12:38.480 if I can have that camera, and if it can 0:12:38.520 --> 0:12:41.040 go out, we can find a way to get the 0:12:41.080 --> 0:12:45.079 word out. It might not be pretty professional, well lit 0:12:45.320 --> 0:12:47.760 in a big room, but God will find a way 0:12:47.800 --> 0:12:50.480 to get his word out. God will find a way 0:12:50.520 --> 0:12:53.000 to get his word out. So we didn't have to 0:12:53.040 --> 0:12:55.800 do it, but we could have. As a matter of fact, 0:12:55.800 --> 0:12:58.880 what a lot of people don't know is even before 0:12:59.400 --> 0:13:04.320 competent professional musicians like LJ. Were, We're here to play 0:13:05.200 --> 0:13:08.360 me and Holly. So when you're first starting out, I 0:13:08.400 --> 0:13:10.120 just want to take y'all back for a minute. When 0:13:10.120 --> 0:13:13.560 you're first starting out in ministry, you might not have 0:13:13.720 --> 0:13:20.120 all of the all of the desired instruments, you know 0:13:20.200 --> 0:13:23.880 what I mean. And when we would travel around I 0:13:23.920 --> 0:13:27.320 told you last week how Holly was on my my 0:13:27.400 --> 0:13:30.240 summer impact team. I was the leader, and we would 0:13:30.280 --> 0:13:33.320 go into these little churches. A lot of times we'd 0:13:33.320 --> 0:13:36.560 be with we'd be with little kids at a backyard 0:13:36.559 --> 0:13:40.760 Bible club in the morning, and then we would be 0:13:41.559 --> 0:13:45.280 with some senior adults in the afternoon. So we had 0:13:45.280 --> 0:13:49.440 to diversify. And so I would go out there with 0:13:49.480 --> 0:13:51.600 the kids in the morning and Holly was like on 0:13:51.720 --> 0:13:55.800 my praise. Sometimes we would go just the two of us. 0:13:55.880 --> 0:13:58.400 Somebody say, just the two of us, come and put 0:13:58.440 --> 0:14:00.400 it in the chat, just the two of us. And 0:14:00.440 --> 0:14:03.720 this is what I always remember, Like if the whole 0:14:03.720 --> 0:14:10.000 worship team quit, I could grab this Martin guitar. I 0:14:10.040 --> 0:14:13.760 could and I could tune it myself by ear because 0:14:13.800 --> 0:14:16.400 I've had experience. Sometimes it's good to go back. And 0:14:16.800 --> 0:14:18.640 one reason I said Holly, I want to go over 0:14:18.679 --> 0:14:21.160 and preach it just with you. And I want to 0:14:21.200 --> 0:14:23.600 remember how we used to walk into those churches and 0:14:23.640 --> 0:14:29.280 I would strum a d bar cord and say, cast 0:14:29.320 --> 0:14:38.000 your burdens unto Jesus, he cares for you. Cast your 0:14:38.080 --> 0:14:45.160 burdens unto Jesus, he cares for you. And you know 0:14:45.240 --> 0:14:47.640 you'd be going into these places where nobody really wanted 0:14:47.680 --> 0:14:49.160 to worship, and it would be like you'd have to 0:14:49.160 --> 0:14:52.040 start it from zero. I mean, it was worse than this, 0:14:52.040 --> 0:14:54.400 this empty room. At least the camera operators want to 0:14:54.440 --> 0:14:56.720 be here. But in those rooms you'd have somebody who 0:14:56.720 --> 0:14:58.320 got dropped all. They didn't want to be there, So 0:14:58.360 --> 0:15:00.880 you make them do hand motions, right, Holly, show show 0:15:01.000 --> 0:15:03.440 what we used to do. I did not ask her 0:15:03.520 --> 0:15:05.360 if she would do this. I just figured if I 0:15:05.360 --> 0:15:07.320 turned on the cameras and told her to, she would 0:15:07.320 --> 0:15:08.920 do it. Stand up, do it real quick, Show how 0:15:08.920 --> 0:15:13.920 we do it? Higher higher, higher, higher, higher higher, Show 0:15:13.960 --> 0:15:16.360 them how to lift them higher Jesus, Holly, show him 0:15:16.360 --> 0:15:20.640 how to lift Jesus higher higher, higher, higher, higher, higher 0:15:20.760 --> 0:15:25.600 higher higher, higher, lift Jesus higher. Y'all are ready lower 0:15:25.680 --> 0:15:32.080 lower lower lower, Lou lower, Lou stop SATs and lower 0:15:33.200 --> 0:15:40.080 lower lower lower lower, lou Lord, stop SATs and lower 0:15:41.120 --> 0:15:47.640 super super Man. Oh, it's good to go back, because 0:15:47.680 --> 0:15:50.720 I just I figure, if they if they didn't let 0:15:50.760 --> 0:15:53.720 anybody come out and run a camera, or we couldn't 0:15:53.720 --> 0:15:56.040 get in the church, we could go in the basement. 0:15:56.480 --> 0:15:59.600 And if I had Holly, if I had the Holly 0:15:59.640 --> 0:16:03.040 Ghost and the Holy Ghost, we can preach this word. 0:16:03.200 --> 0:16:06.240 Come on, if it's just the two of us, we 0:16:06.320 --> 0:16:09.040 can stomp him. We can. We can lift Jesus and 0:16:09.080 --> 0:16:13.480 stop Satan, just the two of us. That's how we started. 0:16:14.680 --> 0:16:16.400 And then you know we couldn't we couldn't do that 0:16:16.440 --> 0:16:20.000 at night because the people were ministering to at night 0:16:20.040 --> 0:16:23.640 were over eighty be a Baptist church revival. Everybody in 0:16:23.720 --> 0:16:26.800 there was, you know, doing their best to walk in. 0:16:26.880 --> 0:16:29.560 They weren't trying to lift him or stomp him or 0:16:29.600 --> 0:16:33.240 nothing like that. They were just trying to So you 0:16:33.320 --> 0:16:38.240 slow it down, you know, you do something like when 0:16:38.280 --> 0:16:44.640 I think about the Lord, how he saved me, how 0:16:44.680 --> 0:16:50.200 he raised me, how he filled me with the Holy Ghost, 0:16:51.320 --> 0:16:55.080 how he healed me to the uttermost, then Hollywood hit 0:16:55.120 --> 0:16:58.960 the harmony for me. When I think about the Lord, 0:17:00.360 --> 0:17:05.640 how he picked me up and turned me around, how 0:17:05.680 --> 0:17:13.240 he plays my feet on solid ground. It makes me 0:17:13.480 --> 0:17:22.560 on a shower, Hollia. Thank you Jesus, all your worthy 0:17:23.240 --> 0:17:30.639 of all the glory, all the honor, and all the praise. 0:17:33.119 --> 0:17:36.280 It's good to think back, you know, and I think 0:17:36.320 --> 0:17:41.159 about the Lord man you remember that. Just it's just 0:17:41.200 --> 0:17:46.720 me and you, Me and you singing stuff like what 0:17:48.200 --> 0:17:56.520 a friend we have in Jesus, Oh our sense in 0:17:56.640 --> 0:18:12.080 greets to bed, what a privilege to care everything to 0:18:12.280 --> 0:18:17.840 God in prayer? Hit him a little d run Chris Brown. 0:18:19.040 --> 0:18:20.480 And then after you get done with that, him a 0:18:20.560 --> 0:18:25.080 little James Taylor. You just call have my name, little 0:18:25.119 --> 0:18:29.639 Carol Key, and you know wherever I am, I'll calm 0:18:29.720 --> 0:18:37.320 running see you again. No, you're not alone, even if 0:18:37.359 --> 0:18:41.960 it's just the two of us. When to spring, summer, fall, 0:18:43.680 --> 0:18:50.040 All you gotta do is call and I'll be there. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, 0:18:50.240 --> 0:18:55.640 you know, make it Christian, Thank you Jesus, you got 0:18:55.640 --> 0:18:59.440 a friend. And then I like those hymns that nobody 0:18:59.480 --> 0:19:16.399 knows to com Yes, come soul land, where ye land lnguish, 0:19:17.760 --> 0:19:40.920 come to the b CC furvant the he bring it 0:19:43.440 --> 0:20:04.640 he f your language art has no sign vas kally 0:20:08.880 --> 0:20:23.600 my geeesus, I love, I know thou art mine for 0:20:23.840 --> 0:20:43.640 the all the five huson. I resign my graveacious reader, 0:20:45.080 --> 0:20:58.080 my safe if you're art by if aver I love. 0:21:00.320 --> 0:21:10.000 It all comes back, man, nazeezsus this now, it's good 0:21:10.040 --> 0:21:13.080 to go back. This is good to go back. Come on, 0:21:13.160 --> 0:21:18.639 giveing praise. It's good to go back. Oh man. So 0:21:18.760 --> 0:21:21.679 I like the worship team that we have now, and 0:21:21.880 --> 0:21:24.480 I don't want to go back to doing it all myself. 0:21:24.960 --> 0:21:27.240 I'm not trying to take anybody off the payroll, but 0:21:28.160 --> 0:21:32.080 it's just good sometimes to go back. Put it in 0:21:32.119 --> 0:21:34.760 the chat. It's good to go back. And I know 0:21:34.840 --> 0:21:37.800 you're thinking like I thought we were supposed to go forward, 0:21:37.880 --> 0:21:40.399 you know, and all that. Well, sometimes you got to 0:21:40.400 --> 0:21:44.800 look back to go forward. Say amen, because sometimes if 0:21:44.840 --> 0:21:47.560 I look too far forward, I'll freak out. Just look 0:21:47.640 --> 0:21:51.439 back real quick, lion bear cool. God is strong, and 0:21:51.520 --> 0:21:56.240 I believe that God's resume gives me reason to believe 0:21:57.200 --> 0:22:01.240 in resurrection, gives me reason to rejoice. I just need 0:22:01.240 --> 0:22:04.159 to know how many of you, even though you felt 0:22:04.200 --> 0:22:07.040 lonely in this season and you don't really know what 0:22:07.119 --> 0:22:09.760 God's gonna do. But you have some kind of faith 0:22:09.800 --> 0:22:12.520 in some kind of way. The same God that did 0:22:12.560 --> 0:22:15.359 the things for you, did the stuff back then, He's 0:22:15.400 --> 0:22:19.280 gonna do the stuff tomorrow that I need him to do. Wow, 0:22:20.040 --> 0:22:23.719 even if it's just me and Jesus, some of us 0:22:23.720 --> 0:22:27.520 are watching this by ourselves. We'd rather be with other people, 0:22:27.760 --> 0:22:30.480 but we're watching it on a screen. But even through 0:22:30.520 --> 0:22:34.000 this screen, the spirit of God is speaking to me. 0:22:34.560 --> 0:22:38.359 God's got a word for me today. Or I just 0:22:38.400 --> 0:22:43.720 felt something. Paul and Silas were in Philippi all by themselves. 0:22:43.920 --> 0:22:47.040 I feel like Precian in a semi empty room. I 0:22:47.080 --> 0:22:51.399 feel like Christian Holly. I'll be Paul, you'd be Silas. 0:22:51.680 --> 0:22:55.520 We're not where we wanted to be. The situation looks bleak, 0:22:56.000 --> 0:23:00.800 gotta chain on our wrists, been in quarantine, on lockdown, 0:23:01.240 --> 0:23:06.880 been persecuted, felt abandoned. But you be Paul, I'll be Silas. 0:23:07.240 --> 0:23:11.959 The church isn't fall. But if we start praising at midnight, 0:23:12.400 --> 0:23:17.720 change break doors open, things happened, miracles come. Just the 0:23:17.840 --> 0:23:21.880 two of us, we can get this sun. We can 0:23:22.000 --> 0:23:28.480 get this sun. It doesn't take many if you got much, 0:23:29.800 --> 0:23:33.159 just the two of us. So something about that just 0:23:33.240 --> 0:23:37.119 comforted me just walking around the block with Holly, and 0:23:38.119 --> 0:23:39.960 God was using her to speak to me, and I 0:23:40.080 --> 0:23:45.200 was like wow, thinking about how how God, God is 0:23:45.320 --> 0:23:50.160 enough in my life in every season. In the passage 0:23:50.600 --> 0:23:54.879 that we read, we talked about Elisha the prophet. You know, 0:23:54.920 --> 0:24:00.840 Elisha's ministry is interesting because it was very lonely. The 0:24:00.920 --> 0:24:05.240 ministry of a prophet was a was a lonely life. 0:24:05.440 --> 0:24:08.280 Not only were you standing up the kings in ways 0:24:08.320 --> 0:24:11.840 that made you popular. Oh, prophets would have got canceled 0:24:11.880 --> 0:24:16.919 so quick in twenty twenty. Every prophet would have been 0:24:16.920 --> 0:24:19.840 out of business. You had some of them walking around naked. 0:24:20.960 --> 0:24:24.119 Some of them were lighting up animal excrements for their 0:24:24.160 --> 0:24:28.080 sermon illustration. Tim, do not get any ideas for rhythm night. 0:24:28.200 --> 0:24:30.560 I could see your wheels turning right now. You're like, Oh, 0:24:30.600 --> 0:24:34.600 I get it, dune nudity. No, I'm telling you right now, 0:24:34.760 --> 0:24:36.399 you're not going to do any of this stuff that 0:24:36.440 --> 0:24:39.840 the prophets did because the prophets man, they just really 0:24:39.880 --> 0:24:42.520 had to rely on God. And yet the thing about saying, 0:24:42.560 --> 0:24:45.720 you know, all I need is Jesus, just me and Jesus. 0:24:45.880 --> 0:24:50.880 What a friend I have in Jesus? He can't hug you. Yes, 0:24:50.960 --> 0:24:53.440 he does. He embraces me in my shut up. I'm 0:24:53.440 --> 0:24:59.280 talking about like a human hug. A human hug. He 0:24:59.320 --> 0:25:02.160 can't hug your like. And so as simple as this sounds, 0:25:02.160 --> 0:25:04.879 I want you to write it down. God uses people. 0:25:06.400 --> 0:25:11.399 God uses people. God uses people, and sometimes when we 0:25:11.440 --> 0:25:13.879 ask God to use us, we have no idea what 0:25:13.920 --> 0:25:17.200 we're asking. Have you ever asked a question you wished 0:25:17.200 --> 0:25:21.520 immediately you didn't ask? I asked somebody one time, how 0:25:21.680 --> 0:25:25.280 was my sermon? And they started telling me everything theologically 0:25:25.400 --> 0:25:28.160 incorrect that I said in the sermon, and I mispronounced 0:25:28.760 --> 0:25:31.360 heyes I, and I called him the wrong thing. I said, Man, 0:25:31.400 --> 0:25:34.840 I'll never ask you again. I will never ask you again. 0:25:36.240 --> 0:25:38.640 I've learned, don't ask your kids unless you really want 0:25:38.640 --> 0:25:42.000 to know. Other people have this layer of professional politeness 0:25:42.000 --> 0:25:44.560 that comes with maturity in adulthood. But if you ask 0:25:44.640 --> 0:25:48.320 your kids, they'll tell you. They'll tell you. Graham told 0:25:48.400 --> 0:25:51.280 me in Singapore preaching over there in Singapore, he said, Dad, 0:25:51.320 --> 0:25:54.040 watching you try to say that Moses at the burning 0:25:54.080 --> 0:25:58.040 Bush was lit was the cringiest moment of my childhood. 0:25:58.400 --> 0:26:02.280 You can never use that again, Dad, It was so bad, 0:26:02.520 --> 0:26:04.600 I said, I got it, Graham, I got it. But 0:26:04.680 --> 0:26:06.800 did I say anything good? He said, I couldn't hear 0:26:06.840 --> 0:26:09.320 anything you said after you said, but Moses at the 0:26:09.359 --> 0:26:12.120 burning bush was lit. Please, Dad, don't try to be cool, 0:26:12.160 --> 0:26:14.000 don't try to be relevant. So don't ask your kids. 0:26:16.359 --> 0:26:19.359 I feel pretty cool compared to you know. If I 0:26:19.400 --> 0:26:23.000 ask Larry Bry, I feel pretty cool. Don't ask your kids. 0:26:24.560 --> 0:26:28.480 Sometimes it's best not to ask, right. And what I 0:26:28.520 --> 0:26:33.240 love about the passage is that God provided for Elisha. 0:26:33.240 --> 0:26:35.080 And now get this if this is for you, because 0:26:35.240 --> 0:26:37.040 I promise you God has a word for you today. 0:26:37.040 --> 0:26:38.760 And if you'll stay with me, you'll see exactly what 0:26:38.800 --> 0:26:43.440 it is. God met the prophet's needs through someone who 0:26:43.440 --> 0:26:47.240 he didn't even ask to do it. Remember last week 0:26:47.280 --> 0:26:49.720 the crowds got fed and they didn't even ask for 0:26:49.800 --> 0:26:53.600 a meal. Remember those times in your life where God 0:26:53.640 --> 0:26:56.359 had people walk away from you and you didn't even 0:26:56.400 --> 0:26:58.520 ask him to remove them. But He was so good 0:26:58.560 --> 0:27:00.439 that he knew they would screw up the rest of 0:27:00.480 --> 0:27:02.600 your life. So he took him right out, even though 0:27:02.600 --> 0:27:04.920 you cried and begged for him back. And God took 0:27:04.960 --> 0:27:06.800 him out even though you were begging him to leave 0:27:06.840 --> 0:27:09.159 him in God is so good like that, he is 0:27:09.240 --> 0:27:11.919 good enough to give you what you ask for. And 0:27:11.960 --> 0:27:14.600 so while we're quoting Ephesians three twenty, he's able to 0:27:14.600 --> 0:27:16.960 do immeasurably more than we ask. Have you ever noticed 0:27:17.000 --> 0:27:19.520 how why we're saying that he can do more than 0:27:19.560 --> 0:27:22.680 I ask? At the time we're saying God, I thank you, 0:27:22.680 --> 0:27:25.040 you can do more than I ask, we secretly want 0:27:25.119 --> 0:27:29.560 him to do exactly what we planned. How's he gonna 0:27:29.560 --> 0:27:32.639 do more than you ask? If he does exactly what 0:27:32.760 --> 0:27:37.560 you plan? And none of us asked for the situation 0:27:37.680 --> 0:27:43.919 that we're in right now. And so what drew me 0:27:44.000 --> 0:27:48.320 to this passage was that Elisha did not even ask 0:27:48.440 --> 0:27:51.720 the woman for a host home. When we used to 0:27:51.720 --> 0:27:54.120 go out, Ye, no nothing about host homes. We didn't 0:27:54.119 --> 0:27:58.320 stay at hotels when we would minister in Bamberg, South Carolina. No, sir, 0:27:58.600 --> 0:28:01.520 you got the host home, and if you were lucky, 0:28:01.720 --> 0:28:04.119 you had the bedroom to yourself, or you might be 0:28:04.200 --> 0:28:06.879 staying with their eight year old. You never knew until 0:28:06.880 --> 0:28:09.200 you got to the host home. If you were lucky, 0:28:09.240 --> 0:28:11.320 they could cook. If you were lucky, they didn't keep 0:28:11.320 --> 0:28:13.399 you up until two am. But they don't know anything 0:28:13.400 --> 0:28:15.600 about a host home. You didn't have a contract or 0:28:15.640 --> 0:28:18.199 a writer, And so the prophet is staying at Carmel, 0:28:18.359 --> 0:28:20.960 and it's lonely to be a prophet. But God uses 0:28:21.000 --> 0:28:23.720 a woman. The Bible calls her a well to do woman, 0:28:24.000 --> 0:28:28.040 but the Hebrew word is great. She was a great woman. 0:28:28.680 --> 0:28:32.879 She was a great woman. She was great materially. She 0:28:33.080 --> 0:28:35.920 was also great in the ways that you can't see. 0:28:36.000 --> 0:28:39.720 She was great. She was so great as a woman 0:28:39.920 --> 0:28:42.160 that she had the means to do something for God 0:28:42.280 --> 0:28:44.400 and the humility to do it. That makes you great. 0:28:47.080 --> 0:28:51.280 And what got my attention was that Elishah didn't even 0:28:51.360 --> 0:28:55.760 have to ask Does God have to ask you to 0:28:55.800 --> 0:29:00.320 do everything? You remember when Graham asked just a few 0:29:00.360 --> 0:29:02.800 weeks ago? Actually I think it was a few few 0:29:02.840 --> 0:29:05.000 months ago. Maybe it was a few years ago. I 0:29:05.040 --> 0:29:08.840 can't remember when. When did he ask you? Mom Am, 0:29:08.880 --> 0:29:13.200 I supposed to brush my teeth every day, mom Am, 0:29:13.240 --> 0:29:16.320 I supposed to change my underwear every day. These are 0:29:16.360 --> 0:29:19.400 things kids ask, And it's like, do you really need 0:29:19.440 --> 0:29:23.720 to ask that? Do you really need to ask God 0:29:23.840 --> 0:29:29.040 certain stuff? There's some stuff that God shouldn't have to 0:29:29.840 --> 0:29:31.960 put a sign in the sky to get you to do. 0:29:33.160 --> 0:29:36.400 There's some stuff you shouldn't have to ask God. You 0:29:36.480 --> 0:29:38.920 mean you mean you want me to praise you today. 0:29:39.120 --> 0:29:42.360 God shouldn't have to ask you for praise. If He 0:29:42.440 --> 0:29:44.720 gave you breath, you I don't want to give it back. 0:29:45.360 --> 0:29:49.800 It belongs to him. There are some things I love 0:29:50.080 --> 0:29:52.200 when I'm dealing with somebody and you don't have to 0:29:52.280 --> 0:29:55.600 ask them to do every single little thing. Maybe it's 0:29:55.640 --> 0:29:57.560 just me as a pastor, but I love when you 0:29:57.560 --> 0:30:00.560 don't have to ask for every every little thing. You know, 0:30:01.120 --> 0:30:03.600 I shouldn't have to ask everything. That's what I love 0:30:03.640 --> 0:30:05.640 about our staff at the church. You don't have to 0:30:05.680 --> 0:30:08.360 ask everything. I don't have to ask every single thing. 0:30:08.480 --> 0:30:10.600 All I said is get me a guitar so in 0:30:10.600 --> 0:30:12.520 case I want to play it when I preach just 0:30:12.520 --> 0:30:14.640 the two of us in the empty room. I didn't 0:30:14.680 --> 0:30:16.800 have to ask him to tune it. He just did that. 0:30:17.920 --> 0:30:21.520 He just did that. I texted Chris this morning. I said, 0:30:21.640 --> 0:30:24.320 I'm going over to preach. I'm doing it on just 0:30:24.360 --> 0:30:26.440 the two of us. I'm gonna put just Holly out 0:30:26.440 --> 0:30:28.720 there and the cameras and the musicians, but I want 0:30:28.720 --> 0:30:30.760 you to come over to He said, I'm already on 0:30:30.840 --> 0:30:34.720 my way. I didn't even have to ask. He wanted 0:30:34.760 --> 0:30:36.760 the word. He's like, oh, you think I need to 0:30:36.760 --> 0:30:39.680 be on a stage to support you. I want this word. 0:30:39.760 --> 0:30:42.120 You don't have to ask me. I want to do it. 0:30:42.520 --> 0:30:46.640 I want to serve God. I want to preach. I 0:30:46.640 --> 0:30:50.600 don't have to. I get to. I get to. I 0:30:50.680 --> 0:30:53.280 used to walk around thinking, our volunteers. We would have 0:30:53.360 --> 0:30:55.400 these nights when, back when I used to be able 0:30:55.400 --> 0:30:59.920 to shake people's hands legally, back before it was again 0:31:00.080 --> 0:31:02.280 us the law in human customs and social etiquette to 0:31:02.320 --> 0:31:04.720 shake a neighbor's hand, I would shake their hand. We 0:31:04.760 --> 0:31:06.680 would have these nights where I would thank all the 0:31:06.760 --> 0:31:09.040 volunteers and I would preach, and I would shake their house, 0:31:09.040 --> 0:31:11.440 say thank you for serving, thank you forgiving. And almost 0:31:11.440 --> 0:31:13.480 every time they say no thank you, I say no 0:31:13.520 --> 0:31:15.800 thank you. They say no thank you. I'd be like 0:31:15.960 --> 0:31:19.120 quick canceling out my thank you. I'm giving you gratitude. 0:31:19.120 --> 0:31:23.600 You receive it, like we're both standing there trying to 0:31:23.600 --> 0:31:28.520 thank each other. I get to do this, I get 0:31:28.560 --> 0:31:32.240 to do this. I get to do this. Elijah said 0:31:32.240 --> 0:31:34.480 to me the other day, not the prophet Elijah, my 0:31:34.760 --> 0:31:38.840 son Elijah. He said, thank you for working out with me. 0:31:39.000 --> 0:31:42.000 I said, I wanted to fun to work out with you. 0:31:42.920 --> 0:31:44.520 I love working out with you. I can do more 0:31:44.520 --> 0:31:47.800 weight than you, so it's good for my ego and 0:31:47.880 --> 0:31:50.840 I love talking to you. I didn't have to beg 0:31:50.920 --> 0:31:54.120 her to come preach this sermon today. She said, what time? 0:31:54.680 --> 0:31:56.640 I said, I don't know yet. She said, all clear 0:31:56.640 --> 0:31:58.640 of the schedule. You know what it's like to know 0:32:00.080 --> 0:32:04.160 that in such an uncertain moment of ministry, you got 0:32:04.200 --> 0:32:07.080 somebody you can count on it that I don't have 0:32:07.200 --> 0:32:09.560 to ask you. Are you still with me that I 0:32:09.600 --> 0:32:12.080 don't have to ask you? We used to say, like 0:32:12.200 --> 0:32:15.120 Jonathan's armor bearer said, do whatever you have in mind, 0:32:15.160 --> 0:32:18.160 I'm with you. I'm with you. Do you have that 0:32:18.280 --> 0:32:21.440 kind of spirit? God, I'm with you. If the wheels 0:32:21.520 --> 0:32:24.440 fall off, I'm with you. If they shut it down, 0:32:24.760 --> 0:32:27.560 I'm with you. If it's good, I'm with you. If 0:32:27.560 --> 0:32:29.800 we're in the limo, I'm with you. If we have 0:32:29.880 --> 0:32:32.280 to hitch hip, I'm with you. If we have to 0:32:32.320 --> 0:32:34.800 get on a scooter, if we have to walk, I'm 0:32:34.840 --> 0:32:38.200 with you. I love it. I love it. And God 0:32:38.280 --> 0:32:42.320 will send you somebody in every season. God will send you. 0:32:42.520 --> 0:32:45.960 It might not be who you expected, It might not 0:32:46.040 --> 0:32:49.280 be who you ask, But God will find a way 0:32:49.320 --> 0:32:52.440 to get it to you, and he will use someone. 0:32:53.120 --> 0:32:58.920 It was someone he didn't even ask, someone he didn't 0:32:58.960 --> 0:33:02.440 even ask. She just had an idea. She didn't go 0:33:02.440 --> 0:33:08.520 into a trance. Lord, I want to be used by you. God, Speak, 0:33:08.600 --> 0:33:15.280 Will you speak to me? Speak? You know how we do? Lord? 0:33:15.360 --> 0:33:19.440 Show me your will? What is your will? Lord? For 0:33:19.600 --> 0:33:22.000 thine is the kingdom. Bust off the king James English, 0:33:22.080 --> 0:33:24.240 asking God to do stuff like, if you get real deep, 0:33:24.240 --> 0:33:27.840 God will show you something real deep. She did something simple, 0:33:29.760 --> 0:33:34.560 She did something simple. Notice the connection, The deepest desire 0:33:34.760 --> 0:33:38.360 of her life was met when she did something simple. 0:33:41.440 --> 0:33:44.640 And it's even more powerful when you consider her disappointment. 0:33:45.520 --> 0:33:49.800 Because this great woman with a great, big house and 0:33:49.840 --> 0:33:53.640 an old husband. The Bible says he was so old 0:33:54.280 --> 0:33:56.800 that when the boy got sick, he couldn't even carry 0:33:56.840 --> 0:34:00.160 him upstairs, had to send him to his mom. That's 0:34:00.200 --> 0:34:03.720 who she was living with. And she said to the prophet, 0:34:04.600 --> 0:34:09.799 come over in eat some spaghetti. Come over, and you 0:34:09.840 --> 0:34:15.680 know what the Bible says. The Bible says, she urged him. Yeah, see, 0:34:15.680 --> 0:34:17.120 I didn't even have asked. You have to ask him 0:34:17.160 --> 0:34:18.840 to put the scripture back up. They just did it. 0:34:18.840 --> 0:34:20.239 I didn't even have to ask, They just put it 0:34:20.320 --> 0:34:22.319 up there. You see how this works. I didn't even 0:34:22.400 --> 0:34:25.120 have to ask. They just did it. That's how God's 0:34:25.360 --> 0:34:29.520 That's called a prompter. That's called a prompter. This is crazy. 0:34:29.800 --> 0:34:32.200 They are so in tune the people who are who 0:34:32.200 --> 0:34:34.880 are running this today. They are so in tune with 0:34:35.040 --> 0:34:38.200 my spirit and my flow that the moment I said 0:34:38.400 --> 0:34:40.520 urged them, they put the prompter on. Now. I want 0:34:40.560 --> 0:34:44.200 to ask, how sensitive are you to the prompting of 0:34:44.239 --> 0:34:47.239 the Holy Spirit? Or does God have to push you? 0:34:47.600 --> 0:34:49.799 Or does God have to proud you? Or can he 0:34:50.000 --> 0:34:53.600 just prompt you? How hard is it for God to 0:34:53.640 --> 0:34:56.600 get you to say I'm sorry when you're wrong? How 0:34:56.640 --> 0:34:58.640 hard is it for God to get you to do 0:34:58.719 --> 0:35:01.560 something encouraging when He laid on your heart? How hard 0:35:01.680 --> 0:35:03.600 is it for God to get you to do something 0:35:03.600 --> 0:35:05.800 that you ought to just naturally do as a child 0:35:05.800 --> 0:35:10.520 of God. It's not hard. It was harder for her 0:35:10.719 --> 0:35:12.560 to convince him to come eat than it was for 0:35:12.600 --> 0:35:15.520 God to get her to feed him. She had to 0:35:15.640 --> 0:35:19.359 urge him, please come eat. She had to ask him 0:35:19.360 --> 0:35:22.480 more than once. Now I'm gonna sit down because this 0:35:22.520 --> 0:35:25.080 is too rich to rush through. Y'all ready for this? 0:35:26.040 --> 0:35:27.680 Come on, I know where you're watching this from. It's 0:35:27.760 --> 0:35:29.800 just the two of us right now. I want to 0:35:29.840 --> 0:35:33.440 show you something. I wanted to share this message with 0:35:33.680 --> 0:35:37.040 just the two of us. I wanted to show you 0:35:37.080 --> 0:35:40.759 how God will send people into your life even in 0:35:40.800 --> 0:35:45.960 the loneliest seasons, Even in the seasons Elisha the prophet 0:35:46.239 --> 0:35:48.960 he had a servant who was a scoundrel. He had 0:35:48.960 --> 0:35:54.960 a servant, Gahesi, who had no character. And see, Elisha 0:35:55.280 --> 0:35:58.080 knew what it was like to stand by somebody in 0:35:58.120 --> 0:36:02.719 the season of loneliness. You remember, can I go back 0:36:03.760 --> 0:36:08.600 to win Elijah with a jay? The prophet was hiding 0:36:08.600 --> 0:36:11.520 in a cave because he had lived through a three 0:36:11.600 --> 0:36:14.160 year drought, and he stood up on the top of 0:36:14.160 --> 0:36:17.279 Mount Carmel. But even on top of Mount Carmel with 0:36:17.320 --> 0:36:20.840 so much power, there's often a difference between what you 0:36:20.880 --> 0:36:24.360 show publicly and what you wrestle with privately. Did you 0:36:24.400 --> 0:36:29.520 hear me? You can have great power publicly and great 0:36:29.560 --> 0:36:33.120 pain privately. And when he was up on the mountain, 0:36:33.160 --> 0:36:35.719 he said, I'm the only one of the Lord's prophets 0:36:35.800 --> 0:36:39.239 left and he called down fire. You remember this, You 0:36:39.280 --> 0:36:43.520 remember this, Holly. He said, I'm the only one left. 0:36:44.360 --> 0:36:47.240 Then when Jezebel threatened him, he ran for his life. 0:36:46.760 --> 0:36:49.840 Forty days he had to run, and he left his servant, 0:36:49.960 --> 0:36:51.920 and he went in a cave. And God sent him 0:36:51.960 --> 0:36:53.880 the fire, and God sent him the wind. But he 0:36:54.000 --> 0:36:57.120 spoke in the whisper, because God speaks in the whisper, 0:36:57.280 --> 0:37:00.279 because God doesn't have to shout, because he's not far way. 0:37:00.600 --> 0:37:03.240 God doesn't have to shout. That's what the devil does 0:37:03.480 --> 0:37:06.319 to scare you away. But he whispered, and he said, 0:37:06.360 --> 0:37:08.680 what are you doing here? He asked him a question, 0:37:10.920 --> 0:37:15.719 and Elijah said, I'm the only one left, the only 0:37:15.760 --> 0:37:17.680 one you ever felt like that. I'm the only one 0:37:17.680 --> 0:37:22.319 who cares. I'm the only one in this marriage who cares. 0:37:23.040 --> 0:37:25.880 I'm the only one carrying this responsibility. I know you 0:37:25.960 --> 0:37:29.160 felt this way as a leader before. Chet I'm the 0:37:29.160 --> 0:37:32.200 only one who sees what needs to be done. And 0:37:32.239 --> 0:37:36.360 God told him, go back the way you came, because 0:37:36.400 --> 0:37:41.000 I've already got somebody to support you. His name is Elisha. 0:37:41.600 --> 0:37:44.479 It sounds a lot like yours because y'all are meant 0:37:44.520 --> 0:37:47.560 to go together. And when you get to him, I 0:37:47.600 --> 0:37:50.120 want you to take your cloak and throw it on him. 0:37:50.440 --> 0:37:53.000 And I know you feel alone, but I've got somebody 0:37:53.080 --> 0:37:55.840 plow in the field right now. I don't mean to 0:37:55.880 --> 0:37:59.560 turn this into a dating seminar, but sometimes we get 0:37:59.760 --> 0:38:04.080 so oh lonely, and in our seasons of loneliness, we isolate. 0:38:04.480 --> 0:38:07.359 But God said, I have put somebody in your pack. 0:38:08.000 --> 0:38:10.760 I have put somebody even if you are not married 0:38:10.880 --> 0:38:13.840 right now, even if you don't have the support system 0:38:13.880 --> 0:38:16.239 you want to right now. I know what that feels like. 0:38:16.600 --> 0:38:19.720 I've been lonely and I am married. I've been lonely 0:38:19.760 --> 0:38:22.839 and I have kids. I've been lonely in this room 0:38:22.960 --> 0:38:26.719 filled with two thousand people and they were shouting, and 0:38:26.800 --> 0:38:29.799 on the inside I was crying, and on the outside 0:38:29.800 --> 0:38:32.680 I was smiling, but on the inside I was crying. 0:38:32.840 --> 0:38:35.919 And nobody knew what I was carrying, and nobody knew 0:38:35.960 --> 0:38:39.040 what had just happened thirty minutes to go backstage, and 0:38:39.120 --> 0:38:41.920 nobody knew the hate that I was dealing with from critics. 0:38:42.080 --> 0:38:45.240 But I had to smile and show love. And seeing 0:38:45.280 --> 0:38:48.839 these moments of isolation, you might feel like the only one. 0:38:49.080 --> 0:38:52.319 But God has somebody for you. God, even if it's 0:38:52.440 --> 0:38:55.960 just this moment, what if God sit this message today. 0:38:56.200 --> 0:38:58.840 You've been on the brink of suicide. You've been on 0:38:58.880 --> 0:39:01.719 the brink of giving up. And God prompted my heart 0:39:01.960 --> 0:39:04.920 to come in this room and put Holly and Todd 0:39:05.080 --> 0:39:09.040 and Doug and all them and they're back there. But 0:39:09.080 --> 0:39:11.600 it's just the two of us right now. And God 0:39:11.680 --> 0:39:13.360 is trying to bring you back to a place of 0:39:14.040 --> 0:39:21.400 understanding that before you even asked, he answered, he hears 0:39:21.640 --> 0:39:29.200 before I call. And Elishah followed Elijah for many years. 0:39:30.719 --> 0:39:34.279 The two of them had a special connection. You don't 0:39:34.320 --> 0:39:36.319 read many of the details, but they must have been 0:39:36.320 --> 0:39:41.120 so close because when it came time for the Lord 0:39:41.160 --> 0:39:45.840 to take Elijah from Elishah. On the day that Elijah 0:39:45.880 --> 0:39:48.319 was taken up in chariots the fire by the way 0:39:48.320 --> 0:39:51.640 bonus point, Elijah was scared that Jezebel was going to 0:39:51.719 --> 0:39:53.920 kill him. But he's one of the few characters in 0:39:53.960 --> 0:39:58.960 scripture that never experienced physical death. The thing that you're 0:39:59.000 --> 0:40:04.480 worrying about may never even happen. The thing that you're 0:40:04.560 --> 0:40:06.880 running from. Who's this for? Who's this for? Is it 0:40:06.920 --> 0:40:09.759 for you. Come on, I'm asking, I'm asking, is it 0:40:09.800 --> 0:40:12.960 for you? Say it in the chat? This is my word. 0:40:13.760 --> 0:40:15.560 I don't have to I don't have to run from him. 0:40:16.280 --> 0:40:20.719 And I love Elisha because when Elijah said, stay here, 0:40:21.560 --> 0:40:26.560 the Lord has called me away. Look what Elishah said 0:40:26.600 --> 0:40:29.680 in verse two second Kings two, stay here the Lord 0:40:29.760 --> 0:40:32.440 sent me about. But Elisha said, as surely as the 0:40:32.440 --> 0:40:37.000 Lord lives and as you live, I will not leave you. 0:40:38.320 --> 0:40:43.839 I will not leave you. That sounds like Jesus. I 0:40:43.880 --> 0:40:50.759 will never leave you nor forsake you. So somebody else did, 0:40:51.360 --> 0:40:54.160 and it's just the two of us. The Lord sent 0:40:54.239 --> 0:40:58.680 me to tell you you're not alone. God will give 0:40:58.760 --> 0:41:02.360 you someone that you need in every season of your life. 0:41:02.400 --> 0:41:05.720 And I've been praying a new prayer lately. Every morning 0:41:05.760 --> 0:41:07.440 I've been praying this just in my heart. I don't 0:41:08.200 --> 0:41:10.080 it doesn't take me long. I just say, Lord, puts 0:41:10.120 --> 0:41:13.960 somebody on my mind today. Put somebody on my mind today. 0:41:15.239 --> 0:41:17.960 Somebody I can call, somebody I can bless. Put somebody 0:41:18.000 --> 0:41:21.560 on my mind today. And then I gotta be honest. 0:41:22.080 --> 0:41:27.479 I'm selfish. God put me on somebody's mind today. Put 0:41:27.520 --> 0:41:34.000 me on somebody's mind today because God uses people. See see, yes, 0:41:34.320 --> 0:41:39.720 just me and Jesus. But but but God uses people. 0:41:40.480 --> 0:41:43.400 So the way that he meets needs is through people. 0:41:44.160 --> 0:41:46.880 And so so the prophet Elisha, he's used to a 0:41:46.880 --> 0:41:50.080 lonely life. He's he's he's been with a mentor who 0:41:50.200 --> 0:41:53.239 hid in caves. He's been with a mentor who was 0:41:53.320 --> 0:41:55.920 unpopular at times. So he knows how to be lonely. 0:41:56.160 --> 0:41:58.560 So when the woman invites him, right, this woman, this 0:41:58.640 --> 0:42:01.160 Shuna Mike woman who is a great woman, who has 0:42:01.160 --> 0:42:03.759 an old husband, and she looks at her husband one 0:42:03.840 --> 0:42:05.680 day and says, you know, it's just the two of us, 0:42:08.239 --> 0:42:11.120 it's just the two of us. I get tired of 0:42:11.200 --> 0:42:13.400 just cooking for the two of us. Let's have the 0:42:13.440 --> 0:42:17.080 profit over Look. She didn't even pray about it. You 0:42:17.200 --> 0:42:20.480 don't have to pray about everything, Just do something for God. 0:42:21.600 --> 0:42:23.640 She didn't go on a forty day fast to see 0:42:23.640 --> 0:42:25.880 if she could have the profit over Well, Lord, I 0:42:25.920 --> 0:42:27.279 just don't know if you want me to give to 0:42:27.320 --> 0:42:29.560 the church. Give me a sign. What other sign does 0:42:29.560 --> 0:42:31.440 he need to give you than his son that died 0:42:31.480 --> 0:42:35.920 for you? Really, let me a sign. She didn't have 0:42:35.960 --> 0:42:41.800 a sign. She had an idea I want to keep going. 0:42:42.160 --> 0:42:44.439 How is it how you like your personal life? Sermon, girl, 0:42:44.640 --> 0:42:47.400 aren't you glad I took your French fry? All right? Now? 0:42:47.480 --> 0:42:50.160 Listen when she said to the husband, you know how 0:42:50.200 --> 0:42:52.480 it's hard to calculate how many when you're cooking for people. 0:42:52.840 --> 0:42:55.719 Holly was cooking for me and the boys when we 0:42:55.719 --> 0:42:58.400 were when a couple of years ago, when the boys 0:42:58.400 --> 0:43:00.759 were smaller and Abby does and eat much. But the 0:43:00.800 --> 0:43:02.719 boys now we got a fifteen year old and a 0:43:02.760 --> 0:43:05.120 twelve year old, and so their needs change. And the 0:43:05.160 --> 0:43:07.239 other day we realize we're always running out of food 0:43:07.280 --> 0:43:11.319 because she has not upgraded the quantities of the food. 0:43:11.880 --> 0:43:13.960 It's still just as good, but there's not enough because 0:43:13.960 --> 0:43:17.879 seasons change, and a season's change needs change. And who 0:43:17.880 --> 0:43:19.920 God uses in one season of your life, who am 0:43:19.920 --> 0:43:22.440 I preaching to might not be who he uses in 0:43:22.480 --> 0:43:24.080 the next. And he'll give you what you need for 0:43:24.120 --> 0:43:26.440 the season that you're in. I'm annointed right now to 0:43:26.440 --> 0:43:28.440 preach to somebody. Come on, it's just the two of us. 0:43:28.680 --> 0:43:30.600 It's like I'm talking to you. And she turns to 0:43:30.680 --> 0:43:34.960 her husband and she says, let's have him over, and 0:43:35.000 --> 0:43:39.200 she urged him she begged the prophet, please let me 0:43:39.200 --> 0:43:44.600 cook for you. Please, please God, let me do it. Ah, 0:43:44.680 --> 0:43:47.239 just let me do it. One of my friends said 0:43:47.239 --> 0:43:49.480 the other day, I'll beat up one of your staff 0:43:49.520 --> 0:43:53.080 members to come to church right now. I will beat 0:43:53.120 --> 0:43:55.439 them black and blue with a tire iron. I said, 0:43:55.440 --> 0:43:58.799 calm down, this is disturbing, they said, I'll beat them 0:43:58.840 --> 0:44:00.480 unconscious to get in the room. I want to be 0:44:00.480 --> 0:44:04.120 there so bad, and some people in the room probably 0:44:04.160 --> 0:44:06.160 just feel like, you know, I got to get over there. 0:44:07.640 --> 0:44:10.319 When did you start having to do what God gave 0:44:10.360 --> 0:44:14.040 you as a privilege to do. It's a privilege to 0:44:14.120 --> 0:44:18.279 serve God. It's a privilege to preach to you. It's 0:44:18.320 --> 0:44:22.239 a privilege. It's a privilege to do ministry. She said, 0:44:22.280 --> 0:44:25.080 will you please come eat? And she urged him. He 0:44:25.120 --> 0:44:28.399 probably pushed her away the first time. You know how 0:44:28.400 --> 0:44:31.600 you get used to pushing people away when you're not 0:44:31.760 --> 0:44:35.440 used to people being good to you, when you're used 0:44:35.440 --> 0:44:41.799 to being unpopular. Elisha finally accepted and he got there 0:44:42.520 --> 0:44:48.520 and he found out she can cook. She can cook, 0:44:49.640 --> 0:44:53.800 she can cook, so he came back. He said he 0:44:53.840 --> 0:44:57.360 would come there often. He stopped buy it and he 0:44:57.360 --> 0:45:01.720 would eat and one day she said to her husband, 0:45:02.920 --> 0:45:04.759 I think we ought to take the extra room we 0:45:04.840 --> 0:45:09.759 have in this house, the room that we had in 0:45:09.800 --> 0:45:12.080 case God ever gave us a child. But he didn't. 0:45:15.040 --> 0:45:19.560 You know, this woman, this woman had probably prayed for years, 0:45:19.560 --> 0:45:23.840 God give me a child. She probably asked God many times, 0:45:23.840 --> 0:45:28.160 God give me a child, and he didn't, and she 0:45:28.160 --> 0:45:30.520 would ask again, and she would ask harder and he didn't. 0:45:31.760 --> 0:45:36.640 And so eventually at some point she stopped asking. I 0:45:36.640 --> 0:45:39.320 don't know when if it was the first year, the 0:45:39.360 --> 0:45:41.680 fifth year, or the tenth year. Remember her husband is old, 0:45:41.719 --> 0:45:43.759 so they've been praying about this a long time, and 0:45:43.800 --> 0:45:48.000 now it's too late, and she stopped. Eventually she stopped asking, 0:45:50.000 --> 0:45:53.040 and instead of asking God to give her something, she 0:45:53.160 --> 0:45:58.080 decided to offer God what she had. There comes a 0:45:58.120 --> 0:46:02.040 point where instead of being bitter about what you didn't get, 0:46:04.920 --> 0:46:10.160 it's better to offer God what you have. She said, 0:46:10.560 --> 0:46:15.359 We've got this extra room here, and this man who 0:46:15.440 --> 0:46:18.480 keeps coming by, I keep feeding him, but I feel 0:46:18.520 --> 0:46:21.200 bad every time he has to leave, because I don't 0:46:21.239 --> 0:46:23.200 know where he stays on his way back to Karma 0:46:23.200 --> 0:46:27.799 when he passes through Shunam. So since it's just the 0:46:27.840 --> 0:46:33.520 two of us. Since we didn't get the child that 0:46:33.560 --> 0:46:37.600 we wanted from God, since I didn't get the opportunity 0:46:37.640 --> 0:46:41.960 that I want, Since we can't have church full on Sunday, 0:46:42.560 --> 0:46:44.680 why don't you meet me over at the church early, 0:46:45.480 --> 0:46:48.480 And why don't we just take advantage of the opportunity 0:46:48.520 --> 0:46:51.319 we do have. See, I was complaining the first few 0:46:51.360 --> 0:46:54.319 months of quarantine. I was complaining, I can't preach with 0:46:54.360 --> 0:46:56.719 no crowd in the room. And God said, I thought 0:46:56.760 --> 0:46:58.960 you didn't preach for them. I thought you preached for me. 0:47:00.880 --> 0:47:03.960 So then I stopped asking God, why can't the people 0:47:04.000 --> 0:47:06.719 come back? And I started asking God, what are the 0:47:06.760 --> 0:47:10.160 opportunities that we have? Here's a great question, God, what 0:47:10.239 --> 0:47:13.319 are the opportunities that I have right now that are 0:47:13.320 --> 0:47:19.600 in my life because of my disappointments? She offered God 0:47:19.920 --> 0:47:24.000 the place of her disappointment. She said, we have that 0:47:24.160 --> 0:47:26.959 room on the roof that we never got to finish. 0:47:27.239 --> 0:47:29.359 We never got to buy a bed for our son 0:47:29.520 --> 0:47:31.960 because God didn't give us one. We never got to 0:47:31.960 --> 0:47:34.640 put a desk in his room for his homework because 0:47:34.640 --> 0:47:36.960 God didn't give us one. We didn't get to give 0:47:37.040 --> 0:47:39.200 him a lamp for a night light. We never got 0:47:39.239 --> 0:47:41.560 to buy him any pajamas. But there's a man of 0:47:41.600 --> 0:47:44.800 God who passes through here, and I refuse to stay 0:47:44.880 --> 0:47:48.520 stuck in the bitterness of what I didn't get. You 0:47:48.680 --> 0:47:53.000 be Paul, I'll be Silas, and we will turn this 0:47:53.239 --> 0:47:57.120 prison into a place of praise. We will turn this 0:47:57.360 --> 0:48:00.640 I'm telling you, if two of you will cut agreed 0:48:01.040 --> 0:48:04.759 concerning anything in his name, he will do it. So 0:48:04.800 --> 0:48:07.319 you might be saying I'm all alone right now, No 0:48:07.440 --> 0:48:11.800 you're not. There's no stipulation on geography. In Matthew eighteen twenty, 0:48:12.080 --> 0:48:14.800 he said, if two of you will touch and agreed, 0:48:15.200 --> 0:48:18.439 So even if you're watching this by yourself, and even 0:48:18.440 --> 0:48:21.879 if you just signed divorce papers last week, or even 0:48:21.920 --> 0:48:24.840 if your kid just told you they hate your guts, 0:48:25.239 --> 0:48:27.600 or even if the third person just told you no, 0:48:28.000 --> 0:48:31.000 we do not have the position available, or even if 0:48:31.080 --> 0:48:33.719 you're dealing with the addiction that makes you feel like 0:48:33.800 --> 0:48:37.160 a fraud when you smile at people. But there's change 0:48:37.200 --> 0:48:41.160 on the inside. God came to tell you are not alone. 0:48:41.320 --> 0:48:45.160 I'll be Paul, You'll be Silas, and let's make a 0:48:45.400 --> 0:48:50.359 space for God to fill. I feel praise rising up 0:48:50.600 --> 0:48:58.120 in this place right now. Whoa, I'm glad I came 0:48:58.160 --> 0:49:01.560 over today. Come on this, what's the two of us? Les? 0:49:01.760 --> 0:49:04.080 Let's we got more. We got more house than we 0:49:04.160 --> 0:49:07.200 have family. Come on, I got more time than I 0:49:07.239 --> 0:49:09.480 ever had before. God, I didn't plan on having all 0:49:09.520 --> 0:49:12.440 this extra time. God said, I gave you the extra 0:49:12.520 --> 0:49:14.319 to see would you trust me? What would you do 0:49:14.400 --> 0:49:18.080 with it? What would you do with it? What would 0:49:18.080 --> 0:49:24.200 you do with the extra? In this place? What place? 0:49:24.280 --> 0:49:28.000 The place of her disappointment? Don't you realize? This is 0:49:28.000 --> 0:49:29.719 what Holly told me on the walk before I ripped 0:49:29.719 --> 0:49:33.399 off her sermon and I started appreciating it back to her. 0:49:34.320 --> 0:49:36.040 I said, this is too good to keep just between 0:49:36.080 --> 0:49:38.200 the two of us. I gotta go preach it. I 0:49:38.200 --> 0:49:40.239 gotta preach it for the weekend. I gotta pach it 0:49:40.280 --> 0:49:42.160 for the Evam. I gott appreach it to all of 0:49:42.200 --> 0:49:44.000 the different countries and all the different people. But it 0:49:44.040 --> 0:49:45.480 started with just the two of us. She turned to 0:49:45.480 --> 0:49:48.080 her husband and said, since it's just the two of us, 0:49:49.520 --> 0:49:55.000 let's meet the needs of this profit. You know that 0:49:55.000 --> 0:50:01.400 that room that we were gonna Yeah, we when we 0:50:01.600 --> 0:50:03.520 when we built this house, we built it with extra 0:50:03.600 --> 0:50:06.040 room for the kid. God was going to give us. 0:50:06.040 --> 0:50:11.359 But why don't we just uh, you know, I thought 0:50:11.360 --> 0:50:13.480 by now in my life I was going to be here. 0:50:13.560 --> 0:50:17.319 I didn't ask for this situation. But let me offer 0:50:18.000 --> 0:50:21.319 this situation. I didn't ask for this disappointment. I didn't 0:50:21.320 --> 0:50:24.640 asked for the storm. What would it be like to 0:50:24.680 --> 0:50:31.440 offer God your disappointment, the deep one, the one you 0:50:31.480 --> 0:50:39.960 smile over. Elisha is laying down one night, he's getting comfortable. Now. 0:50:41.000 --> 0:50:42.560 At first she had to urge him for a meal. 0:50:42.640 --> 0:50:46.200 Now she can't get rid of him. I'm telling you, 0:50:46.239 --> 0:50:49.359 if you make God a place, if you make God 0:50:49.400 --> 0:50:52.040 a place, he doesn't want to visit. He wants to stay. 0:50:53.200 --> 0:50:55.240 He wants to stay. He doesn't just want to speak 0:50:55.280 --> 0:50:58.120 to you. You're like, oh, man, I just you know, 0:50:58.200 --> 0:51:00.000 I just wish I was. I wish I could listen 0:51:00.120 --> 0:51:01.680 until you preach all day. You don't have to listen 0:51:01.800 --> 0:51:03.360 to me me preach all day. God will speak to you 0:51:03.440 --> 0:51:08.640 long after I shut up, just making my place. So 0:51:08.840 --> 0:51:14.759 Elisha's laying down right, and he asked, Ga Hazi, what 0:51:14.800 --> 0:51:17.680 can we do for this woman? That's what drew me 0:51:17.719 --> 0:51:20.160 to preaching it because last week I preached on the 0:51:20.239 --> 0:51:22.640 question how far will they go. I talked about how 0:51:22.680 --> 0:51:25.920 Jesus asked three hundred and eight questions and only directly 0:51:26.000 --> 0:51:29.040 answered eight of them, and how God is a god 0:51:29.040 --> 0:51:32.279 of questions even though we want so many answers. Put 0:51:32.280 --> 0:51:36.400 a question mark in the chat. That's God's favorite punctuation. 0:51:37.680 --> 0:51:41.880 I think his second favorite is a comma, because the 0:51:41.960 --> 0:51:48.680 comma means it might have stopped, but it's not over. Okay, 0:51:48.719 --> 0:51:51.080 I'll give you ten seconds. I gotta give you ten 0:51:51.120 --> 0:51:54.880 seconds for the comma. He's the god of the comma, 0:51:55.600 --> 0:51:58.240 but he's the god of the question, and the question 0:51:58.440 --> 0:52:03.719 is what will you do with this disappointment? She turned 0:52:03.760 --> 0:52:07.560 it into a place that God could use. Are you 0:52:07.600 --> 0:52:14.720 doing that right now? Are you bitter? Are you in resentment, regret, shame? 0:52:15.520 --> 0:52:19.200 All those places that we stay. You know what's crazy, Holly, 0:52:20.160 --> 0:52:22.040 And since it's just the two of us, I can 0:52:22.080 --> 0:52:24.680 show you this. The question that led me to this 0:52:24.760 --> 0:52:28.520 text wasn't the question that told me I needed to 0:52:28.560 --> 0:52:31.399 preach it. When he asked her that the first time, 0:52:31.520 --> 0:52:34.759 she pushed him off. She said in verse thirteen, Part B, 0:52:34.960 --> 0:52:38.480 I have a home among my own people. But Elisha 0:52:39.040 --> 0:52:42.799 asked again what can be done for her now? This 0:52:42.920 --> 0:52:48.439 is amazing. Can I drop this on you? Okay, he's 0:52:48.640 --> 0:52:55.120 up there asking God for something that she stopped asking 0:52:55.200 --> 0:52:59.640 him for a long time ago. You know how you 0:52:59.680 --> 0:53:04.400 can learn to live with certain things. I'll give you 0:53:04.400 --> 0:53:06.680 a version of this. I'll never be free from that. 0:53:07.480 --> 0:53:13.040 I'll just learn to finesse it. That could be anything 0:53:13.080 --> 0:53:16.279 in your life. Somebody thought of drugs, somebody thought of sex, 0:53:16.360 --> 0:53:19.440 somebody thought of negative thought patterns. It doesn't matter. So 0:53:19.480 --> 0:53:21.440 you say I'll never be free from it. I'm just 0:53:21.440 --> 0:53:25.560 gonna stop asking. Especially if you raised your hand in 0:53:25.640 --> 0:53:28.319 church and went down and prayed and okay, this is 0:53:28.360 --> 0:53:31.000 the time. This is the breakthrough, this is the one 0:53:31.400 --> 0:53:35.000 you know, this is it. And so now it's kind 0:53:35.000 --> 0:53:38.600 of a way where you click on church and watch church, 0:53:38.880 --> 0:53:43.480 but you only let God's word in so far so 0:53:43.560 --> 0:53:45.879 you get God's word to cope with stuff, but you've 0:53:45.920 --> 0:53:50.720 lost hope that it can change. This is the woman. 0:53:50.920 --> 0:53:55.040 She's a great woman. She's a great woman, and God 0:53:55.080 --> 0:53:57.560 is using her. But there is still something that she 0:53:57.800 --> 0:54:02.120 stopped asking God for. What is that for you? Because 0:54:02.320 --> 0:54:05.120 because after you've done everything you can do, this is 0:54:05.160 --> 0:54:08.760 a proactive woman. Didn't you see her pushing the prophet around. 0:54:09.040 --> 0:54:11.560 If you're gonna boss Elisha around, you've got to be 0:54:11.600 --> 0:54:14.479 a proactive woman. She's proactive. You see how she's talking 0:54:14.520 --> 0:54:16.640 to her husband. Get a table, get a lamp, go 0:54:16.680 --> 0:54:18.839 down there. I know you're old. I know your niece hurt, 0:54:18.840 --> 0:54:20.279 but we got to take care of the man of God. 0:54:20.400 --> 0:54:23.160 Let's get this room set up. She's not some passive woman, 0:54:23.360 --> 0:54:28.080 but in this area and everybody has one. Well, I 0:54:28.080 --> 0:54:31.040 guess I'll never be happy. I'll be happy when I 0:54:31.080 --> 0:54:34.080 get to heaven. I'll be happy when I get to heaven. 0:54:34.120 --> 0:54:37.160 Down here on earth, just I'm gonna just make it through. Oh, 0:54:37.200 --> 0:54:39.160 this is the value of the shadow of death, God said, 0:54:39.160 --> 0:54:40.480 I didn't want you to make the value of the 0:54:40.480 --> 0:54:45.399 shadow of death your permanent mailing address. I guess I'll 0:54:45.440 --> 0:54:47.840 just stay in the cave. I guess I'll just be anxious. 0:54:48.040 --> 0:54:49.960 I guess I'll just live in this state. I guess 0:54:50.040 --> 0:54:51.919 this is just what it is. This is not all 0:54:51.960 --> 0:54:55.160 it is. What can be done for her. Elisha wanted 0:54:55.200 --> 0:54:57.799 to know. I know she said nothing. I know she 0:54:57.880 --> 0:55:00.479 said she's all right. I know she said she he's good. 0:55:00.640 --> 0:55:03.400 I know she's stable. I know she's great. I know 0:55:03.440 --> 0:55:06.520 I'm staying in her house. But everybody has a need 0:55:06.560 --> 0:55:11.120 in their heart, everybody, even if nobody else knows it. 0:55:12.719 --> 0:55:16.160 And Gehesi the scoundrel said she doesn't have a son. 0:55:16.840 --> 0:55:20.680 And then like just said, get her back. I heard 0:55:20.719 --> 0:55:23.480 God saying come back, come back, come back, come back, 0:55:23.520 --> 0:55:25.840 come back, come back. You remember how he told Elijah, 0:55:26.000 --> 0:55:27.840 go back the way you came. You don't belong in 0:55:27.880 --> 0:55:30.120 a cave. You don't belong in this low state. You 0:55:30.160 --> 0:55:32.760 don't belong in this pattern, you don't belong in this place. 0:55:32.800 --> 0:55:35.080 This is not you. You're a child of God. Bring 0:55:35.080 --> 0:55:37.040 her back, bring her back. I gotta do it. I 0:55:37.080 --> 0:55:40.120 want to bless her. I've been brainstorming ways to bless you. 0:55:40.160 --> 0:55:43.040 Nothing can cancel it, nothing can stop it. I came 0:55:43.080 --> 0:55:45.799 all this way. I'm not gonna stop now. I brought 0:55:45.840 --> 0:55:50.719 you this far. Come back. And then he he made 0:55:50.760 --> 0:55:55.080 her the promise that she had stopped praying about about 0:55:55.120 --> 0:55:58.759 this time next year. It's one thing to tell her 0:55:58.760 --> 0:56:00.480 she's gonna have a baby, but he said, you're going 0:56:00.520 --> 0:56:04.760 to hold it in your arms. That's emotional. He's giving 0:56:04.800 --> 0:56:09.080 her a picture of something that has cost her so 0:56:09.239 --> 0:56:15.640 much pain, and she stopped praying. I went through a depression. 0:56:16.880 --> 0:56:19.239 And the thing about me and Holly when we were 0:56:19.239 --> 0:56:22.080 talking about this the other day, and I didn't know 0:56:22.080 --> 0:56:24.520 if I could share this with you, but she was 0:56:24.520 --> 0:56:28.040 saying how there were times where she would see me 0:56:28.160 --> 0:56:32.799 hurting and she can only help so much, and she 0:56:32.800 --> 0:56:36.279 would feel so helpless, and she would see me hurting, 0:56:36.360 --> 0:56:38.040 but she would see me continuing to do what I 0:56:38.080 --> 0:56:41.560 had to do, and it would come and it would go, 0:56:41.600 --> 0:56:43.160 and it would come and it would go. And during 0:56:43.200 --> 0:56:50.759 that time, I think I started to convince myself that 0:56:50.880 --> 0:56:55.839 I didn't deserve to feel good, so I would cover 0:56:55.880 --> 0:56:58.440 it up by saying, well, I'm just going to serve God. 0:56:58.480 --> 0:57:04.120 It doesn't matter how I feel. But to bury your 0:57:04.120 --> 0:57:11.560 disappointment is not a sustainable strategy. And Elijah said about 0:57:11.600 --> 0:57:14.319 this time next year, the thing that you've stopped as 0:57:14.440 --> 0:57:17.640 the thing, don't you love the passage? He didn't ask 0:57:18.200 --> 0:57:21.080 for a bed and she didn't ask for a baby, 0:57:22.120 --> 0:57:25.720 and God is giving them both what they didn't ask for. 0:57:26.520 --> 0:57:30.280 Is God giving you right now what you didn't even 0:57:30.320 --> 0:57:34.720 ask for in a way that you could have never anticipated. 0:57:34.920 --> 0:57:37.040 Come on, it's just the two of us right now. 0:57:37.200 --> 0:57:38.840 You don't have to put it in the chat. But 0:57:38.960 --> 0:57:42.520 between me and you, is there something that you've buried, 0:57:43.720 --> 0:57:50.800 something that God promised? He said, He said, I'm gonna 0:57:50.800 --> 0:57:53.760 be out of a guest room soon because about this 0:57:53.840 --> 0:57:57.800 time next year, there's gonna be blue all over these walls. 0:57:58.960 --> 0:58:02.520 About this time next year. Oh man, I could just 0:58:02.560 --> 0:58:06.440 see us right now on December thirty first, twenty twenty, 0:58:06.840 --> 0:58:09.000 like bringing in the new year, you know, like, oh, 0:58:09.280 --> 0:58:12.240 next year is gonna be better. But she did not 0:58:12.360 --> 0:58:15.560 respond with praise. Her instinct was to push him away. 0:58:15.760 --> 0:58:18.680 You know, when God really speaks something significant to you, 0:58:18.680 --> 0:58:20.960 you push it away. I can't hear that. No, no, 0:58:20.960 --> 0:58:24.400 no, no no, no, that doesn't even when something good happens, 0:58:24.600 --> 0:58:27.560 you get threatened by it. Because the last time that 0:58:27.680 --> 0:58:30.280 I got my hopes of this is what the woman said, 0:58:30.520 --> 0:58:34.480 don't mislead me. I've been down this path before. I've 0:58:34.560 --> 0:58:41.000 hoped before, and it hurts the hope. It hurts the hope. 0:58:41.200 --> 0:58:44.800 I'd rather just show everybody publicly how good it is. 0:58:45.680 --> 0:58:50.360 I'd rather just pretend like everything's okay. But just like 0:58:50.400 --> 0:58:54.240 the prophet said, just like God said, just like he said, 0:58:54.440 --> 0:58:58.200 Verse seventeen. The woman became pregnant, and the next year, 0:58:58.440 --> 0:59:01.440 about that same time, she gave birth to a son, 0:59:01.760 --> 0:59:04.520 just as Elisha had told her. And before we stop 0:59:04.560 --> 0:59:07.480 and shout over that the Bible only gives one verse 0:59:08.080 --> 0:59:13.480 to this little boy's life. The whole chapter has been 0:59:13.520 --> 0:59:18.919 about her frustration, one verse about his life. Here's the verse, 0:59:19.040 --> 0:59:23.040 verse seventeen of verse eighteen, verse eighteen, the child grew. 0:59:23.040 --> 0:59:24.480 One day he went out to his father, who was 0:59:24.480 --> 0:59:28.600 with the reapers. Verse nineteen. He said to his father, 0:59:28.720 --> 0:59:31.720 my head, my head. His father told a servant carry 0:59:31.760 --> 0:59:34.160 him to his mother verse twenty. After the servant had 0:59:34.160 --> 0:59:35.640 lifted him up and carried him to his mother, the 0:59:35.640 --> 0:59:37.960 boy sat on her lap until noon, and then he died. 0:59:39.080 --> 0:59:41.120 The only thing the boy ever said in the text 0:59:41.200 --> 0:59:44.400 is my head. That's the only words he got to say. 0:59:45.000 --> 0:59:48.760 And then he died. And this is what brought me 0:59:49.280 --> 0:59:52.200 to the sermon, because after the servant had lifted him 0:59:52.280 --> 0:59:54.640 up and carried him to his mother, he sat on 0:59:54.680 --> 0:59:57.520 her lap and died. In verse twenty one, Oh this 0:59:57.600 --> 1:00:00.200 is so amazing, Holly. I gotta show you this. I 1:00:00.240 --> 1:00:01.840 gotta show you this. God showed me this. It was 1:00:01.880 --> 1:00:04.080 so good. When we were walking around talking about it. 1:00:04.080 --> 1:00:05.800 I didn't even know this was in it. She went 1:00:05.880 --> 1:00:08.040 up and laid him on the bed of the Man 1:00:08.080 --> 1:00:10.760 of God. Then shut the door. Somebody say shut the door. 1:00:11.400 --> 1:00:13.920 That's important. Shut the door. Shut the door. She shut 1:00:13.960 --> 1:00:16.600 the door and went out. She called her husband and said, 1:00:17.000 --> 1:00:19.880 please send me one of the servants and a donkey 1:00:19.920 --> 1:00:21.600 so I can go to the Man of God quickly. 1:00:21.680 --> 1:00:24.840 In return. Notice what she didn't ask her husband to do, 1:00:25.080 --> 1:00:29.360 what he didn't have the power to do. She said, 1:00:29.400 --> 1:00:31.560 you can give me a donkey, but you can't give 1:00:31.560 --> 1:00:36.520 me a miracle. Stop expecting out of people what only 1:00:36.560 --> 1:00:41.200 God can give. This is why we get depressed. We 1:00:41.320 --> 1:00:45.560 keep waiting on people to complete us. Renee Selwigger was 1:00:45.680 --> 1:00:49.800 lying to you. If you wait on somebody to complete you, 1:00:49.800 --> 1:00:53.200 you are going to be in a constant state of suspension. Ljay, 1:00:54.240 --> 1:00:57.320 They can help you. God can use people to bless you. 1:00:57.560 --> 1:01:00.520 But there are some things that are just between you 1:01:00.600 --> 1:01:04.280 and God, only God, just the two of us. I 1:01:04.360 --> 1:01:08.720 hear God saying, quit putting demands on people that are unreasonable. 1:01:10.240 --> 1:01:13.680 Let me build those spaces, let me have that room, 1:01:13.960 --> 1:01:18.080 let me have that question. She said, give me a donkey. 1:01:19.800 --> 1:01:22.040 You can give me a donkey. But that's all you 1:01:22.080 --> 1:01:25.760 can do because I gotta I gotta go back to 1:01:25.800 --> 1:01:29.560 the one who gave me the promise. I've got to 1:01:29.680 --> 1:01:32.360 go back to the one. And I want to ask 1:01:32.400 --> 1:01:34.240 you a question they used to ask us in middle 1:01:34.240 --> 1:01:36.400 school when we got in a fight. Who started it? 1:01:38.320 --> 1:01:41.840 Who started? Who started? That's what my dad wanted to know. 1:01:42.040 --> 1:01:44.080 I come home. I didn't get in many fights, but 1:01:44.120 --> 1:01:46.080 he want to know two things, who started it and 1:01:46.120 --> 1:01:49.200 who won? And if the answer was him and me, 1:01:49.440 --> 1:01:52.160 he was happy he started it and I won. He 1:01:52.280 --> 1:01:54.840 was like, all right, let's go to Ryan's, let's go 1:01:54.880 --> 1:01:58.080 to Quincy's, let's eat a yeastroll. So so she says, 1:01:58.240 --> 1:02:00.640 I gotta go to the one who started, because watch this, 1:02:00.800 --> 1:02:02.760 it's good to go back. It's good to go back. 1:02:02.840 --> 1:02:04.840 It's good to go back. That's why I wanted. I 1:02:04.840 --> 1:02:07.000 wanted them to show on the camera. It was like this, 1:02:07.280 --> 1:02:11.360 you've always been on my front row. You've always been 1:02:11.400 --> 1:02:13.920 on my front row. A lot has changed, but it 1:02:13.960 --> 1:02:16.720 was us then and it's us now. But somebody's saying, 1:02:16.880 --> 1:02:19.160 I don't have Holly. I don't I don't have the 1:02:19.360 --> 1:02:21.680 Holy Spirit. You got the Holy One? You got the 1:02:21.680 --> 1:02:24.600 Holy Spirit, You've got the you've got the spirit of 1:02:24.640 --> 1:02:27.880 God on the inside of you. So she said, give 1:02:27.920 --> 1:02:30.320 me a donkey and saddle him up. And she's calling 1:02:30.360 --> 1:02:33.880 the shots too. Man. Remember this woman is not waiting 1:02:33.960 --> 1:02:36.560 on God. Oh God, show me what to do. No, 1:02:36.760 --> 1:02:39.520 the boy is dead. She carries him upstairs. She put 1:02:39.560 --> 1:02:41.479 him in the bed that never would have been there 1:02:41.600 --> 1:02:43.760 if she hadn't been proactive, if she would have been 1:02:43.760 --> 1:02:46.320 bitter about the child she didn't have, she wouldn't have 1:02:46.320 --> 1:02:48.640 had a bed to put the child in. When he died, 1:02:48.840 --> 1:02:51.040 she laid him on the bed that was a result 1:02:51.200 --> 1:02:53.680 of the prompting of the Holy Spirit. She didn't know 1:02:53.720 --> 1:02:56.320 what it would lead to, but God did. And she said, 1:02:56.440 --> 1:02:59.280 saddle up the donkey. The king. James says it different, 1:03:00.360 --> 1:03:03.600 but saddle off the donkey. Put a saddle on the donkey. 1:03:03.880 --> 1:03:06.320 I know where to go to. I know who the 1:03:06.400 --> 1:03:09.320 bread is, I know who's fuck it. I know where 1:03:09.360 --> 1:03:12.440 this started. I know who called me. Do you know 1:03:12.480 --> 1:03:18.240 who started it? He began a good work in you? 1:03:18.560 --> 1:03:24.080 Who started it? She said, lead on, don't slow down 1:03:24.200 --> 1:03:27.200 for me unless I tell you too. I love this woman. 1:03:27.400 --> 1:03:30.880 She's like, leave me and do what I say, I 1:03:30.920 --> 1:03:33.040 love her. What I love about it is she's so 1:03:33.160 --> 1:03:39.520 proactive to build a room. She's so she's so full 1:03:39.520 --> 1:03:43.960 of faith and boldness to say, saddle the donkey. But 1:03:44.040 --> 1:03:46.160 watch how humble she is. This is what makes her great. 1:03:47.320 --> 1:03:50.040 This is what's gonna make you great. This is what's 1:03:50.080 --> 1:03:52.520 gonna make this year not the worst year of your life, 1:03:52.520 --> 1:03:56.880 but the greatest. This is it. Right here she came 1:03:57.960 --> 1:04:02.840 to the man of God, Karmel. I know what comes next. 1:04:02.880 --> 1:04:05.520 So I'm happy because you're like her son is dead. 1:04:05.560 --> 1:04:09.880 What's wrong with you? I know? I know, I know 1:04:09.960 --> 1:04:13.560 what's about to happen. I know what's about to happen 1:04:14.040 --> 1:04:17.200 in the story. You can you can praise God in 1:04:17.280 --> 1:04:21.120 places that make no sense when you know what happens 1:04:21.120 --> 1:04:24.280 next in the story, not the details of it, but 1:04:24.400 --> 1:04:26.960 I know who started it. So I know that he 1:04:27.040 --> 1:04:29.840 who began a good work in me. I didn't learn 1:04:29.920 --> 1:04:32.720 much Greek. But Alpha is the first letter, Omega is 1:04:32.760 --> 1:04:35.920 the last one, and he's both. He's both of those. 1:04:36.280 --> 1:04:39.400 He finishes what he starts. And so when she came 1:04:39.480 --> 1:04:43.080 to the prophet it Mount Carmel. See first of all, 1:04:43.120 --> 1:04:45.080 she's she's coming up and I want you to know 1:04:45.240 --> 1:04:47.240 a couple of things from this passage. He saw her 1:04:47.240 --> 1:04:53.480 in the distance. He saw her in the distance. He 1:04:53.560 --> 1:04:59.320 saw her in the distance. That that blesses me, even 1:04:59.360 --> 1:05:01.240 if I'm far off from where I'm supposed to be. 1:05:02.720 --> 1:05:06.240 He sees me in the distance. Does that remind you 1:05:06.280 --> 1:05:09.160 of the prodigal son? Or is it just me? Saw 1:05:09.200 --> 1:05:14.320 him coming? He saw her coming, He told gahes I. 1:05:15.200 --> 1:05:17.560 He said, look the shoe of my twenty six, He 1:05:17.600 --> 1:05:20.840 told gajes I. Run the meter and ask her. This 1:05:20.920 --> 1:05:27.320 is a loaded question, Okay, are you all right? What 1:05:27.400 --> 1:05:31.560 if I asked you that just two of us? Are 1:05:31.600 --> 1:05:35.760 you all right? It's one of those questions that we 1:05:35.880 --> 1:05:39.160 ask that we really don't want to know the answer to. 1:05:41.000 --> 1:05:45.040 You know, how you doing? You all right? Yeah? Man, 1:05:45.080 --> 1:05:48.400 I'm all right. Got this thing on my back. I 1:05:48.440 --> 1:05:51.080 don't know what it is. It's changing colors. I'm all right. 1:05:53.080 --> 1:05:57.440 It's a complicated question. Are you all right? That depends 1:05:57.480 --> 1:06:00.520 because this woman would say I've got a lot of money, 1:06:00.560 --> 1:06:05.600 but I just lost my son. You all right? Well, 1:06:05.640 --> 1:06:10.600 that depends. You know. I'm I'm kind of disappointed about 1:06:10.600 --> 1:06:13.240 what's going on with my company, But you know what, 1:06:13.880 --> 1:06:17.600 God's been doing a miracle in my family. What a question? 1:06:18.720 --> 1:06:21.760 Are you all right? Ask her? Are you all right? 1:06:22.240 --> 1:06:24.160 You know the difference between God and people. He really 1:06:24.200 --> 1:06:29.440 wants to know the other people who ask you that 1:06:30.680 --> 1:06:33.200 they do not expect a detailed answer with some points. 1:06:34.400 --> 1:06:37.680 And I love the woman because Ghesi comes to ask 1:06:37.720 --> 1:06:42.000 her are you all right? He's not the one who 1:06:42.080 --> 1:06:47.880 prophesied the baby to begin with. So what what she does? 1:06:48.640 --> 1:06:51.360 Watch what she does in verse twenty six, Watch what 1:06:51.520 --> 1:06:53.360 she does in verse twenty six. I know we said 1:06:53.360 --> 1:06:55.280 she's a great woman, but he said, are you all right? 1:06:55.840 --> 1:06:58.439 Is your husband all right? Is your child all right? Neither? 1:06:58.560 --> 1:07:02.080 None of these are all right. She's not alright. The 1:07:02.200 --> 1:07:05.480 husband is so old he can't carry Bobby up the stairs. 1:07:05.480 --> 1:07:09.200 We're gonna give the boy a name. And the son 1:07:09.280 --> 1:07:11.520 that he's asking about is dead. And she does something. 1:07:11.640 --> 1:07:16.440 Even though she's a great woman, she lies everything is 1:07:16.480 --> 1:07:23.840 all right. She's lying like you, everything's all right, It's alright. No, 1:07:23.920 --> 1:07:26.320 then this is here. I'm good. She's lying like your 1:07:26.320 --> 1:07:33.800 Instagram feed. I said, she's lying like your Instagram feed. 1:07:34.360 --> 1:07:37.720 She is lying like that picture you posted from the 1:07:37.760 --> 1:07:42.280 family vacation on Facebook. She is lying. Why did she lie? 1:07:42.480 --> 1:07:48.040 Maybe she wasn't lying, Maybe she just knew something. Maybe 1:07:48.120 --> 1:07:51.600 she knew I don't need to talk about my problems 1:07:51.880 --> 1:07:54.919 to somebody who doesn't have the power to solve them. 1:07:55.560 --> 1:07:58.760 This is a word for somebody. I don't need to 1:07:59.040 --> 1:08:01.840 I don't need the assess this in a place that 1:08:01.960 --> 1:08:05.400 is powerless to help me. And I want to stop 1:08:05.480 --> 1:08:09.080 asking everybody else about stuff that only God can fix. 1:08:09.520 --> 1:08:12.400 I want to stop trying to fix things publicly that 1:08:12.480 --> 1:08:15.560 can only be dealt with privately. I want to quit 1:08:15.600 --> 1:08:19.880 seeking affirmation in public places and let God speak to 1:08:19.920 --> 1:08:22.559 the place. Come on, is this for you? I'm asking? 1:08:22.880 --> 1:08:25.360 Tell me right now in the comments? Is this for you? 1:08:25.600 --> 1:08:27.600 She said, I'm all right, but I'm not really And 1:08:27.600 --> 1:08:30.200 look what she did next. She pushed right past the 1:08:30.240 --> 1:08:32.719 person who had no power to solve it. Quit talking 1:08:32.720 --> 1:08:35.960 to everybody about everything, Quit complaining to everybody about everything, 1:08:36.120 --> 1:08:38.600 Quit letting everybody know all your business, Quit trying to 1:08:38.640 --> 1:08:41.880 cover up stuff for people, and go back to the 1:08:41.920 --> 1:08:47.120 one who spoke it to start with. And when she 1:08:47.200 --> 1:08:50.519 got verse twenty seven, to the man of God at 1:08:50.520 --> 1:08:54.840 the mountain, she took hold of his feet. She's great 1:08:54.960 --> 1:08:59.160 enough to saddle up the donkey, and she's humble enough 1:08:59.160 --> 1:09:02.240 to follow his feet, and you've got to be both. 1:09:04.040 --> 1:09:08.280 She came down and haze I came to push her away. 1:09:11.160 --> 1:09:12.880 I bet you got something right now as I preach 1:09:13.000 --> 1:09:15.519 this word trying to push you away. Don't listen to that. 1:09:15.560 --> 1:09:21.240 Don't listen to him. Don't under says this isn't for 1:09:21.240 --> 1:09:24.160 you to someone else. You're not good enough for that. 1:09:24.200 --> 1:09:26.040 You know what I'm saying. You know, I mean right 1:09:26.080 --> 1:09:28.840 to expect that. But the Man of God said, leave 1:09:28.880 --> 1:09:35.960 her alone, Leave her alone. This is between the two 1:09:36.000 --> 1:09:41.719 of us. See, I spoke this to her. I spoke 1:09:41.760 --> 1:09:45.760 this to her. She's in bitter distress. But the Lord 1:09:45.760 --> 1:09:49.760 has hidden it from me, and I don't know why. Yeah, Holly, 1:09:50.000 --> 1:09:53.760 the next verse is what brought me over, because after 1:09:53.760 --> 1:09:59.320 I've preached last week sermon, I saw this verse. Did 1:09:59.320 --> 1:10:13.160 I ask? I stopped? I said, yeah, of course, of course, 1:10:13.160 --> 1:10:16.639 you want me to preach this Lord for everybody who's 1:10:16.680 --> 1:10:21.519 dealing with something they didn't ask for. I was just 1:10:21.600 --> 1:10:24.080 trying to take care of you. I wasn't trying to 1:10:24.160 --> 1:10:26.920 invite this in my life. I didn't even want all 1:10:26.960 --> 1:10:31.280 this God, you shouldn't have called me to do this 1:10:31.439 --> 1:10:33.360 if you were gonna let it be so hard that 1:10:33.439 --> 1:10:37.439 I couldn't do it. Did I ask? She sai at 1:10:37.479 --> 1:10:41.320 his feet. Now she's off for donkey. Now did I ask? 1:10:42.800 --> 1:10:45.240 I didn't. I asked you to come eat, I asked 1:10:45.280 --> 1:10:47.679 you to come stay. I didn't ask you to ruin 1:10:47.720 --> 1:10:51.880 my life. I didn't ask for this. I didn't ask 1:10:51.960 --> 1:10:57.800 for this. You did this. You started this. I told 1:10:57.840 --> 1:11:00.000 you it. We didn't like this. I didn't want to 1:11:00.120 --> 1:11:03.400 get my hopes up. It hurts the hope. The more 1:11:03.439 --> 1:11:06.640 I hope, the more open I am to disappointment. I 1:11:06.720 --> 1:11:09.200 told you this was gonna happen. Every time I try, 1:11:09.280 --> 1:11:12.280 I fail, every time I start, I stumble. I told 1:11:12.320 --> 1:11:14.160 you it would be like this. I knew it would 1:11:14.240 --> 1:11:16.720 end like this. I knew I shouldn't feel good. I 1:11:16.800 --> 1:11:19.479 knew I shouldn't try it. I knew they would betray me. 1:11:19.720 --> 1:11:25.680 I knew they would let it. Did I ask? She 1:11:25.800 --> 1:11:29.040 had the good sense to know how to get back 1:11:29.080 --> 1:11:33.400 to the one who started it. I know you didn't 1:11:33.439 --> 1:11:37.160 ask for a special needs child. I know you didn't 1:11:37.240 --> 1:11:39.840 ask for I know you didn't ask for the economy 1:11:39.840 --> 1:11:42.479 to do what it's doing right now. I know you 1:11:42.520 --> 1:11:45.920 didn't ask for it, but just because you didn't ask 1:11:45.960 --> 1:11:50.640 for it doesn't mean you can't handle it. You just 1:11:50.680 --> 1:11:53.120 gotta know what to do with it. Put it back 1:11:53.680 --> 1:11:57.080 on the bed, put it back in the place she 1:11:57.240 --> 1:12:00.839 stood in the doorway where the prophet may the promise. 1:12:01.040 --> 1:12:04.240 She put the boy that God gave her on the bed. 1:12:04.479 --> 1:12:07.160 She went to the prophet. She fell at his feet 1:12:07.280 --> 1:12:10.280 and looked like she said, are you ready for this? Oh? 1:12:10.360 --> 1:12:15.160 This is so annoying because in verse thirty after GEHEYESEI 1:12:15.280 --> 1:12:18.960 went back to do what he could do, the child's 1:12:19.000 --> 1:12:22.080 mother said, as surely as the Lord lives, and as 1:12:22.120 --> 1:12:25.160 you live, I will not leave you. Where have we 1:12:25.240 --> 1:12:30.520 heard that before. That's the same thing Elisha said to Elijah. 1:12:30.760 --> 1:12:35.280 That's the same thing Elisha said to Elijah. That's the 1:12:35.320 --> 1:12:40.080 same persistence that started his ministry. I will not leave you. 1:12:40.680 --> 1:12:44.200 I will not forsake you. And God is saying, if 1:12:44.200 --> 1:12:47.360 I did, then I will now if I spoke it, 1:12:47.680 --> 1:12:50.840 I will perform it in an empty room, in a 1:12:50.920 --> 1:12:57.920 full room with many, with little a bounding or a baste. 1:13:00.439 --> 1:13:04.760 I will not leave you. She said, you spoke this, 1:13:04.960 --> 1:13:08.880 you started this. Now you got to do something about it. 1:13:11.760 --> 1:13:13.720 You know how You know you're growing in your relationship 1:13:13.760 --> 1:13:17.400 with God when you can tell him the real stuff 1:13:17.400 --> 1:13:22.840 at his feet and trust him like that. Everybody else 1:13:22.840 --> 1:13:24.719 sees what you do. Oh, she's got a big house. 1:13:24.760 --> 1:13:28.559 She keeps the preacher over there. They didn't know the 1:13:28.560 --> 1:13:31.519 depth of disappointment of her barren womb. Only God knew 1:13:31.520 --> 1:13:37.000 that some things only God knows. First Corinthians, who says, 1:13:37.000 --> 1:13:40.679 the spirit of a man surches the man, only God 1:13:40.720 --> 1:13:43.920 in you knows. There are some things that I can't 1:13:43.920 --> 1:13:48.280 say through this camera today. It's just between you and God. 1:13:50.800 --> 1:13:53.720 So maybe God puts you in this moment so he 1:13:53.720 --> 1:13:56.880 could tell you a few things, just the two of us. 1:13:58.960 --> 1:14:02.880 God said, I need you right now. I need you 1:14:02.920 --> 1:14:07.000 at my feet right now. I'm trying to bring some 1:14:07.080 --> 1:14:11.040 things to life, but I need this to just be 1:14:12.640 --> 1:14:15.880 the two of us. I'm going to use people. But 1:14:18.600 --> 1:14:23.360 when Elisha followed the woman back to the house, look 1:14:23.400 --> 1:14:34.479 at it. The boy was there on his couch and 1:14:34.520 --> 1:14:39.040 the mom, the woman, the great woman, the proactive woman. 1:14:40.600 --> 1:14:42.679 She did something that we all have to do sometimes 1:14:42.680 --> 1:14:46.160 in our life. That after you've done all you can do. 1:14:47.120 --> 1:14:51.519 The Bible says verse thirty three, Elisha went in shut 1:14:51.560 --> 1:14:57.760 the door on the two of them, and now the 1:14:57.800 --> 1:15:01.840 woman who birthed this boy has to stand outside the 1:15:01.920 --> 1:15:07.240 door and trust God's prophet to do what only he 1:15:07.240 --> 1:15:11.800 can do. Are you standing on the other side of 1:15:11.840 --> 1:15:15.680 a closed door today wondering how God is going to 1:15:15.720 --> 1:15:21.960 get your kid out of this one? I imagine that 1:15:22.040 --> 1:15:24.439 this woman, who was proactive enough to tell her husband 1:15:24.520 --> 1:15:29.040 saddle up the donkey and buy a lamb, rushed into 1:15:29.040 --> 1:15:33.000 the room. And maybe she thought she was going to 1:15:33.080 --> 1:15:35.639 stand there and give orders. You know, she's that kind 1:15:35.640 --> 1:15:40.040 of woman. But the prophet knew something about when God 1:15:40.080 --> 1:15:43.760 wants to do something really amazing in your life. He 1:15:43.800 --> 1:15:46.400 turned to the woman and said, I know that you 1:15:46.479 --> 1:15:48.280 gave birth to this boy, and I know you're great 1:15:48.280 --> 1:15:53.080 and I appreciate you. But right now, it's just the 1:15:53.120 --> 1:15:57.840 two of us. He sent her out the room. He 1:15:57.920 --> 1:16:01.760 sent her out the room where she couldn't see. He 1:16:01.840 --> 1:16:05.040 sent her out the room. Verse thirty four says he 1:16:05.080 --> 1:16:06.479 got on the bed and lay on the boy, mouth 1:16:06.560 --> 1:16:09.880 to mouthed, eyes to eyes, hands to hands. Somebody say 1:16:09.880 --> 1:16:14.960 out loud, it's personal, it's personal. He didn't just lay 1:16:14.960 --> 1:16:16.800 a staff on him. Be haz. I tried that and 1:16:16.800 --> 1:16:19.840 it didn't work. It's gonna be personal what God does 1:16:19.880 --> 1:16:22.040 in your life. This is a personal word. God says, 1:16:22.120 --> 1:16:25.240 I'm gonna, I'm gonna, actually, I'm gonna actually connect with 1:16:25.320 --> 1:16:27.960 you your eyes, you see, so you could touch and feel. 1:16:28.120 --> 1:16:33.000 It's personal. He laid down on the boy and stretched 1:16:33.080 --> 1:16:36.679 himself out on him, and the boy's body grew warm, 1:16:37.400 --> 1:16:42.080 but he still wasn't alive. So Elisha turned away and 1:16:42.120 --> 1:16:47.400 walked back and forth in the room, walked back and 1:16:47.400 --> 1:16:52.559 forth in the room. Everybody say, it's a process. Come on, 1:16:52.640 --> 1:16:55.160 say it out loud, it's a process. I want you 1:16:55.240 --> 1:16:57.280 to say that, shay about everything in your life that 1:16:57.320 --> 1:17:01.639 you don't understand. He's pacing around the room. He's pacing 1:17:01.720 --> 1:17:05.240 in the room, and the woman has no idea what's 1:17:05.280 --> 1:17:07.120 going on on the other side of that door. And 1:17:07.160 --> 1:17:09.360 you have no idea what God is doing behind the 1:17:09.360 --> 1:17:12.920 scenes in your life. And the prophet is pacing. I 1:17:12.920 --> 1:17:14.800 think he's sent her out of the room, not just 1:17:14.840 --> 1:17:17.280 because it was personal, and not just because it was 1:17:17.280 --> 1:17:23.000 a process, not because it was private. I hear the 1:17:23.040 --> 1:17:27.719 spirit of God saying, right now, I need some alone 1:17:27.760 --> 1:17:33.200 time with your problem. I don't need you standing over 1:17:33.280 --> 1:17:36.439 me so much telling me what to do. So I'm 1:17:36.439 --> 1:17:39.960 gonna close this door. I must spend some time with 1:17:40.040 --> 1:17:42.200 that thing you've been worrying about, and I need you 1:17:42.240 --> 1:17:44.240 to just go right now, and you can walk around 1:17:44.240 --> 1:17:48.800 downstairs and I'll walk around upstairs. But the Bible says 1:17:48.800 --> 1:17:51.200 that she had to stand on the other side of 1:17:51.200 --> 1:17:54.559 the door. You know how much faith it takes to 1:17:54.600 --> 1:17:56.640 stand there with the thing that you gave birth to. 1:17:57.040 --> 1:17:59.720 Some of you, God is saying, give me my promise back. 1:18:00.040 --> 1:18:03.000 I'm the one who gave it. I can't have you 1:18:03.120 --> 1:18:05.920 standing over me telling me how I'm supposed to do it, 1:18:05.960 --> 1:18:08.439 and when I'm supposed to do it. Leave this thing 1:18:08.479 --> 1:18:11.679 with me for a little while. You've been stressing so much, 1:18:11.880 --> 1:18:15.040 and every time you stress about it, it interrupts what 1:18:15.080 --> 1:18:19.080 God is doing. So shut the door. Like the woman 1:18:19.160 --> 1:18:22.280 with the oil earlier in Second King's fourth she shut 1:18:22.320 --> 1:18:25.000 the door in the oil flowed, and he shut the door, 1:18:25.200 --> 1:18:28.000 and he got with the boy. And the Bible says, 1:18:28.439 --> 1:18:31.640 how many believed the Bible, how many believe in miracles, 1:18:32.000 --> 1:18:34.920 That on the other side of that door the word 1:18:34.960 --> 1:18:38.200 of God did for that woman what she could not 1:18:38.439 --> 1:18:42.479 do for herself. I feel the word of the Lord 1:18:43.120 --> 1:18:47.280 coming forth into your situation today. And when he got 1:18:47.360 --> 1:18:52.160 back on the boys, the boy slee seven times. That's 1:18:52.200 --> 1:18:55.720 the number of completion. God said, let me finish this. 1:18:56.479 --> 1:19:01.240 I started it. Let me finish this. Got your promise, 1:19:01.920 --> 1:19:06.400 I've got short dreams, I've got your destiny, I've got 1:19:06.479 --> 1:19:11.640 your hope, I've got your petitions, I've got your prayers. 1:19:15.760 --> 1:19:17.880 And God says, give it back to me, just the 1:19:18.960 --> 1:19:24.719 two of us. God's working while you're waiting. He's working 1:19:24.720 --> 1:19:31.240 while you're waiting. We thank God for open doors. We 1:19:31.360 --> 1:19:35.960 thank him for closed doors because what he's doing in 1:19:36.000 --> 1:19:40.639 this moment is greater than you know. What he's doing 1:19:40.680 --> 1:19:44.000 in that room in your life is greater than you know. 1:19:45.240 --> 1:19:47.040 You thought you built it for one thing, you really 1:19:47.040 --> 1:19:54.960 built it for another. Give him that space. This is 1:19:55.000 --> 1:20:03.360 a holy spirit moment. What do you do when the 1:20:03.400 --> 1:20:05.679 thing that you didn't ask for happens in your life? 1:20:07.400 --> 1:20:09.200 The thing that you were holding in your arms one 1:20:09.200 --> 1:20:16.080 moment dies in the shifting seasons, I hear God saying, 1:20:17.280 --> 1:20:25.040 take it back, put it in that place, because today 1:20:25.080 --> 1:20:32.160 is a day of miracles. Elisha verse thirty six, summoned 1:20:32.720 --> 1:20:39.120 Gaze and said, call the shunami, and he did. When 1:20:39.160 --> 1:20:46.080 she came, he said, take your son. She had no 1:20:46.160 --> 1:20:49.080 idea that he had been pacing the floor in there. 1:20:50.160 --> 1:20:52.760 How many of you you don't know what God's doing 1:20:52.840 --> 1:20:55.120 right now, but you trust that whatever he is doing, 1:20:57.640 --> 1:21:01.599 lift your hands right where you are. Come on, God said, 1:21:01.600 --> 1:21:02.960 do you really need to be in a crowd to 1:21:02.960 --> 1:21:04.880 worship me? Or can you worship me when it's just 1:21:04.920 --> 1:21:12.519 the two of us. She came in verse thirty seven, 1:21:13.560 --> 1:21:18.000 fell at his feet, bowed to the ground, and then 1:21:18.040 --> 1:21:23.000 she took her son and went out. Lord, I thank 1:21:23.040 --> 1:21:30.120 you that today your people are receiving back joy, peace, hope, 1:21:30.160 --> 1:21:36.519 and a right spirit. We trust you today. Lord. As 1:21:36.560 --> 1:21:38.759 much as we thank you for open doors, we trust 1:21:38.800 --> 1:21:42.040 you with closed doors. I thank you that, just like 1:21:42.080 --> 1:21:47.960 your prophet, Elisha was working a miracle in a room 1:21:48.040 --> 1:21:51.160 that a woman built by faith, you are working a 1:21:51.200 --> 1:21:54.240 miracle in every place where we will, by faith trust 1:21:54.240 --> 1:21:58.640 you today. You know who's on the other side of 1:21:58.680 --> 1:22:02.160 this message. You know what's happening in their house. You 1:22:02.200 --> 1:22:07.599 know what's happening in their heart. Lord, if they feel 1:22:07.600 --> 1:22:11.200 alone right now, I touch and agree with them in Jesus' 1:22:11.240 --> 1:22:16.000 name that you are the God who sees beyond the surface. 1:22:18.400 --> 1:22:21.960 You are the God of the question in the comma, 1:22:22.760 --> 1:22:26.320 I thank you that you're doing a great thing in 1:22:26.360 --> 1:22:32.719 our lives, just the two of us. If this message 1:22:32.800 --> 1:22:35.160 was for you today and you know it, I want 1:22:35.160 --> 1:22:37.280 you to tell me in the comments. I want you 1:22:37.320 --> 1:22:41.160 to tell me in the chat say that was for me, 1:22:41.400 --> 1:22:44.640 and then we'll know together. God spoke this word to 1:22:44.680 --> 1:22:50.120 me so I can share it with you. Just the 1:22:50.160 --> 1:22:55.400 two of us, we're praying for you. We're believing God 1:22:56.000 --> 1:22:59.280 for great things in your life. And God wants you 1:22:59.320 --> 1:23:04.000 to know today that anytime something in your life dies, 1:23:06.479 --> 1:23:12.320 and anytime you feel like it's over, go back to 1:23:12.360 --> 1:23:17.120 where you started, stand with the one who will never 1:23:17.240 --> 1:23:22.320 leave you nor forsake you. She said to the prophet. 1:23:23.400 --> 1:23:26.400 As the Lord lives and as you live, I won't 1:23:26.479 --> 1:23:30.920 leave you. God is saying that to somebody today. I 1:23:30.920 --> 1:23:36.280 didn't leave you. Just give me some time. Close the door, 1:23:38.320 --> 1:23:42.360 worship on the other side. Don't wait until you hold 1:23:42.400 --> 1:23:46.760 it again. Come on, lift your hands right now. That 1:23:46.840 --> 1:23:50.840 God who will never leave you nor forsake you, is 1:23:50.880 --> 1:23:55.000 with you in this moment, and no matter what people do, 1:23:56.160 --> 1:24:00.439 and no matter how the world ebbs and flows, God 1:24:00.479 --> 1:24:04.679 wants you to know that His presence is your promise 1:24:05.680 --> 1:24:19.640 now and forevermore. What a friend we have in Jesus, 1:24:19.680 --> 1:24:27.400 Oh our sins and griefs to bear. What a privilege 1:24:28.200 --> 1:24:37.400 to carry everything to God in prayer. Go back to 1:24:37.439 --> 1:24:42.320 the one that started with He's always been for you. Oh, 1:24:42.640 --> 1:24:50.800 what peace we often for fect and all what needless 1:24:50.960 --> 1:24:54.599 pain we bear. This is a different season, but it's 1:24:54.640 --> 1:25:04.960 the same God. Oh, because we do not care everything 1:25:05.520 --> 1:25:16.479 to God in prayer? Have we trials and temptations? Is 1:25:16.520 --> 1:25:26.400 there trouble anywhere? What is it? We should never be discouraged? 1:25:28.120 --> 1:25:33.719 Take into the Lord in prayer, just me and you, Now, God, 1:25:33.800 --> 1:25:35.320 just me and you. You know what's going on in 1:25:35.360 --> 1:25:37.680 my life. You know what I You know what I 1:25:37.720 --> 1:25:43.000 wonder about. You know what I deal with? Do thy 1:25:43.120 --> 1:25:49.439 friends despise for sake? Take it to the Lord in prayer. 1:25:50.880 --> 1:25:53.800 And here's what I want you to know. In his 1:25:54.120 --> 1:26:03.640 arms he'll take and she'll be noow. We'll find a 1:26:03.840 --> 1:26:13.000 solace there, just the two of us. Thank you for 1:26:13.120 --> 1:26:15.639 joining us. Special thanks to those of you who give 1:26:15.760 --> 1:26:18.600 generously to this ministry is because of you that this 1:26:18.760 --> 1:26:21.559 ministry is possible. You can click the link in the 1:26:21.600 --> 1:26:26.000 description to give now or visit Elevationchurch dot org slash 1:26:26.040 --> 1:26:29.320 podcast for more information and if you enjoyed the podcast, 1:26:29.600 --> 1:26:32.320 you can subscribe. You can share it with your friends. 1:26:32.600 --> 1:26:34.880 You can click the share button, take a screenshot and 1:26:34.920 --> 1:26:37.040 share it on your social stories and tag us at 1:26:37.080 --> 1:26:44.680 Elevation Church. Thanks again for listening. God bless you.