Dr Eric Walsh - Fire From Above (Sabbath Service: April 10, 2021)

happy sabbath it's always a privilege right to be able to have one day where we can just rest a time that we don't have to worry about everything that's going on in the world we don't have to worry about work we don't have to worry about stress and anything that's not church related but it's so much better not just during the sabbath but even during the week when we can spend that devotional hour with the lord when we can get closer to him when we can feel that we're near to him [Music] foreign [Music] i can't escape [Music] have no need of any other i have found where i belong yes i have found where i belong [Music] never let me go closer to your [Music] lord in your nearness there is healing what was broken now restoration in its fullness lasting hope for all who come in your nearness [Music] to to be here before your throne so draw me near never let me go closer to your heart draw me [Music] closer to [Music] draw me so keep me here [Music] there's no way so draw me nearer never let me go closer to your heart my lord [Music] happy sabbath church family it's good to be here today in the spring as the weather warms up and uh we have the beautiful evidence of god's creation as we hear the birds singing again and as we see uh the trees budding um it is a reminder every single time that we serve a god who is in control because although winter seems dark and dreary the spring is evidence that we have a god who gives life and so i praise god for that i praise god that we are i don't know if you've been following the numbers around kovid um but at least as the cases have soared back up what we are seeing is that um there is less death from kovid um so we'll see if that trend continues that's probably some of the best news that i'm not hearing on on the on the television or on the internet but it is a true thing that we are seeing that so we are hopeful that the pandemic as we have seen it will end soon but as christians we also understand that what the world is going through now what is gripping the world is a sign of what is to come what we've seen over the last year is really a warning as i say many times it's a warning god is trying to prepare his people and you know these are tough times i don't know about you maybe i'm not the only one but this is a hard week for me tough week you know the weight of work um personal things you know your life sometimes even as a christian you begin to to doubt and question and ask god where are you and that's the real that's real talk being a christian does not mean that you are always um on your a-game the secret to being a christian is that you go to god even when you're failing so our talk today we're going to look at one of my favorite bible heroes but our scripture as uh was read so well is found in the book of hebrews the 12th chapter hebrews chapter 12 and verse 28 says wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved let us have grace whereby we may serve god acceptably with reverence and godly fear verse 29 for our god is a consuming fire for our god is a consuming fire our message this sabbath is entitled fire from above fire from above lessons from elijah let's pray father god we thank you for this opportunity to study a word and to worship you lord we understand that we are not worthy of your mercy nor of your grace but lord as we come before you today we come in humility wash us in your blood and cleanse us from all unrighteousness as we approach your throne lord once again make me a nail on the wall and lord the nail has little to no value but we would ask that the nail would just hold the portrait of our savior jesus christ lord let me not be seen or heard today instead father let us hear a word from the throne room of grace this is our prayer in jesus's precious and holy name amen all right let's get into it we'll go to the book of first kings chapter 16 verse 28 and 29 we see the transition of power of the northern kingdom of israel first kings 16 28 says so omri slept with his fathers and was buried in samaria and ahab his son reigned in his stead omri was not the best king and when he died his son ahab took the throne verse 29 says and in the thirty and eighth reign of assa king of judah began ahab the son of omri to reign over israel and ahab the son of armory reigned over israel and samaria 20 and two years for 22 years the northern kingdom is led by ahab as we're going to see that this poses challenges that israel will never recover from just to give you a little bit of geographic orientation remember that what was once a unified kingdom of israel broke into two parts uh predominantly because of solomon's choosing of uh wives that were pagan and the introduction of pagan worship by solomon and then his son robert rabon being one of them the kingdom splits and you wind up with these two kingdoms supposedly the same people with the same god but two different kingdoms and if you look at the history here's rehoboam who kind of continues in david's reign but there's this long line and just to show you where we are here's ahab who reigns for 22 years um and you can see that the two kingdoms split um and they have totally different lineages of kings to show you where we are in time because sometimes you read the bible you don't see it in context and it's important to understand where you are when you look at it elijah is one of the first prophets really everyone we most of whom we think about after moses um is all of these other folk jonah amos josiah joel micah you can see at around the time of the exile daniel ezekiel jeremiah elijah is way before all of that he carries a burden unique in all that he goes it's he he travels up and down and inside of both nations but he he carries a very powerful message as he does this in first kings 16 and verse 30 it says and ahab the son of armory did evil in the sight of the lord above all that were before him ahab is corrupted even more than all the other kings who have been corrupted we step into our story today at a time when israel is at its spiritual lowest point spiritually lowest point it is at its nader it is failing spiritually and overwhelmingly and here's why it is because it is lacking leadership ahab armory and the other kings have led israel into a path of repeated sin and violation against god the worship of baal which was fought so hard in the time of the judges over and over again seems to continue to mount itself and read and be re-introduced into israel until its leadership itself accepts the worship of a false god verse 31 says and it came to pass as if it had been a light thing for him speaking of ahab to walk in the sins of jeroboam the son of niebert that that he took to wife jezebel the daughter of f baal king of the the zedonians and went and served baal and worshiped him now there's a lot of lesson in this here he he doesn't just fail god in that he chooses to serve baal he cements his decision by who he marries he marries a daughter of ethbale and you can see the word bail in her father's name and even jezebel is really a jezebel a play on bale was the chief god we'll talk more about him in a second but he he accepts this uh jezebel as his wife and jezebel is a strong personality a strong character as we'll see in an um i'll do a series on elijah so over the next couple sermons you will see that she is a strong character she knows what she wants and she gets it and when she gets ahab baal worship is heightened in israel verse 32 says and he reared up an altar for baal in the house of baal which he had built in samaria in the capital of this state of or ancient israel he builds a temple to a false god and worships it he made a grove which is one of the ways that they would worship these gods baal and ashtara and ahab uh did more to provoke the lord this is a this is a very powerful statement here and ahab did more to provoke the lord god of israel to anger than all the kings of israel that were before him he set up a temple to worship the false god he set up groves where they would do some of their rituals and practices and baal was not simply just another god to worship baal was a god who had some of the most evil uh seductive and and and murderous uh worship practices here's a here's a statue of what baal would have looked like and here's a definition bale is the god most actively worshiped in canaan and phoenicia he is the storm god what kind of god is he he's the storm god the head god of canaan source of the winter rainstorms this is all going to be important in our story spring mist and summer do which nourish the crops therefore baal is considered responsible for the fecundity particularly of the earth for the growth of vegetation and for the maintenance of life he is considered the creator god his father in their in their pantheon is a god named l who was once considered the creator god and you know i honestly think that some of these folk took l who was probably um the way that they had interpreted the original god of the bible and from that took and made this pantheon but baal eclipses l he takes over from l and now he is the one they say is responsible for all the moisture wetness the rain that feeds the vegetation in fact uh here's another picture of him here you can see him holding a lightning rod um he has a stick on his head in his hand and he pops people upside the head with he stands on the water and on the mountains all of these symbolisms matter in our story nonetheless he is not a god of vegetation while the word be bai'al means simply master or owner and they say lord right he is considered a prince among his other epithets are writer of the clouds never forget that prince master of the earth and there's some other definitions they give there in kabbalah first kings 17 and 16 says and they left all the commandments of the lord their god and made them molten images even two calves and made a grove and worshiped all the host of heaven and served baal so they make an a metal statue of baal don't miss this they make a medal that's the molten images are there and they made like two calves he was he was depicted often as a bull as i'll show you in a second and he would hold his hands out and they would offer sacrifices on his own lay them on him to offer sacrifices here's what the bible says in ezekiel 16 20-21 it says and you took your sons and your daughters whom you had borne to me and these you sacrificed to them to be devoured were your whoring so small a matter that you slaughtered my children and delivered them up as an offering by fire to them and you can see this is a rendition of king ahab bowing before the statue of baal that he had put up but when they look at it this is the this is the one that is so frightening they were it was they did child sacrifices to baal they sacrificed their sons and their daughters to the demons they poured out innocent blood the blood of their sons and daughters whom they sacrificed to the idols of canaan and the land was polluted with blood psalm 106 37 and 38 from the esv you can see that this was a diabolical terrible form of worship and you can see the golden thing and what they would do is they would um either put them inside of the fire to heat up his hands so loud so hot and then lay hard to even say it lay the child on it as the child screamed they would worship baal and their and the form of worship was a seductive it was actual um sexual practices that they would do that is how they worshiped him because they were trying to get him to give them uh um um fertility and and have grains that would be produced and water to fall from the sky in the form of rain they did these practices all annually in order for baal to respond and so that they would have lush green uh one of the authors i was reading this week says that one of the reasons uh the children of israel may have fallen prey to this is that after 40 years in a desert wandering around entering such a lush land when the people of the land said the way that we keep this land so green is that we worship our god baal that some of the children of israel may have made a decision and say you know what i'm not taking any chances i'll serve jehovah and baal because everyone wanted this uh this uh fertility they wanted the crops to yield they wanted to have children and baal was promised to give that to them and let me say this this is that this is the danger of trying to serve two masters at the same time as they began to just consider baal as an option and a source for them to have what they wanted they began to give their hearts to baal and you cannot church you cannot serve two masters the scripture says you'll either love the one and hate the other or hate no one and love the other and let me tell you something this is it's indicative even of modern times church we live in a time of of where we're of secularism and uh humanism where it's really all about self in fact the the the standard real spiritual teaching of the land is that we evolve that is not a scientific principle it's a theory if they could prove it it would cease to be a theory never forget that gravity is a law we can prove gravity evolution is a theory and we live in a land where literally we are taught that we created ourselves that because of a a series of accidents and and chance uh occurrences over uh of millions and millions and millions of years we are we evolved to be who we are but let me tell you something if you buy into the world's lie that somehow you are your own bail you will find that you cannot serve two masters second kings 17 17-18 says this and they burned their sons and their daughters as offerings and used divination and omens and sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the lord provoking him to anger therefore the lord was very angry with israel and removed them out of his sight none was left but the tribe of judah only the other key character in this besides ahab elijah and now bale is jezebel herself i won't get too into jezebel except you say she has a strong um connotative meaning um but jezebel this is actually i just pull this definition off of wikipedia jezebel is the anglicized transliteration of the hebrew isabel the oxford guide to people and places of the bible states that the name is best understood as meaning where is the prince i don't want y'all to miss this where is the prince right a ritual cry from worship ceremonies in honor of baal during periods of the year when the god was considered to be in the underworld in the dry seasons they said bale is not here he's uh he is he is under in the underworld this is why we have no rain that's why the crops don't grow well as i was talking about winter and then spring so during the dead of the times of the year when nothing grew the cry would go out where is the prince where is the prince and the cry was for baal in the underworld don't miss this her name literally meant where is baal where is he so devoted was her father to the worship of baal that his child is named after the cry for baal longing for bail looking for bail and of course even to this day there have been movies this is a picture this is a magazine out of atlanta jezebel magazine um this lady gaga on jezebel magazine's cover there was a movie with uh some of y'all don't remember henry fonda and uh betty davis but there was a movie called jezebel so folklore it carries the name is powerful and it is it carries a lot of weight well the next sermon will we'll hit more on that but first king 17 and elijah the tishbite who was one of the inhabitants of gilead said unto ahab as the lord god of israel liveth before whom i stand there shall not be do nor rain these years but according to my word now enter elijah israel has been completely taken over by baal worship ahab has resurrected and uh sorry erected temples and groves to the worship of baal and ashura um the the people are worshiping this false god their children are being sacrificed to this false god elijah steps on the scene and attacks them right where they worship bail he says it will not rain there won't even be dew coming from the ground for uh for years and we know it winds up being three and a half years why is that significant because it was the first challenge of baal you got to get this bale is the one who rides the storm that's his name he is the one responsible for the rain and the dew when elijah says listen at the command of the god of heaven at the command of jehovah there will be no reign for these years he is literally saying my god is about to bind your god i'm sure ahab and jezebel laughed ha your god can't do that but elijah is a special person his name means my god is jehovah it's from tishbe in gilead of course the bible tells us as we'll talk about in a later sermon he is taken to heaven in a chariot i like to say he got that holy ghost uber amen he's one of two who meets christ on the mount of transfiguration he and moses and one of the evidences that when you die you don't go to straight to heaven are the stories of enoch elijah and moses the bible has no one who is taken to heaven whose body is left on earth don't miss this you can't find moses as a sepulcher and of course you couldn't find one for elijah or enoch and even those who are resurrected after the the the um the christ resurrection their bodies are taken as well so the idea that your body and your spirit is separated is not biblical because elijah is taken and he meets christ on the mount of transfiguration this is how significant this character is first kings 18 and verse 18 says and it came to pass after many days that the word of the lord came to elijah in the third year is after he told him it wouldn't rain saying go show yourself unto ahab and i will send rain upon the earth okay it's been three years now there's a famine people are starving all of the baal worshiping they've been doing for three years all the crazy rituals nothing not a drop of rain like the whole nation moved to the desert in california somebody lived in california would get that no rain verse two and elijah went to show himself unto ahab the scripture says and there was a sore famine in samaria when ahab saw elijah can you imagine three years later after he told him that he had probably laughed him to scorn when he sees elijah after three years he says ahab's words to elijah are are you he that troubles israel ahab's words to elijah are it's your fault we don't have any rain it's your fault the food's not growing it's your fault that we're all starving look at what the spirit of prophecy says the rewind herald january 8 1884 she says those who receive to res those who refuse to receive reproof and to be corrected will manifest enmity malice and hatred against the instrument that god has used they will leave no means untried to cast stigma upon the one who bore to them the message they will feel as did ahab toward elijah that god's servant is the one who is the hindrance the curse said ahab art thou he that troubleth israel i want to prepare you church the scripture tells us that we will head into a great time of trouble matthew 24 and verse 9 tells us that daniel chapter 12 tells us that that there is going to be a time of great trouble and i want to submit to you that when you study the life of someone like elijah understand that the time is coming when we will have to stand when the whole world blames us for its problems it's not popular not not not not an easy thing to even say from the pulpit seems unlikely but the truth of the matter is the world is moving in a direction with those who are bible believing who believe in sola scriptura the bible and the bible alone are going to be persecuted now let me ask you something do you have the kind of relationship with god where you will stand and speak truth live truth believe truth regardless of what the world is doing because elijah's response in verse 17 is this it came to pass when ahab saw elijah that elijah said that ahab said unto him he that troubleth israel and elijah's response which i must've skipped elijah's response is it's not me it's you who are troubling israel now therefore send and gather to me all israel unto mount carmel verse 19 and the prophets of baal 450 and the prophets of the groves 400 which eat at jezebel's table 850 of them so ahab sent all the children of israel and gathered the prophets together unto mount carmel remember in the bus that i showed you of baal he stands not only on the water he stands on the mountains to so so in the mind of those who worship baal if you go to the top of the mountain you're going where baal is more powerful don't miss this the the battleground chosen was one that would have been in the minds of ahab and all the prophets and priests of baal and of jezebel it would have been home field advantage home court advantage for baal and not for jehovah because i'll meet you on mount carmel and elijah came unto all the people and said how long hal g between two opinions if the lord be god follow him but if baal then follow him and the people answered him not a word when elijah posed to the people how long are you going to sit here and try and serve god and serve the world at the same time how long are you going to play with god trying to have one foot in the church and one foot in the world coming to church on sabbath morning with the stamp from the nightclub from the night before how long will you live like this then said elijah unto the people i even i only remain a prophet of the lord but baal's prophets are 450 men let them therefore give us two bullocks let them choose one bullet for themselves and cut it in pieces and lay it on wood and put no fire under remember one of the ways that they depict bale is a bull so what do they do they pick two young bulls that's a bullock to be sacrificed everything don't miss this church every part of this story gives the advantage to baal they pick bulls to sacrifice he's the god depicted as a bull he says i will put no fire and i will dress the other bullock and lay it on wood and put no fire under and call ye on the name of your gods and i will call on the name of the lord and the god that answers by fire let him be god and all the people answered and said it is well spoken when lightning would strike in canaan they say baal set the fire so every aspect of this showdown is set up so that the people's faith in baal would be shaken and elijah said unto the prophets of baal choose you one bullock for yourselves and dress it first for you are many elijah's what you don't realize is that elijah is literally clowning them the whole way it's 450 of you guys so why don't you dress yours first it's just me on my side you guys go first even letting them go first is an advantage for baal and call in the name of your gods but do not put fire under it i'm sure they tried to cheat and they took the bullock which was given them and they dressed it and called on the name of baal watch this church from morning even until noon saying oh baal hear us but there is no voice nor any of that answered and they leaped upon the altar which was made in fact literally what they're crying out is jezebel's name in some ways where is the prince they get so carried away they start jumping up and down and hopping all around they jump up on the altar with the bull and i love elijah cause elijah just kicked back it's like it's like entertainment he's just watching and it came to pass at noon that elijah mocked them and said cry out loud in other words maybe you're not shouting loud enough he is before he is a god maybe he's on his cell phone talking or maybe he's out for a jog he's pursuing or maybe he went on vacation you know the caribbean's real nice this time of the year or maybe he's taking a power nap he's sleeping and you got to wake him up so shout louder he starts to mock them to ridicule them and as they are ridiculed by the prophet of god they get louder and louder to the point where they begin to take weapons and cut themselves with knives the scripture says and lancelets the bible says until the blood gushed out upon them they thought that by destroying themselves they could connect to him this is a sad thing we i see more and more patients where this is a problem we had a patient this week where this young lady cuts herself so horribly and uh you know it's a common kind of common thing that we see in fact some in their worship to this day still cut themselves in order to impress a god let me tell you something i'm glad to be a christian because my god bled for me and didn't ask me to cut myself and believe for him first kings 18 29 and it came to pass when midday was passed and they prophesied unto the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice look at this church that there was neither voice nor any to answer nor any that regarded it was just crickets silence the people of israel are watching 450 prophets carry on uh like a carnival jumping up and down cutting themselves shouting screaming and nothing not a sound not a whimper from the skies here's what here's what ellen white says and this is one of the key lessons from this story she says in prophets and kings page 150 she says gladly would satan have come to the help of those whom he had deceived and who were devoted to his service gladly would he have sent the lightning to kindle their sacrifice watch this church but jehovah has set satan's bounds restrained his power and not all the enemy's devices can convey one spark to bale's altar oh let's make this let's bring this bring this home for somebody let me i don't care what you're going through i want you to understand that the same way that the god of heaven was able to bind satan so that he could not even spark a stone on the altar of baal he is the same god who keeps satan in check today i know you're going through some hard times i know you have difficulties but i serve a god who controls even our enemy i know how tough life gets i know how difficult it can seem i know we lose loved ones people fail us but i want to submit to you today that just as god had satan on a leash can you imagine every time satan went to do something god just pull back satan was bound up he not nor any of his demons could come to the aid of these prophets i don't want you to go into this next week thinking that somehow god is not in control the god of the universe is in complete control first kings 1830 and elijah said unto all the people come near unto me and all the people came near unto him and he repaired the altar of the lord that was broken down and elijah took 12 stones according to the number of the tribes of the sons of jacob unto whom the word of the lord came saying israel shall be thy name and with the stones he built an altar in the name of the lord and he made a trench about the altar as great as would contain two measures of seed which could be two or three feet deep or more and he put the wood in order and cut the bullock in pieces and laid him on the wood and said fill four barrels with water how precious you think water is after three and a half years of of of of of of drought man can you imagine how crazy everybody's looking at this man really we just watched these other dudes cut themselves up and jumping up and down like jumping jacks and nothing happened he's gonna wet the altar with good water we are we all here thirsty and he took it four barrels full of water he poured on the burn sacrifice and on the wood and he said do it the second time and they did it the second time and he said do it the third time and they did it the third time and the water ran down about the wall the altar and he filled the trench with water it was soaking sopping wet you could not walk away from this incident and think somehow a fire happened by accident you see you see how god works he leaves no room for doubt if you just stop and let god work in your life he will remove all space for doubt in your life as well he will tell you in the midst of your personal drought when your relationship seems like nothing is working he will say listen go and get the water of your love and pour it on what seems broken restore the altar of your home and it seems like it's wasted effort to go and get that water and pour it on but i'm telling you the god that you serve will can light fire to that which is soaking wet don't doubt him he does exceeding above and beyond all that we can ask or think first kings 18 and verse 36 says this 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 of israel let it be known this day that thou art god in israel and that i am thy servant and that i have done all these things at your word hear me o lord hear me that this people may know that thou art the lord god and the thou has turned their heart back again profound elijah comes before the people and when he prays he does not have to jump up and down he's not doing some assaults and cartwheels he's not running circles around the church speaking in an unknown tongue elijah simply prays a simple prayer he says that you may that they may know that you are god and i like the last part he even he is asking them to give god credit for their repentance and transformation in advance he says let them know now that you're the one who has turned their heart back again when they have seen this thing verse 38 says then the fire of the lord fell and consumed the burnt sacrifice and the wood and the and the stones and the dust look at this i like the last one and it licked up the water that was in the trench hebrews 12 29 says that the god we serve is a what he's a consuming fire he will burn off the dross from our lives he will take off the character defects he will remove from us the parts of us that are not fit and right with god he comes down and can you imagine after all of the dancing and cutting and jumping and and yelling and shouting that all these 450 men did with a simple prayer elijah prays the sky opens up and fire pours out and everything even the stone is incinerated that's the god we serve and when all the people saw it they fell on their faces and look at what the people say and they said the lord he is the god the lord he is the god you don't say the lord he is god he is the god in other words there is no other god this bale dude he just came up real short but here the god of heaven shows his power i want you to get that you can put god to the test he never fails the test he is powerful beyond your wildest imagination and elijah said unto them take the prophets of baal let not one of them escape and they took them and elijah brought them down to the brook kitchen and slew them there and elijah said unto ahab get thee up and eat and drink for there is a sound of abundance of rain so ahab went up to eat and to drink and elijah went up to the top of caramel and he cast himself down upon the earth and put his face between his knees what we know is that elijah was sure he thought that after this exercise ahab and maybe even jezebel would all be converted to serve the true god elijah was excited so in our next part you're going to see what happens in his disappointment but elijah was so excited he got ahab told a man eat drink come up to caramel top of karma with me he comes up there with him the scripture says he cast himself down upon the earth elijah puts his face between his knees and he said to his servant go up now look toward the sea and he went up and looked and said there is nothing and he said go again seven times he went down and up you know the spirit of prophecy says is happening during his time as each time elijah prays he has to look at himself and remove self from the equation it's very profound he has to remove self from the remember he said i am the only prophet left in israel there was still too much self even in elijah so so it doesn't just happen and each time he has to go before god and ask god to remove self from the equation but the seventh time that he said behold there arises a little cloud out of the sea like a man's hand and he said go up say unto ahab prepare thy chariot and get me down that the rain stopped be not after three and a half years after the fire falls from heaven he shows him one that baal is not god but then he shows him the god of heaven is the source of rain he is the source of life and it came to pass in the meanwhile that the heaven was black with clouds and wind and there was a great rain and ahab road and went to jezreel and the hand of the lord was on elijah and he girded up his loins and he ran before ahab to the entrance of jezreel the prophet thought for sure that they had won we'll see in the next time we talk about elijah what actually transpires he thought that they had won he was excited ahab was going and following his instruction now rain was falling the people had repented everything seemed like it was right here's what ellen white says lessons from elijah important lessons are presented to us in the experience of elijah when upon mount carmel he offered the prayer for rain his faith was tested but he persev but he per but he persevered in making known his request unto god six times he prayed earnestly and yet there was no sign that his petition was granted but with a strong faith he urged his plea to the throne of grace had he given up in discouragement at the sixth time his prayer would not have been answered but he persevered till the answer came some of you are going through something and you're on prayer number five of prayer number six i'm telling you keep praying until prayer number seven god hears you you must persevere why look at what the spirit of prophet mentioned but here's what the spirit of prophecy says we have a god whose ear is not closed to our petitions and if we prove his word he will honor our faith he wants us to have all our interests interwoven with his interests and then he can safely bless us for we shall not then take glory to self when the blessing is ours but shall render all the praise to god god does not always answer our prayers the first time we call upon him for should he do this we might take it for granted that we had a right to all the blessings and favors he bestowed upon us instead of searching our hearts to see if any evil was entertained by us any sin indulge we should become careless and fail to realize our dependence upon him and our need for his help elijah humbled himself until he was in a condition where he would not take the glory to himself did y'all get that this is the condition upon which the lord hears prayer for then we shall give the praise to him the custom of offering praise to men is one that results in great evil one praises another and thus men are led to feel that glory and honor belong to them when you exalt man you lay a snare for his soul and do just as satan would have you you should praise god with all your heart soul might mind and strength for god alone is worthy to be glorified for the review in herald march 27 1913. the beautiful thing church is just as elijah's servant saw that cloud the size of a man's hand then after elijah was humbled after elijah had given up self and it accepted the fact that he needed god after he was completely purified in the process himself isn't that deep the prophet went through a purification process himself when he gets to that point the cloud appears the rain comes and i want to submit to you but as we're told in the spirit of prophecy when one day we church we'll be standing there praying and asking god for deliverance it will seem as if all is lost we'll look up and we will once again see a cloud the size of a man's hand except this time it won't be a rain cloud the cloud will be made up of angels and we'll be able to hear the celestial choir we'll hear the voice of god the wicked will run to the rocks and cry fall on us fall on us and spear us from him who comes but church i want to be among those who as that cloud gets bigger and bigger as the light of heaven begins to to light up the earth i want to be among those who say this is our god lo we have waited for him church we've been in a drought sin has caused this world to fall into a terrible drought but i want to tell you the storm cloud is coming it's not a storm cloud of evil but a storm cloud of redemption and when i have a bad week like i had this week would i have more on my plate than i can handle when i've stretched myself too thin and i'm questioning my own sanity i have to stop and think chariots are coming the god of the heaven is on his way whatever you're dealing with now is temporary this week two people died two people of prominence in certain circles the queen of england's husband prince philip 99 years of age passed away and all the world was is sad and you know i have cousins in england and you know people are laying flowers at the buckingham palace someone not so noteworthy a guy named dmx a rapper from back in the day also died this week what was shocking is that i'd stop listening i've not listened to one of his songs in years but what was shocking is that then they started to put up all the prayers he had to jesus before concerts and so forth and one woman somebody sent this to me so one woman had a testimony she said she had given up on god given up on god and she heard one of those prayers i said lord what are those prayers let me tell you something church god is coming back so soon that if it's necessary the rocks will cry out how much more responsible are we to make sure that those in our circle know of the christ who is soon to return and the christ who redeems those deaths this week draw a lot of attention but they only remind us that life is short 99 years seems like an awful long time but to the god of eternity it is a blink of an eye i want to be ready when jesus comes church which means i've got to stop focusing so much on what this earth is doing and what is worth what this earth expects of me and what is how this work earth and this world even looks at me like elijah i've got to be willing to stand even if i'm standing by myself and that's the lesson for you for this week trust god if you stand for him he will stand for you because he that shall come will come and will not tarry father god we thank you for the truth of your word thank you for the story of elijah we thank you for the power that is shown in how he opens up the heavens now you lord pour fire down on the top of mount carmel lord let us never forget that you are still the god of fire lord you're still the god of rain you are the creator god the lord every sabbath as we keep the sabbath we were not only reminded most amazingly of your creative power we are reminded of your redemptive power for this is a sign that you have redeemed us lord somebody in here struggling with guilt and shame lord put them to put them at ease remind them the lord you who call down fire to win back the heart of israel lord you are searching for them as well this is our prayer in jesus precious and holy name amen our closing hand this morning is him number 528 a shelter in the time of storm please [Music] mighty rocky thank you [Applause] i shall no fears faithful god the raging floods [Music] a shelter in a timely [Music] foreign [Music] you know oh our heads for the benediction father god we thank you for the story of elijah on mount carmel the story reminds us lord that you are in control and the lord is nothing we're facing that you cannot handle father god humble us teach us father draw us close to you for you lord our our mighty rock help us to hide in you but i want to pray a special prayer over those who are having difficulty and struggle have come into this sabbath with doubt or pain shame or guilt i want to pray a special prayer for those who are struggling at home at work financially whatever the situation is maybe there's a loved one who's really in trouble i don't know what it is lord but i want to pray right now that deliverance come that healing come and lord when we as we go into this week we would have tangible evidence of your miracle working power this is our prayer in jesus precious and holy name amen foreign you

Channel: Three Angels SDA Church

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Length: 60min 45sec (3645 seconds)

Published: Sat Apr 10 2021