Recipe for Redemption

Redemption Story Video -

https://vimeo.com/286974627

Stories week 3 - Recipe for Redemption - Recipe’s are made up ingredients.

Now Elijah, who was from Tishbe in Gilead, told King Ahab, “As surely as the Lord, the God of Israel, lives—the God I serve—there will be no dew or rain during the next few years until I give the word!” 1 Kings 17:1 NLT

Elijah the protagonist in our story was from the rocky hill country of Gilead where rough, tough, rugged, and perhaps somewhat solemn and stern people lived. His name actually means My God is Yahweh. What an entrance onto the scene. Ch. 16 tells us our, Antagonist King Ahab (also known from extra-biblical history) was the most evil and disobedient King to date in Israel. And to top it off, he actually married Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal King of the very pagan Sidonians in Phoenicia.

A first ingredient in the recipe for redemption is the need for redemption.
(Elijah was dealing with heart ache, hurt, and the failure of a nation to follow God!)

Then the Lord said to Elijah, “Go to the east and hide by Kerith Brook, near where it enters the Jordan River. Drink from the brook and eat what the ravens bring you, for I have commanded them to bring you food.” So Elijah did as the Lord told him and camped beside Kerith Brook, east of the Jordan. The ravens brought him bread and meat each morning and evening, and he drank from the brook. But after a while the brook dried up, for there was no rainfall anywhere in the land. 1 Kings 17:2-6 NLT (Elijah didn’t complain, He knew something we need to remember.)

Neither the brook nor the ravens were Elijah’s source, they were God’s provision for the season.

PTR: Never equate the provision with the source.

Then the Lord said to Elijah, “Go and live in the village of Zarephath, near the city of Sidon. I have instructed a widow there to feed you.” 1 Kings 17:8-9 NLT

It was 80-100 miles across Israel to Sidon!? Out of the Frying pan and into the fire. And, A WIDOW?

So he went to Zarephath. As he arrived at the gates of the village, he saw a widow gathering sticks, and he asked her, “Would you please bring me a little water in a cup?” As she was going to get it, he called to her, “Bring me a bite of bread, too.” But she said, “I swear by the Lord your God that I don’t have a single piece of bread in the house. And I have only a handful of flour left in the jar and a little cooking oil in the bottom of the jug. I was just gathering a few sticks to cook this last meal, and then my son and I will die.” 1 Kings 17:10-12 NLT (Not exactly the faith-filled follower Elijah may have hoped)

THT: Negativity has the capacity to keep you from the redemption God wills for you…

I believe this lady had heard from God, but refused to believe Him or even consider Him her God!

He calls to us too, in our brokenness, our disobedience, and running. He persists and pursues…

But Elijah said to her, “Don’t be afraid! Go ahead and do just what you’ve said, but make a little bread for me first. Then use what’s left to prepare a meal for yourself and your son. For this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: There will always be flour and olive oil left in your containers until the time when the Lord sends rain and the crops grow again!” 1 Kings 17:13-14 NLT

A second ingredient in the recipe for redemption is faith.

Faith to believe that God’s grace is bigger than your life’s grief or your goofs / gaffs.

So she did as Elijah said, and she and Elijah and her family continued to eat for many days. There was always enough flour and olive oil left in the containers, just as the Lord had promised through Elijah. 1 Kings 17:15-16 NLT

The great German composer Felix Mendelssohn once visited the cathedral at Fribourg, having heard of the great organ thunderer as it was known but was almost refused from playing it…

A third ingredient in the recipe for redemption is surrender.

This widowed lady from Phoenicia lived fully provided for through out the drought. Wow!

Obedient surrender leads to God’s miraculous and redemptive provision.

And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them. Romans 8:28 NLT

Eddie video

Some time later the woman’s son became sick. He grew worse and worse, and finally he died. Then she said to Elijah, “O man of God, what have you done to me? Have you come here to point out my sins and kill my son?” 1 Kings 17:17-18 NLT

V. 19-22 / Elijah takes the boy and intercedes 3 times and He’s healed…

Elijah picked the boy up, carried him downstairs from the loft, and gave him to his mother. "Here's your son," said Elijah, “alive!" The woman said to Elijah, "I see it all now you are a holy man. When you speak, God speaks a true word!” 1 Kings 17:23-24 MSG

God, I see it all now. You really are a God of hope, relentless love and miraculous redemption!

The final and most critical ingredient in the recipe for redemption is God’s amazing Grace!