Would you turn with me in your scriptures to
2 Kings chapter 13? 2 Kings chapter 13. I started
this word last week. God began to drop this in
my heart. We began a discussion in our seniors
gathering. Our seniors gather every Wednesday
at 1 p .m. at Suzanne and at the Kodat's home
and Suzanne and Mike's home. It's mostly Suzanne,
so Mike gets to live there. But any of you that
consider yourself seniors, what age is that?
I don't know when that begins. I go. But anyway,
it's a wonderful prayer meeting, and you are
welcome to come at 1 o 'clock. And so we talked
about this passage of Scripture. And I felt like
the Lord wanted me to bring it to the entire
church. I feel like it's a word for a moment
in time. I believe that God is going to fan some
people into flame this morning. I believe that
God is going to deposit something into you. How
many of you are ready to receive from the Word
of God? Let's read it together. 2 Kings chapter
13 and verse 14. Elisha had become sick with
the illness of which he would die. That's an
interesting sentence all on its own. That's not
my text really. Then Joash the king of Israel
came down to him and wept over his face. And
said, oh, my father, my father, the chariots
of Israel and their horsemen. And Elisha said
to him, take a bow and some arrows. So he took
himself a bow and some arrows. And he said to
the king of Israel, put your hand on the bow.
So he put his hand on it. And Elisha put his
hands on the king's hands. And he said, open
the east window. And he opened it. And Elisha
said, shoot. And he shot. And Elisha said, the
arrow of the Lord's deliverance and the arrow
of deliverance from Syria. For you must strike
the Syrians at Aphek until you have destroyed
them. It's a pretty awesome moment so far, isn't
it? A prophetic moment. This is the kind of moment
that doesn't happen very often. We'll get to
the rest of the story in a moment. There have
been some people in my life that have impacted
me like this. Now, Joash was a wicked king. He
did not lead the nation into righteousness, but
he had a healthy respect for the prophet. And
when the prophet was nearing the end of his life,
the king went to see the prophet and wanted the
blessing of the prophet. The Syrians had come
against Israel and were defeating them. This
happened often in Israel's history when Israel
would stray away from God. God would raise up
a nation that would come against Israel. This
was happening right now with Syria. And Joash
wanted some answers. And he knew the importance
of not just a prophet, but the prophet. This
prophet was not just one of the prophets that
were operating in the land. This was the prophet
that had the double portion anointing from Elijah.
This was the prophet that could move the hand
of God. This was the prophet that could change
the history of a nation. And he went to see Elisha
out of respect for Elisha. And out of respect
for him, he participated in this prophetic act.
Take your bow and some arrows. And face the east
window. And can you just imagine the old prophet
rising up to stand next to the king. And as the
king draws back, the old prophet placing his
hand upon the hand of the king. Covering the
hand of the king. Shoot! And the arrow goes through
the window. And the prophet says, the arrow of
the Lord's deliverance. This is an amazing moment.
This is the kind of prophetic moment that you
remember the rest of your life. I remember when
a man of God in our world, his name was Joe.
And his wife had passed away. He was getting
ready to move. He ended up passing away about
five or six months later. But before he moved
from our city to go and be with his family for
the last days of his life in Indiana, I made
sure that I brought my sons to his house. And
I sat my sons before Joe. And I had Joe lay his
hands on my sons and pray over them. It was a
moment that I'll never forget. And this was that
kind of a moment. This is the kind of moment
that Joash could potentially tell his family,
his grandchildren about. I was with the prophet.
And it was the beginning of the deliverance of
Israel. But the story goes on. Because there
are some qualities in Joash's life that God wanted
to deal with. And so the story didn't stop there.
And in verse 18 he says, take the arrows. So
Joash took them and he said to the king of Israel,
strike the ground. So the king struck. the ground
three times and stopped. And the man of God was
angry with Joash and said, you should have struck
five or six times. Then you would have struck
Syria till you had destroyed it. But now you
will strike Syria. Only three times. And then
Elisha died and they buried him. Father, we thank
you for your word. And we ask that you would
open it to our hearts. In Jesus' mighty name.
Hallelujah. We thank you, Father. Incredible
moment. Pick up the arrows, Joash. and strike
the ground. When I first read this, I think,
Elisha, you have no right to be upset with Joash.
You told him to strike the ground, and he not
only struck the ground once, but he struck the
ground three times. But what Elisha was looking
for in Joash that made him upset was a quality
called wholeheartedness. It's something of zeal.
He was looking for fervency in Joash. And he
did not find it. He looked at Joash in this moment
and I don't know if it was his body language.
I don't know what it was that the prophet saw.
But he hit the ground three times and the prophet
was angry. The prophet was angry because he did
not see zeal in Joash. A while ago, the Lord
woke me up in the night. With the name on my
mind. Anybody ever have that happen? Many of
you have had that happen. A name was on my mind.
What do you think that God was wanting me to
do in that moment? He was wanting me to pray.
And so do you know what I did? I said, Lord,
I just ask that you would bless that person.
In my heart, I didn't use my voice, would have
woken up my wife. I just said it in my heart
and in my mind, and I turned over and went back
to sleep. I think in that moment that I did just
enough to convince myself that I had obeyed God.
But that is not why God put that name on my heart.
Strike the ground, Joash. The kind of prayer
that moves mountains and changes situations is
found In James chapter 5. And James 5 says. The
righteous prayer. The fervent prayer. Let me
just pull it up here. James 5 .16. Confess your
trespasses to one another. We're going to get
to that part in a moment. And pray for one another.
That you might be healed. The effective fervent
prayer. of a righteous man avails much. Amen?
Elisha was looking for zeal. He was looking for
fervency, and he found none. Elisha was fueled
by zeal. Here he is, the day he's going to die,
and he's rallied himself up to engage in this
prophetic moment, and he finds himself upset
with the king. The last thing he says before
he dies, Elisha was fueled by zeal. There's another
prophet that I'm reminded was fueled by zeal.
And I asked the seniors to pray this verse over
me in the coming weeks. And it's Jeremiah chapter
20 and verse 9. And Jeremiah was told by the
people, be quiet, be quiet, be quiet. They didn't
like him prophesying. And so in verse 9, he said,
I will not make mention of God nor speak any
more in his name. And so for a season, the prophet
Jeremiah kept silent. But listen to this next
phrase. But his word was in my heart like a burning
fire shut up in my bones. I was weary of holding
it back, and I could not. Do you know what this
was in the prophet Jeremiah? It was the same
thing that was in Elisha. It was this thing called
zeal. Zeal for God's word. God is speaking to
me and it's burning in my heart. And I can't
help but preach what he has put in my heart to
say. This is what happened in the book of Acts
chapter 4. And Peter and John are standing before
the Sanhedrin. And the Sanhedrin says, don't
preach in his name anymore. And what did Peter
and John say? They said, we cannot help but speak
the things which we have seen and the things
which we have heard. Why? Because there was something
of zeal inside their heart. Something of passion.
Something of sincerity. Something was in their
heart that Elisha did not find in Joash. When
was the last time you were moved? By the spiritual
condition of our city and our nation. I appreciated
talking with one of you this week. This past
Sunday night. And you shared about what was happening
in the city. What you were witnessing in the
city. Listen to this in Acts 17. Verse 16. Paul
waited for them at Athens. His spirit was provoked
within him when he saw that the city was given
over to idols. Paul looked at the condition of
the city of Athens and he was provoked on the
inside because he saw that they gave themselves
to idolatry. And many of us watch our city slide
and slide and slide and feel nothing. But God
is looking for somebody that will have some zeal
and some passion. What kind of prayer is effective?
Fervent prayer. Are we praying just enough to
make ourselves feel better about the way we're
living? Strike the ground, Joash. I don't know
about you, but I want to be an all -in kind of
believer. Does this mean that I walk in perfection?
Not at all. But I want to do this thing called
Christianity with my whole heart, with everything
that's inside of me. When God speaks to me to
do something, I want to do it with all that I
am. Do you know that Jesus was like this? And
the disciples were shocked by it. Let me just
read this to you. John chapter 2 verse 13. Now
this is early in the ministry of Jesus. He did
it again during the Passion Week. John 2 .13,
now the Passover of the Jews was at hand and
Jesus went up to Jerusalem and he found in the
temple those who sold oxen and sheep and doves
and the money changers doing business. And when
he had made a whip of cords, he drove them all
out of the temple with the sheep and the oxen
and poured out the money changers and overturned
the tables. And he said to those who sold doves,
take these things away. Do not make my father's
house a house of merchandise. And then his disciples
remembered that it was written, zeal for your
house has eaten me up. The disciples were shocked
at this moment. Fiery. They saw some fiery passion
in the Lord Jesus. Not just this lovey -dovey
Savior, but a passionate, fiery Jesus. And I
think they said that man is worth following.
They saw him in a brand new light and they remembered
Psalm 69 verse 9. But his zeal was not only expressed
in anger in this moment. I believe that zeal
for the house of God, for the people of God,
for his prayer life, for the ministry. I believe
that zeal was an evident character trademark
of who Jesus was. Can you imagine Jesus bored
with his life? Can you imagine Jesus bored spending
time with the Father? Can you imagine him ever
saying, okay, I suppose I'll heal you. No, Jesus
was fully engaged. And that's the kind of life
that I want to live. Strike the ground, Joash.
I want to read Colossians 3, 22 through 24. I
want to read this from the message. Transliteration.
This is Eugene Peterson's version. Servants,
do what you're told by your earthly masters.
And don't just do the minimum that will get you
by. I want to read that again. And don't just
do the minimum that will get you by. Do your
best. Work from the heart for your real master,
for God. Confident that you'll get paid in full
when you come into your inheritance. Keep in
mind always that the ultimate master you're serving
is Christ. The sullen servant who does shoddy
work will be held responsible. Being a follower
of Jesus doesn't cover up bad work. Wow. Isn't
that awesome? We've got to do things with zeal.
We've got to do them wholeheartedly. Why ought
we live with zeal? Remember the passage in James
chapter 5 where it says fervent prayer? Fervent
prayer. That word fervent is energeo. Well, what
English word do you think comes from that? Energy.
Energy. Let me... Let me read to you another
verse that uses the same word from Ephesians
chapter 2. You once walked in the course of this
world. This is verse 2. According to the prince
of the power of the air, this is the devil, the
spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience.
What do you think that word works is? The same
word. Fervent. Do you know the devil is fervent
in what he does? Do you know the devil works
hard to keep people in darkness and blindness
and keep the church lackadaisical, to keep the
church from rising up and being the people of
God that he's called them to be? The enemy works
overtime to keep you lukewarm as a believer so
that you'll be ineffective and unproductive.
The devil works in the sons of disobedience,
and he's working with passion and fervency. And
I don't know what that does for you, but that
kind of riles me up a little bit and says, I
want to meet the challenge. If you've got one
army that's fired up and full of zeal, and you've
got another army that's haphazard, which army
do you think is going to win? And the enemy is
fighting for everything to keep people in darkness,
to drag people to hell, as many as he can. And
the church is sleeping. But it's time for the
slumbering church to awaken and to arise up and
have energy. Praise God. If you come to prayer
on Wednesday nights, Don't come, don't come with
a lazy, unbelieving attitude. If you come to
prayer on Wednesday nights to believe God for
things like revival, to believe God for things
like families and restoration and deliverances,
come believing that when I pray, it's going to
make a difference. Hallelujah. Come believing
that when I seek God, it's going to change things
because it's that kind of faith and it's that
kind of believing that changes a city and changes
a region. The devil works with zeal and God's
church ought to work with zeal also. But the
greater reason that we ought to work with zeal
is not because the devil does. The greater reason
we ought to work with zeal is because our Father
works with zeal. Let me read to you another verse.
Ephesians 1 .20. Let me back up. Let me back
up. Verse 19. What is the exceeding greatness
of His power toward us who believe? Everybody
say, toward us who believe. That is us. According
to the working of his mighty power, which he
worked in Christ when he raised him from the
dead and seated him at the right hand of the
heavenly places. What do you think that word
worked is? Zeal. Energy. The Father expressed
zeal in raising the Son from the dead. Hallelujah.
I don't know about you, but I get excited about
that. Hallelujah. Galatians chapter 3 verse 5
says, Therefore he who supplies the Spirit to
you and works miracles among you, works miracles
among you. See, you came up. this morning believing
God for a miracle and you had the elders lay
hands and pray over you, but what you couldn't
see behind the scenes is the zeal of the Father
that was engaging while we were praying and imparting
miracles into you and answering prayer. Hallelujah!
When you pray, the Father in heaven doesn't just
sit up and say, well, I guess they prayed enough
now, I guess I'll answer. No, he's filled with
zeal and he's working amongst his people. Hallelujah.
When a miracle is released, it's a sign of the
zeal of the Father. When you're healed, it's
a sign that God is acting towards you with energy
and giving you his very best. Praise God. God
is working in your life. I've got two more verses
here and then I'm going to be done and then we're
going to pray. Philippians chapter 2 is an interesting
verse because it not only talks about the zeal
that God has, but the zeal that we have. For
it is God who works in you. It is God who works
in you. That is... In you. So that you can. Will.
And do. His pleasure. Because what that word
do is. Energy. So the picture is this. It's God
that. That. That invests. With zeal into your
life. So that you. have the power and the zeal
to do what he's called you to do. There is an
exchange from God to me. And so guess what? I
don't have to muster anything up. What I'm not
talking about this morning is just hyping yourself
up so that you feel a certain feeling. That's
not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about
a life that is invested. in being all in for
Christ. That doesn't mean you always feel it.
We don't operate by our feelings. Well, if I
feel it, then I'll do it. Some of you in this
area of praise, I loved it when right at the
beginning, a place flooded with people praising
the Lord this morning. God inhabits the praises
of his people. God inhabits the praises of his
people. That means God's manifest presence comes
when God's people praise him. But which comes
first? Which comes first? Does the manifest presence
of God come first? No. Praise comes first. But
many of us sit back and say, I'm going to wait
until I feel it. But that's not the kind of faith
that God is looking for. Sure. Strike the ground,
Joash. And so this is true across any, this is
true in the little things of life. I've been
starting to run again and I've been doing good
for about two or three months now. And do you
know what I'm having, you know what I do every
time I run? I do it with zeal. I do it with everything
in me. And it's starting to have effect on my
life. And I'm thanking God for that. I started
last year, but then I was sick all winter and
it dried up. And so Pastor Ben and I went running
on Saturday together. And it was full -on zeal,
especially the last hundred yards. On my app,
it shows blue for slower. And then the faster
you get, it gets yellow and then it gets red.
And the last hundred yards were red. We won't
talk about that. Transfers into every part of
our lives. Wholeheartedness. And one reason why
you're bored with life sometimes is because you
don't engage. The young person that goes to youth
group because mom and dad forced them can be
bored with youth group because they're not engaged.
But the young person that goes and says, I'm
going all in for God, guess what? Guess what?
It changes their whole youth group experience.
The person that comes to church on Sunday, because
it's the religious thing to do. You might find
yourself bored and you might find yourself looking
at your watch and saying, this is the longest
service in Lincoln. But people packed. They packed.
The movie, the movie theater Thursday night to
watch Spider -Man for two plus hours and never
looked at their watch once. Am I telling you
the truth? How do I get energy back? Because
some of you are remembering a time in your life
when zeal for God was real. You were hungry for
him. What did Jesus say about lukewarmness in
Revelation 3? I wish that you were hot or cold,
Revelation 3, I think verse 10. But because you're
lukewarm, I will spit you out of my mouth. The
disciples, but Jesus told all kinds of parables.
Do you know many of them had to do with wholeheartedness?
Ten virgins waiting for the bridegroom, five
wise and five foolish. The five wise ones had
zeal. among other things. How do I get it back?
My final verse, 2 Corinthians chapter 7. Paul's
first letter, 1 Corinthians. He rebuked the Corinthians.
He tore into them. He tore into them. And it
made him sorry. And Paul said in verse 9 in the
second letter, he was responding to that. He
said, now I rejoice, not that you were made sorry,
but that your sorrow led to repentance. For you
were made sorry, in a godly manner, that you
might suffer loss from us and nothing. For godly
sorrow produces repentance, leading to salvation,
not to be regretted. But the sorrow of the world
produces death. For observe this very thing,
that you sorrowed in a godly manner. And when
we have conviction come upon us, and we don't
just give a token prayer, well, God, forgive
my sins. But no, we feel it, and we say, God,
I have moved away from you. I have not served
you with my whole heart. And we're moved on the
inside. That is true repentance. Paul goes on
to say, observe this thing you sorrowed in a
godly manner and this was the fruit. What diligence
it produced in you. What clearing of yourselves.
What indignation. What fear. What vehement desire.
What zeal. What vindication. In all things, you
proved yourselves to be clear in this matter.
Paul had rebuked them for sexual sin. And Paul
was commending them now for saying you dealt
with it. You changed. And now look at your life.
You're filled with zeal and passion. You're doing
what God called you to do. What caused that?
Repentance. Pastor, have you always, in your
40 years of walking with Jesus, have you always
done it wholeheartedly? I've had seasons too.
where I've been half -hearted, where I've gone
through motion. I might not have been openly
rebellious, but I've also been a little bit lukewarm.
And I'm asking today for every one of us to examine
our hearts and to say, God, Restore to me. Restore
to me that which you are looking for in the life
of Joash. Strike the ground, Joash. Strike the
ground. I love the worship time that we had earlier
because it was all about laying our life down
before God. Here I am, God, to worship. Jesus
have it all. Jesus have it all. Jesus have it
all. I'm going to ask if the worship team would
come. And I just want to give you opportunity
to respond. I remember as a 13 -year -old boy
just saying, Jesus, I want you to have everything.
You know, one of my favorite scriptures in the
Bible is Jacob at the end of his life, another
one of these prophetic moments. Do you know what
he's doing? He's speaking prophecies over his
children, over his sons. And the Bible says that
he leaned on his staff and worshiped. He couldn't
even stand up. Because of his age, he couldn't
stand up fully and his balance was gone. But
he stood up in that moment and he leaned on his
staff. And he worshipped God, leaning on his
staff. And even in that moment of his life, Jacob,
whose name had become Israel, said, God, even
in this moment, it might be my last day today.
I'm going to give you everything. I'm not just
going to remain seated. I'm with everything in
me. I'm going to stand up and I'm going to worship
you. Jesus, have it all. Jesus, have it all.
What I want to know, is there anybody? That would
take the arrows. The spiritual figurative arrows.
And when the prophet. Asks you. When the Holy
Spirit asks you. Strike the ground. Joash. Strike
the ground. this is what I'm gonna do. I'm gonna
give you it all. I'm not gonna give you some
half -hearted response. I'm gonna strike the
ground again and again and again and again and
again and again. I'm not gonna grow weary in
prayer. I'm gonna come to you again and again
and again and again. going to grow weary in my
obedience I'm going to say here I am Lord here
I am here I am I give it all I give it all is
there somebody in the house that would join me
God has been speaking this to me long before
I ever preached it to you. I've been meditating
in this. I've been saying, God, I repent. God,
I want my life to be on the altar. I want to
lay it all down before you. Just lay your life
on the altar. Would you come and strike the ground?
Would you come and say, God, here I am. Here
I am. My life is not my own. I've been bought
with a price. I've been bought with a price,
the price Jesus paid for me. I want to surrender
my life to Christ. I don't want to be half -hearted
anymore. I want to yield it all.