• A table in the wilderness? (Psalm 78:19Yea, they spake against God; they said, Can God furnish a table in the wilderness?
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• A table prepared in the presence of mine enemies (Psalm 23:5Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.
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Baptists in Jail in America – "James Ireland (1745-1806), who was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, immigrated to northern Virginia, where he became a schoolmaster. By reason of his youthful vice, he entered a prolonged state of concern about his salvation but eventually obtained a hope for his soul. Almost at once he began to preach. In Pittsylvania County he was baptized by Samuel Harris and was ordained as an itinerant by eleven Separate Baptist preachers."

"His five-month imprisonment in Culpepper County, during the winter and spring of 1769-1770, stands out amidst the persecutions that Virginia county officials meted out to Separate Baptists from 1768 to 1778. While Jemmy Ireland was in jail, gunpowder was exploded under the floor, sulfur and hot pepper were burned beneath the door, and a scheme to poison him was plotted. When he preached through a small grating (maybe one foot square), some Negroes who listened were stripped and beaten, other persons were trodden under horses’ hoofs, and miscreants urinated in his face. After Lord Botetourt, governor of the colony, gave Ireland leave to build a meetinghouse in Culpepper County, the magistrates could no longer hold him." –from Baptists on the American Frontier (page 88).

1. THE PLACE OF ROLLING AWAY (2 Kings 4:38And Elisha came again to Gilgal: and there was a dearth in the land; and the sons of the prophets were sitting before him: and he said unto his servant, Set on the great pot, and seethe pottage for the sons of the prophets.
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1. The Land of Gilgal: where the reproach of Egypt was rolled away (Joshua 5:9-10 [9] And the LORD said unto Joshua, This day have I rolled away the reproach of Egypt from off you. Wherefore the name of the place is called Gilgal unto this day. [10] And the children of Israel encamped in Gilgal, and kept the passover on the fourteenth day of the month at even in the plains of Jericho.
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2. A Place to Which Elisha Returned (Isaiah 51:1Hearken to me, ye that follow after righteousness, ye that seek the LORD: look unto the rock whence ye are hewn, and to the hole of the pit whence ye are digged.
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2. THE TIME OF DEARTH IN THE LAND (2 Kings 4:38And Elisha came again to Gilgal: and there was a dearth in the land; and the sons of the prophets were sitting before him: and he said unto his servant, Set on the great pot, and seethe pottage for the sons of the prophets.
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1. A Time of Scarcity (Psalm 40:17But I am poor and needy; yet the Lord thinketh upon me: thou art my help and my deliverer; make no tarrying, O my God.
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2. A Famine of the Word of God (Amos 8:11-12 [11] Behold, the days come, saith the Lord GOD, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the LORD: [12] And they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east, they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the LORD, and shall not find it.
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3. THE HEART OF EXPECTATION (2 Kings 4:38And Elisha came again to Gilgal: and there was a dearth in the land; and the sons of the prophets were sitting before him: and he said unto his servant, Set on the great pot, and seethe pottage for the sons of the prophets.
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1. The Sons of the Prophets Sat Before Elisha (Luke 10:38-39 [38] Now it came to pass, as they went, that he entered into a certain village: and a certain woman named Martha received him into her house. [39] And she had a sister called Mary, which also sat at Jesus' feet, and heard his word.
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2. The Hunger for the Things of God (Psalm 84:1-2 [1] How amiable are thy tabernacles, O LORD of hosts! [2] My soul longeth, yea, even fainteth for the courts of the LORD: my heart and my flesh crieth out for the living God.
   See All...; Matthew 5:6Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.
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4. THE PROVISION OF THE POTTAGE (2 Kings 4:38And Elisha came again to Gilgal: and there was a dearth in the land; and the sons of the prophets were sitting before him: and he said unto his servant, Set on the great pot, and seethe pottage for the sons of the prophets.
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1. Provision to be Prepared (Psalm 107:9For he satisfieth the longing soul, and filleth the hungry soul with goodness.
   See All...; Isaiah 55:1-2 [1] 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. [2] 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.
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2. Provision to be Given (Luke 9:12-14 [12] And when the day began to wear away, then came the twelve, and said unto him, Send the multitude away, that they may go into the towns and country round about, and lodge, and get victuals: for we are here in a desert place. [13] But he said unto them, Give ye them to eat. And they said, We have no more but five loaves and two fishes; except we should go and buy meat for all this people. [14] For they were about five thousand men. And he said to his disciples, Make them sit down by fifties in a company.
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5. THE GATHERING OF THE GREENS (2 Kings 4:39And one went out into the field to gather herbs, and found a wild vine, and gathered thereof wild gourds his lap full, and came and shred them into the pot of pottage: for they knew them not.
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1. One Gathered Wild Gourds in the Field (Isaiah 5:2And he fenced it, and gathered out the stones thereof, and planted it with the choicest vine, and built a tower in the midst of it, and also made a winepress therein: and he looked that it should bring forth grapes, and it brought forth wild grapes.
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2. He Did Not Know What He Gathered (Jeremiah 11:19But I was like a lamb or an ox that is brought to the slaughter; and I knew not that they had devised devices against me, saying, Let us destroy the tree with the fruit thereof, and let us cut him off from the land of the living, that his name may be no more remembered.
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6. THE POISON IN THE POT (2 Kings 4:40So they poured out for the men to eat. And it came to pass, as they were eating of the pottage, that they cried out, and said, O thou man of God, there is death in the pot. And they could not eat thereof.
   See All...; Galatians 5:9A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump.
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1. Perversions of Scripture (Romans 1:25Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen.
   See All...; 2 Corinthians 2:17For we are not as many, which corrupt the word of God: but as of sincerity, but as of God, in the sight of God speak we in Christ.
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2. Preaching of False Doctrine (Galatians 1:8-9 [8] But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. [9] As we said before, so say I now again, if any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed.
   See All...; 2 John 1:9-11 [9] Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son. [10] If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed: [11] For he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds.
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3. Pointless Controversies (2 Timothy 2:14-16 [14] Of these things put them in remembrance, charging them before the Lord that they strive not about words to no profit, but to the subverting of the hearers. [15] Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. [16] But shun profane and vain babblings: for they will increase unto more ungodliness.
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4. Idols of Personality (1 Corinthians 3:3-5 [3] For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men? [4] For while one saith, I am of Paul; and another, I am of Apollos; are ye not carnal? [5] Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers by whom ye believed, even as the Lord gave to every man?
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5. Popular Opinion (Luke 16:15And he said unto them, Ye are they which justify yourselves before men; but God knoweth your hearts: for that which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God.
   See All...; 1 Timothy 6:5Perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds, and destitute of the truth, supposing that gain is godliness: from such withdraw thyself.
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6. Worldly Philosophy (Colossians 2:8Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.
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7. Wicked Carnality (1 Peter 2:11Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul;
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7. THE HEALING OF THE POTTAGE (2 Kings 4:41But he said, Then bring meal. And he cast it into the pot; and he said, Pour out for the people, that they may eat. And there was no harm in the pot.
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1. Casting in the Meal: ground up grain (Genesis 18:6And Abraham hastened into the tent unto Sarah, and said, Make ready quickly three measures of fine meal, knead it, and make cakes upon the hearth.
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2. Bringing Iniquity to Remembrance (Numbers 5:15Then shall the man bring his wife unto the priest, and he shall bring her offering for her, the tenth part of an ephah of barley meal; he shall pour no oil upon it, nor put frankincense thereon; for it is an offering of jealousy, an offering of memorial, bringing iniquity to remembrance.
   See All... – the only offering of the law that specifically mentions meal)
3. Contrition of Spirit (Psalm 51:17The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.
   See All...; Isaiah 57:15For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.
   See All...; Isaiah 66:2For all those things hath mine hand made, and all those things have been, saith the LORD: but to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word.
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Conclusion: Life Through the Spirit – “Too much emphasis cannot be placed on the fact that, since God has proposed the impossible rule of life and provided the sufficient Spirit, the believer’s responsibility is thereby changed from being a struggle of the flesh to being a reliance on the Spirit. Grace thus introduces a new problem for the believer’s life which is wholly foreign to every aspect of the law. It is the problem of the adjustment of the heart to the holy presence of the Spirit, and of maintaining the unbroken attitude of dependence on the Spirit. The new principle of achievement consists in getting things accomplished in the believer’s life and service by trusting the power of Another, rather than by trusting the energy of the flesh.” –from Grace:   The Glorious Theme by Lewis Sperry Chafer (p.207-208).