Craig Groeschel - Playing It Safe Is Holding You Back

I wanna talk to those of you that might feel spiritually stuck in your faith. You wanna believe God for more and yet you’re just experiencing so much of the same. Maybe there’s a part of you that genuinely desires, like, more spiritual growth and more spiritual passion and more spiritual impact. And yet what you get is more of what you just had, more of the same. And you may feel a little bit left out spiritually. You may feel a little bit behind. You may feel like you’re living below who you know that God created you to be. And it’s not that you don’t care, you actually do care.

Some of you, you’ve been like me at different seasons of my life where you’re genuinely praying and seeking God, but your prayers don’t really feel effective. Or you’re reading the Bible and you’re wanting to hear from God, but sometimes His voice just seems distant. And sometimes, you’re worshiping God and you really want to feel His presence, but you just can’t seem to feel Him. So, what do you do? Well, you just keep plowing through life. Somebody say, «I’m just plowing». You can type in the comments section, say it again. «I’m just plowing».

I’m foreshadowing where we’re going in the message. If you feel spiritually stagnant, I honestly believe that this message series could be genuinely life-changing for you. Some people will look back and say, during this time, this series, God worked in my life in a way that made me completely different. What we’re gonna do is we’re gonna study the Old Testament prophet Elisha, a guy who was in his early 20s and he was stuck plowing through life. Literally, that was his job. He was plowing on the family farm every single day, working the same fields, same dirt, same job, day after day.

But little did he know, just like for many of you, God had something really special for him. When he was plowing through life, God saw more in him than just a guy working on a farm. In fact, this ordinary guy became one of the greatest prophets in all of the Bible. And yet, he spent years stuck behind a plow. In a very similar way, for some of you, you may feel stuck right now spiritually or you feel stuck in life, stuck behind the same old plow.

And I’m gonna give you a statement that won’t make a whole lot of sense to you now. But as we go through the message, this statement will make more sense. I’m foreshadowing where we’re going. And I wanna say to someone here today, God has a mantle with your name on it, and a calling bigger than the field you’re standing in. God has a mantle, something special, a spiritual weight and assignment for you, and a calling bigger than the field that you’re standing in. If you’re ready to believe God for more spiritually in your life, would you pray with me?

God, do a work in us individually, and God, do a work in our church corporately. Holy Spirit, stir up the gifts within every person to do the work of God and the will of God. God, call us out of feeling stuck, plowing into a calling to know You and to make a difference for You. We pray this in Jesus' name, and everybody who agrees says, amen. Type it in the comment section. If you agree, say amen, amen.

We are in part one of a four-part message series on the prophet Elisha. God shows this ordinary guy doing an ordinary job to do some extraordinary things. Side note, besides Jesus in the Bible, Elisha did more individual miracles than anybody else recorded in all of the scripture. And I wanna show you that the same God that called Elisha is calling you to something more as well.

Now, I wanna give you kind of my not-so-secret goal for this message series. Anytime I teach on a character or a book of the Bible, I don’t just want to teach you the character of the book. But what I wanna do is I wanna teach you, if you don’t know, how to study God’s Word, how to approach it so you don’t just have to depend on someone else to learn but you can dig in and really, really enjoy, devour God’s Word and let it change you. So anytime we’re gonna study the Bible, we always start with the context. We wanna know who wrote the book that we’re studying. We wanna know to whom was it written? When was it written? And to what context was it written? What was the purpose of it?

So we’re gonna talk about 1 Kings 19, the context. And who wrote 1 Kings? The answer is we don’t actually know. So, we’re starting there. Some people say it was maybe Jeremiah. Other people say it was a group of kind of anonymous writers. We actually don’t know for sure who wrote it, but we do know that it was written in a very critical time in Israel’s history. That season was much like our world today, in this time in history, people were ignoring God. They were living immorally and they were worshiping false gods.

Now, does that sound anything like today? What does God do in critical times? In critical times, God raises up spiritual leaders. In critical times in your school, God may raise you up to be a spiritual leader. In a critical time in your family, when your family is hurting or drifting spiritual, God may call you up to be a spiritual leader. In our community, in our culture, whenever times are critical, God raises up spiritual leaders. The first prophet He raised up during this time was to prophet Elijah, not Elisha, Elijah. Some people call him the power prophet because he called fire from heaven and he stood boldly in opposition against wicked kings. At the end of Elijah’s life, God used Elijah to call Elisha to continue the work of God.

In a similar way, God may use me to stir something in you to call you out of where you are into a spiritual calling to do even more. Maybe God will call you for such a time as this. You ready for the Word? 1 Kings 19:19. Here’s the beginning of our story: «So Elijah went and found Elisha son of Shaphat plowing a field». I’m just kind of glad my name wasn’t Shaphat 'cause I would’ve been bullied in grade school. I just see that in there. I just gotta say it like he’s the son of Shaphat, sorry. Okay, so Elijah, the son of this guy, Shaphat, is doing what? He is plowing a field. Now, «There were 12 teams of oxen in the field and Elisha was plowing with the 12th team».

We’re looking at every detail. What can we find? What’s important about this? Elijah went over to Elisha, the 12th team, and threw his cloak across his shoulders, and then walks away. So, what do we know about Elisha? What do we know about his background? And the answer is not a whole lot. We know that he lived during the 9th century BC whenever Israel was divided and not honoring God. We know that he didn’t graduate from the school of monks and he wasn’t the son of a priest. He was the son of a rancher Shaphat. And if you do a little bit of study, you can get a study Bible and read in the commentary, or you can Google and find some more, get new version Bible up.

If we do a little bit of study, we’ll discover that he was probably a part of a very wealthy family. And the reason we know this is because if you had one pair of oxen, you could make a really good living. If you had 12 pair of oxen, you were living in the big house on the hill. You were living large. In Hebrew, it’s translated you were balling in the 9th century BC. I just made that last part up. It doesn’t really mean that, but we studied and that’s kind of what we learned.

Now if we look at this, we can probably infer that Elisha wasn’t the typical rich kid, why? He was working in the fields. He was working behind a plow. And so if you think about his life, what was the scenery? Day after day, early, the guy gets up. And day after day, he holds a plow. And day after day, in the same field from morning to dusk, what’s he looking at? Don’t want to be crude, but you gotta watch where you step when you’re scenery is nothing but oxen rear ends. If you notice how much mature I’ve gotten over the years, now that I’m in my late 50s. Because in my 30s, I probably would’ve said oxen something else, but he was plowing behind oxen bottoms. Every day, stuck in the same.

Some of you like going, «Okay, Greg, you’re describing my life right now». Studying every day for another test, hitting another sales quota every single day, making another meal, changing another diaper. It’s easy to lose your passion when you’re staring at oxen butts. It’s easy to like wonder, where is God? Where’s my spiritual calling when you’re doing the same thing over and over and over again? Now, notice which team was he with. Was he with the first team, second team, third team? He was with the 12th team. He was at the back of the line.

And so, Elijah walks past the first team, the second team, the third team, the fourth team, the fifth team, the sixth team, the seventh, the eighth, the 9th, the 10th, the 11th, and goes all the way to the last one in line. Why did he go to the last in line? Have we ever seen that before when they were choosing the king? We know that God often chooses the one at the back of the line, which is really, really interesting because Jesus, if you look at the New Testament, taught us that the least of these would be the greatest, that those who are last would actually be first, which is really, really good news for someone who feels stuck at the back of the line.

If you feel overlooked, if you feel left out, if you feel undervalued at the back of the line, I want you to know that God sees you and God values you and God loves you, and God will use you, because God doesn’t choose like people choose. What do we do? I mean, we’re just like, we just look at the outside. Man looks at the outside, but God looks past that to see what’s on the inside. And when everyone else looked, they just saw a rich kid behind a plow looking at oxen butts all day long. But God saw something more in this kid. God saw the potential of a prophet yet to be discovered.

There may be somebody here right now. You feel stuck, you feel alone, you feel desperate. You feel like it’s just more of the same, and God sees more in you. Everyone else sees a young mom exhausted, changing diapers, and God sees a world changer, someone raising the next generation of spiritual leaders who will stand strong against the forces of this world and be a light for the glory of Jesus. Everyone else just see some Christian college student. God sees a light ready to shine into the class and one day into a boardroom and all over the world, a future leader for Jesus. Because God isn’t just looking at what everybody else sees. And God is not just looking for the sharpest or the best. God’s not just looking for ability. He’s looking for availability.

Someone who will say, «Yes, God, I’m available. I’m willing, I’m ready. I’ll do what You call me to do». And so, what do we see in the text? The end of verse 19, here’s what we see: «Elijah went up to Elisha and he threw his cloak around him». Now if you just read that, you go, that’s kind of odd. Why did he do that? Was it cold out? And he is like, did it help him be warm? Now actually, the Hebrew word for cloak is the word addereth. And this word means a large, heavy garment made of animal hair, representing spiritual authority and anointing.

So this prophet walks up to a place of work, goes to the end of the line, sees something in this kid that no one else sees. And he takes this cloak, it’s not just a cloak, it’s not just a coat, but it’s a prophetic symbol worn by prophets and kings and judges. It’s called a mantle. And Elijah says, «I’m gonna put this,» Elijah says, «I’m gonna put this mantle on you, Elisha, you are next. God sees you. God values you. God has chosen you». And God, through Elijah, chooses Elisha to represent God. And Elisha now has a decision to make. What’s he gonna do? He woke up that day just planning to plow the fields, which is not fun. But if you think about his future, it was pretty bright. He’s got a rich dad, he’s gonna inherit this one day.

And so what does he do? Does he stay with what’s known and safe and predictable and comfortable? Or does he risk it on some crazy prophet that throws this cloak on his back? Risk his security and his inheritance to follow God’s call? A risk, and I want you to think about this because we all take risks. Every single day, you take a risk. The problem is some people are taking risks in the wrong places. I know some people that are risking their integrity by cutting corners at work. I know some people that are risking their marriage by some secret addiction that’s held them hostage, They’re taking risk, we all take risk. But when it comes to faith, a lot of people just play it safe. Like God prompts us, «I should give this to someone,» but that’s a risk.

I don’t wanna give that, and so we don’t take the risk. That God prompts us to share our faith with somebody because we know there’s someone that needs the grace of Jesus and we’re almost gonna do it, but it’s a risk. So, we don’t take the risk, what happens? Sometimes when it comes to risk, we get it backwards, why? We risk what we should protect and we protect what we should risk. We’re risking the wrong things, risking our character, our integrity. And then when God calls us to take a faith risk, we go and we often play it safe. Elisha has a decision to make. Is he gonna take the easy, predictable road and inherit his dad’s business? Or is he gonna take the risk?

Verse 20, we see he did this. «Elisha left the oxen standing there,» and ran after the other prophet, «ran after Elijah, and said to him, 'First, let me go kiss my father and my mother good-bye, and then I will go with you! '» Notice what Elijah didn’t do. He didn’t stall. He didn’t make excuses. He didn’t even say, «Hey, let me spend a week praying about this,» or «let me finish plowing for the day». No, he left the oxen right where they were and ran after God’s calling. Because whenever God prompts you, whenever God calls you, you don’t delay, you immediately obey. When God prompts you and calls you, you don’t negotiate terms. You surrender and you say, «Here I am, Lord, send me. Whatever it is You want, God, I’ll take the risk. I’ll do what You’re prompting me to do even though I don’t understand the details».

I told my kids this all the time growing up, that one of the biggest marks of spiritual maturity is a short time span between God’s command and our obedience. It’s a short time span. Do you wanna know, are you spiritually mature? It’s not like how many books of the Bible you can quote. It’s are you doing what God called you to do? When God prompts you, and those of you that are believers, you know He does, there are these times when you just think, «Oh man, I should really pray for them». Do you do it? Do you do it quickly? «Oh man, I should reach out to them. I should call them». «I feel like I’m supposed to give this to someone. It doesn’t make any sense».

Spiritual maturity is not just how much you know, it’s a short distance between God’s prompting and your obedience. And so Elisha honored his family. «Mom, Dad, I love you but God’s calling me». And then he says these five words very powerfully. He says this, he says, «I will go with you»! If you wanna change your life, you take, «I will» and follow those words whatever God prompts you to do. I will confess my sins. I will open up to someone. God, I will trust You and give what You prompted me to give. God, I will say I’m sorry. God, I’m gonna stop letting that thing come between me and You. God, I’m gonna walk away from a friendship that’s leading me into darkness instead of leading me into life. «I will,» and then whatever God prompts you to do, «I will go with you».

So if you think about this, it’s a little bit crazy. You got a guy waking up ready to plow the field. And then all of a sudden, this prophet gives him a new coat and this cool calling and he’s got no details, whatever. I’ll go, where? Don’t know, what’s the assignment? No idea, what are we gonna do? Don’t know, how are we gonna fund this whole thing? Can’t figure that out yet. What’s God’s gonna ask you to do? Well, I don’t know. Do I have the ability? I’m not sure. And this kind of faith teaches us the principle that someone needs to hear. And that is, you don’t have to understand completely to obey immediately.

When God calls you, you don’t need all the details. You can’t handle the details. You just do what He asks you to do. You want a new calling, Elisha? He considers the cost. He thinks about it for a moment and he decides to accept the mantle. And I would encourage some of you to genuinely think about where you are right now. Because if you listen, the spirit of God will stir you to more. And I want you to consider the cost before accepting the mantle. Because salvation is free. Jesus died for the forgiveness of our sins. We cannot work for that. That is a gift from God, so no man can boast. Salvation is free, but following Jesus will always cost you. It’ll always cost you. You deny yourself. You pick up your cross to follow Jesus.

And so, what does Elisha do? Well, we read in verse 21, «Elisha returned to his oxen,» and the very things that represented his future, what did he do to them? He slaughtered them. He sacrificed them. He slaughtered the oxen. «He used the wood from the plow to build a fire to roast their flesh». So, what did he do? He sacrificed the oxen and he burned the plow. He took the very things that represented his future and his security and he sacrificed them and he burned the plow. And then, «he passed the meat to the townspeople, and they all ate». Basically he said, «Hey, I’m throwing a party to celebrate my calling to God».

And then, he went with Elijah as his assistant. He sacrificed the oxen and he burned the plow. He sacrificed the symbol of his future and his security and he burned the plow. He’s saying, «God, if you’re calling me to this, I am all in, there is no plan B. There’s no safety net. There’s no turning back». And here’s what I want you to see. For years, this guy’s just plowing in the field. Everything that mattered to him and his future was in that field and on that field. And he sacrificed the oxen and he burned the plows, why? Because God had called him to something different. And the principle is this. You can’t hold the plow and the mantle at the same time. Someone needs to hear this. You cannot obey God and follow this world at the same time. You can’t hold the plow and wear the mantle at the same time.

And some of you just let the Holy Spirit speak to you because you’ve got like one foot in the things of God and another foot in the things of this world. You’ve got one foot in the church and one foot in your own selfish, sinful desires. You’ve got one foot in calling and another foot in comfort. And you cannot serve the world and follow Jesus at the same time. If you love the world, the Bible says, the love of the Father is not in you. You can’t do the will of God and keep your foot in the sinful world, destruction, of the devil leading you astray at the same time. You have to make a choice.

And so when I tell you, this could change some of your lives, this could change your life. I wanna ask you a very serious question. And we’re gonna go over this in our life groups. And you say, «Well, I don’t have a life group,» and I’m gonna tell you again and I tell you all the time, how do you stand strong in a world full of opposition and temptation without the spiritual body of Christ encouraging you, praying for each other, cheering you onto the things of God? In our life groups, we’re gonna ask this question and we’re gonna let the Holy Spirit speak to us.

The question we’re gonna ask is this: What plow do you need to burn to fully follow Jesus? What plow in your life do you need to burn? What do you need to eliminate? What do you need to get out of your life so you can fully follow Jesus? Because for some of you, there’s something holding you back. You’re kind of in but not all in with God. And for me, the biggest moment for me was when I was not yet a Christian, but I was really being drawn to God. I was in college and living in the very sinful party scene, much like many of you know. And I was being drawn to Jesus and drawn to Jesus. And I was going, but do I have to quit partying? And do I have to quit fooling around, you know? And so another Christian said, «Yeah actually, you do».

I remember like considering the cost, like going, is it worth it? Because this is my identity. These are my friends. My whole world is wrapped up in this party. I belong with these people. Is it worth it to give that up to follow Jesus? Like actually, that’s a pretty easy question. Yes, it is. And so what I did is I literally, I burned the plows to stop partying and to stop messing around in the way that I was. I stood up at a fraternity meeting and I made an announcement. Basically, I’m burning the plows. I said, «I’m now a follower of Jesus. I’m no longer gonna get drunk. No more premarital sex. And I just want you to know that I’m a follower of Jesus».

And they laughed and they made fun of me. And they made bets, «How long is this gonna last? Give him a week, give him two weeks, no more than a month». And I needed accountability. So I told my fraternity brothers and I told my teammates publicly, «I’m a follower of Jesus. I’m burning the plows, I’m not going back». And I’ve seen so many examples of this and I’m praying that the spirit would speak to some of you. There was a family a few years ago that they’re really involved in the church. And then, the summer would come and they disappear. They’d go to the lake 'cause they had a great boat and they go to the lake.

And about midway through the summer, this dad’s 14-year-old said, «Dad, why is it that we don’t love God in the summer»? And the dad was crushed, he was, «Oh, that’s the message I’m sending my kids». So he sold his boat. Look at it, let my kids… There was a young influencer who idolized her social media presence. I mean, it was the most important thing to her. And she realized, «I’m putting this way ahead of God». So, it was so serious to her. She didn’t just delete the app, but she deleted her account. She burned the plows. So I’m not gonna let what people think of me be more important than what God thinks of me.

Just last week, very special conversation I had with a person that I know well who continued to go back to porn and back to porn and back to porn and back to porn. I said, «How are you accessing this»? He goes, «Well, my computer’s safe». He goes, «I keep doing it on my iPhone». «So, how many years you been dealing with it»? He told me, he said, «What do you wanna do about it»? And he goes, «I gotta get rid of my smartphone». So, he got rid of his smartphone and is now using a dumb phone. That’s burning the plow. And so I would just ask you to ask the Holy Spirit, what plow do you need to burn to fully follow Jesus?

There are some of you, if you listen, there is a secret sin that you’ve hidden so long and you’re afraid to confess it. Whoever confesses their sins finds mercy. Confess your sins to one another and pray for each other, so you might be healed. Maybe you need to just burn that plow and get over your pride and confess, «I need help». Maybe there’s a relationship that you have that’s not honoring God. That you call yourself a believer and you’re dating someone that’s far from God, how’s this gonna go? You wanna be on fire for God, but all of your friends are doing drugs and are far from God? Maybe you need to redefine some relationships.

And maybe Netflix consumes you watching things that don’t draw you closer to God. You need to get settled. Somebody needs to go home and throw the pills away, like throw them away, flush 'em down the toilet. One time, someone put cigarettes in the offering basket. I thought that was kind of cool. «I’m getting rid of… I’m leaving them here today. I’ve not taking these home with me».

If there’s something you’re trusting in more than God, guess what? It’s time to burn the plow. It’s time to burn the plow. So, if you feel spiritually stuck, more of the same, same dirt, same struggle, still plowing, maybe you feel left out, left behind. Remember, God often chooses the one at the back of the line. Everyone else sees someone ordinary, but God sees something extraordinary in you. And I’ll say it again. God has a mantle with your name on it and a calling bigger than the field that you’re standing in.

By faith, Jesus wants all of you, your whole heart, your whole life, love the Lord your God with all your mind and all your body and all your soul and all your strength because you can’t keep one foot in the world and one foot in the kingdom of God. You can’t hold the plow and wear the mantle at the same time. So, let’s do it, burn the plow. If there’s something you’re holding onto, then loving more than you’re loving Jesus, don’t delay, don’t look back, burn the plow and fully devote your life to serving Jesus.

God, do a work in us. Do a work in our church. God, do a work in me. God, reveal anything that’s keeping us from fully following You.

Today, as you pray at all of our different churches, those of you online, I wanna talk to those of you that you are a follower of Jesus. You know it, you’ve been baptized. You know that your name is written in a lamb’s book of life. You belong to God, you know that you’re a Christian, and you also know there’s probably something that’s hindering your relationship with God. It may be something that’s hindering your calling. You may know exactly what it is. Decide to burn the plow. Maybe you’re not quite sure what it is and you wanna just spend some time praying. «God, what is it? Show me what it is». Today, in all of our churches, for those of you that are followers of Jesus and you don’t want anything hindering your calling, would you lift up your hands right now? Just lift up your hands, lift them up high, I hope it’s all of you.

God, I thank You for this moment, that Your spirit is gonna speak to some people and call us to freedom, to let go of what’s been holding us back so we can fully follow You. God, give some people the courage to take a step of faith; to risk, God, and let go of what’s comfortable to follow what You’re prompting us to do. God, may there be a short time span between Your command and our obedience. Even if we don’t understand, even if we don’t know, God, help us to trust in You. Holy Spirit, speak to us and show us what do we need to let go of, what plow do we need to burn so we can fully follow Jesus.

As you keep praying today, there are some of you, maybe you’re like me, you grew up in the church, but you didn’t have a relationship with God. I believed in God that I didn’t know Him. You may say, «You know, really I’m not fully following Jesus,» but there’s something that’s drawing you toward Him right now. Let me just tell you, salvation is free. And this is the most amazing thing that God loved you so much that He sent His son Jesus, the Lamb of God who is perfect in every way. And Jesus was the sinless sacrifice who died in our place for the forgiveness of our sins. It is the free gift of salvation. That’s free, it’s amazing. It’s a miracle. It’s the gospel. It’s the best news ever.

Yet salvation is free, but following Jesus, let me just tell you right now, it will cost you something. I believe the spirit of God is asking some of you to take the first step just to say, «Yes, Jesus, I’ll follow You». Well, how do you follow Jesus? Well, He said this, «First, you deny yourself». In other words, whatever sin has been holding you back, whatever sin is separating you from God, you confess it, you turn away from it, you repent from it. And then, He says, «You pick up your cross». That’s a metaphor saying, «You died of that stuff, you die to yourself, and then You follow Me».

You follow Jesus. There are some of you today that you don’t really know where you stand with God. Today is the day and this is the moment of your salvation. We’re gonna step away from whatever’s holding you back and say, «Jesus, I give You my life». When you call on Him, He hears your prayers, He will forgive your sin, He makes you brand new. You don’t just become better, you become different. The old is gone and the new has come.

Today to all of our churches, those of you who don’t know where you stand with God, but you’re being drawn with Him, guess what? Burn the plow, step away from your past and say, «Yes, Jesus, I want to know You. I wanna serve You. I wanna give my life to You». As you turn from your sins and as you cry out to Him, He hears your prayers and He will make you new. Today is the day of your salvation. All of our churches online, those who say: «I need His grace. I’m ready to know Him. I turn from my sins. Jesus, I give you my life».

That’s your prayer. Lift your hands higher right now. All over the place, lift them up. God bless you, praise God for you. And over there, sir. Others say, «Yes, Jesus, I surrender to You. Be the Lord of my life». God bless you, and right over here. Oh, come on, sir! Right here, bless you, ma’am. Others today say, «Yes, Jesus, I surrender. Be the Lord of my life». Online, type in the comments sections, «I’m surrendering my life to Jesus». Just type it in, «I’m surrendering my life to Jesus». Pray, everyone aloud, no one alone, pray:

Heavenly Father, I’m stepping away from my life, to give it all to You. Jesus, save me. Forgive all my sins. Be first in my life. Fill me with Your Holy Spirit, so I could know You. So I could serve You. So I could follow You. My life is not my own. I give it all to You. Thank You for new life. Jesus, You have mine. It’s in Your name that I pray.