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Elijah • Sermon • Submitted
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29 “But Abraham said, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them.’
30 “But he said, ‘No, father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent!’
31 “But he said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be persuaded even if someone rises from the dead.’ ”
Luke 16:
Jesus tells the story of Lazarus and the rich man
Luke 16:28-
29 “But Abraham said, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them.’
30 “But he said, ‘No, father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent!’
31 “But he said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be persuaded even if someone rises from the dead.’ ”
Irony that Jesus would be the one that would rise from the dead.
We are going to look at the prohets
Elijah and Elisha
Set the stage
29 Now Ahab the son of Omri became king over Israel in the thirty-eighth year of Asa king of Judah, and Ahab the son of Omri reigned over Israel in Samaria twenty-two years.
30 Ahab the son of Omri did evil in the sight of the Lord more than all who were before him.
1 Kings 16:
870 - 852 BC
Jezabel - A shameless and immoral woman.
Powerful, ruthless, evil.
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.”
Elijah - My God is Yahweh
1 Kings 17
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.’ ”
God is in control
God is in control
17 Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow.
45 so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.
44 “But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,
45 so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.
Bad things happen to good people and good things happen to bad people.
If something terrible happens in your life, God either caused it or allowed it.
So that you will repent.
So that you will rely on him.
Actions have consequences.
Free will.
Remember: Life is short.
14 Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away.
J
It is never safe to assume that if someone is going through trouble that they are involved in a sin and God is calling them to repentance. Think of Job’s friends.
On the other hand;
It is never safe to assume that when you are going through trouble that God is not calling you to repentance.
12 For whom the Lord loves He reproves,
Even as a father corrects the son in whom he delights.
13 How blessed is the man who finds wisdom
And the man who gains understanding.
6 For those whom the Lord loves He disciplines,
And He scourges every son whom He receives.”
Our faith and obedience is required to receive God’s grace
Our faith and obedience is required to receive God’s grace
God told Elijah to go to a remote place and promised he would drink from a brook and that crows would feed him.
1 Had he not gone and hidden; Ahab would have likely had him put to death.
2. Had he gone somewhere else, he would have likely died of thirst or starved.
His obedience was required.
Jesus said this in
23 Jesus answered and said to him, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our abode with him.
God provided the way to heaven, which is through Jesus Christ, but if you don’t accept him, then you don’t love him, and if you don’t love him, you won’t obey him.
And if you don’t obey God, then He will not save you.
God can do all things, but what he won’t do is bring into his presence anyone that doesn’t want to be there.
But I want to be there… Then obey him.
22 But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves.
James
Put God first.
Put God first.
The brook dried up and God told Elijah to to to this widow woman. So he does. He sees her gathering sticks asks her for water and she is going to get it, then he stops her and asks her for some bread.
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.
1 Kings
The bowl of flour will never be exhausted and the jar of oil never empty until it rains.
33 “But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
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.
9 Honor the Lord from your wealth
And from the first of all your produce;
10 So your barns will be filled with plenty
And your vats will overflow with new wine.
Close with the story of Marian Hammaren.
Marian was the mother of Caitlyn Hammaren.
On April 16, 2007 Caitlyn was one of the 32 people killed in the Va. Tech shooting.
Marian, a non-practicing Catholic, believed in God, but didn’t understand what it meant to have a relationship with Christ. God was the creator, and followed this list of things to do and avoided another list of things not to do, God would just take care of them and let them live their lives.
After the shooting, she would go for days without eating or sleeping. She lost her faith, lost weight, lost interest in everything.
One day she was walking in the woods behind her house and had a come-a-part.
I got very, very angry, cursing out loud, crying. I started yelling at God, saying, "You know I taught her to trust You." I was furious because I had told Caitlin that God would take care of everything and He let her down. That’s how I felt: "I raised her to believe and trust in You, and where the heck were You that day?"
So it was getting very ugly. And all through the yelling and screaming I was also saying "I need to see her, to hear her laugh again, to see her smile again. I need this!"
Something caught her attention and she saw a doe watching her.
It was enough to shut her up.
Then I heard a very, very clear thought: "You will see her again. Absolutely you will see her again. But you will have to go through Me first." Now I was not capable of having that thought on my own because I didn’t understand the story of Christ well enough.
That started her spiritual journey.
My day began and ended with Caitlin. I realized that Caitlin had become my god. And now my god was gone...
What every you put first in you life, is your god.
Whatever your god is, had better be able to withstand anything, because when it fails, you too will be destroyed.
Relationship - Spouse, parent, Child, friendship
Job.
Club
Money
Stuff
yourself.
Peter said, Sanctify Christ as Lord in you life.
