Elijah the Tishbite

Our minister, Mr. Jim Tuck. It's always a beautiful song to hear, isn't it? Crown him with many crowns. No remarkable event in the ministry of Jesus Christ was his transfiguration over in Matthew 17 here. Let's notice in Matthew 17 over here, this account, it is, of course, one that is puzzling to some people. It should not be.

Jesus Christ had actually made the statement to his disciples that some of you are not going to taste death until you see the Son of Man coming in his glory. And so this transfiguration, which was a vision if you read this entire story here, but in Matthew 17, in verses 1 through 4, let's notice here, it says, that now, after six days, Jesus took Peter, James, and John, his brother, and led them up to a high mountain by themselves.

You know, these were key individuals that would be very important in the work of God. And, you know, Jesus was going to give them the experience that would wow them, that they would never forget. And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun.

In other words, as he would appear in this vision, how he would appear in the Kingdom of God. And it says that his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white. It says as the like, and behold Moses and Elijah appeared to them, talking with him. And, of course, again, this was a vision that they were seeing, not literally, but it was a vision of what the Kingdom of God was going to be like. And it says, then Peter answered and said to Jesus, Lord, it's good for us to be here.

If you wish, let us make here three tabernacles, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah. The question is, is why did Elijah appear here with Moses and Jesus of all of the prophets of God? You know, Young's Concordance in Smith's Bible Dictionary says Elijah was the grandest and the most romantic character that Israel ever produced. He was a remarkable individual. It's interesting that Moses was talked about in the first lit sermon.

I had not, we had not coordinated this, by the way, but here in this transfiguration, you know, Moses is talked about. He was, of course, quite an extraordinarily humble individual, a nobody, and yet God beat him into somebody. And as long as he remained that way, we know that God used him. But the other was Elijah. But why did Elijah appear here with Jesus? He was, again, quite a remarkable prophet. He was the might, he's called the mightiest of all of the prophets, as a matter of fact.

And yet he's described in the Bible as a mere human being, just like you and me, like passions. I think James talks about he had weaknesses like all of us do, and he suffered from discouragement. So what distinguished Elijah is the greatest of the prophets? What about Elijah? What can we learn from him? Well, you know, this is what commentaries say about Elijah. I've got four points I want to give you rather rapidly that describe Elijah.

But Elijah's name means Yahweh is my God, or God is my God. And sometimes his name is Richard Elias in the New Testament. In fact, Elijah is a Latinized word for Elias. And extraordinarily, even though we know, like with Moses, we know whose Moses's family is, we really don't know anything about the parents of Elijah. He's called Elijah the Tishbite. He's called Elijah the Tishbite. And I can only imagine being called Elijah the Tishbite was not a complimentary thing, you know, because can anything good come out of the area of Galilee?

And, you know, in that area, up in that northern area, even the wonderment of whether or not Jesus, anything good could come out of him, since he was from that area of Israel. It'd be like, you know, when people talk about me, Jibtuk of Roland, you know, not really complimentary, necessarily. Roland, Oklahoma, you know, is not your cultural capital of the world. It's not where, but, you know, or Maldro. I lived in Maldro as well. Who lives in cities like that?

You know, we don't have cool-named cities like Tishbite, you know, like he was called the Tishbite. Actually, the, when he was called the Tishbite, he came from a city called Tishp, T-I-S-H-B-E. And it was a village on the other side of the Jordan in the mountains of Gilead. He dwelt with the people, the inhabitants of Gilead, not far from the Gerges scenes, where, remember, Jesus cast the demons out of that man who were called legions, and they sprang into the swine, and they went over the mountain.

So that was the area close by to where Elijah came from. And some believe, actually, that Elijah was an angel of God.

Except that we know that's not true, because over in the book of James, you know, James points out that Elijah was a man of like passions, just like we are. That if we pray, as Elijah did, we could get the same results if we have the faith and the belief of Elijah. He was a remarkable individual in every sense of the word. In terms of humility, I would say, as a man of God, he wasn't much to look like or to look at. In fact, it gives a description of him over in 2 Kings chapter 1.

In 2 Kings chapter 1 over here, the king of Israel was looking for Elijah, or rather, he was sending to determine whether or not he was going to recover from a disease, a hazzeria, because he had fallen through the lattice, it says here in 2 Kings, and he was going to send messengers to Beelzebub to see whether he was going to recover from this ailment.

And it so happened that Elijah intercepted these two messengers, or these messengers, and he said, as you go back and you tell the king, you say, because there is no God in Israel, that you consult with Beelzebub of aachron, the god of aachron. And furthermore, he's not going to recover from this injury that you've gotten. And interestingly, the king asked the question, you know, what did it look like? But down in verse 7 of 2 Kings chapter 1, it says, then he said to them, What kind of a man was it who came up to meet you and told you these things?

And so he answered a hairy man wearing a leather belt around his waist. And immediately, he knew who it was. You know, you think about the fact that, you know, somebody noted you that you were a hairy person. But he was not a particularly attractive individual, apparently, but easily recognized. You know, prophets of old war garments of animal skins, goat skins and, and, you know, sheep skins. And it bitches that, in fact, over in Hebrews chapter 11, 37, it says that they wandered about, the prophets of God wandered about in sheep and goat skins and were destitute. They were impoverished. And John the Baptist, in fact, was one of those who himself wore a raiment of camel's hair and a leather girdle around his loins. Interestingly, in Zechariah 13 verse 4, it says that false prophets actually wore the rough garments to deceive people. So not only did the true prophets of God dress in a rather humble way, if I can put it that way, a rough way, a rough-a-zakab kind of way, but even the false prophets did the same thing to appear that way.

Now, that's contrast by the way that people normally dressed, you know, the way they dress. But Barnes' notes on the Bible says here, generally, the Jews wore girdles of linen or cotton stuff, soft and comfortable. And under the girdle, they wore one or two long linen gowns or shirts. And over these, they sometimes had a large shawl.

Elijah only had a leather girdle in his sheepskin cape or his mantle, as the Bible talks about.

So even in his day, Elijah would have been different. He would have been quite a different bird compared to other people. And yet, you cannot be helped but be impressed by this remarkable man, Elijah. He was a very humble individual. If you looked at him, you would probably think that instantly. And yet, he was one of the boldest people that you would ever want to meet.

He would be one that would step forward when nobody else would. But, you know, the story of Elijah is intertwined in the life of Ahab and Jezebel. All of us, I think, know that about, you know, Elijah. And, you know, after the death of, in fact, of Ahab, he was replaced by this king that, in fact, was no different in the way he lived in his life and in second Kings. That's where Elijah is confronting him. But Ahab was a rather wicked father for, you know, this king here, you know, Hazariah, who became sick and eventually died, that we just read about here. And to make things worse about Ahab, he married the wife. His wife was a daughter of a pagan king, and her name was Jezebel.

And Jezebel came into Israel, and she was a strong, very powerful influence upon Ahab and caused him to do many wicked things. And she protected those who practiced idolatry, which she was brought up in. That's what she lived. That's how she lived, and she brought that right into Israel. And not that Ahab needed any encouragement to do it, but not only did she bring in idolatry, but she was very, very cruel to the good prophets, the good priests. In fact, she initiated a master of the holy prophets of God.

Now Obadiah was a very humble, very righteous prophet himself.

And Obadiah, of all of the prophets, is highlighted in the book of Kings in chapter 18 of 1 Kings, in verse 4, of how he protected the prophets of God, at least the ones that he could.

He protected 100 of the true prophets of God, and he fed them with bread and water. And, of course, this was a rather difficult thing in the midst of a drought that Israel was going through. Jezebel was looking to kill these prophets. And Obadiah, wanting again, not himself, to be put to death, was taking care of these prophets 50 at a time in caves. He put them away in caves. Maybe that shows, brethren, what you and I may face in the future.

You know, we might survive by the skin of our teeth on bread and water. Could be worse, huh?

We could have some difficult times ahead of us. That's what God's people sometimes have gone through.

But during the midst of this great drought—let's go over to now 1 Kings chapter 18.

I've tried to summarize some of these things for the sake of time, but in 1 Kings chapter 18, let's pick up the account here. Ahab, by the way, or chapter 17, I'm sorry, Ahab had a hatred toward the prophets of God, and so did Jezebel. But here in chapter 17 of 1 Kings, Elijah comes on the same. Of course, the wickedness of Israel is in full swing. Everybody's turning away from God, and the prophets are being killed, and Obadiah is trying to protect those prophets, and the nation had turned completely from God to Baal worship.

But here in chapter 17, verse 1, it lists, it was Elijah the Tishbite of the inhabitants of Gilead, said to Ahab, As the Lord God of Israel is, before whom I stand, he said, There shall be no dew, nor rain, these years, except at my word.

And then the word of the eternal came to him, saying, Get away from here, and turn eastward, and hide by the brook Chirith, which flows into Jordan, and it will be that you will drink from the brook, and I have commanded the ravens to feed you there. So he went, and he did according to the word of the eternal, for he went and stayed by the brook Chirith, which flows into to Jordan. And the ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning, and bread and meat in the evening, and he drank from the brook. And it happened after a while that the brook dried up, because there was no rain in the land. I didn't want to mention as well that in Israel, during the summer months, they received a considerable amount of dew, but he said there would be no dew or no rain. They get 23 inches of dew in Israel in the summertime.

And so that dried everything up. I mean, and when the drought was in full swing, you know, Ahab sent Obadiah one way, looking for water and grass to feed the animals so they wouldn't die. And Ahab went the other way. They searched high and low. And in the course of time, you know, we, you know, he, of course, came in contact, or rather Elijah came in contact with Obadiah. And so they meet with one another. And, you know, here Elijah has been protected of God, he's been taken care of. In fact, God even had a widow that had very little food at all that God multiplied for her so that they would all survive. But when the full brunt of the drought had come in, there was great famine in the land, you know, everybody was suffering.

And Ahab, or rather Obadiah, is met by Elijah. And Elijah says, now you go tell Ahab that I want to talk to him. I want to talk to him. And Obadiah says, are you kidding?

They've searched for you in every nation. They've been trying to find you, and they want to kill you.

And if I go and I tell them that you want to see them, how do I know you're going to be back? You're going to be here. You know, if I do that, because, you know, sometimes the Spirit would take Elijah in places that he just disappeared, is what Obadiah was saying. And Elijah reassures him, no, you know, I'll be here. I'll be here. Let's go down now to chapter 18 verse 16 of 1 Kings. But notice it says, so Obadiah went to meet Ahab and told him, and Ahab went to meet Elijah. So Elijah was there. And then it happened when Ahab saw Elijah that Ahab said to him, is that you, O trouble of Israel, you big troublemaker. It is interesting. People don't put any blame on themselves for what the nation is going through, but they were going through a horrible drought. And Elijah throws it back right back on the head of Ahab. And he says, I have not troubled you, but you and your father's house house that you forsaken the commandments of the eternal and have followed the bales. You know, you follow the calves that you worship. And so he puts it back on their shoulders. And he says, now therefore send and gather all Israel to me on Mount Carmel. And it says the 450 prophets of Baal and the 400 and prophets of Eshorrah who eat Jezebel's table. Now, interestingly, these false prophets were taken care of by the government. They were fed by the government, you know, the government of that day. And, you know, of course, as I mentioned earlier, you know, the true prophets of God were put to death. And only the few that, oh, but I had been able to protect remain. And so Ahab sent all the children of Israel and gathered the prophets together on Mount Carmel. And Elijah came to all the people and said, how long will you falter between two opinions? He said, if the eternal is God, follow him.

But if Baal, you follow him. But the people answered him not a word.

And then Elijah said to the people, I alone am left the prophet of the eternal, but male's prophets are 450 men. And that's beside, of course, the prophets of Ashorrah. Therefore, let them give us two bowls and let them choose one bowl for themselves and cut it, it says, in pieces, and lay it on the wood and put no fire under it. And I will prepare the other bowl and lay it on the wood, but put no fire under it. Then you call on the name of your gods. This was a big showdown here. Wouldn't we like to have this kind of thing happen in America?

The true ministers of God versus the false ministers who claim that they represent God. Then you call on the name of your gods, and I will call on the name of the eternal. And the God who answers by fire, he is God. So all the people answered and said, it is well spoken. Sounds like sensible, you know?

Now Elijah said to the prophets of Baal, choose one bowl for yourselves and prepare it first for you, our many, and call on the name of your god, but put no fire under it. And so they took the bowl, which was given to them, and they prepared it and called them the name of Baal from morning, even till noon, saying, O Baal, hear us. It reminds me, I've been, you know, involved sometimes in a one church that was sort of a Pentecostal type. You know, people jumping up and down and crying to God, you know, give us this and do this for us. And, you know, you don't see that kind of thing in the Bible. You really don't, you know? Remember when Lazarus was, had died, and Jesus prayed the prayer for him to be resurrected. He even said, I spoke aloud so that they would know. But the prayer was very simple. It was very short. And boom, Lazarus was resurrected. One of the greatest miracles of the Bible. No jumping around, no jumping over benches. I had a grandmother, by the way, that, or an aunt, I should say, who sometimes when she get the spirit, she could jump over a pew. And usually that kind of thing scared me to death, you know?

And you know what? If the spirit ever catches hold of you and you start levitating, I'm going to run as fast as I can.

So anyway, they cried out. And I can only imagine what Elijah, the fun he must have had with this one.

He says, well, you know, maybe your gods are meditating. He hasn't heard you. He's not meditating. He may be walking in a field somewhere. He doesn't hear you. Or maybe he's busy. Or he's on a journey, or perhaps he's sleeping, and he must be awakened. So they cried aloud and cut themselves, verse 28, as was their custom. This is what they did. And knives and lances until the blood gushed out on them.

Yeah, this was a bloody scene here. And when midday was passed, they prophesied until the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice. But there was not a voice. No one answered. No one paid attention. Then Elijah said to the people, come near to me. Now, of course, this big showdown here, you know, come on in here. And you can imagine how many people that must have been gathered that heard about this, because remember the word had been sent out to the nation. And, you know, everybody wants to see what happens. It's like in the old days, you know, the cowboy days, if you had a hanging that was going to go on, that caused everybody in the city to show up for it. But the nation was there. And then it says, come near. And so all the people came near to him, and he repaired the altar of the eternal that was broken down. This was the problem for Israel. The altar of God, you know, was broken down. And Elijah took 12 stones, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, to whom the were the eternally come, and saying, Israel shall be your name. And then the stones he built an altar in the name of the eternally made a trench around the altar large enough to hold two siyas of seed. And he put the wood in order and cut the bowl in pieces and laid it on the wood and said, fill four water pots with water and pour it on the burnt sacrifice and on the wood.

You can imagine this would make it even more difficult. Nothing fake about this. And then he said, do it a second time.

Do it a second time. And they did it a second time. And he said, do it a third time. I mean, this thing was soaking wet. You ever start trying to start a fire with wet wood? And so the water ran all over the altar and he had filled the trench with water. And it came to pass at the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice that Elijah the prophet came near and said. Essentially, this is the prayer of Elijah, Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel. Let it be known this day that you are God in Israel and I am your servant, and that I have done all these things at your word. Hear, O eternal, and hear me that this people may know that you are the Lord God and that you have turned their hearts back to you again. He was going to get the attention of the whole nation. And then the fire of the eternal 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. And now when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces and said, the eternal, he is God. The eternal, he is God. And Elijah said to them, seize the prophets of Baal.

Do not let one of them escape, so they seized them and Elijah brought them down to the book Kishan and executed them there. And so here for this short period of time, when the prophets of Baal became entirely obvious that they were false, that they did not represent the true God, that God gave this remarkable demonstration to Israel and Elijah executes all of these prophets.

And shortly after that, the drought ends. And for a short time, he had the attention of Israel. And you don't think about the fact that in the future, God may have incredible miracles take place in the church today that will capture the attention of the nation. We know the two witnesses are going to capture not just the attention of Israel, but the attention of the entire world. But the church is going to do tremendous things. In fact, Jesus said, greater works than I have done, you're going to do. What that will be, of course, we do not know.

But this man of courage, Elijah, you know, had done this remarkable thing.

And of course, we know God deserves all the credit for what happened here, but it took the courage of Elijah to believe God. Now, interestingly, this great man of courage afterwards, when he heard that Jezebel had made threats against him, he ran. He ran out of there.

Let's notice over here in chapter 19, in verse 1, and A had told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, also how he had executed all the prophets with the sword. And then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, So let the gods do to me, and more also if I do not make your life as a life of one of these by tomorrow about this time. And so Elijah, you know, he seems to have been more afraid of Jezebel than he was of Ahab. And when he saw, he arose and he ran for his life, and he went to Beersheba, which belongs to Judah, and left his servant there. And he himself went a day's journey in the wilderness and came and sat under a broom tree, and he prayed that he might die.

And he said, it's enough. I imagine probably all of us would probably say the same thing.

If we had been there, it's enough. Now, Lord, take my life, for I am no better than my father's.

You know, there was this humility that was in him. On one hand, he could be tremendously bold, but he was a very humble individual. Then as he lay and slept under a broom tree, suddenly an angel touched him and said to him, Arise and eat. And so God was with him in spite of the fact he ran away. You know, God looks at our foibles and our troubles as human beings. He understands.

He understands us. And he looked and thereby he said, was a cake baked on coals and a jar of water. So he ate and drank, and he lay down again. And the angel of the Eternal came back the second time, verse 7, and touched him and said, Arise and eat, because the journey is too great for you. And so he rose and ate and drank and went in the strength of that food 40 days and 40 nights as far as Horeb, the mountain of God. And there he went into cave and spent the night in the place, and behold, the word of the Eternal came to him. And he said to him, What are you doing here, Elijah? What are you doing here? He had just captured the entire attention of the nation. What are you doing here? So he said, I've been zealous for the Lord of hosts, for the children of Israel, forsaken your covenant, torn down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword. I alone him left, and they seek to take my life. And you know, God did not forget Elijah here.

But you might say that he went into a tailspin of depression at this time about what had happened, what had occurred. And you know, certainly our lives don't compare to what Elijah has gone through, but sometimes in our lives we go through horrendous trials.

And I don't want to speak for the scrybers or other elders, but I've been, my wife and I've been through some horrendous things. And you know what? I've been down there a long way. You know, I've been in a pit, a very deep one, and it's not been easy. So I somewhat understand what Elijah's talking about and how he feels here. And God reassures, though, Elijah, no, you know, Elijah, you're not the only one. There are 7,000 in Israel have not bowed their knee to Baal. So, brethren, when we think we were all alone, that nobody else but us, because that simply is not true. God has many that have not bowed their knees to Baal, as he says here. But this is indeed an incredible story because no one else besides Christ compares to what Elijah did. Well, of course, Moses would be an excellent comparison of somebody that did extraordinary things as well. But what can we learn, brethren, from this great story of Elijah the Tishbite? What can we learn?

I've got a few points here I want to give to you. Number one thing we learn from the life of Elijah is believe in the effective prayer of the righteous. If you're striving, brethren, to live God's way of life, and you're striving to do what God commands you to do, the Bible uses the example of Elijah's prayer, who James says is a man of like passions.

He's just like you and me. He wasn't an angel. But he prayed that it would not rain, and the rain stopped. And he prayed for Israel that the rain would begin and the rain began. That God gave the rain. Over in James 5, verses 16 through 18, you might want to write that down and I won't turn to it. But it highlights Elijah's prayer. Brethren, do we see the value of prayer?

You know, in Psalm 65, verse 2, it says we worship a God who hears our prayers.

God hears our prayers. Now, again, compare the answer from the false gods that bails prophet Scott and the prayer, in fact, of Elijah. You know, obviously, Elijah prayed to a God that is there, that took action. Let's go over to 1 John, chapter 5, over here. 1 John, chapter 5. So we learn from this fantastic prophet of God, the value, again, a prayer. But over here in 1 John 5, verse 14 and 15, it says, now this is the confidence, and certainly if anybody had confidence in the things he prayed, it was Elijah that we have in him, we have in God that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. He hears us. And if we know that he hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of him. So, again, brethren, do we believe in the power of prayer? Elijah is a perfect example of how prayer works. Now, God is not going to give us Lamborghinis. He's not going to give us, you know, vacation homes and Tahiti. He's not going to give us all the things that would maybe be fun to have, but he will supply our needs. He will do for us, brethren, what we cannot do for ourselves. He will feed you with ravens if he has to.

And, you know, you can drink from a brook somewhere, like Elijah did. So the number one thing we learn, again, from Elijah is believe in effective power of prayer, or the power of effective prayer. Number two, number two thing we learn from Elijah is God always provides for his people. You know, God provided, again, for Elijah, there by the brook that he drank out of, the ravens that brought him food. He was with him at the house of the destitute widow. Not only did God provide for Elijah, but he provided for this widow who came in contact, you know, with Elijah. And, you know, I am of the opinion, brethren, that God's people are a blessing to other people as they come in contact with us. That if we're around other people, things go well for them. It was like the Ark of the Covenant. As long as somebody had that in their house, their household prospered. Well, brethren, we are, you know, temples of God's Holy Spirit.

And wherever we are, there is a blessing upon people.

You know, God provides for us, brethren, like he does the lilies of the field.

You know, Jesus Christ said, I won't go to it, but in Matthew 6 in verses 31 through 34, he talked about how that we don't, we should not be concerned about what we're going to eat or what we're going to drink. He said, for after all of these things, that's what the Gentiles seek.

You know, he talked about, again, the birds of the air, that God takes care, you know, the birds of the air, and how much more is he going to take care of us? We're more valuable than, you know, fowls that fly through the air. He said, what we ought to do in verse 33 is seek you first, the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. That God will take care of these things. We shouldn't be worry-worts about where the next meal is going to come from. You know, God will help us. We make that effort, God will help us. He will make it turn out right. Number three. Number three thing we learn from this powerful example in the Bible is we need the heart of commitment like Elijah. You know, Elijah is committed to God in the face of adversity. You know, it's easy to be committed to God when everything's nice and hunky-dory and peachy-kink, you know. All things are turning out good for us. But when somebody's attacking us, brethren, when somebody's against us, and they may very well be in the future, will we be as committed? When there's a price to pay to obey God, we'll be as committed as we are now. I hope that we learn commitment from Elijah. The Bible says if we faint in the day of adversity, our strength is weak. We are not strong. So we want to beef up so that we can be strong in the face of adversity. You know, do we really want to serve God? Do we want to put God's serve God? Do we want to put God's word above our own desires? Where is our heart? Where our treasures are? That is where our heart is. Where do we put our time? Do you spend enough time with God's people? Where are you serving the most? Are you serving God's people? You know, where do you put your money? I know people don't like you to talk about money. And, you know, we're careful to make sure what we do with our money. But where do we put our money? I one time said that our best investment is in the church. I strongly believe that. I think that's where our biggest rewards are going to come from, for what we did with God's church and God's people, with our time.

You know, what did Elijah tell Ahab when he said, Are you a trouble of Israel?

What did he tell Israel? Why do you halt between two opinions? If God is God, serve him. If he's not, then we might as well get in our little red wagons and go right back out in the world.

Either God is God. You know, we cannot serve two masters, Jesus said, because either you will love the one and despise the other. Rather, which one do we despise? This world, this society, led by the God of this world? Or, brethren, do we love dearly the calling that God has given us within the church? Let's notice in Romans chapter 6 over here, Romans chapter 6. So, we learn these things from Elijah, and frankly, these are things that we learn from Moses as well.

The kind of attitudes, you know, these servants of God have. But in Romans chapter 6 over here, let's notice this. This is the kind of attitude that we learn from Moses. You know, these servants of God have. But in Romans chapter 6 over here, let's notice this.

Paul says this in verse 16.

He says, Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one slave whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death or obedience leading to righteousness. But God be thanked that though you were slaves of sin, all of us here were in bondage to this world. And it was pulling us down into that pit I was talking about. Not that we don't have downtimes and discouraging times as God's people, but at least we don't remain there. We don't stay there. I always tell people, by the way, that are living in a pit in this world. If you ever get into a pit, stop digging. You know, I notice how people in their lives, they get in the pit, they keep digging. And it gets deeper and deeper. I guess they're looking for the other side. And we need to get out of the pit. And we need to go again forward in our spiritual lives. But it says, "...and having been set free from sin, you become slaves of righteousness." So again, let's not halt between these two ways of life. Let's choose righteousness.

Let's have the heart of commitment that Elijah had. A fourth lesson that we gained from Elijah, I think with the—one of the things that stands out, at least in my mind, with the story of Elijah, is how serious sin is to a nation. When a nation starts creeping back into sin, it gets worse and worse. Sin has that quality of multiplying, as we know when we learn the days of unleavened bread. Like leavening multiplies, that sin multiplies in our lives if we allow it to be there.

And sin, like it happened with Israel, separates us from God.

It got to the point here where the king of Israel is going to ask a pagan god whether he's going to recover from, you know, an injury. We live, brethren, in these times that, you know, over in Isaiah 59, it talks about how, again, sin separates us from God, and this world is separated from God, and it's getting further and further away. So the story of Elijah shows us how serious sin is, and we've got to get a hold of ourselves and begin to move in the other direction, that is the way of righteousness.

A fifth lesson we learn from Elijah is that discouragement should not stop the work of God.

Elijah's flaw was he allowed discouragement to set in. He felt like he had failed. That's why God said, what are you doing? Elijah, what are you doing here? He hadn't failed. He'd done probably the most successful thing any prophet has ever done, besides Jesus Christ.

You know, brethren, do we find ourselves getting discouraged or depressed in our calling? Again, I mentioned earlier, I do. I have. I won't speak for anybody else. I think I mentioned to you or somewhere that, you know, my wife and I have probably driven two million miles since we came, you know, into the ministry. It's a lot of journeys to the moon. But, you know, sometimes you wonder with all the effort that you put into your calling and all the things you do, is it really going to be worth it to someone? Did it make a difference what you did? You certainly hope so. I know what I'm saying to you bothers Mr. Miller. I hope you won't mind me mentioning that because he said, don't ever say that because, you know, the, you know, people have been a tremendous help in the ministry and I appreciate that. Thank you for that.

But sometimes you wonder about it. You do wonder about it.

When we dedicate our lives to do the work, we want to make sure it means something. But, you know, you, you could read the whole book and what does it say in chapter 15 of Romans verse 4 that God put these things in here for comfort for us. Some of the the patriarchs and the matriarchs didn't feel like they did so well either. And yet God said, no, buck up. You did. You did, you did the job and, you know, you're going to be a part of God's family, a part about God's kingdom. And like with Elijah, Elijah thought he was all alone. We need to understand we're not all alone. We're not by ourselves. That there are many, again, and I say this figuratively, who have not bowed their knee to Baal, that want to obey God, who are striving to do that in their lives today. And what we've done carries an impact. I like the scripture over in Isaiah 55 in verse 11. It says where God talks about his word. He says, so shall my word be that goes forth from my mouth. It shall not return to me void. And there's what God sends out there, brother, and comes back having done something. And it goes on to say, but shall accomplish what I please, and it shall prosper in the things for which I sent it. If God has called you and me, he's in a way put his word out there in our minds. If you believe him, it's going to come back, and it's going to be effective. It's going to do what God wants it to do.

You know, Elijah's example, brethren, is to show us to keep going. Keep going. Keep going. A final point here, a very brief point here, is we see in Elijah's story that the work of God goes on. The work of God goes on. Here, Elijah thought he was the last one. He was the only one. God said, no, there are seven thousand.

And, you know, prior to when Elijah was taken away by the flaming chariot, you know, he was going to, in fact, train his replacement, Elisha. You see, he thought it was over. It was all ended. No. Elijah was coming up behind him. Do you remember the story in account of how Elijah stuck really close to Elijah? And finally, you know, Elijah asks him, prior to the time he's taken up in the flaming chariot, he says, what do you want, Elijah? What do you want? He says, I want a double portion of your spirit. And you know the story of how God granted it to him. He took the mantle of Elijah, and he divided the waters right after that, that God had done that. The interesting thing is that Elijah is taken up in this chariot. Many people think he went off to heaven. But it was the first heaven he flew in, because over in 2 Chronicles 21, in verse 12 through 13, there's a letter 10 years later from Elijah to a king who had turned away from God, who was turning again to paganism that Elijah had written to.

And so, brother, the lesson we learn in Elijah is there's always another chapter.

There's always another chapter in the work of God. Not done. You know, we've had, of course, many chapters in the Church of God today. We have had, you know, men who were very important to the building of the work back in the, you know, the 40s and the 50s and the 60s. You know, some, in fact, have been your family, your fathers, your mothers, who were very instrumental in here in the Phoenix area and in other areas. But the gauntlets given to the next generation passed on. So there's always another chapter.

So the story is not over. Again, we may be doing great works in the future. Jesus Christ said, greater works will you do. We may be doing some, you know, tremendous things. In fact, over in Daniel 11 and Daniel 12, it speaks of end time great exploits by God's people, turning many to righteousness. And we know when the two witnesses come along in the end time, there's going to be a great work done and incredible work that will be done during that time. It is interesting as well when you read the account of the two witnesses that they have some of the descriptions of Moses and Elijah. Now that's another subject. I'm not going to get into that one in the message here today, but the life again of Elijah. Elijah was a great prophet of God, brethren. He serves as an example for all of those who truly desire to serve Almighty God. And we need to follow in the enduring footsteps of this greatest of prophets, Elijah.