Latest / Scripture Central / Jesus is Enough | 2 Kings 2-7 | Come Follow Me 2026 | John Hilton III | July 6-12

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Jesus is Enough | 2 Kings 2-7 | Come Follow Me 2026 | John Hilton III | July 6-12 · Scripture Central

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Whatever problem we're facing, it can be big thing, it can be a
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small thing, but if it matters to you, it matters to God.
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No problem is too big or too small for the Lord.
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We come with what we have, and whatever you can offer, God can
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multiply it so that there will be more than enough.
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There will be leftovers. No matter who you are, no matter
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what you've done, Jesus Christ is in relentless pursuit of you.
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In our last class, we saw Elijah call Elijah, and then shortly
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after that, Elijah was taken up into heaven.
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But just before that happened, Elijah said to Elijah, I pray
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thee, let a double portion of thy spirit be upon me.
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This phrase has always stood out to me since my mission because
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my mission president would often pray for a double portion of the
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Lord's Spirit to be with us and whatever we were doing.
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And it's interesting because in Elijah's case, it seems like, at
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least from a narrative perspective, this literally what
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happened. Elijah performed 14 miracles
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that are recorded. Any guesses as to how many
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miracles Elijah is recorded as performing?
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28, a double portion. And today we'll explore six of
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these miracles. And these miracles will show us
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that whatever problem we're facing, no problem is too big or
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too small for the Lord Jesus Christ really is enough.
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So let's start with the miracle of digging ditches.
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Here's the context. The country Moab used to pay a
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tribute to Israel. But when Ahab, who was the king
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of Israel, died, Moab stopped paying the tribute.
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So Israel, of course, didn't like this.
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And they got two other countries, Judah and Edom, to
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join them in the fight against Moab.
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And their plan was to go South below the Dead Sea and attack
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Moab from Edom. It seems like it's going to be
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an easy battle, right? Three countries against one, no
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problem. But instead we read the king of
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Israel, the king of Judah and the king of Edom set out.
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And when they had made a round about March of seven days, there
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was no water for the army or for the animals that were with them.
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So you're in the middle of the desert with no water.
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This is obviously not good. The king of Israel said, alas,
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the Lord has summoned these 3 kings to hand them over to Moab.
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Notice his reaction when he's faced with a problem.
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It's alas, we're doomed. Contrast his reaction with the
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reaction of Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah.
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He said, is there no prophet of the Lord here through whom we
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may the choir of the Lord? This juxtaposition really
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touched my heart. When I'm faced with the crisis,
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is my attitude more like, Oh no, I'm doomed.
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Or is it, how can I turn to the prophets so happily?
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In this case, there was a prophet there with them, the
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prophet Elisha. Now, if you remember, the king
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of Israel worshipped idols and his dad had tried to kill
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Elijah. So the king of Israel and Elisha
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don't have the greatest relationship.
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In fact, when they come to Elisha for help, Elisha says to
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the king of Israel, what do I have to do with you?
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Go to your father's prophets or to your mother's.
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Ask Paul for help. For the king of Israel replied,
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no, it was the Lord who summoned these 3 kings to hand them over
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to Moab. I love Elisha, he's pretty
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sassy. He says back to the king of
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Israel as the Lord of hosts lives whom I serve.
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If it were not that I have regard for King Jehoshaphat of
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Judah, I would give you neither a look nor a glance.
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But Josephat is there, and so Elijah says he will help.
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Elijah makes a prophecy. Thus saith the Lord, Make this
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valley full of ditches. For thus saith the Lord.
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Ye shall not see wind, neither shall ye see rain, yet that
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valley shall be filled with water, that ye may drink both ye
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and your cattle and your beasts. Now think about that command.
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You're out in the desert, and God tells you to dig ditches.
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Doesn't make any sense, but he's telling you this because the
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valley is going to fill up with water and you're going to need
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to have ditches ready to store all the water that's coming.
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And then Elisha says a phrase. I hope we get deep into our
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hearts. This is an easy thing in the
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eyes of the Lord. Looks impossible to humans, but
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it is easy for God. I love this insight from Pastor
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Craig Greschel. Elisha didn't focus on what he
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saw. He focused on what God said.
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Elisha didn't say the ground is dry and I don't see the rain.
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He didn't focus on what he saw. He focused on what God said.
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And God said you won't see it, but I'll still do it.
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This is an easy thing. Can you feel that deep inside?
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Maybe there's something on your heart that's keeping you up late
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at night? Can you hear God saying I am
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alpha and Omega? The 1st and the last, the
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beginning and the end? This is an easy thing for me.
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Now take a moment and ponder. How might a person's life change
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if she or he truly believed deep down that whatever could feel
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overwhelming really was an easy thing for the Lord?
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I think back to my own experiences that have been hard
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and sometimes they're full of anxiety, and my husband always
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says I wrap myself around my own axle.
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I get so worried about it that it just churns and cycles and I
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can't break free of that. And until I can really turn it
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over to the Lord and feel some peace about it, I'm not able to
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break that cycle. So I just think that if we could
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truly trust that it was easy for the Lord and He had it handled,
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we could let go of some of that anxiety and just feel more
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peace. It's taken a lot of prayer and
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probably a lot of scripture reading and just learning how to
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let go. I can't think of anything
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necessarily specific, but just praying for the ability for the
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Spirit to give me that ability to let go and let it be and know
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that it will be OK. Thank you.
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I think the time that I have felt at the most is when my
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adult children started making decisions.
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Some to leave the covenant path, some to just make decisions that
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were worrisome to me and I couldn't figure out how to fix
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it until I realized that I didn't need to do that.
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God created the world. He had everything done before I
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even showed up. So knowing that made me sit back
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and say I will allow him to be in charge, as if I needed to
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allow that. But doing that made me rejoice
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in being a part of it and knowing that someday things
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would be all right, he would take care of it, and I would
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just assist if he needed me. Thank you.
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Yeah. When we really feel like it's a
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light thing for the Lord, it can bring at peace.
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So what happens to the three kings?
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Well, they start digging ditches, and we're going to come
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back to those ditches in just a moment.
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But if we continue with the storyline we read the next day
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about the time of the morning offering, suddenly water began
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to flow from the direction of Eden until the country was
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filled with water. So now with water in the
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ditches, Israelites could drink. And the water had another huge
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benefit. The Moabites were off in the
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distance watching the Israelites.
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And from their vantage point as the sun shone upon the water in
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the ditches, the water looked like blood.
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So the Moabites said, this is blood.
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The kings have fought together and killed one another.
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Now then, Moab to the spoil. But when they came to the camp
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of Israel, the Israelites rose up and attacked the Moabites who
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fled before them. Now I want to come back to those
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ditches. But first, if it's OK, just a
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little quick side quest. If you keep reading the story,
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Israelite conquers many Moabite towns.
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But then there's a strange conclusion to the battle.
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At the height of the battle, the king of Moab sacrificed his son,
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we read. Great wrath came upon Israel, so
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they withdrew from him and returned to their own land.
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It's not exactly clear what happened, but Israel winds up
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withdrawing from the battle. Now, interestingly, Misha, the
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king of Moab, also left a record of this battle, writing at about
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8:40 BC. Misha says that he battled with
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the House of Omri, and the current king is the grandson of
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Omri. So I wouldn't base my testimony
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of the Old Testament on this little bit of archaeology, but
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it's cool. It's the earliest recorded
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account outside of the Bible that specifically mentions
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Jehovah as the God of Israel and the details in the Misha stone.
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And 2nd Kings, about the battle, the specific details, there's
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some differences there, but what I think is is interesting to see
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this correspondence between archaeology and the Bible.
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Now let's come back to those ditches.
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Do you remember Elisha's words? Make the valley full of ditches.
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Now think about the faith it would take to dig a ditch when
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you're in the middle of the desert.
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What's the point? How's the water going to come?
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This is actually a pattern that we see throughout Scripture.
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God can do anything, He can do everything, but he still wants
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us to do our part. God could have transported
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Nephi's family across the ocean through lots of different means,
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but instead he told Nephi to build a boat.
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God could have just handed the brother of Jared glowing stones,
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but he wanted the brother of Jared to come up with a plan.
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God could have parted the Jordan River, but instead he wanted the
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feet of the priests to get wet. So digging the ditches reminds
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us of the importance of doing our part.
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Think about your life. Is there a ditch God wants you
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to build so that he can perform a miracle again from Pastor
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Craig Greschel, he said, what ditch do you need to dig to
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prepare you for what God wants to do in you?
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If you're a parent and you want godly kids, what are you going
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to do? Have faith to dig some ditches?
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Pray daily over your children. Declare God's word daily over
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your children in your marriage. Dig a ditch.
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You apologize first, you forgive first, you serve one another,
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you get counseling. You see God, you dig a ditch.
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You're anxious, you're overwhelmed.
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What do you do? You dig a ditch now.
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Some of us right now might be in a really dry valley.
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Maybe we've been digging ditches for a long time.
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Don't lose hope. Trust in God for what you cannot
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see yet. God is on the move and you are
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His child. All things will work together
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for those who trust in God. Jesus Christ really is enough.
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We can see that Christ is enough in the twin miracles of
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multiplying food. In Second Kings chapter 4, we
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read Now the wife of a member of the company of prophets cried to
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Elisha, Your servant, my husband is dead and you know that your
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servant feared the Lord. But a creditor has come to take
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my two children as slaves. So there's a woman, her husband
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has been a part of Elisha's team.
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Now he's died and to pay back her creditor, some of the
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children will be sold as slaves. She needs help.
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Elisha said to her, what shall I do for you?
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Tell me, what do you have in the house?
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Notice that Elisha doesn't focus on her problems.
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He doesn't say what don't you have.
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He says what do you have? God takes whatever we have and
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he can magnify it. The woman says your servant has
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nothing in the house except a jar of oil and Alicia's like
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great, we can work with that. He said.
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Go outside, borrow vessels from all your neighbors, empty
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vessels and not just a few. Then go in, shut the door behind
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you and your children and start pouring into all these vessels.
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When each is full, set it aside. The woman did exactly what
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Elisha said to do. Her sons kept bringing her empty
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vessels. She kept pouring oil into them
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until they ran out of jars to fill them with.
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If the woman told Elijah what had happened and he said go sell
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the oil and pay your debts and you and your children can live
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on the rest. There's a powerful lesson for us
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here. We come to God with what we have
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and it will be enough. We see an echo of this principle
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in a later miracle in the same chapter.
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Some time passes and there's a famine in the land.
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Elisha is with 100 men and someone comes and brings them
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food. We read he brought 20 loaves of
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barley and fresh years of grain in a sack.
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Elisha said give it to the people and let them meet.
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His servant responded How can I set this before 100 people?
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There's not enough food for so many.
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You're already seeing parallels between this and another miracle
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you're familiar with, but you can understand where the
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servant's coming from, right? 20 loaves isn't enough to feed
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100, but Elisha says give it to the people and let them eat.
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For thus says the Lord, they shall eat and have some left.
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So the servant gave the people food.
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They all ate and there were leftovers.
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You remember the details of Jesus feeding the 5000 plus the
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same parallels we're seeing. We see several parallels.
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The people are hungry. A man brought barley loaves.
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Jesus and Elijah both said give the people something to eat.
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Both times there was an objection, it's not going to be
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enough. But both times there was enough
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for all the people, and there were leftovers.
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This is one of many miracles where there's correspondences
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between a miracle that Elisha performed and a miracle that
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Jesus Christ performed. In fact, in Scripture, nobody
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besides Jesus Christ performs more miracles than Elisha.
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He's clearly a forerunner of Jesus Christ, but Jesus Christ
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is the greater Elisha. Elisha fed 100 with 20 loaves.
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Jesus fed 5000 with five loaves. In other words, Jesus was able
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to do more with less, and whatever you can offer, God can
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multiply it so that there will be more than enough, There will
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be leftovers. Now I know that we all know this
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story, but I wonder if sometimes we still feel a little bit like
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Andrew when he came to Christ. Andrew said there is a boy here
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who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what are they
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among so many people? We might feel inadequate because
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we look at others, we see how much they have to offer.
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We see my little humble offering of a couple loaves and fishes.
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It's not going to be enough. I love the perspective that
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Dallas Jenkins, the director of The Chosen, gave at a BYU forum.
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He said Jesus could have just waved his hand and the loaves
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and fishes could have appeared out of nothing.
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But he asks us to participate. Kind of like digging ditches.
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You bring what you have, you give it to God and let it go.
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It is not your job to feed the 5000.
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It is only to provide the loaves and the fish.
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So think about that phrase. It's not your job to feed the
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5000. It's only to provide the loaves
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and the fish. What does that mean for you in
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your life right now? One morning I got up early to go
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to the temple, having some heavy things on my mind, and as I
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walked into the endowment room there is a picture and it is of
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the scene of the 5000 and that came into my mind as clear as
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can be. It is not your job to provide.
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I will take care of the miracle. You just need to show up and be
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there. Thank you.
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So in between these miracles of multiplying food, there's
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another powerful miracle. It's the raising of the
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Shunamite woman's son. Unfortunately, we don't know her
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name. We just call her the Shunamite
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woman because that's the town that she's from.
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But she's one of the most powerful women in Scripture.
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She went out of her way to feed Elijah's meals when he was
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traveling through town. And they even levelled up she
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and her husband, and they built a little guest room so we had a
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place to stay as he was traveling.
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Elijah was touched by the woman's kindness, and he wanted
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to give her a blessing. She knew that she didn't have
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any children, so Elisha told her about this time next year you
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will hold a son in your arms. And sure enough, a year later,
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the woman gave birth. But then tragedy struck, we
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read. When the child was older, he
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went out one day to his father among the reapers.
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He complained to his father. Oh, my head, my head, the father
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said to his servant, Carry him to his mother.
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He carried him and brought him to his mother.
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The child sat on her lap until noon, and then he died.
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She went up and laid him on the bed of the man of God, closed
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the door on him and left. So note the time it's about
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noon. The woman saddles up a donkey
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and she gets ready to go see Elisha.
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And her husband's like, wait, why are you going to go see
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Elisha? She doesn't explain anything.
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She doesn't tell her husband all the plans.
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She just says to him, it shall be well.
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Now Elisha lives in Mount Carmel.
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It's probably about 25 miles from Shunam, where the woman's
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living. And donkeys are not the fastest
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animals. So she's probably going 4 or 5
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miles an hour. She arrives at Mount Carmel
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around 6:00 PM. Elisha sees her in the distance.
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And he sends his servant Ghazi to run to her.
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And he says, Run now, I pray thee to meet her and say unto
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her, Is it well with thee? Is it well with the husband?
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Is it well with the child? Notice the woman's response.
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She says it is well. Now, why does she say it is well
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when things are obviously not well?
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I have a couple of theories, maybe one, She just doesn't want
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to mess with the Ghazi. She's a woman on a mission.
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She's trying to get to Elisha, and she doesn't want to be
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slowed down. But I wonder if there's maybe
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something more in the phrase It is well.
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I wonder if she's saying something like, in effect, you
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know, actually right now I'm not doing that great.
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I'm dying inside, but my hope is in Jesus Christ.
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I believe in God and I have confidence in His power, so I
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can say it as well. This Shunamite woman reminds me
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of Horatio Spafford. Maybe some of you have heard his
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story. He was a successful lawyer with
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a beautiful family, but then their possessions were destroyed
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in a great fire and shortly after his young son died from
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illness. So hoping that his family could
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find some healing, he arranged for his wife and four daughters
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to travel to England, and he was going to catch up with them as
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soon as he wrapped up some work. But then and then there was a
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collision at sea, and his wife survived, but his four daughters
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were lost. As soon as Horatio learned what
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happened, he got on a boat to find his wife in England.
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And as the ship was crossing the ocean, the captain informed him
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at the time when they were passing over the place where his
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daughters had died. And that's when Horatio wrote
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down the words of a hymn that you probably know.
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Though Satan should buff it, though trial should come, Let
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this blessed assurance control that Christ hath regarded my
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helpless estate, and hath shed his own blood for my soul.
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It is well, it is well with my soul.
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What gives you the strength and power to say it is well with my
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soul? It's when you have the peace of
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Christ just controlling your life so much that you know what
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Jesus Christ has done for you. Horatio's children weren't
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brought back to life, but he still had the courage to be able
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to say it is well just like the Shunammite woman, so she writes
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straight to Elisha. She falls down at his feet and
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explains the situation. Elisha says to Gehazi, gird up
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your loins and take my staff in your hand and go.
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If you meet anyone, give no greeting.
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If anyone greets you, do not answer and lay my staff on the
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face of the child. Now do you think this is going
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to satisfy the Shunammite woman? No, she says, as the Lord lives,
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Elisha, I will not leave without you.
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Sure, your servant's great, he can run ahead, but my trust
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Elisha is in you. So Gehazi runs ahead.
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He's pretty fast, Elisha, the woman there a little bit slower.
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When Gehazi arrives, he lays Elisha's staff on the boy.
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But the boy doesn't revive when Elisha arrives, he does
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something unusual. We read.
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When Elisha came into the house, he saw the child lying dead on
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his bed. So he went in and closed the
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door and the two of them, and prayed to the Lord.
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He went up and lay upon the child, and put his mouth upon
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the child's mouth, and his eyes upon the child's eyes, and his
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hands upon the child's hands, and stretched himself upon the
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child, And the flesh of the child waxed warm.
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So the boy comes back to life. Now think about it.
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The Shunamite woman's son was raised.
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Horatio Spafford's daughters were not raised.
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Yet both of them could honestly say it is well.
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Even in tragedy we can say it is well because of Jesus Christ.
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This is not an empty phrase, it's a declaration of faith.
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Now I want us to consider what gives a person the power to
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truly be able to say it is well, regardless of external
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circumstances. How do I get to that place in my
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life? When I joined the church, this
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is 3 months into my conversion and I was left with four
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children and a lot of debt and our house was about to be
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repossessed and I wondered how I would pay tithing.
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I had three months worth of tithing I'd set aside, but I
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also had the opportunity to hold on to the house if I paid what
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the judge had ordered. And it so happened it was more
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or less the same amount to pay the tithing.
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And I went to my Bishop. And my Bishop said to me, I
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can't give you permission not to pay your tithing.
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That is between you and the Lord.
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Go away and think about it. And I walked away.
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But as I walked away, in my heart I promised I would do
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everything I can in being obedient to to my covenants, if
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God would just take care of my children because having
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converted from Islam, we were just totally cut off and my
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children is all that I have. So providing it took care of my
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children, I would be faithful. And so I paid my tithing and two
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days later was the court hearing and I told the judge I didn't
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have the money. And my solicitor was absolutely
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aghast. But we left that courthouse with
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the judge saying not only telling them the house was not
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to be repossessed, but also that I did not need to pay any
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mortgage until after six months when I returned back to work.
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And so to me, I didn't realize it at the time, but I think me
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choosing to pay tithing was me putting my trust in the Lord,
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knowing all would be well. I knew He would keep His
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promise. And that is perhaps, in a way,
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knowing that all will be well, rather than all is well.
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Thank you. So sometimes it's just the
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courage to act. We move forward with faith.
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Yeah, I had to do my part, and I think my part in that instance
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was to exercise my faith and obedience and in doing that was
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to actually pay the tithing. Yeah, thank you.
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You were digging A ditch. Oh.
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Big one. Any other thoughts people want
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to share? This is going to be hard for me
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to say that we lost a granddaughter a couple years ago
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and when my daughter called and said she was having problems, I
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said, look, the Lord hasn't let us down yet.
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Let's pray and hope that things work out and our granddaughter
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wasn't able to be on this earth with us.
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However, as we look at that experience and go back through
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the times, miracle after miracle after miracle occurred during
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that time when we were all struggling and we were able to
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draw together as a family and turn to the Lord.
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And one of the miracles, I think, is that they as a family
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and a couple did not turn away from the Lord, but that their
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faith was strengthened, that they'll be able to be with her
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again. So sometimes it doesn't look the
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way we want it to look, but the Lord was still with us.
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And so in a time like that, what do you think prepared you and
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your family to be able to to say it as well?
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I think our prior experiences with the Lord, we had had
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experiences where He had blessed us.
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My husband was in a terrible accident and should have died,
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but he didn't and wasn't even really that injured.
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And just little things along the way where the Lord had blessed
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us and we could rely on those experiences to strengthen our
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testimony that He will still be with us.
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Thank you. So you can just feel the faith
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of everyone in this room. Now, this next story that we're
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going to focus on is probably the best known miracle of
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Elisha. It's the one that involves
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Naman. If you remember, Naman is the
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commander of the army of the king of Aram, or what we might
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consider today to be Syria. Naman was a great man and in
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high favor with his master. Naman, though a mighty warrior,
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suffered from a skin disease. Now the Arimans or Syrians, on
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one of their raids had taken a young girl captive from the land
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of Israel, and she served Naaman's wife.
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She said to her mistress, if only my Lord were with the
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prophet who is in Samaria, he would cure him of a skin
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disease. So she's referring here to the
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prophet Elisha. And when Naaman hears about the
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prophet Elisha, he tells the king of Syria what the girl has
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said. And the Syrian king says, go
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then and I will send along a letter to the king of Israel.
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So Naaman gathers an enormous amount of money and he goes to
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visit the king of Israel. You can see him pulling up with
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his entourage. He brought the letter to the
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king of Israel, which read when this letter reaches you know
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that I have sent to you my servant Naaman, that you may
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cure him of his skin disease. When the king of Israel read
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this letter, he tore his clothes and said, am I God to give death
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or life? That this man sends word to me
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to cure a man of his skin disease.
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Just look and see how he is trying to pick a quarrel with
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me. So the king of Israel thinks
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this is some kind of scheme to create a feud between him and
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the king of Syria. But Elisha hears about it and he
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sends a message to the king of Israel saying, come and see me.
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So imagine Naman pulls up with his entourage all of his money.
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He's a big deal, but Elisha doesn't even come out to see
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him. Instead he sends a servant out
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who tells Naman, go wash in the Jordan 7 times and your flesh
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shall be restored and you shall be clean.
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We read. Naima became angry and went away
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saying I thought that for me he would surely come out and I've
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highlighted that phrase. I thought for me it would be
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different and I wonder if I do the same thing.
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Maybe you do as well. Cognitively I know that bad
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things happen to good people, but I thought for me it would be
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different. Naaman goes on to say, Are not
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the rivers of Damascus better than all the waters of Israel?
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Could I not wash in them and be clean?
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And as you recall, Naaman walks away in a rage.
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But then one of his servants approaches him and says, If the
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prophet had bid thee to do some great thing, would thou not have
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done it? How much rather than when he
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sayeth to thee, wash and be clean.
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I wonder if we're ever like naman.
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We want the prophet to tell us to do some great thing for sure.
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If he did, we would do it. But then he tells us to do a
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small thing, read your scriptures, pray a little bit
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more. Do we do it under Rasband?
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Reflecting on this account said the account of naman reminds us
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of the risk of picking and choosing the parts of prophetic
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counsel that fit our thinking, our expectations, or today's
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norms. Our prophet continually points
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us to our own river Jordans to be healed.
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So the advice from the servant touches Naaman's heart.
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We read. Naaman went down and immersed
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himself seven times in the Jordan.
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According to the word of the man of God.
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His flesh was restored like the flesh of a young boy, and he was
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clean. So one lesson from the story is
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do the simple things that the prophet is saying and you'll be
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blessed. Now there's another lesson.
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Did you know that in his first recorded sermon, Jesus Christ
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points to the story of Naman? Picture the scene.
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He's in his hometown of Nazareth.
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He's just spoken at the synagogue.
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Everyone is amazed at his gracious words.
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But then Jesus said there were many widows in Israel in the
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time of Elijah when there was a severe famine over all the land.
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Remember we talked about this in our last class.
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Yet Elijah was sent to none of them except to that widow at
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Zarephath, inside an area outside the borders of the land
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of Israel. Jesus continued.
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There were also many with a skin disease in Israel at the time of
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the prophet Elisha, and none of them was cleansed except Naaman
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the Syrian. Well, the people did not like
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the Savior's sermon. They wanted deliverance for
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Israel, but Jesus was reminding them that God's grace extends to
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all, even maybe especially the outsiders and the foreigners.
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That's another lesson from Neiman story.
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But I wonder if we sometimes miss 1/3 lesson.
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It's easy to miss because the main heroine in the story, we
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just glide past her in a sentence.
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But I love how Timothy Keller highlights her.
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Do you remember what we read? The Syrians on one of their
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raids had taken a young girl captive from the land of Israel.
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We just read it and go on. But already you know some
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details about her life. Think of how horrific it's been.
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Imagine a young girl, maybe 6 or seven years old, ripped away
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from her family. Maybe she even saw her parents
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killed. Now she's serving as a slave in
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Naaman's household. I don't know about you, but if I
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were this young girl and I heard that Naaman had leprosy, I'd say
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good. I hope to flesh rots.
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But she doesn't. She's what we might call a
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suffering servant. She intercedes to heal those who
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have hurt her. The young girl forgives those
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who wronged. She reminds US of Christ who
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said Father forgive them, for they know not what they do.
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Jesus Christ, love and forgiveness are extended to all.
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No matter who you are, no matter what you've done, Jesus Christ
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is in relentless pursuit of you. Now, the next miracle we're just
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going to talk about briefly, because in a way, it's kind of a
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small miracle. Nobody's died.
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There's no food to multiply, no serious diseases, no opposing
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army. We read as one was felling a
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log. His axe head fell into the
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water. He cried out.
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A last master. It was borrowed.
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My guess is we've all been there.
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We've lost something. You've lost your wallet, you've
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lost your keys. You lost your phone.
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You pray, but you might also wonder, I shouldn't even pray
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about this. Like this is such a small thing.
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Will God even care? Now?
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Maybe in this case it wasn't a small thing.
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A borrowed act said could have been very valuable.
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But I love that it doesn't matter whether it's a small
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thing or a big thing we read. Where did it fall?
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Elisha asked. When the man showed Elisha the
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place, Elisha cut off a stick and threw it in there and made
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the iron float. Elisha said pick it up.
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So the man reached out his hand and took it.
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You've had what we might call a small prayer answered.
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To me, this reminds me, especially seeing it juxtaposed
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with a miracle like raising the dead.
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It can be big thing, it can be a small thing, but if it matters
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to you, it matters to God. Whatever you've lost, there's
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nothing too big, nothing too small for the Savior.
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Let's turn to one final miracle in army of angels.
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At this part in the story, the king of Syria keeps trying to
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attack the king of Israel. But every time he makes a plan
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to attack, Elisha gets a revelation about it and he warns
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the king of Israel. But the king of Syria doesn't
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know that. He thinks that maybe one of his
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men is a spy who's warning the king of Israel.
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But then one of his officers says, no one is betraying you,
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my Lord king. It's Elisha, the prophet in
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Israel who tells the king of Israel the words that you speak
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in bedchamber. So the king sends his army to go
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and capture Elisha. At the time, Elisha was in a
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village called Dothan. So the army surrounds Dothan and
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when Elisha's servant wakes up and sees the surrounding army,
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he's terrified. He says to Elisha, alas, master,
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what shall we do? Elisha replied, Fear not, for
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they that be with us are more than they that be with them.
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Just let the power of those words rest in your heart for a
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moment. These two individuals surrounded
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by an army, and yet they have the advantage.
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Elisha prayed. O Lord, please open his eyes
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that he may see. So the Lord opened the eyes of
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the servant, and he saw the mountain was full of horses and
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Chariots of fire all around. Elisha, I hope that the next
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time you or I feel alone that we'll remember this story.
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They that be with us are more than they that be with them.
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These words are true for you and me.
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Now, this is normally where we end the story.
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In fact, I'm curious how many of you right now know how the story
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ends? We usually just hear this and we
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think that was a great story. Awesome.
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There's actually a surprised twist to this story at the end.
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We'll finish the story in just a moment.
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But first, let's just step back and see a bigger picture.
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Consider how in each of these miracles that Elisha has
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performed, we've seen a foreshadowing of Jesus Christ.
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Is there a lack of water? Jesus quenches thirst.
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He feeds multitudes. He raises the dead, He heals the
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unclean, He recovers what is lost.
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Now how about this final story? How do we see Christ in it?
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We read when the Syrians came down against him, Elisha prayed
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to the Lord and said, Strike this people, please with
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blindness. So he struck them with
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blindness, as Elisha had asked. Elisha said to the Syrian Army,
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This is not the way. This is not the city.
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Follow me and I will bring you to the man whom you seek.
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And he led them to Samaria. Samaria is the capital of
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Israel. So Elisha has led the opposing
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army right into the heart of Israelite territory.
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Now the Syrians are surrounded. Now consider it.
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The Syrians have been attacking the Israelites numerous times.
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Now they are helpless before the Israelites.
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When the king of Israel saw the Syrian Army, he said to Elisha,
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Father, shall I strike them? What do you think?
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Elisha will say? We're tempted to think, of
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course, yes, get the revenge. But no, Elisha answered, Set
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food and water before them, so they may eat and drink and let
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them go to their master. So they feed the opposing army.
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And what's the result? The Syrians no longer came
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raiding into the land of Israel. Think about that.
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A radical act of grace and mercy transformed the Syrian Army.
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It accomplished what war had never done.
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Elisha foreshadows Christ. He gives grace to those who
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don't deserve it. Remember what the apostle Paul
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taught. God proves his love for us in
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that while we still were sinners, Christ died for us.
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When we see this, when we see Christ's incredible act of mercy
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in coming to atone for our sins, it changes us.
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That's what gives us the strength to dig a ditch.
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That's what gives us the strength to bring our loaves and
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when we truly can feel Jesus Christ atonement deep in our
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hearts, that's what gives us the ability to say honestly it is
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well.