That's one of my favorite songs. Such a good song. Turn with me,
if you would, to 2 Kings 2 again. 2 Kings 2. We just looked at this account
for our Bible study of Elisha taking the mantle, Elijah passing the mantle of
being God's prophet. That means God's preacher, God's
declarer. Passing that to Elisha. And when
Elisha took up the mantle, The first thing that he said, his
first message was titled. If you look with me at the middle
of verse 14, second Kings two, the middle of verse 14, he said,
where is the Lord God of Elijah? That's going to be the title
of our message. That was the title of his message. That's
going to be the title of our message. Where is the Lord God
of Elijah? People talk about God, but where
is the Lord God? The God of Elijah. Which to say
the God of Elijah is to say the God of Noah, the God of Abraham,
the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob, the God of Moses, the
God of David. There is only one God. There's
only one God. He does not change how he was
yesterday. That's how he is today. And that's
how he will forever be. But he is the true and living
God. And Elisha said, that's the God
that I declare, that's the God I've been called to declare,
the true and living God. And the apostle Paul on Mars
Hill said, that's the God I declare. He said, let me declare him to
you. And along with all of God's true
preachers, I say with them by God's grace, by God's grace,
that's the God I declare. The true and living God, the
Lord God. Elisha said, where is the Lord
God of Elijah? The Lord God of Elijah, the God
who provides. The God who raises from the dead. The God who answers by fire. If you look at the life of Elijah. If you read the accounts and
the stories of Elijah, it began with him announcing the word
of the Lord. All of a sudden, the scripture
mentions Elijah. And it just says he announced
the word of the Lord that there would be no rain. That's how
he came. That's in First Kings 17. And
we could turn over there, but let me just tell you about it
and then you can read this sometime. I just want to tell you a little
bit about. What happened to Elijah? He came to announce the word
of the Lord, there's going to be no rain that will bring a
famine, no rain. But the Lord said, Elisha, you
go hide by the brook Kirith. And he said, I'm going to provide
bread and water for you. And so Elisha did. He lived by
this stream. And every morning and every evening,
ravens dropped food to him. Every morning and every evening. Where did they get it? The Lord
provided it for them. What did they bring? Whatever
the Lord provided for them. I'm sure they probably grabbed
fish and dropped fish off and I don't know. Whatever the Lord
provided, but every morning and every evening without fail, they
were there. God said, Elijah, I'm going to
provide for you. And he did. He did. Elijah stayed there until the
brook dried up, there was no rain. Eventually the brook dried
up and then the Lord told him to go into a certain city. He
had provided a widow woman to take care of him. So Elijah went
to that city. And when Elijah met her, this
woman was gathering sticks to make a fire for one more meal. She just had enough for one more
meal, just enough corn meal and just enough oil to make one more
pan of cornbread for her and her son. And then they were going
to die. There was no more food, no more food to be had. She said, I'm sorry, I just don't
have anything to offer you. I have nothing to offer. That's
who God comes to. Those who have nothing to offer.
So Elijah said to her, I love this, he said, according to the
word of the Lord, my God. Make me a cake first. And then
make one for you and your son, for thus saith the Lord God of
Israel. That cornmeal is not going to
run out. And that oil is not going to
run dry till God sends rain. Every day. It's estimated that
it was between one and two years. There was no rain. Every day she reached her hand
into that barrel. And pulled out just enough meal.
And she poured just enough oil out of that cruise. And never
ran dry. Just like God said, God provided. Oh, if we could ever get a hold
of the glory that God provides, whatever you need, God provides. Where is the God that provides?
That you can announce and declare the Lord will provide. The God that does all the providing,
he'll do all the providing. Where is that God? Well, that
woman who Elijah stayed with her son died. He got sick and
he died. And Elijah cried out to the Lord
and said, Lord, have you brought evil on this woman who I'm staying
with, who has cared for me, given to me and taken care of me? Please
don't let evil come to her. Please let the soul of this child
come into him again. And Elijah prayed and begged
God. And he revived. And Elijah brought
him back to his mother and said, see, he's alive. He who was dead. Is alive again. Where is the God that gives life
again? Truly, truly gives life again. life to poor sinful souls who
have lost it. Where is the God who is actually
able to do that? I don't blame men and women for
hearing false religion. They hear about this, you know,
I don't want to get ahead of myself, but the God who can't
do anything, I wouldn't worship that God either. I wouldn't be
too impressed either. Well, the famine got so bad,
Elijah came to the people and he came to all of the false prophets
who were lying to the people. And he said, how long are you
going to halt between two opinions? Are you going to continue serving
your false little G God idols that can't do anything? You say that they are your gods,
but you have to do everything for them. You have to make them. You have to place them. You have
to move them. You have to do everything for
them. They have no hands but your hands. He said, how long are you going
to ignore the true and living God? and worship your idols. He said, let's do this, OK? Let's
build an altar. And you put your sacrifice on
it. And I'll put my sacrifice on
it. And you pray to your little God. To send fire to burn the
sacrifice. And he said, I'll pray to my
God to send fire to burn the sacrifice. And he said, the God
that sends fire, the God that answers by fire, let him be God. They said, okay. So the false
prophets put their sacrifice on the altar and they prayed
to their little G God and they begged him to do something. They did this from morning till
evening. They cried and they pleaded.
They got to a place where they crawled up on top of the altar
and started jumping up and down on the altar. Started cutting
themselves and just... They did everything they could
do. They did and they did and they
did and they did and they did all that they could do. And nothing ever happened. And
then Elijah, after they were done, Elijah told everybody,
come near. They had 12 hours they were doing
this mess. And he said, come near. And he
built the altar back that they'd broken down. And he laid his
sacrifice on the altar. And he dug a trench around the
altar. And he told them to fill four
barrels with water and pour that water on the sacrifice. And they
did. And he said, do it again. And
they did. And he said, do it again. And they did. To the point that
everything on that altar was soaked. The altar was soaked. The trench around the altar was
soaked. It was full of water. And then
Elijah said, Lord, would you show them who you are? All right, they did all they
could do for them to make that happen by them. Nothing happened. And then Elijah just said, Lord,
would you show them who you are? And. Fire fell and consumed the sacrifice. And consumed the altar. No more
sacrifice is going to be made. Let's consume the altar too.
One sacrifice is all that's needed here. It consumed the sacrifice,
it consumed the altar, it consumed the water in the trench. There
was nothing left. And the people said, Elijah's
God is God. And Elijah said, get all of those
false prophets out of here and slay them. I hear the sound of
abundance of rain. Rain is coming. Where is that God? Where is that God? The God who
truly is God. Not the little G God who men
have running around here in their own hands, running around, putting
their God everywhere, showing their God to everybody, wasting
everybody's time because he can't do anything anyway. We're not
talking about that worthless God, the God who can only do
it if you let him. The God who can only do something
if you do it for him. That's not God at all. Where
is the God who truly is God? Where is He? Where is He? I've told you before the story
that Brother Walter Groover told of when he first went down to
Mexico. He was a missionary in Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico.
And when he first got down there, he was traveling to go meet a
woman's family. She heard him preach the gospel
and she said, would you please come preach this to my family?
And he was hours away, and he was driving down a road so narrow
there was nowhere to turn around. Had his windows down. He was
in Mexico. And he came up upon two native men standing in the
little road who had muzzleloader rifles. And he, his heart skipped
a beat just a little bit because missionaries were not very welcome.
And they didn't move, so he pulled up and stopped and they came
to each side of his car and the one at the driver's side asked
him, are you a missionary? And he said, yes, I am. And the
man said, we just finished burying my 16 year old daughter. And
he said, I am so sad. And he said, I know that there
is a God, but I don't know where He is. He said, will you come
into my house and tell me who God is? And Brother Walter said,
I can't. I have an appointment with a
family. It's hours away and I won't make
it. But he said, I'm coming back
tomorrow and I'll stop at your house tomorrow. And he said they
agreed on a time that he would pull up to this grass hut with
dirt floors. So on the next day, when he was
coming back through, he pulled up to that little hut and he
said he couldn't hardly get in the front door. That man had
gone into the village and told everybody, a missionary is coming
to my house tomorrow to tell us who God is. And if you want
to know who God is, you better get to my house. And he said
the Lord saved that man. His name is Felice. And it means happy. Happy is
the man who hears and finds and knows the true and living God. Now from the Scripture, give
me just a minute here to show you where He is. Alright? From the Scripture, let's find
out together where the true and living God is. The God who truly
is God. Just follow me to a few places
here. Let's go to Psalm 115. Psalm 115 verse 1 says, Not unto us, O
LORD, not unto us, but unto thy name give glory for thy mercy
and for thy truth's sake. Wherefore should the heathen
say, Where is now their God? Where is he? David said, Our
God is in the heavens. He hath done whatsoever he hath
pleased. Their idols are silver and gold,
the work of men's hands. If we want to know whether or
not the God that we worship is an idol, All we need to find
out is, does it involve the work of my hands? If it does, he's
an idol. The true and living God is in
the heavens doing whatever He is pleased to do. Verse 5, well
verse 4, their idols are silver and gold, the works of men's
hands. They have mouths, but they speak not. And here's what
that means. Men going around saying, well now you know God
says, But that God didn't write it anywhere. Our God said this. And when they say, well, you
know, God says, and you can't find Him saying it anywhere,
that God didn't speak. So verse 5 says, they have mouths,
but they speak not. Eyes have they, but they see
not. They see the sins that their holders see. True and living
God sees all the way on the inside of the heart, the mind, the soul. Verse six, they have ears, but
they hear not. Noses have they, but they smell
not. They have hands, but they handle not. Feet have they, but
they walk not. Neither speak they through their
throat. They that make them are like unto them, and so is everyone
that trusts in them. Dead. Verse nine says, Oh, Israel,
trust in the Lord. He is their help and their shield.
O house of Aaron, trust in the Lord. He is their help and their
shield. Ye that fear the Lord, trust
in the Lord. He is their help and their shield.
The Lord hath been mindful of us. He will bless us. He will
bless the house of Israel. He will bless the house of Aaron.
He will bless them that fear the Lord, both small and great.
The Lord shall increase you more and more. You and your children,
you are blessed of the Lord, which made heaven and earth.
The heaven, even the heavens are the Lord's, but the earth
hath he given to the children of men. The dead praise not the
Lord, neither any that go down into silence. But we will bless
the Lord from this time forth and forevermore. Praise the Lord. Where is this God? This same
God of Elijah, where is He right now? He is somewhere right now. Where is He? In the heavens. He is not in buildings made with
hands. He is not in stained glass. People get around the right picture
on the stained glass and we've got to get all holy now. He's
not in statues. He's not in crosses. He's in the heavens. High above
the hands of men. High above the works of men's
hands. David said our God is in the
heavens. That's where He is. Where in the heavens? Where exactly in the heavens? Turn with me to Hebrews 4. Hebrews
chapter 4. Hebrews 4 verse 16 says, Let us therefore come boldly
unto the throne. Let us come to the throne. Brother Henry had a son who died
in Vietnam. A man that was in the town there
who mocked his God and mocked the message of his God saw him
after that happened and he said to him, where was your God when
your son died? And Brother Henry said the same
place he was when his son died, seated on the throne. Where is this God? Seated on
the throne. He is still seated on the throne. Verse 16 says, this throne is
a throne of grace and a throne of mercy. Do you need mercy? I love this thought right here. Mercy right now? is seated on
that throne. Anytime you need Him. Anytime
you need Him. Where is mercy? Seated on that
throne. That's the mercy seat. Still seated on the throne. Praise
the Lord for full salvation. God still reigns upon the throne. And I know that His blood still
reaches deeper than the stain of my sin has gone. Verse 15 right here says, The
one who was touched with the feeling of our infirmities, He's
the very one seated on the throne. What does that mean? Turn with
me to 2 Corinthians 5. 2 Corinthians 5 verse 19. It says, To know that God was
in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their
trespasses unto them, and hath committed unto us the word of
reconciliation. Where is the God of Elijah? The
God we just heard about? in Jesus Christ. Our Provider,
our Healer, our Sacrifice that bore the fiery judgment of God
for us. That's where He is. Where is
the God of Elijah? In the heavens, on the throne,
in Christ. Look with me at 1 Peter chapter
1. 1 Peter chapter 1 verse 23 it says, being born
again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible by the word
of God, which liveth and abideth forever. For all flesh is grass,
and the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth,
and the flower thereof falleth away. But the word of the Lord
endureth forever, and this is the word which by the gospel
is preached unto you." Where is the God of Elijah? He's in
His word. He's in His Word. Now, just listen
to this real quick. I'm wrapping up. We hear about
fire coming down from heaven and consuming everything. And we hear about men and women
being raised to life again from the dead. And we hear about these
amazing provisions, just amazing. And this is what we think. I
would love to see that. I would love to actually see
that God do that. Well, by faith, in His Word,
we do. We do. Do we want to see that
God? He's right there. We see the
God of Elijah and we believe on him just like the people did
in the days of Elijah. They saw that and they said,
we believe. We see it and we say, we believe. We see him in the heavens, don't
we? We see him seated on his throne. We see him in the person that
he is right here in this word. We see and we believe on it.
All right. I think this is the last one.
I'll find out when I turn this page, but go to Matthew 18. Matthew 18, look with me at verse
20. For where two or three are gathered
together in my name, there am I in the midst of them. Where
is the God of Elijah? He's in the midst of his people.
He's in the hearts of his people. Christ in you is the hope of
glory. The God who provides, he will
provide in you. The God who gives dead ruined
sinners life, he will create life in you. The God who shows
mercy through the sacrifice of another, that mercy, that grace,
that forgiveness will reign in you. And he will reveal to us
and he will cause us to know that he is inside. We'll know
he is in the heavens. He is seated on the throne. He
has redeemed us. He has spoken peace to us. And
He has promised to never leave us. And with that, we can say,
where's our God? Where is the God of Elijah who
is also our God? He's everywhere. He's in everything. He is in everything. One man
said this, He is in every breeze. Every cloud, every moment, every
heartache, every tear, every joy. He said, lo, I am with you
always in every providence and purpose that comes your way.
all things work together for good to them that love the true
and living God. To them that are the called according
to his purpose. Because he's in all of it. He
is in all of it. Oh Lord God of Elijah, be with
us. Be with us. May that God be with
us. Alright, Brother Eddie, you come.