Living in the Days of Elijah Part 3 - Living in the Days of Elijah

You're listening to the road with Pastor Teacher Steve Holt.

God, men and women, is raising up a new breed of leader.

What God does with Elijah is he says, quit the navel gazing, quit being all depressed and thinking about your own little life.

I've got a job for you to do.

I've actually put you on this earth to do something.

Not just to be something, as important as that is, but actually to do something.

To actually go out and I don't even know why you're in this cave.

I don't know why you're in this cave.

I never called you to be in this cave, and I'm gonna show you something.

So shut up, quit complaining, and listen up.

Here's my plan.

And he tells him about a new breed of leaders.

And here's what's interesting: it's political and it's spiritual.

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We hope you are encouraged by today's message from Pastor Teacher Steve Holt.

So for today, let's look at 1 Kings 19.

And I shared a little bit last week, and then I want to camp on this idea of a new breed of leader, and I'll explain what I mean.

But here is in chapter 19, verse 11, this is funny because here's Elijah, this mighty man of God.

He's taken on Jezebel, he's taken on Ahab and the prophets of Baal and the prophets of Ashrah.

And now he gets scared.

And I love this because that's the way it is with all of us.

Sometimes we're really bold, we're really crazy, then we get scared.

And so he's a real guy.

And, you know, he's flesh and blood just like us.

So he is in the mountains, he's complaining to God.

He says, I'm the only one left, nobody cares about me.

I might as well go eat worms.

I mean, he's just really depressed.

All of us have struggled with depression at times in our life.

Then God begins to move in his life, and I want you to watch what happens next.

Verse 11.

Then he said, God said, go out and stand on the mountain before the Lord.

And behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind tore into the mountains and broke the rocks in pieces before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind.

And after the wind, an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake.

And after the earthquake, a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire.

And after the fire, a still small voice.

And so it was when Elijah heard it, that he wrapped his face in his mantle, and he went out and stood in the entrance of the cave.

Suddenly a voice came to him and said, What are you doing here, Elijah?

So, so a lot of times, you know, I talked about this last week.

We're looking for revival, we're looking for the big thing, but God does his biggest things in the deepest ways, most often in the quiet place.

It's in that quiet place of just spending time with him, of getting up in the morning, going to your corner, going to your closet, going to your place, opening up God's word and sharing your heart with him.

That's where God meets us the most powerfully most of the time.

That's where we get instructions from God.

When I've got a big decision to make, me sitting before the Lord or kneeling before the Lord with my Bible open, crying out to him, and then listening is where I hear his voice the best.

And so we talked about that last week.

But then God says something to him that's really strategic.

Verse 14.

And he said, I've been very zealous for you, Lord, because the children of Israel have forsaken your covenants, torn down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword.

I alone am left, and they seek to take my life.

Then the Lord said to him, Go return on your way to the wilderness of Damascus.

And when you arrive, anoint Hazael as king over Syria.

Also you shall anoint Jehu, the son of Nimshe, as king over Israel.

And Elisha, the son of Shaphat, of Abel Mahollah, you shall anoint as prophet in your place.

It shall be that whoever escapes the sword of Hazael, Jehu will kill.

Whoever escapes the sword of Jehu, Elisha will kill.

Now look at verse 18.

Yet I have reserved 7,000 in Israel, all whose knees have not bowed to Baal and every mouth that has not kissed him.

God, men and women, is raising up a new breed of leader.

What God does with Elijah is he says, quit the navel gazing, quit being all depressed and thinking about your own little life.

I've got a job for you to do.

I've actually put you on this earth to do something.

Not just to be something, as important as that is, but actually to do something.

To actually go out and I don't even know why you're in this cave.

I don't know why you're in this cave.

I never called you to be in this cave, and I'm gonna show you something, so shut up, quit complaining, and listen up.

Here's my plan.

And he tells him about a new breed of leaders.

And here's what's interesting: it's political and it's spiritual.

It's political and it's spiritual.

So, you guys, it's not good enough just to come to the road and worship the Lord.

God has called us certainly to proclaim the kingdom.

But he also calls us to demonstrate the kingdom outside of the four walls of this facility.

That's why Jay Enman is running for city council.

And if you're in the northern part of the city in District 2, you need to come.

All of you can come, but I mean you should come on Tuesday night for our public policy gathering at 6 p.m.

And I'm gonna share our heart, what we're what our vision is.

I want uh Jay to share some stuff.

And we're gonna talk about the fact that God loves this city.

And he called you to this city, he wants you in this city.

And by being in this city, we're supposed to make a positive impact upon the city.

We're supposed to be used by God to be Jesus here.

We should outpray, outwork, and outlove everybody in this city.

The church should be doing that.

Instead of just coming to worship, we also war.

We war in prayer.

We war against policies that are not right because we're citizens of the kingdom, but we're also citizens of the United States.

And so, as citizens, God calls us to be involved.

So, right here, he's talking about this new breed of leader.

And he's saying, look, I'm calling you, and I'll just say this to you guys today, I'm calling you to a paradigm shift.

That's what he's saying.

I'm calling you, Elijah, not to build only your ministry, but to build the men, the disciples, for the next ministry.

If the Lord tarries men and women, I want the road to be here a hundred years from now.

So some of you in this room that are younger are gonna be the pastors and leaders of the church.

It is our responsibility, we that are older, to raise you up, to sponsor you, to be there for you.

In other words, listen, my ceiling should be the next generation's flooring.

Write that down.

Jot that down.

That's a good word.

My ceiling of where God's taken me should be the floor for the next generation.

They should stand on my shoulders.

They can stand on my head if they've got good balance.

I don't care.

But we have to create an environment where young leaders can come up.

And some of you aren't young.

Well, you're supposed to do the same thing.

Your ceiling should also be the floor for those that you know.

And so we should always be thinking about others, especially those younger than us, and not navel gazing on how crummy our life is.

Okay?

So if you're one of those people that's always telling me, oh, you know, I'm the only one left, you know, and everything and all that, then God would probably say to you, then why don't you get into the quiet place and let me speak to you?

Because I got great things for you to do.

Say, God's got great things for me to do.

God's got great and free to do.

Say it again.

God's got great things for me to do.

God's got greatness free.

No, he does.

You gotta declare it and believe it.

So the qualities, I want to talk about the qualities of a new breed leader because it's in the next few verses.

It's really, really obvious what is being said here in scripture.

So, verse 19.

So he departed from there.

So, I mean, he just, I love Elijah.

He hears from God, he moves out.

He doesn't sit around and dilly-dally around.

He hears from God, he leaves Mount Horeb, and he found Elisha the son of Shaphat.

Don't miss this.

You won't find what you're not looking for.

You won't find what you're not looking for.

You gotta look to find.

You gotta look to find.

And so, men and women, we look for leaders.

We're always looking for men and women that can be leaders.

Everybody's a follower.

Everybody should first be a follower.

Followers are great.

We need followers.

All followers can become leaders.

Now, there's all kinds of different levels of leadership and all that, but here's the reality that when we follow the Lord, he will make you a leader.

It may not be hundreds of people, it may not be thousands, but you might be being followed by a grandchild or your spouse or something.

You're still a leader.

People are watching you because you have, listen, each one of you in this room have much more influence than you give yourself credit for.

You really do.

You really do.

And you got to believe that.

So he goes out, he changes his paradigm from just thinking about his own ministry, and he's now he looks for this son of Shaphat, Elisha.

Look what happens next.

Uh Elisha was plowing with 12 yoke of oxen before him, and he was with the 12th.

Then Elijah passed by him and he threw his mantle on him.

Now, this is really interesting.

So this has never been recorded anywhere in the history of Israel.

Somebody walking by, a dude who's plowing, and throws his towel on him, or throws his mantle on him, or throws his prayer shawl on him.

No, I mean, this is not, there's nothing here that you're missing from the context that I give, I need to give you a historical perspective on, except for 12 yoke of oxen.

That means there were 12 different teams of oxen.

That means that this guy, Elisha, and his family are wealthy.

They are very, very wealthy.

So here's my first point.

Don't miss this, don't miss this.

New breed leader is faithful already.

A new breed leader is faithful already.

They're not just looking for something to do, but they're already faithful to their boss.

They're already faithful to their spouse.

They're already faithful in their job.

They're doing it.

And in this case, it appears that Elisha was actually very wealthy.

So he's not only faithful, this guy's talented.

He's got skill and he's plowing away.

Again, there's no place in scripture where we have a guy walking along into a field while a guy's plowing and throws his mantle on his head or something.

So, so that means Elisha's never heard of this before.

He's never seen this before, but he knows in his heart God's up to something because God's already been working in his life.

And listen, you guys, some of you in this room, God's been working on you since the day you were born.

God's been working on you, and you you watch a TV program or you watch a movie, and something inside you resonates with that character or that leader, and something in you is, I'm I'm that man, or I'm that woman.

Because God's resonating something in your heart that you were created for that's more than maybe even what you've experienced up to now.

Well, God wants to sometimes, sometimes God wants to resurrect that if you'll let him.

Let him.

Watch what he'll do in your heart.

That didn't matter, and that and that is not age discriminatory.

You could be in your 80s.

I mean, Colonel Sanders.

Y'all know that story?

I think he was 61.

He got the idea of Kentucky fried chicken.

Well, if Colonel Sanders can get the secret recipe and start whipping out chicken, I think he can take any 61, 71, or 81-year-old man who's still got a passion for God and use them.

And so, and so it's not just age discriminatory, but it means faithful already.

I love what John Wimber used to say when I was working for John Wimber in Anaheim in Southern California.

I was asking him about leadership, you know, because I was gonna go to church plant.

And he said, Steve, you know who a lead, you know who the leaders are that you need?

And I went, what?

And he goes, those who come early and stay late.

Those who come early and stay late.

The guys who come early set up the chairs and they just want to serve those who stay late because they want to put the chairs back, you know, that's your leader.

You know, it's not talent, it's not pedigree, it's not education, it's heart.

And so you see here, Elisha has the right heart.

He's being faithful in the job that God has given him at that point.

And he left the oxen.

And he ran after Elijah.

So number two, new breed leader, running after God.

Running after God.

You can't tell, you know, I wish you'd run after God more.

You know, I'm you know, I guess I can say it from the pulpit, but I would never say that on a one-on-one level, you know, you need to run after God more.

I mean, either you run after God or you don't.

Okay?

And some of you are are runners, and some of you are walkers.

I don't care, but because if you start walking, you might start running.

But if you're, by the way, I'm speaking to the choir.

I mean, if you guys are here with the conditions we're under in this state, this blue state of Colorado, and all the stuff that's been happening with the governor, you're already going after God.

So I'm just saying.

So it's true.

So you might be like this, you know, and you're kind of like, uh, and some of you like want to leave right now because I said what I said, you know.

You're like, I don't know, this is the wrong church, okay?

He doesn't wear a robe, he doesn't have a stole, I mean, there's no candles.

This isn't a church.

This isn't a real church.

You need an altar, man, and all well, anyway, whatever.

So, so some of you are like this, and some of you are like this, and some of you are, you know, doing a sprint.

It doesn't matter.

It just matters that you keep moving in the right direction.

Even if you get hit, even if you feel despondent, even if you get depressed, get back up, don't quit.

Don't quit.

Quitting is highly overrated.

Okay?

I get every quitter I've ever known is is bummed out a year later.

I don't care about sports or whatever, they're usually bummed out if it wasn't of God.

And those that were Christians and were fired up and walking with him and they're not walking with him anymore, I don't meet any happy quitters.

I see happy runners.

So run after God, run after him, take the hits, don't be afraid, we're there for you.

And that's the way Elijah is.

He runs after Elijah.

My impression is Elijah's moving.

So Elijah's not going.

Here's the way Elijah, Elijah's like, man, he's moving, he throws it over there and he just takes off.

He's like moving out.

And I think Jesus was doing that when he came to Matthew, he's a tax collector, and he said, follow me, and then he took off.

So here's a big crowd, and he's sitting there, and he's got money, he's got friends, he's got influence, he's working with the Romans, he's working with the Jews, he's a total compromise guy.

He who knows what he was into, you know?

But he has got his world made, it's set up, he's got his retirement plan, he's got his 401k.

He is set, and then Jesus comes along and says, Come and follow me.

And then just leaves him in the dust.

And then he's like, whoa! And so he has to leave.

Same thing.

So Elisha has to run after Elijah.

So you guys, God's on the move.

God's on the move.

He's not waiting around for you.

He's not.

He's moving out and he's calling you.

Whatever your job, whatever you're doing, he's calling you to run after him.

I'm not saying switch jobs or anything like that.

I'm saying be a kingdom revolutionary right where you're at.

If you're a mom working with your kids at home, you're a stay-home mom, then you put everything into that.

You be wholehearted.

If you're working in real estate, if you're working on uh cars, or you're working in as a foreman for a construction company, you be all there.

You be faithful to that guy, but you be a kingdom revolutionary too.

Run after God.

And so Elisha runs after Elijah.

And then he said, Please let me kiss my father and my mother, and then I will follow you.

And he said to him, Go back again for what I have done to you.

This is really important, you guys.

Uh, number three, a new breed leader honors authority.

Honors authority.

And what that means is you honor your parents.

Whatever your age, honor your parents.

Doesn't mean you have to trust them.

Doesn't mean they treated you perfectly.

Probably your dad's not Jesus, and your mom's not the Virgin Mary.

So, you know, they've made mistakes, they've blown it.

Liz and I have blown it a lot.

We're amazed that our kids still love us with some of the mistakes we've made.

But honor your parents.

Honor the first authority that was over you.

They raised you, maybe poorly, maybe fantastically, doesn't matter.

There's no clause in the fifth commandment.

There's no clause that says, honor your father and mother if they were super nice to you.

Honor your father and mother because they were almost perfect.

No, it says, honor your father and mother, and it's the only commandment with a blessing.

It says, and it will go well for you.

The fifth commandment says that.

No other commandment says that if you'll do it, you'll get immediately a blessing.

Martin Luther said this about the fifth command.

To honor is higher than to love.

Because honor has a certain fear within it.

We fear and we respect them, but we love them too.

I think it's a really good explanation that honor shows love and it shows respect and it shows deference.

But don't hear me say that you have to be calling them every day and you have to be their best friend.

I'm not saying that.

I am saying, though, that sometimes, now listen to me closely, I'm really out on a limb on this one, but I know it's true, you'll get blessed.

You will get blessed if you honor your parents.

Now listen, they may not honor you because they think you still think you're a shmo or something, but that's not your responsibility.

That's not your responsibility.

You show honor to them, and it will go well for you.

And so I think it's really cool that here we see Elisha, he's willing to go back, and he's basically kind of giving the farm back to mom and dad, to the family, and he's gonna follow Elijah.

Verse 21.

So Elisha turned back from him and he took a yoke of oxen and he slaughtered them.

And he boiled their flesh using the oxen's equipment, and he gave it to the people, and they ate.

So pretty interesting here.

I'm gonna say the title of it here, give to a new breed leader under number four would be a whole-hearted disciple.

You know, it's it's a picture, obviously, of him leaving the old life to go to the new life, taking the equipment of his old life and burning them, sacrificing them to the Lord.

And the way the thing I think about is it's kind of a burn the boats mentality.

You kind of have to have a burn the boats mentality.

And all of you know probably, you know, where that comes from.

Some say it came from Cortez and his 600 men in 1519 when they came to Mexico, and he told them to burn the boats because he didn't want them to think there was any other options to escape as they dealt with the Aztecs.

So they went forward.

Same thing happened many, many years, uh, thousands of years before that, with Alexander the Great against the Persians.

The story, the legend is that he had his men burn the boats because, listen, because they were outnumbered.

And Cortez did it because they were outnumbered.

Okay?

So, guys, what God's calling us to in these days of Elijah is a commitment to move forward and not retreat when the going gets tough, because the going's gonna get tough.

And so God's forming within all of us this Elisha mentality of burning his farm equipment because he's not gonna go back to that.

On the mantle of the new life of a prophet of Israel.

And God's calling the new breathed leader to be able to burn the boats.

And I'm not talking about you leaving your job or burning down the office where you work or something like that.

What I'm saying, though, is this it's a it's a mentality, it's a heart attitude of going after Jesus.

Matter of fact, we need prosperous real estate agents.

We need prosperous mechanics.

We need prosperous lawyers.

We need prosperous government officials, right?

So the kingdom of God revolution is not more pastors.

The kingdom of God revolution is more kingdom revolutionaries wherever you are.

That's what we need.

So it's a heart attitude of burning the boats and not being so willing to quit.

I like what Sun Tzu says in The Art of War.

He says, you secure victory through being the most prepared before going into battle.

You secure victory by being the most prepared before going into battle.

And so it's a commitment strategy, not an exit strategy.

Does that make sense?

So instead of how we're gonna get out of it, we're not gonna get out of it.

We're not even gonna think about getting out of it.

We're gonna be committed and move forward with the Lord.

Look at the last sentence of verse 21.

Then he arose and he followed Elijah and became his servant.

So number six, number five, is a servant under authority.

Serving.

Serving under leadership is serving.

Leadership is primarily about serving.

I love my job.

I love my job almost all the time because I get to serve you guys.

And it is a joy to see what God's doing in so many of your lives.

It really is a joy.

And so leadership is service.

And so Elisha will figure out in the years to come, if we follow the whole story, and I encourage you to read it all, we're not going to do that, but you can.

You'll see the servant heart of this man, Elisha.

It's amazing.

And here's the thing that's so exciting about all of this is that you when you serve, then you set yourself up to be Christ to the community because that's what Jesus said about himself.

I did not come but to serve.

I'm here to serve.

So it's a servant heart.

Now turn, and I want to close with this, and look at 2 Kings.

So skip the last chapters of 1 King.

Go to 2 Kings chapter 2.

2 Kings 2 · chapter mention

This is my last point, really important.

That's what I really firmly believe.

It's the conviction in my heart that God is going to bring, number six, a double anointing to this new breed of leader.

A double anointing.

There's going to be that the ceiling that my generation has reached is going to be the floor for the next generation to stand.

So the ceiling that we reached will be the floor that they stand on.

The worship's going to be better.

The prayer is going to be warring more powerfully.

There's going to be a lion roar in the hearts of you guys in this room, like the world has never seen before.

And he's going to mightily use you.

And one of the things, you know, I know there's, I all I've heard is positive.

I haven't heard one negative comment yet on this.

But you know, we had to do stuff, we had to make changes in children's ministry because of all the COVID stuff.

So, you guys up here on the front row, this crew right here, and so many of you across the room, you'd be in like kids' church next gen right now, but you're in here.

And uh, in every service, kids come up to me, they flock over, and I get to hear stuff.

And I had three kids in the first service who gave me pictures they had drawn.

And one of the girls is probably seven or eight.

She wrote, A Kingdom of God Revolution in Colorado Springs.

How about that?

Okay?

That's a new breed leader.

That's a new breed leader.

It had little houses and little gardens and everything.

It was really cool.

So, so you guys in this room, you guys that are young, you know, I know you don't know who you are because you just feel like you're you, but you're young to us.

God's brought you here.

And we and we had to shut down the kids' ministry, and we don't know if we'll continue with that or not, but you're here now.

You're hearing this message today.

Because it's gonna resonate with some of you guys.

Because you're gonna do exploits that we never did.

And God wants you to hear this so we believe in you.

We had a little girl in the first service, she kept running away from her mom.

And they do that, you know.

And she kept running up to the cross, it was so precious.

And I thought, that's cool, man.

That's what we need.

We need kids two years old running to the cross.

Right?

It was a it was very prophetic and symbolic to me.

It meant a lot to me.

So, second, by the way, I don't want all the kids running up to the cross during worship.

Okay, but if you do, it's okay.

I'm not gonna, I don't want this.

This is your church, man, not my church.

So 2 Kings 2.9, look at 2 Kings 2.9, and this is where Elijah lets Elisha in on the fact that he's gonna leave him soon.

And then Elisha says, you know, well, I where are you going?

And he goes, Well, I if I go away, and you see me, he'll explain it in just a second.

But he's he keeps kind of almost like teasing Elisha, he says, Well, I'm just gonna go over here.

I'm gonna go to Samaria.

And then Elisha says, Well, I'm gonna go too.

He didn't even invite him to come.

And then he says, Well, I'm gonna go here, and then he makes him come.

And so it's almost like he's testing his heart.

Verse 9, we pick it up.

And so it was when they had crossed over that Elisha said to Elisha, Ask, what may I do for you before I am taken away from you?

Elisha said, Please let a double portion of your spirit be upon me.

So he said, You have asked a hard thing.

Nevertheless, if you see me when I'm taken from you, it shall be so for you, but if not, it shall not be so.

Then it happened as they continued on and talked, that suddenly a chariot of fire appeared with horses of fire and separated the two of them, and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven.

And Elisha saw it, and he cried out, My father, my father, the chariot of Israel and its horsemen.

And so he saw him no more.

And he took hold of his own clothes and he tore them into two pieces.

He also took up the mantle of Elijah that had fallen from him, and he went back and he stood by the bank of the Jordan.

Then he took the mantle of Elijah that had fallen from him, and he struck the water and said, Where is the Lord God of Elijah?

And when he had also struck the water, it was divided this way and that, which is what Elijah had just done, and Elisha crossed over.

Now when the sons of the prophets who were with Jerich at Jericho saw him, they said, The spirit of Elijah rests on Elisha, and they came to meet him and bowed to the ground before him.

And the rest of the story, you guys, if you read it, is a double anointing.

You see Elisha doing twice as many miracles and twice as many signs and wonders than Elijah had done.

Now listen, don't miss this.

This is really important.

You can't get the sixth quality if you don't have the first five.

You can't be a newbreed leader with a double anointing if you don't have the first five.

So being a wholehearted disciple, running hard after God, a servant under authority, being willing to honor authority, and being willing to burn the boats and follow after the Lord.

That's the double anointing.

Alright?

That's how you get it, is by doing this thing.

You don't just like go to a prayer meeting or go to a service and come forward, somebody prays for you, and you have a real emotional experience, and now I've got the double anointing.

No, the double anointing is a journey, it's a roadless travel.

It's not easy, it's no easy road.

But I'm telling you guys, if you're hungry for it, if you want to be used mightily by God, it is available.

Especially for you in this room.

You're already that way.

That's the reason you're here.

That's the reason you're watching online, because you're already there.

And I'm telling you, God's raising up an Elijah church.

Because if you're not gonna be an Elijah Church, you will be crushed by Jezebel and Ahab.

The church in America is either gonna be crushed or it's gonna stand with fire in its heart.

And so God's calling for a new breed of pastor, a new breed of mechanic, a new breed of lawyer, a new breed of real estate agent, a new breed of businessman.

God's called you guys to walk in that.

And watch what God will do in this day and in this hour.

It's gonna be exciting.

How many have heard of frontline doctors?

Raise your hand.

Oh good.

You guys are so informed.

Um if you haven't heard of them, write it down, frontline doctors.

And I think it was started by Dr.

Simone Gold.

And I was just watching a video of hers last night.

The reason I say that is because they've, by the way, the badge, the new badge of honor is to get shut down on all your media platforms.

Um you don't shut down something that you don't fear.

Right.

We, by prayer and warring in prayer, are touching on some things that's really making the deep state upset.

They're freaking out.

There's more fear than you know in the enemy's camp.

Dr.

Simone Gold, video COVID-19, what they're famous for, is coming out with all of this stuff about hydroxychloroquine and how they found through all their studies, they're all doctors, they're all medical doctors.

She's an emergency room physician.

Is that the stuff you're hearing is lies.

Most of it is lies coming from these different agencies.

So she said this COVID-19, if you're under 20, your chance that now this is with no mask, no medicine, nothing, just normal living, like you're doing right now, just normal living, your chance of recovery from COVID is ninety-nine point eight percent.

Under 20.

Under forty, ninety-nine point seven percent.

Under sixty, ninety-nine point five percent.

Over sixty, ninety-five percent.

Have no fear, have no fear, America is the home of the prey, home of the brave.

And if Christians, listen, if Christians can't lead the way in bravery, then you don't have an Elijah Spirit yet.

And I'm just telling you, you need to get one.

Because good thing.

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Thanks again for tuning in today, and be sure to listen to the next edition of The Road with Pastor Teacher Steve Holt.