Passion Of Elijah

PASSION of ELIJAH

Text: Ephesians 5:16 thru 18

We serve a great and mighty God. He has given us so much. And yet, we seem to have so little to give Him in return. I have been impressed over the years that He wants us to give Him more of ourselves while (at the same time) learn to give to one another.

God has created us to have a great deal of love for Him and others. This is often called PASSION. It is what we all must have for our lives.

PASSION involves each of us giving to God. Jesus told us that is more blessed to give than to receive.

Actually, all of ourselves. All of our love.

Not just a portion, and not just most of our love.

God expects all of our love, with PASSION.

When this happens, we will (in turn) have a greater love, a greater PASSION, to give one another.

There is an excellent story in I Kings 17 (we will look at in a moment) that can help us to better understand how to love God while loving others.

Let me speak first to the visitors we have today.

Each of us here today needs to be encouraged and strengthened by God’s Word and His Spirit.

If you have come here today and you are not sure if you have God’s PASSION in your life, you have come to the right place.

Before this service is over, my hope is for you to touch God, talk to God, and to listen carefully to what His Word tells us. God is the only hope any of us have.

Before we read this story, let me say that the life we live in today is in many ways, very similar to the life of this man Elijah. Allow me to first set the stage and share with you a few of the facts I discovered in studying the era of time recorded in this passage.

IN ELIJAH’S DAY -

1. The standards of living were not good. There was unlawful rebellion and wickedness from the pauper to the king of Judah.

2. For decades the ruling kings were in total disregard to anything that even seemed righteous. The kings were promoting corruption and deceit to the people they governed.

3. The king now on the throne was King Ahab. He was considered by everyone to be the worst king to ever rule over Judah.

4. The few that considered themselves to be the children of God knew they were living in shame and without dignity. Many of them were also living in willful disobedience to the laws of God, and Moses.

5. The children of God had forgotten how to pray, or how to make the necessary sacrifices for sin.

6. Many had fallen into idolatry and false religions.

7. Most people were more concerned with earthly pleasures than even their own families.

8. It was a time (in which) it was difficult for most people to make ends meet.

9. Starvation and violence was on every street corner.

Folks, God had no choice but to remove Himself, His blessings, and His hand of protection from the people.

The prophet Elijah went to King Ahab because something had to change (for these people)!

Likewise, something has to change to save the people living in our day!

TEXT: I Kings 17:1 thru 6

Prayer:

As in the days of Elijah, God is (today) desperately trying to reach His people. God’s heart was broken. There just had to be a better way for the people!

When all hope seemed to be lost, there came a man. His name was Elijah. Many Bible scholars have associated a type of Christ in Elijah.

Elijah was more than just a passionate kind of guy!

Elijah had PASSION for God to change things.

God chose Elijah for many reasons to be His prophet and His servant. God loved this passion Elijah had for wanting to see things change for God’s people.

Well, what do we know about PASSION in our day?

PASSION is when you feel very strongly about something. Like Elijah, you will become obsessed with the desire for things to change for the better.

Folks, God is in the moving business. He moves for people like Elijah. God can and will move for you.

Are you living with PASSION for God this morning?

Is your heart pounding for a change?

Or, is your heart just beating a steady/regular pulse?

God’s desire is for each of us to be “hot or cold”.

I am convinced (by what I see in our world today) that most people are either on the fringes of complacency, or they are absolutely turned on with what God is doing in their lives.

Perhaps you have been a Christian for years, but lately you find yourself becoming lethargic with what your life is about. Maybe things are going good for you. Or, maybe things aren’t so good.