Elijah Part 5 - 1 Kings 19:1-14, Exodus 32, 33, 34

Calvary Baltimore Weekly Sermons

Unless God awakens someone, no amount of education will bring them to Christ! The problem isn't the eyes or mind, it's the heart.

Evangelism starts with PRAYER... Asking God to do what only he can do!

King Ahab would rather have peace with his wife than with God. Many men are in this position even now. This is a toxic marriage. Wives, if you have a good husband, he desperately wants peace. He doesn't want lingering tension or strife. You must resist the urge to lord over your husband, respect him and trust God. Husbands, don't sacrifice righteousness for "peace" at home! Be submitted to God, and love your wife as Christ has loved the Church. Both of you must be submitted to God's will, not your own.

Elijah runs for his life to Beersheba, fleeing the toxic Ahab and Jezebel. He asks God to end his life... then he sleeps, and when he wakes up, God gives him comfort food.

So much of what Elijah is doing is reminiscent of Moses in Exodus.

God shows up not in all the fury, but in a low whisper. We may want a huge move of God, but he doesn't always work that way. We want him to make his will apparent in an obvious way... we just have to listen to his whisper. Miracles will only get you so far; real faith grows by hearing the Word of God! That's God's voice.

Elijah is pretty knocked down here, after such a spiritual high in the previous passage. This makes sense: that's a time when Satan likes to attack, right after a big spiritual breakthrough.

Your faithfulness to God pronounces judgment on Satan! Satan has a plan for you... when you deny him and follow Christ, you frustrate his plans and he hates you. In spiritual warfare, the church is not the one always on the ropes... Satan is! God's Church has grown from just 120 believers in the upper room. Now, millions! Satan is losing his kingdom, and if Satan is shooting at you, it's only because you're worth shooting at.

In Psalm 23, God sets a table for us in the presence of our enemies! Gathering as a church is an assault on Satan.

Although Christ's road isn't always easy, it is the right road, the only path to the Kingdom!