CPCAYC 2016: Sacrifice and Service

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Central Papua Conference

Taj Pacleb

The Third Elijah

Father in heaven, Lord, we want to thank you for your great love and your mercy.

And now, dear Lord, we pray that the power of your Holy Spirit would continue not only to abide in this place, but that you would come into our hearts, that you give us eyes to see Jesus more clearly, ears to hear the voice of Jesus more accurately, and a heart that will do the will of Jesus more consistently.

Please Lord, bless us, inspire us, motivate us, and challenge us as we now wait upon thee is our prayer in Christ's name.

I invite you to take your Bible and open with me to the book of Malachi chapter 4.

We're going to the last book of the Old Testament, the last chapter of that last book, chapter 4, and we're going to read the last 2 verses.

For therein we find that the Old Testament closes with a powerful, profound, prophetic promise about the coming of a last day messenger that will have a mission that will change the landscape of the world but before we read that I just want to ask how many of you are thankful to be a part of the family of God amen we come in all different shapes and sizes and colors and textures and flavors.

We speak different languages, different life experiences, but we are all 1 in Jesus.

We are children of the same father that makes us brothers and sisters.

And friends as my wife and I have the great privilege of traveling all throughout the world, it is a wonderful, wonderful blessing to see the family of God all around the world united in the faith of Jesus.

I'm so glad to be a part of the family of God.

But at the same time I'm so sad this morning because there are millions and yea billions of people outside of these walls that have yet to hear the joyful sound that Jesus saves.

There are so many people all around this that have yet to know the joy of salvation, who are lost in the world and even lost in the church that are empty on the inside and and they're reaching for something in the things of the world to fill that emptiness but the world can stimulate but it will never satisfy and as I look upon millions and yet billions of people who are lost without Jesus.

Let me ask you friends, how many of you can think about someone that's close to you?

Maybe a family member or a friend, a spouse, a child, a parent, a grandparent.

And when you look upon their lives, you realize that they fall into the category of those who we just mentioned, people who don't know Jesus.

And when you look at their lives you realize that they're lost and your heart breaks for them.

And no matter how much you try to pray for them, it seems like those prayers are not being answered.

No matter how many times you invite them to come to church, their hearts are so hardened and no matter how much seed you cast, it seems like the seed of God's Word is falling upon stony, unfruitful ground.

And you think about that person, a spouse, a parent, a child, and you just can't imagine heaven without them.

Do you have someone like that you can think about?

But here's something that the Lord encourages me with, and that is that while we have a burden for our loved ones, and our family, and our friends, God's burden for them is a lot heavier than ours.

And while we are sleeping, God is still working upon the lives of our loved ones.

He's doing everything he possibly can to save those individuals.

Not only is God working, but in this prophecy we're about to read he has promised us that in the last days he will send a messenger that will initiate a powerful revival in the world and this messenger is going to be so powerful his message is going to be so bright and illuminating that the revival will result in a reformation and restoration and reconciliation and the question this morning, this afternoon is this, who is this messenger and this agent of revival?

Let's read it now Malachi chapter 4 beginning with verse 5.

If you're there and if you're ready to study the Bible would you let me know by saying amen all right the Bible says in Malachi chapter 4 verse 5 behold I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord and he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children and the heart of the children to the fathers lest I come and smite the earth with a curse Here we find the Old Testament closing with the prophecy of the coming of Elijah.

The Bible tells us that when Elijah comes, his message and his mission is going to be so dramatic.

The hearts of the fathers and the children will be turned back together.

And people will see the salvation of the Lord.

But the question is, who is this Elijah that is to come?

Well, if we were to ask our evangelical friends, they will tell us that this prophecy will be fulfilled when God sends the literal Elijah to come back in the last days.

The literally Elijah that was caught up in the fiery chariot, the 1 that was translated to heaven without seeing death.

Most of the Christian world believes that this prophecy is pointing to that 1 who is going to come back calling fire down from heaven to initiate a revival by the means of miracles and signs and wonders.

But is that what the prophecy is referring to?

Well, if we're to ask Jesus where this prophecy is fulfilled, he would tell us that this prophecy is partially fulfilled in the life and the ministry of John the Baptist.

John the Baptist was not literal Elijah, but he was a type of Elijah.

In fact, the angel prophesied concerning his life in Luke chapter 1 in verse 17 it says that he shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.

He came in the spirit and power of Elijah to prepare the way for the first coming of Jesus.

But when we look at the prophecy, the Bible tells us that this prophecy is pointing not to the first coming, but to the second.

It says before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord.

And so while John the Baptist prepared the way for the first coming of Jesus, the greater fulfillment of the prophecy is pointing to another that would come after John the Baptist.

In other words John the Baptist is just the second Elijah.

This prophecy is pointing to another or a third Elijah that is to come.

And so the question is, who is this Elijah that's to come?

Oh friends, in order to find out who this third Elijah is, all we have to do is Go back to study the life, mission, and message of the first and the second Elijah.

Because that will be repeated in the life, mission, message of the third.

Let me give you quickly a principle of Bible study that's very important.

The principle is found in Ecclesiastes chapter 1 and verse 9.

Here's the biblical principle of hermeneutics, how to study the Bible.

It says that the thing that hath been is that which, what?

And that which is done is that which shall be done, and there is no new thing under the sun.

So the principle of Bible study in the passage is that what happened in the past is gonna be repeated in the future.

And so if we want to find out the identity of the third and final Elijah that will prepare the way for the second coming of Christ, all we have to do is study the history of the first and the second Elijah and we will see that that which has been is that which shall be.

And so with that foundation, let's now go to the book of 1 Kings chapter 18.

Please turn quickly to 1 Kings chapter 18, and I just want to highlight a few interesting things about the life, mission, and message of the first Elijah.

First Kings chapter 18 and as you're turning there allow me to ask you a question.

What was the king's name who was reigning during the time of Elijah.

Now Ahab was to be a spiritual leader in Israel, but we find that Ahab was weak and vacillating.

He was a compromiser and a rationalizer and he was the 1 that led the people of God into apostasy And the reason why is because Ahab got married to the wrong woman.

Young people make sure that you don't marry the wrong person.

Ahab married someone he should have never have married.

She was a heathen priestess that worshiped the sun god Baal.

And it was her influence that caused her husband Ahab to begin to worship her god and introduce the false worship of the sun amongst the people of God.

And so by the time Elijah comes upon the scene, God's people are in apostasy.

And it came as the result of the unholy union of Ahab and Jezebel.

And friends, when you look at this story, You have to look at it through your prophetic lenses because that which has been is that which shall be Ahab represents a weak vacillating political leader that links up with a heathen priestess, which is a symbol of an apostate church.

The union of Ahab and Jezebel represents weak state with a apostate church, church-state union together.

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The Third Elijah

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