God, The Keeper of Promises

1 Ki 18:41-46

When God makes a promise he keeps it. He doesn’t give hope in words only and then reneges when it time to fulfill that promise. We do that and it’s hard to imagine someone who doesn’t go back on his promises whether intentional or not. Every instance we have of God promising something in the Bible, we can read of him fulfilling that promise.

Such is the case with Elijah and Ahab. God promised it wouldn’t rain for 3 years and it didn’t. God promised that after 3 years it would rain, and it did.

What gets us in trouble is trying to decide what is a promise from God. Not every promise in the Bible is meant for us specifically. Benard Ramm tells of a young man during WWII, who was trying to decide if he should join the military, merchant marines, or go to seminary. While reading Psalms, he came across a verse that said, “those who go down to he sea in ships” and decided that was God telling him to join the Navy. That wasn’t a promise from God, it was a coincidence of a verse that had the word seas in it and the U.S. Navy.

Another similar story is of a Man who took to opening the Bible for what he should do that day. One day he opened the Bible randomly and came across the verse that said, “and Judas went out and hanged himself.” Well, he didn’t like that one too much, so he tried again. “Go you, and do likewise.” We need to be very careful what determining God’s promises for our lives.

PRAYER

I. Personal or Universal?

A. Determine if a promise in the Bible is meant to all people of a generation or was it meant for a person or group of people addressed in the Biblical passage?

B. Specific

1. Josh 6:3-5 was a promise given to a military commander.

2. God tells Joshua to march around Jericho and blow trumpets. When he does the city walls will fall.

3. I wouldn’t recommend a military commander doing that today. This promise was mean for Joshua alone at a specific city, not for every military commander or at every city.

4. The same goes for Mk 16:18. It was a promise given to a select group of people that they would be protected from the poison of snakes and drinks.

5. Not long ago 2 Holiness preachers in Tennessee died after drinking strychnine. They had survived bites from copperhead snakes, but as further proof of their holiness they drank the poison and ended up dying.

6. God didn’t intend for those to be personal promises of everyone.

C. Universal

1. There are many promises that are universal and are one we need to hold on to, cherish and even memorize

2. Psa 103:11-13

3. Prov 3:5-6

4. Phil 4:19

II. Conditional or Unconditional

A. Even with the promises that are meant for us, there are some that are conditional and some that are unconditional

B. Conditional

1. Jas 1:5-8

2. 1 Jn 1:9

3. For either one of these promises to be fulfilled, we must meet the conditions set up in the promise.

C. Unconditional

1. There are some promises that God gives us that require no conditions to be met on our part.

2. going back to Phil 4:19, that is an unconditional promise

3. Heb 6:10 is also another unconditional promise.

D. I love the Bible because of the hope it offers to man.

1. It is the word of God to us.

2. It is a history of Him keeping his promises to everyone

3. It is inspired and needs to be treasured by us

4. I love the summary Chuck Swindoll give about the Bible

a) read intelligently, interpreted carefully, treated respectfully, handled wisely, applied correctly

b) If we practice these thoughts, we will come away with exactly what God intended.

c) Too often people want to pull bits and pieces out of context and twist scripture into saying something God never intended his word to mean.

III. Kneeling on the Promise

In this text we see 5 things Elijah did in his prayer as he claimed God’s promise. They are things we should also learn to do to help us claim God’s promises for us.

A. He separated himself

1. Mr. Swindoll mentioned something that got me to thinking this week about prayer.

2. He said a big reason Christians are so lax in prayer is because they have never prepared a place to meet God.

3. In talking with our people who are great praying people, I learned they do this to varying degrees

a) Mack and Carol pray at the dining room table.

b) Lyle and Carol spend time praying in their sunroom.

c) Helene prays in the guest bedroom.

d) Jay and Mary Jo pray in their sunroom.

e) Each of these have mentioned specific places they usually do most of their praying.

f) It the place they separate themselves from the cares of the world for a time.

4. Elijah went to the top of Mt. Carmel

5. Abraham went often to Bethel.

6. Daniel went to a specific window in his home.

B. Elijah humbled himself before the Lord

1. our text says he bent down to the ground and put his face between his knees.

2. It was the same position that the lowest of people assumed when coming into the presence of a King or powerful lord.

3. We rarely kneel in prayer in our worship services today, but even not too long ago that was the common posture.

a) Some of my deepest prayers have been when I have gotten down on my knees and approached God.

b) Sometimes that would be good for us as a church to do. If not physically, at least emotionally, humble ourselves as we approach God in corporate prayer.

c) 1 Peter 5:6-7 Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. 7 Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. NIV

C. Elijah was specific

1. He told his servant to go look for the rain cloud he was praying for.

2. He didn’t pray that God would send good weather, he prayed specifically for rain.

3. We need to be specific in our prayer.

a) If you need a job, pray for a job.

b) If you are a plumber, pray for a plumbing job.

c) If you are struggling with family issues, identify those issues and pray for them specifically.

D. Elijah was persistent

1. Did you notice in vs 43 that Elijah sent his servant 7 times to look for the rain cloud?

2. It wasn’t to wear God down, persistence shows God and us that this is something that is really important to us.

3. persistence also teaches us patience

a) It’s hard to wait.

b) Yet it is often in that time of waiting when we see how much better God’s timing is than our own.

4. Elijah knew that God would keep his promise, so he was content with waiting.

5. When we believe God will keep his promises in our lives, we can deal with the waiting because we have faith that God knows when the best time is to fulfill that promise.

E. Elijah was expectant

1. once that little bitty cloud appeared Elijah sent his servant to Ahab to tell him it was going to rain.

2. That was all he needed to see. He expected God to keep his promise. He had faith in God’s promises.

3. Do you live expectantly? Take a lesson from children

a) When they pray they really believe God will take care of things.

b) Their faith has no bounds.

c) My niece was laughing at Christmas time because she had been praying for snow and of course it starting snowing on Christmas eve. Just like she expected it to.

d) She didn’t doubt that God would send the snow she was praying for and so expected it when it came.

IV. conclusion

A. READ Jas 5:16-18

1. We think that Elijah was the big leagues, that we could never be the spiritual giant he was, but that isn’t true.

2. Look again at what James says, “Elijah was a man with a nature like ours.”

3. He was just like you and I, the only difference is that he fully believed God would keep his promise and lived his life accordingly.

4. I think we could do that if we really believed God would keep his promises.

5. wouldn’t you like to be the next Elijah?

6. Then live like you believe God will keep his promises to you.