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Amen. Well, I want to thank everybody for having me today, and it's always a blessing to come out here to Faithful Word Baptist Church. It's always one of my favorite places to preach, mainly because of you guys, because I always feel welcome here. I always feel like you're not against me or you're not just like, hey, you know, what's that guy about to say? So I'm always, it's always, it's always a fun time to come out here and just thank Pastor Anderson, obviously, for, he's preaching at my church, and we actually crossed paths at the airport, and he came off the plane I was getting on, and so that, I've never had that happen before, so that was pretty cool, but definitely be in prayer for your pastor. He's gonna be traveling and all that, and so, but it's just a blessing to be out here, and especially coming out here, I always want to be a blessing, and I always want the sermon to be edifying, but also just to be something that, you know, will exhort you to serve the Lord even more, and so I'm preaching a sermon on the mantle of Elijah, the mantle of Elijah, and I want you to look down there in verse 19, and so you're in 1st Kings chapter 19 and verse 19. It says, He departed thence and found Elisha the son of Shaphat, and he was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen before him, and with the twelve, and Elijah passed by and cast his mantle upon him, and so Elijah the prophet takes his mantle and puts it up on him, and you may ask your question, what is a mantle, but mantle is basically something that you would wear, and it doesn't really explain exactly what his mantle was, but it's basically something you'd wear across the chest area. I guess you could maybe say that it ties a type of mantle, but it's more like a, more like maybe what you would think of as like a vest or something that would basically be going across your chest area, but Job, for example, rent his mantle, and you'll see people doing that as far as showing like a sign of sorrow and things like that, but either way, the mantle is going to represent, I believe, basically passing off what Elijah is trying to accomplish, and when it comes to this, I want you to go to 2 Timothy chapter 2. 2 Timothy chapter 2 is the idea that we as Christians, we want to pass off what we're trying to do to the next generation or to our children. We want them to not only do what we're trying to do now, but to do better, and so I have five children, and they're pretty young right now. It's like eight down to newborn, but the one thing that I think about is the fact that I want my children, one, to get saved, but also to love the Lord and serve the Lord, and but I also think about just the idea that I'm a pastor, so when it comes to those that are in my church, I want, I want those in my church to do, to do greater things than me. I want the next generation to do greater things than them, and the idea of passing on that mantle or basically teaching others to do likewise and to do greater works for God, and I think that if we have this mindset that, hey, what I'm doing now or what we're doing now for the Lord, you know, we're striving to do great things for God, but we want to pass that on so that others will do it as well when we're gone, right? So I think about like when I die, you know, what are people gonna do? What are my children gonna do? What are the members of my church going to do after I'm gone, right? And I'm only 38 years old, so I don't plan on going anywhere right now, but, but, you know, I think that, you know, it's something good to think about, and I'm gonna give you reasons why it's something good to think about, even when you're young, and so go to 2 Timothy chapter 2 and verse 1. It says, Thou therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus, and the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also. So this idea of wanting to pass on the information, right, is that, that Paul is stating to Timothy, hey, take what I, what you've heard from me, and give it to faithful men so they can teach others also, right? And this obviously goes into the Great Commission and the fact that we're supposed to teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost, and teaching them to observe all things whatsoever commanded you. This is a principle of just the Great Commission in general as far as teaching others to do likewise. Go to Proverbs chapter 17 and verse 6, Proverbs chapter 17 and verse 6, and specifically dealing with fathers and children. And listen, obviously spiritually speaking, you know, when you get someone saved, you know, they're kind of like your son in the faith or your child in the faith, and you can, you can look at this as far as people that you went to Christ or people you're trying to, to lead down a godly path. And so you say, I don't have any physical children. Well, this can still apply in that aspect as far as how someone can look to you as a father figure or as a motherly figure if you're a woman. And so Proverbs 17 and verse 6 says, children's children are the crown of old men, and the glory of children are their fathers. And I think about this when it comes to, you know, my father for example. You know, my, my father, you know, my, I grew up in a home that was Christian, you know, in name. My mom's side was Catholic, my dad's side was like Protestant, you know, and I didn't get saved until I was 17, but my parents still had Christian values, and my father, the one thing I remember about my father was the fact that he was a hard worker, and the fact that I always looked to him, and it was kind of like this idea of like, you know, I don't want to say proud, but like I was, I looked at my father, and if someone, my father had a reputation of respect, right, and so he worked at a hospital, and when people would talk to him, they would talk to him with respect, and, and it's just something that I looked to, and it was kind of like this glory of like my father, and the fact that I wanted to be like him, right, and so when it comes to our children, I believe that they do inherently want to be like their parents, and they want to follow and emulate their parents. This could be good, this could be bad, right, so when you think about the idea of, well, if you're, if you're a godly parent, then that could be a very good thing, but if you're a parent that's, that, that, that smokes and drinks and does drugs, well guess what? Your children are going to end up doing that, and even I've run, I've had neighbors and friends that their parents smoked, and I'm just using this as an example, that smoked, and basically they would, they would say, you know, they would even tell us, they were like, don't do that, I was a kid, you know, and they're like, don't do that, smoking's bad, I'm not gonna smoke, and then they end up smoking, right, the whole family does, because you end up picking up the mantle of your parents, whether it's good or bad, and so as parents, I believe that we need to obviously look to this as far as how we are passing, what are we passing down to our children when it comes to that, but also as Christians, and as, you know, obviously I'm a pastor of a church, so I think about this with, with my church and the members in our church, but go to 1st Corinthians, I'm sorry, 1st Kings chapter 17, and I'm really focusing on Elijah for this, when it comes to this subject, but in order to pass down a mantle, in order to pass it off to Elisha, it has to be established first, right, you have to, you have to establish a good mantle in order to pass it down, and Elijah, before he ever gets to Elisha, establishes, I believe, a good mantle, if you will, basically a good backlog of spirituality and following the Lord and serving the Lord, to where he can pass that off to Elisha. Now look at 1st Kings chapter 17 and verse 1, this is the first time we see Elijah being mentioned here, it says, Elijah, the Tishbite, who was of the inhabitants of Gilead, said unto Ahab, as the Lord God of Israel liveth before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my word. So this is that famous idea or passage, if you will, where Elijah prays for it not to rain, and go to James chapter 5, James chapter 5, because James chapter 5 shows us the exact space of time that it didn't rain, but in James chapter 5 verse 16, the thing that I want to really point out with Elijah, because Elijah is one of those characters that's kind of larger than life, and you'll see these characters in the Bible, you're like, well I can never attain unto that guy, I can't be like Moses, I can't be like Noah, you know, I'm not like that, you know, these guys are kind of above, and what really, what I want to get through to you is that no person in the Bible, besides obviously the Lord himself, you know, the Lord Jesus Christ, is not attainable, meaning this is that we can attain unto the things of Elijah and the righteousness of Elijah and the works of Elijah, and what I want to show you here is that in James chapter 5 verse 16, it says, confess your faults one to another and pray one for another that you may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are, and what I want you, he's flesh and blood. He was a man of like passions, he wasn't some, he was a man of God, and he was called a man of God, but he wasn't a God-man, right, he wasn't this, he wasn't just levitating above everybody else, and just, you know, he never sinned or he didn't, no, he was just a man just like one of us, he had the same passions that we have, obviously, and there's, I'm gonna get to a place where he kind of has a low point, and so when you think about Elijah, what you have to understand is that he's just a man just like anybody else, and that you don't, you shouldn't look at Elijah and be like, well, he's way far out there, I can never get to that point, no, what you should be thinking about is with all these characters in the Bible is that, hey, I want to be like them, but I actually want to go even a step further, and first James chapter 5 verse 17, it says, Elias was a man of, subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain, and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months, and he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit, so the power that Elijah had with God, where he could just pray that it doesn't rain, and it didn't rain until he prayed again that it would rain, and that's what it states in that first verse is that it was according to his word, that it's not gonna rain until Elijah says it's gonna rain, I mean, think about the power that you have with God, the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much, and, you know, obviously you can pray, but, you know, there's a lot of factors in that, is it according to God's will, are you righteous, are you doing those things that are pleasing in his sight, and is it a fervent prayer, right, I mean, are you doing it in faith and not double-minded, and all those factors go into play when it comes to what Elijah did there, but know this is that he's a man just like any of us, and go to 1 Kings chapter 17, 1 Kings chapter 17, Elijah brought up a lot in the New Testament, and rightfully so, I mean, Elijah was a great prophet, but I want you to just see some of his exploits here, obviously that he caused it not to rain for three years and six months, 1 Kings chapter 17 verse 8, it says, and the word of the Lord came unto him saying, arise, get thee to Zarephath, which belongs to Zidon, and dwell there, behold I have commanded a widow woman there to sustain thee. Now this is brought up in Luke chapter 4, and Jesus is talking about Elijah and Elisha, but in Luke chapter 4 and verse 26, you don't have to turn there, it says, but none of them was Elias sent, save unto Zarephath, a city of Zidon, unto a woman that was a widow, and he's basically saying there's a lot of widows in Israel when there was that drought, when it didn't rain for three years and six months, and that he was sent to this widow woman. Now for sake of time, I'm not gonna go through the whole story with the widow woman, but basically you have this this cruise of oil and this this this meal that basically never never went away until the drought was done, until it rained again, and but then also the son that she had basically died and Elijah had and brought this child back to life, so I mean in chapter 17 you have like these these great miracles that are going on with Elijah. So the first thing that we have to think about if we're gonna pass on a mantle is what are we passing on, and we need to really focus on ourselves and say hey I want there to be you know something that my children will latch on to and say I want to be like that and I want that to be something that I'm going to do afterwards, okay, and so we need to be thinking about okay establishing that mantle, establishing you know basically a good reputation, a good spiritual life that either our children will take on or church members will take on or maybe people that you went to the Lord take on and that you can put that upon them so they'll go on after you, and I just think about the fact that there's a lot of people in the world that want to have a legacy and you think about you think about actors, celebrities, and they want this legacy they want to be known throughout time for what they've done, and you know obviously we need to be thinking about the Lord and glorifying the Lord, but honestly obviously in Elijah's case we see that his legacy continues on. His legacy continues on even into the New Testament, and yay even until the second coming of Christ Elijah is mentioned and Elijah is there, you know, so think about the idea of okay I want I only have a short space of time in my life, you know, if you live to 70, 80, 90, 100, whatever it is, that's a short little space and you can only do so much in that short little space, but the effects of what you do in that time can affect generations from here until the end of time, and so we need to think about obviously little as much when God is in it and when you do when you do the work of the Lord what that effect can be on the next generation. Go to 1st Kings chapter 18, 1st Kings chapter 18 verse 37, and this is the story where where Elijah sets up or basically kills all the prophets of Baal, but basically the story goes is that there's 450 prophets of Baal, there's 400 prophets of the Grove, if I got that backwards I apologize, but either way there's a lot of prophets of Baal and they basically, Elijah says hey, you know, why halt you between between two opinions, either worship the Lord, serve the Lord, or serve Baal, you know, choose one, and he sets up his altar and he says to the the prophets of Baal set up your altar, put the sacrifice on there, but don't put any fire on it, and then they're over there basically calling out and Elijah's mocking them and saying hey maybe your God's sleeping, you know, maybe you need to wake him up, and and so they're cutting themselves and all this crazy stuff that they're doing and nothing happens obviously, and then Elijah's over here pouring four barrels of water three times on the sacrifice before the fire comes down, and so I always I always laugh at that that story because it's like he did it and he says do it a second time, and who here listens to Alexander Scorby, you know, the best when it comes to reading the Bible, so I'm a little biased, but the third he's like he's like do it a second time, and he's like do it a third time, and I'm like I don't think that's the way he said it, you know, but and I like Scorby, but it kind of seemed like he's like do it a third time, like he's kind of unsure, like maybe, no, but I think that obviously there's four barrels of oil, there's four barrels of water, he does it three times, does anyone know what three times four is? Twelve. How many tribes of Israel are there? Twelve. How many stones did he use to make the altar? Twelve. So I think he's probably like do it, do it, do it the second time, do it the third time, but either way basically he calls down this fire, or obviously he's wanting to prove that God is the Lord, and look at verse 37 there, it says, hear me O Lord, hear me that this people may know that thou art the Lord God, and that thou hast turned their heart back again. Then the fire of the Lord fell and consumed the burnt sacrifice and the wood and the stones and the dust and licked up the water that was in the trench, and when all the people saw it they fell on their faces and they said the Lord he is the God, the Lord he is the God, and Elijah said unto them take the prophets of Baal let not one of them escape, and they took them and Elijah brought them down to the brook Kishon and slew them there. I want you to think about like all the exploits that Elijah is doing. I mean this is this is crazy stuff if you think about it. I mean he's causing it not to rain for three years and six months. He's obviously God is doing this miracle with the barrel of meal and the cruise of oil with the widow woman. He's raising her son from the dead and then over here he's causing God to basically lick up this sacrifice with all the water, the dust, and the stone. I mean think about how hot that fire had to be to take up stone. Obviously we know that in the center of the earth you have obviously just a big ball of fire of brimstone right, but that's hot and and obviously this is great exploits and then he ends up killing all these prophets of Baal, but go to 1 Kings chapter 19. 1 Kings chapter 19. Now if you know the story after this happens he causes it to rain, he prays that it rains and it does rain and Jezebel is wanting to kill Elijah and this is a low point for Elijah right. I mean think about all the stuff that he did and now he's wishing for death. I mean think look at verse 4 there of chapter 19. But he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness and came and sat down under a juniper tree and he requested for himself that he might die and said it is enough now O Lord take away my life for I am not better than my father's. So he's wishing for death and he's wanting to die. So what you need to understand is that even when you do great things for God that high moment of spirituality can go down like that to where you're just in this pit of despair. When persecution arises that can happen in a moment and don't think that anybody is past falling when it comes to persecution or tribulation. I mean don't think that Pastor Anderson's beyond that either. I have a lot of confidence in Pastor Anderson you know when it comes to enduring tribulation. So don't take this the wrong way or think like hey listen he's ready to crumble you know. But know this is that wherefore let him that thinketh he stand to take heed lest he fall. I mean Pastor Anderson's human just like anybody else. So am I. So are all our pastor friends and so is everybody out there. Everybody that's here. Listen we can all fall and we need to always be cognizant of that so that we can prepare ourselves for when those times come. And if Elijah can come to the point where he's like just kill me now then any of us can. And I'm just gonna be honest with you there's times in the ministry where I'm not asking for death. I haven't come that far. Like just kill me now I'm done with this. But there have been times where I'm just like why am I doing this to myself? You know I have five kids and a lot of people have more kids than me that are in this building. But I have five kids. You know I have my wife. You know there's a lot going on and then there's there's just a lot of time that goes into the ministry and that goes into work that goes into the family to where I'm just like why am I doing it? And I'm not necessarily thinking about like quitting life or quitting being a Christian but I'm just like why am I you know sometimes I just wish I could just sit in the pew and just be there right? And just just just listen and just you know go soul winning and all that. And listen you may be out there and say hey I wish I could just stop soul winning for a couple weeks. I could just wish I could just you know just relax and all that. And listen we need to all know that that is the like passions of a prophet or of a preacher or of a Christian. But you say well what keeps you going? What keeps you pressing toward the mark? What keeps you wanting to be a pastor or whatever? Or what keeps me going is the idea of that people I think about that if I quit who else would quit because I quit. I think about my children that they look to me as as a you know obviously to my children I'm like Superman. I'm the strongest person out there like I can never fail them at any moment like I would I would rip a bear in half if I had to like I mean to them like I am everything. So if I quit I just think about other people that are gonna quit. There there was a time where I went I was going to a church and it was just one of those things where this church was preaching on something that I didn't agree with and it just kept preaching on that preaching on that preaching on that and I'm just like you know what I'm not going this Wednesday. And it wasn't because I was sick and there was no other reason besides I just did not want to go. And I didn't go that Wednesday. You know what happened? Some of my friends didn't go either. You think of Peter when it says I go a-fishing like we go with thee? I have a lot of confidence in my church members that they would go on but I also think that maybe they wouldn't. And when it comes to this mantle that you're trying to establish and why you keep going or why you don't just quit is the fact that there's people that need you. Think about people out when you go out soul-winning. If you didn't go, they're not getting saved. How shall they hear without a preacher? And there are people that only you can win. And so we need to be thinking about that. If you ever think about quitting, think about who that affects besides you. And the mantle that Elijah has, I mean think about the past that he has there and think about what he hasn't even done yet. But when he's there, obviously you have this story where the Lord's not in the earthquake, the Lord's not in the whirlwind, he's in that still small voice. And when I think about these times where I'm wanting to quit, I'm wanting to just give it up and I'm just wanting to just relax and go to like just kind of a more low-key life or something like that. I get it, I just read the Bible by myself with nothing else around me and you got to get that still small voice that the Lord is speaking to you and just put all the noise out. And you know I talked to my my deacon who's like my best friend, right? And I talked to him, I'm like some days I feel like charging hell with a squirt gun. I'm just like let's do this. And then other days I'm just like I'm done. I'm just toast. I'm like worn out and it's just like a day-to-day thing and what I what I find is that with experience, know this is that if there's a day that you feel like quitting you just need to wait to the next day where you don't. Because that day will, I mean you're not gonna feel like quitting every single day of the week. Like some days you're just you're just worn out you're like man I just feel like just not doing anything. Why am I doing this? And then the next day I'm just like hey let's get it. It's time to go to work, right? I can only take so much downtime to where I'm like I feel like I'm wasting my life away. What am I doing, right? And so you need to have that in mind and notice what it says here in verse 13. So you're in 1st Kings chapter 19 verse 13. I always tell my church members I'm like I'll preach something like this and I feel like sometimes they think man are you just ready to quit on that like a drop of a dime? It's like it's not like that, okay? Just because I'm like having these thoughts and stuff like that it's not like I'm like putting in my resignation like handing off the keys of the church to the deacon. Like I am it's just this is a thought process that I have to constantly battle with to where why I keep going. And verse 13 here it says and it was so when Elijah heard it that he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood in the entering in of the cave and behold there came a voice unto him and said what doest thou hear Elijah? And obviously the Lord is going to basically tell him hey you need to you need to go and there's things that you need to do but this is the first mention of Elijah's mantle and the idea that he's obviously hiding his face from the Lord here and and probably afraid of you know the just healthy fear of God here but he gets that still small voice the Lord is speaking to him and Elijah's complaining to him I mean Elijah saying I'm the only one left I alone and left and they seek my life to take it away and you know what that's what the devil wants you to think the devil wants you to think that you're alone and go down well go to go to Romans chapter 11 Romans chapter 11 Romans chapter 11 and verse 2 Romans chapter 11 verse 2 because in verse 18 of chapter 19 it says yet I have left me 7,000 in Israel all the knees which have not bowed unto Baal and every mouth which hath not kissed him so in Elijah's mind he thinks he's alone he thinks that oh well he's the only one that they're trying to kill no one else is standing up for the Lord and God has to remind him no you're not alone there's 7,000 that haven't that haven't bowed the knee to Baal and Romans chapter 11 I want I want this to be more in the present with knowing that this is still the case is that in Romans chapter 11 verse 2 it says God hath not cast away his people which he foreknew what ye not that the scripture saith of Elias how he maketh intercession to God against Israel saying Lord they have killed thy prophets and dig down thine altars and I am left alone they seek my life but what set the answer God unto him I have reserved to myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to the image of Baal notice this even so then at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace no this is that there's still a remnant and as much as you think that you're the only one that's suffering persecution or that you're the one that's serving the Lord there's still remnant it that is the the devil obviously wants you to think that you're alone but the devil you know the Bible says be sober be vigilant because your adversary the devil is a roaring lion seeketh who he may devour whom resist steadfast in the faith knowing that the same afflictions are accomplishing your brethren that are in the world so know that these same afflictions that you're going through these same persecutions that you're going through these same thoughts and you're going through the brother your brother that are in the world are going through the same thing but obviously the devil wants you to think that you're alone and he wants you to give up because if you give up that that means less people are going to get saved. If you give up, then your children might not serve the Lord. And there's consequences for you giving up and not passing off the mantle. Go down to 1 Kings chapter 19 again. 1 Kings chapter 19 and verse 19. It's hotter here in Arizona. I don't know if you know that. I'm wearing this jacket and listen, I'm hot right now so it is warm. And we've got air conditioning going. What's going on? So people always say well you know it's dry heat though. Well so is an oven. But honestly in West Virginia it's pretty warm there too and we've got humidity so pick your poison I guess. So 1 Kings chapter 19 and verse 19. So actually 1 Kings chapter 19 and verse 15 is what I want you to see first there. Is that Elijah is in despair. He's wishing for death. But the Lord comes to him and says hey you're not alone. And notice in verse 15, and the Lord said unto him, go return on thy way to the wilderness of Damascus and when thou comest anoint Hazael to be king over Syria and Jehu the son of Nimshai, shalt thou anoint to be king over Israel and Elisha the son of Shaphat, Abel Meholah, shalt thou anoint to be prophet in thy room. So notice that there's work to be done. And if there's ever a reason that you think hey I want to give up, I don't want to do this anymore, listen there's work that needs to be done. There are people that need you, there are people that will not go on unless you go on and his journey's not done. And verse 19, what he does first here is that he's going to go get Elisha. So at this point you just see Elijah by himself doing all these great works. But now he's going to pick up someone that he's going to basically pass off what he has been doing. Notice in verse 19 it says, so he departed thence and found Elisha the son of Shaphat, who was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen before him and he with the twelve and Elijah passed by him and cast his mantle upon him. So basically he just finds Elisha and he just takes off his mantle and puts it on him. Now obviously there can be a spiritual representation there in the fact that he's basically saying hey what I've been doing, you're going to now do. And Elisha is wanting to go back and you can look at this and be like well he's kind of turning back and he doesn't want to go or whatever. But notice in verse 20 there it says he left the oxen and ran after Elijah and said let me I pray thee kiss my father and my mother then I will follow thee and he said unto him go back again for what have I done to thee. Notice in verse 21 though it says and he returned back from him and took a yoke of oxen and slew them and boiled their flesh with the instruments of the oxen and gave unto the people and they did eat. Then he arose and went after Elijah and ministered unto him. So basically what he was doing he basically just kind of destroyed it to where he can't even go back to it. And so this is the kind of man that obviously Elisha was and he ministered unto Elijah and Elijah is now with Elijah Elisha is with Elijah. So bear with me if I mix those up forgive me. But while Elisha is with Elijah we have this story that happens and the thing that I want you to understand here is that before maybe you have children or and maybe I'm speaking to the younger crowd right now as far as maybe those that aren't married those that don't have children yet is that listen the Bible talks about bearing your yoke in the youth and how you're blessed if you do that and the idea here is that you establish that mantle before you even get to the point where you're passing off that information. But what you also need to understand is that you don't just pass it off and walk away. Okay and I've seen this happen with churches there was this church that we were trying to help out with soul winning and we went over there and we taught we were teaching them how to go soul winning we went out soul winning with them and people were getting saved people in the church were getting saved you know people were getting re-baptized you know all this stuff and basically it was all going well the pastor was doing it everybody was doing you know a lot of people were doing it and then we walked away from it and what happened was is the leadership stopped doing it and they said well you know the leadership the pastor's like well I'm not against soul winning I think it's great you guys should go but I'm not going to go anymore. And you can guess and you'll be right of what happened. So when it comes to passing off the mantle while you're alive here we need to keep going and we need to lead by example. So when it comes to this is that Elijah is doing great exploits while Elisha is with him and really just leading by example to where Elisha can see hey this is how I should be this is what I should be like this is the spirituality that I should be striving for. In verse one there of second Kings chapter one it says then Moab rebelled against Israel after the death of Ahab and Aaziah fell down through a lattice in the upper chamber that was in Samaria and was sick and sent messengers and said unto them go inquire Baal Zebub the god of Ekron whether I shall recover this disease. But the angel of the Lord said to Elijah the Tishbite arise go up to meet the messengers of the king of Samaria and say unto them is it not because there is not a god in Israel that you go to inquire of Baal Zebub the god of Ekron now therefore thus said the Lord thou shalt not come down from the bed on which thou art gone up but shall surely die and Elijah departed. So the story goes is that the king obviously is he's angry and he sends out these captains of 50s to Elijah and Elijah calls fire down on them and consumes these 50 and then it happens again and he consumes another 50 and then the third captain comes up and says please be merciful unto me that my life may be precious in thy sight and basically that 50 saved and Elijah comes up and says Elijah goes down with them. This is where you can think about where in the New Testament remember the apostles because you know basically people weren't receiving Jesus they're like should we call down fire like Elijah that's where this is coming from as far as what they're referencing to and so you can see that Elijah is still doing great works for God he's doing that while Elisha is with him and we need to do that as well because our children are going to emulate what we do and listen in this church I bet there's a lot of people that or a lot of kids and adolescents that will look up to adults and you don't even realize it maybe there's people that are just there all the time like you're there Sunday morning Sunday night Wednesday night and people see that people see that you go out soul winning and when you don't go or when you don't go to church and listen if you're sick I understand you know there's obviously reasons where you can't be at church or you can't go soul winning or whatever but listen if it's if they see people drop out they notice that and then they think to themselves well maybe I don't have to stay consistent maybe I don't have to do that and so we need to always be thinking about who is watching us and Elisha is watching and Elisha is watching Elijah and go to second Kings chapter two and verse one second Kings chapter two and verse one and Elijah is about to go up in a whirlwind and it says in verse one here it says and it came to pass when the Lord would take up Elijah into heaven by a whirlwind that Elijah went with Elisha from Gilgal and Elijah said unto Elisha Terry here I pray thee for the Lord has sent me to Bethel and Elisha said unto him as the Lord liveth and as thy soul liveth I will not leave thee so they went down to Bethel so you get the picture Elisha is like I'm not leaving you this happens a couple times he's like I'm not leaving you I'm going to stay by your side wherever you go I go right and then in verse eight here notice what it says it says and Elijah took his mantle and wrapped it together and smote the waters and they were divided hither and thither so that they too went over on dry ground now I want you to think about this this is Jordan this happened another time with Joshua when they went into the promised land to take the promised land and then obviously you have the Red Sea crossing where you have this happen with Moses this is not a small matter of what Elijah is doing here when they're going over across Jordan here and it came to pass when they were gone over that Elijah said unto Elisha ask what shall be done or shall I'm sorry ask what I shall do for thee before I be taken away from thee and Elisha said I pray thee let a double portion of thy spirit be put or be be upon me and he said thou hast asked the hard thing nevertheless if thou see me when I am taken from thee it shall be so unto thee but if not it shall not be so and the next verse it says and it came to pass as they still went on and talked that behold there appeared a chariot of fire and horses of fire and part of them both asunder and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven and Elisha saw it right so he was there when it happened but he asked for a double portion of his spirit this is what I want to happen with me this is what I want to happen with Pastor Anderson this is what I want to happen with all of you is that when you depart that those that you are trying to put your mantle on and those that you're trying to lead will say I want a double portion of that not even just I want to do what he did or what she did I want a double portion of it I want to do double what they did and so obviously if Elisha did the same thing he did the same as Elijah that would be amazing but he wanted a double portion of it and this is my goal this is what I want to accomplish is that I want my children to do greater things than I do or that I ever accomplish I'm not you know I don't want it to be like hey listen tone it down over there because I want to be the greatest in the kingdom of heaven okay you know I want them to live a better Christian life than I than I lived or will live or whatever I want them to do greater work for God I want them to be blessed more by God than me I don't know about you but my children I want them I want them to to be in the blessings of God all their life and I want them to do better than me because listen to be honest with you I don't believe it will take that much you know like for them to do better than me but you know that should be our goal is that hey our children surpass now does that mean that my sons need to be pastors not at all listen my my sons can do greater things for God even if they're not a pastor and my daughters can do greater things than God especially since they wouldn't be pastors but that is my goal that's what I want to happen and I think that that should be all of our goals that we should be wanting to pass off our mantle like Elijah and for that person that we're passing it off to to want to not just do as much as they did but double and I believe that happened with Elijah or Elisha and he ends up picking up the mantle notice in verse 13 so in second Kings chapter two verse 13 it says he took up also the mantle of Elijah that fell from him and went back and stood by the bank of Jordan and he took the mantle of Elijah that fell from him and smote the waters and said where is the Lord God of Elijah and when he also had smitten the waters they parted hither and thither and Elisha went over and when the sons of the prophets which were to view at Jericho saw him they said the spirit of Elijah does rest on Elisha and they came to meet him and bow themselves to the ground before him so I mean that's that that's a great picture of just like hey Elijah's gone Elisha is now in his place and they're following him and he has the spirit of Elijah on him that's that's the goal that's my goal in life that's what I want all my church members to do that's what I want you to do that's what I believe God wants us all to do but know this that even after Elijah is is gone there were works that God told him to do that were being accomplished let me show you one example of this of when you're dead will there be things that are accomplished that that God told you to do that ended up happening because of what you did while you're still alive notice in verse 16 of first king chapter 19 he's told to anoint this new king of Syria he's told to go find Elisha but he's also told to do something here in verse 16 and Jehu the son of Nimshai shall thou anoint to be king over Israel now you can search all you want but there's no place where you see Elijah actually physically anointing Jehu this is actually something Elisha does and furthermore it's something that Elisha doesn't even do physically himself notice what it says in chapter one or chapter nine go to second king chapter nine verse one second king chapter nine verse one I want you to think about this right here when you think about the effect that you can have on the next generation the things that that you are trying to accomplish that you didn't accomplish in your life can be accomplished through those that you pass down that mantle to notice what it says here in second king chapter nine verse one it says in Elisha the prophet called one of the children of the prophets and said unto him gird up thy loins and take this box of oil in thine hand and go to Ramoth Gilead and go in and make him arise I'm sorry Ramoth Gilead and when thou comest thither look out there Jehu the son of Jehoshaphat the son of Nimshai and go in and make him arise up from among his brethren and carry him to an inner chamber then take the box of oil and pour it on his head and say thus saith the Lord I have anointed thee king over Israel then open the door and flee and tarry not now if you remember the story this is where Jehu comes out and all his his brother and everything what was that all about and he's like well you know the man or the man they're like it is false tell us now and they're like good night man don't give the guy a chance but notice this that Elisha is not the one actually doing it is he God told Elijah to anoint Jehu Elijah told Elisha to anoint Jehu Elisha told one of these young men to anoint Jehu notice that line of progression as far as Elijah Elisha and then this young man of the sons of the prophets that this is being passed down this commandment is being passed down you say well does that is that attributed to Elijah well let me ask you this was the death of Uriah attributed to David is he the one that actually did it physically no but he was attributed said you killed Uriah the Hittite with a sword of Ammon that's a bad thing you don't want that to be attributed to you you don't want you don't want murder to be on your hands but listen you can your actions and what you do for the Lord can be attributed through the people that you affect and you cause to go out and do that and listen you say well how's that reward work out for you then in heaven listen I'm not here to judge how the rewards are going to be worked out okay but really who cares how the rewards are working out if God's mission gets accomplished and I'll take it for the fact that I don't care if I'm dead and all these people do all these great works of God and it was is based off of what I did to cause them to do that if God gets the glory then so be it because our goal should be that that that God is glorified that Jesus is glorified for everything that he's done but I believe this is a very interesting and you can I can see people saying well that's a contradiction in the Bible I mean you know Elijah was the one that's supposed to annoy them no this really just shows you that Elijah's effect of what he did in his life went past his death and things that Elijah was trying to accomplish were accomplished after he was already gone and how about John the Baptist Luke chapter 1 Luke chapter 1 and I just want to give you this and we'll be done but I hope this is a blessing to you I hope this is something that I think about you know this is why I don't want to quit because I want my children I want my congregation I want all those that I'm trying to influence to keep going and when I die I don't want it to end with me and not that I'm like Elijah but I want it to keep going even after I'm gone how many churches do you see that after the pastor dies the whole church just dies but let that not be said about our churches let it be said that hey someone will step up and the church will keep going and that yay it'll even do better works it'll do more and Luke chapter 1 verse 16 it says and many of the children of Israel shall he turn to the Lord their God and he shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elias to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just to make ready a people prepared for the Lord John the Baptist Jesus said that he was the greatest prophet to be born of a woman and it says that he had the spirit and power of Elijah think about the effect that Elijah the prophet had and that went all the way to the man that was going to prepare the way of the Lord and he was in that prophet John was the greatest prophet to be born of a woman think about that effect and that even Jesus said if you'll receive it this is Elias which was for to come that effect that spanned how long I mean hundreds of years that you're dealing with the fact that you have Elijah and then you have that immediate mantle that's being brought down with Elijah but then John the Baptist let me ask you a question why not us can we not ask for that same spirit of Elijah and want that mantle of Elijah and we should be striving to pass that down on the line down the line and the last place I want to show you here is in Psalm 127 Psalm 127 verse 3 this may not apply to everybody because not everybody has children but I have children and this is something that I think about a lot okay if I have any fear it's that my children don't get saved or they don't love the Lord don't get saved or they don't love the Lord like that's my biggest fear and my biggest goal it's my biggest fear my biggest goal that my children will love the Lord serve the Lord and do greater things than I do my biggest fear that they don't so if you want to know what my desire is that's it if I ever die I want you to know that I want my children to get saved and I tell that to my wife I tell that to my family I tell that to my church members I'm like you make sure they get saved so but in verse 3 here it says Psalm 127 verse 3 says lo children are the inheritance of the Lord and the fruit of the womb is his reward as errors are in the hand of a mighty man so are children of the youth happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them but notice this right here they shall not be ashamed but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate I want my children to be to the point where my children will speak and I don't even have to would you not want I mean all fathers out there would you not want it to be said that hey anybody comes up with false doctrine anybody's trying to say something against the Bible or against Jesus that your children would have an answer to everything they say and you wouldn't even have to say a word I want my congregation to be that way listen if someone comes in with false doctrine I'm all right I'm obviously there to hit that but it probably won't even get to me because by the time it does they're already like three other guys that have already nipped that in the bud and so that's the goal right is that you have a congregation you have people that are ready to go and that know that doctrine and all that so let's end with a word of prayer to the heavenly father we thank you for today thank you for your word thank you for this passage on Elijah and his mantle and what help us to one establish a good spiritual mantle that we can pass down but then also that we can pass it down to our children to others around us and Lord we pray that the next generation will do greater things for God than we than we are that we try to do and Lord we love you in Christ in Jesus Christ name Amen