Sermon Tone Analysis

Leader Guide ESV, Unit 13, Session 1

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Edited by Rev. Lex DeLong, M.A., Oct 2022.

Summary and Goal

During the time when the nation of Israel was divided politically into two nations, Judah and Israel, these nations were also divided spiritually, worshiping idols instead of the one true God.

So the Lord raised up prophets to speak His truth to His people and to call them to repentance.

One such prophet was Elijah, whose name meant “My God is Yahweh.”

He spoke on behalf of God, performed miracles in God’s power, confronted rebellious kings, and challenged the people to worship only the Lord.

Though he was a human being like us, he performed many great wonders and provided the template for the one who would precede the coming Messiah, to whom he also pointed through his faithful and miraculous ministry.

Session Outline

++God provides in unusual ways (God Wants to be Known by All as The [and Your] Provider, 1 Kings 17:1-4).

++God provides in miraculous ways (God Cares for You No Matter Who You Are, 1 Kings 17:10-16).

++God provides through His servant (God’s Authority Has No Limits and He hears Your Cry, 1 Kings 17:17-24).

Background Passage: 1 Kings 17

Session in a Sentence

God’s miracles reveal He is the one true omnipotent God that is over all.

The miracles Elijah performed revealed that he was a prophet of the one true God and that the Lord’s words were true.

Page 11 (DDG)

When my kids were younger, they often wanted to eat at McDonald’s® because they wanted a Happy Meal®.

They enjoyed the food, but they loved the cheap toy inside even more.

Now, however, my kids are older, and they never ask me to pull into McDonald’s for a Happy Meal.

Now they want steak!

They have grown up.

The Happy Meal days are gone.

Some people today look at the miracles in the Bible like Happy Meals—to be cherished as children but not as adults.

The skeptics believe you should grow up and see these biblical stories as fictional.

But should we discard the miracle stories of Scripture?

Ask:

What beliefs and doctrines might be affected if a person rejects the validity of miracles in the Bible?

(potentially God’s existence; God’s omnipotence; God’s immanence and involvement in His creation; the inerrancy and trustworthiness of Scripture; the power of the gospel to save sinners through faith in Jesus’ death and resurrection)

If we don’t take the miracle stories of the Bible as being historically accurate, then by extension we cannot take the Gospels’ record of Jesus’ ministry as historically accurate either.

Jesus Himself understood the Old Testament stories as truthful accounts, not fictional morality tales.

In fact, He believed the miracles of the Old Testament prophets pointed forward to His own ministry, miracles, sacrifice, and redemption.

Elijah spoke on behalf of God, performed miracles in God’s power, confronted rebellious kings, and challenged the people to worship only the Lord.

Though he was a human being like us, he performed many great wonders and pointed to the coming Messiah through his faithful and miraculous ministry.

Point 1: God provides in unusual ways (God Wants to be Known by All as The [and Your] Provider, 1 Kings 17:1-4).

Read 1 Kings 17:1-4 (DDG p. 12).

1 Now Elijah the Tishbite, of Tishbe in Gilead, said to 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.” 2 And the word of the Lord came to him: 3 “Depart from here and turn eastward and hide yourself by the brook Cherith, which is east of the Jordan.

4 You shall drink from the brook, and I have commanded the ravens to feed you there.”

DDG (p.

12)

During the reign of Ahab and his wife, Jezebel, the Northern Kingdom of Israel practiced idolatry to a level not seen before (1 Kings 16:29-33).

The worship of Baal, the false god of rain and fertility, was state-sponsored and modeled by the king and queen.

So God raised up the prophet Elijah to minister in this dark time.

Elijah boldly confronted the king and proclaimed a drought, which was actually a promise fulfilled (see Deut. 11:16-17; 28:14-15,23-24).

God was fulfilling His promise — His warning to Israel that He would punish His people for their pagan idolatry.

· The curse of a drought made sense in light of the people’s idolatry with the pagan god of rain and fertility, Baal.

God’s people were to trust God alone for rain.

If they turned to another god, then Yahweh would withhold rain.

This specific judgment was very fitting since Baal was supposed to give rain.

Notice also that not only would it not rain, neither would there be any dew.

No one could claim “bad luck” or a “bad break.”

No rain and no dew demonstrated God’s sovereign judgment.

Elijah’s ministry occupies a number of chapters in the Kings narrative (1 Kings 17–19, 21; 2 Kings 1–2).

Like Moses, who later appeared with Elijah at Jesus’ transfiguration (Matt.

17:1-3), Elijah challenged a national leader, lived on God’s provision, and felt the burden of leadership.

Like John the Baptist, with whom Elijah is associated in the New Testament (Matt.

11:7-15; Luke 1:13-17), Elijah called people to repentance and was a forerunner to Messiah (Mal.

3:1-3; 4:5).

Finally, Elijah was just like us (Jas.

5:17)

Therefore, he can teach us important lessons about how to pray and to trust in God’s provision.

Have them turn to: 1 Cor.

10:6-14.

Ask:

What are some similarities between Elijah’s context and the present context of our culture?

(idolatry is rampant, though not necessarily in the form of statues; the state sponsors wickedness and sin; the culture believes it can live independently of God; God continues to raise up voices in the culture to speak His truth)

DDG (p.

12)

Take a look at the map on the last page of your lesson.

At the Lord’s command, Elijah fled to the east after his initial confrontation with Ahab.

Seeking protection from the wicked king, he went to an inhospitable area by the Jordan River, where he drank from a brook and was fed by ravens (1 Kings 17:5-6).

Elijah was on the “wilderness meal plan”; bread and meat were provided by the ravens every morning and evening (see Ex. 16:8,12-13).

His needs were provided on a daily basis.

Voices from Church History

“We can be certain that God will give us the strength and resources we need to live through any situation in life that He ordains.

The will of God will never take us where the grace of God cannot sustain us.” 1

–Billy Graham (1918-2018)

· God is sovereign not only over the rain but over all of creation as well (see Ps. 104).

Ps. 104 “Bless the Lord, O my soul!

O Lord my God, Thou art very great; Thou art clothed with splendor and majesty, Covering Thyself with light as with a cloak, Stretching out heaven like a tent curtain.

He lays the beams of His upper chambers in the waters; He makes the clouds His chariot; He walks upon the wings of the wind; He makes the winds His messengers, Flaming fire His ministers.

He established the earth upon its foundations, So that it will not totter forever and ever.

Thou didst cover it with the deep as with a garment; The waters were standing above the mountains.

At Thy rebuke they fled; At the sound of Thy thunder they hurried away.

The mountains rose; the valleys sank down To the place which Thou didst establish for them.

Thou didst set a boundary that they may not pass over; That they may not return to cover the earth.

He sends forth springs in the valleys; They flow between the mountains; They give drink to every beast of the field; The wild donkeys quench their thirst.

Beside …”

God was sovereign over the ravens, ceremonially unclean creatures (Lev.

11:13-15) that were used for God’s purposes of sustaining the prophet’s life during the famine.

All of this should encourage us.

You can trust in God to provide for your daily needs (Matt.

6:25-34).

He might not supply you with the finest of meats every day, and He might not provide in such a miraculous way as He did with Elijah, but God always provides.

Application: No doubt the false prophets of Baal, supported by Ahab and Jezebel, ate better than Elijah did (1 Kings 18:19), but God still provided for him.

This is a good lesson: Even the prophet was suffering from this famine; the man of God was not immune to suffering along with his people.

In fact, his source of water dried up on account of the drought (1 Kings 17:7).

But he had the presence of God and the provision of God, and that was enough.

We who receive such daily bread should be grateful and content people.

Paul put it this way: “If we have food and clothing, with these we will be content” (1 Tim.

6:8).

Ask:

How have you seen God provide for your daily necessities, especially in a difficult season of life?

Point 2: God provides in miraculous ways (God Cares for You No Matter Who You Are, 1 Kings 17:10-16).

Read 1 Kings 17:10-16 (DDG p. 13).

10 So he arose and went to Zarephath.