Introduction:  When we do Bible studies of people in the Bible, we look at their victories, defeats and the problems that they faced.  This falls in line with Paul told us in the book of Romans.     Romans 15:4

“For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope.”

      For the next few Sunday we are going to look at a man who is one of the most exciting men of the Old Testament.  Elijah was a man of God.  In his life we see had both victory and defeat.  He was an ordinary man.   James 5:17

“Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months.”

      All that he set out to do for the Lord, he accomplished.  Some of those events were done with flair.  Some were done quietly.  The ones with flair I will try to cover some of this in this message.

      It is noteworthy what his name means.  Elijah means Jehovah is God.  He really lived up to his name in his ministry for the Lord.  This prophet is introduced as abruptly as Melchisedek—his birth, parents, and call to the prophetic office being alike unrecorded. He is supposed to be called the Tishbite from Tisbeh, a place east of Jordan.  He might have been from the tribe of Manasseh, for that area had been given over to Manasseh's descendants. They were a hill people, strong and rugged, dwelling in rude villages and hardened by life in the open air. The record indicates that Elijah was a powerful man physically, a person strong of mind and earnest in spirit.  In fact, we try to make him superhuman but he was just an ordinary man.

      His time of being is during the reign of one of the most sinful kings of Israel- Ahab.   

I.  HE WAS A MAN OF GOD BECAUSE HE PREACHED BOLDLY.          Vs. 1

“And Elijah the Tishbite, who was of the inhabitants of Gilead, said unto Ahab, As the LORD God of Israel liveth, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my word.

                                                1^st Kings 18:17, 18

“And it came to pass, when Ahab saw Elijah, that Ahab said unto him, Art thou he that troubleth Israel? And he answered, I have not troubled Israel; but thou, and thy father’s house, in that ye have forsaken the commandments of the LORD, and thou hast followed Baalim.”

      He could have lost his life for the ministry.  He was on Israel’s most wanted criminals list if there had been such a thing.  This makes him similar to King David.  They both were men after God’s own heart.  He was willing to live for the Lord and die for Him except when he violated the needs of the physical and then he ran from death and then begged God to kill him.  But that is another message.

                        How did he preach boldly?

                  A. He named sin. Isaiah 58:1

“Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and shew my people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins.”

                                                2^nd Timothy 4:1-3

“I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom; Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.”

                                                Psalm 40:9

“I have preached righteousness in the great congregation: lo, I have not refrained my lips, O LORD, thou knowest.”

                        1. He named their personal sins.

                                                1^st Kings 18:18

“And he answered, I have not troubled Israel; but thou, and thy father’s house, in that ye have forsaken the commandments of the LORD, and thou hast followed Baalim.”

      If Ahab had any doubts of Elijah’s being a prophet, it left the door when Elijah basically named the guilty party.  It was Ahab’s sin.  His sin goes very deep.  He married wrong.  He allowed his wife to move the false prophets into the palace. 

                        2.  He named their presumptuous sins.

                                                1^st Kings 18:21

“And Elijah came unto all the people, and said, How long halt ye between two opinions? if the LORD be God, follow him: but if Baal, then follow him. And the people answered him not a word.”

      The word “presumptuous” means to be arrogant.  Their silence showed their arrogance.  It also showed cowardice in that they were not willing to stand for what is right.

      Men of God today need once again make sin exceedingly sinful.  Adultery is not an affair; it is sin.  Drunkenness is not a disease; it is sin.  Sodomite is not a life style; it is sin.  Abortion is not merciful; it is murder and sin.  Cursing is not a slip of the tongue; it is sin.   Not tithing is not a choice; it is sin and robbery.    Not praying is not laziness; it is sin.  We can name sin and should call sin exceedingly sinful.  When we fail to name sin, people will not have any reason to turn from them.

                  B. He named the sinner. 1^st Kings 18:18 

“And he answered, I have not troubled Israel; but thou, and thy father’s house, in that ye have forsaken the commandments of the LORD, and thou hast followed Baalim.”

      Ahab was a wicked king with a wicked wife.  He was covetous.  He was a killer.  He was a God’s men killer.  He may not have killed prophets of god but he allowed it to happen in the kingdom by the command of his wicked wife.  Elijah named the sinner. 

      Real men of God have always been in danger when they name sins and then name the sinner.  It cost John the Baptist his head.  It could cost Nathan the prophet when Nathan named David as the guilty party.  The difference between David and Ahab is that David was a man after God’s own heart and Ahab was a man after the devil’s own heart. 

      We need to be very careful when we name sinners or expose people’s sin.  One reason is that we are not God.  The Lord revealed the sinner.  In this day and time, some men think that they have to expose a man’s name when they name sin.  But instead of humility, they do it boastfully and full of pride and arrogance.  Here is part of the justification for this type of behaviour.

                        2^nd Timothy 4:14

“Alexander the coppersmith did me much evil: the Lord reward him according to his works”

      Yes, Paul named the man but look how he took care of the problem.  He said the Lord would reward Alexander and he did not spend volumes of time blasting the man.   

II.  HE WAS A MAN OF GOD BECAUSE HE PRAYED BELIEVING.          Vs. 1

“And Elijah the Tishbite, who was of the inhabitants of Gilead, said unto Ahab, As the LORD God of Israel liveth, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my word.”

                                                James 5:16-18

“Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.  Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months.  And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit.”

      There are two basis results of prayer.  Pray, believe, receive or Pray, doubt and do without.

      You can say that he believed God.  God told him that there would not be any rain when he prayed and it would return when he prayed.  He was the only man in the Bible that believed God.  Paul proclaimed that he believed God.

                                                Acts 27:21-25

“But after long abstinence Paul stood forth in the midst of them, and said, Sirs, ye should have hearkened unto me, and not have loosed from Crete, and to have gained this harm and loss. And now I exhort you to be of good cheer: for there shall be no loss of any man’s life among you, but of the ship. For there stood by me this night the angel of God, whose I am, and whom I serve, Saying, Fear not, Paul; thou must be brought before Caesar: and, lo, God hath given thee all them that sail with thee.  Wherefore, sirs, be of good cheer: for I believe God, that it shall be even as it was told me.”

                  A. He believed in God’s promises. 1^st Kings 8:56

“Blessed be the LORD, that hath given rest unto his people Israel, according to all that he promised: there hath not failed one word of all his good promise, which he promised by the hand of Moses his servant.”

      How much can we say about the promises of God?  All of them are true.  All of them are trustworthy.  They will not fail because the Lord never fails.  I have been given a lot of guarantees in this life.  But if you read them, you will find many times that the small print takes away from the big print.  Not so with the promises of God, He is the backer of all of His promises.  The failure is not the Lord not delivering His promise but us failing in meeting the conditions that goes with the promises.

                  B. He believed in God’s power. 1^st Kings 18:36,37

“And it came to pass at the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice, that Elijah the prophet came near, and said, LORD God of Abraham, Isaac, and of Israel, let it be known this day that thou art God in Israel, and that I am thy servant, and that I have done all these things at thy word.  Hear me, O LORD, hear me, that this people may know that thou art the LORD God, and that thou hast turned their heart back again.”

      One way to make the Bible more alive is imagine yourself in the place you are reading.  Since I have the hindsight of the passage, I can imagine Elijah taking a few steps back as he was completing his short prayer.  He believed the power of God to conquer over the prophets of Baal and the Lord answered in big way.  We serve a big God who had a big Son who lived a big life and died in a big way.  He arose from the dead in a big fashion.  He has gone home in a big cloud and one day is coming to get us in a big way where we are going to go to the big house and have a big time. 

III. HE WAS A MAN OF GOD BECAUSE HE PRACTICED HIS BELIEFS.         1^st Kings 18:31-35

“And Elijah took twelve stones, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, unto whom the word of the LORD came, saying, Israel shall be thy name: And with the stones he built an altar in the name of the LORD: and he made a trench about the altar, as great as would contain two measures of seed.  And he put the wood in order, and cut the bullock in pieces, and laid him on the wood, and said, Fill four barrels with water, and pour it on the burnt sacrifice, and on the wood.  And he said, Do it the second time. And they did it the second time. And he said, Do it the third time. And they did it the third time.  And the water ran round about the altar; and he filled the trench also with water.”

                  A. He stayed where God placed him.

                                                Vs. 2-7

“And the word of the LORD came unto him, saying, Get thee hence, and turn thee eastward, and hide thyself by the brook Cherith, that is before Jordan. And it shall be, that thou shalt drink of the brook; and I have commanded the ravens to feed thee there. So he went and did according unto the word of the LORD: for he went and dwelt by the brook Cherith, that is before Jordan. And the ravens brought him bread and flesh in the morning, and bread and flesh in the evening; and he drank of the brook. And it came to pass after a while, that the brook dried up, because there had been no rain in the land.

      One of the problems I find in today’s churches is that there are too many church hoppers.  They say that the Lord had placed them in this church but then for some of the craziest reasons they will go to anther church.  There are basically three reasons to leave a church if you are not moving from an area.

1. Morals

      If the morals of the leadership or membership of a church are wrong, why support that church?  In fact, you will have answer to the Lord for supporting the church where immorality is seen in the leadership or members of the church.  That is why I don’t go to just any church.

                        2. Ethics

      If the leadership is unethical, it is time to move on.  Ethics can be in the neighborhood of paying their bills.  It can be how they accept new members.  I have an agreement with Brother Ennis that if one of his members starts attending here, I will call him and he will call me if the opposite occurs.  Ethics in the ministry are a rarity today though.

                        3. Theology

      If the theology is wrong, it is way past time to move on.  I respect people who take time in moving member to check out us doctrinally.  Some times this can be used as an excuse.  They don’t want to put themselves under the authority of the local church.  Some times there may be some small theology mistakes made by the teachers and preachers because a lack of time in the Bible but you can pick out the wrong theology quickly if you listen carefully.  You can tell if it is mistake in training or a turning from the turn.

      Theology can include wrong and right music also.  Wrong music affects theology in a real way.  If the music is wrong and not corrected, it will not long before theology from the pulpit will be affected.

         B. He was satisfied with God’s provisions.  We don’t find any words of complaints about provisions God gave him and how it was delivered.   I may not have been that way.  I like variety so to speak.  But God chose Elijah for this task and Elijah chose to follow God in this way. 

                  C. He was set forth and worked. 1^st Kings 18:31-35    

      I don’t see any volunteers to help Elijah to rebuild the altar or bring the water to place on the altar.  Elijah worked.  I do know that many hands make the task easier.

 I remember Pastor Bell telling how he invited Fred Thomson to be his associate pastor.  Pastor Thomson came and looked around.  Pastor Bell told Brother Thomson that he felt like the people of Virginia Beach were like sand going through his hands.  When Brother Thomson called back and accept the invitation to work with Pastor Bell, he told Pastor Bell that sand does not go through two pairs of hands as quickly.

      God blessed Elijah went he put into practice what he believed.   

Conclusion: Elijah was a man’s man.  But he was not Superman.  He had the same flesh as we do.  But he served the same Lord we do. 

      It is time once again for people desire to be men and women of God and ask God for His power upon the work He has placed us.