Message 1: 2018 Blessing Jan. 7, 2017 Text: 1 Kings 18:41-46; James 5:13-18; 1 Kings 18:20-40

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1 Summary 2018 Reynolda Church New Year s Blessing: There is a sound of the rushing of rain may your ears be blessed to hear it. There is a miraculous outpouring on the horizon may your eyes be blessed to see it. If you are in a season of drought, take heart, a small cloud rises from the sea of God s grace. If you are in a season of plenty, praise Him, God s grace knows no bounds. Elijah was just as human as you are and God changed the whole atmosphere through his prayers. Likewise, your prayers are unspeakably powerful and effective because, when you are in Christ, you re clothed with His righteousness. May the Heavens open and miracles rain down this year, bringing glory to God and blessing to many, in Jesus name. Getting to Know Each Other 1. How would you describe your experience with prayer? a. Lost in the woods. b. I think this is the way forward at least I hope. c. Moving along, but sometimes I m crawling. d. Running the race. e. Other: Getting Into the Bible Read 1 Kings 18: And Elijah said to Ahab, Go up, eat and drink, for there is a sound of the rushing of rain. 42 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. 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. 44 And at the seventh 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. 45 And in a little while the heavens grew black with clouds and wind, and there was a great rain. And Ahab rode and went to Jezreel. 46 And the hand of the LORD was on Elijah, and he gathered up his garment and ran before Ahab to the entrance of Jezreel. 2. Verse 41 says Elijah heard the sound of the rushing of the rain, but the servant kept giving the report of no rain. Compare 1 Kings 18:1. What was happening? What does this teach us about the relationship between God s word and the prayers of his people? Elijah had a clear word from the Lord in 1 Kings 18:1 that rain was on its way. Nevertheless, Elijah did not sit back and passively wait for the fulfillment of God s word. In a sense we can say Elijah prayed down God s word. But it was not instantaneous. This shows both the humility and

2 dignity of prayer. We see the tremendous DIGNITY of prayer in the fact that the living God ended a 3-year drought in response to this man s prayer. At the same time the text also shows how prayer is HUMBLING; Elijah was only able to have this incredible power because of something outside of himself namely, God and His word. In this same vein, Elijah s prayer was not met with immediate fulfillment. Mysteriously, he had to labor and persist in praying to the Lord for what the Lord had already said He would do. Dale Ralph Davis says it well, Elijah has no power to produce any of these changes. We may think he is super-prophet, but only if we ignore the whole testimony of the text. We must hold to the biblical picture: for all his seeming dynamism and charisma, his assertiveness and control, his gumption and boldness, Elijah has no magic, no ace up his sleeve to play in a pinch. He can call upon no sleight of hand by which he slithers out of tight spots and dead-end dilemmas. Elijah can only confess his helplessness; that is, he can only pray. Prayer is most humiliating work. (1 Kings: The Wisdom and the Folly, 244) Doesn t God s modus operandi give dignity to prayer? We take his promises and turn them into prayers in order that the promises may come to pass. What honor God confers on us, not as robots, but as servants who should have no higher ambition than to pray down his will. (1 Kings: The Wisdom and the Folly, 246) Surely people in your group can relate to this tension they have concrete promises from God s word that they are regularly, faithfully bringing before God in prayer. Nevertheless, they are still waiting on the day of fulfillment. They know the humility of prayer. Be that as it may, surely they can also recognize the dignity in having God s revealed will and being able to pray it back to Him. Surely they can point to God s activity in their life and see where He has answered their prayers. One interesting sidebar could be to ask your group, What are some prayers you have seen God answer? What are some others you are still waiting on? Read James 5: Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praise. 14 Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. 15 And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. 16 Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working. 17 Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on the earth. 18 Then he prayed again, and heaven gave rain, and the earth bore its fruit. 3. How does this quote help you to see this passage as good news and motivate you?

3 The righteous man, or person.is simply the believer, the person who is righteous by virtue of receiving forgiveness through Jesus and is therefore part of the people of God. Prayer, James wants to make clear, is a powerful weapon in the hands even of the humblest believer; it does not require a super saint to wield it effectively. (Douglas Moo, The Letter of James, 247) Some in your group may skate right over the word, righteous and move on to the incredible promises about prayer. Others may get stuck here, the casualty of a guilty conscience, haunted by the nagging memory of past and present sins. These more sensitive brothers and sisters are not alone if we all stop and think about the nature of our lives and the condition of our hearts apart from Christ. As the scriptures relate, none are righteous. No, not one. Only through Jesus is it possible to have right standing with God and to then, by the Holy Spirit, live upright lives. The encouraging word of James 5:16 has application in the life of every Christian. 4. What would it do to your reading of this passage to learn that the word, fervently is not in James 5:17? More specifically, the Greek text uses two variations of the word prayer. It could read, prayed with prayer. Or you might render it, prayed a prayer. With the repetition of the word prayer more than once you can see why the word fervently could be used to capture the meaning. That said, is it a sticking point for you? Why or why not? Is it freeing to read the text more literally and say Elijah was a man with a nature like ours and He prayed with prayer that it might not rain? It could be for some in your group that they read the word, fervently as if it were in all capital letters. As if everything hinged in their prayer life on whether or not they were being fervent enough. It may be a true point of freedom for them to realize that word is not technically in the original Greek text. There will be times in their lives, which call for patience and perseverance in prayer; like Elijah had to do when he prayed at the end of 3 and half years. Nevertheless, the power of prayer is not finally found in us, but in the One whose very word we pray back to Him. Your group could further explore this theme by noting how James, on the one hand, says the prayer of faith would save the one who was sick, but immediately follows it up by saying, the Lord will raise him up. Read 1 Kings 18: So Ahab sent to all the people of Israel and gathered the prophets together at Mount Carmel. 21 And Elijah came near to all the people and said, How long will you go limping between two different opinions? If the LORD is God, follow him; but if Baal, then follow him. And the people did not answer him a word. 22 Then Elijah said to the people, I, even I only, am left a prophet of the LORD, but Baal's prophets are 450 men. 23 Let two bulls be given to us, and let them choose one bull for themselves and cut it in pieces and lay it on the wood, but put no fire to it. And I will prepare the other bull and lay it on the wood and put no fire to it. 24 And you call upon the name of your god, and I will call upon the name of the LORD, and the God who answers by fire, he is God. And all the people answered, It is well spoken. 25 Then Elijah said to the prophets of Baal, Choose for yourselves one bull and prepare it first, for you are many, and call upon the name of your god, but put no fire to it. 26 And they took the bull that was given them, and they prepared it and called upon the name of Baal from morning until noon, saying, O Baal,

4 answer us! But there was no voice, and no one answered. And they limped around the altar that they had made. 27 And at noon Elijah mocked them, saying, Cry aloud, for he is a god. Either he is musing, or he is relieving himself, or he is on a journey, or perhaps he is asleep and must be awakened. 28 And they cried aloud and cut themselves after their custom with swords and lances, until the blood gushed out upon them. 29 And as midday passed, they raved on until the time of the offering of the oblation, but there was no voice. No one answered; no one paid attention. 30 Then Elijah said to all the people, Come near to me. And all the people came near to him. And he repaired the altar of the LORD that had been thrown down. 31 Elijah took twelve stones, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, to whom the word of the LORD came, saying, Israel shall be your name, 32 and with the stones he built an altar in the name of the LORD. And he made a trench about the altar, as great as would contain two seahs of seed. 33 And he put the wood in order and cut the bull in pieces and laid it on the wood. And he said, Fill four jars with water and pour it on the burnt offering and on the wood. 34 And he said, Do it a second time. And they did it a second time. And he said, Do it a third time. And they did it a third time. 35 And the water ran around the altar and filled the trench also with water. 36 And at the time of the offering of the oblation, Elijah the prophet came near and said, O LORD, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known this day that you are God in Israel, and that I am your servant, and that I have done all these things at your word. 37 Answer me, O LORD, answer me, that this people may know that you, O LORD, are God, and that you have turned their hearts back. 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. 39 And when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces and said, The LORD, he is God; the LORD, he is God. 40 And Elijah said to them, Seize the prophets of Baal; let not one of them escape. And they seized them. And Elijah brought them down to the brook Kishon and slaughtered them there. 5. In 1 Kings 18 who shows more fervor and religious zeal in their prayers? How does this play into the big point of this episode? What does this teach us about prayer? The prophets of Baal are clearly doing religious gymnastics of Olympic proportions. Their prayers go on from the morning on into the afternoon. Their fervor reaches such a high pitch that they actually resort to the pagan practice of self-harm in order illicit a response from Baal. This all figures into the larger point of the narrative in that, there was no voice. No one answered; no one paid attention (1 Kings 18:29, cf. vs. 26). They used volume. They limped around. But in the end Baal was exposed as a fake. That s why Elijah mocks them in vs. 27. And in the end, it was not only their god who was exposed as fake, but their prayers, and their entire religious system, was exposed as fake, because it lacked a living god at the center. Elijah s prayer, by contrast, is very brief but packed with power. He calls on the covenant name of God, Lord or Yahweh (compare Ex. 3). He recalls God s covenant relationship with Israel by mentioning Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. He makes the goal of his prayer God s own glory and the good of God s people. He prays for his own vindication, but this is framed in a way that is centered on God and His initiatives. While the prophets of Baal s prayers were met with silence, Elijah s prayer was met with supernatural fire. It not only consumed the sacrifice, but dried up the water and even melted down the rocks!

5 What is more powerful when it comes to prayer our religious gymnastics or the living word of God prayed in a living relationship with Him by His Holy Spirit? Application 6. If you look back over the Elijah narrative in 1 Kings there are several instances of prayer, each with a different result. Sometimes Elijah is immediately given what he asks. Other times he has to wait. In other cases his request is denied. How does this shine light on your current prayer life? What does it say about God? -We learn from James 5 that Elijah prayed for it not to rain. This shows up as a simple declaration from Elijah in 1 Kings 17:1. -Elijah prays for the widows son to be raised in 1 Kings 17:20-21 and after stretching himself on the boy 3 times the child is raised. -Elijah prays for the Lord to show Himself as God and fire immediately falls on the altar (1 Kings. 18:36-38) -Elijah perseveres in praying for the rain to come, and after the seventh time there is a deluge. (1 Kings 18:41-46) -Elijah prays for God to take his life and God does not grant his request (1 Kings 19:1-8) In commenting on this text, Dr. Dale Ralph Davis writes, Yahweh obviously regales his people with more variety, not least in the ways he answers their prayers. This proves both more interesting and more mystifying. He answered Elijah immediately in one case (vv ) and, apparently, after extended pleading in another (vv a). In another case, he will refuse Elijah s request altogether (19:4). We must simply live with the mystery and allow it to teach us caution. I think especially of those saints who are so keen to write God s script for him and seem to assume that he provides a one-size-fits-all conversion experience, or that he has a uniform way of answering prayer (if only one has enough faith ), or that he follows one pattern in giving guidance in circumstantial matters. But Yahweh is not so dull. Sometimes prayer is relatively effortless (vv ), sometimes extremely agonizing (vv a). And who really knows why? (Dale Ralph Davis, 1 Kings: The Wisdom and the Folly, 248.) 7. What was there about your New Year s blessing at Reynolda this year that would be important to share with your group? Is there anything you felt particularly impressed with by the Lord? What parts of the Elijah narrative and commentary in James 5 resonate with you? How did the Lord encounter you? Some in your group may have had a spiritual mountain top experience with their blessing. We celebrate that. Others may not have necessarily felt anything. That s ok, because the Lord s ministry through His church has effects, which are not always seen or physically experienced. The important thing is for your group to share with each other how the 2018 Blessing service will chart the course for their year and beyond. They can follow back up with each other, pray together and walk these things out as a community once they have done that.