I’ve seen many a tear fall on the altar as parents wept for their children.

 Many times I’ve been asked, “Please pray for my children.”

2. For a parent, there’s nothing anymore important than their children.
  Now, for certain, being a parent isn’t always peaches and
  cream.

3. There are times when every parent feels like the mother of three notoriously unruly youngsters I heard about.

 She was asked whether or not she'd have children if she had to do
 over again. "Sure," she replied, "but not the same ones."

4. As parents we worry about our children and sometimes not without cause.

 I read about a teenager named Debbie that wasn't home and it was
 getting awfully late. Not knowing any of her girlfriend's phone
 numbers, her Mother fired-up Debbie's computer and saw a list of
 e-mail addresses. She sent a note to each name asking if they knew
 where her daughter was. Within twenty minutes, she got back 16
 replies all saying that she wasn't to worry, that Debbie was
 spending the night at their house and had neglected to telephone.

5. There are many reasons why parents worry about their children, but nothing causes a parent anymore worry or pain than the thoughts of their children being unsaved or away from God.

I think of the old song that says:

6. There’s a better home a-waiting for those who know the Lord.

 For a Christian parent, they want their children to be with them in
 heaven one day.

They don’t want the family circle to be broken.

  When this life is over they want there to be family reunion.

As another song says:

7.  As we look at year before us, seeing that we’re only a couple of months into it,   I want to challenge every parent to make the salvation of your children (no matter what their age)  a priority for the entire year.

 If you have children away from God, I want to speak to you about
 making it a priority to see them back in Church and serving God.

8. It’s my prayer that at this time next year, many of the children you have been praying for will be sitting beside you worshipping the Lord with you.

  I know that for many a parent, it would be the answer to
  many a prayer.

9. In the story before us I want to lift certain lessons that I believe will be very valuable in my challenge becoming a reality.

 It’s a great story, a story that involves a mother and her son.

First, notice with me:

1. One of the great promises of the Bible is found in 1 Samuel 2:30 where God said “them that honour me I will honour.”

As I look at this woman I see a woman that honored God, as a result, was honored by God.

Let’s look closer this great woman.

First, notice with me:
A) Her Respect for the Man of God
1.    The story begins with Elisha passing through Shunem and his meeting this woman.

Verse 8 speaks of how she “constrained him to eat bread.”  That is, she insisted on preparing a meal for him.
  From that point on, every time Elisha passed through the
  area, he would stop and have a meal with this woman and
  her husband.

2.   One day she came up with an ideal.
  She said to her husband in verses 9-10:
[9] And she said unto her husband, Behold now, I perceive that this is an holy man of God, which passeth by us continually.

[10] Let us make a little chamber, I pray thee, on the wall; and let us set for him there a bed, and a table, and a stool, and a candlestick: and it shall be, when he cometh to us, that he shall turn in thither.”

3.  They added a little room to their house, furnished it with all Elisha would need to have a nice, comfortable place to stay, and whenever he passed through, the room was always ready for him.

4. Her respect for the man of God was reflective of her respect for the God of the man.

 Her actions were a mirror of the reverence she had for the Lord.

5. When a person loves God they love the man of God.

 When I see a Church mistreat the man of God I know that it’s but a
 reflection of how they really feel about God.

And that’s not just true when it comes to the man of God, but the things of God in general.

6. When someone loves God, they’ll love His Word, His house and His work.
   How a person treats the things of God is a
   tattle-tale of how they really feel about God.

7. There was her respect for the man of God.

But also notice with me:
B) Her Reward from the Man of God
1.   One day Elisha and his servant Gehazi were sitting in the little chamber, no doubt eating a big plate of food she had prepared for them, and Elisha got to thinking, “You know, this woman has been real good to me. I need to do something for her.”

Elisha had his servant say to her in verse 13:
“Behold, thou hast been careful for us with all this care; what is to be done for thee? wouldest thou be spoken for to the king, or to the captain of the host?”

2. He asks, “What can we do for you to show how much we appreciate all you have done for us?  Would you like for us to mention you to the king?

 I know he would be pleased and would no doubt honor you in
 some special way. Or, would you like for us to mention you to the
 captain of the hosts?    That would bring you special privileges.”

3. That this was a humble woman is seen in her reply. She simply said, “I dwell among mine own people.”   Or in other words, “No, you don’t have to do that. I’m happy just being who I am and what I am.”

4. Elisha looks at Gehazi and asks, “What can we do for her?”

Gehazi thinks for a moment and then says, “I know what we can do for her. She is barren and doesn’t have a child. I don’t know of anything that would make her happier than to be able to have a child.”

5. As I reread this story this week I couldn’t help but notice that Gehazi referred to her husband as being an old man.

 I thought about a minister who decided to do something a little
 different one Sunday morning. He said, "Today, church, I’m going
 to say a single word and you are going to help me preach.
 Whatever single word I say, I want you to sing whatever hymn
 comes to your mind."

The pastor shouted out, "Cross."
Immediately the congregation started singing in unison, "The Old Rugged Cross."
The Pastor hollered out, "Grace." The congregation began to sing, "Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound."

The Pastor said, "Power." The congregation sang, "There is Power in the Blood."

The Pastor said, "Kisses." The congregation fell into total silence. Everyone was in shock. They all nervously began to look around at each other, afraid to say anything. Suddenly, from the back of the church, a frail little 87 year-old grandmother stood up and, in a tiny quavering voice, began to sing, "Precious Memories."

6. It was like Gehazi was saying, “I know she would like to have a child but check out her husband. He’s already been put out to pasture. We are going to need help on this one.”

We read in verses 16-17:
[16] And he said, About this season, according to the time of life, thou shalt embrace a son. And she said, Nay, my lord, thou man of God, do not lie unto thine handmaid.
[17] And the woman conceived, and bare a son at that season that Elisha had said unto her, according to the time of life.

7. As a reward for her kindness to Elisha, God gave her a son.

 Her story reminds me that if a person will honor God,
 He’ll honor them.

God will bless those who love Him, serve Him, obey and respect Him.
   This woman is a good example of the reality of this
   wonderful promise.

As we move further in her story we see:

1. The years passed and this happy mother watched her son become a young man.   If ever a boy was loved, it was no doubt this boy.

 He was momma’s pride and joy. However, her happiness was
 suddenly shattered when someone came rushing in the house
 carrying her son in his arms.

We read in verses 18-20:
[18] And when the child was grown, it fell on a day, that he went out to his father to the reapers.
[19] And he said unto his father, My head, my head. And he said to a lad, Carry him to his mother.
[20] And when he had taken him, and brought him to his mother, he sat on her knees till noon, and then died.

2.  It would seem that the boy had a heat stroke.
  As the hours passed she cradled her son’s head in her lap,
  wiping his brow with a cold cloth.

3. There’s no human love like the love of a mother for her child.

 Tears were shed and prayers were prayed, but then, in spite of all
 she could do, her son died with his head still lying in her lap.

If we had been standing outside that little home, we would have heard a mother’s wail piercing the air as she clutched his lifeless body in her arms. It was midnight in the middle of day.   Her son was dead.

4. The family circle was now broken.

  However, as you continue the story you see certain steps
  she took to see her boy living again.

Let me point out a couple of things and submit that the same will be profitable, if not necessary, if we’re to see our children that are spiritually dead living again.

5. We read in verse 21:
[21] And she went up, and laid him on the bed of the man of God, and shut the door upon him, and went out.

6. Her placing the lifeless body of her son on the bed of the man of God was an expression of her faith.

 In a similar fashion, by faith we must lay our children at the feet of
 Jesus.

As you look at her actions you see her faith expressed in various ways.

First, we see in her a:
A) Faith That Looks To God
1. We read in verses 22-24:
[22] And she called unto her husband, and said, Send me, I pray thee, one of the young men, and one of the asses, that I may run to the man of God, and come again.
[23] And he said, Wherefore wilt thou go to him to day? it is neither new moon, nor sabbath. And she said, It shall be well.
[24] Then she saddled an ass, and said to her servant, Drive, and go forward; slack not thy riding for me, except I bid thee.

2. Her first reaction was to get to the man of God.

 Nothing else mattered or nothing else was more important.

  With urgency and speed, she had to get to the man of God.

3. May I say that the first thing a parent should do is go to
 God and get to God.

   To the throne of grace we must flee with our loved
   ones heavy upon our hearts.

4. Our faith looks to God because we know He can do what we can’t do.
  We can plead with our children and talk to them until we
 are blue in the face and all the time seemingly not make a dent into
 their hearts.

5. Yet, with God there is no one that He can’t reach.

   He has a way of reaching them when we can’t.

Furthermore, only God can give life, therefore God must not be our last resort, but the first when it comes to seeing our children saved or living for God.

6. I’m very appreciative of the hymns of Elisha Hoffman. I think of how on one occasion he visited a woman to whom God had undergone much sorrow and affliction. Coming to her home, he found her much discouraged. She unburdened her heart, concluding with the question, “Brother Hoffman, what shall I do?”

Hoffman quoted her certain scriptures from the Bible and then added, “You can’t do better than to take all of your sorrows to Jesus. You must tell Jesus.”

For a moment she seemed lost in meditation.
 Then her eyes filled with light as she exclaimed, “Yes, I must tell
 Jesus.”

As Hoffman left her home he had a vision of that joy-illuminated face and ringing in his ears were her words, “I must tell Jesus. I must tell Jesus.”
Reaching home, Hoffman wrote:
I must tell Jesus all of my trials;
I cannot bear these burdens alone;
In my distress He kindly will help me;
He ever loves and cares for His own.
I must tell Jesus! I must tell Jesus!
I cannot bear my burdens alone;
I must tell Jesus! I must tell Jesus!
Jesus can help me, Jesus alone.

7.  Tell the Lord about your children!
   Run to the throne of grace and call their names out
   to God. Look to the Lord by faith!

We not only see in her a faith that looks to God, but also a:
B) A Faith That Leans On God
1.   She had a five or six hour ride to reach Elisha.
  Without a break or rest, she runs to the man of God.
We read in verses 25-26:
[25] So she went and came unto the man of God to mount Carmel. And it came to pass, when the man of God saw her afar off, that he said to Gehazi his servant, Behold, yonder is that Shunammite:
[26] Run now, I pray thee, to meet her, and say unto her, Is it well with thee? is it well with thy husband? is it well with the child? And she answered, It is well.

2. What an amazing confession of faith. She is asked, “Is it well with thee? Is it well with thy husband? Is it well with the child?”

She responds, “It is well.”

3. From a human perspective things are anything but well.
    Her son is dead!

BUT faith looks beyond the natural and drops anchor on the spiritual and cries, “It is well.”

4. A faith that cries it is well is a faith that knows that God can save our children or bring them back to Him.

 It’s the kind of faith that firmly believes that God “is able to do
 exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to
 the power that worketh in us” (Eph. 3:20).

5.  Corrie ten Boom said, “If all things are possible with God, then all things are possible to him who believes in him.”
 She also said, “Faith sees the invisible, believes the unbelievable,
 and receives the impossible.”

6. By faith claim your loved one for God.
  See the invisible,
   believe the impossible
    and receive the impossible.

Let your faith cry out, “It is well!”

7. By faith see them walking the aisle.
 By faith see them sitting beside you in Church.
  By faith see them living for God and serving Him.
   By faith, see everything well.

Thirdly, we see in her faith a:
C) A Faith That Latches Onto God
1.  We read in verses 27-28:
[27] And when she came to the man of God to the hill, she caught him by the feet: but Gehazi came near to thrust her away. And the man of God said, Let her alone; for her soul is vexed within her: and the Lord hath hid it from me, and hath not told me.
[28] Then she said, Did I desire a son of my lord? did I not say, Do not deceive me?

2. See her as she throws her arms around the feet of the man of God.

 See her as he latches on to him as if to say,  “I wonn’t let you go
 until you bless me.”

Hear her petitions rise to his ears.
  To him she clings tightly, determined to not let go until He
  responds to the burden of her heart.

3.   Do you have a son or daughter that isn’t saved or away from God?
4. Learn from the woman in our story.
 Take them to God in prayer.
  Lay them at the feet of Jesus.
   Claim them for Christ, seeking and trusting God to
   save them or bring them back to Him.

5. God can save your wandering son or daughter.
  As never before, pour out your hearts to God in prayer for
  their salvation.

Latch onto the promises of God and don’t cease to pray until God has saved them or brought them back to Him.

6. This was a woman that was determined that the family circle wouldn’t be broken.

 With sincerity, urgency and fervency she sought out the man of
 God.

Why did she lay her son upon the bed of the man of God?
 Why did she seek the man of God?

  She knew that Elisha could get in touch with God!

7. I’ve never forgotten a story I heard many years ago about Dr. George W. Truett.

It’s said that he would devote his Saturdays to prayer and preparation for the Lord’s Day. Rarely did he take any appointments or answer the phone.

 One Saturday the phone began to ring. Truett at first ignored it but
 it kept ringing. He sensed that something might be wrong.

Finally he picked up the phone and a voice on the other end asked, “Is this the preacher on the radio?””  Truett replied that he was on the radio. The voice said: “Then meet me out in front of your house in ten minutes.”

Before Truett could respond the person on the other end hung up the phone.
 Truett could tell by the tone of the voice on the phone that something was wrong so he decided that he would walk out front and wait for the caller. In a few minutes a car came speeding around the corner. It had almost come to a stop when a hand reached out and literally pulled Dr. Truett into the car. At first, somewhat alarmed, Dr. Truett looked over at the driver and saw a man who looked like he hadn’t shaved in several days. There were bags under his eyes and his clothes looked like they had been slept in.” “What is going on here,” Dr. Truett asked.

 The man replied, “Preacher, you don’t know me but I have heard you on the radio. I have a little 7-year old girl in the hospital and she is in bad shape.” Then the man said, “Preacher, my little girl doesn’t need a daddy anymore. She doesn’t need a mommy anymore. She doesn’t need a doctor anymore. My little girl needs someone who can get a hold of God when they pray.”

 The man carried Dr. Truett to the hospital. When he walked in he saw a little girl lying on the bed. She looked like death had already staked her as his claim. She was laboring at her breathing. Sitting there beside the bed was a mother with a hopeless and desperate look on her face. “You have to pray for her, preacher. You have to pray for her,” desperately cried the father.

 Dr. Truett walked over to the bed and stood there looking down at that little girl laboring for each breath, with each looking as if it were her last. He thought, “How do I pray? This mom and dad is expecting me to do some miracle here. What should I pray?” He knelt down and took the little girl by the hand and then prayed a simple prayer, “Dear Lord, I believe we could sweep some souls into the kingdom if You were to touch this little girl.”

 Instead of leaving, Dr. Truett sat down in a chair in the corner and waited as the hours passed by. Every few minutes a doctor would come in and check on her and then walk out with that same hopeless look on his face. As the evening passed on, suddenly, the little girl’s laborious breathing subsided. The doctor was called and he listened to her breathing through his stethoscope. He raised his head as if to say something and then listened again. He then looked up and said, “I can’t explain it, but the crisis is over. She is going to make it.”

 No sooner did he speak those words when the dad, like a bullet out of a gun, rushed over to Dr. Truett and said, “Please preacher, tell me how I can know the God who just saved my little girl.” On his knees in that hospital room, that dad was saved. When Dr. Truett finished praying with him, he looked up and there stood a mother with tears streaming down her face. She said, “Preacher, I too need to know that God that has saved my little girl.” Kneeling there beside a weeping husband, she was saved.

 Dr. Truett left the room and walked down the hall to get a drink of water. As he reached over to get a drink, a shadow fell across his shoulder. He turned and saw a doctor standing there, his lips quivering. He said to Truett, “Sir, I am a man of medicine and science, but what I have seen today is a miracle. I can’t deny what I have seen. Please sir, tell me how I can know the God that has done this miracle.” Standing there that doctor became another soul swept into the kingdom.

8. What is the greatest need for sons and daughters that are unsaved or away from God?
 It is a mom or dad that can get a hold of God when they pray!

Lastly, notice with me:

1. You talk about a happy ending to a story.

Notice in closing the wonderful end to this story.

First, notice with me:
A) A Glorious Result

1.  We read in verses 31-35:
[31] And Gehazi passed on before them, and laid the staff upon the face of the child; but there was neither voice, nor hearing. Wherefore he went again to meet him, and told him, saying, The child is not awaked.
[32] And when Elisha was come into the house, behold, the child was dead, and laid upon his bed.
[33] He went in therefore, and shut the door upon them twain, and prayed unto the Lord.
[34] And he went up, and lay upon the child, and put his mouth upon his mouth, and his eyes upon his eyes, and his hands upon his hands: and he stretched himself upon the child; and the flesh of the child waxed warm.
[35] Then he returned, and walked in the house to and fro; and went up, and stretched himself upon him: and the child sneezed seven times, and the child opened his eyes.

2.  Elisha entered the room and shut the door behind him. He wanted to be alone with the child and his God.
 I can only imagine the prayers that could’ve been heard coming
 from that room that day.

3. You can be sure there’s some real praying going on in a room.
  It’s the kind of prayin’ that gets a response from God.

4. Then we read of how Elisha stretched himself out on the child.

 Although personal contact with a dead body was prohibited, Elisha
 stretched himself out on the child making contact with the child.

It was as if Elisha was pouring his very life and soul into the boy.
The boy’s body began to grow warm.

5. Elisha began to pace the room, no doubt continuing to lift up his voice to God, and then stretched himself out on the body’s body again.

 Then all of a sudden, the child started sneezing and opened his
 eyes.
   The boy that was dead was now alive again!
6. God had given this mother her son again.

Also notice:
B) A Grateful Response
1. We read in verses 36-37:
[36] And he called Gehazi, and said, Call this Shunammite. So he called her. And when she was come in unto him, he said, Take up thy son.
[37] Then she went in, and fell at his feet, and bowed herself to the ground, and took up her son, and went out.

2. You can only imagine the joy that flooded that mother’s heart when Elisha walked out of that room and said he was alive.

 The mother rushed into the room, fell down at his feet and then
 bowed to the ground offering praise and thanksgiving to God.

3. I can’t help but believe that you could have heard her shouts in the next valley.    God had given her back her son.

4. Oh, I know that there are many moms and dads in this place that would like for God to save your son or daughter or bring them back to the Lord.

 I know you long for the day when God answers your prayers.

I believe that just as God raised this woman’s son back to life,
  he can save your son or daughter even husband, wife, mom
  or dad.

5. I began by saying that I would like to challenge you to make as a goal for this year the salvation or restoration of your children to God.

Can I suggest to you some things to do, starting this very day?

First, when the invitation is given, get up out of your seat and fall in this altar and lay them at the throne of God.
Claim them for Christ and trust God to save them.
Start believing today that God is going to hear and answer your prayer.

Secondly, purpose in your heart that from henceforth, every day you’ll find a time and place to get alone with God and pour out your heart to God for their salvation.
 NOW, I’m not talking about just a little prayer, but earnestly and
 diligently bombarding heaven for their conversion.

Thirdly,  don’t cease to pray or ease up in prayer until God answers your prayer.

6. I read the story of an old man, in his eighties, who was sitting one afternoon beside the bedside of his dying wife. They had had eight children and they were all gone. Some had died while young and others later in life. As he sat there, almost asleep, his wife reached out and touched his hand. “John, it is night, isn’t it?” He started to say, “Why, darling, it’s in the middle of the day,” but he caught himself and said softly, “Yes, it is almost night.”

“Why don’t you turn on the light?”
“I will.”
“John, aren’t you almost ready for bed?”
“Yes, darling, almost.”
“Have you taken care of the house?”
“Yes, darling.”
“Are the windows taken care of?”
“Yes, darling.”
“Are the doors locked?”
“Yes, all the doors are locked.”
She then drew a deep breath and the said, “John, are all the children in?”

7.  Let me close by asking you today if all the children are in?

 Together, let’s ask God that in this year 2005 that all the children
 get in. Including husbands, wives, moms dads.....