The Demands Of Discipleship: 1 Kings:19:19-21, 2 Kings 2:1-15

Something is discipling you right now. If it is not Jesus, it is still shaping your instincts, your attention, your fears, and what you think is normal. We wrestle with that reality and then turn to a vivid discipleship story in 1 Kings 19 and 2 Kings 2 where Elijah calls Elisha with a simple act that changes everything: the mantle lands, and a new life begins. 

We walk through three clear demands of Christian discipleship: initiation, dedication, and replication. Initiation means defining the relationship and choosing an intentional path instead of drifting, whether that looks like asking for a mentor, stepping into recovery, or committing to practices that form spiritual maturity. Dedication means staying close when it gets repetitive, awkward, or costly, learning Jesus in the unscheduled moments where character is revealed and faith is tested. Replication means the journey cannot stop with us, because God builds an enduring work through people who pass the mantle, multiply community, and trust the Lord as the true source of power. 

Along the way we talk about spiritual growth, mentoring, church community, city groups, practical training, and how to quiet the voices that only discourage. If you want a deeper faith that holds up under real pressure, this is a roadmap worth sitting with. Subscribe, share this with someone you want to grow with, and leave a review, then tell us: who has discipled you, and who are you being called to disciple next?

Transcript

Welcome And Why Church Matters

SPEAKER_00 0:03

Welcome to the City Life Church podcast. We hope it encourages you. If you'd like to learn more about City Life or our mission, connect with us online at CityLifeSandiego.org. And while podcasts and Sunday mornings are helpful, they are no substitute for deeper personal relationships in the church.

SPEAKER_01 0:30

Alright, so today we're gonna be in 1 Kings 19 9. 1 Kings 19 9. And uh if you do not have a good study Bible, we have them on both sides of the room. We would love to give you a nice study Bible for you to keep. Put your name on it. Um if you don't have 10 bucks to drop in the offering for it, take it. They cost more than that anyway. It doesn't matter to us. We if if our church went out of business, which is not a business, if our church went under because we had to give away too many good Bibles to people that were being used, I'm all right with that. So uh 1 Kings 19, 19, we have them multiple languages. Let me get that out of the way. Tenemos biblias bilingues disponibles, o costada del salon, bonju, sat sim cantar, nueva vec municipal, nuegan bib crayo isa puno gratis, no som son o crail. Alright, let's get to it, huh?

Follow Me Means Copy My Life

SPEAKER_01 1:22

Follow me as I follow Jesus. These are biblical words that you've probably heard before. They're easy lines to understand. They are hard to live out. Now, when I was growing up, I did not grow up in a Christian family, and when my parents went to bed, um, I would get up from out of bed and I would watch TV because back in our day we just had a TV, one. And uh I would watch a show, I think it was on at 9 30, and it was called In Living Color. And I don't know if anybody knows In Living Color, but uh back in the day it was it was awesome and it was free, you didn't pay for it. And um there were these uh ladies that would dance um in between the sketches, and they were called the fly girls. Um, does anyone remember In Living Color, by the way? Okay, so some of you knew who the fly girls were, they were fly, right? And I just had a dream of marrying a fly girl. Um uh Rosie Perez was a fly girl, and J Lo was actually a fly girl as well, if you didn't know that. Um, and uh I married a fly girl. Um, my wife teaches Zumba at Jackie Robinson, YMCA, and um uh living the dream. So uh the thing is, is uh why am I bringing this up? I don't know. But she was teaching Zumba this week, actually. And when she teaches Zumba, you know, the goal is um for you to watch from behind, which is why I'm always like, guys shouldn't be in there, to watch from behind and then follow, you know, whatever movement she does, right? So everybody's following her movement, and it starts to get crowded, and she this she notices that there was someone there that she hadn't seen in a minute, someone that she was excited to see. And so she was like looking for the person, trying to find them. So you know what everybody was doing behind her, right? Looking behind them, like trying to, and and so it was so funny because it's like she knew that she was supposed to do some things that they were supposed to replicate, but like the funny thing is like when you're leading people, people are gonna replicate whatever you do, whether you're intending for them to do it or not. So there's that whole do as I say, not as I do, and that's not a part of discipleship. We do what our disciplers do discipleship and disciple making. Follow me as I follow Jesus. And so today, as we're gonna be going through Elijah and now the handoff of ministry to a guy named Elisha. And as I worked through this sermon, I was like, I'm gonna call him E. And then I started quoting other people, and then it's getting really confused. So I'm just gonna try and enunciate the best I can. So we are in 1 Kings 19, um, and we're actually gonna skip down to 2 Kings 2 after that. So just be ready. 1 Kings 19. Are you there with me? Does anyone have a physical Bible? I could see how beautiful it is. Oh, I love those, you guys. I love those. Um, nobody slides into your DMs when you're on a real Bible. Okay, here

Elijah Calls Elisha To Follow

SPEAKER_01 4:18

we go. 1 Kings 19, 19. Elijah left there and found Elisha, son of Shaphat, as he was plowing. Twelve teams of oxen were in front of him, and he was with the twelfth team. Elijah walked by him and threw his mantle over him. Elisha left the oxen, ran to follow Elijah, and said, Please let me kiss my father and mother, and then I will follow you. Go on back, he replied, for what have I done to you? So he turned back from following him, took the team of oxen, slaughtered them, with the oxen's wooden yoke and the plough, he cooked the meat and gave it to the people, and they ate. Then he left, followed Elijah, and served him. Now I'm skipping down to 2 Kings 2. The time had come for the Lord to take Elijah up to heaven in a whirlwind. Elijah and Elisha were traveling from Gilgal. And Elijah said to Elisha, Stay here, the Lord is sending me on to Bethel. But Elisha replied, As the Lord lives, and as you live, I will not leave you. So they went down to Bethel. Then the sons of the prophets who were at Bethel came out to Elisha and said, Do you know that the Lord will take your master away from you today? He said, Yes, I know, be quiet. Elisha said to him, Elisha, stay here. The Lord is sending me to Jericho. But Elisha said, As the Lord lives and as you yourself live, I will not leave you. So they went to Jericho. Then the sons of the prophet, you're noticing some patterns, right? Then the sons of the prophets who were in Jericho came up to Elisha and said, Do you know that the Lord will take your master away from you today? Yes, I know, be quiet. Elisha said to him, Stay here, the Lord is sending me to the Jordan, that's a river. But Elisha said, As the Lord lives and as you yourself live, I will not leave you. So the two of them went on. Fifty men from the sons of prophets came and stood observing them at a distance while the two of them stood by the Jordan. Elijah took his mantle, rolled it up, struck the water, which parted to the right and left, then the two of them crossed over on dry ground. When they had crossed over, Elijah said to Elisha, Tell me what I can do for you before I am taken from you. Elisha answered, Please let me inherit two shares of your spirit. Elijah replied, You have asked for something difficult. If you see me being taken from you, you will have it, if not you won't. As they continued walking and talking, a chariot of fire with horses of fire suddenly appeared and separated the two of them. Then Elijah went up into heaven in the whirlwind. As Elisha watched, he kept crying out, My father, my father, the chariots, the horsemen of Israel. When he could see him no longer, he took hold of his own clothes, tore them in two, picked up the mantle that had fallen off Elijah, and went back and stood on the bank of the Jordan. He took the mantle Elijah had dropped, and he struck the water. Where is the Lord God of Elijah? He asked. He struck the water himself, and it parted to the right and to the left, and Elisha crossed over. This is God's word. Will you pray with me, friends? Father, uh, we are forever grateful for your act of mercy in sending your son to save him, save us. But we know that it wasn't just him. We thank you for the people, those annoying people that you sent to many of us in the room. The people that wouldn't give up when we rejected them or when we rejected you. The people who loved us so much that they were willing to be awkward, to be embarrassed, and even written off. But like you, they loved us because you loved them. So we ask that you would give us that heart this morning. As we see darkness descend in so many areas of our world, we want to be light bringers. When despair seems to overtake the people around us, we want to be hope-bearers. When sin gnaws at our soul, we ask that you would help us to bring holiness. And when violence, hatred, and oppression seem rampant, we would you help us to bring your justice. Lord, we know this all started with you. We want to finish it with you. Help us not to lose heart with the losses. We want to ride with you. And we ask that you would allow us to take part in something that is enduring in this world that will long outlive us. Please teach us this morning. May the words of my mouth and the thoughts of our hearts be pleasing to you. We pray this all in Jesus' name, and all God's people said, Amen.

What Discipleship Actually Is

SPEAKER_01 8:54

So today we're talking about discipleship. That's a big word. Uh the discipleship of Elisha by Elijah. Discipleship. Discipleship is a fancy word that Christians use all the time. And while Jesus used the word discipleship, it basically means, let's just be honest, it basically means nothing to a regular person on the street. Like I often will use it, I don't know if you'll listen in my sermons, I will often use it interchangeably with apprentice, student, padwan. But discipleship is not a bad word, it's a beautiful word that was given to us by God. The word disciple is used in the New Testament 269 times. The word Christian is used three times. Now, Pastor Peyton Jones, he's in Oceanside, he defines discipleship as the ongoing process of developing as a Jesus follower. And he says this discipleship happens after conversion and is the process of maturing spiritually in the faith, learning to become more like Christ through practices like prayer, Bible study, and fellow fellowship with other believers, it is spiritual growth. He goes on to say that every disciple is disciple making, which he talks about intentionally helping others become followers of Jesus and teaching them to make disciples. So that makes sense, right? Like Christians share good news and then we train other people to do the same thing. And if we do it right, long after we're gone, God's work will continue to echo on through the generations. That's the goal. And so today I'm going to give you three demands of Christian discipleship. And you'll notice I said Christian discipleship, okay? Um, because many more people are being discipled by your social media algorithm. Um, and if we are not very intentional, we will spend more time being influenced by everything other, everything other than Jesus. So show me where you spend your time, and I will show you what is discipling you the most, friends. Okay, so let's get to our first demand of discipleship.

Demand One Initiation

SPEAKER_01 10:56

Our first demand of discipleship is this initiation. Initiation. Uh verse uh 19 said, Elijah went and found Elisha, plowing a field, twelve teams of oxen in the field, and Elisha was plowing with the twelfth team. Elijah went to him, threw his cloak across his shoulders, his his mantle, cloak, and he said to him, Let me go oh excuse me, um, and he said to him, First, let me go and kiss my father and mother goodbye, and then I will go with you. Elisha said, Go on back, but think about what I have done to you. So Elijah returned to his oxen, slaughtered them, used the wood from the plough to build a fire, to roast them. He passed around the meat to the townspeople, they ate, and then he went on with Elijah as his assistant. So the great prophet of Israel here was sent by God to Elisha and showed him he was going to be the next prophet in Israel. Now, if you're with us recently, you will remember it was God who sent him. That was it. Elisha was honored, and he said goodbye to his parents, and he celebrated with a costly sacrifice to God. Now the call was not an accidental call, it was providential. God sent Elijah directly with the intention of training him up and sending him out to do the work of the Lord that Elijah had been doing. Every relationship, friends, every intentional relationship has a real start. Like every relationship at some point has that DTR, right? Define the relationship. It's why you will go to churches much like ours, and there will be someone who stands up here before communion or besuck before something else, and we say, you need to commit your life to following Jesus. Like, like commit, commit. Because if you float into following Jesus and you never fully are in, like you miss something. There has to be that define the relationship and discipleship. So in the same way, if you want to disciple someone, it's really good to go to them and say, I want to help you walk, I want to help you walk through this. Um, but even more so, if you want to be discipled by someone, friends, tell them. There's initiation there. Remember the goal. The person who is discipling you wants to train you up for what? To make disciples of others, who will make disciples of others. But you must initiate, friends, it's not going to happen on accident. The apostle Paul said in 1 Corinthians 11, follow me as I follow Christ. Another translation would say, Imitate me as I imitate Christ. Another would say, Walk like me as I seek to walk like Jesus. Now, my discipleship journey, uh, unlike a lot of you, was not with my parents. Like I did not grow up in a family that loved Jesus. I grew up in a family that could not stand Jesus, honestly. Um, my mom, she put so many statues in our backyard of every single God, Buddha you could think of, but Christian, no, absolutely not. She's like, I'm open to everything but Christianity. That's the house I grew up in. So it was not going to be discipled by my family. Um, but the thing is, is that I was discipled. And I was discipled by uh other kids at my high school when I got saved at 16. I would meet with um uh the assistant youth pastor Sean at College Avenue Baptist Church, along with other men who were ahead of me, and by men I mean 16-year-old boys. I attended Horizon Church where Miles McPherson would preach, and he was a part of my discipleship journey, and and we even listened to all his cassette tapes. But I had to seek out someone to disciple me, truly. And and the thing is, is like I went to a guy in our church, we were in a big church, and I went to like kind of like the assistant to the regional uh worship leader. I went to that guy. I was like, hey man, would you disciple me? And he's like, Let me get back to you. And then I kind of like tried again. He's like, Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, let me get back to you. And then it never happened. But the the lead worship leader at our church did contact me and said, I would like to disciple you. There was no like, and I know that sounds weird, but we're weird anyway. It's okay. Like, sometimes you need to say to someone, uh, I would like to disciple you. And and that's what Ed Aranda said to me, and he was a huge blessing. And after that, like when I moved to Orange County, I found Tim Yi, and I had to be discipled by Tim Yi for five years. I moved to Wichita, Kansas, and it was Steve Brummer. And then I actually started flying to uh Dallas, Texas to be uh uh discipled by a guy, Michael Bleecker. Now, that's a part of mentorship, not necessarily always discipleship, but even still, I have people that continue to disciple me from afar and from close. And they disciple me in different ways, and you don't always have the same teacher for everything. And I will say I still feel like there are men in my life who disciple me. Ed Aranda, that guy 30 years ago, who would take me out to lunch every week and talk to me about Jesus. And I would say Dahadi Lewis, who I did not know would be here when I'm preaching, which is a little like nerve-wracking, not gonna lie. Um, but these these men in my life, because I have asked them to disciple me and because I trust them, I give their words more weight. I do. They build me up, they don't tear me down, and and and they don't take my crap either. Like, Dale, you need to work on your diplomacy, your diplomacy. It's something I've heard many times. Like sometimes I lack diplomacy, if you guys have noticed that, but I've grown because of these men in my life. Um, there was also an expectation in my discipleship journey that I would run decisions by people who I trusted. Not because I had to, but because I wanted to. Ed, my mentor, who is still my mentor and discipler, he saved me from some awful jobs. I remember I was working at a couple churches, like three. And uh I went to him and I was like, hey, there's one church where I'm the youth, like I'm the worship leader, but the youth pastor is about to get fired because he took a bunch of kids to Hooters. And and he's like, Okay, uh, and and there they want to give me the job. And he's like, Okay, um, is it healthy there? And I'm like, I don't know, man, but I could work in a church, like they could pay me for what I would do for free. And he's like, Well, are they healthy though? And I remember him talking me through it, and eventually I decided it was not right for me. And they kept that guy because I wouldn't take the job. What does that say? What does that say? But I needed a guy like Ed who could protect me from hard things and who I was willing to trust. He was my discipler. Now I also spent a ton of dead time with Ed. A lot of times I would go to his office and he was waiting for something, he would do something. A lot of times I would just go hang out with him while he was moving something or doing random things, and that's actually where the true discipleship comes through. It's not always scheduled, it was seeing his life. I would see Ed come directly out of a meeting, and Ed would say to me, kicking something over, like, there are people in the church who want power that don't care about Jesus at all. And I was like, No. But but it was Ed, right? And and I I trusted him. And so he has saved me from a lot of worry and hurt. Uh when when I have met someone with with a desire for power and not a desire for Jesus, I go, Oh yeah, Ed warned me about this. He discipled me, but that didn't happen in a planned meeting, guys. Now, here's the thing. Also, when the closest person in Ed's life betrayed him, like bad betrayal, Ed taught me how to grieve. He taught me how to grieve. Well. And then when Ed's church fired him for a sin that was done against him, Ed showed me how to be angry and show grace. Ed showed me how to look at people who had done terrible things to him and still to love the church. He was discipling me, and he mostly discipled me in all the places that there were no plan for that. Now, Elisha, he already knew Elijah. He walked with Elijah, he knew his reputation, but before walking with his master, he probably didn't know the moments when Elijah lost heart. Now, you and I have read through this text. That guy was always losing heart, right? And we know sometimes it was because his blood sugar was low, maybe, sometimes his adrenal gland was blown out. But you know what? He he just lost heart a lot. And and nobody might have known that, but he had someone that would be with him. Now, when Elijah lost heart around Elisha, he was also discipling how to go back to God when he suffered. This is discipleship, guys. When Elijah cried out to God saying he was lost or abandoned with Elisha there, Elisha could learn how to go back to God and repent and trust in God. And he also saw his mentor was, you know, someone who suffered. Now, when Elisha asked if he could go back to say goodbye to his parents there, does that sound familiar to anyone who knows the Bible in the room? It's very much like a moment with Jesus, isn't it? Like, but Jesus responded quite differently. This is in Luke 9. A man said, I will follow you, Jesus. But first let me go say goodbye to those at my house. But Jesus said to him, No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God. And I don't know if you read that. Like, guys, I have read the Bible all the way through, front to back, translations, I don't know, 11 or 12. And I ever I feel like every morning when I read the Bible, I'm like, oh my gosh, something new? Like something I missed, I something I missed before. And here you see, like, he's even mentioning the plow. Like Elijah and Elisha, there's a plow and oxen, right? And here Jesus is saying, Nope, you don't get to no, you don't get to do that to this guy. So why would Jesus have done that? See, Jesus constantly met people that weren't trying to say goodbye. Jesus was meeting people who wanted to justify in action, who wanted to justify themselves, but Jesus didn't have it. Now, if this man truly wanted to be discipled, he would just make it happen. It would be a priority. Jesus' time was short. Jesus had like three years, right? He's not gonna chase after someone who's not serious. No. But surely this dude thought, if the prophet Elisha did this, man, I can use some religious versions to not truly follow Jesus, but I can look good. Kind of like when you say to someone, Oh, I can help you move on Monday. Oh, but it's Tuesday, sorry. See, that's what was happening. Jesus knew his heart. Now Elisha was earnest, Elisha was dedicated. These other dudes wanted to find excuses not to follow God. He wanted to say goodbye because he knew he was all in. That's the difference. Once he was all in with Elijah, he was gone. Now there are people out there who have excuses for everything. Um me too, okay? Like I do. But if if they're making excuses not to follow Jesus now, there will be excuses later. Now I love those people, I will pursue those people, but I'm just gonna say they don't get the majority of my time as much as I want to. Because I only have so much time, just like you. The people who are all in are the people who I'm not dragging in. Those people are just ready to go. And it doesn't mean that those other people won't become these people. But following Jesus may mean that you have to sometimes change jobs. It may mean you have to change habits, you may have to change everything with the help of God. Now, I don't know which ones who come to me are the real ones, and I don't know which ones are the fake, but Jesus does, and that's the way he rolls. And I just encourage you, don't make excuses why you can't follow God. You can. If you are busy, you can follow God while you are busy. If you are depressed, you can follow God while you are working out your depression with him. If you are sinful, you can follow God while he is helping you to overcome your sin. But you have to decide and you have to be in. Now, if you feel more faker than real, which I think a lot of us feel that way, don't you? At times, we all feel a bit faker, but Jesus met us where we were at. And I encourage you, if you feel like a faker, pray and he will continue to meet you. And you can continue to ask God for his help and he will be there. Philippians 1 6 says, I am sure of this, that he who started a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. Now, friends, if you are overcome by addiction, seek God and his spirit until you are delivered. And if you are not delivered yet, seek God. You will never be worse for seeking God and his word. He loves you when you seek him and especially in your pain. He loves when he sees you fighting against sin, even when you're sometimes losing. He loves helping you. Guys, sometimes a message from his word will help you. Sometimes God will send you beauty in a song or in nature, and sometimes he will send you an Elijah to train you that says, Go, let's go. What will am I allowed to say, like, get in, losers or being discipled? Like, if you need to get into addiction recovery, though, friends, just like a lot of us did, you have to initiate it though. And I know we've gotten some of you into multiple programs, but if you are ready, so are we. And that means Monday we'll get you into a program and we will help you because we love you. If you want help and if you want someone to disciple you, ask. I cannot tell you how many people will say to me, Pastor, I really wanted to reach out to you, but I just knew you were busy. Why are you telling me that I'm too busy for you? Let me tell you I'm too busy for you, okay? If someone else is too busy for you, let them tell you. Just ask, though. But also, if you ask people to disciple you, if you ask them, okay, um, you need to be willing to go on their schedule. You need to help them with their kids, maybe while you're being discipled. I once heard Missy Branch um say that she would disciple young women and while and she didn't have any time for it. So while she would disciple them, she would have them help fold laundry at the same time. While she was working with them, while she was teaching them, while she was helping them. If you want someone to disciple you, don't make them double check you are still meeting either. Please don't make them chase you, help them cook, show up on time, do the dishes, go on shopping trips with them. You will learn more in those moments than any other scheduled time, I tell you, just like I did with Ed. Be consistent, show up, be true to your word. They are spending their important time with you, so honor it.

Demand Two Dedication

SPEAKER_01 25:17

And this brings us to our second demand of discipleship: dedication. In 2 Kings 2, um can I just be honest with you? Uh I told you I read the Bible a lot, right? But that doesn't mean that I don't go like, oh, sometimes. I just sometimes struggle, you know. Like, and and I struggle in sections like this. Super repetitive sections of the Bible can bore me, and I will check out, but it's often because I'm not reading it right. Okay. Um, this particular text is meant to be memorized, it's basically a song. So why is it repeated? Because it's easier to memorize. Remember the fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. The wind, but the Lord was not in the wind. The earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake, but it's still small voice. It's memorable. This too is memorable. It's not boring and slow if you start to think of it differently. If this was meant to be memorized, it was meant to be memorized for a purpose. And it's hard for me to remember anything without like putt music to it, and I didn't practice this, but I think what I need to do is help you see it in this musical way. There's verses, there's choruses, all this stuff, and I'm just gonna I'm just gonna destroy it. This is a psalm, it's like music. Stay here, the Lord is sending me on to Bethel. But Elijah replied, As the Lord lives, and as you yourself live, I will not leave you. So they went down to Bethel. Then the sons of the prophet who were at Bethel came out to Elisha and said, Do you know that the Lord will take your master away from you today? Shut up. Elisha, stay here, the Lord is sending me to Jericho. Right? You hear that, you're hearing repeat repetition, right? Same. But Elisha said, As the Lord lives and as you yourself live, I will not leave you. So they went down to Jericho. Then the sons of the prophet who were in Jericho came up to Elijah and said, You know that the Lord will take your master away from you today. Yes, shut up. And Elijah said to him, Stay here, the Lord is sending me on to the Jordan. You hear there's a theme, it's repeating, it's repeating. But Elijah said, As the Lord lives and as you yourself live, I will not leave you. So the two of them went on. So I know that I just like I'm just kind of like singing whatever, but the point is, is there's repetition. And if you read it like it's a boring list, it will be a boring list. But if you see that it's a song and that the repetition is meant to like burn something into your brain, what's it burning into your brain? Think about it. Now, a friend Elijah understood following God and following Elijah was now ride or die. Elijah needed the young student to decide, are you in or are you out? Maybe his decision was to go say goodbye to his parents, and maybe that decision actually spooked Elijah a little bit. Like, is he really in? It's like Elijah, dude, we've talked about this. When the Lord tells you something, just do it. But of course he was in. He showed it over and over again here three times. I will not leave you. I will not leave you, I will not leave you. So Elijah was going to follow Elijah into great victories and suffering, and it looked like he was giving up a lot. He was giving up a lot. Like Nigerian pastor, Pastor Musa Gatom, he says, anyone who needed 12 yoke of oxen to plow his last must have had a very large farm. Was he giving something up? Yes, probably some comfort too. See, following God is an adventure, but it's dangerous and it's costly. And that is why I don't understand why churches aren't full of more men. I just don't. I don't. Following God is terrifying. He takes us to places that we're afraid of. We stand up to bullies, we speak to people we are afraid of. We become strong in Him, don't we? We build spiritual and relational muttle. You guys know I'm always asking people outside for money outside of our church because I'm trying to raise money for us. Can I just tell you? I I do not like doing that. Nobody does. Dahadi, you feel me. Like, we do not like raising money. It is the least fun thing to do in the world. But I've been doing it now for 14 years, and and now I don't get bubble guts every time I got to call someone and say, Hey, can I get some money for our church? I just I'm stronger now. And it took bravery to get there, and I'm telling you, not because I'm brave, but because God helped me. Also, I'm just saying, walking in these streets in the name of Jesus, it's not a cakewalk either, is it? Like, do you know how many friends, people that are my friends now that have cussed me out to my face several times for years, one of them was nine years. Nine years, and now I'm trying to help him with some things in his family, and it's incredible. But you know what? It took bravery that only comes from God's spirit. It is God who empowers us by his spirit. He has given me a resilience in relationship because of him, and he sends me out the door again and again, not because I'm brave, but because he is. Usually I'm terrified when something like that happens. Now, let me just give you an example. Like I used to be terrified of dead bodies. Um, I'll tell you, when I was a kid, I had this idea I wanted to be a doctor. Um, we have doctors and nurses in the room right now, and um, doctors especially I know had to work on cadavers. And when I was a kid and I found out that doctors worked on cadavers, that was it. I was out. I don't want to work on a cadaver ever. Do you know what a cadaver is? It's a dead body. Okay. You have to learn off of a dead body. And for me, I was like, out. I'm out. But I will tell you, because of Jesus, one of my favorite things is being there with people just like you when they're dying. And being with their families when they're dying. That is not something that comes natural to me. It is something that comes through God's Holy Spirit and His call and it is an adventure, and it is scary, but it's pretty cool because I'm not really, you know, scared of the coffins behind my house. We live in a graveyard, right? Like I'm not scared anymore, probably. But guys, following God takes bravery and it takes dedication. But it's it's the greatest adventure on this planet. It's the most difficult journey and it's the best. Now, in 1914, Sir Ernest Shackleton he was leading a journey to the Arctic Circle, and he made a flyer, and it's contested whether this is real or not, but I like it, so I'm saying it. And this is what the flyer said men wanted for a hazardous journey, small wages, bitter cold, long months of complete darkness, constant danger, safe return, doubtful, honor and recognition in case of success. And what we've been told is 5,000 men and actually three women signed up. Now, they couldn't take all those people, but it showed you in some ways people do want something that's difficult. But why when it has to do with God, do we go, well, that's too difficult. No, no, no, no. This is the kind of journey that we have with God where we can only see victory through Him, and it's beautiful. And we do this not because it's easy, but because it's not easy. Following Jesus isn't easy, but it's good, and he never leaves us alone to it. He provides his word, he provides his spirit, he provides his church, your disciplers. And of course, there will always be haters. Do you know the Lord will take your master away from you? And we have to respond sometimes like Elisha. Quiet down. I don't need to hear from you. We don't actually have to listen to discouragers, friends. People who want to burn down a building instead of build one, people who who cannot build something great so they just tag on it, don't listen to them. Be careful to not listen to voices, be careful not to listen to voices that you would never ask for their opinion. People who want to draw you to the negative, those people will not disciple you, they will feed off your pain. But Elisha, he silenced them and he kept moving forward with God. Philippians 3 says, Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do, forgetting what is behind and reaching forward to what is ahead, I pursue as my goal the prop prize promised by God's heavenly call in Christ Jesus. Therefore, let all of us who are mature think this way. And if you think differently about anything, God will reveal this also to you. See, if you thought this journey as a Christian was going to be easy, you didn't get saved here. Because we have never said that. We have actually said it's the hardest thing in the world and the best. And it's not meant to be done when you feel like it. Christianity is not meant to be done alone either. There was no Christian who was by themselves. Discipleship was meant to be done in community, and it's why we do city groups, friends. If you want to grow, you got to be consistent and you have to make it important. And if there's something else that's more important than city groups right now for you, I really encourage you to give it a shot because I think one day, if you if you are consistent in city groups, it will become more important than whatever else is more important right now. Sunday mornings, they take sacrifice. If you have family in town, or if you get invited to something on a Sunday, you say after church services. If you are on vacation, worship with the church. It's amazing. Some of my favorite moments of my vacations have been worshiping with God's church somewhere else. Columbia, uh, where were we? Chile. Um different places. I love it. Now, friends, I want to say this too. We have something that wants to help you in some of these more practical ways, and we're calling it practical Christianity. Um, we have this class, Foundations of Faith, and the foundations of faith class is to give you like a deeper theological understanding. This is the practical side of what it means to walk with Jesus, to be a disciple. Now, we don't think that that all these things are everything, okay? Um, but they help. Now, this weekend, about 28 people, although I saw 33 actually now. We had more signups from our church made a sacrifice, a big sacrifice, to be at Knome 360. It was a conference we put on um with My Boulevard. Thank you guys so much. Could we clap for the My Boulevard leaders? Ain't nobody had time for it. They didn't have time for this. I didn't have time for it, but we did it anyway. Why? Why? Because it was incredible and it was necessary. And I saw people growing in front of my eyes. I saw a lot of snotty tears and all that stuff because people were growing and they were coming in contact with God and their feelings. Let me just say this: if you didn't go, you're not a bad Christian. Um, if you don't do all these things, you're not a bad person. It just means you're going to have to work harder to be where you want to be in your faith without these things that come with costly commitment. And really, these are only the start of discipleship anyway. Our classes, our church services, our conferences, our city groups, they are a structure of discipleship. But they're the beginning, they're the bone, but you got to put muscle and skin around it. See, um, when you're at a dinner table and a dad apologizes to his kids, that is discipleship. That's not planned. Friends, the unscheduled moments are where discipleship often happens, but we have to be around each other. When you are with your city group leader and they're they're non-believing friends or family, that's also discipleship. And when you talk to each other about your questions, when you look up the answers together in the Bible, that's also a part of discipleship. So let me just say this: it is difficult, yes. But having people on this difficult journey with you is so fun. Laughing, grieving together, live, laugh, love, growing together, finding truth in the Bible, it's the best thing in the world. But guys, um, if it stops with you, if it's just you who gets discipled, that's not even discipleship, is it? That brings

Demand Three Replication

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us to our third demand of discipleship: replication. Replication. It says fifty men from the sons of the prophets came and stood observing them at the distance while the two of them stood by the Jordan. Now, if you remember, um, if you were with us the last services, there was a godly man named Obadiah, and he worked for the king. Obadiah hid fifty prophets in two different caves. Um, were these fifty the same? We don't know. Are they students of the prophets? Either way, Elijah, who had always complained about feeling alone, was not alone. Elijah's feelings of isolation were lying to him. And now he was seeing all the ways God had never abandoned him, and neither had Israel. It said, Elijah took the mantle in verse 8, rolled it up, struck the water, which parted to the right and left, took the two of them over the dry ground. So there's a lot of things people like Elijah were asking here. Upon first blush, uh, you see what he asks. He says, Um, please let me inherit two shares of your spirit. And you might think this means I want to be twice as powerful as you, bro. But he's using a term given an inheritance, where the firstborn son gets double the share of the inheritance. And for my Mexicans, this is the primero genito, right? You know this? And the one um I am more inclined to believe of the stories and understandings of this, though, is that Elijah was asking for him to be blessed and to bless the next generation after him. Now we know only God can do that, not even the great Elijah could, and that's what Elijah said to him. And then he was pulled up into the whirlwind as Elisha watched and he cried out. Now, when someone dies in Israel, it is customary to tear your clothes in grief. And that's what Elisha did. He tore his own clothes and then he picked up the mantle, the cloak from Elijah. Elijah would not come back for thousands of years, friends. But he didn't die. He didn't die. And I think it's pretty cool that he just disappears and Elisha assumes he's gone forever. He trusts him at his word. Isn't that amazing? Like he's dead. Now Elijah only understood he was a part of a small part of God's redemptive plan. In the same way, Jesus understood this too, that he was a part of the plan. In John 14, Jesus actually told his followers they would do greater things than him. How cool is that? Like while Jesus is fully God, he was also fully man with limitations of a man. His feet got sore, he had stomach problems, he got tired, he cried, and he slept. But when Jesus sent out his 120 disciples, he unleashed power, a power much greater than his human limitation. And when you have 120 disciples being sent out, making hundreds of disciples, it is a movement of God instantly. You see, God desires to use all of us for his kingdom. Sometimes it's on the block, on the street, sometimes it's in a gutter, sometimes it's in a class, it's at your workplace, sometimes where you get your coffee, sometimes where you get your food. But God knows that we are all a part of this, but none of us are indispensable. One day, friends, I will get sick and I will die, or I will just die. Unless God wants to pick me up in a really cool chariot of fire, I'm gonna go. And when he says it's time to go, I'm out. Deuces like God doesn't need me for his church, does he? One day you may move, and you will need someone else to help disciple you. Dr. Tony Evans once said, Elisha showed that he knew the true source of power. The power wasn't in him, nor was it in the garment, it was in the Lord God. This means our friend Elisha also understood his life now had limits. Now, many of you are in awesome city groups right now, and they're about to end for the summer, and it might be time to replicate, and it will be very painful, I promise. But it's biblical. If you are willing to host and you can find other leaders, this is how the gospel moves forward. This makes room for other people, and it's painful. If you are willing to host, do it. We call these gospel goodbyes, but when we spread out for the sake of our neighbors, for the sake of the gospel, more people are served, more people are saved, more people are sent. The church has become unstoppable in that way, and the gates of hell will not prevail against God's church. Now, for those of you who like sports, I want you to consider the fact that um let me say it this way. I have a mentor who says, you can look at the stands at a game to know if a team are bad. Now, how can you look at the stands of a team to know that they're bad? Because if you look, say, like, there's a team, Tampa Bay, uh Tampa Bay is a really good team and their stands are empty. So, what's another way you can look at the stands and know that a team is terrible? What's what my mentor says? They all have the same jersey on. They just have one jersey. So, like in San Diego, nobody wore anything but Tony Gwen for years, right? Like, we all just had the same Tony Gwen jersey because we were bad, and Tony Gwen was awesome. And no, no matter how good he was, he couldn't make the team into a World Series champion. Um, there was another player in basketball named Tracy McGrady. I don't know if anybody knows who Tracy McGrady is, um, but he he's in the basketball hall of fame. But in the 2000s, he played for the Orlando Magic, where he won a scoring title, where he was the highest, one of the highest scoring players through those years, and he actually often finished in the top five for MVP. But they never did anything good in the playoffs, and his last year they didn't even make the playoffs. Actually, they missed it by a lot. And yet somehow during this time he's finishing in the top five for MVP. So maybe what this means is that it's more uh it's more than one person who can make it happen, right? It's almost as if more than one person matters, right? Like you could have put LeBron on that Orlando team and they still wouldn't have won a championship. You could have put Jordan on that team. Well, he probably would have still won the championship because he's the GOAT. But one day, even Jordan stopped playing, and you know what? The Bulls were terrible. They were terrible. Now, check Chuck Swindall, he once said this. He said, God always has a backup plan. Down through the ages, he has had his men and women in every era to carry on his work. Never once has God been frustrated and wondering, what will my people do now that he's gone? Now that she's no longer with them. Our creator God is omnipotent, he is never caught short-handed. Exit Elijah, enter Elisha. See, Elijah did actually come back from the dead, though, one more time. He had he had one more curtain call. He came to encourage Jesus right before his death on the cross, which is so cool. It's called the transfiguration. Jesus knew that he was the only one who could be perfect and be the perfect replacement for us.

Trust God With Your Legacy

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For our sins. There was a gap between us and God, and someone had to fix it, and it was only Jesus. But Jesus knew that it would require everything, it would ruin, uh, it would it would tear apart his relationship with the Father in that moment. He but he was willing to suffer for us, and so who best to comfort Jesus in his suffering but Elijah and Moses? Beautiful, beautiful image that even God still used him. Maybe because he never died. I don't know, but Moses died, so let's not talk about that. But Jesus knew his time on earth was short, and God still used someone to encourage him. And when we belong to Jesus, when we repent of our sins, when we commit to follow him, we have his Holy Spirit called the counselor who can comfort us as well. Not just people, but the counselor of God himself. He enables us to do great things, and one day we will pass all this work off to someone else, knowing and trusting that they too will have God's spirit. God is never afraid of what is going to happen on this earth, he has it in control, he has the whole thing rigged for his glory, friends. And so I say this, I close with this City Life Church and guess. Jesus came to this world to rescue you from sin and death. If you've never given your life to Jesus, make today the day. But know this just as Jesus chased you down, God gives you his spirit and is sending you back in the world on his rescue mission. Like Elijah, we can trust God with our imperfect legacies. And there is going to be days when we just get it wrong. When we fail, when we lose hope, but we pick ourselves up. We lean on his spirit and his community. We share good news and we train others to do the same. And if we do it right, long after we're gone, God's work through us will echo for generations. Let's pray.