Diligently Seeking God

Diligently Seeking God 2 Kings 2:1-12 New King James Version (NKJV) And it came to pass, when the Lord was about to take up Elijah into heaven by a whirlwind, that Elijah went with Elisha from Gilgal. 2 Then Elijah said to Elisha, Stay here, please, for the Lord has sent me on to Bethel. But Elisha said, As the Lord lives, and as your soul lives, I will not leave you! So they went down to Bethel. 3 Now the sons of the prophets who were at Bethel came out to Elisha, and said to him, Do you know that the Lord will take away your master from over you today? And he said, Yes, I know; keep silent! 4 Then Elijah said to him, Elisha, stay here, please, for the Lord has sent me on to Jericho. But he said, As the Lord lives, and as your soul lives, I will not leave you! So they came to Jericho. 5 Now the sons of the prophets who were at Jericho came to Elisha and said to him, Do you know that the Lord will take away your master from over you today? So he answered, Yes, I know; keep silent! 6 Then Elijah said to him, Stay here, please, for the Lord has sent me on to the Jordan. But he said, As the Lord lives, and as your soul lives, I will not leave you! So the two of them went on. 7 And fifty men of the sons of the prophets went and stood facing them at a distance, while the two of them stood by the Jordan. 8 Now Elijah took his mantle, rolled it up, and struck the water; and it was divided this way and that, so that the two of them crossed over on dry ground. 9 And so it was, when they had crossed over, that Elijah said to Elisha, Ask! What may I do for you, before I am taken away from you? Elisha said, Please let a double portion of your spirit be upon me. 10 So he said, You have asked a hard thing. Nevertheless, if you see me when I am taken from you, it shall be so for you; but if not, it shall not be so. 11 Then it happened, as they continued on and talked, that suddenly a chariot of fire appeared with horses of fire, and separated the two of them; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven. 12 And Elisha saw it, and he cried out, My father, my father, the chariot of Israel and its horsemen! So he saw him no more. And he took hold of his own clothes and tore them into two pieces. This is the Word of God, for us the people of God, Thanks be to God Let us pray Holy Father, our Creator and our Sanctuary, we come to you today and ask for your blessing on this worship and in our lives. We thank you for all that you have blessed us with, most of all for Your Word, Your Living Word and we ask you for the message you would have us hear here today. We ask these things in the name of your Son, our Savior Jesus Christ.....Amen. When I sat down to write the sermon from this scripture, I thought it was going to be something totally different from what it turned out to be. I thought in the beginning that this sermon was going to be entitled 'Please Don't Go' and would focus on the relationship between Elijah and Elisha. It would be about how Elijah had told Elisha to stay three different times, but Elisah had insisted on going along with him each time. It reminded me of when I was kid and my dad had to go somewhere, but I would always ask to go along with him. I had also thought of writing about how Elisha had asked for a double portion of Elijah's spirit to rest upon him with Elijah was taken up into heaven. This would have been like when someone passed on in those days and the eldest son got a double portion of the inheritance, so in effect, Elisha was asking to be Elijah's heir. God would bestow Elijah's mantle upon Elisha and make him Elijah's successor. But, as I started writing, a new message was laid upon my heart. It's a message that I think is a little closer to all of our hearts, so...here we go. Our scripture starts by telling us that Elijah is about to be taken up into heaven by a whirlwind. Elijah will never taste death. His mortal body will never pass away and be buried. He is about to be taken up into heaven by God because he has been such a loyal, powerful, and righteous prophet of our Heavenly Father! What a glorious honor for our Lord to bestow upon one of His children. The Creator of the universe reached down from heaven and took His prophet home without him ever experiencing physical death. Can you imagine what it would have been like to meet someone that holy and righteous? Our Holy bible tells us that only one other man has ever been taken up in such a manner. His name was Enoch and he also was a prophet of God. The book of Genesis chapter 5 tells us: 22 After he begot Methuselah, Enoch walked with God three hundred years, and had sons and daughters. 23 So all the days of Enoch were three hundred and sixty-five years. 24 And Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him. We've read in 2 Kings about the many accomplishments of Elijah in God's name, such as calling down fire from heaven to destroy the armies sent after him, but why would God have taken Enoch in such a manner as well? Well, the book of Hebrews, chapter 11:4-6 tells us: 4By faith Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts; and through it he being dead still speaks. 5 By faith Enoch was taken away so that he did not see death, and was not found, because God had taken him; for before he was taken he had this testimony, that he pleased God. 6 But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. Enoch was rewarded for diligently seeking God. As I've said, Enoch was a prophet of the Lord. We don't get to see it in our Holy Bible in it's entireity, but there is a Book of Enoch The Prophet, just like there's a book of Isaiah and a book of Ezekiel. You see, at the time of the biblical canon being put together that we know today, the clergy and scribes putting the bible together did not have a complete edition of this book to reference, so it was not included in our Holy Scriptures. It wasn't until the 1700's that Christian missionaries found a complete edition of the book in Ethiopia. In fact, the Ethiopian Orthodox Church includes it in there bibles. The only evidence of the Book of Enoch that is found in our bible is when Jesus' brother Jude quotes from it. In Jude chapter1:14-15 14 Now Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about these men also, saying, Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of His saints, 15 to execute judgment on all, to convict all who are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have committed in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him. So from this quote, we know that there was a Book of Enoch The Prophet in use during the time of Jesus' apostles. I bought a copy of it last year and read it myself. It's very interesting reading. Especially when you realize that it's Noah's grandfather prophecying about the coming of the Son of Man, Jesus. Someone else lived out a similar fate in the bible. The book of John tells us in John 21:20-25 20 Then Peter, turning around, saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following, who also had leaned on His breast at the supper, and said, Lord, who is the one who betrays You? 21 Peter, seeing him, said to Jesus, But Lord, what about this man? 22 Jesus said to him, If I will that he remain till I come, what is that to you? You follow Me. 23 Then this saying went out among the brethren that this disciple would not die. Yet Jesus did not say to him that he would not die, but, If I will that he remain till I come, what is that to you? 24 This is the disciple who testifies of these things, and wrote these things; and we know that his testimony is true. 25 And there are also many other things that Jesus did, which if they were written one by one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that would be written. Amen. The apostle John, who had travelled with our Lord during the three years of His ministry and written down the gospel for all of us to read was rewarded as well. Though he wasn't translated directly into heaven as Enoch and Elijah were, he was the only one of Jesus' apostles was not martyred. John lived out a very long life, writing down all that the Lord had revealed to him. It is said that John lived to be well over one hundred years old. So, what does this all mean to us? We can just give up our families, our homes, and our careers and move to some temple and give our whole life to God can we? We can perform all of these amazing feats like calling down fire from heaven upon the Lord's enemies can we? If we were to prophecy to people about the coming of the Lord, they would look at us like we've gone insane wouldn't they? So, what can we do that is so pleasing in God's eyes? How can we diligently seek God in our world today? We all know that it begins with confessing to God that we can't live life our way anymore. We have to have that change within us that puts off our old ways and starts living in God's ways. We have to have that spiritual rebirth. It may seems strange, but there are people who have been going to church all of their lives that have never allowed themselves to be broken of their own ways and given themselves over to the Lord, but that's what we've got to do to begin being pleasing to God. Another step in seeking God is to get to know His Word. It's one thing to go to church on Sunday and hear the scriptures read and hear a sermon preached, but to sit down and read them regularly is a totally different experience. When we begin read our bibles at home alone or with our family we begin experience God on a whole new level. When we read the New Testament, we learn exactly what or faith truly is or in some cases what it truly should be. We learn Jesus teachings, about His life as a mortal man here on earth and about how the only sinless man to ever walk the earth took all of our sins upon Himself and gave Himself as a sacrifice for us all. We also read about Jesus first disciples and the sacrifices they made to spread the gospel and to start the Christian church that we're all part of today. When we read the Old Testament, we learn of God's creation of the universe and of mankind. We learn of the fall into sin, early man's evil ways, and of God cleansing the earth of this vile evil and saving His righteous children through Noah. Today there are many good, easy to read translations of the bible and several very good study bibles with lots of notes helping to explain the scriptures that will help you to learn God's Word for yourself. There are also many websites with bible translations and commentaries to help you in your studies. Please take the time to get to know the Holy Bible for yourself. It will open up so much to you that I can't put it into words. Along with reading our bible regularly, we should have a healthy prayer life. Aside from praying at church, we should make prayer a part of our life everyday. Prayer can be formal, like going into your bedroom, kneeling down with our hands folded together, and laying our worries at the Lord's feet. It can be asking for a blessing over our meals whether we're at home with our family or even at our local fastfood restaurant on our lunch break. No matter where we are or what we're doing, we should always feel like we can go to the Lord in prayer. Aside from formal prayers, sometimes we just need to talk to God. We have to remember that He is always there. When we're at home alone cleaning the house, He's there to listen to us talk to Him. He's also there when we're in the car, driving to work. We just have to talk. He's there when we're our on the lake or down by the river fishing. I don't think there's any wrong time or wrong place to talk with our Lord. Other ways of growing in our faithwalk and seeking God are to get involved in Sunday School, take part in bible studies at church or in our homes, work with youth groups, do mission work in our communities, and donate to food pantries or clothing ministries. There are so many ways to give back to God's kingdom. We have to remember that our tithe to God is more than just a monetary amount. It is giving back our time and efforts to furthering God's kingdom here on earth. It's giving God our firstfruits. It's giving Him our best. I know we all lead busy lives. Our responsibilities to taking care of our families, to our work, and to keeping up our homes seem to consume our all of our time before we even realize it. But, think of this; what could be better for our families as well as our own souls than taking some time out of each day to read a chapter or two of the bible, to read a daily devotional, or to pray together? Is there a better way of showing our care for our loved ones than sharing the bread of life with them? There's so much more that we can do for God to show Him our love than giving an hour to Him on Sunday morning. When we start diligently seeking God, we make a change inside. We become not only a child of God, but a disciple of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. My friends, there's so much more that we can to get to know God more closely. We have an inheritance in the knigdom of heaven to think of. Remember that it says in John 14:1-3 14Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. 2 In My Fathers house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also. Just as Elijah was taken up into heaven in a chariot of fire, just as Enoch was translated up into heaven and not seen again, and just as the apostle John was granted a long fruitful life, Jesus has promised us a reward for diligently seeking God. He has promised us a place in God's kingdom with Him. In the name of The Father, and of The Son, and of The Holy Spirit......Amen.