Sermon Tone Analysis

*IT SHALL BE WELL* by Wade  Hughes, Sr \\ \\ 2 Kings 4:23-4:23 \\ \\ THE DECLARATION OF FAITH: IT SHALL BE WELL \\ or No Name Heroes \\ By Wade Martin Hughes, Sr. \\ Kyfingers@aol.com \\ \\ I don’t know what you are going through today?

\\ But I know a God that loves you.

God has a plan and a work for you.

\\ You can never find fulfillment without ministry.

\\ Please study this?

\\ Don’t give up!

Don’t give in!

\\ IT SHALL BE WELL.

\\ TEXT: \\ 2 Kings 4:1 -- 37 \\ \\ A DECLARATION OF FAITH: \\ 2 Kings 4:23 And he, (her husband), said, Wherefore wilt thou go unto him, (the Preacher), today?

t is neither new moon, nor the Sabbath.

AND SHE SAID, "IT SHALL BE WELL!" \\ \\ The lesson today has five characters: \\ 1.

The Preacher, Elisha, the Man of God.

\\ 2. His servant, Gehazi, the man of God in training.

\\ 3. A nameless woman and mother, nameless to us, not to those that knew her or to God. \\ 4. Her husband and provider \\ 5. Her son, her seed, her Divine provision, her reward.

\\ \\ IT SHALL BE WELL.

\\ \\ Seems the Preacher, Elisha was a circuit preacher and he and his servant traveled all around the nation teaching, exhorting, and ministering to people.

\\ \\ The lesson teaches us God has many ministers.

Some get the up front ministry, others quietly support and help the minister to minister.

\\ \\ ============================ \\ WHAT IS MINISTRY?

\\ My simple definition of ministry is this: \\ TO SEE A NEED, TO PRAY, TO DEVELOP A PLAN, \\ AND TO HELP TAKE CARE OF THE NEED! \\ \\ See if this idea of ministry is Biblical?

\\ ============================ \\ \\ As the Preacher traveled and grew hungry, he would eat old bread he carried.

\\ \\ One day this nameless woman came up to the Preacher, and said, \\ "Why don’t you and your servant come home with me today and eat? \\ I have plenty of food to share."

\\ \\ We call this woman, the Shunammite woman.

\\ \\ The lady saw a need.

\\ The man of God would minister to all the people and then be very hungry, and have little to eat.

\\ \\ As this lady started her MINISTRY it seemed so little and useless.

\\ Maybe she had to convince her husband, this is the man of God and he deserves better than old, cold bread.

IT SHALL BE WELL.

\\ \\ Ministry cost!

She would have to plan ahead, she would have to cook extra.

\\ She would sweat.

Food never came from cans and the grocery store.

\\ This MINISTRY COST GREAT EFFORT!

IT SHALL BE WELL.

\\ Little did this woman realize, MINISTRY has benefits.

\\ Perhaps it would take many years to experience the benefits, but God knows and keeps good records.

\\ \\ It was not long until Elisha and his servant was back ministering in the area.

\\ The Shunammite woman invited them to her house again.

\\ Her house was lonely, just her and her husband, and when the preacher was there \\ the little woman felt so good.

Sure, there was extra sweat, but she could feel the blessings of God reign on her little home.

IT SHALL BE WELL.

\\ \\ MINISTRY OFTEN OPENS UP MORE MINISTRY!

\\ \\ One day when the Shunammite woman finished her dishes, \\ she watched the old Preacher and his servant as they left.

\\ It dawned on her, where are they sleeping?

\\ maybe she heard the Preacher coughing?

\\ And her heart ached as she saw another need.

\\ O, God, Your Precious Man is sleeping on the ground under the stars.

\\ This can’t be! \\ \\ As she pondered the Man of God sleeping on the cold, damp ground, \\ as realized a need.

She could have pondered, I feed the two of them, this should be \\ someone else’s burden, not mine.

\\ \\ As the Preacher and his servant sat at her table eating and enjoying her precious gift of service that she offered not only to the two men, she was COOKING FOR GOD! \\ They finished eating one day and left her house, they were so tired, the traveling, the ministry to the people, the woman saw another chance to MINISTER to the Minister.

\\ IT SHALL BE WELL.

\\ \\ She sat down next to her precious husband and leaned her head over on his chest.

\\ She said, "The Lord has really blessed our home since we started feeding Elisha and Gehazi.

I love you so much.

God put us together.

But, HONEY, I THINK THERE IS MORE FOR US TO DO? What about you?" \\ \\ He might have replied, "Baby, we feed those two Preachers all the time, ain’t that enough?

We are poor, do you know what all that food does?

It doubles our expenses?"

\\ \\ As her heart burned, she knew she could never be a minister, yet she knew she had a ministry.

She knew there was more.

IT SHALL BE WELL.

\\ \\ I am so thankful to those that see a harvest, white and ready to be harvested.

\\ \\ One day, the lady woke up to a sound of a hammer, the husband caught the vision that had been birthed in her heart.

They started remodeling their house.

They cut down trees, made the lumber.

\\ \\ The neighbors walked by and said, What are you doing?

There are only two of you, \\ why remodel and enlarge your house?

You don’t need to do that?

IT SHALL BE WELL.

\\ \\ A fire burned in this precious home, there was dust all over the house.

It wasn’t easy.

\\ There was blisters and pain.

As the lady cooked for her husband, she would fold her arms, and say O, God, we love You so much, You have used our home, use us MORE.

\\ \\ One day, the husband drove his last nail, they went to the furniture store and picked out some simple furniture.

A table, a bed, and candle stick.

\\ \\ After church was over, the lady hurried home, Elisha came over the hill.

The lady’s husband was sitting on the porch.

He felt so good, Elisha saw the work of the man’s hands and admired it.

As Elisha pushed away from the table, the man said, "COME, SEE!" \\ \\ Elisha got up from the table, and walked outside, in through a little door.

\\ The man said, "MY WIFE AND I BUILT THIS JUST FOR YOU! WE WANT YOU TO EAT HERE AND SLEEP HERE ANYTIME YOU ARE IN THIS AREA! \\ \\ I know Elisha was so excited, a soft bed, a warm room.

No more worry about rain.

\\ Can you imagine Elisha’s first night in that feather bed, as he lay back to go to sleep, he burped real big, and said -- THANK YOU GOD, AS I HAVE MINISTERED \\ YOU HAVE BUILT A SUPPORT TEAM TO MINISTER AND ENCOURAGE ME. \\ IT SHALL BE WELL.

\\ \\ Please, know this was not the end of the Shunammite woman’s work, the husband may have finished, but there was extra laundry, sheets to wash, candles to make, \\ now with a good bed, he would be here more often and eat more.

\\ \\ Please notice, the whole community would benefit from this lady’s team work offering.

The Man of God doing the Work of God would now have a permanent address in this area.

As Elisha was working with many people, this little no name woman doing a no named work, caused the blessings to open, not just to her, \\ the work of her hands would open blessings to the whole area.

\\ \\ Someone would know the Preacher is at the Shunammite woman’s house, my son is sick, let’s go get anointed and be blessed!

\\ \\ THERE IS A REST TO THIS STORY... IT SHALL BE WELL.

\\ ============================== \\ \\ One day Elisha was laying in his bed on clean linen, and thought, \\ HOW CAN I EVER REPAY THIS WOMAN?

\\ \\ Elisha sent Gehazi over to their part of the house and asked them, \\ WHAT DO YOU NEED? \\ THE MASTER WANTS TO KNOW WHAT DO YOU NEED? \\ WE WILL PRAY.

\\ \\ The husband and his precious ministering wife, said, \\ You won’t believe this, God has so blessed us, we don’t need anything.

\\ Tell the Preacher, we don’t need anything.

\\ \\ Gehazi returned to his Master, the man of God, and said, they don’t need anything, \\ they ask for nothing for the work.

BUT I NOTICED, THEY HAVE NO CHILDREN.

\\ Don’t you think a son would brighten up this place?

IT SHALL BE WELL.

\\ \\ Perhaps things are not bright now, but I AM EXPECTING ... the woman could say! \\ Elisha prayed, and on the next visit Gehazi said, Look Elisha she is in a family way!

Nine months later, there was the cry of a DIVINE PROVISION.

\\ GOD GAVE THE SHUNAMMITE WOMAN A SON. \\ As they finished eating their meal, Elisha would tell the son a Bible story.

\\ Elisha taught their son about God.