Intro: one of the highlights of the Fine Arts besides our young people advancing to Nationals, was the spotlight performances. The vocal group from Cathedral was amazing, the percussion group was wonderful, and the young lady who won the short sermon was powerful. I came home and checked my records and found that I preached 2 Kings 2—last year, and my points were: if you want Elijah’s anointing you have to stay a little bit closer,
Go a little bit farther, and want a little bit more. But another thought after hearing this sermon struck me, and today I will try to minister on this thought: An Anointing For The Elisha Generation
An Anointing For The Elisha Generation
2 Kings 2:1-15
background: this is the one of the most spectacular stories in all of scripture. It is the changing of the guard, it is the passing of the mantle, it is the transfer of anointing from one generation to the next. It must happen for the next generation to survive, if there is not transfer of anointing, if the mantle doesn’t get picked up, generations will suffer, people will perish, lives will be lost. Today, I am going to challenge the older people to be the Elijah’s that can give mantles to the next generation, I am going to challenge young people, you can’t minister to the Elisha generation with Elijah’s anointing, you are going to even need more anointing than ever.
I. Not Everyone Wants The Mantle—v.7—here are the school of the prophets, but they don’t want the mantle, they just want a title. Today that is the sad commentary of our world, a lot of people want to go into full time ministry, a lot of people want degrees from Seminaries, that have no desire for an anointing, no concern for their generation, and are unwilling to go the extra miles to receive all that God has for them.
· As a member of the Commission on Evangelism in Springfield Missouri I heard a recent report that our denomination is in the midst of a crisis of calling. We don’t have enough people being called into ministry from our churches, to the point that by 2010, we will be in a full blown ministerial crisis. It simply means that people don’t want to pick up the mantle of God.
· A lot of people like to minister, but to carry an anointing, to pay the price, to fight for God is another story. The school of the prophets were a group that liked to get close enough to the anointing to see it, but not close enough to the anointing to wear it.
II. Your Old Garments Won’t Work—v.12 I don’t know how much anointing Elisha had in his clothing, but he realized it wasn’t enough, He needed the mantle of Elijah, with the promise for a double portion attached to them.
· We are in the midst of a cultural clash in denominational churches between tradition and progression. As a pastor I won’t take sides because I believe there must be a little give and take on both generations for there to be successful ministry. Elisha didn’t try to operate without Elijah’s mantle. Today I see some progressive young pastors who see all people of Elijah’s generation as disposable. They say, out with the old, in with the new. We even see some young people who have a bad attitude toward anything traditional or fundamental. You cannot throw history out of the window reaching for destiny. You can’t realize your future without consulting your past. I believe every church should have Elijah’s mantle with Elisha’s portion. We should experience the new, blended with the old, and it should minister to ages 1—100. If your gospel cannot reach every generation, then it is a weakened gospel.
· On the other hand, you can’t operate in Elijah’s anointing without Elisha’s double portion attached to it. You see this generation is different, and our methods of reaching them must change. Some people tell me they don’t like all the new methodology that is used to reach this generation. My response is this: I see some churches who are unwilling to change anything to the point they have declined to a small group of older people who even question their purpose of meeting anymore. I believe you must keep the standards of holiness but be willing to make changes that are relevant to reaching our society. If a pizza night, a coffee house, a concert, a beach retreat, etc. will bring people to Jesus Christ, I am for it all. Paul said he would become all things to all men that by all means he could save some. A modern day paraphrase, we will try to get them anyway we can, as long as it doesn’t go against our standards or doctrines.
III. Elisha’s anointing must be stronger, because his generation is harder to reach. V.15 Every generation is different, every generation becomes more full of doubt, more harder to reach, more unwilling to follow. I see it even in the school of the prophets, it is like they represent our world today, standing on the bank saying, you better part the waters or we will not follow you. I think a big problem we see in this new age, we have more talent, more abilities, but it will take a stronger anointing to reach this generation.
· This generation is a drug generation, a humanistic, hedonistic, it is an evil generation—it will take a powerful anointing to break the chains, it will take a mantle of deliverance for us to set people free.
· Ministry is becoming harder, so many are choosing to walk away from their calling to God. A lot of people don’t mind sitting on the throne of David, they just don’t want to get up and fight the Goliath’s that are challenging God. I had a ministerial candidate tell me, I can’t wait to get into ministry to get out of the real world. If you think ministry will get you into a heavenly existence, you don’t understand the Elisha generation.
IV. Who Will Pick Up The Mantle Today---v.14 Elijah’s mantle has fallen, it has fallen from Azusa street, it has fallen from Kathryn Kullman’s ministry, it has fallen from Smith Wigglesworth, there are more mantle’s laying on the ground today than mantle’s that have been picked up and worn. People have felt the call but have been unwilling to follow.
· Don’t pick up the mantle unless you are willing to wear it. Some people want a temporary tingle, some want to turn God on and off like their shower, but God doesn’t need week-end warriors who put their mantles on for a Sunday showing. He needs mantle wearers, anointing carriers, who will take up their mantle and never lay it down.
· God will never take up your mantle. The gifts and callings of God are without repentance. You can run your whole life, but your mantle is still laying there for you to pick up. God may allow someone else to operate in a place He had for you, but He will never give your anointing to someone else, it will be laying there for you to pick up your entire life. There are people today who are picking up mantle’s they ran away from 40 years ago.
· I have blankets on this altar, they are symbolic of a mantle worn by Elisha, will anyone come and pick up a mantle today. If you have ever felt the call of God on your life, today is your day to get your mantle, today is your day to start reaching the Elisha generation.
Close: can you imagine the Bible without Elisha? It is a scary thought to think that Elijah moves on, and the next generation only has the school of the prophets doing ministry. When John the Baptist prepared the way of the Lord, 400 years had passed without vision, without power, without a strong Word from God. It was generations without an Elisha. Today, I want some people to carry an Elisha anointing. So that 2 Kings 13:21—could happen again, that as they bury someone, you would have so much anointing left even in your bones, they would revive if they only touched your bones.That is an Elisha anointing, power to touch the next generation for God.
