You would turn back to first Kings chapter 19 and we will take a few minutes to look into the life and ministry of Elijah. Elijah, the mentor In the past, we referred to the relationship between Timothy and Paul. Y'all are familiar with both of them, apostle Paul and Timothy. Paul thought of Timothy as his, you might know what he called him? His son in the faith, okay?

A son in the faith that grew into Paul's fellow helper or fellow minister in the ministry of the gospel. Paul clearly saw it as his responsibility to mentor and to teach this young man how to be a servant of the Lord and how to be a preacher of the gospel. As we age in life, our ministry can what? Can change. Life changes in many different ways.

As we mature in life, this is one of those areas. Our ministry may change as well. As we mature as servants of Christ, one of our responsibilities is to disciple or to mentor others, to train those younger in age, and faith to us to be mature and stable servants of Jesus Christ. Not only for their benefit but also for the glory of Christ and the continuing proclamation of the gospel which saves men's souls. We have a responsibility, Christian.

Not only to be a light and testimony for Christ, not only to share the gospel of the good news but we have a responsibility to help to train, to disciple, and to mentor others that they may grow with God's help and grace into the mature Christian individuals and servants that God has called them to be. There are several people in my life that help to disciple and mentor me. There was a pastor. His name was John Riggs. John Riggs was my pastor growing up.

He is the one who met me at the altar the night I came down to trust Christ as my savior. He is the one who prayed with me there. He is the one that faithfully taught the word of God to me as a young man. There was another fellow. His name was Mike Womack.

He was my youth director. He was volunteer. He didn't get paid anything. The church I grew up in was a little bit larger than this but not a whole lot and brother Mike worked a full time job but he was my youth director and he was a good example to us. I had teachers.

I went to a Christian school. I had one teacher. His name was mister Buckwalter. That's an easy name to remember. Buckwalter.

I don't know if you've any anybody else known a Buckwalter. Oh, somebody Carol has known a Buckwalter. Anyway, he was my science teacher in in high school, in a Christian school but he was a mentor to me. He not only piqued my interest in science but also in how it fit into the word of God and into the Christian life. I had another teacher.

His name was Greg Alderman. He was my Bible teacher. He kept aggravating me in high school because he kept telling me, I think the Lord wants you to go into ministry. I think you have the spiritual gift of pastor, teacher and I kept kept kind of yeah, okay. You know, I shrugged it off.

Why did I shrug it off? Well, this, I couldn't get up in front of people and say my name. Nonetheless, preach a sermon. The Lord helped to break me in a little bit by singing but I'd get up to sing in front of church and I I I never said the song. I never said my name.

I never introduced myself. I just got up, sang, sat down. It was it, okay? But eventually, the Lord got a hold of my heart but Greg Alderman had a little a little part in that and there are many others teachers, professors, and and college, friends. My pastor in Georgia where I was youth pastor for twelve years and my mom and dad.

Had very many disciplers and mentors in my life that played a part in God's discipleship of me and in my training. They are important. God uses us to affect the lives of others for him. It says in Matthew 28, he said, go into all the world. He said, go make disciples of all nations.

Baptizing them in the name of the father, the son, of the Holy Spirit. Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you. What does God want us to do? He wants us to to make disciples to give them the gospel that they might be saved and then, new Christians need to be baptized and then, they need to be what? They need to be taught all things.

They need to be discipled. They need to be trained. You say, but pastor, you do that. You get up here and you preach and yes, that is part of that process but that's not the only part of that process. You may play a part in that process.

To somebody younger in the faith than you. You may do it at home. You may do it at work. You may do it at school. You may do it at church.

You might be a Sunday school teacher. Paul took that responsibility very seriously He took the responsibility of discipling those he led to the Lord seriously. He wrote letters back to the churches to help train them when he couldn't be there. He sent people back like Timothy to help train them and he, yes, trained Timothy and Titus in and others. In second Timothy two two, Second Timothy two twenty two, it says, Paul writing to Timothy and the things which thou hast learned of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men who shall be able to teach others also.

What is Paul doing here? He's telling Timothy's motivating, he's encouraging Timothy's challenging Timothy. You go and you find others, others. Now, he's sending Timothy to be a pastor. So, there was already a congregation.

He needed to take those congregation, that congregation. He needed to teach them and train them, train them how to train others so that the ministry would watch, grow and continue. If you notice, we don't have a church of 50 young people. We have a few young people. Praise, praise the Lord.

Couple of em are sitting up here on the front row. Alright and couple are back here in children's church. But if you're a more mature and older Christian I challenge you to assist me. In training the next generation we do have. And going and finding others.

And training them. So that this ministry will continue and what? And grow. It is God's way. And we see that in our story this morning in Elijah.

We see a change taking place in Elijah's ministry. He had ministered largely all alone during the first half of his ministry but the Lord had some greater ministry for him now. The mentoring ministry. I'm reminded also of Joshua and Moses. You know, Joshua was chosen to lead Israel into Canaan after Moses passed off the scene.

Do we read about Joshua before God chose him? Yes, we do. We read about him several times. Before God chose him to take Moses's place and to lead Israel into Canaan. Who was Joshua before he became the leader?

He was the servant of who? He was the servant of Moses. He was the assistant of Moses. Moses trained Timothy as Timothy served Moses and then when Moses's time was done, who was ready? Timothy, I mean, Timothy, sorry.

Joshua. Joshua was then what? Joshua was ready to take Moses place. We will see Elijah's ministry as a prophet of Israel did continue till his death but he was blessed to have a tag along. The rest of his ministry, his tag along's name, Elisha.

And a school of prophets that he trained in a place city called Bethel. Elijah had become a teacher. As well as a prophet. Elijah had become a mentor to someone who would follow in his footsteps and would carry on his ministry. Where was Elijah when we left off last week?

Well, he was in a cave in Mount Horeb. God had brought them there. God brought him there to revive him. For Elijah desperately needed revival, didn't didn't he? The Lord did revive him.

As we concluded last week, there may be times in your life also when you need revival. When God brings us to our cave, our our our place of humility, a solitary place, a rugged place to revive us, to refocus us also on the ministry which lies before us. There may be times when we come to the end of ourselves. Don't faint. Don't despair.

For it's when we are at the end of ourselves, when we are weak, that he is what? That he is strong. That Christ can make us strong. Not in the flesh but in the what? In the spirit.

So, he did for Elijah who left his cave with a renewed zeal and commitment to the ministry that God had given him. He left there. He went and took care of the things God had told him to do. God gave him clear instructions. One of the things he was he was supposed to do was to find this young man, Elisha, that he might mentor and disciple and teach him to one day take Elijah's place.

Look if you would again in verse 19 of chapter 19. So, he departed thence and found Elisha, the son of Shaphat, who was plowing with 12 yoke of oxen before him and he was with the twelfth and Elijah passed by him and cast his mantle upon him and he left the ox and ran after Elijah and said, let me, I pray thee, kiss my father and mother, and then I will follow thee. And he said unto him, go back again for what have I done to thee? And he returned back from him and took a yoke of oxen and slew them and boiled their flesh with the instruments of the oxen, gave it unto the people and they did eat, then he arose and went after Elijah and ministered unto him. Let's stop for just a moment and I'd like to go to the Lord in prayer once more.

Lord, thank you. For your word today. Lord, we've been moving kind of quickly up to this point Lord, I pray that you would help us, Lord, to slow down a bit and allow the word of God and the importance of this passage and what you have to teach us to soak in this morning. Lord, I pray that you would use us as Elijah to minister to others but I pray also that we would be Elisha's also. And Lord to be willing to be ministered unto.

To learn, to grow, and to follow you. Lord, I I thank you Lord for the blessings that you have poured out upon our church and particularly upon my family and my own life. Lord, I pray that you would help us all to see. That if we are willing to follow you, they're willing to leave behind those things which hold us down and hold us back and let go. Lord, that you can bless us in ways that we can only imagine.

You will never fail us. We thank you Lord for that and for Jesus Christ, our savior today. May you do a mighty work and bring glory to you. In Jesus name, amen. So, we meet Elisha Where did Elijah find Elisha?

What was he doing? Well, he was doing something, wasn't he? He was working in his what? He was working in his field. He was working in his garden.

He was plowing up the ground. He was a man of diligence. He was a man of hard work. This young man was no slouch. He was overseeing the plowing of the fields of his and his family's property.

He was not just overseeing and supervising but he was actually doing part of the work himself. He was out there. He was on the last pair of oxen with the last of 12 pairs of oxen and 12 plows plowing up the fields preparing them for the planting to provide for his family and for others. He was a man of diligence. God calls people who he considers faithful in putting them into the ministry.

The apostle Paul thanked the Lord for counting him faithful and putting him into the ministry. The Lord calls faithful and diligent people into the service of the Lord Jesus Christ. Before the apostle Paul met the Lord on the road to Damascus, he is commonly known by a different name. That name was Saul. Saul of Tarsus.

Saul the persecutor of Christians. Saul the arresting arm policing arm of the Sanhedrin, the ruling council in Jerusalem to eradicate the gospel and Christians from Judaism. He believed that the way of Christ, that the gospel of Christ, that the people of Christ were a cancer in his religion of Judaism and he was going to root them out and he did it with zeal and he did it with diligence and he did it faithfully. Sadly, he was doing all the wrong thing as he found out that day on the road to Damascus. He was kicking against the pricks, the spurs of his creator, his Lord, his God, his redeemer.

The one who would come to save his people from their what? From their sins. He was fighting God. He wasn't serving God. There are people like that out there today.

They are what? They're deceived. They think they're serving God but they're not. They're spreading a false gospel. They're spreading lies.

Paul was doing that and if Christ hadn't stopped him on the road to Damascus that day, if it weren't for the grace of God, he would have paid the price. For his, the error of his way. But I want you to notice one thing about Paul even before he came to Christ. What kind of man was Paul? He was a diligent man.

He was a zealous man. He was zealous for the wrong thing but when he came to Christ, he took that zeal and he took that same fervor and he took that same diligent work ethic and he turned it and he gave it to who? He gave it to Christ and he became the apostle that the world couldn't stop. City to city to city. Satan tried again and again and again and every time Paul got up, beaten, bruised, mocked, and he just went simply went to the next city and he started all over again.

Who does God use? Well, he uses the diligent. Those who are willing to work because serving the Lord does take what? It does take work. Jesus says to his disciples, there there is a price.

Count the what? Count the cost. Because if you're going to serve Christ, there is a cost. There is a cost. You must be faithful and diligent.

Second Timothy two two again, and things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to what? Faithful men. Faithful in their faith but faithful also in their work. People that you can what? Depend on.

God needs people he can depend on. Do you ever see a lack of that today? Is it just me? Or is there a a absence of commitment on the part of Christians today? I believe in many cases there is.

And you know, if you fear that as you, there's a fix for it. Confess your sins, he is faithful in what? To forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If you've been complacent, stop being complacent. Ask the Lord to forgive you.

Get back in the battle. Get off the sideline. You can be diligent and you can be faithful. This young man was plowing his field. There were 12 yokes of oxen and 12 plows.

That tells me something about his family and he himself, they were somewhat successful and somewhat also a people of means. You know, God uses people from all walks of life and various backgrounds. The determining factor is not wealth. The determining factor is not fame. The determining factor is not IQ.

The determining factor is not skill. Determining factor is faith and availability. And as we'll see, in Elisha, he had both. Faith and availability. He made himself available like Peter and John and Levi and Paul.

People with differing backgrounds, differing skill sets but God used them all because they were what? Because they made themselves available. Are you willing to make yourself available for what God has for you? You know, a lot of times, the problem isn't that there is that there is no ministry or there's no one around us for us to minister to or to help or to mentor, disciple. The problem is we are just not making ourselves what?

Available. If you will make yourself available, God will find a ministry for you. It may not be in a pulpit. It may not be as a deacon or a Sunday school teacher. But he will find you a ministry Ministry doesn't come with a office label.

Ministry comes with a person to whom to minister. It doesn't have to be a group. It can just be what? It can just be one. If we will make ourselves available.

That is most important. What what did Elisha do when Elijah found him? Elijah threw threw upon Elijah his mantle. It's an outer piece of clothing like a scarf. It signified his desire for Elisha to what?

To come with him, to follow him. In Elijah's case, to be a what? To be a prophet. That's what his mantle. When he threw it over Elisha, he walked up to him, threw his mantle around him.

Elisha knew. What God was asking of him. This displayed total obedience upon Elijah's part. As far as we know, Elijah did not know anything about who? Elisha.

He didn't know this young man personally but he offered him the office to which the Lord had called him and with thus by grace empower him to fulfill it. He did, he trusted not in his side or his eyes. He didn't say, well, Lord, I'll I'll I'll call Elisha. I'll do what you say but first, give me a chance to get to to know him or to do this or to do that. No.

God had specifically told him, you go find Elisha, you throw your mantle on him. And he's going to take your place when your time is up and Elijah, what he, what did he do? He walked up to this man plowing his field. He took his mantle and he threw it over. He trusted in whose will and in whose determination.

He trusted in God's wisdom. And not in his own. That's faith. Faith is trusting in God's wisdom and when God asks us and tells us to do something, when the holy spirit pricks us in the heart and said, I wanted you to go talk to so and so. I want you to go tell so and so this.

I want you to go give the gospel to so and so. I want you to consider taking on that ministry that I have laid on your heart. Faith is simply trusting God and then taking a step in that direction. Okay, God? That's what you're I'm going to take a step in that direction.

I'm stepping out in faith. That's what Elijah did. He stepped out in faith. He did what God told him to do. And it doesn't seem he regretted it.

His gesture seemed to be immediately recognized by Elisha must have understood it. This would also lead us to believe that God was already preparing the heart of who? The heart of Elisha. Before Elijah ever knew him Reminds me of Jesus calling the fishermen along the shore to follow him. In Matthew four nineteen and he say it unto them, follow me and I will make you fishers of men and they straightway left their nets and followed him.

Was that the first time that Jesus had met them? In this case, that answer is no. It's not. He had already met these men down in Judea. They already knew who he was and he already knew who they were.

What had he been doing? He had been preparing them for what? He had been preparing them for the ministry. Been pairing preparing them for the next step. I believe God had already was in the work of preparing Elisha.

It didn't doesn't seem to surprise Elisha when Elijah walks up and put the mantle. You thought Elisha would be, what? You know, what are you doing? Yeah, what what's this? You know, but no, he accepted it.

Why? Because God was already working in his life and working in his heart and preparing him for the ministry that God was going to call him to to do. Maybe God is preparing you day today for such a ministry in the future. Though you may not even be aware of it. You know, a lot of times we're not even aware of what God is doing.

When I look back and I look back to high school and I look at my friends and I look at opportunities I had. Now, I look back and I say, oh, I see where God was doing what? He was preparing me. But I didn't see it then. In high school, I certainly didn't see it.

I had friends that were needy and I was all the time having to help them with their needs. And that was an irritation It seemed like I was always the one having to reach out to them but you know something God was doing what? He was preparing me for the work of the ministry and you may not see it now. But God is preparing you for the next step in your ministry. It may be a ministry of prayer.

It may be a ministry of encouragement, of phone calls, or or cards you send out to people. May have a ministry of a Bible study with someone. It may be a ministry of helping those who are in need in other ways. There is a ministry. God is preparing you, has been for that next step, the next part of that ministry.

I don't know what that is necessarily. You may not even know what that is but what are we called to be now? We're called to be faithful. It is required in stewards that a man be found what? Faithful.

Right where he is right now. God doesn't show a come and say, okay, sit down here. I'm going to show you my will for your life, okay? Here we go. Let me put the the DVD in and you can sit here and watch the movie of what's going to happen five years and ten years and twenty years down the road.

This is what I have for you now and then ten years. No, God doesn't do it like that. It's like that old time slideshow. Slides, you know, that the carousel thing that you put the little slides in? And he goes click and the next slide comes up and says, okay, this is what I want you to do today.

So, why do we need to be focused on? Today, what does God want me to do today? And then after you're faithful and you learn and you grow in that, God says, okay, click. Here's the next slide. Here's what I want you to do this day.

And little by little, God changes us, God molds us, God prepares us for the next one. The next step, the next ministry. I believe God was doing that in Elisha's life. There's a song that said that I sings as little as much when God is in it. Labor not for wealth or fame.

There's a crown and you can win it if you go in Jesus name. Little as much when God is in it. Don't look at your ministry you're called to now as little be faithful in whatever it is. And it will grow. How did Elisha respond?

He accepted Elijah's offer without hesitation. A man of piety and devotion to God above all else. He was one of those 7,000 who hadn't bowed the knee to Baal. He requested Elijah the opportunity to say goodbye to his family which Elijah granted while reminding him of God's because it wasn't Elijah's call, was it? This wasn't Elijah's call on his life.

This was whose call on his life. This was God's call on his life but he said, go ahead, say bye. And Elisha did. He wasn't like the man that we read about in the New Testament where Christ said, his man said to Christ, well, I'll follow you but let me first go bury my father. Well, it seems that his father wasn't probably actually dead yet.

He wanted to wait till his father died until he followed Christ. Now, that wasn't Elisha. Elisha said, just hold on a minute. I'll be back. And he went to say what?

And he went to say goodbye. That quickly. That quickly. He killed the oxen and he gave the oxen to his family, a parting gift. But more than that, a demonstration of his surrender to the call of who?

To call of God. Those oxen were his what? There was life. Those oxen were the results of his labor. Those oxen were his career.

And without a lot of thought or hesitation. He took those oxen and he killed them. And he gave them to his family. A parting gift to them, yes, but a demonstration of his surrender to God. He was burning the what?

He was burning the bridges behind him. He was burning the bridges behind him. He left no earthly attachments. He let them go. Matthew sixteen twenty four says, Jesus said to his disciples, if any man will come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.

What is Christ saying? You have to break those ties. You have to burn those bridges. You have to deny the goals and ambitions you had in life that are contrary to the goals and ambitions God has for you in life. Now, sometimes those goals and ambitions can work together but sometimes they're contrary.

The ones that are contrary, they have to be what? They have to be let go. You gotta break those ties. You gotta burn those bridges. Just Paul said, you have to leave the forget the things which are what?

Behind and reach forth unto those things which are before and God has a great before in front of you. For some of us, it maybe months, it maybe years, it maybe decades. None of us really know. For some of us that think we have decades, it maybe months. We don't know that.

But as long as you're here, there is a before before you. Don't get stuck in the past. Don't allow the things of the past to hold you back. Cut those ties. Burn those bridges.

And keep moving what? Forward in faith for Jesus Christ. The Lord always knows best. God knew Elijah needed a companion. God knew Elijah needed a pupil to be of comfort to him, to be a companion to him, and to help to focus his attention on somebody else and not just himself.

You know, it really helps to have somebody else. This is one of the wonderful things about the ministry. You know, I have issues in my life just as you have issues in your life but you know something? Being in the ministry if you are sincere about it, causes you to focus on what? On other people.

On others. And on what the Lord is doing in your life and what the Lord is doing in what? Their life. We get despondent and we despair and we get depressed when we're all focused on who? Ourselves.

That was Elijah's problem. He got all inward focus and he got depressed and he despaired and God says, you need to get your eyes off of yourself and put your eyes on others and he gave him another to focus on. Philippians two, three, and four, let nothing be done through strife or vain glory but in loneliness of mind, let each esteem other better than themselves. Look not every man on his own things but every man also on the things of others. What's the key to joy and fulfillment in the Christian life?

It's getting your eyes off of who? Yourself and your own problems and getting your eyes on others and how you might minister to them and challenge them and comfort them and pray for them and help them. When you do that, the things that seem like mountains in your own life get smaller and smaller and smaller. And as you see God work in the lives of others, your joy just overflows. Elijah, God knew what Elijah needed.

He needed who? He needed Elisha but you know something, Elisha also needed who? Elijah. God knew Elisha needed a mentor. He knew he needed a teacher to help him become the prophet that God wanted him to be.

We need each other. Hebrews ten twenty five reminds us of that. Not forsaking the assembling of yourselves as the as the manner of some is but exhorting one another and so much the more as you see the day approaching. Not forsaking the some of yourselves together. Why?

Because we need why? We need each other. We need each other. You know, I fear that one of the the tools that Satan is using to try to weaken us as Christians is keeping us from gathering together. And that's why it's so important that we do.

We need to gather together because we need each other. It makes us stronger. We need each other. Elisha needed Elijah. I need you.

You need me. You need the person behind you or beside you. We're all important to each other. I wish we could see that more than we do. That's why we are together together to not forsake the assembling of ourselves.

Jesus knew that when he said, I will build my church in the gates of hell will not prevail against it. He knew that we'd need each other. And so he gave you to me and me to you. That we might help one another and then finally, God also needed these men to do the work he had for them. Sometimes alone, but for a while, together.

Enjoy the times that you have together. Sometimes, you might find that you're alone but whether you're alone or whether you're together with someone else, we need to follow and trust in the Lord. What does God have for you to do now? It is a is it a time to be mentored? If you're a younger person, it might be the time for you to be mentored.

Or is it time for you to be a mentor? Is it a time for you to be still and listen and learn? Or a time to get busy about your father's business? What is the time that God has called you to now? Ask him.

Seek his will. Seek for someone you can learn from. Or someone that can learn from you. And I pray that we all will look to the Lord Jesus Christ and his word so we can learn from him. For he is the greatest mentor of all.

Let's pray. Dear heavenly father, thank you Lord. For the example of Elijah and Elisha, their faith and willingness to serve, for making themselves available to you, for picking back up in Elisha's Elijah's case, the the task that you set before him. Lord, for the faithfulness, diligence of Elisha. For Lord, how you use them together to encourage one another, and to be stronger in the ministry for Jesus Christ.

Lord, I pray that you'd make us stronger together the ministry of Jesus Christ. I pray that we would look for opportunities to help and assist and to mentor one another. I pray Lord for some here this evening who have so much to give that you would find help them to find someone to whom they can give and whom they can teach and disciple and I pray Lord for some here that are younger that they would look and be willing to learn from those. Who you have given great wisdom and who have grown and matured in the faith. That they too would grow into ministers and mentors for Jesus Christ and we pray Lord if there's one here this morning that's never trusted Jesus Christ as Lord and savior that they come to you today in faith to be saved even as we sing this hymn of invitation in Jesus name we pray.

Amen.