Foreshadow of Jesus

April 13th 2025

Series: Days of Elisha

Sermon Title: Foreshadow of Jesus

Topic:Journey through the life of Elisah to learn how he became an incredible man of God.

Key Passages: 2 Kings 4: 38-44 & 2 Kings 5: 1-27

Topic: Elisha, Faith, Miracle, Healing

Sermon Blurb: In today’s message, Elisha foreshadows some of the miracles Jesus will perform when he comes to earth in the future.

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Sermon:

Hello Family Church!!!

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Celebrate salvations / re-dedications / baptisms last week.

Welcome back to our series, reading through the life of a prophet named Elisha in the Old Testament.

We are looking at all these incredible ways that the Holy Spirit worked in and through him.

Last week, we read about Elisha performing another incredible miracle.

A rich woman blessed him out of the goodness of her heart.

She was older and without a child.

Elisha decided to ask God to give her a child and God did.

And life was good…until one day when her son got sick and died.

Then we saw this woman go to Elisha…when it seemed like ALL hope was lost…and Elisha went and raised her son back to life!

PAUSE

And today is Palm Sunday…

The week before Easter.

And next week we will gather and celebrate the greatest news EVER!

That Jesus Christ also raised from the dead!

BUT….

What makes Jesus being raised from the dead even more unique that this boy who was…

Is that Jesus was not raised from the dead by the actions of another man of God.

Jesus raised HIMSELF from the dead!

And in the ONE action Jesus proved he was God and he was Lord over life and death…

PAUSE

Let me encourage you ALL to be inviting your friends, family members, and neighbors, and co-workers to church with you next week!

We will have an incredible message of hope for everyone!

PAUSE

But today…

Today…

We will read about more miracles God did through Elisha.

And the cool things is just like last week with a child being raised from the dead would foreshadow what Jesus would do one day.

All three miracles that Elisha does today are miracles that Jesus will also do when he is on earth in the future!

Elisha, who, do NOT FORGET was a regular farm kid.

Elisha does more miracles that any recorded person in all of human history…

Outside of ONE person…

Does anyone want to guess who?

Yes…Jesus…

PAUSE

Let’s jump into our Bibles today.

So, if you would open your Bibles with me to

2 Kings 4

And by the way…..

(New Person Bible Connection)

If you do not have a Bible, that is ok!

After service, we will give you an AMAZING leather-bound study Bible!

Or if you have a Bible stop by there anyway and we will give you a gift card to a local restaurant because we LOVE that you came today and we want to bless you!!!

Just go to (ADD YOUR CAMPUS PLACE) and get one for FREE!!!

PAUSE

Let’s read the first miracle story today, starting at verse 38.

2 Kings 4: 38-44 38 Elisha returned to Gilgal and there was a famine in that region.

While the company of the prophets was meeting with him, he said to his servant,

“Put on the large pot and cook some stew for these prophets.”

39 One of them went out into the fields to gather herbs and found a wild vine and picked as many of its gourds as his garment could hold.

When he returned, he cut them up into the pot of stew, though no one knew what they were.

40 The stew was poured out for the men, but as they began to eat it, they cried out, “Man of God, there is death in the pot!” And they could not eat it.

41 Elisha said, “Get some flour.” He put it into the pot and said, “Serve it to the people to eat.” And there was nothing harmful in the pot.

Stop there…

Yet again, we see Elisha during a time of famine in the land.

When there was not enough food.

Providing food for people.

A common staple of Elisha was providing food for people in a time of need.

Which…Church, who also provided food over and over for people. Anyone want to guess?

Yes, Jesus!!!

And in the next story, he will do it again!

Let’s read that.

42 A man came from Baal Shalishah, bringing the man of God twenty loaves of barley bread baked from the first ripe grain,

along with some heads of new grain. “Give it to the people to eat,” Elisha said.43 “How can I set this before a hundred men?” his servant asked.

But Elisha answered, “Give it to the people to eat. For this is what the Lord says: ‘They will eat and have some left over.’”

44 Then he set it before them, and they ate and had some left over, according to the word of the Lord.

Does anyone remember someone who did what you just read more than once in the Bible?

Yes….Jesus!!!

Amazing the way the Elisha would foreshadow what Jesus would do in the future…

But let’s be honest.

When Jesus did these miracles, they were done at a much higher scale.

Jesus feeds thousands from one loaf of bread, not 20!

But bear in mind here that Elisha did not have Jesus to look at to know what was possible.

The greatest prophet before Elisha was his mentor Elijah and he is already doing more miracles than he did…

So Elisha is doing AMAZING things!

This begs the question here…

If God could do miracles through a regular guy like Elisha.

If God could do miracles through a regular guy like Elijah.

If Jesus could do miracles when he became fully man.

What is holding you and me back?

Why don’t we see more miracles?

Why don’t we see crazy things like this happening?

PAUSE

And the answer is we do all the time…we just don’t give God credit.

I cannot tell you how many people I know who have gone to doctors with things like cancer and when they went back for procedures it was gone…yet we do not write that down in our calendars as miracles of God.

I know people who have started tithing who say they have no idea how but it seems like their money is going futhur now. And we don’t call it a miracle…we think…that is just odd.

I know people who have gotten jobs that they had no business getting but don’t see it as God’s provision.

I know people who have gotten in accidents and should have not lived but walked away without a scratch and think it was just good luck.

Miracles happen all around us…

We are just conditioned by our culture to seek other reasons..

Because we live in a culture that does not want to see God!

PAUSE

God does not only perform miracles for believers in God…and that is what can sometimes be hard for believers.

We look at people who HATE God and the good things happening in their lives and wonder why.

Why…when we have all these needs in our lives?

And I cannot answer why God heals one person and does not heal another.

(ADD AN EXAMPLE OR TWO FROM YOUR LIFE)

I have no idea why God allowed my son to get cancer and then not heal him before we had to pump his body full of poison called chemo.

I have no idea why God, my Uncle Paul got sick right after she retired and died, not being able to enjoy retirement.

But I do know that God knows a lot of things I do not, and I have to trust him.

PAUSE

And the next story is another one that seems so crazy…

Let’s read it.

2 Kings 5: 1-27 1 Now Naaman was commander of the army of the king of Aram.

He was a great man in the sight of his master and highly regarded, because through him the Lord had given victory to Aram.

He was a valiant soldier, but he had leprosy.

Now let me pause her and explain what leprosy is because we do not have that disease in the modern world.

Leprosy is a degenerative disease that attacks the body, leaving sores, missing fingers, missing toes, and damaged limbs.

The disease can take 30 years to run its course, and in that time span, entire limbs can fall off.

And there was NO hope of a cure in this day and age….

Put yourself in Naaman’s shoes for a second….

You have a disease where you are slowly losing feeling in your body.

You begin to lose parts of your body.

You literally begin to have parts of your body rot, and you would smell worse than anything you can imagine.

In this day and age if you contracted leprosy meant:

By law, you had to be separated from ALL people.

You would be removed from your family.

Pushed out of your community.

There could be no contact whatsoever, with your children or grandchildren, or spouse.

None.

He must have just found out so he is looking for a miracle to happen.

And now the story gets even more interesting…

Verse 2.

2 Now bands of raiders from Aram had gone out and had taken captive a young girl from Israel, and she served Naaman’s wife.

Stop there for a minute.

A young girl was taken captive.

A young woman became a slave.

Does anyone here think that was her dream?

Does anyone here think that was fair for this girl?

No way!!!!

Life is not all sunshine and rainbows.

Bad things happen to good people.

Bad things happen to followers of God.

The question today is this…write this down.

What do you do when your life does not go according to your plan?

Repeat

What do you do?

What do you do when God does not do what you want?

What do you do when God allows a bad thing, like what happened to this young woman, to happen?

Well…

Let’s see what this young woman does.

3 She said to her mistress, “If only my master would see the prophet who is in Samaria! He would cure him of his leprosy.”

This young girl did NOT forget about God!

She did not get mad at God!

She pointed her slave master toward God!

She told her slave master there was a man of God who could heal him!

She CHOOSE in the midst of living a life far from any young girls dream to still point people toward God.

Here we are on Palm Sunday…

Next week is Easter Sunday.

A week when more people will come to church with you than ANY OTHER week of the year….

IF you will invite them.

Will you still invite people even if God has not been the genie you hoped he would be?

We will you still point people toward Jesus when life is not perfect?

PAUSE

See the answer to that question is this…write this down.

When life does not go according to our plan, we trust God’s plan will be better and we keep pointing people toward Jesus!

Repeat

That is what this girl does and watch what happens!

4 Naaman went to his master and told him what the girl from Israel had said.

5 “By all means, go,” the king of Aram replied. “I will send a letter to the king of Israel.”

So Naaman left, taking with him ten talents of silver, six thousand shekels of gold and ten sets of clothing.

Now let me put into perspective what you just read.

Naaman is ready to pay an incredible price to be healed.

He is taking with him the ANNUAL…not monthly…ANNUAL earnings of over 600 people!!!!

This is taking over 150 POUNDS of Gold worth around 6 MILLION dollars in today’s value to get him healed!

Naaman was one rich and powerful general!!!

Verse 6,

6 The letter that he took to the king of Israel read:

“With this letter I am sending my servant Naaman to you so that you may cure him of his leprosy.”

7 As soon as the king of Israel read the letter, he tore his robes and said, “Am I God? Can I kill and bring back to life?

Why does this fellow send someone to me to be cured of his leprosy? See how he is trying to pick a quarrel with me!”

See, the king of Isreal and Aaram are enemies.

They are not friends.

So, the king sees the most powerful general come to him with all these lavish gifts to have the king of Israel do something IMPOSSIBLE!

The king of Israel knows he cannot just do miracles for people.

So, he thinks this is a trap.

This will create an excuse for Aaram to go to war with Israel.

So…verse 8,

8 When Elisha the man of God heard that the king of Israel had torn his robes, he sent him this message:

“Why have you torn your robes? Have the man come to me and he will know that there is a prophet in Israel.”

Elisha says, “Game on! I will prove to him our God is real!”

And I LOVE Elisha and how BOLD he is!

If you missed the series on Elijah you should go listen to it!

Elijah was such a BOLD leader as well!

He taught his disciple, Elisha, to be BOLD as well!

So it says in verse 9,

9 So Naaman went with his horses and chariots and stopped at the door of Elisha’s house.

10 Elisha sent a messenger to say to him, “Go, wash yourself seven times in the Jordan, and your flesh will be restored and you will be cleansed.”

Stop there…

Did anyone notice something interesting in what you just read?

Go back…

Look in your Bibles…

Did Elisha go speak to this powerful warrior?

NOPE!

He sent his servant!

He is not showing this general any special respect!

A BOLD life choice that VERY few would ever make!

And that explains why Naaman reacts as he does in verse 11…

11 But Naaman went away angry and said,

“I thought that he would surely come out to me and stand and call on the name of the Lord his God, wave his hand over the spot and cure me of my leprosy.

12 Are not Abana and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Couldn’t I wash in them and be cleansed?”

So he turned and went off in a rage.

Stop there…

Have you ever seen someone act like that?

Throw a tantrum over things NOT planning out how they want?

Like when someone quits marriage counseling because THEY think it is worthless…like you know better than a professional!

Or when you get up and SCREAM at the coach…If you could do better go be the coach!

If we are honest….all of us at times overreact to things.

PAUSE

Naaman was furious because he wanted this man of God to tell him to go do something CRAZY!

Go kill a dragon!

Go climb a mountain!

Go kill a lion with your bare hands!

Don’t have a simple servant to tell me to go bath in some stupid Jewish river that is dirty!

That is BELOW me…

PAUSE

And not just that…

Naaman is just like so many of us.

Naaman wanted to be a part of his story of healing.

He wanted to tell people of his MIGHTY feats that healed him.

Just like our culture says…

Pull yourself up by your bootstraps…

Do it yourself…

Don’t ask anyone else for help…

Verse 13

13 Naaman’s servants went to him and said,

“My father, if the prophet had told you to do some great thing, would you not have done it?

How much more, then, when he tells you, ‘Wash and be cleansed’!”

14 So he went down and dipped himself in the Jordan seven times, as the man of God had told him,

and his flesh was restored and became clean like that of a young boy.

It worked!!!!

What Elisha said to do worked!

He was healed!!!!

15 Then Naaman and all his attendants went back to the man of God. He stood before him and said,

Listen to his church!

“Now I know that there is no God in all the world except in Israel. So please accept a gift from your servant.”

Because Elisha was NOT afraid to do BOLD things…

This famous general…

His whole entourage…

His whole country will know who serves a REAL God!

PAUSE

Now check out what Elisha does with being offered a gift…

16 The prophet answered, “As surely as the Lord lives, whom I serve, I will not accept a thing.” And even though Naaman urged him, he refused.

Stop there…

Write down this point.

Give God all honor.

Repeat

Elisha could have taken credit.

Elisha could have gotten RICH beyond his dreams!

Elisha instead said NOPE!

I do NOT want any credit.

All credit goes to the Lord who lives, who I am a simple servant.

Wow….

Is that how you would respond to someone offering you millions of dollars for leading them to Jesus????

PAUSE

Let’s keep reading…verse 17…

17 “If you will not,” said Naaman, “please let me, your servant, be given as much earth as a pair of mules can carry,

for your servant will never again make burnt offerings and sacrifices to any other god but the Lord.

That is super cool!

He wants to take home Israeli soil to keep worshiping God!

18 But may the Lord forgive your servant for this one thing:

When my master enters the temple of Rimmon to bow down and he is leaning on my arm and I have to bow there also—

when I bow down in the temple of Rimmon, may the Lord forgive your servant for this.”

He wants to know if it is ok that he has to bow to the idol when his king does…

And Elisha says…

19 “Go in peace,” Elisha said.

After Naaman had traveled some distance, 20 Gehazi, the servant of Elisha the man of God, said to himself,

Not those words….TO HIMSELF…circle that in your Bible….

And write next to it DON’T DO THIS!

“My master was too easy on Naaman, this Aramean, by not accepting from him what he brought.

As surely as the Lord lives, I will run after him and get something from him.”

21 So Gehazi hurried after Naaman. When Naaman saw him running toward him, he got down from the chariot to meet him.

“Is everything all right?” he asked. 22 “Everything is all right,” Gehazi answered.

“My master sent me to say, ‘Two young men from the company of the prophets have just come to me from the hill country of Ephraim.

Please give them a talent of silver and two sets of clothing.’” 23 “By all means, take two talents,” said Naaman.

He urged Gehazi to accept them, and then tied up the two talents of silver in two bags, with two sets of clothing.

He gave them to two of his servants, and they carried them ahead of Gehazi.

24 When Gehazi came to the hill, he took the things from the servants and put them away in the house. He sent the men away and they left.

Pause there…

He lied and deceived people for personal gain.

Instead of learning from his Godly leader…he did the opposite.

Let’s see how that plays out.

25 When he went in and stood before his master, Elisha asked him, “Where have you been, Gehazi?”

“Your servant didn’t go anywhere,” Gehazi answered.

26 But Elisha said to him, “Was not my spirit with you when the man got down from his chariot to meet you?

Is this the time to take money or to accept clothes—or olive groves and vineyards, or flocks and herds, or male and female slaves?

27 Naaman’s leprosy will cling to you and to your descendants forever.”

Then Gehazi went from Elisha’s presence and his skin was leprous—it had become as white as snow.

Wow….

Now this servant who had a FRONT ROW to see God working will die a horrible, slow death…

Why?

Because he allowed his selfish, self-centered desires to take over.

PAUSE

And let’s be real…

This happens to people all the time.

No one sets out to destroy their marriage…but then they see this attractive person who gives them attention, and BAM….

No one says one day they want to go bankrupt…but then they spend money like water, and one day the dam breaks.

No one says I hope day to get diabetes…but if you are not careful how you eat and live…

PAUSE

But here is the GOOD NEWS church!

Jesus can help you!

Jesus will forgive you!

Just like in the prior stories does anyone want to guess who else did something like this in the Bible?

Yes!!! Jesus!

And Jesus did not heal one.

He healed 10!

And the GOOD NEWS today is that Jesus…No matter how badly you have messed up, he can and will forgive you IF you ask him to!

Jesus will HEAL you today IF you will seek him!

So, church, here is our life application for this week.

Life Application: Bring your BIG and small needs to Jesus and ask Him to help you and see what happens! As a result of today’s message, I will _________________________.

Prayer:

Make sure to do salvation call!

Offering:

Thank you all for being here today!

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Week #1 –

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Week #5 -

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We have many people who have added Family Church to their wills to leave 10% to their church.

It is a great way to show your family that leaving a Godly legacy is important to you.

Have a great week!