January 11, 2026
I’m really excited that we’re starting a new sermon series on Elisha! It’s for you If you’re feeling spiritually stuck in your faith, and you want to have more spiritual growth and spiritual passion and to make more spiritual impact. It’s for you if you feel a little behind, like God created you for more than what you’re experiencing. If so, this guy, Elisha, may really speak to you! This message may even be life changing!
We’re studying Elisha, who was a young man, maybe in his 20s, and he was plowing. He was a hard-working farmer; he was just plowing! But God had something very special for him. God saw more than a hard-working guy. And He was right! Elisha became one of the greatest prophets in the Bible! What is true about Elisha is true about you: God has a mantle, something special, a spiritual assignment for you and a calling bigger than the field you’re standing in! God has a mantle for you if you’re ready to take a risk, and step into the spiritual adventure of following, believing in and obeying God! My prayer for us is that God will stir up the Holy Spirit to help each of us move out of whatever holds us back and move into God’s spiritual assignment for us.
So, we’re in part one of a four-part message series. We see in the story of Elisha, an ordinary guy doing extraordinary things! Elisha lived in the ninth century BC, 2900 years ago. He becomes one of the greatest miracle workers in the Bible!
A prophet’s job was to tell the people what God wants them to do and not do. It was a time when it wasn’t easy to be a prophet! The Hebrew people didn’t always want to hear from God. The king definitely didn’t want to hear from Elisha! There was a prophet before Elisha, named Elijah. He did great things. But he got discouraged when the Queen threatened to kill him! Elijah was burned out, and he needed to retire soon. God told Elijah, who was discouraged, go make Elisha prophet. It was a critical time when people needed to turn to God. You live in a critical time as well! At critical times in your school, God may raise you up to be a spiritual leader. In a critical time in your family, God may call you to be a spiritual leader. And in a critical time in your community, God may call you to be a spiritual leader.
We don’t know much about Elisha, but we do know he didn’t go to seminary, and his father was not a priest. His father was a farmer, but not a poor farmer. We know Elisha probably was from a well-off family. Why? Because you could make a living with a pair of oxen on your farm. You were just happy to have a pair of oxen! But Elisha’s family had not one but twelve teams of oxen!
The great prophet Elijah was feeling kind of discouraged, so he went to find Elisha and make him a prophet. Elijah didn’t say anything. He just threw his cloak, made of animal skin, over Elisha while he was plowing. Now that seems kind of odd. I don’t know about you, but I don’t go around throwing coats on farmers while they’re working. But this is not just a coat. It’s a prophetic symbol worn by prophets and kings and judges, called a mantle. You could say it’s a prophet’s uniform. It shows he has responsibility from God and the authority to be God’s spokesperson. Putting his mantle on Elisha demonstrates, without using words, that Elijah is passing on the role of a prophet to Elisha. It’s like he’s saying: I’m putting this mantle on you, Elisha. You’re next! God has chosen you. God wants Elisha to be his voice to the people.
Now Elisha has a decision to make: what’s he going to do? His life is pretty good right now: his dad’s a rich farmer, and someday he’ll inherit some of his father’s wealth and be a rich farmer too. Does he stay with his safe, predictable life, or does he risk it all because some crazy prophet threw his cloak on him? Will he follow God’s call? We all take risks. Sometimes there are bad risks: like cheating on your spouse, lying, or stealing. But on the other hand, there are good risks. When it comes to faith, a lot of people play it safe. Maybe you get a sense God wants you to give something to help someone, but you don’t. Or you want to invite someone to church or share your faith with someone. You’re close to doing it, but it’s a risk and you decide not to do it. When it comes to risk, sometimes we get it backwards. We risk when we shouldn’t, and when God wants us to take a risk, we don’t. What will Elisha do?
Elisha leaves his oxen and runs after Elijah! He says, “Let me kiss my father and mother goodbye, and then I will come with you.” He kills his oxen, burns his plow to cook the meat, feeds his parents and family and the people on the farm, and then he’s ready to go!
And I want to take a moment to talk about how people come to obey God. It’s not a zero to hero thing, where you don’t know who God is then the next moment you become the spiritual leader of your nation, doing whatever God asks you. When the mantle got thrown on him, Elisha knew who Elijah was! Elijah had been a prophet for years before he came to Elisha. Elijah by himself had defeated 450 priests of Baal. He started a fire, just by calling on God, when the wood had been soaked into the wood. When it was their turn, the priests tried to get their god to ignite dry wood, but they couldn’t. Then all 450 priests were killed. All the Hebrews, including Elisha, would know about Elijah, the great prophet!
Elisha knew all about Elijah. He was ready to follow. Following is the first step. When Jesus called his disciples, he said, “Come follow me.” That’s it! Jesus didn’t say, you must have unwavering belief in me from day one and immediately obey whatever I say.” No, he just asked them to follow, and the believing and obeying grew over time.
At first, Elisha followed. He packed his bags quickly and followed Elijah. He became Elijah’s disciple or follower. Over time Elisha grew in faith and learned to obey God. So, by the time Elijah rode a chariot of fire to heaven, Elisha trusted in God and obeyed and was ready to take over as prophet.
Let’s say you come to church to worship for the first time ever. No one expects you to be the pope on day one! You’ve got a journey ahead! Your first step is to follow Jesus, to try it out. Your next step is to come back next Sunday. Another step is to come to Bible Study or Sunday school. It’s about taking a next step and a next step to follow. Then trusting in and obeying God happens over time.
Elisha was eager to follow! Maybe he thought, if I leave my team of oxen behind and my plow, I’ll be tempted to come home where it’s easier and safer than being a prophet. So, he killed the oxen, cooked them up with the wood from the plow, had a last meal with his people and left!
Elisha’s story show that God isn’t looking for ability. He’s looking for availability. He wasn’t looking for the son of a priest, who knew the Scriptures backward and forward. He was looking for someone who was available, who would say yes, I’ll follow!
It doesn’t matter if you’re just starting to follow, or you’ve followed God a long time. Are you available to God? Are you ready to say yes to God, and no to what could pull you away? I’ve seen people do that! Confirmation class was going to be a one-year commitment for one family. They lived about 45 minutes away from church, and they thought they could go to worship for just the year of confirmation. But when their daughter was confirmed, she wanted to keep coming! She liked being an usher taking up the offering. After confirmation was over, she got mom to keep coming with her each week to worship. I’ve known people to change their job when they felt it wasn’t an occupation that was pleasing to God. Then I have a friend Annelies, since college. She didn’t grow up going to church, but her family moved to the U.S. when she was a senior in high school. She went with a friend to church and youth group and gave her life to Christ. After her first year of college, she went on a summer mission trip to South America. There she contracted hepatitis from unsanitary conditions. When she came back to school in the Fall, I was concerned about her health. But she didn’t let it stop her! She was still available. She studied in Senegal, West Africa for a year of college. After college she and her husband were missionaries in Russia. Several years ago, in her late 50s, Annelies taught English in Rwanda, East Africa, while her husband, who is a pastor, did church work there for a year. All these people are saying, “I’m available!” God isn’t looking for ability. He’s looking for availability!
God has a bigger calling for you. My challenge for you, is to ask God, is there anything holding back my relationship with you? What’s the plow I need to burn? How do I make myself available to your bigger calling for me?
Elisha was a young man who had a good life! He had it made. But a crazy man of God threw a coat on him, and Elisha left his life and never looked back. He took a step to follow God and become a disciple of Elijah. Elisha made an amazing choice, becoming one of the greatest prophets and miracle workers in the Bible! God has a spiritual assignment for you! Are you available? When you put aside the things that try to hold you back, you can step into the amazing calling that God has for you! Amen.
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