Sermon Nuggets Mon June 14
Theme SHARING THE GOOD NEWS
Verses 2 Kings 6:24-7:20
Sharing the Good News
Certainly we live in a world at turmoil. People who are suffering will do anything to get out of their situation in many incidences.
There is a lot of political pressure being placed on Israel, but the people who are suffering the most are the citizens who are both Palestinians and Israelis. The bitter conflict between these groups did just start in the 40s but has been part of the fulfillment of prophecy since Abraham, Ishmael and Isaac.
But people are real who are suffering. There are refugee camps for the poor. They are people in Gaza without the basics of food and water. There are people in Israel whose independence is denied by their neighbors. The complications of international intrigue are many. There are none who are guiltless. Yet, Israel is the only democratic nation in the area and the most prosperous.
The lack of food and water of those depraved however is capturing the attention of the world. How humanitarian aide is met is with suspicion since Hamas, the ruling Palestinian party abuses their power and uses the international concerns to cover up some of its operations. There are no easy answers.
Political intrigue, national suffering, individual depravity and the workings of God are evidenced in our world today. But those elements show themselves in history past. That is the scene in Elisha's day many thousands of years ago.
God is merciful to Israel even when its leaders and key people are seeking to build a kingdom for themselves instead of God. The Nation of Israel, presently in rebellion, is confronted many times with the power of God so they may repent of their sins and turn to God and trust and obey Him.
God is like that. He tries over and over again to win people to himself, but in so doing, I can't help but see this as a larger and more appropriate lesson to our world and recognize God's offer of salvation and grace to mankind today.
The story of Samaria is the story of salvation. In this story we see people experiencing God's blessings and the responsibility of others of telling that good news. God has blessed us and given us Good News to share.
Pastor Dale
Sermon Nuggets Tues June 15, 2010
Verses: II Ki 6:24-7:1 Some time later, Ben-Hadad king of Aram mobilized his entire army and marched up and laid siege to Samaria.
25 There was a great famine in the city; the siege lasted so long that a donkey's head sold for eighty shekels of silver, and a quarter of a cab of seed pods for five shekels.
26 As the king of Israel was passing by on the wall, a woman cried to him, "Help me, my lord the king!"
27 The king replied, "If the LORD does not help you, where can I get help for you? From the threshing floor? From the winepress?"
28 Then he asked her, "What's the matter?" She answered, "This woman said to me, 'Give up your son so we may eat him today, and tomorrow we'll eat my son.' 29 So we cooked my son and ate him. The next day I said to her, 'Give up your son so we may eat him,' but she had hidden him."
30 When the king heard the woman's words, he tore his robes. As he went along the wall, the people looked, and there, underneath, he had sackcloth on his body.
31 He said, "May God deal with me, be it ever so severely, if the head of Elisha son of Shaphat remains on his shoulders today!"
32 Now Elisha was sitting in his house, and the elders were sitting with him. The king sent a messenger ahead, but before he arrived, Elisha said to the elders, "Don't you see how this murderer is sending someone to cut off my head? Look, when the messenger comes, shut the door and hold it shut against him. Is not the sound of his master's footsteps behind him?"
33 While he was still talking to them, the messenger came down to him. And said, "This disaster is from the LORD. Why should I wait for the LORD any longer?"
7:1 Elisha said, "Hear the word of the LORD. This is what the LORD says: About this time tomorrow, a seah of flour will sell for a shekel and two seahs of barley for a shekel at the gate of Samaria."
There is Hatred for the Holy.
Samaria was the capital of Israel. The King is Joram who is wicked and not following the Lord. Yet God is amazingly patient. He offers a second chance for those to whom He shows mercy.
How come some people are so thick headed in resisting God and others never learn, in spite of all the chances God gives to them to change?
Once again there is famine in the city due to King BenHadad's siege surrounding the land. They have cut off the supplies to the city. There was no food. People become desperate when there is no food.
You saw the news stories in the camps in Haiti where people fight and push and yell when the food trucks and water trucks come. Oppressed people turn on each other. When food and water is scarce, inflation is common. Those who have are willing to sell at such an inflated price. That was the problem in Samaria when shekels for donkeys head and seed pods were ridiculous and only for the very rich. Others were starving to death.
According to the law the donkey was unclean and not to be eaten, but the severity of the famine caused the people of Samaria not only disregard the laws of uncleanness, but also to place a high value on the least edible part of the donkey.
How do we respond with so many in our world sick from hunger? That was the scene in Samaria with the King walking along the wall; They were hopeless people not having food and not seeing any change in sight except surrender to the enemy forces of Aram.
"Help me my Lord", was the cry of one woman. People take advantage of other people during such tragic times. Two mothers were starving and having no milk to feed their babies. No doubt the babies were dying anyway so one suggested to the other to kill her baby and eat it, and the next day she will kill hers so they will have food. The people were literally brought to the place of cannibalism.
The debauchery and devastation of a nation that can go is hard to believe. God warns in Leviticus 26 that things would get so bad in their sin and suffering for it. He warns the people if they remain hostile toward God and refuse to listen to him, He will multiply their affliction 7 times over as their sins deserve, sending wild animals, siege of other nations more pagan then them, and they will eat the flesh of their sons and daughters.
How can people be brought to such situations? It is hard to imagine. I remember watching a program on the atrocities of Nazi Germany. I get sick when I think of the horribleness of war and the depravity of man. Studies would be done in Germany using humans as guinea pigs.
The King hearing of the cannibalism tore his robes and underneath was sackcloth. This was a sign of grief, and sometimes repentance. The revelation of his heart is noted however when he utters a vow to kill the prophet of God. Instead of humbling himself before God and confessing his sins and the sins of the nation he is filled with hatred toward God’s servant, Elisha. He, like his grandfather, Ahab, responded in hatred toward the holy. He hates God who down deep knows is the cause for this draught. They have sinned against God but the haughtiness of hearts are stronger than the need for humble repentance. So the king lashes out on God by lashing out on his servant. Instead of calling the people back to faith and confession of sin he vows to murder the one who can help. I have often been confused over the years for such strong persecution against Christians. I could understand those who are a physical threat and can do damage with guns, and weapons, but when the holy use love and the story of the good news of Jesus Christ, there is strong opposition from the evil one. The forces of evil rise up with hatred to attack.
Unfortunately, there are many who call themselves Christian whose words and actions an embarrassment to Jesus. Hatred is a tool of Satan.
The first step to responding to the good news is admitting your need. The response God desires is humility not haughtiness. It is to confess ones sin and repent of it. That is the prerequisite to turning to Christ for salvation.
Jesus said, “ The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify that what it does is evil. John 7:7
Pastor Dale
Sermon Nuggets Wed June 16, 2010
Verse- 2 Kings 6:33-7:2
33 While he was still talking to them, the messenger came down to him. And said, "This disaster is from the LORD. Why should I wait for the LORD any longer?"
7:1 Elisha said, "Hear the word of the LORD. This is what the LORD says: About this time tomorrow, a seah of flour will sell for a shekel and two seahs of barley for a shekel at the gate of Samaria."
2 The officer on whose arm the king was leaning said to the man of God, "Look, even if the LORD should open the floodgates of the heavens, could this happen?" "You will see it with your own eyes," answered Elisha, "but you will not eat any of it!"
Healing for the Humble
I wonder if the only reason the Lord decided to save Israel from hunger and teach them of His salvation was because of the elders who were sitting with Elisha? Typically, the elders were the rulers of the city. I do think it is important to remember that people who humble themselves and pray will benefit from the promise that God will heal their land. If it isn't with the king who beseeches God, then the elders must, if not the elders, then people. The king was filled with haughtiness. The Elders were sitting with Elisha and listening to the word from the Lord.
If our government is going the way of godlessness and immorality, then it is the job of the people to pray and seek personal and local, and national revival. If church leaders are more concerned about power and money than spiritual resources then it is time the people are called to fasting and prayer.
There has been something happening all over the country that is very encouraging. There are have been mass prayer concerts being held. 1,000s of people gather to seek the face of God to call for revival and an out pouring the God's spirit to be witnessed by the world won to Christ.
A few years ago also there was a small revival touching men’s lives through Promise Keeper where the commitment to God family and godliness at work and in the church resulted in not just large gathers of groups throughout the nation, but also small groups from which some still exist. The movement of God is often preceded by the humbleness of people to prayer and seeking spiritual healing as well as admitting their need. It is the call we have in our nation when so much needs healing. Instead of clouting our might and military strength, we see things such as oil spills and recurrence of economic down turn that calls for humility, not the pride of name calling among politicians.
We need prayer in these days ahead and it is to start within the churches. There is spiritual warfare. Only God's power provides the victory. He desires to use it with praying, yielded, holy people.
But there is hope in the power of the Lord. Elisha gives the promise of God. There will be feasting tomorrow.
One of the officers doubts the word of God and expresses that even the Lord can't work that fast. His heart is hardened. Elisha pronounces his judgment, "You will see it with your own eyes, but you will not eat any of it." There is healing for the humble. There is the touch of God in ways we cannot imagine. Those who are lepers will find food. Those who hunger and thirst for righteousness will be filled.
Pastor Dale
Sermon Nuggets Thur June 17, 2010
Verses- II Ki 7:3-16 Now there were four men with leprosy at the entrance of the city gate. They said to each other, "Why stay here until we die? If we say, 'We'll go into the city'-- the famine is there, and we will die. And if we stay here, we will die. So let's go over to the camp of the Arameans and surrender. If they spare us, we live; if they kill us, then we die."
5 At dusk they got up and went to the camp of the Arameans. When they reached the edge of the camp, not a man 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, the king of Israel has hired the Hittite and Egyptian kings to attack us!"
So they got up and fled in the dusk and abandoned their tents and their horses and donkeys. They left the camp as it was and ran for their lives.
The men who had leprosy reached the edge of the camp and entered one of the tents. They ate and drank, and carried away silver, gold and clothes, and went off and hid them. They returned and entered another tent and took some things from it and hid them also.
Then they said to each other, "We're not doing right. This is a day of good news and we are keeping it to ourselves. If we wait until daylight, punishment will overtake us. 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, "We went into the Aramean camp and not a man was there-- not a sound of anyone-- only tethered horses and donkeys, and the tents left just as they were."
The gatekeepers shouted the news, and it was reported within the palace.
The king got up in the night and said to his officers, "I will tell you what the Arameans have done to us. 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.'"
One of his officers answered, "Have some men take five of the horses that are left in the city. Their plight will be like that of all the Israelites left here-- yes, they will only be like all these Israelites who are doomed. 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. He commanded the drivers, "Go and find out what has 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. So the messengers returned and reported to the king.
Then the people went out and plundered the camp of the Arameans. So a seah of flour sold for a shekel, and two seahs of barley sold for a shekel, as the LORD had said.
Hope for the Hopeless
The remarkable type of salvation is portrayed in the story of the lepers. They were rejected and diseased, hopeless and helpless in their situation. They were unclean in society and not only is the city in starvation, but they were too and certainly would be the first to experience the results of the famine. Beggars are the last to get food. They must rely on the mercy of others to help them survive. Since they had to live outside the city walls, people would leave food for them, or drop food down from baskets. But since they didn't have food within the cities, they were the first to be seriously affected. They knew they were going to die.
As they thought about their situation, they concluded that they might as well go to the Syrian camp, because they might get food. Perhaps they would be killed, but since they were going to die anyway what difference did that make?
That was the place the prodigal son had to come to. He came the place of such need and hunger that he envied the hogs. "I will arise, and go to my Father." These lepers were driven to go to make the discovery because they felt that they could not be any worse than they were. There are some who hear my voice, who have situations where they have no place else to turn, but to the mercy of God. Friends, in Jesus Christ you have nothing to lose and everything to gain.
They went to the camp and you can imagine their complete surprise to find everyone gone. God caused the Syrians to hear a roar which they interpreted as being other outside forces and armies. Fearing they were going to die, they retreated for their lives and ran away leaving everything behind them- valuables, food, clothing, resources of all kinds.
God wanted to use this evil nation to show Israel His own glory and power and without the help of an army God caused them to retreat. Power is in the Lord.
Salvation is of the Lord. The mercy of God was seen as he worked to eliminate the power of evil and make provisions for salvation both for the lepers who are diseased and helpless, and for the city of Samaria which had no place to turn. To who was God's mercy granted? It was to the lepers, those who were most conscious of their need and their depravity. God's salvation isn't for people who deserve it. His mercy is for the hopeless, to those undeserving. While we were yet sinners Christ died for us. He accomplished the work of salvation and did the fighting for our enemy Satan and his forces.
The good news is available. It was the responsibility of the lepers to share the Good News. At first they desired to keep the blessing to themselves then realized that was wrong. They went and the told how the enemy has been conquered because of God. The supply was so plentiful that even the poorest could partake of the goodness.
Evangelism is one beggar telling another where to find food. That is how it has been defined by others. There are people dying without Jesus and we have experienced the blessing. We are called to share it. Have you tasted and seen that the Lord is good?
C. S. Lewis writes, "Isn't it frightfully unfair that this new life in Christ should be confined to people who have heard of Christ and been able to believe in Him? Well, the truth is...we do know that no man can be saved except through Him. If you want to help those outside you must add your own little cell to the body of Christ who can help them. Why isn't God landing in force in this world invading it? He is delaying because he wants to give us the chance of joining his side freely.
God will invade! I wonder whether people who want God to interfere openly and directly in our world quite realize what it will be like when he does. When the author walks on the stage the play is over. This time it will be God without disguise; something so overwhelming that it will strike either irresistible love or irresistible horror into every creature. It will be too late then to choose your side; it will be the time when we discover which side we really have chosen. God is holding back to give men an opportunity to choose Jesus Christ or to be lost. And the chance to choose will not last forever."
Pastor Dale
Sermon Nuggets Fri June 18 – Hard hearted
Verses- II Ki 7:2 & 17-20
2 The officer on whose arm the king was leaning said to the man of God, "Look, even if the LORD should open the floodgates of the heavens, could this happen?" "You will see it with your own eyes," answered Elisha, "but you will not eat any of it!"
17 Now the king had put the officer on whose arm he leaned in charge of the gate, and 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.
18 It happened as the man of God had said to the king: "About this time tomorrow, a seah of flour will sell for a shekel and two seahs of barley for a shekel at the gate of Samaria."
19 The officer had said to the man of God, "Look, 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!"
20 And that is exactly what happened to him, for the people trampled him in the gateway, and he died.
Harm for the Hard-Hearted
There will also be those who ignore or not believe the word of God. There will be those who in hardness of heart will reject the Good News of Salvation. By the mercy of God He warns them repeatedly of the harm of rejecting Jesus. Yet most continue in their hardened ways and will not repent or believe.
This is an example in this story of one who refused to believe. This is an illustration of those who have heard the good news, but doubted and did not believe. They reject the miracle of God. This sin was the sin of unbelief. Notice there are other sinners that are saved, not just the lepers, but also the women who ate their babies, the King who was going to murder Elisha. God in his grace can accept them and did in their situation, but not the one who does not believe the word of God. Had this man been guilty of every other sin, if he had but believed he would have been pardoned, but this is the damning exception- he had no faith. He saw, but unfortunately never did take and eat himself.
God's promises are true. We can believe them. But likewise God's judgments are also true. Many will see the Lord come in his glory, many will see Jesus Christ on the throne high and lifted up. Many will see the blessings of the Lord as he shares with the ones saved by grace, but they will not partake, for they have not believed the good news. They have not received Jesus to save them. How difficult it must be in the last day when Jesus will say, "I never knew you." There is harm to the hard-hearted.
I read of a Gallup poll indicating nearly 80% of all college students say religion is important in their lives. More than 50% attended church or synagogue in the month preceding the survey, and about 50% said they read the Bible at least occasionally. Further results of the poll conducted to determine how religion affects the sexual attitudes and practice of college students. It startled even the polling officials: 69% indicated they approve of premarital sex and 56% approve of unmarried couples living together. Almost 75% reported having engaged in sex and 20% said they had 5 or more partners.
It is easy to give lip service to religion, but how is willing to act on their beliefs? Commitment to God does indicate a desire to leave sin and follow the Lord. Leave the bondage of self and be free.
Charles G. Finney, a young lawyer, was sitting in a village law office in the state of New York. Finney had just come into the old squire's office. It was very early in the day and he was all alone when the Lord began to deal with him with a conversation that he had.
Someone asked him, "Finney, what are you going to do when you finish your course?" Put out a shingle and practice law." Then what? "Get rich." Then what? "Retire." Then what? "Die" Then what? and the words came trembling, "the judgment."
Finney ran for the woods a half mile away. All day he prayed and vowed that he would never leave until he had made his peace with God. He saw himself at the judgment bar of God for four year he had studied law and now the vanity of a selfish life, lived for the enjoyment of the things of this world, was made clear to him.
Finney came out of the woods that evening, after a long struggle, with the high purpose of living henceforth to the glory of God and of enjoying Him forever. From that moment blessing untold filled his life, and God used him in a mighty way, not as a lawyer but as an evangelist.
The story of God's grace is one who takes a sinner from his suffering into Salvation. and those who have experience it have the task of sharing it. Those that don't respond to God's offer are sentenced to harm or damnation. It is as simple as that and as old as the Old Testament.
Many people feel they do not have the gift of evangelism. I am glad God has called some people who are used to draw people to salvation. But not feeling you have the give is not an excuse to keep the Good News to yourself. Just like people needed to know were the food was, people need to know eternal peace lies with knowing Jesus in a personal way. You have influence over some peoples lives in greater ways than anyone else. Pray that God would allow you to share the Good News to someone in hunger.
Pastor Dale
