Greatness Unrealized

ME

There are three ways we learn:

Theoretically - reading/study

Practically - doing

Observing - watching others

Example: A lit candle will burn you if you touch the flame

You

What kind of learner are you?

Have you ever heard this statement?

“I learn best by doing it”

Unfortunately, this is true many times for us in life:

The greatest life lessons we learn are many times through the pain of doing the wrong thing

And, to make matters worse, many times we do not learn the first time.

This morning, I want us to learn something important by observation rather than participation.

If your are breathing, God is not done

We will learn by observing a king, that serving God with meritocracy is will rob us of the greatness God has for us.

God

2 Kings 13:14 ESV

Now when Elisha had fallen sick with the illness of which he was to die, Joash king of Israel went down to him and wept before him, crying, “My father, my father! The chariots of Israel and its horsemen!”

Elisha

A prophet in Isreal for about 50 -60 years

He represented the power, the spirit and the voice of God to Isreal

He took over for Elijah when God took him

At his death he had done more than twice as many miracles than Elijah had done

Joash

His name means “The Lord is Strong”

Became the king of Isreal after his father, Jehoahaz

He was the 13th King of Isreal and he reigned for 16 years

“He also did what was evil in the sight of the Lord”

Joash was not serving the Lord even though he knew better and had watched his father

Background

The death of Elisha was a great loss to Isreal because there was no successor to him as he was to Elijah and Joash knew this

God was using this tragedy to get Joash’s attention

I believe there are three reasons why we believe he is done when he is actually just getting started:

We come to him after something bad happens or we have run out of options

Each of us have those moments in our life when God has our complete attention. Our actions and our decisions in those moments are what define and shape our lives.

2 Kings 13:15–17 ESV

And Elisha said to him, “Take a bow and arrows.” So he took a bow and arrows. Then he said to the king of Israel, “Draw the bow,” and he drew it. And Elisha laid his hands on the king’s hands. And he said, “Open the window eastward,” and he opened it. Then Elisha said, “Shoot,” and he shot. And he said, “The Lord’s arrow of victory, the arrow of victory over Syria! For you shall fight the Syrians in Aphek until you have made an end of them.”

I believe there are three reasons why we believe He is done when he is actually just getting started:

We wait for tragedy before we acknowledge His majesty

We require understanding before obedience

“Our responsibility is obedience, the outcome is the Lord’s” ~ Steve Furtick

How strange this request would have been to the King, but he followed it without ever asking why and received the blessing of the Lord and the promise of victory

2 Kings 13:18–19 ESV

And he said, “Take the arrows,” and he took them. And he said to the king of Israel, “Strike the ground with them.” And he struck three times and stopped. Then the man of God was angry with him and said, “You should have struck five or six times; then you would have struck down Syria until you had made an end of it, but now you will strike down Syria only three times.”

He stopped. He did not give all he had, he did in his eyes just enough

I believe there are three reasons why we believe He is done when he is actually just getting started:

We wait for tragedy before we acknowledge His majesty

We require understanding before obedience

We are unwilling to finish what God has started in us

You

The next time you feel a lack of peace or lost or no purpose or that God has left you, I want you to remember that if you are breathing, God is not done!

You must walk for him daily, out side of tragedy

You must stop trying to understand him or reason with him or manipulate him and just obey him

You must not quit on Him

If you are breathing God is not finished!

Joash was unwilling to give all he had. he stopped short just like many of us do but if you are breathing God is not done

We

Today is our day to come back to the Lord in obedience and allow him to guide us and receive the complete victory in our lives