Victory in Jesus

The River Church of the South Bay

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Victory in Jesus

February 12, 2023 • Todd Wendorff • 1 Kings 17, 1 Kings 18

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Did you ever go to a Billy Graham crusade and hear George Beverly Shea sing Victory in Jesus? OK, maybe that was before your time. But the moment was electrifying as thousands and thousands of people gathered.

More from Elijah: The Making of an Extraordinary Ordinary Person

Be Quiet, God Might be Whispering to You

March 5, 2023 • Todd Wendorff • 1 Kings 19:11–21

If we are listening, God does not need to shout. In fact, when he wants to say something really important, His modus operandi is to whisper. In I Kings 19: 11-21, Elijah meets God on the mountain. He has something to say, but He’s not going to compete with ambient noise. He’s got Elijah’s attention with simply a whisper. John Donne said, I neglect God and his angels for the noise of a fly. I want to say something really hard. Many Christians are spiritually co-dependent. They rely on those who listen to God instead of learning to listen. God wants to speak to you. What did he say to Elijah? In fact, He had more for Elijah to do. This is really important. What might he say to you?

Serve the Lord Means What Exactly

1 Kings 17:1, 1 Kings 18:1–18

I have heard this phrase thrown around for years, “We are to serve the Lord.” What in the heck does that mean? Psalm 100 says to do it with gladness. Joshua said, "As for he and his house, they will serve the Lord." OK. But what does that mean? Elijah is called to serve the Lord in I Kings 17-19 by confronting a wayward king and an idolatrous nation. You also see him serving Obadiah, and the widow with words of encouragement. You may serve the Lord as a full time ministry worker or as a business person or a parent. Question: Is there a common thread that runs through all our shared experiences of serving the Lord? Possibly. In I Kings 17:1 and in I Kings 18:1, Elijah is to go to the King and tell him what God is up to. Maybe that’s the idea of serving the Lord. It’s going to others and sharing what God is up to in order to bring about a renewed heart of passion for the Lord, a revival of spirit. Sometimes people need a pat on the back, other times we need a kick in the pants. My belief is we need both at times. God uses those he has commissioned to serve Him (all of us) to help others in their spiritual pursuit of the Lord. Elijah served the Lord.

Kicking Defeat to the Curb

February 26, 2023 • Todd Wendorff • 1 Kings 19:1–11

I am speaking on a very controversial topic this weekend from the life of Elijah: depression. Did Elijah fall into depression? Was it severe? How do we know? Lots of questions. One of the problems is we are trying to diagnose a 9th century BC patient with 21st century medical knowledge. All we really know is Elijah got kicked in the butt. He went down hard. Jezebel wanted him dead after slaying her Baal influencers and turning the people back around to the worship of Yahweh. Elijah asked the Lord to take his life. He wasn’t willing to live any longer. He was hopeless. Depression can be identified as a mental illness. It’s a disease. You can’t just convince someone to not be depressed. It must be unravelled carefully through a layered multi dimensional process. Anxiety, worry, and depression are becoming more and more common in young people as we try to bounce back from a debilitating shutdown that left many people worried and depressed. It’s an epidemic the Christian church does not want to talk about. Thank God Elijah was honest with us. He showed what happened, what it was like and how he recovered. There is hope. Join me.