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Was Elisha A Big-shot? · 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]: Thanks so much for joining me once again today.
• 0:07
  [SPEAKER_01]: We're jumping into a thought.
• 0:09
  [SPEAKER_01]: The theme is this, where is the Lord God of Elijah?
• 0:14
  [SPEAKER_01]: That's going to be our overarching theme, but by way of introduction, we're going to look back at second king's chapter two.
• 0:21
  [SPEAKER_01]: Thank you, King's chapter two.
• 0:23
  [SPEAKER_01]: I want to thank you so much for taking your time.
• 0:26
  [SPEAKER_01]: Truly, I can't tell you what it means to me that you would invest some of your hard-earned time into the Ministry of Bible Tracks Incorporated and Bible Tracks Echos.
• 0:38
  [SPEAKER_01]: I pray that what we speak about today will be a help to you.
• 0:40
  [SPEAKER_01]: I'm kind of speaking from my heart about my burden.
• 0:45
  [SPEAKER_01]: and we'll get into that more in just a moment.
• 0:47
  [SPEAKER_01]: In Saint King's chapter two, the Bible tells us in verse number one, and it came to pass when the Lord would take up Elijah into heaven by a whirlwind that Elijah went with Elijah from Gilgão.
• 1:02
  [SPEAKER_01]: Now Elijah, he was the mentor.
• 1:04
  [SPEAKER_01]: He was the man that God used in a great way all the way through the last half of first kings.
• 1:09
  [SPEAKER_01]: God did amazing things through him.
• 1:12
  [SPEAKER_01]: Elijah raised a boy from the dead.
• 1:15
  [SPEAKER_01]: He prophesied.
• 1:16
  [SPEAKER_01]: He called down fire from heaven.
• 1:18
  [SPEAKER_01]: It's amazing how God used Elijah.
• 1:21
  [SPEAKER_01]: But then, in 1 Kings 19, Elijah, the younger man, the student, the protege, he comes alongside Elijah.
• 1:29
  [SPEAKER_01]: And we observed yesterday that he, Elijah, the young man, never discouraged the soul of Elijah.
• 1:36
  [SPEAKER_01]: He was just a faithful.
• 1:38
  [SPEAKER_01]: He was a kind of a steady eddy, if you will, I think of a Galatians 6-2.
• 1:43
  [SPEAKER_01]: The Bible implores us, bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfilled the law of Christ.
• 1:51
  [SPEAKER_01]: Think of Paul, speak into Timothy in Saint Timothy 116, the Lord give mercy unto the house of
• 2:03
  [SPEAKER_01]: I'm speaking to those of you right now for this moment, I'm speaking to those of you that are maybe part of my generation.
• 2:09
  [SPEAKER_01]: A younger generation, there will come a day when we will be the older generation.
• 2:14
  [SPEAKER_01]: I joke, I kid a little bit about some older men that they took a headshot when they were like 45, meaning somebody took a picture of them.
• 2:24
  [SPEAKER_01]: It's a picture that goes on promo material and flyers and this person wrote a song so it's preaching and there's this picture
• 2:33
  [SPEAKER_01]: and he's got a full head of hair and then that gentleman shows up and now he's 75 and the picture is just a little bit out of date and I joke about the fact that one day when my kids are out of the house and they don't betray me because they're so they're growing so quickly my prayer cards go out of date so quickly but one day they'll be out of the house it'll just be me in my wife and I'll take the headshot and I'll headshots.
• 2:57
  [SPEAKER_01]: I'm gonna take that picture when I'm
• 3:03
  [SPEAKER_01]: Then I'm good, right?
• 3:05
  [SPEAKER_01]: Then I'm gonna show up and people are gonna think who is that old man and This picture doesn't look anything like and well Elijah Elijah was the old man.
• 3:13
  [SPEAKER_01]: He was about to go over into glory and please understand pause for just a moment here
• 3:19
  [SPEAKER_01]: If you listen to anything here on Bible Trek, that goes, please know that respect with which I say old man.
• 3:25
  [SPEAKER_01]: But Elijah, here he is the older gentleman.
• 3:27
  [SPEAKER_01]: He's the elder statesman.
• 3:29
  [SPEAKER_01]: I think of Paul Levine towards the end of his life.
• 3:32
  [SPEAKER_01]: And I think of Paul talking about O'Nesvers and how he was oft refreshed by O'Nesvers.
• 3:39
  [SPEAKER_01]: And what a blessing that was, Elijah was that to Elijah.
• 3:43
  [SPEAKER_01]: I think of Bob Finley and Paul of Ian Traveling together, and they refreshed each other.
• 3:48
  [SPEAKER_01]: They were blessings to each other.
• 3:49
  [SPEAKER_01]: I think they traveled for 35, 40 years together during music and preaching of course.
• 3:55
  [SPEAKER_01]: But I think of Exodus 17, verse 11, and it came to pass when Moses held up his hand that Israel prevailed and when he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed.
• 4:04
  [SPEAKER_01]: But Moses's hands were heavy and they took a stone and put it under him and he sat there on and Aaron and her stayed up his hands The one on the one side the other on the other side and his hands were steady until the going down of the sun Aaron and her they were to Moses what Elijah was to Elijah Elijah needed help.
• 4:24
  [SPEAKER_01]: Elijah provided that and he was not to scurry.
• 4:27
  [SPEAKER_01]: Elijah was not a discouragement But also while Elijah was alive
• 4:33
  [SPEAKER_01]: A lie should never departed from the side of Elijah.
• 4:38
  [SPEAKER_01]: I think about those that drift, those that depart.
• 4:43
  [SPEAKER_01]: I'm not talking about going to be a missionary somewhere.
• 4:46
  [SPEAKER_01]: I'm not talking about going to plant a church.
• 4:48
  [SPEAKER_01]: I'm not talking about following God's call.
• 4:50
  [SPEAKER_01]: I'm talking about seeing greener graphs.
• 4:55
  [SPEAKER_01]: seeing, quote unquote, greater opportunities, sparkly things, intriguing things, tempting things.
• 5:04
  [SPEAKER_01]: I think your Proverbs chapter 4, verse 25, let thy and eyes look right on, and let that eyelids look straight before thee, pondered a path of thy feet, and let all thy ways be established, turn not to the right hand nor to the left, remove thy foot from evil.
• 5:23
  [SPEAKER_01]: What did a lie should do?
• 5:24
  [SPEAKER_01]: Look at St. King's chapter 2, verse 2, and a lie just said unto a lie
• 5:29
  [SPEAKER_01]: I pray thee, see Elijah is about to go to heaven.
• 5:32
  [SPEAKER_01]: I've had to go over it to glory if you will, if you will, I'm not going to get into the context of what he turned he was like back then.
• 5:37
  [SPEAKER_01]: But Terry here, Elijah said, I pray thee, for the Lord had sent me to Bethel and Elijah sent him to him as the Lord lived, and as thy soul liveeth, I will not leave thee.
• 5:48
  [SPEAKER_01]: So they went down to Bethel.
• 5:49
  [SPEAKER_01]: Look at verse 4.
• 5:50
  [SPEAKER_01]: And Elijah said unto him, I said, send unto him, my life should, Terry here, I pray thee, for the Lord had sent me to Jericho, and he said, as the Lord livedeth, and as thy soul liveeth, I will not leave thee.
• 5:58
  [SPEAKER_01]: so they came to Jericho.
• 6:00
  [SPEAKER_01]: Verse 6, and Elijah said unto him, Terry, I pray the hear for the Lord of the set me to Jericho.
• 6:04
  [SPEAKER_01]: Jordan, and he said, Elijah said, as the Lord live it, and as I sold it, but I will not leave the even though, even though Elijah tried to convince him.
• 6:15
  [SPEAKER_01]: Stay here.
• 6:16
  [SPEAKER_01]: Stay here.
• 6:17
  [SPEAKER_01]: Stay here.
• 6:18
  [SPEAKER_01]: He said, I can't do it.
• 6:21
  [SPEAKER_01]: But after Elijah was caught up,
• 6:24
  [SPEAKER_01]: Alaisha was very careful.
• 6:26
  [SPEAKER_01]: I noticed this in scripture.
• 6:27
  [SPEAKER_01]: There are some things the Bible tells us very point blank.
• 6:32
  [SPEAKER_01]: There are some things in the silence of scripture that you can tell as well.
• 6:36
  [SPEAKER_01]: You notice Alaisha, nothing about it or something to notice about Alaisha.
• 6:42
  [SPEAKER_01]: Nothing degrading was said about Elijah.
• 6:47
  [SPEAKER_01]: See, a little later on, a chapter, Elijah is caught up.
• 6:52
  [SPEAKER_01]: The fiery chariot, what a sight that must have been.
• 6:56
  [SPEAKER_01]: But you know, Elijah didn't need to go round, talking about a big game.
• 7:01
  [SPEAKER_01]: About now that I'm the new sheriff in town, now that I'm the prophet in judge.
• 7:05
  [SPEAKER_01]: Now that I'm the guy that God's used, and now that I've got the mantle, who's this
• 7:12
  [SPEAKER_01]: your ministry isn't bigger because you tear other people's ministries down.
• 7:20
  [SPEAKER_01]: You're building, if you're in, you know, some large metropolis, your building doesn't get any bigger because you blow up other people's buildings.
• 7:28
  [SPEAKER_01]: You realize Mike and McCurray, that's me.
• 7:30
  [SPEAKER_01]: Mike and McCurray's ministry isn't bigger because I put down Paul Levine's ministry.
• 7:36
  [SPEAKER_01]: Paul of I couldn't shine polyving shoes.
• 7:39
  [SPEAKER_01]: The man was an evangelist for 60-something years.
• 7:44
  [SPEAKER_01]: Could preach circles around me with his eyes closed and both arms tied behind his back, all right?
• 7:50
  [SPEAKER_01]: Paul Levine was something.
• 7:53
  [SPEAKER_01]: But I don't get any shine of the fact that he's dead and gone now.
• 7:59
  [SPEAKER_01]: He passed away in 1996, but God helped me if I think I can catch more flies with vinegar than you do with honey.
• 8:09
  [SPEAKER_01]: We know that's the wrong way around.
• 8:11
  [SPEAKER_01]: If you need think about this, if you need the validation of those in the fantasy land of the internet to feel good about what you're doing, it's no wonder that we can't seem to get the blessing of God in this day and age.
• 8:25
  [SPEAKER_01]: What a sad thing would be to know how God so greatly used Paul ofene, how foolish would it be for me as the director of Bible Traxxing Corp.
• 8:35
  [SPEAKER_01]: It's been a few years now, I've been the director.
• 8:41
  [SPEAKER_01]: But I don't hold a candle to the man that started the ministry in 1938 and he would do me well to remember that now God is using the team here at BTI in a special way.
• 8:51
  [SPEAKER_01]: I believe that.
• 8:52
  [SPEAKER_01]: I wouldn't be a part of it.
• 8:53
  [SPEAKER_01]: I didn't believe that But we don't put down other ministries or our own foundation to prop up or act like we are some big and bad Like we're doing something great no friend.
• 9:08
  [SPEAKER_01]: We stand on the shoulders of giants
• 9:12
  [SPEAKER_01]: And you don't get any taller by kicking the giant that's underneath you.
• 9:18
  [SPEAKER_01]: What happened when Elijah saw when he saw his mentor leave.
• 9:24
  [SPEAKER_01]: He cried my father my father, the chair of Israel, and the horseman thereof, and saying King's 212, Exodus 21st, 12, honor by father and that mother, that day he's been
• 9:42
  [SPEAKER_01]: I'm so thankful for the men.
• 9:43
  [SPEAKER_01]: I'm blessed with the fact that many of those men that I look up to, they're still alive.
• 9:49
  [SPEAKER_01]: There are some that are not, though, and I wish, there are names I couldn't take you down memory lane.
• 9:54
  [SPEAKER_01]: Don't have enough time to, for me to describe you the men that have invested in me that are no longer here.
• 9:59
  [SPEAKER_01]: I can't ask them to pray for me anymore.
• 10:01
  [SPEAKER_01]: I can't ask for their counsel.
• 10:02
  [SPEAKER_01]: It's too late, they are in heaven.
• 10:04
  [SPEAKER_01]: They're in the great cloud of witnesses now.
• 10:07
  [SPEAKER_01]: And what a fool I'd be to tear them down.
• 10:11
  [SPEAKER_01]: Young man, young woman, if you think you're hot stuff, because you know how to operate your iPhone better than your grandpa or grandma in ministry, Lord Helpy, this is a burden of mine.
• 10:25
  [SPEAKER_01]: It's generational warfare.
• 10:28
  [SPEAKER_01]: These blue on blue incidents, you know what blue on blue is?
• 10:31
  [SPEAKER_01]: It's when, for the United States military, it's when friendly fire causes a casualty.
• 10:39
  [SPEAKER_01]: happens much more than you think it might.
• 10:41
  [SPEAKER_01]: Some significant percentage is not in the one or two percentile of casualties in wars, even in modern days, with modern GPS and whatnot, still happens still occurs because of blue on blue, not because of the enemy.
• 10:56
  [SPEAKER_01]: not even because of, not only because of just mistakes, just not de-conflicting.
• 11:04
  [SPEAKER_01]: And that's what a sad thing that we have conflict between one generation and another.
• 11:10
  [SPEAKER_01]: I realize I kind of straddle generations to some degree, I'm
• 11:14
  [SPEAKER_01]: not as young as I used to be, but I've only got a few grace in my hair and beard.
• 11:19
  [SPEAKER_01]: I want a friend.
• 11:22
  [SPEAKER_01]: Do you discourage the soul of those that have invested in you?
• 11:28
  [SPEAKER_01]: Have you departed from where you have been from those that taught you the standards that have been taught to you?
• 11:36
  [SPEAKER_01]: I'm not speaking about necessarily just dress and music and all that type of
• 11:45
  [SPEAKER_01]: other some teachers with itching ears that have swayed you to some newfangled theology that if you knew your history and you were more than just a couple or a few decades old you'd realize that's just a repackaged heresy from 20 years ago.
• 12:03
  [SPEAKER_01]: These things are so cyclical you know what was a fad in the 2010s was a fad in the 90s and the
• 12:11
  [SPEAKER_01]: 80s in the 70s, and if you just skip back a decade or two, you'll see it under a different name, a different byline, a different method of distribution.
• 12:19
  [SPEAKER_01]: It's not a forum.
• 12:20
  [SPEAKER_01]: It's not social media.
• 12:22
  [SPEAKER_01]: It's not an ex or Twitter.
• 12:23
  [SPEAKER_01]: They were posting it in newspapers and periodicals for ministries and things like that, but it was still wrong then.
• 12:30
  [SPEAKER_01]: Still wrong today.
• 12:32
  [SPEAKER_01]: I wonder.
• 12:36
  [SPEAKER_01]: Have you said some degrading things about your mentors because they're not as hip and as cool as you are?
• 12:42
  [SPEAKER_01]: I pray not.
• 12:44
  [SPEAKER_01]: We're gonna continue this thought tomorrow on the broadcast because nothing Elijah did showed up.
• 12:51
  [SPEAKER_01]: Elijah, even though we've doubled the miracles, we're gonna look at that tomorrow.
• 12:54
  [SPEAKER_01]: I'm gonna thank you so much for joining us on Bible Track Echoes.
• 12:57
  [SPEAKER_01]: I appreciate your listenership.
• 12:59
  [SPEAKER_01]: I'm Mike McCurrey, this has been Bible-tracked echoes, radio program plays about 100 plus radio stations nationwide in the world wide, and I want to thank you individually for listening right now.
• 13:12
  [SPEAKER_01]: Have a great day for his glory.
• 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
  [SPEAKER_00]: Want to see our gospel tracks and other resources?
• 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.