Go and get God out of the Glovebox.

A Place of Opulence

We, the Souled Out crowed had a good time at Kaspas on Friday Night. If you have not been to or heard of Kaspas it is like a 1960’s American Ice Cream parlour but brought into the the 21st Century.

We, the Souled Out crowed had a good time at Kaspas last night. If you have not been to or heard of Kaspas it is like a 1960’s American Ice Cream parlour but brought into the the 21st Century.

The only thing they do is desserts and there is a massive range of them - to be honest it was overwhelming. There was everything from Ice Cream to Crepes from waffles to soft baked cookie dough. Everything on the menu came with a choice of Ice-cream, cream, or type 2 diabetes.

Every thing about the place was oppulance and excess - it is a nice place to visit but I would not want to live there - if you understand what I mean.

We had a good time and dropped every one off.

Six things

What I want to bring to you involves these things

Inhaler

A computer

A resignation letter

Meat & Bread

Oil and Flour.

It is a strange mix of objects but they speak of this message. The first two, the inhaler and the computer are really about why I am bringing the message.

When you know what the right thing to do is, do it.

Over the last few weeks I have had a bit of a cough and a few times during that time I have found breathing to be little bit harder than it should be. Sitting in my car glove box is my inhaler. I don’t use it very often so it lives in the car so that it will be generally wherever I will be.

Now there have been times over the last weeks that I should have really gone and got my inhaler but didn’t

Last night I did have to go and get my and take my inhaler. After the initial feeling awful as I coughed and spluttered I felt marvellous.

Don’t carry on regardless when you know it is not right.

Yesterday morning I got up to prepare for today.

I had decided what I would speak on.

I launched word and the software that I use to gather bible texts etc.

I launched word and I sat at the keyboard and tried to type a message it did not go well. I could not get the message to flow, the words would not come, it we not right

I launched the software that I use to gather bible texts etc and as it launched it announced there was an upgrade. I had a look at what was included and thought, thats it those new tools will help me.

So I down loaded the update, installed it and started to type again.

There I was all expectant that a message for today would come out of my head but nothing. So I did what any body would do in that situation. I changed the font, the font size added anything to make me feel like I was achieving something.

Then I thought let’s use the bible app, there is bound to be something to help. I searched for the topic I wanted and ----- NOTHING the computer has frozen.

I had not saved anything (as little as I had done). Not a problem I thought, I work in IT I have the skills to fix this - I can turn it off and on again. So I did ---- NOTHING.

I had lost the lot and the computer would not turn on.

Do you ever feel that the world is against you?

When everything is going wrong just check it is not a God reminder

I went for a shower and I as I stood there feeling somewhat grumpy and down cast I felt God say it, is just like the inhaler.

You see I had been suffering with my breathing knowing all the time that there was something I could turn to. I just had to go and get it, I just had to go and do the right thing. Yet I was reluctant to do so. I was battling through in my strength rather than going to the thing that could help me.

Yesterday I was trying to write the message I had decided to write.

I was leaning on the software I had. I was expecting my brain and the software on the computer to produce the message.

I was lost when it didn’t. Do you ever get the feeling that God is trying to teach you a lesson?

God was giving me a clear reminder that this has to start with him. We have to rely on His provision. We have to go and get God out of the glove box and not battle on regardless in our own strength.

Over the last two weeks we have been looking at how we need to do the right things when faced with trials.

We have looked at how we should flee the unhealthy places in order to keep right with God just as Joseph did. We have looked at how if we persevere in trials, as Jame’s writes about we will receive that crown of life.

James 1:12 NIV

12 Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because, having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him.

But you know perseverance is a small part of the deal that God has in place.

While we are told to perservere we are also told rely on Yahweh Yireh - the Lord who provides

1 Timothy 6:17 NIV

17 Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment.

It is a great verse in Timothy that reminds us that the Lord not only provides for our necessity but also for our enjoyment

Elijah provided more than his needs.

I want to take us back into the Old testament to the book of 1 kings and the Prophet Elijah, James tells us

(NIV)

James 5:17 NIV

17 Elijah was a human being, even as we are. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years.

17 Elijah was a human being, even as we are. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years.

You will find his story in the book of 1 Kings. The book of Kings is about just that “Kings” amongst its pages are the details of the reign of a number of Kings some of which have a heart for God others who try to ‘go it alone’ with disastrous results.

Elijah had set out as a messenger of God to speak out agains the worship of Baal and to get Gods People to repent and turn from harmful practices, that hurt the most vulnerable - like infant sacrifice.

He had stood up for what he thought was right and now he has pronounced a drought on the land - he was not going to be popular.

The resignation letter.

Sports minister Tracey Crouch has resigned over "delays" to a crackdown on maximum stakes for fixed-odds betting machines.

Chancellor Philip Hammond said in Monday's Budget that the cut in stakes from £100 to £2 would come into force in October 2019.

Ms Crouch said pushing back the date was "unjustifiable" and it could cost the lives of problem gamblers. 1.6bn would be lost due to delay and 2 people would commit suicide.

It is good to see out politicians standing up for what is right.

Fed by Ravens.

1 Kings 17

1 Kings 17:1–7 NIV

1 Now Elijah the Tishbite, from Tishbe in Gilead, said to Ahab, “As the Lord, the God of Israel, lives, whom I serve, there will be neither dew nor rain in the next few years except at my word.” 2 Then the word of the Lord came to Elijah: 3 “Leave here, turn eastward and hide in the Kerith Ravine, east of the Jordan. 4 You will drink from the brook, and I have directed the ravens to supply you with food there.” 5 So he did what the Lord had told him. He went to the Kerith Ravine, east of the Jordan, and stayed there. 6 The ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning and bread and meat in the evening, and he drank from the brook. 7 Some time later the brook dried up because there had been no rain in the land.

17 Elijah was a human being, even as we are. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years.

Things to note

New Living Translation Chapter 17

Elijah Fed by Ravens

Now Elijah, who was from Tishbe in Gilead, told King Ahab, “As surely as the LORD, the God of Israel, lives—the God I serve—there will be no dew or rain during the next few years until I give the word!”

2 Then the LORD said to Elijah, 3 “Go to the east and hide by Kerith Brook, near where it enters the Jordan River. 4 Drink from the brook and eat what the ravens bring you, for I have commanded them to bring you food.”

5 So Elijah did as the LORD told him and camped beside Kerith Brook, east of the Jordan. 6 The ravens brought him bread and meat each morning and evening, and he drank from the brook. 7 But after a while the brook dried up, for there was no rainfall anywhere in the land.

God met Elijah’s needs in three ways.

Natural Provision

Super Natural Provision

Providing for the need he knew nothing about

God supplied his Elijah’s needs he sent him to a place where naturally there was water a brook.

And miraculously he provided bread and meat. In Old Testament law the Raven is considered an unclean bird, as it eats carrion - God uses unclean things for the good of his kingdom - I thank God for that.

This wasn’t just meeting his needs but this was abundance - not only was he being provided for by wild animals but he was eating meat everyday - in the culture of the time this would just not happen unless you were a king or exceptionally wealthy.

Not only did God provide for the obvious need but anybody seeing Ravens circling as they brought his food would thing one thing and one thing only - there was something dead there - no point looking for Elijah there.

God met a need that Elijah had probably not even considered the need to be protected from his foes.

You know God can only meet Elijah’s need if Elijah is in the place where God placed him. In verse five - it says Elijah did what God told him. he did not try and do things in his own strength. He did not run to his friends house to hide, or try to bargain his way out of trouble or even compromise to avoid the situation. He did the tight thing and he did as God had told him.

God met Elijah’s needs naturally and super naturally. Verse seven tells us that 7 Some time later the brook dried up because there had been no rain in the land. - I think it is telling that the natural provision fails before the super natural provision of God.

Even when the natural provision ceases God has a plan.

2 kings

2 Kings 17:8–12 NIV

8 and followed the practices of the nations the Lord had driven out before them, as well as the practices that the kings of Israel had introduced. 9 The Israelites secretly did things against the Lord their God that were not right. From watchtower to fortified city they built themselves high places in all their towns. 10 They set up sacred stones and Asherah poles on every high hill and under every spreading tree. 11 At every high place they burned incense, as the nations whom the Lord had driven out before them had done. They did wicked things that aroused the Lord’s anger. 12 They worshiped idols, though the Lord had said, “You shall not do this.”

1 Kings 17:8–12 NIV

8 Then the word of the Lord came to him: 9 “Go at once to Zarephath in the region of Sidon and stay there. I have directed a widow there to supply you with food.” 10 So he went to Zarephath. When he came to the town gate, a widow was there gathering sticks. He called to her and asked, “Would you bring me a little water in a jar so I may have a drink?” 11 As she was going to get it, he called, “And bring me, please, a piece of bread.” 12 “As surely as the Lord your God lives,” she replied, “I don’t have any bread—only a handful of flour in a jar and a little olive oil in a jug. I am gathering a few sticks to take home and make a meal for myself and my son, that we may eat it—and die.”

The execution of Gods plan of salvation for Elijah does not sound to be going to well - but Elijah promised her that God would provide he wold be Jehovah Jireh and that she should not be afraid.

1 Kings 17:14 NIV

14 For this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘The jar of flour will not be used up and the jug of oil will not run dry until the day the Lord sends rain on the land.’ ”

1 kings 17:

1 Kings 17:15–16 NIV

15 She went away and did as Elijah had told her. So there was food every day for Elijah and for the woman and her family. 16 For the jar of flour was not used up and the jug of oil did not run dry, in keeping with the word of the Lord spoken by Elijah.

Elijah promised her that God would provide he wold be Jehovah Jireh and that she should not be a freaid

1 kings 17 15-

Our God is so faithful you know - he will always deliver on his promises to us. When we live in the promises that he has got for us, when we live in his provision it overflows from us. Gods firs plan affected only Elijah - this new plan impacted on Elijah, the woman and her son. You know God delights in blessing others through his people.

The story goes on the woman’s son dies, you see life even in God’s plan can have bad times. Her son through Elijah’s actions and faith was brought back to life. Faith and actions and the supernatural power of God, is amazing . Two lives impacted the boys and the Woman’s as she recognises Elijah as a man of God.

As we rely more on God his supernatural acts will not only impact on us but through his Holy Spirit then miracles will impact on others.

As we are in the place where God wants us to be, when we have faith and we act - God will move.

It may take some time

God

Elijah remained with the Widow and the son for three years.

1 Kings 18:1 NIV

1 After a long time, in the third year, the word of the Lord came to Elijah: “Go and present yourself to Ahab, and I will send rain on the land.”

This was the start of Gods provision on the land, the start to the restoration of Gods people of that time.

God’s provision started with one, then a few and then a nation.

I long to see what starts here, affect others, ones, twos, fives, tens, a village, a region a nation. - I can’t do that but God my Provider can.

He can make you an evangelist - you talk to the neighbours

He can make you a peacemaker - in your school

He can make you a teacher or a prophet or a provider....

But there are times where you will need to Go and get God out of the glove box. there will be times when it is hard, when you are relying on your own strength or that of others

Learn when you need to stop working on your own and start working with God. Learn when you need to stop worrying about the resources and start to take from the oil jar that never runs dry.

Conclude and pray.

1 j

John 1:14 NIV

14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

The word became flesh

17 Elijah was a human being, even as we are. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years.