04 - The Apprentice Elisha 2012

1 Kings19:19-21

So far in this series on Bible Blockbusters we have spoken on the Fear Factor, how to be a Survivor, and Lost.

Now today we want to look at the principle of Apprenticeship.

In the story of Elijah and Elisha, we see the power of Apprenticeship played out beautifully.

It is an O.T. picture of N.T. realities.

Jesus apprenticed His disciples before ever sending them out to touch the world.

It says that He “Appointed twelve that they might be with him and that he might send them out to preach” (Mark 3:14).

Before they could preach, they must be with Him in apprenticeship, or what we call discipleship.

Now Elisha’s apprenticeship under Elijah began with:

Total Surrender

When Elijah's mantle touched Elisha, destiny leaped into Elisha's spirit!

Because THE MANTLE, more than anything else, represented Elijah’s incredible ministry.

It is with the mantle he struck the river and it parted in half.

Moses held forth a rod, Elijah held forth a mantle.

So the mantle being thrown upon him was a clear call to the prophetic ministry.

Elisha immeditately demonstrated his desire to obey and carry that mantle

He went quickly to his house and slaughtered his oxen, broke up his plow, made a fire and offered up his oxen to the Lord as a sacrifice.

This sacrifice was more than just burning the oxen and the plow!

That oxen and plow were his way of making a living; it was his way of feeding himself and his family.

It was his job and his identity.

The call to follow Jesus requires the same level of surrender:

The Bible says that Jesus “…summoned the crowd with His disciples, and said to them, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel’s will save it.” (Mat. 8:34-35) TOTAL SURRENDER!

We know that the disciples gave up their livelihood to follow Jesus.

Peter gave up his fishing business, Matthew his tax collector position.

One day Peter said to Jesus, “Behold, we have left everything and followed You.”

Likewise with Elisha, we see a total surrender.

PRINCIPLE: There can be no apprenticeship without TOTAL SURRENDER.

The next thing we see in Elisha’s Apprenticeship is:

Total Servanthood

The Bible says, “Elisha got up and followed Elijah and served him.” (1 Kings 19:21)

And on another occasion King Jehoshaphat asked, “Is there not a man who speaks for God here? Is there no one we can ask to learn what the Lord would have us do?”

One of the servants of the king of Israel answered, “Elisha the son of Shaphat is here. He poured water on the hands of Elijah.” 2 Kings 3:11).

Elisha was known for how he had served Elijah.

Again we immediately think of Jesus Who washed the disciples feet with water and a towel, then said to them, “I am your Teacher and Lord. I have washed your feet. You should wash each other’s feet also” (John 13:14).

This was Jesus’s way of saying, “Serve one another.”

Now, total servanthood gave Elisha a ringside seat to the life and ministry of the older Elijah.

It provided the open door for him to learn the ropes of prophetic ministry.

The more he watched, the more the desire grew to have a double portion of all that Elijah had.

He wanted to be like him!

And so we, too, learn how to walk with God, how to love people, how to defeat the devil, how to walk in purity, and how to exercise kingdom power in our Apprenticeship under Jesus.

You will never really learn His ways sitting in the bleachers with one foot in the world and one in the Kingdom, cheering on those that are Totally Committed!

Elisha totally surrendered to total servanthood, and thirdly, we see that Elisha exhibited:

Total Perseverance

So many people start well and end badly in their walk of discipleship.

When the going gets tough they opt for an easier life and drop out.

They don’t practice the kind of perseverance that carries them into God’s best.

The Bible says that Elisha’s dream was for a double portion of Elijah’s spirit.

Even Elijah said, “You have asked a hard thing.”

But Elisha was determined.

The Bible records that three times Elijah tested his determination and perseverance.

Each test took place just prior to Elijah being taken up to heaven in a whirlwind.

Keep in mind that Elijah had told Elisha he would receive the double portion ONLY if he witnessed this amazing event firsthand.

And so the first test is described:

The bible says, “When the time came for the Lord to take Elijah into heaven by a whirlwind, that Elijah went with Elisha from Gilgal. Then Elijah said to Elisha, ‘Stay here, please, for the Lord has sent me on to Bethel.”

STAY HERE???

What do you mean?

I’ve got to be there when you go up in order to get my double portion!

Perhaps unaware of Elijah’s motive, Elisha’s perseverance was being tested.

Would he stop here, or forge ahead?

Now interestingly, Gilgal means “to roll oneself onto the Lord.”

So we can learn here that, at those times when your perseverance is being tested, the best thing you can do is “roll yourself onto the Lord,” drawing from His strength.

Elisha responded saying:

“As surely as the Lord lives and as you live, I will not leave you.” (2 Kings 2:2)

The next stop on the way to Elijah’s catching up was at Bethel.

Again, Elijah said, “Stay here, please, for the Lord has sent me to Jericho.”

Now, Bethel means “House of God.”

There’s certainly nothing wrong with the “house of God.”

But Elisha knew that he wasn’t called to a place, no matter how good it was, he was called to a man, Elijah.

Here we have Elisha’s refusal to take the “good” over the “best.”

COMMENT: So often we’re tempted to settle for something good, when we know that, though it is good, it is not God’s highest and best.

Elisha was not a “settle for” kind of guy.

He forged ahead saying again, “As surely as the Lord lives and as you live, I will not leave you.”

So Elisha persevered by “rolling himself onto the Lord,” and by refusing the good to gain the best.

Finally they came to Jericho where Elijah again says a third time,

“Stay here, please, for the Lord has sent me to the Jordan.”

Now Jericho means, “Place of Fragrance,” and it represented “the place of past victories.”

Jericho was the first city captured in the Promised Land under Joshua where the “walls came tumbling down.”

APPLICATION: I can tell you that many people choose to camp in the place of past victories, content to live in yesterday’s glories.

But Elisha said, “Not me!”

“I want FRESH victories; I want the double portion.”

So Elisha’s POWERFUL PERSEVERANCE was revealed in the three places where he was told to stop:

Gilgal, where he gave his burden to the Lord.

Bethel, where he refused the good for the best.

And Jericho, where he refused to settle for the place of past victories.

He earned an A+ in Perseverance!

In the end, his apprenticeship was greatly rewarded.

From Jericho the two men went to the Jordan where suddenly, chariots of fire appeared in a flash of glory and Elijah was taken away.

Elisha was overcome and yelled out, “My father, my father, the chariots and horsemen of Israel!”

And then he saw, falling from the heavens and landing in front of him in a cloud of dust, was the mantle.

He picked it up, walked to the Jordan and said, “Where is the Lord, the God of Elijah?" And when he had struck the water, the water was parted to the one side and to the other, and Elisha went over.”

“Now when the sons of the prophets who were at Jericho saw him opposite them, they said, ‘The spirit of Elijah rests on Elisha.’ And they came to meet him and bowed to the ground before him.”

The Apprentice had become like his Master!