Hidden Elijahs (Part 2) [Cont'd From #207] - Rod Mills

In Romans 11 Paul talks about the remnant of 7000 prophets that God told Elijah he had reserved for Himself. In this context the word "remnant" is not used to describe all of God's people but specifically describes those who- like Elijah- were deeply committed to God. In this series we talk about what it means to be a part of that remnant of hidden Elijahs, the ones who are involved in hearing and speaking the word of the Lord.

Full transcript generated by ai (please excuse errors):






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​Today, I'd like to continue some things that we began exploring during the retreat during my session, specifically on something I called the unknown Elijah's or what God, what Paul points out in Romans 11, that God says He had reserved for himself 7000. So what I'd like to do is, is review it, but what happened at the retreat was, I was toward the end of our time, and it was late at night. And so I was trying to find a good way to wrap it up quickly. And so we really didn't have time. And I knew we wouldn't have time to unpack this. And what I'm hoping is, especially in this group, here, and on Zoom, I'm hoping to whet your appetite to because we have a lot of spiritual scholars in our spiritual family. And I by all means don't want to be the guy that feels like he has to go explore these. I feel like I want to explore them, don't get me wrong, but I want you to know that this is to whet our appetite. So everybody kind of digs into it, because I feel like there will be 10 or 20 times the revelation, if we can spur one another on. And that's why I feel like it's so important sharing on the prayer streams, because I'm constantly seeking the Lord saying, Lord, what are you saying here? What do you say in there? It's kind of like, when I shared that dream this week. You know, it was very personal dream. And I feel like the Lord was saying some things to me personally. But then when Nancy, when you sent that response, it opened up a whole new prayer area for me. And so I started processing it that day. And so that's why I shared the next day what I did, I was like, Whoa, God is really speaking in this. And it's probably an entire spiritual region to move into. And so I it's just neat to me how one person can have an insight, the Lord is showing them. And many times, it's not just a call to sack it's a trailhead kind of tracking. And I like trail heads, because trail heads take you into trails and into places we've never been before in God. So I'd like to go back to reading Romans 11, we'll do a little bit of review just for the sake of those hear that for memories sake, and then I will try to unpack it more and go a lot deeper into it. And then hopefully, we'll have some good sharing on that. Romans 11 to God has not cast away His people whom he for knew. Or do you not know what the scripture says of Elijah, how he pleads with God against Israel, saying, Lord, they have killed your prophets and torn down your altars, and I alone am left. So I want to stop there. He's saying, there's no more prophets. There's no more altars. The altars are torn down, and now they seek to kill me. I'm the only guy who's a prophet. I'm the only guy you know, where's who's hearing God? I'm the only guy who's a prophet who's an altar builder. Yeah, he was, yeah, he was listening to other voices. And you know, is it it's easy to feel that way sometimes. And I feel like that's why his spiritual community is so important. And he says, But what he says here, Paul says, And Elijah said, and they seek my life, and Paul says in verse four, but what does the divine response say? I love that because Paul is refocusing our attention on what does God say? And that is the media that counts, right, Tom? That's the that's the media that really counts. The one media the one mass media voice and he is a mass voice. Scripture says a voice of many waters. And he says, What does the divine response say to him? I have reserved for myself. Seventh 1000 men who have not bowed their need to bail. I want to key in today again on I have reserved for myself, because this is not in the old test. that record, Paul is giving us an insight and a revelation. He says even so then at this present time, there is a remnant that word came up in the prayer streams this week, there is a remnant, according to the election of grace. So let's talk about remnant. These are those that Paul calls a remnant who are deeply devoted to the Lord Himself, and they're set apart for Him. This is the only place we mentioned this at the retreat. This is the only place where the Greek word for remnant actually appears in the New Testament. As much as we've heard this word remnant used over the years. I mean, I started hearing it used in the early 80s. In the Christian circles, there was a lot of, and I'm sure it was earlier than that. But in my Christian walk, that was when I began to hear it. And I automatically assume the remnant just meant, whoever the believers are. I'm wondering now, if that's exactly a correct definition. And and I'll just tell you why. From what we can tell, in this passage of Scripture, it's not used to describe all of those who were God's people in Israel. He got he's using it to describe 7000 people. Do I believe that there was only 7000 people in Israel who actually were true believers? I don't think so I tend to believe there was a whole lot more than 7000. It's just that many of them were living with a lot of compromise in their lives. Or, or even all of those who trusted in God. I mean, there's probably more than 7000 in Israel who trusted God. I mean, that's a tiny number, if you think about it. Specifically, I believe those who are like Elijah, is maybe what we're getting at here. They were deeply committed to God. And I will say prophets, or, let's say, people who hear the voice of God, let's say, people who are listening and heard God, I'm reminded of the scripture, and Samuel, where whenever it opens up in the Samuel was a boy when God's getting ready to speak to him. And it says the word of the Lord was rare in those days. Now, it didn't say the word of the Lord was non existent in those days, people were hearing God, but it was rare. And in this day, Elijah is very concerned. He says, there's nobody, the altars are being torn down, there's no prophets. In other words, there's just no one who's listening or hearing God. And then he says, this, another phrase here to define this group, according to God is those who had not bowed their knees to bail. In other words, they had not compromised in their set of partners. I would like to say, in their set of partners to God, which is the definition of holiness, I think you're probably like me, I would like to say that throughout my Christian life, I have always functioned in that sanctification, and been set apart to God and walked in that holiness. But that is not true. I have had seasons in my life where I was on the wrong wrong track. I've had days in my life where I did not abide by that. And so thank God that he continues to be merciful to us, and bring us to greater and greater and greater maturity. I would like my mature maturing process to be like a line that goes up. And what it's been more like is a squiggly Mark going up and down, up and down. But the good news is for me, and I pray this is true for you, is that he has been going up, it goes up, up, up, up, up, up, up, up, up. And so you know, it's three steps forward, one step back, four steps forward, three steps back. And it's really discouraging if you have a day where it's five step forward, and 10 steps back. I pray that that doesn't happen. But you guys get the feel for what I'm saying is that he's saying there are 7000 who have not bowed their knees to bail they have not, they have not violated that set of partners to God that holiness to him and we call that a New Testament terms. That's maturity in sanctification. The implication in the context of the scriptures, we're going to talk about that in a moment. But let me just say this, there are several passages of scripture that we looked at at the retreat. We looked at this Romans 11. We looked at Mount chi for and what the scripture said of the the Return of Elijah restoration, we looked at Jesus words in Matthew 11, where he tells us Yes, John the Baptist says Elijah, and yes, he's coming again. And we talked about how that's a mantle of Elijah, and then in First Kings 19. So in, if you look at all of these passages, and I'm gonna say this upfront, because then sometimes, if you know what you're looking for, you see it a lot quicker. So I'll say it up front. In these few scriptures, there are several things that we can identify. And I want to just name these. And we, I briefly mentioned some of them in the retreat, but today, we have a little more time to go through them. One is that these people that that God is talking about, that Jesus is talking about, that Malikai is talking about. And I believe, and we won't get into this today, but I do believe we actually see them show up in the Revelation of John. But that's for another term time. They carry a mantle, this mantle of Elijah with unwavering devotion, to God's ways, and to his heart, like Elijah did. So in other words, Elijah, he's not saying God, there's nobody who even believes in Israel. He's saying, God, there's nobody in Israel like me. There's nobody, a prophet, someone hears God builds altars set apart doesn't bow their knees to bail. And gods like, whoa, whoa, whoa. And he corrects the record. But we see several characteristics and all the scriptures in one is this unwavering devotion. And there are people who hear the voice of God, they are ultra builders. Now, there have been seasons early in my Christian walk, where I'm not sure I was an altar builder, because I didn't understand. And the voice of God was not nearly as clear. I remember being a young man and praying. And one day, I just wanted the voice of God to be so clear, I still remember, I was in my bedroom. I still lived at home. And I said, God, I know you want to talk to me, I know you want to talk, I know you want to speak to me, I would just knew it in my heart so much. And I said, God, I just pray. Just speak to me audibly right now. I know you can do it. I know you can't. I'm like Moses, let me see you. And nothing happened, at least in the physical, right. But God, that in that season, God's eye, a spirit of revelation, start coming. And I started seeing things in the scriptures and in prayer I had never seen before in the voice of the Lord began to come alive. Because I started learning to listen with the ears of My Spirit first. Now God speaks audibly and physically in all kinds of ways. And he did that too, later on. But he started with the spiritual ears to train me to hear his voice to see him. I didn't, I didn't function in this, I didn't know how to function in this. And yet God, I believe God is calling His people to the remnant of God, that is to be people like Elijah, who have these qualities that are identified. And we learned this first quality that I just mentioned to you, from a Elijah and his description. The second one, they have a unique supernatural ability from God, to connect at the heart level across the generations. Hmm. Now, I'll tell you, I saw this when this was something that really became apparent. It became apparent to me long ago, but it became apparent to many at the retreat, when you see Dick Duncan's life, he connects with people at the heart level, across the generations. Now I know people in that are my peers, who are very uncomfortable with the younger generations, and they were very uncomfortable with the older generations. We get around old people, and they get scared now I'm an old people. I remember when I started going to the nursing home to minister to people when I was a teenager. And I was really nervous because I was reaching another generation that was very foreign to me. I mean, to me, they were like aliens. You know, it was scary. It was really scary. And I've told the story to many people, how I when I was 14 years old, and I go into this nursing home, and it's 1981. So that tells you how old I am now. And I go into this nursing home and I'm going around and it's just kind of scary. And then I get to this room. And there's this old lady sitting there and she is rocking, and she starts talking to me and she sounds like she's 20 I mean her voice her mind. Ain't her sharpness. And immediately she started asking me questions about the Lord. And she's rocking back and forth. And she said, my name is Annie, what's your name? And I told her and she started asking me questions about the Lord, just rapid fire like this. And I started to enter in her. And then she started challenging me says she, you need more of God. And she started speaking into my life. And he was 105 years old. And he was born in 1867. And she began to tell me how I needed more of God. I came there to minister to them, and a lot of them got saved. There were many people that got saved in a nursing home right before they died. That shocked me. But Annie was not on that. She was on a whole different caliber. She knew God, she had walked with God, her whole life, she was filled with the Holy Spirit. She knew when somebody needed more of God, and she could see it in my life. And she started speaking into my life. And I became more comfortable around old people. I was scared as a kid, I was 14 Man, I was I'm telling you, I was scared to be in a nursing home. It took all the courage I could get just to go down there and pray for him and ministered to him. Because scary to a 14 year old kid who was a new Christian, but I just wanted to minister I wanted to serve people. I wanted to just bless them in some way. And when I got down there, and I overcame enough fear to get down there and do it. Suddenly, God started connecting me with the previous generation, and a woman who was a spiritual mother. And I will tell you, she carried the mantle of Elijah, but I didn't even know it. I just knew this woman is very special. And what she said to me was very special. And so I started going down there more often. And I wasn't scared. And I would go down there. And I would make a beeline straight to Annie's room, because I wanted to see Annie. And every time she had a roommate, and a roommate was always sleeping, but she was in that rocking chair just rocking. And she told me one of those she told me more than once she goes off, she goes off buried five husbands. And she says, I'm looking for another one. Do you know a godly man. And I'm like, Man, she's funny, too. I think she was serious. But she had a spark and a fire in her of the Holy Spirit. And God started to do something in May, that was intergenerational transgenerational across the generations, because here was a woman born two years after the end of the Civil War. And she starts speaking into my life and imparting what I call the old timers anointing. Now, I realize it was Elijah, it was the spirit of Elijah, and this mantle of Elijah. So they have a unique ability. We learned this from Malikai, they have this unique supernatural ability for God, to connect at the heart level, no one in that nursing home connected to me, like Annie did. And when Annie connected, she connected with me at the heart level. Think about this is a woman born long before cars were invented long before airline airplanes were invented. I mean, it was horse and buggy and covered wagons for decades of her life. And yet she's speaking into my life. And I could feel this, her, I could feel her walk with God over the past centuries, touching my life. And guys, I want that for us. I want that for God's people. I want to live like this. So that whenever I'm speaking into young person's life, or young people or people in other generations, that there's a connection that I'm not a foreigner, I don't feel like an alien, and they don't feel like that to me. And we are connected across those generations and our hearts are connected, not just our minds are just stories, you know, even those stories are very powerful. The third characteristic is they carry a powerful anointing of the Holy Spirit, to turn hearts across generations to one another. We learn this also from Malikai. It's not just the ability to connect at the heart level. It's the ability to turn the heart. And I saw this also in Annie in my life, when she would speak. My heart wanted to turn when she said things. The well was so deep. And the years were so long in her life and her years with God, not just her physical years, that it put a desire in me to turn toward the Lord and to go deeper and she was challenging she. I mean, she was a tough lady. She was not you know, I'm sure she was a nurturer. But she was like you need more of God. She wasn't like, well, you you know you I need more of God's Son. She was like, You need more of God taught? Do you know how much you need the Holy Ghost and all the old timers calling the Holy Ghost, they don't call him the Holy Spirit. They call him the Holy Ghost. Because that, you know, that was a terminology. So anyway, she was challenging, but my heart wanted to turn. And it wasn't just my heart. It was the anointing on her life. And there were many others besides Annie, but I'm trying to use one of more extreme examples, for effect here. Number four, they are granted the power of the Holy Spirit, to bring profound restoration. Now we see this in Matthew 11. Remember what Jesus says, Elijah, John the Baptist is Elijah, when we talked about this at the retreat, we don't think he believes in reincarnation, when he says, John the Baptist is Elijah, he's talking about the mantle on his life. Then he says, and Elijah will come again, I have friends who believe that Elijah will actually come back to the earth that might be true. I'm not debating that. But I do believe that if I look at Jesus words about John the Baptist, they are a clue about what's happening in the in the final generations. And I believe that, and he says in that passage in Matthew 11, that He will restore all things and he's I don't think he's talking about the whole world. I mean, we understand when Jesus returns to the earth, things are in bad shape, according to a lot of scriptures that we won't go into. So the restoration of all things I tend to believe is in the kingdom of God. It is in the actual people of God, the those who are what he calls the remnant, or the elect, our I believe there's a tremendous restoration happening in the elect and across the generations, so that the Lord is coming for a pure, spotless bride. So the Bride of Christ, the people of God, are actually coming into greater and greater maturity in the Lord. So the people of God, like Jesus says, Let the wheat and the tares grow together, the wheat is getting more mature, and the tears are getting more mature. The righteous are getting more righteous. And we're not talking about our legal position. We're talking about sanctification, our living condition, we're getting more righteous in our walk with God in our in our living condition. We're already righteous in our legal position. But sanctification, we're growing in our walk with God, we're growing in that lifestyle of holiness. At the same time in the world, we see this don't let it scare you. The wicked grow more wicked, and they grow bold in their wickedness. This should not surprise anybody. This is the end result of sin. When sin is allowed to continue. What does Paul say it ends in death, right? That's what he says. And we know that means spiritual death and physical death. It's not just one or the other. It's both. You look at some things happening in the world today. It looks like a death cult. It's like what I can't, I mean, no one would have believed it 10 years ago, and yet it's happening. And yet Christians knew this. Many believers knew this all along, hey, if you go this direction, this is where it's going to take you. And the scary part is is where it will take you on the wheat and the tares. growing more righteous, growing more wicked, this is happening in the earth, and the divide will only increase with time. But we believe that Jesus will return for a pure, spotless bride. And so this is the good news is that God says hey, no matter what's happening in the world, it cannot stop you from walking closer with me. And walking in deeper communion, walking in holiness, walking in faith, walking in victory, walking in the fullness of God, this is the good news that we can walk in the fullness of God. And don't let this lie of the enemy tell you you can't pass that faith on to the next generation because of the culture or this or that or the other. They might seem like Goliath, but God's power is greater and the light always overcomes the darkness given enough time. Number four, when Elijah tells the Lord, that there are no more profits or altar builders, he's implying I said this before, he's implying that there are no others like him with the same mantle and devotion. The Lord assures him there are 7000 like him. However, we learned from Paul that God adds another qualification. You could say one more qualification or you could actually They say to, because they God says, They are reserved by me, for me. So God actually reserved 7000 for himself in the Lord specifically addresses Elijah's concern of this Have there been no prophets or alters, but he seems to add this qualification, to more things that when he responds so gods, it's like they have not bowed to Baal. And they are reserved for God. So you see, I'm saying, Elijah goes, Hey, there's no one here like me done. The Lord goes, Oh, yeah, they're 7000. And they have not bowed their need to bail and they are reserved by me for me. Now I've got his he's got my attention. And I said this in the earlier teaching, I want to repeat it. God did not say, you're right, Elijah, there are no prophets or alter builders, but at least I have 7000 who haven't been bowed their knee to Baal. Now, the reason why I read it this way, is because that's the way I used to read it. I kind of read it like, Well, yeah, he's God's kind of saying, Yeah, you got a point there, Elijah. But hey, there's 7000. Since the Lord seems to object to Elijah's entire statement, it's an implication that these people carry all of Elijah's qualities, the Lord never objects. He He never says. He never says that they don't carry the heart of the Lord or that, you know, these other things. The point is that every indication in this passage is that they have the qualities of Elijah and these other qualities, and they're reserved for the Lord. For every public Elijah. You see, there are many nonpublic alleges, or let's say unknown Elijah's or let's just say Elijah's in obscurity, whom God has reserved for himself. Thing is in the natural world. Do you can only have you, you can't have 5 million famous people. Right? In the natural world, it's impossible in this current existence that we're in. Now I think things are going to change in the heavenly side of things. Paul says that we will know as we are known, there's a whole teaching there we could do, he says you will know even as you are known. So the implication is that there are there are robust relationships, but maybe no limit to those you could know all these people and they know you. And there's we could go deeper into that some other time. But this idea that there are public Elijah's that are called to be public, Elijah's. But there are many more who God has reserved for himself, who are not called or maybe aren't Republic, Elijah's. And some people have thought perhaps, in this case, God was holding them in this emergency reserve, like a reserve army, just in case he needs them. Well, that might be true. That's the way I looked at it being a military background. But I don't think that is what he's saying in Romans 11. Because he doesn't say now I have reserved for myself 7000, just in case I need him. He says No, they haven't bowed their knee to bail, they're walking with me. And I believe it has more to do with God's relationship with those 7000. And his relationship with them is precious to him. So much so that he actually reserved them for himself. It says instead of saying I have reserved them in case there's a future battle, or in case there's a future need. He says his purpose with the words for himself. I love that. So God makes His primary purpose explicit for those 7000 in those two words. Let that sink in. It seems that God's primary purpose was actually the for himself. When I read Romans 11. It seems to me that it's he kind of ends with that as the summation or the culmination of his purpose in this. And these are the unknown Elijah's, I believe, who are not burdened by many of the same encumbrances and cares of highly public ministry, or the administration of large organizations. There's a lot in that some of you in this room, we've done things where our positions were at a high enough level that the administrative responsibilities were heavy. And what I have found is in those, the more the more my administrative responsibilities, the heavier they get, the less time I have to devote to the Word of God into prayer. You think of the Scripture acts six right now, we may talk about that today if we have time. But you see, the apostles were just the opposite. They weren't concerned with well, I need to focus on the administrator, they weren't neglecting it, they didn't go, well. Don't worry about it, it'll just take care of itself. They still appointed administrators. But their focus was on the Word of God and prayer. And I believe this should always be our focus on the Word of God and prayer and walking with him. So these are deeply devoted to God Himself, the 7000, they're able to deeply devote their lives and their time to God and to his people. And those things that are deeply on his heart. And, and I think that there's a lot more to be uncovered here or discovered. I'm hoping to whet your appetite to look deeper in this because I think you're gonna see things I don't see, I think other scriptures are going to come into play, as we meditate on this more, they prefer personal intimacy with God, and legacy, more than public recognition, or success in ministry. Now, this is a thing, there are Elijah's people who carry this mantle all around us, we have to stop looking for the famous people. I'm not saying there aren't Elijah's on stages, or before cameras. I'm not saying that at all. But the problem is, if we get into the mode, where those are the main ones, we can miss God like Elijah did, and not see what was one or 7000. There's 7000 out there. And I believe it's, you know, that's a good ratio to think by. I don't know if that's the actual ratio today. But I think it's a good ratio to at least look at and go, every time you see a public Elijah, then you there's probably 7000 others who are not. And they these people are more concerned, I believe about being famous in heaven than known on the earth. Now, there are public Elijah's who are the same way they, they are concerned about being famous in heaven. They don't care who knows their name. But there's a whole lot of people who got there because they were concerned about a known ministry, a brand, fame, a bigger organization. And one thing that we've tried to practice for many years in teaching, raising our kids, is to say, don't be lured by those things that the world says are important. Seek the Lord. Seek the fame with God, seek the intimacy with God, and let the fruit come as God intends to send it. If I get into the mode of chasing prosperity, then what ends up happening is I Quit Chasing God. Even in ministry, guys, even in ministry, I'm I need to chase the Lord, and chase his purposes for my life, and let his prosperity come as it may. And the Scripture teaches us in Deuteronomy, that that's the way it's supposed to happen. He says this, The blessing shall overtake you. In other words, he says if you do these things, I will cause the blessing to chase after you. But what ends up happening is we get that backwards sometimes. And we think that it's wise in ministry, to to reestablish the standards after fleshly norms, instead of after God's norms. And so you see this when Elijah is out there, and name and comes out and he wants to be healed. And and Elijah tells him what to do. Well, he doesn't want to do it. Well, then he does it. Remember what happens? He gets healed? What did he offer? Alicia? You remember what he offered him? Yeah, he offered him all these gifts and everything. Now, unless you could have made his ministry bigger. I mean, I don't know very many ministry. I'm not saying didn't if somebody offers to give you an offering to turn them down. I'm not saying that. But what I am saying is that we see this model in Elijah's life, he's like, No, take it with you, you know, and he's like, don't need it. And it's like, wait a minute, is that the way our ministries function? I mean, one of my spiritual fathers, I'll never forget. I was just talking to him about this here a while back, and I'll never forget he was taken an offer in one day and it was a big crowd. And and he's taken an offering for the church and he goes alright, today is takeout Sunday. He goes if you're really a need, I just invite you in. often play comes by take out what you need. And he told me later, and this was real. This happened 40 years ago almost and, and he told me, I was just talking to him about it this year. And he goes, Yeah, he goes, I don't know if I should have done that. He goes, because some people took a lot of money out of there. But the point that I'm trying to make is, is that sometimes it's easy to get into the natural or in the flesh, and have standards that are after the flesh rather than after the spirit. And Elisha, in this case, he just turns it down. He goes, No, no, thank you. God bless you. I don't need my ministry to be bigger. I don't need more money. I don't need more clothes, or whatever it was, he offered him. And then you know the story. His servant went out there and went after it. Dishonest Lee, that's another whole whole deal there. What? Yes, that's Yep. Yes. That's a great point. That's a great point, Daniel. And it's not we're not saying that to be a hidden Elijah, you have turned down offerings. We're not saying it. But but really what God is showing us is that we pursue him first. That's what Jesus he summed it up, he goes, Seek first the Kingdom. And all these things shall be added to you. So for those of us in ministry, and there are many of us in ministry, I want to say, I feel like we should say these hidden Elijah's what they do, is, they don't seek first the growth of their ministry. Hmm. Now we're getting to, you know, some people and make them a little nervous, they don't even seek first the growth of their church, they seek first the growth of the kingdom, they all went, That's they pursue the kingdom, they don't seek first the growth of their name recognition. It doesn't matter. What matters is who knows your name in heaven. You see what I'm saying. And so this is a very freeing way to live as these hidden Elijah is live. Now, if God chooses to make you known in your ministry big and you know, all of that, praise God, that's, that's wonderful. But you don't have to worry either way. It's not a definition of your success in the kingdom. It that's important, because right now, there are many people who are not putting their whole heart end because they don't feel like they're a success. It's no accident in the parable of the talents, or the parable of the meanness, that in those parables, the person who buried their talent, or their MENA was the one with the least, you tracking, because it's those sometimes that feel like well, I don't really have much to give you yada yada, you know, maybe it's just not that big of a deal. It's only one talent. It's only one Mina, which are very different monetary values, by the way. But the point is, that the enemy will in us, he'll try to get us to minimize all these gifts and things in our lives. And Jesus is like, wait a minute, don't minimize this. Remember the widow. Jesus says the widow, she gave her little two mites. And Jesus goes, she does gay more than everybody. I love the economics of the kingdom. Because you don't have to come from a place of privilege, a place of position, a place of power, a place of money, you don't have to have a whole lot of talents or gifts, you just come to Jesus right where you are, and start serving Him and give and the next thing you know, in the heavens, you're a multimillionaire, and I'm not talking about dollars, you are you can become extreme, you can. The whole idea. When I say multi billionaire, the point is that you can literally grow into your full eternal destiny. We talk a lot about destiny, and calling on the Earth, our destiny and calling and heavens way more important than our calling on the earth. But our calling on the earth is important because it helps us that pathway to get there. But more important is you have a calling in the eternal heavens. And that calling is important because you're going to be doing it for a long time. And you know, my desire is for every one of us to get to the fullness of that calling and not be held back. Paul called it the upward call in one translation. It says the upper call another it says calls it the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. There is a place of calling in God and eternity. And we want to be faithful where we are now. Man, are you guys loving this? Yeah, man, this is good. Not because I'm teaching it, because it's from the Scripture. So if you want to, yeah, let's let me get the microphone here because I want to make sure that everybody else hears your question. So just it's just a quick question. Yeah. have the 7000? Like, do we have a ballpark figure of what the population was in Israel at the time? That's a good question. So 7000? Yeah, I don't know. That would be a great question. Because it might, again, ratios give us clues that they kind of give us a spectrum. It kind of like, oh, okay, well, how many? What's the remnant? Percentage? I'm really fascinated with your question. That would be very interesting to look into. Amen. Well, let me find my place here in the notes. So I said that for every public Elijah, maybe there are 7000, for every public, Elijah, I don't know, I tend to think it might be a higher number now, because the world has a whole lot more people in it, billions of people. The unknown religious, they are more I said this, they're more concerned about being famous in heaven than known on the earth. The third one, they're more concern for the next generation than their own success. We did a whole teaching on this. Back in the latter part of the seven pillars. When we looked at this transition in those paradigms, I mentioned it during the retreat. But we went into it deeper during the latter part of the seven pillars on these two paradigms. I used to think that this was just a good way to go, you know, live half your life on the success paradigm and live half your life on the legacy paradigm. And there are actually, there are some people who teach that. I think there's a book on it. They didn't talk about it from Elijah's perspective, but just talked about it from success to legacy in general, a Christian author, I can't remember who it was. The older I get, the more I believe that the earlier you can transition to the legacy paradigm, the better. Now, I kind of used this illustration, when Beth and I got married, we were young. Some people say how in the world do you have 18 grandkids when you're 55 years old? And I said, Well, we got married when we were 12. And they look at me like I'm serious. And I'm just kidding, you know. But my point is this, that I told Beth, I said, you know, honey, I said, I really don't want to be, I don't want to have kids so late in life, that we're changing diapers in our 40s. Because you have a lot more energy in your 20s to raise kids than you have in your 40s. And I've got friends that have had toddlers in their late 50s. So and it's tough. It's difficult, challenging. In some places, that's more than norm. What do you when you guys lived in Los Angeles, I remember visiting you guys. And we took Freddy to McDonald's, and everybody's talking about how beautiful our son is. And all this everybody thought he was our son. You know, you go home to my own state, and they won't think that they'll say you have a nice grandson. You know, because people are married at an earlier age. The point I'm making is that I believe becoming spiritual fathers and mothers earlier in life is better. And we I don't subscribe to this idea that you got to become an old wise gray beard before you're really a good spiritual father. You can you we need to become spiritual fathers and mothers early in life. I believe that there don't let Don't be held back. You know, there's an old saying that perfect practice makes perfect. Well, you can't start practicing unless you do it. Right. I mean, that's the whole idea of practice is doing it. And so let's start early. These these that we're talking about the 7000 these unknown Elijah's they're more concerned with the kingdom's branding than the branding of their own ministry. I know a lot of people that are worried I've, I some of you may know, I used to consult as a strategic planner for ministries and businesses years ago when I came out of graduate school in business. And I had a tremendous mentor who is world famous. And so I learned a lot from him. And then I did consulting. Well, one of the big things was how do we make our ministry, bigger branding and all of that, and that's not ungodly. It can be you know, a proper attitude toward that can be godly. But the point I'm making is that it's important that our number one priority is the branding of the kingdom. How's the kingdom of God represented? More than how is how, what is my branding? What do people think about me what to think of people think about my ministry? It's it starts with my focus first on the branding of the kingdom and the reputation of the kingdom of God. We have seen many leaders fall, who were great at branding their ministries but not the kingdom. And the kingdom suffered greatly because of the ungodliness and things in their life. So these, these who are focused on being unknown Elijah's, they're more concerned with fathering sons and daughters. Then they are seeing how many sheep they can gather into a bigger barn. Are you tracking with me? Now, it's not bad to gather people together and stadiums, large buildings, for the sake of worshipping, I love those I love to gather and worship and do these things. But they need to have their proper place in priorities. And if we can focus on the if we can say, Lord, I want to pray in my prayer closet, I don't want to stand in the streets. I want to devote myself to you, like David did on the backside of a mountain, when nobody knew him in obscurity, because I cherished the presence of the Lord more than being king. Amen. And when we do this, we don't keep tearing our barns down to build bigger ones to make our house look bigger, to make our ministry look bigger, to make our this look bigger, or that, again, we are not against large ministry, what we're against is the wrong attitude. You don't have to try to become a public Elijah to be significant in the kingdom of God. This is a very important message, because we're speaking to the 7000. The 7000 You guys do in the ratio here, who you want to invest your life into the one or the 7000? Right? I have a feeling if you invest your life into the 7000, you may actually end up reaching that that known Elijah to right. But we do it because we seek Him His kingdom first. And one of the spiritual disciplines we talk about in air Nova is this is the discipline of secrecy. And we have to define it because then they go, What are you talking about some secret truth or that's what cults do? Yeah, that's what cults do. We're talking about the secrecy of the prayer closet. We're talking about the secrets of the kingdom where we that intimacy with God, that fame with God is what we seek after spiritual fathering, and mothering is more important to them, than impressing the world with the size or the prowess of their success. I know Christians have got caught up in this trap, where they want people to know that they're successful. And they're in they have faith because they're successful, whether it's just too much emphasis on prosperity. And again, I love prosperity you love prosperity. I don't know anybody doesn't love prosperity. But my point is that that's not our focus. Which would you rather, would you rather chase after all those blessings and things? Or would you rather them chase after you, I'd rather than chase after me, and not chase after Jesus. And as far as I'm concerned, I don't care if anybody knows who I am. Right? If you guys notice, and I don't know, maybe it's a mistake. We don't advertise anything. We don't even advertise this teaching, though. It keeps growing to more and more countries, we don't advertise our teaching library or anything. And I'm not saying that's a point of godliness. I'm just saying it's not a focus for me. What my focus is, is let's pursue Jesus. And I'm not even saying I'm right, maybe we should advertise, I don't know. But my point to us is, is that is our heart in the right place. And because I tell you what, I love it, when God says I've reserved them for myself, I would much rather be reserved for God, than to then to have any of the other things that are offered there. I love that spiritual father and and mothering is more important to them than the size or the prowess of their success. You can translate this to size of your business, the rank that you have in the military, the size of your ministry, the position that you that you hold, these are all the trappings that the enemy sends to get you and I derailed so that we are in the full power right in the center of where God has called us. It's not a lesser honor to be one whom the Lord has reserved for himself. Can we believe that? It is not a lesser honor? Yes, men may not honor you the same way man may not honor me the same way. And you know, I know. There are some in this gathering here. And I can relate to this, who we have looked at certain things and said no to them, even though they would have brought more money and more prestige. And you know what it is it is freeing to do what God's called you to do, and not get caught up in the formulas of having to pursue the world sucks. says, What am I saying, don't let the world's calculus, enter into the kingdom calculus. That's really all we're saying. Whether you're a known Elijah, and you have a large ministry, or whether you're an unknown Elijah, and you have a small ministry, God says, it's not small to me. And if it's really large, God goes, where's your heart, because you have a lot to be faithful for. And at the same time, he has a lot of things to say about those who give all that they have. I love it. So I said, it's not a lesser honor to be one whom the Lord reserved for himself. These are the hall of heroes, who have chosen to forego fame, or I will say pursuit of fame, because some of them do become known. But it's those who have chosen to forego the pursuit of fame, or the pursuit of notoriety in earthly circles, even Christian circles, in order to more deeply devote themselves to God, through prayer, and His Word. And we'll get more into this on our next time that I teach on this. But this, there's a lot more here, I've got more pages on this. But this is probably a good place to stop for today. But I tell you, I want to encourage you to know that God sees you, his heart sees you, you need to know how important you are to the Lord. This is critical, guys. Because think about this. If you and I are sitting here and and I'm holding my one talent, and you're holding your one talent, and you're holding near one, Mina, and we're just standing here, and we go, Hey, wait a minute. Jesus says that the the widow who had to might she gave it all, literally she gave her she's she gave more never body than you and I can become the biggest givers in the kingdom, just like that, you and I can literally become the most faithful in the kingdom with that right there. God wants you to know how close you are to do and how close you are. There are many spiritual giants who are known in the heavens. And I pray that we will see ourselves through God's the lens, and not through the lens of worldly calculus through the economics of the world. And you know what will happen? If you see yourself through the economics of the kingdom, you will see others through the economics of the kingdom. And then you will know when you walk among spiritual giants. And this is important, because remember what Dick said how Bob Swanger had taught him, he said, don't see people through the lens of their failures, see them through the lens of their destiny. Now, some of you may not know this, but when Dick found that out, he didn't share this at the retreat. But when he found that out, when he spoke, then his spiritual father spoke that to him. He said, uh, will you stop? Will? Can we just stop right now? Will you lay hands on me and pray for me? I want to have that mantle, I want to have that and anointed to be able to do that. And he prayed over Dick right there. And I will tell you, I've seen it in his life. He does it. When I found out about it. The first time I found out about it from him that that he when he spoke this and this mantle, I immediately did the same thing. I said, Would you stop right now would you just take a moment with me, lay your hands on me and pass that mantle on to me. To see people through the lens of their destiny is to see who they are in God, not through the calculus of the world. And it starts by seeing the people we walk with. Think about think about. There's Jesus says A prophet is without honor in his own country. And I'll tell you, it's true in in your own family, I'm talking about when you go home, you visit your extended family or whatever, you know, they're like, Oh, this is just Jesus, the boy Jesus from Nazareth. You know, they're just like, oh, this is just, this is just Mike from our hometown. This is just Woody from our hometown. Right? And they know you by the flesh, not by the Spirit. It's easy to know people you walk with closely by the flesh and not by the Spirit. What's that old saying? familiarity breeds contempt. Right. So and so a lot of times, what I've found is is that people will, you know, I'll know them a little bit and they listen to our podcast and they'll say, can you come speak in our church? Can you come in, but sometimes the closest people to me don't even ask me to come speak at their ministries, or their church. Some of them do some I'm not offended. I'm just saying that it's real easy to become so familiar with people that we don't See the spiritual giants that they are? Amen. I'm gonna point the mic toward you. so broad, would you pray that over us now to us what was given to you? Absolutely. I mean, and I will tell you did carries, I think even a heavier hit, you know, mantle's grow like the fire on a grizzly bear wintertime. And so, my little mantle, I'll pray it for you. Absolutely. And I encourage you guys, if you go the sabbatical this year Aska brother, dicta pray for you, too. I'll give everything I got. And let's do that right now. We'll close with this prayer. Lord, we just we pray right now, God, we desire, this anointing and calling and empowerment and grace to see people through the lens of their destiny, not the lens of their failures. And right now I just pass everything we can we just pass it on right now. To those who will receive it here on Zoom, and on those who are listening across the world, right now we pray this impartation this anointing, and Lord give us eyes to see the unknown Elijah us in the name of Jesus, we want to, we want to see and respect that's another word respect. The unknown Elijah's because they are everywhere they are in our midst. They are in the spiritual families that we partner with. They're in other countries, in this ecosystem, the spiritual ecosystem that we live in with your people. And so we pray for an impartation upon all of them, and upon us, and Lord, to see the spiritual giants among us to quit looking at how large their ministry is to know the spiritual giants they are or the size of their bank accounts or what they drive or where they live. In Jesus name. Give us the eyes of Jesus, to see as you see, and Lord to speak life and destiny into lives because of who you are, Lord. And so right now we pray this mantle. We pray help us to receive it in fullness. We pray this passing on right now, upon your people. In Jesus name, Amen and Amen.