Elijah Calls Down Fire [Part 1]

Alan White, pastor, Bible teacher and author of his latest book, the power to bless God gave us the story to prefigure Jesus. This is the way they treated Jesus right, who was the man of God he saved others and Save himself. You are a member of the very first temptation Jesus experienced the devil himself came to him as if temptation is what if you are the son of God, throw yourself down from this high place and find out whether Saul lied to you and his angels will guard and protect you and pick you Alan Wright welcome to another message of good music that will help you see your life.

Old I'm doing the excited for you to hear the teaching today. In the series miracle me has presented at renewal. The church in North Carolina are not able to stay with us throughout entire program I like to make sure you know how to get our special resource right now. It can be yours for your donation this month to Alan Wright Ministries as you listen to today's message go deeper as we send you today's special offer. Contact Pastor Alan.org that's Pastor Alan.org or call 877-544-4860 that's 877-544-4860. More on this later in the program but now let's get started with today's teaching years Alan Wright having to go through a time in your life and what you feel aimless or confused not also speak to you and not just in the big and grand ways that make you admit that God is real time about, and the language of whisper language of intimacy where God comes near, and he's close to you and he speaks not just direction but the affirmation of his love for you and we come to such a story today, and the life of Elijah, as were studying the life of this miracle man whose life points us to the true miracle man, Jesus, and today attorney again to first Kings chapter 19 where we come upon a scene where Elijah having an chapter 18 when this huge victory at Mount caramel where God's glory has come down and fire upon the wet altar and proven himself to be gone and in the next scene we are surprised to see that Elijah is running for his life afraid because one woman Jezebel had threatened him and how even this great man of God become so discouraged and God came via an angel and fed him and and and he he came out of that suicidal depression and he went to Mount Horeb and this is the story I want to just read a couple verses and then were going to as the message goes along. Go through each line of this text of the story at first Kings 19 I think of reading at verse eight first Kings 19 at verse eight. And he arose and ate and drank and went and the strength of that food 40 days and 40 nights to Horeb. The mount of God. There he came to a cave and lodged and it and hold the word of the Lord came to him and said to him what you doing here, Elijah. I must break the silence.

I I know I'm a coward to do so, but I am being blackmailed.

And today I answer the blackmailers. I would not normally given to such pressure, but I simply must. I'm sorry. Forgive me for caving in to such demands. See what happened was in January on a frozen Friday night.

One of the very cold nights. My wife and daughter and I were finishing up watching some show on the television. It was about 11:30 PM and we heard a thud on the back deck and all of a sudden my daughter Abigail cried out, we are being rolled and jumped and I cut on the back yard lights to see the trees everywhere, fences, yard just completely littered with toilet paper everywhere and as the lights came on Abby and jumped out on the deck. She saw somebody scurrying like a cockroach into the shadows. We went in the front and the back trying to find the perpetrators and we could not find them. The next day I went out and cleaned up hours of clean I found the packaging these toilet paper rolls, recording the package were supersized twice as big as a normal role and I found evidence for at least 48 of them in my back yard and then sometime afterward week. A few weeks later my wife call me. She said you have received a strange envelope in the mail primitive handwriting on the front. She said shall open it. I said yes open it and inside was the black male letter. It is one of those where every letter is been cut out from a magazine to spell the words you know like a serial blackmailer would do and it read Pastor Alan. We are the people who rolled your yard please put us in your sermon and we won't do it again and then it says make it good. Thanks. Cut out for miscellaneous pictures of the men in their and so here it is in the sermon. And it's good right is a babel of the guy's voice is sort of like that, that if you were to really hear from God that it would be something like you know have you cleaned up the mess and will you do these things and if so I will bring that kind of mess in your life again and I'm here to tell you that's not the way of God. I get I get a little bit of understanding of how God might feel because as pastor. I've come to realize over the years that oftentimes if I call somebody that I don't regularly talk to all the time, the pastor, the senior pastor calls they think something must be wrong this past week. It happened to me twice. I won the first. I was just at the Wake Forest basketball game was on Valentines night actually was late game I look down the road from me.

Solemn friend, a parishioner and his wife sitting down to try to get their tensioning I can get the attention. I looked over and this is parishioner and and and I caught him in the middle of the basketball game, and a big yawn and so on. Try to get his attention again to make fun of them and then decided to so I called and they didn't answer and then little bit later in game I called again. He didn't need an answer again got over and 1115 and run home and my phone rings and he said I see that you called and I said I know is so late I know you back but but you my wife she saw you called twice. He said it, but it's a must be an emergency call in and I sit it is an emergency. I saw you yawn it the Wake Forest basketball for bed. Then another thought is we and that there presently and she called and she said I see I see that you call and I said I'd I don't believe I called you and I must've been one of those accidental dials of the phone and she said well good she's I thought maybe you might die and so let me just say you know if I call you. It might be good.

Actually I maybe maybe nobody died. Maybe you know Zana Lubell, God must feel about this is only of God comes and shows up people. I also know this God he's got something to say to me and today's story we see just the opposite. No way this discouraged and depressed prophet who had really run from the Lord and become so depressed that he didn't want to live anymore. And God came and fed him and will see today is that having been encouraged and strengthened by the Lord. He still aimless and confused and God comes and speaks to him in a wonderful way… Look at the story.

It is a well-known and beautiful story we learn about God's still small voice talent right will have more teaching moment from today's important series feel like something is holding you back as if you lack an important scene that could change everything. Is there someone you love, peace and stack them back child. What's missing blessing on the faith filled vision spoken over, I learned you can learn how to embrace who practice a blessing to Pastor Alan writes new, but charitable acts which quickly became an Amazon number one bestseller after 370s until now the hardcover book has only been available through retail sales this month. Allen Wright ministries once to send you the I thank you for your demo send this not only received a best-selling book also receive a free session video place in which Pastor Alan teaches how to blast and covers content not found in about a video course includes a detailed study guide perfect for personal growth or small group discussion.

Make your gift today discovered the power to blast the gospel is shared when you get to Allen Wright ministries when you get today. We will send you a special offer. We are in our final days of offering the special product. We are happy to send this to you as I thanks from Allen Wright ministries, seven 877-544-4860 877-544-4861 come to our website. Pastor Alan.work.

Today's teaching now continues you once again is Allen writing what happens in verse nine, is that he came to a cave and lodged in it and will hold the word of the Lord came to him and he said to him what you doing here, Elijah you you need. Always pay attention when an omniscient being asked you a question that God knows everything. So if he asks Elijah a question, it's not because God needs information, it's because Elijah needs transformation is interesting within the Jewish culture, especially amongst the rabbis is a common practice to answer a question with a question. Once a student came to his rabbi and said rabbi. Why is it that whenever I asked you a question you just answer with a question in the rabbis that so what's so wrong with the question you know Jesus did this, he he often did this am I going to say something like good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life and instead of immediately answering is a whiny, good because usually ask a question and it it makes you think, which enabled you to grow is sometimes our children, they might have an assignment to write an essay or something in. And since I'm sort of the writer and the family that might come to me and said I can't think of anything like this essay on which I do it on. Well, you know, I could think of five good ideas right then, but just saying here's what is right on here. Let me give you an outline that doesn't help child as is. I will what are you interested in regarding this era of history. What makes you curious what causes you to pause what disturbs you about this subject that you would've the thing that surprises you. This is how you're going to discover what you should write about. In other words you you want to answer question because you want them to be able to grow so that part of this is it that God wants him to grow and I think the second part of it.

As he asked the question because God cares in office sometime if you take time to listen and you didn't answer my question and just listen. You might give them the most precious gift that they've ever had. Just a caring friends of mine is God becomes Elijah's therapist, at least for a few moments, Elijah.

What are you doing here tell me what's going on with you Elijah on listening and even though Elijah's words are not accurate and his feelings are not really grounded in truth there still feelings and that something we try to remind ourselves in our home visit. Feelings are feelings and therefore their valid.

If you want to tell someone how you're feeling. When I went immediately seek to disqualify that, but sometimes what we need to do is just listen and if you could listen before you try to fix somebody might really help a Mineo God does that.

This is a question that I think there really is a question that is designed to help Elijah admit his aimlessness at this point in his life because the question what are you doing here is in the first place is a Elijah what you doing what you doing well. I'm just here in this cave talk and you God what you what you what you doing well. I won this great battle at Mount caramel is amazing. I showed up there God that was awesome in then you know I did get discouraged. But now, all along journey 40 day journey and I'm gonna come here to mount her. I know I know all that legible. What you what you doing in this season of your life. Maybe eventually I did kind of admit doing so well. I'm not really doing anything right now I don't know what to do. Getting in touch with his aimlessness and is not using what you do anything we doing here. You always assumed that Elijah went to Mount Horeb which is probably the same place as Mount Sinai where Moses got the 10 Commandments always assumed Elijah went there because God and told him to, but the more I study this tax. The more I realize that that's not really the case. Elijah, when God says what you doing here, Elijah doesn't say what you told me to come here and and furthermore it is a B in the study. It is as he traveled 40 days and 40 nights, which could be a figure of speech just meaning a really long time or could be literal, but in either event, it was more time than what was needed for him to be able to travel there. What are you doing here since you know it's interesting if you if you think about this if you could see this on a map, you would realize that that what he did was he started at at at Mount caramel with this huge victory and then pay he runs 17 miles to Jezreel nearby where a cab had a summer home and then he gets discouraged as 100 miles south to Beersheba into the wilderness and God comes and feeds him with supernatural food and with the strength of that food the text as he traveled 40 days to mount home.

It was Horeb which signs at the southern tip of the Sinai Peninsula 200 miles to the south. So is now 300 miles south of Mount caramel but if you look at the tax where it is God telling his real ministries going to be next is is you going back to Damascus. You can anoint a king. There he said he is over 300 miles away from anywhere they God had a plan for him. What's interesting is that this whole journey down through the Sinai Peninsula. That is, as was 40 days. This is the same wilderness that the people of God wandered in for 40 years after they refused to take the promise land. So what has happened here is that inner journey that even if you were to go the 200 miles from Beersheba down to Mount Horeb. We know that it was expected in that time.

According to a unusual text in Deuteronomy chapter 1 verse two says that from an area near Beersheba down to Mount Sinai that it is about an 11 days journey at most you should take 10 or 11 days to journey down there, but he spent 40 days. What has he been doing. He just wandering until he finds himself in a cave on Mount Horeb. Maybe he just said to himself with. This is where Moses came. This is a holy mountain. He just going aimlessly. That's what this is a picture of is the aimlessness of the mighty profit and how God comes to verse 10 a Elijah said, I've been very jealous for the Lord, the God of hosts for the people of Israel forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword and I even I only, am left, and they seek my life to take away is a whole lot I and me in my language in this is an I've been very jealous for the people had been I have been, even II only left in the contract, take my life away inside thing that we could become self absorbed and aimless.

At the same time but actually they go hand-in-hand all day because when you really know where you're going on a mission from God, not think about yourself so much but when you're aimless, you wake up everyday: one must first be doing was my role was doing, why my here when I doing and so God comes to him. Mercifully, in the middle of this man's life that's without direction.

Verse 11 and he said go out and stand on the mount before the Lord, and behold, the Lord passed by in a great and strong wind toward the mountains and broke in pieces the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind.

Sounds like me like a tornado like a tornado that would've just swept them away. If he had been in a K and after the wind and earthquake but the Lord was not in the earthquake. The ground shook could have been a huge rock slide.

Everything like it's falling apart, or when in the and then after that a fire but the law was not in the fire. There is a tornado, earthquake, tectonic plates are shifting in a fire that is not a little campfire to warm himself by but a brush fire that is unbridled and consuming everything in its path. The forces of nature, demonstrating the glory and the power of God and yet God manifests all of these grand things and then reveal himself in the next. This mountain where Moses had met with God and the people weren't even allowed to touch the mountain because it was too holy and Moses was meeting with God. This mountain where God put Moses in the cleft of a rock and all the greatness of God. See that's not what Elijah needed at the moment. Elijah already believed in the greatness of God. He had seen God do great things. What he needed something altogether different. It is possible to have seen the greatness of God and even be used by God for a great thing and feel distant from Elijah, you've experienced some very dramatic things is wonderful to walk with me.

The Lord is saying is, and about you having a Mount caramel every day. It's about you being close to my heart and me speaking to you and knowing that God is powerful and awesome is important, but that doesn't heal your heart something more and is Alan Wright today's teaching Elijah calls down fire it's from the series miracle man. It would get more to come.

In our next edition but Alan is also here in the studio would get more from Al in the moment. Stick with us for today's final word feel like something is holding you back as if you lack an important scene that could change everything. Is there someone you love to sing stack to help them out what's missing blessing.

We all need faith filled vision spoken over, I learned you can learn how to embrace the will practice a blessing to Pastor Alan writes new book, to Blacks, which quickly became an Amazon number one bestseller after 370s until now the hardcover book has only been available through retail sales this month. Alan Wright Ministries once send you the I thank you for your demo send this not only receive a best-selling book that you also receive a free session video place in which Pastor Alan teaches how to Blacks and covers content not found in the video course includes a detailed study guide perfect for personal growth or small group discussion. Make your gift today discovered the power to Blacks. The gospel is shared when you get to Alan Wright Ministries. We are happy to send this to you as I thanks from Alan Wright Ministries. We are in our final days of offering the special product, six 877-544-4860 877-544-4861 come to our website Pastor Alan.work Alan. Today's teaching is Elijah calls down fire and you said it so often. I'm glad you're sending it often is that these guys these gals from the Bible that we call heroes of our faith, no different than me, you know, I think that this is one of those in the series. I remember dangling nothing else. If that story.

This does not in a story that syncs up very well with the picture of a loving God, you know, going down fires of judgment. Well, we get to see some wonderful good news in this this really points us Daniel to how gracious God is that he sent Jesus to take the fire of his wrath for us and well we dive into this were diving deep into pictures of the gospel. Today's good news message is a listener supported production Alan Wright Ministries