Like Elijah [Part 2]

Alan Wright, pastor, Bible teacher, and author of his latest book, The Power to Bless. You have been made a co-heir with Jesus. You have been adopted into the assembly of saints of all time, made a part of the living body of Christ on the earth, a member of it.

You are God's child. That's Pastor Alan Wright. Welcome to another message of good news that will help you see your life in a whole new light. I'm Daniel Britt, excited for you to hear the teaching today in the series Miracle Man, as presented at Rinaldo Church in North Carolina. If you're not able to stay with us throughout the entire program, I'd like to make sure you know how to get our special resource right now. It can be yours for your donation this month to Alan Wright Ministries.

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Here's Alan Wright. When you are in a community that is laden with the gospel, soaked in the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, where there is not endorsement of sin, but there is love of one another, what happens? I'll tell you what happens. It becomes an environment where people feel safe enough to talk to others about their problems. To me, I wanted this for Rinaldo Church as much as I wanted anything.

I wanted to be a healthy family where as much as is possible by the grace of God to be a shame-free environment. A place that knows what is right and what is wrong and what is true and what is false, but of so much grace that as people are struggling, they wouldn't be ashamed to talk to one another. Because here's what happens, usually. When people are at their worst, they clam up, they isolate themselves from others and remove themselves from the very place where they could receive help.

I've seen it over and over and over and over again. But if there is a place where there is so much grace that people know that even if I share some of my problems, I'm not going to be rejected, then they can begin to open up. I'm not talking about stand up in front of the whole church and tell every sin in your life.

I'm not talking about that. I'm just talking about you got to have a few friends that know and love Jesus and know and love you. As you can say, can I tell you I'm struggling with something? Can I tell you that I've been really afraid of something? Can I tell you that I've been I've been stumbling into sin and it just it's wrecking me? That I've got some doubts about such-and-such. I need to talk to you about this.

Will you pray for me? Wow. I'm just saying in that kind of environment, a lot of healing takes place. I had a friend Dr. Bill Wilson who once was the head of psychiatry at Duke Hospital. He later went on had his own ministry and his own practice after a radical conversion to Christ. He told a story I heard him tell one time I'll never forget. It's first-hand from this renowned psychiatrist Bill Wilson who's in heaven now but he said years ago he went into a hospital room to meet with a patient who was plagued with several physical illnesses and mental illness anxiety and depression and the man was nearing death because of it all and it was very sick. He was sick unto death and Dr. Wilson went in to talk to him and in the course of their conversation the man opened up and it might have been I can't remember for sure it might have been that he told Dr. Wilson this story the first time he ever confessed it to anybody that when he was a soldier in Vietnam he had become so calloused by the brutality so seared in his conscience by numbing himself to all the violence that one day in the distance he saw some figures that he knew were not the enemy they were just civilians and he took target practice on them and shot them and he told Dr. Wilson this as the man lay there dying and Bill looked at him and said has it ever occurred to you you could be forgiven and the man said no and he told this patient about the love of God in Jesus Christ and that forgiveness was available even for the most heinous of sin and the man received forgiveness and I heard this from Bill himself and he was healed and he lived be in an environment James is saying where you know you could call in this community for help and you can confess your sins to one another a lot of healing is going to take place and there's another thing he mentions that I think is often misunderstood verse 16 he says the prayer of a righteous person has great power and I think many Christians have assumed because we tend to disqualify ourselves have assumed that this is talking about somebody else someone who is more morally upright than I am that God honors those prayers but you have to consider this that even Elijah this superhero that James is mentioning in first Kings 18 he's a hero in first Kings 19 he is experiencing the perhaps greatest abyss of sin and that is he is suicidal and yet he is being hearkened unto as our example the great heroes of prayer in the Bible wasn't that they were more morally upright than other people and again what a slippery slope it is to say that God will only honor your prayer if you are morally upright in every way is it a wonderful thing to be morally upright absolutely does God delight in that absolutely but I don't think what James is saying here by righteousness is he's referencing those that have intrinsic or personal righteousness otherwise this would be a fairly hopeless text and we could just say well that just doesn't apply to me no I think what James is talking about is the righteousness of God in Jesus Christ that is imputed to every single Christian believer it's fascinating if you would take time sometime and do this and just study Romans chapter 4 5 well really Romans 4 5 6 7 & 8 that section of Scripture just looking for what Paul is saying about righteousness he starts this in Romans 4 at verse 1 what then shall we say was gained by Abraham our forefather according to the flesh for if Abraham was justified by works he has something to boast about but not before God for what does the scripture say Abraham believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness now to the one who works his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due what is it what's Paul saying he's very logical about this he's saying that in the Old Testament we see that when Abraham believed God when God said you're going to be the father of a nation and you're going to have a son in your old age when he believed that the Bible says it was credited to Abraham as righteousness was he meant Abraham himself was not perfectly righteous this is the man who on one occasion lied to Egyptian authorities and said Sarah wasn't his wife because he was afraid of them hey I couldn't get away with that I'm guarantee you that he wasn't righteous because he was perfectly moral it was credited to him as righteousness now this is in the Old Covenant but Paul is looking at this and saying look at this as your example Abraham believed God it was counted to him as righteousness if somebody works and they get paid that's not a gift that's payment if you think that you're going to work by your works your personal righteousness God's going to pay you by honoring your prayers that's payment not a gift and what Paul says to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly his faith is counted as righteousness goes on at chapter 5 verse 18 to say therefore as one trespass led to condemnation for all men so one act of righteousness leads to justification in life for all for as by one man's disobedience he's talking about the first Adam who disobeyed the many were made sinners so by one man's obedience the many will be made righteous so in the same way that we are all born in sin because of the first Adam when you were born again as a Christian you're in the second Adam you're in Jesus and so now you're born into his righteousness what this means is staggering at every level it means that not only did Jesus become your sin but when you accept him you become his righteousness now you know that you're not personally morally righteous and so you resist this notion but you have been according to the gospel regarded by God as if you have lived a righteous life now God knows that you personally have sinned and he knows all of that and James talked about the importance of talking about our problems to one another and to the Lord but it theologically powerfully mystically God imputes to you or reckons you or regards you treat you as if you were as righteous as Jesus which means that not only is your sin forgiven which means you don't need to be punished but it means that you're credited with meritorious living that you haven't lived which means you can be rewarded you see if we were only forgiven it would be wonderful to not be punished for all eternity but it wouldn't mean we merit heaven to merit the blessings of God and for God to be propitious or favorable towards us Jesus did both things and in a great exchange he who knew no sin became your sin and you became his righteousness it's incredible that's Alan Wright and we'll have more teaching in a moment from today's important series ever feel like something's holding you back as if you lack an important key that could change everything is there someone you love who seems stuck you'd like to help them but how what's missing blessing we all need a positive faith-filled vision spoken over our lives you can learn how to embrace the biblical practice of blessing through Pastor Alan Wright's new book the power to bless which quickly became an Amazon number one bestseller after its recent release until now the hardcover book has only been available through retail sales but this month Alan Wright Ministries wants to send you the book as our thank you for your donation when you give this month you'll not only receive the best-selling book but you'll also receive a free five session video course in which Pastor Alan teaches how to bless and covers content not found in the book the video course includes a detailed study guide perfect for personal growth or small group discussion make your gift today and discover the power to bless the gospel is shared when you give to Alan Wright Ministries this broadcast is only possible because of listener financial support when you give today we will send you today's special offer we are happy to send this to you as our thanks from Alan Wright Ministries call us at eight seven seven five four four forty eight sixty that's eight seven seven five four four forty eight sixty or come to our website pastor Alan org today's teaching now continues here once again is Alan Wright several years ago I was on a jury and the man that was on trial had been accused of trafficking of selling drugs he had a lesser misdemeanor charge also but the main thing was does this man sell drugs and there was not in my opinion enough evidence to convict the man and the rest of the jury we eventually all saw it the same way and so we came back to the judge we said not guilty and so we said not guilty and so that man can't be tried for selling drugs though then that particular accusation again it's gone he's innocent of that which the judge has announced it we announced it juries announced it is done right so in that sense he's justified as just as if he'd never even been accused of it because that's where he stands now with regard to the law but what we didn't do is then turn around and say and furthermore your honor we think he's lived a very meritorious life and like for the court to award him ten thousand dollars just for being a good guy well you don't do that that's not the way the thing works and and yet as a Christian this is the way it works Paul said we've been blessed with every spiritual blessing in Christ Jesus why because every Christian has been clothed with a righteousness of God and Jesus Christ that's why you can be blessed for all eternity and that's why James says the prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective I think is what James is saying if you can find a Christian community where there's this loving spiritual oversight and clear connection of the body of Christ and there is such a shame-free environment that people are able to talk about their problems to one another freely without fear of being rejected and a place where all of the Saints are increasingly understanding themselves to be the righteousness of Christ in that kind of environment a whole lot of healing is going to take place can I tell you one miracle story I just as we're talking about Elijah I want to just tell some miracle stories that are up close and personal I love hearing miracle stories no matter where they are if another continent missionaries and others but I love these stories that as I saw them firsthand I've seen a lot not every day but I've seen a lot I want to tell you about a woman in our congregation who four years ago was dead for 30 minutes and the initial brain scans looked absolutely horrible she came back to life and in a matter of days she began to have functioning in her brain and now she's alive and well living with her daughter in California the story of Berta Kroll's healing actually began by a series of things that in the world's eyes you'd say were coincidences but you look back on it and you marvel and I tell this story because it's one of the best examples of a healing supernatural event that takes place because of this type of Christian community dr. Tom Wolf who is a hospitalist works at Forsyth Memorial Hospital many years he and his wife Mary had gone to pick up Mary's mother June Michael who we call June buck because there had been a snowstorm and it was Adam Lawson's birthday pastor Chris's little boy and so June the great-grandmother wanted to come to the birthday party but she couldn't get out in the snow so Tom and Mary Wolf went to pick her up the reason that's important is if there hadn't been a snow and they had met a birthday party Tom would not have overheard what he overheard which ended up being instrumental in Berta's healing while they were driving along he overheard June talking to Berta who was her good friend on the phone and realized that Berta had been very sick nauseous and not able to keep food down and Berta had wanted to go to the urgent care but she couldn't get out because of the snow and so instead she was home probably dehydrated and Tom overheard all of this right just kind of registered somewhere in his mind well it turned out that Berta continued to be quite sick and she did eventually go to urgent care and while she was there she collapsed and the ambulance took her to Forsyth Hospital and it so happened that the physician that attended to her at the emergency room is another beloved parishioner here elder in our church Dr. Rich Montgomery worked at the emergency room at Forsyth for many many years leads many of our Jamaica mission trips and so is excellent doctor is wonderful he was attending to her well at the same time that Dr. Montgomery and his team are trying to revive Berta who has no heartbeat and is completely coated and flatlined is no no life there it so happened Dr. Wolf had promised a student that he would allow her to shadow him to look around the hospital and see what he does as a hospitalist and he said let's go by the emergency emergency room perhaps there's something eventful that's happening there you could learn from they went down the emergency room immediately realized that there was a call out that there was someone who was coded and so they went into the room and there it was his friend Dr. Montgomery was the physician attending to the patient and later Dr. Montgomery would say that this was I think he said the longest that he'd ever tried to revive somebody it had been 30 minutes and Dr. Wolf just and he realizes Dr. Montgomery and he's explaining to this student what's going on and then he picks up the chart and he looks at it and he realizes this is Berta Kroll now Tom says he hasn't probably spoken more than a hundred words to Berta but he knew this was June's friend that he was talking to she was talking to on the phone so he had some information about her situation that Dr. Montgomery didn't have now to add to this I can't remember if it was a couple days or a week or so before this on the way to work one morning Dr. Wolf decided to make a piece toast and while he had to wait one minute on the toaster he picked up a medical journal that he normally throws away but he picked it up and he skimmed over an article about a case of cardiac arrest that had been induced by some problem with a think of potassium levels that if I remember it correctly and he saw what an EKG could look like in this particular type of cardiac arrest and what had happened and I mean through the journal way but it's almost like something that Tom knew about but it's almost like he said later Lord it's like dusted off the cobwebs of the brain about oh yeah that can happen and he happened to have known the sickness that Berta had been through and so all of a sudden he looks at Dr. Montgomery he said well is there a chance that maybe it could be the potassium level Dr. Montgomery says well we've tried everything else and said might as well and so they gave the antidote and immediately she came back to life and she'd been dead for 30 minutes the original the initial brain scans looked awful and the neurologist said she won't have any life in her brain and two days later they took the tube out of her mouth and she began speaking and recognizing people Dr. Wolfe had said because he's a man of faith and as is Dr. Montgomery said Dr. Wolfe said you know I just couldn't believe that God would save her life only to allow her to be brain dead and so next thing you know she was up she was walking she's remembered she's active and she's alive and well now here four years later she came back got to visit her Sunday school class at which she's a part and everybody that prayed for her and it's a miracle that took place right here in our midst by both a series of events and just the supernatural intervention of God through the prayers of the people of God my point is this Elijah is just as human as you are he prayed it wouldn't rain it didn't rain these doctors in these Sunday school class and others that pray for birds just as human as you are and God brought a woman back to life and healed her brain God still works miracles through the likes of you and me that's the gospel Allen right and just like Elijah the conclusion here of today's teaching in the series miracle man stick with us Allen is back in a moment with additional insight on this for your life and a final word ever feel like something's holding you back as if you lack an important key that could change everything is there someone you love who seems stuck you'd like to help them but how what's missing blessing we all need a positive faith-filled vision spoken over our lives you can learn how to embrace the biblical practice of blessing through pastor Alan Wright's new book the power to bless which quickly became an Amazon number one bestseller after its recent release until now the hardcover book has only been available through retail sales but this month Alan Wright Ministries wants to send you the book as our thank you for your donation when you give this month you'll not only receive the best-selling book but you'll also receive a free five session video course in which pastor Alan teaches how to bless and covers content not found in the book the video course includes a detailed study guide perfect for personal growth or small group discussion make your gift today and discover the power to bless the gospel is shared when you give to Alan Wright Ministries this broadcast is only possible because of listener financial support when you give today we will send you today's special offer we are happy to send this to you as our thanks from Alan Wright Ministries call us at eight seven seven five four four forty eight sixty that's eight seven seven five four four forty eight sixty or come to our website pastor Alan org and I think we all can find hope there just like you and me miracle man well I think that we just so often think that the people we read stories about in the Bible are somehow different than us and wouldn't it change everything if you started thinking instead and this for every listener wherever you are in your spiritual journey started thinking like this Elijah was no different than me and God used him in a miraculous way God could use me and I think what it does it just opens up your heart to possibilities you never dreamt up well today's good news message is a listener supported production of Alan Wright Ministries