ONE PRAYER FINAL SERMON

GOD IS… GOD

1 Kings 18

We’re wrapping up the ONE PRAYER series and our last statement is this: GOD IS GOD. But, before we go any further, please take five minutes and take a swift reading of the 18^th chapter of the first book of Kings. We’ll be right here.

Now, we can begin.

Briefly, the story context is this: Israel had already divided in two kingdoms and this took place in the capital of the Kingdom of the North: Samaria. The ruling family’s idolatry had led the entire country to the idol’s worship and had reached a point where a drastic change was needed. So, God sent Elijah to cancel the water service. Yes, Elijah had a message, a little problematic: “There won’t be rain but by my word”.

And so it happened. Didn’t rain for three years and the hole country got cover by misery. Just imagine a drought today and then imagine the same natural force but in that time. It was catastrophic. In the middle of all this, the king was looking for Elijah all over the country but didn’t found him, because God got him hidden at some place near the Querit creek.

Now let’s go back to the chapter 18: Elijah reappears, by God’s orders, and have a meeting with king Ahab.

DROUGHT (v18)

You must have one thing clear: Israel’s idolatry led them into the drought and this teaches us the first point of this entire lesson: Our idolatry dries us.

Maybe we’ll try to convince us that we’re not idolaters and, if we’re evangelical, we’ll try to defend ourselves with the “lack of images in our churches” argument, but the truth is that the idolatry has many faces. The moment we put anything or anyone else in the place that, by right, belongs to God, we’re idolaters.

If religion controls me, I’m an idolater. If my job rules me, I’m an idolater. If an addiction decides over me, I’m an idolater. If my couple is the center of my existence, I’m an idolater. If I am the center of my life, then again, I’m an idolater. Long story short, if we surrender our heart to any influence other than God’s, we’re idolaters. And it’s our sin that lead us to that spiritual emptiness in life and not the other way around.

Have you ever felt that “thirst” in your heart? You’re in a drought.

CONFUSION (v21)

Bear Grylls as this show in which he’s left in a hostile place (desert, mountains, caves, jungles, swamps, etc.) and he has to survive and go back to civilization, all by himself. Although many had questioned the “reality” of the show, one thing is certain: when Bear has been a few days in the desert, without fresh water, he drinks whatever he can. There was even a time when he squeeze some elephant’s excrement to get some water from it. And why? Because he was practically dying from thirst and when you’re in that kind of a situation, you’re simply not so picky. You drink anything, as long as it satisfies your thirst, even if it’s not the best option.

Israel was in the same situation. The drought had led them into a search for water (because a crisis has the power to put us in “search for a higher power” mode) and they were decided to drink whatever they could and, well, the Baal and Asherah priests were right there. Those gods may be a bunch of elephant excrement, but they were something. Not the best, bur it was something.

We’re just the same kind of people. We try to fill the empty inside with stuff when we can only fill it with God. Why? Because we’re, like Elijah put it, confused: Until when will you wonder between two thoughts? If God y God, follow him. And if Baal is God, follow him.

DECISION (v39)

Basically, Elijah said: “You can drink that rubbish or you can have a glass of fresh water. What will it be?” And they had to choose. They had to make a decision.

A long time ago, I was in a relationship with a woman that (I knew) wasn’t the who God wanted me with. So I asked God that he “took her away from me if she wasn’t his will for me”. The great majority of us have made that kind of prayer, leaving the decision that is ours in God’s hands, but the truth is that God is sick of that. God wants us to do what we have to do, because we know what is the right choice but we don’t have the courage to take it.

The decision must be taken by the person and not by God, so Elijah says: “Choose”. And God is saying to us: “Choose”.

The prophet is not questioning if God is God, but he’s questioning if God is God in our life. He says: “Stop wondering. Choose!”

If you decide to live for your work, follow that road with all your heart. If you choose pursuit the money, do it with all your strength, even if you have to brake the law. If the pleasure is going to be your god, worship it with everything you have. Anything that you choose, follow it with everything because, in the end, you’ll loose your soul anyway.

But if you choose God, then you must follow Him with all your mind, your heart and your life. With courage. Even when you’re waiting for water and he sends fire, because, even if he sent fire, the water is coming.

AGITATION (v41)

Now, in the verse 41, Elijah says to the king the a great storm “is heard” but when he send his servant to explore the sky, there’s not even one cloud. There’s no sign of rain until the seventh servant’s exploration. The question is: Why did Elijah said that he heard a great storm? Simple! When God is about to bring a storm, he agitates it, first, in the heart of his servants.

There is a quote in Spanish that says: “The last Coke in the desert.” This means that the really really best thing in something, is the last coke in the desert (ask Bear Grylls). And do you know who is the only God’s coke in this world desert? The Church! And God is the bubbles inside.

So, after you choose God, he really wants to shake you up, as a Coke. And when somebody opens that bottle, man, imagine! When Jesus’ Church finally believe and choose God, God himself will shake it up and the Church will conquer this world with love and truth, and God himself will soak up everyone near his children.

So, what are you going to do? What will you choose? When will you take that decision you’re hiding from? When will you stop letting people’s opinion decide over your destiny? When will you stop squeezing the elephant’s rubbish, trying to convince yourself that is fresh water? When?