Amen. Well, it is my privilege to be here. You can turn your Bibles to 2 Kings chapter number four, where we'll be tonight. It's always like coming home. It's a privilege to be here and see so many faces, people that I call friend, and just counted a blessing to come back and get around you again and catch up even though it's brief. The privilege to preach tonight is also One, not taken lightly. And I understand we all just had a bunch of food, including me. I know better, and I still ate too much. And so that may shorten the message. That might help a little bit. I typically try not to be long-winded. I figure if people don't like the message, at least they'll like that it was short. Amen? And the worst thing is to preach a long message everybody didn't like. I mean, yeah, that's bad. So at least if I'm short, it won't be too bad. I do have something on my heart tonight that I hope to speak with you about. On the way back from the airport today, Brother Goss asked me, he says, are you going to be preaching on the Christmas story? He said, or do you not want to say? I said, well, I would love to preach on the Christmas story. He said, actually, that's what I wanted to preach. I wanted to preach tonight on how to be glad when the glitter is gone. That's what I wanted to preach on tonight. I mean, that was a right, proper Christmas message. One full of all the family and fun that this season brings. But it was actually about a month ago that God gave me the message for tonight that I knew that He wanted me to speak on. There wasn't a question in my mind that this is the direction that He wants me to go. because it was a thought that God used in my heart many years ago to give me strength in my own winter. Strength in a time of my life when things were hard, and God came and ministered to my soul. And I know tonight that there are many in this room that are going through a hard time. I know that there are people in here that are carrying burdens that are almost more than you can bear. I know that in many ways, the joy that's supposed to come with this season, you just don't feel it. You walk down the hallway and people smile at you and you don't really feel like smiling back. You're hoping that you can just get through the season and be able to put on a good enough front that you won't ruin anybody else's Christmas. You're carrying a burden and it's hard you want to make it through. The fact of the matter is, oftentimes, that this season that's supposed to bring us a great amount of joy actually brings a lot of heartache. And I want to tell you tonight, it doesn't have to be that way. It doesn't have to be that way that you actually can be okay. You see, It was one month ago today that God gave me this message for tonight. It was November 10th. It was Thursday of EY. And as a church, you were preparing for Mrs. Brzezinski's funeral. We were getting ready to the next day hold her home going service. And God put this message in my heart that night. Because I want you to know that even in the face of great loss, even in the face of great heartache, even in the face of carrying a great burden or facing a great challenge, that it can be well with your soul. that it can be well, there is a way for you to still be well. And let's not be coy tonight. This church is facing challenges in the last year. You face some hardship. And maybe I'm touching on the hymn of a garment of something that's maybe a little bit too close to home. but I feel like I'm home. And I want to, with the liberty that God will give me, and the grace that God will give you, I wanna encourage your soul tonight. I wanna strengthen you. I wanna remind you of the truth, even in the face of the hardest of times, that it can dwell with your soul. Would you look in the Word of God with me this evening? You're there in 2 Kings, chapter number 4. I do have a lengthy text to read, so please follow along and stay with me, but I want you to hear the story right from the Word of God. 2 Kings, chapter number 4, verse number 8, we'll read down through verse number 26. And it fell on a day that Elias passed the Shunem. where was a great woman, and she constrained him to eat bread. And so it was that as often as he passed by, he turned in thither to eat bread. And she said unto her husband, Behold, I perceive that this is an holy man of God, which passes by us continually. Let us make a little chamber, I pray thee, on the wall, and let us set for him there a bed, and a table, and a stool, and a candlestick. And it shall be, when he cometh to us, that he shall turn in thither. And it fell on a day that he came thither, and he turned into the chamber, and he lay there. And he said unto Gehazi his servant, Call the Shunammite. And when he had called her, she stood before him. And he said unto him, Say now unto her, Behold, thou hast been careful for us with all this care. What is to be done for thee? Wouldst thou be spoken of to the king or to the captain of the host? And she answered, I dwell among mine own people. And he said, What then is to be done for her? And Gehazi answered, Verily, she hath no child, and her husband is old. And he said, Call her. And when he had called her, she stood in the door. And he said, About this season, according to the time of life, thou shalt embrace a son. And she said, Nay, my lord, thou man of God, do not lie unto thy handmaid. And the woman conceived and bare a son at the season that Elisha had said unto her, according to the time of life. And when the child was grown, it fell on a day that he went out unto his father to the reapers. And he said to his father, My head, my head. And he said to the lad, Carry him to his mother. And when he had taken him and brought him to his mother, he sat on her knees till noon and then died. And she went up and laid him on the bed of the man of God and shut the door upon him and went out. And she called unto her husband and said, Send me, I pray thee, one of the young men. and one of the asses that I may run to the man of God and come again. And he said, wherefore wilt thou go to him today? It is neither new moon nor Sabbath. And she said, it shall be well. Then she saddled an ass and said to her servant, drive and go forward, slack not thy riding for me except I bid thee. So she came, went and came unto the man of God to Mount Carmel. And it came to pass, when the man of God saw her afar off, that he said to Gehazi his servant, Behold, yonder is the Shunammite. Run now, I pray thee, to meet her, and say unto her, Is it well with thee? Is it well with thy husband? Is it well with the child? And she answered, It is well. It is well. And I tell you, beloved, that we look at this story and we see this circumstances here and just in case, I believe that the majority of the people here are familiar with this story. And I believe that you were following along and your mind was engaged, but some people, as I read, you might have slipped into neutral. So just briefly, let me reiterate. There's a lady who had a desire for a child. She wanted a baby and they couldn't have one, but God saw fit to miraculously give her a child. What a victory that was for her because she was doing right in honor and pleasing God. God gave her a child and he was excited about that. The story here doesn't go into detail. It doesn't talk to us about the days when she was training that child and working with the child at home and teaching the child the things around the house. It doesn't describe for us the times where her and her husband and this child were out in the backyard playing games and just loving on one another. It doesn't explain for us the days where dad had this boy out in the fields, even a little toddler, and working and teaching him how to sow and how to reap in the fields. We don't see all that, but what we do is the straight jumps right to a place where this boy one day going out to his father where there was reaping time and he says, dad, man, my head hurts. And dad, like a normal man says, go see your mother. Amen. And mom, like a normal mom, what does she do? She grabs him up in her arms and she holds him and not sure what to do for his headache. Probably some type of a brain aneurysm was taking place in his brain and she's holding him and not know what to do. But she wanted him to know at least he was loved. But she holds him until her son dies in her arms. And then she takes that child, lays him on a bed and she gets on a donkey and goes, to see the man of God. The man of God sends out his servant Gehazi and says, hey, go ask her, is it well with thee? Is it well with thy husband? Is it well with the child? And beloved, our heart goes out to her and we say, if there was ever anybody that had cause or reason or motivation to say, it is not well, it's her. She certainly had the cause to say that, it's not well. No, it's not well. As a matter of fact, the modern Christian would say she had cause to be angry at God. Look at what happened. This is not fair. This is not right. This shouldn't be something that I bear. After all, this was God's gift to me. Why would He take them away? And yet, beloved, she didn't do that. She responded with, it is well. How could she do that? How in the face of such turmoil and such grief and such loss, how could she say it's well? There's a few things in the text I want to give you tonight. First of all, I want you to see it's because she's a believer. She was a believer. In verse number nine, I mean, I don't think anybody, we read the entirety of the text, I don't think anybody would question the fact that she believed in God. But she says here in verse number nine, she said, under her husband, behold, now I perceive that this is a holy man of God, which pathes by us continually. She knew God and wanted to please and honor God. She was a believer in God. If we were to put this into New Testament terminology, you would say she was a Christian. She was a Christian. She believed in God. Her faith was in God. And I want you to understand that God is the God of peace. We sing about it this time of year. We sing about that Prince of Peace that came wrapped in swaddling clothes. We sing about him being laid in a manger. And I want you to know that everywhere that the message of the gospel of Jesus Christ has gone, peace has followed. You look down through history and you'll see where the gospel has been, peace has been. because He is the Prince of Peace. But without Him, there is no peace. You don't have peace in your heart or peace in your life because you don't have the Prince of Peace. She could say it's well because she believed and had a relationship with God. As a Christian, I heard tell a beloved of a family that had lost their only son. Very similar to this Shunammite woman. It was their only child. They wanted to have the viewing in the home because they wanted their son to be in their home one last time. They had put the casket into the living room, buried the body of their son. And the dad, the father who was a big, strong shopping man, big guy, real strong, he walked out of the living room, left his wife in the room with the casket with their son all by herself because he went to the other part of the house to find their family doctor. He went to find the doctor and said, doctor, listen, my wife, she's a tiny little thing. She's so frail. She's so small. I'm afraid that the grief of this will be more than she could bear. I'm afraid if she doesn't get some help, like is there something maybe you could give her? Medically, is there some medicine? Is there something you can give her to help her through this time? And the doc said, well, let's go talk to her and I'll see. They walked back towards the living room and as they were approaching the living room, they heard his wife speaking and they thought she was speaking to her son. So they entered slowly, respectfully, And yet they found her there kneeling by the casket and overheard her prayer to God. And it was something like this, Lord, I thank you so much for the peace that I have in my heart right now. God, I thank you that I know you as my Lord and Savior and that I know that I will see my son again someday. I thank you for the strength that you've given me in the face of this. But Lord, my husband is an unbeliever. My husband is lost and he's on his way to hell. And Lord, this I pray, you will use the death of our son to draw him to you. That he might have your strength. That he might know your peace. And that he might trust your son. Lord, I pray for that. And this big, strong, strapping man that was looking at his strength in himself found he was actually the one that was weak. And his little, tiny, frail wife, who had strength from God, was able to endure. Beloved, you need the peace of God to give you strength. If you're here tonight and you don't have the peace of God in your heart, could I implore you, beg of you, to trust Him? Jesus came for you. Would you come to Him tonight? There's people all over this auditorium that would jump at the opportunity to share with you the love of the gospel of Jesus Christ. That you would trust Him before it's too late so you can have that peace. And Christian, can I remind you of the story of Horatio Spafford? He was a successful businessman right here in Chicago. He fell victim to the financial crisis of 1876. And to try and help his family to get through that time period, they had pretty much lost everything. He sent his wife and girls on a ship across the ocean to go to France. They left on November 15th, 1876. Everything was going well, just kind of the excitement of being out on the ocean and being away from all that turmoil in the city and all the heartache of the financial crisis that everybody was dealing with. There was kind of an air of excitement on the ship. They were sailing and everybody was fine. But then, on November 20th, another ship that was bound for New York struck their ship. And it sank fast. The ship bound for New York was, by and large, undamaged. They quickly tried to save as many of the passengers as they could, but out of the 276 passengers on that ship, only 87 were saved. Among those 87 was Mrs. Spafford. She rode the rest of the way to France, and as soon as she arrived on land, she telegraphed back, saved alone. children gone, what shall I do?" Mr. Spafford got on a ship to go and be with his wife immediately, and in the face of that great loss, he penned the words of that great hymn, It Is Well With My Soul. You see, I don't know that maybe this passage of scripture was going through his mind. That possibly he was contemplating and thinking about this Shemite woman who had lost her only son and he was gone and she could say, it is well. And then God ministered to her heart, to his heart that day and put a song in his heart. And he penned the words to that song. When peace like a river attendeth my way, When sorrow like sea billows roll, Whatever my lot thou hast taught me to say, It is well, it is well with my soul. The third stanza of that song is, My sin, O the bliss of that glorious thought, My sin, not in part, but the whole, is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more. Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord! I said it's nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more. It's all gone. I tell you tonight, if you want it to be well with your soul, it starts with knowing Jesus Christ, that Prince of Peace, the One that will walk through it all with you. You've got to have Him. And if you don't tonight, would you trust Him before it's eternally too late? Is it well with your soul? I want you to see, secondly, that it could be well. She could say it's well because she was careful. We see in verse number 13, And He said unto him, Say now unto her, Behold, thou hast been careful for us with all this care. Now, I don't mean that she was full of worry. We know the Bible tells us to be careful for nothing, but in everything, by prayer and supplication, bringing requests made known to God, amen? We're not to be full of anxiety and concern, but you see, she was careful. She was concerned about others. She was concerned about doing right. She wanted to do right. You know, sometimes when tragedy strikes, all concern for doing right goes out the window. Are you with me tonight? Are you still awake? Even Christians. I don't know what it is, but sometimes when tragedy or heartache or heartbreak comes, we get the idea that somehow we've got a license to sin now. And we've got approval, we've got permission. After all, we deserve it because this happened and it wasn't fair. This happened and I didn't like it or this was not something I was planning on. And so I get to do what I want. It's all right with me if I kick the dog and go smash the car and go do something else. But that helped a lot, didn't it? But why do we do that? Try and vent. You know, this time of season, of year, could I encourage you to be careful? Don't put your Christian life in neutral. Just because it's Christmas break and you got some time away from the normal routine and schedule, don't think, oh, it's alright. It's alright if I don't have my walk with God. It's okay if I watch these things that I wouldn't normally be watching. It's okay if I know. You see, she was careful. If you want to be right with your soul, you're going to be careful to do right. Careful to do right. It's going to be something you're concerned about every day, every hour. It's going to be part of your life. You're going to be careful to do right. Ecclesiastes 8.12 says, Though a sinner do evil a hundred times, and his days be prolonged, yet surely I know that it shall be well with them that fear God. It shall be well with them that fear God. You know, those that fear God, do right. Do right till the stars fall. Just do right. Keep doing right. Even though it's hard, if you want it to be well, you do right. You be careful to keep doing right. Titus 3.8 says, be careful to maintain good works. to maintain good works. You know, the Bible says, to him that knoweth to do good and doeth it not, to him it is sin. You know, doing good is a little bit beyond just doing right. I mean, you could obey the letter of the law and not really pass over into the doing good part. But to him that knoweth to do good and doeth it not, to him it is sin. I just want to encourage you that if you want it to be well with you, that you Do good. I want you to see thirdly this evening. And lastly, no amends. All right, at least you're awake. She was content. We see in verse number 13, And he said unto him, Say now unto her, Behold, thou hast been careful for us with all this care. What is to be done for thee? What dost thou be spoken of for to the king and to the captain, for the host? And she answered, I dwell among mine own people. She was content. She was content no matter what. She had a heart of contentment that dwelled in her. And if you want it to be well with you, you've got to have a content heart. You see she said the man of God came to her and said what what do you need? And she said I don't know. No, I don't need anything. God has been good to me. I dwell with my own people I'm I'm happy with what God has given me. Are you happy tonight with what God's given you? She said I don't if God doesn't give me a son. That's okay I'm happy with what God's given me and then God gave her a son and she says wow praise God. I have a son I'm happy with what God has given me and then God took her son and she said wow praise God I'm happy with what God has given me It was okay. Because it's God's will that matters. He's in control. Could we, like Jesus Christ, say, not my will, but thine be done? Whatever you want, God. You want to bless me? Okay. You want to burn me? Okay. You want to trust me? Okay. You want to test me? Okay. I'm alright with it, God, because I know you're in control. Are you content with whatever God brings into your life? Contentment, it's important. I know you're saying, Pastor Caleb, it's Christmas. You can't talk about contentment at Christmas time. We all have gifts on our list, and we wouldn't make a list, but somebody asked us to, so I had to put what I wanted on there. We were talking to Song Sioux today down by the front desk, She was telling Mary and I about a date her and Todd went on to Steak and Shake. You know, that classy joint. They're sitting down there at Steak and Shake and talking and enjoying their time together, but someone's looking over her shoulder. She sees this other elderly couple, I mean young, in the prime of their life couple there. And she sees that, and this older gentleman, like he snugged right up against his wife, his arms around her, He's playing with her hair. He's whispering in her ear. She looks at Todd and says, Todd, you see that couple over there? You see how he's, look how close he is to her. Look at how he's touching her hair. Look at how he's talking to her and just, she says, Todd, why don't you do that? He looked up from his cheese-covered string fries He said, honey, I don't even know that woman. Now that didn't really happen. And I have no idea what that has to do with contentment, but some of you are falling asleep. No, I know what it has to do with contentment. You know, a lot of times, We're not content with what we have. We look out and we see somebody else's whatever you want to put there. And we say, hey, I don't have it that way. I don't have it like that. But I wish what I had was like that. If you want it to be well, you've got to have contentment. And contentment comes from being satisfied with what God brings into your life. Can I tell you tonight that true contentment has very little to nothing to do with what you have or don't have? Contentment has very little to nothing to do with your circumstances or situation. It really is about your heart. Billions of dollars are spent every year, especially at Christmas, to grab your eyes. to pull your attention in, so that they might stir in you this heart of discontentment, so you would spend your hard-earned money on their wares. Here's one of the fathers, early church fathers, and his writings. He was asked as an old man what his secret to contentment was. And he said, what I've learned is the secret to contentment is a right use of my eyes. He said, if I ever find myself being discontent, the first thing I do is I look up to heaven and I remember that my primary responsibility down here is to get there. Then I look around at this world and I think about the world and think about how small of a place, how small of an insignificant thing I am in the grand scheme of it. And he said, then I look at the people and I see so many that are much unhappier than I. And he says, I've learned the secret to contentment is a right use of my eyes. Are you using your eyes right? You see, beloved, it's not about what you're going through. It's about who's with you. The three Hebrew children still had to go into the grave, still had to go into the fiery furnace. The three Hebrew children went into the fiery furnace, but they went in and Jesus was with them. Daniel still had to go into, gotta stop and pause so I say the right thing. Daniel still had to go into the lion's den. But God was with him. Can I tell you tonight, beloved, it's not about what you have or don't have. It's not about the circumstances that you're enduring or not enduring. What it is is who is with you in those circumstances. Who is going with you? God might take you through a fire, but He's with you. God might take you into a lion's den, but He's gonna be with you. Can I tell you by testimony tonight? That God is with you in the fire. On July 27th, 2004, at 10.32 p.m. Timothy Samuel Bottrell was born, the third of our children. It was a normal, extremely long labor, normal for my wife, 12, 15, 16 hours. It's a long day, but everything seemed like it went well. We closed up the night, and the baby, Timothy, was wrapped, and I was holding him and walking around the room, and we were in the room. I was with Mary, and she was just relaxing and in recovery, you know, and we're there for a couple of hours. And then Mary says to me, you know what? I've been through this before. Something doesn't feel right. She said, I feel kind of tingly all over my body. I said, well, let me call the nurse. And so I called in the nurse and the nurse came in and checked her vitals and said, well, everything looks to be fine. Looks like she's okay. We'll watch her close. And I said, all right. So we're there and obviously trying to get some rest and doing a little bit of walking and doing a little bit of talking and trying to get some rest. And at 310 AM, Mary says to me, Something ain't right. I'm telling you, there's something wrong inside. There's something wrong with me. And I called the nurse, and this time with a little bit more urgency, I said, there's a problem. There's something wrong here, and I need you to check her out. So they came in, they had to check her over, and they said, they seem like everything is OK. They said, why don't we get you up, and maybe it'll help to walk around a little bit. Maybe we can get you to get in here to the restroom, and that'll help you feel better. Mary's like, okay, okay. So they got her up, the two of them together, they go through and I'm walking around the room with Timothy in my arms. They get around the corner to enter to the bathroom. They go right past the door to the bathroom and I hear one of the nurses say, oh, there she goes! And I turn around and I come back and I look into the bathroom and there is my wife on the floor in the bathroom. covered in her own blood. There's so much blood on the bathroom floor that I can still vividly in my mind see it running down the drain in the floor. I looked at her and all of the color was gone out of her face. She looked like she was filled with embalming fluid. I mean, she just was ghostly. The nurse jumped up and sounded the alarm and immediately our room was filled with doctors and nurses and people coming in. The doctor came around the corner and as soon as he saw her, he says, get a gurney, we need her in the OR right now. I need light and I need tools. In my mind, I can still hear the echo of him saying, I need light and I need tools. He turned to me and he said, you just stay here and hold your son. And they all left the room. I'm standing there holding Timothy in silence. The only sound is the beeping of distant heart monitors and the wish of the respirators keeping people alive. And I'm standing in that room holding my brand new born child. And I'm thinking in my mind about my 18-month-old Andrew. And I'm thinking about my three-year-old Alicia. And I'm walking around that room with this child in my arms, and I'm saying, God, I can't do this by myself. God, I can't. How in the world can I raise these kids without her? Lord, I can't. I need her. Lord, what am I going to do if she doesn't come back? Can I tell you? Before God tonight, I can say to you that God met with me in that room and He ministered to my soul that night. And He put a song in my heart when peace, like a bill, rolls. I'll tell you, God ministered to me. And I thought, God said to me, it's okay, I've got her. I've got her. And whether she wakes up in that OR room and comes back to you, where she wakes up in glory, I've got her. And I've got you. You're gonna be okay. Beloved, I looked heavenward that night. I said, God, she's yours. Whatever, whatever your will is tonight, She's your child, and she was a gift to me for the time that I had her. She's yours, and I trust you. And I know that it's gonna be well, no matter what your will is. I'm with you, Lord. God saw fit to bring her back to me that night. But beloved, true contentment is not based on what you have or don't have. or what you like or don't like. It's being satisfied with what God wants for you. Is it well with you? I know you've been through struggles. I know you've carried heartache. I know you've faced challenges this year, many of you in so many ways that I can't even comprehend. But is it well with your soul tonight? I'm gonna ask the pianist to come. If she wouldn't mind playing that song, it is well. Some of you have a sick soul tonight. It's been a long time since you felt the presence of God. It's been a long time since you've been able to say, it's well. Whatever happens, it's well. It's well with me. because I know God. Well, tonight you can make it well. I'm gonna ask the pianist to come and play. I'm gonna ask your pastor to come and take the invitation and see C.C.' 's fit.