Hot Pursuit

2 Kings 2:1–13 (ESV)

Now when the Lord was about to take Elijah up to heaven by a whirlwind, Elijah and Elisha were on their way from Gilgal. And Elijah said to Elisha, “Please stay here, for the Lord has sent me as far as Bethel.” But Elisha said, “As the Lord lives, and as you yourself live, I will not leave you.” So they went down to Bethel. And the sons of the prophets who were in Bethel came out to Elisha and said to him, “Do you know that today the Lord will take away your master from over you?” And he said, “Yes, I know it; keep quiet.”

Elijah said to him, “Elisha, please stay here, for the Lord has sent me to Jericho.” But he said, “As the Lord lives, and as you yourself live, I will not leave you.” So they came to Jericho. The sons of the prophets who were at Jericho drew near to Elisha and said to him, “Do you know that today the Lord will take away your master from over you?” And he answered, “Yes, I know it; keep quiet.”

Then Elijah said to him, “Please stay here, for the Lord has sent me to the Jordan.” But he said, “As the Lord lives, and as you yourself live, I will not leave you.” So the two of them went on. Fifty men of the sons of the prophets also went and stood at some distance from them, as they both were standing by the Jordan. Then Elijah took his cloak and rolled it up and struck the water, and the water was parted to the one side and to the other, till the two of them could go over on dry ground.

When they had crossed, Elijah said to Elisha, “Ask what I shall do for you, before I am taken from you.” And Elisha said, “Please let there be a double portion of your spirit on me.” And he said, “You have asked a hard thing; yet, if you see me as I am being taken from you, it shall be so for you, but if you do not see me, it shall not be so.” And as they still went on and talked, behold, chariots of fire and horses of fire separated the two of them. And Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven. And Elisha saw it and he cried, “My father, my father! The chariots of Israel and its horsemen!” And he saw him no more.

Then he took hold of his own clothes and tore them in two pieces. And he took up the cloak of Elijah that had fallen from him and went back and stood on the bank of the Jordan.

introduction

Last week we ended 2024 by talking about what we needed to leave behind in 2024..

we looked at the story of Elijah and Elisha found in 1st and sec ond kings.

more specifically the calling of elisha…

Today, I want to continue this story today as this is the first sunday of the year

and look at the rest of the story between elijah and elisha.. found here in 2 kings 2.

and while we talke about what we needed to leave behind last week..

I want to talk about what we should pursue in 2025..

The Story

Just a few chapters after the calling of Elisha in 1 kings 19..

we come to the final events of the relationship elijah and elisha in 2 kings 2

We dont know how much time has passed specifically

but we know that for some time now elisha has been following elijah faithful..

and things are comign to a head..

Elijah is about to be taken up..

the sons of the prophets through this story are contiually reminding elisha of this..

and through this stroy we find that elisha is determined that he is going to be there when it happens..

He is not going to leave elijahs side..

but rather hes going to see what God will do as this plays out..

Elisha is in hot pursuit of whatever god is going to do through this..

He refuses to let anything prevent him from seeing the fulfillment of gods best for his life..

us

If theres one thing in 2025 that i believe is more important for us than anything else..

its seeing all that god has for us..

both individually and corperatly..

Important

we are living in a where we need to expereince a move of god..

but we also need god to move us into a fresh move of his presence..

We need him..

But we have to understand that is not going to come easy..

its going to require us to dedicate ourselves to determined pursuit of him..

Elisha is Determined to see this through..

this is what elisha finds out..

He knows God is going to do something..

Elijah is leaving..

he will step into the role of prophet..

but it requires hius determiniation to see it through..

Test

three different times in this passage we find that Elisha is asked to make a choice in staying in the town they are in and continuning to walk with Elijah..

Three times he is tempted to take a rest and stay behind as the prophet continues on..

and each time elishas makse the determined choice that he is going with elijah without hesitation..

Dedicated

Elisha was determined he was moving forward at all cost..

he would not be detered or let off the gas even for a moment..

and because of this determination in the end we see that God honors him and bestows on him the mantle of elijah and a GREATER, DOUBLE, ANNOINTING on his life..

Temptation

I want to point out that the passage tells is..

there was a chance elisha could have missed this moment..

in verse 9 elijah asked elisha.. what do you want..

in essence.. why are you pursuing so hard..

and elisha tells him.. I want a double portion of your annointing..

and look what elijah says..

2 king 2:10

2 Kings 2:10 (ESV)

And he said, “You have asked a hard thing; yet, if you see me as I am being taken from you, it shall be so for you, but if you do not see me, it shall not be so.”

Elijahs says.. if your there.. if you see him.. god will do it..

but if your not.. he wont..

I want you to notice that the determining factor in weather elisha receives the double portion.. it his pursuit..

If you are there.. if your eyes behold it.. it will happen..

If not.. it wont..

and now we see the signifigance of the testing..

three tims.. stay here..

three times.. no im going..

us

I want to tell you today..

god wants to do more in your life..

we wants to reveal himself in greater ways..

he wants to do the miraculous..

and bring you through victories..

He wants to bestow anointing and calling on you.. .

he wants to draw closer to you..

BUT THE TEMPERATURE OF OUR PURSUIT WILL DETERMINE IF WE SEE IT OR NOT..

How far you are willing to go, will determine how much you will see..

Road blocks..

Elisha encounters three different cities in this passage where had to choose to stay.. or to continue to pursue..

I want to look at each of them because i think we will see they each tell of a different roadblock that can inhibit our growth in the lord if we allow it..

The first place that we find in this passage is Gilgal..

Where Elijah says.. listen.. God is calling me to go on.. but you please stay here..

Gigal

the name gilgal means, circles of stones

Historically gilgal was a place of great signifigance in israels history..

it was the place the israelites first camped when they crossed the jordan

it was a place of memorial

Where they built the 12 stone memorial to remember how god brougth them out of egypt, out of the dessert and dried up the jordan river for them to cross

gilgal was a place of transition..

Where israel finally broke free from their bondage and past and steped into the promise..

Elijah

and elijah says.. listen elisha stay here and elijah says no..

If we are going to pursue god and see all god has for us.. we have to be willing to let go of the past and step into the new....

If we are too comitted to the way things used to be.. we will never experience the new things god still wants to do..

Israel

you remember when israel was in the wilderness that first year..

and things hard..

the first thing they did was complain and long for egypt..

they wanted to go back to what they knew..

but if they went back to egypt they never would have expereinced the greater promise god had for them…

Ok

God regularly reminded the children of Israel of there past in Egypt and their delivery

But he never took them back

It ok to have a past

It’s not ok for your past to have you

We have to move on from gilgal

Us

Tradition is great..

we are able to do what we do because of those that have gone before us..

but god is a god of movement..

he doesnt change..

but he is constantly doing a new work..

bringing new people into him..

drawing us close to him..

and if we get to comfortable with the what has been.. we will never see what will be..

Bethel

The next place elisha and eljah encounter is bethel..

Bethel

The name bethel means, house of god..

This the place where Jacob saw the emphamous jacobs ladder, where angles asended and decended from heaven..

It was the place abram build and altar to god.

in More established israel there was signifigant santuary for the worship for the northern kingdom..

and it was the place the arc of the covanent dwelt for a time, and samuel set up counself..

but it was also the place where king jeroboam set up a golden calf to be worshiped to prevent the people of the northen kingdom from going to jerusalem to worship..

leading israel into idolotry..

If we are going to see more of god, we must be willing to seek more than just a religous experience.. we just understnad Church is not enough..

church is not the pinical of relationship with god..

eimply coming to church is not the end of what God wants to do in your life..

many people think that simply going to church more is how you grow i your relationship with god..

and in turn church becomes the idol that prevents from growing..

Or church culture and tradition becomes the barrier that prevents us from moving forward..

but church is not the only place we shoul dbe ecountering god..

We should have a daily vibrant relationship with God..

WE CANNOT GET COMFORTABLE WITH BETHEL BEING ENOUGH..

GOD WANTS TO TAKE US DEEPER!

Beyond

if you are going to grow with god your going to have to grow beyond church..

not that you dont need it..

but God wants to establish something greater in you and simply a religous expereince or sunday morning schedule..

HE WANTS DEEPER RELATIONSHIP..

Jericho

the final place elisha is offered to stay is jericho..

jericho..

The name jerecho means “fragrant”…

It was also known as the city of the palm trees..

as it was a fertile spring fed oasis in contrast to the harsh dessert around it..

a place that was desired to rest in..

to be content..

miracle

Obviously, It was the first city to be conquered by israel when coming into the promise..

Seeing a miraculous victory as the walls came down after their obiedience..

and it was the last tempation to for elisha to stay behind..

If were going to see all that god has for us we cannot allow ourselves to become content and comfortable.. we have to keep moving..

Easy to be content

it can be easy to come so far with god in our relationship that we let off the gas..

and sit back and try to just coast..

like we have arrived…

but jericho is not final place god has called us too..

Weve seen some miraculous things..

and were good with where are in in god..

but comfort is the enemy of growth..

Stayed?

Can you imagine if joshua said.. man this was a good victory lets just stay here a while.

after all weve been wondering the dessert for 40 years.. and this is an oasis..

Or what is elisha said..

you know what elijah..

You keep asking me..

yeah.. im gonna stay here with the sons of the prophets and ill catch up later..

both would have missed out on all god wanted to do in them

DONT GET COMFORTABLE!! KEEP PUSHING!

Moses…

you remeber moses?

Hes on the mountain..

hes already spent 40 days And nights on the moutain in the presens of the lord

hes had one of the most prolifict encounters with god we find in scripture..

and yet hes not content..

and in exodus 33…

hes on the mountain frustrated by the people..

and you can almost feel the desire in his words and hes tells the lord..

Show me your glory…

40 days in Gods presence wasnt enough.. he wanted a great revelation of god..

a greater intimacy..

and God grants it..

and allows him to see the back side of his glory..

how desperate are you to see a greater revelation of god in 2025?

Are you wiling to persue it at all cost?

Transition to the end

if were going to see everything god has for us..

we have to be willing to move on from our past..

It has to be greater than just a weekly religous expereince..

and we must refuse to become content..

The Jordan

Elisha and elijah Finally we come to the jordan..

The last leg of elishas journey with elijah..

the first leg of Joshuas Journey with israel..

but I want you to notice something about the jordan for both..

For both Elisha and Joshua, God parted the jordan for them to walk across on dry ground..

And it was the confrimation they need to see God was going to do what he said..

And on the other side..

god revealed himself in a great way..

are you ready to pursue god at all cost this year?

to push past anything the prevents you from getting there?