The Best Way to Go

Guest (Male): Be prepared to be impacted by the amazing life and death story of Elijah. As Dr. Michael Youssef begins this episode of Leading the Way audio.
Dr. Michael Youssef: As we looked at this series of messages entitled How God Works. We have seen in the life of this man how God works. We have seen how God hid Elijah in Cherith Brook. We have seen how God provided for Elijah supernaturally in the middle of the heart of Baal worshiping country. We have seen how God performed miracles in Zarephath. We have seen how God performed miracles on Mount Carmel. We have seen how God ministered to Elijah when he was depressed, when he was discouraged, when he wanted to die. God ministered to him at every need. And today we see God taking him home, taking him to the very presence of the Lord.
Guest (Male): Death sometimes speaks in the door suddenly, exchanging anticipated time with darkness and pain. And by God's grace, some experience a season of grace, offering a time for healthy good byes. Today on Leading the Way, go to the last days in Elijah's life. It's the final message in Dr. Youssef's series, How God Works. So let's get right to it. So Dr. Youssef has just as much time as possible for his message, The Best Way to Go.
Dr. Michael Youssef: I want to tell you that the scripture couldn't be clearer about the issue of life and death, heaven and hell. But in our anxiety to accommodate, in our anxiety to compromise, in our anxiety of not offending anybody, we have compromised these truths, these biblical doctrines that are as clear as the sunshine. So many of the surveys that are conducted in America among the population in general, the vast majority of people think that everybody when they die, they'll go to heaven. Now I want to tell you, I wish that was the case. I mean there is not a bone in my body that want to see anybody go to hell, but the truth is the truth and the truth is not everybody's going to heaven. This is a lie from the pit of hell that Satan delights to spread out in the population. Why? To keep people from turning to Christ, to keep people from turning to the lordship of Jesus Christ. He want to keep them going on their way to hell, and therefore he blinds them to that truth. So many of unbelievers out there are deceived in thinking that they can go to heaven without Jesus. Listen to me, read my lips. It is absolutely no, not, never. It's impossible that anyone will get to heaven without faith and surrender of one's life to the lordship of Jesus Christ. Regardless of your church affiliation, regardless of your family connection, regardless of your your head knowledge of what you know, regardless of your moral and ethical stand. You can only get to heaven if you have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. You only go to heaven when you come to the point in your life, when you acknowledge that I am born a sinner and I will die a sinner unless I recognize that Jesus paid for my penalty of my sin. In the life of this great man of God, Elijah, we're going to see today how he went straight up to heaven from earth. Why? Because he was a man who walked with God. He was a man who obeyed God. He was a man who trusted in God and in his word. He was a man who feared God with all of his heart. Despite of his temporary defeat, despite of his temporary depression, despite of his temporary discouragement, Elijah, like all of those who put their trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, was taken to eternal life in heaven. Elijah was a man who walked with God. And now it is time for him to be in the presence of the Lord. When the time came, God decided that Elijah, like Enoch, is going to go straight to heaven. He will not see an earthly grave, but he is transformed to a heavenly body on his way up. You see Paul said that this flesh cannot inherit the kingdom of God. Paul said this is a corruptible tent that we live in. And therefore it goes to the ground and rot just like the seed goes into the ground. You never see it anymore, but in heaven for the believers when you get up there, Jesus has a body that is prepared for you, a heavenly body, a body like the Lord Jesus Christ after the resurrection. A body that's free of pain, a body that's free of battles, a body that's free of agony, a body that's free. But God in his mercy and God in his grace, he did not allow Elijah or Enoch to rot in the ground. I want to tell you that tent came undone on his way up there and fell to the ground, symbolic of the mantle that fell off him. So he goes up to heaven. His corruptible body fell to the ground. Incorruptible body was prepared for him in heaven. His mortal body was literally dissolving as he was going up because he received an immortal body. This perishable gave way to the imperishable. As we looked at this series of messages entitled How God Works. We have seen in the life of this man how God works. We have seen how God hid Elijah in Cherith Brook. We have seen how God provided for Elijah supernaturally in the middle of the heart of Baal worshiping country. We have seen how God performed miracles in Zarephath. We have seen how God performed miracles on Mount Carmel. We have seen how God ministered to Elijah when he was depressed, when he was discouraged, when he wanted to die. God ministered to him at every need. And then we have seen how God restored him to a ministry to the even the next generation of Israelite kings. And today we see God taking him home, taking him to the very presence of the Lord. Turn with me if you haven't already to 2 Kings chapter 2. Elijah has been given a word from the Lord. And now he said it's a matter of hours before he's going to be propelled into the presence of God. But before that, he goes into a missionary journey. He goes out and he visits three seminaries that he has helped found. Three Bible schools in three different cities where the sons of the prophets, these are all students of Elijah. He goes over there and he says good bye to every one of them before he takes off and goes into the presence of God. Elisha, his understudy. Elisha, his disciple. Elisha, who's his heir apparent, would not leave him. He goes with him wherever he goes. Every time they go to town, he said look you stay here. He said no sir, I'm going with you. He said no you stay here. He said no I am going with you and these towns that Elijah has visited with Elisha in tow have significance within them. And in the sequence in which he visited them, I want you to listen very carefully, mark them in your Bible because they are important. They are the three stages in which every believer goes through. First, in verse one, he went to Gilgal. From Joshua chapter 4, we know what Gilgal is. Gilgal represented the place of beginning. Gilgal represented the place of security and safety. Gilgal represented the place of communion and sharing with God. Gilgal represented the place of preparation. And in Joshua chapter 4, Gilgal became engraved in every mind of every Jew. You say why? Because there Joshua piled up 12 stones representing the 12 tribes of Israel. And he said to them, he said in the future when your descendants ask you and say what are these stones stand for? He said tell them that this is where God dried up the river Jordan in order that God's people may cross over and go to the promised land. Gilgal is a symbol of preparation. And there Elijah was remembering the beginning of his obedience to the Lord God. It's the time when God gave him a challenge and he said get up and go to Ahab. And he said yes Lord. That is the symbol of his preparation. It's the symbol of his obedience to the Lord when he called him initially. From Gilgal he goes to Bethel. Mark it again. Elisha close on his heel. Bethel is a place of altars. Bethel means the house of God. Abraham when he came out of Egypt in repentance and turned back to God after he lied in Egypt, he offered a sacrifice in Bethel. Jacob offered a sacrifice in Bethel. Bethel is the place of heart searching. Bethel is the place of self examination. Bethel is the place of putting whatever is precious to your heart, whatever you're holding on to, whatever you're clinging on to. And God says that whatever that is, God wants you to put that on his altar. That is Bethel. Let me ask you this. What is it that God has been saying to you? Put that on the altar for me. Put that in the altar for me. Not because God wants it or God needs it, but because you do. From Gilgal to Bethel to Jericho. Jericho represented battles. For there Joshua led the people of God into a supernatural victory when they shouted and God got the walls to fall down. Jericho is the place where God supernaturally gave victory in battle. And there Elijah stood there and he remembered. He remembered his battle in his own life. He remembered the battles with the prophets of Baal. He remembered the battle with Jezebel and with Ahab. He remembered the battle of discouragement, the battle of depression, and the battle of despondency. He remembered the battle of injustice that took place when Naboth the Jezreelite was killed for no reason except greed. And there he remembered the battles. And I guarantee you in my own heart, I'm convinced Elijah saying I am so glad the battle is over. Gilgal into Bethel into Jericho and into Jordan, the departure point. Some of you are in the place of beginning. Some of you in Gilgal. Some of you in the beginning in your Christian walk. Some of you have begun your process of sanctification. You are symbolically speaking in Gilgal right now. Then others of you are making your way into Bethel. And there you're building an altar for God. And there you're hearing the voice of God telling you to sacrifice. There you're hearing the voice of God and saying the reason you feel that there's dryness in your Christian walk, the reason you feel that heaven is like iron and the earth is like brass is because you're not obeying me and sacrificing in Bethel. That sacrifice might be a torn home. That sacrifice might be a broken romance. And that sacrifice might be a shattered dream. That sacrifice might be a lost job or a lost career. That sacrifice might be a loss of a loved one. Whatever it is, hand it over to the Lord. Don't ever ever ever ever forget that when you are standing there at Bethel offering your sacrifice, God is doing his work in your life. But then there's some of you who already been to Gilgal and you been to Bethel and now you are in Jericho. You have known even the places of victory in battle and after battle. It may have been a battle in your own home and God gave you victory. It may have been a battle of your son or your daughter who turned away from the Lord and God brought them supernaturally to the kingdom. It may have been a battle through where you have wrestled in doubt and you have wrestled in fear with God, that you have wrestled with unbelief and disbelief. And now you've made it across the river. It may have been a battle in prayer where God is telling you to spend time with him. It may be a battle of sensuality. Whatever it is, the battle, whatever Jericho you're in, God, if he has given you victory in the past, you know what he wants to give you victory again. And he wants you to look back at the past victory and know that the one who gave you that victory in that day wants to give it to you again. I want you to notice that Elijah wanted to go and walk in these places alone. You remember back after Mount Carmel, he was so discouraged. He got to Beersheba and he put his other his servant, the one before Elisha, and he said to him, he said you stay here and I'm going to go alone. And when he got there alone, he said to God take my life. He was so discouraged, he was so despondent. Remember I told you that had the servant been there, Elijah probably would not have been discouraged because this young man would have reminded him of the goodness of God. And here again he wants to do it alone. But Elisha, God bless him. Elisha would not let him go alone. Elisha out of sense of love and out of sense of loyalty and out of sense of commitment, out of sense of devotion, he would not let him walk there alone. Such friendship and such commitment, such devotion is very rare indeed, but it is also blessed indeed. For later on you're going to see how Elisha received double portion of Elijah's spirit. Let me stop here for a moment and tell you this. If you have one person who walks with you into Gilgal, who walks with you into Bethel, he walks with you into Jericho, you are blessed indeed. But if you don't listen to me please, I would urge you to take time to cultivate a person who would walk with you, not only to Gilgal, not only to Bethel, not only to Jericho, but all the way to Jordan. A man should choose a man and a woman chooses a woman. When they got to the Jordan, the point of departure as the gust of wind began to blow, Elijah's mantle falls and Elisha picks it up. And with the departing moment came Elijah, the mentor. Elijah, the disciple turns to his disciple Elisha and he says, what can I do for you? What can I do for you? What are you going to ask me? You know I love Elisha's boldness. I really really do. I just love it. I have been praying for God to give me such boldness. You know his attitude could have been oh shucks, I don't need anything. I'm not worthy to receive anything. But he didn't do that. Look at his response. He said I want a double portion of your spirit. Praise the Lord. Now this language is very familiar to the Old Testament. The older son receives double portion of his father's inheritance. Why? Because he is supposed to take care of his mother at the widow, and he's supposed to take care of the little ones. But he received double portion. And therefore that's not a strange thinking when Elisha said to Elijah, give me a double portion of your spirit. He knew exactly what he was asking. It wasn't an easy thing, but he got it. If the Lord Jesus Christ will start walking, come and sit next to you and he says to you, call you by name. He says what can I do for you? What is it that you're asking of me? What would you ask for? What would you say? Think about this for a long, long time. Elisha could have asked for power to call down fire from heaven. But he didn't ask for that. He could have said give me power to raise the son of widows. But he didn't ask for that. This wise man of God, he asked for the spirit of God that dwelt in Elijah to dwell in him. And he asked for the spirit of God in abundance. James tells us that you have not because you ask not. And when you ask, you ask wrongly. I believe that that when it comes to God's work, when it comes to God's glory, God wants us to ask for big things. God expects us to come to him and ask for an ocean. But instead we go to God and we bring him a symbol. And God says why a symbol? I want to bless you. I want to use you. God wants you to come to him at times and ask for a mountain. And we come to him and ask for more hill. When you read on the life of Elisha, you're going to discover that God answered his prayer exactly, specifically for Elijah performed four miracles. But Elisha performed eight. What a great God we have. Dare to ask God for big things. Dare to ask God for great things. Dare to ask God for mighty things. He wants to do it. It is your lack of faith that's stopping it from coming through. You know when it comes to the work of God, when it comes to the kingdom of God, when it comes to salvation of souls, when it comes to equipping of the saints, when it comes to impacting the world for Jesus Christ, I want to tell you I am the first among the naming and the claiming it. There's something struck me as I was working my way through this passage when Elijah was privileged to be lifted up on the way to heaven. The Lord Jesus Christ himself after the resurrection and spending time with his disciples, he was ascended into heaven. This is a series entitled How God Works. But notice how in both cases the witnesses were personal disciples, not the large crowds. Listen, if I was entrusted to stage Elijah's going up in a whirlwind man alive, I wanted to bring the Israelite's royal family there. I would have wanted to bring the leftover prophets of Baal there. I mean I want to bring everybody there and I want to say see. But thank God this is not serious about how Michael Youssef works, but how God works. If I was in charge of staging the Lord Jesus Christ's ascension into heaven man, I tell you I would want to have some people there. I want to have Pontius Pilate there and especially I want his wife there. You know why? Because I knew she's going to turn to him and says I told you so. I would want to have Caiaphas the high priest there. I would want the Roman soldiers who nailed him to the cross there. I would want the crowd who said give us Barabbas. I want them to be there. But God didn't work that way. God does not work this way. These moments were reserved only for the eyes of faith. These moments were reserved only for those who determined to live by faith and walk by faith and not by sight. I want you also to notice that when Elijah was taken up to heaven, his mantle spirit fell on one man, Elisha. Oh but when the Lord Jesus Christ was ascended to heaven, the Bible said he gave the gift of the Holy Spirit to all who desire it. I want to end the series of messages what I have began this message. Namely that if you truly desire heaven in the hereafter, you have to walk with God in the here and now. Jesus said only the father knows the hour. And I live every day as Jesus will come back today. But here's the question. If you were to die and you go and face the Lord Jesus Christ, what would you say to him? If you look in his eyes, the one who died for you, the one who paid the price of your sin and saved you and redeemed you, what will you say? Now if your answer is I'm not sure I'm going to heaven, you can be sure today. Just take God at his word. That's all I'm asking you to do. But if you have known the Lord Jesus Christ and you have walked with him, what would you say when you see him eye to eye? Would you say I'm sorry Lord, I was indifferent. I'm sorry I was cold. I am sorry I was busy. I'm sorry I didn't realize your kingdom needed me. I'm sorry. Will you apologize for all these things or would you say Lord God, I've given you my all. The word of God tells us that there's not a single member in the body of Christ that is not important to him and to his work and to his kingdom. We all offer different gifts, but each of us can offer something. Could you say oh Jesus, I have given you my all. May that be the prayer of my heart and your heart today.
Guest (Male): What will you say to Jesus with your first full breath in heaven? Maybe talking about Elijah's last moments brought some questions to mind. Questions about your own eternity. Well Dr. Michael Youssef and the team at Leading the Way are ready to make conversations with a pastor or a counselor possible for you. Connect today. Begin your conversation. Start at ltw.org/jesus.
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