Radio Antioch

Just a quick reminder- If you live in the northern Illinois/southeastern Wisconsin area, we invite you to join us for our second live Radio Antioch meeting, for a time or worship, teaching and fellowship this Saturday night, November 1st at 7pm.

We will be podcasting each meeting here on the Radio Antioch blog in audio, and plan to add video podcasts and live Internet video soon. To listen to the teaching from our last Saturday meeting, click HERE.

We are meeting at the  Christian Life Fellowship church, a great local church in Antioch that lets us “borrow” their sanctuary for these meetings. Their Address is:

41625 North Deep Lake Road
Antioch, Illinois 60002

For Mapquest directions, click HERE.

Sorry, we do not have childcare available at this time. There is a “cry room” with audio and a window if you need it. Please feel free to bring the kids.

If you have questions, or want to get involved, please send us an e-mail.

Blessings,

Dave

Photo Credit

Episode Five of Radio Antioch is a sermon by David Cranfill entitled Wrestling With God, recorded at the first Live Radio Antioch meeting on October 18, 2008.
Jacob had a promise from God concerning his life. But his character was at times a contradiction with the destiny he had in God. During his many years, Jacob slowly came to align his will with the Lord, and became Israel the Patriarch.

0:00    Intro
0:33    Opening of the first Live Radio Antioch meeting
10:08  The Inheritance of God
16:59  The Promise and the Contradiction
28:22  The Teachable Moment
34:41  Wrestling With God
43:30  Credits

Click HERE to Listen Now!

Music Credits

A saying, attributed to Daniel Webster at the Old Man of the Mountain trail in New Hampshire.

This teaching is an excerpt from our Radio Antioch Podcast Episode 4.

In our last post, we left Elijah in the desert after he fled from Jezebel, who had sworn to kill him. He knew that he had to get away, and run to God for his deliverance. Elijah used his last strength to journey alone out into the desert, where he cried out to God. Picking up in 1 Kings 19:5-9a :

Then he lay down under the tree and fell asleep.All at once an angel touched him and said, “Get up and eat.” [6] He looked around, and there by his head was a cake of bread baked over hot coals, and a jar of water. He ate and drank and then lay down again. [7] The angel of the Lord came back a second time and touched him and said, “Get up and eat, for the journey is too much for you.” [8] So he got up and ate and drank. Strengthened by that food, he traveled forty days and forty nights until he reached Horeb, the mountain of God. [9a] There he went into a cave and spent the night.

Elijah had left his servant behind, and traveled into the desert alone. He was heading for the Mountain of God at Horeb, which was about 200 miles away, or a 10 to 14 day journey. But he got only one day toward his goal before his strength failed him and he despaired. The Lord in his mercy sent an angel with food and encouragement. Elijah began the journey, even though he only had the strength for one day. But the Lord met him at his point of weakness. The Lord knows when the journey is too much for you. And He wants to strengthen you.

Elijah now begins a supernatural journey that took 40 days instead of 10. Time to reflect, time to slow down and let God speak, time to prepare for new revelation and anointing. And the Lord met him at Horeb in Kings 19:9b-13:

And the word of the Lord came to him: “What are you doing here, Elijah?” [10]  He replied, “I have been very zealous for the Lord God Almighty. The Israelites  have rejected your covenant, broken down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too.“

This is how we sometimes feel. It seems like we are the only one doing the right thing, the only one standing for God, and in our weakness we feel overwhelmed. Sometimes the evil in this world just seems too much to stand. The Lord gently reminds Elijah who is in charge:

[11] The Lord said, “Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.”Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the   earthquake. [12] After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. [13] When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave.Then a voice said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”

The Lord shows Elijah His incredible power, there should be no doubt that God is in control: First wind so powerful that rocks were shattered on the mountains, then an earthquake, and lastly a fire. But in each of these demonstrations of awesome power, Elijah knew that the Lord wanted to speak to him intimately, When he heard the gentle whisper, he was ready for God to speak to him. Pulling his tallit (Jewish prayer shawl) over his head, the prophet prepares to talk with God.

I love the Lord’s response in verses 15 through 18: “Go and anoint Hazael king over Aram and Jehu  king over Israel, and anoint Elisha to succeed you as prophet. [17] Jehu will put to death any who escape the sword of Hazael, and Elisha will put to death any who escape the sword of Jehu. And you are not alone: I have reserved seven thousand in Israel–all whose knees have not bowed down to Baal “

So the Lord gently tells Elijah- Don’t worry about the kings and the government. I am raising up these men to handle that problem. (Look up the name here- Hazael means “God is Seeing”, as in God is seeing what is going on and will use the man Hazael to deal with it.) And don’t feel so alone. I will now give you the privilege of training the next generation of leader, in Elisha. Not only will your ministry continue, but because you have been faithful, I will let you train one who will be a companion, and who will become even greater than you. And you are not alone, I have called for myself seven thousand more in Israel who are faithful to me, and my hand and guidance is upon their lives as well. So don’t feel so alone. I have many servants, and they labor along side of you. Be encouraged, be faithful, and know that I have it all under control.

Another thought: In coming face to face with his own weakness in fleeing from Jezebel, Elijah could not get a “swelled head” over the incredible victory over the prophets of Baal. It is easy when God uses a ministry mightily for the ministers and the people following them to become self-important, and lose sight of the fact that they are only part of huge work that God is doing in His kingdom. Here the Lord brings Elijah back into line, reminding him that he is but one of many whom the Lord has reserved for His service.

And so Elijah was protected from Jezebel, and was given a whole new direction in his ministry. The Lord takes something very bad, and makes it a transforming moment in the life of Elijah. If he had not made the start of the journey into the desert, he would have missed an incredible and intimate encounter with God. Are you feeling overwhelmed? Reach out to God, even if it is with your last strength. The Lord can meet you, sustain you, and can even transform a very tough time into a life-changing encounter.

Photo Credit

A woman in Timbuktu, Mali baking bread

This teaching is an excerpt from our Radio Antioch Podcast Episode 4.

1 Kings 19:1-4     Now Ahab told Jezebel everything Elijah had done and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword.  So Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah to say, “May the gods deal with me, be it ever so severely, if by this time tomorrow I do not make your life like that of one of them.”   Elijah was afraid and ran for his life. When he came to Beersheba in Judah, he left his servant there,  while he himself went a day’s journey into the desert. He came to a broom tree, sat down under it and prayed that he might die. “I have had enough, Lord,” he said. “Take my life; I am no better than my ancestors.”

Let’s take a moment to set the scene. In first Kings chapter 18, Elijah had just met 450 prophets of Baal, and 400 prophets of Asherah in a public confrontation. Each had built an Altar, calling on their God to answer with fire from heaven. Nothing happened at the Alter of Baal, but fire fell from heaven on the Lord’s altar. Elijah then destroyed the prophets of the false gods. This was an incredible demonstration of the presence and power of God. And yet immediately after this he is running for his life from one woman!

At first look, this seem inconsistent with the powerful man seen only hours before. There are likely several reasons for this:

Elijah had been specifically commanded by God to reveal himself to Ahab, and the Lord had told him that the drought that had crippled Israel for years was to be lifted. The ensuing confrontation, cleansing of the land and rain was all part of what the Lord gave Elijah to do. In acting under direct orders from God, Elijah was confident and full of faith.

I also believe that in this instance Elijah had a special gift of faith to accomplish this. In First Corinthians 12:9 one of the gifts of the Spirit is the gift of supernatural faith. I understand this gift to be an impartation of the Holy Spirit that goes beyond the level of faith that an individual may walk in daily. So I believe that Elijah, when confronting the prophets of Baal, was not only carrying out God’s plan, but had been given supernatural faith to accomplish the task.

But after that incredible spiritual high point, Elijah is alone, probably exhausted, and the supernatural faith has left. It is then that the enemy comes to attack. How many of you have had a spiritual “backlash” where it seem like everything goes wrong, as if the devil comes against you right after a spiritual high point? I certainly have. Elijah is vulnerable, and he knows it.

First, he gets as far away from Jezebel as possible! (In his despair, he said he was ready to die, but he didn’t really mean it. If Elijah really wanted to die, all he had to do is stay home and wait for the servants of Jezebel to come for him!) First he goes to Beersheeba. Somewhere along the way, he realizes that to survive he needs to run under God’s covering. Leaving his servant behind, Elijah heads out into the dessert. In his fear and exhaustion, his own natural strength carries him one day. He collapses under a tree and begins to pour out his heart to God.

1 Kings 19:5-8

Then he lay down under the tree and fell asleep. All at once an angel touched him and said, “Get up and eat.” He looked around, and there by his head was a cake of bread baked over hot coals, and a jar of water. He ate and drank and then lay down again. The angel of the Lord came back a second time and touched him and said, “Get up and eat, for the journey is too much for you.”  So he got up and ate and drank. Strengthened by that food, he traveled forty days and forty nights until he reached Horeb, the mountain of God.

In the time of his great distress, Elijah reached out to God. Up until this point we don’t know where Elijah is going, only that he is heading into the dessert. He went as far as he could to meet God. He got nowhere near his eventual destination before his strength gave out. But the Lord honored his effort. The Lord knows how far away we go from him. If you need to run back to God, just head out to meet him. The Lord will honor your effort and meet you at your point of need.

I love the picture shown here. God sends an angel  with food. But not just any food! Fresh, hot bread baked right there on hot coals! There’s nothing like the smell of fresh bread baking! Now, God could have sent the angel with any kind of food. But to have the prophet awaken to the smell of fresh bread, right there on the coals, lets him know that the Lord cares for him, will comfort him in his need and will sustain him. Elijah awakens a second time to have the angel tell him that the journey is too much for him, but that he will be strengthened by eating again. Thus fortified,  Elijah heads into the desert.

Are you weary? Reach out to the Lord with the strength that you have. He will answer you. Is the journey too much for you? He knows where you are going. Run to the Lord and He will sustain you along the way.

Next Time- Into the Desert

Photo by Dave Lantner, used with permission.

This teaching is an excerpt from our Radio Antioch Podcast Episode 4.

Have you ever heard the phrase “Going to the Mountain”? In Christian circles it can mean a person seeking some time alone with God, to commune in the Spirit. We get this phrase because in a number of places Moses, or Elijah or Jesus would go to a literal mountain top to be alone with God. Why go to a mountain top? Going to a secluded place away from your activities and trials to be alone with God gets rid  of the distraction and “noise” of every day life. Some of us are so busy on a daily basis that there is little time for God to speak. We bustle here in there, sometimes even doing things for God, but we sometimes forget to make time just to be with God.
Sometimes I teach that it is important to remember to be In Christ, as well as to remember to be In Church! Sometimes we get so busy teaching the kids or working with youth or writing sermons, doing stuff FOR God that we forget to take time just to be WITH God. This statement will drive anyone who has a “works” mentality crazy. These people, either on a conscious or unconscious level, feel that they have to do “acts of service” or “acts of righteousness” to earn favor with God. And yet the scriptures say that I have favor with God because of what Christ did for me on the cross, and that through my belief and relationship with Christ I am restored to favor with God. Now, don’t get me wrong, doing these good things are important, but we need to remember to take time for our relationship with the Lord.
I sometimes encourage Pastors to take a personal Sabbath. Since they minister every weekend, and are often expected to be around the church office during the week, when do they have the time to be alone with God to get a fresh word for the church? And it is usually not the Pastor’s fault, but rather the expectations that people place on them. I sometimes have to repent, when I realize that most of my bible reading and most of my prayer over a few days has been about the sermon that I am writing. Even ministers have to remember to take time with God, instead of spending all of their time doing things for God.
Sometimes we have “Stinking Thinking”, the wrong ideas that get in the way of all that Christ wants us to be. In these alone times with the Lord, He can adjust our thinking. The Lord can give us new perspective on our situation. Perhaps we are troubled and need peace. The Lord can impart new ideas to us, or give us a new direction for a day, a week, or for the next season in our life. The Lord can use this time to soften the hard places in our hearts, where we want OUR way, and OUR thinking, instead of His way, and His thinking.  Sometimes we need to remember what it says in Isaiah 55:9:

“As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”

In these times on the mountain top, we can learn what is on the Lord’s heart. We can replace our earthly thoughts with His higher thoughts. We can let the Holy Spirit wash over our thinking so that instead of seeing God through the world’s eyes, we see the world through God’s eyes.  We can let the Lord illuminate scripture to us, making it a living, “now” word for our  day. In addition to knowing the word of God, we can come to know the God of the word. When I do both a grow both deeper as a person, and deeper in God.
I want to be a mountain man. I want to be at home on that mountain with God. I want to know both the word of God and the heart of God for today.
I want fresh “bread” from heaven, the good stuff.
How long has it been since you went to the mountain?

Photo courtesy Appaloosa, used with permission.

Need a time of refreshing? If you live in the northern Illinois/southeastern Wisconsin area, we invite you to join us for a time or worship, teaching and fellowship this Saturday night at 7pm.

We will be podcasting each meeting here on the Radio Antioch blog in audio, and plan to add video podcasts and live Internet video soon. For a link to our recent podcasts, click HERE.

We are meeting at the  Christian Life Fellowship church, a fantastic local church in Antioch that lets us “borrow” their sanctuary for these meetings. Their Address is:

41625 North Deep Lake Road
Antioch, Illinois 60002

For Mapquest directions, click HERE.

Sorry, we do not have childcare available at this time. There is a “cry room” with audio and a window if you need it. Please feel free to bring the kids.

If you have questions, or want to get involved, please send us an e-mail.

Photo Credit

This teaching is an excerpt from our Radio Antioch Podcast, Episode 4.

A few weeks ago, I was in the prayer room at a local church outside of Chicago. I was the guest speaker that morning, and was due to preach in about 45 minutes. I always ask the Lord to intervene when I preach. My ideal Sunday would be for the presence of the Lord to fall during worship, so that the congregation spends the whole service in His presence, making my preaching unnecessary.  Most of the time I don’t get my wish, so I preach anyway. But it is not unusual for the Lord to “adjust” my sermons during this time. During the prayer, the Lord brought these scriptures to my attention:

Joshua 5:1
Now when all the Amorite kings west of the Jordan and all the Canaanite kings along the coast heard how the Lord had dried up the Jordan before the Israelites until we had crossed over, their hearts melted and they no longer had the courage to face the Israelites.

Joshua 5:13-15
Now when Joshua was near Jericho, he looked up and saw a man standing in front of him with a drawn sword in his hand. Joshua went up to him and asked, “Are you for us or for our enemies?”
[14] “Neither,” he replied, “but as commander of the army of the Lord I have now come.” Then Joshua fell facedown to the ground in reverence, and asked him, “What message does my Lord have for his servant?”
[15] The commander of the Lord’s army replied, “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy.” And Joshua did so.

This was a totally different subject than my message for that morning. Over the next few minutes I knew that the Lord was giving me a word for the congregation, and I believe, also for those who would read this on the internet.

With the recent financial meltdown and the looming election, I have been receiving many emails. One email said that I should vote for One particular candidate, because HE would fix the financial crisis. Another message said that I should vote for the Other candidate, because HE would fix the financial crisis. Now, I consider myself an independent voter, as I vote for the candidate and not by party lines, and have over time voted not only for candidates from both major parties, but independents as well. And honestly, I have been pretty disgusted with what has come out of Washington from both parties in these recent times.
I also have received emails reminding us that America has killed many times the number of people with Abortion as the Nazis ever killed in concentration camps. (A fact, look it up) This statistic always upsets me. But another one that upset me was a claim that only about 25% of evangelical Christians actually vote. (Before writing this, I looked this one up, and most sources claim this number is in the low 40% range, which is still terrible.)
When the Lord brought this scripture to mind, all of the churn revealed in these mails came into razor-sharp focus. I let it digest for a while, then during the sermon related the prayer room story and what I felt the Lord was saying:
When Joshua confronted the Angel, he instantly recognized it as a heavenly being. His confronting question: Are you for US or our ENEMIES? The implied question seems to be “Are you from God, or from the Enemy? The answer is telling: NEITHER! I am here to do GOD’S BUSINESS! It may have been stunning to Joshua to hear that his people’s agenda was not entirely in line with God’s thought. I  am sure that there are people on all sides of this election that feel that God is on their side. But I feel God saying that we are not to be of one party, or the other, but need to get on our faces and discern what is God’s agenda. The Angel then said to Joshua: “but as commander of the army of the Lord I have now come.” At this point Joshua drops his agenda a prostrates himself. I feel the Lord is saying that the Christians need to not only quit buying into all of the political rhetoric, and quit with their apathy. Like Joshua, we need to get on our faces and align ourselves with the Lord’s agenda. It does not matter if we like one candidate or another, or how our family traditionally votes. We are part of the Army of God, and His thoughts and Agenda are far beyond our own. We need to humble ourselves, forget our pre-conceived notions, PRAY until we hear from God on how to vote, then be obedient.
Notice something else: unlike other angelic encounters, the angel actually allowed Joshua to worship him. (Contrast this with Rev. 19:10) Could it be that this was more than merely an Angel? Joshua thought so, naming him “Lord” in verse 14. And the command that followed was the same words that the Lord used to Moses , “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy.” Like Joshua, we have our eyes on the fight, both in the financial and political realms and do not realize that the Lord Himself is calling us to obedience.

Photo courtesy  Christophe Dune, used with permission. Taken in the Campo Marzio, in Rome.

Episode Four of Radio Antioch is a sermon by David Cranfill entitled Going to the Mountain
Throughout the Scripture, God has met with His children, often in remote places. Some were running under the covering of God, others responding to the call of God, in times of trial and in times of new beginnings. Even today we must make time to “Go to the Mountain” with God, to be refreshed, renewed, sometimes corrected, always affirmed, but above all to enjoy a sweet time of fellowship.

0:00    Intro
0:32    Taking Time for God
6:07    The Gift of Faith
12:22    The Journey Into the Desert
18:24    On the Mountain
28:17     A word from the Lord
32:18    Come Away with Me
34:44    New Beginnings
36:28    Those Who Seek His Presence
38:49    Credits

Listen Now! RA-004-Going-To-The-Mountain.mp3

Copyright 2008 Antioch Tabernacle Ministries Some Rights Reserved.
Bumper Music derived from the works of Sarah Bauer. For more information visit music.Podshow.com

This teaching is an excerpt from our Radio Antioch Podcast, Episode 3.

When I pray for people, I expect them to be healed, and we see it frequently. I don’t want to make some kind of formula out of it. Sometimes we pray for people and we don’t see immediate results. Recently,  when preaching one Sunday, I asked the congregation how many had ever been healed by God after being prayed for in a church service. At least half of the people raised their hands. My comments to the others: If you are believing for a healing, then be encouraged, because all of these people are testifying that God still heals today.
How many of you believe that signs, wonders and healings are all for the church today? The world will tell you that these things don’t happen any more, or worse yet, that they never did happen. There are even entire denominations that through their interpretation of a few scriptures, argue that these things are no longer part of the church. They say that there are no more prophesies, no more words of knowledge, no more of that type of “Now” interaction between God and man.
Here is where I have a problem with their interpretation- If you hand a bible to a student and ask them what the overwhelming theme of the Bible is, they might say “God wants to talk to and interact with man”. The Bible is NOTHING BUT stories where God interacted with man. Story after story of God interacting with man. Through good times, and bad, righteousness and sin, in victory and in times of defeat, the scriptures point to God’s desire to touch man with the supernatural life of heaven. You don’t have to have a Doctorate in Theology to see that this theme is seen over and over in scripture.
And yet the world would have us believe that nothing glorious happens as a Christian. But the scripture say exactly the opposite. The Bible is full of surprising stories. How many of you have been surprised by God’s goodness and kindness revealed to you in your life? I know many. But do you expect it?  I am slowly beginning to expect God to intervene in my life in surprising ways. Each new church project, each mission trip stretches my faith a little bit- But on the other side of each event, I have a testimony that builds up my faith.

Eph. 2:10
For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

Think about what this means: Not only have we been created by God to do good things, but some of these things God prepared in advance for us to do! I challenge you to analyze some of the events in your life in light of this scripture. Perhaps God used the same event not only to grow you as a person, but to allow you to bless somebody else as you work through the challenges. God is so awesome that he can take a challenging situation, that the world would say is bad news, and use it to grow you up as an example of his workmanship, while you bless your neighbor at the same time. I find this exhilarating!
Furthermore, God has prepared in advance things for us to do. Not only does God want to interact with us, He has plans to do so, and they are part of the plans for our lives. Interactions with God are not only expected, they are also part of the Master plan! It is time for us to begin to expect the supernatural life of heaven to manifest in our lives.

Photo by Jullian Robinson used with permission.