2 Kings 13:14-19
Topic: What happens when you don’t do things God’s way
There are some dire consequences when you don’t do things God’s way. You lose out on the blessings that God has for you when you don’t do things God’s way. You lose out on the victory that God has for you when you don’t do things God’s way. Doors of opportunity will be shut in your face when you don’t do things God’s way. Sleep will leave your eyes and you won’t be able to get any rest when you don’t do things God’s way. You will find yourself disappointed, depressed, and sad when you don’t do things God’s way. You will find yourself in bondage and confused when you don’t do things God’s way You will find yourself broke, disgusted and frustrated when you don’t do things God’s way. You will find yourself in a whole lot of trouble, you will find yourself in a whole lot of mess, and in a whole lot of unnecessary drama when you don’t do things God’s way. You will become weak, and despondent when you don’t do things God’s way. There will be no peace for you and no comfort for you when you don’t do things God’s way. There will be no joy for you and no happiness for you when you don’t do things God’s way. . Not only will you mess yourself up when you don’t do things God’s way, but you will even cause your family, your children, your neighborhood, or even your own church not to be blessed when you don’t do things God’s way. Salvation and eternal life will be out of your reach when you don’t’ do things God’s way because salvation and eternal life is found in Jesus Christ and when you don’t want to go through Christ for your salvation, you will miss out on your soul’s salvation.
You see when you do things God’s way, blessings will come your way. When you do things God’s way, victory is yours. When you do things God’s way, doors will be opened for you, good opportunities will come your way, you will receive the favor of the God and men, you will experience the peace of God and the joy of the Lord when you do things God’s way. And that should be your new year’s resolution for the year 2004. In the year of 2004, you ought to be committed in doing things God’s way. Now the question is how can I learn how to do things God’s way?
1.To learn how to do things God’s way, we first of all must pray. We must be in prayer daily every day if we are going to learn how to do things God’s way. You can’t do anything God’s way without prayer.
Jeremiah 33:3 says, “Call unto me, and I will answer thee and show you great and mighty things which thou knowest not.”
2.To learn how to do things God’s way, we must learn, study and be taught the Word of God. To do things God’s way, we must do it according to the word of God. And to do anything according to the word of God, you must know what is written in the Word of God so we can be able to do things God’s way. And to know what is written in the Word of God, you must read the Word, hear the Word, learn the Word, study the Word, be taught in the Word, believe the Word, and live the Word because it is in the Word of God where we can learn how to do things God’s way. Not only should you study the Word of God, but you should go to Sunday School and Bible Study so you can know and learn how to do things God’s way. And when you do things God’s way, you will be truly and richly blessed.
Psalm 119:9 says How shall a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed thereto according to thy word.”
3.To learn how to do things God’s way, you got to put your focus, your trust, your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ because it is through Christ, we can learn how to do things God’s way.
John 14:6- Jesus Christ says, “I am the way, the truth, and the life; no man can come unto the Father, but by me.”
Now, in these passage of scriptures of 2 Kings 13:14-19, we see Elisha the prophet in his last days on his sickbed trying to help one of the kings of Israel, King Joash, to become blessed and victorious over his enemies. The nation of Israel was at war with the mighty Syrians, and King Joash came to Elisha for some advice on how to defeat the Syrians because if there was anyone in Israel that knew how to defeat the Syrians, it was the prophet Elisha, for he had helped the nation of Israel to defeat the Syrians before in the past. So Elisha tells King Joash to get a bow and some arrows, and Elisha tells King Joash to shoot all the arrows into the ground because each arrow will represent the deliverance and the victory that he and the nation of Israel would have over the Syrians. Now King Joash had about 8 or 9 arrows in his possessions, so if he shoots all the arrows into the ground, the nation of Israel would be completely victorious over the Syrians. But instead of shooting all 8 or 9 arrows, he only shoots three of them. And because he only shoots 3 arrows into the ground, Elisha was upset with him because he was suppose to shoot all the arrows into the ground so that the nation of Israel would have complete victory over the Syrians. But because King Joash only shot three arrows, the nation of Israel was only able to defeat the Syrians three times. So when the nation of Israel faced the Syrians the fourth time, they were soundly defeated because of one man who had failed to do things God’s way.
All King Joash had to do was take heed and do exactly what Elisha the prophet had told him to do because what Elisha the prophet was telling him to do was of God. And because King Joash failed to do things God’s way, he caused the nation of Israel to be defeated by their enemies. Now notice this. God actually was giving King Joash the victory over the Syrians, but he had to do it God’s way. Even though it looked somewhat silly to King Joash just to shoot some arrows into the ground so he could help Israel to be victorious over the Syrians, it was still God’s way in helping him to become blessed and victorious. Yes, God’s way looks silly sometimes, but always remember His ways are higher than our ways, and his thoughts are higher than our thoughts, and doing things His way is a whole lot better than doing things our way. You may lose some friends and become unpopular with man, but always remember that doing things God’s way is better than doing it your way.
And whether you want to admit it or not, a lot of us are just like King Joash. God has given us instructions, and directions in His Word for our lives to follow and obey, and he has spoken to us by His Holy Spirit. And instead of doing things His way, we do things our way. And when you do things your way instead of God’s way, we lose out on our blessings that God has for you. God wants us to be blessed, but we got to do it His way. God wants us to be victorious, but we got to do it His way. God wants us to be successful and prosperous, but we got to do it His way.
A lot of us are living defeated lives, living lives without any joy, without any peace, without any meaning, without any purpose because we are not doing things God’s way. There some marriages and there are some homes that are being broken and torn apart because there is no one in the home or in the marriage that wants to do things God’s way. There some people who have lost their jobs, are in jail, in the hospital, or dead because they did not want to do things God’s way. There some churches who that are spiritually dead because they refuse to do things God’s way. The reasons why our community, our state, our city, our nation, and our world is in the shape that it is now because, if the truth was told, we refuse to do things God’s way.
Now notice this. Notice that King Joash started doing things God’s way by shooting the arrows, but he stopped. A lot of us are like King Joash in this instance. We start going to church, but hen we stopped. We use to come to Sunday School, but we stopped. We use to come to prayer meetings and bible study, but we stopped. We use to come to evangelism, but we stopped. We use to pray every day, but we stopped. We use to sing in the choir, but we stopped. We use to usher, but we stopped. We use to come to Brotherhood meetings, but we stopped. We use to pay our tithes and offerings, but we stopped. We use to be filled with the Holy Ghost, but we stopped. We used to be loving people but we stopped. But if we are going to be blessed by God, we cannot stop doing things God’s way. We got to continue to do things God’s way and do it all the way, not just on Sunday, but on Monday, do things God’s way. On Tuesday, do things God’s way. On Wednesday, do things God’s way. On Thursday, do things God’s way. On Friday, do things God’s way. On Saturday, do things God’s way. And on Sunday, do things God’s way.
Now King Joash could not blame anybody but himself for not fully obeying what Elisha the prophet had told him to do because there was nobody there hindering him from shooting all the arrows that he was suppose to shoot. And likewise, we can’t blame nobody else if we not being blessed when we don’t do things God’s way. We can’t blame the white man, we can’t blame the black man, we can’t blame the red man, nor we can blame the yellow man for not being blessed by God. You can’t blame your wife, your husband, your kids, your in-laws, relatives because doing things God’s way is a matter of choice. In Deuteronomy 30:19, it says, “I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessings and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live."
If you want to be blessed, you have to do things God’s way. If you want the victory, you have to do things God’s way. If you want to be successful and prosperous, you have to do things God’s way. If you want to be the head and not the tail, you got to do things God’s way. If you want to be blessed in the city and blessed in the field, you have to do things God’s way. If you want to be blessed going in and going out, you have to do things God’s way If you want to be more than a conqueror through Christ Jesus, you have to do things God’s way. If you want deliverance, you must do things God’s way. If you want to be healed, you have to do things God’s way. If you want to be filled with the Holy Spirit, you have to do things God’s way. If you want your home and marriage to be blessed, you have to do things God’s way. If you want to be blessed on your job, at school, in your neighborhood, you have to do things God’s way.
If the church wants to be blessed, the church must do things God’s way. If the choir wants to be blessed, the choir must do things God’s way. If the Usher board wants to be blessed, the Usher Board must do things God’s way. If the Deacon board wants to be blessed, the Deacon board must do things God’s way. If the Trustees board wants to be blessed, it must do things God’s way. If the Sunday School Department wants to be blessed, it must do things God’s way. If the Mission or the Evangelism Department wants to be blessed, it must do things God’s way. Last, but not least, if the pastor and the ministers in the pulpit wants to be blessed, they must do things God’s way because doing things God’s way is a whole lot better in doing things our own way.
Last but no least, if you want to be saved and have eternal life. You must do it God’s way. God’s way for you to be saved is to have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. You must believe that He is the Son of God who died upon the cross for your sins, and He rose from the dead that we might have everlasting life. Romans 10:9 says, “If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised him form the dead, thou shalt be saved. To be saved, you must come to Jesus Christ. To be born again, you must come to Jesus Christ. To be delivered, you must come to Jesus Christ. To be healed, you must come to Jesus Christ. To get the victory in your life, you must come to Jesus Christ. To have your sins forgiven, you must come to Jesus Christ. To have joy and peace in your life, you must come to Jesus Christ. To have a relationship with God, you must come to Jesus Christ. To be baptized and filled with the Holy Ghost, you must come to Jesus Christ. Your life will be so much better if you would just come to Jesus Christ. Yes, there will be some storms that you may face in the year of 2004, but God is able to handle your storms. If you just do things God’s way, no matter what you face in life, You will always come out on top.
