Preparing the Way

Praparing the way

maybe talk about preperation, kinda give an intro into why Josh asked you to speak

so i want to look at story about a great move of God in the Old Testament

So our story starts with a man named Elijah - you guys ever heard of Elijah before?

what was Elijah’s job title? anyone know?

Yeah, whats a prophet?

give back story to the part we are about to read-

okay so lets read

1 Kings 18:30–40 ESV

Then Elijah said to all the people, “Come near to me.” And all the people came near to him. And he repaired the altar of the Lord that had been thrown down. Elijah took twelve stones, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, to whom the word of the Lord came, saying, “Israel shall be your name,” and with the stones he built an altar in the name of the Lord. And he made a trench about the altar, as great as would contain two seahs of seed. And he put the wood in order and cut the bull in pieces and laid it on the wood. And he said, “Fill four jars with water and pour it on the burnt offering and on the wood.” And he said, “Do it a second time.” And they did it a second time. And he said, “Do it a third time.” And they did it a third time. And the water ran around the altar and filled the trench also with water. And at the time of the offering of the oblation, Elijah the prophet came near and said, “O Lord, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known this day that you are God in Israel, and that I am your servant, and that I have done all these things at your word. Answer me, O Lord, answer me, that this people may know that you, O Lord, are God, and that you have turned their hearts back.” Then the fire of the Lord fell and consumed the burnt offering and the wood and the stones and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench. And when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces and said, “The Lord, he is God; the Lord, he is God.” And Elijah said to them, “Seize the prophets of Baal; let not one of them escape.” And they seized them. And Elijah brought them down to the brook Kishon and slaughtered them there.

recap the story a bit

3 truths that I want us to see, the first is this

Great moves of God are often preceded by thoughtful preparation

1 Kings 18:30–33 ESV

Then Elijah said to all the people, “Come near to me.” And all the people came near to him. And he repaired the altar of the Lord that had been thrown down. Elijah took twelve stones, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, to whom the word of the Lord came, saying, “Israel shall be your name,” and with the stones he built an altar in the name of the Lord. And he made a trench about the altar, as great as would contain two seahs of seed. And he put the wood in order and cut the bull in pieces and laid it on the wood. And he said, “Fill four jars with water and pour it on the burnt offering and on the wood.”

so before my guy Elijah does anything, the first the he does is build an alter. Now this may seem a little wierd to us, becuase we dont go around builiding alters everytime we want to worhsip God. BUT in the old testmanet, that is what you did.

What Elijah is doing is he is creating a space for worship. He’s moving things around, he’s putting things in order, he’s clearing out things, SO THAT he can righlty worship God.

And I think for us to experince a great move of God, sometimes the first thing we need to do is to build an alter (thats a metaphor) - we need to create a space, get our hearts right, to truly worhsip God.

So often we just want God to do all the work. We just wanna sit there, or just go on choir tour and expect God to move. And while sometimes he will do that, I think if we really wanna expeirence a lasting move of God, we gotta do some prep work. If we want God to move, we need to build the alter first. We need to take some things out of our lives, move some things around, add some things, in order to create a space in our heart to truly surrender and to worship God.

James 4:8 “Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you” - sometimes we need to take the first step

Idk if if any of you caught that, but he actually rebuilds this alter. Some of you, you had a heart that wanted to worship God, you’ve been in attitude of total surrender, total worship before - but maybe over the school year, through different ups and downs - you’re alter has kinda fallen apart a little bit. Other things have crept in and invaded the space of worship reserved only for God. So some of you, the first steo you need to take before Tour, before school starst, is rebuild that alter so God can move in your life in a big way.

So at the end of this message, i’m gonna give you more time to write out answers to these, but start to think about them now

What are some ways that you can prepare for a move of God in your own life?

What are some things that might hinder you drawing closer to God?

What are some things that can help you draw closer to God?

Great moves of God are often preceded by great expectations

1 Kings 18:33–35 ESV

And he put the wood in order and cut the bull in pieces and laid it on the wood. And he said, “Fill four jars with water and pour it on the burnt offering and on the wood.” And he said, “Do it a second time.” And they did it a second time. And he said, “Do it a third time.” And they did it a third time. And the water ran around the altar and filled the trench also with water.

My guy Elijah really takes it to 100 here doesnt he? Was this necessary? like did he need to do this? But what kind of awesome faith is this, are these some big expectations of God?

I think so often we but God in a box, either intentionally or unintentionally. We either think, man God wont do that, or God doesnt really care about my problems - OR what happens to us the most I think is we dont even have expecations for God. We just kinda go about our lives not really asking him for anything, not really expecting much from him -unless we really need it.

I think this story of Elijah shows us that if we want to see God move in big ways, we need to have big expectations that God is going to move in your life. and that links in to my third point

Great moves of God are often preceded by heartfelt prayer

1 Kings 18:36–37 ESV

And at the time of the offering of the oblation, Elijah the prophet came near and said, “O Lord, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known this day that you are God in Israel, and that I am your servant, and that I have done all these things at your word. Answer me, O Lord, answer me, that this people may know that you, O Lord, are God, and that you have turned their hearts back.”

If we wanna see God move in our lives, I think we have to be people of prayer. I like this prayer, its so simple. First, Elijah recounts the promises and faithfulness of God. Second, he asks what he needs in that moment, and he does it all for God’s glory - that other people might come to know God.

§What are some ways that you can prepare for a move of God in your own life?

§What are some things that might hinder you drawing closer to God?

§What are some things that can help you draw closer to God?

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§Write out 3 spiritual goals/expectations/prayers for this upcoming season:

§Write out 2 relational goals for this upcoming season:

§Write out 1 fun goal for this upcoming season: