Message:
We are celebrating the final third of our three week message series entitled, Greater. The series is grounded in a comment by Jesus at that final Passover meal before he was crucified. Jesus said in John 14:12: Anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do greater things than these.
In the first week, we heard about taking a moment to listen to God’s call on your life and then like Elisha become an apprentice of the king by burning the plow so their can be nothing to look back on or retreat. Then last week we talked about recognizing God’s power to help us in our endeavors and so trusting in God’s promise to be with you that we prepare accordingly. ”Trust in the Lord” are the scriptural words that are appropriate here. This week I would like to continue the discussion by recognizing that in everyone’s journey there will be a seminal moment where your belief and actions become one. It’s the moment when it all comes together. I’ll never forget the Federal Express story:
Founding executive Robert Frock describes the episode in his book, Changing How the World Does Business: Fedex's Incredible Journey to Success - The Inside Story. That’s one business principle you likely won’t need to explain to FedEx founder Fred Smith. In FedEx's early days, Smith took the company's last $5,000 to a Las Vegas blackjack table after the shipping giant was denied a vital business loan. Had Smith's bet gone awry, FedEx wouldn't have been able to foot a $24,000 fuel bill. “I asked Fred where the funds had come from, and he responded, ‘The meeting with the General Dynamics board was a bust and I knew we needed money for Monday, so I took a plane to Las Vegas and won $27,000.’ I said, ‘You mean you took our last $5,000-- how could you do that?’ He shrugged his shoulders and said, ‘What difference does it make? Without the funds for the fuel companies, we couldn't have flown anyway.’ Fred's luck held again. It was not much, but it came at a critical time and kept us in business for another week." Since that harrowing effort, FedEx is on much firmer ground. In the last fiscal year FedEx's 146,000 worldwide employees helped earn the company of $26.5 billion in revenue. In the near future, FedEx plans to boost profits by nearly $2 billion via a series of cost-cutting measures. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/15/fred-smith-blackjack-fedex_n_1966837.html
While we don’t condone gambling, it was the moment when vision and reality collide. Elisha had just such a moment. If you would open your bibles to 2 Kings 2:1-15 we are going to dive into the scriptures a little deeper today. Before we do, let’s pray. Lord open our hearts to truly hear your word for our lives.
When the Lord was about to take Elijah up to heaven in a whirlwind, Elijah and Elisha were on their way from Gilgal. 2 Elijah said to Elisha, “Stay here; the Lord has sent me to Bethel.” But Elisha said, “As surely as the Lord lives and as you live, I will not leave you.” So they went down to Bethel. 3 The company of the prophets at Bethel came out to Elisha and asked, “Do you know that the Lord is going to take your master from you today?” “Yes, I know,” Elisha replied, “so be quiet.” 4 Then Elijah said to him, “Stay here, Elisha; the Lord has sent me to Jericho.” And he replied, “As surely as the Lord lives and as you live, I will not leave you.” So they went to Jericho. 5 The company of the prophets at Jericho went up to Elisha and asked him, “Do you know that the Lord is going to take your master from you today?” “Yes, I know,” he replied, “so be quiet.” 6 Then Elijah said to him, “Stay here; the Lord has sent me to the Jordan.” And he replied, “As surely as the Lord lives and as you live, I will not leave you.” So the two of them walked on. 7 Fifty men from the company of the prophets went and stood at a distance, facing the place where Elijah and Elisha had stopped at the Jordan. 8 Elijah took his cloak, rolled it up and struck the water with it. The water divided to the right and to the left, and the two of them crossed over on dry ground. 9 When they had crossed, Elijah said to Elisha, “Tell me, what can I do for you before I am taken from you?” “Let me inherit a double portion of your spirit,” Elisha replied. 10 “You have asked a difficult thing,” Elijah said, “yet if you see me when I am taken from you, it will be yours—otherwise, it will not.” 11 As they were walking along and talking together, suddenly a chariot of fire and horses of fire appeared and separated the two of them, and Elijah went up to heaven in a whirlwind. 12 Elisha saw this and cried out, “My father! My father! The chariots and horsemen of Israel!” And Elisha saw him no more. Then he took hold of his garment and tore it in two. 13 Elisha then picked up Elijah’s cloak that had fallen from him and went back and stood on the bank of the Jordan. 14 He took the cloak that had fallen from Elijah and struck the water with it. “Where now is the Lord, the God of Elijah?” he asked. When he struck the water, it divided to the right and to the left, and he crossed over. 15 The company of the prophets from Jericho, who were watching, said, “The spirit of Elijah is resting on Elisha.” And they went to meet him and bowed to the ground before him. 16 “Look,” they said, “we your servants have fifty able men. Let them go and look for your master. Perhaps the Spirit of the Lord has picked him up and set him down on some mountain or in some valley.”
Notes of interest:
The places Elijah wanted to visit were all historic Hebrew sites. The past is not an anchor but a rudder to guide us and keep us on track in our spiritual journey.
• Gilgal is the first place the Israelites camped when they crossed the Jordan River and entered the Promised Land.
• A 15 mile walks to Bethel which is the place where Abraham and Jacob worship, where Jacob heard God’s promise to take care of him. Bethel means house of God.
• Then they walked another 15 miles to Jericho, the site of Joshua’s first victory in the promise land. It also was the site of the tragedy of sin and then the majesty of the Lord who deserves all the glory.
• Finally, they walk five miles to the Jordan river - the site of the beginning of the walk into the promise land. The parting of the red sea, the reminder of Joshua’s walks across the river the first time and all the history which led up to this moment.
The seminal moment for Elisha comes in verses 13-14: He also took up the mantle of Elijah that had fallen from him, and went back and stood by the bank of the Jordan. Then he took the mantle of Elijah that had fallen from him, and struck the water, and said, “Where is the Lord God of Elijah?” And when he also had struck the water, it was divided this way and that; and Elisha crossed over.
We all come to the moment where we have to trust God. As scary as that sounds, to look back or to be tempted to go back to the old ways is just not possible. This is not a time to second guess all the work and preparation. Elisha himself had to make the decision to take action or not. Elijah was taken up to heaven on the far side of the Jordan River in a whirlwind. Elisha witnessed Elijah leaving. Elisha tore is clothes, called out to his spiritual father and picked up the cloak that had fallen from Elijah. Elisha walked to the water’s edge. What would he do?
The Apprentice time for Elisha was over. It was now time to lead. The same God who brought him to that moment also promised to be with him to the end. God doesn’t show us the details or actions he shows us himself. As if to say, I have the power and I am giving it to you to do it all.
Elijah passed on his mantle to Elisha. Elisha still had to pick it up. Elisha still had to follow through. The same is true for us. If we want to experience something greater, we must surrender our power, Accept God’s Holy Spirit; walk with Jesus through obedience so that when the time is right the spiritual mantle will passed onto us. For anyone who is sick of playing it safe, for every dreamer who has been devastated and disillusioned, for every undiscovered Elisha determined to show the watching world the greater things GOD is capable of...the moment is now.
I’ll never forget being down in Florida at my folks place in Naples and playing with my son. He was standing on the side of the pool. I kept trying to coax him into the pool and he didn’t want to jump. We kept going back and forth. Finally, he trusted me and jump into the pool. He went under the water but the floaties and my arms grabbed him and he came up. He look at me spit out the water on me and then smiled and said, again!
This is the experience of following God. This is where Missio Dei (mission of God) and our world collide. It’s the place in the Christian walk that is no longer theoretical but real. It’s the choice to leap into God’s arms or stay on the shore. It’s moment of Peter calling out to Jesus as he sees Jesus walking on the water. It’s the action the follows the words “come.” It’s frightening, exhilarating and inspiring all at the same time.
{A story of a moment where someone commits their life to Christ and the world changes.}
Now, Jesus has left behind his mantle for us in the power of the Holy Spirit. All you have to do is pick it up. Will you? If you will, then let’s pray the following prayer together.
Steven’s prayers:
I pray that you will no longer settle for good enough in your closest relationships, existing together but not really engaging each other. I pray that where you may have settled into comfortable patterns, busyness, and mundane living, you exchange that for greater living and see the glory of God. I pray that the monotonous drone that can come with living together as a family is replaced by a passionate cadence of a family that follows God together. I pray you won’t settle for raising good boys and girls who don’t get on your nerves or interfere with your dreams but who are world changers that chase after God and God’s dream for them.
I pray that you never settle for the ‘good enough’ of killing time and drawing a paycheck. Clocking in and clocking out. God is calling you to something new. I pray he gives you the faith to do so. If God is calling you to step up in the a job you already have, I pray he gives you the passion to do so. Either way, I pray that you step into greater influence that God has called you to within your work. I pray that your profession will turn into your pulpit, your sport coat become your cloak, your office become a sanctuary, your work become your worship. I pray, that instead of fantasizing about someone else’s life, you will pursue God’s greater life for you.
https://communitycenter.life/rev-robert-butler-info
