Ministry: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

The Bad: Don’t follow the Leader
2 Kings 2:15-18

I. Introduction – In ministry there are times when things go well. Others, to the contrary. Elijah has just been taken into heaven and Elisha has been designated as the prophet of the Lord. Elisha had just performed his first miracle by parting the waters of the Jordan River and crossing to the other side.
II. There was a group of prophets who had seen what happened. They come to Elisha and bow down saying that “The Spirit of Elijah rests on Elisha”
a. They seem to recognize the leadership that is present in their midst.
i. In our own church, are we looking for leadership?
ii. Are we grooming leaders for the future?
b. They not only recognize leadership, but they acknowledge leadership.
i. By bowing before Elisha they were giving him the position of leadership.
III. They acknowledgement doesn’t last long. They ask if they could go and search for Elijah. They were present when Elijah was taken into heaven, but thought somehow it had only been his spirit that was taken and that his body had most likely been dropped somewhere and they should find it. The Bible says he became “ashamed” and said “Send”.
a. They were both at fought
i. Elisha should have stood firm. It was a waste of time to look for Elijah, since they were going to be unable to look for him in Heaven.
1. Our churches today no longer take a leadership position in our community; we give into everything
2. We no longer have people in our churches who want to take truly leadership positions.
ii. The group of prophets is also wrong here. They want to go look for the old leader, the old way, instead of seeing what they new guy has to offer them from the Lord.
1. Frank Paige, former president of the Southern Baptist Convention has said that there is a good chance that 20,000 SBC churches will be dead in the next 25 years.
2. Where do we fall in Dr. Paige’s assessment?
IV. They searched for three days and found nothing. Is this surprising? They had watched God take Elijah up into heaven, what did they expect to find?
a. Elijah tells them that he had said not to go, but in reality he had given in and just went along with the flow. It’s time for that to stop.
i. With the body of Christ in relationship to this fallen world
ii. Here in our church in respect to how we do business with God.
1. We have grown comfortable.
2. We have no plan to the future
V. Challenge Look around you this morning. We’ve been here for 177 years. Twenty-five years from now most everybody here today will be gone, it’s a fact. Let’s commit ourselves to ensuring that no matter what happens in the next twenty-five years, unless Christ returns, there will be a group of believers, serving the Lord at High Shoal Baptist Church.