Big Faith in a Dynamite God

Van Savener used to say, if we serve such a dynamite God, then how come so many of us are living firecracker lives? There's a lot of truth in that statement, friends, and my message today is on faith. Jesus was continually looking for faith among his disciples. He sovereignly placed them in difficult and trying circumstances.

And when these grown men began to cry like little girls, he would reprove them by saying, oh ye of little faith, or where is your faith? He was always trying to build faith in his disciples. And in Luke's gospel, Jesus declared, nevertheless, when the Son of Man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth. I believe that God is looking for faith.

God has always looked for faith in his people. There were dire consequences to those who had unbelief. The title of my message today, friends, is A Big Faith in a Dynamite God.

And we will be in the book of 2 Kings. You can turn your Bibles there now, friends. We're going to peer into the life of Elisha.

It's common for preachers to pronounce Elisha like Elijah and say, Elijah said to Elijah. And it's confusing. You think he's talking to himself.

I'll try and enunciate a little better for you today, friends, and put the emphasis on the shah, Elisha. I love reading about the powerful ministries of Elijah and Elisha. I don't believe God stopped doing miracles when the Bible was finished.

I believe that the God of the Bible still works miracles today. Why, I could give you instance after instance, line upon line, in my own life where this is true, where I have seen a dynamite God do dynamite things that many folks wouldn't even believe if I told you. I believe the same God that made the iron swim can make it swim today if He needed to.

Why not? He made the river, and He made the iron, and He made it float. Some folks just don't believe in the miracles of the Bible, but I sure do. I like what Sam Jones said.

Why, I'd believe that Jonah swallowed the whale if my Bible told me so. I believe we miss out on ministry by not having a bigger faith. We limit God by our own unbelief.

Do you believe that, friend? Well, we must make some assumptions to what entails having a big faith in a dynamite God. First, to have a big faith means you must have a close walk with God. When you have a close walk with God, you see what others cannot, as in the passage in 2 Kings 6, beginning in verse 15, where Elisha has to deal with the unbelief of his servant.

We read in verses 15 through 17. And when the servant of the man of God was risen early and gone forth, behold, a host compassed the city, both with horses and chariots. And his servant said unto him, Alas, my master, how shall we do? And he answered, Fear not, for they that be with us are more than they that be with them.

And Elisha prayed and said, Well, you know what he said, friend. He said, Open up his eyes. And while the whole mountain was full of chariots and horses, if you continue to look at that passage, so we see that having a big faith requires a close walk with God to see what others cannot.

I'll give you an example, friends. My friend, Richard Owen Roberts, who is now 91 years old, he and I have been mystified for years. Whenever we talk about revival and the need of the church, we're mystified at how many pastors are blind to the current situation in the churches and the land.

They just don't see the danger of the desperate crisis that the church in America is in, in the great need of repentance, reformation, and revival. He and I will have deep conversations about what else can we possibly do to wake up the sleeping church in America at this desperate hour. We scratch our heads and we preach more sermons on revival.

We write more books on revival. And we pray more earnestly for revival. But only God Himself can give grace and make the blind to see.

So a close walk with God will allow you to see what others cannot. Also, having a big faith in a dynamite God requires a life of prayer. Notice when Elisha is in a jam, the text says, and Elisha prayed.

You must be a person of prayer with a vital prayer life to be in on what God is doing. Prayer is hard work. Prayer is intercession.

A wrestling with God over the things that break the heart of God. A vital prayer life comes with a cost, a sacrifice. I got rid of my television back in 2012.

I haven't had one since. I've given that time. I used to watch TV, and I gave it to God in prayer and Bible study.

Listen to how I was influenced to this very thing. A perfect example of what I'm speaking about is seen in the life of David Wilkerson. One day, I was rereading David Wilkerson's book, The Cross and the Switchblade.

I was impressed by a facet in Wilkerson's life. Early in his ministry, he was a country pastor who spent the hours of midnight to 2 a.m. watching television to unwind and relax. One evening, God challenged Wilkerson to give that time to him.

Oh, Wilkerson sold his TV and never replaced it. From that point forward, he gave God midnight to 2 a.m. in prayer. And it was during this time that God called Wilkerson to New York City to minister among teen gang members, eventually starting Teen Challenge and seeing God transform the lives of these troubled teenagers.

I realized that God did not reveal this wider ministry opportunity to Wilkerson until he chose to go deeper with God in a sacrificial daily quiet time. I had maintained a daily regular quiet time for many years myself, but I realized that my time with the Lord was missing something. There was no sacrifice attending it, and the God of the Bible delights in sacrifice, for He sacrificed His only begotten Son for sinful man.

After reading Wilkerson's story, I made a covenant with God to rise at 4.30 a.m. and give God the first hour and a half of each day walking with Him. Why, it's amazing, friends, how God honored that time all those years until recently I had a heart attack and I had to adjust my morning devotional time because I just don't sleep through the night anymore. But I found that God is faithful to those who are willing to go deeper with Him in a vital love relationship with Him.

Oh, what cost counts and what counts costs. Having a big faith in a dynamite God is an exciting adventure that I wouldn't have missed for all the tea in China. I want us to turn to our main passage of our scripture today, friends, which is found in 2 Kings 13, beginning in verse 14.

For here it describes in detail just what I'm talking about today in regard to having a big faith. We will be in verses 14 to 19. And pay attention, friends, because this passage can literally transform your own faith.

Here now is the Word of God. And may the Spirit of the Lord attend the reading of His holy Word. Now Elisha was fallen sick of his sickness, whereof he died.

And Joash the king of Israel came down unto him and wept over his face and said, O my father, my father, the chariots of Israel and the horsemen thereof. And Elisha said unto him, Take bow and arrows. And he took unto him bows and arrows.

And he said to the king of Israel, Put thine hand upon the bow. And he put his hand upon it. And Elisha put his hands upon the king's hands.

And he said, Open the window eastward. And he opened it. Then Elisha said, Shoot.

And he shot. And he said, The arrow of the Lord's deliverance and the arrow of deliverance of Syria. For thou shalt smite the Syrians in Apec till thou hast consumed them.

And he said, Take the arrows. And he took them. And he said unto the king of Israel, Smite upon the ground.

And he smote thrice and stayed. And the man of God was wroth with him and said, Thou shouldest have smitten five or six times. Then hadst thou smitten Syria till thou hadst consumed it.

Whereas now thou shalt smite but thrice. I will stop there, friends. This good king had a weak faith.

And it cost him dearly. Elisha saw what others could not. Because Elisha was a man of prayer.

And a man of big faith. And a dynamite God. Who could do super-duper things.

When Joash was the king. And a God-appointed leader of Israel. He only smote the ground three times.

And it limited what God could do. Not only in his life. But in the entire life of the nation.

How about you, brother pastor? Are you limiting God by your little faith? Is it affecting not only your ministry. Not only your congregation. But your entire community.

Why, I saw a church experience revival. And they had such a big faith. That not only transformed that life of the church.

It transformed the entire life of their community. When they got on fire for God. It so changed their prayer lives.

They began to stay in the sanctuary. Each night until midnight. Crying out to God.

For the sins of the land. Interceding for the lost and perishing. In their community.

And in their families. And God began to work. They began to have prayer walks.

Where they would go two by two. And a group of hundred at a time. And it chokes me up to even talk about it.

Because so few are doing it. But hear me friends. They would canvas the surrounding neighborhoods.

And saturate them in prayer. They saturated those families in prayer. Finally, this congregation got so on fire for God.

That they wanted to make a difference in their community for Christ. So they sacrificially dug deep. They sacrificially pooled their life savings.

And purchased the local abortion clinic. And turned it into a Bible bookstore. How big is your faith friend? How many times are you willing to strike the ground? In a big faith.

In a dynamite God. Who can do big things. But let us pray.