3ABN On the Road

Elisha - Friday Seminar

Three Angels Broadcasting Network

Program transcript

Participants: C.A. Murray

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Series Code: OTR

Program Code: OTR000814


01:00 Good morning,
01:01 and welcome to 3ABN Camp Meeting
01:05 Spring Version 2007.
01:08 You know, you're gonna see a bunch of people
01:09 sitting before you almost automatically
01:11 want to say good morning and happy Sabbath.
01:15 We're just a little early for that.
01:17 But it is a good day to be in Christ Jesus.
01:19 It is a good day to gather together.
01:21 And we've been having a wonderful time.
01:22 Can you say that,
01:24 have we been having a wonderful time?
01:25 We have powerful messages,
01:27 had a little fun last night on the panel,
01:29 and got a little work done to praise the Lord.
01:32 So we're here today to join together again to fellowship.
01:35 How many had breakfast already?
01:37 So your stomach so nice and full,
01:39 hopefully your mind is still awake and alert.
01:42 And the biscuits were good.
01:44 I'm not a biscuit and gravy person.
01:47 That is not a New York dish.
01:48 And from New York, having come from New York
01:52 biscuits and gravy are not normal for us in New York,
01:55 I see Dr. Jesse Bradley from the East Coast.
01:57 That's not an East Coast thing.
01:59 That's more of a Southern thing.
02:01 I've learned to like grits, and biscuits and gravy,
02:06 and some of the Southern cuisine
02:08 that we're not quite used to in New York,
02:10 but it's quite good.
02:11 I see how you felt fatten up on this stuff.
02:12 It's not bad.
02:14 Not bad at all.
02:15 But God is so very, very good.
02:17 And we're glad to have you here this morning.
02:19 It's gonna be a good day in Christ Jesus.
02:20 Let's bow our heads for prayer.
02:22 Father God, we thank You
02:23 for keeping us through the night,
02:26 for keeping us and watching over us
02:28 as we slept.
02:30 We're thankful for the power of God
02:32 that woke us up this morning closed in our right minds.
02:36 We thank You for our eyes to see,
02:38 ears to hear,
02:40 hearts that beat in tune with Christ,
02:43 and minds that can understand Your will and Your love for us,
02:47 and go about our Father's business.
02:48 Now bless us this day,
02:50 through the seminars
02:51 as we approach the Sabbath hours.
02:53 May our hearts be in tune with Jesus.
02:56 May we hear from You.
02:57 But more than that
02:59 may we put into practice
03:01 those things that we know to be right,
03:03 so that we can be like Christ Jesus.
03:05 And we thank You, dear Father, in Jesus' name.
03:08 Amen and Amen.
03:10 Wanna take this opportunity
03:11 to introduce our special music for the day
03:15 and it is indeed special.
03:16 Steve Darmody has been given
03:19 a particular gift from the Lord,
03:20 a smooth dulcet baritone voice that we all love to hear.
03:24 And so we present to you now, Steve Darmody.
03:34 Scripture says, "Eye hath not seen,
03:37 nor ear hath heard,
03:39 the glories that the Lord has prepared for us
03:42 at heavenly places.
03:44 It's good for us to think about those things from time to time,
03:46 isn't it?
03:57 As I see the marks of sin
04:02 I feel a sadness
04:05 But there's a thought
04:07 That always brings a sweet release
04:13 Soon our Savior will appear
04:18 That day is drawing near
04:22 When tears, trials, heartaches all will cease
04:32 Oh, how wonderful
04:36 Heaven will be
04:41 To be with Jesus
04:44 Throughout eternity
04:50 No earthly thing can compare
04:55 To what is waiting for us there
05:03 Oh, how wonderful
05:08 Heaven will be
05:24 Oh, just think of all the countless joys of heaven
05:32 A better land, a better life
05:35 Than we could know
05:40 We will be forever safe
05:45 Through His forgiving grace
05:49 This gift is ours because
05:54 He loves us so
05:59 Oh, how wonderful
06:03 Heaven will be
06:07 To be with Jesus
06:10 Throughout eternity
06:15 No earthly thing can compare
06:21 To what is waiting for us there
06:30 Oh, how wonderful
06:35 Heaven will be
06:39 Oh, how wonderful
06:44 Heaven will be
06:49 To be with Jesus
06:53 Throughout eternity
06:58 No earthly thing can compare
07:05 To what is waiting for us there
07:16 Oh, how wonderful
07:22 Heaven will be
07:31 Oh, how wonderful
07:37 Heaven
07:41 Will be
08:10 Well done.
08:13 I beg your indulgence for this particular sitting.
08:18 I'm going to give you the digest of some things
08:20 that have been occurring to me.
08:22 And every now and again
08:25 you run across a little something
08:26 in the Word of God that just sort of tantalizes you
08:29 and you begin researching
08:31 and you start off with one mindset
08:33 and as you research
08:34 your understanding of the subject
08:37 grows and perhaps changes and evolves.
08:40 So I give you the right
08:42 even now that at the end of this
08:45 if you disagree you can flog me,
08:49 excoriate me,
08:52 do that which seem as good in your eyes
08:55 because as I said, this is it's something
08:57 that I'm playing with that is developing in my mind.
09:03 I'm, have often said
09:04 I don't have favorite anything's.
09:06 I don't have favorite texts.
09:07 I don't have favorite colors.
09:09 I don't have favorite foods.
09:12 I don't have a favorite of anything.
09:13 And people say, "What's your favorite Bible text."
09:14 I don't have one.
09:16 What I have are texts that are sort of hot for me
09:20 at that point in time.
09:22 You know, I have a text that is really exciting
09:24 at that point in my life.
09:26 And then maybe a month later, I get a new,
09:28 exciting text, you know,
09:29 and then that's my text for a couple of months
09:31 and I find another text.
09:32 So I don't have a one favorite text.
09:34 I have dozens of texts which have meant a lot to me
09:37 at a particular point in time.
09:39 Then I move on to another text,
09:40 you know, when I first started out,
09:42 Joshua 1:9, "Have I not commanded thee?
09:44 Be strong and of a good courage,
09:45 be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed,
09:47 for the Lord thy God is with thee
09:48 whithersoever thou goest."
09:49 That was my hot text for about two years.
09:52 And then I ran into John 16:33,
09:55 "These things I have spoken unto you,
09:56 that in me ye might have peace.
09:58 In the world ye shall have tribulation,
09:59 but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world."
10:01 That lasted for about a month or two.
10:02 Then I ran into Micah 6:8, "He hath showed thee,
10:04 O man, what is good,
10:05 and what doth the Lord require of thee,
10:07 but to do justly, love mercy, walk humbly with thy God?"
10:09 That went in and out for four or five years.
10:11 And right now I don't really have a favorite text.
10:13 But I do have a passage that I'm kind of stuck on.
10:16 And that's what I wanna talk to you about today
10:18 with your indulgence.
10:22 Paul said in 1 Corinthians 7:6,
10:24 "That he was speaking by permission,
10:26 and not commandment."
10:29 So I'm speaking by permission, not commandment.
10:32 This is just something that's in my heart
10:34 that we want to talk about.
10:36 I'm gonna ask you to turn with me
10:38 if you will to 2 Kings Chapter 2.
10:40 We're going to take a look at the life of really
10:46 one of the individuals that I am coming to understand
10:49 is one of the greatest of the Old Testament figures,
10:54 but is a little enigmatic,
10:57 and not really preached about too much.
10:59 But he is a fantastic guy.
11:04 And his name is Elisha.
11:07 2 Kings 2:9.
11:24 You know, the Lord is so kind, I forgot my glasses.
11:27 But I did pick up my big print Bible.
11:30 So I sort of compensates, you know,
11:32 'cause if I had my regular Bible,
11:33 we'd be in trouble.
11:35 But I got though my big print Bible.
11:38 So we praise the Lord.
11:39 Father, God, we just thank You again for Your Word,
11:41 and ask that You would feed us with Your Word
11:45 and give us an understanding of Your will for our lives.
11:48 And help us to walk in Your will and way.
11:50 And we thank You in Jesus' name.
11:52 Amen.
11:53 2 Kings 2:9,
11:56 "And so it was," and I'm reading from the...
11:59 This is my New King James.
12:02 "And so it was, when they had crossed over,
12:05 that Elijah said to Elisha,
12:09 'Ask!
12:10 What I may do for you,
12:12 before I am taken away from you?'
12:15 Elisha said,
12:17 'Please let a double portion of your spirit be upon me.'"
12:26 We tend to think of this particular incidents
12:32 as the high point in the life of Elisha
12:38 and his ministry.
12:41 After all,
12:43 what better could anyone ask for
12:49 than a double portion of the Holy Spirit?
12:54 If you look at the multitude of requests
12:58 that could have been asked,
13:02 you'll get much better
13:05 than asking for a double portion of the Holy Spirit.
13:07 Wouldn't you think?
13:10 Elijah was such a holy man
13:17 that we know he was taken to heaven.
13:21 Elisha was such a holy man
13:26 that we know he had part of at least two resurrections.
13:34 Elisha holds the singular position
13:39 of being the first,
13:42 the last,
13:44 and the only man
13:47 to raise someone from the dead
13:52 after he was dead.
13:56 You find that nowhere else in the Bible.
13:59 He raised someone from the dead while he was alive.
14:04 He raised someone from the dead
14:07 after he was dead.
14:12 Let me show you something.
14:14 You're in 2 Kings, back up to 2 Kings Chapter 4.
14:17 This is part of that very first resurrection.
14:20 Resurrection, you remember the story of Elijah
14:22 and the Shunammite woman.
14:25 The Bible says she was a very great woman
14:27 who did a very kind act for him.
14:29 She basically built a room in her house for him
14:32 so that he could rest during his travels.
14:35 It's a wonderful story.
14:37 She took care of him.
14:38 She put a chair, a lamp, a table,
14:40 so that while he was traveling back and forth,
14:42 he could relax there.
14:44 She, her husband, and her son, and she was so kind,
14:47 she was childless.
14:48 And we find that as sort of a reward
14:50 for acts of kindness,
14:52 God allowed her in her advanced age to have a son.
14:56 It's a beautiful story.
14:58 The son is raised.
14:59 He's a young man, he goes out to the field
15:01 and evidently suffers some sort of heat stroke,
15:04 something happens to him.
15:06 He cries about his head,
15:07 he is taken back to the house
15:09 and almost immediately she sits by aside
15:11 and watches her son die.
15:14 It's a very tragic story.
15:17 What is interesting though,
15:18 is that which is found in 2 Kings 4:22-23,
15:25 I don't wanna go there just a moment.
15:28 2 Kings 4:22-23.
15:35 Her son dies.
15:37 And, of course, she's troubled.
15:39 She has the boy taken upstairs to Elisha's room,
15:43 placed upon the bed.
15:45 Then she calls the servant and says,
15:47 "Get a donkey ready,
15:49 got to go find the man of God."
15:50 Now here's what the story is very interesting
15:51 'cause her husband says,
15:53 and if you got the story in verse 22,
15:54 her husband says,
15:56 "Then she called to her husband, and said,
15:57 'Please send me one of the young men
15:59 and one of the donkeys
16:00 that I may run to the man of God
16:02 and come back.'
16:05 So he said," that is husband, that is her husband,
16:08 "Why are you going to him today?"
16:11 Why are you gonna see the prophet for?
16:13 "It is neither the New Moon nor the Sabbath.'
16:17 "So there's no feasts going on, no special gathering.
16:20 "And she said, 'It is well.'"
16:24 Now this is a testament, ladies and gentlemen,
16:26 to the faith of that woman.
16:29 Her son, her only son is lying upstairs dead.
16:34 Her husband in effect says, "What's going on?"
16:37 What's her response?
16:39 It's well.
16:41 Everything is okay.
16:43 The boy's upstairs dead.
16:47 But she says,
16:49 "It's okay."
16:51 So either she is in shock
16:54 and has lost her mind.
16:57 Or she knows something...
17:02 or she knows someone.
17:07 It's a powerful statement.
17:11 Your only child, your child of later years,
17:15 your miracle baby lies dead in the house.
17:20 And she can say to her husband,
17:22 it is well.
17:27 "When peace like a river,
17:30 attendeth my way,
17:33 when sorrows like sea billows roll,
17:39 whatever my lot, thou has taught me to say,
17:43 it is well.
17:51 "That song was written as you well know
17:53 by Horatio G. Spafford.
17:57 Himself an interesting story.
18:01 In 1871, his son died mysteriously.
18:07 Teenage boy just died.
18:10 Later that same year,
18:12 his business was destroyed by the Chicago Fire,
18:17 totally wiped out.
18:20 Two years later,
18:24 he puts his wife and four girls on a ship
18:27 to go to England.
18:30 He intends to join them a few weeks later,
18:33 but he sends them on ahead.
18:36 About two days out of England,
18:38 the ship is struck by another ship.
18:41 His wife sends him a cable saved alone.
18:48 All four of his girls dead.
18:53 So in two years time,
18:54 he loses his son,
18:57 he loses his business,
18:59 he loses his four daughters.
19:02 And on the way over to collect his wife,
19:08 he writes this song.
19:11 He pens this on November 22.
19:15 "Though Satan should buffett,
19:18 though trials should come,
19:22 let this blest
19:25 assurance control,
19:30 that Christ has regarded my helpless estate,
19:33 and has shed His own blood for my soul,
19:38 it is well."
19:44 Business destroyed,
19:46 five children dead,
19:49 it is well with my soul.
19:54 You see, God's got to honor faith like that.
19:59 Somewhere in heaven there is respect for a person
20:02 who will hold on to the promises of God
20:04 when all seems black,
20:06 and bleak, and helpless, and hopeless.
20:10 Heavens got to honor your faith.
20:15 So Elisha goes to the house, closes the door,
20:17 you know the story,
20:19 stretches itself out upon the little boy.
20:22 The Bible says, eyes touch eyes,
20:24 cheeks touch cheeks, nose touch his nose,
20:26 chest touch his chest, arms touch his arm.
20:29 And he lays on that child and praise to God.
20:38 And the Bible says, "His flesh gets warm."
20:44 And then Elisha leaves.
20:47 Elisha walks around the house.
20:52 This is outer scene never seen in the Bible,
20:54 walks around the house, goes back upstairs,
20:56 lays on the child again.
20:59 Praise,
21:02 and then the Bible says, "The boy sneezes seven times."
21:07 Elisha says, "Go call your mother,
21:09 he's fine."
21:16 Later on in Chapter 13,
21:18 a band of Moabites are raiding a Jewish funeral.
21:23 And the funeral is thrown into panic
21:26 because the Moabites are coming.
21:30 And Elisha is dead.
21:35 And they've got this body.
21:37 And they don't know what to do with the body
21:39 because they want to get away from the Moabites.
21:43 And so they see a hole in the ground
21:45 and they say you know what,
21:47 let's just throw this body in this hole
21:48 and run for our lives.
21:51 And that's precisely what they do.
21:53 But they don't know
21:54 that the hole is the open grave of Elisha.
22:01 So they tossed the body in the hole
22:04 and head for the hills.
22:08 And the Bible says,
22:09 "When the body comes in contact with the bones of Elisha,
22:15 the dead man stands up."
22:25 It's a resurrection of a dead man
22:28 resurrecting a dead man.
22:32 Now I don't know about you.
22:36 But if I throw a body in a hole,
22:39 and he stands up...
22:46 it's time to either pray or run.
22:50 Yeah.
22:52 Or maybe pray and run.
22:58 But Elisha holds that singular state distinction
23:02 of raising people from the dead
23:04 before and after he himself was dead.
23:09 If you want to read a powerful ministry,
23:12 it is the ministry of Elisha.
23:17 But I beg your indulgence
23:18 because none of this is my real burden.
23:22 My burden comes from 1 Kings 19:19.
23:26 And this is what got me started on this whole study of Elisha.
23:29 1 Kings 19:19.
23:38 The Bible says this.
23:40 "So he departed from there,
23:43 and found Elisha,"
23:44 this he, of course, is Elijah,
23:46 "the son of Shaphat,
23:48 who was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen
23:51 before him,
23:53 and he was with the twelfth.
23:56 Then Elijah passed by him
23:59 and threw his mantle on him."
24:04 There is an interesting hermeneutical device
24:06 that students of the Bible know.
24:09 It is called the theology of the first mentioned.
24:14 Simply means that
24:16 when the Bible first mentions a person,
24:20 take note of that first mention
24:23 because usually the Bible will give you clues
24:26 to his character
24:28 that will shape his entire life.
24:31 So whenever you first are introduced
24:33 to a Bible character, take note of the first time
24:35 you run into that person
24:37 because the Bible tells you something about him
24:39 that will stick with him throughout his life.
24:43 Elisha came from a very wealthy family.
24:49 He came in a time
24:51 when Israel was in the grips of rampant apostasy.
24:57 We know the story of Elijah,
25:00 and how God said
25:02 there are still 7000 who are faithful to me,
25:05 and who have not bowed their knee to Baal.
25:08 Elisha's family was one of those 7000.
25:12 He was a godly son from a godly father,
25:17 who lived in a godless age
25:20 in the days of Ahab and Jezebel.
25:24 Which says to me that, you know,
25:26 we can indeed be in the world, but not of the world.
25:29 Just because it's happening out there
25:32 doesn't have to happen in here.
25:34 We can still be salt and light in a godless age.
25:38 And that's what Shaphat, Elisha's dad was.
25:42 His heart, his mind was fixed on God
25:45 and he had passed these things on to his son.
25:48 But let's look at this rather odd little text
25:50 because it tells us a lot about Elisha.
25:52 The Bible says,
25:54 "He was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen."
25:57 Now yoke of oxen, of course, is 2
25:59 so we're talking about 24 oxen on the yoke.
26:03 That's impressive of itself.
26:05 Because if you look at most of the pictures
26:07 of the ancient near east,
26:08 you see a person plowing usually,
26:10 they're lucky to have one ox,
26:13 let alone a yoke of oxen.
26:15 He's got 12 yoke of oxen, which means 24 oxen,
26:19 so that bespeaks a wealthy family.
26:21 If you have a plough
26:23 and got 24 animals in front of you,
26:26 you got money.
26:29 But the key to Elisha's mindset
26:32 is found at the end of that verse,
26:34 the Bible says, "And he was with the twelfth."
26:39 It's a very important line.
26:41 In other words,
26:44 Elisha was on the oxen side of the yoke
26:47 pulling with the oxen.
26:51 Now did he have to do that?
26:53 No.
26:54 The fact that he's got 24 oxen means
26:56 he's a wealthy young man.
26:59 He probably you could have hired,
27:00 in fact, Ellen White says,
27:02 "He could have hired a servant to do this."
27:04 If you got enough money to afford 24 oxen,
27:08 that's like, you know,
27:10 now that I've come to Southern Illinois,
27:11 I understand what a John Deere tractor is.
27:15 I didn't know who John Deere was,
27:17 I thought he is an evangelist.
27:18 I don't know John Deere was.
27:21 But I've come to understand that a John Deere tractor
27:23 is a top of the line tractor.
27:26 They're green and yellow, you can always identify them.
27:29 And if you've got a John Deere tractor,
27:31 you've got an excellent tractor.
27:34 Well, having 24 oxen is like having a John Deere tractor.
27:38 But Elisha is on the oxen side,
27:42 he was with the twelfth.
27:45 He could have been behind,
27:47 or he could have been in the house
27:49 but he's on the oxen side of the load.
27:51 He's pulling the load with the oxen.
27:56 That shows the kind of young man he is.
27:57 One, he's faithful.
28:00 Two, he's attentive.
28:04 Three, he does what needs to be done.
28:10 And all of that is in couch in that one little verse,
28:12 "He was with the twelfth."
28:15 And it's those characteristics, ladies and gentlemen,
28:17 that stayed with Elisha throughout his life
28:20 and made him worthy
28:23 to be a disciple of God.
28:25 And to be a follower of the great Elijah.
28:31 "He was with the twelfth."
28:32 It is a statement of his character.
28:34 Ellen White says, Spirit of Prophecy,
28:36 I'm reading Patriarchs and Prophets, page 222.
28:39 "It was no great work
28:41 that was at first required of Elisha,
28:45 commonplace duties still constituted his discipline.
28:49 He is spoken of
28:50 as pouring water on the hands of Elijah,
28:52 his master."
28:54 Menial task.
28:55 "He was willing to do anything that the Lord directed,
28:59 and at every step he learned the lessons of humility
29:03 and service."
29:05 You see, my thesis is,
29:08 it's not your ability
29:09 that makes you great in the eyes of God,
29:12 it's your humility.
29:15 And ability without humility is of no use
29:19 to the kingdom of God.
29:22 But humility,
29:24 combined with ability makes you a powerful tool
29:27 in the hand of God.
29:29 "As the prophet's personal attendant,
29:32 he continued to prove faithful in the little things,
29:38 with daily strengthening purpose
29:40 he devoted himself to the mission
29:42 God had appointed him."
29:43 He didn't become a healer of the dead overnight.
29:46 He started with the little things.
29:47 Elijah said, "Get me some water to wash my hands."
29:49 He did it.
29:51 Little things.
29:52 So many times, we're waiting for big things
29:54 to do for the Lord,
29:55 waiting for big missions to come along.
29:57 And God says do what's right in front of you,
30:01 do what's right at your hand.
30:02 You're worried about the people over in Asia and Africa.
30:05 And there's somebody right next door
30:06 who needs to know about Jesus.
30:09 Do what's right in front of you.
30:11 The ministry of Elisha was a type of Christ.
30:16 Look at the record of his walk with God.
30:19 You've got the boys and a two she bears,
30:21 remember that story?
30:22 Where they were teasing him evidently as a very young man
30:25 he was bald.
30:27 Bless his heart.
30:30 And they teased him,
30:32 42 young men came out and teased him.
30:34 And the Bible says,
30:35 "Two she bears came out
30:37 and destroyed those 42 young men."
30:40 Then he had the school of the prophets.
30:42 Then at Gilgo, he cured,
30:44 you know, they had this story about this porridge.
30:47 And life was kind of tough.
30:50 So somebody went out and grabbed a lot of herbs
30:52 and threw them in a pot and made a stew
30:54 didn't realize he put some poison stuff in there
30:56 they're just about halfway finished eating
30:58 and they realized this stuff is poison.
31:01 And they went to Elisha and he cured them all.
31:05 Then, of course, you got the famous story with Naaman
31:08 that is Elisha.
31:11 Then he faced down at Jezebel
31:14 and Ben-Hadad.
31:18 Blindness on the army of Ben-Hadad,
31:20 remember that story?
31:22 The Syrians came in.
31:24 Elisha played
31:27 the Lord blind them all.
31:29 Elisha went out and said, "Listen, follow me.
31:31 You're blind. Just follow me.
31:33 I'll take you where you supposed to be."
31:35 So they followed him right into the middle of the city.
31:39 And, of course, the king is saying,
31:41 "Can I kill them now?
31:42 Can I kill them now? Can I kill them now?
31:43 Can I kill them now?"
31:45 And Elisha says, "We're not gonna kill these men,
31:46 we're gonna feed them,
31:48 pray for them, and send them back home."
31:52 Then story of the floating ax head.
31:54 Just a little story tucked in there,
31:56 fellow borrows an ax head from a neighbor.
31:58 He's chopping down wood.
31:59 The ax head breaks off of the stick,
32:02 sinks to the bottom of the well.
32:03 And the guy says, "Oh, my goodness,
32:04 it's not mine, I borrow this."
32:07 Elisha throws in a stick, a piece of iron,
32:10 the iron ax head floats to the top of the surface.
32:16 There is this long and impressive series of acts
32:20 that Elisha did
32:22 that accrue from the fact that as a child,
32:25 he was faithful to God.
32:28 Now this is very important
32:30 because Ellen White says of Elisha,
32:34 "That he got a double portion of the spirit
32:37 that rested on Elijah.
32:40 Now to realize what that meant."
32:44 We are also told
32:46 that from the days of Moses,
32:49 there was no prophet greater then Elijah.
32:54 Elijah was the greatest thing since Moses.
32:59 Ellen White says of Moses,
33:02 "As philosopher, statesmen,
33:04 general, legislator, poet,
33:07 and intellectual,
33:09 Moses was without fear."
33:12 There was nobody in the history of the Israeli economy
33:16 who was greater than Moses.
33:21 Elijah was equal to Moses.
33:25 Elisha was twice Elijah.
33:29 You follow that?
33:32 Moses, the greatest.
33:33 Elijah equal, Elisha twice
33:38 the greatest.
33:40 Now this is important
33:41 because Moses is in heaven.
33:47 Elijah is in heaven.
33:51 And yet Moses and Elijah as great as they were
33:55 both had major lapses in their relationship with God.
33:59 I want you to follow me.
34:03 Numbers 20:8,
34:05 "Moses is instructed to speak to the rock."
34:10 Why?
34:11 Because the rock represented Christ.
34:17 The symbolism is,
34:19 when you want something from Jesus,
34:22 you don't have to cut yourself.
34:24 You don't have to bleed.
34:26 You don't have to suffer.
34:27 You'll just ask.
34:29 Amen.
34:32 He is more willing to give you good gifts
34:34 than your earthly parents.
34:36 So if you want something from him,
34:38 ask him.
34:40 But Moses in anger did what?
34:43 Struck the rock
34:45 and from that act, God said, "You can't go over
34:50 because you misrepresented Me."
34:52 Seems like a little thing but it was a big thing,
34:55 big enough to keep Moses out of the Promised Land.
34:58 But praise God not big enough to keep him out of heaven.
35:02 So Moses has this major lapse.
35:06 Elijah, as great as he is
35:09 also had a major lapse.
35:12 Stares down, faces down,
35:15 250 men...
35:21 and one little woman.
35:29 All day fighting 250 men, no problem.
35:33 One woman bless his heart,
35:38 wrote him hastily scrawled note.
35:40 She said, "You killed 250 of my men,
35:43 by the end of the day,
35:45 one of us is gonna be like those 250 men,
35:47 and it's not gonna be me."
35:52 And the Bible says he turned tail and ran
35:55 and hid in the cave.
35:57 And God had to track him down and say,
35:58 "What doest thou here?"
36:04 So Moses and Elijah both had major lapses
36:09 in their relationship with God.
36:15 But Ellen White says,
36:16 "Elisha proved himself a faithful steward
36:19 as a young man.
36:21 And those habits served him throughout his entire life.
36:26 And he never ever lost
36:31 his faith in God."
36:35 Did you hear me?
36:37 Throughout his entire ministry,
36:40 you never see a lapse in faith,
36:43 never.
36:46 Not one.
36:48 There was never a time when he stepped back,
36:53 when he should have been going forward.
36:56 When his faith lapsed,
36:59 when he should have had strong faith.
37:01 You see, ladies and gentlemen, Luke 16:10 says,
37:04 "He that is faithful in little things
37:06 will be faithful in much."
37:12 So why did the Lord give him
37:13 a double portion of the Holy Spirit?
37:16 Because God could trust him
37:19 with a double portion of the Holy Spirit.
37:22 If God couldn't trust him,
37:24 he'd never got it.
37:27 Now I'm heading somewhere, I want you to stick with me
37:28 in these last 19 minutes.
37:33 There are only two times
37:35 that I can recall in the Old Testament
37:36 when God either directly or through someone else said,
37:41 "Anything you want, you can have."
37:46 That's impressive.
37:48 It's also kind of frightening.
37:51 God came to you and said, "Anything you want.
37:54 Name it, you got it."
37:57 What would you ask for?
38:00 The first time it happened was in 1 Kings 3:9-13.
38:04 We better turn there, 1 Kings 3:9-13.
38:07 God came to Solomon and said,
38:11 "Solomon, tell me what you want?
38:14 Get it for you.
38:15 I'll give it to you."
38:16 1 Kings 3:9. 1 Kings 3:9.
38:21 Let me get that real fast. 1 Kings 3:9.
38:30 1 Kings 3:9.
38:36 "Therefore give Your servant
38:38 an understanding heart to judge Your people,
38:41 that I may discern between good and evil.
38:44 For who is able to judge this great people of Yours?"
38:51 Solomon, ask God for wisdom.
38:55 It's not bad.
38:57 Amen.
39:00 And then verse 10 says,
39:02 "The speech pleased the Lord."
39:07 God was impressed with that.
39:09 "That Solomon had asked this thing.
39:11 Then God said to him,
39:12 'Because you have asked this thing,
39:14 and have not asked for long life for yourself,
39:18 or riches for yourself,
39:21 or the life of your enemies,
39:23 but have asked for understanding,
39:25 behold, I've done according to your words."
39:27 And if you read the rest of the text, it says,
39:29 best I'm gonna give you all you didn't ask for.
39:31 You ask for wisdom, you didn't ask for money,
39:34 gonna give you that.
39:35 You didn't ask for a long life.
39:36 I'll give you that just as a bonus
39:38 because I liked what you said here.
39:41 Now I'd hope if God would come to me
39:43 that would be that discerning
39:46 'cause I have months
39:47 when I've got more months than bills,
39:49 you know,
39:51 and this month you get a penny,
39:53 this month you get a penny, this month you get nothing,
39:55 I hold due to next month, I have that.
39:57 And I hope that I have enough God in me
39:59 to say, Lord, even though my money is short,
40:02 and I'm really short on things,
40:05 give me wisdom
40:09 to live for you
40:12 because that pleased God.
40:16 Now let's look at Elijah's response
40:20 to Elisha's request.
40:22 If asking for wisdom,
40:24 please God,
40:26 then certainly asking
40:28 for a double portion of the Holy Spirit
40:29 ought to be a good thing.
40:31 Wouldn't you think?
40:33 So let's go back to 2 Kings
40:37 2:9.
40:41 2 Kings 2:9.
40:50 Okay.
40:52 "And so it was,
40:53 when they had crossed over,
40:55 that Elijah said to Elisha, 'Ask!
40:57 What I may do for you,
40:59 before I'm taken away from you?'
41:00 Elisha said,
41:01 'Please let a double portion of your spirit be upon me.'"
41:06 Now look at the response.
41:08 "And so he said,
41:10 You have asked a hard thing."
41:15 Excuse me.
41:20 What kind of response is that?
41:25 Solomon asked for wisdom.
41:29 And God was happy.
41:32 Elijah asked for a double portion of the Holy Spirit
41:36 and his response is, that's a hard thing.
41:41 What kind of response is that?
41:45 Hard on who?
41:52 Do you think it's hard for God
41:53 to give a double portion of the Holy Spirit?
41:58 Jeremiah 32:17,
42:00 this was one of my former favorite text,
42:02 where it basically says,
42:04 "Our Lord God, you are in the heavens,
42:07 and we are here on the earth.
42:09 And the operative line is,
42:10 and there is nothing too hard for Thee."
42:15 So is it hard for God
42:17 to give a double portion of the Holy Spirit?
42:20 Of course, not.
42:22 God can do what He wishes.
42:29 The same God who made him can remake him.
42:33 So it's not hard for God.
42:36 Was it hard for Elijah
42:38 to give a double portion of Holy Spirit?
42:42 No, 'cause it wasn't his to give.
42:47 John 3:8 talks about the spirit goes where it wills,
42:50 you know, the wind blows where it wills
42:52 and you can hear the sound of it,
42:54 but you cannot tell where it's coming
42:56 or where it's going.
42:57 The spirit is God.
42:59 If the spirit wants to go to a person in double measure,
43:02 is that an issue?
43:03 Is that a problem?
43:05 No.
43:07 So it wasn't Elijah's to give,
43:10 the spirit would move in answer to Elijah's request.
43:15 And if the spirit didn't want to go,
43:18 there is nothing Elijah could do to make it go.
43:23 The Holy Spirit is gone.
43:29 We don't control the spirit,
43:31 Spirit controls us.
43:35 So Elisha couldn't make the spirit go,
43:37 unless Elijah was willing to accept it.
43:42 So it wasn't hard on God,
43:45 wasn't hard on Elijah,
43:48 who was it hard on?
43:50 The recipient.
43:54 It was gonna be hard on Elisha.
43:58 You see, brothers and sisters,
44:00 sometimes you ought to be careful
44:01 what you ask for.
44:07 If you ask for a double portion of the Holy Spirit,
44:10 you are asking for double accountability,
44:14 double responsibility,
44:17 double weight,
44:20 double watching,
44:22 double waiting,
44:24 and double working.
44:27 All of that comes with a double portion of the Holy Spirit.
44:32 You don't get the spirit to just say I got the spirit.
44:39 You get the spirit,
44:40 so that you can be a more effective tool
44:43 in the hands of God
44:45 for the salvation of the souls of men.
44:49 God expects more of those who got more,
44:54 if God gives you more,
44:56 He's gonna require more.
44:59 So when you ask for a double portion of the Holy Spirit,
45:02 you are covenanting with God,
45:05 I'm gonna work harder.
45:08 I'm gonna live dare I say, writer.
45:13 I'm going to do more.
45:16 I am not going to waste the Spirit of God in my life.
45:20 So with a double portion comes double responsibility.
45:26 God's gonna judge you a little harder,
45:28 you know, God's gonna look at those of us
45:31 who claim to be Seventh-day Adventist
45:32 with a little finer tooth comb...
45:38 than those who are not
45:41 because you know more.
45:44 And when you know more,
45:45 you ought to be better.
45:48 Amen.
45:50 Used to aggravate my soul.
45:51 My mother always said to me,
45:53 your brother's younger than you,
45:54 he doesn't know but you know better.
45:58 And that was her rationale for taken off the bill,
46:00 you know, I'm going through all those changes
46:02 we had to go through.
46:03 You're older you know more.
46:04 Well, you know more because you got more.
46:09 Elisha proved long before he got that double portion,
46:15 when he was out there with those oxen
46:17 pulling that plough,
46:19 that he was humble,
46:21 and that he could be trusted with the weight of having
46:25 a double portion of the Spirit of God.
46:30 But listen to what he said about Elijah.
46:33 "He upon whom had fallen in full measure the spirit
46:36 resting upon Elijah,
46:38 had proved faithful to the end.
46:41 Never had he wavered.
46:43 Never had he lost his trust,
46:44 never had he lost his power in omnipotence.
46:47 Always, when the way before him seemed utterly closed,
46:51 he had still advanced by faith,
46:53 and God had honored his confidence
46:55 and opened the way before him."
46:57 Elijah never lost
46:59 his faith in God.
47:04 Moses was a great man.
47:06 Elijah was a great man.
47:09 But Elisha,
47:11 a great man who made no retreat.
47:17 In 2 Kings 13:14...
47:23 we are given just a glimpse into his later life.
47:30 Moses, great man, great leader,
47:33 one mistake, heaven.
47:36 Elijah, great man, great leader,
47:39 one mistake, heaven.
47:42 Elisha, great man, great leader,
47:46 no mistakes, heaven.
47:49 No.
47:56 The text that I just alluded to says simply,
47:59 "He became sick of the illness
48:02 of which he eventually died."
48:05 We have to go to the Spirit of Prophecy
48:07 to find out what that actually means.
48:10 This great man of God
48:13 suffered a long
48:17 and protracted illness.
48:21 He wasn't whisked away to heaven in a fiery chariot.
48:25 He wasn't called to sleep quietly
48:27 and then escorted to heaven as Moses was.
48:30 He suffered a lingering,
48:33 Ellen White says, death.
48:37 Now the question you may ask yourself is why?
48:39 Why would God do that to him?
48:43 Moses made a big mistake.
48:46 He made it.
48:48 Elijah, let Jezebel,
48:52 turn his knees to jelly.
48:54 He made it.
48:56 Elisha never lost his faith in God.
48:59 Why didn't he make it?
49:02 And why a long
49:05 suffering illness before he died?
49:09 Now this is my thesis.
49:12 This is where we step into out of command
49:16 and go into just being allowed
49:19 to say something 'cause it's on my heart.
49:22 It occurs to me, ladies and gentlemen,
49:26 that in this last day,
49:30 there are going to be those
49:34 who are called to suffer for Jesus.
49:40 And that call will only come to those
49:45 who have enough
49:47 Holy Spirit
49:51 to hold on to Jesus
49:53 and glorify Him in suffering.
49:58 I want to say that again
50:00 because it's not something that hits the air correct.
50:04 I think in these last days,
50:06 that there will be a very few
50:09 who God will trust
50:11 and I use that term with suffering,
50:16 for their salvation,
50:18 and for His glory.
50:20 And God will give to that faithful few,
50:24 the Holy Spirit in measure
50:27 to allow them to glorify Him in suffering.
50:33 And if you look at the lives
50:34 of all the truly great men in the Bible,
50:40 all of them had times
50:42 when their faith was tested through suffering.
50:47 Elijah, we are told was a type of Christ.
50:52 And he suffered as the Christ.
50:57 My very first hospital visit
51:00 at the Ephesus Church was a lady
51:02 by the name of Kathleen Downs.
51:05 She was in Calvary Hospital in the Bronx, New York.
51:08 She's 5'6" about 140 pounds
51:11 when she went into the hospital.
51:12 By the time I got to see her, she was 5'6", 87 pounds.
51:20 Dying with cancer.
51:22 Her doctor told me this woman is in excruciating pain.
51:28 But she refuses to take medication.
51:31 And she spends her days singing about Jesus.
51:36 She was the talk of the entire hospital.
51:40 At her funeral,
51:43 the entire floor except for the nurse
51:46 that had to be on station came to that funeral.
51:50 They said we've never met a woman like that.
51:55 And we have to be in the church
51:57 that teaches whatever she's got
52:01 'cause she has got something that we want.
52:06 My first three baptisms
52:10 at the Ephesus Church were two nurses,
52:15 and an orderly that had attended Kathleen Downs.
52:20 Now here's my point,
52:21 could they have been brought to God
52:23 without her being sick?
52:25 Of course, they could.
52:27 But she was sick.
52:29 And she did have a relationship with God.
52:31 And God use that circumstance to bring three people to Jesus,
52:37 who may not have come otherwise.
52:40 And I am saying there are certain people
52:43 who God can trust with suffering.
52:48 God can't trust everybody with suffering
52:51 because some of you when you suffer,
52:52 you gonna curse God.
52:57 And some will bless God
52:59 and will say, "Though He slay me,
53:03 yet will I trust Him."
53:09 Not an easy thing.
53:12 But with great gifts come great responsibility.
53:16 If you want a double portion of the spirit,
53:17 then you better be ready and able to suffer for God.
53:23 Because the day you give your heart to Jesus,
53:24 you gonna pick up one enemy.
53:27 And he's gonna stay with you to the day you die.
53:30 You know, Ellen White, and my time is running out.
53:36 I'm in Testimonies, volume 1.
53:37 And if you get a chance, you need to read this.
53:39 This is very interesting.
53:41 When the Lord gave her mission,
53:43 and said, "You're gonna stand before kings,
53:44 you're gonna be the leader
53:46 of one of the co-founders of a movement
53:49 that is gonna usher in the Second Coming of Christ."
53:51 And she said,
53:52 "One of the great fears I'm in Testimonies,
53:54 first volume, Testimonies, pages 64 and 65.
53:59 "One of the great fears that oppressed me was
54:02 that if I obeyed the call of duty,
54:04 and went out declaring myself as one favored of God,
54:08 one favored of the Most High with visions
54:10 and revelations for the people,
54:12 I might yield to sinful,
54:14 to the sin of exaltation
54:17 and be lifted above the station."
54:19 Bet she's saying,
54:21 "My fear was
54:22 that I'm gonna get big headed and proud."
54:25 "I now entreated that if I must go
54:28 and relate what the Lord had shown me,
54:31 I should be preserved from undue exaltation."
54:36 Lord, I don't wanna be puffed up.
54:38 I don't wanna get a big head on.
54:40 Think a lot of myself, Lord, you got to keep me from this.
54:44 "Said the angel,
54:47 'Your prayers are heard
54:49 and shall be answered.
54:51 If this evil that you dread threatens you,
54:56 the hand of God will be stretched out to save you,
55:02 by affliction."
55:05 Did you hear me?
55:06 "The hand of God will be stretched out
55:09 to save you by affliction,
55:12 He will draw Himself,
55:15 He will draw you rather to Himself
55:17 and preserve your humility.
55:22 Deliver the message faithfully.
55:23 Endure unto the end,
55:25 and you shall eat the fruit of the tree of life
55:28 and drink the water of life.'"
55:31 So it was affliction.
55:34 Ellen White said, "Lord, I don't wanna get puffed up.
55:37 How we gonna keep me humble?"
55:38 And God said, "I'll take care of that.
55:43 I'll keep you humble."
55:45 If you look at her malady
55:46 she was hit in the face with a rock.
55:49 And if you look at the maladies
55:51 that are crude from that one hit,
55:53 its way above
55:54 what a little pop in the nose with a rock
55:56 when she came home.
55:58 When her dad came home two months later,
55:59 he didn't even recognize her.
56:01 She said, "Every feature had been changed."
56:03 Her own father didn't recognize her.
56:05 And throughout her life, there were times
56:07 that Ellen White could not move her body totally frozen,
56:09 except for her fingers.
56:11 They alone could move so she could write the Word of God.
56:13 There were times for weeks, she couldn't talk.
56:15 She stood in the pulpit
56:17 God gave her clarity of speech as she left the death.
56:21 Couldn't speak anymore.
56:24 God said, "Don't worry about it.
56:26 I'm gonna keep you humble through affliction."
56:30 You see, there are only certain ones
56:32 who God can trust with suffering.
56:35 So that He can get the glory.
56:37 Now that say God commends you to a life of suffering.
56:39 I don't think so.
56:42 I think it does say
56:43 and affirm what Paul said.
56:47 In every condition,
56:50 stick with Christ,
56:51 be content,
56:54 know that the Lord is your helper,
56:56 man cannot hurt you,
56:58 and you'll never ever be alone.
57:03 Elisha is worth emulating
57:04 because he never lost his faith in God
57:07 may that be said of each of us this day.


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Revised 2019-08-29