2001.  The Seattle Mariners won 116 games that year.  Ken Roberts, from Nooksack, was a life long sports fan, especially baseball.  He was a long time member of the Nooksack Church where I served as pastor in the 90’s.  Fans had been waiting a long time for a Mariners break out year. 

Ken was diagnosed with cancer.  As the Mariners year progressed, so did Ken’s cancer.  He spent his last months in his home with his wife Francie.  (One of Rich and Karen’s grandkids now live in that house.)  As it became apparent Ken may not make it, people talked about how it was too bad Ken may not live to see if the Mariners would win the world series… I saw Ken frequently in his last weeks.  We would talk about the mariners.  Even though his body was failing, his mind was good.  He was interested in the Mariners.  He was interested in the start of the Seahawks.  But not that interested. 

In the last weeks of Ken’s life, what he really wanted to talk about was Jesus Christ.  He wanted to talk about the second coming.  He gained energy as he considered what the Bible had to say about the last days and the mysteries surrounding the end of the ages.  He dreamed about heaven and eternity and wondered what it would be like.  I learned a lot about dying from Ken. 
​
My mind went back to my own father’s death five years earlier.  He died from leukemia over a three year period.  Somewhere along the way I read a wonderful essay about what it was like spending time with the dying.  The writer posed the question, “What do you say to a dying man that has a foot in two worlds, this world and the world to come?”  the writer mused about how a person that is dying somehow is not quite as taken by the things of this world and how the things of eternity take on more importance. 
​
Ken did not live to find out what happened to the Mariners, but he did not care.  He was a man of faith who was prepared to meet the Lord Jesus Christ.  Even as he lost strength physically, he found energy in his spirit. The closer he got to death the less he cared about the previous night’s game.  The things of this earth became hollow.  His family was still important.  He was very kind to me.  And his faith increased. Ken was renewed in his spirit as he reaffirmed the blessed hope of the coming of Jesus Christ to bring salvation to the world.  What a joy and inspiration it was for me to have a front row seat to watch a man come alive as he lived with a foot in two worlds.  

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: 

Ever feel like you don’t belong?  Feel like you were born in the wrong time?  I think many/most people feel like a misfit.  Here are responses when asked when they would like to have lived (experienceproject.com/stories/Sometime-Think-I-Was-Born-In-The-Wrong-Era/7132936):

I think I would like to live in the 1800's in London, married to a rich powerful man. I love the furniture... I want to wear those gowns and the long gloves and a bonnet. I would love to ride a carriage. I want to go to a girls school and learn to become an accomplished lady….I already know how to curtsy…..

Sometime I feel maybe I’m even on the wrong planet.

The 60's sound like they were cool. Students were aware of politics unlike today's apathy. The music was great, The Beatles pushing the envelope with each new song… I see the pictures of go-go girls they look so cool.

I would have belonged so well with the " little house on the prairie" days. I love the small schools.
I was born in 1993 but for [over] a decade I have had a persistent feeling I should have lived in another time. For me it would be the 70s … Today's culture just leaves me feeling empty. It doesn't help that all my favorite things (artist: David Bowie, band: T-Rex, film: Rocky Horror Picture Show) are products of that time. …I feel like I am the only one this age who feels like that. Others just love Bieber, One Direction, Twilight etc crap.. And it's not just about music or movies. Also this social media obsession, partying, wearing trashy clothes, over-sexualizing everything... I just feel like an outsider. Argh.

Last week we met Elijah.  He was called by God to speak one word to the evil King Ahab warning him a drought was coming.  Elijah is immediately sent into hiding at a brook and is fed by Ravens.  It’s a simple lesson: God will take care of you. 
​
Today’s scripture goes from God taking care of Elijah, to God using Elijah to take care of others.  God often deepens our walk with him by giving us more and more that we can handle….In the scripture today God sends Elijah several hundred miles from the brook in Jordan to Zerephath in Sidon. 

Zerephath means smelting shop, a place where metal was refined.  Elijah goes from the frying pan into the fire.  Elijah has been prepared by God at the brook to trust for daily provisions and now he is ready for even greater things.  Are you personally prepared for a greater assignment from God?  It’s a tough prayer: God give me greater opportunities to serve you! The temptation is to not want more:  take care of me and keep me safe at the brook, God?  God is too big and too amazing and there is too much need in the world that I must pray for more….

​I ran across a simple but powerful prayer: “Lord, Do things I’m not used to Doing.”  If you dare, join me in this prayer. But first consider carefully what it means.
 
Today we begin a series on Elijah.  Not much is known about where the prophet came from except he comes from the mountains east of the Jordan (modern day Jordan).  He bursts onto the scene when he is sent by God to speak the Word of the Lord to the King of the northern tribes.  READ 1 Kings 17:1.

Ahab is in a long line of evil Kings.  He sends Elijah to confront the King.  It seems a good time for God to put everything back in order.   It seems our day is the same: wouldn’t it be awesome to have Jesus rise up so the whole world would see!  We long for God to do something amazing, something miraculous to get the world’s attention.
 
I would like God to let me write the story starting with 1 Kings 17:2.  I would say, “and God spoke to Ahab through Elijah that you have 24 hours to change your evil ways or I’m going to knock your block off.”  And if God would only let me write the script for tomorrow I have a great idea for Aug. 15, 2016: “Lord, Do things I’m not used to doing and do it now, and make it spectacular, and amazing, so that the whole world will see and repent and find the peace of Christ.”