The Weight of What If...
Sermon • Submitted • Presented
0 ratings
· 3 viewsNotes
Transcript
Text: 1 Kings 17: 1-16
1 Now Elijah the Tishbite, who was of the settlers of Gilead, said to Ahab, “As the Lord, the God of Israel lives, before whom I stand, surely there shall be neither dew nor rain these years, except by my word.”
2 The word of the Lord came to him, saying,
3 “Go away from here and turn eastward, and hide yourself by the brook Cherith, which is east of the Jordan.
4 “It shall be that you will drink of the brook, and I have commanded the ravens to provide for you there.”
5 So he went and did according to the word of the Lord, for he went and lived by the brook Cherith, which is east of the Jordan.
6 The ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning and bread and meat in the evening, and he would drink from the brook.
7 It happened after a while that the brook dried up, because there was no rain in the land.
8 Then the word of the Lord came to him, saying,
9 “Arise, go to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and stay there; behold, I have commanded a widow there to provide for you.”
10 So he arose and went to Zarephath, and when he came to the gate of the city, behold, a widow was there gathering sticks; and he called to her and said, “Please get me a little water in a jar, that I may drink.”
11 As she was going to get it, he called to her and said, “Please bring me a piece of bread in your hand.”
12 But she said, “As the Lord your God lives, I have no bread, only a handful of flour in the bowl and a little oil in the jar; and behold, I am gathering a few sticks that I may go in and prepare for me and my son, that we may eat it and die.”
13 Then Elijah said to her, “Do not fear; go, do as you have said, but make me a little bread cake from it first and bring it out to me, and afterward you may make one for yourself and for your son.
14 “For thus says the Lord God of Israel, ‘The bowl of flour shall not be exhausted, nor shall the jar of oil be empty, until the day that the Lord sends rain on the face of the earth.’ ”
15 So she went and did according to the word of Elijah, and she and he and her household ate for many days.
16 The bowl of flour was not exhausted nor did the jar of oil become empty, according to the word of the Lord which He spoke through Elijah.
Title: "The Weight of What if..."
The Weight of What If...
The Weight of What If...
Pray
Story - Drumm's pantry
If God really told you to go stock up, why are we throwing your overstock away 15 years later? Did the same God who told you something was coming not know how long you would need supplies for?
But because they had been driven by fear into buying more than they needed, they were forced to carry the weight of that decision for years...
They moved and had to dedicate an entire truck load just to the overstock they bought in fear, but never needed.
That's what fear will do. Fear will cause you to carry the weight of responsibility for things that was never yours to carry...
Fear will cause you to shoulder the burdens of life like a yolk around your neck, weighing you down, resisting your forward momentum, slowing your pace, and halting all progress.
Jesus said, come to me you who are heavy laden and I will give you rest... my yolk is easy and my burden is light...
Can I ask you.... What are you carrying the weight of that isn't yours to carry?
That's the weight of What If..... What if I get laid off... What if they come for us... What if Christians start getting persecuted again... What if Yellowstone finally blows.... What if that asteroid heads our direction... What if... What if... WHAT IF...
It's not your job to worry about every "what if" possibility under the sun.... It's your job to make disciples of all nations! Spread the Gospel! Live by faith! Walk by the Spirit!
God didn't give us a spirit of fear, but of love, and of power, and of a sound mind!
What's interesting in the passage we are in today is Elijah is told by God to prepare for the drought...
1 Now Elijah the Tishbite, who was of the settlers of Gilead, said to Ahab, “As the Lord, the God of Israel lives, before whom I stand, surely there shall be neither dew nor rain these years, except by my word.”
2 The word of the Lord came to him, saying,
3 “Go away from here and turn eastward, and hide yourself by the brook Cherith, which is east of the Jordan.
4 “It shall be that you will drink of the brook, and I have commanded the ravens to provide for you there.”
5 So he went and did according to the word of the Lord, for he went and lived by the brook Cherith, which is east of the Jordan.
6 The ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning and bread and meat in the evening, and he would drink from the brook.
This sounds like the perfect setup. He has fresh water and a sophisticated meal delivery system.... The raven express... Bird Dash...
In the morning they would bring meat and bread and in the evening more meat and more bread... This was the ideal situation to be in during the drought! And why wouldn't he have it this way? It was Elijah who prophesied the drought, God told him it was coming, so of course God set up a bunker for him to hide in a stash of water to drink from and a food supply to eat off of....
But v. 7 tells us there came a problem.... The same problem any good plan of preparation runs into eventually.... The water started to run out....
No matter how well laid the plans or preparations... given enough time... the plan will run out...
7 It happened after a while that the brook dried up, because there was no rain in the land.
Wait... because there was no rain.... God.. you told me to be here because there would be no rain... but the solution has run out....
What do you think Elijah was thinking as he noticed the water level getting lower and lower day after day....
But it wasn't until the water had completely run out that the word of the Lord came to Elijah...
9 “Arise, go to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and stay there; behold, I have commanded a widow there to provide for you.”
It would have made sense for God to send Elijah to a rich man's house... Surely a rich man would have enough excess in store to feed him through the drought, but no... not a rich man....
The birds were unconventional, but they knew where to get the food.... The water was a little muddy sometimes, but at least it was always there until the end.... But a widow?
In this day and age, widows relied mostly on the kindness of others to feed themselves and their children... In Israel, If a woman's husband died, it was the job of the husband's brothers to take care of that woman... but there's another problem... Not only is this woman a widow.... She's not even from Israel.... She's not even part of the chosen people....
This widow is from Zarephath! Zarephath is way up north between Tyre and Sidon on the Phoenician coast.... So he has to travel all the way up there to find this woman who has no means of income and probably has no one taking care of her!
This is so outlandish even Jesus talks about it:
Luke 4:25–26 (NASB95)
25 “But I say to you in truth, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the sky was shut up for three years and six months, when a great famine came over all the land;
26 and yet Elijah was sent to none of them, but only to Zarephath, in the land of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow.
Let me share something with you... If God get's ready to bless you... He doesn't need any help doing it... God is so powerful when He decides to bless you, no devil can stop it... no famine can outlast it... no locust can eat it up... no thief can steal it...
When God gets ready to bless you, He can make water come out of a rock... He can make manna fall from heaven... He can make quail blow in from the east wind...
He will take a handful of fish and a loaf of bread and feed 5,000 men...
Because I serve a God who knows no impossibility, experiences no weakness, and is limited by nothing....
This is the problem with the "What if" mentality.... It forgets how big God is and how small life's issues should be...
10 So he arose and went to Zarephath, and when he came to the gate of the city, behold, a widow was there gathering sticks; and he called to her and said, “Please get me a little water in a jar, that I may drink.”
11 As she was going to get it, he called to her and said, “Please bring me a piece of bread in your hand.”
12 But she said, “As the Lord your God lives, I have no bread, only a handful of flour in the bowl and a little oil in the jar; and behold, I am gathering a few sticks that I may go in and prepare for me and my son, that we may eat it and die.”
Now we have another issue... God told Elijah that He had prepared a widow.... But this woman is telling Elijah she has little to nothing....
Elijah has two options... Either keep looking for a widow who has the resources he is looking for... OR believe the word of the Lord regardless of what the circumstance looks like...
Will I rely on what I see or will I walk by faith....
Will I try to do this in my own power or will I rely on God's provision...
Will I try to make an out for God in case He doesn't come through or do I go all in on what He told me...
This is the weight of what if…
I ask you again.. What are you carrying the weight of that isn’t yours to carry?
Call volunteer to pick up bags full of hymnals, each one described as a burden:
(1st bag with only a few books)
It’s just a small thing, surely God isn’t concerned with my little problems. I’ll just take care of it…
And life goes on, you have a little weight, but nothing you can’t handle…
After some time, there is eventually another thing that comes along…
(Each of the following add a bag)
Children… Family… Grandchildren…
Now What started as one small thing starts to add up, but you learn to cope and move on… After all they are your responsibility…
Some things life throws at you and you can’t help it, but you carry the burden anyway…
(add bag)
One day you wake up not feeling well and remember you’re about the same age your parent was when they started having issues…
But you’re faithful to church…
(add a bag)
Because that’s what you’re supposed to do…
(add a bag)
and life goes on… You’ve grown accustomed to carrying this weight and you tell yourself it’s just part of having responsibility… part of growing older… part of the choices you’ve made…
(add bag)
these are my bills…
(add bag)
this is my life....
and eventually you’ve weighted yourself down to a point where you cannot be effective in life or in ministry or in witnessing or sharing the gospel or as an example for your family or the others around you…
But this is what Jesus says about it:
Matthew 6:25-33 (NASB95)
25 “For this reason I say to you, do not be worried about your life, as to what you will eat or what you will drink; nor for your body, as to what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?
26 “Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they?
27 “And who of you by being worried can add a single hour to his life?
28 “And why are you worried about clothing? Observe how the lilies of the field grow; they do not toil nor do they spin,
29 yet I say to you that not even Solomon in all his glory clothed himself like one of these.
30 “But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, will He not much more clothe you? You of little faith!
31 “Do not worry then, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear for clothing?’
32 “For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.
33 “But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
This is how you lay your burdens down… You have to remind yourself of what He said in His word…
His Word says He provided for an entire nation in the wilderness with mana from heaven and water from rocks...
(lay down sack)
His word says not a single sparrow is forgotten by God...
(lay down sack)
His word says the hair on my head are numbered.... (Luke 12:7)...
(lay down sack)
Philippians 4:19 (NASB95)
19 And my God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.
(lay down sack)
Psalm 23:1 (NASB95)
1 The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.
(lay down sack)
Psalm 37:25 (NASB95)
25 I have been young and now I am old, Yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken Or his descendants begging bread.
(lay down sack)
Philippians 4:6 “6 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.”
(lay down sack)
Philippians 4:7 “7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”
(lay down sack)
1 Peter 5:7 “7 Cast all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you.”
(lay down sack)
Mammon is not my supply.... Money is not my provider.... Food is not my motivation.... God is Jehovah Jireh.. My provider...
13 Then Elijah said to her, “Do not fear; go, do as you have said, but make me a little bread cake from it first and bring it out to me, and afterward you may make one for yourself and for your son.
14 “For thus says the Lord God of Israel, ‘The bowl of flour shall not be exhausted, nor shall the jar of oil be empty, until the day that the Lord sends rain on the face of the earth.’ ”
15 So she went and did according to the word of Elijah, and she and he and her household ate for many days.
16 The bowl of flour was not exhausted nor did the jar of oil become empty, according to the word of the Lord which He spoke through Elijah.
Elijah reveals something about this widow...
She seemed indignant about the fact that she was fixing her last meal for her and her son and then they were going to die...
But Elijah shines a light on her true motivation... She was afraid....
Hear me... There is a difference between wisdom and fear...
Wisdom says, "there's a winter storm coming for the next few days.. We should make sure we have enough if we get snowed in...
Wisdom says... Winter is coming so we should store up enough of the harvest to get us through the winter months...
Wisdom says... prepare for the hurricane that is off the coast...
Wisdom says... make sure there's drinking water in your shelter during tornado season....
Wisdom says have a plan for what you know is coming...
Fear says stock up with enough for 15 years in case the world comes to an end...
Fear uses conspiracy mixed with false prophecy to drive you into hiding... and BTW While I'm prophesying that the end is coming, I also have these kits for sale with three easy payments......
Listen, preparation is not sin... Operating on the basis of fear rather than faith IS....
Rom. 14:23 - "Whatever is not from faith IS SIN."
The question to ask is, am I motivated by faith or by fear? Does the person I'm listening to inspire faith and edify my spirit, or invoke fear and desperation?
Do you carry the weight of the "What If's..." Of life with you day after day? What if... What if... What if...
Friend, Jesus will take that burden for you.... He's already carried our burdens and bore our iniquities....
He took on the weight of the sins of the world and carried them to the cross...
Part of the healing nature of what God is doing today is more than just physical… it is spiritual and emotional....
God wants to loose you of the burdens of your anxiety… Heal your broken heart… Deliver you from the weight of the burdens He never intended for you to carry!