AUG 17 2025 | Elijah: From Drought to Downpour S1E1 | God’s Change Maker

Sea Change Church · Elijah: From Drought to Downpour · "God’s Change Maker" Pastor Adam Stadtmiller · August 17, 2025
1 Kings 16:29-17:1
Automated transcript. Not reviewed for accuracy.

of worship and the worship team. Oh, heavenly Father, bless them and bless us as we continue to go forth and do your work for in Jesus and we pray. Amen. First Kings chapter 16. In the 38th year of Asa, king of Judah, Ahab, the son of Amri began to reign over Israel. And Ahab, the son of Amri, reigned over Israel in Samaria 22 years. And Ahab, the son of Amm, right, did evil in the sight of the Lord more than all who were before him.

And as if it had been a light thing for him to walk in the sins of Gerome, the son of Ebbet, he took for his wife, Jezebel, the daughter of eth Baal, king of the Ians, and went and served Baal and worshiped him. He erected an altar for Baal in the house of Baal, which he built in Samaria. And Ahab made an asra. Ahab did more to provoke the Lord, the God of Israel, to anger than all the kings of Israel who were before him.

In his days, hail of Bethel built Jericho. He laid its foundation at the cost of a byram, his firstborn, and set up its gates at the cost of his youngest son, Sega, according to the word of the Lord, which he spoke by Joshua, the son of none. Chapter 17. Now, Elijah, the Tishbite of TPE in Gilead said to Ahab as the Lord, the God of Israel lives before whom I stand, there shall be neither do nor reign these years except by my word.

This is the word of the Lord. Well, good morning. And uh, I could go home at this point. That's been a good church already. That is church. Oh my goodness, that was so good. And worship was amazing. Thank you worship team. And those, uh, announcements are, uh, really crucial what we're doing in Africa. Brand new series, brand new series starting, we are going back into the Old Testament. We're gonna be tying it to the New Testament as Elijah was a forerunner to Christ in a way.

So we're always wanting to talk about the gospel whenever in the Old Testament. 'cause it's always pointing forward to that. I just wanna start with this statement. Elijah was a change maker. The entire series is going to be based on, uh, encouraging, inspiring, challenging you to be a change maker in the micro communities in which you live. Every one of you has micro communities. Think of the communities right now that you're a part of.

Maybe like me, you have a, a dog park that you go to or a basketball league, or there's a coffee house, or you're a walker and you see the people on the same walk or you're part of a bridge club. People play that bridge anymore. Mason, do they play bridge anymore? You're not sure? Fantasy Football league. Okay. Uh, Elijah was a change maker. And God is calling us through the good works that he prepared in advance, according to the scripture for you to step into, for you to be a change changemaker.

Lemme just put it before you again, because this whole, I want you to ride with Elijah and this changemaking idea. He went into the northern kingdom of Israel as a changemaker. And I want to challenge you and inspire you to start changing the communities for better. 'cause everywhere you go, you, you create some kind of momentum for better these communities that they be changed. How will you change them to come up with a plan?

In a few weeks, we're gonna be, uh, probably in the fall looking at an idea and doing some podcasts on, on what it means to be, to change micro communities that you live in. But if you have your Bibles, open up again to one kings. We're in the, uh, English standard version 16 through 29, uh, through 17 one. It's gonna be beginning the beginning. Verse 29, in the 38th year of King Assa Assa, king of Judah, Ahab, the son of Omri, began to reign over Israel.

And Ahab Circle Ahab, he's big in this story. The son of Omri reigned over Israel in Samaria for 22 years. So there's a 22 year period here. Elijah, if you wanna follow this story, it's gonna be really easy. So if you wanna add this to your personal time with Christ and your reading, he's in eight chapters of the scripture, right? He's mentioned in the New Testament as well. And he shows up on the Mount of Transfiguration with Jesus and Moses.

It's a pretty substantial figure. He's in eight chapters. He starts here in chapter 16, and he goes on for eight chapters. Uh, and it tells his life and the things that he does. And it follows the journey of a man who was flawed, but a man who walked in God's power. And, uh, that is something that we can do as well. I, there's a word for the day. It's not in your notes. I want you to write it on your notes. The word's boldness, okay? Uh, the word is boldness.

We're gonna say it together at the count of three. Now, the reason I'm doing that is 'cause they say that it helps you remember it better, uh, rhetorically. So we're gonna say boldness at the count of three. All right? 1, 2, 3, boldness, right? How's your boldness? How bold are you? I'm not saying that going out and, and being a jerk, blinding people with the light of the gospel. I'm not saying that anybody can, can go out and do that.

I'm saying, how's your boldness to step into situations that might be fearful for you, conversations that might be fearful for you? How's your boldness? I was at that dog park the other day and somebody was, I was sitting with them and he started telling me about it. I met him. His name was David. And he goes to a church. And, and I I, we started talking about church and he said he was a Christian. And I, I guess I have a loud voice because I noticed when somebody else walked up, he was like, kind of looking around.

Now, I don't know, maybe he is like, that conversation might've been hard to have that conversation. Maybe he was just looking to see what kind of dog the other person had. But I do that myself sometimes. I'm like, whoa, I just gotta back it off a little bit here. There's something that God wants me to step into, and I don't have the boldness or the courage to do it. Elijah had a boldness. Boldness. And so you're gonna need boldness to be a change maker.

I'm calling you. Christ is calling you to be a change maker in society. And we see it right here at the very beginning when Elijah shows up on the scene. A change maker, you'll see in your notes is a kingdom catalyst. A catalyst, something that gets something going. Who disrupts the darkness, disrupts the darkness, and advances God's reign of justice and truth. You're advancing truth. You're advancing kindness, the fruits of the spirit.

There could be a whole other list, a litany of words we could use. But you're bringing kingdom, uh, kingdom, uh, values into your micro communities. You're bringing service. You're bringing generosity. So when you're a mom and you're picking up your kids at Bird Rock Elementary, that's a micro community. And it's a place that you can change. If you're a realtor and you're having an open house, that's a place that you can change.

Wherever you put your feet is a place you could change. Ephesians two 10 was the verse I gave you a moment ago. It's not in your notes where you can write it down for we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them, that we should walk in them. Let's look at the historical setting right now. We're gonna look at the historical setting. We're gonna look at the spiritual setting that is happening here in One Kings Chapter 16, and in the nation of Israel, and also in Judah, because as we know, it's a divided kingdom.

And then we're just gonna look at this, um, human who is Elijah. It's easy to see these biblical figures and put them on a pedestal and not realize that you could be in the Bible. You could be the person that God called back in the day to be in the Bible. There. The, the people in the Bible are no different than you. They just met a living God, that they followed obediently and they changed their lives. And once their life was changed, they went and changed the world around them.

Here's the historical setting. The timeframe is this. Elijah appears suddenly in the biblical record around 8 74. It's about a hundred years after King David, right? And the thing that's interesting about Elijah is he's not foretold. There's no, hey, Elijah's coming and, uh, we're gonna, you know, this is gonna happen and there's some prophecy. You think a prophet would, would have some prophecy about him, right? But no, all of a sudden, bang, he just shows up and the first time you see him is right here, uh, in, uh, the first time that you actually see him.

Excuse me, if you go to verse, uh, 29, sorry, verse 17, 1, 17 1. Now, Elijah, the tibit of Tishbe in Gilead said to Ahab as the Lord, the God of Israel, who lives before whom I stand, there shall be neither do nor reign these years except by my word. Now we're gonna see why that was important in a moment. But he just shows up and he shows up the first time not trying to get an audience with the king, not on his way to talk to the king.

He shows up before the king. You see, God sent him, God opened the doors, and he shows up and he has a message for an evil king says that, that Ahab had done more evil than all the ones that were before him. He was an evil, evil king. And you can, you can follow that in those eight chapters as you read, starting in 1629 this week. He was about a hundred years after King David. The political climate of the time is this David's United Kingdom.

Unity is power, right? Unity is power. Uh, unity in your marriage is power. Unity in your business is power. Unity between your mind and your heart's desires and your emotions and the, and the spirit of the Lord is power. Unity is power. Satan wants to divide. He is into the business of division to break into smaller parts because there is no power in smaller parts. And Kings King David and King Solomon's, united Israel, has now been broken apart, started with Solomon's son, start of a Solomon son.

We won't go into that story. This is a hundred years later and it has been broken into two. Ima think of the Civil War in the United States with the north and the south. That's what happened. Judah, where David was in the south, where Jerusalem is at this time under king Asa, ASA was following the Lord. He was a good king. He was in the south, in the north. Now you have Ahab comes into being and you have a divided kingdom.

One that is doing its best to follow God, not perfectly, but doing its best to follow God. And then one that is following Baal and all of the other gods. And you see and sacrificing and doing human sacrifice and sacrificing their children, uh, they have totally lost the plot and they're divided. I wanna say that one of the, one of the key points of this message is to look at ourselves and say, where are we divided? Where do we have division in our life where the, the things we know we want to go after, the values we have in our life have been separated due to the desires that are in our stomach?

Where do we have those places where we do not have alignment? Satan wants division. He wants division in your thoughts. He wants you to be of two minds. Double-minded is not a good thing in the scripture. He wants you serving God on Sundays and serving yourself on Mondays. He wants you to be divided as long as he can keep you divided. As long as he can keep spouses divided, children divided, families divided. He can divide a nation. And this is what he has done.

He's divided. And this is the timeframe. When God says, no more, I'm sending someone into this situation. God is waiting to send you into similar situations. There are situations where you have friends where there's a, a brokenness in the friendship and God maybe wants to send you in, in a healthy way to help mend that. God wants to send you into a familial san um, situation. These take wisdom. These take prayer. I'm not saying be codependent, Ken and just run in and try to fix everything.

But I'm saying God is waiting to send you in to people's lives, to the gym that you go to, to the bank that you go to, to send you in because he has created you. Ephesians two 10 preordained works for you to walk into. And so he has sent as a piece, as, as a, a sign of grace. This person, he sends a person, not just a word, a person into the situation. That person could be you. It's a divided kingdom. Elijah has a, a name that is not divided.

Elijah's name means, my God is Yahweh. My God is Yahweh. It means I have one God. That's what his name means. Ahab. If he could, uh, have named, uh, Elijah, 'cause he had a feud with Elijah Ahab. And Elijah went toe to toe. And Ahab had a wife named Jezebel. We'll learn about her in a minute. You've heard about, uh, you know, that word that named Jezebel has a, a meaning and roots back to this Jezebel. If he could have named Ahab, could have named Elijah, he would've said, my God is Elijah.

And then he would've said, and Baal and Aau and all the way on Chumash, all the way to all the gods, he would've tried to have a, a, um, a, a a breaking a division of his one alliance. How's your alliance? You see, maybe you're not aligned to another God, but maybe you're aligned to something besides just God. The more we can get a soul compass reading on God in our life every morning going after him, the most primary thing, the better.

I was with Adam Bogie and 17 men yesterday, and we hiked got there at seven in the morning. It's early, it's early to hike for me. And, uh, you know, as we were doing that. And then he says, he says, you know, I like, I'd like to be about discipline. I'm gonna do my quiet time before I have my coffee. Now, that was an affront to me because I regularly say that I can't start my quiet time until I have my coffee. And he says, this is a statement that he said, and I love it.

He said, I'm gonna have to earn my coffee now that, that might be furthermore more than you. But what he's trying to say, the essence of that statement is, is God is number one. You could, it doesn't mean you can't have your coffee first. I'm not saying that, but I love, 'cause I'm gonna keep having my coffee first currently doing a French press, but we switch it up, right? I love that idea that God is first. My God is Yahweh, Elijah, my God is Yahweh.

We see that here is your God, Yahweh, Israel. And this is a setup series. So we'll be going into the scripture here a little bit, but I'm having to set this narrative up for the next seven weeks. One of the things you're gonna see is it's in a religious crisis. Baal worship has come into being in the northern kingdom of Israel. Now, the reason for this, I mean, it was happening anyways, but Ahab married a Ian Princess.

Her name was Jezebel. And Jezebel was a, uh, big time Baal worshiper say that three times fast, a big time. Baal worshiper. And she had the ability to influence her husband. And she set up and with him, set up all these different worship sites where they would come and they would sacrifice. And all of a sudden they just started adding things that didn't belong in Israel's future, or it was part of Israel's past that God wanted them to have one God.

And Elijah was coming against this with a name. Just his name alone, my God is Yahweh. Now, when you show up somewhere, is there any sense in the crowd that the atmosphere has changed in a positive way because you've shown up and your God is Yahweh? No. Uh, Lily, uh, my daughter recently wrote a song with her husband, Mason, that we have, um, you know, it's called Yahweh. And it just speaks about the name of God, of lifting up this powerful name.

When you go into these situations, these micro communities, you show up with a sole focus to bring Christ to them. My God, it's Christ. It is, it is, it is, it is Yahweh, obviously in the old word, but we are bringing Jesus. And so there is a, there is a, um, a moral crisis here. And Baal, one of the things that's interesting in, in verse 17 when he comes and he, the first thing he says is, you're not gonna get any rain.

Well, that's kinda a weird thing to say. The first thing he pops up, well, why? Because Baal was the storm. God, he was fertility and storm and water. So basically you're not going to have life because you need water for life. So they were worshiping Baal to make sure that they, they were fertile, they were having children, and that they also had water. So they were constantly going to him. And so when Elijah shows up with a word from the Lord, Elijah shows up and he says, no more water for you.

No more water for you. The water will stop until I say that it, that, that that God will bring water until God gives me the word. I wanna say that sometimes God does bring drought into our lives to wake us up. That doesn't mean that if you're in a drought season right now in your life, that you're in disobedience. I'm not saying that sometimes God just test us. But you know, if you're in a disobedient season, you just know.

And if you are experiencing drought right now, in the midst of what you know is a disobedient season, I suggest what prophets need to suggest when they prophesy is repentance. Because rep repentance will bring the rain. I'm not saying everything's gonna change, but repentance brings the rain. And if you want fertile soil, if you want the, the, the reign of God, let it rain upon your life, the blessing of God. Repentance is where it starts.

And so if you ever see a prophet who is just prophesying, you know, doom without repentance, be careful because all prophets should be calling people back to Jesus Christ, to God in our pla, in our, in our purposes. So he proclaims a, a, uh, drought. Now, if you go to verse 31, I'm gonna read verse 31, which is really interesting. And it talks about where the nation, Northern Israel is once again, Judas in the South and as if it had been a light thing.

So let's go to verse 30, actually bump up to verse 30. And Ahab, the son of Omri, did evil in the side of the Lord more than all who were before him. That was difficult. And as it had been, as if it had been a light thing for him to walk in the sins of Gerome, son of Neba, he took his wife, Jezebel, the daughter of etal, king of the Ians, and went and served B and worshiped him. Now, that's a powerful verse. Basically what he said was, God is saying, he this guy Ahab, is so bad if you took all the sins of all the other kings and you added them up because we even know that Solomon, by the end of his reign, was worshiping false gods, right?

'cause of why? Because he, God said, have one wife, don't, don't marry all a bunch of foreign women who are serving other gods. And immediately he goes and, and starts marrying women. It says he had a thousand foreign wives, right? Thousand, was it 700 or a thousand? Nonetheless, it's a lot, right? More than you need. I don't think any women want a thousand husbands, trust me. And he marries her and it says that he did more evil than all those kings.

And it says he even did more. If you go to verse 31, then, uh, it says as if it had been a D this is an interesting statement, as if it had been hard. I'm going to contextualize it. For Ahab to do more sins than Jarome, the son of ne Naba. Like that would've been difficult. Imagine it pointing at the most sinful person, you know, and saying, this dude outdid him. That was so hard. Billy Idol got kicked outta Thailand.

Did you know that? You know how hard it is to get kicked outta Thailand. He's no longer allowed to go back to Thailand partier, right? You can't dude Thailand. Have you been? I've been to Thailand. A lot of stuff goes on in Thailand. It's tough to get kicked out. Billy iga got kicked out. That's kind of the what was going on here with Ahab. He was this king that was completely deba. You want spiritual leaders. You wanna pray for spiritual leaders of your country.

You want to pray for people that serve God, that know God. You want to constantly pray because God will give you the leaders that you deserve. He says that over again to bless you or to judge you. And so we want to be a people that pray for our leaders. And we had seen this, this, this moral decline. I also want to go to verse 31. This is just an interesting point. Uh, actually go to verse, uh, I gotta find it. There you go. Verse 33.

Um, in his days, hail, this is in Ahab's days, hail of Bethel built Jericho. He laid its foundations at the cost of Abraham, his firstborns, and set up the gates at the cost of his youngest son, Sega. Lemme tell you why that's important and why you might miss what had happened. If you haven't read the book of Joshua Jericho, you remember right? Jericho had been torn down the walls. Joshua went around the walls, right?

And the walls come tumbling down, right? Bastille song actually. And the walls come tumbling down. And, and Joshua basically says, this city should never be rebuilt again. This is an old place in my life, in our lives, the lives of Israel. And no one should ever rebuild it. And if anybody tries to rebuild it, the person who rebuilds it and rebuilds its gate will lose their firstborn son. That was the curse, okay? That is the curse of Joshua.

It is found, you won't look it up Now in Joshua 6 36, well, Northern Israel decided we're gonna rebuild that old wall. We're gonna build that back wall. We're gonna put, we're gonna, we're gonna take that dead thing, that thing that was oppressive in our lives, we're gonna rebuild it. We'll just start small because the rot always begins small, right? This begins with one brick and we're gonna rebuild it. And it says that he rebuilt it. 'cause it struck me.

I'm like, what do you mean? He built, it says there that he built the city of Jericho. I'm like, Joshua was in Jericho a long time before this. How could he build the city of Jericho? It said that he basically, he was rebuilding it. What's the point? Why do I bring that up? Because the sins of the nation are reflected oftentimes in the sins of the individual people. And sometimes we have things in our lives that we've let go of, and we go back to it like a dog returns to its vomit and we suffer consequences for it.

And so heal lost his two children because of that. Because he wanted to rebuild something that God said. I've torn that down. And so one of the words here is we're looking at an Elijah spirit, being a people where Yahweh is, my God, you are singular in focus that we make sure we don't go back to the old ways. We don't go back to the old ways. I've been in, I'm sober a long time and I'm, I work really hard to stay sober because I've met people that have been sober 35 years and went out and gone on a drink.

Man, I never thought that guy would drink again. One brick, because the rot starts small, but it runs deep. Elijah's personality. Let's just look at Eliza's personality as we kind of come in for a landing here for this opening series. He was bold yet breakable. He was very human, really human. Here's a couple things that you're gonna find as you read through the Bible and read through this story. First of all, he had a fearless confrontation.

So in Elijah 17, one, I've already said it, walk straight into the king prophesize to the king prophesize. He says, you will have no rain. You can burn as much oakwood, you can, you know, do all the sacrificing of bulls you want to bail, you will have no rain. I am speaking against the God of this nation and saying that there is one God. Now, I'm not telling you to go do that, but I am saying there is a boldness to proclaim Jesus Christ when the Holy Spirit puts it on your heart.

Don't be afraid to speak the name of Jesus. And I just wanna encourage, you know, what person needs which type of light. When I was coming back to Jesus, I, I literally needed like that lighthouse. You know, the one that will blind you? Like I needed that in my eyes. And, and there are people that have spoken in my life and they've given me that kinda light at the right time, and it was the right time. But there's other people that are kind of just on the edges.

You give 'em that kinda light, they're gonna run. I'm telling you to be wise, but say the name of Jesus. I'm gonna give you a challenge this week, three times in conversation and not with your Christian friends. Use the name of Jesus three times. Woo. Try that one right? Figure out a way. This is a challenge three times this week to boldly proclaim the name of Jesus in the, with the right tone, with the right situation, with the right person at the right time.

How will you use the name of Jesus? Lemme give you. It could be, this is easy. Uh, you know, uh, somebody say, how you doing? You know, or something like that. You could say, you know what I just got done to church or well, and I don't know how it would work out. And just say, well, that wouldn't work. They'd be a little too aggressive. You'll figure it out. The Holy Spirit says he'll give you the words he said. He'll give you the words. And so, you know, just go do it.

Fearless confrontation. That's part of it. A change maker is fearless. A change maker has radical dependence. We're gonna see next week. He leaves. He has no food and water 'cause the drought affects him. And sometimes the drought of a nation will affect you as well. You'll be affected, but God will sustain you. And it says immediately in verse chapter 17. Chapter 17 is a great chapter. He goes out into the desert and God sends ravens in chapter 17.

And he begins to feed him with ravens. He bring 'cause God is a God of nature that can provide. God is a provider. He brings provision to you. Don't be afraid. I'm so often tempted in my generosity, whether it be of spirit or whether it be financial. To back it off a little bit, just to back it off a little bit. Just back it off. I got this issue. I got that issue. Forgiveness could be financial. And the things that I give to, just to back it off a little bit.

And this just over the last few months, the Lord is just, I just keep put putting me in situations where my spirit wants to back it off. And I just want, I just keep saying the Lord, I'm not going to stop. I'm gonna keep going forward no matter how hard it is. And you know what? The ravens have shown up so many times. The ravens keep showing up. I gotta tell you what, I enjoy the, I enjoy the ravens. My wife actually feeds Ravens.

There's three ravens that live around this church. And she just was feeding 'em. 'cause we, we lived next door until last week. So she was feeding them all the time. And so these kind of, you'll know if you come around here, you'll see 'em around. We feed 'em, they can be actually become friends, but they feed 'em. They have a, he had a radical dependence. He had a fiery showdown. He, we were gonna have an incredible story where the prophets of Baal show up.

And they have this, this, this showdown with fire and water coming from heaven. And, and you'll, we will, we will talk about it. But you, you can read ahead this week. But he was willing to stand up against the, the forces and the prophets who screamed at me. A fiery showdown takes perseverance. And then one I love, and we'll see this in, in, in James five 17. Um, he was a, he was a person that believed in the power of prayer.

Pray little, little results, pray. Big, big results. Simple. Pray little, little results. Pray. Big, big results. Elijah's mentioned in the New Testament. Elijah, in James five 17 reminds us, uh, Elijah was a, um, person of prayer. It says that he, he was a man just like us. It says in, um, James five 17, he says, he was just like you, just like you. But he believed in prayer and it changed his life. Final thing is he just had this collapse too, right after the victory with these prophets that I told you about, Jezebel, this woman threatens him and he takes off running.

He even says to God, he becomes, he gets suicidal ideation. He gets so afraid. He says, God, take my life. I gotta go take my life. I, I can't, I can't deal with this woman anymore. She's pursuing me. Just had this incredible powerful experience, this incredible victory, and then all of a sudden a failure. But God comes in and meets him when he had run to a place a cave. We'll talk about that. God comes in and meets him with grace.

And I just wanna say that maybe you failed. I wanna say God loves comeback stories, resurrection stories. Today is the day of your salvation. Today is the day of your repentance. Maybe you've had that divorce, maybe you've lost something. Maybe you've done something. Maybe you're walking in shame. I want to say that God is the God that pursues you, that wants to know you, that wants intimacy with you and died on the cross so that he could take your sense.

That is the message of the gospel. I don't have time to go to the theological significance, but let me just give you the practical takeaways. Skip down to the practical takeaways this week. Survey your life and identify any duplicity. Survey your life. I'm just going to just find one. I'm not telling you to do a complete life change at once in recovery. Sometimes they say, you know, I was, I was at a recovery and I had a sponsor one time, and I was, I was, I was smoking back when I was like 19.

So I was smoking and drinking and I was actually in this recovery group and my, my pastor and I said, I'm gonna quit drinking. I'm gonna quit smoking. He goes, don't quit smoking. I said, what? You're the pastor? He said, dude, just start with the drinking. We'll get to the smoking. Just start there. And I thought it was some of the best advice I ever had. And you know what? It was also grace to have a pastor come to me and say, don't quit smoking.

It was probably three months later I was done smoking. You know, it was like three months. Um, that was such a word. And so God is, is looking to bring you back. So find something in your life. Just that one thing where you have a little bit of, you know, a little bit of rot in, in, in the system and take it out. And then the final one is this, identify where you can take a stand for Christ in your life. One of the greatest stories of, uh, somebody who was a change maker was Jackie Robinson.

Here's a picture of him. You know, the story of Jackie Robinson who broke the color barrier into major league baseball. And Branch Ricky came to him and he says, I need somebody who can go, go in with courage and doesn't fight back. He said, I need you to go in. He goes and not fight back. I just need you to play and keep showing up. And he went through the worst assaults. People were jeering, you know, obviously hurling racial slurs at him.

They would put spikes on their, their, their cleats when they came in. And they'd come in high to try to, to, to cut him. They'd throw the ball. The pitchers would, would pitch it his head over and over again. But he withstood. And I want to say he changed our nation for the better. It was just change maker. I gotta say all this guy. He's a normal guy, talented, normal guy that was willing to show up and use his talents to make a difference.

God wants to send you in to be that change maker. He sent Elijah to change a nation of Israel. He sent Jackie Robinson to change a sport. And he's sending you to make a difference in that micro community that God has put on your hearts. Amen. Let's stand, I'm gonna invite the band forward as we have a response song and Pastor Joshua and the prayer team. Yeah, man, uh, let's clap for that message because that was, that was powerful for sure.

And at this time, we're gonna invite the prayer team up, uh, as we transition into a song right now. But I, I really want us to reflect on, uh, just the words that was spoken today. Taking a stand is not an easy thing to do, but what I found out is that when you struggle with taking a stand, you forget that every single believer was given a gift, a spiritual gift. And the only reason why a person would not use their gift is because of deception.

You see, deception can stop you from walking into what God has for you. And it comes in many forms. It come into your marriage. It could come into what God has called you to do within the body of Christ. It could call you, calls you to do something totally different in leadership deception. And I, I'm just praying that as Pastor Adam mentioned to us, is that we will repent and have a change of mind, a change of direction, and start to truly pursue Christ in such a way that transforms every single area of our life.

But we first have to take a stand. And that stand could start today with prayer. So as the prayer team comes forward right in front, I want you to really take self inventory and say, what area in my life have I not taken the stand? What area have I been deceived in? Not letting God have full control? So as we sing this song, if you need any prayer at all whatsoever, please do not leave this place without being prayed for.

I don't care how long the line gets, I I don't leave this place without being prayed for. Amen. Praise Once again, the prayer team is up here today to pray for you. If you need breakthrough in your life, if you wanna be a change maker, you wanna pray for one of those communities. We have, uh, anointing oil. We just wanna anoint you for that task. And so, uh, the prayer people know how to do that. They're up here. We have a full team.

I'm gonna pray for you. If you extend your hands right now, I'm gonna pray for you. And then Chris will continue on with the worship after our release of service and you can come forward for prayer. Lord, we bless your people. We wanna be change makers, Lord God, change makers in Laoa and Claremont, PB God, El Cajon Point Loma in our own homes and our schools that we attend. God, I pray for a spirit of power now upon your people and a spirit of boldness that is mentioned in Acts boldness upon your people to speak the name of Jesus