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#20250119 - Eyes Wide Open - 2 Kings 6:8-18 · Calvary Church with Ed Taylor Podcast

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Welcome to the study of God's Word with pastor and author Ed
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Taylor, recorded live at Calvary Church in Aurora, Co.
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To learn more about the many resources available through
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Abounding Grace Media or to tune into our live stream services,
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visit us online at Calvary Co dot Church or download our free
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Calvary Church app. Now.
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Here's Pastor Ed to take us into our study.
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Amen. Open your.
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Bibles to two places. Would you Jeremiah chapter 18 is
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where we're going to start Jeremiah 18 and then we're going
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to land in one of my. Favorite Scriptures?
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In all the Bible, Second Kings chapter 6 and the title.
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Of our Bible study today is eyes wide.
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Open eyes wide open. It's such a privilege to step
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into a new year with great faith and a deep willingness to follow
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and obey. Jesus.
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And one of the reasons. We have it's such a great
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privilege is. Because God has been so.
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Good to us. I mean, you think back in the
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past and you see the goodness of God even as we were reading in
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the Psalms today. Psalm 135.
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Speaks of the. Goodness of God.
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So looking backwards. We can see the goodness of God.
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But God is also good to us today.
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In the moment, and therefore he will.
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Be good. To us in the future, because his
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character and his nature doesn't change.
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The Bible says. And you can jot it down in James
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chapter one, verse 17. That every.
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Good gift and every perfect gift is from above and comes down
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from the. Father of Lights with.
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Whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.
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Everything we have is from the Lord.
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Every good gift, every perfect gift, all that he's.
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Given us, we're walking into this new year with the mindset
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of taking it all. Everything that God has for us,
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I want to. Encourage you to take it.
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All to adjust your thinking in your mind in this new year, that
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of all. God has laid before you, it's
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yours. Church, take it, enjoy it.
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Live for the Lord, surrender your life, commit to Him.
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You. Are you are in a position where
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you get to enjoy the love of God in your life?
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You, church, listen to this you. Are greatly beloved of the Lord.
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Isn't that great? To me, it's so encouraging.
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Every single one of you here today, everyone listening from a
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distance. Greatly beloved of God in Christ
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you receive. The fullness of his love.
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He wants your life. To be full.
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He wants your life to be lived. In such a way that.
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Honors him in a hostile and challenging world to live in.
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He wants you. To live as he is.
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Your hope He wants you. To live as he is.
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Your strength, He wants you. To live as he is.
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Your encouragement and your hope and your love.
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And that's how we enter into the new year.
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We enter into a new year just knowing this.
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God loves me and I love him. God has given me His best and
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I'm giving it right back to Him. He is for me, not against me,
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and I can trust Him. And today God wants us to know
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what's happening in the spiritual realm around us.
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He wants us to know. And today you'll leave here
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understanding this principle there.
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Is a physical. And there is a spiritual and we
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need to live in both. There is a physical.
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And there is a spiritual and we need to live in both.
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He wants us to see things the way He sees them, because when
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we see things the way God sees things, the Church makes great.
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Progress very quickly. When we see God's perspective,
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let me give you an example. When you look back on your life,
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it is so much easier to see things the way God sees them
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because the situation's already been resolved.
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You look back and you go, OK, ten years ago.
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God was so faithful, I. Remember, it was the biggest
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trial of my life to date and I was wrestling with this and I
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didn't know how it was going to happen.
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All of that, you look back and go, oh, look.
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At you now God was faithful. I can see what he was doing now.
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I lost my job, but he wanted me to work here.
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And I had this relationship thing, but that's not a good
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person for me. And you start looking back with
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2020, you could see it all. And God wants you to know that
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going forward, He can open your eyes in the future too, that
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it's not just the physical. Which leads us to.
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Jeremiah, chapter 18. In Jeremiah chapter 18.
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Jeremiah, a messenger. Of God or you would.
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Refer to him as a. Prophet of God.
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He was a messenger. He was sent to the rebellious,
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resistant, stubborn nation with a message of God.
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And the the problem, if you will, with Jeremiah's ministry
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is that nobody listened to him. Nobody.
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Received. His word.
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They didn't receive Jeremiah's word, but really what they were
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demonstrating is they didn't. Receive the Word of God.
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They stood in resistance and rebellion toward God and
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suffered the consequences thereof.
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But to help Jeremiah understand and to give him a greater.
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Tool. In chapter 18, he was sent.
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To a Potter's house. Notice with me verse one.
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Chapter 18 The word which? Came to Jeremiah from the Lord,
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saying, arise and go down to the.
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Potter's house. And there I will cause you to
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hear my words. Then I went down.
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To the Potter's house. And there he was, making
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something at the wheel, and the vessel that he made of clay was
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marred in the hand of the. Potter so that he.
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Made it again into a another vessel, as it seemed good to the
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Potter to make. Then the word of the Lord came
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to me, saying. Verse 6.
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O House of Israel. Can I not?
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Do with you as this Potter says, the Lord look as the.
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Clay is in the Potter's hand. So are you?
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In my hand. O House of Israel.
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Jeremiah was given a practical. Picture Real life picture.
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In this Potter's House of some things that are important for us
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to understand. Today the Potter, the clay.
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The wheel all symbolic. First of all, the Potter.
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The Potter is a type and a. Picture of God the Potter.
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Fashioning and molding the clay, the lump of clay, the.
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Clay. That's useless.
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Apart from the Potter. Of the wheel.
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That's you, that's me. We're the clay.
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We're in the Potter's hands, we're on the wheel.
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So you get the picture, Jeremiah coming in, he sees the Potter, a
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master Potter. At the wheel.
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And you know the wheel, it spins fast.
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It spins slow. It's got the.
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Pedal. It's under the.
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Full control of the Potter. So you have the Potter.
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Representing. God the Father to us.
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You, you have the clay. That's us.
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In the hand of the Potter and then the wheel.
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You could say. That's the circumstances of
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life. Sometimes it goes fast,
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sometimes it goes slow, but it's under the control.
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Of the Potter. This will be a little scary.
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To think, OK, I. I trust that God is the the
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Potter. He's the shaper.
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And motor of my life and I'm in his hands.
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But man, sometimes the wheel spinning so fast I don't know
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what to. Do and it would be.
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A little scary to think, OK I'm I'm OK with this.
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I'll accept that. I want to trust the Potter with
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my life. But but it would be a little
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scary. If you didn't understand the.
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Character of God. The character of God explains
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all of the circumstances. I mean the character of God.
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We learned that. He is the Bible.
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Says in Psalm 25 that all the. Paths of the Lord.
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Are mercy and true Psalm 19 nine says the.
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Fear of the Lord. Is clean, enduring forever?
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The judgments of the Lord are. True.
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And righteous Psalm 119, verse 76 says, Let I pray your
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merciful kindness, be for my comfort, according to your word
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to your servant. We we see the love of God.
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Moved him to send his son on our behalf, the righteous Son of
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God, God in human. Flesh to die for our.
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Sins. Life would be a little scary if
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we. Didn't know who.
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God is the Bible declares God. Is love, and so therefore we
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don't have to be. Afraid of his work?
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In our lives he's in charge and he can do whatever he wants, but
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yet we know he's good, so whatever he wants is going to
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be. For our good, whatever he
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allows, whatever he does. Is going to be for us and notice
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what happens this happens to all of us you've got.
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The Potter there, he's. Fashioning the most perfect.
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Thing he's like like the. Most beautiful, wonderful vessel
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that's going to go into the King's palace, it's going to be
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used. By.
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Royalty. And there he is, fashion and
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fashion, and it's almost done and then boom, it's all gone.
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Now, I'm not a Potter. I don't have any talent in that
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area. But I have seen this before
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where you're watching it, watching it, watching it.
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And I remember one time that. We we would have there was a.
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Brother who used to come and he would do pottery for us and he's
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making it, making it making, and then he'd stick his thumb in it
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and ruin it all and it just goes down to nothing.
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And life can feel that way sometimes, to be marred where
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you're going in One Direction. You have all these high hopes.
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You just see God. Fashioning and molding and
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you're for it and you're loving it and this is everything you
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ever wanted and then bam, it's marred.
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But a careful a careful look at the text.
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Will remind you that even when you're marred.
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Believer. You're marred.
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Notice in verse. 4. The hand of the Potter.
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You're in his hands. You've been marred, but it's in
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his hands. And if you are listening to me
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today and your life is not what you wanted it to be.
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Not what? You expected it to be?
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You would say it's marred, it is broken, it is not all that you
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desire. I want you to notice at the end
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of verse four that he made it again into another vessel as it
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seemed good to the Potter to make.
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That tells me that I can trust God with my life, that no matter
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what I think he's doing or what I think, I'm going.
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If I take a left. Turn or a right turn.
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I know that the Potter. Is.
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Still at work in my life, not all is lost when everything
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collapses, when the bottom falls out, when there seems to be no
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hope. The vessel.
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Is remade into something else in Jeremiah. 18-4 It says the
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vessel that he made of clay. Was marred, but he made it
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again. He made it again.
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We look. At our lives we go, oh, I'm so
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ruined, I don't know what's going to happen.
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And God says no, no, no, no, no. I'm ready to keep working.
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I do remember an occasion where when we were in school, we had
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shop class and we did some pottery thing.
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And I remember the easiest thing for us to make.
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And I remember making one. I made an.
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Ashtray for. My parents.
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Why? Because they smoked and it was.
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Easy to do, it was flat, you stick.
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Your thumb on all four sides. Boom, instant ashtray.
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Look, mom and Dad, this is my masterpiece.
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For you. But you know, if you're the
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clay, nobody wants to be an ashtray.
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Nobody wants to be an ashtray. But the Potter knows what he's
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doing in your life. He knows what you're supposed to
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be. He knows where he wants to use
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you. He knows where he's fashioning
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you. And you can trust him that even
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when you think. It's the worst.
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God knows, He knows what He's doing in your life.
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Can I get an Amen for that? Please understand this.
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He knows what He's doing in our lives.
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None of us are finished yet. We're all on the wheel.
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God isn't through with your life.
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Not even close. Sure, it might be a real mess.
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It might not be what you wanted. You wanted to.
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Be this great vessel. But life is kind of like an
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ashtray right now. Don't worry about it.
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God has you in his hands. He's not like.
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Our disposable society today where the clay, oh, it's all the
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clay's. Fault.
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No. He's going to take the clay and
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he's going to fashion it into the vessel that he wants, and he
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knows. What's best for you?
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But more importantly for him and where he wants you and where He
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desires you in life. God is still at work.
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Even when the bottom. Falls out the process.
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Begins all over again he remakes us into new vessels and for
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Jeremiah the application was clear for Israel even today
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it's. Clear for us as the church if
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you look in verse. Six the the word is.
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To Israel was this look. You see that look?
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Open your eyes. Open your eyes.
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As the. Clay is in the Potter's hands.
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So are you? In my hand.
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Oh. House of Israel so.
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Today, by application, we could say the same thing.
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Look. Church look as the clay.
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Is in the Potter's hands. So are you in my hand?
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Oh, Church of Jesus Christ. We're in the Potter's hands.
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Look, open your eyes and see the.
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Spiritual. Reality behind the physical
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reality. See them both.
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Which brings us to 2nd Kings. Chapter 6 would.
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You turn there with me. Second Kings Chapter 6 we're
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introduced. Here.
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Dropping right into the life. Of the prophet Elisha SH.
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A Elisha. Was a disciple of the prophet
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Elijah and upon. Elijah's ministry coming to a
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close. One of the things that happened
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with Elijah. Is that Elijah received a
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double. Portion of all that Elijah.
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Was part that's what he. Give me a double portion, and
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that's what God gave him, a double portion so you could say
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in a very real way. That.
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Elijah is a great example. To us today of.
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Someone who took it all, like he really embraced.
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What God had. Given to him.
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You want a double portion here. It is.
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Go get it. And Bible commentators and Bible
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students will notice and point this out to you that if you.
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Study the life of Elijah. And you?
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Study the life of Elijah that. Elijah was involved in twice the
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amount of ministry. That Elijah was he took it all.
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He enjoyed it all. He he went and said he didn't
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create things, he just simply responded to the initiator.
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To God. And he took it all, and we come
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to a time in his life. Where a very serious.
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Situation comes upon him as he lives as God's servant.
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As he is God's. Instrument as that piece of.
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Clay that God was. Shaping and molding notice with
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me. Verse 8.
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Chapter 6. Second, kings and this now the
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king of Syria was making war against Israel, and he took
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counsel with his servants, saying my camp will be in such
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and such a place so. Basically the king of Syria.
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Is setting an ambush to destroy the armies of Israel.
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That's the scene and the man of God, that's a reference to
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Elisha here. You'll see in a moment, but in
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verse nine that man of God sent to the king of Israel saying
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beware, don't pass into. This place for the.
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Syrians are coming down there. Then the king of Israel sent
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someone to the place of which the man of God, Elijah had told
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him. Thus he warned him.
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And he was watchful there. Not just once or twice.
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This happened many times. That God revealed.
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To Elijah where the ambushes. Would be, he told the.
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King and the people were saved. It happened multiple times.
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Therefore, verse 11 the heart of the king of.
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Syria was greatly. Troubled by this thing, And he
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called his servants and said to them, Will you not show me which
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of us? Is.
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For the king of Israel, basically he brings his military
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people together and he goes. Who is the traitor?
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Who is betraying? Me who is telling the king of
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Israel? Where all the ambushes are.
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I need to know that right now and notice the answer.
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This is so good. You got to mark this.
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This is amazing, the work of God in Elisha's life and one of his
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servants, said verse 12. None of us, Lord, none of us are
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traitors. None of us have.
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Betrayed you, but Elisha the. Prophet, who is in Israel, tells
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the king of. Israel.
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The words. That you speak in your bedroom
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there. There is a man in Israel that
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knows everything because God reveals to him.
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God reveals to him even the things you speak secretly in
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your bedroom that no one else knows about.
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There's a man. It's not us.
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It's not us, King. It's that prophet of God.
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And you know, this is there is a New Testament equivalent to
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this, you know? It's the word of.
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Wisdom and the Word of Knowledge.
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That God would give to. US information about a situation
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that we wouldn't know. Any other?
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Way than God's revelation. It's amazing to be in the Spirit
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and to be used by God in powerful ways.
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Sometimes we know God is operating that way, other times
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we don't know. But nonetheless, Elisha is being
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used here. By God to protect.
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The nation and his reputation is, hey, he knows things that
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nobody else knows, that prophet of God.
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Now notice the response of the king.
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He's going to have none of this nonsense.
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Verse 13 So he said, go and see where he is, that I might send
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and get him. And it was told of him saying,
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surely he's in Dothan. Therefore, verse 14 he sent
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horses and Chariots, and then marked this and a great army.
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There. So he has sent.
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Chariots, horses, a great army to go get one man.
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This is a pretty. Big deal.
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The king is upset and he's frustrated.
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This is war time and in response to Elisha hearing from the Lord
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protecting the nation, the response was to send an army
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there and they came. It says verse 14 by night, which
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by the way, by night is just how the enemy loves to work under
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the cover of darkness. He.
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Loves to work in deceit and lies and darkness.
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He always takes his cover. In darkness to do his.
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Worst work there. The king here becomes a type of
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the devil himself, so he comes and surrounds the city by
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darkness. Now verse 15 when the servant of
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the man of. God got up early.
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So now this is the morning and he went out.
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There was an army surrounding the city with horses and
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Chariots, and his servant said to him, alas, my master, what
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shall we do in the. First part of verse. 16 So he
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answered, Do not fear. Let's pause there for a. 2nd a
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very important situation God is giving Elisha inside after
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inside and the king is so furious that he sends a whole
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army, Chariots, horses to go get this man.
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Elijah's ministry was so impactful that the enemy of.
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God pulled out all the stops to destroy.
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Him, and to take him out under the cover of darkness.
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Elijah's doesn't know. This yet but his servant.
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Wakes up in the morning and he goes out and he is freaked.
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Out by the whole. Situation.
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He surveys the land. He goes, Oh my.
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I can't. I mean, we're done.
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It's over. Alas, my master.
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Look. What?
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What are we going to do? We're going to.
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We're surrounded there. They have not going to just
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ambush. Us by surprise they have.
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Come to get us and I have to say if we were in his shoes, we'd
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feel the same way. We know that he's fearful and
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he's panicked. I think we would too.
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I I mean if you. Had the whole police SWAT.
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Team come to your house and surround your house and they
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have the National Guard and you've done nothing wrong, I
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think. That would freak you out.
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You would go like, what's going on?
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I mean, if you did something wrong, you would.
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Expect that. But if you're just living life
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and you wake up in the morning, what is going on?
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They got the wrong house. It's OK.
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I'm all fine. Here I am.
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I'll come out like you. What am we?
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Supposed to do that's where he's.
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At And Listen Church, there are those times in all of our lives
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when we think it's over, when all is lost, when it's just
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done. Forget about it.
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It even looks as if, and you would conclude that everything
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is against us. Pain upon pain, difficulty on
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difficulty. You're going through so much
20:52
already, and then another thing hits, and then another thing
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hits. Will you come to that?
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Place where you throw. Your hands up and say
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everything's against me. If there hasn't been, there
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will. Be.
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Those times in our lives And like verse 16, Elisha answered,
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do not fear. For those who are with.
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Us or more than those who are with them.
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Someone comes to. You like Elisha?
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Does and says it's going to be. OK, get your eyes.
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Back on the Lord, we're going to be fine.
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And so God sent someone into your life to counsel you, to
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encourage you to open up the Word.
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To you, but you're so. Caught up in the emotion that
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you're not willing to listen, you won't receive the
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encouragement and you just are stuck in what you see and you
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won't receive anything by faith. You see, you're surrounded, you
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conclude it's over, and yet God sent someone to you and you
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won't. Receive it there are.
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Definitely those times I know it might be hard to receive counsel
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in the midst of something difficult.
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But I do believe you. Should thank God that he would
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send somebody into your life to tell you something even when you
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don't want to hear it. Planting that seed, helping you
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to see you'll get. Through this, that's where you
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get to. Look backwards.
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With 2020 sight. You get to look backwards and
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say, but God brought me through that one and God brought me
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through that one. Like what God brings you?
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To He will get you. Through every single time.
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That's his testimony in the past, that's his testimony.
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Even if you walk in here today, you go, wow, pastor, I don't, I
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don't even know like who told you about my life.
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The Lord did the Lord. Showed me what our church needs
22:36
for this new Year through prayer and through a revelation of His
22:40
Word. And the Lord loves you.
22:45
He really means that. He wants you to be fashioned
22:49
into a new vessel so that when God sends someone into your
22:53
life, even when you don't want to receive it, I want you to
22:56
notice what Elisha does. What Elisha does is he.
22:59
Says in verse 17 when? Elisha prayed.
23:03
And he? Said Lord, I pray.
23:07
Open his eyes, that he may see. Then the Lord opened the eyes of
23:14
the young man, and he saw. And behold, the mountain was.
23:18
Full of horses. And Chariots of fire all around
23:24
Elisha. When all is lost, when we don't
23:28
want to receive anything from anyone, when we just don't want
23:31
to be encouraged. When we don't think there's any
23:33
way out. When there's any.
23:34
Hope or any future? What is needed in times?
23:37
Like that is that God? Open your eyes to the.
23:40
Spiritual. Reality that is behind the
23:42
physical. Reality there is a physical.
23:46
There is a spiritual. My prayer for this coming year
23:50
is that God would open our eyes to see what we cannot see,
23:55
because when we see things as God sees things, peace returns
24:01
and we can. Trust God with our lives, just
24:04
like we did before. The armies came and surrounded.
24:06
Us. That's Elisha's prayer.
24:09
Open his eyes. He doesn't see God.
24:13
He doesn't see the reality of a hidden spiritual realm.
24:17
There is a hidden spiritual realm all around us right now.
24:20
It's real, but it's unseen. There is the physical.
24:25
And there is the spiritual. Unfortunately, the physical gets
24:29
all of our attention for good reason.
24:32
It's in our face. It's right there.
24:33
We wake up in the morning, we look out and go.
24:34
Oh, I can't believe it. We are surrounded.
24:37
All hope is lost. What's?
24:39
Going to happen. Alas, Master, we're done.
24:42
The physical gets all the attention because we live in the
24:44
physical. It forces itself to the.
24:47
Forefront into our face, into our minds, where the.
24:51
Battle. Is learning to take every
24:53
thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ?
24:57
It's easy. To lose sight of the spiritual,
25:00
to forget the spiritual reality because of the physical.
25:04
And we have to train ourselves to be sensitive to.
25:07
See the physical as well as the spiritual.
25:12
You can jot it down in Second Timothy.
25:14
Chapter 2 It's a very. Familiar passage.
25:16
It's one in our family of. Churches that's.
25:19
Greatly emphasized for good reason.
25:21
Second Timothy 215 Be diligent to prove present yourself
25:25
approve. To God, a worker who?
25:27
Doesn't need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of
25:29
truth. And in our little family of
25:31
churches that last. Part is what's really
25:33
emphasized. Most, you know, rightly dividing
25:35
the word of truth. And I believe it.
25:36
I. Agree with it.
25:37
That is a good emphasis, but like emphasis, sometimes
25:42
something could be so emphasized that we for we miss the
25:45
significance of the. Whole.
25:48
And what's really important in this verse is not just the.
25:52
Dividing of God's Word. Not just reading your Bible
25:55
every day, not just praying every day, as important as that
25:58
is, you know what's really important is the beginning, the.
26:01
Diligence that God is looking. For in your life to present
26:05
yourself to Him. That's where eyes are opened.
26:09
Eyes are not open when you run to the.
26:11
Bottle. And eyes are not open when you
26:14
start smoking joints again or going back to your old party
26:17
scene. Eyes are not open that way.
26:19
They actually get closed. And you begin to see none of
26:22
the. Spiritual reality.
26:23
Because now the entirety of your life in your prodigal living is
26:27
God calling you back, calling you back, bringing the
26:29
conviction of sin. It's not going to Your eyes will
26:33
not open unless you run to the Lord.
26:35
Then you'll see, and so part of our prayer, like, like when
26:40
you're counseling someone, you know how you, God puts you in
26:42
someone's life and you're serving them and loving them and
26:45
you're making no progress. They're resistant to you.
26:48
They don't want to hear it. You don't understand.
26:50
This happens a lot, probably more than you realize.
26:53
As I'm sharing with someone, they make it an issue with me.
26:57
Like I'm the problem. I'm, I'm not the problem.
27:00
God put me in your life to help you and because you don't like
27:03
what I'm saying, I'm not the problem.
27:06
And one of the things I need to remember is that's just a
27:08
temptation to draw me into the physical and try to defend
27:12
myself and try. No, no, no.
27:14
What I need to do is. Lord, I pray you would.
27:17
Open their eyes. You just got to add that to your
27:21
vocabulary. God I.
27:22
Pray you would open their eyes, maybe even add to your
27:25
vocabulary. Not only for them.
27:28
But for yourself? Well, you don't have anyone
27:31
you're. All by yourself, you're
27:32
isolated. It's just like Lord.
27:33
Open my eyes. I don't want to live like this.
27:36
I need to see what you're doing. I need to see.
27:39
Clearly, all I see is. The lump of clay, Show me, God,
27:43
the fashioning and the molding that you're doing.
27:45
I'm surrounded, but they're surrounded.
27:48
Isn't that awesome? I'm surrounded, it's true.
27:51
But really, the truth is. They're surrounded.
27:54
Doesn't it remind you? It did of me.
27:56
It reminded me of David. Remember David?
27:59
That good and good looking Ruddy kid?
28:01
It says the Bible describes him. He goes out to bring some.
28:05
Supplies to his brothers and he hears about the.
28:07
Giant that's been mocking the nation everybody's afraid woe is
28:12
me, woe is me and David has this courage as a young kid and says
28:16
no, it's not woe is me, it's. Woe is.
28:19
Him because he's defying God he's the one that's going to
28:23
fall. I'm not going to.
28:24
I mean, if we were watching that scenario, you know, we oh.
28:26
Poor David. Poor David.
28:27
He's. Done.
28:28
He's gone now. That's the physical a giant
28:32
versus a kid. You know what the spiritual was?
28:35
Goliath's gone because God is going to use that.
28:37
Kid to destroy the. Work of the enemy against the
28:40
nation. That's the work of God in you.
28:42
Open our eyes, Lord, open our eyes.
28:45
Be. Diligent to present yourself.
28:47
Church. Be diligent.
28:50
This is really a key. Understanding the physical and
28:53
the spiritual to not losing heart.
28:55
Let me show you something. Turn over to 2nd Corinthians
28:57
chapter 4, one of the most encouraging famous verses in all
29:01
the New Testament when it comes to encouragement to strength, to
29:06
Lord. Lord, I don't want to lose
29:08
heart. I want my faith built up and I
29:10
want you to see. And so along the way, I'm going
29:13
to kind of quiz you along the way so that you can say out loud
29:17
and what I want you to say out loud, and I'll help you along
29:19
the way. Like I with the other services
29:21
but. I want you to say I want you to
29:23
notice physical or spiritual as a matter of fact from today, I
29:28
want you if you. Choose to pay.
29:29
Attention in your reading of the scriptures to this one area,
29:33
you're going to see it everywhere, and it's this.
29:37
There is physical and there is. Spiritual all throughout the
29:40
Bible, you'll see. It right here in this verse
29:42
that's so common and I want to point it out to.
29:45
You so I'll get to the place. And then I'll ask you, is it?
29:47
Physical or spiritual you? Answer me what you think OK.
29:50
Second Corinthians chapter 4 verse 16.
29:54
Therefore, we do not lose heart, even though our outward man is
29:58
perishing. What's?
29:59
That physical outward. Man is perishing.
30:02
I was talking to a brother for service.
30:04
We were talking about new aches and pains.
30:06
As we get older, that's the. Physical.
30:07
Nobody needs to convince me that the outward man is perishing.
30:11
Going to get Amen on that like it's nobody.
30:14
You guys that are younger go oh, you know, you're just an old
30:16
man. You'll be old one day too.
30:17
Don't worry about it. Outward man is perishing.
30:20
That's that's physical. But the inward man is being
30:23
renewed. Day by day, What's that?
30:25
Spiritual. So which?
30:26
One, are you going to pay attention?
30:28
To you wake up, you got all these.
30:29
Aches and pains, woe is me, and my body's all jacked up.
30:31
Yeah, but you know what's happening spiritually?
30:35
You're being made stronger on the inside.
30:37
Your life is drawn to the Lord. You're recognizing your life is
30:40
short and it needs to matter. There's a lot of benefits as we
30:45
mature and our bodies respond to that maturity.
30:48
Notice what's next? For our light.
30:50
Affliction is but for a moment. What is that physical?
30:55
Our light affliction. It's physical.
30:58
But. Notice.
31:00
It's working for us a. Far more exceedingly eternal
31:05
weight of. Glory.
31:05
What's that? Church Spiritual.
31:08
Already twice in a simple. Verse Physical.
31:11
Spiritual And if you're not? Careful, you'll stop at the.
31:15
Physical like I can think of. I can think that someone
31:18
listening to me right now doesn't want to.
31:21
Accept what the Bible says. Doesn't want to believe.
31:24
The Bible, because the Bible says our light.
31:27
Affliction. And immediately you've got this
31:29
response. My affliction is not light.
31:32
That's not light. So you don't know what I've gone
31:35
through. You don't know what I'm want.
31:36
You don't know but but but. The Bible.
31:38
The Bible says it's light. The Bible says it's light.
31:43
And if you don't? Accept the Bible for what it
31:46
says. Then you're going to be stuck in
31:48
the physical because if you can say with everyone I'm facing
31:52
right now, it's. This light.
31:53
Affliction. And now, as my outward man is
31:56
perishing, I can see back many, many years now things that I.
32:01
Faced years ago. That were monumental bone
32:04
crushing things that God got me through.
32:07
I can look back and go it was light in light of eternity.
32:12
It's light. I mean, think about if we just
32:15
live 100 years, 100 years, which is a long time in the physical,
32:19
in the spiritual. It's not even a.
32:21
Piece of dust. It's so.
32:24
Small in light of all of eternity.
32:26
My light affliction today. That's just a word from God to
32:29
some of you. Please believe the word you.
32:32
Could come to the something like this and go my light affliction
32:34
and you could just say in your prayer life, God, I don't I
32:36
don't like that. I don't think it's light, it's
32:38
heavy, it's big. You just come to him and cast
32:41
all your cares upon him. But then you have to then say,
32:43
But Lord, open my eyes, that I can.
32:46
See what you see. Because it just feels like I'm
32:50
never going to get out of this. I'm surrounded.
32:52
And then you can hear the Lord say, yeah, you're surrounded,
32:55
but I'm surrounding them. I'm on your side, I'm not
33:00
against you, I'm for you. I'm drawing, I'm protecting you.
33:04
Notice the next one, verse 18. While we do not look at the
33:07
things which are seen, what is? That church.
33:10
OK, say it out loud. What is that?
33:12
Physical, the things that are seen, we're not going to look at
33:14
the things they're seen, but the things that are not seen,
33:17
spiritual notice the next one for the things that are seen are
33:20
temporary. Physical, but the.
33:23
Things that are not seen are eternal, spiritual.
33:26
You see it all through. Through the text, there's four
33:28
times it's mentioned here physical.
33:32
Spiritual, sadly, because. Living in this material.
33:35
World, we get so caught. Up in the physical.
33:37
That we forget there is the spiritual we lose sight.
33:42
Of the spiritual, and therefore. We lose sight of.
33:45
God in our situation, because God is working as the Potter,
33:52
fashioning us, taking even the physical difficulties and use
33:56
them. You see the power of the enemy,
33:58
especially when we begin. To fight the forces of the
34:02
world. It becomes so hard and so
34:04
challenging. How hopelessness loves to rush
34:08
in. We're like this servant.
34:09
Alas, Lord, look, everything is lost.
34:12
I'd have no future. The enemy's going to win.
34:15
But the Bible? Says the Bible says you are of
34:17
God. Little children and overcome
34:20
them, because he who is in you is greater than he who is in the
34:24
world. Physical, spiritual, it's all
34:27
throughout the Bible. It's so easy to forget the
34:30
truths of God. That's why when I'm I'm
34:32
encouraging, I'm like, OK, memorize first.
34:35
John 44. That's.
34:36
What I just read. First John 4/4 he was in me
34:38
greater than he was in the world.
34:39
You can take that that's something to take today Own it.
34:43
It's yours that when it. Feels.
34:45
Like it's overwhelming. I feel there's like no hope.
34:47
I can't get out from under this. I don't know if my prodigal ever
34:49
come home. I don't know if they've ever
34:51
changed their mind. I don't know if God will ever
34:52
rescue my marriage. I don't know.
34:53
If God will ever pay the bills, whatever.
34:55
It is you go. No way, man.
34:58
God that's in me is greater than anything that's happening in
35:01
this world, and He's going to get me through this one just
35:04
like He's gotten me through everything that's up to this
35:07
point. Because he's faithful, it's easy
35:12
to forget. And when we forget, we panic and
35:16
we freak out. We start to take things into our
35:19
own hands and the longer we look at the problem.
35:22
The bigger. It gets.
35:24
Have you noticed the more attention we give it, I mean
35:27
some of you, you can take a little problem and you can see
35:30
how it's going to affect. You the rest of your life.
35:33
But you don't know. You don't know what God's doing.
35:38
We don't know how it's all going to turn out.
35:40
We've become like Elisha's servant here.
35:43
But that God would open our eyes, that you would enter in to
35:47
today, to next week, to this new year.
35:50
With our eyes. Wide open that we would see the
35:53
spiritual. To see what God.
35:55
Sees that in every situation we're in, we would not only see
35:58
the problems around us. But we also.
36:00
See the spiritual solutions that when the eyes of the servant are
36:04
open that he can begin to see the spiritual parts around his
36:08
life he saw that the angels of the Lord were surrounding the
36:11
Syrians, the horses and the. Chariots of Fire.
36:14
Were surrounding the physical horses and Chariots of the
36:18
Syrian Army and what a difference it made in his whole
36:21
outlook. You can see come back to 2nd
36:25
Kings with me now. You can see in verse 18 when the
36:28
Syrians came down to him. Elisha prayed to the Lord.
36:32
And said. Strike this people with.
36:34
Blindness and he struck them with blindness, according.
36:38
To the word of Elisha. And you can see.
36:40
That there's great victory that. God wanted to bring about even
36:44
though they were surrounded, it went from what are we going to
36:48
do? To to look what.
36:50
God has done and that's the pathway.
36:52
For all of our lives. What are we going to do?
36:55
Physical look. What God has done.
36:58
Spiritual that affects. Our everyday life.
37:03
So with the servant Elisha. We see great victory, but we
37:07
also. See, in our own life, let me say
37:10
a couple more things before we come to the communion table
37:13
today. It's easy to look at Elisha's.
37:15
Servant here and go. What are you doing, man?
37:18
You've been with this guy. You've seen all the miracles.
37:19
Of God? Like what?
37:21
Why are you? Wavering in faith right now.
37:23
Why? Are you worried?
37:23
You see? God come through in the past,
37:25
He's going to come through here and we could.
37:27
Always look at Elisha like. That, but maybe not Elisha.
37:30
Maybe. That's how you see yourself.
37:32
What's wrong with you, man? Haven't you seen God's
37:34
faithfulness and you? Hear the Bible study that way,
37:36
because that's how you. Are you have this sense of shame
37:40
and guilt and condemnation and that is not the.
37:42
Heart of God for you. Because I want you to just
37:45
consider something I want you to consider.
37:47
For Elijah, yes, he was fearful. Yes.
37:50
He was faithless, yes. He wasn't sure, but you know
37:52
what? At least the brother got.
37:54
Up in the morning and surveyed the land.
37:57
At least he got up in the morning and looked and
37:58
described. What it was to his.
38:00
Servant. At least he trusted the leader
38:03
that. Was in his life.
38:05
Who got? Put in his life at.
38:06
Least he waited. Before he even in his panic, he
38:09
didn't make any bad decisions. He called upon the help that he
38:12
needed. And I want you to see that in
38:14
your own life too, because I know we get into these places
38:18
and I certainly do. I speak from experience where I
38:21
can be so faithless sometimes and I'm just reminded I
38:26
memorized it. Even if we are faithless, God
38:31
remains faithful and He's going to be faithful in your life.
38:35
You don't need to be under the weight of guilt and shame and
38:38
condemnation. Today, just allow the Lord.
38:42
To bring that conviction, respond with godly sorrow and
38:46
turn away. Cry out to Him.
38:49
I mean, think about it, looking back on your life, isn't it
38:52
true? God has been faithful to you,
38:55
isn't it? True that God was.
38:56
Faithful to you back then. Was faithful to you yesterday.
39:00
I mean, I some of you could probably answer this, but most
39:03
of us remember the thing that you couldn't sleep that night.
39:06
Remember that thing 15 years ago?
39:08
Where you lost a whole. Week of sleep and.
39:10
Like like do you even? Remember.
39:11
All the details of it. Probably not.
39:13
Why? Because God got you through it.
39:16
It was a big deal in the moment. Couldn't sleep, wasn't sure.
39:20
I don't know. I'm not sure.
39:21
I can't believe it. Or even your spouse, your
39:23
friends are going, it's going to be OK.
39:24
And you're like, no, it's not going to be OK.
39:26
But here we are 10 years later, 15 years later, and you can't
39:30
even remember all the details of it.
39:32
Why? Because Scott.
39:33
Took care of it. He was fashioning you into a
39:38
another vessel that pleased him and by the way, when you are the
39:44
vessel that pleases him, you also are pleased.
39:48
It's like yes Lord, exactly what you want in my life.
39:51
God came through you look back with 2020 hindsight and you go.
39:56
Oh, I see it. I see it.
39:57
I see it. That's what you're praying for
40:00
now, God, Show me now that everything's going to be OK.
40:05
Show me now that you're surrounding the enemy.
40:07
Show me now. The power that you want to
40:10
manifest in my life so that my faith.
40:13
Will be built up. And we can roll into 2025 with a
40:17
hopefulness under the banner of, God's faithfulness under the
40:20
banner of. God's power.
40:22
Under the banner of. God's spiritual.
40:24
Revelation and illumination that He might take his word and make
40:28
it alive in our lives so that we can see the physical.
40:31
Got no problem with that. But also see the.
40:34
Spiritual so that our lives align with His.
40:38
Amen, Lord, Thank you for a reminder today of your
40:42
faithfulness in our lives. And I pray over us right now
40:46
that you would open spiritual eyes right now.
40:52
I'd like to see some things in my own life I want to see.
40:55
The Spirit Lord. If I don't know the
40:56
circumstances, then open my eyes to see You fashioning and
41:00
molding me at the wheel. I might want the wheel to slow
41:04
down a little bit, or I might even cry.
41:07
Get me off this wheel. But I don't want to be outside
41:09
of your hands, Lord, that I'm safe and secure in You.
41:14
And as we come to the table today in remembrance of Your
41:17
broken body and the blood. That was shed for us.
41:21
There's the physical, but also God.
41:23
Open our eyes to the. Spiritual give us a holy.
41:27
Understanding. Of the weight of the.
41:32
Offering that was given on our behalf so that we might be in
41:37
relationship with you. There might be focus.
41:39
There might be this sense of forgiveness and sacrifice.
41:43
That flows through our lives. In Jesus name, Amen, We pray
41:48
that you've been encouraged by this Bible study, delivered live
41:51
from the Sanctuary of Calvary Church.
41:54
For prayer, call us at 87730 Grace that's 877-304-7223.
42:03
To listen to this message in its integrity or to join us for our
42:07
live stream services, visit us online at Calvary Co dot Church
42:12
or download our free Calvary Church app.
42:15
Be blessed as you worship Jesus this week.