Hidden Elijahs (Part 3) - 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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​I am picking up here, by the way, I want to say thank you, Nancy, you taught I think the girls taught and shared I heard there was a lot of sharing after the season. So I am so grateful for you all and your you all have a tremendous ministry, you speak to a lot more than just those of us here. But in many places, so thank you. I tell you, Nancy, I, I'm really excited, I think you have a lot to give us with the spiritual disciplines. And I was just taking notes like as fast as I could type on my keyboard when you were teaching. So I just pray that you'll keep digging, and we'll keep receiving in the name of Jesus. And we'll keep publishing on this. So other people in the play in various places in the world can receive and in Jesus name. So I am still teaching, though, on the unknown Elijah. So this came up in the retreat. And then I really all of us I wasn't, that wasn't the main theme in the retreat. But the last point was on the unknown Elijah's and more I got into it as I go, man, this is, I've never seen this before, not like this. So out of Romans 11. So we did a second installment before we went on our last ministry trip. And so I'd like to do a third installment on this unknown Elijah concept that we see in Romans 11. Since it's been a few weeks, I will for the folks that are here, I'll review it briefly. And those who are listening in our teaching library, you'll just get a good review. There's they say, repetition lends itself to learning. So it probably helped to get some repetition. But I'd like to read Romans 11. And this is the scripture that really prompted the insights on this because Paul gives us some, some extra insight. I'll read verse to Romans 11, to God is not castaways 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 and left and they seek my life. But what does the divine response say to him, I have reserved for myself 7000 men who have not bowed the knee to bail, even so then at this present time, there is a remnant according to the election of grace. Now, these are those whom the Lord calls a remnant, the hidden 7000. And I call I pointed our attention to this last time, that when you go back and read this passage in Kings, it doesn't say God reserved the 7000 for himself. It just says, God, you know, there were 7000. But he doesn't use that terminology. So Paul, gives us an insight into that 7000 These are those whom Paul calls a remnant, how many of you have heard the word remnant before? I've heard Matt start first started hearing remnant teaching a lot right around 38 years ago. Now, I'm not, obviously, it's been in the teaching and in the body much longer than that. But that's when I really began to hear it increase in my own time, lifetime. And these are those who are deeply devoted to the Lord Himself and set apart for Him. This is the only place in the New Testament where this word appears. So that gets my attention when when you see a word that's a noun, a unique noun, like remnant that used it by us by a Bible writer. And that's the only time it's used. It's like, warning sign, not warning, but it's like, it's like red flags going pay attention, pay attention. From what we can tell. It is not used. In this context. It's not used to describe all of God's people in Israel, or even all of those who trusted in God, but it's specifically describing those like Elijah, who were deeply committed to God. And they were, I won't say they were, I will say prophets, but prophets with a small p, not necessarily people in the office of a prophet, but people who listened and heard God. You see what I'm saying? So, in other words, there There's a point in in Corinthians where Paul call, Paul says, and the prophets may prophesy. And when you really start studying, you find out there's a lot of people who prophesy who are not in the office of Prophet, but they Paul will use that term in a generic sense. So we see here, that there, this remnant concept is describing people who listen to God that like that's a lifestyle of theirs. It's not something that, oh, yeah, I heard God, you know, two years ago, and I'll pray and maybe I'll hear him again and a year or two, but it's that it's that lifestyle of hearing God, these are the people that we see that are describing the remnant, the description of the remnant, and they are altar builders, because that's what he said that the, you know, the prophets are gone, they broken down your altars. In other words, there's no Altar builders, I'm the only one Lord, that's what he was saying. And, and then we see, there's two other things that God adds to other descriptions of these people of the 7000. There are people who have not bowed their knee to bail, and they have not compromised, so to speak in their set of partners to God, are you with me? In other words, he didn't say when Elijah said this, he goes, Lord, there's no one else who's not bowed their knee to bail, he just says there's no one else like me, and specifically that the altars were broken down, and, and they're not hearing God, there's no prophets. So this is really interesting. And I will I have some notes I can give you if you want to explore some of the scriptures that imply this in their context. But it's Romans 11, Malikai, for Matthew 11, and First Kings 19. So I can give those to you in the notes, if you would like when Elijah tells the Lord, that there are no more prophets or altered builders, he's implying there's no one else with this mantle like he carries Are you with me? And God is setting him straight. He's going, Wait a minute, this mantle is not just your mantle. It has we call it the mantle of Elijah. But it is bigger than just you. Have you ever had an anointing or calling or gracing upon your life, and it's so intense you go, Wait a minute, this is bigger than me. The flesh will often go yeah, you're really important. You know, this is you, this is all you and you're like, now you know this by now you crucify the flesh. You go, no, no, this is the anointing of the Holy Spirit in this call this gift set this whatever is way bigger than I am. And I sense when God will speak to me many times, the word is not just for me, the promise is not just for me, it's for my family, or it's for my spiritual family. And you guys that know me know, many times, I'll say that I'll go, oh, this is for a lot more than just me. Don't limit what God is giving to the body by holding it into yourself. And you hear me say this a lot. Share what God's saying to you. Unless you get a definite word saying up Nope, don't say anything, just pray on this. A lot of people they hold back, sometimes out of fear, and sometimes out of intimidation or fear, or, you know, self consciousness, and sometimes just out of, you know, this super spiritual kind of feeling. It's not super spiritual at all, you know, so I try to teach people, Hey, unless the Lord tells you don't share it, be sure to let it you give it away, share it. So that seed the Lord added the two qualifications already mentioned that I'm just going through the notes, making sure we review the key points. Since the Lord seems to object to Elijah's entire statement, you track in the Lord seems to object to the whole statement. It's an implication that the 7000 that when he goes, but I do have the 7000. It's an implication that these 7000 are in fact, prophets with a little P that is people who hear God people who are involved in hearing and speaking the voice of the Lord, the word of the Lord, or people who carry the Lord's hearts and words, and they are altar builders, and they have not bowed to bail, and they are reserved to the Lord Himself. And God is very specific about that. In Romans 11, we could take Paul's words, and we know he's very specific. And I said it this way. For every public Elijah, you see, there are many, that God reserves for himself that you do not see. Perhaps 7000 I'm not saying there's a heavenly ratio, and God goes okay for every guy and gal that is a public Elijah. I've got 7000 Just over here in my secret chambers that are ministering and seeking the Lord that are unknown to the world. I'm not saying that right. ratio is some set ratio. However, I do believe the numbers give us a glimpse into God's heart God's plans in God's ways about how he reserves people to Himself very important. God makes His primary purpose explicit for the 7000 though, when he says that they are reserved for himself and we went into this, these are the unknown Elijah's who are not burdened by many of the same encumbrances and cares of highly public ministry, or the administration of it, some of us have been in past times, there's a couple of us in the room, I'm thinking of Tom, and I'm thinking myself and others, where we've been in a much more public place of ministry, a much what the world considers a higher rank of position and influence and all of these things. And in those times, we will, I can tell you, for sure, I know he will tell you this. We are encumbered by much administration, by much, much, much administration. And this is true in large ministry organizations and large organizations where we just have a lot that we are encumbered by encumbered may not be the word everyone would use. But my point is that it easily can clog up the pipes, so that our times with God become less and less concentrated. And so it's impressive. It looks good to be in these places of public ministry. But it also carries with it large burdens that we must carry of responsibilities that are not related, as much to prayer in the Word. And we'll get into that a little bit today, Acts chapter six, because the apostles actually elected for the more humble path in this respect, if you will. And I'm not saying they were more humble than everybody else, I'm just saying that it was a more humble path that they chose. So I made a couple of other notes in our in our review that I just want to mention here. Let me pull out my other notes here. I did speak briefly about and let me go to teaching point seven on page 10. I said this, it's not a lesser honor to be one who the Lord has reserved for himself. Even though the world and even the public church today has started to develop this mentality. These people who are the unknown Elijah's who are not famous. They don't have big ministries. They don't have impressive credentials, I'm talking about in the church now, or in the world for that matter many times. But they are the Hall of Heroes. Many of them have chosen pathways that forego that prestige, that forego that fame, or that for go that earthly notoriety. And they've devoted themselves to God, in prayer in the word in a humble life and a humble pathway that is less prestigious. There's many of them. And here's what here, there's something we talked about last time, I'm going to briefly mention it, and then take us to the next point, looking at people, brother dig down. And it's been teaching us about looking at people through the lens of their destiny, not through the lens of their failures. And we talked about that. But here's another one, looking at people through the lens of their destiny, and not through the lens of earthly press Dege. Now, James warns us about this. But you might say, well, you know, that's kind of a pretty, that's pretty simple teaching. We all get that already. Yet the church does it on a huge scale. And the reason why is we have developed patterns of thinking after the world so that we see the Elijah's who are public Elijah's. Well, that's wonderful. But the problem is, we don't see the 7000 Are you tracking with me? We don't see the spiritual giants. We walk with. Nancy, you travel, we travel together, you teach and minister, we've done some wonderful things. If your ministry was $100 million ministry, and you had a jet airplane, and you traveled and, and so forth, and yet you were in this spiritual family like you are and you minister with us, I can guarantee you, people will look at you differently. They will think Oh, Nancy Sheezus spiritual giant she is. She is deep with God. Right? That's what people do. And yet, you are a spiritual giant. You do walk with God. There, his husband just her husband just said that she's the most beautiful woman in the world. For those listening. We just had a sharing on this, but you didn't. It wasn't recorded. So. Amen. Brother. That's a good word. Good word that's from a good husband. So but the point is that, do you see what we're saying is we need to be seen through the lens of God's calling and destiny, not through the lens of these worldly structures and ideas. We will miss the Giants we live with and walk with. Right? I was just telling our team this past pur counselors like you guys, were in Central America this next week. This is not where I'm the ambassador from heaven. And you guys are my staff. We don't work like that. That's not That's the world model. We're all ambassadors of heaven. When we go, we must live and walk in the humility and the divine majesty of that ambassadorship. Don't see yourself as a staff, you're not a staff. Right? You're you are an ambassador of heaven. You are one of the 7000, these four qualities that God calls out in Romans chapter 11, you walk in them. And so if we will see and live and think like God is teaching us in Romans chapter 11, like Paul is teaching us, we will see ourselves differently. Because who was most tempted to hide their talents? The dudes with one talent? Who was the most tempted to hide their meanness in the ground and not the dude with one, right? I'm not saying you guys, there's way there's people in this room with way more than one talent, or one Mina, right? I'm looking at you, you have way more than one. But the point is that if you don't fit a certain profile, what ends up happening is you look in the mirror, and you don't see the Elijah that you are that God, the mantle of Elijah, he's called you to carry. And you know what God even says, Oh, by the way, these are reserved for me. I'm like, God, I think I like that better. Personally, I'm like, you know, I'm like, Lord, I like this. I like this idea of, I don't want people to know about me, I want them to know about Jesus, I want them to know about this king, I want them to know about this kingdom. And this is this is the essence of our heart and calling. And we, as we see the 7000 Elijah's, we see ourselves in that group, then we will see the others. But if you can't see yourself as the 7000, the Elijah's the hidden Elijah's a lot of times, you won't see the person next to you who is. Now I'm not saying everybody is, please hear me. There's four qualities we just covered in the review. I'm not saying everybody has a hidden Elijah, what I'm saying is, is that there are many people who have this kind of devotion, this kind of mantle, this kind of walk with God, they're spiritual giants. And they are hidden to the outside world, but they're not hidden to those who walk by faith and see through the eyes of the king and the kingdom. Amen. Surely somebody will say amen to that. All right. Yeah, let me pull it up here. The, it comes from Romans chapter 11. The first two are mentioned by by Elijah, he says, Lord, they have killed your prophets and torn down your altars. So the first to our Lord. In other words, there's no prophets. There's no one hearing your voice and moving in the active voice and will of God. The other one is there are no Altar builders. That's the two things we see Elijah claiming in his concerns that he brings before the Lord. And then the Lord seems to buy the way the Lord responds and the divine response in the way Paul describes it, it seems that God is saying, no, no, no, that's not true. There are plenty of people who are 7000, who have actually fit these two qualities, but then he adds two more, and he says, that I have reserved for myself and who have not bowed the knee to Baal. So they are reserved by God and They have they walk in a set of partners to God, they're not compromisers in the things of the kingdom, they they don't compromise in the world, they are set apart the things that even God's people sometimes get into different types of idolatries and setting things higher than God in their lives. These do not do it. So those are the the four, the two Elijah mentioned. And then the two more that God seems to add on in Romans 11. I appreciate that question. Because if you're thinking that probably a lot of other folks are. All right. The let me check my notes here when you most of the giants of the kingdom, I said this are unknown in the world. Because they have pursued a higher reward the here's part of the issue. If you pursue the King and the Kingdom, there's a lot of opportunities that are going to come your way, what's the Bible, Jesus says, Seek first the Kingdom. And what does he say will happen? All these things get added to you. And when all these things get added to you what happens, doors start opening, this opportunity, that opportunity, this blessing, that blessing, this opportunity. Many of you know exactly what I'm talking about blessings, just start chasing after you like it says in Deuteronomy, and blessings have a way of opening doors of opportunities, quote, opportunities, unquote. And you can prosper you can press into those. But if you shift and go, Okay, now I'm going to think like the world, I'll do what I think is the best, most prosperous, most financially advantageous, most prestigious, yada, yada, yada, yada, honorable, whatever thing, then we just fall back into the calculus of the world in our decision making and ask God to bless it. Right? So we become no different than the world except for the prayer at the end, rather than continuing in Matthew 633, and we just keep seeking the kingdom. And so then we, as we walk in this way, this door of opportunity opens and we go, Lord, what, what are your thoughts on this? And the Lord goes, Yes, walk through that door, or this other door and the Lord goes, no. But Lord, this is a great ministry opportunity we can reach 1000s. Lord, if I'm the head of this organization, this happened to me several times where they offered me jobs, very prestigious church, and another one was an organization. And and the Lord goes, nope, that's not your calling. I got something better for you. And you know what, it has been better. Now I'm not as famous. I'm not on the news channels like I would have been in one of those jobs. But my point is that it's not about what's what we think is going to influence the most people, or what we think is going to make us the most money. It's about doing what Jesus calls us to do. And I'll tell you, when we surrender to this way of life, it will set you free, because it to be one, too. And I'm not saying that we all have to be hidden Elijah's at all I'm not saying stay away from the cameras necessarily. I'm saying, just do what God's called you to do and be faithful and invest your life into others like that. And you know, there will be great reward in it. Does that? Are you guys tracking with us? Yeah, see a lot of hits. No, so. But I'll tell you remember this, Jesus? Well, let me say it this way. I've known many people who could have been much more prosperous, or famous are prosperous in the financial in the worldly sense, or famous in their profession or in their ministry. But they chose a more obscure or less prestigious way, because it was closer to God's heart for them in their lives. Remember what Jesus said, and he said this many times, but the last shall be first. What does this mean? He says, The first shall be last and last shall be first. There are many, even in the kingdom, that to us, they will be in the age to come. And they appear to us. There are many who appeared to us like Billy Graham's, are you tracking they're like the big names and all of that, or, and I'm not criticizing church leaders at all. I don't mean to do that. But what I'm saying is, there are people that we look at and we think, Oh, man, they're the first and Jesus says wait a minute, many of the first are going to be last. And many who have those who are last will be first because they're the Kingdom operates on a different set of values. algorithms then the world does. We will not see this unless we function in this kingdom algorithm, if you will, our way of thinking. And that's the whole idea behind what we're saying. Amen. All right. So that's a little bit of a review and a little bit of add on. So I'm going to pick up on page 10.8. In the Christian world today, one of the keys to notoriety in a large ministry is a strong commitment and skill and administration. Now, that's a beautiful gift. It's a spiritual gift. The Bible tells us that there's a natural, I mean, there's a gift of administration, and I think it's natural and spiritual. And today's church world though, we see too many church leaders, who were great administrators, and they were able to build large churches or large ministries. But then we learned of deeply troubling addictions, huh, or profuse moral failures. Guys, listen, there's way too much of this, or a significant distance from holiness, a significant distance from what we would consider genuinely close relationship with Jesus. In some cases, we've even seen these leaders in total apostasy who say they are not Christians today. Now, this has confused many, many people, there's a lot of people in the church is confused. And for some younger Christians, it has been devastating to their faith. Because they begin to think because they prospered in their administrative skills and different abilities, that somehow that made them more spiritual or closer to God. And the mistake that was made, was thinking again, in the calculus and algorithms of how the world thinks, rather than seen Elijah's for Elijah's and how God describes them. The people who walk with God who hear him who build an altar, who are set apart unto Him. And because of this, it has confused much of the church right now, especially the number of Christian high profile Christian leaders who are either in like serious, serious moral failure, or Christians who are just in total apostasy and turning away from the Lord. And this confused them because we have evaluated them according to the wrong criteria. In this, sometimes the church failed to see the difference between successful organizational leaders, and true spiritual leaders who walk with Jesus, in intimacy, and humility. And in the beauty of holiness. Can you guys see what we're saying here? You see what we're saying? There was a mistake, we somehow we got off track in how we, how we understand people in the kingdom of God. In Acts six, we see a glimpse of the apostles prioritizing this life and I want to read X six, three, and four. Because we see that the apostles and again, I'm not bad mouthing administration at all. But what I'm saying is administration administrative skills, I heard John Piper say, and I, it this is not a quote, because I didn't write it down. I don't remember exactly how I said it. So I'm gonna give you the essence of what the message I heard was, he was speaking in Europe at a conference. And he basically, in so many words, says, anybody can build a mega church, if you just do all the right things. If you have the right systems in place, and these and you have a good, you know, you have a good speaker, and you have all these things. He said, in essence, what I was taking away from it was that doesn't make you close to God. You have those same skills, you could take them and build a big roofing business or build a big computer business or build a big, but that doesn't make you close to God. And we understand that when it comes to computer businesses, but for some reason, we think because it's the church that that same principle doesn't apply. And you know, Paul, he gives us some light on this and before I read X six, let me see if I can just read this first Corinthians 1228. He says, God has appointed these in the church and he says the word first apostles, second, prophets, third, teachers is an interesting says first, second, third. After this, he uses the word after after this after that miracles. Then he used the word then y'all getting the message, then gifts of healings, helps administer trations varieties of tongues. So he uses these words to give us a sequential nature to the gifts. He's not saying apostles are more important. He's saying that they're foundational, right? They're foundational. Now there are many today who call themselves apostles. And then what they really mean in some cases is that they are leaders of large networks and organizations. Some of them are apostles. Some of them are not what I mean, Paul gives a description of the apostles, and he goes, We're the least of the least, we're the despised, we're the ones everybody's I'm paraphrasing now, because I don't have the Scripture prepared, is basically saying, We're the dudes everybody looks down on and despises and, and I'm looking at the ones calling themselves apostles, I don't see too many people despising you, you know, they're impressed with your big organization, what have you. Again, we're not knocking organization. That's not the point. Some of those are true apostles, some of them are not. So when I want to clarify that when we say apostles, are we talking about people who have lived a life of humility, a life like Paul and Peter and the other apostles, who gave their lives, literally, to be despised to do the work of God, and not to be large and in charge, so to speak, that wasn't their mentality. That wasn't how they operated. And we see now in Acts six, three, and four, the 12, summon the multitude disciples, and they said, it is not desirable that we would leave the Word of God and serve tables. Now some people see serve tables, and they think that means be waiters and waitresses, they're not talking about that. Watch what happens. Therefore, brethren, we seek out from among you, seven men of good reputation, full of the Holy Spirit in wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business, who are they looking for administrators, they're looking for guys to help them administrate some of this business. But we will give ourselves continually to prayer and to the ministry of the word, as soon as you make this priority in your life. Now, again, some people are called to administration's we embrace that some people are called to helps. Some people are called to all of these gifts and carry these gifts. But the idea here is that we commit ourselves to the Word of God and prayer as a priority in our lives. Listen, I'm going to tell you, it's going to cost you something. If you if if the Lord calls you to a lifestyle of spending 234 hours a day in prayer in the word, it will cost you. And you will not be able to build on the exterior in the same way that you build. If you don't commit that time to the Lord. And I know everyone here does is not called to four hours a day of prayer in the word I understand that. The point is, we want to see that the apostles, committed them serve fellow selves, first, to the intimacy with Jesus. And they set aside administration and said, we'll let somebody else do that. I don't know if you can build a mega church today and do that. Be I'm just being honest with you. I don't know if it's possible, because of the administrative load that's required, it might be possible to come in after it's built and do that. But my point is not. If we embrace everyone's Can God is doing big churches, little churches, big ministries, little ministries, all of this. And there are people who are secret Elijah's and God goes, You know what, I'm going to make you a public Elijah. I'm going to set you up, I want, I want you to go out here to Mount Carmel. And I want you to pray and I'm going to consume the fire on the altar. And I'm going to do signs and wonders, and I'm going to use you and you're going to be on TV and let everybody world's gonna know about you. There are people God does that with. But let it be because God wanted to not because they figured out how to build their ministry and get to that point where they put themselves there, right, there's a difference. So they serve the Lord. We there are many who have served the Lord in humility, and God has lifted them up. And he has made their ministry public and strong and and prosperous. And maybe they do have a jet maybe they do have the things that the world criticizes, even though it's okay for the world and their business, but it's not okay for the church. You know, I won't get into all that. But my point is this that, that I I'm not knocking any of these. I'm just saying that it's very important that we walk in a spirit of humility and be like the apostles and prioritize enemies to intimacy with Jesus, and holiness and altar bill being altar builders. And when we do this, we will be set free from the encumbrances that come from a life that gets off track and tries to build our own success, happiness and joy being In the hidden Elijah's is a wonderful thing. It is free. It is awesome. You see, when David when God decided to put David as king, David wasn't seeking kingship, David didn't go off and one day I'm gonna be king, I'm gonna get to know the right people. And I'm going to do this and I'm gonna do that. And I'm going to, I'm going to, I'm going to grip and grin with the right people up in the palace. And pretty soon I'll be a generals aide, and then I'll work my way from the generals aid to the, to the, to this and to that, and I'll get there and I'll just play the chess game. Well, what did David do? David spent his time on the back side of a mountain in obscurity, loving the father, spending time with the Lord becoming a worshiper. And pretty soon the lion came along. And David, because he was growing his relationship with God, not because he was just a skilled warrior, he became a skilled warrior. And he was close to God there on the backside of the mountain. And then when the bear came, he was ready for the bear. Not because he just good with the sling shot, but because of who God was making him on the inside. It's the inside of that man that made him ready for the bear, not the sling shot. And he lived in obscurity. Listen, I've got good news for you. You can live your life in obscurity and God's preparing you, but our major call is in the age to come. That's God trains up the kings of tomorrow in the coming age is now in obscurity. And people are so focused on this world in this age, and who they influence and what they can do. And all of this instead going, Wait a minute, I'm going to spend time with God on the backside of this mountain. And when the lion comes, I'll be ready. When the bear comes, I'll be ready. When the Goliath comes, I'll be ready. I may not be king of Israel, I may not be King of Anything. I may not be an aide to anybody, but God is preparing the kings of tomorrow. That's what John taught us. That's what Jesus taught us. And so we live our lives today in joy. Many of us in obscurity, this is a wonderful thing. Because we're with him. And he's preparing us. We are the hidden Elijah's. Somebody say amen. Yeah, I love this. And so I want to be like the apostles, I want to always choose the Word of God and prayer. Again, I'm not knocking the administration, some people. I mean, I've had to do that myself in years past, and some levels and in some levels, that entailed a lot. But when I'm able to now I'm able to give myself to Ministry of prayer in the Word, and intimacy with Jesus first. All of these gifts are important. But if we flip their priorities, guys, please hear me. If we flip their priorities, what we end out doing is focus on building our ministry instead of building the kingdom. Right? I mean, we there are things we can do to make our ministry bigger to make our Nova bigger. And that's okay if Erin Nova grows, but the point is not Aaron No, but the point is the kingdom of God. And so I want to stay focused on Okay, the apostolic call, releasing the prophetic call, releasing the teaching call releasing the miracles releasing the the healings, that I'm taught the gifts in the proper order and priority, as Paul lays out, and when we do that, the kingdom of God will be built. And guess what, there will be administration's there will be helps there will be these other gifts, but we won't have them backwards. Somebody say Amen. That's good. The takeaway in all of this is prioritize your relationship with Jesus first. Don't try to make your ministry big. Again, I'm talking about your ministry, your personal ministry, don't try to make our ministry big. Don't try to make your ministry big, make the kingdom big. God told me a long time ago when we planted one of the churches we planted years ago. He said don't build a big church build big people. And you know what, those people today are big people. And they are doing ministry and building the kingdom and, and much more than a big church came out of it because of that. Build a big kingdom, operate in the gifts of God that God has given you. Don't set aside your gifts to do the things that make you look more successful, or to make your ministry look more successful. You hear what I'm saying? Do the gifts God's called you? Don't try to be someone else. Don't try to just go well, I think I'd be more successful if I just go over here and do these things. If you're not called to that If you're not gifted and called to that, now God calls us to do things we're not gifted to do. Nobody wants to say amen to that. We want to say, oh me to that. But many times God will call me an area where I'm not gifted, because he's smoothing the edges. In me. He's forming me. He's putting me through a crucible so that he can form me into His image. But we do want to focus on God's calling in our lives. Seek to be one of the hidden Elijah's. If God prospers your ministry in such a way that it becomes large and famous, thank God, stay faithful to Him. And stay focused on those things that got you there. Matthew 633. If he doesn't, if he doesn't do that, like we said last time, remember the widow with the two mics? Because when she gave her two mics, Jesus said, she had given more than them all. So you and I can walk this way we can give what gifts we have. Don't say, Lord, I only have one talent, I only have one Mina. Just give it invest it, and God will look at you one day, you give that one talent, that one meaning you have you invest yourself, you love God's people, that way, you commit yourself to the Word of God and prayer. And if you're an administrator, you commit yourself to administration, whatever that gift is, you do it. And on that day, the Lord will say, You gave more than them all. And you'll say, Well, Lord, I thought I was last. And he says, your first. How about that? Man, I love this, because no one has to be rich knows what the world teaches. You have to you have to come from money, or you have to have special abilities or giftings. Or you have to sum in order to prosper, and God goes on and on. No, you can prosper to the max in the kingdom and your eternal calling, just by being faithful with what you have been given. And I believe that that many of us many of you, we are one of those hidden Elijah's that the Lord has reserved for himself. And this is a place of great honor. Now, I want to look at a passage I sent a scripture out on the prayer streams a few weeks back, and I'd like to look at Zechariah 12, verse number seven Zechariah 12. I'm going to read two verses. And I'm going to read it from two different versions just to kind of help us see the meaning from different perspectives. Both of the meanings are the same, it's just sometimes it helps us to understand it better. Zechariah 12 Seven, the Lord will save the tents of Judah first, so that the glory of the house of David, and the glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem shall not become greater than that of Judah. In that day, the Lord will defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and the one who is feeble among them in that day shall be like David, and the house of David shall be like God, like the angel of the Lord before them. I'm gonna read this in the message. And this will help help you see even more clearly what God's saying. He says, I God will be given by restoring the common households of Judah so that the glory of David's family and the leaders in Jerusalem will not overshadow the ordinary people in Judah. On the big day, I'll look at after everyone who lives in Jerusalem so that the lowliest weakest person will be as glorious as David. How glorious is that, by the way, how glorious is David, he tells us in the next phrase, and the family of David will be godlike, like the angel of God, leading the people. Now, this prophecy did have some fulfillment years ago, but there is a greater fulfillment like many prophecies, there is a greater fulfillment coming. Hidden in Zechariah 12 Is the favor that God has upon those who live with him in earthly obscurity. Can you see it he goes, Wait a minute, I am not going to let the glory of the famous guys David and the you know, the the aristocracy in Jerusalem overshadow the common people who have been faithful to me. I'm not going to let the glory I'm gonna say it this way. He didn't say this, but you could see the application. I'm not going to let the glory of Elijah overshadow the glory of the hidden Elijah's See, see what he's saying. God is saying, Hey, you don't understand. I don't have the limitations of the world. Alright, have the ability to make the first last and the last first. I have the ability to take the hidden Elijah's and say, Oh no, the glory of the Billy Graham's will not overshadow you. Now I know he didn't say that. But you kind of see the application. The point is that if we look to them and try to be someone we're not, we will not be who God has called us to be. And God says, who you have called, who I've called you to be is the most important thing I have for you. And I've reserved you to myself, so walk in it, live in it, be content in it, be happy in it be joyful in it. Wow. God made a promise in that day that reflects a key part of his nature, to raise up the humble. It is also a promise concerning those who humbly live in covenant faithfulness, who are not known or exalted in the earthly, and they do not seek it. This is important, they don't seek it. That's why they're not there. Many of them, they don't seek it. He will save their dwellings first, so that the glory of others does not exceed theirs. And I'll read this scripture from Matthew 1929. I wondered when Jesus taught this, if he might have been thinking about Zachariah, because the in the last verse, I'm gonna read verse 30, he says this a lot. And I've said it today already, everyone who has left houses, or brothers or sisters, or father or mother or wife or children or lands, for my namesake, shall receive 100 fold and inherit eternal life. But many who are first will be last. And the last first. This must be a very important important point for Jesus to make. Because the New Testament writers record it four times. Okay, now you got my attention, Lord, it's recorded four different times in read, reading, because Jesus said it. Now he has my attention with first last last first principle or, or secret of the kingdom. Now, there's an unknown generation of Elijah's that God is raising up, who will be famous in heaven. And this really comes back down to the mantle of Elijah. What God is going to do, I believe this all my heart, guys, what God is going to do in the final generations, you can't, you can't just have some superstars in the kingdom, it's not enough. God literally has to raise up, I believe millions of Elijah's who walk in the power and the authority of heaven. I, some theologians have believed this for a long time, I'm starting to believe that the two witnesses in Revelation may very well be the church Jesus sent out to 72 by two by two, I'm starting to, and I'm not saying there won't be a literal, two witnesses. But I'm really starting to believe more and more that God is literally it's a description, it's a glimpse of the church in that final generation that's walking in the mantle of Elijah. And the people who need a name for themselves will not be able to operate in this, because the world cannot know their names, there's too many of them. Right? Then it's not going to you, if you want to be famous, then you don't fit the job description, because there's so many of them that you'll be famous in heaven. These are people who are known in heaven, heavens different. It's not in heaven, they can know if there's a million of them, they can know if there's a billion of them, they can know and be known, as Paul says in First Corinthians, amen. Well, I'll tell you this, this is I don't know if I have more on this right now. That's the end of my notes. On this particular theme of the unknown Elijah's, but I want to encourage each of you to press into this because I think the Lord is going to give you insights, and revelations and understanding around this principle or concept or insight of the kingdom. And I'm very interested to know what he speaks to you. Because I don't think I'm going to be the only one hearing on this. I'm sure there are going to be many others. Amen. Let's pray. Lord, we're thanking you. Oh, God, that you love your people so much. That no one needs to be left behind. No one needs to live in obscurity from God. And Lord, we're like David, on the backside of that mountain. We're worshiping you. We're serving you. We're killing the lions and the bears, protecting the sheep, loving the sheep and doing what you've called us to do. And Father, I pray for my friends here, my friends throughout Our spiritual family in the world and throughout those who are listening, that each and every one will receive understanding, even revelation of who they are, and you help them to see who they are in you, and that they can rise to this Elijah mantle calling in this life, no matter who knows their name on Earth, because you know their name and the audience of one is the largest audience in the world, the audience of you. So, Lord, we honor you, we honor one another, and who we are in God after the Spirit, so that we can embrace each calling and honor that calling and see each and every one released into the fullness of the calling of heaven. And that calling both here on earth and in the coming ages in Jesus name, Amen. And amen. Thank you for joining us today. 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