Fired Up Faith

So let me ask you as we find our way to first Kings chapter 17 this morning, let me ask you, what do you think when you hear the words fired up? When you hear the words fired up, what do you think of? Maybe you have a negative connotation of someone who's maybe angry or impetuous or maybe when you hear the words fired up you think of something good like somebody who's really excited about something or really passionate about a cause or about biblical truth. That's a good way to look at fired up. But I want to give a little different twist on fired up today. And my twist on fired up is coming from first Peter chapter 1. Now that's not our text for today, but let me read first Peter chapter 1 verse 6. Familiar verse, after thanking God for the glorious inheritance we have in heaven, Peter says in this you greatly rejoice though now for a little while if need be you have been grieved by various trials that the genuineness of your faith being much more precious than of gold that perishes though it is tested by fire may be found to praise and honor and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ our Lord. Peter talks about the refining process of our faith, the purifying of our faith, the strengthening of our faith which comes about through testing and he compares it to firing up a furnace to purify precious metals like gold. That's exactly what we see happening in Elijah's life and our installment of his life today in first Kings chapter 17 beginning in verse 8. When we last saw Elijah he was waiting by the Brooke Carreeth and the Brooke was drying up his faith was being tested there but God had told him I'm going to send you somewhere else but the test of his faith was will he stay there at Brooke Carreeth until God sends him somewhere else so God was testing his faith purifying strengthening his faith well God did give him new instructions as to where to go chapter 17 verse 8 says then the word of the Lord came to him saying arise go to Zaraath which belongs to Sidon and dwell there. Stop right there for just a moment interesting place Zaraath the name itself literally means a place of smelting or refining the Hebrew word which is translated Zaraath the city name the Hebrew word literally means to smelt or refine metal and the noun form of the word means a crucible where that refining or smelting is done you're familiar with the process no doubt where precious metals are superheated in a furnace so what happens the impurities rise to the top they are skimmed off and what you have left is a more pure a stronger a more refined piece of metal or kind of metal that's what God does with our faith God purifies our strengthens our faith through testing our faith becomes fired up through testing and that's what we're going to see with both Elijah and the widow because in both Elijah and the widow where God will send him to live in both of them what we see they demonstrate four characteristics of a fired up faith the first characteristic of a fired up faith is this faith gets fired up through testing it gets that way it gets fired up it becomes purified and strengthened through testing once again look at verse nine and you'll see Elijah's faith being tested God tells him a rise go to Zarephath which belongs to Sidon and dwell there now it's it's almost as though God comes to Elijah and says Elijah at Brook Kareeth I've got good news and bad news for you the good news is I'm sending you somewhere else you won't have to be here with a brook that's dried up the bad news is that somewhere else is Zarephath and you know if I were Elijah I probably could have thought of any number of reasons why Zarephath is not a good place to hide and I might even wonder God do you really know what you're doing do you really want me to go to Zarephath because there are several things that that just from human observation appear to be wrong with Zarephath first of all it's a city now God had chosen to hide him in the sense of protecting him from from opposition in a place where he couldn't be found Kareeth was an out of the way place that we don't even know today exactly where it was but Zarephath that's a major city and he's going to be staying there God says I want you to dwell there people will recognize him in a city as being a stranger first of all and they may suspect by his look and by his tone of voice that maybe he's a prophet and so it just doesn't seem like the right place to hide the second potential problem with Zarephath is that it's Jezebel's home area Jezebel the queen of Israel the wife to King Ahab who had brought bail worship with her to Israel she's from the town of Sidon which is seven miles north of Zarephath when she goes home to see mommy and daddy she's going to go right through Zarephath I can just imagine somebody saying oh nice to see you queen Jezebel did you know we have a prophet living here and and she's going to say I'd like to meet that prophet I mean this doesn't seem very good place for him to be because of Jezebel third reason is he's probably unfamiliar with Zarephath Zarephath's a Gentile city the Brooke Kareeth he probably was familiar with that because he was from Gilead a very remote rocky region so he probably knows where Kareeth is Zarephath he doesn't always weigh around Zarephath Lord you sure you want me to go to that place Zarephath the fourth problem I can find is God has told him I have a widow there to take care of you widows were notoriously vulnerable in their culture in that day often exploited most often poor and that leads me to the fifth potential problem with Zarephath Elijah will find out very soon that not only is she poor she is impoverished she has nothing in fact she's as when Elijah meets her she's about ready to fix what she thinks is her last meal for her and her son and then they will die God is that really where you want me to go to be taken care of and then the sixth reason why I can see a problem with Zarephath is that God didn't describe to him what widow he just says go there I've got a widow to take care of you how am I supposed to find out God didn't give him any clear instructions like you know she's five foot two with eyes of blue black hair and just so you know if that's a lot of people she'll have a red carnation in her hair you know he didn't give him any indication of who she was just a widow and so how's he going to find this widow well we'll see in a moment what he came up with which was ingenious maybe the Lord gave it to him but for all these reasons I suspect Elijah may have been thinking I don't know about this Lord this doesn't seem right at all it doesn't make sense to me are you sure you see his faith is being tested because sometimes God tells us to do things God leads us in ways that don't make a lot of sense in our human way of looking at things that may not make sense to a lot of other folks sometimes God does things in our lives leads us in ways that just don't seem right or we'll think how in the world is that going to work for instance God tells us in Matthew 18 that we are to forgive those who offend us 70 times seven now he's not saying 490 times and when you get that that far you quit that was just a way of saying an innumerable amount of times you're to forgive someone and and we typically think are you kidding if someone keeps coming to me asking for forgiveness doesn't that mean they're not really serious about what they've done so we have a tendency to raise questions ourselves about what God has said right God says in Philippians chapter 4 be careful for nothing or anxious for nothing don't worry about anything but in everything by prayer and supplication let your request be made note unto God in the peace of God which passes all understanding shall guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus our Lord but it's the first part that gets me don't worry about anything and I find myself saying Lord are you serious do you really mean that do you mean I can really live that way without worrying being anxious about anything sometimes what God says doesn't seem to make sense in Proverbs 3 verses 9 and 10 God tells us to give the first fruits of our goods to the Lord and he will make sure that our barns have plenty and our vats will always have new wine don't take that one too too literally remember the culture of the day but God is saying if you will honor me first then I'll take care of you and we often say but God you don't know the financial pinch I'm in you don't you don't know the problems I've got but now I can't afford to give you a tie the all that I have or that I that I have coming in I have so many bills to pay God's testing your faith and seeing whether or not you will honor him and his word and trust him to protect you and to provide for you God challenges our faith but it's not only Elijah's faith that's getting fired up here it's also the woman's faith look at what happens with her verse 10 so he Elijah arose and went to Zerefath and when he came to the gate of the city indeed a widow was there gathering sticks and he called to her and said please bring me a little water in a cup that I may drink and as she was going to get it he called to her and said please bring me a morsel of bread in your hand now just think about this Elijah's had a lot of time to think as he travels to Zerefath I don't know how I'm going to find this widow it's kind of like you know when Abraham God told Abraham to go to a land which he would show him when he got there how do I know where I'm supposed to go how do I know where I'm supposed to stop well that's the way Elijah was he's on his way to Zerefath how am I supposed to find this widow now whether or not God showed this to him or specifically told him we don't know but he evidently came up with two questions God has has commanded a widow there to provide for me God's told me that he's commanded so maybe the best way to find out is to start the first woman I meet I'll start by asking for a drink of water and then as she if she is responsive to that I'll ask her for some bread I mean if God's commanded a woman to take care of me there that's a pretty good way to find out but think about the widow think about her here comes a stranger into town who says give me something to drink and she might be ready to object you mean water are you are you kidding there's a drought nobody has any water and you're a stranger asking me for water and then he asks for bread and she may be thinking what happens if I do fix him some bread to eat and then he laughs at my face and walks off and we're going to find in verse 12 that he had asked first for bread and then she could fix something for her and her son his you know his desire to be served first sounds kind of suspicious she might be thinking of all those things but remember God has commanded her to take care of a prophet so her faith is being tested water which is so scarce and bread which I only have enough to make for me and my son for one last meal her faith is really being tested will she trust God that whatever the prophet says to do she will do you see our faith gets fired up strengthened it gets purified it gets better when God tests us one of the wonderful things I see about this passage that I trust will be an encouragement to us it is to me when I think about it is to remember that when God is working in your heart when God is speaking to you he's also at work on the other end of the line that's an amazing sense of God's providence of his sovereign working out the details that we often miss God has told he lied you to go to Zarifeth and he says I've commanded a widow there to take care of you at the same time God is working in the heart of a widow he is commanding her to take care of a prophet evidently she knows a prophet is coming she is to expect him and she is to provide for him so all of the largest concerns about how's this going to work are taken care of because God's already working on both sides at the same time it reminds me of the stories in the book of Acts you know Acts chapter 8 where God tells Philip to go down to the Ethiopian government officials chariot and witness to him and here's an Ethiopian government official who had come to Jerusalem for one of the feasts he's going back home and Philip is supposed to go witness to him but you know the story don't you God's already preparing the heart of that Ethiopian government official for the message because he's sitting there in his chair reading Isaiah 53 so God's working on both ends of the line same thing with Cornelius and Peter Cornelius a Roman centurion a Roman soldier sends to Japa to Peter in Acts chapter 10 for him to come to Cornelius's home and explain to him what he needs to know about the gospel a Peter is a faithful Jew who knows it's not it's not possible to go inside the home of a Gentile so how is Cornelius going to make this approach knowing that Peter probably won't come well God's at work with Peter also remember he lets down the sheet where he sees the unclean and clean animals and he tells him to go ahead and eat and Peter says no no I'm a faithful Jew I can't eat unclean animals and God says all that's in the past that's the mosaic law this is a new order this is the church age this is different now that's the king John translation he didn't say quite all of that but that's a paraphrase of it he's saying this is all a new order this is a new time a new age this is the church age and so God at the same time he's telling Cornelius to ask an unthinkable thing of this Jewish preacher he's working in Peter's heart as well now whatever you're going through my friend whatever you're being tested with rest assured that what God's telling you to do what God's leading you to do what God is doing in your heart to work in your life he's also working in the hearts of others that will be affected by what you do or that you need in order to accomplish what you need to do remember that even in this time this crucial time of your church history of looking for a new pastor do you believe that as God works here among you to search and to look and to pray and to find the right person do you believe that God's also working in the heart of that man yes the man of his choosing he's also working in the heart of that man and in his timing and providence he will bring you together believe that God's testing your faith right now as a church don't let him down believe that the fires of testing will produce a strengthened and purified faith faith gets fired up through testing the second characteristic of fired up faith is this fired up faith overcomes obstacles fired up faith overcomes obstacles now let's read verses 12 and 13 so she said okay he's just asked her for a glass of water and and she as she's going to get it Elijah says bring this in bread so she said in verse 12 as the Lord your God lives by the way just stop right there for a moment she used the covenant name of Jehovah your God evidently this Gentile widow knows something and I believe in all likelihood believes in and has trusted the same God as Elijah the true God the only God Jehovah so God's been working in her heart no doubt so she says as the Lord your God lives I do not have bread only a handful of flour in a bin and a little oil in a jar and see I'm gathering a couple of sticks that I may go in and prepare it for myself and my son that we may eat it and die and Elijah said to her do not fear go and do as you have said but make me a small cake from it first and bring it to me and afterward make some for yourself and your son now Elijah again has had a lot of time to think on the way to Zarephath about the tests he will will present to this woman to see whether or not she is the widow that God has commanded to take care of him and he's come up with a couple of good ones if she is supposed to provide for me then first of all I'll ask her for some water and if she's responsive to that that shows that maybe she's the the person God's chosen then I'll ask her for some bread now when he asks her for water she immediately goes to get it but when he asks for bread uh oh we got a problem because she says now mister hang on a second water was okay bread I only have a little bit of meal and a little bit of oil I'm ready to make a last meal for my son and myself and then we're going to die I don't have any bread now I'm sure because Elijah was sent to Zarephath by God God had told him he'd prepared a widow there commanded a widow there to take care of him he's got these two brilliant tests to give to find out who that widow is I'm sure on his way to Zarephath he's excited and he's anticipating a positive response everything is going to be just grateful right into place well welcome to the real world Elijah because it doesn't always work out like we think it will and my friend this is where it gets difficult with God testing our faith when we know we're doing what God wants us to do when we're living to the best of our ability and knowledge according to his word things don't always work out as we think they will that happens with a new job you know you're all excited and exhilarated about a new job and all of a sudden you realize wait a second this is not what I thought it was and that sense of anticipation and exhilaration and excitement about it hits reality same thing is true of a move to a new town maybe a new school buying a new house maybe even going to a new church how often have you had idealistic hopes and plans that didn't work out like you thought they would even though you barely believed with all your heart God was in it but somehow it wasn't quite what you thought it would be and that can really throw you if you're not believing and trusting that God is at work you know that can even happen with marriage you know you've been through the dating experience and you've been through that you've always seen each other at your best and then you get married and all of a sudden after a few weeks you know some of you know where I'm going with this don't you you're laughing already you're still you know suddenly you realize how messy he really is and and you're seeing her for the first time without makeup you know I probably shouldn't go you further but you know what I'm talking about that anticipation somehow hits reality same thing is true with children that beautiful little baby that you bring home from the hospital just the love of your life the exhilaration the light in your eyes and then the sleepless night start and the two o'clock feedings and you know what comes out of those babies don't you on both ends I mean it's it's ugly and so the joy hits reality doesn't mean the joy is not still there but sometimes our idealistic thoughts hit reality and can throw us if we're not careful it can even be that way with ministry I'll never forget the first day I showed up at Johnston Chapel I'd grown up at Johnston Chapel I was saved there as a kid I was challenged as a young person to give my life to Christ and to serve him and I did and I went to Bible College and and then we passed her in three other states and I was 17 years later I find myself in 1990 being called back to pastor my home church and it would it had taken me a year really since they first contacted me to come to a decision that I was willing to go because I was following a legend the pastor who had founded the church who'd been there 37 years and who was my mentor in ministry and who I loved so dearly I just wasn't sure I was up to that and so it took me a while to come to grips with the fact that God was really in this but I'll never forget I was so excited about being there my home church and and opportunity to minister in my own hometown it just just thrilled me I was so excited and so we had left our church in Indiana and had taken a couple of weeks just to kind of process the grief of that we'd love that church had been there nine years and just love that ministry and had fallen in love with those people in that area and so we took a couple of weeks to go visit Jeanne's parents in Corning New York and and just to spend some time with our girls and to kind of heal up from the emotions of leaving first Baptist church in South Whitley Indiana and but I show up that Monday morning I believe it was I guess it was June 25th 1990 I show up for the office I go into the office this could be my first day at Johnston Chapel and the senior pastor had gone to play golf that morning and the associate pastor see I was going to be working with the the retiring senior pastor for six months we're going to do a transition time and he was gradually going to move me into the role full time you know lead pastor and so forth and and so I knew I was going to be doing about half the preaching and doing a lot of visiting and that kind of things but but he was still there he was going to be there for six months well he wasn't there the morning I came in neither was the associate pastor he and his family just left on vacation that day and the secretary seemed surprised to see me you know I mean I wasn't expecting a marching band or anything like that you know I wasn't expecting a banner over the front of the church welcome home John yeah I wasn't expecting that but still it was kind of let Helen when I walked in and there's like who you're here oh yeah you were coming weren't you you know and and my books are still packed up all of our stuff still packed up I don't have an office yet there are only two offices I'm the third pastor so I get the church library and so I've found I remember finding myself walking into the church library that day and thinking I've got a preach Sunday night I need to get started on a message and I have a plan to visit all the church families in these six months before I really get entrenched this senior pastor and and so forth so I better get busy but I admit I was just a little taken aback by the fact that it seemed nobody really noticed or cared that I was there and it hit reality you see faith overcomes fire-up faith overcomes the obstacles I love how Elijah responded to this widow because when she says hold on buddy there's no bread I don't have any bread do you notice what he says in verse 13 Elijah said to her do not fear go and do as you have said in other words go ahead and go into prepare that last meal for your son and yourself but he says make me a small cake from it first whatever you have left just make me a little small cake first bring it to me an afterward make some for yourself and your son and here's what I love about what Elijah did he didn't give up and so often when our plans and our excitement and our faith hits a roadblock we begin to question everything and we want to give up we want to quit we think well maybe I've got everything wrong here maybe I'm not really following what the Lord does but Elijah doesn't give up but he does something else he altars his request it's not bring me some bread it's oh understand yes go ahead and make that last meal just bring me a little piece of it first you see how he altered his request now here's what I think faith really is faith when it's being fired up and tested needs to be creative enough to stick with it steadfast enough to stick with it but creative enough to try maybe a little different approach and alter the requests a little bit maybe approach it a little differently faith doesn't give up what God says even when problems come up adnarm judson famous well-known missionary one of the first missionaries really to go out to a foreign field adnarm judson served in Burma in a foreign country which is Myanmar today but served there for many many years for the first seven years of his ministry he didn't see a single convert to Christianity to Christ even though he diligently worked to bring the message to the people because his ministry was seen as being against the government policy of religion he was thrown into prison an underground cell that had one little slit of a window that was just above ground through which his wife would bring him food every day and pass it through that little window for him to eat one day she asked him she said she said dear some of the folks from from back home have written to ask us what we need here in Burma so what should I tell them and his response was tell them to send a communion set we're going to need it soon seven years there not one single convert and his response is have them send a communion set did you know that today over 600,000 Baptists call adnarm judson their spiritual father he stuck with it he didn't give up fired up faith overcomes obstacles and God blesses it third characteristic of fired up faith is this fired up faith confidently obey God's word fired up faith confidently obey God's word look at verse 14 for thus this is Elijah continuing to describe his his command for her to go ahead and make a little bit of cake for him first and then fix her last meal verse 14 for thus says the Lord God of Israel the bin of flower shall not be used up nor shall the jar of oil run dry until the day the Lord sends rain on the earth so she went away and did according to the word of Elijah and she and he and her household ate for many days I love this part of the story faith confidently obeys God's word it really boils down to this if you believe what God has said you will trust him to do what he said if you really believe if you really believe that God's word is God's word then you will trust him to do what he says fired up faith confidently obeys God's word now this response of faith really is seen throughout in verses 9 and 10 when God tells Elijah to go to Zarathath what does he do verse 10 he arose up and went God says it so Elijah obeys and when he gives the first test to the woman about going to get him some water verse 11 as she was going to get it she immediately obeyed remember God had told her there's coming a prophet you need to provide for him she immediately obeys but then when Elijah adds the request to bring some bread her faith falters a little bit she hesitates a little bit I don't have any bread I'm just going to make this last meal and so that's when Elijah encourages her by showing her his faith in verse 13 do not fear you see he's seeking to bolster strengthen her weak faith do not fear go and do as you've said verse 14 for thus says the Lord God of Israel in other words he's giving you again the word of the Lord the word of God this is what God says the the bin of flower will not be used up the jar of oil will not run dry until the Lord sins rain on the earth so God's going to provide for everything you need God has said this and when she sees his faith then hers catches fire again and her faith gets fired up and in verse 15 she went away and did according to the word of Elijah so fired up faith confidently obeys the word of God how many times do you find God telling you something in his word such as some of the verses we referred to earlier that just seem kind of way out there maybe for really super spiritual Christians but not you right not me when do when do you find how many times have you found that God challenges you about something and your faith hesitates your faith is weak you do not proceed forward based on what God says what we need to learn my friend I need to learn this every day don't let your feelings dilute your faith don't let the your circumstances weaken your faith don't let the arguments of men what they say oh you can't do that's too risky that's too you can't that'll never work don't let the arguments of men dilute and weaken your faith fire up faith that is tested and purified and strengthened by the fires of trial fire up faith confidently obeys God's word genius I both love awtozer he's one of our favorite authors in his book The Root of the Righteous he describes the unusual characteristics of a Christian who lives by faith and I love this quote he says a real Christian is an odd number anyway he feels supreme love for one he has never seen talks familiarly every day to someone he cannot see expects to go to heaven on the virtue of another empties himself in order to be full admits he is wrong so he can be declared right goes down in order to get up is strongest when he is weakest richest when he is poorest and happiest when he feels worst he dies so he can live for sakes in order to have gives away so he can keep sees the invisible here's the inaudible and knows that which passes knowledge what he's saying with those amazing words is that Christians who really trust God who really live with a fired up faith go against all the normal conventions of this world everything that you can see feel experienced know by intuition is right or wrong faith sometimes goes against all of that don't let your feelings your circumstances or the arguments of others weaken your faith fired up faith confidently obeys God's word but finally fired up faith accepts whatever God provides fired up faith accepts whatever God provides for 16 the bin of flower was not used up nor did the jar of oil run dry according to the word of the Lord which he spoke by Elijah now did you notice that God's provision was just enough for each day God did not give her a full barrel of meal or a full jar of oil you say well why not why wouldn't God give abundantly well you know sometimes God wants to keep us growing in our faith and that's a day by day process so there's enough for the next day but there's not enough for the day after or next week and so what does that mean they have to trust God every day to provide for them and that's God still firing up their faith growing their faith purifying their faith it also assures that they will trust not in the provision but in the provider they will not be able to trust oh no I got plenty for a week I mean I would look at this bear it's full no they'll have to trust in the one who provides every day and did you notice there wasn't much variety in their diet just enough meal to make some bread and oil with which to do it every day I mean God didn't say every Friday night I'm going to give you filet mignon Saturday night I'll throw in a pizza Sunday I'll even give you some apple and ice cream no it's the same thing every day now here's where we often have trouble with what God does and how he works in our lives and what faith really means faith doesn't complain about the way God provides but thanks him that he does provide and trusts him to provide again the next day the job may give you God may give you may not be your ideal job but thank God he gave you a job the car God provides for you may not be the newest and fanciest with all the bells and whistles but thank God he provides the car you see you see what we're saying here you see what God is doing with Elijah and the winner you see what he wants to do with us he wants to keep us trusting not into things he gives us I remember years ago when before we came up with some policies to handle these kinds of issues in a little bit more balanced way our church in Princeton was right near the intersection of interstate 77 and 460 and so there were a lot of people who would stop at the West Virginia Information Center and I found out later there was one of the workers they're giving them our church phone number and so they would call our church and say we're stranded out here on interstate 77 we don't have anything and so I would I would run out and pick the person up and we had an arrangement with a family in our church who owned a motel to put them up for a night and I would give them some money and get them some food and I remember picking up one guy and took him to the motel got him checked in I said hey I'm gonna take you up here to Shownies and get you a meal and he looked at me and said you know I really would prefer cracker barrel that one took me back I and I think I finally remember after catching my breath and blinking a few times I think I finally say I think Shownies will do just fine and so we went to Shownies but aren't we that way with God God says I'm providing for you and so often we say but Lord this is not enough isn't I I expect to something for a whole year for I expected a new car I expected the best job I Lord thank you for providing fired up faith accepts whatever God provides now friend God works in all of our lives to strengthen our faith that's part of what he's doing every day that you live every day that I live he's firing up our faith but the firing up of faith according to 1 Peter 1 is done through testing that's what purifies our faith so we have to understand that what God is doing by the tests the trials the difficulties that we face is he's firing up our faith he's purifying and strengthening our faith and you know what he's looking for he's looking for the kind of faith that doesn't stop at setbacks and disappointments he's looking for the kind of faith that is so confident in his word that it immediately obeys and it's not weakened by difficulty he's looking for the kind of faith that accepts gratefully whatever he provides even if it's not what we feel like we want that's the kind of faith God's looking for friend when you buckle under testing when you cave in under testing in trial then this whole fired up process never happens because that's how faith gets fired up that's how it gets strong that's how it gets pure through testing and you won't be growing you'll be frustrated and you'll have a stagnant Christian life you'll miss the excitement of living by faith by living by a fired up faith so God help us all to understand how our faith gets fired up and what it looks like when it does would you pray with me please Father thank you for the faith that you worked any lychee's heart life and in this dear widow too what a lesson it is for us to understand that we're going to face tests and trials and difficulties and what you're doing is you're strengthening purifying skimming off the impurities in our faith I pray Father that we will we will allow you to do what you want to do and not weaken under the difficulties so that our faith will be all that you want it to be for those who are here this morning struggling with trials and difficulties in their lives Father please use your word to encourage the may your spirit apply it very specifically to their need I pray in Jesus name amen