Sermon Details
- Pastor Name: Jonathan Cornell
- Date & Time: October 26, 2014 | 10:00am
SERMON SERIES: Leap!: Taking Risks for God’s Kingdom
If I were to tell you, right there, where you sit, with whatever you brought with you to church this morning, you were fully equipped to be God’s transformative agent for kingdom mission, would you believe me? If not, why not?
I invite you to turn with me in your Bibles, either the one we’ve made available for you or the one you brought with you, to the Old Testament book of 1 Kings. In the red pew Bibles in front of you, it is on page 317 of the Old Testament; in the Bible you brought with you, it comes right after 1 Kings 16. This morning’s story is a story of God’s exceeding sufficiency in the face of our poverty, because at one time or another every one of us has felt as though what we have is just not enough for God to use. We’ve felt as this woman does.
By way of setting up the story… Elijah was a man chosen by God to be a prophet, to speak truthfully to Israel. We are meeting Elijah earlier in his career, at a time in Israel’s history when they were in a difficult place—Israel has been disobedient, and God chose to send a famine in the land to get their attention.
This story takes place in a town called Zarephath, which is right across the Jordan River from the capital city of Samaria. You might be thinking, capital city of Samaria? I thought it was Jerusalem. At this time, Israel was divided into two kingdoms, a northern kingdom whose capital was Samaria, and a southern kingdom, Jerusalem. The division took place after King Solomon, and throughout this era the kings of the land, by and large, did what was evil in God’s sight. It would appear that there was only one man left who was willing to lead the people back, and that man was Elijah.
Elijah was a man in whom God entrusted his mission, and what you will see is that mission literally rested upon Elijah’s shoulders.
There are moments in history when the mission of God hangs in the balance. In those moments, God uses real people, right where they are, to keep God’s Kingdom dream alive. And remarkably, those are regular people like you and like me.
Download the entire transcript here: 1 Kings 17 8-16 The Eagles are Coming
