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There is a real warfare going on -- whereas Christians are sitting around talking among themselves as to who’s going to fight for us. I serve notice, you’ve got to get up and fight for yourselves with God as the Commander.

We as a people are in deep trouble. There is no time to be shut up in our boxes -- when God’s people are dying in the streets -- we need to be sharing the Good News about Jesus Christ.

I am reminded of a special story in the Bible - coming from II Kings 7: 3-12 – when four lepers discovered an abandoned camp. As the story goes, there was a famine in the land, and the people were just waiting to die of starvation.

These four lepers were sitting outside the city gates – since lepers were considered contagious. Back in those days, lepers were never allowed to live in the midst of the people. They had to be quarantined and isolated. Lepers back then were just as bad as aid’s today.

So the four lepers were living outside of the city gates, and they were expecting to dying from famine in the land.

But I like these four lepers because I’ve learned a lesson from these guys. Look what happened, several statements are being made: They looked at their predicament – they came out of denial – they were willing to face it – they made an evaluation – which led to a decision – they got out of their comfort zone – and they watched God.

God is looking for courageous people -- weak soldiers can’t win a battle!

Back to the story – as they considered their predicament, they would either die of famine, or they would likely be killed if they made their way to the camp.

One good thing happened – they began to talk to each other. That was the most important step – they talked.

How many of us today are taking a close look at our situation and have started to talk about it? The enemy’s greatest weapon is to get us to clamp up with pride and not talk – hold it all on the inside, which will finally destroy you.

But these fellows started to talk. And by talking about their predicament, they could no longer deny what they saw – so they had to face it! So the question came -- why sit here until we die?

Tonight how many of you have looked at the predicament you or your family is in -- what about your community? Your city?

Most of all, what kind of predicament are you in on the inside? What’s eating at you? What is it that is causing you to die a slow death?

What are you sitting around for – why not get up and stop having a pity party!

These four lepers came to a conclusion: We will starve if we stay – we will be killed if we go back into the city – if we don’t do something different, we will die.

So they made an evaluation of their situation, which is also what we have to do. Every now and then, we need to make an evaluation of our situation – we need to lay all of the cards on the table.

So for these four men, they said to themselves: “we might as well go out and surrender to the Syrian Army.” Now remember, the Syrians are the one’s who laid siege to the city and had taken the people’s goods. But these guys decided they would take a chance and go into the enemy’s camp and take back or get killed.

Are you willing tonight to go after what belongs to you? Could it be your children, your husband, your wife, your neighborhood, or your city? What about your love for God, surrendering your all to him?

These guys made a conscious decision about their situation. They knew they had to get up and move. How many of you tonight want what belongs to you? You’ve got to get up and go after it.

These four lepers made up their mind: “If they let us live, so much the better. But if they kill us, we would have died anyway”

To get beyond your predicament, you have to press your way. Paul tells us in Philippians: “I press toward the Mark.” We have to be determined to rise up and get out of our comfort zone.

Remember when Peter was out on the boat in the water, but he desired to go out on the water where Jesus was. Jesus told him to come, but in order for Peter to come, it meant he had to get out of his comfort zone and walk on the water.

Too many of us just may be caught up in our comfort zone going nowhere. Get up, go back to the enemy’s camp, and take back what he stole from you.

I recall a situation we had with drug pushers in front of our beauty shop. It got so bad that the clientele dropped considerably low. People were afraid to come when they had to walk past these men who had taken over our lawn, as if the property belonged to them.

Well, on one occasion we called the police. When the police came, all the men did was scatter. And as soon as the police left the premises, they moved right back on the property.

I became very disturbed over the situation. I took a look at it, I recognized we had a real problem. I couldn’t deny it, so I had to face up to it. These young men were cutting off our lively hood – they are taking bread off the table – because the clientele was getting low. So we made an evaluation of the situation. We had to fight for what is ours. I don’t mean a physical fight, but a spiritual fight.

What did we do? We began to call upon the name of Jesus – for we knew he could change things, whereas the police couldn’t. So we made a decision with the leading of the Holy Spirit, taking a totally differentapproach than the world would handle it.

God moved me out of my comfort zone – far out of my comfort zone -- a zone where I never thought I would stand up in the midst of some drug pushers and talk to them.

He set me up. Have you ever been set up by God? It is awesome what He will do -- His kind of fight is so different from the world.

In this situation, He used my mouth to combat the enemy – kind words – and made the young men feel they were of worth. On two different occasions, He used our mouth. On the third trip, we went looking for the pushers, but we found none. And until this day, there has been a clear corner, no drug pushers.

We received a message about a year later from one of the young men, which he had shared with another. It said “you can’t sell drugs over there on Warsaw St. where the woman has a beauty shop.” But before I tell you the ending, I’d like to give the ending of the story of the four lepers…

That evening they went out to the camp of the Syrians, but behold there was no one there! For the Lord had made the whole Syrian Army hear the clatter of speeding chariots and a loud galloping of horses and the sounds of a great army approaching (remember they didn’t see anyone they just heard that kind of noise).

Isn’t it amazing what we may hear and then act on it? We don’t know if there’s any truth to what we heard, but we’ll readily act upon what somebody said. God has a way of dealing with us that is so profound. He can make you think you heard something -- to get you thinking -- yet you don’t see anything. But look at how our God dealt with the enemy.

Just a note -- we spend too much time trying to get victory over the enemy. Allow God to fight for you -- remember, your enemy belongs to God. This battle is not yours it, it belongs to the Lord. He just wants to use you so he can prove to the enemy as to who He is.

So stop trying to get even with folks, just keep on pressing your way. And don’t let the enemy make you sweat. Take a licking and keep on ticking.

What happened with the Syrians? They thought Israel had hired the Hittites and Egyptians to attack them. So they panicked and fled into the night, abandoning their tents, horses, donkeys, and everything else they had stole from Samaria.

If you want what belongs to you, you’ve got to go into the enemy’s camp and demand it back.

But remember, it won’t work if you are not willing to trust God and desire a real relationship with Him. That’s why he sent his son to redeem us back to Him. Because of Jesus Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection, we can have life today. We have it all when we have him.

Now, the lepers arrived at the edge of the camp, then they went into one tent after another – eating, drinking wine, and carrying out silver, gold, and clothing to hide them.

Finally they said to each other, this isn’t right. “This is wonderful news, and we aren’t sharing it with anyone! Even if we wait until morning, some terrible calamity will certainly fall upon us; come on let’s go back and tell the people at the palace.”

But the King was reluctant – he thought it was a setup. He thought just maybe the Syrians had gone into hiding and were waiting for all the people to come to the tents and kill them all. But he soon found this thing was true, so the report came back that it’s alright to go back down to the enemies camp and take back what they had stole from you.

The ending of our story of the drug pushers…

Because of what God did on that parcel of ground that summer, we went out into the community – putting out a plea for the children to come and sit on that same parcel of ground where the drug pushers once pushed drugs. We started a Good News Club there, and we proclaim that ground today Holy ground because our God sanctified it.

Today a ministry called “Friends of Bethany” occupy that building and grounds -- children are still coming -- as well as young moms, and hopefully young fathers will show up.

Get out of your comfort zone, let go, and let God!

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