How can we stand against the Ahab and Jezebel spirits today? (1 Kings 18:1-19)
A). 3 people ancient world. B). 3 spirits still working. C). 3 types people
-GOD WARNED 800 yrs prior -Deut. 11:16–17 Take care lest your heart be deceived, & you turn aside & serve other gods & worship them;then the anger of the Lord will be kindled against you, & he will shut up the heavens, so that there will be no rain, & the land will yield no fruit, & you will perish quickly off the good land that the Lord is giving you
- 5 Generations, 21 years, warning & 3.5 years to repent, 38 yr reign
= TOLERANCE VS PATIENCE
God is speaking, are you listening?
1 Kings 18:1-2 After many days the word of the LORD came to Elijah, in the third year, saying, “Go, show yourself to Ahab, and I will send rain upon the earth.” So Elijah went to show himself to Ahab. Now the famine was severe in Samaria.
- 3+ yrs drought – no repentance no blessing
Elijah
1. God’s will & God’s timing
2. Waited & prayed -James 5:17 [NLT]Elijah was as human as we are, and yet when he prayed earnestly that no rain would fall, none fell for three and a half years!
3. Faith over fear – John Baptist later beheaded
“the Word of the Lord came to Elijah”
- Thinker – research = (Bible, strategic plan) = EVERYONE
- Seer – dreams, visions, images = (holding child)
- Hearer – Bible, a “word” = (hello NAME)
- Feeler – “seemed right to us & HS” = (gut/hunch, GRACE)
- Doer – respond to circumstances = (brook dried up, pivot GRACE)
- Outlier – angel, audible voice, miracle
God Creates, Satan Counterfeits (850 false prophets)
I need the lead image & headline on the screen
At least 1.5 million people in the US identify as Pagans—up from 134,000 in 2001. They range from Wiccans & Kemetics to TikTok witches & heathens. “There is…a move away from organized religions & toward spirituality,” says Helen Berger…author & sociologist of contemporary Paganism & witchcraft. Female empowerment [Asherah/Jezebel] & gay rights movements [Ahab], the climate crisis [Baal], and a desire for a more life-affirming religion [Jezebel & tolerance] have fueled interest in the growing spiritual community, she adds. [Sedona]… In the past decade…—#witchtok has more than 35 billion views—& popular TV shows like the Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, Vikings, Supernatural, & American Horror Story: Coven are helping drive increased interest.
=Sensitivity to the Holy Spirit (ELIJAH)
God is working, are you noticing?
1 Kings 18:3-8 And Ahab called Obadiah, who was over the household. (Now Obadiah feared the LORD greatly, and when Jezebel cut off the prophets of the LORD, Obadiah took a hundred prophets and hid them by fifties in a cave and fed them with bread and water.) And Ahab said to Obadiah, “Go through the land to all the springs of water and to all the valleys. Perhaps we may find grass and save the horses and mules alive, and not lose some of the animals.” So they divided the land between them to pass through it. Ahab went in one direction by himself, and Obadiah went in another direction by himself. And as Obadiah was on the way, behold, Elijah met him. And Obadiah recognized him and fell on his face and said, “Is it you, my lord Elijah?” And he answered him, “It is I.
God’s Providence – Obadiah (not same man book Bible named after)
- Works for Ahab (e.g. Joseph, Daniel, Nehemiah)
- Savior of prophets (rest killed, e.g. underground church)
- Crosses paths Elijah
- Honors Elijah as Man of God “fell on his face”; “my lord Elijah”
- 100 prophets + Obadiah = Remnant
(Obadiah/Elijah) = Civil Disobedience (vs. Rom. 13)
1. Egypt – Hebrew midwives would not kill babies, Moses lived & led Exodus
2. Babylon – Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego did not bow down to image of King =Nebuchadnezzar (300,000 bowed incl. believers, 3 stand up)
3. Persia – Daniel prayed publicly when King Darius outlawed it
4. Religious Council- Peter/disciples not preach Jesus (Acts 4:18) “We must obey God rather than men (Act 5:29)
5. Rome – “Jesus is Lord” – killed by gov’t
God is faithful, are you trusting?
1 Kings 18:8-16 Go, tell your lord, ‘Behold, Elijah is here.’ ” And he said, “How have I sinned, that you would give your servant into the hand of Ahab, to kill me? As the LORD your God lives, there is no nation or kingdom where my lord has not sent to seek you. And when they would say, ‘He is not here,’ he would take an oath of the kingdom or nation, that they had not found you. And now you say, ‘Go, tell your lord, “Behold, Elijah is here.” ’ And as soon as I have gone from you, the Spirit of the LORD will carry you I know not where. And so, when I come and tell Ahab and he cannot find you, he will kill me, although I your servant have feared the LORD from my youth. Has it not been told my lord what I did when Jezebel killed the prophets of the LORD, how I hid a hundred men of the LORD’s prophets by fifties in a cave and fed them with bread and water? And now you say, ‘Go, tell your lord, “Behold, Elijah is here” ’; and he will kill me.” And Elijah said, “As the LORD of hosts lives, before whom I stand, I will surely show myself to him today.” So Obadiah went to meet Ahab, and told him. And Ahab went to meet Elijah.
Elijah – bringing the fight to Ahab/Jezebel today (Assertive)
Obadiah “feared the LORD greatly”; “I…have feared the LORD from my youth.”
#1 Command in Bible – “fear not”
- Fear makes you a false prophet in your own life
- Fear will come upon you, but you cannot let it in you
- Fear is an unholy spirit cast out by faith in the Holy Spirit
2 Tim 1:7 God has not given us a spirit of fear & timidity, but of power, love, & self-discipline.
-1 Jn 4:18 There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear.
God vs Demons
- 850 false prophets Baal/Asherah = countless demons
- Satan is a demon, the highest ranking demon
Need this headline https://www.newsweek.com/satan-getting-hot-hell-american-pop-culture-1790669
- April 14 release “The Pope’s Exorcist” & “Nefarious” release
Pew Research reported that 62% of American adults believe in Hell, up from 58% in 2014, & pop culture appears to be taking full advantage of the curiosity that surrounds Hell and its inhabitants. The Devil is front & center in movies, TV shows, podcasts & even children’s books. There are Satan After School Clubs…There’s The Exorcist Files, in which Father Carlos Martins recreates exorcisms, & the podcast routinely tops the list of the most popular in the “spirituality” categories. On Netflix alone there are dozens of titles dealing with hellish demons, including Warrior Nun, Devil in Ohio, The Bastard Son & the Devil Himself & Lucifer, in which the ruler of Hell runs a piano bar in California. Comedy is also fair game, thus Ted Danson plays a torturous demon who is prone to mistakes in the Netflix series, The Good Place…. Humans crave spirituality, says Martins [host of The Exorcist Files], but a Gallup poll in 2021 noted that for the first time in U.S. history less than half of all Americans were members of a church, synagogue or mosque. To fill the void, many are embracing “a rejection of received social customs and expected behavioral norms in favor of embracing ‘me-first’ pleasure, pursuing intense feelings and experiences,” Martins told Newsweek. “The adoption of Satan as a figurehead is merely another ‘shock’ ceiling through which the movement has broken through.”
God is commanding, are you obeying?
1 Kings 18:17 When Ahab saw Elijah, Ahab said to him, “Is it you, you troubler of Israel?” 18 And he answered, “I have not troubled Israel, but you have, and your father’s house, because you have abandoned the commandments of the LORD and followed the Baals. 19 Now therefore send and gather all Israel to me at Mount Carmel, and the 450 prophets of Baal and the 400 prophets of Asherah, who eat at Jezebel’s table.”
“the Baals” Demons – 1. names, 2. personalities, 3. anti-ministries
Baal – king of demons over storms/rain
Asherah – queen of demons = fertility (crops, life) lewd ancient artwork, Asherah poles
- English word “earth” – from Norse earth goddess, Jord (pronounced “yurdth”).
Need this image https://www.un.org/en/file/111094
April 22nd Mother Earth Day https://www.un.org/en/observances/earth-day
“Mother Earth is clearly urging a call to action… we need a shift to a more sustainable economy that works for both people & the planet. Let’s promote harmony w/nature & the Earth.”
- Overtake every aspect of culture (church, gov’t, economy, entertainment)
- Encourage gender confusion, sexual sin, child sacrifice
- Demons are not eternal, all powerful, all present, or all knowing
- Demons are not = God, they are powerful
1. Cancel prophets 2. Close churches/schools 3. Counterfeit Kingdom
4. Compromise believers 5. Castrate Men
- The head is held responsible even when the act irresponsible
- When the man is a bad head everyone/everything suffers (Ahab over Israel – funeral)
- We need more prophets, and less politicians & false prophets
- Ahab was humiliated but not humbled after 3+ yrs
- Someone vs God = Get in Trouble
- Being nice is not always being godly
- An evil person thinks a godly person is the problem
- Troubler – sometimes translated, “asp”, or “viper”= serpent like Satan
- Sometimes you need to have the fight (passive vs assertive, then aggressive)
=1 HS man vs religion/gov’t powered by demons. Jesus greater Elijah (GOOD FRI/EASTER)
