EMBEDDED VIDEO SERMON in HD – WITH NOTES
Internet Church Service – March 27, 2022; Christian Soldier, Part 44. Meet Elijah. A Forward Fallen Christian Soldier.
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from - Romans 8:38-39
Hymn #1
Hymn #2
Preparing yourself for the study of God’s Word
Before we begin, only if you are a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ (that is; you have believed [trusted] in Him for His promised gift of eternal life) John 3:16, John 6:47 as a few examples; it is very important to prepare yourself to learn God's Word so the Holy Spirit can teach you as to what your reading or hearing is true or false. To be taught by the Holy Spirit you must be filled with the Holy Spirit which means abiding in Christ. To place yourself in fellowship with God the Holy Spirit [also called abiding in the Christ], take a moment to simply name, cite or acknowledge [confess] your known unconfessed sins privately to God (i.e.; with your thoughts directed only to God the Father). Why? Because you cannot grow spiritually if you’re not abiding in Christ [in fellowship with Him] when you take in bible truth.
1 John 1:9, says: “If we confess [meaning to simply name, cite or acknowledge to God the Father] our sins [known unconfessed sins], He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins [known sins] and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness [all unknown and forgotten sins];” NKJV (New King James Version); we call this REBOUND; read the full doctrine as to “why” we need to use 1 John 1:9 to grow spiritually. Left click the following link to learn more and fully understand the doctrine of Rebound; which answers the question, why do I need to keep confessing my sins all the time? REBOUND
If you have never personally believed in the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior (that is, believed in Him for eternal life), the issue for you is not to name your sins to God; the issue for you is to believe by faith alone in Jesus, The Christ alone for eternal life [salvation] and you will be saved [receive Eternal Life] the very micro second you believe in Him:
John 6:47 says: “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me [Jesus Christ] has everlasting life.” NKJV
Notice again what John 6:47 says, “he who believes in Me [Jesus Christ] has everlasting life.” It doesn’t say, “will have”; it says, “has.” Therefore, the very moment you believe Jesus Christ’s promise of everlasting life, you have it (it’s really just that simple), and it can never be lost or taken away from you (John 10:28-29). Furthermore, the gift of everlasting life (also called eternal life in scripture) is available to every human being; there are absolutely no exceptions.
John 3:14-18 says: “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness [Num 21:4-9], even so must the Son of Man be lifted up [the cross], that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.” NKJV
Let us now bow our hearts and take a moment to prepare for learning God’s Word, if there is any known sin in your life, this is the time to just cite it privately to God the Father with your thoughts directed towards Him. With your head bowed and your eyes closed, you have total privacy in your mind and soul:
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Sermon
NOTES
Unlike the bible study, these notes are not just for reading without watching the video. These notes are more designed to follow along during the sermon and to bring up the “hover pop-up scripture references;” if just hover doesn’t work, do a “control-left-click,” if that doesn’t work then look them up in your Bible) when the Pastor asks everyone to turn to that passage in their bibles.
Christian Soldier, Part 44. Meet Elijah. A Forward Fallen Christian Soldier.
The difference between falling forward and falling backward.
What godly virtues do we live by when we don’t give up and fall forward and not backward?
There is a danger in people testing when it comes to having no confidence in the flesh and not shrinking back into destruction; Heb 10:35-39.
Having confidence in ourselves and in our abilities that we can achieve our goals is a very dangerous place to be.
Confidence in self rather than God is the issue when you are fallen back.
Psa 118:8 It is better to take refuge in the Lord Than to trust in man. (That is the normal man).
Psa 118:9 It is better to take refuge in the Lord Than to trust in princes. (Even those who are successful in life).
When we fall forward, we are better able to continue in the face of setbacks, and to do the hard work necessary to succeed; Col 3:23.
Col 3:23 Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men;
Falling back on something is only good when it’s your faith that you’re falling back upon.
When we fall forward with that attitude, Satan loses any hold he may have had upon us.
In 2Ti 2:24-26, we are told to come to our senses and escape from the snare of the devil, having been held captive by him to do his will.
When you fall, always remember to fall forward no matter what you see coming your way.
Learn to take your failures captive and don’t share your thoughts about them with others by going backward.
Go forward by taking those failures captive and not keeping letting them alive; 2Co 10:5.
2Co 10:5 We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ.
2Co 2:11 that no advantage be taken of us by Satan; for we are not ignorant of his schemes.
It can be really scary to go into a situation that we might fail at, but fear should never stop us from trying.
When we fail, we need to be able to brush off any hurt feelings, keep our “eyes on the prize” of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus; Php 3:14.
Php 3:14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
Failure can actually make us better by giving us “thick skin”, so that the next time we fail, we will get back up even faster.
Everyone has some area that they have been trained in and whether it is something natural or spiritual, we all love to succeed.
Gn 39:2 And the Lord was with Joseph, so he became a successful man. And he was in the house of his master, the Egyptian.
As a part of the indwelling of the OSN, we all have areas of strength and areas of weaknesses.
There is a conflict going on between the Holy Spirit and the Old Sin Nature; Gal 5:17.
Gal 5:17 For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please.
“Do you have the guts to fail and to keep going forward after you do?”
When most believers fail, they fall backward into guilt, condemnation, fear and misery rather than falling forward looking for things that are coming your way that are positive and negative.
2Co 4:15 For all things are for your sakes.
The worst thing you can do as a progressing, advancing believer is to get into a personality conflict with anyone.
This is why it is extremely important that you pass people testing and make godly decisions from a position of strength.
In the first place, Common sense ought to tell you that life is too short.
“We would not think that life is so short and that there was not enough time in the day, if we stopped watching T.V.”
“Some people would not waste any part of today if they knew that by this time tomorrow they will be dead.”
This is what caused Elijah to run away from the plan of God for his life when Jezebel gave him 24 hours to get out of town.
This was right after he killed 450 prophets of the Jewish king Ahab who were really prophets of Jezebel and her foreign gods.
Elijah also killed the offspring of Jezebel as well as Jezebel herself.
Elijah received a death threat from the wicked queen Jezebel which caused him in a time of weakness to run “for his life” in 1Ki 19:3.
When the nation of Israel forsook the Lord and worshiped Baal under king Ahab and his wicked wife Jezebel, the result was that they lost God ’s protection and experienced three years of drought.
It was a lot for Elijah to accept especially after his victories over the 450 prophets of Ba’al.
The Bible describes Elijah him as a lonely figure with no real home to live in as he was roaming the countryside appearing and vanishing unexpectedly.
Notice please that John the Baptist was said to be indwelt by the reincarnation of Elijah.
Mk 6:15 But others were saying, "He is Elijah."
Elijah is also mentioned in more detail at what we call biblically the Mount of Transfiguration; Mat 17.
In Mk 6:14-15, People were saying, "John the Baptist has risen from the dead, and that is why these miraculous powers are at work in Him but others were saying, "He is Elijah."
Elijah was also a prophet who became confused at times concerning the Jews and the Gentiles in Rm 1:2-5.
There were times that he did reveal the power of prayer for the nation of Israel; Jm 5:17-18.
Jm 5:17 Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain; and it did not rain on the earth for three years and six months.
Jm 5:18 And he prayed again, and the sky poured rain, and the earth produced its fruit.
1. There is no mention of Elijah in God’s Hall of Fame; Heb 11.
Elijah’s name means “Jehovah is my God.”
Heb 11:4 By faith Abel;
Heb 11:5 By faith Enoch;
Heb 11:7 By faith Noah;
Heb 11:8 By faith Abraham;
Heb 11:11 By faith even Sarah.
Heb 11:20 By faith Isaac;
Heb 11:21 By faith Jacob;
Heb 11:22 By faith Joseph;
Heb 11:23 By faith Moses,
Heb 11:31 By faith Rahab
Note that Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, Samuel and the prophets are all mentioned in Heb 11:32.
Gideon and the men who are selected are quite fascinating because they do not come from prominent tribes, they all come from low-class and useless areas.
Barak means lightning flash, and he was slow, cowardly, and a “momma’s boy.”
Barak was one of those areas where the Lord’s sense of humor and His grace meet and a hero emerges who was also from one of the weaker tribes
.
The next one is Jephthah who follows the exact same pattern. He was born a bastard son on the east bank of the Jordan.
He was ridiculed out of town, moved to Syria, and became very angry and resentful at the ridicule.
Samuel is the last of the judges mentioned along with David, a great supergrace king who has to be mentioned.
“and the prophets” which refers to the many of the prophets from the Old Testament.
The prophets refer to believers of the OT who under the inspiration of God the H.S. communicated to the Jews the will of God, the plan of God, the future of Israel, in both written and verbal form.
Excluded from the text in this verse are prophets who existed before David, such as Moses and Samuel.
However, this category of prophets includes Elijah and Elisha who were also verbal communicators.
There was also Amos, Hosea, Isaiah, Micah and Jeremiah.
Just because they are mentioned does not mean that they automatically made God’s Hall of fame because what is mentioned may not qualify the prophet for God’s Hall of fame.
The word “prophets” also includes those who were in exile when the Jews were under discipline as a nation like Daniel and Ezekiel were.
It also includes the prophets Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi, all of whom many scholars believe made God’s Hall of Fame.
In Heb 11:33-40, we have the last part of this chapter with the exploits of Old Testament supergrace heroes, not a roster.
We depart from the benefits not on the blessings but on how they met pressures, how they could face crisis after crisis, adversity, tragedy, trial, heartache, frustration.
How did they handle these things and become confident in prosperity or adversity?
In Heb 11:24-32, we have a very simple construction of nine separate clauses designed to present the importance of Bible doctrine in the soul in time of adversity and in historical crisis.
In verses Heb 11:33-38 we have the actual exploits and in verses Heb 11:39-40 we have the completion of the supergrace dissertation.
The result of occupation with Christ was found in the prophet Daniel when he stopped the mouths of lions; Dn 3:26-30.
Heb 11:33 who by faith conquered kingdoms, performed acts of righteousness, obtained promises, shut the mouths of lions.
It is obvious that Daniel is now listed officially as one of the supergrace heroes mentioned by his famous deeds.
God promotes supergrace believers like Daniel which is a clear-cut case of promotion.
Supergrace prosperity causes reaction from others.
First of all, note that there was a personality conflict between 300 princes and Daniel.
People testing and the only solution, which is the divine solution, Occupation with Christ.
It has everything to do with his profile because I want you to see that in the midst of apostasy Daniel excelled as a prophet whereas Elijah did not.
The reaction in Daniel’s case was jealousy, bitterness, vindictiveness, implacability from over 300 magicians and conjurers who were all against Daniel.
Daniel fought back like Elijah did when he defeated 450 prophets of Baal but then, unlike Daniel, he ran away.
The supergrace believer is not petty and does not stoop to retaliation.
Daniel simply left everything in the Lord’s hands and the Lord vindicated him which is called “all things working together for good.”
Here is a prophet who is alluded to in God’s Hall of Fame of Heb 11.
Heb 11:34 tells us that some of these prophets “Quenched” or extinguished and neutralized fire, just like Shadrach, Meschach, and Abednigo; DAN 3.
Shadrach, Meschach and Abednigo did not know or suggest that God would or should deliver them from the furnace of fire, they simply took their stand on the basis of maximum doctrine resident in their souls.
Supergrace believers always recognize the true issue of God’s sovereignty as well as their own human freedom.
Whether God delivered them or not they refused to compromise doctrine by worshipping a golden image.
The three men did not try to bribe God for deliverance but instead they lived by doctrine and left the rest to the Lord.
Because of Bible doctrine resident in the soul mean like David, Caleb, Jehoshaphat were delivered in time of disaster.
Principle: Maximum doctrine in the soul preserves the supergrace believer from desperate and hopeless situations in combat.
Every believer inevitably faces circumstances where he is hopeless, helpless, and useless and “were made strong.”
Maximum doctrine resided in the soul of the prophet Isaiah and he came to the front in the Sennacherib invasion and encouraged the people of God to go forward and not backward.
On behalf of one man, one of the greatest armies that ever existed was destroyed.
Isaiah, just like Noah, turned the course of history at that time because he had maximum doctrine resident in his soul converting hopeless situations into victories.
Whenever God is glorified through maximum doctrine resident in the believer’s soul the believer himself becomes the recipient of great blessing.
This also means that they became highly proficient in their profession and they advanced following the colors to the high ground of supergrace.
Under Occupation with Christ, they had the inner doctrine to meet the problems of life as they shared the happiness of God and also received promotion, success, prosperity of various types.
Supergrace believers have maximum doctrine in the soul and therefore, regardless of their rank, maximum doctrine means maximum courage and the ability to face every disaster in life.
It’s interesting because the invading army in this case is the army in action of the aliens.
The word for “foreign armies” is allotrios meaning aliens.
“escaped from the mouths of the sword”; “from weakness were made strong”; “became courageous in battle”; “put to flight the invading aliens called the enemy.”
Hymn #3
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