Preparation for the Battle

Today on Summit Life with J.D. Greer. Elijah's greatest enemy was not his weakness it was his strength and he's about to go into a battle where he's not going to have the strength to do it so God first has to take him back to the brook Cherith to remove his most basic abilities because there he'll learn to depend on God and sometimes God makes you weak so that you can find your strength in him.

Has this happened to you? Welcome to Summit Life, the Bible teaching ministry of J.D. Greer, lead pastor of the Summit Church in Raleigh, North Carolina.

I'm your host Molly Vidovich. Have you noticed that a lot of people these days tend to see religion as a personal choice? It's not so much about discovering truth as it is about finding the faith that works for you but in our brand new series called Something Better, Pastor J.D.

explains why that attitude doesn't really work. We're looking at the book of first kings and the life of the prophet Elijah. It's a period in Israel's history that's eerily similar to our world today. So grab your Bible and we'll be in the Old Testament today. Let's jump right in. Pastor J.D.

titled this message Preparation for the Battle. The question for most Americans is not is there a God? The question for most Americans is which God is the right one and how can we know which God is the right one or is that even the kind of thing that you can know? You've all heard proverbs like you know the the God's like a mountain and whatever way you choose to get the top is up to you. You're all headed to the same place. Maybe you think that there's you know good truth in every religion and what you got to do is you got to take the best out of the different religions and kind of come up with what what works for you.

That's the world that we live in which makes what we're going to study over the next few weeks together particularly relevant. We're going to study through the lives of a couple of Old Testament characters who God raised up during a time when Israel as a nation was considering this very question which God is the right one. And those characters go by the names of Elijah and Elisha. So if you have a Bible I'd love for you to take it out now and open it to the book of First Kings chapter 17. First Kings 17.

Let me give you a little historical context getting into First Kings. Israel, if you know anything about the Bible, Israel was founded as a monotheistic nation. God called them out of Egypt around the worship of the one God Jehovah. But between that exodus and the book of First Kings a lot has happened. Namely there's been a civil war. The civil war that's divided the northern kingdom and the southern kingdom. The northern kingdom is called Israel and there are 10 of the tribes. The southern kingdom is only two tribes and it's called Judah. Well Israel the northern kingdom has a succession of really bad ungodly kings.

19 of them to be exact spanning about 200 years. Culminating in the worst king ever. King Ahab the queen mother of all the bad kings it says First Kings says that he did more evil in God's sight than any other king who had ever come before him. Well Ahab married a cute little thing from the neighboring pagan nation of Sidon called Jezebel. Now Jezebel has become sort of the epitome of the evil woman in our culture. That's why not many girls that you know are named Jezebel.

Most of us think of Jezebel as something that's not flattering. There's a reason for that because Jezebel was just a wicked woman. She brought into Israel the worship of her two favorite gods which were Baal and Asherah and she set up temples to worship them all over the countryside of Israel. The people of Israel are so far away from God at this point that they go along with her because Baal and Asherah promise two things that Israel really felt like they needed which were protection and prosperity. Well as they start to worship these gods the worship gets increasingly dark. Jezebel after she's firmly entrenched in power has hundreds of God's prophets Hebrew prophets slaughtered and in their place she sets up priests and prophets of her own.

So for the first time the point is this for the first time in Israel's history we're dealing with a pluralistic society which means that everybody has their own different god. By the way when I was a kid and I would hear Baal mentioned I always thought Baal meant one god named named Baal. But Baal is more like a title than it is a name.

There were hundreds of Baals. There was the Baal of nature the Baal of rain and there was the Baal of fertility. Each career field had its own Baal. You had the Baal of medicine the Baal of business success the Baal of the harvest whose nickname was the Baal of hay.

That's just a joke I just made that up. There was the Baal of scholarship. Each region had its own Baal. Into this situation this pluralistic situation God sends a man named Elijah and the whole point of Elijah's life is which God is the real God and is there a way to know which God is the real God or is it whatever Baal works for you is fine. Elijah's name means in Hebrew literally the Lord is God which kind of gives you the punch line of his life but that was his life's calling to show that the Lord was the only true God. The primary scene in Elijah's life is going to take place in first Kings 18 where there's a showdown between the prophets of Baal and Elijah the prophet of God on top of Mount Carmel to see which one's the real God and it's a battle of prayer to see which God answers from heaven by fire and biblical scholars tell us that every other scene in Elijah's life rotates around that one.

They're either headed to that mountain or they're coming from that mountain. So the point is that our world that we live in today is much like Elijah's and therefore we got a lot that we can learn from Elijah. Maybe more than any other Old Testament prophet we're dealing with somebody who was called to be God's prophet in the midst of a context very much like you and I are here. How can we be effective showing our society that God he's the only true God? I mean you realize this but no longer are we simply calling people in our society to come back to church.

Maybe it was like that 30 years ago but now it's not. When you're dealing with people you're in a completely different context. How can you be effective? You ever feel like you ever wonder am I actually making a difference in my work and making one of my family?

Am I making one in my school? Maybe you get confronted with questions you're like I don't even know what to say to that. You know it happened to me not too long ago. I was in an airport which I know you think everything significant happens to me happens around an airport and you're probably right. But I was in the airport getting ready to get on an airplane that was waiting room was packed and the waiting area and so I look I'm reading a book about God it says something about that the title and I look up and there's this woman just staring at me right across the row and so I just tried to ignore and look back down in my book and look back up at her and she's still staring I'm like I wonder if she goes to the summit church and so I look up at her and she she got a big smile she says you like God and I was like all right let's go here and so I you know I answered her question and we started to talk a little bit and she goes you know I can't tell you how comforting it is to know that there's going to be a pastor on the flight that we're about to get I was like why is that she's like well because God certainly will send the plane down with you on it I'm like you know whatever brings you comfort and so she says I consider myself a really religious person too she says I wouldn't really call myself a Christian she says I'm probably you know 60 percent Christian but I've tried to take a little bit from the different parts and I've kind of come up with something that really that really works for me well about the time that she's in the midst of this sitting next to her is this this older couple which is one of those sweet older couples where the the lady is talking to the man in a voice well she he's about two feet from her but she's talking to him like he's about 35 feet from her hey you know I'm talking about one of those sweet old people like that and so she's she's just talking to him loud enough for everybody in the airport to hear her and she has the newspaper out and she's reading the horoscope and she's like oh look at it you know the horoscope says that my sign's gonna have peace today so we got a safe flight coming up well my little woman over here thinks that this is the greatest thing she's ever heard in her life she's like wow really she goes the horoscope says it can I see that she looks at it and she looks at and she's like we got a past and as she's reviewing this the guy three seats down from her leans forward and says I got Saint Christopher right here in the bag and I'm like what bag and are you allowed to carry him on that's the patron saint of traveling and and this woman over here says she goes we got a pastor we got the horoscope we got Saint Christopher this is awesome and I'm like who are you people who are you people you probably found yourself at some point you're like I don't even know what to say it to these kind of questions right how how are you effective in in this kind of context we have missionaries in places members of our church where the worship of other gods is the official state religion where literal Jezebels are trying to kill them how are they supposed to conduct themselves in that kind of context that's what these stories are about let me tell you what's really encouraging to me when God wanted to do something about this situation in Israel he didn't raise up an army he could have he didn't raise up 10,000 people and like hey I got 10,000 now they make an awesome group we got congressman in there and rich people and we got people who write music and our sports teams are better than their sports he didn't do that he raised up one man one man and I believe that's what God wants to do today and through this series he wants to raise up some of you as an Elijah in your circle of friends he wants to raise you up as a man or woman as an Elijah in your workplace an Elijah in your family one business leader to stand for integrity within an organization that is corrupt one teenager who will stand for purity and the truth of God's word in a school where they're the only one it seems that's going to stand that way and just the way that God changed Israel through the ministry of one man I believe he's going to raise up some of those men and women over the next several weeks at least that's what I'm believing God for and some of you that are listening to me right now are going to be that Elijah and if you are one of those who are not convinced that there is only one God or you're not convinced that the Christian God is the true God these stories are going to present you with reasons that you at least ought to consider about why God is the only true God listen pluralism is not new that's not something we invented in the 21st century after we became sophisticated and globalized pluralism is as old as the world itself in fact it's one of the oldest religions you're ever going to find the idea that there's multiple gods and you got to find one that works for you when somebody when somebody says to me when somebody says to me you know all religions are the same when somebody says that to me I don't really know how to respond I always put it in the category of this hear me out here I put it in the same category of when I hear somebody say that everybody else in another race all looks the same like like when I lived in southeast Asia I would have um when I first got there one of the guys I met um southeast Asian guy comes up and says you look like Kevin Costner I'm like all right movie star yeah about two weeks later somebody else says you look just like Sylvester Stallone and I'm like you think all white people look the same that's the problem isn't it when somebody says that what you end up thinking about them is like well you must not actually know anybody from that other race or you may never have you probably never paid attention you're kind of a bigot right when somebody says to me all religions are the same I'm like you must not actually know any of them you're kind of a religious bigot and so what I want to invite you to do is just kind of put that bigotry down and actually consider what the bible presents about god and the uniqueness of god is god and at least consider what's being said all of us don't we don't all of us know somebody who asked this question today we're going to look specifically at how god prepared Elijah for this conflict you see the stories of Elijah go from from big picture what god is doing in the world through Elijah and then they zoom back down to what god is doing in Elijah's heart they kind of go in that rhythm and so we're going to look first at what god is doing big than what he's doing in Elijah because you're going to see today that god has one major obstacle to overcome in using Elijah one and when god conquers this one thing in us this one area that he conquers becomes the source of most of his power in our lives now let me give you a little warning this is totally different than the culture that you live in and what you've been programmed to believe it's most likely different than what your parents taught you even if they were good parents it's different than what your teachers filled you with and it's different than what your coach has said to you all right so here we go first king 17 verse 1 now Elijah the Tishbite when I was a kid we always pronounce that tick bite when I was in middle school we translated that as tush bite but neither of those is correct all right it's Tishbite because he was from Tishba in Gilead he said Ahab as the lord the god of Israel lives before whom I stand there shall be neither dew nor rain these years except by my word if you remember one of the main bales was the bale of rain so what Elijah is doing is going up all in the bales business going into his hometown on his home court saying I own this court that's what's happening he's like you think you control your guy controls you think bail controls rain I tell you what for three years we're not going to have rain until I say it's time to have rain because I serve the god of the universe so he's just picked a fight verse two and the word of the lord came to him depart from here and turn eastward and hide yourself by the brook cherith which is east of the Jordan you shall drink from the brook and I've commanded the ravens to feed you there so he went and did according to the word of the lord he went and lived by the brook cherith that is east of the Jordan and the ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning and bread and meat in the evening and he drank from the brook which proves that spirit-filled people eat lots of meat because whenever god hand selects the menu it always includes meat all right look it up that's probably not the main point of this passage but I I couldn't let that go all right all right what you have here is what I told you about a minute ago that you're going from the big picture of what god is doing through Elijah in the world verse one and narrowing down really quickly into what god is doing in Elijah's heart and god is going to teach Elijah one major lesson one major lesson he has to teach to anybody that he uses you ready here it is the lesson of complete dependence the lesson of complete dependence and here's how we did it Elijah was a man like any man who had always taken care of himself he'd gotten a job he'd earned some money he'd spent that money to take care of his needs but then god takes that ability away from him and puts him in a place where Elijah has to depend on the special provision of god for the food that he eats and even the water that he drinks Elijah functionally speaking is like a baby I mean a baby is totally dependent on the parent to give it the food and and water that's what Elijah a grown man has been reduced to the ravens bring him food and the water brings him something to drink the brook that god placed him by was called the brook sheriff sheriff in Hebrew literally means to cut down in other words god is saying to Elijah Elijah I'm going to cut you down I'm going to remove from you any strength you have in yourself I'm even going to remove the ability that you have to take care of your own most basic needs and I'm going to teach you I'm going to reduce you to the status of an infant and teach you to depend completely on me write this down before god can use us he must first break us before god can use us he must first break us and sometimes god does this to you and you can't figure out what he's doing right sometimes god does this to you and you're like I don't understand what you're doing god or why you would let this happen you've been there maybe some of you were there this morning somebody lets you down a friend betrays you your spouse maybe a father or mother lets you down something or someone that you've always depended on gets taken away you lose a talent that you've always had you lose a job you get passed up for an opportunity that you believe that you should have the school that you'd always plan on getting into suddenly the door closes in front of your face and that opportunity that you thought was going to be yours that was going to provide for your future is no longer open to you and now you face the prospect of a future without that something or someone in it that you really thought would be there and it's a point of profound weakness and you're not quite sure what to do god was doing this to elijah as a way of preparing him to use him in the same way god is at work in those things in you removing false idols and teaching you to depend totally on him the way aw tozer said that is this it is doubtful whether god can bless a man greatly until he has hurt him deeply i i know a lot of you life i were like hey how many want to be used by god how many want to be blessed by god how many want to have god's power and you're like oh sign me up you want to go down this path it is doubtful whether god can actually use a man greatly or bless him greatly until he's hurt hurt him very deeply craig rochelle says that this story reminds him of the story the little bird who got a late start flying south for winter because he got a late start he got caught in a snowstorm the snowstorm was so bad that his wings froze and so he had to make a crash landing he's there crash landed with his wings frozen can't fly thinks he's going to die when along by comes a cow who takes a dump on him and he's like now this just went from bad to worse because now my wings are frozen and a cow just took a dump on me but the manure warms his wings and they thaw and he realizes that he's going to be able to fly again so we get so happy about it he begins to chirp and sing well this attracts a cat who comes along and eats him and there are three things that we can learn from this story number one not everyone who drops manure on you is your enemy lesson number two not everyone who digs you out is your friend lesson number three when you're in manure sometimes it's helpful for you just to keep your little chirper shut all right you see god now i know some of you that is the only thing that you're going to remember from the sermon you're like what was the sermon about some old testament i don't know anything about the bird and the manure god is at work in your disappointment and your pain removing your idols which is your false sources of trust and joy and hope making you depend on him write this down write this down if dependence is the objective then weakness is an advantage if dependence is the objective then weakness is an advantage elijah's greatest enemy was not his weakness it was his strength and he's about to go into a battle where he's not going to have the strength to do it so god first has to take him back to the brook cherith to remove his most basic abilities because there he'll learn to depend on god and sometimes god makes you weak so that you can find your strength in him has this happened to you second corinthians 12 9 paul says it this way therefore i will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses so that christ power may rest on me how crazy is that statement i will boast about my weaknesses when's the last time you did that hey let me tell you how let me tell you about my weaknesses let me tell you things i stink at i was thinking this week just about where i've seen this principle played out in my life and several things came to mind one the first one was when i um was a missionary over in southeast asia i've been there for seven or eight months and my roommate he was also a good friend um he this is going to raise more questions i don't have time to answer them he developed this condition where he developed 103 kidney stones in his left kidney and so obviously he had to be medevacked out well that removed for me the only english speaker within a hundred miles of where i lived and i was by myself in that little city where i was for about four months and looking back on it now i i realized very clearly that that marked a turning point in the effectiveness of anything i did in that region god took what was a weakness he wounded me he he took a weakness and he made it the strongest point of the ministry that i was a part of i thought about my own ministry here in the united states over the last 20 years veronica and i were talking about this the other night that um there are a couple skills that i lack in ministry but i've noticed that over the last 20 years that these skills that i lack and because i've told god that since he called me in ministry i've got to do this but i'm really i stink at this um god has always in every ministry i've been a part of supplied somebody who would come alongside me that was strong in that area sometimes it was a volunteer sometimes it was a friend sometimes it was another staff member and i can tell you over 20 years that these areas that i'm the weakest at have been the strongest areas in the organizations that i lead why because god takes a point of weakness and god makes it a point of strength rejoicing in our weaknesses may not come easily but what a gift and freedom what an encouraging message from pastor jd greer you're listening to summit life and today was the first message in our new series called something better you can find today's teaching and much more online when you visit jdgrier.com so pastor jd as we're kicking off the series today we've got a brand new resource for our listeners you've written a new study book based on this two-part teaching series the something better and something greater about elijah and elijah can you give us a brief intro for some of the topics that are covered in this new study yeah i would love to in the something better part of our study we're going to see how elijah confronted a pluralistic religious environment much like our own that certainly if you're out in the public square whether that's in education or your business place or you're just talking with a neighbor you're going to find that there's this attitude of look you've got your god you've got your religion i've got mine religion is a private matter elijah and elijah believe it or not confronted an environment very much like that what elijah shows us is that there really is only one true god and he has revealed himself to us if we want to make it safely into heaven if we want to live with his presence and his power we don't define our own way he lays out the truth about himself he lays out the path of salvation elijah comes along and his ministry is very similar but i would tweak it slightly and say he shows us the something greater the secret behind elijah's power here on earth was his fierce devotion to the god of heaven he left an amazing legacy in this life not because he he was thinking about how to to establish himself and his kingdom here but because he was focused on what god's agenda was an agenda that was eternal and timeless this is an eight-part study that will take you through the ministries of two of the old testament's most eccentric and most powerful prophets it's got short chapters that align directly with the teaching that's airing on the broadcast right now it's got an interactive workbook style kind of layout of the questions deeper scripture study prayer prompts you can learn more about this and just get connected to us just go to jdgrier.com and you'll see it as the featured resource just like god shaped elijah to get him battle ready he wants to shape you to make you a mighty warrior for his kingdom and this book will help you do just that so we'd love for you to get a copy today you can request something better something greater a study of elijah and elisha by pastor jd when you donate today to support this ministry at the suggested level of 25 dollars or more the book is just one way for us to say thanks for your support and to stay connected your gifts make it possible for these daily messages to be heard on both the radio and the web providing people around the world the opportunity to dive deeper into the gospel with us every day so join that mission when you give by calling 866-335-5220 that's 866-335-5220 or it might be easier to give online at jdgrier.com and remember to ask for your copy of something better something greater i'm molly vidovich so glad to have you with us and be sure to join us tomorrow as we continue our brand new series called something better that's wednesday on summit life with jd greer today's program was produced and sponsored by jd greer ministries