Sun.’s Devo - Sowing and Reaping

Read: 2 Kings 4:18-5:27; Acts 15:1-35: Psalm 141:1-10; Proverbs 17:23 The son of the widow was out helping his father with the harvest when he suddenly complained loudly about his head. His father had his servant take his son to his mother. *** She held him in her lap and at noon, the child died. She took him upstairs to the prophet’s bed, then sent a message to her husband that she was going to visit the man of God. *** She found him at Mt. Carmel. God hadn’t shown Elisha what was going on and she wouldn’t tell Gehazi, his servant. Instead she fell at Elisha’s feet and remind him that she had told him not to get her hopes up about a son. Elisha knew her son was in trouble. He followed her home and found the son lying on his bed, dead. *** He prayed and laid down on top of the son placing his mouth on the child’s mouth and his eyes on the child’s eyes and his hands on the child’s hands until his body heat and life flowed into the child’s. He did this twice and the boy sneezed seven times and opened his eyes. *** Elisha told Gehazi to call the mother. She came in overwhelmed with gratitude and took her son downstairs. *** Elisha returned to Gilgal. There was a famine in the land. Elisha was teaching a group of young prophets. He told Gehazi to put a large pot on the fire and make some stew. One of the young men went out and gathered some gourds for the stew. They ended up being poisonous. When the men ate a few bites, they realized the stew was poisoned. Elisha threw some flour into the stew and it was fine. *** Another day, during the famine, a man brought a sack of fresh grain and 20 loaves of barley bread made from his first fruits. Elisha told his servant to feed all the people with it. Gehazi complained that there was no way this little food would feed a hundred people. Elisha told him it would not only feed them but there would be some left over. It was more than enough. *** In Aram, the king had a faithful servant, Naaman who had leprosy. Naaman had a young girl who was a captive from Israel that served his wife. She told her mistress that she wished Namaan would go to see the prophet in Samaria because he would heal Namaan. 
 *** Namaan told the king about what she said, so the king sent letters to the king of Israel along with gifts, telling him to heal Namaan. *** When he presented his letter to the king, he thought he was trying to pick a fight with him. The king tore his clothes in dismay and told him he was not a god that he could heal people. Elisha heard the the king was distraught and sent a message to send Naaman to him so the king did. *** When Naaman arrived at the house of Elisha, he sent Gehazi out to tell him to go and dip in the Jordan seven times and he would be healed. Naaman was insulted that Elisha wouldn’t come and meet him personally and that he would tell him to dip in the dirty water of the Jordan. *** His servants tried to convince him to do it anyway. He finally did and came out completely healed. He went back to Elisha’s house to reward him. This time Elisha went out to meet him. He refused to take any of his gifts. Naaman vowed to never again offer burnt offerings or sacrifices to any other god except the Lord and asked to take home some of the soil from that place. *** After he left, Gehazi lusted after the gifts he had offered Elisha. He ran after Naaman and lied saying Elisha had two guests who could use some money and clothes. Naaman gave him 150 pounds of silver and two changes of clothes and sent his servants to deliver it to Gehazi’s place. *** When Gehazi went back to Elisha, he asked him where he had gone. Gehazi lied and told him no where. Elisha told him that his spirit went with him to see those men. He told him that because he had received money and clothing, the leprosy that left Naaman would be upon him and his descendants forever. Gehazi left the room covered in leprosy. *** In Acts, the men from Judea came to Antioch in Syria and began preaching that the new converts had to be circumcised to be saved. Paul and Barnabas argued this was not true. It became such a big deal, that Paul and Barnabas were sent to Jerusalem to talk to the apostles there. The Pharisees there insisted that the Gentile converts had to be circumcised. *** Finally Peter stood up and addressed the meeting. He reminded them that he had been commissioned first to go and preach to the Gentile. He asked them why they were wanting to yoke them with a burden that their ancestors were not able to bear. They had all come to realize that salvation was the undeserved grace of Jesus, not their acts of righteousness. *** Then Paul and Barnabas told the stories of the miracles that they saw happen among the Gentiles. James stood and quoted Amos who predicted the saving of the Gentile. He thought they should not make it difficult to be saved. Instead, he said the Gentiles should be told to abstain from eating food offered to idols, from sexual immorality, from eating meat of strangled animals and from consuming blood. They all agreed to this and a letter was written to the churches in Antioch, Syria, and Cilicia. When the people in those churches heard the words of the letter they were happy and rejoiced. The church continued to grow. *** Lord, thank you for seed time and harvest. May we sow seeds of truth, love and forgiveness so that we might reap those same fruits.