When God's Word confronts our world

Good morning. Today we are going to be reading from Two Kings. We're going to start in chapter 6 from verse 24.

So, sometime later, Ben-Hadad, king of Aram, mobilized his entire army and marched up and laid siege to Samaria.

There was a great famine in the city. The siege lasted so long that a donkey's head sold for 80 shekels of silver

and a quarter cab of seed pods for five shekels. As the king of Israel was passing by on the wall,

a woman cried out to him, Help me, my lord, the king. The king replied, If the lord does not help you,

where can I get help for you? From the threshing floor? From the wine press? Then he asked her,

What's the matter? She answered, This woman said to me, Give up your son so we may eat him today,

and tomorrow we'll eat my son. So we cooked my son and ate him.

The next day I said to her, Give up your son so we may eat him. But she had hidden him.

When the king heard the woman's words, he tore his robes. As he went along the wall,

the people looked and they saw that underneath his robes he had sackcloth on his body. He said,

May God deal with me, be it ever so severely, if the head of Elisha, son of Shaphat,

remains on his shoulders today. Now Elisha was sitting in his house, and the elders were sitting

with him. The king sent a messenger ahead, but before he arrived, Elisha said to the elders,

Don't you see how this murderer is sending someone to cut off my head? Look, when the messenger comes,

shut the door and hold it shut against him. Is it not the sound of his master's footsteps behind him?

While he was still talking to them, the messenger came down to him. The king said,

This disaster is from the Lord. Why should I wait for the Lord any longer?

Elisha replied, Hear the word of the Lord. This is what the Lord says. About this time tomorrow,

a seer of the finest flour will sell for a shekel, and the two seers of barley for a shekel at the

gate of Samaria. The officer on whose arm the king was leaning said to the man, Look, even if the Lord

should open the floodgates of the heavens, could this happen? You will see it in your own eyes,

answered Elisha, but you will not eat any of it. Now there were four men with leprosy at the entrance

of the city gate. They said to each other, Why stay here until we die? If we say we'll go into the

city, the famine is there, and we will die. And if we stay here, we will die. So let's go over to the

camp of the Arameans and surrender. If they spare us, we live. If they kill us, then we die.

At dusk they got up and went to the camp of the Arameans. When they reached the edge of the camp,

no one was there. For the Lord had caused the Arameans to hear the sound of chariots and horses

and a great army, so that they said to one another, Look, the king of Israel has hired the Hittite

and Egyptian kings to attack us. So they got up and fled in the dusk and abandoned their tents and

horses and donkeys. They left the camp as it was and ran for their lives. The men who had leprosy

reached the edge of the camp, entered one of the tents and ate and drank. They took silver,

gold and clothes and went off and hid them. They returned and entered another tent and took some

things from it and hid them also. Then they said to each other, What we're doing is not right.

This is a day of good news and we are keeping it to ourselves. If we wait until daylight, punishment

will overtake us. Let us go at once and report this to the royal palace. So they went and called

out to the city gatekeepers and told them, We went into the Aramean camp and no one was there,

not a sign of anyone, only tethered horses and donkeys, and the tents left just as they were.

The gatekeepers shouted the news and it was reported within the palace. The king got up in the night

and said to his officers, I will tell you what the Arameans have done to us. They know we are starving,

so they have left the camp to hide in the countryside, thinking, They will surely come out,

and then we will take them alive and get into the city. One of his officers answered, Make some men

take five of the horses that are left in the city. Their plight will be like that of all the Israelites

left here. Yes, they will only be like all these Israelites who are doomed. So let us send them to

find out what has happened. So they selected two chariots with their horses, and the king sent

them after the Aramean army. He commanded the drivers, Go and find out what has happened.

They followed them as far as the Jordan, and they found the whole road strewn with the clothes and

equipment the Arameans had thrown away in their headlong flight. So the messengers returned and

reported to the king. Then the people went out and plundered the camp of the Arameans. For a sea of the finest flour sold for a shekel,

of the finest flour sold for a shekel, and two seas of barley sold for a shekel, as the Lord had said.

Now the king had put the officer on whose arm he leaned in charge of the gate, and the people trampled

him in the gateway, and he died, just as the man of God had foretold when the king came down to his house.

It happened as the man of God had said to the king, About this time tomorrow, a sea of the finest flour

will sell for a shekel, and two seers of barley for a shekel at the gate of Samaria.

The officer had said to the man of God, Look, even if the Lord should open the floodgates of heaven,

could this happen? The man of God had replied, You will see it with your own eyes, but you will not

eat any of it. And this is exactly what happened to him, for the people trampled him in the gateway,

and he died. Let's pray. God and Father, we thank you for your word, and that it speaks to us,

and we thank you for Wayne and what he will bring out from this passage and the work that he's put

into it. And we pray that each one of us will be challenged and encouraged, and will go away,

having been blessed for hearing from your word. So we trust that to you, and we pray all these

things in Jesus' name. Amen. Well, super to be with you. Thank you so much for the opportunity

of being able to come and share with you, even though it's a bit different just now. It's great

still to be here. It's a little bit different than when I'm normally here on a Sunday morning,

but I have to see you by faith this morning or this evening, whatever this is. I've got to see

you by faith. So we're operating by faith, even as we get into this here today. But just as we were

praying just a minute ago, God's word is not shackled. It's not bound. It's not restricted in

any way because of all of this. And so we're praying that as we dive into the word just now,

that it's going to have a real super impact in all of our lives. Okay. My title for today is

When God's Word Collides With Our World. Okay. So maybe you can have a sense of where I'm going with

that. Okay. Is that giving your curiosity a little bit of a pinch? When God's word collides

with our world and our world is pretty wild just now. So I'm hoping that where we're going to go

here in the, in the study today is, is going to really help us and stretch us. And the goal

of what I want to try and do here is a transformational goal. So always want God's word to try and transform

us. So I want to try and lead us to some transformation today as we look at God's word.

Okay. My text is from second Kings chapter six and seven. So if you have a Bible, turn it on or open

it up to second Kings chapter six to begin with. Okay. Second Kings chapter six, first and second Kings,

the book of Kings chronicles, this whole area of scripture. These are some of my favorite books

of the Bible, believe it or not, not because they're so full of godly people who are living

sold out lives for God. Um, on the contrary, really, because you couldn't have more of a mess

in one sense than what you have with these people at this particular point in time in their history.

In this particular point in time, in the redemptive story of God in the Bible, it's a first and second

Kings is pretty much of a mess. Um, and yet you also can't miss maybe more. So maybe more. So at a,

at a time like this, um, then normally in our lives, strangely enough, you can't miss the hand of God,

uh, in first and second Kings, you can't miss the hand of God. Can you, um, his voice, his work,

his power, his, his, his, his sovereign control are everywhere. They're everywhere in, in, in, in,

in first and second Kings in this particular part of, um, the Bible in some of the wildest

circumstances probably that we ever read of in, in scripture. Uh, the time here, second Kings chapter

six, the time is about 850 BC and Israel, God's people, God's nation, God's chosen ones, as strange

as that seems probably can't find a more dysfunctional group of people anywhere in the world,

but, um, they're God's people. He's chosen them to work out his program for blessing to the nations.

Um, they are nowhere near where they should be spiritually, um, at this point in time. In fact,

in fact, you could say it's an absolute spiritual disaster to be honest. Um, they have no concern

for God, uh, no desire to be obedient, no respect for God's word. They're, they're wandering further

and further away from the truth. And yet God continues to speak and he continues to love

and he continues to rescue because that's the way it goes. Um, right the way back when God chose

Abraham, this idol worshiping pagan man from Ur of the Chaldees, um, he didn't choose him because of

who Abraham was. The whole deal doesn't work because of who Abraham was. This, this salvation

program doesn't work because of who we are. It works because of who God is. Is that not fair?

It works because of who God is. And so God continues to speak. He continues to love. He continues in his

faithfulness. He continues to rescue his people wayward though they may be. And so we're going to look at

two chapters today. Okay. Chapter six and seven with two main events, both of which reveal two really

significant truths. Okay. Did you get that? Okay. Two lessons. So two chapters with two main events,

both of which reveal two really significant truths. And I'm going to give them to you up front. Okay.

So I'll give you the punchline first. Give them to you up front. Two significant truths. One,

how God delights to deliver his people from trouble. I'm going to try and couch this and apply this to

where we are right now in, in, in our own circumstances, which is not going to be hard to

do. Okay. Um, how God delights to deliver his people from trouble. That's number one. The second

significant truth is how crazy it is. In fact, seemingly sometimes how downright foolish it is

to doubt God's word, even when what he's saying seems to be the most ridiculous thing that you've

ever heard in light of your circumstances. Um, okay. I'll explain that as we go. Okay. So two scenes,

scene number one, scene number one is how God delivers his people here by gathering the Syrian army to

Samaria. Okay. You got that? How God delivers his people here by gathering the Syrian army to Samaria.

All right. Pick it up with me in verse eight, second Kings chapter six, verse eight. Now the king of Aram,

that's Syria was at war with Israel. And after conferring with his officers, he said, I will set up my camp

in such and such a place, but the man of God, and this is Elisha in this instance, the man of God,

Elisha sent word to the king of Israel. That's Jehoram. And he said, beware passing that place.

Because the Arameans are going down there. So the king of Israel checked on the place indicated by

the man of God. Time and again, Elisha warned the king so that he was on his guard in such places.

Now this enraged the king of Aram. And he summoned his officers and demanded of them,

tell me which of us is on the side of the king of Israel. None of us, my lord, the king said one of

his officers, but Elisha, the prophet who is in Israel tells the king of Israel, the very words

that you speak in your bedroom, right? I'm talking about an invasion of privacy, right? Tells the king

of Israel what you're seeing in your bed. Could have picked any room of the house, picked the bedroom.

Interesting, right? But can you see it? Can you see it? All right. The Arameans here are plotting,

they're planning, they're setting up their military strategy miles away, miles away from the eyes of

the enemy. Nobody knows what's going on. It's called the element of what? Surprise, right? The element of

surprise. The only trouble is here's the king of Israel being told by Elisha, who's being told by God,

who is in the Aramean war room, listening to their strategy. All that the Arameans are planning.

And the king of the Arameans flips, doesn't he? He flips. Verse 13 says, he says, all right, go and

find out where this Elijah is, where this Elisha is, so I can send men and capture him, right?

Right? I'll show him who's who. I'll show him who's who. Peeking into my bedroom, right? I'll show

him who's who. And the report came back, he's in Dothan. That's about 10 miles north of Samaria,

which is the capital city of the northern kingdom of Israel, right? Now hang on to that, okay? Because

you're going to see the significance of that in just a minute, okay? He's in Dothan, just

north of Samaria, capital city of the northern kingdom of Israel. So the king of Arameans sends

his horses, we're told, and his chariots, and a strong military force. Verse 14, a strong, okay,

this is significant, right? A strong military force. Verse 14, some translations say a great army.

All right? Now think about that for a minute, right? A great army for one guy. For one guy. This

is incredible. This is incredible. And they go by night, and they surround the city. What an awesome

sight this must have been. A great army for one guy. Surround the city. And then first thing in the

morning, we're told, verse 15, first thing in the morning, we're told, out comes poor Gehazi. Now

that's Elisha's servant, Gehazi. And out comes poor Gehazi, first thing in the morning. He's probably

still in his pajamas. I don't know. And he's going out for a stretch, whatever. And he looks up, right?

And what? He looks up, and they are surrounded by Arameans as far as the eye can see. So end of verse 15,

he cries out, oh no, my lord. That's Elisha, my lord. He called him my lord. Oh no, my lord.

What are we going to do? And the implication is that Elisha's now joined his servant on the veranda

or whatever with a totally different response. Look at it in verse 16. Oh lord, what are we going to do?

Elisha's, a totally different response. Surrounded by an army of Arameans who hate his guts. And he

says, don't be afraid. Because those who are with us are more than those who are with them.

Okay? Now hang on to that. Because you can almost see poor Gehazi. Think about it. Right? Elisha comes

out. Don't worry. Don't worry. Arameans everywhere. Don't worry. Don't worry. Those who are with us

don't even have to worry. Those who are with us are more than those who are with them. And poor Gehazi.

You can see him. He's clearing the sleep out of his eyes. He's trying to see what on earth

is this guy talking about. What did he have for breakfast? I don't know. Because all I can see is

Arameans. Right? All I can see is Arameans. Now mark this. Because the two points I gave you up

front were what? Remember? Two points I gave you up front was one, God delights to deliver his people

from trouble. Two, don't doubt God's word. Coming here through his prophet. Don't doubt God's word.

Even if what he's saying seems to be the most ridiculous thing you've ever heard in light of

your circumstances. Okay? Which must be exactly what Gehazi is thinking right now. Okay? But then

right at that moment, right at that moment when Gehazi's eyes fall into pieces, Elisha prays. Verse 17.

He prays. And he asks God to open his servant's eyes. And he does. And he looks. And he sees.

And the hills are full of horses, it says. And chariots of fire all around them.

Maybe different. But maybe the same as what Paul tells us to do in 2 Corinthians chapter 4. I don't

2 Corinthians 4 · chapter mention

know if you remember that. 2 Corinthians 4, 18. When Paul says, so we fix our eyes. Remember this?

So we fix our eyes. Not on what is seen. But on what is unseen. Since what is seen is temporary. What

is unseen is eternal. I love it. I love it. I just wish that I could do it more. I love it. Okay? Let's

keep following the story. Verse 18. The army attacks. Verse 18. The army attacks. And Elisha

prays for God now to close their eyes. Open Gehazi's eyes. Close their eyes. Strike them with blindness.

Lord. He prays. Which God does. Play on opening and closing eyes there. But what a crazy sight,

isn't it? What a crazy sight. This entire blind army. Okay? Just think of it. Right? Now you've got

this great army. Blind army. What a crazy sight. This entire blind army looking for Elisha.

And so he says, they're looking for Elisha. Where is Elisha? They're blind. They can't see

anything. And so Elisha says to them, come on guys. I'll take you to find the guy you're looking for.

All right? So the blind army, they don't know who Elisha is. Elisha comes up to see who you're

looking for. Elisha. I'll take you to him. All right? Don't ever tell me God doesn't have a sense

of humor. All right? Don't ever tell me he doesn't have a sense of humor. I'll take you to the guy

that you're looking for. Elisha then leads this massive blind Aramean army. Where does he lead them?

Smack into the middle of Samaria. The capital of Israel. Okay? Tire. Great. Blind.

Aramean army. Smack into the middle of the enemy's capital city. And then praise. Okay, Lord. Now

open their eyes. Somebody's got to make a movie of this. Don't they? Somebody's got to make it. Now

open their eyes. I don't know if you've ever seen that program Extreme House Makeover. Have you ever

seen that? Right? And they fix up somebody's house while they're gone. And they tell them the people

to close their eyes. And they bring them into the house. And they stand them in one of the beautiful

rooms that they've renovated. And they say, okay, now open your eyes. Right? And they open their

eyes. Oh my goodness. Brand new house. Except these guys are now smack in the middle of the enemy's

camp. Okay? And but then another twist. Look at this. Then another twist. Don't tell me God doesn't

have a sense of humor. Don't tell me that God is not a gracious God. Even to his enemies. Even to his

enemies. Another twist here. Because instead of killing them, they're right smack in the middle

of the enemy's capital city. But instead of killing them, verse 22. Instead of killing them,

Elisha says, you know what? Let's show them the grace of God instead. And they do. They do. And

they feed them. And they water them. And they send them home. And you know what? These, this particular

army, as far as we can tell, never bothers Israel again. They never bother Israel again, at least for

this particular period of time. Okay? Lessons. Let's come back to them. Lessons. Right? I've

given to you already. Lessons. God delights to deliver his people from trouble. He always

does. He always is a theme of the Bible. It's a theme of the Bible. And here it is again.

God delights to deliver his people from trouble. Sometimes. Sometimes. In the most unexpected

of ways. Isn't it? Just think of what, you could make a movie of this. You could, man. It'd be

stunning. It'd be stunning. If I could have those gifts and creativity, I would do it. Sometimes the

most unexpected of ways. Second lesson, trust God's word. Don't doubt God's word. Even if what God is

saying seems to be the most ridiculous thing you've ever heard in light of your circumstances.

Right? Greater are those who are with us. Are you kidding me? Where? Where? But God's word was saying,

relax. Don't fear. Because great. Gehazi could see none of that. And yet God's word was true.

Listen, what a crazy time we're living in. Isn't it? What a crazy time we're living in. And maybe what

God's saying in his word about him having everything under control during all of this craziness with

COVID and everything else. What he's saying about, that's all right. I've got it all. Maybe that seems

ridiculous to you. Or the way this is affecting your life or your finances or your family or your health

just seems to be so ridiculous. Don't doubt God's word. If you're his, you're precious to him.

If you're not his, you're precious to him. God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son

that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life. Don't doubt God's word.

Don't doubt his word. Okay? So that's scene one. God delivering his people by gathering the Syrian army

to Samaria. Okay? Now scene two. Beginning in verse 24. God delivers his people by scattering

the Syrian army from Samaria. It'll be a different Syrian army as you'll see, but scattering the Syrian

army from Samaria. So don't box God in because he can do it either way. All right? He can do it either

way. And I won't read this all through, but the gist of this next bit beginning in verse 24 is that

eventually the Arameans do return and they besiege Samaria. Um, and, and, and they besiege Samaria.

This is on top of a really, uh, terrible famine that's already in the land until verse 25.

We're told a donkey's head, such a bad famine until a donkey's head is sold for 80 shekels of silver.

That is a massive amount of money. That is a massive amount of money. And I'm not quite sure

what you can do with a donkey's head. I don't imagine you get much meat off it. Donkey head super. I don't

know. Um, but it's a massive amount of money. So the famine is so bad. A donkey's head's being sold for 80,

shekels of silver and a quarter of a cob. That's about a pint of seen pods. Some translations say

probably better translation would be doves dung. Okay. I think some translations are trying to make

this sound really nice. Okay. A quarter of a cob, a pint of doves dung is being sold for five shekels.

Okay. The point of all that is that this famine is unbelievably horrendous, terrible, terrible famine.

And then in verses 26 to 30, so still a little story here, won't read it all through, but you've got

two mothers here asking for the king's judgment because they agreed that they would, they would

eat one of their dead babies first and then the other. Okay. It's how bad the famine is. And this

is in scripture. So God's trying to show us something of, of what the circumstances are, because he's

going to prove a point here in just a minute. So they're going to eat one of the dead babies first,

and then another two mothers come for the king's judges judgment because the second mom is not

sharing her dead baby with the first one. So the first one shared her dead babies. I know this sounds

awful, but this is, it's in the Bible. Okay. So the first mother shared her dead baby with as food

with the other one, but then the other mother didn't do the same for her. If that doesn't give

you some indication of how horrible the situation was, nothing will. And the king is just losing it by

this point. He's losing it. This is the king of Israel. He's losing it. He's losing it. And he

tears his clothes and he puts sackcloth on his body and he just wants to strangle Elisha. So in

the first scene, you got the king of the Arameans wants to strangle Elisha. Now you got the king of

Israel wants to, everybody wants to strangle Elisha. And he's just God's man. He's just, you ever feel

like that is one of God's people. He's just doing what God is telling him to do. Okay. So everybody

wants to strangle Elisha. Now he just wants to, to, to strangle a guy because somehow he thinks

Elisha is to blame for all of this, probably because Elisha has been condemning the nation

for its disobedience. Um, and the King says in verse 31, look at this says in verse 31,

may God deal with me, be it ever so severely. If the head of Elisha remains on his shoulders today,

right? I'd say he's, he's angry, he's angry, but guess what? Here's Elisha again, verse 32.

Here's Elisha again. And he's just sitting with the elders in his house is the picture here.

Doesn't say they're relaxing, but the picture is not one of mad desperation. He's just sitting

with the elders in his house. One commentator says that Elisha lived in the calm sense of God's

immediate presence. And this was the secret of his power. Really good. Really good. Um, but whatever

the case, whatever the case, um, he says at the beginning of chapter seven, Elisha says the beginning

of chapter seven, hear the word of the Lord. Now remember, he just told us how desperately,

um, just how, how desperately horrendous the famine was all over the land, all over the land.

All right. Um, and then Elisha says, beginning of chapter seven, hear the word of the Lord.

This is what the Lord says about this time tomorrow, tomorrow, the famines all over the land.

This time tomorrow, he says, a sea of flower will sell for a shackle and two seas of barley for a

shackle at the gate of Samaria. In other words, by tomorrow, this whole situation is going to be

reversed. And you're going to have the finest flower and barley selling for a pittance compared

to what you were paying for the donkey's head and the pigeon poop. All right. You got that? That's

what a ridiculously absurd thing to say on Elisha's part. That would be like us saying tomorrow that

you're going to wake up and this whole COVID thing is just going to be a dream. Okay. You're

going to wake up and everything all over the world is going to be back to normal. Okay. So there's a way

to kind of relate to what's, that's kind of like what, what he's saying here. And you would just say

that is the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard. It is the most ridiculous. And yet he's saying,

this is the word of the Lord. How could this ever be? How could this ever be? Sound familiar?

Greater are those who are with us than those who are with them. Are you kidding me? Are you kidding

them? What are you going to believe? What are you going to believe? In fact, God even sets the stage

for that question. This is so ridiculous. This seems so ridiculous. I mean, what Elisha is saying

so ridiculous. He sets the stage for this question by planting an Israeli soldier in earshot of Elisha

when he makes this prediction. All right. Who essentially says, you're crazy. He tells Elisha,

you're crazy. You're crazy, Elisha. And Elisha says, you're going to see this tomorrow, but you're not

going to eat it. You're going to see it tomorrow, but you're not going to eat it. And the guy probably

just thought, right, right. Show me this tomorrow, right? You're going to see it, but you're not

going to eat it. And then the scene shifts bizarrely in verse three, the scene shifts to four lepers.

It's just an incredible shift. It comes out of left field, really. Shifts to four lepers who are

saying, this whole thing is crazy. This is crazy. We are defecting to the Arameans. We're getting out

of here. This famine is so bad. We're going to defect to the, at least they have food. We're going to

defect to the Arameans, or at least we might have a chance. And off they go to the Aramean camp.

So they head out of the city. Remember, the Arameans are besieging Samaria. So they're around

the city. So they head out of Samaria to the Aramean camp. And, but guess what they find?

Guess what they find? Verse five. Guess what they find? They find that the entire army

has run off. They've just run

off. The lot of them. The lot of them.

Leaving everything behind.

Okay. The whole, some, the whole

Aramean army. The whole

Aramean army has run off. You don't do that. Armies don't

run off. They don't run off. But they have.

Leaving every, because who's in control here?

Who's in control here? Right? And they've left everything behind, we're told. Food, clothes,

weapons, you name it. You name it. Listen, how on earth is God going to fulfill Elisha's prophecy

by this time tomorrow? We'll have food. How's he going to do it?

Right? Are you following? You're following where we're going. Okay. And so the lepers come back.

All right. Believe it or not, it's the lepers

in this story, and that's maybe another story.

It's the lepers in this story who are the bearers

of the good news. Really

interesting. And they tell the

king what they found. Verse 10.

They tell the king what they found. And he

goes and he checks it out, and it's true.

It's true.

And by the next day, guess

what? By the next day,

a sea of the finest flour

is selling for a shekel.

Remember, the donkey's head was 80 shekels, right?

And two seas of barley for a shekel at the gate of Samaria.

And you know what happens to the soldier who doubted the word of God?

And this is a serious lesson to learn, isn't it?

About doubting God's word.

What happens to the soldier who doubted God's word?

He saw it.

He saw it happen.

He saw a sea of the finest flour

selling for a shekel.

He saw it happen.

The food came into the city from the Aramean army

that just split.

And he saw it.

The soldier did.

But then everybody was so famished

and so crazy

because of the famine.

When they ran to get the food,

they trampled the guy to death

in the gate

when the famished people stormed out of the city

to get the food.

Listen, does God

know how

to deliver his people?

Right?

Does God know how to deliver his people?

In the wildest of ways, doesn't he?

In the wildest of ways.

The wildest of ways.

Who could have ever written a story like this?

In the wildest of ways.

It's crazy.

But how amazing it is

that he loves us

and he cares for us

and he provides for us

and he delivers us.

Lessons.

Remember them?

Last time.

Lessons.

Number one,

God delights in delivering his people from trouble.

God delights in delivering his people from trouble.

Sometimes in the most unexpected ways.

What an incredible...

This is real stuff.

This happened.

This is history.

The most unexpected ways.

Second lesson.

Don't ever doubt God's word.

God.

Even if it seems to be the most ridiculous thing

you've ever heard

in light of your circumstances.

A seah of the finest flower

for a shekel.

Right?

The more who are with us

than who are with them.

Are you kidding me?

Don't ever doubt God.

Even if it seems what he's saying

in your circumstances.

Sometimes we open the Bible

and say,

Oh, sure, God.

Yeah, really.

Maybe for other people,

but not for me.

Don't ever doubt God's word.

So is God going to deliver his people

through COVID?

Right?

Is God going to deliver his people

through COVID?

What do you think?

What do you think?

Is God going to deliver you

through your storm?

Whatever it might be.

Whatever it might be.

What do you think?

Listen.

Has not God delivered you

from your greatest storm?

Has not God delivered

our world from its greatest storm?

The sin storm?

Has not God delivered us

from our greatest storm?

And is God's word true and sure

even when it seems ridiculous to you

that God is going to forgive you

all of your sin?

All of it?

Are you kidding?

Listen.

Listen.

When God's word

collides

with your world,

believe it.

Believe it.

Well, thank you so much, Wayne.

Folks, here's what we've been doing

over the last number of weeks

as we've sought to slow down

and respond to God's word.

We've just been doing this slot

called A Minute to Think.

Just put a couple of questions

on the screen for us to chew over

and maybe to carry on with us

through the rest of this day

and through the rest of this week as well

to help us think about

how we're going to put

what we've heard into action.

So here's A Minute to Think then

and here's a couple of questions

for you to think about.

So how does the trustworthiness

of God's word encourage you?

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.