In this sermon, the speaker begins by praying for God's presence and guidance during the service. The theme of the sermon is "working in the footsteps of Jesus" and the importance of following God's Word. The speaker references 1st Kings chapter 17 and encourages the audience to pay close attention as there will be a time for questions and answers with prizes. The sermon also addresses the recent strike of teachers and nurses, urging individuals to repent and stand up for the Lord.

Let us bow and ask God to be with us and work in our midst. We ask you Lord to be in our midst now, speak to us through your word. And those still on the way here, we pray that you would protect them so that they would arrive safely, amen. The theme for these services is in his footsteps, walking in the footsteps of Jesus, walking in the footsteps of our God. As the Bible says, in the footsteps of God. Jesus himself is the word, and so if you follow the word, if you follow God, you will find yourself keeping his word. Our text we find in 1 Kings, chapter 17, from verse 1. Now pay close attention because during this youth conference, we get a time of questions and answers. You can win prizes, you can win prizes if you show that you've really paid attention. Some receive Bibles as prizes. Some English, some Zulu Bibles and other literature. So listen very carefully, don't allow Satan to distract you. I see there are not so many older people, perhaps they thought well it's the youth conference. But you adults listen carefully too because this has to do with you as well. The Bible says, do not neglect fellowship, gathering of yourselves together. Because a person who starts staying away from services, you can recognize that he's backsliding. And if the Lord wills, I'll be speaking quite often about the Prophet Elijah. I love the servant of the Lord, this Prophet. And Elijah the Tishbite of the inhabitants of Gilead said to Ahab, as the Lord God of whom I stand, they shall not be due nor reign these years except at my word. Then the word of the Lord came to him saying, get away from here and turn eastward and hide by the brook Cherith, which flows into the Jordan. And it will be that you shall drink from the brook and I've commanded the ravens to feed you there. So he went and did according to the word of the Lord for he went and stayed by the brook Cherith, which flows into the Jordan. The ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning and bread and meat in the evening and he drank from the brook. The things of God are astonishing. They are marvelous. They are awesome for the one who doesn't know anything of God, they are foolish and they have been blinded by the devil. The crows would bring Him food and meat in the morning and in the evening. Isn't that amazing? Unclean birds bringing Him food. There are some people who say, I can never go into the Lord's Work full time because what will I eat? But the Lord provides. Think even of the crowds that were fed amply just through a few loaves and fishes. If you want to enjoy that which is sweeter than honey, come to the gospel. If you want to stay in your sin, well, you're the one who's going to suffer. Some had predicted that this youth conference wouldn't come off because of the strike of teachers and nurses. And they said many things and I said, what? That hasn't even crossed my mind. Now we're together. God has kept us. Yesterday somebody told me that they'd heard over the radio that the teachers have really shot themselves in the foot because the education department has decided that there will be a no work no pay policy. And so they've missed out on a whole month's pay. Some who calculate say it'll take six years of work just to recover those lost man hours for pay because they've really done themselves a And some have complained bitterly that they were just striking in the way that they were taught in the previous dispensation. But now the government, this new government, takes such stern action against them. They're very upset with it. Well, I don't go into those things. I'm not a politician. And I, this is just by hearsay that I've heard these things. And I, I don't mind which party you belong to. It doesn't matter what racial group, what nation you're from for the Lord has said, go into all the world, to all the nations. So value the fact that you are here, that you've made it. Many were left behind in some places like down there in Harding, the buses that we sent were chock-a-block full and many had to remain behind. So appreciate it that you are here. Now back to this prophet, Elijah. We don't know much about him. There are not many details like where he was born, but we do know that he grew up in the area of Gilead known as a very rough place full of rough valleys and hills and stones and rocks. If you study the story of Elijah, go through his life. What an amazing life he was on fire for God. And in fact, he was taken straight to heaven without dying by a fiery chariot straight into heaven. I encourage you to study the story of Elijah for yourself, starting here in chapter 17, going through the rest. He was an amazing man. No wonder that his body didn't even see death. God just raptured him straight into heaven. When our Lord was on the Mount of Transfiguration, one of those who joined him on the mountain was this Elijah. And they were discussing the suffering of Jesus and his coming death for our sins. The other one, the second one, was Moses. For Moses was made of the same metal. You'd find so many similarities in the lives of these two great men of God. And as you make a study of Elijah for yourself, you will realize why he didn't have to die. He was so rich. He was so rich that he didn't have to die, but he was so rich that he didn't have to die, but he was so rich that he didn't have to die, but he was so rich that he didn't have to die, but he was so rich that he didn't have to die, but he was so rich that he didn't have to die, but he was so rich that he didn't have to die, but he was so rich that he didn't have to die, but he was so rich that he didn't have to die, but he was so rich that he didn't have to die, but he was so rich that he didn't have to die, but he was so rich that he didn't have to die, but he was so rich that he didn't have to die, but he was so rich that he didn't have to die, but he was so rich that he didn't have to die, but he was so rich that he didn't have to die, but he was so rich that he didn't have to die, but he was so rich that he didn't have to die, but he was so rich that he didn't have to die, but he was so rich that he didn't have to die, but he was so rich that he didn't have to die, but he was so rich that he didn't have to die, but he was so rich that he didn't have to die, but he was so rich that he didn't have to die, but he was so rich that he didn't have to die, but he was so rich that he didn't have to die, but he was so rich that he didn't have to die, but he was so rich that he didn't have to die, but he was so rich that he didn't have to die, but he was so rich that he didn't have to die, but he was so rich that he didn't have to die, but he was so rich that he didn't have to die, but he was so rich that he didn't have to die, but he was so rich that he didn't have to die, but born, or who his parents were. His life was exemplary. He was as straight as a die. It was like a spear that headed in one direction. Even his name means, the Lord is God, and indeed he stood for that. He was single-minded, single-minded, single-minded. Yes. He wasn't a straddler with one leg here and one leg there. He wasn't an in-between type of man. And he was absolutely single-minded. We are cursed with this happening among Christians, old and young, that they are double-minded. They believe, but they also have an agreement with Satan. They mix things up. He was commanded with the rest to utterly annihilate Jericho, to destroy and burn everything. But he saw a nice jacket, he took it along. Saw some gold, he took that too. And he buried it under the ground in his tent at home. Despite this wickedness of hiding his sin there in the tent, his wife observed it and said nothing. The children saw it, and instead of speaking to the leader, running to the leader and saying, this is the sin that our dad is up to, they kept quiet and they perished with him. And I tell you, as a servant of the Lord, you will perish, you will die if you hide sin away. Joshua said, sanctify yourselves. Sanctify yourselves, the Lord said through Joshua. But it didn't touch them, both the father, the wife, and the children. The Lord said, Sanctify yourselves. Tomorrow, the Lord will uncover this wickedness. He will point the sinner out. Nevertheless, though they were told to sanctify themselves, they did nothing. Though Achan was a soldier of the Lord, he covered up. And despite their cover up, the next day, everything pointed at Achan. Joshua said the next day, what have you done Achan? Achan said, yes it's true. It's not a good thing to be caught red handed, you're cornered, and then you decide you'll admit your sin. And the judgment was that Achan was to be stoned to death. With his wife, who shared the blame of not revealing this, and the children, and the donkeys, they were all stoned to death. But still, The Lord said, Sanctify yourselves. But still we have Achan's who cover up, who keep quiet about sin, who are afraid of risking their lives. They think I might be poisoned, I might be attacked in this way. Doesn't the Bible say that as believers they shall drink poison, or bitten by snakes or scorpions, and they shall survive. For faith overcomes wickedness and evil. Is there any wife here keeping quiet about the sin? About the sin of their husbands. Well, the stones will destroy you with your husbands. Is there any child here who is keeping quiet about the sins of their brothers or sisters or parents? Well, you'll die alongside with them. The Bible is full of examples of those who stayed in their wickedness and judgment fell upon them. Another example would be Ananias and Sapphira. Elijah was not of that type. He was absolutely determined, totally devoted and single-minded unto the Lord. It is a curse in the church that there are those who are Christians and are double-minded. They mix things. Parents who close their eyes and who ignore the sin of their children. You'll never have chariots of fire. Horses of fire coming to fetch you instead. Dark creatures from the pit taking you to hell. So if you've been covering up for sin and you've been standing in for your friend and you've had an agreement that this is going to be a cover-up, nothing will be said, maybe it's a year old already, repent, confess it, deal with it today. Don't leave the service without uncovering the sin. Elijah stayed upright whether it was bad weather or sunshine, whether the people liked him or not, whether he was popular or not, it didn't matter, he stuck to his road in the footsteps of his God. Elijah lived in a very wicked, evil, dark generation. There were wicked politicians who were in political control. King Ahab and his wife Jezebel who was from a pagan background. It was pitch dark. It was dark for Israel. King Ahab issued a decree that the Israelites were to worship Baal, the idols of the nations, and were not to worship Almighty God. And then God commissioned Elijah to go and speak directly to King Ahab. To say that he's forsaken the way of the Lord and that they've committed atrocities for they had killed the prophets of God. But the Lord used Obadiah, the prophet, to protect the people. He protected some of his people, some of the prophets, a hundred of them, fifty were hidden in one cave and fifty in another cave. He protected them from the powers that be, from Jezebel who wanted to kill them. People were being killed like flies. Wickedness reigned supreme. Baal, instead of the Lord, was in control. Let's read from Deuteronomy 11, from verse 16. Take heed to yourselves, lest your heart be deceived and you turn aside and serve other gods and worship them. Lest the Lord's anger be aroused against you and He shut up the heavens so that there be no rain and the land yield no produce and you perish quickly from the good land which the Lord is giving you. So the Lord said to his people, to Israel, take heed to yourselves, be careful, lest your heart is deceived and you turn aside to other gods. And you end up worshipping idols and God is angered and He shuts up the heavens so that it does not rain and you live in famine. God had made a covenant with His people, Israel, but they didn't keep their side. Is there anybody here who has been covenanted to God, you have an agreement with God and yet you have not kept your promise? I feel like asking you to stand up where you are, you who made a promise to God but have not kept it. But even if you don't stand up, God knows you, He sees exactly where you are, who you are and how over the passage of time you have been unfaithful to that promise. God commands the parents to teach their children and children's children exactly what He had taught them so that they would keep His commandments. But they didn't do it, it became dark upon the earth. Jesus said, you who are the light, let your light shine so that they would see the truth. But you say, instead of revealing the truth to those who do not know the Lord, you are like the world, so they watch TV, you also do. The way they come, you come. The way they dress themselves, you copy their fashion. I don't know whether you didn't have parents to teach you, well don't let that curse continue with you, you come to the Lord even if they have got to suffer the consequences of their lives. Watching TV, you begin to do what they have on TV, you begin to copy their fashion and I boasted before that here in Africa, we don't do things, we don't follow the way they do it in the western world with their promiscuity. But I'm embarrassed to say that it's like flies that have been attracted to sweet tea and have fallen in. I'm embarrassed to say that it's like flies that have been attracted to sweet tea and have fallen in. I'm embarrassed to say that it's like flies that have been attracted to sweet tea and have fallen in. And you become imitators of whatever the world has to offer. You hear worldly music over the radio and the next thing, that's the tune that you are in, instead of destroying that, getting rid of that. You take your cell phones and you use it to be promiscuous with, you look at pornography. You look at pornography on the cell phone and you follow the world in its footsteps. It is dark in this world, similar to the time of Elijah. But I ask, where are those who stand on their feet firmly on the side of the Lord? In James 5.17 it says, Elijah was a person similar to us, like us, but he stood firmly for the Lord. But you see your children not doing the same and you just close your eyes. But you see your children not doing the same and you just close your eyes. But Elijah seeing the iniquity, this vile sin of killing the prophets of God, he prayed. And as it says in James 5.17, a man like us, exactly like us, but he prayed in accordance with what God had said, that I will close the heavens if you continue in your sin. And he prayed specifically to dry up the heavens. For in James 5.17 it says, I will close the heavens if you continue in your sin. But you see your children not doing the same and you just close your eyes. And there where James speaks about healing, he says, and confess your sins one to another for the prayer of a righteous man avails much. And then he says, and Elijah was like us, but his righteous prayers locked up the heavens so that it rained not. But you see your children not doing the same and you just close your eyes. And so these days you are going to hear some testimonies, some of those will be from those who have suffered from AIDS. One who shares how they experienced hell, Satan welcoming him or her there. And remember that's what Satan wants to do with you, is to utterly destroy you. But that person is now well, the Lord has helped them, given them strength back, they are able to walk around. I don't know whether the Lord will make you well. Elijah was honest and upright. He wasn't two-tongued, he was a person who was absolutely firm in what he said. And became stronger. Even when Even when God needed to hide him and sent him into the wilderness to hide in a cave, because he had prayed it was a time of drought for three and a half years, there was no rain. King Ahab sought his life because he blamed the drought on Elijah. So he sent his people to search him out because he wanted to kill him, to punish him. But Jesus said, let your light shine before all men. If you are at school, let them see clearly that this person is a Christian. So as you are seated here, young people, I wonder of what type you are. But if you find that you are a believer like the 7,000 secret believers, remember they were not taken up in chariots of fire like Elijah. They were not taken up in chariots of fire like Elijah. And the king had a vehement hatred of Elijah. Blamed Elijah for everything bad, the famine, the drought. And towards the end when he went public and revealed himself, God said, now Elijah, this is the time, go and reveal yourself to the king, to Ahab. And he met with Obadiah close to the palace.