Why Revival Tarries, Part 3
May 25, 2011
A And he took the mantle of Elijah that fell from him, and smote the waters, and said, Where is the LORD God of Elijah? and when he also had smitten the waters, they parted hither and thither: and Elisha went over. 2 Kings 2:14 (KJV) “Where is the Lord God of Elijah?”
1 Where He’s always been-on His throne...
a Lord, thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations. 2 Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God. Psalms 90:1-2 (KJV)
Thy throne is established of old: thou art from everlasting. Psalms 93:2 (KJV)
b (IL) Thinking back to nothing, to just God on His throne, thinking about you.
aa I know where God is!
bb Here, there, & everywhere...yesterday, today, & tomorrow.
c Where are the Elijahs of God?
2 Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months. James 5:17 (KJV)
a He was a man like us, but we’re not men of prayer as he was.
aa Too educated, talented, well-financed, professional
bb Too busy, too preoccupied
b Our abilities, talents, & resources have handicapped us, our talents are stumbling blocks.
aa Why do we need God, we have a plan!
bb God’s bypassing some churches/large denominations because people aren’t praying.
c One praying man stands as a majority with God!
B Let’s get to know Elijah (locked the rain in heaven for 3 ½ years, prayed fire down from heaven).
1 We just know that he shows up, fully grown, to preach to Queen Jezebel (daughter from hell). Now Elijah the Tishbite, who was of the settlers of Gilead, said to Ahab, "As the Lord, the God of Israel lives, before whom I stand, surely there shall be neither dew nor rain these years, except by my word." 1 Kings 17:1 (NASB)
a Replaced the priests of God with priests of Baal.
aa Spiritual darkness covered the lands, people.
bb Smoke rolled daily from idolatrous altars.
b The children of Abraham (called Abraham father).
aa Generations in the past cried out to Him, sought His face/favor.
bb How had the glory/favor departed? Salt savor, gold glimmer
2 God didn’t raise up a committee, board, church, angel...but a man.
a I searched for a man among them who would build up the wall and stand in the gap before Me for the land, so that I would not destroy it; but I found no one. Ezek 22:30 (NASB)
aa God didn’t look for a teacher, preacher, song leader...
bb “Stand in the gap...”-PRAY
b Like Abraham before, God raised up Elijah.
aa “Stood before God”-praying for God’s people
bb God has not rejected His people whom He foreknew. Or do you not know what the Scripture says in the passage about Elijah, how he pleads with God against Israel? Romans 11:2 (NASB)
c Elijah prayed
aa I can’t really do anymore for you other than agonize in prayer.
bb I can’t really do anymore for God other than agonize in prayer.
d If the church had as many agonizers as advisors, we would be in revival by this time next year.
3 It’s a wonderful thing when God gets a hold of a man-but there’s something arguably even greater when a man gets a hold of God.
a Elijah spent time in agonizing prayer, shedding tears, heard a voice, saw a vision, tasted power, sized up his enemy, and, with God as his partner, saw victory come.
aa After spending time in great prayer...he discovered the will of God, prophesied with divine infallibility.
bb He knew the mind of God.
b Strangled a nation, altered the course of nature.
aa With a prayer of faith, Elijah shut the heavens up for 3 ½ years.
bb The key of faith locked heaven-Elijah pocketed the key & made Ahab tremble!
4 There is not any power anywhere that does not have God as its source! (Power of intellect, spirit, soul, dynamite, storm, magnetic attraction, atom)
a If there is power anywhere, its author is God.
b When Elijah had preached/prayed the drought, he went to a widow’s home in Zarephath, stayed with the widow & her son. "Arise, go to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and stay there; behold, I have commanded a widow there to provide for you."10 So he arose and went to Zarephath, and when he came to the gate of the city, behold, a widow was there gathering sticks; and he called to her and said, "Please get me a little water in a jar , that I may drink." 1 Kings 17:9-10 (NASB)
aa God said He had commanded....shame the widow didn’t get that message. But she said, "As the Lord your God lives, I have no bread , only a handful of flour in the bowl and a little oil in the jar; and behold, I am gathering a few sticks that I may go in and prepare for me and my son, that we may eat it and die." 1 Kings 17:12 (NASB)
bb Elijah knew the power plant was working!
cc God kept filling, providing, sustaining, nourishing...daily.
c The source of anything has to be as big or bigger than that which flows out of it.
aa To fill a quart of milk, what I fill it with must be as big or bigger...the source can be 55 gallons, though you may only pour a quart...the source is bigger.
bb Our God is greater, stronger, higher, mighty in power! 'O Lord God, You have begun to show Your servant Your greatness and Your strong hand; for what god is there in heaven or on earth who can do such works and mighty acts as Yours? Deut 3:24 (NASB)
cc If all power comes from God-He & His power must be equal to or greater than all the power there is!
dd (IL) Wendyville: freshwater stream never stopped flowing/running 1989-2000.
d Why do we worry, fret, stew so much when we are the dear children of the One who has such power (oh, to live in the promise of power!)?
C If we will do God’s work in God’s way at God’s time with God’s power, we shall have God’s blessings & the devil’s curses.
1 Watch the windows of heaven open up to bless us, & the devil will open the gates of hell to blast us.
a When you make God smile, the devil will always frown.
b There needs to be a generation that “stands in the gap” by kneeling in prayer.
aa For nearly 9 years, we’ve had a prayer ministry in place that prays at almost every Sunday morning service.
bb Now more than ever, as the enemy had come in like a flood-where are the Spirit-filled preachers, people praying in the Spirit?
c Sin, cross, blood, power of the Holy Spirit, gifts of the Spirit-nobody wants to preach them!
aa No one to lift up the standard against them.
bb Assembly of God, Dwain is all but lost.
d Only one place will keep the heart in passion, eyes in vision-the place of prayer.
2 God doesn’t want to be in partnership with us, but have ownership over us.
a Much of our praying is giving God advice.
aa Pray out of ambition, church
bb Goal is God, & God alone!
b Elijah prayed a masterpiece/concise prayer in 1 Kings 18:37. "Answer me, O Lord, answer me, that this people may know that You, O Lord, are God, and that You have turned their heart back again." 1 Kings 18:37 (NASB)
aa He didn’t pray for God to kill Jezebel, strike down the priests of Baal, thunderstrikes against rebellious Israel.
bb But for the glory/power of God might be revealed.
c You ever try to help God out of difficult times?
aa Abraham-Ishmael-cursed to this day
bb On the other hand, Elijah soaked the wood with water, then prayed for fire! (Really?)
d We want marriages to work without keeping our vows; children to grow into godly adults without raising them in the fear & admonition of the Lord; churches to grow without sharing our faith; revival/ awakening without prayer.
aa God never intended His Church to be a refrigerator in which to preserve perishable “piety”, He intended it to be an incubator used to hatch out converts.
bb I believe God must show a great measure of patience with me when I’m praying.
cc When we pray, we tell Him what to do & how to do it; pass judgments & brag about people to God.
dd In short, do anything & everything but pray.
3 How do we pray, Preacher?
a You can’t learn it in a program, in sermons, or by a curriculum.
b The most important is the prayer parts of the Bible!
c The man who gets the church/people of God praying would (under God) usher in the greatest revival the world has ever known.
4 It’s not God’s fault that revival tarries.
a “God (He) is able to do...according to the power that worketh in us.”
b God’s problem today is not communism, Islam, Buddhism, etc.
aa God’s problem is dead fundamentalism.
bb SermonCentral quote about Jesus.
