Don’t Get Stuck In Your History (1)

DON’T GET STUCK IN YOUR HISTORY! 2 Kings 2:1 “And it came about when the Lord was about to take up Elijah by a whirlwind to heaven, that Elijah went with Elisha FROM Gilgal.”

Geographical locations in the Bible, often reveal spiritual applications to our personal lives! For example, Egypt is geographically downward from Jerusalem, and Egypt is a picture of bondage, while Jerusalem is upward and is a picture of Shalom and freedom from bondage!

Another example of geographical parallels to our spiritual lives are East and West. When a person is walking Eastward, or toward the sun, you are walking toward the Light and Jesus is the Light of the world. When a person is walking Westward, with your back to the sun, you are walking toward darkness and or bondage.

This simply means that we need to pay attention to geographical locations in the Bible and ask Holy Spirit if there is a message that is applicable to our spiritual lives.

As I have prepared this message, the Holy Spirit gave me some fresh insights in these geographical locations that are applicable to our spiritual lives!

Our story in 2 Kings 2:1 names Elijah and Elisha and lets see what the Scripture says and see if there is some spiritual applications immersed in the SOD layer of Biblical interpretations.

I. GILGAL is the place of new BEGINNINGS in your RELATIONSHIP!

2 Kings 2:1 “And it came about when the Lord was about to take up Elijah by a whirlwind to heaven, that Elijah went with Elisha FROM Gilgal.”

What is the meaning of GILGAL? Gilgal means new beginnings! Gilgal is the first place the children of Israel camped after crossing the Jordan River. This is the place where God commanded all the men and young boys to be circumcised to demonstrate and communicate that they were “beginning a new relationship with Him”!

It was at Gilgal that God “rolled away the reproach, the shame, the guilt and the bondage” associated with their old life of bondage living as slaves in Egypt!

Every journey of faith begins with a place of new beginnings and this place needs to be marked and remembered by each one of us. For me it was October 21, 1980 in Hixson, Tennessee at Central Baptist Church which is now known as Abba’s House!

It was at Abba’s House that God rolled away the reproach, shame, guilt and bondage of my sin nature! There will always be special  memories associated with that place where it all began and there are times in my life when I wish I could have stayed there for a little while longer, however in order for it to be a journey, we have to keep moving toward our destiny!

We see Gilgal play a significant role in the life of Elijah and Elisha. God had revealed to Elijah and to Elisha as well as others that God was going to supernaturally remove Elijah from the earth in a whirlwind or what we would call a Rapture!

2 Kings 2:1 And it came about when the Lord was about to take Elijah by a whirlwind to heaven, that Elijah went with Elisha FROM Gilgal

As Elijah and Elisha were walking toward Elijah’s promised encounter with God in a miraculous way, they came to GILGAL, the place of beginnings and I think Elijah thought that maybe he was going to experience his miracle at the place of beginning but notice a subtle but significant truth in 2 Kings 2:1 . . . Elijah went with Elisha FROM Gilgal! Here is the truth, in order to reach your promised destiny with God, you must move FROM your place of beginning!

However, please understand that there will always be people, often well-meaning people, who try and get you to stay at your Gilgal. . .

2 Kings 2:2 Elijah said to Elisha, “Stay Here Please” for the Lord has sent ME as far as Bethel.”

How did Elisha respond to pressure to stay at Gilgal? But Elisha said, “as the Lord lives and as you yourself live, I will not stay at Gilgal, if you are moving forward, I am moving forward!

After your beginning, there is more, so don’t stay at Gilgal!

II. BETHELis the place of new REVELATION in your MATURITY!

2 Kings 2:2 “Elijah said to Elisha, “Stay here please, for the Lord has sent me as far as Bethel.” Where is HERE? Gilgal, the place of your new beginning with Christ!

Where did Elijah and Elisha go after they left Gilgal? But Elisha said, “As the Lord lives and as you yourself live, I will not leave you.” So they went down to Bethel.”

What do we know about Bethel in the Bible? It was formerly known as LUZ, until Jacob had a divine encounter with the Presence of God and the Voice of God there. Notice what Jacob said immediately after his encounter with the Lord!

Genesis 28:16 Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it 17 . . . how awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven! 19 He called the name of that place Bethel!

As great a place as the place of your beginning with God is, it gets better when you choose to move FROM your place of beginning So That you can experience the Presence of God and the Voice of God in a place of new Revelation!

Jacob left his place of new beginning and it was after he left his place of new beginning that God gave him a dream. And in this dream Jacob saw a ladder coming down out of an open heaven and there were angels descending and ascending from the open heaven to a specific place under the open heaven. When Jacob awoke from this dream, he experienced the presence of God like he had never experienced the presence of God before and the experience he had in this encounter revealed to him that the House of God is the place where God chooses to abide and the House of God is the Gate of Heaven!

Some of the greatest discoveries I have been privileged to make have come as a result of revelation God has allowed me to experience during encounters that I have had with Him in the House of God AS the House of God!

But notice another subtle but significant truth we need to be aware of in our journey to discovering all that God has prepared for us.

What did Elijah try to get Elisha to do?

2 Kings 2:2 Elijah said to Elisha, “stay here please. . . but Elisha said, as the Lord lives and as you yourself live, I will not leave you . . . so they went down to Bethel

Elijah said to Elisha, “stay here please” but where is HERE? It is the place of new beginnings! There will always be pressure from other voices for us to stay where we are, but God wants you to become familiar with His voice, so he takes you from where you began with Him, to where He IS now! So, don’t Get Stuck In Your History, move onward in your Journey! Because there IS SO MUCH MORE beyond your History!

III. JERICHO is the place of new VICTORIES in your WARFARE!

2 Kings 2:3 “Then the sons of the prophets who were at Bethel came out to Elisha and said to him, “Do you know that the Lord will take away your master from over you today?” And he said, “Yes, I know; be still.””

2 Kings 2:4 “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.”

2 Kings 2:5 “The sons of the prophets who were at Jericho approached Elisha and said to him, “Do you know that the Lord will take away your master from over you today?” And he answered, “Yes, I know; be still.””

What do we know about Jericho in the Bible?

Joshua 6:1 “Now Jericho was tightly shut because of the sons of Israel; no one went out and no one came in.”

Joshua 6:2 “The Lord said to Joshua, “See, I have given Jericho into your hand, with its king and the valiant warriors.”

Jericho was the most fortified city in the known world. It was a STRONGHOLD of the enemy that stood between the Children of Israel (the people of God), and the Promise land!

The same principle is true for us in our spiritual lives, God gives us a promise, but the enemy is well fortified in the inhabitable space we have allowed them to occupy in our mind, heart and body. It is not long after our new beginning with God in our personal relationship, and we begin to experience new revelation from God in our new maturity that we begin to experience spiritual warfare from our spiritual enemies that are well fortified inside of us and they are blocking us from receiving the abundance God has promised to us!

So, we must not Get Stuck In Our History, we must believe the Promise of God, rely upon the Power of God, be obedient to the instructions from God and we will see the stronghold fall down flat!

Joshua 6:3 ““You shall march around the city, all the men of war circling the city once. You shall do so for six days.”

Joshua 6:4 ““Also seven priests shall carry seven trumpets of rams’ horns before the ark; then on the seventh day you shall march around the city seven times, and the priests shall blow the trumpets.”

Joshua 6:5 ““It shall be that when they make a long blast with the ram’s horn, and when you hear the sound of the trumpet, all the people shall shout with a great shout; and the wall of the city will fall down flat, and the people will go up every man straight ahead.””

It is necessary for us to continue our journey through the geographical markers so that we do not Get Stuck In Our History!

IV. JORDAN is the place of new TRANSITION into our DESTINY!

2 Kings 2:6 “Then Elijah said to him, “Please stay here, for the Lord has sent me to the Jordan.” And he said, “As the Lord lives, and as you yourself live, I will not leave you.” So the two of them went on.”

Once again we see Elijah trying his best to get Elisha to Get Stuck In His History! But how did Elisha respond?

2 Kings 2:6 . . . And he said, as the Lord lives, and as you yourself live, I will not Leave you (I will not stay here)! So the two of them went on!

Where did Elijah and Elisha end up after refusing to Get Stuck In Their History?

2 Kings 2:7 “Now fifty men of the sons of the prophets went and stood opposite them at a distance, while the two of them stood by the Jordan.”

Elijah and Elisha ended up by the JORDAN? What do we know about the Jordan River and the people of God inheriting their Promise land?

Joshua 3:5 “Then Joshua said to the people, “Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do wonders among you.””

The Lord’s will led Joshua and the People of God directly into an Impossible Situation. The Jordan River stood between them and their Promise Land! The Jordan River was overflowing its banks and it was humanly impossible for them to cross this uncrossable river without a miracle of God!

Joshua told the people to Consecrate themselves, for TOMORROW the Lord will do wonders among you!

What does the reference to TOMORROW represent for us as it also pertained to them? Tomorrow represents a new dimension of supernatural experience that you have never known before! This new dimension is something you must ENTER INTO by faith and obedience without murmuring or complaining!

Why Does God Often Lead Us Into Impossible Circumstances On Our Way To Our Promise Land?

A. To PRESS us beyond the memory of YESTERDAY!

Joshua 1:2 ““Moses My servant is dead; now therefore arise, cross this Jordan, you and all this people, to the land which I am giving to them, to the sons of Israel.”

I want to call your attention to the opening words God spoke to Joshua when it was time for the people of God to enter into their tomorrow (a supernatural, triumphant, militant, bold and courageous dimension of living never known before).

Notice what God said to Joshua in 1:2 “Moses My servant is DEAD!” Arise, you and these people” and then in 3:5 Joshua was inspired by God to say these incredible words: “for TOMORROW the Lord will do wonders among you!”

Everybody (including Joshua) was living with the memories of Moses. They remembered the miracle of crossing the Red Sea when the Egyptian armies were pursuing them. They remembered being surrounded by the wilderness on their right and left hands.

They remembered the miracle that happened for their forefathers but the present generation had never seen a miracle like that and God was prepared to give them a miracle that was just as big and even more distinctive than the miracle their forefathers had experienced.

What are some of the differences between the Red Sea and the Jordan River?

The Red Sea was an Exit from some-where but the Jordan River was an Entrance into some-thing!

The Red Sea was an Escape from some-where but the Jordan was an Invasion into some-thing!

The Red Sea was a Band of Slaves coming out from bondage, but the Jordan River was a Bold Army going into supernatural living!

The Red Sea was a Band of Slaves headed toward Sinai to learn how to worship. The Jordan River was a Band of Soldiers headed toward Canaan to claim their Inheritance!

There is a vast difference between someone who has Experienced Deliverance and someone who is ready to Claim their Inheritance!

Christians who get stuck in the memories of yesterday never experience the freedom and abundance of Tomorrow! God must move us beyond the shadow of yesterday toward the bright light of tomorrow!

Tragically many churches are more like Red Sea Christians than Jordan River Christians. There are many churches that get stuck in a time warp and all they have to talk about is “yesterday’s glory” or “yesterday’s miracles” or the way things “use to be in the “good old days”! Beloved, I don’t know about you, but I am ready for God to do a NEW THING in my life and in my church and in my Country!

Yesterday’s miracles were never intended to stand alone in today’s memories!

They are supposed to become crowded with company from today’s miracles! So, from time to time God has to Press us beyond the Memory of yesterday and make us get our feet wet with a miracle today!

B. To DEMONSTRATE God’s PRESENCE today!

Joshua 3:10 “Joshua said, “By this you shall know that the living God is among you . . .

Joshua 4:6 ““Let this be a sign among you . . .”

C. To SECURE a TESTIMONY for tomorrow!

Joshua 4:6 ““Let this be a sign among you, so that when your children ask later, saying, ‘What do these stones mean to you?’”

Joshua 4:7 “then you shall say to them, ‘Because the waters of the Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the Lord; when it crossed the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off.’ So these stones shall become a memorial to the sons of Israel forever.””

God was not merely interested in one group of people, God had a New Generation on His mind when He set this miracle up! God told Joshua to get 12 men, one from each tribe to put huge stones on their shoulders and go back down into the Jordan. The priests were still standing in the middle of the miracle with the Ark of the Covenant on their shoulders.

These 12 men had to place these huge stones where the priests were standing with the Ark of the Covenant. And then they had to place 12 stones on the side of the Jordan where they were going to be sleeping that night (4:3).

What was the purpose of the stones? These stones were object lessons to be used to tell their children about the Faithfulness of God and the Faith of God’s People the day God supernaturally parted the Jordan River and God’s people marched through the Jordan on dry ground! It is interesting to note that God made the spiritual leaders stay in the middle of the miracle for a longer time than any of the others (4:1-3).

In 2005 we were privileged to be part of a new church God birthed. This new church started with Bible studies in homes, and then we began meeting in neighborhood clubhouses. When we were ready to constitute as a church we met in an Aquatic Center and then we moved to a Public School.

One of the verses God used to speak to me in a powerful way was Joshua 3:3 When You See the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God . . . you shall set out from your place and GO AFTER IT . . . but always remember you have never passed this way before!

I shared this promise from the Lord with our people on many occasions. I understood this to mean that one day the time would come when we would have more permanent facilities and I would know when this time was and where this place was “when I see the ark of the covenant of the Lord our God.

It was in January of 2007 and we were breaking our 21 day fast by observing the Lord’s Supper. The Director of Missions of our Baptist Association had called me that week and said there was a church property that he felt fit our church perfectly and he wanted me to see it.

The New Work Foundation of our Baptist Association had just taken possession of it or was in the process of working out the legalities associated with it. It was cold that day and there was not any heat on in the building, but we did get to tour the facilities. This was a remarkable piece of property and the church building had previously been the victim of some of those church arsons in Georgia and Alabama. However, this church had undergone a 1.5 million dollar renovation.

The Association and the New Work Foundation really wanted us to have this property and they were pressuring us for a decision on buying it from them. They were gracious to allow me to go back multiple times to walk through and pray in and around the property. But there was one room that they did not have a key that unlocked the door. They knew this was the Pastor’s office but the window on the office door was covered with paper so that you could not see in and the door was locked so you could not get in and that was not that big of a deal, it was just interesting or intriguing.

We asked our people to meet with us out at the property and the Director of Missions met with us to go over the special financing options they could give us in order to help us own this property and facilities. I knew that the congregation really wanted to have this property and I would like to have it as well. But the final decision would come down to what I wanted to do or what I believed we should do. In other words, whatever I said to do, the congregation was going to support it.

On the final day when they needed to know one way or the other, I told the Director of Missions and director of the New Work Foundation that I really would like to get inside the one room, the Pastor’s Office that had always been locked so that I could see it and pray in it. So, they got a locksmith to open the door and when they opened the door, I will never forget what I saw.

When I opened the door the office was completely empty and to the left there was small room with some book shelves in it and sitting right in the middle of the floor was a replica of the ark of the covenant of the Lord!

When I saw the replica of the ark of the covenant of the Lord sitting in that room, the Spirit of the Lord reminded me of the verse God had given me when we first began the journey of starting that church, “when you SEE the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord your God . . . Go AFTER IT!

Some of you might wonder what I did when I saw the Ark of the Covenant. Well I can tell you that I had me a weeping, running and shouting spell! The purchase of that property was an Un-Crossable river but when we put our feet in the water, the Un-Crossable river began to dry up!

When we had our church meeting to tell them what I sensed the Lord was saying and why. Everyone was gathered in the worship center and I had four men that I told about the replica of the Ark of the Covenant and they were in the office with it and when I got to the part when I had to tell them why I thought we should “GO AFTER IT” I had the men march into the worship center carrying the Ark of the Covenant on their shoulders!

The name of the church by the way is Truth Tabernacle of Praise. Our name came from John 1:14 And the Word became flesh and Tabernacled among us, we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and TRUTH!

I am convinced this is one area we have failed our present generation! We have failed to live in such a way as to allow the Lord to do fresh Signs and Wonders among us so that we can Secure a Testimony for Tomorrow’s generation! 

Either we do not have any miracles to tell this present generation or we have been grossly negligent in telling them about our miracles!

Joshua told the children of Israel that the miracle God was going to do for them TOMORROW was so that this may be a sign among you, when your children ask in time to come, saying, “what do these stones mean to you?” 7 then you shall answer them that “the waters of the Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the Lord . . . And these stones shall be for a memorial to the children of Israel forever!

In closing, how many of you would like for God to do a new thing in you, to you or through you and if He does, you will find a way to “memorialize it” or “tell about it” to this present generation and to any generations that might follow after this one?

Have you received the Promise of the Father? Have you been endued or clothed with Power from on High? Is your life, your testimony being used by God to initiate change in and through your church, city, country?

Would you like to receive the Promise of the Father? It begins with receiving Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior and when you do, He gives you the gift of eternal life. And that is not the end of the journey, it is the beginning of the relationship. The Holy Spirit comes to live inside of you, and He will introduce Himself to you in undeniable and unmistakable ways.

How long has it been since you have experienced a manifestation of the Presence of God in your life? Would you like to experience another one? How THIRSTY are you for a fresh drink of new wine? If anyone thirsts, let Him come to Jesus and DRINK and out of your innermost being, out of your belly will FLOW life changing, life altering rivers, streams that produces change!

When Jesus spoke these words (John 7:37), He was speaking of the Holy Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive, because the Holy Spirit had not yet been given and He had not yet been given to them because Jesus had not yet been GLORIFIED (in their life)!

Are you willing to allow Jesus to be glorified in your life today? If you are thirsty, you must drink and if you drink, you will not be disappointed!

So, what am I trying to say to you today? Whatever you do, don’t allow the voices and or people, as well meaning as they may be, Don’t Get Stuck In Your History, Move Forward Into Your New Destiny!