Summoned From The Plow | Jean Rebecca

All right. All right. All right.

Can you hear me out there?

>> Can we say praise the Lord?

>> Praise the Lord.

>> Can you say praise the Lord?

>> Praise the Lord.

>> Can you say hallelujah?

>> Hallelujah.

>> Can you say hallelujah?

>> Hallelujah.

>> Let's give a shout for the kingdom and

for Jesus.

>> Oh yeah.

>> Amen. Shabbakallelujah. That's a new

one.

Let's go ahead into it. Um, I'm excited

to bring you the word. Of course, man. I

just had a birthday, y'all. I just want

to share that with y'all.

I'm a I'm um little older than um you

know Yeah. than last year, you know. And

uh I'm grown, folks. I'm grown.

It's amazing. We keep aging, but yet in

Christ, we still always feel like a

baby. Amen.

>> And I think And I thank you that um we

are um children in the arms of the

living God.

We can be anywhere right now, but yet we

are in his presence where there's

fullness of joy. Regardless of the

fatigue of the body, the weariness of

the mind, and where we may think we are

in the flesh, beloved, you are in the

presence

of the Lord.

Today, um, I want to bring you a word

that's going to be from First Kings,

1 Kings 19 · chapter mention

chapter 19. And, um, I I want to kind of

marry it with, um, Matthew chapter 5.

Matthew 5 · chapter mention

So, just in case um in these next 30 35

minutes or so that I'm going to be

sharing with you that um something gets

lost in the sauce, um if you would go in

your secret place and read First Kings

1 Kings 19 · chapter mention

chapter 19 and Matthew chapter 5, um I

Matthew 5 · chapter mention

believe that God will um will give you

some nutrients for the year. Amen.

Um my base is coming from first Kings

1 Kings 19 · chapter mention

chapter 19 19-20.

Um verse 19 says, "So Elijah went from

there and found Elisha son of Chafet. He

was plowing with 12 yolk of oxen and he

himself was driving the 12 pair. Elijah

went up to him and threw his cloak

around him. Elisha left his oxen and ran

after Elijah. "Let me kiss my father and

mother goodbye," he said, "and then I

will come with you." "Go back," Elijah

replied. "What have I done to you?" The

title of this message is summoned from

the plow. Let's pray.

Father, we enter your courts with

thanksgiving and with praise. We thank

you, God, for the ability to come in.

And as our great physician and our great

rabbi,

we welcome you into this place. We sit

at your feet. We honor you. Give us your

word, God, and send forth healing. Give

us your word and let it be nutrients to

our souls. Give us your word, Lord God,

and set us free and heal us, Lord. we

gracefully, gracefully, God, enter into

your courts with thanksgiving. In Jesus

name we pray. Amen. Amen. And amen

again. All right, let's go go ahead and

get into it. So, um, most of you know I

have two boys. um Malachi who was my

birthday no my um father's day gift born

in June and um Jean Luke who was who was

my birthday gift born on my birthday and

um they have been Yeah. Yeah. They have

been a blessing to me. Yeah, there they

go. Um they have been a blessing to me,

but they've also been um my number one

um pastors and my number one, you know,

learners. I'm forever learning with them

and they are forever helping me to grow

and be be a better person. I thought God

was bringing them in my life for them,

but it seems like God also brought them

in my life for me. Amen. Got to do that

every now and then. And so I recall when

Malachi was about two two three years

old and um he began to teach me some

things and he didn't use his words. He's

just used his actions and he is a

master. He he he loves complimenting his

mom. I mean he'll compliment his mom

from head to toes. He he notice

everything. in um as his his mom's

getting ready, he's like, "Mom, I I I

love your hair. Your hair is beautiful.

You're beautiful, Mom. Your your makeup.

Um your your necklace that matches your

earrings and your your dress all the way

down to to her her shoes and her outfit,

her painted um fingers and her painted

toes. And I'm over here in the sideline

just taking notes and looking and

feeling pitiful for myself. I'm like,

look at this joker in my own house. In

my own house.

I'm taking notes. And now his his little

brother is born. And when his little

brother is born, they seem to tag team

in the initiative of try to outdo dad.

Always growing in my own house, always

learning. And I found out even in my

house, I need flexibility.

And so every morning before they go to

school, I take them to school and I say,

"Hey, hug and kiss your mom goodbye. Hug

and kiss your mom." If I forget, oh,

they forget. I hop and we hop in the

car. We're going to school. Somewhere

down the lines, they say, "Oh, I forgot

to hug and kiss mommy. Let's pick up the

telephone. Give Oh, that's not good

enough. Let's put her on on on the video

chat. Oh, that's not good enough. I need

you to return back home so I could and

so now they want to have a a a a pity

party and they want to cry and moan and

and do all this stuff wanting me to turn

around so they can go and hug and kiss

they mom. I'm I'm I'm learning. I'm

learning. I'm learning.

I um remember when I first had to tell

Malachi when he was about two or three,

he's now five, that his mom was my wife.

I did not know that was something we had

to do.

I I it didn't come in my mind that I

needed to tell my my little boy that his

mom's my wife. That was something new. I

didn't go to that class. So, um I I had

to tell them. Um, and then a few few

weeks ago, I had to tell little Jeanluke

that his mom um was my wife. And those

situations, ladies and gentlemen, is not

pretty environments. Um, it's not in a

good environment that I have to tell my

kid that his mom is my wife. Jean Luke,

um, a few weeks ago, I am cuddling with

my wife. I'm cuddling my wife and he

comes out of his room and he noticed

that I'm cuddling his mom. And so he

comes in and he little buddy shoves me

out the way

extremely upset and says like don't hug

and cuddle his mom. And and um he's

looking in a way like to for me to find

my own mom to go and cuddle with.

So, so I had to take little buddy

respectfully aside and inform him that

his I was here first.

In fact, it's because of me that he's

she's your mom.

And I said, "That's my wife." And he

looked at me and said, "Your wife?"

I said, "Yeah, my wife." And he repeated

it so much that I began to like feel

like I was being set up.

Left it alone. Next day or two, um, he

comes up to me and say, "Hey, did you

hug your wife today?

Did you kiss your wife today?"

And in my hesitation,

he automatically heard no in my

hesitation. And in anger, he said, "Go

hug your wife. Go kiss your wife."

And for THE PAST SEVERAL WEEKS, HE'S

BEEN SAYING the same thing over and over

again. Go hug and kiss your wife. SO

MUCH SO EVEN WHEN HE'S not around, I

have a guilt trip in my head saying,

"Did you hug and kiss your wife today?"

There's a moral

to um the story

and is this. We often overlook the in

between moments, the ones we think don't

matter. But those moments have a way of

mattering the most. They shape us. They

teach us.

They stay with us in ways we could never

imagine.

Ordinary moments have a quiet way of

creating extraordinary impact.

I was reading

first Kings chapter 19 and then

1 Kings 19 · chapter mention

something just in the in that moment of

reading and engaging with the text and

I'm reading the text but I found out the

text is also reading me and as I'm

reading the text something's happens and

have you um ever noticed that sometimes

you're bothered by what God is not

bothered by and so I find myself was

bothered by what God wasn't bothered by

um not not only in the text, but we see

this in our spiritual walk on a

consistent basis where we feel bothered.

And the the thing is, and we we most of

us probably understand this is when we

first get saved at our salvation, our

spirit is automatically connected to

truth. He he our spirit is on go mode.

He wants to go, but yet our our mind

lags on miles behind at times. That is

why um scripture says that uh uh his

thoughts are are high above. He his his

his ways are are high above. And so this

is also why scripture remind us that we

are to be transformed by the renewing of

our mind. And and and he he it reminds

us that

our heart is the gateway that needs to

be protected. whatsoever is pure,

whatsoever is lovely, whatsoever is

noble, te think upon these things. So

our walk

and our training in God helps us to draw

near. Draw nigh to me and I will draw

nigh to you. Um so this closeness puts

us in heavenly places.

And often times um our our spiritual

walk and devotion um is is a measuring

rod onto where we are in our walk and in

our process with God. So if we are

thinking too worldly, we will

immediately notice and try to shun God

in some of his ways. And God sometimes

just want to check us and let us know,

little boy, you're playing checkers

while I'm playing chess.

And so we get into um first king chapter

19 and Elijah who is the the prophet of

of of the moment of the season and of

the time. He is well known. He's popular

and he's he's all over Israelite doing

all kind of damage. And now we find him

in this moment in which he is in hiding.

And while he's in hiding um he's not

seeing God show up the way God normally

show up. He's in a moment of transition

in his m in his life. He's used to

seeing God in the wind. He's used to

seeing God show up in the earthquake.

He's used to seeing God show up in the

fire. But God is not showing up in this

way anymore. And his life and his mind

is troubled. But here comes God in the

stillness. Beloved, you might be going

through a transition in your life. It's

not that God's not showing up, but he's

wanting to maneuver some things in you.

Just because he's not working in ways

that he used to work does not mean that

he's not working at all. He's just

shifting your perspective. He is moving

you just ever so slightly to give you

the instructions of what is to take

place next. So we notice that God did

not yell at him. God did not chastise

him. God did not scream at him. God just

showed up and gently gently gave him

instructions on what to do next for his

next journey.

God wants to give you instructions.

So God gives them instructions and tell

Elijah, "Hey, I want you to anoint I

want you to anoint um Haziel um um king

of Aam. And I want you to anoint Jahu,

king of Israel. And I I want you to

watch this. Anoint Elisha um son of

Shephet. I want you to anoint him as

your um person who's going to replace

you.

I want you to anoint. So here he is

hiding, but God's giving him a charge.

Here's here's the message in that.

These guys

are receiving anointing, but they not

around.

It is God, the heavenly God is having a

conversation about them and about taking

them to the next level, and they they

don't even know about it. God can be

setting you up for a blessing. God can

be setting you up for a next the next

level, the next transition or what you

to be done. These guys, God is setting

them up for sunship, um, kingship, and

they're not even around.

God is wanting to anoint you. Heaven is

having a conversation about you. Heaven

is strategizing about what about you and

loving you all the while while you just

going about your business. I praise God

that he's having a conversation about

me. How about you?

>> I thank God that he's thinking about my

future.

>> I thank God that he has a plan for my

life. God set them up for sunship.

God setting you up for sunship and

daughtership, kingship and queenship.

Amen. Amen.

>> So in this moment, God is working behind

the scenes on your behalf. He's setting

up a holy ambush in your behalf. And we

now find that in verse 19, Elijah goes

to find Elisha. And while he's searching

for Elisha, he walks, this is my

perspective, my story right now. You

know, I can only imagine that he's

looking for Elijah. He Elisha he goes to

the field and he sees 12 yolk of oxins

um are plowing in the field and Elisha

um son of Shephett has one of the 12

of the 12 oxins and he's holding these

oxins and these are big beasts weighing

a ton and he's keeping them straight and

you can imagine in the hot sun um he's

blazing and in the dust of the air as

he's turning these soil and the dirt is

up on his nostril and he is focused on

the work. He is plowing and looking

forward. He is getting the grounds ready

um to be to um ready to to plant so then

one day there can be a harvest and he is

working everything that he's doing. He's

working. What he did yesterday is what

he's doing today and is what he's

thinking he's going to do tomorrow. But

all of a sudden, God just intercepts his

responsibility and say, "Hey, I am

summoning you to another plow." God

wants to summon you to another plow.

Here he is. Listen to this. I It's There

is It is Elijah um that is calling. The

man of God is calling him. It is Elijah

does. Elijah is the man of the hour. He

is that dude but he doesn't have an

entourage. There is no worship. There is

no mountaintop. It is in the normaly of

life. He interrupts in the quietness in

the still of the day. In the middle of

the work God is honoring and blessing

this man taking him to another level.

What is God wanting to do in the normaly

of your life? God is looking to

interrupt your norm.

He wants to interrupt your norm.

God often calls people in quiet everyday

moments.

God's call interrupt normal life.

What is your plow? The thing that makes

obedient feel risky.

And so now we notice that Elijah

goes to Elisha. He takes off his cloak

and his mantle, per se, and he puts it

over Elisha. Elisha immediately stops

what he does with no hesitation and runs

to Elijah.

And he says to Elijah, understanding

what this meant, what this meant, he

said, "First, let me go and let me go

and um um kiss my mother and father

goodbye."

And Elijah's wondering, man, what what

have I done?

You see, it is easy to say yes to God

sometimes when life is crazy.

when when you may be an addict, when you

may be in the lowest of poverty, when

when when life is chaos, but can you

still say yes to God?

Can you still say is yes still in your

heart? Is is the passion to serve God

and bust through walls still in our

hearts?

So it is in this moment that this this

guy called Elisha, son of Shephett,

telling me that he has a good

relationship with mom and dad. So he

wants to go and and kiss them goodbye.

They are in a farm with several oxen. So

it tells us that he's wealthy. It tells

me that life is good. It tells me that

he he has a good future ahead of him. It

tells me that HIS INHERITANCE, HIS STOCK

IS SET UP for him. HE IS GOOD WITH LIFE.

BUT YET EVEN IN GOOD WITH LIFE, HE SAYS,

"I'M ready to say goodbye as God is

calling me today."

>> Are you still willing

>> to say yes to God when things is good?

Beloved, I I know we hear it often, but

America is a beautiful place.

America is a good place.

And sometimes it is easy to be somewhere

good and not realize how good you have

it.

>> That's right.

>> But let me tell you, we have it good.

>> And having it good sometimes don't

always mean that we have God.

>> Good things does not equal God. And you

can be easily tricked into thinking just

because you have you have good, you have

God. And so maybe we might have maybe

discipline, maybe we might have

tradition, maybe we might have religion,

but the question is, do you still have

God? Do you still have obedience? Do you

ha still have it in your heart to just

out of nowhere just leave your plow and

keep moving even when it's good?

We don't want the cryptoc currencies and

the gold in the diamonds and the the the

the bank account that's filled and the

good AC in the house and the the cars

that we drive and the jobs that we have.

We don't want those blessings to be

blinding to us so much so that the we

forget that the reason for the blessing

is so that we can thrust forward with

everything that we have.

And so

God call must be absolute

not half-hearted but f filled with zeal.

When um Elijah asks um what have I done

go back

it is that sense of if you choose this

path

it's not going to be easy.

If you choose this path, you might not

always have it good.

It says of the son of man, "Birds

have their nests,

foxes have their hoes, but the son of

man does not always know where he's

going to lay his head to rest."

It is Elijah who's saying that, "Hey,

consider what you're doing because

sometimes it's going to take a raven to

fly by and feed you. Sometimes you may

sleep in caves. Sometimes the spirit of

Jezebel may try to run you down.

Consider what you're about to do."

And Jesus takes it to another level as

he often does in Luke 9:60. He says

Luke 9:60

Jesus says, "Let the dead bury their own

dead."

In Luke 9:62, he says, "No one who puts

Luke 9:62

his hand to the plow and looks back is

fit for the kingdom of God." In Matthew

Matthew 5:20

5:20,

we notice that it says that unless your

righteousness exceeds that of the

scribes and Pharisees, we will never

enter into the kingdom of heaven. This

is not me. This is your word.

Jesus takes it to another step in

Matthew 5:21 down to 28. Um it says,

Matthew 5:21

"You've heard it said, 'D do not murder,

but I tell you, if you ang if if you're

angry in your heart, you're already

guilty."

Verse 27:28, you heard it said, "Do not

commit adultery." But I tell you, if you

lust, you've already crossed the line.

Ladies and gentlemen, Jesus is not

lowering the standards. He's not

lowering the bar. He's lifting it. He's

not modifying behavior. He's

transforming hearts.

He goes even further in in Matthew

chapter 5:41. He says, "If someone for

forces you to go one mile, you go with

them, too." In other words, don't just

do the bell necessities. Don't stop at

what's required. Go beyond.

Matthew 5:46-47.

Matthew 5:46–47

If you love those who love you, what

reward will you get? Are not even the

tax collectors, thieves, and stealers

doing that? If you greet greet your only

your own people, what are you doing more

than others? Do not even pagans do that?

Don't live your faith in compliance

mode. Go beyond like Abraham and like

David. Refuse to give the Lord a

sacrifice and an offering that does not

cost us anything.

Next we find in verse 21

where Elisha lifts Elisha goes back and

he it says that he finds his ox and then

he slaughter his ox and he burns the

plow and and he goes and makes oxtails.

He he he cooks the ox and then he

service to he serves the community. In

other words, he made up his mind that

he's following Jesus and he's following

God with everything that he has. He is

committed. There is no hesitation in his

walk. And it reminds us what happens in

the type of disciplehip that God is

calling us to back in Matthew chap um 4

18-22.

As Jesus walked besides the waters, he

saw Simon Peter and Andrew casting their

nets. "Come follow me," he said, "and I

will make you fishers of people." At

once, at once they left their nets and

followed him. A little further on, James

and John were mending nets with their

father, Zebedee. Jesus called them, and

immediately they left the boat and their

father and everything familiar behind.

immediately

left everything familiar behind. It's

not

it's not that God is often. It's a

recommmitment to the call. That's what

it is. It's a recommmitment to your yes.

It's a recommmitment to your focus. Is

God still wanting you at the plow in

which you're working? And is the plow

are you so focused on the plow that

you're not focused on the spiritual

walk? God is looking to remove us from

our earthly plow to connect us to our

spiritual plow. So some sometimes it's

not to leave the work that you're doing.

It's recommitting your your your work to

Christ or to God to the work in which

he's called you to do. Amen.

>> I want to tell you this as well. Your

zeal will cost you. Your zeal will cost

you. Um in Psalm 69, David says that um

verse 7-9 um David says, "For I endure

scorn for your sake and shame covers my

face. I am a foreigner to my own family,

a stranger to my own mother's children,

for zeal for your house consumes me, and

the insults of those who insults you

fall on me." when the disciples in John

um 21:17 when Jesus was um uh uh in the

temple flipping um tables and and and

doing what he was doing in the temple

the disciples looked from afar and said

ha what is this is he called it they

said that this was zeal of your house

will consume me this was the zeal that

they saw in Jesus ladies and gentlemen

zeal is not goo just goosebumps zeal is

not just um excitement. Zeal is just not

um happy, joy, go-lucky for the Lord or

I feel good about God. Zeal is action.

Zeal is passion. Zeal is a fight for

contention. Zeal is um defending the

gospel with everything that you have.

That type of zeal, ladies and gentlemen,

will divide your house. That type of

zeal will um will dysfellowship you from

some um events. That type of zeal will

cause cause even your family members to

hate you. That kind of zeal over your

life. When you are that intense about

loving God and doing his work, it's

going to cost you something and it's

going to cost you some things that you

may love and some things that you don't

um want to lose. Relationships break and

sever apart because of zeal for THE

LORD'S HOUSE. DO YOU HAVE ZEAL FOR HIS

HOUSE?

And if you have zeal for his house, then

you just understand what comes with it.

And you bear that burden of being

mocked. You bear the burden, but you

still need to love despite. If your

enemy is hungry, give them something to

eat. If your enemy is thirsty, give them

water to drink. In other words, give

them the living water despite how you're

treated. Give them the word despite how

you're treated. Feed them. Give them

something to drink

>> while they spit in your face and talk

about you behind your back. Hey, cuz

greater is he that is in me than he that

is IN THE WORLD. I KNOW WHO I BELONG TO.

So we can't be consumed in this

environment because this is not our

home. This is our workplace. This is our

plow. Your work is your plow. Your

household is your plow. That that

grocery market you go to is your plow.

Right?

>> Are you willing? Every now and then, God

will disrupt the responsibilities.

He will disrupt the checklist. He will

disrupt the grocery list. He will

disrupt the budget. He will disrupt the

relationship. He will disrupt the um

vacation. He will dis disrupt your

ministry time. He will disrupt. Are you

ready for God to disrupt some things so

you can go to the next level of your

life?

It was um noticed that

Elijah and following Elijah went from

being a servant calling

calling Elijah master

and then before Elijah is taken up, he

calls him father.

And um

there is in this atmosphere where there

is a longing for spiritual fathership,

for spiritual mentorship.

Paul says you have many of teachers,

instructors in Christ but few spiritual

fathers.

Because a spiritual father, what they

will do is they will train you in

heavenly things.

They will train you in heavenly plow. I

was um taking my son Malachi into

children's church and um

uh the volunteers at the time, I think

it was Miss Colada and Georgiana, they

saw us coming in through the doors and

and they're like, "Look at little mini

me and look at, you know, um the they

they walk alike. They they they stand

alike and they and I'm I'm I'm watching

it and I'm like, you know what? Y'all

right, you know, he's a lot of people

call him my many me. I mean, his

mannerisms and his ways are are are

identical to mine, you know, and so so I

I'm not taking trying to take ownership.

It is what it is. So So, um, Georgiana

said, "But there is a difference. There

is a slight difference. He has what you

didn't have.

He has you.

And God just entered into me and like,

whoa.

He has the part of me that has been

redeemed.

So, I'm not only called to be his

earthly father,

>> but in this season of his life, I'm

called to be his spiritual father.

In this season in which we are in right

now, beloved, you are called to be a

spiritual mentor

in this world. to those that are lost.

To those that ARE THINK THAT LIFE IS

GOOD, TO THOSE THAT ARE OBLIVIOUS TO

WHAT'S GOING ON IN THE SPIRITUAL REALM

AND THEY ARE SO FOCUSED ON THE WRONG

PLOW AND GOD'S WANTING to remove them to

for the IDENTICAL FOR THE EXACT PURPOSE

IN WHICH HE DESIGNED them for. Switch

the plow.

Switch the plow.

Notice Elisha.

Elisha was plowing

in such a way so focused on his

responsibility that God said, "This is

my God.

This is the God."

He wasn't one of the son of the

prophets.

He wasn't in inside of a a a conference

receiving s certificate. He wasn't on

the mountaintop. He was handling his

responsibility. He did his work so well

that God said, "You know what? I'm

taking you from that plow to the next

plow. I'm taking you from one level to

the next level. You will be the guy to

bring forth healing. You will be the guy

with the double portions. You will be

the guys to go and cleiss water and

purify WATER. YOU WILL BE THE GUY TO

RAISE THE DEAD. YOU WILL BE THE GUY TO

CONFRONT BELL. YOU WILL BE THE GUYS TO

CONFRONT THE KINGS OF THIS OF THIS DAY.

GOD'S CALLING YOU FOR SUCH A TIME AS

THIS. WILL YOU BE FOUND FAITHFUL?

Will you be found faithful?