SUPERNATURAL COURAGE | ELIJAH CONFRONTS AHAB

INTRO

If you have your Bible today you can turn to 1 Kings 18 where we are continuing our series on studying the lives of Elijah and Elisha. Specifically we are looking at Elijah and how he was able to live supernaturally in a complacent culture. And over the past three weeks I have been giving you some practical principles to do so you can live supernaturally in a complacent culture and I wanted to take some time to review those things today. Because in today’s story, a lot of what we see Elijah doing is because of his consistency with these things. It is a culmination of living out these things and God helping him build his character and trust in God that he is able to do what he is going to do today in our text. I believe you will also be able to do by the time we are finished here. Don’t worry, this won’t be a pop quiz like last week, I will give you all the answers because I am nice like that.

Review of principles to live supernaturally

God called us in his kindness not because of anything we have done.

This is when we learned that Elijah was from Tishbe, a ver obscure unknown place. We don’t have much information about him or his family or tribe. But that doesn’t matter when God calls you, all that matters is that he has called you. It was his idea to make you supernatural, not yours. Rest in him.

2. We need to obey, pray and proclaim God’s word.

We saw this when Elijah went to Ahab (bad king) and said hey dufus it isn’t going to rain 1. because God’s word said so, 2. because I’m going to pray it, and 3. you are a dufus. That is my paraphrase. But we learned that Elijah was a man of God’s word, prayed God’s word and proclaimed God’s word in a time that many did not. We are called to do the same thing. We are called to do the same. Not just know the word, but obey, pray, and proclaim it.

3. God is in control

God fed Elijah by a random brook by ravens (an unclean animal) day and night for a decent amount of time. God is able to provide supernaturally and is the one we should continue to trust rather than other idols.

Elijah is fed by a Widow

4. Follow God’s word even when it is strange

God’s word to Elijah to go to the heart of Baal country where a widow was going to feed him was a strange word, but Elijah obeyed it. We are called to do many strange things in God’s word and should obey too.

5. Believe God is over all nations, economies, and nature.

Yes, this is similar to God being in control, but also reminds us that God loves every tribe, tongue, people and nation. That is his desire to see all people come to be in fellowship with him, even the people that don’t look like us, dress like us, smell like us, and acts like us. This is a call to missions, which is supernatural.

6. Believe in a God who can do the impossible.

This might sound like a cliche thing for a christian to say, but Elijah had to believe that this was true in order for him to obey the word that was given to him. A widow is going to provide for me? In sidon? Okay, you are the God who can do the impossible. He is bigger than our reality.

Elijah raises the Widow’s son

7. Live by faith

Elijah, in a confusing moment of the widow’s son passing away, didn’t just stand there and accept what laid before him. He took the child, his faith lead to action, faith is what we are called to live by and it will be seen in our actions. Which also lead him to number 8 which is…

8. Fervent prayer

Elijah kept asking, seeking, knocking. Cryin out. Laying down on the boy. He let his faith fuel his prayers, not his circumstances. Because his faith was in something bigger than his circumstances, it was in our 9th principal which is

9. Believe in a resurrecting God

He is not a God of the dead, but of the living. He is a God over Baal, over mot, over death. He makes all things new and he wants to continue to resurrect us to live in a way of honoring him so that others can see that he is the living God.

So all of these things are practical things that Elijah has done and it has built him up for this moment in time. These stories have been shared with us for us to understand who God is, but also for Elijah to grow in confidence as he goes to meet Ahab. 3 and 1/2 years have gone by since he last met Ahab and now he is about to meet him again. So let’s read out text today.

BODY

English Standard Version (Chapter 18)

18 After many days the word of the LORD came to Elijah, in the third year, saying, “Go, show yourself to Ahab, and I will send rain upon the earth.” 2 So Elijah went to show himself to Ahab. Now the famine was severe in Samaria. 3 And Ahab called Obadiah, who was over the household. (Now Obadiah feared the LORD greatly, 4 and when Jezebel cut off the prophets of the LORD, Obadiah took a hundred prophets and hid them by fifties in a cave and fed them with bread and water.)

God tells Elijah a crazy word again, and that is to go to Ahab. The guy who wants you dead, ya, that dufus, go show yourself to him. And then we get this backstory on a guy name Obadiah, who is not the same as the minor prophet book Obadiah. But he apparently saved a bunch of prophets from being murdered when sweet little Jezebel was killing off the prophets of the Lord. He not only saved them, but he also fed them. He is an interesting guy but not enough for us to focus on today, so that is a little backstory to what is about to happen here.

English Standard Version (Chapter 18)

5 And Ahab said to Obadiah, “Go through the land to all the springs of water and to all the valleys. Perhaps we may find grass and save the horses and mules alive, and not lose some of the animals.” 6 So they divided the land between them to pass through it. Ahab went in one direction by himself, and Obadiah went in another direction by himself. 7 And as Obadiah was on the way, behold, Elijah met him. And Obadiah recognized him and fell on his face and said, “Is it you, my lord Elijah?” 8 And he answered him, “It is I. Go, tell your lord, ‘Behold, Elijah is here.’ ”

For the sake of time I’m not going to read what happens next in12-16 but summarize it. You can feel free to read it on your own later, but basically Obadiah freaks out. He is like, Elijah, there is no way I am going to tell Ahab is here because 1) He hates your guts and has been looking for you for 3 1/2 years. 2) If I say you are here the Spirit of God could take you away and he would think I was playing some cruel joke and kill me. 3) Just your name will bring anger to him, because I am going to tell him “The Lord my God” is here.” Obadiah toots his own horn telling him about how he hid and helped the prophets so please spare his life. Elijah says, don’t worry man, as sure as the Lord lives I won’t move from here go get Ahab. So in great fear Obadiah goes and tells Ahab and then this showdown happens in verse 17.

English Standard Version Chapter 18

17 When Ahab saw Elijah, Ahab said to him, “Is it you, you troubler of Israel?” 18 And he answered, “I have not troubled Israel, but you have, and your father’s house, because you have abandoned the commandments of the LORD and followed the Baals. 19 Now therefore send and gather all Israel to me at Mount Carmel, and the 450 prophets of Baal and the 400 prophets of Asherah, who eat at Jezebel’s table.”

These are some fighting words, are they not? I think it is so interesting that Ahab is so deceived into thinking that Elijah is the one who is causing trouble on Israel. This king is so self absorbed and deceived thinking that none of his sinful practices of Baal worship is what is the issue. And thankfully, Elijah has the supernatural confidence to stand against this crazy king and tell him his sins of omission and commission are what is troubling Israel. Let me describe what those are for you in case you didn’t know.

An act of commission is doing something wrong (followed baal). An act of omission is failing to do the right thing ( obey the commandments)

So after calling out Ahab’s sins Elijah also has the supernatural confidence to challenge Ahab, the prophets of Baal, and the prophets of Ashera (850 total) to meet him at Mount carmel. The reason why I say supernatural confidence is, as far as we know, God did not tell him to do this. God just told him to go meet Ahab and then he would send rain soon. So either we didn’t get that part of the memo, or there has been this Supernatural confidence built up into Elijah where he is willing to have confidence in God, confidence to confront sin and confidence to challenge false gods. And these are all areas God wants to grow in us as well. But before we talk about this, I want to read an excerpt from a book called “The Making of a Leader” which I think helps us to grasp a little bit of what I am talking about here and what we have been studying. Because some of you may not be where we are talking about right now, and that is okay. But it should give you faith and courage to keep growing because you know God is working in your life. So here is the quote,

“Quality leadership does not come easily. It requires time, experience, and repeated instances of maturity processing. Mature ministry flows from a mature character, formed in the graduate school of life. Ministry can be successful through giftedness alone; but a leader whose ministry skills outstrip his character formation will eventually falter. A mature successful ministry flows from one who has both ministry skills and character that has been mellowed, developed, and ripened by God’s maturity processing. Character formation is fundamental. Ministry flows out of being.”

I would say that happened for Elijah in a more intense way with the supernatural experiences he faced. And if you are thinking, well I’m not a leader or I’m not in ministry. Let me correct you, you are following Jesus and that makes you a disciple, which means you are also discipling others too. So all of us are in this boat, sorry if you thought you get out of it. So lets look at this supernatural confidence in Elijah’s life and how it can help our lives.

CONCLUSION

Supernatural Confidence in God

So Elijah experienced this with the past three stories seeing that God was incredible in so many ways. But he also knew God through His word because we say that in the first story when he confronted Ahab about the no rain situation. Elijah had some powerful experiences of seeing God show up that it gave him confidence that he was the only God, not just a theology. God was real to him.

Can you say the same thing? Now, don’t get me wrong, we know God through His word. But have you seen God work in your life? Have you seen His goodness and how he has saved you time and time again? If you are blanking on tangible experiences when God has shown up in your life, go to the simple fact of Him saving you. To have confidence in what God has done to you though his son is enough. All the other things that he does for us is just, kisses from heaven. But to stand firm in the righteousness of Christ and know that he loves you, has forgiven you, that he redeemed you from everything you have done, not because of anything you have done. You have probably heard it before, but A.W. Tozer a well known author and theologian said the first thing that comes to your mind when you think of God is the most important thought you will have. This is why I will keep pounding this and laying this before you, get into the Word. Know God through his word. What does he say about you? What has he done for you that is set in stone and sealed? Who are you in Him? Who are you because he has put His Spirit in you? That is what we need to grow in confidence more than anything.

Supernatural Confidence in Confronting Sin

So at this time we are going to turn to our neighbor and tell them there greatest sins. I’m kidding. And even though Elijah did call out Ahab’s sins of omission and commission what I hope we can do is not look outward at others and culture, but the culture of our heart.

Ahab said it best, the troubler of Israel, even though he was the one causing the trouble. For us, when we understand who God is, we will have supernatural confidence to confront the sin in our lives. The sins of omission and the sins of commission. Why? Because we know that all it is doing is troubling us. That is the nice way to say it. It is killing us. So, without answering outloud, what is the sin that is causing you the most trouble today? Do not look at your kids. I’m talking about in your heart. Is it bitterness or unforgiveness? Is it coveting and worry? Is it a false identity that you think you need to keep up? And you keep saying yea it is fine but it’s not.

Please hear me today, it is the goodness of God that leads us to repentance. He is not angry and mad at you, he loves you so much to put his finger on that thing that is causing you trouble, to have a drought of faith, the shame, guilt and accusations that you hold onto thinking that they somehow make you humble is not the way out. If he paid for it with blood to be removed, we shouldn’t be holding onto it. When we do this and continue to confront the sin in our life with supernatural confidence it is us working out our salvation with fear and trembling (Phil2). It us saying that that our sin is not just a cute little bear that we should hold onto but it is a leech that is sucking the blood out of us. It needs to die. And thank God we has given us Jesus, His word, His Spirit to put it to death! May we continue to war against any sin in our heart that is trying to exalt itself higher than the living God.

Supernatural Confidence in Challenging False gods

Next week we will see how Elijah challenges these false gods, but here we do have a challenge of calling out the gods of the culture of Elijah’s day. And if you remember, when we first started this series, I asked you guys what were some idols not only of our culture but also idols that may have slipped into church culture as well and this is what you said:

money, television, sports, social media, productivity, family, success, ourselves, rituals, busyness, acceptance over truth, sex, drugs and rock and roll, politics, pride, tradition,

Anyone want to add to this list?

So this is where, do you remember where I talked about God grows us and matures us and some of us may not be here yet? I don’t think you have to be perfect to be here, but I think if we try to challenge false gods in our culture today by sharing the gospel with others when we ourselves don’t even embrace the gospel and we are walking in sin, we are in big trouble. However, if we are growing in the gospel and confronting our sin and we wonder, what is God doing in me, how is he leading me, I am convinced it is this. He is wanting you to go into all the world, teaching everything Christ has commanded you, baptizing people of every nation and he is with you. I don’t think spiritual maturity is hiding behind books and degrees, I believe it is us being light and declaring to others “The Lord is my God” So who is your god? And what is hard about this is that in the west, everyone thinks they are a Christian, for sure the midwest. You try witnessing to others and they will tell you what church they go to, how many Dr. David Jeremiah’s sermons they listen to, how they have the Billy Grahm study Bible and on and on. But when you start confronting idols in their lives people get all kind of hellish. One way to do this is to live differently and say no to what everyone else is saying yes to. It creates some interesting conversations with people. What do you mean you don’t watch every netflix show that comes out? What do you mean you fast from social media from time to time? Don’t you have FOMO? What do you mean you are not going to do that traveling sport that takes up so much of your time? Everyone else is doing it! And you know that I am not condemning these things, but what I do condemn is that they have more influence in our lives that the Lord and we keep making excuses about not spending time with the Lord most likely because you are spending time with Baal.

So if you are here and you know this is your next step, to start having conversations with family members, coworkers, people in your sphere of influence I would love to pray for you today. And if you are someone who realizes that you need to supernaturally confront sin in your life today that is causing you trouble I would pray for you today. And if you are someone who realizes that you need some more confidence in God. More confidence in his character, what he says about you, how he views you. I would love to pray for you as well.

So if you fit one of those categories, just stand to your feet and we will pray.