Sermon

Demonstration and Power

Elation Church

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  1. Sharing good news of great joy to all people,

  2. Elation Church. Today, the title of the message

  3. is this, Demonstration and Power. Demonstration

  4. and Power. Here we go. Going to start out by

  5. reading 1 Kings chapter 18. Going to start with

    1 Kings 18 chapter mention

  6. verse 16. So if you just want to write down 1

  7. Kings 18, 16 through 19, and then read it again

  8. this week, because it's a lot of verses. And

  9. I want you to listen like you've never heard

  10. this story before, even though if you've spent

  11. any time in church, you've heard this story.

  12. Sometimes when we're very familiar with something,

  13. we put our mind on idle. Do you know what I'm

  14. talking about? My mind's been on idol a lot because

  15. I thought I knew it. Well, I need to know what

  16. God wants to speak to me today, right? So don't

  17. put your mind on idol. 1 Kings 18, verse 16.

    1 Kings 18:16

  18. So Obadiah went to tell Ahab that Elijah had

  19. come. And Ahab went out to meet Elijah. Ahab

  20. is the king, in case you didn't know that. Elijah

  21. is the prophet, in case you didn't know that.

  22. When Ahab saw him, he exclaimed, so is it really

  23. you, you troublemaker of Israel? Well, Ahab had

  24. a point. We could say he had a point. Because

  25. Elijah had been led by God. To prophesy that

  26. it wasn't going to rain until he said it was

  27. going to rain. So now we've gone over three years

  28. in a drought. To put it in context. Here's the

  29. deal. God wasn't punishing the people. He was

  30. trying to wake the people up. Look to the person

  31. beside you and say, wake up. See, God had promised

  32. that as long as they acknowledged him as God,

  33. worshiped him and obeyed him and kept his word,

  34. God said it will always rain. There will never

  35. be a famine. There will never be a drought. That

  36. was God's promise. But guess what? The people

  37. had turned away from God. So just to make sure

  38. they knew that that was a problem, the prophet

  39. said, okay, it's not going to rain until I say

  40. it's going to rain again. So it wasn't just something

  41. just happening by chance. Okay, it's just, we're

  42. not in a rainy season. So, you know, we have

  43. cycles and it's... and it rains sometimes, and

  44. it doesn't rain sometimes, El Nino and all that

  45. kind of stuff, right? Somebody smile at least.

  46. I mean, I know that's not a joke, but just so

  47. they couldn't say, well, you know, that happens

  48. every once in a while. It had been raining. The

  49. prophet said, okay, it's not going to rain anymore

  50. until I say it rains. At that point, wouldn't

  51. you know that God had something to do with it?

  52. So Ahab, a wicked king, married to Jezebel, an

  53. extremely wicked woman. I don't know why people

  54. named their little girls Jezebel. Maybe they

  55. heard it in some kind of country song. But please

  56. don't name anybody Jezebel. She was very wicked.

  57. So he says, is that you? You're the troubler.

  58. You're the one who said it wasn't going to rain.

  59. So is it really you, you troublemaker of Israel?

  60. Elijah says, I have made no trouble for Israel,

  61. Elijah replied. You and your family are the troublemakers.

  62. They were the ones promoting false religion,

  63. false gods, that all the people had turned to.

  64. Jezebel is the one who spearheaded that. You

  65. and your family are the troublemakers, for you

  66. have refused to obey the commands of the Lord

  67. and have worshipped the images of Baal instead.

  68. The trouble is coming from you, not from me.

  69. Now summon. Elijah's coming on purpose because

  70. Elijah has heard God. Everybody say you heard

  71. God. Now summon all Israel to join me at Mount

  72. Carmel along with the 450 prophets of Baal and

  73. the 400 prophets of Asherah who are supported

  74. by Jezebel. So here's 850 false prophets supported

  75. by... The queen, I guess. So Ahab summoned all

  76. the people of Israel and the prophets to Mount

  77. Carmel. Then Elijah stood in front of them and

  78. said, How much longer will you waver, hobbling

  79. between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow

  80. him. But if Baal is God, then follow him. Quit

  81. wavering. Because I'm sure, even though they

  82. were worshiping Baal, they would throw in God

  83. a little bit. You know, God's the one who brought

  84. us out of Egypt, but we worship Baal. You know.

  85. They probably had Yahweh as an add -on God. They

  86. still remembered some things. How much will you

  87. waver? How much longer will you waver? Going

  88. back and forth. Everybody say mixture. If the

  89. Lord is God, follow him. But if Baal is God,

  90. then follow him. But the people were completely

  91. silent. Then Elijah said to them, I am the only

  92. prophet of the Lord who is left, but Baal...

  93. has 450 prophets. Now bring two bulls. The prophets

  94. of Baal may choose whichever one they wish and

  95. cut it into pieces and lay it on the wood of

  96. their altar, but without setting fire to it.

  97. I will prepare the other bull and lay it on the

  98. wood on the altar, but not set fire to it. Then

  99. call on the name of your God, and I will call

  100. on the name of the Lord. The God who answers

  101. by setting fire to the wood is the true God.

  102. All the people agreed. Then Elijah said to the

  103. prophets of Baal, You go first, for there are

  104. many of you. Choose one of the bulls and prepare

  105. it and call on the name of your God, but do not

  106. set fire to the wood. So they prepared one of

  107. the bulls and placed it on the altar. Then they

  108. called on the name of Bell from morning until

  109. noontime, shouting, Oh, Bell, answer us. But

  110. there was no reply of any kind. Then they danced,

  111. hobbling around the altar they had made. I don't

  112. know why they chose the word hobbling. They danced

  113. around the altar. Jumping around. I don't know

  114. what hobbling looks like. I was going to do it

  115. for you. About noontime. Everybody say trash

  116. talk. About noontime, Elijah began mocking them.

  117. You'll have to shout louder. He scoffed. For

  118. surely, he's a God. Perhaps he's daydreaming.

  119. Or he's relieving himself. Perhaps he's gone

  120. to the bathroom. Maybe that's why he's not answering

  121. you. That'd be a long bathroom break. Because

  122. they've been going for hours already. Or maybe

  123. he's away on a trip. Or is asleep and needs to

  124. be wakened. So bump it up a notch. Get louder.

  125. Dance bigger. Stir it up. So they shouted louder.

  126. And following their normal custom, they cut themselves

  127. with knives and swords until blood gushed out.

  128. I mean, they're ramping it up as hard as they

  129. can. They raved all afternoon until the time

  130. of the evening sacrifice. Everybody say three

  131. o 'clock. They raved all afternoon until the

  132. time of the evening sacrifice. But still, there

  133. was no sound, no reply, no response. So I imagine

  134. they've been working it up for about five hours.

  135. Because it was noontime the last time. It had

  136. already been going for a long time. Now they

  137. went for three more hours. I'm just going to

  138. say, Bell had his chance. More than enough. By

  139. the way, when Jesus was hanging on the cross,

  140. it was three o 'clock when he said he was finished.

  141. Time of the offering of the evening sacrifice,

  142. just in case you don't know that. Then Elijah

  143. called to the people, come over here. They all

  144. crowded around him as he repaired the altar of

  145. the Lord that had been torn down. You see, there

  146. had been an altar on Mount Carmel to Yahweh.

  147. It had been abandoned. It had been torn down

  148. even. People weren't worshiping God, acknowledging

  149. him. So he began to pick up the 12 stones, each

  150. stone representing the tribes of Israel. So he

  151. places those stones back and makes an altar again.

  152. It was just a pile of stones. It had been knocked

  153. down by the people. We don't know who knocked

  154. it down. Maybe Jezebel knocked it down. We don't

  155. know. But it was someone who was not honoring

  156. God. That was the person who knocked it down.

  157. And there were quite a few people not honoring

  158. God. He took the 12 stones, one to represent

  159. each of the tribes of Israel, and he used the

  160. stones to rebuild the altar in the name of Yahweh,

  161. the Lord. Then he dug a trench around the altar,

  162. large enough to hold about three gallons. Or

  163. you could say two seas of seed, but three gallons

  164. communicates a little bit better, I believe,

  165. to our minds. He piled wood on the altar, cut

  166. the bull into pieces, laid the pieces on the

  167. wood. Then he said, fill four large jars with

  168. water and pour the water over the offering and

  169. the wood. If you're looking for fire, you probably

  170. don't need to drench it with water. I'm just

  171. saying. After they had done this, he said, do

  172. the same thing again. And when they were finished,

  173. he said, now do it a third time. Make sure it's

  174. good and wet and waterlogged. So they did, as

  175. he said. You got to remember, it hadn't rained

  176. in over three years. And now he's got, I don't

  177. know, 18 gallons of water that he's poured, Over

  178. this altar. And can you imagine people saying,

  179. well, that's a waste. We're struggling for water.

  180. Our crops are dying. Our animals are dying. We

  181. don't have enough water. Why are you wasting

  182. all this water? Well, after all this was over,

  183. he said, I see a little bitty cloud. Do you see

  184. it? I see a cloud. And even though it looks tiny,

  185. rain's coming. I didn't mean to get to that part

  186. of the story, but anyway. That's how, by faith,

  187. he could just waste all the water he wanted.

  188. Because he was going to call the end of the drought

  189. right after what God was going to do. And how

  190. the people were going to respond. After they

  191. had done this, he said, do the same thing again.

  192. When they were finished, he said, now do it a

  193. third time. So they did as he said. And the water

  194. ran around the altar, even filled the trench.

  195. So the sacrifice is soaked. The wood is soaked.

  196. The stones are soaked. The ground is soaked.

  197. And there's a trench of standing water around

  198. it. At the usual time for offering the evening

  199. sacrifice, Elijah the prophet walked up to the

  200. altar and prayed. Oh, Lord. Oh, Yahweh. The God

  201. of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Listen to what

  202. he says. Prove today that you are God in Israel.

  203. Prove that you're God. That I'm your servant.

  204. Listen to what he says. Prove that I have done

  205. this at your command. Elijah wasn't just sitting

  206. in his cave or his tent saying, you know what

  207. would be cool? He's doing exactly what God told

  208. him to do. Not what he created in his own imagination.

  209. He's doing what God told him to do. Prove that

  210. I have done all this at your command. Oh, Lord,

  211. answer me. I mean, I bet he's praying loud because

  212. there's thousands of people out there. He's talking

  213. to God, but he's wanting to make sure everybody

  214. can hear. Answer me, Lord. Yahweh, answer me.

  215. Answer me so these people will know that you,

  216. O Lord, O Yahweh, are God. Not this bell stuff.

  217. Answer me so they'll know that you are the one

  218. and only true God. Answer me, God. O Lord. Do

  219. this so that everybody will know in the sound

  220. of my voice that you love them and you want them

  221. to come back. Right? So these people will know

  222. that you are Lord, are God, and that you have

  223. brought them back to yourself. Now based on these

  224. statements, We know that Elijah had heard God.

  225. And for him to call everybody out, the whole

  226. nation and the prophets of Baal and Asherah,

  227. to call them out to the mountain, to call all

  228. the people. We know something. We know that he

  229. believed God. We know that he had confidence

  230. in what God had told him. We know that he was

  231. standing in great expectation. You might want

  232. to write these three things down. Or four things

  233. or five things. How many ever I got there? I

  234. don't have a little star here, but these are

  235. important things. Not just for Elijah, but for

  236. you. These are important things. Elijah heard

  237. God. Elijah believed what God said. Elijah had

  238. confidence in what God said. Elijah expected

  239. God to do what he said he was going to do. Do

  240. you see it in what he said? Do you see those

  241. things? Do you see that he obeyed God? These

  242. are key things. for all of us, every day, every

  243. moment, every challenge. Here's what happened.

  244. Immediately, everybody say immediately. Immediately,

  245. the fire of Yahweh, every time it's all caps,

  246. L -O -R -D, it's our English derivative of Yahweh.

  247. Immediately, the fire of Yahweh flashed down

  248. from heaven, burned up the soaking wet, drenched

  249. young bull. Burned up. It didn't say like a little

  250. spark started and a little flame came and then

  251. they had to wait, you know, 30 minutes for the

  252. bull to be burned up. Does it? Burned up the

  253. young bull. Burned up the wood. Burned up the

  254. stones. Twelve big boulders. It's just all turned

  255. to ash right before their eyes. Immediately.

  256. Everybody say immediately. It even burnt the

  257. dust. It even licked up all the water in the

  258. trench. No more water. The trench was full of

  259. water. It's dry. Bone dry. Don't know how that

  260. translates in the Spanish or French. Bone dry.

  261. And look what happened. When all the people saw

  262. it, they fell face down on the ground. Everybody

  263. say a posture of worship. We went through, you

  264. know, authentic praise and worship and one of

  265. the, well, often in the Old Testament when you

  266. just read the word worship, it's talking about

  267. a position. He's talking about falling face down

  268. before God. That's a posture of worship. And

  269. it's considered worship to God. When you do it

  270. out of a heart, you know, when it starts on the

  271. inside, not just every time you lay face down,

  272. that's not technically worship, but if it begins

  273. in the heart, like you're just amazed and you're

  274. in awe of God and you lay down face down. He

  275. receives that as worship. When all the people

  276. saw it, how many? Just about 10 or 20 standing

  277. around the altar? Thousands of people. When all

  278. the people saw it, they fell face down on the

  279. ground and cried out, Yahweh is God! Can anybody

  280. see why it was about to rain now? The demonstration

  281. of the power of God was instrumental in the people

  282. turning away from the powerless counterfeit.

  283. They turned away from the powerless counterfeit

  284. and they turned to The real living God. I love

  285. this story. But the Bible is not just a history

  286. book. It contains some history. But it's not

  287. just a history book. It's more than a history

  288. book. We shouldn't sit here and say, God, that

  289. was amazing that you used to be able to do that.

  290. Boy, it sure is amazing. All those Old Testament

  291. stories that I read, it sure is amazing that

  292. you did these remarkable things. God, that was

  293. so awesome. Demonstration and power are important.

  294. It's just as much important today as it's ever

  295. been because we live in a world that's looking

  296. for something real. Oh, they've had experience

  297. with church before. But they've never seen the

  298. real living God. I'm here today to tell you that

  299. He's the same. Same God. Same God. He doesn't

  300. change. So many people are desperate for something

  301. real. They're searching for something real. But

  302. what do we have to offer them? I want to break

  303. down this verse and then we're going to be done.

  304. Don't take that as we're about done and about

  305. to walk out the door because it's going to take

  306. a few minutes to break down this verse. 1 Corinthians

  307. 2. verses 4 and 5. This just shows us that Paul

  308. believed the same thing that Elijah believed.

  309. Very clear. He's talking to the Corinthians.

  310. There's been false prophets, false teachers.

  311. trying to mess up. I mean, Paul would go to a

  312. place and plant a church in a community, and

  313. then other people would come in and they would

  314. say, well, you know, what Paul says isn't actually

  315. true. You've still got to earn righteousness

  316. just like we used to. You know, all this great

  317. stuff, we can't run away with that. We can't

  318. get too wrapped up in that because, you know,

  319. we got to work for it, earn it, deserve it. And

  320. then there were other people doing witchcraft

  321. in these cities. And they're saying, we have

  322. the power to help you deal with the situations

  323. that you're dealing with. We can help you. That's

  324. how they were making a living, you know. Just

  325. like the signs up and down 27. Palm reading.

  326. All this kind of stuff. It's no different, same

  327. thing. Here's what Paul said. He said, my message

  328. and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive

  329. words. Paul was smart. Paul was, they called

  330. him a Pharisee of Pharisees. He had studied under

  331. the most renowned Pharisee, Gamaliel, that there

  332. was at the time. He had studied under him. He

  333. was highly educated. And we find in Romans when

  334. he went to Athens, he like dealt with them philosophically

  335. because that's what they were talking about.

  336. When he said, oh, you have this statue to an

  337. unknown God. Let me tell you who that is. You

  338. know? But it was more than that. My message and

  339. my preaching were not with, I would say, just

  340. wise and persuasive words. But, with a demonstration

  341. of the Spirit's power, so that your faith might

  342. not rest on human wisdom, but that your faith

  343. can rest on God, on God's power, so that your

  344. faith can rest on a real God doing real things

  345. in front of your eyes. Think about that a minute.

  346. We're going to look at four Greek words. Message.

  347. He said, my message. That's the word logos. Now,

  348. when I did a word study, normally I would say

  349. logos is a written word and rhema is a spoken

  350. word. I mean, because that's just what I've heard

  351. all my life. But, hey, you look it up and you

  352. do a word study. Look it up yourself. This verse,

  353. interlinear. Go to Bible, which one? Bible Hub?

  354. Bible Hub, interlinear. Look at, you know, the

  355. summary. Go down, read it yourself. Logos is

  356. actually attached to Lego. Who remembers talking

  357. about Lego? When we're talking about faith and

  358. we're talking about our words, it's a systematic

  359. discourse where you're building something. So

  360. what Paul is saying is, when I've been talking

  361. to you, when I've been writing to you, I've been

  362. building something with my words. That's my message.

  363. And I'll go ahead and put it this far. When you

  364. come to Elation Church, And Jeffrey and I are

  365. preaching and bringing a message. We are building

  366. something with our words. Because we use words.

  367. We have a microphone, right? So we're building,

  368. building faith with our words. Building hope

  369. with our words. Building life with our words.

  370. Building a way to a relationship with God with

  371. our words. Faithfulness. And his preaching. He

  372. said, my message and my preaching. This word

  373. means an authoritative, public, good news announcement.

  374. delivered on behalf of a sovereign. See, this

  375. good news announcement, this authoritative public

  376. good news announcement is not delivered from

  377. Paul. He's delivering it from God. It's a public

  378. declaration of God's redemptive work in Christ.

  379. So the preaching is supposedly building a case

  380. and letting you know what it means to be in Christ,

  381. what God has made available to you, who you have

  382. become, who you are in Christ, who God is, what

  383. God does. Does that sound familiar to anybody?

  384. Here's the deal. It's more than words and ideas.

  385. It is words and ideas. But if that's all it is,

  386. then every single one of us, we're just wasting

  387. our time. If we're just coming together, together

  388. to look into God's Word just for more words and

  389. more ideas from the preacher, we're completely

  390. wasting our time. And we would be just like so

  391. many. We couldn't offer anybody anything. Because

  392. people could come here and hear these words and

  393. these ideas and they could leave no different.

  394. Unchanged. And leave going, I tried that religion

  395. thing again and it's just not working. There's

  396. no demonstration and no power. If all it is is

  397. words and ideas, then we might as well load it

  398. up and go to a theme park on Sunday morning.

  399. They have words and ideas too. Come on somebody.

  400. But what did Paul say? My message and my preaching

  401. were not with wise and persuasive words. It's

  402. more than words, more than ideas. It's a demonstration

  403. of God's power. Because the Holy Spirit is God.

  404. Demonstration of God's power. Demonstration.

  405. Here's your Greek word. What does that mean?

  406. It means a manifest, observable proof that validates

  407. a claim. And I ask you, does that sound like

  408. what Elijah said on Mount Carmel? Prove to the

  409. people that you're God. Prove that I'm your servant.

  410. Prove that I've done all these things at your

  411. word. A manifest observable proof that validates

  412. a claim. And get this, it's the tangible way

  413. the Holy Spirit authenticates the preaching and

  414. the message. The proclamation. Power. Same word

  415. in Acts 1 -8 where it says, you'll receive power.

  416. When the Holy Ghost comes upon you, you will

  417. receive power. It's power to achieve. Get this.

  418. It's power to achieve by applying the Lord's

  419. inerrant abilities. So it's not our power. God

  420. empowers us. It's the process of him applying

  421. his inerrant abilities. You could put it this

  422. way. Power through God's ability. Not human power.

  423. Power through God's ability. So, how does this

  424. apply to us? We've got some statements. that

  425. I really need you to consider. I'm not going

  426. to have it up here so long that you can write

  427. it all down, but take a picture of it, write

  428. it down later. As followers of Christ, we shouldn't

  429. be just expecting information. Words and ideas.

  430. Now if you come expecting just words and ideas,

  431. that's probably what you're going to leave with.

  432. Because that's what you were expecting. And God

  433. will meet you at the point of your expectation.

  434. But God is expecting us to expect more than words

  435. and ideas. Not just expecting information. As

  436. Christ followers, as children of God, we need

  437. to always be expecting a demonstration and a

  438. transformation by God's power. Now listen, some

  439. of you are like, well, I'm not going to go build

  440. an altar and ask God to call down fire when I'm

  441. at work this week. What are you saying, Dean?

  442. Is that what you're saying we need to do? We

  443. need to go get some rocks, stand out in our front

  444. yard, call all of our neighbors, you know. Round

  445. up the stray cat in the neighborhood. Put it

  446. on the altar. I'm allergic to cats. That's why

  447. I use cats. I mean, is that what you're asking

  448. us to do? Get our neighbors to come over? Say,

  449. hey, y 'all watch this. Y 'all watch this. Oh,

  450. God. Prove yourself. By burning. up his cat.

  451. The cat's already dead. Maybe it was run over

  452. in the road. I don't know. Like I said, I'm allergic

  453. to cats. What should I use? I like possums. I'm

  454. just kidding. If you put them in a sweet box

  455. and give them some good cornbread, they might

  456. turn into a good... I do know a guy that... Eight

  457. possums. But anyway, after you sweeten them up.

  458. Don't get lost in the joke. Here's the deal.

  459. Now listen to me. With God, there is no difference

  460. in what we might consider a small demonstration

  461. of his power and the fire on Mount Carmel. It's

  462. all the same to him. But I am telling you, he

  463. wants to work in you to demonstrate His power.

  464. Because people are looking for something real.

  465. We don't just replicate the things that we read

  466. in the Old Testament. God wants to work in you

  467. and through you where you are. He wants to show

  468. himself. To those around you. So that they will

  469. see him and know that he's real. And he wants

  470. to do that in you and through you. You need to

  471. come expecting God to speak to you. Every time

  472. you open your Bible, you need to expect God to

  473. speak to you. Because He is speaking to you.

  474. That He would cause His Word to come alive. It's

  475. not just a history book. I said it before. It's

  476. the living Word of God. So we need to expect

  477. to hear from God. He's living in us. We need

  478. to acknowledge Him and ask Him to speak to us

  479. and give us ears to hear, eyes to see. Here's

  480. the problem. We go about our life just in a flesh

  481. and soul mode. Almost all the time. But we need,

  482. get this, we need to learn to be who we are.

  483. We are a spirit. We live in a body and we have

  484. a soul. We need to start working on living as

  485. spirits in this world. Because that's who we

  486. are. But the world will tell you that you're

  487. just your mind, your will, and emotions in a

  488. body. But we are spirits created in the image

  489. of God. Walking in this earth. Representing God

  490. who is spirit. He made us like himself in his

  491. image. We're spirits. We need to learn to live

  492. as spirits, not as soulish and fleshly beings.

  493. We need to expect God to speak to us. We need

  494. to be determined to take action on what he says.

  495. Just as kind of revealing some of the sermon

  496. because I was so excited about it. I was like,

  497. well, God, just help us say yes even before you

  498. say anything. Help us to be in that point where

  499. we're going to say yes. Speak to me, God. Show

  500. me a step. Show me a word. Show me a touch. Show

  501. me a gift. Whatever it is. I'm ready to say yes

  502. even before you ask me or tell me. You think

  503. that might be where Elijah was before he just

  504. summoned everybody to the mountain? We don't

  505. know that for sure. It's not written, but somebody

  506. that bold? God's not asking you to call down

  507. fire from heaven to consume the possum. I'll

  508. switch to possum. They got run over in the road.

  509. Because the majority of us would say, ain't no

  510. way, God. Ain't no way I'd do that. I'd look

  511. like a fool. All my neighbors would run me out

  512. of the neighborhood. Call me a crazy old fool.

  513. Well, if you just did it in your own imagination,

  514. I'd call you a fool too. Hey, but if God told

  515. you to do it, Would you have the expectation

  516. and the confidence to do it? Expecting God to

  517. speak to you. Be determined to take action on

  518. what he says. I don't want to ever argue with

  519. God when he tells me to do something again. Because

  520. I've done it. I don't know if you've done it

  521. or not, but I've done it. We need to get away

  522. from that. See, demonstration and power are connected

  523. to our hearing, believing, and doing, just like

  524. it was Elijah. I see you taking pictures. For

  525. us to see it, for God to use us in this way,

  526. It's going to be connected to our hearing God,

  527. our believing God, and our obeying God, doing

  528. what he says to do. Quickly. We need to live

  529. our lives expecting to see and experience a demonstration

  530. of God's power. Most of the time when we talk

  531. about faith, we're talking about how it can benefit

  532. us. Aren't we? Most of the time. To help us through

  533. the trouble that we're in, the hurdle that we're

  534. facing, the past thing that's messed up today,

  535. we can have faith to overcome those things. Based

  536. on what God has said. And it is. Look to the

  537. person beside you and say, you're going to enjoy

  538. it. You're going to enjoy the demonstration and

  539. power of God working. You're going to enjoy it.

  540. You're going to enjoy it. How many of you think

  541. Elijah just, this is amazing. Do you think he

  542. enjoyed it that day when the fire came down and

  543. consumed the sacrifice? I mean, he was expecting

  544. it. He was confident. He did it. But it's always

  545. awesome to see God do it. I've got testimony

  546. after testimony after testimony where I believed,

  547. I heard, and I believed, and I expected, but

  548. it's always pretty awesome when God does it.

  549. And we see it. Right? So we're going to enjoy

  550. it. We're going to enjoy the breakthrough. We're

  551. going to enjoy overcoming and the victory. We're

  552. going to enjoy the deliverance. We're going to

  553. enjoy the restoration. We're going to enjoy the

  554. miracle. Right? It's for you, but it's for more

  555. than you. Look to the person beside you and say,

  556. it's for more than you. I mean, you might can

  557. live the rest of your life without the breakthrough,

  558. without the victory, without the deliverance,

  559. and without the restoration, without the miracle.

  560. You can live the rest of your life without that.

  561. And still make it to heaven one day when you

  562. die. Right? How many of you think it'd be a whole

  563. lot better with it? And here's the deal. It's

  564. for more than you. Because this is generational.

  565. We need to start thinking generational. When

  566. we read our Bibles, we see that so many promises

  567. and so many things actually... kept multiplying

  568. over generation, over generation, over generation.

  569. Here's an example. Abraham. Did he ever have

  570. more physical children walking around his house?

  571. Did he ever have more children than the stars

  572. in the sky? I mean, did he ever experience that?

  573. Were there like millions of children running

  574. around him and Sarah? But he heard and he believed.

  575. And he received a miracle. Right? 100 -year -old

  576. man, 90 -year -old woman having a baby. Look

  577. to the person beside you and raise your eyebrows

  578. and say, that's a miracle. That's a miracle.

  579. He received a miracle, but it was for more than

  580. him. Over a million people coming out of Egypt.

  581. That's a lot of children, but it was generational.

  582. His offspring got the land that God had given

  583. him. It's generational. Here's the deal. You

  584. experiencing the demonstration and the power

  585. of God in your life in such a way that is not

  586. just something that you keep a secret, but everybody

  587. else can even notice the change. Notice the transformation.

  588. Notice the miracle. They see evidence of the

  589. testimony. Because sometimes we can give testimonies

  590. in church that are not really a reflection of

  591. what's happening on Tuesday morning. preaching

  592. good. It's generational. See, that same list

  593. again. Your breakthrough, your victory, your

  594. deliverance, your restoration, your miracle is

  595. going to make a difference. That demonstration

  596. of the power of God instead of just your words

  597. and your ideas about God. When your family sees

  598. a demonstration of the power of God in your life,

  599. when they see something real that has changed,

  600. not just words changing, but a real change, it's

  601. going to get their attention. It's going to be

  602. just like that fire coming down on Mount Carmel

  603. when it's a real deal by a real God and there's

  604. no other explanation. other than God did it.

  605. You know who I used to be, but look what the

  606. Lord has done. They might even say, something's

  607. done happened to you. You're not the same person

  608. you used to be. And that's when you can, let

  609. me tell you what God did. It's not only generational,

  610. it's territorial. Everybody say territorial.

  611. Because when your life becomes a testimony or

  612. a proof, hello somebody, when your life becomes

  613. a proof of the goodness of God, it's going to

  614. change more than your family. It's going to change

  615. everywhere you go. Because people who used to

  616. know the way you were, or they knew what you

  617. have been dealing with, and they see, I'll pull

  618. up the list again, when they see, when your co

  619. -workers, when your neighbors, See the breakthrough?

  620. It's no different than the fire from heaven coming

  621. down. Same thing. God sees it the same. It's

  622. all spectacular to Him. But when they see the

  623. breakthrough in your life, when they see the

  624. victory in your life, when the wine is permanently

  625. removed from your voice, you're just whining

  626. like the world. I love it when I think about

  627. things that aren't in my notes. when the wine

  628. is gone from your voice, when the problem that

  629. they have seen in your life because you've been

  630. whining about it, when they see the breakthrough,

  631. when they see the victory, when they see the

  632. deliverance, when they see the restoration, when

  633. they see the miracle, God wants to use your life,

  634. the situations of your life, to prove himself

  635. by demonstrating his power in your life. Let's

  636. pray. God, I thank you for your word. Thank you

  637. for what you've been working in me all week.

  638. Thank you for the things that you've brought

  639. to my mind even as I presented what I knew so

  640. far. Thank you for those touches to speak to

  641. my heart and to speak to each person's heart

  642. in here. Help us to take hold of it. Don't let

  643. us run away from it. Help us take hold of it.

  644. God, we expect, I expect, to see demonstrations

  645. of your power in your people in this room this

  646. week. I expect to see it. And I expect to hear

  647. about it. And I expect, just like Elijah, that

  648. people will be drawn to you because you are proving

  649. your goodness and your faithfulness and your

  650. word through your people as we become the demonstration

  651. of your power. Thank you. Thank you. In Jesus'

  652. name I pray. Amen. This online worship experience

  653. was brought to you by the friends and partners

  654. of Elation Church.