Welcome To The River. City Church podcast and a
message by our lead. Pastor Jason Powers our prayer
is that this message would Inspire and encourage you, build
your faith. And point you to the
life-changing love of Jesus, may you enjoy the goodness of God as
you follow him today, if you have your Bible and I hope you
do or you have it on your phone or your iPad or smoke signals or
however. It is it, you get it.
You can be in first Kings chapter 17, we're going to spend
most of our time their day. It's one of my favorite stories
that one My favorite characters in scripture but before I want
to just kind of recap we're in Lent, right?
And lent is a season where it's kind of a on the church
calendar. It's a season where we say no to
our flesh by giving up something so that we can say yes to the
Lord and it can be difficult. But what we saw last week was
why about how that kind of helps us build habits?
And I saw a quote, this week that is usually incorrectly
attributed to Aristotle. That said we are what we
repeatedly. Italy, do Excellence, then is
not an act, but a habit. Right.
Excellence is a habit when we do things the right way over and
over and over again, we just get used to doing those things so
that it becomes what we do. Now, what you can do in this
situation, based on the conversations that we've had
over the last couple weeks, since you can replace that word
excellence with Christianity, right?
Christianity then is not an act, but it is a habit.
It is this habit of the Kingdom, Come On Earth as it is.
In heaven, were God's will, and his rule in his Reign reign.
Over us and with us before. And so what we've talked last
week about it was like these building these spiritual habits.
So that we saw how Jesus responds to the crowds.
And the people into a situation to scarcity was very different
from his disciples and he said the way and it was Jesus
response. Was a habitual response.
And so, we saw some of those things as what makes up this
church season of Lent. And so the question is, how are
you doing with lint? Some of you said, hey I'll give
up food. I'll fast one day a week.
Some of you said I'll give up, you know, face.
Book I'll get up. My lint was I said I'm going to
give up noise, right? Gonna go real spiritual sure
I've got specifically what that meant was in my car.
I'm not going to listen to the radio right?
And when I go for a walk I walk twice a day.
I'm not going to listen to my are pods, whatever like this.
And so I did it. And I was like, do I felt so
spiritual? I was like, Lord.
I'm just gonna listen to you and I'm gonna hear you, what's crazy
was all I could hear in my head the whole time was my own
neuroses, right? You know what I like?
You know what it sounded like anxiety.
Right? It sounded like, like, all this
stuff, right? And so, do you know what I did
about Thursday? At?
Turn the radio back on. And you know what that means I
failed lent. And so, I stand here today to
Rosato, I don't do that. Do you know why?
Because winning or failing at lent, is not what your salvation
is about. The point of Lent is to do
exactly that. Do you know what?
I realized this length. This length is like I said I was
going to do this for 40 days. I went like a Time.
So in that moment, when I turn it on, I'm listening to Morgan
Walnut, probably. It's probably like a, you know,
a worship song. So, I, you know, mitigated the
things that the guilt a little bit, right?
But, that moment, I just go, wow, Lord, I am not nearly as
spiritual as I would like to pretend my flesh is way stronger
even than I was aware of and even something like turning the
radio off for 40 days. Is just outside of my ability to
do it. And Lord, I am weak, and I
really need you. And, you know what I heard when
I, when I sensed, when I did that to Yuri from the Lord, like
he was just mad at me. No, he's like is like let's do
it. Let's go because that's what
Grace is, right? And so now what I had to realize
the number one, I am not who I thought I was for myself and
whatever disappointment. I encountered in that moment, I
had to come to the realization that I didn't meet that same
disappointment in the Lord. Is different from me.
He was unusual unique distinct from who I am.
So, we're continuing with lent, or continuing to kind of try to
understand this kind of weird and and even goofy kind of
season that goes on around it. And the idea is the more that we
practice these disciplines, right?
The idea is what I wish I would have done.
Was that when I had those anxieties, I would have taken
that anxiety. I don't know.
Said, Lord. I'm really freaked out about
this. My kids are going to graduate in
a year now. My Lord, I'm really freaked out
that it's not all. All in there, right?
I'm worried that we're not going to have enough money, I'm
worried about this. And instead of that I'm just
like, no, I would rather just drown that out, right?
Because, like, for three or four days, I tried to make sense of
all that, right? And so, but the idea is the
longer that you walk into that, the longer that you discipline
yourself with those practices, the more you begin to be
transformed, right? And the more that you say, yes
to God, and the more you become transformed, the more you become
to be empowered, right? And the idea behind empowered is
having the power to Live well in this world which we've seen come
up, looks will look a lot like the Garden of Eden, not so much
in, just like the plants and the trees and all that, but
invocation in worship and relationship and all of that,
right? So we're going to be in first
Kings chapter 17 today and we're going to see something that is
there going to be relevant for us.
But it's important because we're gonna look at the Prophet Elijah
and kind of what it may be the defining experience in Elijah's
life. Right now, we're going to kind
of make some correlations to lent, but it's really important
that we know that we Understand, Elijah wasn't practicing lint,
right? Like last week, when Jesus fed
the 5,000 that wasn't like his Linton exercise right there just
going through life doing their things, living out their
vocation and they're all that and God used them in that moment
and we can learn from it and we can teach front, right?
Okay. So let's see what it looks like.
We're in First Kings, chapter 17 and I'm going to start and when
we're going to cover a lot of ground today, okay?
But I'm going to try to move fast First, Kings chapter 17.
Now Elijah the tishbite. I just not Elijah, forgive me.
Elijah, the tishbite of Tish be in Gilead said to Ahab.
Ahab was the king of the Northern Kingdom of Israel.
And he said as the Lord the god of Israel lives before whom I
stand, there shall be neither do narain these seven years except
by my word. Now, Elijah is standing in his
office. What we call the office of the
prophet and what the prophet does is prophesied to the king.
You're staring down a drought and a A drought is going to come
and the only reason, the only way that drought is going to end
is when I say so now let me just ask you are you bold enough to
do that? You bold enough to go into the
governor's office and stand there and just be like, hey gov,
guess what? Not rain, not do not miss.
Not nothing until I say. So that's a lot, right?
Like you put yourself on the hook there.
Okay. So what would make a person do
that? That's the question.
Who would Do that. So he goes on verse 2 and the
word of the Lord came to him. Came to Elijah, and he said,
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 you shall command the Ravens
to feed you there. So, God tells Elijah.
I want you to go say this to the king and when he says it to the
king, he says God says, alright. Elijah now you got to get out
there and you got to go stay by this Brook.
And I'm going to take care of you there and where you go
there, that's going to be good. Now the question is, can we do
this? Can you do you as a Christian?
Have the authority to go to the governor and say it's not going
to rain. Well let's see, we're going to
go to Deuteronomy chapter 11 real quick context for chapter
of due to its ver Deuteronomy is the people of God, the company
of Israel, the whole nation standing down on the mountain
ready to go into the promised land and God is telling them the
Covenant the agreement, right? We've talked about covenants, go
back a couple weeks. The Covenant was God saying this
is the agreement between us write.
The law is going to come and as you obey the law you're going to
live and you're going to have this blessing and Prosperity,
right. So here's what we read,
Deuteronomy, chapter 11, verse 16 God through.
Moses says this to the people of Israel, take care, lest your
heart, be deceived and you turn aside and serve other gods and
worship them, right? So he's saying don't be
idolaters verse 17, then the anger of the Lord will be
kindled against you, and what? And he will shut up the Heavens
so that there will be no rain. And the land will yield, no
fruit. And you will perish quickly off
the good land that the Lord is giving you.
So Elijah didn't just go to the King on his own accord God had
told the people of Israel when you do this, when you forsake
me, when you start worshiping other gods and other things,
then the rain is going to dry up.
And you're like, well, God. That's kind of petty, isn't it?
Right. Here's the thing.
Who makes it rain God. So, if you go back to the
Garden, right? And Adam and Eve were standing
there right in God, had provided everything for them.
What was the Temptation that Adam and Eve faced Adam?
Eve, wouldn't it be better to take this fruit?
That's good for food. That's pleasing to the site and
it's pleasing to make you wise, right?
Wouldn't it be easier to just take that fruit and get all of
that Adam and Eve rather than just waiting on God?
That's better right? When you drive it as have all
the stuff without God and Adam and Eve were like, heck, yes, it
would. So they took it and they eat it.
Now what's going on in that is this mindset.
That says, we want all your stuff.
God, we just don't want you. And so, what we're finding is
the The same thing played out here, the Israelites want, all
the gods stuff like rain, agriculture crops sustenance.
They just don't want all that God stuff, obedience
faithfulness confession of sin, right?
So God told them, when you forget sake, The God Who makes
it rain? You are left inescapably Without
Rain. If you reject The Rainmaker, you
reject rain So now for three years in Israel, there is
neither, Drew Drew do nor rain drop for 3 years.
So now, we go 18, and you got to know, like, so put yourself in
Elijah's place. Every morning you wake up and
you're like still no rain, I'm still right?
I've still got you got to feel kind of smug, right?
You probably walk around like this a little bit kind of got a
little strut Little Swagger in your step and then we come to
verse chapter 18, right? You switch over and we're going
to be in verse 17 and Elijah. And Ahab.
Cross paths right here, right? And when Ahab, the king of
Israel. Now, now raining over a nation,
that is not only in drought, but in famine and things are bad.
When Ahab met Elijah Ahab said to him, is it?
It, you you troubler of Israel? Now, let's stop real quick.
And we're just gonna see this in just a second.
Let me ask, was it. Elijah's fault that there hadn't
been rain. See, the role of the Prophet is
to tell the people why, right? Why is it?
Not raining? Because your hearts have turned,
it's written in the Covenant. We've said right?
And so Ahab now is trying to spinach on putting.
Hey, it's you you troubler of Israel and verse 18 and Elijah
answered. I'm not troubled Israel but you
have and your father's Just because you have abandoned the
Commandments of the Lord and you have followed the Bales now.
Therefore, send and gather all Israel to me at Mount Carmel,
and the 450 prophets of Baal and the four hundred prophets of
asherah, who are eating at Jezebel's table.
So let's get to know our friends Ahab and his wife Jezebel rule,
over the Northern Kingdom of Israel.
You have 450 prophets of Baal and you have 400 prophets of
asherah, okay? So the Bales and the Astros were
both. Fertility Gods, Astros at
goddess, fertility, goddess. And so what is the fertility
gods and goddesses, do they make it what rain rain allegedly
because they are statues. They're not real, they don't
have life. They are Idols, but the crate.
The great thing about an idol. You know why we like Idols?
Because they asked way less of us in return, right?
Because they're not like real and so we can just kind of do
whatever we want. And so what Elijah says is, like
know there's idolatry going on. And so what he says is well,
let's just then. Figure it out.
Let's see how it goes, right? And so he calls the people to a
choice which is what the prophet does makes this case.
And he calls people to a choice. We go to verse 18 and verse 21,
Elijah came near to all the people.
And he said, how long will you go limping between two different
options and it presents a choice.
If the Lord is God, follow him, but if Baal then follow him and
this is great. The people did not answer him a
word you Get a sense of the people are standing there going.
We'll see, Elijah. Man, this is the prophetic voice
forever, right? We see Joshua and Joshua,
chapter 15, right? Choose for yourselves this day
who you serve? But for me, and my house, we
will serve the Lord, right? Like this is what a prophet
does. Is he calls us to make a choice?
So Elijah stands on this on this mountain, on Mount Horeb and he
calls and they get there and he stands.
And he says, you're going to make a choice today.
And so he says, here's the game, the game is, you ready, trial by
fire? The God, Who Answers by fire?
He is the one who is really God. So, there are prophets of Baal
and asherah, they get together. And they make this Altar and
they get Our sacrifice and they lay it on the, on the altar of
sacrifice, and they do it, and then they start dancing and they
start calling on their gods and they start worshiping.
And at first, it's like this kind of innocuous goofy.
It's like a VeggieTales thing around like they're dancing
around and being goofy, right? And Elijah's making fun of him
like, oh, maybe he's on it. Maybe he's taking a nap.
You should. You should yell louder because
if you yell louder than then, he'll hear you at one time.
He's like, maybe he's in the bathroom.
Like maybe he's indisposed at this point and so it starts to
be this Frenzied pitch like this, this frenetic energy and
it gets dark, they start cutting themselves, they start bleeding,
and it turns into this satanic ugly, Pagan ritual.
And the thing that we get is no rain for all their dancing for
all, they're calling for all, they're crying for all of their
worship. For all of their, what all the
things that are doing, what their gods couldn't do, and
didn't do was make Make It Rain. And so he calls them to this
choice. And this is what we find in
first. I was right right now as we do
this lint, that we're in, is a prophetic act, okay?
So lent is this prophecy and I don't know that you've ever
thought of yourself as a prophet, but as part, by
participating in Lent, lent is a part, is a prophetic act.
So the idea is in Lent, what we're doing is we are ordering
our lives around a kingdom, that others can't see and hear.
The idea, say you give up food, which is kind of the traditional
faster on that you give up food. What we're saying to the world
is my life, my spirit, my condition, my world will be
better if by giving up food, then it will be if I hang onto
it and everybody in the world goes.
That's just crazy. No it's not like that.
And so lent for 40 days what we're saying is watch and see
what happens. See what happens when we give up
something good for something. Our see how that goes.
So they all show and they're all failing and they're all going
crazy and cut themselves, right? And then we go down to verse 36
and so they go on all day. And finally, I just had enough.
And the time of the offering Elijah, the prophet came near
and he said, oh Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel.
Let it be known this day, that you are God and Israel.
And that I am your servant and that I have done all of these
things. Things that your word answer me
O Lord answer me that this people may know that You O Lord
Our God and then you have turned their hearts back real quick.
Who is the focus of Elijah's prayer him or God God.
And so what Elijah does is he says, okay God.
Here we go. So he builds an altar and he
prepares the sacrifice and then he does something different.
He digs a big trench around the whole thing like a big hole and
he says, hey go get water, so they get water and they start to
pour it around the Altar and they poured around, they pour
it. The altar then they port on the
sacrifice. And the thing is drenched so
much so that there is water standing in the trench and what
Elijah is going is like it's trial by fire and everybody's
like good we're going to win like because hey terrible that
the bails didn't happen but at least now we know that Elijah's
not going to get his right and so here we go, verse 38.
And the fire of the Lord fell and consumed, the burnt offering
and the wood, and the stones, and the dust, and it licked up,
the water that was in the trench.
And when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces and
said the Lord. He is God, the Lord, he is God
and you think Elijah was strutting when it didn't rain
bro. Can you imagine Fire from heaven
and it comes and it's fire is so hot that it the water it looks
out the water. How does fire consume water
right and so it takes it and it burns.
All this stuff up and Elijah has now shown that there is a God in
heaven and all of the people see it.
And this is the prospect of Prophecy that we love.
We want to be prophets like this and everybody will see us and
they will come and they will fall down and they will know
that there is a God in heaven and I will be a part of it.
You're welcome. Lord, you some You in this room,
maybe your story. Is you sent a child.
One of your kids to a VBS somewhere or to a Bible School
somewhere and your kid came back.
Just looking like Jesus. I just being kind and being a
humble, right? And I can't tell you as a pastor
in 20 years, how many parents I've talked to, who the first
encounter they had with? Jesus was a child, whose life
was transformed. And that's the prophetic.
They live differently in front of the people.
And what Elijah was doing, was living differently in front of
his people where he says, I'm not worried.
About your rituals and not worry about your routines.
I'm not worried about all of that stuff.
I believe in a God who is able to overcome even what I do.
So, the Lenten practices, I believe in a God who is able to
satisfy me, even when I don't eat enough, I'm able to face a
God who is able to satisfy me, even if I don't, whatever if I
don't care for myself or 10 of myself or provide for myself or
put myself first, I serve a God who is able to look at me and
care for me and tend to me and that What we want and sometimes
it works out that way. Listen, sometimes you go through
Lynn and someone invites you to lunch and just go man.
I'm giving up lunch for Lent and I really can't and maybe some of
those people will look at you. And they'll go, what's lent?
Tell me about that. Why are you doing it?
And you start talking about them and maybe they unpack and they
start telling you their story and they start talking about an
experience they had with God or a knee that they had.
And sometimes the opportunity just opens up, I'll tell you, it
can happen like that but sometimes it happens like this.
You go to chapter, 19 and a have told Jezebel all that Elijah had
done and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword and
then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah saying, May the gods do
to me and more. Also, if I do not make your life
as the life of one of them by this time tomorrow morning.
In other words, this queen wasn't impressed by Elijah's
fire from heaven. And so she sent an email to
Elijah and she says, when I see you, you're dead.
Now come on bro. Just called fire from heaven.
You think I'm worried about Jezebel and the prophets of
Baal, you think our Mike but listen we got to at least
acknowledge and we got to at least contend with the reality.
Not everybody is impressed by your ball of fire as everyone
else. You may fast for lunch and you
may give up who you met fast an entire day week, you may give up
Facebook and all this and you may give up something and it may
be nourishing your soul and you're feeling you give up and
you And you're talking to your friends about your Lenten
journey and they make start, they may roll their eyes at you.
They may think you're crazy. They might call you names, you
might hear holier-than-thou, they might call you a hypocrite.
You're trying to show that the world can operate a man, doesn't
live by bread alone, but by every word you're trying to show
the goodness of the Lord and people will miss you and they
will get cranky and they won't understand you.
And they'll condemn you and they'll say all kinds of things
about you. And at that point, what do we
do? Because the Reality is it
shouldn't matter? Should it?
If you just know you can like when the Lord tells you got what
you need and call down fire and he's provided.
Elijah story is just so good. You should go read all of it how
God had provided form, right? And so sometimes we feel like
God is done and sometimes when it gets really bad, what we do
is Verse 3, it says he was afraid.
And he arose, and he ran for his life.
And he came to Beersheba which belongs to Judah and he left his
servant there. I mean there's lots of kind of
ways to look at this I could but what I know, I don't know.
Like maybe he just looked. It was oh my gosh wolf of
Fireball won't save it. Like if something that audience
and big doesn't have maybe if it won't work then then nothing I
haven't. Maybe he was mad at God.
Maybe not whatever but here's what I know.
Elijah had done everything that he could he seemed to have done.
Every single thing that he was asked to do.
He had seen miraculous and mighty signs from God and it
didn't have the impact and the effect that he wanted to and he
Afraid. And so listen, here's what I
love about the scripture. The people that had holds up are
just like you and me, have you ever been afraid?
Have you ever run? Have you ever been angry?
At God, have you ever prayed for something and ask for something
and wanted for something and waited for something and believe
like God was going to do it and said and shown and then didn't
happen. What do you get when you don't
get what you want, when you don't get?
Well, God had a as asking for. But here's the thing, this is so
important. As we talk about Lynn and this,
this thing may change everything.
You, and for all of us, here's the idea behind lent because
we're given stuff up and it's important and we're fasting and
we're praying and we're doing all these things.
We're trying to be prophetic, but here's the deal.
You cannot speak for God and Advance your own agenda.
There's this sense and Elijah. That what Elijah wanted to do
was win and it's easy to wrap it up and go Elijah Elijah and I
want to win for your say, God I want to win, so you look good.
But at the end of the day, there was something.
Elijah where Elijah wanted one thing and God said, no and
Elijah. Splits Liza runs.
So if you have ever felt yourself running from God or
ignoring God, or turning the radio up, so you don't have to
listen to the voices in your head.
What I'm saying is you may be in good company, you may be right?
And the place where something amazing is going to happen.
Because again, Elijah now is confronted with what do you do
when you don't get what you want?
So if the prophetic message of lint isn't and it isn't, are you
listening the message of Lent isn't If you give something up,
God will do whatever you want him to the message of Lent
isn't. If you give something up, God
owes you somehow and and only good and righteous things are
coming. So, here's the question.
Then why do we do it? Why would we want to do this?
Right? What is prophetic about this
message of Lent, right? Where we just say, hey between
this day and Easter, we're going to say no to our flesh.
Were going to say no to our desires and our appetites.
That something that's important. And we're going to say no to
that. Why would we do that?
What is the message, right? So here we go.
Sorry. In verse 4, we're looking at
Elijah and Elijah himself after this, right?
Do you know where he's at? Elijah himself went a Day's
Journey Into the Wilderness. Real quick side note, man, a lot
happens in the wilderness, doesn't it?
Here's the thing, side note, this isn't the message with this
is important for you. Some of you may find yourself in
a moment of wilderness and appeared of wilderness right
here where you just feel dry and desiccated and emptying your
soul. And your question is Lord, why
have you forsaken me? I've been through seasons of
wilderness my life and I just want you to know, it feels like
every That you take could be the last one, but here's been my
experience, my experience with the Lord.
But also, what I believe is in the scripture when we find
ourselves entering into a season of wilderness, God is not taking
things from us. He is calling us to himself, we
find God in the wilderness. The Apostle Paul got his
ministry in the wilderness, Adam was created and the Wilderness.
The people of Israel went into the Wilderness for 40 years to
find God, Jesus went into the Wilderness, we're gonna look at
that next week, a lot stuff happens in the world.
And so, if you're in a season of wilderness where just seems like
things won't grow, I want to tell you don't give up, don't
quit what the Lord may be challenging in you as this kind
of sense of spiritual entitlement, right?
Like if I'll do five minutes of hard labor, then the Lord must
do. What I said, he may be
disciplining that out of you. He may be showing you that what
he has for, you is better even than what you can conceive of.
But if you're in a Wilderness place, just know, you may be
right on the verge of something great.
So Elijah goes into the Wilderness and he comes and he
sits down under a broom tree. And he's asks that he might Die.
And so listen what I want to tell you is if you're in here
and you're depressed or you're down or you're suicidal or you
thought about suicidal and the shame and guilt of that has
racked you or crushed you. Or maybe you've been in a place
that told you, that, that kind of perspective and mindset is
unspiritual or unhealthy. What you can respond is, I'm
just like the Prophet Elijah who said I've had enough, take my
life, he prayed that God would take his life.
I should put my finger, I was verse 5 and he laid down and he
slept under a broom tree and behold an angel touched him and
said to him arise any and let me just pause real quick and say
what I've said before and I'll say it again and I say this with
the straightest face imaginable more than you can imagine, this
may be the truest thing that you here today.
Sometimes the most spiritual thing that you can do is have a
snack and take a nap. Because Elijah running from the
fear of the Lord was tired. It's exhausting, it's
exhausting, and so he stops. And what does the Lord dude and
kick him in the ribs and go? What are we waiting for?
Well, you waiting for, you know the Lord.
Does he feeds him? And you know what he does?
Then Put some back to sleep because sometimes the most
spiritual thing you can do is take two naps because you're
really, really, really tired. And so he goes in verse 7 and
the angel of the Lord came again a second time and touched him
and said, arise and eat for the journey is too great for you and
heroes and he ate, and he drank and he went in the strength of
that 40 days and 40 nights and Horeb the Mountain of God.
And so, I went like one week without giving up my thing and I
had to confront the Lord like Lord, I'm really hungry right
now. I'm hungry for noise that will
drown out the voices in my head and I'm hungry in the Lord, just
lets me rest and just lets me stop and he lets me have piece,
right? But then we get up and we get
going and I try again and I try to take the noise away and I To
call myself and settle. And for 40 days, I'm going to do
this and this rhythm of probably failing and not getting up and
reimagining and going on. And what we come to find is that
lent is a long journey to discover The God, Who satisfies
us because that's what's behind lent.
Do you know why I give up food? So I know that even when my
belly is hungry, my soul can be satisfied.
Do you know why I give up noise? So that I know that even when
the voices in my head are loud and out of control, it's
possible to wait. It out.
So last week in the message I said something dumb, I talked
about the discipline of Simplicity and how neat that
would be. And I went home and I felt a
nice red Lord's. It's like, well, you should just
like practice, what you preach? And I was like, that's dumb, I
don't have to do that. I just tell them what to do and
I get to do whatever I want. I didn't really say that, but I
wanted to say it is what I was thinking is what I was feeling,
right? And so you know what happens, I
walked in and I get home right? And I opened my t-shirt drawer
and I realized I have a problem because they just like, flew out
at me. And I realized something in this
quest for Simplicity, this is going to sound dumb.
The try. This is my journey, right?
Don't like doing this is a significant part of me.
Get some aspect of my identity from the guy who wears goofy
t-shirts. I know I laughed at myself, but
I went and I laid 40, t-shirts out, and I spent hours agonizing
over which ones weren't important enough to keep So
dumb, but I'm looking over this and good.
I gave away 15 t-shirts. I'm fine, it's fine, we're good,
it's fine, right? But the question is, the
question that I had to confront that moment?
Am I? What I where am I?
What you see in my that quirky 46 year old guys, not afraid to
wear t-shirt or whatever, who am I, right?
And so, what I had to do the process of Lynn and the process
of Simplicity, and that is like, Lord, I'm gonna bet and I'm
going to take a risk that if I get away from these things.
And if I give away things that seem costly and important and
significant to me, if I give those things away law.
Would that I'll still have you and that somehow all still find
that all the things that I think are going to die aren't gonna
die. And guess what, I'm happy to
report that even though I gave away all those t-shirts, most of
you still showed up this morning.
So thank you. You're like affirmation to me,
that this is important, right? But here's the deal in Lent,
when we say no to things, right? When we're giving up, t-shirts,
or food, or music, or Sound or Facebook, or whatever it is,
what we are doing is we are de facto, rejecting all Those
things, we are rejecting the gospel of more because the whole
world tells you you need more more money, more food, more
clothes, more house, more car, more stuff, more people, more
friends, more approval, or whatever and Lynn says, no, I
reject know. I'm Waking this baby up.
I'm so sorry. She's like Lentz says, I refuse
to play by rules that tell me. I must have more to be.
Okay. So it says, I will intentionally
and deliberately do with less and you can Just expect your
heart to break, you can expect parts of you to bleed and suffer
and grief because it is hard because we get attached to our
stuff. But the point of Lent is for us.
To say when we look around our lives ago.
Look, I've invested myself, and t-shirts, and jobs and food, and
all of this stuff and we look around our life and we just go,
I don't feel like this is the promised land and here's what's
importantly listening. The conclusion that we must draw
is all of the stuff that I have accumulated it.
Cannot give me what I want, or I would already have it.
And so, what lent does is aligns our lives with that reality.
That what we seek is an out there to be accumulated?
It is a gift from the Lord and it is, in fact, the Lord
himself, right? See, that's what happens.
That's the prophetic Act of Lent.
The profits that the prophetic act that lent is when we go out
into the world, and we are pursuing This faction in ways
that the others can't or won't, right?
When we just say, no, I believe that God has goodness for me.
Even if I say no to that to sex, drugs rock and roll food,
whatever, whatever it might be that we're putting out, right?
When they just say, I don't have to find my Identity or my person
or myself in that. So we have Elijah on his way to
the Mountain of God. That sounds good right?
For 40 days and what allies is. On those 40 days is he's
practicing his practicing, his speech.
Now, you probably have a speech for God.
I'm curious how many of you have had the faith actually say your
speech to God. And for 40 days, Elijah goes and
he is practicing. And when he gets to verse 9, he
tells him. Then he came to a cave and he
lodged in it and behold the word of the Lord came to Elijah and
he said to him, what are you doing here?
Elijah and let's say to use. What are you doing here?
Why are are you here today? What are you looking for?
And Elijah said, I have been very jealous for the Lord.
The god of hosts for the people of Israel have forsaken, your
Covenant. They have thrown down your
altars, and they have killed your prophets with the sword.
And I even, I alone am left. Elijah goes to God, and knows
God, I did. What you asked?
I went to Ahab, I prophesied, right?
I said that, it wouldn't rain. I stood on a mountain, thousands
of people standing around me and I pray that they would see you.
And they Get it and you let me down him feel like that you ever
pray for the thing and get sick. Anyway, you ever pray for the
Rays and get laid off. You ever pray for the spouse and
five years into marriage? You go, I wish I had done it
different. I wish I had waited.
I wish. Have you ever just feel like
God, let you down? Well, the prophetic response and
lent, lent, reveals what we believe that God is like The
Elijah thought, what? I sometimes believe that God is
coin-operated. Like if you'll just put in the
right number of prayers or the right, the?
Right number of spiritual disciplines and you can pretty
much make God do what you want within reason, right?
Like, you know, God's not going to, you know, automatic like
God's not going to give me a Ferrari, but he might give me a
nice parking space at HEB, right.
And so this, what what happens is, as we go further down this
road as we say no to increasingly more and more
things we begin to feel like, hey, I'm getting pretty
spiritual here. I'm doing pretty good.
And what it does is, it forces us content with what do we think
God has to do. Now that I'm fasting?
Do we believe that God is obligated to me in some way
because of what I do. Yes, I do.
I do, oh my Lord, I'm a pastor bro.
I got start a church like we're buying buildings.
Lord you need me. Lord and Lords like, hmm, maybe
less than you think. What do you think God is like do
you think God is angry? You think God is distant.
Do you think God is far away? Do you think that God looks at
your sacrifice? And says, it's not enough, it's
not enough. Listen, the worst message in the
world. The church is given to people as
the message that to be here. You have to be right all the
time, that's not the message. There's nothing about that
message. That is anything like what Jesus
said, in fact, it's the opposite of the message.
Jesus, entire Ministry was filled with people have been
passed over by the religious stuff because he wanted to give
them something new. Something that couldn't be
manipulated something that couldn't be coerced or taken by
force. He wanted to Give them himself
but we believe that God is like us.
That's the message in the garden.
We want a God, who is like us a God, who is easily manipulated
God who can be bought and sold or we want to God that we can
manipulate What do you think God is liking this season?
Is God a God who sees your need and is unmoved and unconcerned
or do you see as your God? That you know, that he's a
watchmaker. God got the whole thing turned
on and start going. And now he's just checked out
and he's waiting for anybody to die and get there.
So we can have the party. Where do you think God is like
and this season because Elijah gives God his speech.
Now, listen, Elijah speech was pretty accusatory, right towards
God, you let me down. I'm the only one left God and
you're not helping me. I'm doing your work.
What I want to say is some of you, you may need to give God
your speech today. Today, may be the day that you
need to tell him all the things that you haven't been telling
him because they're in there and you're holding onto them and you
may need here. So what does God say right?
This is how you know, right? What does God say, verse 11 And
God said, go out and stand on the mountain before.
Lord, you're like great, I'm gonna get a spanking.
God's about to just whack me with this right?
Go stand on the mountain and behold the Lord passed by, and a
great and strong wind tore, the mountains and broke in pieces
the Rocks before the Lord. My just ripping the cave apart
and can you imagine if you're Elijah right?
Like you're ducking from the rocks and shrapnel.
You're like I'm about to get it guys about to destroy.
He's he's about to blow up. Blow me up with this piece,
right? But the Lord was not in the wind
and after the wind an earthquake came, you know, this is I'm
gonna fall, I'm gonna fall on the ground into the diner at the
Lord wasn't in the earthquake. And after there's Quake, a fire,
Elijah knew about the fire, right?
He saw fire from down so down. Oh, this is where God is great.
Yeah, gonna burn all the stuff forever.
And so the fire comes down. The Lord was not in the fire.
And when Elijah heard it, he rapped 08 Lord was not in the
fire. And after the fire, the sound of
a low whisper the low whisper, we talk a lot about semantics,
right? Like Hebrew words, know that
that low whisper? It seems like every time a new
translation of scripture comes out, they change this, right?
Some in the Old King James, it called a still Small Voice, some
call it the sound of a gentle, whisper a silent whisper, right?
I heard one translation that I write, the said it sounded like
the sound of sheer silence. Because what lent does?
It confronts us with what we think God is like and then it
confronts us with what he is, really like and it's so
important. I'm so grateful that God showed
Elijah the wind and he showed him the earthquakes and he
showed him the fire because Elijah was used to all of those
things. Wasn't he Elijah had seen the
fire from heaven, Elijah had seen the big demonstrations and
what was the problem with the big demonstrations?
They didn't do what he thought they were going to do, did they?
He thought if he could just get From having and everybody was
going a lot of people did and it was great but not Jezebel and
didn't do it for her, right? And we could you go if I could
just get the miracle if I could just get the big check if I
could just get the Deliverance, I can just sit here and what I'm
saying is Miracles are important to their significant but they
don't do what we think they're gonna do.
We don't do what we hope they're going to do.
And so Elijah goes to God with a stinging amend and the stinging
rebuke and you let me down and God shows all of the things that
Elijah had seen before in the wind and the power and God
wasn't in those. And then I'll hide you goes.
God shows, hey, Elijah, how about we try something
different? Maybe I'm just the God who
doesn't yell at you. Elijah.
See, you think when God can get you?
He just wants to yell at you, right?
God has every chance. And instead of yelling, he
simply stands with him at the cave or the entrance of the cave
with earthquake and fire, debris, everywhere, and all
around and he is simply with him simply in his presence.
This is so important for us because I don't know where Are
on your long journey towards God but it is so important that we
really get this idea that when just because God doesn't answer
us, doesn't mean that he's weak. And it doesn't mean that he's
checked out and it doesn't mean that he don't care, it doesn't
care and it doesn't mean that your prayer is an important to
him. What it means is he's not in the
fire and the wind and the worth girthquake and all that, he's
not in all those big things. He's in the quiet and he's in
the silence and he's sitting there still and Waiting but I
keep wanting to turn on that, dang radio and I keep wanting to
drown out that sound. I want the fire and I want the
earthquake. I want the win because those are
flashy, and God says, I can do that.
I can have that, but I think what Elijah needed was rather
just a God, who would be with him?
And so what does God say now to Elijah?
And behold there came a voice to him and he said again, what are
you doing here, Elijah? And Elijah hasn't changed his
voice. Hasn't changed.
I have been very jealous for the Lord.
The god of hosts for the people of Israel, have forsaken, your
Covenant thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets
with the sword. And I even, I only am left and
they seek my life to take it away.
And you know what? God doesn't do here, he doesn't
go Elijah. You're wrong.
Oh no lies, you. Misunderstood you all this.
You know what? He tells him.
Lord said go. Return on your way to the
Wilderness of Damascus. That's a 40-day journey that way
and then an extra day on top of that.
You got a long, wait back wiser, go.
And when you arrive you shall know.
Anoint hazael to be king over Syria and jehu the son of
nimshi. Ocean shall anoint.
To be the king over Israel and Elisha the son of shaphat of
Abu. Mahalo you shall anoint to be
the prophet in your place and the one who escaped from the
sort of hostile shall Jay who put to death and the one who
escaped from The Sword of jehu shallow, Elijah put to death
yet, I will leave 7,000 in Israel.
All the knees that have not bowed to bail and every month
that has not kiss that have mouth, that is not kissed him.
And God says Elijah, you're struggling.
You're lonely, you're afraid. You're all of those things,
Elijah, and that is real, but Elijah, you don't know what
you're talking about. You are not alone.
And so what he says to Elijah is go, Elijah.
You are created to be a prophet, go be a prophet.
When kings go, anoint prophets and all this.
So what lent does is Lent returns us to our prophetic
vocation? Do you remember in the garden?
What we were created to do? We were created to stand between
God and His creation and speak order into the chaos, to
multiply the goodness of creation at no point.
Were we to sit down and our lawn chairs and just nap while things
grow wild. And in fact, when we find
ourselves getting in trouble, when we're standing around,
Naval gating contemplating, the relative Worth of all the trees.
And so what God says is Elijah, I hear you.
I have heard your complaints. I have heard your distress.
I know you Elijah things aren't what they seem right now.
Go do what you're supposed to do.
Go be what you were supposed to be.
And what we as his people are not supposed to be, is driven by
our appetites. We are not to be people who jump
at everything that makes us feel something, or think something,
or Believe something. And what lent does is it puts
our money, where our mouth is it chooses that thing that says, I
think this thing, maybe a hang-up for me and so what I'm
going to do is spend 40 days wrestling with that thing and
maybe I fail more than I win. Maybe I fail every single day
but by the end of forty days, I'm going to have taken a
journey with that to the Lord. See, that's what you got to do.
You can only take your journey, you can't wrestle with God.
The same way you can go home and throw 15 t-shirt.
Away out of your drawer and it may not mean a single thing to
you because that's not your journey, but you do have a
journey and you have to wrestle with that and you have to find
God and that place and the way that he does that is by, when we
start saying, hey God is this a thing that's not the thing and
you said it out, there will be a thing and it'll hurt and you
won't be able to go days or minutes without it.
And when that thing comes rather than changing the topic and
changing the subject, what we do is, we sit in that place and we
let the Lord Lord love us until we understand it until we get it
until we receive it. And you know what that does?
It flies in the face of everything that tells us we have
to win this Christianity thing. It's not about winning it, it's
about being with Jesus, about being transformed and being
changed like him. And that takes a long, long
time. So, what we do is you take your
heart to the Lord, not to Twitter.
You know, what Elijah did is he accused God, God, you set me up,
God, you told me to speak to the king to the prophet.
You told me to speak to the powers that be and I did, and
you didn't do anything. So when you look around, wearing
like whole world's going to hell the Lord's like, yeah, but I got
you. So we're okay and you're right,
but I'm all alone and he's like, you can't possibly know that
you're not possibly alone but you're not responsible for that
either. You're responsible for what I've
called you to do. Have I called you to give up
now. Noise and sound or drink or food
or what my promise to you is the Lord is never taken away
anything from you. That is better than what he
wants to give you. And take her vocation seriously
listen or about to move into a new neighborhood where people
don't know us and they don't know what we're about and they
don't know what we're like. And my guess is in a very short
while there may be more of them than us.
And the Temptation is going to be to just blend in and move in
or the greater Temptation. Made it be to start to get a
little disgruntled, a little bothered, a little bit worried
about what all these new people are coming and what we want to
say is we have prayed for these new people.
These are the people that the Lord has done, but listen, if
you love River City because of the spirit, if you love River
City because of the kindness. And because of the grace, you
need to know the reason that exists is because this because
of you. So my encouragement to you is
don't get overwhelmed when the hordes of masses come and they
complain and they cry and they Grumble and they take all the
good parking spots and they take your senior far just know, the
Lord has called us to this. And so we stand on what the Lord
has called us. We stand as a prophetic, witness
to the goodness of the Lord, when we do what God has called
us. Us to do.
We see his fruit, we see his life and so far we haven't seen
the building that can contain it.
And so we say, Lord. Restore us to our vocation in
this world of bring order to the chaos.
Jesus make us like you give us your spirit.
So I pray for those today who maybe feel disillusioned or
disgruntled, feel like you've let him down or you've baton
switched and you've promised they haven't delivered and
whatever. And Lord, I pray that today that
your ear would be absolutely filled up with the stories of
your from your people that we've been carrying around.
I pray that by the end of the day, your people at River City
will be completely divested of their grumbling and we will have
heard from you or maybe you just want us to wait to hear from
you. I pray that we would But I pray
father that we would take up this invitation to be a
prophetic witness in the world, and it's not about whether we
eat meat or listen to our are pods.
It is about whether we hear the voice of our very good God.
Crying out in the wilderness, May we be your people, Jesus
thoroughly satisfied, in you forgive us for filling our
bellies and our hearts with less than fill us with you.
Jesus, that we may be satisfied and I pray that the world would
see how good is our God who loves us so well.
Jesus. We ask these things because we
love you because we need you and because you alone are worthy and
you alone have the authority to make it.
So Amen, thank you for joining us today.
River City Church is all about experiencing and expressing
God's love in our lives and community.
And we hope that you've been able to experience that today as
grateful. As I am, that you've spent this
time, listening in this morning, this podcast is no substitute
for full participation in a local church.
I love it when River City people listen to other pastors, but it
is those who show up week after week Faithfully, giving their
support and time and resources, that make all of this possible
if we can help. Get connected to a local church.
Pray for you or support you in any way.
Click the link in the description and let us know if
you'd like to financially support the ministry of River
City. Click the give link on our
website in the description. Don't forget to subscribe, and
don't forget to share this with your friends.
Thanks so much for listening. May the Lord bless, and keep you
in all Grace and peace. Get connected to a local church.
Pray for you or support you in any way.
Click the link in the description and let us know if
you'd like to financially support the ministry of River
City. Click the give link on our
website in the description. Don't forget to subscribe, and
don't forget to share this with your friends.
Thanks so much for listening. May the Lord bless, and keep you
in all Grace and peace.