If He woke you up this morning, give Him praise. Hallelujah. Isn't it good to be together? However we have to get together, let's keep
coming together. Forsake not the assembly of ourselves together. It's a difficult time to do that, but when
that Bible verse was written, they were being persecuted for their faith, cast out of their
community. So I'm just so grateful that we live in a
time where God has enabled us to share the message with you. I'm excited. I'm excited to share God's Word today. Honestly, sincerely, not in that preacher
kind of way. "Oh, I'm excited to share the…" No, not in a formal way. I really, really have something today that
I want to share with you, and I pray that God would enable me to speak it. Of course, I want to do a few shout-outs real
quick before we transition. Where are you coming from today? I know church is coming to you. You aren't coming to church today, but church
is coming to you. Somebody tell me where you're watching from
today. Okay. I see somebody from northeast Pennsylvania. Tell me your first name or what your friends
call you, because we're going to be friends. And tell me where you're watching from. Your first name or your nickname if it's appropriate
and where you're watching from. If it's hard to say, give me a pronunciation
guide, because I'm really bad at that. I'm trying to get through this, but it's coming
really fast. I see Hong Kong, Jamaica, the UK, Boston,
India, London. Even if you're watching this later, put it
in the comments, because I'll go through and read all of them, and when I'm bored, it'll
give me something to pray for. I can pray for you. I can look at your name and pray for you,
and I'll know where you're from, and that'll be cool. Michigan; Oklahoma; Santa Fe, New Mexico;
Romania. This always amazes me. Brazil, Dubai. Jeremy. Isn't that a Pearl Jam song? Let's see. We have Todd from Orlando. Hey, everybody do me a favor. I want you to say "Happy birthday" to Chunks
Corbett. He goes by "Chunks," and he's not overweight. That's the thing about it. He's ripped. He turned 43 today. He was walking around like he's 77, though. He said, "It's my hip flexor." Everybody say, "Happy birthday, Chunks." Holly, Amy, and Chunks are out here. Of course, we don't have a lot of people here. I think it's responsible for us to have as
few people as possible, but I just wanted to put some people I love in the room just
to remember that we're not alone. So happy birthday, Chunks. They're saying it from all over the world. I wish you could see it. Wow! This is more people than lived in Fernandina
Beach where you grew up. Are you watching it? Happy birthday, man. Father, we thank you for your love, and we
thank you for your mercy, the things that can't be changed and will never be taken away. I pray for all of these who are gathered today,
just even closer than if they were in the building. Lord, I thank you that the voice of your Word
is reaching right now to all of these men and women. I thank you that your joy is reaching right
now. We will rejoice in you and boast in you and
trust in you in this time. In Jesus' name, amen. Well, if you're allowed to hug the person
you're with, go ahead and give them a big hug, and let's get into the Word of God. Thank you, Jesus. Hey, I'm still getting used to this. This is still very new to me, preaching to
empty seats, but it's kind of cool, because obviously, there are more people running cameras
today than when I started preaching. One cool thing about going through something
that feels new is it makes you access something you may have started to take for granted. Like, little things. You find yourself grateful for little things. There are probably a lot of us who are getting
in touch with some things inside of ourselves during this time, maybe more than we want. It's like, "Oh, I just don't want to be alone
with myself." I'm kind of cool with not having to be around
too many people right now. I don't say that in a flippant way. I know it's a very serious situation in our
world. I was telling my friend the other day, I've
been trying to find a way to stop hugging people for a couple of years. I don't like hugging anymore. I used to like hugging, and now I only like
to hug people with the last name Furtick. I've been looking for a way out for years,
so that part kind of suits me. Of course, one of the things you really have
to get used to is the contrast. This right here is a contrast. When I preached last week and I came off of
the stage… Remember, there's nobody out here, so I'm
just looking at empty seats, and I have a screen with YouTube comments that are scrolling
from Penny and South Africa and Cape Town and Derek from South Carolina, and while all
this is happening, I'm just preaching to… I'm not saying you're nobody, but there are
not that many people out here. Of course, Holly is out here, and one Holly
is worth a million other people. Aside from having our amazing worship team
(and what a beautiful time that was in God's presence today), I'm not seeing anyone. So when I got off the stage last week, in
a way it was disorienting. One of our staff members was asking me, "What
did that feel like?" and I said, "It felt weird, but in a way, it felt familiar." When I started preaching, there would be three
kids, three seventh-grade kids. This is how I started. I would come out and preach, but I would try
to preach like it was a Billy Graham crusade. Chris and I grew up in small towns about two
hours apart, and we used to play music. We both had bands, and we would play music
at Christian clubs. Let me tell you what. That's a real paradox right there: a Christian
club. We played at one. I don't remember what it was called…Psalm
150 or PS150 or something like that. It was named after some Bible verse. There would be three people, five people. Ten people was a stadium. So for me, it's kind of getting back to my
roots, because I'm used to having to close my eyes to see. When I used to preach, the kids would be not
paying attention, probably because I wasn't interesting. I would have to close my eyes and just pretend. Or maybe it was something different than pretending. Maybe I was closing my eyes in order to have
a perspective that didn't come from what I saw with my natural eyes. So last week it was kind of cool, because
I was preaching, and I was picturing people gathered together needing a word from God
and needing encouragement, and I was picturing people who normally may not come to church,
but they need something for their soul during this time. There are very few other options for entertainment,
so here they come over. I'd be picturing people who maybe have been
drinking too much to numb the anxiety or maybe they've been fighting a lot in the house or
maybe they've been lonely all by themselves. So I'm preaching kind of to an empty room,
but when I walked off the stage, my staff member said to me, "What did it feel like
to preach to the most people you've ever preached to in your life?" I said, "I didn't know I was doing it." He said, "Yeah. The equivalent of who was on at that live
service…" This was just the first one on Sunday. It was the equivalent of Bank of America Stadium
where the Panthers play. He said there were so many people on that
stream, Spectrum, which is where I went to see U2, was the overflow room. That's how many people I was preaching to. What I thought was weird was the contrast
between what I was seeing with my eyes and what God was doing on the other side of the
screen. What hit me about it and what I want to share
with you about today a little bit is that God was doing the most when I was seeing the
least. I want to bring a word to you today about
how sometimes when we see the least God does the most. What were they singing earlier? "Even when I don't see it, you're working. Even when I don't feel it, you're working." No offense to Brother Leeland. I love his bridge that he put on the song,
but I would even put, "Especially when I don't see it, you're working." Especially. It doesn't sing as good. Probably should stay with even, but especially
in those moments when I see the least, feel the least, know the least, understand the
least, these are the spaces God creates for revelation of who he is. How would I know he's a way-maker if I never
needed a way made? How would I know he's a provider if I never
had a need? How would I know he was resurrection if I
never experienced death? So, we speak this word of the Lord to you
today, and I want to come from a passage of Scripture I shared with our leaders on Friday
night. We had a gathering of just under 5,000 of
our leaders just to encourage and strengthen the church, and I was sharing along the lines
of "You're positioned for a miracle." I mentioned it last week. That means we have to learn how to see in
our spirit what we cannot sense. This is such an important skill that I want
to devote my whole sermon to it today. Let me read you this story. It may be familiar to you, it may be not,
but just to jump right in the middle of it, in 2 Kings 6:15, the Book says, "When the
servant of the man of God got up and went out early the next morning, an army with horses
and chariots had surrounded the city." What he said next is something a lot of us
have been saying. Maybe we've been using different words. Maybe we've been using stronger language,
but he said, "Oh no, my lord!" Oh no! No. No. No. No. No. How many of y'all moms when you heard how
long they were canceling school…? "Oh no! No. No. No." How many of y'all when you met with your financial
adviser or clicked on your account…? "Oh no!" We feel that way, especially if we're worried
about symptoms or if we're struggling in an emotional way. "Oh no." I love how that's right there in the Bible. He's a servant of the man of God. Right? But his first response wasn't, "Praise God!" His first response was, "Oh no!" We want to pretend to be really spiritual. I see all of your prayer emojis, but you've
been having some other emojis too. You need to find that little devil emoji,
because really, what happened to the servant in the passage… Let me take a moment to set this up. Do you have anything else to do? I don't have anything else to do. We may as well just hang out for a little
while. He woke up to a different world than the one
he went to sleep in, and he said, "Oh no!" Now, if you've ever woken up to a different
world than the one you went to sleep in, you'll understand that it creates an impulse. Some people call it fear. I just call it humanity. It's just like, "Oh. Oh yeah." If you ever lost somebody, if they ever left
your life suddenly, whether they died or just went away, and you woke up to a different
world that didn't have them in it… Maybe you remember the first time you woke
up in a world without your dad. Maybe you remember the first time you woke
up in a world without a steady job. You remember the first time you woke up in
a world without the NBA. I remember when they started canceling everything
a couple of weeks ago, and I say it not in a humorous way, but when things get canceled
that you used to count on, it makes you question everything. So, whether it's something that we would say,
"Oh, it's entertainment" or it's this or it's that, it's just the feeling of, "Oh no!" Watch this question. It gets even more specific. "What shall we do?" That's where you find yourself today. I want to preach a message to you. "What do I do?" The servant asked the question, and the prophet
gives the answer in verse 16. He says, "'Don't be afraid. Those who are with us are more than those
who are with them.' And Elisha prayed…" We're going to get this prayer today, and
we're really going to pray it for the next seven days. Until I see you again in this format, we're
going to pray this prayer over those we love, and we're going to pray this prayer over ourselves. Here's the prayer. I've been putting this on all of my text messages,
because I have business leaders in my church who are like, "Oh no! What do we do?" I have doctors in our church who are like,
"Oh no! What do we do?" I don't have the answer, so this is the prayer. This is the prayer I want us to pray right
about now: "'Open his eyes, Lord, that he may see.' Then the Lord opened the servant's eyes, and
he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha." I love that text so much. I love how God was protecting his servant,
and I love how God was more powerful than the enemy, and I love how no weapon formed
against us shall prosper. I love all of that, but sometimes when you're
in a real situation or circumstance the clichés don't comfort you very much. I didn't know what to call this message, but
I did flash back just reading this passage to the other night. Abbey, who is our 9-year-old… All of y'all who are a part of the church
kind of know my kids. I have a 9-year-old, 12-year-old, and 14-year-old. Abbey is the most prone to come downstairs
in the middle of the night and wake us up because she got scared. She came downstairs the other day, and she
was trembling about something. Something fell over in the bathroom. I wasn't quite asleep yet. If I had been totally asleep, I would have
done the spiritual thing and said, "Tell your mom." True story. But I still wasn't asleep, so I said, "Come
here, baby girl." You know, I'm a real good dad. I said, "Get up on my chest and sit here." I said, "What's wrong?" She said, "I'm scared. Something fell over. Something is in the bathroom." I said, "Baby, nothing is in the bathroom. Besides, even if it is, you're here with me
now." I said, "Feel this." She gave me a little squeeze, because we have
this game we play: the squishy wall, the bricky wall. I said, "Feel the bricky wall." She started to laugh a little bit. She's still crying, though. I said, "There's nothing in your bathroom,
and even if there is, you're with me now." She said, "I'm still scared." I love kids. I'm going to call this message I'm Still Scared. While it's easy to quote Scriptures like "Don't
be afraid," let's look at it for a moment and take a perspective, because we're having
a hard time even dealing with just a virus right now, but this is not an invisible virus. This is horses and chariots that came to get
the man of God in Dothan. This is like, "I went to sleep; we were good. I woke up; we were surrounded." "I went to sleep; I had a job. I woke up; I didn't. I went to sleep and things were well. I woke up to a different world." He asked him a question, and it's a reasonable
question. Right? This is the man of God. This is the preacher. This is the guy who speaks and God provides. This is the guy who speaks and God supplies. So he asks the question to the right person. He says, "What do we do?" Now watch the answer the man of God gives
the servant. He says, "Don't be afraid." Well, that's cute. Appreciate it. Thanks a lot. You know how people give you advice that makes
you want to slap them? "Well, I hadn't thought of that." This is the time for well-meaning Christians
to shut up a little bit. You know, "Oh, you lost your job? God will provide." That's fine in certain contexts, but sometimes… I want you to see how Elisha does this. Sometimes it's more important what we don't
do than what we do do. Sometimes what I won't do in a season where
I'm uncertain is even more important than what I do. Let's follow the text. I really want to take our time. We don't have another service coming in, so
we can just do this right. He said, "What shall we do?" and then the
prophet said, "Don't…" The man said, "What shall we do?" and the
prophet said, "Don't…" I want to ask you a question. What won't you do? In a time where so many are desperate and
we're all kind of fearful… We all feel scared. If you're not scared right now, I'm scared
of you. If you're not scared right now, you are some
kind of evil cyborg robot come to destroy the planet, and I want you quarantined. To have flesh means to feel fear. So, while he's wondering, "What does this
new world I woke up to mean and what do we do?" the prophet starts by saying, "Don't…" Maybe for you it goes like this right now:
"I won't lash out at the people closest to me because of the fear I feel about what's
going on outside of me." Maybe it's like that. What won't you do? What a question. Right? What do we do? Well, the first thing you have to do is decide
what you won't do. I won't make irrational stories up in my mind. I won't spend three hours reading conspiracy
theories on Twitter and then ask the Lord, "Now I lay me down to sleep. I pray the Lord my soul to keep." You gave your soul away that day! What I won't do is spend time in the hypothetical. What I won't do. What won't you do? I would have been annoyed with the prophet. I'm just being honest. "What do we do? What's the plan, man? What do you want me to do? Do we fight them? There are so many of them. It's just me and you." And by this time, Elisha is kind of old. "You know you can't fight, so it's just me
versus all of them. What do we do? What's the plan? What's the strat? What do we do? What's the deal? What do we do? What to do?" "All right. Don't be afraid." "That's not working for me right now. How do I do that? How do I don't be afraid? I'm not afraid. I'm not afraid. I'm not afraid. I'm not afraid. Still scared." She said, "I'm still scared. I know you're with me. I'm still scared. There's still something in my bedroom. I'm still 9. I'm still weak." "I've still got bills. I still have to show up at the grocery store
and work. I still have a relative who's 84 years old
who's starting to cough, and I wonder if I will get to see her again. I'm still scared." So why does he say, "Don't be afraid"? Okay. I want to teach a little bit. It's almost impossible to be strategic when
you're scared, so the first thing we have to do as people of faith… I use that term not to mean as optimists or
people who believe in fairy tales or people who float on clouds of cotton candy through
the burning seas of sulfur and suffering in this world because we know Jesus. I don't mean that kind of faith. I don't mean formulaic faith. I don't mean the answer kind of faith; I mean
the better question kind of faith. What do we do? Well, what do we don't? We don't give way to despair. What good would that do? I know another thing we don't do. We don't minimize the sufferings of others. We don't do that. And how about this? We don't compare what somebody else is going
through with what we're going through. We don't start running around just saying
dumb stuff. Do you know what we don't do? We don't get on YouTube and comment how this
is God's judgment. We don't speak about things we don't know. That's above our pay grade. "It's the judgment of God." What? Somebody's mother died, and you want to be
some kind of closet theologian, some kind of armchair, rookie, amateur theologian? Keep your day job. God is God. So I'm not going to try to be God. That's his job. Do you remember Holly's story that she preached
one time? She told about these boys who were fighting. This is a good quarantine story for all of
y'all who have real kids who don't have halos and harps, and all that, and they fight sometimes. Even though you pray for them, they fight
sometimes. Two brothers were fighting, and the mom said,
"What are y'all fighting about?" One of them had a sandwich and wouldn't cut
it in half and share it. She said, "Y'all need to share. Be like Jesus. Jesus would share." The boy who had the sandwich looked at it,
and he took a bite out of it and said, "You be Jesus. You can share. I'm going to take a bite." When my wife preached that message, her message
was "Let God Be God." Let God be God. You be Jesus. You be humble. You be trusting. Jesus had a "nevertheless" attitude toward
his relationship with his Father. He was like, "I don't want to go to the cross. I don't want to drink this cup. Nevertheless, not my will but yours be done." So you be Jesus. But what I won't do in this situation is just
as important as what I will do. The Holy Spirit is on that statement right
now. Reflect on it. What won't you do? "What are we going to do?" What won't you do? I won't live in fear. I may feel fear; I won't live in it. I may experience sensations of fear. I felt my breath getting short the other day
before I stood up to preach. Somebody asked me, "How long were you preaching
before you stopped feeling scared?" I said, "I'm still scared…every time I preach." I was shaking before I came out here today. I know how to control my shake so you don't
see it, but my hands still shake when they're in my pockets. This is important to me. Somebody is discouraged, depressed. Somebody is on the edge, and I get to preach
the Word. That's important to me. I don't want to be the weak link of what God
wants to give to you. I don't want to come out here and miss the
mark of what God wants to say. I'm still scared, but it doesn't have to stop
me. What I'm saying is not that I won't feel fear,
not that I won't have questions, not that sometimes in my mind, when I'm praying prayers,
I won't pray prayers that really don't even sound like prayers. I'm praying prayers like, "Oh crap!" I'm praying prayers like, "Please, God." I'm not walking around the house all the time
with my hands lifted, but I won't stop worshiping. I won't stop praising. I won't stop. That's what I won't do. I won't stop. I won't back down. I will not give in. I will not surrender. I will not give away my joy. I will not give away my peace. My peace was purchased with the blood of Christ. It's too expensive. You can't have it. It's too valuable. It's the only treasure I have. It's the only thing that moths can't eat up
and thieves can't steal. I might be scared, but I'm still going to
stand on the Word of the Lord. I won't bow to your statue, Nebuchadnezzar. I won't bow. Put me in a fire if you have to. Tie up my hands and throw me in a furnace. This is Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. They said, "The God we serve is able to deliver
us, and we know that he will, but even if he doesn't, I will not bow. The only thing the fire is going to do is
burn off what you tied me up with." God said, "I'm setting you free in this season. I'm going to use the fire to set you free. I'm going to set you free from addiction. I'm going to set you free from bad priorities. I'm going to set you free from distractions." So that's what the man said. He said, "Don't be afraid." You can feel fear. It can ride in the car, but it can't drive. I can't wait to hear testimonies on this message,
because you have been letting that joker drive. You have been letting that crook, that robber,
that thief, that Devil have your life and your peace and your joy. He said, "Here's what we're not going to do." He said, "Don't be afraid." Now, who says it is just as important as what
is said. How many will agree? If my 14-year-old says to me, "Don't worry,
Dad. God has got this," I'm like, "Eh." When my mom says it, it has more weight because
of who said it. Elisha's ministry, you have to remember, was
a prophetic ministry. It's not about telling the future; it's about
seeing the invisible. Would you agree with me that one of the lessons
God is trying to get us to learn right now…? I'm sure there are many lessons we'll understand
because of what we're going through as a society, but would you agree with me that one of the
lessons he's trying to get us to learn is that sometimes what we can't see is more important
than what we can see? I mean, just even thinking about it… Like, how I stood on the stage last week and
preached and what was happening on the other side of what I could see was significant. At the same time, the entire economy is rocking
and reeling because of an invisible virus. The Bible started to get real to me when I
thought about Scriptures that used to sound good, but now they make more sense. "We wrestle not against flesh and blood but
against spiritual wickedness, principalities, rulers." What he's trying to say is what we're fighting
that we can see has to first be approached at the level we can't see. God is trying to show us some things today. Watch this. Not only does he tell him, "Don't be afraid…" And this is not coming from a man who has
never had to face fear before. This is coming from a prophet who had to walk
into a widow's house… If you want to do a Bible study this week,
if you get tired of watching Tiger King, read 2 Kings 4. This is the same guy who said, "Don't be afraid"
to the servant when they were surrounded by the armies of Aram who came to lock him up
because of what he could see. He had to walk into a woman's house who said,
"I'm about to go into debt. My husband is dead. I have nothing to pay it with, and I have
nothing in my house at all except a little oil." This prophet Elisha had the ability to see
in a little bit what the woman could not see because she was looking through a different
lens. A lot of us have thought of faith as being
this way we manipulate God, but now we find ourselves in a season where we can't control
almost anything. We can't control what's open and what's closed. We can't control, at some level, what happens
in foreign markets that affects us at home, what happens in foreign places. So, in this season of what we can't control,
we have to redefine faith. I thought faith was like a lever. Picture this. When we pull the lever… You know, "Have faith. Give him a praise. When praises go up, blessings come down." It's transactional. It's like jackpot Jesus. It's like, "Yes, Lord!" Like, "I'm going to pray my kid is going to
make straight A's. I'm going to pray and my headache is going
to go away. I'm going to pray." But see, faith is not a lever; faith is a
lens, a way of seeing your situation. Sometimes faith changes the situation; sometimes
faith changes the way you see the situation. Sometimes God changes it; sometimes he changes
me. Either way, even when I don't see it, even
when I don't feel it, especially when I don't see it, especially when I don't feel it, and
when I don't know it… What do I do? Don't be afraid. What the prophet told the woman in 2 Kings
4 is what he's practicing in 2 Kings 6. Some of us are getting to put into practice
for ourselves what we preach to others. We preach about peace. We preach about God's power. Now we get to prove that what God showed us
in the light is true in the darkness, that what God showed us on the mountain is true
in the valley, that what God showed us the night before is still true the next morning. When that woman went around to her neighbors
and got all of these jars and the oil started flowing, the only limitation to what God could
provide was her capacity to receive it. That's still true. So, now Elisha knows that if this man's heart
is filled with fear he can't operate in faith, because you can't be strategic when you're
scared. That's why it's so important what he says
next, that we have a perspective. This is a prayer for perspective. I put it on Instagram the other day, because
the Lord told me that 2 Kings 6:17 is a prayer for perspective. Watch this. The servant was asking for protection. "What do we do?" God gave him perspective. "What do you see?" "What do I do?" starts with "What do you see?" If the Enemy can keep you from seeing the
blessings, he can keep you stuck in a place of brokenness. If he can keep you from seeing the advantages
or the opportunities, he can keep you running. That's a very important thing. When your vision of who God is is obscured
by what you're going through, something very small can block out something much bigger. Something very small can block out something
much bigger. How could I illustrate this? I'm going to try to illustrate this real quick. This is very small, but what you're supposed
to see you can't see. This is very small. Right? Something very small can block out something
much bigger. Now you can't see anything that's supposed
to be seen. Something very small. Maybe it's no coincidence that I'm using this
iPhone that has got some of y'all with stomach ulcers because you won't come off of it and
see what's right around you or you won't use that Bible app. You have that other app open. What's it called? Insta…what? It's not Instagram right now. It's like Insta-gross. It just makes me feel… If I stay on it too long, it's like I'm in
an alternate reality, and now I can't see what is invisible. Something small can block out something bigger. Okay. Is that camera on? We didn't plan any of this, so pray for your
preacher right now. Pray for the cameramen. I'm still six feet apart, by the way. I want y'all to know that. I'm just showing you this illustration, how
something small… This is what 1 Kings 19 says about it. Elijah, who was the great man of God who taught
Elisha everything he knows in 2 Kings 6, because this is nothing new, because the same God
who delivered me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will deliver me from
this uncircumcised Philistine too… The only reason Elisha knew what to see in
the situation he'd never been in before was he had followed the great man of God, Elijah,
the prophet, the one who called down fire on Mount Carmel. Do you remember that Bible story? He said, "If God is God, serve him. If Baal is God, serve him. Choose this day who you will serve." God answered by fire. Eight hundred fifty false prophets, the prophets
of Asherah, had to bow their knees. When Elijah got done with that miracle, he
went up on a mountain and prayed. Now listen to this about perspective. We're talking about perspective. He said, "I hear the sound of the abundance
of rain. I hear something I can't see. I know something I can't see." When his servant went to check the sky, he
said, "I know you said you heard something, but there's nothing there." Elijah said to his servant what we need to
say to our souls. "Go back and look again. Go back and look again." "Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: rejoice." Say it again. Check it again. Look again. Go again. Look again. Say it again in the chat. Say it again in the comments. Say it again. "God is good." Say it again. "The Lord is my shepherd." Say it again. "God is with me." Say it again. "He has not left me." Say it again. "I've never seen the righteous forsaken." Say it again. "He is the Bread of Life." Say it again. "He's a way maker." Say it again. "He's a miracle worker." When he checked the seventh time, he saw something
very small, a cloud the size of a man's hand. Something so small. Three and a half years of drought came to
an end because of something very small. But do you know what's weird? When Jezebel, Ahab's wife… Ahab was the wicked king. Jezebel was the one really running the show. One preacher said the last decision Ahab ever
made was "I do," because after that Jezebel took over. She would kill the prophets. She was much more ruthless than Ahab was. When Jezebel heard what Elijah had done, she
sent a messenger to Elijah to say, "May the gods deal with me, be it ever so severely,
if by this time tomorrow I do not make your life like one of them." "I'm going to kill you." But she couldn't. There are certain things the Devil can't do
to you, but if he can get you to believe it, he doesn't even have to do it. If he can get you to get so blocked by something
small… How could something so small…? Look at what Elijah, the great man of God,
did in verse 3. Elijah was afraid, so he fled, and he ran,
and he ran, and he ran. Jezebel couldn't kill him. So since she couldn't kill him, all she could
do was convince him. I believe this message is prophetic in the
sense that you are allowing something small to block out something bigger. I promise you right now: God's calling is
bigger than any crisis. Trust me on that and read your Bible if you
don't believe me. That's how I can go through it: because I
know God's calling is bigger. Why would I let something small block out
something big when he hung the stars and named them? Why would I refuse to lift my eyes to the
hills when I know where my help comes from? There is something bigger. There is something greater. There is something other on the other side
of this. I wonder what's on the other side of this
that is so big the Enemy sent a storm to disrupt your peace, to destroy your joy. God is with us in this place right now. Do you feel that? The prophet said, "Those who are with us are
more than those who are with them." He must have went to public school. This dude is bad at math. Elisha is bad at math. The servant is like, "Huh?" Because he's counting. Right? He's like, "Those with us are more than those
with them. All right. So, one, two," and then he starts counting
the enemy. "One, two, three, four, five, six, seven,
eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve…" I know somebody is sitting there listening,
like, "Well, Preacher, this is cool. This is neat. But have you seen the news?" I'm like, "Yeah, I saw it." I see the statistics, but what good is it
going to do for me to be afraid? I want to be aware, but there's a fine line
between aware and afraid. Let me just say this, and we can edit it out
if it's too strong. I think it's dangerous when we start watching
a death count on a ticker like it's a score in a baseball game. I think that kind of crosses a line. I think it puts us in a state where we have
made entertainment out of misery, and then we become addicted to being afraid, and it
kind of feels comfortable. It's like, "Oh, this is normal." Do you know one of the reasons Elijah ran
from Jezebel? He was used to running. He had been hiding for three and a half years,
so he did what came naturally. A lot of us, when we get in a fear state,
it's because it feels familiar to us. This is like group therapy, isn't it? To know that sometimes we feel more familiar
in a state of fear than we do in a state of faith. What the prophet gave him was a different
way to do math. I wrote in my notes, "This is miracle math." Miracle math is like this. Are you ready? "There's more of us than them." Huh? Close your eyes and you'll see it. I'm not talking about what you can see; I'm
talking about what's more real than what you can see. Close your eyes and you'll see it. This is miracle math. It's like Gideon. "You have too many men." "Too many men? I'm going to fight a battle. That's exactly what I need: soldiers." "No, you have too many, because if you go
in with this many men, you will think it was you who won the battle." When he gets down to 300, God says, "Now go
in the strength that you have." "Now go." It's miracle math. It's like Jesus. There are 5,000 men and women and children. What do you have? Five loaves and two fish. It's not enough. Right? It depends on whose calculator you're using. This is not Texas Instruments; this is the
Son of God. "Put it in my hands." "What do you have in your house?" "A little bit of oil." A little bit of time, a little bit of sanity,
a little bit of praise, just a weak Wi-Fi connection, but I'm hooked up, hooked in to
the presence of God, and God is a multiplier, and God is enough, and God is with me. This is miracle math! "How long has he been dead?" "Three days." That's just right. This is miracle math! God said, "Do a recalculation." I thought I was outnumbered, but I'm not. I thought it was over, but it's not. I thought it was done, but it's not. This is miracle math. The word of the Lord came to the servant and said,
"There's more with us than with them," and then here's
the prayer. Look at this. Miracle math. How many of you praise God for this word? We really need this in our lives right now. He prayed after he encouraged him, "Don't
be afraid." He said, "Open his eyes." There's the prayer. That's not a physical statement. His eyes were working just fine. That's why he was scared. He was like, "My vision is 20/20, bro. I don't know what you're looking at." He was like, "No, no, no, no. Open his eyes." Paul called it the eyes of your heart. Perspective. Now, when the servant looked again (verse
17)… This is the whole message. He opened his eyes after the Lord granted
Elisha's request. "…and he looked and saw the hills full of
horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha." Let me tell you what's really wonderful about
that verse. When Elisha prayed, help did not come; help
was already there. When
he prayed, "Open his eyes so that he may see," the Lord only had to show him what was already
there. We can pray for provision, and that's wonderful. We can pray for healing, and we should. We really need to pray for everybody who's
a nurse or a doctor or a clerk or a law enforcement officer, our first responders, all of it. We need to pray for each other, but the thing
we need to pray for more than anything else is perspective. We're coming into a time where what is invisible
is more valuable than what is visible, when everything that can be shaken will be shaken
so that that which cannot be shaken will remain. We're coming to a time where peace is more
profitable than Bitcoin. We're coming to a time where joy cannot rest
on external circumstances. When he looked, he saw the hills full of horses. They were already full. He just couldn't see it. He saw the hills full of chariots of fire. The fire was already burning. Do you know what didn't happen when he prayed? I don't know if you want to hear this or not,
but it's true and I need to say it. God did not answer Elisha's prayer by eliminating
the enemy. Instead, he illuminated his presence. Faith is not a lever I pull. "God, make it stop." Faith is a lens I look through to see that
God has been there the whole time. He's with you right now. "But I'm still scared." Abbey said, "I'm still scared." "Then just stay with me, and whatever is going
on up there…" Whatever is going on out there, you need to
stay with your Father right now. You need to stay in faith right now. The only way we can really deal with fear… If we stay in fear, we stay in frustration,
and then we get stupid, because you are not very strategic when you're scared. So don't be afraid. The only way to do that is to change the focus. The situation did not change in 2 Kings 6;
the focus did. The only way I know to stop being afraid is
to change what I'm focused on. I just need us right now to begin to ask the
Lord to illuminate. Not eliminate. "O God, take the fear away." It doesn't work like that. "O God, give me all of the answers. Tell me the plan. I need the strategy." God said, "Before I give you the strategy,
I want to give you your sight and shine light on your situation." Lord, shine your light in our hearts to show
us who you are, not who we thought you were. Show us what it means to believe that you
are able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or imagine. Right now in the chat or in the comments as
a prayer say, "Open my eyes. Open my eyes to see that there's more for
me than against me." You're like, "Pastor, that's really cute,
but that cliché is not very comforting right now. I feel alone." I know you feel alone, but you're not alone. Even if you're alone physically, and even
if you're trying to figure out how to provide for a lot of people right now (many of us
are; I'm right there with you)… The Scripture says, "If God is for you, who
can be against you?" The math goes like this. Me and God is greater than anything I face. Us and God, the church and God. We're not alone. Right now we're together. Right now, in this moment, together. Right now we're fighting together, worshiping
together, spreading the word of the Lord together. Right now. We have more reasons to trust God than we
do to doubt him. We have more victories behind us than we do
reasons to fear in front of us. Do you hear me? We have more reasons to be grateful right
now than we do to be afraid right now. So come on, and let's just with a perspective
of praise and with wide open eyes and even with lifted hands… Come on, let your kids see you worshiping
God. Let your kids see how you fight your battles. Let your kids see how you make it through
a storm. Let a generation behold that we are that generation
that will declare the works of the Lord, and there are more for us than against us. He is a mighty God, a present help. I prophesy over your life today! You might be scared, but that doesn't stop
the presence of the Lord. Thank you, Jesus. He is doing the most when we feel it the least. I come to you today in Jesus' name from Elevation
Church to let you know you're not alone. God is with you and we are with you and you
are not alone. "But I'm still scared." But you're not alone. "But I'm still scared." But he's got you in the palm of his hand. "How do you know that? How do you know he's got me? How can you say that?" I say it by faith, not by feeling. I thank God for his presence with us in this
moment. If you receive this word right now, just say,
"I receive it. I receive it. I receive it. I receive it by faith. I receive joy, peace, wisdom." Amen. Wow. I can't wait to read all the comments and to see how God is using this message. Will you share it right there in the comments how God is using this message? Because I'm gonna come right out of here and I'm gonna look and see. And I want to hear from you a testimony of what you received from the Lord today. God is changing our focus and one of the very best things we can do in this season is to continue to move the gospel forward. How many believe that? That we've got to keep moving forward by faith? No. We can't be those who shrink back. We can't be those who start to go within ourselves. And even-- Y'all calm down before I start singing "Way Maker" again. Bring it down. But I want to show you something before I have to go. And in just a moment they're going to show you a little clip because I want you to know that this church, this ministry has never had more opportunity to reach more people. And God has been opening my eyes. You know, not every church right now is able to meet online like this. So many churches weren't ready for this. And, you know how sometimes when you're just praying like "God, what do I do? What do I do? What do I do? What are you gonna do for me? How are you gonna do it for me?" God's like "How about asking me what I wanna do through you?" That's like our whole church vision statement. "See what God can do through you". So one of the ways we shift the focus and get our eyes open is to look around and see how God can use us. And I want to thank all of you who give, who serve, who share the gospel. And this week I wanted to make a move of faith for our church and I want to show you what God did through you this week. This is for those who give. This is for those who call this their church and don't just call it that but invest in it like it's that. Where your treasure is, your heart is also. And this week, I asked our team for outreach. Not just the meals that they feed-- it's been hundreds of thousands of meals-- and all of the hygiene kits and all of the ways that we're supporting the teachers in our communities. It's really amazing. But God put it on my heart to help a few churches. And we looked through the many relationships that God has given us in the church, and I was able to get on with our team for a Zoom call with some pastors this week and just bless them on your behalf. And if this doesn't bring a tear to your eye, I'm gonna come check your pulse after this stream ends. But I want you to watch this and know, there are more for us than against us. And somebody put it in the chat right now, we are not alone. Check this out!
