The Manna Stops at Gilgal: When God Makes You Follow the Process

Sermon outline

The anointing is available to every believer, but like Elisha you must boldly refuse to leave the journey, letting God cut things away at Gilgal, where the free manna stops, and meet Him at Bethel in visions, dreams and covenant.

1. The call to Elisha: everything else is left behind

   Elijah threw his cloak on Elisha while he was ploughing with twelve yoke of oxen. Elisha kissed his parents goodbye, slaughtered the oxen, cooked them on the yokes for the people, and went to serve Elijah. The moment the call came, he did away with what he had been doing in order to become who God wanted him to be.

   Illustration: In South African terms, Elisha had a spit braai with his whole career and inheritance.

   “The minute that the calling came, what he was already doing, now he did away with.”

   • 1 Kings 19:19-21

2. "I will not leave you": no plan B on the journey

   From Gilgal to Bethel, Jericho and the Jordan, Elijah told Elisha to stay behind, and each time he refused. Fifty sons of the prophets stood afar off, waiting to see what would happen, and only attached themselves once they saw the anointing, and even then wanted to search for Elijah first. They had plans A to D; Elisha had one plan. Too many Christians live with one foot in the church and the rest in the world, and are first out of the door when trouble comes. Never join a critical conversation, because you cannot receive from what you criticise.

   Illustration: The signs that followed at once: the Jordan parted when Elisha struck it with Elijah's cloak, and the bad water of Jericho was healed with salt.

   “If you criticize, you have nothing to receive.”

   • 2 Kings 2:1-18

3. Have the audacity to ask for the anointing

   Elisha asked boldly for a double portion and was told it was a hard thing. You have to be audacious, fervent, militant and hard-headed to stay on the way, because along the way you will not always like the man of God, and the anointing is attached to God's order and to someone. Refuse to be ordinary. If you are bold enough to ask, be bold enough to pay the price.

   Illustration: If Elijah had been from Greenwood Park he would have said, Elisha, listen, I've had enough of you, you stay here. He says the two things he is allergic to are laziness and excuses.

   “If you're bold enough to ask for it, you've got to be bold enough to pay the price.”

   • 2 Kings 2:9-10

4. Gilgal: the place of circumcision

   Gilgal is the first battle on the journey. After salvation there is a grace period in which God answers quickly and tolerates a little dabbling. At Gilgal what used to be permissible is no longer permissible: God cuts away sin, pornography, wrong friendships, stinking thinking and even negative speech. Joshua circumcised the generation born in the wilderness before they could go forward. Let God do it privately rather than publicly through your own drama. It is painful, but it is preparation, not punishment.

   Illustration: In that pain there is no Panado, no anti-inflammatory and no disinfectant except God and His word. And God may even let the phone break so that the TikTok, Instagram and Snapchat are cut away too.

   “God's anointing cannot live next to your drama.”

   • Joshua 5:1-9

5. Gilgal: the manna stops and the process begins

   The day after Israel ate the produce of the land, the manna ceased. Things you once received without working for them now come through process: tithes, offerings, giving, obedience and paying the price. It is the end of dependency and a call to maturity, from the milk of the Word to the meat. God will not anoint a baby. When all hell seems to break loose and what came easily no longer does, God is not against you; He is separating you from the old.

   Illustration: You cannot live on Fruity Loops and milk and expect the nourishment of a lamb shank. And at twenty-three you should not be too old for youth; you should be running it, with a consistent prayer life and people you are sharing the Word with every day.

   “God won't anoint a baby. God will only anoint a man.”

   • Exodus 16:20
   • Joshua 5:12

6. Bethel: visions, dreams, encounter and covenant

   At Bethel Jacob saw the ladder, met God and said, surely the Lord is in this place. Bethel is the place of visions, dreams and personal encounter through the Holy Spirit, who promised to pour out His Spirit on all flesh. It shows in changed speech, consistent prayer, and turning to the Word instead of old coping mechanisms. It is also where Jacob made a financial covenant to give a tenth: if you are still debating the tithe, you are not yet at Bethel. Baptism is the death of the old man at Gilgal, and rising from the water is entering Bethel.

   Illustration: Kenneth Hagin likened the Word to an antibiotic you must take in a daily dose. Bethel dreams are not the ones that come after six kilograms of ribs, about crocodiles and Darth Vader.

   “If you are not having any visions and dreams, then you are dry.”

   • Genesis 28:10-22
   • Acts 2:17

In this message