Series:  He is Enough for You

Message 1:  He is Enough to Find You

Text:  I Kings 17: 1-6

Intro:  Elijah was just like we were before God came to where we were and

found us.  Elijah was a nobody, living in a nowhere land, and existing in a

a no future environment.  That is exactly the story of each of our lives before

we were gloriously found, graciously favored, and gracefully forevered by the

"I Am" of glory.  Elijah was living in a pagan world, which strikingly resembles

our present day.  His culture was deeply entrenched in pagan worship of

Baal, which was the fertility god.  Sensual, sexual orgies were common

place in his society and God hated it to the core.  Right in the middle of this

godless and hell bound atmosphere, the "I Am" found Elijah and called

him out for a special divine mission.  God never calls a man out of one place

without directions to go to another place.  For Elijah, it was the brook of

Cherith; for Noah, it was the Ark; for Daniel, it was the lions den; for the

three Hebrew boys, it was the fiery furnace; for Ruth, it was Boaz' field;

for David, it was Goliath; for Paul, it was a prison cell; for John, it was the

Isle of Patmos; and for Jesus Christ, it was a hill called Calvary.  There is

a "there" for every called out, born again, blood washed child of God.

Are you there?  "There" is where God has placed you.  God is enough

to find you in the "there" of lostness, and God is enough to form you in

the "there" of His will.

I.  HE IS ENOUGH TO FULFILL HIS PROMISES 

    A)  He is Enough to use "Nothing" to fulfill His Promise

         Elijah was a nobody.  Notice that there is no record of him prior

to verse 1.  He simply appears out of nowhere and is standing right in

the midst of Ahab the King.  He had nothing to offer God.  He had no

qualifications.  He had not graduated from an elite Bible college.  He

didn't have the money, means or a map to get where God told him to

go.  He could not get "there" without the fulfilled promise of God.  Only

God can take nothing and make something out of it.  But before Elijah

could ever be a mighty instrument in the hands of God, he had to trust

the promise that God would take care of him "there".  The Brook Cherith

was the only place in Elijah's life where he was going to see God's

promise fulfilled.  "There" is the place of dependence upon God.  When

God puts you "there", He  will take care of you "there".   God first

prepares the place, then He picks and prepares the person,.  Before

God went and found Elijah, God had already prepared him a chair

beside the creek.

    B)  He is Enough to use "Nature" to fulfill His Promise

         1.  He is God in Command of the Rain

              God's first command to Elijah was to produce fear in him as

to what Ahab could do to him.  This fear of his surroundings produced

faith in the Sovereign.  Stopping the rain was aimed at two objects.

First, it would show Ahab the ungodly just who God was.  Secondly,

it would show Elijah the godly man, just who God was.  Sometimes

God has to stop the rain in our lives in order that we will recognize who

He is, and that if He has command over the rain, He also has command

over the righteous.

         2.  He is God in Command of the River (vs 3- 4a)

            a)  There was grace in that creek ("hide thyself by the brook")

                 Elijah had just become the friend of God, but at the same

time, he had become the enemy of Ahab. Only by God's grace was he

given a place of safety in the middle of the storm

            b)  There was goodness in that creek("thou shalt drink of

                 the brook")

                 Not only was God providing Elijah with a place of retreat, but

He as also providing him with a place of refreshment.  Our God has the

ability to be a multi-tasking God.

            c)  There was God in that creek

                 Later we will see God in the barrel, and God in the boy, but

now God is in the Brook.  Little is much when God is in it

         3.  He is God in Command of the Ravens

              ("I have commanded the ravens to feed thee there")

              Ravens are carniverous birds, which means they feed on flesh

and preferably dead flesh.  But our God is in command of the ravens, so

we can assume that for the purpose and period of Elijah's feeding, God

changed the nature and thinking of the ravens.  There are four great

priniciples taking place in this mighty act of God:

             a)  God established the scene for the feeding ("there")

                  If God's command had not included the word "there", then

Elijah would not have had to take a step in order to claim God's promise.

             b)  God established the supplier for the feeding ("ravens")

                  We can shout over this because this assures that when our

need comes, God has already prepared the supplier of that need.  The

ravens were ready, before Elijah was ready.

             c)  God established the supply for the feeding ("feed you there")

                  Notice it was bread, meat and water.  This is near to being

a full course meal, right in the middle of the desert.  God's blessings are

always full.

             d)  God established the sacrifice for the feeding

                  That meat had to come from an animal.  That animal had to

sacrifice it's life so that Elijah could be fed.  Is this not a glorious picture

of how Christ became our sacrifice, so that we could one day sit

around God's table..

II.  GOD IS ENOUGH TO FUNCTION IN PROVIDENCE

     A)  You can set your course by God's Providence (vs 5)

           What a wonderful picture of God's providence in the life of Elijah.

But before Elijah could see God's performance according to His providence,

he had to go to his designated place.  "So he went" and did according

to the Word of God.  In order to see God's providence in our lives, we

must go to the place and do something after we get there.,  The lack

of this principle is the very reason our churches are powerless.  People

and preachers alike refuse to get in their place, and if by some miracle

they do get in their place, they refuse to do anything while there.  God

always has a course established, before He calls.

     B)  You can set you clock by God's Performance (vs 6)

          Now we get down to the nitty gritty of God's will for Elijah. 

Elijah had trusted God's promise and went, he had also trusted God's

providence and went to the place, now because of Elijah's obedience,

he was going to taste of God's provision.  Verse 6 says that Elijah was

fed morning and evening.  Most of us, when we are waiting for God to

supply our need would say, "it's eight o'clock, where is God?"  But

I believe Elijah said, "There's God, it must be eight o'clock".  God's

time is always right, and God is always right on time.

     C)  You can set your Countenance on God's Person

It was not the promise, the place, or the provision that God wanted

Elijah to recognize, it was God's person.  We tend to magnify His

blessings, but we fail miserably on magnifying His person. We are

regular recepients of His blessings, but is He as regular recipient

of our praise.