Truth That Changes Lives

JP Jones: Elisha wanted more. He prayed for a double portion of the spirit. I'm convinced the reason he did those miracles, the reason he counseled kings, the reason he spoke the word of God, the reason he was used by God in his generation was because he asked for a double portion of God's spirit.

Guest (Male): Thank you for joining us on Truth That Changes Lives. Pastor JP Jones is the senior pastor of Crossline Community Church in Laguna Hills, California, and a professor in biblical studies at Biola University. Today on Truth That Changes Lives, Pastor JP will be giving us a message from a series entitled Heroes. Let's listen as JP gives us part one of Elisha.

JP Jones: We're in our series talking about heroes. I've made it clear from the beginning that the guys we've been looking at here in the Bible aren't heroes because they lived perfect lives. They aren't heroes because they never sinned. They're heroes because God did something in their life and used them, and their lives have been recorded for us in scripture so that we could learn from them. In fact, in every one of these individuals, the main character is not the person themselves, but God. That's true once again as we look at the man Elisha. Elisha was a prophet to the nation of Israel and really to all the nations of his day. He was a man mightily used by God.

We're introduced to Elisha in the book of 1 Kings, and his story for us is more fully explained in the book of 2 Kings. Last week, if you were with us, we talked about Elijah with a J. Elijah was a prophet of God and the mentor of Elisha. In fact, Elijah's last assignment, when he was at a point of desperation and wanted to just end his life, and God encouraged him and blessed him and reenergized him, he gave him an assignment, and one of his assignments was to go and find Elisha and anoint him as his successor.

At the end of the book of 1 Kings, Elisha is plowing the field. He was a farmer. He wasn't one of the young men that had gone to the seminary of his day. There was a school of the prophets where the up-and-coming prophets were being trained. He was a guy just doing his own thing, plowing a field, but Elijah came to him and said that God had a call on his life. What we're told in the scripture is that Elisha took his plow, broke it up, and built a fire. He took the oxen that were leading the plow, slaughtered them, and offered them as a sacrifice unto the Lord, and left everything and followed Elijah.

It's very reminiscent of the gospels when Jesus came upon the disciples who were fishing and said, "Follow me," and they left their boats, they left the family business, and they followed Jesus. Elisha was that kind of a guy. Throughout the story of Elisha, he is the servant and the protégé of the prophet Elijah. In 2 Kings chapter 2, we see the initiation of Elisha's ministry as one who took the mantle of Elijah and represented God to his nation.

What he prayed for was that he would have a double portion of God's spirit. Scholars have gone and compared 1 Kings and 2 Kings and have totaled up all the miracles that took place through Elijah's ministry and all the miracles that took place through Elisha's ministry, and surprise, surprise, guess what? There were twice as many miracles from Elisha as there were from Elijah. God answered his prayer and poured out a double blessing upon his life. In fact, that's the kind of prayer God loves to answer when we ask for a double portion of his blessing, when we ask for a double portion of his spirit, when we ask for more of God in our lives.

Elisha was a prophet. He spoke the word of God. In fact, kings came to him for consultation. At one point in time, the king of Israel aligned himself with Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah, and they came to go to war against the country of Moab, but Jehoshaphat was a good king. He didn't want to do something unless God was in it. He said, "Have we consulted the Lord?" The king of Israel, who was a wicked king, said, "Well, there's this troubler Elisha, who was the servant of Elijah." Jehoshaphat said, "Let's go talk to him."

They found Elisha, and Elisha went toe-to-toe with the king of Israel and said, "God has nothing to do with you. But because of Jehoshaphat, who is a godly man, I will tell you God's word." Elisha told them the battle plan to take on the Moabites, the strategy to be used, and promised God's victory if they would do it. Because of Jehoshaphat's godliness, they did it, and God gave a blessing to Israel and to Judah. Elisha was a guy who spoke the word of God, and he didn't care whether people accepted it or rejected it. He spoke the truth.

Elisha was a guy who performed miracles, and he performed all kinds of miracles. Some of them are rather insignificant and inconsequential, which actually gives me hope because some of my prayers are really just insignificant and inconsequential. They're just what I would like God to do in my life and my family. They're not huge. They're not world-changing. They're not Great Commission prayers. God hears those kinds of prayers. Elisha caused a meal... a bunch of prophets had gotten together and they were having a meal together, and one of the guys who was fixing the food went out and got some wild gourds, and they happened to be poisonous and bitter.

He put the gourds in the stew, and when they ate it, they said, "This tastes like death." I mean, it tasted bad. Elisha prayed and threw some flour in it and made it the best-tasting stew they'd ever had. I mean, he did a miracle just making food taste better. They were building a house one time, and the guy's axe broke off the end of the handle and fell into the river. Elisha came along and said, "Where did it fall?" The guy said, "It fell right in there," and he took his staff and pointed it over the water, and the metal end of the axe floated to the top of the surface so the guy could get it and finish doing the work.

There's nothing world-changing about that kind of prayer. He prayed prayers and did miracles that blessed people. There was a widow who was poor and had come to the end of her resources, and she came to Elisha and said, "I'm going to starve." Elisha said, "What do you have left?" She said, "I just have a little bit of oil." He said, "This is what I want you to do. I want you to go to all your friends and all your neighbors and get every pot you can find." She did it. She filled her house up with all these pots.

He said, "I want you to start taking the oil and pour it into the pots until they're full. Keep pouring the oil as long as you have pots." She filled one pot, then another pot, then another pot, then another pot, and this one little bit of oil kept filling up every pot with oil until she filled up all of her pots. Then Elisha said, "Now go sell that and live off what you have." It was a miracle just to help this woman. Another woman was getting advanced in age and she didn't have a son, and that was her heart's desire to have a son. Elisha prayed for her to get pregnant and have a son, and she got pregnant and had a son.

He did miracles that demonstrated the true miraculous power of God. This same widow who he prayed for and she was able to get pregnant, later on her son became sick and had headaches and died. It was a several days' journey from where she lived and where Elisha was. She went, found Elisha, brought him back, Elisha prayed for him and raised him from the dead. Elisha did miracles that demonstrated the reality of the spiritual battle that all of us are in.

At one point in time, Israel was at war with the Syrians. When the king of Syria would gather together his commanders and talk about the battle plan they had for invading Israel, God spoke to Elisha and told him everything about what the battle plan was. Then Elisha would tell the king of Israel, and Israel would have all their soldiers strategically placed to defeat whatever the plans of the Syrians were. The Syrian king said, "Who is a spy telling all my plans?" They said, "It's not a spy. There's a prophet of God in Israel, and he knows exactly what goes on in your inner rooms and discussions."

The king of Syria dispatched his army to find Elisha and to kill him. One day Elisha was in his house with his servant, and his servant looks out the window and all of these soldiers are surrounding his house, all the soldiers from Syria. The guy goes into Panic Palace and he says to Elisha, "We're going to be killed." Elisha prayed and said, "God, open up his eyes. Allow him to see that more are those that are with us than are with them." He told his servant to go back out and look out the window. He looks out the window and he saw fiery chariots and soldiers whose armor gleamed.

They were angels. God had put an angel army around Elisha and protected him. Then Elisha prayed and all of the Syrian soldiers were blinded, and then he led them into the city, closed the gates behind them, and the king of Israel captured all the armies of Syria. Elisha did miracles that were seemingly inconsequential, he did miracles that were blessings to people, he performed miracles that were undeniably the work of God, and miracles that affected God's plans for the nations. Elisha was a guy who represented God in his generation. God heard and answered his prayers.

God did miracles through his life. God used his words to actually advance his kingdom plan. He was just a farmer, plowing in a field, but when God called him, he left everything to follow. When God gave him the opportunity to ask for whatever he wanted, he prayed for a double portion of the spirit. It says this in 2 Kings chapter 2, verses 1 to 15. When the Lord was about to take Elijah up to heaven in a whirlwind, Elijah and Elisha were on their way from Gilgal. Elijah said to Elisha, "Stay here. The Lord has sent me to Bethel."

Elisha said, "As surely as the Lord lives and as you live, I will not leave you." So they went down to Bethel. The company of the prophets at Bethel came out to Elisha and asked, "Do you know that the Lord is going to take your master today?" "Yes, I know," Elisha replied, "but do not speak of it." Then Elijah said to him, "Stay here, Elisha. The Lord has sent me to Jericho." He replied, "As surely as the Lord lives and as you live, I will not leave you." So they went to Jericho.

The company of the prophets at Jericho went up to Elisha and asked him, "Do you know that the Lord is going to take your master from you today?" "Yes, I know," he replied, "but do not speak of it." Then Elijah said to him, "Stay here. The Lord has sent me to the Jordan." He replied, "As surely as the Lord lives and as you live, I will not leave you." So the two of them walked on. 50 men of the company of the prophets went and stood at a distance facing the place where Elijah and Elisha had stopped at the Jordan.

Elijah took his cloak, rolled it up and struck the water with it. The water divided to the right and to the left and the two of them crossed over on dry ground. When they had crossed, Elijah said to Elisha, "Tell me, what can I do for you before I am taken from you?" "Let me inherit a double portion of your spirit," Elisha replied. "You have asked a difficult thing," Elijah said. "Yet if you see me when I am taken from you, it will be yours, otherwise not."

As they were walking along and talking together, suddenly a chariot of fire and horses of fire appeared and separated the two of them, and Elijah went up to heaven in a whirlwind. Elisha saw this and cried out, "My father, my father, the chariots and the horsemen of Israel!" And Elisha saw him no more. Then he took hold of his own clothes and he tore them apart. He picked up the cloak that had fallen from Elijah and he went back and stood at the bank of the Jordan.

Then he took the cloak that had fallen from him and he struck the water with it. "Where now is the Lord, the God of Elijah?" he asked. When he struck the water, it divided to the right and to the left and he crossed over. The company of the prophets from Jericho who were watching said, "The spirit of Elijah is resting on Elisha." And they went to meet him and they bowed to the ground before him. This passage, steeped in this miraculous phenomena, tells us the heart of Elisha.

When he asked for a double portion of Elijah's spirit, it was asking for a double portion of the Holy Spirit. He understood it was God's spirit working in Elijah. What he wanted more than anything else was more of God in his life. Do you want more of God in your life? Do you just want same-o same-o Christianity? I don't want to fly above the radar, I don't want to go down into the pits, I just kind of want to stay here in mediocrity. If you're here and you really don't know Jesus and the transforming mercy of his grace and love in your life, do you just want to continue in a life separated from God? Or do you want more?

Elisha wanted more. He prayed for a double portion of the spirit. I'm convinced the reason he did those miracles, the reason he counseled kings, the reason he spoke the word of God, the reason he was used by God in his generation was because he asked for a double portion of God's spirit. It's exactly what the New Testament teaches, what Jesus and the apostles teach is God's design and desire to grant for everyone of us. In fact, Jesus said this in Luke chapter 11:

So I say to you, ask and it will be given to you. Seek and you will find. Knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, to he who seeks finds, to him who knocks the door will be opened. Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead? Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!

Notice the logic of Jesus. Jesus is using this "how much more" argument. We've talked about this passage before because it's so powerful in the promise that it makes to us. This is Jesus saying to us: We dads, even in our sinfulness and weakness and fallenness, we get the idea of wanting to bless our kids. Every dad here in some way wants to bless his kids. Our heavenly Father, who's perfect in his love and goodness, how much more does he want to bless us?

If we ask him, he will give us the Holy Spirit. Jesus is telling us we need to ask God for the best gift, and by implication, the best gift is the gift of his spirit. Are you asking God for the fullness of the Holy Spirit in your life? Are you asking God for all that the Holy Spirit wants to do in you and through you? Are you asking God because of his goodness to give you the best gift? Remember several years ago that Christmas movie with Arnold Schwarzenegger, the Governator? Jingle All the Way.

This was back when he was acting, not doing the political thing. It's the story about a dad who all of a sudden realizes Christmas is here and he hadn't gotten his son anything. The one thing that his son wants is a Turbo-Man. It's the latest toy. He starts going to the stores and Turbo-Man's sold out. He finally finds one place that has a Turbo-Man and he gets into a whole battle to the death almost about getting this Turbo-Man. The whole reason he wanted to do it is he wanted to give something good to his son.

Jesus said if you can grasp that concept, then how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit just to those who ask him, like Elisha who asked for a double portion of God's spirit. In John chapter 7, Jesus says this: On the last day, the greatest day of the feast, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, "If anyone is thirsty..." Remember, this is the Middle East. It's hot. It's dry. Of course they understood what it meant to be thirsty.

"If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him." By this he meant the spirit whom those who had believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time, the spirit had not yet been given since Jesus had not yet been glorified. Jesus is offering living water to really satisfy the soul thirst that people have. John, commenting on this, says that's the Holy Spirit.

That's what this promise is all about. On the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit was poured out in fulfillment of Hebrew scriptures and the promise of Jesus. Now anyone who comes to God through Jesus Christ has the Holy Spirit come into him and live within him. Jesus says when that happens, out of your innermost being will flow rivers of living water. He gives this great invitation, but guess what? He gives it to people who are thirsty. If you're not thirsty, you're probably not experiencing rivers of living water.

Think for a moment. This is easy for me because at about this time in the sermon, I actually get thirsty. Thirst is something you really feel. You can be dehydrated but not feel thirsty. You could actually be hydrated but feel thirsty. Your mouth gets dry. There's something that you want to satisfy this physical feeling. Jesus says there's a spiritual parallel. Will you recognize there's something missing in your life? You recognize there's something more that you want.

You recognize there's something that you desire. Jesus says if you're thirsty and you come to me and you believe in me, then I will satisfy that thirst. From within I will produce rivers of living water. He spoke about this with reference to the Holy Spirit's work. But you've got to be thirsty. About 36 years ago to this day, I was thinking about this because as I was driving the other day, I saw all these guys as I was driving in Santa Margarita and I drove by the school.

They were out there playing football, doing two-a-days. About 36 years ago, I'm doing two-a-days playing football and it was hot, like it is now. Back in those days, they didn't give water breaks. They thought if you were really tough, you could go through a three or four-hour practice with no water. We'd been practicing for about two hours and I'm dying. I'm standing in this mass of other guys playing football and the coach is talking to us. He's giving us some kind of pep talk, but all I'm thinking about is when is this practice going to be over so I can get some water.

I look down and we're out on the field and there was a sprinkler. Remember playgrounds, practice fields? Around the sprinkler was this brown water with grass floating in it. I'm desperate. I'm thirsty. I start ducking down in the mass of these bodies and the coach doesn't see me. I get down on my hands and knees, put my head in the puddle of brown water, and drink that water. I think about that now and I go, "Oh my gosh, the bacteria that must still be floating around in my body 36 years later."

But at the time, it tasted good. You know why? I was thirsty. Jesus said, "If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. He who believes in me, out of his innermost being will flow rivers of living water." This he spoke about the spirit whom he had not yet given because Jesus was not yet glorified. Elisha, he was thirsty. When he was asked, "What do you want?" "I want a double portion of the spirit." What do you want? Do you want same-o same-o? Don't need anymore, don't want anymore, I'm good, I'm cool, I want to keep living the same life I've always been living. Or do you want a double portion? More love, more grace, more power, more truth, more fruitfulness, more intimacy with God?

Guest (Male): What a great message for all of us today. Pastor JP Jones provides us with great insight. That is why we'd like to make it available to you on CD. Just get in touch and mention today's date. We'll send it your way for just $5. Or if you'd like to support this ministry, you can write us at Truth That Changes Lives, 23331 Moulton Parkway, Laguna Hills, California 92653. Or give us a call at 949-916-0250.

For your gift of $25 or more, we will send you a signed copy of JP's new book, Facing Goliath. Please join us every Sunday at 9:00 or 11:00 AM at Crossline Church in Laguna Hills. The address is 23331 Moulton Parkway, Laguna Hills, California 92653. Or check us out on the web at crosslinechurch.com. We're going to get to the address and phone number again in a moment, but before we do that, Pastor JP, do you have any insight from today's message?

JP Jones: Thanks, Greg. We're in this series dealing with heroes, men and women from the Bible that were used to make a difference in their generation because they surrendered their lives to God and asked God to do something great in their lives. Today we're looking at Elisha. Elisha was the servant of Elijah. He was the man who followed Elijah, saw Elijah, and cried out to God to have a double portion of Elijah's spirit. Elisha serves as an example of someone who sought for a deeper experience for God, who sought for a deeper relationship with God, who sought for more of God's life within him.

He's an example of what Jesus spoke of in John chapter 7 when Jesus said, "If any man is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. For he who believes in me, out of his innermost being will flow rivers of living water." This Jesus spoke of the spirit whom he had not yet given because Jesus was not yet glorified. Every one of us can be just like Elisha. We can cry out to God for a double portion of his spirit. We can be thirsty and come to Jesus, and Jesus will satisfy our thirst by means of his Holy Spirit overflowing within us.

In Luke chapter 11, Jesus said, "If you being evil know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!" Would you be bold enough and honest enough to ask God to fill you with the Holy Spirit, to cry out to God for a double portion of his spirit? Let's ask him that in prayer. God, give us the fullness of the Holy Spirit. Satisfy our thirst. Fill us with your life. Holy Spirit, control us, fill us, and lead us. In Jesus' name, Amen.

Guest (Male): We want to help you in your relationship with Christ. Please get in touch with us at Truth That Changes Lives, 23331 Moulton Parkway, Laguna Hills, California 92653. Or call us at 949-916-0250. On the internet, you will find us at crosslinechurch.com. We hope to see you at one of our services every Sunday at our new campus in Laguna Hills. For more information and directions, please go to crosslinechurch.com. Please join us next time on Truth That Changes Lives.