Pastor Jon's Complete
Through-the-Bible Teachings
in MP3 Audio Format on a
USB Flash Drive
$10
This flash drive contains Pastor Jon's teachings through the entire Bible (Genesis through Revelation) in MP3 audio format. There are over 1200 teachings which include Jon's verse by verse exposition of the Bible as well as the Sunday sermons which take a more in-depth look at a section of the Scripture from the verse-by-verse study.
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In the heat of battle, a dead man was inadvertently thrown into Elisha’s tomb. But when his body touched Elisha’s bones, he immediately came back to life. Amazing!
Like the dead man in this passage, we must die to self if we are going to truly experience life. “If any man come after Me, let him deny himself, take up his Cross and follow Me,” Jesus said (see Matthew 16:24). He did not say this to burden us but to liberate us because, as we have discovered, the more we think about ourselves and live for ourselves, the more miserable we become. But the more we die to self and take up the Cross, the more we spring to life.
If you want to be effective in ministering to other people, even as Elisha was dead, so too in ministry or in service, you’ve got to die to popularity. “If I please men, I cannot be the servant of God,” Paul declared (see Galatians 1:10). If you take a stand for Jesus Christ and do what you believe is right for the Lord, there will be those who will misunderstand. That can be painful. But if you are going to minister, you’ve got to die in order that life might come forth. Jesus said he who lives for his own life will lose it, but if you give up your life, you’ll find it (Matthew 10:39).
I have a hard time with this. I struggle on this point because when I sense that someone is unhappy with me or disappointed in me, my natural tendency is to keep from making waves or causing offense. But James said we offend in all things (3:2). The only solution is to live for the Lord and in such a way that you can say, “Father, I have finished the work which Thou hast given me and glorified Thy name (see John 17:4). I’m doing what You’re telling me to do to the best of my perception and abilities no matter the cost.”
If you do that - if you die to self - life will spring forth. People will be touched. Lives will be changed.
Elisha was a man who, even after his death, still influenced and affected peoples’ lives. How about you? What if the Lord took you home today? Oh, that we might live our lives in such a way that the memory of our lives - the words we spoke, the truth we shared, the love we showed, the example we set - might cause others to spring to life themselves.