DON’T GROW WEARY OF THE MANNA
January 7, 2001, pm
MF Blume
Numbers 11:4-9 And the mixt multitude
that was among them fell a lusting: and the children of Israel also wept
again, and said, Who shall give us flesh to eat? We remember the
fish, which we did eat in Egypt freely; the cucumbers, and the melons,
and the leeks, and the onions, and the garlick: But now our soul is dried
away: there is nothing at all, beside this manna, before our eyes. And
the manna was as coriander seed, and the colour thereof as the colour of
bdellium. And the people went about, and gathered it, and ground it in
mills, or beat it in a mortar, and baked it in pans, and made cakes of
it: and the taste of it was as the taste of fresh oil. And when the dew
fell upon the camp in the night, the manna fell upon it.
The people who were described as the “mixt multitude” were malcontents
of Egypt.
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They were not Israelites, but people looking for a chance to leave Egypt.
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Possibly other slaves and rabble.
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But these people who came with Moses and Israel when they left Egypt began
to influence Israel with their worldly desires and fleshly cravings.
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They listed 6 kinds of foods back in Egypt.
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6 is the number of man.
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Man was created on the sixth day and the number of the beast is 6-6-6.
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Man-man-man.
These people influenced Israel to crave “flesh.”
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They grew weary of manna and got a taste for the flesh they had in Egypt.
We as God’s people will always have amongst us a “mixt multitude.”
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Even Jesus said the Kingdom of God is as follows:
Matthew 13:24-30 Another parable put
he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man
which sowed good seed in his field: But while men slept, his enemy came
and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way. But when the blade was
sprung up, and brought forth fruit, then appeared the tares also. So the
servants of the householder came and said unto him, Sir, didst not thou
sow good seed in thy field? from whence then hath it tares? He said unto
them, An enemy hath done this. The servants said unto him, Wilt thou then
that we go and gather them up? But he said, Nay; lest while ye gather up
the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them. Let both grow together
until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers,
Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them:
but gather the wheat into my barn.
He also spoke of this:
Matthew 13:47-48 Again, the kingdom
of heaven is like unto a net, that was cast into the sea, and gathered
of every kind: Which, when it was full, they drew to shore, and sat down,
and gathered the good into vessels, but cast the bad away.
These people have no desire for the manna of the bread of Heaven.
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They desire flesh.
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They desire the world.
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But we cannot allow them to influence us.
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We want the things of God.
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We hunger and thirst after righteousness.
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We long after the Lord as the hart pants after the water brooks.
As we have been preaching, manna represents Christ.
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Those who want to “know Him” are those who do not follow after miracles.
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They do not serve God only when their needs become so great that they have
to cry out to God for help.
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The true believer is the soul who wants to Know Christ, Himself.
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And when others get discouraged with each other and quit gathering for
service, these people are so in love with Christ that these troubles others
have do not stop them from serving Christ.
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Why stop gathering with His people to worship Him just because someone
in that gathering may act out of line?
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We are not worshiping these people.
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We are worshiping God.
There are those who are weary of the precious revelations of God.
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They are not truly feasting on it, for if they were, and tasted what it
is like to receive revelation, they would never lose desire for it!
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Its too wondrous!
It is a miracle for God to reveal His word to us.
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I am not just talking about reading it.
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I am talking about receiving insights and revelations from it.
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Having our eyes opened up to see it!
Internet is truly an ingenious invention.
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For as much technology as man progresses in, there seems to be that much
more sin.
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But whereas there is so much trash on the internet, we need to put the
word of God and the truths of God out there on the net all the more!
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With all the Christians on the internet, I am shocked at how few of them
get on there to fellowship around the things of God.
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It seems our youth are more interested in finding another single person
on the net.
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That is dangerous, folks!
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Homosexuals have disguised themselves as girls to incite licentious discussions
with young men.
There are so many wonderful Christian resources on the net, but so many
have lost a desire for manna.
They would rather talk about everything else on the net except the things
of God.
Don’t lose your desire for the manna.
Jesus had the same experience as Moses did with people who lost desire
for manna.
John 6:24-27 When the people therefore
saw that Jesus was not there, neither his disciples, they also took shipping,
and came to Capernaum, seeking for Jesus. And when they had found him on
the other side of the sea, they said unto him, Rabbi, when camest thou
hither? Jesus answered them and said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Ye
seek me, not because ye saw the miracles, but because ye did eat of the
loaves, and were filled. Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for
that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall
give unto you: for him hath God the Father sealed.
They did not come to Jesus for the supernatural or the words of life.
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They came for carnal reasons.
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Like a mixt multitude, these people cared not for the spiritual.
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They had too much a taste for natural things.
These people asked Jesus how they might labour or work for this bread that
gives eternal life.
John 6:28-29 Then said they unto
him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God? Jesus answered
and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom
he hath sent.
Jesus began to speak spiritually to these folks.
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He began to swerve the conversation towards the things of God.
John 6:30-33 They said therefore unto
him, What sign shewest thou then, that we may see, and believe thee? what
dost thou work? Our fathers did eat manna in the desert; as it is written,
He gave them bread from heaven to eat. Then Jesus said unto them, Verily,
verily, I say unto you, Moses gave you not that bread from heaven; but
my Father giveth you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is
he which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world.
They referred Him to the manna from Moses.
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Jesus reminded them it was God who gave the manna, and that the true manna
was Himself.
John 6:48-52 I am that bread of life.
Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness, and are dead. This is the
bread which cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof, and not
die. I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat
of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is
my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world. The Jews therefore
strove among themselves, saying, How can this man give us his flesh to
eat?
They could not grass the symbolism He used in speaking about the manna
being His flesh and blood.
John 6:63 It is the spirit that
quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you,
they are spirit, and they are life.
The manna, His flesh and blood, represented His WORDS that they eat
by BELIEVING.
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Even the Catholic Church got this mixed up along with those hearing Jesus
that day.
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It is not literal flesh and blood that the bread and wine speak about,
but flesh and blood in the bread and wine represent how the WORDS of Jesus
are to be taken in and made part of ourselves by BELIEVING THEM and APPLYING
THEM to ourselves.
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In verse 63, Jesus explained what was literal flesh contrasted to His truths
in the illustration He previously used.
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Eating the literal flesh does nothing for us.
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He is speaking about the WORDS that are believed, which are spirit and
life.
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The spirit of the words He preached would give them life.
Look at what the people did when they began to hear about true manna.
John 6:66 From that time many of
his disciples went back, and walked no more with him.
The had no desire for manna.
If you are hungry for God He will feed you!
Isaiah 55:1-3 Ho, every one
that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money;
come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk
without money and without price. Wherefore do ye spend money for
that which is not bread? and your labour for that which satisfieth not?
hearken diligently unto me, and eat ye that which is good, and let your
soul delight itself in fatness. Incline your ear, and come
unto me: hear, and your soul shall live; and I will
make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies
of David.
Notice that we read, “Incline your ear... hear, and you soul shall live,”
after He writes about coming to the water and food.
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The food and drink is the WORDS of God.
Like manna, the WORD rains down.
Isaiah 55:10-11 For as the rain
cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth
the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to
the sower, and bread to the eater: So shall my word be that goeth forth
out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish
that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.
But there is too much of a taste for the world in too many believers.
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Bible studies are not their desire.
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They want the pomp and glamour and flash.
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They have no interest in wanting to Know Christ.
Numbers 11:7 And the manna was as coriander
seed, and the colour thereof as the colour of bdellium.
Bdellium is pearl.
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The manna looked like pearl!
Matthew 13:45 -46 Again, the kingdom of heaven
is like unto a merchant man, seeking goodly pearls: Who, when he had found
one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had, and bought it.
What is this pearl of great price?
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We know that there is a link to manna.
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And Jesus is the manna.
Notice what else is referred to as pearl in the New Testament.
Revelation 21:21 And the twelve
gates were twelve pearls; every several gate was of one pearl:
and the street of the city was pure gold, as it were transparent glass.
The gates of the New Jerusalem were of one pearl.
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Gates.
John 10:9 I am the door: by me if any
man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture
Jesus is the door!
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The gate.
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And since the gates were of one pearl, and Jesus is the gate, we can see
that the pearl of great price is the Lord Jesus Christ for whom we sell
all that we have in order to enter through Him!
People, you cannot hold onto the ways of the world and Jesus at the same
time.
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You will not be blessed by God if you do.
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If you made your mind up that you are simply not going to release hold
of some things of the world if you live for the Lord, then you will simply
not be blessed in your Christianity.
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As we preached this morning, God will allow life to rip you apart, for
He cannot bless you if you lay claim to the ways of the world and do not
sell all to find Him.
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I am not talking about following a cultic mentality of hiding yourself
away from everything that is well and good in this world.
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I am not here to be a dictator and tell you when and when not you can have
vacations.
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I hear about that sort of thing and I cringe!
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That is cultic!
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All I am saying is that if the Word of God speaks against something, that
you wish to hold on to, God will not bless your life.
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I am not a policeman who watches your every move and demands you do this
or that in your private lives.
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That, too, is cultic.
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All that my job is is to speak to you the word of God, and its up to you
what you are going to do with it, not me.
Church, we must keep something in mind.
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My job is not to do your personal Bible studying.
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I am here to guide you through the Word.
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Not to do your studying for you.
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I hope you are taking these truths, and these scriptures and studying them
at home after you hear me preach about them.
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Don’t take my word for everything.
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You see it with your own eyes and make sure for yourself that is what the
Word is really teaching.
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And if it is, then keep studying it and see for yourself the treasures
of the Word.
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Apply them to your lives.
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Live by them!
Some people like a word that is better, in their hearts, than God’s word.
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“SALE”.
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The stores have a great sale and, church or not, they’re going to that
sale!
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Or some trash on television like a soap opera.
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They feed on that filth every day where, in one half hour, you can see
every sin imaginable.
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Quite a miracle, isn’t it?
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And then they wonder why their spiritual strength is gone.
Numbers 11:8 And the people went about,
and gathered it, and ground it in mills, or beat it in a mortar, and baked
it in pans, and made cakes of it: and the taste of it was as the taste
of fresh oil.
The manna tasted like FRESH OIL.
People, we studied what lamp oil was this morning.
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Anointing oil represents the Holy Ghost.
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Lamp oil speaks of the inspired teaching and preaching.
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It has to be so, because the manna speaks of Word of God and it tasted
like fresh oil.
Notice what happened to manna if it was left for a later time.
Exodus 16:21 And they gathered
it every morning, every man according to his eating: and when the sun waxed
hot, it melted.
If you did not gather it before the sun grew too hot, that manna was gone
for the day!
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Get it while its fresh!
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Get it while I am preaching it.
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Don’t say you’ll live it later on in the month or year, but not now.
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Eat it and devour it and make it part of your life now, or it will be gone.
We need fresh revelation from God.
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I told somebody that I have to get a fresh revelation every time I preach.
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I have ministered sermons that I preached in times past, but even on those
occasions, I have to get that word alive and on fire again in my spirit.
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I have even preached other men’s sermons in the past.
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But they have to come alive to me, and more often than not, God will also
speak more about the issue to me.
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It has to, in effect, become a genuine revelation to me before I can preach
it to you.
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I cannot rant off what a book says when I preach to you.
Zechariah saw a vision of olive trees pouring lamp oil into the lamps in
chapter 4.
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He was told this was the word of the Lord that was being give.
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Fresh oil. Was the WORD.
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You cannot get it any fresher than directly from an olive tree!
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Zech. 4:11,14 says that these two trees are the two anointed ones standing
by the Lord of the whole earth.
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Revelation 11:3-4 refers to that scripture when speaking about two witnesses
prophesying, or speaking anointed and inspired Word of God to people.
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The word given and prophesying are the same thing.
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FRESH OIL.
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Fresh from God through anointed ministers who know how to hear from God.
Don’t get weary of the manna!
2 Kings 2:14-18 And he took the
mantle of Elijah that fell from him, and smote the waters, and said, Where
is the LORD God of Elijah? and when he also had smitten the waters, they
parted hither and thither: and Elisha went over. And when the sons of the
prophets which were to view at Jericho saw him, they said, The spirit of
Elijah doth rest on Elisha. And they came to meet him, and bowed themselves
to the ground before him. And they said unto him, Behold now, there be
with thy servants fifty strong men; let them go, we pray thee, and seek
thy master: lest peradventure the Spirit of the LORD hath taken him up,
and cast him upon some mountain, or into some valley. And he said, Ye shall
not send. And when they urged him till he was ashamed, he said, Send. They
sent therefore fifty men; and they sought three days, but found him not.
And when they came again to him, (for he tarried at Jericho,) he said unto
them, Did I not say unto you, Go not?
These men saw the power of God on Elisha, and sought to find Elijah, also.
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But Elijah was gone, and the fresh word was coming from Elisha now.
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But these people wanted a thing of the past.
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Elijah was gone, and was a thing of the past, at this time.
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They did not realize that Elisha could help them get to where they wanted
to be in God.
That is like so many today.
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The look back to a revival so many years ago, and that is all they talk
about.
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They think that by going back in their minds to those olden days they will
get the power they need.
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They do not see the fresh manna that God is giving right now!
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They look at the men and women of God today and think of them in their
natural minds as young whipper-snappers.
Elisha was where the Word was.
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Elijah’s day was gone.
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Don’t look for a bygone era of revival.
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Look for what God is doing right now!
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Fresh oil.
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The oil from yesterday is vanished and will never be here again!
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See what God is doing NOW.
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Get in on the work of God in the here and now!
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The truth has not changed since bygone days, but the fresh oil is still
going forth.
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Just find it!
It was is plentiful in Israel’s day that they had to either step on it
or pick it up and enjoy it.
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So many people just step all over it and not care about it.
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Don’t lose your desire for the manna!
2 Kings 2:17 And when they urged him
till he was ashamed, he said, Send. They sent therefore fifty men; and
they sought three days, but found him not.
They looked for three days.
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What does the reference to “three days” speak to us about?
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The death, burial and resurrection message.
You can even look all over the Bible at the Gospel message, but so long
as you are looking at a past experience, and do not see that God wants
to move on you NOW, you will get nothing out of it.
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Until you see yourself in the death, burial and resurrection, it will not
put your spirit ablaze in revival.
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Get a double portion as Elisha received!
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See yourself dead with Christ.
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Don’t just look at the three days as a historical thing.
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See it applied to you and what it means to you in there here and now!
Let’s keep feasting on manna this year, and don’t grow weary of the manna!
If you get too much a tasted of the world, you will find reason to want
to go back to it.
Hebrews 11:13-16 These all died
in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off,
and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they
were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. For they that say such
things declare plainly that they seek a country. And truly,
if they had been mindful of that country from whence they came out,
they might have had opportunity to have returned. But now
they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly: wherefore God is not
ashamed to be called their God: for he hath prepared for them a city.
Notice verse 14.
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The key to the heroes of faith was that they put their past lives in the
world out of their minds and they kept it out.
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If they had retained that thinking of where they were, they might have
had opportunity ot have returned to that life.
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Like the rabble in the Exodus, who lusted after the flesh in Egypt, they
wanted to go back.
Keep yourself strong by feeding on the manna.
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Cast down the imaginations of the former life in the world from your mind.
2 Corinthians10:5 Casting down imaginations,
and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God,
and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;
Don’t grow weary of the manna.