Sermon Nuggets Mon Feb 1 – Learning to Trust
Theme- Learning to Trust
Verses- I King 17:2-4 Then the word of the LORD came to Elijah: 3 "Leave here, turn eastward and hide in the Kerith Ravine, east of the Jordan. 4 You will drink from the brook, and I have ordered the ravens to feed you there."
I was in a store and saw a posted a sign, “In God we trust” all others pay cash.
We still have that motto on our coins but I am not sure for how long. Increasingly the government has either voted religious phrases are no longer acceptable or they say it is so identified with society it is no longer religious. It seems they are either taking government out of God, or God out of government.
Political groups such as the Civil Liberties Union claim to stand up for the rights of others. Even though they may not be atheistic they believe we should uphold the rights of atheists and agnostics by eliminating all references of God from our government.
As Christians we believe that one of the reasons God has so richly blessed our country was because of the faith of our forefathers, the growth of Christianity and the freedom of speaking out our faith throughout the land and acknowledged by government. As mentioned often the protection provided in the constitution was to protect churches from government interference and uphold the rights of others to believe what they want, (not to keep them from faith). The government officially has long since ceased from trusting in God, even though most of the political speeches end with “God bless America”, or “God bless us all”. It seems the government believes the strength of America is economics and the size of our military. Therein does it place its trust. Scary, huh?
Abraham Lincoln said, “I am not so concerned that God is on our side, as I am that we are on Gods’ side.” The Psalmist says, Ps 20:7-8 Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the LORD our God. They are brought to their knees and fall, but we rise up and stand firm.” Where is your trust?
Many will say they trust God, but as soon as difficulty comes financially they prove that they really were rusting riches. As soon as difficulty comes with health or well being many give up on Him. Some might place all their energies working in their vocation to get ahead and by all outward practices they trust their own resources.
Last week we began a series on Elijah, the man of God. We saw that James said Elijah was a man like us. He believed God was alive, and well in Israel. His life was proof to that. He believed God was King and sovereign over all. God was in charge of Israel, not King Ahab. He believed in God’s word and was willing to pray it into action as he got on his knees an the rains of heaven stopped.
As a reminder King Ahab of Israel was married to Jezebel so he could trust in the military strength of her father, King of Phoenicia. They trusted in Baal who was supposed to be the god of the weather and crops.
Since many in the land still worshipped Jehovah Jezebel instigated her husband to make it illegal to worship Him and even killed his prophets. This was the situation that Elijah was in when he courageously stood up and spoke the prophecy of the draught to the King. That draught was a direct slap in the face to the false beliefs in Baal. Maybe if the people saw there was draught instead of rain they would know Baal could not help them. Perhaps they would repent and turn back to the one and true God.
In verse 2 God gave Elijah a new command to go to the Kerith Ravine. He gave him a promise that he would supply his needs miraculously. If Elijah was trusting the Lord there would be some steps along the way. Real trust results in some responses.
Think about how your responses today reflect your trust in God. Do you act or do anything differently than your unsaved friend or neighbor today? What?
Pastor Dale
Sermon Nuggets Tues Feb 2
Verses- I King 17:5 So he did what the LORD had told him. He went to the Kerith Ravine, east of the Jordan, and stayed there.
Vs 8-10 Then the word of the LORD came to him: "Go at once to Zarephath of Sidon and stay there. I have commanded a widow in that place to supply you with food."
So he went to Zarephath.
Trusting involves a step of Obedience-
We know what people believe by what they do. I can proclaim all I want what I believe.
I knew a family that believed Sunday School was so important for their kids that when their church ceased having Sunday School they came to Stanchfield. The problem was they seldom came to Sunday school. Most of their Sundays were spent with hobbies, sports and other activities. The fact of the matter is, we know what people believe more by what they do more than what they say. If Elijah believed in God then he is going to obey God’s word.
The first step of trusting God is obedience. Elijah was told in vs. 3 to leave and go eastward and hide out at the Kerith Ravine. That was all he needed to know. Can you imagine Elijah saying, ”Wait a minute Lord, that is wilderness out there. How about a nicer place than that barren hill region? There are snakes out there. After all I just spoke a good word for you. What else do you have?”
Yet, there are many who think just like that. O, they want Gods’ direction in their lives, but they want to know what all is involved before they do what God tells them to. They want the plan completely laid out before them before they move to obey.
Friends, if God is directing you he will direct only one step at a time. You are not given a whole set of blueprints that map out your life as much as I wish He would do that. Instead He leads only one step at a time. Often we can never see the next one until we, by faith and obedience, move on what we know we should be doing next. God doesn’t send us anywhere without providing for us what we need to do what He wants. It may not be the Taj Mahal, it might be a desert or a wilderness, or a place of hiding, but that is far better than the Taj Mahal if that’s where God wants you to be.
There used to be marketing phrases appealing to our wants. Burger King’s phrase was “Have it your way.” McDonald’s slogan used to be “We do it all for you”. We hear things like that on advertisements enough we believe the whole revolves around us and Christians have bought into that thinking as well. The name it and claim it people make demands on God as if one wonders who is serving whom? That thinking toward God is sin. Sin is going your own way instead of God’s way.
God told Elijah to go to a barren, wilderness called Kerish. Elijah trusted God by taking that first step and what did he find here? He found the same situation that everyone else found all through their land-a draught. There wasn’t a nice cabin by the lake and beef steak on the open grill. There was a little tiny brook and the promise of God that birds would come and he could get food from them. Elijah experienced hardship as much as anyone else.
There is an unusual situation as Elijah step out. Ravens come and he gets his food, just as the Lord said would happen. God who could feed the Israelites in the desert with Manna from heaven, stopped the Manna as soon as the people entered the land and could work for themselves.
Elijah was cared for by a different miracle. The miracle didn’t have to be supernatural as much as intervention through the natural by God. Ravens could have easily come to feed their young with bread and meat, and the Elijah could have made himself available to it. Or they could have been so tame that Elijah was like their young, and the food was brought and laid out at his feet. The miracle was that God had so direct Elijah and promised food and drink. The ravens were directed to come to the very spot Elijah was directed to go.
Ravens were the first bird mentioned by name in Gen 8:6. Noah released a raven and it never returned to the ark. That bird was considered by Jewish law an unclean animal. The people were not allowed to eat it. We also read in the Psalms that God provides for the raven. Jesus said in Luke 12 “Consider the ravens, for they neither sow nor reap and they have no storeroom or barn, yet God feeds them.”
Henry Bosh from Radio Bible Class told a story of Christians in Japan. They depended upon orchards of 1,000 trees for their livelihood. They noticed the infestation of a type of worm that could destroy their crops. They gathered for prayer and cried unto the Lord. They had labored long and hard to see their crops destroyed. The next morning they awaked to see 100s of strange birds eating the worms without inuring the fruit, and saved the crop.
God arranges the circumstances of obedient servants, bent on knowing and following God’s will. Move out on what you know in obedience even if you do not know where that path may lead. Trust Him to arrange the circumstances.
What is the next step of obedience God is asking of you?
Pastor Dale
Sermon Nuggets Weds Feb 3
Verses- I King 17:5 So he did what the LORD had told him. He went to the Kerith Ravine, east of the Jordan, and stayed there.
Trusting involves a step of Waiting.
I am too often tempted to be impatient in my Christian walk. Time when I know the truth of God’s word and the direction of God’s leading and seek to be obedient to that call. Then nothing happens. What went wrong? Did I misunderstand? What about others that seem to be getting blessings I long for? Temptation of trying new and improved methods, latest spiritual fads and competing in the spiritual race are attractive.
But when Elijah went to where God wanted him to go the word said “He stayed there”. He didn’t keep going looking for what God promised, he waited in obedience to see the next step God had.
For Elijah he was preaching the word. Now he is in the wilderness all by himself. I am convinced this was a growing experience. James says “count it all joy, my brethren when you fall into various trails for they produce patience.”
One of the jewels of faith is not so much the victory of success as it is the commitment to patience and perseverance in doing what God wants you to do. Waiting is hard. The problem with waiting is that we feel as if there is more for us to do. The struggle with trust is that we want to be in control again to accomplish what needs to be accomplished until we are reminded and taught the lesson that God must do His work in us. That is far more important than our doing our works for Him.
Type A personalities don’t wait very well. There is a time to run and a time to rest. Those times are determine by our Lord. When one waits one isn’t “doing nothing.” He is focusing on the Lord and reminded of His sovereignty. He is in prayer. He is in expectation of what is ahead not trying to force Gods’ hand but watching for what He is doing and learning contentment that He is a work in ways we know not of.
As I am thinking of the experiences of Moses I am reminding how much of faith is learning to trust in the waiting times. There are many examples in Scripture of barrenness and anticipating Gods’ next step. On the journey to the promised land God’s pillar of fire and cloud moved and stopped. When it moved the people picked up camp and were on their way. When it stopped they set up camp and waited. Certainly times of rest were important. Certainly preparation of heart and soul were needed during those waiting times. But can’t your imagine as I would the impatience they would have waiting for the blessings they were promised? God was wanting them to focus on Him more than what they were about to receive.
As much as I hate those waiting times if I am yielded to wait and not use my efforts and wisdom to do Gods’ work my faith, although not dramatic, is strengthened in the waiting and trusting times. Moses was in the wilderness 40 years before the promise land was realized. Jacob was 14 years in Hebron working before he received his wife and family. Paul was 3 years in training in Arabia before taken with Barnabas to Antioch.
With such important work to be done doesn’t it seem to be a waste of time to wait? But we read Ps 127:1-2 Unless the LORD builds the house, its builders labor in vain. Unless the LORD watches over the city, the watchmen stand guard in vain. In vain you rise early and stay up late, toiling for food to eat-- for he grants sleep to those he loves.”
Do what you know God wants you to do, and wait to watch Him do His work in and through you. Elijah did just that.
Pastor Dale
Sermon Nuggets Thurs Feb 4 - Testing
Verses- I King 17:7-9 Some time later the brook dried up because there had been no rain in the land. Then the word of the LORD came to him:
"Go at once to Zarephath of Sidon and stay there. I have commanded a widow in that place to supply you with food."
Trust involves a Step of Testing
To trust God completely almost always involves testing and trails in the life of any servant of God. I cannot stress that enough. There is too long the false teaching that when one becomes a Christian everything goes well. That is not Biblical.
There is peace that the world cannot offer. There is joy in serving Jesus. There is victory and happiness because life now has meaning and purpose and we are purchased by the blood of Jesus Christ for all eternity, but don’t confuse that with the circumstances of this world. There will be times of testing of your faith. There will be difficult periods, depression, frustrating, times when you almost want to say you’ve had enough. God sometimes doesn’t seem fair and you want to quit.
Elijah is having a long crash course in trusting God. I believe that this is in preparation for the tremendous contest that he will perform at Mount Carmel. Too many Christians want to reach the top of Mount Carmel and call down the fire from heaven, but are not wiling to take the steps required of faith.
As we have seen so far, the first step is obedience to His word and the second step is faithful through waiting for Him to do His work, and next is being persistent in testing. Notice that the brook dried up. That certainly can be a mind boggling after being fully convinced that God led him there and is sustaining him there. Now his resources dry up.
This is the experience in the lives of pastors I know. They are led to work in a certain church. They are convinced of it. Things are going well, and all of the sudden everything goes wrong. There is tension, fighting, lack of resources, tragedy, and hardship. It is easy to shake one’s his head and murmur, “What happened? Lord, where are you? If I knew it was going to be like this I would never have come.”
That is exactly what the Lord wanted. It prepares him for the hard times. Not to lean or your education or how to do it books, or trust ones own understanding or rely on your own resources but to trust entirely on God.
There is a lesson in Elijah’s progressive dinner. The brook dried up. And the circumstances fell upon him. He couldn’t stay in the place provided for him. God has something more. Many times those next steps are not given into the first door is closed.
I was talking recently with friends who were growing in their faith. Things were never better. The door of opportunity opened up for them which they interpreted as God’s leading. Then that door closed right in their face. There was confusion. There was questioning of God. They did some soul searching and was forced to look at other areas of their lives. Would they trust God in the dark as much as they trusted him in the daylight of their lives? It wasn’t until that door was shut that they were even interesting in looking at another opportunity. There seemed to be a testing in their life.
Why do brooks dry up? -To teach us to move on to be alert to new instruction, to test our faith, to keep us from being content in our surroundings. That brook didn’t mean a thing. God did. He was the provider. It wasn’t the ravens or the trickle of the stream.
I do not like the testing times in my life. I want answers that I cannot come up with clearly. I have feelings I want to get rid of quickly. I want situations to change immediately. But God puts me through experiences to test me and try my faith. I find there is no one else to turn to. That the things I trust sometimes become more important than the person I am to trust. Circumstances can become more important than the most important relationship. We need to be barren at times to trust God alone and bury our self-centeredness. We need experiences beyond us so that we learn to learn.
I read a prayer that was found in Eleanor Roosevelt’s Bible “Lord may our opportunities always exceed our abilities that we may ever trust thee for strength.”
Jesus was 40 days of testing in the wilderness before he began his public ministry. What about your times of testing? You will have them. Will you remain faithful through them? Can you be convinced that God will not let you down? When it is the roughest He will be there to pick you up, and give you the strength to endure. Then you will be more like Jesus.
2 Cor 1:3-5 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of all compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God For just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into the our lives, so also through Christ our comfort overflows.”
Pastor Dale
Sermon Nuggets Fri Feb 5
Verses I King 17:9-16 "Go at once to Zarephath of Sidon and stay there. I have commanded a widow in that place to supply you with food."
10 So he went to Zarephath. When he came to the town gate, a widow was there gathering sticks. He called to her and asked, "Would you bring me a little water in a jar so I may have a drink?"
11 As she was going to get it, he called, "And bring me, please, a piece of bread."
12 "As surely as the LORD your God lives," she replied, "I don't have any bread-- only a handful of flour in a jar and a little oil in a jug. I am gathering a few sticks to take home and make a meal for myself and my son, that we may eat it-- and die."
13 Elijah said to her, "Don't be afraid. Go home and do as you have said. But first make a small cake of bread for me from what you have and bring it to me, and then make something for yourself and your son.
14 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 the LORD gives rain on the land.'"
15 She went away and did as Elijah had told her. So there was food every day for Elijah and for the woman and her family.
16 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. (NIV)
Trusting Involves a Step of Sacrifice.
Trusting is complete when we can give up that which we think we need the most believing in God. Elijah was told now to go to the city of Zarephath of Sidon. That was where Jezebel was raised. That is the area of Baal worship. That was pagan land not occupied by the nation of Israel. Elijah was sent many miles away to a Gentile widow woman. But we recognize the important steps he too of obedience, waiting, and testing. In obedience God was going to provide food in a different way.
Remember when the apostle Peter was keeping the Jewish law so as not to have contact with Gentiles? Yet interestingly Elijah was told to go and eat with a gentile woman and receive her hospitality. She was not a woman of means, but indeed the very opposite. She was in great need. Peter had to have a vision from the Lord 3 times on the roof-top of unclean animals to eat. Peter had to learn what God makes clean is clean. That was the opening to spreading the gospel among the Gentiles.
I just wonder if that is what happened partly in the desert at Kerith. There were unclean birds, the ravens, that provided Elijah’s food. He took it and ate it as it was from God. Now the Lord is sending him to this unclean Gentile woman. I believe God is showing Elijah and us that throughout the history of Israel He was working among non Jewish people as well.
Elijah asked for a drink and she agreed to give him some. He also asked for bread. But she didn’t have but enough flour and oil to make but one supper and then die of starvation. What would you do if you had only enough food for one more meal and a stranger, who was also from a different race, came and asked for food? More than likely you would do what I would do. No way! But when Elijah speaks of the God of Israel, she knew this was a prophet from the God. She may have even known that he was the one the whole country side was looking for.
Here is the step of sacrifice that leads to trust. Would you be wiling to give even what little you have in trusting God first? By faith she was willing to give up first what she had believing the Word of God that He would provide. He asked for a sacrifice. The feeding of the prophet of God before her son was not only a test, but a sacrifice.
This reminds me of an old Country Western song about a fellow finding a pump in the dessert. It has a sign saying the water is clean and pure and there is plenty of it, but first you must take the jar of water that is buried beside it to moisten the washers with all the water. Do not take a drink from the water. It is a step of faith. Giving up what water when you are thirsty is a step of faith that requires the sacrifice of what you need believing the word so you and others will receive what you need.
God wants us to trust Him with the little bit that you have. Give it to Him and I will multiply it beyond your imagination if it is in accordance with his truth. The God of miracles could have easily given a whole roomful of food for the next 2 years supply. But the lesson was to trust God for one’s daily need, continually applying faith. They must sacrifice to God what they had first, and He would supply the rest. Bread was given day by day. Strength that God gives is for the moment, not before and not after, but just for the time you need it. We must continually be looking to him for our strength. God he does not want us to trust the gifts he gives, but Himself as the giver.
I know a friend of our family in Detroit who was unemployed and his resources were running out. He prayed often for a job and nothing came. He attended the church meeting one evening and heard the plight of mission program. He sensed God wanting him to give his last $5.00. He thought of his need and wisdom said he shouldn’t. But out of obedience and sacrifice he put it in the offering plate- all he had. Tomorrow he would go beg for food.
Following the service one of the men from the church offered him a job to start immediately in the morning, food provided. He couldn’t believe it. He was not manipulated by some manipulative evangelist; his dealings were between him and God. His faith was not in what he gave but in obedience to trust the Lord with what he was prompted to do.
The story is told of Dr. Henry Ironsides from the Moody church met with some founders of Dallas Theological Seminary realizing there was a debt of $10,000 that had to be paid before the school was in forecloser. Henry prayed, “Lord, we know that the cattle on a thousand hills are Thine. Please sell some of them and send us the money.”
While they were praying a tall Texan with boots on and an open collar came into the business office and said, “I just sold two carloads of cattle in Fort Worth. I’ve been trying to make a business deal go through and it won’t work. I felt God is compelling me to give this money to the Seminary.”
The secretary took the check to where the men were praying and it was the exact amount of the debt.
There are many stories of people compelled to sacrifice under the direction of the Lord who find that with obedience, waiting, testing and sacrifice, God is worthy of their trust.
This widow found a little bit and God was enough.
Pastor Dale
