Daniel Van Gelderen: 1 Kings chapter 19.

How many of you are football fans? All right. How many of you are NFL fans? Okay, how many of you are college football fans? Alright, good, okay How many of you have no idea what the word football even means? Good, we’re about to get an illustration You and I are going to be out of it But we’ll help you, okay It was September 23, 2001 That’s a long time ago But in noisy Foxborough Stadium in Massachusetts A very, very young man stepped onto the field The fourth quarter Football game between the New England Patriots And the New York Jets If you know anything about the Patriots, that’s a massive rivalry. Starting quarterback, Drew Bledsoe, had just been taken out of the game because of a massive internal injury. He almost died. Unbelievable. He was taken to the hospital. It was one of the craziest moments in NFL history with injuries. And this young man, it was his time to prove himself. He was the 199th pick in the 2000 NFL draft. That’s not a high number, just so you know. That’s not in the first round or the second or the third or the fourth or the fifth. he was only in his second year in the league. He was virtually still a rookie. He had not really seen the field at all. But he was called upon to lead a team of grown men and to lead them to victory. Well, not only did he win that game for the Patriots, he led his team to 11 wins that year, led them all the way to Super Bowl XXXVI against the Kurt Warner-led, famous, greatest show on turf, St. Louis Rams. And that year, Tom Brady won the Super Bowl MVP, became at that time, it was since broken, I think by Patrick Mahomes, but at the time, the youngest quarterback ever to win the Super Bowl at age 24. And for the next 20 years, Tom Brady, probably arguably the greatest football player to ever play the game, he would stay with the Patriots for 20 years and win a total of six Super Bowls with them, one more with the Buccaneers.

How does a young man, fresh out of college, very, very young, not well-known, literally not well-known. He had played as a backup and then a starter for University of Michigan, but he wasn’t that good. He was kind of overshadowed in college by another quarterback, Peyton Manning. But he took the league by storm, and not only took it by storm, he became not the gold standard, he became the platinum standard for all starting quarterbacks in the history of the league. and one of the greatest athletes of all time. How does he do it? Let me tell you, if you know anything about Tom Brady, we know obviously his personal life and all those things, it’s very sad. But in his sports life, he was insanely focused on what he felt, what his calling was. From a young age, you’ll hear stories, he was a quarterback, and that’s all he was. I saw a video, if you guys are following MLB, Kyle Raleigh from the Mariners, right? When he was a little kid, he said, I’m going to win the home run derby. I’m going to hit a bunch of home runs. There’s a video of him that circulated. And look at him. He’s amazing. These guys, they’re living from a young age. I’m going to be a professional quarterback. I’m going to win the Super Bowl. I’m going to do all these things. You know, we’ve all kind of dreamed like that. If you’ve ever been on a basketball court, you know, and you’re winning the championship, you know what I’m talking about, guys? You’re out there. You know, three seconds left. Michael Jordan with the shot, right? And you’ve done that, right? Okay, LeBron James, your favorite team player. You’re out there. You’re imagining it. You miss the shot, so you do it again. You back the clock up. You know, there’s a foul, whatever. And you dream out there, you’re not going to make the NBA. You’re not going to make the NFL. You’re not going to do that. But these guys lived it from a young age. His entire life as a backup quarterback at the University of Michigan, as a backup quarterback on the New England Patriots, all the way through his life he was training to play for one thing, and that was the Super Bowl. Tom Brady, though we really can’t respect him at all for his personal life at all, was mature beyond his years when he entered the NFL.

Why? It’s because he was living his calling now.

Young people, I’m talking to a bunch of young people here, right? Some of you very young. Some of you 12, 13, 14. Some people in this world would consider this group of people a group that might do something special, maybe in the future, if everything happens right. Some would consider yourself, or maybe others would consider you, the equivalent of 199th last round draft pick.

Maybe you consider yourself not worth much to people. Maybe your parents, or maybe people in your life, and people that you have a sad situation. You’ve been told, you know what, you’re not worth anything. And maybe you’ve been told something, or you feel that way, and you lived your life, and you go here, you hear about great things, and you look at your church and all these things, and you sit there and you think, I can’t do this. I’m a nobody. I’m a last-round draft pick, man. I’m a nobody. I’m never going to live, I’m never going to play for the Super Bowl, so to speak, in my life. I’m never going to be a major success in my life. I’m nothing. I’m a seventh grader, man. You don’t even know that I’m here at the thing, man. They did a cheering contest. They can’t even find me in the middle of the cheering contest. They should use me for the big ball. I’m small enough they could toss me over the net. I’m nobody here. I was laughing when I heard Brother Miller last night. I was the same kind of guy. I didn’t have the big ears, but I was that very dorky 7th and 8th grade. My mom out in the lobby earlier, we were talking about Brother Miller. She said, no, you weren’t. She just has the love of a mother. I was very dorky as a 7th grader. I had legs up to here, I felt like. And I wore my pants all the way to the top of my hip bones. You know what I’m talking about? tightened with the belt because I was skinny so I wanted to show that off or something I don’t know what I had uh you know the hand-me-down clothes that was the baby boy and uh so my clothes were too big for me I had to flip the things up you know one of those things I had big thick glasses that bad eyesight I wear contacts now and the glasses just kept you know I had the flip down sunglasses shades. Now you’re like, you’re cool, man. You know what I’m talking about? They hook onto your sunglasses right in the middle and they flip down. But see, back then you were cool. You would flip them up and leave them on. So you’d walk around like the absolute dork of all time with the glasses, two glasses, one here and one there. And I was that guy. And you know, I was bullied in seventh grade. I was a pastor’s kid. So they went after me, you know, don’t feel sorry for me. God worked all that out. But I will tell you this. I didn’t feel like much at times in seventh and eighth grade. I didn’t know. I mean, God was calling me to preach in seventh grade, and I had that call in my life. But I will tell you, when I was in those age groups, I didn’t feel like much. Maybe you feel like a dork this morning. Maybe you feel just so immature. Maybe you just, you can’t stand where you’re at. Maybe you’re in high school. You’re graduating. and you still feel like you’re nobody. Let me tell you right now, God wants to use you.

God will use you. And he can use you and he wants to use you now. So young person, it’s time to live for your calling. Now, before we get into the message, maybe some of you are here saying, but stop, Brother Van Gelderen. I don’t even know what his calling is for me. Did you hear Brother Miller last session? Christian, he said, if you’re a Christian, you’re going to be serving in ministry. I will tell you right now, your calling, if you are called to serve him, if you’re saved, you are called to serve him with your life. And as a soldier in the army of Jesus Christ, you are going to be called to reach the world. Doesn’t matter if you’re a layman or a preacher or everything in between, God has called you to reach the world. And God can use you to reach the world. I don’t care if you’re 12 years old in here. So what do you do to start living your calling now? This morning, we want to look at a young man. A young man who was spiritually mature beyond his years and by God’s grace lived his calling to the fullest. 1 Kings chapter 19, look at verse number 15. We’ll look at the context in just a minute. The Lord is talking to Elijah and he says this, Go return on thy way to the wilderness of Damascus. And when thou comest, Hazel be king of Assyria. He’s given some points of things to do. And Jehu, the son of Nimshi, shalt thou anoint to be king over Israel. And this is important. And Elisha, the son of Shaphat of Abemolo, I practiced saying that, but I couldn’t get it. Shalt thou anoint to be prophets in thy room. And then look at verse number 19. So he departed thence and found Elisha, the son of Shaphat, who was plung with twelve oak of oxen before him, and he with the twelve. And Elijah passed by him and cast his mantle upon him. Lord, help us in these minutes. Help us to know exactly what you would have for us. Open each heart to your leading, and we’ll thank you for what you’re going to do in Jesus’ name. Amen. I want you to imagine what had just happened in 1 Kings 19. Actually, 1 Kings 18. This is the greatest victory of Elijah’s ministry life, followed by the greatest terror of his life. He had just seen fire come down from heaven and absolutely obliterate the doubts and the mocking of the false prophets. He had just killed all those false prophets. God had won a great victory. God’s name was lifted up on high. Ahab and Jezebel were defeated. It was amazing, an unbelievable miracle. Followed by Ahab going to Jezebel and telling him about it, and Jezebel saying, he’s dead. He’s dead. If you know anything about Jezebel in the scripture, those words in the early part of chapter 19, you can actually look with me. Jezebel says in verse number two, So let the gods do to me and more. Also, if I make not thy life as the life of one of them by tomorrow about this time.

She was livid. Her prophets had been killed. She had been shamed publicly in front of her nation. And now she was on the war path and she had one man in mind, Elijah. Elijah runs for his life. In verses 3 and 4, he saw that, he arose, went for his life, came to Beersheba. Verse number 4, he came with himself a day’s journey into the wilderness, and he’s going far, far away.

And look what he says at the end of verse number 4, it is enough. Now, O Lord, take away my life.

He literally just saw the greatest victory of all time, and he says, I’m done. I can’t do this. I can only imagine how terror, the terror and how scary he must have felt with Jezebel. What does God do? He shows great mercy and gentleness to his servant. This is not the message right now, but the angel of the Lord came to him and gave him food and he gave him water and made sure he slept.

And in verse 14, again, he says, take away my life. He’s trying to hear God’s voice and he just can’t and he just take away my life. but he hears God’s voice and he meets with God and that’s a whole other message but in all of these things right after all of this victory and all of this terror and all of this turmoil in Elijah’s life God’s done something but man has caused this and what does God tell him to do? hey gotta go find a replacement and Elisha’s that man this has a feeling of anointing of a king very very high level and also implied there was going to be an apprenticeship a mentorship Elijah you’re going to go anoint him and you’re going to go get him and you’re going to work with him and then a side note by the way this isn’t a message either but verse number 18 God says oh by the way yet have I left me 7 000 in Israel all the knees which have not bowed unto Baal. Elijah said, I’m the only one. Dad says, no, there’s 7,000 that have never bowed. You’re not by yourself. But here comes Elijah down from where he’s at. And look at me, please, at verse number 20 again, or number 19 again. He sees Elisha.

He takes his mantle. He passed by him and he cast his mantle upon him. For the prophet of God to take a mantle, his mantle, which was used for miracles, and to put it on you is a big, big deal.

I want you to think about even more contexts.

Everyone knew Elijah was a wanted man. The whole nation had heard of the utter humiliation of Ahab and Jezebel at the hand of Elijah. The entire nation knew the cost of serving Jehovah God.

The entire nation knew the cost of going against Jezebel and her satanic wickedness, and it was wicked.

Yet, Elisha knew he was called to serve God with his life. And when the moment Elijah, and maybe before, we don’t know, but the moment he cast that mantle on him, he followed hard after that calling. He was not going to back down, even in the face of the future of what might come. He did not care. Now we’re going to get into this here, but there’s some people that are going to come up in 2 Kings, just a few minutes, called the sons of the prophets. And I’m going to contrast with them a little bit throughout the message. The sons of the prophets, let me lay this down, they are good guys. They’re really good guys. This is a kind of a college, or you can maybe call it a high school, a training institution. I think started by Samuel. They don’t know. It’s kind of vague. But they’re good guys. But they lived more on the sidelines. They lived a lot in, they questioned, they asked a lot of questions. They were passive observers on the sidelines. They did a lot of side quests, not really what God wanted. They could kind of decide, they were all about sensationalism. They were in Bethel and Gilgal and Jericho and they really were good guys. They were the teenagers, the high school students, the college students. They were there and you think, why in the world did Elijah pick Elisha who was plowing? He wasn’t even part of this. and not these other guys. We’re going to talk about it in a few minutes, but I want to present that as something we’re going to contrast in just a minute.

A young person in a wicked world of wars and turmoil and sadness and heartache and broken people and broken families, and all of you have experienced those things. God has called this generation to step up, to grow up, and to be mature and to start living your calling now. This is the Gen Z and Gen Alpha generation. You guys talk in a language, maybe not you all, but your peers out in the world, maybe some of you talk in a language that we millennials can’t understand and everybody above us, right? All these lit and this and that and the other thing. And you know what I’m talking about? And you talk in a language and it blows our mind. I have no idea. I thought we knew English, had no idea what you guys were saying. There’s a TikTok generation and it’s the fast gratification in generation. Everything has to be right there at your fingertips and it’s the emotions and feelings and it’s all right there, this whole generation. And it’s a very immature generation, I’ll tell you that. But God can use you to break through. I will tell you, it might be an immature generation, but it’s probably one of the most seeking after something true generation.

They are desperate for truth.

And all it would take would be a couple of young people that say, you know what? I’m like, Elisha, I’m standing up and I’m going all in. We’re going to talk about that. So how do you do that? How do I live my life? How do I live my calling now? How do I live as a mature Christian? Three quick, easy, distinct steps that we want to see from the life of Elisha. Number one, and we’ve talked about this this week already. People have preached about this. Number one, absolute surrender to God. Absolute surrender to God.

I think it’s obvious, but if you’re going to live for God, You have to be fully surrendered to God in every area.

You know, Elijah put his mantle on him. That was a pretty big sign. Hey, I’ve chosen you. But more importantly, God had chosen Elisha and called him. And now at that moment, Elisha had a choice.

You know what, Elijah? Thanks, but no thanks. You know what? I’m really busy here. I’ve got a lot of oxen, like 24, which means I’m really rich. I’m living a good life. And you know what? Why don’t you find somebody else? Like that gaggle of guys behind you, the sons of the prophets, one of those would probably be a great guy to follow. I’m just going to do my thing. He had that choice. But Elijah didn’t just say yes to God. He gave everything to God when presented with choice. Look at this, please. In verse number 19, he said this. He departed with thanks. He cast his mantle, verse 20, he left the oxen. This is Elisha. And what does it say? Okay, I’ll say it again. He left the oxen, verse 20, and one more time. Let me be awake here. He left the oxen and, thank you. I can hear you cheering, so you can actually say this, okay? He ran after Elisha and said, let me, I pray thee, kiss my father and my mother, then I will follow thee. He’s not trying to get away. He’s just saying, let me go say goodbye, and I’m going to go all in. And what does Elijah say? He says, go back again for what have I done to thee? What’s he saying? He said, don’t forget what I just put on you. Elijah’s saying this. He’s saying, when you go back and say goodbye, don’t get distracted. And what does Elisha do? He returns back from him and took a yoke of oxen, slew them, and boiled their flesh with the instruments of the oxen, and gave unto the people, and they did eat.

And then he arose, went after Elijah, and ministered unto him. Let me say something here. What does he do?

He takes two of his own cows and kills them. Takes the yoke that the cows are working with, burns that, makes a fire out of that, cooks the meat, feeds the people with the cows he was plowing with, and says goodbye and leaves.

He killed his cows and he burned his plows. If you want to get cute with the phrase. He killed him and he burned the plows and he said, I’m done and I’m going after Elijah. Elijah was all in. Young person, you may know, had knowledge, that God has given you a calling to minister for him and to see people saved and to help in ministry in your church and to serve God. You may even know that you’re called to preach. You may even know you are called specifically to the mission field. You may even know what mission field God’s called you to. But have you responded with that call? And have you given him everything?

That’s a lot to ask for. Man, I’m only 14. I don’t have much. You have everything he wants you to give him. You know, I could give story after story in my life and many young people that I’ve worked with in the college where their life didn’t make sense. It was fighting against this and fighting against that. But when they gave everything to God, but God absolutely exploded in amazing ways in their life. You get bumping up against this, and I don’t know what God’s willing to do, and I don’t know. But when they say, God, I can’t, it’s all yours, all of my talents. We’re going to talk about it. I’m getting ahead of myself. But Romans 12, verse 1, I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice. That’s kind of unusual, isn’t it? Get up on the altar and stay there. Holy, acceptable unto God, which is a reasonable service, Abraham did the same thing God said kill your son okay and he raises his hand the angel of the Lord had to stop Abraham, Abraham was so focused on obeying God and surrendering his life to God that whatever it took even the death of his son and he had to be stopped because he was so obedient, the priest stepping into the water when Joshua said hey there’s Jericho and we’re going there and we have a victory to have and God’s going to do something and by the way go into the water okay they stepped in god did a victory david we heard about david killing goliath he ran towards the giant there was no turning back and elisha runs towards elijah then he comes back and burns what he’s doing he says nothing is going to hold me back there’s nothing going to encumber me nothing’s going to tie me down to the world i’m going forward for god there was no backup plan elizabeth elliot says this the will of god is not something you add to your life a lot of times young Christians were like you know what that would be a good idea let me think about doing that at some point no when God presents something to you not a preacher not something whatever it’s by God’s grace we’re just saying what God would have us to say and God’s talking to you and saying hey I want you to go to the mission field that’s not a cute little idea to add to the journaling in the future of your life that is a right now God yes all in I’m doing what you have called me to do right now

young person have you added the will of god she says this she says of course you choose you either line yourself up with the son of god or you capitulate to the principles that’s govern the rest of the world basically she’s saying you either give yourself to god or you’re giving yourself to the world you don’t get to just choose and kind of go between you know the world says you can give a little bit to god the world says you can just do the duties of a christian and just live your life. But I’m going to tell you right now, it’s not like that. It’s a radical decision.

You know, we’ve seen people like a Charlie Kirk here, murdered recently. He lived a radical life, didn’t he? He went into universities. He went into places like that and he preached. He did. He brought the gospel in. He was talking about politics and he said he would say that. But he was unashamed about the gospel. When’s the last time we were unashamed about the gospel in the place we could have gotten killed.

Are we radical about that? Or do we even hide? Some of you are in public schools. Do people know you are a Christian?

Have you started a Bible study?

Do you bring your Bible to class? Say, I would get ridiculed. Last time I checked, that’s what Christians ought to be doing, ought to be getting persecuted because people know we are Christians.

Stand up for God. Are you all in, young person? It’s not a little cute thing to live our life for Jesus. It’s an all-in or all-out. And that’s the life. You know, it’s not like, okay, I might go back to session. You know, I talked about this in another message, but Minutemen would come by special forces in our academy multiple times. And I had said in my life in high school, but man, I was just too embarrassed to get rid of it. And I’d come out, and I would multiple times say, and they would say, okay, what are you back here for? I need to read my Bible.

That is code for, I have a lot of other things I don’t want to say. Young person, what are you hiding that you’re not willing to get all in about? Absolute surrender to God. It’s time to get on that altar and stay there and say, I’m not getting off God. I don’t care if I’m 12. I don’t care if I’m 15. I don’t care if I’m a graduate. I don’t care if I’m a college student. I’m not getting off until every thought, every word, every action, every dream, every sin, every stronghold, every fear, every discouragement, every talent, every desire, everything. I’m not getting off until it’s all yours, God.

There’s no game here at this TGYS more important than getting right with God, young person.

And you know what? Maybe God dealt with you on a session two sessions ago. You can still go back. The invitation goes. And young person, don’t you want God to use you tonight when there’s unsaved people here?

don’t hold anything back you know it was just at the wonder works you remember those upside down buildings in like pigeon forge branch you know what I’m talking about this is big upside down buildings we were down in pigeon forge it is a 60 foot high ropes course ha ha 60 foot how many of you would say that’s never happening I’m never going on a 60 foot high high ropes course okay yeah I thought so too I was um my kids were going so daddy had to go and my wife could not because of having the baby so i’m like i gotta go so here i go up this thing i get weighed way too close to the uh weight limit just that’s in the back of your mind you know i’m saying like i’m looking way up there’s like one rope and you’re up there and you’ve got the safety rope okay that safety rope is going to keep you safe it will can i ask you a question if I was up at 60 feet, it’s the highest indoor ropes course in the country, those wonderworks. If I was up at 60 feet and the workers said, you know what, actually we’re required to tell you, you have to take the safety rope off to cross this. You got to be radical up here, brother. Come on, go across. You got to be radical. I would look at them and say, you’re an idiot.

I mean, I had to act brave. Lauren’s in the room. I had to act brave. She was way braver than I was. Okay, I’m telling you right now. Okay, it was terrifying. I looked out and I couldn’t even see the ground, but it’s a long way down. That thing gives way. Hmm, yeah. Hmm, long way down, okay. What if somebody said, okay, you’re up 60 feet basically in your life and it seems impossible, take off that safety rope. Because God wants you to be radical and go all in.

No, no, no, no, no, no, no. No way, no way. But you don’t know, young persons, and you take off that safety rope. You get away from all the lifesavers you think should be there. And you step out in that rope. God Almighty grabs you and says, I’ll take you across.

Young person, you’re sitting there thinking, I can’t do it. There’s no way I can get rid of this sin. There’s no way I can surrender my life to full-time service. It seems impossible. God’s going to call me to Timbuktu, put me in the middle of nowhere. I’ll never see my family again, and I’ll die early. You might. But wouldn’t you want to do that serving God and living your life in luxury and being away from God for the rest of your life? God will be there right with you every step of the way. It’s worth it. Has everything in your life been given to God with no reserves? Worldly dress, music, books, movies, your language, your thoughts, the pornography, the wrong relationships? What has God dealt with you about? What are you not willing to give up, young person? Is God the master of your life? Let me tell you, if you’re going to be mature, you have to give everything to God.

Mike, Elisha, it’s time to kill the cows. It’s time to burn the plows, but not only absolute strength, but number two, we have to move quickly. Actively seeking after God.

Actively seeking. 2 Kings 2, please. Move quickly. 2 Kings 2. This is where Elijah is about to go to heaven. When we pick up the story, we see Elisha back here. And what is happening? He’s right with him. He was anointed. He followed after. And chapters later, we come back. Here’s Elijah. Boom. Right by his side, Elisha. And look at verse number one. It came to pass when the Lord would take up Elijah into heaven by a whirlwind that Elijah went with Elisha from Gilgal. And he said to him, Elisha said to Elisha, Terry here, I pray thee, for the Lord has sent me to Bethel. And Elisha said unto him, as the Lord liveth and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee.

Multiple times that happens. And I don’t know if Elijah was trying to test him. Maybe he was. But Elisha looks at him and says, oh, no, no, no. I’m following after you because by following after you, this is following after my calling. And I will not stop following after what God has in my life.

Look at verse number five, number three.

So unto the prophet said, knowest thou that the Lord will take away thy master from thy head today?

What does he say? It’s the biblical equivalent to, excuse me for all the little kids in the room, Shut up. Yea, I know it. Hold ye your peace.

Stop. I don’t know why the boys were saying that, but they were saying it to Elisha. But Elisha was focused here, young people, on God’s will. He was focused on God’s will. He stayed with his mentor. He stayed with the one that God had used to call him to God’s will. He wanted to be where God wanted to be. He would have done anything, gone anywhere with Elijah. Elijah and he was teachable. Young person, are you teachable? Are you teachable? Man, are you that person that your youth pastor comes to and says, hey, can I talk to you about something? And you’re like, what about? They pull you aside and they talk to you about it and you get excuses. You lay down every bit of smoke screen. You try to obscure all the facts. Are you that guy? Are you that girl? or are you teachable? You say, you know what? I’m sorry.

Are you humble? Elijah was, Elisha was humble. We’ll see later when I can look at this in this message. But in chapter three, he even washed the hands of Elijah. He did things. He did menial tasks for Elijah because he just wanted to serve.

He was actively seeking after he was focused on God’s will. These young men, these friends of the prophets, they knew Elijah was going to heaven that day. They knew it, but they just chirped. They weren’t following after Elijah. They were just talking and they were just watching.

And verses number eight, from time to save, we’ve got to move quickly. Verse number eight, he took his mantle. Elijah took his mantle. He wrapped it together. He smote the waters. An unbelievable miracle. Splits the waters in half and he goes. And he says in verse number nine, Elijah said, Elisha, ask what I shall do for thee before I be taken away from thee. And Elisha said, I pray thee a double portion of thy spirit be upon me. And Elijah says back, thou hast asked a hard thing. Nevertheless, if thou see me when I’m taken from thee, it shall be so unto thee. But if not, it shall not be so. And we know what happens. He sees them go and he gets the double portion. That’s not just twice as much, though. Honestly, he did 16 miracles to Elijah’s eight. But it was the birthright of being the successor to Elijah. It wasn’t just the prophet. He wanted God’s spirit with him. Young person, Elisha wanted God’s power.

A young person who is actively seeking after God knows he can’t do it without the power of the Holy Spirit through him. Young person, we’ve talked about this. We’re all conquerors, but when we’re sinners, we’re sinners. We’re losers too, aren’t we? In placement, what God has told us and the truth of the word of God, we are conquerors. We can live like that. But man, oh man, we need God’s power to do that, right?

he was desirous of God’s power he wanted a double portion it wasn’t all about him and I think people say oh he wanted no he’s just saying God please use me please use me like you did Elijah and what happens before what happens let me be conscious with the sons of the prophets look what they did verse number seven and 50 men of the sons of the prophets went and stood to view afar off and they two stood by Jordan. So the two guys are about to go across. They just watched. These young men loved the title of sons of the prophets. Observation, not participation. They were passive. There was no intensity of following after God. Young person, I will tell you right now, teens and college students are the greatest potential group to serve God anywhere in the world because you have energy. Multiple preachers have mentioned this. I have gotten tired watching you just do life these two days. Okay. Not just cheering and things, just literally walking the halls. I’m like, yeah, I’m tired doing, watching you. You have energy that I wish I had. And I think I think, I think I have, cause I have a two-year-old, you know, so I think I’m trying to wait. I don’t have that kind of energy. You guys are built for this. You’re built to be able to serve God. But teens and college students can also flip and be the most passive and just lay back and do nothing. You can observe. No intensity. So let me ask you this question. Are you actively seeking God today? What does that look like? Are you pursuing him, talking to Jesus, seeking his word, reading the Bible, and learning about Jesus? Are you talking to the older men and women like Elijah in your life? Are you seeking counsel? Are you being directed by Jesus? Let me ask you a question. Are you doing what Ray of Boom did and going to your peers and hanging out there? Are you finding your pastor, finding your youth pastor, finding their wives? Are you finding the older men and women in your church who love God and sitting at their feet and say, talk to me, I want to learn from you. I want to go mow your yard and I will sit in your house and I’ll maybe drink a cup of iced tea with you. And I’m going to learn from the 70 years of experience of you serving God. When’s the last time you purposefully young person went to an older person and say, I want to learn from you about God. Teens and college students don’t do that a lot, but I’ll tell you when they do, it changes their life.

Elisha, he was called of God, but I don’t think he would have been the prophet of God without the training and the personal investment of Elijah himself.

Seek after God. Active seeking. Number three, we’re done. Ambitious service for God. Maybe you want to be used by God. You want to live your calling now. Number one, get it all out. Absolute surrender. Get all in for God. Number two, seek after God with your whole heart. Go after it all. And number three, ambitious service for God. Elijah, let no grass grow under his feet. Once Elijah was taken, look at verse 13. He took also the mantle of Elijah that fell from him, went back, stood by the bank of Jordan, and he took the mantle of Elijah that fell from him and smote the waters. Okay, he got it. Where is the Lord God of Elijah when he also spit in the waters? They parted thither and thither and hither and thither, and Elijah went over. Guys, ladies and gentlemen, listen very carefully. Elijah died. He didn’t go, oh no, oh no, what do I do? I don’t know, no, no. Elisha, folks, was not just following after Elijah like a little duckling behind the duck. He was living his calling alongside of his mentor. He was all in for his God. And when Elijah died, Elisha, I guess, he was sad and he grieved, but he wasn’t going, oh no, what do I do? He grabbed the mantle. and he said, those waters are going to part. I’m going to serve my God just like he did. What did God do? I don’t know. I’m not going to do that. God looked down at that man. That’s my man right there. He’s all in for me and he parted those waters. And God can only do miracles. Only God. It’s not like Elisha had something special, but he was serving his God. And young person, you want to see miracles in your life? You want to see God use you? Pick up the mantle and say, God, I want to be used today.

what about the sons of the prophets they came in verse 15 immediately bowed down they understood the authority Elisha had but they also wanted to be close to the leader and how do we know this look at verse 16 they all saw Elijah go they heard about it or what they saw it and he’s gone in a whirlwind to heaven he’s gone and what do they say look at verse 16 behold thou there will be servants 50 strong men let them go we pray thee and seek thy master let’s peradventure this pure of the lord has taken him and cast him on some mountain what or some valley and what did elisha said ye shall not send otherwise known as uh no

and they kept pressing him and they kept pressing him and they kept pressing him a commentator said this it’s amazing that all these sons of the prophets heard from the lord of the supernatural event to come that day. They knew it was coming, but then responded to the supernatural with a natural action. He literally went to heaven, guys. You saw it happen across the river. He’s gone. Now you’re going to come to Elisha, who you just saw split the water and go, I think God might have chucked him on a mountain somewhere. And Elisha goes, no, absolutely not. They hit him so hard he just said okay go just just go so they went and guess what three days 50 men did they find him no he was in heaven and he comes back and basically he says uh i told you so in verse number 18

these men who were good kids in the youth group they were good kids but they had these little side quests and they had these other little ideas and they they looked good they knew what to say but they weren’t doing God’s will for their life.

Elisha was, he was all in. Young person, are you doing some intense, intentional service for God? How are you doing in your church? Have you jumped into outreach ministry, music ministry, Jones ministry? Have you jumped into any of the special days, the work days? Are you there when your pastor needs you? Are you there when your youth pastor needs you? Are you pushing to get to church? Are you there for Sunday school? Are you actively serving? Are you in on the front lines of what’s happening? When the doors are open, do you volunteer to serve when called upon? Young person, are you a part of ministry? Do you serve? Do you actively serve?

Well, if you’re not surrendered, it’s hard to serve.

And if you’re not seeking, it’s hard to serve.

This world is desperately needed for a life of these young people. It’s time to live your calling now. We’ll be done with this one quick little story. There was a young man. Don’t move. Stay still. A young man named James Stewart, born to a Christian home, lived in Scotland, was saved at age 14.

He testified that as a new believer, he laid hold of Jesus’ promise of rivers of living water, and he prayed to be holy Christ’s, what he described as giving 100% to Christ and receiving 100% from Christ. Within that same year, are you hearing me? How old was he? 14. Within the same year, he began open-air preaching on the streets of Glasgow. 14 year olds, raise your ear can you imagine open air preaching right now in Milwaukee or Chicago or New York City he in his book he talks about wearing a signboard with pleas to the unsaved people at soccer matches, big letters he was met with catcalls and derisive remarks but he still did it he’d walk up and down the stands with signboards back and forth sandwich boards and just say you need to go to heaven, you know, all these things soon after he labored with the open london open air mission and by age 18 he founded a border region outreach that preaching across the scottish english border 18 in 1934 age 24 he went to eastern europe and he saw revivals everywhere across europe in his lifetime world war ii kind of stopped that in the middle he came back and did it again god used the life of james stewart but what’s so amazing is that at 14 he got saved didn’t go yeah he got saved and jumped right into serving god You know, some of you have been saved since you were two.

Have you served God yet?

James Stewart, Evan Roberts, David Brainerd, George Whitfield, C.T. Sutton, the list could go on. Those are young men, young people, and their wives who God used to change the world. Young person, will you add your name to that list today? Will you live your calling now?