Luke: 00:07

Well, good morning everybody. I don't think I introduced myself. My name's Luke. I'm one of the pastors here at Conduit. Today, we're gonna be starting a new sermon series on the person of Elijah, and yes, it is Elijah.

Luke: 00:25

I don't care what everybody else says. I am not I'm not gonna be up here all day trying to trip over a soft j. I can't I can't do it. I'm from Ohio. I can't fix it.

Luke: 00:38

Alright, guys. This is what's happened. But we're gonna be studying Elijah, and we're gonna be in the book of 1st Kings, 1st Kings chapter 17. So go ahead and pull out a bible, flip to 1st Kings with me, 1st Kings chapter 17. So it's gonna be in the Q1 of your bible towards the beginning.

Luke: 01:01

If you can't find it or you have trouble finding it, and if you're, like, don't wanna spend the time to sing the song, you can always go to the front of your Bible. It has a table of contents. We'll give you the exact page. And we always wanna make sure that you know that we have Bibles available for everyone. So we have Bibles in the back on those shelves.

Luke: 01:22

If you don't have a Bible that you call your own, take one. It is yours as long as it doesn't belong to your neighbor. So first Kings chapter 17 is where we're going to find ourself. So but before we kind of dig into it, just kinda hold your finger there for a little bit. I wanna pause for a moment, even just for myself to just pray, and then we'll go into our topic and passage for the day.

Luke: 01:56

Heavenly father, as we open up your word, I pray that you would speak. That you would make clear what needs to be clear. Lord, that you would highlight for those what needs to be heard and that your holy spirit would be active, lord. Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me in the act of preaching. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.

Luke: 02:26

So before we hold your finger there in 1st Kings, but before we get into it, I just wanna kind of talk a little bit about this this kind of phenomena I think that we kind of experience in our current day and age. This kind of hamster wheel that I feel like we kind of get on. Right? Like, we kind of has anybody ever just kind of felt like, oh, man. Like, I could use a week where I just had a little bit more space, had a little bit more in my bank account, had a little bit more, free time, had, maybe this circumstance gone, if the kids would just fill in the blank, then I would just be able to just take a deep breath and go, finally.

Luke: 03:16

Right? Like, we're all longing to just take that deep sigh of relief and just kinda like, okay. Life is good now. Right now. Don't move.

Luke: 03:25

Nobody can move right now because it will upset the equilibrium. Right? We're always chasing for what I kinda call this good life. Right? It's this it's this place where, you know, we kinda have everything that we would think we would want.

Luke: 03:42

We're just kind of like at ease. Like, there's nothing too bad going on. Everything's kinda good, but nothing's too exciting. Like, whatever that is coming to your mind. I find it helpful that we I think we kinda live with this sentence in our mind, at least subconsciously, if we never even say it out loud is we get into a place of saying, if only blank, then I would be happy or I would be content or it would be the good life.

Luke: 04:12

Whatever comes into that blank. Right? Maybe it's if only I had more money, if only I had more stuff, if only I had less stuff, If only I had more time. If only I wasn't so bored. Right?

Luke: 04:30

Whatever it is that you find comes into your mind when you're picturing this idea of this good life and how we kind of get it, whatever that is, like, hold on to that. I think we kind of live in this place of kind of constantly chasing that a little bit. We're a I heard a pastor describe, our current age, our current time as the age of technique. The age of let me just find a new hack. Right?

Luke: 05:07

Now some of you, I've kinda given up on this, but, like, I was for a while, I was really into looking at, oh, like, if I just had the perfect morning routine. Right? Like, I went to bed at the right time. I set my alarm for, like, the right interval of 90 minutes so that, like, I wake up at the end of REM and, like, I did, like I had to have, like, a, you know, a room temperature glass of like, all the things. Right?

Luke: 05:34

If I just do all of that, then it will I'll I'll I'll be good. Right? Or maybe you're not me like me and you're not crazy, but maybe you're kind of like, well, maybe if I just kind of like focus more on my diet and what I eat or maybe I just need to focus on my environment or if only I could kind of control this one relationship or get this one circumstance taken care of. Whatever it is, we're in this age of constantly seeking, how do I just tweak things just a little bit? Or how do I change things or get things?

Luke: 06:06

Or how do I control and connive that? And that leaves me with a question is, where does God factor into our vision of this good life? Right? We we get so focused on the technique, on trying to achieve it, of getting everything just stable. If everything would just get right to where we want it, it'd be good.

Luke: 06:27

But we just don't want to do that sometime or we try and do that, but we forget to say, where does God fit into all of that? Where does he have say in all of this? And so today, as we look in our passage, I think it's gonna have something to say to us in this hamster wheel experience of chasing the good life. I wanna ask that question, where does god sit into our vision or our seeking of this, quote, unquote, good life? Alright.

Luke: 07:03

So let's turn. We're gonna be in first Kings. Now I lied to you a little bit. We're not gonna start right in chapter 17. We're gonna start a few verses backwards in 1st king 16.

Luke: 07:15

So you shouldn't have to go back too far. 1st kings 16 verse 29. So right before the end of the chapter before 17 starts. So 1st king 1st king 16 verse 29, this is at the point in the biblical story, right, if you're like, alright. I know where Moses is.

Luke: 07:36

Right? Moses, we've heard that story. The people of Israel were in Egypt. They were led out. They wandered in the wilderness.

Luke: 07:43

They came into the land of Israel. They set up a kingdom eventually, and they had these kings, and we had King David. We've all heard of David and Goliath and that story. And he was kind of a golden age. And then there was King Solomon.

Luke: 07:58

And then he they started to have some descendants. And what eventually happened was that the kingdom of Israel split into 2. There was a rebellion and there were some war, and they've split into a northern kingdom and a southern kingdom. The kingdom of Judah down at the south, kingdom of Israel up at the north. And what they are struggling with is this continual cycle of chasing after other gods.

Luke: 08:26

If you remember the 10 commandments, they say things like do not steal, do not murder, thou shall not covet, you should rest on the Sabbath. But it also primarily significantly says, love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, and soul, that you should have no other gods before me. Don't make any other idols. Don't make any images of me. Just worship me.

Luke: 08:51

That was primary. That was significant in the 10 commandments. And what we'll see here in this passage we're about to read and you see in this story is that Israel struggles significantly to keep that singular commandment. So let's read in 16 verse 29. In the 38th year, king Asa of Judah, that's the southern kingdom, Ahab, son of Omri, became the king of Israel.

Luke: 09:18

So he's king of the northern kingdom. And he reigned over Samaria over Israel 22 years. Ahab, son of Omri, did more evil in the eyes of the Lord than any of those before him. He not only considered it trivial to commit the sins of Jeroboam, son of Nabat, but he also married Jezebel, daughter of Ethbal, king of Sidonians, and began to serve Baal and worship him. He set up the an altar for Baal in the temple of Baal that he built in Samaria.

Luke: 09:55

Ahab also made an and did more to arouse the anger of the Lord, the God of Israel, than did all the kings of Israel before him. That is a really bad report card. Right? Like, this is a like, he's he's the worst. Right?

Luke: 10:20

He's like his ancestors, the kings who came before him, they did some pretty bad things. Right? They just don't even say what they were. They're like, he's committed the same sins that that guy did. And then Ahab comes along and kinda does this proverbial, here, hold my beer.

Luke: 10:34

And then he goes and, like, does it worse. Right? He constructs this temple for Baal. He constructs this asher pole, sets up a an altar for Baal. He's pursuing all of these false gods.

Luke: 10:47

He's like, if we kinda dabbled with false gods before, let's do it more. And so that's just what he's doing. And I think he's ultimately I think he's chasing the good life. He and here it says that he marries Jezebel, daughter of this foreign king. Now Jezebel will come to play later in today's story a little bit, but also in Elijah's story significantly.

Luke: 11:17

But she she brought with her a lot of idolatry. She was a source and an advocate. Like, she wasn't just kinda kinda sorta into idol worship. She was very into idol worship. And we can see that perhaps he wanted to have a stronger alliance with that country, wanted some peace, he wanted the trade routes that that would have granted him by marrying into her.

Luke: 11:43

And so we find that Ahab comes up with probably one of the worst report cards in the old testament for a king. But how did we how did he get there? Right? How did he find that he got there? I don't think he got there.

Luke: 11:57

I don't think he set out to say, I'm just gonna be awful. Right? It's not it's not what he's trying to do. I think he's trying to chase the good life. We'll see.

Luke: 12:06

We won't talk about this story because our primary focus for this series is Elijah. But later in Ahab's life, he sees this vineyard, and he's just like, oh, that's a really nice vineyard. And so, hey, man. Can I Naboth, can I buy your vineyard? Naboth's not really, this is like the family vineyard.

Luke: 12:24

And he's like, dang. And so Ahab goes away, he cries to his wife Jezebel. Jezebel has Naboth killed and then gives the vineyard to Ahab. Ahab is the guy who tries to get what he wants in any way that he can. He chases the good life at any cost.

Luke: 12:44

And so how did he get here? How did he find himself in a place so compromised? I see a couple things in his story. 1st is the family of origin that he came from. His family, his parents set him on a certain trajectory.

Luke: 13:01

He didn't we don't start out like blank canvases in life. We come out with our own history and our family, and that impacts the way we come into this world and we start to live into it. And and Ahab was no different. It doesn't excuse his behavior, but it begins to paint a picture. The other thing is that he made compromising decisions.

Luke: 13:24

He married Jezebel who brought with her all of this idolatry. He was like, ah, maybe it's not that big of a deal that I marry this foreign woman and bring her into the kingdom and allow her to have power and influence. But as we see later, it causes significant big deals. And then finally, he is in this place this playing this game of mix and match. So this is something I learned.

Luke: 13:54

I was kind of learning as I was studying this passage. I didn't know when you read the Old Testament, you read a lot of times about, you hear about what are called high places and Asherah poles and worship of Baal and worship of Asherah, and you're like, I don't really know what any of that means, but they're bad and they don't go away. But one of the things that we learn or what I learned is that particularly when it came to Asherah worship, the false god Asherah and her worship is that the Israel's Israelites didn't just say, oh, Yahweh, the Lord isn't a god or isn't our god and just ignore him and then started worshiping Asherah. What they actually did is there's historical documents that the Israelites were teaching and saying, oh, no. Asherah, she's like she's like God's girlfriend.

Luke: 14:47

Right? Like, they were making this whole thing. They were mixing in this false god into worship of the true god. So it wasn't just as simple as kind of like, oh, get rid of this one and, you know, this black and white. It was a mixing and matching.

Luke: 15:02

It was making a small compromise over time and time again. And so we arrive at any destination by taking one small step at a time. You get where you're going by taking each step along the road. Ahab didn't end up where he was. He didn't get this written about him by just, like, over the overnight.

Luke: 15:27

He made a series of decisions over and over that led to where he was. We do not end up burnt out, compromised, alone, or addicted by accident. We are most often chasing something. We're chasing some version of the good life. We're perhaps running from something.

Luke: 15:52

We pursue and find justification for any of our actions. We are excellent at justifying why we behave in any given way. Why did I behave that? Oh, I was just tired. Why did I behave that?

Luke: 16:05

Oh, I just need more understanding. We can come up with so many justifications, but it leads us ultimately if all we're doing is justifying or compromising of our values and god's values, it's gonna lead us to a place we don't want to be. When life no longer aligns with your true values, even if it all looks good on the surface, something is very, very wrong. This was, I thought of this song that I think really illustrates some of this point really well, but I was I I don't know how many I was like, how old is this song? How many people are gonna know what this is?

Luke: 16:48

So if you're younger and you don't know what the song hang in. But, you guys know the song cats in the cradle? Right? Cats in the cradle on the silver spoon. Little boy blue and the man in the moon.

Luke: 17:00

When you coming home, dad, I don't know when we'll be together then, son. Right? Now if you're like, don't know what that song is, you're like, Luke, why are you saying nursery rhymes? But that whole song, it's every verse is just saying, like, it's about a kid who wants to connect with his dad. He's like, dad, you gave me this baseball for my birthday.

Luke: 17:24

Can we go out and play catch? And he's like, not right now, son. I'm a little bit too busy. Or not oh, when you coming home, dad? I don't know.

Luke: 17:32

But we'll get together then, son. We'll have a good time then. And then all the way that progresses each verse until we get to the very last verse where the father is now the old man. He's a grandfather, and the son is married with children. And they're on the phone, and the and the son's saying, hey, dad.

Luke: 17:50

It was nice to chat with you here for a few minutes on the phone, but I gotta go because, you know, the wife's busy and the kids are sick. And I just gotta go, and dad's like, well, maybe call me back sometime. He's like, oh, yeah. I'll call you back sometime. Hangs up, and the father realizes that, oh my goodness.

Luke: 18:06

My son, who doesn't have the time of day for me, is just like me. Finds a place in which it tells this sort of modern parable where this father sacrifices chasing the good life, earning a good wage, making things kind of finding success at work, and maybe supporting the family. All things that could appear very good on the outside, chasing the good life. But ultimately leads him into a place where he's compromised what was most important and ends up there. We get where we're going one step at a time.

Luke: 18:46

Sometimes that's hard for us to see because we see the explosion. We see the result, and we're like, how did that happen? It happened one step at a time. You and I just didn't see it. Or in our own lives, we weren't paying attention.

Luke: 19:02

And so we find here in Ahab someone who chased the good life, but found themselves in a awful place. They they had run far from God. And so here, what is going to happen in this situation? Is God going to leave them in this situation? Is he gonna do something about it?

Luke: 19:24

What's kind of happening? If this is the worst king that Israel has ever had, what is god going to do about it? So we find ourselves in the first verse of chapter 17, and this is what happens. Now Elijah the Tishbite from Tishab 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 for my word. Alright.

Luke: 19:53

Now that was one verse. I promise I'm not gonna go this slow the entire time, but it's one verse and it's packed. And I kind of like had to just wonder in my own mind, like, how did this scene play out? Like, where was Ahab? Was Ahab in his throne room?

Luke: 20:12

Was he, like, in the in the castle? Castle. Was he in his, like, his place, right, his throne room? And this, like, guy who smelled and had, like, wild animal skin on and, like, this weird rope belt and, like, crazy hair, like, did he just kick in the door? Like, Ahab, like, I'm the prophet of the Lord.

Luke: 20:33

I got a word for you. Like, did he do that? Or was, like, Ahab, like, on his horse going somewhere, and then all of a sudden they come around the corner and they're standing Elijah, and he's stopping them. And they're just like, what? What is this dude doing, and why is he talking at us?

Luke: 20:48

Like, Elijah just comes out of nowhere. And we don't get to see anything about Elijah here in the story. There's no, oh, Elijah was the son of so and so or Elijah was da da da. All we get to know is his name. We don't get to know what he did before he did this, and we know that he was from this town.

Luke: 21:09

He was a Tishbite, and this town is so small and insignificant that archaeologists have had a hard time finding it. They know what area, but they can't even find that place. So Elijah just he's like this nobody who comes out of nowhere all of a sudden, and he says, I serve the Lord. Right? What we do know about Elijah really comes from his name.

Luke: 21:32

So we're gonna kinda break his name down here. I'm gonna get a little kinda nerdy. Hang in there with me. So in the bible, right, so if we take Elijah's name, El jah, Elijah, that first thing, El. Right?

Luke: 21:48

Like, if you think about some other biblical words that have that l in it, angel, Michael, those all are kind of signifying some connection to God. So El in Hebrew was a word for God. So most often when you're reading the Bible and you see just God in the Old Testament, it's the word El. And that could refer to a large range of things, but it definitely did refer to God. And then his second half is the name Jah, Elijah, Yeah, Yahweh.

Luke: 22:21

So Yahweh was the name that God gave for himself to Moses at the burning bush. And so the word his name together is Yahweh is the Lord or Yahweh is God. So he's in his very name is proclaiming who the true Lord of the universe is, who the true God is. That's built into who he is, and so we get to see that, and it comes out of his mouth right away. He says, as the Lord, the God of Israel lives whom I serve.

Luke: 22:57

So that's his identity. That's all that we get to know about him is that he serves the Lord. Another quick bible reading tip for you as you read your old testament, if you ever see like there in verse 1, at the beginning says to Ahab, as the lord, and it's all caps in your bible, it should be, what that means is that that's the translation of the name Yahweh. So that is god's personal divine name that is being translated there. So he's being very specific.

Luke: 23:31

That is the God who brought you out of Egypt, who I serve, not Baal, not Asherah. And so but why rain? Right? Like, why is rain such a big deal? One, it's a big deal because, like, agriculture, like, here, we have a pretty diversified market.

Luke: 23:50

Right? Like, if it doesn't rain, we just kinda complain about it a little bit. Or, you know, when it does rain, we go, oh, yeah. We really needed this. We kind of talk about it, but, like, other than subject for small talk, our whole economy and livelihood doesn't rise and fall on how much it rains this year.

Luke: 24:10

It just doesn't. We're not, oh, it's a little dry. It's a little wet. Whatever. But here in the ancient Near East, it would have been everything because the cattle had to survive and the plants need to grow.

Luke: 24:22

And this was the exports. And it's not like they could just say, hey. Like, you know, let's get some grain or some food from this other place. Put it in a semi truck with a a fridge in the back, and ship it to the nearest Wegmans. They can't do that.

Luke: 24:40

They have to, like, get all of their food from themselves. And so when there's no rain, this is a major this is a major, like, major diversion and breaking up of this quote, unquote good life that Abraham was seeking to see not Abraham, Ahab was seeking to see happen in Israel. But more than that, because it says that Ahab was worshiping the god Baal. And we hear this a lot in the old testament. You read it.

Luke: 25:11

You're like, Baal sure shows up a lot. Baal was this false god who was believed to have been the provider of rain, provider of sustenance. He was the god of the harvest as it were. And they had this whole belief system that Baal would come during the rainy season, and he would bring the rains, and he would give a good harvest. And then towards the end, he was in this constant fight with this other god, Mot, the god of death.

Luke: 25:40

And he would be, he would eventually lose to the god of Mot or god of death, and then he would go down and he would kind of, quote unquote, be in the underworld for a little bit. And that was when the dry season happened, and then he'd eventually come out of that. He'd overturn throw that god and he'd come out, but he needed help to overthrow that god, and then he'd come out and the whole cycle would start over again. And that was what they believed. And so they were worshiping Baal because they felt like they needed to give him the sacrifices, keep him happy so that they would continue to flourish, continue to have the good life.

Luke: 26:14

And so when Elijah comes here and he says, I serve the God who lives. I don't serve a God who dies every year. I don't serve a god who is subject to another god. I serve the god who lives, and it's gonna be my god who says when it rains and when it doesn't. You're gonna think, oh, it's Baal.

Luke: 26:38

Maybe Baal got lost or he's sleeping or he's angry at us, and that's why it's not raining. He's like, no. No. Don't think that this drought is because of Baal. This drought is because of the one true God.

Luke: 26:51

And so Elijah has thrown down the gauntlet. And I don't know what Ahab had done. I don't know if Ahab knew Elijah or he was just like, okay, weird prophet. Get out of here. But we then find that the story continues on.

Luke: 27:09

So there is this, make sure I haven't lost myself. Yeah. Ahab is confronted with this truce that the good life is ultimately outside of his control. That no matter what he tries to manipulate or what he tries to do, he's not going to be able to control all of the results. He can't make it rain.

Luke: 27:39

He can't go to Baal and make more sacrifices and more sacrifices and pray louder and make it rain. It's dependent upon God. God is the provider, sustainer, giver, and taker. And sometimes we need that reminder ourselves. Sometimes we don't actually have control over everything.

Luke: 28:02

But what about Elijah? Elijah follows God. Right? He's the one who's following the one true lord. What is the good life gonna look like for Elijah?

Luke: 28:13

What is life look like during this drought for Elijah? Well, let's find out in the next couple of verses. Verse 2 says, then the word of the lord came to Elijah, leave here, turn eastward, and hide in the Kareth ravine east of the Jordan. You will drink from the brook. I have directed the ravens to supply you with food there.

Luke: 28:36

So he did what the Lord had told him. He went to the Kerith Ravine east of the Jordan, and he stayed there. The ravine ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning and the bread and meat in the evening, and he drank from the brook. Okay. So I don't know about you, but a ravine does not sound like a stay at the Hilton.

Luke: 28:59

Right? So, god's like, alright. Go into this ravine. It was really rocky. It's really dry.

Luke: 29:05

It's really isolated. And you're gonna stay down there. There's a brook. You know, that's where you're gonna chew water. And then I'm gonna have, like, the first DoorDash.

Luke: 29:14

Like, I'm gonna have, like, these these I keep saying ravines. Ravens drop off meat and bread that they got from somewhere. And so that doesn't exactly sound like the good life to me. Does it? Like, he he's certainly being provided for.

Luke: 29:35

I don't wanna say that. Like, God is providing for Elijah, but this isn't exactly living in the lap of luxury. And I think for us, it's really hard sometimes to recognize that we don't always see the big picture. Because what's happening right now is this famine is coming onto the land. It's not raining.

Luke: 29:59

This drought is happening. And pretty sure soon Ahab and his wife Jezebel are gonna get pretty mad about it. And they're gonna be like, where is this Elijah? Where is he? He's the one who said it had the rain.

Luke: 30:12

We need to find him. Well, we can't find him. Let's find the other prophets of Yahweh. Let's find the other prophets of the Lord, bring them forward, see if they can make it rain. Hey.

Luke: 30:21

You're gonna make it rain? And they're like, no. Elijah said it wasn't going to, and then they would just kill them. So right now what's happening while Elijah is hiding out in the wilderness is there is an absolute slaughter and massacre happening of all the lord's prophets. Elijah doesn't know that.

Luke: 30:40

We we rarely see the whole picture, and sometimes we wish we could, but we just simply don't. Sometimes we're going to be in a wilderness, and we're gonna wanna know why, and we're just not going to know why. There's no guarantee to that answer. So Elijah finds himself in the wilderness. He's being provided for, which is this statement that God is the one who provides, not Baal.

Luke: 31:12

But then what happens next? Where does the story go from there? Verse 7. Sometime later, the brook dried up, the water is gone because there had been no rain in the land. Then the lord word of the Lord came to him, go at once to Zarephath in the region of Sidon and stay there.

Luke: 31:32

I have directed a widow to supply you with food. So he went to Zarephath, and when he came to the town gate, a widow was out there and she was gathering sticks. He called to her and asked, would you give me a little water in a jar so I could have a drink? As she was going to get it, he called, Ed, bring me please a piece of bread. And she turns to him and says, as surely as the Lord your God lives.

Luke: 32:06

Notice that's what Elijah said at the beginning. She replied, I don't have any bread. Only a handful of flour in a jar and a little olive oil in a jug. I'm gathering these few sticks here to take home to make a meal for myself and my son so that we may eat it and then die. Elijah said to her, don't be afraid.

Luke: 32:39

Go home and do as you have said. But first, make a small loaf of bread for me, from what you have, and bring it to me, and then make something for yourself and your son. For this is what the lord, the god of Israel says, the jar of flour will not be used up, and the jug of oil will not run dry until the day of the lord sends rain on the land. She went away and did as Elijah had told her. So there was food every day for Elijah and for the woman and for her family.

Luke: 33:12

For the jar of flour was not used up, and the jug of oil did not run dry, in keeping with the word of the lord spoken by Elijah. So he goes into a foreign land. Right? God doesn't tell Elijah, hey. Stay inside of Israel and go to this widow.

Luke: 33:31

He says, no. Leave the country of Israel. Go into this foreign land. Actually, he's sending Elijah into the foreign land that the queen Jezebel came from. This is the place this is our hometown home country.

Luke: 33:45

And he goes there, and he finds this widow, And we don't really know. It's kinda I don't think that she's really following God, but she's heard of why this famine is happening, why this drought is happening. She's like, oh, I heard about you. I've heard about this Yahweh who has said that this is the drought that is happening, that he's controlling it. And perhaps she's having this wrestling of her own faith, and she's saying, perhaps this Baal that I've been worshiping and following is not the one true god.

Luke: 34:17

Perhaps he doesn't have as much control as I thought he did because she has that's what she says. She says as surely as your god lives. Right? So she recognizes Yahweh to some degree, but perhaps is on her own journey of faith still. And there's just one thing I kinda wanna note for our own selves out of this piece of the story, and that's to say that when times get tough, it's easy to find an excuse for lack of faith in order to choose the good life.

Luke: 34:49

When our resources are stretched, when it feels like it's a season of famine, when we feel like, if I just had a little bit more time, a little bit more money, a little bit more space, a little bit more brainpower, you know, this week was less busy, whatever it is, a little bit of more of if only this, then I would be obedient, then I would follow in faith what God has called me to do. And this widow is an example of having lack, being called to do something in obedience, and God blessing her in that obedience. And I think this is an important thing for us to recognize that we can sometimes prioritize the good life or prioritize chasing that if only in order to kind of get in order to kind of find an excuse to not follow through on what we feel the Lord is calling us to do. We are excellent justifiers. So this is happening, and this story even kind of resonates with some of what we talked about last week with, Jesus feeding the 5,000 out of the loaves and the fish and that just being an abundant supply.

Luke: 36:13

But is that the end of the story? There comes one final twist. Verse 17 says, that sometime later, the son of the woman who owned the house became ill. The child, he grew worse and worse, and finally he stopped breathing. He said to Elijah, what do you have against me man of God?

Luke: 36:36

Did you come to remind me of my sin and kill my son? Give me your son. Elijah replied, can you hear the bitterness, the anger, the resentment? You came all the way to here. You picked me out of all the widows, and you came here and you gave me hope.

Luke: 36:55

We've been feeding you. We've been keeping you. And and all of a sudden, you're gonna take my son away from me? What does Elijah do? He says, give me your son, he replied.

Luke: 37:08

He took him from her arms and carried him to the upper room where he was staying, laid him on his bed, and then he cried out to the lord, lord my god, have you brought tragedy even on this widow I'm staying with by causing her son to die? Then he stretched himself out on the boy three times and cried out to the Lord, Lord, my God, let this boy's life return to him. The lord heard Elijah's cry and the boy's life returned to him and he lived. Elijah picked up the child and carried him down from the room into the house. He gave him to his mother and he said, look, your son is alive.

Luke: 37:55

This part of the story begins to bring it all the way around. Remember I was talking to you about Baal and Baal would, like, bring the rain and then during the rainy season and then eventually, he would have to submit to this other god, the god of death, Mott, and he would be dead for a little bit or he'd be in the world of the dead, and then he'd eventually come back out. And that was how they got the rainy and dry seasons. This whole story from beginning to end shows Baal does not provide, the lord provides. Mot is not the king of death, the Lord is the king of death.

Luke: 38:32

And here we get this beautiful picture of a son, someone's only son who dies and then is laid on 3 times and comes back to life in a resurrection, a picture of Christ perhaps. And so here, it comes all the way to the end. And what is the final response? The final ending to this story is this in verse 24. The women the woman said to Elijah, now I know.

Luke: 39:10

Now I know that you are a man of God and that the word of the Lord from your mouth is the truth. That's right. See, the whole story comes around because there was this woman from the land of Sidon who got married to Ahab. She was Jezebel, and she brought with her her foreign gods and unbelief. Elijah goes into that same land, finds another woman who then rejects Baal and finds the true lord.

Luke: 39:41

And they're this beautiful picture of mirroring and contrasting one another. And it shows this story that the story because we could you and I, we could think about the miraculous. We could think about the provision and, oh, that's kinda neat. The ravens brought the meat and the bread and the jar wouldn't run out and all of these things. But that wasn't the point of the story.

Luke: 40:08

Was the good life ever the point of this sermon or this story? Was it rather that we would know God and that he is with us, that he is our provider, that we would worship him regardless of whether or not we find ourselves in a season of famine or in a season of feasting? That's the primary point of this message. This brings us into the new testament. If you would turn with me to John chapter 6.

Luke: 40:41

John chapter 6 is this story. It's gonna be picking up a little bit on some of the themes we talked about last week in pastor Cameron's message. He talked about the feeding of the 5,000. In John chapter 6, Jesus has fed this large crowd with the loaves and, the fish, and then he kind of sends the crowd away, and he sends his crowd away, and he sends his disciples. He's like, go to the other side of the lake.

Luke: 41:08

And, you know, and he sends out on a boat. A storm happens. Jesus Jesus walks on the water. It's a really great story. And then he gets to the other side and meets up with his disciples.

Luke: 41:20

And this crowd of people this crowd of people who were like, we ate this bread that Jesus gave, and then Jesus, like, ran off somewhere. We wanna go find him. So they go, and they run all the way around the lake. And then that's where we pick up here in John chapter 6. We're gonna be in verse 25.

Luke: 41:44

John chapter 6 verse 25 says this, when they, the crowd, found him, Jesus, on the other side of the lake, they asked him, rabbi, when did you get here? And he's like, don't worry about it. I rocked on the lake. And then Jesus says very truly I tell to you, you were looking for me not because you saw the signs I performed, but because you ate the loaves and had your fill. Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the son of man will give you.

Luke: 42:15

For on him, God the father has placed a seal of approval. They're like, oh, okay. Well, how do we get this extra bread you're talking about Jesus? And Jesus state I said, what must we do? What are the works God requires?

Luke: 42:30

And Jesus said, the work of God is this to believe in the one whom he has sent. So they asked him, what sign then will you give us? What thing are you gonna do? What miracle are you gonna do that we may see it and believe you? What are you gonna do to prove it?

Luke: 42:46

Is what they're saying. What will you do? Our ancestors, they ate manna out of the wilderness as it is written, he gave them bread to eat from heaven. So they're like, you gave us bread, but, like, are you gonna give us bread out of heaven? Can you do that?

Luke: 43:00

That would impress us. Jesus said to them, very truly, I tell you it is not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven, but it is the father. It is my father who gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is the bread that comes down from heaven and gives life to the world. And they're like, okay.

Luke: 43:20

That sounds like good bread, sir. How do we always give us this bread always? And Jesus declared, I I am that bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry. Whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.

Luke: 43:34

But as I told you, you have seen me, yet you still do not believe. All those the father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me, I will never drive away. For I have come down from heaven not to do my will, but to do the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of those that he has given me, but raise them up on the last day. For my father's will is that everyone who looks to the son and believes in him shall have eternal life and raise up them up on the last day.

Luke: 44:05

Amen. Amen. Yes. And at this, the Jews began to grumble because he said, I am the bread of life that came down from heaven. Jesus confronts this crowd who he said, and he's like, guys, you just want more physical bread.

Luke: 44:25

Actually, you guys want you guys weren't happy enough that I had this loaf and these fish and I made them feed a whole bunch of you. You guys want me to have bread drop from the sky. They're missing the point. They're focusing on this sign. They're focusing on what Jesus does, and they're forgetting that literally the bread of life.

Luke: 44:50

Jesus himself is right in front of him. He's like, you guys are missing the point. I'm the point. Stop focusing on the bread and look at me. Why do we invite people to our birthdays?

Luke: 45:05

Why do we invite people over for Christmas? Do we invite people over because of the gifts that they're gonna give us? Maybe we did when we were, like, 6. But, like, as we get older, we get to this place where we realize, you know what? Like, it's not about the presents.

Luke: 45:21

It's not about the gifts that the people are gonna bring to the party. It's not about the casserole. It's not about any of that. It's about the person. I want these people to be with me as I celebrate.

Luke: 45:35

These are people who matter to me in my life. What's happening here in this passage is they're not fixating on the person who gives the gifts. They're fixating on the gifts. And the same thing could happen and was happening in the old testament is god is trying to wake them up and say it's not about the rain. It's not about the fields.

Luke: 45:59

It's about me. And if I have to shake you guys awake with a drought, I'll do it. Let's turn to one last passage as we finish for this evening or for today, this morning, whatever time it is. Matthew 6. Matthew 6 verse 25.

Luke: 46:29

This is one of Jesus's most famous teachings. It's out of the, sermon on the mount. And as we read this, I think this is Jesus' like, I don't know that I can say what the point of this sermon is any better than Jesus said it. K? This is this is the point.

Luke: 46:50

Chapter 6, verse 25 of the book of Matthew. Therefore, I tell you do not worry about your life. What you will eat, or what you will drink, or about your body, or what you will wear, is not life more than food? And is the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air.

Luke: 47:16

They do not sow. They do not reap. They do not store away in barns or have saving as accounts, and yet the heavenly father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?

Luke: 47:40

And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, oh you of little faith?

Luke: 48:07

So do not worry saying, what shall we eat or what shall we drink or what shall we wear? For the pagans run after all of these things and your heavenly father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness and all things will be given to you as well. Therefore, do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

Luke: 48:39

Jesus is saying, look at what is in your control. But I'm not saying like, this passage is not an excuse to just walk out into the woods and see what happens. Right? The Bible says a lot about being wise, about being studious, being good stewards. But Jesus here is talking about, like, the thing that you can't control.

Luke: 48:59

Because, like, have you ever done have you what have you ever accomplished by worrying? You ever made your day better by staying up all night and freaking out and panicking? Have you ever been able to accomplish anything or control anyone or control a thing or make a circumstance change because of how tight your chest got or how upset you got about a thing. If it's outside of your control, stop trying to control it and trust it to the Lord. Jesus is saying, look.

Luke: 49:32

You're so worried about things you can't control. You can't control the weather. You can't control the harvest. You can't control the stability of your job or the economy. You can't control other people in their relationship.

Luke: 49:44

You can't really even control your children or yourself all that well. Trust what is outside of your control to the lord. And rather than seeking to control and seeking to find the good life, seek the kingdom of god first. Seek Christ. Life is it's not about the good life.

Luke: 50:08

It's about the good God who is with us in life. We could spend all of our lives chasing if only this, if only that, if only then. And that's a constant hamster wheel. But it's not about the good life, guys. It's about the good god who is with us in life, whether it is good or hard, whether it is feast or famine.

Luke: 50:39

I have 3 closing questions that I would encourage you to reflect on this week, perhaps pray over in your devotional time, perhaps wrestle with. The first question is this, where are we putting God's kingdom second to our own good life? Are there any places where we're saying, I'm gonna put my priorities and building up my life rather than seeking god's kingdom? Are we are we making choices where we're finding ourselves compromising? Second question is is what are we so fixated on that we can't experience god's peace in both feast and famine?

Luke: 51:23

I picture us sitting at a table, and we're looking at what's on our plates. And we're trying to figure out if we like what we've been served, if it's half empty, if it's half full, if we like it or not. All the while, god is standing here and saying, stop looking at your plate and look at me. I'm here with you no matter what is in front of you. No matter whether you're you're walking through green pastures or you're walking through a dark valley, Christ is with us in the middle of it.

Luke: 51:56

And he's saying, look at me. What are we fixated on? What is that if only? If you had to finish that sentence when you finish that sentence, if only this. What is that?

Luke: 52:10

And are you so fixated on it that you're not able to look up and see Christ who's right there with you? Final question I have for us to wrestle with is, is god calling us towards faith towards a faith filled action despite our circumstances? Yes. Right? Despite the fact that things are difficult, perhaps we are lacking, perhaps we feel needful, perhaps things aren't going the way they should.

Luke: 52:44

And it would be very easy for us to find an excuse to perhaps not tithe, perhaps to withdraw from community, perhaps not reach out and help a friend because we've had a rough day. Whatever that prompting that the Lord has given us and say, please step out in faith, be part of the body, love and serve others. Are we finding excuse to step away from a faith action because of our circumstances? And I don't know what the answer is for you. You might not have anything that comes to mind, but in prayer this week, you might have something that comes very clear to your mind.

Luke: 53:24

And I encourage you to listen to the spirits leading. So to finally, again, say it, whether you are in feast or in famine, whether your circumstances are, quote, unquote, good or bad, god is with you in it. It's not about chasing the good life or finding the right technique. It's about finding that we can walk through anything with God and that he, our good father, knows how to give good gifts, knows how to provide, and sustain us through anything. Let's pray.

Luke: 54:13

Heavenly father, today in this room, there are people who feel like they are in a valley, who feel like they're in a place of famine. Lord, there are people in this room who feel like they are in a high place, that they are in green pastures, who are in a place of feast. And Lord, your invitation to both people is the same. And that is to lift our eyes up from ourselves, lift them up from your our kingdoms and to look at you. Lord, I pray that your spirit would lift our chins and our eyes up so that we might behold the cross, that we might behold your son crucified for us, that we might see all that we need.

Luke: 55:11

Any suffering or difficulty we encounter, Lord, I pray that we would simply look to the cross and behold love. Lord, form us into a people who are radically faith driven, who follow you regardless of the circumstance. Lord, build us into people who follow you. In Jesus name, we pray. Amen.

Luke: 55:42

Conduit this morning, whether you find yourself in a valley or you find yourself in a green pasture, my prayer for you is that you would know that the Lord, the good shepherd, walks with you through each and every step. Kind of would go in peace and know that you are loved.