Scott Moore: Welcome to the "Building Faith and Family" podcast with Steve Demme.  I'm your host, Scott Moore. Thanks for joining us today. Good morning, Steve. How  are you today? 

Steve: I am well. How are you? 

Scott: I'm good. 

Steve: I've already been out with the pups full morning, and you have to get out early  nowadays because it gets too hot to take them out later, and then the heavens may  open again this afternoon. 

Scott: I heard recently a warning on the radio that you should be careful with your  pups because you could, even if they're cool enough on the rest of them, they could  burn their paws on the cement and whatever. 

Steve: Yep. I reached down yesterday and felt the concrete. I don't let them walk on  the asphalt too much. We walk in grass or concrete and it's a little cooler. That and I  don't leave them out more than 10, 12 minutes when it's hot. 

Scott: Sounds good. 

Steve: Yeah. They get a little stir crazy, but it's OK. All right. Let's build on what we  had last time. We talked about Elijah. We talked about Moses. We talked about Horeb  and the common denominator they had with Jesus where they spent 40 days without  eating. 

Interestingly, all three of those people, Moses, Elijah, and Jesus, met on the Mount of  Transfiguration. I don't know if that's a qualification, but if you fast 40 days, you get  to meet with Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration. We're going to go a little deeper  this morning, and let's pray. 

"Father, thank You for Your word, and thank You for these strands or themes that we  see throughout scripture. We know that every word is inspired by the spirit. We know  that every word is profitable, and we know that we don't live by most of the words,  but by every word. So as we consider Your word today, give us ears to hear once  again what You're saying to us." In Jesus' name, amen. 

Scott: Amen. 

Steve: I'm laying the groundwork for something. We mentioned a couple common  denominators that Moses and Elijah had. They had Horeb, they had the fasting, but  there's a couple more. We're going to read a bunch of scriptures and see if we see it. You can represent everybody that's listening, Scott, since you don't have my notes,  and I'm going to read these and see if you see any more commonalities. 1 Kings17:1.  "Elijah the Tishbite of Tishbe in Gilead said to Ahab, 'As Jehovah, the God of Israel,  lives, before whom I stand, there shall be neither dew nor rain these years except by  my word.'" 

This is when he appeared. This is when his grand entrance on the stage of Israel, you  might say. There's a lot 1 Kings 17, 18, 19, and even into the beginning of 2 Kings,  Elijah appears. Whenever he does ‑‑ this is probably the understatement of the year  ‑‑ it's interesting. 

When Elijah appears, you perk up because you have no idea, especially the first time  you read the Bible, what is going to happen. The second passage I want to read is 2  Kings 1:9‑10. 

"The king sent to Elijah, him, a captain of 50 men with his 50. He went up to Elijah  who was sitting on the top of a hill and said to him, 'Oh, man of God, the king says,  'Come down.'" "But Elijah answered the captain of 50, 'If I am a man of God, let fire  come down from heaven and consume you and your 50.' Then fire came down from  heaven and consumed him and his 50." 

Revelation 11:3‑6, "I will grant authority to My two witnesses, and they shall prophesy  for 1,260 days, clothed in sackcloth. These are the two olive trees and the two  lampstands that stand before the lord of the earth. And if anyone would harm them,  fire pours from their mouth and consumes their foes." 

"If anyone would harm them, this is how he is doomed to be killed. They have the  power to shut the sky that no rain may fall during the days of their prophesying. And  they have power over the waters to turn them into blood and to strike the earth with  every kind of plague as often as they desire." These are the two anointed ones. There's another similar passage found in Zechariah 4:12‑14. "What are these two  branches of the olive trees which are beside the two golden pipes from which the  golden oil is poured out?" He said to me, "Do you not know what these are?" I said,  "No, my Lord." Then he said, "These are the two anointed ones who stand by the Lord  of the whole earth." 

Without going and reading a bunch of passages about Moses, I want you to keep  Moses in your head. When I read those passages about the two witnesses, I see four  or five things that they have in common with Moses and Elijah. Do any jump out at  you? 

Scott: Prophesying judgment? 

Steve: OK. 

Scott: The fire. I'm not sure. 

Steve: Elijah? Fire came down from heaven. The two anointed ones fire? OK. Scott: Not sure what else. Go for it. 

Steve: It's OK. The first one that stands out to me is, I didn't mean to make a pun  there, but it says Elijah describes himself as "Jehovah, the God of Israel, before whom  I stand." He's standing in the presence of Jehovah. We just read in Zechariah 4, these  two anointed ones who stand by the Lord of the whole earth. 

I think there's two ways that we can read that. The first one is they're physically,  spiritually in the spirit. They're standing before God, but they're also standing by God.  They represent Him. 

When Elijah was lined up against a nation that was waffling or limping between two  sides, lined up against the 450 prophets of Baal, Ahab, and Jezebel, the whole  administration of the Northern Kingdom, he represented God. He stood by God. He  stood before Him, and he stood by Him. 

Moses represented God to Pharaoh. Same thing. Stood before, stood by. As you  noticed, fire pours from their mouth. The second thing is they have power to shut the  sky so that no rain may fall. That's exactly what happened. First, introduction of  Elijah, no dew nor rain except by my word. And there was a massive drought. A friend of mine said the other day, because we're in the, what I call the monsoon  season here, I don't remember ever having as much rain as we had the last six weeks.  He said, well, at least we know that the two anointed ones are not prophesying  because otherwise we'd be in a season of drought. 

We have more moisture now, so obviously their ministry hasn't begun. Fire comes  down, no dew nor rain, standing by the Lord of the whole earth. There's another one  that's pretty much restricted just to Moses, but it says in Revelation 11, they have  power over the waters to turn them into blood and to strike the earth with every kind  of plague. 

That was Moses very clearly. Another one that I didn't notice until today, and I've been  working on this for a couple of days, that these two anointed ones are clothed in  sackcloth. Then you remember Elijah, at one point they said, who was it that talked  to? He says, oh, this guy clothed in a hairy garment. 

You remember John the Baptist had the same tailor. Clothed in sackcloth, but  sackcloth represents repentance. It represents turning. It represents turning away  from sin, turning to God, and this is their ministry. This is what they're seeking to do.  They're representing God. They're preaching. 

They're sending plagues, they're controlling the elements, fires pouring forth, but  they're only doing it so that the people will get it. When the judgments of God are in  the earth, the inhabitants learn righteousness. They learn to repent. This is what we're  needing is worldwide repentance. 

I believe there will be worldwide pouring out of His spirit, but it's going to start with  worldwide repentance. Then, what really motivated me in this study was in 1 Kings  19, after Elijah had wonderfully represented God, fire came down from heaven,  burned up his sacrifice. He prayed and James looks to that as an example for us. He prayed ‑‑ even though he was a man of like passions as we were ‑‑ he prayed,  and it began to rain. He saw that little cloud the size of a man's hand. He told Ahab,  you better get going, pal, or you're going to get caught in a downpour. But, then  when Jezebel heard what had happened, she said, yeah. Those prophets were all  dead. He'll be dead tomorrow. 

Elijah took off, and he escaped. Then God talks to him. "What are you doing here,  Elijah?" He said, "I have been very zealous for the Lord, God of hosts because the  Israelites have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and slaying your  prophets with the sword and I, I only am left, and they seek my life to destroy it." The Lord said to him, "Go, return on your way to the wilderness of Damascus, and  when you arrive, anoint Hazael to be king over Syria, anoint Jehu, son of Nimshi, to be  king over Israel, and anoint Elisha, son of Shaphat of Abel‑meholah to be prophet in  your place." 

Then He closes this little section and He says, "Yet I will leave myself 7,000 in Israel,  all the knees that have not bowed to Baal and every mouth that has not kissed him." That is always so encouraging to me because Elijah had every reason to believe that  he was the last, that he alone was left. Although you can make a case that Obadiah  

was still there and the prophets that he'd hidden in the caves. Still, Elijah felt alone. I believe every Christian at some point feels alone. Feels like I'm the only one in my  family that's doing this. I'm the only one in my church that gets this. I'm the only one.  It's OK. Elijah felt that way, but we need to receive comfort from the fact that God saw  7,000 people that Elijah did not. 

I want to make the point. I believe we're coming into this period where the two  anointed ones are going to appear. I pray for them. I pray for them now. In fact, I believe they're alive. I believe God is working in their hearts and preparing  them for their ministry to the world to represent God, to stand before Him and to  stand by Him. There's going to be 7,000 in Israel that are going to stand with them. This is not new stuff. Jesus in Luke 2:29‑35. "Lord," this was Simeon, "now You are  letting Your servant depart in peace according to Your word. For my eyes have seen  Your salvation that You have prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light for  revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to Your people Israel." 

His father and His mother, Mary and Joseph, marveled at what was said about him.  Simeon blessed them and said unto Mary His mother, "Behold, this child is set for the  falling and the rising of many in Israel." 

He is going to lay down a line, so to speak. He is going to be a lightning rod. Many  are going to fall, many are going to rise. You'll either love him or you'll hate him.  There's not going to be any in between when you meet Jesus. 

For a sign which is spoken against, yea, and a sword shall pierce through thine own  soul, that thoughts out of many hearts may be revealed. He was going to come and he  was going to be loved and eventually crucified. 

Peter, in Mark 10, began to say to Him, "See, we have left everything and followed  You." 

Jesus said, "Truly I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or  sisters or mother or father or children or lands for my sake and for the gospel who  will not receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses and brothers and sisters and  mothers and children and lands with persecutions, and in the age to come, eternal  life." 

We are not going to be getting prizes for being Christians. We're going to be  persecuted for our faith. We're going to have to choose. In Matthew 10, "Everyone  who acknowledges Me before men, I will also acknowledge before my Father who is in  heaven, but whoever denies Me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is  in heaven." 

" Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring  peace but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father and a daughter  

against her mother and a daughter‑in‑law against her mother‑in‑law, and a person's  enemies will be those of his own household." 

It's right there. He came, and there's going to be some hard choices being made.  There's going to be many times where we're going to feel alone. I want to encourage  us, we're part of the 7,000 in Israel. All the knees that are not going to take the mark  of the beast, all the knees that are not going to follow the antichrist. If we have to die, and if we have to be persecuted, and we have to go to prison, so be  it. But we will not kiss Baal, and we're not going to bow to him or his representative in  our day and age. There you go. Encouraging words. 

Scott: Yeah. Can't we read our happy little Bible stories and be nice and behave. Steve: I pray for these two anointed ones, these two branches of the olive trees, these  two witnesses. By the way, we've already discussed this several times. The word for  witness is marturion, these two martyrs. If you read the whole chapter 11 in  Revelation, they will be martyred and they will rise from the dead. When they're dead, people are going to be so happy that they're done with their  prophesying, that they're going to have to be giving gifts to each other. Holiday. "The  death of the two witnesses, declare a holiday," CNN. But you know what? It's OK.  Elijah and Moses, they, I believe... 

Steve: were forerunners of these two men. I see similarities in their ministry, even in  their clothes, what they were able to accomplish, and I want to be in sync with them. I  don't want to be out of sync. I want to be in sync with these two anointed ones. I want  to be in sync with the spirit of Elijah in our day. Amen? 

Scott: Right on. 

Steve: I was going to say, "I think so," but I better not. I do want to pray for them  though. I want to pray now. 

"Father, as we contemplate these sober words and we see these connections in  scripture, thank You for these men that stood before You and stood by You. Thank  You for Elijah. Thank You for Elisha. Thank You for John the Baptist. Thank You for  Moses. We could do a whole other study on, you're going to raise up a prophet like  unto him, which eventually represented Jesus Himself." 

"Thank you for these precious men and the spirit of them and how that even though  they died, they didn't fail. There they were in the Mount of Transfiguration with you.  And I pray that You'll let iron enter into our souls. Help us to love You to such an  extent that we desire nothing but to stand before You and to stand by You." "And I pray for these two men. I pray that today You will encourage them, that You'll  fill them afresh with the oil of Your spirit, these two sons of oil, these two branches. I  pray that as they pour oil into the church, that the church will pour oil into them, and  they will find that they're not alone. That there are at least 7,000 still standing with  them in these last days." In Jesus' name, amen. 

Scott: Amen. That's our show for this week, folks. Thanks for joining us for the  Building Faith and Family podcast with Steve Demme. If you have a question for the  show, email Steve spdemme@Gmail.com. Thanks for joining us. Have a great week.