[00:00:00] Speaker A: You.
[00:00:01] Speaker B: Hey, thanks so much for listening to this message. My name is Jason, and I'm one of the ministers here at the Madison Church of Christ. It's our hope and prayer that the teaching from God's word you hear today will bless your life and draw you closer to him. If you're ever in the Madison, Alabama area, we'd love for you to worship with us on Sundays at 830 or 10:30 a.m. If you have any other questions about the Bible or want to know more about the Madison church, find
[email protected] be sure to also check out our Bible study podcast, Madison Church of Christ Bible studies. Thanks again for stopping by.
[00:00:38] Speaker A: Life is so incredibly unpredictable, and we've all known where we've had a little bit of a dilemma because we just experienced a great moment of joy, and soon it was followed after with a great moment of difficulty and sorrow. We've had those times where we get, like, some unexpected blessing that kind of came out of nowhere. And then also shortly after that, we got an unexpected disappointment that also seemed to come out of nowhere.
When we try to balance the two of those things and those moments and those emotions, the question we have to ask is, where do we turn during those moments that are so unpredictable?
There's a man named Horatio Spafford. He was a really well known guy in the 18 hundreds. And what made him so well known, he was a real estate mogul, but he was also a very popular attorney. And what happened to him in 1871 was he lost most of their stuff, their livelihood in the great Chicago fire. And then shortly after that, Horatio also lost his son to scarlet fever.
Knowing that his family had just gone through a difficult tragedy, he decided, you know, my wife and my four daughters, we all just need to get out of town for a little.
Know, a vacation might do us so good. And so that's exactly what they did, is they planned this trip. And so Horatio decided to put his four daughters and his wife on this boat to go to England on a trip. And so Horatio, he was on a business trip of his own, so he was going to join them later. And so they get on that boat, and they head across the ocean, and as they do, their boat collides with another boat.
200 people lost their lives that day. And of that, 204 of those were Horatio's daughters.
His wife's life was spared. And of course, this is before the days of cell phones and texting, just to be able to let them know what happened. She ended up having to send him a telegram. And you can actually see the telegram that they still have that's on the screen behind me where she sent this.
I've been saved alone.
What shall I do?
So Horatio, he hopped on board a boat and immediately left that trip that he was on to go join his wife in England. And while he was on that boat, crossing the exact same sea, the captain of that boat said, hey, I just thought you might want to know this, to have a little bit of a moment of memory and memorial that the very waters that we're passing over right now are the ones where your daughters were lost.
And so, Horatio, as he was looking over those dark waters, he wrote and pinned these four lines.
And you'll notice in the first two stanzas of these lines is the exact thing we were talking about. One moment we experience peace, and the next moment we can experience sorrow.
And this is what it says, he wrote, when peace, like a river, attendeth my way, when sorrows, like sea billows roll, whatever my lot, thou hast taught me to say, it is well.
It is well with my soul.
I don't know if you guys have ever been in a moment where you have talked to somebody that has gone through an unspeakable tragedy and the faith they exhibit in that moment, you kind of wonder, is it one of those things that they're just saying that kind of just to fake it until they make it? Or how do they actually believe that or say something like that? What I'm saying is this. How can somebody like Horatio say that all is well when all is not well?
Well, today in two Kings chapter four, we're going to learn about the amazing faith of this shunamite woman who not once but twice after she goes from experiencing great joy to great sorrow, says, it is well.
It is well.
So today, as we dig into this text in two Kings four, we're going to answer that question. We're going to look at, like, what makes a person be able to say all is well, but for us, practically, what are the characteristics? So I can be that kind of like it is well person when the situation around me is anything but well. So as you turn to second Kings four, I do want to give you a little bit of context. It is probably one of the greatest understatements of the world to say that the life of a prophet was very bizarre and unexpected. In fact, I wish in this lesson today I could just go through with you all the different crazy, bizarre things that prophets did and the reason why I have to give you that context of how they were perceived and received. And how bizarre their ministry was is they weren't people that all the time you'd be like, oh, let's have them over. You see moments at times where you got this one prophet that burns excrement and makes bread right beside it. And then you also see another moment where the one we're looking at today had some kids making fun of his male pattern baldness, and he called up some she bears to smite them. So what I'm saying is, prophets during this day, if they would have been now, they would have been canceled. That's kind of how they were. And so for a prophet to be received in somebody's house is pretty impressive, because this is what happens with Elisha. He's commuting between one area and another area. And it says this, that one day Elisha went on to Shunam, where a wealthy woman lived who urged him to eat some food. Now, I want to stop here for a second. That when you read what the ESV has here, that she was a wealthy woman, the Hebrew actually has a different word that means more than just money.
The way it was defined in the Hebrew is that she was a great woman. And the reason why that matters, the original writers were trying to help us understand.
She's just not known for her wealth. She's known for how she handles her wealth. She was a great woman. One translation says she was an honorable woman. So I'm trying to get us the picture. Yes, she had money, but she knew how to use it.
Then notice this. She offers this man a meal that keeps passing by her house.
Did he ask her for a meal?
No.
The reason why I want to stop and point this out, because it's going to come up again, is, as we reflect on just that fact, do you ever sometimes in life get an answer to a question that you've never asked?
And what I mean by that is, I'll give you an example. Kids, have you noticed that they are the best about giving us an answer to something we didn't even ask? Like, they'll just go completely rogue on something I think about. For us.
One of the things I like to do when we get in the car is to ask our kids, hey, what was it that you learned from Mr. Brandon's lesson, or my lesson this morning, or something that you have never learned before? Something like that. I'm wanting them to tell me what they learned. And then one of ours said, dad, I like what you say, but I just don't like how long you say it.
That's not what I was asking. I was asking what you learned. But they gave me an answer I didn't ever ask for. But reality is, every single one of us have had this happen. Maybe for you, what it is, is like you had asked at one point in your life, God, please make this relationship work. I need this. This is the answer. He's like, I'm going to give you an answer that you've never considered or even asked for. Or maybe for you. He's saying, hey, listen, you stay in that, it's going to cause pain. It's going to cause heartache. Maybe it's a job. You think, well, God, I need this job. This is the answer. He's like, no, it's not. I'm going to give you an answer to something you haven't even asked for yet. And so notice here, she gives him food. But notice this detail. After the meal, she said to her husband, behold, now I know this is a holy man of God who is continuing to pass her way.
She gave him a seat at the table before she knew he was a man of God.
But also, does that not say a lot about Elisha, that something happened around that table that made it clear this is a man of God. And so it's one thing to offer somebody a meal, right? And maybe to say, hey, tonight we got some bunk beds or we got a nugget you can lay on or something. No, she says this.
How about we make a small room on the roof with walls? Put a bed, a table and a chair and a lamp. So this is not just offering breakfast.
They're having to get, like a contractor out there. They're having to get a business and building permit to make this happen. She's going to. Haverty's getting stuff to fill the place. This is a big deal. She is putting roof with walls. The Bible is trying to make us understand this is a full out structure. She's going to that length for this prophet.
He didn't ask for the room, he didn't ask for the food.
So then we have to ask this question. I think, and I know it might be an OD one, but does God have to ask you to do everything?
Does God have to ask us to do everything?
And what I mean by that is, I think even just about worship, sometimes people might debate, well, do we even need to get together every week to worship? That should never even be.
Even if it wasn't in the Bible, we should want to get together to worship because God gave us breath.
He gave us Jesus. It should be a natural impulse and desire, like repentance. God calls us in the Bible to repent, but if you think about it, he shouldn't even have to call us to repent, because we see what our sin does and the impact it has, and not just because I got caught. I hurt the heart of God. Do you see what we're saying? God shouldn't have to give us some writing in the sky.
Does God have to ask us to do everything? See, what I love about this woman is this. She was in a. I get to do this kind of place in life.
Are you in one of those places?
You know what she didn't do?
No one's asked me to give a meal.
No one's asked me to build a room.
I'm waiting for the sign up. Genius. If someone will just make one. Like, that's not her.
She thought, hey, I can offer a place.
But here's what's even more remarkable about this hospitality is when we start to consider the fact that she had so much disappointment in this very house.
In fact, we're going to find out in just a second in this text that one of the things that she has desired is a child that she did not get.
In fact, one of the commentaries I read was talking about the buildings of this time that usually when you added on a room to a house, you added on a room to the house because you were planning to put a child there.
The very place she's letting this prophet stay was where she wanted her child, her son, her daughter to stay. I'm sure she envisioned it having, like, a desk and a rocking chair, some toys and things like that.
And the reason why I want to point that out is, do you see what she's doing? She's not getting bitter.
She's offering what she has. She is literally offering the very place of her disappointment.
Maybe we've never considered that, but maybe what God needs for us is the very place of our disappointment is to offer that.
See, she turned her disappointment into a place that God was going to use.
But the other thing that I think about is this, for us personally, what does that mean? Well, what places can we offer?
It might be a place of blessing and joy that we can easily point to, but sometimes those blessings and sorrows also come together, and we need to offer that, too.
So this is what happens next. You skip a few verses ahead. So one day, he, this is Elisha. He came there and he turned to the chamber, and he was resting.
He turned to his servant, and he says, call the shunamite. When he called her in, she stood before him and he said, say to her, you've taken all this trouble for us. What can we do for you? Basically, what's happened? He's like, listen, you've built a room extension onto your house, you've given us a mill, you've done all this stuff for us. Can we offer you something?
Maybe a word spoken on your behalf? I love at the very end what she says, I dwell among my people.
We're going to find out again. There is something that she has had buried in her heart that she has always wanted, but I love that her response is, I do have a people.
It can't be stated enough that I think part of what helped her get through her discouragement and her disappointment, I know, is the fact that she had people.
And it doesn't just mean I know about people. It says that she's dwelling, she's living with people.
It goes on to say, well, what can be done for her? And the servant's answer at first kind of made me laugh because of the way he just was straight to the like, well, she has no son and her husband's old. Like, whoa, whoa, hold on. Like jumping. Just the fact that he's old. Can we. You know, but I think what he was really trying to get at is this because of what we see later in the context.
Listen, he's older and obviously from conversations, things we've heard, she's always wanted a child.
And so this is what he said he called her. She stood in the doorway and said, at this season, about this time next year, you will embrace a son.
Now, notice he is digging up something that she has buried a long time ago.
And he doesn't just mention, you're going to have a baby this time next year. Notice in the text, he's giving her a visual.
It's one thing to give someone a word, it's a whole nother thing to give them a visual.
Like, you know, she had recreated that visual in her mind for years.
And the reason why I think that matters is a person internalizes images 60,000 times faster than we do words.
That's how our brains work. So it's like, oh, I'm going to give you a word, but I'm actually going to give you also an image for you to keep in your mind about what's going to happen.
And this is what she said, oh, no, my lord, o man of God, do not lie to your servant.
One translation actually says, don't make me hope again, you can just feel, can't you, the weight of her hurt, but also her optimism to where she's like, I want to hope, but I've been here before. Please don't lie to me. Like, don't make me walk down something that is going to bring up past pain and past hurt.
I want to stop here for a second because there's a few things we need to point out. Number one, when we think about this lady, every single person has a need in their heart, do they not?
Whether we know it. Like, you might look at them and say, man, they have the perfect family, the perfect marriage. Everybody has a need in their heart. If I just had that job, their job, that would be, everybody has a need in their heart. Why are they acting that way? Everybody has a need in their heart.
But the other thing is that I love in this text how he brings up something that is, for her, a buried dream.
Because the disappointment she shows, but the optimism she shows in her answer weighs a lot.
But there was a cross reference that I thought was so interesting in my Bible to this very part of the text, and that was this verse, proverbs 2027, where it says, the spirit for this lady, a woman, but the spirit of a man is the lamp of the Lord searching all the inner depths of his heart. Now, we might read that quickly, but don't miss that. You know, in the scriptures, when the Bible says, your word is a lamp into my what feet and a light into my what pass.
They knew that lamps were something that were lighting what was immediately at your feet. The reason I point that out, what this text is saying, is the spirit of your struggle, the spirit of things that are here, like, that nobody knows about, those are at the feet of God. But here's what's cool about it. He's not just like, man, look at all of those things.
Look what it says next. He's searching all the inner depths of his heart.
But the other thing I think about here is hope is one of those things. We know that we can't get through life without hope. To not hope, truly is to die.
But at the same time, we think about the blessing of hope. But we also know that sometimes it kind of hurts to hope. And what I mean by that is that when we hope, we open ourselves up to possibilities that, well, possibly this will happen, and possibly this will happen. And that answer sometimes is not what we want. So that's the difficulty. And she's saying that. She's like, don't make me hope again. Like, I've hoped before, and I've been hurt. So here's where we're at. We got a man that didn't ask for a meal, and he didn't ask for a bed, and you got a woman that didn't ask for a baby. But what you're going to see that both of them did, they were both faithful to what God had put in front of them. And so here's what happened. The woman did conceive, and she bore a son about that time, following that, following spring, Elisha said to her, when the child is grown, when the child had grown, he one day went to his father among the reapers. So he was out in the fields working, and he said to his father, oh, my head, my head.
The father said to his servant, carry him to his mother.
Most people believe that what he was dealing with was a heat stroke. One of the things that was kind of common during that day was this very thing for younger people. There wasn't the knowledge of hydration and all of those kind of things. And so several kids were susceptible to that during that time working in the fields.
He said, carry him to his mother.
And so when he had lifted him up, he brought him to his mother, and the child sat on the lap. There's that image again.
Sat on her lap till noon.
Then he died.
She went up and she laid him, look where? On the man of God's bed and shut the door. And she went out.
Notice the bed where she laid him.
The reason why I point that out is she didn't do what most people do when there's a death.
She was not preparing this boy's body for a burial.
She was putting him on that bed of the man of God, putting him at his feet, because she believed in the power of resurrection.
And so you go on to see that. She called her husband and said, here's what I need you to do. Send me one of the servants and one of the donkeys so I can go quickly to the man of God and come back again. I love the fact that she said, listen, honey, I'm going to let you go. Do what? You go fetch a donkey. You can get a donkey, but you can't raise a life.
And I think we too, have to always remember sometimes we try to give people ownership of things in our life, keys to things in our life that they can't hold and they have no business to hold. She's like, listen, I'm going to go back to the one that started it all.
And he said, well, why are you going to him today. I mean, it's not the new moon or it's not the Sabbath.
And so his response, and she's probably thinking, he's dead. Like, what do you mean? Why am I going now?
But that's not what she says. Like, if I was in her position, like, well, rude, or like, why would you? This is what she says.
All is well.
So she saddled the donkey, and she said to her servant, urge the animal on and do not slacken the pace for me unless I tell you.
So she set out and she came to the man of God at Mount Carmel. Now, one of the things that I have loved so much about prepping for this message, and if you're one of those that loves, as you read the Old Testament, to see how God in his word so perfectly connects and gives parallels to Jesus and his ministry, this is one of those texts, and one of the first ones we see here, is the fact that she goes to Mount Carmel. See, Mount Carmel to us may not mean a lot, but to them, that place, in that geography, it represented a few things. Mount Carmel represented a place where things can grow.
In fact, in Isaiah, chapter 35, it is referred to as the lushness of Mount Carmel, that things were growing, things were happening there. She's going there to go to the man to help him to grow something that only God could grow. You also see that Mount Carmel was continually a place of genuine prayer. It's not like a prayer in a box. It was a prayer for them where they were literally pouring out their heart. That was Mount Carmel. That's what it so the man of God actually sees at a distance her coming. And so Elisha says to the servant, look, there's the shudamite. Run at once to meet her and say to her, this is all well with you, is all well with your husband, is all well with your child? And she answered, all is well.
How in the world can you say all is well when all is not well?
I struggled with this part because as I think about Horatio Spafford, I'm with the, hey, peace, you know, sorrow, those things are rolling.
But to get to a point, to say it is well.
What do you mean really, when you say that for me, I think part of it for her. When the servant came up and said, hey, what's going on? And she says, it's, well, part of me thinks that she's like, you know, I appreciate you, but I have got to get to the man of God.
And the reason why I think that's important as a possibility is because I think we've all experienced times where we know we eventually will need to reach out to somebody, share our struggles with somebody. But at the end of the day, sometimes we know this just needs to sit at the feet of God.
Like, yes, there is going to come a time where I can talk to somebody about it, but there's also, like, I'm at a moment right now. This has got to sit at his feet, let him search it, and then we'll go from there.
I got to go back to the one she's saying that started this whole thing.
But the other thing I think about for her that maybe helped her to say this, is that even though the situation was not well, do you remember when he started to kind of try to offer her whatever she could possibly dream of? And she said, well, I've got a people.
I think that's part of what helped her. It didn't take away the pain, didn't minimize it. But I also think this is that when she says that, I think because of the way she's about to respond in just a second, she believes in God's promises and the strength and the peace that he provides.
When I think about this, I think back to the book of Philippians and the context of the book of Philippians, especially the last chapter, which I think we would all probably agree. Philippians four is one of the most quoted parts and used parts of Bible study because it's awesome.
But don't forget what the context was. So the church in Philippi, in my heading, even says, encouragement to the church. You know why they were discouraged. All was not well. Augustus just had a victory. So now they're under roman rule.
And so they're like, well, this is not great.
This is what he writes to them. This is in chapter four, beginning in verse four.
Rejoice in the Lord always.
And again I say, rejoice.
The joy is not connected to a circumstance. He's saying, it's connected to who? Jesus.
He says. So here's the thing. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. That really hit me, because I know I struggle in moments of pressure, difficulty when I hadn't slept much, to be reasonable.
He said, in the middle of suffering, let your reasonableness be known.
The Lord is at hand.
Don't be anxious about anything, but in everything, with prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your request be made known to God. And look what it says. The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts. Do you think that the struggles we have that are at the feet of Jesus can also be guarded at the feet of Jesus, he says, and if you do this, it'll be in not just your heart, but your mind in Christ Jesus.
The other thing I think about for her is it was actually mentioned in either the prayer, the scripture reading this morning. I think it was scripture reading by Craig, that life does teach us things sometimes. And I think it was, we are farmers.
We've learned a thing or two because we've, what? Seen a thing or two.
I think part of that's why she says what she says is because she's experienced so, so much.
Life has a way, doesn't it, of teaching us.
So what does it mean for us? Like, how can we have that kind of. It is well, spirit.
Well, these are kind of like the action steps. Before we move on with the text, I want you to notice some characteristics about this woman that. Don't forget that. I think part of the reason why she is this, it is well. All is well.
Don't forget how kind and generous she was.
There was a book that was put on my desk about generosity as we're thinking about things, of opportunities for us at Madison to be more generous. And one of the parts in that book talked about that. There is a direct connection between the grace we exhibit in good moments and bad moments, and a generous heart.
And it makes sense, because when you're generous towards something, it helps you to see things oftentimes very different.
And don't forget, by the way, she offered this guy a place at the table before she knew he was a man of God. She didn't say, hey, let me know the deets, give me all the background, the story. She just said, here, sit.
And she said, now, I know this is a man of God, but also think about this, that even when the husband's like, hey, it's not the new moon, it's not the Sabbath, she's like, how dare you? She said, all is well.
She wasn't rash, she wasn't mean. Notice how in control she was.
So the text goes on to say, and we're about to learn of another characteristic. When she came to the mountain where that man of God was, she caught hold of his feet and Gehazi came to push her away. But the man of God said, leave her alone. She is in bitter distress.
Please don't forget how like type a this lady is. She saw this guy walking in front. And maybe you all can relate to this. Maybe some of you all in this room are like that. A lot of type a people I know in here, they're like, hey, I see this, I'm going to do it. Let's just work on, let's make it happen. Like, that's her. She sees a guy walking in front of her house all the time. Let's have him over for a meal. All right, let's build a room for him to stay. All right, honey.
She's being the one like, hey, you go get the donkey, and I'm going to tell it to go.
Do you notice the action and the type a ness of this woman that she was willing to actually say, hey, I see a need and I'm willing to meet it. But look what happens that she doesn't just do that. She goes on to say, listen, don't push her away.
Let me work. And to help her, because look what she was willing to do. She was great enough to saddle up the donkey, but she was also humble enough to fall at his feet.
Don't miss that. She was willing to fall at his feet, but also willing to saddle up a donkey.
So he went on to shut the door behind the two of them.
I want to stop here for a second, number one, because I'm trying to forget about what I just said because it was kind of funny if you don't catch that. But anyway, the second thing is, I think about this.
He went and shut the door behind the two of them. If you're one of those kind of people that loves biblical parallels of things where there's like a contrast between the Old Testament and the New Testament, throughout the New Testament, you see moments where Jesus shut the door on problems.
Just me and Jesus, just Jesus and this woman. Just Jesus and the leper.
Sometimes we have to have those moments where we have that alone time with God. God needs that alone time with our problems. But the other thing I want you to notice is this. He went up and laid on the child.
He put his mouth on his mouth, his eyes on his eyes, his hands on his hands. Here's why this is such a big deal. He is making himself ceremonially unclean.
A lot of times we think of grace as a New Testament idea. When Noah built the ark in over 100 years, those 100 years was God giving people a chance to repent. That's the grace of God.
But you go to the New Testament and you see when Jesus is touching the lame and the blind and the lepers, people are like, you can't do that. He's like, I know what the law says, but this is what love does.
He chooses this, this prophet this man of God is willing to be unclean.
And by the way, he's not the first person to stretch out his arms and be close to something of death.
So he stretched himself on him, and the flesh of the child became warm. And notice what it says next.
So he got up again, walked once back and forth, and went and stretched himself on the child. And notice what it says.
The child sneezed seven times.
I mentioned earlier that the Bible is not random. And when I first read that, I was like, man, that's kind of a random detail, that the child would sneeze seven times. The child sneezed seven times and opened his eyes and he said, call the shunamite. He called her in, and when she came to him, he said, pick up your what, son?
If you're again one of those that loves to see the connection between the Old Testament, the New Testament, this is your text. Because here's what's neat. The number seven represents complete totality, perfection. We see this all throughout the gospel of John. That seven symbolizes something being complete, being whole. But the other part, you go to the book of Revelation. You see the seven churches, the seven seals, the seven mountains, the crowns, the thunder, all of those seven kings. It's a picture of what is to come. But also what has happened, that Jesus has completely established his throne. But here's what's neat. In first and second kings, the phrase as the Lord lives occurs seven times.
Most scholars believe that the reason there is a sneeze seven times is pointing forwards and backwards to all of those times in that narrative that it says, as the Lord lives. As the Lord lives, it's God that gives life.
I think it was Clark, in his commentary, mentioned that the sneeze could have represented a complete repentance. That if you think about, like, if you think back to the Book of Genesis, what were we created from? What of the earth, the dust? And if, you know, for him, he's getting rid of that, ridding himself of that dust.
And if you think about it, Elisha is going to do his part. He's stretching himself out over this young man. But the young man's also got to do his part. To what? Sneeze.
Same thing with repentance. We have to do our part, and we know God is going to do his part. I do think it's funny this past week that the one time I get, like, this random part of scripture that has to do with the sneeze is the very week that Bradford Pears decided to bloom.
And I have sneezed so much, Julian Brandon got to hear a lot of it this week. And as I was thinking about the sneeze sermon, and I was also thinking about all the sneezes that I've had this week, one of the things that was kind of hitting me is nobody had to tell me to sneeze.
Like a sneeze is one of the most real unartificial things in the world. You don't sneeze because someone's like, hey, sneeze. You sneeze because you have to.
This young man had to rid himself of that. But what I also love is this, that once he was raised from the dead, after those seven sneezes, they did not say to him, hey, listen, what you go, like David talked about, you go do this or you go do that.
He just sneezed.
They didn't say, hey, we want you to be what, you know, he sneezed. And I think about that. There's something about the sneeze of a freshly new born in Christ life that is so awesome that when people become new christians, especially those that had no background and have no background in the church, one of the things I think is so important to remember is when they make that decision, we don't need to almost like americanize them. Like if they are excited about that decision that they have made in Christ, let's support where their heart that they want to serve here or serve here or serve here.
That this young man had this new life and they didn't tell him to become a man. They said, just take up the Son. Didn't tell him to go quote a psalm, create a son of Jesus. They said, just go take up your son. What does this have to do with know? I think about Horatio's example and this woman's example, both of whom said all is well. In situations where all is not well, while their stories seem so similar, at the same time, they're very, very different.
You got one of them that we might say got an answer to a prayer and one of them did not.
So what is it that makes us at the end of the day be able to say all is well is to have faith, to believe in the power of the resurrection.
See, because in the very last four stanzas or lines, excuse me, of it is, well, what's interesting in that very first line, he says all these things we've always believed they're one day going to actually be things. I see. And this is what it says.
And Lord, haste the day when faith, the things we believe are going to be sight. The clouds are going to be rolled back as a scroll. The Trump's going to resound, and the Lord shall descend. Even so, it is well with my soul. How in the world can you say it is well when all is not well?
Maybe you're here today and you read about this woman. You read about Horatio, and you want to have the ability to have those it is well characteristics. And maybe you've noticed in your own life during times of stress, difficulty.
I haven't had temperance. I haven't had the best patience or attitude.
I've maybe hurt people.
Maybe you need to come forward or go to one of the shepherds at one of the doors and ask for prayers. Maybe for some of you, what it is is that you want to have the joy of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. And you never have made that decision to join yourself with the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ through baptism. I encourage you this morning to either go to one of these exits or come down front to let us pray for you. Or if you're here, and you never have made that decision to do that. So we can all say in the middle of moments that aren't well, it as well, let's stand and sing that song together. Let's.
