The document reflects on the lives of prophets Micaiah and Elisha, emphasizing their faithfulness to God despite opposition from wicked leaders like King Ahab and King Ahaziah. It discusses the consequences of Solomon's disobedience and how true prophets are often hated for speaking God's word. Ultimately, it highlights God’s faithfulness and mercy towards His people, encouraging believers to share the gospel and rely on the saving grace of Jesus Christ.

1. “I hate him.”
Sermon adapted from,
Discovering Christ Day by Day, David Fortner
April 21
Today’s Reading: 1 Kings 22 -2 Kings 1

2. 1 Kings 22:7 NIV But Jehoshaphat asked, "Is
there no longer a prophet of the LORD here
whom we can inquire of?" 8 The king of Israel
(Ahab) answered Jehoshaphat, "There is still one
prophet through whom we can inquire of the
LORD, but I hate him because he never
prophesies anything good about me, but always
bad. He is Micaiah son of Imlah." "The king
should not say such a thing," Jehoshaphat
replied.

3. What a good and faithful prophet Micaiah must
have been!
Ahab, the wicked, reprobate king of Israel,
acknowledged that he spoke for God and he
neither courted the favor of the king nor feared
his disfavor.

4. Here is a standard by which we may identify
faithful prophets in any age or place.
Faithful servants of God speak the Word of God.
For that, they are commonly hated by wicked
men, about whom they can never speak
anything good.

5. As I close the reading of 1st Kings, I am struck
with the fact Solomon was a great man with
many failures. The importance of our influence
upon those around us is set before us
dramatically in the life and reign of Solomon, as
it is described in 1 Kings.
Chapters 1-11 give us a picture of Solomon’s
greatness and glory as the king over all Israel
for forty years.
Greatness and Failure

6. Then, chapters 12-22 display the horrible
consequences of Solomon’s disobedience upon
the kingdom.
These chapters set before us the first eighty
years of the divided kingdom, a kingdom
divided because of the evil influence of
Solomon’s life.
The key to understanding the last half of
1 Kings is found in God’s Word to Solomon in
1 Kings 11:11.

7. 1 Kings 11:11 NIV So the LORD said to Solomon,
"Since this is your attitude and you have not
kept my covenant and my decrees, which I
commanded you, I will most certainly tear the
kingdom away from you and give it to one of
your subordinates.

8. Still, the message of 1 Kings is Christ, of whom
Solomon was in many ways a type.
If you read Psalms 72, which was “A Psalm for
Solomon,” you will immediately see the things
there spoken of Solomon could only find their
fulfillment in Christ, the Prince of Peace.

9. In the lives of the few faithful servants and
prophets of the Lord, raised up to minister in
holy things in the midst of general corruption, it
is a great blessing to remember the Lord has
not and will not cast away His people whom He
foreknew. The promised mercy shall come.
The Seed of the woman shall crush the
serpent’s head. God will maintain His witnesses
in every generation and sustain the light of the
gospel in the darkest of times.
God’s Faithfulness

10. Blessed Savior, “thine is the kingdom, and the
power, and the glory, forever and ever.”
Fix our hearts and minds on You as we in our
day behold that which Elijah and Your elect
remnant beheld in their day, idolatry practiced in
Your name, the profaning of Your holy
ordinances, and the despising of Your Word by
the very people who are responsible to declare
it and defend it.

11. 2 Kings 1:9 NIV Then he (Ahaziah, King of Israel)
sent to Elijah a captain with his company of fifty
men. The captain went up to Elijah, who was
sitting on the top of a hill, and said to him, "Man
of God, the king says, 'Come down!'" 10 Elijah
answered the captain, "If I am a man of God,
may fire come down from heaven and consume
you and your fifty men!" Then fire fell from
heaven and consumed the captain and his men.

12. 11 At this the king sent to Elijah another captain
with his fifty men. The captain said to him, "Man
of God, this is what the king says, 'Come down
at once!'" 12 "If I am a man of God," Elijah
replied, "may fire come down from heaven and
consume you and your fifty men!" Then the fire
of God fell from heaven and consumed him and
his fifty men.

13. 13 So the king sent a third captain with his fifty
men. This third captain went up and fell on his
knees before Elijah. "Man of God," he begged,
"please have respect for my life and the lives of
these fifty men, your servants! 14 See, fire has
fallen from heaven and consumed the first two
captains and all their men. But now have
respect for my life!" 15 The angel of the LORD
said to Elijah, "Go down with him; do not be
afraid of him." So Elijah got up and went down
with him to the king.

14. 16 He told the king, "This is what the LORD
says: Is it because there is no God in Israel for
you to consult that you have sent messengers
to consult Baal-Zebub, the god of Ekron?
Because you have done this, you will never
leave the bed you are lying on. You will certainly
die!" 17a So he died, according to the word of
the LORD that Elijah had spoken.

15. In the sad example of Ahaziah and his captains
of fifty, I am reminded of the fact that sin
hardens the heart and makes sinners ripe for
punishment.
How we have earned our wages!
But for grace, how justly the fires of hell would
forever torment my wretched soul!
Intervening Mercy

16. Had not the mercy of my God intervened, had
not the God of all grace interposed himself and
stopped me in my mad rush for hell, the endless
torments of the damned would be mine today!

17. Blessed Savior, how I thank You and adore You
for Your great mercy, love, and grace, for Your
precious blood, and perfect righteousness so
richly and freely bestowed upon me, by which
You have redeemed me and saved me from
myself! O my God, my great Savior, make me
faithful to You!

18. “Elisha is Here.”
Sermon adapted from,
Discovering Christ Day by Day, David Fortner
April 22
Today’s Reading: 2 Kings 2-4

19. 2 Kings 3:9 NIV So the king of Israel set out with the
king of Judah and the king of Edom. After a
roundabout march of seven days, the army had no
more water for themselves or for the animals with
them. 10 "What!" exclaimed the king of Israel. "Has
the LORD called us three kings together only to
deliver us into the hands of Moab?" 11 But
Jehoshaphat asked, "Is there no prophet of the
LORD here, through whom we may inquire of the
LORD?" An officer of the king of Israel answered,
"Elisha son of Shaphat is here. He used to pour
water on the hands of Elijah.”

20. 2 Kings 2 tells us of Elijah’s marvelous
translation to heaven.
Surely, we cannot fail to see in that a type of
Elijah’s God, our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.
After suffering and dying as our Substitute at
Calvary, He arose from the dead.
Then, in the presence of His disciples,
He was taken up to heaven.

21. So it shall be with all God’s elect.
Yes, many will lay down the tabernacle of clay,
before the Lord Jesus appears the second time
without sin unto salvation.
But God’s elect shall never die!
That is the promise of our Savior.

22. John 11:25 NIV Jesus said to her, “I am the
resurrection and the life. The one who believes
in me will live, even though they die; 26 and
whoever lives by believing in me will never die.
Do you believe this?”
We shall all, that is all who trust Christ,
like Elijah, be translated into heaven,
some when the body dies and all when
the Lord Jesus comes again.

23. The 4th chapter is full of good instruction; but
for the present, let us remember it gives us a
vivid picture of the tender care God’s servants
have for His people, and the tender care God’s
people have for His servants.
For our souls’ meditation today, I call your
attention particularly to 2 Kings 3.

24. God’s prophet Elisha was found in a very
strange place. Elisha was in the camp with the
army. That would be strange indeed,
but for one thing.
That was where he was needed.
That is precisely where we should expect to see
God’s preachers.
Wherever the Lord God is about to work
wonders of grace,
there He sends His preachers.
Where Needed

25. The fact that Elisha was in the camp with the
army tells us the Lord was about to bestow
some great mercy upon His people.
The Lord God graciously sends His holy Word,
by the mouths of His servants, so people can be
blessed with His saving operations of grace.

26. Romans 10:17 NIV Consequently, faith comes
from hearing the message, and the message is
heard through the word about Christ.
Blessed are those people in this world who
listen to & hear His servant with His Word in the
power of His Spirit!

27. Though God’s prophet was in their midst, the
king did not know it.
None of the mighty or influential were aware of
his presence.
But there was a poor, despised, insignificant
servant who knew God and His prophet.
How commonly that is the case!
While Christ and His gospel are hid from the
wise and prudent, they are revealed to babes.
Poor Servant

28. Elisha was sent of God into the camp of the
army specifically for the salvation of
Jehoshaphat, His army, and the people; and He
chose to make Himself and His prophet known
to the king by an unnamed servant.
So it is in every age and in every place.

29. 2 Corinthians 4:7 NIV But we have this treasure
in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing
power is from God and not from us.

30. The time when all that is written here of Elisha’s
prophecy transpired was; The next morning,
about the time for offering the sacrifice, there it
was—water flowing from the direction of Edom!
And the land was filled with water. 2 Kings 3:20 NIV
Surely, we are informed of this specific time by
these specific words (morning sacrifice offering)
because God the Holy Spirit would point our
hearts to our great sin-atoning sin-offering, the
Lord Jesus Christ.
The Time

31. The daily offering of the two lambs, one in the
morning and the other in the evening, with this
meat-offering, points us to our Redeemer’s
precious sacrifice of Himself for us, which He
offered to God for a sweet smelling savor.

32. The morning and evening lamb offered daily
was a perpetual type of the Lamb of God, slain
from the foundation of the world, who in time
laid down His life for us at Calvary.
The continual presentation of this sacrifice sets
forth the perpetual and unfailing efficacy of
Christ’s precious blood shed for us.
2 Corinthians 5:21 NIV God made him who had
no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might
become the righteousness of God.

33. HAVE YOU HEARD THE GOOD NEWS?

34. Jesus died on the cross for our sins.

35. He was buried and rose on the third day.

36. When He did this He solved 2
problems we all have.
He solved our sin
problem because
He nailed our sins
to the cross; &
He solved our grave
problem when He rose
from the dead because
it proved we could also
rise from the dead.

37. Jesus said, if we want to get in on of all
this we must . . .
BE BORN AGAIN.
FOLLOW HIM; &

38. ISN’T THAT GREAT NEWS?
WHO ARE YOU GOING TO SHARE
THE GOOD NEWS WITH TODAY?

39. Mark 16:15 NIV He said to them, "Go into all the
world and preach the gospel to all creation. 16
Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved,
but whoever does not believe will be
condemned.
Numbers 6:24 NIV '"The LORD bless you and
keep you; 25 the LORD make his face shine on
you and be gracious to you; 26 the LORD turn
his face toward you and give you peace.“’