Level Up! (2)

I heard someone say, “All good things come to an end.” That is true until we begin to thing about our good God. In God their is no end. He is from everlasting to everlasting. But, our time in this life is finite. The songwriter said, “time is filled with swift transition...” Things change. Sometimes for the better, sometimes for the worse. But things change. When we face change part of that change is the process of transition. Going form one state to the next. Transition is important aspect of change because it is the way in which we thrive in the changed event. Let me give an example. Some people, when things change, don’t transition into the change and so, make the change more difficult for themselves (give examples of people not transitioning into the change).

Elijah and Elisha are about to transition, and they must do so to level up.

(summarize Elijah’s level up and transition. faithful to the end of his assignment, he prioritized discipleship, he left a legacy, and he received his reward.)

Faithful where you Are (v.1-7)

Elisha was not the man. He was a servant. That is where in this country and in this world we miss. We want to be served and not sever under. We would rather model the success of our oppressors in trampling over people than to watch and learn and be discipled. We are, because I am and I am because we are. Elisha was prepared to level up because he sat under the best teacher. Elisha proximity and availability gave him the opportunities that the other prophets did not have.

You have to be faithful where you are. Ben Parker in his dying words said, “with great power comes great responsibility” and Jesus said it better, “to much is given much more is required” and “ if you are faithful over few things I will make you ruler over many.” (Preach)

Audacious in your Petition (v.9)

“now unto him who is able to do exceedingly abundant above we can ask or think.” Imagine having endless resources and limiting yourself to natural expectation. What if you receive what you ask for? What if you have asked for half of what you could have had and now your stuck with less than what you could have gotten?

He asked for double

Grieve for a Little While (v.12)

Change is hard. Even leveling up because it means the loss of something familiar. It means, in many cases, the death of something familiar. And whenever we experience sudden loss or change we will need to grieve. (Gone are the days…run)

He tears his clothes as way of showing that he is indeed heart broken by the events. And it is good that he does because he can’t wear Elijah’s mantel with his old clothes on.

You cannot wear the wardrobe of your past into the places God wan’t to take you in your future.

when you get a promotion your uniform changes.

Walk in your Anointing (v.13-14)

This is what you prayed for. Walk in it when you get it. If you asked God to do if for you walk in it. If God is with you who can be against you.

He slaps the water the same way he saw Elijah do. Then he prays a prayer of assurance and validation to make sure God was with him the same way he was with Elijah. (Adam, Noah, Abraham, Issac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Joshua, Deborah, Ruth, Samuel, David, Elijah, Elisha, Jehoshaphat, Josiah, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Daniel, Ezekiel, Micah, Malchi, Judas Maccabeus, John the Baptist, Jesus, (Elisha was a bad man but…run) and guess what…Jesus said greater works than these you will do because I go to my Father. So the same God that was with Jesus was with John, Polycarp, Irenaus, Oregen, Turtullian, Augustine, St. Moses the Ethiopian, Thomas Aquinas, Martin Luther, John Calvin, John Menno Simens, John Smithy, help our ansesorts surive the trans atlantic slave trade, Nat Turner, Frederic Douglass, Sojurner Truth, Richard Allen, William H. McAlpine, Rev. T. Higgs, Gary Russell, is the same God who is with you.