In this sermon, the preacher focuses on the ministry of Elisha and the importance of imparting the life of Christ in our own ministries. The sermon begins by referencing a story from the Bible where Elisha miraculously feeds a hundred people with a small amount of food, similar to Jesus feeding the five thousand. This demonstrates that a ministry of life will always have abundance. The preacher then discusses the four stations that Elisha and Elijah passed through, emphasizing that the walk with God is more important than the specific actions taken in ministry. The sermon concludes with a reminder that true ministry begins with imparting the life of Christ, and without this, all other activities are meaningless.

We'll return to 2nd Kings chapter 2, 2nd Kings chapter 2. We'll read from verse 13. Chapter 2, verse 13. And Elisha took up the mantle of Elijah which fell from him and went back and stood by the bank of the Jordan and he took the mantle of Elijah which had fallen from him and smoked the waters and said where is Jehovah the God of Elijah. He also smoked the waters and they parted hither and thither and Elisha went over. And the sons of the prophets who were at Jericho on the opposite side saw him and they said the spirit of Elijah rests on Elisha. And they came to meet him and bowed themselves to the ground before him and said to him behold now there are with thy servants fifty valiant men. Let them go we pray thee and seek thy master lest perhaps the spirit of Jehovah have taken him up and cast him upon some mountain or into some dine. And he said ye shall not send. And they pressed him till he was ashamed and he said send. They sent therefore fifty men and they sought three days but did not find him. And they came again to him now he was staying at Jericho and he said to them did I not say to you go not. And a man of the city said to Elijah behold now the situation of the city is good as my Lord sees but the water is bad and the land is barren. And he said bring me a new cruise and put salt in it. And they brought it to him and he went forth to the source of the waters and cast the salt in there and said thus said Jehovah I have healed these waters. There shall not be from things any more death or barrenness. And the waters were healed to this day according to the saying of Elijah which he spoke. And he went up from things to Bethel and as he went up by the way there came forth little boys out of the city and mocked him and said to him go up go ahead go up go ahead. And he turned back and looked on them and cursed them in the name of Jehovah. And there came forth two she bears out of the wood and tore 42 children of them. And he went from things to Mount Carmel and from things he returned to Samaria. Chapter 4 verse 38. Chapter 4 verse 38. And Elijah came again to Gilgal and there was a famine in the land and the sons of the prophets were sitting before him. And he said to his servant set on the great pot and boil potage for the sons of the prophets. Then one went out into the field to gather herbs and found a wild vine and gathered from it his net full of wild Colossians and came and shred them into the pot of potage for they did not know them. And they poured out for the men to eat. And it came to pass as they were eating of the potage that they cried out and said man of God there is death in the pot. And they could not eat it. And he said then bring meal. And he cast it into the pot and said pour out for the people that they may eat. And there was no harm in the pot. And there came a man from Beal, Cilicia and brought the man of God bread of the first fruits 20 loaves of barley and fresh ears of corns in his sack. And he said give to the people that they may eat. And his attendant said how shall I set this before a hundred men. And he said give the people that they may eat. For thus said Jehovah they shall eat and shall have to spare. And he set it before them and they ate and left thereof according to the word of Jehovah. Last night we mentioned about the call of Elijah to be a prophet. And also the confirmation. The call came to him when he was plowing the field. He responded to that call. He followed Elijah all the way until Elijah was taken from him. And there he received the double portion of the spirit of Elijah. His calling was confirmed. He was an apprentice as it were for several years pouring water upon the hands of Elijah before he was confirmed as a prophet. So from then on he was a prophet before God. Now tonight we would like to fellowship together on the circuit of his ministry. You notice that in the last journey Elijah and Elijah they walked together from Gilgal to Bethel. From Bethel to Jericho. From Jericho to Jordan. And then Elijah was taken to the heavens. In a sense this walk through the four stations represent a walk with God. As we walk with God we will go through what these four places represent. And then at the last it will be recorded. When Elijah passed through these four places with Elijah following him. Did he do anything in these places? There was no record. It seems as if he was just passing through. He didn't do anything. Why? Because the emphasis is on the walk. The walk with God. The emphasis was not on the doing. The emphasis was on life. A life with God is a life that walks with God. And a life that walks with God will go through various experiences as represented by these four places. And finally rapture. So brothers and sisters in one sense this applies to us today. Our life with God is a walk. We walk with God and if we do we will walk into the heavens. The walk is always heavenward. It goes up. But then you'll find after Elijah was taken to heaven Elijah received the prophetic ministry. Then you'll find he came back. And as he came back he came to the same places. But in reverse order. He started from Jordan. Then he came to Jericho. And from there he came to Bethel. And after Bethel he came to Gilgal. With Elijah it was a walk with God. It goes upward. Heavenward. With Elijah it is a returning to the people of God. And in returning to the people of God you'll find things are being done. There were works to be done. So in one sense with Elijah it represents life. With Elijah in returning to these places it represents ministry. Now this is the connection between life and ministry. And this is the right order too. If we want to have a spiritual ministry to God's people we must first have a walk with God. If we do not have that walk with God which is heavenward there will not come forth a ministry towards man. It is manward. That's why we say gift alone never constitutes a ministry. It has to be backed by a walk, a life. And with that life a ministry will be produced. So in the returning circuit you'll find the principle of the demonstration of ministry. So I do hope that we remember this as the ground for our fellowship tonight. Now first of all Jordan. You know according to the record of the word of God the waters in Jordan were divided three times up to the time of Elijah. The first time the waters of Jordan were divided so that the children of Israel could walk through the riverbed to the promised land. And how was the water divided? It was divided by the ark. The ark of God was born on the shoulders of the priests. And as their feet touched the water, the water divided. Then the priests who bore the ark they stood in the middle of the dry riverbed. And the children of Israel passed through. And after they had all passed through then the priests who bore the ark they also came up to the other shore. And when they came up on the other shore the water returned. Now that was the crossing of the river Jordan. Now we know that basically the water of the river Jordan represents death. But it is not just death. It is life out of death. So in the experience of the children of Israel it is co-death, co-burial and co-resurrection if we want to use New Testament terms. And so far as we are concerned this is what it is. We need to see our Lord Jesus not only as one who bore our sins on the cross. But we need to see that our Lord Jesus also has borne us in him. And with him we were crucified. And we were buried together with him. Because we were in him. And we were being raised from the dead because we were in him. So the experience of the children of Israel crossing the river Jordan is our experience of co-death, co-burial and co-resurrection with Christ. And because of that we come into the abiding life in Christ. That is the promised land. Now that is the first instance. Now the second instance when the waters of Jordan were divided was when Elijah on his way to heaven he came to the bank of the river Jordan. He rolled up his mantle. He smote the waters and the water divided so that he could go through it to the other side to be raptured. Now I believe this is different from the first crossing. Because the first crossing is co-death, co-burial, co-resurrection with Christ so that from now on we abide in Christ. But with Elijah you see it was not the ark that divided the water. It was the mantle. A mantle always represents ministry. A work. With Elijah it is prophetic ministry. So the water was divided by that mantle. And I believe the New Testament counterpart of it is in 2nd Corinthians chapter 4. You know 2nd Corinthians chapter 4 when we read it, it seems as if it is a chapter on spiritual life, on life. What is spiritual life? How can this life be manifested? We are as earthen vessels but with a treasure in us. And the radiance, the power of that treasure is of God, is not of us. In order that the treasure may be manifested, the vessel must be broken. So God raised up all kinds of environments. We are surrounded and yet we are not finished. Why? Because we have a way out. We are beaten down but we are not beaten out. So you find that the Holy Spirit was so arranged our environment to break us, to break the outward man, so that the inward man which is Christ in us, the treasure, may be manifested. So Paul sums it up and says, we bear in our body the dying of Jesus, the slaying of Jesus, that the life of Jesus may be manifested in us. How can this life that is bound within us, imprisoned within us, be released? The only way for the life within us which is Christ to be released is through the breaking of the outward man. By bearing in our body the dying of Jesus, that is to say, we die daily. We deliver ourselves as it were, deliberately, as the Holy Spirit arranges in our environment, we choose it. We deliberately deliver ourselves to the dying of Jesus, to the slaying of Jesus, and the result is we are broken. And the real life is released. Life in us. Now that is represented by Elijah. The crossing of Jordan with Elijah is he had now entered into the maturity of life. He had come to know the life of Christ, of course we are using New Testament phrases, in such a way that he is broken but Christ is released. And that is the apostolic life. That is the life of rapture. That kind of life is to be raptured. Now with Elijah, you find his returning. He used the mantle of Elijah, he smoked the water and said, where is the God of Elijah? And the water devoured him. And he crossed over. Now in his case, the emphasis is on ministry. So 2 Corinthians chapter 4, when you read it, your first impression will be, now this is life. This is spiritual life. But then if you read again, you find this is spiritual ministry. Actually what 2 Corinthians chapter 4 is talking about, is talking about ministry. Because Paul said, we have this ministry. It is the ministry that is in view. Now what is ministry? Ministry comes out of life. Therefore you will find in the same chapter, verse 12, Paul continues to say, we bear in our body the dying of Jesus that the life of Jesus may be manifested in us. And then in verse 12 he said, that the life of Jesus may be manifested in you. Now that's ministry. When the life of Jesus is manifested in us, that is life. That is real life. But when the life of Jesus is manifested in you, that is ministry. You know, when the life of Jesus is released through us, and it touches other people, it is an imparting of, and ministry is none other but imparting of life. I think this is a very basic understanding of what ministry is. You know, often times we think of ministry as doing something. Acting. Sometimes we think of ministry only in terms of serving. Serving. Now we have done something. We have served some purpose. We have accomplished some work. But dear brothers and sisters, strictly speaking, this is not ministry. Ministry is the impartation of life. Unless we are able to impart life to other people. Now of course, the life that is to imparted is not our life. The life that is imparted is the life of Christ. Whether it comes through prophesying, or it comes through teaching, or it comes through serving, or it comes through loving, or it comes through helping, in whatever capacity, channel, it may come forth. You find what is really the substance of ministry is the imparting of Christ. Now, are we imparting Christ? This is a very serious question. We may be involved in many activities. We may be doing all kinds of works. We may be accomplishing all kinds of things. But dear brothers and sisters, if there is not an imparting of the life of Christ in it, you have no ministry. There is no ministry. Ministry begins with Jordan. That's where it begins. You remember our Lord Jesus? When He was 30? He was going to commence His ministry. Where did He commence His ministry? At the River Jordan. There you'll find our Lord Jesus who had lived a perfect life for 30 years. It was a perfect life. But when He was to begin His ministry, the first thing He did was to go to the River Jordan and, in other words, there He laid down Himself so that God may be manifested through Him. And it was from Jordan that He started His ministry. Brothers and sisters, where do we start our ministry? Do not think that Jordan is the last station. So far as life is concerned, it seems as if Jordan is the last station. Gilgal is the first one. Jordan is the last. But so far as ministry is concerned, Jordan is the first, is the starting point. Do we know Jordan? Do we know that breaking of the awkward man? Do we know the life of Christ manifested? Are we able to impart Christ? So Elijah, in coming back, you'll find the first point, the starting point is going through the River Jordan. Now after He passed through the River Jordan, the sons of the prophets were watching. They did not go with Elijah through the River Jordan. They were on the other shore. And I don't believe they saw Elijah taken up. Only Elijah saw. They didn't see. So they saw Elijah coming back and they saw the mantle. They saw Elijah smoke the water and the water divided hither and thither and He crossed over. Immediately they knew the spirit of Elijah rests on Elijah now. So they came to Him and bowed to Him. Why? Because He was to be the head, the superintendent of the school of prophets. Now. And you know what they suggested to Him? It's unbelievable. They told Elijah, they said, we have fifty strong men here. We are ready to go through the mountains and the valleys to find the body of Elijah. God has taken Elijah away and maybe God just throws him somewhere in a mountain or the valley. Now give us permission to find him. Now Elijah of course knew that wasn't the case because God took Elijah to heaven. So Elijah said, no, don't do that. But they pressed him so much until he was ashamed. He said, alright, if you want to do it, you do it. So they sent fifty men. And of course after three days of searching they couldn't find the body. They had the knowledge that God took Elijah. But their knowledge was mental knowledge. You know, if our knowledge is only mental knowledge, our understanding of God's word is so limited we can only believe to a certain point and no further. They could believe that God took Elijah, but they couldn't believe God could take Elijah to heaven. That's too high. So God must throw him somewhere else. Now isn't that true? If our knowledge of God is only mental, if our understanding of the word is just mental, our faith is limited. We can only believe thus far and no further. We cannot go all the way. So after three days, of course they couldn't find him. But during those days where was Elijah? He was staying in Jericho. So you see the second station. While he was in Jericho, the people in Jericho came to him. And they said, look here. The location of this city is good. Everything about the city is good. Only the water is bad. So the land is bad. When the children of Israel came to Jericho in the first place, the walls of Jericho must be brought down. The stronghold must be overthrown. But here you'll find when Elijah was in Jericho, they came to him and said everything was good except the water. And because the water was bad, the land was bad. What does the water here represent? You remember our Lord Jesus when he talked with a Samaritan woman? He said if you know who he's talking with you, and if you will ask of him, he will give you a living water. And you will never be thirsty again. Because this water will become a fountain that will well up within you forever. Of course he speaks of his life. And then in John chapter 7, on the last day of the great feast, that is the Feast of the Tabernacles, the Lord stood on a high place and shouted, if anyone is thirsty, come. He that believeth out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. And this he speaks of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit has not yet been given because he has not yet been glorified. So here you'll find the water represents the water of life. And then of course in Revelation chapter 22 you'll find in the holy city there is a river of life that flows from the throne of God and of the Lamb. And it goes around the whole city and wherever the river flows there is the tree of life. Water here speaks of life. What is more basic than life? You may have a good location. You may have a good background. You may have a good social position. You may have a good education. You may have good environment. You may have riches. You may have anything, everything. But if the life is bad, you are barren. And isn't our life bad? Paul said, in me that is in my flesh there is no good. But how difficult it is for us to realize that. Before we believe in the Lord, before we believe in the Lord Jesus, the bad side of our flesh committed many things until we were horrified and we repented. But after we believe in the Lord, we use the good side of our flesh trying to serve God to keep his law. We are not that bad. Our water is not altogether bad. Until one day we realize that in us that is in our flesh there is no good. Your good nature, your good temperament, your good gentleman and so on and so forth. No good. There is absolutely no good. Our natural life is bad water. And if the natural life is bad, no matter what you give to Him, it is barren. No good. No good. So they came to Elisha. And you know what Elisha did? Elisha said, give me a new cruise and put salt in it. He took the new cruise with the salt. He went to the source of the water. He poured the salt upon the source of the water. And he declared, Jehovah the Lord has healed these waters. Henceforth there will be no death and barrenness. And it is so until this day. You know this day is not only the day when 2nd King was written. But this day is even today. If you go to Jericho today, you will find in Jericho there is only one fountain. One source of water. It was the very fountain that Elisha healed. When I was there over 10 years ago we went to that place. And we saw that water. That was the only water in that locality. So it was the water that Elisha healed. And even today women will come in groups to get water. And we saw these women coming. They came from a refugee camp. The Arab refugee camp nearby. But instead of putting a kind of earthen pot, you know, a pitcher on their head to draw water, they now use kerosene can. Everyone had a kerosene can on their head, you know, and they came to draw water. The water has been healed. And as you approach the city of Jericho, you find it is green everywhere. Green everywhere. Now brothers and sisters, what is the spiritual implication of the healing of the waters? You will find the water was healed by salt. You know salt is something that not only cures but also preserves. There is a power in salt to cure and to preserve. In the Old Testament all the sacrifices must be salted. You must put salt on the sacrifice when you offer it. And also you find God's covenant with the children of Israel say it is a covenant of salt. In other words, salt speaks of permanency. Salt speaks of unchangeableness. Therefore, salt in the scripture speaks of the eternal life. The life of God in Christ is represented by the salt. Now in Matthew we are told Christ says ye are the salt of the world. As if the disciples, they are the salt of the world. They are. But if you apply it very strictly, actually we are the salt of the world. Why? Because we have the life of Christ in us. He is the salt. We are the new cruise. The salt must not be put in the old cruise. There is no suitability there. The salt has to be contained in the new cruise. And the new cruise represents individually and corporately the church. The church is the new cruise, the new vessel. And we who are the Lord are the new cruise. Brothers and sisters, if we live in the old life, it is as if the salt is diluted to the point that it becomes favorless, saltless. And it will be useless. It will be cast away and be trodden under. But if we live in the newness of the Spirit, we are a new creation. And if we live in the newness of the Spirit, we are like a new cruise. And you will find the salt is there. But it has to be poured out. Are we willing to pour out, pour out the life of Christ in us? And as it is poured out, the water is filled. Brothers and sisters, here again you find it is the pouring out of life. But it is the pouring out of life upon the deadness and the barrenness of the old life. And here you find it heals it, transforms it. Not in the sense that the natural life is transformed into the spiritual life, but in the sense that the soul is being transformed. Why? Because Christ's life has come in to substitute self-life. It is the transformation. It is the transformation of our soul. And from then on you will find there is no more death, no more barrenness, but free. So brothers and sisters, here you find this is ministry. Ministry has a manward aspect. The manward aspect is when the salt in us is poured out, it cures. And it gives life. And it makes fruitful. Makes it fruitful. That's ministry. Then from there on you will finally move on to Bethel. Something very strange happened in Bethel. Now what is Bethel? Bethel is the house of God. The gate of heaven. It should be the most pleasant place. If Derrico came to Elisha to ask for help, certainly Bethel will open its door to Elisha. But strangely, as Elisha ascended to Bethel, some children came out. Now all most, well, some authority told us, actually the word there are not little boys or little children. The word there are teenagers. Young people. A group of young people came out to meet Elisha. And as this group of young people came out, they mocked Elisha. They ridiculed him. They said, go up, go ahead, go up, go ahead. And Elisha looked at them and cursed them in the name of the Lord. And to Sheba, Sheba came out of the forest and killed 42 of these youngsters. Bethel was originally the house of God. The gate of heaven. It was a place where God was worshipped. God rested among his people. It was a place where revelation was given from above. But you know, at the time of Elisha, something happened. When the nation of Israel were divided into two. The ten tribes formed a nation of Israel under King Jeroboam. But then the people of Israel, every year they still traveled to Jerusalem, to the temple to worship God. Because that was the place where the name of God was set. So when Jeroboam saw the situation, he had a separate kingdom now. But his people still went to Jerusalem to worship God. And if this thing should continue, sooner or later, his kingdom will be so weakened, the heart of the people will return to Judah and his kingdom will come to an end. So out of political consideration, he took a step. He made two golden towels. Set one in Bethel, set another one in Dan. And he made some people priests. Not Levites, but he made them priests. And he made a proclamation in his kingdom and said, you don't need to go to Jerusalem to worship God. We have Jehovah God here. You come to Bethel and worship. They even call the golden towel Jehovah. So you find in Bethel a counterfeit worship. Therefore when you read the book of Amos, in Amos chapter 4 verse 4, it says, go up, don't go up to Bethel and transgress. People went up to Bethel to transgress against God. So instead of being a pure worship, there was a controversy and evidently the false priests instigated, encouraged these young people to come out to meet the prophet, to prevent him from coming to the holy place. What did they say? They said, go up, go ahead, go up, go ahead. Now, if you know the typography of the place, of course, when Elijah went to Bethel, he had to go up. That is true. But that's not mocking. Now, Elijah might be a ball head, but that's not mocking. Why was this considered as mocking? They mocked Elijah and said, isn't your master Elijah went up? Why didn't you go with him? Your master Elijah went up, but you were left behind because you were not worthy. You couldn't go up. Why didn't you go? And said, ball head. Now, ball head, if you read Jeremiah, you will find it is a sign of mourning. When people mourn, they shave their hair. It's a sign of mourning. In other words, Elijah, you ought to be ashamed of yourself. How dare you come and try to be the prophet of God? You are not worthy. You have failed. So here you find the enemy tried to put on a false accusation upon Elijah. And Elijah, if he should accept that, his ministry would be finished. And dear brothers and sisters, isn't that true? Wherever God is building his house, the enemy tries to build side by side. It always happens that way. You know, in Matthew chapter 16, the Lord said, I will build my church upon this rock. And immediately he said, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. In other words, when the Lord is building his church, real, on the rock, the enemy is busy. All the gates of Hades will be open and try to attack, try to accuse, try to frustrate, try to discourage, try to destroy. But thank God, the Lord said, the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. Why? Because the gates of heaven is also open. So Elijah turned back. Instead of accepting the enemy's accusation, he stood with God and he cursed them in the name of Jehovah. In other words, he exercised authority over the enemy in the name of the Lord. And the enemy was vanquished. Brothers and sisters, this is authority that Christ has given to his church. The enemy is trying to discourage. Oftentimes the enemy tries to accuse us falsely. And you know, if we don't know the enemy and accept his false accusation, our ministry fails. How we need to stand on the ground that Christ is our right hand man. He never changes. We may fail, he never. How we need to overcome the enemy with the blood of the Lamb. With the word, testimony. Word of our testimony. And with love, not our life, even unto death. And that is what is meant, if two of you shall agree on earth, touching anything. If you bind on earth, it shall be bound in heaven. If you loose on earth, it shall be loosed in heaven. Why? Because there is a spiritual conflict there. Whenever God is building something real, the enemy always tries. He wants to set up his conflict. But we do not need to fear. The Lord has given us authority. And we need to claim the victory of Christ. The authority of Christ over all situations. And the enemy shall flee. So here you'll find ministry has not only a manward aspect. Real ministry always has an enemyward aspect. If it doesn't touch the enemy, something is not quite. Do you think you can minister really life to people and the enemy will just stand by? Never. If it is just an imparting of mind to mind, he doesn't need to be around. But if it is the imparting of life, and if it is the building of the house of God, the enemy cannot afford to stand by. There will be the spiritual conflict there. And often times it comes in the form of a false accusation. That's why the Bible says the brethren overcome him, the enemy, by the blood of the Lamb. We are not perfect. But thank God we have the blood. And because of the blood of the Lamb we have a testimony to others. He is Lord. We are fully committed to him. And the Lord is committed to us. This is the authority of the church. So this is battle. And then you'll find the circuit is what complete when Elijah came. But when he came to Gilgal, two things happened. You know Gilgal means rolled away. Because when the children of Israel came to Gilgal, they were circumcised. And the reproach of Egypt was rolled away. In other words Gilgal represents the subjective working of the cross unto death. But here you'll find Gilgal becomes a place of life and resurrection. Why? When Elijah came to Gilgal you'll find there was a drought standing there. Scarcity of food. And Elijah said set the pot. Boil the pot for the people to eat. And someone went out and saw a wild vine. And he gathered some gourd. You know. And they shredded the gourd into the pot to add some crust to the pot. But when they started to eat suddenly someone cried out there is death in the pot. They couldn't eat it. And Elijah said take some meal, flour. And he put the flour in the pot and he said take out and eat it. There is no more death. Life has swallowed up death. The meal represents Christ. Because in John chapter 12 we are told, verily, verily, I say unto you, unless a grain of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abides alone. But if it shall die, it will bear much fruit. It represents the life of Christ which is so pure, so fine, so balanced, so perfect. And that life swallows up death and poison. So you find here the cross has two sides. The cross has the side of death, putting to death, death negative. But the cross has the other side which is positive, life giving. So in the ministry of Elijah you find it is the cross in the life giving side. And not only giving life, but life more abundantly. Because then the second incident was someone came and gave Elijah plenty loaves, new loaves of barley and a few corns of yeast. And Elijah told his servant, lay it before the people and let them eat. And there were a hundred men there. So the attendant said, how could this little feed a hundred? Elijah said, do it. So they distributed and a hundred people ate and they were left over. It was just like our Lord using five loaves and two fishes to feed five thousand. And what is represented there is life more abundantly. Not only life giving, giving life, but it is life more abundantly. You have enough and left over. And that is always the case when a ministry is in life, is in life. There is always something. So brothers and sisters here you find in the return circuit the nature of ministry is demonstrated. So we can sum up and say a life with the Lord will produce a corresponding ministry to man. And that ministry will be a ministry of life, resurrection life, the life of Christ. Shall we pray? Our heavenly father, we do praise and thank you because thou has called us to ministries of various kinds. But the nature is the same. It is a ministry of life. It is a ministry of imparting life. Not our life, but thy life. Oh who is competent for this? We do praise and thank you. Our competency is of God. That we are made ministers of the new covenant. Not of letter, but of spirit. For the letter kills, but the spirit quickens. Oh we do praise and worship thee. We do ask thee Lord that every one of us here may have a life with thee. And thus a ministry we ask in thy precious name. Amen.