The Lord Sends Rain

INTRO

If you have your Bible this morning you can turn to 1 Kings 18 where we will continue our series on living a supernatural life in a complacent culture by looking at the lives of Elijah and Elisha.

And out of curiosity, I want to ask you a question this morning. And this is one of those questions where I ask and I would like a response.

WHAT IS SOMETHING THAT YOU QUIT THAT YOU REGRET?

This could be an instrument? A job? Or some kind of hobby. Do you remember why you quit?

So this question is not just a “get to know you” question but it has direct connection to our text this morning.

And as a small review of what has built us up to this moment, going back to 1 Kings 17 Elijah confronts the terrible king Ahab on his Baal worship by telling him that there will be no rain until Elijah says so. And for 3 1/2 years this goes on, Elijah is encouraged and strengthened supernaturally by the Lord in this time.

-Last week we saw the crecendo of this tension between Yahweh and Baal where Yahweh sent his fire to turn the people’s hearts back to him. But it still had not rained, and God told Elijah to go to Ahab and then it would rain. But God sent fire, so the promise for rain is still there. So we are going to look at the story of how God brought this rain supernaturally through Elijah.

Graduates I think this message is a timely message for all of us, but specifically for you as you journey into a new season of life. So while I’m talking to everyone, I’m talking to you as well. So let’s see what God’s word has for us today.

BODY

41 And Elijah said to Ahab, “Go up, eat and drink, for there is a sound of the rushing of rain.”

So after killing off the prophets of Baal Elijah goes up to Elijah and tells him to go eat and drink for he hears the sound of rushing of rain. Now, as you are going to see here in a little bit, there is not a cloud in the sky. So how is Elijah so confident that rain is about to come? The promise of God that God told him back in the beginning of the chapter. In verse 1 of this chapter God said go to Ahab and I will send rain on the earth. Elijah knew the promises of God by listening to God’s voice.

So this leads me to address you students as you enter into a new season of life, if you are interested in living a supernatural life rather in falling into complacency with the rest of whatever everyone else does. And to all of us today, something that I have said multiple times up here,

To live a supernatural life in a complacent culture we need to know God’s promises and hear his voice.

Did you know that according to Biblegateway.com there are 5,467 promises in God’s word? Promises like:

He is trustworthy

He is unchanging

Promise of salvation

Promise of sending His Spirit

I know that sounds like a no brainer, but at the same time, it is the simple discipline of going to God’s word, reading His promises, knowing his character, and hearing his voice. He is our shepherd and we are his sheep and we can hear him speak to us as John 10 tells us. But not just know his word like a text book where we can regurgetate it but to obey his voice. Obey what he is calling us to do. Go where he is telling us to go. Love those who he is calling us to love.

If God’s people are not in his word and hearing his voice, there will be no chance for us to live supernaturally. Elijah knew God’s word and God’s voice. Ahab did not. And here in verse 42 we see how they have two very different responses to the situation.

42 So Ahab went up to eat and to drink. And Elijah went up to the top of Mount Carmel. And he bowed himself down on the earth and put his face between his knees. 43 And he said to his servant, “Go up now, look toward the sea.” And he went up and looked and said, “There is nothing.” And he said, “Go again,” seven times.

So the response for Ahab is to eat and drink that there will be rain coming. Comfort and celebration. Eat drink and be merry! But for Elijah he goes up higher on the mountain with his servant and prays. He bows down and put his face between his knees in humility. Why would he do this? Didn’t God promise the rain? Won’t God just do it? No, Elijah is God’s prophet, a co laborer with him and knows that he is to partner with God in bringing this rain. And it does not come easy. Just an hour or so ago, he prayer for 20 seconds and God’s fire fell. Now we see him praying and six times nothing happens. No clouds appear. How long this actually took, I’m not sure. But what we see here is another trait for the people God to be supernatural in a complacent culture.

To be supernatural in a complacent culture the people of God must be persistent in prayer.

Elijah shows us that at one moment you could pray and see God work quickly and then turn around and pray and nothing happen. If you are living in faith, you will be trying something. Trying to live differently and do things differently than the culture around you. And as you do that, you will feel really uncomfortable. It will feel unnatural. Because you are trying to be supernatural. And when you do that you will find yourself in a place of prayer asking for God to help you. And here is what you need to tatoo to your arm and face today. Keep asking, keep seeking, keep knocking. If he didn’t answer you, keep asking. Be persistent.

We have grown up in a culture that says if your food is not done in 1 minute it is not worth it. if you can’t find the shortest route, you messed up. If your wifi takes more than .01 second to load it will be the end of the world. But praise God that he does not work like our world. That he is okay for us to have some endurance and perseverance in our life so we can actually grow. Don’t be a fool today and give up seeking God just because you tried praying one time and “Nothing happened.” What if yo pray six times and nothing happens? What could happen if you tried one more time. That’s what Elijah did and I hope his faith inspires you today.

44 And at the seventh time he said, “Behold, a little cloud like a man’s hand is rising from the sea.” And he said, “Go up, say to Ahab, ‘Prepare your chariot and go down, lest the rain stop you.’ ” 45 And in a little while the heavens grew black with clouds and wind, and there was a great rain. And Ahab rode and went to Jezreel.

So with the small cloud in a distance, Elijah knows God is moving. Just a little cloud off in a distance and he has faith enough to say, the rain is coming, tell the king to go and find shelter. Jezreel was thought to be a place where the king had another palace. And so he is telling the king to find some shelter because it is about to pour. And what this shows me in Elijah is that he was so in tune with God that from the smallest sign he knew God was going to do what he said he would do.

Sometimes we want the deluge, the downpour to happen, yet faith is not always that way. Sometimes it is seeing the little cloud in the distance and knowing that the God who promised rain is moving.

His awareness to what God could do with the smallest cloud in the distance caused him to tell the king with confidence that the rain was coming. And then something crazy happens, almost crazier than fire falling from heaven.

46 And the hand of the LORD was on Elijah, and he gathered up his garment and ran before Ahab to the entrance of Jezreel.

So the distance is somewhat unclear, but most commentary’s say that the distance from Mt. Carmel to Jezreel was between 17-25 miles. And most chariots at that time could go between 25-30 miles per hour. And yet because the hand of the Lord was on Elijah he out runs the chariot. That is crazy! Just to put that in perspective, because you don’t care, I thought I give you a comparison of Kipchoge. Kipchoge is a man who ran the marathon 26.2 miles, in under 2 hours with a pace of 4:35 per mile was running at 13.2mph. So think about how fast Elijah must have been cruising! I will be asking for prayer after this for this anointing.

All joking aside, There is something powerful about someone who knows God’s promises, His voice, and is persistent in prayer. The hand of the Lord is on Elijah and once again, does a supernatural act that is almost unbelievable. He was strengthened so much in that time of prayer and seeing the promises of God that he was strengthened beyond human ability. And while, yes it would be amazing to do such a thing, I think the larger picture we can see here and walk away with today is this.

When we know God’s promises, hear his voice, and are in persistent prayer God’s hand will be on us to strengthen us.

We see this not only with Elijah but many people of the Bible, including Jesus, going into a time of prayer to spend time with the father and being strengthened. And as we seek him, supernatural things happen.

Just last week someone shared with me how a couple years ago they had a terrible farming accident that messed up their shoulders and they had been in pain ever since. The one night they were sitting there and some worship videos came up. And he just started worshipping to these videos every night. And he has no more shoulder pain. God is incredible! And when we seek Him according to His promises, there are some amazing things that can happen in and through us.

Application/Guided prayer

This is our call as believers too. We are called seek his face, seek first the kingdom of God, be persistant in prayer, to pray continually. These are all commands in scripture. . And so instead of me just telling you to pray for the next 10 minutes and giving your a lot of Bible verses on prayer that you most likely already know! I thought it would be good for us to enter into a time of guided prayer.

We have done this before but I’m going to invite our worship team up and what I am going to do is something so simple even a child can do it. I’m going to give you some simple prayers on the screen and on the screen I will even have phrases for you to borrow if you don’t know what to say. And these will go on for about 2-3 minutes. But what we are doing today is making this place a house of prayer for all people. You can do this individually, you can do this with others but the biggest thing that I ask of you in this is to engage. If you just sit back and wait this out, I promise you it will not be enjoyable. But if you engage, I believe with all my heart that God’s hand will come upon you to strengthen you.

PRAYER FOR A NEW DESIRE FOR GOD’S PROMISES AND VOICE

PRAYER FOR A NEW DESIRE TO BE PERSISTENT IN PRAYER

PRAYER FOR THE PERSON YOU HAVE GIVEN UP ON

PRAYER FOR SUPERNATURAL STRENGTH