I don't know what it's worth. You and your skivvies are jumping in the ice cold water. What a wreck, man. I mean, they're both just, you know, harming to the psyche. Get this thing turned on. When Brother Knowles comes up, it's going to be the weekend of y'all's daughter's banquet. And that's going to be Saturday afternoon, right? two-ish or something, whatever. But I originally was thinking of maybe trying to get a men's breakfast that morning, but I know it would be pushing it if we tried to do it here. So I'm kicking around a couple of things. Some of you men need to, I'm not making excuses, but I can't do everything. I can't think. If I had an original thought, it died of loneliness a long time ago, amen? Some of you men help me out. I don't know if we'd be smarter to meet at like Augie's. or a place we can get our own breakfast, you know what I mean, and do it that way. Just spend an hour and a half or something together. Just bring, you know, bring the men and people trying to be men, but as long as they're male, amen. That's what's all right with me. Yeah, go to the beach, yeah, fish and bread. But I'd like to see it happen, but we're not gonna force it if it doesn't work, you know. But I think it'd be a nice touch. And it could be something we do every year or not. We do something we do once, right? So I think we did a couple of things like that last year. We had a couple grill outs or whatever. So I just think it'd be a good thing if we can. And Brother Knowles, he's not only my good friend, but he is a good preacher and he's good to be around. I mean, there's good men, there's good people to be around. He's one of them, so. Take your bottle of night and go to 2 Kings chapter 6. My brother Cole said he doesn't do naps, but man, I tell you what, how old are you brother, 31? You're 30? I was 30, I'd nap four to six hours on a Sunday. I'm not even joking, I'd work, Schwan, I'd work 16 hours a day, man, Monday through Friday, and get up and pretend like I wanted to go to church, you know. And then from, she'd put, always put something good in the oven, by the time you get home, fill your guts, and just, just, I'd wake up in another world, you know. It's like that one fella said, he said, you ever fall asleep so hard on a Sunday? that you wake up in a cold sweat and you thought you missed the bus, but you're 52. That's the kind of nap we're talking about. That's a nap. You think you're late for school and you ain't been there in 20 years, that's a bad thing. 2 Kings chapter 6, now that you're there, originally I was going to preach this this morning, but the Lord just did something else, and he said I need to preach on Luke 16 this morning. And the Lord knows my insecurities as a preacher, and I don't do that. I know some preachers, you know, they could pull a stinking fortune cookie wrapper out of a cookie and preach from it. Not me. I have to have time, I have to prepare, I have to settle into it, and I have to know where I'm going. But the Lord changed that whole thing for this one. I hope it stirred you up this morning. I'd like to try to get back here into where we've been preaching. Look at verse number 8. Excuse me now. The Bible says in 2 Kings chapter 6 and verse 8, Then the king of Syria warred against Israel, and took counsel with his servants, saying, In such and such a place shall be my camp. And the man of God said unto the king of Israel, that's Elisha of course, saying, Beware that thou pass not such a place, for thither the Syrians are come down. And the king of Israel sent to the place which the man of God told him and warned him of, and saved himself there not once nor twice. Therefore the heart of the king of Syria was sore troubled. Yeah, no kidding. Who's reading your mail? How in the world do you all find that stuff out? for this thing, and he called his servants and said unto them, Will ye not show me which of us is for the king of Israel? And one of his servants said, None, my lord. O king, but Elisha the prophet that is in Israel, telleth the king of Israel the words that thou speakest in thy bedchamber. That's wild. So those kings, he's saying stuff in private and in his bedchamber, and the Lord's going, Okay, I got it. Thank you. And he's telling his preacher, That's far out. Verse 13, And he said, Go and spy where he is, that I may send and fetch him. And it was told him, saying, Behold, he is in Dothan. Therefore sent he thither horses, and chariots, and a great host. And they came by night, and compassed the city about. When the servant of the man of God was risen early, and gone forth, behold, the host compassed the city both with horses and chariots. And his servant said unto him, Alas, my master, how shall we do? And he answered, Fear not, for they that be with us are more than they that be with them. And Elisha prayed and said, Lord, I pray thee, open his eyes that he may see. And the Lord opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw. And behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha. That's the Lord of hosts. That's the Lord of hosts. That king was so wicked that the that wherever Elisha went, that whole army was with Elisha. That's something to think about here. And when they came down to him, and verse 17, Elisha prayed and said, Lord, I pray thee, open his eyes that he may see. And the Lord opened the eyes, and the young man, and he saw, and behold, the mount was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha. And when they came down to him, Elisha prayed unto the Lord and said, Smite this people, I pray thee, with blindness. And he smote them with blindness, according to the word of Elisha. And Elisha said unto them, This is not the way, neither is this the city. Follow me. and I'll bring you to the man whom you seek." But he led them to Samaria. And it came to pass, when they were coming to Samaria, that Elisha said, Lord, open the eyes of these men, that they may see. And the Lord opened their eyes, and they saw, and behold, they were in the midst of Samaria. And the king of Israel said unto Elisha, when he saw them, My father, shall I smite them? shall I smite them? And he answered, Thou shalt not smite them. What dost thou smite those whom thou hast taken captive with thy sword and with thy bow? Set bread and water before them, that they may eat and drink, and go to their master. You see, the idea in battle is you kill on the battlefield. And if you're going to take them captive in warfare, why would you kill them? Do your killing on the battlefield. You see, that's how God wants that thing done. Verse 23, And he prepared great provisions for them. And when they had eaten and drunk, he sent them away, and they went to their masters. So the bands of Syria came no more into the land of Syria. Brother Jared, I'm glad you're back. I'm glad you're feeling better. Would you ask the Lord to help in the preaching tonight? Amen. Thank you. You may be seated. That's exactly what I want to try to do tonight. Christian, I want to encourage you. I want to encourage you to maybe just look a little bit beyond what you and I are used to looking at. In Psalm chapter 31, in verse number 1, David said, In thee, O Lord, do I put my trust. Let me never be ashamed. Then he says this, Deliver me in thy righteousness. And here in 2 Kings chapter 6 we see the gist of the passage is that the Lord is delivering Elisha from the Syrians. All that stuff and all those miracles and all that stuff that went on, and there's a lot of different facets to the passage there, but all that thing is about how the Lord delivers Elisha from Syria. And the Lord always takes care of His own. You need to remember that. And I know you know that, and I'm not going to tell you anything new, but you need to remember the Lord always takes care of His own. He does. The hymn writer said, He never forsaketh His own. You know, the Bible says, He'll never leave thee nor forsake thee. And Isaiah chapter 43, talking about Israel, talking about His sons, said that they're precious. You are precious to the Lord Jesus Christ. I know many of you don't believe it. You don't feel precious many times. Some of you, even tonight, probably run down. Amen? And it's hard to believe that Sunday is the beginning of the week because the world treats it like the end of the week. But this is our beginning to the week and I'm sure I'm thankful that you chose to start it in church. Amen. And I hope this ministers to you tonight. As we look through the passage, I want you to see here that many times when we need deliverance, we need deliverance from certain things. A lot of times, I know you and I, we want to get out of a mess, we want to get out of a jam. Would you agree with me on that? There's things that we just wish would go away. And I don't know about you, but so many times, in so many years, in so many places, the Lord just doesn't flip a switch. He doesn't. And I wish he would, and I still pray like, Lord, flip the switch and this thing's over. But what I see the Lord doing is what I see him doing through this passage, spiritually speaking. I believe the Lord has a design for deliverance, the design for deliverance. And a lot of times we're looking for deliverance from whatever it is, whether it's from a bad work week, or if it's a bad job, or from a rotten customer, amen, or for whoever it is, from a bad coworker, a bad boss, a difficult family situation, and we just want to get out of it. But what the Lord does so many times is He orchestrates a way for you to help others through that situation. And I hope you can get a grasp of that tonight. Some of you need some deliverance from certain things. I'm not talking about something major. Maybe it is major, I don't know. But a lot of times we just want the thing to end and to stop. But what God does so many different times, as you see in the passage, is He'll work through you And in the process of your deliverance, you end up delivering other individuals that need help. And that's how God many times, and I believe that's His design, it's not just to let you and I off the hook, although He loves us. And I believe if it would help us, He would flip the switch. But a lot of times we don't need a deliverance, we need to see His design. And I hope you can see that through the passage. The Lord delivers Elisha in this passage, and He does it in such a way so Elisha can give his enemies what they are desperately in need of. As we preach this morning, we preach about hell so everyone can get all fired up and realize that it's not just all about going to heaven, it's about trying to maybe rescue the perishing and care for the dying and snatch them in pity, right? And so many times, in our need of deliverance, someone else out there needs something that the Lord is going to use through us and in us and for us to help somebody else. So as we expose the passage, I hope maybe just for a moment, maybe about 40 minutes at the max, you can see beyond your own struggles. Let me tell you what everyone in here's got struggles. I'm not ashamed to say it, I struggle with seasonal depression. I'm not on medication yet, but I struggle a little bit with seasonal depression. I know when it's winter, it is depressing. It is. Y'all look at me like I'm retarded or something. No, that's the truth. I struggle with it. It's just so gray out there and I know the snow. Oh, it's about the snow and washes us away. Okay, praise the Lord for it. I'm sure looking forward to spring. I am, and it gets dark early, and it stays dark, and just, you know, okay, go outside. Yeah, you like running around in snow, too, right? But I'm tired of this time of year, but this is where we're at. We're in northern Michigan. It ain't gonna change just because I don't like it. And after we had our special service with a sign, which was a blessing, y'all went ahead and got sick, and there was, like, nobody here, and I found myself all depressed. So you know what I need deliverance from? I need deliverance from my own attitude. Amen? I need deliverance from my own pity. But many times the Lord will use a situation that you have to help somebody else. Stop and think about it. Not part of the message, but you know when you get down in the dumps, and you do, Preacher Lentz, he'd call it when you get to mully grubbin' on Monday mornin' and you're singin' the blues, right? And all your financial woes and all your family woes and all your whatever woes. And you get like that, you need deliverance from that stuff. And one of the best ways I have learned over the years is if I'm feeling kind of, I hate to say it, lonely, pick up the stinkin' phone and call somebody and try to encourage them. He said, I didn't get a call from you. Relax. Maybe it'll be next. I don't know. You see, I'm in trouble no matter what I say as a preacher. I just get in trouble. And I call a couple of my old friends there and try to be an encouragement to them. And you know what they say? Oh, thanks, Brother Jeremiah. I really appreciate that. And I'm like, well, praise the Lord. At least someone's encouraged. And then you call somebody else. Now a lot of times that's just indicative you need to spend more time with the Lord. Amen? But look here with me. Now many times, I want you to see just a handful of things here, and it might seem a little bit discombobulated at first, but notice with me, first of all, in verse number 8, I want you to see the matter. The matter. The matter at hand in verse 8. The Bible says, Then the king of Syria warred against Israel, and took counsel with the servants, saying, In such and such a place shall be my camp. Now what is the matter? I'm not asking you what's the matter, but the matter that we're looking at is war. That's what this passage is about. Syria and Israel are at war. Matter of fact, historically they've been at war ever since Jacob stole across the stinking wilderness away from his father-in-law Laban, and they've hated each other since. But spiritually speaking, if I could and you'll let me, you are at war every single day with your flesh, with this world, and with the devil. You are at war. Now you know that. Ain't that the truth? Okay, well, there's your reminder. I know it's peaceful in here. Amen. We love each other in the Lord, hate each other in the flesh. Amen. You know, you're all here and you look pretty good. Amen. But you and I are at war. We are not peacetime babies, spiritually speaking. There is a war going on out there and some of you took some rounds in the backside this week and you know all about it. But think about it. Spiritually, you and I are at war. Let me give you just a couple things here just to keep you encouraged and keep your mind going. In 1 Timothy 1.18, you know how you wore a good warfare? 1 Timothy 1.18? By following this book. By following the book. What happens when you get in trouble? You stop reading the instruction manual. You start reading the SOPs, right? Every company has SOPs. You say, what's SOP? Standard Operating Procedure. And you were a good warfare at 1 Timothy 1.18 by following the book, following the SOPs. And you know about your weapons? You say, I love weapons. I got guns, I got knives, I got this and that, ginsu knives and swords. No, your weapons, 2 Corinthians 10.4, they're spiritual. In this warfare, your weapons are spiritual. Not by might, not by power, but by my spirit, saith the Lord. And your weapons, you've got to remember, your weapons are always going to be spiritual. That's why when you and I try to fight this stinking warfare in the flesh, you get frustrated. You get upset. You get all worked up. That's the truth. Your weapons in this warfare are spiritual. 2 Corinthians 10, verse 4. Now how about your conduct? 2 Timothy 2, verse 3. Your conduct in the war, what does that do? It determines your reward. Your conduct in the battle determines your reward. Listen, you and I, if we're saved, we're going to heaven, but standing at the Lord at the judgment seat of Christ, if you don't do it right according to this book, not according to me, not according to the Baptist, not even according to the leading Bible believer of the day, if you don't do it right, you won't get the rewards that you think you're going to get. You understand? You've got to do it right. So your conduct, 2 Timothy 2.3, you say, what does my conduct have to do? That's why Paul said, endure hardness. Endure hardness. Why? That makes you a good soldier. A good soldier gets the rewards of the judgment seat of Christ. Not only that, but you notice, here's a thing, here's a real depressing thing I'll get you thinking about. Ecclesiastes 8.8, you will never be discharged from this war until you die. You are going to fight the world, the flesh, and the devil every single day until you kick the bucket. You need to understand that. Solomon said, there is no discharge in this war. That's why I never understood, and I understand why churches would want to get together with people and have an outing or something, but they would call these things, and back to the retreats. Christian, we're not going on a retreat. You might need to come apart before you come apart. You and I got no business going on a retreat spiritually. You say, well, you know, I know what they mean, but man, come on, we're at war. You don't retreat in battle. You might find the need to fix bayonets and charge. You might need to find the need to hunker down and wait for more ammunition and wait for more help, but you don't retreat. Amen. Okay, I'll say it. And then finally here, when it comes to the warfare, 1 Peter 5, 8, we're always to be on guard for that attack, aren't we? That's the matter that you're looking at in the passage. The matter at hand is war. Christian, don't forget when you walk out this door tonight, the war is not in here. The war is out there. We are at peace with one another in here. We are accepted in the beloved. Amen? We all have the same great commander. We're all on the same team. I don't care who scored points this week. I'm glad you're on my team. I don't care who hits the home runs. I mean, I was a defensive lineman and an offensive pulling guard, and man, I never saw the football. But I sure was happy when that big old fullback just ran up there and scored a touchdown for us. We're on the same team. That's the matter. We're at war. Now let me give you the message here in verse 9. We've looked at the matter. The matter is war. The matter is war. And I want you to see there's a message. There's a message that someone's getting in verse 9. And the man of God said unto the king of Israel, saying, Beware that thou pass not such a place, for thither the Syrians are come down. Now I want you to look at this message for a minute. And you can spiritualize it however you want. You can say it's a message when I sit down and read my Bible, or it's a message when the preacher gets up and preaches, or it's a... whatever it is. But notice this message in verse number 12. It's rather mysterious. It's rather mysterious. In verse number 12, And one of his servants said, None, my lord, O king, but Elisha the prophet of Israel, telleth the king of Israel, The words that thou speakest in thy bedchamber. Now that message comes out of nowhere sometimes, doesn't it? You'll be experiencing something during the week, and you'll read your Bible, and there it'll be, there's the message. You'll read your Bible, you try to get through the week, get your head all kicked in, come to church, there's the message. And you're like, I was just thinking of that the other night. You must be a God that knows me or something. Imagine that. You ever stop and think about that message? I know it's mysterious sometimes. That the Lord can read your mail. That the Lord can give a dumb preacher something to say that you've been struggling with all week long or all month long. Now it comes through the Word of God. You know the passage in Hebrews chapter 4. For the Word of God is quick and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, dividing even to the sunderer of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and, listen now, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. When you're in that pew right now, the Holy Spirit, that Word of God that's in your life, is discerning your response to the message as it's spoken. It comes through the Word, and not only that, but it comes through preaching. You know, the passage in Titus chapter 1 and verse 3, he says, "...but hath in due times manifested his word through preaching." That Bible is more important than life itself, and you know what comes a real close second, if not tied with it? Preaching. That's how you get the message. And it's rather mysterious so many times how it's delivered, isn't it? Now, Christianly, if you try to live for God, not only will you take your licks, and you'll get your fender dented, and you'll get your feelings hurt during the week, and people will upset you, and they'll let you down, and they'll disappoint you, and then you come into the church house, and some preachers scream at you and rip your face off. I have no idea I'm doing it, but that's how God works. It's mysterious. You heard the old-timers say, the Lord works in mysterious ways. He sure does. And sometimes you walk out of here, it's not true, but sometimes, I should have stayed home. No, that's a blessing that God even read your mail. When you feel bad in preaching, when you feel, I tell you what, when I listen to my preacher, because your preacher's got to have preaching too, I almost hate to turn him on sometimes. You say, what a terrible thing to say? Help yourself. You want me to lie about it? Because when he preaches, he's going to find something, and it's not him, it's the Holy Spirit working through him. And I'm going to have to go, oh, Yeah, I got to do it. I got to do something about it. Well, it's rather mysterious. Notice in verse 9, this message, it's a warning. Look at verse 9. Aren't you thankful for warnings? In my office, there's this little electronic deal. Brother Ben put it in, I think. And it's, what is it? Is it CO2? Is that what it is? I'm sorry, carbon monoxide? A carbon monoxide. And you say, what's that? Well, let me tell you what. If it ever goes off, that means get out of there. Aren't you thankful for the warnings? You got a smoke detector in your house? You're like, no, I don't either. I used to. That thing would start going off in the middle of the night. And I got up, and it wasn't even burning wood. And it's a beep, beep, beep, you know. And so, you know how you hit the button and reset the thing? And you know, it goes off again five minutes later. Now I'm in the flesh now, like you stupid piece of garbage. And I'm up there and I disconnect it and I connect it back up there. And it goes off again a third time. So I take it down from the ceiling and I set, there's no battery, it's hardwire deal. There's no power. And I set it on the table. It goes off on the table. The hair on the back of my neck stands up like the devil is inhabited this fire thing. So what I do? Same thing you do. I took it outside, took a sledgehammer to it at 2 o'clock in the morning. Amen? I took care of it. I don't have a smoke detector, but that'll never beep again. Amen? But it's a warning. Not only that, it's a warning. Look at verse 9. The Syrians are come down. Has the Lord ever warned you with a message? Has the Lord ever said during the message you're Bible reading, you better take care of that? You know, the Lord is very gentle how He deals with us, isn't He? The difference is if it's rough, it's the devil. If it's gentle, that's in the book of James. That's the Lord and the Lord will go, that thing right there, you need to take care of it. That thing, yeah, you're thinking about it right now and not take care of it. Yep, that's the right thing to do. Good boy. That's the Lord. But I'm thankful for the warning. Not only is it a warning, but verse 9, he says, Pass not such a place. A lot of times the message is just a redirection. It's like the Lord's up there saying, I appreciate what you're doing, but you need to alter your path a little bit. You're getting a little far to the right. You're getting a little far to the left. If you keep going that way, you're going to get in a rut. And it's a whole lot harder to get out. It's just a redirection in verse 9. He says, Pass not such a place. That's a good message. And in your Christian life, when the Lord gives you a message, it's a warning, it's a redirection. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord. You know, one of my biggest fears as a pastor is getting in ruts. Getting in ruts. Every time I get up here, you hear the same four or five topics. That is my number one fear next to spiritual deadness, next to spiritual dryness, is getting up, and all that can be said is about this hobby horse, and that hobby horse, and that hobby horse, that scares me to death. I need direction. I need a redirection in my Christian life. That's the message. And finally, look at verse 10. Look at verse 10, chapter 6. It says there, "...and saved himself there." See it? Saved himself there not once nor twice. You know what a message is from God sometimes? It's a lifesaver. It's a lifesaver. Lord, I ever give you a message and it changed your life. Now, I understand we're here together to eat a meal. And I know growing up there, I don't remember any meals that were life-changing. But here's the thing, if you stop eating, it will change your life. But if you keep eating, you're generally going to be more healthy, be able to fight off more sickness. So the temptation of a young preacher is you're going to preach that one message that sets the church on fire. Probably literally will burn you down too with it, amen? But here we're just here for a meal, but the Lord gives you a message that's a lifesaver many times. Don't hang around with that individual. Don't do that thing because if you keep doing it, it's not only get you out of fellowship, it's going to get you into a lick of trouble. It's a lifesaver. Now, we've covered the matter, we've looked at the message, now I want you to see the madness that the message creates. In verse number 11, the madness the message creates. Verse 11, Therefore the heart of the king of Syria was sore troubled for this thing, What is he troubled for? Because someone's reading his mail. Someone's intercepting his battle plans and his men swear on everything in Syria that it's not them. That's because the Lord's doing it. And the Lord's intercepting your mail. But the madness in verse 11, Therefore the heart of the king of Syria was sore troubled for this thing. And he called the servants and said unto them, Will you not show me which of us is for the king of Israel? It's madness. He's worked up into a lather here. Notice the revelation of the message, it troubles men. Many times when the truth is revealed, it troubles you. And here in the passage in verse number 11, the revelation of the message, it troubles men. And let me tell you what, reading the Bible will trouble you at times, and preaching will trouble you at times. It will. Now, you can pretend like it doesn't, like, oh, no, it doesn't bother me. You know, I had some people used to go there and like, oh, preacher, they'd say this, rip my face off. I'm like, why do I want to rip your face off? I'd rather feed you a meal. If I rip your face off, I got to give you medicine because now you're going to get infected and you look kind of stupid, you know? I know what they meant. I go, come on preacher, preach hard. And you know what? The hard preaching isn't always what feeds you. Like I said last week, I think it was last week. Yeah, like I said last week, I think it was Wednesday. I'm not preaching to a bunch of adulterers. I'm not preaching to a bunch of people that have got a problem with dope. I'm preaching to Christians who love the Lord. And it's going to be the little things that get you out of kilter with God. I'm not preaching to people who are worried about, you know, going to prison tomorrow. But the madness of men, the revelation of the message, it troubles men. In verse 11, he was sore troubled. You ever hear a message just bother you? Come on, be honest. Just bother you. Notice, let's keep going. Verse 11, the revelation of the message, you know, it divides loyalties. It divides loyalties. Look what he says. Now the king's like, okay, you bunch of, you know, Benedict Arnolds. Which of us is for the king of Israel? See, he got the message. He got the message. It was mysterious. It caused him trouble. And now, you know what he does? He's assuming bad of everybody else. It divides loyalties. Now, are we getting close to home yet? You ever hear a message and you go, who do you think you are? Okay, big mouth preacher, you want to get in my shoes for a week? Hold the phone, man. I ain't smart enough to write this book. It divides loyalties. You start feeling that way? That ain't me. I sure, I mean, I can be an idiot. Don't ask my wife. I sure can be. But that is not my point in the pulpit. My point is not to destroy the lives of men. Hopefully it's to edify and build up, strengthen. You've got to keep it hot. The dross has got to be burnt out, amen? But it divides loyalties. And here he's like, which of you is for us? Which of you is for Israel? A lot of times friendships are destroyed because of preaching. Friendships are destroyed because of the message. And finally here, notice the revelation of the message. It always reveals truth. Look at verse 12. We're coming around to the point of the message I think that the Lord really wants us to have here. We'll look at verse 12, "...and one of his servants said, None, my lord, O king." Here it is, "...but Elisha, the prophet that is in Israel, telleth the king of Israel the words that thou speakest in thy chambers." You know what that is? The prophet is going to tell the words and those words are coming from God. and always reveals truth. You can't miss it. Well, we see the matter, the message, the madness. Can I show you a couple miracles here? We're on our way to trying to gather something from this passage, a deliverance. You're like, I thought this was about Elisha. It is. Elisha needs a deliverance. But I want you to see some miracles in verse 17 and 18. And they're pretty interesting to look at. Verse 17, And Elisha prayed, and said, Lord, I pray thee, open his eyes, that he may see. And the Lord opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw. And, behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha. Alright, so here's the first message, I'm sorry, the first miracle. You've got a servant, in verse 15, look at it now, in verse 15, and you know what he does? He gets up early to be about the master's business. And He's given two things. First thing He's given in verse 16 is a message of hope. Amen? And He answered, Fear not, for they be with us, our more than there be with them. And after the message of hope, He's given a supernatural ability to see. A supernatural ability to see. Verse 17, Elisha prayed and said, Lord, I pray that you open his eyes that he may see. Isn't that a blessing, Christian? Spiritualize it for a minute. You're getting up early. Amen. You're trying to serve the Lord. You're trying to be about the Master's business. And He's got a message of hope for you. It's going to be alright. There's more with us than there is with them. And don't you feel like you're all by yourself? Don't even lie to me. I know you think that all the time. You do. And I say that and I'm giving you kudos. I'm giving you credit here. Many times you go, man, I'm like the last of the Mohicans here. Nobody loves the Lord like I do. Nobody wants to serve the Lord like I do. And I feel like I'm all alone. You're not alone. You're given a message of hope and you know what happens. And when Elisha needs deliverance from Syria, you know what he's doing? Look at it. He's praying for another young man. He's praying for another young man to what? To see what he can see. You say, well, that's kind of weird. Sure is, ain't it? When I need deliverance, I ain't thinking about anybody else but myself. You see the maturity? You see the faith? You see the ability to have a relationship where the Lord goes more than a Sunday morning and a Sunday night and a Wednesday? I mean, this guy's going through it. He's standing against an entire army and Elisha's like, I sure do need deliverance, Lord. And the Lord's like, yeah, but you got all the king's horses and all the king's men up on the mountains. What else do you want, a limo? And it's like, I'm going to pray for this young man because he's about ready to lose his noodle over this thing. Lord, will you open his eyes that he might see? And Lord's like, yeah, because you prayed for it, I'll give it to him. And all of a sudden, not only do you have one old prophet that knows how to have faith and keep it under control and not blow apart the seams and blow the transmission all over the road when things get bad. Now you got a young man helped by that prophet. That's part of deliverance. They're not out of it yet. That army's still circling around the bell. I know they can't see the Lord's host, but there's two miracles. Here's the first one. But think about this. We pray this a lot. Psalm 119 verse 8, Open now mine eyes that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law. You ever stop and ask during the week, Lord, do I need deliverance or do you just need to open my eyes so I can see there's more with us than there is with them? Maybe you just need your eyes open. Maybe you just need a spiritual enlightenment. I'm not trying to be funny. I'm not trying to be charismatic. Luke 24, 31, when the two men were on the road to Emmaus, and they were with Jesus, and they didn't know it was Him, at the very end, verse 31, it says, And their eyes were opened, and they knew Him. Man, that should be our prayer every day. Lord, please open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of Thy law. Well, we know how this thing is going to end, Christian. Yet we don't know how we're going to get from point A to point B. But if you're saved, you will spend eternity with Jesus Christ in heaven, have a body just like His, you'll have a mansion. I mean, you want to talk about absolute perfection? We know that because the Bible tells us we just need our eyes open along the way. We get kind of tunnel vision, don't we? Closed-mindedness. Things are all falling around. Listen, it might be bad in the moment, but I know how it ends. Alright, there's the first miracle. Notice this, the first miracle was a supernatural ability to see, the eyes were open. But notice here, in verse number 18, those who were against the king, there's your spiritual application, those who were against the king were smitten with what? Blindness. Isn't that wild? One fellow had his eyes open, another group of people who were against the Lord had their eyes stinking shut. Now that's scary. Verse 18, When they came down to him, Elisha prayed unto the Lord, and said, Smite this people, I pray thee, with blindness. And he smote them with blindness, according to the word of Elisha. All right, to the servant of the Lord, he opened his eyes. He's doing the best he could. He's flipping out. He's freaking out. He needs, he needs, I don't know, I need the name of a medicine. He needs a Xanax, or ten. Right? He does. Not ten? Wake up in another county. Okay, so he needs something. And all the prophet does is pray for him, and his eyes are opened up. Amen? But now these people that are against the king, he shuts their eyes off. I tell you, I got to reading that thing and I got a little bit scared. You say, you're awful scared preacher for being a bit. Help yourself. I ain't nobody. I'm just a voice in the wilderness. But you know the last thing I want? I don't want to be spiritually blind about things. I don't. I'm afraid of that. I don't want to be that person that's against what the Lord wants to do, whether it's here or in my home or in my life. And the Lord's like, you want to do it your way? Off goes the lights. You see it yet? No pun intended. Periods of time in your Christian life, really dry, right? Could have been that it wasn't dry, you were just blinded. Blind as a bat flying in backwards. And the Lord's like, you don't want to see, just shut the lights off. and you're stumbling around knocking over this and falling over that and cussing over this and cussing over that, just blind. Open now mine eyes that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law. Two miracles, one to the servant of the Lord, he opened the eyes of those striving against the Lord, he smote them with blindness. I want you to see a verse in Luke chapter 19, Luke chapter 19 with definite church application. You need to keep this in the back of your mind somehow, whether you mark it or highlight it or just write a note down. Here's the parable of the pounds. And the Lord gave certain people certain things. Amen? In Matthew it's called the parable of the talents. And of course you can relate because some people have talents that others don't. But here it's pounds. Pounds. And that's a British currency. But notice this in verse 26. Look what the Lord says, Did you catch it? I'll read it again. You say, what are you saying? When you do what you're supposed to do, what God gives you, He gives you more of it. Spiritual eyesight, doing what you're supposed to do. Give him eyesight. Turns the light on. Turns the light on. Helps you see. Not doing anything with what God's given you. Take it away from him. Take away his sight. He ain't gonna do nothing with it anyways. You see it? And from him that hath not. Remember? He buried it in the earth, right? He buried that pound. He gets before the Lord. Picture the judgment seat of Christ. The Lord says, I'll take that. Thank you very much. And give it to that guy who's got ten. and he took away what he gave him. That bothers me, Christian. I don't want the Lord to take from me what he gave me. I know the gifts and callings of God are without repentance. And whether or not you think I'm a decent preacher, it doesn't matter, but God gave me the ability to preach, whatever ability I'm trying to develop it as, but he could just pull the plug on it. He's like, you can not do what I say? I'll sew your lips shut, man. I get up here and get all stage frightened. Amen? Two miracles. To the servant Lord, he opened his eyes. To those striving against the Lord, he smote them with blindness. Now let me give you this part here. This really spoke to me. We just looked at the miracles. Many times when the Lord delivers you, there's things that you can't explain. Would you agree? Not always. Sometimes you just got to have faith. But sometimes when the Lord delivers you, He does things and you can't explain it. And it sure is a blessing. And but notice this, the methods. I want you to see the methods. I call this the methods of grace. And in our day and age, man, this is what we keep on hitting on. This is what we keep coming back to. Because as Bible believers, we've got the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. But a lot of times we're jerks with what God's given us. Amen. We don't treat other people right. and we're a work in progress. We need to get better. We need to get better. Some of us are so, I'm speaking ambiguously just so I don't totally out myself every time, but some of y'all are so worried about what people think that you don't talk to anybody. Listen, people are, there's no people that agree on anything or everything, you know what I'm saying? Put yourself out there. Remember when John, there at the Last Supper, when John put his head on the Savior's bosom, he exposed the most tender part of his body to the world. That was his neck. Some of y'all are afraid of getting out there. Some of y'all are afraid of exposing yourself in the sense of being volatile to people. But I want you to see Methods of Grace in verse 21 to 23. Now here Elisha is being delivered. That army is blind as a bat. And now Elisha has total control over that army. You see that in the passage. But notice the methods of grace God gives to Elisha. First of all, in verse number 23, you know what you're supposed to do? You're supposed to give the men the provision that they need. Listen, Christian, you are supposed to give men the provision that they need. Didn't say what they wanted, the provision that they need. Look at verse 23, and He prepared great provision for them. Remember in the passages, the king of Israel, he was such a dunce, he's like, shall I smite them? No, you're not going to smite them, you're going to feed them. The whole idea was not to kill them, it was to feed them. Proper provision. You know what it requires in verse 19? It requires patience. Verse 19, and Elisha said unto them, This is not the way. You see that? And then he says this, Neither is this the city. Then he says this, Follow me. Now listen, this week, someone might need to follow you. Are you going to have the patience to lead them in the right direction? You say, Oh no, we need to follow Christ. Oh, come on, man up. God put you there for a reason. People are going to be able to follow you if you're patient enough. We don't have the patience that we should. We think that the lost people, once we give them a track, they should be just dying to get saved. It don't work that way. You might have a little better go at it back in the 50s when there was more God consciousness in this country. But hey, honey, it is 2025. That is 75 years removed from your Betty Crocker cookbook and everything else that used to be grandmas and grandpas. Right? And now people come in the church house and they don't even know half the time why they're here. You're gonna have to have patience. Why? They need provision. And you need a deliverance, but God's gonna use you to feed somebody. He's going to use you to provide for somebody even though you have all these needs over here. Now listen, proper provision requires patience. In verse number 23, proper provision requires preparation. It's right there in the text. Can God use you this week? Like, I want to be used, Lord. He's not going to use you if you refuse to prepare. If you need to provide those individuals with spiritual food but yet you haven't prepared, the Lord's like, I can't. You see it? These are methods of grace and you're to give the men the provision they need. Verse 23, and he prepared. Not only you give the men the provision they need, but here's the hard thing in verse number 23. Once you're done giving them the provision they need, you let them go in peace. This is the essence of New Testament salvation right here. Verse 23, And when they had eaten and drunk, he sent them away, and they went to their master. The Lord's purpose, Christian, is this. I want you to get a hold of this. When dealing with the souls of men in your community and your family even, the Lord's intention for us is catch and release. The idea for many, many years is, well, I need to catch them and clean them. It's not your job to clean them. Didn't the Lord tell Peter in Luke 5.10, And Jesus said unto Simon, Fear not, from henceforth thou shalt catch men. Didn't Elisha catch a mess of men? He caught them. Now he could have. He could have had the king of Israel come out, yeah, just whack all these suckers' heads off, and I'm telling you, they'll never bother you again. But he didn't. He's like, we're going to feed you. I was reading this passage here and the Lord, the Holy Spirit kind of nudged me and said that's what Hitler should have done to the Jews. The Lord told Hitler to gather up them Jews so he could get them in their land. The land was getting prepared for the Jew, and World War II was that Jew getting prepared for the land. And he used Hitler to do it, but Hitler went off his rocker. Hitler should have gathered the Jews like Elisha gathered the Syrians, sat them down, provided great provision, and say, now go back to your land. That's what should have happened. But you catch them, you care for them, Christian, now listen, and then you release them and give them to God. You catch them and you care for them. And then when they're done eating, take your hands off. It's not catching clean or when I was a kid, you let them swallow the hook all the way down here and you catch them and kill them because you can't get the hook out. That's not how the Lord operates. You remember the historical account there in John chapter 21 verse 12? The disciples are out, there's eight of them, and they're fishing all night long, and the Bible says, and they caught nothing. That's like the story of my life with a fishing pole in hand, and he caught nothing. I don't care. I've got a fishing pole in my hand, that's all that matters. We're good. I don't have to catch nothing. I don't even have to fish. I'll just be with my boys or something fishing. I'm good. But anyways, they fished all night long, they caught nothing. And all of a sudden the Lord says, hey, throw it on the other side of the boat. And as soon as they pull them fish up, you know what you got on shore? The Lord's fixing the fish over the fire. So you catch them, the Lord cleans them. And then He feeds you with them. God is the one who cleans them. I would say this as I try to bring this thing into a close tonight. Too much of our Christianity revolves around the mentality that if we don't insist on our idea of cleanliness, then surely there must not be any godliness. Well, you know the story here, we've read it, the Lord delivers Elisha out of the hands of the Syrians historically, and in the process of his deliverance, He enables Elisha to do more than just escape by the skin of his teeth. He prays for a servant to see what he saw. That's huge. I'm still tripping over it. Elisha is the one that needs deliverance. And he's praying for someone else to see what he can see. When was the last time you prayed for the Lord to open the eyes of your brethren? See, that sounds ridiculous, doesn't it? That sounds like mentally challenged. You say, why? Well, that was one of Paul's greatest prayers, Ephesians 1.18, that the eyes of your understanding be enlightened. Unfortunately, it almost seems among Bible believers that the Christian life has become more of a competition instead of a fellowship of believers. Paul says, till we all come to the unity of the faith. We ain't there yet. That's like, don't be afraid to pray for someone else to open the eyes. Now, if you're not asking the Lord to open your eyes, you better start with you first. Amen? Pray for your brothers. Pray for your sisters. Lord, open our eyes that we may behold wondrous things that our understanding might be enlightened. He prays for a servant to see. He then leads those he catches to a place where he could provide for them. How about you, Christian? Are you preparing? Here's an admonishment to prepare. You say, I haven't been preparing. Okay, go home. Start tonight. Lord, use me this week. And if he's going to use you, you're going to have to start saturating yourself with his book. More so than you already do. Just get into this book. Just fall in love with the book. Old preacher said, the more you read those blessed pages, the more you love the Rock of Ages. He leads a catch of a place where you can provide for them. How about this? Are you patient enough to see it through? Will you be able to provide for those men and women God allows you to catch? How about this? If someone had to follow you this week, Would they follow you here? That's something worth thinking about. Finally, when the provision is finished, and probably one of the biggest piece the Holy Spirit is trying to deal with me on, He lets them go in peace. He doesn't put any burdens on them. He doesn't put any spiritual prisons, any weights, any burdens. He feeds them. He blesses them. He does something for them they couldn't do for themselves, and then He just lets them go. One of the hardest things as a pastor, letting people go. You see people who need help, you see people who are living and they're just depressed, they're spiritually destroyed, and the Lord says, feed them and let them go. Let them go. How about you, Christian? Can you let people go this week? You always got to have your hands in it. I always got to try to control it. I always got to try to make sure everything's smoothed over. The more I live, the more I talk, the more things get messed up in my home. They do. I just have to learn to stop and give it to God. Can you give them over to God when it doesn't seem any good? When your converts don't turn out the way you'd hoped? When the seed doesn't seem to take, when the weeds look like they're beginning to overtake, can you let them go in peace? Or, what if Elisha would have took it personally? Would we have any more in the Bible about Elisha? Listen Christian, if you walk out of here and you start taking things personally because things didn't happen the way you thought they should, you start to deteriorate spiritually. You've got to learn to let things go. Well, that's the design of deliverance. The Lord delivered you many years ago at Calvary, amen? He delivered you when you trusted Jesus Christ as Savior. This is from 2 Corinthians chapter 1 and verse 10. Not only did He deliver you at Calvary, but He daily delivers you from the power of sin. And one day, Christian, one day, He's going to deliver you from the presence of sin. And it will be in the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ. Why don't we all stand? We'll be dismissing a word of prayer. And I hope and pray it's been a blessing to you. You can see just a little bit about the design of deliverance. Let's pray.