SHOW NOTES
Embracing the Supernatural, pt4
Leadership in Context with Keith Tucci
Episode 171
We are going to jump right in where we left off last week. This is week 4 of our Embracing the Supernatural series where we have been talking about Elijah. I encourage you to go back and listen to the first three parts if you missed them.
When we pick up the story in 1 Kings, the prophets of Baal have already cut themselves and rolled around, and Elijah has mocked them. Elijah is ready to see the Lord answer from Heaven with fire.
1 Kings 18:30
Then Elijah said to all the people, “Come near to me.” So all the people came near to him. And he repaired the altar of the Lord which had been torn down.
Elijah did not create a new altar. He went back to the altar that had been torn down and neglected.
God has not changed.
Elijah did not come with a new message, a new idea, or a new concept of God. If anything, he said: “The things that you know as a nation, a people that are history, these are all true.” Then he rebuilt the altar.
There is a trend in Christianity to try to come up with a nicer, newer, cleaner, easier, more convenient altar. But that altar is the cross, it is Christ, and it has not changed.
1 Kings 18:31
Elijah took twelve stones according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, to whom the word of the Lord had come, saying, “Israel shall be your name.”
Elijah was reminding them that they had an identity and a purpose. God didn’t want to intervene and just help their individual lives; God had a mandate on them as a nation. That mandate was for them to have a conquest in that land and be an example to other nations. Whatever miracle that was going to happen was connected to that mandate.
When we are believing God for things in our life, our nation, our church, our family—whatever it may be—we should connect the dots. God doesn’t just want a personal intervention. He wants to intervene to make the situation is a part of the greater things He is doing.
1 Kings 18:34-35
And he said, “Fill four pitchers with water and pour it on the burnt offering and on the wood.” And he said, “Do it a second time,” and they did it a second time. And he said, “Do it a third time,” and they did it a third time. The water flowed around the altar and he also filled the trench with water.
Elijah was showing them that when God wills to do something, a little water is not going to stop Him. Elijah takes away any speculation that he drenched the altar with anointing oil that would make it easy to light with fire. He had it drenched three times with water, so much so that the trench around the offering was filled with water. The miracle that was about to happen was only from God.
The greatest enemy of real miracles are pretend miracles. The greatest enemy of real supernatural manifestation is faking it. Sometimes we want something to happen so badly that we help make it happen.
Here Elijah is showing that he is not going to help make it happen. Either God answers from Heaven with fire, or Elijah was going to be a dead prophet. He was showing that God is who He is, and He doesn’t need a push from us.
1 Kings 8:36
At the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice, Elijah the prophet came near and said, “O Lord, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel…
Notice how Elijah represents God. He is the generational God. He is the God that is connected to history. He is the God that is connected to the future. He is the God that is living right now.
1 Kings 8:36-37
At the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice, Elijah the prophet came near and said, “O Lord, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, today let it be known that You are God in Israel and that I am Your servant and I have done all these things at Your word. Answer me, O Lord, answer me, that this people may know that You, O Lord, are God, and that You have turned their heart back again.”
Elijah wants them to see the ultimate intention for this miracle—God hasn’t changed, His heart is toward them, and they can respond.
1 Kings 18:38
Then the fire of the Lord fell and consumed the burnt offering and the wood and the stones and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench.
The fire came and totally consumed everything. The stones were pulverized. That’s a miracle! There was nothing left.
1 Kings 18:39
When all the people saw it, they fell on their faces; and they said, “The Lord, He is God; the Lord, He is God.”
When we embrace the supernatural, we put ourselves out there. When we embrace the supernatural, we are not afraid to let it be credible—even if that means pouring water on it. We pour water on it so God gets all the glory.
God wants to show Himself alive. God wants to remind people who He is. I believe God wants to do that in our generation. The first thing we do to start that happening is to testify about Who God is, show what He’s done in our lives, and believe God for a miracle when praying and ministering to people. God is good and God is great.
Join us next week as Keith Tucci continues to put leadership truth in the context of the local church. And as always, please like, share, rate/review, and invite others to listen. See you next week!
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