Elijah Part 7 - Let Go and Let God!

Elijah Part 7 - Let Go and Let God!

1 Kings 19 v 9-21

After Elijah's exhaustion and despair, God doesn't let him stay in his cave of self-pity. He gives him a clear, threefold mission: anoint Hazael as king of Syria, Jehu as king of Israel, and Elisha as his prophetic successor.

It sort of sounds as if Elijah as just been, well sacked. And maybe he has been. But another way to reflect on this passage is that God takes us where we are. We are not forced to do things. Elijah was exhausted. God had met him, restored him and now, he recommissioned him. He has taken Elijah where he is and set him a new task and at the same time, allowed him to find an ending. 

Elijah finds Elisha in the middle of ordinary work — ploughing a field. Without fanfare, Elijah throws his cloak over him, a symbolic act of passing on his prophetic mantle. Elisha asks only to say goodbye to his parents, then makes a radical break — he slaughters his oxen, burns his farming equipment, and feeds the people. There is no going back. He follows Elijah completely.

Elijah was a steward and like all good steward’s he held in trust, the precious commission that God had given him. At the right time, he didn’t hold on to that commission; he passed it on with humility.

Reflection:

Take some time to read the text (1 Kings 19 v 9-21) and think about what we can learn about:

• Renewed purpose: God meets Elijah’s despair with a new assignment – he takes him where he is and recommissions him. What does this say to us if we feel tired and that we may have disappointed God in our lives? 
• Divine sovereignty: We are stewards. God's plan doesn't depend on just one person. When Jesus ascended, he said that he would send his spirit that we might do greater things than He. Think on this and ask yourself what that might mean in your life?
• The cost of discipleship — Elisha burns his bridges to follow his calling by sacrificing his oxen and destroying his plough. Then, having bid his family farewell, he followed Elijah. What does this say to us today?
• Succession — the prophetic mission will outlast any one prophet. Jesus said, "My yolk is easy and my burden is light." The great news is that God's purpose in His good world, does not depend on us. Even the most successful follower of Jesus is but a bit player in God's big picture.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:21

After Elijah's exhaustion, God doesn't let him stay in his cave himself, he gives him a clear threefold mission. Anoint Hazael as King of Syria, Jehu as King of Israel, and Elisha as his prophetic successor. It sort of sounds as if Elijah might just have been well sad. Or maybe he has been. Another way to reflect on this passage is that God takes us where we are. We're not forced to do things. Elijah was exhausted. God had met him and restored him, and now he recommissioned him. He has taken Elijah where he is and set him a new task and at the same time allowed him to find an ending. Elijah finds Elijah in the middle of ordinary work, ploughing a field. Without founder, Elijah throws his cloak over him, a symbolic act of passing on his prophetic mantle. Elijah asks only to say goodbye to his parents, but then makes a radical break. He slaughters his oxen, burns his farming equipment, and feeds the people. There's no going back. He follows Elijah completely. Elijah was a steward, and like all good stewards, he held in trust the precious commission that God had given him. At the right time, he didn't hold on to that commission. He passed it on with humility. Let's see what Dean has to say to us today.

SPEAKER_00 2:04

And so it is fitting this week that we come onto this passage with Elijah's story where we think about passing on to the next generation. You think with Hannah stepping down, oh no, what's going to happen? But Hannah isn't like that. Hannah's like, no, there is something to pass on. I may not be as much of a part of it. It's not that she's outside of it as much as I was, but I still have a part to play in passing this on. And so I find this an exciting passage as we come to the end of Elijah's story. Elijah, we've seen him do great things, accomplish great things, but we come to the end, and today we're going to be thinking about the things that get passed on. I don't know if you've ever had anything passed on that you inherited something from your family. Maybe it's your good looks or your um your height or your width or something that you perhaps didn't want to inherit from them. We realized recently, I've got um nieces and nephews from my sister. Last week as we went to see my new niece down in Bournemouth, and everything's okay there. So there's Charlie, Neva, and Isla, um, all lovely children. And one thing we've noticed is that my my dad, Grampy, as we call him, uh, he has a habit of walking around his garden, inspecting he's got a lovely garden, very meticulous lawn, he plucks out the grass with tweezers, um, it's always his one of those gardens. And as he walks around inspecting it, he puts his hand around and he walks around like this, and he paces as he looks at everything. And we noticed that um some of the grandchildren have started to copy him. So this is them when they're in camping. Charlie walks around with him and inspects things, and as as he comes back, Charlie realizes that he's he's lost his mental space, runs up and then adopts the position, hands behind the back, and something is in past up and then we lose his Ava. And we thought that's lovely the grandchildren picking something up. It's funny that we never picked them up. And then a few weeks ago we went to a prostate to the riverside, and then we took this picture of the boys playing. And if you notice in the background, I don't know, facing around, inspecting things, hands behind the back, things that we inherit, things that get passed on. Like you say, some don't matter, some things we want to have passed on. I wish I had my dad's DLOI skills and ability to fix things, and some things I don't want this hairline or anything like that, but there's some things we pass on, some things we don't. Here we see Elijah passing something on, but not just passing on a ministry. This is a spiritual legacy. And you see this throughout scripture. There is a spiritual legacy that we pass on to those who come after us. From Abraham to Isaac to Jacob, Elijah to Elisha, from the the apostles to the first church leaders to us. Eventually, there is this point that there is always someone coming after. And this isn't just about going on to the next in line. This is something that God does to work, his multiplication. That God does something to pass on that they may do more than we did, that his work might extend, and there might be vessels that God would use for his glory. And so it comes at the end of the passage we looked at before, where there's a still small voice. God speaks to Elijah, he ministers to him, and then he gives him an instruction. He says, Go back the way you came. Anoint Haziel, king over Aram, anoint Jehu, son of Nimshe, king over Israel. So there's a foreign nation, you're going to anoint one king, and the Israel nation, you're going to anoint another king, and anoint Elisha, son of Shaphat, to succeed you as prophet. It's quite an interesting. I mean, the kings they're neither here nor there, we'll come on to what that might mean later. But to anoint someone to succeed you as prophet. First question that would come to my mind, what have I done wrong? Why am I appointing my successor? In any job, if you had to do this right, we'd like you to search out among the team and find someone to replace you. First question, well, what have I done wrong? Why do you want to replace me? But this isn't about doing wrong or replacing. This is how God carries on his work. It's our insecurity, it's our nervousness, our needing to be needed and our longing to be accepted that forces us to automatically go, Well, have I done something wrong? No, no, no. This is just how it's going to be. And so we find that he goes where he was. He finds Elisha, son of Shaphat, he was ploughing with twelve yoke of oxen, and he himself was driving the twelve pair. Elijah went up to him and threw his cloak around him. Elisha then left his oxen and ran after Elijah. Let me kiss my father and mother goodbye, he said. And then I will come with you. Go back, Elijah replied. What have I done to you? The reason it's not a go at him. He's saying, I haven't, I'm not demanding this of you. I've not sacrificed anything, I've not done anything to demand that you come for me. You come if you are willing to come. I've not done anything to you that would make you that compel you to come. You come of your own accord. If you need to go settle things, do that. But come if you want to come. And so Elisha does that. He leaves him and went back. Took his yoke of oxen and slaughtered them. He burned the ploughing equipment. There's no going back. He cooks the meat and gave it to the people and they ate. Then he set out to follow Elijah and became his servant. He throws this cloak. This cloak is more than just a garment he wears. This is a symbol of being a prophet. And he throws it around Elisha, saying, This will be yours. You are to come and become what I am, to follow me as a prophet in the ways that God has led me. I'm commissioning you to do the same. And Elisha picks up that mantle and goes on. We see here that Elijah, first of all, he makes room for Elisha. His time is coming to an end, but he doesn't just disappear. He doesn't just step off to one side and say, that's it, I'm done. And he doesn't do the thing that I would do and go, well, hang on, why do I need a replacement? Well, I'd rather just carry it on myself. I don't need anyone else, thank you. I'll just I'll just keep my head down and keep going. He goes and he does what God has asked him to do. And he gives Elijah this mantle, he passes it on to him. Later on, we're gonna see that Elisha literally takes up his mantle. That's where that phrase comes from. Taking up the mantle, he takes on Elijah's work. But this is one of those things that I think we all agree with in theory, but in practice we're reluctant to do. Like eating vegetables, five fruit and veg a day. In theory, no one's gonna say that's a bad thing. But in practice, it's a lot more difficult. I know churches where there might be four or five faithful, older people who are saying praying and longing for God to bring in a next generation, and yet there is an unwillingness or an unknowingness on how to change or how to adapt to receive or pass things on to that next generation. In theory, everyone's got, yes, we want the next generation, but in practice, it requires something of us. It requires a humbling of ourselves. It requires, like Elisha must love, to say, yes, I do need someone to carry this on. I do want to pass this on, I don't want to hoard this or keep it for myself. This is God's work, not mine. I'm a steward of it, and my job is to pass it on to whoever is to come next. It is not a threat to him. It's interesting throughout the Bible, kings, whenever a king gets succeeded, it's a threat. And even today, uh or throughout history, you'll see that if a king gets replaced, it's always seen as a threat. Herod, as a baby, it's a threat. Any king, if someone's going to succeed them, it's a threat. But Elijah is not a king. He doesn't think of himself as a king, he is a prophet, a messenger of God. And so a successor is not a threat, it is an opportunity to reinvest what God has given him. And that's the way that we should view ourselves. We aren't kings who hoard for our kingdom. We are steward servants who have been handed something, and at the end we're going to have to reinvest it or lose it. That's what Jesus talked about. You either invest and see it multiply, or you keep it to yourself and you lose what you have. You reinvest it. You don't keep it hoarded. You give it to the next generation and see what happens with it. Elijah knows that he is stepping into his assignment when he's passing it on to Elisha. It's not that he's not doing what he's meant to do, he's doing exactly what he's meant to do. It's not that he's ending his work, he's making sure his work will continue. It's not he's losing his role, he's making sure there is someone to fulfil his role when he is no longer here. And so he passes it on to Elisha. Elisha, on the other hand, has to pick up the mantle. You see that he's there ploughing his field and he gets this call, and straight away he goes and he burns his plough, he sacrifices, he offers the food, he's saying, I'm in for this. I'm gonna pick this up. As much as there's a need for one generation to humble themselves and pass on what they have to the others, there is a need for the next generation to hear the call. You are carrying on the race. You need to take this up, you need to continue this work. We would not be here if it weren't for that next generation doing that very thing. If it weren't for Mary, the 13, 15-year-old, who says, Lord, let it be to me according to your word. If it wasn't David, the teenager, who is anointed king and becomes a leader of the people of Israel, if it wasn't Jeremiah saying, I'm only a youth, and God saying to him, Do not say that. That is out of that, that's not relevant to the question. The disciples, likely teenagers, or in early twenties when Jesus calls them to follow them. Timothy, a young man pastoring a church in Ephesus, the next generation over and over again show themselves as they take up the mantle to be vessels that God will use. Jonathan Edwards, famous preacher, preaching by 19, leading a revival by age 24. Charles Spurgeon, pastoring the largest church in London at age 19. C. T. Studd, the light living a life, leaving a life of luxury at age 22 to bring the gospel to China and Africa. Amy Carmichael, a missionary at age 24. Martin Luther nailing his 95 thesis to the door at age 33. Young people commissioned to do what God's called them to do and doing it. Not waiting to be old enough, but saying yes when they hear God's call. The mantle needs to be passed on. And when it is, God uses those that we might think too small, too young. That's why I love when Paul writes to Timothy, he says, Don't let anyone look down on you for your youth. But by your example, set an example to those in godliness and holiness. Carry on the work, do it because you have God in you as much as the one who's been walking with him all these years. You have the same Holy Spirit, you have the same power, you have the same commission, you carry it on. The mantle must be passed, it must be given to those around. It cannot be kept to ourselves. And whether that's a ministry or whether that's a passion or a prayer or simply your love for Jesus, these are the things that we need to pass on to those around us. I always love, I don't know where I am on my notes. Oh, there we go, go there. On 2 Timothy, 2 Timothy 2.2. Nice and easy to remember. Paul writes to Timothy, remember, Timothy's quite a young man at this time, and he says to him, The things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses, entrust to reliable people who will also be qualified to teach others. Notice the things you've heard me say, so me to you, that's one generation. Entrust to reliable people, that's a third, who will be qualified to teach others, that's a fourth. Paul's thinking in 4D. But that can be widthwise, so not just me, but me and them and them and them. But it can also be depthwise, me and the next generation, and the grandchildren, and the great grandchildren. Paul's thinking further than himself. This isn't confined to me and you, Timothy. This spreads. I pass this on outside of me. I'm looking around. And he's a young man. So by the time you get to, I don't know, let's call it 3540, you should already be thinking, who am I passing what I have on to? Who am I thinking? Who can I give this to? Who can I invest in? Who can I raise up? Who can I give this passion to? Who can I see already stepping into this and say, come on, I'll walk with you. Like Elijah does with Elisha. He doesn't do it and say, I'm off. He comes and walks with Elijah for a while. He spends time with him, he sees what he does, he's invested and he's poured into. We should already be looking. And that happens much younger than perhaps you think. Not when you're ready to step out the door, but when you're in the midst of it, when everything's going God, when God's just spoken to you in a cave and shown you his power and glory, when you've seen something, at that moment you then say, Who can I pass this on to? Both depth-wise, from my generation to the next, but also width. Is there someone around me who I can teach to teach others, to teach others, who I can invest in, who can invest in others, who can invest in others? Four generations, four directions of investing in people. Elisha is given this. And what we see is that Elisha goes and he takes this on. And he does it in such a wonderful way. Later on, as it happens, it says they crossed, um, they're on a final tour with Elijah, and everyone's saying to Elisha, Do you know Elijah's about to leave? And they're going, Yeah, yeah, we know. And they go, Do you know he's about to leave? And they keep coming and saying it to him. And finally, when it happens, it says they crossed over this river, and Elijah says to Elisha, Tell me what I can do for you before I am taken from you. And Elisha's answer is, Let me inherit a double portion of your spirit. So the moment's about to come. Elisha replied, You've 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. Elisha asked for a double portion. Elijah, all that you have done, all that you have accomplished, your spirit, your power, your ministry are like double of that. As they were walking along, 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. 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. So he's wearing a garment and he tears it. Elisha then picked up Elijah's cloak, that's his mantle, the thing that he'd thrown around him, that had fallen from him, and went back and stood at the bank of the Jordan. He took the cloak that had fallen from Elijah, struck the water with it, which is what Elijah had done. 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. The company of the prophets from Jericho who were watching said, The spirit of Elijah is resting on Elisha. He does this thing, he demonstrates and he asks the question, where is the God of Elijah? The answer, in you, Elisha. The same God, the same God that saves me is in the young people who are coming next. The same God who works in me is in work in them, and you and everyone else around. It's the same God. We just have to give ourselves to him and then give him to others that they might give themselves to him in turn. He carries it on. And he asks for this double portion. What I find fascinating is that Elisha does do double the portion of Elijah. He works exactly double the number of miracles that Elijah performs. But more than that, he carries on the work. If you remember, let's go back to the start, we're jumping all over the place. But do you remember at the very start, God gave Elijah three instructions anoint Haziel, king over Aram, anoint Jehu, son of Nimshe, king over Israel, and anoint Elisha, son of Shaphat, to succeed you as prophet. How many of those things did Elijah do? Only one. He anointed Elisha. And it's later in the second book of Kings that we find that Elisha anoints Haziel, king over Aram, and Elisha anoints Jehu, son of Nimshi, king over Israel. Elijah fulfills his obedience to God not by doing it himself, but anointing someone else who will do the thing that God told him to do. Sometimes God will give you a commission, give you a passion, give you a longing, and tell you to do something, but not so that you can do it. But that you might equip others that they would fulfill the very thing that God put in your heart. You think, well, that's not fair. I want to see it, I want to experience it, I want to be a part of it, I want to bit too many eyes in that. We are, we need to see ourselves not as individuals. I know in our culture that's very hard to do. We are not individuals, we are not isolated, we are part of this breadth of God, this work of God that spans generations, that goes beyond me and came before me. And what God puts in my heart may not be for me to carry the whole way, for me to do my part, but then to equip others that they might carry on the thing that I will never see. I will say it from a distance, as I look down and cheer on and say, God, you are faithful and you are good, but I won't be the one to bring it about, and I need to be okay with that. You need to be okay with that. You can say, Well, I can't do that, and I can't, I can't, uh, there's no way that that could happen because I don't have that ability. You were never meant to. You're meant to do your bit and then pass it on to others who could do theirs. Elisha anoints the kings. Elijah simply anoints Elisha to carry on his work. What God speaks to you may be fulfilled in the ones that you raise up. And to that end, you don't need to look for another you. When you're looking to pass something on, don't look for someone who mirrors you in every way. They will do things differently. There's an instance where Elijah, and you'll recognize the story. Elijah stops rain for three and a half years. Elisha, he calls for water in the desert and it comes without rain. You think, well, imagine you could remember Elijah? Just do what he did, because he prayed and rain came from the heavens. Elisha goes, no, no, I'm going to do it differently. Elijah, do you remember the story, the little oil that doesn't run out? There's a little bit of oil, and every day they come, there's still a little bit of oil. A very similar story. Elisha, there's a widow who's starving, and they get the oil. In this case, you could say, Well, Elisha, what Elijah did was that he prayed and then the oil didn't run out. But what Elisha does is he gets the oil, then he collects every jug in the house, and they pour it out and it multiplies, and it multiplies so that every jug is filled. And I imagine there might be some good church goer going, Well, we didn't do like that in my day. In my day, we just had a little bit of oil when it didn't run out. We didn't go showing off and multiplying it. But they will do things in a different way because God is leading them in a different way. They will tell God will tell them to do things and raise them up to do things in a way that we never even thought to do, and that is okay. That is good. That is what is required because God's work is for God's timing. It's in God's way to the people that God is ministering to. And when we pass on, we aren't looking for clones of ourselves, we're just looking for those who have the same heart, the same longing, the same passion to exalt the name of our God, to glorify Him, and to equip them to do that. That ministry that you have. It may not, for some of you, it will be a ministry. And even now I would invite you to start considering who can I pass on to. We're going to talk about this in the next few weeks, so I don't want to go into it too much, but there should be a ministry of tapping on shoulders. I said this to the deacons recently. We need a greater ministry of tapping on someone's shoulder and going, you know what, I really see something in you. I really feel like God is needing you. You really seem to have a gift in this area. Or I've heard that you're really interested in this. Can I help you? Because we can do a call from the front. Anyone want to help with this? We've got this work needs done. Anyone want to come sign up? And and most people go, Well, I can't do that. I don't want to do that, I don't feel like I can do that. But if you go up to someone, tap them on the shoulder, look in their eye and say, I think something's in you. It's like Elijah going up to Elisha and throwing a cloak round him and going, God's going to do something in you. And God speaks in that in more powerful ways than any call from the front or any sign up sheet in the forehead can do. God speaks, and so I would encourage you if you have any ministry, be tapping on shoulders even now. Today, be looking out. Who is it that I need to come alongside and say, I can't do the next thing that needs to be done? But I think you can. I can't lead this in a way anymore that it needs to be led. Someone else can. That's that to be honest. That is what Hannah has said to me as we sat in the office talking about her stepping down and how she feels about that. It's that idea. It's like someone needs to carry on what I can't, and I know that God is leading me in a different direction. But it's not that I'm finished, it's that I'm throwing I want to throw this around someone else, someone else to raise up, someone else to take on this passion, this longing. But all of us, for some of you, it'll be a ministry, for some of you, it'll be a prayer or a passion that you have, something that you just you keep longing for and praying for and seeking, but it hasn't come about yet. For others, it will simply be your love for Jesus. And you'll see it in others, and you want to encourage them. Whatever it is, they will do it differently. They'll do it not in the way that we did it. They will do greater things. And if you remember, that is exactly what Jesus said when he left his disciples. When I leave, you'll receive the Spirit, and you will do greater things than me. Can I what greater things than you, Jesus? It makes me nervous. How could I possibly do greater things than you, Jesus? In the same way that Elisha would do greater things than Elisha, that was his hope, his longing. That the work would expand, it would multiply, that it wouldn't be confined to one, it would be many who would continue it. And we may not see the full picture in our lifetime. We may not see finished what we started, but if you raise up an Elisha, you haven't failed, you've succeeded. Your calling at some point will be to prepare and to plant and to prophesy or speak into someone else's life so that they can act, that they can harvest, that they can fulfill. And that's not second best. That's not, oh, I better step out of the picture, I'm a bit older, tooth, I'm a bit over the hill, I better give up because I haven't got it anymore. No, no, this is exactly, this is your legacy. This is exactly how it's meant to be. And you may have an incredible ministry like Elijah, but full obedience to God at some point is not to do enough and to finish well, it's to start someone else off well. It's to kick start someone else's ministry, is to equip and raise up those who will come after us. Before we are done, we must pass it on. There you go, if you want it to stick. Before we are finished, we must raise up others. We're not here to build a monument. We are part of a movement that starts with the resurrection of Jesus. He gives us the Holy Spirit and He commissions us and sends us out that we might go and make disciples. Who can make disciples? Who can make disciples? What I've received, I pass on to entrust to others that they might teach others, and on and on it is gone until you came here in this day, in this time, with a baton in your hand. But you are not the last person in the race. We had a sports day a few weeks ago, um, went to see the boys, and in James's race they started, and one of the boys had to run and put a beanbag in a hoop, then run back and put another beanbag in the hoop and then go to the back. And the boy ran and then ran back and didn't realize he was part of a relay and then tried to finish the race, but he needed to pass it on so the relay can continue. Some of us were trying to run to the end line, but we forgot it's not the line we're aiming for, it's the next person to pass the baton on to. And you can run past them and get to the finish line and go, yay! And all your team stood behind you going, Well, hang on, we haven't won anything. And you need to give the baton to someone else. We need to keep passing it on. We are we are a church, and the church is just that. It's not a monument, it is a movement. It is one generation after another after another in one place and time, passing on what God has received. We've this church has been doing that for over 360 years. Next week we're going to celebrate our anniversary, passing it on. But we do not want to be the last. There is someone else to come. And whatever the ministry is, I'm already thinking of it, right? We need others. I hate it when I get away and you tell me how good Arnold is and how great it is. But that's that's me. I need to get out, get over it, Dean. No, pass it up. We need someone else. We need to be ready, we need other people. We're raising up, and I'm praying, great God, let's start doing this. You're gonna get some shoulders tapped on now. Because we need to this needs to spread, it needs to spread wider and deeper. And both it needs to spread outwards to different people around us, faithful people who can pass it on, but it needs to go deeper too from generation to generation. We need to champion them. Here's what's exciting, and this is what I know as much as I I go, oh I don't like it when people do better than me. The truth is, that's the lie the enemy would whisper. The truth is, I can't wait to hear those who will preach sermons that I cannot preach. And I cannot wait for those to speak words that I didn't even know how to speak, and for them to write songs that we never even thought to sing, and for them to praise God in styles that we didn't ever consider before, and for them to love others and serve those others in ways that we we couldn't contemplate, and for them to reach out with technology and abilities that we uh just bambooz us and we didn't understand, for them to invest in others with things, with resources that we didn't even think to use, for them to build things that we didn't think could be built because our faith was too small, because they will carry the same Holy Spirit and they will express his leading in brand new ways. They will dream dreams we were too afraid to dream, they will walk boldly into places that we only prayed for at a distance. And none of that is anything to fear, it's something to celebrate, it's something to get excited by. Elijah didn't cling to his mantle, and I don't know if he dropped it because he was so caught up in the chariot and the fire and all the stuff, and he just thought, oops, that's gone. But I wonder if it was perhaps a bit more intentional. Let me leave this for you, Elisha, so that you can take it up and know that although you will do so many things differently, the same spirit will be in you and the double portion that you long for. Elijah made room and he stepped back so another could be raised up. We must do the same, not because we're done, but because God isn't done. Not because we're finished, but because God isn't finished. He's bigger than you, and he's bigger than me, he's bigger than us. Don't let the enemy convince you that you having a purpose is what you need, that I need to hold on to this. You becoming less doesn't diminish you. It doesn't. John the Baptist said that I become less, that he might become more. Me becoming less isn't so that I shrink. Actually, I become bigger because as I shrink back, the spirit that is in me is multiplied in those around me. We learn as we style our lives. We then earn as we work and we serve God, but at some point we need to return. This is the rhythm, this is the pattern of life. And it's not about holding on, it's handing it over because the kingdom, the kingdom is not a platform that we need to protect. It's a seed. A seed that gets planted. And if you plant it in the ground, it will grow up and bear much fruit. So let's lift up the ones that aren't here at this moment, but they will be. We don't want to hold them down. Let's prepare the way and not block the road. Let's believe in them before the world does, because the world will say they're too young, they're not able, they can't do this. But we are those who believe in them before anyone else does. Let's pray over them louder than the enemy will speak to them. Because he will, he will capture them. If you're not interested in them, the enemy is. If you're not interested in investing in the next generation, the enemy is, and he will take hold of them and do all sorts of things with them that we need to be standing against. And then we let them stand on our shoulders, not in our shadow, on our shoulders, that they will be raised up to greater heights. As a church, we need to realise we won't move forward when we protect our comfort. We release our future, and that's how we move. We give it to God and say, This is bigger than us. And that's that's always a reminder. Our future isn't something that's coming round the corner. It's already here. They are already here. The people that we need to be investing in, they are already here. Our sons and daughters, our teens and our young adults, the children and the crash and the rooms upstairs, but we're thinking about depth, but remember it's width as well. People who will carry the ministry and pour into it. And so for you, for those who are coming next, that's important. But for you who've written yourself off. For you who perhaps say, Well, I am too far gone and I've missed that boat, and now I've got nothing to invest. No, no, no. There's an opportunity for you to, the Lord to restore the years the locusts has eaten away. That's a promise in the Bible. It means that you may have regrets, you may have messed up, you may have missed the boat in so many areas, and you may think that there's no going back. But part of the grace of what God will do in your life is restore to you something. All those years of waste, they will not be a waste. God still has something to pour into you, a spirit he can put in you that if you allow him will equip you in such a way that you can still pass on to the others. And he will use all that stuff that you didn't think is usable, all that think stuff you thought was just rubbish to be thrown onto the heap, it will be recycled and reused and become a testimony of his grace that you can still pass on. This is what this is what revival looks like. You may have heard that there are whispers of revival all over the country. I read an article today, 1500, at a rally in London giving their lives to Jesus. And it's the younger ones who are taking it up. It's that generation who are receiving it. So we we could miss this. We're going to think about this next week. God has got new wine to pour out. But I believe, I believe the better, the greater is still to come. Not through us, but through us as we pass it on to others. To any who might consider themselves younger, and perhaps they're not in the room, but you can pass on the message as you see them. The words that I remember were spoken to me, don't let anyone look down on you because you are young. Set an example for believers in speech, in conduct, in love, and faith and in purity. You don't need to wait for our permission. You have heaven's permission. You don't need to sound like us or look like us or lead like us. You just need to follow Jesus. This church needs to be their ground to stand on. The gospel needs to be their message to carry. The Spirit is their fire, he is their steward, he is their guard. We want to cheer them on. As I say, they may not be in the room, but it is their time. We wrap our cloak around them. We cheer them on. So the question as we finish is is are you Elijah? Those who need to create that space for those who are coming. Not to bemoan them or to belittle them or to berate them, which is the tendency, but to befriend them, to walk alongside them and pass on what you have. Perhaps you're Elisha and you're ready to burn the plough and pick up the mantle and walk in power. Perhaps you've got older and you've never even done that. Then today I invite you to pick it up. The mantle is yours, the spirit is yours, the promise is yours, salvation is yours, Jesus is yours. You can receive him and walk with him. It's not a time to sit back, take it up. He will do all that you need, but you need to bring yourself to him and give yourself to him today. And then you do, you will run with fire and you will run with passion. So in a moment, what we're going to do is I'm just going to pray. I'm going to pray for the Elijas and the Elishas. And then I'm just going to play a song. And it's a song perhaps that you know you would have heard it, particularly during lockdown, it became well known called The Blessing. But I just want you to listen to it. And as you do, I thought we could respond in a song. But I'd rather respond by considering how we can spread. So not singing, we're going to be spreading. And what I want you to do is as it sings, there's a line that says, from generation to children and our children and our children. I just want you to be asking the question: who is it that I need to pass something on to? Perhaps it starts with a prayer, perhaps it starts with a conversation, but just to be asking God, by your spirit, you bring to mind who is someone, where is an area where I can be passing something on to my children and my children from generation to generation to be to be giving this, to be walking in this, to be responding to this, not just with words from my heart, although that would be fine, but but with action, with obedience. Because that's what Elijah does. He can't anoint the king, maybe he can't get to him, he can't anoint the other king. I can find Elisha though, and I can pass it on. So today our response is a step of obedience. The story doesn't end with Elijah, and as I say, there's more that we could say about his life. But I love that his story ends in this such a humble way. Not me, but you, Elisha. Not my ministry coming to an end, but my ministry growing and multiplying through you. So the two become a pair. One day we'll we'll talk about Elisha's story. But perhaps what we need to know is he carries on the work. He does double what Elisha does. He does things in new ways and unexpected ways. But he carries on what Elijah started. And that's our prayer. And so I'm just going to pray for us as we respond to this and then we'll listen to that song together. Father, we we come to the end of this story, and yet it isn't the end of the story. It isn't the final line, it isn't a full stop. It's I think it's an ellipsis, that dot, dot, dot to be continued. And it is continued in Elisha. And as we reflect on this, Lord, we we realise that that is true for us too. That there are those who passed on the faith to us, passed on ministries to us, passed on callings to us. And that you, God, are now asking us to do the same. For some of us, there's something to pass on. We ask, Lord, help us to be faithful in our time. Whether you're calling us to hand something on or to invest in someone else, Lord, would you bring to mind those that we can do that with? Would you save us, save me from that voice of the enemy, that lie that takes root, that if I do this, I'm replacing myself. If I'm doing this, I become less. If I do this, I am diminished. No, Lord, if I do this, then you will multiply it in glorious ways that I will only celebrate and enjoy and glorify your name in. Would you save me from that deception? Would you save me from hoarding and clinging on and never seeing what you would do when I release it to you? Lord, we pray that for us as a church, we we don't want to be a monument to the past. We celebrate the past, we celebrate your faithfulness over so many years, we celebrate your goodness and all that you have poured on. But if it ends with us, then we have not run faithfully. And so, Lord, we do this not out of guilt or duty. We do this because it's in obedience to you. Because we love you. We love the work that you have done, we love what you are doing, we love all that you have poured into us. We love it so much that we want to share it with as many as we can. And so, Lord, would you help us? Help us to do that, Lord. To become less, that others that you might become more. For those, Lord, for those who feel like there is something to pick up, a mantle to take up, a calling that they received but haven't responded to. Lord, I pray that you would give them the courage to do that. When they get tapped on the shoulder, that you would you would be speaking to them, that you would be calling them into something else, perhaps something they don't even think they're capable of, but you see what's in them. You see what they can do. Maybe they've admired the faith of others from a distance, maybe they've they've seen and heard the stories of others, but today you're staring something up in them, something more. They've been watching and wondering, could this be for me? Let them hear from you, Lord, that the answer to that is yes. You are the one who calls them, you are the one who equips them, you are the one who sends them and commissions them to go in your name to do things that they couldn't do without your power. Save them, Lord, from the power of fear. Save them from the idea that it will look stupid or that it won't work, Lord. Let them know so clearly from you that you are passing this on to them, you're putting this into their hand, that you trust them, because you are entrusting them with this. That they might take it up and walk with it, because they have something to give that only they can give. However, we want to respond, Lord, however, we need to respond, Holy Spirit, would you speak to our hearts? I'm aware there may be some for who this is all brand new, and it's not about taking something up or putting something down, it's it's going, it really there is a life where my life can be bigger than me. There is a life on offer that is more than just my life and me growing up. There's a famous Alpha video I know that used to show this: that you're born and you go to school, and then you get a job, and then you get married, then you get a car, then you get a flashier car, then you have a midlife crisis, and you get a Ferrari car, and then you get a bigger house, and you get a smaller house, and then you go to the grave, and that's the end. And the question at the end is, is there more to life than this? The answer is yes. There is a gospel. A gospel that says, God created you in love for relationship with him. But like all of us, you may have been separated from him, you find yourself at a distance from him, your sin has caused a barrier between you and him, and so you feel like this life is all that there is. And you try to make the most of it, but it doesn't feel enough. And the good news of the gospel is that Jesus came not to condemn you, but to save you from that life, that fruitless life. That life that ends at the starts when you're born and ends when you die, and that's it. He comes to save you, to bring you back to himself, that you might know life in the fullness, life in abundance. He died for your sins and he rose again to offer you new life. And now he invites you to receive forgiveness and peace and purpose. Not by trying harder, but by trusting him. Today he calls you to himself, and as you step into life with him, as you receive from him, you get more than you bargained for. You get a relationship with the living God, you become his son, his daughter. You are brought to yourself, and then you are filled with the Spirit that your life is more than the sum of its parts. Your life overflows to those around you. The grace and goodness of God won't just be in you, it will pour out of you to those around you. You'll be like a light shining in the darkness that all the darkness in the world cannot overcome. You will have a power you didn't know that you could have. You'll have a purpose that extends beyond your nine to five job and the things that you do as hobbies. It will pour into those around you and it will change lives and the lives that come after you. And all this is yours. And the only thing we do is we say yes to Jesus. Jesus, I give myself to you. I give you all that holds me back, I give you all that that separates me, all that all my regrets, all that I've messed up, all the sin. I give it to you and I receive your life. And if that is you, I'm just gonna pray a simple prayer to get you started. A first step, it won't be the last step, but it may be the first as you respond. You can echo the prayer in your heart if you want to. And simply, Jesus, we thank you for loving me. We thank you for dying for my sins and rising again. We admit that we have gone our own way. But today we want to receive your grace and forgiveness. Jesus, make me new. Fill me with your spirit. Help me to follow you. And like Elijah, help me pass on what I have now received. In your name I pray. Amen.

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We hope that you've enjoyed listening to Dean's thoughts today. If anything that he has said has challenged you or raised questions that you would like answers to, please don't hesitate to contact us and also in chat. You can find our details on our website, which is eopc.co.uk, as well as on the information that we have posted for this podcast. Alternatively, if you live in our area, you're very welcome to join us on Sunday morning at 10 30 to Having the First High. We'd love to see you there.