[SPEAKER_01]: Turn with me to second Kings chapter six, second Kings chapter six, and we're going, yeah, going, going back a little bit.
[SPEAKER_01]: We're gonna start in verse 24, and we're gonna read through chapter seven, verse two.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's not entirely too, too much, but it is a little bit, so you'll just wanna follow along, not loose track, you'll be on the screen if you wanna follow that way as well,
[SPEAKER_01]: We're going to begin in 1st 24.
[SPEAKER_01]: It says, this, it says, sometime later.
[SPEAKER_01]: King Benheadad of Aaron brought all his military units together and marched up to besiege Samaria.
[SPEAKER_01]: So there was a great famine in Samaria and they continued the siege against it until a donkey's head sold for 80 silver sheckles and a cup of doves don't sold for five silver sheckles.
[SPEAKER_01]: Don't worry it just gets weirder.
[SPEAKER_01]: As the king of Israel was passing by on the wall a woman cried out to him my Lord the
[SPEAKER_01]: He answered, if the Lord doesn't help you, where can I get help for you?
[SPEAKER_01]: From the thrashing floor or the wine press, then the King asks her, what's the matter?
[SPEAKER_01]: She said, this woman said to me, give up your son and we will eat him today.
[SPEAKER_01]: Then we will eat my son tomorrow.
[SPEAKER_01]: So we boiled my son and ate him and I said to her the next day, give up your son and we will eat him.
[SPEAKER_01]: But she was hidden.
[SPEAKER_01]: She has hidden, excuse me, her son.
[SPEAKER_01]: When the king heard the woman's words, he tore his clothes.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I say, then he was passing by on the wall, the people saw that there was a sack cloth under his clothes, next to his skin he announced, may God punish me and do severely if the head of Elijah, son of Chefeth, remains on his shoulders today.
[SPEAKER_01]: Verse 32, Alisha was sitting in the house and his house and the elders were sitting with him.
[SPEAKER_01]: The king sent a man ahead of him but before the messenger got to him, Alisha said to the elders, do you see how this murder has sent someone to cut off my head?
[SPEAKER_01]: Look when the messenger comes, shut the door and keep him out.
[SPEAKER_01]: Isn't the sound of his master's feet behind him?
[SPEAKER_01]: When Alisha was still speaking with them, the messenger came down to him.
[SPEAKER_01]: Then he said, this disaster is from the Lord.
[SPEAKER_01]: Why should I wait for the Lord any longer?
[SPEAKER_01]: It continues.
[SPEAKER_01]: We go into chapter 7 and I should reply, hear the word of the Lord.
[SPEAKER_01]: This is what the Lord says about this time tomorrow.
[SPEAKER_01]: Everybody say about this time tomorrow.
[SPEAKER_01]: At the gate of Samaria, six courts of fine meal will sell for a shackle, and 12 courts of barley will sell for a shackle.
[SPEAKER_01]: Then the captain, the king's right hand man, responded to them, man of God, look, even the Lord were to make the windows of heaven could this really happen.
[SPEAKER_01]: If you're taking notes this morning, the title of today's message is, by this time tomorrow.
[SPEAKER_01]: by this time tomorrow.
[SPEAKER_01]: Let's pray.
[SPEAKER_01]: Lord, we just thank you for your Word this morning.
[SPEAKER_01]: We thank you, Father.
[SPEAKER_01]: for teaching us, Lord, through your Word God, for bringing revelation and clarity and wisdom to us God, bring insight, Lord.
[SPEAKER_01]: Lord, through your Word, Father, Lord, we present to you today, Father, we thank you, God, for the work, Lord, that you have already started here this morning, God, and we look forward with the expectation for what you're going to continue to do in this place, how you're gonna continue to speak to us.
[SPEAKER_01]: And Lord, we just say, have your way this morning.
[SPEAKER_01]: Continue to move in this place, Lord.
[SPEAKER_01]: Continue to touch us.
[SPEAKER_01]: We love you today in Jesus name, everybody said.
[SPEAKER_01]: Amen, amen.
[SPEAKER_01]: We started this series called, uh, these are the days, um, a few weeks ago, and we've been discussing the days that we're in, the times that we're living in, we've been discussing how the Lord is really doing a powerful work, and there is a move of God that is happening in the earth right now.
[SPEAKER_01]: And the Lord is doing miraculous things.
[SPEAKER_01]: I told you, when we started this series, I'm not necessarily an in-days preacher.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm not preaching a message about what the in-days will look like, but I want to communicate very clearly that you need to know the kind of days that we're living in.
[SPEAKER_01]: And you need to understand that there are great things that the Lord is doing right now and what He is going to do in the earth.
[SPEAKER_01]: Amen.
[SPEAKER_01]: These are the days of revival.
[SPEAKER_01]: These are the days of awakening.
[SPEAKER_01]: These are the days of an outpouring of the Spirit of God.
[SPEAKER_01]: Amen.
[SPEAKER_01]: I saw again this week you may have seen it as well.
[SPEAKER_01]: Hit the national news about like Bible sales.
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't know did y'all see that.
[SPEAKER_01]: How Bible sales have like tripled or whatever it is just in the past couple months and comparison to the last couple years.
[SPEAKER_01]: And we are seeing an absolute, move of God and people are being awakened, people are being shaken to the truth and the revelation of Jesus.
[SPEAKER_01]: And so we are living in good days.
[SPEAKER_01]: And so while there may be some crazy things and some crazy days and some trying times and seasons, we still need to know that these are good days.
[SPEAKER_01]: Amen.
[SPEAKER_01]: Hallelujah, and so this passage of Scripture you're like, what in the world?
[SPEAKER_01]: What is this all about?
[SPEAKER_01]: We have people eating weird things, and people killing their kids and eating them, and all kinds of stuff taking place.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I know it's crazy, but you've got to understand that those were the days that they were living in.
[SPEAKER_01]: and this text of Scripture is probably one of the darkest times in all of Israel for obvious reasons.
[SPEAKER_01]: First, the context of just what we read is just outright weird.
[SPEAKER_01]: This is weird.
[SPEAKER_01]: You don't hear about that kind of thing.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's insane.
[SPEAKER_01]: But secondly, Israel at this time was in a place where they were being disobedient to God.
[SPEAKER_01]: And they were not following the truth of his laws and his commands.
[SPEAKER_01]: And people were literally turning away from God left and right.
[SPEAKER_01]: The people of Israel at this point have really bought into disbelief and bought into doubt in God.
[SPEAKER_01]: And they began to walk away from the very God that rescued them and delivered them.
[SPEAKER_01]: who actually finally has a backbone to stand for the Lord and to stand for the truth.
[SPEAKER_01]: Now I recognize that today we live in a time where God is moving, but there are still very trying and testing times that we're in.
[SPEAKER_01]: While the Lord is doing a work in the earth right now, there is still darkness that is trying to overtake.
[SPEAKER_01]: There is still darkness
[SPEAKER_01]: But I'm grateful today that there's still a God in Israel, amen.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm grateful today that there's still a God in America, that there's still a God over the nations of the earth, amen.
[SPEAKER_01]: So while the evil one uses wickedness in the hearts of people to conspire against the Word of God and his plans for us, the Holy One, Hallelujah, sits on the throne in heaven and the Bible says in Psalms 2,
[SPEAKER_01]: but he is still on the throne.
[SPEAKER_01]: So no matter what's going on in the world around us, we need to know that he's still on the throne.
[SPEAKER_01]: I want to remind you of that this morning.
[SPEAKER_01]: He has not been de-throwned.
[SPEAKER_01]: He has not lost the battle.
[SPEAKER_01]: He has not nervous at all.
[SPEAKER_01]: He has not nervous about your life.
[SPEAKER_01]: He has not nervous about the situations that you see in your life or in the world around us.
[SPEAKER_01]: He is an all-powerful, never-ending, never-changing God.
[SPEAKER_01]: We talked last week about the power of God and how we need the power of God.
[SPEAKER_01]: We truly experienced the power of God last week.
[SPEAKER_01]: It was amazing.
[SPEAKER_01]: God really moved and people were touched by the real, raw power of God because that's what we need really more than anything.
[SPEAKER_01]: We need His power.
[SPEAKER_01]: We need His demonstrations of power.
[SPEAKER_01]: people are not going to necessarily come to the knowledge of Jesus because of how many scriptures you've memorized.
[SPEAKER_01]: But they certainly will come to the knowledge of Jesus by demonstrating His power in their life.
[SPEAKER_01]: So in second Kings, we literally go from one chapter of darkness into another chapter of darkness.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's one big mess.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's one big sad story.
[SPEAKER_01]: And the darkness that is hovering over Israel is so evident and so real.
[SPEAKER_01]: But what's encouraging even in the midst of dark times, we see the Lord rise up.
[SPEAKER_01]: And he begins to do a work in Israel to bring the people back to God, back to his heart, and back to his purpose.
[SPEAKER_01]: And let me just tell you something about trouble, because there was a lot of trouble that was happening.
[SPEAKER_01]: Let me tell you something about trouble.
[SPEAKER_01]: Sometimes trouble is there to get your attention.
[SPEAKER_01]: A lot of times we're going through troubling times and troubling situations and we're asking God, why am I going through this?
[SPEAKER_01]: Why am I facing this or what is going on?
[SPEAKER_01]: And we ask all of these questions, but sometimes the Lord will allow trouble to get your attention.
[SPEAKER_01]: Sometimes there is a reminder that you need from him, and he will use trouble, he will stir things up to get you to refocus and reshift your attention back on him.
[SPEAKER_01]: And sadly some people, we see won't pray until there is some trouble.
[SPEAKER_01]: Some people won't pray until there's trouble around them.
[SPEAKER_01]: They won't worship until there's trouble around them.
[SPEAKER_01]: They won't go to church unless they find themselves in trouble.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I want to tell you today that I don't need trouble to pray.
[SPEAKER_01]: But if you need trouble to pray, then there's something there let me tell you there's enough that's happening in the world around you and in your families and in your friends circles and all that to bring you to your knees and Take you into a place of intercession There's enough that's happening.
[SPEAKER_01]: Believe me that kid that can get you to pray Because the world that we live in is filled with trouble, but oftentimes the Lord will use trouble to get our attention
[SPEAKER_01]: what we saw happen such as, let's just say, the last election or the assault of Jewish people from, from Hamas or, you know, the assassination attempts and the successful assassinations and the Antifa riots and the burning down abilities, the attacks against ice agents, all of these things, all of these troubling things I believe has gotten people's attention.
[SPEAKER_01]: has awakened the people of God, and is brought us to a place where we didn't realize the mess that we were really in.
[SPEAKER_01]: We were much like the Israelites and second kings, chapter 6, where they didn't even realize how far out they got, but it took the prophet to rise up and speak.
[SPEAKER_01]: to get the attention of the people, and I believe that the Lord has used the things that we have seen in recent days, to get a hold of the people of God, and to allow us to rise up and take our stand and to find our voice again, Amen.
[SPEAKER_01]: And we are seeing that happen before our eyes.
[SPEAKER_01]: And so in 2 Kings 6 we're told that the Syrian army
[SPEAKER_01]: take over all of Sumerium, and it's an all out attack of the enemy.
[SPEAKER_01]: And so if you're taking notes this morning, there's two things that I want to give to you as we die further into this story, but there's two truths that you need to understand before you see a change tomorrow.
[SPEAKER_01]: The first one is this, it doesn't sound very promising and doesn't sound very nice at all, but it's the truth.
[SPEAKER_01]: And number one is that there is an attack from the enemy.
[SPEAKER_01]: There isn't a tack from the enemy.
[SPEAKER_01]: The enemy is always at full out war against you, against your life.
[SPEAKER_01]: Now I'm not here this morning to talk about the devil.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm not here to give him any kind of glory at all because we know that he doesn't deserve it.
[SPEAKER_01]: He doesn't deserve any kind of credit whatsoever.
[SPEAKER_01]: Quite frankly, too many believers give the devil credit for more than he should ever receive.
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't believe the devil should be credited.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I'll believe he should ever be magnified or glorified when we come into a church, okay?
[SPEAKER_01]: As a matter of fact, when we come together, we should spend less time talking about the attack of the enemy and talking more about the goodness and the good things of God, amen?
[SPEAKER_01]: Come on somebody, Hallelujah.
[SPEAKER_01]: But what I do believe is appropriate and important for us to do as believers is identify the schemes of the enemy.
[SPEAKER_01]: according to 2 Corinthians chapter 2 verse 11, that there are schemes of the enemy, and as people of God, we should have the sermon and we should recognize what the enemy is trying to do.
[SPEAKER_01]: As the scripture says, we can't be ignorant of his schemes.
[SPEAKER_01]: If we're ignorant of his schemes, we're going to get beat up upside the head.
[SPEAKER_01]: We're going to get caught off guard.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm not giving him credit.
[SPEAKER_01]: Once again, here are my heart.
[SPEAKER_01]: But we need to recognize what he's trying to do, and what he's trying to accomplish.
[SPEAKER_01]: Satan has a strategic way against the way that he works against your life, and it works against mine.
[SPEAKER_01]: But here's the thing, he doesn't have anything new.
[SPEAKER_01]: There's nothing new.
[SPEAKER_01]: was used by the enemy to come against the people of God, I think it would help us to understand what we're dealing with in our lives in the world around us today.
[SPEAKER_01]: Scripture says that Syria besieged Samaria, besieged Samaria.
[SPEAKER_01]: This is interesting because if you study what exactly what that means, you'll discover that a besiege
[SPEAKER_01]: It's not a violent action, but it's actually means this to surround a place with armed forces in order to capture it or force it's surrender.
[SPEAKER_01]: And so Syria comes in besieges, or Syria comes in besieges, to give me some area.
[SPEAKER_01]: And we see that this besieging is taking place.
[SPEAKER_01]: This is not an overnight thing.
[SPEAKER_01]: This was not a quick move.
[SPEAKER_01]: This was not all of a sudden, raid the city.
[SPEAKER_01]: This is actually a long form type of warfare.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's something that takes some time to accomplish.
[SPEAKER_01]: So a besiege was designed to surround a city
[SPEAKER_01]: coming in and out of the city.
[SPEAKER_01]: You could really think of it like this.
[SPEAKER_01]: It was literally a slow death of a city, where they could no longer receive any kind of goods.
[SPEAKER_01]: They could no longer trade in that day with neighboring cities, neighboring countries, because nothing could go out.
[SPEAKER_01]: And nothing could come in.
[SPEAKER_01]: So the goal is not an immediate victory.
[SPEAKER_01]: The goal is actually suffocation, to suffocate.
[SPEAKER_01]: And to make it to where they can no longer sustain life on their own.
[SPEAKER_01]: So the Bible says that Syria for years besieged Samaria until they no longer had anything left to survive.
[SPEAKER_01]: They got so desperate that they began to eat donkey heads.
[SPEAKER_01]: They would eat animals, but they got so desperate that there was nothing left that and it would cost so much money we see.
[SPEAKER_01]: So many shackles of silver just for a chance and opportunity to eat the head of a donkey.
[SPEAKER_01]: They were no longer going for the dove, but they would settle for the dove droppings.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's a symbolic, really, to what we see in a lot of the church of today, that they no longer want the dove.
[SPEAKER_01]: Come on, somebody.
[SPEAKER_01]: But they'll settle for the dove droppings.
[SPEAKER_01]: just a little bit of the dove every once in a while but I don't want the whole thing.
[SPEAKER_01]: And so we begin to see them literally forcing themselves in and coming to a place in their own minds where they think that it's okay to settle for anything less than what's normal.
[SPEAKER_01]: And they begin to eat wild things.
[SPEAKER_01]: And we see in the story that the King happens to be walking alongside the wall when he realizes that this woman is in complete despair and cries out to him and says, hey, like I literally just got tricked by this other woman, we were so hungry and we're so crazy from what's happening right now, that I literally gave up my son, boiled him.
[SPEAKER_01]: Just for the sake of a meal,
[SPEAKER_01]: And she said, that tomorrow we would do the same with her son, but now he's nowhere to be found.
[SPEAKER_01]: She's hidden them.
[SPEAKER_01]: So we see this deceitfulness.
[SPEAKER_01]: These evil plots and schemes that are happening, not just in the city and not just in the upper leadership, if you will, but it's trickling all the way down into the people.
[SPEAKER_01]: And people are going crazy.
[SPEAKER_01]: And this is happening, the Bible says, for years, for years.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I want to tell you today that when I look at the attack that comes on our lives that times, I can easily identify the fact that the enemy is not looking for an instant defeat.
[SPEAKER_01]: What he's doing is he's trying to see
[SPEAKER_01]: If it could be a long battle, a uphill battle, a dragged out defeat.
[SPEAKER_01]: When the enemy attacks you, it's not just this quick punch and blow and he walks away, but it's a long, dragged out thing.
[SPEAKER_01]: He'll attack your family, he'll attack your finances, he'll attack all these different things and it'll be a long, dragged out thing, but listen carefully because again, I want to understand the times that we're living in today.
[SPEAKER_01]: to the church has not been quick, has not been an easy attack against the bride of Christ.
[SPEAKER_01]: What he has done has tried to suck the very life out of the church for many years.
[SPEAKER_01]: I remember when I was young, when it was completely normal to go to the church at least three times a week.
[SPEAKER_01]: And now we have all we can do.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's pull and hair to go one time a week.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm not saying we got to get back to the way it was when we had Sunday morning and Sunday night and Wednesday night and Tuesday prayer service, you know, all of those things where you're literally at the church, everything.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm not saying we have to get back to that, but I want you to understand what has happened and how the enemy has literally sucked the life out of the church and we stood back and we were okay with it.
[SPEAKER_01]: And we have used excuses like we're too busy.
[SPEAKER_01]: Where we have too much going on or we have this and we have that.
[SPEAKER_01]: I told you months ago that Melissa and I had to repent of that very thing because we were allowing our son to play club basketball and to not be here many Sundays.
[SPEAKER_01]: or for us to have to, you know, one of us miss a Sunday or him to not even be here at all and all that and we came to the realization, what are we doing?
[SPEAKER_01]: Bible says to train them up in the way they should go.
[SPEAKER_01]: And here we are allowing the culture and the world around us to affect our very home.
[SPEAKER_01]: You say, well, that's over the top pastor, no, it's not.
[SPEAKER_01]: Because it's the little things that have led to where we are today.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's the little things, it's being okay with the kids playing sports, it's being okay with all of these things that have led to this moment and point of time and history.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I believe that the enemy has done all he could to besiege the bride of Christ.
[SPEAKER_01]: But what I'm also grateful for today is that while through that all, we're a victorious church.
[SPEAKER_01]: Come on, somebody.
[SPEAKER_01]: We are the bride at Christ, and the bride at Christ is rising up in this hour.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's recognizing the besiegement that has been taken place behind the scenes.
[SPEAKER_01]: And now we're fighting harder and we're fighting louder than ever before.
[SPEAKER_01]: We're not allowing the things that once held us back to hold us back any longer.
[SPEAKER_01]: Why is that?
[SPEAKER_01]: Because we know, and we understand, by this time tomorrow.
[SPEAKER_01]: In other words, we understand that things are going to be completely different.
[SPEAKER_01]: We understand that when the Lord begins to intervene, everything changes.
[SPEAKER_01]: So if we're going to see a turnaround in our lives personally, if we're going to see a turnaround in the culture of the church and the people of God, then we're going to have to take a stand for by this time tomorrow.
[SPEAKER_01]: Where we don't allow a prolonged thing to go on, but we know that we say by this time tomorrow, we shall see the hand of the Lord prevail.
[SPEAKER_01]: And we must first recognize the enemy's attack and put it into the besiegement, but then number two is this that we have to know that there is a word from the Lord.
[SPEAKER_01]: There is a word from the Lord.
[SPEAKER_01]: While the attack is real, we don't neglect the fact that it exists, we need to know that there is a word from the Lord.
[SPEAKER_01]: The word of the Lord always stands.
[SPEAKER_01]: It always triumphs over all.
[SPEAKER_01]: Come on, somebody.
[SPEAKER_01]: And after all that had occurred from the city being besieged to the people suffering so much that they're eating crazy things and that literally cannibalism is infiltrating people's minds.
[SPEAKER_01]: There is a word from the Lord.
[SPEAKER_01]: And you see, church wickedness and darkness may look like they're winning.
[SPEAKER_01]: But it's the Lord that always has the final say.
[SPEAKER_01]: He always has the final say.
[SPEAKER_01]: This is why you can't allow the lies and deception of the enemy to overtake you and knock you out.
[SPEAKER_01]: Because the word of the Lord is sharper, more powerful, and has the ability to destroy every single work of the evil one.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's what my Bible says.
[SPEAKER_01]: Come on now.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's the truth of God's Word, the Bible says, that sets people free.
[SPEAKER_01]: So in the world around us, that feels like there is a constant besiegement, it is the Word of the Lord that's gonna set people free.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's why we got to preach more.
[SPEAKER_01]: We got to speak more.
[SPEAKER_01]: Like, I've been like, it may sound silly to you, but it's just where we're at right now.
[SPEAKER_01]: Like, I've been putting like little like one sentence liners, if you will, just on like my Instagram and stuff, like constantly, the past couple of weeks, like it's just gotten me to this place where I've got to keep encouraging.
[SPEAKER_01]: I've got to keep given the word.
[SPEAKER_01]: I've got to keep putting these one liners as the Lord gives them to me because they're ministering to people.
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, literally, people are messaging like, wow, that meant a lot to me today or wow, that, you know, like, I'm not, I'm not looking for that, but like, that's what we need to be doing.
[SPEAKER_01]: We need to be seeing the word of the Lord changing people and we've got to speak it, right?
[SPEAKER_01]: We've got to use it.
[SPEAKER_01]: And what we actually need today, more than anything else is not another pep talk.
[SPEAKER_01]: We don't need another prophet for that matter.
[SPEAKER_01]: What we need is the word.
[SPEAKER_01]: We need the word to encourage us.
[SPEAKER_01]: We need the word to lift us up.
[SPEAKER_01]: We need the word of the Lord to pierce through the powers of darkness.
[SPEAKER_01]: So word of the Lord.
[SPEAKER_01]: We need the raw real true word of God spoken.
[SPEAKER_01]: The word that says, by this time tomorrow.
[SPEAKER_01]: Another word is some word that's got some confidence.
[SPEAKER_01]: Some word that has some backbone to it.
[SPEAKER_01]: Elijah was sick and tired of what he was seeing in Israel.
[SPEAKER_01]: And he says, by this time tomorrow, everything's going to change.
[SPEAKER_01]: And if you go later on to read what happens right after this, we see the economy of the city flipped back upside down in a positive direction.
[SPEAKER_01]: They no longer were paying tons of money for a donkey head.
[SPEAKER_01]: Now things begin to come back together because of one word that was spoken by the prophet from God.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I'm telling you, one word is all that we need.
[SPEAKER_01]: Come on, you don't need all these, you need one word from God.
[SPEAKER_01]: One word from God will change everything.
[SPEAKER_01]: One word of God will change the economy of your personal finances.
[SPEAKER_01]: One word from God will change the trajectory of your life and what's happening in your family, what's happening in the chaos all around you, just one word by this time tomorrow.
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't know what you're going through, and of course, I want to see the hand of the Lord do something two day, but I want to declare over your lives by this time tomorrow, we're going to see the hand of the Lord prevail, amen?
[SPEAKER_01]: Come on, by this time tomorrow there's going to be a drastic change that takes place in your life.
[SPEAKER_01]: Amen?
[SPEAKER_01]: Come on, we speak that out prophetically, we declare it right now.
[SPEAKER_01]: So all they needed was a word from the Lord.
[SPEAKER_01]: And once the word was spoken, all of a sudden, things completely shifted.
[SPEAKER_01]: Things completely changed in their favor.
[SPEAKER_01]: odds were totally stacked against them.
[SPEAKER_01]: They had become completely full of despair.
[SPEAKER_01]: And one word changed everything.
[SPEAKER_01]: This is how the enemy works.
[SPEAKER_01]: You got to notice that right before Elijah made this declaration, they wanted to conspire against him to cut off his head.
[SPEAKER_01]: In the only reason why the enemy would have wanted to cut off the head of Elijah is because there was knowledge that was known that a word would be spoken from his mouth.
[SPEAKER_01]: Why did they take out Charlie Kirk?
[SPEAKER_01]: Because of the word that was being spoken out of his mouth.
[SPEAKER_01]: Nothing has changed, folks.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's the same attack from the enemy since day one.
[SPEAKER_01]: They tried to cut off the head of Elijah, so the word of the Lord couldn't be spoken, and they weren't successful with it.
[SPEAKER_01]: The enemy has never changed his plans.
[SPEAKER_01]: We got to recognize that.
[SPEAKER_01]: He never changed about we have to be aware of what he's doing.
[SPEAKER_01]: We have to be cognizant of it.
[SPEAKER_01]: But the word of the Lord will always be spoken.
[SPEAKER_01]: Come on somebody, the word of the Lord will always be spoken.
[SPEAKER_01]: And right now, I believe that the word of the Lord is becoming louder than it's ever became before.
[SPEAKER_01]: Why do you think Bible cells are up because the word of the Lord is being louder?
[SPEAKER_01]: Come on, it's ringing louder than ever before.
[SPEAKER_01]: Hallelujah.
[SPEAKER_01]: So they tried to cut off his head.
[SPEAKER_01]: Why?
[SPEAKER_01]: Because a prophet without a voice is useless.
[SPEAKER_01]: A prophet without a voice is useless.
[SPEAKER_01]: And then he knows that if he could take out the voice, then he thinks he can win the battle.
[SPEAKER_01]: But the Lord protected Alisha, because it was out of his mouth that the word came.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I wanted to clear over you today that the word of the Lord is coming to you.
[SPEAKER_01]: and the word of the Lord will change you, and it will transform everything you see that is trying to defeat you.
[SPEAKER_01]: So you may feel like you're surrounded right now, you may feel like there is a besiegement that is happening in your life.
[SPEAKER_01]: And maybe a more ways than one, but you need to know today that you are covered by the blood of Jesus, that there has been a better word that has been spoken over you.
[SPEAKER_01]: You are guarded, you are protected, you are anointed, and the Word of God is going to win at the end of the day.
[SPEAKER_01]: My word says that we are more than conquerors through Christ Jesus.
[SPEAKER_01]: That is the spoken word of God.
[SPEAKER_01]: The word of God that also declares that I am the head and not the tail.
[SPEAKER_01]: The word of God also declares in every situation that I am above it and I am not beneath it.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's the spoken word of God.
[SPEAKER_01]: And if we need anything today, we don't need a little encouragement.
[SPEAKER_01]: Although that's great, don't get me wrong.
[SPEAKER_01]: What we need is the word.
[SPEAKER_01]: The word.
[SPEAKER_01]: The word that is sharper the Bible says than any double-edged sword.
[SPEAKER_01]: The word that has the power to penetrate the heart of man, to completely change the direction that man is going.
[SPEAKER_01]: to completely annihilate certain things that we are doing or we're allowing and bring the conviction of the Word to come upon us, to change us, to transform us.
[SPEAKER_01]: I know this is not a deep message today.
[SPEAKER_01]: I know this is not fully theological, if you will, and full of all of these bells and whistles today.
[SPEAKER_01]: But this is something that we just need to hear.
[SPEAKER_01]: We need to hear the word of the Lord.
[SPEAKER_01]: And instead of griping and complaining and texting everybody when all hell is breaking loose in your house, you need to get out the word and start speaking the word.
[SPEAKER_01]: Come on, when's the last time you did that?
[SPEAKER_01]: When's the last time you said, I will not move.
[SPEAKER_01]: I will not make a decision.
[SPEAKER_01]: I will not do anything until I have spoken the word of God.
[SPEAKER_01]: I will not allow the situation in the circumstance to overtake me, but I am going to speak the word of God.
[SPEAKER_01]: Nothing is more powerful.
[SPEAKER_01]: Don't get to the place where you forfeit what's good and you start accepting stuff
[SPEAKER_01]: It just doesn't make sense.
[SPEAKER_01]: It makes no sense for people to start eating donkey heads and doves droppings.
[SPEAKER_01]: That makes nobody does that.
[SPEAKER_01]: But that's what happens when you don't speak the word.
[SPEAKER_01]: You'll forfeit everything that you know is good.
[SPEAKER_01]: never make sense.
[SPEAKER_01]: You'll accept the fact that it's okay if the situation happens to be this way.
[SPEAKER_01]: You'll accept the fact that if the result that you got is I'm just going to live with that.
[SPEAKER_01]: You'll be going to accept all of these things and all these lies and deceptive stuff from the enemy.
[SPEAKER_01]: When the Word of God He says,
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm here, I'm your protector, I'm your keeper, I'm your helper, let my word have the final say, let my word have the final say.
[SPEAKER_00]: Thank you for listening to today's message.
[SPEAKER_00]: We pray you were inspired, challenged, and marked by the word you heard.
[SPEAKER_00]: If this message blessed you today, we encourage you to subscribe to the Church of the City podcast.
[SPEAKER_00]: There you can find more faith-filled messages to uplift you and help you on your journey of faith.
[SPEAKER_00]: For more information about Church of the City, head on over to www.cotcdfw.com.
[SPEAKER_00]: And until next time, remember this, the best is yet to come.