1 Kings

1Ki_5:9

Doing Salomon's desire with the timber would cause his desire to be accomplished in feeding his family.  That is exactly how it works in the things of God.  We do His desire in serving Him, giving, evangelizing the world, etc.  and He accomplishes our desire of meeting our needs, giving us a life of purpose and passion, and allowing us to participate in His great work. 

Faith promise mission works much the same way.  Our giving meets God's desire and the missionary's desire and burden to get the gospel to the world while accomplishing our desire to have God meet our needs, bless our church, and use us for eternal purposes.  He gives us great joy in serving Him.  WAG

1Ki_8:17

It was in the heart of David his father to build an house for the name of the Lord God of Israel. His son knew what was in his father's heart.  His heart was full of doing something great for his "God".  He wanted to lift the name of his God high.  Several questions come to mind.  What is in your heart?  Do your children know what is in your heart?  Do you realize that whatever is really in your heart will become a great motivation for your children?  Be careful what you love and want because it will show in the lives of your children.  WAG

1Ki_8:60

Solomon prays and asks God to do great things.  He asks Him to hear their prayers and to do wonders but the reason or motive that Solomon asks these things is very interesting.  He wants ALL THE PEOPLE OF THE EARTH TO KNOW THAT THE LORD IS GOD AND THAT THERE IS NONE ELSE.  Isn't it interesting that David's desire was that all the people would know his God.  I wonder how many of us are consumed with this desire.  Would we build a house to His name for this purpose?  Will we invest our money, time, and talents to let the world know that He is God and there is none else?  I fear that the church has wandered from her purpose.  Instead of desiring that the world know Him we are concerned that He bless us.  Church has become what we can get not what we can give.  It is not Bless the Lord on my soul but bless me God.  Let's change our motives.  WAG

1Ki_13:18

Be careful who you listen to!  Just because they say that they are men of God or have heard from God is no proof.  Once you have the Word of God be careful to obey God.  The young missionary may arrive on the field and have his head filled with things that are wrong and accept them because the veteran missionary tells him what to do.  When I arrived on my field for language studies I was told never to use gospel tracts, not to get excited when I preached, not to lift my voice, not to give an altar call, not to expect the people to tithe or to give above a tithe, not to change culture even if it meant that the husband was going to strike his wife.  All of the above were wrong.  Had God not of sent someone else to teach me these errors very likely I would have practiced the same the rest of my ministry.

We should listen to counsel.  There is safety in a multitude of counsel however we must remember to never violate what the Scriptures say or what God has made plain to us.  So many have never practiced discipleship and are afraid of it. Do not allow yourself to fall into the trap of sameness.  Seek the Scriptures and do what the Lord teaches us to do.  Search the Scriptures daily to see if these things are so or not.  WAG

1Ki_15:11

Our decision making process involves the counsel of our imaginations, and ideas.  Our view on life, etc.

The strongholds of Satan, built upon the ground we gave up through sin, create false imaginations that lead to bad decisions.

I Kings 15:11-19

II Chronicles 16:7-10

   Asa had a good record, except that he did not remove the high places.

   The pride of life says I can handle sin, it will not affect me.  I can stay strong.

o    On this sin, Satan gained ground in Asa’s life.

   On the high places, things were offered to all gods including the true God.

o    Today’s equivalent of riding the fence.

o    “God, I belong to you, except of course on those days that I want to belong to me.

   Wrong Idea was that I can use those things dedicated to God for other purposes also.  The silver and gold that was dedicated to the Temple.

   Wrong Ideas breed wrong decisions which make wrong actions.  He took the gold and silver vessels from the temple to use in his personal safety plan.

   Torments came to him through anger and wrath.

His decision making process was guided by a false idea.  They always produce the wrong decisions.

No matter how much advice we get, our ideas about the way things should be will always guide our decisions.  Our attitudes:  The attitude of a plane.  Climbing, descending, turning. 

In flying, you have what are called decision points.  They are based on attitude.

To make right decisions, we have to first remove the false attitudes that come from the strongholds built in our lives.

1.   Confess each sin that God brings to your mind.  I John 1:9

2.   Claim the blood of Christ for cleansing.  I Peter 1:18-19

3.   Tear down the strongholds with truth.  (II Corinthians 10:4-5)

4.   Transform your mind with truth.  Romans 12:2

5.   Fully forgive offenders.  Ephesians 4:32  “And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you. 

Now we are ready to make a decision.

Psalms 19:7-8

1.   “The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul.” 

a.   Meditation helps us become skilful in identifying the ground we have given up to Satan.  The Law of the Lord will identify the wrong ideas and the tormentors that accompany every breech of the Law.

2.   “The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple.”  Every conceivable thing you could face has been faced by someone else and the benefits of right decisions recorded as well as the consequence for wrong decisions recorded.

a.   The law records also the tormentors it prescribes for each violation.

i.Examine yourselves I Corinthians 11:28-32.

3.   “the statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart.”  The positive decree.  The word “statue” we all know to mean the image or likeness of someone.  Miguel Grau.  Positive things. This is a statute.  Missing the mark of a statute has consequences.

a.   This is a focus on the application of the laws of God in a person and their behavior.

b.   That person then becomes the model of that.

c.   The part we rejoice in is that we not only have company in our decisions and trials, but the fact that someone else left a pattern of victory in the issue we face brings rejoicing.

4.   “The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes.” 

a.   Enlightened eyes require;

i.Understanding the requirements and judgments of God’s Law.

ii.            Meditating on the wise perspectives of Biblical testimonies.

iii.           Identifying with a Biblical character in either a positive or negative way.

iv.           Making biblical commitments in life, thus becoming spiritually mature.

Enlightened eyes are key to making wise decisions.  I Samuel 9:27-10:7

Looking at decision making in the life of David:

1.   Law of God - Psalms 19:7 – The Law of God converts the soul:  It is by the Law that we understand sin:  The 10th commandment says we should not covet, and the 6th that we should not kill.  David broke these when he desired Nabal’s sheep and Uriah’s wife.

2.   Biblical Examples - Psalms 19:7 – Make the simple wise:  David should have looked at the sin of Achan.  He coveted and took that which did not belong to him.  It cost him the life of himself and his family.

3.   Statutes of God - Psalms 19:8  Rejoice the heart:  Idolatry is expecting from others what only God can give.  As long as David expected provision from Nabal, he was committing idolatry.  Whatever we do, we are to do it heartily as for the Lord and not for men.

a.   When we look to people or our job for our provision, God will often send tormentors to bring us back to dependence on him.  Layoffs, pay cuts, etc.

4.   Biblical decisions – Psalms 19:8  Commands of God:  Enlighten the eyes:  David’s enlightened eyes speak in Psalms 51.  He welcomes his tormentors not as those to resist but those to yield to as the tool of God to drive him back to Him.

5.   Maintenance of right attitudes and decisions;

a.   Daily Disciplines:

i.Reading

ii.            Praying

iii.           Meditating  Psalms 1:2

iv.           Memorizing:  Psalms 119:11

b.   Utilizing his life message:

i.Psalms 51

Making good decisions:

1.   Remove the false imaginations of the devil built on the ground of sin we gave up to him.

2.   Take back the ground.

3.   Psalms 19:7-8

a.   Understand the Law of God

b.   Look for biblical examples

c.   Study His statutes, rejoice the heart

d.   Make the decision based on His commandments (what we are to do)

JDP

1Ki_17:1-5 Obey God even if you do not understand what he is doing.

We see in these verses that God tells Elijah that it is not going to rain for a period of time, and so God speaks to Elijah and asks him to go down to the brook Cherith because he has commanded the ravens to feed him there. I can only imagine what was going through his mind as he thought about the brook. How could God use birds to supply his needs and take care of him? In verse 5 we see that he went and did according to the Word of the Lord. The thought that the Lord gave me was: We need to obey God even when we do not understand Him. So many times as Christians we do not understand why God is working in a certain way, or why we face many of the things we face, but we need to obey Him even though we may not understand him. Many of us know what we should be doing but we need to get up and go do what Christ has commanded us to do.  JAH

1Ki_17:7 When the brook dries up

God had been taking care of Elijah at the brook, and one day he woke up and the brook was dry. I wonder why God did not take care of him the whole time at the brook. God could have kept him there the whole time and taken care of him, but I believe he let the brook dry up so that Elijah wouldn’t get his eye off the one who was providing for him and guiding him. So many times in our lives when God lets the brook dry up, we go up the road looking for our own water hole. Just because the brook dries up doesn’t mean you are in sin, but many times God just wants to direct you somewhere else. Just think, a mother and a boy would have died from hunger and possibly went to hell if Elijah would have went looking for his own water hole, because it wasn’t until the last verse of the chapter that the woman said, “…now by this I know that thou art a man of God, and that the word of the Lord in thy mouth is truth.” The thought here is if God allows the brook to dry up we need to look to him instead of finding our own water hole. If we don’t God could have taken us to China, Africa, or someplace around the world to tell somebody about Jesus, and they will die and go to hell, and it will be because we are looking for our own sustenance instead of looking to God. JAH

1Ki_19:1

What doest thou here, Elijah?

Intro: Since Solomon the kingdom was divided and given to base men in Israel and Judah. The worst of both were the kings of Israel. And the worst of them was Ahab and his wicked wife Jezebel. It is in this day Elijah stands for God.

I. Position- What doest thou here, Elijah? He was a prophet of God, hiding from a woman of Satan.
God's name was at stake and that is why He has Christians.  We are his body.
*10 missionaries have left Venezuela in the last 2 years.

            Nehemiah- "Should such a man as I flee"
            David- "Let no man's heart fail because of him, thy servant will go and fight"
            Peter- "We ought to obey God rather than man"
            Song writer Isaac Watts- "Am I a soldier of the cross."
            Moravian Missionaries- "May the Lamb of God receive the recompense of his reward"
            Spurgeon- "A preacher of the gospel should never lower himself to the office of a king."
            The greatest of a man's power is the measure of his surrender. It is not a question of who you         are or what you are, but whether God controls you.

Vs 11-12 God showed Elijah his POWER and gave him this command: Go forth and stand

II. Location- What doest thou here, Elijah?  It was God's day. He wanted to be lifted up to the people.
The problem with Elijah in a cave is that he can't be a prophet there. God's where is always centered on people, not land, or food, or weather! Jesus gave his life for people: Ex: God so loved he world
and the world is_____

 
The kingdom and it's parables center on people Matt. 13
            1. The sower- Ground is people
            2. The wheat and tares- people
            3. the grain of mustard seed- birds are people
            4. the leaven- the meal is people
            5. the hid treasure- the treasure and the field are people
            6. the pearl of great price- people
            7. the drought of fish- people

            100% of the ministry is people. Our job is not to build buildings, start programs, write materials,             hold conferences, but see lives changed!

Ill: Harold would love MCS if. Some would say, "I would love the mission field if."

More people die every hour & go to hell than died in both towers on 9\11 The US has one full-time evangelical worker for every 200 people, while some countries like Algeria have only one for every 2 million people.

There are 17 times the number of lost now compared to when Christ lived

Vs 13-15 God shows Elijah his place and gives him his  command:
Go return

III. Action- What doest thou here, Elijah?
Vs16-18
God told him to go and make a disciple Elijah was the man of God, He had seen the great works and
power of God. He knew him intimately. But there was a problem, he was the only one and if he didn't pass it on it would die with him. That was 906 BC. He would be taken in 896 BC. 10 short years.
The clock was ticking as it is for us:
            1. Your life is short
            2. This harvest is ripe
            3. This generation will soon pass

Moses Demazios: "Find some mens"

Ill: Guillermo in Peru

            God showed Elijah his plan and gave US this command:
            Go and make disciples of every nation

Invitation: What doest thou here?
            1. Maybe some God is calling to step out by faith and do something but you are hiding in a cave     in fear. How many would decide to be men of God today?
            2. Maybe some need to surrender to the mission field
            3. How many would say "I want a disciple". You will pray for one to sit with you soon in this    church?

ALB

1Ki_19:4

How easy it is to get discouraged and want to sit under the juniper tree!  Any time that we are in the Lord's service the opportunity to be discouraged will come often and strong.  Satan attacks against our emotions, fears, etc maybe more than any other thing.  We must realize that we are to thank God, have a peaceful spirit, and trust God to take care of all the things beyond our power.  So many times what discourages us is that we are not in control of a great majority of what happens in our lives.  That is the problem of the ministry and especially being a missionary.  But if I am but a servant I will have to trust my master to take care of my needs.  My plans, purposes, and desires may well not be what God would have done.  God help me to rest in you and trust that you will bring about your plans and purposes.  WAG

1Ki_20:11

The king of Israel realizes that starting the fight isn't the same as finishing the fight.  Any boasting should only be done after the battle.  How much that speaks to each of us that are in the ministry.  If we are just starting we should be careful to speak very humbly knowing that it will only be the grace of God and much hard work that will allow us to finish.  There are plenty of starters and dreamers but how many finish what they start.  Today I must determine to finish what I start if I know that it was God that told me to do it in the first place.  WAG