[0:00] Everybody seems tired tonight, like I said, and maybe I'll let you out a little early. Go to 2 Kings, chapter 2. 2 Kings 2.
[0:17] We're getting ready to finish up our study of Elijah. When you think of Elijah, now that we've been through that, through his life, what do you think of, if I say the name Elijah, what comes to your mind?
[0:36] He had a pity party for himself. You think about him being caught up, which is what we're getting to. You know, there was the confrontation with Ahab at the very beginning.
[0:53] You know, here's Ahab, I mean, Elijah, who you've never heard of, don't know anything about. And here he comes, marching in before the king and queen, and said, Hey, you know what? It's not going to rain until I say so.
[1:12] And then after that, he winds up having to hide, and he's at the brook cherries. And ravens love to munch on things. You ever watch the crows on Trash Day? We have crows there by our house.
[1:26] They just have a smorgasbord. They just go down from Trash Day, you know, just work their way down the street and up, and just checking everything out. And here you have ravens who are bringing him food.
[1:40] You know, and then the raising of the widow's son, and Mount Carmel, and all those things. There's a whole lot of things that happen in his life. Yeah. Sometimes I wonder, was he, those were crimes.
[1:54] All these things. I mean, and then when he got discouraged, you know, well, only me, I'm the only one. Yeah. So do you think he battled that?
[2:05] He probably did, somewhat. I don't think it was a big thing in his life for most of his life, but there were moments when it, yeah. I think he struggled like that. He had some struggles like anybody would, and that could be when he had the depression and stuff, yeah.
[2:19] So he has this, to go along with my title, if you're looking for a title, Waiting on the World Wind. Waiting on the World Wind. And so he's kind of had this world wind life.
[2:32] All kinds of things taking place in his life. All kinds of things happening. And it's been a life that has seen its ups and downs. It's been a life that has had a lot of, a lot of different things happening in it.
[2:46] And now he's about to leave this life in a world wind. You know, he lives out his last days and his last hours of his life, and he does it in such a way that makes you stop and think.
[3:05] Look with me. Let's read, like, the first seven verses. Let's do the first seven. And it came to pass, when the Lord would take Elijah into heaven by a whirlwind, that Elijah went with Elisha from Gilgal.
[3:22] And Elijah said unto Elisha, Tarry here, I pray thee, for the Lord hath sent me to Bethel. And Elisha said unto him, As the Lord liveth, and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee.
[3:34] So they went down to Bethel. And the sons of the prophets that were at Bethel came forth unto Elisha and said unto him, Knowest thou that the Lord will take away thy master from thy head today?
[3:47] And he said, Yea, I know it. Hold your peace. Shh. That's what he's saying. And Elijah said unto him, Elisha, Tarry here, I pray thee, for the Lord hath sent me to Jericho.
[3:59] And he said, As the Lord liveth, and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee. So they came to Jericho. And the sons of the prophets that were at Jericho came to Elisha and said unto him, Knowest thou that the Lord will take away thy master from thy head today?
[4:14] And he answered, Yea, I know it. Hold your peace. And Elijah said unto him, Tarry, I pray thee, hear, for the Lord hath sent me to Jordan. And he said, As the Lord liveth, and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee.
[4:28] And the two went on. Fifty men of the sons of the prophets went and stood to view afar off. And they too stood by Jordan. I will stop there for a second.
[4:42] This is the day of his home going. He is going to go home. And the interesting thing about it is, what is he doing on the day he's getting ready to go home?
[4:55] The day, huh? He's traveling. He's traveling. And he's ministering. And he's talking with people. You know, he's doing pretty much the same thing he's done every other day of his life.
[5:10] The day of his home going was no different. And he sets an example for us. You know, a lot of times, you know, I talk about retiring from time to time.
[5:24] And I probably will at some point. But retiring doesn't mean I stop serving the Lord. It means I stop doing the daily things that I have now. But it doesn't mean I stop serving the Lord.
[5:34] It's interesting. I can think of two pastors right now. People who have been pastors for a long time. One of them, I've mentioned his name before, Bob Philbrick. He retired about five years ago.
[5:46] In his five years of retirement, he spent four years and four months as the interim pastor down at Warren while they were looking for a pastor.
[5:57] They recently got a pastor down there. So now he's just, nope. Most of you know, Mike Lynn from over West Hamden just retired because of the stroke and things.
[6:09] He is now filling in at West Hamden. Bob Philbrick is. See, he retired. But he didn't really retire. He took away the day-to-day things of, you know, counseling and doing all those other things.
[6:25] But he's still preaching the word. Still giving out the message of the gospel. There's another pastor, Pastor Dill. He's doing the same thing. Every Sunday he's somewhere. So, we can retire, but we never stop serving.
[6:54] Yep. And just in general, they seem to work harder. A certain lady I know that done, retired from being a chiropractic assistant, going down to the island every day and doing, you know, doing that thing and stuff.
[7:12] So, what does she do now? She has 27 piano and voice students every week. But she goes to the jails. And she does Bible studies and stuff. So, you know, we keep serving the Lord no matter what.
[7:28] And we never give up on that. And so, that's what Elijah does. He's waiting to go. He doesn't know exactly when he's going to go.
[7:38] Everybody else knows it's today. And apparently, he knows it's today. But he doesn't know when. So, until that happens, let's keep moving forward. Let's keep going. Let's keep doing what we're supposed to do.
[7:50] So, he's waiting for this whirlwind to show up. Do you notice in verse 1 that actually mentions that? He says he was going to go to heaven by a whirlwind.
[8:00] He knew that. The sons of the prophets knew that. Elisha knew that. They all knew. So, what is happening? Well, you're making an outline. The first thing is it's a time of watching.
[8:13] It's a time of watching. They're getting ready for it. So, they're watching to see what God's going to do. They're waiting to see what happens. It's a precious event that's about to take place. He's going home.
[8:25] I was mentioning to you earlier. I showed some of you pictures of my mom and stuff. And my mom's always going, why does God leave me here? Why does he just take me home? I can go home and I can be at rest.
[8:36] And I can have, you know, be with your dad. And I can do all this. She just, she longs to go home. She really does. She doesn't have to beat her up first.
[8:46] She didn't have to beat her up first. That's true. So, that was, anyway. So, Elijah's going to go home.
[8:57] He's going to go in a whirlwind. Take your Bible and go over to Genesis 5. Genesis 5. Can I ask a question?
[9:09] Sure. It was normal routine, but because Elisha wouldn't leave him, Elisha was still being traded. Yep. And he also wanted to see it.
[9:21] And he wanted to see it. Because it's going to make a difference. We'll find out whether he was there or not. So, he wanted to be there. In Genesis 5, look at verse 21.
[9:31] And Enoch lived sixty and five years and begat Methuselah. And Enoch walked with God after he begat Methuselah three hundred years and begat sons and daughters.
[9:44] And all the days of Enoch were 365 years. And Enoch walked with God and he was not, for God took him. Enoch's the only other one that we know who'd never faced death.
[9:59] I got thinking about this. And I was talking to those kids today. You know, the verse talks about God and do exceedingly, abundantly, above all that we ask or think. And I was talking about heaven and things.
[10:13] Picture whatever you will. And then just remember this verse. Whatever I can dream up. It's going to be exceeding, abundantly, above all of that. So, I got thinking about this passage with Enoch.
[10:27] And it says he walked with God all those years. Can you imagine? How many of you have seen the film Shephi? I've had it here before.
[10:37] Three of you have. Okay. If you've seen the film Shephi, he used to go out and he would pray. And somebody mentioned the fact that it's like he thinks he's really talking to God.
[10:48] And he says, well, who do you talk to when you pray? So, he's talking to God. Enoch's doing that. And can you imagine on this one particular day, he is walking through like he normally would.
[10:59] Maybe down some path, some woods somewhere, or some trail or something. And he's just talking to God. And they're just talking back and forth, having their conversation. And all of a sudden, Enoch looks up and goes, I'm not in Kansas anymore.
[11:15] You know? Wow. Can I have any questions? Yeah. I know it sounds pretty insane. He never died, right?
[11:25] Right. Okay. In Christ's truth, we're supposed to know that he's going to be a Christian. I don't know. I mean, where's he going to be? He never died. I have a theory about that.
[11:37] Let's hear it. Okay. Here's my theory. Let's see what Dana says. Enoch and Elijah. Neither one of them died. Right. In Revelation, there's two witnesses who come back.
[11:51] Right. And then they die. Hmm. I wonder who those could be. Yep. And then they're resurrected. So. Kind of, I have a theory about who those two witnesses might be.
[12:06] So, we'll see. Anyway. Here's Elijah. He's going to be taken up. He's looking forward to this. We as Christians, are we looking forward? The Bible tells us in 1 Thessalonians chapter 4.
[12:22] Go with me there. 1 Thessalonians chapter 4. You know the passage. But let's just look at it again. 1 Thessalonians chapter 4.
[12:40] Starting at verse 13. 1 Thessalonians 4. Verse 13. But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope.
[12:52] For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep.
[13:12] For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise first.
[13:23] Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Therefore, comfort one another with these words. Do you comfort one another?
[13:36] You know, we keep talking about, we watch the way the world's going, we watch the things that are happening, we think coming of Jesus is getting closer all the time. Do we comfort one another with those words?
[13:48] Jesus is coming again. We look at the world and we say, man, how bad can things go? Oh, a whole lot worse than they are now.
[13:58] But Jesus is coming again. And we'll be caught up with him. Look over, go back just a few pages. First Corinthians. First Corinthians chapter 15.
[14:14] First Corinthians 15, 51 and 52. Behold, I show you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed. In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump, trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.
[14:34] There's a time coming. Oh, this hurts, that hurts, the other thing hurts. Oh, man. We shall all be changed. Man, I'm facing this problem, and that problem, and the other problem.
[14:45] We shall all be changed. You know, there's a time coming. I'm sure Elijah, after his life, he's probably going around, oh, this hurts, that hurts, and this pain, and that pain.
[14:57] But he's about to be changed. You know, you stop, and you think about it, and you dwell on it a little bit. The things that are going to take place, and the things that are going to happen. You remember John, in the book of Revelation, the end of the book, even so come Lord Jesus.
[15:16] And that's kind of my mother's attitude. Even so come Lord Jesus. I'm ready to go. Let's take care of this, and let's do this. Not only that, but he says it was a promised event.
[15:28] It's a precious event, but it's a promised event. And we were talking to the kids today about the fact that God keeps his promises. Matter of fact, let's see if I can find that verse. I don't have it here, but let's see if I can find it.
[15:48] There was a verse I read to them. Romans. Romans 4.21. And being fully persuaded that what he had promised, he was able also to perform.
[16:07] God makes promises. He's going to keep them. He's going to do them. And here's the things that have been promised. Do you notice the sons of the prophets in these things back here in 2 Kings 2?
[16:21] Thank you. Thank you. 2 Kings 2. We're back there. He said, verse 3.
[16:36] What did he say? And the sons of the prophets that were at Bethel came, said, Thou knowest that the Lord will take away thy master from thy head today? Verse 5. The sons of the prophets of Jericho, knowest thou that the Lord will take away thy master from his head today?
[16:52] And in verse 7. The 50 men of the sons of the prophets went out and stood to view afar off. They were all anticipating. They knew God was going to keep his promise.
[17:06] What a great thing for us to know that God keeps his promises. Remember in John chapter 14, when it talks about he's going to prepare a place for us.
[17:17] And he goes and prepares a place for us. He will come again and receive us unto himself. 14.3. He says, look. Jesus says, I'm going. I'm preparing.
[17:27] I'm getting things ready for you. And when I get it ready, I will come again. The promises that we have. You know, sometimes we think, well, we don't know when Jesus is coming.
[17:42] We don't know when it's going to take place. But we do know that it will happen. So we should never be caught off guard. Oh, that surprised me.
[17:52] I didn't see that coming. Why didn't you? He gave us a promise. And said he'd be coming. Which should change the way we live and the way we behave ourselves. And the way things that we do, things we say.
[18:05] Because we never know when he's coming. We don't want to be in the middle of doing something wrong when he comes. So. Third thing.
[18:15] It's a private event. A private event. See, although all these people knew it was coming. Nobody knew when it would happen.
[18:29] They all knew it was going to happen. But they didn't know when it was going to happen. He's living in his last days. He's living in the last hours. He's anticipating what's going to happen. But he doesn't know when.
[18:42] Jesus did the same thing with his disciples, didn't he? In Matthew chapter 24, verse 36. He says, But of that day and hour knoweth no man. No, not the angels of heaven.
[18:54] But my father only. Matthew 24, verse 36. He says, Only God knows. In verse 44 of that same chapter, Matthew 24.
[19:07] He says this. Therefore be ye also ready. For in such an hour as ye think not, the Son of Man cometh. But be always looking. Be always ready.
[19:19] For we don't know when he is going to come. Are we ready? Are we looking forward to it? Do we see him at work in our lives getting us ready?
[19:34] Are we allowing him to work there? The verse that says, Occupy for my time. It doesn't mean to sit and squat. Right. Yep. It doesn't mean to just sit there and do nothing.
[19:44] Let's keep going for a minute. Second thing. It was a time of walking. It wasn't just a time of watching.
[19:55] It was a time of walking. It was a time of being busy. And he was walking with a purpose. We read those first seven verses.
[20:06] He was walking with a purpose. He had something to do. He was continuing to walk in obedience to what God had called him to do. Notice each one of those. He said, The Lord's called me here.
[20:16] And the Lord's called me here. And the Lord's called me here. He was listening to the Lord. And he said, I'm going to go wherever God calls me. I'm going to do whatever God wants me to do. Even if this is my last day on earth.
[20:28] I'm going to still follow God. I'm going to do whatever he wants me to do. Look at verse 2. And Elijah said unto Elisha, Terry here I pray thee, for the Lord has sent me to Bethel.
[20:41] Look at verse 4. And Elijah said unto him, Elisha, Terry here I pray thee, for the Lord has sent me to Jericho. Verse 6. And Elijah said unto him, Terry I pray thee here, for the Lord has sent me to Jericho.
[20:57] He was still listening to what God had for him to do. And until the last minutes that he left, he's ready to do whatever God calls him to do. I was talking to kids today about Elijah a little bit.
[21:10] And we were talking about the fact that the way we started out talking about him is, you know, he's an ordinary guy, just like the rest of us. He's an ordinary person.
[21:22] The difference was he was ready to obey and do whatever God asked him to do. And so here he is, the last day of his life. The Lord sent me. So I went.
[21:33] The Lord sent me. So I went. You know, that was how he was going to spend his last days, doing whatever God wanted him to do. There should never be a day when we quit listening to God.
[21:46] Quit following him, doing the things he wants to do. You've heard about people, different religious groups and stuff. There was one not too long ago.
[21:58] I've heard of ones in Colorado, and this one was in Texas. They believed that the Lord was going to come. They knew the day of the rapture. It's funny, Jesus doesn't even know the day of the rapture.
[22:09] It says the Father does. But I don't. But these people did. They knew the day of the rapture was going to take place. And so what did they do? They sold off everything they had. They gathered at this mountain.
[22:19] They were sitting there. They were waiting for God to come and take them. But that's not what God wants you to do. Notice Elijah knows it's my day to leave, and I know it's today.
[22:32] But I'm going to keep on working until it happens. I'm going to keep on going. God never tells us to take a break. Never to just go and do nothing. They had the same problem in the Bible, too.
[22:47] Look over in 2 Thessalonians. 2 Thessalonians chapter 3. I know I've got you moving around some tonight. 2 Thessalonians chapter 3.
[22:59] And look at verse 11. 2 Thessalonians 3 verse 11.
[23:11] He said there are some who are just sitting back waiting.
[23:35] They know God's supposed to come. Jesus is supposed to come back. He's going to do it any time. So they're just sitting back waiting instead of doing anything. That's not what God has for us.
[23:46] He has things for us to do. He wants us to keep going until he comes. These people are looking for Jesus to return at any moment, but they had quit doing things.
[24:00] Do you remember Nehemiah? When Nehemiah and the people are rebuilding the walls and rebuilding the temple and stuff, they had heard that there was a group that was going to attack them.
[24:13] Do you remember what they did? Some of them had weapons ready and weapons didn't work. And some of them were ready for both.
[24:25] You read in there, and some of them had a trowel in one hand and a sword in the other hand. They were ready. I'm going to keep on going. They could attack us at any time, and we're ready for them, but in the meantime, we're supposed to be building.
[24:39] And they kept on building. God wants us to be ready. For him to come at any time, but in the meantime, keep on going. So they were walking, but they had a purpose in mind.
[24:56] We need to be the same. We're ready to do what God has for us to do and keep on going. Next week, we'll talk about more of that.
[25:08] Okay?