The Weekly Update – May 5th, 2025
We would like to encourage you this week with one of the chapters from the most recent version of ‘Leave the Shore!’
Message preached in November 2007 on the WEC Tour in Canada
1 Kings 19: 19-21 & 2 Kings 2: 1-11
It was just another day. The young man went out to the field as he had probably been doing for years. He was ploughing his field with a pair of oxen.
Elisha was a farmer and one day he would eventually take over the family business.
He had no idea that from that day on, his life would never be the same again.
A whole new chapter was about to unfold. A chapter that had not been planned at all. It all happened when an old man, with a similar name as the young farmer, came upon the field that day.
Elijah, an anointed prophet of God, threw his cloak over Elisha’s shoulders. That very same day, the young farmer killed his oxen and invited his friends for a farewell BBQ. He kissed his Mum and Dad goodbye and followed the old man into a whole new world.
Elisha could have stayed on his farm for the rest of his life.
Peter, Andrew, James and John could have stayed on the shore of Galilee for the rest of their lives. Instead they left their nets and followed Jesus.
Charles Studd, founder of WEC, could have stayed comfortably in England and enjoyed his fortune, but he left it all behind to serve as a missionary in China, India and the Congo.
Jackie Pullinger could have stayed her whole life in England. Instead, she travelled on a ship that took her all the way to Hong Kong. Decades later, she is still there ministering to men caught in the web of drug addiction.
The Bible says that ‘Elisha returned to his oxen and slaughtered them.’ (1 Kings 19:21 NLT)
What is the name of your oxen?
What is it that is holding you back from following Him? A relationship? A comfortable life? An addiction? Bitterness?
If you don’t put your oxen on the altar as a sacrifice you can never fully serve God. Don’t even hide the oxen in a small barn somewhere, because when the ride gets rough, you will run back to it.
I’ll never forget the man who stepped forward at the call I was giving at a conference in England. I began my message by saying, “What happened to those who used to go out into mission with a one-way ticket? We’re seeing fewer and fewer of them!” At the end of the meeting, among those who came to the front, is this man in his sixties who kneels down near the platform. I go over to pray with him. He tells me: “God has spoken to my heart tonight: every year for 17 years I’ve made a missionary trip to Uganda. I’ve always bought a return ticket. For my next trip, I’ll be going on a one-way ticket!”. I hope he kept his promise and left his home country for good. God is still looking for men and women who, like Elisha, are ready to ‘burn their bridges’ and set off on a one-way ticket.
The old prophet has now taken Elisha as his young disciple.
In 2 Kings Chapter 2 you find them travelling together.
At a place called Gilgal, the old mentor tells the young man, “Stay here, for the Lord has told me to go to Bethel”. Elisha turns around and says, “As surely as the Lord lives and you yourself live, I will never leave you!” (2 Kings 2:2 NLT)
They both then head off for Bethel where the very same scenario happens again. Elisha will not stay in Bethel; he will follow his teacher to Jericho.
In Jericho, the same thing happened.
Elisha is not settling in Jericho. He is heading for the Jordan because that’s where God’s anointing is.
Burning your oxen and saying goodbye to your farm is good.
But as you walk with the Great Mentor Jesus, you can end up stuck in Gilgal. You feel the Lord is blessing you, you have brought some souls to Christ, you attend a good church but after some time you reach a plateau.
Some Christians have been stuck in the ‘Gilgal Christian life’ for years.
Don’t stop halfway. Don’t die in Gilgal, Bethel or in Jericho. Head for the Jordan!
I have met many believers, even missionaries who, though they had left the comfort of their farm, got stuck somewhere between Gilgal and the Jordan.
They never made it to the River!
During the reign of Oliver Cromwell the English Government ran low on the silver it needed to make coins. So Cromwell sent his men into the cathedrals to search for some. They reported back that the only silver they could find was in the statues of the saints standing in the corners. Cromwell sent back word, “Good, let’s melt down the saints and put them into circulation”.
We are called to be melted by God, filled with His Spirit and put into circulation into a world that desperately needs Jesus.
Between each town on his way to the Jordan, Elisha was faced with groups of prophets. They became a pain in the neck by reminding him that his mentor would soon be taken away from him.
As you move into your next level of service with God, you’ll meet the so-called prophets who will try to slow you down.
They will tell you, “You’re too old now to serve the poor in Bangladesh!”
They’ll tell you, “Your level of studies is not good enough to start a church in Dublin or Brussels!”
They’ll tell you, “Forget about ministering into prisons. Your past life is worse than some of those prisoners!”.
Don’t let anyone, whatever title or position they may have, distract you from going all the way with God. Don’t compromise your vision! Don’t settle for average.
Our world is in great need of the Gospel. Go where the need is the greatest.
I remember meeting a young man in New Zealand years ago. He said, “I will soon be going out to the mission field, but not to a place already reached with the Gospel. I have gone through a whole list of countries to look for those with less than 1% believers and I will go to one of those places”.
That’s someone who is willing to go all the way to the Jordan. (Dear Kiwi friend, if you’re out there and you’re reading this, I hope you’re serving among those unreached with the Gospel!)
Why do so many people waste the only life they’ve been given?
According to Christophe Nick in a TV documentary (‘Le jeu de la mort’, 2010) we live on average 80 years, fourteen full years watching television. Fourteen precious years from the only life we have, watching a TV screen! And how much more if we add time spent in front of our smartphones and computers? What a tragedy!
Some people are so distracted by screens and social media that, without even realizing it, they end up falling asleep: they’ve missed out on what God had planned for them. Don’t let the virtual stop you on your way to the Jordan.
I’ve hung a photo on my office wall. It was taken in 1995 in the chapel of Elim Bible College in Nantwich, England. We were 97 students, from different countries and different churches. All smiling and proud to be able to study God’s Word in such a fine school. We were young, full of passion and zeal.
On graduation day we couldn’t wait to embark on new adventures with God. A few weeks after this photo was taken, I went into full-time ministry in France.
I’ve lost touch with most of the students. I sometimes wonder what has become of them. Are they as committed to God today as they were then? Did any of them stop at Jericho or Bethel? How many are still full of faith and fire, on the road to the Jordan River? I ask the Lord to renew them in their calling, and if some have stopped along the way, may the Spirit urge them to go forward.
In a race, there are often more people at the start than at the finish.
Paul writes to the Christians in Galatians: “You were running well: who stopped you…?”
Where are you today? Still on the farm? In Gilgal? Sitting on the roadside?
I encourage you to move out, in faith. Go for it! He is with you!
Click here to see how to get your copy of ‘Leave the shore!’