February 25, 2024- The Billion Piece Puzzle of God's Plan
Notes
Transcript
From my short-lived research this week - from what I could find, the largest manufactured jigsaw puzzle - available for purchase...
Total Number of Pieces: 60,000
Overall Dimensions: 8 ft. tall - - 29 ft. long
Year Released: 2022
Manufacturer: Dowdle
Average Selling Retail Price:$800
Think about it: an 8-foot-tall by 29-foot-long jigsaw depicting the world’s most beautiful locations in vivid color. What a Wonderful World, with its 60,000 pieces, is the largest jigsaw puzzle ever made and incorporates designs by Dowdle.
What a Wonderful World is an interconnecting masterpiece that will test even the most experienced puzzlers. This massive jigsaw comprises 60 different 1,000-piece puzzles, each of which may be completed separately and then locked together once complete.
Any puzzle enthusiast amongst us?
*One of our challenges at the Kid’s Lock-In - was a puzzle contest.
Each team had a puzzle to put together...
…and each team had something to LOOK AT - to help them...
What do you think it was?
It was the - PICTURE of what the puzzle LOOKED LIKE - when put together!
Anyone ever try to put together a puzzle - WITHOUT the picture?
Without the BIG PICTURE?
It can be frustrating for sure...
NOT KNOWING that the piece you hold - WHICH LOOKS like a flower - is ACTUALLY the wing of a BUG.
it HELPS - to have the big picture.
Remember that.
If you were with us last week - we started to see the ministry of ELISHA take shape.
And he began to ESTABLISH himself - as a man of God.
If you remember - a servant of Elisha had died - and a DEBT came upon that dead man’s family.
a DEATH - brought about a DEBT.
And we saw how GOD STEPPED in and by His POWER - supplied the PAYMENT - FOR that debt.
The correlation BEING - that by way of SIN - we ALL have INCURRED a DEBT over our heads -
DEATH
And ETERNAL separation from God!
That’s the Bad NEWS - the GOOD NEWS - is that God - BY WAY of Jesus Christ...
His LIFE
His DEATH
His Sacrifice - FOR US...
Supplied the PAYMENT for our Spiritual Debt...
And ELISHA - Displayed this - this concept...
LAST week - in directing the widow - to use the OIL she had = to multiply it - and then use it to PAY off her DEBT.
God’s SUPPLY - paid her debt.
THIS WEEK - we come to the next miracle of Elisha...
Let’s walk through enough of the text to give us the story...
And then I actually wanna focus in on ONE aspect - of the story today.
8 One day Elisha went on to Shunem, where a wealthy woman lived, who urged him to eat some food. So whenever he passed that way, he would turn in there to eat food.
9 And she said to her husband, “Behold now, I know that this is a holy man of God who is continually passing our way.
10 Let us make a small room on the roof with walls and put there for him a bed, a table, a chair, and a lamp, so that whenever he comes to us, he can go in there.”
So Elisha makes his way to the city/town of Shunem...
And in being there - he meets a woman who would urge him to EAT.
AND ALL THE MEN SAID - AMEN!
So it seems that this woman - took an interest in helping Elisha...
WHY? - - the text tells us...
9 And she said to her husband, “Behold now, I know that this is a holy man of God who is continually passing our way.
Not sure WHY she concluded he was a man of God…BUT…this is her conclusion...
And from THERE, this woman suggests that she and her husband BUILD a small room on their roof - that would ALLOW Elisha to go in there...
Rest...
Study...
Eat… whatever (the FIRST - man cave - ON A ROOF)
So this family - BUILDS this room for Elisha...
11 One day he came there, and he turned into the chamber and rested there.
12 And he said to Gehazi his servant, “Call this Shunammite.” When he had called her, she stood before him.
13 And he said to him, “Say now to her, ‘See, you have taken all this trouble for us; what is to be done for you? Would you have a word spoken on your behalf to the king or to the commander of the army?’ ” She answered, “I dwell among my own people.”
So Elisha acknowledges the kindness of this women (family) - and he asks if there’s anything that can be done for her in return!
She replies and says - I am not out for any payback… I don’t need any PULL in the courtroom...
I am content with my state in life...
I simply wanted to help out a Man of God - and HONOR God in doing so.
So she responds with CONTENTMENT...
14 And he said, “What then is to be done for her?” Gehazi answered, “Well, she has no son, and her husband is old.”
15 He said, “Call her.” And when he had called her, she stood in the doorway.
16 And he said, “At this season, about this time next year, you shall embrace a son.” And she said, “No, my lord, O man of God; do not lie to your servant.”
17 But the woman conceived, and she bore a son about that time the following spring, as Elisha had said to her.
So Elisha predicts the birth of a child for this woman...
And she’s VERY hesitant at first… WHY?
because she was VERY excited!
She says - Don’t LIE TO ME…!
Don’t PLAY GAMES with my emotions!
She didn’t ASK for a child...
And yet - nonetheless - one is granted her...
And so she HAS the child - and that leads to the next part of the story...
18 When the child had grown, he went out one day to his father among the reapers.
19 And he said to his father, “Oh, my head, my head!” The father said to his servant, “Carry him to his mother.”
20 And when he had lifted him and brought him to his mother, the child sat on her lap till noon, and then he died.
So this PROMISED - Blessing of a child - granted to this woman for HELPING Elisha...
DIES (*heat stroke)
What does the woman do?
v21
21 And she went up and laid him on the bed of the man of God and shut the door behind him and went out.
She lays the child on Elisha’s bed...
NOW - if you remember - Elijah did something very similar - regarding the boy he raised from the dead - and PERHAPS this woman KNEW of that happening...
19 And he said to her, “Give me your son.” And he took him from her arms and carried him up into the upper chamber where he lodged, and laid him on his own bed.
And so - maybe this woman in our text today - KNEW of this - and assumed it would be the best option!
So she takes the boy to Elisha’s bed...
She ends up making her way to Elisha…and asks for help.
29 He said to Gehazi, “Tie up your garment and take my staff in your hand and go. If you meet anyone, do not greet him, and if anyone greets you, do not reply. And lay my staff on the face of the child.”
30 Then the mother of the child said, “As the Lord lives and as you yourself live, I will not leave you.” So he arose and followed her.
31 Gehazi went on ahead and laid the staff on the face of the child, but there was no sound or sign of life. Therefore he returned to meet him and told him, “The child has not awakened.”
32 When Elisha came into the house, he saw the child lying dead on his bed.
33 So he went in and shut the door behind the two of them and prayed to the Lord.
Elisha PRAYS… and God responds.
34 Then he went up and lay on the child, putting his mouth on his mouth, his eyes on his eyes, and his hands on his hands. And as he stretched himself upon him, the flesh of the child became warm.
35 Then he got up again and walked once back and forth in the house, and went up and stretched himself upon him. The child sneezed seven times, and the child opened his eyes.
36 Then he summoned Gehazi and said, “Call this Shunammite.” So he called her. And when she came to him, he said, “Pick up your son.”
37 She came and fell at his feet, bowing to the ground. Then she picked up her son and went out.
The BOY - was alive.
NOW - LAST WEEK - we talked about - the Burden of - DEBT.
And we saw how GOD’S supply - PAYS our spiritual DEBT…incurred due to our sin nature.
THIS WEEK - we COULD have focused on - the Burden of - DEATH...
AND - that GOD is the ONE we GO TO - for - - LIFE!
Right?
Like that’s what happened in THIS STORY!
This woman KNEW she needed to go to the man of - GOD
Because she knew she needed God!
But i don’t want to focus on that part of it.
We hovered quite a bit last week - on Spiritual Deadness - and what that means for mankind!
TODAY - i want to focus on a small portion of this story.
Elisha had just heard that the boy was dead...
SO ELISHA - tells his servant - Gehazi - to do something.
29 He said to Gehazi, “Tie up your garment and take my staff in your hand and go. If you meet anyone, do not greet him, and if anyone greets you, do not reply. And lay my staff on the face of the child.”
30 Then the mother of the child said, “As the Lord lives and as you yourself live, I will not leave you.” So he arose and followed her.
31 Gehazi went on ahead and laid the staff on the face of the child, but there was no sound or sign of life. Therefore he returned to meet him and told him, “The child has not awakened.”
Elisha tells Gehazi - Go and lay my staff on the face of the child!
NOW - did it help?
Did it contribute to the boy being RAISED?
I THINK - the answer is - we don’t KNOW.
ELISHA - the PROPHET - told him to do this..
SO - was it a command from God to Gehazi? GO DO THIS?!
We - don’t know.
But what did Gehazi DO?
He - obeyed.
And what I want us to see is this...
SLIDE:
The big picture of God’s plan consists of a billion puzzle pieces, all of which are necessary to complete the picture.
When Gehazi placed that staff on the face of the child - did it DO anything?
I would say - SEEMINGLY - no.
But he obeyed!
NOW we don’t know if Elisha’s command to DO THAT - was FROM GOD....or was just Elisha speaking...
BUT - it COULD have come from God!
Point being - HOW did Gehazi respond - when nothing happened?
31 Gehazi went on ahead and laid the staff on the face of the child, but there was no sound or sign of life. Therefore he returned to meet him and told him, “The child has not awakened.”
I would imagine - it SEEMS - that Gehazi was thinking - WELP - THAT didn’t do anything!
“What was the point?”
What i want US to see is - - Sometimes we’re NOT going to SEE - or KNOW - the RESULTS to our obedience.
Sometimes we - Don’t EVER - get to see the whole picture!
SLIDE: JIGSAW PIECES
Question:
If you were given this pile of pieces- just as it is… (so you’re sitting there…)
Is there ANYTHING that you’re CERTAIN of?
Ok - so now LOOKING at these pieces - what are you NOT certain of?
You’re certainly not certain of the OVERALL picture (big picture)
What else?
You’re probably NOT EVEN certain about that ONE PIECE in FRONT of you…and what’s ON IT
is that a FLOWER?
Or is it a BUG?
Is it a potato chip?
Or some guy’s Face Hinge
The whole POINT of a jigsaw puzzle - is to confuse you regarding what you’re looking at.
And based on the nature of the - challenge - sometimes - Depending on the puzzle - it can be REALLY HARD to complete it.
to GET TO SEE - the big picture.
Now - based on what we see here - it looks like this puzzle - if this was all the pieces - you’re not looking at a GIANT puzzle… (#?)
But what was the point we just looked at?
SLIDE
The big picture of God’s plan consists of a billion puzzle pieces, all of which are necessary to complete the picture.
The SITUATION that you’re walking through right now...
That HEAVY thing...
That UNCERTAIN thing...
THAT situation - is like a PIECE of a LARGER puzzle… YOUR STORY...
And sometimes we look at it - and we’re like - WHAT IS HAPPENING HERE?
What is GOD DOING??!!!!
(SLIDE) We look at the PUZZLE PIECES of the situation - and we think - OH NO
HELL’s COMIN!!
From WHAT I SEE - NO DOUBT - hell is comin my way!
Oh NO! This is gonna be bad!!
And then - 4 days later - - 2 weeks later - a year later...
MORE pieces COMING into place...
And you realize...
HE IS WORTHY!
(SLIDE) A SITUATION COMES...
And you’re like - UH OH - - a LOW valley is coming!
This is going to be a ROUGH ride!!
It’s gonna be hard!
I don’t KNOW WHAT God is doing...
But then - a week later - 2 years later - a decade later...
You realize - ?
God LOVED me through it!
He DREW me closer to HIM!
UNDERSTAND - we are - SO LIMITED!
We look down - SEE THE PUZZLE PIECE right in front of us...
And we SUDDENLY become EXPERTS at what God is wanting to DO!!
OH MY!
How many times have you thought - OK I KNOW WHAT GOD is DOING HERE....
Only to realize like - the NEXT DAY - that you were completely wrong??
AND IT GOES BOTH ways does it not??!!
There are times where we’ll be IN A SITUATION - and we’ll see PART of the PUZZLE PIECE...
And we’ll ASSUME THE WORST!
There are those times!!
Where we’ll SEE the “HE” and ASSUME HELL is coming!
We’ll see the “LO” and assume the LOWEST of valleys is coming!
ONLY to find out that - Like the SONG says - In return ALL HE’S EVER been - was kind!
But there are ALSO the OTHER TIMES - when we FIND OURSELVES assuming the - MOST COMFORTABLE times with God...
And we REALIZE - maybe God has a DIFFERENT PATH for us!
ABRAHAM & SARAH (ISAAC)
SLIDE 1: Abraham and Isaac (on the altar) (2nd piece = TAR - Abraham thinks it says - STAR (my boys gonna be a STAR)
SLIDE 2: Abraham - AL TAR pieces
DAVID
SLIDE 1: Samuel thinking David’s oldest brother would be King (size-height) (2nd piece = ALLEST - Samuel thinks the TALLEST brother is the one to be King - nope, the smallest)
6 When they came, he looked on Eliab and thought, “Surely the Lord’s anointed is before him.”
7 But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.”
SLIDE 2: David - SM ALLEST pieces
JESUS
Jesus shows up - He calls his disciples -
They begin to follow Him - and they begin to FORM OPINIONS about WHO Jesus IS - and why He had come!
They had it in their minds - and they truly BELIEVED...
SLIDE 1: 2nd Piece (KING - YES - our King has arrived!)
- The kingdom is gonna be set up - NOW - and Jesus will REIGN forever more!
But then this KING begins to speak - and begins to say things that seem to CONTRADICT THAT...
And He flat out tells them...
21 From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.
And over time - the disciples begin to UNDERSTAND what Jesus was saying...
And they begin to REALIZE that the PUZZLE PIECE - they saw...
SLIDE 1: KING
…WASN’T the beginning of the sentence, but the END...
SLIDE 2: DYING - KING
And we know how PETER responded to this news...
22 And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, “Far be it from you, Lord! This shall never happen to you.”
SLIDE 2: DYING - KING
THAT puzzle PIECE DOESN’T FIT!
no that’s NOT right!
When we look at our TEXT today - and we see Gehazi...
OBEY - and do what he was told...
AND YET - nothing happened...
We automatically ASSUME that WHAT HE DID - played NO part in that child coming back to life.
But can we REALLY say that?
Just THINK of the puzzle pieces in THIS VERY STORY...
But let’s start at the end...
The boy is raised from the dead...
But what went INTO that?
What pieces are CONNECTED to that?
Elisha lays on top of him (that’s a piece)
Elisha PRAYED before that (that’s a piece)
But it keeps going...
Gehazi did what HE was told to do - that was a puzzle piece
The Mother of the child BROUGHT the child and LAID him on Elisha’s bed! - that was a piece
Well - HOW did the bed get there?
OH YEAH - The woman decided to BUILD Elisha a ROOM on her ROOF - where he could rest, and study - THAT was a piece
Well WHY did she DECIDE THAT?
OH - yeah - She obviously NOTICED Elisha coming into town - often...
And she decided to ENCOURAGE him to eat food!
THAT was a piece in all of this...
But it doesn’t even STOP there!!
WHY was Elisha even going INTO these towns?
He took over for - Elijah!
Well what decisions and situations surround ELIJAH - and everything that went into HIM being a PROPHET of God?
Do you see?
See how the PIECES never STOP?
I know there are times when we feel like - our PLACE in ministry is either -
Insignificant...
pointless...
NON-impactful...
I can ASSURE YOU… It does…!!
It is!!
BUT there WILL be times - where we may not even KNOW HOW it was impactful!
Gehazi DIED - not knowing how his obedience IMPACTED that boy being raised from the dead.
He could have even died - THINKING he played no part at all...
There are a few take home points I’d like to make - in closing
SLIDE:
Your obedience always matters
Gehazi probably NEVER found out how his action of laying the staff on the child - helped.
But IF THAT COMMAND came from God - then here’s what we know - IT MATTERED!
Whether we SEE the direct results from it - or not.
It mattered!
if it came from God - it was NECESSARY.
As you know - we live in a world of - Instant Gratification.
And more often than not - if we don’t see or experience a DIRECT - CORRELATED result - to what we do...
We’ll often write it off as - Pointless.
A waste of time
A waste of energy
We have to remember that we are LIMITED!
We DON’T see the big picture...
ALSO -
SLIDE:
The situations we find ourselves in are pieces to a much larger puzzle, impacted by other’s pieces, and often meant to impact other’s puzzles as well.
I made a post this past week - and after i posted it, I realized that it proved this very point.
I’m just gonna show the post - Today is a day of - Graphics...
SLIDE: Facebook Post (Shane Barnard)
*Explain Post
We NEVER know the impact our choices / our decisions / the situations we’re in - will have on OTHERS.
But what we NEED TO REMEMBER - is that there are BILLIONS of pieces to God’s puzzle…in your life.
In the SITUATION you’re in right now.
And sometimes - most times - we simply need to - HOLD ON...
And TRUST - that God works all things out for the good to those who love Him!
TO CLOSE...
Question:
SLIDE:
What brought you here today?
Is this the Sunday routine?
Is this brand NEW for you?
EITHER way - you’re being here - is a PIECE of the puzzle.
God WANTED you here today...
And lest we presume that everyone in here is a Christian - something we should never do...
What is the GOOD NEWS of Jesus all about?
We start with the bad news.
The Bible tells us that ALL have SINNED - and fallen short of the glory of God.
Why is that bad?
The Bible also tells us that the wages of sin is death!
AND SO - we ALL - by default… have EARNED DEATH!
by default...
Mankind is separated from God - spiritually dead in sin.
Dead people CAN’T make THEMSELVES alive!
And so - the good news - is that Jesus came -
lived the perfect life we could never live - and fulfilled the LAW!
The LAW - is the requirement to get to God.
We can’t accomplish it - but Christ DID..
And so - BY FAITH in him - we receive HIS ACCOMPLISHMENT...
We receive His goodness…applied to our account.
But it’s ONLY by faith in Jesus that we find peace with God.
1 Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
And SO - have you EVER embraced the puzzle piece - JESUS...
As part of your story?
Have you ever surrendered your life to Him?
Today’s the day…don’t harden your heart.
Instead - believe!
And by believing - gain ETERNAL LIFE!
23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Embrace Christ today - as the CENTER piece of your puzzle.
And once you do - Once you’re a FOLLOWER of Christ…know this...
SLIDE:
Your obedience always matters
AND
SLIDE:
The situations we find ourselves in are pieces to a much larger puzzle, impacted by other’s pieces, and often meant to impact other’s puzzles as well.
Let’s pray