Don't Lie to Me, Man of God [Part 1]

Alan Wright, pastor, Bible teacher, and author of his latest book, The Power to Bless. Unless there's a part of you that wants to say back to the preacher, don't lie to me, man of God, you probably haven't heard the gospel. I want to show you again today the gospel that is so good that it seems to be too good to be true, but it is true, and that's why it is so, so good.

That's Pastor Alan Wright. Welcome to another message of good news that will help you see your life in a whole new light. I'm Daniel Britt, excited for you to hear the teaching today in the series Miracle Man as presented at Rinaldo Church in North Carolina. If you're not able to stay with us throughout the entire program, I'd like to make sure you know how to get our special resource right now. It can be yours for your donation this month to Alan Wright Ministries.

So as you listen to today's message, go deeper as we send you today's special offer. Contact us at PastorAlan.org. That's PastorAlan.org. Or call 877-544-4860.

That's 877-544-4860. More on this later in the program. But now, let's get started with today's teaching.

Here's Alan Wright. Are you ready for some good news? That's good. Jesus is alive. And that is news that is not just like, oh, okay, well, that's a nice word. It is the gospel, which means good news.

And it is good news that is so good that it seems to be too good to be true, and yet it is true, and that's what makes it so good. I want to show you the scene of several disciples of women and other disciples as they encounter the risen Lord Jesus, and they are so astonished that it's hard to believe it. But we're gonna then go back and look at a scene in the life of the prophet Elisha, because we've been in a thorough and enriching series of the study of these miracle men, Elijah and Elisha, and learning how they point us toward the true miracle man, Jesus.

So we're gonna be in Luke 24, but then we're gonna be spending our time really focusing on 2 Kings chapter 4. Here's the story in Luke chapter 24 at verse 36. Luke 24, verse 36. As they were talking about these things, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, peace to you. But they were startled and frightened and thought they saw a spirit. And he said to them, why are you troubled, and why do doubts arise in your hearts? See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Touch me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have. And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet.

And this is the verse I really wanted to point to. And while they still disbelieved for joy and they were marveling, he said to them, have you anything to eat? I love that phrase, while they disbelieved for joy. They believed, but they disbelieved. It was so wonderful that they could hardly believe it.

That's what I want to talk to you about. Now 2 Kings chapter 4. It's a riveting story in the life of Elisha that attracts my attention initially because it's actually a story here in which Elisha is used by the Lord to bring about a miracle of the bringing back to life of a Shunammite woman's son. But despite the fact that resurrection story is so appropriate today, what I really want to point you to is how this son came in the world in the first place and this woman's reaction.

This is 2 Kings chapter 4 and I'm starting reading in verse 8. One day Elisha went on to Shunamm where a wealthy woman lived who urged him to eat some food. So whenever he passed that way, he would turn in to eat food and she said to her husband, behold now, I know this is a holy man of God who is continually passing our way. Let us make a small room on the roof with walls and put there for him a bed, a table, a chair, and a lamp so that whenever he comes to us, he can go in there. But one day he came there and he turned into the chamber and rested there and he said to Gehazi, his servant, call this Shunammite. When he had called her, she stood before him and he said to him, say now to her, see, you have taken all this trouble for us.

What has to be done for you? Would you have a word spoken on your behalf to the king or to the commander of the army? And she answered, I dwell among my own people. And he said, what then is to be done for her?

And Gehazi answered, well, she has no son and her husband is old. And he said, call her. And when he had called her, she stood in the doorway and he said, at this season, about this time, next year, you shall embrace a son.

Now look at her response. And she said, no, my Lord, O man of God, do not lie to your servant. But the woman conceived and she bore a son about that time the following spring, as Elisha had said to her. Alexander Sanders was at one point the chief judge of the South Carolina Circuit Court of Appeals and he spoke at, I think, the 1993 graduation services at University of South Carolina. And as he gave his commencement address, his daughter, Zoe, was there as a graduating member of that year's University of South Carolina class. And he told a story about her when she was just three years old.

He came home one day, Judge Sanders did, to a family crisis. The pet turtle had died. Zoe's little pet turtle had died and little three-year-old Zoe was just inconsolable, just crying her heart out.

And so Zoe's mom was very happy to just hand this thing over to the dad. And so he started trying to figure out a way to console her. And he tried the age-old tactic of first saying, Zoe, honey, we will go to the pet store and get you another turtle.

Well, even though she was only three, she couldn't be taken in by that sort of superficial trickery. You can't just go to the pet store and just buy another creature that looks like yours and call that a replacement. She said, I want my turtle.

I want my turtle back. And she cried all the harder. So he took a different approach. And he said, I tell you what, we will have a fine funeral for your turtle. And she said, what is a funeral? He said, a funeral is trying to think of a way to put it in her terms. He said, it's like a festival. And she said, what is a festival? And then the light turned on for the dad.

And he finally came to the right sort of terms that she could understand. He said, a festival is sort of like a birthday party. He said, I tell you what we'll do.

We'll have all of your friends come over from the neighborhood. We'll have cake and ice cream and balloons and games and have a big party all because your turtle has died. Well, she stopped crying and she started smiling at the thought of all of this. And just as she was contemplating this big party, she and her dad both saw it at the same time.

The unimaginable happened. They looked down and the turtle started moving. It started twitching a little bit.

And then in a few moments, it was just crawling around as lively as it had before. And the dad is going, what is it? A miracle? Is it a resurrection? What are we going to do about this?

But little three-year-old Zoe already had it figured out and spontaneously looked up with childlike candor and said, daddy, let's kill it. The ambivalence that the disciples felt on resurrection morning was not an ambivalence where thankfully they were considering putting him back in the tomb, but they were ambivalent in this sense. They wanted to believe, but it seemed too good to be true.

Have you ever had a time in your life where there was something that you just wanted to believe it and you sort of did believe it, but there was a part of you that disbelieved for joy because it just seemed too good to be true. When our son Bennett was little, he begged, he wanted a PlayStation, but we were very thoughtful about this because we wanted our kids to love to read and we wanted them to love to play with their friends in the backyard and not sit in front of the screen all the time. And so we put it off for a long time. Years went by and Bennett thought he was going to be that kid that was never allowed to have this PlayStation. And finally we just said, well, we're going to get him a PlayStation for Christmas. And so we wrapped it up, put it under the tree. And I can't remember what age he was, but I'll never forget what he did when he opened it up. This boy who thought he'd never get a PlayStation. He opened it up and there was that blue box with the word PlayStation written on the outside. And he looked at us like, is this really a PlayStation? And we just smiled and nodded our head like this. And he said, I see it with my eyes, but I can't believe it in my heart.

That's Alan Wright. And we'll have more teaching in a moment from today's important series. Ever feel like something's holding you back as if you lack an important key that could change everything?

Is there someone you love who seems stuck? You'd like to help them, but how? What's missing? Blessing. We all need a positive faith-filled vision spoken over our lives. You can learn how to embrace the biblical practice of blessing through Pastor Alan Wright's new book, The Power to Bless, which quickly became an Amazon number one bestseller after its recent release. Until now, the hardcover book has only been available through retail sales, but this month, Alan Wright Ministries wants to send you the book as our thank you for your donation. When you give this month, you'll not only receive the bestselling book, but you'll also receive a free five-session video course in which Pastor Alan teaches how to bless and covers content not found in the book.

The video course includes a detailed study guide perfect for personal growth or small group discussion. Make your gift today and discover the power to bless. Today is the final day we're offering this special product. We are happy to send this to you as our thanks from Alan Wright Ministries. Call us at 877-544-4860. That's 877-544-4860. Or come to our website, pastoralan.org.

Today's teaching now continues. Here once again is Alan Wright. This Shunammite woman was like that. She was told that a miracle was going to happen.

She was going to have this son. And her spontaneous reaction was, don't lie to me, my God. That sounds too good to be true. And a friend of mine, a pastor friend, Kenny Thacker, was the one who first pointed this out to me and said, you know, when you hear the gospel, unless there's a part of you that wants to say back to the preacher, don't lie to me, my God. You probably hadn't heard the gospel. I want to show you again today the gospel that is so good that it seems to be too good to be true, but it is true.

And that's why it is so, so. Okay, what I'm talking about is news, the Easter news, gospel news, this good news is not the kind of news that you just go, wow, that's nice. It's not the kind of thing you say, well, that's an inspiring thought. No, that's not what happens if you actually hear the real gospel.

It's a lot of people think, you know, church is about you go and you hear, oh, I, you know, it was really good. We got five steps to have a better marriage or something like that. All that might have its place.

What I'm saying is the gospel is something that'll just astonish you. All right. Let me use an example.

Okay. Basketball. I hesitate to even bring up basketball because all my teams have been long gone and my Baylor bears didn't even make it. My Tar Heels exited way too early in the second round. And thankfully the only thing about Carolina losing to Texas A&M is that I didn't watch the game.

I was on the road and I just felt like that was sort of the mercy of God to me was, you know, actually I didn't have to watch it. If I, if I don't watch him lose, then it's almost like they didn't lose. And so, but I did check the scores.

I'm going to check their score and midway through the game, they're down by 12 points. I said, oh no. And I just thought, I'm not even going to check it again. But then I did check it again and it had gotten even worse. And, and, and they lost.

It was dismal. Well, you could imagine though, if I had checked it midway through, they're down by a dozen points. And if I had come back later and checked it and realized that the score now Carolina was up by one or two, that they had overcome the deficit and taken the lead, I would have celebrated. I'd be like, yes, you know, that's awesome. But I wouldn't have said, oh, don't lie to me. That, that couldn't be. I wouldn't say that because I've watched Carolina come back from a deficit many times. I mean, it'd be good news. It'd be worthy of celebrating, be worthy to say, yeah, go, go heels. But it wouldn't be like, well that, no, don't lie to me about that.

No, that can't be. See, I mean, that's good news, but it's not shocking news. And I'm saying the gospel is shocking news. It'd be more like, if I were to play this illustration out, it'd be more like, if I came in and I said, Carolina fans, you know, just get ready for this. I was just in the prayer room back there and I checked the, you know, press release just came out of hot off the press, AP press release, just releases. I'm, I'm just in here to announce it because you hadn't seen this yet, is that the NCAA tournament basketball committee has met and they have made an unprecedented decision. They have decided that even though Carolina technically lost in the second round, that because Carolina is so good, and because two years ago they got cheated out of a national championship when Villanova hit a lucky shot. They have decided to remove Michigan from the championship game and put Carolina in there because everybody knows Carolina is better than Michigan anyway. So we're just going to put them in there. So Carolina is in the championship game.

After all, they still got a shot at this. So you go, don't lie to me, man of God. That had to happen. What I'm saying is the gospel is that kind of news. It's kind of news that rocks your world.

It changes everything. Part of the reason that the gospel is so astonishing is because it touches upon your deepest hunger and deepest need. And until you're in touch, beloved, until you're in touch with what your soul really wants more than anything else, I don't think you can really ever hear the gospel. It has to come to this point where you're in touch with how much you need God, and then you hear about how much God loves you and how much God's done for you.

That's what happens. This whole story starts with Elisha, who is the prophet of Israel, and this mighty man of God finds hospitality in this woman's home. This woman lives in a town, Shunem, a little town, but she wanted to be a blessing to Elisha, so she and her husband, they made a little room on their roof, and a little bedroom, so a little vacation condo for the prophet, and they put a bed and table and chair in there, and they would feed him. I mean, this woman, she was one of those church ladies that, I mean, she knew how to do this. I mean, she was providing the preacher with homegrown tomatoes in the summer, silver, queen, corn, fresh, and as she went, and offered her vacation condo. This is the perfect parishioner, you see.

So she, summer's coming, I'm just saying. And Elisha was blessed by all this, and he wanted to be a blessing to her. And so he said to her, you know, essentially, he said, what could be done for you? He wanted to be a blessing to her. By the way, I want you to make sure you understand this about God. This is the nature of God. He is so blessed in and of Himself that He wants to bless you. God doesn't want to bless you because He's impressed by something that you do for God.

He doesn't want to bless you because He has been moved by some duty you've performed. No, God is in and of Himself full of blessedness. And so He loves to express that. He is a perfect Father who has love to give.

He is a master artist who has a masterpiece to paint. He is like a flower you saw driving to church this morning in springtime that it is going to burst forth in all of its glory just because it is a flower and spring has come. This is the nature of God. So many people think God might be reluctant to bless, reluctant to care, reluctant to love.

No, God is the one who's saying, who can I bless today? And Elisha was saying this, what could be done for this woman? And see, this woman was a wealthy woman, and she had all the appearance of somebody that didn't need anything. Sometimes there are people that look like they have everything and they don't need anything, and yet the truth of the matter is everybody needs something. I'm just telling you, one of the great privileges of being a pastor is that people confide in you their longings, their disappointments, and their secrets. And I've just seen this over all the decades that so often people, even within the church, tend to think, well, I wish I could be more like so-and-so because she just has it all together and she doesn't have any problems or needs. But if you were to talk to so-and-so, she would probably say the same thing. In other words, we all have something that we need, and Elisha was saying, what does this woman need?

What is it? And at first he says, you want me to speak to the commander on your behalf? He's essentially saying, I've got connections.

Maybe your husband could get a promotion in the government. Maybe do you need a financial gift? What is it that you need? Because he didn't know, and God hadn't shown him anything that the woman needed yet. And she first said, I live with my own people. What she was saying was, I don't really have a need. She was basically saying, I'm good. Elisha was saying, what do you need?

And she said, I'm good. And so Elisha turned to his servant and he said, there must be something that she needs. And the servant said, well, her husband's old and she has no son. And as soon as he said that, I think the Lord just gave a revelation to the prophet Elisha.

And he saw it in an instant, just like that, what God was going to do for this woman. Because as soon as he said, she has an old husband and no son, he had introduced a very serious problem. People in our culture and people out there in the history of the world long to be parents, and anyone who has not been able to be a parent biologically has felt the pain of that grief. But it's different in the ancient mid-eastern culture because this is a culture in which the whole plan sociologically for caring for the aged was that the children would do that and the son would carry on the family estate. So here's what the picture was. She had an older husband who was likely to die far before she, and she had no son to carry on the family estate, the family business or take care of her.

So this was a serious problem that had been introduced. And it was the deep longing of her heart. And when Elisha said, by this time next year, you're going to be holding a son, her reaction to it was to say, don't lie to me, man of God. Because he had just landed upon her deepest desire and one that maybe she had covered up with years and years of submerging it down into the deeper places of her soul.

And she was essentially saying to him, don't you dare do that. Alan Wright. Maybe we've all had a moment like that in our lives.

It's part of our teaching today. Don't lie to me, man of God from the series, Miracle Man. And Alan is back in a moment with additional insight on this for your life and a final word. Ever feel like something's holding you back as if you lack an important key that could change everything?

Is there someone you love who seems stuck? You'd like to help them, but how? What's missing? Blessing. We all need a positive faith-filled vision spoken over our lives. You can learn how to embrace the biblical practice of blessing through Pastor Alan Wright's new book, The Power to Bless, which quickly became an Amazon number one bestseller after its recent release.

Until now, the hardcover book has only been available through retail sales. But this month, Alan Wright Ministries wants to send you the book as our thank you for your donation. When you give this month, you'll not only receive the bestselling book, but you'll also receive a free five session video course in which Pastor Alan teaches how to bless and covers content not found in the book.

The video course includes a detailed study guide perfect for personal growth or small group discussion. Make your gift today and discover the power to bless. Today is the final day we're offering this special product. We are happy to send this to you as our thanks from Alan Wright Ministries. Call us at 877-544-4860.

That's 877-544-4860. Or come to our website, PastorAlan.org. Alan, for the one who can identify, maybe even with that, the title of today's teaching, Don't Lie to Me, Man of God. This is too good, but my heart is too weak to take this right now, if it's not true. It is like the Easter message itself. It's right.

It is. The gospel is so good that unless there's a part of you that says, oh, that's too good to be true, don't lie to me about that, then I don't think you've really heard the gospel. And this is one of those stories where it's about a woman who, when confronted with the possibility of being given her deepest, greatest desire, a longing that she had for a child, her response is, don't lie to me, man of God. In other words, I want to believe it, but it's hard to believe. And this is the nature of the gospel. It will rock your world and change everything about it. The good news is so good. Today's good news message is a listener supported production of Allen Wright Ministries.