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Elijah and Elisha
Pastor Barbie unpacks the story of Elijah and Elisha, sharing truths about legacy, kingdom transition, and passing faith from generation to generation. Walk away with a deeper understanding of your role in spiritual discipleship and how to ensure your ceiling becomes someone else’s floor.
Scriptures Referenced
1 Kings 19:16-21; 2 Kings 2:2, 2:11-13a, 3:11-12; 1 Corinthians 15:50-58
Key Insights
- How spiritual legacy shapes your present and future
- Why kingdom transition requires obedience to God’s voice
- The cost and reward of serving faithfully in obscurity
- The difference between growing and advancing God’s kingdom
- How to position yourself for generational impact
- The importance of intentional discipleship in your home and church
https://springhouse.captivate.fm/episode/elijah-and-elisha
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Gathering Times
- Sundays, 9:00 AM
- Sundays, 11:00 AM
- Thursdays, 6:00 PM
Contact Info
Springhouse Church
14119 Old Nashville Highway
Smyrna TN 37167
CCLI License 2070006
Transcript
God is always in this. Seems to be in this habit of saving the very
Speaker:best for right now. And, guys, there's urine for a
Speaker:treat today. Not because she's so wonderful, which she is, but because the
Speaker:God inside her is wonderful. Pastor Barbie is going to bring the Word this morning.
Speaker:Would you welcome Pastor Barbie?
Speaker:Before we jump into the Word today, I have been studying
Speaker:with you guys about Elijah and Elisha, and I've just been
Speaker:carrying that in my spirit. And so this week, as I was
Speaker:studying it out and I was thinking about. No spoiler here,
Speaker:but Elijah gets carried away in a chariot of fire.
Speaker:Yeah, he does. And I was thinking about this
Speaker:relationship between Elijah and Elisha, and I was thinking about
Speaker:this discipling thing that takes place as we walk in the
Speaker:kingdom and we do what God has called us to do. And I got to
Speaker:thinking about, man, how many of y' all had a mama that served the Lord
Speaker:or a grandparent that served the Lord? And now
Speaker:you're sitting in this room with a purpose, for a reason,
Speaker:because of a faith that was a legacy. And
Speaker:I have that mama. I had that mom and dad that served the Lord.
Speaker:And one of the things that they used to do, they used to sing
Speaker:this song called Ain't no Grave. Now,
Speaker:see, it used to be that you told stories to
Speaker:give histories. It used to be that you sung a song to tell
Speaker:the histories. And my mom and daddy would sing this song, ain't
Speaker:no Grave. Now, now, I wish you could have known when my mama was
Speaker:a shouter and my dad was a holder on to her,
Speaker:and he'd be like, okay, Barbara, we're
Speaker:gonna find your shoes. After church today.
Speaker:The last time I heard my mom and daddy sing this song, they were
Speaker:standing on a porch in the middle of downtown Alver Springs.
Speaker:And my daddy was playing the guitar, and my mom was singing, and he was
Speaker:trying to keep her on that platform because she was
Speaker:sharing what she knew to be true. She was sharing a story
Speaker:that told about a God who loved her, about a battle
Speaker:between Satan and the angel armies, the battle that would take
Speaker:place and the victories that would be won. She was sharing the histories.
Speaker:Now, my mama sang it. Now my daughter's gonna sing it.
Speaker:Because, guys, if we do this thing, if we really believe
Speaker:what we say, we believe. What she handed down to me
Speaker:is what I need to hand down to Katie and to Erin and what Erin
Speaker:and Katie need to hand down to Rowan and Nora and Alyssa
Speaker:and Bo and Parker. Because if we really believe
Speaker:this, it doesn't stop Here. The kingdom didn't begin with
Speaker:us, and it will not end with us unless he comes.
Speaker:Amen. Amen. So since I
Speaker:absolutely cannot hit any of these notes, we are
Speaker:gonna stand up, and they are gonna share ain't no grave. And let me tell
Speaker:you something. Here's what I want in your spirit during this time. We're
Speaker:gonna worship with them as they tell the history and they tell the
Speaker:story. I want you to grab hold of yours, and I want you to grab
Speaker:hold of the fact that you are passing down something that you truly
Speaker:believe to those sitting next to you, to those that you're raising in your
Speaker:household, because let me tell you something. Believe in the resurrection of
Speaker:Jesus Christ. I believe it. My life is built on it. It's why
Speaker:I'm here today. There ain't no grave
Speaker:gonna hold his body down. It didn't hold his down, and it will not hold
Speaker:yours down. So let's stand and let's go there.
Speaker:Bless you, Lord. Bless you, Lord. I believe it.
Speaker:I believe it. My mom believes it. I'm
Speaker:standing over there thinking, yeah, Daddy, I had to chase her down a few times.
Speaker:She would have been so proud. I tell you what she'd been like, girl,
Speaker:testify. And that's what we do. We
Speaker:testify of the goodness of the Lord. He is
Speaker:faithful. I feel a little bit like Nate Bergatzi when he's
Speaker:talking about, you know, his daughter or he's talking about
Speaker:his sister and everything. And then all of a sudden, he goes, oh, yeah, we
Speaker:got another brother. Anyway, I have another son.
Speaker:Matthew and Rachel are doing a phenomenal job with their four
Speaker:babies, too. I was then looking over there, that's such
Speaker:a thing to do to a middle child. You know?
Speaker:I love you, John Matthew. He probably will not watch this, but just in case.
Speaker:I really love you. And
Speaker:God is so good, is he not good, guys? Do you believe
Speaker:that? Do you believe that it doesn't stop here.
Speaker:Do you believe that there is more to the story? I tell you what, I
Speaker:wouldn't be sitting here if I didn't believe it. I wouldn't be standing here. I
Speaker:wouldn't have taught it to my children if I didn't believe it. This is
Speaker:just. We get to be a part of a
Speaker:long chain of sharing the stories and
Speaker:the testimonies of Christ. And that's what I want to do with you this morning
Speaker:as we jump into a teaching on Elijah and
Speaker:Elisha. Wow. Could I have gotten a better assignment?
Speaker:I don't think so. Thank you for that, Pastor Kevin. This
Speaker:Is this one? I, I, I, I.
Speaker:It's just good. Okay. So last week, Pastor Kevin left
Speaker:us with these words he was talking about. Elijah had had a pretty bad
Speaker:week. Elijah had been
Speaker:chased by Jezebel, had threatened his life, hadn't gone
Speaker:well for him. It says he took off to the mountain. Is it
Speaker:Horeb, the mountain of the Lord. And there he
Speaker:hid in the cave. And one of Pastor Kevin's last
Speaker:questions were the words that
Speaker:God spoke to Elijah at the mouth of the cave. Why
Speaker:are you here? Why are you here?
Speaker:Why are you here? And it was a heart check, and it was a question
Speaker:to go, why are you ordering your life the way that you're
Speaker:ordering it? I mean, for me, I'm going, why did you come here
Speaker:this morning? Why are you reading the
Speaker:Bible? Why are you teaching your kids about faith? Why,
Speaker:if it's something that you carry and it's so strong, why? And if you
Speaker:do believe this the way that you believe this, there is so much
Speaker:to grab onto. And I believe the Lord gives us teachings
Speaker:through his Word that give us encouragement in how to do that.
Speaker:Now, when he actually closed the service last week,
Speaker:Elijah had come out of the cave. The Lord had spoken to him, asked
Speaker:him, why are you here? You know, I'm pretty sure the
Speaker:Lord knew why he was there. He was just making sure Elijah knew why he
Speaker:was there. And sometimes that's what the Lord doing with us. And the second
Speaker:thing that he asked him or the second thing he told him was, go back
Speaker:the way you came. Go back the way you
Speaker:came. And that's where Pastor Kevin left us with the words
Speaker:last week. And the passage of Scripture that comes next is where we
Speaker:are going to start. It's going to be our jumping off point. And
Speaker:so Elijah has come out of the cave. The Lord has said, what
Speaker:do you think you're doing? I'm paraphrasing. And. And
Speaker:then he goes, okay, here's what we're going to do. Here are your next instructions.
Speaker:You're coming out of the cave, and this is what you're going to do. So
Speaker:if you would stand with me, we're going to read First Kings 19, 16,
Speaker:21. Actually, we're going to jump around a little bit in it so you don't
Speaker:have to read the whole passages. We're just going to get into this particular
Speaker:part and we'll see what the instructions of the Lord were to Elijah when he
Speaker:came out of the cave. Let's read it, as Pastor
Speaker:Kevin says, with gusto. When you get there, anoint
Speaker:Hazael king over Aram. Also anoint
Speaker:Jehu son of Nimshi, king over
Speaker:Israel. And anoint Elisha son of
Speaker:Shaphat from the Abel Mehloa.
Speaker:Okay, let's read that last part. Anoint Elisha
Speaker:son of Shaphat from Abel Meholoah
Speaker:to succeed you as prophet. And
Speaker:so Elijah went from there and found Elisha
Speaker:son of Shaphat. He was plowing with 12 yoke
Speaker:of oxen, and he himself was driving the 12th
Speaker:pair. Elijah went up to him and threw
Speaker:his cloak around him. Elisha then left his
Speaker:oxen and ran after Elijah. Let
Speaker:me kiss my father and mother goodbye, he said, and
Speaker:then I will come with you. Elisha left him,
Speaker:went back. He took his yoke of oxen and slaughtered
Speaker:them. He burned the plow, cooked the meat, and
Speaker:gave it to the people, and they ate. Then he set out
Speaker:to follow Elijah and became his servant. Father
Speaker:God, I thank you so much for your word, Lord. Thank you for
Speaker:letting me share what you've shown me. Thank you, Lord, that
Speaker:you will get it exactly where it needs to go. I pray, Father God, that
Speaker:our hearts would be taught of you today, Lord, not taught of me. But
Speaker:Lord, I pray that my stuff would fall and yours would stand. We're
Speaker:gonna lean in and listen for your voice this morning, in Jesus name,
Speaker:Amen. Amen. Now let me tell
Speaker:you something. When I got into that passage of scripture,
Speaker:there's a part of that that grabbed me. We actually read
Speaker:it twice when it said, go and anoint Elisha
Speaker:as your successor as prophet.
Speaker:What? I'm just thinking what my response
Speaker:might have been of going, what?
Speaker:I know I had a bad week. I
Speaker:know I've been hiding in this cave for a while, but now I'm
Speaker:getting replaced. You know, that might be what
Speaker:Insecure Barbie would say. Hey, you know what? Mattel never
Speaker:created that one.
Speaker:I'm gonna have to call them because I think it would be a big seller
Speaker:anyway. Insecure Barbie,
Speaker:she's like, should I wear this or should I
Speaker:woo, come back. Anyway, I
Speaker:was thinking about that. And I was thinking about, you know, if you did that
Speaker:today. Actually, our elder board did that to us
Speaker:a few years ago, and it was absolutely the right thing to do.
Speaker:They begin to go, okay, what's next? Who's
Speaker:are you training? The person behind you. And we're like,
Speaker:are we done? You know, the insecure side of you goes, but what?
Speaker:But the spiritual God kingdom side of you should go,
Speaker:absolutely, absolutely, Lord. Because if you tarry
Speaker:it doesn't end here. So, Lord, where should I sow and
Speaker:where should I go? And I felt like when I was studying
Speaker:this, the Lord gave me this phrase, every transition requires an
Speaker:evolution. We evolve into and
Speaker:out of transition. Okay, this
Speaker:is really important. And I'm. We don't like change.
Speaker:We don't like change, especially if it affects us or feels like
Speaker:it takes something out of our hands. Change is hard.
Speaker:Change is hard. I mean, even the good things, it's hard. And
Speaker:to evolve means to move slowly into a
Speaker:more advanced position and sometimes
Speaker:or more advanced state, sometimes we have to
Speaker:allow ourselves time to evolve into a
Speaker:more kingdom advanced state
Speaker:when the Lord gives us a word. And see, that's the kicker.
Speaker:Elijah received a word from the Lord
Speaker:God. Transition requires a God word, a God
Speaker:word. We don't get there. It's so as hard as our flesh tries to stick
Speaker:and stay and do, it's so hard for us to let
Speaker:go unless we have a word from the Lord.
Speaker:Nowhere in this passage of scripture, when the Lord tells
Speaker:Elijah, I want you to go anoint your successor, nowhere do
Speaker:I see Elijah going, but God.
Speaker:Now, maybe he did internally, I don't know. But it obviously wasn't worthy of
Speaker:the page anyway. But God,
Speaker:I still got a lot of good years left in me. That's not the point.
Speaker:The point is Elijah knew God voice. And
Speaker:when you know God's voice, when you know
Speaker:God's voice, what you going to do with that? When the Lord speaks, here's what
Speaker:you got to do. A God word requires a kingdom response.
Speaker:And sometimes we have to sit on it for just a minute
Speaker:before we can give a kingdom response to something that's
Speaker:affecting our flesh. What's the right
Speaker:thing, Lord? Am I thinking about me or am I thinking about
Speaker:them? Am I thinking about advancing the kingdom
Speaker:or promoting myself? What is
Speaker:the kingdom response in this? Now, remember I
Speaker:said this is because you believe what you say. You believe
Speaker:that you are part of a long lineage of people leading toward him,
Speaker:leaning toward him. And how do we advance the
Speaker:kingdom? And I'm not talking about grow in the kingdom. There's a
Speaker:difference. Cause you can fill a room and you can make it really
Speaker:big, full of people and make no progress forward in the
Speaker:kingdom. And the best thing we can do the way that we do this,
Speaker:guys, it's generational exchange.
Speaker:If I love Beau Oliver, then my job
Speaker:is to disciple him in such a
Speaker:way that that whenever I leave, my
Speaker:ceiling becomes his floor. And if I take all of the
Speaker:secrets of the kingdom, all of the things the Lord has shown me how
Speaker:to do. And I hold them close because I don't want to teach anybody about
Speaker:this. Because if I teach them about it, they might be better at it than
Speaker:I am. Let them be better. Let them
Speaker:be better and see. So, Bo, aren't you so glad you're on the front row,
Speaker:buddy? Yeah.
Speaker:If I do what I'm called to do, and I do it correctly and
Speaker:unselfishly, then my stopping point should be
Speaker:his launch pad. But, guys, if
Speaker:we don't do that, they have to go back and relay foundations that we
Speaker:were supposed to lay a long time ago. Because in our
Speaker:insecurity, we don't give it all to them. We gotta start
Speaker:giving it all to them. Ay yai yai.
Speaker:Anyway, God word requires a kingdom response.
Speaker:And that's what we get here with Elijah and Elisha.
Speaker:One of the things that impressed me about Elisha
Speaker:was Elisha was a
Speaker:servant by choice, not by station. Now,
Speaker:let's talk about this one for a minute. How do we know this? It does
Speaker:not. There's not a, you know, habascus 4 that says
Speaker:Elisha was a servant by choice, not by station. But the Lord shows us things
Speaker:in his Word that we can glean from. And we just read in a
Speaker:passage of Scripture that Elijah, when he went to find
Speaker:Elisha, Elisha was
Speaker:plowing in a field with 12 yoke of oxen.
Speaker:And he himself, according to Scripture, was driving the 12th pair.
Speaker:Driving the 12th pair. Why does that matter? Because
Speaker:I come from a farming family. Shouting and farming
Speaker:family. You know, I'm sorry I said that. And if you were gonna
Speaker:plow a field, you staggered the
Speaker:oxen. You would send a plow an oxen, and
Speaker:that person would go and let them get just a little bit down the
Speaker:row. Then you would send the next plow and the next oxen.
Speaker:And so eventually it's just like this, the side of a V,
Speaker:and you're staggering the plows for a couple of reasons. You stagger them
Speaker:because if you put the oxen up next to each other, they're distracted and they'll
Speaker:go toward one another. And so they would be sent not only
Speaker:the field tilled better because what the first one plowed, the second
Speaker:one replowed the side of it. And so eventually you're getting a double
Speaker:plow anyway. Why does that matter? Well, it matters because
Speaker:Elisha was driving the 12th pair, and
Speaker:the 12th pair of oxen was the last to go. That
Speaker:meant that person ate the dust of the first 11.
Speaker:Okay? And it was usually the lowest man on the
Speaker:totem pole that got that 12th plow. Now, so that could lead us to believe.
Speaker:Okay, well, maybe. Maybe Elisha was just the lowest one. Nope. Au
Speaker:contraire, mon frere. Anyway,
Speaker:I also speak pig Latin. Anyway.
Speaker:No, because what we see in the passage of Scripture is that when Elijah tells
Speaker:him we are going, you know, when he calls him and anoints him,
Speaker:it says that Elijah,
Speaker:Elisha went back. What did he do? He burned
Speaker:the yoke. He killed the oxen.
Speaker:He distributed the meat to the people. Do you think a
Speaker:laborer in a field would have the right to go and burn the man's
Speaker:property? Seriously? No.
Speaker:If he had the ownership. Now, whether he owned the field or whether his
Speaker:parents did whatever it did, there was a level of ownership and
Speaker:authority enough in him that he went back and he burned it
Speaker:all and he offered it to the people. Now, there's so much
Speaker:prophetic in that, guys. There's so much prophetic in that. Not only
Speaker:did he tell his mother and father his past and all that he had known
Speaker:goodbye, he also burned the plow. His
Speaker:mode of making a living, his mode of taking care
Speaker:of things, and he distributed the meat to me, which was
Speaker:a. What he was going to actually be doing the rest of his life is
Speaker:distributing to the people what he had. And
Speaker:if you don't have the authority to do that, how could you
Speaker:go and do that? So that tells me something about Elisha. It tells
Speaker:me he was a servant. He chose the 12th
Speaker:yoke. Guys, sometimes we need to be mindful
Speaker:of choosing the 12th yoke. Sometimes we're so
Speaker:quick to want to grab hold of that front thing that we
Speaker:lose the power of walking in the 12th place.
Speaker:That's a whole other teaching. But anyway, and
Speaker:Elijah goes toward Elisha, and Elisha knew
Speaker:him. I mean, everything that I read in Scripture tells
Speaker:me this. Our mantles often define us.
Speaker:When Elisha. When
Speaker:Elijah there was a king and he had fallen through the
Speaker:window, he had fallen through the latticework at his house, and he
Speaker:wanted somebody to tell him if he was going to live or die.
Speaker:And. And so he sends a guy, and the
Speaker:guy comes back and he says, I want you to go and treat of Beelzebub.
Speaker:I want you to go and treat. And I want you to find out if
Speaker:I'm going to die. And the guy comes back, says, you going to die?
Speaker:And he said, who told you that? And he said, well, there was a man,
Speaker:and he had this Cloak. He had this cloak. And he begins
Speaker:to describe this cloak of Elijah. It's called an
Speaker:Atarath, and it is a cloak that is doubly wide. The
Speaker:prophet's cloak was doubly wide. I think it's really interesting, though,
Speaker:because we're going to jump back to Elisha in a minute. So that king
Speaker:didn't like the answer, so he sent 50 men to go back and
Speaker:inquire. Well, you remember that story about the fire
Speaker:and stuff that Kevin. Well, okay, they went through, like, three sets of
Speaker:50 men. And every time Elijah would send back, yes,
Speaker:he was going to die, but there were no men to carry the word back
Speaker:anyway. And finally, the third group goes.
Speaker:And the leader falls on his face before Elijah and says, don't kill
Speaker:us. Don't kill us. But the
Speaker:king wants to know, and he's like, you're going to die anyway. So they go
Speaker:back and tell the king, and he goes, what did he look like, this man?
Speaker:He said, well, he had this cloak, and he had a leather belt in it.
Speaker:And the king goes, oh, that was Elijah.
Speaker:Did you know sometimes we're known by the mantles we wear, the
Speaker:mantles we carry. That's why when you're with somebody and they go, oh, you
Speaker:know, it's, you know, Chelsea. It's Chelsea. You know, she's the one who
Speaker:sings here. She's the one who carries this. She's the one. And you begin to
Speaker:describe the mantle that she carries. And a lot of times,
Speaker:that's what we're known by. Right? That's why it's so hard to let it go.
Speaker:Anyway, so here we see
Speaker:Elisha in the field and Elijah coming toward him,
Speaker:which, by my way of thinking, if kings knew
Speaker:what Elijah was wearing, chances are the people in the field knew
Speaker:as well. Oh, I love this. I want to be on a tin roof porch
Speaker:right now.
Speaker:And so what we see Elijah do with this cloak
Speaker:that he has, it's not the picture. It's not the picture of him going
Speaker:out into the field, grabbing Elisha, taking
Speaker:his cloak off, and throwing it over him. This prophet's
Speaker:atarath, it had a leather belt around the prophet's waist,
Speaker:and there was a wing. It was doubly wide. And the
Speaker:picture that this paints is that he would go and he would throw
Speaker:that mantle around. Elisha didn't
Speaker:say he gave it to him, because if he'd already given it to him, what
Speaker:would be the point of him dropping it when he was. Anyway, we're just not
Speaker:going to go there. Anyway, he throws it around him. And there's
Speaker:a something about that. Knowing who Elijah was, knowing
Speaker:what he carried, knowing that Elisha had to know that. It's.
Speaker:It sparked all of these things in me. Because. Can I tell you something? When
Speaker:you get close to somebody who carries a similar anointing, don't you feel it?
Speaker:Don't you feel it? You don't even like it sometimes. It's
Speaker:like when I was running from the Lord, like, really
Speaker:intensely running from the Lord. I really hated to be around
Speaker:teachers who taught the Word. It
Speaker:was wonderful. And it was just because let me tell you,
Speaker:Scripture tells us that eternity is written on the hearts of men.
Speaker:Right? That's what Scripture says. So if you are a
Speaker:teacher and you're running from the Lord and
Speaker:you get around a good teacher, I feel like God just goes,
Speaker:let's touch the eternity on her heart for a minute. Let's just
Speaker:mess with this for a minute. And. And you walk around going,
Speaker:oh, God. Because he
Speaker:stirs us up. And I believe that when
Speaker:Elisha felt that covering
Speaker:of Elijah the prophet come around him, I believe there was something in
Speaker:him that just quickened and went, ah, I know what this
Speaker:means. I know what it means. And see,
Speaker:God will give us glimpses of our calling through the mantles worn by others.
Speaker:Have you ever. Have you seen that? Have you experienced that?
Speaker:Oh, I really. I just. Ugh, the way that he does
Speaker:that. That's why we have to share what the
Speaker:Lord has done. And sometimes, guys, in order to chase and in order to
Speaker:go do what God is calling us to do, sometimes we just gotta burn the
Speaker:yoke. Sometimes we just gotta burn the yoke and go, okay,
Speaker:this is what I expected to do the rest of my life. This is
Speaker:what I thought I was supposed to do, and it was a good thing. But,
Speaker:Lord, I have received a word from. From you. And I want to order my
Speaker:life according to the word that I have received, not according to what I
Speaker:assumed. I don't want to live my life based
Speaker:on an assumption. I want to live my life based
Speaker:on a word from the Lord. And so Elisha
Speaker:lays it all down and goes to follow Elijah.
Speaker:Now, see, there's a different kind of relationship that takes place
Speaker:here. To me, discipleship is not a casual
Speaker:relationship. It is intentional in purpose and
Speaker:deliberate in focus. I have messed up some
Speaker:relationships in my life by not allowing God to
Speaker:define them. Sometimes.
Speaker:Sometimes I have wanted a friend so bad that
Speaker:I've cultivated a friendship that had nothing to do with discipling
Speaker:and that's all well and good if that's what God has called you to be
Speaker:in their life as their best friend. Man, I need. I've got a wonderful
Speaker:bestie, but I have
Speaker:blown it at times because someone that I was
Speaker:called to disciple and speak into their life and lead toward the Lord,
Speaker:I led toward me and lost the authority to speak
Speaker:into their lives. And I know, I mean, people may
Speaker:feel differently about this, but I believe consecration lives looks different
Speaker:for people who step into teaching roles. That's why
Speaker:I didn't want to do it anyway.
Speaker:But I believe consecration and being set apart for a purpose and a
Speaker:goal is important. And I believe as a leader, it's
Speaker:extremely important that you allow the Lord to
Speaker:define the role of the relationships in your life. Because we
Speaker:can do much harm and we can do much good. And I
Speaker:want to do good in those relationships anyway.
Speaker:In our desire to create and accommodate friendships, we have the potential to lose
Speaker:disciples. That could just be for me.
Speaker:That could just be for me. Because I know of one particular instance in my
Speaker:life that God had called me to pour into a person, and I
Speaker:loved this person as a friend instead of
Speaker:leading them more toward the Lord and lost a level of
Speaker:authority with them. So I'm just going to leave that with you guys to deal
Speaker:with. And it's not just guys. It's not
Speaker:just, oh, well, I'm not a pastor. I'm not a this or that. What about
Speaker:at your work? What about at your work? Are you
Speaker:creating relationships where you have no authority to speak into their
Speaker:life because the life you live in front of them is not necessarily in
Speaker:keeping with the life that you live here? Are
Speaker:you pouring into the lives of the people that are around
Speaker:you? Here was the kicker. Elijah
Speaker:discipled and Elisha served and was known for it. You know
Speaker:what's so funny to me is the minute that that cloak
Speaker:went around Elisha, the minute that he.
Speaker:It went around him, you know, that he knew that he had
Speaker:just been called into office of a
Speaker:prophet, but he hadn't yet received the anointing
Speaker:of a prophet. And so now, knowing that he's a
Speaker:prophet, he went and he held his first prophetic
Speaker:conference.
Speaker:Happens every day. No, you know what he
Speaker:did? It said he went and he became an attendant for
Speaker:Elijah. He went and he served because that's what he
Speaker:did to the point that that's what he's known for. And you're like, oh, what
Speaker:did. Did he serve? Like, you know, six months of an
Speaker:apprenticeship? Oh, no. What about a Year. Maybe
Speaker:a year. No. Two years. Three
Speaker:years, Four years. Nope.
Speaker:He served almost a decade. Just following,
Speaker:you know, just following and learning the lessons of
Speaker:the mantle. Learning what God and being allowed.
Speaker:And see, he could have gone, oh, yeah, I
Speaker:am basically tonto to
Speaker:Elijah. You know, I am his right hand. But that wasn't what he was
Speaker:known for. It wasn't what he was known for. Here's the. Look at this. Look
Speaker:at this right here. Jehoshaphat
Speaker:asked, is there a prophet of the Lord here that we may inquire of the
Speaker:Lord through him? An officer of the king of Israel answered, elisha,
Speaker:son of Shaphat is here. He used to pour water
Speaker:on the hands of Elijah. Jehoshaphat
Speaker:said, the word of the Lord is with him now. You
Speaker:want to know what's really interesting about this is that
Speaker:Elisha had already parted the rivers. He
Speaker:had already parted the waters. He had already
Speaker:healed the waters of Jericho. And so when this man
Speaker:was asked, you know, is there someone we can inquire of? Oh, well, yeah, there's
Speaker:this guy. And he parted the waters, and he healed all the waters of
Speaker:Jericho. No, because that's not what the Lord wanted him
Speaker:to be known for. He was known for the way that he
Speaker:served. He poured water on the
Speaker:hands of Elijah. You know, one of the things my mommy used to do all
Speaker:the time, she'd say, take him a cup of water. Take him a cup of
Speaker:water. If we had guest speakers or if we had guest singers, take him a
Speaker:cup of water. And I knew why she made me do that. Cause she didn't
Speaker:want to. No, I'm kidding. She made me do
Speaker:that because she knew that Scripture said, if you give a prophet
Speaker:so much as a cup of water, you receive a prophet's
Speaker:reward. What if you serve
Speaker:one for 10 years? What if you just get in there and
Speaker:serve? Not with the goal of, oh, eventually they're going to quit and I'm going
Speaker:to get their position. You might, but you might not.
Speaker:But 10 years of a prophet's reward,
Speaker:and it wasn't a big thing. If you will go and do this, and you
Speaker:will do this, and you will do this. Give them a cup of water.
Speaker:Give them a cup of water. Guys, we are losing the
Speaker:ability to teach our children to drive the 12th set of
Speaker:plows. We are losing it. There's something
Speaker:in us that you know. A reward for everything.
Speaker:Now, this could get a little bit messy, so I'm gonna talk
Speaker:to Bo. Anyway, listen,
Speaker:I believe in giving kids an allowance so they Got some, as my
Speaker:mama would call it. They need some walking around money anyway, so she'd slide a
Speaker:dollar into their pocket. But we shouldn't have to pay our
Speaker:kids to do chores at our house. They live there.
Speaker:That's your food they're eating. That's your bed they're sleeping in.
Speaker:Yes, bless them. Give them some money. Walking around money to do
Speaker:something, but don't pay them because they live in your house
Speaker:and you want them to put their own cup in the dishwasher.
Speaker:Jesus, help me, oh, Lord. Now let's
Speaker:take that one step forward. Love, big
Speaker:live truth. Healthy family.
Speaker:Family. This is your house. This is your
Speaker:house. We need your help. We
Speaker:need your help. If we had the opportunity, man,
Speaker:we would give you everything that we have, but we just need your
Speaker:help as family. Find a place to serve.
Speaker:It will do you so much good. It will do us
Speaker:so much good. Because I know what comes
Speaker:from serving. I know the benefits we get
Speaker:from serving. We have that opportunity
Speaker:to just serve. Just serve. And
Speaker:guys, listen, if you serve in close proximity to someone learning
Speaker:long enough, you learn the secrets of the mantle. I
Speaker:guarantee you that Sue Cole could do my job in a heartbeat.
Speaker:She would hate it, but she would do it.
Speaker:She knows what I do day to day. She knows what
Speaker:has to be done, and she does it so
Speaker:faithfully. And Keith is like, okay, we're doing that today. And I'm like,
Speaker:I'm so grateful for their role in my life.
Speaker:It wasn't an intentional thing. God just brought her along. And her
Speaker:heart has always been to serve. To
Speaker:serve. But let me tell you something. She's not serving me. She's serving
Speaker:him. She's serving him.
Speaker:Serving in close proximity reveals the responsibility and requirements of the
Speaker:mantle. You can stand afar off for a long time and never
Speaker:understand what's going on here. You know, you hear people go, oh, I want to
Speaker:be a. I think I want to be a. A youth pastor. I want to
Speaker:be a youth pastor. Do they, James?
Speaker:Do they, Dana? Until you've walked
Speaker:in there, she's not a mile, eight,
Speaker:ten years. Then you might get a glimpse. I want to be a
Speaker:children's pastor. Really?
Speaker:I'm tired just saying her name.
Speaker:I tell you what, the way that Sherry served these
Speaker:kids this week, and it wasn't just one thing. The whole
Speaker:team just knocked it out of the park.
Speaker:And they are. Notice I said, they are tireless.
Speaker:I just stood off and going, bless them, Jesus. You know,
Speaker:Woo. Go. Until you walk
Speaker:beside the mantle for an extended period of Time. You have no idea what
Speaker:you're asking for. And see, here, here's the thing. You gotta
Speaker:stay. You gotta stay. Nowhere in Scripture
Speaker:do I see Elijah going. Has anybody seen Elisha?
Speaker:He was supposed to be here today. I don't know. Something going on with
Speaker:his family. No, he was there. He was there
Speaker:because God was doing something. Elijah and Elisha had a
Speaker:word from the Lord, and they were not going to stop until it was
Speaker:fulfilled, until Elijah was completed. What word are you standing
Speaker:on? What has God told you? Are you going to see
Speaker:it out to the end?
Speaker:Comes toward the end. And the prophets tell Elisha,
Speaker:God's going to take your master away today.
Speaker:And Elijah. Elisha says, I know, I know. And
Speaker:Elijah says, stay here. I'm going to go over here.
Speaker:And Elisha says, nope,
Speaker:nope, I'm not going. As surely as the
Speaker:Lord lives and you live, I will not leave you. I
Speaker:will not leave you. Does that not sound like Naomi and Ruth? For just a
Speaker:minute there, I will not leave you. And the prophets come again. And they say,
Speaker:God's going to take your master away from you. And he's like, I know, I
Speaker:know. Stay here, Elisha. No, I'm
Speaker:going with you. Three times. Three times. And
Speaker:finally, the last time, the prophecy. He's going to take your master away today. And
Speaker:Elisha says, I know, but be
Speaker:quiet, be quiet.
Speaker:Because his heart had come to trust in this man of God that God had
Speaker:put over him. And he was on this journey through to the end with
Speaker:him. And so
Speaker:Elijah asked him, what do you want? What do you want? What
Speaker:can I give you? And Elisha says, I want a double portion of what you
Speaker:have. I want a double portion of your spirit. Let me tell you something. It
Speaker:wasn't because Elisha wanted to do twice the miracles. It
Speaker:wasn't because he wanted to be more greatly known than Elijah. It was
Speaker:because he loved what he saw of God in
Speaker:this man of God. And he's like, let me continue it. Let me take
Speaker:it forward. Let me take it down this field. And I prayed that
Speaker:I could do doubly because of what you've
Speaker:lain here. Take it on. And then we see
Speaker:the sweetest thing happen as they
Speaker:were walking along. I want you to see this in your spirit. They were walking
Speaker:along and talking together. Suddenly, a chariot of fire and
Speaker:horses of fire appeared and separated the two of them.
Speaker:And Elijah went up to heaven in a whirlwind.
Speaker:Elisha saw this and cried out, my father.
Speaker:My father. And Elijah saw him no more.
Speaker:Then he took hold of his own garment and
Speaker:he tore it in two. He tore it in two.
Speaker:And he picked up the cloak that had fallen from Elijah at that moment.
Speaker:Elisha tore his cloak. He tore it in
Speaker:mourning. He tore it to go. Things will never be the
Speaker:same. Who I was in that moment no longer exists. It's
Speaker:irreparable, this thing that has happened. And in that
Speaker:moment, I believe he laid aside the
Speaker:cloak of a servant, minister,
Speaker:apprentice, and he picked up the
Speaker:mantle of the prophet. It he
Speaker:served and did. And guys, listen.
Speaker:Kingdom transition should advance the kingdom until he returns.
Speaker:And he is going to return. We're supposed to continue
Speaker:what he has done. And we're getting ready to sing this song again
Speaker:because of this.
Speaker:This is what I believe.
Speaker:First Corinthians 15. Listen very
Speaker:carefully. I tell you a mystery, a secret truth
Speaker:decreed by God and previously hidden. We will not
Speaker:all sleep in death, but we shall all be
Speaker:changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at
Speaker:the sound of the last trumpet call. For a trumpet will sound and the
Speaker:dead in Christ, Christ will rise. Then it says right here, therefore,
Speaker:Therefore, my beloved brothers and sisters, be
Speaker:steadfast, immovable, always excelling in the work
Speaker:of the Lord. Always doing your best and doing more. Being
Speaker:continually aware, continually aware
Speaker:that your labor in the Lord is not futile
Speaker:or wasted. It is never without purpose.
Speaker:My prayer for you is that you
Speaker:would soar. That you would soar
Speaker:one day, that you would go to be with him,
Speaker:to go and join those that have gone on before the
Speaker:lineage. Guys, if it isn't true, if it
Speaker:isn't true, my mother and your mother and
Speaker:Pastor Harvey and Pastor Margaret and
Speaker:Simon, Peter, Andrew, James, Philip, Thomas,
Speaker:Matthew, Bartholomew, all of them.
Speaker:All of them. Was it wasted?
Speaker:Was it futile? Or did they pass that baton to us and
Speaker:ask us, will you carry it forward? Will you carry it
Speaker:forward? Because I tell you this and you can stand.
Speaker:If he walked out of the grave. We're walking too.
Speaker:We're walking too. And that's what we're going to sing here for a minute, I'm
Speaker:going to offer you a blessing. And then we are going to make a declaration
Speaker:here at the end. And guys,
Speaker:grab hold of it in your spirit. Let's continue
Speaker:the legacy. Let's continue the charge. Let's make the
Speaker:disciples. Let's complete the work. Let's pass the
Speaker:baton and walk out. Can I offer you a blessing? Blessing. May the God
Speaker:and Father of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ continue
Speaker:to remind you that the story does not end here. May
Speaker:he continue to give you the upward draw that lets you know
Speaker:that eternity awaits. And Father, may we
Speaker:anticipate all that you have in Jesus name.
Speaker:Amen. Amen. Let's go. We're going to sing. Just for a minute.
