Participants: P.C. Willis
Series Code: FC
Program Code: FC000207
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00:31 Greetings, friends, welcome to Faith Chapel.
00:34 I am Dr. P. C. Willis, 00:36 the Adult Ministries director for Lake Region Conference 00:39 of Seventh-day Adventists in Chicago. 00:43 And we welcome you here 00:44 as we study the Word of God today. 00:46 This study is entitled " "What doest thou here, Elijah?" 00:52 "What doest thou here?" 00:54 Let's consider this text, as we study this message. 01:00 It is found in 1 Kings 19:1-9. 01:07 "And Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, 01:11 and withal how he had slain 01:12 all the prophets with the sword. 01:15 Then Jezebel sent messenger unto Elijah, saying, 01:19 So let the gods do to me, and more also, 01:22 if I make not thy life as the life 01:25 of one of them by to morrow about this time. 01:30 And when he saw that, he arose, 01:33 and went for his life, and came to Beersheba, 01:37 which belongeth to Judah, and let his servant there. 01:41 But he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness, 01:45 and came and sat down under a juniper tree 01:48 and requested for himself that he might die 01:51 and said, it is enough now, O lord take away my life, 01:56 for I am not better than my fathers." 01:58 Stop right there for minute. 01:59 It's interesting if you want to do die 02:01 he should have stayed there let Jezebel kill him. 02:03 But now he is saying, take my life but he is running. 02:06 Verse 5 "And has he lay and slept under a juniper tree, 02:10 behold, then an angel touched him, 02:12 and said unto him, Arise and eat. 02:14 And he looked, and behold, 02:16 there was a cake baken on the coals, 02:19 and a cruse of water at his head. 02:21 And he did eat and drink, and laid him down again. 02:26 And the angel of the Lord came again the second time, 02:29 and touched him, and said, Arise and eat 02:31 because the journey is too great for thee. 02:34 And he arose, and did eat and drink, 02:36 and went in the strength of that meat 02:39 forty days and forty nights unto Horeb the mount of God. 02:45 He ran for 200 miles 02:47 and he came thither unto a cave, and lodged there 02:50 and behold, the Word of the Lord came to him, 02:53 and he said unto him, What doest thou here, Elijah? 03:00 Ladies and gentlemen, and Christian friends, 03:03 the import of this question has not lost the force 03:07 or pointedness to us as hearers today. 03:11 From the time it was asked some 3000 years ago. 03:16 In fact we are inextricably 03:18 joined to Elijah like Siamese twins. 03:21 Today as this question is asked by God 03:24 so quietly and yet so pointed. 03:28 Elijah was God's man with God's message. 03:31 We are God's children with God's message. 03:36 God doesn't have grandchildren, 03:38 stepchildren or any other type of missing family member 03:44 and neither is God an absent parent. 03:48 We are His children and He is our father, 03:53 we are brothers and sisters, 03:55 family members of the family of God. 03:59 Moreover we have God's message, 04:02 God's last message to give to a dying world gone insane. 04:07 We have the three angels' message of Revelation 14, 04:10 this is not a piece and safety message. 04:14 Elijah was special, I say again Elijah was special. 04:20 Let me tell you something ladies and gentlemen, 04:22 he looked special, he dressed special, 04:25 he worship special, he was a man 04:28 who prayed until something happen. 04:32 We are special. How special are we? 04:35 1 Peter 2:9 gives it clearly. 04:41 "But ye are a chosen generation, 04:43 a royal priesthood, a holy nation, 04:47 a peculiar people, that ye should shew 04:50 forth the praises of him 04:51 who hath called you out of darkness 04:54 into his marvelous light." 04:57 Ladies and gentlemen, God called us to be peculiar. 05:01 He didn't called us to be strange or clear. 05:06 One of my favorite writer states 05:09 in the book Fundamentals of Education 05:11 page 289, paragraph 1. 05:13 " There are many in the church 05:15 who at heart belong to the world, 05:17 but God calls upon those 05:19 who claim to believe the advanced truth, 05:22 to rise above the present attitude 05:25 of the popular churches today." 05:27 What do you mean popular churches today? 05:29 Friend, I read about a church in Texas 05:32 where the man had thousands of members. 05:35 In fact, they are going into a football stadium 05:38 and he is so careful about what he says. 05:41 He says he doesn't want to hurt anybody's feelings. 05:45 Friends, let me tell you something 05:47 I don't care if god hurts my feelings 05:49 as long as He saves me. 05:51 There are lot of people out there 05:52 who say they love the Lord and they are very sincere. 05:55 But according to the Bible they are sincerely wrong. 05:58 If you have to tell someone you're going the wrong way, 06:01 turned around, I don't care if it hurts their feeling 06:03 as long as they turn around. 06:05 They're some people who say, 06:06 "Oh, what you don't know can hurt you." 06:08 That's a lie. 06:09 It's a dark night, there is no lights anywhere. 06:12 The bridge is out and you're driving down the highway 06:14 at 65 miles an hour. 06:16 Oh, what you don't know can hurt you, that a lie. 06:19 If you go off that bridge, 06:20 if you go off the end of that road 06:21 you will be killed. 06:23 And that same logic ladies and gentlemen, 06:26 that its foolishness is applied where God is concerned. 06:30 People say oh, what you don't know can hurt you, 06:32 after all Gods gonna save everybody. 06:35 No, He is not. 06:36 To go to heaven you have to know something. 06:38 Friend's, heaven is free but it's not cheap 06:41 and if you want to go you must make provisions. 06:44 That's why the Bible states, Therefore be ye also ready, 06:47 for in such an hour the Son of Man cometh." 06:49 Such an hour when you think not, 06:51 the Son of Man cometh. 06:54 "Where is the self-denial today? 06:56 Where is the cross-bearing that Christ has said 06:59 should characterize His followers? 07:03 The reason we have had so little influence upon 07:07 unbelieving relatives and associates 07:10 is that we have manifested little decided difference 07:14 in our practices from those of the world. 07:17 Parents need to wake up and purify their souls 07:20 by practicing the truth in their home life. 07:23 When we reach the standard," 07:25 listen to this incredible statement, 07:26 "When we reach the standard 07:28 that the Lord would have us reach, 07:30 worldlings will regard Seventh-day Adventists 07:33 as odd, singular, strait-laced extremists. 07:38 'We are made a spectacle unto the world, 07:41 and to angels, and to men.' 07:44 " God wants His people to be different 07:47 not strange or clear, special. 07:52 Take courage, Elijah was a man, 07:56 a manly man, a man like us today. 08:00 In fact, in the NIV James 5:17 states 08:05 and I want you to see it. 08:06 "Elijah was a man just like us. 08:10 He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, 08:13 and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years." 08:18 Imagine God taking a man just like us, 08:23 and listening to him pray 08:26 and giving him the key to heaven 08:29 that it didn't rain for three and half years. 08:31 Oh, friend, are you a praying person? 08:34 Do you have the keys in your pocket? 08:40 You can if you are a praying person 08:44 and God will hear you and answer. 08:47 Elijah had a clear message. 08:49 Remember we are to pray until something happens. 08:53 Elijah had a clear message repent come back to God 08:57 and He will get you together. 08:58 He will take care of you. He will clean you up. 09:01 It was expressed to Israel on a mountain top as 09:04 "How long halt ye between two opinions?" 09:07 If the Lord be God follow him, 09:09 but if Baal then follow him. 09:11 We have a clear message 09:13 if any man worship the beast and his image 09:15 and receive his mark in his forehead or in his hand 09:19 the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God 09:22 which is pored out without mixture 09:24 into the cup of his indignation 09:26 and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone 09:29 in the presence of the Holy Angels 09:31 and in a presence of the lamb. 09:33 Understand clearly Elijah was sent 09:36 to fight against idolatry, 09:38 a false system of worship of Baal 09:41 headed by a wicked, 09:43 painted a bejeweled woman in called Jezebel. 09:47 Somebody ought to say, amen. 09:51 We have been called to fight against idolatry 09:54 a false system of worship called by God the great whore 09:59 Babylon the great, the mother of harlots, 10:01 the abominations of the earth 10:03 depicted in Revelation the 17th chapter 10:06 as a wicked, tainted up, bejeweled woman. 10:11 Elijah's job preach the word, our job preach the word. 10:17 Note carefully ladies and gentlemen, 10:19 Jesus said in Matthew 28:19, 20, 10:22 "Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, 10:25 baptizing them in the name of the Father, 10:26 the Son, and of the Holy Ghost." 10:28 Teaching them how many things? 10:29 Some things, part of the things? 10:31 No. 10:32 The Bible say its teaching them 10:33 all things what so ever I have commanded you 10:36 and low I am with you always 10:39 even until the end of the world. 10:43 Friends, before we go any further 10:45 I want you to know 10:46 that this message is a God conversion. 10:50 Oh, help me some by. How does God deal with sins? 10:54 This is not so much an examination of Elijah 10:58 but an examination of God and how he deals with sinners. 11:03 So that you can take courage on how God is dealing with you. 11:09 Here is a man Elijah with a high and holy calling 11:13 and here we are with a high and holy calling. 11:17 But this man Elijah is imbued with a special job, 11:20 a machine as it work and yet human 11:24 given to extreme highs and very low lows. 11:28 How does God react to a man like that? 11:31 How does God react to us? 11:34 Here is the man running from Jezebel. 11:37 Get the picture, he has done wonders 11:39 in the side of the people 11:42 when the fire fell Elijah said catch those men 11:46 and don't let one escape. 11:48 And they marched 450 prophets 11:51 of Baal down to the river Jabbok 11:53 and Elijah with his own hand killed all of them. 11:56 And then he went up to look for water. 11:59 Here he is he told Ahab get yourself together 12:01 of course I hear the sound of an abundance of rain. 12:04 And after he prayed seven times 12:06 and his servant comes back and says. 12:08 "What do you see?" 12:09 I see your hand, a cloud about 12:11 the half the size of a man hands 12:13 and Elijah takes off running. 12:15 He leads Ahab down the mountain side. 12:20 Ladies and gentlemen, he is a tired man. 12:22 He lays down to sleep 12:24 and he is awaken out of that sleep 12:25 with a message from Jezebel. 12:29 What is that message? 12:31 About this time to morrow, you going to be like 12:33 one of those men of mine that you killed, 12:36 and Elijah takes off running 12:39 because, he heard a message from a wicked woman. 12:43 What gets you to running? 12:44 What causes you to jump up and run for your life? 12:48 In fact, he is running so hard he had the leave is messenger. 12:52 He is moving, he is breaking 12:54 Olympic track records, running from a message. 12:58 What gets you running? Is it a letter in the mail? 13:01 Is it somebody who whispers they're going to get you? 13:05 What causes you to take off running? 13:07 In fact, he has to leave his messenger 13:10 and he runs and he wraps himself 13:12 around a broom tree, a juniper tree. 13:15 It's a small scrub brush that people would take 13:18 and use it as a broom. 13:19 Its so small he has to curl himself 13:22 around it to get shape 13:23 and here he is out here praying Lord, 13:25 take me, take me. 13:27 He falls asleep under a juniper tree 13:29 and asked to die. 13:30 The Bible says so how does God react? 13:33 He sends an angel to feed him. 13:36 The angel, "arise and eat." 13:39 There is no record that Elijah even thanked the angel. 13:41 He is so exalted, he falls back to sleep. 13:44 The angel touches him again 13:46 the journey is too hot for thee. 13:49 This is how God deals with sinners. 13:54 How do you deal with them? 13:56 When you learn about somebody in the church 13:58 that has done something wrong what do you do? 14:00 Is there a gossip session? 14:02 In which you dissect, and re-dissect the incident 14:05 with relish or do you invite them into a meal 14:08 come on sit down let's talk. 14:12 God's first reaction 14:14 to a prophet gone wrong is this. 14:16 He sends an angel and feeds him two meals. 14:21 This lets me known number one, 14:23 God does not forsake me when things go wrong. 14:26 All happy day, 14:28 I am glad God promise never to leave me alone 14:32 and the devil is intent on convicting us 14:35 just the opposite. 14:37 When you've done wrong you're not just alone 14:41 trapped in your cocoon of loneliness 14:44 but those demons come and exaggerate the problem. 14:47 Look at what you did. 14:49 There's no need to pray, God's not gonna here you, 14:53 go on get in the bed 14:55 and take your chances in the night. 14:59 Oh, friend, too many people are listening 15:01 to the testimony of demons. 15:03 I want you to get this 15:04 when Jesus cast out demons out of people 15:07 and He had shut them up, because they were testify. 15:10 Have you come to tournament me before my time? 15:12 And that's where people are there 15:13 think of the serve God they will be tormented. 15:16 Can you imagine that? God says give me your heart. 15:20 Oh, its torment, its torment. 15:22 You're listening to the testimony of demons. 15:25 Do you believe God or do you believe demons? 15:29 Why don't you give your heart to Jesus? 15:32 Satan would have you believe friends, 15:36 that it's no use serving God that when you fall 15:39 you're just in trouble and you keep on falling. 15:42 That's not so. 15:44 If you're in difficulty you need to come back 15:47 to the one who loves you most in best. 15:50 If Satan knocks you down get up and come out swinging. 15:54 If he backs you into a corner come out fighting. 15:57 You must fight the good fight of faith 15:59 believing God and doing what He said 16:03 put it on the whole armor of God 16:05 don't leave home with out it. 16:07 It's better than American Express. 16:09 Give yourself to Jesus 16:10 and be prepared to meet the enemy 16:13 by putting on what God has given you 16:16 so that you might be victorious in your Christian fight. 16:19 I want you to know ladies and gentlemen, 16:22 that I've got good news for you. 16:24 God love you. 16:26 He loves you when you're up 16:27 and He loves you when you're down. 16:29 He is the God of the high and He is the God of the low 16:33 and He just loves sinners. 16:36 He came all the way from heaven down to save sinners. 16:40 Now this does not glorify sin or popularize sinners. 16:45 Oh, no, friends, what it says is this. 16:48 You're never really alone and He is only a prayer away. 16:53 If you don't believe what I've just said 16:55 that God does not for sake of us when we are down 16:58 or leave us when things go wrong, 17:00 He doesn't called the angels together 17:03 for a worship gossip session 17:06 but His great heart is broken 17:08 and His great arm of love reaches a little longer 17:11 than it ordinarily would to get us back. 17:14 Just ask Adam. 17:16 If you don't believe him ask Samson. 17:20 If you don't believe Samson ask David. 17:23 If you don't believe him ask Jacob. 17:26 If you don't believe him ask Peter. 17:28 If you don't believe him ask Paul. 17:31 If you don't him ask me. 17:34 God says my strength is made perfect in weakness. 17:40 God love to lift up the fallen and care for the dying. 17:45 God loves to bring the lost back home. 17:49 So the angel wakes up the Aaron prophet 17:53 and says arise and eat 17:57 the journey is too hot for thee. 18:00 Oh, just remember this friend, 18:02 the journey is always hard 18:04 when you're run in away from God. 18:05 The Bible says that the way 18:07 of the transgressor is the hard. 18:11 Its better not to go down that road 18:14 you've got to come back the same way. 18:18 Give yourself to Jesus. 18:20 Elijah arose and did eat and drink 18:24 and when went in the strength of that meal 18:28 forty days and forty nights and the Horeb the mount of God. 18:32 Now let's pause right here 18:34 and give credit to God superior diet plan. 18:38 Forty days and nights on one meal 18:40 more than 200 miles on one meal. 18:44 What kind of a meal was that? 18:47 We may not know what it was, 18:49 but we certainly know what it was 18:51 an according to Leviticus 11 and Deuteronomy 14 18:54 we know it wasn't cat fish or pig tails, 18:57 it wasn't oysters or pork chops, 18:59 it was God's diet plan. 19:03 And if you just try-- 19:05 if you will just try it like Daniel 19:07 for 10 days you will be so much the better for it. 19:11 Remember, Daniel was 10 times better 19:15 than all the men in Babylon 19:18 because of just 10 days eating God's diet. 19:23 Remember ladies and gentlemen, 19:25 healthy body, healthy mind. 19:27 You can eat crocked and think straight. 19:31 God wants you to be healthy in body and mind 19:35 so that you can show forth the praises of God. 19:41 Here Elijah gets to a cave and the word of the Lord 19:43 came to him and God ask him 19:45 "What doest thou here, Elijah?" 19:50 This is a time when God could have crowded in on him 19:53 and beat him up but He didn't do that. 19:56 He simply asked him a question? 19:59 What doest thou here? 20:01 Isn't this interesting? 20:02 It's just like us looking at a friend and say 20:05 what were you thinking? 20:07 Here is God looking at His prophet who ran 20:10 because a woman said a rumor about him 20:13 and he took off running, running. 20:17 Its not the first time people ran 20:18 when they was serving the Lord. 20:20 Here are the disciples in a boat. 20:23 Can you imagine this they are in a boat with Jesus, 20:25 Jesus is just fed the 1000's with a few loafs and fishes 20:29 and the people wanted to name him king. 20:30 He says, no lets get in the boat lets go 20:32 and they get in a boat 20:33 and Satan says I am gonna kill him now. 20:35 Let's get Him right now. Let's get a storm going here. 20:37 He is a prince of the power of the air. 20:38 So, he wants to wipe them out 20:40 and here is Jesus sleep in the back of the boat 20:42 and these sailors they knew how to handle the boat. 20:45 They've been in storm before 20:46 but they'd not seen a storm like this 20:48 and only when they tried everything but failed 20:52 did they remember Jesus. 20:53 Friend's sometimes we waste time 20:56 doing it our way like Frank. 20:58 I did it my way, you can't do it like Frank, 21:03 why don't you do it like God. 21:05 Give yourself to Him, save yourself some sweat, 21:08 some hurting some bumps. 21:10 Only when they remembered Jesus 21:12 that they call upon Him 21:13 and Jesus always responds to a call for help. 21:16 And they cried out to Him 21:18 Oh, Lord, don't you care that we perish? 21:21 And Jesus stood up and the literal translation 21:25 is in the Greek, 21:26 Jesus said shut up 21:29 and unbeatably there was a great calm 21:31 and unbeatably the boat was at shore 21:33 and the disciples are wondering, 21:34 what manner of man as this 21:36 that even the winds and waves obey Him? 21:39 But Satan is not through with Him yet. 21:41 He comes at them with two demoniacs 21:44 out of the tomb naked, 21:45 broken chains and they're filled with 6,700 demons, 21:51 two men and they take off running 21:53 a mildly down the beach and finally somebody says 21:56 where is Jesus and when they turn around 21:58 here He is again with His hands up. 22:00 Jesus always had His hands up. 22:03 Let me tell you something friend, 22:04 would it be wonderful if you were so full of the Holy Ghost 22:07 that when trouble came you would just lift your hand 22:09 and it will stop there. 22:10 Are you a praying person? It does stop there. 22:14 God says if you call upon Him 22:18 "He will answer you, 22:19 and show you great and mighty things, 22:20 which thou knowest not." 22:22 Jesus stopped those demons with His hand. 22:26 And I want you to note He stopped the demons 22:30 but when the men got back 22:33 they discovered those men were clothed 22:35 in their right minds and the demons were gone. 22:37 What happened? 22:38 They say well, we couldn't kill Him in the boat, 22:40 we couldn't kill Him with the demoniacs. 22:42 Let's stop them with a financial burden. 22:45 Let us go to these hogs over here. 22:46 Two thousand hogs that sounds like three demons per hog. 22:50 Can you imagine that? 22:51 Demons even make hogs crazy 22:54 and they rush down into the water and drown. 22:56 And when the people came all they could think about 22:59 was their financial loss. 23:01 Satan couldn't get them in the storm, 23:03 he couldn't get them with demon possession 23:06 but he got them when people considered the financial loss. 23:11 The testimony of demons again, 23:13 have you come here to torment me? 23:15 Friends, do you think 23:16 that's what Jesus does when He comes? 23:19 Some people act like that if they were to heaven 23:21 Jesus will take them and throw them in jail. 23:24 He didn't come for that He said the reason I have come 23:27 is that you might have life, inhabit more abundantly. 23:31 Here He is speaking to His child. 23:33 What are you doing here? 23:34 And that's the question to us today. 23:37 What are you doing? 23:39 Don't you know that you are loved, 23:41 wanted for give it an understood? 23:43 What do with thou here? What is in on your mind? 23:47 Have you given up on God, 23:48 your marriage, your children, life, 23:50 are you running from the church? 23:52 What are you doing? 23:53 Revelation 22:12 states it's an incredible text, 23:57 "And, behold, I come quickly, and my reward is with me, 24:01 to give every man according as his work shall be. 24:04 And again in Revelation 3:11 it is an encouragement. 24:09 Note, carefully it states, "Behold, I come quickly, 24:12 hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown." 24:17 That means you're to hold on to your crown tightly 24:21 with both hands. 24:22 Don't let go of God. 24:24 The connotation is that there are special angels 24:27 who are just there to make crowns. 24:29 And friends, I have a big head, 24:31 my head is a special shape 24:33 it takes a lot of work for me to get a hat. 24:35 My crown is special 24:36 and nobody's got to take my crown 24:39 they may get your's 24:40 but they are not gonna get mine. 24:41 Are you holding fast that you have 24:43 that no men take your crown? 24:45 God says I can handle Jezebel. 24:47 Buck up friend, pull up your socks, dry your eyes, 24:50 what are you doing here? What are you doing? 24:55 It may be fine for hours 24:58 to live like they jotted well please 25:00 but not you, you know better you've been change. 25:02 You're saved, sanctified, wash by the water 25:05 and the blood plucked as a bran from the fire. 25:08 You are different. 25:10 So, God tells us "Cast not away therefore your confidence, 25:13 which hath great recompence of reward.," 25:16 that's Hebrews 10:35. 25:21 Note carefully it says ye have need of patience, 25:24 that, after ye have done the will of God, 25:26 ye might receive the promise. 25:28 For yet a little while, and he that shall come 25:30 will come, and will not tarry." 25:33 Further more Matthew 7:13, 14 25:36 informs us note carefully God says, 25:39 "Enter ye in at the strait gate" 25:40 S-T-R-A-I-T straighten us here "for wide is the gate, 25:44 and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, 25:46 and many there be which go in thereat. 25:49 Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, 25:52 which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it. 25:55 Thirdly, what doest thou here? 25:59 What are you doing friend, at the jewelry counter, 26:01 the night club, the theater, the motel, the liquor stone, 26:04 the coffee shop, that divorce court? 26:06 What are you doing there getting something 26:10 engraved on your body 26:13 hiding in a cave of shame as it were 26:15 thinking you are the only one whoever had setbacks, 26:19 breakdown's forgotten God 26:21 and have been overtaken by certain fear? 26:24 Do you think like that? 26:25 Take courage God's word does not change, 26:28 God does not change. 26:29 He wants you to have back bone 26:31 all taste and see that the Lord is good. 26:35 God puts His word to the test. 26:37 Do you know God? 26:38 He sends in earth, wind and fire 26:40 but they are program is ineffective 26:41 in moving the man of God 26:43 then the still small voice 26:45 and He wraps His face and comes out. 26:48 I am so happy that Jesus speaks a second time 26:52 that's His emo to meet God 26:54 we must come out of the cave 26:55 of what everybody else is doing 26:58 we must acknowledged that God is God 26:59 and knows what's best for us 27:01 and the fact that God does not change. 27:03 Know would how God response to His servant. 27:06 He tells Him return. 27:08 The same way He came, He's got to go back. 27:10 Return, friend. 27:11 By the way of the wilderness, 27:13 God has thousands that have not bow 27:15 their knee to Baal, nor kissed him. 27:17 God says I have yet 7,000 in Israel, 27:21 all knees which have not bowed unto Baal. 27:23 Somebody is going to be saved, 27:25 it might as well be us. 27:27 Everybody is not going to hell, 27:28 somebody is going to heaven. 27:30 Friends, let's choose to go to heaven. 27:33 God has 7,000 men who left their wives, 27:35 7,000 men who raised their children, 27:38 7,000 who will stand 27:39 for the right of the heaven fall, 27:41 let's join God 7,000. 27:43 Let's be men in women for Christ 27:45 and let God save us. 27:48 God bless you is my prayer. |
Revised 2014-12-17