An Ordinary Body to Change the Future
Isa 64:1a. Oh, that You would rend the heavens! That You would come down!
2 Kings 7:1–2 (NLT)
Elisha replied, “Listen to this message from the Lord! This is what the Lord says:
By this time tomorrow in the markets of Samaria,
six quarts of choice flour will cost only one piece of silver, and
twelve quarts of barley grain will cost only one piece of silver.”
2 The officer assisting the king said to the man of God,
“That couldn’t happen even if the Lord opened the windows of heaven!”
But Elisha replied, “You will see it happen with your own eyes, but you won’t be able to eat any of it!”
2 Kings 6:25
As a result (of Syria besieging Samaria), there was a great famine in the city.
The siege lasted so long that a donkey’s head sold for eighty pieces of silver,
and a cup of dove’s dung sold for five pieces of silver.
Women resorted to cannibalism – boiling & eating their babies
Drives the king into Shock & Mourning
There was a turnaround that happened – all in a matter of 24 hours
I want us to look at & consider how it happened
Look at who God uses:
3 Now there were four men who were lepers at the entrance to the gate.
outside the city; outcast & overlooked
Life had been unfair to them – disadvantaged physically & socially
And they said to one another, “Why are we sitting here until we die?
4 If we say, ‘Let us enter the city,’ the famine is in the city, and we shall die there. And if we sit here, we die also. So now come, let us go over to the camp of the Syrians. If they spare our lives we shall live, and if they kill us we shall but die.”
5 So they arose at twilight to go to the camp of the Syrians. But when they came to the edge of the camp of the Syrians, behold, there was no one there. 6 For the Lord had made the army of the Syrians hear the sound of chariots and of horses, the sound of a great army, so that they said to one another, “Behold, the king of Israel has hired against us the kings of the Hittites and the kings of Egypt to come against us.”
7 So they fled away in the twilight and abandoned their tents, their horses, and their donkeys, leaving the camp as it was, and fled for their lives.
8 And when these lepers came to the edge of the camp, they went into a tent and ate and drank, and they carried off silver and gold and clothing and went and hid them. Then they came back and entered another tent and carried off things from it and went and hid them.
9 Then they said to one another, “We are not doing right. This day is a day of good news. If we are silent and wait until the morning light, punishment will overtake us. Now therefore come; let us go and tell the king’s household.”
These Nobodies saved people’s lives & changed the future!
1. Made a Decision – the status quo was not working
2. Got up – moved
Enemy didn’t move until they moved
3. Took Risk
4. Unselfish – God didn’t have to open a window in heaven
Great People are regular people who get tired of things the way they are and give of themselves to make the future better
Look at how Jesus builds His Church
· He chooses ordinary people
12 guys outside of the system
· He gives a revelation of who He is
· He gives keys – to an ordinary fisherman
Then He makes them part of the building process
Name indicates our uniqueness – Ecclesia
Whenever God wants to accomplish something in the earth,
He looks for _____Body – somebody, anybody, nobodies
Heb 10:5-7
Therefore, when He came into the world, He said:
"Sacrifice and offering You did not desire, but a body You have prepared for Me.
6 In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin You had no pleasure. 7 Then I said, 'Behold,
I have come – in the volume of the book it is written of Me – To do Your will, O God.'"
God doesn’t have to open a window in heaven
We don’t have to pray that God will “rend the heavens and come down”
We are here
Disadvantaged, scarred, excluded, ugly, shamed, scared
I have keys
When Jesus was baptized, the heavens opened & the Spirit descended
“Angels ascending & descending”
Acts 2 , after Jesus left, Heaven opened over ordinary any-bodies “Galileans”?
Our Body became the Temple of the Holy Spirit – 1 Cor 6:19
We receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon us. – Acts 1:8
He gives us keys…
Explain “Authority” – Badge
We can bind & loose, open & close – Heaven Opens & Closes
Abundant Grace Fellowship
Made up of ordinary people
4 unnamed lepers saved a nation – You can Change the Future!
1. Make a Decision – aren’t you tired?
We want things to change but we won’t do anything different
2. Get up – Enemy won’t move until you move
3. Take a Risk – challenge yourself
4. Be Unselfish – one another
5. Use your Keys – Create our Future
finance, health, relationships