Ever feel like you are taken for granted?  When you are overlooked….
            In this scripture, the King, Ahaziah, son of the former King Ahab, takes Elijah for granted thinking he can push Elijah around. More significantly he takes God for granted.  The penetrating question Elijah asks is in 2 Kings 1:3, 6 and 16: “Is it because there is no God in Israel for you to consult that you have sent messengers to consult Baal-Zebub.”  Our society takes God for granted, looking everywhere for solutions to the world’s problems// but God.  
I liked the little meme I saw on FB this morning.  It was a message on the front of the Bible: “Believe it or not, this book is being played out right before our eyes, and the world doesn’t even see it.”  

It is as if God is saying through Elijah, “What am I? Chopped Liver?”  The answer to Elijah’s question is obvious: of course there is a God in Israel, the one true living God….but the King takes God for granted. 

In our busy world we become consumed by our needs.  We slip into taking God for granted ~~ we want answers according to our desires rather than conform our lives to the will of God.  By next Sunday I should be able to see again after cataract surgery (get used to me without glasses) but if God should choose for me to be blind, so be it.  I don’t expect that.  I am not trying to be dramatic… just sayin… God has already given me more to see in this world than I deserve.  

Good morning… I am Chad and I’m and i’m new here.  Since, i am new here I figured I would start out today by giving you a little background on myself.  I am the youngest of 4 kids, I have a sister who is 9 years older than me and lives in Yakima.  She is married to a pastor and has a bunch of kids.  I have another sister who is 7 years older who lives in Michigan.  She is single and one of the smartest people I know and I have a brother who is 4 years older who ministers to college students and Willamette University in Salem, Oregon.  We all grew up loving sports and I think all of us had a desire
 
Today we are going to talk about the death of dreams, real uplifting huh?  Sometimes dreams die with a whimper.  My dream of playing college football died when I broke my leg.  It was sad but I didn’t lose too much sleep over it.  I shed some tears and moved on.  Other dreams we hold much more intensely, when they die there are huge consequences for us. Usually these dreams involve the way we find meaning and purpose in our lives.  For instance some of us have big dreams for our families.  We dream about them going to college, getting a good job, raising their families and bringing their grandkids to visit and everyone sitting around table laughing and enjoying being with each other.  Another dream might be of simply having kids and being parents, or owning a house, or getting married or growing old with your spouse together, or finding a spouse.  A pastor might dream of having thousands come to Christ through his or her ministry, or being used by God to make sure their are no people sleeping on the street tonight.  These are examples of big dreams, dreams that provide us meaning and purpose in our lives.  Each of us probably has one.  They provide the motivation needed to work two jobs, make double mortgage payments, drive a crappy old car, read to your kids every night before bed, even when the seahawks game is on, get up at 4 am, be away from your family 4 days a week...   They motivate us.  Help us make good choices. Help us be selfless. They are good loving and kind.  Many are God given. They might even be in direct obedience to scripture.  They aren’t wrong.  They provide very concrete meaning and purpose. We all have them and we hold to them very tightly because of all they provide for us but sometimes… these dreams die… 

A severe drought had plagued Israel for 3 ½ years.  Character is tested during times of drought. It’s easy to be faithful to God in the middle of an abundant garden, when food is plentiful and everything is well. But life in a desert is when you are refined.  Some people give up in the wilderness, blaming God for not providing, compromising faith and abandoning truth.  Others thrive in the wilderness, turning to God with conviction that all will be well, God provides enough, God’s plans will prevail.  Elijah is such a man.  Elijah thrives. 

In today’s scripture, the power of God has been put on full display in the contest between the prophets of Baal and the God of Israel.  Elijah prayed for God to reveal himself, and the scripture says in 1 Kings 18:38 READ.  Always, always, always when you see a miracle of God, somebody who is healed, an accident that did not happen, an answer to prayer, what is the point if there is not a transformation of the heart. As exciting as 1 Kings 18:38 is, the more exciting verse is 1 Kings 18:39 READ.  This is the verse that should cause your bones to quake.  There is nothing more exciting to God than for his people to turn back to him.  

Three frogs are on a log.  Two decide to jump off.  How many frogs are on the log? 
[three ~~~ deciding to jump off and jumping off are not the same thing.]

This scripture is not ultimately about Elijah vs. Ahab, God vs. Ba’al.  This scripture is about making a commitment to the Lord and following through by living out your faith.  It is about the battle within of living for Jesus Christ. 
 
I love this story.  It is one of my favorite because it is on my short list of early memories when I was first in Sunday School and my mother was the teacher and we listened and lived the wonderful stories of the Bible….  I saw Elijah challenging the prophets of Baal to bring down fire… Most of the story is fun with a high stakes contest.  A comment on one of the harder details though: