Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

Good evening and welcome back!

This evening I would like for you turn in your Bibles to 2 Kings 2 if you will.

And tonight we are going to be taking a look at the beginning of Elisha’s ministry as THE Prophet of Israel.

And this is very different from him being just A Prophet of Israel.

You could say in a sense that Elisha is about to get a promotion.

And knowing the lives that the prophets had and issues they faced, this may have been a promotion that he really didn’t want.

But he was going to get it anyway, because it’s all about God’s will and God’s plan and not our own.

And of course we know that Elisha was the protegee of Elijah, one of the greatest Prophets in all of history.

However, did you know that the Bible records twice as many miracles being performed by Elisha as it does Elijah.

That’s just a fun nugget of trivia, which is also a confirmation of something we will get to in a little bit, so I won’t spoil the surprise just yet.

But anyway, in 2 Kings we have Elijah and Elisha leading both the King of Israel as well as various groups or schools really of Prophets.

And one thing was always obvious, Elijah was the leader and Elisha was the follower.

That was the order of things and in many ways Elisha was always living in Elijah’s shadow.

And when you say it that way it sounds a little bit derogatory like Elisha wasn’t good enough or something, but that really wasn’t Elisha’s view.

This is because Elisha was perfectly content living and working in Elijah’s shadow.

You know why?

Because Elijah always bared all of the responsibility.

When something went sideways, it was Elijah that took all the heat.

Even when Elisha or one of the other prophets did something that was unpopular or even when they made a mistake, it all came back on Elijah.

So Elisha had gotten pretty comfortable in that role and in his mind he was cruising along doing just fine.

But see, when we are living in the shadow of someone else that stunts our growth and development.

We can only learn so much and grow so much when we are in that “follower” and “student” role.

In fact, one trait that defines good leaders is their ability to develop good leaders.

A leader should always be trying to develop others who can either lead when they gone or can take the leadership skills they have learned and lead somewhere else.

Because remember, or job is to be Kingdom Builders.

And you can’t be a Kingdom Builder if everybody in the Kingdom is in one building.

That is not how it works.

So God will take people and through the mentorship of their leaders, transform them into leaders themselves.

And there is always a time of learning and following but then we have to apply what we have learned.

Which requires us to step out in faith.

To get out of the boat and instead of following behind some other person, taking direction from them, to start following and taking direction directly from the Holy Spirit.

And this is hard, because this is scary.

Because now, you are the one that has moved from just doing the work that the teacher tells you, to one who is responsible for the work getting done.

And you are also the one accountable directly to God for it as well as everyone else when things don’t go picture perfect.

And because of this, some people choose to never step into that role of leadership.

Fear causes them to spend their lives as followers.

But God’s Word tells us . . .

So, we need to replace that spirit of fear, that is NOT FROM GOD.

And if it is not from God, then WHO IS IT FROM?—The devil.

So, replace the fear with the power of the Holy Ghost, that will activate the love of Christ within us that grounds us and creates a sound mind within us.

And I am not saying that everybody in here needs to be pastoring and leading a church somewhere.

What I am saying though is that everyone in here needs to be looking for ways that they can lead within the church and most importantly, lead others to Christ and build the Kingdom of God.

And this is the lesson that God is about to teach Elisha as well.

So what I want to do is really just get right into the passage tonight and break this down.

Don’t Leave Me!

So, starting in verse 1 the Bible reads . . .

Now, I wanted to read that whole bit there because it shows us exactly what I was talking about with Elisha being happy as a pig in slop living in Elijah’s shadow.

If you will notice, there are three different times that Elijah tells Elisha that God is sending him somewhere and for Elisha to stay put and not go.

First it’s over to Bethel, then down to Jericho, and finally down to the Jordan River.

And all three times Elisha responds the same way, As the Lord Lives, and as your soul lives, I will not leave you!

And the reason for that is because Elisha knows that Elijah is about to leave.

Now, probably in his mind he’s thinking that Elijah is going to die and at this point he is thinking, “my teacher and mentor is going to die,” and he is also thinking, “what am I going to do?”

So he is freaking out just a bit.

And we can tell he is freaking out a bit because in both Bethel and Jericho they are met by the prophets from the schools in those towns; I call them a gaggle of geese because they seem to always be squawking, but what do they tell Elisha?

Do you know that the Lord will take away your master from over you today?

And what does Elisha tell them?

Yes, I know, keep silent!

Or in the BE (Buford Edwards—unauthorized of course) translation, “Yes, I know what’s going to happen, shut up, I don’t want to talk about it!”

And it’s also almost like Elisha thinks that if he stays by Elijah’s side that God won’t take him.

Which I guess is somewhat of a fear response as well as a grief response also.

So, we have this entire crazy dynamic going on where Elisha knows he is going to have to take over and the kicker is, Elijah is not even going to be around to ask questions to or get advice from.

It would be like God calling me somewhere where there is no technology whatsoever so you couldn’t get in touch with me in any way or form and then you having to take over the church and do it all.

Could you do it?—Yes,

as long as God was in it.

Would you want to do it?—Probably

not.

But, why would you not want to do it?

—Most likely fear.

And neither did Elisha.

The Double Portion

But guess what?

He knew he was going to have to do it.

Because his choice was either do it, or be disobedient to God.

And guess what, when God calls you to do it, whatever it is—and we aren’t talking about taking over the church when I’m called to Mars.

We are talking about the calling that God has called you to step into so you can lead others.

When God calls you to it, your choices are either do it, or be disobedient to God.

It is no different.

Remember what Jesus says . . .

And I know that these same verses are in Matthew and Mark, but I love how Luke puts it because he makes it crystal clear that it is a daily choice to follow Jesus and that daily choice means picking up that cross—that calling—and following Him!

Every single day of our lives.

Not just on Sunday.

Not just on Wednesday.

Not just in the winter.

Not just in the summer.

24/7 is our calling.

It’s not a part-time job, it is full-time commitment.

But one problem is we let our wants and desires override God’s calling.

That’s why we don’t end with just Luke 9:23, Jesus goes on . . .

We need to not be deceived by the enemy into thinking that that things we have here is all there is.

The best we are ever going to have.

These things are just that things.

Our lifestyles are just lifestyles.

This blink of an eye that we call life is nothing compared to eternity.

But so many get hung up in their own lives they forget about the life that Jesus saved them from and the life that He is calling them into.

And if we want to be His disciples, His followers, then we have to live the life that He has called us into.

But we become afraid and the we start making excuses as to why we “can’t.”

And when we are convinced that we “can’t,” then we “won’t.”

So instead we need to be wise like Elisha in this next portion of Scripture . . .

The first thing . . .