Transcript Elijah - Revelation And Creation

“It is I. Go tell your master, ‘Elijah is here.’ ”
(1 Kings 18:8)
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Elijah
5 Behold, I will send you Elijah the
prophet Before the coming of the great
and dreadful day of the LORD.
6 And he will turn the hearts of the
fathers to the children, And the hearts
of the children to their fathers, Lest I
come and strike the earth with a curse.
--Malachi 4:5, 6
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Elijah
• means “Jehovah is my God”
• prophesy in Malachi is in reference to
one who would come in the spirit of
Elijah before the great and terrible day
of the Lord
• has reference to John the Baptist prior to
Jesus’ ministry (Lk. 1:17)
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Elijah
• Jesus had characteristics of:
When Jesus came into the region of
Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples,
saying, "Who do men say that I, the Son of
Man, am?" So they said, "Some say John
the Baptist, some Elijah, and others
Jeremiah or one of the prophets."
(Matt. 16:13, 14)
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Elijah
• of all OT characters only Elijah and
Moses stood with Jesus at the Mt. of
transfiguration (Matt. 17:3)
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QUESTION:
WHAT IS IT THAT MADE ELIJAH SO
GREAT?
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ARE YOU
PREPARED FOR
THE ANSWER?
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NOT BECAUSE:
• HE WROTE A BOOK BEARING HIS NAME
(because he did not)
• OF SUPERHUMAN QUALITIES: SUPERMAN,
BATMAN, INCREDIBLE HULK, DAREDEVIL, etc.
• WHILE GOD WORKED INCREDIBLE MIRACLES
THROUGH ELIJAH, THAT IS NOT WHAT MADE HIM
INCREDIBLE!
• JAMES 5:17, “Elijah was a man with a nature like
ours. . .”
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(1)
Elijah
A MAN OF PRAYER
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A MAN OF PRAYER
“PRAYER” MADE ELIJAH GREAT
16 Confess your trespasses to one another, and
pray for one another, that you may be
effective,fervent
ferventprayer
prayerof a
healed. The effective,
righteous man avails much.
17 Elijah was a man with a nature like ours,
and he
heprayed
prayedearnestly
earnestlythat it would not
rain; and it did not rain on the land for
three years and six months.
18 And he prayed again, and the heaven gave
rain, and the earth produced its fruit.
JAMES 5:16-18
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(1) “Effective Fervent Prayer”
• “effective fervent” compound word in
the Greek, “energoumenh” (IGNT)
• “energeo”
“energy” (in work)
• (Strong’s 1754), “to be operative, be at
work, put forth power”
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(1) “Effective Fervent Prayer”
• THUS:
• the operative power-prayer of a righteous
man avails much
• “The prayer of a righteous man has great
power in its effects” (RSV)
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(2) “Prayed Earnestly”
• Literally, “prayed in prayer” (Green’s Lit. Tr.)
• James 5:17 (IGNT)
“hliav {ELIJAH} anyrwpov {A MAN} hn {WAS}
omoiopayhv {OF LIKE FEELINGS} hmin {TO US,}
kai {AND} proseuch {WITH PRAYER} proshuxato
tou {HE PRAYED [FOR IT]} mh {NOT} brexai {TO
RAIN;} kai {AND} ouk {NOT} ebrexen {IT DID
RAIN} epi {UPON} thv {THE} ghv {EARTH}
eniautouv {YEARS} treiv {THREE} kai {AND}
mhnav {MONTHS} ex {SIX;}”
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HE PRAYED IN PRAYER
• persistence in prayer
• COMPARE:
• “I waited (Heb. qavah) patiently (Heb.
qavah) for the LORD; And He inclined to
me, And heard my cry” (Ps. 40:1)
• saying it double means continuance
• persistence in prayer taught by our Lord
(Lk. 11:1-9)
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A Glimpse of Elijah’s Energized
Effective Prayer
36 And it came to pass, at the time of the
offering of the evening sacrifice, that Elijah the
prophet came near and said, "LORD God of
Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known this
day that You are God in Israel and I am Your
servant, and that I have done all these things at
Your word.
37 "Hear me, O LORD, hear me, that this people
may know that You are the LORD God, and that
You have turned their hearts back to You again."
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1 Kings1518
A Glimpse of Elijah’s Energized
Effective Prayer
38 Then the fire of the LORD fell and consumed
the burnt sacrifice, and the wood and the stones
and the dust, and it licked up the water that was
in the trench.
39 Now when all the people saw it, they fell on
their faces; and they said, "The LORD, He is God!
The LORD, He is God!"
40 And Elijah said to them, "Seize the prophets
of Baal! Do not let one of them escape!" So they
seized them; and Elijah brought them down to
the Brook Kishon and executed them there.
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1 Kings1618
What About Us?
• “And whatever we ask we receive from
Him, because we keep His commandments and do those things that are
pleasing in His sight” (I Jn. 3:22)
• effective prayer comes from “keeping” the
commandments of God
• doing those things that are pleasing in His
sight
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What About Us?
• “Now this is the confidence that we have
in Him, that if we ask anything according
to His will, He hears us” (1 Jn. 5:14)
• effective prayer is being more concerned
with the Father’s will rather than our own
• “Then the LORD heard the voice of Elijah. .
.” (1 Kin. 17:22)
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What About Us?
• “For the eyes of the LORD are on the
righteous, And His ears are open to their
prayers; But the face of the LORD is
against those who do evil” (1 Pet. 3:12)
• Your prayer will not be heard if you are not
in Christ
• “. . .the prayer of the upright is His delight”
(Prov. 15:8)
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3 Reason Why Some Might Not
Have Effective Prayer?
1) we don’t ask
a) if you don’t ask, you will not receive
b) John 16:24
2) we don’t ask “in faith”
a) "And whatever things you ask in prayer,
believing, you will receive” (Matt. 21:22)
b) “God (if there is one) save my soul (if I have
one”
3) we ask with the wrong motive (Jas. 4:3)
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The Lord’s Example
• Mark 1:35,
Now in the morning, having risen a
long while before daylight, He went
out and departed to a solitary place;
and there He prayed.
• can this be honestly said of us?
• may we rise early to work, to fish, to play
but ever to pray?
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(2)
Elijah
GOD’S TRUTHFUL MESSENGER
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BEING A FAITHFUL PREACHER OF
GOD’S WORD MADE ELIJAH GREAT!
• "For thus says the LORD God of
Israel. . .” (1 Kin. 17:14)
• didn’t matter who got mad
• didn’t matter who got hurt
• didn’t matter who loved or hated it
• it mattered only that “thus says the
Lord”
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WHEN PREACHERS REPLACE
“THUS SAYS THE LORD” WITH:
•
•
•
•
PHILOSOPHY
PSYCHOLOGY
COMPROMISE
RUNNING FROM THE ISSUES
THEY TRANSFORM FROM GOD’S
PREACHERS TO MEN PLEASERS!
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“For do I now persuade men, or God?
Or do I seek to please men? For if I
still pleased men, I would
be a bondservant of Christ.”
(Gal. 1:10)
“But as we have been approved
by God to be entrusted with the
gospel, even so we speak, not
as
but God who tests our hearts.”
1 Thessalonians 2:4
1Ki 17:24,
Then the woman said to Elijah, "Now by this
I know that you are
a man of God,
and that the word of the LORD in your
mouth is
THE TRUTH
13 Then the messenger who had gone to call
Micaiah spoke to him, saying, "Now listen, the
words of the prophets with one accord
encourage the king. Please, let your word be
like the word of one of them, and speak
encouragement."
14 And Micaiah said, "As the LORD lives,
whatever the LORD says to me, that I will
speak."
1 KINGS 22
58:1
“Cry aloud, spare not; Lift up your voice
like a trumpet;
their transgression, And the house of
Jacob their sins”
Who say to the seers, "Do not see," And to the
prophets, "Do not prophesy to us right things;
Speak to us smooth things, prophesy deceits.
(Is. 30:10)
BUT
“. . .woe is me if I do not preach the gospel”
(1 Cor. 9:16)
2 Timothy 4: “A Preacher’s Task”
(From Paul’s Last Chapter)
• preach the word
• be ready (in and out
of season)
• convince
• rebuke
• exhort (with long
suffering)
• be watchful
• endure afflictions
• do the work of an
evangelist
• fulfill your ministry
SUCH LANGUAGE WOULD DESCRIBE
ELIJAH AND ALL FAITHFUL
MESSENGERS OF GOD!
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(3)
Elijah
WILLING TO CONFRONT ERROR
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CONFRONTATIONAL
• CONFRONTED KINGS
(1 KIN. 18:17-19; 2 KIN. 1:1-3, 15, 16)
• “Do not marvel, my brethren, if the world
hates you” (1 Jn. 3:13)
• “Woe to you when all men speak well of
you, for so did their fathers to the false
prophets” (Lk. 6:26)
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CONFRONTATIONAL
• CONFRONTED GOD’S PEOPLE TO MAKE A
DECISION (1 KIN. 18:21)
• GOD OR BAAL?
• COMPARE THE CHOICES THAT WE
CONFRONT PEOPLE WITH TODAY: life or
destruction (MATT. 7:13, 14)
• "See, I have set before you today life and
good, death and evil” (DEUT. 30:15)
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CONFRONTATIONAL
• CONFRONTED 450 PROPHETS OF BAAL
(1 KIN. 18:22)
• PROBABLY THE SAME RATIO EXISTS TODAY
• GOD ANSWERED WITH FIRE AND
VINDICATED ELIJAH’S PREACHING
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SOMEONE DECEIVED US!
• someone, somewhere, somehow
convinced us that confronting error is
“unchristian,” “unloving,” “poor
psychology” and a foolish failing way to
convert people
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The Remedy
• the remedy for stagnant churches is to
become confrontational against error!
• fails if membership is sympathetic towards false
teachers, doctrine, religious bodies
• fails if indifferent towards lost
• fails when brethren aim their crosshairs at the
one proclaiming the truth
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The Result
• scares me when churches are overly
concerned with increasing membership
rather than sounding forth the word
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1 Thessalonians 1:6-8
6 And you became followers of us and of the Lord,
having received the word in much affliction, with
joy of the Holy Spirit,
7 so that you became examples to all in Macedonia
and Achaia who believe.
8 For from you the word of the Lord has sounded
forth, not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in
every place. Your faith toward God has gone out, so
that we do not need to say anything.
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What We Need Today!
• churches to rise up out of the shadows
of mediocrity & become confrontational
• churches following the Lord and the
apostles EVEN in AFFLICTION
• churches sounding forth the word in
“every place”
• churches dispensing their faith
SATAN & HIS PEOPLE ARE ACTIVE!
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Result
• scares me when churches are overly
concerned with increasing membership
rather than sounding forth the word
• OF ELIJAH’S WORK TURNED MANY TO
THE LORD
• “Now when all the people saw it, they fell
on their faces; and they said, ‘The LORD,
He is God! The LORD, He is God!’” (18:39)
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The Nature of Our Work
1 Corinthians 10:3-6
Confrontational?
3 For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war
according to the flesh.
4 For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but
mighty in God for pulling down strongholds,
5 casting down arguments and every high thing that
exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing
every thought into captivity to the obedience of
Christ,
6 and being ready to punish all disobedience when
your obedience is fulfilled.
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(4)
Elijah
A PEACE BRINGER
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1 KINGS 18
17 Then it happened, when Ahab saw Elijah,
that Ahab said to him, “Is that you, O troubler
of Israel?”
18 And he answered, “I have not troubled
Israel, but you and your father’s house have,
in that you have forsaken the commandments
of the LORD and have followed the Baals.”
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THE TROUBLER OF ISRAEL
• IS NOT THE ONE WHO CONTENDS AND
EXHORTS PEOPLE TO DO WHAT IS RIGHT
• IS THE LAWBREAKER
• THE LAWBREAKER IS THE PEACE-BREAKER
• “Behold, on the mountains The feet of
him who brings good tidings, who
proclaims peace!” (Nah. 1:15a)
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ARNEST IN PRAYER (JAS. 5:17)
ION-HEARTED (2 KIN. 2:12)
MMORTALITY (2 KIN. 2:1, 11)
EHOVAH'S MESSENGER
(1 KIN 17:24)
HAB’S COUNTER BALANCE
UNTED BY MAN BUT WENT INTO
THE HEAVENS (1 KIN. 18:10)
WHAT ABOUT YOU?
• ARE YOU CONSIDERED AN ELIJAH OR AN
AHAB?
• WILL GOD HONOR YOU LIKE ELIJAH IN
TAKING YOU UP INTO HEAVEN?
• ARE YOU TAKING ‘THE FAITH’
SERIOUSLY?
• ARE YOU PLAYING WITH THE FAITH?
• WOULD YOU EVER BE “HUNTED” BY
WICKED MEN FOR PREACHING THE TRUTH?
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