Speaker 1 0:05

Hello and welcome to the West Side Church's special podcast.

Speaker 2 0:13

I wonder if you know this feeling, if you and your friends are hanging out, you decide you wanna watch a movie, and so you're all together. Maybe you're someone's living room, something like that. And you know, in a couple minutes, it's not the kind of movie that you need to be watching. And so you find yourself at a crossroads. What are you gonna do? Are you gonna stand up for what is right? Walk away, maybe say something, but man, that's so hard. And that pit in your stomach comes and you know you need to do what's right, but you feel alone. No one else cares. You're the only one who cares what's right. Maybe you're, you're in one of those groups at school, like those circles, that kind of form or maybe at work, and everyone is gossiping about this, this one girl that you know, and you know her, and you know that what they're saying isn't true. And beyond that, it's just mean, right? And you know you need to say something. You need to stand up for the truth. You need to fight for what's right, but you feel alone. You feel anxious and overwhelmed. No one else around you cares what's right. You're the only one. Or maybe the gossip and the insults are directed at you, maybe even because you're a Christian and because you stand up for what's right. How do you feel in those moments alone, surrounded by evil, like you're the only one? Those are hard moments. And let me tell you first that I understand how that feels. I understand how you feel that many people, probably all the people in this room, your friends, people your age, people older than you, they understand how you feel. You are not alone. But most importantly, for our purposes tonight, Elisha, the prophet of God, he understands how you feel. Turn to two kings, chapter six. We're gonna be there for most of our time tonight. Two Kings chapter six. Lemme take this time to say thank you. Thank you to everyone who is here. It's such an encouragement to see all of you have been coming to this for so many years. I don't think I've ever been so excited to be here as I am today. Thank you so much for being here, and thank you especially to the elders for allowing me to speak this evening. It's an honor to be here in front of you. Thank you so much for caring about God's word. It says a lot about you, especially our young people, that you wanna come all this way, be here on a weekend, on a Friday night to hear God's word. Thank you so much for being here. Two kings chapter six. We're gonna begin in verse eight, thinking about how it feels when we're surrounded by evil. Elisha knows how that feels. Let's read this story, second King, chapter six, beginning in verse eight. Once when the King of Syria was warring against Israel, he took counsel with the servants saying, at such and such a place shall be my camp. But the man of God sent word to the King of Israel. That's Elisha . He sent word to the King of Israel, beware that you don't pass this place for the Syrians are going down there. And the King of Israel sent to the place about which the man of God told him. And thus he used to warn him so that he saved himself there more than once or twice. You see what's going on right there. The king of Syria is making battle plans, and Elisha knows his thoughts from miles away. He can read his mind. How cool is that? And he tells the king of Israel, where the king of Syria is gonna go every time. They always are one step ahead. It's pretty amazing. But man, wouldn't that be frustrating if you're the king of Syria? Every plan you make, Israel's always one step ahead of you, and it totally is. Look at verse 11. The mind of the King of Assyria was greatly troubled. Yeah, I would be too right because of this thing. And he called his servants and he said to them, will you not show me who of us is for the King of Israel? He thinks someone on his side is betraying his battle plans to the Israelites, verse 12. And one of his servants said, no one my Lord, oh king. But Elisha, the prophet who is in Israel, he tells the king of Israel the words that you speak in your bedroom. And he said, go and see where he is that I may send and seize him. It was told him, behold, he is in Dothan. So he sent their horses and chariots and a great army, and they came by night and surrounded the city when the servant of the man of God, that's Elisha , when the servant of Elisha rose early in the morning and went out, behold an army with horses and chariots was all around the city, and the servant said, alas, my master, what shall we do? Pause there for a minute. Put yourself in the servant's shoes a night in Dothan with his master, Elisha spending the night, a peaceful night there. And he wakes up, walks out the front door, maybe he does, I dunno , his morning stretches or something. He's about to put on his sandals, about to say his morning prayers. And he looks over the walls of Dothan and there are hundreds of angry men wanting to seize him and probably murder him. Imagine how that must feel. You talk about feeling outnumbered and alone. This is two men versus a massive army who wants to hurt them. Man, I can't imagine how that felt. You feel a pit in his stomach. How did he feel when that happened? Wow, what does Elisha say in response? This amazes me. Elisha said, verse 16, Elisha said, do not be afraid. Here's our key verse. For those who are with us, outnumber those who are with them. That's the CSB translation. Those who are with us outnumber those who are with them. That's amazing. And verse 17, then Elisha prayed and he said, oh Lord, please open his eyes that he may see. So the Lord opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw and behold the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha. What a moment. Can you imagine what that would be like? The sheer terror of this servant felt transformed immediately into awe and seeing God's army behind Elisha. That is amazing. Let me tell you tonight that we serve the same God today with the same spiritual army that is at our back. And listen closely, the idea that you are outnumbered, no matter how alone you might feel, that is a lie from the devil. The Lord and his forces are so much more powerful than anything you could ever encounter in this world. You are not alone in the scariest circumstances surrounded by intimidating people. You are never outnumbered as a soldier of Christ. We are never outnumbered. And I would argue, and I will argue tonight, that this reality changes you. It changes you deeply how you live your life and how you fight your battles. Do you see how it changes? Elisha? Look at his response again in verse 16. He says, do not be afraid, man, I wish I could respond like that. If I woke up and looked outside and there's a massive army coming specifically for me, my response is probably not gonna be, don't be afraid. It's gonna be okay. I'm really impressed by Elisha here. He's calm and he's poised, and he's so calm that he's able to settle else , settle somebody else down, right? The servant's freaking out and panicking, and Elisha settles him down. I want that the courage and wisdom and the inner peace that Elisha has here. When I fight my battles and the world in which I often feel, and you often feel outnumbered, I want the courage and strength of Elisha . We're gonna talk about that tonight. Three lessons that we can learn from Elisha's life and his story in two King six that will help us, that will help you young people fight your battles in a world in which you often feel outnumbered by evil. First, the Lord's army fights with open eyes. The Lord's army fights with open eyes. Notice in verse 15, right? The servant couldn't see it. He couldn't see the army that was behind Elisha, right? And most of , most of the time , my life feels a lot more like verse 15 than the vision that the servant sees in verse 17, right? He says, alas, my master, what shall we do? I love the way the net Bible translates that verse. It says, oh no, my master, what shall we do? How would I respond if hundreds of men wanted to kill me when I woke up? Oh no. That is exactly what I would say if that happened. Don't you love how real the Bible is? Right? That is exactly what I would say if that kind of thing happened to me. Oh, no, but seriously, you have those moments too, don't you? I do, right? Oh, no, they're talking about this again. I'm gonna need to say something and stand up for what's right. Oh, no, they're talking about the transgender movement, right? And they're about to ask me what I think I'm gonna need to stand up for what's right. Oh , no , they're talking about her again or him, and I'm gonna need to defend her, right? Oh, no, those moments happen in your life. My life feels a lot like that in verse six . Uh , verse 15. But notice again Elisha's response in verse 16. Don't be afraid. And I love his prayer for this man in verse 17. Lord, please open his eyes that he may see. And what's that imply? Elisha prays that this man can see, right? So clearly we know Elisha, he knew all along, didn't he? He could see behind the curtain, right? He knew that God's army, his horses, and chariots of fire were behind him. He knew the whole time, right? And maybe you're thinking, okay, right? Well, of course, Elisha had courage and strength because he could see the horses and chariots of fire. He could see this awesomeness behind him , right? Who wouldn't be inspired by that? And, and , and I understand that it's pretty amazing. Elisha can see and that creates his courage and strength. But let's follow that line of reasoning for a second. Don't you wish that you could see the horses and chariots of fire? Don't you wish that you could see the victory that God is going to win in your life? Don't you wish that you could see how amazing and powerful our commander is? Don't you wish that you could see the victories that he will win in the end? Guys, guess what? Here's the secret. And it's not a secret, really. You can, you can see all of those things. How do you see, like Elisha saw? How can you see behind the curtain like Elisha did, which will inspire you to have courage and strength? Like Elisha ? You can see, turn to Psalm one 19 and I'll show you how Psalm one 19 or God's word, rather we'll show you how Psalm one 19 in verse 1 0 5. How do you see, like Elisha did? So you can fight your battles with open eyes. I hope this will help you understand what that means. As the Lord's army, we fight with open eyes, just like Elisha did, and like his servant eventually did. Psalm 1 19, 1 0 5, this is a verse that we read often and that we sing maybe even more often. Psalm one 19 verse 1 0 5 , think about the imagery of , of seeing, right? Lord, open his eyes that he may see. How do you see, like Elisha saw Psalm one 19 verse 1 0 5. David says, your word is a lamp for my feet and a light for my path. Do you see that imagery, the seeing imagery, right? How do you see where you're supposed to go? What's the lamp to your path? It's God's word, right? That's how you see. Turn to verse one 30. You may just have to turn one page. Psalm one 19 verse one 30. This is, this is the clincher verse to me. I love this verse, and I wasn't familiar with it until pretty recently. This is an amazing verse. How do you see, like Elijah saw Psalm one 19 verse one 30 . It says the unfolding of your words. There it is again. Your words brings light. See that seeing imagery again, it brings light. And here's my favorite part. It gives understanding to the inexperienced your transl , your translation might say the simple or the untrained. My favorite again here is, is the net Bible. It says the morally naive, and you can kind of click on it on the internet. And it gives a really helpful definition in the net Bible from the Hebrew word that's used here for simple untrained. Inexperienced. Here's what it says. That is the one who is young and still in the process of learning right from wrong and distinguishing wisdom from folly. Listen to that. You guys who have come here for a youth lectures to hear God's word, you guys who are young and who are still figuring out life, right? Who's the Bible for? Right? Is it just for old people who have nothing else to do, but sit on their front porch and read? No. Who's the Bible for? It's for you. It's for the inexperienced, for people who haven't figured it all out yet in life. How do you figure things out, right? How do you know where to go on your path? God's word right here, right? God has given us a glimpse behind the curtain, just like Elisha had. We can see what God is doing. We can understand how powerful and amazing God is in our lives because he has given us a glimpse. We can see, like Elisha saw, you can see, especially young people and get understanding from the word right. And lemme say it too, I fall into that category too, right? I haven't figured everything out. I'm still 22. How do we get experience and understanding and learn right here? This is how it can. Isn't that awesome? That's what God's words can do in your life. You can see like Elisha did, that's amazing. You can see how deeply Jesus loves you by reading the gospel accounts of the crucifixion. You can see how Jesus handled being made fun of and being surrounded by people that were different than him by reading his debates with the Pharisees and the scribes. You can read how God will win the ultimate victory by reading revelation and how he will bring you home one day to heaven. You may not see chariots of fire in a vision like Elisha could, and the servant could, but you can see all of these things. That's amazing. So I encourage you, especially our young people, spend time in the word, whether you're nine or 18 or even older, you can do that. You can do that right now. You can see whenever you want to. There's a couple great ways that you can do that, probably more. But I'll give you a couple really practical ways to spend more time on the words so you can see and gain the courage and strength that Elisha has. Number one, find something that you're really interested in and go read it. Maybe , maybe you wonder what's in the book of Habakkuk. I've never read that before. Go read it. Go read what it says and try to figure it out. Do some research, right? Ask your parents. Ask some people who are older and wiser than you. What does this mean, right? The righteous shall live by faith. That's a verse from Habak . Where does that come from? Why did Jesus cope that verse? Go find something you're interested in, in the word, and go figure it out. Go find the answers, right? And I'd especially encourage you, number two, where the practical way to get in the word to let God open your eyes is to find a plan that you can stick to, right? Because eventually you're gonna , you're gonna lead this weekend and be on fire for the word. And that's awesome. I hope you are. But eventually, when school starts and sports happen and band happen and they start wearing you down, it gets hard to keep that fire. So find a plan. Find something that you can stick to maybe west side's , five day Bible reading plan. That's a great place to start, right ? Some of you're doing that already, probably with your families. There's good plans that you can find on, on the YouVersion app. You wanna be careful with that, right? Some of 'em have devotionals that kind of , uh, add things, right? But find a plan that helps you read scripture every day. Let God open your eyes to what he's doing in the world to what he's doing behind the scenes. He's given you a glimpse and you can see, just like Elisha saw, that's amazing. Let God open your eyes as a soldier of Christ, you need to fight with open eyes. And secondly, secondly, the Lord's army coming . There we go. The Lord's army fights battles differently. The Lord's army fights battles differently. We kind of stopped at an interesting spot, didn't we? Because Elisha and his servant are still surrounded by hundreds of angry men who want to hurt them. So let's finish that story. We're kinda left at a cliffhanger here. Let's keep reading Second King, chapter six, turn back there if you would please. Second King, chapter six. The Lord's army fights battles differently. What does that mean? How does Elisha fight this battle? Right ? It's about to start. Let's see what Elisha does and how he fights a battle. Two kings chapter six. Go back there and then we'll pick back up in verse 18, right after this vision that Elisha shows the servant, verse 18. And when the Syrians came down against him, Elisha prayed to the Lord and he said, please strike this people with blindness. So we struck them with blindness in accord , uh, in accordance with the prayer of Elisha. And Elisha said to them, this is not the way. This is not the city. Follow me and I'll bring you to the man whom you seek. And so he led them to Samaria . By the way, that's a 12 mile walk from Dothan to Samaria , completely blind leading them right in the middle of Israel's territory. That's the capital of Israel at the time. So he's leading him right into the heart of the enemy, isn't he? This army's blind and coming to the capitol . Verse 20, as soon as they entered Samaria , Elisha said, oh , Lord, open the eyes of these men that they may see. You see the irony there, by the way, now he's opening their eyes, right? Who was blind before the servant , right? Who's blind now? The enemies who was surrounded before Elisha , and the servant now who's surrounded. Yeah, it's the enemy. See how God turns the tables on him ? So they're in the middle of Samaria in verse 20. So the Lord opened their eyes and they saw and behold, they were in the midst of Samaria surrounded by their own enemies, right? We'll pause right there for a second. They're surrounded by the people of Israel, right? And what do you do here, man? And I , I think you know, right? I think we know what's gonna happen. God's enemies have been led right into the heart of Israel's territory. It is about to go down. This enemy is about to get smacked. How dare you come up against God's people? Get some, you're about to get some people of Syria and they're about to get killed for trying to challenge God's people. Let's see what happens, right? Verse 21, what happens? How does Elisha respond? How does he fight this battle? As soon as the King of Israel saw them, okay, so this is the king of Israel. He said to Elisha, my father, shall I strike them down? Shall I strike them down? In other words, shall I kill them? Right? And that's what we're all thinking, right? The enemy's been led into the Israel's territory. They're about to die. The king's thinking the same thing. Verse 22, he answered, Elisha, did, you shall not strike them down. Wait, what? You shouldn't strike them down. You shouldn't kill them. What are you talking about? Everyone kills their enemies. Oh , this is the perfect opportunity. They're surrounded, right? Keep reading, it gets better. Would you strike those down whom you have captured with your sword and with your bow? What kind of question is that, Elisha? Yes. Right? Everyone does that. When the enemy is in the middle of your territory, you kill 'em, right? That's an obvi . I mean, I can't, what , what kind of question is this? Elisha? I , I can't imagine what the king is thinking right now. That's exactly what you do in this scenario. And it keeps getting better. Keep reading in verse 22. Set bread and water before them that they may eat and drink and go to their master. So he prepared for them a great feast. I love that. Not only a feast, a great feast. They had a lot of food for their enemies. And when they had eaten and drunk, he sent them away and they went to their master. And the Syrians did not come again on raids into the land of Israel. You see how crazy that story is? Elisha let him write into the heart of Israel. I mean, they were supposed to die. And that's exactly what the king was thinking. And then he feeds them. He gives him a meal, and then he sends him away. What a strange way to fight your battles, right? But here's the key guys. Here's the key. This way of fighting your battles. That's Jesus's way of fighting his battles. That's why he says in Matthew chapter five and verse 44, you have heard that it was said, love your neighbor and hate your enemy. That's the king of Israel's way. Let's kill 'em , Eisha . But I say to you, Jesus says, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you so that you may be children of your Father who is in heaven. Jesus' way is different. He fights his battles differently, doesn't he? Paul adds onto this in Romans 12. Let's all turn there together. Romans chapter 12, as a soldier of Christ, you fight your battles differently just like Elisha did. And just like Jesus does, second , uh, excuse me, Romans 12, and we'll begin in verse 17. Romans 12 beginning in verse 17, and we'll read down to verse 21. We'll pause a couple times in there. We'll start in verse 17. Romans 1217. Paul says, repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable and the sight of all if possible. So far as it depends on you live at peace with everyone. Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God for it is written, vengeance is mine . I will repay, says the Lord. Listen to this, to the contrary, if your enemy is hungry, feed him. You hear that? That's Elisha. That's exactly what he just did, right? Keep reading. If he is thirsty, give him something to drink for. By doing so, you will heat burning coals on his head. Do you guys see that? That's exactly what Elisha does in Second King six, right? And and side note, this is not the main point here, but don't let anyone ever tell you that the God of the Old Testament is somehow different than the God of the New Testament, right? This is how we fight our battles. Elisha fights here like Jesus does. That's amazing, right? But why? Why do you do that? Why? Why do you feed your enemies, right? How that just makes no sense, right? Why would you ever do that? They're your enemies. Verse 21, I think helps us see the answer to that question. Paul says, do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. Here's the insight that Paul gives us here, is that your enemy is evil. Evil is the enemy. Satan and his forces, the forces of evil. That's who you're fighting against. That's the enemy. Your enemy is not the Syrian army. It's not the friends who betrayed you. It's not the girl who talked behind your back. The popular kid who takes every chance to tear you down. The coworker who pushes you aside to try to get to the top. That's not your enemy. Satan, evil. That is your enemy, overcome evil with good. That is really winning the battle. Paul says again in Ephesians six, in verse 12, he says, we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers and authorities and powers of darkness against evil spiritual forces and the heavenly places, right? We don't wrestle against flesh and blood. Your enemy is not people. That's not who you're trying to fight against. Your enemy is the devil that is your enemy. And that really changes things, doesn't it? That changes how you fight. So don't I encourage you, don't respond to evil with more evil when you are targeted because of what you believe. Don't lash out at that teacher or friend. Don't talk behind other people's backs in response to their gossip about you. Don't even think a nasty thoughts about them. When someone is wicked and mean to you, respond with kindness and love and forgiveness that is winning the battle, that is overcoming evil with good. That is a true soldier. Someone who can do that in a world where they're surrounded by people who don't care what is right. You can do that. Overcome evil with good like Elisha does here. And let me add even more onto this. If the evil is not even targeted at you, you can do this as well, right? We're just thinking about times when , when we've been targeted. We don't wanna respond to evil with more evil, and certainly don't do that. Don't respond with hate to hate respond with forgiveness and love and kindness. That's really hard. But you can do it. But have you ever noticed how the world fights its battles? Turn on the news or , or any sort of TV channel or social media for like five seconds? I mean, pretty much immediately you find some politician or , or newscaster just , just insulting somebody, right? Just ripping someone on the other side for what they believe that , that that's both sides, both parties, right? We live in a world that is, that is often rude and just insensitive and and unkind to people. And that those social media posts, right? The wars on social media, the news that that trickles down into our personal interactions, doesn't it? That affects the way we speak to each other. Just the other day at work , um, there, there was, I work in a medical office and there was this family that came in, new parents, and their kid was three days old, really young, they'd never had a child before. And they were really confused, didn't know where to go. We had to send him for a special test because this, this baby had this problem. And so we had to send him to the hospital to get this test run. I mean, right after the baby was born, they had no idea. And so they were, they were really distraught and confused and they had no idea where to go and had to ask multiple questions. Often the same question multiple times. And , and not all, of course, but some, some of my coworkers were just so insulting to this person that these parents, man , how do you not know that? That's such a dumb question, right? And maybe that happens at school too, right? That the teacher messes something up, right? On your test or grade something you think unfairly. That's, that's so stupid, right? And you people talking bad behind, behind their back, right? We live in a world that is unkind and rude, and I see that at work, and I bet you see that at school, guys, that's a battleground moment for you. That's a moment where you can stand up for what is right and overcome evil with good, right? When you hear people talking negatively or rudely, not even about you, or even anyone that you know, stand up for kindness, say something kind, be gracious and merciful, right? When that teacher , uh, grades something unfairly, right? Or , or messes up as a typo , wanna question or something like that, right? And everyone's talking about it . I was so , so stupid. I can't believe she did that. Stand up for kindness and say, man, I don't know what was going on in her life. Maybe she , she has three kids, she's really busy, guys, let's, let's be gracious to her. Let's be kind. That's overcoming evil with good, right? And I'm ashamed to say that I didn't stand up for those parents, even though I didn't know them . I , I didn't stand up for kindness, right ? I overheard that and I didn't say anything. That's really hard, guys. When you face those moments, I understand what that's like. So I encourage you, and I'm still working on this too with you, stand up for kindness, right ? Be different. 'cause people will notice, right ? Some people will look at you weird, maybe make fun of you. Some people will see that though, and they'll say, man, you're different. What's up with you? Why are you so different? And they'll want to talk and they'll be intrigued by that. So overcome evil with good fights. Your battles differently with kindness and love. That is how the Lord's army fights. And that is how Elisha fights in two King six. And our final point for this evening is that the Lord's army fights with trust. We still haven't finished the story yet. I would love to say that those Syrians, that Elisha fed went away and never came back. And it kind of sounds like they will, but they do. Turn back to Second King. Six, please. We're gonna finish this story. Second King, chapter six. We're gonna pick back up in verse 24, second King, six verse 24. The Syrian army comes back and they don't come back to give Elisha a thank you card for feeding him so much food, feeding them so much food. Verse 24, afterward, Ben Hadda , king of Assyria, must his entire army and went up and besieged Samaria. And there was a great famine in Samaria as they besieged it. And so a donkey's head was sold for 80 shekels of silver. And the fourth fought of a , uh, the fourth part of a cob of dove's dung for five shekels of silver. Now, as the king of Israel was passing by on the wall, a woman cried out to him saying, help my Lord o king . And he said, if the Lord will not help you, how can I help you from the threshing floor, from the wine press? The king asked her, what is your trouble? She answered. The woman said to me, give your son that we may eat him today and we will eat my son tomorrow. Oh , it's terrible. So we boiled my son and ate him. And on the next day I said to her, give your son that we may eat him, but she has hidden her son. This is horrible. When the king heard the words of the woman, he tore his clothes. Now he was passing by on the wall and the people looked, and behold he had sat cloth beneath on his body. Listen closely in verse 31, what does he say about this siege? Whose fault is this? And he said, may God do so to me. And more also, if the head of Elisha, the son of Shaphat , remains on his shoulders today, whose fault is this according to the king of Israel? Why is this happening? It's elisha's fault. That's what the king says. And if you think about it, that kind of makes sense. Remember when the Syrians were completely surrounded by Israel's arm ? I mean, they could have been ended right there. I don't know how big the army was that the king sent, but it says it's great. Other translations say massive. There was a massive army who was totally blind and led straight into enemy territory, and they could have been gone like that. And Elisha didn't kill him . He sent him away, right? And what's he get for that? They come straight back and lay siege to his city in Samaria . And so the king is thinking, Elisha, this is your fault. Elisha is about to die for doing the right thing and for overcoming evil with good and sending away this army with kindness. He did the right thing and now everyone hates him for it. Do you feel what Elisha's feeling right there? Man, that's gotta hurt. He really tried. He did the right thing, and even his own people have turned on him. And I wish I could say that things will always work out for you when you fight evil with good, when you respond to hate, with love, when you stand up for kindness and speak a kind word for someone who everyone else is being negative about. I wish I could say that things will always work out for you when you do that. Just have to look at Elisha's story to know that's not true. But this isn't the end of the story, is it? Skip down to chapter seven verse one, but Elisha said, hear the word of the Lord thus says the Lord. Tomorrow about this time, aia , a fine flower shall be sold for a shekel and two sees of barley for a shekel at the gate of Samaria. Pause right there for a second. What he's saying is, tomorrow food is gonna be sold for basically nothing, but we're basically gonna have free food, right? Remember earlier Dove's Dung was selling for silver, nasty, right? They would just any amount of money for just any food. They were desperate. And what's Elisha saying? Food's gonna be dirt cheap tomorrow. That's crazy, right? What's he talking about? And then the captain is thinking the same thing. Look at verse two, then the captain on whose hand the king leaned, said to the man of God, if the Lord himself should make windows in heaven, how could this thing be? In other words, seriously, Elisha, what are , what are you talking about? But Elisha said, you shall see it with your own eyes, but you shall not eat of it. I am amazed at Elisha's trust in God right here. He has done the right thing, right back in chapter six, and he got nothing for it. Jack squat. Everybody hates him , in fact, for it. But he didn't turn his back on God. He stuck with God. He kept fighting God's battles. He trusted God that he would come through for him in the end. And let me tell you that our God, we serve that same God today and he will keep his promises. Let's finish the story real quick in verse 16. Just skip down to verse 16. I bet you can guess what happens based on the way we've been talking, but let's just read the verse. Verse 16, the people went out and they plundered the camp of the Syrians. They won so Oia , a fine flower was sold for a shekel to see as a barley for a shekel according to the word of the Lord. I love that phrase at the end there, according to the word of the Lord, in case you forgot, this is exactly what God said was gonna happen, and it totally happened, Eli , to trust God. It pays off. God comes through on his promises. We serve the same commander today who makes great promises to us today. In fact, God has made even greater promises to you and I as his people today. Turn to Romans chapter eight. Let's look at one of those awesome promises. The Lord's army fights with trust because God comes through on his promises. Romans chapter eight, we're gonna read verses 10 and 11, Romans eight, verses 10 and 11, Romans eight, 10 and 11. God comes through on his promises. He has made even greater ones to us. Paul says in Romans eight, 10 and 11. Now , if Christ is in you, the body is dead 'cause of sin. But the Spirit gives life because of righteousness. And if the spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead lives in you, then he who raised Christ from the dead will also bring your mortal bodies to life through His spirit who lives in you. One day. God promises through Paul here, our commander will bring us to victory, to ultimate victory. If no one ever receives your kindness, if it seems like you fail every battle that you try to fight and no one seems to care about what's right, if people still ridicule you and make fun of you for what you believe, if you feel alone and like you're being defeated, if you feel that way your whole life, One day you will win the ultimate victory. You will rise from the dead one day and you will be victorious through Jesus Christ. That is an amazing promise. So fight with trust. Know that even when you stand up for what is right, even when you are kind, when everyone else is rude, even when you forgive and that person still makes fun of you, fight with trust, keep fighting, your God will bring you home and will win the victory in the end. And I know that 'cause our commander has already defeated death himself. That is an army that I want to fight for. So many of you will go back to school in a few weeks. Maybe you're already around some people in the world, at uh , at band camp, sports, any of those kind of things. You'll have a chance to fight some battles. You'll have some battleground moments when people are talking about someone behind their back. You can stand up for them when they wanna watch a movie that you shouldn't watch and you wanna walk away. You should walk away, right? And stand up for what's right. When people are talking about homosexuality and they say, Hey, truth, what do you think? You have a chance to defend the truth that's gonna happen. If that is happening in your life right now, you have a chance to fight the Lord's battles. And it's tempting in those moments. It really is to get discouraged, to feel alone like no one else cares, that you're the only one who cares what's right. Elisha knew that feeling two verses hundreds, maybe thousands of men. He knew what that felt like. But remember in those moments, you are not outnumbered. You are never outnumbered. That's one of God's people. You can do it. You can handle any spiritual battle that comes your way through Christ. Remember to fight with open eyes. Remember to let God open your eyes as Elisha prays for this servant so that you can see He's given you a glimpse behind the scenes anytime you want. You can see and know what God is doing and the victories that he is winning. Secondly, that will help you to fight your battles differently, to overcome evil with good, to be kind when everyone hates you or even hates others. Stand up for being kind . Be different. Fight your battles differently than the world does. And finally, even when it seems like it's all failing, nothing is working out. A person still makes fun of you. Whatever happens, fight with trust. Know that one day God will bring you to victory in the end, no matter how alone you might feel, no matter how outnumbered you might feel, you are not, you will win the victory when God raises you from the dead and you spend eternity with him. Praise God for his love for us. Thank you for your attention tonight.

Speaker 1 40:19

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