BIG LESSONS IN SMALL PACKAGES
Part 3—Listening to the Right Voice
I Kings 19:9-18
Sunday, September 14, 2008
Pastor Brian Matherlee
One of my favorite stories is about Chippie the parakeet. Chippie was a happy little bird, content every day to sit on his perch, swinging and singing to his little heart’s content. One day Chippie’s owner took the initiative to clean out his cage. She took off the attachment from the end of the vacuum hose and stuck it in the cage to remove the sediment from the bottom. Just then the phone rang. She turned to pick it up and had barely said hello when "ssopp!" Chippie got sucked in! As you can imagine, the bird owner gasped, dropped the phone, turned off the vacuum and ripped open the bag. Inside, there lay Chippie, still alive but stunned by the trauma. The bird was covered with all the terrible grit and grime that fills vacuum bags, so the owner did the only thing she could think to do. She grabbed him up, raced to the bathroom, turned on the faucet, and held Chippie under running water. Then realizing poor little Chippie was soaked and shivering, she did what any good bird owner would do, she reached for the hair dryer and blasted the little guy with hot air. Poor Chippie never knew what hit him. A couple of days after the experience the reporter who first wrote about the event talked to Chippie’s owner. He asked how the bird was doing. She said, "Well Chippie doesn’t sing much anymore-he just sits and stares." It’s no wonder. One minute the little guy was swinging and singing, and before he knew it, he was sucked in, washed up and blown over. If that doesn’t turn your song into a blank stare, nothing will. (From Max Lucado, In The Eye Of The Storm, p. 11)
Today we’re going to examine a portion of the life of the prophet Elijah. Elijah was a man very close to God and yet experienced ups and downs in life that baffle the mind when you read his story. But his experience can help us if we are relating to Chippie a lot this morning.
Read 1 Kings 19:9-18
Elijah was focused on his troubles and first listened to the big negative voices…
1. My problems are not fair (19:10, “I have been very zealous)
a. Elijah was, in effect, saying to God, “I’ve been fighting your battles—where have you been?”
b. Difficulties in this life are not a matter of fairness.
c. We can listen to the little voice that says, “All your living for God isn’t getting you anywhere.”
d. We will have trouble for several reasons:
i. We bring it on ourselves
ii. We live in a fallen world and we get caught in other people’s messes
iii. Others seek to make trouble for us
2. My problems have left me alone
a. Elijah was telling himself he was the only one
b. When we tell ourselves we are the only one we play into our enemy’s hands.
c. The devil wants to isolate us from others and from the Lord.
d. Divide and conquer (derived from the Latin saying Divide et impera) Divide and rule, in politics, sociology and economics, a strategy to gain or maintain power
e. The feeling of loneliness is one of the four danger signs of falling into temptation (HALT-Hungry, Angry, Lonely, Tired)
3. My problems are too big (19:4)
a. Elijah despaired even of life.
b. If you’re struggling at all…if you’ve reached this place of despair, hold on and listen for the next few minutes to the good news from Elijah’s story.
When you need to overcome a tough situation recognize:
1. God is patient & gracious with our struggles
a. Elijah was pretty insolent in his approach and conversation with God.
b. God knows our struggles and is exceedingly patient with us.
c. He knows we need time to come around.
d. But we cannot presume on God’s grace. Elijah did seek an answer and we must seek after the Lord.
2. Be patient and wait on the answer God wants to give
a. Don’t short change God’s timing
b. Don’t look for the dramatic answer
c. Keys to knowing God’s will
i. Time in prayer
ii. Time in God’s Word
iii. Seek wise counsel (not just a yes man but someone who will stand up to you)
3. God has a solution for your problems
a. You’ll have to face them but God will be with you.
b. Charlie Brown said, “There’s no problem so big that I can’t run from it.”
c. God will put them in perspective (7,000 have not bowed the knee)
d. What you have fought or hoped for will be completed.
e. Troubles aren’t the end for the believer.
As a child, Pastor Bill experienced the pain and hopelessness of abandonment. One day, as he walked down a street with his mother, they stopped to sit for a while. She instructed him to sit there and wait for her to return. He sat and waited for 3 days straight. She did not return. A gentleman who had seen him sitting there for 3 days stopped and picked him up. The man was a Christian.
As part of his commitment to serving urban children, he established the headquarters of Metro Ministries in 1980 in what was one of Brooklyn’s roughest neighborhoods, the Bushwick community, most commonly known for its history of gang violence, crime, drugs, and poverty.
In this community, violence was a way of life and a constant threat. Over the years, Pastor Bill was beaten, stabbed and shot in the face. Yet, he persevered and refused to leave the area or give up on the children growing up in such an environment. After years of faithful service, his efforts began to really make difference, not only in the lives of children but in the community as well. Due to the success of Metro’s programs, President George Bush, Sr. appointed Pastor Bill to serve on the National Commission on America’s Urban Families in 1991. Metro’s influence was also identified as a factor in the noticeable reduction of crime in the Bushwick community and the organization was featured on ABC’s NIGHTLINE currently hosted by Ted Koppel in 1997.
Today, Metro Ministries spans the globe reaching out to thousands of children each week. During its fall and spring sessions, Metro ministers to over 22,000 children per week in New York City and over 20,000 in Manilla, Romania and South Africa - totaling 42,000 worldwide. After 27 years, Pastor Bill, himself, is still driving one of the school buses to pick up kids for Sunday School. His programs, curriculum, and techniques are being duplicated in cities all over the world. (info taken from Metro Ministries website)
Don’t let your troubles speak louder than the still, small voice of God.
“Trust and obey, for there’s no other way, to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey.”
