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Well, welcome today to all of our campuses and all of our network churches, all of you all over the world at church online. Are you ready to study Elijah?

Right, grab your Bibles. Let's open them up to the book of First Kings, First Kings chapter 17 today. We're starting a four week study on one of the greatest men of God recorded in all of scripture. His name is Elijah. Let me give you the context of the time period that we're studying.

When Elijah was alive, the northern kingdom had experienced some 19 consecutive evil kings spanning about a 200 year time period. Now, let me just let this sink in for a minute. Some of you you're in countries where you've got a queen who rains or a king or a prime minister or a president.

Imagine if you will not just 19 ineffective leaders, but imagine 19 consecutive evil leaders. This was the time which Elijah lived. In fact, there was a very evil king named Ahab who was married to a wicked woman named Jezebel. Some say the most wicked woman who ever lived. And under their reign, the Bible says that Ahab did more evil in the eyes of God than any of those before him.

Now, during these times of idolatry, when these evil kings would turn people's hearts away from the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, they would turn them to the false gods, the God of Bale and the God of Asherah. And people would often sacrifice their children to these false gods. They would go into the temples and engage in sexual activities with prostitutes and call it worship and things that are even too gross to describe.

And scripture says under Ahab's reign, he was more evil than anyone before him. So this is a very dark, dark time of corruption. We're talking about major scandals, tremendous idol worship. And God said enough is enough. Interestingly though, God didn't raise up an army to take a stand against the evil king. Instead, God does what God often does.

And that is he raised up one person to take a stand, one man. And I would argue that in today's world, God may want to do something very similar where you live. God may raise up one teenage girl to take a stand in her class against all others for sexual purity. God may raise up a young business leader to take a stand for integrity and a business that's lacking integrity.

God may raise up one person to go into politics to take a stand for that which is true. God often raises up one person to make a big difference.

So today to build a foundational understanding of who Elijah is, I want to call this talk the making of a man of God. Or in your case, it could be the making of a woman of God.

So let's start with an understanding of what is the name Elijah mean? What is the name Elijah mean? It comes from three root words L-E-L-I and YAH, J-A-H. And L stands for Elohim or God.

I is the personal pronoun for my or mine. YAH comes from J-A-H. And so put together, if you're taking notes, very literally the name alone means the Lord is J-A-H. My God is J-A-H. The Lord is my God.

And so immediately when God raises up this prophet to stand down the king by his very name alone, he's making the testimony. The Lord God is the one true God. My God is J-A-H. And he stands down the king who had turned so many against the one true God.

Let's pick up the story. The first time we see Elijah in all of scripture, verse one of first kings, chapter 17. At the very beginning of this story, we don't have hardly any background on the prophet.

We simply know him as where he's from. That's how he's identified. Craig Rochelle is from Oklahoma. And we learn about him as where he's from. Verse one.

Now Elijah, the Tishbite from Tishby in Gilead. He's identified with where he's from that will change soon. He said to King A-Hab, as the Lord, the God of Israel lives whom I serve. And you can see he's going straight toward these false gods.

And who lives whom I serve, he says, there will neither be do nor reign in the next few years except at my word. Now, if this was a movie, the music would just go bomb.

Because what he just said was one of the most strategic prophetic judgments against the land that you could imagine. He said, for the next months and years, no reign and no do.

Now, to put that into context, where a lot of people are talking today about wearing a global economic slowdown. This would have been an economic shutdown.

And this agriculturally driven economy, no reign shuts everything down. In our world, it would mean you can't get gas at the gas stations, the banks are not only lending money, but you can't get your own money out.

You have electricity at your home. Life, as you know, it just ended. There will be people starving to death. An employment will reach 50, 60, 70, 80%. People are going to be dying all over the place.

And so this man of God stands down this evil king and says, no more reign. Tremendous faith to do so. So in my mind, I'm thinking, okay, baby, let's hook them up. The battle is on.

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