this is from his heart and were in a new extensive series from Pastor Jeff called the walk learning to take God at His Word in this lesson you'll learn the pitfalls of living by sight and not by faith and discover the power of a faith that trusts God completely it's a message called faith versus sight [Music] now in the Christian life it begins with faith the Bible clearly says Ephesians chapter 2 verse 8 for by grace you are saved through faith it's not by works not as a result of Lert works lest anyone should boast it's God's grace and our faith in God's grace that produces eternal life that causes us to be born again the Christian life begins with faith the Christian life continues with faith Colossians chapter 2 verse 6 the Apostle Paul said to the Christians in colossi as you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord so walk in him you receive him by faith you walk in him by faith it's faith all the way that's the way God set up the Christian life now we walk by faith not by sight in everybody's every Christians life we struggle between walking by faith and walking by sight there is always a struggle there nobody gets to the place where you don't struggle with site because sight is very readily there I mean we all see the things around us we all see the obstacles and the difficulties and the problems it's very easy to see those things you know when Moses killed the Egyptian the Bible says before he killed him he looked this way and he looked that way and when he didn't see anyone he killed him and buried him in the sand he failed to look up he didn't look that way and and when you and I struggle with faith in sight we are looking this way in that way we're looking at this problem and that problem and what's coming down the pike and we fail to look up and we fail to factor in God now that's a challenge for me that's a challenge for you that's the challenge for everyone it was a challenge for the Apostle Paul we walk by faith and not by sight and every day we have a choice are we gonna walk by faith or are we gonna walk by sight now if you want to please God the Bible makes it clear without faith it's impossible to please go for the one who comes to God must believe that he is and that he is a row order of those who seek him if you want to please God the only way to please him is to walk by faith not by sight and if you want to experience God doing great things in and through your life you have to walk by faith so today what we want to do in our series we want to place faith and sites and pit them against one another and show you the difference between the walk of faith and the walk of sight and to do that we want to look at a really interesting story in 2nd Kings chapter 6 I love the stories in the Old Testament because they illustrate so beautifully truths throughout the Bible but throughs especially in the New Testament and so many people don't spend much time in the Old Testament so when you tell them stories out of the Old Testament they're like man that's a cool story where did you get that one it's right here in God's Word so today we're gonna learn a really cool story that happened around the middle part of the 800 BC Eli show was the Prophet he was the man of God in Israel a Habs son johor 'm is king he also went by another name joram so anytime you run across his name Jehovah or joram it's talking about the same person and they had an enemy coming against them and the enemy was worthy Arameans from Syria and their king was Ben hey Dad ii anytime you run across somebody that's been something something that just means son of so Ben hey dad was the son of hey dad and there was a Ben hey Dad the first he was senior and then you have the son then hey Dad junior but they called him Ben hey Dad the second and those are the players as we read in 2nd Kings chapter 6 here's what the scripture says starting in verse 24 now it came about after this that Ben hey Dad king of Aaron gathered all his army and went up and besieged Samaria so Mary as the capital city of Israel of the Northern Kingdom of Israel and there was a great famine in Samaria and behold they BC until a donkey's head was sold for 80 shekels of silver that's 2 pounds of silver and 1/4 of a cab of doves dung for five shekels of silver a cup of doves dung was 2 ounces of silver I wouldn't think that would be a big seller but that was what was going on in Israel it says in verse 26 and as the king of Israel was passing by on the wall a woman cried out to him saying help my lord o king and he said if the Lord if Yahweh does not help you from where shall I help you from the threshing floor or from the winepress it wasn't any food around verse 28 and the king said to her what is the matter with you and she answered this woman said to me give your son that we may eat him today and we will eat my son tomorrow so we boiled my son and ate him and I said to her on the next day give your son that we may eat him but she has hidden her son and it came about when the king heard the words of the woman that he tore his clothes now he was passing by on the wall and the people looked and behold he had sackcloth burlap beneath on his body then he said may God do so to me and more also if the head of elisha the son of shaphat remains on him today now elisha was sitting in his house and the elders were sitting with him and the king sent a man from his presence but before the messenger came to him he said to the elders do you see how this son of a murderer joram was the son of Ahab and Jezebel Jezebel murdered nabe off for his vineyard do you see how the son of a murderer has sent to take away my head look when the messenger comes shut the door and hold the door and shut it against him is not the sound of his master's feet behind him the king is coming right behind him verse 33 and while he was still speaking with them behold the messenger came down to him and he said behold this evil as from the Lord why should I wait for the Lord any longer faith versus sight such a beautiful picture in this passage of faith verse site now I want you to notice with me four key differences between walking by faith and walking by sight difference number one faith sees opportunity sight sees doom faith sees opportunity and sight sees doom here's the story you have the king of the Arameans been hey Dad the second and he leads his troops to surround the city of Samaria to besiege the city now when you besiege the city that means that you cordoned off the city with your armies so that no one could get in the city and no one could come out of the city without going through your armies and without being killed and when you besiege a city you basically starve that city out because if nobody can go in and nobody can come out eventually the food supply runs out and when the food supply runs out the people get desperate and and that was what was happening in Israel you know it's supply and demand when there is no supply the demand goes way up and the prices go way up and people were giving five pounds of silver for a donkey's head if you've ever really looked at a donkey's head there's not a lot of meat on the bone there there's not a lot to eat there but you'd rather have a donkey's head than a cup of doves dung and they were given two pounds of silver for that it's like good night this is horrible horrible what's going on in Israel and to make matters worse then you had this woman who actually boiled her baby and she and the other woman ate the baby and she's thinking what will boil my son today but tomorrow we'll have your son and the woman hid her son and so this woman who lost her son who ate her son and lost her son because he was now eaten she's upset I mean times are bad in Israel faith sees that times are bad and sight sees the times are bad what does that say to us today hey circumstances can sometimes get really difficult in life no doubt they were experiencing really difficult circumstances in life really difficult circumstances I mean no matter what you're facing today I think we'd all have to admit it's not as bad as somebody boiling her son and eating him I mean that's just beyond comprehension in terms of wickedness and depravity how could you possibly do that and you know what's interesting is God had told them hundreds of years before that through Moses in Leviticus chapter 26 in Deuteronomy chapter 28 he said this is what's gonna happen to you if you disobey me if you go serve other gods then I'm gonna send an army against you and they're gonna surround you and they're gonna starve you out and you people will even eat your own children and that's exactly what they did well situations the situation is bad and maybe you're here today and you say man my situation is bad maybe you've never been here before but your situation is so bad that you're saying I'm gonna go to church because maybe God has an answer for me I don't know what else to do because things are so bad maybe you have a physical problem or maybe you have a financial problem or maybe you have a family problem or maybe it's an emotional problem or some kind of spiritual problem but you have something and it just seems to go from bad to worse you know it's bad when you're eating a donkey's head and you wash it down with a cup of doves dung but it's even worse when you hear that a woman boiled her son and ate him and the King tears his clothes it's horrible it's horrible and both faith and sight recognize hey circumstances are bad but now for the the people who walk by sight the common response to bad circumstances is anger and to get angry at God that's the common response so here's the king jehovah more joram whatever you want to call him the same guy here's the king and he here's the situation from the woman and he tears his clothes now normally that was a sign of tremendous grief in his case it's a sign of grief mixed with lots of anger they said that he was wearing sackcloth they could see that he was wearing sackcloth under his clothes normally you put on sackcloth when you were humbling yourself before God when you as a sign of repentance but this guy wasn't repentant at all remember his mom and dad were a having Jezebel and they were the most wicked king and queen ever that Israel had ever experienced and that's the family he grew up in and he's a pagan to the core and so he's not wearing sackcloth to show that his heart was broken before God he's just putting on - he doing whatever it's like this is really bad maybe I'll put on sackcloth maybe that'll do something he's like a lucky rabbit's foot or something so he tears his clothes and he says these words may God verse 31 do so to me and more also if the head of elisha the son of shaphat remains on him today i'm gonna cut off his head now he's mad at God he says to the woman what am I supposed to do God Yahweh the Lord anytime you see Lord all in caps it's it's the name of Yahweh the God's covenant name God's personal name yhw H he said if if the personal God Yahweh your God Yahweh doesn't take care of us if he's not filling up the the winepress with grapes if he doesn't have any grain in the in the threshing floor if there's nothing to eat what are you looking at what am I gonna supposed to do it's God's fault that we don't have provision it's God's fault that this army is besieging us blames God so I'm mad at God because this is the situation I'm in and instead of humbling myself before God I get angry at God and how do I get back at God what do I do to get it God Oh kill gods man I'll kill Elijah the Prophet now his dad a hab did something similar when it came to Elijah's mentor Elijah's mentor was a light jaw with a J sometimes you get those confused cuz they sound so much alike elide jaw and he likes sha well he liked ja was the Prophet when Ahab was King and a have got so mad at Elie ja and when they finally met he said is it you you troubler of Israel that's what he called him Elijah gods man and Elijah said I'm not the trouble of Israel you are you and your wicked family you are the ones who are troubling Israel it's because of your sin that there is a famine in the land because they were experiencing famine during the days of Ahab - so here is the Sun a hab son ahora m-- and he says to Elijah you're the troubler of Israel I'm gonna cut off your head but here's the thing about Elijah God spoke to Elijah God revealed things to Elijah so it's hard to sneak up on the guy because every time people tried to sneak up on him the Lord would say hey so-and-so is coming up he's getting ready to sneak up on you so be ready so he knew that hey the messengers coming the Kings coming and they're coming to take off your head and it says this in the good news Bible verse 33 the king arrived and said it's the Lord who has brought this trouble upon us why should I wait any longer for him to do something he was mad at God not wait we just sang that song waiting here for you well joram says I ain't waiting for Yahweh anymore he's causing all the problem I'd really just like to get on with killing you Elijah so that is this situation the common response to difficulties from site dwellers is to look at all the situation you get upset about the situation get mad at God you lash out at somebody who represents God and you don't do what you need to do which is to humble yourself therefore under the mighty hand of God that he may exalt you at the per time but see what is a faith person do what is someone who walks by faith do he says this the greater the difficulty the greater the opportunity the greater the difficulty the greater the opportunity for God to do something big because I have a big problem and so the bigger the problem the bigger the miracle that's what a person who walks by faith who's constantly looking up and factoring God into every situation in life faith sees the opportunity sight sees the doom second difference faith believes the Word of God and sight mocks the Word of God so here you have the King and he is there at Elijah's place in Chapter 7 verse 1 says this then Elijah said listen to the word of the Lord thus says the Lord thus says Yahweh tomorrow about this time a measure of fine flour shall be sold for a shekel and two measures of barley for a shekel in the gate of Samaria tomorrow about this time no more famine no more famine the prices are going down and you can get seven quarts of fine flour that's what a measure was seven quarts of fine flour for a shekel four point four ounces of silver and fourteen quarts of barley four point four ounces of silver nobody's going to be eating doves dung and cow's head anymore and it's going to happen tomorrow at about this time the waiting is getting ready to be over verse two and the royal office are on whose hand the King was leaning answered the man of God and said with a sneer I might add behold if the Lord should make wind in heaven could this thing be then heal Isis said behold you shall see it with your own eyes but you shall not eat of it faith believes the word doubt or sight mocks the word Elijah gave the word and what did the Royal officer do he laughed he mocked he sneered haha that is impossible how could that happen do you know do you not see the situation Elijah knew the situation see when you walk by faith it doesn't mean you gauge out your eyes and you don't know what the circumstances are you don't know what the difficulty is you know what the difficulty is he lied you knew the difficulty but Elijah factored it in God in this king's royal officer he didn't and when he even thought when he heard the word he's like that no way I mean he was a big guy that said no way Jose could that ever happen if you've ever played golf at text Arkana Country Club on one of the par fives when you hit your second shot you know they have the yardage there that shows you how far away you are from the hole and you know that you're a hundred and eighty five yards out you're 200 yards out you're 210 yards out they have one sprinkler head that just says no way Jose yeah I don't care how strong you are how big of a hitter you are you ain't getting there from here you're too far away you should have thought about that on your Drive you know you had a Wimpy Drive and so no way Jose well that's the king's officer is in no way Jose guy there is no way Jose that God could do that it is impossible for that to happen that's what sight says and you know what's interesting sight is right sight is right it is impossible it is impossible the promises of God are impossible if they weren't impossible then what would you need God for George Mueller that great man of faith he said this faith does not operate in the realm of the possible there is no glory for God in that which is humanly possible faith begins where man's power ends and Jesus said with men it is impossible but with not with God for all things are possible with God what are you facing today do you face something that's impossible did you get a report back from the doctor and they said there's nothing we can do hey with man it's impossible but not with God because with God all things are possible no matter what you're facing today God is able now to him the scripture says who is able to do exceeding abundantly beyond all we ask or think according to the power that works within us to him the the glory God is able I remember a little over 10 years ago when I started the Lord led me to start from his heart ministries I was all excited we got started there were two people who gave me unsolicited money and it totaled $35,000 to get the the radio and television ministry off the ground and so I had enough money to pay for one year of broadcasting on family net TV which is a very small station but it was in a number of cities smaller towns around the nation and then I had enough money left over to to produce a website small one for like five hundred dollars and I thought I was in pretty good shape thirty five thousand dollars it's enough to cover me for one year and there's enough to pay my salary of zero so here we go we're getting started and I went to my first national religious broadcasters convention in Los Angeles in 2000 February of 2005 and I remember I sat down with a friend of mine Karl Townsend who is kind of helping me and as I started to get to know a little bit about how this worked I was like I don't know if my 35 thousands quite enough and so I asked Karl I said Karl how much money am I going to need to really get this off the ground he said oh yeah well you nearly need about $500,000 I said how much he said five hundred thousand I said well I thought you said five hundred thousand that can't be much I have thirty five thousand how far does that get me he said I gotta go I mean there's that kind of a deal I was like why am I even talking to you you don't have any money you're not going anywhere with thirty five thousand dollars so it's five hundred thousand dollars what might as well have been five hundred million dollars because I didn't have anything like that and I didn't see how anything like that could happen and right off the bat I was thinking what you sought to shut this down this is this is impossible and so I was living in the realm of this is impossible and the Lord really convicted my heart he said that's impossible for you it's not impossible for me five hundred thousand dollars might be a whole lot for you what is it to me all the silver all the gold belong to me God says so Jeff why don't you just start looking up why don't you start trusting me see it is impossible it was impossible to me but it's not impossible to God and here's the beautiful thing about impossible impossible is I'm possible with God whatever you're facing that's an impossible that is just I'm possible with God because just as Jesus said with men it is impossible but not with God all things are possible with God now the Royal officer is a key person in this story he is really he becomes the poster child of a person who walks by sight he's the poster child of no way Jose he calls God out he literally calls God a liar when he lies she gives the word of the Lord this is what's gonna happen he says no way can God do that God doesn't have the power to do that if he made windows in heaven that couldn't happen and Elijah said all right out of your own mouth you'll see it happen but you're not gonna experience any of it you're not going to get to taste of it because something's getting ready to happen to you keep that in mind it's dangerous ground to walk by sight dangerous ground to mock the Word of God to call God a liar to look at God and say God you are powerless in this situation God is omnipotent God he can do anything behold I am the Lord the God of all flesh Jeremiah 32 27 says is there anything too difficult for me and the answer is no God you can do anything faith believes the word sight mocks the word difference number three faith takes a step and site stays seated now the scene shifts goes away from Elijah and the king and the royal officer and it shifts verse three to four lepers says in verse three now there were four leprous men at the entrance of the gate the gate of Samaria and they said to one another why don't we sit here until we die hey they were starving to death just like everybody else if we say we will enter the city then the famine is in the city and we shall die there and if we sit here we're gonna die here also we can sit at the gate but we're gonna die at the gate we go into the city but we're gonna die in the city did die of starvation he said now therefore come and let us go over to the camp of the Arameans if they spare us we shall live and if they kill us well we shall die but we're gonna die anyway so what difference is made verse 5 and they arose at twilight to go to the camp of the Arameans when they came to the outskirts of the camp of the Arameans behold there was no one there for the lord had caused the army of the Arameans to hear a sound of chariots and a sound of horses even the sound of a great army so that they said to one another behold the king of Israel has hired against us the kings of the Hittites and the kings of the Egyptians to come upon us therefore they arose and fled in the twilight and left their tents and their horses and their donkeys even the camp just as it was and fled for their lives Bible says the wicked flee when no one is pursuing verse 8 when the lepers came to the outskirts of the camp they entered one tenth and ate and drank and carried from their silver and gold and clothes and went and hid them and they returned and entered another tent and carried from there also and went and hid them now they said to one another we are not doing right for this day is a day of good news but we are keeping silent if we wait until morning light punishment will overtake us now therefore come let us go and tell the king's household for lepers that leave where they are they take some steps to go outside the camp of the Israelites the city of Samaria and they say you know what hey we might die going here but we know for sure we're gonna die staying standing still just sitting there and we need to take steps to to see if they'll have mercy on us but when they went out there they found that the arameans were gone but they didn't know that nobody it is in Samaria knew that why cuz they're hunkered down saying the enemy's out there and the enemy is gonna get us and and we're just waiting for God to do something and and God isn't doing anything hey faith takes a step and site stays seated now these lepers no indication that they had they heard this word from Elijah but they're illustrative of what faith is all about faith isn't just hunkering down faith is stepping out and believing God and moving in the direction that you need to go faith always has legs it always has legs doesn't just sit there we sing that song standing on the promises of Christ my king but many of us aren't standing on the promises we're just sitting on the premises and we're just kind of sitting here you know sitting on the Pew just well I'm going to waiting for God to do something and God says we'll get up you want to see me do something take a step of faith see I've told you before I'll tell you again it's worth repeating it's worth you writing it in your Bible it's worth you having a tattoo I'm not for tattoos but this would be a good one God will not do what you can do and you cannot do what he can do God will not do what you can do and you cannot do what he can do and faith always takes a step toward God and when faith takes a step toward God God begins to work and God begins to move you look at the miracles of Jesus how did they take place they took place when people took a step of faith ten lepers cried out to Jesus they cried out for healing and Jesus said go and show yourselves to the priests and the Bible says and as they were going they were cleansed of their leprosy as they were going not when Jesus said it when they believed what he said and they started out to show themselves to the priests and they noticed hey as they were going they were cleansed Jesus came to that man who had the withered hand and he said stretch out your hand the guy could have said I can't stretch out my hand my hands wither can't you see that Jesus but Jesus said stretch out your hand and the man stretched out his hand and when he did he was healed jesus said at the wedding feast of Cana of Galilee they ran out of wine and Mary said to him they have no wine and he said woman what do I have to do with you my hour has not yet come and she looked at the servants since she said whatever he says to you do it and so he said fill the waterpots with water and they filled them with water draw some out and give it to the head waiter and when they drew it out and gave it to the head waiter the water became wine how did that happen Jesus didn't go fill the waterpots God will not do what you can do and you cannot do what he can do the Lord responds to our faith jesus said to Martha at the tomb of Lazarus roll away the stone she so Lord we don't want to roll away the stone he stinks he's been dead for four days jesus said did I not say to you if you believe you will see the glory of God and if you don't you won't roll away the stone he wasn't gonna roll away the stone he was gonna raise Lazarus from the God will not do what you can do and you cannot do what he can do faith requires action requires action I heard about a pastor and he was in financial need and his financial need was $5,000 and he heard about a raffle that was going on in his community and first prize at the raffle was $5,000 he said god that's what I need and he began to pray and he said Oh God Oh God that raffle let me win that raffle and he prayed one day two days three days same thing Oh God just show up and show out and let me win that raffle Lord you know my need I have a need for $5,000 it's $5,000 old God please let me win that raffle and he prayed and prayed and nothing was happening and he came before the Lord he said lord I don't understand it you're not answering my prayer I need that $5,000 and God spoke so clearly to his heart and said hey pastor buy a ticket and we expect God to do everything and God is waiting on us to take a step he's like hey I'm not doing this unless you believe me enough to take a step in that direction in the book or in the movie facing the Giants the preacher comes to the football coach and his team is doing so poorly and he tells him about two farmers and in the story he says you know these two farmers were praying for rain and he said one farmer prayed for rain the other farmer prayed for rain one planet his crops and the other didn't he said who believed that God was going to send rain he said well I guess the guy who planted his crops yeah yeah faith always has legs on it and when faith requires action now God did something great I mean it was unheard of unbelievable that these Arameans would be scared out of their minds to leave all their stuff and just flee how does that happen the Lord has to put terror in a man's heart to do that you and I can't do that we can't do what God can do but the lepers had to leave they had to take a step of faith they could have died and they said I might die remember I told you at the start of this series it is better to die in faith than to live in doubt it's better to die in faith and to live in doubt listen if I was told that I had six months to live and there's nothing that the doctors can do I would believe God to heal me until he told me I'm not I'm gonna heal you in heaven or until I died but I would just die in faith so much better to die in faith than to live in doubt and that's what these guys did they just said we're gonna go out there now the contrast sight sight argues to stay seated even in the face of evidence here the four lepers then they're there they were starving to death like everybody else but man they go to this Tenten and then they're eating and they're drinking and they're taking silver and gold in the bearing it's like man clothes they all that stuff is like this is awesome and there's nobody around and there's 10 after 10 after 10 there's a big quartering of soldiers that left their stuff was all around the city and so it's like wait a minute this isn't right but this isn't just God didn't do this for just us for we need to tell the King we need to tell the people and so they go back and tell the King and listen to Johor 'm joram listen to his response verse 12 then the King arose in the night and said to his servants I will now tell you what the Arameans have done to us they know that we are hungry therefore they have gone out from the camp to hide themselves in the field saying when they come out of the city we shall captain capture them alive and get into the city this is a trap let's just continue to stay seated good night that guy the king he heard the word from Elijah he heard that the famine was going to be over about this time tomorrow and now he has evidence from the four lepers who come back incidentally God uses the the small and outcasts to bring the good news just like he came first to the Shepherd's to say hey the king is born and the Shepherd's were the ones that got to experience that so he uses these four lepers and they bring the news and it confirms the word that I Elijah had given them and the King still doesn't believe it ah it's a trap they're trying to trap me side argues for inaction even in the face of evidence sight wants you to just continue to sit on your biscuit being too afraid to risk it hey when we give the invitation in just a moment and I call you to make a decision for Christ to come and and link up with our church and make this a church home to follow the Lord in baptism to get involved in a small group to start honoring the Lord from your wealth to take that next step of faith whatever it is that God is tugging on your heart to do and you're just like mm-hmm I don't know I think I'm just gonna sit here a little longer you know because I'm just gonna have to you know check this out a little more I just have to see a little more well you have all this evidence you have people around you and God is doing great things in in other people's lives well I know for me and you just won't take that step of faith you're just like the king the faithless King in Israel hey how does God feel about it when he comes with a great miracle when you hear what the Lord is doing and you still want to sit on the premises you know they did that in the Book of Numbers when God had made the way for them to go into the Promised Land the very first time when they were camped at Kadesh Barnea they had been out of Egypt for about a year and a half they had gotten the Ten Commandments and now God says we're ready to move into the Promised Land but they spied out the land the twelve spies ten faithless spies two faithful spies Joshua and Caleb and they came back after 40 days of spying out the land and they said what will answered land God wasn't lying about the land being filled with milk and honey let me tell you something about the land there are giants in that land there's no way we can go up against the Giants cuz they're just gonna do we're like grasshoppers they're like Giants and Joshua and Caleb said hey by all means we should go up and fight them because God has given us the land but the people said oh we're not going weird there's no way we can go and then they got mad at God and what did they want to do they wanted to kill Moses and Aaron and Joshua and Caleb they can't attack God so let's kill God's people let's appoint a new leader and let's go back to Egypt and God showed up and God was ticked off and God says in numbers chapter 14 verse 11 how long will this people spurn me and how long will they not believe in me despite all the signs which I have performed in their midst and God told Moses get out of the way Moses I'm gonna wipe them out Moses interceded for the people God was gonna destroy them all God was angry with the people why will you not believe me God says you've seen me do so much you've seen me part the Red Sea you see me bring the plagues on the Egyptians you've seen me rain down manna upon you you've seen all this and yet you still refuse to believe me some of you're here and you're like that you're just like that you're just still well I just still need to evaluate well what else do you need faith takes a step site stays seated indifference number four faith enjoys the victory and site gets trampled verse 13 the King says where we shouldn't go because you know it's a trap verse 13 and one of the servants answered and said please let some men take five of the horses which remain which are left in the city behold that will be in any case like all the multitude of Israel who are left in it I mean but we're all gonna die here King let's at least go out and check it out and he says verse 14 they took therefore two chariots with horses and the king sent after the army of the aramean saying go and see and they went after them to the Jordan and behold all the way was full of clothes and equipment which the Arameans had thrown away in their haste then the messengers returned and told the king so the people went out and plundered the camp of the Arameans then a measure of fine flour watch this a measure of fine flour was sold for a shekel and two measures of barley for a shekel according to the word of the Lord that he had given 24 hours previous through Elisha the prophet now the King appointed the Royal officer on whose hand he leaned to have charge of the gate but the people trampled on him at the gate and he died just as the man of God had said who spoke when the king came down to him hey you walk by faith and you get to experience the blessings of God the victory of God the abundance of God the goodness of God but if you walk by sight you're gonna be like that Royal officer you're gonna see what the Lord is doing to other people but you're not going to experience it and when he heard wow had this happened just like just like he likes just said and Here I am no way Jose okay let me open up the gate and they just flooded to get the food and trampled him and he was dead that's what happens when you mock the Word of God that's what happens when you call God a liar that's what happens when you say God you're too puny you're too powerless to do something in this situation then that miracle passes you by you don't want to be like that you want to be a person who gets in on what God wants to do cuz God's a good guy without faith it is impossible to please God for the one who comes to God must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of those who seek Him and God says I have good things for you now watch if you don't take a step of faith if the lepers had just said well I don't think I don't think it's gonna happen let's just all hunker down let's just sit here we're just waiting for you God to do something and gods saying you need to get out there you need to take a step of faith some of you might be looking for a job well I'm just I'm just waiting for the phone to ring well if you send anybody your resume well no just waiting for them to find me Ellie you're like the pastor's they buy a raffle ticket I mean you do something God will not do what you can do you cannot do what he can do and when you take that step of faith you experience the victory when you say listen I know this is impossible but impossible is I'm possible with God and God I'm gonna trust you and I'm gonna believe you and even if it doesn't work out cuz nobody bats a thousand nobody gets it all right nobody always understands everything that God is doing we can miss it on a situation but you say God I'm missing by faith I'm trusting you by faith and if you want to do something else then that's that's in your prerogative to do your god I'm just gonna follow you but when you have that kind of heart then God loves to work in that kind of heart in that person's life my sister Val is a couple years older than me and the Lord has done such a great work in her life in the last several years and she watches us every Sunday live strain she's watching now and I got her permission to share this story but when we were doing the money series God really spoke to her heart because she doesn't have a lot of money and she has a lot of medical issues she doesn't make very much money and so money is something that was really an issue for her and so she she would really watch her bank account tight and she would get nervous about her money well during the money series we talked about how you can't put your faith and trust in money you put your faith in God who provides for his children and it clicked in her heart and she saw him I've been trusting in this my bank account which doesn't have much in it I need to trust in God and she began to trust in the Lord and she began to give even when and it's you know just common sense would say no no you can't you can't tithe you can't do that because you got to hold on to it and she said I've been set free and she says this is just awesome this is wonderful God provides for me well she sent me this just the other day she said guess what I am so excited that I'm grasping for the right words I have been trusting God giving more than 10% of my tithe and things have really been great I have had more work and I can see God working in my financial life she said yesterday I got a check from a guy in our family and a note he said he hadn't felt right about taking the $4,300 from me he had helped her with her taxes and then she had paid him back and he said I didn't feel right about you paying me back and he said that he had prayed about it and decided to return it to her and that it wasn't up for discussion she said Wow when God shows up she said I'm so excited not about the money just about what happened she said the night before I had tithe double on a check for $500 then the next day I get a check that doubled my savings account I just can feel his love surrounding me it's awesome thanks for your part in all of this she is taking steps of faith and God is blessing her in that and God will do the same for you there's a story about true story about the animal called the African Impala the African Impala is a really cool animal an animal that can leap up to 30 feet it can jump 10 feet so it can go up 10 feet it can go out broad jump 30 feet have you ever watched on National Geographic or something those things are amazing you know the Lions are always going after the Impala but they're amazing creatures but you know you can take an African and Paul and you can put it in the zoo and you can put up a 3-foot wall and the Impala will never jump out you can go ten feet and go out 30 feet you could jump out any time I wanted to but you know why it doesn't because the African Impala will not jump unless it can see where its feet are going to land some of you are like that you're living inside this small space and you could get out but you like I don't know I can't see was over there and so I better just play it close to the vest psyched sees the obstacles faith sees the way sight sees the darkest night faith sees the day site dreads to take a step faith soars on high site questions who believe faith replies Christian life is a life of faith we walk with the Lord by faith and we enter into a relationship with him by faith listen I don't know where you are spiritually but God does and perhaps you're watching today and and you feel distant from God you don't have to be you can today put your faith and trust in the risen Savior and you can take your puny little hand of faith and put it in his great big hand of grace and experience a transformation on the inside that makes its way to the outside listen you can pray this prayer with me and come to know Jesus in a real and personal way just say from your heart Lord Jesus I need you I know that I'm a sinner and I'm lost and I can't save myself but Jesus I believe your God in the flesh I believe you died on the cross for my sins I believe you rose again from the dead and right now Jesus I ask you to come into my heart and life forgive me of my sins change me make me the person you want me to be I surrender all to you and I want you to be my Lord and my Savior and I commit to follow you all the days of my life my friend if you'll pray that kind of prayer from your heart and mean it the Lord will come in and your life will never be the same I'd love to hear from you to know that you're watching to know that God is using this broadcast to make a difference in your life to know that you just prayed that prayer to receive Christ as Savior and Lord please take the time to call that toll-free number on the screen write me email me let me know what's going on and how we can pray for you you really are important to God and you're important to us and we're here for you from his heart is the viewer supported broadcast ministry of dr. Jeff Shrieve who believes that no matter how badly you may have messed up in life God still loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life find out more when you go - from his heart Oh Archie [Music]
