I remember when my family first moved to Florence, SC when I was a young teenager. We spent a long time looking for a good church. I quickly found out that just because we’re in the Bible Belt doesn’t mean we’re surrounded by the Bible. The South has become engulfed in cultural Christianity. Everyone says they’re a Christian. But fewer and fewer understand what it really means to be a Christian.
When my family came to PEACE Church, a man named Donnie Miles was the pastor. We found a gem in a bin full of rocks. A church with solid Bible preaching, traditional values, and a desire to follow the Lord’s will. And then Pastor Donnie announced his retirement and my family was thrown into a tailspin. What were we going to do? What was God doing? We’d finally found a good church after such a long time of searching, and, here we were, about to have to sit under yet another pastor.
As I will continue to come back to throughout this post, God knew exactly what he was doing. You see, he brought a special family into our lives as a result of Pastor Donnie’s retirement. He brought the Stone family. Throughout the past 7 years, God has given me the opportunity to sit under Mrs. Stone’s Sunday School teaching. I was able to teach and mentor the oldest son in teen class and Bible Study. I spent a week as the counselor to the youngest son at the Wilds. But, what is most on my mind today, he gave me the opportunity to sit under the pastorship of Joel Stone. This was a man who believed in me, believed in God’s Will for my life, and gave me the very opportunity to preach from the pulpit of PEACE Free Will Baptist. A few weeks before his death, he asked me if I’d preach for him one Sunday. I had no idea the circumstances. When his wife asked me a couple of weeks later if I’d preach the Sunday before as well, I had no idea the circumstances. When I got the news of his sudden passing Tuesday night, July 5th, I became angry at God. The Lord took my Papa and then orchestrated me to preach the following Sunday. Now, He had taken my pastor, widowed a mother, made two young boys fatherless, and orchestrated me to preach. I had prayed that 2023 would be a year of growth in my life. I forgot to specify to God that I just wanted to grow into a new job and a new location. I didn’t want to grow like this.
Then, the question began to weigh heavy on my mind. What do you do when a man of God has gone on? Joel was many things to many people. A role model, a father, a pastor, a friend, a teacher, a confidant, a minister, a shepherd, a caretaker. The hole that was left by him wouldn’t be easily filled.
It is times like these where the brevity, the shortness of life, really hits home. Joel said it many times from the pulpit… YOU NEVER KNOW WHEN GOD WILL CALL YOU HOME.
As I thought about that, I was reminded of a particular man of God in the Bible. He was a man who knew when God would call him home. Before God took him though, he raised another man who would take his place.
Many know of Elijah the Tishbite, the prophet of Gilead. We are first introduced to him in 1 Kings 17, as he prophesies draught to the wicked king Ahab. Elijah knew a little something about God’s provision. In 1 Kings 17:3, God told him to tarry by the brook Cherith. There God commanded the ravens to feed him. When the brook dried up in verse 12 (boy there’s a sermon there), God sent him to the house of a poor widow who was preparing her last meal for herself and her boy, so that they could eat it and die. God used her faith to provide for all three of them. God gave Elijah the power to heal the sick, call fire down from heaven, and beat Ahab’s chariot on foot in a 25-mile race. He stood in opposition to the pagan prophets, slaying 450 with his own two hands. He built altars. He split waters. If someone knew a little something about God’s provision and power, it was Elijah the Tishbite.
Elijah was by no means perfect. He had fear. He had doubts. He got so scared of Jezebel in 1 Kings 19 that he fled into the wilderness alone and prayed to God that he might die. God sustained him alone in that wilderness, with another miraculous appearance of bread, baked on the coals, and a cruse of water that had appeared by his head. After he’d rested and eaten again, he didn’t eat for 40 days and 40 nights as he hiked to Mount Horeb and lodged himself in a cave, where God eventually showed him that he didn’t have to use whirlwinds and earthquakes and flames to make Himself known. He could be known by the still small voice.
Throughout the many conversations I had with Pastor Joel throughout the years, I saw how often he wanted God to move in fires and whirlwinds, and sometimes God did. But many times God spoke to Joel through a still small voice in that church office, behind that big desk, as he studied and prayed and labored in the Word. Sometimes, God spoke to him as he got in that truck and drove to the hospital or to the homes of his parishioners. Through that spiritual labor, God spoke to him and gave him the words this congregation needed to hear.
Those were the words he delivered from the pulpit, often with tears in his eyes, as he implored the flock that God had entrusted him with to GET RIGHT WITH THE LORD. The burden that he felt for each person, saved and unsaved, who walked through that door showed. Indeed, as it should have.
As I stood behind that same pulpit the Sunday after his death, I begged the congregation to not allow complacency to enter their hearts and the church. If a man does not have the conviction in his life to teach the save and reach the lost, he is not fit for the office of pastor. If he has no burden for a lost and dying world that is one breath away from an eternity in hellfire, he is not fit for the office of pastor. If he doesn’t stand on the principles of God and feel a burden to build and share those principles with others, he has no place leading the Lord’s flock.
Elijah had a burden for the people he was called to minister to. Twice at Mount Horeb, we see him tell God how the children of Israel have forsaken the covenant, thrown down God’s altars, and slain his prophets. That was a burden that Elijah carried throughout the entirety of his ministry, and that was a burden that was passed on to his successor, Elisha. When Elijah came down from that mount, and when he finally understood that God was in the still, small voice, God gave him Elisha.
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:
16 And Jehu the son of Nimshi shalt thou anoint to be king over Israel: and Elisha the son of Shaphat of Abelmeholah shalt thou anoint to be prophet in thy room (in your place).
1 Kings 19:15-16
Skip down a few verses to verse 19…
19 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 twelfth: and Elijah passed by him, and cast his mantle upon him
1 Kings 19:19
We’re gonna come back to that. He cast his mantle upon him. That is, he took the cloak that he was wearing and wrapped it around Elisha’s shoulders.
This was symbolic. This was Elijah’s act of selecting his successor. This was Elisha’s act of accepting the call.
And thus, the ministry of Elijah and Elisha began. Scholars believe they served somewhere between 6 and 8 years together. The Bible doesn’t give us much concerning those years, but we pick up where we will be spending the majority of the post today. Let’s read 2 Kings 2:1-12.
1And it came to pass, when the Lord would take up Elijah into heaven by a whirlwind, that Elijah went with Elisha from Gilgal.
2 And Elijah said unto Elisha, Tarry here, I pray thee; for the Lord hath 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.
3 And the sons of the prophets that were at Bethel came forth to Elisha, and said unto him, Knowest thou that the Lord will take away thy master from thy head to day? And he said, Yea, I know it; hold ye your peace.
4 And Elijah said unto him, Elisha, tarry here, I pray thee; for the Lord hath sent me to Jericho. And he said, As the Lord liveth, and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee. So they came to Jericho.
5 And the sons of the prophets that were at Jericho came to Elisha, and said unto him, Knowest thou that the Lord will take away thy master from thy head to day? And he answered, Yea, I know it; hold ye your peace.
6 And Elijah said unto him, Tarry, I pray thee, here; for the Lord hath sent me to Jordan. And he said, As the Lord liveth, and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee. And they two went on.
7 And fifty men of the sons of the prophets went, and stood to view afar off: and they two stood by Jordan.
8 And Elijah took his mantle, and wrapped it together, and smote the waters, and they were divided hither and thither, so that they two went over on dry ground.
9 And it came to pass, when they were gone over, that Elijah said unto Elisha, 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 upon me.
10 And he said, Thou hast asked a 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.
11 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 parted them both asunder; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven.
12 And Elisha saw it, and he cried, My father, my father, the chariot of Israel, and the horsemen thereof. And he saw him no more: and he took hold of his own clothes, and rent them in two pieces.
2 Kings 2:1-12
4 places are mentioned. God sent Elijah to 4 specific places before he took him home to glory. Gilgal, Bethel, Jericho, Jordan.
Gilgal means “to roll away.”. It was where the children of Israel were circumcised and they were set apart from the other nations. That paganism, in a sense, was “rolled off” of them.
9 And the Lord said unto Joshua, This day have I rolled away the reproach of Egypt from off you. Wherefore the name of the place is called Gilgal unto this day.
10 And the children of Israel encamped in Gilgal, and kept the passover on the fourteenth day of the month at even in the plains of Jericho.
Joshua 5:9-10
Bethel is translated “house of God”. This was where Jacob met the Lord, as he slept out in the wilderness.
16 And Jacob awaked out of his sleep, and he said, Surely the Lord is in this place; and I knew it not.
17 And he was afraid, and said, How dreadful is this place! this is none other but the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.
18 And Jacob rose up early in the morning, and took the stone that he had put for his pillows, and set it up for a pillar, and poured oil upon the top of it.19 And he called the name of that place Bethel: but the name of that city was called Luz at the first.
Genesis 28:16-19
Jericho was where the walls fell in Joshua 5.
Jordan was the place where, in Joshua 3, when the feet of the priests touched the water, the waters split and Israelites crossed over on dry land. It was also where Jesus would one day be baptized.
Do you see the progression? This is the life of a servant of God.
The eternal price of sin is rolled off of you and onto Jesus when you accept him.
You come to a realization of who God is, just as Jacob did at Bethel. His presence is felt in your life.
As you feel that presence, you begin to know about the things in your life that are wrong. You see your wickedness and your sin. Those walls have to come down. Jericho must fall.
Then, you have to exhibit that faith as those priests did at the Jordan, dipping their toes into that water with the expectation that God was going to do something. As we’ll see, God was about to do something big in Elisha’s life.
Notice in 2 Kings 2:12 that Elisha cried and rent his clothes in two pieces. He mourned.
Understand that there is no weakness nor shame in sadness. It was okay for Elisha to mourn. It was okay for him to feel it. His mentor, his leader had been taken from him suddenly. He tore his clothes. A sign of extreme pain and weeping. A sign of devastation.
The Christian life is full of twists and turns and unexpected outcomes. Without the valleys we’d never appreciate the mountains. When I am at my lowest point, the only place I can look is upwards.
Where we falter is when we let that grief and pain define our existence. We don’t continue to move for the Lord. We don’t continue to seek to impact others for the cause of Christ. We let our pain and hurt form a cocoon around us and we don’t move and we don’t serve.
You know what they call a caterpillar that never comes out of its cocoon? Dead.
God designed the beauty of a butterfly to be formed in a cocoon. But, the butterfly doesn’t stay in that cocoon. It must come out eventually.
Similarly, there needs to be time to mourn and to greive. However, we do ourselves and our Lord a disservice if that is where we choose to stay. For it is very often that we see grief morph into bitterness. Bitterness is nothing more than a petulant refusal to grow in the circumstances that God has placed you in.
Elisha didn’t choose to stay that way.
Notice in 2 Kings 2:13-14 that Elisha wasn’t paralyzed with distress. He wasn’t frozen in his grief. He picked up the mantle.
What did that mantle symbolize? It symbolized the work and the power that God had demonstrated through Elijah. That mantle was ministry. Remember that this is not Elisha’s first experience with Elijah’s mantle.
19 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 twelfth: and Elijah passed by him, and cast his mantle upon him
1 Kings 19:19
Understand that there is a time in your life when a man of God will cast a mantle upon you, and there is a time you must pick it up yourself.
You should not be okay or content with being spoonfed God’s word from a pulpit. You should not be okay or content with shallow motivational messages filled with funny stories taught by pastors with too much hair gel. When are you going to pick up the mantle in your life? God has given us all unique positions to speak truth into the lives of people, but you can’t speak the truth if you don’t know it for yourself.
Elisha utilized what Elijah had left for God’s glory. He literally picked up what Elijah had left off. Elijah had no need for his mantle anymore. He had gone to be with his Savior and Lord. He was called away quickly. He was called away suddenly,
He didn’t need the mantle anymore. His time of ministry was ended. I realized that my pastor, Joel Stone, was effectively out of a job on July 4, 2023. There’s no preaching to the unsaved in heaven. There are no hospital visits in heaven. I hope the Lord gave him something to do because Lord knows he was always trying to be busy 😁!
All jokes aside, do you know who needs the mantle? The people who can still use it. The men who are still here. You and me.
Someone had to pick up the mantle. And you know what, for whatever reason, God put Elisha in the position to pick up the mantle. I know without a shadow of a doubt that God is orchestrating for someone specifically to pick up Joel Stone’s mantle as pastor of PEACE Church.
I told the church that day that the mantle should not be forced upon someone, and the church must not settle for “good enough” God had a specific plan for Donnie Miles to be here, then Joel Stone. The eternal divine plan hadn’t ended. Another man would pick up the mantle.
Note this. God doesn’t mold people into certain callings, He simply gives it to them, and we would take well to learn that now.
27 And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:
Hebrews 9:27
There’s only so much gas in your tank. The ride will come to an end one day, and then you will be judged on how well you performed with the ministry opportunities that you were given.
Joel went through a lot of lasts before God took him home. The last time he was able to lead someone to the Lord. The last time he was able to counsel a fellow believer. The last time he was able to talk to his parents. The last time he was able to hug his boys, the last time he was able to kiss his wife. The last time he was able to preach from that pulpit. He had no idea, just as you and I have no idea, when we will experience our lasts. That’s why we must take every opportunity to speak and live for the Lord with the people he has given us.
What does that mean practically in the life of a Christian?
Children must not continually harbor bitterness towards their parents. If you’ve been wronged, you forgive. If you’ve been properly corrected, you seek to learn and change. Those couples who give each other icy silent treatment then put on a show for the outside world, need to sit down and talk it out. No matter how difficult it may seem. Unity is of the utmost importance. The way in which you conduct yourself among your coworkers or your classmates should be a carbon copy of how you would conduct yourself if Jesus stood before you. Notice this…
14 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.
2 Kings 2:14
Elisha asked God a question. In his grief and in his loss he asks God where he is. Notice he says Lord and God. Two names of God. Jehovah and Elohim, the eternal (Jehovah) and supreme (Elohim) God. There is none like him Where is the Lord God of Elijah? The more complete translation of the Hebrew is this.
“Where is the Jehovah Elohim of Elijah? Surely, He is still the same.”
It’s not just a question. It’s a question with an answer. That’s the realization we all must come to now. That is the answer that we must bring ourselves back to whenever dark times befall us in life. Our God is still the same.
And because Elisha knows that his God is still the same, he can step out on faith in God’s power and strike the water. He doesn’t ask the question and then sit immovable. As he asks the question he smites the waters. You have to smite the waters. You have to pick up the mantle and use it. It does no good to simply hold it.
I can acknowledge my God is still the same, but until I act on that knowledge, it is useless. Our God is still the same. Pick up the mantle. Smite the water. God will bring the increase. God will get the glory. God will grow you. If you were to number the miracles of Elisha and the miracles of Elijah in the Bible, you would see that Elisha had double that of Elijah. He asked for a double portion of Elijah’s spirit and of his ministry. God granted it to him. Oh that we would ask for a double portion! For bountiful opportunities to give God glory in the work that we do for him as we carry on through the remainder of our time here!
Have you picked up the ministry that God has placed on your life?
Some of you fathers need to pick up the mantle and lead your family in a godly fashion. There are mothers out there who need to pick up the mantle by supporting their husbands and rearing their children in admonishment and love. It’s important that we teach our kids that they are never too young to pick up the mantle and do for the Lord. Look at what the Bible says here…
42 And whosoever shall give to drink unto one of these little ones a cup of cold water only in the name of a disciple, verily I say unto you, he shall in no wise lose his reward.
Matthew 10:42
See. Anyone of any ability and any age can pick up the mantle and serve the Lord!
But, before you can pick up the mantle, you must have Christ as Lord and Savior of your life.
Remember, the unsaved have “lasts” in their lives just as the saved do. If you’ve never accepted Christ, today is the day of salvation, I plead with you. Send me a message. I’d love to go through what it means to accept the call of Christ and begin living with eternal purpose. Though it hurts right now, I take comfort in the fact that one day I’ll see Joel Stone again. Do you have that comfort of eternal security in your life? Have you picked up the mantle?
