"Don't Just Sit There, Do Something" Rev. Dr. F Bruce Williams

0:31 It's actually good morning, but we got one more minute. But it's good to be here. I'm so grateful to God to be here. We honor God today. Do me a favor. Would you give God praise for your pastor while he's on sabbatical? Amen. Such a good friend of mine and such an extraordinary young man and extraordinarily gifted preacher and pastor and intellect. We happen to be in the same PhD program. He's in the first cohort and I'm in the second cohort. In fact, we got class tomorrow, so I got to be ready for class tomorrow. And I know he's on sabbatical and I'm feeling some kind of way. I'm kind of jealous.

1:16 He's on sabbatical and I got to go to class, but I love him anyway. So, but let me commend you for being a church to recognize how important it is for your pastor to get away and recalibrate and to revitalize himself, to put his mask on to breathe before he helps you breathe. You ought to be commended to that. And I know there are a lot of leaders here who are stepping up and standing in to make sure things are going just the way they ought while he is gone. And the fact that they are is a tribute to his leadership. But there are other leaders here who are really stepping in. But I do want you to do me a favor and give God praise for Dr. Williams, Dr. Judy Frenchess Williams for what she does, what she means. Yeah.

2:07 Yeah. Yeah, God bless her. She's an extraordinary person herself, and I'm grateful to know her. And I just want to say, I've really, all the services I've been here, this is like the 17th service I've been in today. all the services I've been in this weekend I have really been blessed by this incredible choir y'all give it up for this

2:35 Amen. And I mentioned Dr. Garrett who directs them. She is exceptional as well. And I am I can tell she's a bad sister.

2:58 Amen. If I could get some genetic material and clone you, I'd take you back to Louisville with me. but I'm so grateful. I'm telling on you when I see your pastor about how kind you've been, how you've rolled out the red carpet of hospitality to me. I've been places when people have not been nice and have not been kind, even the people who've invited you to come preach, and I shared with the people in the other service that I've been in worship services where people have been there, and the atmosphere is so cold that you could see your words freeze in the air and fall to the ground right in front of you. People look like they're being held hostage. They're there against their will. But it's just good to be in a place where people act like they love the Lord and they're glad to be here. Yeah.

3:46 And y'all act like y'all really love the Lord. What a wonderful place to minister to and to visit. And so thank you again. Your pastor has invited me so many times and I shared with him finally that I don't know whether he's invited me because I'm doing a good job or he just wants to give me a chance to get it right. But I hope he keeps on inviting me because I love coming here. I met some former members here this weekend who were members of Bates Memorial. He was in the military at Fort Knox and he moved to Hawaii and then he moved here. And he said he was looking for a church when they got here. and he said his standard was that he was looking for a church like Bates Memorial where I pastor. And he said he found one when he came to Alfred Street. And it's good to be compared to the Alfred Street Baptist Church because this is a church that is like none other.

4:45 And so I'm grateful that they found a home and a people where they could continue to hold up the bloodstained banner. Well, y'all not here for preliminary remarks. You want to know, is there a word from the Lord? Y'all ready for the word today? I'm ready to share it Join hands with those around you now As we prepare with prayer For the word of God After we will have prayed We will read God's word Let's pray together Father we love you and we thank and praise you We honor and glorify your name Without shame, hesitation and reservation God we say that there is an onlyness about you That you're in a class all by yourself Nobody voted you in Nobody can vote you out And so we're glad about you being that kind of God. Thank you for looking beyond our faults and seeing our needs. Thank you for taking our sins and throwing them in the sea of forgetfulness, putting a sign up that says, no fishing allowed. Thank you so much for never bringing it up again. Now, God, as we prepare for the preaching moment, we confess today that we can do nothing until you come. Bless your people.

5:50 may follow the ground of the souls of your people, that the seed of truth might find depth, that a relationship might be established between some soul and the Savior. Then, Lord, help me, your preacher, breathe on my words and make them thine. Rescue me from me. fill me and empty me at your will love me and do whatever you want with me you can be reckless without my permission hide me behind Calvary's cross make my preaching so thin in human wisdom that only the shadow of the cross can be seen beneath take your glory but master please give us the blessings we pray we ask it all in the name of the pre-existent incarnate crucified resurrected ascended and soon coming king's name we pray.

6:49 All the people of God said together, amen. Go and put your hands together one more time for God. If you would, turn on your Bible or tap on your Bible app to the book, the Old Testament book of 2 Kings. 2 Kings chapter 7. I want to lift up and line up for our consideration verses 3 through 11. 2 Kings chapter 7. If it is your custom to stand, please stand if you're not disabled, out of reverence for the Word of God. 2 Kings chapter 7. I'll be reading from the New International Version of the Hebrew text. If you found it, say amen. It reads like this.

7:41 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 if we stay here we will die so let's go over to the camp of the arameans or the syrians whichever translation you have 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 their horses and donkeys. They left the camp as it was, ran for their lives.

8:42 The men who had leprosy reached the edge of the camp, entered one of the tents, and ate and drank. Then they took silver, gold, and clothes, went off, and hid them. They returned, entered another tent, took some things from it, and hid them. Then they said to each other, what we're doing is not right. This is a day of good news. We're keeping it all to ourselves. If we wait until daylight, punishment will overtake us. Let's 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 sound of anyone, only tethered horses, donkeys, and tents left just as they are. The gatekeepers shouted the news, and it was reported in the palace. Let me look again just for emphasis at verse 3.

9:40 And four. So now there were four men with leprosy at the entrance of the gate, of the city gate. They said to each other, why stay here until we die? If we say we'll go into the city, famine is there, we'll die. 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 will live. If they kill us, then we die. Amen. You may be seated in the presence of the Lord. With the help of the Holy Spirit in your prayers, I want to talk and teach from this theme, don't just sit there, do something. Don't just sit there, do something. Look at your neighbor, and if you ain't going to fight in church, look at your neighbor and tell your neighbor, don't just sit there, do something.

10:30 Amen. Amen. If you're in the, since you're in the neighborhood, look at your other neighbor and tell your neighbor, don't just sit there, do something. Go on and give God praise for that right now. Don't just sit there. Do something. And I would that you would flank me with your prayers. It's been a bad experience for Samaria and the Israelites. War has been waged against them by King Benedict and the Syrians. Initially, when King Benedict sought to wage conflict against them, He did not have an all-out war, but instead sent out small bands of soldiers to try his best to ambush the people of God. But while trying to catch them off guard, the Bible says that God gave Elisha inside information, secret intel about the behavior and the goings-on of the enemy, so that Elijah was able to tell the king so that the enemy's efforts would be thwarted.

11:39 That's what I love about God. Elijah kindly teaches us that when you live close to God, God has a way of giving you inside information about what the enemy is up to. You can see the enemy coming from afar off. That's one of the reasons why no weapon formed against you shall be able to prosper. Since that strategy did not work, the kings of Syria decided to have a whole out war against the Israelites. The Bible says he got all of his soldiers together and began to lay siege to the city of Samaria. And some Bible students here know what laying siege means. It was a military strategy that was often used by armies against cities that had walls around the city. instead of breaking down the walls, instead of climbing the walls, instead of breaking down the doors, instead of taking arrows, dipping them in pitch, setting them ablaze and trying to shoot them over the wall, they would simply surround the walls of the city and wait. Nobody could go in, nobody could go out, and they would just wait. And they would wait because no one could go in, and as a consequence, no supplies could go in.

12:56 Because there was no supplies going in, there was no way that they would be able to continue to sustain themselves. The economy would collapse and the people would surrender. Now, can I just pause here? I just want to give you something for free. I'm going to charge you for this one. It has something to do with these walls, and it is a lesson that we ought to learn about how you ought to be careful when you listen to people and make sure that they don't twist the Scriptures to fit their own kind of programs and propaganda. You remember when the president, your president got in office. One of the preachers who were called, I won't call his name because I'm not in my own pool pit, but one of the Southern Baptist preachers was given the privilege of preaching the inauguration. And while he was there, since it was the promise and policy of the present president that he would put walls around the southern border that he got up to try to justify the promising policy by using scripture. One of his justifications is that he was justified in keeping out other people with his walls because there are walls in the Bible. The only problem was he was misinterpreting and misapplying the presence of walls in the Bible because walls were not put in the Bible to keep immigrants out. They were put there to keep enemies out.

14:18 and the Bible makes a crystal clarion clear that God warned Israel about how they treat the stranger because he said be careful how you treat the stranger because you too were once a stranger in the land it gets even worse not only did he do that but he had the nerve the unmitigated call the audacious audacity to suggest that the president was justified in walls because he said there would be walls in heaven and he cited revelation chapter 21 where it talks about walls but it's not walls in heaven when you read the text it talks about the city coming down from heaven like a bride adorned for its groom and it talks about the jewels the precious stones that the walls are made of his attempt to try to suggest that the walls were there to keep people was a misreading of the scriptures because in chapter 21 verse 25 it says that the city had gates and the gates would never be closed not only would the gates never be closed but there are 12 gates to the city three gates in the east three gates in the west three gates in the north and three gates in the south and they freely came and went every nation race and tongue that's why you got to be careful because sometimes people will take their prejudices and predilections and they will overlay them on the scripture and twist the scripture to make them believe make them say what they believe and instead of them letting the scriptures put its imprint on them and change them the way God wants them to be you see the scripture is not just a window through which you can see the truth of God it's supposed to be a mirror in which you can see yourself The Bible says that they laid siege to the city.

16:17 They surrounded the walls of the city and they waited and the strategy worked. The Bible says it wasn't long before the economy began to collapse and there was a scarcity of resources. And whenever resources are scarce, prices go up and there's inflation. And when there's a scarcity of resources, people began to use and eat resources that they normally would not. and it became bad in the city of Samaritans. The Bible says that they were starting to eat things like donkey heads and pigeon dung. It gets even worse than that. Not only were they eating that kind of thing, but the Bible says one day while the king was walking on the wall, some women came to the king complaining, and her complaint was that she and another woman had made a promise with one another that because things were so bad, they were going to consume each other's children. and she was complaining because they had boiled her child ate her child and then when it's time to eat her other woman's child the other woman hid her child that's how bad things were and when the king listen heard what was going on he became so distressed the bible says he grabbed his robe and tore the top of it which is what often jews would do to show grief and distress he grabbed it and tore the top of his regal robe.

17:39 And when he tore it, people looked and they saw underneath his regal robe was sackcloth, which is the cloth of mourning, the cloth of grief. Y'all missed it. On the outside, he had decked out in regal regale, but underneath there was the cloth of mourning and grief. That's why you got to be careful how you treat people who come to church because they come to church dressed up on the outside, but you don't know what they got underneath. They got a smile on their face, but they may have a frown on their heart. They saw the king had sackcloth and ashes. The Bible says he was grieving because the people were grieving. They were suffering and he felt their suffering. And that's when you know you got a good leader because a leader feels the pains and heartaches and suffering of the people.

18:37 If you've got a leader who is so far removed from the people that he cannot and will not and does not and refuses to feel what the people feel, you've got the wrong person in a leadership position, whether it's in a pulpit or a political office. Whenever people don't identify with the suffering but exploit the suffering for their own personal gain, like your president is doing right now by trying to start a war because he's trying to deflect from what's happening in his impeachment, then you know you don't have the right president. I said it, I meant it, I'm here to represent it. Leaders identify with the suffering and the joys of their people.

19:19 The king, the king was hurt and harassed. And the Bible says he had on the outside, he had his robe, but on the underneath, he was grieving. and he is so upset about what was going on in the city. The only problem was that he made the mistake of blaming God. Yeah, he was upset. He thought it was God's fault he blamed God, but his arms were too short to box with God, so he decided that he would take out his frustration on God's man, Reverend Elijah. I need to pause here just a moment because he saw the plight of the people and blamed it on God. The truth of the matter is it wasn't God's fault that they were in the predicament they were in. It was their fault, but he said it was God's fault. And now I don't pretend like I know why everything happens in the world. There are things that happen in the world that I just don't understand.

20:14 But the truth of the matter is there are some things that we blame God for that God didn't do. We're doing it. The reason why there is poverty in the world and why there's a disproportionate amount of children who are dying from poverty is not because there's a scarcity of resources in the world it's because one percent of the population is controlling 40 of the resources it is not scarcity of resources it is greed and avarice god didn't do that we did that sometimes you look at communities where you see there is blight and you see that there is crime you see that there is people standing on the corner selling drugs and we blame the people who are in the predicament but you know whenever you subject the community to social isolation and economic deprivation and political manipulation and redlining and you squeeze resources out and refuse to let resources in and then you create an environment where people come desperate and desperate people do desperate things you blame them instead of blaming the environment that was created by people in power they didn't God didn't do that we did that and then we have this prison industrial complex that is disproportionately populated by black brown and poor people and we're tearing up people's lives and we're destroying people's families and it's messing up the fabric of society and we're wondering God what are you doing and God said I didn't do that you did that and as long as you allow racism and white supremacy to continue and you refuse to dismantle it those kind of things will continue to perpetuate God said I didn't set that up you did we have a tendency to blame God for some things God why is this happening and God said I'm not the problem I didn't do it you did it in fact I'm not the problem I'm the solution if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my faith and turn from their wicked ways then shall I hear from heaven and I'll deliver their sins and heal their land he he blamed God and so he was so mad that

22:23 he tried to take it out on Elijah so he went to where Elijah was meanwhile somebody said meanwhile meanwhile Elijah was meeting at his home with the elders of the city and while he was talking to the city, the elders, the Bible says that the king was coming to his house. And before he even got to the house, Elijah said, see what the king is doing? The king is coming to the house and he's trying. He said, somebody get to the door and shut the door and lock the door. God was still giving Reverend Elijah some intel in what the enemy was trying to do. And then the king finally got there. And when he got there, all perturbed, frustrated, and upset, Elijah looked at the king and said, king, don't worry he said by this time tomorrow God is going to turn things around where there is paucity he said there will be plenty when there is not enough he said there will be more than enough and it won't take God but 24 is there anybody in here who knows that whenever God gets ready to do something he ain't got a sweat to do it God can turn things around just like I feel like somebody needed to hear that. I want you to know that I don't care how long you've had to wait, God is able to turn that's why you can't quit now because you might be 24 hours away from a turnaround.

23:44 We don't got him here today. Now, when he made the statement, the assistant to the king, when he heard it, he blurted out in skepticism and cynicism. He said, if God opened up the windows of heaven, God wouldn't be able to pull that off. Once he said that, Reverend Elijah looked at him and said, oh, he going to do it. He said, he going to do it. And when he does it, because you didn't believe it, you will see it, but you won't be able to participate in it. Y'all don't hear me. Watch this now. He says, I don't believe it's going to be done. And Elijah said, he going to do it anyway. Aren't you glad that there are certain things that God wants to do that is not contingent upon whether people believe God's going to do it or not? Somebody ought to be tearing up the bench.

24:37 You said no. Because God has dropped in your spirit what he wants to do in your life. He wants to turn it around. He wants to take it to another level. He wants to bless you, but people who think they know you don't believe it. But aren't you glad that your blessing is not contingent upon their faith? It's contingent upon your faith. That's why you got to believe even when they don't. Look at your neighbor and say, he gonna do it, he gonna do it. Oh yeah, it's bad English, but it's good theology. He gonna do it, he gonna do it. He said, oh yes, he's gonna do it. And after Elijah affirms and confirms that God is gonna turn it around in spite of the cynicism and skepticism, there is a scriptural spotlight that shifts from shining on that scene and pans the crowd until at last it falls on four fellas at the city gates. The Bible tells us who they are.

25:34 They're four men suffering from the dreaded disease, leprosy. Anybody who knows anything about leprosy knows that it is a varian disease. It's a disease that sometimes attacks the nervous system. It's a disease that causes the flesh to fall off. It caused putrid wounds to come on the body. It's called the disease of the walking dead. It's a highly contagious disease, and so people are often isolated from others. At the time of this text, these four lepers were not in the city. They were outside of the city. Things were bad now, but they were at the bottom of the bottom. Yeah, they were the worst off of all. They were rejected by other people. It is the worst time in Samaritan's history, and they have been kicked to the curb, pushed to the perimeter, moved to the margins of the city. Nobody wanted to be around them.

26:32 Ain't that something? Things are bad, but there's always somebody we can still mistreat even when things are bad for us. The Bible says they pushed them to the curb, and the reason why they didn't want to have anything to do with them is because it has something to do with their skin. is there anybody in here who can identify with the fact that sometimes you feel kick to the curve puffs to the periphery and isolated from being included and it has something to do with something you don't even have any control over it has to do with your skin look at your neighbor say don't be scared don't be scared don't be scared it's just the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth. Anybody ought to know anything about that is people whose skin has been kissed by nature's son. You have been degraded and left out and mistreated and lied on and talked about and myths have been perpetuated about you simply because of the color of your skin. These men were rejected, mistreated, isolated because people had a problem with their skin. They were afraid of them because of their skin. They were a threat because of their skin. And you don't know it yet, but society has weaponized the color of your skin. You know it's true because when people walk around you, people are still clutching their purses when you get too close, and it has nothing to do but except for the color of your skin. You go to the department store and people are still following you around, and it's all because of the color of your skin. If your car is too nice and you're in it, they'll pull you over because those two things don't go together, and it has something to do with the color of your skin. And when you get pulled over, you don't have to worry about whether you can just get a ticket. You worried about whether you're ever going to get home alive. It's all because of the color of your skin. Certain positions you'll qualify for, you don't get. It has nothing to do with anything except for the color of your skin. These men were rejected, kicked to the curb, pushed to the periphery, and left out of the city, isolated, rejected, and alone because they had a problem with their skin.

28:40 But when you focus in on these four men, here they were at the bottom of the heap. Here they were rejected by everybody else. But if you eavesdrop on the conversation, here you got four men who got the nerve to be talking to others about possibilities. They are at the bottom of the bottom and still got the nerve to hope. Oh, y'all are not in here, but I feel you're coming in the room. Nothing looks good for them. They have lost everything, but they got the nerve to sit around talking about option. and I'm trying to tell you even if life seems to have stripped you of everything as long as there's breath in your body and a God on the throne you still got options oh my god I felt that when I said it look at your neighbor and tell him I know that's right I like these four men because they survive them.

29:57 I like these four men. We ought to pay attention to these four men because watch this. When Elijah talked about the turnaround, guess who God's going to use to turn things around? Y'all are missing it. The very people that nobody wanted to have anything to do with are the people God's gonna use to turn things around. I told you that's why you gotta be careful how you treat people because if you walk around looking down your nose at people with a kind of self-analysized superiority thinking you better than other people, God will flip the script on you and the very people you reject, God will give them the very thing you need in order to survive. And that's because God can use who he wants, when he wants how he wants where he wants the way he wants and as long as he wants and everybody in here whose skin has been kissed by nature's son ought to be doing a holy dance right now because that means it doesn't matter how you treat it it doesn't matter where society puts you God is able to do it anyway.

31:08 Yes, he will! so listen to him listen to him listen to him listen to him listen to him talking why shouldn't we hear till we die so they start talking what we gonna do what we gonna do and that's why you got to be careful who you have around you when you're in the midst of a crisis come on you choose your friends don't let your friends choose you you you want to surround yourself with people who have possibility thinking you yeah they so here they are at the bottom of the bottom kick to the curb sitting around nobody cares anything about them but they say you know I don't like the situation we're in the other one said I don't like either he said I don't care how bad it is I just refuse to settle for the situation I am the other one said I felt the same way.

32:13 So what are we going to do about the situation where we're in? Well, let's think about it. Let's think about it. Look at them using their minds. Well, let's think about it. If we go back, we know we can't go back and survive. Because if we go in the city, we're going to die. so we ain't gonna go back because if we go back we gonna die we we ain't gonna go back because we already know what's in the city and I don't know who I'm talking to today but I want you to know that the way to deal with your crises is not to panic so bad that you go back to what God brought you out of because you already know what's back there that's why you followed Jesus out of it in the first place I don't care how bad it gets God never requires that you go back to survive help me preach look at your neighbor and tell him don't go back ain't nothing but death out there. You know you're gonna die. Don't go back.

33:28 well we can't go back I'm almost finished with my little sermon you can't go back so well what if we stay here so well if we stay here we gonna die because nothing gonna change if we just keep on doing the same old thing and that's a good word when you step into 2020 because the year ain't gonna be good just cause it's a different year If it's gonna be good, that means you can't drag into 2020 what you had in 2019. Everybody wants something different to happen, but they won't do anything different. You can't get different results doing the same old thing.

34:23 That's the definition of mental illness. If we stay here and do nothing, that's not going to work. because sitting around hoping that things change won't change things. Sitting around in the easy chair with the remote control in your hand hoping that you get a job will not get you employed.

34:48 Wishing one day you could go to school and get an education will not get you an education. Wishing that white supremacy would be dismantled is not going to dismantle it. Wishing that you lived in a society that was not sexist and homophobic is not going to change society from being sexist and homophobic. Wishing that you had what you need to get by is not enough to have what you need to get by. Wishing your church was at the next level is not going to take your church. to the next level. If we sit here and do nothing, it doesn't matter how much faith we have because somewhere I read, faith without works is dead. Look at your neighbor and tell them, give your faith something to do.

35:46 Your faith has been sitting around so long doing nothing, it's got fat and flabby. It needs some exercise. Look at your neighbor and tell your neighbor, exercise your faith. I'm almost finished. If we go back, we're going to die. If we sit here and do the same old thing, we're going to die. Well, we could go to the enemy and surrender. I know it's risky. I know it won't make sense to people. I know somebody's going to say we ain't never done it that way before. he said but it has possibilities if we go back we're gonna die if we stay here we're gonna die but if we go forward and surrender they may bless us or they may kill us and if they kill us we're just gonna die so we ain't got nothing to lose so let's not go back let's not stay here let's go forward and i feel like i'm talking to somebody today when i tell you the answer is not behind you nor is the answer right there in neutral put that bad boy in drive and go forward can i tell you why you were built to go forward it's your destiny to go forward God has given you clues that you ought to go forward If you just look at the way your body is built Your body is built to go forward Your eyes look forward Your mouth is pointing forward Your nose points forward Your ears tilt forward Your hands work better forward Your feet are facing forward The only thing behind you is what you need to eliminate anything That keeps you from going forward

37:53 Look at your neighbor and tell them, go forward. Your best days are not behind you. Your best days are ahead of you. Eyes have not seen, ears have not heard, neither has it entered into the hearts of men. Anybody in here want to see what's up ahead? It's risky. It's never been done before. So, God, I hope I make it through this sermon. I feel like running out of here right now. So the four lepers that everybody rejected got up and started walking. I can see people on the gate looking down on them.

38:47 Where they going? I don't know where they're going and I don't even care nobody likes them anyway I'm glad they're gone that's why we put them on the outside of the city in the first place because you know when you decide to do something that other people are too afraid to do there's always going to be some haters somewhere who's going to be talking about you come on talk to me somebody but you got to go on and do it and let them drink they haterade You got to go on and do it anyhow because God has a destiny for you. They started walking to the enemy's camp. The Bible says they got to the enemy's camp and everything was in place except for one thing. There were no soldiers in the enemy's camp. And the Bible tells us why. The Bible says that God caused the Syrians to hear the sound of trumpets, of chariots, to hear the marching feet of an army, to hear the sounds of war. And when they heard the sound, they thought that they had hired mercenary nations to come after them, to hire the Hittites and the Egyptians.

40:01 and they were so taken aback, so caught off guard because of the time of day that they heard the sound that they were so full of fear that the enemy fled and left everything behind. Now, you know and I know that chariots weren't coming.

40:24 There was no army. so how in the world did they hear an army coming when there wasn't no army the only people on the way to the camp were four lepers can I tell you what I think happened if you just let me tune in on the frequency of creativity I could imagine that while they were having the conversation about going. God told the angel, shut up. I think I hear some people talking faith talk. He tilted his ear over the balcony of glory and he saw four lepers talking possibilities and options. And he said, I've been waiting for people to talk like that. They better not get up. They better not do what they say. And as soon as they got up and started walking, God leaped from the balcony of glory and he started walking with them.

41:23 The Bible says heaven is his throne place and the earth is his footstool. And so every time they took a step, God took a step too. Every time they took a step, God took another step. The odds were against them. They were outnumbered, but God plus one is always a majority. Is there anybody in here who knows that when God goes with you, He's more than the world against you. Look at your neighbor and tell your neighbor, you're not by yourself. God is with you. Can I tell you why I know God is with you? Because he made you a promise. Said, I'll never leave you, nor forsake you. The Bible says they went to the camp, went to the tents, and they ate their field.

42:19 Not only did they eat their field, But the Bible says they got clothes, gold and silver, and they started hiding what they had. They had never seen so much food. They had never seen finer clothes. They had never seen so much money. And it's all because they took a chance on God. Is there anybody in here who knows that if you're going to bet on anybody, you ought to cast your lot with God because God is the best bet in town am I right about it so they kept on eating and they kept on drinking and kept on hiding things and all of a sudden their conscience got the best of them they said to one another what we are doing is not good God did not bless us with all of this so that we could keep it all to ourselves and I got a newsflash for people whom God is blessing. He's blessing you so good. He's blessing you with more than you need, but not so you can walk around with your chest stuck out talking about how much you got. I feel like preaching now, but one of the reasons why God gave you more than enough is not so you could be selfish, but so that you could share with others who don't have what you have.

43:44 I wish people would shout when I preach like this when I tell people that God doesn't want you to be simply a place to part blessings but he wants you to be a conduit through which blessings can grow because the truth of the matter is you wouldn't be where you are right now if it hadn't been for somebody else who didn't look down on you but reached down and helped pick you up well the Bible said that they said we can't keep this to ourselves we're going to go back to the city and tell them what we found so the Bible says they went back to the city and told the city that there is a blessing in the enemy's camp now y'all got to let me pause because the same people who they rejected are now the same people who are going to bless them and I like these men because they didn't hold a grudge against the people who didn't like them And that's why you got to make sure that you guard your heart when people hurt you.

44:44 Because see, God wants to use you to be a blessing to the very people who did you wrong. The book said, they said, this is a day of good news and we shouldn't keep it to ourselves. I don't know how you feel about it, but I'm so glad that I know about a day of good news. And the day of good news that I found something in the enemy's camp. I found something in the world that changed my life. Somebody said a saved person is just one beggar telling another beggar where they can find some bread. And I stopped by on my way to heaven to tell you that I found something that when you eat it and drink it, you will never thirst or hunger again. His name is Jesus. Do you know him? Have you tried him? talking about Mary's baby, Rose of Sharon, Lily of the Valley, Brighton Morning Star.

45:43 I love to call his name. He's the Pharaoh of 10,000. He's my money when I'm broke. He's my fire when I'm cold. He's my friend when I'm friendless. A doctor in a sick room, lawyer in a courtroom do you know him have you tried him he's a way maker he's a burden bearer he's a mind regulator do you know him have you tried him he's my leaning post my rocking chair holds me at night so I can get a good night's sleep do you know him have you tried him Ain't he all right? Ain't he all right? He died to make me holy. He died to set me free. And I said I wasn't going to tell nobody, but I just can't keep it to myself.

46:44 It's good news. Euangelion, he died for your sins. He died for a moment. so you can live forever. If you know him, shout yes. If you've been saved, shout yes. If you're happy about it, shout yes. and if you know people who don't know your Jesus and you know they need to know about his love it's alright to come to church and praise him but don't just sit there do something