Supporting Scriptures:

Main Points:

The sermon focuses on the theme “You Have Been Called,” using 1 Kings 19:19-21 as the central passage. The speaker highlights the moment when Elijah places his mantle on Elisha, showing that Elisha had been chosen and called into a new assignment. This call represented a turning point in Elisha’s life.

The speaker emphasizes that Elisha had to make a complete commitment to the calling. Before following Elijah, Elisha returned home, killed the oxen, broke up his farming equipment, and used those things to prepare a meal for the people. The speaker interprets this as Elisha removing everything connected to his former life so that he would have nothing to return to.

He connects Elisha’s decision to the Christian life, arguing that when a person commits to following Christ, there must be a willingness to leave behind former habits, lifestyles, and attachments. The message warns against making a confession of faith while still holding on to the things God has delivered a person from.

The speaker contrasts Elisha’s response with the disciples’ response after Jesus was crucified. When the disciples experienced distress, fear, and disappointment, they returned to fishing because their former way of life was still available to them. Unlike Elisha, they had not destroyed the things that made returning easy.

A major point of the sermon is the danger of distress. The speaker references Romans 8 and asks what could separate believers from the love of God. He describes distress as emotional pressure such as rejection, frustration, loss of faith, discouragement, and the temptation to give up on God. He warns that distress can push people back toward old habits if those old things still have a place in their lives.

The sermon encourages believers to hunger and thirst after righteousness, referencing Matthew 5:6 and Galatians 5:22-23. The speaker presents the fruit of the Spirit—love, joy, peace, and other godly qualities—as evidence of a life committed to righteousness.

The speaker also uses Lot’s wife as a warning against looking back. Just as she looked back toward Sodom, believers can be tempted to look back toward former things. The message urges listeners not to live with one foot in their past and one foot in their calling.

The speaker points to Abraham as an example of faithfulness, saying that Abraham “staggered not” at the promise of God. He connects this with Romans 10:17 and Hebrews 11:1, reminding listeners that faith comes by hearing the word of God and that faith is confidence in what is hoped for, even when it is not yet seen.

The sermon closes with encouragement that God is able to keep believers from falling. The speaker reminds listeners that “greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world” and that they can do all things through Christ. He urges them to be “sold out,” with their minds made up, fully committed to God’s calling.

Overall Message:

The sermon encourages believers to fully embrace the call of God on their lives and refuse to return to former ways of living. Using Elisha’s response to Elijah’s mantle as the central example, the message teaches that true commitment requires leaving behind anything that could pull a person back during seasons of distress. The overall call is to be fully surrendered, spiritually determined, and “sold out” to God, trusting that He is able to keep, strengthen, and sustain those who choose to follow Him without turning back.