Mark Finley

Warrenton SDA Church

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.

W.D. Frazee

W.D. Frazee Sermons Ministry

Joyous Giving

I would like to read again the text which we read last Friday night, Matthew 20, 28, and with this, John the 20th chapter and the 21st verse, last part.

The Son of Man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.

And with that, John 20, 21, last part, Jesus says, as my father hath sent me, even so send I you.

Jesus came for a certain purpose, and he sent us out for the same purpose.

He came not to be ministered unto, but to minister and to give his life a ransom for many.

And so he wants us to go out in his name, for his sake, and minister to others and give our lives.

Of course, we can't give our lives a ransom in the sense that he did, But we can unite with him in serving others, and we can spend our lives in service and sacrifice, and thus share with him the joy of seeing men and women reconciled to God.

You know, there is something wonderful, dear friends, about the full surrender that these verses picture.

If the whole is on the altar, the giving of the part is already settled.

You have heard of the man, perhaps, who was being baptized in his clothes, as sometimes takes...

And someone noticed that he had his wallet in his back pocket, and they suggested as he was going down into the water that perhaps that ought to be taken out, if he was going down into the water, be baptized.

He said, no, I want to be baptized pocketbook and all.

If all is given, it includes all our money.

You know, this money question is an interesting question, dear friend.

We're told that the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil.

I think of many who have gotten very close to the kingdom, but when the Spirit of God put his hand on that point, it turned back.

Balaam loved the wages of unrighteousness and lost his soul.

Ananias and Sapphira made a pledge, and then their selfish souls got to thinking of, oh, how much they had given.

And so they decided to not give so much, and yet pretend they had.

The Spirit of God took the lives of both of them as a warning to the early Church.

And as we enter into the repetition of Pentecostal experiences, we're going to see things that will thrill the heart on the 1 side and sadden our souls on the other.

As men and women repeat the experiences of the early disciples, as they sell their property and lay the money down for the finishing of the work, what a wave of gladness will sweep from heart to heart.

But doubtless there will be some like Ananias and Sapphira that will allow money, the love of money, to hinder the blessing that God wants to give.

I think of an experience that I witnessed 30 years ago.

We were holding a series of evangelistic meetings in Oakland, California, and among the many who were attending was a very fine-looking woman and her daughter.

They gave evidence of being persons of culture, refinement.

They came night after night, accepted the Sabbath, decided to be baptized, were in the baptismal class week after week.

They even anticipated some of the points of truth.

I remember how willing they were to lay off their jewelry before that was ever presented in public.

But 1 night they weren't at the meeting, and another night they weren't at the meeting.

And as the Bible worker visited them and we talked with them, we finally discovered what the matter was.

The tithe had been presented, and the axe had struck the root of the tree.

The selfish heart had not been, in that particular case, interfered with by embracing the savage.

It occasioned no cross or sacrifice for those particular individuals.

But when the truth of God on the money question was presented, It cut right across the natural inclination.

I remember another experience in the city of New Orleans, where we were holding evangelistic meetings.

There was a father and mother, 2 children, that attended the meetings there week after week.

They had gotten interested through the health message.

They had laid aside their harmful indulgences, given up beer, cigarettes, Coca-Cola, other stimulants, narcotics.

It had brought them a great increase in health.

They felt better and thanked the Lord for it.

But I remember 1 night as we sat down to talk together in their home, it was evident that something had happened that had brought a curtain between that family and us.

And so as we sought in a tactful way to probe, as we were having a visit in the study that evening, finally he looked across at me and he said, I want to ask you a question.

He says, is it true that everybody that joins the Seventh-day Adventist Church has to sell all their property and give it to the Church?

Well, you might think that the easy answer to that was just tell him, no, of course not, and go on, while he breathed a sigh of relief.

Probably he did breathe a sigh of relief.

Because, of course, no 1 who joins the Seventh-day Adventist Church is required to sell everything he has and turn it into the Church.

But after he'd gotten fully relieved from his problem, as we sat there, I said, now, brother, now that I've made that plane, I want to tell you something else.

But I said there's something else that's true, too.

If you become a Seventh-day Adventist, you're going into a program and entering a pathway that will eventually take everything you've got.

And I said, you may as well face that fact and settle it with God before you ever start up that road.

I'd hate to be in something that wasn't worth everything.

You know, now and then we have a wedding here in Askew Hall or on the campus.

And the minister says to the young man, will you leave everything you have and everybody and take this young woman and keep yourself only unto her?

And will You share with her everything in sickness and health, prosperity, adversity, as long as you both shall live.

And suppose he should say, well, really, that's asking quite a bit, isn't it?

I think we'd better make it about 50 percent or 75 percent.

There's some things that I'd like to keep over here.

That she's to have nothing to do with, nothing to say about, no part or interest in.

If you were the bride, how would you feel?

My dear friends, there's something about love that asks for everything, and there's something about love that responds with everything.

God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

And you and I know that that wasn't alone.

The greatest gift, the best gift in heaven, and with it went all heaven.

And when we stop to think that the ones to whom that gift was given were the most unworthy ones in all the universe.

Ah, friends, there's something about that that touches the heart, isn't there?

Something about that that touches the heart.

But while it cost the heart of the infinite Father an infinite struggle to give that infinite gift, It was in no sense given grudgingly or reluctantly.

The great fount of love burst forth, and that tide, That river, that great river of love, has been flowing from the foundation of the world in irrepressible streams.

Daniel Ferraz

Holly SDA Church

Turning Stones Into Bread

I have a sense that there is something very important about to take place with us as we pray together and as we work together.

And I know we're living in a world of sin and we're living in a world full of distractions, but brothers and sisters, we need to get back to the basics of the Advent movement.

And yes, we need to get back to the basics of the advent movement and Yes, we need to get back to the basics of the advent movement Thank you.

But where would we be, I know it's Father's Day coming up soon, without our wives, men.

Thank you, Petra, for being that wonderful solid rock.

You know that her maiden name before we were married was White.

And so her first name means rock, Petra, okay?

So I kind of called her, I came up with this nickname for her or pet name, I called her my white diamond.

And you know hey I'm it's OK I can make a fuss of my wife if I like.

But it's just because she's a gift from God and she has been such a wonderful wife and mother and I thank Jesus for that.

You know for all the effort, the consistency, the persistence, teaching them piano, teaching them discipline, You know, where would I be?

I would not be here if it were not for God and my wife and my family.

Let us bow our heads as we pray together.

Father in heaven, Lord, please help me take a deep breath.

But Lord, I don't want just my breath, I want your breath.

I want your breath, your spirit to breathe upon us, as that hymn says.

Lord, we are yearning as never before for a closer walk with you.

Lord, we want to receive special blessings that you have in store for us.

Dear Father, I pray that today you may be present here and that you may speak to each 1 of us.

As you have spoken to me and to my heart, as you have energized my heart, Lord, please, please, energize each 1 of us here, not for my sake, but for the sake of Jesus, Lord, for your honor and glory.

Please hear our prayer, for we ask these things in Jesus' precious name.

Well, you know, It seems like for me to be able to use my Mac up here, I would need 1 of those Mac adapters, media adapters.

If you happen to have 1 of those another time, let me know.

But I'm trying to go with 2 shooters here.

1 for that computer and 1 for this 1 and so pray that I keep them coordinated.

But so the title of the sermon today is Turning Stones into Bread and What I mean by that is as a movement, so it's kind of 2 layered.

It's in our Christian experience, your Christian experience, and the Christian experience of our church as a movement.

That's what I want to look at this morning.

I don't know about you, but I believe in the Bible.

The prophetic movement that God raised up and He gave it its mission and its message and I believe its name and that movement is called the Seventh-day Adventist movement.

Please notice I said Seventh-day Adventist movement.

You know, it's interesting because sometimes people will tend to try and separate Seventh-day Adventism from the Bible.

You know, somebody came up to me once and asked me this question, said, Pastor, would Jesus, if he were alive today, would he be a Seventh-day Adventist?

I hesitated not 1 second and I said, Absolutely yes.

He said, oh, I was afraid you'd say that.

You know, some people want to kind of change the church.

Some people want to separate and say, well, you know, Adventism is being invented by this lady called Ellen White, but you know, I follow the Bible.

Brothers and sisters, if we're not clear on these things, then we are in big danger.

I have been blessed to be raised in the Seventh-day Adventist Church.

I would have, you know, appreciated a few more.

But I'm even more blessed because God has taken a hold of me and changed me from within.

So, friends, a true Christian will always be a Seventh-day Adventist.

And even a true Christian may be a Seventh-day Adventist without realizing it.

But my question to you today is where is our experience?

You know, it's like drawing blood from a stone.

Or is your experience or would you like it to be feeding you like bread?

You know religion or being a Christian is a powerful thing Being born again is a miracle Being born once is a miracle.

Back to Menu

All Teachings

Elijah, Jesus and End Time People

59m

Joyous Giving

57m

Turning Stones Into Bread

1h 13m

Satan’s Twofold Attack on the Creator’s Masterpiece

1h 47m

The Question

29m

Healing the Land

43m

Escaping Labor Camps and Finding God

1h 17m

5. Question & Answer

1h 2m

4. Faith & Fanaticism

48m

3. Fanaticism & the Latter Rain

52m

2. 2520 is Not the Problem

49m

1. How to Forecast Future Fanaticism

55m

Sound Doctrine