Open
God
wants to use us to “Change the
World with Jesus.” He has a dream for each and every person in this
room.
I
can remember, with remarkable clarity, the first time I felt like the Lord
spoke a dream into my heart… the first time I felt like He said a promise over
my life.
Tell
the STORY of JH conference in Cincinnati.
·
Since then, I’ve had quite a few encounters that have
pushed that dream.
·
I’ve had quite a few “battles” that have tried to squash
that promise.
·
I’ve also been privileged to have many friends, speakers,
& even random people speak blessing to the dream without ever knowing it.
Most of us want to walk in the fullness of
the promises of God but…
·
We never take
the first step
·
Or maybe we see
a victory and think that’s the promise
·
Sometimes we
don’t push far enough or we don’t wait long enough
·
We waited for
the final outcome instead of acting on the faith of the first sign.
Today,
I want to look at an OT story that deals with this idea of hearing a promise
from God and then walking it out. I think that this story is important because
it helps us…
a) Understand that God is constantly talking &
telling us His promises.
b) Understand how to walk out His promises
c) Understand that God is speaking promises over this BN
Vineyard
Prayer
Today,
we are going to be spending time in the stories of Elijah from 1Kings 18… and
try to pull out some truths for us as we learn to walk in God’s promises… and
pull out some truth for us on where we are at as the BN Vineyard.
1 Kings 18:1
·
Set the stage –
famine, widow, raising the dead, the King is hunting to kill him
·
Read the text…
the promise of rain had come!
·
Takeaway #1 à When
things are at their worst, God speaks the loudest.
·
Your struggles? à money, illness, jobs, relationships à listen hardest now
1
Kings 18:1-19
·
Tell the full
story
·
SLIDES: 18:1-2,
7-8, and 15-16
·
Takeaway #2 à When
God speaks, go on the offensive.
·
Show yourself to
the enemy.
·
Don’t wait…
don’t hold back… don’t make sure things “feel right”… go forward.
·
BN Vineyard à began to gather and pray right away…
·
Build when there
seems to be nothing
·
Declaring our
intention to plant… to Hap, to “old” vineyard, to family to the church.
1 Kings 18:17-19
·
The verbal abuse
of the enemy.
·
Some of us just
need to declare battle!
·
Takeaway #3 à When
the enemy attacks, UP THE STAKES!
·
Bring whatever
you have Ahab… God’s promises are bigger.
·
BN Vineyard à tremendous spiritual battle! Financial, jobs,
sickness, more… especially among those who were moving from other cities to BN…
even with the purchases of their homes.
·
Kingdom Healing…
SOKM… HOTS… push against the kingdom of darkness.
A
Famous Bible Story
·
1 Kings 18:20-35
à Elijah goes to
battle
·
SLIDES: 18:22-24,
28-29
·
Takeaway #4 à The
enemy may shout, but his voice will not drown out God’s promises.
·
BN Vineyard à tremendous doubt… with us and many on the team… but
we pressed in harder
·
SLIDES: 18:32-35
·
Elijah UPS THE
STAKES AGAIN!
·
BN Vineyard à if there is push back in your spiritual life… in
your service to Jesus and His church… then you are probably doing something
right!
·
Up the stakes…
and God will come through
The
promise of this church…
·
That we would be
a growing and thriving community
·
That we would
have impact not just on BN, but on the entire county and beyond.
·
That we would
plant churches, ministries and send others out.
·
That we would
start a movement…
o
McLean County: 175,000
people
o
Less than 20% of our
county goes to church
o
That means 8 of every
10 people you meet/know need Jesus
·
We can’t stay here
·
“For every
problem in the NATURAL, there’s a battle in the SPIRITUAL.”
1 Kings 18:36-40 – Elijah wins the battle
·
With the help of
the Lord, Elijah accomplished something amazing.
·
With the help of
the Lord, we’ve done something amazing
·
We’ve planted a
church despite all the reasons “why not?” stacked against us
·
We won A battle
in the spirit!
·
In fact, we’ve
won many battles… people coming to know Jesus… people being healed of
depression… legs growing… financial miracles… baby miracles.
·
Takeaway #5 à Winning
a battle is NOT the
fulfillment of the promise.
What
is the promise of God?
·
For Elijah, the
promise of God (1Kings
18:1) was rain – not victory in a battle over the prophets.
·
For all believers,
the promise of God is an abundant life – not a one-time victory over an illness
or a financial crisis – it’s life to its FULLNESS!
·
For our church,
the promise of God is a movement – not a planted church.
·
Takeaway #6 à Don’t
get caught thinking one victory is all that God wants for you.
STORY
·
Happened the
first time, about a year before we left Urbana… on a Tuesday.
·
Later I heard
the Lord talk about the southwest side… my home… hotel.
·
Kept seeing the
vision… expanded to floodgates opening over our services.
·
When we
purchased our current building, grew and expanded and I had it again.
·
Always starts in
the west of Blo-No and moves to cover more and more ground.
·
The blessing…
the promise of God is much bigger than I realized.
·
For me… and I’m
betting for many of you… the struggle is:
o
Being patient
o
Not getting
ahead of God
o
Not trying to
“make it happen”
o
Not letting
doubt, frustration, and/or attack derail my focus on the promise
o
His WORDS will
not fail or falter.
The
promise fulfilled
·
Remember:
Elijah’s promise is rain… not victory over Baal
·
Our promise is
huge blessing AND a church planting movement.
·
Let’s finish the
story…1 Kings 18:41-46
and see how Elijah responded
·
Wow, I just love
this part!
·
Because it gives
you and I a model for
receiving the promise(s):
o
Speak out the promise
o
Wait for God to respond
o
When you don’t see it, continue to speak it out & wait
o Takeaway #7 -- When someone else
sees it, ACT on the promise
o
When the floodgates finally open, RUN with God’s power
Close
So
where are you at today…
·
Are you in a
darker place… waiting on God’s promises to be spoken over your life?
·
Are you
struggling in disbelief… through battles & struggles?
·
Or are you
waiting… impatiently… for God to open the floodgates?
Because
I believe we are in a time where we need to go to battle…
·
Show yourself to
the enemy
·
Speak out God’s
promises (personal & corporate)
·
And respond in
faith
