There's a New Kid in Town | Common People With Uncommon Courage

We're glad you're joining us for A New Beginning with Greg Laurie, a podcast supported by Harvest Partners. Get more encouraging audio content when you subscribe to Pastor Greg's Daily Devos.

Learn more and sign up at harvest.org. When you stand in the presence of God, you will not bow before any man. It'll give you a courage that you never thought you could have before. It's a supernatural courage. Coming up today, Pastor Greg Laurie points out the confidence we can have when we represent God well and when we tell others about Him. Keep in mind the simple fact that to whoever we speak, wherever it is, and wherever we go, God is with us, and one with God is a majority. Believers have the privilege of sharing a life-saving message within their circle of influence, but many times we let those opportunities pass by.

Maybe we don't feel equal to the assignment and we're just regular folks and the stakes are so high. Well, today on A New Beginning, Pastor Greg Laurie introduces us to another regular guy who stepped out with uncommon courage and did great things for the kingdom. Let's learn how we can find the courage to follow in his footsteps. Let's go to 1 Kings 17. 1 Kings 17, we're starting a brand new series titled, Elijah, the Power to Stand.

And the title of my message is, there's a new kid in town. Elijah the prophet. What do you think of when you hear that name? Well, we think of the prophet who boldly stormed into the court of the wicked King Ahab.

There shall not be dew nor rain nor rain these years except in my word. We think of a boy being raised back to life again by this miracle working prophet. Of course, we think of fire coming down from heaven up on Mount Carmel. You've heard of the shootout at the OK Corral. This was the shootout on Mount Carmel with Elijah and the prophets at Baal and God answered by fire.

And that's all true. But then there's another side of Elijah sometimes we don't think about. He was given to depression and discouragement when things did not work out. He experienced intense fear and deep loneliness. At times he doubted the faithfulness of God. See, he would even allow his anger to distort his thinking and he would experience dark depression. On one occasion at least he even wanted to die. Who is this guy Elijah?

Answer. The Bible says Elijah was a man just like us. Whereas another translation puts it Elijah was as human as we are.

And it's so true. He came at a very dark time in the history of Israel. But this single man changed history and caused Israel to turn back to God. And it shows how one man or one woman can make all the difference. And we too live in very dark times in our country right now. We have all of the turmoil. We have the crime.

We have the divisions racially and politically. And it reminds us of that passage that says in the last days things would go from bad to worse. If you have a steady diet of news you are going to be a pretty agitated worked up and depressed person. And it could cause you to just throw up your hands in despair and say there is just no hope.

It is just so bad. But there is always hope. Because God is here.

And He is ready to intervene. We need a spiritual awakening in America. We need to pray for that spiritual awakening.

But listen to this. Revival is what God does for us. But evangelism is what we do for God. I cannot cause a revival to happen tomorrow nor can you. Even if we all ask for it together God will send that awakening when He chooses to send that awakening. But on the other hand evangelism that is something I can do.

And here at Harvest we take the Great Commission really seriously. The philosophy of some is to evade the culture. You could sum it up in one word. Isolation. But understand this.

That is virtually impossible. You can try to remove yourself and your children from the culture but the culture will find you. By the way that is not what Jesus told us to do. He has not called us to isolate. He has called us to infiltrate. He wants us to permeate. Our job is not to evade. It is to invade.

Right? Invade. Meaning that we go into our culture. Into our world. Go into all of the world and preach the gospel. Go into our world.

Go into every place we can. Well that is our job because Jesus has called us to be both salt and light in the culture. He says you are the salt of the earth. The salt that is lost at saltiness isn't good for anything. Sort of like when a coat goes flat. It is worthless. Or when you order a decaf low fat lavender worthless latte. I think you should have the word worthless.

If you are going to order that just say I would like a low fat decaf worthless latte please. But you know so that is what it is like to not have an influence. But a salty Christian is one that is standing up for what is true. Speaking out against what is not true. But also what else does salt do?

It stimulates thirst doesn't it? And if we are living as a true follower of Jesus we will stimulate in others a spiritual thirst. And then Jesus said you are not just the salt of the earth.

You are the light of the world. He said let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven. Well Elijah was certainly that.

He was salt and light. And this stage of the history of Israel closely parallels America today. Basically the people had abandoned God. It is not that they didn't believe in God anymore. They had just put other gods in His place. It was G. K. Chesterton who said quote when a man stops believing in God he doesn't then believe in nothing.

He believes in anything end quote. That is what was happening then. That is what is happening now. What we have in America is basically an ABC religion.

ABC. Anything but Christ. Whatever idea. Oh yeah we will entertain that. Whatever philosophy.

Sure we will get into that. But when we come to Christ no we don't want anyone to hear about that at all. And the reason there was a moral breakdown in Israel is because there was a spiritual breakdown. Because there can be no real morality without spirituality.

And when I use the word spirituality I mean a relationship with God. Israel had failed to do this and that is where their troubles began. It is not that they were outright atheists. They were just worshiping other gods as well.

Now we can judge them and say they were so wrong to do it and they were. But we have our idols too. We will get into this later. But an idol or a god with a small g is anyone or anything that takes the place of God in your life. It is something you get fired up about.

Something you are passionate about. More passionate about than your faith in Jesus that could potentially be your idol. A little historical background here before we dive in. Israel had had years under the leadership of Saul, David, and finally Solomon. So Saul you know wasn't the worst king of all time but he wasn't a great king. And he was replaced by David who was probably the greatest king in the history of Israel. Though he had his flaws and setbacks and sins. Then finally his son Solomon who ruled well for a time and was known as the wisest man in all of the world. Even the queen of Sheba came to sit at his feet.

But of course he had his backslide but he returned to the Lord. But then there was a division after King Solomon died. And Israel was divided into two sections.

It was a southern kingdom and the northern kingdom. And idolatry exploded. And now there is a new king in town. And his name is Ahab. And he was the most sinful king up to that point. And if that wasn't bad enough he married an extremely wicked woman named Jezebel who effectively was the power behind the throne. Jezebel was an overt worshiper of the god Baal. And she introduced Baal worship to Israel.

By the way Baal means master or lord. And Baal is the god of the elements. The god of the weather. The god of the sun.

The stars. And that is why it is so significant that when Elijah faced off with the prophets of Baal up on Mount Carmel really asking the god who was real to answer by fire this should have been a walk in the park for Baal. But nothing happened because Baal wasn't real. He was a false god. And that's what Elijah was seeking to show.

Ahab and Jezebel were so bad that the Bible says of them in 1 Kings 16 Ahab did more to provoke the god of Israel to anger than all the kings of Israel that were before him. So they thought hey this is great. The true god doesn't really care. We can have our cake and eat it too. Right. By the way I've had cake and eat. Then why can't you have your cake and eat it too. So that's what they thought.

Well you know the best of both worlds. We still believe in the lord of course. But we can have all this fun. We can break god's laws.

We can live immorally and do all of these things. But of course god warns in scripture don't be deceived. God is not mocked. Whatsoever a man sows that will he also reap. We remember the story of the boy king Belshazzar who went out of his way to mock the true god of Israel. Taking the special vessels that were used in the temple for worship and filling them with wine and toasting and praising the false gods. And there was that hand writing on the wall.

It was a hand of god with a little heavenly graffiti telling Belshazzar that his days were numbered. God will not be mocked. Pastor Greg Laurie will have the second half of his message in just a moment.

Whenever you send us an email letter or post a comment on social media we read every word. Pastor Greg I've been listening to A New Beginning since 1980 when I first came to know the lord. Although I never visited Harvest Christian Fellowship until recently I would always listen to you and appreciated your steadfast unmovable and faithful teaching of god's word. I'm grateful for your continued love for the lost. May you continue with the grace of god Pastor Greg. How have these daily studies touched you and your family?

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Do it today while you're thinking about it. Again that's Greg at Harvest.org. Well we're learning important life lessons from the account of Elijah in 1st King 17. Pastor Greg resumes his study now called There's a New Kid in Town.

You know if you play with sin it's going to eventually catch up with you. Read an interesting article about a man who tragically died recently. He was bitten by a snake. A venomous snake. But this guy had 124 snakes in his house. Including rattlesnakes, cobras, black mambas.

All of those are poisonous. One of the snakes bit him. So you know here's the bottom line. If you hang around with venomous snakes you're going to eventually get bitten. And if you play around with sin it too is going to bite you.

Ecclesiastes 8 11 reminds us because sentence against an evil work is not executed quickly therefore the sons of men are fully set to do evil. Let me paraphrase that because you get away with something for a long period of time you think you will always get away with it but you won't. Eventually it's going to bite you. Eventually it's going to blow up on you.

Eventually it's going to come out and you're going to have to face the consequences of it. Funny thing. Later on then in this story King Ahab accuses Elijah of being the one who troubles Israel. You're the one that brought all this trouble on Israel. And Elijah says I'm not the one who troubles Israel.

You're the one who troubles Israel. The nation is reaping what it sows because of the leadership of you and Jezebel. And in the same way many times we blame God for the problems we bring on ourselves.

So here's the thing. Whenever things are dark God will raise up his man or his woman. He always has the right man or the right woman at the right time. When the people rebelled against God the Lord raised up Enoch and Noah. When the people were in slavery God sent Moses. When the very survival of Israel was at stake the Lord sent Esther. And what did all these people have in common? They were imperfect people serving a perfect God.

Ordinary people doing extraordinary things. Again Elijah was a man just like us. Now not only was he bold and courageous he didn't seem to care much about his appearance either. We're told in 2 Kings 1.8 he was a hairy man and wore a leather belt around his waist. Elijah was a rugged rough hewn unsophisticated man from the outback of Gilead.

So let's start the story. 1 Kings chapter 17 verse 1. Just a simple verse. And Elijah the Tishbite of the inhabitants of Gilead said to Ahab as the Lord God of Israel lives before whom I stand. I'd underline that as the Lord God of Israel lives before whom I stand. There shall not be dew nor rain these years except in my word.

Stop there. Elijah flung down the gauntlet of his challenge at the very nerve center of Israel. There was a new kid in town and he was not afraid. And he walks right into the king's court. I mean here they are Ahab and Jezebel sitting on their regal thrones. Dressed in royal robes.

And all of a sudden this crazy dude from the wilderness walks in all hairy. Not caring about them. No protocol. Doesn't bow before them.

No niceties. He just drops the bomb and walks out. God bless you. Thank you very much. You've been a great audience.

Good night. Drops the mic right. Who is this guy?

How did he get past security? This was Elijah the prophet. His very name said it all. His name means my God is Jehovah. It was a rebuke to the king and queen. Your God may be Baal but my God is the Lord and my God is alive and your God is not.

As the Lord God lives he served a living God and we do too. Now where Elijah's from is of note. He's described as a Tishbite from Gilead.

Now we read that. I don't know where Gilead is and I don't know what a Tishbite is. Well actually Gilead was east of the Jordan River. It was sort of like well the Australian outback. The people that lived there were rough hewn, tanned from the sun, tough. You know I'm not saying Elijah was crocodile Dundee but he might have said that's not a knife.

This is a knife here. He was that kind of guy. He's a rough guy and just his appearance was sort of shocking and he was bold. Where did he get that boldness?

Where did he get that courage? Elijah stood continually in the presence of God. Elijah stood continually in the presence of God. Though he was technically in the presence of Ahab and Jezebel he was always conscious of God's presence. Psalm 91 says he that dwells in the secret place of the Most High will abide under the shadow of the Almighty.

Have you ever tried to walk in someone's shadow? You have to be very close don't you? And so he was always aware of God's presence and wherever he went he was aware God is with me. God is hearing this.

God is watching this and also God is leading me and God is guiding me. He always walked closely to the Lord and listen to this. When you stand in the presence of God you will not bow before any man. It'll give you a courage that you never thought you could have before. It's a supernatural courage. Proverbs 28 one says the righteous are as bold as a lion. This awareness of God's presence gave Elijah to stand his ground and it's a good reminder for us to keep in mind the simple fact that to whoever we speak wherever it is and wherever we go God is with us. And one person can make all the difference in the world.

You're an army of one but one with God is a majority because you stand in his presence. You stand in his strength. Remember David facing Goliath in the valley of Elah. Here's David.

He's just a young man still. And here's Goliath who's an overgrown beast of a man over nine feet tall solid muscle covered in body armor. And David attacks Goliath. He doesn't just hold his ground. He goes toward Goliath.

He says you come to me with sword and spear but I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts and he had a boldness that God gave him and we can have that boldness as well. You may be the only Christian in your family. The only Christian in your workplace.

The only Christian in your neighborhood. Are you willing to take a stand like Elijah did? It's easy for us as believers to sort of fade into the woodwork you know. We don't want to stand out. We don't want to be the person who disagrees or the person who doesn't laugh at the dirty joke that everyone thinks is hilarious or the person that stands away from the crowd so we might wink at that indiscretion for fear of coming off to goody good or tell that lie to get that promotion.

But you don't want to be a compromiser. God is looking for men and women today who are willing to stand in the gap like Elijah because Ezekiel 22 30 the Lord says I sought for a man and I would add a woman among them who would make a wall and stand in the gap before me on behalf of the land and I should not destroy it but I found none. Be that person that makes that stand. Elijah continually walked in the presence of God. Great encouragement from Pastor Greg Laurie about the courage and boldness we can have as we serve the Lord. And there's more to come as this study continues here on A New Beginning.

It's the kickoff of a brand new series called Elijah the Power to Stand. And given what we've heard today Pastor Greg I know you had a further word you wanted to share. So as you've been listening today maybe you've thought to yourself man I wish I had this relationship with God that is being talked about.

Well you can't. He's only a prayer away. You see becoming a Christian it doesn't take years, it doesn't take months, it doesn't take weeks, it doesn't even take hours. It can happen in a moment.

That's how it happened for me. I just heard the gospel and all of a sudden I realized this is all true and maybe you've realized that as well. Let me ask you would you like Jesus Christ to come into your life? Would you like him to forgive you of your sin? Would you like this relationship with God we've been talking about today? If so why don't you just pray a simple prayer with me. Say this to God, Lord Jesus I know that I'm a sinner but I know that you're the Savior who died on the cross for my sin and rose again from the dead. Jesus I turn from my sin and I choose to follow you from this moment forward as my Savior and Lord as my God and friend. Thank you for hearing this prayer and I ask this in Jesus name.

Amen. Hey did you just pray that prayer? If so I want to send you at no charge what we call a new believer's bible.

Here's Dave to tell you more and let me just say congratulations you've made the right decision. Yeah yeah that's right and listen to help you begin to live this new life. This life where you're at peace with God and can begin to enjoy the peace of God. Let us send you Pastor Greg's New Believer's Bible. It's the perfect resource for someone who's new to the faith.

We'll send it free of charge if you'll just contact us and request it. Call us at 1-800-821-3300 that's 1-800-821-3300 or go online to harvest.org and click know God. Hey everybody I'm speaking with my friend Max Succato who has a brand new book out called what happens next sort of a prophecy 101 book about the end times fantastic book and we want to send you a copy but Max let me ask you about the rapture. So when I became a Christian the most popular book of the entire decade of the 70s was titled the late great planet earth by Hal Lindsey and then later in the 90s a very popular set of books came out called left behind by Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins and so there was a lot of talk about the rapture but it seems today you don't hear as much about it and I've even heard some criticism on those that want to address the topic of the rapture saying well this is a new doctrine it's only a hundred or 150 years old this isn't really taught in the new testament so if you would tell me why the teaching of the rapture is important where did that word come from and is this something that a believer should have an interest in? Yes I think it's very important there's three primary texts or passages John 14 in the evening before his crucifixion Jesus said I will come for you as he's talking about how he will come for his church 1 Corinthians 15 is a discussion of the rapture but primarily 1 Thessalonians chapter 4 Jesus promises that with the voice of the archangel the trumpet call of God the dead in Christ will rise first and then we who are left will be joined with him together to meet the Lord in the air and we'll be rescued now this makes perfect sense to me this reminds me of what my wife and I did on September 11th 2001 when we saw the the planes crashing into the towers my wife and I went and we got our three daughters out of school we knew something bad was about to happen we didn't want them to be alone so you might say we raptured them we showed up unexpectedly we took them we took them home so they could be with us in light manner I believe that Jesus will come for his church prior to the tribulation because he has promised that he will not leave us to face the wrath alone he will deliver us from the wrath not through the wrath he will deliver us from the wrath so he'll come for us and he'll take us to be with him and while all hell is breaking loose on earth we'll be in paradise in heaven we'll be rewarded by Christ we'll be wed to Christ and then when Christ returns to the earth as described in revelation 19 he comes to the earth with his church so really it's two different images one Christ meets us in the sky or in the clouds he comes for his church to rescue and protect us and then he comes with his church all the way to the earth for the battle for the battle of Armageddon and the new kingdom or the thousand year reign of Christ begins now I've had people talk to me about this as well they say Max when I was growing up I was afraid of the rapture I was afraid of it and and then I want to say well your pastor didn't teach it to you well I don't think it's anything to fear no it's a time in which we're going to be turned our bodies are going to be healed completely those who are already in paradise will be united with their physical bodies right now their spirits are in paradise and so they'll be reunited with their physical bodies we'll be with the great cloud of witnesses that has gone before I can't wait I volunteered to be a part of the rapture generation I would love to sidestep the grave I don't know if that's part of God's plan for us for you and me but I do think it's an exciting comfort and it's it's consistent with the nature of God he is a redeemer he is a rescuer so anybody who's given their heart to Christ can expect a glorious reunion yes and there's a practical side to the rapture meaning that it can impact us in this life you know after Paul writes there in first Thessalonians 4 that we're caught up we're reunited with our loved ones who preceded us as you said you know their spirits are in heaven we're reunited but then it ends with these words therefore comfort one another with these words therefore whenever you see the word therefore in the bible find out what it's there for he's drawing upon what he previously said so in light of the fact that Christ could come back at any moment be comforted by this and that's why I think it's important for us to talk about this topic and I'm glad you've talked about this topic max in your brand new book what happens next yeah that's right it's our featured resource here during August and we'll be glad to send a copy your way to say thank you for partnering with us so these daily studies can continue to come your way we simply couldn't be here each day without listener support so get in touch with your investment today and then be sure to ask for Max Locato's new book called what happens next you can call 1-800-821-3300 again that's 1-800-821-3300 or find us online at harvest.org well next time more insights from pastor Greg study of the life of Elijah join us here on a new beginning with pastor and bible teacher Greg Laurie a new beginning is a podcast made possible by harvest partners helping people everywhere know God if this show has impacted your life share your story leave a review on your favorite podcast app and help others find hope