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  DEATH IN THE POT! (VIDEO)
  by Duane Troyer
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Summary: This sermon emphasizes the importance of discernment and
spiritual protection in a world filled with poisonous influences and
distractions. It uses the story of Elisha and the poisonous gourds to
illustrate how harmful ideas and fears can be neutralized by the 'bread
of life,' representing Christ's truth and love. The message encourages
believers to focus on spreading the good news of salvation and to fight
spiritual battles with God's weapons, not worldly tactics.

Topics: "Discernment", "Spiritual Protection"
Scripture References: 2 Kings 4:38, Matthew 11:28, 1 John 4:18, John 14:27, 2 Timothy 4:3, Psalms 118:1, John 15:5, 1 John 4:1, Proverbs 3:5, 1 Corinthians 13:1

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DESCRIPTION
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This sermon emphasizes the importance of discernment and spiritual
protection in a world filled with poisonous influences and distractions.
It uses the story of Elisha and the poisonous gourds to illustrate how
harmful ideas and fears can be neutralized by the 'bread of life,'
representing Christ's truth and love. The message encourages believers
to focus on spreading the good news of salvation and to fight spiritual
battles with God's weapons, not worldly tactics.

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CONTENT
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Well, greetings, everybody, in Jesus' name. It's really good to be here.
And really good to see everybody in an assembly like this again.

My heart goes out to those who can't be here for illness, ailments, or
other physical hindrances from being here. So let's not forget them. I'm
sure they'd be glad to be here.

Let's stand for prayer. Heavenly Father, we thank you, praise you for
this opportunity that we have to be here and to be alive and well. We
thank you for healthy bodies and sound minds and all the many gifts that
you give us, that you care about us.

We thank you for salvation in the Lord Jesus. And thank you for this
opportunity to be together. We pray for Buddy and his backache and his
family.

Be with them, Brother Rick. Be with him, heal him from his sickness. And
we pray for Brother Max and his family as well.

Keep them all in your special care today. Help us now as we look into
your word. Help us to have eyes that see and ears that hear and a heart
that understands.

Pray, Lord, that you convict us of all evil and help us to walk in the
ways of righteousness. That your will be done, your kingdom come, for
yours is the power and glory forever. Amen.

Just maybe start by, I don't know, admitting or confessing or whatever
that I'm not as prepared as I wish I was. I don't know, it seems like I
always, or perhaps for the last quite a while, just always have this
problem when I want to, when I work on preparing a message or something,
I just, I can't really get into gear or seemingly be really inspired
until the last minute, you know, and then I don't have much time left.
Anyway, that's fine.

The Lord has his way. I don't know if that's the Lord's doing or if it's
some of my laziness or lack of motivation sometimes, but your prayers
are appreciated in those areas. I'm going to start by reading in 2
Kings, I believe it is, a story about Elisha.

It's 4th Kingdoms if you have a Septuagint. 2nd Kings in the Masoretic
text. Chapter 4. 2nd Kings chapter 4 in verse 38.

Then Elisha returned to Gilgal and there was a famine in the land. Now
the sons of the prophets were sitting before him and Elisha said to his
servant, put on the large pot and boil some pottage for the sons of the
prophets. So one went out into the field to gather herbs and he found a
wild vine and gathered from it a lap full of wild gourds and threw them
into the pot of soup.

Though they did not know what they were, then they served it to the men
to eat. Now as they were eating the vegetables, they cried out and said,
Man of God, there is death in the pot. And they could not eat it.

So he said, take wheat flour and throw it in the pot. Then Elisha said
to his servant Gehazi, serve it to the people and let them eat. Thus
there was no longer anything harmful in the pot.

So here we are in the land of Canaan, the land of milk and honey, the
land that God had promised that if his people would walk in his ways, he
would give them fruitful yields. And there was great and many promises,
but they had fallen away so many times and there was a famine in the
land. There was a drought.

There was probably not much food available. But Elisha's gathered the
sons of the prophets, which the best of my understanding is like people
he was discipling, people kind of in his school, you might say, and he
was gathered with them somewhere there. And they were hungry and they
put on a pot to boil up some potage for everybody.

It doesn't say who, but someone went out. There was probably not much
available, but he found this plant, this wild vine, that had gourds on
it. And whether he was careless, whether the plant really looked like a
good plant and he just mistook it, or whether he just didn't have much
knowledge about that thing, or however it was, we don't know, but he
gathered a lap full of these wild gourds and he brings and he throws
them in the pot and everyone started eating it.

It was poisonous. He said, man of God, there is death in the pot. There
is poison in the pot.

And Elisha instructed either his servant or someone to throw in some
flour, some meal, some ground up, I suppose ground up wheat or barley or
something, some ground up grain, and throw it in the pot. They threw it
into this pot and then he said, eat of it. Those poisonous gourds were
still in there.

And he said, eat of it. And everybody ate and it did no harm to them.
That's pretty amazing.

And I don't know just what all people could learn from this story
spiritually, but I wrote a paraphrase for this account that I'll read
and I think you'll get it. Then Elisha returned to the earth and there
was a worldwide pandemic in the earth. Now the sons of the prophets were
sitting before him and Elisha said to his servants, put on the large
council pot and we'll boil up some food for thought for all the sons of
the prophets.

And so one went out into YouTube and social media to gather information
and he found some wild stories and he gathered from it a lap full of
wild ideas and threw them into the pot. And though he did not fact check
them or verify it or check whether it was from a reliable source, then
they presented it to the men to think about and now as they were chewing
on it, they cried out and said, oh man of God, there is death in the
pot. They could not bear it.

So Elisha said, take the bread of life and eat it with the rest of those
ideas. And they ate and there was nothing harmful anymore. I think it's
pretty easy to gather up a lot of wild gourds these days and as I read
that last night and something just came to me kind of about that story
that I had never really thought about before and there are things that
people hear that will strike them with something that will lead to
death.

Where somebody else can hear who has Christ or who has the bread of life
and it does no harm to them. There are stories that can be spread that
are meant by the enemy to strike fear into a person's heart. They are
meant to bring a people into a dark cloud and to bind us with anxiety
and worry and discouragement and depression and bind us and dig us and
drag us just deeper and deeper into the pit of despair.

And oh man of God, there is death in the pot. But if we have Christ, if
we have the bread of life, we can hear that same story. We can hear the
same idea and it has no harmful effects on us.

Because we believe and we trust in the one who has conquered sin and
death and rose victorious and gives us the promise of eternal life. We
hear the one who says I will never leave you nor forsake you and
therefore we can confidently say the Lord is my helper. I shall not be
afraid.

What will man do to me? He hears and he trusts the one who says that you
are my sheep and I am your shepherd and no man can pluck you out of my
hands. That's how safe and secure we can be. Fear is a powerful thing.

It can just really grip people and drive them to places where they have
no reason to go to. I remember when I was young and I had a vivid
imagination and I would go to my bedroom at night and I would run for my
bed and before I got there I'd jump into it just in case there was
something under the bed. And I see my same children do foolish things
because they're afraid.

Some of them are afraid of the dark. Some of them are simply afraid if
the curtains are back when it gets dark because that dark window looks
scary. We just don't know what's on the other side and it scares us.

Fear is really powerful. Salesmen use this. It's one of the most
effective tactics of salesmen.

If you can strike someone into fear you can sell them a lot of stuff. If
you can make them afraid that they're going to lose out or miss out or
that their competitors are going to leave them in the dust or you can
sell anything from food to fire extinguishers to gadgets on your
vehicles or whatever if you can make somebody afraid that if they don't
have this thing they're in real danger. And so fear does that.

The phobia kind of fear. It can bind us. In 1 John 4.18 he says, There
is no fear in love but perfect love casts out fear because fear involves
punishment and the one who fears is not perfected in love.

Christ, who is the bread of life is also the perfection of love. And we
can hear this same story that makes the whole world go into a frenzy and
fear and we can have it or eat it and it does no harm to us. Just like
that pottage no longer harmed the sons of the prophets after they threw
the meal in there.

But fear is far from the only poisonous gourd that's out there. There's
a lot of wild gourds and wild stories out there that when some people
hear them they immediately jump to conclusions to evil surmisings, to
suspicions, to distrust. The word evil surmising simply means wicked
speculations.

In 1 Timothy 6.4 he talks about something about people who who dote
about questions and things they don't know about and come to evil
surmisings. It's a sin. We commit the sin of evil surmising when we
think or imagine that others are involved in wrongdoing without reason
or evidence to do so.

It's so easy to do that. And it is meant to bring us into bondage. It is
meant to bring us into this dark cloud where the devil binds us with
suspicion and mistrust and slander and lying and gossiping and drags us
deeper into the pit of confusion and dissension and division.

And oh man of God, there is death in the pot. But with Christ with that
fine flour or that bread of life we can hear the same story and it has
no harmful effects on us. We believe the one whose word says whatsoever
things are true and honest and of good report and lovely and peaceful
think on those things.

And the one who says be wise to the good and simple to the evil who said
we should bring every thought into captivity and that we should prove
all things and hold fast that which is good. The one who already told us
that there will be rumors and rumors of wars and there will be seducers
and there is no wax worse and worse. Who has warned us of all these
things and still says but be of good cheer I've overcome the world.

There is nothing wrong with some healthy skepticism and to not just be
gullible and believe things. I don't always trust what is called
scientifically proven or scientific evidence. But there is a difference
when it's about being cautiously skeptical of a report till it's proven
or peddling our thoughts and theories that are unproven at the
accusation of a person or a group with basically no evidence to do so.

Brothers and sisters that's slander. We as Christians ought to live by a
higher standard when it comes to making accusations whether it be
against government against the media against the doctors or against the
scientists. We should be coming here and if we have some good healthy
skepticism that's good.

But we can wait. We can be silent. We can wait until things are proven
before we hurl out accusations unless we be found worse as a slanderer
or a false accuser or one peddling lies.

People like secrets. People like to be mystified. People like mystery
novels.

Hidden things fascinate us. To believe in lurking evils allows us to
wrap ourselves in the security blanket of innocence. It's the classic
lure of victimhood.

We suspect people of trickery. We assume the common belief cannot be
real. But as Elmo Stoll once said nothing is more confusing than the
clamor of armchair doctors and sofa scientists.

I've watched this kind of thing go around in my life with Y2K with the
blood moons with the Mayan calendars and with CERN. And the more
mysterious something is the more it feeds someone who is inclined toward
evil surmising and the more poisonous the gourd the more deadly the pot.
When will we ever learn? There's other poisonous gourds.

Some stories are out there and they make a person feisty and fighty and
he gets all worked up and he gets brought into this bondage in this
cloud where the devil binds him in anger and hatred and envy and digs
him deeper into the pit of vengeance. And oh man of God there is death
in the pot. But with Christ we can hear the same story with no harmful
effects.

Because we believe and we trust in the one who said my kingdom is not of
this world. If my kingdom was of this world my servants would fight. And
he said his kingdom will not be shaken once everything else is shaken
his kingdom will not be shaken.

We can trust and rest in that. We also believe the one who told us seek
not revenge for vengeance is mine. I will repay sayeth the Lord and we
can lay these things to his hands.

I'm sure there would be many others we could think of. Many other wild
and poisonous gourds that people throw into that pot and I would be
delighted to hear your thoughts on those. But I want to say that in case
anyone thinks that what I'm saying today is that we shouldn't fear and
we shouldn't spread stories and we shouldn't fight.

I want to tell you that that's not what I'm saying. In spite of the
promises that no external forces can remove us from Christ no man can
pluck us out of his hands. Paul says I am persuaded that neither death
nor life nor angels nor principalities nor things present nor things to
come nor power nor height nor depth nor any created thing can separate
us.

In spite of those great and precious promises there is one to fear. What
does he also say that he will do with the unprofitable servant? Maybe no
external force can remove the unprofitable servant but what does he say
he does? He casts him out. Or what about the unfruitful branch? He cuts
it off.

Or the lukewarm person? He spits him out. The one who forsakes him. If
we forsake him God will forsake us.

Fear him who has power to destroy both body and soul in hell. And
there's lots of news to spread brothers and sisters. We ought to be
spreading it far and wide and from the housetops and it has little to do
with the current pandemic.

It's about the goodness of the life that we can have in Christ. The
bread of life. The life that we can have more abundantly.

It is about the deliverance from every form of death in the pot. It's
news about the salvific properties of the ground down flour that is the
true bread of life. That is news we should be spreading.

And I am definitely not saying that we should not fight. We ought to
fight the good fight. Not with carnal weapons but with mighty weapons.

We should be pulling down those strongholds. Not those strongholds of
earthly governments and nuclear weapons and viral outbreaks. But the
strongholds of fortresses of imaginations of speculations of fears and
of lusts and all the things that surround us that separate us from the
knowledge of God.

Fight against them with fury. We can easily get distracted from what we
should be doing by letting our imaginations go wild and gathering up
wild gourds from wild vines. I just want to encourage us not to do so.

And I'm going to close reading Psalms 118 and the Masoretic Text 117 and
the Septuagint. Give thanks to the Lord for He is good for His mercy
endures forever. Let the house of Israel say that He is good for His
mercy endures forever.

Let the house of Aaron say that He is good for His mercy endures
forever. Let all who fear the Lord say that He is good for His mercy
endures forever. In affliction I called upon the Lord and He heard me in
a broad place.

The Lord is my helper. I shall not be afraid of what men do to me. The
Lord is my helper.

I shall look upon my enemies. It is good to trust the Lord rather than
to trust in man. It is good to hope in the Lord rather than to hope in
rulers.

All the nations surrounded me but in the name of the Lord I defended
myself against them. They circled and surrounded me but in the name of
the Lord I defended myself against them. They surrounded me like bees
around a honeycomb and they were inflamed like fire in a thorn bush but
in the name of the Lord I defended myself against them.

I was shoved and disheartened that I might fall but the Lord took hold
of me and the Lord is my strength and my song and He became my
salvation. The sound of exceeding joy and salvation is in the tents of
the righteous. The right hand of the Lord worked its power.

The right hand of the Lord exalted me. The right hand of the Lord worked
its power. I shall not die but live and tell the Lord's works.

The Lord chastened and corrected me but He did not give me up to death.
Upon the gates of righteousness to me I will enter therein and give
thanks to the Lord. This is the gate of the Lord.

The righteous shall go in through it. I will give thanks to you for you
heard me and you became my salvation. The stone that the builders
rejected the same became the head of the corner and this came about from
the Lord and it's wonderful in our eyes.

This is the day the Lord made. Let us greatly rejoice and be glad
therein. Oh Lord save us now.

Oh Lord prosper us now. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.
We bless you from the house of the Lord.

God is the Lord and He revealed Himself to us. Appoint a feast for
yourself decked with branches even to the horns of the altar. You are my
God and I will give thanks to you.

You are my God and I shall exalt you. I will give thanks to you and you
heard me and you became my salvation. Give thanks to the Lord for He is
good for His mercy endures forever.

Open it up for any comments or corrections. Yeah I appreciate it. I
think I can follow what was said and I agree with it.

It is so needful to have a focus on the right things and not be taken
off the path and into destruction. Maybe I'll just read 2 Timothy 4 part
of it. In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus who is to judge the
living and the dead and in view of His appearing and His kingdom I
solemnly urge you proclaim the message be persistent whether the time is
favorable or unfavorable convince, rebuke, and encourage with utmost
patience and teaching for the time is coming when people will not put up
with sound doctrine but have itching ears.

They will accumulate to themselves teachers to soothe their own desires
and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander away to myths.
As for you always be sober endure suffering do the work of an evangelist
carry out your ministry fully. There's another scripture I'm not sure
where it's at that I read lately about how God preserves us and takes
care of us but that is what God wants to do that's what He does to all
those that follow Him so that those wild goers He has no harm.

Thank you brother for the thoughts of encouragement this day again. I
had to think of a verse in John 15 verse 5 where Jesus said I am the
vine and ye are the branches without me you can do nothing nothing not a
thing we can't do anything without Jesus so it is necessary to do those
things that He commands us to do and we can be safe in Him but there's I
had a vision of that mine out there and it being pruned even if all the
branches are off of the vine they're laying there on the ground that
vine will just find another branch but the branch cannot go back to the
vine unless he repents but just looking at the natural vine it's amazing
that and who is the pruner I think if we are laying on the ground we
probably were the pruner ourselves or we left and also like Duane said
about God is also able to cut us off if we don't bear fruit that is pray
for me that is my desire to bring forth fruit unto the Lord I had to
think of a I don't remember of this but there was a story that I think
it was around 1950 I had an uncle that stood up for for not sending his
child to high school it was the time that Yamish started their own
schools they were still in public schools and him and my grandma was
involved and a few others they stood up for not sending their they
didn't send their children to high school so they got in trouble with
the law to the extent that they put them in jail and they during the day
they had to go to jail then they brought them home at night then come
and get them and take them back the story went that whenever the police
came for my uncle he was there waiting for them and walked out crawled
in the car and I wouldn't doubt my grandma would have done the same but
the other one he would have to go when he comes in there he would have
to go and look for him he would be hiding somewhere he'd have to go look
for him look where he is just about drag him out to the car he made the
remark of this uncle of mine he said he just about couldn't take him to
jail he just more than he could do this man walking out in the car
coming in and just but the other one he could he was glad to take him
because of what he was doing so so let's let's keep on fighting but not
with our arms but standing up for the Lord thank you thank you brother
Duane no corrections only thanks for your lesson it hit the spot it
really hit the spot with your parable brother Joe commented on about
death and the part and I was thinking what you said brother Joe there's
another verse that said let your words Jesus speaking of course let your
words abide in me and I in you if my words abide in you then I shall
abide if my words abide in you then I shall also abide in you so it's
very important that we abide in his words there's many antichrists an
antichrist is just not someone who's a Buddhist or a Confucian it's
someone who would be pick and choose well you can get married you can go
to war you can lay up riches those are the antichrists that
antinomianism as they say but I think fear does have you could elaborate
more brother Duane it has two sides the godly fear work out your
salvation with fear and trembling this is the conclusion of the whole
fear God keep his commandments and then as brother Joe was saying
alluding to like in Revelation outside of the fearful and a lot of times
there are a lot of sometimes I used to see the bumper sticker a lot
especially way back 25, 30 years ago when I lived in Arizona no fear no
fear you know hang gliding, rappelling no fear but they weren't
Christians at all they were they were dear devils but you know no fear
the race car drivers he passed away no fear but there's one peculiar
verse maybe some of your brothers will comment on that but that's found
in 2nd Kings of Chronicles it said they feed God and they serve their
idols so you know it's one of those verses you need a microscope to
catch it now and then but the Samaritans they feed God yet they serve
their idols it's not 100% being sold out for God it's I can you know
serve God and you fill in the blank keep my keep my possessions keep my
my 1957 Chevy you know restored whatever the idol is but anyway thank
you Duane and Joe the Lord be magnified therein to be your passion on
the kingdom that your friends will guide us through rest on your prize
and calling things forget let God be kind herald the greatest Christ our
Father Jesus Emmanuel Christ may a sightly faith that endures on
yourself both night and day I prefer prayer than crying don't be fearful
for a break be strong and strive with courage though the world is cold
sin so many every member with us are still alone be fast oh dear brother
keep your first love in your pride let your single eye of pride conquer
it that for right peace have us oh dear sisters though the world
despises you we like we and love us in the beauty shining through when
you will be pursuing mighty men of brotherhood be See the promise set
before Him, who would ever faithful be. Life eternal in God's presence,
joy we hear and comprehend.

For each faithful striving soldier that endures unto the end. For the
history of our pleasure, that is found of men at ease. On the Savior put
the brethren from the bravest to the deepest.

Though we now have done and chosen, still more could a friend find.
Powerful power, sweet communion, love divine. Let me know that He has
bought us, as we of His sufferings.

We, His children, bear and honor through His ransomed and defeated. So
with joy we come together, still in perfumes side by side. And enjoy a
little portage of the place where He abides.

He found me in the institution of our King. Who sent mainly this
prophet, the new testament that I bring. Give me God His word
commanding, bring me of Him one and all.

Worthy we of standing outside of the sheepfold wall. Then, O Lord,
assemble with us, blinding eyes with the stronghold. And in loving one
another through our love for You, O Lord.

Brother watching a poor brother, teach the other for his good. Loving as
the master of us, this is to be brotherhood. In sunlight of my
trembling, Lord of my mountains, through the deep veil.

Jesus has said, I'll go never forsaken. God's divine plan never can
fail. Heav'nly sunlight, heavenly sunlight, lighting my stronghold with
glory divine.

Hallelujah, I am rejoicing, singing His praises, Jesus is mine. Shadows
around me, shadows above me, never concealed by Savior and God. He is my
light here, He is my light there, ever I'm walking, closer in sight.

Heav'nly sunlight, heavenly sunlight, lighting my stronghold with glory
divine. Hallelujah, I am rejoicing, singing His praises, Jesus is mine.
Heav'nly sunlight, heavenly sunlight, lighting my stronghold with glory
divine.

Heav'nly sunlight, heavenly sunlight, lighting my stronghold with glory
divine. Hallelujah, I am rejoicing, singing His praises, Jesus is mine.
God, the mercy of God, the glory of the Savior presents us.

God, the cross has closed in, for if I pass and die, as if the devil
shall allow, all streams of good or love, love, song, and faith will
find them, pierced in the brow as stone, and every act, and word, and
act, life is not fruit, it ends in blood, that shall die for, rejoicing
that shall be. Lord, I love the evangelist's song, go forth in shame,
through my spirit, without the angels, though I have all mysteries,
Though I have all faith and knowledge and the gift of prophecy, Though I
meet the poor and needy, though I suffer poverty, There will prophecy
find my name if I have all charity. I'm learning things of the simple
just as he follows time, For like grass when it is sounded, it will fade
and not be found.

So shall be my greeting like thine if I do not find it weak. To thee,
only, fairest Jesus, perfect love and charity. Charity will never end,
it will never cease.

It will not be made unseemly, and her people is unknown. She will not be
found rejoicing in iniquity's dark way. Only when the truth is sounded,
but for the holy gospel's sake.

No one other gift shall vanish, charity will never fail. Though we see
it far and nightly, someday it shall be unveiled. Now I'll make them
hope of higher, their remaining blessed free.

But the greatest of them all, it's a gift of charity. Have mercy, let it
come hither. On fearful house and feet of inbound weather.

There's no discouragement shall make him wastrel. His curse allowed in
death to be a pilgrim. Do so, he said, in wrath with dismal stories.

Do that themselves can have his strength afforded. No lion can impress
him with a giant's heart. For he shall have no right to be a pilgrim.

A countenance over a beacon of his spirit. He knows he at the end shall
lie in peril. Then rest he's by the way, he'll hear the water say.

He'll never cry a day to be a pilgrim.

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Video: https://sermonindex2.b-cdn.net/h-7ZzQ-Z2NE.mp4
Source: https://sermonindex.net/speakers/duane-troyer/death-in-the-pot-video/
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