Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Evening Sermon Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/ev/ev20031116.htm

1 AND 2 KINGS: ENJOYING GOD'S BLESSINGS IN AN APOSTATE ERA
Part XXXII: Blessing By Faithfully Heeding God's Supernaturally Certified Servants
(2 Kings 2:13-25)
  1. Introduction
    1. A great need exists today for both the leaders God calls to minister and those He wants to heed their ministry to have no doubt about the credibility of the God-chosen leaders or their ministry actions.
    2. 2 Kings 2:15-25 reveals that to be blessed of God, the one called to minister and those who must heed him must (1) discern God's certifying signals of his call and (2) then faithfully heed that party's ministry:
  2. Blessing By Faithfully Heeding God's Supernaturally Certified Servants, 2 Kings 2:13-25.
    1. We before learned Elijah had told Elisha he would gain the power Elijah had known only if he followed Elijah faithfully and closely enough to where Elisha would see Elijah ascend to heaven, 2 Kings 2:9-10.
    2. Yet, Elisha and others needed to SEE God's signals that he truly possessed God's power and then HEED that God-given ministry to be blessed by God (as follows), 2 Kings 2:13-25:
      1. Both Elisha and the sons of the prophets realized God had equipped him with God's spiritual power once they witnessed Elisha supernaturally part the Jordan as Elijah had done, 2 Kings 2:13-15 & 7-8:
        1. After Elijah went to heaven, Elisha wondered if he truly possessed the power he desired, 2:13-14.
        2. God supernaturally signaled to Elisha and the onlooking prophets that Elisha now had God's power by parting the Jordan when Elisha in faith used Elijah's mantle to strike the Jordan, 3:14b-15.
      2. Yet, by failing to submit to the words of Elisha, God's supernaturally certified prophet, these prophets experienced trouble and shame by getting involved in vain ministry activity, 2 Kings :16-18:
        1. Not satisfied that Elijah was in heaven, the prophets asked Elisha if they could look for him, 2:16a.
        2. Elisha did not grant them their request, for he expected them to believe his claim as God's supernaturally signaled messenger that Elijah had gone to heaven, 2 Kings 2:16b.
        3. Yet, they pressed him so that Elisha gave in to their demands and let them search for Elijah, 2:17.
        4. When these sons of the prophets returned without having found Elijah, Elisha rebuked them for failing to believe his words, words by God's supernaturally certified messenger, 2 Kings 2:18.
      3. Yet, the men of Jericho heeded Elisha's supernaturally signaled certification and were richly blessed, 2:19-22: when they in faith asked Elisha supernaturally to purify their water, he did so permanently!
      4. Conversely, when others who did not believe Elisha had received a prophetic call and power from God and thus mocked his ministry, they came under severe divine judgment, 2 Kings 2:23-24:
        1. Some "young men" (the meaning of the KJV's "little children" in v. 23, B.K.C., O.T., p. 541) did not trust Elisha's claim that Elijah had ascended to heaven, so they ridiculed him ("bald head" = an irreverent title, Ibid., p. 542), urging him to ascend as he claimed Elijah had done, 2:23, 16-18; Ibid.
        2. Since they mocked God's work to certify Elisha was His prophet, Elisha put them under God's curse and God sent two bears out of the woods to massacre 42 of them, 2 Kings 2:24, Ibid.
      5. Elisha became blessed throughout his ministry by heeding God's certification of His prophets, 2:25:
        1. Since Elisha had stayed close to Elijah expressly to SEE Elijah ascend to heaven, his sure witness of this event equipped Elisha to stand STRONG in FAITH against the doubt of Elijah's ascension by the other prophets and by the faithless mockery of Elijah's ascension by those whom God slew!
        2. Noting how his heeding the late Elijah's charge that Elisha follow him closely had come to fortify Elisha to stand up to the unedifying doubts of others, Elisha kept ON BEING close to Elijah's ministry after Elijah was in heaven: Elisha went to Carmel where Elijah had been proved by God to be His true prophet (1 Kings 18:36-39) to dedicate himself to KEEP close to Elijah's past word and example throughout his own life before turning to Samaria to minister! (2:25 with 1:2, 15-17)
Lesson: When GOD SUPERNATURALLY SIGNALED His certification of Elijah AND Elisha, to the degree any man HEEDED this signal and the prophet's MINISTRY did he enjoy God's blessing.

Application: (1) Through means of one's supernatural gift, God signals a believer is to do a certain ministry, 1 Tim. 4:14-15; 1 Kings 18:36; 2 Kings 2:14-15! (2) Once this certification occurs, the one ministering AND his ministry recipients are to stay faithful to that ministry for blessing, even to the extent of staying true to the ministries of credible parties after they are in heaven with God, 2 Tim. 3:14.