In this sermon, the preacher discusses the importance of obeying God and doing His will. He highlights how throughout church history, God's people have often turned away from Him and allowed the world to infiltrate the church, leading to apostasy. The preacher shares two examples from the life of Hezekiah, where his pride and sin led to the downfall of the nation of Judah. The sermon emphasizes the need to willingly submit to God's timing and not try to persuade Him, using the story of Elijah and Elisha as an example. The preacher also mentions various miracles performed by Elisha, showcasing his obedience and faithfulness to God.

we are in 2nd Kings this morning so you will please turn to 2nd Kings chapter 2 2nd Kings chapter 2 verse 9 2nd Kings chapter 2 verse 9 and it came to pass when they had gone over that Elijah said to Elisha ask what I shall do for thee before I'm taken away from thee and Elisha said I pray thee let a double portion of thy spirit be upon me chapter 18 from verse 1 through part of verse 7 chapter 18 verse 1 and it came to pass in the third year of Hosea the son of Judah king of Israel that Hezekiah the son of Ahaz king of Judah began to reign he was 25 years old when he began to reign and he reigned 29 years in Jerusalem and his mother's name was Abi daughter of Zechariah and he did what was right in the sight of Jehovah according to all that David his father had done he removed the high places and broke the columns and cut down the Asherahs and broke in pieces the serpent of brass that Moses has made for to those days the children of Israel burned incense to it and it called it Nahosh Ter he trusted in Jehovah the God of Israel so that after him was none like him among all the kings of Judah nor among any that were before him and he claimed to Jehovah and did not turn aside from following him but kept his commandments with Jehovah commanded Moses and Jehovah was with him he prospered with us or ever he went and then we turn to chapter 22 chapter 22 the first two verses Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign and he reigned 31 years in Jerusalem and his mother's name was Jedidiah daughter of Adiah of Boschach and he did what was right in the sight of Jehovah and walk in all the way of David his father and turn not aside to the right hand nor to the left first and second Kings were originally one book it covered practically the whole history of the kingly rule of the nation of the chosen people of God now in first Kings we begin to see the disruption and in second King we find the downfall after Solomon died the kingdom was divided into two the northern kingdom of Israel that comprised ten tribes and the southern kingdom of Judah of two tribes in each kingdom we find 19 Kings in the kingdom of Judah we find these 19 Kings were all the descendants of King David now we purposely left out Ataliah because she was the daughter of Ahab and he tried to murder all the sons of David and he served the throne for a few years so we just left her out so in the kingdom of Judah you find 19 Kings they were all the descendants of King David so you have one dynasty but in the kingdom of Israel that is the northern kingdom we find 19 Kings but they were of different dynasties one will take over the kingdom from the other and continue maybe for three or four generations at most and then another man will rise up and take over the kingdom so these were not of one dynasty but a number of dynasties now in the southern kingdom of Judah we find there were some good Kings like Asa, Hezekiah, Josiah these were good Kings but in the northern kingdom of Judah we couldn't find any good one they were all bad now in God's mercy he sent prophets to both kingdoms to testify against the kingdom of Judah and testified against the kingdom of Israel calling them to return to God to repent and to keep the commandments that God had commanded them through Moses but unfortunately you find the people hardened their hearts and eventually both kingdoms were destroyed the northern kingdom was destroyed first at 721 AD by the Assyrians but the southern kingdom continued on for about the 130 years a little over because God remember David and he tried to keep a lamp there in that nation but eventually because of their disobedience even the southern kingdom was destroyed by Babylon in around 588 AD so that is the history we find in these two books of the Kings now brothers and sisters we mentioned last time that we are not just here studying ancient history we know that these histories are in the Bible in other words they are the word of God and they are meant for us today now what are we to learn by reading studying the history of the ancient people of God in a spiritual sense God's people today those who are redeemed by the Lord we are the kingdom of God you remember in first Peter chapter 2 verse 9 it is said you are a chosen race a kingly priesthood a holy nation a people for a possession that God has set us forth to proclaim the excellences of the one who has delivered us out of darkness into the wonderful light so brothers and sisters in a very real sense in a spiritual sense God's people those who are redeemed of the Lord we are a holy nation and of course we have only one king and our king is none other than our Lord Jesus Christ and he is the perfect king and we are supposed to obey him we are supposed to do his will we are supposed to be a witness and a testimony to him but unfortunately we find through the two thousand years of church history we find that how God's people today like his chosen people in the old days how we feel him again and again how we turn away from our Lord Jesus how we begin to drift away and begin to notice things other than the Lord and how the world began to come into the church so eventually you find the church has gone into apostasy but God in his mercy he does send us his servants he does send us revivals from time to time trying to get us back to him but unfortunately as a whole you find the condition of God's people are actually going downward instead of upward but thank God we find in every age God has reserved for himself that seven thousand you know Elijah complained to God and said I am the only one left for thee but God said no I had my seven thousand and we do find in church history no matter what you see outwardly how the church had drifted away from God we find in every age God has his seven thousand those who are faithful by his grace to him and in these people God had maintained his testimony throughout the ages and that is a real comfort now second Kings begin with the passing away of Elijah and coming into ministry of Elijah we know that Elijah succeeded Elijah in prophetic ministry the ministry of Elijah is judicial in nature he brought judgment to the nation and the ministry of Elijah is merciful in nature he brought life and resurrection to the people and these two aspects of ministry must be being prophetic ministry in other words a prophetic ministry on the one hand does bring judgment to the people of God but on the other hand it brings in resurrection and life we need God's judgment that we may repent but thank God after we repent there will be life there will be resurrection so this is what prophetic ministry ought to be and then you find from chapter one say to chapter 13 we find the ministry of Elijah the prophet in chapter 17 we find the destruction of the northern kingdom of Israel and then we find the comment of the Holy Spirit concerning their history chapter 18 to chapter 20 we find a great revival under the King Hezekiah and then from chapter 22 to chapter 23 we find another revival under King Josiah now that is these are the highlights we find in the second book of the Kings for our fellowship this morning we will concentrate on one prophet and two Kings the prophet Elijah and the Kings Hezekiah and Josiah now we know both the prophet and the King they represent leadership spiritual leadership when we think of life in the body of Christ we find that all are equal in other words we are all members of the body of Christ and as members of the body of Christ no member is more important than the other member the eyes, knees, the ears, the hands, knees, the feet even though we are all different and yet so far as life is concerned we share the same life there is no difference we are all equal before God so far as God's grace is concerned there's no reason why one brother or one sister should receive more grace than the other brother or the other sister because God gave His grace equal to all the reason why some receive more some receive less is not because God is partial in dispensing His grace is because of our capacity some receive more of Him some do not seem to be able to but anyway you find so far as life is concerned we are all equal before God but so far as work is concerned we are as the kingdom of God and in the kingdom of God we find there is not only divine order but there are various positions so in other words you find that in the kingdom of God our Lord Jesus is the King but under Him you find He does give the church some apostles some prophets some evangelists some pastors and teachers and these are the people for the ministry of God's word they are to perfect the saints then on the other hand you'll find God does raise up elders and deacons for the government of the church to lead the people to help them to build them up so dear brothers and sisters when you come to the work of God you'll find there is leadership you know sometimes God's people are so democratic they feel that among God's people there should be no leaders or we are all leaders it is true when it comes to life we are all equal but when God begins to work in His church to build up His church you'll find He does raise up leadership and we need leadership because if there is no leadership there is really no beauty prophets apostles prophets evangelists pastors and teachers they are raised up by God to perfect the body of Christ to perfect God's people then after God's people are being perfected that is matured and equipped then every member of the body of Christ will begin to function and build up the body in love so in other words these men these people are God's gift to the church they are spiritual in spiritual leadership leading God's people by the word of God then on the other hand you'll find in the church God raised up elders deacons these are people in certain responsibility and through them God wants to shepherd to help the people to go on with the Lord the first group of people are like the prophets in the Old Testament time because the prophets they minister God's word to His people the second class group of people are like the kings in the Old Testament time they are concerned more with the government with the serving with the service so you'll find God does raise up in the church leadership leadership is very important for the growth of the church if the leadership is wrong that is if the leaders are selfish then you'll find the whole nation suffer you'll see that in the history of the nation of Israel of the nation of Judah when you have a bad king then you'll find the whole nation came under curse but if by God's grace you'll find a good king that is one who rule for God then you'll find the whole nation was blessed it is almost inevitable you know brothers and sisters God's people are sheep I think everybody loves sheep they look so loving so gentle so good and thank God for that every child of God is loving but you know the sheep are the most ignorant if a sheep gets astray it never knows how to come back not like the dog or the cat now if a sheep is stranded put his head into the thorns it is never able to get itself out it has to be help out but a sheep does not know it's pasture because it will eat anything that is before him but a sheep needs a shepherd to choose the pasture for the sheep so you see God's people are like sheep they are so good they are so innocent they are so ignorant and that's the reason why you'll find in church history whenever God raise up the right leadership how God's people are blessed but whenever you'll find a bad leadership God's people can be let astray very quickly almost overnight they just follow whoever is leading them and that's the reason why we find it is so important that God will give his church spiritual leadership leadership that really comes from God not from man leadership that is not set up by man leadership that is not grasped by ambitious people but leadership that is ordained by God himself and when God gives his church those leaders whom he has raised up by himself and these leaders are really leading the people in God then you'll find how blessed God's people will be so dear brothers and sisters we really need to ask the Lord and pray that God will raise up spiritual leadership in the church I think as we enter into this large phase of the church period we are at the end of the last days and we are in the day of great apostasy a great falling away and we do find that how many of God's people are being led astray here and there they are innocent we feel for them but brothers and sisters this is the time that we need to pray and ask the Lord to raise up spiritual leadership for his people so that's the reason why we find second Kings is so important because there we find how God raised up the prophet Elijah in the ministry of God's word to his people and how God raised up King Hezekiah and King Josiah to lead the people back to God and pray that God will do the same today now let's go to Elijah the very name Elijah means whose salvation is God he was the son of Shephet of Abel Meholah now Abel Meholah was in the valley of Jordan in the tribe of Manasseh we find him first in first Kings chapter 19 you remember Elijah God commanded him to go back to anoint Elijah to succeed him as the prophet so Elijah went to Abel Meholah and there he found Elijah now what was Elijah doing? he was ploughing the field with twelve oxen yoke of oxen and he was with the twelve now brothers and sisters so far as prophet of prophetic ministry is concerned number one you will find it is the sovereign choice of God you remember our Lord Jesus said in John chapter 15 verse 16 he said you have not chosen me I have chosen you and has set you that you go and bear much fruit so brothers and sisters so far as prophetic ministry is concerned you will find first of all we have to remember it is God's sovereign choice it is not something that we want to do and that's what we are you will find that basically God in his sovereignty he will choose whomever he wants to choose there is nothing for anyone to boast and for anyone to grasp at it is the sovereign choice of God but why is it that out of the many young people in the nation of Israel that God should choose Elisha on the one hand you will find everything is based upon God's sovereign choice but on the other hand we need to ask the question why does God choose this one and not choose the other one for that prophetic ministry God must have seen something in that young man that makes him different from the other young man or to put it in other words God must have seen something in that young man that is worthy to be chosen what was that young man doing he was plowing the field an ordinary work an ordinary work but he was plowing the field with twelve yokes of oxen now have you ever seen a person plowing the field with twelve yokes of oxen usually you see man will plow the field with one yoke of oxen but he plowed with twelve yokes of oxen on the one hand it shows that he must come from a well to do family you know a well to do family can have twelve yokes of oxen and if you come from a well to do family that can that have twelve yokes of oxen probably you won't plow anymore you will hide people to do it and you will just enjoy yourself and have a good time but not this young man you find that even though he came from a pretty rich family and he could hide people to plow the field but you find he himself was at the twelve yoke of oxen, he was plowing in other words this young man was diligent very diligent I think it is the Almudy who says God will never use a lazy person and he even says God will never save a lazy person because that person is too lazy to believe in the Lord Jesus diligent God saw that young man a character the character of diligence and because there is that character there, God chose him not only that but you find that when that young man was working he never worked half-heartedly he put all twelve yokes of oxen into work, you will find his whole heart was in the work, now that was the kind of person God would like to use not only that when Elijah came to him without saying any word just put his mantle upon him, the prophet's mantle upon him you know what happened? Elijah immediately ran to Elijah he said let me go and say goodbye to my father and mother and I will follow you, and Elijah said what have I done to you he went back he killed the oxen used the implement as the wood to boil the oxen, give the people to eat and he left and followed Elijah now brothers and sisters how could this happen so suddenly it shows us that this young man even though while he was busy occupied with ploughing the field ploughing the field his heart had been exercising before the Lord for some time it was not an accident you find that his heart had been exercising for the interest of God in the nation of Israel, he must have been praying, he must have been burdened before God, he must have been waiting upon God he was waiting to be called he was ready but he didn't get out on his own he will wait until God call him into that ministry but he didn't wait at home, idly waiting for the calling you will find while he was waiting for the calling he was diligently applying himself to whatever God has put in his hand at that moment and with all his heart and that's the reason why when Elijah put that mantle upon him immediately he responded because his heart was ready and you will find he just burned the bridge behind him and wholeheartedly followed Elijah brothers and sisters is our heart being exercised before God when our hands seem to be on the plow plowing the fields and we do put ourselves as if wholeheartedly into the work that God has put in our hands at the moment but dear brothers and sisters is our whole interest our whole burden being to have a hundred foot harvest from the field, that's all or when we are plowing the fields, are we exercised with the interest of God upon this earth today is our heart being burdened by God's kingdom are we waiting upon God ready to do whatever God may call us to do in other words we are not serving the world we are serving God, even when our hands are on the plow our hearts are with God and when the time came to some are we ready to respond to burn the bridge behind us and on the other hand brothers and sisters if we do have a heart a burden for the Lord's work do we just step out on our own and say now I'm burdened therefore I have to do it I cannot wait anymore no, we have to wait until God's call at His time but when the time come, do not hesitate burn the bridge and follow thirdly, you find Elijah responded and in 1 Kings chapter 19 I think it's verse 21 what does it say? Elijah ministered to Elijah now what does it mean by minister to Elijah if you go to 2 Kings chapter 3 you know what it means he pours water on the hands of Elijah now today we don't know what that means now if you go to India probably you will know what it means you know when you in India you eat with your hands so after you eat somebody will pour water on your hands so that you can wash your hands and make it clean so in other words it is the work of a servant now Elijah was called to be a prophet so probably you will fully expect him to begin to open his mouth and prophesy but instead of that, what you find Elijah was doing, he was there pouring water on the hands of Elijah, he was doing the work of a servant do you think it is beyond his dignity he ought to be prophesying but you don't find him prophesying you find he was there serving Elijah as an apprentice as a disciple you know this is how spiritual leadership is raised up if God is to raise you up as a leader you first have to learn to be a learner before you can lead you have to be discipled to Christ after all leadership is not sitting on high and giving command, leadership is to be the servant of all therefore the spirit of servanthood has to be developed brothers and sisters this is true with the twelve apostles, with our Lord Jesus the Lord called the twelve apostles but they were to be with him learning of him, not only just to learn the skill of preaching they had to learn to know the Lord to learn his character how he lived how he acted brothers and sisters this is what we need we need to learn of him we need to learn his character let his character characterizes us, and then we are able to minister life to people so you find Elijah minister to Elijah for a period until God was calling Elijah up, so one day Elijah told Elijah, stay here in Gilgal I'm going to Bethel and Elijah said, no I go with you and after they arrived Bethel Elijah said, stay here I'm going to Jericho Elijah said no, I'm going with you to Jericho and they were in Jericho, Elijah said, stay here, I'm going over to Jordan, and Elijah said no, I'm going with you so you find they to travel all the way, cross the river Jordan, and then Elijah said I'm going leaving you what do you want, you may ask and you know what Elijah asked he said, give me a double portion of your spirit a double portion of the spirit of Elijah now what is the spirit of Elijah the spirit of Elijah is the spirit of jealousy the jealousy of God jealous for God, that is the spirit of Elijah you know we know the spirit of Elijah especially at the time of his disappointment, you know when you are watching yourself we all put up a front nobody really know your spirit, you know it is very difficult, the more civilized we are the more we hide ourselves we will not allow people to know our spirit, of a real man we don't allow people to know that but when we are in disappointment in despair you know all the facade will go down and then our real person will come out now when do you see Elijah's real person coming out his spirit coming out when he was disappointed he fled to Mount Sinai and God said Elijah, why are you here, what are you doing here and Elijah said Lord, I am jealous for you I am jealous for your rights and yet you find the whole nation against me, they want to kill me the spirit of Elijah is a spirit of jealousy now, do nothing wrong, the word jealousy is nothing wrong with that word, today jealousy to us have a very bad connotation, but the jealousy itself is not wrong if you are jealous of the right thing, that is the best thing to do our God is a jealous God and we need the jealousy of God we need to be jealous for God we need to be so jealous that we do not want to see anything of God's right being deprived, we want to have God to be God we want God to have everything that he deserves to have now that is jealous for God, and Elijah was so jealous for God that his very life was in danger and now Elijah came up and said give me a double portion of your spirit now this young man was really not ambitious for himself nothing is wrong to be ambitious again you know some people think that Christians should not be ambitious no Paul said I am ambitious that is the very word in 2nd Corinthians you know but in the Bible probably you do not translate it that way but in the original Paul said I am ambitious that I may please God in all things double portion of Elijah's spirit in other words he wanted to be so jealous for God that he was willing to take double trials and double afflictions its costly but in order to get that double portion of the spirit of Elijah he had to travel all the way from Gilgal to Bethel to Jordan to Jericho to Jordan we know Gilgal is the rolling away the rolling away of the shame of Egypt the rolling away of the flesh where the flesh is being completely dealt with brothers and sisters if we desire to have a double portion of the spirit of Elijah the first thing we need to see is we need to have the flesh completely rolled away and then we need to go to Bethel the house of God we need to positively see what the house of God really is and there we will live under an open heaven and from there we will go to Jericho there will be spiritual conflict and we will experience the victory of Christ and from there we will cross the river Jordan that is conformed to his death brothers and sisters after we have gone through this then when Elijah came back he was able to minister the life to every place that he visited in these 13 chapters of 2nd Kings you will find all together Elijah performed if we may say so 14 miracles now people have different opinions about that but that's alright it just shows that how God used that man and you will find in all these miracles he brought he brought life and resurrection to the people he opened the water of Jordan he healed the water of Jericho it is true he cursed the little boy that came out of Bethel now in the original it is not little boy in the original these are teenagers in other words Bethel was at that time the place of idolatry so evidently the priest of that idolatry send these teenagers out to ridicule to mock Elijah that is to mock the interest of God go up bald head go up Elijah go up why don't you not go up and of course judgment came upon these teenagers and then you will find he brought water in the desert for the three kings that they might die and again you will find he multiplied the oil in the vessel that the widow of the son of prophet borrowed to maintain her life and he restored the life of the little boy of the woman of Shunem and he healed the poison in the pot he multiplied the cake of barley to feed a hundred people he healed the leprosy of Nathan Naaman he opened the eyes of his servant to see God's horsemen surrounding the city and you find he proclaimed the victory over Syria and even after he died when a dead body touched his bones that body was resurrected in other words you find it is a ministry of resurrection life and dear brothers and sisters how we need such ministry we need a ministry of judgment but we also need a ministry of life of resurrection life and that is what ministry really is to impart the life of Christ to God's people and how we need such ministry now that is Elijah I will not have time to go into the kings both of them but probably I will do one and leave the other for second chronicles you find God raise up Hezekiah Hezekiah came to the throne when he was 29 years old and he was on the throne for 25 years the Bible said Hezekiah follow the Lord and he did everything that David his father did without turning to the right or turning to the left you know brothers and sisters in the Old Testament especially with the history of the kings God measured every king with David because David is the king David represents the king at God's own heart he was a man at God's own heart who will do all God's will and that is what a king in God's heart is so God used David to measure every king in the book of the kings some kings did not measure up in any way they were bad they did not do what David did other kings may do something that David did but not all things and a few you find they did everything that David did because their hearts were perfect towards God like David's heart was perfect and Hezekiah was one of them as a matter of fact among the Jewish people they consider three kings are most honorable David was one and Hezekiah was another one he followed the Lord with all his heart he did everything that David did he measured up to God's standard do you know that God has a standard to measure everything today too God will measure not only ministry God will measure life God will measure work God will measure everything today with one standard and that is the one who is greater than David our Lord Jesus He will measure everything according to Him in leadership He will use the Lord Jesus as the measuring rod to see how much you measure up to His leadership do we do what He does or what He has done or is there in some way we deviate from Him how God's heart will be pleased if He finds leadership measure up to the son of David the Lord and Hezekiah was one who measure up to David number two you find Hezekiah he trusted the Lord in his 14th year of reign you find Sennacherib king of Syria came and seized the cities of Judah and began to surround lay siege over the city of Jerusalem and made unreasonable demands and here you find Hezekiah under that kind of situation how he trusted the Lord with his whole heart he just cried unto the Lord and the Lord delivered him brothers and sisters we need that kind of trust in the Lord and then you find in the prime of his years when he was 39 years old he was sick unto death and God sent Elijah sent Isaiah to him and said set your house in order you are going and Hezekiah turned his face towards the wall and wept and he said God remember my heart was perfect towards thee I did everything for you and now in the prime of my years I am dying and because he wept before God God's heart was suffered so God sent Elijah back and said I heard your prayer I give you 15 more years and in the third day you will go into the temple to worship and Hezekiah said how do I know do I have a sign and Isaiah said yes you want a dial of going forward 10 degrees or going backward 10 degrees and Hezekiah said going backward so time went back 10 degrees isn't that wonderful we do not have the time to try to prove this scientifically but it has been proven in the universe we lost 24 hours and these 24 hours you can find it in the scripture and the 10 degrees is among them so anyway you will find that God gave him a sign the dial went back 10 degrees and Hezekiah was healed how he trusted believe in God but unfortunately his heart was not humbled by all that God has done and instead he began to be proud of himself so in these 15 years two terrible things happened one was in these 15 years you know the king of Babylon the king of Babylon and the king of Assyria they were enemies and when the king of Babylon heard that Hezekiah was healed he sent an emissary to come and congratulate him and Hezekiah was so proud of his country his riches, his wealth that he was enticed by the emissary they were spies and showed them all the things in his kingdom and because of that God told him the whole nation everything he had will be taken into captive number two during these 15 years he beget a son called Manasseh and that son was a one of the worst kings and because of his sins God determined to destroy the nation of Judah dear brothers and sisters there is a great lesson for us if the Lord said your time is up go gladly if you try to persuade God God can be persuaded you see our God is so soft tender hearted He can be persuaded but is not good for you better submit yourself unto God because everything He has ordained for you is the best for you and for him too so you find in King Hezekiah thank God, God did raise him up as a spiritual leader and under his leadership the nation did come back to God temporarily at least and God also gave him Isaiah to help him in the work of restoration even though unfortunately at the very end he fell into pride and that is a great lesson for leaders you know leaders are exposed to this peril of being proud if God does not use you you have nothing to be proud of and you may be jealous of other people and that is your danger but if God should use you then people will be jealous of you, you will not be jealous but you may be proud and pride will be followed so may the Lord have mercy upon us, on the one hand that God will raise a spiritual leadership and on the other hand that the leaders will keep always humble before Him now shall we pray dear Heavenly Father we do commit these words into Thy hands and pray that Thou will make them living even life to us Lord we do pray that Thou will raise up spiritual leadership in the church and pray that Thou will keep the leaders humble before Thee we do look forward to the day when Thou shall return and establish Thy kingdom upon this earth and righteousness shall reign over the whole earth we ask in Thy precious name