EVERY ARROW MATTERS | PAUL DAUGHERTY | FORWARD SERIES PT. 2

Every arrow matters.

If you're taking notes, note takers are history makers, world changers, culture shapers.

Just write this down, every arrow matters.

You'll understand what it means once we get into the story, but 2 Kings 13, verse 14.

Now Elisha had been suffering from the illness from which he would die.

This is a crazy verse.

Because Elisha was raised up by a prophet named Elijah, and Elijah was like the most powerful prophet in Israel, and the Bible says that Elisha got double the portion, double mantle, double the anointing, double the miracles, double the impact that Elijah had, which means that Elisha was gonna go further, he was gonna go faster, he was gonna do greater things than his predecessor, his mentor did.

This is the calling for the church, by the way.

We're not meant to live in the museums of the past.

We're called to take it to another.

We stand on the shoulders of giants, and they don't want us going down a floor.

They want us to continue to build and take it to the next level.

So Elijah, before he died, he actually never died.

Elijah got raptured up into heaven.

There's only two people in the Bible that didn't die.

Who are they? Enoch and Elijah.

And both of them were taken up to heaven before they died, so they didn't taste death, they didn't walk through sickness, cancer, disease.

They got to just go straight.

In fact, Elijah was taken up by a horse, like chariots of fire, pulled him up into heaven, and Elisha caught the double portion.

But yet, Elisha is dying of a sickness.

Even great men of God eventually face death.

And the question is not will you die because all of us in this room will face death, but the question is will you live a full life? Will you make your life count? And Elisha didn't just live a full life.

I mean, you could say he lived like five lives in one.

He lived what most people barely get to experience.

He saw so many miracles, so many breakthroughs.

He lived with so much passion, so much purpose.

He made every day count.

How many of y'all wanna live like Elisha? You wanna make every day matter.

So here he is, he's dying.

And the young king of Israel comes to this dying prophet.

And the young king of Israel finds this dying prophet, his name's Jehoash, and he begins to weep over Elisha.

And he says, my father, my father, the chariots and the horsemen of Israel.

These are the exact same words that Elisha said to Elijah right before Elijah was taken away.

And Elisha hears these words as an old man dying in his bed.

And he's reminded some 30 plus years prior of when he was younger and he was being raised up by a prophet who believed in him.

And he said those same words, my father, my father, the chariots and the horsemen of Israel.

And something inside of Elisha recognized there is someone here.

who wants to partner with God.

There is someone here who has potential in his life.

There is someone here who is hungry for more.

Is there anyone in the room that's hungry for more, right? So this young king understood the power of partnership with God.

We need kings, we need presidents, we need governors in Oklahoma, mayors, we need councilmen who understand the power of partnership with the voice of God.

This king of Israel knew, I can lead the nation, I can govern the nation, I can make some laws, but if I don't follow God's voice, our nation will never become what God intended it to be.

We need leaders, we're in an election season right now, and we need leaders who will lean into the voice of God.

and not ignore it.

And this king understood, I've gotta partner with the prophet, I gotta get the voice of God, I gotta get the direction of God, because potential without direction, like potential without an aim, without a purpose, really never accomplishes what God intended.

And so this king understood, I've gotta partner with the voice of God.