One Time Wonder — Teresa Conlon

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The Prophet’s Message in 1 Kings 13

If you would turn with me in your Bibles to First Kings, First Kings Chapter 13, First Kings 13, I want to, the title of the message today is One Time Wonder, One Time Wonder, First Kings 13. I'm going to pray, Father, Lord, I come in Jesus' name.

Lord, I pray that you would have your way today. I pray, O God, that you would speak, that, Lord, you would be heard, and then, Lord, you would be glorified, that, Lord, this word is going to be mighty, O God, Lord, that you're going to be honored through it, that, Lord, this word is going to have an eternal weight, that, God, we offer ourselves before the power of this word, and, Lord, we expect transformation and we expect life because it is you, Jesus.

This is your living word, and we open ourselves up to it now. We ask, Holy Spirit, you be the teacher and have your way completely. Lord, I pray the Holy Spirit can lift up Jesus, lift him up, that he will be seen in all his splendor and desired and longed for, and we'll thank you for it all in Jesus' precious name.

Amen and amen. We're entering in, as you heard, to a time of fasting, and sometimes we have in our minds that when we go into a time of fasting, that when we come with our specific request to God during a fasting time, that we're really going to get an answer now because we're fasting.

And it's almost like we're saying, you know, God, I'm going to do this, so you have to do that. Well, beloved, you know, I've come to realize more and more that really what fasting does is in the subduing of our flesh, our spirits are made more alive to the Holy Spirit.

It's not that we're coming and God is a pinball machine, okay, I've done this, so you have to do this now. It's no, it's Lord, I'm setting this time aside, and whatever you want to say and whatever you want to do, Lord, I'm open now to you, Holy Spirit.

And you know, Isaiah 58, it talks about really what God's chosen fast is about, the purpose of God's chosen fast. And you don't need to turn there, but basically it's saying it's to loose the bands of wickedness.

It's to loose the bands of wickedness. And we, as the people of God, there could be areas in our life that God is saying, I'm going to loose those bands and I'm going to do it, because you don't even know where the bands are.

You don't even realize the deep need you have of me in that area. It says I'm going to undo heavy burdens, and sometimes we have come and we're under a burden and we don't understand why. We don't understand, we love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, but there is a burden there.

And the undue ones, the ones not of Christ, get lifted in this fast. It's to let the oppressed go free. And beloved, that through our lives, we are going to speak a word of life, and the oppressed that hear a word that is from the Holy Spirit that is powering are going to go free.

But first, that oppression, any oppression in us is going to be made to give up those areas where they do oppress us. And this fast, I know, is called of God, and it's going to do all this and more. And there's a story about a man in 1 Kings 13 that's so appropriate to what God has been speaking to His church lately.

There's been a theme of all the preaching lately, and that is that people could make a stand for Christ. People could stand in Christ and have that power to stand and be able to reach people. And that seems to be a theme.

And there's a story of a man in the Old Testament that he actually did make a very dynamic stand for God, but the most unusual thing happened after he did. And I want to look at his story. The man is a prophet, and his story is told in 1 Kings 13.

But to know his story, we have to go back a bit and know the time that he lived in. And the time that this man, this prophet, he lived in, it was the time when Solomon reigned. And at the end of his reign, he began not only to build the temple of God, he built the temple of God, but at the end of his reign, he also built false temples on hills surrounding Jerusalem.

So he built a temple to Ashtoreth, and he built a temple to Malchom, and all the foreign gods of his wives, of his many wives, he built the temple of God where the living presence of God was, and then he built all these false temples.

And at the end of his life, God said, no, I will not put up with that anymore. And he chose a young man who was industrious, the scripture says, whose name was Jeroboam. And God sovereignly chose that young man, and he said, I'm going to give you ten tribes of Israel.

I'm going to take the kingdom from Solomon. I'm going to leave two tribes to him because of, for his father David's sake. But I'm going to take ten tribes, and I'm going to give them to you, Rehoboam, and you're going to be king over them.

And God gave Rehoboam an incredible promise, and he said that when I give you this kingdom, you can do what's ever in your heart to do concerning these ten tribes. What's ever in your heart to do, however you want to lead them, you can do that.

But then he also said, but if you would walk in my ways, if you would do all that I command you and keep my statutes and commandments, then God made him an incredible promise to this young man. He said, I will be with you.

I will build you a sure house like I built for David, and I will give Israel unto you. He said, you can rule it the way you want, but if you will follow what my commands and my statutes, he says, I am going to be with you.

I will build you a sure house. As great as David's name was, I will make your name great. As great as David's house will be, I will make your house great. And he said, I will give Israel into your hand.

Now we pick up the story. Jeroboam, it says, if you just look to 1 Kings 12, in verse 26, it says, Jeroboam, after receiving this promise of God, it says, and Jeroboam said in his heart, now shall the kingdom return to the house of David.

Because if this people go up to do sacrifice in the house of the Lord at Jerusalem, then shall the heart of this people turn again unto their Lord, even unto Rehoboam, king of Judah. And they shall kill me and go again to Rehoboam, the king of Judah.

Rehoboam being Solomon's son, who reigned over the two tribes. And so God gave him a very clear, sure word. Said, if you will follow me with your heart, I will give you this. But the scripture tells us that Jeroboam said in his heart, no, no, no, no, no.

I know I can see exactly what's going to happen here. That when people in the ten tribes go to Jerusalem to worship at the true temple, they're going to be swayed. They're going to be influenced. And finally it's going to dawn on them, I'm not their king.

They're going to want the royal line of David again. And they're going to kill me. And everything that has been given me is going to be taken away from me. And so the scripture tells us that Jeroboam, this young man, verse 28, the king took counsel.

And from that counsel he made two calves of gold. And he said unto them, that's the people, it is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem. Behold thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.

And so, I don't know how he pulled that one off, but he made two golden calves. He made them. And he said to all the people, it's too much for you to go all the way down to Jerusalem. We're the northern kingdom.

It's too far. It's too much for you to worship and praise God in that place. So we'll make two golden calves and these be thy gods, O Israel. The exact words that were said when the people of Israel were in the desert and a false calf was made.

The devil uses, you know, he uses that same strategy over and over again. And then in addition to forming two golden calves and saying now I'm going to put one in the north and one in the south and you can, whatever closest to you, whatever the most convenient to you, you can go and you can worship there.

And then the scripture says in verse 31, that in addition to the gold calves, he made a house of high places and he made priests of the lowest of the people, which were not of the sons of Levi. And Jeroboam ordained a feast, just like the feast that they have in Judah.

And what he said in the high places, he put these priests and there they offered upon the altar that he had made. There they offered sacrifices on altars that he had made. He proclaimed a feast. And beloved, let's look at this picture.

Here we now have a man made ministry. We have a false altars. We have that were fashioned by their own hands and they're saying you don't have to go to Jerusalem, you just have to sacrifice here. And the scripture says that everything that he devised out of his own heart, that which he did and the people followed him.

The people of the northern kingdom followed him. Now our story picks up, there was a prophet sent by God in chapter 13. And it says, and behold, there came a man of God out of Judah by the word of the Lord unto Bethel, one of these altars.

And Jeroboam stood by the altar to burn incense. And this man of God, the scripture says, he cried against the altar in the word of the Lord. And he said, altar, altar, thus saith the Lord. And he begins to cry against it.

And he said, it's going to be destroyed. He said, this is not an altar of God. Sacrifices, prayers, anything made at these altars, God will not hear you. This is not a God ordained, this is not a God place.

And God is against it. And he said to them that he cries out and he said, so that you can know what I'm saying is true. He said, this altar is going to be rent into, separated into, and all the ashes from your burnings are going to pour through it.

And you are going to know that this is not of God's doing. And the scripture says in verse four, that Jeroboam, when he heard this, it says, and it came to pass when King Jeroboam heard the saying of the man of God, which cried against the altar in Bethel, he put forth his hand from the altar saying, lay hold on him.

And his hand, which he put forth against him, dried up so that he could not pull it in again. And the Bible says the altar was rent and the ashes poured out according to the sign which the man of God had given by the word of God.

And beloved, here we have a man in these scriptures very clearly anointed of God, very clearly making a stand. He's going before the king now of the whole nation, one time who knew the favor of God, and he stands before it.

And he says, this is not an altar of God. And he has a fearless testimony. He has a fearless anointing. He will go and he'll stand before this king and he'll stand before all the people. And he will say, I don't know how blind you can get, but this is not of God.

And here is proof that what I'm saying is the truth. God is going to back me up. And when the king put forth his hand against that man of God, the scriptures tell us he could not draw it in. It dried up.

And everything that that king wanted to do against this man in this testimony dried up. And he was hopeless and helpless before the anointing on this man and the spirit of God in this man and the truth and the power of his words.

It's an outstanding testimony. He's unintimidated. And the scripture says that the king cries out to him and says, entreat now the face of the Lord thy God. He's clearly admitting now that his God and this prophet's God is two different things.

And he says, entreat the Lord thy God and pray for me that my hand will be restored and his hand is restored. And then the king said to the man of God, come home with me, verse seven, and refresh thyself and I will give thee a reward.

And verse eight is very important. It says in the man of God said unto the king, if that will give me half thine house, I will not go in with thee. Neither will I eat bread nor drink water in this place.

For so was charged me by the word of the Lord saying, eat no bread, nor drink water, nor turn again by the same way that thou camest. So he went another way and returned not by the way that he came. And verse 11, it says, now there dwelt an old prophet in Bethel and his sons came and told him all the works that the man of God had done that day in Bethel and the words which he had spoken unto the king.

And they told him their father and beloved here now is the fame of this man and the obvious presence of God with him. And is its fame is being known now throughout the land. And this man has a word for the king.

And now when he's asked to stay in the land, he says, no, he turns and he leaves to go. But the scripture says that he has a word now and he's not to stay in that land. But the prophet comes when his sons come to report of all he does.

And he hears about there is a man with such an anointing, a man that can stand so fearless. This who now calls himself an old prophet. He wants to know this man. And the scripture tells us that he has his son settle a donkey for him.

And he goes after the man of God. And verse 14, it says, and went after the man of God and found him. That's the old prophet sitting under an oak. And he said unto him, are thou the man of God that came from Judah?

And he said, I am. Many said to him, come home with me and eat bread. And he said, I may not return with thee nor go in with thee. Neither will I eat bread nor drink water with thee in this place. For it was said to me by the word of the Lord, thou shall eat no bread nor drink water there nor turnest again to go by the way that thou camest.

Now, beloved, it's very clear that this man has impressed on his mind his mission. He goes in the word of the Lord. He accomplishes what he's to do. Now he is marching orders. He's to leave the land directly.

And he keeps repeating it. He says it to the king and he says it two times to now an old prophet that has come out after him. But the scripture says in verse 17, no sorry, in verse 18, the old prophet says to this man, he says to him, I am a prophet also as thou art.

And an angel spake unto me by the word of the Lord saying, bring him back with thee into thy house that he may eat bread and drink water. But he lied unto him. Now here's a person with a fearless testimony.

Here is someone that God could use. Here's somebody that actually goes out and does it. Here is somebody that God so works with them that all of those who saw the miracles that day had to have known there was something wrong with the altars they were worshiping.

He is a power for God. He has a clear word now instructions for himself. But a man comes out, claims to be a prophet, claims to have a word for him and he lies to him. And he says to him, I am as you are.

He says, heaven speaks to me too. He says, here's my mission. I'm to bring you back. I'm to bring you to my house and you are to eat and you are to drink with me. Now, beloved, I would like to think in my mind that this prophet that has stood mighty and God turns around and he has this conversation with this old prophet and he says, when the prophet says, you know, we're on the same equal footings.

We belong to that same spiritual elite club. That he would say, no, I'm only a messenger and a servant. When the old prophet says to him, heaven opens and an angel spoke to me. I would like to think that this man of God, mighty and the anointing of God would say, well, maybe an angel speaks to you, but God himself speaks to me.

I would like to say when the prophet said to him, I'm here to bring you back, that that prophet looks at him and says, take me back, take me back where? To altars that God is not there? To manmade altars?

To places where there is no mercy seat? There is no shedding of blood. There is no forgiveness. There's no cleansing. There's no anointing. There's no deliverance. And there's no living word. Take me back where?

And why? God has called me. I have seen, I see so clearly what is the religious strongholds in this place. God has anointed me to see and I have spoken the word of God and he has backed me up. And I believe that many have seen the error and the absolute devilishness in it.

He says, you want to take me back there? God gave me a word that I would have no fellowship there. I was not to tarry in that land, that I was to go in. I was to speak his word and I was to get back out.

He said, why should I go back into a place where there is no living testimony because there's no real presence of God? Why would I go back to a manmade priesthood? Why would I go back to where there's no mirror held up before the people?

And so people just go down under the weight of their sin to more and more abomination. Why would I go back there? The old prophet says, come eat, drink, eat bread, drink water at my house. I would like for that prophet to say, at your house?

You live there? You live in this land? Well, why were you not sent? If you're the prophet and you live there, this is your people. This is your family. This is your co-workers. This is your nation. This is your future.

You say you're here from heaven. Why did you not have that burning word in you? Why did somebody from the outside have to come in and speak to you? You live here? Why were you not sent? The old prophet did not stand in open identification with the prophet before the king.

His voice was silent before false altars. His voice was silent before a ministry where Jeroboam just took the lowest of the people because he could manipulate the men. Because they'd get a Jeroboam word, not a God word.

Where was his voice standing up and saying, this is not God. This is demon inspired. And those that follow him will only have God in name only. And they will become so entangled in sin that they'll lose all faith and all hope.

That God himself will have to turn that nation away from himself. Where is your voice, old prophet, if you are a prophet? But beloved, the man of God, the one so mightily used, the one, the man who could see, the man who had understanding as almost no one in that nation could, that man says nothing before the lies of this old prophet.

He has none of the questions. He is lied to. And then he is so easily turned aside from his off-stated convictions. Scripture says, verse 19, so he went back with him and he did eat bread in his house and drank water.

This prophet, this man of God, is lied to and he can't discern it. He is a man of God and beloved. After this prophet stands for God, the scripture says that this lying spirit went out after the man of God and found him.

That there are going to be people that God has an anointing for and a calling for. And they are going to be called to the Lord. But there the devil so fears this kind of man that he has a special plan for him.

And there is now a lying spirit going out after this man. And it seems like the lying spirit has won. And this man so easily, he can repeat over and over again, I know what my convictions are. And yet he speaks some lies to him and he goes, okay, I'll go to your place.

I'll drop all my convictions. And as this prophet goes back to the old prophet's house, the scripture says, and it came to pass, verse 20, as they sat at the table, that the word of the Lord came unto the prophet, the real one.

No, I'm sorry, it came to the prophet, the old one that brought him back. And he cried the old prophet unto the man of God that came from Judah, saying, thus saith the Lord, for as much as thou hast disobeyed the mouth of the Lord and has not kept the commandments which the Lord thy God commanded thee, but came back and has eaten bread and drunk water in the place of which the Lord did say to thee, eat no bread and drink no water.

Thy carcass shall not come unto the sepulcher of thy fathers. And it came to pass after he had eaten bread and after he had drunk, that he settled for him the ass to wit the prophet whom he had brought back.

Now all of a sudden the old prophet finds his voice and he truly is anointed of God. And he tells that man, the true prophet of God, he said, you have absolutely disobeyed, you have absolutely been in rebellion to what you clearly know.

And it says, thy carcass shall not come unto the sepulcher of thy fathers. It means that in your returning and your going back, your eating and your drinking and partaking where I have used you to cry out against.

In your returning you are joining the ranks of the old prophet. Now let me tell you what that means. You are joining the company of the spiritually unusable. You are joining the company of a one time wonder.

You are joining the company of those that I could use greatly but only once. You are joining the company of those that have tasted and know my anointing and you know my heart and you know the hour you live in and you know what you're crying against and you know what it's going to mean for all those that you speak to.

But I can only use you one time. You're a one time wonder. You are expected to have an end, an honored end in the graves of your father, but you are going back and you are never going to have, you are never going to end up in the place I've intended you to end up.

The scripture says in verse 23 that after he ate and drank, he left. But beloved, the after comes after verse 21 where that prophet, the old prophet says you have disobeyed the mouth of the Lord and you have not kept the commandment, but you have come back.

And beloved, he didn't jump up then. This man that had known an anointing of God to tear down strongholds, he didn't jump up and say, God forgive me, what have I done? God, forgive me, what am I doing?

I had that feeling that whole time I was coming back with this man that I had that troubling, I had that sick feeling, I felt like no, no, I shouldn't be going, but he had this other word and he didn't jump up and say, what am I doing?

God, forgive me. No, the scripture says after he had eaten and drank, after he had satisfied himself, after the word of God was spoken to him, he got up knowing full well that he had disobeyed. And the scripture says he left.

And in verse 24, it tells us and he was gone. A lion met him by the way and slew him. This carcass was cast in the way and the ass stood by it. And the lion also stood by the carcass. And the scripture tells us that the old prophet hears about his dead body in the road and he goes and he gets it.

And he says in verse 26, and when the prophet that brought him back from the way heard thereof, he said, it is the man of God who was disobedient unto the word of the Lord. Therefore, the Lord hath delivered him under the lion, which hath torn him and slain him according to the word of the Lord, which he spake unto him.

Very, very ironic. This man is now so discerning. But beloved, I want to say what God said to me concerning this man. You know it's, oh my goodness, how can a man with such an anointing be so deceived?

But that's not the story. Say, my goodness, a man that God had used and he met such tragic an end with a lion. But that's not the story. The Spirit of God in teaching us this is saying here is a man who could believe and speak the words concerning others and concerning a nation, but he could not hold the word concerning himself.

Here is a man who could speak a powerful word to the nation. Here is a man undoubtedly anointed of God and he could stand and he had a word for the nation. But the powerful word to himself was also given.

A very clear word for himself was also given. But he couldn't hold that. He somehow couldn't say, as surely as that word I preach to the nation, as surely as the word or the clear seeing that I see for others shall come to pass.

Anything that God says concerning me, I can see it and preach it for others, but I have a hard time holding that word for myself. You see, he was going into a place where the powers and principalities, the spiritual wickedness, the strongholds in that place was Jeroboam who couldn't keep the word God gave to him.

There was a land, there was a promise and God was saying to Jeroboam, look, Jeroboam, if you will walk according to my statutes and my way, I will give you the nation. I will establish you as king. I will be with you, Jeroboam.

Israel will turn to you. And beloved, I'll tell you something, Jeroboam could not keep the commandments. He needed the mercy seat and he needed the temple of Jerusalem and he needed to go down to Jerusalem and find there at the mercy seat strength for what he needed to do.

And he would have rose up in power and strength to be able to fulfill the commandments of God and to be able to receive the word that was given him. If we cut ourselves off from the mercy seat, if we try to fabricate, if we hear these precious promises and all that God wants to do in us and all that God wants to do through us, but beloved, then we somehow get that word and it becomes something else, gets formed in us, either pride or fear.

Beloved, in his case it was fear. It was fear and unbelief. It was fear, God, I can't keep the commands. And then it became unbelief, God, this word can't be for me or this word as you've spoken it to me cannot be true.

And so he fashioned another kind of worship. It looked so much like Jerusalem worship, except there was no mercy seat, except there was no blood covering, except there was no presence of God, so there was no protection of God, giving him the most incredible promises.

Another David, I tell you, another David. But he couldn't receive the word given him. And now we have this prophet and he's going in, beloved, and he's got the same problem. And God is saying, you know, I don't want you out there speaking to people if we are knowing defeat in a certain area and we are speaking to the defeated.

No, no, no. We can't be out there being what God is asking us to be. And there is an area of defeat. And we are not going to a true worship center. We are in our heart. Jeroboam did not go to Jerusalem and he barred everybody else from going there.

And that was his salvation. That was his deliverance. If he had gone there, he would have found strength to say, God, in my weakness, you are all my resource. And he would have found the strength to receive the word God gave him.

He would have received strength to go back and be a David to his people. But we would be singing Jeroboam's praises. And now this land is filled with fear and unbelief. That's why the golden calves, that's why the people can seemingly so believe a lie, because they are like what they are worshiping.

That spirit of fear and unbelief permeates the land and permeates the worship and permeates their understanding of God. And now a man of God is sent in. Now somebody with the anointing, somebody with the eyesight, somebody who can see so clearly the ills of the land, yet they can't hold the word for them.

They can't walk it out. There's no power in him. You know, beloved, he wasn't deceived by a lie. He was deceived because he went into a land who he turns back and goes into a land because that land is in him.

That's really his native spiritual country. He goes into that land and he returns to that land because it is in him. It is spiritually home to him. And beloved, God is speaking to us today. You know, his call for us is still like that prophet.

That God is looking for people to be able to open their eyes spiritually and go and speak to the families and the co-workers, to people. Beloved, God wants to open our eyes because we can't be like this prophet.

We have to have, God knows if we have a one-time usability because we have a word for them but the word for us we can't obey. We have a word for them but we can't hold the promises God is giving us in faith.

I believe this fast is God is going to open our eyes. God is going to show us places and areas in our life where truly we can't hold a word. We can't hold the word in obedience because we need a mercy seat.

We have to say, God, I am so lacking but you are my resource. I come to the mercy seat. I come to forgiveness and cleansing and I come, that's the power to obey you. Or we can't receive when God says, I want to use you.

I want to use you. We can't hold that promise either because we keep looking at ourselves in fear and unbelief and we are like a partaker. We want to go and speak a great word to people but if that fear and unbelief that we're speaking to them about is still in us, it's not going to work.

But if we say, God, I'm going to the true altar. God, I'm going to go as I am. I'm going to come who I am. But I'm going to come, oh God, and I'm going to believe you. Every area in my life where there's compromise, every area where there's a halfway altar, like you're asking me to curse in their lives.

God, whatever you're asking me to speak to them, it's got to be true in me. But God, I'm coming to an altar where you are. I'm not like Jeroboam that I have to make up some cap and there's no real deliverance there.

It's not a God of my own making and a God of my own fashioning. I come to a God in truth that this word reveals to me who says there is a cross. There is a mercy seat. There is a place of forgiveness where we freely come and say, God, I'm a coward.

God, I don't want to. God, this is not yet formed in me. But I'm trusting you to do it. And you will give me the passion in it for them. And God, you're going to release me to speak it because, God, you are doing something of truth in me.

And I'm believing you for it. I'm believing you for it. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. There's a true story of a soccer team in South America. And they were flying to a soccer match and their plane crashed. And most on board were killed.

It took a day and a half for all to die. Some very horrible, long and lingering death until a handful was left in the wreck in the mountains. And that handful of young men, strong young men, now were going to hope to be rescued.

One of the young men that was with them had been knocked out and he was unconscious. By the end of two days, everybody that was dead was dead. But there was a young man there and he was unconscious. And so they got out.

They found in the plane they had some reserves. They had some chocolate and they had some wine and everything. And they figured out what they thought would be how many days until their rescue. So they divided up all the food stores that they had and the wine and the water and they divided it up.

And everybody was going to have a certain days of rations. One young man, a friend of the young man that was unconscious says, you have to give him his portion. They said, what, are you crazy? This is life and death.

The living, the conscious get the portion. He goes, no, he's not dead. He gets a portion. And he had to fight for them to give that young man a portion. Then he had to guard his portion in the scripture.

And it tells that story. It tells us that after several days, he came to his friend that had fought for his portion of a friend that had fought really for his, his existence. And here was some food and sustenance.

And he came to and he stayed alive with them. And finally, after the days became weeks and the weeks turned into a month and there was still no rescue, there was still no planes in the sky. It became obvious they couldn't find them.