David Raynor: The Elijah Project
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It's good to be able to worship God together, isn't it? In freedom? I've been very struck recently by the person of Elijah, not just as a prophet in the Old Testament, but as a notable figure in the New Testament and beyond.
Well, when I say I'm beyond, I mean into us, into our generation. It says in James 517 Elijah was as human as we are. He was a man just like us. I find that both encouraging and challenging. To think that a man like that could be compared to a man like me, it blows my mind. Really. But that's the word of Scripture.
But Elijah was an outstanding prophet in the Old Testament. But he is one strange man because he also appears in the New Testament in person and is also outstanding because Scripture says of him, an Elijah figure will come before Messiah comes under Elijah figure will come again before Jesus comes again. Second Coming. Final Judgment. So Elijah in three stages and in stage three, it involves you and me.
That's the exciting bit I want to. I've called this the Elijah Project because it is projecting Elijah from the Old Testament through the New Testament and into the conclusion of all things. He is involved all the way through. If you have a Bible and you know where to find the Book of Malachi, if you don't, I'll tell you it's the last book of the Old Testament and Chapter four I'm reading in the New Living Translation.
Chapter four of Malachi. In the first verse, God talks about judgment that's coming. But in verse two, he says, But for you who fear my name, The son of righteousness will rise with healing in his wings. Guess who that is? Who is that? Who is that? Jesus. Come on. The son of righteousness with healing in his wings. And you will go free, leaping with joy like calves left out to pasture.
What if we heard that before this morning? On the day when I act, you will tread upon the wicked as if they were dust under your feet, says the Lord Almighty. And then he says, Remember to obey the instructions of my servant, Moses. All the laws and regulations that I gave him on Mount Sinai for all Israel. And then he says, Look, I am sending you the prophet Elijah.
Now, this is Malachi. Hundreds of years after Elijah was actually on the earth. Intriguing, isn't it? I am sending you the Prophet Elijah. Before the great and dreadful day of the Lord arrives. The great and dreadful day of the Lord is yet to happen. That is judgment. That is when Jesus comes back the second time. His preaching will turn the hearts of parents to their children and the hearts of children to their parents.
Otherwise, I will come and strike the land with a curse. So that's the very end of the Old Testament. There was then a gap of 400 years when it seems as if God was silent. I think it was just that people didn't hear what he was saying, to be honest.
And in that time, the land of Israel was occupied by Persians and Egyptians and then Syrians and the Greeks and now the Romans. When we get to the New Testament, the nation appeared to have lost its identity and its sense of destiny. But then, at the beginning of the Gospels accounts the Gospel of Luke, we read in Luke chapter one, verse 17 that the Angel of the Lord came to a man called whose wife Elizabeth, he was told, would bring forth a son, although she was past childbearing age, and this son would be a man with the spirit and power of Elijah, and he would precede coming of the Lord, preparing the people for his
arrival. So that's the first coming of Jesus and this representation of is the man we know as John the Baptist. He came as the forerunner, the Herald of the Messiah. We turn now to Matthew, Chapter 17, and we'll read the account of what's known as the Transfiguration. The amazing Occurrence, particularly for Peter, James and John, who saw things that nobody else had seen or would see again.
Matthew 17, verse one. Six days later, Jesus took Peter and the two brothers, James and John, and led them up a high mountain. As the men watched Jesus's, his appearance changed so that his face shone like the sun and his clothing became dazzling white. Suddenly, Moses and Elijah appeared and began talking with Jesus. That's why I said that Elijah didn't just appear in the old Testament.
Is there in the New Testament in person? Peter blurted out, Lord, this is wonderful. If you want me to, I'll make three shrines, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah. Peter was still ministering on good ideas rather than on what God said. But even as he said it, a bright cloud came over them and the voice from the cloud said, This is my beloved son and I am fully pleased with him.
Listen to him. The disciples were terrified and fell face down on the ground. Jesus came over and touched them. Get up, he said. Don't be afraid. And when they looked, they saw only Jesus with them. As they descended the mountain, Jesus commanded them. Don't tell anyone what you have seen until I, the son of man, have been raised from the dead.
His disciples asked, Why do the teachers have religious law insist that Elijah must return before the Messiah comes? Jesus replied, Elijah is indeed first to set everything in order. The NIV says, to restore all things. That's talking about the end times. It's not talking about Jesus first appearance. It's talking about a later occurrence. And then he says, But I tell you, he has already come.
Elijah has already come. But he wasn't recognized and he was badly mistreated. And soon the son of man will also suffer at their hands. Then the disciples realized he had been speaking of John the Baptist. So this is Elijah appearing with Moses on the mountaintop with Jesus. And Peter and James. And John must have thought, Wow, this Jesus that we've begun to follow.
He's not just any ordinary rabbi. He's on a par with Moses and Elijah. Isn't that wonderful.
In fact, God had to correct their belief. Firstly, with the. The voice of God himself. This is my son. This is my son. You see him on a par with Moses and Elijah. He isn't on a par. He's unique. He is the Messiah. My son. The one in whom I am well pleased. So we've got Elijah appearing in person on the mountaintop and Elijah spoken of by Jesus as, John the Baptist and Elijah spoken by Jesus as coming again at a future date.
So there's a line of ministry, if you like, comes all the way through from a remarkable Old Testament prophet through John the into the present age, because the representation of Elijah before Jesus returns is the church, the Church of Jesus Christ. It's interesting that that account of the transfiguration comes between chapters 16 and 18 of Matthew, where you'll find the only two occasions when Jesus actually used the word church.
And in both those chapters, he talks about the company of people who will bind and loose. They will bind things on Earth that not be there, and they will loose things from heaven that can be introduced. That is our responsibility. And it was said of Elijah that he was a man who would bind and loose. So Luke 117 Again, John the Baptist will come in the spirit and power of Elijah.
And then in Matthew, the church will have an Elijah style ministry so that everything will be restored and everything will be set in order. And the second coming of Jesus. So that's our responsibility. That's our Elijah project, if you like. And it involves binding and loosing what we pray, We're binding and loosing our way. We're binding injustice, we're binding poverty, we're binding sickness and we're releasing from heaven, justice, peace, righteousness, health.
That's why we pray. Yeah, Elijah was very good at this. He knew how to bind and loose with the authority of God. Remember, he proclaimed a drought in Israel and he bound up, as it were, the clouds for three years. So there was no rain and there was a drought. He remembers a contest with the prophets. A bell on the mountain, and he bound up their ability to produce fire.
They couldn't produce fire for that sacrifice. But he was also one who released He released the fire of God on his own sacrifice to prove to all those people, not just the Bell Prophets, but everybody watching. There is only one God, and this God does move by fire. And then shortly after that we find Elijah loosing those rain clouds again by prayer under the authority of God.
The drought was to come to an end and the rain would pour down. So I remind you again, Elijah. Elijah, according to James, 517 was a man just like us. Are you encouraged? You should be. Because God's intention is always to fulfill his vision. The prayer that Jesus told his followers, which many people say week after week. At the heart of it, is that whatever is in heaven will be reproduced on Earth.
Yeah, your kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. We have the privilege and the responsibility of making that happen by our ministry, by our praying, by the way that we live. Bear in mind, Elijah didn't have all the benefits that we have. He was living hundreds of years before the Son of God appeared on Earth.
We have the benefits of looking back to the time when Jesus was here as a man. Elijah didn't have the Scriptures that we have. Are we not fortunate to have the Word of God to be able to read all that God has done and all that God intends to do? Elijah didn't have that. He also lived in a day when the Spirit was not available, shall we say, wholesale.
The Spirit came upon individuals for for particular purposes at particular times. But now any Tom, Dick and Mary is available to the Holy Spirit. You and I are filled with the Spirit of God. Wow, what a privilege. We have to be the people of God in our generation. Now, there are three things I want to mention about Elijah, and it's at this point, I want to look back to what Dave Greg was talking about last week.
Thank you very much for that word. It was a powerful word, but you may feel in a moment or two that I've been pinching his ideas. I want you to know either. Either he got into my laptop and saw my notes, or it may just be that God has prompted two preachers in consecutive weeks to bring almost the same word because some of us are hard of hearing, some of us are slow learners, me included, and we need to hear things more than once.
Okay, so if you hear echoes from last week, that's a good thing. So what can we learn from Elijah as we focus on the word that God has given us that will be increased this year, that will be so much more in 24 that I did Pension drive, Greg. Okay. And number one, it is the same words that he used last week.
Provision. Okay. Provision I remember once is a few weeks ago now. I was leading on ties and offerings and I said then and I say now that when we get the clear vision of what God wants us to be doing, he will then bring the provision vision first. See where you're going, hear what God is saying, and go for it 100% and God will supply all your needs.
That's the way it works. Vision first and then provision. Now for Elijah, he declared God's imposition of a drought on Israel. The people and the King especially had to learn some important lessons. But while the drought was on, God made for Elijah. It wasn't exactly a weekly delivery from Waitrose because it was Ravens supplying him with meat. Can you believe that they didn't have health and safety in those days?
It's perhaps a good thing I would. I suppose if I was desperate, desperate I would. But just to picture that here comes a raven with some meat in its mouth. Of course I. Well, I'm desperately hungry. Perhaps I will. This is God's provision. Thank you, Lord. And he was camping by a stream. So that was his is liquid supply.
But then the stream dried up. The drought continued. But there's more provision. And again, it's not Fortnum Mason. It's a poor widow who is about to die of hunger. And Elijah is sent to her and he approaches and asks for a bite and a drink and she knows she has nothing whatsoever that she can offer him. She's about to bake the last meal that he she and her son will eat.
And that their expectation is we will die of hunger. And this man comes along and asks for food. How's that for a test of faith? You know, sometimes people try and bargain with God. They say, God, if you will heal me of this particular thing or heal that person, that dear friend of mine, then I will. I will tithe or I will pray more, or I will do whatever which I bargained with God.
It doesn't work like that. God says you ties. You do things my way and then see what provision I will bring. Get the vision first and the provision will follow. Elijah promises this poor lady that if she first gives him something to eat, she will then have enough for herself and her son, not just for one meal, but continuing.
And that's exactly what happened. The supply of flour and oil continued until the drought was finished. The provision of Almighty God for an insignificant little woman like that. And the man of God came to her. And you and I may think, Well, we're a bit like that woman. What have I got to offer in the service of God?
I'm not really that gifted. Well, if you've got something equivalent to a handful of flour and a few drops of oil, you have got something. You have got something. Every single one has got something to offer to God. And there are opportunities that the church provides, although not we had a carol service. It was lovely to see how many non church people were here for the Carol service.
We had a New Year's Eve do it like an Alice and our non church people there. They'd been invited. They came along. We've got an offer starting tomorrow. Wonderful opportunity. God's to meet people's spiritual needs. Burns night is coming. We invite friends, invite neighbors. I've got two neighbors coming. Hallelujah. God's provision through the church, through you and through me.
Whatever we have, we bring it to God and say, Lord, it's yours. I'm yours. You can have it. So number one provision. Number two, prayer. Let's look in. James. Chapter five, please. Verse 16. Thank you. Whoever's at the back there, Claire? Yes. Good job. Well done. James. 516 Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed.
The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and wonderful results. This is where we got the verse we mentioned earlier. Elijah was as human as we are, and yet when he prayed earnestly that no rain would fall. None fell for the next three and a half years. Then he prayed for rain and down it poured the grass turned green and the crops began to grow again.
The word earnest or earnestly comes in twice in those few verses, and it prompts the question How earnest are we in our praying? How earnest are we in our praying? Is the future of this church depended your prayers? Would it survive? I am asking myself not as well as you. How determined are we that God's kingdom will come, God's will will be done on Earth as it is in heaven?
I was too young to remember D-Day. When Allied troops were about to embark on a crucial phase of the Second World War, it was the invasion of Normandy. And the tide would turn. But I've since read how the president, President Roosevelt, the USA and King George the sixth both called their respective nations to prayer at that particular time.
You may. Was it desperation? Well, I'm sure there was an element of desperation. Yes. We'll do all we can. But please, God. Would you help us to quell this nasty stuff that's going on across the world? A god of justice and goodness. He's available for prayer. He makes himself available. And if we can engage with a God who loves righteousness, loves justice, loves goodness, why would we not?
And people did pray. And if we're serious about reaching our neighbors and our neighborhoods, reaching our nation, reaching the nations of the world, the one absolutely indispensable requirement is earnest and persistent prayer. There's no alternative.
A bit later on in the larger story. Sorry about that. The widow lady's son died and she thought to herself while what's happened here? I provided food and drink for this man, stayed in my home and now my sons died. So she asked Elijah to pray. Elijah cried out to God for the life of the boy, and nothing happened.
So he cried out to God a second time for the life of the boy, and nothing happened. So he shrugged his shoulders, walked away and said, well, that's tough in that. No, he didn't. You know he didn't. That would not be Elijah, would it? He prayed a third time. Cried out to God earnestly. And the boy was restored to life.
No, I know in the setting that we're in, we don't see 100% success. When we pray, we accept that the kingdom is yet to come in all its fullness. But the kingdom has come. The Kingdom here. Now. God's kingdom rule. And therefore, we can pray and should pray earnestly and persistently. And if don't see a result, we continue to pray, believing that God wants the best for us.
A bit further on in Elijah's life, He's on the top of Mount Carmel. He's demonstrated that his God is the one true God. Spectacular confrontation with those prophets of battle. But now it's time for the drought to end and arrange to come. One Kings 1842 tells us that Elijah climbed to the top of the mountain, bent down to the ground and put his face between his knees.
Not sure that that many of us could achieve that for this moment. I don't know. Maybe I misjudged you. Do you think he meant business with God? Do you think this was a man who was earnest in his praying? He prays for a while. He sends his servant to go and see if there's a cloud on the horizon.
The Lord returns no cloud. He prays some more. Sends the light again. Comes back. No cloud again. Did he decide he got the wrong day? Perhaps misheard what God was saying. Perhaps the drought was meant to continue. No. He prayed some more and he sent the light again to look for the cloud. And it was when the cloud went for the seventh time that he saw a cloud.
No bigger than a man's hand. Was that enough? Indeed, it was. The indication from, God, that his prayers were being answered. He caught the vision. He'd heard what God was saying. It prayed in line with that. Now God was fulfilling his word. So his word is gone. Tell King Ahab the rains are coming. And the record says the sky blue grew black with clouds.
The wind rose and a heavy rain came on. One man praying earnestly, persistently crying out to God, bringing blessing to thousands in that nation. Let me ask you this. If Elijah was a member of this church, where do you think he would be on the first Wednesday evening of every month? It'd be right here, wouldn't he? Prayer and praise.
First Wednesday of the month. It's vital, folks. It's important folks. An hour and a half in a whole month. It's not asking an awful lot, is it, to be here with the company of people? Because on your own is wonderful. Yes. But praying together, hearing from God and then praying in line with what God has said and God is saying there's power in that and we need all the power that we can generate.
The Holy Spirit in each one of us combined, multiplied and the power of that. We cannot imagine the effect of our prayers. God, of course, could do it entirely without us, just with a click of his fingers, as it were. But he chooses to it chooses to use you and me, and he makes available to is this priceless gift of prayer.
Access to the throne room. Heaven. And we say, Well, it's cold tonight. I think I'll stay in by the fire. Well, there's something good on the television. God please forgive us. So it's provision. It's prayer. And the third thing again, an echo of Dave, Greg. Elijah learned how to wait in the presence of God. He needed constantly to see things from God's perspective.
He needed to hear clearly from God. I remind you again, he didn't have the scriptures that we have. So he's relationship 1 to 1 with the living God was absolutely vital. As you read the story of Elijah in the Old Testament, I think there would be a high adrenaline rush with that contest on the top of Mt. Carmel, where the prophets are bound.
And then again, when he was earnestly praying for the cloud to appear and the rain to come. But you read after that, and this is why Elijah is a man so much like us, so very human. Although moving mightily in the power of God, He had a period where fear, loneliness and weariness came at him good and strong and drove him into depression.
Yes, Elijah was depressed. He was in such a depression, but he said to God, Let me die. He would rather have died at the hand of God rather than the hand of Jezebel, who was the naughty queen, who was waiting to hopefully sought him out. She never got that opportunity, but he told God he wanted to die. This man who had been used so magnificently, did that end usefulness to God?
No. God met him at his point of need, as he always does to those who cry out to him. You met him at his point of need, and his point of need was number one, sleep. Number two, food. And then again, more sleep, more food. Very practical, very down to earth. Not letting the heavens just have a sleep, have a rest.
Let your mind and your spirit be at rest. Know that some food. Have some food and then let's read it. One Kings 19 Have we got that one clear? Yes, we have. Look at that. She's there already. I'm still looking for it in mine. One Kings 19, verse 11. Okay, this is God speaking to Elijah after that time when he was depressed and he still needs to be built up.
So verse 11, go out and stand before on the mountain. The Lord told him. And as Elijah stood there, the Lord passed by and a mighty windstorm hit the mountain. It was such a terrible blast that the rocks were torn loose, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake.
And after the earthquake there was a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire there was the sound of a gentle whisper. When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his cloak, went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. I think there's something in me that longs for the spectacular, and Elijah had had the spectacular on Mount Carmel.
That was wonderful. Fire God coming down on the sacrifice. But this time, this was not God's way of working. Not the fire, not the earthquake, not the wind. A still small voice, but God manifesting himself, making himself known in a particular way at a particular time to a particular person. And that's the way that God works. Sometimes things happen that can see things happen, that we can hear, things happen that we can touch and say, Yes, that's the presence of God.
You hear people sometimes talking about meetings, wasn't the presence of God very real there? And all that happened is a nice, warm, gooey feeling because the worship team got up to the up to scratch or whatever it was. I'm not saying that happens here because I do believe that we experience the presence of God, but the presence of God manifests in different ways, different times.
And one of the ways, of course, is the supernatural gifts of the Holy Spirit. And again, I think every time I speak, I want to encourage all of us to expect and ask God for the supernatural gifts of the Holy Spirit. If we stay at the natural level, we can't do it. The job won't be done if we have the Holy Spirit in us.
Let's ask Him to release spiritual gifts so that we're doing the business full blast. But what a privilege to be in the presence of God. And just to hear that whisper which says, I'm God, I'm with you, I love you, I've got plans for you. Don't be afraid. And the same is true for us. It may be with fire, it may with fireworks and explosions and so on.
It's more likely to be a whisper, which sounds exactly like your voice as you wait on God. Waiting on God is the key. Being in his presence. Some 84 verse ten. A single day in your course is better than the thousand anywhere else. Think of all the exotic places you would love to go to on your bucket list.
Maybe the Psalms says, Forget all that. I want to be in the presence of. God, that is number one on my bucket list. And remember what Isaiah wrote those who wait on the Lord. I think they mentioned it earlier. They will mount up on wings like eagles. They will run. We're getting lots of running this morning. We are not be weary.
They'll walk and not faint. Folks, we have kingdom work to do and it's vital that we use kingdom methods to do it. So I will just give this warning. I will say this if I refuse to commit myself to spending time in the presence of Almighty God, and if I refuse to commit myself to prayer, and if I refuse to make available to God whatever gifts I have for God to use, then I automatically disqualify myself from moving in the spirit and power of Elijah.
God speaks to His of increase of growth, of Kingdom of Vows. He does not invite us to be passive spectators, but to be active participants. Every single one of us. New Testament presents the church as a body. My body is is fantastic. I thank God every day that I am fearfully and wonderfully made. But As you know, my toes are on strike at the moment, which affects my balance.
And if you are the toe in this church, make sure that you are in balance that you are in with all that the body doing, hey, not musicians are going to come back. We're going to sing about the days of Elijah because that's the days in which we live a while. They're coming. Thank you. Thank you. I will just mention the book, which appeared about 12 years ago.
It's called The People. I read it then and I felt God say, don't read it again before you speak on Sunday. So I didn't, but I'm going to read it now. I've spoken and it's written by a gentleman called Roger Aubrey, who will be standing on this spot next Sunday. Make sure you hear. Thank you, worship team. Away we go.
