These Are the Days of Elijah (#2)
Five Ingredients of God’s Guidance
READ TEXT: 1 Kings 17:8-16
Prayer of Illumination
Our Father and our God, thank you that you are not a God who ever leaves us alone. Father, you lead us . . . you guide us . . . you equip us . . . you provide for us . . . and you allow us the privilege & blessing of being involved in your work. For all of these things, I say thank you. May you now open our eyes that we might see your truths, may you open our ears that we might hear your voice, and may you open our hearts that we might be sensitive and responsive to the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Introduction
*Did you ever get a “good news bad news” message?
*A pastor had one of his elders come up to him one time, all excited, and said, “Pastor, pastor. I have some good news. The news is that the new lady, Mrs. Jones really likes your sermons. Of course the bad news is that she also likes the Gong Show, Bugs Bunny and the Texas Chain Saw Massacre.
*Elijah got what he may have considered a good news bad news message from the Lord but it wasn’t a joke
>Elijah – the good news is that you get to leave Cherith. The bad news is that I’m sending you to Zarephath – right into the heart and soul of Baalism and idolatry.
*Elijah has been at the Brook Cherith, east of the Jordan for approximately a year – fed by ravens and nourished by the brook
*The brook dries up because of lack of rain
*Verses 8-9
>”Arise, go to Zarephath…”
>If Elijah had been sitting around wondering what God’s will for his life was, now he knows
>God gives Elijah a command . . . . . guidance
-Tells him His will for Elijah
-Theme for this msg comes from this thot – God is guiding & leading Elijah
-We’ll see five ingredients that go along with God’s guidance
I. Ingredient #1 – God’s guidance includes your purification
A. Won’t say much about this – we just talked about how God uses Divinely Designed Difficulties to cut us down to size to deepen our faith . . . make us more like Jesus . . . prepare us for greater service . . . so He can be bigger
B. Cherith – “to cut down”
C. Zarephath – “to melt or smelt” . . . noun form “crucible”
1. That place where the flames are hot . . . the impurities fall away so that purity is found
2. Elijah got his Bachelors . . . . now Masters Deg as God is keeping him in the fire
3. God not only wants to work thru Elijah but wants to continue working in Elijah
D. Arthur T. Pierson, “Being determined to perfect His saints, [God] puts His precious metal into His crucible. But He sits by it, and watches it. Love is His thermometer, and marks the exact degree of heat; not one instant’s unnecessary pang will He permit; and as soon as the dross is released so that he sees Himself reflected in the fire, the trial ceases.” (The Bible and Spiritual Life, pg 377)
E. Talked about that so won’t belabor it . . . just remember it
1. God guides you – not just so He can work thru you . . . but He wants to continue to work in you
II. Ingredient #2: God’s guidance often comes one step at a time
A. When God told Elijah to go to Zarephath He didn’t show him the big picture
1. Elijah didn’t know what would happen in chapters 17 or 18 or later . . . . or that he would be outnumbered 450 – 1 as he faced the prophets of Baal on Mt. Carmel
2. All he knew was that God was sending him to Zarephath
3. Leading Elijah one step at a time
B. One-step-at-a-time guidance can be challenging
1. I want to see the whole, big picture . . . . at least I think I do
a. God may not do that
2. Besides it being a walk of faith, I wonder if God leads us one step at a time because it would be intimidating & overwhelming if we knew everything in our future
(IL) Reading syllabus at the beginning of a semester – totally overwhelmed & intimidated
(IL) Following his guidance is often like being a trapeze artist
-We may have to let go of one bar to turn around & get the next
III. Ingredient #3: God is at work, providentially pulling things together, whether we realize it or not
A. 1 Kings 17:10. So he arose and went to Zarephath. And when he came to the gate of the city, behold, a widow was there gathering sticks. And he called to her and said, “Bring me a little water in a vessel that I may drink.”
B. My paraphrase, “As Elijah got to the city gate of Zarephath, the widow who God had commanded to take care of him just so happened to be out gathering firewood and was there to meet him.”
1. Don’t you love that? She just so happened to be at the gate when Elijah got there
2. God had many names – Jehovah, Adonai, Jehovah Jireh, El Quanna, El Shaddai, El Elyon, “It just so happened.”
3. God had made a Divine Appointment for Elijah
4. He had also made a Divine Appointment for the widow
5. God was providentially at work pulling his plan together
C. Not only is God at work in your life, but also in the lives of others and in the circumstances in general
(IL) Beautifully seen in the birth of Jesus
>Micah prophecied hundreds of years before the birth of Jesus that Jesus would be born in Bethlehem
>Problem – Mary and Joseph are in Nazareth – at least 75 miles away w/ Mary getting bigger & bigger by the day
>But God was at work – Caesar Augustus, a pagan Emperor, hundreds of miles away, decided to take a census & everyone had to travel to the town of their ancestors
>In doing so, Caesar thought he was exercising all the power and authority of the Roman Emperor. Maybe he was, but more importantly, he was running an errand for God
>So Mary and Joseph to travel to Bethlehem for the census and Jesus is born, fulfilling Micah’s prophecy
>God was at work, pulling His plan together
>He does the same in your life
D. God’s guidance to you also includes Him working in your life, in the lives of others, and in the circumstances
IV. Ingredient #4: God’s guidance includes His provision
A. Army saying – “the resources must equal the mission”
1. You don’t give someone guidance or a job to do without the resources to accomplish the job
a. Otherwise you set them up for
(1) Failure instead of success
(2) Frustration instead of accomplishment and being part of the team
(3) A good leader provides resources for subordinates
B. God always provides the resources that are equal to what He has called you to do
1. That is the only way He operates
(IL) Elijah – God told Elijah to go to the brook . . . . . He provided thru the ravens . . . very unlikely way of providing
(IL) He told Elijah to go to Zarephath . . . He provided thru a poor Gentile woman . . . where the jar of flour never ran out and the jug of oil never went dry
2. God always provides the resources you need to do what He has called you to do
C. Caution: Don’t put God in a box or expect him to do it any particular way
1. Natural means . . . supernatural means
thru other Xns . . . thru non-Xns
thru people you know . . . . peo you don’t know
thru someone with better means than u have
or thru a poor widow w/ less means
a little boy with a few fish & some bread
thru likely circumstances . . . unlikely circum
D. He’ll provide you His resources . . . . in His way . . . in His time . . . to do Qthg He is leading you to do
1. Your job is to be obedient & faithful
2. And when He does provide, remember to be thankful
V. Ingredient #5: God’s guidance may include people who aren’t just like you
A. Don’t be surprised when His guidance includes going to people who aren’t just like you
B. Elijah was called to the widow of Zarephath
1. There were widows in both Israel and Judah
2. To a Gentile living in the heart of Baalism
C. God’s guidance just may lead you out of your comfort zone to people who aren’t like you
1. A different color . . . financial status . . .
educational level . . . culture . . . lifestyle . . .
live by different values
2. They may be your Zarephath
D. Your Zarephath may even involve going to a place of danger
1. Elijah wouldn’t have chosen Zarephath as a haven of safety
2. Travelled 80 – 100 miles as a wanted man
3. Your Zarephath may be a dangerous place
E. Mat 10:16 – “I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves. . .”
1. What could possibly be a more dangerous situation for a sheep than 2b in the midst of wolves?
2. Jesus goes on to tell the disciples to be wise as serpents & gentle as doves, but He does not tell them to avoid going because it may danger
3. David Platt in Radical. (READ CAREFULLY) We think, “If it’s dangerous, God must not be in it. If it’s risky, it’s unsafe, if it’s costly, it must not be God’s will. But what if these factors are actually the criteria by which we determine something IS God’s will? What if we began to look at the design of God as the most dangerous option before us? What if the center of God’s will is in reality the most unsafe place for us to be?”
a. David Platt gives us a little bit different way to think about God’s will than we may normally think.
b. It may be worth considering
F. Mat 10:26 – “And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.”
1. Jesus had just finished telling his disciples how they’d be persecuted, then he tells them this
2. Paraphrase – “Don’t worry & be afraid of people. The worst they can do is to kill you.”
a. I think that’s what He’s saying
3. Paul would agree (Phil 1:21) “For me to live is Christ & 2 die is gain.”
4. John Paton would agree too
(IL) John Paton was the pastor of a successful church in Scotland who felt God leading him to the New Hebrides. Many tried to talk him out of it. One of their reasons was because a previous missionary couple had been killed and eaten by cannibals. Paton’s response to one man was, “Mr. Dickson, you are advanced in years now, and your own prospect is soon to be laid in the grave, there to be eaten by worms; I confess to you, that if I can but live and die serving and honouring the Lord Jesus, it will make no difference to me whether I am eaten by Cannibals or by worms; and in the Great Day my resurrection body will arise as fair as yours in the likeness of our risen Redeemer.”
G. If we genuinely believe the Word of God is true . . . and we want to be obedient. . . realize that His guidance very well may include going to people who aren’t like you
Conclusion – Final Thoughts
*You sense God is leading you
>Be ready – He wants to purify you
>Be thankful – He has chosen you to fulfill His purposes
>Be attentive – He will provide & equip you for the task – make sure you don’t miss it
>Be open – He may lead you out of your comfort zone, maybe even to a dangerous or risky place, but He does not send you alone.
-He goes before you . . . He goes with you . . . He will never, ever leave you or forsake you
