Rise Up

God requires some action from Us
As a minister or even as a Christian, it is hard to get the balance, or the true application of the word without the help of the Holy Spirit. The Bible is not so plain, and believe me it is not so simple, as many make out it is. It takes more than Hermeneutics principles to discern the meanings and applications of Scripture.
It take more than an intelligent mind, though it is helpful, it takes more than study though again this is helpful, and a very good principle….it takes God through the Holy Spirit to reveal the scripture.. Hallelujah. Remember when Jesus rejoiced in the spirit that the father had hidden these things from the wise and the prudent or intelligent, but revealed it to, babes or shall I say ignorant, unlearned, they did not have NVQ, or GCSE or degrees but God gave them spiritual insight.
So I will share the little I have come to Now and it is so little.
What is the balance…. One message says Wait on the Lord……The other says Go and God be with you as you go…. I have preached both with equal emphasis from scripture.
The best answer I can come up with is, that it depends on the season….Gods season.
For example in the winter season I wear a coat, it is suitable for that season… In the summer I do not wear a coat I wear a tee shirt. Does it mean the tee shirt is right or the Jacket is right…No it depends on the season.
I have said this to explain that there is a season to rise up and be busy, and there is a season to wait…and be still
And there is some truth in the fact that God helps those who help themselves.
Today I want to talk about rising up as an individual and as a church.
And I am going to use and Old Testament text, which I believes reveals the Gospel message, as well as a message to get into action.

II Kings 7:3-16

Following on from the introduction, we are not trying to discover a new principle, in prayer, Because you can never know or understand the almighty. He is too high for as the heavens are high above the earth the Lord said so are his thoughts above our thoughts.
We cannot say for sure if you do this he will do that, because he is sovereign he makes the rules and he can change them if it pleases him.
I have found that the best way to discern the will of God of course is through scripture as we are searching now, but what is even better is to ask him!
Nevertheless there is some information that I can share with you that will help.

To understand the scripture we have to look at the background and the setting in which this message comes.
Israel ( the ten tribes) is in Samaria, in their whole history they have not had one good king, God is coming to the end of his patience with them.
Jehoram is presently King.
Famine is in the Land……Extreme famine an asses head is being sold for 80 pieces of silver…not just Shekels of silver, worth around say £110 for an asses head, that is inflation of the worst kind. And to top it, doves pooh is sold for about £6 things are hard.
To top it A women comes with a complaint to the King, she wants Justice…she unravels the story.
My next door neighbor and I agreed to eat our children, she said we will eat yours first because yours is younger than mine, she said I agreed! The next day it was time to eat her one, and she refused.
The King could not take any more and blamed Elisha.
I do not wish to get too deep about why was he angry with Elisha, I will tell you why! He did not have the front too accuse God Like the sinner, so he blamed the closest thing and it was Elisha.
So many people are angry with the pastor or the prophet, but really they are angry with God for what is happening in their lives.
The scripture states my people are destroyed for the lack of knowledge.
If the King had searched the word he would have seen that they were experiencing as a nation the curse in Leviticus 26:27-29
The one credit I will give the king is that he was in fasting already, not many theologians pick up on this point, which caused the intervention of the Lord.
When the King tore his clothes he had sackcloth underneath, and he also inquired of the Prophet of God.
We can see now a tremendous message is unfolding
Elisha said hear the word of the lord by tomorrow the economy will change
You will by flour for about 50p
The next few verses will explain why or how, the economy was to be revived in Israel.
In verse three it opens up saying that their were four leprous men at the gate, possibly for reasons of begging as they were not allowed to enter the city.
They were at the lower end of the economy. Recession hit Israel so charitable institutions suffer.
And they sat there scratching themselves, as bits of skin was falling off, even body parts were affected.
What a Site
Something stirred them, the bible says Inspiration comes from the almighty.
They said to one another, if we sit here we will die, our fete is sealed.
Come let us arise, Let us attempt to get out of this situation
Hallelujah! We serve a big God
The bills are there, Rise up, I have no job Rise up, start looking, be active, my spiritual life is in a mess Rise up, the church is not moving, Rise up and get busy for God.
Stop complaining about where you are and what you are going through…God is bigger than your situation.
Arise and shine for thy light has come and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee.
When you move God will move, if you stay God will stay and wait until you rise in faith.
These for men had so many things to complain about, but chose to do something.
As they went into the camp of the Assyrians, their was a feast….Some people will call this message from famine to a feast.
Lets say their were about 100,000 Imagine the amount of provisions you would need to keep them fed.
There was chicken, their were goats, their was live cattle, cooked beef, chapattis, Mukimo, chips, Kentucky fried chicken, flour wheat, clothing, money, jewelry.
You do not know the kind of God we serve, he can do exceedingly abundantly above and beyond what we can ask or think. What are you asking for? Well expect greater!
I can imagine laughter, joy and revival is in the camp.
Gods grace to lepers, this story is also a gospel message, it is a prefigure a type.
They were enjoying the blessing but in verse 9
" this day is a day of good tidings( The Gospel) and we keep our peace….in other words let us share the good news
Are feasting in the lord, and I do not mean materially, but there is an overflowing peace, there is an abundance of joy, The infilling of the Holy Spirit, healing, deliverance, Gods assurance of provision.
I am convinced many cannot evangelize or testify because they are not feasting on the lord.
Rise up in your faith, rise up in your prayer life, rise up, in the Lord
Because this news is good news, tell someone about what you have in Jesus.

They rose up and shared it with the King and by the morning Elisha prophecy was fulfilled, flour was sold for 50p, the economy was in better shape than it was before.
Forget Gordon brown (Chancellor of the Exchequer) Jesus is our Chancellor, Jesus is our economist.
Things can turn around in one day when God is involved.

Maybe it is time for you to stop looking at the impossibilities and look to the God of "The what you cannot do."
800 yrs later Jesus meets ten lepers in roughly the same place Samaria…he tells them to go and as they went, they had to move, has the devil got you bound up like legion
Rise Up
There is a season to wait and be still, and there is a season to rise up and get into action.
As you move the Lord will move with you.