Keith Battle - It Ain't Over Until God Says It's Over

Oh, good morning to everybody! Join us from Zion; we’re Pastor Eric and Susan. Happy Mother’s Day to everyone there! I know you all enjoy West Morgan. It’s something that is healing. Wait, you can’t do that; it’s just not right. Amen, God bless you all! Here we are having a great time. If you have a Bible, please turn to 2 Kings, chapter 4. Happy Mother’s Day, everyone! Especially happy Mother’s Day to my mother, who is unable to be here. I love you, Mom. Thank you for your example in my life.

2 Kings, chapter 4. Woo! I don’t know if I can get through this. 2 Kings, chapter 4, beginning in verse 8. I’m just going to read the whole story to you in case you’re not familiar with it, and then I’m going to try to open up some aspects of it that I hope will be life-giving to you. Verse 8: One day Elisha went to the town of Shunem. A wealthy woman lived there, and she urged him to come to her home for a meal. Hmm, after that, whenever he passed that way, he stopped there for something to eat. She said to her husband, «I’m sure this man who stops in from time to time is a holy man of God. Let’s build a small room for him on the roof and furnish it with a bed, a table, a chair, and a lamp. Then he will have a place to stay whenever he comes by.»

In verse 11, one day Elijah returned to Shunem, and he went up to this upper room to rest. He said to his servant Gehazi, «Tell the woman from Shunem I want to speak to her.» When she appeared, Elijah said to Gehazi, «Tell her we appreciate the kind concern she’s showing us. What can we do for her? Can we put in a good word for you to the king or to the commander of the army?» «No,» she replied, «my family takes good care of me.»

Verse 14: Later, Elisha asked Gehazi, «What can we do for her?» Here’s Gehazi’s reply: «She doesn’t have a son, and her husband is an old man, and that’s a problem.» Elisha said, «Call her back again.» When the woman returned, Elijah said to her, as she stood in the doorway, «Next year at this time you will be holding a son in your arms.» «No, my lord,» she cried, «O man of God, don’t deceive me and get my hopes up like that.» But sure enough, the woman soon became pregnant, and at that time the following year, she had a son just as Elijah had said.

Verse 18: One day, when her child was older, he went out to help his father, who was working with the harvesters. Suddenly he cried, «My head hurts! My head hurts!» His father said to one of the servants, «Carry him home to his mother.» So the servant took him home, and his mother held him on her lap, but around noontime, he died. She carried him up and laid him on the bed of the man of God, then shut the door and left him there. She sent a message to her husband, «Send one of the servants and a donkey so that I can hurry to the man of God and come right back.» «Why go today?» he asked. «It is neither a new moon festival nor Sabbath.» But she said, «It’ll be all right.»

So she saddled a donkey and said to her servant, «Hurry; don’t slow down unless I tell you.» As she approached the man of God at Mount Carmel, Elijah saw her in the distance. He said to Gehazi, «Look, the woman from Shunem is coming. Run out to meet her and ask, 'Is everything all right with you, your husband, and your child? '» «Yes,» the woman told Gehazi, «everything is fine.» But when she came to the man of God at the mountain, she fell to the ground before him and caught hold of his feet. Gehazi pushed her away, but the man of God said, «Leave her alone; she’s deeply troubled, but the Lord has not told me what it is.»

Then she said, «Did I ask you for a son, my lord? And didn’t I say, 'Don’t deceive me and get my hopes up'?» Then Elijah said to Gehazi, «Get ready to travel; take my staff and go. Don’t talk to anyone along the way. Go quickly and lay the staff on the child’s face.» But the boy’s mother said, «As surely as the Lord lives and you yourself live, I won’t go home unless you go with me.» So Elijah returned with her. Gehazi hurried on ahead and laid the staff on the child’s face, but nothing happened; there was no sign of life. He returned to meet Elijah and told him, «The child is dead.»

Verse 32: When Elijah arrived, the child was indeed dead, lying there on the prophet’s bed. He went in alone and shut the door behind him and prayed to the Lord. Then he laid down on the child’s body, placing his mouth on the child’s mouth, his eyes on the child’s eyes, his hands on the child’s hands. As he stretched out on him, the child’s body began to grow warm again. Elijah got up, walked back and forth across the room once, and then stretched himself out again on the child. This time, the boy sneezed seven times and opened his eyes. Verse 36: Elijah summoned Gehazi, «Call the child’s mother,» he said.