English Sermon Note
Pastor Prince
19 March 2017 Sermon
Our wonderful Shepherd. He knows the thoughts in your mind. He knows all the discouragement and He loves you. He wants you to rest in His presence. We cannot serve Him well unless we first receive from Him.
John the Baptist said He must increase and I must decrease.
A man receive nothing unless it is first given to him from above. If He can give to him He can give to you.
People that are going out there proclaiming Jesus, the devil seems to bring discouragement to them.
How long? Has God forgotten? These are questions asked. These thoughts can become hard thoughts towards God and even bitter.
God knows the numbers of hair on your head.
He is going to set you free.
James 5:17
Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain; and it did not rain on the land for three years and six months.
James 5:18
And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth produced its fruit.
We got the impression when we are depressed we cannot pray. God can even use a man who is depressed.
God has bright future for you.
The king of Israel has been divided into 2 kingdoms.
A spilt after Solomon’s son make a mistake.
10 tribes followed kingdom of Israel
2 tribes followed Judah
The kings of israel many of them were bad and worship idols
1 Kings 17:1
Elijah Proclaims a Drought
And Elijah the Tishbite, of the inhabitants of Gilead, said to Ahab, “As the LORD God of Israel lives, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, except at my word.”
Before whom I stand
He is conscious of the Lord’s presence
Before God I stand. The God of Israel.
God is always merciful.
God works in 7 usually.
When God gave a choice of discipline to David, God shortened it.
God rich in grace, not wrath. Wrath is not His nature. He is ℓσνє.
When God perform a judgement, it is called estrange act.
God perform justice God loves mercy
1 Kings 17:3
“Get away from here and turn eastward, and hide by the Brook Cherith, which flows into the Jordan.
1 Kings 17:4
And it will be that you shall drink from the brook, and I have commanded the ravens to feed you there.”
“There” is a place God provide for you.
Ask God where is your “there”
Dove are clean birds.
In the wilderness God sent manna in morning and evening.
1 Kings 17:6
The ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning, and bread and meat in the evening; and he drank from the brook.
Your area of ministry or area of work dry up does not mean God did not call you there. There is season.
This does not apply to marriage
1 Kings 17:9
“Arise, go to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and dwell there. See, I have commanded a widow there to provide for you.”
Now there is a new “there”
There to provide for you
1 Kings 17:15
So she went away and did according to the word of Elijah; and she and he and her household ate for many days.
1 Kings 17:16
The bin of flour was not used up, nor did the jar of oil run dry, according to the word of the LORD which He spoke by Elijah.
You never lose out when you give to the Lord
The time came for the famine to end.
1 Kings 18:1
Elijah’s Message to Ahab
And it came to pass after many days that the word of the LORD came to Elijah, in the third year, saying, “Go, present yourself to Ahab, and I will send rain on the earth.”
When He sent the rain, the man of God needs to appear.
God wants to show that it was by His Word that there was famine and by His Word there was rain.
The time of the evening prayer.
The time that Jesus will died at 3pm
The altar was built with 12 stones.
1 Kings 18:30
Then Elijah said to all the people, “Come near to me.” So all the people came near to him. And he repaired the altar of the LORD that was broken down.
During this time of Israel, it was divided but only see one Israel.
We are told to keep unity not make unity.
1 Kings 18:32
Then with the stones he built an altar in the name of the LORD; and he made a trench around the altar large enough to hold two seahs of seed.
1 Kings 18:34
Then he said, “Do it a second time,” and they did it a second time; and he said, “Do it a third time,” and they did it a third time.
1 Kings 18:35
So the water ran all around the altar; and he also filled the trench with water.
His prayer has element of answered prayer.
- He prayed for God’s glory. He did not pray for Himself.
- He prayed for the blessings of Israel.
Elements of answered prayers –
- For the greater glory of Lord Jesus Christ
- Pray for the greater good of the church
God’s glory and man’s profitability is tied together.
Learn to give God all the praise and glory.
Pray for the Lord’s glory. It is always healing.
The most powerful prayers are prayers that are short.
1 Kings 18:38
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.
1 Kings 18:39
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!”
God is a God who punish evil and judge sins. Either the fire falls on the people or on the sacrifice.
Judgement must fall. Will it fall on the guilty nation or on the sacrifice?
The fire will fall and it has to fall. But where will it fall? Will it fall on the sacrifice
Consume means completely finished off.
Even the stones disappeared. The fire of judgement is greater than the sacrifice
There was a time at Calvary when He who knew no sins and did no sin offered Himself as sacrifice. The fire fell on Him to consume the sacrifice. The Sacrifice is greater than the fire of judgement.
He consumed the fire that was meant for our sins. When the fire of judgement consumed Him, He exhausted the fire and the fire is gone! The fire is gone and the sacrifice remains.
Now we see the Sacrifice is greater than the judgement
I hear the sound of the abundance of rain.
There has been judgement. After the judgement there is always blessings!
We must remember after a great victory, we are only safe if we fall on the dust and realised we are nothing and He is everything. Fall flat before the Lord and said Lord is You.
Because it is coming, let’s pray.
Sometimes praying by faith is great but we need to discern sometimes. God wants us to pray persevering prayers.
Never despise the days of small beginnings.
Those who wait upon the Lord they shall run and not be weary.
1 Kings 19:1
Elijah Escapes from Jezebel
And Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, also how he had executed all the prophets with the sword.
1 Kings 19:3
And when he saw that, he arose and ran for his life, and went to Beersheba, which belongs to Judah, and left his servant there.
Elijah started to walk by sight.
He forgot the God who answered by fire and the rain that followed.
He was conscious of the invisible and invincible God, started to walk by sight.
At 120 Moses eye sight was not dim. He saw the invisible and invincible God
The visible is what the devil uses.
Peter based on the Word of the Lord looked at Jesus and walked on water. But when Peter saw the wind, he lost sight of the living Lord and he began to sink.
Walking by sight will cause us to fall.
We take our eyes off the invisible into the visible.
He got discouraged. He did not see the living God but saw the woman
The Lord directed Elijah and he go according to the Lord’s leading.
Don’t make decision based on the fear of men
The moment we take our eyes off the living God, we are discouraged.
1 Kings 19:4
But he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a broom tree. And he prayed that he might die, and said, “It is enough! Now, LORD, take my life, for I am no better than my fathers!”
If we want to see more of God’s acts, we must see less of us.
I am empty, He is my everything
Elijah never died and has never died. He was brought up to heaven without dying.
Enoch was taken up just like that. Raptured.
When the pandemic left, the people just went back to their own things and forget about God.
Take our eyes off the servant, Elijah and look at our Lord Jesus
In the midst of seemingly failure of Elijah’s ministry, he looked up to heaven and prayed. He praise and thank the Lord
Put your eyes off the servant and put your eyes on the perfect Master
Who you have faith in is the most important.
When you are discouraged and doubted God, He does not leave you alone. He gives His beloveds sleep.
1 Kings 19:5
Then as he lay and slept under a broom tree, suddenly an angel touched him, and said to him, “Arise and eat.”
Arise and eat. Now there is food! The angel that woke Elijah up in the desert was Jesus in His preincarnate form .
Some of you have worked so hard and find that it gone down.
From this day forth, you will see good things happen to your finances
Experts are failing even in these days.
Know the voice of the One who is expert.
The resurrected Jesus cooking! Coals of fire to warm His disciples.
He cares when you are cold. He made coals of fire to warm them up.
Come and eat. Words of ℓσνє.
The Jehovah of Israel time is the gospel of Jesus today
1 Kings 19:6
Then he looked, and there by his head was a cake baked on coals, and a jar of water. So he ate and drank, and lay down again.
1 Kings 19:8
So he arose, and ate and drank; and he went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights as far as Horeb, the mountain of God.
One word from God can cause you to go in His strength.
You got food from heaven.
God gave him food.
1 Kings 19:9
And there he went into a cave, and spent the night in that place; and behold, the word of the LORD came to him, and He said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”
Elijah never died and God did not let him die there.
God is preparing a chariot of fire.
The chariot is ready.
What are you doing here?
For God to say that, He is also there with you.
God will never leave you even though it is your own journey. He will go with you.
In the days of Elijah’s faith, raven fed him
In the days of his depression, angels wait on him and God Himself fed him
His mercy fails not.
1 Kings 19:10
So he said, “I have been very zealous for the LORD God of hosts; for the children of Israel have forsaken Your covenant, torn down Your altars, and killed Your prophets with the sword. I alone am left; and they seek to take my life.”
I alone am left. – one of the reasons we are discouraged
1 Kings 19:18
Yet I have reserved seven thousand in Israel, all whose knees have not bowed to Baal, and every mouth that has not kissed him.”
Just because you don’t see it does not means is not there.
Elijah was more conscious what God was doing in judgement and did not see what God was doing in grace.
1 Kings 19:11
God’s Revelation to Elijah
Then He said, “Go out, and stand on the mountain before the LORD.” And behold, the LORD passed by, and a great and strong wind tore into the mountains and broke the rocks in pieces before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake;
Earth wind and fire
Earthquake- dramatic
Wind- see demonstration
Fire- you don’t want God to baptise you in fire.
God is not in these.
After the fire a still small voice.
A calm whisper of gentleness is a ministry of grace.
Elijah had ministry of fire and thought people will turn around.
You cannot let people come to church out of fear. Threatening them won’t cause them to stay.
ℓσνє will cause them to stay.
When satan make use of people and the moment he used the people he will throw them aside.
You will always be a child in My eyes.
Like Elijah we are not led, we walked.
No wonder that is a valley.
His heart is very tender.
God will rather the fire fall on the sacrifice of His Son than to fall on you.
