Sermon Tone Analysis

*“A Room, A Chair, A Table, A Lamp, A Cot”*

 

*A Cot*

* *

Hold on to the piece of paper.

The story of the Shunammite woman

 

*2 Kings 4:8-37 (Living) * 

One day Elisha went to Shunem.

A prominent woman of the city invited him in to eat, and afterwards, whenever he passed that way, he stopped for dinner.

9She said to her husband, "I'm sure this man who stops in from time to time is a holy prophet.

10Let's make a little room for him on the roof; we can put in a bed, a table, a chair, and a lamp, and he will have a place to stay whenever he comes by."

11Once when he was resting in the room he said to his servant Gehazi, "Tell the woman I want to speak to her."

When she came, 12  13he said to Gehazi, "Tell her that we appreciate her kindness to us.

Now ask her what we can do for her.

Does she want me to put in a good word for her to the king or to the general of the army?"

"No," she replied, "I am perfectly content."

14"What can we do for her?" he asked Gehazi afterwards.

He suggested, "She doesn't have a son, and her husband is an old man."

15"Call her back again," Elisha told him.

When she returned, he talked to her as she stood in the doorway.

16"Next year at about this time you shall have a son!"

"O man of God," she exclaimed, "don't lie to me like that!"

17But it was true; the woman soon conceived and had a baby boy the following year, just as Elisha had predicted.

And now the rest of the story:

 

18One day when her child was older, he went out to visit his father, who was working with the reapers.

19He complained about a headache and soon was moaning in pain.

His father said to one of the servants, "Carry him home to his mother."

20So he took him home, and his mother held him on her lap; but around noontime he died.

21She carried him up to the bed of the prophet and shut the door; 22then she sent a message to her husband: "Send one of the servants and a donkey so that I can hurry to the prophet and come right back."

23"Why today?" he asked.

"This isn't a religious holiday."

But she said, "It's important.

I must go."

24So she saddled the donkey and said to the servant, "Hurry!

Don't slow down for my comfort unless I tell you to."

25As she approached Mount Carmel, Elisha saw her in the distance and said to Gehazi, "Look, that woman from Shunem is coming.

26Run and meet her and ask her what the trouble is.

See if her husband is all right and if the child is well."

"Yes," she told Gehazi, "everything is fine."

27But when she came to Elisha at the mountain she fell to the ground before him and caught hold of his feet.

Gehazi began to push her away, but the prophet said, "Let her alone; something is deeply troubling her and the Lord hasn't told me what it is."

28Then she said, "It was you who said I'd have a son.

And I begged you not to lie to me!"

29Then he said to Gehazi, "Quick, take my staff!

Don't talk to anyone along the way.

Hurry!

Lay the staff upon the child's face."

30But the boy's mother said, "I swear to God that I won't go home without you."

So Elisha returned with her.

31Gehazi went on ahead and laid the staff upon the child's face, but nothing happened.

There was no sign of life.

He returned to meet Elisha and told him, "The child is still dead."

32When Elisha arrived, the child was indeed dead, lying there upon the prophet's bed.

33He went in and shut the door behind him and prayed to the Lord.

34Then he lay upon the child's body, placing his mouth upon the child's mouth, and his eyes upon the child's eyes, and his hands upon the child's hands.

And the child's body began to grow warm again!

35Then the prophet went down and walked back and forth in the house a few times; returning upstairs, he stretched himself again upon the child.

This time the little boy sneezed seven times and opened his eyes!

36Then the prophet summoned Gehazi.

"Call her!" he said.

And when she came in, he said, "Here's your son!"

37She fell to the floor at his feet and then picked up her son and went out.

This woman had a perception that this was a man of God and she prepared her house for his visitation.

She prepared a little room – furnished it with a bed, a table, a chair, and a lamp.

As we have ministered in this series of messages asking the question are you perceiving God’s visitation and have you made preparation for His visit.

In each of these sermons we have looked at the various items represented in this biblical account.

The room – preeminence of God in you life, the chair representing the throne of God in your life, the table – a place of fellowship prepared for divine visitation, and the lamp signifying the illumination of God’s revelation of Himself to us.

*1.

*A ROOM - A *PLACE* for *GOD*.

*2.

*A CHAIR - A *THRONE* for *GOD*.

* *

*3.       *A TABLE - *FELLOWSHIP* with *GOD*.

* *

*4.       *A LAMP – The *PRESENCE* of *GOD*.

Today the cot – or bed signifies a resting place.

* *

*5.       *The COT *SIGNIFIES* a *PLACE* of REST.

*Hebrews 4:9-11 (NKJV) * 

There remains therefore a rest for the people of God.

10For he who has entered His rest has himself also ceased from his works as God /did/ from His.

11Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall according to the same example of disobedience.

*Hebrews 3:7-12 (NKJV) * 

Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says: /"Today, if you will hear His voice, /8/Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, in the day of trial in the wilderness, /9/where your fathers tested Me, tried Me, and saw My works forty years./

/ /10/Therefore I was angry with that generation, and said, 'They always go astray in their heart, and they have not known My ways.'

/11/So I swore in My wrath, 'They shall not enter My rest.' "/

/ /12Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God;

A revival means resting in God not our own works but His sovereign touch.

Don’t stand in unbelief – but perceive that God is moving and that God loves you and wants you to partake in what He is doing.

Have you ever noticed that when you go to sleep at night all the cares of this world vanish?

It’s because we are resting.

The world still goes on, problems still exist, wars are still happening yet for that brief time of 6 to 8 hours we are in a state where our cares suddenly do not matter.

God wants us to enter into that state of “rest.”

Jesus lived in that “rest.”

*Mark 4:37-38 (NKJV) * 

And a great windstorm arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that it was already filling.

38But He was in the stern, asleep on a pillow.

And they awoke Him and said to Him, "Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?"

I have asked the question have you made preparation for God – I know many of you have – you have been very accommodating to what God is doing – you have made room for the Holy Spirit – sometimes it hasn’t been easy to understand all the things that are happening – sometimes there are manifestations I don’t even understand and maybe some of them are in the flesh but the overall result has been evidenced of a divine move of the sovereign God.

Have you ever invited someone to stay at your house – you amend your life style to accommodate them – you don’t run around your house in your underwear – because you have amended your life for someone else.

Likewise what is happening in our church you have been willing to change to accommodate what God is doing and I know that God has taken notice.

You have given and God knows it!

Examples of those who gave:

Peter – let Jesus use his boat – later received a catch of fish.

Little boy – gave Jesus five loaves of bread and two small fish – Jesus gave back 12 basketfuls.

You cannot out give God whatever you give Him to use He will multiply it back to you again.

*6.       *You *CANNOT* out *GIVE* *GOD*.