Sermon: Fatigue has come.
- Fear, This has been the word that has gripped our world since the beginning of this
year.
- Now Fear has boiled over to fatigue.
Q- How many of you are tired of masks, hand sanitizers, fear of going out, & simply
making one wrong move & touch something, & then you’re sick?
- Fear is an immense opponent, but fatigue is an even greater foe.
Q- In scripture the name Elijah is well recognized, but how often do we recognize the
name of Obadiah?
- Obadiah is going to be our example this morning. We try to serve the Lord in every
way we can.
Q- What happens when our plans are not what God has in mind?
- This is a time that the worship of Baal & Astarte was great in Samaria. The false
prophets of both of these false gods greatly outnumbered those of God.
- Obadiah knew who the real God is, & he worked for Him.
- Listen now to what took place just before Elijah slew the 850 false prophets.
1 Kings 18:3-16
3 And Ahab called Obadiah, which was the governor of his house. (Now Obadiah feared the Lord greatly:
4 For it was so, when Jezebel cut off the prophets of the Lord, that Obadiah took an hundred prophets, and hid them by fifty in a cave, and fed them with bread and water.)
5 And Ahab said unto Obadiah, Go into the land, unto all fountains of water, and unto all brooks: peradventure we may find grass to save the horses and mules alive, that we lose not all the beasts.
6 So they divided the land between them to pass throughout it: Ahab went one way by himself, and Obadiah went another way by himself.
7 And as Obadiah was in the way, behold, Elijah met him: and he knew him, and fell on his face, and said, Art thou that my lord Elijah?
8 And he answered him, I am: go, tell thy lord, Behold, Elijah is here.
9 And he said, What have I sinned, that thou wouldest deliver thy servant into the hand of Ahab, to slay me?
10 As the Lord thy God liveth, there is no nation or kingdom, whither my lord hath not sent to seek thee: and when they said, He is not there; he took an oath of the kingdom and nation, that they found thee not.
11 And now thou sayest, Go, tell thy lord, Behold, Elijah is here.
12 And it shall come to pass, as soon as I am gone from thee, that the Spirit of the Lord shall carry thee whither I know not; and so when I come and tell Ahab, and he cannot find thee, he shall slay me: but I thy servant fear the Lord from my youth.
13 Was it not told my lord what I did when Jezebel slew the prophets of the Lord, how I hid an hundred men of the Lord's prophets by fifty in a cave, and fed them with bread and water?
14 And now thou sayest, Go, tell thy lord, Behold, Elijah is here: and he shall slay me.
15 And Elijah said, As the Lord of hosts liveth, before whom I stand, I will surely shew myself unto him to day.
16 So Obadiah went to meet Ahab, and told him: and Ahab went to meet Elijah.
- Obadiah protected the prophets, but when God asked Him (Through Elijah) to go
back & present Elijah it was too much.
- Obadiah wasn’t afraid to stick up for God in hiding the prophets. It’s because it was
his idea.
- When God presented the way Obadiah was harder to convince.
- Obadiah was wearied because he didn’t see the solution.
- When God gives us the way. We can’t be wearied, & not go in it. We must rise &
walk in it.
Prayer
- An easy phrase to say, but hard to live by is,
Romans 8:31
31 What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?
- I know, that sounds wrong.
Q- What happens when the rubber meets the road?
Q- How do we respond when God says, Let’s do this?
- Obadiah was set in How he was serving the Lord, but God had something more for
him to do.
- God wanted Obadiah to introduce Elijah to King Ahab.
- That doesn’t sound that hard, but when we’re talking about Elijah we have to
remember. When Elijah came on the scene in 1 Kings 17: it was only to challenge
Ahab. He prophesied there would be a drought because of Ahab’s evil.
- Then, Elijah went off the map. He hid near the brook Cherith, & the ravens fed him.
- He lived with the widow woman, & her son.
- The drought has been going for 3.5 years, & then Elijah shows back up. This
time to challenge both Ahab & his false gods.
Q- If the King & all of his men cannot find a man for 3.5 years, do you really believe he
will still be there when the king comes?
- That’s the question Obadiah is dealing with.
Q- Did you notice that three times Obadiah emphasized that Ahad will slay him?
- The fatigue of living the way he should, & then coupled with fear, almost hindered
Obadiah from doing what God wanted him to do.
Q- Now, Have you noticed that the same thing is true for us?
- Obadiah was given the task of introducing Elijah.
Q- Who are we given the task of introducing?
- Yeah, Jesus is who we are to reveal.
- It’s really easy to get the heart & mindset that someone else will talk about Him.
- It’s easy to say, I’m just not cut out for doing that.
- Hey it was really easy for Obadiah to say, What have I sinned, that thou
wouldest deliver thy servant into the hand of Ahab, to slay me?
- Obadiah made an excuse. He was comfortable in what he was doing, but there was
work to be done.
- Christians Listen,
Romans 10:14-15
14 How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher?
15 And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!
- Obadiah was the beautiful feet God used to bring the answer to those 7000
prophets.
Q- How many people knew there were so many faithful to God under Ahab?
- God knew it, but Obadiah didn’t.
- Our precious feet, are instruments through which God can spread His Gospel to
the many people out there that we don’t know are there.
- But They’re useless, if they refuse to move.
- Our mission is to serve the Lord.
- Jesus spoke to the disciples & a large number of people that could hear Him from a
distance. Jesus asked one question that resonates throughout eternity.
Luke 6:46
46 And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?
Q- Do we honor the Lord with our lives?
Q- Do we present Him to all those we meet?
- Think about what happens after we do these things.
2 Corinthians 4:17
17 For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory;
- For Obadiah, the drought was over, & the prophets slain. The blessing had been
revealed.
- One day, that blessing will be revealed for us too.
- My last scripture,
Matthew 25:21
21 His lord said unto him, Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.
- Listen to the Words, enter thou into the Joy of thy Lord.
- It’s done, it’s finished. There’s no more wars, no more tears, & no more pain. Sin is
forgotten, & eternity has begun.
- Precious are those feet that carried His introduction, because now they walk upon
streets of gold.
- The Lord gives us a challenge this week.
Q- Will we introduce Him this week?
- I know it’s different in this pandemic, but we are still the instruments through
which Christ works.
Prayer
