That you be perfectly joined together. Additionally, in the same judgment, if Paul’s plea to the troubled Corinthian church was realistic, then it must also have been actually possible. Why would he have made such a plate if it were not both realistic and possible in spite of their differences? Paul wanted the Corinthian questions to be United, but not in some sort of all inclusive big tent. Ignore your differences kind of way, but in these key areas, what they spoke in the first place must be in agreement,

the phrase to speak, the same thing had political overtones of warring factions that came to a reconciliation in spite of their warring factions in the church at Corinth, namely differences about the Lord’s supper, about the resurrection, about moral issues, and more in spite of that, Paul wanted them to be on the same page doctrine light. Next, Paul decried their divisions later in the first chapter, it appears that they chose sides, each following various leaders and in the process splintered the precious unity that God and his spirit desire.

Ephesians four one teaches that we must all endeavor to keep the unity of the spirit. In the bond of peace that demands a constant focus on oneness and not on division. The term for division by the way is schismatic split division, the word pictures, the destruction of unity through force and was used of a tear and a garment or political factions engaged in a struggle for power. So far in our broadcast today we have looked at two of the four admonitions or pleas that Paul makes for unity in the church at Corinth.

First that they all speak the same thing and second that there be no divisions among them in our next broadcast. We will continue at this point and noticed number three and number four third but that you be perfectly joined together in the same mind and number four that you be perfectly joined together in the same judgment. We hope that you can join us as we study God’s word together at that time. What’s the quickest way to reach us? That simple call our toll free number one eight five five I G H six nine eight eight to request free Bible study courses to ask a question or do make a comment.

The number is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Just leave your and we will follow up as quickly as we can. That number again is one eight five five I G H six nine eight eight or if you prefer +1 855-444-6988<inaudible>. Thank you for listening to our broadcast today. We hope first that it glorified God, but second, we hope that it edified you listen to it again if you need to or to other lessons in this series by going to the media tab and our site,

international gospel hour doctor<inaudible><inaudible> hello there. Today is July 15 and this is your daily lift problem. The gospel broadcasting network honor thy father and thy mother that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God give a fee. Exodus 20 at verse 12 the first four of the 10 commandments were God word. This is the first. That is men word and Ephesians six two Paul appealed to this old Testament passage describing it as the first commandment with promise. It has always been God’s will that one honor his parents respect and care for them to rebel the games.

The righteous instruction of parents is to rebel against God in old Testament times. Children who were rebellious toward their parents were stoned to death and cotton triste as one honored his parents. His days would be long upon the land and may God bless you and have a great day. In our prior two lessons, we have supplied proof that the being referred to as the angel of the Lord is divine. He is God. We also know that Jesus is divine. He is God. Notice Isaiah 40 verses three through five and John chapter one that concludes the more concrete portion of this study.

Today we will attempt to connect these two points by hypothesizing that the angel of the Lord is in fact the preincarnated Christ. In other words, the second person of the Godhead or the being we know today as Jesus Christ was revealed to mankind in the old Testament as the angel of the Lord in Exodus 23 verses 20 and following God while speaking with Moses, note chapter 20 verse 22 declared quote, behold, I send an angel before you to keep you in the way and to you into the place which I have prepared.

Be aware of him and obey his voice. Do not provoke him for he will not pardon your transgressions, for my name is in him, but if you indeed obey his voice and do all that I speak, then I will be an enemy to your enemies and an adversary to your adversaries. The point I want to stress here is that the angel of the Lord is distinct from God, the father whom I believe to be speaking to Moses. Yet we observed in prior lessons that the angel is deity or divine.

So based on my present understanding of the Godhead, no. Our lessons from April 13th and 14th 2005 if the angel of the Lord is divine, he must be one of the three persons of the Godhead. Either God, the father, God the son, or God the Holy spirit as we commonly refer to them. If we remove the first option, the more likely choice that remains is that the angel of the Lord is the being we know today as Jesus Christ in a different physical form. Of course, it seems unlikely that the Holy spirit would assume the form of an angel.

Since nowhere else in the scriptures is he stated to have taken on a physical form. The same cannot be said regarding the second person of the Godhead. There was one other argument worth mentioning on this subject. We noted previously in Exodus 1419 and the angel of God who went before the camp of Israel moved and went behind them and the pillar of cloud went from before them and stood behind them. However, exit is 13 verse 21 States that it was the Lord himself who did this. Furthermore, Paul wrote in first Corinthians 10 verses one through four.

Moreover, brethren, I do not want you to be unaware that all our fathers were under the cloud, all passed through the sea, all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea and all ate the same spiritual food and all drank the same spiritual drink for they drank of that spiritual rock that followed them and that rock was Christ. Here Jesus has identified as the spiritual rock that followed the Israelites during their long journey from Egypt into the promised land. Speculation of bounds as to what exactly is meant by this phrase.

Some believe this refers to a literal rock from heaven that rolled behind the Israel lights and provided water as they journeyed. Others, including myself, are more inclined to accept a less literal perspective here. In either case, Christ miraculously provided water and hen stability like a rock for the Israel lights on at least two occasions. He was undeniably there with them though in what sins? It is impossible to know for sure. Perhaps there is a connection between the spiritual rock that followed them and the angel of the Lord who seemed to move with the pillar of cloud and fire.

Therefore, in closing, I believe that the angel of the Lord of the old Testament is the preincarnated Christ. I believe that the second person of the Godhead was active during those 4,000 years between the creation and his birth as Jesus of Nazareth. Note also John five or 17 let me leave you with this disclaimer. However, due to the difficulty of this subject and the fact that there was some unavoidable speculation in my argument, I am not dogmatic regarding this subject. I can see how others may be less willing to connect the identity of the angel of the Lord to the preincarnated incarnate Christ.

It is certainly not a significant point of doctrine are their way or the scriptures would have been clearer on the matter. Nevertheless, it does make for an interesting study from God’s word.<inaudible><inaudible>,<inaudible><inaudible><inaudible><inaudible>. Thank you for listening to Collierville Christian radio. You are invited to the Collierville church of Christ at five 75 Shelton road in Collierville, Tennessee. Following the new Testament pattern for the church that Christ established, visit our website for more information. Call your Ville coc.org now the most of a minute correcting the mistake,

a woman said that while cleaning out some old boxes in her attic, she came across to an antique book of crochet patterns. It was special because from that book about lace edges on handkerchiefs and dollies for chairs, her grandmother had taught more than crochet lessons. Her grandmother insisted that she must never let a mistake go by without correction, no matter how perfect the rest of the piece looked, and even if it was 12 or 14 rows back to she had one rip out all destined, one stitches down to the Mustang to correct it and start again.

Testing one. Sometimes we need this lesson in lasting the longer one lift. The more people we associate with. For some reasons, there are mistakes made in relationships in the form of quarrels and disagreements, even to the point of falling out with a close friend. When this happens, we need to go back and rip up all the niceties and cover up times we put top of that mistake and start a new in Matthew five verse 23 and 24 Jesus teaches us to do our best to correct our mistakes with our fellow man.

Before we go on with the pattern of our lives, this has been a production of the Collierville church of Christ. To learn more about the Collierville church of Christ, visit us on the web at call your Villa COC. Not org. The most of the men. It was written by Glenn Colley. Your host is Aaron CoSort. Wow.<inaudible> he is<inaudible><inaudible>. He welcome to the apologetics press hour.<inaudible> yes. Testing. Testing, testing. One, two, three, four, five,

six, seven, eight, nine, 10, nine eight seven six five four three, two, one. That’s how you did radio checks.<inaudible> is it not working? Testing one, two, three, Nope. Yup. There it is. Nope. Nope. There it is. There it is. Still working. Oh yeah. Yeah. This is the, uh, only the second. Yeah. Take your time. I’ve ever preached for years in the gospels. Taking the gospel there as it stands and there one does find somethings that do not seem to be very wise.

Dan Barker wrote an article titled by Jesus and in this article he asked this question, why is Jesus so special? It would be more reasonable and productive to emulate real flesh and blood human beings who have contributed to humanity, mothers who have given birth, scientists who have alleviated suffering social reformers who have fought injustice then to worship a character of such dubious qualities as Jesus and then in an essay that appeared on the website evil bible.com one enemy of Christ wrote this. Dear believer, I refuse to accept Jesus as my personal savior for his behavior and teachings often expose one who should be escaped with microphone,

please. Allegedly you can go to the Bible itself. You can go to the gospel accounts, Matt testing. Luke, you’re just trying to look pretty those and allegedly it should cause you to believe that Jesus should not be followed, that Jesus is not divine, that Jesus was not perfect, that Jesus made turned it on yet and committed various sins for good idea, alleged that Jesus was rude, that he was disrespectful. So you can see well then, and we can see when Jesus was at the wedding in Cana of Galilee where there was a depletion of wine,

Mary said to Jesus, they have no wine. Jesus then responded to his mother saying this, you ready? He said, woman, what does your concern have to do with me? My hour has not yet. What is your concern has to do with me? Richard Dawkins commented on this in his book, the God delusion in 2006 and he stayed at Jesus’ family values. It has to be admitted. We’re not such as one might wish to focus on. He was short to the point of brusqueness with his own mother,

Richard Dawkins, probably one of, if not the most famous atheist in the world, uh, in the early 20th 21st century, has something to say about Jesus being rude and impolite to his own mother. Dennis McKinsey had a lot to say about this and his various writings. He said about Matthew 15 four he said in Matthew 15 four he, Jesus told people to honor by father and my mother, yet he was one allegedly. He was one of the first to ignore his own Maxim by saying to his mother and John two four woman,

what have I done? And then he said in his book the encyclopedia biblical errancy as I was quoting from earlier on, page 44 now on page one 34 he said, imagine someone talking to his own mother in such a disrespectful manner and addressing her by such an impersonal noun. As woman talk about an insulin offspring, Jesus allegedly needs to practice some parental respect. What do you think about that? What do you think about Jesus calling his own mother? Woman? No. If you Hayden, if you were to call your mother woman after she told you to take out the trash and you said,

woman, what does that have to do with me? Well, you know, that would sound very rude and in 21st century America, would it not? Wouldn’t it sound rude? Say to respond to your mother with the word woman and then say, you know, I’m not prepared to do that. I’m not willing to do that. It’s not my time to do that. Well, admittedly, in 21st century America, using an English word in America separated from Jesus by about 2000 years. Yes, it sounds rude,

but what critics of Christ seem to forget or totally ignore is that Jesus was speaking in a different country at a different time, in a different language, among a different people, a different culture. The fact of the matter is the Bible itself reveals that Jesus was not rude. How do I know that? Because of how he used this word elsewhere. X morning in the gospel accounts. For example, when complementing the Syrophoenician moments in Matthew chapter 15 verse 28 he said, woman, great is your faith.

Now see, saying that in a disrespectful way. Wow. How great is your faith? Well that that wouldn’t sound, that wouldn’t make any sense. They used it when affectionately addressing Mary Magdalene after his resurrection. John chapter 20 verse 15 woman, why are you waiting? And when speaking to his disconsolate mother, one last time from the cross, John 19 verse 26 he said, woman, behold your son. Are we to suppose, are we to assume the worst about Jesus? That he was on the cross dying for the sins of the world?

He sees his own mother there who gave birth to him, who uh, was standing there at the cross of Jesus, no doubt in terrible emotional pain. And he says, woman, behold your son talking about the disciple that Jesus. Look, it’s obvious when you look at the other<inaudible> testing, one, two<inaudible>, disrespectful mother, they can assume that they can make that charge because it may sound disrespectful in 21st century America, but that doesn’t mean that it was disrespectful 2000 years ago. In fact,

it’s the very opposite when you see how this word is used elsewhere in scripture, but some have charged with Jesus, okay, he, he was disrespectful. But if we can’t convince you Christians that, that he was disrespectful, maybe, maybe we can convince you. Maybe you should believe. In fact, they would say you, you certainly should believe that Jesus was all mixed up. He was a liar or he at least contradicted himself when he made these statements. And John chapter five and verse 31 if I bear witness of myself,

Jesus said, my witness is not true. What did he mean my witness is not true. And and how would he be able to say that? Truthfully, when, and John chapter eight and verse 14 he said to his enemies who were testing him, he said, even if I bear witness of myself, my witness is true, and so it’s been pointed out by skeptics for many years now. Jesus was mixed up. He was contradictory, he was a liar, he did not present valid testimony.

He said, my witness is not true, and then he said, my witness is true. Now granted on the surface, it sounds like those are two contradictory statements on the surface, but aren’t there a lot of things that we may look at on the surface that are not contradictory? When you dig deeper and finding out the sense in which those things were being said, you recall, and I believe it was our third lesson in this series on, is the Bible reliable? We talked about how things can only be a contradiction if we’re talking about the same person,

place or thing at the same time, and in the same sense now consider these phrases. We won the game, we lost the game. Are those contradictory statements? Again on the surface it might sound like a contradictory statement. It may be that most of the time, if those two statements were talked about and you’re referring to the same game at the same time, you may suppose you may assume, yes, that must be a contradictory statement. How could both of these be true? They could both be true if you’re making those statements in different senses.

For example, in 1,990 some of you may be old enough to remember this college football game, Missouri and Colorado played a college football game and with 30 seconds left to go in the game, Missouri was up 31 to 27 Colorado had the ball first and goal at the Missouri three yard line, first and gold guys, so what did they do? Well on first down, if I remember correctly, they spike the ball to stop the clock on first down. Then on second down they ran the ball but failed to score on third down.

If I remember correctly, they ran the ball again and I get this on fourth down. They spike the ball to stop the clock with two seconds left on fourth. Now then on fifth down they ran the ball for a touchdown. They ran the ball for a touchdown on fifth. Now according to the referees, Colorado won the game 33 to 31 but did they really win the game? I imagine if you were a Missouri fan and if you are a Missouri fan that alleged defeat still eats you up because there is a sense in which Missouri won that game.

That ball should have been Missouri’s on the goal line or right there at the goal line at the, the one foot line or one yard line with two seconds left, all they would have had to do was run out the clock. The game was there. They would have won the game. If I remember correctly, Colorado went on that year to share, uh, the national championship. Well, did they win that game or did they lose that game? Could you imagine how some of the the Missouri players must’ve felt and how maybe later as they were having children,

they talked about that game with Colorado in 1990 and they told their children we won that game. But they may also in a different setting, we lost that game. Now can they be telling the truth if they made those two statements that sound different and are different but can both be true? Will you see they can both be true depending on the sense in which you are making those statements. So let’s go back to John chapter five now and John chapter eight and let’s see how these statements were being used by Jesus.

Now in John chapter five verse 31 Jesus made the statement, if I bear witness of myself, my witness is not true. What was Jesus doing here in John chapter five was he saying that I just, uh, I cannot present valid testimony. Not at all. The fact of the matter is, Jesus here was recognizing a well known law of his day. Think about Deuteronomy 19 verse 15 which says, one witness shall not rise against a man. Concerning any iniquity or any sin that he commits by the mouth of two or three witnesses,

the matter shall be established. Deuteronomy chapter 17 verse six whoever is deserving of death shall be put to death on the testimony of two or three witnesses. He shall not be put to death on the testimony of one witness. You see, there is a well understood law. My understanding was it wasn’t not, it was not only among the Jews, but also among the Greeks and the Romans, that you had to have more than just one witness to testify of something, especially something that is very important, like a murder or something very important like Jesus claiming to be the Messiah,

the son of God. So what was Jesus claiming here in John chapter five and verse 31 that his testimony would not be valid if he was the only one to testify on his behalf. And so what he does in the remaining part of John chapter five is he gives us a list of those who did testify on behalf of who he was. He said, says in verse 33, John, he bore witness to the truth that Jesus Christ is the son of God. Verse 36 he said that the very works that I do bear witness of me in verse 37 he said,

the father testifies of, Mayer has testified in may, verse 39 he says the scriptures, um, he says, these are they which testify of me. And then he specifically mentions the writings of Moses in verse 46 and how Moses wrote about him. So John chapter five, he saying, my witnesses not true, and he’s using that phrase in recognition of the well known law of his day, that it must be backed up by other witnesses, at least one other witness. So then when you turn over to John chapter eight,

you read Jesus making the statement, my witness is true. Well, how could that be true in view of the well understood laws of the day regarding the need to have two or three witnesses? Well, notice verse 13 the Pharisees therefore said to him, you bear witness of yourself. Your witness is not true.

And then Jesus responds by saying, even if I bear witness of myself, my witness is true. You see what I believe Jesus is saying here is that,

listen, I’m telling the truth. Regardless of what the law says, which I’ve already recognized, I am telling the truth,

I am not lying. My witness is true and then just to go the extra mile later here in John chapter five excuse me,

John chapter eight verse 16 he says, my judgment is true for I am not alone but I am with the father who sent me and so he goes the extra mile and saying,

Hey, by the way, the father also testifies with me. So there is a sense in which Jesus statements are true.

Testing one, two, three testing one, two, three<inaudible> are you going to use this? Okay.<inaudible> just to make sure Tommy is video going out on the,

on the computer on the right hand side. Okay.<inaudible> we want to welcome everyone to the worship services of the call your bill church of Christ.

We are still separated from one another and sad that that is true but understandable and we pray that everyone is doing well and remain safe during this time.

Um, where our thoughts and our prayers are with all of you and we look forward to not too many days from now all assembling together.

Once again, a few announcements as we begin, uh, just to make folks aware of the announcements that there are,

uh, if you don’t currently get, uh, the bulletin by email I think almost does. Um,

but if you don’t and you use email, let us know and we’ll certainly add you to the list.

You could call me or call Paula, uh, also during the service this morning. If there are any special prayer requests that you uh,

would like to have mentioned at the closing prayer texts, those, um, to my cell phone during the service and we will make sure that those get mentioned during our announcements and our closing prayer at the end.

Um, pantry items for this month is disposable silverware for, uh, Potter’s children’s house. The men’s business meeting for today has been canceled.

Um, and we will notify people concerning the date for the may men’s business meeting. If there are any details that need to be handled between now and then,

please contact Eric Halvorson and, uh, we will make sure that those issues get handled. Please keep Ruby Brad in your prayers.

Continue to do that. And um, her address for cards or things like that, uh, is in the bulletin this week.

So if you, uh, need that, that is available there. Keep Joan Springer and your, your thoughts and prayers dealing with her pneumonia.

Uh, Tina Lance is a nurse and the wife of a preacher friend of mine down in Chalmette, Louisiana and,

uh, she has been diagnosed positive with Corona virus. The last update that I had concerning her is that she is feeling better,

um, and doing well right now. So keep Tina Lance in your prayers. Uh, Jenny Sanderson’s,

aunt Rosie has Corona virus as well. Russell Klein and his wife, he’s the preacher in the matters that the Madisonville church of Christ in Madisonville,

Kentucky. He and his wife both have been diagnosed with Corona virus. Um, Paul, uh, Paula’s cousin Vester Williamson.

Um, has a form of cancer that I’m not going to attempt to try and pronounce, um, and is scheduled to have mouth surgery on Thursday.

Um, Rebecca’s brother Raymond and, uh, crystal Rushmore both have strep and process possible bronchitis. So keep Rebecca’s family in your prayers as well.

And then just all of the ongoing, um, medical issues and, and folks that we know that are dealing with chronic issues,

keep them in your prayers as we go through this period of time. Remember to contact people, remember to call people.

We’ve got a lot of people stuck at home. Um, and uh, so just stay in touch with folks we know you already do and we appreciate that.

We ask that you continue to do that. Uh, this morning, uh, I will be leading singing and,

uh, doing the opening prayer as well as the Lord’s supper. Eric Richardson will be preaching this morning and we’ll have the closing prayer.

Let’s begin with our worship<inaudible>. Our first song is number two. We praise thee. Oh God.<inaudible> seeing all five verses.

We praise the for the son of<inaudible>.<inaudible> is now gone. Bob<inaudible>, Laurie<inaudible>. Hallelujah.<inaudible><inaudible><inaudible> we praise thee for the spirit of blah.<inaudible><inaudible> hallelujah.

Laurie. Hello then, huh?<inaudible><inaudible><inaudible> all glory and praise the lamb man was laying, Lou has born,

has Quinn’s every stain. Hallelujah. Line the glory.<inaudible> the glory rave<inaudible> yay. Oh, glory and praise to God of all grace who has bought us and song sang a way<inaudible> Laurie<inaudible> the line,

the glory. Uh, and I’ve uh, uh, and fairly tight with<inaudible> with uh, from uh,

uh,<inaudible> Laurie man nine, the glory rave,<inaudible> and<inaudible> our gracious heavenly father. We come before your grateful for the day that you have given to us for the life that you have granted to us for the opportunities that we have to serve you.

We are mindful at this time of many who are separated from their families enduring hardship and difficulties, sorrow,

pain, and we are mindful of all those who are dealing with this virus. We especially pray for those who are medical workers and doctors,

emergency personnel who have borne the brunt of this virus and its consequences. Pray that you be with those who we have mentioned in the our announcements that are positive in their diagnosis.

We pray that they will come through well and that they will recover fully from this virus. We pray for nations all over the world as they as well battle this illness and we pray for especially poorer nations that will struggle increasingly because of this virus.

And we pray that there will be opportunities to aid them and help them and that they will put assigned the struggles and the Wars and the mistreatment of humanity,

uh, that is in, under going in that those countries and we pray that they will come together to help one another and to serve one another.

And that missionaries might be safe and might be protected at this time. They might also be able to help those who are in need.

We pray that you will be with us as we go throughout this service. May all that we do and say be in accordance with your will.

All this we ask in Jesus’ name, amen. Tommy, if you will put up the slide with the number because I didn’t,

I didn’t bring my list down here. Hallelujah. What a savior number 395. Hallelujah. What a savior.

After this song, we will, uh, partake of the Lord’s supper, man. No saw role<inaudible> Oh God.<inaudible> Ruth and uh,<inaudible><inaudible> hi one.<inaudible> yeah.

Bearing shame. Golfing.<inaudible> condom. Geez. Good.<inaudible> with his blonde, huh? One<inaudible> guilty.

Uh, uh,<inaudible> we<inaudible> was, I see. Oh, uh, tone. Uh, can it be a lane?

What<inaudible> lifted? Was he to a guy? Yeah, it is<inaudible><inaudible><inaudible> NA<inaudible><inaudible> hi.<inaudible> what?<inaudible>.<inaudible> when he comes,

uh,<inaudible><inaudible> Oh, is right home breathing. Yeah. Then news is song. We’ll sing.

Huh? One<inaudible><inaudible> as we prepare our minds to focus on the Lord’s supper, I wanted to begin with a reading from Isaiah chapter 53,

who has believed our report and to whom is the arm of the Lord been revealed for he has, he shall grow up before him as a tender plant and as a root out of dry ground.

He has no form or comeliness and when we see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.

He is despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief and we hid as it were our faces from him.

He was despised and we not esteem him. Surely he has born our griefs and carried our sorrows, yet we esteemed him stricken,

smitten by God and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities.

The chastisement of for our peace was upon him and by his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray.

We have turned everyone to his own way and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

He was oppressed and he was afflicted. Yeti opened not his mouth. He was led as a lamb to the slaughter and as a sheep before its shearers is silent.

So he opened not his mouth. He was taken from prison and from judgment and who will declare his generation for he was cut off from the land of the living for the transgressions of my people.

He was stricken and they made his grave with the wicked, but with the rich at his death because he had done no violence nor was any deceit in his mouth.

Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him. He has put him to grief. When you make his soul an offering for sin,

he shall see his seed. He shall prolong his days and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.

We shall see. He shall see the labor of his soul and be satisfied by his knowledge. My righteous servant shall justify many for he shall bear their iniquities.

Therefore I will divide him a portion with the great and he shall divide the spoil with the strong because he poured out his soul unto death and he was numbered with the transgressors and he bore the sin of many and made intercession for transgressors.

Let us pray as we prepared to partake of the bread. Our great and merciful father in heaven, hallowed be thy name.

We are grateful at this time on this day to remember the sacrifice of your son on the cross for our sins and we’re mindful of this time of his body that was broken for us and we are mindful of this emblem that we were commanded by him to partake of on the first day of every.

And we pray that as we partake of this emblem, we will take our minds back to that cross and to that sacrifice on behalf of us.

For truly, he was numbered with the transgressors and yet he bore the sin of all of us as one who was innocent.

All this we pray in Jesus name, amen.<inaudible> as we prepare our minds to partake of the cup,

let us pray. Our gracious father in heaven, we bound before you once again thanking you for this sacrifice for these emblems,

for this emblem which reminds us of his blood that was shed for many, for the blood that brings about our redemption and cleanses us from the sin and iniquity in this life.

We thank you for the sacrifice that was placed on that cross for us. And we pray that as we partake of this emblem,

we might do so in a manner that is pleasing to you. In Jesus name. Amen.<inaudible> on this day and at this time,

we also have the opportunity to give, to give back as we have been prospered. First Corinthians chapter 16,

verses one and two teaches us that giving is not only a part of a Christian’s life in general to give of their time to give of their abilities and their talents,

but also to give of their money, to promote the work of the church, to increase the borders of the kingdom,

but also to provide for those who are in need. Paul wrote to the church at Corinth to do this on a weekly basis,

just the same way that we find in acts chapter 20 that they were to gather together to break bread,

to observe the Lord’s supper, to pray together, and to worship together on a weekly basis. So we have the opportunity now to give back.

Uh, as we have mentioned before for our members, uh, you can bring a check by the building on Sunday morning and uh,

make um your giving done that way. You can also go on the website, call your Ville, coc.org/give and give that way.

But remember in this time there may be many opportunities as well to give, to help those around you.

And if you know of special needs around you, someone who is in particular need at this time, please let the church know.

We may not be able to do everything, but we can certainly do something. So, uh, just be mindful of that during this time and make us aware when there are needs.

Pray that you will take time at this time to give. We’ll have a prayer for that offering. Laura,

we are mindful of this time of all of your many blessings in a time of difficulty and a time where it is true that many have lost their jobs and many have needs that they did not have a month ago.

We pray that at the same time we remember that everything belongs to you. That Paul reminded us as his mindset was in Philippians chapter four that whether he had much or whether he had nothing,

that his mindset was always to be content in what he had. We pray that we will be able to help those who are in name and do good to those who are in need at this time.

And we pray that we might give with a cheerful heart. And so we ask your blessings upon all the offerings and all the giving that is done this day.

In Jesus name. Amen.<inaudible> well, now have one more song before the sermon. I know the Lord will find a way.

Number 523 seeing all three versus, I know the Lord will find a way. Four. I know the one will find a way forward.

Yeah. If I walk<inaudible> Shung wrong.<inaudible> I know.<inaudible> we’ll find out.<inaudible> form<inaudible> the Lord.

Go preach to all the Lord.<inaudible><inaudible><inaudible> if I walk<inaudible><inaudible> wrong and to the wrong guy,

I know.<inaudible> we’ll find them.<inaudible> four. Whoa.<inaudible> to hear him say who? Uh,

Whoa.<inaudible> to hear him.<inaudible> well, uh,<inaudible><inaudible> Sean though wrong and do the wrong line.

Whoa.<inaudible> to hear him.<inaudible> well, no. Well good morning. It’s a nice stormy morning.

I like stormy weather but it’s a good day to be inside. I want to say thank you. I’m glad that we are.

Even though we’re not together, we’re still able to um, use technology to be together in a sense.

I’m glad that Tommy’s here and Aaron’s here and we’re still able to get together, but I’ll tell you,

we definitely miss each one of you and we are definitely looking forward to a day that we are back to there in one place.

This morning, topic of my lesson is what is essential, what is essential. Now a lot of people can think of some things that are essential right now,

but I want us to think about how life right now just really has slowed down. Tommy and I were talking about this last Sunday and the fact that this rat race of going here and there and back and forth has really is gone right now for most people,

things have slowed down. I know for the NGOs and the tech world like Aaron, they’re still busy and it’s probably busier than ever at this time with a lot of technical things being done right now since we’re all at home,

but things have slowed down. We’re not running our children to this game, to that game. We’re not going to this event,

that event, that gathering, we’re at home and we have time to think about what is truly essential in our life.

Now, if you think about the government and you think about businesses, our mayors of our cities, our governors,

they’ve had to really sit down and think about during this, this time what is essential. They’ve made lists.

They’ve decided that certain businesses are essential, that they need to stay open before us for eating. I grocery store,

some restaurants, things like that that are essential, that need to stay open. But for us, we also think about what is essential.

Each of us could probably make a list of what is important to us, but this morning I want to focus on some key essential things that we can find in the scriptures that the should be essential at all times,

not just a time where we’re isolated at home, but also in the rest of our life. And I want to start with looking at an example.

When I was thinking about an exhibit, cool example of a family that’s isolated. I thought about Genesis chapter seven go to Genesis chapter seven and notice verse one we have Noah and his family.

Verse one it says, then the Lord said to Noah, come to the Ark, you and all your household,

because I have seen that you are righteous before me in this generation. Go down to verse four for after seven more days,

I will cause it to rain on the earth, 40 days and 40 nights and I will destroy from the face of the earth all living things that I have made.

Now notice verse seven. So Noah with his sons, his wife and his sons wives went into the arc because of the waters of the flood.

This is a family that was isolated. They were in the art together. Eight souls were saved and the arc.

Think about what was going through their minds. This had it. They had a time to think about what was truly essential.

We noticed that they were there in the arc for a year. In 10 days, we think a month or few weeks and our on our home is a long time,

but in Genesis seven verse 11 it tells us when they go in and chapter eight and verse 14 when they come out,

it was a year and 10 days. That was a long time to be isolated. They had time to focus on what was essential and I want to look at some things this morning,

starting with family. Family is essential. Many times with this busy world that we are in, we get focused on our jobs on this event,

that thing, sports, this and that. Many you can, you can just fill the blanks there.

But there’s so many things that pull us from different directions and sometimes we forget about our family. Yup.

Um, our family is, I think with Noah, we don’t know what they did in the arc,

but we do know what he was like before. I think he definitely looked at his family as essential.

Some people would say, well, Moses or that Noah, not Moses, Noah, he’s preached for 120 years and he didn’t save anybody but his family.

And they would say, well, that’s not a success. It is. His family was there with him in the Ark.

If he looked at his family as he looked at his family as essential because he saved them. If his family was essential outside the arc,

I’m sure they were also in the Ark. And with that, the first thing that we notice about what is essential in our life is our spouse.

Our spouse can sometimes we can forget about them. We have too busy with other things. We forget about how important our spouse is in our life.

Notice. Genesis chapter two in verse four says, therefore shall a man leave his father and mother and shall cleave unto his wife and they shall be one flesh.

Not two separate people, but United helping one another supporting one another. Caring for one another. Think about what it was like to be in this arc and this,

this situation with all of this stuff going on around them for a year and a half, Noah needed his spouse,

his wife needed him, they helped one another supported one another. They were their support group. We need our spouse.

We are one United together in helping one another. We noticed that during this time. That would be a great time to focus on building that relationship.

Go with me to Ephesians chapter five<inaudible> Ephesians chapter starting in verse 25 we have the example of the husband and wife as Christ being the husband and the church being the bride of Christ.

Notice verse 25 husbands speaking to the husbands. Love your wives just as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for her that he might sanctify and cleanse her with a washing of water by the word that he might present her to himself,

a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be Holy and without blemish.

So husbands ought to love their own wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife, loves himself for no one ever hated his own flesh,

but nourishes and cherishes it. Just as the Lord does a church for we are members of his body and of his flesh and of his bones.

For this reason, a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife and the two shall become one flesh.

This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church. Nevertheless, let each one of you in particular so love his own wife has himself and a lot the life wife see that she respects her husband.

We noticed that the relationship should be like between a husband and wife and how that there to be one there to be joined together to love one another and we see the example of Christ.

Notice what Christ was to his bride. He had SA sacrificial love. He gave his life for her,

for the church. He had a purifying love. This type of love is where we can be pure.

We can be presented to God pure without sin and an enduring love. The church is made up of people,

isn’t it? People aren’t perfect, but God is long suffering towards us. I think about that in a husband and wife situation.

The husband is to love, cherish, care for his wife, protect and provide for her, for his family that love that he has to have for her.

It’s a purifying love. That purifying love is they work together to study God’s word, to keep themselves pure.

The husband is to be the spiritual leader in the home and he and him and his wife spend time together studying God’s word,

keeping themselves pure, keeping themselves on track, following God’s word, and it’s an enduring love. Now we’re spending more time together.

Sometimes we’re going to get on each other’s nerves. Sometimes things are going to happen, but we’re not perfect are we?

Therefore, our love endures. Those things. This, this, this love is more than just a romantic love,

but it’s a committed love. Christ MiFID, his love for us. It’s just like for the why for the husband is a committed love that in the last part of that section that Paul tells us,

the wife needs to shown they are loved. They need to be told, their loves. The husband needs to be reverenced and respected.

This time that we have two more time together in our homes as if we’re isolated, we need to spend that time building that relationship.

Sometimes we can be torn apart and just slowly a little bit at a time because we’re so busy with other things in life,

we don’t focus on that relationship. We don’t focus on how much we need one another. We should build that relationship.

Notice with me. First Peter, first Peter chapter three and verse seven first Peter three verse seven it says,

husbands, likewise, dwell with them with understanding. This is talking about the husband’s willing with his wife,

giving honor to the wife as to the weaker vessel. Notice this and as being heirs to gather of the grace of life that your prayers be not hindered.

Notice the husband and wife are joined together on the with the same goal. They are working together to get to heaven to inherit the same reward.

Many times we may not focus on that. We’re not focused on the fact that we’re working together to get to heaven.

Our spouse is essential and we do not need to forget about that. What about our children? Children have a responsibility.

Also, children is, I know my children can quote Ephesians six one through three. We want them to know this.

Children, obey your parents in the Lord for this is right honor your father and mother, which is the first commandment with promise.

Now, children are home more now. They’re not in school. They’re going to have to work on obedience.

They’re gonna have to work on respecting and honoring their parents. Why? Well, this is to help him to understand that instruction in life will help them later on.

They have to learn these principles now or later on in life. I tell my children many times, no matter how old you are,

there’s always someone you’re going to submit to. There’s always someone that you have to show respect to, no matter if it’s a parent,

when you’re younger or a boss later on down the road. But guess what? We always submit to God.

We need to learn to have respect when we’re younger so that when we’re older, we have already instilled that characteristic in our life.

During this time, we need to focus as children to those that are children that are listening need to focus on obedience.

I’m thinking about children. What about as parents? Sometimes we don’t focus enough on the things, the responsibilities that we have.

Fathers, I’m speaking to fathers at this point, as myself as a father, fathers have the responsibility to focus on the spiritual needs of their children.

Ephesians chapter six in verse four says, fathers provoke not your children or wrath, but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.

As a father, we have the responsibility to be the spiritual leader in the home. That means that we are making sure that they are learning the word,

that they are showing their crock correct respect for God and understand his word and understand who God is. Notice with me,

go back to Deuteronomy. The Israelites, um, took great responsibility in doing this and Moses in his speech to them.

And Deuteronomy chapter six. Notice what he says. Deuteronomy chapter six, verse four through nine. Here,

O Israel, the Lord our God. The Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart,

with all your soul, with all your strength. And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart.

First. Notice the parent is to put this in their heart. There’s to be there to be ones that love God,

that put him first in their life with all their heart, soul, and strength. But notice what they are to do next.

You shall teach them diligently to your children and shall talk of them. When you sit in your house,

when you walk. By the way, when you lie down and when you rise up, you shall bind them as a sign on your hand and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes.

You shall write them in the doorpost of your house and on your Gates. Every aspect of the father’s life,

and this is also talking to the mothers there to be focused on teaching their children about God using the opportunities that you have to show and to teach about to teach them about God.

One thing that always goes away when we’re busy, especially as fathers is the Bible study at home. How important is that study to be sitting down with your family,

with your children, reading God’s word, teaching them God’s word. This is something that always goes out the door.

When we have games going on, when we have this going on, that going on, it seems to always go by the wayside,

but right now we’re isolated at home or in the life is not like a rat race. We have more time to sit down and focus on this study of God’s word,

but this should not be just now, but it should be throughout the rest of our life. Think about how important it is for children to see their parents in God’s word,

studying, showing that they love God and our children and enjoy it. They love learning about the different stories and the different things in the Bible.

They love that and they soak it in. Let’s not put it to the side, but not only do we have a responsibility to care for their spiritual needs,

but notice in Deuteronomy six four through nine again, if you read this, you notice that the children are with the parents quite a bit.

Both parents were to focus on teaching them life skills. During this time, a son would spend time with his father learning the trade of his father.

The daughter would spend time with the mother learning how to do the things that she did. Many times we’re so busy in life,

we don’t focus on teaching our children life skills, how to cook, to clean, to work on a vehicle,

a change, a tire. I know this last couple of weeks I’ve been working on a truck and Matt’s been helping me and he’s enjoyed it.

He’s learned now what many of the tools are so when I say go get me this, he knows what it is.

They enjoy that. That is going to help them later on in life. We have a responsibility to teach them life skills,

but sometimes those things go to the side. I know I’ve spent a lot of time talking about the family this morning,

but I think this is extremely important because the way the family goes so does the nation and many times the family gets put to the side because of our jobs,

because of fun things in life that we want to do and we put the family to the side. Let’s not forget how essential our families are.

What about food and clothing? Now you’re telling me I, well, I understand food and clothing are important.

I needed. I needed to have clothes on every day and I need to have food. I understand that.

Think about Noah. Here he is here with his family in the arc for a year and 10 days.

Did they have everything they needed? I’m sure they did. We see them come out of the arc healthy and get in a good condition.

God took care of them. That’s the important thing to notice here. It’s not the fact that food and clothing are essential cause we know that,

but it’s our focus on who is taking care of us. God is go to Matthew chapter six Matthew chapter six look at verse 25 Matthew six it’s 25 therefore,

I say to you, do not worry about your life. What you shall eat or what you shall drink,

nor about your body. What you shall put on it is not life more than food and body more than clothing.

Verse 28 so why do you worry about clothes, clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow.

They neither toil nor smell. Ben. Okay, verse 31 therefore do not worry saying, what shall we eat or what shall we drink or what shall we shall wear?

But notice verse 33 God says, but seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you.

When we are focused on God, when we put God first in our life, he takes care of those essential needs.

Food and clothing are important. We know that, but we also may forget about the fact that God is the one taking care of us,

that God is watching out for us. Noah probably understood that even more when he was in that arc.

We’re in this time of isolation where food is disappearing off of shelves. We go to the grocery store and there’s a limited amount of food.

There’s a limited amount of toilets, paper. There’s a limited amount of different things and we’re worried about are we going to have food or do we need to stock up,

but yet we’re all still here, aren’t we? God’s taking care of us. We put him first.

He’s going to take care of us. Let’s not forget about how blessed we are. That’d be Christians say have our food and our clothing taken care of.

What about prayer? Prayer. Lots of times when we are busy seems to go to the side. Now we may sit down to eat food and we’ll think,

okay, I need to say a prayer, but how important is prayer? Think about Noah and his family in that arc.

You think, think about the noises they heard, how all of the ground was shaking, this the water was pouring down and coming up out of the grounds.

Maybe hearing the screen of people scratching upon the side of the arc. What do you think they did?

Probably weren’t prayer with God when times are hard, when we’re in an isolation, when there’s worry about what could happen,

we need to pray. See, prayer was an essential part of many Bible characters. Think about Daniel.

We’re talking to a, we’re reading a Daniel with the children at home and Daniel spends a lot of time in prayer.

Every time something happens, he praise the God and even when he was told he cannot pray to someone to pray to God and he only had to pray to the King,

he went home and still pray three times a day. Why? Because he knew it was essential and he had made that a part of his life already.

Daniel was a praying man. What about Paul, but how many times Paul wrote letters to the different congregations and he would say,

I’m praying for you. I’m thinking about you. I think God, every day for you, he would pray for their persecution.

The struggles they were going through, Paul was in prayer a lot. What about Jesus? How many examples do we have of our Lord praying to God go off by himself into the garden?

It was known that that’s why Judas could find Jesus in Gardner guest symphony because he knew that was the place that Jesus went to pray.

Prayer was essential to them and when life gets busy, we seem to think we’ve seem to forget about prayer,

but prayer works. James chapter five in verse 16 says, the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man.

Availeth much prayer works as a person that has been in a situation where you need prayer. You know it works.

God hears our prayer. First Thessalonians five verse 17 says, to pray without ceasing. This doesn’t mean that we’re in a constant prayer every minute of the day,

but it’s the idea of when things are well, when things are going good, we pray to God when things are bad,

we pray to God. We need to have prayers, essential aspect of our life. Look at Philippians chapter four we looked at Philippians four um,

a couple of weeks ago, but notice verse six and seven says, be anxious for nothing but in everything by prayer and supplication with Thanksgiving,

let your request be made known to God. Don’t be worried. Take those worries and put them on the shoulders of God.

Pray to him when things are good, when things are bad, but notice verse seven and the peace of God which passed surpasses all understanding will guard you.

Guard your hearts and minds through Jesus. Think about that piece. When things are tough, when we have worries,

think about this time. Some people, many people are worried about what could happen. The stress that that comes from that take your cares and lay him upon his shoulders.

Pray to God. That brings us peace. Great peace. Prayer is extremely essential. What about our church family?

There’s some things that we can’t do right now. We can’t be together on Sunday morning. We can’t be together in one place on Wednesday because of the regulations and things that are going on and the scare of the virus.

There’s some things that we miss, don’t we? Some things we don’t know how important they are until they’re gone and our church family is one of those things.

Think about Noah. Do you think he cared to be with people of like faith? I don’t think he would have spent 120 years preaching to people to change their lives if he didn’t want to have people of like faith with him on that boat with him.

Our church family is important. Why? First Thessalonians chapter five in verse 11 it says, wherefore comfort yourselves together and Edify one another even as also you do.

They were a people that edified and built each other up. Paul tells them to continue to do that.

Notice what our brother can do for us and times are hard when when things are good in our life,

they help comfort us and build us up. I know we can still call one another. We can still text so we can still send cards,

but that face to face is something that’s missed that time together. You can’t. You can’t replace that.

Our church family is essential to us. In Deuteronomy chapter three in verse 28 Moses was told he could not go into that promised land and he was told that Joshua was,

Joshua was going to lead the Israelites into the promised land. And what did God tell Moses to strengthen and encourage Joshua why he needed it?

Joshua was getting ready to go through a time where it was hard for him. He needed encouragement. He needed Moses to encourage him.

We have times where we need encouragement. HomeAway, we need strengthened by our brethren and that’s what they do.

Do we truly miss our brother? Think about that. Do we truly miss our brethren? If we don’t,

maybe there’s a ch a priority in our life. It’s not there. Maybe the church has not as a true a priority too for us.

We should miss our brethren. We should want to be together. Think about how much midweek Bible study is important.

It’s hard to go a long period of time without that encouragement and strength and it shows how important those times that we are together are important to us and in essential to us.

Our family is essential. What about the next one? Evangelism or you think evangelism. We’re stuck in our homes.

We can’t go out and door knock. We can’t go out and meet people in the store as much and people don’t want to be around you,

but evangelism is important. Think about Noah. He thought evangelism was essential, didn’t he? He spent a hundred years preaching to a people that didn’t listen and while he was in that boat probably listening to scratches and the screams of people on the outside that were lost.

I’m sure he wished they could be saved in this time of turmoil. I looked last night. I didn’t look this morning,

but there was over 20,000 people have died in America as of last night. Over 20,000 people from this virus that is 21 people that more than likely are not going to heaven.

They’re lost. When times like this and tragedies, things that are going on, it should make us think how important evangelism is.

Making sure talk to every person we can and teach them. Think about Jesus and John chapter four verse 35 as the Samaritans were coming out of the city,

Jesus looked upon him. He told his disciples, he says, the fields are white unto harvest. They’re ready.

There is many people desiring to find the truth. They’re widened to harvest. When Jesus fed the 5,000 Mark chapter six and verse 34 Jesus looked upon them as sheep having no shepherd.

Jesus had compassion on them and what did he do? He taught them Jesus had compassion on those that were blocked.

EAD do we? God wants all to be saved. Thing about in second Peter chapter three in verse nine second Peter three in verse nine says,

the Lord is not Slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness but as long suffering to us,

we’re not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. And first Timothy chapter two in verse four says,

who will have all men to be saved and to come unto the knowledge of the truth? God wants everyone to be saved.

We need to do our part. We have the command to go. Matthew chapter 28 verse 18 through 20 Mark chapter 16 verse 15 and 16 we have the command to go to.

How do we go? Especially at this time, how can we evangelize? Well, we can call someone,

we can text someone. We can use social media, we can share videos. We can share the lesson today.

Share the lessons that Erin has done the last few weeks that he has done over the past few years.

Share videos. Who knows someone that needs to hear this, send it to them, send them material.

There’s the possibilities are endless, but we need to realize evangelism is essential. Many times evangelism is put to the side because we’re busy with our life and we hear about it on a Sunday here and there,

we hear about how we need to evangelize, but in a time of crisis and a time where people are slowed down,

we think about how important evangelism truly is, but there’s one more that I want to look at and this is the most important one.

It’s our own personal salvation, but Noah and his family, when they were on the Ark, we’re thankful that they were saved.

The question for us today is, are you saved? Many times people put thinking about their eternal salvation to the side.

They’re too busy to think about that. I’m not worried about that. That’s something I’ll do later down the road,

but then when there’s a crisis, when there’s people that are possibly losing their lives. Excellent, thanks.

Where am I going? Where am I going to go when I die? You know, in Philippians chapter four with to this in verse seven just a few minutes ago,

there’s a peace that passes all understanding. Think about the peace that it brings, a person to know where they’re going to know that they are on the way to heaven.

Doesn’t matter what could happen. This virus could get me, I could leave right now and drive on the road and get hit and killed.

It doesn’t matter because I know where I’m going. What great peace that brings a person. There’s many people that are scared to die right now,

but yet we can have peace knowing where we’re going. We don’t know what tomorrow holds at all. Look at James four verse 13 through 14 says,

go to now ye that say today or tomorrow we will go into a such a city and continue. There are a year and buy and sell and get gained,

whereas you know not. What shall be on the Morrow for what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away.

Our life here earth is just but a short time a vapor. It comes, it shows and then it goes away.

But think about this. That short period of time determines where our eternity is. We have to make the decision,

make the choice to obey Christ in that period of time. In first Peter chapter one verse 24 it says,

all flesh is grass. Grass comes up in the spring and the winter it dies. It goes Brown.

It doesn’t. It’s it’s only for a short period of time. We do not know what tomorrow may bring,

but look at Philippians chapter one look at the example of Paul. Philippians one verse 21 Paul says, for to me to live as Christ and to die is gain.

Paula said to die is gain. Look at verse 22 but if I live on in the flesh, this will mean fruit for my labor.

Yet what I shall choose, I cannot tell for I am hard pressed between the two. Having a desire to depart and be with Christ,

which is far better. Paul understood that when he died that he knew where he was going was a greater place.

Do you know where your eternal home is and times that we are busy? We don’t think about our eternal salvation,

but it is the most important thing we can think about. Most essential thing. Ask you a few questions as we finish today.

Have you taken for granted your family and your responsibilities to them? Have you let this life get in the way and now you look back and you focus and you look,

look at your life now. As things have slowed down, you say, I should have spent more time with my family.

I should have been showing them God’s word, teaching them God’s word, showing them life skills, doing the things and treating my wife the way I should have my spouse.

Have we taken for granted how greatly God blesses us each day by chance? Have we forgotten about how important our prayer lives are?

Have we not missed our church family? Do we need to reexamine our priorities in life? To know that the church is important and that our brethren are important and essential in our life.

Or have we forgotten about our need to command that command to evangelize? Great. Now is a great time to look at what is essential to write it down,

put it on a piece of paper, put it in our minds and not forget it because when we get back to normal,

we need to realize we have to make sure that those non-essential things, those things that are, we’re not as important as we thought.

Do not get in the way of what truly is essential. Our families, our spouses, our children,

our priorities in life, prayer, God, Fanjul, ism, our church family. Let’s not forget about that,

but I left one out. Have we took for granted our eternal salvation? What must I do to be saved?

Romans chapter 10 verse 17 says, hear the gospel. Hear that plan of salvation. Know that you can be saved through the gospel.

And Mark chapter 16 verse 15 and 16 tells us that we are to believe that through the gospel and through Christ we can be saved.

John chapter 14 verse six and acts chapter three, verse 19 that we are to repent of your sins and turn to God.

And Romans chapter 10 verses nine through 10. It’s to confess that Jesus Christ is the son of God and to be baptized,

having our sins washed away. Acts chapter two and verse 38 have you done that? If you haven’t,

don’t put it off. The most essential thing you can do is to make sure that you know where you’re going to know that your eternal home is in heaven.

Don’t put it off. If you need to study, contact us. Let us know. If you have questions about salvation,

let us know. Please don’t put it off at any time. Talk to us or maybe you have put these essential things to the sock.

Make the decision today to focus on these essential things and don’t let those non-essential things get in the way anymore.

Thank you for your time this morning. We will have one more song and then uh, Eric will lead us in a closing prayer.

Um, I have not received any additional announcements other than one. I will go ahead and mention it now.

Um, we will have this coming Wednesday. We will have a similar stream, a similar broadcast to this mornings,

uh, available for Bible classes. And we’ll have the, um, we’ll have the phone call available as well.

So those who might want to participate in a Wednesday night Bible, uh, we will have that available this Wednesday night.

Uh, I tried to make preparations for that this last Wednesday, but, uh, sometimes even technology fails me.

So, uh, it, it didn’t work and, and was what it was. Uh, let’s sing this song.

Jesus paid it all and then we’ll be led in the closing prayer. Uh, Hey, he save yours.<inaudible><inaudible> it is child swatch and Bray find him nine.

All in Jesus pain to him I sin had left, uh, grim sons.<inaudible> he<inaudible> wine as Lauren a win.

Indeed. I have a nine, nine, uh, I know Dan change the law.<inaudible> ah,

uh, uh,<inaudible><inaudible> to him. I<inaudible><inaudible> had left, uh, grub sons<inaudible> Hey<inaudible>.

Yeah. Wide as<inaudible>. Ah, man.<inaudible> for the<inaudible><inaudible> him complete, ah,<inaudible> trophies.

Um, all nah, Jesus three Jesus paid it<inaudible> to him I<inaudible> HUD left a grim son<inaudible><inaudible> wine as no.

Let us pray. A father in heaven, great and powerful as your name. We are thankful for you and your care and your love for us especially this time we we know that you care for us and you love us and you take care of us each day.

We pray as we go through this week and as we continue forward we pray that we focus on what is essential and what is important to our spiritual lives and our physical lives and to focus on them.

We pray that we will always strive to put you first in our life to shine our lights throughout the world and to be that example that you would want us to be.

We pray that you continue to be with those that are dealing with this virus at this time and pray that they will be able to get better soon and pray that things will be back to normal quickly.

We pray for those that are at home that are struggling at this time, and pray that you watch over them and give them comfort.

We thank you for all you bless us with. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.

<inaudible>. Good morning. We have a few announcements this morning. I want to say good morning to everyone that is watching. We are still in our quarantine time, but uh, we thankfully we can still listen to one another or hear this live stream online because of technology. So it’s great. The announcements we have this morning is we need to remember Ruby Brad, she has stage four, uh, neuroblastoma and remember her, we need to remember Joan Springer, Louis Rushmore, Dawn Robertson and Evelyn Apple.

She is recovering from a mild heart attack. And then unfortunately this morning we heard that Rebecca Rushmore’s grandfather has passed away. We also have a few cards here to read. This is thank you all for the beautiful card and for your prayers during this difficult time. This is from Mary Dino’s so thankful for that. And this card here says, dear church family, we appreciate every expression of love and concern during Julia’s illness and passing the calls. Cars and especially the prayers meant so much. The floral arrangement at the,

her service was beautiful. Thank you for all your kindness and Christian Love the Joe Case and family. And Carolyn the start this morning, we will scene number 851 eight five one.<inaudible> trying to get our technology here organized. I had something going on back with my computer. 851 we’ll start with, I’m glad.<inaudible> uh, hello.<inaudible> to a home on God. So last show, show a fly, eh, uh,<inaudible> uh, hello.<inaudible> Oh, Alan Lou. Yeah. Uh,<inaudible> when sh a dose of this life Agra,

uh, hello. Like a boot from breads and bars. Epsilon uh,<inaudible><inaudible> uh,<inaudible> uh, hello. Hello. When I had blue. Yeah, I am uh, uh, just a few<inaudible> hello to a<inaudible> and uh, uh,<inaudible> uh, for the IO. Ah, yeah, I and uh,<inaudible> what’s that word? Prayer. My father in heaven. We are thankful for you. We are thankful for what you do for us each day. We are thankful at this time as we can.

We can come to you in prayer and we are reminded of your care and your love for us, especially through this hard time our country is going through. We know that those that are following you, that you take care of them and we see that in our life every day and we are thankful and love you for that at this time. As we come to you in prayer, we want to remember Rebecca’s family at this time. The Rushmore family is, they’re struggling with the loss of Rebecca’s grandfather and pray that they look to you for guidance and comfort and pray that you watch over their family.

Be with the many others that, that are on our minds that are needed for your help. Be with our country and those that are struggling with this virus and pray that things will be able to get back to normal soon and be with our leaders of our country, our president, our congressmen, and the healthcare workers, the many people that are working day in and day out through this time that you watch over them and guide them and be with them. Thank you so much for always loving us and taking care of us and Jesus.

Semi-new pray. Amen. To repair. So the Lord’s supper, we’ll sing number four, seven number 47. Holy, Holy, Holy, Holy.<inaudible> LA God a see<inaudible><inaudible> a song shallower. A nice dude. Oh, Holly hall.<inaudible><inaudible><inaudible> I see. Okay. Yeah.<inaudible> uh, bill, uh, Steve, no. Oh, Hallie. Ah.<inaudible> uh, the cat seeing that down there. Golden crowns around the crest.<inaudible><inaudible><inaudible><inaudible><inaudible><inaudible> and uh,<inaudible><inaudible> Oh,<inaudible> eh,

nah.<inaudible> the<inaudible> I uh,<inaudible> nah.<inaudible> Mmm.<inaudible><inaudible><inaudible><inaudible> the<inaudible><inaudible> uh, love and Pew<inaudible> Oh,<inaudible><inaudible> um, a see, Oh.<inaudible><inaudible> I see. Oh, Holy, Holy<inaudible><inaudible> four aye. I see. Yeah.<inaudible><inaudible> I want to read from Isaiah chapter 53 this morning as we think about the sacrifice that our Lord made. Isaiah 53, I don’t want to start in verse four. Isaiah 53 and verse four, surely he has born our griefs and has carried our sorrows,

yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement for our peace was upon him. And by his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray.

We have turned everyone to his own way and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

He was oppressed and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth. He was led as a lamb to the slaughter and as a sheep before it sheers is silent,

so he opened not his mouth. He was taken from prison and from judgment and who will declare his generation for he was cut off from the land of the living for the transgressions of my people.

He was stricken and they made his grave with the wicked, but with the rich at his death because he had done no violence nor was any deceit found in his mouth.

When we think about that sacrifice that Christ made, he did not have to do it. We should have been the ones on that cross,

not Christ. He never had any deceit in his mouth. He never sinned. Yet we have sin and we think about that sacrifice.

Think about how we should have been there on that cross, not him and how he had such a great love for us to come down to earth,

to live as a man, to be tempted like us and to die on the cross for us and we think about that sacrifice as we go through and partake of the the loaf which represents his body,

the fruit of the vine which represents his blood. Let us think about where we were and what Christ’s sacrifice means to us and how that we have that hope of eternal life through him.

Let us pray. A father in heaven, we are thankful for you. We are thankful for. We’re thankful for his love,

his sacrifice, all that he went through. He did not have to do, but he did because he loves us and as we partake of this loaf which represents his body,

we pray that we think about what it means to us and how that we have that hope of eternal life because of him and Jesus.

Somebody pray. Amen.<inaudible> let us pray for the fruit of the vine as we continue for our father in heaven.

As we continue at this time, we were reminded of Christ and his love and his care for us.

We are thankful for his love and going through that pain, that suffering of being on the cross being beaten,

all that he did for us. We know that we should have been there. We should have been the one on the cross,

not him. As we partake of this through the vine which represents his blood, we pray that we think about his sacrifice and we think about what it means to us and then we pray that we get partake of it and worthy manner to you and do you seem to pray man<inaudible> at this time we’ll have a prayer for the offering.

Thinking about what Christ or what God has blessed us with this week. Let us pray. A father in heaven,

we are always thankful for you and we’re reminded during this time where many of us are not at work.

Many have are struggling through this hard time that you still take care of us and you watch over us and we know that you constantly care for us and we pray as we have prosper this week,

that we give back a portion of that and we give back with a cheerful heart. And Jesus said,

we do pray. Amen.<inaudible> before a lesson, we’ll sing number 385<inaudible> or three 95 follow me.

395<inaudible> I traveled down a long road and no one seems to, uh, the burden on my who married a black ass man.

Me too. To this, uh, I have complaints, jeez. Uh,<inaudible> and then I heard him say,

so tin<inaudible> my<inaudible> uh, up on the Calvary road cross me. I came so heavy, I fab Burnie and be faithful,

wary Pilgrim the morning. I can see, just lift your cross and follow<inaudible><inaudible> uh, he works for jeans,

a S a yacht and a stance. Eh, I sacrificed a lot of things to walk the<inaudible>.

I gave a fame and fortune. I’m worth a lot.<inaudible> and then I hear him gently saying,<inaudible> I let the<inaudible> my hands<inaudible> button,

make a journey with and save my time. So lift your cross and follow<inaudible><inaudible> Oh Jesus. If I die up on a four,

um, um, eh,<inaudible> eh, no greater love Atmore man. And for a friend’s suit,

uh, these, uh, the<inaudible><inaudible><inaudible> I place him<inaudible> then just a cup of water is all that,

uh,<inaudible> but if my dad’s<inaudible> and uh, I go rec, uh, let’s say my cross and follow<inaudible><inaudible> now we are in<inaudible>.<inaudible> sure.<inaudible> I want to begin by thanking you for joining with us this morning.

We are attempting some, some new things even as we continue to press forward through the technological means that we have to reach people.

Uh, through a conversation I had with someone this Mo, uh, this last week we realized that there were those who were in need of,

uh, additional aid through technology because of being hearing impaired. And so that’s the reason for having the caption scrolling on the screen.

Now want to mention that those are automated. That’s a computer transcribing those and so they are a little bit behind the actual words that we’re saying and they will not always be perfect,

especially during the singing. So during the singing time, the words were on the screen. Try your best to ignore what’s happening at the bottom of the screen.<inaudible> three years in first Kings chapter 18 and in verse one we read that three years had gone by in the Northern kingdom of Israel since the last time that it rained.

We read in first Kings chapter 18 and it came to pass after many days that the word of the Lord came to align Jah in the third year saying,

go present yourself to Ahab and I will send rain on the earth. God says, it’s time. Enough time has transpired,

Elijah, the point has been made. Now you go to Ahab and we’re going to go back where you get the backstory of all of this.

We’re going to see why we’re at this point, but God tells his prophet, you go show yourself to the King.

You go present yourself before the King and he will have learned the lesson. Because for three years there was no Dew,

there was no rain in all the land of the Northern kingdom of Israel. Let’s go back to first Kings chapter 16 and let’s see a little bit about why this is the case.

We begin in first Kings chapter 16 beginning of verse 29 with a word that we’ve all heard far too many times recently unprecedented in Israel.

At that time, there was an unprecedented situation. Notice what we read in first Kings chapter 16 verse 29 in the 38th year of EISA,

King of Judah a ham, the son of Omri came, became King over Israel and Ahab, the son of Omri reigned over Israel in some area.

22 years. Now, Ahab, the son of Omri, did evil in the sight of the Lord.

And notice this phrase more than all who? So Joshua, okay. God told Israel after Jericho was destroyed,

after God leveled that city and tore down its walls and all that was part of Jericho remained there as a,

uh, as that which belonged to the Lord as the first fruits of the land. God said, if someone comes and rebuilds this city,

okay, they’ll lose their firstborn and they’ll lose their last born child because this doesn’t belong to you anymore.

And because of the wickedness that was here in this place, and yet knowing that condemnation Aberam, we’ll build it anyway.

You’re seeing a picture of one who says, what is here and what is in this place and the gain and the profit I can get from this is more important to than my own children.

And the word of the Lord didn’t matter at all. Unprecedented evil in the days of Ahab. But then as you go into chapter 17,

you’ll also notice that there is desolation and preservation in the first seven verses of chapter 17 we see the beginning of the events that we just mentioned in chapter 18,

we have our first introduction to the prophet of God, Elijah, chapter 17 verse one. Elijah, the Tishbite of the inhabitants of Gilead said to Abraham as the Lord God of Israel lives before whom I stand.

There shall not be do nor rain these years except at my word. Here comes the prophet Alijah some interesting background to Elijah and it’s interesting because there’s so little background to Elijah.

He’s known as aligned to the Tisch bike. He’s known as one who came from the region of uh,

of Gilliad. And yet there’s a good indication in the original language because of the wording here doesn’t translate well that the literal wording in the original language says the Sojourner of the sojourners of Gilliad.

It’s describing Elijah as one who is perhaps not even an Israelite. We’ll see some more details as we go into this text as to what might be another indication of that.

There’s a, there’s a chance that it aligns you, isn’t even from the nation of Israel. And yet,

here’s what he is. He is the prophet of God. He is the spokesperson for the Lord and he is going to declare the word of the Lord.

He comes on the scene as it were just out of nowhere. He comes on the scene out of nowhere and says a ham.

There will be no Dew. There will be no rain until I say so. Now, wait just a minute.

Don’t you think that’s a little bit haughty? Don’t you think that that’s just a little bit audacious for a prophet to say,

I’m going to control the rain? Oh no, not at all. Because remember, he’s not just speaking his words,

he’s speaking the Lord’s words, and where is it that God had already told Israel? When you turn away from me,

when you begin serving idols, when you go after the sins of the people of this land and I destroyed them for those sins I’m going to do to you what I did to them.

Turn to Deuteronomy chapter 28 in Deuteronomy chapter 28 before Israel ever even came into the land, God told Israel this was going to happen.

Deuteronomy chapter 28 and in verse 15 but it shall come to pass. Don’t notice that. Don’t mistake that they had a choice,

but God knew what they would choose. God knew this was going to come about. Eventually they would persist in sin until they went this far,

but it shall come to pass if you do not obey the voice of the Lord your God, to observe carefully all his commandments and his statutes,

which I command you today, that all these curses will come upon you and overtake you, cursed you shall be in the city and cursed you shall be in the country.

It doesn’t matter if you’re rural, doesn’t matter if you’re in the city, you’re going to fall under this curse.

Cursed shall be your basket and your kneading bull cursed shall be the fruit of your body and the produce of your land,

the increase of your cattle and the offspring of your flocks, cursed shall you be when you come in and cursed shall you be.

When you go out, the Lord will send on you, cursing, confusion, and rebuke in you in all that you set your hand to do,

until you are destroyed and until you perish quickly. Because of the wickedness of your doings in which you have forsaken me,

the Lord will make the plague cling to you until he has consumed you from the land which you are going to possess.

The Lord will strike you with consul consumption, with fever, with inflammation, with sir severe burning fever,

and with the sword, with scorching and with mildew, and they shall pursue you until you perish. Now notice this next phrase and your heaven,

okay, which are over your head shall be bronze and the earth which is under you shall be iron.

The Lord will change the rain of your land to powder and does from the heaven. It shall come down on you until you are destroyed.

God said, when you turn your back on me and when you depart into this sin and this wickedness and this iniquity that I’ve destroyed,

the people of came in for here’s what’s coming. There’s coming a day when the rain will stop. There’s coming a day when the sky will be like bronze.

It won’t allow the rain. It will not bring any Dew. There will be nothing to saturate the ground and that ground that you have that remember this is the land flowing with milk and honey.

This is the land of bounty. This is the land that the spies went into and they brought back uh,

clusters of grapes so large that it took two men to carry them and God says, I’m going to turn your ground in the iron.

Go ahead, try and plow iron. Go ahead, try and plow the land when God keeps the rain from falling for three years.

When Elijah speaks to Ahab, when Alijah comes on the scene, this is Deuteronomy 28 coming about. This isn’t the words of Elijah.

These aren’t the words of a prophet who’s too big for his own, for his own message. No,

this is God saying, I warned you and I told you and now you’re going to get exactly what I said.

But then we go back to chapter 17. We read verse two then the word of the Lord came to him.

That is came to Alijah saying, get away from here and turn eastward and hide by the Brook Cherith which flows into the Jordan and it will be that you shall drink from the Rook and I have commanded the Ravens to feed you there.

So he went and did according to the word of the Lord, for he went and stayed by the Brook Cherith which flows into the Jordan.

Okay, so God tells a aligned you, you now need to leave. He knows what a Hamm’s reaction is going to be.

Just think about this. A Solomon who was nothing like a Hab in his sins and his iniquity, yet he was imperfect and yet he sin when God said,

I’m going to take your thrown away and I’m going to give it to Jeroboam, Solomon salt, the life of Jeroboam.

When Saul was told that I’m going to take the kingdom from you and I’m going to give it to David,

and David is going to be the one who’s going to take the throne, David’s life would be threatened.

How much more do you think the life of a prophet who says to the King, there’s not going to be any more rain.

There’s not going to be any more do until I say so. His life was in jeopardy. He was being sought after and God said,

you escape. You go to this book and and you quite literally, you go off the map, you go off the grid,

you’re not going to go into to buy food in a marketplace. You’re not going to go in to buy something to drink in a marketplace.

You’re not. You’re going to go away and no one will know where you’ve gone. But I’m going to preserve you.

I’m going to provide for you. And so in this time where there is no rain, as this begins to take place within the nation is the nation begins to dissolve into a place that can grow.

No food that has no rain, where the rivers begin to dry up, Alijah is safe. And now it might be tempting to say,

well, wait a minute. Alijah needs to be out there converting the nation. Elijah needs to be changing the hearts and the minds of the people.

No. Elijah needs to be right where the Lord told him to be. There will be a time for the people to hear the message,

but the people aren’t ready for the message yet the people have not yet learned their lesson. It would be as if to say that we need to go out and we need to go into Egypt after plague five and just go out of the land.

No, God wasn’t done yet. God’s not done with this nation. It’s not time for preaching. It’s time for learning and they’re still learning through suffering.

And so Elijah goes to the Brook and he remains there, but then notice what happens as you would expect desolation from no rain doesn’t just affect the cities all.

They might be hit first because they may not have the water supply that some rural places do, but it doesn’t just affect the cities.

It begins to move out and pretty soon the rivers dry up to notice what happens after. And it happened verse seven after a while that the Brook dried up because there had been no rain in the land,

then the word of the Lord came to him saying, arise, go to Zara fifth which belongs to Sidon and dwell there.

See, I have commanded a widow there to provide for you. Okay, so we see the desolation and the preservation of the Lord in verses one through seven.

But then notice we find Providence. Now, sometimes we use this word Providence and new Testament reference to mean God working through natural means to provide for his people.

And I think that’s an accurate sense in which God works today. That’s not what I’m using it here for.

I am using it here to indicate God, providing for bringing supply out of nothing God’s Providence given to aligned you.

Chapter 17 verse eight God tells Elijah of all the places you need to go Alijah of all the places you might go to escape to,

you’re going to the country of Jezza bell. You’re going to the land where this wicked woman came from because there’s a Gentile there who’s going to provide for you.

So he goes into the land of the<inaudible>, he goes to Xero fifth and he finds there a widow.

So he arose and went to Xero fifth verse 10 and when he came to the gate of the city,

indeed a woman was there gathering sticks and he called to her and said, please bring me a little water in a cup that I may drink.

And as she was going to get it, he called to her and said, please bring me a morsel of bread in your hand.

So he goes to this place and he asked for something that he could not have gotten any longer at the Brook,

a cup of water. Okay. He asked for a provision that in much of Israel would have been something impossible to do,

just get me a drink. And so she goes, because you’ll notice she at the time has that ability.

She has water. By the way, Sidon is up, up near the Mediterranean sea. There’s going to be access to some water and some things there that would not have been available in the Northern kingdom of Israel.

Once the rivers dried up, once the rain continued to to or or ceased, and that problem continued.

So as she goes to get him water, he says and bring me food, bring me a morsel of bread.

As she was going to get it, he called her and said, please bring me a morsel of bread in your hand.

So she said, as the Lord, you’re gone lives. I do not have bread, only a handful of flour in a bin and a little oil in a jar and see I am gathering a couple of sticks.

Then I may go in and prepare it for myself and for my son that we may eat it and die.

The famine, the cause of the lack of rain didn’t just affect the Northern kingdom of Israel. It affected the regions around them.

And here’s this woman in a city of the<inaudible>. She says, I’m on my last meal. Yeah,

I’m going to take the last little bit we have and I’m going to prepare it for me and my son and we’re going to eat it and then we’re going to be out of food and we don’t have the ability to get anymore.

There’s desperation and there’s resignation. The realization that this is it. After this, we’re going to starve to death.

And again, we’re given a picture of Elijah saying, just do what the Lord says. Notice what happens.

Elijah said to her, verse 13 do not fear. Go and do as you have said, but make me a small cake from it first and bring it to me and afterward.

Make some for yourself and your son. For thus as the Lord God of Israel, the bin of flour shall not be used up,

nor shall the jar of oil run dry until the day the Lord sends rain on the earth. You have Providence given to supply this woman’s needs.

If she puts the Lord first, notice something. As we go back just a few verses, she already knows who the Lord is.

She is already familiar with Jehovah, the God of Israel. Yeah. You might go back in your mind to a time when those cities of tire and Scion were closely aligned with Solomon back during his reign and they knew who the Lord was and they had heard about who Jehovah was and there were some who even worship Jehovah and here’s this woman.

She knows who the God of Israel is. She may not be fully cognizant and fully understanding who he is and that he is the only God,

but she knows who he is and she said, as your God lives, I’m out of food. I have one meal left and then we’re going to die.

But Elijah tells her, no, you go provide for me first you said God’s word above your own beliefs,

your own opinions, your own thoughts on the matter and we’ll see if God provides for you because here’s what he’s going to do.

Now, if you step back and think about this for just a moment, you would think you know what the best solution to this is?

God just gives her three year supply all at once. I mean just think about it. How much easier is that all at once?

Here comes everything that she needs, it’s there in the house, and suddenly instead of just a morsel of bread left in the bowl and just a little oil left in the jar,

now it’s full. It’s overflowing and it’s constantly there and it’s abundance. Well, you know what we do with abundance?

Pretty soon with abundance, we forget where it came from, and yet in the scarcity of every day,

the the text indicates she would go and she’d get all that remained and she’d make that day’s bread. And then the next day she’d go back to the bowl and back to the jar and she’d get all that remained and she’d make that day’s bread.

And the next day and the next day, and the next day, all that remained and every day trusting in God that the next day’s food would be there.

There’s a lesson there that Jesus talks about. You remember when Jesus taught his disciples how to pray, he said to his disciples,

to pray to God, give us this day our daily bread. God says you don’t trust in your ability to provide.

Jesus says, you don’t trust that you’re going to know where your next meal comes from. You trust that God will give it to you if you’re faithful to him.

So then notice what we read. She went away, verse 15 and did according to the word of Elijah and she and he and her household ate for many days.

The bin of flour was not used up nor did the jar of oil run dry according to the word of the Lord,

which he spoke by Elijah. Now it happened after these things that the son of the woman who owned the house became sick and his sickness was so serious that there was no breath left in him.

So she said to Alijah, what have I to do with you? Oh man of God. Have you come to me to bring my sin to remembrance and to kill my son?

What Cindy thinks she’s talking about. I’m not certain what it is, but I think there might be some indication,

there might be some aspect of this text that reminds us. There was a point in time where she wasn’t serving the Lord and that was a time of the past and now she knows who’s providing for her every single day.

But now this provision of food is still there, but what’s most precious to her? Her son has died and she doesn’t know where to turn to or who to blame other than herself and her sins.

She said, why are my sins being brought to my remembrance this way? But she lays it at the feet of Elijah’s is what have I to do with you.

Oh man of God. But then notice what occurs. He said to her, give me your son,

and he took him out of her arms and carried him to the upper room where he was staying and laid him on his own bed.

Then he cried out to the Lord and said, Oh Lord, my God, have you also brought tragedy on the widow with whom I lodged by killing her son and he stretched himself out on the child three times and cried out to the Lord and said,

Oh Lord my God, I pray. Let this child soul come back to him. Then the Lord heard the voice of Elijah and the soul of the child came back to him and he revived and Elijah took the child and brought him down from the upper room to into the housing,

gave him to his mother and Elijah said, see your son lives. Yeah, Elijah, just like the woman is without recourse.

He has no way to just bring the child back to life, but he can plead with the one who does.

He can trust in God to do this and God hears him. I don’t want to leave the indication that when we trust in God,

miracles are going to happen as they did here. What I do want us to understand is the new Testament teaches very clearly the effectual,

fervent prayer of a righteous man changes things. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much and we can trust in that.

But then consider this verse 24 then the woman said to Elijah, now buying this, I know that you are a man of God and that the word of the Lord in your mouth is the truth.

You think maybe there’s some thought in her mind. The rain’s never coming back. You think maybe there’s some thought in her mind that maybe this man who’s living upstairs in my house doesn’t really have the ability to speak and have the rain begin again.

But when her child comes back to her alive, when the child who was dead is alive again, she says,

I know your words are the truth. So it’s just interesting. We proceed right from that to, okay Elijah,

it’s time to go. Chapter 18 verse one it came to pass after many days that the word of the Lord came to Elijah in the third year saying,

go present yourself to Ahab and I will send rain on the earth. So Alijah went to present himself to Ahab and there was a severe famine in some area.

Whole big surprise. There’s no water, there’s no food. And so verse three and have called Obadiah who was in charge of his house.

Now Obadiah feared the Lord greatly for. So it was while Jezza bell massacred the prophets of the Lord that Obadiah had taken 100 profits,

hidden them 50 to a cave and fed them with bread and water in a time where there’s no provisions in that time where there’s no rain.

This man who’s close to the King, who’s in his very house is hiding profits of the Lord and feeding them and giving them something to drink.

By the way, you see here, one of the indications of the evil that was unprecedented because here we find that Obadiah is hiding the prophets of the Lord because Jessebelle wasn’t just an idolatry.

She wanted the profits of the Lord dead. She wanted Jehovah wiped off the map in Israel. She wanted bale and her idols to be the only gods in Israel.

So where Jeroboam had set up aisles for Israel to worship and they still believed in Jehovah. Jessebelle said,

no, no, no, no. We’re getting rid of this. We’re getting rid of these profits.

We’re killing them. But think about what you just read. Yeah. In the Northern kingdom of Israel,

that’s turned away from the Lord that is not following God and hasn’t been for generations. There are still hundreds of prophets of the Lord,

hundreds of prophets of the Lord, but the people are refusing to hear them. They might be preaching,

they might be teaching, they might be proclaiming the word of the Lord, but the people are following after idols.

Sometimes we need to remember that all the preaching and all the teaching that a person might do might avail very little outside of a few personal relationships because the people’s hearts are so set on sin,

and yet that’s no reason for those who are faithful to the Lord to stop preaching. That’s no reason for those who were faithful,

Lord to turn about and turn away from the Lord. That’s every reason to remain faithful, even in the face of persecution.

So Albany hides these profits and so it was, excuse me in verse five and Ahab said to Obadiah,

go into the land, to all the Springs of water to the all the Brooks, perhaps we may find grass to keep the horses and mules alive so that we will not have to kill any livestock.

The famine is so great, the, the grass has run out. All of the planes are dry,

they’re desert there, there’s nothing left. It’s landline iron. And he says, we’ve got to go to the underground sources of water.

We’ve got to find someplace in the land of Israel where they’re still grass growing so we can feed these livestock.

Yeah. So he sends over, die out. Obadiah goes one way and Abraham goes, the other,

verse six they divided the land between them to explore it. A have went one way by himself in Obadiah went another way by himself.

Now as Obadiah was on his way, suddenly Alijah met him and he recognized him and fell on his face and said,

is that you? My Lord Elijah? And he answered him. It is. I go tell your master Alijah is here.

And so he said, have I or how have I sin that you are delivering your servant into the hand of Ahab to kill me as the Lord your God lives.

There is no nation or kingdom where my master has not sent someone to hunt for you. And when they said he is not here,

he took an oath from the kingdom or nation that they could not find you. A Hab hasn’t just sought out his land.

He’s been sending out messengers, searchers to go to the nations around them and told those Kings, you better swear to me.

You ma, you better swear to me that aligned just not in your land and you can’t find them or else that’s how bad a Hab wants Elijah.

Well then notice, so he said, uh, or verse 10 as the Lord your God lives, there is no nation or kingdom where my master is not sent someone to hunt for you.

And when they said he is not here, he took an oath from the kingdom or a nation that they could not find you.

And now you say, go tell your master Elijah’s here. Oh, but I was like, wait,

what have I done? Why are you going to get me killed this way? And it shall come to pass.

Verse 12 as soon as I am gone from you that the spirit of the Lord will carry you to a place I do not know,

and when I go and tell it, Hey Ahab and he cannot find you, he will kill me.

But I your servant, the fear of the Lord from my youth, Obadiah is afraid that he’s going to leave Elijah.

He’s going to go tell a how that aligns his bag, and he’s going to bring a hound to Elijah and then Elijah is going to be gone and Ahab’s going to kill him.

Was it not reported? Verse 13 to my Lord, what I did when Jess bell killed the prophets of the Lord,

how I hid 100 men of the Lord’s profits, 52 a and fed them with bread and water, and now you say,

go. Tell your master Elijah is here. He will kill me. Then Elijah said, as the Lord of hosts lives before whom I stand,

I will surely present myself to him today. So Obadiah went to meet a ham and told him and Ahab went to meet Elijah.

Then it happened when they have saw Elijah that Abraham said to him, is that you? Oh, troubler of Israel.

A ham sees Elijah for the first time in three years, and a halves only conclusion over three years of famine,

three years of desolation, three years of a destroyed nation and a destroyed economy. Three years of struggle,

scrounging just to find enough food that Elijah’s the problem. But Elijah’s not the problem. Elijah’s not the troubler of Israel.

Hey, have believes that he is, but the reality is a Hab is the troubler of Israel, a have and his wife and wickedness and their deeds and their idolatry and their sins.

They’re the trouble are in Israel. But how often is it true that we look at the solution and we call it the problem.

We look at the solution. We look at the one who’s telling us the truth, and we accused them of being the problem.

That’s how sin deceives us and the believing that we are not the one who’s the problem. So then Elijah responds,

he answered, I have not troubled Israel, but you and your father’s house have in that you have forsaken the commandments of the Lord and have followed the bales.

Now therefore sending gather all Israel to me on mountain caramel, the 450 prophets of bale and the 400 prophets of Asherah who eat at Joseph Bell’s table.

Now we don’t have time because of the events, uh, that are recorded here to go into detail on what occurs.

But we’ll summarize it to say this. Elijah tells a, have you bring me the prophets of bale and the prophets of Asherah.

You bring them to Mount Carmel and we’ll find out who the real God is. Then Jezza bell won’t allow the profits of Asheboro to go,

but a Hab will bring the profits of bale and they will come and there will be a contest set up to find out who’s the real God.

And Elijah will allow the prophets of bale to go first and they’ll cry out to bail the God of,

of lightening, the God of storms, the God of thunder, and they’ll cry out to bail too,

to bring a bout a storm to bring about this sacrifice turning into a burning sacrifice. They’re allowed to set up the sacrifice.

They’re allowed to do everything, but they can’t bring the fire. That’s gotta be bales job. They cry out and they cry out and they cry out to no avail.

Finally, it’s Elijah’s turn, and Elijah takes not only the sacrifice and puts it on the alter, but then he begins to pour water on the alter.

That precious substance water, he’s pouring water, water that people can drink. He’s pouring it on the alter and he’s pouring it on the ground and he fills the trawl for around in the moat around the altar.

He’s pouring water on it.<inaudible> and then fire comes from heaven and lights that sacrifice as nothing else could have.

We pick up here in the text and notice we find verse 37 okay, hear me. Oh Lord,

hear me that this people may know that you are the Lord gone and the you have turned their hearts to you again.

As a result of the things that will occur. The profits of V of will be destroyed. Verse 38 then the fire of the Lord fell and consumed the burnt sacrifice and the wood and the stones and the dust and it licked up the water that was in the trench.

Now when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces and they said, the Lord, he is gone.

The Lord, he is God and Elijah said to them, seize the profits of bale. Do not let one of them has hae escape.

So they seized them and Elijah brought them down to the Brook Keshawn and executed them there. Then Alijah said they have go up,

eat and drink for there is the sound of abundance of rain. Elijah tells Ahab you go home, you go back to your place,

you leave this place and you go home because of the rain coming. The people have been reminded who God is.

So do you hear it? Do you hear the sound of the rain? Elijah says to Ahab, it’s coming.

Notice what occurs. So I have went up to eat and drink and Elijah went up to the top of mountain car of caramel.

Then he bound down on the ground and put his face between his knees and said to his servant, go up.

Now look toward the sea. So he went up and looked and said, there is nothing. And seven times he said,

go again. Elijah goes and he bows himself down and he sends his servant to go look at the sea.

First time, nothing. Second time, nothing. Third time, fourth time, fifth time, six time,

seven time. Nothing. Sky’s still bronze. But then we read. Then it came to pass the seventh time that he said there is a cloud,

a small as small as a man’s hand rising out of the sea. So he said, go up,

say day, have, prepare your chariot and go down before the rain stops you. Now it happened in the meantime that the sky became black and with clouds and when and there was a heavy rain.

So Ahab rode away and went to Jezreel. Then the hand of the Lord came upon Elijah and he girded up his loins and ran ahead of Ahab to the entrance of Jezreel.

Three years, three years in an agrarian culture, okay? Where the majority of the jobs and the plenty and the land are in the prosperity came from the land.

Three years of no rain and then all of a sudden it comes back. We need to learn that when God says something will happen,

it will happen. When God says, when you turn away from me, I’ll destroy you. That’s exactly what will occur.

When God says, when you turn your back on me, you will be judged. That’s exactly what will occur and when God says,

if you return to me, if you come back, if you repent, if you are willing to be one who is humbled and returned to the Lord,

I’ll forgive you. Okay, I’ll bring you back. I will wipe your sin away and remember it no more.

We need to learn that what he says is true. Three years, not a drop of rain, but when God said it was time and when the people had learned through suffering that Jehovah is the Lord God brought back the rain in your life.

Are you in a place of desolation and despair because of sin? Are you separated from God and an alien from hope because of iniquity?

Because if you are, there’s hope. If you are, there is salvation. There is preservation. There is that which is provided by the Lord.

You can become a Christian. Now what I want you want us to be clear about is a Christian is not one who will undergo no suffering in this life,

although they’ll certainly suffer and Elijah wood, but in the end they serve the Lord who is the true and living God.

If you’re outside the body of Christ, you enter into the body of Christ by old obeying the plan of salvation set forth in the new Testament.

The steps are simple. You hear the gospel because the gospel produces faith. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God and the gospel is the power of God to salvation.

That faith being produced in your life by the word of God brings them out a belief and an acknowledging,

a recognition and an understanding and an obedience of the fact that Jesus Christ is son of God. Except you believe that I am he,

Jesus said, you’ll die in your sins, John eight verse 24 well then you have to repent. It wasn’t enough for Israel to just decide,

you know what? That’s fine. We’ll just continue to serve bail and Jehovah. No, that wasn’t gonna work.

Something had to change and the people had to put away the sin and the iniquity in their lives and that included the destruction of the profits of bail.

We have to repent. We have to change our mind and bring about a change of action. Acts chapter two verses 37 and 38 where Peter told those people who had put to death the son of God.

You have to repent. We also have to confess Christ as Lord and savior. Romans chapter 10 verses nine and 10 speaks of confession leading up to salvation.

Then we have to be buried in water. We have to die. We have to die to ourselves in a burial,

in a grave of water, to rise up, to walk in newness of life because it is in that grave of water that we come into contact with the blood of Christ that cleanses us of all sins and we rise up out of baptism.

Newness of life. Are you like the Northern kingdom of Israel suffering in desolation and iniquity and sin that you could never get yourself out of even if you tried?

Because if so, there’s hope and salvation brings that hope because God is faithful to his words of judgment and he’s faithful to his words of redemption.

Where do you stand today? If you’re one who likes some in the nation of Israel, had followed the Lord before and have turned away to sin,

you can come back. If you’re a Christian who’s turned your back on God, you can come home,

you can repent and you can pray and you can be forgiven. If you have need of any of those things,

contact us. We’ll be happy to study with you. We’d be happy to help you learn what the new Testament says about salvation,

because it’s not what most of the world says. Okay. We’d be happy to help you begin a relationship with the Lord,

your God in newness of life through baptism. If you have need of any of those things, let us know.

We thank you for your time and we thank you for your attention.<inaudible> thank Aaron for that sermon this morning,

and we thank each one of you for being with us this morning and worshiping with us. We pray that we get to see everybody soon back together in one place,

but, uh, we are glad that you’re with us this morning. We will close with number 869,

869 and then we’ll have a closing prayer. Eight, six, nine.<inaudible><inaudible> join in us with weed,

uh, and uh, uh,<inaudible><inaudible>,<inaudible><inaudible> beautiful city, uh, uh, that,

uh,<inaudible>, uh, uh, uh,<inaudible>, eh, ah, and uh, uh,<inaudible> Mary speak the<inaudible><inaudible>.

Uh, I uh, mute if a, if, uh, uh, when, uh, Jean upwards first city,

uh, uh,<inaudible>, uh, uh,<inaudible>, uh,<inaudible> yours were marching through away man,

yours ground too fat<inaudible>, uh,<inaudible>, uh, uh, Munich<inaudible> beautiful city, uh,

uh, let us pray. Our gracious father in heaven, we bow before you at this time grateful for the day that you’ve given to us for the life that we have and the that we have.

And we’re mindful of those who are struggling with the crown of Iris and with many, many other illnesses and diseases and things going on in this world.

Mindful of, uh, Riley and pray that uh, she just has a simple fever and that she will recover quickly.

We pray for all those who are dealing with the loss of loved ones. Pray for the Rushmore family.

Pray that you give them comfort and strength through your word. Help us to daily walk before you in spirit and in truth serving you each and every day.

Forgive us when we sin and fall short of your glory and help us to remain faithful walking in the light throughout our days.

Pray for this congregation here in Collierville, and we pray for the church throughout the world. May doors of opportunity throughout this time be available to us to teach the gospel,

to reach those who never before have fought about being obedient to the gospel and being obedient to a God who is alive and is great.

All this we pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.