Transcript Diapositiva 1 - Your Life

GEHAZI:
MISSING
THE
MARK
Lesson 12 for the 18th of
December, 2010
 Leaving his desires, needs and
comfort aside.
 Getting completely involved in his
master’s life.
 Helping his master with his plans,
desires and activities.
 Being a messenger.
 Accompanying someone.
 Acting in someone’s place.
 Carrying out humble but necessary
tasks.
 Managing finances.
 Managing housework.
 Never act in his benefit, but his
master’s.
How did all those tasks prepare
Elisha and Gehazi to be good
prophets?
Carrying out their tasks as servants
correctly helped them to develop
these virtues:
Humbleness.
Self-control.
Concern about the necessities of others.
Development of their faith.
Trust in God.
Leaving the self aside and serving others.
…
Every believer must be a servant.
Jesus, as our Master, became a servant
to be a model.
Gehazi was a faithful servant to Elisha for years. He learnt through his
preaching and miracles during that time.
He drank of the bitter spring of
Jericho which was sweeten by
Elisha (2 Kings, 2: 19-22)
He witnessed how the oil of the
widow multiplied (2 Kings, 4: 1-7)
He learnt about respect to
prophets when some mocking lads
died (2 Kings, 2: 23-24)
He was an active part in the born
and resurrection of the
Shunammite’s son (2 Kings, 4: 8-37)
He helped in the schools of
prophets (2 Kings, 4: 38)
He ate the poisoned meal that
Elisha made edible (2 Kings, 4: 38-41)
He saw the fulfilment of Elisha’s
prophecies about Moab
He helped to feed 100 men with
20 loaves of barley bread and
some ears of new corn
(2 Kings, 3: 4-37)
(2 Kings, 4: 42-44)
Do we use correctly the teachings of our Master while we are faithful servants
of our Lord?
FIRST MEETING WITH
THE SHUNAMMITE
SECOND MEETING WITH
THE SHUNAMMITE
He was sensitive to the
woman’s feelings.
He was insensitive to the
woman’s feelings.
He looked for a solution to
her necessities.
He was unable to solve her
necessities.
In the years between the
two meetings, Gehazi
stopped worrying about his
mission and started to put
himself and his necessities
in the centre of his
thoughts.
“Gehazi, Elisha’s servant, had had opportunity during the
years to develop the spirit of self-denial characterizing his
master’s lifework. It had been his privilege to become a noble
standard-bearer in the army of the Lord. The best gifts of
Heaven had long been within his reach; yet, turning from
these, he had coveted instead the base alloy of worldly
wealth. And now the hidden longings of his avaricious spirit
led him to yield to an overmastering temptation”
E.G.W. (Prophets and Kings, cp. 20, pg. 250)
GEHAZI: AN UNFAITHFUL
SERVANT
NAAMAN
GEHAZI
He despised Elisha’s order
He despised Elisha’s attitude
• “Are not Abana and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus,
better than any of the waters of Israel?”
• “My master was too easy on Naaman, this Aramean,
by not accepting from him what he brought”
He obeyed the prophet
He disobeyed the prophet
• He bathed seven times in Jordan River
• He asked Naaman for money and clothes and hid
them
He was healed
He contracted leprosy
• His skin was healthy the seventh time
• He received Naaman’s leprosy
He converted to God
He rejected God
• “Your servant will never again make burnt offerings
and sacrifices to any other god but the Lord”
• He exchanged God’s servitude for wealth’s
servitude
He could have been the next prophet of Israel,
becoming co-protagonist in the divine history.
Instead of that, he lived telling the great exploits of
the man he served.
Despite everything, he was used by God to do one
more miracle: giving the Shunammite’s possessions
back to her.
Remember what God did for you in the past, but
never forget that He will do greater things for you in
the future.
Live always as a faithful servant, because the Lord
you serve will never disappoint you.
“The church of Christ is organized for service. Its watchword is
ministry. Its members are soldiers, to be trained for conflict under
the Captain of their salvation.
Christian ministers, physicians,
teachers, have a broader work
than many have recognized. They
are not only to minister to the
people, but to teach them to
minister. They should not only give
instruction in right principles, but
educate their hearers to impart
these principles. Truth that is not
lived, that is not imparted, loses its
life-giving power, its healing
virtue. Its blessing can be retained
only as it is shared”
E.G.W. (The ministry of healing, cp. 9, “Teaching health principles”, pg. 148)