2 Kings Chapter
2:1-15
Prepared For
Power
The Promise Of Power
At the close of His earthly ministry, Jesus gathered
His disciples around Him and told them that it was necessary that He leave so
that another comforter could be given.
Nevertheless
I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not
go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to
you.
A) Jesus was
quite a comforter. He’s the kind of guy that you wanted around at all times.
B) Violent storm at Sea – He could still the wind and
the waves
C) If you
were having a party and ran out of food
Great
comfort to have Jesus there
1)
He could take
some fish and bread & multiply it!
D) Short on money for Taxes – Go fishing – money in
the fish’s mouth
Jesus IS a comforter, but He declared that
it was EXPEDIENT for Him to leave so
that He could send ANOTHER comforter. WHY?
A) Because while He was with the disciples on earth He
was physically limited to being at one place at one time.
B) He knew
that His Church would grow & expand & thus require His comfort in more
than one place at one time.
C) So He
promises to send ANOTHER.... one just like Him, only having no body.
1) That is the Holy Spirit.
D) By His Holy
Spirit Jesus is with us right now
1) But also
in SD /
E) By the presence of the Holy Spirit people are experiencing
the comfort of the Lord around the world.
Power From On High
A) After
Jesus died on the cross, and then rose from the grave (validating His claims to
be the Son of God and the Savior of the world),
B) He
appeared to His disciples again.
1) The disciples were huddled together in a room for
fear that they would be next to die.
Then,
the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were
shut where the disciples were assembled, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and
stood in the midst, and said to them, "Peace be with you." 20 When He had said this, He showed them His
hands and His side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord.
21
So Jesus said to them again, "Peace to you! As the Father has sent Me, I
also send you." 22 And when He had
said this, He breathed on them, and said to them, "Receive the Holy
Spirit.
B) At that time, the these men received
the Holy Spirit and were regenerated.
1) They were
BORN AGAIN
C) At that
moment, these men had the Holy Spirit, but the Holy Spirit did NOT have them
D) SO in a few
days Jesus would tell them to WAIT in
1) AFTER
Jesus gave the command to WAIT for
this empowering He ascended into heaven.
E) Ten days after Jesus ascended into heaven this
group of fearful men received the EMPOWERING of the Holy Spirit and turned the
world upside down.
Pattern we see in the Word
A) The Bible reveals that the success of God’s work
always has, and always will
depend upon the power of the Holy Spirit coming upon His people.
B) We see a
picture of that principle in our story today!
Elisha: Empowered By
The Spirit
A) We first
met Elisha in
B) As the end of Elijah’s ministry was approaching the
Lord led Elijah to disciple a man named
Elisha.
C) Elijah cast his mantle upon Elisha, signifying that
Elisha would follow in the ministry of Elijah
1) It was there
that Elisha was called – he spends the next 6yrs assisting Elijah.
D) For six yrs
Elisha was able to observe this mighty man of God up-close
& personal.
1) Elisha recognized that the secret to Elijah’s
ministry was the power of the Holy Spirit.
E) Elijah is
now ready to be taken up and he asks his protégé what he would like.
1) Elisha asks that a double portion of the spirit
that was on Elijah – would be on Him
A Key To Receiving Power
A) Elijah’s
response holds a key principle concerning the receiving of power from the Holy
Spirit
10 So he said, "You have asked a hard thing.
Nevertheless, if you see me when I am taken from you, it shall be so for you;
but if not, it shall not be so."
B)
Paraphrase: “Elisha
Keep your eyes on the master.”
1) If your eyes are on the master you will receive
that anointing that you are desiring.
C) Jesus said a
similar thing in
1) For
without me you can do nothing
D) Flip side
– is with Him we can do anything
1) At the
park Thursday: All the trees / shapes / sizes colors – One thing in common –
Planted same soil.
So Elijah says if you see me when I am
taken it will happen
A)NOTE:
Before Elijah ever made this statement, he wisely took his protégé through a
series of tests
B) He takes
Elisha through four cities and in each of
these cities
Elijah says: “Stay here, I’ll be back”.
C) And in each of these cities Elisha says; “No way...
I know that the hour of your departure is at hand and I am NOT going to let you
out of my sight”.
Now here is what I want you to see – Each
of these four cities that Elisha was taken to represent to us
four points of preparation that preceded
Elisha’s empowering by the Spirit.
A) Each stop
represented a significant place in
B) The Holy Spirit has recorded for us these four points
of preparation that lead us to the place of not only having the Holy Spirit,
but the Holy Spirit having us.
C) That is
what we truly desire, for that is when we become radical and powerful witnesses
for Jesus.
D) Let’s examine these places where Elisha was Prepared For Power
Stop
#1 GILGAL The
Place Of Purification
A) The
children of
B) God raised
up a deliverer in the person of Moses.
1) Plagues /
C) 40 yrs of wandering - Whole first Generation died
off in the Desert
D) Joshua
was to lead the new Generation into the
When that new generation was raised up they
were permitted to cross over into the Promised Land.
A) The first
place that they came to was Gilgal.
B) The Lord
told them to STOP at Gilgal.
1) Something
they needed to do.
C) Before
they entered into any battles, or laid claim to any of the land, they were to
be circumcised.
1) You see, this entire generation of Israelites had
grown up in the wilderness without being circumcised.
D) Circumcision speaks of the putting
off the flesh.
The Bible speaks of 3 areas of our lives where we need
to be circumcised
1.) Our ears
(Jer. 6:10;
2.) Our lips (Ex. 6:12)
- What we say.
3.) Our heart
(Deut. 10:16) - How we love.
If we are not careful we can get to the
point where these areas are hardened and carnal.
A) We can
get to the place where the hearing of the Word of God is affected.... it bores
us.
B) The words
that we speak are no longer edifying, but cynical, doubtful, quenching.
C) The heart
is no longer tender towards Jesus nor full of love for man.
Gilgal teaches us that there is a need to
be Emptied Before we are Filled
A)The FIRST
point of preparation was Gilgal.....
The cutting away of the flesh.
B) was it
PAINFUL? Yes. But it was NEEDFUL.
APPLICATION:
IF I am going to FILLED with the Spirit, THEN the Lord is going to work to
EMPTY me of my flesh.
C) There are
too many people who are preoccupied with being filled when in reality they need
to be emptied.
D) Because the
flesh has grown over areas that were once tender and sensitive to the Spirit.
Stop #2
A)Isaac had
two twin sons – Jacob and Esau
B) Esau came
out first – Jacob 2nd with his hand attached to Esau’s heel – “come back” get in here
C) The name
Jacob means heel catcher – conniver
1) The mark
of his life
D) Tricks
Esau into giving him the birthright and then he proceeds to steal the blessing
1) Esau is
ticked – Jacob runs for his life – Stops that night – Rock for a pillow
That night God revealed Himself to Jacob.
When he awoke the next morning Jacob declared: Surely the LORD is in this place; and I knew it not.
A) Why
didn’t Jacob know that?
B) First of
all, it was a desolate and barren place.
1) A place you wouldn’t expect God to Be!
B) 2nd
Jacob was in a bad place inwardly.
1) He was conniving and deceiving. Certainly God
wouldn’t be around a man like that.
C) But he
woke up the next morning and said:
God IS in this place.
1) And he named the place
Application
A) Maybe you
feel like Jacob today.
B) You look at the circumstances of your life and feel
like the Lord might want to bless the person behind you, 1) or give a double
portion of His Spirit to the person in front of you... But
He wouldn’t want to do that for me.
C) You might
feel like you are in a wasted place..... you’ve wasted your time, your energy
& your life.
1) You need to realize that the Lord wants to bless
YOU today.
D) You need to
come to that place of realization today
Realize God is in this place – He is with
you – His heart is toward you today.
13 If you then, being evil, know how to
give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give
the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!"
Stop #3
A)After
Gilgal – cutting away the flesh – first battle
Was against
B)
1) Falls
down and worships – Submits himself
C) Crazy
battle plan {March 6 days - / 7th day 6 times {Shout - ……………
D) The Lord
was saying to Joshua – will you allow me to lead
– will you submit to my plan
1) However
unrealistic it might seem
E) The power
of God would only be displayed if Joshua and
The Purpose Of God’s
Power
A) The Lord
does Not give to us the power of the Spirit so that we can have a holy high, or
to make us happy.
B) The power
of the Spirit is given to us for the purpose of service
and warfare.
But you shall
receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be
witnesses to Me in
C) We are to
take on Jerichos and reach out to people who are walled in from the love of God
1) Over come
strong holds in the power of the spirit.
D)
That means we have to be a people who are submitted to God’s plan & God’s
will
1) We are
willing and open vessels for Him to work in and thru
E) He says
Go we go – He says share we share – He says do we do
1) Believing
that in that moment and act of submission God will meet us with his power!
Stop #4
A) At the
end of the 40 yrs of wandering in the wilderness – the new Generation comes to
the doorway of the Promise land
B) Major
Obstacle –
1) How would
they cross?
C)
Interesting that their elders in the first Generation came to a similar cross
road –
1) There God
– said to Moses – stretch out your staff and
I will part the waters
D) This time
God chooses a different method
Priest bearing the ark- get their feet wet!
A) Believing
that as soon as they stepped into the water it was going to part
B) Step out
in faith – with an expectation that God was going to work
1) So As the put their feet into the water they expected
the waters to part.
C) They
didn’t stand on the edge of the banks & say: “Lord, you part
the waters and then we’ll see if we feel like stepping in.”
D) They
stepped in FIRST and then they experienced the parting of the waters.
We remember the story of Naaman (2 Kings
5:1), the captain of the armies of
A) He was a
mighty soldier but he was dying of leprosy.
B) He too
found the
Read
C) He was
reluctant to dip in the
1) Expecting
God To Deliver him!
IF you are desiring to be baptized with the
Holy Spirit, THEN you must come to the place of expectation.
A) You must
come to the place of saying: “Yes Lord, I’m putting my feet in the water”.
B) You must come to the place of saying: “yes Lord,
I’ll dip seven times if necessary.”
C) The All
Important Element Of Faith
1) Expecting God to fill and empower is what is needed to
receive from God.
But
without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must
believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.
Do you believe that God is desiring to give
you power from on high? Empower your walk / Service / War
A) IF you
do, THEN you will come to Him EXPECTING Him to
deliver.
B) Now one
more thing we want to see and then we will be done – Back to
C) Take note
that at every step of the way Elijah
asked Elisha: “Are you sure you want to keep going? Why
don’t you just stay here?”
D) There
were even sons of the prophets who
tried to discourage Elisha.
You know what there are still those who try to
discourage believers from letting the Holy Spirit
have more and more of their life.
A)Fanatical
B) Follow
this program
C) Program
but no power
Power of God for a new year ?
Ask the Lord to take YOU to
1.) Gilgal - The place of purification {Flesh &
Sin – Cut away
2.)
3.)
4.)
Step out in faith at the command of God!