The Mantle of Elijah

1. The Mantle of Elijah Khinckley1@yahoo.com

2. Question To obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams. (1 Samuel 15: 22.) Why is that? Isn’t obedience a sacrifice?

3. Elisha So [Elijah] departed thence, and found Elisha the son of Shaphat, who was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen before him, and he with the twelfth: and Elijah passed by him, and cast his mantle upon him. And he left the oxen, and ran after Elijah, and said, Let me, I pray thee, kiss my father and my mother, and then I will follow thee (1Kings 19:19,20)

4. Elisha’s Response? And he returned back from him, and took a yoke of oxen, and slew them, and boiled their flesh with the instruments of the oxen, and gave unto the people, and they did eat. Then he arose, and went after Elijah, and ministered unto him (1K19:21).

5. Question in Elisha’s head I’m supposed to replace HIM???? Sound familiar to anyone?

6. President Monson to New Mission Presidents … everyone of you [should be] a little more comfortable after these Brethren have told you all that is expected of you. When you are on the Lord's errand, you are entitled to the Lord's help. Remember, whom the Lord calls, the Lord qualifies.

7. A Mantle? A new convert want to know what this “mantle” is. How would you describe it?

8. Elisha’s Willingness JST 2 Kings 2:1-2. 1 And it came to pass, when the Lord would take up Elijah into heaven by a whirlwind, that Elijah went with Elisha from Gilgal. 2 And Elijah said unto Elisha, Tarry here, I pray thee; for the Lord hath sent me to Beth-el. And Elisha said unto him, As the Lord liveth, and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee.

9. Following the Prophet: 1- Will require sacrifices 2- Will require me to change 3- May be unpopular 4- May mean not knowing “why” 5- Will require my service 6- Will require the little things as well as the dramatic ones… 7- Will require me to stand as a witness at all times and in all places

10. Naaman 9 So Naaman came with his horses and with his chariot, and stood at the door of the house of Elisha. 10 And Elisha sent a messenger unto him, saying, Go and wash in Jordan seven times, and thy flesh shall come again to thee, and thou shalt be clean. 11 But Naaman was wroth, and went away, and said, Behold, I thought, He will surely come out to me, and stand, and call on the name of the Lord his God, and strike his hand over the place, and recover the leper. 12 Are not Abana and Pharpar, rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? may I not wash in them, and be clean? So he turned and went away in a rage. 13 And his servants came near, and spake unto him, and said, My father if the prophet had bid thee do some great thing, wouldest thou not have done it? how much rather then, when he saith to thee, Wash, and be clean? 14 Then went he down, and dipped himself seven times in Jordan, according to the saying of the man of God; and his flesh came again like unto the flesh of a little child, and he was clean. Complaint #1: Can’t he just do it? Complaint #2: Can’t I do it my way?

11. Question What determines whether following the Savior, through His prophet, will be easy or difficult?

12. Matthias F. Cowley In an age of the world when independence is the proud boast of the nations, obedience is, by mistaken ideas of freedom, considered a mark of humiliation. … true obedience to the Lord's commands is an indication of moral courage, union and power. It is not blind obedience that is referred to and maintained, but that type which characterized the ancient seers and saints, who, like the Messiah, were ready to say by word and deed, "I came not to do mine own will, but the will of my Father who sent me."

13. Brother Leon Hartshorn My father was a good man. He took good care of my mother for numerous years while she was ill before she passed away. He taught his children to be honest and upright. He always paid his tithing, but he did not attend Church. My father had worked in the mines much of his life, in an environment that did not usually invite the Spirit of God, and perhaps for this reason he did not think that he could be fully active and enjoy the full blessings of activity in the gospel. When I had been married two or three years, I returned to my father's home for a visit. As we sat down together, he said to me, "Son, I've had a dream. I dreamed I was standing on the edge of a cliff, and the Savior came riding toward me on a horse. He had a rope tied to the saddle and wrapped around the saddle horn. He reached the rope out to me and said, 'Bob, I want you to lower me and my horse down this cliff.' I replied that this was impossible; there was no way one man could lower the weight of a horse and rider down a cliff. He responded, 'Bob, lower me and my horse down the cliff.'

14. Brother Leon Hartshorn So I took the end of the rope and lowered them down the cliff. To my surprise, it was not difficult at all. When the horse and rider arrived at the bottom of the cliff, he looked up and said, 'Bob, drop the rope.' I dropped it, and he wound it around the saddle horn again. Then looking up at me from the bottom of the cliff, he said simply, 'Bob, it's just that easy for you to live my commandments if you will try.' " It was a lesson my father could understand, a lesson in his own language of horses, riders, saddles, and ropes. Thereafter he would try whatever he was asked to do in the Church and was very active during the last twenty-five years of his life.