Jehovah's Power Over Death Series

ELIJAH—A MAN OF LIKE PASSIONS

04 Jehovah’s Power over Death

TEXT: 1 Kings 17:17-24

1 Kings 17:17-24 KJV And it came to pass after these things, that the son of the woman, the mistress of the house, fell sick; and his sickness was so sore, that there was no breath left in him. [18] And she said unto Elijah, What have I to do with thee, O thou man of God? art thou come unto me to call my sin to remembrance, and to slay my son? [19] And he said unto her, Give me thy son. And he took him out of her bosom, and carried him up into a loft, where he abode, and laid him upon his own bed. [20] And he cried unto the LORD, and said, O LORD my God, hast thou also brought evil upon the widow with whom I sojourn, by slaying her son? [21] And he stretched himself upon the child three times, and cried unto the LORD, and said, O LORD my God, I pray thee, let this child's soul come into him again. [22] And the LORD heard the voice of Elijah; and the soul of the child came into him again, and he revived. [23] And Elijah took the child, and brought him down out of the chamber into the house, and delivered him unto his mother: and Elijah said, See, thy son liveth. [24] And the woman said to Elijah, Now by this I know that thou art a man of God, and that the word of the LORD in thy mouth is truth.

I. INTRODUCTION—OBSTACLES

-Somewhere in my young and inexperienced mind, I latched on to the idea that if I had the Holy Ghost that everything in my life would work out without any hindrances or obstacles. I can remember not studying and praying to the Lord for His help. I can remember a host of things that I prayed over and about and sometimes God worked it out for me but there were other times that I prayed for things and it did not turn out the way I desired for it to and it was confusing!

-It literally took me about twenty years to finally shake free from that very deceptive and inaccurate thought. I suppose the Lord started gently pulling it out from under me when my Pontiac Fiero got stolen my very first night in Houston when I went to Bible College.

-Here is what experience but more importantly Scripture has taught me. . . The Christian life is a great hope that is mixed with a hard struggle. Blessings appear on the horizon but the presence of blessings do not relieve me of certain troubles that come my way either.

-One of the most challenging things to finally come to understand (but beneficial also) is that I had some very wrong expectations about God and His intervention in my life. Far too many have bought into the Christian life because they had expectations that all would work out so very well and they would have God “on their side” to take care of every little hiccup that life brought to them.

-This message in the life of Elijah homes in on this point—you have hope but that hope will be rooted in struggle. There will be blessing but there will also be buffeting.

2 Corinthians 1:3-11 KJV Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort; [4] Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God. [5] For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ. [6] And whether we be afflicted, it is for your consolation and salvation, which is effectual in the enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer: or whether we be comforted, it is for your consolation and salvation. [7] And our hope of you is stedfast, knowing, that as ye are partakers of the sufferings, so shall ye be also of the consolation. [8] For we would not, brethren, have you ignorant of our trouble which came to us in Asia, that we were pressed out of measure, above strength, insomuch that we despaired even of life: [9] But we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth the dead: [10] Who delivered us from so great a death, and doth deliver: in whom we trust that he will yet deliver us; [11] Ye also helping together by prayer for us, that for the gift bestowed upon us by the means of many persons thanks may be given by many on our behalf.