Praise the Lord. I have my blues. All right. Brother Tim didn't, did he? All right. Well, I'm glad to be here. What a privilege. The ushers were given some newsletters, our monthly newsletter for January. Some of you get that, some of you don't. But if y'all would pass those out just to each family or person that doesn't have that, I'd like for them to have that. I'm gonna be giving these out probably every month. Our January newsletter, I did an overview just for the year of some major projects. and wants you to have that and just pray with us on for Operation Go. And in there is an envelope if you want to help out with something specific. But if you look inside that, it's four page newsletter. We've got a lot going on. And this is pretty much an overview, a short paragraph of everything on the inside. And then on the back, we lost an incredible man for our ministry. I know your pastor knew him well, Dr. James Wagner. And we did a tribute to him as well. And so I hope that you'll take just a few moments and allow the newsletter to speak to your heart. We have expanded greatly and looking to expand more. Something that's not in this newsletter, I'm not gonna rehash it. We got a lot of ISWDIs, that's International Soul Winning Directors Institutes. We train national pastors in church planning and in soul winning. And we're also putting ministry centers in strategic areas to be able to do relief help, hunger help, disaster relief, just anything that's needed, giving clothes, shelter, food to people that need it. This is in there. We're going to be building a new facility outside of Manila for all of Southeast Asia. That's going to be a multimillion dollar project to ask you to pray for us. We are in the process of two stories on our Kenya ministry center. My wife and I will be there next month. And along with some others and brother Peter Chega, our African directors over there now. And so be praying that we've got, it's about $300,000 addition. We've got about 50,000 more to raise and we'll have a matching fund. The guys extended it was supposed to be through the end of the year. But if we raised a hundred, he was going to give a hundred, someone else raised a hundred. So we're down to about 50,000 to have the money to finish that. And we have already started trusting God to bring that in. And then what's not in this newsletter that is so exciting, I want to take just a moment. Last year at our church triumphant conference there at our home church, First Baptist Church in Bridgeport, Uh, we, uh, of course, brother chapel was there and several men preaching and, and, uh, it's a yearly conference. Our home church has a pastor that has been in Maine for over 40 years, brother Gary Wilkins went there, uh, amazing story. And, uh, God said, go, he had no support, no finances. He went, got a job. rented a place, and started church, and for the first year, it was him and his family. Now he has one of the strongest churches in Maine, in Standish, Maine. Been there 40-something years. His son is a co-pastor with him, and after this year, starting next year, his son will be taking the helm, and Brother Wilkins will be in full-time retirement. And this year, they're trading off every Sunday. Brother Wilkins learned about our ministry through our Church Triumphant Conference. and started talking with me and then asked to meet with me after the conference. And then through many phone calls and texts and hours of talking, God has laid on his heart, he doesn't want to quit. So when he retires full time, over the years, the last 10 years, God's give him a burden for the Middle East. He has made many trips to Pakistan and to Lebanon and to Egypt and has many national pastors contacts there that are begging for help. And so he said, Brother Treadway, I want to come on board much like Brother Adams did years ago for Latin America. And so Lord willing, starting this month, every Sunday, he's not in his pulpit. He will be out raising money for the Middle East, raising support for himself and is going to, he's 71 years old. He said, if I can give you 10 years, he said, I want to do nothing but hold conferences in the Middle East. He's already getting one. I've been training him. Getting him prepared and Lord willing. We'll be holding our first conference in the Middle East in Egypt sometime this year I don't know about you, but that excites me men from Pakistan and Lebanon Places that we can't even get into will bring those men into Egypt train them And so that's not even on the list of ISW the eyes on that on that paper But pray about that and pray for brother Wilkins. He's a seasoned man a godly man. He's proven himself and we're praying for God just to continue working and doing a great deal there. So take a look at that letter, but not while I preach, all right? And if you open your Bible to the book of 2 Kings chapter number 6, 2 Kings chapter 6, and again I want to say to this church, thank you for your support for the ministry, for your love for my son and his wife and our grandchildren. Thank you for your love for us. I love your pastor. I count him as a dear friend. I wish I was closer to be able to fellowship with him more, but I thank God for his vision and just for who he is, what he is, and how the Lord has just knit our hearts together in a short time. And then I do want to thank him. I am amazed, preacher, just amazed, and I praise God. We knew our granddaughter was special, but for you to take a whole series on Wednesday nights and preach and teach about her, what a blessing. Angels amongst us. I had no idea, a whole series on my granddaughter, Olivia. I'm overwhelmed with that, amen. And really appreciate you doing that. I look forward to tuning in and hearing what you have to say about her, amen. And we were sitting there and when you announced that title, my wife looked at me and said, he's preaching about Olivia. And I thought a whole series, amen. And then to the three young men, what a testimony to show up at church on Sunday morning. I was really impressed until I talked to the guy in the middle and saw his shirt and saw he's a Bengals fan. He's just here begging God. for Denver to lose and Miami to lose today, and he thought showing up at church would really help. He's hoping they make the playoff, and after last night, they gotta have some help, so enjoyed meeting them, and I do thank you for coming to church this morning. Do not judge the church on me. Come back, you'll hear some real preaching next week with the pastor, all right? But thank you for being here, and I thought Brother Tim was really brave in announcing his number till he said it was my son's number, so got all that sorted out. Second Kings chapter 6. It's the beginning of the year first Sunday and as I prayed and asked the Lord to To give me a message for the new year I'm gonna combine a few old thoughts with a whole new thought and Mess those together and give you what the Lord's laid upon my heart this morning and we're gonna start reading in verse 24 a second Kings chapter number 6 and and pick up there. 2 Kings 6, verse number 24. The Bible said, and it came to pass after this, and after this is the great story of the army of Syria being led right there into the city of Samaria, and the man of God blinding them, and just a great story in itself. But the whole chapter and section, just so we're aware of where we're reading, Samaria and Israel's under judgment. They've not been obeying God. not doing what God wants them to do. Judgment is coming. God is using the Syrian army multiple ways and multiple times to judge them for their lack of obedience. And in verse 24, it came to pass after this that Ben-Hadad, king of Syria, gathered all his hosts and went up and besieged Samaria. And there was a great famine in Samaria. And behold, they besieged it until an ass's head was sold for four score pieces of silver. and the fourth part of a cab of dove's dung for five pieces of silver. And I understand one commentary I read said that five pieces of silver would be the equivalent to half a year's wages. Another one said a quarter of a year's wages. I don't know which one's right, but here's what I'll say, it's a lot of money. And so the Bible said in verse 26, And as the king of Israel was passing by upon the wall, there cried a woman unto him, saying, Help my lord, O king. And he said, If the Lord do not help thee, whence shall I help thee, out of the barn floor or out of the winepress? And the king said unto her, What elleth thee? And she answered, This woman said unto me, Give thy son, that we may eat him today, and we will eat my son tomorrow. So we boiled my son, this is almost beyond our thinking, is it not? And did eat him. And I said unto her, on the next day, give thy son that we may eat him, and she hath hid her son. And it came to pass, when the king heard the words of the woman, that he rent his clothes and passed by upon the wall, and the people looked, and behold, he had sackcloth within upon his flesh. Then he said, God, do so more also to me, if the head of Elisha, the son of Shaphat, shall stand on him this day. And then we learn about the messenger coming, the king's mad at the man of God. It's not the man of God's fault. He's the answer to the problem, not the problem. We're gonna pick up in chapter seven, very familiar story, verse number one. Elisha, after the king sends a messenger to kill him and they subdue the messenger, verse one, Elisha gives this prophecy. Hear ye the word of the Lord, thus saith the Lord, tomorrow about this time shall a measure of fine flour be sold for a shekel and two measures of barley for a shekel in the gate of Samaria. In other words, things are fixing to change. Then a Lord, on whose hand the king leaned, answered the man of God and said, Behold, if the Lord would make windows in heaven, might this thing be? And he said, Behold, thou shalt see it with thine eyes, but shalt not eat thereof. And there were four leprous men at the entering in of the gate, and they said one to another, Why sit we here until we die? If we say we'll enter into the city, then the famine is in the city, and we shall die there. And if we sit still here, we die also. Now therefore come, "'Let us fall under the host of the Syrians. "'If they save us alive, we shall live, "'and if they kill us, we shall but die.' "'And they rose up in the twilight "'to go into the camp of the Syrians, "'and when they were come to the uttermost part "'of the camp of Syria, behold, there was no man there, "'for the Lord had made the host of the Syrians "'to hear a noise of chariots and a noise of horses, "'even the noise of a great host, "'and they said one to another, "'Lo, the King of Israel hath hired against us "'the kings of the Hittites "'and the kings of the Egyptians to come upon us. "'Wherefore they arose and fled in the twilight, "'and left their tents and their horses and their asses, "'even the camp as it was, and fled for their life. "'And when these lepers came "'to the uttermost part of the camp, "'they went into one tent and did eat and drink, "'and carried thence all their things. carried thence silver and gold and raiment, and went and hid it, and it came again, and entered into another tent, and carried thence also, and went and hid it. Then they said one to another, we do not wail. This day is a day of good tidings, and we hold our peace. If we tarry till the morning light, some mischief will come upon us. Now therefore, come that we may go and tell the king's household." And I'm going to just give a summary of the next verses. They come to the gate. They tell them what's going on. The word gets to the king. The king says, this is a trap. The Syrians have gone and hid. And if we go out there, then they're going to light up on us. And someone wise says, well, let's at least take a few people and let's go see if it's true. And they do. And they find out it's true. And the Bible said, In verse number 16, after they find out everything that's going on, the people went out and spoiled the tents of the Syrians. So a measure of fine flour was sold for a shekel, and two measures of barley for a shekel, according to the word of the Lord. And of course, the end of the passage is the prophecy he said to the man that doubted God comes true and that man dies. He sees it, but he's trampled there at the gate. That's 2 Kings, end of chapter six and seven. And I want to deal, if I may, this morning with this thought for a few moments from famine to feast. From famine to feast. And if we're honest this morning, if we look at our lives, I don't know how you operate, but at the end of the year and the beginning of the year, I always try to do a self-evaluation. Where am I at spiritually? Where am I at as a husband? Where am I at as a father? Where am I at as a Christian, as a preacher, as the president of Operation GO? I don't know how you operate, but I try to do a real, honest evaluation of where's the weak spots in my life? Now you may be sitting here, and I think Brother Bartlett said it earlier, that sometimes you say, well, preacher, I have no spiritual problem. Well, I know one, lying. Because we all have them. We don't want to admit it. We don't like to acknowledge it. But everyone in this building and everyone listening by way of online, we have issues. And though the magic switch from the calendar from December 31st to January 1st, it doesn't just magically poof and all those issues go away. So my question to you this morning is, what areas are famine in your life? What areas are suffering? You know, if there's a famine, it means there's a deficiency. If there's a famine, it means that I'm not as healthy as I ought to be. If there's a famine, it means that things are not the way they should be in my life. And I'm asking this morning, where's the famine in your life? I would say to the church. You know, we're living in days of, I believe, spiritual famine in a lot of churches. As I travel the country, right before Christmas, the Sunday before Christmas, I was in Oakland, California, right outside San Francisco preaching. And the Sunday before that, I was in Maine. I literally was from coast to coast in a week. And I'm telling you, we are in a spiritual slump. Well, I'm thankful how the election went, aren't you? Your pastor had a big part in trying to rally Christians. And I thank God for him and Byron Fox and many, many others. And I thank God for the burden Christians had. But it's almost like, OK, the election went the way many people want. OK, we can quit praying. We're still in a mess. Donald Trump's not the answer, the real answer to the problem. The real answer to the problem is setting right in here. It's the church. It's us. We have the Bible, we have the gospel, we have what this world needs, do we not? But if we're not careful, we will, because the guy we wanted or the group we wanted or this one or that one, okay, everything's good. No, everything's not good. We're still in a spiritual famine in this country. As I travel the country and I talk to pastors and I try to be a friend to pastors, every pastor I talk to say the church just seems like we're waning, we're weakening. We don't have the young people we used to have in most churches. We don't have the zeal, the fire, the dedication that we used to have. And we can say, well, that's because we've gotta change our methods. I don't think the method's the problem. So how do we go from famine to feasting? I don't know about you, but as I start 2025, and as I did an honest assessment of my life, I came up short in too many areas. I don't want to have a famine in any area of my life. I want to be everything God wants me to be. And the main thing I have to do to do that is just please God. So let me show you a couple things, just three things, it's very simple. that I think will help us go from famine to feasting in our churches, in our homes, in our marriages, in our personal life. Number one, if we're gonna go from famine to feasting, there has to be a recognition. We gotta recognize where we're at, right? In other words, we gotta be honest that we're in a famine, that we're in a mess. Well, preacher, how do I know if there's a famine in an area of my life? How do I know if I'm in a famine in my church life? How do I know if there's a famine? Well, did you notice back in chapter six, verses 24 and 25, I think give us, and 26, 27, gives us, I think, some symptoms of what to look for when there's a famine in your life. Notice with me that the Bible said that this famine was so great By the way, this siege winds up lasting seven years. And the Bible said that it had been so great that an ass's head was sold for 80 pieces of silver, a donkey's head. Now you say, preacher, what's the significance in that? Well, a couple things. Number one, a donkey. We're talking about Israelites. You realize an ass was an unclean animal to them. They were not allowed to eat them. They were not supposed to eat them. And the head is the cheapest part of the donkey, because it's worthless. Now, I read several commentators that said that it actually boiled would taste good, but it offered no nutritional value at all. It just made them think they were okay, hunger-wise. Want to know how to know if you're in a famine? when you're doing things you normally wouldn't do and settling for things you normally wouldn't settle for. If the famine had not been going on, they would not be eating a donkey's head. They would not have settled for something unclean and something so useless and something so un-nutritional as a donkey's head. But when we're in a famine, when things are not the way they're supposed to be, isn't it amazing what we'll settle for? I'm not here to give a list. That's your pastor's job to preach to you specifics. I'm just asking you to take an inward look in your life, in your home, and is there some things that you're settling What do you mean, preacher? Well, I know I'm supposed to read my Bible every day, but every now and then it'll be okay. You're settled for a donkey's head. Well, I know pastor said, you know, I ought to be at church every Sunday, but I got other things. And once in a while, you're settling for a donkey's head. You put the meat on the bones where it needs to be put. But my question is, is where's the famine in your life? Where's the famine in your marriage? Well, preacher, I told her I love her when we got married, and if it ever changed, I'd let her know. What more do you expect? No, I think God expects a little bit more than that. Are you settling? The famine had got so bad, they're eating things. What I'm talking about is their diet. They're eating things they would have never ate and they're allowing things they would have never allowed had it not been for the famine. Where are you this morning? Are you settling? Are you healthy spiritually? Are you healthy in the areas God wants you to be? I'm saying to you and I that one of the ways to tell, to recognize, to realize, hey, I might be in a little bit of trouble in this area or that area is if I am settling for things that I normally would have not settled before. Whether you're young or old, you can apply that. Not only did the Bible say that they were eating a donkey's head, but look at the last part of verse 25. They were eating the fourth part of a cab of dove's dung for five pieces of silver. Now, dove dung, not dove. But dung, that's just a nice way of talking about excrement from this dove. Everyone okay? All right. And what I'm saying is notice, you know, in the Bible, the dove is a type of the Holy Spirit. From Genesis to Revelation, the dove is representative and symbolic of the Holy Ghost. And in other words, notice that during this famine, the dove is not mentioned, just the dung. Without getting too technical, the dung speaks of where the dove was, not where the dove is. It speaks of what the dove used to do, not what and where it's at now. Can I say that when we're in a spiritual famine or when we're in a famine in some area of our life, what happens is we focus on what we used to be, we focus on what we used to do, we focus on how God used to work, we focus on how everything used to be okay, instead of what the dove is doing, we feast off what the dove did. Many churches are in a spiritual famine. I can't speak for this church, but I can speak for many churches that I travel in enough. And I'm telling you, many churches are living off what God did in the 70s, and the 80s, and the 90s, and the 2000s. I know of a church right now that is dying, but they're living off what the former pastor, what he did, and what the growth that he had. And the new guys come in, and he does not have that dream and that desire. And they're not soul winning, and they're not trying to win people to God. And it looks like there's life, but they're slowly dying because he's living off what What was instead of what is? Are you living off the past or the present? See, you can't live today on what God did last year. You need the dove, not the dove's dung. You understand what I'm saying? And these people are living off of where the dove was and what the dove had done instead of where he's at and what he's doing. Eating dove would be great. Eating dove dung, not so much. And I'm telling you, one of the ways to recognize and realize that we're in a mess is when we are focusing and living off what I used to do. Well, preacher, when I asked you if you're spiritually healthy, well, I used to teach a Sunday school. Well, what about now? I used to be, now I understand, let me clarify. We get to a certain age, there's some things physically we cannot do. I understand that. But I also understand that age should not be an excuse. Brother Adams was here for y'all's conference last year, right? 81 years old. Brother Adams is facing all kinds of medical issues that I can't even publicly tell you because I promised him I would not let those, but I can tell you it's a miracle of God he's still doing what he's doing. He's not quit. He wept on the phone with me the other day, Brother Bartlett, because he said, preacher, I've got to back off to maybe two meetings a month overseas instead of four or five. I just can't do it no more. And I thought two meetings. He's still going twice a month overseas, dealing with planes and travel, and he hurts every day of his life, and there's other things going on. And I'm just saying to you and I that I understand age may be an issue, and there's times that we physically cannot do. But I also know that many times, and being in ministry for many years, that sometimes we live off what we used to do. Well, I used to read my Bible. I used to pray. I used to be a soul winner. I used to be on fire. I used to spend time with God. I used to be closer to God. And what we're saying is I'm living on the dove's dung instead of the dove. It took a miracle from God to end Samaria's famine, didn't it? And it'll take a miracle of God to end ours. There's a recognition with their diet that they're eating and doing things and living on things that they should not be, but there's also a recognition of the depletion. Look with me in chapter 6 and verse number 27. When the women are crying for help from the king, here's what he said in verse 27 of chapter 6. "'If the Lord do not help thee, whence shall I help thee? Out of the barn floor or out of the winepress?' The barn floor is where farmers brought yearly crops and where it was stored. The winepress was where the grapes, grape crops were brought and squeezed at the winepress. And you got two dilemmas here. The barn floor is empty and the winepress is empty. The barn floor speaks of the result of reaping a harvest, a place in use during harvest time. They had been living in the famine off the past harvest, but now it's depleted, now it's gone, there is no present harvest, they've not planted a future harvest, therefore the barn floor is empty. A good indicator, by the way, of where our church is is the status of the barn floor. When the barn floor is empty, the very purpose of its existence is negated. The whole purpose of the barn floor is to have the harvest coming in. And the king says, the barn floor is empty, the wine press is empty. Hey, listen, when the barn floor is empty, our spiritual life is not what it ought to be. That wine press, that harvest of grapes, wine and grape in your Bibles, a type of joy, it's a type of refreshment. And listen, entire families and communities would get into that vat with their bare feet and they would squeeze the juice out of the grapes. It was a time of celebration and a time of joy. And what the King is saying is now there's no joy, there's no celebration. In a spiritual sense, they lost that which caused them to celebrate and be joyful. The wine press speaks of a fresh inflow of the presence and the ministry of the Spirit of God. And a good way to realize that maybe there's a famine in my life is to recognize the joy and the thrilling victory of serving God is just not what it used to be. I sat down with a preacher the other day, my wife and I, with him and his wife, and I said, has your position become in the church a job or is it a ministry? He said, it's a job. He said, I despise it. What is exact words, but that's, I'm just, in a nutshell. He'd gotten so discouraged, so he had a spiritual famine. And I said, you're serving and you're upset and you're mad because of people. When people didn't call you, God called you and your joy and your victory and your celebration has to come in the fact that God would use you and wanna use you and not in this problem and that problem and this trouble and that trouble. And I'm saying to you and I, that when we lose our joy and we lose our victory and we lose the happiness of life, can I tell you, if there's ever a people that ought to be happy, it's God's people. If there's ever a people that, I know we got ice coming and snow coming, but that doesn't change that if there's ever a people that ought to rejoice, it's the one sitting in here, we're saved. We're not going to hell. As my friend Dr. Sammy Allen used to say, don't get too excited. You're just gonna live as long as God lives. You've just got eternal life. Don't get too excited now. Can I say it is something to get excited about. Have you lost the joy in your home? When you're looking for reasons not to show up in the house, there's a problem. When you're looking for reasons to not come to church, there's a problem. When you're looking for reasons to get out of that ministry job that you're in, there's a problem, there's a famine. You've got to realize and recognize, and I don't have time to deal with that, because I want to close with giving you how to fix it, but I'm saying that when our diet's not what it ought to be, when there's a depletion in our life, and then notice the Bible said in verses 28 and 29, this story of these mamas and the baby, when there's a devouring. you know there is a famine in an area of your life. This devouring, they are devouring their own children. They're eating their own children. Then they turn, the king turns on the man of God. These women have turned on the king. Listen, when there is a discord and a devouring and a negative spirit and a criticism and a critical spirit, I promise you there's a famine somewhere. And as we begin 2025, would it not be great just to recognize where the famine areas are in our life? So we need to have a recognition. Number two, there needs to be a resolve. Boy, I like this. When we end chapter six, it's bad. And hopefully you can look in your life and say, you know what? I got a famine here, famine here, famine here. But I want you to notice the resolve. You come to chapter 7, verse 1, Elisha said, And then he gives the prophecy. Now, I cannot prove this, but it seems to me from the reading of the Bible and in where the Bible said, and there were four leprous men, somehow, I don't know if word got out of the prophecy by just general messenger, because there were many people in the room that heard Elijah say that. I don't know if they were the guy that winds up at the gate, if he tells them, but I have a sneaking suspicion somehow these four lepers, hear the prophecy that Elijah gives. Maybe they don't. I'm not gonna be loud, we're the Bible silent, but I do think it's a possibility. But in verse three, these leprous men are setting at the gate. Now understand, they're outside the city, they've been castigated because they're lepers, but they're enduring the exact same famine the city is. Famine was throughout all of this area at that time. And so these men look at one another. And they say, and I think the reason it occurs at this point is because they hear word that by the next day, there's gonna be all kinds of supplies. They don't understand what that means. Elijah doesn't say, this is what's gonna happen to cause this. So these men are sitting there saying, wow, you know what, if that's the case, if we go in the city, we're gonna die, because they're dying. And if we sat here, we're gonna die. And if we go to the Syrians, we might die. The worst thing they can do is kill us or they could feed us. They've got stuff, we don't. And right there, these four men said, did you see it? Did you see the resolve? Why sit we here until we die? We don't like where we're at. We don't like the famine. The famine's not going anywhere. And again, I don't know if they hear or don't hear, but something inside these men say, we've took all we can take. We're doing something. You know, it'll be a great day in your life when you get not just tired and weary with the famines of your life, but when you say, I got to do something about it. Not tomorrow, not next week, not next year, not, I don't do New Year resolutions, by the way. I just, I think we ought to live for God every day, amen? And just, if something's not right, we ought to fix it. Now, I'm not saying it's wrong to have goals and dreams and visions, I have all that, but just this New Year's resolution stuff, if it's wrong on the 31st, it's wrong on the 1st, just fix it on the 31st, tell God I'm sorry and fix it, amen? And that's the way I try to live my life. But my point is, is when God shows me something, as we went into this year, the Lord pointed some serious things out in my life and said, that's a famine, that's a famine. I said, okay, God, I'm sorry. And I was sorry. And I grieved over those things, but I can grieve and do nothing about it. Somewhere there's gotta come a point where if we're gonna go from famine to feasting, that we say, okay, enough of this. I ain't living like this another day. Have you got there? You know there's a famine. You know there's a problem. Have you got there to the place that you say, why am I going to stay here? And that's what's going to happen to the church. That's what's going to happen to the family, to the home, to Christian lives. If we don't do something about the famines, we will die. Maybe not physically, but how many marriages are dead because they know there's a problem, but they don't get up and do something about it. How many homes are a wreck? How many churches are a wreck? How many Christians are a wreck? Because they know there's a problem, but they won't get up and do something about it. Why sat we here? These men had a resolve. We don't know what's gonna happen. And they get up, the Bible says, and they head to the Syrian army. They look at the three choices and say, death, death, maybe death, maybe life. So we're gonna take that one. Maybe it's not the best solution, but at least they're willing to try to do something. Now, if they did not hear what the man of God said, they have no idea that God's fixing to take their resolve and use it for his glory. Had these men not had the resolve, I don't know where we would have been in this story. But God uses four men that got tired of their situation. Leprous men, outcasts. You say, preacher, I'd like to do something, but I'm a nobody, I'm a nothing, I'm not that smart. You don't have to be any of those things. You just have to be willing to say enough's enough. I wanna do something about it. There was a recognition, there was a resolve. And then number three, and I'm done, there was a responsibility. These men go to the Syrian army and we read the commentary, God had already worked, God had made them think an army was coming and they had left and their stuff's thrown along the road, their tents are left, the silver, gold, food, clothes is all left and these lepers show up and man, you talking about a gold mine. They're sitting on a gold mine, they now have food, they've got money, they're packing their pockets, they're filling their bellies, they're shouting, they're rejoicing and in verse nine, one of them or some of them look at one another and say, whoa, whoa, we don't do well here. We're not doing well. Did you see it in verse number nine? We do not wail. This day is a day of good tidings. They say, hey, our good fortune, may I put it this way, there is a responsibility. Hey, listen, if we, there's a recognition, there's a revolve, but then there's a responsibility. If we're gonna go from famine to feasting, the way we're gonna get there is by not focusing on ourselves, but by focusing on others. Boy, I wish I had time to bear this principle out. It's all through Scripture. I've heard so many messages over the years in camp meetings, jubilees, I'm sure your pastor has, and Brother Bartlett Sr. has heard. I've heard it preached all the years, many, many times, when the Jesus told the disciples find out, the apostles find out, John the Baptist is dead, he's been beheaded, this has gone on, and the Lord said, come apart into the desert and let's rest a while. And I've heard messages, you know, you just gotta come apart before you come apart. And nothing wrong with that. I understand what they're saying in that, but it's really the wrong passage to use. Because the Lord Jesus, who knows everything, the minute they get to the other side, people follow them and they're hungry. And the Lord said, hey, we need to give them food. and there's thousands of men besides women and children, and he tells them men to start setting them in groups. Do you realize the work and the labor it would take, preacher, to take thousands of people, set them in groups of 50, and then have to break bread, and then pass it all out, and then gather all the, they worked their backsides off. You know what the Lord was saying when he said come apart and rest? He wasn't saying get a hotel room and sleep for three days and do nothing and focus on yourself. What the Lord's principle is there is you want to know how to get over this depressing situation. You want to know how to get over the loss of John the Baptist. You want to know how to get over that dark problem you're in. Go focus on serving someone else. Do something for someone else. And can I tell you the darkest times of my life over the years where I have had to get victory is when I realized I had a problem and I realized I had a struggle, but I said, you know what? I'm resolved, I'm gonna do something about it, but while I'm doing something about it, I'm gonna try to help someone else. If we're not careful, we'll get so involved in our famine that we'll only focus on our needs, our problems, our solutions. The greatest thing you can do as a child of God is understand you have a responsibility to go make a difference in someone else's life. The greatest thing God's called the church to do is go win someone else to Jesus, right? I read a story, and I'll probably butcher it. I don't remember all the details, but a woman come to her pastor, sat down, said, look, I'm leaving my husband. I'm tired of him. He's a slob and won't do this and won't do that, and I'm done. And the pastor said, that's fine. He said, would you do me a favor? For the next 30 days, would you uh, do this and do that. And he gave her a list, you know, tell him you love him every day and start focusing on, you know, fix breakfast every morning, fix what he likes, fix his supper. And, and he said, just for 30 days. And if at 30 days things are not different than by all means leaving. And after 30 days, the pastor come to her and said, okay, are you ready to get? She said, divorce? Are you kidding me? We're more in love than we've ever been. And what the pastor knew and what the woman found out was by focusing on her husband instead of herself, he wasn't near as bad as she thought he was. And all of a sudden when she focused on him, he focused on her and it got a whole lot better. Folks, as we come into 2025, these lepers wind up fulfilling the word of God and they wind up making a difference for an entire city. by simply saying, we're gonna do something about our situation, and by doing something about their situation, they wound up doing something for the whole city. Here's what we don't understand. When we allow famine areas in our life, husband, it affects your wife. Wife, it affects your husband. Mom and dad, it affects your children. Grandparents, it affects your grandchildren and children. Church member, it affects other people. Church worker, it affects other workers. On down and on, just take the line any way you wanna take it. And what God says to us is, if you wanna go from famine to feasting, get a resolve, whatever it takes, I'm gonna trust God. By the way, what did these lepers actually do to fix the famine? Nothing. That's why I can't help but think maybe they heard the prophecy and they just trusted God, but either way, God fixed the famine, but he used their resolve. You understand God's not asking you to perform miracles. He's just asking you to get tired of the famine in your life. And when you get tired of the famine in your life and you get the resolve to do something about it, God will do what he needs to do. And when he does it, we've got a responsibility. Go make a difference in someone else's life. Let's bow our heads and close our eyes. Heads are bowed, eyes are closed. I want to ask you this morning, where's the famine areas? Not do you have them, I know we have them. But do you realize the famine area of your life? I've been very general on purpose because I just believe in a church that strives to honor God like this church does, a pastor that's spirit-filled and walks with God. I just believe the Holy Ghost is able to touch your heart and maybe even point something out I've not even mentioned. But I wonder, as heads are bowed, eyes are closed, that there'll be some people say, I have some famine areas, and I want your prayer. Would you just put your hand up this morning? I'm not gonna embarrass you, come to you. God bless you. Hands up, several places all across the building. Now here's my next question. Are you willing to do something about it? Why sit we here till we die? It's a great missions message, whole nother thought in there, a lot of messages in there. But just simple this morning. Why sit here on the first Sunday of 2025 knowing there's a famine in your life instead of saying, If I die, I die, but something's going to change. I'm fixing this. If God spoke to your heart, I'm going to pray. I want you to come to the altar. I still believe coming to the altar. I believe a Christian ought to live their life on an altar. And then if you're here today and you would say, Brother Treadway, don't embarrass me, but I have never trusted Jesus Christ as my savior. If I died today, I'm not sure I would go to heaven. I'm not going to embarrass you. I'll draw no more attention to you than I did all the others. But if that's you, you