Give me thy son...do you know what to do with a hopeless situation?

1 Kings 17:17–19 NKJV

17 Now it happened after these things that the son of the woman who owned the house became sick. And his sickness was so serious that there was no breath left in him. 18 So she said to Elijah, “What have I to do with you, O man of God? Have you come to me to bring my sin to remembrance, and to kill my son?” 19 And he said to her, “Give me your son.” So he took him out of her arms and carried him to the upper room where he was staying, and laid him on his own bed.

Carrying the dead

Do you know what to do with a hopeless situation?

I open this sermon in all respect for any mother that may have lost a child. I know that often times as preachers, we can begin to dig into a text, not intending to lack sensitivity to the stories and circumstances represented in the congregations that has gathered…but I have been guilty of doing such…it is not my intention this morning to do so...

But there is nothing like a grieving mother. A mother that is having to wrestle with the loss of their child. this is not the way things are supposed to be…mothers aren’t supposed to be bury their babies…But in the context of 1 Kings chapter 17, Elijah is confronted with the most difficult and overwhelming of all circumstances. A mother carries her child to the prophet…She is hurting…she is helpless…she is hopeless....her dreams are shattered, her hopes are dashed…her whole world is destroyed.

And the prophet says to her…Give me your son!

In the verses preceding this 17th verse, God has preparing the prophet for this moment. There are three very valuable lessons that have been man of God has extracted from the preceding occasions that unfold in his life prior to this moment. These preceding circumstances and the valuable lessons obtained from them, have prepared him for this moment.

He is able to take a dead child from a grieving mom and KNOW EXACTLY what to do because of what he has BEEN THROUGH!!!

If you never go through anything…you can’t give anything!

If you never endure a storm…you’ll never write a song!

If you never pass through a trial…you will never have a testimony!

And I believe that God has been equipping and preparing his church…For such a time as this!

I believe that its time for the church to answer the question…do you know what to do with a hopeless situation?

Do you know to do with shattered dreams and broken lives?

I believe that the question is being asked and the church must answer…The answer is not found in our theology…it is not found in our ability to sermonize or deliver eloquent oratory…but if from what we have been through, we can learn what Elijah came through, then we…just like HE will be able to carry the dead!

1. God revealed to him the POWER of his voice....The power of his voice!

1 Kings 17:1 And Elijah the Tishbite, who was of the inhabitants of Gilead, SAID unto Ahab, as the Lord God of Israel liveth, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to MY WORD.

One chapter prior in 1 Kings 16 vs. 29-34 the Kingship of Ahab is announced. How that Ahab married Jezebel, who was a killer of the prophets…How that he served Baal…built a temple for him in Samaria, and worshipped idols raised to Baal…Vs. 33 summarizes the wickedness for Ahab when it says that Ahab (did more to provoke the Lord God of Israel to anger than all the kings of Israel that were before him.

And God raised up and exalted the righteous voice of Elijah to speak against and the judge the wickedness of Ahab.

If I could define righteous - Based upon etymology and the looking at the Hebrew words used to describe righteousness and taking modern definitions of the word…taking all of that into account I would define righteousness as walking in the path that God has called right.

Elijah would become the most hated man in all of Israel for 36 months over his 24-word sermon of righteousness.

Today…we fear to preach righteousness because we might get a negative review on Facebook. We might get a negative review on google.

Instead of preaching against homosexuality, which the Bible declares an abomination…churches and denominations embrace the sin and embracing what God has called abomination they celebrate as adversity,.

Pastors ceasing to preaching against the atrocity of abortion even though the scripture is clear that harming a child would result in the wrath of God.

Shacking up is no longer wrong as long as you love each other

Smoking a little weed is ok if you are stressed

But, God reveled to Elijah…I’ll give you authority if you will stand for righteousness!

I’ll back up what you say, if you will back up what I say!

If we are going to know what to do with a dead child…with a hopeless situation…If we are going to have any hope for a hopeless world…carry the dead…There must be a restoration of confidence and authority in the voice of the church.

More now than ever before there must be power in the voice of the church!

In 1831, when French sociologist and political theorist Alex De Tocqueville came to America in search of what made America great, he had this to say...

“I sought for the greatness and genius of America in her commodious harbors and her ample rivers – and it was not there . . . in her fertile fields and boundless forests and it was not there . . . in her rich mines and her vast world commerce – and it was not there . . . in her democratic Congress and her matchless Constitution – and it was not there. Not until I went into the churches of America and heard her pulpits aflame with righteousness did I understand the secret of her genius and power. America is great because she is good, and if America ever ceases to be good, she will cease to be great.”

We declare the righteousness of God, not to antagonize the atheist, not to irritate the immoral…but we speak righteousness because there is blessing in righteousness!

Psalms 34:15 God watches over the righteous

Psalms 37:23 God order the steps of the righteous

Psalms 55:22, proverbs 12:21 and Proverbs 18:10, God Upholds the righteous!

Proverbs 3:33 God blesses the home of the righteous

Proverbs 15:29 God hears the prayers of the righteous!

And I could go on...

And when we declare the righteousness of God…we can speak with boldness…with confidence…with power....and with authority.

And in confidence, Elijah said…it will not rain until I say for it to rain!

And God had his back! As Elijah stood upon the solid foundation of God’s righteousness…God stood for Elijah

Living Hope…we have stood, we do stand…and we will stand for the righteousness of God.

We have not, we are not and we will not cave to the pressures of society…we have stayed true to the truths of the word of God...

So now it is time to open your mouth and speak in boldness and in confidence...

Stop agreeing with Ahab…with your adversary…with the negative news and declare the Word of the Lord!

I take authority over the spirit of fear!

I take authority over discouragement and depression!

to point 2

1 Kings 17:5–7 NKJV

5 So he went and did according to the word of the Lord, for he went and stayed by the Brook Cherith, which flows into the Jordan. 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 And it happened after a while that the brook dried up, because there had been no rain in the land.

2. God revealed to him the power of the source

Immediately after Elijah speaks these powerful, authoritative words, God says now go hide yourself at the Brook Cherith. There you will drink from the Brook and I’ll send ravens to feed you…so he went according to the Word of the Lord.

he went to the brook…because of the authority that He preached with us on Sunday, God sent him to hide on Monday!!

I know what that feels like to wake up on Monday feeling like I need to hide…

I’d done made the devil mad!

I stirred up a hornets nest...

God why can’t you just let me tell the people what CNN is telling them!?

Why do you always have to be putting words in my spirit that rile up the devil?!!

But he went to the Brook!

And the brook provided him safety…refreshing…and there he was sustained.

I don’t know how long he was there…the bible just says after while…he was there a while...

Every day, the sound of the water hides the sounds of his movements…allowing him to live without worry

Every day, fresh cool water…refreshing him...

Ravens…better than Door Dash…ravens brining him chipotle…bringing him longhorn…bringing him papa johns!

And here is the problem…After a while…we can begin thinking the brook is the source. and then in vs. 7 the brook dried up! and God said get up and go to Zarephath...

And when he got to Zarephath, he found widow with a handful of meal and a little oil…and God turned it into enough...

God had to dry up the brook, because “after a while” Elijah started thinking the brook was his source…God had to remind him…the brook wasn’t your source…the barrel isn’t your source…the cruse isn’t your source…I am your source!

I feel like right now, there are some brooks drying up!

The things that we used to depend upon for security…they are drying up.

401k’s are drying

Sources of entertainment are drying up

God dried up the church for 2 months…because if we aren’t careful we can think the church is our source.

God dried up your neighbors worship…because if we aren’t careful we can start relying on others worship to sustain us.

God dried up the prayers that others were praying…because if we aren’t careful we can begin relying on the prayers of the preacher, or the elder...

don’t get me wrong…we need the church…we need to be together…we need to see one another worship. We need to hear one another prayer. We need the laying on of hands...

But God has to remind us…the church isn’t your source…the preacher isn’t your source…your neighbor isn’t your source…I am your source!!!

And if we are going to know what to do with dead, hopeless circumstances…we have to learn that the brook isn’t our source!! Jesus is our source!

to point 3

1 Kings 17:10–13 NKJV

10 So he arose and went to Zarephath. And when he came to the gate of the city, indeed a widow was there gathering sticks. And he called to her and said, “Please bring me a little water in a cup, that I may drink.” 11 And as she was going to get it, he called to her and said, “Please bring me a morsel of bread in your hand.” 12 So she said, “As the Lord your God lives, I do not have bread, only a handful of flour in a bin, and a little oil in a jar; and see, I am gathering a couple of sticks that I may go in and prepare it for myself and my son, that we may eat it, and die.” 13 And Elijah said to her, “Do not fear; go and do as you have said, but make me a small cake from it first, and bring it to me; and afterward make some for yourself and your son.

3. God revealed to Elijah the power of his choice

If I could say it this way…he revealed to Elijah, real faith means risk…if there is no risk involved, it isn’t faith.

you can’t walk on water, without stepping out of the boat! well, I’ll just wait until the pond freezes over, and then I’ll walk on water…at which point it ceases to be faith…because faith will always involve risk.

and intellect and human reason says…lets mitigate risk…lets evaluate risk…and when the risk is removed…then we will move forward in faith...

Risk often sounds so heartless!

Risk often sounds so uncaring...

I mean can you imagine reading a story in the news about a preacher that went to the house of a mother who had just enough food to give her child and her one last meal before they died and the preacher says…use that little bit that you have left and make me a cake.

Wow…can you imagine the Facebook comments under that story?

the angry face and thumbs down emoji’s would be abundant.

How could you do that? What if the meal wouldn’t have multiplied…what if the oil hadn’t continued to flow?

How could you be so heartless....

But the man of God understood that without taking a risk there can be no miracle!

Listen carefully to what Elijah says...

And Elijah said unto her, FEAR NOT; go and do as thou hast said: but make me thereof a little cake first, and bring it unto me, and after make for thee and for thy son

For thus SAITH THE LORD GOD OF ISRAEL, The barrel of meal shall not waste, neither shall the cruse of oil fail, until the day that the Lord sendeth rain upon the earth

1. The prophet know that Fear and miracles can’t coexist.

I know you all are getting tired of me preaching against fear and for faith…but its because I know that miracles don’t happen when fear exists.

2. And the prophet heard from the Lord…he wasn’t just asking her to make him a cake because he was hungry…He wasn’t just trying to pick at the woke crowd…he had heard from God.

Speaking faith isn’t just saying the opposite of what your favorite news network is saying…speaking faith is speaking what the Lord God of Israel is saying!!!

Because if the news man says that jumping out of an airplane can be deadly…he is absolutely right...

Faith isn’t speaking the opposite of man…faith is speaking the word of God!

The power is in your choice…you can either go with the crowd and speak fear or you can risk it all and speak faith!

And if we are going to be able to take the dead lifeless body of a son from his mothers arms…if we are going to know what to do with hopeless circumstances and hopeless situations…we cannot speak fear....and we must have heard from God…and we must be willing to take a risk.

And in vs. 17…having learned the power of his voice

having learned the power of his source

having learned the power of his choice...

That grieving momma walks in with the lifeless body of her boy in her arms and the man of God knows just what to do.

If I have the authority to turn off the faucets for 3 years, I can speak life into a lifeless body!

The power to sustain me wasn’t in the brook or the barrel..it was in God…and God is with me now!

And if I could take a risk and ask that widow for her last handful of meal and the last drops of oil…then I can take a risk and carry this dead son to a place of prayer!

and the Bible says…the King James Version says…he carried him up into a loft, where he abode.

But I like the way that New King James version says it…So he took him out of her arms and carried him to the upper room where he was staying...

That isn’t the last time I’ve read about a miracle in an upper room...

In the book of Acts, they were all together in the upper room…and they were all in one place and they were all in one accord…when suddenly there came a sound from heaven…as of a rushing mighty wind…and it filled all the house where they were sitting in.

I know what to do with a hopeless situation…carry it to the upper room...

I know where to carry the dead, lifeless, hopeless circumstances that our world is facing...

I know the answer for a broken world..its in the upper room...

The bible says that Elijah had been dwelling there!

Our world needs a church that has been dwelling in the upper room!

Elijah went into the upper room and he spoke with authority

He carried that lifeless body into the upper room and he called on the source...

He took a risk and he stretched himself out over that child and cried out...

And the soul of the child came back to him and he revived!