UP AHEAD: FROM THE COUCH LIFE

I. INTRO
- Couch life: Being stuck in your situation and not having the desire to get up
or get out of it. Being used to staying there. [segue]
- What’s next? How many of you know that God has given you a unique
purpose?
- Today we’ll talk about callings. Everyone is in a season of their lives. School,
Work, transitioning from being an only son to now having a brother, a season
of fitting in, a season of finding the right group of friends. In that season,
there is a purpose that God has placed in you.
- Calling is what God wants you to do in a certain season of your life.
II. BODY
- STORY OF ELISHA
- 1 Kings 19:19-20 NIV

19 So Elijah went from there and found Elisha son of Shaphat. He was
plowing with twelve yokes of oxen, and he himself was driving the twelfth
pair. Elijah went up to him and threw his cloak around him. 20 Elisha then
left his oxen and ran after Elijah. “Let me kiss my father and mother
goodbye,” he said, “and then I will come with you.”

“Go back,” Elijah replied. “What have I done to you?”

1. NOW TO THE NEXT

- Here we find Elisha in his nature. He was plowing the field. Chances are, that
day looked like every other day for him.
- Elisha got his calling on the field. He didn’t go out of his way to find his
purpose. He didn’t come looking for it. The scripture says the Prophet Elijah
(through God’s instructions) found him.
- Oftentimes, when we are on the couch, when we feel unmotivated, weary,
tired, having no desire to get up, we always look for our purpose. “Why do I
feel stuck?” “Why don’t I love doing my homeworks?” “Why should I be
friends with her?” “Why should I go to school?” “Why do I need to love my
brother?” “Why do I overthink things?” Don’t get me wrong. It’s good to
know our purpose when we feel stuck or unmotivated. But, when we can’t
find our purpose, we tend to stay on the couch.
- What if we really don’t need to find our purpose? What if all we need to do is
just plow the fields like what Elisha did? What if all we need to do is to get up
and continue what we’re doing? What if all we need to do is be faithful with
what’s in our hands now? [NOW TO THE NEXT]
- Elisha was not even told about his calling. Elijah just went up to him and
threw his cloak around him. WALA MAN LANG PAMEETING O KAYA PLANO.
WALA MAN LANG PASINTABI.
- Elijah at that time, was a very famous prophet. It was giving ‘celebrity’. God
used him to perform crazy miracles. But, the king, queen, and all the
idol-worshiping prophets had conflicts with him.
- Elisha knew Elijah. Elisha knew who Elijah served. That’s why it was easy for
him to just drop what he was doing and follow.
- You can be faithful in the ‘now’ when you know who your God is.
- The calling on your life won't always come like an announcement.
Sometimes, your calling will just be placed on your shoulders like Elijah’s
cloak, like being asked to stay after the service to help out, calling your
friend, or just showing up to school.
- Receiving the calling varies with each person. Regardless of how we receive
it, know that you don’t need to come looking for it. God will give it when the
time comes. Just be faithful with what’s in your hands now and get ready for
what God’s gonna do next.
2. UP NEXT
- You pushed through. You got up from the couch. You became faithful with
the ‘now’. So, what’s up next?
- Going back to the story of Elisha. He readily stepped into the calling but it
was not an instant situation. He did not magically become the prophet we
know of today. In the Bible, we don’t read about him between 1 Kings 19 - 2
Kings 2. Some say that it was approximately 6 years between those books.
In 1 Kings 19:21, he became Elijah’s servant. So in those years, he was
technically an intern.
- For 6 years! I immediately thought of Elisha becoming frustrated and
confused in that span of time. Mind you, this was the bloody era (haha) in the
Bible, Kings - full of murders, idolatry, and slavery. Imagine obeying God
while these are the things you see.
- RELATE TO SCHOOL
- When you think of it, being faithful today does not equate to your
circumstances immediately changing. Being faithful today does not equate
to your lack of motivation immediately changing. What changes is your
perspective. Your obedience today equips you for tomorrow.
- Elisha in 2 Kings 2, after 6 years, was ready. He was willing to step up. Elijah
was taken up to Heaven. Elisha took his place.
- God wants to build your character. Character is not a destination but a
journey - day by day, step by step, not a one-time thing.
- It’s easy to get swayed on that couch life. It’s easy to get stuck. It’s easy to
just lie on that couch and give up. It might be frustrating to see that what’s
happening now does not line up with what God has said. However, growth
happens when you’re faithful and obedient even in the discomfort.
 - Don’t underestimate that couch life, sometimes it is where God’s building
you for what’s to come.
- Don’t give up. God called you for something great. Do not waste your calling.
Protect it.
- 3 WAYS TO PROTECT YOUR CALLING
1. TAKE CARE OF YOUR BODY
- God’s gonna use you for greater things. Better prepare your body.
2. TAKE CARE OF YOUR SOUL
- Train your mind. Train it to be strong. Teach your emotions to be hard
through discomfort but soft to corrections. Process your emotions.
3. TAKE CARE OF YOUR SPIRIT
- Read the Word. Pray. Commune with God. Walk in His ways. Be
connected in a Godly community.

- To protect what’s inside of you is to take care of what’s coming inside of you.
- So what’s up next? To continue walking and obeying God everyday.

3. UP, NEXT
- 1 Kings 19:21 NIV So Elisha left him and went back. He took his yoke of
oxen and slaughtered them. He burned the plowing equipment to cook the
meat and gave it to the people, and they ate. Then he set out to follow Elijah
and became his servant.
- Remember those twelve yokes of oxen? Well, Elisha cooked and ate them
ALL by burning his plowing equipment. That’s technically his life.
- Back in those days, to have oxen and plows represented a level of wealth.
Imagine if Elisha following Elijah failed, he has a backup plan - to go back to
the field and live his life.
- When we look at it, Elisha’s act was very significant. It symbolized his
willingness to surrender his plan and life to live out what God has called him
to do. He was all in.
- God can still use Elisha even when he doesn’t burn his plows. But, what if
there’s something he might have missed out because there’s something
holding him back.
- BALLOON ANALOGY
- What is something God’s asking you to burn in this season of your life? It
does not literally mean setting things on fire. Burning can mean something
like unfriending someone on FB, cutting ties with a friend, deleting Pokemon
Unite, or getting real with your leaders and asking for their help.
- It won’t be easy, but if you really want to go all in, you don’t want anything
holding you back from what God has for you up ahead.
- From the couch life, up ahead is next. God has something more for you. Are
you willing to surrender what’s holding you back in walking out his calling?
Are you willing to give Him your plans and dreams?
- It won’t be easy, but if you really want to go all in, you don’t want anything
holding you back from what God has for you up ahead.
- SALVATION We can go all in because Jesus went all in first.