THIS WILL NOT CATCH GOD BY SURPRISE!
LOOSING SIGHT OF THE BIGGER PICTURE?
WHAT DO YOU DO WHEN THE BROOK GOES DRY?
By Wade Martin Hughes, Sr. Kyfingers@aol.com
TEXT:
James 1:2 My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; 3 Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience.
4 But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.
I. WELL, GOD TOLD ME TO COME TO THIS BROOK CHERITH,
AND DOG GONE THIS BROOK HAS DRIED UP?
1 Kings 17:7 And it came to pass after a while, that the brook dried up, because there had been no rain in the land.
II. THERE ARE GREAT AND WONDERFUL DIVINE PROVISIONS FOR THOSE THAT WALK IN OBEDIENCE TO GOD’S COMMAND!
A. ELIJAH WAS A MAN OF GOD.
HE WAS STILL A MAN AND MANY AROUND HIM SAW THE MAN
INSTEAD OF THE MAN OF GOD.
B. ELIJAH HAD BEEN GIFTED WITH MORE THAN THE ORDINARY SPIRITUAL AND MORAL INSIGHT.
People without this ability often do not understand those with this gift.
C. ELIJAH WAS MOVING IN DIVINE GUIDANCE NOT ESP, NOT SOME RELIGIOUS SCHOOL TRAINING. GOD WAS WITH HIM.
D. Elijah had to take a very unpopular stand against the "Who’s Who" of his day.
E. Elijah stood up against the majority opinion and preached hard words that few wanted to hear.
F. There was SECRET HIDDEN SIN that those in power had so well hidden, the majority of the people did not know about, and thus they sided with the wrong crowd.
G. AHAB and his wife JEZEBEL were rebellious to the MESSAGE and the MESSENGER, and their bad attitudes and disobedience and lying would catch up with them.
III. Elijah had spoke and PROPHEISED God’s word, and there was an APB AND WARRANT OUT FOR HIS ARREST AND DEATH.
CAN THIS BE GOD?
1 Kings 19:1 Now Ahab told Jezebel everything Elijah had done and how he had killed all the (false) prophets with the sword.
2 So Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah to say, "May the gods deal with me, be it ever so severely, if by this time tomorrow I do not make your life like that
of one of them."
IV. A DISOBEDIENT PHOPHET HAD JUST DIED, AND ELIJAH KNEW THIS WAS SERIOUS DIVINE BUSINESS.
1 Kings 13:26 When the prophet who had brought him back from his journey heard of it, he said, "It is the man of God who defied the word of the Lord.
The Lord has given him over to the lion, which has mauled him and killed him, as the word of the Lord had warned him."
V. ELIJAH ALREADY ANGERED PEOPLE AND NO DOUBT WOULD HAVE LOVED TO HAVE PROPHESYIED A SMOOTH MESSAGE.
A HARD MESSAGE BURNED IN ELIJAH’S HEART AND HE HAD TO SPEAK THE WORD NO MATTER HOW UNPOPULAR HE WOULD BE.
ELIJAH WOULD HAVE TO GO OUT ON A LIMB.
1 Kings 17:1 Now Elijah the Tishbite, from Tishbe in Gilead, said to Ahab, "As the Lord, the God of Israel, lives, whom I serve, there will be neither dew
nor rain in the next few years except at my word."
VI. GOD HAS A PLAN THAT WILL PROTECT HIS MESSAGE AND HIS MESSENGER. GOD WILL SUPPLY OUR NEED --- AND TAKE CARE OF US.
1 Kings 17:2 Then the word of the Lord came to Elijah: 3 "Leave here, turn eastward and hide in the Kerith Ravine, east of the Jordan.
4 You will drink from the brook, and I have ordered the ravens to feed you there."
5 So he did what the Lord had told him. He went to the Kerith Ravine, east of the Jordan, and stayed there.
6 The ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning and bread and meat in the evening, and he drank from the brook.
VII. I FOLLOWED GOD’S ORDERS, I HAVE BEEN TRUE TO THE MESSAGE, AND THEN MY BROOK GOES DRY? WHY?
1 Kings 17:7 And it came to pass after a while, that the brook dried up, because there had been no rain in the land.
A. DID GOD MAKE A MISTAKE?
B. DIDN’T GOD KNOW THIS BROOK WAS GOING TO GO DRY?
C. CAN WE SEE GOD HAS PREPARED TO LAUNCH ELIJAH’S MINISTRY INTO GREAT FAITH?
D. ELIJAH MUST LEARN TO TRUST GOD BEYOND THE ABILITY OF THE BROOK AND BEYOND THE RAVENS.
VIII. IF YOU CAN NOT SHOUT WHEN THE BROOK GOES DRY...
IF YOU CAN NOT SHOUT ABOUT WHERE YOU ARE ...
THEN SHOUT ABOUT WHERE GOD IS GOING TO LEAD YOU ...
A. SPITUALLY STAGNANT:
Not flowing in a current stream.
Stale.
Not advancing or developing.
B. WE MUST GROW AND STRETCH OUR FAITH.
IX. WE MUST LEARN TO THRIVE IN DRY --- LEAN TIMES.
FAITH AND GOD’S PLAN KNOWS WE WILL GO THROUGH SEASONS.
We can not grow faith and ministry by sitting on the brooks bank waiting for the birds to bring us food.
SOMETIMES WE HAVE TO GET UP AND LEAVE OUR DRY PLACE
TO LAUNCH THE REALM OF FAITH.
X. THERE IS A TIME TO QUIT CRYING OVER THE DRY PLACE AND MOVE ON...
1 Kings 17:9 Arise, get thee to Zarephath, which belongeth to Zidon, and dwell there: behold, I have commanded a widow woman there to sustain thee.
XI. OFTEN GOD STRETCHES OUR FAITH BY CALLING US FROM ONE DRY PLACE TO ANOTHER DRY PLACE?
A. Probably now Elijah says I have no other choice, I will get up and go.
B. Elijah is thinking God will send him to more, plenty, and he gets to the widows house and sees THIS WALK IS BY FAITH.
1 Kings 17:12 And she said, As the Lord thy God liveth, I have not a cake, but an handful of meal in a barrel, and a little oil in a cruse: and, behold, I am gathering two sticks, that I may go in and dress it for me and my son, that we may eat it, and die.
C. HEY, GOD IT IS ME THE NATIONAL EVANGELIST, WHAT DID YOU MEAN THE WIDOW WILL SUSTAIN ME? SHE CAN’T SUSTAIN HER SELF.
D. THIS WILL BE ANOTHER --- DEEPER LAUNCH OF FAITH?
E. DOES LAUNCHING INTO FAITH GET PROGRESSIVELY EASIER, OR PROGRESSIVELY HARDER?
XII. GOD IS GOING TO LAUNCH ELIJAH’S FAITH INTO SPEAKING THE WORD! FEAR NOT!
1 Kings 17:13 And Elijah said unto her, Fear not; go and do as thou hast said: but make me thereof a little cake first, and bring it unto me, and after make for thee and for thy son.
XIII. THIS BARREL AND THIS CRUISE IS GOING TO FAIL ALSO, GOD’S MOVE LASTS UNTIL THE NEXT MOVE.
1 Kings 17:14 For thus saith the Lord God of Israel, The barrel of meal shall not waste, neither shall the cruse of oil fail, until the day that the Lord
sendeth rain upon the earth.
15 And she went and did according to the saying of Elijah: and she, and he, and her house, did eat many days.
XIV. A HARD TIME DURING A DRY TIME, YOU BETTER KNOW THE MAN OF GOD.
A. The widow lady’s son gets sick?
B. The sick son dies?
1 Kings 17:19 And he said unto her, Give me thy son. And he took him out of her bosom, and carried him up into a loft, where he abode, and laid him upon his own bed.
C. THE ENEMY TRIED TO STEAL THE WIDOW LADY’S HOPE AND DREAM. HER SON WOULD ARISE AND BE THE HEAD AND PROVIDER OF THIS HOUSE,AND THE ENEMY LAUGHS, I GOT YOU THROUGH THE DRY TIMES, BUT I WILL STEAL YOUR PROMISE.
D. WE CAN’T AFFORD TO STAND ON THE PREMISES WITHOUT CLAIMING THE PROMISES.
1 Kings 17:22 And the Lord heard the voice of Elijah; and the soul of the child came into him again, and he revived.
XV. GOD’S PROMISES WILL KEEP US UNTIL THE RAIN COMES.
IF THE BROOK DRIES UP, THE BROOK WAS NEVER OUR SOURCE ANY WAY.
Many confuse the brook and the widow as the source of life.
Not so the source is God.
If the source dries up God has another source until ---
XVI. GOD MAKES A WAY WHERE THERE IS NO APPARENT WAY.
THE ISSUE IS DO WE TRUST HIM?
1 Kings 18:1 And it came to pass after many days, that the word of the Lord came to Elijah in the third year, saying, Go, shew thyself unto Ahab; and I
will send rain upon the earth.
A. YOU ARE AS HAPPY AS YOU CHOOSE TO BE.
B. GOD HAS ALWAYS MADE A WAY FOR HIS PEOPLE.
Daniel and the lions den.
3 Hebrew boys and the fiery furnace.
Children of Israel and manna.
Joseph from the pit, prison, to the palace.
Abraham and his son on the altar... GOD WILL PROVIDE A LAMB.
C. WE MUST NOT LOOSE SIGHT OF THE BIGGER PICTURE.
YOU ARE WALKING THROUGH DIFFERING LEVELS OF FAITH, GOD IS GROWING HIS CHURCH AND HIS PEOPLE.
D. WE MUST LEARN TO TRUST GOD’S PLAN.
This twisted journey may not make great sense, but hang in there, God is not finished.
E. Don’t give up! Don’t give in! It is too soon to quit.
If the brook dries up, IT WILL NOT CATCH GOD BY SURPRISE
F. I HEARD ONE FOOLISH TV PREACHER SUGGEST THAT BROOK CHERITH WENT DRY BECAUSE ELIJAH MADE A MISTAKE AND PROPHEISED THE BROOK DRY. NO! IT WAS GOD’S PLAN TO MOVE ELIJAH.
The widow needed Elijah’s blessing.
G. With this attitude we find a great problem.
If the Brook Cherith had not dried up, Elijah would have sat the rest of his ministry semi-retired doing nothing and a son would have died.
H. Real Christianity is like a tea bag. Hot water will bring out what is in the bag.
I. REMEBER WHEN THE SUPPLY DRIES UP THE SOURCE DOES NOT!
His servant, Wade Martin Hughes, Sr. Kyfingers@aol.com
A friend needs this message, their brook is dry, but God has a plan. Pass it on to another?
