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Father, I stand before you with only the
desire to be an oracle of God.
There's nothing else in my heart.
I pray, God Almighty, you are doing something
so powerful in our midst.
I pray, Father, in my heart, that I
not be found to be a light man.
Oh, God, I pray that you do something
very deep within me.
Lord, that I can stand and speak for
you, for your name's sake and for your
church's sake.
Your beloved bride that you bought with your
own blood, that you cherish more than all
of creation.
Oh, God, I pray that I may have
the grace and privilege of standing to speak
for you for the rest of my life.
Lord, I'm asking for something that only you
can do, because the work is too deep
for any amount of my own effort.
I can only stand in faith and trust
that you will do it.
God Almighty, take us now as a church
where we're to go in you.
It's not about works.
It's not about programs.
It's about you.
It's about where you're taking us in you.
Open my mind tonight in my heart.
Enable me, Father, to speak this message in
a way that it can be understood by
those that you've gathered in this house.
And, Father, I thank you for the enablement.
All that really matters is that you enable
me, quicken me, animate me, Holy Spirit.
I am absolutely dependent on you, and I
thank you in Jesus' mighty name.
Tonight, we're looking at the outflow of the
double portion.
Now, the double portion we saw was the
son's inheritance that was given to him.
When Elijah asked Elijah for a double portion,
he was not asking for twice the anointing
of Elijah.
We looked at that.
We saw it in the scriptures.
We understand it.
If you have any problem with that, just
read a commentary.
You're not going to really find any difference
of opinion on this, or very little if
there is any.
He was asking for the portion that belongs
to the firstborn son, that was referred to
in Deuteronomy as the double portion.
If you had ten sons and you were
leaving them $100, for example, my math's not
very good, but that means that if every
son was to get $10, the firstborn would
get $20.
It would be a double portion.
Not necessarily as much as the father had,
but twice what those who were more distant
would receive from the place of the firstborn.
That's the easiest way I can explain it.
Paul the Apostle says in Romans very, very
clearly that we are heirs, joint heirs with
Jesus Christ.
Jesus Christ is the firstborn son.
He has the portion of the father.
The full life of the father is his,
and we are co-inheritors of that life
with Jesus Christ.
And the Scripture makes that very, very clear.
And it should be the quest of every
Christian, everyone who calls themselves by the name
of Christ, to say, God, I want the
full life that Jesus you purchased for me
on Calvary.
I want it.
It's my inheritance.
I want it in my heart.
I want it in my life.
I want everything, God, that you have for
me.
Now we see that Elisha had this in
his heart, but before he received it, God
took Elijah and Elisha on a journey.
It was to a place of history first,
a place of faith and promise, which was
called Bethel.
And he took him there.
And then to a place of quiet and
confident worship called Jericho.
And then shortly after that, to a place
where he saw Elijah taken away, and he
himself returned in the power of God.
It is an absolute type of Jesus Christ.
You cannot get away from it.
Jesus led the disciples.
If I had time tonight, I would go
into it.
He led the disciples on an identical journey,
really, to a place where they would believe
him.
They would believe his word.
They would believe his promises to a place
where they would quietly and confidently trust him.
And then to a place where he was
taken away up into the clouds in the
very same manner that Elijah was taken away.
Christ was taken away.
And he had, as Elisha returned to cross
over Jordan with this double portion, this anointing
of God that Elijah had, was now on
his life.
And he returned to cross the Jordan in
this same anointing.
The same power of God was on him.
And so it is.
Jesus said clearly to his church, as the
Father has sent me, I send you.
Behold, he said, Terry, you'll be endued with
power from on high.
You'll be witnesses of my life.
Really, that's what it's about.
Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, to the uttermost parts of
the earth.
They tarried.
The Holy Spirit came upon them and they
received, as it is, the double portion.
They were made co-inheritors of the firstborn
son, the only begotten of God.
His inheritance became ours.
Amazing when you begin to think of it.
We see Elisha returning, taking the mantle of
Elijah, smiting the Jordan.
The waters now parting, which symbolizes the impossibility
of any human effort ever accomplishing the work
of God is gone.
It's no longer about human effort.
It's now about the promises of God.
It's now about the life of God that's
been imparted to you.
If the church of Jesus Christ could get
a hold of this one truth, it could
revolutionize our present day world.
That you have the life of God residing
in you.
You're not commissioned to take just a message
about a Savior that came 2,000 years
ago.
And somehow, through argument, to try to convince
a generation.
No, you are to be a living testimony
of that life.
That life is to be lived in you.
It's to be lived through you.
It's to be supernatural.
It's to be powerful.
It's to touch the very inner core of
your generation, beginning in your own home.
And beyond there to our generation all around
us.
You see, when Elisha came back over that
river, the life of God which he desired
was now in him.
And even the prophets recognized it.
And they bowed down.
They wouldn't obey him, but they would bow
at least before the anointing.
He had in him the life that's promised
to Abraham.
God said, Abraham, I'll bless you.
I'll multiply you.
I'll make you more than you are.
I'll make you more than you could ever
be.
Abraham had no power within himself to even
have a son.
But God said, no, it's not about even
having one son.
I'm going to give you so many descendants,
you can't count them.
And through you and through your descendants, the
whole world is going to be blessed.
Do you know how impossible that seemed?
We look in the mirror and we can't
believe that God can use us.
What if God gave you a promise like
Abraham?
You're too old to even have a child.
God says, I'm going to give you so
many descendants, the whole world is going to
be blessed.
And the Bible says Abraham believed God.
He believed him.
And he became, through that faith and that
relationship, a friend of God.
If God could only get a people who
actually believe him.
Have people who actually believe that the Holy
Spirit is not just some fuzzy feeling sent
from heaven to make me aware that I'm
a child of God.
The Holy Spirit is God.
And I am now the temple of God.
God lives in me.
This is not just a concept.
This is the reality of my inheritance in
Christ.
God lives in me.
Therefore, everything that God says to me is
a greater reality than everything else around me.
It doesn't matter what people have spoken to
me.
It doesn't matter what I see in the
mirror.
It doesn't matter what education I have or
don't have.
It doesn't matter how limited my natural ability
and mind is.
God lives in me.
That's the message that will change this next
generation.
There's no time to counsel everybody.
There's not enough time to reason everybody out
of their struggle.
There's a simple truth that can change the
worst of sinners.
God lives in me.
You see, the man who will bless his
generation, or when I say man, of course
you understand it's generic for men and women,
who will bless his generation has both the
life and the burden of God upon him.
With the life comes the heart.
I want the life of Jesus in me.
I want God's presence.
Well, with God's presence comes God's burden.
Comes God's work.
Comes God's mind.
Comes God's heart.
Comes God's spirit.
He comes.
You see, there are many, many today who
claim the life, but they have no burden.
They lay claim to an anointing that doesn't
represent Jesus Christ.
It's all over the church world today.
I'm so anointed.
He's so anointed.
They're so anointed.
But there's no burden.
Show me the artwork of that anointing.
Where's the proof of that anointing?
I don't care how many foreheads are slapped
and how many people fall on the floor.
Show me.
Where's the evidence of the anointing?
Where is Jesus in all of this?
Where is his life?
You know, and many, many people are running
around claiming this anointing only to find that
all they have done, and even themselves, will
be rejected at the very end.
Look at Matthew 7.
Put a marker in 2 Kings 2 and
go to Matthew chapter 7, please, with me.
Matthew chapter 7, verse 15.
These are the words of Jesus.
Now, keep in mind, he's speaking about those
who claim to have his life within them.
He said, Even
so, every good tree brings forth good fruit.
But a corrupt tree brings forth evil fruit.
A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit.
Neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good
fruit.
Every tree that brings not forth good fruit
is hewn down and cast into the fire.
Wherefore, by their fruits you shall know them.
Not everyone.
I don't know if there's a break here
in your Bible, but there's no break in
the original text.
It's still the same thought.
Not everyone that says to me, Lord, Lord,
shall enter into the kingdom of heaven.
But he that does the will of my
Father which is in heaven.
Many will say to me in that day.
How many?
Many.
Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy
name, and in thy name cast out devils,
and in thy name done many wonderful works?
And then, will I profess unto them, I
never knew you.
Depart from me, ye that work iniquity.
Does it mean that Jesus didn't know their
name?
He didn't know what church they attended?
He didn't know their address?
That somehow there was a block between this
all-knowledgeable God and who they were?
No, it's not about that.
See, the issue is he knew everything about
them.
The word know in the Greek New Testament
means to be intimately acquainted or to know
intuitively.
Hear me on this.
It's as if Christ is saying, I know
who I am.
Tell me, where am I found in you?
I know who I am, but I don't
know you.
I don't see myself.
Because he's not looking for works.
When we stand before Christ, we claim to
be a Christian.
We claim to have his anointing.
We claim to have the presence and power
of God in our lives.
He's not looking for the works.
He's not looking for the prophesying or even
the casting out of devils.
He's looking for himself.
Because we're supposed to have the Holy Spirit
within us.
The Holy Spirit is one with Christ.
He is the Spirit of Christ.
He's strictly looking for himself.
And he looks and says, well, help me.
I don't seem to see myself in you.
You know, many, many people will not even
be aware that they've been operating outside of
the Spirit of Christ until they stand before
his throne.
If the life of Christ, we ask ourselves
this question.
If the life of Christ is in us,
if it is truly his life, if his
portion is ours, then how can we be
sure that what is flowing from us is
truly him?
How can we know if it's really his
life?
Paul says in 2 Corinthians 13, 5, he
says, examine yourselves whether you be in the
faith.
Prove your own selves.
Know you're not your own selves, how that
Jesus Christ is in you, except you be
reprobates.
And Paul is saying, look, have a look
inside.
And he said, do you not know that
it's Christ in you unless, of course, actually
the new American standard says, unless, of course,
you fail the test.
Unless, of course, it is not Christ that
is in you.
It is not Christ that animates you.
It is not Christ that is moving you.
It is not Christ that is guiding you.
It just simply isn't Christ.
And Paul says, examine yourself and find out
if it is.
Because if it isn't, there's a reprobation.
There's a false knowledge of God.
A false perception, actually, of who God is.
And there's much, much of that that is
alive today.
If Christ is in us, we first and
foremost have a new nature.
If you can't say you have a new
nature, it is debatable and highly doubtful that
Christ is in you.
You have a new nature.
If any man is in Christ, he becomes
a new creature.
The old things are passed away.
In other words, yes, there are old things
in your life.
But it's as if when Christ came into
your heart, an axe was laid to the
root of every rotten tree in your life.
Oh, yes, it still might be there, but
it is dying.
It's passing away.
And you know it's changing.
You don't want to do the things you
used to do.
Yes, you might be struggling.
Yes, you might be battling.
But just like Paul, you're able to say,
I don't want to do these things anymore.
I don't want the body of death reigning
in my life.
God said to Ezekiel, when I come, I'm
going to give you a new heart, a
new mind, a new spirit.
I'm going to change you.
I'm going to, simply by virtue of the
new nature of God within us, the work
of God becomes our desire.
It's amazing.
I never sat down one day and said,
I'm going to do the work of God.
It just starts to happen.
You change.
You start to care.
I didn't need anybody to tell me Christ
was alive.
Beloved, when I got saved, I knew He
was alive.
I started to care.
He even led me to people that I
formerly hated.
And revealed the depth of His love for
them and changed my heart.
A new mind, a new heart, a new
spirit.
You're moving where you couldn't move before.
You're doing what you could never do.
You're touching people you could never touch.
You care about things you didn't care about.
You move not by program.
You move by instinct into the work of
God.
How else can I say it?
It becomes your desire because you're born of
the spirit of God.
God is in you.
And so the desire.
Psalm 40, verses 7 and 8.
Now, the book of Hebrews, chapter 10, quotes
these words and applies them solely to Jesus
Christ.
In other words, this is the heart of
Christ in this particular passage.
Psalm 40, verses 7 and 8.
And here it is.
This is the words of Jesus.
Then said, I lo, I come.
In the volume of the book, it is
written of me.
In other words, God, you've got a book.
And in that book, it's written about me.
Well, what's written about me?
Here it is.
I delight to do thy will, O my
God.
Yea, thy law is within my heart.
This is the Son of God.
This is the firstborn.
This is the portion that God.
This is God's inheritance.
And He said, it's written in the book
about me.
I delight to do thy will, O God.
What is written in heaven's book about you?
About me?
Is it written in heaven's book?
I'm in a program of evangelism.
That's a little short from I delight to
do thy will, O my God.
I delight to do thy will.
Thy will.
I delight to do thy will.
It's become the desire of my heart.
It's become my pursuit.
It's become my objective.
Is to do the will of God.
And to glorify Him on this earth.
Here's an example.
1 John 4, 20.
If a man says, I love God and
hates his brother, he is a liar.
I want to bring it home.
The word hate in the Greek is mizeo.
It means to detest.
But it also means to love less.
Can I insert that in there?
If a man says, I love God and
loves his brother less, he is a liar.
If I am born again, it has to
be my delight.
To love you.
If you are a Christian.
It doesn't matter where you come from.
It doesn't matter your background.
What you look like.
What you speak.
It's my delight to love you.
If I love you less.
Now, I'm not stepping outside the scripture.
Because a lawyer came to Jesus and said,
what is the most important commandment?
Without hesitation.
Love the Lord your God.
All your heart, soul, mind and strength.
And the second is as important as the
first.
Love your neighbor as yourself.
So, I'm not stepping outside of anything to
give you this interpretation.
We sometimes think if we say we love
God and as long as we are not
frothing at the mouth, running down the aisle
with a dagger in our hand, it's okay.
But you see, that's not what the scripture
says.
It speaks about an indifference.
It speaks about I don't really care.
It speaks about it doesn't matter to me.
You see, look at God's controversy with false
religion.
He's always had a controversy with that which
represents him but is false.
Let me just read it to you.
Ezekiel 34, 4.
He says, the disease you have not strengthened.
Neither have you healed that which was sick.
And neither have you bound up that which
was broken.
Neither have you brought again that which was
driven away.
And neither have you sought that which was
lost.
He says elsewhere in Amos 6, your service
has been for your own gratification.
In Amos 6 it talks about a people.
He says, warned to those that are at
ease in Zion.
He said, you lie on beds of ivory.
In other words, you have a resource as
it is but you've chosen to stretch out
on it and comfort yourself with it.
You eat the best of foods.
You chant all kinds of wonderful songs.
You even invent new instruments of music.
You drink wine in bowls.
In other words, there's this doctrine of the
new wine and you just drink it in
and drink it in.
And you're just so enamored with the name
of Jesus.
You anoint yourselves, he said, with the chiefest
of ointments.
I see a Christianity in our generation that
is running from pillar to post all over
the world for some new anointing every five
years.
You anoint yourself.
You come in and you just wallow in
the presence of God.
But you have no grief for the affliction
of Joseph.
That's speaking beyond these walls.
You understand this tonight.
I'm speaking to a church that has no
burden of God and claims to have the
life of Jesus within it.
Cares little or nothing about people who starve
to death for the knowledge of God.
As long as we're singing our songs and
anointing ourselves and we have money in the
bank and we have all this wonderfulness around
us, everything is fine.
God says, no, no, no, no.
That's not the life of double portion.
Now, you understand if I raise my voice
tonight, it's because there's a passion in me.
I'm most definitely not angry with anyone.
He says, you pretend to care while devouring
everything in your path for your own use.
Jesus said to the Pharisees and the scribes,
he said, woe unto you.
He said, you devour widows houses and for
a soul, you make long prayers.
Oh, there is a day of reckoning.
There is a day of reckoning coming for
every scoundrel in ministry today.
It devours everything in their path and they
make long prayers to hide their greed.
Then God says, my people became a prey
during your watch.
Ezekiel 34, 5, it says, they were scattered
because there were no shepherds and they became
meat to all the beasts of the field.
And that's the cry of my heart is,
oh God, that your people not become a
prey during my watch.
That I can stand and speak for you,
that I will know your heart, that I
can live a genuine life and speak a
genuine word to your church.
Now, the scripture tells us that Elisha returned
in the spirit and power of Elijah.
You see, Elijah was a man who possessed
in himself a tremendous passion for God's honor
and that God's people come back to him
again.
You remember, even after having to flee from
Jezebel, he said, I've been very jealous for
the Lord.
I've been jealous, God, for your name.
I've been jealous, God, for your people.
And Elisha comes back over the river Jordan
and he has this burden on his heart,
this passion for God, this passion for the
purposes of God and this passion for the
honor of God.
And every Christian who's brought into the promise
of Christ's life within him, returns from his
intimate dealing with God with this evidence of
Christ upon him.
I don't believe there's any exceptions to the
rule.
There has to be an outflow if there's
an inward Christ.
There has to be something of his life.
We say that we have living within us
the Christ who so loved the world that
he gave his only son.
God gave his son.
Christ gave his life.
That all can come to the knowledge that
he loves them.
He loves his creation.
If I have this Christ living in me,
the outflow of that Christ has to be
an expression of this.
We ask ourselves the question, what was the
outflow of this new touch of God and
God's life upon Elisha?
How was it manifested?
And what evidence indicates that this was truly
God?
I might shock you that I'm going to
say this, but I believe that everything Elisha
did, I can do.
I also believe that everything Elisha did, you
can do.
Now, the miracles were somewhat spectacular.
But I want to look just beyond the
spectacular to what was it really that God
was doing through him?
We sometimes get just caught in the spectacular
and say, well, you know, I mean, I
just don't think I could do what Elisha
did.
So we kind of relegate the anointing to
history and say, you know, well, one day
we'll understand that.
Right now, I'm just sort of preoccupied with
dealing with my own loneliness or whatever the
issue is.
And you miss the reality that the same
Christ in Elisha is in you.
Now, please hear me clearly on this.
It's not so much about that you and
I are going to go out the doors
and do things that are in the outward
spectacular.
But the heart is the same.
Now, let me explain.
And you'll understand as I go on.
I don't want you turning.
I want you just to listen to me.
I've done a study of the life of
Elisha.
And I'm going to speak in addition to
what I spoke on Sunday morning.
I don't want to backtrack on some of
the things that he did.
But I want to follow through some of
his life with you tonight and just show
you exactly what it was that Elisha was
doing.
What was the outflow of double portion?
And that's really what this message is about.
If I have this double portion in my
life, what is the evidence?
So we're looking at Elisha's life.
We're looking at it critically.
And we're saying, is there anything he did
that I can't do?
Is there one thing he did that I
can't do?
Chapter 3, verses 11 to 18.
I'm just going to paraphrase everything, so please
don't turn there.
We find him providing, giving provision and direction
for three leaders who are walking in the
flesh.
We find him a man who now understands
the mind of the spirit.
And I'm not going to go into all
the specifics.
You're going to have to get the tape,
find the scripture and read it for yourself.
But he comes on the scene of a
people because of their fleshly leading are in
a place where they're literally in danger of
dying of thirst.
And he comes to them and because heaven
is open to him, he shows them the
plan of God to make provision for them.
And then speaks to them about their coming
victory, even though they're walking in the flesh.
God uses him because he has an intimate
knowledge of the ways of God to give
them leadership, to help them to get through
this struggle and dryness that's in their life.
And you are capable of doing that.
When you dig into this book and Christ's
mind becomes your mind, you can be used
of God to help every professing Christian to
walk in the spirit, to understand the ways
of God.
If a man, for example, is dying of
thirst and you go to him and say,
well, tell me now, what is it that
how is your relationship with this person around
the corner?
Oh, I hate him.
You can give him direction, folks, how he
can get back to the living well again
and get something into his spirit.
You can help him to learn how to
walk in the spirit.
In chapter 4, verses 1 to 7, we
find Elisha looking after the needs of a
widow and her children.
You remember the story that creditors were coming
to take her sons away because she couldn't
pay her bills.
And so he just, the anointing upon him
gives him wisdom to tell her how she
can make provision for her situation.
You can do that.
I can do that.
I can help widows with their children in
their time of need.
In chapter 4, verses 8 to 37, we
find him firstly prophesying blessing to a barren
friend.
There's a family he visits and he stays
there.
And the woman has no power to conceive
a child.
And so he begins to prophesy to this
barrenness that's within her life.
And as he speaks to this barrenness, faith
arises in her.
And she has a son.
And a little later on, the enemy comes
and tries to take that son away from
her.
And she comes to him.
And in the same verses of Scripture, we
find him pushing back the power of death
that had come into the same home.
You can do that.
You've got neighbors around you that are barren,
that don't have any power to produce any
life that's of any glory and honor to
God.
You can begin to speak to them what
God has said, what God has done for
you.
Tell them who He is.
And they begin to have belief and they
begin to move forward.
But the enemy will come and try to
take it away.
The power of death will try to come
back in the house again.
God has given you power to step into
that house and push back the power of
death.
With simple words of faith that come into
your heart and life, you don't have to
give in to this.
You don't have to go there.
You don't have to give up your children.
You don't have to say your marriage is
finished.
You don't have to let the devil in
your house.
You stand and take authority in the name
of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and
push back the power of death.
Christ took captivity captive, the Scripture says, and
gave gifts unto men.
We are called to wage warfare against the
powers of darkness.
You can do that.
Chapter 4, verses 38 to 41, we find
Elisha purifying the people's food.
They were eating food and there was death
in the pot.
It was a group of prophets that had
gotten together and the pot was full of
death.
We find this man of God coming and
infusing life into the pot again.
And people get like that.
Groups get like that.
Even Christian people get like that.
Their understanding of God's Scripture and His ways
just becomes a pot of death.
But a man or woman who is filled
with the Spirit of God can come in
and with tender hands and right motives can
begin to put life back into the pot
again.
You can do that.
You may have a Christian friend in college
who is giving up.
Or maybe they've embraced a wrong knowledge of
God.
Maybe they're looking in the mirror and they're
not looking at who Christ is.
And there's death in the pot.
But you can bring life if you have
a humble spirit.
If your motive is to restore and not
to be a lord or some great teacher.
But if you have a heart to undergird
the church, you can bring life.
You can do that.
Chapter 4, verses 42 to 44, we find
Him feeding a hundred hungry people.
You can do that.
I can do that.
He just says it's actually a forerunner to
the miracle of the loaves and fishes.
He's just got a little bit of provision.
He just says cause the people to sit
down and eat.
And they all ate.
They were all hungry.
There was a hundred of them.
He fed them.
We can do that.
There's hungry people in New York City.
We can feed them.
And we have the right to say the
spirit of Elijah is upon me.
I'm feeding hungry people.
And sometimes we think that's not very spectacular.
You see, because you can't do with any
degree of consistency without the life of Christ
in you.
Chapter 5, verses 9 and 10.
This is a very interesting one.
The anointing, the double portion.
Naaman the Syrian comes to his door.
The Syrians are enemies of Israel.
Naaman is the captain of Syria's host.
He's got himself in a problem.
He's a leper.
Comes to the man of God.
And this double portion that is on him.
What does it do?
Does it cause him to come out to
the door of his house and say, Aha,
you're an enemy of God.
You got what you deserve.
Curse on you.
What does he do?
He shows mercy to a persistent enemy.
You can do that.
I can do that.
I can show mercy to an enemy.
Even a persistent enemy.
Here he is healing a man that's going
to go back and lead a host that
is determined to overthrow Israel.
You can be merciful to a man or
woman who is going to curse your name
until the day they go to the grave.
But the double portion.
You see, the Bible says that God is
kind to the unthankful and the unholy.
God is.
And if God is in me, he will
through me be kind to the unthankful and
the unholy.
That's the life of the double portion.
Chapter 5, verses 25 to 27, we find
Elisha judging greed in his own ministry.
He had a servant called Gehazi.
He said to Naaman the Syrian, I don't
want any money for what I've done.
But Gehazi had other designs.
And Gehazi is his ministry associate.
And he goes running after him, takes some
stuff from him, hides it in his house,
comes back.
And we find this double portion on Elisha
causes him to judge greed and not cover
it up.
Calls it what it is.
And you see for the rest of the.
He's got this associate.
He's this man of God and he's got
this associate with him that he's training up
as Elijah trained him.
He's training Gehazi.
And for the rest of their ministry, he's
got a leper walking with him.
Because the leprosy never departed from Gehazi for
the rest of his life.
But Elisha kept him with him.
For the rest of his ministry, he's got
a leper walking beside him.
And you can be sure there's a lot
of questions because he's a great man of
God and he's got a leper for an
associate.
He was not afraid of what people say.
It was more important to be honest with
God.
You heard that in this pulpit tonight from
two pastors of their own accord who got
up and shared what God is dealing with
in their lives.
More important to be honest than what people
think.
He's willing to judge his own ministry.
You can do that.
I can do that.
Chapter 6 verses 1 to 7.
We see Elisha meeting individual need.
Poor guy doing a job.
Lost an axe head in the water.
He said, oh no, what am I going
to do?
I borrowed the thing and it's sunk.
Great men of God don't have time for
things like this, do they?
Some poor fellow who's got a flat tire.
You're heading out the door.
Off to prophesy.
Pray.
God be with you.
I'd help you if I had time, but
I've just got this burden of God.
I've got to get it out.
But Elisha stops and gets the man back
his axe head.
It's important to God.
The Bible says that even the sparrow, God
cares about it when it falls.
Well, I can do that.
You can do that.
And I can be just as anointed as
Elisha in doing it.
I may not get it back as dramatically,
but I will get it back if God
enables me to do it.
I will help the man if God helps
me to help him.
Chapter 6 verses 8 to 23.
We see now.
You see, there's an increase that comes with
obedience.
There's an increase that comes with using what
we have rightly.
We see now Elisha taking a whole army
captive.
They come in to dominate the people of
God.
And God uses this man to blind the
whole army and lead them captive.
You and I can do that.
We're called to take captive the enemies of
God and his people.
We're called to cast down imaginations and to
take into captivity every thought to the obedience
of Christ.
By the power of God within us, we
can do that.
Chapter 7 verse 1.
We find him breaking a famine by speaking
of what God is about to do.
And sometimes we encounter people who are just
starving to death.
They see no hope for the future.
They're leaning on their last little bit of
hope.
And that's exactly what was happening.
And into the midst of it comes a
man of God.
Or it could be a woman of God
in your case.
And just simply begins to speak about God's
faithfulness to provide.
And what God is going to do.
And the words that God speaks through his
prophet come true.
He breaks the famine.
You and I can do that.
If we stand in faith.
We have a whole young generation, Pastor Patrick,
that are dying for knowledge about God.
They live in a famine.
They're in the days of Amos where the
young men are.
And the Scriptures talk about young people fainting
in the streets.
But you can do that.
I can do that.
You can break the famine.
You can stand and speak with authority and
say, Tomorrow at this time your hunger will
be satisfied.
You can say it with authority.
You don't need to make any apologies for
God.
Chapter 8 verse 1.
We see Elisha giving the vulnerable direction for
protection.
There was a coming time of difficulty and
he was telling this person and family to
go into a place to find food because
there was a famine coming.
You can do that.
You and I can give direction to the
vulnerable.
You and I can tell them where they
can find provision in days of difficulty.
Not just physical but spiritual provision.
We can tell them.
We can do that.
Chapter 8 verse 12.
We find Elisha's heart is beginning to increase
with sorrow because he sees the suffering that
is coming on the disobedient.
With the increase of Christ's knowledge comes an
increase of sorrow in the heart.
There's a brokenness of heart that belongs to
God that he doesn't give to everybody.
But those who have his heart begin to
understand why he went to a cross.
How much he cares for a lost and
dying generation.
And how the suffering for eternity is going
to be beyond anything the human mind can
comprehend.
There's a sorrow that comes into the heart.
It takes away arrogance.
It puts every soapbox back where it belongs.
It causes those who preach the gospel to
plead with the sinner.
There's no indifference in the heart.
It says, well, hey, you had a chance
to hear us.
Too bad for you.
You go to hell.
It's your choice.
No, that whole attitude is gone.
There's a sorrow in the heart.
For every person created in the image of
God, there's a sorrow.
That's the outflow of the double portion.
You see the masses living in ignorance without
God.
You see the mercy of God.
You understand that God has an eternity in
heaven for them, but they're choosing an eternity
in hell.
And something happens to your heart.
You cannot work this up in the flesh.
It's a gift.
It's not given to everybody.
Chapter 9, verses 1 to 3, we see
him now sending word to confirm a king
that God is appointing to bring judgment on
the house of Ahab.
He's beginning to have influence in the nation.
He's able to speak into leaders' lives.
He's able to confirm directions that are right.
Kings are beginning to care.
Leaders are beginning to care what he has
to say.
When you live a righteous life, your boss
will come to you and ask you for
direction.
People will come to you when they see
God in you.
They will come.
You can do that.
They see something.
They see that everyone else is frothing off
at the mouth and you are just doing
your job.
Everyone else is negative.
You are positive about the future.
And ultimately, they will come to you and
ask you for help.
And I have lived this.
I have lived this.
I've been under leadership that would have strangled
me if they had the opportunity.
Only to eventually come and just open their
heart, looking for help and hope.
Chapter 13, verses 14 to 19, at the
point of death, you get into this passage
of Scripture and you're going to see Elisha
was dying.
Interesting enough, he got sick and died.
And at the point of death, he's prophesying
victories in the future.
He says to the king, take this arrow
and smash it on the ground.
And then he gets mad.
He says, man, you only smashed it three
times.
You should have done it five, six, seven
times.
You would have annihilated Syria.
Now you're only going to win three victories.
But nevertheless, he's prophesying victories for the future.
How do you want to die as a
Christian?
What do you want your last moments to
be like?
Laying in bed, gasping for air, flailing at
people?
However I die, I've asked God, I want
it to be with faith.
I want to stand there.
I want to have my sons and daughter
in that room.
And I want my grandchildren to be there.
I want to have within me something that
says, children, pick up the arrow of God
and smash the enemy.
Not just a few times, but many times,
all of your life.
Stand against the powers of darkness.
See people released into the glorious liberty of
Jesus Christ.
And God will give you the strength.
And God will give you the victory.
God will change you.
And lastly, and I'm going to speak about
this on Sunday, chapter 13, verses 20 to
25.
After he is dead, that which remains of
him is still giving life.
Some men were taking a dead man to
bury him.
And as they looked up, they saw an
enemy army coming towards them.
And in their panic, they just chucked him
into a grave.
He landed on Elijah's bones and came back
to life again.
And I'm going to prove to you, you
can do that on Sunday.
I'm going to prove to you, your bones
can bring life after you're gone.
So I guess the question we ask ourselves
tonight is, what do we do with the
life of Christ?
I so don't like the concept that this
church age has picked up that we are
a hospital for the chronically sick.
Have you ever heard that?
So we just sit around, moan and hack
and watch each other falling apart until the
Lord comes.
When we're called to be a conquering army,
a victorious people with the life of God
within us, making a difference in our generation.
It's the call of Christ.
It's the double portion.
It's his life within mine.
Did I prove to you tonight a hope
that everything Elijah did, you can do?
He had the Spirit of God upon him.
You and I have also the Spirit of
God.
Same Spirit, same God.
Yesterday, today and forever.
It's time for the church to look defeat
in the eye and say, no more.
I'm not walking under your cloud anymore.
I'm not giving heed to your voice anymore.
I'm not listening to your theology anymore.
I have the life of God in me.
And by God's grace and God's grace alone
and God's life and God's life alone, he's
going to raise me up and my life
is going to make a difference in New
York City.
Everything Elijah did, I can do.
And God is going to be glorified through
my life.
He's going to do it.
He's going to lead me.
He's going to show me.
Because I have his life within me.
Hallelujah.
Thank you, Jesus.
Bless the Lord.
If you feel faith arising in your heart
tonight, education annex here in the sanctuary.
You're here tonight and you're somewhat stirred, even
jarred by what you're hearing.
But you say, oh, God, I know this
is true.
You have the treasure of heaven in your
life, but you've been living below the poverty
line in God's kingdom, spiritually speaking.
And you say, tonight, God, I'm sorry for
how I've been representing you.
Or let me put it another way, how
I've been allowing you to represent yourself through
me.
Because it's not about works.
It's about his life.
Tonight, I'm tired of having listened to the
devil for so many years in my own
frail mind.
While the world goes to hell out there,
I just argue with my own heart and
with the devil.
The argument is over.
Christ is in me.
The argument's over.
Christ is in me.
The Christ that defeated you, devil.
The Christ that defeated your theology.
The Christ that defeated your power lives in
me.
There are no limitations now to what God
can do.
Whatever he wants to do, he can do.
It doesn't have to be spectacular in the
sight of men.
But every time I feed a widow and
her children, every time I help a man
who needs help, every time I do any
one of these things I've heard tonight, I'm
doing something spectacular in the sight of God
and for eternity.
And by God's grace, I'm moving in that
direction.
By God's grace, this generation will see Christ.
Because they will see him in me.
They will see Christ.
I'm determined that God will be God in
my life.
They will see him.
This is a spiritual transaction that takes place.
It's a time.
I forgot to read the opening scripture tonight.
But it's a time where we just take
that mantle.
We wrap it up.
And we're all alone now.
There's nobody holding our hand.
The only one left with us is God.
And we smite that water of impossibility as
Elisha did.
And it parts.
And tonight as you make a step of
faith.
I know there's people here in the sanctuary
that you have a river that the devil
has planted there.
Tells you, you can't cross that.
Nah.
You see, he knows if you cross it,
there's no stopping you.
Maybe it's fear.
Self-image.
He says, hey, you've got a bad self
-image.
I've got a great self-help group for
you down at the first church of the
non-existent anointing.
You go there.
And you can all talk in a group
about how bad you feel about yourselves for
the next 10, 15, 20 years.
There's no rush.
It takes a long time to get over
this.
And so he plants this river.
Gets you convinced that you can't cross it.
Because the moment you go through.
You see, he knows what happens when somebody
crosses through.
You begin to realize, hey, I can do
all things through Christ.
I can do all things.
There's nothing I can't do.
It's Christ in me.
He's taken me through this river.
That the enemy has planted and said I
can't cross it.
That's where it started with Elisha.
He just took the mantle.
And actually, they said they rolled it up
like Moses' staff.
And just hit the water with it.
And he said, where is the God of
Elisha?
And he saw the water part.
Hallelujah.
And over he goes.
Into a life of double portion.
Please, tonight, Times Square Church, don't let these
rivers stop you any longer.
It doesn't matter if you've been to jail.
It doesn't matter what you've done.
You're a new creation now in Christ.
Don't let it stop you anymore.
Smite the water with the anointing of God
and say I'm going over.
And the moment you step through and that
thing is off of you, something happens.
You know my story.
Nine years of panic attacks.
Nine years of the devil telling me you'll
never amount to anything.
And one night in my living room, just
rolling up the mantle, as much as I
can explain, just smiting the water.
Passed through.
Something got into my heart and said, hey,
this is not that hard after all.
And the devil knew.
Here comes another one.
Balders open.
We're going to stand.
Come and smite the water.
Let's get up.
Besetting sin, struggles, whatever it is, come.
We're going to pray.
We're going to believe God.
Make your way here.
Praise God.
Thank you, Jesus.
Just raise your hand.
God knows your heart and he knows the
transactions that you've made by faith tonight.
And the power of the Holy Spirit is
going to lead you into that walk, which
he has already planned out for you.
And he's making it real to you from
these messages that God is taking you on
this journey.
Hallelujah.
Father, tonight, we just raise our hands toward
heaven.
The surrender of our hearts and lives to
that which you have called us to be
in and through you.
We thank you tonight.
Lord, the spiritual transaction has been made.
And God, I thank you that tonight onwards
that your people walk out with a new
authority in the name of Jesus.
That God, we truly have by faith laid
hold of your word in a new manner
tonight.
I know in my heart that transaction has
been made.
That God, your people will smite the waters
that have kept them back.
They're going to smite the waters again and
again, Lord.
Over and over again, Lord.
From time to time, you're going to cause
them to smite those waters and go across
into everything that you've planned for them, Lord.
And nothing that the flesh or the enemy
has kept them back in will be held
back for them, Lord.
But in the name of Jesus, they will
go forward.
And God, neighborhoods are going to be taken
for God.
Cities are going to be taken for God.
Lord, workplaces are going to be taken for
God.
Families are going to be taken for God.
Because the people have risen up and said,
God, we smite the waters.
And the God of Elijah has come to
Elisha and to John and to Mary, to
Anne, to Bob, to Harry.
I thank you tonight.
Thank you, Lord.
I thank you, Jesus, that faith has risen
in your people's hearts.
In Jesus' name.
Hallelujah.
Give him thanks, beloved.
Give him thanks.
Give Jesus thanks.
Give Jesus thanks tonight.
Give him thanks.
Worship him for truth that sets you free.
Thank him for truth that sets you free.
This is the conclusion of the message.