Rock Life! Changes - Pastor Kipp Penrod

Thank you for listening to this message from

Lifehouse Church. I read this story, and it's

kind of always stuck with me. And it's a story

about Henry Ford, who was the founder of the

Ford Motor Company. And I think this story is

going to kind of set the stage for where I want

to go in the Word of God today. And this story

goes along that it seems that Mr. Ford had a

man working for him in the area of production

of the Model T car. And his name was William

Knudsen. And William Knudsen became convinced

that the Model T, which had been in production

for about four years to this point, needed some

updating. It needed some change. Now, the problem

was that Mr. Ford would not even consider the

idea. Henry Ford was like, no. He loved his creation

of the Model T, and he was opposed to any changes

taking place in any way. So while Henry Ford

was on vacation in Europe, William Knudsen decided

to go ahead and maybe make a design to show Henry

Ford what he was talking about. So while he was

on vacation, he decided to build a prototype

of the new car with the changes he was talking

about. Some changes to the chassis, some changes

in color. And the story goes that once... Mr.

Henry Ford got back from his European vacation

that he went to Highland Park Garage in Michigan,

and he saw the new creation that Knudsen came

up with, this prototype car that he built. And

they say that the car had four doors, and the

top was down, and it was painted a gleaming red

color. They got to understand, up until this

point, the Model T came in one color and one

color only. It just came in black. And Mr. Knudsen,

he built this on a low version, framed from the

Model T, and had all the changes implemented

that he wanted to show Henry Ford. And eyewitnesses

talk about what happened when he walked into

that garage. When Mr. Ford walked in, they say

he looped around the car about three or four

times, and they said he opened one of the doors

on this four -door. He grabbed the door and ripped

the door straight off of the car. True story.

They said they don't even know how he did it.

He tore the door off. He got inside the car.

He smashed the roof in. He kicked another door

out. He pushed the windshield out on this car,

and he proceeded to beat the daylights out of

this car. William Knudsen left the Ford Corporation

and went back and went to work for General Motors

following this incident. Henry Ford nursed along

the Model T for some more years, but the design

changes and the competitors' models made it old

-fashioned because it was. A competition eventually

forced Henry Ford to change. He grudgingly produced

the Model A. If you're a car enthusiast, you

know what that is, right? But his heart was never

in it. Henry Ford was one of the most creative,

ingenious men of his age. Changed history. Yet

he would not succumb to the obvious need of change.

And I think a lot of us are like Henry Ford.

How many would say and admit we resist change?

Amen. Come on. You don't have to raise your hand.

Statistically, it's 7 out of 10 of you hate change.

9 out of 10 of you resist. Maybe not as violently

as Henry Ford. But in our heads, in our hearts,

in our minds, we duck change, right? We dismiss

it. We vocalize our displeasure for it. And sometimes

we just simply refuse to change. But I'm here

to come and tell you this morning that if we're

going to talk about rock life, if we're going

to talk about what life is like in Jesus Christ,

we have to talk about change. We've got to talk

about transformation. Anything that is alive

is changing. Anything. Anything that is growing

is in a constant state of change, a constant

state of flux. Anything that is not changing

is typically dying or on its way to death. It's

true. Now, Dixie and I, Dixie's sitting here

in the front. We've been married 36 years, and

we have never been accused in those 36 years

of having a green thumb. Hasn't happened yet.

More than once we've planted something or somebody's

given us a plant. And when you do that, just

so you know, it's got a 50 -50 shot of making

it, okay? We're running about 50%. We've made

it through with a few, right? But too many times

the only change that we've seen with a plant

was a wilting and then all of a sudden brown

and it just stayed brown. That was it, no change.

Sometimes we've missed where the roots go down

and the stem begins to come up and push out of

the dirt. We've missed the change that takes

place when the stem grows and the branches begin

to go out and the leaves begin to appear and

that thing begins to change day after day or

month after month and seeds appear or blossoms

appear or fruit comes out on those branches.

Anything healthy, a plant, a bush, a tree, undergoes

a massive amount of change every single year

of its life. It changes. And if you're going

to stay in a state of spiritual health while

on the rock, Jesus Christ, it will mean change.

I didn't get one amen. God change. It means that

God's going to shake things different in your

life on the regular for Jesus. And it is your

response to God change that makes all the difference

in the spiritual level of health that we experience

as we go along. Shake your neighbor right now.

Tell him it's about to change up. Go ahead. Give

him a good shake. Tell him it's about to change

up. It's about to change up. Come on. Shake him

hard. It's about to change up. If you got your

Bibles this morning, I want you to turn to 1

1 Kings 19 · chapter mention

Kings chapter 19. We're going in the Old Testament.

1 Kings chapter 19. chapter 19 and verse 19 as

1 Kings 19 · chapter mention

well. And as you turn, I'm going to pray. I'm

going to pray over our ears, our hearts, and

the invitations that are represented by these

green balls because we're looking for change

in their lives. Father, we come before you today.

We thank you for the opportunity to be in your

house. I thank you, Lord, for your word, God,

that is a lamp to our feet, a light to our path.

God, it shows us the way. And Lord, I pray that

the word of God will fall in our ears. God, that

it will lodge in our hearts. You'll write it

on these hearts of flesh. And God, as we pray,

that way. We ask for change in the lives of these

individuals who are represented by these green

balls. These are invitations. We're believing,

we're believing Holy Spirit that you're going

to go ahead and you're going to touch hearts

and lives and change is going to take place with

every single person that's been invited into

the kingdom, invited to church, God invited to

know you in a deeper way. And we just give you

praise. Everybody said together, amen, amen.

We are going to go to 1 Kings 19, 19, but before

I start to read, because this is a short passage,

I want to give you the two main characters in

this particular passage. One is Elijah. Say Elijah.

Elijah. Elijah serves as a prophet of God in

the Word of God in the Old Testament. Prophets

were spokesmen for God. Prophets were in charge

of bringing a now word from God. Many times it

was a warning. Sometimes it was exhortation.

Sometimes it was encouragement. Sometimes it

was direction. But they were a mouthpiece for

God. And Elijah was a prophet who not only was

a mouthpiece for God, But he had the power of

God in his life. You can read in 1 Kings 18,

38, Elijah calls fire down out of heaven and

it consumes the sacrifice. In 2 Kings 1 and 10,

he calls fire from heaven again and it consumes

two companies of 50 soldiers as well as the captains

that are leading them. In 1 Kings 17, 4, the

Word of God says that ravens came and fed him.

Birds came and fed him out of the air. In 1 Kings

17, 14, he causes a widow's jar to continually

produce oil in supply during a famine at Zarephath.

And in 2 Kings 2, 8, he strikes the Jordan River

with his cloak, and it splits in two, and he

walks across on dry land. And even at the end

of Elijah's life, this prophet, something amazing

happens. die like everybody else. He doesn't

take his last breath and go into the grave. As

a matter of fact, the Word of God says that a

heavenly chariot that was a fiery heavenly chariot

comes in a whirlwind and picks him up. He gets

a heavenly, fiery Uber, picks him up, scoops

him up, and takes him to heaven. I want it. Sign

me up. That sounds a lot better than just dying

to me. It's amazing, right? It's Elijah. He's

one of the people in this. Second person in this

passage is a young man named Elisha. Say Elisha.

Elisha is the son of Shaphat, who is a wealthy

landowner. And Elijah, the prophet, decides to

pick Elisha, God's direction, to be his replacement,

to teach him, to train him. It's a healthy thing

to train the person that's going to replace you.

It's a good thing to raise someone up that's

going to carry the torch when you're done carrying

the torch. When you're finished with the work

that you're doing. You want to hand that off

to others. Always have somebody around you that

you're pouring into that may pick up and take

the torch. And that's exactly what Elijah is

going to do in this passage. God directs him

to go pick somebody to mentor, somebody that

is going to rise up. And when Elijah is gone,

when he's caught away in that chariot of fire,

it'll be the person who takes over and is the

prophet that will replace him. And it's Elijah.

This is where we pick up in 1 Kings 19, verse

1 Kings 19:19

19. It says this. So he, when he says here, it's

Elijah, departed from there, and he found Elisha,

the son of Shaphat, who was plowing with 12 yoke

of oxen before him, and he was with the 12th.

Then Elijah passed by and threw his mantle on

him, his cloak. Picture this. I want you to picture

Elisha. Out in the field, a young man. He's out

plowing in his father's fields. Wealthy landowner.

He's out there with 12 yoke of oxen. He's using

the 12th yoke of oxen. And he's plowing his field.

And Elijah, the prophet, comes by. And he throws

his mantle. It's kind of like throwing your coat

on top of somebody. He throws his mantle on Elisha.

And Elisha knows what this means. He knows what

the indication of this is. This is Elijah calling

Elisha. out. It's him saying, hey, I want you

to come follow me. I want you to leave what you're

doing. I want you to leave the business you're

in right now, that family business, and I want

you to follow me. This wasn't an invitation to

lunch. This wasn't like, hey, let's go grab a

coffee and talk about spiritual things, right,

and then go our way. This was about massive life

change that was going to come to Elijah if he

accepted. This is what I call a big old God change.

Big God change, right? Verse 20 says this, and

he left the oxen and he ran after Elijah and

said, please let me kiss my father and my mother,

then I will follow you. And he said to him, go

back again for what have I done to you? So Elijah

turned back from him and he took a yoke of oxen

and slaughtered them and boiled their flesh using

the oxen's equipment and gave it to the people

and they ate. Then he arose and followed Elijah

and became his servant. Elijah walks up to Elijah,

throws a mantle on him. Elijah immediately responds

to the call to change. He knows that this call

means that he's going to leave everything he's

always known behind. He knows that this means

becoming Elijah's servant and trainee. And this

is his reply. He says, please let me kiss my

father and my mother. He basically wants to kiss

them goodbye, and then I'll follow you. Elijah's

all in. I accept. I accept this challenge. I

accept this change. And one of the things that

I want you to do, Elijah, is just let me go back

and kiss my father and mother goodbye. Let me

leave the fields where I'm plowing and go tell

them goodbye. And I think we see something here.

When God brings big change into our lives, there's

some things to learn out of this passage. There's

some things that we can grab a hold of that helps

us walk through. And one of it is, one of those

things is when big change comes, when it's God

change that comes into our life, sometimes you're

going to have to kiss something or someone goodbye.

When God change comes, you may have to kiss something

or someone goodbye. Goodbye. When he brings the

change, when the shift happens, and we know this

is healthy, right? Because everything healthy

changes, it grows. When it comes, it means that

you're going to have to kiss something or someone

goodbye. Elijah knew. Elisha knew that Elijah

was calling him out. He knew that he was going

to have to leave his family. He was going to

have to leave his dad, his mom. He knew that

no longer would he have the security of their

wealth to back him up. He knew that his income

was about to change. He knew that he would not

have the daily support. He knew that he would

just follow this prophet wherever this prophet

went, that they would go by faith wherever they

were going. He knew this was change. He knew

this was big. And he asked us to go back and

kiss his father and his mother goodbye. The moment

he embraced the mantle, he embraced the change.

And if you're going to embrace God's blessing,

if you're going to embrace God's call to change,

if it's a God thing that he has, that God wants

to work out in your life, you will have to let

go of something. You're going to have to kiss

something or someone goodbye. You want to make

a change to your body? You're going to have to

kiss your daily donut goodbye. Amen? Come on.

Amen. I got one amen. It's true. You want to

buy a new car? You got to kiss your old car goodbye.

You can probably kiss your wallet goodbye too.

Those things are expensive, right? Single ladies,

if you're dating a guy named Joe, and Pete comes

along, and Pete looks like a better catch. He

loves Jesus, right? And he looks like the deal.

Guess what? You're going to have to kiss goodbye.

You got to kiss Pete goodbye. I hope there's

not a Pete in here anywhere, right? You got to

kiss him goodbye. God changes always a company

by kissing something or someone goodbye. And

more times than not, not always, but more times

than not, something will precede the God change

that is coming. Something will precede the moment

when you have to kiss something goodbye. And

I call this thing a holy discontent. I've talked

about this multiple times. It's my label on something.

But when change is coming many times, God will

start to orchestrate a holy discontent within

you. Something that happens right before the

change comes is there's this discontentment that

comes up inside of us. And it's not a discontentment.

There's a fleshly discontentment, and I'll talk

about that in a second. But there's a discontentment

that's organized by God himself. It's a discontentment

that is designed to move you from where you are

to grow you into the next thing that God's changing

in your life. Now, it looks very different than

fleshly discontent, because fleshly discontent

can be a whole bunch of things. Fleshly discontent

can become as a result of lust. It can be greed.

It could be covetousness. It could be old desires

of some kind, something different, right? Human

nature, sinful nature rising up. I don't want

you to mix these two up, because discontentment

is not always God, but it can be. God discontentment

moves you towards God. It moves you towards holiness.

And a holy discontentment often precedes change

in your life. The moment you're going to have

to kiss something goodbye. The moment when it's

going to be necessary to walk away from something

or someone. I tell people all the time, I can

get you to change pretty quickly. In this house,

I really could. If I turned the temperature up

about 30 degrees, how many of you know, some

of you just get up and walk outside? Yeah, right?

If I turned it down 30 degrees, some of you would

change, and you would get up and go outside.

You'd get into a different temperature. That's

what happens sometimes. Sometimes a discontentment

comes, and God brings the discontentment so he

can get you to move to the next thing. He'll

do whatever he's done. He's far more worried

about your health than he is your contentment

in the moment of time. And there's going to come

a time that you're going to have to kiss something

goodbye. It could be stability. It could be predictability.

It could be security. It could be a toxic relationship,

a wrong relationship. You might have to let go

of something. This is really hard. Sometimes

you're going to have to let go of good to get

to God's great. You know that? It's not always

going to be a bad thing. Sometimes you're going

to have to kiss the good goodbye so you can get

over here to the great that God has out ahead

of you along the way. It could be a thousand

different things. or different people. But sometimes

when God's bringing change, you got to be willing,

you got to be ready, and you got to do just like

Elijah did. Man, let me just go back and kiss

dad and mom goodbye. Because if you don't, if

you don't, you're going to get into a tug of

war with the Lord. How many of you, that's one

you're probably going to lose? I've been here

a couple of times, right? You'll probably end

up losing that one. Elijah kisses his family

goodbye, but he does way more than that. In this

short piece of Scripture, the Word of God tells

us that he takes the yoke. A yoke was used many

times to plow with oxen. There'd be two oxen.

They'd put a yoke across their back, and they

would hook a plow onto it. And he takes the yoke,

which many times was made out of wood. Most times

back then, it was all built out of wood. He takes

the yoke. off of the oxen, and the Word of God

says that he cuts up the wood that makes up these

farm tools, right, this plow and this yoke, and

he builds a fire, and he slaughters the oxen,

and he makes a feast for the people around him.

All right, okay, God, what's the lesson here,

right? What's the lesson here? Sometimes God

change will mean more than just kissing someone

goodbye. Sometimes God changes is going to mean

that you're going to have to burn the plow. Elisha

wants to kiss his family goodbye, but he burns

the plow as well. He chops it up. He burns it

up, and he slaughters the animals, and he cooks

them. In 1519, the Spanish explorer Hernando

Cortes decided that he wanted to seize the treasure

that the Aztecs had been hoarding. He took 500

soldiers, 100 sailors, and landed 11 ships on

the shores of the Yucatan. Despite the large

army under his command, he was vastly outnumbered

by the huge, powerful empire that had been around

for 600 -plus years. Some of the men that were

with him were unconvinced of his success and

were loyal to Cuba, and they tried to seize some

of the ships to escape. Cortes got wind of this

plot and captured the ringleaders. He wanted

to make sure that the remainder of his men were

completely committed to the mission and quest

for riches. So he did something that seemed inconceivable.

Cortez gave the order to burn the ships, all

11 of them. Burn the ships. The men resisted.

His men resisted, wondering, how in the world

will we get home? And they asked him this. And

he said, if we're going home, we're going to

do it on their ships. They burned the ships.

When God calls or introduces you to a change

in life, there's going to be a moment in time

that you come that you're going to have to embrace

the holy change. You've got to be willing to

kiss whatever it is, goodbye, right, for this

holy change, and you're going to have to burn

the ship that got you to where you currently

are. You're going to have to walk away from it.

Sometimes God change means not conjuring up plan

B, plan C, plan D. All the planners in the house,

raise your hand. Come on. Right? Plan F, right?

They're going right down the line. Just in case,

you know, the just in case plan things don't

work out with God, I got to have the backup plan,

right? Just in case the holy thing doesn't seem

to be so holy, up the line a little bit, I got

to come up with another plan. Just in case rock

life, you know, following Jesus gets a little

too uncomfortable in all this change, you know,

for my taste, then I got to have plan B. Just

in case my faith in God begins to wane a little

bit, gets a little, you know, I don't know, a

little, I'm just going to have an escape boat

ready to go. just in case. Sometimes God changed,

holy change will come, and you're going to have

to burn the plow. You can't look back, right?

You can't go back to what you were. I haven't

always been in ministry. I haven't always been

a pastor. And many, many years ago, When I was

younger, I got certified in a field of the career

that I was in. And I had multiple certifications.

It made it to a pretty high level in those certifications.

And I remember, you know, even as I went into

ministry and as I really kind of stepped through

planting church, planting LifeHouse, Dixie and

I and the family, I remember keeping my certifications

up. And that was helpful at times because I was

bivocational for a while. I had to work while

we were doing ministry. But I remember a point

in time when God came to me and he said, you're

done. He said, you're done. You got to burn the

ships. And I'm like, well, can't I just keep

my certifications up? You know, just in case

things don't work out with this whole church

planting thing, you know? And he's like, no.

And I had to let the certifications lapse. I

had to let him go. I didn't pay the fee. I didn't

go do the retraining. I didn't do anything. Sometimes

you'll want to hit a place in God change. If

it's God change, if it's holy change, where you're

going to have to burn the ship behind you. You

can't go back. You're not going to go back. There's

no plan B. There's no plan C. And there's no

plan D. You got to move forward in him. Amen?

Because anything healthy is growing. Anything

healthy is changing. Now, I was super tempted

when I got to this part of the message to start

talking about Lot and his wife. I don't got time

to preach that. You can go back into the Old

Testament and read that if you want to. It's

in Genesis 19. But Lot and his wife, they were

sent out of Sodom and Gomorrah and God was gonna

destroy Sodom and Gomorrah. And one command that

God gave was don't look back. And the word of

God says that Lot's wife, turned around, looked

back at the cities, and the word of God says

she crystallized immediately in the moment. It

says a pillar of salt. We don't know exactly

how that happened, but it's not a good idea.

When God says don't go back, don't look back,

don't head back in any kind of way, Elisha burned

the yoke. It was symbolic of I'm not coming back

to this. I'm not going to be back here plowing

these fields. I don't have a plan B. I don't

have a plan C. and I don't have a plan D. Worship

team, if you'd come. I'm going to give you one

last thing. As they come, they make their way

to the front. What God change might involve with

you. God change may involve you killing the ox.

That's what the Word of God says. Elisha killed

the ox. He used the implements to cook the meat.

And the word of God says he gave it to the people.

Let me read it. So Elijah turned back from him

and took a yoke of oxen and slaughtered them

and boiled their flesh using the oxen's equipment.

And he gave it to the people and they ate. Then

he arose and followed Elijah and became his servant.

Now there are multiple angles you could look

at this from the word of God. This could have

been a sacrificial commitment to Yahweh. to God

the Father. Slaughtering an ox and consecrating

it in the word of God, actually the Levitical

law was a type of peace offering found. And it

was actually done amongst community and it signified

a peace offering to God. It was fellowship with

God and neighbors. That's one angle that you

could take with this. But this was also a public

declaration. He didn't just slip away with Elijah.

chops up the wooden equipment. He boils the meat,

right? He cooks up this meat and he kind of has

a going away party. He invites people and they

come and they know that he's leaving. They know

that this wealthy family and this probably, you

know, generational people who farmed and own

all this land and loaned all these oxen. And,

you know, he publicly declaring, that we're going

to leave. I'm leaving. I kissed dad and mom goodbye.

I burned the plow. I burned the yoke. I cooked

up the oxen, and we're going to have a party.

And every one of you, everybody that attended

that party knew, right? Everybody that attended

that meal that he provided for everybody, all

of them were witness to Elisha leaving. He's

going to leave. He's going to go with Elijah.

This wasn't Elijah sneaking away for a little

bit, right? Elijah could have said, you know

what? I'm going to follow this prophet. I'm not

going to say anything, but I'm going to follow

this prophet. And let's see how this all works

out with the God call, right? To be a prophet.

Let me see what this looks like. You know, and

if this God thing doesn't work out, I'll just

slide back. Everybody just think I was on vacation

or something for a little while. That's not what

he does. He kisses dad and mom goodbye. He burns

the wood, right? He burns the plow and he kills

the oxen. And he tells everybody, I'm leaving.

I'm out of here. I've got to go follow God. And

I'm here today to say that some of you, God's

got some kind of big changes he's had in front

of you for a period of time. I believe this with

all my heart. He's got some kind of big change,

some rock life change. I'm not talking about

discontent from the world. I'm talking about

a holy discontent that's within you. and he's

moving you to something, and some of you are

going to need to kiss some things goodbye. You're

going to have to let it go. Some of you are going

to have to burn the plow. Some of you are going

to have to announce it. You're going to have

to tell somebody, and it might not be everybody,

but you're going to have to tell somebody. How

many don't want you to verbalize something? You

kind of make a commitment to do that thing? Somebody

hold you accountable for that thing that you

said that you're going to go do? I remember announcing

that for the first time when I got called into

ministry. It was the weirdest thing coming out

of my mouth. I'm like, I'm going to go be a minister.

And everybody's like, you know, you're going

to do what? You know, and it was the strangest

thing. But once it's out of your mouth, you know,

then you're accountable for what you're going

to do. I'm going to ask you to stand this morning

and if you guys would just play softly. I want

you to bow your heads all over the house. I'm

going to give you a moment of reflection, then

we're going to get in some circles and pray together.

Some of you, you need to kiss somebody or something

goodbye, whatever that is, for the God change.

Not for your own discontent, but you're going

to have to do this. Some of you need to burn

the plow. You got to burn the plow. You can't

go back to what you were. You can't go back to,

what got you to where you are will not get you

to the next place that God wants you to grow.

You may have took root, and the stem's pushing

out of the ground, but if you're going to bear

fruit, you got to hear what God's saying. You

got to dive in. And others, you're going to have

to announce it. You're going to have to say it.

You're going to boil the ox. You're going to

have a party, and you're going to tell everybody,

this is what's going to happen. Hold me to it.

Hold me to it. No plan B, no plan C, no plan

D. See, when we make a plan B and plan C and

plan D, sometimes we're telling God, I don't

got enough faith in your plan. I got to have

my own. Faith in God. You know who you are? You

know who this message is? This message is for

multiple people here. I'm convinced this morning.

Convinced. Father, we come before you in the

matchless name of Jesus. Lord, you know who's

here. God, you know each person. Lord, you know

the person, God, who needs to kiss something

goodbye. You know the person, God, that needs

to burn the plow. They can't go back to what

they were. They can't go back and do what they

did. And you know the one who needs to announce.

They need to tell somebody, this is where I'm

going. This is the God change. Not just a change

for change's sake, but God change that has to

happen in my life. They're going to partner with

somebody to pray with them about the God change

that's taking place in their life. Lord, I pray

that each person contemplates, understands. Here's

the Holy Spirit. Speak. In Jesus' name and amen.

I want you to look up at me. Here's what we're

going to do. I want you to get in a circle and

pray. You can say something in that circle if

you want, or you can just get in a circle, a

group of people, and just pray together. But

if you need to announce something that God's

changing in your life, great spot to do it, right?

Two, three, four people in your circle. If you

just need prayer for change, God changes what's

going on in your life. Great place to pray. Have

some prayer support. I felt like we need to do

this. We need to walk this out. So right now,

just go ahead. Go find a few people. Thank you

for tuning in to this message from Lifehouse

Church. Pray that you were impacted powerfully

by this message. If you have been personally

affected by our ministry and you would like to

partner with us as we love God, love people every

day,