PROBLEM – letting go* Nursing home illustration. It’s a common thing to be in the same place/mindset for many decades because we trusted ourselves more than God * We want to hold onto the familiar, the plow, because that is what we’ve always known. But if God is going to move you, it’s going to require you to give up some things * We love things that are about us

GOD – a quick yes **1 Kings 19:19-21**So Elijah went from there and found Elisha son of Shaphat. He was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen, and he himself was driving the twelfth pair. Elijah went up to him and threw his cloak around him. Elisha then left his oxen and ran after Elijah. “Let me kiss my father and mother goodbye,” he said, “and then I will come with you.”“Go back,” Elijah replied. “What have I done to you?”So Elisha left him and went back. He took his yoke of oxen and slaughtered them. He burned the plowing equipment to cook the meat and gave it to the people, and they ate. Then he set out to follow Elijah and became his servant. * God calls us when we don’t think we are ready. Moses> bush, David>shepherd, Nehemiah>cupbearer, Peter>fishing, Matthew>tax collecting, Elisha>plowing

APPLICATION Ready to go Elisha’s response was immediate, showing that he was not only internally and spiritually prepared, but also that he was all in. He didn’t need 24 hours to think it over. * Ready to change “Then he set out to follow Elijah and became his servant” -1 Kings 19:21. The test for Elisha was if he was prepared to take a subservient role. To become a servant, subjecting himself to the will of another. To place himself at the disposal of another, ready to take orders from him, ready to promote his interests. To give the best of what he has to the one he serves * Ready for the season* God is working in every season of our lives, there’s not one thing you’re doing right now that God’s not going to use at some point in your life. Our steps are ordered by the Lord. Many times he will make us a bit uncomfortable before we step into a new season

VISION – are we ready?* Peter Milne- tribe of headhunters in the New Hebrides islands, in the south Pacific, off Australia’s coast * It all started with a plow but it’s going to end on a mountain. Perhaps your marriage is going through it right now, it’s all starting with the plow, but it’s going to end with “look what the Lord has done.” Maybe you got a report from the doctors that wasn’t favorable, but it’s going to end with the report, “look what God has done.” It started off with a plow but it’s about to end with the mantle. It’s time to kill the cow and burn the plow * if you are brave enough to say goodbye, God will greet you with a new hello