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Warrenton SDA Church

Mark Finley

Elijah, Jesus and End Time People

Father in heaven, we thank you that you are still a God of miracles.

We thank you that your ear is not far distant from your children.

And just as Elijah cried on Mount Carmel for the mighty working of God, we last week knelt in this simple, humble church and cried for the mighty working of God.

We last week knelt in this simple, humble church and cried for the mighty working of God.

Now as we focus on the life of Elijah this morning in the Bible message, encourage our hearts, fill us with new faith and courage and may our faith grow today in Christ's name, amen.

John Kenneth Galbraith was a Canadian-American, an economist.

And his books on economy were bestsellers in America from about 1950 to 2000.

He received the Medal of Freedom from the United States government in 1976.

He also received the Presidential Medal of Honor, Freedom in 2000.

In his autobiography titled Life in Our Times, he tells an interesting little story about his housekeeper, Emily Wilson.

1 day, John Kenneth Galbraith came back to his home and he was a counselor on economy to many presidents of the United States.

He was particularly weary, he was exhausted, wanted to go to sleep, and so he looked at his housekeeper, Emily Wilson, he said, look, I'm gonna take a nap, and whoever calls me, please do not disturb me.

Well, of course, he had regular contact with the presidents of the United States, in particular, was close to Lyndon Johnson.

So shortly after he went to sleep, the telephone in his house rang, and Emily Wilson, his housekeeper, answered the phone.

And the voice on the other end of the line said, this is Lyndon Johnson.

President, but he's taking a nap right now.

Lyndon Johnson said, I don't care if he's napping or not.

This is the President of the United States.

Emily Wilson said, with all due respect, Mr.

Please call him back when he's awakened after his nap.

The next day, Lyndon Johnson called Kenneth Galbraith.

And he said, I don't know who that lady is, but whoever she is, I want her to work in the White House for me, because anybody that would protect Her boss like that needs to be in the White House.

Emily Wilson had this principled commitment to her boss.

The great worthies of faith down through the centuries knew who their boss is.

They had this unprecedented, this principled commitment to God.

That's the lesson of Elijah that I want to study with you this morning.

I'd like you to take your Bibles and turn to 1 Kings, the 16th chapter.

Elijah is 1 of the most principled, 1 of the most committed, 1 of the most faith-filled characters in scripture.

Now you'll notice the title of my message is Elijah, Jesus, and an End Time People.

Why are we interested in studying the life of Elijah?

Elijah came on the scene of this earth's history at a time of great spiritual apostasy.

He came on at a time of great compromise.

And Elijah faced that compromise and apostasy in faith.

Elijah called the nation back to obedience.

And eventually, Elijah was translated without seeing death.

God's end time people are looking forward once again to being translated without seeing death.

And we are told in the prophecies of Malachi that the message of Elijah will return just before the coming of Jesus.

A message of a faith-filled people calling an immoral, sex-centered, thrill-jaded and morally twisted society back to obedience.

So we are interested in Elijah because Elijah represents a type of the redeemed that will live just before the coming of Jesus and prepare for translation.

So we have more than a casual interest in Elijah.

We turn to get a setting of the times of Elijah here in 1 Kings chapter 16.

The scripture says, In the 38th year of Asa, the king of Judah, 06.1 Kings 16.29.

Ahab, the son of Amri, became king over Israel.

And Ahab, the son of Amri, 06.1 Kings 16.29.

Reigned over Israel and Samaria for 22 years.

Now Ahab the son of Amri did evil in the sight of the Lord more than all that were before him.

05.31 Verse 31 tells us that he married Jezebel.

Jezebel was a Phoenician, came from a town called Sidon and Sidon was a city in Phoenicia.

So here you have King Ahab, the king of Israel, marrying Jezebel, a Baal worshipper.

You have the union of church and state powers.

Now, when Ahab married Jezebel, He argued in Israel for tolerance.

The Baal worshippers worshiped the sun, the moon, and the stars.

The Baal worship was 1 in which they believed that the rain that fell was given by Baal.

Now, Ahab did not deny the worship of the Israelites.

He did not deny the Israelites having the privilege to worship the true God.

But he said, we need to be tolerant of all peoples.

Therefore, tolerance means that we have to give Baal worship the freedom of worship right in Israel.

In other words, within God's church, there is tolerance of all points of view.

That position of tolerance led Israel to abject apostasy.

It led them to rebellion against the true God.

It led them to lead the altars of Baal to be worshipped rather than the true God.

08205 Now the Bible says in verse 32 and verse 33, 08205 Then he set up an altar for Baal in the temple of Baal which he built in Samaria.

08205 So you could have a temple at Jerusalem but you'd also have a temple to Baal.

08205 The idea was embrace all, accept all, don't push anybody out.

Ahab did more to provoke the Lord God of Israel to anger than all the kings of Israel that were before him.

So what is the setting when Elijah comes on the scene?

The setting is syncretism or to use another word, the integration of Baal worship and the worship of Jehovah.

Israel becomes disobedient to the true God, the commandments of God are in disrepute and God brings a man on called Elijah.

Now there are 7 lessons of faith that I want to look at in the life of Elijah.

If you're taking notes, and I hope that you'll bring notebooks to church because this is a place where you learn to grow and study the Word of God and apply the messages of Scripture to life today.

There are 7 great lessons of faith that we learn from the life of Elijah.

Here is the first lesson of faith in the life of Elijah.

Lesson number 1, Faith opens the door to receive God's abundant blessings, while disobedience forfeits the blessings of God.

Now, faith grows as we see God's blessings in our lives.

Faith and obedience are 2 twins of the Christian life.

So we want to look at this basic principle, and here's the principle, that faith opens the door to receive God's abundant blessings.

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Elijah, Jesus and End Time People

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