SPEAKER_01: And the kings before him did some seriously bad stuff.
SPEAKER_01: He worshipped a gods and married a demo.
SPEAKER_01: Ahab made life miserable for anyone who stepped up to him.
SPEAKER_01: Kings is bad.
SPEAKER_01: God is put the life to speak truth.
SPEAKER_01: And without friends, on the runs of a hateful king, Elijah.
SPEAKER_01: You see, sometimes amidst the great comfort, even God chose the prophet's new part.
SPEAKER_01: Sometimes even the great Elijah needed to be reminded of God's care for him.
SPEAKER_01: Also, sometimes Elijah just needed to dance out.
SPEAKER_01: But when things go south and we forget God's love, like Elijah, we can trust God's present.
SPEAKER_01: We can listen to God's still small things.
SPEAKER_01: We can find hope in God's promises.
SPEAKER_01: Even when we're scared or angry, even when the world around us seems to fall apart.
SPEAKER_01: So bring your hurt, bring your trauma, and bring your shame.
SPEAKER_01: And let God serve up the grace.
SPEAKER_01: In the book of 1 Kings, join us for Elijah, the anxious prophet.
SPEAKER_00: Good morning, church.
SPEAKER_00: It's good to be with you.
SPEAKER_00: I'm excited to bring to you from God's Word this morning what He's been teaching me.
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes bothering me with.
SPEAKER_00: It's what the Lord does.
SPEAKER_00: We're going to be in 1 Kings 18.
SPEAKER_00: That is 1 Kings 18.
SPEAKER_00: And if you don't have a Bible, we would love to give you one.
SPEAKER_00: We have nice study Bibles on both sides of the room.
SPEAKER_00: Some of them are actually really good study Bibles.
SPEAKER_00: And then the other ones are in different languages if you need that.
SPEAKER_00: So tenemos Biblias, bilingues disponibles al costada del salon, bonjour, mwensat sim cantat, wecmuen isit la nueg bib creo i si e puno gratis, no som son o creo.
SPEAKER_00: You guys see that we we sing and we talk in different languages, and sometimes like we'll we'll talk in Haitian and then the Haitians won't even show up for like 30 minutes.
SPEAKER_00: But here's the thing like sometimes we're gonna do things for the people that aren't here yet.
SPEAKER_00: And uh that's gonna be something that we do.
SPEAKER_00: And so sometimes you'll be like, why are we doing that if somebody's not here?
SPEAKER_00: There was a time when there were no Spanish speakers here, too, and we spoke Spanish and sang in Spanish, and then one day we had Spanish speakers, and so you know I've always been taught do something as if those people are here and one day they will be.
SPEAKER_00: So that's why we do that.
SPEAKER_00: Um we're in 1 Kings.
SPEAKER_00: Uh I hope you have your Bibles uh with you.
SPEAKER_00: Does anyone have a physical um bound Bible this morning?
SPEAKER_00: Those are my favorite things in the world, they're so beautiful.
SPEAKER_00: Um, no one mistakes you for being on Instagram when you're on those and there's no notifications.
SPEAKER_00: It's beautiful.
SPEAKER_00: Um we're at 1 Kings 18.
SPEAKER_00: We're gonna be in 1 through 19.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, this is God's word.
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna interrupt a little bit between the first part of the reading because uh I'm just gonna explain a few things.
SPEAKER_00: I hope that's okay with you.
SPEAKER_00: 1 Kings 18, 1.
SPEAKER_00: After a long time, the word of the Lord came to Elijah in the third year.
SPEAKER_00: Go and present yourself to Ahab.
SPEAKER_00: I will send rain on the surface of the land.
SPEAKER_00: So Elijah went to present himself to Ahab.
SPEAKER_00: The famine was severe in Samaria.
SPEAKER_00: So once again, we gotta we gotta take a second and step back.
SPEAKER_00: Remember what's going on.
SPEAKER_00: We see the great obedience of Elijah.
SPEAKER_00: God says to him, Hey, I need you to go to that dude who's trying to kill you, okay?
SPEAKER_00: Like, go find him, okay?
SPEAKER_00: Go after him.
SPEAKER_00: That's the great obedience of Elijah.
SPEAKER_00: He's trying to kill you.
SPEAKER_00: Now, do you think Elijah was afraid?
SPEAKER_00: Does anyone think Elijah was afraid?
SPEAKER_00: Yes, Elijah was afraid.
SPEAKER_00: He was anxious, yes.
SPEAKER_00: Um, he had great faith in God, and those things work work at the same time sometimes.
SPEAKER_00: A lot of times, when you're brave, you're doing something because you're afraid, but you know it's right.
SPEAKER_00: And the Bible says that fear of God is the beginning of wisdom, and I think he was more afraid of God.
SPEAKER_00: Now consider what God had already asked Elijah to do, right?
SPEAKER_00: Like he was sent to the hometown of the evil queen Jezebel, where everyone was starving to death because of Elijah asking God to stop the rain.
SPEAKER_00: I'm convicted, uh I'm convinced that he was less than popular there.
SPEAKER_00: Wouldn't you think the same thing?
SPEAKER_00: Like, how could it be any worse than this?
SPEAKER_00: Is what I would think if I were Elijah, and God's like, Hold my goblet.
SPEAKER_00: Now, Elijah was a prophet of God, right?
SPEAKER_00: So I just want you to go ahead, prophet of God, and run back to the palace in Samaria, where Jezebel and Ahab are ordering the killing of all of the Lord's prophets.
SPEAKER_00: Just head on back, Elijah.
SPEAKER_00: Just go back to there.
SPEAKER_00: Go.
SPEAKER_00: So, how does Elijah respond?
SPEAKER_00: You got it, Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Yes, of course.
SPEAKER_00: Yes.
SPEAKER_00: Church, if you want to do great things for God, truly great things, you are going to have to show yourself faithful in many little things.
SPEAKER_00: Um, in the many little ways that he causes you to trust him, all that's gonna happen before he promotes you, before he puts you on a mountaintop to speak.
SPEAKER_00: Now I'm not sure that Elijah truly felt like a great prophet when God sent him to hide in a riverbed, but he obeyed.
SPEAKER_00: Because God puts his children in situations where faithful to faithfulness matters.
SPEAKER_00: But honestly, like who feels like a super special prophet of God when like ravens considered unclean birds to Jewish people, when they're bringing you like leftover hot pockets, like in the middle of a hidden area?
SPEAKER_00: Like you don't feel like you're this big dude, right?
SPEAKER_00: You're afraid.
SPEAKER_00: But even when Elijah was scared, he just went where God sent him.
SPEAKER_00: Faithfulness is not shown when things are easy and everyone is celebrating you.
SPEAKER_00: Faithfulness to God is when you are hated for faithfulness, when being faithful hurts you.
SPEAKER_00: That's what true faithfulness often looks like.
SPEAKER_00: So, continuing in verse 3, Ahab called for Obadiah, who was in charge of the palace.
SPEAKER_00: Obadiah was a man who greatly feared the Lord and took a hundred prophets and hid them, fifty men to a cave, and provided them with food and water when Jezebel slaughtered the Lord's prophets.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, this is not going well.
SPEAKER_00: So Obadiah is saving and protecting God's prophets while Jezebel is killing them.
SPEAKER_00: This is not the first compare and contrast that happens in 1 Kings.
SPEAKER_00: You'll see more even in this chapter.
SPEAKER_00: So Ahab in verse 5 said to Obadiah, Go throughout the land to every spring and every wadi.
SPEAKER_00: Perhaps we'll find grass, so we can keep the horses and the mules alive and not have to destroy any of the cattle.
SPEAKER_00: So they divided the land between them in order to cover it.
SPEAKER_00: Ahab went one way by himself, Obadiah went the other way by himself.
SPEAKER_00: While Obadiah was walking along the road, Elijah suddenly met him.
SPEAKER_00: When Obadiah recognized him, he fell face down, and he said, Is that you, my lord, uh Elijah?
SPEAKER_00: So so real recognizes Real.
SPEAKER_00: The king's right hand man calls him master, doesn't he?
SPEAKER_00: Like that's a big deal.
SPEAKER_00: What does he call him?
SPEAKER_00: How does he treat him?
SPEAKER_00: Verse 8, It is I, he replied, Go tell your Lord that Elijah is here.
SPEAKER_00: But Obadiah said, Hey, what sin have I committed that you are going to hand your servant over to Ahab to put me to death?
SPEAKER_00: As the Lord your God lives, there is no nation or kingdom where my Lord has not sent someone to search for you, Elijah.
SPEAKER_00: When they said he is not here, he made that kingdom or nation swear they had not found you.
SPEAKER_00: Now you say, Go tell your Lord Elijah is here.
SPEAKER_00: But when I leave you, the Spirit of the Lord may carry you off to some place I don't know.
SPEAKER_00: See, so clearly Elijah had a reputation, right?
SPEAKER_00: Like a reputation for going wherever the Lord called him, whenever the Lord called him.
SPEAKER_00: Continuing, then when I go to report to Ahab and he doesn't find you, he will kill me.
SPEAKER_00: But I, your servant, have feared the Lord since my youth.
SPEAKER_00: Wasn't it reported to my Lord that what I did when Jezebel slaughtered the Lord's prophets?
SPEAKER_00: I hid a hundred of the prophets of the Lord, fifty men to a cave, and I provided them with food and water.
SPEAKER_00: So he's like, Hey, hey man, like I want to tell my master that you're here, but you're gonna be gone, and then I'm gonna get killed.
SPEAKER_00: And and man, do you really want me killed?
SPEAKER_00: Like, look it, don't you know what I've been doing for God?
SPEAKER_00: Now you say, Go tell your Lord Elijah is here, he will kill me.
SPEAKER_00: Then Elijah said, As the Lord of armies lives, in whose presence I stand today, I will present myself to Ahab.
SPEAKER_00: Obadiah went to meet Ahab and told him.
SPEAKER_00: Then Ahab went to meet Elijah.
SPEAKER_00: When Ahab saw Elijah, Ahab said to him, Is that you the one ruining Israel?
SPEAKER_00: You don't usually want kings to say that about you.
SPEAKER_00: Like once again, Obadiah showed Elijah deference, and the king treated Elijah like trash.
SPEAKER_00: Compare and contrast.
SPEAKER_00: He replied in verse 18, Man, I've not ruined Israel, but you and your fathers have.
SPEAKER_00: Your father's family have, because you have abandoned the Lord's command and followed the Baals.
SPEAKER_00: That's those fake gods.
SPEAKER_00: Now summon all Israel to meet me at Mount Carmel, along with 450 prophets of Baal and the 400 prophets of Asherah who eat at Jezebel's table.
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna stop us there and we're gonna pray.
SPEAKER_00: Father.
SPEAKER_00: Many of us have been taught not to make waves, not to ruffle feathers, to get good grades, and to be polite, to seek the path of least resistance.
SPEAKER_00: And some of us have been taught to be silent even in abuse.
SPEAKER_00: But we know that that silence doesn't serve your purpose.
SPEAKER_00: So we ask that you would lead us in ways of compassionate honesty.
SPEAKER_00: Would you give us a prophetic voice for the people we love, but not before our hearts bleed with compassion for them.
SPEAKER_00: Give us wisdom for the moments we are called to speak up and the moments we are called to wait and sit with those who suffer, with those who suffer consequences even of their own sin.
SPEAKER_00: Or those who suffer because they exist just in a broken world.
SPEAKER_00: God, when we get this all wrong, and we're gonna get this all wrong.
SPEAKER_00: Please have mercy on us and help us to follow you again.
SPEAKER_00: May the words of my mouth and the thoughts of our hearts be pleasing to you.
SPEAKER_00: We pray this all in Jesus' name, and all God's people said, Amen.
SPEAKER_00: You mean to try this, Mike?
SPEAKER_00: Check once you.
SPEAKER_00: I don't know, that that was going out a good bit, wasn't it?
SPEAKER_00: Alright.
SPEAKER_00: Friends, uh, if you want to speak truth to power, because it gives you a rush.
SPEAKER_00: And let me just say, sometimes speaking truth to power can give you a rush.
SPEAKER_00: If you love speaking truth to power, if you love feeling outraged, if it gives you a dopamine hit, if it makes a lot of people like you, then you are probably not an Elijah-style prophet.
SPEAKER_00: Elijah spoke the words God gave him to speak.
SPEAKER_00: Elijah was obedient and willing to suffer for it.
SPEAKER_00: Because what do they do to prophets?
SPEAKER_00: They kill them.
SPEAKER_00: We know this, we see it right here.
SPEAKER_00: In most cases, I'm gonna assume you may not be the one in a billion uh that God has called to be that kind of prophet, but that's not a problem, it's okay.
SPEAKER_00: The other prophets that are mentioned in the New Testament are a little bit different.
SPEAKER_00: In 1 Corinthians 14, it says, Pursue love and earnestly desire the spiritual gifts, especially that you may prophesy.
SPEAKER_00: For one who speaks in tongues speaks not to men, but to God, for no one understands him, but he utters a mystery in the spirit.
SPEAKER_00: On the other hand, the one who prophesies speaks to people for their upbuilding, encouragement, and consolation.
SPEAKER_00: See, this is the majority of prophecy today.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Because we now have the word of God, which can be used to convict already.
SPEAKER_00: Prophets hear directly from God now because we have a Bible.
SPEAKER_00: Now, can God speak a direct rebuke through you to someone else?
SPEAKER_00: I a hundred percent believe he can do that.
SPEAKER_00: Number one, because God can do whatever he wants, but also we have to consider how is God using prophecy today and how is it outlined in the Bible?
SPEAKER_00: But still, we're talking about Elijah today, someone who is getting that one in a billion kind of thing.
SPEAKER_00: He's an old school, old testament fire and brimstone prophet.
SPEAKER_00: But we're also gonna talk about a man named Obadiah who is not a prophet, he is a God follower.
SPEAKER_00: Both had rough jobs, both had to risk it all to follow the Lord, and I believe their stories today will directly relate to us.
SPEAKER_00: Today I'm gonna give you two expectations for anyone God elevates.
SPEAKER_00: Two expectations for anyone God elevates.
SPEAKER_00: And it's crazy when I come up to one of you this morning and I'm asking you how I can pray for you, and it's that um it's for promotion, and I'm like, wow, God is crazy.
SPEAKER_00: So, my first point is this God puts believers in tough situations to serve his purposes.
SPEAKER_00: God puts believers in tough situations to serve his purposes.
SPEAKER_00: We resist the urge to choose safety, right?
SPEAKER_00: So in verse 3 it said, Ahab called for Obadiah, who was in charge of the palace.
SPEAKER_00: Obadiah was a man who greatly feared the Lord, took a hundred prophets, hid them, fifty men to a cave, provided them with food and water, when Jezebel was slaughtering the Lord's prophets.
SPEAKER_00: See, so Obadiah is the leader in a tough situation here, and God has orchestrated this whole thing for his glory.
SPEAKER_00: Whose glory?
SPEAKER_00: Obadiah?
SPEAKER_00: No.
SPEAKER_00: So how was this a tough situation?
SPEAKER_00: I think you already know we should run through the timeline, though, right?
SPEAKER_00: First, we knew King Ahab and his wife, Jezebel, worship fake gods, Baal, Asherah, okay?
SPEAKER_00: Second, we knew that Elijah had challenged the king and the queen already.
SPEAKER_00: He spoke for God, told them rain was no longer coming.
SPEAKER_00: It was a direct insult to Baal, who was supposed to be the god over fertility, over greenery, over growth, over the rain.
SPEAKER_00: Number three, this made the king and queen furious, right?
SPEAKER_00: They try to kill all believers in Yahweh, the great I am, the one true God.
SPEAKER_00: Then Obadiah just happened to still be in the employ of this king and queen.
SPEAKER_00: Why is that insane?
SPEAKER_00: We will talk about that now.
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
SPEAKER_00: God's blessing had to be on Obadiah.
SPEAKER_00: How did we know?
SPEAKER_00: Okay, his name is the biggest reason we know this, because his name means servant of Yahweh.
SPEAKER_00: Servant of the one true God.
SPEAKER_00: He must have been really, really good at his job for them to overlook his name, don't you think?
SPEAKER_00: And he must have been really trustworthy and reliable as well.
SPEAKER_00: Like, that's like employing a guy at a bank whose name is like Thief Robberman.
SPEAKER_00: Like, you're not gonna put that guy at a bank, are you?
SPEAKER_00: No, no, no, no.
SPEAKER_00: If you do, you put him in the back so nobody knows.
SPEAKER_00: Mr.
SPEAKER_00: Roberman on the name tag, right?
SPEAKER_00: Like, it doesn't make sense unless he's super honest and gifted.
SPEAKER_00: Like having a babysitter named like Larry Kidkill.
SPEAKER_00: You don't want that babysitter, do you?
SPEAKER_00: That has to be a really good babysitter for you to get over the name.
SPEAKER_00: But this guy's name, Obadiah, is servant of God.
SPEAKER_00: He's put in a high position in a kingdom that hates God.
SPEAKER_00: But God did not elevate Obadiah so he could have a large palatial home, not so everyone could look up to him, not so he could eat choice foods at the king's table, which he could do, but so he could serve the Lord from that position.
SPEAKER_00: And here he used it to save a hundred prophets of the true God.
SPEAKER_00: Now, some might say God had blessed him with a chance to be in a high position.
SPEAKER_00: Now, you know, if you're really looking at this from his perspective, others would say God had cursed him with responsibility to do what was right, even though he knew it would cost him his life.
SPEAKER_00: It depends on how you look at it.
SPEAKER_00: He was elevated, though, because God trusted him to do the right thing when it would matter most.
SPEAKER_00: Are we that person?
SPEAKER_00: Friends, God doesn't elevate you for you.
SPEAKER_00: He doesn't.
SPEAKER_00: He won't.
SPEAKER_00: He promotes you to certain positions for him.
SPEAKER_00: He has trusted those things to you so that you will use it for others.
SPEAKER_00: You think your stuff is yours?
SPEAKER_00: It's still his.
SPEAKER_00: Your talents, your intelligence, your money, your your resources, that is all for God.
SPEAKER_00: If you have money for groceries, you probably have a little more groceries uh that you can get for your neighbors.
SPEAKER_00: You may have extra money for that very reason.
SPEAKER_00: If you spend all your money on eating out, on liquor, on weed, on drugs, on cars, on games, why would God want to trust you with more?
SPEAKER_00: If you have a car and you have time, God may want you to help others to get to doctor's appointments or help them get to city groups and Sunday services.
SPEAKER_00: I know many of you are doing that already.
SPEAKER_00: And I'm grateful that you're doing that for others.
SPEAKER_00: We have a lot of people who would consider themselves social media influencers in this church.
SPEAKER_00: My question becomes: how can you glorify God through your social media?
SPEAKER_00: What if he gave you that influence for this reason?
SPEAKER_00: Will you lose followers if you pursue God in your social media?
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
SPEAKER_00: But why would God give us influence if not for his glory?
SPEAKER_00: Obadiah had been given influence.
SPEAKER_00: Obadiah had been given power, Obadiah had been given resources, but he also had to work for Jezebel and King Ahab, knowing that his defiance of their orders might cost him his life.
SPEAKER_00: And yet he understood that God had put him in that position for that reason.
SPEAKER_00: And let me be clear, might is not really the word here, is it?
SPEAKER_00: Like he already mentions in our text that he would be killed by the king for failing to deliver Elijah.
SPEAKER_00: So this is not a hypothetical, is it?
SPEAKER_00: This is real.
SPEAKER_00: This was tenuous power, subject to a king who would rather lose his best uh advisors than lose a disagreement, then lose an argument over a disagreement on who is the true God.
SPEAKER_00: Reminds me a bit of the story of Queen Esther in the Bible.
SPEAKER_00: You know, the idea of God has put me here for such a time as this.
SPEAKER_00: And Esther 5, there's an evil counselor to another king, and his name is Haman.
SPEAKER_00: And Haman had encouraged the king to write a law that demanded the killing of every Jewish person in his kingdom.
SPEAKER_00: Meanwhile, Esther's Jewish ethnicity was almost unknown to anyone.
SPEAKER_00: When encouraged by her older brother, uh older cousin Mordecai to speak to the king, this is what she said.
SPEAKER_00: She said, All the royal officials and the people of the royal provinces know that that applause that law applies to every man or woman who approaches the king in the inner courtyard and who has not been summoned, the death penalty.
SPEAKER_00: So she knew that if she went to the king to plead on behalf of her people, she could be killed.
SPEAKER_00: She continues, unless the king ex extends the golden scepter, allowing that person to live, I have not been summoned to appear before the king for thirty days.
SPEAKER_00: Then Mordecai responded with this if you know your Bible, you know how this goes.
SPEAKER_00: Don't think that you will escape the fate of all the Jews because you are in the king's palace.
SPEAKER_00: If you keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance will come to the Jewish people from another place.
SPEAKER_00: But you and your father's family will be destroyed.
SPEAKER_00: Who knows?
SPEAKER_00: Perhaps you have come to your royal position for such a time as this.
SPEAKER_00: See, we're seeing multiple places where people have been put in a position so that they can stand up for what is right so that they can bring glory to God, but not so that they could be safe.
SPEAKER_00: Now, Nigerian bishop, his name is Musa Gottum, he says the Lord has his faithful servants planted in the places they are least expected, so they can carry out the work of God where it is most opposed.
SPEAKER_00: Some of you guys are in families where you know that the Lord is opposed.
SPEAKER_00: Some of you are in places of work and places that you just enjoy going to where the Lord is opposed, and maybe you're there to speak up.
SPEAKER_00: Because God places his children in tough situations where risk is demanded and faithfulness matters.
SPEAKER_00: But friends, Obadiah's risky defiance of the king, it's less about disobedience to the king.
SPEAKER_00: I will say, sometimes that's fun.
SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
SPEAKER_00: Like standing up to people, being disobedient, I'm gonna do me.
SPEAKER_00: But this is more about obedience to God.
SPEAKER_00: Now, in the 1500s in Germany, there was a monk, and his name was Martin Luther, and he started asking questions about the church offering something called indulgences.
SPEAKER_00: Indulgences meant paying the church a certain amount of money to get you or your loved ones out of what they would call purgatory or hell.
SPEAKER_00: There was some problems with that.
SPEAKER_00: I I would think that we would agree on that.
SPEAKER_00: Martin began speaking out against these heinous acts, against this terrible abuse of poor people in order to build more temples.
SPEAKER_00: And guess what?
SPEAKER_00: He was arrested for it.
SPEAKER_00: And at his trial, he was to go before the king and recant.
SPEAKER_00: That was his job.
SPEAKER_00: He knew his life was in danger, but I want to read you what he said.
SPEAKER_00: He said, I cannot and will not recant anything.
SPEAKER_00: For to go against conscience is neither right nor safe.
SPEAKER_00: I stand, I can do no other, so help me God.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: He knew that he was signing his own death warrant, like Elijah, like Obadiah.
SPEAKER_00: But he also knew it was not smart to go against God.
SPEAKER_00: And while he did survive, actually, he knew that he could have easily died.
SPEAKER_00: Now, even if the Holy Roman king had a knife to his throat, he had to say, Hey, I can only follow and be afraid of God.
SPEAKER_00: Now it's easy for Jezebel to do whatever she wants, though, right?
SPEAKER_00: Like to do her own thing.
SPEAKER_00: Because Jezebel was in power.
SPEAKER_00: She thought that she answered to no one.
SPEAKER_00: Honestly, it felt like her husband, the king, answered to her.
SPEAKER_00: She was feeding 150 fake Baal and Asherah prophets at her table.
SPEAKER_00: She had the money, she had the power, and they were telling her exactly what she wanted to hear, right?
SPEAKER_00: There was no risk in this, right?
SPEAKER_00: Like it wasn't generosity, it was her taking care of her own.
SPEAKER_00: It's a bit like when we speak up against Republicans in San Diego.
SPEAKER_00: Like, oh yeah, man, that's really brave in San Diego.
SPEAKER_00: Like, man, I don't like Trump.
SPEAKER_00: He sucks.
SPEAKER_00: Like most people in San Diego are like, yeah, we know.
SPEAKER_00: Like, cool, you're awesome.
SPEAKER_00: That's great.
SPEAKER_00: Way to go.
SPEAKER_00: But that's not super risky, is it, in most places.
SPEAKER_00: Actually, in San Diego, it might help you win friends.
SPEAKER_00: It might help you uh uh go higher in your career in San Diego, but that's not the kind of risk that Obadiah was taking.
SPEAKER_00: Unlike Jezebel, his generosity was his risk.
SPEAKER_00: Providing food and water to a hundred prophets of the true God.
SPEAKER_00: And no one would celebrate him online about it.
SPEAKER_00: And if it found out, he would certainly be killed by the king.
SPEAKER_00: And that's where true faithfulness came in for him.
SPEAKER_00: It's not easy to do this on a down low either, is it?
SPEAKER_00: When there's like barely any food and water anywhere, you feed a hundred people.
SPEAKER_00: It's dangerous.
SPEAKER_00: Nobody's gonna be impressed with you.
SPEAKER_00: You won't get an award for doing the right thing.
SPEAKER_00: Your reward for doing the right thing in this occasion is you'll probably be killed.
SPEAKER_00: But God places his children in rough situations where faithfulness matters.
SPEAKER_00: So obedience to Jesus is beautiful, but it doesn't always look like something we celebrate.
SPEAKER_00: Looking at the things Jesus offers us, what does Jesus offer you?
SPEAKER_00: Death, a cross.
SPEAKER_00: He promises persecution to you.
SPEAKER_00: He promises that following him will destroy and divide families.
SPEAKER_00: That's not a great sales pitch for Christianity, is it?
SPEAKER_00: But that's what he offered us.
SPEAKER_00: And let me tell you what the devil offers food, protection, power, glory.
SPEAKER_00: But which one of those things do we tend to attribute to God?
SPEAKER_00: Friends, if you are being attacked, praise God.
SPEAKER_00: If you are being persecuted for following Jesus, praise God.
SPEAKER_00: The good news is Jesus also promises that he will be with us to the very end of the age.
SPEAKER_00: As long as we have him, as long as we have his church, as long as we have his word, as long as we have his Holy Spirit, we will never suffer alone.
SPEAKER_00: Even when we feel alone.
SPEAKER_00: And let me say this many times you in the room feel alone.
SPEAKER_00: You are not alone.
SPEAKER_00: And this brings us to our second way that God wants to elevate you.
SPEAKER_00: Honest obedience to God assures some won't like us.
SPEAKER_00: If we are hated, we must still speak truth, justice, and love.
SPEAKER_00: But I just have a little note there.
SPEAKER_00: Just don't be a jerk about it, okay?
SPEAKER_00: Like, just don't be a jerk about it.
SPEAKER_00: Like so many times we go online and I'm like, I'm speaking truth.
SPEAKER_00: You know, and it's like it lacks compassion.
SPEAKER_00: In verse 17, when Ahab saw Elijah, Ahab said to him, Is that you the one ruining Israel?
SPEAKER_00: He replied, I have not ruined Israel, but you and your father's family have, because you have abandoned the Lord's commands and followed the Baals.
SPEAKER_00: See, this text can also translate is Is that you, troubler of Israel?
SPEAKER_00: Now, this word troubler was also a euphemism for something else.
SPEAKER_00: An asp, a viper, a snake.
SPEAKER_00: So basically he's calling Elijah a snake in the grass.
SPEAKER_00: Is that you, snake in the grass?
SPEAKER_00: One who hides and then pounces?
SPEAKER_00: See, Ahab never had wanted to hear the truth.
SPEAKER_00: It's why he surrounded himself with liars and cowards.
SPEAKER_00: Be really careful not to do that yourself, friends.
SPEAKER_00: People who just tell you that you're awesome all the time.
SPEAKER_00: Because they may not do that because they like you.
SPEAKER_00: But while prophetic truth may seem bitter to some, to those who are being saved, it is sweet rescue, friends.
SPEAKER_00: The funny thing in all this was that Elijah was actually coming with good news.
SPEAKER_00: Isn't that funny?
SPEAKER_00: He was coming with good news, even for Ahab.
SPEAKER_00: Hey man, rain's coming.
SPEAKER_00: That's good news.
SPEAKER_00: But if you remember from last week, when someone is deep in sin, even being around believers will feel like hatred.
SPEAKER_00: Even being around believers will feel like judgment.
SPEAKER_00: Now, for those of you who have read the book ahead of time, you know what happens next.
SPEAKER_00: Elijah does eventually pounce like a cobra.
SPEAKER_00: But it comes a little bit later.
SPEAKER_00: Actually comes next week.
SPEAKER_00: It's a cool story.
SPEAKER_00: But God would use Elijah to strike at the fake Baal and Asherah and all his fake prophets, and it would decimate Israel's kingdom of sin and blasphemy.
SPEAKER_00: Elijah was willing to speak hard truths to Ahab the king on behalf of God.
SPEAKER_00: Now Ahab didn't need to be mad at Elijah, but uh but he was, wasn't he?
SPEAKER_00: And still, like he he was really mad at God, wasn't he?
SPEAKER_00: And really he should have been mad at himself for abandoning the God of Israel and watching people and even his animals suffer as a consequence.
SPEAKER_00: You know that rain would have come back immediately if he had just repented, right?
SPEAKER_00: Dr.
SPEAKER_00: Tony Evans says Israel was suffering because of failed leadership.
SPEAKER_00: But Elijah represented another kingdom orientation.
SPEAKER_00: He was not tied to the royal family or any political party.
SPEAKER_00: He could speak truth to earthly power without being co-opted or compromised.
SPEAKER_00: See, as a pastor, I cannot tell you how often, though, I feel like I have to be the bad guy.
SPEAKER_00: Like I don't want to call you out.
SPEAKER_00: I really like it's one of my least favorite parts of the job.
SPEAKER_00: Um, it's like that and being punched in the mouth, like about the same.
SPEAKER_00: I hate it.
SPEAKER_00: But when you chase after idols in your life, we love you too much to watch the devil destroy.
SPEAKER_00: Everyone wants to tell you when you are kicking butt.
SPEAKER_00: You got a new job.
SPEAKER_00: Oh my gosh, let's celebrate.
SPEAKER_00: You're reading your Bible daily, like way to go.
SPEAKER_00: But sometimes people need to hear really hard things.
SPEAKER_00: Like pornography is caring, killing your soul.
SPEAKER_00: When you gossip and talk about each other and talk about people in the church, that's from the devil, and he's using it to destroy the church.
SPEAKER_00: You shouldn't be sleeping with someone outside of Christian marriage.
SPEAKER_00: Harboring unforgiveness will destroy you and make you bitter.
SPEAKER_00: Dishonoring your spouse is hurting your kids and their faith.
SPEAKER_00: You have to be reconciled with your siblings in Christ, even if you disagree.
SPEAKER_00: Do you know how much you guys like hearing this stuff?
SPEAKER_00: And I'll just say, when someone calls me out on my sin, I don't like hearing it either.
SPEAKER_00: I actually tend to deny it first.
SPEAKER_00: And then I take it to the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: And then I have to go back to my wife or to my kids, and I have to say, I'm sorry, I was wrong.
SPEAKER_00: Let me just say this too.
SPEAKER_00: Um I have never had more intimacy in my relationships than when I apologize and say I was wrong to people.
SPEAKER_00: And I really urge you to consider that in places where you need to say I was wrong.
SPEAKER_00: It brings intimacy and true friendship and trust.
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes you just have to go to someone and you have to tell them hard truths in love.
SPEAKER_00: You guys are the same as me.
SPEAKER_00: You hate being told about your sin.
SPEAKER_00: It's the same thing as Ahab.
SPEAKER_00: And if a friend is confronting you about your sin, friends, the first thing you'll look for is their flaws.
SPEAKER_00: Tell me I'm lying.
SPEAKER_00: Because if you can focus on my many glaring flaws, then you're not gonna have to look at yourself.
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes you will see the messenger as the enemy, partially because they may accidentally be a jerk or maybe intentionally.
SPEAKER_00: But if I truly care about you, my desire should be to speak the truth in love.
SPEAKER_00: And I'm grateful that when I call some of you sometimes, you will respond with understanding and conviction.
SPEAKER_00: When you understand sin or isolation in your life hurts your relationship with God and those around you, you are on your way to thriving.
SPEAKER_00: Now I'm also grateful when you guys do this without needing my intervention.
SPEAKER_00: When more and more of you learn, Matthew 18, I'm not gonna read it again, go to Matthew 18, 15.
SPEAKER_00: It's the way Jesus prescribes we deal with each other.
SPEAKER_00: And I'm just gonna tell you, this generation, this world, you have the ability now to just shut people out and ghost them.
SPEAKER_00: And I cannot tell you how many conversations I've had to have with people where I'm like, we gotta meet, we gotta talk, we gotta have you guys meet with each other.
SPEAKER_00: And and so many people say this, I gotta seek my peace instead.
SPEAKER_00: But I'm telling you, when we do not resolve things, there is an infection of bitterness that stays in you.
SPEAKER_00: It doesn't get better over time, it gets worse.
SPEAKER_00: This is why sometimes we come to you and say, Hey, can we work this out?
SPEAKER_00: And I know many of you are in the room right now thinking this is about me.
SPEAKER_00: And it's because it's about many of us.
SPEAKER_00: Many of us.
SPEAKER_00: So I'm not picking on you.
SPEAKER_00: It's a bunch of people in the room, and it'll be a bunch of people in the room at the next service, too.
SPEAKER_00: But I'm grateful when you respond with conviction, when you apologize, when you say you were wrong, and you're willing to look past my many sins if I come to you and tell you that.
SPEAKER_00: Guys, it keeps us honest when we approach each other in love.
SPEAKER_00: But it means people are gonna think you're judgmental or hypocritical because you are hypocritical, because you're gonna mess up, no matter how nice you are.
SPEAKER_00: But friends, God places his children in a tough situation where faithfulness matters.
SPEAKER_00: And prophetic truth may seem bitter to some of us, but to those who are being saved, it is the taste of sweet rescue.
SPEAKER_00: We have to refuse to see people who speak the truth as the problem, though.
SPEAKER_00: Like you've heard the line, don't shoot the messenger.
SPEAKER_00: Here is my advice to you on that subject: don't shoot the messenger.
SPEAKER_00: When someone confronts you in your sin, and maybe they do it in an immature way, or maybe they are total hypocrites.
SPEAKER_00: The real answer is to ask God, is there truth in this?
SPEAKER_00: God, is there truth in this?
SPEAKER_00: And actually mean it.
SPEAKER_00: Don't look at the messenger.
SPEAKER_00: I promise you, you'll see their sin.
SPEAKER_00: Ask God.
SPEAKER_00: Friends, you can always improve the way you communicate truth, though, can't you?
SPEAKER_00: Can't I?
SPEAKER_00: But some people will never hear that truth as good news.
SPEAKER_00: So as I close, I just want to draw your attention to one more thing.
SPEAKER_00: So much of 1 Kings and so much of the Bible is about one thing: food.
SPEAKER_00: And in the same way, so much of our Christian faith surrounds food.
SPEAKER_00: When Adam and Eve disobeyed God in the Garden of Eden, what was it about?
SPEAKER_00: Food.
SPEAKER_00: It was disobedience, but you know, we're food was involved.
SPEAKER_00: And good things are about food in the Bible too.
SPEAKER_00: Christian faith happens often at the dinner table.
SPEAKER_00: Some of you folks wonder why our city groups have a potluck meal once a week, once a month, excuse me.
SPEAKER_00: And you're like, hey man, how come we're not in Bible study?
SPEAKER_00: Or some of you are like, how come we're not serving our neighbors?
SPEAKER_00: It's because God prescribes this for us to sit down and eat together.
SPEAKER_00: This is why we do it.
SPEAKER_00: And for some of y'all who are like those type A personalities, you're like, this isn't accomplishing anything.
SPEAKER_00: We're just eating together?
SPEAKER_00: It is absolutely accomplishing something very important.
SPEAKER_00: God has a word for it called koinania.
SPEAKER_00: Fellowship, it's over meals that God does so much.
SPEAKER_00: Think about it.
SPEAKER_00: God cut off the rain so no Baal worshipper could what?
SPEAKER_00: Eat or drink.
SPEAKER_00: But even in the drought, God used ravens to feed Elijah.
SPEAKER_00: When God sent him to Zarepheth in Sidon, Jezebel's hometown, where the people were starving to death, God provided food for Elijah, the widow, and her family.
SPEAKER_00: Just as she was about to eat her last meal and die, God provided food on top of food, on top of food, on top of food.
SPEAKER_00: Meanwhile, food was running out in Samaria.
SPEAKER_00: There was nothing for the king's animals to eat.
SPEAKER_00: And yet Jezebel was feeding hundreds of fake prophets who constantly told her what she wanted to hear.
SPEAKER_00: But eventually, even her husband was running out of food for the animals.
SPEAKER_00: And in that scarcity, where food was gone, Obadiah, the servant of Yahweh, was providing food for the people of God at the very risk of his own life.
SPEAKER_00: Psalm 23 says, You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus once sat down to a meal with his students.
SPEAKER_00: It was his Passover dinner with bread and wine.
SPEAKER_00: We use gluten-free bread now and juice, but it doesn't matter.
SPEAKER_00: One of his students there at that table was going to betray him to death for some chump change a few hours later.
SPEAKER_00: That very night, Jesus knew in a few hours the rest of them would all ditch him at the first sign of danger.
SPEAKER_00: And still Jesus told them, Friends, this is my body broken for you.
SPEAKER_00: He took the cup and he said, This is my blood of the new covenant.
SPEAKER_00: But here's what we have to draw our attention to about this, friends.
SPEAKER_00: This was over a meal, knowing everyone at that table was gonna double cross him.
SPEAKER_00: He called them friend, even his betrayer, Judas.
SPEAKER_00: He offered his life for them.
SPEAKER_00: He promised them sacrificial love that could only come from God.
SPEAKER_00: And he showed it over food.
SPEAKER_00: Over that meal, he offered them what we would call agape love.
SPEAKER_00: It's a relentless pursuit of love.
SPEAKER_00: It's not erotic, it's not brotherly, it's something that goes far beyond.
SPEAKER_00: It is grace shown in love's form, a relentless pursuit of his enemies, even though they didn't deserve it, even though we didn't deserve it.
SPEAKER_00: And guess what?
SPEAKER_00: He is relentlessly pursuing you too, friends.
SPEAKER_00: And if you are fighting against him, denying, or just never gave him an honest investigation, the Bible calls you God's enemy too, belonging to the kingdom of darkness.
SPEAKER_00: And let me just say, I was an enemy too.
SPEAKER_00: But God sets a table before you, his enemies, where he offers you forgiveness, he offers you grace, he offers you mercy, he offers you this meal.
SPEAKER_00: This is the beauty of the gospel that when Jesus moments later was arrested, he chose the path of death, not the easy path.
SPEAKER_00: He died on the cross for your sins to bridge the gap between us and God.
SPEAKER_00: And then he rose again, showing that he was bigger than sin and death, bigger than the devil's army.
SPEAKER_00: Friends, if you need forgiveness, you are welcome to a table of costly forgiveness, risky forgiveness, painful forgiveness, one that costs Jesus his blood, his life, so that you might be adopted into his family.
SPEAKER_00: So you are invited to repent of your sins, give your life to Jesus, and guess what?
SPEAKER_00: Then he makes a place for you at his table, not as a servant, not as a slave, but as an adopted child of God.
SPEAKER_00: And I just want to read to you from Revelation 9.
SPEAKER_00: At the end of time, it says, When I heard what seemed to be the voice of a great multitude, like the roar of many waters and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder crying out, Hallelujah, for the Lord our God, the Almighty reigns, let us rejoice and exalt and give him glory.
SPEAKER_00: For the marriage of the Lamb has come and the bride has made herself ready.
SPEAKER_00: It was granted for her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure.
SPEAKER_00: For the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints, and the angels said to me, Write this Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.
SPEAKER_00: And he said to me, These are the true words of God.
SPEAKER_00: So, friends, we're gonna pray, and then this table is open to anyone who has confessed their sins to God, repented of them, and there's many things that you know God has been talking to you about.
SPEAKER_00: And you say, God, I'm going to reject those things and I'm gonna move towards you.
SPEAKER_00: If that's you, the table will be open to you.
SPEAKER_00: That's not you yet, and you want to give your life to him, we'll have people that would love to pray for you on the side over here.
SPEAKER_00: But now let's go to him in prayer.