Who's next

My Generation

Generations are a weird and sometimes ambiguous thing to research. The years seem arbitrary and it wasn’t until 1946-1964 that we actually started naming our generations.

In 1946 the war was over and apparently the survivors wanted to celebrate. This generation accumulated the largest population because of multiple factors one of which was a government incentive to have more children. And so this generation, the first to receive a name became the Baby Boomers.

At the same time the previous generation was also given a name the parents of the baby boomer generation. Or the silent generation, Super creative I know.

I wonder if the demographics of our church match the demographics of North America. If you were born between 1946-1964 and you are brave enough to tell the world raise your hand.

Don’t be shocked to see so many hands this generation is either the largest or second largest generation on the planet. Again hard to research.

Boomers had some kids. Not as many as their parents though. And Generation X was brought into the world.

From 1965-1980. It may have seemed gradual for some but things actually changed quite rapidly from one generation to the next. With many technological break throughs , and most importantly a Generation of Parents who wanted better for their children but still had pretty high expectations for their children as well.

After all they had opportunities their parents could only dream about. And because of rapid changes a generational gap began to develop as the Generation X and the Baby Boomers began to feel like they were living in different worlds.

Concerns were probably voiced both ways but the gap was minimal between these generations.

Welcome to the World Millennials or Generation Y 1981-1996. This is my generation. This generation has caught a lot of flack over the years, for being whinny and delusionally entitled. Again parents wanted better for their children, so things like discipline changed and it seemed like they were given everything without having to work for it.

Well like most stereotypes this may have been true for some but not all, none the less the gap between this generation and their parents continued to widen and the gap between them and their Grandparents who were a part of the parents to boomers or early boomers was very wide.

Grandparents and grandchildren struggle to understand each other. One worked hard for everything and fought great injustices and the others felt as if they had to work hard to right what they viewed or defined as social injustices. This gap was made to seem much worse by the internet.

And believe it or not Millennials were allowed to have kids. Welcome Generation Z. 1997- present This Generation is young enough that all the worlds problems are not their fault, just their inheritance. The struggles of their great grandparents who fought in the war, and settled in to grow this country are but distant memories.

But do not be fooled as this generation will face horrors of their own, and deal with struggles that we are oblivious to.

As Sin continues to corrupt this world and we move closer and closer to the day when God says enough, this next Generation will face moral challenges, like never before.

The ability to stand for one’s faith in Jesus will grow harder and harder, and the gap between generations will grow larger and larger as we struggle to understand what the next generation is feeling.

Which leads me to the question

If God terries I want my children to accomplish more than I.

What are we as parents of boomers, baby boomers, generation x and millennials doing to prepare this next generation for battles we know nothing of?

One of the things I love about Superheroes, especially those in the DC Universe, is that they are always investing into the Superheroes of the future.

Most Superheroes have people that help them along the way, like Captain America has Bucky eventually, of course these two are part of the same generation. Ironman has war machine again though same generation.

However many of the superheroes again especially in the DC world have started investing into the heroes of the Future.

The Flash has Kid Flash, his nephew who Barry teaches the secrets of the speed force to.

Wonder Women has Wonder Girl, maybe not the most creative name but the investment is there.

Superman has Super boy, and Super girl

Aquaman has Aqualad

Green arrow has Speedie who becomes red arrow, he also invests into Atriums a female archer from a bad family. In this one Green arrow is investing into a person who he isn’t related to.

And probably the best example Batman has Robin who becomes Nightwing and a new Robin is brought in.

In this storyline three generations are gapped As Batman invest into both and Nightwing picks up the mantel investing into the new robin.

Because even superheroes do not last forever. And so these heroes want to make sure there are new heroes trained and ready so when the day comes that they won’t be around the next generation will still have heroes, who will hopefully teach the next generation.

As you may be aware we are getting closer to the end of our Superhero Series. just this week and two more.

In this series we learned we have the power to be Heroes of the faith if we have…

Faith

If you remember nothing else from this series you will remember that. From there we have been looking at different heroes of the bible seeing what we can learn from them.

Today should be no different. Today I want to talk to you about another incredible hero from whom we could learn a lot, but today we are going to look at the end of his ministry and see what we can learn.

Today we will be looking at

Elijah in

2 Kings 2:1–18 NLT

When the Lord was about to take Elijah up to heaven in a whirlwind, Elijah and Elisha were traveling from Gilgal. And Elijah said to Elisha, “Stay here, for the Lord has told me to go to Bethel.” But Elisha replied, “As surely as the Lord lives and you yourself live, I will never leave you!” So they went down together to Bethel. The group of prophets from Bethel came to Elisha and asked him, “Did you know that the Lord is going to take your master away from you today?” “Of course I know,” Elisha answered. “But be quiet about it.” Then Elijah said to Elisha, “Stay here, for the Lord has told me to go to Jericho.” But Elisha replied again, “As surely as the Lord lives and you yourself live, I will never leave you.” So they went on together to Jericho. Then the group of prophets from Jericho came to Elisha and asked him, “Did you know that the Lord is going to take your master away from you today?” “Of course I know,” Elisha answered. “But be quiet about it.” Then Elijah said to Elisha, “Stay here, for the Lord has told me to go to the Jordan River.” But again Elisha replied, “As surely as the Lord lives and you yourself live, I will never leave you.” So they went on together. Fifty men from the group of prophets also went and watched from a distance as Elijah and Elisha stopped beside the Jordan River. Then Elijah folded his cloak together and struck the water with it. The river divided, and the two of them went across on dry ground! When they came to the other side, Elijah said to Elisha, “Tell me what I can do for you before I am taken away.” And Elisha replied, “Please let me inherit a double share of your spirit and become your successor.” “You have asked a difficult thing,” Elijah replied. “If you see me when I am taken from you, then you will get your request. But if not, then you won’t.” As they were walking along and talking, suddenly a chariot of fire appeared, drawn by horses of fire. It drove between the two men, separating them, and Elijah was carried by a whirlwind into heaven. Elisha saw it and cried out, “My father! My father! I see the chariots and charioteers of Israel!” And as they disappeared from sight, Elisha tore his clothes in distress. Elisha picked up Elijah’s cloak, which had fallen when he was taken up. Then Elisha returned to the bank of the Jordan River. He struck the water with Elijah’s cloak and cried out, “Where is the Lord, the God of Elijah?” Then the river divided, and Elisha went across. When the group of prophets from Jericho saw from a distance what happened, they exclaimed, “Elijah’s spirit rests upon Elisha!” And they went to meet him and bowed to the ground before him. “Sir,” they said, “just say the word and fifty of our strongest men will search the wilderness for your master. Perhaps the Spirit of the Lord has left him on some mountain or in some valley.” “No,” Elisha said, “don’t send them.” But they kept urging him until they shamed him into agreeing, and he finally said, “All right, send them.” So fifty men searched for three days but did not find Elijah. Elisha was still at Jericho when they returned. “Didn’t I tell you not to go?” he asked.

2 Kings 2:1-18

Today I want to ask the question

What turns a good hero into a great hero?

Investing into the future

Me: I remember my wife and I talking about if we should have children. We were dating at the time and knowing where the world was heading wondered if the responsible thing to do would be to not bring children into this world.

Spoiler alert we got married and we have five children. For me what made the choice easier was realizing if we never have kids there is a 0% chance they will ever have the amazing opportunity to know God, but if we do, the odds may not be in their favour and life will be hard but at least there is a chance they might know God.

Since then all I want out of life is for my children to know God, and go deeper in their relationship with Him than I do.

We: Everyone wants their children to do better than them. This is why it is so frustrating when they do not listen to us, because we are trying to give them everything we had and more if that’s possible.

When we tell a young person don’t waste your time on lust, liquor, or laziness it’s because we know how much time we wasted on it and if they can avoid this pitfall maybe they can go even further.

Every Generation wants the next generation to do better, but that will never happen unless we do something about it.

God: Elijah once wanted to die under a tree. He asked God to kill him. Ironically Elijah is one of very few who never actually died. But one of the things God asked Elijah to do before he was done was anoint Elisha as the next prophet. After Elijah did that Elisha followed him everywhere. Elijah taught Elisha everything he know and in this passage Elijah is going on his farewell tour to meet with all the prophets. Elisha at his side. In this passage three times Elisha is told to stay but three times he refuses.

There is great speculation about this. Some think Elijah wanted some alone time but Elisha wouldn’t allow it. Seeing as though Elijah didn’t give any push back at all this seems unlikely. Another theory is that this was some sort of test for Elisha supported by Elijah’s statement in verse 10

2 Kings 2:10 NLT

“You have asked a difficult thing,” Elijah replied. “If you see me when I am taken from you, then you will get your request. But if not, then you won’t.”

It seems giving Elisha opportunity to bow out may have been a test to see if he would stick with Elijah and God to the very end.

It also foreshadows Peter telling Jesus he wouldn’t leave him but then denying Him 3 times but Jesus reinstating him by asking if Peter loved Him 3 times.

But what I love about this story, and the reason we named our son Elisha was when asked what He wanted Elisha asked boldly...

2 Kings 2:

2 Kings 2:9 NLT

When they came to the other side, Elijah said to Elisha, “Tell me what I can do for you before I am taken away.” And Elisha replied, “Please let me inherit a double share of your spirit and become your successor.”

Elisha had been taught by the best, he watched Elijah do many things and heard of much more. Yet still wanted to do even more than that.

What an amazing picture of the protege aspiring to more than the teacher.

After Elijah was taken Elisha returned to the Jordan and his first miracle was the same as the last miracle that Elijah had done. What a wonder confirmation that Elisha had received what he asked for, a double portion.

Nor should we be surprised to find out through Elijah God performed 14 miracles, through Elisha 28.

Why was Elisha able to do so much more? He had a good teacher who taught him to be bold, and never give up. For that reason Elisha was bold enough to ask big and determined enough to be there when Elijah was taken.

You: What does this mean for you? Like what was said earlier you have the ability to be a hero, but if you want to be a great hero, invest into the next generation. Teach them to be bold and ask big, but also to never give up no matter how hard it might be.

We: A day will come when none of us are here, but if the Lord terries, our children, grand children and great grandchildren might be, and if we want them to advance the Kingdom of God further than we have and if we want them to go even deeper in their relationship with God than we did, we need to invest into them now.

We need to teach them everything we know and empower them to learn more and go further. That is what great heroes do.

Next Step: Pick up one of these profiles from the alter pray for that young person and invest into them somehow