Guest Speaker - Daniel Thompson
Don't Delay - Act Now! A Call For Obedience (2 Kings 7:1-20)
- What's the WORST THAT COULD HAPPEN? (2 Kings 7:3-5)
- GOOD NEWS Must be SHARED (2 Kings 7:5-10)
- TRUST God or Miss the BLESSING (2 Kings 7:16-20)
Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!
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Pastor Jeff:
00:42-00:45
This morning as Dan Thompson. Dan, would you make your way up here?
Pastor Jeff:
00:45-00:47
Don't welcome him yet, okay?
Pastor Jeff:
00:48-00:49
We're all going to do that at the same time.
Pastor Jeff:
00:50-01:13
But Dan and Alicia have been part of this church since before day one, and they serve faithfully in Arrow, which is our student ministry. They are youth group leaders. You work in the AV ministry, Alicia in the prayer ministry, and is there anything around here you guys are not involved in? And, you know, there church over the last couple of years, haven't there, Dan?
Pastor Jeff:
01:13-01:13
Oh yeah,
Dan:
01:14-01:14
absolutely.
Pastor Jeff:
01:14-01:22
And, you know, I was walking down memory lane looking at what the Lord's been doing in our church here, especially these last few weeks.
Pastor Jeff:
01:22-01:30
I remember when we were meeting at the chiropractor's office, and you remember we had enough money to buy the trailer.
Pastor Jeff:
01:30-01:34
And all we owned as a church, and some of you remember this, all we owned as a church was the trailer.
Pastor Jeff:
01:34-02:29
We didn't have anything to put in it, but we had, it was like $1,200 or something for this trailer because we were doing the church in the box thing at the middle school and we had a trailer. That was it. We're meeting at the chiropractor's office. They were so gracious to let us meet there. And you remember that day, Dan, that they pulled the trailer in. We're all standing in the parking lot, huddled around this empty trailer, and we were like, "Thank you, God, for this empty trailer!" And we were just so thankful, rightfully so. Absolutely. So thankful because we knew that God was going to fill it. And a lot has has changed in our church over the last couple of years, but one thing that hasn't changed and one thing that will never change is our commitment to the Word of God, which is why I couldn't think of a better guy to kick off this exciting new chapter in the Life of Harvest Bible Chapel. So I would say get your Bibles and get ready to let God change you. Now, give a warm welcome to Dan Thompson.
Dan:
02:30-03:31
Thank you, Pastor Jeff. I do want to express my thanks to Pastor Jeff and the elders for asking me to preach again, and especially for being the one to kick us off in this new space. It is a huge privilege. And it's pretty amazing, as Pastor Jeff just outlined, what God has done in such a short period of time. But I have to be honest, I've been pretty nervous leading up to this, but not for the reasons you might think. Because I'm speaking up here, I am totally useless to the AV team in the back, which is kind of a little bit scary for me as the person who's been involved with AV for such a long period in time, on Sunday to be back. But even still, it is truly a great honor to be here with you today. I'm so glad to be part of this church that God is so clearly moving in and that God is moving in and through us. And so let's look at the Word together, but let me open us with a word of prayer. Father God, I pray Lord that your words would be heard today. That you would remove the distractions. The distractions in this room, the distractions in our mind, God.
Dan:
03:31-03:50
the distractions in our heart, God, that prevent us from hearing. I pray that you would use this time to cause us to trust you more and to obey your word. Thank you for this time. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen. So whether we were willing to admit it or not, everybody loves infomercials.
Dan:
03:50-05:42
You have the super convenient products like the Snuggie or the George Foreman Grill or OxiClean or Ronco Showtime rotisserie, set it and forget it. Right, that's right. Then there's the merchandise that can actually change your life from Proactiv to P90X, from the Clapper to the Bowflex, not available in stores. And my personal favorite are the absolutely absurd things like the Chia Pet or the ShamWow or the ever popular Shake Weight, each one with a money back guarantee. And on all those, you probably will need to use that money back guarantee. So why is it that we get sucked into these quagmires of marketing on those late nights? What is it about them that renders us paralyzed to change the channel on lazy Saturday mornings? Well, there's definitely a science behind all of it. But for the purposes of our time today, I am proposing that at least one of the reasons that infomercials work is that they promise immediate results and insist that you must act now. Deep down inside of us, each one of us is looking for a call to action. The call to action that I am raising for us today is that we should seek to obey God as often and as quickly as we can. I titled this sermon "Don't Delay, Act Now" and to demonstrate just a few reasons that we should strive for prompt obedience, we are going to look at 2 Kings 7. So open your Bibles with me to 2 Kings 7. And since that's a weird passage, I've got to probably give you a little bit of background on that. I figured in my other times preaching in the church. I preached on Romans 5, pretty basic, Genesis 3, all relatively understandable passages. This one's a little bit weirder. But the books of 1st and 2nd Kings are history books. They describe a time when God's people had kings. They begin with the end of David's reign, detail all of Solomon's reign, and then cover when the kingdom split in two.
Dan:
05:43-05:54
The northern kingdom was Israel, which eventually became the Samaritans, and the southern kingdom was Judah. And 2 Kings, that book ends after both kingdoms have gone into exile of their enemies.
Dan:
05:54-06:02
And not surprising from the name, these books focus on the kings of those two nations, most of whom are described as having done evil in the sight of the Lord.
Dan:
06:03-06:14
Our text picks up around 850 years before Christ, and we are in the reigns of Jehoram in the northern kingdom, Israel, and conveniently, a different Jehoram, in the south, in Judah.
Dan:
06:14-06:24
Well, these homonym kings may not ring any bells for most of us, but it may help to know that the northern Jehoram was the son of the infamous King Ahab and Queen Jezebel.
Dan:
06:24-06:30
We know a lot about these two wicked monarchs because of their interaction with God's mighty prophet, Elijah.
Dan:
06:30-06:40
In addition to miracles, Elijah brought the typical message of repentance to the northern kingdom of Israel, and he was hated by Ahab and Jezebel for it.
Dan:
06:40-06:55
But by the time our story starts, Ahab has been killed in battle by a random arrow, Elijah has already been charioted up into heaven, and Jezebel was anxiously awaiting the fulfillment of the prophecy that she would be eaten by dogs because of her evil decision making.
Dan:
06:55-06:59
So Elisha, with an "sh", is now the prophet on the scene.
Dan:
06:59-07:02
He was the protege of Elijah with a "j".
Dan:
07:02-07:06
Before his mentor ascended on high, he asked for a double portion of miracles.
Dan:
07:07-07:08
and eventually he gets exactly that.
Dan:
07:08-07:11
Twice as many miracles as Elijah, which is saying something.
Dan:
07:12-07:19
We pick up in chapter seven with Elisha and Jehoram, the northern king, in Samaria, which is the capital city of Israel.
Dan:
07:20-07:22
And it was literally under siege by the Syrians.
Dan:
07:23-07:27
As a result of the siege, this city is in the midst of a great famine.
Dan:
07:27-07:33
It was actually so bad that for food, the going rate for a head of a donkey, mm, appetizing, right?
Dan:
07:34-08:02
The going rate for a head of a donkey two pounds of silver. You just carry that in your back pocket, right? So that's a pretty terrible situation. And like his predecessor, Elisha wasn't typically winning friends or influencing people. In the previous chapter, the king actually cursed himself saying that he would be eaten for food if he didn't kill Elisha that day. Well, neither side of that promise actually happened. But all that is to say that by this point, when we pick up in our story, the people have given up hope of this siege ending. They just all think they're going to die.
Dan:
08:02-08:08
So with all that as introduction, let me ask Alexa to come and read this chapter for us because you're going to hear enough from me.
Speaker 3:
08:09-08:11
"Aleisha replied, 'Hear the word of the Lord.
Speaker 3:
08:11-08:12
This is what the Lord says.
Speaker 3:
08:12-08:35
About this time tomorrow, a say of the finest flower will sell for a shekel, and two say as of barley for a shekel at the gate of Samaria.' The officer on whose arm the king was leaning said to the man of God, 'Look, even if the Lord should have opened the gates of the heavens, could this happen?' 'You will see it with your own eyes,' answered Aleisha, 'but you will not eat any of it.' Now there were four men with leprosy at the entrance of the city gate.
Speaker 3:
08:35-08:37
They said to each other, "Why stay here until we die?
Speaker 3:
08:38-08:41
If we say we'll go into the city, the famine is there, and we will die.
Speaker 3:
08:41-08:43
And if we stay here, we will die.
Speaker 3:
08:43-08:46
So let's go over to the camp of the Arameans and surrender.
Speaker 3:
08:46-08:48
If they spare us, we will live.
Speaker 3:
08:48-08:52
If they kill us, then we will die." At dusk they got up and went to the camp of the Arameans.
Speaker 3:
08:53-09:01
When they reached the edge of the camp, no one was there, for the Lord had caused the Arameans to hear the sound of chariots and horses and a great army, so that they said to one another, "Look!
Speaker 3:
09:02-09:05
The king of Israel has hired the Hittite and Egyptian kings to attack us.
Speaker 3:
09:05-09:10
So they got up and fled in the dusk and abandoned their tents and their horses and donkeys.
Speaker 3:
09:10-09:12
They left the camp as it was and ran for their lives.
Speaker 3:
09:13-09:17
The men who had leprosy reached the edge of the camp, entered one of the tents and ate and drank.
Speaker 3:
09:17-09:21
Then they took silver, gold, and clothes and went off and hid them.
Speaker 3:
09:21-09:25
Then they returned and entered another tent and took some things from it and hid them also.
Speaker 3:
09:26-09:29
Then they said to each other, 'What we are doing is not right.
Speaker 3:
09:29-09:32
This is a day of good news and we are keeping it to ourselves.
Speaker 3:
09:32-09:35
If we wait until daylight, punishment will overtake us.
Speaker 3:
09:35-09:41
Let's go at once and report this to the royal palace." So they went and called out to the city gatekeepers and told them.
Speaker 3:
09:41-09:49
We went into the Aramean camp and no one was there, not a sound of anyone, only tethered horses and donkeys and the tents left just as they were.
Speaker 3:
09:49-09:52
The gatekeepers shouted the news and it was reported within the palace.
Speaker 3:
09:52-09:57
The king got up in the night and said to his officers, "I will tell you what the Arameans have done to us.
Speaker 3:
09:58-10:05
They know we are starving, so they have left the camp to hide in the countryside, thinking, they will surely come out, and then we will take them alive and get into the city.
Speaker 3:
10:06-10:10
One of the officers answered, 'Make some men take five of the horses that are left in the city.
Speaker 3:
10:10-10:14
Their plight will be like that of all the Israelites left here.
Speaker 3:
10:15-10:18
Yes, they will only be like all these Israelites who are doomed.
Speaker 3:
10:19-10:25
So let us send them to find out what happened.' So they selected two chariots with their horses, and the king sent them after the Aramean army.
Speaker 3:
10:26-10:36
He commanded the drivers, "Go and find out what had happened." They followed them as far as the Jordan, and they found the whole road strewn with the clothing and equipment the Arameans had thrown away in their headlong flight.
Speaker 3:
10:37-10:39
So the messengers returned and reported to the king.
Speaker 3:
10:39-10:42
Then the people went out and plundered the camp of the Arameans.
Speaker 3:
10:43-10:48
So a say of the finest flowers sold for a shekel, and the two say of barley sold for the shekel, as the Lord had said.
Speaker 3:
10:49-10:59
Now the king had put the officer on whose arm he leaned in charge of the gate, and the The people trampled him in the gateway, and he died just as the man of God had foretold when the king came down to his house.
Speaker 3:
11:00-11:23
It happened as the man of God had said to the king, 'About this time tomorrow, a say of the finest flower will sell for a shekel, and two sayers of barley for a shekel at the gate of Samaria.' The officer had said to the man of God, 'Even if the Lord should open the floodgates of the heavens, could this happen?' The man of God had replied, 'You will see it with your own eyes, but you will not eat any of it.' And this is exactly what happened to him, for the people trampled him in the gateway, Thanks,
Dan:
11:23-11:38
Alexa. That's a mouthful, right? That's one of those passages that you're like, "Did I ever read that before?" And with history, it's sometimes difficult to figure out, "Why did God record this?" But this passage does have examples of things that we should do and some things that we shouldn't do.
Dan:
11:38-11:45
The text begins with a promise. If we look back at verse 1, now she read from the NIV, I'll read from the ESV, so there will be some differences.
Dan:
11:45-11:54
But Elisha said, "Hear the word of the Lord. Thus says the Lord, 'Tomorrow about this time, a sea of fine flour shall be sold for a shekel.'" And he goes on.
Dan:
11:55-12:11
So since we're not experts in ancient currency, Elisha actually prophesied that there was going to be food available at a discounted price, right? Food so abundant that it actually could be sold cheaper than it normally would be. We just talked about how bad the famine was, right?
Dan:
12:11-12:15
So Elisha actually was prophesying that the famine was going to be over by tomorrow.
Dan:
12:16-12:21
Not only that the siege would be lifted, but that food would be so abundant, as I said, that it would be sold at a discounted price.
Dan:
12:21-12:24
This is not the way a siege typically ends, right?
Dan:
12:25-12:45
If the enemy should decide that they're done with the siege, right, they would leave, and then you would go out, you'd restore the fields, wait for the crops to grow, and eventually you'd have food again, but nothing was going to happen by tomorrow, let alone discounted flour. So what Elisha is promising here is a miracle from God.
Dan:
12:46-13:04
So it's not surprising then in verse 2 when we see some doubt from the king's advisor, that guy who's referred to as the captain on whom whose hand the king leaned. But we'll get back to him later. Here's where we get our first reason to act now. What's the worst that can happen? We pick up with the main characters of our story here. Look in verses 3 and 4 again.
Dan:
13:04-13:08
Now, there were four men who were lepers at the entrance to the gate.
Dan:
13:08-13:11
They said to one another, "Why are we sitting here till we die?
Dan:
13:11-13:17
If we say, 'Let us enter the city,' the famine is in the city, and we shall die there. If we sit here, we'll die here.
Dan:
13:18-13:20
So now let us go over to the camp of the Syrians or the Arameans.
Dan:
13:21-13:28
If they spare our lives, we shall live. If they kill us, we shall but die." These guys are in one of those moments of true clarity.
Dan:
13:29-13:35
Given their choices, the only real option that isn't guaranteed death is going and asking their enemies for help.
Dan:
13:36-13:43
Now, devoid of the context of their situation, asking your besieging enemies to give you some food doesn't sound like all that great of an idea.
Dan:
13:43-13:53
But when they assess the situation fully, they realize that in crossing enemy lines, the worst thing that can happen to them, well, they're gonna die, which is going to happen to them if they do nothing.
Dan:
13:54-13:55
And the best case scenario is that they live.
Dan:
13:56-14:00
That makes it a really easy choice to do something that on the surface sounds really hard.
Dan:
14:01-14:02
Well, how's this related to obedience?
Dan:
14:02-14:04
First, what is obedience?
Dan:
14:04-14:07
Well, obedience is a willingness to submit to the authority of God.
Dan:
14:08-14:15
And sometimes, maybe even a lot of times, when God asks us to do something or to not do something, it doesn't sound like all that great of an idea.
Dan:
14:16-14:21
But these lepers remind us that if you assess the totality of what's going on, the choice becomes a lot easier to make.
Dan:
14:21-14:22
We all struggle with obeying God.
Dan:
14:23-14:26
I get that, because God asks us to do some pretty hard things.
Dan:
14:26-14:29
He commands us to admit that we are sinners in desperate need of a Savior.
Dan:
14:30-14:32
What an attack on my pride and my self-reliance.
Dan:
14:32-14:35
He desires that we put others first and die to ourselves.
Dan:
14:36-14:37
What about me and my needs?
Dan:
14:38-14:42
He calls us to live a life of purity in a totally impure and debaucherous world.
Dan:
14:43-14:44
Why can't I join in on all that fun?
Dan:
14:45-14:53
He wants us to be a bold light in an increasingly darkening domain and to speak out for what is right among those who love what is wrong.
Dan:
14:53-14:54
What will people think of me?
Dan:
14:54-14:56
And who am I to tell others that they're wrong?
Dan:
14:56-14:58
These are impossible asks of God.
Dan:
14:59-15:02
But look, in our broken world, we are sinners destined to die.
Dan:
15:03-15:04
If we do nothing, we will still die.
Dan:
15:05-15:06
If we live for ourselves, we still die.
Dan:
15:07-15:10
If we try to be good people without including God, we still die.
Dan:
15:10-15:15
So why are we resistant to obeying God, who offers so many promises of blessing, when we do obey Him?
Dan:
15:15-15:19
The worst thing that anyone can do to us is to cause us to die.
Dan:
15:19-15:22
And if we are believers in Christ, that sends us directly to heaven.
Dan:
15:22-15:23
That's not even that bad.
Dan:
15:23-15:27
Matthew 10, 28 says, "And do not fear those who kill the body, but cannot kill the soul.
Dan:
15:27-15:30
rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.
Dan:
15:31-15:40
When considering whether to obey God or not, act now by asking yourself, "What's the worst that could happen?" But most of our decisions to obey God don't come down to life and death decisions, right?
Dan:
15:40-15:44
So we don't always have that logical clarity that these lepers have of life versus death.
Dan:
15:44-15:49
Most of our decisions are good versus bad or good versus best.
Dan:
15:49-15:54
For these, I think it helps to take any aspect of God's character and add it into the equation.
Dan:
15:54-15:55
Start with his love.
Dan:
15:56-16:01
Romans says, I think we have it up there, "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?
Dan:
16:01-16:07
Shall tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?
Dan:
16:07-16:10
As it is written, for your sake, we are being killed all the day long.
Dan:
16:10-16:13
We are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.
Dan:
16:13-16:17
No, in all these things, we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.
Dan:
16:17-16:30
For I am sure that neither death nor life nor angels nor rulers nor things present nor things to come nor powers nor height nor depth nor anything else in all of creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus, our Lord.
Dan:
16:31-16:36
God's perfect, sacrificial, and protective love is certainly more than enough reason to trust Him.
Dan:
16:36-16:39
His commandments are for our benefit because He loves us.
Dan:
16:40-16:43
No one can stand against us when we obey Him because He loves us.
Dan:
16:43-16:44
What about His wisdom?
Dan:
16:44-16:50
Proverbs says, "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom." God literally created everything out of nothing in the universe.
Dan:
16:50-17:53
And you want to call into question His decision-making abilities as to whether He's capable of being trusted or not? And we could go on and on and look at his justice, his power, his mercy, his holiness. But it comes down to two options. Obey the sound of broken, sinful man, both deceptive and deceived, finite and powerless, or obey the voice of a perfect and holy creator of all things, both loving and lovable, infinite and all-powerful. The choice to act now and to do the hard things that God calls us to do becomes much easier when we consider what's the worst that can happen. In our story here in 2 Kings, that's what the lepers did. So they went to the camp of their enemies and this is where we find our second reason to act now. Good news must be shared. These lepers were greatly rewarded for their decision to act now. They went to seek help from the Syrians but they find that their enemies have actually left overnight and the Bible tells us why. In verse 6 it says, "They thought they heard the sound of armies and fled." But there were no actual armies out there. Kind of reminds me of the first half of Proverbs 28.1, the wicked flee when no one pursues, which we talked a lot about before.
Dan:
17:53-17:57
Our friends find that the enemies have left and they're cashing in on the spoils.
Dan:
17:57-18:01
But eventually they come to their senses and realize the second reason to act now.
Dan:
18:02-18:04
Good news must be shared.
Dan:
18:04-18:05
Look back at verse 9.
Dan:
18:06-18:07
They said to one another, "We are not doing right.
Dan:
18:08-18:10
This day is a day of good news.
Dan:
18:10-18:14
If we are silent and wait until morning, punishment will overtake us.
Dan:
18:14-18:30
Now therefore, let us go and tell the king's household." Proverbs 15.30 says, "Good news refreshes the bones." And in 25.25, it says, "Like cold water to a thirsty soul, so is good news from a far country." Think about how good news works in your own life.
Dan:
18:31-18:33
When you get that promotion, what makes it sweeter?
Dan:
18:33-18:37
When your kid says that hilarious thing, how do you get the deepest laughs?
Dan:
18:37-18:40
When you get that good report back from the doctor, do you keep that to yourself?
Dan:
18:40-18:43
No, good news is better when it is shared.
Dan:
18:43-18:46
And when we are the bearers of that good news, then we're better off for it.
Dan:
18:47-18:57
for sharing it. We live in a world based upon the principle of sharing. Take breathing as an example. With every breath, we exhale carbon dioxide and we share that with the plants.
Dan:
18:57-19:02
And likewise, plants share oxygen with us in return. Well, you don't have to share.
Dan:
19:02-19:09
You could choose to put a bag over your head and selfishly keep all the carbon dioxide for yourself, but all you'd be doing is proving that the wages of sin is death.
Dan:
19:10-19:21
In all the ways that we are called to obey God, there is a theme that is prominent. God yourself and share with those in need. Go make disciples by sharing the good news.
Dan:
19:22-19:37
We need to understand that the reason that God blesses us is so that we can share with others, spiritually, physically, whatever blessings that we have received. So, act now in obeying God, because the good news must be shared. The lepers did this, and they sent a report back to the king.
Dan:
19:38-20:07
And the king's response is funny to me. Look at verse 12 again. "And the king arose in the night and said to his servants, 'I will tell you what the Syrians have done to us. They know we are hungry and therefore they have gone out of the camp to hide themselves in open country thinking when they come out of the city we shall take them alive and get into the city." Remember, literally hours before, Elisha has promised that God is going to supernaturally end this siege, right? So when he actually sees, hears the good news, what's his response? Doubt.
Dan:
20:07-20:16
Complete conspiracy theory, in fact. It sounds crazy. He believes the whole thing is a trap, But thankfully, at least somebody's able to convince him that maybe we should check this thing out.
Dan:
20:16-20:21
And just like those infomercials, this sermon has an added bonus thrown in for free.
Dan:
20:21-20:24
I'll have an extra sub point. That is, doubt only wastes time.
Dan:
20:25-20:33
Instead of immediately rejoicing in the miracle that God provided, the king's doubt keeps the entire city locked up for a couple of hours.
Dan:
20:33-21:15
Those people are facing starvation. Like, being locked up for 10 minutes when you're hungry is torture. To be locked up for hours whenever you are starving is almost unbearable. So doubt really just wastes time and ultimately sometimes it can lead to disobedience. So here's three doubt signs that you're about to not obey. First doubt sign, you can't do the math. If we go back to verse 2, remember what the king's advisor said. He couldn't understand the promise of the siege ending and this abundance of food and how that was all going to add up. But remember, God is better at math than If you always need to understand the details of how God is going to work things out, then you're in danger of not obeying.
Dan:
21:15-21:18
Second doubt sign that you're about to not obey is you forget the past.
Dan:
21:18-21:24
The Jews had a history of God literally providing bread from heaven for them to sustain them for over 40 years.
Dan:
21:24-21:32
So in verse 2, when the king's advisor said that, "How could God do this even if he opened a window in heaven?" Did that whole manna thing escape him? He forgot all about that?
Dan:
21:32-21:40
As another example, as I just mentioned, the king heard Elijah's promise of the miracle only hours before, and yet when it's actually happening, he can't remember the past.
Dan:
21:41-21:43
So if you forget the past, then you're in danger of not obeying.
Dan:
21:44-21:48
And the last doubt sign that you're about to not obey is that you need to see it to believe it.
Dan:
21:48-21:51
The king was only able to open the city after he saw the proof.
Dan:
21:51-21:58
And I do acknowledge that there are times when we find ourselves needing confirmation from God about decisions that we need to make.
Dan:
21:59-22:01
But typically, obedience is not one of those things.
Dan:
22:02-22:09
If God said to do something or to not do something, then you don't need any further confirmation. You don't need to pray about that. Just do it.
Dan:
22:09-22:14
Just do what he says. So, if you need to see it to believe it, you are in danger of not obeying.
Dan:
22:15-22:50
All those points are to say is that don't delay, act now, obey God, and stop wasting everyone's time. This brings me to the final point. Trust God or miss the blessing. Let's look at verses 18 through 20 at the very end. "For when the man of God had said to the king," that's Elisha, "Two sieves of barley shall be sold for a shekel, and a sieve of fine flour for a shekel, about this time tomorrow at the gate of Samaria." The captain had answered the man of God, "If the Lord himself should make windows in heaven, could such a thing be?" And he had said, "You shall see it with your own eyes, but you shall not eat of it." And so it happened to him, for the people trampled him in the gate, and he died.
Dan:
22:51-22:58
The king's advisor refused to trust God, and not only did he not get to share in any of the blessing of the food, but he was actually trampled to death by his own people.
Dan:
22:58-23:06
As a much less gruesome example of this point, I recently, about a month ago, took Ellie and Evie, my older two daughters, to go ice skating for the first time.
Dan:
23:06-23:08
I figured that both of them would absolutely love it.
Dan:
23:08-23:10
They love to dance, they love hockey.
Dan:
23:11-23:14
How could this be wrong? This is a great win. Shows what I know.
Dan:
23:14-23:23
My strong-willed child, my strong-willed four-year-old, Evie, was so worried that she would fall that she refused to even put a skate on the ice for most of the time that we were there.
Dan:
23:23-23:28
With some patient prodding, I did get her to put the skate on the ice, but then she wouldn't leave the door.
Dan:
23:28-23:30
She just looked like this. Sad little face looking up at me.
Dan:
23:31-23:42
So we stood there for about an hour. As it became closer and closer for the us for the time for us to leave, she finally decided to put both skates on the ice and to trust me to lead her around the rink.
Dan:
23:42-23:51
Well, not only did she not fall, but she really loved it. In the car on the way home, she said to me, "When's the next time we're going ice skating?" Because this was her favorite thing to do.
Dan:
23:52-24:28
My response was, "Well, just imagine how much more fun it would have been had you been on the ice for more than 10 minutes." So I don't know what obedience dilemma you find yourself in today, but in all those situations the principle still stands Trust God or miss the blessing There are different levels of this. Maybe you're struggling with elementary level obedience You're having difficulty humbling yourself by repenting and acknowledging your need for a Savior This is a hard thing But the great part about elementary level obedience is that the real hard work of a lifetime of perfectly obeying God has already been done Jesus already did this for us, and that's why we are able to receive the gift of forgiveness that He offers.
Dan:
24:29-24:31
The most known verse in the Bible is John 3.16.
Dan:
24:32-24:43
"For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him will not perish, but will have everlasting life." A much lesser known verse is the other side of that coin, two verses later in John 3.18.
Dan:
24:43-24:55
"Whoever believes in Him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God." God made this world such that you don't have to obey. You don't.
Dan:
24:55-24:58
But just don't expect heaven if you won't believe in Christ.
Dan:
24:59-25:00
Trust God or miss the blessing.
Dan:
25:01-25:04
In this case, if you won't believe in Christ, then you will not get heaven.
Dan:
25:05-25:07
But the inverse is true. If you believe in Christ, then you receive heaven.
Dan:
25:07-25:11
Or maybe you're past the elementary level and are learning high school level obedience.
Dan:
25:12-25:12
Today is Palm Sunday.
Dan:
25:13-25:27
Palm Sunday is the day where we remember how Jerusalem welcomed the King of Kings with shouts of "Hosanna in the highest." But Palm Sunday is also the day where we are warned about how quickly a person can go from saying "Glory to God" at the start of the week to "Crucify Him" before the week is over.
Dan:
25:27-25:35
I recently heard somebody say an interesting phrase. He said, "Most people in the church are vampire Christians." Vampire Christians? What does that mean?
Dan:
25:36-25:50
They're only interested in Christ's blood. This means that people are willing to submit to Jesus as Savior, but not as Lord. It isn't enough to worship God on Sunday and to abandon Him and his commandments throughout our week, unwilling to put our own sin to death.
Dan:
25:50-25:53
It's hard to give up our own personal sin monument.
Dan:
25:53-25:57
My gossip isn't really that big of a deal. I'd rather complain about it than doing something.
Dan:
25:57-26:01
Or I'm not going to give up my bitterness until they deserve forgiveness.
Dan:
26:01-26:08
Look, there are any number of choices here of sin that I could mention, but it all comes down to, do I do it my way or do I do it God's way?
Dan:
26:08-26:11
Moses said that he set before the people of God a blessing or a curse.
Dan:
26:12-26:16
A blessing for obedience and a curse for disobedience. It's really simple.
Dan:
26:16-26:20
The consequences of disobedience will always catch up with you. The Bible promises that.
Dan:
26:20-26:23
But I will attest to you that you will never be disappointed in obeying God.
Dan:
26:24-26:30
God is always faithful to bless our decisions when we obey Him, and especially when those are really hard decisions to make.
Dan:
26:31-26:35
But past that high school level obedience is graduate level obedience.
Dan:
26:36-27:15
Graduate level obedience is listening to the prompting of the Holy Spirit in all aspects of our lives. I think here in this story, because God had promised the supernatural end of the famine, just the way that he was going to interact this thing and use these lepers who were essentially nobodies. It is my belief that the lepers in our story were spurred by the Holy Spirit to discover something God had already done. They didn't have to listen. They didn't have to go and come up with this plan. They could have just been totally hopeless and stayed there and died. 1 Corinthians 2 says, "Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God.
Dan:
27:16-27:22
And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom, but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual.
Dan:
27:22-27:37
God is speaking to us every single day as He is working out His plan of salvation in this world. He wants us to be a part of that. He wants us to share the gospel with others, to love sacrificially, and to trust Him in every moment that His ways are better than ours.
Dan:
27:37-27:41
He leads us in our conversations. He leads us in how we should spend our time and our money.
Dan:
27:42-27:46
He leads us to make the most of every opportunity. He even creates those opportunities.
Dan:
27:46-27:55
I had a friend at work who one day he was trying to really find ways that he could obey God, and he's trying to look for opportunities to trust that prompting of the Holy Spirit.
Dan:
27:55-29:09
And he was driving, and it was pouring down rain, and there was a guy just randomly standing out in the rain. And he said, "Oh man, I should go give that guy an umbrella." And he drove past. He's to go back and give that guy an umbrella. And he drove around, turned around and went back to the guy. By the time he did, somebody else had given him an umbrella. And the principle has stuck with me. If you don't want to listen to God, He doesn't need us, right? If we don't want to take part, the loss is ours, not God's. He doesn't need us at all. But He loves us too much to let us live without experiencing the blessings that He wants to give us. He to act now. If it is entrusting in God for salvation, do it. Get out of your own way and trust what Christ has done for you. Repent and turn to him. If there's some conviction over sin that's still a part of your life that you continue to struggle with, stop sinning. Stop doing that. Obey God. If you have this feeling, this nudge from the Holy Spirit to do something radically outside of your comfort zone, but completely in line with the character of God, Don't delay any longer. You will experience the blessing of God if you trust and obey him.
Dan:
29:09-30:28
And you will miss out if you don't. So my sales pitch to you today is don't delay, act now, obey God in everything. Consider what's the worst that can happen. Remember, good news must be shared and choose for yourself, trust God or miss the blessings that he desires to pour out on you. This isn't your typical limited time offer, but it's definitely one that you do not want to miss out on. Let's pray. Mighty God, you are so worthy to be trusted and obeyed, God. You could easily command obedience from heaven with all the power and all the authority that you have. You could make the rocks cry out praise as your word says, but God, you choose to allow us to obey. You want us to have a choice in our obedience. You want us to lovingly choose to trust you. God, I pray that you would change our hearts, remove our own selfish desires that are blocking us from trusting and obeying you. God, deal with us where we are. Whatever level of obedience we need to do, God, I pray that we would take a step of faith today. I pray that you would change our hearts to give us clarity as to what your voice is saying, that we would be in your word to understand it and not hear the cloud of lies that are around us in the I pray that we would obey your voice and yours alone.
Dan:
30:29-30:31
God, I thank you that you have given me this opportunity to speak.
Dan:
30:32-30:37
God, I pray that anything that I said was yours, God, and that people would only retain the things that are from you.
Dan:
30:37-30:41
God, thank you for this church, and I pray that you would just bless the rest of our service.
Dan:
30:41-30:41
In
Pastor Jeff:
30:41-30:43
your name we pray. Amen.
Small Group Discussion
Read 2 Kings 7
Why do you think obedience is so hard? Why do you think it is so important to God?
Which of the reasons to act now is most convincing/convicting to you? Why?
Do you have any personal examples of how doubt has wasted time?
Breakout:
What specific obedience do you need to act now upon? Or phrased in reverse, what disobedience do you need to repent of?
