SEEING THE UNSEEABLE
1 Kings 19:19-21 -- ll Kings 2:9-14
Illust: years ago a quarterback at the University of Alabama was told to run out the clock. But seeing a receiver wide open he threw the ball, but it was intercepted. The cornerback known for his speed was racing down the sideline for the winning touchdown, but was tackled by Alabama’s quarterback not known for any great speed. Bear was asked, how come your boy was able to catch that cornerback. Bear said, their boy was running for a touchdown, my boy was running for his life.
INTRODUCTION – ELISHA
I. YOU HAVE TO STAY CLOSE TO GOD'S MAN
A. -Elisha, the prophet with the double portion. The double anointing. He was a spiritual man, he was a godly man, and he was a praying man.
B. -His request of Elijah was so farfetched that it seemed preposterous. “Give me a double portion of your success, of your ministry, of the
anointing of God that has touched your life.” But what Elisha was really asking for was a fulfillment of the ministry that had taken him from the
fields.
C. -When the mantle fell on Elisha’s shoulders (1 Kings 19:19) it became a sign and a sealing of his adoption. The adopted son always has
allotted to him the double portion that belonged to the first-born.
D. -All the while that Elijah was sitting beneath the juniper tree contemplating the weakened state of Israel, God was working on Elisha, preparing
him to carry forward the work of Elijah with a vengeance.
E. -THERE WAS ELISHA, CAREFULLY WATCDHING THE MINISTRY OF ELIJAH AMONG THE PEOPLE
.
1. He listened to his instruction.
2. He submitted to the role of the servant because he knew that his whole future depended upon it.
3. He heard the old prophet pray.
4. All the while it was preparing his heart for a tremendous work of God.
F. -From those early moments, Elisha began, with the help of God, to see the unseeable. He began to develop those spiritual gifts to become
visionary.
G. -History has always had it’s men who could see beyond the ordinary. History has had men who could look at the ordinary and see the hidden
treasures, the sparkling potential that lay hidden within an object.
a. James Watt and his steam engine.
b. John Fitch and his steamboat.
c. Eli Whitney and his cotton gin.
d. George Stephenson and his locomotive.
e. Samuel Colt and his revolver.
f. Rene Laennec and his stethoscope.
g. George Westinghouse and his air brake.
h. Alexander Graham Bell and his telephone.
i. Thomas Edison and his light bulb.
j. The Wright Brothers and their airplane.
-All of these men contributed to the world in a material sense, because they saw something out of the ordinary,
they saw beyond, they saw the unseeable. Yet in the spiritual world there are other men who made strides in the
Gospel because they could see beyond the obstacles.
I. You Have To Stay close to God –Look at Elisha and the rest of the prophets
II. YOU HAVE TO GO A LITTLE BIT FARTHER THAN EVERYBODY ELSE
A. Jehoram was now the king of Israel
1. Was ungodly and far from God.
2. During his reign, there was a Syrian king by the name of Benhadad who began to threaten Israel despite an earlier alliance and receiving and
favor from the Israelites.
3. –Y0U can never make worldly alliances or make concessions with the enemy of the soul.
A. He is never satisfied-will always come back
B. -So Benhadad began to try to attack Israel at her weak portions in the territory.
1. But there was a man of God who was still in touch with God.
2. During this time, God would reveal to Elisha the setting of the Syrians. He would convey this information to King Jehoram.
3. -Jehoram would respond by sending out scouts to the valleys where the ambush would lay.
a. He would send troops to the place pointed out and perhaps a small skirmish might occur, but the Syrians were never
able to fulfill their wicked plans.
4. -In verse 10, “not once, nor twice.”
a. This event with God revealing the battle plan to Elisha happened numerous times. Thus, Israel was safe.
C. -Benhadad became enraged at this niche in his plans.
1. The first thing that he suspected was treachery among his troops.
2. He suspected that somewhere among the Syrians was a spy who was delivering the information to the Israelite armies.
How otherwise could the king of Israel know of his intentions over and over again?
3. -Finally one of his men told him that there was not a spy in the camp, just a man in touch with God on the other side.
4.-How this Syrian man knew this, we do not know.
5. Elisha’s miraculous gifts however had come to the attention of the Syrians through the cure of Namaan’s leprosy.
a. The possibility even exists that Namaan could have been the one who revealed this to
Benhadad.
D. Once this knowledge came to Benhadad, he sent out some spies to find out where Elisha was.
1. The report came back that Elisha was hidden down in Dothan.
2. Dothan was the place where Joseph had been sold by his brothers.
3. So Benhadad ordered a night march to take the prophet by surprise and capture or kill him.
4. The host of an army surrounded the small city so that Elisha could not escape.
5. Early in the morning, Elisha’s servant and went out and found the huge Syrian army surrounding the city.
6. He burst back into the house with his heart in his throat and cried out to Elisha about the fearful thing he had discovered outside.
E. Fear Not ! ! !
1. All of the fear of the young man came bursting through. Elisha calmly told the young man to “Fear Not.”
Connie Mack was one of the greatest managers in the history of baseball. One of the secrets of his success was that he
knew how to lead and inspire men. He knew that people were individuals. Once, when his team had clinched the pennant
well before the season ended, he gave his two best pitchers the last ten days off so that they could rest up for the World
Series. One pitcher spent his ten days off at the ball park; the other went fishing. Both performed brilliantly in the World
Series. Mack never criticized a player in front of anyone else. He learned to wait 24 hours before discussing mistakes
with players. Otherwise, he said, he dealt with the goofs too emotionally.
In the first three years as a major league baseball manager, Connie Mack's teams finished sixth, seventh, and eighth.
He took the blame and demoted himself to the minor leagues to give himself time to learn how to handle men. When he
came back to the major leagues again, he handled his players so successfully that he developed the best teams the
world had ever known up to that time.
Mack had another secret of good management: he didn't worry. "I discovered," he explained, "that worry was threatening
to wreck my career as a baseball manager. I saw how foolish it was and I forced myself to get so busy preparing to win
games that I had no time left to worry over the ones that were already lost.
2 -Have you ever noticed in the Word of God that some of the most preposterous things are said in emergent conditions. (Moses-cross sea—
Joshua-walk in water-pour oil-dig ditches, etc)
3. A huge army on the outside waiting to come in and annihilate everything in sight.
4. These burly soldiers who enjoy their job and want to divide up the spoil are waiting outside. They want to hurt somebody and the old prophet
says “fear not.”
-But there are Scriptures upon Scriptures that tell us that God has everything in control.
Exodus 14:13 – “13And Moses said to the people, “Do not be afraid. Stand still, and see the salvation of the LORD,
Psalm 27:3 – “Though an host should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear: though war should rise against
me, in this will I be confident.”
Isaiah 41:10 14 – “10Fear not, for I am with you; Be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, Yes, I will
help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.’
Acts 18:9 10 – “Then spake the Lord to Paul in the night by a vision, Be not afraid, but speak, and hold not thy
peace:” “For I am with thee, and no man shall set on thee to hurt thee:
Rom 8:31 – “…If God be for us, who can be against us?”
I John 4:4 – “Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world.”
I. You have to stay close to God’s Man
ll. You Have To Go A Little Bit Farther than Everybody else
III. You Have Go in God’s direction
A. The Praying Prophet
1. -It was then that the old prophet began to pray. If the prophet’s servant was to be reassured then he had to be able see
something. “Lord, I pray thee, open his eyes, that he may see.” That he may see the unseeable.
Psalm 121:1 2 – “I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help.” “My help cometh from the LORD,
which made heaven and earth.”
2. -That same prayer has to come alive in my life.
1. I must seek revelation.
2. I must seek after God.
3. I must earnestly covet the greatest gifts.
The equipping gifts of the Spirit help us:
See beyond the enemy.
1. The evil one.
2. See beyond all of the hindrances.
3. See beyond all of the limitations.
To See Beyond OURSELVES.
God give us A vision of the invisible.
It causes men and churches to move in God’s direction.
-The facts are:
You have a child who has strayed into sin
There is a tumor in your body.
not enough money to pay the bills.
There is danger of your job closing down
Circumstances have caused your faith to begin to wane.
The devil has been camping on your door step and laughing in your face.
It seems like the heavens are brass
You cry out to God but he doesn’t seem to hear
-But then the unseeable becomes seeable.
2 Corinthians 5:7 – “For we walk by faith, not by sight:”
-There is no circumstance so dark and no condition so extreme that God cannot touch it.
The Word says, “Greater is He that is in you than he that is in this world!”
-The unseeable was:What caused the disciples to cast their nets one more time.
The Unseeable was --What caused the widow woman to reach down into the barrel one last time.
The unseeable was--What caused Dorcas to come back from the dead.
The unseeable was--What caused Paul to be unharmed by the viper.
The Unseeable was-- What causes people to be saved.
The Unseeable is what will—Save that wayward child
The unseeable is what will-touch your body and make you whole again
The unseeable is what will—reach out and touch that hard heart of your husband or Child or Parent or loved one and bring them back to the
Lord Jesus Christ.
The unseeable one is the same today and he hears and answers prayer.
