Invested

Can you believe it, I actually gave the devotional. I think that most of you know that I don't claim to be a preacher, mainly because I'm not called to be, but every so often, with long streaches in between, I will do it.

Many of you are in other ministries on Wednesday Nights and do not get the opportunity to here what happens in the Sanctuary, so I thought I'd give you a run down of what I talked about. It really has been what I've been trying to see accomplished within the life of the music ministry over the past several months.

I talked primarily about Elisha and how he was invested in and then how he invested in others. Here are my notes from that night.

I wanted to start with examples of people throughout the Bible that invested in others.
Jethro to Moses
Moses to Joshua
Elijah to Elisha
Saul to Samuel
Mordecai to Ester
Elisha to Jehoash
Daniel to Nebuchadnezzar
Jesus to the Apostles
Mark to Barnabas
Paul to Titus
Paul to Timothy

· I want to talk about the something that Dan Johnson said on Sunday. He said, “we’re only one generation away from being extinct!”

· 1 Kings 19:16 God tells “the famous prophet Elijah” to anoint someone who could become better then him. How humbling is that? But, so it goes with us, we must pass our torch on to someone else. Your investment in them could change the world in greater ways then you ever could by yourself.

· Just think of those that passed the torch on to you, I’m not talking about a weekly investment, although that’s important, in 2 Kings 2 we see that Elijah and Elisha walked together in an very “everyday living” kind of way. Just hanging out with one another.

· I’d like you to look at this through two different lenses, both the lens of Elijah and the lens of Elisha. All throughout the accounts that we have, Elijah gives Elisha an out (i.e. 2 Kings 2:2). Each time, Elisha realizes the value of being around Elijah, and wants to gleam all that he can, so he decides to press on with Elijah.

· If we take a look at 2 Kings 13:11 - 14, you’ll see that Elisha’s investment was in Joash, the ungodly King of Isreal. I think it’s important to point out that God doesn’t give us the responsibility of collecting on the investment we make (forcing or guilting someone to utilize our investment), our responsibility is just to make the investment.

· Another point is that both Elisha and Elijah invested because they wanted to. Yes, God told Elijah to do it, but Elijah still had a choice, and neither of them received a tangible reward for making an investment.

Sometimes we think that it’s Pastor’s job (or the “Staff’s) to invest in people, and it
is, but how effective is it for a staff of around 10 people (in a church of 250) to
invest, as opposed to 250 people investing in each other and to their circle of influence.

· So I want to challenge you to find someone to invest in, and it may not even be within your generation, actually I dare you to invest in someone one or two generations younger then you. Look for someone who desires to be invested in. Seek them out, teaching them what God has revealed to you through His word and your expereinces. I’ve heard it said that mentors don’t look for you, you look for mentors! But to me it looks like Elijah sought out Elisha.

· Then desire to be mentored, to have a teachable spirit, and allow someone to invest in you. Seek out a Godly mentor. Will it take time, of course it will, but the reward will be lasting relationships with them and a deeper relationship with the Lord.

· For those of you who have been on a Mission Trip, let me ask you, who becomes more blessed by your investment, you or the one you ministered to? I dare say that the majority would answer, I was so much more blessed, then I blessed anyone else. That’s because when you invest, God takes on the same principle and invests in You, so that you in turn can invest again!