Cloud Watcher

Introduction

Talk about reasons people watch clouds

mental health (looking at shapes)

Pictures

Weather - the cloud gives them what to expect

Background

Our text is found today in the 18th Chapter of the Book of 1st Kings. Here we find the King of Israel, a man by the name of Ahab. The Bible tells us that Ahab had done more Evil than all the kings that had come before him. He married a woman by the name of Jezebel, and served and worshipped Baal. Because of this, God raised up a man by the name of Elijah who came and informed him that a drought was going to hit the land. This seemed like a big thing but can I submit to you that if you are living this life without Jesus in it, you are living in a drought. You’re living in spiritual drought. We say the He is water in dry places. If he is water in a dry place and you don’t have him that means all you have is a dry place. So for three years Elijah was on the run, hunted by Ahab because of the severity of the Drought. After these three years, God tells Elijah to go and tell Ahab that I am about to send rain on the land. When he finally gets to Ahab, Ahab says, “Is it you, you trouble maker of Israel?”

Can I submit to you that when you are striving to do what God has called you to do, everyone is not going to accept it? When you are striving to live according to God’s word, folk will sometime consider you a troublemaker? If you call out a liar, you’re the troublemaker, if you pray publicly, you’re a troublemaker, if you preach against sin, you’re judging, and you’re a troublemaker. But I believe that God is looking for some troublemakers in this season. Folk that says, For God, I’ll live and for God, I’ll die. I have to do as the Bible says, I must live as the Bible says, I am a TROUBLEMAKER.

He calls Elijah a troublemaker, and Elijah said, “I did not make trouble for Israel you did.” When you left the Lord and his commands and followed Baal. Call together the Prophets of Baal and Prophets of Asherah. When they got together, Elijah asks the question, How long will you halt between two opinions? Now let me park my bus right here. I was curious about this because he said how long will you halt between two opinions. Now the word halt in the dictionary means stop. But I didn’t like that definition, so I found that the word halt in the Hebrew tongue is פָסַח (pāsaḥ). which is a verb meaning to pass by, limp. To pass over, protect, preserve. How long will you preserve 2 opinions, if the Lord be God, follow him, but if Baal, Follow him. He tells the people to allow himself and the prophets of Baal to build an altar and the God that answers by fire, let that God be God. Well the Prophets of Baal erects the Alter and they begged Baal to answer them all day long. They cut themselves with swords and spears, they yelled as loud as they could and nothing happened. But then Elijah’s turn came, He built the altar, built an trench, he poured 3 large basons of water on it, poured a bason of water in the trench. He prayed and asked God to move, and the Bible says that fire came down from heaven and consumed the sacrifice, the altar, the stones, and even the ground where it was. God had to show the people that there is no god like him. I wish I had some witnesses in here that can agree that there is No God like our God. You can put in place all that you want to put in place, you can call what you want to call, you can call it the Universe, you can call it a spiritual walk, you can call it whatever you want, but at the end of the day, You will have to come to the understanding that there is NO GOD LIKE OUR GOD. What other God can put planets in the sky on it axis and have it spin and have the planets rotate the sun. What other God can put the stars in the sky? Ok let me bring this closer to us, What other God, can heal our bodies, after the Doctors say that there is no help? What other God keeps back the accident demon as we go to and fro, up and down the dangerous highway? I’m just trying to let you know that there is no God like our God!

So after all this is done the bible says that Elijah carries out the sentence in the Mosaic law for the prophets of Pagan gods. He sentences them to death. After he sentences them to death he tells Ahab to go ahead to Jezreel because he hears the sound of rain.

Body

Prepare for Rain

They had been in the drought for three years and AFTER they dealt with the Pagan prophets of Baal, the Bible makes it plain that Elijah heard the sound of rain. Can I submit to you that when you want God to do somethings in your life, you have to learn to address the blockers. Notice, Elijah didn’t tell Ahab to prepare for rain until AFTER he dealt with Pagan Prophets. The problem we have come across is that we want God to bless us before we do what WE need to do. We want God to bless us IN our mess, instead of DEALING with our mess and then calling God to bless us. God sent me by here to tell somebody that if we are going to expect rain in our life, we are going to have to prepare for it by dealing with those things in our lives that does not please God. Now don’t get self-righteous on me, because you hear me say it all the time, we all have something that we have to deal with. All have sinned and fallen short of God’s glory. We have to prepare for rain.

Elijah changes his posture

Elijah sends off King Ahab, he tells him to prepare for rain and after he does that, the bible says that Elijah climbs to mount carmel, bends down and puts his head. Elijah goes and changes his posture. When he was addressing the king, he was standing up, but when it came to address God, he changed his posture. When he was addressing man he was in one posture a posture of respect, but when it came time to address God, Elijah took the posture of prayer and worship. Can I tell you that a lot of us aren’t going anywhere with God until we learn to change our posture. We have to learn to enter in with a posture of prayer and worship.

Keep looking

What do you do when what you looking for just doesn’t seem to be there? What do when you been praying and watching, watching and praying and you feel like the Woman with the issue of blood because instead of getting better, it seems to get worse. What should I do, Well consider the text, He tells his servant to go and look towards the sea, and when the servant doesn’t, he tells him to look again. Now you must understand the context of this scripture, Elijah didn’t tell him to go again seven time, as Elisha told Naaman to dipped seven times in the Jordan, he tells the servant to go look and each time the servant went, he told him to look again and it was seven times. Six times the servant went back to look and didn’t see anything, six times he went, and the sky was clear with no cloud in sight, six times he went and it was nothing. How many of us have even been though something where we felt as if we were beating a dead horse. We were trying without getting results. We had good plans and it seemed as if the plans wasn’t going right. What do you do when you are looking but there is nothing, go look again. Let me make this very clear, GOD CANNOT LIE. Scripture says that God is not a man that he should lie, neither the Son of man that he should repent. God is not even capable of lying. He is not able to lie. So if God told you something, I don’t care what the sky says, believe the forecast, believe what the Lord says. I’m LOOKING FOR IT!!!!

Conclusion

When the Servant went to go look toward the sea, he was looking west towards the Mediterranean. He was looking on the sea and out of the sea, he saw a cloud the size of a man’s hand. The reason the cloud looks so small is because he was seeing the cloud in the distance but it was moving in their direction. I have to close but can you look at your neighbor and say neighbor, What I’m looking for may not be here now, but it’s moving in my direction. It’s getting closer. I’m getting closer to seeing the job I’ve been looking for, I’m closer to seeing the house, I’m looking for the increase i’m looking for. It’s on the way. Tell somebody it’s on the way.

I’m a Cloud watcher, I’m watching for the sign that God is going to send what he says. The Sign maybe small, it may even seem insignificant, it may seem as small as the size of a man hand, but I’m still looking for it. I don’t understand how it’s going to happen, but I’m looking for it, I don’t have a time frame, but I’m looking for it, I don’t know who it’s coming through, but I’m looking for it, is there anyone in the building today that can declare I’m looking for it. I’m a cloud watcher!

So children of God, I have to close, but let’s go higher.... Be not dismayed, whatever betide....