September 1 & 2, 2001 Sermon

September 29 & 30, 2001

"The Faith Factor"

Mike Slaughter

I Kings 19:9
9: There he went into a cave and spent the night. And the word of the LORD came to him: "What are you doing here, Elijah?"

Fear is the great obstacle to faith and human accomplishment. For this reason, terrorists work for one objective: to promote a sense of fear and disruption. This week a team from Ginghamsburg Church traveled through Chicago's O'Hare airport. I was shocked at the absence of people at 8 a.m. on a Wednesday. On one of the planes we boarded this week half of the people who had purchased tickets did not show up. Every day when you pick up the newspaper you learn of a new threat. Chemical and biological warfare. Crop dusting planes were grounded this week. Fear disrupts life direction. Fear even has physical consequences. Some of you know that I hate to have my blood drawn. I hate to even think about having my blood drawn. About half the time, I pass out. One time, I had several cups of coffee beforehand, they had just pulled the needle out and I went down and went into convulsions. Again, in July, I went for a physical. They had me strapped in a chair this time. The nurse asked me how I was feeling. I told her I was feeling fine. I just had two more tubes to go. The next thing I knew, I woke up and there was a doctor with me. They told me I was convulsing again.
We are going to look at a man who was temporarily sidetracked by fear - Elijah. Turn in your Bibles to I Kings 19. Elijah was a prophet of God. He had experienced the power of faith in his life many times. He was able to deal with all kinds of adversity. He had an innate sense of God's direction and of being in the right place at the right time. He lived in the time of the terrorist reign of Ahab and Queen Jezebel who were assassinating the spiritual leaders of Israel. He took a stand against 850 Taliban-like prophets of idolatry and hate on Mt. Carmel. And he won. In a climate of compromise, when the people of God lived comfortably between two contradictory world views, Elijah remained faithful, focused and obedient to God's call. He had been a model of life success, unwavering integrity, and courageous faith. But the force of good will always encounter disruptive events. Good will always come against a force of resistance. Jesus said to his followers, "I send you out as sheep among wolves." After many great successes in faith, Elijah entered a time of desert depression. We see what brought this desert depression. Not only was terror at work in the country of Israel, against the people of God, but now Jezebel, one of the terrorists, turns her hate directly against Elijah. We read: "This man of great courage, impeccable integrity, was afraid and ran for his life." Most of us have had experiences like this. We were doing really well, we were experiencing the success of going forward in God's direction, and we entered a time of desert depression. Have you been to a place of desert depression? You regress in your spiritual journey. You come to a point of plateau or paralysis. Elijah took residence in the darkness of a cave. When we feel fear, one of the first weapons we pull out of the arsenal is control. When we were interviewing folks in downtown Dayton this week, one man hit the nail on the head. When something bad happens, we revert to control. Listen to what he says:
"It is like having your house broken into. Our house was broken into a couple of years ago. You are afraid, initially, about it. You wonder when arriving home if you left a particular light on. You wonder if you can do something security-wise, like put bars on the windows, buy a big dog, or whatever. After a while, the fear goes away, but it is still in the back of your mind. But you know there is only so much you can do. If something is going to happen, it is going to happen. You have to go ahead and live and not worry about it as much."
When something bad happens, don't you try to do everything possible to prevent it from happening again? Put bars on the windows, buy a security system, buy a big dog. When I was getting some freaky phone calls I went out and bought a big dog. Control is an illusion. We just moved my son back to college. We had unloaded his things and had empty computer boxes in the van, which was parked in front of the Holiday Inn. Everything was locked up. The next morning I came out and discovered someone had broken into the van. There wasn't a scratch on the van, but they got in and found empty computer boxes. You can have everything locked up, but if someone wants to get in, they will. Control is an illusion. Notice what happens to Elijah. You have been going along, you have some great victories in your life, and all of a sudden you hit this state of fear and paralysis. You can't eat, you struggle sleeping. Elijah, this powerful man of God even feels suicidal. Some of you can relate to this. Oh Lord, take my life, it is no longer worth living. Here he is, in this state, and he can't hear God anymore. You cannot discern God's direction. There was a time when you could hear God. What you have known so well in the past, the presence of God, the direction of God, the victory of God in your life seems to be gone and now you feel abandonment and doubt.

I Kings 19:9
9: There he went into a cave and spent the night. And the word of the LORD came to him: "What are you doing here, Elijah?"

This is the part I like most . . . God asked Elijah a great question in verse 9. Elijah went into a cave and spent the night and the word of the Lord came to him saying, "What are you doing here, Elijah? You know my power, Elijah. You know my love, Elijah. You know my promise for your life, Elijah. What are you doing in this place of fear and doubt?" Notice the direction when you come to a place of paralysis in your life. You come to those dark days when you lose all of your forward direction in the course of a week.

I Kings 19:11
11: The LORD said, "Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the LORD, for the LORD is about to pass by." Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake.

God tells Elijah in verse 11, "Go out and stand on the mountain." The mountain is the place of vision. The mountain is the place where you develop your faith picture. "Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by." God is going to give Elijah three directives. Picture faith, speak faith and act faith. In time of paralysis and fear, this is the most important thing you can do.

I. Picture Faith
"Faith," the Bible says, "is being sure of what we hope for, and certain of what we do not see." Reality is not based on circumstances that are visible to us at any given time. Reality is based on the unseen presence and promise of God. The last time I checked, God is still invisible. But God is ever present, ever involved, and God's promise is always certain.
When we get into this place of fear and paralysis, Elijah and the rest of us start focusing on the visible circumstances rather than the invisible promise of God. God said to Elijah, what are you doing here, buddy?! Nothing has changed. My promise is still good. My presence is still with you. My picture for your life stands.
It is so important that you keep formulating your faith picture. It is a faith picture that enables you to persevere in times of resistance. God told Elijah to check his E.Q. - his emotional quotient. The first thing God told Elijah was to get up and eat. You know how it is when you start burning the candle at both ends. You quit taking care of your physical and emotional well being. The first thing he had to do, before he could get on with faith, was to get up and eat. Elijah looked around and there by his head was a cake of bread, baked over hot coals, and a jar of water. He ate and drank and then lay down again.

I Kings 19:7
7: The angel of the LORD came back a second time and touched him and said, "Get up and eat, for the journey is too much for you."

Notice in the 7th verse it says, "The angel of the Lord came back a second time and touched him and said, 'Get up and eat, for the journey is too much for you.'" Not only can we be paralyzed by fear, but we can also be paralyzed by post-adrenaline slump. When everything has been going right in our life, when we have been focused and faithful and we have just experienced a big victory in God, we can be worn out emotionally, physically, and relationally. The first thing God checked with Elijah was "How's your diet? How are you eating? How are you sleeping? How is your exercise?"

I Kings 19:8
8: So he got up and ate and drank. Strengthened by that food, he traveled forty days and forty nights until he reached Horeb, the mountain of God.

What does it take to develop your life picture? You have to nurture your spirit! Look at verse 8 with me. "Elijah got up, ate and drank. Strengthened by that food, he traveled 40 days and 40 nights until he reached Horeb, the mountain of God. There he went into a cave and spent the night." It is critical that you nurture the side of life that is not immediately obvious. What is obvious to us is what we see around us every day. That is not what reality is based on. To develop your faith picture, you have to nurture the side that is not obvious - the voice of God.
How many of you have 2- or 3-year-olds that can speak English? I'll bet you didn't send them to school to learn English. They probably haven't had one lesson in English. They speak English because they live in your house. They speak English because they hang out with you. There are several generations of American people, my age and under, who have grown up outside of the house of God and they do not recognize the voice of God. People call me on the phone and ask me to come to towns all over the area to do town prayer meetings and candlelight services. They say, "Oh, by the way, how do you pray? How do we do this in our town?" People all across America right now want to hear God's voice. They want to pray, but they don't know the language. They have grown up outside of the house. We have to hang out at the places where people are demonstrating God pictures.
I have been on this exercise kick now for almost a year. I am a member of a gym. I joined a gym because when I exercise by myself, I get bored and discouraged. I find that I need to go to a gym to see people who are ahead of me. By looking at these people, I get a picture of what I can become. I become encouraged to work harder. I find that I have to be in a gym three or four days a week. To nurture that part of us that is not immediately obvious, we need to hang out in places like this more than once a week so we can see people who show us what our life picture can be about. I am always formulating my life picture - constantly. It is what gives me the energy to keep going when I meet resistance.
RaNae, our new Children's Ministry Leader, was just asked by a national publishing company to write a chapter on children's ministry and education. Isn't that exciting? It is her first time publishing and she is only 33-years-old. This is so exciting because this has been part of her faith picture. The Bible says, "As a person thinks within themselves so they will become."

II. Speak Faith
The first thing God told Elijah to do in this place of paralysis was to develop his faith picture. Go to the mountain where the presence of God will pass by. The second thing God told Elijah to do was speak faith. Not only do you need to picture faith, you need to speak faith. Speak faith in any area, whether or not you are in some kind of paralysis. In parenting you need to picture faith, you need to speak faith, and you need to act faith. If you are in paralysis in a relationship right now, you need to picture faith, what God would have that relationship be at the next level. You need to speak faith not what is wrong with your spouse. And then you need to act faith. God said to Elijah, "Go and tell three people about your picture." In verse 15 and 16 you will see the three people to whom Elijah tells about his life picture.

Romans 10:9
9: That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

Here is what the Bible says: "If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with your heart you believe, with your mouth confess, and the result is salvation." As long as I believe something on the inside but don't share it, it remains only an idea. It never becomes a reality. When I confess or speak what I believe, then it ceases to be just an idea within me. It takes on a life of its own, outside of me. It becomes contagious and active.
Moses was in the desert. In the desert he was experiencing adverse circumstances. Always a problem with water, enough food for the people, and so forth. But Moses didn't speak about the adverse circumstances when he was in the desert. He always spoke about a land flowing with milk and honey. He always spoke about a place of promise. So you are having a real struggle right now with your children. You don't want to tell your children they are little idiots. You don't want to say they will never amount to anything, even though that is what you are feeling in that desert detour. What you want to speak is the land of milk and honey, the place of promise.
John Kennedy made this bold claim in the early 60s. "By the end of the decade we will have a man on the moon." They hadn't even sent up Alan Shepard yet in that little 14-minute flight. The Russians already had several in space. As long as he thought that, it was an idea, but by speaking that it took on a life of its own. We believe in our heart, and we confess to salvation.
Last week President Bush said, "We will not tire, we will not falter, we will not fail." Last Saturday night, in spite of the pain, he ordered the flags back to full mast. It ceased to be an idea. It became a contagious reality.
When they said they were going to crucify him, Jesus Christ said, "You can tear down this body, but in three days my Father will raise it back up." As long as you believe in your heart, but you don't speak it, it remains only an idea. When you speak it, it takes on a life of its own, and it becomes a reality.
In 1994 I had a vision when I was praying. I went to Korea to help my faith picture. I am always formulating. I am always doing three things, picturing faith, speaking faith, and acting faith. I heard the Lord say to me, "Mike, can you reach 10,000 people by 2000?" As long as I am just thinking that, it is only an idea. If I speak that, no matter how absurd it sounds, it takes on a life of its own. It becomes contagious. Mark Stephenson, who develops web sites, was sitting here in the sanctuary and heard me say that. He said, "I know how you can reach 10,000 people by 2000." He, along with other unpaid servants here at Ginghamsburg, developed a web site. Now over 50,000 people a month from 40 different countries click on to our web site to watch this worship service. Let me encourage you, if you haven't already, to visit the web site and "light a candle" in prayer. See all the other people, from all over the world, who have done the same.
When we speak faith we place ourselves under accountability. A year ago I said I was committed to diet and exercise. Do you know what has happened? All of you are asking me if I am still doing it. As a matter of fact, I come Wednesday nights to the food court here at Ginghamsburg. I cannot believe the dessert bar! It rivals anything that I have seen in any restaurant. They have the thickest apple pie that I have ever seen in my entire life. Every week I walk by the dessert bar, but that is all I do. I walk around your tables. A lot of you have these incredible desserts and I say, "Oh, you got the dessert." They reply, "Oh yeah, too bad you can't have any!" Do you know what happens when you speak faith? You place yourself under accountability. I want to say something about membership and why it is so important to not just come and sit. When you come and sit, you might believe in your heart. But when you stand up and make a declaration of commitment, it takes on a life of its own. It becomes contagious to everyone around you.
Here is a step before membership. When you make a commitment to Jesus Christ, the Bible says we are to do more than just believe in our hearts. We are to make a public declaration. We are to speak that commitment. If all we ever do is just sit in our own comfort and no one ever really knows that we have made that commitment, it is only an idea. But the moment we speak it, it takes on a life outside of us. We place ourselves under accountability. If you have not yet publicly accepted Jesus Christ, if you want to ask Jesus into your life, I am going to give you an opportunity to speak that faith and make a public declaration. Some of you have not been baptized. You are going to make that public declaration of your commitment to Jesus Christ by coming up here and being baptized.

III. Act Faith
We are supposed to picture faith, speak faith, act faith. God is asking all of us the same question he asked Elijah. What are you doing here? By your very presence, you are realizing your need to be connected in a closer way to God. You are realizing your responsibility. Look at what God says in verse 15 to Elijah. "It is time to go back the way you came and do what I have told you to do." Faith does not become faith until you do what you already know you need to do. There are two kinds of people in the world. The kind of people who come up with reasons why not - not enough time, not enough money, too busy, my spouse just doesn't understand. Then there is a second kind of person - the people who act on the picture of what can be. It all comes down to the ultimate life question that Jesus asked his disciples. "Who do you say I am?" That is the ultimate question in life, the most important question anyone ever asks. My answer to this question will determine every other decision in my life. Here is who I say you are. You are the Christ, the Messiah, the Savior of the World. You are the Risen Lord, the absolute authority of the universe. When I make that declaration, like Peter who stepped out of the boat in the storm at the call of Jesus, I don't have to stay stuck. I can step out into eternity knowing that the Lord Jesus Christ, who calls me, will be faithful. The reality of my life is based in faith by the promise of God, by the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ, and not fear.
As long as we sit and believe, but never publicly declare, then our faith is no more than an idea. But when we speak that faith and we declare that commitment, it takes on a life of its own. It becomes reality. Those of you who have never made the public declaration that you have committed your life to Jesus Christ as your Savior, the one you depend on for your life journey, your Lord and absolute authority, I am inviting you to stand to make that declaration of faith. If you have made a commitment to Jesus Christ, but have not been baptized, I am inviting you to come and we will have a time of baptism.
Pray this, and let my word be your words: Lord God, I choose to live by faith, and not fear. I choose to form my life picture around your invisible presence and promise. I don't have to remain where I am. I don't have to stay stuck. I take authority in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ to act on God's picture of my promised future. It is in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.