Elisha: the Man, the Myth, the Legend - Week 2

Welcome to Church of the Crossing.

If you're new, if this is your first time, welcome,

I'm so glad you're here. My name is Andrew, and

we are in this message series called Elisha, the Man,

the Myth, the Legend, because in the Old Testament, Elisha

is a legendary person, a historical figure who did some

pretty outstanding things.

He was especially anointed by God. He raised the.

Dead, he healed the sick, he performed miracles, and he's

just a really unique character. And I'll make you a

promise that if you read the story of Elisha, it's

found mostly in the Book of Second Kings. If you

read his story, I promise you will not be bored.

It is quite an interesting story. And we are studying

him because I believe that Elisha's life and the Word

of God can teach us how to follow God.

Faithfully in our own lives.

And so with that in mind, before we open God's Word,

would you pray with me, Father God, We thank you

for your grace presence, that you are right here with us,

that you've drawn each of us here to this moment,

to this time.

And God, we are here.

With expectation, whether we are expecting to receive something, expecting

to learn something.

God, we want what you have to give us.

So would you give us a posture and a heart

and attitude to receive. We turn our attention, we turn

our focus to hear from your word. God, give us

ears to hear, and we pray all of this in

Jesus' name.

Amen. Well, I wonder if you have a nickname. I

don't know if you have a nickname.

Maybe it's a shortened version of your given name and

that's what you go by. Or if you have a nickname,

you you might like your nickname and you kind of

wear it as a badge of honor. You like it,

it's your preferred name. Or you might be one of

those unfortunate people who has a nickname you did not

ask for. It was just given to you.

You didn't want it, you don't like it, but.

You're stuck with it. Personally, I don't care to be

called Andy. I'm Andrew and nothing against Andy. I have

a lot of friends we are Andy. It's just not me.

I just don't prefer Andy, and I haven't been called Andy.

But there's one person in my life who does call

me Andy and gets away with it.

It's my mother in law.

She calls me Andy, and I think it's endearing and

I endure it, but she calls me Andy. Tell me

if you recognize any of these nicknames from history. Who

was called the Father of his country? George Washington? And

this one might be a softball. Who was called honest Abe? Yeah,

now this one might be a little more challenging.

Who had the nickname old Blood and guts?

General George Patten, who was called the Prince of preachers Spurgeon.

And then I hope somebody knows this one whose nickname

was the sheriff Peyton Manning. That's right, played for the colts.

Now I mentioned nicknames because in the Bible, Elisha has

a nickname. We read in the text it says Elisha

the Man of God. Now that is the nickname the

Man of God.

I mean, that is a powerful name. That is a

strong nickname.

In fact, often Elisha is referred to only as the

Man of God. Sometimes in the text he's not referred

to by his given name. It just says the Man

of God did this. The Man of God said that, the.

Man of God.

That was his nickname. Don't you want to be known

as a man or a woman of God. Don't you

want to have the faith and the character in the life,

live your life in a way that your children know,

that your grandchildren know that you are a person of God.

Or imagine if you walk into work tomorrow and you

live your faith and love the Lord, it's so evident

that your coworkers and the people you interact with, they

just know that's a man of God, that's a woman

of God. Elisha can teach us the characteristics of a

man or a woman of God. And I want to

tell you that you can be a man or a

woman of God not because of your own ability, not

because of your own moralness or righteousness. It is because

of Jesus that you can be a man or a

woman of God. Because He sacrificed his life in our place.

He paid the price for ours, and we can become

righteous and have restore relationship with a father. You are

a man or you are a woman of God.

Because of Jesus.

And so Elijah is gonna teach us the characteristics of

a man or a woman of God. And so we're

gonna open the text to Second Kings, chapter six, and

in this passage we're.

Gonna see two types of persons.

There is Elisha, the Man of God, and there is

the King of Aram, who I would say is the

man of the world.

And we're gonna see the.

Differences here that the Man of God, the person of God,

obeys God, walks in faith, is not afraid because the

Lord gives them courage, is confident in the Lord.

That's the man of the Woman of God.

And the King of Aram represents the person of the world,

the worldly man. And then the person of the world

may trust in their own ability and their own strength,

or on the opposite, they may cower and shrink in

fear because they're intimidated. And so we're gonna see these

two types of people. So let's look at the text

Second Kings, Chapter six. We're gonna start in verse eight. Now,

the King of Aram was that war with Israel, and

after conferring with his officers, he said, I will set

up my camp in such and such a place. The

Man of God, that's Elisha, sent word to the King

of Israel, beware of passing that place because the Aramians

are going down there. So the King of Israel checked

on the place indicated by the Man of God time

and again Elishah warned the king, so that he was

on his guard in such places. This enraged the King

of Aram. Mean summoned his officers and demanded of them,

tell me which of us is on the side of

the King of Israel. So Elishah the supernatural ability to

see what the enemies are doing. God has given him

this gift to understand and to know what nobody else knows.

And he's so accurate that the King of Aram thinks

there's a trader in his camp. So he says, which

of us is on the side of the King of Israel.

None of us, my lord, the king, said one of

his officers. But Elisha, the prophet who is in Israel,

tells the King of Israel the very words you speak

in your bedroom. Go find out where he is, the

king ordered, so I can send men and capture him.

So God gave Elisha the supernatural ability to see what

other people couldn't see.

He had this understanding.

He knew where there was danger, he knew where the

enemy was, and there was no trade or there was

no spy.

It was a supernatural gift of God.

And so Elishah teaches us that the man or the

woman of God will see with supernatural insight. When you

are a man or a one of God following God,

you will see with supernatural insight. You will see what

nobody else can say see because you have spiritual eyes

to see. There's a difference between natural sight and spiritual insight.

Natural sight is the physical ability to see with your

eyes to observe, but spiritual insight is to understand why,

to see what God is doing, to see patterns, and

to see what God is up to behind the scenes.

Site captures what is there, but insight reveals why or

how things are for greater discernment, and the man or

the woman.

Of God will discern spiritual insight. What do you see

in the natural? What do you see in front of you?

You may see that financial problem. You see that in

the natural it is it is a reality. That overdraft

warning is real, that bill, that that that that creditor,

that that debt collector that thing in the mail is real.

You see it in the natural.

You see the conflict with the coworker, You see the

friction in your marriage. You see the pressure you see

in our city, in our nation. You see the economic challenges,

you see the political strife. You see violence, and these

are all natural problems.

These are real issues.

We don't deny that these are real issues, real concerns. However,

the natural person, the person in the world, only sees problems,

but the person of God, the man or the woman

of God, sees what God is doing in the spiritual,

in the invisible. There's a fish that lives in the

waters of Central and South America, and it's commonly called

four Eyes.

That's its nickname because it has four eyes. It has two.

Sets of eyes, and you'll notice there's one set that

sit on top of the fish's head above the water,

and there's another set that are below the surface of

the world. And what's really interesting is that scientists have

identified that the set of eyes on top have like

normal eyelids like any land animal, and the set under

the water have water eyelids so.

They can stay open. And so this fish can see

what's above it see like predators above.

And can see below looking for food like it's It's

like nature's bifocals, can see both.

The man or the woman of God has.

Double vision, can see what's in the natural, but sees

with supernatural insight, sees what God is doing. Yeah, there's problems, challenges,

but these are also opportunities. These are also spiritual realities.

Is see, the man or the Woman of God looks

at that friction, that struggle, that tension, and sees an

opportunity for humility. The man of the Woman of God

sees conflict as an opportunity for forgiveness, betrayal as an

opportunity forgiveness.

The man of the Woman of.

God looks at the problems in this world, the brokeness

in this world, the darkness in this world.

And sees and that's where the light of Jesus needed most.

That's what the Gospel is needed.

You see, the man of the Woman of God sees

with supernatural insight. Psalm seventy three says, when I tried

to understand all this, it troubled me deeply. When I

tried to understand this problem, when I saw this conflict,

when I saw.

This issue I tried to under it troubled me.

The financial trouble, the doctor's report troubled me deeply until

I entered the sanctuary of God. Then I understood the

spiritual man or woman, the man and woman of God

will see what God sees with sees with spiritual insight.

Mark Patterson is a pastor of a church in Washington,

d C. And years and years ago when he helped

start this new church, it was a young startup and

the church had just a handful of They didn't have

many resources. They didn't even have their own building. They

just rented and moved around, and money was really really tight.

But Mark had spiritual supernatural insight. He had spiritual vision,

and God gave him a vision for a piece of property,

a building right there on Capitol Hill, just a block

off of the capital and this was a prime location

because it was right there at the center of power,

at the center of government. However, this building had been

neglected and had been in disrepair and was run down

and kind of had a reputation of drugs and crime.

And just just it had been letting go. But in

the hands of the right real estate.

Developer or real estate agent, it could be turned into

something great for commerce and business housing.

And so even though it was run down in an.

Iore, its location made it valuable and that's why it

was valued at more than a million dollars. But Mark

had this vision from God that this building could be

transformed into like a ministry outpost that it could be

a coffee house during the week, it could host ministry events,

it could be evangelism in the community, it could be

witnessing for Christ on Capitol Hill. He just had this

spiritual insight. But there's no way that this little startup

church that didn't even have their own home, they didn't

even have enough resources. There's no way they could buy

a million dollar property, let alone get a business loan

or to purchase. But Mark had supernatural insight, and so

he just began to pray and he would visit the property.

He would walk around the property praying for God to provide.

For eight years, this church prayed for this property, even

laying hands on this building. It was priced and valued

at over a million dollars. But over those eight years,

the value started to go down down and it became attractive.

And then three or four other real estate developers tried

to purchase it, made offers, entered contracts, but every single

one of those deals fell apart until the church entered

a contract to buy it for a three hundred and

twenty five thousand dollars. Today, Ebenezer's Coffee House is a

ministry center there on Capitol Hill, witnessing for Christ, providing opportunity,

and they've multiplied franchises across the world the same model,

combining business and commerce and evangelism. How does it start

up church with no resources lay in a million dollar

property because of men and women who have spiritual insight,

who see what God is doing.

Are you focused on the problem in front of you?

Or are you looking to the one, the God who

fixes problems. Now you may not be trying to secure

a million dollar property, but what is in front of you?

What are you praying for? What challenge is in front

of you presenting a problem? Are you what seems impossible?

Look to what God is doing in the invisible the manner.

Of the woman that God sees with supernatural sight.

And so Elisha could see what was happening nobody else

could see.

He can see the enemies, He can see what they

were doing.

And this frustrated the King of Aram so much that

he plotted and conspired to capture Elisha. So let's keep

reading in verse thirteen, go find out where he is,

the king ordered, so I can send men and capture him.

The report came back, he is in Dawthin. Then he

sent horses and chariots and a strong force there. And

they went by night and surrounded the city. When the

servant of the Man of God got up and went

out early the next morning, an army with horses and chariots.

Had surrounded the city. Oh no, my lord, what shall

we do? The servant asked. Do you feel surrounded? Do

you feel stuck?

Do you feel like you are in trouble and there's

no way out? You drowning in debt, stuck in a

toxic relationship?

Are you trapped?

Do you feel like your etra wits end, stuck in

a addiction, stuck in a mental health issue, stuck in

something that's paralyzed you with fear? Do you feel like

you are at the end of your rope, completely trapped,

and there's no way out, There's no escape, there's.

No way to get away. You are trapped, You are surrounded.

I want to tell you, when you feel surrounded, when

you feel trapped, turn your eyes to Jesus. Hebrews twelve says,

fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfector of

our faith, for the joy set before him. He endured

the cross, scorning its shame and sat down at the

right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who

endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not

grow weary and lose heart. If you feel like giving up,

if you've lost hearts, if you feel like throwing in

a towel, look to Jesus. Put your eyes on Jesus,

because whatever you're going through, whatever is the worst in

your life, whatever trouble, whatever emergency, Jesus has been through

the same thing. Jesus has suffered and endured the worst.

He was betrayed by a close friend. He was falsely accused,

he was tortured and beaten, he was nailed to the cross,

he was killed by the people he came to save.

But we know that three days after he died, he

rose from the dead, victorious over death, victorious over evil,

conquering the enemy.

And he is seated at the right hand of the

throne of God. So that you can live with hope.

So that when you feel surrounded, when you feel stuck,

when you feel trapped, you can look to Jesus, and

you can you can have hope beyond your situation. Where

are your eyes looking Look to Jesus. And that was

the case for Elisha. He was completely surrounded the enemy.

The army had completely surrounded him. There was no way out,

So we keep reading in verse sixteen. Don't be afraid,

the prophet answered, those who are with us are more

than those who are with them. And then Elisha prayed

open his eyes Lord.

So that he may see.

And I just gotta imagine this, this assistance. Elisha says,

those who are with us are more than those who

are with them.

And this Elisha assistant.

Looking around like it's just you and me, buddy, but

he says, open his eyes that he may see. And

the Lord opened the servant's eyes, and he looked and

saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire

all around Elisha.

Elisha had supernatural insight.

He could see what God was doing, and he could

see that the angel, armies, the forces of God.

Were all around him.

The man or the woman of God will trust in God's.

I'm here to.

Tell somebody today that you may feel stuck, you may

feel trapped, You may feel surrounded by spiritual enemies, surrounded

by a situation. But God is surrounding the thing that

surrounds you. You are surrounded by the presence of God.

While back, I heard a story about a missionary from

originally from a local church in Michigan, who had traveled

to a foreign country to serve as a medical missionary

at a rural hospital. And while serving there, this missionary

would frequently have to travel from the rural hospital to

the nearby town city to get supplies and medication and

things like that, and it was a long journey, it

was a difficult journey, and often the missionary would have

to camp overnight in the jungle on the.

Way back and forth.

And one day this missionary was treating a patient, a

man who is in injured in a fight, and after

treating his injuries, the missionary witnessed.

To him about the Gospel of Jesus.

And then shortly after that, this man who had been

injured made a confession to the missionary and told the

missionary that he and his friends had been observing the

missionary and they knew that he was frequently traveling from

the hospital to the city back and forth, often staying alone,

camping alone, and that he was often carrying medication and.

Money and things of value.

And so this man said of the missionary, my friends

and I had plotted and schemed to attack you in

the jungle and kill you and take all of your

money and medication. But we stopped when we saw the

twenty six armed guards around your camp. Well, the doctor

just kind of laughed and he said, I gotta assure

you that I do not have twenty six armed guards.

I was completely alone. But the injured man insisted and.

He said, no, we saw them, and we counted them,

twenty six.

Of them, and we were afraid.

While the missionary just kind of brushed it off, maybe

thought it was the medication. The was on until some

time later the missionary was back in the States and

he was back at his local church in Michigan, and

he was sharing this story, and as he was sharing,

a man in the congregation stood up and interrupted the

missionary and asked if the missionary could remember the precise

date that he had made that trip and had spent

the night in the jungle alone.

And the missionary kind of thought about it for.

A moment, and then he did remember the precise date,

and the man who stood up in the congregation, he said,

on that very day, the Lord puts you on my

heart to pray for you, and the prompting was so strong.

I called the other men of the church and we

met here in the church billing to pray for you.

And there were twenty six of us in this room

praying for you.

Bike.

You may not see the angels that are surrounding you,

You may not know those who are praying for you

and interceding for you, but hear me. Man of God,

Woman of God. Trust in the power of God. You

may not see it, but He is working on your.

Behalf in the invisible. Whatever you're facing is no match

for the power of God in your life. Trust his power.

Many years ago, my friends Tim and Vanessa were expecting,

eagerly expecting the birth of their first son, Isaiah, and

one day, several weeks early before the due date, Vanessa

was having some health complications and she was rushed to

the hospital for an emergency. And as soon as Lorna

and I got word, we immediately drove to Community North Hospital.

Now this was in the days of COVID, so we

weren't allowed to go into the hospital, but that didn't

stop us from praying in the parking lot. And I

remember being there and things were very serious and some

things needed to change for this to go well, and

Lorna and I just started walking in a prayer walk

around the whole campus of Community North and it's a

big campus, and I just I just have this image

of some security guard watching us on the cameras making

sure we weren't up to no good.

But we were.

We were just walking and we were praying, we were

doing battle. And then invisible and unseen, I'm not kidding.

As we were watching walking making that prayer march, I

had this mental picture that there there were tall, giant

angel warriors surrounding the entire hospital. Now I'm not claiming

like a direct vision from God, but it was just

a clear mental picture that as we were praying that God's.

Presence was there, his warriors were there.

They were they were fighting off any evil, and we

were interceding. And so thankfully Isaiah was born healthy. He

was born early, but he was born healthy, and Vanessa

recovered completely. Because the men and the women of God

trust in the power of God. You don't always see

the battle that's happening in the invisible, but your prayers

are part of the battle.

Support. Your prayers are part of how you contend and intercede.

Sometimes the greatest struggle for the man or the woman

of God is to wait on the Lord. And if

you're like me, I get impatient when things don't change

the way I want them to. I get irritated when

there's not progress or things are not going according to

my plan. But the man or the woman of God

will wait for God's timing. When I was finishing my

doctorate degree, I got to a place in the process

where I needed to submit my dissertation a draft for feedback.

And there were three possible types of feedback I could get.

One, I could get a.

Green light, move forward, full steam ahead on track. Second,

I could get a yellow light move forward but with

some revision and some editing. Or I could get a

red light, which means stop, don't move forward, turn around

and go back, like start.

Over, rewrite, rework. And So I did this draft for feedback,

and I waited and waited and waited. I mean, it

just felt like I was waiting forever.

And I knew the deadline for like graduation deadlines for

things to stay on track to graduate on time, and

I'm just watching and looking at the calendar and checking

my email and contacting my advisor and reminding them, Hey,

you said it would be four to six weeks.

We are at five weeks and five days. Is there

any news? You know? Just like waiting for some feedback.

And then finally, after what felt like forever, I got feedback,

and I got a red light.

That said, don't go forward.

You need to go back, rework, revise and fix a

lot of things and change some things.

Man. I was disappointed.

I was a little bit discouraged, and most of all,

I just felt this pressure of like, man, I got

this deadline.

I want to graduate on time, like I gotta.

So it made me work harder, maybe dig deeper, and thankfully,

by God's grace, I got it turned in again and

made the deadline and graduated on time. Sometimes we get

our hopes up and we get disappointed. Sometimes we have

an expectation and things don't go the way that we

want them to. You get unexpected news that knocks you sideways.

You get an emergency that you didn't see coming. You

feel overwhelmed, you feel stuck. Sometimes you may feel like

you are being pressed and pushed and all of this

is weighing down on you.

I want to tell you today that when.

You feel that pressure, you've got a choice to make.

That pressure can push you away from Jesus, or that

pressure can press you closer to him. Let it press

you to Him. Because the man or the woman of

God will wait for God's timing. I'll tell you there's

something that I've been praying for for a couple of years.

Some has been on my heart, some very personal.

To me, but I don't have any control over it,

no no control, and I've been praying for it, and

there's been no change, no movement, no progress for a

couple of years. And I'll tell you that there's some

days I don't feel like praying for it, some days

that I pray with doubt in my heart and just

kind of going through the motions like, oh, yeah, I'm

supposed to pray for that.

We'll see.

Let me tell you just in the last few weeks,

the Lord has started to do some movement. There is

some progress happening. God is wherey That prayer is being answered.

And I'll tell you what. It's not because of me.

It's not because of my ingenuity, it's not because of

my influence, all because of God.

The man or the woman of God will wait for

God's timing.

So let's return to our text and see how the

story finishes.

We pick up in verse eighteen.

As the enemy came down toward him, Elisha prayed to

the Lord, strike this army with blindness. So he struck

them with blindness, as Elisha had asked. Elisha told them,

this is not the road, and this is not the city.

Elisha is now speaking to the enemies that came to

capture him. Follow me, and I will lead you to

the man you're looking for. And he led them to Samaria.

Samaria was the headquarters for the King of Israel at

that time.

After they entered the city, Elijhah said, Lord, open their

eyes of these men so they can see.

And the Lord opened their eyes and they looked and

they were inside Samaria.

I mean, this is just incredible.

I mean, Elisha goes from being hunted to now leading

the enemies.

God blinds the enemies.

And Elisha leads them right to the Israelite serves them

up on a platter.

The man of the Woman of God.

Will walk confidently in God's presence. Man of the Woman

of God will walk confidently into God's presence.

You can face that thing that is threatening you with confidence.

Wherever you set your foot, you will walk confidently because

of the Lord. When you walk into the hospital room,

you will walk into the classroom, into the courtroom with confidence,

not in yourself, but because the Lord is with you

and his presence surrounds you. We can walk confidently where

God is leading us. I think it's so interesting here

that at the beginning of the story, Elijah was Elijah

was the hunted man, and then the tables turn, and.

Now he's leading the army that was hunting him.

And I thought about how many of us find ourselves

in situations where the tables have turned, whether for good

or bad, where things feel upside down, where things feel backwards.

You didn't expect it, you didn't ask for it, and

you may feel unprepared for it. You may feel inexperienced

or ill equipped for it, and you don't know how

to handle it. It's it's when you find yourself in

a class or in a new school without any friends,

and you're trying to catch up behind the curve, when

you've lost a job and you've got to start over

in a.

Field where you have no experience, no training.

It's that person who's lost a spouse unexpectedly and all

the while you're grieving and trying to be a single parent.

Or on the other extreme of that, it's it's the

parent who remarries and now you've got a blended family

and the dynamics of co parenting and step children.

It's when you feel overwhelmed.

It's when you feel like your back is up against

the wall and surprised and you want prepared for this,

and you feel disoriented and maybe even a little bit

intimidated because things have turned.

What are you looking at? What are you focused on?

A lesser man or a lesser woman may be in

that situation and look to themselves for strength and power

and ingenuity, or they may shrink back in fear and

insecurity and be afraid.

But not you, not the man or the woman of God.

Because your eyes are focused on Jesus, and you can

walk confidently in the presence of God. He gives you

the confidence to.

Enter whatever situation, whatever room, whatever meeting.

Because He's with you. He's got your back. Our story

wraps up here in verse twenty one and.

Says when the King of Israel saw them, he asked, Elisha,

shall I kill them?

My father? Shall I kill them. It's interesting.

I was reading one Bible scholar who studied this verse

in Hebrew, and he pointed out the way that the

Hebrew language is written here. It's like the king is

like tripping over his words.

He's like, should kill them? Should I kill them? Should

I kill them? It's like over excited verse twenty two.

Do not kill them?

He answered, would you kill those you have captured with

your own sword or bow? Set food and water before

them so that they may eat and drink and then

go back to their master.

So he prepared a great.

Feast for them, and after they had finished eating and drinking,

he sent them away, and they returned to their master.

So the bands from Aram stopped raiding Israel's territory. I'll

tell you, I find it really interesting that Elisha did

not destroy these enemies. I just find it really unusual

that they didn't wipe them out. It surprises me that

they let the enemies go, that they fed them and

then they released them. And I think there's a lesson

in that for us, and that is that your struggle

is not always with other human beings. Your struggle, your

fight is not against people. It's not against your difficult boss,

Your struggle is not with your ex.

The fight is.

Not with a stubborn neighbor or a parent who doesn't understand,

or a teacher like No, you have a spiritual enemy.

You have an enemy, the devil, who is trying to sabotage,

to disrupt and destroy your life and corrupt your faith.

We're in a spiritual fight, friends. That's why Ephesian six

tells us our struggle is not against flesh and blood,

but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers

of this dark world, and against the spiritual forces of

evil and the heavenly realms.

It's in the invisible places that our greatest battle is fought.

That's why we've got to have spiritual vision to see

with supernatural insight. The man or the woman of God

knows that that my fight is not here in the natural.

My fight is in a supernatural realm and a spiritual

realm in the invisible world.

And the battle belongs to the Lord. And so that's

why we need godly men and women who will do

battle on your knees.

That's our fighting postures on our knees. When I think

about men and women of God, there are so many

role models that come to my mind. Many people that

I look up to, people in my family, people in

this church, who are men and women of God. And

there's one person whom I've admired from a distance for

some time, and that's Pastor Chuck Swindall is a pastor

in Texas. And I admire how Swindall has for decades

faithfully preached the Bible and preached the Gospel and modeled

integrity and character.

He's truly a man of God. And I even admire

his background.

Long before he was a pastor, Swindall served in the

Marines during the Korean War. I mean he's tough, he's

a veteran, he's resilient.

He's a person of grit.

And later in life, Swindall started a new church in Texas,

which he's pastored for decades. And what I admire most

is that he started this new church at the young

age of sixty five. I mean, when most people are

thinking about retiring or slowing down or traveling or he

was doing one of the most difficult and hardest things

that he could do.

I admire that.

And he pastored that church faithfully until he was ninety

and today, at ninety one. The only reason he stopped

his step down from his preaching role is because his

eyes are too weak to read and study and prepare

a sermon every week. But although he struggles with physical sight,

he has spiritual insight.

He sees what God can see.

Mention Swindall, because I want to share with you a

poem the Swindall quotes in one of his books, and

I think it's appropriate for us today. And I've paraphrased

a word or two, but it says the world needs

men and women of God who cannot be bought, whose

word is their bond, who put character above wealth, who

possess opinions and a will, who are larger than their vocations.

The world needs men and women of God who do

not hesitate to take chances, who will not lose their

individuality in a crowd, who will be honest in small

things as in great things, who will make no compromise

with wrong, whose ambitions are not confined to their own

selfish desires, who will not say they do it because

everybody else does it. The world needs men and women

of God who are true to their friends through good

report and evil report, in adversity as well as in prosperity.

The world needs men and women of God who do

not believe that rudeness, cunning, and hard headedness are the

best qualities for winning success. The world needs men and

women of God who are not ashamed or afraid to

stand for the truth when it is unpopular, who can

say no with emphasis although the rest of the world

says yes.

The world needs men and women of God.

The world needs when you look around and you see

the trouble, the brokenness, the darkness, the problems in our world,

the problems in our community, this world needs men and

women of God. Our city needs husbands of God, wives

of God. Our community needs godly bosses, godly co workers,

godly teachers and coaches. This community Indianapolis needs men and

women of God. Washington Township needs men and women of God.

All of our communities, Zionsville, Westfield, Carmel, Fishers, Nobles need

men and women of God. And I ask where do

we find such men and women? And where do we

look for men and women like this? Where do we

identify godly men and women?

I believe they are among us. I believe godly men

and women are here in this room, in this church. Family.

Will you answer the call of God.

On your life, to obey him, to follow him, to

live with faith like Elisha.

And may it be said.

That Church of the Crossing is a people of God,

the Church of God.

That we are men and women of God. May that

be our legacy.

And so today I want to invite us to a

time of response to turn our hearts in prayer to

be the men and women of God God's called us

to be.

It starts by submitting to Him. And I want us

to pray the prayer that Elisha prayed.

We register a moment ago. He prayed, open his eyes Lord,

so that he may see what my God want to

show you. Man of God? What might God want to

put on your heart? Woman of God?

What may God put on your mind today? Would you?

Would you open your heart and mind to him in prayer?

There's a prayer prompt I encourage you to pray that

says God, I want to be your man, your woman,

Open my eyes. What do you want to show me.

Let's take this moment now and then I'll close.

This in prayer.

As I was praying over this message and praying over

our church, I believe the Lord put a thought in

my heart. You know a lot of people in history

in the world talk about leaving their mark on the world,

leaving a mark on history.

And I felt like the Lord put on my heart.

That this world does not need men and women who

are concerned with leaving.

Their own mark on the world, but are.

Solely focused on living a life marked by Christ. That

is our call, Church, is to live a life that's

marked by Him, marked by his love, marked by his compassion,

marked by his humility.

That's our invitation. So let me close us in prayer.

Father, God, thank you for calling us to yourself, giving

us a mission, giving us an assignment. And God, I

pray that if you've revealed anything among us, if you

put something on our heart, if you've shown us a

step to take, a change, to make, that you would

give us the courage to obey, give us the confidence

to do what you've called us to do. And God,

may we not rest until we've taken a step or

done what you've asked us to do.

Give us that courage, give us that faith, just like

you did, Elisha. And it's in Jesus name we pray. Amen.