Through The Bible - English - 13 (1 Kings) by Zac Poonen

let's turn to the first book of Kings first Kings chapter 1 here is a book which begins with a United powerful nation of Israel under a godly King David a man after God's own heart and ends with the kingdom divided and with a lot of evil kings ruling particularly over Israel 1/2 is the last one mentioned in this book imagine something that begins with David and ends where they have and how the people go astray you see this teaches us one thing what we've been seeing consistently in all the other books as well the condition of God's people depends greatly on the spirituality or lack of it in their leaders you see that everywhere in Revelation 2 and 3 where the elders were spiritual the church was spiritual the others were carnal the church was carnal and whenever Israel had a godly leader they moved in godly ways when they had a carnal leader they moved in carnal ways a godly father will bring up his children in godly ways and carnal father will bring up his gender in carnal ways so leadership is so important it's one of the things that we see in the throughout the Old Testament and a good thing for us to learn so you see God's great need is for leaders we read once the Jesus looked out and saw the multitude like without a shepherd it's the same today as he looks out over India he looks out over Christendom in India India's Christian population itself is perhaps 2025 million and as God looks out over Christian population of so many millions of people you know what he sees a lack of God in leaders and that's the challenge that comes to each of us satisfy the heart of God in this generation in your jam in every generation God wants either it's not enough to depend on the leaders of another generation in your generation God wants ears David could not rule over Israel forever he died somebody else had to take over and what type of person that's going to be that's the great thing here is a godly man God raises up he gets old and he dies what about the next generation and they just got knowledge and they just got the doctrine and they just got the temple rituals but no godliness no personal knowledge of God then the people go astray that's the challenge that should come to each of your hearts to be like David to be like Deborah okay as we look at David's end of his life we see one or two sad things when David was dying we read that Adonijah verse 5 like 1 Kings 1/5 said to himself he exalted himself that I'll be the next king he was one of the sons of David so he prepared a chariot he was not like his father his father waited for God to make him King this man said I'll make him the king and why was he that type of person because here's a reason verse 6 his father had never given him any pain that's what the margin of my Bible says had never punished him he had never used the rod on him once and never asked him when he did something wrong why did you do that can you imagine what's gonna happen to a child if he's never punished by his father and the father never asks him why did you do that and particularly he's a nice good-looking child it says he was a handsome man David was a wonderful man but he failed totally as a father we can take warnings from that you can be so busy on the battlefield that you're no time for your family or you're so taken up with your ministry and the honor and things coming there that you don't see how your children are growing up it's a sad thing if a man loses his children saying he's serving the Lord when you have families those of us who are married let's take heed to these warnings from Scripture and this man had an idea schemed and planned but Nathan the Prophet went to Bathsheba verse 11 and said have you heard haven't you heard that add-on idea wants to be king doesn't does David know about it you know David is now lying in his deathbed and people are taking advantage of the fact that he is helpless now so Nathan the Prophet brings the mind of God into that situation what a wonderful man Nathan was how wonderful it is when a nation has at least one prophet who can go and say something to the nation and Nathan how wonderful it is when a churches can have a prophet seek to be one like that yourself in humility and brokenness learning from the qualities of these prophets in the Old Testament and he went at Bathsheba and said go at once to King David and say didn't your Lord swear to your maidservant didn't my lord swear to your maidservant that surely Solomon shall be the king and while you're still there I will also come and confirm your work so Bathsheba went and then said that and David Rilla while she was still speaking where's 22 Nathan came and Nathan said yes Aaron I just wanting to be king then King David answered and said call Bathsheba and certainly verse 30 Solomon will be the next king Bathsheba bowed and went out then King David called a priest verse 32 and said take the servants and take my Solomon son Solomon right on my mule and bring him down and blow the trumpet and say long live King Solomon so say doc did that verse 38 onwards and he anointed Solomon King that was the struggle for succession now when we come to chapter 2 I want you to see here David charging Solomon with certain things he said now I'm going to die and be strong therefore words to ensure yourself a man now I want to show you David's last words and they're a bit disappointing the Word of God is so honest when it tells us about the failures of its greatest servants it says here Solomon I want to tell you a few things and instead of spending those last few moments telling Solomon how to be a godly leader how to honor God learn from my mistakes and don't have too many wives and be careful with women those are the type of instructions he should have given his son when he's taking over King and be fair and all those things instead of that he just gives a little introduction and then he says now the thing that's on my heart is you know that Joanne verse 5 he you know what he did he shed the blood of what he did to Abner and what he did to amass I kill them act according to your wisdom and don't let that man go down to the grave in peace kill him he doesn't want to kill him himself it's like hiring somebody else to kill somebody who want to kill him and then please show kindness to Barzillai verse 7 because they assisted me be kind to those who were good to me but then there's another fellow shamea verse 8 he's the one who cursed me you know remember what he did wrenchini I cursed him David said God is allowed in the Kurtzman let me accept it and when David came back maybe interested me I said please forgive me and David said I will not do anything to you and he says to Solomon see I swore to him that I will not worse a kill you but I did not say that I will not have to tell my son to kill you he is being legalistic here in the court now what I said was I will not kill you and I will not kill you Solomon don't let his gray hair go down verse 9 to the grave without blood killer what are the next words first and David died sad you know that a man his last words should be to take a revenge on someone whom he had forgiven once and legally scheming to kill him without breaking his promise what is this teaches he teaches us that sometimes you think you are forgiving somebody your mind is strong and you can control yourself and keep that forgiveness but as you get older and your mind begins to weaken what is really in your heart comes out you never really forgive you know it's quite possible that a lot of people you think you're forgiven you've never really forgiven think about it you possibly never forgiven those people you may think you have happen you know forgiving those who have harmed us is a very difficult thing and it's got deep roots the Bible speaks in Hebrews 12 about a root of bitterness he develops roots very quickly think of the people who have harmed you and really radically pull out every root otherwise you destroy yourself a root of bitterness can define you and define many people get it out throw it away in the days when you're strong not when you're on your deathbed you'll be too weak to do anything then this is the lesson we can learn from David's example here so I thank God that the Word of God is very honest was very sad that David dies like that and then we read further about Solomon that very soon verse chapter 3 one of the first things written about Solomon so Solomon kills shinyang you know it says first of all he he obeys David and in fact Solomon began his reign by first of all killing Adonijah the other man who wanted to be king verse 19 to 27 and next killing Joab who was the commander of David's army verse 28 to 35 and he was also his own cousin Joab was his own first cousin he killed him because David told him to do that and then verse 36 onwards to 46 he kills shaniyah or he deals with all those things he starts his reign with killing these poor people okay and then the next thing and the King said to shinny I verse 44 to 244 you know all the evil which you did in your heart it'll return to your head but I King Solomon will be blessed well I don't know about that anyway chapter three the next thing we read is Solomon formed a marriage alliance before he David it's Bettis time giving him some advice on marriage instead of telling him to take revenge the story may have been a little different what sort of advice do you give your children what are the things which are most important Solomon formed a marriage alliance with Pharaoh king of Egypt and took Pharaoh's daughter and brought her to the City of David and he finished building his own house and the wall around Jerusalem and the people were still sacrificing in the high places but Solomon loved the Lord this is a contradiction it says you Solomon loved the Lord walking in the statutes of his father was three except that he sacrificed and burned incense on the high places this is how some people loved the Lord there's a lot of external love for the Lord but in their private life there are doing certain things which are not righteous certain things which are not which are wrong and those are the things that finally destroy them and that's what finally destroyed Solomon he was not transparent through and through there are lot of Christian workers like that how poorly they're very zealous they're doing this that and the other for the Lord but in their private life somewhere some little area some financial transaction they are not straightforward they're not righteous finally that becomes like a big bomb that explodes and destroys them learn warnings from all these examples but God was good to Solomon and God is good to many of us you know he sees these little things hoping that we will change and the Lord appeared to Solomon one night in verse 5 chapter 3 verse 5 and the Lord asked him what do you want whatever you want to give it to I'll give it to you and Solomon said verse 9 give me an understanding heart give me largeness of heart to take in all of God's people that's what God gave him finally give me a heart to judge your people to discern between good and evil because it's so difficult to judge and the Lord was so happy when God when he asked for that and said because you didn't ask first 11 for a long life of our riches over the life of your enemies I have given you a wise and a discerning heart so that first well no one will be was like you before you and no one will arise after you like you I've also given you riches and honour and there will be no king like you were like you now that teaches us one thing you know the great need for us today in leadership as I said the other day discernment and only God can give it to us lord give me discernment what is the true state of these brothers in my church what is the true state of the people in my church is this man whom I am appointing as a deputy leader in the church is he a godly person give me discernment it's because of lack of discernment that lot of Christian leaders appoint wrong people as their assistants the great need is for discernment and here we read that only God can give it and God does give it a wise and a discerning heart is the great need of our time and Solomon got it for asking for the asking why can't you and I get it for the ostomy doesn't God love us in the New Covenant and see that we have a burden for us are building the church more than he had for Solomon ruling Israel he certainly does and we see this wonderful example of his judgment in verses 16 to 28 there was these two women who were prostitutes standing before him for judgment one day in and one woman says you know both of us were in the same house and we both had children born and the third day after I gave birth this woman also gave birth verse eighteen only two of us were there and at night this woman rolled over a child and it died and she arose in the middle of the night verse 20 and took my child and put it there and put her child there in front of me and when I rose in the morning I found my child was dead and the other moment said no my son is living yours the dead one you're telling your life now how do you decide in a situation like this and there's where God gave Solomon wisdom he said what do you say you both laying claim to the child okay the king said get me a big sword we will divide the child in two to this living child each of you can have half and then woman whose child it really was she loved that child she said no please don't kill it give it to her but the other woman said no Hilary you'll have half I love her and immediately you know who is the true mother right what wisdom the king said give the child to the first woman all Israel heard of that judgment verse 28 they feared the King because they saw God is given in wisdom now how do we apply this today to a situation maybe you're working in a church and somebody wants to split it into two and you say yes split it you have half a laptop are you the true mother you're not the true mother would say no please don't divide the church let me pull out you have the church to yourself that's the one God see don't go into a church to submit it pull out even if it's your child people are blessed through your ministry it's your child somebody lays claim to it don't fight if God wants you to have it he will kill the other woman and give you the church how are you God can do that but don't divide the child and cut it in to do it they you have half I have how go somewhere else that's what I've done I've disagreed sometimes with different churches I don't sit there and spit it I go somewhere else and I say Lord let me start from the beginning let me have another child instead of fighting or that one that's the application of that story for us today and we read in chapter 4 in verse 29 that God gave Solomon wisdom and very great discernment oh I wish that could be said about all of us and remember Sultan was a very young man and you young people then asked God to give you wisdom and discernment not just knowledge wisdom and breadth of mind or largeness of heart like the sand on the seashore which means a large heart that could take in all of God's people I believe that's the great need in our time here is a brother who belongs to another denomination who disagrees with me on the form of baptism or disagrees with me on speaking in tongues never mind God has accepted him lord give me the largeness of heart to accept that brother as my brother even though he doesn't work with me even though he doesn't agree with me in certain doctrines I want largeness of heart to accept all of God's people in other words I want to accept those whom God accepts sometimes you can reject a person because they have some they have a certain conviction on something which is different from yours can you accept that person I remember once when a sister came to me for baptism and she was wearing ornaments and I have a conviction that ornament should not be worn it's God's teaching in 1 Timothy 2 in 1 Peter 3 but here was the sister of the ornament and the Lord said one word to my heart have I accepted her and I said yes Lord you accepted it I know that she's really born again but I've spoken to her and the Lord said to me how can you reject one whom I accepted I will not reject her I baptized her with ornaments and everything and she still wears it today and I say that's not my business to judge I will accept people whom God is accepted even if their convictions are different from mine on small things or big things are they born again has God acceptance of God is not accepted them it's different then I still love them as a neighbor as a friend but I cannot accept them into the Fellowship of the church but once God is accepted them I cannot cut them off just because in some area they don't have light where I may have liked I remember once in one matter the Lord said to me how long did you take to come to this understanding so many years why can't you be patient with that person that give also a little time to come to that understanding we all need largeness of heart when we are young we are narrow minded narrow hearted we accept only people who agree with us in every little detail I was like that when I was young I'm ashamed to say that but I was like that's one of the many foolish things I did but as I grown older and dawn to know the Lord better I've discovered that I need to have largeness of heart except everyone now I want to see I want you to see here in chapter 6 in Chapter 7 how he built the temple I don't want to go into all the details of that a lot of details given there about how he built the temple I just want to find out one thing chapter 6 verse 38 the last part it says he took seven years to build the temple chapter 638 the last sentence and the next sentence chapter 7 verse 1 says he took 13 years to build his own house so you know which direction he's going seven years to build the temple and 13 years to build his own house but that's a pretty good description of how it is with a lot of people who serve the Lord today seven years for the Lord who built his house than 13 years to build my house in other words their primary it's not that they don't do the Lord's work they do the Lord's work but their primary interest is their own house and their own work and God is secondary 13 to 7 that's about the proportion two thirds for myself and one-third for the Lord in terms of my interest and these are little indications how he quickly joined up with Pharaoh's daughter in all Pharaoh's daughter and started his ministry by killing people and he could have disagreed with his father he could have told his people I said well my father told me to kill shiney I enjoyed but I don't feel free about doing that and I don't do it he's maybe not right but he did it he went and married first daughter he went and spent 13 years building his house even though God had given him wisdom the drifting had already started very right in the beginning sometimes I've seen in a servant of God the drift towards the world is there almost at the beginning they are seeking their own right from the time they start serving the Lord and then you see them years later it's all developed in that way but once the temple was built we read that the glory of the Lord filled that house in chapter 8 verse 10 just like the old days of the tabernacle when Moses built the tabernacle exactly according to the pattern it says the glory of Lord through the house now the temple which is built in the same pattern as the tabernacle with the altar and the labor in the holy place in the most holy place much bigger much more grand and the glory of the Lord filled it again Solomon prayed a wonderful prayer there in chapter 8 verse 22 onwards the other of a lot of good things in Solomon but it was mixed here he was a very spiritual man out in front and in private he had many wives and so on I think it says somewhere that he had 300 500 700 concubines I don't know how he managed with all of those but those are the things they led his heart away from the Lord and finally he finished building his house and and his fame spread all over and the Lord spoke to him again we read in chapter 9 verse 20 and the Lord said to him appeared to him a second time in chapter nine verse two and said to him I heard your prayer and I have consecrated this house and verse four again the Lord speaks to him after seeing all this if you will walk before me as your father David walked in integrity of heart and uprightness I will establish your throne and your kingdom forever but if you were six or your sons turn away I will cut off Israel verse seven from the land I've given them and this house which you have built will be ruins verse eight and everyone who passes by will hiss verse eight and say why is the Lord done this and they will say because they first took the Lord their God and that's what happened in the days of Jeremiah when Babylon king of Babylon came and destroyed that house but God warned him don't think that you can live as you like and I'll just keep on blessing you and the Lord wants us when he sees us going astray we have already started going astray he warns us he warns us he wants us he wants us through his servants he wants us through a message take heed to the warnings of the Lord but Solomon did not in chapter 10 we read of the Queen of Sheba coming and meeting Solomon because she heard of his wonderful wisdom in chapter 11 we read in verse 1 Solomon loved many foreign women daughter of pharaoh moe by demoknight ale union hittite women and he had here it is sorry I got it wrong verse three yet not three hundred wives seven hundred wives verse three and 300 concubines it was the other way round and his wife's turned his heart away from the Lord his heart was turned away after other gods and his heart was not wholly devoted to the Lord and Solomon went after the goddess verse five of the sidonians and milcom the detestable idol and Solomon did what was evil in the sight of the Lord and Solomon built a high place for this Idol verse seven and he did for his foreign wives he burnt incense and sacrificed to their gods how a woman can lead a man completely astray from God it's not only Samson and Delilah it is Solomon and all these foreign wives that's why when you get married don't just look for a pretty face and marry her see whether she's got a godly heart it's far more important in the long run that pretty fish and run your life and destroyed a godly heart the godly woman will do your good all the days of your life warnings in Scripture I don't know whether you will take heed to them that a lot of people who listen to such messages and when it comes to the time of their marriage they still go and plump for some worldly type of girl don't ever do that and sisters look for a godly man to be your husband don't just yield your parents when they suggest some unconverted person your husband can lead you astray you worship idols maybe not physical idols but the idols of money and power and pleasure in this world and when he went away like that God warned told him well the Lord was angry with Solomon verse 9 and he said to Solomon because you have done this I'm going to split your kingdom but because of your father David he was a godly man verse 12 I will not do it in your lifetime you see because of the godliness of the father how much the children are blessed and God raised up enemies against Solomon verse 14 to trouble him but Solomon did not repent when Jeroboam was he feared that Jeroboam was going to rebel against the king which a verse 26 of chapter 11 Solomon tried to put Jeroboam to death verse 40 and Jeroboam ran away he later on became the king of the divided kingdom and Solomon died verse 43 but before he died he wrote three books scripture proverbs one of the finest books in the Old Testament it's a new covenant book in the Old Covenant amazing book I would advise all young people to read proverbs regularly from frequently it's got 31 chapters you read one share one chapter a day it'll preserve you every month try and read it it's a very very good book written by Solomon Ecclesiastes warns us of the dangers the worldly wisdom Song of Solomon a wonderful picture of our devotion to Jesus Christ a man who wrote three books of the Bible finally went to hell isn't that amazing do you think that every creature who stands up and preaches wonderful anointed messages is going to heaven a man who wrote Scripture went to hell I've said that in many places and people have come and asked me how do you know Solomon went to heaven I say let me take a biography of any godly man in the world and if there are two biographies written of that man like of Solomon in kings and in chronicles and it tells about how that man started off well and he back slid terribly in his life and it bought those biographies and talking about a secular biography in the world concludes without mentioning anything about his repentance I would conclude that that man died unrepentant if Solomon had repented the Holy Spirit would have written it that towards the end of his life he repented and he turned to the Lord it's not mentioned that I don't know Manasseh was a worse thing than Solomon he did terrible even in the sight of the Lord for many many years I think he reigned even longer than Solomon but in the end of his life he repented and the Holy Spirit records it back towards the end of his life he repented why is it we are so keen on setting Solomon to heaven it's because we think that if we serve the Lord he will definitely take us to heaven many will come to Jesus in the last day and say Lord we cast out demons in your name we prophesied there mainly heal the sick Solomon say I go to Scripture in your name the Lord say Department see I preached in your name so what I prophesied in your name depart from me you workers of iniquity let that be a warning to you that like Paul said I can preach to others and be disqualified myself 1 Corinthians 9 28 Solomon wrote books and he went to hell let that be a warning to you and then we read in chapter 12 onwards to the end of 1 Kings about the divided Kingdom I just want to show you one thing about Rama bones Solomon who after Solomon died he became the king and some of the people came to Rehoboam in 1 Kings 12 and said in 12 for your father has made our yoke very hard now please lighten our yoke that means Solomon was a very hard King he was not like David he was a hard king and the King said ok come back after three days and I'll tell you what to do and after three days in during those three days were six Ingram consulted with the elders in the church in the kingdom and the elders said be kind to them and they will serve you happily forever and then he consulted with the young people you know we have two options we consult with the older people and we consult with the younger people and he consulted with the younger people and the younger people said tell them did my father was he heavy on you I'm going to be heavier my little finger is going to be thicker than my father's loins verse 10 if my father disciplined you verse 11 with whips I will discipline you with scorpions and who do you think he listen to like all stupid young people they listen to the young people instead of the older people they don't listen to the wisdom of elders in listen to the younger people with their Z and so when the people came back on the third day the King answered according to the advice of the younger people we read in verse 13 and 14 what was the result when all Israel saw verse 16 the King didn't listen to them he they said we've got nothing to do with you Solomon you can go and run your kingdom as you like in ten tribes broke away what a fool Reagan was he split the kingdom by his own folly and Jeroboam became the king and he moved to the northern and the kingdom got divided with ten tribes in the North two tribes Judah and Benjamin in the south and Jeroboam he realized that these people will now go to Jerusalem for their feast so he made Bill sheikah verse 25 so that people could go there and he put up an idol there and let people to worship to worship idols there's one more thing I want to show you here in chapter 13 and that's the story of a young prophet whom the Lord gave a message saying go to Jeroboam and give this message I don't want to go to the details there but don't eat or drink anything anywhere on the way go like that and come back now in the same area there was an older retired prophet who was a bit disturbed that God was now picking out this younger fellow to prophesy and he was a bit jealous sometimes older prophets can be a bit jealous of the younger prophets and they can destroy the younger prophets this is a warning for younger prophets and the older prophet went to this younger prophet and said come with me now first of all the king told him come with me I'll give you food and the man of God said no verse eight thirteen eight even if you give me half your kingdom I won't come because the Lord told me not to drink any bread or water but this old prophet came along and he said to him verse fifteen you come with me and eat bread he said I can't come with you because the Lord told me not to come but the older prophet told a lie is it I'm also a prophet like you verse eighteen and the Lord told me be careful of all these prophets who say the Lord told me you can go astray that's the warning in this chapter some old prophet comes to you and says this is what the Lord has told me about you don't believe it God has given you the Holy Spirit he can tell you directly he has this says the Lord told me come to bring him back and eat bread and drink I said God changed his mind and so this young man like a fool instead of listening to the Lord listen to the older prophet and went back with him and the result of that story is that young prophet was killed please learn a lesson that not everybody who comes and says thus said the Lord in a meeting or in a private consultation room is necessarily speaking from the Lord even if he was once upon a time a prophet he's lost touch with God now that's a warning now we don't have time to go into all the details of the other little stories that are here in the Book of Kings let's move on to chapter 17 where we read about Elijah he was the great prophet there and there are a number of things we can learn from Elijah's life which can be an encouragement for us Elijah the Tishbite who was of the settlers of Gilead he stands before this wicked King Ahab of the Northern Kingdom Israel and says as the Lord the God of Israel lives before whom I stand that's the first thing I want you to notice these true prophets they did not fear Kings because of one reason they stood before the Lord they said as the Lord lives before whom I stand I'm not bothered whether you're king you are just a speck of dust before God I live before God you know the great need in India I tell you with all my heart this has been my burden for years is for young men who can be prophets like this not just those who have a lot of Bible knowledge which is very good your study the Bible is very important but more than that in addition to that he must live before God's things you must keep your conscience 100% clear not 99% you must humble yourself totally before God you must face must be in the dust all the time if you want to live before God's face that's how I like to live brothers and sisters and if God can't find men I hope he finds them with you sisters who live before God's face and be a voice you may not stand in the pulpit but you can influence people from your home a voice for God in this day and age in India that's what God means I stand before the Lord and I'm gonna tell you what the Lord says and the Lord he was a man who was obedient to what God said as well the Lord told him verse three go away from here turn eastward and go and hide yourself by the brook hear it and drink of that brook because it was a time of famine it was not going to be any rain and he went and did that and there it says the Ravens brought him bread and meat were seized and he will drink from the brook one yeah so what happened was every morning maybe a read o'clock the morning a crow would come with food and five o'clock and evening again that another crow would come with food amazing the crow would bring food meat non-vegetarian stuff I mean of a crow gave vegetables that would be a miracle itself but for a crow to give meat it's really a miracle that's how God provided for Elijah and what was happening was gradually after a few days Elijah is not waiting for the Lord he's waiting for the crow it's like some servants of the Lord who start out trusting the Lord for their financial needs after some time in the first week of the month they are not looking to the Lord they are looking for the postman who comes with the money order the postman will come in the first week with the money order this is exactly what is happening to Elijah so you know what God does one day the postman gets sick the crow doesn't come and Elijah because God wants to shake Elijah's dependence on crows and wants them to depend on the Lord and you are a blessed man in one week or one month no money owner comes and you have to trust the Lord for your knees I've been through experiences like that and I thank God for the time when God took away my eyes from crows to him who owns the cattle on a Thousand Hills who has said he will supply all my need according to his riches and glory in Christ Jesus the Lord says okay you are depending too much on crows now Elijah I'll send you somewhere else I'll still take care of you but my method changes now go to Zarephath and Zarephath is outside israel and he thought maybe in Zarephath there's some rich businessman will be kind to me and support me and when he goes to Zarephath he finds no rich businessman he finds a widow who's just about to have a last meal before she dies and the Lord says she'll support you it's amazing God's ways God does it because he's a jealous God he wants you to trust him not rich businessman not post men not crows he will take a weak person whom you don't expect to support you and he will support you and in that house she said well we were just about to have our last meal and dying and then I just said don't be afraid verse 13 make me a little bread cake from this first and the Lord says verse 14 the bowl of floor flour shall not be exhausted nor shall the jar of oil be empty until the day the Lord sends rain on the face of the earth and it was exactly like that the ball of floor was not the flour was not exhausted and the jar of oil did not become into it pays to honor God servants that we don't recognized it that day I'm talking about a true servant of God there multitudes of false prophets but if you honor a true prophet of God you will never lose out that you can be sure many of God's servants first of all many of God's people first of all don't know how to distinguish between true prophets and false prophets and when they do come across one they don't know how to honor him who is the loser they themselves Elisha would have survived anywhere but because she learned to honor an idea she and her son also survived that's God's Way in chapter 18 we read about a man called Obadiah it says here that Obadiah was a man who feared a lot greatly verse 3 of chapter 18 but he was the manager of a hub's house I don't understand how you can fear the Lord greatly and live as a manager of a house palace see there are a lot of people like that they don't want to pay the price like joseph of arimathea he didn't want to leave the Jewish Sanhedrin and become a disciple of Jesus he wanted to secretly follow Jesus like Nicodemus and also sit and have honor in the Sanhedrin okay they serve some purpose because when Jesus body had to be taken down he was a help so but I also served some purpose but these are not the whole hearted ones he took care of some of the prophets and this chapter speaks about the challenge that Elijah gave to Israel and said he said call everybody to Mount Carmel and like to totally have that in verse 19 and Ahab sent a message verse 20 and called all the sons of Israel the Mount Carmel and on Mount Carmel you know the story Li Jun he put twelve stones together before that he told the prophets of bale there were four hundred and fifty and he told them okay let's choose two oxen verse 23 you choose one I choose the other make an altar but don't put any fire under it and you call on your God and ask him to send fire and I'll call on my God and the one who answers by fire let him be the true God and all the people said that's a good idea let's do that and then we read the prophets of Baal began to jump and shout and scream nothing happened you know a lot of people who jump and shout and scream and not necessarily spiritual I hope you know that and Elijah verse 27 mocked at them he mocked at them he knew this is an idol what are you screaming to call out to the Lord voice perhaps he's asleep or he's gone to the toilet or he's got him waking him up that's what he told him he made fun of them he says what's this and they cried out in a still louder voice and cut themselves and did all types of things and it says they raved until from when midday was passed they rave until about six o'clock in the evening nothing happened how many hours they pray you know I sometimes think of this when I think of a lot of Christian meanings people who don't have a good conscience shouting hallelujah brothers who can't get along with each other standing in the same church and praising God with loud voices husbands and wives who have a fight and come to the Sunday morning service and praising God in unknown tongues and all that lot of noise nothing happens you can shout for six hours you can have all night creme eating nothing happens because God looks for a good conscience I always tell people make sure God has picked up the phone before you continue speaking if you regard iniquity in your heart the Lord will not even hear you then Elijah came and he took 12 stones now remember Israel was divided into ten and two but Elijah took twelve stones he believed in the unity of the body verse 31 he took twelve stones according to all the tribes of Israel and some people may have got angry with that this follows including those two tribes Judah and Benjamin Elijah couldn't care less for that he made it and he said and he said just to prove to you there's no secret fire underneath he said pour water on it for pitchers do it a second time do it a third time twelve pitchers of water and then he prayed he didn't have to pray long less than a minute Oh Lord God answer me let people know that I am your servant and bring that turn their hearts of these people back again and fire came that's a true servant of God and then Elijah told Ahab okay now there's gonna be a rain that wasn't rain for all these years and he said go and Elijah went up to the mountaintop and he began to pray and he crouched on the earth and put his face between his knees verse 42 and he prayed and he sent a servant see if there's any rain no rain and he again sent his servant seven times then he said there's a cloud it's a speaks of persistence in prayer that's what we read in James Elijah was a man of light passions like us but he prayed and prayed and prayed and prayed and the rain came he prayed in the heavens were closed and he prayed and prayed and prayed he didn't give up until the rain came tremendous example for us of persistence in prayer a man of light passions and then we wrote read that he got up after that and with all that exhaustion he ran six miles in front of the chariot in verse 46 and he ran faster than the horses of a happy and rich Jezreel before a half did supernatural power now one would think that he should be so excited at this time but he wasn't we read here that Jezebel when she heard what happened and by the way he killed all the other false prophets 450 I'm just killed all of them over there 850 kill them made Israel worship God did such a tremendous work and when Jezebel heard that all these agents of hers the false prophets were killed she got very angry and she said I'm going to chop off Elijah's head and sent the message to him and this mighty prophet gets scared he didn't get scared of 850 prophets he got scared of one woman see isn't it good that the Bible tells us honestly the weaknesses of its greatest men I praise God for that God did not pick up super men he picked up ordinary men he was exhausted he had lived through famine for three and half years here he was exhausted that in mount carmel and sometimes that can happen we can be discouraged he was discouraged Iran once again and he was exhausted and he lay down under a juniper tree chapter 19 verse 5 and an angel came and the angel did not give him a message the angel gave him food sometimes what a servant of God needs his food and sleep and he slept again and he woke up a second time again the angel were say did not give him a message he gave him food God is very down-to-earth and practical in the way he deals with us sometimes we become super spiritual we think what people need is an exhortation perhaps what they need is encouragement a little food a little gift and that may encourage them more than any amount of servants we need wisdom and he get he goes before God and says Lord verse 10 I been zealous for you and now I alone have left he was concerned that God's name is not being glorified and the Lord says okay you don't realize I'm already prepared somebody to take over front of prop to be the next prophet after you that's Elijah on your way you must anoint him verse 16 Elijah to be prophet after you and there are still seven thousand people in verse 18 in Israel who have not bowed to pay out but there was a difference between those 7,000 and Elijah those 7,000 were people who did not bow to bay all correct but they could not bring down fire from heaven that's one man who brought fire from heaven this took me pictures two types of believers 7,000 people who don't bow to idols don't smoke don't drink don't do bad things but they can't bring the fire down one prophet is worth more than all these 7,000 believers please remember that God wants prophets in our land and then we read about neighbors vineyard in verse 21 a hog was coveting nabobs vineyard and they both said no and Jessica a wicked woman schemes to kill maybethe and get the vineyard and a game the prophet Elijah goes to a hub and says you are the man God's gonna judge you for killing neighbor he was a fearless prophet the dogs will lick your blood he says and he hung gets scared and he tears his clothes verse 27 and God says to Elijah verse 29 do you see how he has humbled himself okay it will not happen in his days see even a man like a huh when he humbled himself God took notice of it which teaches us one thing God values humility greatly the last chapter 1 Kings 22 is about the foolish way in with Jehoshaphat joined up where they have in a battle and almost lost his life even though a prophet called mkhaya came there and said all these false prophets are saying something wrong the Lord says you should not go into this battle they locked him up in a prison and a half was killed and just like it says the dogs licked his blood so we see the Book of Kings begins with David ruling a united Israel and ends with a divided Kingdom and a half and a compromising Jehoshaphat no longer listening to the prophets that's been the story in many many churches but if God can find prophets that trend can be changed that's pretty

Channel: CFC India

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Keywords: zac poonen, cfc

Id: 01dtMWngYDo

Length: 55min 6sec (3306 seconds)

Published: Tue Apr 09 2013