The Seven Pillars (Part 18)-Pillar 5-Eljah.Prophet & Spiritual Father - Rod Mills

This is a series on the 7 Pillars of the AeroNova spiritual family, the DNA markers of who God has called us to be as a people. 
In this continued teaching of the fifth pillar, taking up the mantle of Elijah, we discuss physical and spiritual expressions of this reality we call the mantle of Elijah, the spiritual anointing of Elijah.
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Full transcript generated by ai (please excuse errors):




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​All right, well, we're starting part number 18. And the seven pillars, you probably didn't know that when you said it was the pillar. And just now I'm going to start I'm going to say this, I'm going to try to do this each time I'm gonna say all seven pillars, just so we're you know where we are. Because we're deep into this study, we're talking about the seven pillars of Aaron over the spiritual family that we're in, and what we call the Friends of Jesus, or really the what I consider seven key spiritual DNA markers of people in this what I call a movement, now we didn't start this movement, we didn't create it, it's a move of God. But we're noticing this in the nations with different spiritual families in the nations, we're noticing the seven qualities, and I'm just kind of packaging them in a way that we can communicate them. That's all. And most of this is in your regular diet, what you're used to hearing, studying and teaching. Because this has been a part of us for several years now. You will notice, I think that most of the spiritual communities and families that we connect with, even if they don't know it, these seven, what I call pillars, or spiritual DNA markers, if you will, are present in those spiritual families, that's what we're noticing. So even if they don't know it, just look for them. And see, it's really remarkable. That's how you know it's a move of God. That's how you know, this is a unique move of the Holy Spirit preparing for these generations that we're in and I believe preparing for the coming of the Lord, the first pillar, apostolic prayer, what we call a lifestyle and continual prayer, and the word and we don't separate those two from this, this the Word of God, pillar to a lifestyle in the spiritual disciplines. That is not only prayer, but all of those spiritual disciplines prayer, fasting, solitude, simplicity. So many of these that that we, we've talked about, and it's in the teaching, you could go listen to it, there are many. And just look into those pillar number three, a call to New Testament community that is becoming a people who are deeply relational, and people who are in spiritual family, and live in what is truly New Testament community, we have to be careful when we use the word community, because community means a lot of things depending on the context it's used in. And we're talking about spiritual family, deep relationships, hearts that are connected, not just people you see a couple times a week, kind of thing. And we went into great detail on pillar three, because that's one of the tall poles in the tent also a pillar for a lifestyle of obedience and listening. And this and followership this obedience, and we use this term obedience. When we say to our kids, listen to me, we mean obey, we're talking about that listening and obeying and walking in that that lifestyle, not only to God, but also in submission to one another, this relationship with one another, the humble lifestyle. A characteristic that kind of surrounds that is holiness. Holiness is the culture of God. The culture of God, is who God says He is, and what God says He is. And living in that culture of God. That's holiness. And there's a lot of misunderstanding in many places about what holiness is. It is also recognizing who God has created us to be a man or a woman, a father, or a mother, who he has created us to be, how He's created us to walk and live in honoring those core ways that God made each and every one of us to honor that is to honor God to violate that is to violate God, it's to violate his holiness, violate his ways, violate his culture, that will get you in trouble in the world because the world wholesale rebels against the very core basics of what God says are right and true. Have you noticed that you The more darkness grows, the more digress digression, the darkness has from holiness in the ways of God. So we will see this increase in the earth. And we will see darkness increase, we'll see sin increase, and the world will try to normalize what God says is not my way. Right. And Jesus told us this, he said, that let the wheat and the tares grow together. Even among his own apostles, the wheat and the tares grew together. Right. And 11 apostles grew this way, in the holiness in the ways of God in one apostles heart grew further and further away from the Lord. And then there is that day of reaping that happens. And that's not just the in time there are seasons of reaping. Also, God lets the wheat and the tares grow together. So righteousness grows and increases in some, and wickedness grows and increases in others. And as that happens, wickedness and darkness becomes normalized in the culture. This message is going to become critical in the coming years in the coming decades, because more and more the world is normalizing things that oppose God, His ways, His order in his creation, and the way he designed it. So this will become more and more critical. And as time goes on, if people are sucked into that darkness, and think that is right, and think that it is normal, they will be deceived as the Scriptures teach. So this pillar is extremely important for us, in the body of Christ. And so there are many, I would say this, and I know I'm just doing review right now, but I want to say this. In a sailboat, there is a keel. You guys know what a keel is? It's that long thing that comes down. And then and many sailboats at the bottom, there's a weight at the bottom of the keel. And the the keel keeps the sailboat from capsizing. It bring stability to the boat in the storm. In many ways, in the communities, of society and society, the church it by the power of the Holy Spirit, is a keel to keep things upright. So when we see in history, when darkness progresses, and the world starts to normalize behaviors, and ways and things that are destructive to the soul, the world will teach you why it will not hurt you in the church holds to the culture of God in the storm. And so normally, there are nations and societies and peoples and people groups who would capsize in the sin. But the church acts as a divine keel to bring stability, even in the midst of chaos and darkness. And I believe that's who we are called to be. But more and more, you will have to take a stand for what is right. There are many things that you and I did not have to take a stand for before. But now the enemy has working through the world calling good, evil and evil. Good, right. And the more this happens, the more confused people become, who are not in the center of that keel, that spiritual community that holds to the standards, ways and nature of God Himself. If God says and created me this way, and calls me this way, then I'm called to be that and to live that, and to walk in that, and the world will attack the literally the core identity of who you are, if you're tempted in this way, are tempted in that way, the enemy and the world will come along and say, well, you're tempted because that's who you are. Now he's attacking the very core, right? Remember, that's what he did what we said last week, that's what he did with Jesus in the temptation in the wilderness. He did not come and attack Jesus called to activity. He didn't go well, the activities you do, they're not going to work right. He attacked his core identity, and said, If you are the Son of God, and so the identity of people who walk in this light, will not succumb to the deceptions of the world, when they call evil, good and good evil when they say well, this is not harmful, or this is the way you should be. Because many people are being sucked away now. The Scripture warns us that in the last days and the final generations, there will be a great falling away. Paul tells us that that is clear in the scriptures that there will be a great falling away. Do not be surprised by people who are Christians and people who call themselves Christians who begin to succumb to the ideas and seductions of the world's culture and values and what they say, because this will happen to many. We don't want it to happen, but it will happen. That's what we're warned of in Scripture. And so we pray through that this is why God is raising up this movement of people who are living deep into the seven pillars, or these ways. And, and let me say many more than the seven pillars, I'm just identifying what I recognize as seven key qualities. There are many more along the way. Number five is a call to carry the mantle of Elijah and the discernment of a Sokar. And this really gets deep into this call of spiritual fathers and mothers, it has a prophetic tone, and meaning to it as well. And we'll talk more about that. And that's the pillar we're on right now. The sixth pillar that we will talk about is a call to raise up spiritual leaders. This is this is critical for generational transfer. And it's essential even to the pillar we're in talking about the mantle of Elijah, because that mantle is the one that brings generational transfer. We'll talk about that. Today. Some, and the seventh one is a call to the nation's there are some ministries called to their neighborhoods called to their city called to their, you know, the Scriptures says they went out and it's described it as Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and all the uttermost parts of the earth. And we recognize for us as a spiritual family. Our call is especially to the nations or the uttermost, not just to Jerusalem, if you will, using their metaphor. All right, good stuff, huh? Yeah, so here we are, we're continuing in Part 18. On pillar number five. And we're gonna talk today, we talk a lot about the mantle of Elijah. And I want to break this down a little bit and unpack this, as we as we get into it. The spiritual substance of the mantle of Elijah, is what Scripture sometimes calls and people in Scripture, the spirit of Elijah. Let's look at these two terms. So we're going to look at a passage of scripture. And I'd ask you to look at two terms as I read this passage, mantle, and spirit of Elijah. So those these two things going on. In Second Kings, I'm going to read from Chapter Two. If you'd like to turn there you can. I'm going to read from New King James, verse number 13. It says he also took up the mantle of Elijah, let's talk about Alicia. So Alicia, a Elijah had just departed into heaven. He says it says he also took up the mantle of Elijah in verse 13, that had fallen from him. And he went back and he stood by the bank of the Jordan, then he took the mantle of Elijah that had fallen from him. Now, you know, he's talking about the physical mantle, the physical cloak, and he struck the water. And he said, Where is the Lord God of Elijah. And when he also had struck the water, it was divided this way, and that, and Elijah crossed over, just as Elijah had done before. I'm added, just as Elijah I'm that's my comment in the scripture. But just as Elijah had done, now, when the sons of the prophets who were from Jericho saw him, they said, here it is, the spirit of Elijah rests on, Alicia. So let's talk about physical and spiritual expressions of this reality we call the mantle, the physical mantle, or the coat he's talking about, of Elijah was the object in the natural that was associated with the spiritual anointing of Elijah. Y'all tracking that? The Scripture calls this anointing. And the prophets, the son of the prophets called this, the spirit of Elijah. So here's what I think of this. And I'm trying to think of an illustration that would be helpful, I think of an avatar, or a picture that we use in a social media accounts are an email that's associated with our account and our identity in that realm. So if you have a social media account, and you have an avatar or a picture that's associated with you, in that realm, in that plane in that dimension, that reflects your identity, if you will, it's not you, but it reflects you. So likewise, when people saw the physical coat of a lie Aja, they associated it with check this out the presence and power of God in his unique relationship with Elijah as he related to Elijah. So there's a certain way that God related to Elijah based upon the way he created Elijah, and based upon the kind of relationship Elijah had with him, if you're a parent, think of it this way. Every child you have you relate to differently. Your counsel to them is different. Your presence and resourcing in their lives is different. You don't treat them like cookie cutter, like you just treat them all the same. You know, that was guess kind of like the military, right, Tom, it's like, you know, it's like, everybody's treated the same, you were the same thing. You get the same orders. It's the same standard, you know, you guys know the deal. Yeah, there's some of that in a family. But each each person we relate to in our presence, and each child's life, whether they're grown or whether they're not grown, is different, based upon that. And they call upon resources in our life, whether it be wisdom, whether it be coaching, whether it be counseling, whether it be going with them somewhere, but they access those resources based on what their relationship is with us. The same is true with us and God, and each one of us, that relationship is like a fingerprint. It's unique, and there's none other like it even in eternity. When people meet us in eternity, I believe there's plenty of evidence in this scripture. When they meet you in May, they will recognize the uniqueness of our relationship with God and the awesomeness of that sacredness that there is no one else who relates to the Father this way. There's no one else. So think of it this way. Have you ever met someone that has a really unique skill? Now, usually, they're rich, like in our society today, if there's a someone who has a unique skill, or they have a unique relationship, or there's something really, really unique about them, people are in awe, they're like, oh, you know, so you're in relation, or you have this skill or, and I'm using relationship and skill interchangeably. But my point is this, that there is a certain respect that we have, for them based on that I believe in the heavens. This is true. I don't have time to teach on this. But there's some really good scriptures on this, that whenever your reputation is established, Paul says we will know even as we are known, when your reputation is established in the heavens, and by the way, some reputations are established in the heavens right now. Right now there is faith in heaven among some people, even people who sit in this room or listen on this zoom call, based upon their relationship and closeness with the Father, with the Lord. Right, remember what the demons said, to the seven sons of Skiba? Paul, we know Jesus, we know but who are you. So even among the kingdom of darkness, there is a certain fame that resides upon certain people. And it has nothing to do with how famous or known you are in the natural, because many people in the natural who are of this order, I call it it's kind of like Melchizedek, you know, no one really knows who he is. They don't know much about their family, but man, they're so close to God that they outrank Abraham. And that's what the Hebrews writer says, I'm paraphrasing, right? You see what I'm getting? Now, there is a there is a certain nature of those who were after this Melchizedek kind of order. And there are people who have a unique closeness to the Father, not because others didn't have that opportunity, but because they accessed him that way. Remember what we talked about with Peter, James and John? You see, it wasn't that Jesus goes, well, I'm gonna have three teachers, pets, and they're gonna be Peter, James and John. He didn't do that. Right? The Lord is just unkind and true and faithful and fair in how he operates. And when I say fair, I mean, just fair, not fair in the definitions of men. And so there were certain ones who pressed into that relationship who said, I want to be on the inner circle. It's fascinating. If you go do a study of James and John, I mentioned this last week. You James and John's mother was not the only one vying for their position of closeness in the eternal kingdom. There are actually multiple scriptures of James and John trying to get on the inner circle. I liked that. I like it. Because even though maybe their motives weren't always exactly pure, they wanted to be close to Jesus. They wanted to apprehend all of the inheritance that Jesus would have for them in the eternal kingdom. And perhaps, you know, and Jesus, he had some interesting things to say about it. We don't have time to cover it. But the point being that the closeness to the Father, the closeness to Jesus, the closeness to His Holy Spirit is open to you and me. And the impact we have on our generation and in the kingdom of God is not based upon how gifted we are, what kind of organization we have, how much money we have all of those things. It's all tied in to our relationship with Him. And it uses the disciple specifically. So we will see that that is true. You don't have to be famous, you don't have to be Billy Graham, you don't have to you fill in the blank to achieve that, because you and I are each made differently, we come into closeness with the Father. And so we see that this mantle of Elijah, the spirit of Elijah is a description of the anointing, and the uniqueness of God and His manifestation, both his relational presence and His manifest presence upon Elijah, so that people recognized it, so that people could see that. So let me catch up in my notes. I use the avatar example, this physical coat of Elijah was kind of like that, avatar in the natural, if you will, or that, that physical symbol in the natural that would connect people to see God's relationship with Elijah and what's being passed on the spiritual mantle, this unique anointing of God, this presence of God upon Elijah was not actually Elijah spirit, I want to be clear on that. So we understand that when Elijah passed his spirit, Paul said to be absent in the body to be present with the Lord, we understand. It wasn't like Elijah spirits gonna stay on Earth and travel around and be, you know, some people believe that. And that's not the point. The point is they're recognizing they call it the spirit of Elijah, as that mantle, that unique, relational, and manifest presence of God and relationship, President God, the physical mantle, is a reflection of a spiritual reality of God's anointing. So we see both one in the natural one in the spiritual, which is the greater real. It's the spiritual, right. That's what Paul said. He talks about the the things that are unseen, he teaches us in Corinthians, the things that are unseen, are actually my words more real. He teaches us that and he goes into great detail, it's a great study, and literally says, These things will be swallowed up by life itself by the things that are invisible, right, so of so it wouldn't have done in life much good to wear the mantle. If he didn't have the spiritual power and relationship with God to go with it. In other words, the physical mantle, coat cloak, whatever it was, whatever it looked like, wouldn't have done him much good. If he didn't actually have the spirit of Elijah on him, right, or that man to that anointing, that relationship with God was passed on. That's something that's for another day. But this is really powerful, that you can impart something like that, we tend to think things we can impart is intellectual knowledge, because that's what's most real to us many times, but actually, much more of the relationship. And the and the nature of that relationship can be passed on. And that in itself is miraculous in the natural realm. That's a miraculous thing that deserves a lot of study. Maybe somebody here would like to teach us a study on it, go study that come back. Because it's, it's, it's really remarkable that that can actually happen. I'd love to talk more about it, but we got to keep moving. So let's talk for a minute and you guys that have military background and understand this quickly, that principle of divine point of contact. God has chosen to associate His power and His manifest presence with specific people with whom he's in relationship. Now, I want to say this again, I'm gonna read this again to you from my notes, I want you to this to sink in. God has chosen to associate His power and His manifest presence with specific people with whom he's in relationship with. Sometimes he associates his power with and don't write me off when you hear this until you hear the scriptures, okay? Because some people struggle with this. He associates his power with specific objects in their lives in order to connect his axe with that person. So we see this multiple times in Scripture them mantle of Elijah is just the one we happen to be talking about today. What's another one? The shadow of Peter. Remember that in Acts chapter five, verse 15. I'm gonna read three verses to you from Peter three, four verses x chapter five, verse 12. And through the hands of the apostles. All right, you with me there hands, physical, through the hands of the apostles, many signs and wonders were done among the people. And they were all with one accord on Solomon's porch yet none of the rest dare join them. But the people esteem them highly. And believers were increasingly added to the Lord, multitudes of both men and women, so that they brought the sick out into the streets and laid them on beds and couches, that at least the shadow of Peter passing by might fall on some of them. Now, was there any something? What was special about the shadow of Peter or the hands of the apostles? The thing that was special was what God made special, he connected it to them for a reason. Right. So another one is the handkerchiefs of Paul, in Acts chapter 19. Let's read that x 1911. Now God worked unusual miracles by the hands of Paul hands. There we go, again, specific hands connected to Paul, so that even handkerchiefs or aprons were brought from his body to the sick, and the diseases left them, and the evil spirits went out of them. What was special about the handkerchiefs and the aprons? You know, it's not you know, and this has been abused in the church where television preachers, I send me $1,000. And I'll send you a handkerchief or something. The Scriptures teach us that the power of God is not for sale. And even when someone tried to buy it, I think Who was it, Paul? That rebuked him Savitt was a Peter rebuked him severely. This is not what we're talking about. We're not going to have an invitation and sell aprons or anchor just for $1,000. At the end of this, do you hear what I'm saying? The power of God is not for sale. Right? We got it, we got this part what God is doing is connecting these and we'll we'll cover them in a moment. There's a lot of things in Scripture, I'm only going to cover a few. Another one is the staff of Moses. In Exodus chapter four, we see the staff of Moses the supernatural power, it wasn't because that stick was special. That stick was special because God made it special. And he made it special the rod of God, because it belongs to Moses. Right, and because of God's call and relationship with Moses, the point is to associate his power with a point of contact. You see what I'm getting? A trustworthy source with whom God has relationship to steward that portion of his influence and power in the earth. In other words, when someone says, What is the meaning of this? Why is this happening, they can be faithful to the manifest and relational presence of God and the earth and that specific place and movement and those actions of God. The key here is that God associates his specific acts with specific people who are in substantial relationship with Him, so that they can faithfully give an account of what God is doing and saying, through these actions. That's it. You know, you see you. So this is based on our relationship with God and what his choices are. So we're talking again, about the manifestation of spiritual things in the natural realm. This doesn't mean that you should, you know, I'm not saying don't do this, but this doesn't mean you need to go buy 1000 handkerchiefs and start praying over mo though I've got a few friends that have bought a few and sent them out. But that's another thing. I don't know a lot of people do that today. But here's the point is that God is not just in the spirit realm. God is in the natural, he, if you have a God who only resides in the spiritual realm, then you tell me how powerful he is, in the minds of many are in their understanding or in the practicality of their lives. People need a God who shows up. They need a God who will part the Red Sea. They need a God who will defeat Pharaoh. They need a God who will establish a pillar of fire, pillar smoke. They need a God who will protect them and feed them in times of trouble. We need a God who is real in the natural realm and the spiritual realm and We are made spirit, soul and body, we need the manifestation of His presence and relationship on all three rounds, because this is the way we're made. And this is the way he operates. This is why God did not just send his son in the spirit to die for us. But he sent him in the natural in a human body as a man, on and on, you know the deal. Wow. I don't know about you. But I love this. Let's examine the meaning of the mantle or the kind of anointing Elijah enjoyed with God will explore its nature, its relationship to spiritual fathering an impact on the earth. So characteristics of the mantle of Elijah, the spirit of Elijah, the spiritual DNA, if you will, of this mantle, it's important to note that all the characteristics of Elijah is ministry and mantle as a prophet, or as a prophet and a spiritual father. They flowed out of his very close relationship with God, I'm gonna say this 1000 times. This is not because a title appeared on his name at the bottom of his letterhead. It's more than that. It's not enough to title position. See, this is the way we think in the world. When someone's introduced, we even do this on our own, you know, well, they've done this, and this is their title. And these are their degrees and there's a blah, blah, blah. You know what, that's exactly how much it means in a lot of cases, blah, blah, blah. I'm not saying it's not important. Okay. But what I'm saying is, is that our relationship with God, at the end of the day, you've heard me say this many times, what do I want on my headstone? What I want, but when I passed from this life there, I wanted my name, and it says, he's a friend of God, because that's all that's going to matter. You're not going to get to heaven and go, God is gonna be like, well, let's talk about your degrees are talking about your money, or talk about how many people you know, or how many famous you were, all that ends, the moment you pass over. When Jesus says, Depart from Me worker of iniquity, what does he finish it with? I never knew you. The opposite of there's people in the church who think they're Christians. Augustine talked about this, the church invisible, the real church, within the church. And again, you know, don't, we'll just leave it at that. But here's the point, that the opposite is true, that when we stand before the Lord, what counts is what is our relationship with Him. That's in essence, everything that is everything. Everything is summed up in our relationship with Him. Now we know by the blood of Jesus, he brings us close in with the Father, we could not approach him without the blood of Jesus. Because because God is pure, holy and just, we'd be consumed. We could not stand in His presence, we could not live in his eternal presence without the blood of Jesus, but the blood of Jesus gives us access. What are you doing with that access? I want to be like Elijah, I want to say God, if you love it, I love it. God, if you hate it, I hate it. That's what Hebrews once said about Jesus, and because of it, he was anointed more than all of his brethren, because he loved the things God loves. He hates the things God hates, right? This is not a popular message in some Christian circles. But it's truth according scripture, it's important to note that all these characteristics are really of Elijah's relationship, all these qualities we're discussing. They accompany a unique intimacy, a unique relationship, a fingerprint relationship, that unique that he has, and his commitment to the to the Father, Son, Holy Spirit. Now, first of all, we've said this, I'm gonna repeat it today. Elijah was a spiritual father, and Second Kings to 12. I'll read it again, Elijah saw it, this is, Elijah is crying out to Elijah. And he says, My father, my father, he calls him my father, the chariot of Israel and its horseman. So he saw him no more. He immediately related to Elijah as a spiritual father. And we said this before we'll say it again, this anointing calling upon Elijah was imparted and it was multiplied upon Elijah. Remember, Elijah wanted a double portion. He didn't ask for it until the very end, the very end. See, the thing is, even if Elijah had said, No, you're not you won't be able to get a double portion. I am confident that Elijah is behavior would have been no different. Because Elijah had already tried to get him tested him and said, Hey, why don't you you know, I'm almost done here. You can leave an ally. She goes, No, I'm not gonna do it three times he did that. So we know from that passage of Scripture, that no matter what the reward was a Elijah was with him. Bit. Why? Because he was faithful to the relationship. Why was he faithful because he'd been around God so much, and he'd been around Elijah Elijah so much and faithfulness is the nature of God. That's an eternal quality in the nature of God Himself. If you hang around the Lord long enough, and you hang around people who are close to him, that the nature of God will seep into your pores, it will seep into your heart, it'll seep into your ways it'll seep into your thinking, it'll seep into the way you see things, it'll seep in your spirit, your soul, your body, your household, your relationships, this is the nature of the presence of God, the relational presence of God. And so we see that Alicia also became a spiritual father, and I and I mentioned this passage, second cranes, kings 1314, Elijah had become sick. This is when Elijah passed away. And King Joash cried out to him, and says, Oh, my father, my father, the chariots and the Horsemen of Israel, same thing. He was a spiritual father, to the king. According to my searches, these two men are the only spiritual leaders or prophets that I can find. If you could find one, I'm really interested because I'd like to study it. But that I can find in the whole Bible, the Old Testament, that addressed where the prophets are addressing other prophets, or kings or addressing prophets as my father, my father, except for like Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, you guys know that. Abraham is called the father of many nations. And even in that case, they're natural sons. Not there's not a, there's not a natural. Elijah was not the natural son of Elijah. Now, here's something else that's interesting. There are sons of Prophets, described in scripture where it's co notes, also a father son relationship, right? The sons of prophets means there's a father of the sons of Prophets, right? You're tracking that? Interestingly, and I'm also interested if you could find anything else, because I'd like to study, every reference to the sons of the prophets that I could find in Scripture occur during Elijah, and Elijah has time. That's interesting. I was assuming they would be referred to during sandals time, because there's only two times I can find two times I mean, seasons, I can find where there are schools of prophets. And it's during Samuels time, and it's during Elijah's time. And in Samuels time, they're called schools of Prophets, we need to do a Hebrew study on this and see what it says, but they're not called sons, at least what I could find. So if you can help me with that, or find more on that, I'm interested to discuss it, because all the sons of Prophets, references, and I have them in these notes, I will update these. So you have them on page 60. And this is first and second Kings, there's probably one two, there's a lot of passages. But all of the all of the references I could find on sons of prophets are occurring during Elijah and Elijah his time. So we know that there was an active relationship between Elijah and the sons of the prophets, when we read Second Kings, for and so on, we're looking at Second Kings for 38. This is what it says Elijah returned to Gilgal. And there was a famine in the land. Now the sons of the prophets were sitting before him. And he spoke to His servant, and it goes on and says what he said, here's the point I want to make is that apparently, there were times when the sons of the prophets would sit before him. In other words, he was a spiritual father to them, because of his time spent, in other words, they don't just go, Okay, we're going to open up a school of prophets over here, and Elijah or Elijah, we're going to call you a father. People don't do that people call fathers people that relate to him this way, or they have the permission to access the relationship in this fashion. And so we see that Elijah was relating to them in this way. So Elijah was a spiritual father, the king, as we mentioned, not just to the prophets, by the way, spiritual fatherhood mantel that Elijah demonstrates, does not stay within the boundaries, or the of the disciplines or profession that the person is in. Now, you guys probably already tracking that. But I want to make that point. Because I have grown up in some places where people think okay, well, pastor is going to be like spiritual father to the guys that are going to be up and coming pastors, you know, and that's great, that's good. But that's not what we're talking about. This is bigger than that. This is this. This goes beyond boundaries of what your profession or how you earn your money, or whether you're considered what people would call clergy or not, and all those things that that does not this this transcends those boundaries and transcends most boundaries. Spiritual fatherhood and I'll say this spiritual motherhood to which is different, but has many of the same qualities and the mantle of spiritual leadership. It's also transcends demographics, it transcends nationalities and ethnicities. It transcends all of these natural boundaries, because it is a spiritual tangible, not a physical tangible. Whoo, man. And do you like this as much as I do? Oh, yeah, it's awesome. So now, some things in life. There, you know, there's an old saying some things are, are, are taught, and there's some things that are caught. And the idea is that there are some things that can only be received by impartation. Not just by transfer of knowledge. I remember forget when we were when I was at the Command, General Staff College years ago, we had a real bad thunderstorm one night and our dog was going crazy. We had a border collie. And as he got older, he started having mental problems where he just, he would have seizures, and he would his behavior became erratic, which wasn't his life before that. And when a really bad thunderstorm would hit, he would just become terrified. And man, if he became dangerous, he became a vicious dog when that happened, because he was so scared. And so I had to bring him in. And man, he tore into me. I mean, he got a hold of me, and he was just tearing and ripping and put, you know, as jerking back and forth and wouldn't let go. And, and I was just calmly, I mean, here he is, I'm bleeding. His teeth are deep in me. And I'm just trying to just stay calm and trying to calm him down and get him over to his cray. And Beth said, I don't understand she goes, How can you be calm? That's not something you can just learn. That's not something time I can go, okay, in an emergency. Be calm. Gina, you might remember that in an emergency, you know, don't flip out, blah, blah, blah. How many times did they tell you that? And then you flip out, you know, I mean, all of us have been there. And and I will tell you, I didn't learn that. Nobody taught me that. My dad imparted that to me, my father, and part of that, to me, the way my father lived and walked in emergencies. One of my earliest memories, when I was a little kid back when nobody wore seatbelts, and nobody had to, in fact, you had to dig through the back seat team find a seat belt and a lot of cars. And so I was on the remember you guys, some of y'all are old enough to remember the hump in the back floorboard, where the drive shaft would go through. And I was standing on that. And I'll never forget, I was little, I mean, I was a little guy. I wasn't even in kindergarten yet. I still remember this. And a drunk driver hit us head on. And my life was spared I believe by an angel because I should have gone through the windshield. And literally somehow I flipped over the seat went into the floorboard. But the thing I'll never forget is my mom's freaking out. And my dad was just calm. And he just knew what to do. He was just calm. And that's the way he was he could he knew he was decisive. He was like, do this do this, you do that. He just very calm. And I'll never forget one time. I'll tell a few stories here because I want you to get the feel. One time I was out in the woods. I was cutting wood with my father. And it was starting to get chilly outside but it wasn't cold yet. And I'll and I was driving the tractor and I had the engine run and also my dad just stops and he's like, I'm thinking what is he doing? You know? So finally I shut the tractor off. I was like, Dad, what's going on? He goes, there's rattlesnake over here. And he's standing there is a rattlesnake that's trying to decide whether or not he's gonna strike him. And he's like, Yeah, can you drive back up to the house and get a shotgun. So I'm like, a high tailed I got that tracker goes fast it would go and get up there got shot down. I came back and rattlesnake was still there and he was coiling. And my dad was he couldn't even move. He was so close. And long story short, it was cold enough. I think it wasn't cold, but it was just slightly chilly. And I think that rattler was moving a little slow and man when he struck. My dad didn't even have time to shoot him yet. My dad lifted his boot up and he struck the bottom of his boot but the thing that struck me was how calm he was. He's on the verge of getting bit by a big big rattlesnake. And my dad just calm through the whole thing. Just calm is could be what you we used to raise a lot of animals on the farm. And things like chickens we had a lot of chickens and gave a lot of good eggs and we raised a lot of animals but anyways, I'll never forget one day a bear came out I was trying to get in the hen house. And I didn't even see him. I was outside. I didn't even see him and, and my dad comes out, it's like, he was he had the gun. He was ready. You know, he's like, just calm about like, like, what? He's right there, you know, and he's just calm about it. You know, he just he had that that since he knew what to do. And I'll tell you many times growing up at where I grew up, there were a lot of nefarious dudes, we had drug dealers that lived down on plates next to us, which is another story but they tried to come steal stuff off our property and all of that. And and man so we I was raised with guns, we were all just raised with them because you had to and, and my dad, he's just real calm as when somebody was out and messing around with stuff. He just get the gun a year long gun, he didn't get a pistol he didn't he just get a long gun go out there. Quietly, he just bought, you know, and then try to get him to leave or else you know, he was ready. But my point is how calm he was. Many tornadoes I lived through tornadoes that took down trees all around our house, took houses took all this stuff. I mean, growing up around those. And to this day, I've not been afraid in a tornado because my father wasn't. Now the opposite is also true. If you grow up in fear. I mean, if you lead in fear as a parent, your kids grow up in that, that spirit of fear is contagious, right. And some of you know my story. When I was at Fort Bragg. And I told her, I said, there's a tornado, and they didn't believe me. And as soon as we walked down, open the door, it goes right over, it's like literally right overs. And they're like, Oh, that's not a tornado, and then about 10, it dips down and it starts taking out giant trees and all this kind of stuff. They believe me after that. But my point is that no one could teach me that in a classroom, you had, when you're around it, you it gets, it just sinks into you. Now, I'm telling you natural examples. We're not even talking about the spiritual, divine aspect of the nature of God and our relationship with Him. But one of the quickest ways you can get people who are close to you, whether they be in your natural family, your spiritual family, walk closer with the Lord is bring them along with you while you walk with Him. This is what many of my spiritual fathers did. Even when my kids were young, I have memories of taking one of the kids and go in and praying with some of them with with one at a time. But with spiritual father, we would pray together we'd seek the Lord together. And my kids will tell you, I think there's one or two here today that they grew up this way. So I didn't hold a class and how to pray. I just took them with me into those and Janay is here today. And even from when you were in diapers tonight, we I mean, we, we would just pray for hours, we would pray that's the way you grew up. It's like by the time you could speak clearly the English language, you already knew how this relationship with the father at least what it looks like. And, and much of this is imparted This is not just taught, it's caught. And this is imparted. This is why it's important for us as a spiritual family. To go beyond zoom, we're doing zoom right now because of COVID. And different people and travel schedules are, are limited and all these things. But I want to tell you that the personal contact and impartation and the personal connection and walking with people is absolutely essential, we have to get back to that. And I realize there's still restrictions on travel and some places that we like to go and all of that. But this is important for us that we have been faithful in this season of gestation and incubation our relationship with God so that when much of this is opening, we are reconnecting with people on a physical level. That's why I met again this week. And I met several times in the past few weeks with with our friends up in Denver that are traveling and ministering and planting churches. Because it's you can't just do this over zoom and phone calls. This has to be done in person also. We can teach we can do a lot of teaching kinds of impartation on 12 video teleconference and what have you, but the connection of walking and imparting we have to go see them we have to visit with them. And all of this. Wow. Well, that's probably a good place to, to stop. So let's pray together. Lord, we're thanking you for what you're teaching us about the mantle of Elijah. Father, we pray in the name of Jesus for this kind of relationship with you. And we know that it will look different in each person. It won't be exactly the same. But there is a uniqueness and every family and every person that we long to come in to the At close inner circle of fellowship with you with fog God, the Father, God, the Son, God, the Holy Spirit to come into this fellowship of burning hearts that where we will live in deep communion throughout the ages, the coming ages that are yet to be created. And so Lord, we pray that you'll open our eyes and hearts to receive, Lord where we need to repent, from the ways of the world we pray, help us to find that repentance, I just feel that, you know, there are many here and you're walking in repentance, your heart is before the Lord. And there are some where you may have some areas that you need to repent of, you need to turn away from some ideas of the world that are not from God, different things, this is important. I don't know who you are today. It's not like I've got a word of knowledge of who somebody but I want to just encourage you if that's you, press into the LORD, turn away from those things, and repent and have a humble heart be teachable before the Lord and God will use you beyond your wildest dreams and imagination and the things of his kingdom and Lord, I pray for my friends here. My friends who are listening on the broadcast, my friends who are listening on with us on Zoom, we pray, Lord, for that you will cause us help us usher us into the fullness of your kingdom. Your purposes and your desires. For this hour. This generation that we live in are called to May we be found faithful in all of God's house, in our lives here in Jesus name, a man and a man. Thank you for joining us today. Aaron ova is raising up spiritual leaders in many nations through our spiritual enrichment events, syndicated NetCast international prayer Council network, and numerous international seminary scholarships. 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