I'm going to take your Bibles and ask you to turn with me to the book of 2 Kings. 2 Kings. I'm going to look at a few passages, this one out of 2 Kings and then one out of 1 Kings, just a few pages back. But I'd like to preach this morning for a few minutes on the subject of a God-called preacher. God-called preacher. The verses that I feel that I must deal with this evening or this morning I believe I've been instructed by the Lord to go to this passage of scripture. And this scripture deals with all men called of the Lord to preach to pastor. And so as we look at this, Let's realize the necessity of hearing what does God have to say? What does the Lord have to say? I know someone would think that's so needless to be said. No, it's not. You'd be surprised how this world is ever thinking to itself, it doesn't matter what God had to say.

I was at a place a few years ago, preaching out of Romans 9. And after I preached out of Romans 9, it was made known to me, don't ever come back. A statement was made by someone in that congregation. He said, well, what are you upset about? He said, well, he said this out of Romans 9. This person told him, said no. He just repeated what God said. And that's needful. That's needful.

What does the Lord have to say? Now, we're going to deal with this passage of scripture, and keep it in our minds. This is what the Lord has to say about men that he calls to preach the gospel. 2 Kings, I'm going to read, first of all, I'm going to read the first eight verses out of 2 Kings 2. This is what the Spirit of God has to say. 2 Kings 2.

Verse 1, it came to pass when the Lord would take up Elijah into heaven by a whirlwind that Elijah went with Elisha from Gilgal. And Elisha said unto Elisha, tarry here, I pray thee, for the Lord has sent me to Bethel. And Elisha said unto him, as the Lord liveth, And as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee.

So they went down to Bethel. And the sons of the prophets that were at Bethel came forth to Elisha and said unto him, knowest thou that the Lord will take away thy master from thy head today? And he said, yea, I know it. Hold ye your peace. said unto Elisha, tarry here, I pray thee, for the Lord has sent me to Jericho. And he said, as the Lord liveth, as our soul liveth, I will not leave thee. So they went to Jericho, and the sons of the prophets were at Jericho, came to Elisha, and said unto him, knowest thou that the Lord will take away thy master from thy head today? And he answered, yea, I know it. Told ye your peace. And Elijah said unto him, Terry, I pray thee here, for the Lord has sent me to Jericho, I mean to Jordan. And he said, as the Lord liveth, as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee.

And they too went on. And 50 men of the sons of the prophets went and stood to view afar off They too stood by Jordan and Elijah took his mantle and wrapped it together and smoked the waters and they were divided hither thither so that they too went over on dry ground. Now, Elisha was a man called of God to take the place of Elijah God's prophet. Elijah was God's prophet.

And God was going to take him. He was going to take him home. And the Lord speaking to Elijah in 1 Kings, I want you to just turn a few pages back. In 1 Kings chapter 19, look at verses 15, 16. And the Lord said unto him, Go return on thy way to the wilderness of Damascus.

And when thou comest, anoint Hazael to be king over Syria. And Jehu, the son of Nimshi, shalt thou anoint to be king over Israel, and Elisha, the son of Saphat of Abelmidola shalt thou anoint to be a prophet in thy room. And it shall come to pass that him that escapeth to the sword of Hazael shall Jehu slay, and him that escapeth from the sword of Jehu shall Elisha slay.

Now, the Lord is going to send a man to take the place of his prophet. And the Lord is going to qualify that man that is going to be sent to take the place of Elijah. And so here we see the result of what the Lord had instructed Elijah to do. In 1 Kings 19, where we just were, let's look at verses 19 to 21. 1 Kings 19 verse 19 to 21.

So he, that is Elijah, departed thence and found Elisha the son of Saphat who was plowing with 12 yoke of oxen before him. And he passed before and Elijah passed by him and cast his mantle upon him. And he left the oxen, that is, Elisha. He left the oxen and ran after Elijah and said, let me, I pray thee, kiss my father, my mother, then I will follow thee. And he said unto him, go back again, for what have I done to thee? And he returned back, he returned back from him and took the yoke of oxen, slew them, boiled their flesh with the instruments of the oxen, and gave unto the people. They did eat. Then he arose and went after Elijah and ministered unto him."

Now here, we're going to see God is going to replace his prophet. He's going to replace him with a man called Elijah. And I want us to look. for just a few minutes at four signs, four signs of a man that God has called to preach the gospel. Four signs in this place right here, it's going to be a prophet, but this is going to apply to every man that God calls to preach the gospel of God's free grace.

Every man, God does not call women to preach the gospel. I don't care. I don't care what people say, you know, about, you know, women preachers. The scriptures forbids it. So, therefore, I'm going to boldly say it. Does God call women to be preachers? The answer is no. No. Therefore, now, I want to look at four signs of a God-called preacher. Four signs. It's going to be fine. I'm going to find them out of 2 Kings 2.

First of all, God chooses the place, the time, and the vessel through which his gospel is going to be proclaimed. God chooses the place, he chooses the time, and he chooses the vessel. Man is not going to have anything in which to boast. Elijah and Elisha through which the gospel is going to be preached. The scripture says, here was the place back in 2 Kings chapter 2, verse 2, and it came to pass when the Lord would take Elijah into heaven by a whirlwind that Elijah went with Elisha from Gilgal. Now, the Lord chose a place.

He was going to send his prophet to Gilgal. I looked up that word, Gilgal, just found out. What does it mean? You know, that intrigued me. He's going to send him to Gilgal. And the word Gilgal, it's a city, but it means a wheel or a rolling away. That was the place where this prophet was going to be sent. He's going to be sent to a place where Almighty God is going to proclaim in type how the sins of his people are rolled away, are put away through the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. These people must hear the gospel, but God Almighty chooses those to whom the gospel is sent. Now, I know what the natural mind thinks. Well, that just doesn't seem fair to me. Brethren, we have no right.

Who art thou? The scripture says. Who art thou? That replies against God. Who are we to question what God does? It doesn't matter. what men think. What does the Lord have to say? So here's what I know. Based on that scripture, it came to pass when the Lord would take up Elijah into heaven that Elijah went with Elisha.

Who chose those two men? God did. God chose them. And he was right in choosing them because he did it. He did that which was right and good. So whenever the Lord is going to send a man to preach the gospel, God's gonna choose that man. I remember when I was coming up, and I understand this. I'm gonna tell you what it was, but I get it. There's a sense in which, when I was in false religion, We were gonna need a pastor, and so they sent out a pulpit committee. And I understand it. I understand it. I get it.

But that's not the way God does it. That's not the way God does it. I'm gonna probably end up using what happened to me in this message, so you can get where I'm going. I did not choose to come to Katy. I didn't choose this. This is not where I had it in my mind that I was going to be.

I did not know until after I was here that Glenn told me that whenever I came to this place invited to come here, Scott invited me. But I thought he had invited a lot of people. I thought he invited many men to come and preach here. And Glenn told me, no. He said, you were the only one. I didn't know that until after Scott was gone. But that made such an impression on me that here was a man that was sensitive enough to the leadership of God's spirit that he did exactly what he was instructed to do by the spirit of God. I didn't realize it, but that taught me something.

God chooses those men that he permits, let me say it like that, to preach the gospel. This is such a precious thing. But here's the second thing that I learned from this passage of scripture. The Lord is going to prove every vessel, of his calling. God's going to prove him. He's going to prove him not to the Lord. The Lord knows what he's going to do. But he's going to prove it to the man that he calls and he's going to prove it to those people to whom the man is sent. God's going to prove it. How gracious is that? That Almighty God would do that. Every place that Elijah and Elisha went. Elijah was directed by the Spirit of God.

I know this because all things that come to pass are ordered by the Lord. Everything, everything. You can't think of anything that's not ordered by the Lord. I don't care If it's a leaf falling, I don't care what it is, a raindrop hitting on a window at a particular place, God ordered it. That comforts me to know that the Lord orders, but God's going to prove that what he has done has been his will. He's going to prove it to the people and to the preacher himself, he's going to prove it. Whenever Elisha was sent by Elijah to go and preach to those in Gilgal, the scripture says that Elisha was proven. Let me show you out of the passage. Look at verse 2.

Chapter 2, verse 2. And Elijah said unto Elisha, Tarry here, I pray thee, for the Lord has sent me to Bethel. And Elisha said unto him, As the Lord liveth, as I so liveth, I will not leave thee. So they went down together. Look at verse four. And Elijah said unto him, after they went to the next place, Tarry ye here, tarry here, I pray thee, for the Lord has sent me to Jericho. Look at verse 6.

And Elisha said unto him, when he went to the next place, Terry, I pray thee here, for the Lord has sent me to Jordan. Every place that Elisha was sent, Elijah had just told him, now you stay here. I'm going there, but you stay right here. I want you to realize something.

All those that God calls are going to hear the word of the Lord and they will obey. God's going to give them a heart to obey. God will deal with them if they don't at first, but they will obey. Those people that the Lord calls He's going to prove them.

Stay here. Stay here. Whenever Henry was called by the Lord, whenever Scott was called by the Lord, these were two men that I thought about. They're going to be proven. They were proven to be God's preachers. Every one of them. They're just two men that I thought of. but they were proven to be the Lord's men. And how were they proven? How were they proven? God put them through a lot of adversity. Henry had two kids that the Lord took, one of them in Vietnam, the other he took Becky with cancer.

He said one of his sons sat under the gospel, just like the other kids did, has no interest in the truth. Can you imagine how hard that is? I mean, you that have kids that don't know the Lord, does that not break your heart? It's the hardest thing, because you know in your heart, if the Lord doesn't call them, save them, you know what's going to happen.

But these men that God called to preach the gospel, every one of them, the Lord is going to prove them. He's going to prove them to be His. But here's the third thing I know. All that the Lord has chosen and called by the Lord, they're going to endure. They're going to stay. He that endureth to the end shall be saved.

I used to think to myself, I want to make it my business to make sure I stay in church, you know, so I can be saved. The Lord didn't say those that stay in church are going to be saved. There's a lot of people that's in church. People come to church.

Those that endure in the truth of the gospel of Christ, those that endure in the gospel, they shall be saved. Those that endure casting themselves upon the mercy of God, they're going to be saved. The Lord is going to save them. All that are chosen and called by the Lord, they're going to endure.

I just read a scripture, you know, whenever Elijah called Elisha and he told him, he said, you stay here. You stay here. I'm going there. You stay here. What did Elisha say? As the Lord lives and as you live, I'm not leaving. I'm not leaving you. I am not leaving you. I'm not going away. I'm not going to let you go away without me. Every place we went, Jordan, Jericho, Gilgal, you stay here. I'm going there. Well, if you're going there, I'm going with you. I'm not leaving.

I know that the Lord is going to call His people. I know that He's going to try His people. I know it. And I know this based on the Word of God. They're going to endure. They're going to stay. Well, what if they don't? What if they don't? They went out from us because why? They were not of us. For if they had been of us, surely they would have stayed. They would have stayed. Why? Because God kept them. That's the only reason they stayed. It wasn't because they were superhuman. It wasn't because they were mighty men. No. God kept them by power and grace and mercy. They're not going to leave. You that know him, let me ask you this.

What would you do if the gospel wasn't here? If God didn't send a preacher, what would you do? You'd do everything in the world you could to hear the gospel. That's why I'm so thankful when the Lord was pleased to send me the blessing to give me a stroke. And believe me when I tell you it was a blessing. What a blessing. What a blessing it was to see that you did everything you could to continue to hear the gospel.

Whatever you had to do, whatever you had to do, you're going to hear the gospel. You're going to hear the gospel preached by a God-sent preacher. They're going to stay. They're going to endure. And the only reason you endure is because God's given you a new heart. And then the fourth thing, last thing. All chosen called by God shall see with new eyes the glory of God. You're going to see it. Look back in 2 Kings 2. Let's look at verses 7-15.

Fifty men of the sons of the prophets went and stood to view afar off. They stood by Jordan, and Elijah took his mantle and wrapped it together and smote the waters. They were divided hither thither, so the two went over on dry ground. And it came to pass when they were gone over that Elijah said unto Elisha, Ask what I shall do for thee before I be taken away from thee. And Elisha said, let a double portion of thy spirit be upon me. And he said, thou hast asked a hard thing. Nevertheless, if thou see me when I'm taken from thee, it shall be so. It shall be so unto thee. But if not, it shall not be so.

And it came to pass as they went on on and talked, that behold, there appeared a chariot of fire and horses of fire and parted them both asunder. And Elisha went up by a whirlwind into heaven. And Elisha saw it, and he cried, my father, my father, the chariot of Israel and the horsemen thereof. And he saw him no more.

And he took hold of his clothes and rent them in two pieces. When I read that, I thought to myself, What a beautiful revelation. Whatever Elisha was wearing before, picture of a man, his old, you know, self-confidence and stuff, whatever he had on for his spiritual clothing was just rags, filthy rags. He said, I'm not wearing this. I don't want to wear this anymore. Took off and threw two pieces.

And he took the mantle of Elijah. fell from him, went back, and stood on the banks of the Jordan. He took the mantle of Elijah that fell him, and smote the waters, and said, where is the Lord God of Elijah? And when he had thus smitten the waters, they parted hither and thither, and Elijah went over. And the sons of the prophets, which were to view at Jericho, saw him, said, the spirit of Elijah doth rest on Elisha.

And they came to meet him and bowed themselves on the ground before him. All this chosen of the Lord, called by his grace, there's going to be a reward given them. And that reward is going to be the calling of God, they realize what a blessing it is that God called them.

Now you just stop with me, you that believe, you just stop with me and think for one minute, where would I be if the Lord had not been pleased to set his affection on me before the foundation of the world? Where would I be? I'll tell you exactly where I'd be. I'd be left where I was when I started going to church as a kid, and I started thinking that I was doing something for the Lord. That's where I'd be.

But by his grace and mercy, God was pleased to stop me and gave me a heart to come to him, him that cometh to me. I'm not going to reject him. I'm not going to cast him out. But why did I come? Because he gave me a new heart to come. Why does any believer do what they do? It's because God's given them a heart to do it. They'll give up whatever it takes, whatever would stand between them and God Almighty.

I like to paint. I like to take a canvas and stretch it. draw out a little picture, you know, and then take some paint and some brushes and paint on them. And for a while, I was able to do that. And the Lord blessed it for me for that time that I was doing that. When I moved here, I was continuing to do that for a while. And for that, I was very thankful. The Lord knew I needed it, and he provided, and he said, I'm not going to leave you. I'm not going to forsake you.

But there came a time when I knew in my heart, I can't do this anymore. I'm going to give this up. I had people, you talk about a while ago, I had so many notes written down that I just culled so many of them. But this is one of the thoughts that went through my mind. I'd had people tell me, said, When I tell them, I said, I'm going to quit painting. I'm going to quit doing this. They said, you can't do that. I said, I think I can. And they said, yeah, but I mean, you know, you've got this talent. I said, the Lord gave me a talent to paint.

But you don't understand. Doing what I was doing before was such a distraction to me. It wasn't that I just sat down one day and decided, OK, I'm just going to paint a little picture. It would take a year for me to go through the process of taking all the photographs and drawing it out and painting it and then getting the prints made and then worry about marketing and stuff like this. I could not serve two masters.

And I'm thankful that the Lord did provide for me. But I'm telling you right now, those that the Lord calls, Those that the Lord is pleased to show mercy. When I tell you he's going, he's going to try you. And if you be without chastisement, it's because you're not of his. You think, why am I going through what I'm going through? It's because the Lord has been pleased to call you and he's going to remove all gods before you. Elijah told Elisha. I'm going to this city, I'm going to this city. Elisha said, I'm going with you. Whenever Elisha was tempted by the sons of the prophets, do you know that your master is going to be taken today?

He said, I know it. You hold your peace. Almighty God, who loves his people, loves them to the end. He's going to show you. he's going to show others that he's called you and he's going to keep you. He'll keep you. He will not forsake you. How thankful we are for the trials of the tribulations, the adversities that God has been pleased to save his people. Whenever you're going through, and I know many of you are going through it right now, I know you are. Be thankful, be thankful. Don, you and I are going through some things just like Chuck. Thank God for it.

It's what a what a what a miracle of God's grace that God would number one set his affection on us. Number two, show us how he's kept us, called us by his grace, keep us by his power. all for his glory and for our good, because we won't be here long. He's going to do for us just what he did for Elijah. He's going to take him home, but he's not going to take him home before he proves his mercy to him. Thank God for that. All right, we're going to have the Lord's Supper at this moment. I'm going to ask him