Living Water Community Church

We explored the outcome of Ahab going to war to take back Ramoth-gilead. Micaiah had prophesied he would be killed by going up to this battle. He believes he can cheat death and God is not capable of overcoming his incredibly clever plan. He completely believes he can fool the enemy and get away with going to war without getting killed if he just disguises himself. He even tries to ensure his success by having Jehoshaphat wear his royal robes into battle so he would appear as the king of Israel. While Jehoshaphat does not get harmed, Ahab is struck by an arrow shot at random. The arrow proves to be fatal and Ahab dies at sundown. It is easy to look at a passage like this and talk about the pride of Ahab in thinking he could outsmart God. But the reality is we all struggle with thinking more highly of ourselves then we should. What this story is really highlighting is God’s word always comes to pass. You cannot hide from or escape God’s plan. What God says will happen always happens. This is a story which remi

We explored the opening half of 1 Kings 22. In this section we see the first real friendly connection being made between the kings of Judah and Israel. Jehoshaphat and Ahab come together and form an alliance to take back Ramoth-gilead for Israel. Jehoshaphat was a God honoring king and he wanted Ahab to bring in a prophet so they could hear a word from Yahweh about this potential battle. Ahab brings together 400 prophets who prophesy in the name of adonai. These 400 tell Ahab and Jehoshaphat to go up because Adonai will give Ramoth-gilead into their hands. Now adonai means sovereign and was used most often to refer to a ruler or land owner. It was also used to refer to God but was different then prophesying in the name of Yahweh. Upon hearing this Jehoshaphat asks Ahab if there was a prophet they could get who would give them a word from Yahweh. Ahab sends for a prophet who he doesn’t like to hear from because he always prophesies bad things about him. It is interesting how the 400 prophets at this point chan

We continued our study in prayer by looking at the presence of God or the lack of feeling like God is there when we pray. There are three distinct ways in which the Bible talks about the presence of God. There is His Omnipresence. This is the way in which God is everywhere all the time. You cannot get away from Him no matter where you go. A sparrow cannot fall from the sky without Him being aware of it. God is always present everywhere all the time. The second way God is present is demonstrated in His protective care. We looked at the life of Joseph and how this is demonstrated for us in his journey to slavery in Egypt. From the man who bought him to his time in prison through his ascension to the second most powerful man in Egypt, God was clearly watching over him. In the great commission which is recited not just here but many places around the world Jesus promises to be with us. The third way we looked at God’s presence is the communion He has with His people. Clearly Adam and Eve communed with Him directl

We explored the second part to the story of Naboth’s vineyard. In this section Elijah comes on the scene confronting Ahab over his ill gotten land. He points out how Ahab has not only killed Naboth but has taken his land. This really emphasizes how both the killing and the taking of the land were wrong actions in the eyes of the Lord. The Lord had given the land to families to be passed on to their children. Naboth had told Ahab this. The land was not something he could give even if he wanted to. This was the very issue that had been Ahab’s cause of pouting, which had set in motion everything we have looked at. Ahab is under judgement for both violations of God’s law. He had stolen the land and had committed murder. Ahab starts his conversation with Elijah by calling him his enemy. Elijah points out the reason for his coming rests in the evil he has done. Elijah then goes on to pronounce God’s judgement on Ahab. He tells him how his family will be cut off like Jeroboam and Baasha. How his blood will be licked

We explored Ahab’s acquisition of the vineyard of Naboth. We looked at how Naboth rejected Ahab’s offer to give him a better vineyard or money for it. He did this in order to remain obedient to God and the command to not permanently transfer any land to anyone. Naboth clearly wanted to honor God. Ahab went home like a little kid and pouted about it. Jezebel comforted him and told him not to worry about it, she would take care of it. She sent letters in Ahab’s name with his seal telling the leaders of Jezreel to declare a fast. This was something usually done when there was sin among the people and they needed to repent. The people gathered in anticipation of this being addressed. They set up Naboth and had false witnesses accuse him of cursing God and the king. Then they took him out and stoned him. Once this was done Jezebel told Ahab to go and take possession of his vineyard. There were a couple of important parallels in the passage. Jezebel foreshadows those who use religion itself to pervert the word of G

We explored the last half of chapter 20. This records for us the second battle Ban-hadad had with the children of Israel. This battle was in the spring and it was staged in a valley with the idea that the God of Israel could not help them in the valley because they believed He was a God of the hills. For this very reason God promised to deliver the Syrians and the armies of their allies into the hands of the king of Israel. But it was a victory declared to be given specifically so that Ahab will know that Yahweh is the God of Israel. Ahab wins a great victory over an immense multitude with a very small army by comparison. There is even a Jericho moment when 27,000 soldiers are killed by a wall collapsing on them. This is clearly a victory given to Ahab by God. God had commanded them to destroy the Syrians. But in the end Ahab strikes a deal with Ben-hadad in exchange for some cities and trade, Ahab gives Ben-hadad his life. God’s prophet then goes and gets beat up and stages a Nathan the prophet kind of story

We worked through the section where Elijah calls Elisha and then moved on to the first part of chapter 20 where we have Ahab and Israel being attacked by Ben-hadad the king of Syria and 32 kings. When Elijah calls Elisha to follow him he is plowing in a field with 12 yolk of oxen. These may have been driven by multiple people working for him. But what we see is Elisha is a wealthy farmer. He sacrifices one of the yoke of oxen to really celebrate the call of God on his life and shares it with all the local people. After this he leaves the farm and goes off to assist Elijah. Meanwhile the story of the attack by the king of Syria and His fellow kings unfolds. It is a dramatic story where a new profit comes to Ahab and tells him God is going to deliver them and they will know it is by the hand of God. The point is this massive army composed of the soldiers from 33 kingdoms is routed by 232 servants who lead an army of less then 10,000. It is a truly dramatic story of deliverance which could only come from the han

We continued our study of prayer by looking at the how people in the Bible focused on God’s actions as a basis for engaging with Him in prayer. We looked at a bunch of passages where we see prayers or praise rooted in things like His love, faithfulness, and judgements which are cast against His creation. His love extends to the heavens. His love is like the mountains of God. His judgements are like the great deep. What we see again and again is the writers of scripture taking the time to think about God and His works and actions in ways that a vivid to our imagination. This kind of thinking can begin to infuse our own prayers with a deeper sense of connection and awe as we engage our imagination in the pursuit of God in prayer. 

We looked at the value of living an ordinary life for the glory of an extraordinary God. Don't fight for your best life now. But fight for the glory of God in whatever place God has placed you in. You can have an impact for the glory of God no matter where God has placed you. The bad news is that I am the problem and am at fault., but the good news is that Jesus has rescued me from all the evil that I am and do and has made me into a new creation in Him. 

We looked at how people in the Bible cultivated a fascination with God by looking at the Character of God. We looked at the Character of God and how the character of God draws us into praising Him because of his attributes. We looked at passages like Psalm 18 where we see the Psalmist declaring God to be his rock and fortress. The wording really gives us a sense of the Psalmist's delight in God. This contemplation of God leads us into a more emotionally and mentally engaged time of prayer.

We looked at the last event of the mount Carmel confrontation. It is Elijah telling Ahab to go eat and drink because the famine is about to end. Elijah announces this as the sound of the rushing of rain. It is pretty clear from the text this sound was not something they were hearing at that moment. What is important about this statement is the confidence Elijah has in the promise of God. God had told Elijah to go see Ahab and He would send the rain. Elijah does this and believes what God has said will happen will happen. Elijah goes and prays after this for the rain to come. We see a persistence in Elijah’s prayer. He sends his servant to look to the east for a rain cloud as he prays. He does this seven times. Until the servant returns with the announcement of a cloud in the distance the size of a man’s hand rising from the ocean. This is a points us to the importance of praying for God’s promises even when we know He is going to do something. There is still a need to pray even if we know it is going to come

We focused our attention on singing songs of Thanksgiving to God and reading different notes of Thanksgiving that the congregation had put together over the course of the last few weeks. As well as spending time in Scripture on examples of Thanksgiving being offered to God. May your heart be drawn to thankfulness towards God as you listen.

We explored the famous confrontation with the prophets of Baal on mount Carmel. It is really easy to get caught up in the details of what went on and miss the way the apex of this event is brought about in response to prayer. This is truly a confrontation between the true God of Israel and the false god Baal. Elijah stacked everything in favor of Baal. He met at their high holy place. He let the prophets of Baal take first pick of the bull to be sacrificed. He gave the prophets of Baal the first opportunity to call on their god. He prepared his own sacrifice and had it completely soaked with water. No worshipper of Baal could say Elijah didn’t give them the opportunity or make it difficult for their god to respond. But no matter what they did or how they called on the name of Baal nothing happened. Elijah appears to have really enjoyed the show because he engaged in a bit of sarcasm, suggesting their god might be on a trip, or maybe he was going to the bathroom, or couldn’t hear them and they should call loud

We explored the famous confrontation with the prophets of Baal on mount Carmel. It is really easy to get caught up in the details of what went on and miss the way the apex of this event is brought about in response to prayer. This is truly a confrontation between the true God of Israel and the false god Baal. Elijah stacked everything in favor of Baal. He met at their high holy place. He let the prophets of Baal take first pick of the bull to be sacrificed. He gave the prophets of Baal the first opportunity to call on their god. He prepared his own sacrifice and had it completely soaked with water. No worshipper of Baal could say Elijah didn’t give them the opportunity or make it difficult for their god to respond. But no matter what they did or how they called on the name of Baal nothing happened. Elijah appears to have really enjoyed the show because he engaged in a bit of sarcasm, suggesting their god might be on a trip, or maybe he was going to the bathroom, or couldn’t hear them and they should call loud

We worked through the section where Ahab met Elijah before going to Mount Carmel. In this meeting Ahab clearly lays the blame for Israel’s drought at Elijah’s feet. He calls him the troubler of Israel. Elijah doesn’t just take it but points out how Ahab is the one who has troubled Israel. He lays the problem of the drought clearly at the feet of Ahab. He points out how it was Ahab’s abandoning of the commandments of God and the following of the Baals which has caused all their problems. He then tells Ahab to gather the prophets of Baal and Asherah at Mount Carmel. Mount Carmel is a historical high place referenced by Egyptians and Assyrian documents. The Assyrians called it the Mountain of Baal of the Promontory. Dale Davis suggest it would have the been similar to calling it Baal’s Bluff. Elijah may have been setting the location at a central point of prime Baal worship. Ahab was probably thinking the goal in this meeting was to take care of the rain problem but God’s goal in this meeting was to take care of

We explored the section which begins the famous confrontation with the prophets of Baal. There are two things really emphasized in the passage. First the importance of patience to the whole process. Elijah had really only been in two places over the course of three years. He waited on God. He rested by the brook being fed by ravens for the first part of the three years, and he rested at the widow in Zeraphath’s home for the rest of the three years. We grow easily impatient but God is always working and we see a snapshot of this as we see how He was revealing Himself to the widow and her son during this time. The Lord tells Elijah in the third year to go to Ahab and He would send rain on the earth. Elijah goes but as he is heading there Ahab calls Obadiah the head over his household to go with him to help look for water to save the horses and mules. They divide up to cover more area and start to search. Elijah meets Obadiah as he searches. This brings us to the second big point, what happens in these verses re

We explored the section where the woman who is providing food and shelter for Elijah during the famine suffers the loss of her son. This is a time of real trial for her. Yet in this trial we see God working to bring greater understanding of the God of Elijah and by this a greater hope in Him. Her immediate response to the death of her son is to connect it to her own sin. Perhaps she is even connecting it to her former life as an idol worshipper. One of the gods of the Sidonians was the god Mot. Mot was the god of death. Perhaps she had worshipped this god in the past. Elijah here responds to the woman’s distress and self-condemnation by asking her to give him her son. He carries the boy into his upper chamber and cries out to the Lord. He asks God to bring the child back to life. This is a great act of faith because as far as the Biblical record is concerned we have never seen anyone brought back to life prior to this in scripture. But Elijah asks for what must have seemed impossible. Yet God hears the prayer

We worked through the part of Elijah’s story where the brook the Lord sent him to dried up. Elijah is recorded here as being obedient to God and staying by the dried up brook until the word of the Lord came to him and directed him to move on. When the word of the Lord did come to him the Lord sent him to Zeraphath. This was a town which belonged to Sidon and Sidon is where Jezebel’s father was king. This means Zeraphath was part of the center of Baal worship. God told Elijah He had commanded a widow there to feed him. As he approached the city he saw a woman gathering sticks and asked her to bring him a drink of water. She went to go get it and as she went Elijah asked her to bring him a piece of bread. She responded to him stating first that Yahweh his God lives. And just as He lives she has no bread baked and only a little flour and water which she intended to use for one last meal with her son before they died. It is amazing a woman in a town committed to Baal worship would acknowledge that Yahweh the God

The time of gathering to pray with your brothers and sisters in Christ is precious in the sight of God. Corporate prayer is a means by which glory is brought to God in our dependence on him and in the answers to prayer that God brings (which glorifies God in the hearts of the body of the believers who prayed together). Prayer is an awesome gift from God. May the people of God wield this gift and seek their God in prayer. God, the believer, and communication are the three core elements of prayer and the primary focus here.

We looked at the lives of three kings which are recorded for us in the book of kings but are not mentioned in the book of chronicles. This raises the question of why does the writer of kings see fit to recount these rulers to the people in exile he is writing to? The first king of the trio was named Elah. He was the son of Baasha and he ruled for 2 years and not only continued to promote idol worship but he did not lead his troops to battle but instead stayed in the capital and got drunk. He was an idol worshipping drunkard who shirked his duty to lead. His short reign and murder at the hands of Zimri shows God’s hand of judgment on him, and would have been a warning to the people. Zimri wipes out the descendants and friends of Baasha fulfilling the prophecy made about him. But Zimri faces a siege against the capital of Tirzah and burns down the palace around him and dies in the fire. His short reign of 7 days is a warning. The writer of kings tells us his reign was cut short partly because he caused Israel t