New Home Page

I've been messing about in Frontpage creating a new Home Page for myself. Trying to get my RSS feed working properly so the blog automatically updates on the home page has been a chore, since I'm no programmer. Anyway, I'm hoping that this post will show up next time I log on -to see for yourself whether it has worked, try going to:
http://www.members.westnet.com.au/m.c.birch/mikeshome.htm

What an answer to prayer!

Does God answer prayer?
On Sunday we got into groups and prayed for rain. God knew ahead of time what we would be doing, and I believe He had an answer timed to be a great encouragement to us all. There was a little bit of rain forecast for the next few days, but not to bother turning your windscreen wipers on for! I thought that perhaps God might send some rain with the next system through maybe in a week or two's time. Here's what happened that night (click on image to see a larger version)...


God sent rain straight inland to us - nice steady rain that covered our district in a blanket of blessing! We continue to depend on God for follow-up rains, sunshine, protection from frosts & pests & diseases etc., but what an encouragement to recieve rain so quickly when our whole region was at a point of real anxiety because of the drought.

I've already posted the article I wrote for our local newspaper, which talks a bit about this event. On a personal level, God has really been challenging our family about our prayer life, and I'm looking at the whole issue of fasting at the moment. I am not attracted to fasting at all, but I think if we want to see God really work in our region we will need to humble ourselves and make prayer a priority. We've already upped the ante this year by starting a Wednesday morning prayer group, and I think the journey is just beginning!

Praying for Rain

On Sunday morning we concluded our church service by getting into groups and praying for rain. How awesome to hear that rain arrive and settle in to give us about ¾ of an inch (in my backyard anyway)! For many people, the timing of the rain was just coincidence, but I have noticed that coincidences happen more often when I pray! It needs to be said, however, that many Christians have prayed many times for rain but have seen seasons wiped out by drought. “What’s with that?” you might ask. Is God random in how He answers prayer, or is He simply uninvolved and it just comes down to fate or chance?

God Cares

The first thing to emphasise about this is that God does in fact care about you and what you are going through in life. It doesn’t matter who you are or what your circumstances are, God cares about that, and is available to help. The thing is that He doesn’t always help in the way we want Him to. We often want a vending-machine type of God. You put the money (or the prayer) in and you get what you want. God isn’t like that. He has His own priorities and purposes. He cares for you, but is not controlled by you. God knows that very often it is the hard things in life which teach us the most important lessons, that make us mature as people and equips us to be able to help others. Leaning on God and learning from Him during tough times is one of the most difficult lessons in life, but one of the most important.

What Do We Really Want?

Many of us would love God to give us the winning Lotto ticket or some other way in to “the good life”. But when we really think about it, that’s not what we really want. We want good relationships. We want to feel a sense of pride and self-worth. We want to make a difference in the world. We want to enjoy life and take it easy, but that’s not all we want. At least not if we are wise.

Jesus claimed to come “that they may have life, and have it to the full.” (John 10:10).

When Christians pray for rain or anything else that involves a material blessing, we are asking because God has told us to! We want God to provide for our us and bless our work. Even more than that we want God to bless others, especially to ease the stresses that people are under. In doing so we also recognise that God may have other plans. He might achieve greater good by withholding material blessings. Having life to the full is much more than just having our material needs met. It involves having a joy and peace even in the toughest of circumstances. It involves learning to care for the problems of others instead of being all wrapped up in your own. Most significantly of all, it involves having a personal relationship with God that transforms this life and prepares you for the next. We wouldn’t swap our relationship with God for any amount of money, rain or anything else.

So we are going to continue to pray for rain, and for sunshine, and for protection from frosts and pests and diseases; but most of all, we will pray for people to discover the “full life” that Jesus promised. Have you discovered the abundant life that Jesus offers?

The Story of Elijah in Our Time

The Story of Elijah in Our Time

1 Kings 18

27/05/07

audio

Introduction

The Bible is full of really interesting stories. Stories that have important lessons to teach us.

Have you ever read a story from the Bible and wondered what it might look like if that story were to happen today?

Today we are going to take a story from the Old Testament of the Bible and see whether or not it is possible to translate that into our time and place. What would it mean for you and I? What would it mean for our church, our towns and our region?

The Story of Elijah on Mt Carmel

Elijah has been hiding out for 3 years. He is a wanted man, because he told the King of Israel that God was going to stop all rain and dew from falling on the ground until Elijah said differently. With that, he disappears, and sure enough, the land has been in drought for the next 3 years. King Ahab has been searching for him frantically. Finally, Elijah appears to Ahab and orders him to gather the people together, bring all the prophets of the false gods that the nation has been worshipping, and go to Mt Carmel where Elijah will be waiting.

Would the king do as Elijah commanded, or would he kill him on the spot? Would the people turn up? Would the prophets of the false gods come?

3 years earlier Ahab probably would have killed Elijah on the spot. 3 years ago the people would not have bothered to travel to an isolated mountain because some prophet said so. But the king and the people were desperate. They were an agricultural society. They depended on rain and dew to grow their crops. They were facing starvation.

So they come, and Elijah is ready to confront them. We take up the story in 1 Kings 18:21 (o/h)

^21 Elijah went before the people and said, “How long will you waver between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him; but if Baal is God, follow him.”

But the people said nothing.

The people of Israel had a choice to make. They were Israelites in name – God’s chosen people. Yet their lifestyle said “We follow other gods”. Their main gods were Baal – god of fire, and Asherah, goddess of fertility. Asherah had already been shown up by the true God. The land was not fertile, it was barren because God said it would be. Now Elijah proposes a test for the so-called god of fire.

^22 Then Elijah said to them, “I am the only one of the Lord’s prophets left, but Baal has four hundred and fifty prophets. ^23 Get two bulls for us. Let them choose one for themselves, and let them cut it into pieces and put it on the wood but not set fire to it. I will prepare the other bull and put it on the wood but not set fire to it. ^24 Then you call on the name of your god, and I will call on the name of the Lord. The god who answers by fire—he is God.”

Then all the people said, “What you say is good.”

The people of Israel have been calling on these false gods for more than 3 years. In fact, the whole reason the drought exists is because God is punishing them for their idolatry. Yet Elijah dares them one last time – “call on your gods, let’s see if it does you any good. I will call on my God, and we will see what the outcome is”. Elijah is being very clear here. He is placing the whole nation in the “other gods” camp. Even though the nation seems to be wavering between different gods, Elijah puts them all on the other team. You can’t claim to be a follower of the true God if you are also seeking other gods. It’s all or nothing here. So since you are wavering, you belong over there with those prophets of Baal and Asherah.

So the test gets underway. The prophets of Baal lead the nation in calling out to their “god”, asking him to send fire on their sacrifice. This goes on for some time. The prophets are becoming increasingly anxious. They feel that they are losing their followers. Their own faith, if it was ever genuine, is failing. In their desperation they start yelling and chanting louder and louder, dancing with all their might around their altar. They start slashing their bodies, trying to move their god to action. Hour after hour this continues, until finally in the evening Elijah calls to the disillusioned followers of Baal. “Leave your false prophets and your false god, come over here to me.”

He finds 12 large stones and rebuilds an altar to the Lord. He digs a trench around it. He stacks some wood on it. He cuts a bull into pieces and arranges those on top of the wood. Then he tells the people to get water and drench the altar with it. Then he tells them to do it again. And again. Finally, the trench around the altar is full of water. We continue reading in verse 36…

^36 At the time of sacrifice, the prophet Elijah stepped forward and prayed: “O Lord, God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, let it be known today that you are God in Israel and that I am your servant and have done all these things at your command. ^37 Answer me, O Lord, answer me, so these people will know that you, O Lord, are God, and that you are turning their hearts back again.”

^38 Then the fire of the Lord fell and burned up the sacrifice, the wood, the stones and the soil, and also licked up the water in the trench.

^39 When all the people saw this, they fell prostrate and cried, “The Lord—he is God! The Lord—he is God!”

The end result of the story is that the people rejected their false gods and got rid of the false prophets. God then brought heavy rain upon the land that was parched and thirsty, and it was refreshed.

Let’s now translate the story into our time and place…

Are we as a nation or as a region experiencing God’s discipline?

Our story today started with a nation being disciplined by God. That discipline was consistent with a covenantal relationship that the nation of Israel had with God. Right back in the time of Moses God had told them what the consequences of idolatry would be, and now they were experiencing those consequences.

Our nation does not have the same type of covenant with God. However that does not mean that God does not discipline us in a similar way. We read in the books of the prophets in the Old Testament particularly that God also disciplined the nations around Israel on occasion. However while God promises to discipline his own people – the Church – when we need it, there is no promise to discipline nations in a similar type of way. It’s possible, but not promised.

So if you were to ask me whether the drought we have experienced so far this year is a discipline from God, the answer would be “possibly, but not definitely.” Remember discipline is not punishment, but correction. It might include punishment, but the goal is to correct something that is wrong or lacking in us. I would say “not definitely” because God has not stated that He would do it. I would say “possibly” because it could very well have the effect of correcting our independence from God and our dependence on other things.

Are we as a region guilty of idolatry?

Of course we are! The majority of people in our area call themselves Christians – or at least by some denominational title. Yet like the Israelites, their lifestyles say that they are independent of the true God but following after other gods. You and I are not immune from that. How much do we really depend on God in our day to day lives? Does He have exclusive ownership of us, or are our loyalties divided?

What is it that people depend on in order to have their desires met? The Israelites tried worshipping the gods of their neighbours, Asherah and Baal. What or who are we looking to for satisfaction?

Things like drugs or false religions are obviously wrong, but there are other things which are also harmful for us when they are out of balance:

• alcohol
• better technology & strategies
• relationships
• positive thinking
• sport
• advice

Any of those things are fine so long as they come under the sovereignty of God in our lives. If they are not under God’s authority, however, they can begin to become gods in their own right – they start controlling our affections and behaviours.

As I look around our community I see people turning to these and other things to have their needs met. Sometimes it takes something like a drought to shake us up to the fact that these things all fall short. Our gods aren’t good enough to meet our real needs. I believe the worst fate that people can have is to go through life satisfied with what they have without God. Many people go through life never knowing how rich and meaningful life could be and should be. Sometimes God needs to work on needs people are aware of before He can work on needs they’re not aware of.

Does God want our region to put Him to the test?

Of course! Elijah said to the people – have another go at worshipping your gods, and then watch me worship mine. If you see that my God is real, then get rid of those other things and come follow God.

Jesus said it like this in Matthew chapter 5

^13 “You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men.

^14 “You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. ^15 Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. ^16 In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.

Now, Elijah was not about to be a lamp hidden under a bowl. He’d been hiding for over 3 years, and so had many other prophets of God. But now he puts himself up on a stand so to speak, and says, “Come and watch me worship my God, and see what He does for me. You have danced and shouted and wept and wailed to your gods to no avail. Now I will ask my God for help.”

Many times we Christians are like the prophets hiding in caves that we read about earlier in 1 Kings 18. We are called to be lights on a stand. Not everyone likes the light. The gospel of John says that men love darkness, because of our wicked deeds. We don’t like to be exposed. We don’t like to be confronted with our guilt. But we need to be.

If we as a region turn back to God, will He send rain?

Let me first say this, if we as a region turn back to God, the lack of rain won’t be such a problem for us anyway! If we see people seriously seeking God we will see so many wonderful consequences in our region that rain or no rain, we will feel blessed out of our socks! We will see reductions in crime, in alcohol and drug abuse, in domestic violence. We will see lives being healed from all sorts of wounds. We will see relationships being mended. We will experience unity in our community like never before. We will experience the joy of worshipping God together. We will experience the peace of God together. That’s what I really look forward to – do you believe it can happen?

But on the subject of rain, I believe that God will bless us in that area too. God has a way of showing His pleasure in those sorts of ways. Throughout history national and regional revivals have very often been followed by great blessing on the land and in society. God promised this to the nation of Israel, and He has a pattern of doing this for other nations also.

What must I do to see God bless my region?

First you must seek God yourself. Every story of revival starts with fervent, painful prayer. People who devote themselves to hours of prayer in paddocks, sheds, forests, swamps, houses, churches, parks, schools and wherever else possible. People who come together for prayer when it is easier to stay at home. Is God really the One we depend on? Is He really the One who we live for?

We also need to be open to be Elijah’s for our generation. Will we challenge people about the inadequacy of their gods? Will we invite people to witness our worship? On Wednesday night I challenged people to invite their neighbours around to pray for rain. I mentioned the fact that this must also include a call for repentance, just like it did in our story today. That’s risky. It takes the faith and courage of an Elijah.

In what ways will people see our God answer our pleas for help? Do we jump straight in and ask for rain? Do we ask for some other sign? Do we ask for God’s grace to help us endure? Do we ask for God’s grace to help us bless others?

That’s up to you to answer as God directs you.

Let’s not be like the Israelites with a foot in each camp. Let’s make it very clear who we worship, and who we depend on. Let’s get serious about really seeking God and crying out for His help. Do we need rain? Of course we do, so let’s ask for it. Do we need revival – much more than we need rain! Let’s ask for it. Not just once or twice a week. Let’s get serious about this. Don’t just feel a little convicted and then lose it in the busyness of your week. Plan now what you will do to come together and beg God to work in our region. Take the first step today.