FAITH & FIRE
You need faith when you go through the fire.
Text: 2 Kings 2:1-14
YOU HAVE TO STAY FOCUSED ON THE FAITH PART WHEN YOU ARE GOING THROUGH THE FIRE
METRIC: “Today’s complacency is tomorrow’s captivity. You are what you tolerate. Today’s complacency in moderation will become tomorrow’s complacency in excess.”
When you live in complacency, you will not receive God’s rain.
INTRO.:
Many moons ago, there was a lady named Jezebel, and she tweeted: “Hey Elijah, in 24 hours, you will die.”
Of course, as you all know, this is before Elon Musk took over Twitter.
1 Kings 19:2
I’m going to juxtapose Jezebel’s tweet, her threat, with what took place in
2 Kings 2:11, 13
I want to speak to you on the subject matter, the metanarrative of FAITH AND FIRE. ” Jezebel’s tweet, the threat vs the testimony.”
The subtext is this: “When heaven starts it, hell cannot stop it.”
- On one side, we have the threat; on the other side, we have the testimony.
- I want to remind you from the get-go that the testimony will always be greater than the threat.
- What God has placed upon you will always be greater than anything hell can place in front of you.
We are fully cognizant of the fact that we’re living in a time, without a doubt, where the spirit of Jezebel, Ahab, and Baal are alive and well, BUT WE CARRY A MANTLE.
THAT MANTLE IS GREATER THAN THE THREAT. The anointing inside of you is greater than anything hell can send against you.
I want to repeat that coming out of this season. IN YOUR LIFE, @ ROL, the Spirit of God inside of you is greater than any hell that can be in front of you.
The Spirit of God is inside of you, greater than any weapon formed against you.
THE MANTLE OF THE SPIRIT.
“The power of the Lord came upon Elijah; he fastened his clothes around his waist, and he ran.”
Elijah had a mantle in 1 Kings 19:19; he places the mantle upon Elisha, and subsequently, we read that Elisha picks it up when Elijah is finally taken up.
- I am convinced that we’re living, spiritually speaking, in the days of Ahab, Jezebel, and Baal.
- The spirit of Ahab is alive and well, robbing love, killing joy, destroying peace.
- Ahab is alive and well; that spirit represents forces with access and authority, attempting to prompt us to sacrifice truth on the altar of political and cultural expediency.
1 Kings 16:34, Ahab was CUCKOO – Ahab was the first king who ever permitted the rebuilding of the walls of Jericho. No other king, in Israel’s history, ever had the audacity to rebuild what God knocked down. This guy comes along and says, I give permission for you to rebuild what God knocked down.
The spirit of Ahab is alive in America, and around the world: There are things that God has already addressed, that the spirit of Ahab is trying to bring back up again.
The spirit of Ahab is truly made manifest as we continue to see strife, discord, and ideologies, permeating every single sphere of society for the purpose of dividing us in perpetuity because we disagree..
THIS IS WHY WE NEED GOD’S VOICE TO OUR EARS, TO OUR HEARTS!
So, Ahab loves to see us divided by ideology, which reminds me to tell you. There is no competition in the church. WE ARE ONE CHURCH.
- Jezebel was Ahab’s wife, so this man was bad, and he had a wife, and she was nasty on steroids.
- Jezebel represents a manipulative, sexually coercive, perverse, corrupt cultural spirit intent on killing the prophetic voices, silencing truth, and constructing Asherah poles in order to marginalize the oracles of righteousness and justice.
- A spirit that exploits the moments in our lives when we are exhausted. Rev. 2:20
The spirit of Baal is alive and well, demanding that truth and children, in and out of the womb, be sacrificed on the altar of false truth.
If you haven’t noticed, there is a spirit like never before, coming after our children. There is a spirit unleashed on the planet, coming after our children. I don’t care what you’re reading on social media, what you’re watching here on your ABC, BBC, or Fox, don’t drink the Kool-Aid. The most powerful spirit is not Jezebel, the most powerful spirit in WEST TN and around the world is not Baal, it is not Ahab.
Is. 6:3
The Spirit of God is still moving, I’m gon’ say it again, the Spirit of God is still moving.
Act 1:8, 2 Corinthians 3:17, Galatians 5:16, Ephesians 5:18, 1 John 2:17, Romans 8:11
POINT: There is not a legislative initiative, an executive decree, a court decision, a social media campaign, a virus or a smear campaign that can stop the Holy Spirit from moving.
You cannot cancel the Holy Spirit, you cannot deplatform the Holy Spirit, you cannot defund the Holy Spirit; the Holy Spirit cannot be stopped. Are there any questions?
THE MANTLE OF THE ANOINTING
1 John 2:27
New Testament, it’s Christology, it’s New Testament, new covenant application of the reality from an Old Testament narrative, and completely elevated by the vicarious atoning finished work of Christ.
1 Kings 17:18; 1 Kings 18:38; 1 Kings 18:41
You will need FAITH AND FIRE TO GET TO THE TOP OF THE RAIN.
If you’ve never been through a drought ever in your life and you’ve been serving Jesus for years, please come up at the altar call, at the end, ’cause I want to worship you.
We’ve all been through droughts, but here’s the thing: People want to jump from drought to rain without going through the fire. IT DOESN’T WORK LIKE THAT.
WE ALL MUST GO THROUGH THE FIRE TO GET TO THE RAIN.
Because the fire will precede the rain, the fire season is when God actually does a work in your life, where he will remove the stuff inside of you that would’ve held back the fulfillment of his purpose for you.
And on many occasions, he will not only remove the stuff inside of you, but he will literally remove people from around you that would hold back the fulfillment of his purpose in your life.
FIRE IS A REVEALER OF THE INTENTS OF HEARTS. FIRE EXPOSES THE DEEDS OF DARKNESS. FIRE REVEALS BETRAYAL. FIRE REVEALS THE PLANS OF THE ENEMY.
Ezekiel 34:26; Deuteronomy 28:8; Acts 3:20
ONE LITTLE SIDE NOTE, THOSE THAT PRAYED WITH YOU IN THE DROUGHT, DESERVE TO DANCE WITH YOU IN THE RAIN. THOSE WHO STOOD BY YOU IN THE FIRE WILL HONOR YOU WITH THE RIGHT SPIRIT WHEN THE RAIN COMES.
A MANTLE OF SPEAKING TRUTH WITH LOVE.
The mantle of the Spirit, The mantle of Anointing.
The prophet Elijah came along, and he confronted Ahab on top of the mountain. He looked at God’s children collectively and said, “Today, you must make a choice. Will you follow the Gods of Ahab and Jezebel? Or will you follow the God of our fathers”?
One of the saddest verses in the Bible. The Bible records, “God’s children said nothing.” We call that political correctness. They said nothing. Let me lay out a quick rubric for you.
THE ENEMY’S RUBRIC
- Today’s complacency is tomorrow’s captivity. I’ll repeat that, today’s complacency is tomorrow’s captivity. (Today’s atmosphere requires a response)
- You are what you tolerate. In life, in your mind, in your relationships, in your health, in your circumstances, in your community, in your generation, in your nation, you are what you tolerate.
- Truth must never be sacrificed on the altar of political or cultural expediency.
- There is no such animal as comfortable Christianity, get over yourself, there is no such thing as kumbaya Christianity, there is no such thing as silent Christianity. No, no, no, Christianity by its very definition is the counter-cultural, alternative narrative to the conformity of this world. So, it’s different.
- We must reconcile our eschatology with missiology.
I believe Jesus is coming, but while we are waiting for Jesus to come, Jesus is waiting for His church to stand up. Psalm 89:14
It’s truth and love, somebody says, “truth and love”. If all we do is preach about love, we’re nothing better than hippies trying to experience a nuance of emotion devoid of Jesus. If all we do is speak the truth, we’re mathematicians. The moment we speak truth in love, truth with love, and truth for love. We preach the whole gospel, and we change the world. But we can’t be afraid…
Why do we live like some of the pages are missing in the Bible?
Why do we pray like some of the pages are missing?
YOUR FAITH WILL GET YOU THROUGH THE DROUGHT THROUGH THE FIRE AND TO THE RAIN.