WEBVTT 00:00:00.239 --> 00:00:04.959 Well, I'm gonna open a story in the Bible that's found in 2 Kings. 00:00:05.040 --> 00:00:09.119 It's a story actually of a woman that we don't even know her name. 00:00:09.279 --> 00:00:12.560 It's found in 2 Kings 4, and she's the unnamed woman. 00:00:12.640 --> 00:00:21.679 And I even like that about the beginning of this story because in a church of this size, in a campus of this size, you can also almost feel unnamed. 00:00:21.839 --> 00:00:24.320 You can feel like you've just blended in this morning. 00:00:24.399 --> 00:00:31.280 Maybe you came in and sat the back or sat over at the side, and you kind of feel like, well, I'm here, but nobody really knows anything about me. 00:00:31.359 --> 00:00:37.920 Well, let me tell you, friend, that you don't need people to know your name because God's got only got your name, but He's got your number. 00:00:38.640 --> 00:00:45.600 God doesn't just know who you are, He knows whose you are, He knows all about you, He formed you, He knows exactly what you're going through. 00:00:45.679 --> 00:00:51.119 And so when we open the Word, whether you feel known or unknown, the Word is a revealer of all of our lives. 00:00:51.280 --> 00:00:54.079 God is speaking to every situation today. 00:00:54.320 --> 00:01:09.599 And this woman is a woman that went on a journey, and I want us to follow her journey for a little while because her journey took her, I believe, through three little uh stages that she went through that I think are identification blocks for where you might find yourself today. 00:01:09.840 --> 00:01:14.879 I kind of want this word to be a GPS to your life this morning. 00:01:15.120 --> 00:01:24.719 Some of you have got maybe lost on the journey in life, some of you are in a season in your life today where you're slightly confused as to how you got there or why you're there. 00:01:24.959 --> 00:01:28.159 Maybe your journey doesn't look like you thought that it should look like. 00:01:28.319 --> 00:01:34.959 Maybe there are things in your life that you're handling right now that you're not even sure why you're handling it or how it came about. 00:01:35.120 --> 00:01:46.480 Well, this morning my prayer is that through this woman's life, we would learn some clarity for the stage we're in, and we would learn some wisdom for how to move forward to the next phase that God has for our life. 00:01:46.719 --> 00:01:47.359 Amen. 00:01:48.159 --> 00:01:57.200 The stages that I want to talk about through her story are I'm gonna call them doorways, hallways, and gateways. 00:01:57.760 --> 00:02:01.439 Doorways, hallways, and gateways. 00:02:01.599 --> 00:02:07.680 I believe that many of you are gonna locate yourself in one of these places through the course of this message. 00:02:07.760 --> 00:02:15.280 And when you do locate yourself, just have a little aha moment on your own in your chair and go, I think you just found me, God. 00:02:15.439 --> 00:02:16.400 I am busted. 00:02:16.560 --> 00:02:19.120 Now help me get to the next stage, okay? 00:02:19.280 --> 00:02:20.879 That's what I'm asking for. 00:02:21.199 --> 00:02:24.639 This woman clearly lived a life and she was prosperous. 00:02:24.800 --> 00:02:29.439 Her husband was doing well and they were home and they had no family. 00:02:29.919 --> 00:02:31.759 Something that had never happened for them. 00:02:31.919 --> 00:02:53.360 And I don't know whether she felt she had time on her hands, but there was a guy that came through town, he was a prophet of God, and the story goes that she said to her husband one day, maybe because they'd never filled the nursery, maybe because they'd never had a child, she said, You know, we've got a spare room in our house, and this man of God keeps coming through town, and I would like to make the spare room a place for him to stay. 00:02:53.599 --> 00:02:58.400 I'd like to create some room for this man of God to stay in our home whenever he goes through town. 00:02:58.479 --> 00:03:05.039 And so she nipped down to IKEA and she picked up some Swedish furniture and she did the room out, and she said, You know what? 00:03:05.120 --> 00:03:06.800 I'll just let him know he's welcome. 00:03:07.039 --> 00:03:10.800 And the space that she created invited this man of God into their home. 00:03:10.879 --> 00:03:19.360 And I just even want to stop just there, just for a second, to say some of you cannot hear God because you have not cleared any space in your life for him recently. 00:03:19.759 --> 00:03:26.560 Some of you don't hear the voice of God because you can't remember the last time you cleared out the room to let him speak into your life. 00:03:26.639 --> 00:03:44.000 And there's gonna be some seasons in your life where you really need to just go back home, clear some space, make some room, and invite God's voice in in a deliberate way to your circumstance and kick some other voices out of your life that are taking the space that God alone should be given. 00:03:44.240 --> 00:03:50.159 And she cleared some space for this man of God, and because she cleared some space, God was about to speak. 00:03:50.319 --> 00:03:51.919 And some of you are like, Oh, God speaks. 00:03:52.319 --> 00:03:57.039 Like, if I could find some room in your life, you'd find I'm speaking loud and clear. 00:03:57.280 --> 00:04:01.120 So maybe you just need to go home right there on point one and clear some space. 00:04:01.680 --> 00:04:08.879 She cleared some space, the man of God was in their house, and because he was in their house, he had on their heart on his heart to bless this woman back. 00:04:08.960 --> 00:04:17.120 And so it says in verse 11 of 2 Kings 4, it says, One day when Elisha came, he went up to his room and he lay down there. 00:04:17.279 --> 00:04:20.560 And he said to his servant Gehazi, call the Shemanite. 00:04:20.959 --> 00:04:23.199 So he called her and she stood before him. 00:04:23.279 --> 00:04:28.399 And Elisha said to him, Tell her, you have gone to all of this trouble for us. 00:04:28.639 --> 00:04:31.360 Now, what can be done for you? 00:04:31.759 --> 00:04:36.160 Can we speak on your behalf to the king or the commander of the army? 00:04:36.399 --> 00:04:37.519 Let me just stop right there. 00:04:37.600 --> 00:04:38.399 I love the word of God. 00:04:38.480 --> 00:04:41.120 I stop all the time when I read, as you're probably gonna find out. 00:04:41.279 --> 00:04:42.079 It's just too good. 00:04:42.160 --> 00:04:43.439 There's something in every line. 00:04:43.600 --> 00:04:49.920 I want to say to some of you in there here and in the other campuses, God's doing the exact same thing to you right now. 00:04:50.240 --> 00:04:55.040 He's saying to you, he's calling you, and he's saying, You have been so good to me. 00:04:55.360 --> 00:05:01.199 You have given, you have worshipped, you have served, you've been faithful, you've been trustworthy. 00:05:01.360 --> 00:05:02.720 What can I do for you? 00:05:02.879 --> 00:05:06.720 God wants to say back to some of you in this room, what can I do for you? 00:05:06.959 --> 00:05:09.439 And some of you are like, Oh no, no, I'm good. 00:05:09.920 --> 00:05:11.199 I got it, God. 00:05:11.439 --> 00:05:16.560 I got a plan, I got a retirement plan, I got a good job, I've taken care of the college for the kids. 00:05:16.720 --> 00:05:19.600 I'm good, God, because you are not good at receiving. 00:05:19.839 --> 00:05:23.839 But some of you need to know God wants to take you into a season where you receive. 00:05:24.000 --> 00:05:27.360 You learn how to receive, even though it might be uncomfortable. 00:05:27.439 --> 00:05:28.959 You learn to say, Thank you, God. 00:05:29.120 --> 00:05:32.240 I receive what it is you're wanting to give to my life. 00:05:32.319 --> 00:05:34.240 I receive some of your great givers. 00:05:34.560 --> 00:05:42.160 But great givers, the Bible says, will also need to become great receivers because as you sow, you will reap, whether you like it or not. 00:05:42.480 --> 00:05:45.439 So I just say, just say, Amen, bring it on, Jesus. 00:05:45.600 --> 00:05:48.800 Thank you very much, is our response that we need to get used to. 00:05:48.879 --> 00:05:55.199 And I know that's harder for some than others, but basically he was saying, because you've been good to me, I want to be good to you. 00:05:55.519 --> 00:05:59.040 So he says, Call her, and she comes and he says, What can we do? 00:05:59.120 --> 00:06:06.720 And Gehazi says, Well, she is without a son, and her husband is old, and so he has an idea. 00:06:07.040 --> 00:06:09.839 Elisha calls her and says, Stand in the doorway. 00:06:10.000 --> 00:06:11.279 Everybody say doorway. 00:06:11.920 --> 00:06:13.680 I said, Everybody say doorway. 00:06:14.480 --> 00:06:16.000 All together or not at all. 00:06:16.079 --> 00:06:17.199 Thank you very much. 00:06:20.480 --> 00:06:23.199 And in the doorway, this is what he says. 00:06:23.439 --> 00:06:28.720 About this time next year, Elisha said, You will hold a son in your arms. 00:06:28.879 --> 00:06:30.160 Listen to her response. 00:06:30.480 --> 00:06:34.959 Oh no, oh no, my Lord, she objected. 00:06:35.279 --> 00:06:38.959 Please, man of God, don't mislead your servant. 00:06:39.040 --> 00:06:45.279 The New Living Translation says that she said, Oh no, man of God, don't please get my hopes up. 00:06:46.560 --> 00:06:50.399 Here's a place where some of you are gonna locate yourself today. 00:06:50.639 --> 00:06:52.079 You're in a doorway. 00:06:52.800 --> 00:07:02.800 What I mean by that is that God is calling you to stand in a place where He wants to speak to you about things that you have shoved in your attic spiritually. 00:07:03.439 --> 00:07:19.199 Dreams that you have boxed up and you have put away because they did not happen on your time scale, they did not happen how you thought they would happen, and he wants to speak to you about some things that you have hidden away and put away because you're like, I can't get my hopes up about that anymore. 00:07:19.439 --> 00:07:23.120 I can't get my hopes up anymore about my son coming back to God. 00:07:23.360 --> 00:07:28.639 I can't get my hopes up anymore about my marriage being better than it is right now, so I'm just gonna cope. 00:07:28.800 --> 00:07:32.240 I can't get my hopes up about getting that promotion or that job. 00:07:32.399 --> 00:07:37.120 I can't get my hopes up about having the baby that we prayed for so long and so hard. 00:07:37.360 --> 00:08:00.480 She was in a place where the baby that they'd once desired, she'd said, you know what, we tried, we believed, it didn't happen, and somewhere she had gone away and she had packaged up that dream and she had placed it in the attic of her life, and now she was in a doorway, and the man of God said to her, What she would not articulate, the thing that is your hidden desire is the thing God's gonna give you. 00:08:00.800 --> 00:08:04.959 And her response was, Oh no, please don't. 00:08:05.439 --> 00:08:08.720 Don't make me hope again, don't don't string me along. 00:08:08.959 --> 00:08:10.480 I'm not sure I could handle it. 00:08:10.560 --> 00:08:14.480 And some of you right now, today, God is saying, That thing, write that thing. 00:08:14.639 --> 00:08:22.160 That thing you wrote down years ago, that that relationship that's broken, that family that has been broken apart through betrayal. 00:08:22.319 --> 00:08:26.800 I know you think it's too far gone, but would you bring it back down out of the attic? 00:08:26.959 --> 00:08:35.759 Because my word will be the final word, I will have the final say, but you're gonna have to stand in a doorway and go and retrieve your dream. 00:08:37.519 --> 00:08:42.960 So she stands in the doorway and she opens the box of possibility back up. 00:08:43.759 --> 00:08:50.320 You know, I remember when we were told we would never have children, and we tried for over five years and we went through the process. 00:08:50.480 --> 00:08:57.120 There were many times when I was ready to put the box back in the attic and say, I can't do this, it's too hard, it's too emotionally draining. 00:08:57.200 --> 00:08:58.720 Let's not get our hopes up. 00:08:58.960 --> 00:09:11.919 But now with two children growing and raised, we're raising two great kids, and the miracle of what God did, I'm so glad that at one point I was willing to go stand back in the doorway and let God speak into my spirit again. 00:09:12.159 --> 00:09:16.080 You have no idea what God will do if you'll stand in his doorway. 00:09:16.240 --> 00:09:17.919 Man of God, do not give up your dream. 00:09:18.080 --> 00:09:24.639 Woman of God, do not lay down in disappointment, do not say it's over if God has not said it is over. 00:09:25.120 --> 00:09:28.080 So maybe your location today is a doorway. 00:09:28.399 --> 00:09:32.320 And if it is, be strong, be open, be willing. 00:09:32.559 --> 00:09:35.759 But what I've discovered is that doorways lead to hallways. 00:09:36.000 --> 00:09:37.360 Everybody said amen. 00:09:38.480 --> 00:09:43.519 You need to say amen now because when I explain the hallway, you're not gonna want to say amen. 00:09:44.799 --> 00:09:48.559 I've yet to go through a door that doesn't lead me to a corridor. 00:09:48.879 --> 00:09:52.320 It's going somewhere, but you don't quite know yet where it's going. 00:09:52.480 --> 00:09:58.399 You have to walk from the doorway, entrance point, down the hallway to get to the next entrance point. 00:09:58.480 --> 00:10:00.399 And we don't like hallways. 00:10:00.799 --> 00:10:03.759 But I found in God that He gives us quite a few. 00:10:03.919 --> 00:10:10.159 And I've also found that He does short hallways, long hallways, and really long hallways. 00:10:11.440 --> 00:10:23.759 This woman was about to go down a hallway, she was gonna receive her miracle, but her miracle of her son was gonna take her in a hallway of a challenge that she didn't even comprehend she was built to go through. 00:10:24.000 --> 00:10:31.519 The story goes that after the miracle baby arrives and he grows, that actually tragedy in the hallway happens. 00:10:31.919 --> 00:10:37.759 And one day, as the boy is out in the field with his father, he says, My head, my head, verse 21. 00:10:37.919 --> 00:10:41.519 And so the servant lifts the boy and carries him to his mother. 00:10:41.679 --> 00:10:45.120 And the boy sits on her lap until noon and then he dies. 00:10:46.240 --> 00:10:50.000 I mean, this is the very reason why she said, Don't get my hopes up. 00:10:50.159 --> 00:10:56.399 This is the very reason why she was not willing to go into the doorway because God, I can't control what comes next. 00:10:56.639 --> 00:11:07.039 And some of us are glorified control freaks, and God is after taking the control out of your hands so that you can see all control will stay in his hands. 00:11:07.279 --> 00:11:09.600 You might not understand the season you're in. 00:11:09.759 --> 00:11:24.320 She was about to go through a very confusing season, and some are not in the doorway, but you are in the hallway, and you're more confused than you are clear, you're more misunderstood than you are understood, you're not sure what's going on, just like she wasn't. 00:11:24.399 --> 00:11:26.080 But here's what I want you to see. 00:11:26.399 --> 00:11:31.200 She's about to walk her hallway, and she's about to do it with great style. 00:11:31.440 --> 00:11:39.360 And I think we should learn from some things that you do in the hallway, and some things, therefore, that you don't do in your hallway. 00:11:39.600 --> 00:11:42.799 I reckon this chick went to the same high school as me. 00:11:43.919 --> 00:11:54.320 Because she clearly had some rules that she abided by when she was walking this corridor, and they were very much like the rules that I was given at school when I was growing up. 00:11:54.480 --> 00:11:57.200 We had rules in our hallways at school. 00:11:57.440 --> 00:12:06.559 Our school was an old building, the hallways were extremely narrow, and so just for the sake of health and safety and people movement, there were some rules that we were given. 00:12:06.720 --> 00:12:12.720 And the first rule of our hallway was you are not allowed to take your bags down the hall with you. 00:12:12.879 --> 00:12:18.159 If you brought a rucksack to school or a lunchbox to school, it had to be locked away in your locker. 00:12:18.240 --> 00:12:27.840 You could not carry unnecessary things with you down the hallway because lots of baggage would block the hallway, which means people could not keep moving through. 00:12:28.080 --> 00:12:31.840 And you know, spiritually, it's exactly the same rule in God's hallways. 00:12:32.080 --> 00:12:46.879 If you're in a season right now of transition, if you're in a season right now where you're going from one thing to the next, if there are things happening right now that you can't actually articulate or understand, you need to know God's rule is no baggage in the hallway. 00:12:49.360 --> 00:12:50.639 And you know what? 00:12:51.120 --> 00:12:52.480 She knew that rule. 00:12:52.639 --> 00:12:53.679 You know how I know it? 00:12:53.840 --> 00:12:55.200 Because the boy dies. 00:12:55.759 --> 00:13:02.559 I mean, talk about a moment of confusion, talk about a moment when you could go into full-on panic. 00:13:02.720 --> 00:13:15.440 But here's what she did: it says she got the boy, verse 21, when he died, his body, and she took him and she laid him on the bed of the man of God, and she shut the door. 00:13:16.080 --> 00:13:26.240 In other words, the thing that had died, the thing that was confusing, the thing that she could not understand was going on, she decided, I'm gonna pick up this situation. 00:13:26.559 --> 00:13:33.200 I'm gonna pick up this problem, and I'm gonna take this problem right the way back to the place of promise. 00:13:33.759 --> 00:13:38.639 I'm gonna take my problem to the place where the promise was made that I would have a son. 00:13:38.799 --> 00:13:42.639 I'm gonna take my distress and put it on the place where I saw hope. 00:13:42.799 --> 00:13:49.120 I'm gonna take what happened that I don't understand back to the place where there was clarity and I did understand. 00:13:49.279 --> 00:13:58.799 And we have to learn to pick up the dead thing, to pick up the broken thing, to pick up the betrayal, whatever it is in your life. 00:13:58.960 --> 00:14:01.440 And instead of doing drama, hello. 00:14:02.320 --> 00:14:07.759 I mean, this is biblical proof that some women can do life without drama. 00:14:08.480 --> 00:14:10.720 And all the men said, Amen. 00:14:11.279 --> 00:14:15.600 She was a drama, that's the biggest amen I've had so far, by the way. 00:14:16.559 --> 00:14:18.960 She was a drama-free chick. 00:14:19.519 --> 00:14:29.360 What we do is when something goes wrong, is we pick it up and we're like, I need prayer, I need the pastor, I need everybody, everybody needs to know. 00:14:29.440 --> 00:14:32.240 I need to go on social media about this, I need to tell everyone. 00:14:32.320 --> 00:14:35.759 I'm gonna Instagram it, periscope it, Twitter it, Twitter it again. 00:14:35.919 --> 00:14:37.600 They betrayed me, they hurt me. 00:14:37.759 --> 00:14:38.720 Do you see what they did? 00:14:38.799 --> 00:14:40.399 Look at my wounds, look at my scars. 00:14:40.639 --> 00:14:43.679 I mean, I have been treated so badly, everybody needs to know. 00:14:43.840 --> 00:14:45.759 Look at my big baggage. 00:14:47.919 --> 00:14:51.440 Some of you, you're going around with your baggage on show. 00:14:52.559 --> 00:14:58.320 But let me just tell you, while you're going around with your baggage on show, you ain't getting any further down your hallway. 00:14:59.039 --> 00:15:05.759 You're delaying your own destiny, you're holding up around an issue that you need to move on from. 00:15:06.000 --> 00:15:24.480 And I just love the fact that in her clearly emotional state, she had the presence of mind to pick it up, take it to the place of promise, lay it down, shut the door, and say, I don't know what's going on right now, but I'm gonna go find a man that knows what to do. 00:15:25.519 --> 00:15:28.159 You carrying baggage today in your hallway? 00:15:28.559 --> 00:15:36.000 It's time to lock it away until God speaks over it and until God is ready to move in it, stop carrying it round. 00:15:36.080 --> 00:15:40.960 It's weighing you down, it's not helping you move forward, and it's making you more confused. 00:15:41.120 --> 00:15:42.000 You need to be. 00:15:42.240 --> 00:15:46.159 When she'd laid the baggage down, she clearly knew the second rule, too. 00:15:46.480 --> 00:15:48.639 Because the second rule looks like this. 00:15:48.720 --> 00:15:54.000 She says, Her husband said, she called her husband and said, Can you send me one of the servants and a donkey? 00:15:54.080 --> 00:15:58.000 Because I'm gonna go to the man of God quickly and then I'll return. 00:15:58.720 --> 00:16:01.519 Her husband says, Well, why are you going to him today? 00:16:01.840 --> 00:16:03.919 He just thinks the boy has a headache. 00:16:04.240 --> 00:16:05.440 Why are you going to him today? 00:16:05.519 --> 00:16:07.519 He asks, it's not the new moon or the Sabbath. 00:16:07.759 --> 00:16:09.279 Listen to her answer. 00:16:09.519 --> 00:16:10.960 It's alright. 00:16:12.320 --> 00:16:14.080 It wasn't alright. 00:16:14.320 --> 00:16:16.879 Okay, it was far from all right. 00:16:17.039 --> 00:16:21.440 The boy had died, but when he says to her, What's going on? 00:16:21.600 --> 00:16:23.440 She's like, it's cool. 00:16:24.879 --> 00:16:36.960 Because the second rule of the hallway is no talking in the hallways, no talking in the hallways, stop chit-chatting in the hallways. 00:16:37.039 --> 00:16:41.360 I would be told off all the time at high school for talking in the hallways. 00:16:41.440 --> 00:16:50.080 I would hear, show what, and I would know I've been busted for having a conversation with a friend in the hallway. 00:16:50.320 --> 00:16:53.120 Here's what I know about hallway conversations. 00:16:54.000 --> 00:17:01.279 Oftentimes when you're in a season of life that you don't know really what everything is going on, and you're in transition and things are changing. 00:17:01.519 --> 00:17:02.159 You know what? 00:17:02.320 --> 00:17:06.640 You can find that you want to talk, but you're not in the right place to talk. 00:17:07.839 --> 00:17:11.359 I mean, like you're confused, and sometimes you're mad. 00:17:11.759 --> 00:17:12.319 And you know what? 00:17:12.400 --> 00:17:14.240 There's nothing wrong with those feelings. 00:17:14.319 --> 00:17:16.880 I mean, we're all human beings, no one's perfect. 00:17:17.119 --> 00:17:31.839 Sometimes you're like upset or you feel betrayed, or you feel like that wasn't fair, or I was overlooked, or I was mistreated, or that business deal and the way they handled me, and in the hallway is so tempting as someone passes you to say, let me just tell you about this. 00:17:32.880 --> 00:17:40.640 But what I found is that conversations in the hallway, because hallways are places of movement, they travel with whoever you tell them. 00:17:41.279 --> 00:17:48.640 Unless you know that you know that you know you want that person in your business, you're better being quiet in the hallway. 00:17:49.440 --> 00:17:53.119 Some of you are having coffee mornings in the hallway. 00:17:54.400 --> 00:18:01.359 God's like, No, I need you in this time to trust me, and I need you in this time to hold your peace. 00:18:01.680 --> 00:18:08.319 I need you in this time to keep moving, and those conversations are holding you back, and they're confusing you even more. 00:18:08.400 --> 00:18:11.599 It's time to be quiet in the hallway. 00:18:12.480 --> 00:18:22.480 She carries on down the hallway, and it says that she tells her husband, it's okay, and then she says this, get me a donkey, and then she says to the guy, let's go, let's ride them, cowboy. 00:18:22.640 --> 00:18:24.880 She was a good old Texan roots. 00:18:25.839 --> 00:18:27.920 She's one of your ancestors. 00:18:29.359 --> 00:18:32.799 I reckon this chick had spurs on her boots. 00:18:33.039 --> 00:18:40.160 There was something about her in this moment where she was like, I am going to get the man of God. 00:18:40.480 --> 00:18:42.480 Don't stop, don't slow down. 00:18:42.640 --> 00:18:45.839 If I look like I'm falling off, don't worry, I'll cling on. 00:18:46.079 --> 00:18:47.839 I am going to the answer. 00:18:48.000 --> 00:18:49.680 I am going to my future. 00:18:49.839 --> 00:18:53.440 And she put her spurs on and she said, Ride 'em, cowboy. 00:18:54.960 --> 00:19:01.839 And she took off because she knew the third rule: no loitering in the hallways. 00:19:03.839 --> 00:19:06.319 Here's what I know about hallways. 00:19:06.720 --> 00:19:19.759 You're not supposed to live there, you're not supposed to set up your home in a hallway season of your life, and some of you are making a temporary place your permanent address. 00:19:20.640 --> 00:19:25.920 You're making a temporary season, the permanent statement over your life right now. 00:19:26.160 --> 00:19:34.319 Some of you are unpacking your life in a hallway, and God says, No, you're transitioning through, you're not supposed to live here. 00:19:34.720 --> 00:19:41.759 But you know, the temptation is because we don't know where the end door is, we don't know where the exit is, that we get so tired. 00:19:41.839 --> 00:19:46.319 You can get tired, especially if your hallway is a year, two years, three years. 00:19:46.400 --> 00:19:47.680 You're like, you know what, forget it. 00:19:47.759 --> 00:19:49.359 I'm just gonna camp up here. 00:19:49.599 --> 00:20:06.720 And before you know it, you're tempted to pull up a chair, and then you're tempted to get your recliner, and then you're tempted to sit down, and before you know it, you're sat down in the hallway, and you've moved your family in, and you moved your furniture and your pictures in, and you're just like, Yeah, well, this'll do. 00:20:06.799 --> 00:20:09.039 It's not where I thought I'd be, but it'll do. 00:20:09.519 --> 00:20:14.640 And some of you right now are living in a hallway as if that's God's best for your life. 00:20:14.799 --> 00:20:19.519 And God's like, I did not call you to live here, I called you to pass through here. 00:20:19.680 --> 00:20:21.599 I did not call you to stop here. 00:20:26.319 --> 00:20:30.240 She said, Get me a donkey and make it a fast one, and let's go. 00:20:30.400 --> 00:20:38.720 And today I need some of you to get back up, get out of your lazy boy seat spiritually, and start moving towards the answer that God has for your future. 00:20:38.799 --> 00:20:42.799 And stop letting the enemy give you an address that God never gave you. 00:20:50.400 --> 00:20:55.359 When she reached verse 27, the man of God at the mountain, she took a hold of his feet. 00:20:55.440 --> 00:20:56.400 I love this part. 00:20:56.559 --> 00:21:02.000 And Gehazi came over to push her out the way, but the man of God said, No, leave her alone. 00:21:02.319 --> 00:21:08.079 She is in bitter distress, but the Lord has hidden it from me and has not told me why. 00:21:08.240 --> 00:21:09.599 Now I love that line. 00:21:09.759 --> 00:21:11.200 Don't overlook it. 00:21:11.519 --> 00:21:14.559 See, this was the man that knew God's business. 00:21:14.720 --> 00:21:22.000 He would be a prophet to tell people what God was gonna do, but on this particular occasion, God did not tell him what had gone down. 00:21:22.559 --> 00:21:25.359 And there's something in that I want you to understand. 00:21:25.759 --> 00:21:33.519 Because God needs you to get to a place in your journey where you will articulate what is going on in your own life. 00:21:33.920 --> 00:21:39.119 See, over in the doorway, when they said to her, when the man of God said, What can I do for you? 00:21:39.359 --> 00:21:43.039 She couldn't articulate what it was that was in her attic. 00:21:43.279 --> 00:21:50.640 She had no energy, no faith, no passion for it, and so someone else had to suggest what it was that she needed fulfilling. 00:21:50.880 --> 00:22:04.480 But when you walk your hallway and you begin to fight for your future, when you walk your whole way and you begin to stand ground in the face of the enemy, when you walk Your hallway, and you're like, uh-uh, I am not gonna be ripped off by you enemy anymore. 00:22:04.640 --> 00:22:09.680 When you get to your hallway, when you find the right counsel and they say to you, What's going on? 00:22:09.839 --> 00:22:15.200 You go, let me tell you, let me tell you exactly what's going on. 00:22:15.359 --> 00:22:23.759 I have been fighting the enemy, I've had a disaster happen, but I am here in front of you, man of God, because I need an answer and I need one now. 00:22:24.240 --> 00:22:30.559 You gotta find the words, and he said, Come on, let's go. 00:22:31.359 --> 00:22:46.319 So they wrote back, and the story goes that he went back and resurrected the boy, and the miracle of resurrection took place in that room where she'd left the problem, and God will resurrect any problem that you lay at his feet. 00:22:46.880 --> 00:22:48.960 But that's not the end, actually, of the story. 00:22:49.039 --> 00:22:58.640 We think the miracle is the end, actually, it's not because not only are the doorways and not only are the hallways, but this one other thing, it's called the gateway. 00:22:59.279 --> 00:23:05.200 Have you ever been through something in your life and you're like, what in the world was that about? 00:23:05.599 --> 00:23:06.960 Or is it just me? 00:23:07.519 --> 00:23:11.680 Have you ever been through a struggle or through a time where you're like, God, where were you? 00:23:11.839 --> 00:23:14.480 I don't, I didn't feel you, I couldn't see you. 00:23:14.720 --> 00:23:16.480 Why did I go through that battle? 00:23:16.640 --> 00:23:19.359 I mean, I'm thankful I've come out the other end, but why? 00:23:19.519 --> 00:23:20.240 Why, God? 00:23:20.480 --> 00:23:21.039 Why? 00:23:23.039 --> 00:23:25.279 You know what I've discovered with God? 00:23:26.319 --> 00:23:28.640 None of us are immune from sorrow. 00:23:29.519 --> 00:23:36.880 But if we can have eyes to see it, God will take seed from every sorrow and he will plant it in your tomorrow. 00:23:37.359 --> 00:23:42.240 He'll extract something from the now pain and he'll put it into a promise for your future. 00:23:42.480 --> 00:23:50.799 He will not let anything be wasted or anything be squandered, he will retrieve from things when you don't even know it, a gift for your future. 00:23:50.880 --> 00:23:53.359 She was about to discover such a gift. 00:23:53.759 --> 00:24:06.160 Because in 2 Kings chapter 8, a little later on in her life, it wasn't immediate, and some of you are looking for the immediate reason now, and God's like, No, you don't know now, but when you get to your gateway, you will know. 00:24:06.480 --> 00:24:11.440 You don't know why you went through that battle, but you're gonna bump into the reason why I'm gonna use that battle. 00:24:12.240 --> 00:24:22.480 See, I don't know why I had to go through infertility, but now at the gateway of helping other couples break through in their infertility, I know now the seed from my sorrow is in somebody else's tomorrow. 00:24:22.720 --> 00:24:26.880 You don't always know it at the time, but you gotta keep traveling with God. 00:24:27.440 --> 00:24:40.079 Some of you been through bankruptcy, some of you been through a broken marriage, some of you been through bereavement and loss, and God's like, I didn't send it to hurt you, I didn't send it, but I'm gonna use it to build you. 00:24:40.240 --> 00:24:43.440 I'm gonna turn around what the enemy meant for bad, and I'm gonna use it for good. 00:24:43.599 --> 00:24:45.279 There's a gateway in your future. 00:24:46.240 --> 00:24:51.119 And what happens is long story short, you can read it in 2 Kings 8. 00:24:51.599 --> 00:25:01.039 The king, after seven years of famine, she's had to leave her home, leave her family, leave, leave her friends, leave all of the stuff that they'd worked so hard for because there's a famine in the land. 00:25:01.119 --> 00:25:04.880 So she moves away for seven years, and after seven years, she wants to go home. 00:25:05.359 --> 00:25:07.279 She wants to go back to her land. 00:25:08.000 --> 00:25:11.599 But she knows the only way that that can happen is if she goes and requests it from the king. 00:25:11.680 --> 00:25:14.960 And who is she to request from the king such a massive ask? 00:25:15.200 --> 00:25:19.359 There was no guarantee she would get anything back, let alone her house or her land. 00:25:19.519 --> 00:25:37.440 But she rocks up at the gateway of the king's palace, and just at the time as she shows up all these years later at the king's gateway, the king happens to be having a cup of tea with Gehazi, and he says at that exact moment to Gehazi, tell me some of the miracles Elisha did. 00:25:37.759 --> 00:25:40.160 And he begins to say, Let me tell you one. 00:25:40.480 --> 00:25:48.880 There was this amazing moment when he raised a woman's son from the dead, and as he's saying those words, at the gateway is stood the very woman. 00:25:49.119 --> 00:25:53.440 And Gehazi at the corner of his eye sees her and says, Wow, she's here. 00:25:53.680 --> 00:25:59.440 This is the woman, he says in verse 5, my lord, this is the one whose son was restored. 00:25:59.599 --> 00:26:03.920 And the king asked the woman about it, and she told him her hallway journey. 00:26:04.160 --> 00:26:08.480 And then the king said, Wow, let me tell you what I'm gonna do for you. 00:26:08.640 --> 00:26:20.319 I'm gonna assign an official to your case personally, and I'm gonna give back everything that belonged to you, including all the income from your land, from the day you left until the day that you have returned. 00:26:20.480 --> 00:26:22.480 I'm gonna make it all up to you. 00:26:25.200 --> 00:26:32.240 And let me tell you, don't stop before your gateway, because your gateway is God's payback moment. 00:26:32.480 --> 00:26:36.160 And some of you are like, I don't get where I have gone through this, I don't get what's happened. 00:26:36.400 --> 00:26:47.680 Keep on moving because there's a gateway that only God Himself can orchestrate, where your name will be on somebody's lips and favor will be expressed towards you, and God will move in an almighty way. 00:26:47.839 --> 00:26:50.319 I tell you, God will not waste any season. 00:26:50.640 --> 00:26:52.960 So I don't know where this finds you today. 00:26:53.279 --> 00:27:03.440 Whether you locate yourself at a doorway and there's a dream that needs to come back out, whether you find yourself in a hallway and you're like, I'm not sure I can make it, and you're ready to camp up. 00:27:03.599 --> 00:27:07.039 Or whether you find yourself at the other side going, What was that all about? 00:27:07.119 --> 00:27:08.880 and you're about to step into a gateway. 00:27:08.960 --> 00:27:11.279 I don't know where this finds you, but God does. 00:27:11.519 --> 00:27:21.359 And I came all the way from England to say, keep moving, keep believing, keep stretching, keep saying, Yes, God, I trust you, I believe you. 00:27:21.759 --> 00:27:30.160 And all across the room, time's gone, but I'm just saying, if you're in here this morning and you're in one of those places, I want you quickly to stand to your feet and I want to pray over you. 00:27:30.319 --> 00:27:38.240 Come on, I'm gonna pray strength into you, I'm gonna pray hope into you, I'm gonna pray a tenacity into your spirit, whichever one you find yourself in. 00:27:38.559 --> 00:27:42.799 Yeah, pretty much as I thought, because we're all somewhere in this journey, right? 00:27:43.279 --> 00:27:45.839 We are, we're all somewhere in this journey. 00:27:46.400 --> 00:27:52.000 And if you feel comfortable, I'd love you to raise your hands because this is God now that's gonna do this, not me. 00:27:52.880 --> 00:27:58.640 And I want you, as you raise your hands, close your eyes and absolutely lean into God in this moment. 00:27:59.200 --> 00:28:02.079 Father, you see all these hands in every campus. 00:28:02.480 --> 00:28:06.799 Lord, you know every situation, you know it in the finest of details. 00:28:07.039 --> 00:28:14.480 You know the dead dreams, you know the brokenness, you know the confusion, you know the areas where we're not sure which way to go. 00:28:14.720 --> 00:28:20.160 God, you know our story, but God, you are the alpha and the omega of our lives. 00:28:20.319 --> 00:28:28.720 And so today we put this back in your hands, and God, we lift our eyes and we lift our hope, and we say, God, our hope is in you. 00:28:28.960 --> 00:28:30.240 Our hope is in you. 00:28:30.480 --> 00:28:33.279 We put our problem back on the promise of your word. 00:28:33.599 --> 00:28:36.720 We put our stress into the peace of you, God. 00:28:36.880 --> 00:28:40.079 We trust you, God, in the areas where we don't understand. 00:28:40.240 --> 00:28:44.880 For God, you are the God of the doorway, the hallway, and the gateway. 00:28:45.039 --> 00:28:52.559 And I pray today strength to every life, energy to every soul, passion to be reignited, dreams to live again. 00:28:52.799 --> 00:28:59.440 Oh God, we thank you that you have not finished yet, and your word will be final in every circumstance. 00:28:59.519 --> 00:29:03.279 And all God's people said, Amen and amen.