Imagination Matters
By Jason Gallion

James 5:17-18. Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months. And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit.
1 Kings 17:1. And Elijah the Tishbite, who was of the inhabitants of Gilead, said unto Ahab, As the Lord God of Israel liveth, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my word.
In a May 6, 2002 issue of Aviation Magazine, writer Scott indicated that kids exposed to much time before the computer and television screens are not developing creativity; they are not developing their imaginations.
Einstein – imagination is better than intelligence. “Is anything faster than the speed of light?” Imagination allows us to look into what could be achieved. It allows young people to say, “We can accomplish what God wants.”
Many attended the recent Youth Congress the last three days. The enemy said, “You can’t accomplish.” Through the power of the Holy Ghost, you can be great preachers…by the anointing power of the Holy Ghost. If you give everything to Him!
• Cathedral Imagination
A little boy—his ice cream cone dripping—approached a man laying bricks. “Heh, Mister!” The man ignored the boy while he focused on the plumbline and laying his bricks. Finally, he looked at the boy, who said, “What’re ya buildin’?” “A wall,” came the answer. The boy went to a second man and asked the same. The man stood and answered the boy: “I’m building the greatest cathedral you have ever seen.”
The difference in their answers was their imagination. Imagination matters. Look at young people with the potential God has. They can reach people for God. Calvary Tabernacle has the greatest young people in America! Potential in the pews. God can use you regardless of your age.
• Be Sensitive
Once while ferrying with the youth near Haines, Alaska, Bro. Gallion gathered them for a Bible study. Cameron, a 22-year-old, said, “Let’s have the Bible study here on the deck. As they gathered chairs and sleeping bags around, a girl with a notebook joined them. After prayer and Bible reading, they invited the girl for supper the next day in a small house. Following that they had another Bible study with prayer and Bible reading. Soon she had tears running and down, and God filled her with the Holy Ghost.
Maybe you don’t know why you’re led to a neighbor, but God can use you.
BE SENSITIVE!
“And Elijah, the Tishbite…” Tishbite means “captivity.” It’s of unknown origin. No one knows. None known. Amos said, “I’m no prophet nor the son of a prophet, but I’m a simple sheep herder. God called me as I followed sheep.” God calls us, wherever we are! God wants to use you regardless of your pedigree.
A young man was headed into the Marines. He had already enlisted. Then God stirred his heart, he said, “to go to Bible College. By the time I got back, Dad had the papers ready for me to go.”
As Bro. Mooney often says, “Never plan your life; you will under-plan it.” Do you want anointing? Pray. “God lead me. Be there.” You are called by God. “What does God want to do in my life?” Reach our community with Who God is.
• A Cruse and Cakes
Elijah; God speaks to him to go into a town, to a widow. He finds her collecting sticks, and says, “Make me something to eat.” She has just a little oil, a little meal. Like when you have a little gas in your car, and someone asks, “Can I get a ride?” Like when you pull the couch back and look for any change that dropped there. Or you look in the car change-holder. Is there enough to buy a $.99 taco? “I always loved it when I got free food, when they saw I didn’t have enough money.”
Elijah said, “Give me some free food.” She says, “Okay,” and lights the sticks, pours oil in the skillet, and adds the meal. She tells him she was going to make these last cakes for herself and her son, and then they would die. She makes a patty, cooks it, and hands it over. Elijah says, “Make one for you and your son.” She looks in; there is just enough! She pours out one more. Elijah says, “Make another.’ Sure enough, there’s more. She pours it out. As long as they needed it, it was there.
Young people, you feel there is not enough anointing to get through. You’re going to give up. You feel pressure. But God has given you enough to get through the year! You’ve always got God’s presence there. God can use you to reach your family, your friends. A miracle happens, then the enemy comes. Just when revival happens, the enemy arrives. But God is always good enough. He’s never failed. You are in revival!
God always gives enough anointing. Let God do what He wants to do. He’s able! He’s able!
So the blessing comes to the woman, and then her kid dies. (See 1 Kings 17.) You may get discouraged; you get a pay raise, and then get fired. You get home from the Youth Congress, and the air conditioner has leaked on the floor. When you face temptation, God says, “You can rely on Me.”
Why don’t we have a Youth Congress every Sunday and Wednesday night? We don’t have to wait for children’s revival; let’s have it tonight.
“What have I to do with thee, O thou man of God?” (v.18). Elijah carried the dead baby up, laid him on the bed, and prayed three times. So keep praying until God starts answering. You are anointed by God. There are times you lay on your bed, but don’t stop praying and worshiping and magnifying God. A miracle happened: the child began to move! “And Elijah said, See, thy son liveth.” (:23).
• Contest
“Obadiah took an hundred prophets, and hid them by fifty in a cave, and fed them with bread and water” (1 Kings 18:4). Obadiah worked for the king. He knew God’s potential, and hid the prophets on the side, slipping in the back door and feeding them. Maybe God could have used him if he had stepped out for God. “Devil, you need to get out of my life and leave my family alone!” Why don’t we get mad at the devil, and rebuke him? What could happen if all backsliders came back to your church, to CT? Revival!
Obadiah informs Ahab, and he meets with Elijah. “You pesky prophet!” Ahab accuses. “No, it’s YOU!” Elijah says. “Let’s have a contest, to prove to ourselves that God is God.”
“Why do they have revivals overseas, but not here?” we ask. Ans: we are not desperate enough! You got a sick baby? You get desperate! You pray! If we came to church desperate for God to move…. God does answer! His Spirit is anointing.
Elijah proposed a contest. He was not intimidated. It’s not a reflection of us if some are not healed. Believe in God even if you don’t understand. The contest—450 prophets of Baal, a bullock, altar, etc. They sit at the queen’s table, and eat leftovers. They build a monument with a dead cow, screaming and singing songs.
Elijah finally says, “Heh, I figured out your problem. Maybe your god is on a journey, or maybe asleep. Call louder!” They cut and ripped themselves until they passed out.
Elijah then gathered 12 stones to God, in memory of their patriarch, their father. Will we rebuild our father’s altar? That’s where we’re going to worship God. Young people, rebuild those altars of prayer and truth and sacrifice. You want anointing? Give “all of me.” God can use you in greater areas if you surrender every part of your life.
Elijah poured on the water and stepped back, and God answered by Fire! When you come, bring your sacrifice of praise and put the issues of life on the stones. We shouldn’t have to battle the flesh, but enter with praise. The fire from heaven consumes the sacrifice. God is Yahweh!
James 5:17 – Elijah had the same struggles we have. Jezebel was going to kill him, so he runs. He wanted to kill himself…AFTER the fire fell! You may feel you are the only person among the young people that wants revival, that prays. But the devil is a liar. When he says, “Don’t go to church,” you go! It takes rebuilding altars of our forefathers: Repentance, Baptism in Jesus’ Name, Infilling of the Holy Ghost with the evidence of tongues.

Preached on 8-11-13 PM by Rev. Jason Gallion (Dean of Students, IBC)
Calvary Tabernacle, Indpls.
www.CalvaryTabIndy.org

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