Ready, Set...wait
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Good morning. Thank you so much for being here today. I pray that you all have felt the presence here today. You don’t understand the joy that i am blessed with to get to lead you all in worship with my wife and kids. We will I am sure be soon adding the youngest one and I am so excited. I pray my kids always put aside their own desires to serve the Lord. That they always hear and feel the conviction of the Holy Spirit. I don’t want them to ever turn away but I know that ultimately I cannot save them.
What an incredible time we had last week. We were able to give $1200 to missions. Y’all that really is an incredible thing for us. I mean truly. The size of our chruch, the number of people absent last week and we were still ready to give and we did. Do you understand the legacy that is happening. The impact this little ole church in White House, TN is having all around the world.
Two weeks ago we started this about greater. We started are using the life of Elisha, to discuss living this greater life. What it looks like and what it means. We talked about that Elisha went all in for his purpose. We talked last week that it calls for you to give. We showed how God gave, Jesus gave, and even how Elisha gave in when he was called.
So he departed from there, and found Elisha the son of Shaphat, who was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen before him, and he was with the twelfth. Then Elijah passed by him and threw his mantle on him.
And he left the oxen and ran after Elijah, and said, “Please let me kiss my father and my mother, and then I will follow you.” And he said to him, “Go back again, for what have I done to you?”
So Elisha turned back from him, and took a yoke of oxen and slaughtered them and boiled their flesh, using the oxen’s equipment, and gave it to the people, and they ate. Then he arose and followed Elijah, and became his servant.
See he killed the cow and burned the plow and shared all the meet. He gave. Now we think that’s it. Here he goes. We don’t hear from him again though until 2 Kings chapter 2.
Then it happened, as they continued on and talked, that suddenly a chariot of fire appeared with horses of fire, and separated the two of them; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven.
For the record, God and I have talked and that is the way that I am going out. Some of yall just want to be boring and go to sleep. I want the chariot to come down and pick me and God has okayed that. Not today but whenever he wants to come get me. But one when you look up, you will just see me waving at you in the chariot.
And Elisha saw it, and he cried out, “My father, my father, the chariot of Israel and its horsemen!” So he saw him no more. And he took hold of his own clothes and tore them into two pieces.
He also took up the mantle of Elijah that had fallen from him, and went back and stood by the bank of the Jordan.
Then he took the mantle of Elijah that had fallen from him, and struck the water, and said, “Where is the Lord God of Elijah?” And when he also had struck the water, it was divided this way and that; and Elisha crossed over.
And Elisha saw it, and he cried out, “My father, my father, the chariot of Israel and its horsemen!” So he saw him no more. And he took hold of his own clothes and tore them into two pieces.
He also took up the mantle of Elijah that had fallen from him, and went back and stood by the bank of the Jordan.
Then he took the mantle of Elijah that had fallen from him, and struck the water, and said, “Where is the Lord God of Elijah?” And when he also had struck the water, it was divided this way and that; and Elisha crossed over.
Now when the sons of the prophets who were from Jericho saw him, they said, “The spirit of Elijah rests on Elisha.” And they came to meet him, and bowed to the ground before him.
And Elisha saw it, and he cried out, “My father, my father, the chariot of Israel and its horsemen!” So he saw him no more. And he took hold of his own clothes and tore them into two pieces.
He also took up the mantle of Elijah that had fallen from him, and went back and stood by the bank of the Jordan.
Then he took the mantle of Elijah that had fallen from him, and struck the water, and said, “Where is the Lord God of Elijah?” And when he also had struck the water, it was divided this way and that; and Elisha crossed over.
And Elisha saw it, and he cried out, “My father, my father, the chariot of Israel and its horsemen!” So he saw him no more. And he took hold of his own clothes and tore them into two pieces.
He also took up the mantle of Elijah that had fallen from him, and went back and stood by the bank of the Jordan.
2 Kings 2:12-15
This is what Elisha was called out for. This is why he left the farm. This is why he had the barbecue and the send off party. This right here. This is why Elijah was sent this direction. This is exciting. Here we go. Then this
Now when the sons of the prophets who were from Jericho saw him, they said, “The spirit of Elijah rests on Elisha.” And they came to meet him, and bowed to the ground before him.
This is what Elisha was called out for. This is why he left the farm. This is why he had the barbecue and the send off party. This right here. This is why Elijah was sent this direction.
15
I mean this is it. But think about this for a moment. REmember we started the story in 1 Kings. Then nothing Then second Kings chapter 2. The whole story of 1 Kings he is out of the picture. There are 4 chapters between this and scholars would tell you that it was between 6 and 12 years.
Elisha from calling to commencement was 6-12 year.
Have you notice that God does that. From the time he calls you to the time you begin walking in that calling there is a season or a gap in between. IT is so frustrating. I mean Jesus had to go through it. David experienced. We see it in Moses’ life. We see it in Abraham’s life. We see it in Peter’s life. John the baptist dealt with it. I mean this waiting period in which we know the call on our lives but we are just waiting for it to manifest itself. I personally got a call and am still in the waiting period. During the wiating period, we an get so frustrated with things.
This is why the sermon is called
Ready…Set…Wait.
How many of you in here enjoy waiting for things? Like for real. Waiting in line. Waiting in traffic. Waiting on Christmas. Those things just get you excited. You enjoy waiting? Anyone. What about the rest of us. Don’t you just despise waiting? I can’t tell you anything that I just enjoy waiting on. I don’t like lines. I am the guy in the grocery store searching with the walkie talkie and my wife which line is the shortest. No you go check down there. Oh we have a coupon-er Abort Abort! I will never wait in line for a new gadget. I will never wait in line for concert tickets. I tolerate lines for roller coaster but if I had my way I would skip every single person in line every time. It’s like this hidden thing comes over me. There is a famous comedian and he too hates lines. He did this routine where he would talk about people in line. He said you are at KFC standing in line and I could feel the anxiety coming. The guy in front of me does this. And he is about to be next. They have the same thing on this side as they do on that side. Now it is is his turn. He goes up to the counter and he begins to make these noises. I can see his brain turning as we are standing there. We go 2 minutes and by this time I am fuming. I can feel the evil rising. I look at the guy. I say they have chicken. Chicken is all they have. You want chicken good order some. You don’t want chicken, get out of the line. I just cant stand waiting.
Maybe one of these days I will have this virtue. I am not praying for it but maybe I will. Or maybe you are in this situation. You pull up through the drive thru. You talk to the box. THey repeat your order. They say go to the first window. They take you money without hesitation and without any waiting. Then you get to the next window and it is these words straight from the pit of hell. It is going to be few minutes on your order. Do you mind pulling up there so we can bring it to you. NO! I don’t want to pull up. I can see the food right there. I came to the drive thru so I could get my food right now. I refuse. That’s what I want to say.
I think that for any given thing at any given moment we are in the middle of that process. You are waiting for your marriage to get better. Or waiting for a marriage. You are waiting for your kids to fully commit to serving the God. Or you are just waiting on kids. (KEEP WAITING). Or you are waiting for your calling from the lord. Or waiting for your career. I mean we are always it seems in a process of calling…waiting....fulfillment.
Maybe you took that step of faith and you accepted Jesus. Maybe you joined one of the fellowship teams here and you are serving. Maybe you gave that special offering and you went yeah. But nothing has happened. You are just waiting. Someone needs to hear this today.
The waiting period is good for you
You need it. The waiting period isn’t for God. He isn’t using that period to try to get it all lined up. He isn’t using that to figure out all the details. He knows it. THe waiting period is for you. God uses that period to make sure the foundation he is about to build on is solid. You have to be ready. You ever as a boy look at your dad shaving and you think. One day I will shave like that. Or you look at your mom and say, I am gonna shave like that…no I am just kidding. Say something like I am going to speak like that or cook like that. They give you this hope and they look at you and say one day son. Or one day daughter. Then what happens. Does dad hand you the razor or mom hand you the mixer. No you wait. In that waiting though, you are watching. You are learning. You are listening to what they say. How mom puts a sprinkle of this. How dad lathers his face like this. The waiting period is good for you. You have to learn. You have to change. You have to mature. If God gave you the husband you wanted right now, he wouldn’t stay. You ain’t ready. If God gave you the church he promised, they would all runaway. You ain’t ready. And that’s ok.
But I am ready to smack the coat on the ground. I am ready to run this company. I am ready to be out on my own. I am ready to do this now. Listen to this.
Beautiful pictures are developed out of negatives in a dark room.
Sometimes you just have to get alone and wait. Joshua did this. He knew he was going to be the next leader. He was ready to lead them into the promised land day one and said so. But because of other people he couldn’t. So he had to spend 40 years waiting. But he didn’t just sit and sulk. He went in with moses and the bible says he lingered. I know Joshua you supposed to go tear down Jericho. But you got to wait. Can you imagine the frustration that he was experiencing? This man is waiting 40 years. I am sure that he done prayed a few times. Lord it is only Bob and Kevin left. I can take them out. I mean shoot Joshua might have been praying that prayer after 2 year becuase he was a bad dude. But he is sitting there like many of you and you know that
Your potential is greater than your opportunity.
You just want God to get you to your destination. To the grand finale. You want the credits or maybe the credit. Oh don’t let me get started on that. But this isn’t what God wants to do. He is concerned with you. Listen to this.
God wants to do a great work in you before He does one through you.
God wants to use you. But Peter before he can use you to set people free, you have to be set free. Before you can deliver people from their bondage Moses, you have to be delivered from your insecurities. This is what I am saying. YOu are sitting here and demanding from God that He take this away or move you from this place because you don’t like your coworkers. You don’t like your school or you don’t like your job. But the bible says this
My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials,
James 1:2
So here is what you need to do. Allow the process to work. He knows what He is doing. You are His masterpiece. You are His craftsmanship. Which means he is the craftsman. He is the painter. He is the architect. He is the engineer. He made the blueprints. You want something greater in your life, you want to accomplish greater things.
Quit praying for God to deliver you out of things he is trying to use to develop you.
We sit around day after day praying God take me out of this. Don’t let me go through this. Listen this is a big deal. To know or to have revealed to you the difference. Lord is this something I need to walk through, Is this something I brought on myself....oh oh or is this something that the enemy is just using to get me off my path of you. So you go shut yourself up in the closet and wait. Look what the bible says
Let him sit alone and keep silent, Because God has laid it on him;
Right before it says its good to bear the weight of his youth. That means when life gets tough go sit down with the Lord and be quiet for a minute. Hear what He has to say. So often we go to prayer and instead of conversation where we ask and wait for a response, we give commands disguised as petitions and we say you got that Lord. I am guilty of it.
Now in this season of waiting let me give you a few things that you need to know in order that you do not waste this time of waiting. Let’s look at Elisha. The bible says back in
So Elisha turned back from him, and took a yoke of oxen and slaughtered them and boiled their flesh, using the oxen’s equipment, and gave it to the people, and they ate. Then he arose and followed Elijah, and became his servant.
1 Kings 19
Elisha became his servant. So let me demonstrate that for you for just a moment. See most people see waiting as this. I am just waiting on the Lord. Waiting on Him to fix something. Waiting on him to do something. Waiting on Him to get me through this. Just waiting. But this type of waiting is what is meant. This is the type of waiting that was meant. He served. Are you serving. I wonder if the way to the promotion is to serve. I wonder if the path to a better marriage is to serve your spouse not demand that he be better. It is in your notes like this...
If you are too big to serve your are too small to lead.
Jesus said the greater is the servant. If you want to be great in the kingdom you better serve. I tell you, it is my goal that the person on this stage will never be out served. Let me as Paul said talk foolishly for a moment about myself. I am usually the first one here and the last one to leave. I take days off and use my days off up here at this church doing things that no body knows. I give up sleep to pray for my family and for you. If something needs to be done, you better believe I will do. I will scrub a toilet, fix a toilet, and wipe a kids butt who just used it if I have to. To make sure that the message that God has laid on my heart gets to the ears of the people that need to hear it. Two reasons for that. I expect you to be the same way if you join this church, and if I expect it from you, I better be doing the same myself. Now I don’t say all of that so as to brag and get pats on the back. As I said I was talking foolishly. I say all of that so you know I ain’t just talking something that I am not ready to live. Get involved and serve somewhere. There are so many things that need to be done here at the church and they are more than just get the title. Elisha took 10 years to serve before his title came.
The second thing is this....
And Elisha saw it, and he cried out, “My father, my father, the chariot of Israel and its horsemen!” So he saw him no more. And he took hold of his own clothes and tore them into two pieces.
2 Kings 2
Elisha screams out my father my father. As he saw the chariot. Now realize something here. This is not God he is speaking to. It isn’t a capital F for father. This is a term to which he is addressing to Elijah. Remember Elisha said goodbye to his parents and family and friends at the barbecue but what happened is they became so close he and Elijah that Elijah his mentor became as his father. So the responsibility of teaching came over Elijah but the responsibility of learning came over Elisha. Number too while you are waiting...
Those currently learning will in the future be leading.
What are you learning about what God has promised you. You were promised that your marriage would be better. When is the last time you read about marriage. You were told that you are going to be a pastor. When have you studied about that. You were told that God wants you to be a speaker, when is the last time you practiced speaking and studied people who know how to speak. We have this phrase that God doesn’t call the equipped but he equips the called and I believe that to be true to degree. I believe that his equipping is sometimes you using the mechanisms already in place to better yourself namely your brain, your own hands, and your own two feet. So He called you, equipped you with those now use them. So find some seminars. People pray for better finances and don’t hand their money well. I know. I have been there. I still am there sometimes. Just last month, I didn’t manage well. Had money just didn’t manage it well and it cost me. Listen to this
The life of Greater is a partnership between God’s promise and your preparation.
Start preparing now. I was called to preach at a young age. Guess who I had to preach to. No one. I was at a church and knew that I was called to preach but was never asked to preach on Sunday. And I had sermons y'all.
The third thing that we see is this.
Then he took the mantle of Elijah that had fallen from him, and struck the water, and said, “Where is the Lord God of Elijah?” And when he also had struck the water, it was divided this way and that; and Elisha crossed over.
Now when the sons of the prophets who were from Jericho saw him, they said, “The spirit of Elijah rests on Elisha.” And they came to meet him, and bowed to the ground before him.
Now when the sons of the prophets who were from Jericho saw him, they said, “The spirit of Elijah rests on Elisha.” And they came to meet him, and bowed to the ground before him.
2 Kings 2:14:15
So Elisha turned back from him, and took a yoke of oxen and slaughtered them and boiled their flesh, using the oxen’s equipment, and gave it to the people, and they ate. Then he arose and followed Elijah, and became his servant.
He takes the clothes and strikes the water then he goes across and they say wow man the spirit of Elijah is on him. Hear this. He was waiting for all those years. Stuck. I mean you think anyone is ever going to listen to him because he is standing next to Elijah. But he is serving. He had no opportunity to lead. Then finally he comes to the river Jordan. He doesn’t pray for a staff like moses. He doesn’t pray for a iPhone with GPS. He doesn’t pray God send this to help me or send that to help me. He just does. Here is the point
2 Kings 2:
Use what you have not what you want.
Too many times we are focused on what we are asking for and what we are wanting to see that we never put to use what we have in our hands. Moses was asked what is in your hand. David was offered other things that weren’t his. The blind man was asking Peter and John for silver and gold which they had none but they used what they had and the blind man received. Look at yourself today.. What do you have to offer. You say it isn’t much pastor. It is something. Yeah but its broken. I’ve already answered that. But it’s full of fear and anxiety. It is full of bad habits. It is filled with doubts and questions. What do you have in your hand. Well I can do this. Then do it. I can speak here then speak. I can read up on this. This read up.