Kings: Burn Your Boats - Audio
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So we're continuing our series in Kings, a manual for dissidents, as we've been saying the entire time in this series, I am a little bit pessimistic about the future of our culture. I hope that I'm wrong, but I get the sense that we are not headed in a pro-church, pro-Christian environment, and as a result, it's important for us to know how to remain faithful in the midst of that. And Kings, the first and second Kings are like a manual for that. They show what it's like, how to live faithfully in a culture that is headed away. So let's jump into our text for today, 1 Kings 19. So Elijah went from there and found Elisha, son of Shephat. He was plowing with 12 yoke of oxen, and he himself was driving the 12th pair. Elijah went up to him and threw his cloak around him. Elisha then left his oxen and ran after Elijah. He says, "Let me kiss my father and mother goodbye." He said, "And then I'll come with you." Elijah responds, "Go back. What do I have to do with you?" So Elisha left him and went back. He took his yoke of oxen, slaughtered them. He burned the plowing equipment to cook the meat, and gave it to the people. And then, and they ate, then he set out to follow Elijah and become his servant. This is a very strange text. What's going on here? First, where are we? So Elijah went from there, found Elisha, son of Shephat. If you recall, Elijah has had a pretty rough ministry. He's had a lot of issues, a lot of fear, a lot of isolation, a lot of just yikes. It's been a tough road to hoe. But God has told him that he's going to have a successor, and that successor is going to be Elisha. So Elijah, he's probably a little worried. He's probably a little worried because he knows what it takes to be faithful the way he's been faithful in this culture. And he doesn't know who Elisha is. He doesn't know if Elisha is going to measure up. In 1992, my all-time favorite legal drama was released, A Few Good Men, have you seen this film? And for the younger folks, do you know who a Few Good Men are? Like Sam, if I said I'm looking for a Few Good Men, do you know what that refers to at all? Okay. Well, at the time, for those of us who are old, we all knew what it meant because we had lived through this incredible commercial from 1985. Apparently, we probably have to jack up the volume, I don't know how it's going to go. But you begin with raw steel, shape it with fire, muscle, and sweat. Polish it to razor sharp perfection. We're looking for a Few Good Men, for the medal to be Marines. Wow. Man, that was sexist. Did you see that? You see the sex isn't incredible.
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Do you have what it takes to stand against the anti-Christic culture of today?