(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

We got a lot of cool stories here in 2 Kings chapter 4. It's really a summary, well not even a summary, chapter 4 is really dedicated to some miracles that Elisha did. We see the first one with him helping out that widow woman and the oil not failing, so he'd be able to provide for her household. And then we see the the woman that had an old husband and she was blessed with having a child. That alone was a miracle and then the miracle of the child being raised back from the dead when the child died. And then at the end here when there is death in the pot, he healed that food so everyone was able to eat. And then even after that, then was the the multiplication of the bread that was brought that was very similar to the miracle that Jesus performed. And many of these are similar to miracles that Jesus performed. And I think one of the things just on a big overview this demonstrates is the power of God. And the power of God is timeless literally. God could use people and perform miracles at any time throughout history. And even though there are some things that don't happen necessarily very often, it happened, these miracles are being performed with Elisha, they're being performed when Jesus was walking this earth. And really, obviously not taking anything away from Jesus Christ or anything, but the miracles that he performed through the power of God were similar to other miracles. He just did a whole bunch of them, a lot, you know, like in a short period of time and was just you know doing obviously a lot for God. But what's cool is that we see these same miracles. I mean even bringing someone back from the dead, I mean bringing someone to life, obviously Elisha didn't have that power inherently or innately. God performed the miracle. But God uses people. One of the things that we noticed though is that when the miracles are performed, they're performed through, like in the Bible when we see recorded miracles, they're through people who are really good men of God. I mean it's not just your average believer that's just out there performing miracles. It's the disciples, the apostles, it's the prophets, you know, that God is really using to this level of even being able then perform miracles and stuff. See, they're vessels that are meat for the Masters use. They have already disciplined themselves to be living righteously and doing right and preaching the Word of God and dedicating themselves to serving the Lord by the time they're meat in the Masters eyes to be used to then glorify God even further and to perform these miracles and stuff. And I think that, I mean it's very wise if you think about it, why God would only use extremely mature men of God to even perform miracles because think about how easy you get puffed up in your own mind as to thinking, wow look at all this power I have. I mean even Jesus was warning his disciples, you know, when they thought how cool was they're casting out devils and stuff like, you know, they had a real vague summary but just tell not to get so caught up and hung up about that and more about just preaching the gospel and stuff because yes God did give him those powers, God did give him that ability to do those things, but it's, you need to be very humble because you're not honoring or glorifying yourself, you're honoring and glorifying God and that's the, that is the big distinction, that's what's going on, that's why I believe God's only going to use certain people to even give him that type of power to do that thing. That's why, you know, we read these Bible, these Bibles, we read the Bible, we read these stories about men of God like Elisha and we recognize that God is all-powerful, God is capable of doing these things and the only thing that's really preventing him is us limiting God and how God's going to use us and, but at the same time, you know, we're not like the Pentecostals that see something like this and just think that, oh this is happening all the time and all these churches and, and they have these phony false prophets like the Benihins that, that get up and they put on a show and they deceive people saying, oh yeah see it's just like in the Bible, we all have this power and everything else, not even close. Do you know how many people have literally been raised from the, you know, I mean recorded in the Bible is being raised from the dead? Not very many. It wasn't just Jesus that did it, but it's not like this was happening every day or every week. I mean these are serious miracles and think about it, if this stuff was just happening all the time, it wouldn't even seem like a miracle, right, because then it's just like, well it's just the way things are. No, they're miracles, they're special events that happen to, to bring the honor and glory unto God and they're used through very special people who have dedicated themselves and demonstrated that they are, you know, serving the Lord with all of their heart and, and really doing a great work for God. So let's get into the stories here now. I just want to kind of give that, that broad overview of chapter four, but these are, these are all amazing. It's, it's, there's so much packed into here. Verse number one says, now they're cried a certain woman of the wives of the sons of the prophets unto Elisha saying thy servant my husband is dead and now know us that thy servant did fear the Lord and the creditor has come to take unto him my two sons to be bondmen. Now before we even get into the miracle that's performed here, I want to spend a little bit of time talking about how you need to be smart with your money. This is somebody who was of the sons of the prophets, right? He's a preacher, preacher guy, married, has children. He ends up dying leaving his wife a widow and his finances, his finances were in such a mess that now the creditor, the person who he's been borrowing money from, is coming to collect on the debt because he can't pay anymore because he's dead. And what does he do? He's coming to get the sons that are able to work off and pay for that debt and this guy dying leaves his family in a horrible situation. He's basically leaving his sons to be indentured servants to pay off the debt that he accrued. We need to be smart and make sure, you know, even though you might be a good guy at heart, you might be someone who loves the Lord, okay? But you're not immune to financial problems. Now the Bible is very clear that, you know, this world is not all about making money and that's not what our life should be focused on and just focused on the mammon of this world. No, that's not what you should be focused on. But you have to wonder how much this servant or the sons of the prophet even really did love the Lord because the Bible says, I mean, maybe he just lacked a lot of faith because the Bible says that if you're doing the work of God and if you're putting God first and his, you know, seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, the Bible says all these things shall be added unto you which is your daily provisions, the things that you actually need in this lifetime so your food and your clothing, those things will be given to you by God if you are working for him. If you are truly putting forth the effort and working for him there is no reason for you to be getting into debt at all. There really isn't. The reason would be either you're not working for God so God's not taking care of you the way that you think you ought to or you're too focused on things that you think you need that you don't actually need that you're so willing to go into debt for and have this instant gratification of having this right now instead of waiting, earning for it, saying I don't have it right now. If I don't have it right now then I don't need it. We'll get by. We'll survive. We'll live. Yeah, we have a lot of, we live in the world of luxury. We live in a world where there's so many conveniences and technologies that make your life easier and you might think, wow, I really need to have this, but you don't. And the TV and the radio and the newspaper and the internet, your emails, are all gonna tell you how much you need these products when you don't. Now it's not sinful to have appliances, to have tools, to have things that make your life easier, to have luxuries. Great. Amen. It's good to you. You can have that stuff, but don't go into debt for them. You go into debt, you're going into bondage. The Bible says that the borrower is servant to the lender. So the person who's lending the money has the power. You are bringing yourself under bondage to somebody when you go out and borrow money from them. And look, it's tempting. We live in a world that's all about credit. It's all about, I mean, that's what, you know, we're headed towards a one-world government and headed towards a cashless society where everything's gonna be based on credit. How much credit you got? But watch out for that because you start borrowing money, you're gonna be in, you know, you're definitely in debt. You're gonna be a bondman. And in this story, this man got himself into so much debt that his sons, who should have been there to at least be able to help out their mom, now are gonna be taken to satisfy a debt. And he left his, I mean, think about what does that say for how much you love your wife and kids. I mean, every man here has to be thinking about and be cognizant of the fact that we don't know the day or the hour of our own death when we're gonna pass on. And we need to make sure that we're doing our best to make sure that our family will at least be taken care of. That we're not just gonna burden them with a big debt. I'm not saying you have to have a whole mansion laid up for them, but that you can do your best to take care for them. The Bible says in Proverbs 13 22, a good man leaveth an inheritance to his children's children and the wealth of the sinner is laid up for the just. The Bible says a good man's gonna leave an inheritance. So while we're not focused on and wrapped up and consumed with this world goods and finances, it still has a place in our life that you need to be aware of to take care of the people that you love. To take care of your family. And if you're a good man, you're not just gonna be wasting all the money that you do earn on yourself or just, you know, indulging in everything in yourself because you'll be focused on other people. You'll be focused on your posterity. You'll be focused on your family after you and doing things to make sure, hey, I'm gonna I'm gonna take care of my family. Now look, there are always exceptions where things come up and I would say this right off the bat, if there's like, if your health is on the line and you don't have means to pay for some emergency or something like that, it's justified. I mean, your life is more valuable than any goods that you know, any amount of money that you could earn even in a lifetime. I'm willing to be indentured myself and be an indentured servant for the rest of my life if it means saving my wife's life or saving one of my kids lives. That should go without saying. But that is a far cry from the principle of, if you don't have the money, don't spend what you don't have. And that would be a very extreme exception to this rule of getting into debt. And I guess one other one that in our society, the way things are, I don't even recommend it, but like, you know, when you buy a house you're still getting into debt. It's not the best decision. It's never the best, getting into debt is never the best decision. But at least with a house you could have some kind of equity as long as you're not buying, you know, buying with the bubbles and getting, you know, buying foolishly when something's not really worth what the price is at, then it's best just to wait off and, you know, kind of pay attention to that. So, but I mean even that though you don't need, you don't need, you don't need to buy a house to live. You could rent, you can rent from other people. I mean, let's face it, it's an expense but it's something you can do. So it's not, you know, we're talking about necessities. Understand that you get that through your minds, especially the women, get this through your minds of what is a need and what is a want. This is something that we constantly go over in my own house. I need to remind myself of it and just say do we need this or do we want this? Is this something that's necessary like our food, like clothing, or is it something that we want? Very important distinction. Need, some of the things I think we need to have is like we need to have a roof over our head. I'm gonna put that in a need category. Food, we need to have that. And we start getting into cell phone bills. That's not a need. I'm sorry. There's some things that I would consider somewhat of a need. I need to have internet for my work to be able to work remotely but, you know, at the end of the day that's, you know where I'm going with that. So anyways, we need to be smart with our money. We need, a good man's gonna leave an inheritance to his children's children, be looking out for your poster, looking out for people in front of you, and doing the best that you can to manage what God has given you. And not just be a waster either. Not be a waster of your substance. But what God has blessed you with, God blesses everyone differently, especially when it comes to financial things. I mean, some people don't have a lot of money and maybe never will. And they're very hard workers. They're serving the Lord or doing a lot of things. But God has deemed it better for them to not have a lot of money. Because I'll just face it, some people, and I'm not saying people who don't have a lot of money are like this. But if, you know, God knows us better than we know ourselves. And I would pray to God that if I'm gonna have a problem getting led away and distracted with this world's goods, then I'd rather not have them. If that's gonna be a stumbling block for me where I'm gonna be lifted up with pride, I'm gonna reject the Lord, or I'm just gonna get so wrapped up in all these things, then I don't even want it. I'd rather be dirt poor. I'd rather be living in a two-bedroom apartment with my whole family than, you know, I mean that's what I would rather have if it's gonna be one or the other. Absolutely. And if God has blessed you, you know, we still need to keep the same, you need to keep the same mindset no matter what state you're in. Whether you're based or whether you're bound. Whether God lifts you up or brings you down, we need to have the same humble mindset. But we also need to not be a waster of what God has blessed us with. And not just throw it all, you know, not be not caring about it. You know, the Bible says, and I can't quote the verse right now, but who's gonna entrust to you the great riches if you're not esteeming the little things. And I consider money to be one of the more minor things, the little things. So if you're not even good at handling the little things, the things that aren't that important, then who's going to entrust to you the great riches, the true riches. And God looks at that too. So the way that you manage whatever God has given you is gonna help determine how much God will give you more of then. If God sees that you're really good at leading and teaching, you know, God's gonna open up doors for you to do more of that. Because that's what God wants you. He wants you working for him. But if God's given you these abilities, don't go and waste it either. Whether it's the abilities, whether it's the money, you know, whatever it is. Whatever you've been blessed with, don't just go and waste it. Because then you're not gonna be blessed with anything more. But providing for your house is extremely important. And this person, according to the story, I mean we don't know all the details of it. Maybe there was some emergency. Maybe, you know, but we see this widow woman now is stuck. And what's she gonna do? She's not gonna have her sons to help her. She's left all alone. Her husband died. And there's this big debt hanging over their head. The Bible says, but if any provide not for his own and especially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith and is worse than an infidome. Not only do we have to be worried, you know, concerned and thinking about that verse while we're alive and providing for our family, but think about after you pass on. If you're leaving behind your family, are you provide, have you provided for them? Are you gonna be able to make sure that they're not in this situation where they just don't know what to do? And you're just leaving them with a debt? It's a very grievous situation to be in and nobody ought to put their families through that. And it's, it could be so, it could be avoided so much even without a big income. You don't need to have a ton of money to avoid going into debt. What you have to have is self-control and discipline into what you're spending what you do have on. That is key. But we see this widow woman though, she has the right attitude. She's going to the right place. She found herself in trouble and who did she go to? She goes to the man of God. So that's the right decision to make and she actually receives mercy because God uses Elisha to help save her and her family from this financial destruction. It's this big mess in her life. Look at verse number two, the Bible says, and Elisha said unto her, what shall I do for thee? Tell me, what hast thou in the house? And she said, thine handmaid hath not anything in the house save a pot of oil. Now I'm gonna assume that she's telling the truth there because I mean first he's asking, well what do you got in your house? Because what is she doing? I mean what's he gonna have her do? He's gonna have her sell what she has. And we have to be willing to do that too. I had this just recently at the gas station. This old lady was sitting in her car. It was a pretty nice car. I mean I don't know, it was like a PT Cruiser or something but it looked kind of newer. I thought it was kind of odd but she looked like she'd been crying and upset and I come out of the gas station and I look at her and she's like my husband just left yesterday and I don't know what to do and do you have any money? You know I'm just thinking like well that's kind of weird. And I'm reaching in my pocket and I'm just you know like I got a couple bucks and I was just thinking like I've never had an old lady like crying asking for money before. I felt bad for her. I was thinking like okay and I don't even normally do this in general but then she's like well she's like I need to go I need to get cigarettes. That's what the money's for. I was like absolutely not. No way. I don't have money for your cigarettes. And it's like like I know she doesn't know me but I've got a family to feed. And if you're really down and out and like something happened you know I'm willing to like pull out my hard-earned money to help you out. I've got five children and a wife at home. I don't have money for your cigarettes. But it's like the priorities. I need cigarettes. I need to have this and I'm willing to beg for cigarettes. Look if you need cigarettes that bad you've got to sell your car. Sell other things. You know sell off whatever you got. Don't go asking hard-working people for money so you can support your drug habit. It's ridiculous. But no and if you find yourself in a bind you know what you need to do? You need to take an inventory of stuff that you have and you know I believe it's right before you go begging for money. Give rid of the stuff that you have that you don't need. And there's like it might be it might it might hurt. There might be a lot of things I mean there's things that I've got you know a gun collection or whatever but if push comes to shove and I need money for something I'm sick of these people are going around just oh you know oh man well I lost my job I need some money and stuff but but look at all the stuff that you have why don't you sell some of that first and really see you'll see where that goes instead of being so covetous and so and so wanting to cling to your goods so bad that you claim you have no money yet you have all of this wealth just sitting there. Help yourself out first. If you need to part with some things and part with some things. It's called having a right heart and being a you know having some integrity too. To not just always be looking for handouts and looking for other people to save you out of stuff when most likely you got yourself in the problem to begin with and you already have means out and you're just looking for the handout. And really these people who are who are borrowing that you know they're asking for all the handouts are ruining it for the people who really do have needs legitimate needs people who you know they're lame and maim they can't work and they need someone to help them because they physically can't do things themselves but you got all these other jerks going around and trying to support their drug habits their alcoholism their cigarette addiction whatever it is and they're going as points where you know what people want to help anyone out anymore at all because you have so many people out there just that don't that don't really need it. They need a swift kick in the pants more than anything. Don't be deceived by their faces. The old lady deceived me I'll tell you what I was I was shocked to have her say that like what in the world are you talking about but anyways let's let's keep going here because he he does he helps this woman out she's in it she's in a serious bind she's got nothing she's got nothing in the house but a pot of oil like I said I believe her I believe in his story I believe she's telling the truth so all I got left in my house is a pot of oil but one of the things that this story demonstrates is that if you bring to God all that you have and doesn't have to be much just a pot of oil God could bless you and multiply and do things that you that that humanly speaking would be impossible but God is capable of making all things happen and you bring that pot of oil say well what have you got you got a pot of oil what have you got five loaves of bread and two fishes what have you got well this is what we got here we go God what can we do with this and you're bringing it to God God could bless God multiplies and God can see you through she goes to the man of God God I got this problem it's not the widow's fault that her husband was not good with money she's stuck in this situation and God chose mercy on her and says I decided to help out so she's got this pot of oil look at verse number three then he said go borrow the vessels abroad of all thy neighbors even empty vessels borrow not a few and when thou art come in thou shalt shut the door upon thee and upon thy sons and shall pour out into all those vessels and thou shalt set aside that which is full so she went from him and shut the door upon her and upon her sons who brought the vessels to her and she poured out and it came to pass when the vessels were full that she said unto her son bring me yet a vessel and he said unto her there is not a vessel more and the oil stayed so we see her the the command to go out and just he said get a lot of empty vessels empty cups empty pitchers whatever you can to hold this oil he says when you get those all go into your house shut the door and start pouring out your oil and every time it fills up put it to the side and keep filling up and that's what she did and and notice so he said he said borrow not a few and I think there's a few things that we can learn from this from this miracle other than the fact that she's just being helped here right what's on the surface God's looking to fill his vessels with oil when you look at the way that oil is used in the Bible oftentimes it's it's a symbolizing the Spirit or the Holy Spirit and being filled with the Spirit when you're filled with oil a vessel filled with oil you're filled with the Spirit and we see here you know she's bringing all of these empty vessels to be filled with the Spirit he said borrow not a few God wants her to have God wants to have a lot of vessels many vessels that are filled with the Spirit that are filled with the Holy Ghost and not only that what does she end up using these for she sells them you know God wants us wants to have many vessels filled with the Spirit to then be profitable for him to undo his work and not just being saved but being profitable being being profitable servants to go out and serve him walking in the Spirit being filled with the Holy Ghost and going out and doing a great work God wants us also to go all in towards all the things that he tells us to do Colossians chapter 3 verse 23 the Bible says and whatsoever you do do it heartily as to the Lord and not unto men knowing that of the Lord you shall receive the reward of the inheritance for you serve the Lord Christ what we do we should be with all of our heart with all of our spiel when we're serving God let's let's well we're when we're doing anything that's what the Bible saying there and that was in reference to servants you know servants you know obey your masters do you know do your work and whatever you do do it hardly is unto the Lord so in everything that we're doing our life we ought to be doing it hardly we ought to be be all in on it because if that if we're setting our mind to do something then let's do it and let's do it right and we're gonna set our mind to work for the Lord let's not be lazy about let's not be slack about let's not be dragging our feet about it let's be excited about let's have a fervent spirit and let's just go all out and serve God God's looking for for vessels and he wants them full and we see that happening here when they're so he has this amazing miracle she's able to now supply the needs for a household from all the oil that she got because of course she goes and sells oil to other people and has is able to pay off her debt so let's keep reading in verse number seven then she came and told the man of God and he said go sell the oil and pay thy debt and live thou and thy children of the rest so she had enough God took care of her enough to not only pay off the debt but also to live of the rest and notice she could have been skeptical and been like what like I don't have that much I only have one pot of oil and he told her borrow not a few I believe if she only had borrowed a few she would have only gotten a few vessels full of oil and that's where it would have been and then if you would have been like oh no this is gonna work oh let's try to find something else it would have been done and she would have had what she had and would they'll pay what you paid off and the rest of it would have been on her that's why it's important to have that level of faith to just be able to say all right you know this is what God said I may understand it all but I'm not gonna borrow a few I'm gonna borrow you know because after she did that notice he didn't tell her to go and sell the oil he just said go this borrow not a few and fill the oil and then he's like okay go sell that you have pay off your debt and you're gonna live of the rest and that was the plan and so however many she was able to borrow however fervently she obeyed that command to go out and borrow vessels is gonna determine then how well it's gonna take care of her for the future so the harder and I again another truth here is that the harder you're working for God the longer God's gonna be caring and taking care of for you because when you only are doing a little bit you know you're not don't don't expect to not be begging bread Bible says that the righteous you know the David said he hasn't seen the righteous begging bread and people who are working hard yeah you're not gonna be begging bread but if you're not doing anything at all if you're just lazy and you don't do anything for God well he may very well bring you to poverty and try to get your get your mind right so let's keep reading we've got the next story verse number eight and it fell on a day that Elisha passed to shoot him where was a great woman I was as great there that's referring to literally her size as a large woman is a great woman not just that she's cool or a great person but so she was this bigger lady great woman and she constrained him to eat bread and so it was that his office he passed by he turned in there to eat bread so he's going on his ways passing through Shunem and this lady sees them and say hey come on you know come on and have a meal come have lunch right come sit down with me and have some lunch so every time it became this thing he's passing through and he stops at this that this lady's house and has a meal with her and then in verse number nine and she said unto her husband behold now I perceive that this is an holy man of God which passeth by us continually and I want you to notice this Shunemite lady is a great example she's a she is a great lady other than it I mean I do believe it's talking about her size she is a great lady not just her size she's a great heart because she sees someone passing by doesn't even know who it is and is just being hospitable to someone passing through town hey come on in and have a meal right being real generous real nice opening up her house and after the course of time she starts to realize hey this is a this is a man of God he said you know I'm sure they had conversations or whatever she's got to realize so he goes her husband and say you know what this is a holy man of God that I've been inviting over for lunch and so she asks him verse 10 she said let us make a little chamber I pray thee on the wall and let us set for him there a bed and a table and a stool and a candlestick and it shall be when he cometh to us that he shall turn in thither so now she's like well let's just make a little room for him in their house being even more generous more hospitable say hey there's a man of God we should we should really be helping him out make a little bed for him little nightstand a little place to to take a rest in his journeys because he's journeying back and forth he comes through this place and so that's what they do verse 11 and it fell on a day that he came thither and he turned into the chamber and lay there and he said to Gehazi his servant call this Shunammite and when he had called her she stood before him and he said unto him say now unto her behold thou hast been careful for us with all this care what is to be done for thee what is thou be spoken for to the king or to the captain of the host and she answered I dwell among my known people so she's not only very hospitable and caring but she's very humble she's not looking for anything in return she's a he's saying look you've done all this for us now what can I do for you how can I help you out do you want me to go and speak to the king for you I'm gonna put in a good word for you I mean talk to the captain of the host you know because she's in this foreign land she's in this in Shunem you know it's not technically a part of Israel so he's out she's out in this other area and she said well what can I do for you she said no I'm fine I'm okay right here I'm fine to dwell among my people very humbled is very very very great lady and so then he talks to Gehazi his servant verse number 14 he says and he said what then is to be done for her and Gehazi answered verily she hath no child and her husband is old he said call her and when he had called her she stood in the door and he said about this season according to the time of life thou shalt embrace a son and she said nay my lord thou man of God do not lie unto thine handmaid and this is obviously something that the woman really wanted and she's been real humble she wasn't asking for anything in return but he decides to give her a blessing and this is just one more instance where we see you know God is the one that ultimately is responsible for opening and closing the womb and he in this is a prayer now that that is gonna be answered for her to have a child even though her husband is real old and she hasn't had a child but it's something that we see here is she wanted so bad she doesn't wanna get her hopes up about if it's not true right that's why she's saying like don't lie to me you know don't don't be playing these games with me you know don't lie to me and tell me I'm gonna have a child because she really wanted one and but of course Elisha wasn't lying to her and and God hearkened unto Elisha's prayer for her and verse 17 says the woman conceived and bear a son at that season that Elisha had said unto her according to the time of life and when the child was grown it fell on a day that he went out to his father to the Reapers now when it says he was grown it doesn't mean that he's like an adult because a child is still young and we'll see that here in a minute so he goes out he's old enough to be like maybe a toddler walking around you know a few years old whatever but it says he went out to his father to the Reapers and he said unto his father my head my head and he said to a lad carry him to his mother so he calls a lad a young lad to carry him to his mother so we could tell from this context he's not like some old you know child older you know he's still pretty young and he's having problems like a head you know he's having a headache or fever or whatever and so he's carried back to his mother verse 20 and when he had taken him and brought him to his mother he sat on her knees till noon and then died and she went up and laid him on the bed of the man of God and shut the door upon him and went out and she called unto her husband said send me I pray thee one of the young men and one of the asses that I may run to the man of God and come again and he said wherefore wilt thou go to him today it is neither a new moon nor Sabbath and she said it shall be well the this lady amazes me with with with her character and all that she is because notice she doesn't freak out about her son dying now you know how much she loved and wanted to have a child she's like don't lie to me you know don't tell me this unless it's true and that's how she ends up approaching him to like didn't I tell you not to lie to me you know because she really wants his child so bad and loves him so much that now you give it to her now she's gonna die but she doesn't freak out she's not screaming her head off when she goes her husband she's just saying hey send me you know please send me to to the man of God and have someone ride me there and and he's like why you know like it's not if there's no feast going on it's not a new moon there's no reason to go see the man of God but she's like it shall be well she knows to go to God to the man of God to the right place with her problem as well it's not something that she didn't go to seek out the doctor she didn't go you know like she was like if anyone's gonna help me God's gonna help me and has the reliance and trust in the Lord so verse 24 says then she saddled the at and ass and said to her servant drive and go forward slack not by riding for me except I bid thee so I mean it's not that she's not in a hurry I mean she's it's it's not that she's not stressed out and upset and really trying to get things done but she's not she's still able to handle the situation and do what needs to be done so she's just say like put the pedal to the metal don't worry about me get there as fast as you can right verse 25 so she went and came unto the man of God to Mount Carmel it came to pass when the man of God saw her far off that he said to Gehazi his servant behold yonder is that Shunammite run now I pray thee to meet her and say unto her is it well with thee is it well with thy husband is it well with the child and she answered it is well so when she meets Gehazi she's just like yep yep everything's fine because she wanted to go straight to Elisha she wanted to deal with the servant verse 27 and when she came to the man of God to the hill she caught him by the feet but Gehazi came near to thrust her away so she goes and just like just like grabs him by the feet and Gehazi is ready to be like you know get away lady you know and shoot and kind of shoo her away off of Elisha Elisha stops him and says in the man of God said let her alone for her soul is vexed within her and the Lord hath hid it from me and hath not told me so this was a surprise Elisha because a lot of times you see the prophets they know in advance like God tells them when people are gonna see him and when things are major kind of going on when the king was going off to see if his son was gonna die you know God's telling these prophets to go and do things and giving them the information before they even show up but in this case he had no idea what was going on and he's like leave her alone you know she's vexed she's having a problem and I don't know what it is so verse 28 and then she said did I desire a son of my Lord didn't I say don't trick me about this then he said to Gehazi gird up thy loins and take my staff in thine hand and go thy way if thou meet any man salute him not and if any salute thee answer him not again and lay my staff upon the face of the child and the mother of child said as the Lord liveth and is thy soul liveth I will not leave thee and he arose and followed her so he tells guys okay go ahead of me you know get there as fast as you can and just lay my staff on the child now I don't know honestly I'm sure I believe that this has a meaning I don't know exactly what that is him laying the staff on the on the child but obviously he thought it was very important and something that needed to be done you know prior to him getting there the only thing I was able to think of it it doesn't seem to make that much sense is you know when the serpent was lifted up as like a staff a brazen serpent in the in the wilderness and people looked under the staff that they were healed from the snake bites when the children of Israel walked narrows kind of image of Jesus Christ being lifted up and looking unto him for salvation but I mean it's me that's just seems still seems kind of like a stretch to put the staff on the child so I don't know I'm just gonna throw that out there but continuing on here with the story it says in verse 31 and Gehazi passed on before them and laid the staff upon the face of the child but there was neither voice nor hearing wherefore he went again to meet him and told him saying the child is not awake and when Elisha was come into the house behold the child was dead and laid upon his bed he went in therefore and shut the door upon them twain and prayed unto the Lord so Elisha goes in himself and just he closes the door so it's just him and the dead child there and he prays unto God and here we see the again the awesome power of God and the awesome power of prayer and why we still continue to pray and have our prayer list and the prayer request of people we pray for even people who are in situations that it's gonna be you know sure death I don't know about you but I still pray to God for a complete healing in these situations because I believe that God I see it in the Word of God I see it happen with other people and I pray I know God's still capable of doing it and if the Lord will he can save anybody he wants and heal that person and they'll be just fine so we do the same thing here we pray unto the Lord and he went up Jonathan go sit down so he prayed the first thing he does he gets in there he shuts the door he's alone with the child and he prays unto the Lord verse 34 and he went up and lay upon the child and put his mouth upon his mouth and his eyes upon his eyes and his hands upon his hands and he stretched himself upon the child and the flesh of the child waxed warm so first he goes he prays to God and then he puts his his hand like he basically mirrors himself on the child on the bed and then he starts to feel the bodies the the child's body warm up cuz he only died when he died you know blood's not pumping your body's gonna start going cold so he feels the the child starting to revive verse 35 then he returned walked in the house to and fro and went up and stretched himself upon him and the child sneezed seven times and the child opened his eyes and he called Gehazi and said call this Shunammite so he called her and when she was come in unto him he said take up thy son and she went in and fell at his feet and bowed herself to the ground and took up her son and went out what an amazing story of a child even being brought back to life and what and what a great example in this Shunammite woman who we don't even ever get her name she's just this Shunammite this woman of Shunim a good example of someone who had great faith very hospitable you know looking out for the man of God doing everything she could and again I don't think this is a mistake when you have this type of a heart and an attitude a humble attitude and willing to serve that you know you reap what you sow so when she had something but you know hard times falling on her what happened she was she she received a miracle from God and you know this isn't the only time even later when there's a dearth in the land and then she leaves to go somewhere else and then comes back and the Kings hearing about things that Elisha had done someone else had taken her land and God worked it out to when she goes to and treat for her land like hey you know like someone that this is was stolen from me this was my land that he was told about what had happened with her son and how Elisha had brought him back to life and then helped her out again giving her land back and again just showing you when when you're sowing good seed and doing what's good that'll come back to you and you'll reap that and it may not be immediately like in this case she got something pretty quickly and then also years later she was being blessed for for her good works for her good good heart but let's see here now we got another section here verse number 38 and Elisha came again to Gilgal and there was a dearth in the land and the sons of the prophets were sitting before him and he said unto a servant set on the great pot and seed pottage for the sons of the prophets so there's a dearth is like a famine right there's there's a lack of food in land and in Gilgal and this is where he's hanging out with the sons of the prophets and he says okay well set on the great pot we're gonna feed everybody here and in this story is talking about feeding about a hundred people so he says we're gonna make some soup there's a pot of juice we're gonna put some stuff together we're gonna make a soup and we're all gonna eat verse 39 and one went out into the field to gather herbs and found a wild vine and gathered there of wild gourds his lap full and came and shred them into the pot of pottage for they knew them not so they're gathering up things to put in the soup well this guy comes across this wild vine he has no idea what it is and it's producing these wild gourds right it has some type of fruit to it whatever it's producing and they're like well I don't know what this is let's just grab this up we'll dice it up chop it up and throw that in the soup and see how that goes and what happens here verse 40 it says so they poured out for the men to eat so now the soups all ready to go they threw in these wild gourds shred them up into the pot and it came to pass as they were eating of the pottage that they cried out and said oh thou man of God there is death in the pot and they could not eat thereof so basically this stuff was poisonous this is something that you should not just be throwing in there and mixing in to the pot with all the rest of stuff that you know is good and throwing in this stuff well who knows what this is and this is what happens when you start getting involved with strange stuff foreign things things that's unproved untested and you start just adding that into your daily diet I mean think about spiritually speaking you know we ought to be getting our wisdom and our doctrine and things coming from the Word of God and and we could we know that we can trust this book and specifically we know we could trust the King James Bible as being accurately translated in English language for us as the Word of God and when you start getting into unknown stuff or or just bad stuff poisonous stuff you get into the perverted Bibles you're gonna start perverting the whole pot you're gonna start perverting all of your doctrine and what you believe and seriously you know take this into consideration with everything that you decide to consume whether it be through media through print whatever that you're gonna allow to come in that it's not some wild vine some unknown thing I mean you could be reading all kinds of books you go to a Christian bookstore or whatever and you find all kinds of different books there you don't know who wrote that book you don't know where they're coming from you don't know if they're saved you don't know you know what their angle is what their agenda is or if they're gonna be telling you the truth or not and you start just absorbing all this stuff I mean you got to be careful with that they're not just taking these wild gourds and you're gonna end up having death in the pot and that's one of the things I think we can learn from this passage here you know dabbling with the unknown the unproven stuff and just willing to consume whatever you come across and also beware of the person that's gonna come to you and try to teach you with these weird unknown doctrines that are just kind of brand new or stuff that's just that's that hasn't been accepted you know the Apostle Paul there's warnings given to that you know the churches at that time saying hey you know what you've seen and heard from us the gospel that we preach to you you know that's what you should be receiving and not this other steel because people are gonna come in people are gonna try to pervert the gospel people are coming with different things if you haven't received it from us then don't be receiving just whoever and whatever out in the world and we got all kinds of weird doctrines going on out there that are have not been received I mean the most recent that has come up now and I'm not gonna you know this isn't the main point of sermon by any means but you know this stuff that we are Baptists okay we're independent we're fundamental Baptists but there is some sort of meaning that goes along with being a Baptist and in a core set of beliefs and principles that we have and it's like when someone comes to you without with just bringing some weird some bizarre some wild doctrine that's not been accepted and passed out is it you know and look this isn't like a Catholic Church type of thing but there's some basics and fundamentals of the Bible that when people come to you with strange doctrine you need to watch out for that and avoid those people I mean the basics of salvation being by grace through faith when someone comes you with some weird doctrine some perverted some wild some wild salvation some workspace salvation or whatever you don't know you know some Mormon salvation doctrine you know don't throw that into your pop of what you know is good or anything anything from I mean the Trinity when it comes to basic fundamentals baptism you know baptism by immersion you know these things are all real basic and real straightforward and when people start perverting that stuff watch out we start hearing heresy and things you know don't don't go after those oh wow this sounds good I've never heard this before in any other church from any other person anyone who actually believes the Bible and and loves God and goes so winning and is saved you know you could hear some things from people just in random cults or whatever these false apostate denominations but when you start hearing this stuff creep in to church that you consider to be good churches watch out for that because it's gonna corrupt a lot more I mean a little leaven leaven at the whole lump the Bible says and some false doctrine and this strange wild vine these wild gourds these people just want to throw in the pot hey this sounds good this looks good and it's unproven it's untested it's unknown it's weird it's strange it's foreign you know you know stick with what you know stick with the good stuff and ingest that stick with stick with God's Word the Bible says beloved believe not every spirit but try the spirits whether they are of God because many false prophets are gone out into the world in this story they weren't trying see what he should have done is hey here's something let's try it right let's cut off a piece let's try it let's see if this is gonna be good to consume you know we'll taste it we'll check it out well we'll you know see if this is actually good or not that's not what they did they got a whole lap they just oh man look at all this stuff here we're hungry there's a dearth and land and look at all this this food I found I'm just worried about filling my belly with more stuff don't even care if it's good or not and they just chop the right up and threw it in with the rest of it instead of being wise and no test it try it first check it out before you just go all in and just throw it all in there and that's exactly what happened in story we need to be testing things and as I say like it's not like you can never read anything else it's not like you could ever not have anyone else ever say anything to you I mean of course that's ridiculous well we're not a cult but you need to be able to try these things before you just openly embrace and accept what a hey here's some book I'm just gonna just absorb everything and bring not care who wrote it or not try it not check it out not test it first to see where this is coming from but just let it all come on in that's the attitude we got to avoid and that's the that that's unfortunately they didn't have the right attitude here in this story so they got death in the pot but thankfully we have Elisha here the man of God to help and and help them out and save the day the Bible says here look at verse number 41 but he said then bring meal and he cast it into the pot and he said pour out for the people that they may eat and there was no harm in the pot so again another miracle by Elisha and again I think I think the spiritual understanding is when you don't when you know test things try the spirits test this stuff before you just go and throw it all in and this is one of the reason you're on another note is another one of the reasons why you'll notice in this church I never just have missionaries and other people selling books and other preachers that I don't know just come in and present stuff to the whole church it's never gonna happen missionaries are welcome to stop by and be a part of our church service of course but I'm gonna test I'm gonna try anybody before they come and speak publicly for the whole church and that's goes for church members or people outside the church when someone comes in as a missionary say oh man if we present our material no no because I'm not gonna just have my congregation just absorb whatever they want to throw out there because I don't and and that's gonna fall on me because I didn't test and I didn't try now if people come into town and I spend time with them and have good conversations and and see how well they can soul win and and and get there you know what I mean like get to know them somehow and try a little bit great absolutely but it's not gonna be just a free-for-all and this was a free-for-all people just throwing in whatever hey I found this stuff let's chop that up throw it in looks good to me and you know what those boards probably look good on the outside they probably like appetizing but they were full of death on the inside so verse 42 now last few verses verse 42 and there came a man from Baal Shelisha and brought the man of God bread of the firstfruits 20 loaves of barley and full ears of corn in the husk thereof and he said give unto the people they meet so this man comes and and he's basically bringing Elisha a gift so it's really nice gifts and you know here's 20 loaves of barley and some full ears of corn but these loaves are not like these huge loaves right you got to understand this is we're saying this was this was meant for Elisha so he's giving them a gift but it wasn't you know so much and it's obvious because what he says here Elisha is like okay great well give it unto the people that they may eat we see the attitude of Elisha worried about everyone else again not himself not just oh thanks for the gift now I'm just gonna indulge and eat all this stuff because you gave me a gift he's like no there's a fan there's a dearth in the land don't forget that he's concerned about everybody else so he's like okay great thanks for bringing this give it to them now we could tell it wasn't very much and it definitely wasn't meant to feed a hundred people because he said in verse 43 and his servitor said what should I set this before 100 men he said again give the people that they may eat for thus saith the Lord they shall eat and shall leave thereof so that's why I say he's like he's like this isn't gonna feed a hundred people so you want me to set this before them to feed a hundred people he's like yeah you know why because God said they're gonna eat it they're gonna be satisfied and there's gonna be leftovers and we see again there's just this total miracle I would have loved the scene like to see something like that you know I mean think about Jesus feeding the the five thousand and feel it for them and you know another thing that that we get from this too the quantity never matters 20 loaves here to feed a hundred people it's just as much of a miracle just as much as Jesus being the five thousand with five loaves and two fishes just like Jesus being the four loaves with seven low you know four four loaves man it's getting late if you know the four thousand with seven low you know it's it's the same miracle it doesn't matter the fact is whatever you have whatever is there is being blessed and multiplied to satisfy however many people need to be satisfied and it doesn't matter how much is being multiplied or you know the multiplication factor doesn't matter it's still miracle just as much of a miracle either way so we set it before them and they did eat and left there of according to the word of the Lord God's word comes true every single time we see a lot of great examples here miracles being done faith in God God can make all things happen God is is you know when you bring what you have to God and we see this I think that was kind of the theme to all of these miracles is people bringing to God what they had as much or as little as they had and being blessed for it that that woman that had just a pot of oil they got multiplied right the Shunammite didn't have much I mean she made a place for for Elisha and the wall like just kind of made that's what she could do she that's what she had she was able to give it feed him some meals she was able to make a place for him and an offer a place to stay that's what she had she was blessed for that we see the people here now they brought death to the pot right there I don't think they were blessed for the for the death in the pot but Elisha was still able to blame that they still brought what they had to the soup and they were fed off of that there was that one mistake made but that was healed and then we have the man who brought the gift to Elisha and Elisha turning around to feed the multitude God is able to multiply God is able to do the impossible so we don't need to get super stressed out in our own lives about being taken care of because we know that I mean you could have two dollars in your pocket and that's all you have to your name and I firmly believe this just as God did with the bread and everything else and with the oil God can make it's where every time you pull your your hand in for a dollar there's just there's always another dollar there you know I mean if that's what's needed if that if that's if that's the way God's gonna take care of you I mean when they're passing out the loaves that's the way I see it happening they had a basket of their you know five you know five loaves or whatever it's just like every time they've met you know got to another group of people sitting down here's bread here's some bread you know it's like never-ending miracle there's no there's no explanation to it other than God God's the one who did it and and praise God for that let's about right have a word of prayer do you have any father Lord to thank you so much for these great stories of these awesome miracles Lord and thank you for using such great men of God to perform these things and to show us one how much you care for us and that we in no matter what our circumstances are we need to be just reliant on you and know that that things can look as bad as anyone could ever imagine they could be in this lifetime dear Lord but if we just have our faith in you we know that you can come through for us and pull us out of any situation dear Lord and to and to save us from anything God help us to have a great faith to to act on that faith and to not just have a faith in our in word only but also in in our deeds and our actions dear Lord and the things that we do that we truly do rest in you and that we're not going to get too distracted with all the mammon of this world dear Lord I pray to you please help us all to manage our finances better that we can not waste the things that you have blessed us with and also that we wouldn't get wrapped up in the consumerism of just getting into debt over everything and racking up credit card debt and just just thinking that we're going to pay everything off later and getting ourselves further and further into bondage your Lord I pray to you please just give us wisdom in that area as well so Jesus name we pray amen