Sacrificial Generosity
Part 1

Sermon Notes - June 6, 2021

The Greatest Stories Rarely Told: Sacrificial Generosity - Part 1 (2 Kings 7) - Jon Furman

"There are stars seen in Egypt and Cyprus which are not seen in the northerly regions… this could only happen on a curved surface of no great size, for otherwise the effect of so slight a change of place would not be quickly apparent." - Aristotle

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.” 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 7:3-4 (NLT)

Now there were four men with leprosy sitting at the entrance of the city gates. “Why should we sit here waiting to die?” they asked each other. “We will starve if we stay here, but with the famine in the city, we will starve if we go back there. So we might as well go out and surrender to the Aramean army. If they let us live, so much the better. But if they kill us, we would have died anyway.”

2 Kings 7:5 (NLT)

So at twilight they set out for the camp of the Arameans. But when they came to the edge of the camp, no one was there!

2 Kings 7:6-7 (NLT)

For the Lord had caused the Aramean army to hear the clatter of speeding chariots and the galloping of horses and the sounds of a great army approaching. “The king of Israel has hired the Hittites and Egyptians to attack us!” they cried to one another. So they panicked and ran into the night, abandoning their tents, horses, donkeys, and everything else, as they fled for their lives.

2 Kings 7:8 (NLT)

When the men with leprosy arrived at the edge of the camp, they went into one tent after another, eating and drinking wine; and they carried off silver and gold and clothing and hid it.

2 Kings 7:9 (NLT)

Finally, they said to each other, “This is not right. This is a day of good news, and we aren’t sharing it with anyone! If we wait until morning, some calamity will certainly fall upon us. Come on, let’s go back and tell the people at the palace.”

2 Kings 7:10, 12 (NLT)

So they went back to the city and told the gatekeepers what had happened. “We went out to the Aramean camp,” they said, “and no one was there! The horses and donkeys were tethered and the tents were all in order, but there wasn’t a single person around!”… The king got out of bed in the middle of the night and told his officers, “I know what has happened. The Arameans know we are starving, so they have left their camp and have hidden in the fields. They are expecting us to leave the city, and then they will take us alive and capture the city.”

2 Kings 7:15-16 (NLT)

They went all the way to the Jordan River, following a trail of clothing and equipment that the Arameans had thrown away in their mad rush to escape. The scouts returned and told the king about it. 16 Then the people of Samaria rushed out and plundered the Aramean camp. So it was true that six quarts of choice flour were sold that day for one piece of silver, and twelve quarts of barley grain were sold for one piece of silver, just as the Lord had promised.

2 Kings 7:17 (NLT)

The king appointed his officer to control the traffic at the gate, but he was knocked down and trampled to death as the people rushed out.

Application Build Out:

• Enjoy What You Have

• Consider What Others Don’t Have

• Be Open Handed With ALL You Have