Introduction

On November 13, 1946, a single-propeller airplane took off from Schenectady County Airport with a rather unique payload—six pounds of dry ice—and a rather unique mission.

The pilot was a chemist named Vincent Schaeffer who had been conducting clandestine experiments at the General Electric Research Laboratory. Using a GE freezer chilled to subzero temperatures, Schaefer created clouds using his breath as condensation and seeded those man made clouds with dry ice. The dry ice catalyzed a chemical reaction that caused snow crystals to form in that freezer.

A few months later, it was time for a field test. So, Schaeffer rented the aforementioned airplane, flew it into a cumulus cloud and dumped the dry ice. Eyewitnesses on the ground said it was almost like the cloud exploded. The subsequent snowfall was visible forty miles away. The GE Monogram had a little fun with Schaeffer’s benchmark breakthrough: “Schaefer made it snow this afternoon over Pittsfield. Next week he walks on water.”

The science of seeding clouds is a marvel of modern science, but the idea is as old as the prophet Elijah. If you have a Bible, you can meet me in I Kings 18. We’re in a series called Win the Day. We’ve talked about six habits: – Flip the Script – Kiss the Wave – Eat the Frog – Fly the Kite – Cut the Rope – Wind the Clock

It’s time to Seed the Clouds, Habit #7.

I Kings 18. Let me set the scene.

It has not rained in Israel for three-and-a-half years. Desperate times call for desperate measures. That’s when and where and why the prophet Elijah climbs to the top of Mount Carmel and seeds the clouds (sort of).

The science of seeding clouds is a marvel of modern science, but the idea is as old as the prophet Elijah.

Main Teaching

How do you seed the clouds? Let me make this as simple as 1,2, 3.

One, you seed the clouds with prophetic imagination. Two, you seed the clouds with patient persistence. Three, you seed the clouds with bold prayer.

More than half a century ago, Dr. Alfred Tomatis was confronted with the most curious case of his fifty-year career as a world-renowned otolaryngologist. A renowned opera singer had lost his ability to hit certain notes even though those notes were well within his vocal range. He had been to other specialists, all of whom thought it was a vocal problem. Dr. Tomatis thought otherwise. Using a sonometer, Dr. Tomatis discovered that the opera singer was producing 140-decibel sound waves at a meter’s distance. That’s louder than a military jet taking off from an aircraft carrier. Long story short, the opera singer had been deafened by the sound of his own voice. He could no longer hit the notes because he could no longer hear the notes. “The voice can only reproduce,” said Dr. Tomatis, “what the ear can hear.” The French Academy of Medicine dubbed it the Tomatis effect and the ramifications are pretty profound.

Here’s my theory. All of us have problems—relational problems, emotional problems, spiritual problems—and we think those problems are the problem, but I think many, if not most of those problems are presenting problems. The root cause of our problems is a hearing problem —it’s ears that haven been deafened to the still small voice of the Holy Spirit.

How? One reason is the white noise of culture. We are bombarded with news and false news every minute of every hour of every day. We’ve got online advertisers using clickbait. We’ve got social media algorithms designed to keep us in our echo chambers. It’s hard for God to get a word in edgewise. But, I don’t think this is our primary problem.

Our primary problem is our own self-talk. We are deafened by the sound of our own voice like that opera singer. We talked about this with Habit #1, Flip the Script. About 60,000 thoughts fire across our synapses every day. According to the Cleveland Clinic, 80% of those thoughts are negative. I’ll say it again, scripture is our script cure. It’s the way we renew our minds, Romans 12. It’s the way we tell ourselves a better story. It’s the way we turn up the volume on God’s voice.

I asked a question a few weeks ago. Worth asking again.

What percentage of your thoughts, words, and actions are a regurgitation of the news media you watch and the social media you follow? There are algorithms designed to keep you in your echo chamber ... View this full sermon with PRO Premium

We think right here, right now. God is thinking nations and generations. We think that what God does for us is for us. It’s never just for us. It’s always for the third and fourth generation!