Elijah Must Come First

Matthew
Written By Steve Estes

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Speaker: Steve Estes
Scripture: Matthew 17:9-13
March 12, 2023

Matthew 17:9-13: Jesus replied, "To be sure, Elijah comes and will restore all things. But I tell you, Elijah has already come, and they did not recognize him, but have done to him everything they wished. In the same way the Son of Man is going to suffer at their hands." Then the disciples understood that he was talking to them about John the Baptist.

Sermon Outline

1. The hard thing Jesus commanded

2. The problems raised by His words (Malachi 4:5-6)

  • Malachi predicted: Elijah would precede the Messiah

  • Malachi predicted: Elijah would bring restoration to the world

3. How Jesus addresses these problems

  • Regarding Elijah coming before the Messiah

  • Regarding Elijah restoring all things

  • Regarding the disciples' view that Jesus' death was incompatible with Elijah coming

  • How this applies to Jesus as the Messiah

4. Lessons

  • The reliability of Scripture is not tied to our understanding it

  • Not all interpretation is literal

  • Jesus and his followers bring salvation through suffering

Steve Estes

Steve Estes has been senior pastor at Brick Lane Community Church in Elverson, Pennsylvania, for over thirty-five years. 

Steve’s books and other writings began with his longtime friendship with Joni Eareckson Tada. As teenagers, they grappled with why God allowed Joni’s paralysis in a swimming accident in the Chesapeake Bay. Steve left for college . . . they kept in touch . . . she liked the style of his letters. When her 1976 autobiography Joni spawned thousands of reader responses, she asked Steve to join her in crafting a follow-up. The result was A Step Further in 1978.

Later, Wycliffe Bible Translators commissioned Steve to write the biography of former college friend Chet Bitterman, a Wycliffe linguist who was kidnapped and murdered by political terrorists in Colombia in 1981. Other books and articles followed, including When God Weeps (with Joni) and A Better December (a giveaway book for non-Christian friends at Christmas.)

Steve was educated at Westminster Theological Seminary, Columbia Bible College and Jerusalem University College in Israel. He has taught homiletics at Westminster and is a board member of the Christian Counseling & Educational Foundation.

But Steve would say his most significant life achievement was persuading college classmate Verna Stoltzfus to marry him in 1974.  They now have eight children and more grandchildren than can fit in a van.

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Navigating Damaged Relationships
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The Transfiguration