Elijah, the Prophet of the Lord

1 Kings 17:1-7.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on November 05, 2017.

Today we are beginning a series looking at the Old Testament prophet, Elijah.  Prophets in the Bible always appeared when God’s people needed instruction, or when they needed correction.  Always, they prophets would declare to the people what God was saying, whether about past, present, or future events.  That said, the prophets are most concerned about the present.  Knowing what God says about the past, present, and future, will you not walk in faith now, in the present?  We should never lose sight of this prophetic imperative.  It comes to us in the now in order to encourage or change our present activity.

Historically, this idea that God does speak through individuals to the greater body of believers has led to lots of abuse by false prophets who had not been sent by God.  Instead they are enamored with the idea of having power and wielding it over those around them.  Their inflated egos lead them to do what no normal person would do, pretend that they have a word from the Lord for other people.  That said, it would be easy to reject the idea of prophets altogether.  Some do this completely by rejecting the idea that any person has ever really had a “word from the Lord.”  Thus they view the Bible as a man-made document that is only worthy of respect as a specimen of literature.  Others will say that God no longer uses prophets.  Thus they accept the Bible as the proven Word of God, but reject the idea that God speaks through others today.  I would challenge you to recognize the spiritual maturity that we are called to.  The spiritually immature easily accept everyone who comes along with a “Word from the Lord.”  But to reject the idea of prophets out of hand is no great maturity itself.  It refuses to deal with the hard issues of spiritually mature individuals recognizing the Holy Spirit (or lack thereof) in another person’s words.  False prophets always have red flags that the spiritually mature will pick up on.  More than this, the words of a prophet of the Lord will always prove true in the end.  Otherwise they have not spoken from the Lord, but in presumption have made up words from their own mind and heart.

Elijah is one of the true prophets whose declarations of God’s Word proved to be true in the end.  As we will see throughout this character study, the prophets were rarely well received and respected by the people during their life time.  Instead we find them harassed and threatened, rejected by the powerful of their day, and often by the average person too.

As we walk through the ministry of Elijah, we want to focus on what God is telling us and not what our flesh wants to focus on.  In this way we will be led by the Spirit of God and not by our flesh.  Let’s look at our passage today.

Elijah confronts King Ahab

In verse 1 we find two characters, Elijah and Ahab.  Although we are jumping into a running account of the Kings of Judah and Israel, this is the first point that we see the prophet Elijah.  So let’s remind ourselves of the setting of this meeting between Elijah and Ahab.  Israel had existed as 12 (13 counting Levi) tribes under the help of judges whom God raised up for their help.  Until King Saul, Israel did not have a king.  Eventually, though, God allows them to have a king, but warns them that it will not lead to good things in the end.  So Saul became the first King of Israel, followed by David and then his son Solomon.  After Solomon’s death, his son Rehoboam took the throne.  Through poor counsel and poor character, Rehoboam threatened to raise the heavy taxes that Solomon had levied, which led to the 10 northern tribes breaking off from the tribe of Judah (only the tribe of Benjamin remained with the tribe of Judah).  This split in Israel wasn’t healed over time.  Thus the two Kingdoms were referred to as Judah and Israel.  It is important in the Bible to pay attention to what is meant by Israel in the context.  Sometimes it refers to all 13 tribes and sometimes only to the northern 10 tribes that broke off from Judah.  This split happened roughly around 930/925 B.C.  Ahab is a king of Israel, as in the northern 10 tribes, about 70 years after this split.  Due to wickedness and power plots there have already been 6 kings and thus Ahab is the 7^th king of northern Israel.  We are told in 1 Kings 16:31-33 that King Ahab was very wicked.  “And it came to pass, as though it had been a trivial thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat [the idolatry of the first Northern King], that [Ahab] took as wife Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal, king of the Sidonians; and he went and served Baal and worshiped him.  Then he set up an altar for Baal in the temple of Baal, which he had built in Samaria.  And Ahab made a wooden image.  Ahab did more to provoke the Lord God of Israel to anger than all the kings of Israel who were before him.”  Under Ahab, the northern tribes had not only mixed the worship of God with idols, but had now completely gone away from God; and had begun worshiping a foreign God called Baal (typically pronounced in English as the word “bail”).  It is in this context of a King of Israel who is leading the nation away from God and towards a false God that prophets like Elijah stepped forward on the scene.  God was not going to just lay down without confronting such betrayal.  However, we don’t see these prophets in league with each other like some kind of ancient “Occupy Samaria.” The prophets were not a human, conspiratorial group, but rather, a group of divinely instigated individuals who remained true to God as the One to whom all allegiance should be held.

Elijah does not rebuke Ahab for his idolatry at first, at least not as we see him in the Bible.  Rather he first establishes that he is a prophet of God by giving Ahab a powerful sign.  Elijah tells Ahab that the country will not have rain or dew until Elijah commands it to come.  Now this would be an incredibly arrogant statement to make, but it is also the type of thing that a false prophet would be very cautious about saying.  Who can control the weather?  Definitely, a person can’t do so.  Notice that Elijah warns him in advance and not after the fact.  So there is nothing right off the bat to make Ahab think there is anything to this.  However, over the years to follow (the famine would last over 3 years) Ahab would have to face the fact that Elijah claims to be able to make it stop.

Now we don’t typically think of famine as a miracle.  We tend to think of miracles as good things.  In this case the lack of rain would be a powerful sign to Ahab that God was backing up what Elijah was saying.  All this time their prayers for Baal to help them would be impotent.  Thus it is a miraculous work of grace to get Ahab’s attention and draw him back to repentance towards God.  Not every prophet of the Lord did powerful miracles, other than speak the truth and have it prove true.  There are no such stories of signs and wonders surrounding Jeremiah.  However, the Word of the Lord that he proclaimed proved very true and this is what is most important.  Elijah is what God has called him to be and Jeremiah was precisely what God called him to be.  In this case God gives a powerful witness of who is on the right side through a time of famine in the land that starts and stops at the command of his prophet Elijah.

 Now in case it looks to you like Elijah is just saying this and hoping God will back him up, notice the words, “As the Lord God of Israel lives, before whom I stand.”  To stand before the Lord was a clear term that is synonymous to being summoned before the king.  Elijah had been brought into the throne room of God surrounded by powerful spirit-beings.  This heavenly or divine council of God is what we see in places like Isaiah 6 and Revelation 4.  Most likely this would be in a dream or vision.    So was Elijah really entering into the divine council of God and hearing God’s words and decrees, or was this all in his head?  Though it sounds like the perfect con (anyone can claim to have been in God’s council chamber and have a word from him), it would also seem to be a dangerous thing to say that you speak on behalf of God.  Throughout the Scriptures the prophets would sometimes do something miraculous to prove that God was with them.  But always, the things they said that God said would always prove true.  It wasn’t enough to be right part of the time, or at least better than 50/50.  It wasn’t enough to be right over 75% of the time.  If God really spoke the words then they would be right 100% of the time.  Though a prophet can mature in how to be a better prophet, there is no maturing of how accurate the words will be.  You either are hearing from God, a deceiving spirit, or your own imagination.  You don’t mature in that.  When someone is actually led by God, the things they say will prove to be true.  Sure they might make a mistake like getting angry at the resistance of those you speak to and strike out in anger.  But the words themselves will prove 100% accurate.  Elijah didn’t just arrogantly assume God would back him up.  He is a man who has stood in the presence of the Lord, and is now confronting King Ahab with a powerful sign that only God could decree.  Now at first Ahab has no reason to fear Elijah.  Who does this guy think he is?  Don’t you know who you are talking to?  At this point in the story Elijah has only made a bold claim. 

Now regardless of whether you are a great prophet of the Lord or not, this is a thing that God is doing.  If He calls a prophet or many of them, it is for His purposes not ours.  We must recognize that the United States of America is not Israel and God is not giving us more Scripture in the present.  However, it is important to learn how to spend time in God’s presence and to be led by His Spirit and His counsel.  It is irrelevant whether we have had a dream or a vision of the throne room.  What is important is that by the Spirit of God we have entered into His presence and have received His word to us.  This isn’t just something intended for men like Elijah who are doing powerful things.  It is also for people like you and me who are just trying to raise our family for the Lord and be a witness to our friends and neighbors.  We must be led by God’s Spirit and not our own fleshly desires.

Now in verses 2-7 we see again the leading of the Spirit of God.  As the famine begins, Elijah is to go out into a wilderness place where God will take care of his physical needs.  Also, he will be out of touch of Ahab’s power and control.  When God makes things tough, He always has a plan for His people.  It may not be the plan you were hoping for and at the level that you were hoping, but it is His plan nonetheless.  He leads Elijah to a small brook that keeps running during the first part of the drought.  He is also miraculously fed by ravens that bring him bread and meat two times a day.  We are not told where they are getting this food, but I keep having this image of ravens descending on the table of Ahab and plucking food for Elijah.  However, where they got the food is immaterial.  This humbling means of being fed seems to be contradictory to the powerful prophet of God.  But Elijah knew that he had no power but what God gave him.  Elijah was not a superman.  He was a normal man who was called by God and also believed God.  It was God who was doing the heavy lifting of blocking the rain and dew for over three years.  Remember that no matter how greatly God works through you, in the end you are simply a servant.  It is God who is doing the hard work.  You are simply trusting and obeying.  That is nothing to get all high and mighty over.  A lack of humility is a red flag that a person is not as close to God as they are putting on.  Can I give thanks for God’s provision no matter how it comes?  All throughout the Bible God keeps trying to teach us that those who belong to the Lord will be fed though they are surrounded by a desert, and they will drink though there is no water in sight.  Yet, there is a spiritual lesson here as well.  Lack of water and dew is a symbol throughout the Bible for a lack of the word of God.  Amos 8:11 says, “’Behold, days are coming,’ declares the Lord God, ‘when I will send a famine on the land, not a famine for bread or a thirst for water, but rather for hearing the words of the LORD.’”  Perhaps this is why Elijah doesn’t say anything other than announcing the famine.  It would be symbolic of God’s anger with Ahab and northern Israel.  God was pulling away from them as a discipline upon the people.  Even when a nation and its leaders are going the absolute opposite direction away from God, those who trust God will always find a place of grace in which He speaks to them and cares for them.  This is the place we need to be.

Yet, even with all that said, we find in verse 7 that the brook eventually dries up.  God does not always care for us the same way all the time.  We can get so used to God caring for us in a particular way that we freak out when that particular source of grace dries up.  God hasn’t forgotten about you and your needs.  You do not need to fret.  If one source dries up, God will provide another.  Just trust Him and listen to His Spirit. 

There are times when I wish we had such a prophet in our land.  However, as Christians we are called to something similar and yet different.  It is different in that we aren’t commanding it to quit raining or splitting red seas.  But it is similar in that our lives become the thing that the world around us can’t just ignore.  As much as the world plunges away from God and His Word and worships everything under the sun and in the heavens besides Him, God uses those who are in relationship with Him and receiving His word to be the stumbling block that brings the unbeliever up short.  God in His mercy always sends a person who speaks and lives out the word of God as a mercy to those who have either tossed it aside, or never knew it in the first place.  Let’s be a people who are standing before the Lord in prayer and meditation.  Let’s be a people who are being directed by the Spirit of God and not the spirit of this age.  The lives of others depend upon us.

Prophet of the Lord audio

The Desolate House

Today we will be looking at Luke 13:31-35.

At this point we have demonstrated for us the sad reality of the threats that are made against righteous people.  However, we are also made aware of the desolation that God promises to those who reject His Ways and wickedly go their own way.  When we stiff-arm the attempts of God to draw us to Him, there is nothing left for us but to go on to the ruin and desolation which that path brings.  There is a certain irony in this passage due to the fact that Herod is presented as a threat to Jesus, but in reality it is Jesus and rejecting him that is the greatest threat.

Jesus Is Warned of Herod Antipas

In verse 31 we see that some Pharisees approach Jesus and warn him that Herod Antipas is seeking to kill him.  This is the son of Herod the Great who ruled when Jesus was born.  When Herod the Great died, his kingdom was split up between Herod Antipas (West Galilee and the Eastern side of the Jordan River), Herod Philip (East Galilee) and Herod Archelaus (Judea).  Archelaus did not reign very long before Rome deposed him and put a governor or prefect over Judea and Jerusalem.  Thus Jesus is currently somewhere in the territory of Herod Antipas. 

So why are these Pharisees warning Jesus?  We are not told of their motives.  Possibly they are just trying to get Jesus to leave, or maybe they are secretly followers of him.  Either way, the danger is real undoubtedly.    In Matthew 14:2 we are told that Herod was afraid of Jesus because he thought that Jesus was John the Baptist come back from the dead.  He would have been determined to remove such a threat without thought about its reality.  In fact, politically it would be in his favor.

Jesus is not intimidated by the threat.  He tells them to go back to Herod with a message from Jesus.  First, Jesus calls Herod a fox.  He is a fox as opposed to a lion.  Though Herod has power, he is relatively weak and owes most of his power to the backing of Rome.  Yet, as a fox, Jesus recognizes the cunning nature of Herod.  Some will bring up this reference in light of the Scripture, “do not speak evil of the ruler of your people.”  This verse is intended to protect us from our own sinful nature rather than to shut off all criticism of the ruler.  In fact, most of the prophets that spoke to Israel had to say hard things to the kings that ruled. 

As a fox Herod has his schemes and yet, Jesus has his own schemes.  Jesus relays to Herod the work that he is doing: healing the people and casting out demons.  A clear contrast to Herod’s selfish schemes is clear.  Also, Jesus says that on the third day his work will be completed.  Then he will move on and only then.   Another way to say this is, “I will leave when I am finished with what I am doing.”  It is a direct challenge to the intentions of Herod.

There is also a masked reference, for his disciples’ sake, of the coming resurrection.  Jesus had come to earth to do a specific work.  He would not have his life taken from him.  Rather, he would lay down his life at the time that the Father determines.  On the third day he will be resurrected in a glorified, heavenly body.  He is perfected in the sense that he will then be the perfect, human judge for all creation.

Jesus Reveals His True Fate.

Jesus then goes on to point out that it will not be Herod who puts him to death.  He must die in Jerusalem at the hand of the leaders there.  In verse 33 it literally says that it is unacceptable for a prophet to die outside of Jerusalem.  Clearly there is some biting sarcasm involved here because prophets have died elsewhere.  Yet, Jesus is bringing front and center the blood of righteous prophets that has been shed in the city that is supposed to be the City of God on earth.  This historical resistance and persecution of God and His people is charged against Jerusalem and her leaders.

Jesus then begins a type of lament in verse 34.  He cries out to Jerusalem and declares that he has often tried to draw her under his wings like a hen with her chicks.  This imagery is particularly fitting in light of the “fox” reference to Herod and the obvious “Eagle” reference to Rome (we could add the “wolves” of false teachers).  As the Son of God, Jesus has come as a last attempt to gather the people of Israel and protect them from the dangers that existed at that time.  All the prophets who had come in the past were representatives of Jesus.  They came attempting to bring the people under the protective influence of the Truth of Jesus.  This was continually rejected by the leaders and people, “you were not willing.”  It would not be any different now that the Son had come.

Thus, so be it.  Their house is going to be left to them desolate.  “House” here represents the physical buildings and institutions that comprised of the national governance both politically and religiously.  It also represents the cohesive place of living for the nation as a whole.  Jesus says that it is going to be made into a desert or wilderness literally.  There is some irony here.  The prophets, like John the Baptist, often came out of the wilderness and warned God’s people that they were in danger of being made into a wilderness.  The danger of Israel’s day was that Rome was poised to dismantle the nation, slaughter countless thousands, and disperse the remaining people among the nations.

All this was coming because Israel was rejecting the Son of God, the Truth.  To reject Truth is to embrace lies and the devastation that they bring.  Yet, Jesus gives hope of an end to this desolation.  He says that Israel will become desolate and that they will not see him again until…  The word until is critical.  It always supplies the end of something.  Jesus would leave Israel to its own devices and choice, and they would not see him again.  Until, they say, “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.”  Clearly this phrase is functioning as a statement of repentance.  Israel is going to reject Jesus as a true representative of God.  They will suffer the effects of such a choice until they change their mind and repent of that rejection.  Is it possible that Israel en masse will one day recognize Christ for who he truly is?  Is it possible that they may repent of crucifying him and cry out for help?  Zechariah 12:10 prophesies just such a scenario.  In fact, in Romans 11:25 and following we see the same “until” connected with Israel’s blindness and hardness to who Jesus is.  There is says that Israel will continue to be blind and hard “until” the fullness of the Gentiles is brought in.  Whether this fullness is an amount of time allotted or a certain quota of people saved, the time of salvation going out to the Gentiles will come to an end.  At that time God will pour out a Spirit of repentant prayer upon Israel.  In the first century Israel was judged by God and the Gentile nations were blessed with the Truth.  But the day is coming when God will judge the nations of the world and bless Israel with salvation.  On that day the “house” of the Gentiles will be left to them desolate.

Let me close this with recognizing that there has always been a remnant who have believed and received the blessing of the Lord in the midst of His judgment and wrath.  Thus though the nation as a whole refused to come under the wings of protection provided by Jesus, a remnant did believe on him and were spared.  Instead of clinging to Jerusalem and its temple, they embraced Jesus and followed him to the nations.  The Church was built upon the foundation of Jesus and a remnant of Jews.  Can we not see that at the end of the age it will only be a remnant of the Gentile nations who have believed?  So too the necessary rhyme of time and action must come full circle as God draws the remnant of the Gentiles into his protection and pours out His judgment and wrath upon the earth.  O friend, save yourself today by putting your faith in Jesus.  Turn to the instructions of His Word to those who want to follow him.  Remember his challenge that it is not easy to follow Him, but to those who do they will find Life.  Don’t put off any longer the need to turn your heart to Christ, and then focus on growing to become more like the True Jesus and not the figment of people’s imagination that often arises.  Get into the Bible and find out who Jesus really is.  

Desolate House Audio

The True Jesus: Jesus Teaches About John

Today we will look at Luke 7:24-28.  Jesus had sent a message back to John (who was in prison) telling him to not lose faith.  John clearly was struggling with what he believed should be and what was happening.  After John’s disciples leave to give him the message, Jesus teaches about the greatness of John because it was important for people to understand who he was and how integral he was to God’s plan.  Yet, at the end Jesus gives us a strange twist.  Let’s check it out.

Why Were People Drawn To John

In verse 24 Jesus asks the people why they went out into the barren places to listen to John.  He does so by asking a rhetorical question, of which the answer is obvious.  Did they go out to see a “reed shaken by the wind?”  This word picture is of a person who is easily moved by circumstances and the opinions of man (i.e. the winds of the time).  Though the reed may look substantial, it grows in marshy areas or along rivers, lakes and streams.  Thus it can be easily uprooted.  Clearly, this was not a picture of John the Baptist.  People were drawn to John because he was a sincere, steadfast, passionate, God-pleaser.  John stood strong even against Herod Antipas and his sins because he wanted to please God.

Another way in which this picture of the shaken reed can be understood is to read 1 Kings 14.  In that passage the prophet uses a shaken, bruised reed as a picture of how God would come upon Israel.  He would knock Israel down, and scatter it to the winds.  Thus the bruised reed is a picture of Judgment.  John was clearly a righteous man and not under judgment.  In fact you could say John is himself a dried reed in the hand of God to chastise Israel in order to draw some to repentance.  This was very different from the religious leaders of the day and drew people to him.  John seemed to be authentic and he was.  John’s passionate stand against the sins of Israel from the least to the greatest in the land culminated in his imprisonment and eventual beheading.  This gave people hope that the Messiah truly was about to come.

Next Jesus asks if they went out to John in order to see a man dressed in soft clothing.  This question is pretty much a joke.  Anyone who had seen John would laugh at the idea of him in soft clothing.  John was the ultimate picture of self-denial.  This was in stark contrast with the political and religious leaders of the day.  He is pictured as living in the wilderness on locusts and wild honey (i.e. living off the land), wearing camel hair cloak, and a leather belt.  He didn’t just abstain from luxuries.  He abstained from even the normal pleasures of life.  This again increased his authenticity in the eyes of the people.  John was not seeking to “fleece the sheep” for his own benefit.

The next question in verse 26 begins to hone in on the truth.  Did you go to see a prophet?  Definitely the answer is yes.  John was a true prophet of God.  The people went out to John recognized this about him.  But John was more than a prophet of God.  What the people couldn’t see is that John was the fulfillment of Malachi’s prophecy in Malachi 3.  God had promised to send a Forerunner to the Messiah whose job would be to herald the Messiah’s coming and help people be prepared for Him. 

Even more, Jesus points to John as the greatest of the prophets up to that point.  Does that mean John was greater than Moses and Elijah?  Yes it does.  However, “greater” likely does not point to greater in faithfulness or love of God.  Rather John is greater in function or position.  John ministers in the presence of the Messiah.  He also successfully turns hearts from sin towards the Messiah.  Lastly he gets to witness the beginning of the promised Kingdom of God.  These are things that Moses and Elijah would have loved to have seen.  In this regard, John’s experience parallels that of Moses.  Just like Moses teaches the people to follow God and leads them to the Promised Land, but doesn’t get to go in, so John the Baptist teaches and leads the people to Jesus and His promised Kingdom.  However, John is to be executed and not allowed to enter the coming Church.  He could have been an excellent Apostle.  However, it was not the calling God had given him.  This of course leads us to the issue of the Kingdom of God.  Wasn’t Israel already a part of the Kingdom of God?  How could it be coming or at hand?

The Kingdom of God

If you study the Scriptures, you will see that Israel is part of God’s Kingdom.  Many places He is called their King.  However, both in experience and through the prophets, the people were promised a greater stage of that Kingdom.  Not a Kingdom ruled by men who variously fell short of God’s righteousness, but by God’s Anointed (Christ) who would perfectly rule the people and expand the Kingdom over the whole earth.  When Jesus came He initiated this Kingdom of God.  Since then Christians have been the citizens of the Kingdom of Jesus and Jesus is the King.  This rule in the hearts of men has gone to the ends of the earth.  However, this is not the completion of all promised.  It is now a natural people ruled by a spiritual kingdom that does not have an earthly headquarters, nor an earthly ruler.  But that is coming.  Thus the Kingdom of God was both present and future.

John was preparing people’s hearts to enter into this new stage of the kingdom of God.  He called them to repentance and spiritual cleansing, and to faith in Jesus.  They would be able to hear and respond to the Messiah’s call, “Come unto me all you who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”  The Good News of the Work of Jesus is that everyone is invited to join the Kingdom that had come about by the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus.  Thus John has a tremendously glorious position within the Kingdom of God.

Yet, Jesus strangely says that those who are the least in the coming kingdom of God will be greater than John.  This amazing point begs the question of how the least in the Church can be greater than John.  Our experience would beg to differ with Christ.  But again this is not about devotion or faithfulness.  It is about position.  Let’s look at the ways those who entered the Kingdom of Christ received something greater.

First, we have a greater knowledge of Christ than John.  John understood better than all up to him who the Messiah was.  But he didn’t know everything.  That is why we see him doubting in prison.  Jesus encouraged John, but He shared His teachings and prophecies with His disciples.  John did not have this.  The Holy Spirit even led the Apostles into further truth than Christ taught them because they weren’t ready for it yet.  See John 16:12.

Second, we have a greater position before God.  John participates in the transition, but never gets to participate in the life and joy of the Church.  Like I said earlier, he is like Moses in this way.  Longing to enter in and yet having to be content with the position and calling God has given you.  John the Baptist still lived under the Tutor of the Law of Moses.  However, we have become the adult sons and daughters of God, no longer under the teacher.  We are able to work alongside the Father in the freedom of love rather than under the restriction of Law.

Lastly, our privileges are greater than John’s.  John did have the Spirit in His life, but he never got to see the outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon all God’s people.  He didn’t get to see that in operation within the Church community.  We have been given spiritual gifts that John did not get to see.  Even the fellowship of believers within a community was foreign to all that John experienced (an outcast living in the desert).  I could go on but I think you can see the point I am making.

Let me close this by saying that God isn’t done yet.  You have been given something in Christ that the prophets of the Old Testament would have longed to have seen and experienced.  You are blessed beyond belief.  What a privilege we have been given by God.  Am I thankful?  Do I treat my Christianity lightly?  Or, do I despise it and think it is worthless?  I am amazed when I see videos of people witnessing on the streets of our cities and they run into people who say they are Christians, but they don’t live any different from the world.  They are enamored with the world over the top of Jesus and His kingdom.  The apostle John warned us not to love the world or the things of the world because they are all passing away.  Do you know that the kingdom of God is on the verge of an even greater stage?  In fact it could be said that in the millennial kingdom the least will be greater than the greatest of the Church today.  God is not done yet.  He will complete all that He said he would.  Why throw all that away for some trinkets that are going to be destroyed tomorrow?  Are you living far below your position and privileges in Christ?  Maybe we need to hear John’s words one more time.  Repent, for the Kingdom of God is at hand!

Jesus Teaches about John Audio