VITAL

Never feeling like you have enough. It’s like an open pit and open hole that it’s got to have more gotta have more. Why does never enough drive us to the place still of wanting more? And why is there such a void in this kind of thinking? Well, it’s the emptiness of not having Christ in your heart and let what fills the man heart when he doesn’t have Christ as the, the lust of the flesh, and it can never be satisfied, that’s the nature of lust is that it’s insatiable…

We are all one in Christ, to live holy, and to be set apart. We need to look different. We need to be different of how we look in our day. Do people see kindness in our hearts? People see a gratitude of an attitude of change at what Jesus has done. Are we loving towards other people? And in that, that’s what makes us holy. That’s what makes us different not not to be above anyone, but to be look different in our lives. And I think that’s the biggest thing that I would say in Christianity today. Is this, do people see us as being different being set apart?

Today we’re we’re going to continue our series on Followership on the and looking at the life of Elijah. We are going to look at what it means to hear the voice of God. I often get told by other men, and sometimes as women as well, “Mike, I’ve never heard the voice of God, how does he talk to us?” Most of us, most of the time, it’s in the in the pursuit of God and getting rid of all the other voices in our head. I know even this morning as I get ready to teach there’s voices, there’s things that want to come out. There’s things that want to consume my mind to go a different direction. And I always ask the Holy Spirit to help me to keep my mind focused, as I’m here with you on Sunday morning…

Today we’re going to continue our series on on Followership. We’re going to look at why men run, this is part two from last week. If you remember, in our teaching series on Elijah.

We see something about Elijah, what happened to this man of faith and heroism? Why did he run and if you ever had a true a similar situation in your own life where something came and and a distinct of in the enemy comes and he tries to overcome your life and the next thing you know you find yourself running, running away from the literally things what God wants in your life. You go to the darkness you go to the enemy you come to the you succumb to the evil things that the enemy always wants to tell you.

I always get to have this in my own mind, even this morning is there I’m sitting there speaking, the enemy always reminds me of my past, instead of God who tells me about a future. He reminds me at the bottom the mistakes that I’ve done in my life and the failures that have happened. But instead, God always reminds me of what can be and what he can do through me…

Today we’re going to look at why men run. It’s our teaching series out of the book of 1st and 2nd Kings looking at the men’s lives of Elijah and Elijah learning about followership. Now, I’m not talking about men who run a 5K or a marathon when I talk about, “Why do men run?” These are all good reasons to run and running for fitness is without a doubt good most mornings…

Today we’re in 1st Kings talking about the contest where light and darkness meet. And we see that meeting together in the nation is King Ahab vs. Elijah, the Battle of the gods. This headline is so important because it’s God Himself is going to show the nation of Israel that he is God Almighty, and is in full control of the earth of itself. Elijah, he sets the stage on Mount Carmel on a 1500 foot high limestone mountain. He tells King Ahab to take 850 of his profits to the top of the mountain. Let’s see what God speaks a true contest…

God is on the move in Elijah’s life, and he speaks directly Elijah. I love this. It says this, go and present yourself to King Ahab, tell him I will soon send rain. It says that Elijah immediately stepped into what I call live action. He didn’t hesitate argue, complain to God. He was a man on the move and he stepped into the moment. I tell you what, folks, that’s just exciting when you think about it. I love this part because Elijah isn’t looking for someone else to do it…

What made Elijah unique was he knew, and he believed, in the power of God. That made him the perfect prophet to see the miraculous. Now, I think what God does next is bizarre, he sends Elijah 100 miles northeast, into Gentile territory, enemy territory, at that God drives him back and takes him to a place where there was going to be water. And during that time, the Ravens were going to bring him both bread and water. That’s amazing. When you think about it here that the birds from the sky, God commands them to actually feed Elijah. Now, to be honest, I’ve never seen anything like this before in my own life…

We are starting a new fall teaching series called Followership. It is a different way to look at leadership. We’re going to look at two leaders, two prophets, two men of the Old Testament.

One of the prophets we will be looking at is Elijah. His name means my god is Yahweh. What a powerful name that is. Elijah is a Hebrew prophet and a miracle worker. He was a man who confronted King Ahab on the northern tribes of Israel. He was a man who came against the wicked King Ahab and his wicked wife, Jezebel. Elijah was not afraid. He came against them as a true leader of Israel during difficult days. Elijah is the front runner of John the Baptist and a mentor to Elisha.

Elisha is the second prophet we will be looking at. His name means God is salvation. He was a Hebrew prophet, and also a miracle worker. He is the prophet who asked God for a double portion of Elijah’a spirit for his ministry. For 60 years, he held the office of profit in Israel. You can find story in 2 Kings 5:8.

Before we jump in to the lives of these two leaders in the Bible, I think it’s important for us to set the stage as to what leadership truly is, as it speaks of it in the Bible, in comparison to what leadership is being conveyed to us in modern day culture. Today we have a guest with us, a recognized guest, a man devoted to God, true Shepherd of his people. Pastor Bill Tvedt from Jubilee Family Church from right here is Oskaloosa, as we discuss leadership and followership.

To have power in prayer, you must experience God’s presence. In the beginning, James says if any of you suffered hardships, you should pray. Everyone within the sound of my voice, without a doubt today, is having some sort of hardship. Something is going on. We deal with struggles and strife every day of our lives. Isn’t that correct? A lot of people will go to Facebook. They will take time to post things about hardships that they’re dealing with in life. Whether you like it or not, it’s there. Some will ask for prayer. Sometimes you can donate money because of their hardship. And often times people post hoping, and wondering, does anyone simply care?