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  LESSONS FROM ELISHA 03 SECRETS OF SOUL WINNING
  by Joseph Balsan
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Summary: The sermon emphasizes the importance of faith in times of
crisis and the secret to soul winning, which is to bring people into
contact with the Living Christ.

Duration: 46:19 Topics: "Soul Winning", "Evangelism"
Scripture References: Matthew 28:19, Acts 2:38

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DESCRIPTION
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In this sermon, the speaker emphasizes the importance of not just
seeking approval or agreement from others, but actually leading them to
a life-changing encounter with God. The speaker uses the example of
Elisha raising a dead child to illustrate the perseverance and
determination required in leading souls to Christ. The speaker also
highlights the joy and gratitude that comes from witnessing others come
to faith in Jesus. The sermon concludes with a challenge for listeners
to consider their own role in leading others to heaven and to reflect on
whether they have stopped the chain of sharing the gospel.

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CONTENT
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Let us open our Bibles to 2nd Book of Kings and the 4th chapter, 2nd
Kings chapter 4, and verse 18, 2nd Kings 4 and verse 18, And when the
child was grown, it fell on a day that he went out to his father, to the
reapers. And he said unto his father, My head, my head. And he said to a
lad, Carry him to his mother.

And when he had taken him and brought him to his mother, he sat on her
knees till noon, and then died. And she went up, and laid him on the bed
of the man of God, and shut the door upon him, and went out. And she
called unto her husband, and said, Send me, I pray thee, one of the
young men, and one of the asses, that I may run to the man of God, and
come again.

And he said, Wherefore wilt thou go to him today? It is neither new moon
nor Sabbath. And she said, It shall be well. Then she saddled an ass,
and said to her servant, Drive, and go forward.

Slack not thy riding for me, except I bid thee. So she went, and came
unto the man of God, to Mount Carmel. And it came to pass, when the man
of God saw her afar off, that he said to Gehazi his servant, Behold,
yonder is that Shunammite.

Run now, I pray thee, to meet her, and say unto her, Is it well with
thee? Is it well with thy husband? Is it well with the child? And she
answered, It is well. And when she came to the man of God, to the hill,
she caught him by the feet. But Gehazi came near to thrust her away.

And the man of God said, Let her alone, for her soul is with me, and the
Lord hath hid it from me, and hath not told me. Then she said, Did I
desire a son of my Lord? Did I not say, Do not deceive me? Then he said
to Gehazi, Gird up thy loins, and take my staff in thine hand, and go
thy way. If thou meet any man, salute him not, and if any salute thee,
answer him not again.

And lay my staff upon the face of the child. And the mother of the child
said, As the Lord liveth, and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee.
And he arose, and followed her.

And Gehazi passed on before them, and laid the staff upon the face of
the child. But there was neither voice nor hearing. Wherefore he went
again to meet him, and told him, saying, The child is not awake.

And when Elisha was come into the house, behold, the child was dead, and
laid upon his bed. He went in therefore, and shut the door upon them
twain, and prayed unto the Lord. And he went up, and lay upon the child,
and put his mouth upon his mouth, and his eyes upon his eyes, and his
hands upon his hands.

And he stretched himself upon the child, and the flesh of the child
waxed warm. Then he returned, and walked in the house to and fro, and
went up and stretched himself upon him. And the child sneezed seven
times, and the child opened his eyes.

And he called Gehazi, and said, Call this Shunammite. So he called her,
and when she was come in unto him, he said, Take up thy son. Then she
went in, and fell at his feet, and bowed herself to the ground, and took
up her son, and went out.

May the Lord bless to us the reading of his word. We were looking at
some of the events, or some of the incidents, some of the parts of this
incident here, in 2 Kings chapter 4, and we were looking at it
especially in relation to, we saw for instance, how that when the great
crisis came in her life, because the Lord was going to teach her
something more than she already knew, and that is that he was going to
teach her that he was the God of resurrection, and we find that when
this crisis came into her life, her faith drove her to the man of God,
and the result was that she experienced and realized this wonderful
deliverance that caused gratitude in her heart and in her life. And you
know it's in the crises that you and I prove really what is in us.

Now this is a very simple saying, and perhaps it may seem funny to some
people, and it is funny, but someone has said that every Christian
should be like a bag of tea. That is, always brings forth the best that
is in him when he or she are put into hot water. And of course we know
that's what the bag of tea does, it brings forth its best when it's put
into hot water.

And that's the very same with the Christian. What we are comes out when
you and I are brought into the various difficulties and crises of life.
And this woman was brought into that circumstance, and we saw that her
faith was unwavering.

When her husband asked, is it well? She said, it is well. When the
Gehazi asked her, is it well with thee? Is it well with thy husband? Is
it well with the child? She said, it is well. You know, it's a wonderful
privilege for a believer to know that all things are working together
for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to
his promises.

Sometimes you and I cannot always trace God's dealings with us. We are
not always able to give an answer for the reason of God's dealings with
us. But you and I, while we cannot always trace God's dealings with us,
you and I can always trust God in his dealings with us.

And so this is so very important, to trust God in the various dealings
of life. But I want to look at this incident from another angle this
morning, and that is, as you and I see Elisha, the man of God, raising
this child from the dead, it illustrates for us, I think, the secrets of
soul winning in the life of a believer. You know, I think that perhaps
one of the greatest joys that it's possible for a believer to have is
the joy of leading another soul to our Lord Jesus Christ.

And after all, that is one of the great privileges of every child of
God, to be used of the Lord to lead some soul to the Lord Jesus. Samuel
Rutherford was a very saintly, godly servant of the Lord. His beautiful
writings have enriched the hearts and the lives of many.

I remember one thing that he wrote that I've never forgotten. He says,
whenever God puts me in the cellar, I always look around for the wine.
And how true that is.

Whenever God puts me down in the cellar, I look around for the wine. In
other words, I'm looking around for the blessing that he has for me in
this circumstance into which he has brought me. But one of the things
that he said as he considered and surveyed his ministry and his life, he
said, if one soul from Anwarth meets me in heaven, my heaven will be two
heavens to me.

In other words, he meant that if he was used of God to lead one soul to
the Lord Jesus, why, his heaven would be just twice as much to him as it
would be otherwise. We know that's what Paul said, didn't he? Paul said
when he spoke to the Thessalonians, he says, He are my crown of
rejoicing. You are my crown of joy.

Why? Because they had been led to Christ through his ministry. And he
was looking forward to that day when they would be with Christ and with
him. And they would be the crown of his rejoicing throughout the
countless ages of eternity.

You know, one of the lessons of life is, and one of the facts of life
is, that life reproduces itself. That's a law of life. We find that in
the very garden, we find that in the very book of Genesis, when the Lord
says, the seed is in itself.

What did he mean? When you take the grain of wheat, you bury it in the
earth. But when that grain of wheat springs up in life, what does it do?
It reproduces seeds, fruit, just like itself. All around us we see that
life is constantly reproducing itself.

And that's true in the spiritual realm as well. That the Lord hasn't
given the angels the privilege of bringing souls to the Lord Jesus, but
he has given you and me, sinners saved by the grace of God, the
privilege of bringing others and telling others about our Lord Jesus
Christ. Remember that one of the sad laments in the Bible are those
words of Rachel in the book of Genesis, when she was without child and
she said to Jacob, Give me children or else I die.

And how true that is, that if Christians are not reproducing, if they
are not seeing others and being used of God to lead others to the Lord
Jesus Christ, movements die. And how we've seen that, even among some
assemblies of God's people, that they have lost the evangelistic spirit,
they have lost the spirit of reaching out, and the result is that
eventually they begin to die out. Someone has very well said, we must
evangelize or we fossilize.

And how true that is, we evangelize or we fossilize. Here we find in the
18th verse of the 4th chapter of Kings, And when the child was grown, it
fell on a day, that he went out to his father, to the reapers. And he
said unto his father, My head, my head.

And he said to a lad, Carry him to his mother. And when he had taken him
and brought him to his mother, he sat up and shut the door. Now you
remember the story.

You remember as we were bringing out yesterday, this child was born. We
mentioned that it had been some time. But nevertheless the child was
born.

Now it is believed, of course, from the incident that takes place here,
that evidently he had suffered a son's stroke. Which, of course, at
first afflicted his head, and increased his fever, and then finally
ended in his spirit, as it were, leaving his body and we find that he
dies on the knees of his mother. What a tragedy had come into this
heart.

What a tragedy had come into this life. This child had died. It doesn't
tell us how old it is.

But I think it is very significant. Might I just apply a little
spiritual lesson? Sometimes we ask the question, Well, how old does a
person have to be before he or she is responsible? Now, of course, I
have no law or authority about it. I remember hearing about a brother
who was in a certain home, and his child came up to him.

She had heard that she had been raised under the sound of the word of
God, had heard about being saved, and as this child came to him, was
talking to him, he readily saw that the child didn't have much
understanding. But the child asked the question, Well, do you believe
that I am saved? Well, talking with the child, he saw that there wasn't
very much real concept of salvation, or of sin, or anything like that.
And he says, Well, he said, Let me say that I believe that you're safe.

I believe that you're safe. In other words, as long as she was in that
condition where she didn't understand, she was safe. She was sheltered
by the blood of Christ.

And if anything would have happened, she would have been taken to be
with him. But here we find this lad. Might it suggest to us that this
lad struck in the head would suggest to us that time in a lad's
experience where he comes to the place where he knows the reality of
sin, where he begins to realize the reality of his need, where he
understands the difference between salvation and being lost, and
suddenly conscious of that condition, he comes into the position where
he knows that he needs to be saved? And is it then that that person
comes to that age of responsibility? I'm glad that that's all in the
hands of the Lord, and that the Lord is the one who determines when and
where that child has come to the place of responsibility.

But nevertheless, the child died. And when the child died, why, the
mother, of course, didn't despair. She didn't, as it were, give up
procedure in that land and in that day.

But instead, she takes the child and she deposits it in the chamber
where the prophet had lain. She lays it upon his bed. And this was a
journey, they tell us, from 25 to 30 miles as the beast of burden in
that day.

And it seems that perhaps there wasn't the understanding in the heart.
She's not able to... The experience that she was passing through. Or was
it perhaps that it wasn't quite as spiritual or quite experienced in the
things of God as she was? Nevertheless, we find that she tells her
servant.

She says, run now. She says to the servant, drive and go forward. Slack
not thy riding for me, except I bid thee.

And we see that she's coming to the prophet. And when she comes to the
prophet, the prophet sees her. And when she comes into his presence, she
falls at his feet.

She catches him by the feet. And Gehazi comes near to thrust her away.
And the man of God says, let her alone first.

And she says, did I desire a son of my Lord? Did I not say, do not
deceive me? Then he said to Gehazi, gird up thy loins and take my staff
in thine hand and go thy way. If thou meet any man, salute him not. And
if any salute thee, answer him not again.

And lay my staff upon the face of the child. And the mother of the child
said, as the Lord liveth and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee.
And arose and followed her.

And Gehazi passed on before them and laid the staff upon the face of the
child. But there was neither voice nor hearing. Wherefore he went again
to meet him and told him, saying, the child is not awake.

And here we have brought before us how people don't get saved. How
people are not brought to life. You know, I don't think there's anything
more hopeless and anything more difficult than to consider the condition
of the unsaved person.

The unsaved person, according to the word of God, is spiritually dead.
And that, of course, is what the soul needs. The soul needs life.

Here is this child and this child is dead. And Gehazi is sent on before
with the staff of Elisha. Now that was a very useful staff.

It was something that Elisha used at various times. But it was put into
the hands of this man. And he goes forth, Gehazi, and perhaps as he is
running forth, he thinks to himself, well, I'm going to... Have I not
been... Here I am going... There is neither voice, neither voice.

You know, there are many today who are having staffs laid upon them. And
they're good staffs. Oh, how many people today... I remember, I was in
Grand Rapids, Michigan, waiting in a train station for a brother who was
returning home.

And there was a number of people in that train station. And I had some
gospel tracts in my hand and so I started passing them out. And it just
happened, I say it just happened, but it was evidently of the Lord as I
look back upon it now, that as I came to my last two people that I
hadn't given them to, and they had an open Bible between them.

And as I came to them, I says, well, that you're reading and I want to
give you something that tells you more about that book. I'd like to give
you these two gospel tracts. And they says, well, we'd like to give you
some of our literature.

Thank you. I says, I wonder if you men are on the way to heaven. Are
you? Oh, they says, well, we hope so.

Well, I said, well, aren't you sure? Well, they say, we hope we're going
to get there. Well, they says, you know what the Bible says? Repent and
be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus. Do you have to be
baptized in order to be saved? Oh, they says, yes, we do.

We certainly believe that you have to be baptized. Oh, yes. Yes, we've
been baptized, but you're not sure.

Well, I says, if so and so baptized you, and that's necessary for you to
get to heaven, to be baptized, I says, well, then you owe just as much
gratitude to the person who baptized you for getting you to heaven as
you do for the Lord Jesus dying for you. Oh, and that was impressed upon
them. Suddenly they lost all their religion and they began yelling out
loud.

And how many there are who think because they've had the staff of
baptism laid upon them? But you know the sad thing about them is that
that staff laid upon them is neither voice nor hearing. There's no
result. How many there are who think that perhaps because they've
received the so-called sacrament? How many there are who have the Lord's
Supper, as it were, ministered to them by a clergyman, and they think
that in so doing they've received Christ? I've talked to people and
asked them, have you received Christ? Oh, yes, I receive Christ every
Sunday.

What do you mean you receive Christ every Sunday? Every time I receive
the sacrament I'm receiving Christ. Ah, that's not what the Bible speaks
about when it speaks about receiving Christ. It's not receiving Christ
in the sacrament.

It's by faith. How many there are who think that because they go through
a certain form, they've gone up to the front, they kneel down at the
front, they say a prayer, they weep some tears, they think that perhaps
they have life. I remember some years ago another brother and I were
holding tent meetings in a little town in Colorado.

And a man was brought to those tent meetings by his wife. He was wheeled
in a chair. We were using the big chart, the two roads and the two
destinies.

And one day we visited that man. And after a little talk with him about
various things, I said to him, Henry, you've seen this chart that we're
preaching from. And you notice that that door is open on the broad way.

And people get into it on the narrow, into the narrow way. But you
notice one day that door is going to be shut. When the Lord Jesus comes,
that door of opportunity is going to be closed.

Let me ask you, when that door is closed, where will you be? And he
said, I'll be on the outside. Oh no, his wife says, Henry, you wouldn't
be on the outside. Henry, you'll be on the inside.

I said, well, why do you think that? Well, Henry was converted when he
was a boy, young lad. I said, is that true, Henry? He said, oh, I
thought I was. I said, what happened? Well, he said, we had a series of
meetings in the church that I went to.

And you know, the preacher preached and I went up to the front. And he
said, and I got down on my knees and I prayed. And he says, and I cried.

And he says, I felt good for a couple of weeks, but it passed away. And
I said to him, well, Henry, when you went up to the front, what did you
get? He says, I didn't get a thing. I said, that's the trouble, Henry.

You didn't get a thing. If you had come to Christ, if you had received
Christ, it would have lasted for all these years. He was a man in his
sixties.

But instead you got nothing. You went through the form. And how many
people have gone through a form, but there's neither voice nor hearing.

You know, the voice is the expression of life in prayer. The hearing is
there's a desire for the Word. And a sign of a person receiving life is
that they have an expression of life in prayer.

They have an ear for His Word. But when the staff was laid upon him,
there was neither voice nor hearing. Ah, my friend, let me ask this
morning, is there a voice? Is there an expression of life in you and me?
You remember one of the first signs of the conversion of Saul was, it is
said, Behold, he prayeth.

And one of the first signs of life when that babe is born is that it
cries. And whenever a child is born into the family of God, there's an
expression of life in the voice. There's an expression of life in the
testimony.

There's an expression of life in the desire to hear His Word. The staff
couldn't accomplish it. But the woman wasn't led away with the servant.

She stayed with Elisha. She knew that this child must come in contact
with the Living One. And my friends, people can only be brought to life
by contact with the Living Christ of God.

And so we find that they come into the house. In 32nd verse it says, And
when Elisha was come into the house, behold, the child was dead and laid
upon his bed. Here we find the first thing that is essential.

He was laid upon his bed. You know, that was the place where Elisha was
used to sleeping. I wonder how a person could sleep if there was a dead
body in the bed.

If you or I found a dead body in our bed, we wouldn't be able to sleep.
And I think that this dead body laid upon the bed suggests to us that
here Elisha has a sense of responsibility that cannot... Each of us
needs that sense of responsibility. Each of us needs a sense of
responsibility to those who are around us, to those with whom you and I
come in contact.

You know, I like to think of this in regard to Elisha. He had a sense of
responsibility for one soul, for one person. After all, that's how
people are reached.

They're reached individually. If you went through the Gospel of John,
you would find that in the Gospel of John, the Lord is dealing and
reaching souls individually. In the first chapter of John, you remember,
there was Nathanael, there was Peter, there was John, there was Andrew.

In the third chapter of John, you remember, there was Nicodemus. In the
fourth chapter of John, there was the sinful woman at the well of
Sychar. In the fifth chapter of John, and you could go all through the
Gospel of John, and you would find that the Lord is leading souls one by
one to Himself.

Oh yes, we like to see multitudes of souls saved. You know, Charles
Spurgeon in his book on the soul winner says that if you want to fill a
hundred bottles, he says, how would you fill them? Would you just put
them all in front of you like that? And then just take a pail of water
and throw it on them? And take another pail of water and throw it on
them? Hoping to fill those hundred bottles? Or he says, would you take
those bottles one by one and fill those hundred bottles? He'd say, you'd
surely take those bottles one by one. And you know, that's the way souls
are saved.

Souls are saved one by one. And the thing is that I need to have a sense
of responsibility for one soul. Elisha had his bed occupied by one who
was dead.

He couldn't sleep. He couldn't rest. Here was one that was dead.

Ah, do you and I have love? Can we rest when they're in their sins, when
they're unsaved? Are we doing anything about it? His rest was disturbed.
You notice it says, when Elisha was coming to the house, the 32nd verse,
behold, the child was dead and laid upon his bed. He went in, therefore,
and shut the door upon them twain.

Here we find the second thing that he did. What did he do? He went in.
He shut the door upon them twain.

In other words, my friends, he shut himself up to that which was before
him. And he shut out everything else that would detract him from what
was before him. I think that today, Christians need to have a sense of
priorities.

We need to get our perspectives readjusted. We remember that when the
Lord Jesus was here on earth, He says, As the Father hath sent me, even
so have I sent you. You and I ask the question, well, why did the Lord
send me? Why has the Lord left me here? There must be something He can
use me to reach and touch for Himself.

You've all heard the story of William Carey, the cobbler. You remember
he was a shoemaker before there were any mission boards, before there
was very much mission work. And in his shop, he had a many people were
in that particular locality.

And whenever he came, or anybody came into the shop whose ear he could
get, if they were Christians, he would talk to them about the need of
the world. And if they were unsaved, he would speak to them about the
Lord and about their need of salvation. And one day he was speaking to
someone about his need of salvation.

And this person says, Mr. Carey, we've got the preacher to tell us about
that. Why, you're only a shoe cobbler. You tend to your business.

He says, oh, no. He says, my business is to tell others about the Lord
Jesus and try to win them for Him. And I'm only cobbling shoes to pay
expenses.

Ah, yes, he had a sense of his mission. He had a sense of what was
first. He had a sense of what was the most important.

And I think that when Elisha shuts the door upon them, Twain, and is
alone, he is facing and he is giving the right priority to that which is
most important of all, and that is that a soul needed to be brought to
life. But then we find the third thing. It says, he prayed unto the
Lord.

There was the sense of dependence upon God. Ah, yes, there was the sense
of dependence upon God. And as he prayed unto the Lord, he realized if
there is to be life, it's only the Lord that can give it.

And if there is to be life, it's the Lord that has to show me how. Oh,
you and I think, well, there's a soul that I'd like to reach. Do we pray
about that soul? Lord, how can I reach that soul? How can I touch that
soul? How can I speak to that soul in such a way that that soul will be
reached and touched? Ah, friends, he prayed unto the Lord.

There was a sense of dependence. This is something where we're
absolutely helpless, where we're absolutely powerless. We're unable to
do anything.

I don't think there's anything that shows us how helpless. You can give
them all the verses that you know. You can be, as it were, showing them
the right path, and yet, my friend, it seems there's no response.

You're absolutely dependent upon the power of God, and that drives you
to your knees. It drives you to the place where you realize, except the
Lord gives life, why, there'll never be life. And it says, he went up
and lay upon the child and put his mouth upon his mouth and his eyes
upon his eyes and his hands upon his hands, and he stretched himself
upon the child and the flesh of the child waxed warm.

You know, this was a strange procedure, wasn't it? He went and he lay
himself upon the child. And it says, he put his mouth upon his mouth and
his eyes upon his eyes and his hands upon his hands and stretched
himself upon the child and the flesh of the child waxed warm. What does
this suggest to me? It suggests to me, my friends, adaptability.

That he adapted himself to the one that he would win. I like to go
fishing every once in a while. Our brother Jim Humphrey used to come up
to northern Michigan where I lived for a number of years and worked for
a number of years.

And whenever he came up for those six weeks because of his hay fever,
why, usually one day we'd go out fishing together. And I remember this
particular day that he took me fishing. And you know, we came to a lake
and he had his box full of all, every kind of lure that had been
possible for him to get.

And you know, we were there in that lake and we would put a lure on and
we would throw it out and bang! There'd be a strike. But we couldn't get
a hold of anything. And we spent our whole day trying every lure that he
had.

Going around that lake. I'll never forget it. My, that was a big one.

You could tell that was a big one the way it struck for that lure. But
we couldn't get a strike. We couldn't get a handle on him.

We couldn't catch him until we exhausted every lure that he had. And we
spent about five or six hours like that. Just thrilled with nearly
getting a strike but not catching a single fish.

And so as we were going in we saw another fellow and we says to him, are
you catching any? Oh, he says, I'm catching a few. Little ones. A few
with minnows.

Oh, he says, we've been over there in that area and we've had wonderful
strikes but we haven't been able to land a single one. He says, oh, he
says, those are sturgeon in there. He says, you would never catch them
with that stuff.

You've got to fish with them in a different way. You can't use the same
method, the same procedure with every fish. You've got to fish through
one kind of fish one way.

Another fish another way. It's the same with soul winning. To win souls
you've got to adapt yourself to the one that you're trying to reach.

And of course we've often heard it that when the Lord Jesus was speaking
He didn't address Nicodemus in the same way that He did that poor sinful
woman by the well. And He didn't address that woman by the well. He had
an approach for each one.

He adapted Himself to the one that He was trying to win. And He won
them. Here we find Elisha.

He puts His mouth upon the child's mouth. His eyes upon the child's
eyes. In other words He's speaking in language that the child can take
in.

He sees things as the child sees them. He's doing things as the child
would do them because He wants to what? Raise that one to life. The
first time the flesh waxed warm.

The child still wasn't living but the flesh waxed warm. Your contact
with a person should warm Him up to you. Yes, it's essential to win the
confidence.

To win the interest. To win the attention. To get the person to warm up
to you.

Oh, probably Elisha as someone has said he must have felt very cold
coming in contact with that dead body. Sometimes that's the way we feel
when we come in contact with unsaved, don't we? My, I try to talk to
them and oh, the difficulties. Oh, the confusion.

Oh, how hard. Our spirits are as it were chilled. Now, why don't you
notice here it says He stretched Himself upon the child and the flesh of
the child waxed warm.

It's not enough to just get people to like us. To just get people to
agree with us. To just say, yes, it's so.

We've got to see them brought to life. And so He rises again. Now, why
don't you notice He doesn't become discouraged.

It says He arose. It says He returned and walked in the house to and
fro. Ah, there's an exercise.

There is an exercise. He doesn't give up. You know, sometimes we give
up.

Oh, I've tried to talk to that man so often and I haven't been able to
do anything for him. I've tried to talk to her so often and I haven't
been able. And we're prone to give up.

I remember one couple that gave up. And as they gave up, this couple
that had been given up, the brother-in-law says, well, I'll never,
there's no use talking to them anymore. They just ridicule and laugh at
it.

But it just happened that these people live right next to the gospel
hall and the Christians lived across the street. And this Sunday night
as the Christian was walking across to the meeting, he had determined,
said to his wife, I'm not going to speak to them anymore. He'd given up.

As he walked across to the meeting, that unsaved man and wife looked out
the window and saw him crossing the street with a Bible in his hand. And
the husband said to the wife, you know, I wonder what there is over in
that place. You know, they seem to be so happy.

What do you say we go tonight? She says, yes, I think I'd like to go.
I've been thinking I'd like to go. So you can imagine the confusion and
amazement that couple saw this unsaved couple come in.

They'd been trying to get them in for years and not able. Given up! They
came in and just a couple of local brethren preaching, but they knew the
Lord. And they were telling the gospel.

And as they were telling the gospel, why this couple, who was used to
listening to a refined, eloquent, educated preacher, why they listened
amazed and said, where did those farmers get that? Where did those
people get that? And so they invited the couple up to their home. And,
of course, the couple came up to their home after the meeting for a cup
of coffee and they were talking about the Bible. And the brother opened
to a verse in the Bible.

And as he read that verse, the husband got saved that night. And a
couple days later, the wife got saved. They had given up, but God didn't
give up.

Do we give up? Elisha didn't give up. He exercised, walked to and fro.
And once more, he laid himself.

You know, I think that second laying upon the child, I think it suggests
to us of how Elisha, as it were, comes right down to him and says, well,
you're dead. I must be dead. The only way that you can be brought to
life is in contact with life.

It's as if we're applying the work of Christ to the one who has died.
Christ died to lift the one who was dead. He rose that that person might
be brought to life.

And it says, he stretched himself upon him and the child sneezed seven
times. And the child opened his eyes. Ah, there were real signs of life.

It would be interesting to look into the signs of life. We're not going
to do that. But you notice what the result was? The result was that when
that child was raised to life, the mother, she fell down at the feet of
Elisha and in gratitude poured out her heart to him.

You know, there's nothing like the joy of seeing others won to Christ.
It gives new life to us. It causes gratitude to God.

Just think, you and I have the privilege of communicating that message
that can bring life to others. Let me ask this morning, is there going
to be someone in heaven because you told them about the Lord Jesus?
Because you went out of your way to try to win her for Christ? Because
your life was such that they saw something in you that spoke to them of
Christ? Oh, what a great privilege to be used of God to lead another
soul to Him. Someone led you to Christ.

Someone led me to Christ. Let me ask, has the chain stopped with me? Has
it stopped with me? Or am I a channel that the Lord can use to bring
others to Christ? May the Lord bless to each of our hearts His word this
morning. Let's sing one or two verses of it.

477 is the one that I had in mind. I just forgot the number. Let us sing
the first verse of 477.

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Audio: https://sermonindex1.b-cdn.net/9/SID9161.mp3
Source: https://sermonindex.net/speakers/joseph-balsan/lessons-from-elisha-03-secrets-of-soul-winning/
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