Let the sky shine in my soul today, O glorious and bright!
Let it rose within the earth to shine, O Jesus is my God!
Let the sunshine pass the sunshine, Let the peace flow down the open floor,
Letting Jesus show his mighty face, There is sunshine in my soul!
There is place to keep my soul, So let it shine to the right,
For it will always be with me.
Let the sunshine pass the sunshine in my soul,
Let the sunshine pass the sunshine, Let the peace flow back the open floor,
Let Jesus show his mighty face, There is sunshine in my soul!
There is great joy in my soul today, For when the world is near,
The love of love is in my heart, The flowers of grace are near,
For the sunshine passes the sunshine, Let the grace flow back the open floor,
Let Jesus show his mighty face, There is sunshine in my soul!
There is gladness in my soul today, My hope and praise and hope,
For blessings which he gives me now, For joys laid above all,
O let sunshine pass the sunshine, Let the peace flow back the open floor,
Let Jesus show his mighty face, There is sunshine in my soul!
Song number 232.
Song number 232, Tell Me the Story of Jesus.
Song number 232.
Tell Me the Story of Jesus.
Write on your every word.
Tell Me the Story most precious.
Speak as loud as you can.
Tell the angels and chorus.
Sing as loud as you can.
Glory to God in the highest.
Please send the tidings to earth.
Tell Me the Story of Jesus.
Write on your every word.
Tell Me the Story most precious.
Speak as loud as you can.
That's when you'll be in the desert.
Tell of the days that have passed.
Loud for our sins he was tempted.
Yet was dry off in that past.
Tell of the tears of his labor.
Tell of the sorrow he bore.
He was despised and afflicted.
Homeless, rejected and poor.
Tell Me the Story of Jesus.
Write on my heart every word.
Tell Me the Story most precious.
Speak as loud as you can.
Tell of the cross where they kneeled in.
Writing in anguish and pain.
Tell of the grave where they live in.
Tell how we live in the care.
Loving that story so tender.
Clearer than ever I see.
Stay, let me be the new wisdom.
Loving the ransom for me.
Tell Me the Story of Jesus.
Write on my heart every word.
Tell Me the Story most precious.
Speak as loud as you can.
All right, if you need a bulletin, go ahead and slip up your hand,
and Brother Fabian will bring you one.
And as always, we have our service times listed there on the upper left-hand side,
and we're going to be in 1 Kings, excuse me, 2 Kings.
I'm so used to saying 1 Kings.
I'll probably keep saying it here for a while,
but we're going to be in 2 Kings,
and we'll be in Chapter 2 tonight.
We've got the salvation, the baptisms, the offering totals listed below that,
as well as the attendance totals and averages for both the month and year.
Over on the right-hand side, the anniversary announcement coming up on 4 years,
so that's exciting.
And we're going to be having a little bit of a to-do here at the church on that day,
so come on out, invite some friends, invite some family if you'd like,
and come hear some great preaching with Brother, or excuse me,
Deacon Oliver Gonzalez from Verde Baptist Church.
He's going to be preaching both services.
Once again, we're going to be moving that evening service up to 3.30,
and there will be that potluck in between.
We've got the church providing smoked beef brisket,
as well as burgers and hot dogs,
and the sign-up sheet, if you want to bring a dish,
it's filling up back there, but there's still room.
If you could bring one, it would be appreciated.
Probably going to have about 50 people coming from Tempe alone,
so it's going to be a packed house in here,
but I'm excited to see that.
Go ahead and pack it out and help celebrate four years of the church.
Below that, we've got some song lists there for the upcoming week this Sunday,
and the weekly Bible memory verse, Deuteronomy chapter 11.
On the back, the announcement regarding the baby shower in honor of Commie Ellingson.
That's coming up here in a few weeks, so ladies, you're invited.
If you'd like to help decorate and get with Mrs. Gardere,
we'll nail down an exact date, probably when the decorating needs to take place exactly,
but she's got that information,
and then we've got the Amazon gift registry,
which is certainly not required, but always appreciated if you'd like to bring something.
Also, on the bottom there, the announcement regarding the graduation ceremony
for Abby and Robert Martinez on Saturday, September 10th at 1.
It's been determined that we'll be serving, what did we land on?
Juanitos. Amen.
There's nothing wrong with some good Juanitos.
Hey, this church was built on Juanitos, friend.
Back in the day, right?
We would drive down from Tempe, and we would preach Sunday morning,
and then before soul winning, we'd go over to Juanitos,
we'd throw out a table, all the soul winners would get around,
and we'd eat a bunch of tacos and rice and head out,
so we're going to pay our respects to Juanitos on that day.
Maybe we should have done that on the anniversary.
That would have made more sense, but that's going to make the grads happy,
and then we'll have a nice sheet cake as well.
I have put up a sign-up sheet back there.
If you'd like to bring a side or a dessert or even another main, any dish really,
you can sign up back there on that sheet as well.
I know it's the graduation service, and it's also the anniversary service,
and it's food, food, food, but it does say Baptist on the door,
so you should have known that walking in here.
Come on out and celebrate if you can.
Also, that sign-up sheet, I would ask that you sign up,
even if you're not planning on bringing anything.
Just sign up and tell me how many people you're bringing.
That way we know how much food we need to get.
We'd appreciate that.
That's going to do it for announcements.
We'll go ahead and sing one more song.
I've got to count up the soul winning real quick.
Just the soul winning numbers real quick.
We're going back to Monday.
Monday and then Tuesday, Wednesday, and then what about today,
Thursday for the group?
That will do it for announcements.
We'll go ahead and sing one more song before we get into the preaching tonight.
Song number 173,
Love Lifted Me.
Love lifted me.
Second Kings, Chapter 2.
As always, we leave the entire chapter.
Please follow along on Saturday.
It's going to go over the weeks as well.
Second Kings, Chapter 2.
By the reason it came to pass,
the Lord will take up Elijah to heaven by a whirlwind.
Elijah went with Elijah to Gilgal.
Elijah said unto Elijah,
Terry, you are crazy,
for the Lord has sent him to Bethel.
Elijah said unto him,
as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee,
so they went down to Bethel.
The sons of the prophets that were at
Bethel came forth to Elijah and said unto
him, knowest thou that the Lord will take away
take away thy master
from thy head today?
He said, Yea, I know it,
hold to your peace.
Elijah said unto him,
Elijah, Terry, you are crazy,
for the Lord has sent me to Jericho.
He said, as the Lord liveth,
and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee.
The sons of the prophets that were at Jericho
came forth to Elijah and said unto him,
knowest thou that the Lord will take away
thy master from thy head today?
They answered, Yea, I know it,
hold to your peace.
Elijah said unto him,
Elijah said unto Terry, I am crazy,
for the Lord has sent me to Jordan.
He said, as the Lord liveth,
and as thy soul liveth,
I will not leave thee.
And they too went on.
The fifty men of the sons of the prophets
wrapped together in smoke and water,
so they were divided hither and thither,
so that they went over on dry ground.
It came to pass, when they were gone over,
Elijah said unto Elisha,
Ask what I shall do for thee,
before I be taken away from thee.
And Elisha said, I pray thee,
let a double portion of thy spirit be upon thee.
And he said, Thou hast asked a hard thing,
nevertheless, that thou seest me,
when I am taken from thee,
it shall be so unto thee,
but if not, it shall not be so.
It came to pass, as they still went on to talk,
that behold there appeared a chariot of fire,
and horses of fire, and part of them both asunder.
Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven.
Elisha cried, and it reached unto thee.
Elisha saw it, and he cried,
My father, my father, the chariot of Israel,
and the horsemen thereof, and saw him no more,
and took hold of his own clothes,
and rent them into two pieces.
He took up also the mantle of Elijah,
and fell from him, and went back,
and stood by the bank of Jordan.
He took the mantle of Elijah,
and fell from him, and smote the waters,
and said, Where is the Lord God, Elijah?
When he had smitten the waters,
they parted the earth, and Elisha went over.
And the sons of the prophets,
which took view of Jericho, saw him.
They said, The Spirit of Elijah,
the rest of Elisha,
came to meet him, and bowed themselves
to the ground before him.
They said unto him, Behold, now,
there be with thy servants fifty strong men.
Let them go with greatly,
and seek thy master, lest for adventure
the Spirit of the Lord have taken them up,
and cast them upon some mountain,
or into some valley.
He said, He shall not say.
When they urged him, so he was ashamed,
they said, He said, Send.
They sent, therefore, fifty men,
and they sought three names, but found them not.
When they came again to him,
for he carried Jericho,
he said unto them, Did I not say unto you,
Go not?
And then the city said unto Elijah,
Behold, that radiant situation of the city
is pleasant, as my Lord seeth.
He gave a new cruse, and put salt there,
and brought it to him.
And he went forth into the spring of the waters,
and cast the salt in there, and said,
Thus saith the Lord, I have healed these waters.
There shall not be from thence
any more death or barren land.
So the waters were healed unto this day,
according to the saying of Elijah,
which he spake.
And he went up from thence into Bethel,
and as he was going up by the way,
they came forth to little children of the city,
and mocked him, and said unto him,
They turned, and looked on him,
and cursed them in the name of the Lord.
And there came out two sheejirs out of the wood,
and a tare of forty, and two children of them.
And he went from thence to Mount Carmel,
and from thence he turned to Samaria.
Let's go ahead and do a little more prayer.
Lord, again, thank you for the opportunity to be in your house.
Lord, I pray that you would meet with us tonight
in the Holy Spirit, that it would be upon me
in order to help me to preach this passage,
and as I outward, that there would be something
that is said tonight that would benefit
those that have come, and Lord, that you would
edify your body, we ask in Christ's name, amen.
So in 2 Kings chapter number 2,
what we see here in the beginning of the chapter
is this passing on
of the ministry
from Elijah
going on to Elisha. Of course,
Elijah has been serving Elijah
for some time now, and he's
been under his tutelage, he's been his apprentice,
he's been his protege,
and finally the day has come when
that mantle is going to be passed on
to Elisha,
and there's a couple things we can learn
from this, and one is that
apprenticeships are something
that are naturally outgrown.
We should
always desire to
get to that next level, we should always desire
to
make sure that we're always growing
and not becoming stagnant, and not
being somebody who's just kind of plateauing
in life, and
that's something that is natural, and we
see that here, that Elisha
was somebody who was under
that tutelage, who fulfilled
that role, but there came a day when
it was, okay, now we're going on to the next
thing, and he's taking on more responsibility,
he's picking up that mantle, and
now he's going to be the
prophet of God, he's no longer going to be known
simply as the servant of Elijah,
but he's going to be known as Elisha,
the man of God.
So apprenticeships are something that are
naturally outgrown, but the
first thing I'd like to point out is that
the apprentice does not decide
when he's outgrown that apprenticeship.
Elisha didn't
come to Elijah and say, I think it's about time you
gave me that mantle. I think you've been at this
thing long enough, I think I've learned all there is
to learn from you, I don't think you have anything
else to teach me, why don't you
go ahead and step down, or step up
I guess in his case, and let me
take over. That wasn't decided by
Elisha. Elisha's job
was to just be there, to be
humble, to serve, and
Lord willing, if that day came,
he would be given that mantle
and he would be given the opportunity to
step into that role. If you would, go over to
1 Timothy chapter 4, of course keep something there in
2 Kings chapter 2 all night, but go over
to 1 Timothy chapter 4.
The Bible says in Galatians 5,
I say that the heir, as long as he
is a child, differeth nothing from a servant,
though he be lord of all, but is under
tutors and governors until the time
he chooses.
Now it says that the child is under tutors
and governors until the time
appointed of the father.
The apprentice does not get to decide
when he's no longer an apprentice.
The one who is under
tutorship does not get to decide
when they're done learning. They are
not the ones that decide that. They have
to fulfill that course.
They are the ones that have to
meet those requirements until the time
appointed of the father.
This is important to understand
because sometimes people get this
itchy feet,
so to speak.
They start to think, well, you know,
I just want to be the one in charge.
I want to be the one that's calling the shots.
I could do a better job.
I just want to be
in that position.
But it's not for you to decide when that
time comes.
And what those people need to understand is that
there's nothing wrong with being an apprentice.
Elisha certainly
didn't seem to mind. Elisha certainly
didn't seem to mind
being known as the one who poured waters
on the hand of Elisha.
He got to see a lot of cool things, I'm sure.
He got to hear a lot of great preaching.
He got to hang out with a very
one of the most compelling
characters in Scripture.
There's nothing
wrong with being an apprentice.
There's nothing wrong with being under tutorship.
There's nothing wrong with having somebody
teaching and
instructing you.
The Bible says that that's exactly why
God gave us
some apostles and some prophets
and some evangelists and some
pastors and teachers. God has given us
these people for the perfecting
of the saints, for the work of the ministry,
for the edifying of the body of Christ.
Until we all come in the unity
of the faith.
Even Jesus
was subject unto his parents. It says there
in Luke chapter 2, it says that
Jesus was subject unto them
and increased in wisdom and stature.
We're talking about God himself.
He decided to subject
himself and be under their
authority
and submit himself and subject
himself and in that process
he used that time to increase
in wisdom and stature.
That's what an
apprentice ought to
concern themselves with.
Not, when do I get the mantle?
Not, when do I get the position?
When do I get to be my own man?
What they ought to concern
themselves with is growing
as Jesus did and increasing
in wisdom and stature
and in favor with God and man.
They ought to concern themselves
well what kind of person am I
going to be when I get that mantle?
When that position comes?
When I get to fulfill
that role?
They should be growing in the wisdom and
stature that's needed before that
so that they can do a good job when it finally comes.
The next thing I want
us to notice is that
growth and maturity is something that should
be desired. And this is an
important message today.
I don't know, it was my generation
that grew up with this
slogan ringing in our ears
every Saturday morning and after
every, you know,
after every weekday when school
let out, when you go home and turn the TV on.
I don't want to grow up,
I'm a Toys R Us kid.
I don't remember the rest of it.
I remember that part.
And you know, I think some people in my generation
took that a little bit
too much to heart.
And it's like, hey, it's just
a jingle to get you to bug your
parents to make you go buy, make them
go buy you toys, that's all that was.
It's not something to live your life by.
And yet today we see
so many adults
that are like this.
That they don't want to grow up.
But you know, growth and
maturity and responsibility, these are things
that we ought to desire.
These are things that
are going to make us feel like we're
worth something. You wonder why
so many even grown adults
just feel like they have no purpose,
like they have no, uh,
they're not, they don't count
for anything. It's because
you're shirking all the things
that will make you feel that way. It's called
responsibility.
You know, raising a family and paying
bills and holding down a job
and serving the Lord and
doing these things, you know, you walk
away with a sense of accomplishment. You walk
away feeling like you've done something that you matter.
But so many
people today, they don't want to grow up, they don't
want to mature. I'm telling you, it's something that ought
to be desired.
But you know, desire
is not enough.
It's not enough to just want the mantle.
It's not enough to just want
the position.
It says there in 1 Timothy
where you are in chapter 4, verse
6, he says,
A couple things here we can notice.
We all know that Timothy was Paul's
protege. He was kind of,
you know, Paul's Elisha, if you will.
And it says
that, you know, if he was a, if he put the
brethren in remembrance of these things, he should be a good minister
of Jesus Christ, nourished up
in the words of faith and a good doctrine.
You know, nourishment being, this idea of
being nourished up in the words of faith
and good doctrine, that's not something that just
happens overnight.
You know, there's a whole, there's a whole
history there between
Paul and Timothy
and where
Timothy is learning and
gleaning and being nourished up
in the words of faith and of good doctrine.
You know, nourishment isn't something
that you just get one time.
It's not something that you just
take, you know, you just take this one pill
and you're never going to need to eat again.
You know, if you're deficient in some area,
you know, you know, nutritionally,
you're going to have to supplement and keep
taking that and finding a source
to help, you know, get that nourishment
that you need. That's something that is ongoing.
But also notice
that he says there that he was nourished
up in the words of faith and of good doctrine
where unto thou hast attained.
Meaning he wasn't
he's gotten to the place where
now he's nourished up, he's got the faith, he's
got the good doctrine, he knows what
to do and now he has attained
that position.
And he's gone on and we know that Timothy
went on to become a pastor. These are the pastoral
epistles.
Apprenticeships
are things that are supposed to be outgrown.
The apprentice does not decide when that happens.
They are to patiently
wait and to
become wiser so that when that time
comes that they're prepared for it.
And the other thing I want us
to notice is that growth and maturity is something
that ought to be desired and that it's something that is
attained through effort. It doesn't just happen.
People just sit there
and think, well, I'll just start
growing and eventually I'll turn a certain
age, I'll get old enough and boom
all this wisdom has just hit me one day.
That's not how it works.
You have to go through
life, you have to experience things, you have to
gain knowledge, you have to listen
to those that are tutoring you, you have
to listen to the Elijahs in your life,
you have to listen to the Pauls in your life,
you have to be nourished up in the words of
faith and good doctrine before you attain that.
It doesn't just happen, it's attained through
effort. And that's why
it's, that's why
I should say rather, persistence
is required. You're going to have to be
persistent in this.
You know, Elijah
showed a lot of promise. If we remember,
I won't take the time to turn us there, but if you remember
in 1 Kings chapter 19, Elijah
it says, the son of Shaphat
who was plowing with twelve yoke of
oxen before him and he with the twelve.
This is when Elijah first came on
upon Elijah when he was told by the Lord
to go and cast his mantle upon
him that he would be prophet in his room.
He goes and he finds him and what's he
find Elijah doing?
He's plowing with
a yoke of twelve oxen and he
with the twelve. I mean he's just a hard
working guy, he's just in there doing what needs to be done.
You know that's a real
great demonstration of, of you know
the fact that he had some promise.
He had some potential.
You know, having potential
is not enough. You know
people start, I've seen people that have, well
they've got a lot of potential, you know you can blow all the
potential that you have.
I've heard people say that of
other people over the years. Oh so and so
can be a great preacher, turns into a heretic
you know a few years later.
Quits the church.
You know potential's great if it's there, but it means
nothing.
You have to be persistent even
when you show promise.
And you know that's
something that Elijah had. He was someone that
you know was working hard
and he had that promise, he had that potential
but also notice that he was very
consistent in his walk with God.
If you look there in 2 Kings chapter 2
I'll probably stop saying
1 Kings by the time we're done with 2 Kings.
2 Kings chapter 2
it says in verse 2, Elijah said
Elijah said unto Elisha, Terry here
I pray thee for the Lord has sent me to
Beth-el and Elisha said unto him, as the
Lord liveth and as thy soul
liveth I will not leave thee.
So they went down to Beth-el.
Notice in verse 4, Elijah said
unto him, Elisha, Terry here I
pray thee for the Lord has sent me to Jericho.
And he said, as the Lord liveth and
as thy soul liveth I will
not leave thee.
Verse 6, Elijah said unto Terry,
I pray thee here for the Lord has
sent me to Jordan. And he said
as the Lord liveth and as thy soul
liveth I will not
leave thee. He's consistent.
When, you know, Elijah's
telling him Terry here, Terry
says I'm not going to Terry, I'm going to stick
with you, I'm going to keep walking this path
I'm going to stay where I belong
I'm going to stay under
your guidance until
I see you go, until that mantle is finally mine.
You know, some people might have
heard, hey Terry here, I said
oh great, thank you, it's been a long
walk, it's been a long day, I've been wanting to
get off my feet.
It's been kind of hot out here.
I'd like to just take a break for a little while.
You have to be consistent.
No matter how much potential
you have in life, you have to remain
consistent in your walk.
And what I want people to also
get tonight is to understand
something is that, you know,
if you're somebody who's an apprentice,
if you're somebody who's like an
Elijah, who has somebody who's been
guiding you, if you're somebody who's like
a Timothy who has someone in your life
that's been teaching you and nourishing you
and leading you along,
you have to understand that those people
like any good teacher
are going to test you.
They're going to test you.
Teachers test their
pupils, don't they?
I mean, we homeschool, so I know
my kids are, you know, we're still on that
old way where they're still, you know,
they can still get things wrong.
You know, I know a lot about public schools,
but do they still test kids
in public schools? I hope so.
Everyone passes,
you know, just waiting for that to come.
We wouldn't want to hurt anyone's feeling
and tell them that they failed.
But
teachers, they test their
pupils.
You know, this is something, and I don't really
have the time to turn there and
develop all this, but
if you would, go to
John 6. Go to John chapter 6.
This is something that, you know, Jesus
did in a way.
We see, you know, Elisha doing it here.
And I'll get to that in a minute.
But if you remember in John 6, he's preaching
and he's talking about how you have to eat
my flesh and drink my blood.
And the Jews are confused
at this. They don't understand. He's speaking to them
in dark parables.
And he said in verse 58,
this is the bread that came down from heaven, not as your father
did eat manna, and are dead. He that eateth this bread
shall live forever. And these things he said in the
synagogue as he taught them in Capernaum.
Many, therefore, of his disciples,
disciples, people that were walking with
him, that were under his tutelage,
people that were tutors, people that were there
to learn from Jesus, his
disciples.
It says, many of his disciples, when they
heard this, said, this is an hard
saying. Who can hear it?
You know, the people that teach you
and instruct you, sometimes there are going to be things that come
out of their mouth that are going to be hard sayings.
And they're going to test you.
Jesus said in verse 61,
when Jesus knew in himself that his disciples
murmured at it, he said unto them, does this offend
you? And if you shall
see the Son of Man has sunned up to where he was before.
It is the Spirit that quickeneth. The
flesh profiteth nothing.
The words that I speak unto you, they are Spirit,
they are life. But there are some of you
here that believe not, for Jesus knew
from the beginning who they were that believed not
and who should betray him.
And he said, therefore
I said I unto you
that no man can come unto me except
we're given him of the Father. From that time,
verse 66, it's very interesting, this happens
in chapter 6, verse 66.
666, right? Probably just a
coincidence, you know, don't read too much into it.
But from that time, many of his disciples went
back and walked no more.
He's being forsaken.
He says this hard saying,
oh that's hard, I don't know about this.
And then he doubles down and he says, oh does this
offend you?
And then from that time
went back and walked no
more with him, many of his disciples, they said
well that's enough.
Why? Because they were tested.
Because if you're going to be somebody
who's going to get to that next
level as an apprentice who's one day going to be
not the one who was taught but the teacher
you have to be persistent.
And you have to understand that those that are teaching you
one day are going to test you.
I mean that's what we saw in
1 Kings 2, keep something during John 6, but
in 1 Kings 2, I'll read it again
that, well I'll just briefly go over it
and it says that Elijah said to Elijah,
Terry here, I pray thee.
Verse 4, and Elijah said to him,
Elijah, Terry here, I pray thee.
And he said to him,
Terry here, I pray thee.
So three times he's
trying to test him and I believe he is testing him.
He's saying,
Terry here, well let's see if I can get you to stop here.
Let's say if I can get you, I'll go a little
further, make you work a little harder,
walk a little longer, be out in the seat a little bit more
and see if I can get you to stop here.
What I want to point out something
is that when somebody
tests you that's not malicious.
When there's a hard saying when there's somebody
that's trying to see what you're made of
or to see if you get it yet.
That's not malicious.
It's not malicious for a teacher to pass out a test
and say, let's see if you understand the material.
Oh, how mean.
Are you insinuating that I don't know it?
That I'm dumb?
No,
we're just, I'm actually doing it
because this is how things are done.
This is how we know whether or not you're dumb.
And if you're dumb, you're dumb.
Testing is not malicious.
It's not done out of
oh, let's belittle this person.
I mean if you notice there
the way he tests is so subtle
it almost doesn't seem like a test.
It's almost like he's trying to relieve him.
And I believe that's because Elisha
at this point in his life
was endeared to Elisha.
Which shows you that
something about Elisha's character
that he's kind of come around.
Because if you remember in 1 Kings
when he finds Elisha
he kind of just cast his mantle onto him
and Elisha says
let me go bid my parents farewell.
Let me go say goodbye to my father and my mother.
And he just says
what have I done to thee?
And he seems kind of bitter
and he's got that whole thing that he just went through
in Mount Horeb with the Lord
and running from Jezebel
and he's coming out of this great depression in his own life.
And that point in the story in 1 Kings
Elisha is kind of
or excuse me, Elisha is kind of a
cynical, jaded individual
at that point.
And now he's got this young man
who he's supposed to
bring with him and instruct him
and teach him and tutor him
and take him under his wing
and make him his apprentice.
He didn't seem all that thrilled about it at the beginning, did he?
But here at the end
when it's time for the mantle to be passed off
you can see that Elisha
I believe has become
endeared to Elisha.
Because notice he says
Terry here, I pray thee.
You know he had
that first servant in 1 Kings
when he went to Mount Horeb
40 days and it says that he just left
his servant.
He just ditched him.
And now here it seems like
Elisha doesn't even really want
to be separated but he knows he has to
test him and he's saying I pray thee
Terry here. Three times. Every time.
And it's interesting in verse 4 that he
says Elisha
you know he's calling him by his first name.
Saying Elisha, Terry here
I pray thee. And I know when I
read it that's just the sense that I get that Elisha
excuse me that Elisha
has become endeared to
Elisha.
The Bible says in Proverbs 29
he that delicately bringeth up his servant
from a child shall have him become
his son at the length.
You know teachers love
their pupils. Well if they love me
why do they test me?
Because that's why
they test you. Because they love you.
Because they want to nourish
you up in the words of faith
and good doctrine. So that you can
attain.
Because you don't just attain simply
because you have potential. You do not
attain simply because
you want it. You have to be persistent
yes. But you also
have to be tested. To see if
you are up to stuff.
It's interesting too
that in 2 Kings chapter 2
verse 12 when that chariot finally
comes and takes Elisha away
you can see that Elisha himself
has also at this point become very
endeared to Elisha.
And it says when that fiery chariot came
in verse 12 and Elisha saw it
and he cried
good riddance.
It's about time
you cranky
my brother
whatever he might have called him.
Right?
It's about time someone recognized
who the real man of God is around here.
That
wasn't his attitude. He's endeared to him.
And he cries out my father
my father the chariot of Israel. He's calling
him his father.
You know
as I was preparing this I just
wondered if maybe as Elisha
who previously
had been jaded
by the ministry
somebody who had
been turned on. Somebody who had
seen how fickle man is.
What human nature is really like.
How fickle people are. How
wishy washy they are.
When he's calling down fire from heaven
and slaying the 800 prophets of Baal
and people are just paying lip
service to God and he ends up
getting persecuted because of it
and he ends up going and he's pouting in the mountain
and he seems just a little jaded
he seems a little cynical. I just wonder
if maybe while he's being carried away
in that fiery chariot
if he hears Elisha's words
my father my father.
And I wonder if it might have
surprised him a little bit.
Probably not.
But you know it might surprise
people that are jaded
maybe people that are cynics
that there are
those that love them and
will not abandon them.
You know we can do that in our own lives.
We can start to
think well you know everyone's the same.
Everyone's just a
dirty rotten double crossing
backstabbing no good
whatever.
And forget that there are people
that we can endear ourselves
to and that in turn can be
endeared to us.
And that's something I try to keep in mind
in the ministry. Because
yeah we're going to have people that come along
that are no good.
That are just here to use and to discard
and aren't really interested in getting involved
and
can take it or leave it.
And there's going to be a lot of that.
And it'd be real easy as a preacher
as someone who's leading
a congregation to become jaded
and to become cynical and just think
well they're all the same.
It'd be easy to do that.
But that wouldn't be fair to the people
to the Elishas
that are there.
That are endeared.
That do love the man of God.
I mean John 6 if you're
still there.
You kind of see this again with Jesus. It says in verse
67, then said Jesus under the 12th
will ye also go away?
So all these other disciples
they leave when what? When they're tested.
When that hard saying comes.
And they say well I can't go any further
than that.
I can't take that saying.
They get tested and they failed.
And all that's left is
the 12th. Jesus said
under the 12th will ye also go away?
Then Simon Peter
answered him, Lord to whom
shall we go? Thou has the words
of eternal life.
He's saying look we don't have anywhere else to go.
We love you. You have the words.
Why would we leave?
They're endeared to the Lord
at this point.
You know pupils
they become endeared to
their teachers if their hearts right.
If they understand that those
that are instructing them and guiding them
are not there to just be
mean.
You know teenagers, young people, children
your parents aren't there
to just be mean.
I know but they test me.
They put up boundaries. I know they ought to
because they love you.
Teachers love their pupils.
I'm not talking about their eyeballs.
The people that they're teaching.
I got some laughs there.
You guys are still with me.
The Bible says in 1 Timothy 1
we looked at it earlier
I'll just read to you.
Paul writing to Timothy he said unto Timothy
my own son
in the faith. Now Paul
was an unmarried man. This was not his son.
We know that Timothy's
father was a Greek and his mother was
a Jewess.
Here he is calling him my own son
in the faith.
He said the same thing to Titus
my own son after the common faith.
That's really what I want to point out
here mainly tonight is that
this idea of being an apprentice
of being someone under somebody's
tutorship, under somebody's
guidance in leading
there's nothing wrong with that.
There's nothing wrong with desiring
to outgrow that relationship
to no longer being an apprentice.
That's natural.
To no longer being under mom and dad's
watch and care.
That's natural.
That's the way life is supposed to go.
But you're not the one who determines
when that day comes.
You're not the one who's going to determine
when you're ready for the promotion.
Try that out.
And let me know how it goes.
Go kick in your boss's door
and say I think it's time that I took over your job.
I've been here long enough.
I know how this place works.
And I've seen how you operate.
And honestly I think I'm the man for the job.
Why don't you do us all a favor and step down.
That's not going to go very well.
Why? Because the apprentice
does not determine when they get
promoted. That's up to those
that they are apprenticing under.
It's good
to want it. It's good to want to grow
and to mature and to become an adult
and to grow up.
More people need to do that.
But that's something that's attained
through effort, through persistence, through patience.
And when you
get tested along the way
it's not because people are being mean.
They're testing you to say
is he ready? Is she ready?
Are they really there yet?
And really if your heart's right
what will happen in that relationship is that
those two people will become endeared.
There will be a bond there.
And it's important that you have
that because there's going to be other people
in your life
that are going to try and
discourage you.
They're going to test you
in another way.
If you look there back
in 2 Kings chapter 2
there's these distinct group
of people called the sons of the prophets.
And you see them in a couple different
locations throughout the story. It says in verse 3
the sons of the prophets that were
at Bethel. So
Elisha and Elisha come to Bethel
there's the sons of the prophets.
They come forth to Elisha and say to them,
Knowest thou that the Lord will take away their master from thy head today?
He said, Yeah, I know it. Hold your peace.
And then notice there in verse 4
Elijah said unto him,
Elisha, terry here, I pray thee for the Lord hath
sent me to Jericho. And he said, As the Lord liveth
and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee.
So they came to Jericho.
So they're coming to another location.
From Bethel to Jericho.
And the sons of the prophets that were at Jericho.
So you've got these sons of the prophets
that are at Bethel. They leave there.
Then you're going to go to this other location and the sons of the
prophets that are at Jericho. They also
come out and they've got the exact same attitude.
The exact same message.
Knowest thou that the Lord will take away thy master
from thy head today?
And they're testing him.
I mean, isn't that, you really think that's
what he wants to hear?
Oh, by the way, that person
that you've been, that you are
endeared to, that person that's been watching out
for you, that person that's been leading you and guiding you,
God's going to take him away from you today.
They're really, what
they're trying to do is discourage him.
And we'll see here in a minute why.
And that's why we have to understand
the value of
those that are teaching and
leaning and guiding us.
Because, yes, they might
test us, but they're not there to
discourage us.
There are other people
out there who are going to test you for
the sole purpose of trying to
discourage you.
And it's odd that it's
the same group of people, really, in this story
that you would think would have been more supportive.
Hey, Elijah, we heard of what the Lord's
going to do, that Elijah's going to leave.
You know, we believe in you.
Because it's evident that he's going to become the
next man of God. He's going to be over
these sons of the prophets.
They should have come out and said, hey, you're going to be
your boss next.
Congratulations. But what's
their attitude? Oh, did you know?
Well, guess what's going to
happen? Let's see how you do now.
You're not going to have Elijah
around to hold your hand.
But what they didn't realize is that Elijah
was ready for it.
Elijah's ready to stand on his
own two feet.
He's gotten that place.
He's attained unto that.
He's been nourished up.
And it's ironic because these sons
of the prophet are the exact same people
that should have been supporting him.
You say, well, why would anyone do that?
Because some people can't be
Elijah.
Some people are never
going to attain to that level.
And rather than
working hard and bettering
themselves and getting there,
they would rather just tear other people down.
Since they can't be like Elijah,
they want Elijah
to be like them.
And what were they like?
Stationary.
Idol.
Standing afar off as just
observers. A peanut gallery
is all they are.
I mean, there's the sons of the
prophets in Bethel, then there's
the sons of the prophet in Jericho. It's like
they're set up there. And I'm sure they
had a purpose for being there, but they're not the ones
that are traveling through the land with Elijah.
They're just kind of sedentary,
just kind of stationary, just kind of
idle, not really going anywhere.
Certainly not going to
be the ones that are going to cross the
River Jordan on dry ground and
see a fiery chariot and be given
a mantle to come back and be
that man of God.
With a double portion of
Elijah's spirit that's not going to be for them.
But rather than just being happy
for Elijah and getting under him and supporting him,
what do they do? Well, let's just tear him down.
And even when they realize
that Elijah,
or Elijah rather, is
done. Elijah's gone.
He's the man of God. They couldn't
discourage him. They couldn't stop him.
What did they do afterwards?
They started to doubt him.
It says in verse 13,
And he took up the mantle of Elijah
that fell from him. So this is after the fiery chariot
comes, right? And he went
back and stood by the bank of Jordan.
And he took the mantle of Elijah
that fell from him and smote the waters and said,
Where is the Lord God of Elijah?
And when he had
also smitten the waters, they parted
hither and thither. So he performs his first
miracle with that exact
mantle. One that Elijah, his first
miracle is the last miracle
that Elijah
performed. Elijah smotes the
waters. The mantle is handed off.
He comes back and smites the waters.
And Elijah, you know,
Elijah isn't sitting there smiting
the waters and saying, It's my show now,
buddy.
I'm the one who's calling the shots.
No, he says, Where is the Lord God
of Elijah?
You know, he's not in this position
for himself. He's not puffed up.
He's still the same humble guy
that he always was, same hard
worker that he always was.
And he's going in the power of the Lord. But notice
it says, And he went over. And when the sons of the prophets
were at view, were
to view at Jericho,
what were they there to do? To view.
To just watch it all happen.
At Jericho saw him. They said,
The spirit of Elijah doth rest on Elisha.
So they recognized what's happened.
Like, Oh, I guess he is
going to be our boss.
I guess that is how it's going to be.
And they came to meet him. And they bowed
down themselves to the ground before him.
And they said unto him, And this always
makes me scratch my head.
The same guys
that had just said a few minutes before,
Don't you know that God's going to take
him away from you? Don't you know that the Lord
is going to take thy head? That he's going to take
Elijah away from you this day?
But when it finally happens, they come to
Elisha and they say,
There be fifty servants
here with thy
servants, fifty strong men.
Let them go, we pray thee, and seek
thy master.
It's like, Weren't you the same guys
that were just telling me
that God's going to take them away?
Didn't you just see a fiery chariot come take them away?
They're there from Jericho viewing all this.
And they're the ones that were just
telling him a few minutes ago, Hey,
Elijah's going to be gone by the end of the day.
But now that he's
actually gone.
Now that Elisha's actually the one
in charge.
What are they doing? They're doubting him.
This is what I'm getting at,
You know, people
They have to
go through this season of being
an apprentice. They have to go through this season of
growing and maturing.
Because when you are finally
in charge, there's going to be
people that want to discourage you.
There's going to be people
that doubt you.
See, we often don't think about
that.
When we think about, Oh, I want to be the one in charge.
Boy, it'd be so nice to be
the adult. It'd be so nice to be
the parent.
It'd be so nice to be the boss.
It'd be so nice to be the pastor.
It'd be so nice to be the one who's calling the shots
and telling it like it is.
We don't often think about
the fact that that person
puts up with a lot of discouragement
of people fighting
them, resisting them,
doubting them.
That's what's going on in this story.
He said, Hey, let us go seek your master.
Let us, peradventure the Spirit of the Lord, take him up
and cast him up onto some mountain
or into some valley.
Well, maybe we were wrong.
He wasn't taking them away.
He was just putting them up on a mountain.
Why are they so eager
to go seek Elijah,
the same people that just got done saying,
Oh, God's going to take them from you.
And he said,
He shall not send.
He says, No, you're not going. Don't do it.
And when they urged him
until he was ashamed.
He wasn't like, it doesn't mean like
he had something to be ashamed of, but like he's
ashamed, like he's embarrassed for them.
He finally just says,
Send. You know what? Go.
Just go.
They sent there for fifty men
and they sought three days.
But surprise, surprise, they found him not.
And what I love,
and I'll close in verse 18 tonight,
but it says there that
Elijah at the very end here, after they've
come and they've tried to discourage him
and they've
doubted him
and they're
doing all that, that
Elijah finally kind of has
his told you so moment.
It says in verse 18,
So they go and they climb these mountains
and they're looking for Elijah and I think they actually went.
And they came again to him
for he tarried to Jericho. He says,
I'll be here when you get back.
And he said to them, Did I not say
unto you, Go not.
They went looking for him
and they came back, Yeah, we didn't find him.
Duh.
Yeah, you should have
believed yourself.
You know, it's real
satisfying to prove the haters wrong,
isn't it?
It sure is.
But you know, that's a satisfaction
that's earned.
That's something that
Elijah had to earn.
First he had to be hated on.
You know, first he had to go through that tutelage.
First he had to be that apprentice.
And look,
if we want to have a moment like that
where we're the ones in charge, where we're the ones
that are calling the shots now,
we have to be ready
to be the apprentice. You have to go through
that season.
You know, you want to be
like the Timothy who becomes the preacher
one day, well, you're the one that's
going to have to be nourished up in the words of Faith
and Good Doctrine. You want to be the one
that's running the household, you better
figure out, you know, how a household
is supposed to be run.
You want to be the boss at work one day, you better
figure out from the ground up
how that business operates.
Not just assume
that it's something that's just
owed to you, that you're just going to walk into
that.
You know, it's something that's earned.
You can have all the potential in the world,
but it has to be
followed up with persistence.
It has to be
followed up with persistence.
Why? Because there's going to be people out
there that don't want
you to succeed, that are going to try
to discourage you, and are
going to doubt you.
And ironically, sometimes, it's
the very people that should be,
you know, that should have your back.
So, you know, hopefully something tonight
stuck with you. Hopefully there's something
in the sermon that, you know,
made sense to you, and it was a blessing
to you. But,
you know, I think there's a lot here, there's probably
a lot of different ways you could preach this
passage. You know,
the main point being this
is that, you know, Elisha
was somebody who didn't just
walk into this role. And he
prayed and asked for a double
portion of Elijah's spirit, and he got it.
You know, but
he just didn't get it because,
you know, as we saw at the end, because he had a
lovely head of hair, because they
called him a bald head, if you remember.
He got it because
why? Because he was
a humble person, he was a hard working person.
He had a lot of potential,
but what really made the difference
was the fact that he was persistent,
that he was consistent,
and that he was willing to go through that
season as an apprentice. Let's go ahead and pray.
Dear Lord, again, thank you for
this great book, and Lord,
thank you for a great man like
Elijah, and Elisha
and the great example that they are to us
of being taught
and teaching, and Lord, also
of the warning that
we get that there's going to be others in our life
who are
going to try to shake us and try to keep
us from doing the things that we ought. Lord, I pray to
help us not to fall
in that area, and Lord, I pray
just to bless
the singing tonight as we close.
We ask in Christ's name, Amen.
Alright, we'll go ahead and sing one more song
before we go.
Song 207,
only the 7th.
Song 207.
Only the 7th.
Save thy grace,
only the 7th.
Save thy grace,
save thy grace.
This is the
story of
God's glory,
my only
speaker.
Save thy grace,
save thy grace.
Amen.