Sermon Tone Analysis

*A Drought, A Prophet, and A Widow*

 

*I KING 17:8-15: -15*:  8 And the word of the LORD came unto him, saying, 9Arise, get thee to Zarephath, which belongeth to Zidon, dwell there: behold, I have commanded a widow woman there to sustain thee.

10So he arose and went to Zarephath.

And when he came to the gate of the city, behold, the widow woman was there gathering of sticks: and he called to her, and said, Fetch me, I pray thee, a little water in a vessel, that I may drink.

11And as she was going to fetch it, he called to her, and said, Bring me, I pray thee, a morsel of bread in thine hand.

12And she said, As the LORD thy God liveth, I have not a cake, but an handful of meal in a barrel, and a little oil in a cruse: and, behold, I am gathering two sticks, that I may go in and dress it for me and my son, that we may eat it, and die.

13And  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.

14For 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.

15And she went and did according to the saying of Elijah: and she, and he, and her house, did eat many days.

*INTRODUCTION* \\ \\ 1. Lessons are important.

For in many ways and by many methods and avenues do we learn lessons.

\\ \\ When I was a young boy, I remember learning a lesson about a wasp.

I don't know if you've ever been stung by a wasp before or not.

But I have.

An I learned that you can avoid getting stung by leaving their nests undisturbed.

There's a wasp nest about eight feet from my office door but I haven't gotten stung yet.

Do you know why?

I haven't disturbed their nests.

\\ \\ I learned my lesson, lessons are important.

2. In our text we learn lessons from: \\ \\ A Drought, A Prophet, and A Widow \\ \\ A Drought is "A long period of dry weather, lack of rain".

A Drought was considered one of the most devastating calamities of the East.

The people would suffer; The animals would suffer; The plants and crops would wither; Rivers and lakes would dry up; and Protracted suffering for just about everybody and everything was inevitable.

Our text today unfolds against the backdrop of such a travesty.

Gilead and neighboring regions were suffering because of the lack of rain.

Now this was no ordinary drought.

It had been inflicted by God through the prophet Elijah.

*1 KINGS 17:1:* 1And 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.

In that verse we find Elijah telling Ahab that there would not be a dew nor rain these years.

Except according to his word.

Perhaps one might be interested enough to wonder why God would prescribe such a catastrophic situation.

It was not because God was moody or stingy.

It was because Israel had fallen into idolatry, worshipping Baal an God chose to get their attention by holding the rain back.

And I believe that there are some lessons to be learned by this drought.

*"Lessons  from A Drought, A Prophet, and A Widow"*

*The First *lesson we learn from the drought is that God is in control, and Ahab wasn't in control.

Jezebel, his wicked wife, wasn't in control, and neither was Elizah in control.

God was in control.

Elijah was just an instrument but God was in control.

Sometimes I think God holds things from us to remind us that he is in control.

The weather man didn't control the rain;  The Magicians didn't control the rain - God controlled the rain!

God has always controlled the rain.

*GEN.7:4*:

4For yet seven days, and I will cause it to rain upon the earth forty days and forty nights; and every living substance that I have made will I destroy from off the face of the earth.

When God was preparing to destroy the earth with a raging flood, he said "I will cause it to rain."

*ISAIAH 55:10:* 10For as the rail cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater: \\ \\ God said that the rain and the snow cometh down from heaven.

*MATT:5:45: *45That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.

\\ Jesus, he  (The Father) sendeth the rain.

And what this says is that God is in control!

3.  *Secondly*, the drought teaches us that sin and rebellion will not go unpunished.

\\ \\ *ROMANS  6:23: *23For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Paul said "For the Wages of  Sin is Death"

*GAL.

6:7-8:*  7Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall be also reap.

8For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the spirit shall of the spirit reap life everlasting.

Soweth that shall he also reap (8) For he that soweth to his flesh shall of his flesh reap corruption --

Yes, Sin will not go unpunished.

For Jesus said in the 5th chapter of John, verse 28, "marvel not at this, for the hour is coming, come forth, they that have done good.

Unto the resurrection of life,"

And friends, sin will not go unpunished.

when the Isrealites turned to idols, God was watching.

And it would do us well today, to know that God is watching everything we.

And when we turn our backs on him to serve other interests - will stand before God and give an account.

\\ \\ *II COR.

5:10: *10For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.

And sometimes we suffer in this life as a result of sin.

An example of this inescapable truth would be Ananias and Sapphira in Acts 5.

*ACTS 5:1-11:  *1But a certain man named Ananias, with Sapphira his wife, sold a possession, 2And kept back part of the price, his wife also being privy to it, and brought a certain part, and laid it at the apostles, feet.

3But Peter said, Ananias, why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost, and to keep back part of the price of the land?

4Whiles it remained, was it not thine own? and after it was sold, was it not in thine own power?

why hast thou conceived this thing in thine heart?

thou has not lied unto men, but unto God.  5And Ananias hearing these words fell down, and gave up the ghost: and great fear came on all them that heard these things.

6And the young men arose, wound him up, and carried him, and buried him.

7And it was about the space of three hours after, when his wife, not knowing what was done, came in.

8And Peter answered unto her, Tell me whether ye sold the land for so much?

And she said, Yes, for so much.

9Then Peter said unto her, how is  it that ye have agreed together to tempt the Spirit of the Lord?

behold, the feet of them which have buried thy husband are at the door, and shall carry thee out.

10Then fell she down straightway at this fee, and yielded up the ghost: and the young men came in, and found her dead, and carrying her forth, buried her by her husband.

11And great fear came upon all the church, and upon as many as heard these things.

\\ \\ Ananias and Sapphira suffered and died as a result of sin!

*"LESSONS FROM A DROUGHT, A PROPHET, AND A WIDOW"*

*4.

The Third *lesson we learn from the drought is that sometime we are the cause of our own calamities.

For the Isrealites could not blame Elijah.

He hadn't bowed his knees to Baal.

They were the cause of their own calamities.

There are some today who are suffering as a result of their own actions.

There are thousands of people who are suffering from Lung Cancer because they chose to smoke.

There are many who are suffering from Liver disorder because they chose to drink.

There are those who are suffering from Aids because they chose to live a promiscuous life style...Sometimes we are the architects of our own calamities.

And there are some who are suffering spiritually because of their own actions.

In Luke the 15th chapter, we find that the Prodigal son's horrific situation was brought on by his decision to go to the far country.

He couldn't blame his father.

He couldn't blame his brother.

He couldn't blame his associates.

He was hungry, broke and ashamed because of his won actions.

And this was the case with Isreal.

They were the conspirators of their own calamity by rejecting God so he punished them by going on strike with the rain.

*5.

The Fourth *lesson we learn from the drought is that, sometimes, our actions, not only affect us but many times our actions affect others!

Look at the Isrealites-They bowed their knees to Baal, yet the crops were suffering.

They bowed their knees to Baal yet the ground was suffering.