The Spirit of Elijah

January 7, 2006

Video presentation by: Norm Wakefield

Hooray for our breakfast volunteers: Jack & Pauline deHaas

Here is the outline, as downloaded from Elijah Ministries.

Introduction

  1. An example of the ministry of the Spirit of Elijah.
  2. There is a wonderful prophecy of God in the last verses of the book of Malachi (Mal. 4:5-6).
  3. The Spirit of Elijah is God’s provision for men and their children for the blessing of raising a godly seed.
  4. I would like for us to get an overview of God’s order in the Old Testament for fathers, see what happens when fathers disregard God’s order, and then recognize God’s glorious provision and promises made for us as fathers.

God’s Order for Fathers and Their Children - Deut. 6:1-12

The father and his family are the foundation to the church and society.

  1. God has a vision for His people and He gives it through His ministers. Deut. 6:1a "Now this is the commandment, the statutes and the judgments which the Lord your God has commanded me to teach you, that you might do them in the land where you are going over to possess it."
  2. God’s vision implemented depends on fathers teaching and leading. Deut. 6:2-15
  3. A father’s heart must be turned toward God first and then his family second.
  4. If fathers don’t teach their sons to teach their children, then God’s vision and order will be lost. There’ll come a generation who will forget the Lord.
    • It is not God’s way for pastors, youth ministers, Sunday School teachers, and others to be the primary teacher of the women and children.
    • If sons aren’t taught by their fathers through their example and word regularly, as a general rule, they won’t listen to the ministers of the church.
    • If fathers’ hearts are not turned to their children, the children develop hard hearts due to bitterness and neglect.
    • The Old Testament record is filled with testimonies. Josh. 24:14-16, 19, 27, 31; Judges 2:10
      1. What failed to happen? The fathers’ hearts weren’t turned toward the Lord or their families and they forsook the Lord’s first instructions to fathers. II Kings 17:7-13
      2. God kept pointing back to the instructions He gave at the first, but they wouldn’t listen. They didn’t realize the significance of it because their hearts were turned elsewhere. II Kings 17:14-17
      3. When fathers do not listen and believe God’s word, they subject their children to Satan and the influence of the world -- the spirit of antichrist. II Kings 17:18-20
      4. God’s reproof to fathers for rejecting God’s order is that his family is given into the hand of the plunderers. II Kings 17:41; II Kings 22:13
    • The OT ends with a sad commentary on Israel’s understanding of God’s plan for blessing His people, but a promise of hope for the body of Jesus Christ. God’s Spirit will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children whereas the law was powerless to do it. Malachi 4:4-6

The New Testament Affirms God’s Order and Reveals God’s Provision and Promise - Luke 1:13-17

  1. The Spirit of Elijah is the Holy Spirit.
  2. The Spirit of Elijah does what a man could not do on his own: turn his own heart toward God and toward his family.
  3. The Spirit of Elijah turns the hearts of the children to their parents and thus prepares the way for the Lord in the next generation.

What Can We Do?

  1. We can receive the conviction, assume our responsibility for our sin and the sin of our fathers, and repent. Ezra 9:2
    • We have allowed our sons and daughters to intermingle with the world, and even our pastors and elders have been unfaithful. Ezra 9:3-5
    • We should bow before God in our humiliation and stretch out our hands before God. Ezra 9:6
    • Acknowledge our guilt and the guilt of our fathers before us. Ezra 9:7-12
    • Has the church sought the peace and prosperity of the world by embracing methods and messages to make them feel comfortable in our pews and to build the church? What has been the outcome? The loss of our families! Ezra 9:13, 15
  2. We can believe and trust in the God’s promise that He will work by the power of His Spirit in our hearts and in the hearts of our children.
  3. If we do believe, then let us repent to our children, confess our sin, take back the respnsibility to teach, train, and protect our children from the world, and speak God’s word to them.
  4. God’s word gives us a clear curriculum and vision for young women and young men in Titus 2. The fathers should teach the young men and the women teach the young women the things which are listed there. If a family attended to those instructions, they would have wisdom for all decisions regarding their children and teens. If an event or activity doesn’t promote or train in the areas mentioned there, then it isn’t wise or necessary.

The Spirit of Elijah is Moving and Speaking

Will you bow before the Lord in repentance and spread your hands out in shame for the destruction which has occurred to His people, your family, due to father’s hearts turned away from the Lord?

Do you believe God’s promise? To what are the hearts of your children turned? Will you put God to the test and believe Him for the salvation of your children? You prepare the way by directing your heart toward them, and God will prepare the way in their hearts for His Son.