Recap of Elijah:
Israel has divided into two, Judah, the 2 southern tribes, and Israel the 10 northern tribes. Judah had a few good kings after the split, but mostly bad kings. Israel had only bad kings and Ahab was the worst. Ahab's wife was Jezebel. She was the daughter of Tyre & the Sidonian king. Their gods were Baal and Ashtoreth. They were supposed to be the gods of storms, crops, rain and fertility. To punish Ahab and Israel God instructed Elijah to tell the people that there would not be any rain until Elijah said it would rain and then he left. Elijah ended up in Zarephath in Sidon with a widow and her son. God provided for them during this time. The widow's son dies and Elijah raises him from the dead. Elijah then goes back to Israel and has a confrontation with Ahab and 450 prophets of Baal. Elijah challenges the prophets by suggesting they make offerings to Baal and he would make an offering to the one true God. Elijah allows the prophets Baal to choose the first bull and make their offering first. Then Elijah builds an alter out of 12 stones (which represented the 12 tribes of Israel) and then poured a bunch of water on the offering (which demonstrates God's love and forgiveness) and then offered it up to God, who consumed the offering with fire. Nothing happened with the offering to Baal. Elijah proved that the LORD is the one true God and the people believed. Then it began to rain. The story did not end there...
1 Kings 19: 1-2 (ESV) "Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword. Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, 'So may the gods do to me and more also, if I do not make your life as the life of one of them by this time tomorrow."
Behind every bad king is an evil wife! Who you marry matters! Therefore who you date matters!
Proverbs 31:30 (ESV) "Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised."
I. Do not harden your heart
One of the worst things you can do is to harden your heart and stop being sensitive to the things of God. To not hear His voice. How do you get a hard heart? You sin and you sin and you sin. Then you don't repent and you don't repent and don't repent. You become very arrogant and very proud. You no longer can hear the voice of God. How do you soften your heart? First of all be saved, repent, confess, and humble yourself. You have to understand that God is greater than you and that you are wrong and you need to change.
Proverbs 28:14 (ESV) "Blessed is the one who fears the LORD always, but whoever hardens his heart will fall into calamity."
1 John 1:9 (ESV) "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."
1 Kings 19: 3-4 (ESV) "Then he was afraid, and he arose and ran for his life and came to Beersheba, which belongs to Judah, and left his servant there. But he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness and came and sat down under a broom tree. And he asked that he might die, saying, 'It is enough; now, O LORD, take away my life, for I am no better than my fathers.'"
II. Life has Mountains & Valleys
There are good times and bad times. There are times of triumphs and tragedies, times of growth and temptations. Things do not always turn out like we expect them. Elijah's expectations and his reality did not match up. He was discouraged.
III. Even the best get discouraged
Moses, Job, John the Baptist, and Paul all got discouraged because their expectations don't match their realities. So what can you do?
IV Believe God is near
Joshua 1:9 (ESV) "Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go."
V. Don't Quit!
Galatians 6:9 (ESV) "And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up."
VI. Lean on the Lord and other people
Spend time in prayer, spend time in the word and seeking the Lord. Lean on His people.
Hebrews 3:13 (ESV) "But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called 'today,' that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin."
1 Kings 19: 5-7 (ESV) "And he lay down and slept under a broom tree. And behold, an angel touched him and said to him, 'Arise and eat.' And he looked, and behold, there was at his head a cake baked on hot stones and a jar of water. And he ate and drank and lay down again. And the angel of the LORD came again a second time and touched him and said, 'Arise and eat, for the journey is too great for you.'"
VII. The physical really does affect the spiritual.
It is important to "Nap and Snack". Your physical needs affect your spiritual well being. In this case God worked through an angel. At this time God works through His people. Be the hands and feet of Jesus. When you don't know what else to do for someone, be the hands and feet of Jesus.
James 2:14-17 (ESV) "What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, 'Go in peace, be warmed and filled,' without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead."
A good faith produces works. The 2 main jobs of a church are to 1. Refreshing the saints and 2. Reaching the lost. How? By meeting physical needs opens doors to a spiritual conversation.
1 Kings 19:8-18 (ESV) "And he arose and ate and drank, and went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights to Horeb, the mount of God. There he came to a cave and lodged in it. And behold, the word of the LORD came to him, and he said to him, 'What are you doing here, Elijah?' He said, 'I have been very jealous for the LORD, the God of hosts. For the people of Israel have forsaken you covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword, and I, even I only, am left, and they seek my life, to take it away.' And he said, 'Go out and stand on the mount before the LORD.' And behold, the LORD passed by, and a great and strong wind tore the mountains and broke in pieces the rocks before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind. And after the wind and earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake. And after the earthquake a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire. And after the fire the sound of a low whisper. And when Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his cloak and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. And behold, there came a voice to him and said, 'What are you doing here, Elijah?' He said, 'I have been very jealous for the LORD, the God of hosts. For the people of Israel have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your alters, and killed your prophets with the sword, and I, even I only, am left, and they seek my life, to take it away.' And the LORD said to him, 'Go, return on your way to the wilderness of Damascus. And when you arrive, you shall anoint Hazael to be king over Syria. And Jehu the son of Nimshi you shall anoint to be king over Israel, and Elisha the son of Shaphat of Abel-meholah you shall anoint to be prophet in your place. And the one who escapes from the sword of Hazael shall Jehu put to death, and the one who escapes from the sword of Jehu shall Elisha put to death. Yet I will leave seven thousand in Israel, all the knees that have not bowed to Baal, and every mouth that has not kissed him.'"
VIII. It's good to seek God out everyday
Prayer, scripture, fasting. Elijah went to Horeb. The mountain where people went to hear from the Lord. 40 days/nights is important. Noah- 40 days of rain. Moses 40 days on Mt. Sinai to receive the 10 Commandments, Jesus fasted for 40 days before he began his public ministry.
When you are discouraged...Pray, read scripture, fast. Seek God, try to hear from God. God didn't speak to Elijah through the earthquake, the wind, or the fire. God spoke through the whisper...the still small voice.
Jeremiah 29:13 (ESV) "You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart."
IX. God answers and times are often different than ours
The way God answers the question is not always how we would answer the question. The way He speaks is not always how we wish He would speak. God tells Elijah that He knows that he is not happy and He tells him that He is going to take care of all of it in His time, and Elijah will not see it happen. New political and spiritual leadership will finish the execution of Baal worshipers and Elijah was involved but did not get to see it happen. It would all happen through Elisha.
X. Play your position well and invest in the future.
Elijah's vision was completed in Elisha's day. One of the biggest jobs that we as Christians need to do is to continue pass things on to the next generation, to build things that they can stand on and work on. It is important to invest in the spiritual.
Greek Proverb "A society grows great when old men plant trees in whose shade they shall never sit."
Proverbs 13:22 (ESV) "A good man leaves an inheritance to his children's children, but the sinner's wealth is laid up for the righteous."
We need each other! Generations are being pitted against each other. God created it this way because we need each other. We need to have someone to look up to and someone to pass it on to. Do the best at what God's given you to do and train up the next generation.
Everyone needs a Paul and a Timothy in their lives. Everyone should find someone who is older and wiser to learn from, but also someone to pass it on to, to invest into.
Closing Scripture
Psalms 40:1-3 (ESV) "I waited patiently for the LORD; he inclined to me and heard my cry. He drew me up from the pit of destruction, out of the miry bog, and set my feet upon a rock, making my steps secure. He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God. Many will see and fear, and put their trust in the LORD."
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