Children’s Sermon

1 Kings 19:19-21

A Great Invitation

By Richard Niell Donovan

1 Kings 19:19-21

ELIJAH was a great prophet––a great and Godly man. Everyone knew Elijah. They were happy that God had given them such a great prophet.

ELISHA was a younger man. He was a good man, but not a great man like Elijah. I don’t think that Elisha ever thought he could be great like Elijah.

But Elijah, the great prophet, surprised Elisha, the young man.

Elijah was wearing a special coat that identified him as a great prophet. Whenever anyone saw that coat, they knew that it must be Elijah, the great prophet.

But Elijah took off that coat and told Elisha, the young man, to put it on. Elijah was really saying,

“Elisha, you are a young man,
but you are about to become a great man.

This has been my coat for many years.
Whenever people see this coat, they know that it is me.

But I want you to wear this coat now.
When you do, people will know that you are a great prophet––
a great and Godly man.”

So Elisha put on the coat. Then they had a great celebration––a big Bar-B-Q. Everyone came and ate Bar-B-Q. Some of them ate steaks, and some of them at Bar-B-Q sandwiches––but all of them had a great time––because they were celebrating the fact that the young man that they knew and loved had been marked by Elijah to become a great prophet.

They knew that Elijah would have to leave them someday, and they wondered who would take his place. Now they knew. It would be their friend, Elisha.