The Ripple Effect

Jim Clements · Tidal Church Moncton · June 28, 2026 · Elijah series

Jim Clements looks at Elijah handing his mantle to Elisha in 1 Kings 19 and 2 Kings 2. Following God means being all in, staying faithful through hard seasons, and being discipled so we can disciple others and leave a lasting ripple.

More from Jim Clements · The Elijah series

Topics: Faith, Purpose, Discipleship

Transcript

[0:00] Did you ever have something in your life that was a mantle, to be handed down from family member to family member, generation to generation, that was the importance of telling the story and remembering and carrying on the impact? And today we're going to continue our Elijah series and talk about Elijah and Elisha and how the mantle gets handed. But for me in my life, I've had this box for over 40 years, and there was a time in my life when I was in university, and my grandmother Clements, her name is Jane, and she became very ill and only had a small amount of time left on this earth.

[0:47] And she called me while I was in university, and she said, "You need to come home." She lived in Newfoundland. Newfoundland, if you're a Newfie, it's "always home" kind of thing. And she said, "You need to come." And I said, "Okay." And I got on a plane, and I flew to Newfoundland. And as I approached upstairs where she was being cared for in her room, I walked into that room. And laying at the foot of her bed, from the footboard to the wall, was this curled-up mattress that my grandfather was sleeping on as he cared for her.

[1:34] His name was Harold. And she looks at my grandfather, and she goes, "Harold, go get it." And up he pops. My grandfather's a very quiet man. Never heard him ever raise his voice, never talked in big conversations in groups of people. And he walked in with this box. And my grandmother said to me, she said, "Us Clementses don't have very much." But she said, "This we want to give to you." I could open it and show it to you. There's not enough time for all that. And she said, "But you're to give it to the next generation, and tell the story of our family and who we are and where we came from."

[2:25] And the mantle was passed. This was one of the few things in my life that the movers never get to touch. It comes with me. If you were here earlier, you probably saw me walking around with it. I don't like to leave it anywhere. And it survived a house fire. It has survived Fiona when it came in off the coast where we live close by. And I keep it in a pretty safe spot, and it's one of the few things in my ready bag. If we ever got to leave, this is in it. Because this is a mantle that was handed to me. And when today we look at two prophets, two generations, one God whose work continues, handed from one man to another.

[3:15] We pick it up in 1 Kings 19, and it says, "So Elijah went from there and saw Elisha son of Shaphat. And he was plowing with 12 yoke of oxen, and he himself was driving the 12th pair. Elijah went up to him and threw his cloak around him. 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?' So Elisha left him, went back, 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."

[4:05] Elijah finds Elisha in a very ordinary situation. He wasn't running a revival meeting or anything like that. He wasn't in church preaching. He wasn't declaring the gospel standing on a soapbox. He wasn't performing miracles. He wasn't at a mountaintop praying. He was plowing the fields. He was a very ordinary person in a very ordinary situation until Elijah placed the invitation of the mantle across his shoulders to invite him to follow him. See, there's other people in Scripture that we've found as we go that God finds doing something very ordinary in their time when the call happens. David was tending sheep.

[4:52] Moses was tending sheep. Peter was fishing. Very ordinary situations in a rhythm of life, but in that moment, God calls. And what's our response when God calls? Elijah walks over, throws his cloak. It's the legacy about to unfold in the invitation of Elisha from Elijah. The symbolic moment, it was a call. It was a passing of purpose. And what does Elisha do? He runs after him. He runs after Elijah. There's an immediate response.

[5:37] But what I love in this Scripture that he does, he goes back, he kisses his mother and father, recognizing his past and the heritage from the past. But then, and only then, does he remove anything that's a safety net, anything that's like, "Just in case this doesn't work out." Anything that might, "Well, maybe I'll do this, but I want to keep this." He burns it all to follow. Because the thing is, in our lives, we have to be that way when we commit our lives to Christ. When we say "yes," we can't just be a believer. We have to move from believer to follower to disciple to disciple maker. We can't have a just in case plan or a backup plan. We're either all in or we're not in.

[6:30] There's no halfway in when it comes to committing your life to Christ. He burned and sacrificed it all. See, the thing is, you can't do a new direction, you can't do a new following if you keep yourself anchored to the old. Whatever you were doing before you discovered Jesus and gave your life to Christ and said, "I want You to be my Lord and Savior," all the stuff that doesn't glorify that, you can't keep and hold on to. You've got to sever that line and move forward for a new day. When legacy gets handed, when a mantle gets taken and placed upon your shoulders, it's a new impact.

[7:16] It's like taking a pebble and dropping it in the water and you see the ripple effect that happens. In all of our lives, we want to have that ripple effect that goes beyond what we are to what God can be. Following God matters more than your comfort. Following God, when you say, "I'm all in," it matters more than your security. Following God, when you say, "I'm all in," matters more than your convenience. When you follow God, you're all in. The simple question today is what kind of impact are you trying to create and the ripple effect that you want for your life that will continue long after you're gone?

[8:01] There's a powerful truth in here when we look at these lives, the ones in the ordinary situations, and that is that God does not call the prepared. He prepares the called, and that's when we lean in for the new direction. So wherever you are today, whether you're in school, you're at work, you're raising your family, you're traveling, it doesn't matter what you're doing, you better be ready for the God Almighty to meet you in an ordinary spot. If you're thinking it's going to happen on Sunday morning in the middle of church, maybe. It might be when you're playing pickup softball, and you're on first base, and the ball's about to come to you. Hopefully, you keep watching.

[8:46] But if He calls you wherever you are in life, are you willing to go, "I'm all in," and cut what holds you back to start a new direction? The ripple effect of a faithful person who follows God happens in ordinary moments, and you and me, we have to be ready for that. Plowing in the field, and Elijah shows up and just gives the invitation, and Elisha was ready. No fallback plan. We continue in 2 Kings 2: When the Lord was about to take Elijah up to heaven in a whirlwind, Elijah and Elisha were on their way to Gilgal.

[9:37] Elijah said to Elisha, "Stay here. The Lord has sent me to Bethel." But Elisha said, "As surely as the Lord lives and as you live, I will not leave you." So they went down to Bethel. The company of prophets at Bethel came out to Elisha and said, "Do you know that the Lord is going to take your master from you today?" "Yes, I know," Elisha replied, "So be quiet." Then Elijah said to him, "Stay here, Elisha. The Lord has sent me to Jericho." And he replied, "As surely as the Lord lives and as you live, I will not leave you." So they went to Jericho. The company of prophets at Jericho went up to Elijah and asked him, "Do you know that the Lord is going to take your master from you today?" "Yes, I know," he replied, "So be quiet."

[10:24] I don't think he's losing his patience yet. Then Elijah said to him, "Stay here. The Lord has sent me to Jordan." And he replied, "As surely as the Lord lives and as you live, I will not leave you." So the two of them walked on. Can you imagine if someone kept coming up to you and telling you, "He's going to be gone." "I know." But he stayed. Some theologians would say that Elijah was testing Elisha's commitment. Was he all in no matter what? Was he all in? And I think when we read the Scripture, it tells us that he was all in. And years passed as they walked together. As the disciple maker was making a disciple and a prophet with Elijah, they walked together.

[11:14] He wasn't this big to-do. He was an assistant. He was a servant. He was a student. He was a follower of Elijah's. One of the questions I can ask now is, as you reflect on your life, even in these minutes hearing of this Scripture. In your life, are you anticipating in the ordinary moments or the times in prayer that you're with God? Are you really open to Him saying, "I want to take you in a greater direction. I want to take you where I'm at work, where I need you to be." Or are you coasting through life hoping not to make any ripples? How many times have we all heard the saying, "I'm just trying not to make any waves"?

[12:02] You know what? As a follower of Christ, I'm trying to make tsunamis of faith, is what I'm trying to do. Is wherever I go, that people know I'm different. Wherever I go, people know that there's a change in my life. Wherever I go, people know that I worship a risen King. Wherever I go, people know that I'm going to share the gospel with you. Wherever I go, my decisions, my words are going to be based on things that honor God. Wherever I go, people are going to know that glorifying God with my life is the greatest thing I can do. Wherever I go, I'm going to have conversations that other people understand that fully for their life, that that's what He wants also. Because someday is going to come that I'm no longer going to be here. And I don't want people to say, "Oh, he was a nice guy."

[12:49] I want them to say, "Man, I follow Christ because of him. He discipled me." Because there's going to come a day, just like Elijah. Elijah's time on Earth ends, and he had tested Elisha, that's three times, with Bethel, Jericho, and Jordan. But each time, "As surely as the Lord lives and as you live, I will never leave you." I got to think about some of the times they would've followed so close. Even the times that I've been overseas and on the mission field, and walking so closely to someone, hearing their story. It's almost like when you're following the master, like if we could follow Jesus and He's teaching, and we're one of the disciples.

[13:39] I want to be so close, like the dust that's coming off their sandals is falling on my sandals. I want to be that close that I hear every word that He says. I want to be so close that I can hear what He says, know what the decisions are, watch His body language, because that's the Christ that we serve. And for Elisha, that's what he's trying to do with Elijah. He's following so close just so he can be all that he wants him to be. We should have a spirit that wants to inherit the mantle of people who've gone before us, people who are still here to share, to disciple us, so that we can someday be disciple makers.

[14:29] The power of persistence is what we see. When we follow God, it's that persistence to continue and continue to move after Him. See, because a lot of times, we think now in today's society, like faithfulness is just saying yes to something. Do you know what? There's times on the internet where you go on a certain page and you want to sign up for something. How many of you actually read all the pages of that fine print? Before you go, "Yes, I'll accept." Because that's the only way you're going to get onto whatever it is or order whatever it is you want. It's not. Life with Christ is not a one-time yes. It's a thousand "I'm still here" moments.

[15:18] You may not have the answer to prayer that you think you have or that you want, but are you still there? Maybe you're just going through the ordinary routine. You're thinking not much has happened, but are you still there? The ripples of life are strengthened by your consistency and the great difficulties that you'll face. You got to be able to say "I'm still here" when it's hard. You got to be able to say "I'm still here" when it's inconvenient. You got to be still here when the excitement fades. You got to be able to say "I'm still here" when it's not your personal preference. In case nobody has told you or you don't remember me ever saying again, it's not all about you.

[16:09] It's about Jesus, and it's about others finding the freedom that Jesus has for them. So can you say "I'm still here" because there's people that need to know the gospel of Jesus Christ? Elijah stayed close. The mantle that he is watching. He watched Elijah through danger, through drought. He learned from every word by being so close because he wanted all that he had when the mantle came. See, sometimes today, we think about, "I should have that raise," or, "People should do this for me," or, "I should have this level of expectation.

[16:57] I should have the..." See, now we want the mantle without the discipleship. And it doesn't come that way. Most of us, if we never let someone pour into our lives, can't handle it. So maybe sometimes when difficulty comes and hardships come, as you're doing your faith journey and you're walking through your story and God's unfolding it, and maybe the difficulty you can't navigate through is because you've never invited anyone into your life to share and disciple you from being just a believer to a follower. And you need someone to disciple you so you can become a disciple maker. You can't have the mantle without being discipled, and Elisha knew this as he followed Elijah.

[17:49] People who have some of the most incredible impacts in Scripture are not some of the most gifted people. But God uses them. They keep showing up, they keep serving, and they keep believing that God is at work. Let's pick it up in 2 Kings 2:7. "Fifty men from the company of prophets went and stood at a distance, facing the place where Elijah and Elisha had stopped at the Jordan. Elijah took his cloak, rolled it up and struck the water with it. The water divided to the right and to the left, and the two of them crossed over on dry ground. When they had crossed, Elijah said to Elisha, 'Tell me, what can I do for you before I am taken from you?' 'Let me inherit a double portion of your spirit,' Elisha replied.

[18:49] 'You have asked a difficult thing,' Elijah said, 'yet if you see me when I'm taken from you, it will be yours. Otherwise, it will not.' As they were walking along and talking together, suddenly a chariot of fire and horses of fire appeared and separated the two of them, and Elijah went up into heaven in a whirlwind. Elisha saw this and cried, 'My father! My father! The chariots of the horsemen of Israel!' And Elisha saw him no more. Then he took hold of his garment and tore it in two. Elisha then picked up Elijah's cloak that had fallen from him and went back and stood on the bank of the Jordan. He took the cloak that had fallen from Elijah and struck the water with it. 'Where now is the Lord, the God of Elijah?' he asked. When he struck the water, it divided to the right and to the left, and he crossed over."

[19:42] The passing of the mantle happens. When it talks about Elisha taking his clothes and tearing it in half, it's called kera, and it's like there's so much mourning, there's so much pain, there's so much even the weight of getting the mantle that they tear it as a symbol of that. But then he sees Elijah's cloak and he picks it up. The mantle has now been transferred, and he walks over to the Jordan River, and the same thing that Elijah did, that he watched, that he learned, that he allowed to be discipled into, happens the same way.

[20:29] And I try to look at stories in the Scripture for me. I'm an old children's pastor, and I look for even more detail in it, and maybe you don't think this way, maybe you do. To me, when I see God do something, we go, "Okay, we can put walls up and part water," or whatever like that. But an incredible thing, when I go and the tide goes out, if you've ever been around the Northumberland Strait or somewhere and the tide goes out, you can walk out on the bottom in the sand, but it's still wet. Right? Even if it looks dry, your feet hit it, you can see the water move in the sand. But it says they walked across dry ground, because God, He didn't even want to have any stumbling, no barriers, no feeling. I just move this for you to be able to completely walk. God is even in the details of when you follow after Him to make it that way for you.

[21:22] It's the same cloak that Elijah had. It's the passing of a mantle that will continue to move. It was a bold request on Elisha's part. And we think like, "Give me a double portion." Right? It seems like it's crazy to ask that, but in the culture, the eldest son in a family got a double portion of the inheritance when it was passed on. So he's not asking for anything abnormal. He's just asking for, as a follower of you, as your eldest, as the eldest disciple, "I'm asking for that double portion to be poured out." It wasn't arrogant. It was him wanting the kingdom mission that Elijah had to carry forward.

[22:09] Sometimes when we think about disciplers and leaders and their voice, and then when they disappear, if they haven't taken the time to invest in other people, it just disappears. But the difference in this case is the mantle continues. And Elisha doesn't just mourn, he picks it up to carry it, to move the impact of the kingdom forward and to keep it going. The ripple effect is the same ripple effect. It's not contained or anchored to anything else because he gave it all up to follow, and now he's building upon what has already been built. He even asks, "Where is the Lord, the God of Elijah?"

[22:54] when he hits the water. When God calls people and they pass, we only live for a certain amount of time. He's not just using one person. He's using multiple people, multiple generations. God's got a plan for the mantle to be passed, for the ripple effect to continue. And God will raise up more and more people, because we're in a spiritual war, if you haven't noticed, and the enemy is trying to take as many with him as he can. And I don't know about you, but I'm all in to take as many as we can with us, and he's not going to like that.

[23:44] And so that means for us to stay holding to the mantle that's been given, the example that we see and hear, picking it up, being all in, not being anchored to the back. The ripple effect for here is when Elijah, his life drops the stone into the water and begins to create the ripple, and Elisha continues that ripple effect. And it's our job today to continue that ripple effect that continues to go on. Your life is a seed that is the beginning pebble that drops for the legacy, the mantle that God has placed and calling you to for those around you. It's not a solo race that you're in, it's a relay race. And the quicker and more often we see that and help each other to move from believer to follower to disciple to disciple maker, that mantle grows, and the ripple effect becomes stronger and stronger every day.

[24:44] There's a time in our faithfulness of life that we need to think about when it comes to our growth. And often, I don't know about you, but I'm not a very good gardener, but I try often, and it doesn't usually go very well. I've tried replanting trees. That goes terrible, just so you know. I've killed many a good tree that was doing well until I touched it. But the thing for us, when we think about the hardships will come up to you or, I'm going to get a little touchy right now, our personal preferences, the next great thing or the next thing we want, we can become Christian tourists. We go to, "Oh, I like that. That's cool. I'll stay there for a little bit. Oh, that's kind of cool.

[25:34] I like that." You're there for a little bit, and then, "Okay, that's kind of cool. I like that." But we're meant to be trees, like strong trees of faith that grow deep roots. And if you pull a tree out and try to replant it, its roots don't do so well. You can try all kinds of stuff, and I'm sure a lot of you are going to email me and tell me how to properly transfer a tree. But the thing is, sometimes the root, when it's growing, it hits a rock. And a tree doesn't go, "Oh well, guess I'll only be two feet tall." The root works its way around the rock. Does it go as fast as when it's clean, good soil? No. But it works its way around that hard thing, and then it goes beyond it as it continues to grow. And when it comes to our faith, we can't, the first rock we hit or the first thing we don't like, just go, "I'm going to stop," or, "I'm going to go." And what happens, the enemy just uses those things to move you further and further away from the calling that God has placed on your life. Instead of growing deeper and stronger, we stay the same, or we become weaker, or we walk away.

[26:45] But I will tell you one thing about trees that I have dug up. You know when you pull those roots out and it's got to get... Maybe you've never done this. But I find rocks in amongst all the roots. You know why? Because when it hit the rock, it grew around it, and it used it as part of the anchor that keeps it solid in what it's becoming. And that's the same for our faith. When we hit rocks, we got to grow around them. We got to become stronger, and that's what helps us anchor is because of that experience. That becomes part of the mantle of what we learn and how to get through things. Sorry. That becomes so important to who we are becoming.

[27:31] Move from believer to follower to disciple to disciple maker. That's the journey God has us on. How do we make sure that what we are doing is left, and it is good for those that come behind us? That the ripple effect we create continues. Number one is preparation. Elisha was faithful. He was faithful to walk with Elijah, to remove everything. He plowed and worked in the fields. He did chores to make sure, but he was prepared. After preparation is persistence. Just like that tree root. You got to outlast, you got to outbeat, you got to outgrow.

[28:17] There's going to be battles. And someone said this to me a while back, and I always remember it every time I'm in a battle. When it talks about the armor of God, the armor was meant to be worn and not hung on a wall. It's going to be dented. It's going to be cut. It's going to be pushed in. It's going to hurt sometimes when it gets hit. But that's what's going to make us persist through it. Persistence is important. And finally, progression. It's willing to pick up the mantle and carry it forward and make sure the ripple effect continues. If you decide to allow someone to disciple you, which everybody should have someone discipling them, then you've got to be willing to become a disciple maker to be that for someone else.

[29:17] It can't be a stop there. When you live faithful to God, it creates a generational impact, sometimes for people that we won't see this side of heaven, but people will talk about and share about. Parents, you influence your children. Leaders, you influence communities and neighborhoods. Believers, followers, we influence the Kingdom of God around the world and all the circles we run in. And after we're gone, I would like to think that our ripples are still continuing. Maybe it's one prayer. Maybe it's one moment in time where you stepped in for somebody.

[30:05] Maybe it was one courageous stance. Maybe it was a life completely surrendered to God. All of these create ripples. But at the center of every ripple, there's a single impact. And that single center point is your heart. All of you received one of these when you came in. The powerful transition between Elijah and Elisha was a heart impact. He just didn't put a piece of cloth over his shoulders, he invited him into his soul. And Elisha's response wasn't half-hearted, it wasn't a piece of his heart, it was all in.

[30:51] It was all in. Got rid of his safety nets. When it comes to following Christ, like I said previously, you're either all in or you're not in. There's no halfway in between. Elisha understood the truth and realized you can't have an eternal impact sitting in your comfort zone. You've got to be willing to be out, making the waves that create the ripples. Proverbs 4:23 says this about our heart, "Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it." Everything we say, every action, every relationship, every transaction in our lives flows from our heart.

[31:44] And what's in it is what will flow out of it. And we have to protect this. And remember, when there's bad, that comes out too. So how do we want to disciple? How do we want to lead each other? God's not looking just for a portion of your time, He's looking for all of your time. God's not looking for a part of your heart, He's looking for all of your heart. It means we stop playing it safe, it means we stop living just in case. It means we stop looking at what's an earthly kingdom or what's a heavenly kingdom, and we say to God, "Take it all. It's all Yours.

[32:30] It's Yours completely. My security, my future, my comfort, my ambition, they all belong to You." I want to ask you three questions for you to reflect. Ask this of God: Where are You calling me to surrender that I haven't surrendered to Him yet? Ask Him where He needs me to stay faithful, even though it's difficult right now, and there's a rock I'm up against, or some other barrier. Or maybe I haven't been faithful in a certain spot. Ask Him, where is that spot I need to be faithful in? So that He hears me say, "I'm still here."

[33:23] And ask Him, what's the mantle He's asking me to carry? What is the mantle He's asking me to develop? What is the mantle that He wants me to hand off at some point in time? When Elijah went up in the whirlwind, the movement of God never stopped, and it still continues today. I want to ask you just to do one simple thing. I want you to take a pen that's in the seat back in front of you, or one that you may have and you may have to share with somebody, and I only want you to write one thing on this. I want you to write your first name. That's all I want you to do.

[34:08] Just write your first name on it. And in a minute, I'm going to give you a chance to do something intentional. I don't know about you, but for me, it's that act of obedience, that intentionality of action that drives something home, that creates a moment and a memory, that you know that an outward expression is an incredible expression for you, because of the courage it takes, but for others. In a moment, we're going to sing a song, and while that song plays, if you can say, "I'm giving my heart completely, all of it, everything, to God.

[35:12] I want to move from believer to follower to disciple to disciple maker, and I want to have a mantle that I pass to the next generation." Then I want you to, when we're singing, just don't worry about the song, you can sing as you walk, come down and lay your heart on these steps. But maybe you haven't done that yet, but you want to do it. Then I just ask you to do the same thing. Just come down while the song's playing and lay it on the steps. If you don't know, you can make that decision today. You take it with you and you pray and you put it in your Bible, you put it somewhere prominent, and you ask God every day, "Why can't I do this? Help me to make this commitment to be all in." So I'm going to ask you to stand, please.

[36:03] And as most of you know, I haven't been a pastor my entire life, so I know what it feels like to sit there, and everything I just asked you to do. All the stuff that's racing through your mind right now, you're thinking about the person at the end of the row you've got to walk past. Are they going to move? Am I going to move? Is it going to be awkward going by them? Forget all that. This is about you and God right now. I don't know who's in your row, whether they're going to move or not. If you see people moving, just be courteous and let them move by. And you're like, "I've got to walk all the way down front. I only sat in the second row in the back so I could save steps today." Right? It's not about that. This is a commitment. It's an intentional commitment before God. Don't worry about everybody else in the room. Those of you that are sitting in the balcony, you're thinking, "There's no way I'm walking down those steps."

[36:53] You know what? They work just as well coming down as they do going up. And so I can tell you this, in first service, a six-month pregnant mom walked down these steps to put her heart on those. So, you got no excuses for anyone on the balcony. So, I'm just telling you, this is an act where mantles start, where commitments say, "I'm all in." This isn't for me. This isn't for anyone else. This is between you and God. To remember this moment, that's how important it is. It's not about the cardboard heart, it's about your name, because this is your heart with your name on it.

[37:39] But when you lay it here, your heart becomes God's heart. And a mantle begins. Let me pray. Father, we thank You for the example of Elijah and Elisha and what it means to be a follower. But Father, we can't stay at a believer and a follower. We need to move to disciple and disciple maker. And so, Father, for all that are in this room right now that have the heart that they've written their name on, that You would give the courage, Father, that for those that never made that commitment to say, "I'm all in. I want a mantle that will last generations and generations and generations."

[38:27] That Father, this is about You and them right now. Though there's hundreds of people in this room, it's really one-on-one right now. So Father, in the hearts of all of us, may our love be that we just want to be the disciples of the living God who brings hope to the world. May You and only You be glorified through this action. May mantles begin here today to be handed to generations. It's in Jesus' mighty name that we pray and ask this. Amen. Come as we sing.