Sermon Tone Analysis
Overall tone of the sermon
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Drought and Fire
As I’m sure you are all aware, Colorado is in the middle of a pretty major drought.
In late December we graduated from “severe” to “extreme.”
This leads to awful destruction and damage, much like the recent Marshall fire, over 1000 homes destroyed.
Costliest fire in the state’s history.
Heartbreaking loss and damage, let’s continue to pray for all those affected.
And the drought goes on.
Our little piddly snow yesterday, that’s just not enough to touch it.
God bring the rain.
Or snow.
God bring the precipitation.
Life Drought
Anyone feeling the drought?
Physically?
Metaphorically?
Spiritually?
We have had some seasons of drought, haven’t we.
(I imagine you all nodding your heads).
We’ve had drought in my family, some relational brokenness, hurt and hurting.
I have had seasons of drought in my marriage… where it was so hard to love and be loved and find one another again.
We have had seasons of drought here in our church.
In so, so many ways.
It’s a little death when a family leaves the fellowship, whatever the reason.
It was literally barren and empty in here through much of 2020, preaching to a camera… kind of like right now.
There is nothing fun about drought.
Praying for God to send the rain.
What is He waiting for?
He is waiting for a cage match, obviously.
Cage match: YHWH vs. Baal
Recall that Elijah has already showed up to condemn Ahab, King of Israel, worse than all the 6 kings of Israel before him.
Why is Ahab so bad, so evil, worse than all the others so far?
So he led them in worship of Baal, the storm God, bringer of rain and thus a Canaanite God of fertility.
Zeus meets Thor, but with more sex.
Add to that Asherah, a fertility goddess.
Both fertility gods, worshipped with sex among other things, but fertility wasn’t just about making and having babies.
It is fertility of the land, it is prosperity.
It is growth and the resulting wealth.
So maybe Ahab gets a bad rap here.
He wants to grow, he wants his people to grow, his kingdom.
He sees that the surrounding peoples are having success with this “Baal” and “Asherah” strategies.
Elijah prophecies drought and then hides out while the drought hits Israel for quite some time.
Fed raven bread and then widow pancakes, God takes care of Elijah.
And in the meantime, the nation thirsts.
Why does God use drought?
This is supposed to be Baal’s thing, bringer of the rain!
God shuts down their “success” strategy completely!
When the time is right, Elijah sends word to King Ahab via his servant Obadiah and they setup a meeting.
It’s time for a cage match:
Confrontation:
Who’s influence is behind the Asherah worship?
Oh… Jezebel!
This is their strategy for prosperity, remember.
Baal and Asherah are going to make the kingdom, and especially the king and queen, rich and powerful and successful and SUPER fertile.
The Challenge:
You go first
Baal’s turn
Why did they limp?
No idea.
But it’s a funny picture.
Maybe it’s a gansta limp?
Part of attracting Baal’s attention?
Maybe they limp because they are walking in circles from morning until noon, so their outside leg gets kind of tired?
That’s why the roller rink has you switch directions!
Around and around and around they go...
Oh the sweet, sweet mockery.
Maybe he is thinking.
Or “relieving himself.”
(That’s a euphemism… it means going potty, #2, deuce, aka pooping).
Can I say that in church?
It’s in the Bible, so… yes!
Maybe he’s gone, maybe’s he’s asleep, so many options.
All pointing at the real answer: maybe he is hollow, empty, powerless.
No one.
Nobody home.
Now it’s YHWH’s turn.
And just showing up isn’t enough, Elijah is going to up the challenge level!
YHWH’s Turn
The scene is set.
Way harder than what was setup for Baal.
BOOM! Cage match Victory!!! Absolute devastation.
And this reveals the glory of God to all the people!
They repent and they worship.
And then God sends the rain.
Elijah speaks
… and starting with a little cloud, and the cloud grows
Look again, and again, and again, and again.
And… here it comes.
God brings the rain.
(Little ominous there at the end).
Look
There are a lot of takeaways from this.
One of the GREAT stories of the Bible.
So many sermons here… so let’s preach all of them!
Power Encounter
Elijah stacks the deck against Yahweh in favor of Baal... to let God show off a bit.
(It isn't that other "gods" aren't real, or there aren't other powers and forces in the Universe.
It is that God, Yahweh, declares Himself God above all.)
Ahab’s Proof - Elijah’s Faith
God proves Himself to the nation of Israel, brings them to worship, and then brings the rain.
God proves Himself to Ahab.
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