This Will Not Catch God By Surprise? When The Brook Goes Dry!

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.