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Don't Discourage The Brethren · Bible Tract Echoes Podcast

• 0:00
  [SPEAKER_01]: Hey friend, welcome back to Bible Tract Echoes.
• 0:02
  [SPEAKER_01]: I'm Mike McCurray, your host.
• 0:04
  [SPEAKER_01]: Thank you so much for taking your time and joining me right here today.
• 0:07
  [SPEAKER_01]: One of great privileges of speaking through this radio broadcast is first of all, the opportunity to talk to you.
• 0:16
  [SPEAKER_01]: And I've had the great privilege of meeting so many of you in person.
• 0:19
  [SPEAKER_01]: I know for most of you.
• 0:21
  [SPEAKER_01]: Our interactions are one way I speak on this radio program and you listen and I want to thank you for that But often I want to remind you that if you'd like to reach out if you have a question a comment or even a critique I want to hear it you can text me at 3 0 9 3 1 6 7 2 4 0 again that's 3 0 9 3 1 6 7 2 4 0
• 0:51
  [SPEAKER_01]: You know, there is another great honor, another privilege about hosting this radio program, a program that dates all the way back to the late 1950s when Dr. Paul Levine hosted.
• 1:03
  [SPEAKER_01]: He, our founder, the founder of Bible Tracks and Corporate him.
• 1:08
  [SPEAKER_01]: He preached his heart and soul.
• 1:10
  [SPEAKER_01]: He preached the Bible most of all, but he put his heart and soul into it.
• 1:15
  [SPEAKER_01]: And while doing so, he was able to share burdens of his.
• 1:20
  [SPEAKER_01]: And I have that same privilege today.
• 1:23
  [SPEAKER_01]: some of the best advice I've ever gotten about preaching about speaking to God's people is to preach your burden.
• 1:31
  [SPEAKER_01]: And that's what I want to do today.
• 1:33
  [SPEAKER_01]: We find our scripture in Sankant King's chapter two.
• 1:37
  [SPEAKER_01]: Sankant King's chapter two.
• 1:40
  [SPEAKER_01]: The Lord leads in different ways in different seasons of life, but this one burden has felt weighty, has felt heavy on me for the past few years even, and I want to share it with you now.
• 1:55
  [SPEAKER_01]: Second King's chapter 2, we're going to be getting a reading in verse number one.
• 1:59
  [SPEAKER_01]: I'm going to read not to briskly, not to quickly, but I will pray that you engage in mind.
• 2:06
  [SPEAKER_01]: I'm asking you to have a sharp mind today.
• 2:08
  [SPEAKER_01]: I know you always do, right?
• 2:10
  [SPEAKER_01]: Would sharpen it up, get it ready to go, because I'd like to look at some scripture that I believe will help us as we consider the topic of conversation today.
• 2:21
  [SPEAKER_01]: Second King's chapter 2, in verse number one, the Bible says this,
• 2:24
  [SPEAKER_01]: and it came to pass when the Lord would take up Elijah in heaven by a whirlwind.
• 2:31
  [SPEAKER_01]: That Elijah went with Elijah from Gilgal, and Elijah said unto Elijah, Terry here, I pray thee, for the Lord had sent me to Bethel, and Elijah said unto him, as the Lord lived, and as thy soul lived, I will not leave thee, so they went down to Bethel.
• 2:51
  [SPEAKER_01]: and the sons of the prophets that were at Bethel came forth to Elijah and sinned him.
• 2:58
  [SPEAKER_01]: Notice thou that the Lord will take away thy master from thy head today, and he said, ye, I know it, hold ye your peace.
• 3:07
  [SPEAKER_01]: And Elijah set unto him, Alaisha, Terry here.
• 3:11
  [SPEAKER_01]: I pray thee, for the Lord had sent me to Jericho.
• 3:14
  [SPEAKER_01]: And he said, as Lord liveeth, and as thy soul liveeth, I will not leave thee.
• 3:20
  [SPEAKER_01]: So they came to Jericho.
• 3:22
  [SPEAKER_01]: and the sons of the prophets that were at Jericho came to Elijah and send unto him, Noah's now that the Lord will take away thy master from thy head today, and he answered, ye, I know it, hold you your peace, and Elijah said unto him, Terry, I pray thee hear, for the Lord had sent me to Jordan, and he said, as Lord liveeth, and as thy soul liveeth, I will not leave thee, and they too went on.
• 3:51
  [SPEAKER_01]: In 50 men of the sons of the prophets went and stood to view a far off and they two stood by Jordan and Elijah took his mantle and wrapped it together and smoked the waters and they were divided hither and hither so that they two went over on dry ground.
• 4:10
  [SPEAKER_01]: and it came to pass when they were gone over.
• 4:13
  [SPEAKER_01]: That Elijah said unto Elijah ask what I shall do for thee before I be taken away from thee.
• 4:20
  [SPEAKER_01]: And Elijah said, I pray thee, let a double portion of thy spirit be upon me.
• 4:24
  [SPEAKER_01]: And he said, thou hast asked a heart thing.
• 4:29
  [SPEAKER_01]: Nevertheless, if that was seen me when I am taken from the, it shall be so unto thee, but if not, it shall not be so.
• 4:38
  [SPEAKER_01]: And it came to pass, as they still went on in talk, that behold, there appeared a chariot of fire and horses of fire imparted them both a thunder, and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven.
• 4:53
  [SPEAKER_01]: and a leisha sought, and he cried, my father, my father, the chariot of Israel, and the horse been there of, and he saw him no more.
• 5:02
  [SPEAKER_01]: Then he took hold of his own clothes, and rent them in two pieces.
• 5:08
  [SPEAKER_01]: He took up also the mantle of Elijah that fell from him, and went back, and stood by the bank of Jordan.
• 5:15
  [SPEAKER_01]: And he took the mantle of Elijah that fell from him, and
• 5:22
  [SPEAKER_01]: is the Lord God of Elijah, and when he also had smitten the waters, they parted, hither and hither, and Elijah went over.
• 5:32
  [SPEAKER_01]: And will end with these last few verses, thanks for staying with me.
• 5:36
  [SPEAKER_01]: Verse 15, and when the sons of the prophets which were to view at Jericho saw him, they said, the Spirit of Elijah, doth rest on Elijah, and they came to meet him and bowed themselves to the ground before him.
• 5:49
  [SPEAKER_01]: and they said unto him, behold now, there be with thy servants fifty strong men let them go, we pray thee, and seek thy master, less peradventure the spirit of the Lord have taken him up, and cast him down upon some mountain, or into some valley.
• 6:05
  [SPEAKER_01]: And he said, ye shall, not, send.
• 6:09
  [SPEAKER_01]: And when they urged him till he was ashamed, he said, send.
• 6:14
  [SPEAKER_01]: And they said,
• 6:22
  [SPEAKER_01]: there's so much to unpack here and I'm thankful for the fact that I have a few days to do so over the radio broadcasts of Bible Tract echoes this week, but I'm going to bring some application from an introduction, if you will, to this thought.
• 6:37
  [SPEAKER_01]: My theme, my title for this week of broadcasts is where is the Lord God of Elijah.
• 6:46
  [SPEAKER_01]: That's going to be where we end the week, but as we dive into this, I want you to notice a few things about Elijah and his relationship with his mentor Elijah.
• 6:57
  [SPEAKER_01]: Now I am sure I am absolutely dead certain that some point throughout the hour and 15 minutes or so that I speak to you through Bible-tracked echoes this week.
• 7:08
  [SPEAKER_01]: It's 15 minutes a day Monday through Friday.
• 7:10
  [SPEAKER_01]: I am probably
• 7:14
  [SPEAKER_01]: when I meant Elijah or a vice versa.
• 7:16
  [SPEAKER_01]: So, if you would, you know what I mean, I'll do my best not to mix them up.
• 7:21
  [SPEAKER_01]: But you may recall, if a little primer would be helpful.
• 7:26
  [SPEAKER_01]: But remember, in 1st King's 17, we're introduced to Elijah, and what a incredible character, Bible character, he is.
• 7:34
  [SPEAKER_01]: He began his ministry, where introduced to him as he confronts Ahab, in Ahab's own throne room, and gives him some bad news about a family, about a drought that is going to come.
• 7:46
  [SPEAKER_01]: And then he goes to the book Cherokee, ministers to the widow of Zerapheth, and she ministers to him.
• 7:52
  [SPEAKER_01]: He heals her son, raises her son back from the dead, and first king's 18, what happens?
• 7:58
  [SPEAKER_01]: That showdown on Mount Carmel.
• 8:01
  [SPEAKER_01]: And fire from God comes down because Elijah prays and God does a mighty work and the prophets of Bale are killed and first King's 19 Elijah runs though, Jezebel the wicked queen, the wife of A. have threatens him and he maybe had a fear, maybe out of depression, regardless he runs.
• 8:24
  [SPEAKER_01]: And he has a conversation with the Lord, there in First King's 19, but at the tail end of First King's 19, Elijah is introduced to us, and to Elijah, and he becomes a protege.
• 8:36
  [SPEAKER_01]: Elijah, the older, becomes the mentor, Elijah, becomes the
• 8:40
  [SPEAKER_01]: the younger student, if you will, and that relationship continues all the way to singing King's chapter too, but I noticed a few things about Elijah, the younger man, his relationship with Elijah.
• 8:55
  [SPEAKER_01]: Alaisha, while Alaisha was alive, while Alaisha was alive, Alaisha never discouraged the soul of Alaisha.
• 9:06
  [SPEAKER_01]: I remember some years ago, I was out of conference, and the pastor, I was not speaking at what we're calling, I'll believe, but there was some good men that were speaking there.
• 9:16
  [SPEAKER_01]: And some of the older men, some mentors of mine, some mentors of many of the younger men middle-aged men that were there, they did a phenomenal job speaking.
• 9:27
  [SPEAKER_01]: And at some point, I believe it was in actually a morning session.
• 9:30
  [SPEAKER_01]: The pastor of the church, I was hosting a conference, and he was not an overly emotional person or anything like that.
• 9:36
  [SPEAKER_01]: But he, like I do, believes and believed in the power of prayer.
• 9:42
  [SPEAKER_01]: And so he asked, if you're a younger man here today, and you'd like one of these older men to pray over you, not in some super, um, sappy, spiritual, hocus, pocus way, but just to talk to God and pray, specifically on your behalf, if you'd like that, then please, if you would, if you'd like to get in line of each of those men, they stood down front.
• 10:06
  [SPEAKER_01]: And there was lines to have those men pray over, and I got in line with a,
• 10:11
  [SPEAKER_01]: a man I've known for many years and many of those men that were there I have had them they prayed for me before both in private but also in something of a format like that I've asked them to pray for me.
• 10:25
  [SPEAKER_01]: I remember that man praying for me praying over me and I think of what an encouragement.
• 10:32
  [SPEAKER_01]: When an encouragement that was by wonder for those of us that are younger, I wonder when the last time was that we not so much put our hands on and prayed over some of those older men but that we truly prayed for those that are our mentors.
• 10:49
  [SPEAKER_01]: We almost take it as a prerequisite.
• 10:53
  [SPEAKER_01]: We take it as an understood thing.
• 10:54
  [SPEAKER_01]: We assume we take for granted that our mentors will pray for us.
• 11:01
  [SPEAKER_01]: They've got our back and I'm so thankful for the fact that they do.
• 11:05
  [SPEAKER_01]: But how well do we encourage them?
• 11:09
  [SPEAKER_01]: I wonder what it meant to Elijah, the old man towards the end of his days about to step over into glory, what an incredible sight that must have been.
• 11:22
  [SPEAKER_01]: What an encouragement it must have been, and we'll talk about this more in just a moment.
• 11:28
  [SPEAKER_01]: about how Elijah never departed from the side of Elijah, but what an encouragement it must have been for the fact that Elijah was just there.
• 11:37
  [SPEAKER_01]: He was steady.
• 11:37
  [SPEAKER_01]: He was kind of an armor-bearer type character.
• 11:42
  [SPEAKER_01]: He brews 1024 and let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works.
• 11:48
  [SPEAKER_01]: But we want everyone else to provoke us to love and good works.
• 11:52
  [SPEAKER_01]: We don't think about the fact that
• 11:54
  [SPEAKER_01]: We should do that for others.
• 11:57
  [SPEAKER_01]: We live in a take, take, take society.
• 12:01
  [SPEAKER_01]: Then, wait, I'm not just talking about America.
• 12:02
  [SPEAKER_01]: This is a worldwide problem.
• 12:04
  [SPEAKER_01]: Who wasn't, was it JFK ask not what your country can do for you ask what you can do for your country?
• 12:11
  [SPEAKER_01]: I wonder, for your church, for your pastor, for those that care for you that watch for your souls, how will you encourage them?
• 12:24
  [SPEAKER_01]: We're going to talk about the fact that Elijah, while Elijah was alive, never departed from the side of Elijah.
• 12:31
  [SPEAKER_01]: He was right there.
• 12:32
  [SPEAKER_01]: He was rock-rimmed.
• 12:33
  [SPEAKER_01]: He was a steady man.
• 12:35
  [SPEAKER_01]: He was faithful.
• 12:37
  [SPEAKER_01]: He was available.
• 12:39
  [SPEAKER_01]: We need some more of those men and women, boys and girls, in this day and age.
• 12:44
  [SPEAKER_01]: I want to thank you so very much for listening to the broadcast.
• 12:48
  [SPEAKER_01]: We'll come back to you tomorrow here on Bible Track Echoes in the meanwhile stay tuned for the announcer.
• 12:54
  [SPEAKER_01]: He'll be on in just a moment.
• 12:56
  [SPEAKER_01]: Tell you all the ways you can connect with our Ministry Bible Tracks Incorporate.
• 13:01
  [SPEAKER_01]: I want to thank you so very much for taking your time and joining Bible Track Echoes.
• 13:06
  [SPEAKER_01]: Today I'm Mike and McCurray your host and my prayer is that you have a great day for his glory.
• 13:12
  [SPEAKER_01]: No plan on talking to you soon.
• 13:14
  [SPEAKER_00]: God bless.
• 13:16
  [SPEAKER_00]: Thank you for tuning in to Bible Tract Echoes, the radio ministry of Bible Tracts Incorporated.
• 13:23
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• 13:26
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• 13:40
  [SPEAKER_00]: Thanks again for listening.
• 13:42
  [SPEAKER_00]: May the Lord richly bless you as you live for Him.