LIMAVADY INDEPENDENT
METHODIST CHURCH
SERMON NOTES FROM SUNDAY
12 JUNE 2022
1 KINGS 19 VERSES 1 TO 8
Elijah – the
man who nearly gave up. We see Elijah as
a mighty prophet of God. The
circumstances in Elijah’s life brought change rapidly and quickly. How that can happen to us too! How many in our little province and across
the nation are not in the same situation as Elijah was here? There are many today trying to make ends
meet. Many are opening up envelopes and
are scared to do so because it is the next electricity or gas bill. They are sitting in a solitary place. That is where Elijah was. James tells us more about this man. “He was a man of like passions as we are.” (James
5 verse 17) He was prone to
discouragement. Just like you and me. Maybe there have been things in the past week
that have discouraged us. Elijah was at
the point where his prayer is that the Lord would allow him to die. He had come to an end in himself. He was sitting under a juniper tree, and he
lifted his voice to God and said, “Lord let me die.” He was a man ready to give up. Do you ever get to that stage – where you
think life is not worth living anymore?
Some times we don’t fully understand what God says when he says “no” but
it is wonderful that God said “no” to Elijah on this occasion and it became a
great blessing. Here was a man ready to give up and God says, “no I have so
much more for you.”
Elijah comes
to a lonely place. We see him
sitting alone with his thoughts and fears, taking his eyes off God, getting a
handle on the circumstances that were coming in around his life. He cannot go on another step. He had taken his stand against one of the wickedest
kings in Israel, Ahab. Elijah was called
out by God. He goes into Ahab and tells
him “I have a word from the Lord for you and this nation. God will close the windows of heaven and
there will be no rain. As a result,
there will be great poverty.” Then we
see him on Mount Carmel challenging the false prophets of Baal, 800 of
them. He was standing alone, and he
brought the word of God to them. “Why
halt ye between 2 opinions. I see that
you have a longing for the God of Israel, yet you follow Baal.” He was challenging them. There is no fear in his heart. Such a man or woman will be noticed by the
enemy of our souls. If you want to take
your stand for the Lord in these days, then you will be attacked at some
point. The devil will do all in his
power to bring you down. There was a day
when you saw Calvary, when the Holy Spirit lifted your eyes and showed you the
perfect Lamb of God dying for your sin.
That day you bowed your knees and gave your life to Christ. That is when the devil will follow your
footsteps and try to bring you down. Jezebel
sent word to Elijah that she would take his life when she discovered that he
had put 800 prophets of Baal to death. Verse
3 “and when he saw that” - he took his eyes off the God of heaven. They had been on God when he stood before
Ahab, at the brook Cherith and on Mount Carmel, now his circumstances had
changed so quickly. His thoughts were on
the threat to his life. What does he
do? He flees, he runs away. When I read Psalm 73, a psalm given over to the
chief musician Asaph, I read in verse 2 “my feet were almost gone.” His feet were slipping – why – verse 3 “I was
envious at the foolish and saw the prosperity of the wicked.” He got his eyes off the Lord and placed them
on the circumstances of everyone else.
His feet were almost gone. Nearly
given up. Sometimes we go through a time
of serving the Lord just like Elijah, we enjoy the message of the gospel mission
then comes the devil with a word of discouragement. He reminds us of our failures. Maybe Elijah felt the success of Carmel and
thought Ahab and Jezebel would be stirred and follow after God. In fact, it made Jezebel even harder. In verse 3 we read “and left his servant
there.” Maybe he had shared with that
man. He had gone with Elijah as far as he
could but came to a point where he couldn’t go any further. Maybe he tried to convince him to go no
further. He stopped at that point. Scripture says in verse 4 “he himself went a day’s
journey into the wilderness.” For a full
day he is plodding on. He has aching
limbs, there is a weariness in his body, he was walking in the heat of the day
with all his negative thoughts in his mind. Have you ever been there? Maybe it is a lonely place. Verse 10 “and I even I only am left, and they
seek my life to take it.” He felt he had
nobody, nothing. Paul wrote to Timothy “At
my first answer no man stood with me, but all men forsook me; I pray God that
it may not be laid to their charge.” (2Timothy 4 verse 16) Think of Jesus as he entered the Garden of
Gethsemane. He left his disciples and
went a little further. When he came back
to them, he found them sleeping. He
prayed “Father if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless, not
my will, but thine be done.” (Luke 22 verse 42)
Elijah experienced
a living presence. We can feel that
anywhere. It tells us in verse 5 “an
angel touched him.” The last place where
you would find an angel but that is where it was. Elijah was sitting alone under the shade of a
tree. God knew exactly where he was, and
he told the angel to touch him. God has
his messenger there for his servant. God
knew his situation and sent an angel. A
messenger of God. Could God trust you
and me to do that? To bring his message
to someone today. You don’t know what they are feeling, know
nothing about them but God is putting someone in your mind just to reach out to
them even today. God was speaking to his
heavenly messenger. Are we in that place
today? Is there someone like Elijah, all
alone, sitting somewhere today waiting for you to stop and talk with them? “Are they not all ministering spirits, sent
forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?” (Hebrews 1 verse 14) Take encouragement from this. God knows where I am and knows what I am
feeling and knows what I need. Even when
Elijah sat at the brook Cherith God knew all about him. He spoke to the ravens and told them to carry
him meat. Think of Hagar, Sarah’s
maid. Sarah couldn’t have a child of her
own to fulfil the promise of God. She
gave Hagar to her husband Abraham to bear him a child. When Hagar gave birth, she was despised by
Sarah and cast out of the home. She was
sent out into the wilderness with a cruise of water. Hagar wandered in the wilderness until her
water was finished. She put her child
under a bush and God heard the boy’s crying.
God spoke to Hagar through the gloom and darkness. He helped her to see her future was brighter
than she ever thought. It is possible
that God’s future for us is brighter than we can imagine because God has great
things planned for us.
Elijah learned
God’s plan. He was in a very low
spiritual condition, yet God hadn’t finished with him. Perhaps he felt God was finished with him,
but God knew better. The devil brings us
under attack, but God is not finished with us.
Elijah was exhausted and weak from his encounter on Mount Carmel with the
prophets of Baal. The plan from God was simple
– rest and eat, then more resting and more eating. He needed to take care of his physical
being. There comes a time when we need
to take rest. The devil can burn us out
very quickly, chasing our tails but God didn’t give up. Think of it in the life of the Prodigal Son. He took the inheritance from his father
early. He went off to a far country and
had a riotous life. He ended up as a
pauper. He had no friends. He was in a lonely place and then he thought “if
I go back to my father, I could be a servant which would be better than where I
am now. He never thought of what he would
see that day – his father waiting for him.
A demonstration of love so clearly.
God told Elijah “I love you and I am not finished with you yet.” He says the same to us today.
Elijah’s leading
was provided. This man of God has wanted
to die. He saw himself as a failure. Life was of no more consequence to him. In verse 7 we see he had a journey to
take. It was too great for the natural
mind. The act of obedience is seen – “and
he arose and did eat and drink and went in the strength of that meat forty days
and forty nights unto Horeb the mount of God.”
The journey we are on is strenuous.
We are not able for it. What God
gives us will sustain for the task ahead whatever that task may be. In verse 8 we see the obedience – God took
him up and sent him out. He had a king
to anoint and a man to choose to fill his shoes. So much work to do. God takes him up and made him get on with the
task. God still takes us up today. HeE never gives up – that is the message from
this passage to us today.
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