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2 Kings 4 (Part 4) Bible Study (Elisha Purifies the Deadly Stew) | Pastor Daniel Batarseh · Bible Study with Pr. Daniel Batarseh | Verse by Verse Series | Maranatha Bible Church - Chicago

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  Do you have a copy of God's Word in your hand?
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  Make it a habit to bring your Bible to church.
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  And I am an advocate for a physical copy of God's Word.
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  Do not be surprised if eventually in history this Bible
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  will be recognized as a hatebook, as it has been in many
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  parts of the world. And if everything becomes
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  digitized, that means most things are going to be under the
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  control of those who do not view the Bible the way you do.
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  So carry physical copies of God's Word in your hand at home.
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  It's much more difficult for that to be seized by those who
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  consider this Bible to be tagonistic and hateful.
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  So you have a copy of God's Word.
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  There's nothing sinful about an iPad or an iPhone, But whatever
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  format you have, let's come together now to Second Kings
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  chapter 4. Second Kings chapter 4,
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  beginning in verse 38, and we will read to the end of this
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  chapter. This is the final study of this
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  chapter, but it is certainly not the conclusion of Elisha's
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  miraculous ministry. Second Kings chapter 4,
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  beginning in verse 38. And Elisha came again to Gilgal
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  when there was a famine in the land.
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  And as the sons of the prophets were sitting before him, he said
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  to his servant, set on the large pot, and boil Stew for the sons
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  of the prophets. One of them went out into the
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  field to gather herbs, and found a wild vine, and gathered from
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  it in his lap full of wild gourds, and came and cut them up
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  into the pot of Stew, not knowing what they were.
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  And they poured out some for the men to eat.
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  But while they were eating of the Stew, they cried out.
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  Oh. Man of God, there is death in
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  the pot and they could not eat it, he said.
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  Then bring flour. And he threw it into the pot and
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  said, Pour some out for the men, that they may eat, and there was
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  no harm in the pot. A man came from Bell Shalisha,
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  bringing the man of God bread, bread of the first fruits, 20
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  loaves of barley, and fresh ears of grain in his sack.
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  And Elisha said, Give to the men that they may eat.
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  But his servant said, How can I set this before 100 men?
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  So he repeated, Give them to the men that they may eat.
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  For thus, says the Lord, they shall eat and have some left.
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  So he set it before them, and they ate and had some left
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  according to the word of the Lord.
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  Lord, we ask that you help us in this study.
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  Thank you for your presence, Lord, and we trust that this
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  word is your voice, and it has the force and the power to
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  infuse the graces that we need to be who you called us to be.
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  So Lord, we pray for a mind that understands, a heart that will
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  burn, and lives that will conform to the things that we
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  will explore together by your help.
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  We thank you for this provision of spiritual food, and we eat of
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  it, trusting that it will nourish and strengthen us for
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  your glory. In Jesus's mighty name we pray
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  Amen and Amen. The fact that these two
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  miracles, miracles of provision, took place in a place called
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  Gilgal, should stop us in our tracks.
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  Why? Because we want to develop the
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  ability to study reflectively, to look back and to compare and
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  to think and to meditate. And if we have been doing that
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  in this short series of Elijah's life, then we would recognize
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  something in Gilgal being mentioned here.
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  What you will notice is that between Second Kings chapter 2
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  and 2nd Kings Chapter 4, Elijah performed significant miracles
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  in the very same locations that Elijah and Elijah travel past
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  and. Through before Elijah was
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  transported into heaven. Do you remember Second Kings
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  chapter 2, how this pair journeyed to that destination?
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  If you want to see it for yourself, go to chapter 2 and
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  look at verse one. You'll realize and you'll be
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  reminded that Elijah and Elijah began from Gilgal.
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  And in verse 2, we're told that they went from Gilgal to where
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  anybody remember? What does it say in your Bibles?
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  Bethel and after they traveled to Bethel, we were told that
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  they went where in verse 4. The reason why I'm asking is
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  because I want you to be engaged.
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  Good. Jericho and then from Jericho
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  and verse 7 we read that they arrived at their final place,
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  which was where the Jordan very good.
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  Now recall and retrace the steps of Elijah's miracles.
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  Right after Elijah ascended into heaven, what happened at the
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  Jordan? The river split into, did it
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  not? And after the Jordan he went
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  where to cure the waters? Jericho.
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  After Jericho, what happened there was a miracle of judgment
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  that was proclaimed against a large group of young boys, and
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  it took place where Bethel. And now we come to our study in
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  Second Kings chapter 4, and we are about to see what God is
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  going to work in and through Elijah in a place called Gilgal.
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  So the series of supernatural events took place in the reverse
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  order of the original journey that Elijah and Elijah shared.
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  Is that significant? Yes, it is significant.
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  Why is it important to recognize that?
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  I believe because the Lord miraculously moving in these
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  places was His way of validating Elijah's ministry in the very
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  same areas where Elijah once had influence.
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  And so this would first of all strengthen Elijah in the
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  beginnings of his ministry, but it would also encourage the
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  people of God, namely the sons of the prophets who were located
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  and studying in these precise places, to see how God
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  demonstrated this important truth that his work continues
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  even though his men pass on. God's work and his program
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  advances with or without his men.
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  If his men pass on into glory faithfully, or if some of those
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  ministers were disqualified due to unfaithfulness, God's work
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  goes on. And that's the overarching
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  lesson by that simple observation.
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  But we have been learning these past few weeks that with each of
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  these miracles there is a message.
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  There are other truths that we draw from them.
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  And that is certainly the case with these final miracles in
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  this chapter. And so I want us now to closely
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  examine what we can take from these two brief accounts and
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  trust that the Lord will speak to us as he always does.
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  But listen, the the way that we're going to properly
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  interpret and apply what we just read together is by
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  acknowledging a very crucial ingredient and detail that is
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  brought to our attention in the very first sentence of what we
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  read. Look back at verse 38 and Elisha
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  came again to Gilgal when there was a famine in the land.
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  If you read too quickly, you'll miss so much of the depth of
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  what we will discover with these miracles.
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  This condition sets the stage for these interventions from God
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  to carry meaning and greater impact and understanding of who.
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  He is and what he asked of us. There was a famine in the land.
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  And it's very likely that this famine is the same one that's
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  described in Second Kings chapter 8, verse 1.
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  So look at Second Kings chapter 8, verse one.
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  We read this in part last in last week's study, but let's be
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  reminded in Second Kings 81. Now, Elijah had said to the
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  woman whose son he had restored to life, Arise and depart with
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  your household and sojourn wherever you can.
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  For the Lord has called for a famine and it will come upon the
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  land. For how long?
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  Seven years. That's a long time.
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  A few key points to take away from this.
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  Number one, we're told the duration of this famine, and it
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  was, as you said, seven years when Elijah was the chief
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  prophet in Israel. There was also a famine that
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  Israel experienced. How long was that famine?
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  A little over three years, James tells us three years and six
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  months. So we have here another famine
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  with Elijah's successor, and it was double the time of the
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  famine under Elijah's ministry. Secondly, we're told, who is
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  responsible for this famine? What did Elijah say?
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  He said for the Lord has called for a famine.
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  Famines were not a regular occurrence, nor were they normal
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  events in the life of Israel under the Old Covenant.
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  Why is that? Because the Law of Moses tells
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  us that the presence of a famine is a manifestation of God's
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  judgement against His people for their unrepentant idolatry.
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  And if you need a proof text which you should have, turn to
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  the book of Deuteronomy and notice what is told in verse 11
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  or Chapter 11 rather, and verse 16.
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  It makes it explicitly clear. This one of the clearest
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  warnings about famines in the Bible, especially for those who
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  are under the Old Covenant. Deuteronomy 11, verse 16.
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  Notice what Moses says before the people even entered into the
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  land of promise. Take care lest your heart be
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  deceived, and you turn aside and serve other gods and worship
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  them. Then the anger of the Lord will
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  be kindled against you, and he will shut up the heavens, so
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  that there will be no rain, and the land will yield no fruit,
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  and you will perish quickly off the good land that the Lord is
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  giving you. So whenever there was a famine,
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  it was chastisement from heaven. And it was a way in which God
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  caused the people to experience discomfort so that they would
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  repent and turn to men, be restored to His perfect and
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  goodwill for them. So stepping back now and
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  connecting these insights, understanding Elijah's ministry
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  in the famine under his ministry and during his ministry now,
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  Elijah's ministry and the seven-year famine, what can we
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  take away from this concerning the people of Israel?
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  A very disheartening truth that despite the triumphant,
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  miraculous, massive miracle that took place on Mount Carmel that
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  brought victory to the name of the true God.
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  And conquered Baal ISM. The people did not truly repent.
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  They didn't truly repent. It was momentary, it was
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  undeniable. It was.
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  Moving it was impressive, but it did not produce what God is
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  after lasting repentance. And because they did not truly
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  repent from their sins after such an incredible demonstration
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  of His grace, the Lord will discipline them further.
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  And how would he do that? He's going to now bring another
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  famine that will last twice as long.
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  Twice as long. And this is an important lesson
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  for us, you see, To revisit sins that we have vowed to never
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  entertain invites greater discipline from our loving
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  Father. The Lord God loves us too much
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  to keep us in our sin and to keep us in a state where we
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  don't learn from our past sins. And this is especially true for
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  the sins that He has disciplined us about.
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  You know, there are some people who deceive themselves in
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  potentially entertaining things that they have done before,
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  thinking that they are able to survive the consequences of sin
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  that they faced before. That wasn't so bad.
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  I mean, it was a little bit embarrassing.
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  It hurt me a little bit. It caused me to forfeit the
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  trust of some people that I love.
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  But here I am. It's not so bad.
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  Maybe I can do it again. Maybe I can try harder, try
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  better. Maybe I can I can be successful
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  this time around. It's amazing what our minds are
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  capable of thinking when it comes to sin.
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  And what I want to tell you remind you is that this is an
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  example that if you truly belong to the Lord, He will not treat
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  you so indifferently. He won't.
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  So they rebelled, time went on, they didn't learn the only
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  increase in their apostasy. So the Lord said, OK, you didn't
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  learn with 3 1/2 years, let me bring 7 years and let's see if
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  this will change you now. So the Lord is very calculating
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  in how He deals with us as His children, and He loves us too
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  much to leave us alone or to not change things in order to change
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  you. However, that's not the only
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  thing that we learned from this famine.
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  Let's go back to our text, our main text, and I want you to see
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  that in verse 38 we are reminded that there is a remnant alive
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  during this destitute time. How do we know that?
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  Because we read here that the sons of the prophets were
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  sitting before Him, being Elisha.
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  We talked enough about the sons of the prophet to know who these
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  group of people are. They're prophets in training.
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  They are ministers in training. And the fact that they were
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  sitting before Elijah tells us what?
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  Well, to sit before somebody is a consistent posture in the
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  Bible that denotes the humble reception of instruction.
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  So though there is a national drought, you have the sons of
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  the prophets in Gilgal. Doing what school is still in
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  session. They are humbly and with
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  eagerness, wanting to receive wisdom and insight and knowledge
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  concerning who their God is. And Elijah was faithful and
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  loving enough to provide it. And so as there is hunger going
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  on, we see that there is a spiritual feast taking place at
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  the same time. And the posture of the sons of
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  the prophets reminds us of a truth that you and I know by
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  heart. It's found in a statement that
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  the Lord gave to His people Israel before they entered their
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  promised land, and Jesus echoed it in the early stages of his
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  ministry. Man cannot survive on bread
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  alone. But what by every word that
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  comes from the mouth of God? You know what that truth doesn't
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  teach? That food is unnecessary to
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  life. That's not what the Lord is
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  saying by sharing that. What He is saying, though,
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  instead, is that you cannot know the fullness of life if your
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  life is merely about materialism and provision and prosperity.
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  You can only unlock what Jesus calls the abundant life when you
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  know how to position yourself with constant nourishment of
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  His. Word, you and I know many people
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  who make their life about living by bread alone.
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  And such individuals, unfortunately, no matter what
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  they possess, no matter what they enjoy, we'll never tap into
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  all that God wants to grant them.
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  Unless they are willing to believe what this word has to
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  offer and engage with it to the degree that they experience it.
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  So people often ask, like, how? How do I get myself to be
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  consistently and uninterruptedly devoted to the Bible?
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  How? How do I get there?
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  How do I stay there? And my answer is always the
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  same. It never changes.
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  Here it is. I'm convinced that I can't truly
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  live without it. I'm convinced of that.
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  It's not a matter about what I feel, it's about what I know.
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  I'm convinced of that truth, that I am the most alive when I
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  am the most. Invested in His word and you
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  know what it's like. Have you ever been through a
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  season where you've distanced yourself from the word?
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  You feel how you shrivel up inside, do you not?
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  Temptation becomes stronger, worldliness becomes more
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  alluring, your flesh flares up with greater strength and
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  tenacity. There is something powerful
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  about the Word, every word that comes from God.
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  So people say, how do you do it? I'll tell you how I do it.
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  I can't survive without it because the Bible tells me if I
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  just live by bread, saving up for bread, accumulating more
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  bread, finding different ingredients for bread, if that's
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  what my life is about, then I will not truly be alive.
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  I'm, I'm existing, but I'm not living.
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  And with that, I have never, ever, ever watched somebody who
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  lived by bread alone and was attracted to their way of life.
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  Have you ever, ever. In fact, such people come off as
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  lifeless to me, Lifeless. The vanity that they're devoted
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  to the emptiness. While those who feast on the
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  Word of the Lord, I'll tell you, they are radiant, are they not?
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  They are energized by and satisfied with what God has
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  provided us, His eternal Word. And before we move on, there's
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  something else that we need to address.
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  From verse 38, though, you have this remnant that is showing us
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  the preciousness of God's Word as they sit at the feet of a man
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  who represented God's Word. You learned that they were still
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  somewhat impacted by this famine, right?
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  How do I know that? Look at the menu of what's there
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  at the seminary in Gilgal. What does Elijah instruct?
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  Set on the large pot and boil Stew for the sons of the
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  prophets. This is not a gourmet meal.
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  This is not a banquet. And if you're not convinced of
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  that because, well, it's a large pot, look at the ingredients.
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  Look at the scarce resources in verse 39.
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  One of the sons of the prophet had to go out into the field and
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  try to find somebody to throw in there to make it a little bit
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  more meaty. So what I'm trying to tell you
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  here, what I'm trying to bring your attention to is that these
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  faithful men of God, these people who represented the, the
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  small remnant in Israel, we're not completely exempt from the
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  sufferings around them. And I was thinking about this
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  and, and, and I thought like, Lord, you, you could have
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  preserved this remnant the way you did with Israel and Egypt.
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  You set up a whole city and you protected, it was called Goshen
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  while everything crazy was going on around them.
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  Why is that the why is that not the case here?
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  Why are the cupboards a little bit emptier?
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  What's going on? And here's the lesson, a lesson
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  that you know very well that the Lord will sometimes allow even
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  his most faithful to taste a little bit of the sufferings of
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  this world for sanctifying purposes.
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  He will permit that, He will allow that from time to time,
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  yet at the same time we could take comfort in the fact that He
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  will never abandoned us in such a condition.
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  He will never allow us to drift away in such circumstances.
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  He will always be near and close enough to provide and to move on
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  your behalf because He is good and He promised to be by us.
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  And that's what we see with this miracle.
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  So Elijah tells his servant, remember, look, he says he said
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  to his servant, it's very likely that his servant was who, what's
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  his name, such as the letter G Ghazi.
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  It's very likely that he's addressing Ghazi and he's
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  telling Ghazi, Ghazi, I want you to prepare something for these
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  students. So as Ghazi is.
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  Preparing to do that you have one of the sons of the prophets
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  who takes it upon himself to help he's not asked to help
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  they're going to be served but he says you know what I want to
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  I want to do this and we see a wonderful heart in this man
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  right verse 39 one of them went out into the field to gather
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  herbs so as he's making this initiative as he's trying to aid
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  he goes out and we read here that he finds a wild vine and
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  gathered from it in his lap full of wild gourds what are wild
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  gourds a family of vegetables that.
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  Are like cucumbers and squashes those kind of vegetables that
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  perhaps helps with the imagination of the story and it
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  explains why he got so excited because he just fills his shirt
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  with it and he wobbles back to the site and he.
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  Is excited about this discovery and he doesn't wait to cut them
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  up and to throw them into the soup.
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  And everything looks well until you read the ominous final words
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  of that verse. Look at the last few words of
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  verse 39, not knowing what they were, unfortunately, as you and
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  I read. These are harmful vegetables,
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  and they will end up poisoning the source of food that these
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  men are ready to eat. And I believe that there are a
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  few lessons to draw from this. There are some practical lessons
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  and there are some spiritual ones, and I want us to consider
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  both. On the functional side, it's
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  important to take something from this concerning those who are
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  devoted to studying God's Word. Here it is.
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  The pursuit of spiritual knowledge should not cause us to
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  overlook our pursuit of gaining practical wisdom.
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  You have some good hearted Christians who might have a
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  passion for theology or might even have their vocation in the
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  ministry, but they excuse. Himself to be neglectful of real
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  life skills and general knowledge of this world.
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  It's actually common. So again you have these good
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  hearted believers who justify ignorance in matters of this
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  life that hinder them in many ways.
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  And they justify it because, like the sons of the prophets,
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  they are serious students of God's word or they are very
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  seriously dedicated to the service of the Lord.
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  And So what happens? They they become disabled in
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  other crucial areas of life. They they don't know how to
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  manage their finances. They don't have social skills.
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  They don't have social skills in the church, and they certainly
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  don't have social skills outside engaging with the world.
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  They don't know how to plan for the future.
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  They don't know how to discern a fraud or a scam.
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  They don't know how to accomplish basic life skills.
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  Why all under the pretense of spirituality?
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  Because you have over the years sheltered yourself from real
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  life world and then you struggle in the world.
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  And this is again far too common.
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  And I assure you that if you are somebody who is like that, you
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  will eventually hurt yourself. You will eventually harm others,
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  so you must quickly learn that being spiritual does not mean
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  God calls you to be ignorant of your dealings with the affairs
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  of society and of life itself. On the spiritual side.
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  What we can take from this from the student at Gilgal is that
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  you cannot make judgements by mere appearance.
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  So he saw these vegetables and he thought they looked good, and
• 25:04
  without much investigation he just took them and he threw them
• 25:07
  and he ate them with 100 other men, and they put themselves in
• 25:11
  Great. Peril.
• 25:14
  So here's a spiritual application.
• 25:15
  Just because a minister looks good, just because a ministry
• 25:19
  sounds good, does not mean that you should, without filtration,
• 25:23
  digest everything that they have to offer or even put it in your
• 25:27
  mouth to begin with. If you're not careful, the trap
• 25:32
  that this man fell into physically is a trap that many
• 25:35
  have ensnared themselves with spiritually.
• 25:39
  They've allowed themselves to be caught up in things, to invest
• 25:44
  in things, expose themselves to things that put them in great
• 25:48
  danger. You know, Paul told us in 2nd
• 25:49
  Corinthians 11 that the servants of Satan masquerade themselves
• 25:55
  as servants. Of righteousness.
• 25:59
  False teachers. You know what that means?
• 26:01
  That means that there are many false teachers out there that
• 26:04
  come off as genuine, that seem to be holy, that will claim that
• 26:11
  they align themselves with the truth when in fact they are
• 26:15
  agents of the devil. Why should have this man, when
• 26:21
  he stumbled upon this wild vine, at least at least been
• 26:27
  suspicious? Any idea?
• 26:34
  There was nothing else meaning what we read in Second Kings 81,
• 26:40
  The Lord called for a famine that at least should have caused
• 26:47
  him to stop and think. Where is this coming from?
• 26:51
  What is this all about? But because he let his guard
• 26:55
  down, he was a mindful of the word of the Lord in that moment.
• 27:00
  He introduced himself and others into something that was harmful,
• 27:07
  and it's no different to how many people react and expose
• 27:11
  themselves to spiritual, spiritually dangerous food.
• 27:15
  I recently read a comment from a man who was writing on a video
• 27:21
  on an unfortunate video of a minister who was recently
• 27:25
  exposed for being verbally and physically abusive to what his
• 27:30
  family and his adult children are now.
• 27:32
  Exposing him out in the public and to many people wasn't a
• 27:37
  surprise because this individual, when he preached
• 27:39
  from the pulpit, came off very, very aggressive.
• 27:46
  Very demeaning, ugly, harsh. He preached verses, he actually
• 27:51
  preached books from the Bible. But when he would, when he would
• 27:53
  teach it, it was woven with a crude language and harshness in
• 27:59
  his tone and condemnation. But what moved me about this
• 28:04
  comment was that this man admitted that he had followed
• 28:07
  this minister. 'S preaching for years and
• 28:12
  throughout the years, he discovered.
• 28:15
  Based on what people said around him, the closest people, namely
• 28:18
  his family, he was becoming angrier, he was becoming more
• 28:23
  critical, he was becoming more arrogant.
• 28:27
  And by the grace of God, it was illuminated to him that the
• 28:31
  connection between his behavior was what he was connected to in
• 28:35
  terms of his spiritual diet, and he separated himself from it and
• 28:41
  it changed him. To think that you and I can just
• 28:45
  eat anything that's presented to us, that's offered to us, that's
• 28:49
  popular, that's known, is as silly as believing that you can
• 28:52
  put any kind of food in your mouth and not expect it to
• 28:55
  affect you. So we are called to be careful,
• 29:01
  not be mindless, not be careless, to be discerning, to
• 29:04
  be slow, to be brains. If the apostle Paul had some of
• 29:09
  his audience take his word and compare it to the scriptures,
• 29:12
  how much more everybody else that's running around with a
• 29:14
  microphone and an Instagram page.
• 29:18
  So we read this and we were supposed to also learn something
• 29:21
  else about it. It's so important to see it in
• 29:23
  this way as well. What if you have been somebody
• 29:26
  who throughout the years have exposed yourself to spiritual
• 29:29
  junk? What happens if?
• 29:31
  You have not been careful with what you eat if that is
• 29:41
  something that you are aware of about yourself.
• 29:44
  The next two verses give us the exemplary solution.
• 29:47
  What happens verse 40 and they poured out some for the men to
• 29:50
  eat, but while they were eating of the Stew, they cried out, O
• 29:53
  men of God, there is death in the pot.
• 29:55
  How do they figure that out? We're not told.
• 29:56
  I wonder if some people started getting sick.
• 29:58
  I wonder if some who knew of the vegetation tasted and they said,
• 30:01
  whoa, whoa, whoa, this is this is not good.
• 30:04
  This is the deadly stuff. However it occurred, they cry
• 30:08
  out to the man of God. And why is that important?
• 30:10
  Because the man of God at this time was a representative.
• 30:13
  He was God's conduit. Of the Word of God.
• 30:16
  He symbolized the word of God. Do you remember what Jehoshaphat
• 30:19
  said in Second Kings 312 when they were stranded in the desert
• 30:22
  and somebody mentioned, hey, Elisha is not too far from you.
• 30:25
  He said, let's go to him, for the word of the Lord is with
• 30:29
  him. So these sons of the prophets
• 30:33
  knew where to go. They went to the man who had the
• 30:36
  word of the Lord, trusting that he would have the solution to
• 30:38
  their trouble. And they were right.
• 30:41
  What does Elisha do? He said in verse 41, bring flour
• 30:45
  and they threw it into the pot and said pour out some for the
• 30:48
  men and that they may eat and there was no harm in the pot.
• 30:52
  Talk about an act of faith on the part of the sons of the
• 30:54
  prophet. Imagine realizing that there's
• 30:55
  poison in it and all your teacher does is take flour,
• 30:58
  throw it in there, says it's OK, now you can eat.
• 31:02
  Would you be hesitant? To take another bite.
• 31:06
  Well, again, they trusted the word of the Lord.
• 31:08
  Ultimately, if they didn't trust in the flour, they didn't trust
• 31:11
  necessarily in Elisha. But in whom Elisha represented
• 31:15
  and spoke on behalf of. What's the solution here?
• 31:20
  The word of the Lord and the word of the Lord from Elisha's
• 31:24
  mouth is no more powerful than the written word of God that you
• 31:27
  have open in your hands right now.
• 31:31
  I love that verse in Ephesians 526 where we are told about
• 31:35
  Christ's love for the church, that He has sanctified her by
• 31:39
  cleansing her. How?
• 31:41
  Through the washing of what? The Word.
• 31:46
  That's how He sanctifies His bride.
• 31:49
  The cleansing of the washing of the Word.
• 31:52
  Jesus said in John 1717. Sanctify them by the truth.
• 31:57
  Your Word is the truth. Have you again grown up in a
• 32:07
  church setting, or probably a different faith altogether and
• 32:11
  your mind is still cloud? It's difficult to grasp certain
• 32:15
  things. You don't have the joy that the
• 32:16
  Bible promises. You don't have the security that
• 32:18
  the Bible promises. You don't have the confidence of
• 32:21
  the Bible promises. Are you somebody besides
• 32:24
  doctrinally? Are you somebody that has a mind
• 32:27
  fogged by filthy thoughts, by self sabotaging ideas?
• 32:38
  If so, the solution is the same, the nourishing and the cleansing
• 32:42
  power of the word of God. And, and you know that and I've
• 32:45
  talked to people say I know that, but I can't seem to
• 32:47
  escape. I can't seem to, to get over
• 32:50
  these false notions of who God is, of what he's done for me or
• 32:53
  these immoral dark ideas. Why can't I overcome them?
• 33:00
  And I, I think this is a helpful picture.
• 33:02
  Have you ever taken a cup filled to the brim with a different
• 33:05
  substance, maybe even a dirty cup, brought it to a running
• 33:10
  faucet and allow it to sit under there?
• 33:14
  Have you ever seen a cup filled with such substance substance,
• 33:17
  the moment it is touched with one drop of that clean water,
• 33:20
  transformed and become completely clear itself?
• 33:24
  If so, I want to know what kind of water supply you get because
• 33:27
  I've never seen it. You know what does happen as you
• 33:30
  keep that water positioned patiently under that running
• 33:33
  faucet? Over time it goes from dark to
• 33:37
  less dark comes clear until it shares the same substance of
• 33:42
  that clean source. OK, you're engaging with the
• 33:45
  word of God. Let me add this.
• 33:47
  Give the word time to work. To cleanse your conscience, to
• 33:53
  cleanse your subconscious so I know you might be visited by
• 33:57
  dreams that you don't want. Give the word time to clean you
• 34:03
  up. Be patient with the Word.
• 34:06
  You know, Timothy was told to be patient in the preaching of
• 34:09
  God's Word. So as much as it is possible for
• 34:13
  a truth in a sermon or in your own personal reading to change
• 34:16
  you and to shift you, that's possible.
• 34:19
  Just like Elijah's one time word over that Stew.
• 34:22
  More common than that is the faithful commitment to your
• 34:26
  exposure to God's Word and it healing you and restoring you
• 34:29
  over time. It has cleansing power.
• 34:33
  Trust in it. Trust that it can do something
• 34:35
  in you right away and trust that as you invest in it for the rest
• 34:38
  of your life, it will change you day by day.
• 34:42
  Now here's what's interesting. The sons of the prophets were
• 34:45
  not the only remnant in Israel at this time.
• 34:47
  Look at verse 42, we read a man came from Bal Shalisha bringing
• 34:55
  the man of God bread of the firstfruits, 20 loaves of
• 34:59
  barley, and fresh ears of grain in his sack.
• 35:01
  And Elijah said, give to the men that they may eat.
• 35:04
  But his servant said, how can I set this before 100 men?
• 35:07
  So he repeated, give them to the men that they may eat.
• 35:11
  For thus says the Lord, they shall eat and have some left.
• 35:17
  I told you not too long ago that whenever you and I come across a
• 35:20
  town or the name of a region in our Bibles, to trust that it's
• 35:24
  been included there to invite you to explore it further.
• 35:27
  Because if you are faithful in that, it can most definitely
• 35:31
  enrich your understanding of God's Word.
• 35:33
  See. Listen, much of what people
• 35:35
  desire. Depth in the knowledge of
• 35:37
  Scripture requires the discipline to dig you will never
• 35:42
  plummet the depths of Scripture if you're engaging with the word
• 35:46
  of God is you version verse of the day you're not the Bible was
• 35:52
  not meant to be read and studied like a fortune cookie.
• 35:56
  So when you come to a text like this and here's what here's what
• 35:59
  happened to me. I'm reading this earlier today
• 36:01
  and I find a man came from thou Shalisha and I think I I know of
• 36:05
  some place in the Old Testament notable names that are repeated.
• 36:08
  I don't remember ever reading about a place called Thou
• 36:10
  Shalisha. So I just thought is there
• 36:15
  another place where Bal Shalisha is referenced and I discovered
• 36:19
  there is not one place where Bal Shalisha is mentioned.
• 36:22
  But there is a place where Shalisha is mentioned and only
• 36:26
  in one other place. So turn with me to First Samuel
• 36:30
  Chapter 9 and I want you to see this reference.
• 36:32
  This is the only place where you'll find this name Shalisha.
• 36:35
  And you'll discover that it's not a town, it's actually a
• 36:37
  district. It's a region.
• 36:49
  First Samuel 94 If you are one to take notes in your Bible, I
• 36:53
  would as a reminder maybe write this reference First Samuel 9
• 36:56
  four by Second Samuel 442 so that you would never forget it.
• 36:59
  Look what it says here. And he passed through the Hill
• 37:02
  Country of Ephraim, and passed through the land of Shalisha,
• 37:08
  but they did not find them, and they passed through the land of
• 37:10
  Shalim. But they were not there.
• 37:12
  They passed through the land of Benjamin, but did not find them.
• 37:15
  This is talking about Saul when he went to go find.
• 37:18
  His father's donkeys notice that's where Shali Shah is
• 37:21
  mentioned, only there. So we study First Samuel and
• 37:25
  we've probably passed through that, didn't consider Shali
• 37:27
  Shah. Now we come to the second Kings
• 37:28
  and we see that OK. Balshali Shah is mentioned now
• 37:34
  if Balshali Shah, this is where we find some insight.
• 37:38
  If Balshali Shah is the same region as Shali Shah First
• 37:42
  Samuel 9, then we discover yet another heartbreaking
• 37:47
  realization of the decline of Israel's fidelity to the Lord.
• 37:52
  Why? Because Shali Shah over time was
• 37:54
  renamed. Shali Shah was renamed from the
• 37:59
  days of Samuel the Prophet to Elijah the Prophet in a way that
• 38:04
  honored false deities. Shali Shah was confirmed to mean
• 38:11
  thrice. So it's very likely that Baal
• 38:14
  Shali Shah means Thrice Great Lord, and it's very possible
• 38:20
  that this was a worship center to false demonic deities.
• 38:27
  So it's. Come to the point now where you
• 38:29
  have Israel renaming designated places to honor false gods, and
• 38:38
  that might discourage us until you realize that a man came
• 38:43
  from. Baal Shalisha to do what?
• 38:46
  To help the remnant, to help the ministers of God who remained in
• 38:52
  Israel. Now there's a keyword.
• 38:54
  I'm going to ask you what it is in this man's introduction that
• 38:59
  should cause us to dig even deeper.
• 39:01
  What word stands out to you about his offering?
• 39:06
  Very good. He didn't just bring food.
• 39:09
  He didn't just bring supplies. We're told that he brought the
• 39:12
  first fruits of his bread. Now first, first to cause you to
• 39:16
  think, why is it that this man not only brought his supplies,
• 39:21
  but the first of whatever harvest he was able to gather
• 39:23
  during this famine? Then you realize that there are
• 39:27
  many, many, many instructions and laws in the Old Testament
• 39:31
  that asked for the first fruits from the people of Israel.
• 39:35
  And here's one of them, Deuteronomy chapter 18.
• 39:39
  Let's turn there to see what possibly this man was observing
• 39:44
  in terms of his obedience to God's Word.
• 39:46
  The 1st. Fruits.
• 39:47
  He came with the first fruits. Look what we're told here about
• 39:50
  the first fruits of the common people of Israel and one of the
• 39:53
  responsibilities with it, Deuteronomy 18, verse three.
• 39:56
  Are you there with me? And this shall be the priest do
• 40:00
  from the people, from those offering a sacrifice, whether an
• 40:04
  ox or a sheep. They shall give to the priest
• 40:06
  the shoulder and the two cheeks and the stomach.
• 40:09
  Pause. So whenever they went to the
• 40:11
  House of God and they were to bring an offering to the Lord,
• 40:13
  there was a portion of that animal sacrifice that was
• 40:16
  designated to the Levitical priest.
• 40:19
  That was their way of being compensated by the Lord through
• 40:22
  the offerings of God's people. But it didn't stop there.
• 40:25
  First four, the first fruits, not the leftovers, the first
• 40:30
  fruits of your grain, of your wine, and of your oil, and the
• 40:35
  first fleece of your sheep you shall give him.
• 40:39
  For the Lord your God has chosen him out of all your tribes to
• 40:43
  stand and minister in the name of the Lord, him and his sons
• 40:48
  for all time. So every Israelite, whenever
• 40:53
  that season came, they were to take the first fruits, set it
• 40:57
  apart, go to the House of God, give it as an offering, but also
• 41:03
  give some of their crop to the priest themselves.
• 41:07
  And I believe. That's what this man is doing
• 41:09
  here. But here's what's interesting.
• 41:11
  He gave it to Elijah. Who's he supposed to give it to?
• 41:18
  So why isn't he giving it to the priest?
• 41:24
  Do you guys? Remember what happened after the
• 41:25
  Kingdom split into two? What happened to the Levites and
• 41:30
  the priests who lived in the northern part under the reign of
• 41:33
  Jeroboam? They moved where?
• 41:38
  To the southern Kingdom, to the Kingdom of Judah.
• 41:39
  Why do they move to the Kingdom of Judah?
• 41:44
  Because that's where the temple resided and they were not going
• 41:48
  to buy into this false worship. And Dan and Bethel, they, even
• 41:52
  if they had to pack their bags, even though it was inconvenient,
• 41:55
  they made their way towards Jerusalem so that they can honor
• 41:58
  God the way he called them to be honored.
• 42:03
  And so it's very possible that this man with great challenges
• 42:08
  could not find his way to Jerusalem and he could not find
• 42:13
  any priests left in Israel. And if there were any priests,
• 42:17
  they were very likely corrupt, They were very likely
• 42:20
  compromised. And he believed that they
• 42:21
  weren't worthy of his aid, of his donation, of his offering.
• 42:27
  And so listen, what you find here with this man from Baal
• 42:29
  Shalisha is that he is he is seeking to try to obey what God
• 42:33
  asked of him to the best of his. Ability and what he he sought to
• 42:37
  do is to find Elijah, who was a faithful minister, and to give
• 42:42
  that portion of his first fruits to him and the sons of the
• 42:44
  prophets. So many people in the Bible are
• 42:50
  not named and yet move me deeply, this man included.
• 42:57
  If there was anybody who had an excuse not to obey the law,
• 43:02
  particularly this law, it was this man.
• 43:05
  Why? Two factors.
• 43:06
  One, no priest around. Most of the leaders are
• 43:11
  compromised 2 When did he give the first fruits?
• 43:17
  What happened in verse 38 that's going to that sets the stage for
• 43:20
  how these miracles take place. There's a famine.
• 43:23
  There was a famine. Imagine what you could have told
• 43:28
  yourself to soothe your conscience.
• 43:30
  OK, look, the Kingdom is split in two.
• 43:32
  I, I don't think the law of Moses foresaw this.
• 43:34
  I think this is just something that happened.
• 43:36
  And, you know, I can't really do anything.
• 43:38
  There's no clear instructions of what should I do at this point.
• 43:41
  And on top of that, there's a famine.
• 43:42
  Very, very scarce resources. I, I can't, I can't do this at
• 43:45
  this point. I'll do it at another time.
• 43:47
  He didn't want to honor God another time.
• 43:48
  He wanted to honor God now. And so he thinks, OK, what can I
• 43:54
  do? Elijah is here, the sons of the
• 43:56
  prophets are here. I can, I can express my devotion
• 44:00
  to the Lord in this way and trust that God will be pleased
• 44:03
  with it. You know, this man serves as a
• 44:09
  rebuke for all of us who make excuses for our disobedience.
• 44:17
  Because let me put it this way, worship, true worship, boils
• 44:22
  down to this. If you really want to honor God,
• 44:26
  you're going to do all that you can to honor God.
• 44:29
  It just comes down to that. You know, Paul, when he wanted
• 44:34
  to visit the Thessalonians, it came to the point that he tried
• 44:38
  over and over again until he learned and he let the people
• 44:42
  know. In Thessalonica, Satan hindered
• 44:44
  me. It took Satan himself, not his
• 44:48
  minions, not his hordes of demons.
• 44:50
  It took Satan himself to stop Paul from going and being with
• 44:55
  the brethren in Thessalonica. If Satan stops you and you have
• 45:03
  no control over the matter, OK, that's a legitimate reason.
• 45:09
  This man shows us here that God is worthy.
• 45:12
  God is worthy to bulldoze over every excuse so that He would be
• 45:16
  recognized and honored. He's inspiring.
• 45:23
  And I praise God for this church.
• 45:25
  I praise God for this church. Here's a very small example.
• 45:27
  Our circumstances here in our location are not the best.
• 45:32
  We don't have parking. We don't have the most
• 45:34
  convenient service time on a Sunday.
• 45:37
  And yet people come because they want to come and worship God.
• 45:40
  They want to honor God. And that moves me every single
• 45:42
  time because in these past years, I've never heard one peep
• 45:45
  from one person about the difficulty of these
• 45:48
  circumstances, which in reality and in comparison to what our
• 45:50
  brethren are suffering in the world is not a problem.
• 45:53
  Right? There are believers in China who
• 45:56
  walk miles to get to a service. And we see that with this man.
• 46:01
  And he's not the only inspiring person in this brief report.
• 46:05
  Elisha, Elisha shines yet again with his Christ like character.
• 46:10
  In what way this man from Bal Shalisha bringing him the bread
• 46:15
  of his first fruits? And how does Elijah respond at
• 46:17
  the end of verse 4042? And Elijah said, give to the men
• 46:20
  that they may eat. How tempting it would have been
• 46:25
  to say thank you and just, you know, stuff it in your pocket
• 46:28
  and have Gehazi hide a little bit more.
• 46:31
  The first thing, the reaction of this man of God is what about
• 46:34
  these students? Listen, that's what true
• 46:37
  leadership looks like. To aspire to be a leader and to
• 46:41
  occupy any position of leadership means that you are
• 46:44
  devoted and have been gifted to take care of those who are under
• 46:48
  your leadership. You don't pursue any position of
• 46:52
  leadership so that you can be served.
• 46:54
  If you have that desire, it's because you are eager to be a
• 46:57
  blessing to those who would benefit from how God has
• 47:02
  empowered you to be a leader. And that's what Elijah is
• 47:05
  demonstrating here. He he immediately, as a reflex
• 47:08
  says, what about them? How can we take care of them?
• 47:12
  And the response is common. We've seen it in the New
• 47:17
  Testament on more than one occasion.
• 47:18
  But his servant said, how can I set this before 100 men?
• 47:22
  So we know that there are 100 students in Gilgal and he only
• 47:26
  had what, 2020 loaves of barley? And he says this isn't going to
• 47:30
  happen. And Elijah repeats, set it
• 47:34
  before them, they're going to eat.
• 47:38
  And he honors that word, and a miracle takes place.
• 47:40
  And not only that, there's leftover.
• 47:41
  Does this miracle sound familiar, by the way?
• 47:43
  It should if you read the Gospels.
• 47:46
  But before I get there, let me say this.
• 47:50
  This multiplication, this wonderful intervention from
• 47:54
  heaven would not have been possible had that man from Bao
• 47:58
  Sha Li Sha not obeyed God. Do you realize that?
• 48:03
  What if this man stayed home? What if this man thought to
• 48:06
  himself, yeah, this first, first thing, it's not going to work.
• 48:10
  There's division. There's a drought.
• 48:12
  That's it's it's pointless. What if he had done that?
• 48:16
  He doesn't do that. He goes out to the best of his
• 48:18
  ability. He provides what he is able to
• 48:20
  provide. And I am certain that he didn't
• 48:23
  think I'm going to bring this to Elijah and he's going to do
• 48:26
  something and it's going to multiply and feed everybody
• 48:27
  else. Never underestimate what your
• 48:31
  obedience can do, especially your obedience and trying in
• 48:34
  difficult times, especially when excuses run.
• 48:40
  Through your mind, I hesitate to share testimony, personal
• 48:45
  testimony. Sometimes I hesitate because my
• 48:48
  my desire anytime I get up on this pulpit is for every eye and
• 48:52
  every ear to be targeted towards the Lord and to be placed on the
• 48:56
  Lord himself. But from time to time, I hope it
• 48:58
  encourages you. I remember one time when I was
• 49:00
  first saved, didn't have a car. The first church that I was
• 49:05
  attending faithfully was a bigger church and the only way
• 49:08
  to get there was through commute.
• 49:10
  I had to take more than one bus and.
• 49:13
  I don't know what. It was, I was trying to think,
• 49:15
  even today, what was it that made me late for church that
• 49:17
  day? But I was late for church that
• 49:20
  day. And I remember, though I can't
• 49:23
  remember the reason, wrestling of whether or not I should go to
• 49:25
  church. And we're commanded to be with
• 49:28
  the people of God, right? So whatever was there, I swatted
• 49:35
  away. I put my big boy clothes on and
• 49:39
  I made my way to church. And as I got there, I arrived,
• 49:42
  obviously late, the service already started.
• 49:45
  But I'm walking towards the entrance.
• 49:46
  And I'm, as I'm walking towards the entrance, there's somebody a
• 49:48
  few feet away from the entrance, a young man who's leaning
• 49:51
  against the wall of the church and smoking.
• 49:56
  And he caught my attention because I've been there long
• 49:58
  enough to recognize the young people there and, and who
• 50:01
  consistently go. So I knew that he was a visitor.
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  So I was already late, but I thought, I just want to ask who
• 50:07
  this guy is at least. And so I introduced myself and
• 50:09
  he was kind enough to introduce himself.
• 50:11
  And we got talking and he told me that he was visiting, told me
• 50:14
  that he was going to church that day because his mom made him go
• 50:17
  to church. And so we talked a little bit
• 50:21
  and at that point I began to share a just a brief version of
• 50:24
  my testimony. I said, look, the service is
• 50:26
  still going on. Would you like to go and sit
• 50:27
  together? And I usually don't sit where he
• 50:29
  end up sitting. I usually sit close to the
• 50:30
  front. But I said, would you like to
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  sit together? And he said, sure.
• 50:34
  So we go and we sneak in a little bit and sat in a specific
• 50:39
  row. And I didn't know who we came
• 50:41
  with. I knew who his mother was.
• 50:42
  But as a service ended, we get up and I shook his hand again.
• 50:45
  So it was nice meeting you. And his mom was on the other
• 50:48
  side and she introduced herself and we got talking.
• 50:51
  And very quickly she opened up and she told me that she had a
• 50:58
  brain tumor and she recently discovered it.
• 51:02
  And she was terrified. And so in that moment, I was
• 51:05
  talking to her and I was talking to the sun at the same time, but
• 51:08
  my attention was mainly on her. And I just shared about How I
• 51:11
  Met her son. And as she was opening her
• 51:14
  heart, Is it OK if we can pray together?
• 51:15
  Can we pray for you right now? And she welcomed that.
• 51:18
  So we prayed and we got connected online.
• 51:22
  From time to time, that mother would message me and she would
• 51:25
  tell me to continue to pray for her son.
• 51:27
  And she was so excited that we were able to meet and she would
• 51:30
  send encouraging messages from time to time.
• 51:34
  And she was a blessing to me in many ways.
• 51:39
  I remember leaving church that day and I thought to myself,
• 51:41
  what if I stayed home? What if I just stayed home?
• 51:48
  I don't know where she is. I don't know where her son is.
• 51:54
  Don't let excuses through obedience sabotage potential
• 51:59
  testimonies. This man came with 20 loaves and
• 52:06
  it fed 100 men. Jesus multiplied food, did he
• 52:14
  not? It's hard to read a story like
• 52:17
  this and not think about the Lord Jesus.
• 52:21
  And as much as there are resounding similarities, there
• 52:25
  are notable differences. Look back again here at verse
• 52:28
  42. A man came from thou, Shalisha,
• 52:31
  bringing the men of God, bread of the first fruits. 20 loaves
• 52:34
  of barley. 20 loaves of barley 20 loaves that multiplied and
• 52:39
  fed 100 men. Did Jesus have more or less food
• 52:43
  to work with? Less.
• 52:47
  Now, what about the people that he had to feed?
• 52:49
  We read here that there was a hundred that Elijah had to take
• 52:51
  care of. How much for Jesus?
• 52:52
  Well, on two separate occasions, 14000, one 5000, and we're just
• 52:55
  talking about the men. We're not including the woman or
• 52:57
  the children. So we're talking about in the
• 52:59
  thousands. And yet when you come to the
• 53:02
  Gospels with this background in mind, because you read through
• 53:05
  your Old Testament, you realize something about Jesus.
• 53:09
  He's greater than all the prophets, effortlessly able to
• 53:18
  feed the multitudes with even less than when Elijah had.
• 53:23
  And not only is he greater in every way, but when you connect
• 53:27
  the new with the old and you realize that Jesus didn't just
• 53:30
  appear on the scene out of nowhere.
• 53:31
  He always existed. He was the source of every
• 53:37
  powerful miracle and every act of supernatural provision.
• 53:42
  That's who Jesus is. This man obeyed God's word and
• 53:52
  God did a miracle through it. A little boy came up to Jesus
• 53:57
  selflessly, and God honored his selflessness and did a miracle
• 54:01
  with it. Do not think so small of your
• 54:07
  small obedience. Do not think so little of what
• 54:11
  consistent consecration can do for the glory of God.
• 54:17
  Do not think that every time we gather, every time we do
• 54:20
  something in the name of the Lord, Whatever ministry you're a
• 54:22
  part of, that is just another day.
• 54:27
  Sunday school teachers, those are not just a few kids stuffed
• 54:30
  in a classroom. God can multiply that in ways
• 54:33
  that you can imagine. Hospitality team that feeds us
• 54:36
  every week. Don't think so little of that
• 54:39
  food. You have no idea how that can
• 54:42
  bless somebody in a time of need or you have no idea how that
• 54:45
  food was the means by which somebody stayed and received the
• 54:48
  fellowship and the council that would change the trajectory of
• 54:51
  their life. Bible study leader, There's 10
• 54:55
  people that show up. There's a famous minister who
• 55:00
  was invited last second to preach at a youth crusade and
• 55:05
  when he preached it, the gospel, only one person respond to that
• 55:09
  message. And that one person was warned.
• 55:12
  Weirsby, who became the pastor, at least one of the pastors at
• 55:17
  Moody Church and wrote many commentaries, One person
• 55:20
  responded out of hundreds of people and that person became a
• 55:24
  man of God. These stories have been
• 55:28
  preserved for us to encourage us, to strengthen us to believe
• 55:33
  that the God of miracles here is still the God of miracles today.
• 55:36
  Amen. Let's thank him for his
• 55:39
  goodness. We're moved by these
• 56:07
  testimonies, and we trust that you've intended to keep them in
• 56:14
  your eternal word so that throughout the ages, your people
• 56:18
  would hear what you have to say for their own lives.
• 56:21
  And we've heard your voice today.
• 56:23
  Oh God, help us be like this man from Bal.
• 56:28
  Shalisha, we recognize that we live in a city that glorifies
• 56:34
  death, that dishonors the sanctity of marriage, that is
• 56:41
  growing in greater corruption. Regardless, help us honor you
• 56:47
  the way we can honor you, to bless you the way you deserve to
• 56:51
  be blessed despite obstacles or hindrances.
• 56:54
  So, Lord, may there be no excuses culturally.
• 56:56
  May there be no excuses personally that would rob us of
• 57:01
  the potential of being a source of blessing.
• 57:05
  We thank you again for everything that's been shared.
• 57:07
  We pray that they would resonate and that they would marinate our
• 57:12
  hearts that these things would bleed into our lives and be
• 57:17
  lived out as a sweet smelling fragrance unto you.
• 57:22
  We worship you and we give you thanks.
• 57:24
  Again, in Jesus name we pray. Amen.
• 57:28
  Amen. Let's worship the God who can
• 57:31
  multiply and do miracles, shall we?
• 57:35
  Praise team, can you help us as you have so wonderfully helped
• 57:37
  us before this Bible study began?
• 57:40
  And let's sing with all our hearts, all our minds, as we
• 57:43
  close the service together.