There are times where you may feel spiritually stuck. It feels like you are not growing spiritually, your prayers seem to bounce off the ceiling, and doors of opportunity are not opening. You feel like you are going through life doing the same thing over and over and over, but not getting anywhere or making a real difference. You feel spiritually stagnant. You get up, go to work, go to school, fix dinner, do laundry, go shopping, go to church, read your Bible, go to a Bible study, watch TV and whatever. You find yourself doing the same thing over and over again and it doesn’t feel like you are making an impact or headed anywhere in your life.

That’s where we find Elisha right before God was going to interrupt his life with a great purpose.

Let’s pick up where we left off from last week, but let’s review and then we will continue the story.

Look with me at 1 Kings 19:19, So Elijah went and found Elisha son of Shaphat plowing a field. There were twelve teams of oxen in the field, and Elisha was plowing with the twelfth team. Elijah went over to him and threw his cloak across his shoulders and then walked away (NLT). Elijah was a prophet of God and through Him, God was calling Elisha to join in Elijah’s ministry and eventually become a prophet of God himself. God was giving Elisha a calling and mission in life. Last week we learned several things from this.

Remember, in critical times, God raises up spiritual leaders. It was a critical time for the nation of Israel and they needed a prophet of God! In critical times, God raises up spiritual leaders. Are you available to be one of them? Are you available to rise up and be a spiritual leader in your home? A spiritual leader in your school? A spiritual leader in your church? A spiritual leader in your work place? Maybe in this room or online is a future national leader, are you available to God to step up and be that leader?

Remember, it is in the monotony of life you often discover your mission for life. Elisha was in the middle of a field plowing when God shows up and gives him his mission for life. Matthew was working behind his desk collecting taxes when Jesus showed up and gave him his mission for life. Peter was working at his fishing business when Jesus showed up and gave him a mission for life. In a similar way, God will do the same thing with you.

Remember, God often chooses the one at the back of line. Elisha was on the 12th team at the back of the line. David was the last one to be considered to be king. Jesus said the last shall be first. You may feel like you are at the back of the line. You may feel like you have been overlooked and forgotten, but God sees you and He is sending someone into your life to give you a mission for life.

Remember, God is not looking for just ability, but availability. He is looking for someone to say “Yes!” when He calls. He is looking for someone to say, “Send me!” He is looking for availability. Are you available to God? Are you ready to say yes to God? Elisha was ready to say yes to God and we will see that even more so today.

Finally, remember that God has a mantle with your name on it, and a calling bigger than the field you are currently in. Right now, you may feel like you are plowing through life but God has an important role and responsibility for you to accomplish in His kingdom and in the world. Be patient. Be available. Say yes when He calls!

So what do we see in the text? At the end of verse 19, here’s what we see: Elijah went over to him [Elisha] and threw his cloak across his shoulders…. If you read that, you think, that’s kind of odd. Why did he do that? The Hebrew word for cloak is the word addereth. This word means a large, heavy garment made of animal hair, representing spiritual authority and anointing.

So Elijah walks up to a place of work, goes to the end of the line, sees something in this kid that no one else sees, and he takes this cloak, that is a prophetic symbol worn by prophets and kings and judges, it’s called a mantel. Elijah says, “I’m going to put this mantle on you, Elisha, you are next. God sees you. God values you. God has chosen you.” And God, through Elijah, chooses Elisha to represent God.

We all risk something

And Elisha now has a decision to make. What’s he going to do? He woke up that day just planning to plow the fields, which is not fun. But if you think about his future, it was pretty bright. He’s got a rich dad, he’s going to inherit this one day. So what does he do? Does he stay with what’s known and safe and predictable and comfortable? Or does he risk it on some crazy prophet that throws this cloak on his back? Risk his security and his inheritance to follow God’s call?

I want you to think about this because we all take risks. Every single day you take a risk. The problem is some people are taking risks in the wrong places.

  • Some of you are taking risks with your future spouse. You are giving yourself away to too many people.
  • Some people are risking their integrity by cutting corners at work.
  • Some people are risking their marriage with some secret addiction that’s held them hostage or by having an emotional affair with someone else.

People take risks every day, we all take risk.

But when it comes to faith, a lot of people just play it safe. For example, God prompts us, “I should give this to someone,” but that’s a risk. I don’t want to give that, and so we don’t take the risk. God prompts us to share our faith with somebody because we know there’s someone that needs the grace of Jesus and we’re almost going do it, but it’s a risk. So, we don’t take the risk, what happens?

Sometimes when it comes to risk, we get it backwards, why? We risk what we should protect and protect what we should risk.

  • We risk what we should protect. We risk our purity and reputation with sexual immorality. We risk our integrity with greed. We risk our marriage with selfishness. We risk our children with being passive. We are risking the wrong things. We are risking our character, our integrity, our marriage, our family.
  • We protect what we should risk. And when God calls us to take a faith risk, we go and we often play it safe. We are not generous with our money. We are not bold in sharing our faith. We don’t go on that mission trip. We don’t get involved in that ministry.

We risk what we should protect, and we protect what we should risk. If we are going to follow God and be a people of faith, then we must take a risk with the right things. We must take faith risks to follow Jesus. But we will need to make a decision.

Immediate Obedience

Elisha has a decision to make. Is he going to take the easy, predictable road and inherit his dad’s business? Or is he going to take the risk? Verse 20, we see he did this. Elisha left the oxen standing there, ran after Elijah, and said to him, “First let me go and kiss my father and mother good-bye, and then I will go with you!” (NLT). Notice what Elisha did not do. He didn’t stall. He didn’t make excuses. He didn’t even say, “Let me spend a week praying about this,” or “let me finish plowing for the day.” No, he left the oxen right there where they were and ran after God’s calling.

Whenever God prompts you, whenever God calls you, don’t delay, immediately obey. When God prompts you and calls you, you don’t negotiate terms. You surrender and you say, “Here I am, Lord, send me. Whatever it is you want God, I’ll take the risk. I will do what it is you are prompting me to do even though I don’t understand the details.” One of the biggest marks of spiritual maturity is a short time span between God’s command and our obedience. It’s a short time span. One way to determine how spiritually mature you are is to look at how quickly you obey God? It’s not about how many books of the Bible you can quote. It is, are you doing what God called you to do? When God prompts you, and those of you that are believers, you know He does, there are these times when you just think,

  • “Oh man, I should really pray for them.” Do you do it? Do you do it quickly?
  • “Oh man, I should reach out to them.” How quickly do you reach out to them?
  • “I should call them.” Do you do it?
  • “I feel like I’m supposed to bless so and so financially. It doesn’t make any sense.” How quickly do you do it?
  • “I need to apologize to them and make things right.” How quickly do you do it?

Spiritual maturity is not just how much you know, it’s a short distance between God’s prompting and your obedience.

I will

And so, Elisha honored his family, “Mom, Dad, I love you but God’s calling me.” And then he says these five words very powerfully to Elijah, “… I will go with you….” If you want to change your life, then take those first two words “I will” and attached them to whatever God prompts you to do.

  • I will… confess my sins.
  • I will… open up to someone about my struggles.
  • I will… love my spouse.
  • I will… give financially.
  • I will… serve.
  • I will… end that relationship.
  • I will… seek counsel.
  • I will… say I’m sorry.
  • I will… say I love you.
  • I will… stop letting that thing come between me and You.
  • I will… walk away from a friendship that is leading me into darkness instead of leading me into life.
  • I will… share the gospel.
  • I will… go on that mission trip.
  • I will… show up to serve.
  • I will… start reading God’s Word.
  • I will… get myself out of bed and to church and to that Life Group.

As followers of Jesus, we need to have an “I will” attitude! I will go. I will pray. I will give. I will obey. Elisha had it and we need to have it.

So if you think about this, it’s a little bit crazy. Elisah gets up, go plows the field, and then all of a sudden, this prophet gives him a new coat and this cool calling and he’s got no details, whatsoever.

  • I’ll go, where? Don’t know.
  • What’s the assignment? No idea.
  • What are we going to do? Don’t know.
  • How are we going to fund this whole thing? I have no clue.
  • What’s God going to ask you to do? Well, I don’t know.
  • Do I have the ability? I’m not sure.

And this kind of faith teaches us the principle that someone needs to hear. And that is, you don’t have to understand completely to obey immediately. When God calls you, you don’t need all the details. You can’t handle the details. You just do what He asks you to do.

Think about what God has done for you

Elisha has agreed to answer the call of God on His life. He has agreed to go with Elijah. But look at what Elijah says to Elisha next in verse 20. Elijah replied, “Go on back, but think about what I have done to you.” I don’t think we think enough about what God has done for us or to you. Elijah says, Think about what I have done to you. Two thoughts on this.

  • When God places a calling and purpose on us, we need to think about what that means. It means that your life will be operating in God’s calling, in God’s power, in God’s purpose, and in God’s will. You will be living out what you were created for. It’s like God is saying, Think about what I have done to you. What has God done to you? As a follower of Jesus, He has saved you, forgiven you, given you a new heart, pour His Holy Spirit into you, redeemed you, adopted you, equipped you, empowered you, and given you a destination called heaven. Think about what God has done to you and don’t waste it.
  • Not only do you need to think about what God has done to you, but you also need to think about what God’s people have done to you and for you. Notice Elijah says, Think about what I have done to you. God sent Elijah into Elisha’s life to pull Elisha out of that life and into God’s purpose for his life. Who is it that God has sent to you and placed in your life to call you and help you fulfill God’s calling and purpose upon your life? I want to encourage you to reach out to them and tell them thank you. Tell them what it meant to you for them invest in you and to get you into God’s calling and purpose.

Burn your plow

Elisha obviously thought about it because look at what he does next in verse 21, So Elisha returned to his oxen [and the very things that represented his future, what did he do to them?] and slaughtered them [he sacrificed. He slaughtered the oxen]. He used the wood from the plow to build a fire to roast their flesh. [So what did he do? He sacrificed the oxen and he burned the plow. He took the very things that represented his future and his security and he sacrificed them and he burned the plow.] He passed around the meat to the townspeople, and they all ate. Then he went with Elijah as his assistant (NLT).

He’s saying, “God, if you’re calling me to this, I am all in, there is no plan B. There’s no safety net. There’s no turning back.”

And here’s what I want you to see. For years, this guy is just plowing in the field. Everything that mattered to him and his future was in that field and on that field. And he sacrificed the oxen and he burned the plows, why? Because God had called him to something different. And the principle is this. You can’t hold the plow and the mantle at the same time. Someone needs to hear this. You cannot obey God and follow this world at the same time. You cannot hold the plow and wear the mantle at the same time.

Conclusion

And some of you just let the Holy Spirit speak to you because you’ve got like one foot in the things of God and another foot in the things of this world. You are trying to live a double life.

  • You got one foot in the church and one foot in your own selfish, sinful desires.
  • You’ve got one foot in your calling and another foot in your comfort.

And you cannot serve the world and follow Jesus at the same time. If you love the world, the Bible says, the love of the Father is not in you. You can’t do the will of God and keep your foot in the sinful world. You have to make a choice. If you receive this today, it could change your life.

 

I want to ask you a very serious question. What plow do you need to burn to fully follow Jesus? What plow do you need to burn, what do you need to eliminate, what do you need to get out of your life so you can fully follow Jesus? What do you need to cut yourself off from? Because for some of you, there’s something holding you back. You are kind of in, but not all in with God. And for me, the biggest moment for me was when I had to let some friends go. I had to burn some bridges and then wait for God to bring me some new friends.

If there is some sin or something you are trusting more, then it’s time to burn the plow.

  • Smartphone to dumb phone
  • Leave that relationship.
  • Get rid of Netflix, if that is keeping you from doing God’s will. Start living life rather than watching life.
  • Get rid of the credit cards.

So if you feel spiritually stuck, more of the same, same dirt, same struggle, still plowing, maybe feel left out, left behind. Remember, God often chooses the one at the back of the line. Everyone sees someone ordinary, but God sees something extraordinary in you, but you are going to have to burn your plow.

And I’ll say it again. God has a mantle with your name on it, and a calling bigger than the field you’re standing in. By faith, Jesus wants all of you. Your whole heart, your whole life, love the Lord your God with all your mind and all your body and all your soul and all your strength because you can’t keep one foot in the world and one foot in the kingdom of God. You can’t hold the plow and wear the mantle at the same time.

So let’s do it, let’s burn the plow. If there’s something you are holding onto, that you are loving more than you are loving Jesus, don’t delay, don’t look back, burn the plow and fully devote your life to serving Jesus.