Realm | Week 1

you know, I had something really weird happen on Wednesday. And not only weird, it was it was kinda terrifying, scary. I I I came home,

and there was no one else home. I came home kind of earlier in the afternoon, and I knew no one I knew everyone else was gone, none of the cars were there, everyone's gone, and and when I walked up to the door, I realized the door was unlocked,

and I was the last one to leave. So I'm like, man, I thought I locked it. I guess I left it unlocked. So so so then I go inside, and as I go right into my opening in the in the in my house, right when you walk in the stairwell, so it's kinda open all the way up to the second Story.

So I'm in that big open area, and as I start to walk in, all of sudden I hear a noise. And it's a noise that sounds like someone rustling through papers. Kind of sound. I'm like, wait, what was that? So I stop, And and and I'm like, I know no one's there, but I hear this noise. I'm I listen for a minute, and I'm like,

maybe I was just hearing something. So then I start moving towards, you know, towards my kitchen. And and as I'm moving, all of sudden, I hear it again. So now I stop.

And that second time, like, oh, I definitely heard something. But when you're in that open air, I couldn't identify where it was coming from. So that's where it started to get disconcerting to me. I I I couldn't identify I couldn't echolocate

where it was happening at. So I was like, where is that coming from? I I I can't quite figure it out. So I start moving again just real slowly, and I hear it again. Now the third time I heard it, that's when it started to get kind of that that stressful reaction that, okay, there is definitely something going on here. And then you start to go,

you know, that that fight or flight response starts to happen, and your heart rate starts going up, the adrenaline starts pumping, and you start imagining, what am I gonna do? And and I'm sitting there going, I'm

kinda towards my hall where my kitchen is, and I have a little coat closet there. And and I remember that that I I have in my gun case, I have one of my guns in there. And and and so I thought I can just get to the gun. Now if you think now I just told you where my gun is, and you think you can break into my house, I also have one upstairs.

So I'm sitting there, and so then now I'm thinking maybe I should grab the gun. Because I think there's someone in my house. But here's where your thinking starts to get weirded out. I'm thinking that, then I thought, well, if I pull the gun out and there's no one here, that's gonna be embarrassing.

But then I'm thinking, I go, why would that be embarrassing if I'm the only one here?

And if I'm not the only one here, it's not gonna be embarrassing to have the gun if someone who shouldn't be in my house is in my house. So then I'm like, so it makes no sense. I should just get it. And and then I go to grab the doorknob, and right when I grabbed the doorknob, I heard it again, but I wasn't in the, wide open area. I was in a lower confined area. So I I I was it freaked me out, but I I I go to the door. Hear it again. I go, I know where it's coming from. And

I reached down into my right pocket and pulled out that crumpled up receipt that was making all the noise.

Now that's embarrassing, and I chose to tell everybody. And and the reason I couldn't tell what it was was out in the open, I couldn't hear it, and it was another weird thing is it only made the noise when my right leg pulled all the way forward.

That's why I couldn't just tell right away because I was moving around when I spun around, when I stepped back this way, when I moved like this. It didn't it was only when this leg went in front of the other one. So that's why I go, wait a minute. I'm like, oh, you gotta be kidding me.

And I was like, so adrenaline, I still pulled the gun out and looked for someone to shoot. I mean, no. No. I didn't. And

it was it was kind of that moment. Like, you you ever have those moments where you think you heard something, you think something's going on, and now you think there's probably something going on I'm not aware of, and you start to get kind of woah, freaked out. Then you just find out, okay, it had an explanation.

It was a receipt. Well, have you ever had something happen that you couldn't hear something, you couldn't see something, but you just felt like something more was going on than what was going on?

Have you ever experienced those moments that something that's going on physically in your life, a challenge, this or that, and there's really something going on, but you just get a sense that maybe there's a subplot here that I'm not aware of. Maybe there's something else afoot. You ever have those moments?

Because there's the times when there is an explanation. I got to the bottom. There's a receipt. But there's sometimes where something happens, and you can't quite rationally explain that in the physical realm. That's what we're gonna be talking about for the next few weeks.

Those other moments. The moments that happen the same time as the physical moments happen. And what we're gonna be talking about is this idea of another realm. Another realm of existence. Another realm that the Bible calls this spiritual realm. That there is a plane of existence that we can't see, but it is there.

And and and so the big idea of what we're gonna be kind of for the whole series, especially for today is simply this. The spiritual realm cannot be seen except through the eyes of faith. But it's real, and it does impact the natural realm.

So you're really talking about how we live in this physical natural, and kind of that that that verse that that was in the video. It's it's actually second Corinthians chapter four verse 18, and it says this. We do not look at the things which are seen,

but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.

So he's talking about how we have things we see, and we have this. And and the Bible talks about our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against these spiritual principalities. And and we have this battle. And so so basically, the Bible clearly describes that there is a realm of existence that's occupied. There are there are there are

beings that are in this realm that we can't really see, but they are real and they do impact us. And here's the thing, as we start this journey, I I wanna make sure you you you don't hear what I'm not saying.

Because I think we can take one of two extremes when we start talking about, oh, you're talking about like this other realm. You know, angels and demons, and you know, God, you know, can exist in that realm, but He's in all realms. But you you wanna talk about that. And and we tend to take one of two extremes on that.

One extreme says, I don't believe in all that stuff. Everything, there's a receipt somewhere. There's a receipt in a pocket somewhere. You can explain everything in this physical world. That's it. I don't think too many of us are completely in this camp.

But there are that's like so you start talking about the spiritual realm, and that just seems like like, oh, you know, and weird, and you don't wanna do. Then there's the other extreme. This is the one I really, really, really don't want you to misunderstand what we're talking about. The other extreme is that you think you can blame everything on the spiritual realm. There's a demon behind every doorstep. You go to your kid, why didn't you do your homework? It was demonic influence. You go, like, why are the cardinals o and three? It's demonic influence. You know? Maybe it's just they're a bad team, and your kid didn't do his homework. I mean, they're they're they're it's like we we over spiritualize everything.

What we're looking at is this biblical perspective, that there is another realm. We can't see it except by faith. But as the Bible clearly declares, it has an impact. And what I mean by that is we don't have to become Bible ghost hunters, always looking for things. We don't have to get preoccupied

with that part, but what we have to realize is that sometimes the very physical issues happening in your life, the challenges that are happening in your life, it's not that it was some dark force that caused it, but oftentimes dark forces will try to take advantage of it. Does that make sense?

Now some of you are like, well, I don't know about this this this whole spiritual realm side. It sounds goofy, and I think we as a church, Christians, especially in our culture, are kind of confused on this whole thing. I was reading some data. They did some research,

and they found out that six out of 10 Bible believing churchgoing Christians don't believe Satan's real. They believe he's just a symbol of evil. So six out of 10. 60%. But then the same survey, the same group found that 64% of Christians, 6.4 out of 10, believe demons are real and in and exert an actual influence.

I'm a pastor, so I I I I I don't proclaim to be an expert on math. But 60 plus 64 is a 124%. And and so you got a chunk of people that's are Christians that both don't believe Satan's real, but believe demons are and their influence is real.

So that means they don't know what to believe, because scripturally, it talks about both. And so you're saying, okay. I believe in demons. I just don't think they have a leader.

I don't it's a weird set of data. And I think it's because we're conflicted. Because when a pastor starts talking about demons and angels and and the spiritual realm, it just sounds goofy to the rest of the world, doesn't it? But this is weird. The world is fascinated with supernatural stuff.

Did you know most of the population in The United States overwhelmingly believes in ghosts? Do you know in science, I'm not gonna go greatly into it, but but just go look up Stephen Hawking. Stephen Hawking shadow people. Just go read about it.

Bottom line is is is is there's this idea that that that in science now, they're discovering this this idea of maybe there's multiverses. There's there's things in the physical realm that go seems to be being influenced by other forces that we can't see, and they're starting to believe in multiverses, multidimensions,

and and and shadow people. Go read what Stephen Hawking said about it. Like, you can have these multi these other dimensional beings, because we live in, you know, the b three basic dimensions. But now they're realizing we might have multiple. Some people say there might be twenty, thirty different dimensions

that we're not aware of. We can't see. Meaning, there could be other realities existing right around us technically, but we can't see it. So science says there's these other things, and science says a lot of people say, so maybe that what we think of is an and, you know, so many people believe in aliens.

So if it's aliens and interdimensional beings that are can't be seen, but they can insert an influence, and some of them can come in and out of this this this realm, all a sudden, you science it up and talk about interdimensional beings and and alien existence stuff, that sounds normal.

But if I say angels or demons, oh, you're whack a doodle, man. You're just crazy. Really? Aliens and interdimensional beings, the only things that they have ever done is ruined an Indiana Jones movie. That's about it.

And and and and and so so but think about it. The way it describes these multiverse, interment have you ever thought that maybe when the Bible's trying to describe that God is omnipresent,

he is outside of space and time, he is everywhere, He's in the future, past, present, that maybe he's the one that created all these dimensions, put us in the ones that we can see, and then filled the others, and he is outside of all of it. And

then when we describe it, the the Bible writers described it as a realm, this spiritual realm, This thing that is unseen, but it's real.

And so if you're a skeptic, what's weird is it seems like science and theory is catching up to this over 3,000 year old book.

It's just that it gives names and explains where these beings are from.

So what we're gonna be doing for the next few weeks is kind of unpackaging the spiritual realm a little bit. Because I think we don't really know as believers going on. So we're gonna look at the Bible, and today I'm just gonna talk about it's real and give a great story, crazy story in the Bible here in a minute. But then next week we're gonna look at the good guys in the realm, the messengers of the realm, angels. What's the deal with them? And you're gonna find out stuff like, every time a bell rings, an angel doesn't get his wings. Okay? We're gonna talk about what's the deal with them. And then we're gonna go to the bad guys. We're gonna look to the other side and and look at demons and Satan. And what does the Bible say about that? What is the deal with them? Who are they? What's what's what's their limitations? What are they trying to do? And then the last week, we're gonna talk about spiritual warfare. How do you how do you battle when it says, you know, our battle isn't against flesh and blood. It's against these spiritual forces. Okay. How does that work? How does that work? But today, I just wanna land the idea that this realm is real, and and it does impact, and I want to give some hope and show us how this just kind of why do we even need to know this, so to speak. So we're gonna be in a in a story that happens in second Kings, the book of second Kings in the Old Testament. It's right after first Kings, if you're wondering.

Wake up people. And so it's second Kings six, and in the book of Kings is is actually what it describes. It's the history of Israel back when during their period when they had kings,

and and it's describing what's going on. And in this period of time, you have the kings, but then the king that God always anointed a prophet for the land. And the prophet was a lot of us think when you hear the word prophet, you think prophecy, so you think some weird wizard like guy that says,

you know, be faithful to God you will be again. You know, and stuff like that. Know, you're totally because it's this Yoda guy walking around. But but a prophet, yeah, they did sometimes say something that was a prophecy, predictive of the future. But that was a tiny part of their job.

Tiny. Most of what they did is they proclaimed the word of God into the current situation.

And so they basically did what I do on the weekend. That's what they did most of time. They were the ones that would come alongside the king and say, hey, God says, you know, you need to honor God and all that. And so as as they went around but but each one of these prophets that's mentioned in the Bible, oftentimes God would give them some supernatural

power and gift to to accomplish the purpose they have. And Elisha was one of them.

And and and we're gonna see that God had given them some power here, and we're gonna talk about the story. So let's just walk through this. So it says in verse eight of of second Kings chapter six, when the king of Aram was at war with Israel,

he would confer with his officers and say, we will mobilize our forces at such and such a place. So the Arameans were at war with Israel,

and the king would say of Aram go, we're gonna go attack this place. Verse nine, but immediately Elisha the man of God, he's the prophet, would warn the king of Israel, do not go near that place for the Arameans are planning to mobilize their troops there. So the king of Israel would send word to the place indicated by the man of God. Time and time again, Elisha warned the king so that he would be on alert there.

So God just gave him the supernatural understanding, and and and he would go warn the king, beware, you're gonna be attacked. So then you go over and says in verse 11, so the king of Aram became very upset over this. Now what he responds to is is a pretty natural response.

It's he figures there's a receipt in the pocket somewhere. There's an answer to this, and this just kind of makes sense. He called his officers together and demanded, which of you is the traitor? Who has been informing to the king of Israel of my plans? So he goes, one of you guys is selling out.

And and verse 12 says, it's not us, my lord the king, one of the officers replied. Elisha, the prophet in Israel, tells the king of Israel even the words you speak in the privacy of your bedroom.

So they kinda know. They know that this guy Elisha is doing something crazy that they can't make sense of. Somehow, he knows stuff that only you are thinking about. Only you have talked about just, you know, just alone, basically. Now that's weird that the officers know this,

but they still want to attack this. Same with the king. Look what his response is. He goes, go and find out where he is, the king commanded, so I can send troops to seize him. So you just found out that somehow this guy has this incredible power to know things,

and you don't even want to go, wow, where's he getting that from? He believed they call him this man of God.

Hey, maybe their God is real. Maybe their God is powerful. Maybe I should go find a little bit more out of this. But you know, nope, nope. Don't like it. Don't like what he's doing. I wanna do what I'm gonna do. He's getting in my way. I'm gonna attack it. Some of you sitting here, that's your view of when it's

plain and clear that God's power has been working around you, but you just don't want the authority of God in your life. So instead of owning it, you attack it.

So it says, and the report came back, Elisha is at Dothan. So they found out where he is. So one night, the king of Aram sent a great army with many chariots and horses to surround the city. Think about it. He must respect this guy's power because he's just just him. And he goes, I'm gonna send an entire army

to get one guy. And it says, when the servant of the man of God get up this is Elisha's servant. He got up early the next morning and went outside. There were troops, horses, and chariots everywhere. So he goes out, gets out of the tent and goes, uh-oh. And all of sudden, he he says he he runs in. It says he he runs,

he and he goes to the he goes to Elisha, and he goes, oh, Scoob, Zoinks, what are we gonna do? That's the that's the the new Scooby Doo translation of the Bible. No. He says, oh, sir, what will we do now? The young man cried to Elisha. He says he cried.

He was stressed. He freaked out. He saw this enemy and he runs. He's like, oh my, we're surrounded. What are we gonna do? What are we gonna do? He's panicking. So I just wanna stop there for a minute because I wanna ask, I'm gonna look at his perspective, what he does versus what Elisha's about to do. The servant,

all he saw was hell on the horizon. All he saw was an army surrounding him. He only saw an army that was against him. He only saw the problem and saw the issue. He didn't see the army that was for him. He only saw what was against him. So his natural reaction was fear and panic.

That's what his natural reaction. He he he he all he could see what the issue was. So so before we go, what an idiot. Doesn't he trust God? What army of an issue is surrounding you right now? What is that thing in your life that makes you cry out, what am I gonna do?

What is it? Is it a financial thing, a relational thing, a physical thing? What is in your life that that that's happening right now that that you really can't see anything else? All you see is you feel surrounded by an army of issues. What is that?

And are you reacting the same way? Are you reacting like the servant that says, I don't know what I'm gonna do. All all hope is lost, and it doesn't matter. I I serve this servant of God, and I've seen his power. This guy's right alongside. He has seen all these things that Elisha has done. He's watched the power of God work, and yet he's still freaking out in this moment.

That's the problem when I don't understand that there's a spiritual subtext, another realm. When I don't see that opportunity, all I see is the oppression in front of me. All I see is the army up against me. How about you? Because here's the thing, when I give into that fear,

if I give in that fear, here's a couple things you might want to write if you're a note taker. Fear blinds us to our blessings and restricts our resources.

When I get fearful of what's surrounding me, it'll blind me to my blessings. I won't see how God is really working. I won't see what's going I won't see the potential. I'll only see the problem. And that'll restrict the resources I actually have if I am a believer in Jesus.

And one of those resources to remember this, the Bible clearly says over and over again, battles are temporary. And sometimes we end up in some pitched battles in our life that are painful and hard and difficult because we're in a broken world. But if I know the Lord, battles are temporary but victory is eternal.

Battles are temporary but victory is eternal. And so that's what the the servant saw hell on the horizon, so he reacted with fear. So what does Elisha do? So he gets up, he cries out to Elisha, and then verse 16 it says, don't be afraid, Elisha told him, for there are more on our side than on theirs.

Really? And then he says he prays. Before we go to prayer, I think I think if we were able to go back in time and watch this moment, I think something happened in between what he said, and then he prayed. I think he says, don't worry, there's more of us than them. And that servant had to be thinking,

does this guy use pastor math and not know how to count? Because he's probably like, there's me and there's you. Looked up on the hill. One two three four five eight thousand nine thousand nine thousand five hundred. And he's like, I don't get it. What do you mean?

How can how can you say there's more with us than with them? So it says he then prayed. It says Elisha prayed, and he said this,

Lord oh Lord, open his eyes and let him see.

So his first prayer here is he prays for his servant

to see. Now remember this, because this is a cool thing. When you study the Bible, I'm just throwing this in for free, you need to look for for comparisons and contrasts. You need to look for for tones, for repeated kind of things, and there's something symbolic, something really cool that God's doing through Elisha in this moment. And it's kind of shows that God has the the flair for the dramatic, to be able to write a cool story. Because he says, he prays, and he goes my servant's blind, he needs to see. So he prays, Lord may he see.

And it says, the Lord opened the young man's eyes, and when he looked up, he saw that the hillside around Elisha was filled with horses and chariots of fire.

Now that idea horses and chariots of fire is this idea that he saw these chariots drawn by horses, that they were kinda like the burning bush moment it describes in the Bible. They were aflame, but not being consumed. So there's some kind of angelic

army that's chariots of fire is is kind of symbolic in the Bible. Like, chariots were symbolic in this time to represent truth. And every time you see like the burning bush, like this this thing consumed with a flame, but not not being consumed. It's flame, but not being consumed. It kinda represents this power of God.

So he sees this angelic, this other realm, a spiritual realm, a realm, a plane of existence that's happening at the same time that that is basically representative of saying to him, the truth and the power of the living God is here. That's what he sees. That's what Elisha saw.

And and so basically, Elisha said, I know there's an army here, and I don't know what God's gonna do in that moment. I'm not really sure. But I know this, God's doing something that goes beyond just our physical threat.

So you don't have to be afraid. Because what's gonna happen is gonna happen. But if we trust God, what God wants to happen in us and through us and around us is gonna happen.

And he was right. There was more with them that were there. There was this angelic truth and power presence of God that was there. And and somehow God gave Elisha that ability to put the goggles on and see that spiritual realm.

So he prayed, and the servant got to literally see it. In other words, where the servant was stuck in only the physical realm, and all he saw was hell on the horizon, Elisha saw the help on the hilltop. He saw the help.

See, so he didn't just get stuck looking at the problem, he saw the provision from the supernatural realm. He saw the provision, and because he saw the provision, his reaction was faith, not fear. Does that make sense? Can I can I can I pray that Lord, I wanna see what you see? I wanna know what's going on.

And what's really interesting is after this servant saw this angelic army, he never mentions the enemy again.

Because he doesn't need to worry about them. Yeah, they got to deal with them, but he doesn't have to be consumed with worry over them. It's the same for us. Do you let the the physical realm problem consume you to where you can't see what God is also doing through this?

The Bible says that God works all things together for good. Now if you just read that part of the verse, you're gonna be a very disappointed person because you're like, well, I have lots of things that never seem to be good.

Because he says he works all things together for good for those who love him and are called according to his purpose. Meaning as you go according to his purpose, you're gonna have lots of not good things happen.

But if you see the spiritual, like the first passage I read, we don't look at the things which are not seen, for they are eternal, and the things which seen are temporary. What he's saying is, it doesn't mean every physical moment turns out to be wow, that was so awesome in the end. It means that the grander scheme of things, the eternal plan of God in the spiritual realm, it will work out for good.

That's what we need to see. And if I don't, I'm gonna be frustrated. I'm gonna be fearful. I'm gonna be mad. I'm gonna be defeated. I'm gonna feel hopeless. But if I can learn to see the help on the hilltop, I can see what's going on. Because look what he goes on after he says he saw that. As the Aramean

army advanced, because he's still got this physical problem, the army's still showing up, they advanced toward him. Elisha prayed, now he prays a second time. What did he pray the first time? I want my blind servant, the servant who's blind to the spiritual realm, to see.

Well now what does he pray about this army that's of the physical realm? He prays, oh Lord, please make them blind.

So I I the Lord struck them with blindness, as Elisha asked. So he prayed for his servant who was blind to the spiritual to see the spiritual. He prayed for this physical army to be blinded to the physical world. And that happened. So this is inverse. He reversed it. And so they were blind.

And then Elisha went out to them. And and here, verse 19, this is where I believe George Lucas stole the idea of what a Jedi knight can do. Says Elisha went out to him, and he says, you have come the wrong way. This isn't the right city. Follow me, and I will take you to the man you are looking for,

because these are not the droids you're looking for. That part I added. And it says, and he led them to the city of Samaria. So they were blind, they were dumped out, they don't understand what just happened. He comes out and just says, hey, here's what you need to do.

And here was the servant who was terrified of this army now and couldn't see. Now he saw, here's this army that was probably thinking easy job, we got them dead to rights, and now they're blind and freaking out. And Elisha goes, just come with me. Okay.

So they follow him, and he takes them to the city of Samaria, which is where the king of Israel and his army is. So it says he he marches them in, and then he prays a third time. As soon as they had entered Samaria, Elisha prayed, oh, Lord, now open their eyes and let them see.

See what happens? See how this complete reversal happened?

His servant freaked out because he was surrounded by an army because he couldn't see. He said, now you can see, and he saw that there was another army for him, not just against him. Now this enemy army gets marched in. They were physically blind. He says, let them see. And what do they see now?

They're now the one that's surrounded by a physical army. Complete reversal of fortune here. It just happened. Because the spiritual realm impacted the physical realm in this moment.

And and so then the king of Israel, he's still freaking out by this whole thing. So look what he does. It says he he sees it in verse 21, and he shouts to Elijah, my father, should I kill them? Should I kill them? He's thinking very physical realm. He's thinking a tactical man. If this army and these raiders are bothering us, we got this big chunk of their army. Let's just end them right now. We'll weaken the enemy. From a physical standpoint, that's probably a pretty good tactical move.

Except for that's not who the people of God are supposed to be. Especially not in this moment. So Elisha says, of course not. Do we kill prisoners of war?

Well, that makes sense. Don't kill them. So then the next thing, oh, we'll just keep them. Right? They're prisoners of war. But then Elisha says something ridiculous to the king. Sounds ridiculous. He says, give them food and drink and send them home again to their master.

He's like, feed them and let them go home. Pack a snack for them. Let them take the leftovers. And so look what it says. So so the verse 20. So the king made a great feast for them and then sent them home to their master. So basically, he threw a party for them, gave them a feast, and then let them go home.

Now think about it. That seems like a dumb move if you're only thinking the physical realm. But think about it. If he had killed them, what would the king of Aram done? He would have assumed somehow they trapped my men, somehow they tricked again. Gonna get a bigger army, I'm gonna go keep fighting.

But think about it, giving them a feast and sending them home. Imagine what it was like to hear those men come home and explain to the king what just happened. They're like, king, you are not gonna believe what just happened. We had him surrounded,

and then all of a sudden, we we we we went to come after him, and he stepped up. I saw him mumbling something.

And and next thing, you know, everything went black. We couldn't see. None of us could see. And then this guy walked up to us that we thought wanted to help us and started mumbling. Follow me. I'll take you to the man you're looking for. And and then we come in, and then he prays against, mumbles over us, let them see. All of sudden, we could all see again, we're surrounded by this army. The king's like, kill him. Kill him. And he's like, no. Don't kill him. Give him a feast. And then they gave us Chick fil A, and it was on a Sunday. I don't even know how they made that happen, but they did. And then they packed up the leftovers. I dear, I still got a few nuggets. You want one?

Imagine all of these thousands of men telling the king that story. You know what impact it had? Read the last phrase of verse 23. It says, and after that the Armenian raiders stayed away from the land of Israel. The king's side said, alright, we're not a mess with this anymore, Which is still sad.

Some of us act like they did, like the king did, when it comes to the power of God working in and around you.

You see something that should not have happened. Wow, I should have died. My kids should have died. Or this should have happened. Or that should happen. Or this this thing happened. And it was obvious something powerful just happened, and you still run from God. You're like, just don't want to mess with that.

That scares me. I don't want to mess with that. I'm gonna stay away from the land of Israel. I'm gonna stay away from what God's doing. Which one are you in the story? Have you seen God's power? Have you seen the spiritual realm come to play and and and you just run? Do you still fight it? Or maybe you're like the servant.

You still refuse to see what's going on, and so you're just afraid all the time. As long as there's no army around you, you're good. The second problems come, you're like, where's God? What's going on? What's happening? Or can we be like Elisha?

Can we learn to pray? Because and you know how you get there? You know what the difference in perception is? How you can see this whole thing differently? There's one key that happened in this whole story that changed everything. What was that?

Elisha did it three times. Prayer. Prayer. Prayer. Basically, the difference between the perception is found in this prayer, and the idea that to have eyes of faith, you need to enact acts of prayer. Without the act of prayer, you will never have the eyes of faith. You just won't. That's the key to unlocking it.

When something's going on in life, it's confusing. When you have something happening, like why am why is this seem harder than it should be? Why does this seem more oppressive? Why why am I so afraid? Sometimes you need to stop and go, God, is there something else happening?

Is there a part you know when you watch a movie, we get the omniscient point of view a lot of times so we can see. And you get mad at a character. Why does he not just and the reason is we have all the information and they don't. You know that when this character keeps getting stymied

because the issue he thinks he's fighting, there's another nefarious character around the corner. There's someone else stirring the pot that they're not aware of.

What do you do when that's happening in your life?

Do we choose acts of prayer through the size of faith? Because you know what, when you see the eternal realm, you will not fear the temporary realm. When you learn to see the realm eternal more clearly, you'll have less fear of what's going on in this realm.

You won't be worried about how messed up our politics are. You won't be worried about, oh man, this world seems to be going to hell. You won't be worried I mean, we'll have concern, we'll have to deal with the issues in our life, but you won't let that terror embrace you and paralyze you.

Because you'll you'll see what's really going on. In other words, this this whole thing is if you look at the pattern that happened here and all through scripture is when we face something, and this other realm is impacting it, sometimes our natural reaction is fear. But if we can go from fear to faith,

and a choice of faith says I will pray, you'll then have power. Fear, faith, prayer, power. Fear, faith. If you go fear, fear, paralysis, no power. But it's fear, faith, prayer, power. That's what really is going on. That's what happens. Because sometimes, the issue you run into, it's obvious. Here's the receipt. But sometimes,

something's happening. And the reason it seems so terrifying is there is another story happening on a level of existence that we are not aware of. And I want to I want to explain this with a story in my life I want to close with, but I just want to set it up a little bit first. I've been a pastor for twenty eight years.

I've seen crazy things doing ministry.

I've been in Africa and seen the weirdest things out in these weird villages where they still live like they did two hundred years ago. I've had witch doctors chase me down a street in Africa. Have a picture of it. I've shown him before. Mean, it's like crazy. I've seen a lot of crazy stuff. But the thing I'm gonna describe here is just like that story in the Bible, those stories where the physical and they get to see it and the chariots of fire, those are still the exceptions, not the rule.

And my story in my entire life, I've only had something similar to happen like this twice. So don't

hear what I'm not saying. Don't take the story and say this is what we're supposed to go look for all the time. I didn't look for this, it just happened. But I want to tell it to you because it shows that I learned very clearly, I had a moment where what was happening physically,

the reaction was much stronger than what should have happened in the physical realm, and I discovered there was something else going on. And it happened back when I was in college. I was came back home to visit family. I was back in the area, and I'd been gone for a couple years.

And my friend who led me to Jesus actually, he we were gonna go get some food and and rent a movie. Now you're not gonna understand the story. Some of the young people have you understand, you couldn't stream back then. They didn't have smart TVs. We just had really heavy TVs.

And and and and you had to use this thing, not even a DVD. Some of you are I remember. You know the DVDs? No. This is before that. There was this thing called a VHS tape. And the golden rule of that era was be kind, rewind. And the place we would say is be kind, rewind, or you will be fined.

And and and so we went to get the movie. So my friend went in to get the food. I went to get the movie. And when I went into the movie, started standing there, all of sudden this guy walked up and I go, hey,

Arlo. And it was a guy I went to high school with. And he was this happy go lucky and just fun loving guy we'd hang out and and he was involved in some of the clubs we're involved in. And I remember my friend Dave and I had really, like, reached out to him and kept praying for him. We got him to come to church with us, to youth group a bit, and, you know, worship Jesus. Not sure if he ever really made any kind of but he would come with us. He would come and but then we graduate. I went off to college. We lost track of each other.

And so I see him like, Arlo. And he goes, hey, Bill. How you doing? Now he he did seem weirder than than he used be. He used to be really over the top loud. He seemed much more subdued.

So you could tell there was something weird. But that's not the problem, because I've ran into a lot of weird people. I've seen a lot of people change and act strange. But this was this was this was as he started talking to me and asking questions, something happened in that moment.

I'm a I'm an outgoing person. I'm a I'm a close talker. That's why I like leaning over here. I wanna like be right in your face. And and and and so I but yet as he talked, I felt myself feeling kind of weird,

Kinda scared. And I actually literally started to like physically fold my arms and kinda lean back. And this guy was kinda like leaning into me and kept talking.

And there was no reason to feel this. And then it switched. It's like right away. It's like hair went up in my arms and and and for some reason I started to not only feel fearful, I started to feel like if you've ever had a panic attack,

my adrenaline went high. My heart rate started to race. I felt a little bit dizzy, and I just the best way I can describe it, I've never felt like I've been scared in moments that I thought, oh, something scary is happening. I, for no reason, felt

terror. I understand what that word means. I couldn't think straight, and as he's talking to me, all I could think is I gotta get out here. I gotta get out. And I wanted to run away, and I couldn't figure out what was going on.

I was just terrified. And I was like, why am I feeling so weird? Never had something really happen like that. Am I having a panic? Am I having a mental breakdown right in this moment? So in my head, I thought, you know what? I'm just feeling fearful, but something said have faith.

So I started praying in my head as he's this guy's grilling me and leaning into me and and and had this weird snarky dead look in his eyes.

And and and as he leans in, all of a sudden, just figured, I don't know what's going on. It feels like there's a story happening. There's a plot twist here that I am not aware of, but I can't figure out why I'm so freaked out. You gotta help me.

And then instantly, the passage of scripture that says, he who is in you is greater than he who is in this world. I don't know why. That just popped to my head. The Jesus who's in me is greater in this world. So in my head, I just started praying that. And as I prayed it, something changed.

Instead of standing like this, I I kinda dropped my arms and I started leaning. I and I turned the conversation to Jesus. And I said, hey, Harlow.

Do do you go to church anymore? He's like, oh, no. No. No. No. No. I don't know. I stopped after. Do you know why? I go, why not? Well and he started all of sudden, he started mumbling.

And it's almost like if you were thinking about a physical fight, I went from feeling like I was defeated to where you you or in a in a in a in a sports game. It's like, you know how you can just sense the momentum just shifted?

It's like all of a sudden, he started acting a little agitated and weird and backing, and he started to lean back. And and I started to lean in, and I realized I just started sharing Jesus with him.

And so that's what I've been doing. I'm out in California. I'm learning I'm gonna be a youth pastor, blah blah blah. And then I said, you don't go to church anymore. Hey. You know what? I'll be here all weekend. He's what are you saying? He goes he goes he goes, let's go to church. Let's go to the old church where he used to go. Let's just come with me, man. Come with me. Let's go praise Jesus together one more time. Why? You wanna do that? Will you come with me to go here and praise Jesus with me? And when I said that, that was enough. He finally backed, and he just freaked out. And he says, I gotta get out of here. And he ran out of the place. I am not kidding. It made absolutely no sense to me.

So I'm like, that was weird. And I went and rented the movie. And then when I walked out, my friend Dave came out of the food place. We got in the car, and I go, know, I just had the weirdest encounter.

Because what happened? Go, I ran into Arlo. And he goes, oh my gosh. I thought there was Arlo. I go, I go, he keep running right by me as I came out of the food place. And and I thought it was him, but he's running so fast. He looked terrified. He looked like he saw a ghost or something. And he just ran, got in his car, sped out of here. And I go, yeah. It's weird. He goes, what did you say to him? What happened? He goes, I don't know. And I explained how I felt terrified, and then I told him what happened. Then I said as I shared Jesus, all of a sudden, he ran away.

And he goes, that makes sense. You know what he's up to now. Right? I go, no. I don't. I'm in California. He goes, Arlo totally rejected God. He became a Satanist. And not just how you think, oh, I'm gonna worship the dark, be, like, be goth person. Literally, full on worshiper of Satan. Held a covenant in his home,

and and everybody knew it. And he proclaimed that he had turned into it. Not only just I don't believe in God, I have joined a movement where I am actively considering myself the enemy of all Christians. And I go, I didn't know that. But now the last ten minutes of my life makes more sense. You see,

it wasn't just an encounter with an estranged former high school friend. What happened that I strolled into was a battle on a spiritual plane where I ran into an army of a demonic influence that was surrounding this guy, and it reacted to the army of angelic influence that was with me.

And as it turned out, he who was with me was greater than he who was with him. And I didn't even need to do anything about it. All I needed to know was talk Jesus into the moment. Bring Jesus into the moment. That's what I'm saying. Here's where the hope is. When you are surrounded by issues,

you still gotta deal with those issues. There's still a physical reality. But sometimes what's really getting you down, what's really pulling you down is that spiritual realm on the underneath the surface. That that's really where the enemy's trying to take advantage, to try to discourage you, to try to stop you. And if you're having success, try to rob you from the joy. That's what he's trying to do. But we need to speak Jesus into the moment. So when you say fear,

faith, prayer, power, in other words, you're saying it's Jesus that makes the darkness tremble. Right? So, hey, can you declare that? Can you stand up? Just stand up as we close here. Stand up with me. Can we declare that it is Jesus that makes the darkness tremble? Can we? Can we say, Jesus, Jesus,

you make the darkness tremble.

Lord, we lift up the name above every name. The name of Jesus Christ. For yours is the kingdom, the power, and the glory forever and we declare it. We believe it, God. You are first and above. And Lord, all bow to you. There's no higher, no greater, no other beside you, no other like you.

And Lord, we praise you because we belong to you. And if God is for us, who can be against us? So we put our trust, our faith in Jesus, and we praise and glory in the name of Jesus. I pray that as we go into this week, that you would open our eyes to the things that are eternal, the things of you.

That no matter what the enemy may throw at us, God, our eyes are on Jesus who is greater. And that, Lord, the the army surrounding us, God, is much greater than the army coming at us. So Lord, we rest in you. We look to you. We know you are glorious. And you are, God, so far beyond our imagination,

God. Just open our eyes to Jesus. We thank you, Lord, for being with us, for calling us to yourself. We love you. We praise you. And it is in Jesus' name we pray all these things and all God's people say. Amen.