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Introduction:
Introduction:
I want to welcome you tonight to our First First Wednesday.
I can’t tell you how excited I am to see what God is going to do in and through our church as we come together on the First Wednesday of each month. I truly believe tonight is the beginning of a mighty work of God in our church.
And what’s going to make this service unique and important, is that each month, along with seeking the Lord, we are going to focus on a specific theme and spiritual direction for our church.
Spiritual direction that I believe is going to equip and prepare us for the days and weeks to come as the Lord continues to guide and direct our church.
That being said, I’ve titled tonight’s theme, “I Won’t Stop Now”.
A theme that I think is fitting as we come out of our 21 day fast and look forward to the days ahead.
And it’s fitting because over the past few weeks, many of you have made significant sacrifices in order to be more alert and in tune spiritually.
Sacrifices that have allowed the Lord to speak to you in new says.
Sacrifices that have opened your eyes and ears to new spiritual realities.
Sacrifices that have changed your perspective and given you a greater knowledge and understanding of God in your life.
For some, it was the sacrifice of giving up social media.
For others, it was the sacrifice of giving up some sort of addictive substance. Maybe it was sugar, caffeine, or alcohol.
And then for many of us, it was the sacrifice of sleep as we got up early and either came to the church or tuned in from home at 6am in order to focus our attention on the Lord.
And I don’t know about you, but I think it’s fair to say, these were sacrifices worth making. That giving up Facebook, changing our diet, letting go of an unhealthy habit, and getting up at 6am made a difference in our lives and the life of our church.
The question now is, “What does day 22 look like?” In other words, will we continue to make sacrifices in order to grow spiritually and allow the Lord to lead us, or will we revert back to life as normal?
My prayer is that most of you will continue to make sacrifices.
You might ask, “Pastor, what kind of sacrifices are you talking about?”
That’s the question I hope to help you answer tonight. Because as we move into day 22, as we move into the days and weeks ahead, I believe more than ever it’s going to require us to dig deeper. Require us to give more. Require us to trust more. Require us to live differently. Require us to continue to make sacrifices that will further open our eyes and ears to the leading of the Lord.
That being said, for the next few moments I want to direct your attention to 2 Kings 13. A passage that I believe is going to teach us why there has to be a day 22 as we continue to move forward.
So, to do that, I want to take a few moments and look at a key aspect of this chapter surrounding a man named Elisha and a king named Joash.
Picking up in verse 14, look at what the writer tells us about these two men:
14 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!” 15 And Elisha said to him, “Take a bow and arrows.” So he took a bow and arrows. 16 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. 17 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.” 18 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. 19 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.”
What I want you to notice first is that the writer begins by telling us that a man named Elisha has fallen sick and is close to death.
So, who is Elisha and why is he important?
Well, Elisha is the prophet of God, actually one of the greatest prophets in the OT, and he is the one God is speaking through at this time in Israel’s history. Which means, his death is a big deal.
This leads us to the second character, a king named Joash. So, who is he? Joash is the king of the Northern Kingdom of Israel. Plainly put, he’s not a good man or a good king. How do we know? We know because of wha the writer tells us. Concerning King Joash, he puts it like this:
11 He also did what was evil in the sight of the Lord. He did not depart from all the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, which he made Israel to sin, but he walked in them.
The writer says, Joash did what was evil in the sight of the Lord in that he followed the worship of false gods just like his father, and his father before him, and his father before him, clear down to the Jeroboam, the first king of the Northern Kingdom.
What’s interesting though, is that as Elisha is laying on his death bed, Joash goes to visit him. Why?
Well, without going into a lot of detail, at this point Joash’s kingdom is facing attack after attack from the King of Syria. Attacks that have decimated Israel.
In fact, just a few verses before this, the writer says Israel is down to 50 horsemen, ten chariots, and ten thousand soldiers. That’s all that’s left.
Which now leads Joash to a point of desperation as he now seeks the counsel of Elisha. Which is why he addresses Elisha with this statement in verse 14:
“…My father, my father! The chariots of Israel and its horsemen!” 2 Kings 13:14b
You see, what Joash is admitting here is that the true deliverer for Israel isn’t his physical army, which is now down to 50 horsemen and 10 chariots.
So who is the true deliverer? The true deliverer is the God that Elisha represents. Spiritually speaking God represents the chariots and horsemen for Israel.
And so now, in a moment of desperation, Joash comes to seek out Elisha’s counsel.
So, what’s this saying to us?
It’s saying if we want God to continue to go before us in the days to come, then we need to continue to come to Him in desperation.
Which is what fasting and prayer represent.
Because isn’t that why we fast and pray? We fast because we’ve come to a place where we’ve exhausted our ability to solve the problem. Exhausted our resources to make our situation better. Exhausted our knowhow to fix what only God can fix.
And so in that moment of desperation, for those 21 days, or however long, we seek God as we fast and pray.
And what’s amazing, is despite our lack of trusting God in the past, God shows up in our desperation and He gives us direction. He give us insight. He gives us hope. He gives us victory.
We see this with Joash as Elisha responds to Joash’s plea. Because look at what the writer says happens next:
15 And Elisha said to him, “Take a bow and arrows.” So he took a bow and arrows. 16 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. 17 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.”
The writer says following Joash’s plea for help, Elisha tells him to take an arrow, place it in his bow, and pull it back. He then lays his hands on the kings hands and tells him to open the window, point the arrow towards Syria, and shoot.
And as the arrow flies out of the window towards Syria, Elisha declares, “The Lord’s arrow of victory, the arrow of victory over Syria! For you shall fight the Syrians and make an end of them.”
And what a joyous moment that would have been for Joash as he hear’s the prophet of God declare future victory for Israel.
And that’s exactly what happens when we fast and pray as God meets us in our need and he brings hope, healing, direction, and the promise of future victory. Because the fact is, when we fast and pray God hears our cry for help and He responds.
The problem though, is that’s where we often fall short. The moment when we stop being desperate.
We see this happen with Joash. Because now that he has his assurance of hope and victory, he’s ready to move on. But Elisha has one more task for him to complete.
Picking up in verse 18 look at what Elisha tells the king to do next:
18 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. 19 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.”
After shooting the arrow of victory, Elisha tells Joash to take his remaining arrows and strike the ground with them. Why?
Without going into a lot of detail, it’s meant to be a symbolic act of on Joash’s future trust in God. And from what the writer tells us, his future trust is lacking. How do we know? We know because he only strikes the ground 3 times with the arrows.
Which tells us, Joash has what he came for, and now he’s ready to go. So he strikes three times and stops.
It’s at this point Elisha becomes angry. Why? Because he says, “You should have struck the ground 5-6 times.”
In other words, you should have kept striking.
Which then leads to a problem. Because Elisha goes on to say, “While the Lord is going to give you victory, it’s going to be a limited victory. It’s not going to be fully what god was willing to do.” Why? Because at this point, Joash’s desperation has left him. Joash is done fasting. Joash is done seeking God. He got what he needed for the current crisis. So he half heartedly strikes the ground few times.
Let me put it this way, there will not be a day 22 for Joash. His time of prayer and fasting is over. And as a result, his victory will be limited and short lived.
Church, symbolically speaking, this is why day 22 is so important. Because our desperation for God’s help can’t end after 21 days. It can’t end with, “Well, I feel better now than I did at the beginning.” Or “I got the answer I was looking for.”
No, it has to continue. Because if we want God to continue to go before us, to give us victory, we have to continue to seek Him. We have to continue to make sacrifices. We have to continue to strike the ground, not just for a limited time, not just when we are desperate, not just for 21 days, but day after day after day after day as we strike the ground for our marriages, strike the ground for healing, strike the ground for lost family members and friends, strike the ground for direction, strike the ground for our country, strike the ground for God’s plan and purposes to be accomplished. Church, if we want God to continue to give us victory, the victory He desires to give us, we have to keep striking the ground. We can’t stop now.
And that’s why I’m so excited tonight. Because that’s why we are here. We are here tonight to strike the ground. We are here tonight to get desperate again. We are here tonight, standing on Holy Ground, asking God to go before us. Asking God to give us victory. Asking God to do what only He can do. Tonight, we are entering day 22. We are continuing to strike the ground.
Come on church, will you stand with me as we declare our need for God. As we continue to strike the ground.
Holy Ground
Dismiss For Prayer