THERE IS STILL A REMNANT
1 Kings 19:18
Lead Pastor Tyler Barrett; 1/24/2021
I have had deep struggle with this message.
I know that the Lord is wanting me to push some stuff out and the enemy is not pleased.
We are living in the days of Noah. We are living in the days of Lot. We are living in the days of Jonah. We are living in the days of Nebuchadnezzar.
We are living in a nation that has its fist in the face of God, out of rebellion.
Isaiah said it best when he was found in the glory of the Lord. He said, “I am surround by a people of unclean lips”.
We look all around us and see the depravity. We look all around us and we see the fatherless, the broken, weak, and frail.
We look all around us and are in disbelief as to what we are seeing and hearing.
The days in which we are in are troubled days. No doubt about that.
Valley of Dry Bones. A desert place. A place of no visible hope.
Even amid all these events, God has a remnant of people.
Remnant means, “a small remaining quantity of something”.
In our text this morning, Elijah is on the run. He is on the run and has come to a place of hiding.
Let me give you some history.
Baal worship is extremely rampant in the land. Jezebel and Ahab are in command of the land. Jezebel has brough in Baal worship.
Jezebel comes from a lineage of false worship. If you trace her all the way back, she comes from the lineage of Ham. Ham was Noah’s son. Ham was the one who had lustful desires for his father, after getting off the Ark.
The spirit in Ham, produced a lineage of false worship. Nimord, one of Ham’s descendants oversaw the Tower of Babel.
Jezebel’s father was named Ethbaal. Which means, “toward the idol”. King of Sidionites. He was also a priest of Ashtoreth. Ashtoreth was the moon goddess- Baal religion- cult.
Not only is Jezebel a daughter of Baal worship, but she is also a descendent of it.
Jezebel married King Ahab. She has brought in Baal worship into Israel and has ran out the worship of Jehovah God.
As a result, God’s hand of blessing was removed off the land. In other words, the people God what they asked for.
Now let me stop right here and tell you- the spirit of Jezebel is still in operation today.
Here are 6 factors about the spirit of Jezebel:
1. Her spirit causes burn out. Jezebel wants to weaken the people of God. Jezebel wants to weaken you to get you complacent, unenthused with worship, and lazy for battle.
Jezebel understands what the people of God can do when they are full of strength. So, Jezebel spirit will over work you, get you tired, increase your workload, and get you to the point of total burn out.
2. Her spirit will control you. Like Delilah- Jezebel will try to cut your power off when you least expect it. Jezebel wants to get you caught up into the cult, she wants to get you enslaved into sin, she wants to depower you.
WHY? Because it is all about control with her. She wants to control you, so the best way to accomplish that is to depower you.
3. Her spirit will try to seduce you. Jezebel was known as a beautiful woman. Revelation 2 says she leads servants into immorality. This spirit will try to enlarge itself to get your attention. This spirit must always be out front and center.
This spirit will try to use the pleasures of flesh to get you caught up. This spirit knows no marriage boundaries. This spirit dresses provocatively to get the attention of eyes.
4. Her spirit self-proclaimed her position. Jesus said in Revelation 2 that Jezebel calls herself a prophetess. The Jezebel spirit will call itself prophet, pastor, apostle, bishop even though they have not been called of God and even though their gift has not been ratified by a person of spiritual authority.
The Jezebel spirit will call itself a prophet just to get donations. The spirit will spew forth words that did not come from the Lord, but will say, “thus saith the Lord”. All the while the church is caught up in a spirit, without even checking the credentials. The church of Thyatira was accepting her teachings.
Matthew 24:11, “many false prophets will appear and mislead many.” I am still looking for these hundreds of self-proclaimed prophets to step back up to the mic and apologize for their false words concerning who would be inaugurated on Jan 20th.
5. Her spirit will cause you to eat meat which has been sacrificed to idols. In her day as Queen, they would sacrifice animals to the worship of Baal. Only a small portion of the animal would have been used for the sacrifice. The other portion was given out for the people to eat. They were eating meat that was used for the worship of Baal.
The spirit of Jezebel will cause you to feast upon the things of this world. It will cause you to feast your eyes upon filth, consume sickness through your ears, and contamination into your mouth.
I’m still trying to figure out why Holy Ghost filled people think it is okay to bring these things into your life. Drinking something the world calls a spirit.
6. Her spirit will tell you that it is okay to have pagan beliefs and practices while serving God. In other words, Jezebel will cause you to compromise.
Elijah said in 1 Kings 19:10, “they have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thine altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword…”. That it is okay to play with the world and serve God. That is okay to live for the flesh and live for God. Compromise.
The problem is the modern church of today has tolerated, aided and abetted, and allowed the spirit of Jezebel to come and go as it pleases. The spirit of Jezebel cannot function without the enablement of Ahab.
Our world is seeing a physical manifestation of the spirit we have allowed to manifest in the church!!!!
1. The world is complacent, but the church has been.
2. The enemy is controlling many things in society, but we have allowed him to within the church.
3. The world is full of sexual immorality, but so has the church been.
4. The world is self-promoting and claiming position that was never given, but the church has been doing that. We have people in pulpits, on stages, and in spotlights that have not been called- and they are not anointing!
5. The world is feasting upon fleshly desires, but the church has also been. If it feels good- do it. Many have sold their selves to the highest bidder.
6. The world is full of compromise, but so has the church been. We do not want to preach certain things, require certain standards, expect a certain way of living. We have taken the altar calls out of our services, shut down places of worship, forsaken the covenant of God, and we have crucified (so to speak) preachers and teachers of the dictates and precepts of the Word of God.
As one preacher said, it is time to run the hoe by the name of Jezebel spirit out of the church of the living God! You want to change the world; you must change the church. You want revival in the world, you must have revival in the church!!!
God called Elijah to get rid of the prophets of baal on Mt. Carmel. (story)
If we are going to have the miracles, signs, and wonders back in the house of God- then we must empty ourselves of the world system and get inundated with the power of the Holy Ghost!!
It was not until the sin came out of Nineveh, that revival broke out.
It was not until Nehemiah ran out Tobiah, who had set up camp in the storerooms in the temple, that revival broke out!
It was not until the temple was restored to the design of the Lord, that revival broke out.
It was not until Jesus ran the moneychangers out of the temple, that revival broke out.
OH GOD!! Fill us with your power. Fill us with your glory. Bring your presence to our churches like never before.
We need another Azusa Street Revival, We need another Welch Revival, We need another Brownsville Revival, we need some more Billy Grahams, Kathryn Koulmans, Oral Roberts, David Wilkersons, Beth Rousseau, Betsy Louis, people who are not ashamed of the gospel!
We need miracles, signs, and wonders!
I don’t know about you, but I want to see the lame walk, the dumb talk, the deaf hear, the drug fall off the addict, the alcohol fall off the olic, marriages restored, suicide spirit be broken, dead get back up, souls saved, tumors fall off, glory clouds return to the house of God, those wayward children come home, the youth get baptized in the Holy Ghost with evidence of speaking in tongues, preachers stand and preach the unadulterated word of the most high God, and whole cities flipped upside down with the power of the Holy Ghost of God!
WE CAN SEE IT when we run out the spirits that have been sent by the enemy to cause compromise, seduction, self-promotion, burn out, consumption of worldly things, and the spirit that tries to depower so that you can be controlled!!
Elijah got rid of those 850 Baal prophets. Word got back to Jezebel and she was furious. She wanted Elijah killed. He went into hiding.
What is wrong with us. The enemy roars back a bit and we run into hiding. We close the churches down. We sink into our comfortable places. We back down into a position of defeat.
About the time you pushed back the enemy over your life and once he started pushing back, you bowed.
Well God, (this is what Elijah did) I am all alone. No one is left that will stand. I just wish to die. I have lost. Jezebel is going to kill me. I thought I had this defeated. I thought I had this bondage broken.
I thought I had my miracle. I thought I had the breakthrough. I am going to give up on my marriage, I am going to give up on the ministry, I am going to give up on my children, I am going to give up praying, I am going to give up dreaming, I am going to give up on the vision…..
NOW God, Jezebel is after me with vengeance. Lord, I followed what you told me to do and here I am facing the THREAT of death!
1 Kings 19:18, “YET I HAVE LEFT ME 7 THOUSAND IN ISRAEL, ALL THE KNEES WHICH HAVE NOT BOWED UNTO BAAL, AND EVERY MOUTH WHICH HATH NOT KISSED HIM”.
About the time Elijah thought he was toast and that it was the end for him. God said, look around I STILL HAVE A REMNANT.
I still have a people that have not bowed this spirit. I still have a people that have not bent a knee to this seduction. I still have a people that have not compromised.
Elijah!!
I still have a people that believe in….
John 1:1-5
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 The same was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made by him; and without him was not anything made that was made. 4 In him was life; and the life was the light of men. 5 And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not. 12 But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: 13 Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. 14 And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.
I still have a people that believe….
Living He loved me- dying He saved me- buried He carried my sins far away- rising He justified- freely forever- one day He is coming again!
I still have a people that believe…..
In the blood, the cross, and the power of the gospel!
I still have a people that will not be bent or bowed to this old-world system!
I still have a people that even though the social media and the liberal control of speech is trying to hinder the furtherance of the Bible truth in the name of tolerance… will not be silenced or intimated!!
I still have a people that are praying, fasting, and seeking My face!
ELIJAH! Do not give up! HELP IS ON THE WAY!!!!!!!
The help I am talking about is not what any president is promising!
I am talking about grace in an ungraceful situation.
Hope in a terrible crisis.
Peace during a storm!
Restoration in the aftermath of a trial!
Groceries in time of famine!
Medicine in time of sickness!
Proverbs 18:10 “The name of the Lord is a fortified tower; the righteous run to it and are safe.”
Money in the time of poverty!
POWER IN THE UPPER ROOM!
Mercy in the time of mistake!
AND VICTORY IN THE TIME OF BATTLE!!!
I HAVE COME HERE TO DECLARE TO YOU TODAY! THAT THE SPIRIT OF JEZEBEL WILL NOT OVERTAKE THE REMNANT. THE ENEMY WILL NOT OVERTAKE THE CHURCH. FOR THERE IS A PEOPLE – A GROUP OF PRAYERS, SEEKERS, AND WORSHIPPERS WHO ARE MARCHING. WHO ARE ON A MISSION. WHO ARE NOT RUNNING INTO HIDING, BUT WHO ARE STANDING THEIR GROUND!
NEVER AGAIN HIDE YOUR PRAISE. NEVER AGAIN HIDE YOUR WORSHIP.
BUT THE MORE YOU PRAISE GOD THE MORE THE DARKNESS IS GETTING PUSHED BACK!!
NOW GIVE GOD SOME PRAISE!!! PUSH IT BACK!! DRAIN THE SWAMP!!
THANK GOD FOR THE REMNANT!!
