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An inner city church had an annual student recognition day. Normally, students would share about their educational experiences and then the pastor would get up and offer a few closing words. One year, the pastor’s words were a bit alarming. He stood up in front of all the young graduates and proud parents and said, "Children, you’re going to die! You may not think you’re going to die, but you’re going to die! One of these days they’re going to take you out to the cemetery, drop you in a hole, throw some dirt on your face, and go back to the church to eat potato salad …
When you were born, you alone were crying, and everybody else was happy. The important question I want to ask is this: When you die are you alone going to be happy, leaving everybody else crying? The answer depends on whether you live to get titles or testimonies. Will they list your degrees and awards, or will they tell about what you meant to their lives? Will you leave behind a newspaper column telling people how important you were, or will you leave behind crying people who give their testimonies about how they’ve lost the best friend they ever had? Will they talk about all the boards you sat on and things you owned, or will they talk about all the money you gave away that made a difference in this world?
"There’s nothing wrong with titles. Titles are good things to have. But if it ever comes down to a choice between a title or a testimony, go for the testimony …"
"Pharaoh may have had the title, but Moses had the testimony!
Nebuchadnezzar may have had the title, but Daniel had the testimony!
Queen Jezebel may have had the title, but Elijah had the testimony!
Pilate may have had the title, but my Jesus had the testimony!
And then he asked a single question: "What will it be for your life?"
James Emery White, You Can Experience a Purposeful Life, 86-88
ILL. Max Lucado, in his book, "Applause from Heaven," tells about flying home after having been gone for more than a week of speaking engagements.
He says, "I know that my wife & our two daughters will be waiting at the airport for me. And as I walk down the long corridor & round the bend & into the terminal, I’ll see my wife & she’ll have a big smile on her face, & my two little girls will be there. Then my youngest daughter will begin to applaud because Daddy’s been gone & now Daddy’s come home."
Then Lucado adds, "One of these days we’re going to walk down the long corridor through the pearly gates onto the streets of gold. We might see Paul over here & Peter over there & maybe Moses & Elijah."
"But finally," he says, "we’re going to round the bend into the throne room of God, & there on the throne will be God the Father. And by His right side Jesus the Christ." "Then," he said, "we’ll hear the applause of heaven & begin to enjoy God, & God will begin to enjoy us for all eternity."
The Rev. Frank Bartleman was a leader in the 1907 visitation of the Holy Spirit on Azusa Street in L.A. He said, "Men love the spectacular. What we do not understand is ’wonderful.’ God’s fire falls on sacrifice, as in Elijah’s case.
The greater the sacrifice, consecration, the more fire. God’s fire falls only on sacrifice. An empty altar receives no fire."
"It is not the man who can build the biggest brush heap, but the one who can set his heap on fire that will light up the country.
"The devil has no conscience, and the flesh has no sense. Many have never learned submission, courtesy, nor anything else, even in the way of common manners. A spirit of self-importance is one of the most disgusting things in the world.
"The oil (the Holy Ghost) ceases to flow, as in Elijah’s time, when there are no more empty vessels to be filled. People do not sense their need of God. But wherever there is a hungry heart, God will fill it. ’The rich (full) He has sent empty away.’"
The next time you feel like GOD can’t use you, just remember...
Noah was a drunk
Abraham was too old
Isaac was a daydreamer
Jacob was a liar
Leah was ugly
Joseph was abused
Moses had a stuttering problem
Gideon was afraid
Sampson had long hair and was a womanizer
Rahab was a prostitute
Jeremiah and Timothy were too young
David had an affair and was a murderer
Elijah was suicidal
Isaiah preached naked
Jonah ran from God
Naomi was a widow
Job went bankrupt
John the Baptist ate bugs
Peter denied Christ
The Disciples fell asleep while praying
Martha worried about everything
The Samaritan woman was divorced, more than once
Zaccheus was too small
Paul wa...
There was a rabbi on a journey with the prophet Elijah. They walked all day, and at nightfall they came to the humble cottage of a poor man, whose only treasure was a cow. The poor man ran out of his cottage, and his wife ran too, to welcome the strangers for the night and to offer them all the simple hospitality which they were able to give in such poor circumstances.
Elijah and the rabbi were entertained with plenty of the cow’s milk, sustained by home-made bread and butter, and they were put to sleep in the best bed while their kindly hosts lay down before the kitchen fire. But in the morning the poor man’s cow was dead.
They walked all the next day, and came that evening to the house of a very wealthy merchant, whose hospitality they craved. The merchant was cold an proud and rich, and all that he would do for the prophet and his companion was to lodge them in a cowshed and feed them on bread and water. In the morning, however, Elijah thanked him very much for what he had done, and sent for a mason to repair one of his walls which happened to be falling down, as a return for his kindness.
The Rabbi, unable to keep silence any longer, begged Elijah to explain the meaning of his dealings with human beings. "In regards to the poor man who received us so hospitably," replied the prophet, "it was decreed that his wife was to die that night, but in reward for his goodness God took the cow instead of the wife. I repaired the wall of the rich miser because a chest of gold was concealed near the place, and if the miser had repaired the wall himself he would have discovered the treasure." (Autoillustrator.com, "THE ONCE AND FUTURE KING")
There was a rabbi on a journey with the prophet Elijah. They walked all day, and at nightfall they came to the humble cottage of a poor man, whose only treasure was a cow. The poor man ran out of his cottage, and his wife ran too, to welcome the strangers for the night and to offer them all the simple hospitality which they were able to give in such poor circumstances.
Elijah and the rabbi were entertained with plenty of the cow’s milk, sustained by home-made bread and butter, and they were put to sleep in the best bed while their kindly hosts lay down before the kitchen fire. But in the morning the poor man’s cow was dead.
They walked all the next day, and came that evening to the house of a very wealthy merchant, whose hospitality they craved. The merchant was cold an proud and rich, and all that he would do for the prophet and his companion was to lodge them in a cowshed and feed them on bread and water. In the morning, however, Elijah thanked him very much for what he had done, and sent for a mason to repair one of his walls which happened to be falling down, as a return for his kindness.
The Rabbi, unable to keep silence any longer, begged Elijah to explain the meaning of his dealings with human beings. "In regards to the poor man who received us so hospitably," replied the prophet, "it was decreed that his wife was to die that night, but in reward for his goodness God took the cow instead of the wife. I repaired the wall of the rich miser because a chest of gold was concealed near the place, and if the miser had repaired the wall himself he would have discovered the treasure." (Autoillustrator.com, "THE ONCE AND FUTURE KING")
There were six major miracles in Elijah life and eleven in Elisha’s. The 12th took place in (2 Ki 13:20 KJV) And Elisha died, and they buried him. And the bands of the Moabites invaded the land at the coming in of the year.(2 Ki 13:21 KJV) And it came to pass, as they were burying a man, that, behold, they spied a band of men; and they cast the man into the sepulchre of Elisha: and when the man was let down, and touched the bones of Elisha, he revived, and stood up on his feet.
HE RECEIVED THE DOUBLE PORTION!
YOU TOO CAN RECEIVE BY SEEING JESUS THROUGH HIS WORD AND THROUGH THE HOLY SPIRT THAT POINTS US TO THE LORD JESUS CHRIST!
A man was walking along our North shore mountain road and saw a First Nations man lying with his ear to the ground. As he approached the First Nations man, he heard him talking.
“Chevy pickup truck. Large tires. Green. Man driving with large German shepherd in passenger seat. Loaded with firewood. BC license plate 830 EJE”.
The other guy was just astounded at the first nations guy. He said, “You mean you can tell all that from listening to the ground?”
The first nations man replied: “Ear to the ground, nothing, That truck just ran over me.”
Many a times we feel that way, like a big truck that just ran over us. I am ...
Professors Anthony Campbell and Mark O’Brian stated something else in addition to my earlier reference. Let me add to that at this point because it provides a marvelous solution to our loss of connection with God –“the narrative portrays a sense of Elijah’s loss of nerve in conflict with Jezebel. Elijah’s encounter with God at Horeb, source of Israel’s spiritual energy, reinvigorates the prophet and reasserts God’s control over Israel’s destiny.” (Italics and bold, mine)
Listen to these facts about a few Bible heroes:
· Adam blamed his wife for his problems.
· Cain killed his brother, Able
· After surviving the flood, Noah despaired and got drunk. (Now, think about it. After spending a year closed up in a floating barn, then finally getting out to see nothing but mud and destruction --- you just might feel the same way.)
· Jacob was a liar and a schemer (Besides having that dream about a ladder, he lied to his father and tricked his brother out of an inheritance)
· Joseph was an abused by his jealous brothers --- who sold him into slavery.
· Long after David killed Goliath, he had an affair and ended up committing murder to hide the evidence.
· The famous prophet Elijah became so depressed at one point that he was suicidal
· The devoted apostle Peter denied Christ when he needed him the most
The Bible includes accounts of just about any ugly, unmentionable sin known to mankind … from murder to rape to incest to infanticide. The Bible may be written about ancient times, but it is completely IN TOUCH with the human condition today. You will not see anything in REAL LIFE that’s any worse than the reality found in the Bible.
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