Applications from 1 Kings 

1 Kings 19:15-21

The Story:

In the reading tonight we come in as God tells Elijah to, “Go..”

He is putting him back to work, his rest is over. Anoint Hazael King of Syria. Anoint Jael King of Israel. Anoint Elisha prophet.

Next God tells Elijah that he is not alone, there is a remnant of 7000
who have not bowed to Baal. Elijah goes and finds Elisha and throws his mantle on him. Elisha settles his affairs and begins to follow Elijah.

The Application:

Elijah has completed amazing tasks for God. God has allowed him a time of renewal. Now that time is over and God says, “Go…”

Go, return on thy way… Get back to what I have called you to do. Anoint Hazael & Jehu kings. When you are done with that find Elisha and prepare him to become your replacement.

Many Christians are stuck in the constant state of rest. Constantly discouraged, worn, and needed refreshing. Never completing a task due to always tending to self.

This effects our churches. Churches cannot outreach due to such a large inreach. Pastors cannot focus outwardly due to always focusing inward.

Go! Eventually we as Christians are expected to mature and be more self sustaining. From here we become those in the church who do. Yes, there will be times for rest but only briefly.

Pastor Chanc Strickland
Harpeth Baptist Church
Kingston Springs, TN

This blog post was adapted from a sermon preached at Harpeth Baptist Church in the summer of 2012.

Applications from 1 Kings 

1 Kings 19:9-14

If you read the last post, The Next Word from the Lord, please skip ahead to the application.

The Story:

As we finished last time, Elijah was beginning a journey that would take him 40 days and 40 nights. He arrives at Horeb and finds a cave to stay in. Here God says to him, “What are you doing here?” Elijah replies with his resume and then informs God that his life is in danger and he feels he needs to hide out. God tells him to go stand out on the mountain. A strong wind, earthquake, and fire come by, but God isn’t in them. Then Elijah heard a still small voice, and God was in the stillness. So Elijah went out of the cave and met with the voice of God.

The Application:

This final word, that comes in the form of a still small voice, simply asks again…”Why are you here?” The prophet is drained of his strength. He needs the God of the Stillness. Sure there is a lesson in the fire/wind/quake, but Elijah needs to be comforted, encouraged, and strengthened. God speaks to him in a still small voice for this purpose.

God asks the same question again to show Elijah the core of his problems. Yes, he is physically tired. Yes, his life has been threatened. But the core of the problem is that Elijah is in a place of feeling that nothing God will do or could do through him is enough. “We showed them God, but still some will not turn…” “These are a hopeless people and I might as well not even try…”

Elijah has a lack of faith in God as a result of the people’s actions. He isn’t blaming God, he is blaming the people. But, his doubt is saying God can’t or shouldn’t… God can, God will, but thankfully God is much more patient with wicked people than Elijah is (we are).

Even with Elijah, who of all people should remain in strong faith, God patiently deals in a still small voice. God is the God of the stillness and this is who Elijah needs now.

The Conclusion:

Did you notice how God communicated with Elijah? “…the Word of The Lord…” So it is with us, the God of the Stillness will speak to us through His Word.

Once in the stillness of the late midnight hour,
I felt the presence of the Lord’s saving power;
I fell on my knees, and cried to Him there,
Oh, merciful Savior, hear a lost sinner’s prayer.

Now every hour and every day,
In every moment, in every way;
I’m leaning on Jesus the rock of my soul,
I’m singing His praises wherever I go.

I’ll never forget that night on my knees,
The joy of that hour has never left me;
It’s life’s sweetest memory that time can’t erase,
I’m saved by His mercy, redeemed by His grace.

Pastor Chanc Strickland
Harpeth Baptist Church
Kingston Springs, TN

This blog post was adapted from a sermon preached at Harpeth Baptist Church in the summer of 2012.

Applications from 1 Kings 

1 Kings 19:9-14

If you read the last post, The First Word from the Lord, please skip ahead to the application.

The Story:

As we finished last time, Elijah was beginning a journey that would take him 40 days and 40 nights. He arrives at Horeb and finds a cave to stay in. Here God says to him, “What are you doing here?” Elijah replies with his resume and then informs God that his life is in danger and he feels he needs to hide out. God tells him to go stand out on the mountain. A strong wind, earthquake, and fire come by, but God isn’t in them. Then Elijah heard a still small voice, and God was in the stillness. So Elijah went out of the cave and met with the voice of God.

The Application:

Next God invites Elijah to stand on the mountain as He passes by. From his past experience Elijah should be able to detect God passing by. Elijah has seen God work through fire, rain, etc. Surely the strong wind coming is Him, no…an Earthquake, yes this is God, no… fire, just like before, no…

Elijah ducks back away in his cave after getting his hopes up three times.

That’s when he hears a still small voice.

Have you ever wondered why all the fuss? Why not just come the first time…why the wind, quake, & fire? “Perhaps the Lord attempts to teach Elijah not to expect always the miraculous and wondrous deliverance from problems.” I am guilty myself of this many times…

We serve the God of the wind, quake, & fire…but He is also the God of the stillness. This is who Elijah needed God to be for him at this time. Many times it is just what we need as well. There is a song that says, “…whatever I need, that’s just what He is…” and I have found this to be true.

Be careful what you expect. It is reassuring to know I serve the God of the wind, but sometimes I don’t need a tornado in my life. It is amazing to realize I serve the God of the earthquake, but most times I don’t need the ground shaking under my feet. I stand in awe as I serve the God of fire, but fire, while effective, is also very destructive. Most times all we need is a still small voice.

We must learn to expect this. This is the lesson God is showing Elijah. Yes, He will work mightily…but He will also work small. Don’t always seek a sign or marvelous wonder. Allow God to speak to you through His Word.

Pastor Chanc Strickland
Harpeth Baptist Church
Kingston Springs, TN

This blog post was adapted from a sermon preached at Harpeth Baptist Church in the summer of 2012.

Applications from 1 Kings 

1 Kings 19:9-14

The Story:

As we finished last time, Elijah was beginning a journey that would take him 40 days and 40 nights. He arrives at Horeb and finds a cave to stay in. Here God says to him, “What are you doing here?” Elijah replies with his resume and then informs God that his life is in danger and he feels he needs to hide out. God tells him to go stand out on the mountain. A strong wind, earthquake, and fire come by, but God isn’t in them. Then Elijah heard a still small voice, and God was in the stillness. So Elijah went out of the cave and met with the voice of God.

The Application:

Elijah is serving the God of the Stillness. Sure He can stop the rain, send fire, from heaven, but He is also the God who speaks in a still small voice. Elijah has been fed, ministered to by an angel, but now will be helped with the Word of God. God’s Word never fails!

The first Word is simple, “Why are you here”? God asks Elijah why he is at Horeb. Elijah’s reply is essentially that he sees no reason to continue. Israel is apostate, they kill the prophets, and he alone stands for covenant faith.

Apparently he had hoped that Mt. Carmel would produce a final victory over Baal worship. Of course we know from studying the Word that one victory over evil is never the end of the war. What Elijah had accomplished was HUGE, but it was not a final blow or a complete fix.

Pastor Chanc Strickland
Harpeth Baptist Church
Kingston Springs, TN

This blog post was adapted from a sermon preached at Harpeth Baptist Church in the summer of 2012.

Applications from 1 Kings 

1 Kings 19:1-8

If you read the last post, Being used spiritually takes a physical toll, please skip ahead to the application.

The Story:

At the close of chapter 18 everyone is heading to Jezreel coming down from Mt. Carmel as the rain begins to fall. Once they arrive Ahab immediately tells Jezebel what all Elijah had done. In a rage Jezebel threatens Elijah’s life. Elijah decides to leave and heads to Beer-sheba. Leaving his servant Elijah travels into the wilderness & rests under a tree. While resting an angel comes and feeds him and sends him on a journey. The rest and meal give him strength for 40 days/nights to get to Horeb.

The Application:

Remember when Elijah relaxed by the brook being fed by ravens? He had just challenged the king and lived to tell about it. God didn’t allow him to stop there did He? He sent him on over to the widow.

Now Elijah has proved Yahweh is God and is resting. God has more for him to do. He feeds him and allows him to rest, but only with a purpose. God gets him ready for his 40 day/night journey.

God always has more for us to do. Allow yourself time to rest after a task, but show back up ready to work!

The Conclusion:

You can’t please everybody-Don’t try. You can’t do it all right now-Rest. You aren’t finished until you die-Work.

Pastor Chanc Strickland
Harpeth Baptist Church
Kingston Springs, TN

This blog post was adapted from a sermon preached at Harpeth Baptist Church in the summer of 2012.

Applications from 1 Kings 

1 Kings 19:1-8

If you read the last post, You can’t please everybody, please skip ahead to the application.

The Story:

At the close of chapter 18 everyone is heading to Jezreel coming down from Mt. Carmel as the rain begins to fall. Once they arrive Ahab immediately tells Jezebel what all Elijah had done. In a rage Jezebel threatens Elijah’s life. Elijah decides to leave and heads to Beer-sheba. Leaving his servant Elijah travels into the wilderness & rests under a tree. While resting an angel comes and feeds him and sends him on a journey. The rest and meal give him strength for 40 days/nights to get to Horeb.

The Application:

Some would say Elijah is suicidal here. I disagree, but if so it makes my point just the same. Suicidal or not, Elijah was worn and needed to recuperate.

Why I think he was not suicidal:

• First, the hebrew word for “life” here means soul. Thus, he was fleeing for his sanity more than his pulse.
• Second, he doesn’t try to take things into his own hands, rather he still observes God’s power of giving/taking life. John Gray says, “He did not contemplate suicide, for he believed God was the Lord of life. Though a man might wish to die, he was not at liberty to take his life. Only God had the right to do that.”

So, I don’t think he is suicidal, rather I believe Elijah is just worn out (physically, emotionally, and spiritually). So he gets away by himself to be revived. He pours out his troubles, recommits to God, and rests while waiting to see what God will do.

Being used spiritually took a physical toll on Elijah. The great man that he was…he was still just a man. Be aware that being used of God wears us down. We must allow time for our body, soul, & spirit to recover.

Pastor Chanc Strickland
Harpeth Baptist Church
Kingston Springs, TN

This blog post was adapted from a sermon preached at Harpeth Baptist Church in the summer of 2012.

Applications from 1 Kings 

1 Kings 19:1-8

The Story:

At the close of chapter 18 everyone is heading to Jezreel coming down from Mt. Carmel as the rain begins to fall. Once they arrive Ahab immediately tells Jezebel what all Elijah had done. In a rage Jezebel threatens Elijah’s life. Elijah decides to leave and heads to Beer-sheba. Leaving his servant Elijah travels into the wilderness & rests under a tree. While resting an angel comes and feeds him and sends him on a journey. The rest and meal give him strength for 40 days/nights to get to Horeb.

The Application:

By all implications it seems Ahab and his people have submitted to the fact that Yahweh is God and Elijah is His prophet. Ahab & Elijah were once at odds, but this seems to be fixed. The people are no doubt happy with Elijah as they feel the rain.

As soon as he gets home, Ahab rushes in to tell his ‘dear’ wife the miraculous thing he has just seen! Elijah called down fire from heaven! Elijah said it would and it started to rain!

Jezebel (Where is Baal?) had one thing on her mind…What happened to the Baal prophets? She wanted to know what happened to her army of false religion spreaders. Ahab shared the news, “Um, well, (gulp) after they couldn’t come through Elijah had the people kill them.”

Right at this moment things changed for Elijah. Ahab is happy…the kingdom has rain. The people are happy. Elijah is happy this task is complete. Jezebel is furious….enough to make a death threat.

You can’t please everybody! Especially if you intend to please God. As much as there is good there is also evil (up/down, black/white, right/wrong, God/anti). Elijah was having a good day until the one person just crazy enough to do it decides to threaten to kill him.

Elijah does the only thing you really can do here. He gets away from the one who is unhappy. I have this habit of trying to appease one unhappy person, while everyone else is happy. Know going into things that everyone will not be happy and focus on the good rather than the bad. Like Elijah, stay away from the negativity. Did Jezebel really intend to kill him? I think not, she would have just killed him instead of warning. She just wanted to be negative. Stay away from people like this. They make hollow threats and they are mean. Avoid them knowing you cannot please everyone.

Pastor Chanc Strickland
Harpeth Baptist Church
Kingston Springs, TN

This blog post was adapted from a sermon preached at Harpeth Baptist Church in the summer of 2012.

Applications from 1 Kings 

1 Kings 18:40-46

If you read the last post, Great Expectations, please skip ahead to the application.

The Story:

As we finished last time the fire of God fell and consumed the sacrifice. This led the people to proclaim, “Yahweh is God!” Tonight Elijah has all of the prophets of Baal killed. Then he tells Ahab that rain is coming. Next, Elijah goes atop Mt. Carmel and kneels. He tells his servant to go up and look toward the sea. The servant sees nothing, but Elijah tells him to look again 7 times. The 7th time he sees a cloud the size of a man’s fist. This small cloud grew into great rain. As everyone heads home, Elijah outruns Ahab who is in a chariot and got a head start!

The Application:

It may have started in just a cloud the size of a man’s hand, but it ended as a great rain. God had promised to send rain and He did.

Please realize that while literal in our story, the rain here is symbolic of the lesson God wanted to teach Israel.

God is God…Baal is not. God protects & provides for his prophets, while Baal lets his die. The Lord feeds the orphans and widows and raises the dead, Baal lets those who need suffer. God can send fire or rain from heaven, Baal cannot
respond to his most loyal and dedicated followers. Baal is no God at all. God is Lord of all, the one true God. Rain here is evidence of God’s absolute sovereignty over the Earth and human affairs.

These people did not just get rain…they got God!

Conclusion: Address the problem instead of treating the symptom, Have great expectations, watch God send the rain.

Pastor Chanc Strickland
Harpeth Baptist Church
Kingston Springs, TN

This blog post was adapted from a sermon preached at Harpeth Baptist Church in the summer of 2012.

Applications from 1 Kings 

1 Kings 18:40-46

If you read the last post, Treating the Symptom, please skip ahead to the application.

The Story:

As we finished last time the fire of God fell and consumed the sacrifice. This led the people to proclaim, “Yahweh is God!” Tonight Elijah has all of the prophets of Baal killed. Then he tells Ahab that rain is coming. Next, Elijah goes atop Mt. Carmel and kneels. He tells his servant to go up and look toward the sea. The servant sees nothing, but Elijah tells him to look again 7 times. The 7th time he sees a cloud the size of a man’s fist. This small cloud grew into great rain. As everyone heads home, Elijah outruns Ahab who is in a chariot and got a head start!

The Application:

Elijah’s actions show us that he expects God to do what He said He would do. Elijah tells Ahab…I think I hear a rain storm coming! Elijah goes up high so he can see it on the way. Elijah tells his servant to keep checking…I know it is a climb, but keep checking and let me know. Even if you have to go 7 times! Elijah had great expectations.

God said (18:1) that He was going to send rain. Why should Elijah assume God would do anything else? Had God ever failed Elijah? When God said he would stop the rain…it stopped. When God sent Elijah to the brook…He fed him. When God sent Elijah to the Widow…He fed them. When the widow’s son died…God raised him. God had never failed Elijah, thus Elijah had Great Expectations.

Has God ever failed you? Jesus never fails! Live your life with Great Expectations. Live believing that God will do what He said He would do.

Pastor Chanc Strickland
Harpeth Baptist Church
Kingston Springs, TN

This blog post was adapted from a sermon preached at Harpeth Baptist Church in the summer of 2012.

Applications from 1 Kings 

1 Kings 18:40-46

The Story:

As we finished last time the fire of God fell and consumed the sacrifice. This led the people to proclaim, “Yahweh is God!” Tonight Elijah has all of the prophets of Baal killed. Then he tells Ahab that rain is coming. Next, Elijah goes atop Mt. Carmel and kneels. He tells his servant to go up and look toward the sea. The servant sees nothing, but Elijah tells him to look again 7 times. The 7th time he sees a cloud the size of a man’s fist. This small cloud grew into great rain. As everyone heads home, Elijah outruns Ahab who is in a chariot and
got a head start!

The Application:

You notice here that Elijah doesn’t just beat the prophets of Baal in a contest, but he also has them killed. Many may see this as too much…Why kill them now that they had been proven wrong?

This leads us to distinguish between the problem and symptom. Was Israel’s problem the lack of rain? No, this is the symptom. Israel’s problem was worship of Baal before God. The contest treated the symptom…they got rain. Eliminating Jezebel’s prophets addressed the problem.

We must be careful to address the problem not just treat symptom.

Physically. Have you ever had a doctor discuss with you the health implications of American’s eating habits. Many of our health issues would go away if we had better self-control in our diet.

Financially. The same holds true with our budgets. We don’t need more money, better credit, or a different economy. We need to control our personal spending.

Spiritually. Just as we can treat the symptom but never get to the problem with our health/finances…we really can with the spiritual matters of our life, home, and church. Most of the time we don’t need a fresh start, new program, or whatever great idea surfaces. Usually we just need to address the sin, idolatry, or the need for awakening.

Instead of treating the symptom address the problem.

Pastor Chanc Strickland
Harpeth Baptist Church
Kingston Springs, TN

This blog post was adapted from a sermon preached at Harpeth Baptist Church in the summer of 2012.

Applications from 1 Kings 

1 Kings 18:22-39

If you read the last post, Concession, please skip ahead to the application.

The Story:

In this text we read of the show down between Elijah and the Prophets of Baal…or God and Baal. Elijah sets up the situation to prove who is really God. We will put out a sacrifice. Whoever can get his god to send fire wins. He allows the Baal prophets to go first. After they fail Elijah takes his turn successfully.

While the story is very fun to read and very helpful to our faith, I
would like to show you 3 things about Elijah’s character from this
reading.

The Application:

From the text we can see that Elijah is a man with composure. Notice how the Baal prophets acted: They leaped on the altar until it broke. They cut themselves. They were loud, showy, and charismatic. Why did they have to act this way? Their actions were all that was really there in regards to Baal. He wasn’t real…nothing would be done that they didn’t do.

Now see Elijah…. He rebuilt the altar. He prepared the sacrifice. He prayed. He had composure. There was no real show in what Elijah did. Everything he did, allowed God to get more glory.

Conclusion:

Be a Christian with conviction. Don’t be afraid of concession. Operate with composure.

Pastor Chanc Strickland
Harpeth Baptist Church
Kingston Springs, TN

This blog post was adapted from a sermon preached at Harpeth Baptist Church in the summer of 2012.