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"Elijah" Tagged Sermons

FAITH DEMANDS UNCERTAINTY

Chuck Swindoll in his commentary ON ACTS:
“The Lord used the old covenant to prove that HEARING the word of God isn’t our primary problem. HEEDING the word of God is our constant challenge. With the inauguration of the new covenant, our Master has taken a different approach. Instead of standing before us to issue orders, He now lives within us to transform our minds (Romans 12:1-2) so that we begin to think His thoughts. As the Spirit gradually takes over, defeating our old, selfish, vain, foolish manner of life, we begin to cherish what God cherishes, make decisions according to His values, and view life from His eternal perspective.” Chuck Swindoll
In his essay on prayer, C.S. Lewis suggested that God treats new Christians with a special kind of tenderness, much as a parent does with a newborn. He quotes an experienced Christian: “I have seen many striking answers to prayer and more than one that I thought miraculous. But they usually come at the beginning before conversion, or soon after it. As the Christian life proceeds, they tend to be rarer. The refusals, too, are not only more frequent; they become more unmistakable, more emphatic.”
C.S. Lewis asks: “Does God then forsake just those who serve Him best? Well, He who served Him best of all said, near His tortured death, “Why hast thou forsaken me?” When God becomes man, that Man, of all others, is least comforted by God, at His greatest need. There is a mystery there which, even if I had the power, I might not have the courage to explore. Meanwhile, little people like you and me, if our prayers are sometimes granted, beyond all hope and probability, had better not draw hasty conclusions to our own advantage. If we were stronger, we might be less tenderly treated. If we were braver, we might be sent, with far less help, to defend far more desperate posts in the great battle.”
The philosopher Soren Kierkegaard, in his book “Philosophical Fragments”
“Christians remind me of schoolboys who want to look up the answers to their math problems in the back of the book rather than work them through.”
“Faith like Job’s cannot be shaken because it is the result of having been shaken.” Rabbi Abraham Heschel

The Lamb Of God

Why did John call for a water baptism?
The ritual of water baptism was applied to Gentiles, unclean people, who wanted to convert to Judaism. Ritual baptism was never administered to Jews, only to non-Jews who converted to Judaism. Why? Because Gentiles were considered unclean and needed to go through a purification rite, to take a bath – in order to be welcomed and received into the covenant community of Israel.
However, John the Baptist primarily directed his calls for repentance to Jews. With that, he told Israel “the Messiah is about to arrive but you are not ready for Him. It is you, the people of Israel,that are unclean. That’s the reason why John called the Jews to submit to a ritual of cleansing that up to this point had been administered only to Gentiles. The typical procedure when a Gentile was going through the proselyte baptism, he was never baptized by a Levite or by a priest, who normally performed all the other purification rites in Israel. The convert was to baptize himself. No wonder the religious leaders asked themselves: Who does this man think he is, to call us, the children of Abraham, to undergo a cleansing rite?
The Lamb of God is also prefigured in the Passover, when God prepared to bring His final plague on the Egyptians, the death of every firstborn male of the Egyptians, including the crown prince of the Pharaoh (Exodus 12:3-31). Just as the blood of the lamb caused the people of Israel to be spared from God’s wrath, the Lamb of God redeemed His people from the penalty that was due for their sin.

The Power of Religion

The false Christ and the false Prophet will precede the Real Christ. Jesus clearly teaches that truth. He also reveals to us that before the final false Christ, which we know as the Anti-Christ, will come, there will be many false Christ’s and many false prophets who claim to be the one or who claim to speak on behalf of the real Christ. The false prophet will be the spiritual leader of the world religions, claiming to represent God Almighty. It will be one of the most incredible deceptions the world will ever witness.
This second beast is necessary to show up on the world stage to complete the counterfeit trinity. This beast counterfeits the holy spirit in the person of the False Prophet.
Remember, Jesus himself confirmed to His disciples that the prophet Elijah will come BEFORE THE GREAT AND DREADFUL DAY. The whole world will be in amazement. This must be the resurrected Elijah. Remember, the one of the signs that symbolizes the Holy Spirit is FIRE. This false prophet will be able to do the same.
Just as the Holy Spirit brings all true born-again believers into one body, so the false prophet will bring all religions of the world into one body. While the antichrist, which will be in charge of the political and economical system of the entire world, he needs the false prophet to legitimize his office. Finally, during the tribulation period, Satan will have his master piece in place, the RELIGEOUS LEADER OF THIS WORLD WILL DEMAND THAT ALL PEOPLE ON THIS EARTH MAKE AN IMAGE TO THE BEAST, THE POLITICAL LEADER OF THIS WORLD.

He Will Reign Forever

It is important that we understand the spiritual battle in the heavenly places that is going on here and how Satan will fight to the bitter end. Yet, as foretold by the prophets of old, God the Father will give everything to His Son Jesus Christ, and He will reign forever and ever. There is no alternative. The great day is at hand.
In other words, signs and wonders do not make the gospel believable. When Jesus walked on this earth, He performed many incredible miracles and gave them many signs, yet these same people who saw those miracles and heard him preach God’s wisdom rejected Him and killed Him.
When these two witnesses preach and perform signs and wonders, the people will listen but also reject their message. Instead of embracing the truth, they will kill those two witnesses and rejoice over their death.

The Two Witnesses

Knowledge of things to come should give all of us a burden for people around us. We cannot stop with the sweet knowledge and forget to warn the people around us and show them the way of escape. This is one of the reasons why I personally love the prophetic Scripture. It is wonderful to see the Revelation of Jesus Christ in all His glory, and yet, at the same time it will give you a burden for the lost like nothing else will.
The two witnesses are referred to as olive threes due to the fruit they bear during the time of their witness. It’s a slow growing tree which reaches a great age and bears fruit until it dies. Before dying, however, new branches sprout from its roots. Likewise, the two witnesses are to be killed. Thus, the olive tree typifies the death of the witnesses and the results of their witnessing; that is, they sprout new converts. The olive tree fruit was harvested by beating the branches of the tree with a stick or by shaking the tree.
Enoch is a picture of the Rapture of the church. Those who WALK WITH GOD will go, and those who walk according to the world will stay where they love to be and live. We, as witnesses of Christ today must WALK WITH GOD LIKE ENOCH WALKED WITH GOD AND ONE DAY, THE LORD WILL TAKE US HOME.