Elijah's Ministry and Implications for the Near Future

Okay, so as the brochure mentioned, we would be talking today about Elijah's ministry and the implications for today as well as the near future. So, Elijah's ministry and the implications for today and the near future. So, we'll be learning or maybe I should say reviewing lessons from Elijah, the life of Elijah. Also, the lessons that we can learn from the widow, the widow that was a part of the story of Elijah. And then also Jezebel, we'll talk a little bit about Jezebel. And then if we have time, hopefully we'll have a little bit of time, this thing of or this phenomenon of calling down fire out of the sky. Not too many people in the history of the world have called fire out of the sky. But Elijah did, and we'll talk a little bit about that. But let's start out by turning to 1 Corinthians, 1 Corinthians, 1 Kings 17 and verse 1. Again, this is a very familiar story with all of us here, but let's just again just review this. And Elijah the Tishbite of the inhabitants of Gilead said to Ahab, and we all know that he was wicked King Ahab, he said, As the Lord God of Israel lives before whom I stand, there shall not be due nor reign these years except at my word. And actually, whenever we hear the phrase, my word, or Elijah said, it really is. It's God speaking. God was the one who was directing and taking charge of Elijah and his ministry. So this seminar is not about Elijah or the widow woman. This seminar is really about God and the power of God. So as we study the lives of these people, it's really what God is doing more than just a personality. Sometimes we can get wrapped up in personalities, can't we? And yet we heard from Dr. Ward, either the opening night or the, I can't recall whether it was opening night message or the message on the first holy day, when he said, you know, a man can't get you into the kingdom of God. A personality can't get us into the kingdom of God. It's the sacrifice of Jesus Christ and the power of God working in us from whence we get our strength. So when we talk about Elijah, I really want to focus on the concept that he was a servant of God. And he was a forerunner of what was to come, both in John the Baptist and the end of the age as well. So his name means, the Lord is my God. A personal relationship that he did have with God. The Lord is my God. The Wycliffe Bible Commentary puts it so interestingly because Elijah just shows up. He just shows up for work. And the Wycliffe Commentary says, like the coming of a meteor flashing across the dark midnight sky, so was the coming of Elijah in the darkness of Israel's spiritual night. We've all seen meteors. I've never seen one up really close, but it's there and it's gone. It's there and gone. And that was a lot about Elijah. He was there and then he was gone. And so anyway, it was this shining light, you might say, in the darkness of Israel's spiritual night. Now the problem that was facing Israel at this time, that they had begun to worship Baal. Maybe begun is not the correct word, but they were really worshiping Baal, the evil Baal gods. And they were substituting that worship of this pagan god for the worship of the true god. And this was a very serious offense. This was a very serious and blasphemous sin. And it's something that God had to take quite drastic in correction action about. God was going to do something about this. So he is proclaiming a drought. Actually, God is proclaiming the drought. So one question I want to ask, is there a connection between idolatry, which is the breaking of the first commandment, and drought?

Is there any connection between idolatry and drought? Now, there's apparently a horrible drought going on in Texas right now. I was listening to NPR radio this morning, and if I heard it right, it said, I think they said 15,000 trees in Houston have died because of the drought.

To kill a tree, that's pretty amazing. 15,000 trees died in just Houston alone. We've seen, well, you live through it, but I've seen pictures of reservoirs nearly empty. And I've lived in Texas many years out of my life. So I feel a kinship with the state of Texas. I married a Texan. And so when I see the reservoirs going dry, it hurts just to see that. But is there a connection between idolatry and drought? Let's turn to Deuteronomy 11 and verse 16.

Deuteronomy 11 and verse 16.

Take heed to yourselves lest your heart be deceived. We all know, don't we, that the human heart is deceitful above all things. And desperately wicked. Who can know it? And you turn aside and serve other gods and worship them.

Now, I may have this wrong. I skim a lot of news, but I think they said American Idol is the most popular TV program. Is that right? American Idol is the most popular TV program in America?

Hmm, interesting name there, isn't it? So you turn aside and serve other gods and worship them. Lest the Lord's anger be aroused against you, and he shut up the heavens, so that there be no rain, and the land yield no produce, and you perish quickly from the good land which the Lord is giving you.

So God says, if we mess around with idolatry, we can expect a drought.

So there definitely is a connection there.

Texas drought, I've been told, 99% of Texas has been in serious drought. And I hope not for 3 1⁄2 years, as it was in the case of Elijah's time, but then again we don't know. There have been some predictions that could go even much longer than that.

Let's go back again to 1 Kings 17 and look at verse 2. Then the word of the Lord came to him. 1 Kings 17 verse 2. Get away from here and turn eastward and hide by the brook Cherith, which flows into the Jordan. So it was a tributary stream that flowed into the River Jordan.

And it will be that you will drink from the brook. And I have commanded the ravens. That's rather interesting. The ravens to feed you. So he did and went according to the word of the Lord. He was God's servant. God owned him. And so he just did what God told him to do. For he went and stayed by the brook Cherith, which flows into the Jordan. 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, a very telling scripture here, verse 7, after a while that the brook dried up because there had been no rain in the land. Now, this is a sobering implication for today because God's prophet suffered from his own prophecy. Of course, it was God's prophecy, but he was the one saying it. God's prophets suffered from the very prophecy that he was uttering coming from his mouth. And you know, brethren, God's people are going to suffer, too, from some of the pain, some of the pestilence, the diseases, the problems that God is facing, that God will be allowing that will be taking place not only now, but in the next few years. And so God's people are going to be in for a time of suffering as well. I wish it would be different. It would be just like or a lot like the ancient Israelites. They went through with Egypt the first three plagues, and then God put a division between you. So I'm going to put a division between you and Egypt. And then they were protected from the last seven. But they went through and they suffered, you know, the first three plagues as well. Well, we see a similar situation that God will allow us to suffer along with the world and then put her division and protect us and eventually take us to a place of safety and protection. Scripture does talk about the woman were given the wings of a great eagle that she might fly to the wilderness where she would be protected from the face of the serpent. And for time and times and half a time. That's in Revelation chapter 12. So God's going to protect us, but we're also going to initially go through some suffering as well.

So now we go to verse 8. Then the word of the Lord came to him, saying, Arise, go to Zerapath, which belongs to Sidon, and dwell there. See, I have commanded a widow there to provide for you. Okay, you're God's prophet. I'm sending you to the poorest of the people to take care of you. You know, the poorest of the people was going to support God's minister at that particular time. Let's hold our places here and go to James 2. Now, this widow was not a poor, but she was starving. And is there a lesson we can learn from that as well? In James chapter 2 and verse 5. Listen, my beloved brethren, has God not chosen the poor of the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, which he has promised to those who love him? So we are amongst the poor of the world, as Mr. DeMoor said a few days ago. You know, we're not very impressive people. God's Holy Spirit in us makes us his people.

So this widow woman was poor, she was starving, she didn't have any money, but she was a woman of obedience. So verse 10, he arose and went to his air path. And when he came to the gate of the city, indeed a widow was there gathering sticks. And he said right away, give me a little water and a cup that I may drink it. And she was going to get it. You see, why did she do this? Somehow God had earlier commanded her. He said, I have, and again, verse 9, I have commanded a widow to provide for you. So she didn't argue. You know, she didn't argue. One beautiful trait of God's people, again, it comes from God, but God's people don't argue with the Bible. I mean, Elijah was speaking from the Word of God.

And we read from the Word of God, hopefully daily. God's people don't argue with the Bible. We may not always understand it, but we don't argue with the Bible. We say, well, this is the Word of God, therefore we must obey it. She was being told by God, take care of Elijah. So, as she was going to get the water, he said, oh, by the way, bring me some bread, too.

Bring me a morsel of bread. And she said, as the Lord your God lives, I do not have bread, only a handful of flour and a bin, a little oil and a jar. I'm going to gather a couple of sticks. I'm going to go and prepare it for myself and my son, that we may eat it and die. And then Elijah said to her, do not fear, go and do as you have said, but make me a little cake from it first and bring it to me. And afterward, make some, and make some for yourself and your son.

And so here this woman is giving and sharing from her poverty, not from her abundance, but from her poverty. Is there any higher act of giving than to give from your poverty? Let's turn to Luke 21 and see, again, a parallel story here. Luke chapter 21. And can you outdo this? I mean, when we give from our poverty, that's pretty amazing. Christ looked up in Luke 21 verse 1, He saw the rich putting their gifts into the treasury. He saw also a certain poor widow putting in two mites, two tiny little copper coins. That's all she had, and she gave it. Then Christ was really taken by this. He was struck by this. He said, truly I say to you that this poor widow has put in more than all, for all these of their abundance have put in offerings for God, but she out of her poverty has put in all the livelihood that she had. Now, oftentimes, maybe most of the time, God's people can give from our abundance. We're blessed people. We can give from our abundance, but there are some of God's people that don't have abundance. There's more of those kind of people than sometimes we think about. And so when they give an offering, when they bring a Holy Day offering or share their second tithe in some way or the other, they're actually giving from their poverty, not their abundance from their poverty. Christ really took note of that. Out of her poverty, she has put in all the livelihood that she had, and she put in, according to Jesus Christ, more than all. And that's what this widow was doing. She said, well, I've got a cake. I'm going to flower a little oil, maybe water, make a little cake, a little piece of bread, and then we'll eat it, then we'll die. Elijah said, don't fear. Verse 13, go and do as you have said, but make me a cake first. Bring it to me, then afterward make some for yourself and your son. So she's providing for the ministry at this particular time for Elijah. For thus says the Lord God of Israel, the bin of flowers shall not be used up, nor shall the jar of oil run dry until the day the Lord sends rain on the earth. So she went away and did according to the word of Elijah, and she and her household ate for many days. The bin of flower was not used up, nor did the jar of oil run dry according to the word of the Lord, which he spoke by Elijah. God took care of her. God provided for her. A type of the church. That's what she stands for. She was the type of God's people, a type of the church. God took care of her. God provided for her.

Now, do God's people ever have trials? Do we ever go through trials? Do we ever have a trial come out of left field that we never expect? It happened after these things that the son of the woman who owned the house became sick, and his sickness was so serious that he died.

And she said to Elijah, well, maybe she lost it. Maybe she's human. Maybe I'm human. Maybe we're human beings. Of course we are. What have I to do with you, O man of God? If you come to me to bring my sin to remembrance and to kill my son? He said to her, give me your son. And so he took him out of her arms and carried him to the upper room where he was staying and laid him on his own bed. And then he cried out to the Lord and said, O Lord, my God, have you also brought tragedy on this widow with whom I lodge by killing her son? So Elijah was pretty blunt with God. I personally wouldn't try that, you know, but this is what he said. And so he stretched himself out on the child three times and cried out to the Lord and said, O Lord, my God, I pray let this child's soul, let this child's life, let this child's breath come back to him. Then the Lord heard the voice of Elijah and the soul, you know, the the nafesh, the breath, the life of the child came back to him and he revived. And Elijah took the child and brought him from the upper room into the house and gave him to his mother. Elijah said, See, your son lives. Then the woman said to Elijah, Now by this I know you are a man of God and that the word of the Lord in your mouth is the truth, is the truth. So this widow woman stands for and represents God's people, God's church, the poor of the world, not many mighty, not many noble are called. She trusts in God. She lives by the word of God. She does what the word of God says and in the long run she's blessed. She's provided for. She's taken care of as God willed his people today as well. So she was a lady just by way of review here. She was in need. She was obedient. She was delivered. She ended up by believing God's word through Elijah and yet we don't even know her name. We don't even know her name. So many times you go through the Bible, especially with widows or even the lady, the woman that washed the feet of Jesus Christ. Luke chapter 7, we know Mary did it another time, but this anonymous woman in Luke 7 washed the feet of Jesus. We don't even know her name, but we know what she did. And we don't know this lady's name, but we know what she did.

Now, so she was in need. She was obedient. She was delivered. She ended up by believing God's word through Elijah. Now let's compare or contrast her with Jezebel. Okay, Jezebel. Jezebel is something else. It came to pass chapter 18 verse 1 after many days that the word of the Lord came to Elijah in the third year saying, Go present yourself to Ahab and I will send rain upon the earth. So Elijah went to present himself to Ahab and there was a severe famine in Samaria. Obviously, famine follows drought. And Ahab called Obadiah, who was in charge of his house. That way he was in charge. In other words, he was like his, oh, the word escapes me, the chief of staff, I think that might be a way to call it. So Obadiah was chief of staff. And Obadiah, on the other hand, he feared the Lord greatly. So who did Obadiah really serve?

Did he serve God or did he serve Ahab? Well, he ultimately, he obviously served God. For so it was when Jezebel massacred the prophets of the Lord, Jezebel was something else. She had in an earlier time massacred the prophets of the Lord, that Obadiah had taken 100 prophets and had hidden them 50 to a cave and had fed them with bread and water. So this is how Jezebel is introduced to this particular story, the massacrer of God's people. So Jezebel was a tragically interesting story in the Bible. She was the daughter of F. Beal, F. Beal, and F. Beal was both a king and a priest. He was a king and a priest, but on the wrong side, you know, the side of Baal, or F. Beal. He was a king and a priest of Tyre and Sidon. So he was not a good guy at all. So, you know, as I said yesterday, you know, we are to be kings and priests in God's kingdom, but we are to be the righteous servants of God. On the other hand, Jezebel was the total enemy of God. She was a symbol of a woman of Satan. He was a symbol of the woman of Satan. You know, when we study the Bible and we see it particularly in the book of Proverbs, but really there's a theme throughout the whole Bible that we see it here and there. We certainly see it right here, too. We see it in the book of Revelation and Proverbs that there's really only two women mentioned in the Bible. You know, the righteous woman that symbolizes the bride of Jesus Christ and the unrighteous Jezebel. You know, the evil woman, the harlot woman.

So there's only two women in the Bible in type. The righteous bride of Jesus Christ, the evil Jezebel. And, you know, Babylon, you know, and that type of thing, Mother Babylon. Jezebel was a strong willed, domineering character. When you really read through this section, you find out she was married to, of course, Ahab, but she was the strong girl of the two. She's more powerful. I mean, Ahab did a lot of wickedness himself, but she was more strong-willed than he. You know, she was forceful. She was not the type to back down at all. Let's look at 1 Kings to get a little background on her. In verse 29, 1 Kings 16, verse 29, she was just not the type that was going to back down.

In the 38th year of Asa, king of Judah, Ahab, the son of Amri, became king over Israel.

He reigned for 22 years. Now, Ahab, verse 30, 1 Kings 16, 30, Now, Ahab did evil in sight of the Lord. More than all who were before him, what a horrible legacy to have in the Bible about you. And it came to pass, although it had been a trivial thing, for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, that he took his wife Jezebel, the daughter of Ethebael, king of the Sidonians, both a king and a priest, and he went and served Baal and worshipped him. And then he set up an altar for Baal and the temple of Baal, which he had built in Samaria. And Ahab made a wooded image, and Ahab did more to provoke the Lord God of Israel to anger than all the kings of Israel who were before him. And verse 34 goes on and continues with that. But they became quite a dynamic duo, and together they brought the pagan evil ways of Baal to the Israelites. And yet God told the Israelites, as he's telling us now, to come out of her my people, you know, Babylon, to come out of Babylon, for example, that you'd be not partakers of her evil deeds. And well, let's just turn to that in Revelation 18 and verse 4, because we are to be partakers of the system. And this is quite a challenge, and it's quite a challenge for our young people, because our young people are being, you know, are being tempted, tested, enticed, you know, by the ways of Babylon, you know, by the ways of Babylon, and they have to make that choice to come out of those ways. But Revelation 18 verse 4, I heard another voice from heaven saying, come out of her, you know, come out of Babylon, my people, God's people, lest you share in her sins, unless you receive of her plagues. For her sins have reached to heaven. Again, there's only two women in the Bible in that sense, the righteous right of Christ and mother Babylon. We can either choose to be of the righteous right of Christ or the only other choice is mother Babylon. Her sins have reached to heaven and God has remembered her iniquities. So getting back to Jezebel, she was very unfeminine. She might have been beautiful, but she had no character, no no righteous character. She had no, you know, good judgment or godly judgment. She had no discretion, moral discretion. All she did was bring in Baal worship and she tried to destroy all of the prophets of God. She was a terrifying woman, a terrifying woman. Let's just jump ahead at least the chapters here to kind of stay with the story of Jezebel. Let's just jump to chapter 19 here. Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, 1 Kings 19.1, how that he had executed all the prophets with the sword, and we'll get to that in a little bit. Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah saying, so let the gods, pagan gods, do to me, and more also if I do not make your life as the life of one of them by tomorrow. I'm going to kill you. You killed 450 of my guys. I'm going to kill you. I'm going to do it within 24 hours. Now, Elijah, the man of God, who had prayed for the young boy to be brought back to life and who had done this incredible God did it, actually, brought fire down from the sky on Mount Carmel, and that was just an earlier chapter. When he saw that and he heard that, he ran for his life. Jezebel was a terrifying woman. She was a murderer. And how far did he run? Now, Mount Carmel is kind of northern Israel. Okay, there's, if you follow the coastline, between Israel and Lebanon, there's a little hook of land. I call it a hook, and that's where Mount Carmel is, kind of up in the north part. He runs for his life. He runs south to Beersheba, which belongs to Judah.

Maybe I got away from her. Maybe she can't chase me this far. No, that wasn't good enough. He went a day's journey into the wilderness, came down, sat under a broom tree. Then he kind of had an emotional crash. He'd been on a kind of a spiritual high and had been all just way up there, and then he just had a crash. He said, Lord, it's just taking my life. I'm no better than my father's. Well, then you know, he lay down and slept, and the angel and all that came. There was a cake baked on coals and so on, a jar of water. And so he felt a little bit better. And so he rose, verse 8, and ate and drank, and he went under the strength of that food, 40 days and 40 nights, as far as Mount Sinai, way down in the Arabian Peninsula. That's how far he ran to get away from Jezebel. You know, Sinai, down there in the south part of the Arabian Peninsula. So she was indeed a terrifying person. She did meet a horrible end. And let's jump ahead to 2 Kings chapter 9, 2 Kings chapter 9 and verse 30. She did meet an end fitting to her evil character.

When Jehu had come to Jezreel, 2 Kings 9 and verse 30, Jezebel heard of it, and she put paint on her eyes and adorned her head and looked out through a window and probably trying to entice him. Some commentators would, or at least one commentary, would argue that, but I think she was just trying to entice him. And as Jehu entered at the gate, she said, Is it peace, Zimri, murderer of your master? I like the King James. I haven't read that too lately, but I stay with the new King James. Is it peace, Zimri, who slew your master? I've always remembered that particular verse there. And what I think she was saying was, You're not going to kill me, are you? I mean, remember when Zimri killed his master? You know what happened to Zimri, don't you? He only lived another seven days. So if he only lived another seven days, that may happen to you too. Well, at any rate, she was thrown down, and they threw her down, verse 33.

And some of her blood splattered on the wall and on the horses, and he trampled her underfoot. And all they found out, all they just found from her were just a few bones, as it says in verse 35. She met a pretty horrible end. But Jezebel, at her heart and core, was a harlot. She was a witch.

And she gained a lot of evil things by using these evil ways, but she met her end. She met her end. 2 Kings 9 and verse 22. 2 Kings 9 and 22. Now it happened when Joram saw Jehu, he said, Is it peace, Jehu? And he answered, What peace? What peace, as long as the harlotries of your mother Jezebel and her witchcraft are so many. So she was a harlot at the core and the witch. And she met an evil end. But let's look at a lesson that we can learn. Revelation chapter 2, speaking about the church at Thyatira.

And each one, as we know, these various churches, the seven churches that are mentioned, there's lessons we can learn from Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamos, Thyatira, all the way, all the way through. And so here we see in Revelation 2 and verse 18. And to the angel of the church in Thyatira write, These things, says the Son of God, whose eyes, who has eyes like a flame of fire and his feet like fine brass, I know your works, love, service, faith, and patience, doing a good job, church, and all these things. And as for your works, the last are more than the first. Nevertheless, I have a few things against you because you allow that woman, you allow, and was this an actual woman or was this a system? You allow that woman, Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess to teach and beguile my servants to commit sexual immorality and to eat things sacrificed to idols. Here was a church of God infected by this evil. And I gave her time to repent of her sexual immorality, and she did not repent. Indeed, I will cast her into a sick bed, and those who commit adultery with her into great tribulation, unless they repent of their deeds. And I will kill her children with death, and all the churches shall know, all the churches, all seven of them shall know, that I am he who searches the heart and the minds and the hearts, and I will give to each one of you according to your works. But to you I say, and to the rest, in Thyatira, as many as do not have this doctrine, this doctrine of Jezebel, and who have not known the depths of Satan, as they call them, I will put upon you no other burden. Hold fast what you have till I come, and he who overcomes and keeps my works until the end, I will give power over the nations, and he shall rule them. That's Jesus Christ with a rod of iron, as the potter's vessel shall be broken to pieces. Now, brethren, there's quite a lesson here. It's kind of amazing, isn't it, that God's people in Thyatira, some of them, were caught up in the attitude of Jezebel, and going along with this wicked woman and her witchcraft. And brethren, this is a warning, even for us today, because we're still fighting the fight of false religion, coming out of that.

Jezebel stood for these things, false religion, greed, harlotry, prostitution, and witchcraft. And these temptations face God's people even today. They face us even today.

Obviously, God wants us to be like the widow woman in heart and attitude, and certainly not like the woman, you know, Jezebel. Brethren, we do really, as you know, we become our environment. Whatever we surround ourselves with, that's what we become. If we spend, I don't know, 20, 30, I'm sure we don't, but we spend a lot of time watching television, we become like television. I mean, we become like our environment.

If we spend a lot of time on the beach, guess what? We become sun-tanned or sunburned, one or the other. But wherever we are, whatever, you know, whatever system that we are in, we become that environment. If we read a lot of books on history, we become maybe, you know, amateur historians. We become our environment. And of course, the environment of the world is, what, Hollywood, the movie industry, etc., etc., pounding into our brains, because Satan wants us to take on the environment of his world.

That's the problem. He wants us to take on the environment of his world. On the other hand, if we surround ourselves with the Bible, with the Word of God, and we study this Bible continuously, then when trial or testing comes along, we think like the Bible thinks. And scriptures come to our mind, because we've been reading and studying the Bible. So we become our environment, and we have to certainly stay away from the environment of what Jezebel would like to offer. So, again, contrasting the two individuals, the widow lady, as I said earlier, was in need, was obedient, and was delivered.

She was a giver. This other woman, a taker. Jezebel was a taker. The widow was a giver. And even though God's prophet, as we said earlier, had suffered from the drought, and even though the widow suffered from the drought as well, God in his righteousness took care of both of them, and he provided for both of them.

Well, let's turn, brethren, to Matthew 6, and again, review a very basic couple of scriptures here. These scriptures stand us in good stead, as we face the world. We go back into the world. Probably some of you may be going back to work on Friday. Others Monday. And the lesson of God taking care of it, whether it be his prophet, whether it be his church, it's right here. Therefore, I say to you in Matthew 6, 25, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, which what you will put on is not life more than food and the body more than clothing.

Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns. Let your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? Which of you, by worrying, by fretting and stewing and worrying, can add one cubit to his stature? Why do you worry about the clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow. They neither toil nor spin. And yet, I say to you that even Solomon, in all his glory, was not a raid, did not look as beautifully adorned as a lily of the field.

Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore, do not worry, saying, What shall we eat? Or what shall we drink? Or what shall we wear? For after all these things the Gentiles seek, for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek you first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. Now, just before we left for the feast, I think it was on the day of Atonement, a church member came up to me and told me his story.

He'd lost his job as a truck driver when the company folded. So then he got a, they went on unemployment, and then he got a part-time job as a bus driver, just part-time. Well, they liked his work, he was dependable and all that, so they give him a full-time route. Okay? He said, Well, this is great, you know, I like the full-time route, but I want you to know that the middle of October, boss, I'm not going to be here. No, I'm not going to be here, middle of October. I'm going to be at the feast.

I'm going to seek the kingdom of God first. I don't think he necessarily said that, but in a way he did say that. So two days before, you know, the boss comes up to him and says, you've got to go to work.

He said, Now, look, let's just get one thing straight. So whatever you do, you do, but I'm not going to be here next week. You know, you do whatever you've got to do. I'm not going to be here next week. I mean, he stood his ground and I fully believe he will have his job. But, you know, when he comes back, but he, again, like so many of God's people, put his job on the line because he is at the Feast of Tabernacles seeking first the kingdom of God. Everything else will be added unto him. Everything else will fall into place. So his boss just, and I said, well, I said, you know, that's why they pay bosses to be bosses, because the bosses have to have plan B and plan C, and they've got to, if someone's not there, they, you know, they're the boss. They've got to find a someone to replace that person. That's why they call them managers. So he hung in there. I'm sure, I'm quite sure he will have his job back when he does return. In Matthew 6, verse 8, he says, Therefore, be not like them. And the them were those who were doing the, you know, the vain babblings, you know, the repetitions. Don't be like them, for your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him. We come upon a need, you know, we come upon something, oh wow, I've got a need, I've got a trial, I've got a need. You know, God knew about that need yesterday or last week or a month ago. God knows our needs before we even think to ask Him.

Matthew 6, verse 11, give us this day our daily bread. Give us this day our daily bread. So God, indeed, does take care of us and look after us, just like He took care of that widow woman and looked after her and provided for her. Let's go to 1 Kings 18 and look at this calling down of fire. 1 Kings the 18th chapter, and we'll start in verse 20. 1 Kings 18, we'll start in verse 20. So Elijah is saying, Now therefore send and gather all Israel to me on Mount Carmel, the 450 prophets of Baal, and the 400 prophets of Asherah, who eat at Jezebel's table, 850. So you had the prophets of Baal in case you run out of them. How about the prophets of Asherah? Now the interesting thing is, there's no indication that the prophets of Asherah took Elijah up on his challenge. Now all we hear about are the prophets of Baal from this point on.

Maybe the prophets of Asherah were a little wiser than the prophets of Baal. Maybe they said, you know what, we don't want to mess with the God of Elijah. Maybe we just need to be on the sidelines and watch what happens. So they called the children of Israel, they gathered the prophets together on Mount Carmel, and Elijah came to all the people and said, how long will you falter between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him. But if Baal, then follow him. But the people answered him, not a word. Then Elijah said to the people, I alone have left the prophet of the Lord, but Baal's prophets are 450 men. Therefore let them give two bowls and let them choose one bowl for themselves and cut it in pieces and lay it on the wood and put no fire under it. And I'll do the same as well. And you call upon the name of your gods, and I will call upon the name of the Lord, and the God who answers by fire, he is God. So, sounds good to us, they said. And so they go through and they prepare the sacrifice. And verse 26, they took the bowl, and they prepared it, and they called upon the name of Baal from morning until noon, saying, O Baal, hear us. Christ did say, I didn't read that verse, but I think it's Matthew 6, 7, do not use vain repetitions as do the heathen. So no one answered, and they leaped about the altar which they had made. And so at noon, Elijah mocked them and said, cry loud, you know, maybe he's hard of hearing, you know, maybe he's meditating, maybe he's busy, maybe he's on a journey, or perhaps he's sleeping and he must be awakened. So they cried aloud, and that didn't seem to work, so they cut themselves. Maybe Baal will feel sorry for us because we're bleeding all over the place. And it was so when midday was passed that they prophesied until the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice, but there was no voice. No one answered, no one paid attention.

Then Elijah said, come near me, and so the people came near him. He took twelve stones, verse 31, according to the tribes of Israel. And verse 33, he put the wood in order, cut the bull in pieces, and laid it on the wood, and said, fill four water pots with water, and poured on the burnt sacrifice. Now, this was a shocker because this was the middle of a drought. That's okay. God has plenty of power. He can provide the water. So they poured, and there was just a lot of water, you know, verse 34, do it a second time, do it a third time. And the water ran all around the altar, and he also 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, Lord, this is a very short prayer. It just takes a few seconds, actually, to read this prayer, or to utter this prayer, maybe 15, 18 seconds. Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known this day that you are God in Israel, that I am your servant, and I have done all these things according at your word. Hear me, O Lord, hear me, that these people may know that you are the Lord God, that you have turned their hearts back to you again. You want them to come back to you. And then the fire of the Lord fell and consumed the burnt sacrifice, the wood, and the stones, and the dust, and it licked up the water that was in the trench. And when all the people heard it, they fell on their faces and said, The Lord, He is God. The Lord, He is God. Elijah said to them, Seize the prophets of Baal. Do not let one of them escape. So they seized them, and Elijah brought them down to the brook of Kisan and executed them there. You know, the end of that particular story, they were all killed again, by and through the power of God Almighty. As I said earlier, calling down a fire from the sky doesn't happen very often in the Bible, but when it does happen, it really gets our attention. I have just a very brief list. I won't turn to these scriptures. But in Genesis 19, fire and brimstone destroyed the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. Brimstone is burning sulfur. I don't know if I've ever seen burning sulfur. Maybe some of you have. But fire and brimstone burning sulfur. Exodus 9, the seventh plague, fire and maybe it was lightning, okay, regarded on the ground. Exodus 9. Leviticus 10, fire from the Lord came and destroyed the two sons of Aaron. Numbers 16, fire came out of the sky from the Lord as well.

Elijah called down fire, 2 Kings chapter 1. He did this a second time. Actually, God did it as well.

But let's turn to Revelation chapter 11. Revelation chapter 11.

We'll just read a couple of the final examples here.

Revelation 11 and verse 5. If anyone wants to harm them, that means the two witnesses, if anyone wants to harm them, fire proceeds from their mouth and devours their enemies. Now, this is a future. This is not now. And I'm trying to understand what this might mean. I don't think fire will come literally out of their mouth. I think they'll speak the word and fire will come down from God. That's how I see it. You know, fire coming down from the sky, you know, from God at their word. And these men, if you take a close look at verse 6, won't have time to examine that right now. But if you take a close look at verse 6, they're coming in the power not only of Elijah, but of Moses as well. And if you read verse 6 carefully, I think you can see that. But that's not all. Revelation 13 verse 13. The false prophet, the false prophet, he performs great signs so that he even makes fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men. And he deceives those. He deceives those who dwell on the earth by those signs which he granted to do in the sight of the beast. So even the false prophet will be able to make fire come down from the sky as well.

And we're going to be able to, again, those of us who, us or you who live through and see this, you're going to see these things. You're going to see these things come to pass. I hope to be able to be alive at this particular time. We'll see. We'll see how much time there is left. But here in Revelation 20, we'll just just one more of the... And I believe I haven't covered all of the examples. It's quite an interesting Bible study. When you go through every example, you can find a fire coming down out of the sky. But here we see again in Revelation 20 in verse 9, and they went up on the breath of the earth. This was Gog and Magog, and they were going to, again, destroy God's plan or try to. And they surround the camp of the saints and the beloved city, Jerusalem, and fire came down from God out of heaven and devoured them. Fire from God comes down and devours them. So it does get people's attention when these things do take place. Now, there's just one final point that I want to make on the lessons that we can learn from the story of Elijah for today. Just one more point, and that's in Malachi chapter 4. I want to end with this. Malachi chapter 4, because this is another lesson for us, a practical application for us today. Malachi 4 and verse 5. Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and the dreadful day of the Lord. It's not just a man, it's the work of God, the work of Elijah, as we call it, or the work of God. And what will this work do? He will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and the hearts of the children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the earth with the curse. The great work that we have to do, brethren, though the work of Elijah, is for every one of us who are fathers and dads and fathers and mothers, our hearts must continually be turned towards our children. We are the ones who are to reach out to our children, whether they're little or teenagers or adult children. We are the ones to continue to reach out to them in unconditional love, reaching out to them in unconditional love. Whether we agree with everything they do or we don't agree with everything that they do, our hearts must be turned towards them. That is the work of Elijah. The church has taught this and preached this for decades. The work of Elijah is that the hearts of the fathers, the hearts of the parents, the hearts of the mothers will be tender towards their children and tender towards their grandchildren. And of course the result will be the hearts of the children will be turned to their fathers. Children will respond to that unconditional love. Again, if that doesn't happen, God will have to come and strike the earth with the curse. So it's so interesting that Elijah, who was a single man as far as we know, his work is a family work. The Old Testament ends with an admonition for all of us to build happy and strong families. So I hope that's what we're also finding time to do.

That will be the end of the seminar. We appreciate everybody's willingness to come and hopefully it's been of some help to you.