1 Kings 18 (Part 3) Bible Study (Elijah Prays / The Lord Sends Rain) | Pastor Daniel Batarseh

First kings together, and as you turn there, place your finger.

Verse 41. We're going to read the verses

up to the closing of this chapter, beginning in verse 41.

And Elijah said to Ahab, go up, eat and drink, for there is a

sound of the rushing of rain. So Ahab went up to eat and to

drink. And Elijah went up to the top of

Mount Carmel, and he bowed himself down on the earth, and

put his face between his knees. And he said to his servant, Go

up, now look toward the sea. And he went up and looked, and

said, there is nothing. And he said, Go again seven

times. And at the 7th time he said,

Behold, a little cloud, like a man's hand is rising from the

sea. And he said, Go up, say to Ahab,

prepare your chariot, and go down, lest the rain stop you.

And in the little while the heavens grew black with clouds

and wind, and there was a great rain.

And Ahab rode and went to Jezreel.

And the hand of the Lord was on Elijah.

And he gathered up his garment and ran before Ahab to the

entrance of Jezreel. Father, we ask for your help.

We are forgetful creatures. And so we plead with you that

you would bind these truths in our hearts and that we would be

able to recall these things in the days to come so that we can

be more faithful and we can remember your faithfulness.

And so, Lord, we ask for the help of the Holy Spirit as we

expound on these truths, trusting, oh God, that you have

much to say to us personally as believers, as a church, we

anticipate the voice, your voice through your word in our lives.

In Jesus name we pray, Amen. The Lord he is God, the Lord he

is God. Who would have thought that such

words would gush out of the hearts of a people who have been

apostate for decades? And that is what we read last

week. In one miraculous moment, you

had a people who were experiencing a spiritual drought

that cemented their devotion and all of a sudden was cascaded by

the mercy of God. And as a result, you had worship

springing out of unexpected wells.

And that was the site that we've held together in our last study.

And as refreshing as that site might have been, I'm here to

excite you and let you know that there's still more mercy to be

seen and discovered. Because the spiritual drought

that was taken care of will now be followed by physical

provision for a dry land. This is what Elijah has come to

pray for. Now.

We examined last week how this man of God got before the Lord

and prayed that fire would be shot down from heaven.

And it was answered. And now the same man of God on

the same mountain will come before the Lord and ask for

rain, and the rain will be provided.

And you and I should expect that the Holy Spirit in this section

will give us many things that will feed our faith.

Listen, as we climb with Elijah back up on Mount Carmel, and as

you and I look up to the heavens again with him, we should

believe that God is going to say something to our hearts.

And so I know we read from verse 41, but I want to scale back to

verse 39. Look at verse 39 quickly.

And when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces and

said, the Lord he is God, the Lord he is God.

And Elijah said to them, seize the prophets of Baal and let not

one of them escape, and they seize them.

And Elijah brought them down to the brook Kishan and slaughtered

them there. We didn't touch on verse 40 last

week. We mentioned it briefly as a

cliffhanger, but we have to address this because this seems

to be a disturbing verse in light of the grace of God that

we enjoyed in verse 39. God sending fire, not on the

people of Israel, but on a substitute, on a sacrifice, a

picture of the Lord Jesus Christ.

And we would think it would end there, we would transition from

that point. But instead we see Elijah

commanding that these false prophets who failed to call upon

Baal, and Baal failed to hear him because he is no God at all,

now have a death sentence and they were slaughtered.

How can this be? How can Elijah ask for such a

thing? How can it be done?

Did he overreact? Well, it's important to remember

that in our three-part series within this chapter alone, what

have we realized? What have we learned about

Elijah? That he was completely in step

with the will of God. And even in this showdown with

these prophets of Baal, Elijah did not miss a beat.

Everything that he did was completely ordained and revealed

by God, and he satisfied the wishes of his master, and we

should have no reason to believe otherwise concerning this

command in verse 40, Elijah is still in complete alignment to

the will and the heart and the mind of God and commissioning

the people of Israel to gather these false prophets and to have

them killed. And This is why you're here on

Fridays. I pray that you and I will

continue to grow in the knowledge of the Hebrew

Scripture so that you can grow in your knowledge of the

character of God. Elijah here actually, in asking

for this, is encouraged by the law.

What these false prophets experienced was to be expected

because God already made a demand from His law before the

people even entered into the promised land.

And I want you to see it with your own eyes.

So it's in Deuteronomy chapter 13, beginning in verse one.

Deuteronomy 13 · chapter mention

Here's where Elijah is getting the license to do such a thing.

This man's call for the slaying of these rebel priests was

founded upon what God had asked of the people in Deuteronomy 13

verse one. Read it with me, please.

If a prophet or a dreamer of dreams arises among you and

gives you a sign or a wonder, and the sign or wonder that he

tells you comes to pass, pause. Even if a miracle transpires,

even if a wonder happens through the hands of a man who does not

represent the true and living God, what are you to do?

And if he says, let us go after other gods which you have not

known, and let us serve them, you shall not listen to the

words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams.

For the Lord your God is testing you to know whether you love the

Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul.

We touched on that inner study of Deuteronomy.

Why is there all this heresy? Why are there all these false

religions? Why will be somebody in the name

of Christ performing even signs and wonders, but don't preach a

true and pure gospel? Let me give you one reason.

God's testing every generation. Will you love me?

How are you going to show your love for God that despite the

miracle, despite the sign, despite the wonder, despite the

charisma, despite the programs, despite whatever, because it's

contrary to God's Word, you will cling to the Word about whatever

you see or feel or experience. So God allows it to test our

love and devotion to Him. But that's not the main point.

Scroll down to verse five. That prophet or dreamer must be

put to death for inciting rebellion against the Lord your

God, who brought you out of Egypt and redeemed you from the

land of slavery. That prophet or dreamer tried to

turn you from the way the Lord your God commanded you to

follow. You must purge the evil from

among you. That's exactly what Elijah is

obeying here in First Kings 18, verse 14.

1 Kings 18:14

This kind of crime is worthy of capital punishment and it's not

because you had a group of people within Israel believing

differently. No, this group of prophets were

again enticing the people of God, the true people of God,

from turning away from the true and living God.

And mind you, Please remember this, put this filter every time

you read something in the in the Scriptures, especially in the

Hebrew Scriptures, that seems to be concerning in terms of what

God demands concerning false religion or false prophets.

The Messiah is on his way and he's coming through this seed.

And what Satan has been doing for centuries throughout the

Hebrew Scriptures is to try to corrupt that seed there.

There's no playing around here. The salvation of the world is at

stake, and that attempt to corrupt the seed of humanity

goes all the way back to Genesis chapter 6, and it's happening

Genesis 6 · chapter mention

throughout here in Israel's history.

And so this demanded severe repercussions.

And so this is not that's a side point, but this is not just them

believing differently, this is them trying to lure them away

into self-destructive false religion.

And so it demanded severe confrontation.

And that's exactly what Elijah is calling for.

You know, it's even possible that these false prophets of

Bill were the instruments that Jezebel used to kill the true

prophets of the Lord. And so we see that this man is

obeying the word of God. And what you and I are going to

learn in this study and in the studies to come, that for such

false prophets to remain in the land would prove to be an

existential problem for the nation of Israel.

And we're going to see that because not all these false

prophets in Elijah's day were present on Mount Carmel.

What's our call in a new covenant concerning false

religion, concerning those who would try to entice other

believers away from the truth, those from from within, or those

are outside? You and I have our marching

orders plain and clear in the New Testament.

The domain of our judgment and the degree of our judgement has

been spelled out clearly and there should be no confusion

about it. You have no right to hurt

anybody because they believe differently or try to even

convince you to believe differently.

We're told there in First Corinthians 5, and you don't

have to turn there about verse 11 and 12 as a reference that

our call as the church is to deal with those within the

church. We don't go chasing those

outside of our church and conquest them.

And when people buy the sword, we don't do that.

Our domain of judgement and chastisement and discipline as

demanded by the Lord Jesus is within the church, and Paul

declared that himself as an apostle.

And the severest form of judgement that we can apply to

somebody who is unrepentant morally or unrepentant

doctrinally is that they must be removed from the fellowship of

the believers because a little leaven leavens the whole lump.

And even in that severest form of discipline.

What's the aim? Tell me restoration good is that

we would hope that they would see the error of their ways.

They would see the privileges that they let go of.

They would see that the church does not agree with what they

believe in and they prove it from Scripture that they would

turn back to the truth or turn to the truth rather.

And so this is a picture for us. And when God calls us to even do

something difficult, though our our our orders are different.

We must do it nonetheless. And there's another lesson.

Look again at verse 40. And Elijah said to them, seize

the prophets of Bill, let no, not one of them escape, and they

seized them. And Elijah brought them down to

the brookish on and slaughter them there.

Who did he ask to seize these false prophets?

Was it Israel? It was Israel.

Elijah didn't arrest these men himself.

He did kill them, but he did not arrest and he called the people

of Israel to do so. Why is that important?

Think of the larger context. You go back to verse 39, when

God showed up with his power, Yes, power, but mercy.

They confessed the Lord. He is God, the Lord he is God,

and we're blessed by that. But that's not where their faith

stopped. That's where many people today.

That's where their faith stops. Verbal confession and

profession. Yeah, Jesus Christ is God.

Yeah, the gospel is true. Yeah.

Jesus Christ died on the cross for my sins.

Israel didn't stop with professing it.

They demonstrate that he was God because when a very difficult

command was issued, they did not hesitate to obey.

So I want to say that the encouragement of the response of

the nation of Israel is more encouraging than you might have

thought, that they went beyond where most people go.

They didn't just say it. They said, OK, now what does he

want from me? If he is God, then let me show

that he is God. And we would hope that this kind

of frame of faith would last. We're going to find out that

perhaps it doesn't. But for the time being, we can

take a breath and rejoice in the fact that something happened in

their hearts. Now we come to what?

We read verse 31. Excuse me, 41.

And Elijah said to Ahab, we didn't forget about Ahab, did

we? So the people of Israel, what

did they do? They repented the prophets of

Bill. What happened to them?

They were killed. What's now going to happen to

the king? What is going to happen to the

ruler? Here's what Elijah tells him to

do. Go up, eat and drink.

Why? That's a very strange command.

Go up, eat and drink. In other words, have lunch or

have dinner because rain is coming and you need to be

energized for your journey. You know what my first question

was? Why wasn't he lined up with the

prophets of bail and slain with them?

Don't you wonder the same? We're going to touch on why he

said go up, eat and drink, but why wasn't he killed?

We do not equally guilty of being a rebel and leading the

people of God astray. Here's the answer is a simple

answer, but it's important because it's consistent with how

God works in the world. Every man's verdict concerning

their sin that's unrepented is dealt with differently case by

case, according to God's wisdom and his justice will.

I have completely escaped God's discipline.

No, it's just going to happen at a different time and through a

different way. Do you remember how Ahab will be

chastised by the Lord? Let me remind you in First Kings

22. Look at verse six with me, First

Kings 22. And this is where it's going to

happen for Ahab. This is when the king of Israel,

Ahab, wanted to go to war against Ramoth Gilead, and he

tried to recruit the king of Judah.

And in first Kings 22 six we read then the king of Israel

gathered the prophets together, about 400 men, and said to them,

shall I go to battle against Ramoth Gilead or shall I

refrain? And they said, go up, for the

Lord will give it into the hand of the king.

Pause. Who are these 400 prophets?

Does anybody remember? They're the 400 prophets who

didn't show up on Mount Carmel. You had the prophets of Baal

450, and then you have the prophets of Ashraf 400.

They were kept from going. We don't know how or who kept

them, but we can be pretty confident that it was the

leadership of Israel that said no, no, no, we're not going to

send all our guys out there. We don't know what Elijah's up

to. So you have the same 400 now who

are gathered into the courts of the king and they begin

prophesying with a consensus. You should go up against Ramos

Gilead. Oh, Ahab, and I'm sure you've

read this before. If not, it's a riveting chapter

because a true prophet of the Lord arrives and he gives the

insight of what's taking place here.

And here's the summary of it. Look at verse 23 of First Kings

22. Now therefore, behold, the Lord

has put a lying spirit in the mouth of all these your

prophets. Why the Lord has declared

disaster for you. So God allowed a lying spirit to

speak through all four hundred of these false prophets.

For what reason? So that Ahab would believe the

lies and walk into his own demise.

Why? Because God is going to judge

him in this way. Do you?

Do you realize how heart wrenching the sentencing is?

The very same 400 that Ahab try to preserve and keep have now

been the agency for his own death.

You can't fool God. You can't run from God, you

can't hide from God. If you're going to remain in

your unbelief and your sin, judgement will come.

And what a what a picture, Another picture of so many

examples in the Bible that if you and I are not quick to kill

our sin, it will find a way to kill you always.

I've never seen anybody hold on to their sin and be successful

in doing so. The very same prophets that he

tried to keep to himself, thinking that they would be to

his benefit, ended up turning on him, lying to him, just like how

your sin lies to you, and then end up destroying his life.

If Ahab had repented anytime before, we know that the Lord

would have been extremely merciful.

But this man kept going back to him himself, kept going back to

his false beliefs and rebellion against the Lord.

So now Elijah says go up, eat and drink.

Thinking about this, why out of all the things that Elijah could

have said to this man, and I believe it's because Elijah

discern what kind of man he was dealing with, Ahab here at this

moment is showing no remorse, is he?

He's showing no concern. There's no contrition.

There's no admission of guilt. Perhaps the only thing that's

going on with Ahab is that he is just standing there absolutely

shocked as he's witnessing his false prophets being slain right

before his eyes. But but there's no heart change.

There's no even inquiry. There's no even concern about

what happened with his men. And I believe Elijah recognizes

that. So what is he doing here by

saying go up, eat and drink? It's as though he's just

dismissing him. I just get out of here, go, go,

go eat and drink. Go have a meal.

Because he realizes that this man is completely caught up in

the flesh. Here's what Ahab teaches us at

this point in our Bible study, that a person can witness the

miraculous, that a person can have his world view overcome and

dismantled by the truth, that an individual can even be defeated

by his sin. All of that taking place and

still do what remain in the flesh.

Do you realize what a have witnessed?

He witnessed a man praying to the true God, the God that he's

been rebelling against fire came down from heaven.

All his men, they, they availed to nothing.

They died and what's this man concerned with more than

anything else? Eating and drinking.

Why? Because when Ava AAP says go do

it, he does it. And you get frustrated when you

witness to a sibling or a friend and they don't seem to get it.

That's not new. Don't think it's because we live

in a technological age and people are more distracted than

ever know you have people who are concerned with eating and

drinking even then. And this is what we're supposed

to see by looking at a hand, that there are going to be some,

that no matter what they see, what they learn, what they hear,

what they experience will be bound up and caught up by the

temporal. Should it frustrate us?

Yeah, I should frustrate us. But let it frustrate you to the

prayer closet and not to give up.

You know, I'm reading in my own time.

I'm in Ezra now. But this past week I was reading

through Second Chronicles and looking at different kings from

the Chronicles vantage point. And there was another king and

his name was Ahaz, not a have a has.

And he did a lot of wickedness. The catalogue of evil that he

performed was severe in its own way.

But then he experiences discipline from the Lord, like

obvious discipline. What did a have experience here?

Mercy. He wasn't consumed.

God demonstrated that he's the real living God and it still

didn't move him. A has, on the other hand,

experienced severe chastisement. And there's this one verse and I

just, I plucked that verse from the Scriptures and I've been

just letting it sit. On my heart all week listen to

this I'm just going to read it to you.

This is powerful in Second Chronicles 28.

Listen to this verse and verse 22.

In the time of his distress, he became yet more faithless to the

Lord. The same king A has.

Isn't that amazing? It's as though the author, yes,

inspired by the spirits, like yes, the very same A has that

you've been reading about. Even with all the distress that

he underwent, he still became more faithless.

What this flesh is capable of is astounding and the Scripture

does not hold back in declaring the truth about it.

Ahab is no different here. This man is stiff necked.

But then you got guys like Elijah.

Look what Elijah said back in verse 41 of our main text.

And Elijah said to Ahab, go up, eat and drink.

Why? For there is a sound of the

rushing of rain. I hear rain coming.

How can he say that when not drop one droplet of rain fell on

that dry land? How can he say that when not one

crack of Thunder or lightning has visited those skies in

years? How can he say that with no

sight of even a shadow from the heavens because no cloud has

visited Israel in such a long time?

I can tell you how. Look back at verse one of our

main text. What do you read here in verse

one that the Lord said, go show yourself to Ahab because rain is

coming. So you know why Elijah could say

this with a great confidence? Because God said something and

He believed it. God said something about a

future event that did not yet take place.

But listen to this. Elijah framed his life based on

what God had said about the future.

And that is what faith is all about.

You perceive it, though you do not experience it.

You believe it, and you make your way and you order your life

around it, though you have not yet been visited by it.

That's what faith looks like and it's the opposite of the flesh.

Look at verse 42. So Ahab went up to eat and drink

and Elijah went up to the top of Mount Carmel.

So these these men, you have a men, a man who represents the

flesh and a man who represents faith.

And guess what? They go their separate ways.

You know why? Because if you're a brother or

sister in this place and you are a person who truly believes

God's word and live according to God's word, it will be very

difficult for you to fellowship with those who are of the flesh.

Doesn't mean you're unloving, doesn't mean you're

self-righteous. But it's very difficult because

obviously here Ahab has no intention or zero appetite to do

what Elijah is about to do on the top of Mount Carmel.

What is Elijah about to do? Read the rest of the verse.

And he bowed himself down on the earth and put his face between

his knees. He went up to go pray.

And what did Ahab do? He went to go eat and drink.

Is there anything wrong with eating and drinking?

Absolutely not. But there's a time and place for

everything, and Elijah understood that in light of what

God had just done here, this, this profound, powerful display

of His Majesty, it was time to posture himself, to inquire of

the Lord and seek the Lord for the next thing, the thing that

was ultimately promised. And what does Ahab do again?

He's unmoved, unfazed, and he just goes about like nothing had

happened. So now Elijah goes up to Mount

Carmel, and this man who goes up here now seeks the Lord in a

very humbling way. He get, I'm not going to

demonstrate it for you, but let your imagination go there.

He gets on his knees and he puts his face between his knees.

We're going to touch on that in a moment here, But the careful

reader will realize in our first initial reading that though

there is a picture being painted of this man praying, it's not

explicitly stated. We're not being told here

directly that Elijah prayed, but this is where the harmony of

Scripture comes to our aid. Go to James chapter 5 and verse

James 5 · chapter mention

17 and 18, and you get the commentary of this very same

passage, and it's clarified of what Elijah is exactly doing

here. James 517 to 18.

Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed

fervently that it might not reign.

And for three years and six months it did not rain on the

earth. That's what we covered earlier.

But hear what we see at the end of chapter 18 of First Kings is

what we see in verse 18 of James chapter 5.

James 5 · chapter mention

Then he prayed again, and heaven gave rain, and the earth bore

its fruit. So when Elijah climbs back the

mountain and puts his face between his knees, James tells

us he went up there to go pray. He's praying.

And in what we're about to read in detail, you're going to have

the insights to strengthen your prayer life.

Can I tell you something when you read about Elijah praying

and fire coming down in a miracle and revival breaking

out, that that should excite your prayer life?

But there's something in this part and this section of his

praying that will resonate a lot more, I believe.

So let's look at a few components of what's happening

here with this praying. The first thing that you and I

learned from verse 42 is that Elijah, after experiencing this

wonderful, fruitful, successful feat, pulls himself away and he

meets with God in private. Here's an important lesson about

this man of God. No matter what kind of things he

experienced publicly, he maintained and secured his

private time with the Lord. Many people miss that.

Many people miss that especially when they're doing really well.

I believe why Elijah is doing this is because Elijah is

disclosing the secret to the effectiveness of his ministry,

communion with God, staying on his knees before God, sitting at

the feet of God, pouring out his heart privately before God.

And this man was willing to separate himself from the crowd,

separate himself from the audience of the king.

And he realized that the God who gave me success yesterday is the

same God who must give me success today and must give me

success for tomorrow. You have many people over time

in ministry and even in their Christian mark, they get very

comfortable with the routine. They realize that they have a

gift, and so they serve, they sing and they preach.

And over time, that time with the Lord becomes thinner and

thinner and thinner. But this man is not fooled.

This man realizes that unless I meet with the Lord consistently,

I will not know the fullest measure of His power, of His

mercy, of His wisdom, of His protection.

Do you know the number one common denominator for

backsliders? Maybe I'll get your attention

now more than before. I've talked to many of them, and

I know people who have talked to big ministers who have fallen

from grace. Can I tell you the number one

common denominator, even from men who have preached the Word

of God faithfully, who had wonderful history and

reputation? And if for some reason falling

off, they all can confess with confidence.

We stopped meeting with the Lord in private.

We stopped reading the Bible for ourselves.

We stopped spending time in prayer on a daily basis to

commune with the Lord. Got busy, got confident, got

caught up. And it's like, you hear that I

I've heard that. I've seen it happen to people.

And yet you can still feel the temptation to pull yourself away

from exactly what Elijah is doing here.

You can't afford to do it. People ask all the time, how do

you discipline yourself to be able to seek the Lord every

single day? How do you do it?

And I say, it's not a matter of what I what I want, it's a

matter of survival. So you don't see it that way.

You just see it as a luxury. You see it as an optional thing.

But you have to come to the point and believe in your heart

that this is not something that I can afford to miss out on if I

want to know this thing for long term, if I want to know

longevity. So let that little truth there

just add a spark to the fire that you know that that might be

getting weaker. And it's not because you're

necessarily sinning. You just fight for it if you

have to. If days go by where it's not

realized, get back to it. Don't get comfortable coasting

away from that place. I love you too much to say

otherwise. And so this man does it.

But notice the second thing, the humility of Elijah.

He bowed himself down on the earth and put his face between

his knees. And this is something so

significant for many reasons. And the main reason is because

it happened after a great experience of ministry.

This man saw a nation, not a couple people after a Bible

study or Sunday servant you're talking about.

Let's just imagine the state of Illinois coming to one of your

meetings, you preaching God, backing up your message with

power. That's undeniable.

And you see the state of Illinois getting on its knees

saying the Lord Jesus Christ is God, the Lord Jesus Christ is

God. What do you think that would do

to the common man? Wow.

I'm a pretty good preacher, I think.

Wow. Surely after this I'm going to

get a lot of invitations to conferences.

Now, you know what you see this man doing?

He goes up and he humbles himself before God and he gets

low. So yeah, he stood tall before

kings, and he pointed his Bony prophet finger before a nation.

But when it came to the presence of God, he humbled himself.

He says, God, this is all about you.

This couldn't have happened without you.

And now for this next thing, I'm going to need you.

I can't produce this. I can't cause anything to

happen. It has to be Your grace.

And so true servant of the Lord will never allow even the

success of his spiritual journey caused him to waver from

acknowledging, praising, loving, worshipping, and attending to

the presence of God. It will only reinforce and

strengthen him in that place because He realizes what God

allowed me to experience yesterday and what He did

through me yesterday is by His grace.

And anything I'm going to know or do for him today or tomorrow

is also going to be by His grace.

They never lose touch with that reality.

And this man did not. There's still more to learn.

Remember James said that this man is a model for prayer

concerning the Christian. So look at verse 43.

And he said to his servant, go up now look toward the sea.

And he went up and looked and said there is nothing.

And he said, go again seven times.

This lesson is obvious is not it's a lesson on perseverance 7

times. So he prays, tells a servant,

go, comes back, nothing prays. And he does that several times.

And we're all we're we're all very familiar about Jesus

teaching the Bible's examples of how to persevere in prayer, how

to persevere, how to. But this is what blessed me even

more about Elijah's example. It stands in such contrast to

his previous experience of prayer.

So you read last week with me that the moment he comes down

before the Lord, as he stands before this altar, and he asks

for the fire of God to come and consume that sacrifice, the

moment he said Amen, so to speak, the fire came.

And then now you have this man, the same man on the same

mountains praying to the same God, and he's asking for rain

this time and this account. The first time does it come?

The second, does it come the fifth time?

Seven times. What are you supposed to take

from that? You and I are supposed to learn

that unless you're not careful, you will be weighed down in

prayer. There are times when God can

answer in the very before you even say Amen, He can answer

even if your prayer is in thought form and you haven't

even expressed that you can answer it.

And there are other times where you will pray and you will pray

and you will pray and you will pray and never mind hints, there

will be nothing, nothing. Expect both from God.

Expect both. Why do I say expect?

Let me put it this way. Every time I pray, I pray and

anticipate that God will do it. Every time I pray I want to see

a miracle, but I'm also ready for it to come in a different

way, which is really the next point because look what happens.

Go up. Now look toward the scene.

He went up and looked and said there is nothing.

And he said go again seven times.

And at the 7th time, verse 44, he said, behold, a little cloud

like a man's hand is rising from the sea.

And he said, go up, say to Ahab, prepare your charity and go down

unless the rain stop you. Look at verse 45.

And in a little while the heavens grew black with clouds

and wind, and there was a great rain and Ahab road and with the

Jezreel. So again, compare it to Elijah's

experience for praying. When he prayed for fire, he

prayed once fire came. Did the fire come like with a

spark? And then he had to feed the

fire, and then he grew up into a flame.

Is that what happened? No, look at verse 38.

Then the fire of the Lord fell and consumed the burnt offering

and the wood and the stones and the dust and licked up the water

that was in the trench. You know why I love that verse?

Because all was needed for the challenge was the the sacrifice

to be consumed. That's all that was needed to

prove that this was the true and living God.

You know what God does when he sends the fire?

He consumes more. You know what that's a picture

of? You pray for something and God

does more. But look at this.

So he prays and fire comes right there and then.

Now he prays for rain, right? Does he pray once, seven times?

And on the 7th time, do the clouds just suddenly appear and

it just starts raining and pour? Is that what happens?

No, a little cloud like the size of a man's hand comes.

And in verse 45, you read why? And in a little while the

heavens grew black with clouds and wind.

It's not very dramatic, is it? It's those are not the kind of

prayer testimonies you hear or asked to be shared at the prayer

meeting. It's the fire coming down right

away. Wow, is this any less of a

testimony? So you know what God can do when

you pray. God can heal your loved one

instantly. God can provide for your need

with your next blink. God can put a stop to that trial

with a breath. God can halt persecution right

away. He can do all of that like he

did with Elijah and the fire, but you know what else he might

do? You can pray for that loved

one's healing and you know how He's going to do it in stages.

And you need some. You need something.

You need a financial breakthrough, so to speak.

You need a job. Whatever the case may be, you

need something to be taken care of.

And how does God do it? Little by little, you need an

opportunity. And God can swing wide open a

door. A random guy calls you, doesn't

even know you, and it's this opportunity of a lifetime.

He can do that, or it can be several calls and a few

interviews. He can stop the persecution, or

he'll let it go for some time. So it can purge you in a certain

way. He can extinguish the fiery

trial, or he can extend it and manifest his presence within it.

So don't get frustrated if it doesn't come right away.

And if it doesn't happen when you pray once, and if you feel

discouraged, remember that some of God's greatest men are

experiencing what you're experiencing.

And here's one of them, Elijah. So I don't, I try not to allow

myself to go to a place where I think what's going on here?

Because I see a man who prayed 7 times.

So OK, if you have to pray a week, pray a week.

If you have to pray a year, pray a year.

If you have to pray years, pray for years.

You're saying, well, when do I stop praying?

I can't keep my head between my knees for too long, can I?

Can I? Can I tell you when you stop

praying? When God makes it clear when to

stop praying depends on the request, but I trust based on

the testimony of the Word of God, If you're persistent and

God hears you and there's an answer coming in terms of when

you should stop, He'll make it abundantly clear and you will

know it as he did with David with his sick newborn, when he

interceded on behalf of that little baby who is dying and he

did not get up from the floor until his men said the baby is

dead. He anointed his face, he washed

himself, he worshipped the Lord and he had his meal.

He stopped praying. What about Paul with a thorn in

his flesh? He prayed, he prayed the third

time the Lord said, I'm not removing this.

My grace is sufficient. So here's how I want to

translate. I know it might sound difficult.

I'm, I know it might might sound even daunting, but be encouraged

to know that if you're praying for that backslidden child of

yours, don't give up until God makes it clear when to give up.

And if God needs to make it very, very clear, there are

examples of prophets who are praying for a nation or praying

for an individual and God says enough, it's time to move on.

I have a different program here. So don't lose hearts, don't lose

focus and remember this as a testimony to keep you in that

place. So we see here that Elijah prays

and he prays and he prays. Now look at here verse 44.

In a little while, while the heavens grew black with clouds

and wind and there was there was a great rain and Ahab rode and

went to Jezreel. So here, this this is so

important because we could have ended here with the rain coming.

But he instructs Ahab to do something else.

He tells Ahab, I want you to get up, take your car and drive up

to Jezreel. Why Jezreel, go to 1st Kings 21.

Look at verse one and a certain, excuse me now neighbor, the

Jezreelite had a vineyard in Jezreel beside the palace of

Ahab, king of Samaria. So the capital was in Samaria,

but Ahab had a palace in Jezreel, and that was probably

his main place of abiding. And so he tells him, go to your

home. And Ahab listens.

But we're not done here with a miracle or the theme of

miracles. Rather look at verse 46.

And at the hand of the Lord was on Elijah, and he gathered up

his garment and ran before Ahab to the entrance of Jezreel.

That's how the chapter ends. So Ahab says the rain is here.

Excuse me. He tells Ahab the rain is here,

get in your chariot and go to Jezreel.

And then we're told the hand of the Lord comes upon the prophet.

And he runs ahead and he beats him to Jezreel.

Can anybody explain the miracle behind this?

What's the miracle behind it? In one sentence, What's the

miracle behind this? The rain didn't stop him.

That's one. Yeah.

So this wonderful overflow of rain didn't hinder him.

The Lord, what the Lord wants. The Lord was on Elijah and what

was he on him to do exactly to what I feel like people are

scared to answer. It's not teleportation.

He ran before the chariot speed. I think that's the general

commentary of this, right? That this man was able on foot

to run ahead of a chariot and beat the chariot.

That's pretty significant, and perhaps that's part of it,

because this man worked all day, did he not?

He challenged false prophets. He didn't eat or drink himself,

at least yet. And with all that he spent, all

that he gave out praying, seeking the Lord.

Interesting. Praying is hard work too.

He was able to be energized by divine power and make his way to

Jezreel on foot. Is that?

Although I wonder if that's it. Can I ask you another question?

Is this the only time where you see a man running before a

chariot in the Bible? I think people are scared to

answer still. OK, let me show you one example.

Go to second Samuel with me in chapter 15.

I won't just give you one man. Look at Second Samuel chapter 15

2 Samuel 15 · chapter mention

and verse one. After this Absalom got himself a

chariot and horses and 50 men to run before him.

And I can show you other examples of others doing the

same. So Elijah running before a

chariot is often understood at being a miraculous enablement

from heaven to outrun horses. But there are other places where

men run before Chariots. Now you can make the case that

maybe it was at a different pace.

Elijah here is out running something that's full throttle

perhaps. But can I remind you of a

command in our study of First Samuel?

In First Samuel, when the prophet told the people what

they should expect by having a human king, he warns them

because God was their king and God was going to bring a

tangible king at the right time. It was a premature request and

it was in the flesh. They didn't want to be like God.

They don't want to be according to God's program.

They wanted to be like the world.

So Samuel tells him, you want it.

OK, let me tell you what you're getting yourself into.

And here's one of the things that they should have expected.

Look at First Samuel 8 with me. It's worth it.

First Samuel 8. Look at verse 10.

So Samuel told all the words of the Lord to the people who were

asking for a king from him. He said, these will be the ways

of the king who will reign over you.

He will take your sons and appoint them to his Chariots,

and to be his horsemen. And to do what?

And to run before his Chariots. So one of the things that kings

would demand following this is that they would have some of the

men of Israel, as an act of service and loyalty to the king,

run before him as a way of displaying the majesty of that

king. Look at these men who are

running before me. It's almost as though it's a

parade. And these men, in doing so,

we're doing so in service, in humility, before this king.

I believe Elijah is doing more than just trying to outrun Ahab.

I mean, think about it, why is Elijah not just telling Ahab to

go, but meeting him there? What does that have to do with

him? Here's a thought that Elijah and

commanding Ahab to go is also going to follow him, but lead

the way, running before the chariot, perhaps with the high

hopes that this man would have some kind of change of heart,

especially as he is experiencing this rain flowing over him.

And he's going to now come to the palace and testify before

Jezebel, maybe with the hopes of a royal repentance.

Perhaps if that is not necessarily the desire of

Elijah. What he is doing by running

before him is pretty clear. Elijah up to this point has been

very confrontational, very direct, bold, and by running

before the chariot, what it would communicate to Ahab and

even onlookers when you connected to First Samuel 811.

That this Elijah is not personally against a that his

rebuke, his challenge to the king is not to dishonor his

authority or his position, but as a prophet to fulfill his role

as a duty. And so by running ahead of this

chariot, if First Samuel 811 means what it means that to run

before his chariot is some kind of a demonstration of loyalty,

then perhaps Ahab here is trying to communicate.

I'm not against you, Ahab. I'm against your sin.

I'm against your idolatry. And I want to show the people

here that I'm not trying to overthrow you.

I want to see you saved. I want to see you one over to

the truth. And, and with all that I have

done, with all that I have performed, in the end it's for

you to come back to the Lord and let me show it in this way.

I'll, I'll run before your chariot.

Let people see even up to your palace that I'm going to run

before your chariot. If that is the case, then you

have a great miracle I play here, one that is greater than

somebody who is now working with superhuman strength and is

running on his feet in a way that an older man shouldn't.

You have the hand of the Lord who comes upon Elijah to do

what? Perform a great act of humility

to run before a chariot. Not just any chariot, a chariot

that is unworthy, a chariot with a man in it that has caused much

trouble and dishonour to the Lord and his people.

And yet still you have Elijah willing to after great victory,

after great showdown to say, OK, Ahab, I'm going to show you and

others now that I want you to come to the truth.

And so he does it. You know, there might be people

in your life that you have great trouble honoring, great trouble

respecting. Could even be your husband.

It could be a friend, it could be a sibling.

It could be somebody from your. I don't it doesn't matter who it

is. It could be a Christian in the

church. It could even be elders and you

are going to be called at times. Actually, we're called all the

time to humble ourselves and to with the wisdom of God know how

to navigate between challenging yet respecting, standing against

yet showing that you're still for them and you want them to

know the truth and all the scenarios vary.

The spectrum is very wide and long.

You know what you're going to need in order to do what Elijah

did in this time. What was on him to do this?

The hand of the Lord. You can't do it without God's

help you. You won't be able to submit

without God's help. You won't be able to respect and

be patient and gentle and kind without God's help.

You won't be able to endure patiently with other believers

who in the flesh deserve dishonor, disrespect, but in the

Spirit you know you're a call to hire.

You can't do it without the hand of the Lord.

Elijah had the hand of the Lord upon him to run before this

chariot. I could point to the other

couple examples where men ran before Chariots and they did not

have the hand of the Lord upon them.

There's something more significant here, more personal,

more real, more relatable, even to you and I.

But how do I get the hand of the Lord upon me to love and respect

and honor and care and cherish and submit?

In some cases, we'll think about what Elijah did before this.

What was he doing? He was on a mountaintop alone

with God. And I believe that continuation

is no accident. There he is with the Lord,

praying. And not only did God provide

rain, He provided a power on him to do what we read here at the

end of this chapter. You know how we're going to end

this Bible study? Not by saying a quick prayer,

singing one song, and then leaving, but you're going to ask

for the Lord. I hope for His hand to be upon

you so that when you leave here, you're more energized to relate

to other people in the way Jesus Christ asked of you.

I can't do without the hand of the Lord, and I'm not going to

get the hand of the Lord unless I get on my knees before the

Lord. So maybe you came as Pastor Mark

opened up. Maybe you came in here a little

defeated, little deflated. Maybe you argued with your wife

or husband or your kids on your way here.

Maybe you dishonored your father, your mother on your way

here. Maybe you're struggling and

doing what Elijah was able to do for a person that really didn't

deserve it. I invite you not just to take

this truth into treasured in your heart, but to act upon and

say, Lord, I'm going back to an environment tonight that is very

difficult and I need your hand on my life.

I need your hand on my tongue. I need your hand on my temper, I

need your hand on my reactions. People often want fire, they

want rain, they want miracles. That's all wonderful, but how

often do we hear of this miracle in Elijah's life that he was

able to run before Ahab's chariot with grace and humility?

Lord, we ask you that you help us, please, to recognize our

neediness. Thank You that we can pray and

You can place your hand on our lives, and not just in a general

way. You can place your hand in an

area in our life that requires your help, your power, your

energy, your animation for it to be realized in a way that

glorifies you and testifies before watching world that we

are servants of the living God. Lord, tonight we pray that you

would bring things to mind that we would ask you for, to help us

do what may even be impossible. And Lord, sometimes, often

times, what seems to be impossible are the relationships

that we have to deal with so low.

We pause now, and we want to respond to this Bible study.

We're truly seeking you. Help us not be like Ahab after

hearing a study like this. Be concerned with the flesh.

Help us respond to these wonderful truths in the way that

this man of God did so. Lord, even in the silence of

this moment, we seek your face and we ask, Oh God, that your

hand would be upon us in Jesus name, Amen.

Why don't we do that? I'm going to join you.

I'm going to join you in seeking the Lord and saying Lord, I want

your hand on my life, yes, to deal with maybe certain people,

but also your hand on my life to administer more effectively, to

endure more in prayer, to know how to protect and maintain that

time alone with you. Let's just make this a time of

responding to God's voice, his speaking in this past hour,

shall we? Don't rush out of here.

Don't waste this moment. Just sit there and focus on the

Lord and trust that he hears you even now and he will honor your

request before we close in prayer together, shall we?

Let's do that and as as a praise team comes and prepares to lead

us in worship, we're not going to sing right away, but just

seek the Lord and He will be found.