WEBVTT 00:00:01.000 --> 00:00:02.980 Book of Second Kings is where we're going to be today. 00:00:03.160 --> 00:00:07.800 Second Kings chapter two, and you'll know, and I'll go ahead and confess to you I'm skipping chapter one. 00:00:08.300 --> 00:00:14.470 The reason I'm skipping chapter one is because the content found in chapter one we talked about last week. 00:00:14.540 --> 00:00:18.000 It deals with Elijah and calling down some destruction and fire. 00:00:18.020 --> 00:00:20.380 We talked about how you deal with judgment in scripture. 00:00:21.240 --> 00:00:24.310 Today's the last week that we're going to focus on the series of Elijah together. 00:00:25.020 --> 00:00:32.080 And in today's message in Second Kings chapter two, you'll note that this is the end of Elijah's life 00:00:32.080 --> 00:00:32.780 on earth. 00:00:33.320 --> 00:00:39.000 Elijah is one of two characters in scripture that we find never really has any recording of his death. 00:00:39.000 --> 00:00:45.370 Enoch and Elijah, both of them just sort of disappear, and Elijah goes out in a blaze of glory in this story. 00:00:46.000 --> 00:00:53.180 But here, in the context of Second Kings chapter two, we are looking at the end of Elijah's life, at 00:00:53.180 --> 00:00:54.240 least on earth. 00:00:55.520 --> 00:01:03.100 It's often at death or near the end of life that we tend to refine our lives by focusing our 00:01:03.100 --> 00:01:05.200 attention on things that matter. 00:01:06.780 --> 00:01:13.020 We heavily consider, towards the end of life, I think, what we do with our time, places we go, people we visit with. 00:01:14.500 --> 00:01:21.100 When I look at scripture, some of my favorite portions of scripture are the last moments of someone's life. 00:01:22.500 --> 00:01:24.910 Jesus, some of my favorite passages of the Bible. 00:01:25.100 --> 00:01:32.160 John chapter 13 and John chapter 17, the last six hours Jesus spends with his disciples in the most intimate of settings, where 00:01:32.160 --> 00:01:34.460 they're celebrating the Passover in Upper Room. 00:01:34.460 --> 00:01:41.440 Or a book like Second Timothy, where Paul knows that he's about to meet the end of his life, and he writes that letter to Timothy. 00:01:43.320 --> 00:01:49.530 If you had just a few days left to live, how would you spend it? 00:01:51.340 --> 00:01:51.940 And what would you do? 00:01:54.620 --> 00:01:55.500 Who would you spend it with? 00:01:58.680 --> 00:02:05.720 Can I encourage you that those goals towards the end of our days that may be noble, if we knew that we just had 00:02:05.720 --> 00:02:12.760 a few hours or a few moments, days left, those noble pursuits in life, don't wait till the 00:02:12.760 --> 00:02:13.260 end to do them. 00:02:14.520 --> 00:02:22.440 If they're honoring, if they're worthy, if they're good, they should really be a part of our 00:02:22.440 --> 00:02:23.950 every day lives. 00:02:25.020 --> 00:02:32.020 And when you look in Second Kings chapter two, honestly, the life of Elijah, knowing that he's 00:02:32.020 --> 00:02:37.350 about to meet his end, he doesn't really do much different than what he had done with his life previously. 00:02:37.400 --> 00:02:44.500 He may intensify the amount of what he does, but it's a pretty similar routine to what he had done throughout his life 00:02:44.500 --> 00:02:47.190 because Elijah knew life matters. 00:02:48.460 --> 00:02:52.220 Not just his but those around him. 00:02:54.700 --> 00:03:01.760 In Second Kings chapter two, first six verses, it begins like that, "And it came about when the Lord was about to take up Elijah 00:03:01.780 --> 00:03:05.220 by a whirlwind to heaven that Elijah went with Elisha from Gilgal. 00:03:06.500 --> 00:03:10.880 Elijah said to Elisha, stay here, please, for the Lord has sent me as far as Bethel. 00:03:11.260 --> 00:03:16.240 But Elisha said, as the Lord lives, and you yourself live, I will not leave you. 00:03:16.760 --> 00:03:23.780 So they went down to Bethel, and then the sons of the prophet who were at Bethel came out to Elisha and said to him, do you know that the Lord will take away your 00:03:23.780 --> 00:03:25.920 master from over you today. 00:03:26.000 --> 00:03:27.160 And he said, yes, I know. 00:03:27.160 --> 00:03:27.760 Be still. 00:03:28.960 --> 00:03:33.520 And Elijah said to him, Elisha, please stay here for the Lord has sent me to Jericho. 00:03:35.260 --> 00:03:38.860 But he said, as the Lord lives and as you yourself live, I will not leave you. 00:03:39.360 --> 00:03:46.680 So they came to Jericho, and the sons of the prophets who were at Jericho approached Elisha and said to him, do you know that the Lord will take away 00:03:46.680 --> 00:03:48.560 your master from over you today. 00:03:48.860 --> 00:03:50.000 And he said, yes, I know. 00:03:50.000 --> 00:03:50.540 Be still. 00:03:52.200 --> 00:03:55.230 Then Elijah said to him, please stay here, for the Lord has sent me to Jordan. 00:03:56.680 --> 00:04:03.800 And he said, as the Lord lives, and as you yourself live, I will not leave you, so the two of them went on." In case the 00:04:04.680 --> 00:04:11.900 naming of Elijah and Elisha get a little confusing in this story, and you see they're starting out here Gilgal, and Elijah wants to go on further into 00:04:11.900 --> 00:04:16.420 this journey, and tells Elisha to stay, but Elisha refuses. 00:04:16.420 --> 00:04:24.260 He wants to be present, and as he continues to travel, the prophets in each town come out and tell Elisha 00:04:24.260 --> 00:04:26.660 that his master is going away. 00:04:29.280 --> 00:04:30.780 And Elisha says be still. 00:04:33.240 --> 00:04:34.710 I like the uniqueness of this moment. 00:04:35.000 --> 00:04:42.020 This is not something done privately that God has shared, not only with Elijah and Elisha that Elijah's days or moments are numbered, 00:04:42.020 --> 00:04:48.560 but he's sharing this with all of God's prophets as if to say here comes God's wisdom into your town. 00:04:48.940 --> 00:04:50.920 Don't let this moment pass you by. 00:04:53.540 --> 00:04:54.130 This is precious. 00:04:56.600 --> 00:05:04.210 One last moment to meet this man of God, to allow him to impart and pour into your life. 00:05:05.700 --> 00:05:09.650 And knowing that God had revealed this to the prophets, they go to Elisha and they tell him this. 00:05:10.100 --> 00:05:13.940 And Elisha's response is just shut your mouth. 00:05:14.160 --> 00:05:14.360 Right? 00:05:14.360 --> 00:05:16.360 I mean, he doesn't want to think about what is to come. 00:05:16.360 --> 00:05:16.640 He just... 00:05:16.920 --> 00:05:20.040 he just wants to live in the moment because he knows what's about to take place. 00:05:20.300 --> 00:05:27.720 Just like the prophets gather around Elijah, so Elisha just wants to saturate in these final moments with his... 00:05:28.300 --> 00:05:36.720 with the one who mentored him, discipled him, led him before God, showed him the power of this great God. 00:05:36.740 --> 00:05:43.490 Elijah doesn't do much different with his life towards the end than what he had done previous. 00:05:44.760 --> 00:05:47.140 He just takes a heavier dose of it. 00:05:47.800 --> 00:05:56.220 I think in this story, Elijah knows that God is going to take his life as soon as he crosses the Jordan, but 00:05:56.220 --> 00:06:03.740 rather than take that route directly across the Jordan, Elijah goes on this journey, and he begins to visit these particular 00:06:03.740 --> 00:06:04.540 towns. 00:06:04.900 --> 00:06:08.540 These towns are towns where the prophets are known to be trained. 00:06:08.580 --> 00:06:15.580 It was thought that the prophet Samuel had set these locations up in order to train prophets. 00:06:15.780 --> 00:06:22.360 What Elijah is demonstrating in his life towards the end of his days are the same things that he showed to us on Mount Carmel when he called down fire. 00:06:22.380 --> 00:06:29.600 If you remember that story together, we read how Elijah in those moments, as he goes on the Mount of 00:06:29.680 --> 00:06:37.160 Carmel and these false prophets are leading these worship ceremonies to their false god, Elijah then, 00:06:37.160 --> 00:06:45.960 before God calls down fire and lights the altar of his sacrifice, he prays, and 00:06:45.960 --> 00:06:47.840 his prayer's for Israel. 00:06:50.150 --> 00:06:57.240 He sees a nation created on the promises of God that have forsook this God and had a civil 00:06:57.240 --> 00:06:58.180 war and are divided. 00:06:58.580 --> 00:07:05.060 He's in this northern kingdom of 10 of the tribes, 10 of the 12 tribes, and not one king was a Godly king. 00:07:09.060 --> 00:07:10.200 His heart is for their souls. 00:07:12.680 --> 00:07:15.520 And so knowing that this is the end of his life, where does he go? 00:07:15.520 --> 00:07:22.660 He's goes to the prophets because he understands that these prophets, from these prophets will come ministries that will help 00:07:23.000 --> 00:07:30.320 lead God's people, to encourage them, to 00:07:30.400 --> 00:07:36.300 pass on the torch, to see them become who God has called them to be. 00:07:38.320 --> 00:07:41.960 Guys, can I remind you that our position is no different. 00:07:44.260 --> 00:07:50.340 That God has you in a place in this world, and as He works in your life, He has called you to be a light of encouragement to people around you. 00:07:53.660 --> 00:07:59.600 We say as a church that we should celebrate because what we celebrate we replicate. 00:08:02.360 --> 00:08:04.120 It creates a particular culture. 00:08:06.020 --> 00:08:11.140 To take time in the lives of people and to encourage them on down the paths that God has called them. 00:08:12.960 --> 00:08:20.180 And not only was Elijah meeting with these people, but I think not only is it meeting with people that's important, but the location 00:08:20.180 --> 00:08:24.040 in which he chooses to do this also carries significance. 00:08:24.640 --> 00:08:31.940 It tells us in the story that when Elijah goes to meet these prophets, he meets them in the location where these schools are, but he meets them in cities 00:08:31.940 --> 00:08:39.179 that have, or town that have a very particular meaning to the people of Israel: Gilgal and Bethel 00:08:39.179 --> 00:08:40.000 and Jericho. 00:08:42.860 --> 00:08:46.820 To Israel, Gilgal is a place of beginning. 00:08:49.120 --> 00:08:56.160 If you read the story of Israel they're called by God through Abraham to become a 00:08:56.160 --> 00:08:57.400 nation that blesses all people. 00:08:59.380 --> 00:09:04.340 And they're taken into slavery in Egypt, and then God sets them free through Moses. 00:09:04.860 --> 00:09:11.590 And in Moses, they still have this longing towards false idols, and so God takes them through this wilderness for 40 years. 00:09:12.220 --> 00:09:21.180 Finally, finally, under Joshua, they cross the Jordan into the Promised Land, and the first town they camp is 00:09:21.180 --> 00:09:21.640 Gilgal. 00:09:23.460 --> 00:09:30.920 It says in Joshua 4:9, now the people came up from the Jordan on the 10th of first month and camped in Gilgal on the eastern edge of Jericho. 00:09:33.000 --> 00:09:37.040 Here they are listening to the Lord and their leader, Joshua. 00:09:37.980 --> 00:09:44.820 A place of God's promise fulfilled, a place of new beginning in the Lord, a place where they have finally reached this Promised Land. 00:09:47.520 --> 00:09:54.720 Not only was Gilgal important to Israel, not only is this location just a place of beautiful reflection on the identity 00:09:54.720 --> 00:09:57.060 of God, God also brought them to Bethel. 00:09:58.920 --> 00:10:00.460 Bethel means to house of God. 00:10:01.980 --> 00:10:05.960 This is where Abraham built an altar to the Lord and dedicated himself. 00:10:06.660 --> 00:10:13.700 It wasn't just one time at Bethel where Abraham meets with God, but this became a location where God continued to meet with His people, 00:10:13.720 --> 00:10:17.640 where they laid their lives down for His glory and to their benefit. 00:10:19.300 --> 00:10:26.440 In fact, in Genesis 12 and verse eight, talking about Abraham, "Then he proceeded from there to the mountain on the east of 00:10:26.440 --> 00:10:33.520 Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east, and there he built an altar to the Lord and called upon the name of the 00:10:33.520 --> 00:10:37.590 Lord." Look, just a few chapters later, look how God identifies Himself. 00:10:39.280 --> 00:10:45.900 "I am the God of Bethel." This place of intimacy. 00:10:48.080 --> 00:10:52.120 This place of connection before God. 00:10:52.280 --> 00:10:54.580 And last, Elijah visited Jericho. 00:10:56.620 --> 00:11:03.040 Mind you, he could have just gone straight across the Jordan where the Lord was going to take him, but he then makes his way to Jericho. 00:11:05.340 --> 00:11:07.020 And Jericho is the place of battle. 00:11:09.180 --> 00:11:13.720 It's the first place where God's people had driven a formidable wedge against their opposition. 00:11:15.960 --> 00:11:23.900 Jericho, to the Hebrews, was what D-Day was to the American's, or to us as Americans in World War Two. 00:11:24.060 --> 00:11:25.320 It was storming the beaches of Normandy. 00:11:27.360 --> 00:11:33.020 It's where they see the faithfulness of their God as they walk in faith, and the battle's ahead of them. 00:11:34.400 --> 00:11:41.440 It's where God shaped their identity first as a nation, when they first step in faith into this promised land and fight their 00:11:41.440 --> 00:11:43.820 first battle under the Lord. 00:11:46.080 --> 00:11:51.440 Not only were these places important to the Lord, but I think they also provided opportunity for Elijah to reflect. 00:11:53.300 --> 00:11:58.020 Being with the people that he loved in significant places of his nation. 00:12:00.420 --> 00:12:05.530 Elijah, in walking this path, it really reveals where his own heart is. 00:12:06.940 --> 00:12:08.820 You think about Elijah's life. 00:12:08.920 --> 00:12:11.060 We've learned together that Elijah was not perfect. 00:12:13.210 --> 00:12:14.300 He had battles. 00:12:16.320 --> 00:12:19.560 He stood against Ahab in the Kerith Ravine. 00:12:20.780 --> 00:12:29.640 At one point, he became suicidal in his thoughts, but he remembers where he's been and 00:12:29.780 --> 00:12:30.500 how he ended up there. 00:12:32.820 --> 00:12:39.920 Maybe Elijah could have used those moments to reflect in the same locations where God had showed Himself to the nation of Israel, how God had showed 00:12:39.920 --> 00:12:41.730 Himself in his own personal life. 00:12:44.020 --> 00:12:45.880 Gilgal being a place of beginnings. 00:12:45.980 --> 00:12:53.060 How in the beginning of Elijah's story in First Kings chapter 17, when Elijah comes before Ahab, and he declares his 00:12:53.060 --> 00:13:00.560 name is Elijah, which means God is his Lord, and the Lord is his God. 00:13:01.180 --> 00:13:05.990 His identity, rather than in himself or anything else, belongs to the Lord. 00:13:06.940 --> 00:13:12.740 We all need a Gilgal, a foundation for which we find who we truly are. 00:13:14.840 --> 00:13:21.200 And not only that, Elijah, he travels from there to Bethel, and he thinks of the places where he met God. 00:13:21.220 --> 00:13:24.240 He poured out his soul, and it wasn't perfect moments. 00:13:24.240 --> 00:13:29.280 It was in the brokenness that he meets the Lord and he worships Him. 00:13:29.760 --> 00:13:34.400 In the Kerith Ravine, the birds feed him in the drought. 00:13:36.700 --> 00:13:40.920 At Zarephath, where he depends on the hands of a widow to find his Lord faithful. 00:13:43.370 --> 00:13:44.300 Or what about Jericho? 00:13:47.060 --> 00:13:54.300 He goes on top of Mount Carmel in this large moment of spiritual warfare, or when he finally confronts Ahab and Jezebel 00:13:54.300 --> 00:13:57.200 and declares that God is going to take their lives. 00:13:58.180 --> 00:13:59.160 It is a battle. 00:14:01.960 --> 00:14:02.730 And what about your story? 00:14:05.660 --> 00:14:09.760 These towns mark the hand of God in the way He works. 00:14:11.620 --> 00:14:17.840 That the same God that met His people in those locations is the same God that meets you in yours. 00:14:20.940 --> 00:14:24.720 Where is your Gilgal, your Bethel? 00:14:27.240 --> 00:14:29.140 Where is it that you've given your life to God? 00:14:29.140 --> 00:14:31.530 Or the place that you continue to meet with Him? 00:14:32.820 --> 00:14:34.820 What about in those battles that you face? 00:14:35.120 --> 00:14:37.700 How has God shaped you in Him? 00:14:39.620 --> 00:14:46.960 As you think about these locations, I think it's important for us not to see these as events and places but to recognize 00:14:46.960 --> 00:14:49.100 the God behind all of them. 00:14:50.540 --> 00:14:57.640 Our tendency sometimes, when we read these Bible stories, is that we isolate them as stories left unto themselves, and we fail 00:14:57.640 --> 00:15:03.280 to see the great grandeur of God's story as He shows Himself faithful from beginning to end. 00:15:04.780 --> 00:15:11.820 That, yes, these may be stories that are isolated, but there is a far larger story in which God has 00:15:11.820 --> 00:15:17.620 created for all of us to see in His goodness through Him. 00:15:18.780 --> 00:15:25.840 In Revelation chapter two verse 4, God records to the seven churches in chapter two and chapter 00:15:25.840 --> 00:15:29.080 three, and the first church He writes is to the church of Ephesus. 00:15:30.680 --> 00:15:35.250 In that story in chapter two, He writes of all the good things that Ephesus has done. 00:15:37.400 --> 00:15:39.120 But in verse four, He says this very unique thing. 00:15:39.560 --> 00:15:41.680 He says, "But I have this against you. 00:15:43.860 --> 00:15:51.020 You've left your first love." It's interesting how we 00:15:51.020 --> 00:15:53.900 as people react in times of blessing. 00:15:55.820 --> 00:15:57.620 Israel faltered in these moments. 00:15:58.200 --> 00:15:59.600 They go into this Promised Land. 00:15:59.600 --> 00:16:06.640 They see the great had of God on them during the days of David and Solomon, and before long, rather than look to God, they look 00:16:06.700 --> 00:16:08.940 to those blessings as an end in themselves. 00:16:12.660 --> 00:16:16.980 And they leave their first love, which is the Lord. 00:16:19.020 --> 00:16:26.140 That's where Israel gets off track, but I'm reminded throughout the series together, one of the things that I've said to us is 00:16:26.520 --> 00:16:33.520 that God uses good things to encourage us, and God uses hard things 00:16:33.520 --> 00:16:34.420 to change us. 00:16:36.460 --> 00:16:43.460 If I added a final thought to that, I would just say for us but in all those things it's crucial 00:16:43.460 --> 00:16:44.920 that we see the Lord. 00:16:47.700 --> 00:16:47.960 His hand. 00:16:49.840 --> 00:16:53.880 There's a story of a father who was in a hospital. 00:16:55.520 --> 00:17:02.660 He contracted this particular illness where he wasn't allowed to have any human contact, but he loved his 00:17:02.660 --> 00:17:02.900 son. 00:17:04.900 --> 00:17:12.800 This father, unable to spend at least a few days with his child, he was able to get his hands on this toy, and 00:17:12.800 --> 00:17:14.540 he constructed it for his child. 00:17:14.760 --> 00:17:15.819 He gave it to the nurse. 00:17:16.520 --> 00:17:21.740 And from his hospital room, he actually had a view to where he could look down to the bottom floor. 00:17:21.780 --> 00:17:25.950 He was located on the third floor, and he could look down to the entry way into the hospital. 00:17:26.780 --> 00:17:33.040 He hands this toy to the nurse and knew that his son was going to show up to the hospital that day even though he couldn't have contact with him. 00:17:33.040 --> 00:17:37.600 He asked the nurse to give it to his son, and he sees his wife and child walk in. 00:17:37.660 --> 00:17:40.920 The nurse goes down and hands it to the son, and the boy's so excited. 00:17:41.940 --> 00:17:44.540 He looks at his mom with excitement and hugs at her. 00:17:44.580 --> 00:17:46.700 He looks at the nurse with excitement and hugs her. 00:17:47.100 --> 00:17:51.600 And all the while, the father's just staring from his hospital room and just says just look up. 00:17:52.640 --> 00:17:53.480 Just look up. 00:17:54.900 --> 00:18:01.360 The father wanting to connect with the son and the love that he demonstrates through the gift, right? 00:18:01.360 --> 00:18:08.660 Eventually, the son looks up and sees the expression on his father's face, and they rejoice in the love expressed 00:18:08.660 --> 00:18:09.950 through that gift. 00:18:11.820 --> 00:18:18.880 We tend to fail when we see the bigger picture, or we fail to not see 00:18:18.880 --> 00:18:26.100 the bigger picture, I should say, of God in all things, rather God calls us to look up. 00:18:28.720 --> 00:18:35.740 We as people want reason to justify our existence, to fight the universal fear 00:18:35.740 --> 00:18:38.300 of living life with meaninglessness. 00:18:40.860 --> 00:18:45.870 But when we fail to see the goodness of God in those things, that is the very trap that we fall into. 00:18:47.100 --> 00:18:52.760 It's where Israel failed and faltered in the blessings they received from God. 00:18:53.120 --> 00:18:59.940 Unfortunately, the things that with choose can often become toxic to our souls when we fail to see the goodness of our God behind it all. 00:19:01.180 --> 00:19:08.180 To quote Rocky Balboa, Rocky in one of the movies, his girlfriend, I think it was 00:19:08.300 --> 00:19:15.080 one of the first ones, his girlfriend asks him, "Why go the distance, Rocky?" I don't know if she said it like that. 00:19:15.120 --> 00:19:16.400 It was probably too masculine there. 00:19:17.020 --> 00:19:18.030 But why go the distance? 00:19:18.540 --> 00:19:19.780 You know the pictures of Rocky. 00:19:19.800 --> 00:19:21.480 Horrible makeup job in those early films. 00:19:21.520 --> 00:19:28.580 It's all busted up, and he says this, "So I know I'm not a bum." Rocky made his 00:19:28.580 --> 00:19:33.660 battle athletics, and he sees athletic achievement as what gives him meaning to life. 00:19:36.640 --> 00:19:37.180 There's the problem. 00:19:38.820 --> 00:19:39.930 We don't see the Lord. 00:19:41.160 --> 00:19:45.530 While battles can be helpful, you aren't your battles. 00:19:46.560 --> 00:19:53.340 The reason I think this is important for us to know is because you will not walk in victory in every battle you face. 00:19:54.840 --> 00:19:57.400 Elijah certainly didn't. 00:19:57.720 --> 00:20:05.320 If you find your identity simply in the battle itself and not the Lord behind all those things, if you find your identity in the battle, it will lead to despair, 00:20:05.900 --> 00:20:14.240 if you fail, because your identity is gone, or worse yet, pride, if you succeed, looking 00:20:14.280 --> 00:20:15.760 down on others. 00:20:17.800 --> 00:20:23.300 In thinking about this past week, reading authors like C.S. 00:20:23.360 --> 00:20:30.600 Lewis and Tim Keller and Jonathon Edwards, all of them expressed thoughts on the danger of 00:20:30.900 --> 00:20:33.460 self-grander and how it is the enemy of humanity. 00:20:35.200 --> 00:20:38.060 Life about my glory rather than the Lord's glory. 00:20:40.420 --> 00:20:47.700 If we fail to see the goodness of God in the things that we have in our lives, if I find identity in the things around me rather than beyond those 00:20:47.700 --> 00:20:55.420 things in the God who has created me, if I find, for example, my identity in being a good parent, I 00:20:55.420 --> 00:20:56.210 have no true self. 00:20:58.620 --> 00:21:05.900 I am just a parent, and if something goes wrong with my children or parenting, there is no me 00:21:05.900 --> 00:21:06.460 left. 00:21:06.580 --> 00:21:07.680 I will be a failure. 00:21:09.080 --> 00:21:14.020 If my kids don't live up to my expectation, I walk in the identity of failure. 00:21:15.160 --> 00:21:22.420 If my battle and identity is to conquer business or become wealthy, yet I end up broke, I'll 00:21:22.440 --> 00:21:22.740 be in despair. 00:21:24.700 --> 00:21:31.450 Or worse, if I succeed, I'll walk in pride, looking down on those around me that aren't as good as me. 00:21:32.280 --> 00:21:39.420 If my highest goal and identity is in a relationship and that relationship doesn't work, I fall apart. 00:21:41.180 --> 00:21:49.210 Or worse yet, if it succeeds, my identity is no higher than what that other individual thinks of me. 00:21:51.220 --> 00:21:54.830 There are an infinite variety of ways to measure our identity as people. 00:21:56.480 --> 00:21:57.780 Some get it by wielding power. 00:21:59.280 --> 00:22:00.060 Others from human approval. 00:22:01.600 --> 00:22:03.490 Some from self-discipline and control. 00:22:03.840 --> 00:22:12.400 Everyone is building their identity on something, but identity apart from God, it's 00:22:12.400 --> 00:22:13.240 inherently unstable. 00:22:15.480 --> 00:22:19.740 Without God, our sense of worth may seem solid on the surface, but it never is. 00:22:21.540 --> 00:22:22.680 It can desert you in a moment. 00:22:24.580 --> 00:22:31.620 And not only is the idea of self-grandeur toxic for our own soul, it becomes toxic for 00:22:31.620 --> 00:22:35.440 the lives of people around us when we live for that purpose apart from God's glory. 00:22:35.820 --> 00:22:42.880 If your highest goal is the good of your own family, then our tendency will become to care less about 00:22:42.880 --> 00:22:43.620 other families. 00:22:44.720 --> 00:22:51.260 If our highest goal is the good of our nation, our tribe or our race, we'll have the tendency to become racist or nationalistic. 00:22:51.620 --> 00:22:57.400 If our ultimate goal is individual happiness, then we'll put our own economic power and interest ahead of others. 00:22:57.840 --> 00:23:05.200 If we battle in politics and get our worth from political position, then politics really isn't our... 00:23:05.300 --> 00:23:13.260 it's not about politics, it's about us masked behind a political cause where we get our own worth, and 00:23:13.260 --> 00:23:15.580 in so doing, we despise and demonize the opposition. 00:23:18.240 --> 00:23:25.240 If we get our identity from an ethnicity or socio-economic status, then we feel superior to other 00:23:25.240 --> 00:23:26.240 classes and races. 00:23:27.600 --> 00:23:33.040 If you're a moral person, you see yourself as superior to people that are licentious in life. 00:23:34.840 --> 00:23:43.360 If anything along that way threatens your identity, you'll not just be anxious but 00:23:43.440 --> 00:23:44.450 paralyzed with fear. 00:23:46.420 --> 00:23:49.780 However, in Jesus, your identity is never threatened. 00:23:52.980 --> 00:24:00.180 In God, our ultimate good or life's center, we will find our hearts drawn out to not only us 00:24:00.180 --> 00:24:07.500 but to all families and people and races and class, the whole world in general, blessed from the identity of losing ourselves 00:24:07.880 --> 00:24:08.680 to the glory of God. 00:24:09.280 --> 00:24:16.680 It becomes to the benefit of all people 'cause nothing in this world become my identity 00:24:16.680 --> 00:24:19.240 but Jesus alone. 00:24:21.680 --> 00:24:29.480 No matter what your goal is in life, it doesn't matter if it's God or not, no matter what your goal is, you'll 00:24:29.480 --> 00:24:30.540 always fall short. 00:24:32.100 --> 00:24:36.660 You'll never achieve the highest or the end goal, or you at least you shouldn't. 00:24:36.700 --> 00:24:38.400 Your goals aren't high enough if not. 00:24:38.400 --> 00:24:40.000 But we're flawed. 00:24:42.440 --> 00:24:50.700 Even in Jesus, in our flaws, in our sins, you're 00:24:51.020 --> 00:24:51.810 incredibly loved. 00:24:55.140 --> 00:25:01.040 Jesus meets us in our sin, make us new. 00:25:01.700 --> 00:25:07.280 We belong in Him, and every day He transforms our life. 00:25:08.800 --> 00:25:16.080 The thing that made Elijah so powerful, different than the rest of the nation, and the rest of the nation sees the results they 00:25:16.080 --> 00:25:18.670 achieved physically in this world as an end of themselves. 00:25:21.160 --> 00:25:23.160 But Elijah saw the God behind it all. 00:25:23.960 --> 00:25:32.600 The Kerith Ravine, Mount Carmel, Zarephath, Gilgal, Jericho, Bethel, and he didn't think how great he was but 00:25:32.600 --> 00:25:33.340 how great God was. 00:25:36.120 --> 00:25:44.240 If you have Elijah's view on our circumstances, you're never your successes or your failures, but 00:25:44.240 --> 00:25:47.060 rather you are the Lord's and your identity is greater. 00:25:48.880 --> 00:25:55.880 Church, we don't get our victories in places-that leads to pride or despair-but we find our victory 00:25:55.940 --> 00:25:59.950 in Jesus, who makes us new in Him every day. 00:26:01.280 --> 00:26:07.700 I think that's why in the book of Lamentations, if you ever read the book, it's a book of weeping, or excuse me, it's Ecclesiastes, I should say. 00:26:07.720 --> 00:26:08.280 I hope I wrote it down as... 00:26:08.460 --> 00:26:09.150 I wrote it down as Lamentations. 00:26:09.720 --> 00:26:10.120 It's Ecclesiastes. 00:26:12.180 --> 00:26:19.580 He says this, he says, "This I recall to mind, therefor I have hope, the Lord's loving kindness indeed never ceases, for His compassions never fail. 00:26:19.580 --> 00:26:20.540 They are new every morning. 00:26:21.120 --> 00:26:21.640 Great is your faithfulness. 00:26:22.540 --> 00:26:24.300 The Lord is my portion says my soul. 00:26:24.300 --> 00:26:29.440 Therefor I have hope in Him." Every morning. 00:26:31.420 --> 00:26:34.420 You're not your failures. 00:26:34.520 --> 00:26:37.730 You will fail, but you're not your failures. 00:26:39.400 --> 00:26:43.140 You will succeed, but you're not your successes. 00:26:45.540 --> 00:26:47.320 You were created for God and His glory. 00:26:47.440 --> 00:26:49.280 You belong to Him. 00:26:50.240 --> 00:26:55.550 Your identity is deeper than those things, and which is why I can say in this passage every morning. 00:26:57.700 --> 00:26:59.840 Every morning new am I in your God. 00:27:00.000 --> 00:27:02.420 You are my portion says my soul. 00:27:02.420 --> 00:27:03.420 I have hope in You. 00:27:05.240 --> 00:27:12.440 In Psalm 51 verse 10, it says this, "Create in me a clean heart, Oh God, and renew a steadfast spirit within 00:27:12.440 --> 00:27:16.350 me." How do we know? 00:27:19.060 --> 00:27:21.800 How do we know if things grip our lives rather than God? 00:27:21.820 --> 00:27:26.880 How do we know if we can see beyond the temporal things of this world and we really live for His glory? 00:27:27.000 --> 00:27:30.520 Can I just give you maybe one thought as it relates to this text to measure ourselves? 00:27:33.010 --> 00:27:35.430 It's whether or not you can celebrate when other people succeed. 00:27:39.580 --> 00:27:45.620 If you have idols in your life that you long for, and you see the successes of someone else in that area, what happens? 00:27:45.620 --> 00:27:47.980 Resentment, bitterness, jealousy? 00:27:49.220 --> 00:27:49.580 Or celebration? 00:27:53.100 --> 00:28:00.060 When your life turns to celebration over the success of others, the things that you think matter to your own life, it determines what leads your heart, the idol or the Lord. 00:28:01.500 --> 00:28:07.570 In fact, I would say one of the things that just lets us resonate with this idea is what happens here at the end of Second Kings chapter two. 00:28:08.060 --> 00:28:12.620 In verse seven, it talks about Elijah's desire from here. 00:28:12.640 --> 00:28:18.940 It says, "Now 50 men of the sons of the prophets went and stood opposite them at a distance while the two of them stood by the Jordan. 00:28:20.060 --> 00:28:22.640 Elijah took his mantel and folded it," which is his cloak. 00:28:23.300 --> 00:28:25.320 It symbolizes the power of the Lord. 00:28:25.620 --> 00:28:33.080 "And he folded it together and struck the waters, and they were divided here and there so that the two of them crossed over on dry ground." The 00:28:33.080 --> 00:28:33.780 rivers separated. 00:28:34.840 --> 00:28:41.900 "When they had crossed over, Elijah said to Elisha, ask what I shall do for you before I am taken from you, and Elisha said, please, let a double portion 00:28:41.900 --> 00:28:45.420 of your spirit be upon me." Here's what Elisha's asking. 00:28:46.760 --> 00:28:50.480 Because of you Elijah, I've seen the possibility of what God can do with our people. 00:28:53.540 --> 00:28:55.020 Perhaps God could double that. 00:28:57.640 --> 00:29:03.020 In a world where Elijah lives for his own glory, he would say no way, sucker, I'm going down as the greatest man in history. 00:29:03.400 --> 00:29:03.500 Right? 00:29:07.080 --> 00:29:13.710 Rather Elijah's heart is not there because his concern is God's glory. 00:29:15.720 --> 00:29:18.490 He goes on from there and says he said, "You have asked a hard thing. 00:29:18.520 --> 00:29:23.620 Nevertheless, if you see me when I'm taken from you, it shall be so for you, but if not, it shall not be so. 00:29:24.040 --> 00:29:31.160 As they were going along and talking, behold, there appeared a chariot of fire and horses of fire, which separated the two of them, and Elijah went up 00:29:31.160 --> 00:29:38.180 by a whirlwind to heaven." Elisha receives, based on what 00:29:38.180 --> 00:29:39.960 Elijah says here, this double portion. 00:29:42.540 --> 00:29:49.680 Through Elijah, Elisha was introduced to the possibility of what God could do for his people if 00:29:49.680 --> 00:29:54.060 his people would turn their hearts to Him. 00:29:54.280 --> 00:30:01.420 God is the one who must answer what Elijah's prayer is, but how great a work God 00:30:01.420 --> 00:30:02.260 could do. 00:30:03.900 --> 00:30:10.900 I think about the life of Elijah going into these moments, that Elijah walks into Israel 00:30:10.900 --> 00:30:17.960 in the midst of just darkness, and he lays a foundation for the Lord to 00:30:18.100 --> 00:30:19.200 work through his people. 00:30:19.800 --> 00:30:21.230 God uses him as that tool. 00:30:22.620 --> 00:30:27.130 That foundation becomes the platform for which the next generation could be blessed. 00:30:29.820 --> 00:30:37.060 Guys, when I think about our church, in terms of the story, I see ABC as a groundbreaking 00:30:37.640 --> 00:30:39.880 place for His glory. 00:30:42.840 --> 00:30:50.080 Our hearts for His glory, and that foundation that we leave becomes a place where God can build 00:30:50.080 --> 00:30:53.920 upon that things to come for generations to be blessed. 00:30:54.400 --> 00:31:01.480 Granted, it's determined by what that generation does with what they've been given, but it's your hand that passes 00:31:01.480 --> 00:31:08.180 that torch-to make it about self or His glory. 00:31:10.250 --> 00:31:10.860 How do you get there? 00:31:12.910 --> 00:31:15.890 When other people succeed, what rests in your heart? 00:31:16.890 --> 00:31:19.580 To celebrate or to be jealous? 00:31:22.810 --> 00:31:25.830 Do you see the God beyond your circumstances? 00:31:28.250 --> 00:31:31.650 Do you see the things that you do in your life as an end in themselves? 00:31:33.810 --> 00:31:37.630 Or do you see them rather as the hand of God pouring out His blessing? 00:31:39.670 --> 00:31:40.290 Do you look up? 00:31:42.830 --> 00:31:47.120 Is your position in this world for your glory or for His? 00:31:49.870 --> 00:31:51.390 Have you met God in Gilgal? 00:31:53.410 --> 00:31:54.770 Have you had that new beginning? 00:31:57.110 --> 00:32:01.490 Do you have a place of Bethel, knowing our heart's battle? 00:32:03.310 --> 00:32:09.030 Our hearts wrestle to let go of the god's of this world, to live for the One that matters. 00:32:10.770 --> 00:32:13.710 Do we find His glory over us in the Jerichos? 00:32:16.090 --> 00:32:18.530 Guys, I can tell you, the answer to all of this is very simple. 00:32:20.430 --> 00:32:21.450 It's die to self. 00:32:24.290 --> 00:32:31.610 In the death of ourself, we live for a far greater glory because the glories that we make out of our own self grandeur, 00:32:32.250 --> 00:32:39.350 it not only robs us for the joy for which we were created, it robs the lives around us because we make life about self, and we use other people 00:32:39.350 --> 00:32:40.350 go get there. 00:32:41.690 --> 00:32:48.690 But when we see the goodness of Christ, who's laid His life down for us, He's already 00:32:48.690 --> 00:32:49.370 given it all. 00:32:50.770 --> 00:32:57.060 In that goodness, we can die to ourselves to live for a greater purpose in Him.