Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] No, no. Our church has been doing some amazing things. God has been working in us and through us. And I am really pleased to announce to you that a part of that is we are like my college kids coming home today. So happy to have my kids here today.
[00:00:21] We are like a church that is kind of coming home after.
[00:00:27] After college life and become an independent church. And so some of you may know this, hopefully all of you know this by now, but we have been attached to Village. They have blessed us. They have prayed for us. They have supported us. It has been a wonderful relationship that we have had with them. We will continue to have an amazing relationship with them, but we are on our own now. And so we are making the transition to become an independent church, which is very exciting. Some people have asked me, they said, well, Craig, what did you see happening back nine years ago when Village Church of Bartlett launched you? And I said, to be honest, I don't know. I was like. I was looking like the next step I had to take.
[00:01:06] And we didn't know how this was going to look, but the way that it's shaping out is pretty exciting. And we are becoming.
[00:01:13] We literally, we were not here nine years ago, and now we are a church that has blessed Carroll Stream, that has blessed families around here, that has blessed families and churches in other countries as we've taken on different ministries.
[00:01:27] We are heading up the backpack ministry for Carol Stream for some of the families around here that need help. And so we are active in the community, and we are a church that stands on our own. So now I get to tell you, finally, the name. Would you like to know our new name?
[00:01:43] Actually, I'll do it at the end of the service.
[00:01:48] Yeah.
[00:01:49] Yeah. We hate you, Craig.
[00:01:52] All right, so let me first of all tell you that you've kind of already been exposed to the name a little bit over the last couple of weeks.
[00:02:01] I've inserted some different words and teaching along the way, so you might have an idea of where we were going, but we couldn't finalize it until we did all the legal loop de doops that we needed to do. And so we are unveiling the name of the church today, and I'm excited to tell you what it is. I'm going to tell you what it is, and then I'm going to read you a passage of scripture. The elders, when they sat down with me, they said, listen, we need to base this on not just what characterizes our church, but we need to find a passage of scripture that compels us forward if you came in to our church and saw the sign in the back, there's a sign back there that says they all put their hands to the good work, and it's right out of the Book of Nehemiah.
[00:02:44] We hung that sign. It was made by a family in our church. We're so proud of it. But we put that sign up when we moved into this new place, and so it became a compelling verse for us.
[00:02:54] So I have found.
[00:02:56] And I didn't find this. I mean, the Lord has put this verse on my heart, literally. I can tell you for months, and I didn't know why. I thought I knew why.
[00:03:06] But I am compelled by this passage of Scripture. And I'll tell you why as I read it for you. Here's what the scripture says. It's in the book of Hebrews, chapter six and verse 19.
[00:03:18] And while we wanted the name to be a recognition of who we are already, who we've developed into over the last nine years, we also want it to be a propellant, a catalyst to move us forward. Where will this church be when we're not here, you know, 50 years from now, 100 years from now, as this church makes its continued impact in Carroll Stream or wherever the Lord has this church to go and grow, this verse, hopefully will compel not only us, but also for generations to come. And so what better day to do this than Mother's Day? So, you ready? Here's the passage of Scripture. It's Hebrews, if you're already looking it up. Hebrews 6. 19. And it says this. We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul. Let's talk about our faith, talk about our relationship to Jesus.
[00:04:09] We're talking about our attachment to God through Jesus Christ.
[00:04:15] We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain. Don't you love that? The curtain is the curtain in the temple that was put up to separate the high priest and the rest of the people.
[00:04:31] There were courtyards that you had to go into. And there was, like, there was a women's courtyard. Talk about moms and women. Today there's a women's courtyard. There was a men's courtyard. There was a priest's courtyard. And then on the inner, inner thing, there was, like the high priest courtyard. And nobody could get further than the Holy of holies that was only entered into one time a year, Yom Kippur, the Day of Redemption. And only the high priest could go in there and so you whittled away people as you got closer to this holy place.
[00:04:57] Some people treat church like that today. That's not how church was meant to be. Church was meant to be like this.
[00:05:03] We're all sinners saved by grace. And so we know this because on the day that Jesus died on the cross and his blood successfully paid the penalty for our sin and our guilt, the veil of the temple was rent. It was torn from the top down, not from the bottom up. We didn't do it. God did it from the top down. He made a way so that all of us could get into the holy of holies. You worship today literally in the presence of God Almighty. And the reason that is because of Jesus Christ. He is the anchor that goes beyond the veil. Get that beyond the veil and secur to this hope, this steadfast hope.
[00:05:44] I'm putting together a series of messages on this passage of scripture because I really want to communicate the burden and the desire of the elders in this name of our church. And so you ready for the name that was all intro? Here's the name. You ready?
[00:06:02] Anchor Point.
[00:06:06] Anchor Point.
[00:06:08] So we will be anchor Point church.
[00:06:11] And we fought with this for a long time. Anchor point is a great way to illustrate that passage of scripture. Anchor point is a great way. Some of you worked in different businesses where that word is used, anchor point.
[00:06:24] And it's a place where you anchor to so you stay secure, steadfast.
[00:06:31] Which I think illustrates this passage really well. And what I really love about it is if you've been repelling, you know that there's an anchor point that all of the ropes go through. And you got to put that in a strong rock. You can't just pick some flailing rock or mud pit or somewhere. You got to put it in something strong. And that thing that anchor point holds you and your team. But you know what's interesting? When you pull your ropes through, you leave the anchor point. Why? So that other people can use that same anchor point and climb the same face.
[00:07:04] So that's kind of the gist of it. You'll see more and more about this as we go through the summer. I'll be doing a three or four part series on anchor Point and why? I think it's really, really important. And it speaks to where our culture is today. Because if anything, our culture needs it would be an anchor point for their soul. How many things are up for grabs today? How many things are sure today? Not a whole lot. Right? I can't even be sure apparently of your Sex right now, which is crazy to me, because God created us male and female. Right? But the world is not sure of anything.
[00:07:40] Everything is negotiable. But with Jesus Christ, we have an anchor point for the soul, a steadfast and sure hope for our soul that not only anchors us to him and his truth and we stand on this rock, but it also anchors those who come after us. So Anchor point is the name. All right. You'll see more about this as we go on in the future. All right.
[00:08:04] We get to redecorate. Yeah, that's right. Yeah. Good thing. Leanna, can you control your mom there a little bit?
[00:08:13] Good to see you, Leanna. Welcome home. It's so good to see our graduates come home, our college kids. College kids come home. College kids come home. All right, I want to tell you a little bit about Mother's Day. This is Mother's Day, and let me just say, I know for some of us, it's a hard day. For some of us, it's a fun day. It's the weirdest day in the world because it speaks to the female heart that is deep and emotionally connected to relationships. It doesn't matter if you're a mom or you're not a mom. You have this unique female heart that males do not have. And you have this ability to connect with people in ways that males do not.
[00:08:48] And that is the way that God made females to be. And so for all you moms or all you females out there with this heart to help others and to serve others and to sacrifice for others, this innate ability, this innate privilege, God gave you, I just want to say thank you. Our girls would not be who they are were it not for the church full of women. Not just moms, but women who have helped us and served us and been like gold nuggets to my family because of the way they have treated our girls. There was one family, the sailing family, I'll say that, up in Madison. And Beth and I would be so busy after Sunday morning service that Cheryl, our good friend Cheryl, she would go down into the children's area and she would get our kids out for us because we couldn't do it.
[00:09:41] And they just invested so much in our children. And they're one of many families that has done this. And so I am so grateful for all of you females out there that have this heart to see and to meet needs that. Males are knuckle draggers. We don't see it. But women, you guys are uniquely blessed in this way. And so I wanna give you a little bit of background of Mother's Day, but then I wanna talk to you about females. All right, Talk about females today. One of my favorite stories in the Bible, by the way, if you have heard anywhere that the Bible does not elevate females, you are listening to some weird person, all right, that has never read the Bible, because just let me tell you, it is full of amazing females.
[00:10:25] And sometimes they outdid the males.
[00:10:29] The one story that I was going to do with you is a story of one of the judges who was a female, and she wasn't supposed to be a judge, but the male was so scared of life and the battle, she said, okay, I'll do it, I'll do it, whatever. I'll do it. And she rose to the top. But anyway, let me give you a little bit of background on Mother's Day. Why do we celebrate Mother's Day? Well, Mother's Day in some form or another, has been around for a long time. In ancient Greece, there was a celebration that honored moms every spring. In the Middle Ages, there was a custom called Mothering Sunday. This is funny. On Mothering Sunday, all the children who left home who were like 8, 9, 10 years old, but they had to go work to support their families.
[00:11:12] Yeah, sounds like today, doesn't it? All these children who were employed and had to support their families, they would be released from work every year on the fourth Sunday of Lent. And on that day, they could go home and they could be with their families. And so as they returned home, they often took cakes to their mothers because they weren't able to be with their mothers on their. Because they were supporting the family. So they would literally say when they go buy cakes, they would say, we're going a mothering. Going a mothering. And to this day, Mother's Day in the United Kingdom is still celebrated on the fourth day of Lent. Julia Ward Howe, in 1872, who wrote the Battle Hymn of the Republic, tried to make it a day in the United States. She failed. So another woman came along. Her name was Anna, and this is actually Anna's daughter. But this Anna, her mother tried to get this going.
[00:12:12] She wasn't able to do it.
[00:12:14] So, Anna Jarvis, there's two reasons I love Mother's Day. Can you guess one of them?
[00:12:23] Anna Jarvis, took up where her mom left off. Her mother wanted to create something special because all the people coming home from the Civil War were just beat up and. And crush, and they couldn't wait to see their moms. And so she wanted that to be a special day when they came home and alleviate the burden of war. She wasn't able to do it. So her daughter, Anna Jarvis, went to her Sunday school class one day, heard her mother talk about it, and never forgot about it. And so she began a campaign to establish a national Mother's Day. She and her supporters began to write consultants, streams of letters to ministers, businessmen, politicians.
[00:13:01] And they spent a fortune trying to get this going in the United States. They did speeches and telegrams. They did everything they could.
[00:13:09] They talked to.
[00:13:12] They talked to businessmen and politicians. And I just found out that my computer is not updating, which is exciting. Yeah, it's exciting.
[00:13:26] All right. We'll do our best.
[00:13:29] So she was trying to go to businessmen and politicians, and she just wasn't able to get anything going. Finally, she went to a Episcopal church in Grafton. And this is the second reason I love Mother's Day. Grafton, West Virginia. And there she went to see a pastor.
[00:13:48] And the pastor did a message called woman, behold thy son. Son, behold thy mother. And this pastor allowed her on that day to hand out 500 white carnations to all the moms.
[00:14:00] So Anna donated all of this. And that began a practice that swept state after state. And Mother's Day began to be honored not by politicians first, but by churches, by churches. And eventually, state after state began to proclaim a Mother's day. Finally, in 1914, President Woodrow Wilson officially established Mother's Day, a national holiday to be held on the second Sunday of May.
[00:14:28] All right, I'm going to switch over, if you'd just give me one moment.
[00:14:34] Like I said today, I want to talk about not just moms, but I want to talk about.
[00:14:40] I want to talk about women in general and how God has created you ladies to be such an amazing person. Blessing in this world today. And my heart went to a message, Actually, one of my favorite stories in the Old Testament about a mom. Now, this was not just a mom. She was also a single mom.
[00:15:01] She was also a widow.
[00:15:04] She was also a struggling parent.
[00:15:08] She was also an empty nester.
[00:15:12] This was a person that was beat down by life. And nothing she did seemed to make a difference.
[00:15:18] And so what I want to do is learn from this unique heart of this particular woman who stood firm while everything around her collapsed. This is one of the darkest moments in Old Testament history. There's a king in charge who went down in history as the most evil king of all time. Do you know his name?
[00:15:38] Ahab. Yes. Yes. But he had a spectacular wife who was constantly a blessing to him trying to pull him out of the bad stuff, right?
[00:15:47] No, no. He had a terrible wife.
[00:15:50] And her name you probably know as well. Do you know the name of his wife, Ahab's wife, Jezebel.
[00:15:57] One of the worst people in the Old Testament, to be honest.
[00:16:02] The town that we're going to talk about is a town.
[00:16:06] Let me take you to a little town just on the coast of Israel, north of Israel, just north of Israel, between Tyre and Sidon. It sits on the Mediterranean ocean. And actually, just so you know, it is modern day Lebanon.
[00:16:21] This is the town of Zarephath.
[00:16:24] Ahab is the king. And he has decided that he has set up. He doesn't want to deal with Yahweh any longer. He decided to set up idol worship. And the idol of the day, the big idol of the day. We have our own idols of the day, right? The big idol of the day was baby baal. Baal.
[00:16:40] BAAL was in charge of all the kind of. In charge of all the other gods, but BAAL was the big guy. And so he. This, Ahab, this king, built an entire structure to worship baal.
[00:16:54] He constructed a shrine to BAAL in his own palace. And he told all of Israel that they would worship BAAL as well. And so in order to do that, he even began his. His own priesthood.
[00:17:09] So he began his own religion to baal, with his own priests. I want to make sure that you understand how bad this guy was, because he was dangerous and he was bad. You can give me the next slide there. This is kind of what you would see when you go into worship for baal. All right, Very, very evil, very, very dark, very demonic. Here's a verse that describes you what Ahab, what God thought of Ahab. 1st Kings 16:30. Ahab, the son of Omri did evil in the sight of the Lord.
[00:17:42] You want to read that next phrase? More than all who were before him, God was not a fan of Ahab.
[00:17:52] And marrying Jezebel, you may not know this, but Jezebel was a priestess to baal.
[00:17:59] She was a priestess in a false temple. And that's how he found her. And that's when they got married. And then God just really wants us to understand how bad this was. First kings, if you go down to verse 32 of chapter 16, Ahab did more to provoke the Lord, the God of Israel, to anger than all the kings of Israel who were before him. How would you like for that to be your legacy? You know, the others were bad, but you're really bad.
[00:18:25] Like, put Them all in a pot churn them together. You're still worse than all of them together.
[00:18:32] This is the world into which we are.
[00:18:36] We see Elijah after this chapter, after these verses, you immediately come to chapter 17 and verse 1. And here's where we are introduced for the very first time to a guy named Elijah. And here's what the Bible says about Elijah. Now, Elijah, the Tishbite of Tishba in Galilee, Gilead, said to Ahab, as the Lord God of Israel lives, before whom I stand, there shall be neither dew nor rain these years, except by my word.
[00:19:07] God is going to send judgment, and he's going to hit Ahab and he's going to hit his people where they hurt.
[00:19:14] One thing you should know about baal.
[00:19:17] If you want rain, if you want crops, if you want to make a.
[00:19:23] A prophet in your farming, you need to sacrifice to baal.
[00:19:30] This is a way that the Israelites were now brought up. They were not followers of God. They were followers of baal.
[00:19:36] And the king had propelled them into this idol worship.
[00:19:41] And so into these days, God sends his guy, Elijah.
[00:19:47] And BAAL was in charge of crops and growth and feasting food.
[00:19:56] So when God attacks and when God challenges baal, he hits him where it hurts. He sends his one prophet, Elijah, to the king. And the prophet says, you know what? BAAL is in charge of all of your agriculture. God is going to remove all of it.
[00:20:12] We are going into a famine.
[00:20:15] Now. How do you think Ahab felt about that?
[00:20:18] Not good. He is furious.
[00:20:22] Who is this guy that's not falling in line? Who is this rogue prophet? I want him dead. I want his family dead. I want his hand burned to the ground. Know where that's from? The untouchables. Okay, so you don't know that one. All right, Verse three. Depart from here.
[00:20:39] God says to the prophet Elijah, this is the first time we hear about him. This is the very first time. And God says, okay, Elijah, I got some bad news for you. You did the one job that I wanted you to do. Go to the king. Tell him there's a famine coming. He's not gonna take it well. And then he's gonna wanna kill you. So here's what I want you to it's your one job, and you're gonna die for it, but do it really good.
[00:21:02] And then God says to him, okay, now, Elijah, run for your life.
[00:21:06] Here's what he says. Verse 3. Depart from here. Turn Eastwood. Hide yourself by the brook cherith which is east of the Jordan. You shall hide, drink from the brook. I have commanded the ravens to feed you there. That's crazy, right? So he's drinking from this brook. It hasn't dried up, and birds are bringing him food.
[00:21:23] Okay, Verse five. So he went and did according to the word of the Lord. He went and lived by the brook, Cherith, east of the Jordan. Ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning, and bread and meat in the evening, and he drank from the brook.
[00:21:36] Finally, however, because there's a famine, the brook dries up.
[00:21:40] And so God tells him he has prepared his next destination for him.
[00:21:46] Life with a little widow in Zarephath, verse 8.
[00:21:50] Then the word of the Lord came to him. Arise. Go to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon. Dwell there. For, behold, I have commanded a woman there to feed you.
[00:22:00] There's no food, but he's commanded a woman there to feed you. Okay? So he arose, went to Zarephath. And when he came to the gate of the city, behold, a woman was there. A widow was there gathering sticks. And he called her and said, bring me a little water in a vessel that I may drink. Now, God has already been preparing the heart of this non Jewish woman. What I get most about of this passage is not just that she's a non Jewish woman, she's like a Gentile, but not only that.
[00:22:31] I get this big impression that pastors are pushy people.
[00:22:37] Read this again.
[00:22:39] She has no food, she has no money, she has nothing.
[00:22:44] Right. She's gathering sticks and a pushy pastor comes along and says, hey, could you get me a little water?
[00:22:53] All right.
[00:22:54] But he gets even pushier. Verse 11.
[00:22:57] And she was going to bring it, and he called her and said, hey, would you bring me some food with that in your hand?
[00:23:04] Now, if you were this woman, how would you react to this?
[00:23:09] Yeah, yeah. Who are you to be asking me to bring you stuff? Right? It's a good thing she didn't beat him with the sticks that she had in his hand.
[00:23:21] But her attitude is phenomenal. Her attitude is humble. Her attitude is very much the heart of a female.
[00:23:29] A willingness to sacrifice for somebody else in need.
[00:23:33] Zarephath. Interestingly enough, in the original language, Zarephath means refining.
[00:23:41] And we're about to find in this passage of Scripture a lot of faith, including Elijah's, that needs to go through some refining.
[00:23:51] Verse 12, as she said. And she said, as the Lord your God lives. Does anything stand out to you from that phrase, as the Lord your God lives?
[00:24:03] Yeah, it's the Lord your God. I don't know who you're serving. I got my own gods. But as the Lord your God lives.
[00:24:12] I've got nothing baked.
[00:24:14] I only have a handful of flour in a jar and a little oil in a jug. And you need to know something. I'm gathering a couple of sticks so I can go in, make a fire, prepare it for myself and my son so that we can eat it and then we can die.
[00:24:35] We read this and it's like, oh, so Jesus, we eat it, we die. This is a broken heart of a mom who has nothing but this motherly instinct to protect her son, her only child.
[00:24:51] We're not told what happened to the dad. We're not even told this woman's name. All we're told is that her heart is. Listen, I have prepared, I have planned. I have set this special day aside not to meet you, Elijah, but to gather up these few sticks so that my son and I can have a special moment. Because this is our last meal.
[00:25:16] She's not angry. She's simply letting the stranger know this was her plan and she didn't have the means to feed not one more soul. They are down to two final meals.
[00:25:32] She had peace with it. She was dealt these cards, and she's simply moving forward.
[00:25:39] I believe the strength in her character is revealed by the way, in the Lord your God.
[00:25:44] She's not a Hebrew, but we're going to see she's willing to take a chance on Yahweh. She's got all kinds of gods to choose from. BAAL had a whole bunch of Ashtra and Moloch. There's a whole bunch of different gods you could choose from.
[00:25:58] This woman was willing to take a chance on the one true God, on Yahweh.
[00:26:03] And these are the final steps of her life.
[00:26:06] Verse 13. Elijah said to her, don't fear, go do as you have said. But first, pushy guy. But first, make me a little cake and bring it to me now. How many meals does she have at home?
[00:26:23] 2 for her and her son.
[00:26:27] And this guy has the gall to say, here's what I want you to do. Go home, cook what you have, bring me one of the portions, and after that, make something for yourself and your son. It's like he's not even listening. She literally said, I only have enough for two, me and my son. She says, no, no, no. He says, bring me something, then go make something for yourselves.
[00:26:53] For thus saith the Lord. Oh, these words had to be great. The God of Israel, the jar of flour shall not be spent. And the jug of oil shall not be empty until the day the Lord sends rain upon the earth.
[00:27:05] And she went and did as Elijah said.
[00:27:09] You've hit the lottery.
[00:27:12] Now she has no proof of what's going to happen. She has no idea of even who this guy is. She's an unmarried older woman with children, and this guy says, bake me a cake first.
[00:27:25] She had nothing concrete to base her faith upon. She never grew up following Yahweh.
[00:27:31] But this prophet simply made a claim that his God would take care of her. This is her Jack and the Beanstalk moment.
[00:27:40] This guy is selling her a bag of beans and promising her the sky.
[00:27:45] And she can believe it or not.
[00:27:48] What do you think she did?
[00:27:51] Yeah, she did. And she and her household ate for how many days? Church?
[00:27:58] Many days.
[00:27:59] They ate for many days. The jar of flour was not spent. Neither did the jug of oil become empty. According to the word of the Lord that he spoke to Elijah. And the miracle here is not that the flour didn't run out. The. The miracle here is not that the oil didn't run out. The miracle here is that this woman had a heart to trust God first.
[00:28:16] That's the miracle.
[00:28:18] Faith is never tested passively. Did you know that? It's like patience. When you pray for patience, what do you think's gonna happen tomorrow?
[00:28:26] Your world's gonna fall apart. I'd encourage you. Don't pray for patience.
[00:28:31] Disregard that. Pray for patience. But just know your faith cannot be tested unless it's actually tested.
[00:28:39] You can't grow in faith sitting on a couch.
[00:28:43] The way that you grow in your faith is that God will put you through tests so that your faith can become more firm, like the anchor point.
[00:28:55] It's great to have an anchor point, but if you don't put your rope through, you're never going to climb higher.
[00:29:02] I may say I have faith in Jesus, but.
[00:29:04] But the only way I'm truly going to show that is if I'm tested first. This is straight out of the book of James, James 2:14. What good is it, brothers, if someone says, I have faith but doesn't have any works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says, go in peace, be warmed and filled without giving them the things that they need for the body. What good is that? So faith by itself, if it doesn't have works, is church dead.
[00:29:33] The only way your faith can grow is if you're given an opportunity to grow it.
[00:29:38] This woman, this widow, this single mom simply decided to put God first. She chose to believe God first.
[00:29:47] Can I tell you something? In the 35 years of ministry that I've had, I've learned this one thing about God, and this is it. God loves to reward faith. Loves it.
[00:29:57] If you demonstrate faith in a unique way, some way that you're not used to, some way that really stretches you, some way that you're broken and you have to depend on God like never before. God loves to reward that kind of faith. If you're praying prayers that everybody says, that's dumb. You shouldn't pray that prayer.
[00:30:14] That's not what logical people do.
[00:30:17] See, this is what's going to happen in your situation. Why pray about it? But if you're the kind of person that says, forget that. I'm praying for that every day. I'm making my life a life of prayer because I believe that God will reward this kind of faith. He will. Now, his answer may not be what you're looking for, but God loves to reward faith.
[00:30:36] Loves to reward faith.
[00:30:41] God puts us through tests, and often those tests are to take away the stuff we love.
[00:30:48] And when those things are taken away, it's really difficult for us. But that's when our faith grows.
[00:30:53] It's when we lose something we love to realize that God can fill that void.
[00:30:58] So what competes for first place in your heart? Comfort? Fear? Money? Relationships? Control?
[00:31:04] Children? Family?
[00:31:06] Self.
[00:31:07] Who would you become if one or more of those things were taken away? Job gave us this great illustration, right? Job lost everything. His family, his fortune, his place. He lived, lost it all.
[00:31:20] Then he only had three friends left, and they were all morons. And his wife, she just wanted him to go away and die. So he had, like, nothing.
[00:31:31] But Job teaches us that when everything is taken away, our hearts will either exhibit faith or we will abandon that as well.
[00:31:44] And unfortunately, I've seen all too much of that in my life with my friends.
[00:31:49] Jesus said, I need to be first place. Because if I'm not first place, if I'm not that anchor point, your whole life is up for grabs.
[00:31:57] Luke 14:26. If anyone comes to me and doesn't hate his own father, mother, wife, children, brothers and sisters, yes, even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. Church cannot be my disciple. There's. It's pretty simple. Do you need me to break that down in the Greek for you?
[00:32:13] Unless you put Christ, there's no room in our lives for two first places.
[00:32:18] It's Christ or it's something else.
[00:32:22] Jesus said, you got to remove it all.
[00:32:25] Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. And this doesn't mean hate is not what he's doesn't mean hate. It simply means there's no room for more priorities in your life than just for him.
[00:32:37] This is faith that we live by.
[00:32:42] This woman's heart is precisely the reason that God sends her Elijah. We don't even know her name. Elijah didn't show up at her house because it was the safest place to be. He didn't show up at her house because she was a strong Jewish woman who celebrated festivals and feasts her whole life. He didn't show up at her house because she had a cooler of beef jerky in the back. He didn't send her to this house because she was prepped. He sent her this house because this was a woman whose heart was being developed by faith. And he needed that for the next thing that was coming in his life.
[00:33:14] And she needed that for the next thing that was coming in her life.
[00:33:17] And her son needed that for the next thing that was coming in his life.
[00:33:23] Elijah went to this house because it was a woman who had decided, without even knowing Yahweh, she was going to put him first.
[00:33:31] And she did that by giving Elijah the meal that was her last.
[00:33:38] Jesus makes this clear in the New Testament. He loves this woman.
[00:33:42] Luke 4:25. I tell you the truth. I tell you, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heavens were shut up. Three years and six months. And a great famine came over all the land. And Elijah was sent to none of them, but only to Zarephath, to this woman in the land of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow.
[00:34:04] She demonstrated a moldable heart that could be used by God.
[00:34:09] And unless you think that was the strongest test for her faith, it got worse for this lady. Verse 17.
[00:34:19] After this, the son of the woman who is a mistress of the house, got sick, became ill, and his illness was so severe there was no breath left in him. And she said to Elijah, why have you come against me, O man of God? You have come to me to bring my sin to my remembrance and to cause the death of my son. You know what I love about this?
[00:34:39] This woman had no pretense.
[00:34:43] She literally had a jar of oil and a thing of flour that never would run out.
[00:34:50] She's had her last meal numerous times by this point.
[00:34:55] And now her son gets sick and dies.
[00:34:59] And she looks at Elijah and says, this is happening because of what I've done. In the past.
[00:35:05] This is happening because of the choices that I've made in the past. This is happening because this new God, who I'm willing to live for, has discovered who I really am.
[00:35:16] That's what she said.
[00:35:18] You have come into this house to bring my sin to my remembrance.
[00:35:23] Perhaps a part of her thought this new God was going to get even with her.
[00:35:28] She had just seen miracles, but she didn't know God.
[00:35:34] This trial hits a mom right where she lived for a mom.
[00:35:39] For men and women, it's the same. God wants to provide you with opportunities so your faith can grow. So. So your faith demonstrated in front of others so that they can grow. That's all the same. But for women, it's really unique.
[00:35:52] Women are often tested in the area of life they uniquely value, and that's the area of relationships.
[00:36:01] Women are uniquely gifted to nurture, to protect, to encourage, and to serve.
[00:36:07] Even in difficult seasons, a woman will still hold those things in high priority.
[00:36:13] This reflects a beautiful distinction, by the way, between the male and the female. Males are not like this. You know what happens to males when hardship hits? If you're a man, what happens to you when hardship hits? I'm so worried this is going to affect my relationship with Jim or with Harry or with John.
[00:36:31] No, no, no, no. Men go, screw you and screw you and screw you. I'm not listening to any of you anymore. I'm going to do what I want to do. In fact, I'm going to do it more the way that I want to do. I'm not going to.
[00:36:43] And they pivot and they insert other things so they don't have to think about it, or they get angry because they can't control it. That's how men work. All right, so, ladies, if you miss this in premarital counseling or if you've missed this somewhere along the way, all the men in your life that you have had so far, you're probably going. That makes so much sense. Yes. Men are knuckle draggers, all right? They just.
[00:37:08] They replace, they reflect, they do every. But women, they have to sit down and figure out what is going to be damaged if I go through this.
[00:37:18] I love this about how God gives us females. They're uniquely gifted for relationship. They have to continue loving, continue serving, continue caring for others while they silently bear the burdens themselves.
[00:37:32] This is why relationships often become the proving testing ground for the women. Because the question is, will she lean deeper into her most crucial relationship, her relationship with the Lord, or will she do whatever she can to Salvage all the other relationships.
[00:37:54] Satan has designed this so that he could crush a woman's heart. This started from the beginning, from the Garden of Eden. Who did he attack first? Was it Adam or was it Eve? And how did he attack her? He attacked her in the areas of relationships. Did God really say.
[00:38:09] Does God really love you like you think that he does? He hit her in the area of relationships, and then what areas were affected? When Jesus comes strolling in the garden in the cool of the day, they hear him come along and the first thing they do is they hide from one another. They make. They make clothes.
[00:38:28] They hide from each other. Relationship has been broken in some way. And then when God shows up, what did they do? They hid from him.
[00:38:38] Satan loves to destroy your relationships, ladies.
[00:38:42] He loves it for the guys too.
[00:38:44] But because this is such a valuable part of the female heart, this is where he will hit you most.
[00:38:50] This is what hurts the most.
[00:38:55] This woman, the way that she responds through difficulty would impact generations to come because she handled this with such dignity.
[00:39:06] Verse 19. And he said to her, her son is dead now.
[00:39:09] He said to her, give me your son. Took him up from her arms, carried him up to the upper chamber where he lodged, laid him on his own bed. This is what Elijah, the prophet of God, said. He cried to the Lord, O Lord, my God, you have brought calamity even upon the widow with whom I sojourned by killing her son. Listen, church. Elijah's heart was in need of work.
[00:39:31] This first time we hear of this guy. I don't know where he came from. We're just not told. He just shows up. Like a meteor sent into history.
[00:39:37] This guy makes a major impact for the Lord. But we don't know where he came from. All of a sudden he shows up. This is his first ministry, and boom, we got a kid dead of this woman that was so nice to him.
[00:39:54] And so he takes it up with God. He says, why are you doing this, Lord? I have no idea what you're doing.
[00:40:00] Would you please let me know? Don't you feel like that a lot of times? God? I'd just like for you to explain this because I don't know what's going on over here. This is like out of my control. Came out of nowhere. I don't know what's going on. Would you please explain it? This is Elijah. And Elijah was the man of God.
[00:40:17] But he didn't know what God was capable of doing yet.
[00:40:21] He needed this refining for his own future. God was going to call on him to do Some amazing things. He was about to call fire from heaven to burn up an altar. He was about to address Ahab, the guy that God hated. He was about to address him face to face. He was about to look at Jezebel eyeball to eyeball and call her who she was. And Jezebel's response was, I'm going to have your head in the morning. That was her response. And then he had to run and deal with isolation, thinking he's the only one, because all the other prophets of God are hiding and they're scared. This is the Elijah we know. This is an amazing man of God. But you need to understand, he didn't enter the picture that way. He entered the picture with a dead kid, a hungry mom, thinking to himself, what in the world is God doing? Doing?
[00:41:03] That sounds like me, and it might sound like you.
[00:41:08] He needed his strength in his faith refined.
[00:41:13] So James 1, I give you this passage, verse 2. Count it. All joy, my brothers, when you meet various trials of various kinds. For you know that the testing of your faith produces what? Church.
[00:41:23] I love that.
[00:41:26] The testing of your faith. Church. It produces steadfastness. You need faith, but you need steadfastness in your faith. You need the anchor point.
[00:41:35] And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfectly complete, lacking nothing. That means whatever comes tomorrow may be bigger than today. So walk faithfully today.
[00:41:47] Elijah would need to be a man of faith, but he had no idea what was coming. All he needed to know is what God was capable of doing right now. And God was going to show him he's capable of doing some pretty incredible things.
[00:41:59] And when he does it, Elijah goes from there and goes, okay, next, verse 21. He stretched himself out upon the child three times and cried to the Lord, O Lord, my God, let this child's life come to him again. And the Lord listened to the voice of Elijah, and the life of the child came into him again, and he revived.
[00:42:20] How do you think Elijah would walk into the next test of his faith?
[00:42:24] Pretty confidently, wouldn't you say? Yeah, bring it on. Right? Not only that, this boy's heart would be impacted by the faith that is being exhibited in this home.
[00:42:38] And this mom was going to help this boy's faith grow.
[00:42:44] Can you imagine what it would be like in this house when this kid was put to bed every night and his mother came in and the boy said, mom, could you tell me a story? What story do you think she's going to tell him?
[00:42:56] Well, let me tell you about the time you died. And the guy came along I never met before. I gave him the food that you were supposed to eat, and all of a sudden he's laying on you and boom, you're back to life. Every Thanksgiving would be the same story. What are you thankful for? Ooh, I'd like to say something. Okay, fine.
[00:43:12] Go ahead, Johnny. Tell us a story. Well, once I was sick and I died. This guy shows up and he asks for the last food. And. And my mom was going, it's pretty brazen of him to do that. But gave him the food, and he came by the food, didn't run out and did all that. And then I died.
[00:43:28] And then he came along and I'm alive again. Okay, thanks, Johnny. Let's move down the line.
[00:43:37] What a powerful influence in the heart of our children is the faith that we wield at home.
[00:43:43] I want my children to want what God wants. Don't you?
[00:43:47] A lot of parents want their children to be happy. I really couldn't care less about that one.
[00:43:53] I kind of do.
[00:43:54] But I would much rather them be holy.
[00:43:57] I would much rather them serve Jesus. I would much rather them live a life that pleases him than live a life that gives them temporary happiness.
[00:44:09] And the faith that I exhibit at home is either going to help them or. Or hinder them.
[00:44:15] Number three. The woman needed her own faith refined.
[00:44:20] I don't think this woman knew. If you ask, like, if you got into a gunfight, would you stand in front of your loved ones? It's kind of like, I don't know. Unless I'm there, I don't know what I'd actually do. I think this woman was the same way. What would it feel like if you lost your. What if you knew your son was going to die and he died? How would you feel?
[00:44:40] I don't think this woman would say. I can't believe you're asking me that question. I'm not going to talk about that. That is terrible stuff.
[00:44:50] I'd like to think I'd handle it well, but she doesn't know until now. And so this woman needed her own faith refined.
[00:44:57] Her surrender needed to be evident to herself. Verse 23. Elijah took the child and brought him down from the upper chamber to the house and delivered him to his mother. And Elijah said, see your son lives. I like how the Bible says it.
[00:45:09] See your son lives.
[00:45:12] This should have an exclamation point, don't you think? See your son lives. Check this out. He was dead and now he's alive. I don't know how I mean, God, it's great. But see, your son lives. And the woman said to Elijah, now get this.
[00:45:25] The woman says to Elijah, now I know. Wait a minute.
[00:45:33] Now I know that you're a man of God and the word of God is in your mouth is truth. Wait a minute.
[00:45:39] You got a jar of oil and you got a pot of flour that you've had for two years and it hasn't run out.
[00:45:52] Now, you know, I mean, how much do you need?
[00:45:57] But isn't that just like us, right?
[00:46:00] We so often forget. The steadfast love of the Lord never changes. His mercies are new every morning. Great is his faithfulness.
[00:46:14] Now I know the woman needed to be impacted in the most female area of her life.
[00:46:20] She didn't know what she would do if she lost her own family, but apparently she did really well.
[00:46:28] The outcome of the widow's willingness to live by faith propelled her own spiritual ability to impact others.
[00:46:38] I'm reminded, as a parent, of Ruth Belgram's poem she wrote about children. Listen to this.
[00:46:46] This is so what I would do.
[00:46:48] So what I would do.
[00:46:50] Had I been Joseph's mother I would have prayed protection from his brothers.
[00:46:54] Duh. God keep him safe, keep. He's so young, so different from the others.
[00:47:00] Mercifully she never knew there would be slavery and prison too.
[00:47:06] If I'd been Moses, mother, I would have wept to keep my little son Praying she might forget the babe drawn from the water in the Nile Had I not kept him for her nursing him all the while. Was he not mine and she but Pharaoh's daughter?
[00:47:25] Had I been Daniel's mother, I should have pled give victory the Babylon horde Godless and cruel. Don't let him be captive Better dead.
[00:47:35] Almighty Lord.
[00:47:38] Had I been Mary, oh, I had been she I would have cried as no mother cried anything, O God, anything but crucified with such prayers importunate my finite wisdom would assail.
[00:47:56] But infinite wisdom, O God, how fortunate infinite wisdom should prevail.
[00:48:04] Can I just ask you a quick question before we get to our. So what's.
[00:48:09] What would have happened had this lady who we don't know her name, this little widow of Zarephath? Don't you want to say that? Isn't that fun? You want to say it, Little widow of Zarephath. You can say it. Little widow of Zarephath.
[00:48:23] Little widow of Zarephath.
[00:48:26] What would have happened if this woman had lived by sight and not by faith?
[00:48:32] Where would she be dead? Where would her son be?
[00:48:39] You are coming to me, asking me for food.
[00:48:43] I have done diligently what a mom should do. I have raised my child. I have been faithful as a mom. I have planned out meals and this is our last. And I have loved him and will love him to the end as we sit eating our last meal together. So you get none of it. It is for my child. It's all I have. What would have happened if this woman had lived by six sight and not by faith?
[00:49:11] It's in the furnace, not the flea market. Where gold is refined and it's in the weight of life, not the comforts of ease. Where our faith is refined, she never condemns the Lord.
[00:49:23] And in Hebrews 11:6 we are told it's not on the overhead. But we are told without faith it is impossible to please God.
[00:49:34] So here's some so what's number one?
[00:49:36] God often refines us through the areas we treasure most. That was painful for me to write, by the way, because it's true. God often refines us through the areas we treasure most. The widow's greatest point of love became her greatest point of testing her son. God doesn't test us because he hates us. He tests us because he's refining us, making us into who he needs us to be.
[00:50:01] Sometimes the deepest growth in our faith comes through strained relationships or uncertainty or loss of control or disappointment.
[00:50:08] The question is not will I be refined? The question is how will I deal with refining when I go through it?
[00:50:17] I'm not telling you anything new. You will have tests even this week. The question is not whether you'll have tests. The question is how will you go through them?
[00:50:26] Number two, faith must move beyond words and into action.
[00:50:33] This widow didn't merely say she believed Yahweh, she acted on it. She gave the meal first before anything else was done, like purchasing magic beans. She thought she's going to roll the dice and see what happens.
[00:50:49] And that's called living by faith.
[00:50:52] Faith is not proven by what we claim in comfort. It's proven by how we respond under pressure. So let me ask you a couple of questions, okay? When God says he has the right way to raise your children, do you trust them?
[00:51:06] When God says it is best to forgive than hold a grudge, do you trust him?
[00:51:13] When God instructs us to give of our income and he will provide, do you trust him?
[00:51:20] When God tells us that he is with us always and even will visit us and carry us in the darkness, do you trust him?
[00:51:31] When God asks you to reconcile instead of run, do you trust Him.
[00:51:37] And when God reminds you that he will not give you more than you can handle, do you trust him?
[00:51:45] I write down four befores of a faithful heart.
[00:51:48] If you want to know how you need to set yourself up so you can be successful. When the tests come, you can take a picture of this, but this is basically how your heart needs to get set up. Like a ball on a tee. If you're going to hit it right, it's got to be set up right.
[00:52:02] And then you got to get tiger. But you know, if you want to do it right, tee it up. And here's how you tee up your heart.
[00:52:11] A heart makes up its mind before the trial arrives.
[00:52:14] Heart obeys before all the answers are given.
[00:52:17] A heart trust before the outcome is visible. And a heart follows God before the emotions hit.
[00:52:23] Because when the emotions hit, then it becomes a big struggle.
[00:52:27] This is the way you tee up your faith so that you can be successful.
[00:52:32] Four befores.
[00:52:33] All right, last one. Your faith impacts more people than you realize. You knew that one was coming, right? It's Mother's Day.
[00:52:39] This woman had no idea she would strengthen the faith of Elijah. Elijah became who Elijah became because of this women.
[00:52:47] She was his first project.
[00:52:50] She had no idea and neither did he.
[00:52:54] Her faith shaped her son's future.
[00:52:57] Her faith would be spoken about by Jesus Christ centuries later. And her faith would be bragged upon in Carol stream in 2026. She had no idea any of that was happening.
[00:53:10] All she knew was what was coming next.
[00:53:13] And she was faithful to what came next.
[00:53:17] So when you walk through suffering, when you walk faithfully through suffering, church, you need to know people are watching. Your children are watching. Your schoolmates are watching. Your church is watching. Your friends are watching.
[00:53:28] Future generations might be impacted by your resolve. We're never told about this lady's name, but we are told deep things about her character. I love that David was a man after God's own heart. But I have to think this little widow of Zarephath was a woman after God's own heart.
[00:53:45] Sometimes the greatest ministry you'll ever have is simply refusing to quit trusting God. Isn't that good?
[00:53:53] Sometimes it's the greatest ministry you'll ever have. And you'll never know it because you never know who's watching.
[00:54:00] So, church, you may be going through a refining moment right now, maybe even in relationships right now. I'd encourage you. Trust in the God who loves you. Lean into him. Rest on his promises. Don't do this on your own. Your deepest and greatest relationship for a Female heart that loves and values relationship. Your deepest and greatest relationship is with the God who made you and loves you and has your future planned for you.
[00:54:29] A woman once visited a silversmith to learn how silver was refined. The story goes, as she watched the silversmith put the piece of silver into the hottest part of the fire, didn't leave it unattended. He watched over it, never looked away from it, but instead, he would sell, sit close to the furnace and occasionally lift the silver out, scrape off the dross, these impurities, and then he put it back into the fire again.
[00:54:57] The woman noticed how attentive he was to this little piece of silver that he was refining and asked the question, why do you watch it so carefully?
[00:55:06] The silver system replied, because if the silver stays in the fire too long, it'll get damaged.
[00:55:14] The fire must be hot enough to purify it, but controlled enough to not destroy it.
[00:55:19] And then she asked him this.
[00:55:21] How do you know when it's done?
[00:55:23] How do you know when the silver is ready and when it's refined?
[00:55:26] And with a smile, the silversmith simply said, the silver is ready when I can see my reflection in it.
[00:55:36] I don't know what the Lord's doing in your life.
[00:55:38] I don't know the challenges you're going through, but you share a common malady with everybody around you.
[00:55:44] It may look different, but it's a test all the same.
[00:55:48] Every one of us might. You might even have several on your list right now. Can I just encourage you? God never has woken up and goes, oh, I didn't see that coming.
[00:55:58] That's not how God operates. God will test you so that he can refine you, so your faith can grow and you can get miraculously through the fire, not on your own, but with a deep dependence on him.
[00:56:12] And then the next test comes, and the next test comes, and eventually you're gone.
[00:56:18] But everybody who watched you, everybody who remains, the people you think aren't even paying attention will remember your faith.
[00:56:35] They'll remember your faith.
[00:56:42] I want to pray. And then we're going to do communion together. Father, I'm grateful for our time looking into this little widow of Azarephath.
[00:56:50] What an amazing lady. Don't even know her name.
[00:56:54] Don't even know the kid's name. No, nothing.
[00:56:58] Only that you bragged about them centuries later, millennial later, they made an impact for you.
[00:57:06] May our lives do the same as we quietly live these lives of faith that you've called us to give us the ability to succeed, to overcome, to believe the Truths of your word that greater is he that is in us than he that is in the world.
[00:57:23] May we live by faith and not by fear.
[00:57:26] May you guide every step we take.
[00:57:29] And at the end of this journey, Father, may we hear those words that we long to hear. Well done, good and faithful servant. I pray in Jesus name. Amen.
[00:57:41] Communion is a time we share.
[00:57:45] Your tradition might be a little different than ours, and that's okay. So fine. If you. If you want to take part with us, you're more than welcome to.
[00:57:53] I'll tell you why we do what we do. And then if you'd like to join us, you're welcome to.
[00:57:59] We believe that Jesus loves us so much, loves this world so much that he came to give his life, so the sin that is in it and in us would be covered, would be forgiven.
[00:58:19] We say this verse often, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. Sin brings death. Jesus brings life.
[00:58:30] And so when we take this communion, we recognize that truth and we recognize that truth doesn't come without a price.
[00:58:38] It's free for you if you want to accept. You could come to Jesus, you give your life to Him. You can put your head on your pillow tonight and know beyond any shadow of a doubt that if you were to pass away from this life, you would open your eyes in heaven with Jesus Christ, with your loved ones.
[00:58:52] He said this in First John, chapter four. He said, I'm writing these things so that you may know that you have eternal life. Not guess, hope, not roll the dice.
[00:59:03] God gives us what he gives us so that we can walk around confidently knowing where right with him the veil is torn and we have a relationship, but it's only because of Jesus Christ.
[00:59:13] So when Jesus gathered in the upper room and he shared this last supper, isn't that interesting how that keeps coming up? Last dinner with his disciples.
[00:59:24] He gave them the juice. And he said, whatever you've done in the past, this is new. This is something new. This juice is my blood that covers your sins. And when he gave them the bread, he said, this bread represents my body, which is given for you.
[00:59:39] The price was his life, but the benefit was eternal life for us.
[00:59:46] So you're welcome to join us. If that's your story, if you know Jesus Christ as your savior, you follow him, you trust him, you want to live by faith, I'd encourage you to come forward with us. The way that we do it is we're going to play some music, and I'm going to tell you when to move. And you just come down the center aisle, if you would, and there'll be somebody up here to help you. Two cups, one inside of the other. One as the bread, the other as the juice. Be careful when you take it apart.
[01:00:10] Take. Take it. Go back to your seat, stand, if you'd remain standing, and just kind of. Just kind of worship with us.
[01:00:17] Maybe spend some time thanking God for His amazing love and grace.
[01:00:22] And then I'm going to come up, I'm going to read a verse, and we're going to eat and drink together. And the reason we do that is because you need to know the guy standing in front of you is just like you.
[01:00:32] Nothing sets me apart. Except maybe the hair, but nothing else sets me apart.
[01:00:38] The reason we are the same is because all of us are in desperate need of salvation that only Jesus Christ can give.
[01:00:45] So I'm in the same boat with you.
[01:00:48] We wait for one another because. Because when we eat and we drink, we celebrate this blood, this body saves all of us.
[01:00:56] Whoever comes to Jesus for salvation, whoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. That's what we celebrate.
[01:01:04] If you want to do that with us, you're more than welcome to. If you don't feel comfortable, stay seated. You don't need to. It's fine. Nobody's going to think twice about it.
[01:01:12] But this is our opportunity to worship, celebrate together the gift of Jesus Christ. First things.
[01:01:19] You're here this morning. It's Mother's Day. You weren't expecting this message. You didn't know what you were walking into. That's great.
[01:01:26] But I'll bet you one thing. The Lord's probably spoken to you in some way.
[01:01:31] Some way.
[01:01:32] Give up something. Take on something. Refine something.
[01:01:36] Confess something. Whatever it is, he stalked you already.
[01:01:41] This is your opportunity to talk to him. So before we come and we partake up here, would you just take a moment and talk to him?
[01:01:50] However he has spoken to you, give it to him. Give it up. Bring it on. Whatever you need to do, confess it. Whatever you need to do, spend some time with the Lord.
