So we have two readings today. The first reading is in the Old Testament and it's 2 Kings. Second Kings chapter 6 verse 15 and it's on page 374. And Elisha prayed, O Lord open his eyes, oh sorry I lost verse 15, when the servant of the man of God got up and went out early the next morning. an army with horses and chariots had surrounded the city. "'O my Lord, what shall we do?' the servant asked. "'Don't be afraid,' the prophet answered. "'Those who are with us are more than those who are with them.' And Elisha prayed, "'O Lord, open his eyes so that he may see.' Then the Lord opened the servant's eyes, and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha. And then the second reading is from the New Testament, John 16 and verse 12. And that's on page 1,084. Verse 12. I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear, But when he, the spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own. He will speak only what he hears and he will tell you what is yet to come. He will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you. All that belongs to the father is mine. That is why I said the spirit will take from what is mine and make it known to you. In a little while you will see me no more and then after a little while you will see me. Some of his disciples said to one another, what does he mean by saying in a little while while you will see me no more and then after a little while you will see me? And because I am going to the father, They kept asking, what does he mean by a little while? We don't understand what he is saying. Jesus saw that they wanted to ask him about this, so he said to them, are you asking one another what I meant when I said, in a little while you will see me no more, and then after a little while you will see me? I tell you the truth, you will weep and mourn while the world rejoices, you will grieve but your grief will turn to joy. A woman giving birth to a child has pain because her time has come, but when her baby is born, she forgets the anguish because of her joy that a child is born into the world. So with you, now is your time of grief, but I will see you again, and you will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy. In that day, you will no longer ask me anything. I tell you the truth, my father will give you whatever you ask in my name. Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete. Though I have been speaking figuratively, a time is coming when I will no longer use this kind of language, but will tell you plainly about my father. In that day, you will ask in my name. I am not saying that I will ask the Father on your behalf. No, the Father himself loves you because you have loved me and have believed that I come from God. I came from the Father and entered the world. Now I am leaving the world and going back to the Father. Then Jesus' disciples said, now you are speaking clearly and without figures of speech. Now we can see that you know all things and that you do not even need to have anyone ask you questions. This makes us believe that you come from God. You believe at last, Jesus answered, but a time is coming and has come when you will be scattered, each to his own home. You will leave me all alone Yet I am not alone, for my Father is with me. I have told you these things so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble, but take heart, I have overcome the world. Amen. Well, for a little while we're going to consider the two passages that we read together earlier on. And the context for doing it this morning is really kind of a rounding off of our series, Fruitfulness on the Front Line. We've been using Mark Green's very, very helpful book. to point us to ways in which as Christians we do what Jesus wants us to do, that is we bear much fruit to the Father's glory and so demonstrate that we are His disciples. And if you're wondering where that comes from, it comes primarily from John chapter 15 verse 8, but a whole lot of other verses around. John 15.8. In fact, that's why Jesus has appointed us. That is, he has put us where he's put us. A little bit later on in that chapter, John 15.16, you did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. So we've been thinking about how we go and bear fruit on our front lines. And a front line is any point where you are where the kingdom, that is, the rule of God meets the prevailing way things are done wherever we are. And that's what we mean by a front line. It's where God's way of doing things meets the world's way of doing things. And we're right there on the front line. were there to bear fruit on that front line so that more of God's way of doing things is seen in the world and both challenges and transforms its way of doing things. And that's not just sort of a general societal thing, it's like to do with individuals, people that we know. So we're thinking about folk that we know who are, for whom we are the sort of the interface, we're the connecting point. between the way God does things and the way that we're actually left to ourselves, we do things. So how do we bear fruit? And as we've been going through the series, there are six ways in which we bear fruit. And let me just sort of be totally honest here again and say I can only remember all six in the right order because I've got it written down on the pulpit here. And others who have stood here and seemed incredibly fluent have been deeply thankful for this little card which has them listed. It's like the Lord's Prayer. If you're leading worship, you can guarantee that your mind will go on absolute blank. You'll have brain fade whilst you're going through the Lord's Prayer. So here they are, we're modeling godly character, we're making good work, we're ministering grace and love, we're molding culture, we're being a mouthpiece for truth and justice, and a messenger of the gospel. Now let me just pause for a second and ask, Maybe you know that you wouldn't call yourself a Christian. Maybe you wouldn't call yourself a Christian yet, but you're thinking about it and you're looking at it. Or maybe you know that you wouldn't, and somebody's dragged you along to church today because they love you or something, and you're thinking, I don't know if I ever want to be a Christian actually, maybe not. But you're looking at what's going on. Now let me ask you, have you ever met anybody or is the person who invited you here today the kind of person who has modeled godly character, made good work, ministered grace and truth, molded the culture around you the way things are done where you are, been in some way a mouthpiece for truth and justice, and or a messenger of the gospel? You see, when people do that, we notice that they are different and we wonder what it is that makes the difference. And what we're about this morning, the God that we're worshiping, the God who's given us this word that we read together, the God who is amongst us, the God that we want to get to know even more and serve, it's that God who makes the difference. It's not a new philosophy. It's certainly not simply church going. It's actually the living presence of this God in this world and in our lives that makes a difference that hopefully you have seen. Now it's that living presence of God in our lives that these two passages are about. But they're both within a particular context. Even though they're separated by centuries, the incident with Elisha and his servant when the army of the King of Aram had surrounded Dothan because they wanted to do Elisha in. That censure is removed from Jesus speaking to the disciples in that whole thing that comes between in John 14, 15, 16 and then on into 17 with a high priestly prayer and it sort of started at the end of 13 with the Passover meal. The thing that's similar in both those, and the thing that God addresses in both those contexts, and the thing that most often stops most Christians modeling godly character, making good work, ministering grace and truth, et cetera, and certainly being a messenger of the gospel, the thing that stops us most from doing that, the barrier that we have to push through for most of doing those things, because we're going to be different, The thing that comes like a wall that stops us, or like a clamp upon our mouths, or it sort of becomes a straitjacket so that we don't actually mould the culture we're moulded by, the thing that is the problem is what? What is it that most stops you from being a messenger of the gospel where God has put you? What is it that most stops you trying to be a mouthpiece for truth and justice where God has put you? What is it that most stops us? It's fear. It's not ignorance of what the gospel is about. It's not ignorance of what being a modeling godly character would look like. It's fear. And God knows that, and instead of saying, you bunch of weaklings, he addresses it. And time and time again in the Bible, what people come up against is not primarily something out with them stopping them, but something within stopping them. And it's that fear. just a show of hands over one or two things here, so this is time we wake up now, okay? Have you ever felt that you wanted to do something different, say in your workplace or amongst friends, or say something about Jesus, and what has stopped you has been fear? Has anybody ever felt that? Okay, now, put your hand up if these are some of the things you fear. You fear that you will get it wrong when you're trying to talk about the gospel. Anybody ever felt, I can't say that so I'll say it wrong. Okay, good. Anybody ever felt, they'll think I'm an idiot or something along those lines, yeah? Good, okay. You're right. Maybe. Have you ever felt afraid of losing a friend? Because if you suddenly start talking about this, they'll go off you. In terms of molding the culture or modeling godly character, have you ever felt afraid, because by nature you're a chameleon, of being different and being noticeably different? Ever felt afraid of that, standing out from the crowd? You see, we have lots of fears. So here is Elisha with his servant. The king of Aram is out to get them. Why? Because Elisha knows everything that the king of Aram is thinking. Elisha, the prophet, just has this complete inside track. There's sort of the back story to the little incident that morning. Let me just read it for you from verse 8 onwards in 2 Kings chapter 6. Now the king of Aram was at war with Israel. After conferring with his officers, he said, I will set up my camp in such and such a place. The man of God, Elisha, sent word to the king of Israel, beware of passing that place because the Arameans are going down there. So the king of Israel checked on the place indicated by the man of God and time and again Elisha warned the king so that he was on his guard in such places. This enraged the king of Aram, not surprisingly. He summoned his officers and demanded of them, tell me which of us is on the side of the king of Israel? So he suspects a traitor in the midst. or else it was the Daily Mail hacking their phones or something like that. And they're going to say, none of us, my lord the king, they're going to say that, they'll get their heads chopped off. None of us, said one of his officers, but Elisha the prophet, who is in Israel, tells the king of Israel the very words you speak in your bedroom. Where is me slippers? Or something. See, there's no way you can go where God isn't listening to you and God tells Elisha and Elisha tells the king. Go and find out where he is, the king ordered, so I can send men and capture him. The report came back, he's in Dothan. Then he sent horses and chariots and a strong force there. They went by night and surrounded the city. The young man sees this in the morning, Elisha's servant, and he is afraid. And so what is the thing that God says to the young man through Elisha? He says, don't be afraid. Don't be afraid. And then he gives him a reason. Those who are with us are more than those who are with them. Of course, the young lad can't see. So Elisha prays, open his eyes, Lord, so that he may see. Then the Lord opened the servant's eyes and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha. Open the lad's eyes, Lord. Those who are with us are more than those who are with them. Don't be afraid. Now then we go to John chapter 16, and the passage John read out, in fact this whole section of John, it gives the context for going on to your front line. The front line came to Elisha and his servant. The front line came to Dothan. This passage, John 14 through to 17, gives us the whole context for us going onto our front lines, wherever they are. And your front line is always people. The geography is almost incidental. The room, the setting is almost incidental. It's a person, it's people that God wants his kingdom to come to. So those people, then, those people are not the enemy. No. But there's the fear. And what Jesus is talking about when he talks about the time between him going back to the Father and then him returning, that time between the ascension and the second advent, his second coming, that's the context for you and I going out on our front lines. And Jesus knows that that's what his disciples will be doing, that's what he's going to commission them to do, and they will be afraid. They will be afraid. And so in John 14 he says, don't be afraid. And he comes through the same point at the end of John 16 as we read. Don't be afraid. Take heart. So as we go out on our front lines, in this time between Jesus having returned to the Father and Jesus returning to rule, we are addressed. He's speaking about us. He was sending them out onto far more hostile front lines than most of us will ever face. And he says, don't be afraid. So why not? There was a reason why the servant ought not to be afraid in Elisha's day, because God was with them. And lo and behold, it's essentially the same reason why we should not be afraid. So in this period, in this context for us going out on our front line, why should we not be afraid? Here are the following reasons from the passage that we read and some of the surrounding verses. First of all, God is also with us. God is with us. Now, in the whole section here, John 14 through to 17, God is with us in a particular way. God is with us not so much just alongside us, but he's with us because he is within us. So Jesus says in John 14, I'm going back to the Father, And then he says, but I'm gonna be with you. And so they're wondering, how can you be with the Father and also with us? Well, it's because when he goes to the Father, the Father will send in his name the Spirit to us. The Spirit who comes to reside not simply among us, but within us. So it is the presence of God through the Holy Spirit, the presence of Christ through the Holy Spirit within us, that is the first reason why we should not be afraid. We are not alone. Now here's one of the things about what happens with a congregation. We gather for a short amount of time a week, then, if you've been around, you're familiar with this thinking now, then for the vast majority of the week we are scattered. And by and large, when we go out onto our front lines, we're going out without other members of the congregation. So, when you've been thinking about your front lines, or when over these past weeks you've suddenly realized, yes, that helps me make sense of where I am and what I'm doing there, just again, just a little show of hands, how many of you are on your front lines without other people from GILC there with you at the time? If that's basically where you are. We tend to think of this frontline thing and going out and being scattered as us going out as individuals. But as God said to Elisha, to say to his servant, as Jesus said to the disciples, you are not alone. If you suddenly realize that you're in a situation where modeling godly character is required, or being a mouthpiece for truth and justice is required, or being a messenger of the gospel, or ministering grace and truth, and that's what's needed. And at that moment, the room you are in, the person you are with has become that kind of front line where the way God does things in his rule meets the way the world does things in its rule. at that moment there may not be anybody else apart from you and that other person. You may be in a crowded place, but you're there on that front line on your own, except you're not. God is in you. And we've said this before, but we cannot say it enough. until it is so much a part of us that we assume it as naturally as previously we have assumed that we are on our own. It doesn't come naturally to think like that because we think that what we see is what we get. And what we see is what we get because what we see is what there is. So just as Elisha had to pray, Lord, open the lad's eyes, and God had to open his eyes, and then he saw that they were not alone. So it is with us. It is a work of God to open our eyes to the presence of God with us. And I could preach it till I was blue in the face. Just as Elisha could have explained it till he was blue in the face. But unless God does it, we won't see it. So this truth that we are not on our own, it forces us to pray, doesn't it, as a fellowship? It forces us to pray for one another, as well as for ourselves. In fact, it forces us to be part of, through our praying, every one of us being out on our front lines. And the prayer is the same one of Elisha's, essentially, isn't it? It's Lord, open such and such's eyes to the fact that they're not alone. So as we've begun, and it's been happening within the Fellowship, I don't need to start it off, as we've begun talking about what it's like on our own front lines. And many, many people have. And it's been a great blessing to be able to do that for people. And for many within the Fellowship, it's been a kind of a transformation thing. It's been a real eye-opening thing. Well, let us just pray for one another. Lord, for such and such, whom you are sending out onto their front line, help them to know that they are not alone. Open their eyes." So when you suddenly find yourself having that conversation by the water cooler or the coffee machine or whatever it happens to be at work, Or when you've been having that conversation during this past week because the webcast has come out across the company that it's going to reduce its workforce by such and such over the next five years and your boss has given you advance warning. And even though nobody specified in the webcast, your boss has given you advance warning that you should probably start thinking about a new career or a new workplace. And you've got a rock for your life, which is Jesus Christ. But the people you've been working with for the past six months, two years on the project don't. They've got mortgage payments, repayments to make. Maybe their kids are in school as well, private education. And they've got the cars in the driveway. And the more they've had, the more over-committed they've become. And they've been working for the company for 21 years, and they're not sure they could possibly do anything else, and who would want them to? and find the younger guys have got laid off and can get work quickly because they're footloose and fancy free, but you're not. In that moment, when the whole God thing opens up, in that moment, you are not alone. So first thing, that answers the fear, as it answered the fear of Elisha's servant, and even prevented Elisha from being afraid in the first place because he saw it, you're not alone. The Spirit of God is not just with you alongside you, but within you, and has already been at work setting the whole situation up, creating the moment. Just ask for help. Just ask for help. Time and again, in John 14 through to the end of 16, before Jesus starts his prayer in 17, in the bit that he's actually speaking to the disciples after Passover, he keeps saying, ask whatever. Ask the Father in my name and he will give it to you. Now, that's not just a general sort of thing, principle that flows out. Jesus says, saying, you know, hey, you can have anything you like, just ask him my name. It is within the context of bearing fruit on the front line between his ascension and his second advent. So for instance, in John chapter 15 and verse 16, let's just remind ourselves, you did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. Anything you ask in the name of Jesus, of the Father, for your fruit bearing on that front line, at that moment, anything you ask, the Father will do. Do you believe that? Anything you ask, Lord give me the word to say. Or, you know, like the most common prayer in the world, help. He will give you. Lord, could you just keep other people out of the room for a moment or two? Lord, could you just help me to find that copy of Try Praying? And I haven't, Scooby, where'd I put it? I know I did bring one with me. Lord, there was something that I read in the Bible the other morning. Bring it back to my mind. Anything you ask, Lord, show me the next step after this conversation. Lord, help me not to get it wrong. Help me not to lose a friend. Help me not to be an idiot. Anything you ask, and that comes repeatedly, in this discourse. In the bit that Jeanne read out for us, which is in a sense kind of a sample passage from 16, 12 to 33, in verse 23 we get it, and in verse 26 we get it again. You see, it is that context of being afraid on your front line, where God has asked you to be fruitful, that is the context in which Jesus says, you can ask anything. And he says it again and again and again. Believe it. Jesus said it. For precisely the context in which we were all putting our hands up earlier on, where we are afraid. but where we want to bear fruit. You're not alone. God is within you. Just ask. Third thing, you're on the winning side. You're on the winning side. When Jesus says at the end in that Again, it's what I call one of those fridge magnet verses. We should just have it in our heads and before us and just put it up somewhere and we're going to keep seeing it. John 16, 33, I have told you these things so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble, but take heart. Then five words that completely change what we think is the reality of the situation around us. Five words which completely transform what we think is going on. Five words which put heart into us. Five words for the troops between D-Day and VE-Day. I have overcome the world. Not I will if you try very hard, not I might if you're a very good Christian, not it could work out well, but I have overcome the world. The world is everything that opposes. The world is, as we've said before, particularly in John's Gospel, not the world in its bigness, but the world in its badness. The world is a system of self-sufficiency and rebellion against God's rule. The world that was in the King of Aram when you went against the King of Israel and realized he had to take out Elisha in order to do that, but couldn't. I have overcome the world, said Jesus. Simple. Oh no, it's not as simple as that, Dominic. Yes, it is as simple as that. Jesus says it's as simple as that. We only get complicated over it when we don't believe it. Or when it requires that we then go and do something that we'd rather not do. Then, we can think of a million complications. And we can qualify the straightforward word of God to death. But that's unbelief speaking. It's not even sound exposition. I have overcome the world. So don't be afraid. God is with you. Just ask. You're on the winning side. Tomorrow, when you're on your front line, maybe this afternoon, when you're on your front line, Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we ask that you would help us by the Holy Spirit to receive your word in all its simplicity and all its power because it is true. We pray, Heavenly Father, that you would root out any unbelief in our own hearts and that by your Spirit you would replace it with simple childlike faith in you. Father, we want to lift one another before you as we are sent out by you from being here today. We pray for each other, Lord, and we ask for one another that you would open our eyes to the fact that you really are with us. And we pray you would help us to have that asking reflex that turns to you for help. And we pray that you would help us to rest in the fact, to have peace in a troubling world because Jesus has overcome the world. we lift each other before you, in Jesus' name. Amen. Now these chapters 14 through 16,