Jason Hensley – Class 3: The Ravens

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This is day three of the 2022.
Idyllwild.

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Bible School.
Our first period teacher is

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brother.
Jason Hensley, as general

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subject is Elijah.
A man of like passions.

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Today’s topic is the Ravens.
Thank you, Brian.

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Good morning, everyone.
Okay, so I was asked to talk a

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little bit slower, so I’m going
to try But if I see any of you

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asleep, I’m gonna talk fast
again.

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All right, so that or I might
come, you know, sit next to you

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so.
So we’ll see how it goes.

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Okay, we are going to be talking
about the Ravens today so that’s

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just kind of recap what we have
gone over so far.

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We have seen Elijah learning
this lesson that God is in

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control.
Or at least maybe we haven’t

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seen him learning it yet, but
we’ve seen him needing to learn

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this lesson.
So we have him needing to learn

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the lesson.
And we are now going to see the

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beginnings of God teaching that
to him as he goes, and he spends

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time with the Ravens.
So here we are in class 3. and,

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Here are lessons.
We have seen the God is in

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control.
We have seen that God hears

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prayers, we have seen, or we
will see today that God gives

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lessons that push us beyond our
comfort zones.

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And I think that’s a fairly we
understand that, we know that

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that’s how God works.
We can’t really learn anything.

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Unless we are pushed beyond our
comfort zones, but I think it’s

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still something that we need to
be reminded of consistently

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because we find ourselves
asking.

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Why is this happening?
Why does it have to be like

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this?
And the answer is It’s not

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always the answer, but a lot of
times the answer is because

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we’re growing, and this is how
we grow.

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We have to feel uncomfortable,
we have to be put in situations

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that make us Go outside of our
norm and so that’s what we are

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going to see here with Elijah.
He is going to be put in a

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situation with the Ravens that
would have.

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Made him feel incredibly
uncomfortable.

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All right, the plan you’ll
notice we have three sections.

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We will be talking about Elijah
at the brook.

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Then his journey to the Widow,
but we’re not going to talk

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about the Widow yet so you have
to wait until tomorrow.

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So we’ll be at the brook, his
journey to the Widow and then

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we’re going to compare the brook
with the time with the Widow.

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We’re going to see that in fact,
God was doing the same thing

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both times, teaching him the
same lesson.

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That’s the idea God gives
lessons that push us beyond our

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comfort zones.
And the big question is, why

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Ravens Why is that a significant
thing to know and couldn’t

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couldn’t scripture have just
said Birds, right?

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Why does that make a difference?
Why is it?

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Why is it important that it was
Ravens and not parakeets, right?

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I mean, aside from, you know,
would have been cuter if it was

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parakeets.
But but you know what, why is it

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make a difference, right?
But scripture gives us the

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details and so we’re supposed to
wear supposed to know that was a

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rhetorical question, Peter.
We can talk after All right, so

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at the, at the brook, you’ll
notice that God tells him twice

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that it was going to be Ravens
that fed him.

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So there’s a significance here,
Ravens Ravens.

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So again, Elijah is always
commanded by God to do

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essentially everything in his
life.

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And in this command, God gives a
few particular details,

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specifically here that it’s
going to be Ravens.

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So the question is why?
Well I think first of all Ravens

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would have presented a problem.
The reason being the so you want

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to say Peter, There you go.
That’s right.

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Ravens.
Are unclean Birds?

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Yes.
So Ravens are unclean and this

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would be an issue.
So you see you have it up here.

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Leviticus 11, 13 to 15.
You shall detest every Raven of

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any kind.
Now, I think that this is

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helpful because we don’t we
don’t live under the laws of

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clean and unclean.
At least I assume none of you

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keep kosher, maybe you do, but I
don’t think so.

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So this, these are laws that we
often don’t think about so, in

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order to really get The strength
of what God is saying here.

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I want us to pay attention to
this word, detest.

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You shall detest every Raven of
any kind.

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The reason that we want to look
at that is because the same word

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shows up later in Leviticus
chapter 20 and now notice what

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God says, if you don’t detest
these things that I’ve told you

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to test look at what would
happen.

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You shall not make yourselves
detestable by Beast or by bird

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or buy anything with which the
ground crawls, which I have set

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apart for you to hold unclean.
Do you see what God is saying?

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He says these animals are
detestable and if you don’t

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detest them then, guess what
happens to you?

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You become detestable, right?
It’s like the detestable nurse

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of.
I was going to say, d

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testability.
But anyway, the detestable nurse

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of these animals like transfers
to you.

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Almost if you don’t, if you
don’t recognize that God says,

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don’t be with these animals.
Don’t be with these birds.

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Now, just to give you a sense of
what’s meant by detest.

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Right, it wasn’t just a oh, I
don’t like that bird, you know?

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It’s not good.
It’s unclean.

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I don’t like it.
Here’s your word.

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It shh cots and Hebrew.
This is the strongest number

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82-62 only shows up seven times
but it’s a very charged word so

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it’s not just a I don’t kind of
like it very much.

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Look at how God uses the word
here in Deuteronomy 7 verse 20.

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Six.
He’s talking about Idols here

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and he says, you will utterly
detest and abhor it for?

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It is devoted to destruction.
This is how are they were

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supposed to feel about these
unclean animals that when you

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see the unclean animal coming,
you say whoa I’m not getting

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near that, right?
I’m not gonna touch it.

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I’m not gonna go anywhere close
where it might accidentally

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touch me.
Something along those lines.

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They were to detest, hate it up,
whore it right and and you can

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see what the description of the
idols here.

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God says, burn them up, right?
Totally get rid of them.

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This is a serious word.
Now.

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Do you, are you beginning to
sense, here?

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The sudden moral dilemma that
Elijah would be feeling.

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So here he is the word of God
comes to him.

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And says, how are you go to the
brook cherith?

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Right.
No issue there.

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You’re going to have water
during the drought and by the

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way, Ravens will feed you.
Elijah, I’ve told Ravens to give

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you food, Here’s Elijah.
Just thinking Aren’t those the

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birds I’m supposed to detest?
I’m supposed to abhor these

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things.
How, how do I get the food

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right?
Are they going to drop it off

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over there?
And, you know, I just hang out

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over here until the bird flies
away and then I go get the food.

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Like how’s this totally supposed
to work so you can see that.

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Now, what’s fascinating about
this, in addition is I want us

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to think about the details.
That Elijah wasn’t told.

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There’s a lot of things that God
doesn’t say.

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He doesn’t say where he’s going
to sleep, you know, if I Was

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Elijah you kind of care about
that, right?

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Was there going to be an ice
cave or something?

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Where he could spend the night?
What was he supposed to do?

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If a wild animal came because
he’s just living in the

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Wilderness.
At a brook during a drought, he

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would assume he probably had a
number of run-ins with

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creatures.
He probably did not want to have

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run-ins with what was he
supposed to do.

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God doesn’t say anything about
that stuff, but he tells him

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twice Ravens Ravens Elijah.
The problem actually gets worse,

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though.
Let me ask you this question.

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Anybody know.
I got rid of my transitions

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here.
So now you know all the secret

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questions I’m going to ask you
if anybody know what ravens eat,

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don’t look at the screen.
Ravens, eat dead stuff right now

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you get one quick guess where
you allowed to eat dead stuff

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under the law of Moses know,
right?

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That was a No-No because dead
stuff was unclean.

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So consider this God says,
Ravens are going to give you

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food, right?
And the way that, you know that

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things are unclean within
Judaism.

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It’s a very quick quick way to
know if an animal is kosher or

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not.
And that is, if that animal is

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considered, A scavenger
scavengers are not clean.

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So I’ll Raven is a scavenger
therefore imagine this.

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God says to Elijah an unclean
bird is going to give you your

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food.
Can you imagine Elijah’s next

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question?
Well what kind of food is that

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going to be right?
Because probably you know it’s

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going to be bringing today’s
roadkill, you know?

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And when Ahab was driving around
or whatever and he runs into

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something they nuns at the Raven
flies down and brings it to

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Elijah.
And here’s this dead thing and

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and here’s Elijah, just trying
to figure out.

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Well, I wonder where this came
from.

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Is this clean or not?
I probably can’t eat this.

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So it’s a fascinating sort of
thing that God essentially is

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giving him like extra
uncleanness and he didn’t have a

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choice.
Now just to bring this home even

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more for Elijah in Hebrew.
There’s two words that just

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generically mean food.
So this typically this is sort

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of a funny translation kind of
thing.

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Anybody know how these words
would be translated typically in

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the King James They typically
translated as meat but they

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don’t mean meat.
They mean food.

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Oftentimes, they actually mean
not meet.

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So like grain.
This is your word.

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Oh, hell and Mahal.
So, those typically mean food.

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Now, what’s fascinating about?
This is when God commands

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Elijah, he doesn’t use the
generic food words. and I think

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that’s, because It could have
given Elijah the wrong

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impression.
Oh, you know, this is just kind

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of an accident that the law is
going to be broken.

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But instead God specifically
uses the word basar which in

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Hebrew means flesh.
So when God tells Elijah, the

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Ravens are going to bring you
bread and they’re going to bring

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you flesh.
But this is what we’re

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specifically told that he was
given bread and flesh.

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So when we read this, we have to
recognize.

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It’s not just that he got food
from Ravens but he was

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specifically being brought dead
stuff to eat.

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I don’t know if that like blows
your mind, I hope it does.

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Because essentially what God is
showing us is that he put Elijah

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in a situation where it was
unavoidable to break the law.

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Unless, you know, and this is
what we do as humans, right?

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We get put in certain situations
and we can see, you know, well,

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there’s a commandment, I don’t
think it’s gonna validate our, I

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don’t think it’s gonna break the
principal to break that command,

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but I don’t feel comfortable
breaking it.

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Anyway.
I’ve and, you know, we have

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these choices and we’re not sure
what to do.

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And so sometimes we almost
double down on the letter of the

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law.
So, maybe that’s what Elijah

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did, you know?
You can almost picture him

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saying, oh, put that in the pile
of dead stuff, you know, and

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there’s just this pile, it’s
growing every day because Elijah

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won’t eat it right here.
It’s almost like he says, no,

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that’s breaking the law.
I’m not gonna do it.

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I don’t know, you know, maybe he
doubled down on his his feelings

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of, I can’t break the law, maybe
we don’t know.

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But I think this is how we act
sometimes. whatever it was, God

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was specifically putting him in
a situation where it He almost

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had to break the law. now, the
reason I want to talk about

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this, is because I don’t think
we often realize how often this

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is the case that God does this,
This is one of my absolute

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favorite things to look at in
scripture.

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I’m gonna I’m gonna just ignore
my slides for a little bit now

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00:14:21,100 –> 00:14:23,000
because I want to talk to you
about this because it’s so

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00:14:23,000 –> 00:14:28,500
exciting.
So, God, consistently throughout

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00:14:28,500 –> 00:14:32,300
the Old Testament forces.
His people to break the law.

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00:14:33,600 –> 00:14:37,300
And I think that’s fascinating.
Now, let’s just back up a little

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bit to see it, right?
The first commandment in the law

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of Moses, anybody know what it
was?

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00:14:43,500 –> 00:14:51,400
First come in the law of Moses.
it was the commands of Passover.

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00:14:52,300 –> 00:14:54,300
It’s Passover first
Commandments, right, because

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00:14:54,600 –> 00:14:56,800
there they haven’t gotten the
law yet there.

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00:14:56,800 –> 00:14:59,600
They’re about to leave Egypt,
its Exodus chapter 12.

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So, first Commandments, the law
of Moses, Exodus chapter 12.

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So you can, you can verify this
if you want.

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00:15:06,300 –> 00:15:10,000
Exodus 11.
Let’s backup one chapter We are

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at the final plague, right?
So we’re at the final plague.

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00:15:14,100 –> 00:15:17,400
Exodus chapter 11, Moses goes in
front of pharaoh and here’s what

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00:15:17,400 –> 00:15:24,200
he says tonight at midnight The
firstborn in the land will die,

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00:15:24,600 –> 00:15:26,800
okay?
Tonight at midnight firstborn in

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00:15:26,800 –> 00:15:30,300
the land will die.
Therefore we’re going to have to

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00:15:30,600 –> 00:15:33,200
to figure this out here.
See if we can do it.

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00:15:33,800 –> 00:15:39,700
Anybody want to guess what day
of the first month it was What

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00:15:39,700 –> 00:15:44,300
day of the first month?
It’s going to be the 14th 14th

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00:15:44,300 –> 00:15:46,000
day of the first month.
Because that was Passover,

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00:15:46,100 –> 00:15:48,700
right?
All the firstborn died, 14th day

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00:15:48,700 –> 00:15:50,800
of the first month, okay?
Now you might be wondering, you

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00:15:50,808 –> 00:15:53,800
know, why is this significant?
Okay, well, let’s now jump

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00:15:53,800 –> 00:15:57,700
forward to chapter 12.
Get this chapter 12.

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00:15:57,700 –> 00:15:59,900
God, comes to Moses.
What day is it?

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00:16:01,200 –> 00:16:05,500
14th, the first month, right?
God comes to Moses chapter 12.

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00:16:05,600 –> 00:16:09,300
Moses has already said today,
all the firstborn in the land

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00:16:09,300 –> 00:16:11,300
will die at midnight.
Okay.

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00:16:12,100 –> 00:16:16,800
God says to Moses, you can check
it. first few verses of Exodus

250
00:16:16,800 –> 00:16:24,500
12, he says I want you to tell
the whole congregation to take a

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00:16:24,500 –> 00:16:29,800
lamb one lamb for each household
and I want you to do it on the

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00:16:29,900 –> 00:16:37,200
what day of the month. 10th.
now, your Moses What do you

253
00:16:37,208 –> 00:16:43,900
think you do if you hear this?
You think well God that was four

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00:16:43,900 –> 00:16:47,700
days ago.
How’s that supposed to work?

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00:16:48,800 –> 00:16:52,600
And you know what’s fascinating
is if you keep reading the

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00:16:52,600 –> 00:16:57,800
chapter, you’ll notice Moses
doesn’t say that to the

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00:16:57,800 –> 00:17:02,300
Israelites he doesn’t tell them
go choose a lamb, hold on to it

258
00:17:02,300 –> 00:17:05,500
for four days and on the 14th
day will kill the lamb.

259
00:17:05,500 –> 00:17:09,599
He doesn’t tell them that
instead he says take a lamb and

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00:17:09,599 –> 00:17:13,700
then kill it.
Because Moses realized it was

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00:17:13,700 –> 00:17:17,900
impossible to follow the law.
He couldn’t supposed to have

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00:17:17,900 –> 00:17:21,000
been followed for days ago.
But it wasn’t possible.

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00:17:21,099 –> 00:17:24,900
The first command in the law of
Moses that God ever gives was

264
00:17:24,900 –> 00:17:27,599
impossible to keep is that
fascinating?

265
00:17:28,000 –> 00:17:30,800
This is just what God
continually does and you can

266
00:17:30,800 –> 00:17:36,200
just picture Moses thinking.
Well, I don’t know what to do

267
00:17:36,200 –> 00:17:40,100
with this, right?
And and this is how God is

268
00:17:40,100 –> 00:17:44,300
consistently working with law.
He puts his people into

269
00:17:44,300 –> 00:17:51,600
situations where they cannot
keep the law, because He wants

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00:17:51,600 –> 00:17:54,300
them to realize it’s about
principle.

271
00:17:55,500 –> 00:18:00,500
Not about law.
The law was the Schoolmaster to

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00:18:00,500 –> 00:18:03,400
lead them to Christ.
It’s about principle not about

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00:18:03,400 –> 00:18:05,600
loss of the very first
commandment impossible, to keep.

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00:18:06,300 –> 00:18:08,800
Now, there’s more, there’s more
of these, I’ll tell you my

275
00:18:08,800 –> 00:18:13,300
favorite one, okay?
So you remember the story when

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00:18:15,000 –> 00:18:19,200
The ark was taken from the
Israelites, right?

277
00:18:19,300 –> 00:18:22,700
9:30, Phineas take the ark.
They go into battle, they’re

278
00:18:22,700 –> 00:18:24,500
killed.
The arc, gets stolen by the

279
00:18:24,500 –> 00:18:28,000
Philistines right.
There you go, through this whole

280
00:18:28,000 –> 00:18:29,400
funny story.
We’re not going to talk about it

281
00:18:29,400 –> 00:18:32,400
a lot, but I’ll man, it’s like
one of the best stories, right?

282
00:18:32,400 –> 00:18:35,300
It’s first, Samuel chapter 4 and
5.

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00:18:36,000 –> 00:18:37,500
They are gets taken by the
Philistines.

284
00:18:37,500 –> 00:18:39,200
They put it in the house of
Dagon.

285
00:18:39,600 –> 00:18:41,000
You remember.
What happens to Dagon?

286
00:18:41,700 –> 00:18:44,300
Yeah, he falls over his hands.
Chopped off his head.

287
00:18:44,300 –> 00:18:46,900
Chopped It off right?
And the Philistines huh?

288
00:18:47,000 –> 00:18:48,600
Oh do you know they put him back
up.

289
00:18:48,700 –> 00:18:52,400
They stick everything back on
the next day, the next day they

290
00:18:52,400 –> 00:18:55,200
come Dagon is falling over in
front of the arc again.

291
00:18:55,800 –> 00:18:59,500
So anyway, this all goes on
right.

292
00:19:00,200 –> 00:19:03,100
The arc gets brought back
eventually to Israel.

293
00:19:04,000 –> 00:19:05,400
The Arc is eventually brought
back.

294
00:19:06,500 –> 00:19:12,900
And it gets put in to cure Jess
jairam Carriage after him and it

295
00:19:12,900 –> 00:19:17,700
stays in a man’s house for over
40 years.

296
00:19:19,300 –> 00:19:23,400
We know that because we’re
specifically told First

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00:19:23,400 –> 00:19:28,800
Chronicles 13.
The Arc sat there during the

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00:19:28,800 –> 00:19:33,100
entire reign of Saul.
Nobody did anything with it.

299
00:19:33,700 –> 00:19:37,000
It’s all rains for 40 years
arc’s, it’s there now.

300
00:19:38,300 –> 00:19:42,000
You might just be thinking, okay
no big deal, the ark was just in

301
00:19:42,000 –> 00:19:43,900
cured yet you’re in 40 years
whatever.

302
00:19:44,500 –> 00:19:49,500
Well it was a big deal because
Every year.

303
00:19:51,100 –> 00:19:55,600
The high priest.
Goes into the holy place.

304
00:19:56,500 –> 00:19:58,600
He takes his sensor with him,
right.

305
00:19:59,500 –> 00:20:05,600
He lights incense.
The incense fills the room and

306
00:20:05,600 –> 00:20:11,000
it fills up the most holy place.
High priest, then opens the veil

307
00:20:11,300 –> 00:20:13,800
to go into the most holy place
and what does he see?

308
00:20:15,800 –> 00:20:18,800
Nothing.
Nothing’s there.

309
00:20:19,600 –> 00:20:25,100
Now that was the absolute most
important day on the Hebrew

310
00:20:25,100 –> 00:20:27,600
calendar, it was the day of
atonement.

311
00:20:28,400 –> 00:20:34,600
And the whole point of the day
of atonement was to what Forgive

312
00:20:34,600 –> 00:20:36,900
the people.
They were supposed to get

313
00:20:36,900 –> 00:20:38,700
forgiven on the day of
atonement.

314
00:20:39,200 –> 00:20:42,300
So, can you imagine?
Here’s the high priest walking

315
00:20:42,800 –> 00:20:46,300
to where the ark supposed to be
and he’s supposed to pray in

316
00:20:46,300 –> 00:20:48,600
front of the Ark.
He opens up the veil, there’s no

317
00:20:48,600 –> 00:20:49,700
Arc.
What do you feel?

318
00:20:49,700 –> 00:20:51,900
Like if you’re the high priest
you feel like?

319
00:20:51,900 –> 00:20:56,200
Well this was kind of a waste of
time and then you think well

320
00:20:56,800 –> 00:21:01,300
here’s another here where we’re
not forgiving that’s awesome,

321
00:21:01,500 –> 00:21:03,800
you know, right, like like what
am I supposed to?

322
00:21:03,900 –> 00:21:06,900
Do you close up the veil and you
walk away?

323
00:21:07,400 –> 00:21:13,500
And this was 40 years.
Where the Israelites could not

324
00:21:13,500 –> 00:21:18,300
be forgiven through their law.
And so you get David coming

325
00:21:18,300 –> 00:21:24,100
along and realizing it’s not
about law.

326
00:21:24,100 –> 00:21:27,300
That God is constantly saying,
that’s not what I’m doing.

327
00:21:27,300 –> 00:21:30,700
I’m trying to teach you
principal. do you remember in

328
00:21:30,700 –> 00:21:35,500
the David Psalm that he writes
after his sin with Bathsheba,

329
00:21:36,300 –> 00:21:39,200
Psalm 51, right?
Right.

330
00:21:39,200 –> 00:21:45,400
At the end he says You do not
desire sacrifices.

331
00:21:46,000 –> 00:21:50,800
You remember that or else?
I would give them, he says You

332
00:21:50,800 –> 00:21:54,400
don’t want sacrifices or else I
would, give them instead, the

333
00:21:54,400 –> 00:21:59,400
sacrifices of God, are a broken
and contrite heart.

334
00:21:59,800 –> 00:22:04,100
Now, we like to quote the verses
to say wasn’t about the

335
00:22:04,100 –> 00:22:08,600
offerings, I think that’s good.
But let’s think about the

336
00:22:08,600 –> 00:22:12,400
context just a little bit.
Here’s David.

337
00:22:14,100 –> 00:22:16,500
We’re for a big chunk of his
life.

338
00:22:17,100 –> 00:22:21,600
There was no Arc, there was no
forgiveness and he’s thinking

339
00:22:21,600 –> 00:22:29,000
thinking thinking about all of
this and then God Helps him to

340
00:22:29,000 –> 00:22:33,000
realize.
That he has just committed

341
00:22:33,800 –> 00:22:38,300
adultery and murder now under
the law.

342
00:22:39,600 –> 00:22:43,000
What?
How do you get forgiven for

343
00:22:43,000 –> 00:22:47,500
adultery and murder?
You don’t write, you just died

344
00:22:48,300 –> 00:22:50,300
that.
I mean, that was the situation.

345
00:22:50,600 –> 00:22:53,500
You, you just get stoned the
end, you know, your maybe you

346
00:22:53,500 –> 00:22:56,400
get stone twice because that’s
you know, adultery and murder.

347
00:22:56,600 –> 00:23:01,000
So it was bad, right?
And so David realizes, I can’t

348
00:23:01,000 –> 00:23:03,900
give you anything.
There’s no sacrifice I can

349
00:23:03,900 –> 00:23:05,300
offer.
So it’s not just that he’s

350
00:23:05,300 –> 00:23:09,000
saying God didn’t want
sacrifices, David is realizing

351
00:23:09,100 –> 00:23:12,900
for me.
Personally, I am dead according

352
00:23:12,900 –> 00:23:16,300
to the law.
There is nothing that I can do.

353
00:23:18,100 –> 00:23:21,200
And this is what God is
constantly doing.

354
00:23:21,300 –> 00:23:24,900
And we are going to see this
very powerfully in the life of

355
00:23:24,900 –> 00:23:28,500
Elijah that God says Elijah.
You want food?

356
00:23:29,600 –> 00:23:32,900
You’re gonna have to eat it from
an unclean bird.

357
00:23:32,900 –> 00:23:36,600
And, you know what?
That food is actually probably

358
00:23:36,600 –> 00:23:39,700
unclean too.
What are you gonna do about

359
00:23:39,700 –> 00:23:44,500
that?
This is Elijah being pushed

360
00:23:44,900 –> 00:23:48,700
Beyond his comfort zone.
Okay.

361
00:23:50,600 –> 00:23:55,000
Food from an unclean animal and
food that was dead on its own

362
00:23:55,100 –> 00:23:58,700
Deuteronomy. 14 21.
You shall not eat anything that

363
00:23:58,700 –> 00:24:03,300
has died naturally.
If you want those two references

364
00:24:03,300 –> 00:24:07,100
as well, by the way, Ezekiel 414
and acts 1014.

365
00:24:08,000 –> 00:24:11,700
Those are two places in which
faithful people Ezekiel and

366
00:24:11,700 –> 00:24:16,300
Peter are both saying, I have
never eaten anything in my life.

367
00:24:16,300 –> 00:24:21,200
That is unclean, right?
So you can see now, That was

368
00:24:21,200 –> 00:24:29,100
what was typical.
Okay, so this is what God is

369
00:24:29,100 –> 00:24:34,200
doing for Elijah.
I think he’s reminding Elijah,

370
00:24:34,200 –> 00:24:37,800
you know, this is the, this is
the constant message that God is

371
00:24:37,800 –> 00:24:40,400
in control.
And I think what’s incredibly

372
00:24:40,400 –> 00:24:44,800
powerful about this is and I
don’t, I don’t mean this to be

373
00:24:44,800 –> 00:24:48,300
belittling in any kind of way.
But I think that this is

374
00:24:48,300 –> 00:24:50,300
actually a helpful thing for us
to recognize.

375
00:24:51,200 –> 00:24:55,200
Do you notice Where God puts
Elijah.

376
00:24:57,100 –> 00:25:04,400
He puts them in a place that is
miles away from any other human.

377
00:25:06,600 –> 00:25:10,300
So Elijah has just said, you
know, essentially don’t worry,

378
00:25:10,300 –> 00:25:13,300
God, I got this.
I’m going to call down a

379
00:25:13,308 –> 00:25:15,600
drought.
I’ll convert the people.

380
00:25:16,000 –> 00:25:19,600
I’ll take care of your plan.
I got it all and God says, okay

381
00:25:19,600 –> 00:25:21,500
Elijah.
I actually have a plan.

382
00:25:21,600 –> 00:25:24,300
You go and you live out by
yourself for years.

383
00:25:26,200 –> 00:25:28,700
Can you imagine how that would
feel right?

384
00:25:28,700 –> 00:25:32,800
You you think you’re taking care
of this whole thing and God says

385
00:25:32,900 –> 00:25:38,200
okay yeah you go take care of it
by yourself and the only thing

386
00:25:38,200 –> 00:25:43,100
you can talk to our unclean
Birds and that’s good.

387
00:25:43,100 –> 00:25:45,800
Elijah has to do.
He just goes and he sits there.

388
00:25:47,600 –> 00:25:51,000
What’s he gonna do with the
Brooke for years and years and

389
00:25:51,000 –> 00:25:55,600
years?
God puts him in a place where he

390
00:25:55,600 –> 00:26:05,300
has to realize, oh, God’s plan.
Doesn’t depend on me.

391
00:26:06,900 –> 00:26:08,200
Now, have you ever felt that
way?

392
00:26:08,900 –> 00:26:13,900
Have you ever felt like Oh, man.
You know, I have this this set

393
00:26:13,900 –> 00:26:17,400
of decisions in front of me, and
if I don’t make the right

394
00:26:17,400 –> 00:26:24,900
decision, God isn’t going to be
able to fulfill his plan or if I

395
00:26:24,900 –> 00:26:28,000
don’t make the right decision,
you know somebody who needs help

396
00:26:28,500 –> 00:26:32,300
won’t get helped or that if I
don’t say the right thing, when

397
00:26:32,300 –> 00:26:35,600
I’m preaching to this person,
well, maybe they’re going to

398
00:26:35,608 –> 00:26:40,400
turn away or if I don’t reach
out to this person right now and

399
00:26:40,400 –> 00:26:42,700
this is the Elijah way of
thinking, right?

400
00:26:42,700 –> 00:26:45,000
I got a call down the drought
right now because if I don’t do

401
00:26:45,000 –> 00:26:46,500
it, now things are going to work
out.

402
00:26:46,500 –> 00:26:47,600
God’s whole plan will fall
apart.

403
00:26:48,000 –> 00:26:50,300
Sorry, I got excited and I Talk
a little fast.

404
00:26:51,800 –> 00:26:56,000
But this is a, this is what
we’re being told here that this

405
00:26:56,000 –> 00:26:58,000
is the way that Elijah was
thinking.

406
00:26:58,100 –> 00:27:03,400
And we so often think like this,
I remember before having to

407
00:27:03,400 –> 00:27:06,600
decisions in front of me and
feeling like I didn’t know which

408
00:27:06,600 –> 00:27:08,300
one was going to glorify God the
most.

409
00:27:08,500 –> 00:27:10,800
So I said, I’d pray and flip a
coin.

410
00:27:11,700 –> 00:27:16,700
Maybe you’ve done that before.
But I think what God actually

411
00:27:16,700 –> 00:27:20,800
wants us to realize is he can
actually work with both.

412
00:27:21,500 –> 00:27:25,400
It’s not a question of which
one’s better and if I don’t do

413
00:27:25,400 –> 00:27:27,600
the right, one things will fall
apart.

414
00:27:28,300 –> 00:27:34,800
It’s God saying actually you
have to realize you’re less

415
00:27:34,800 –> 00:27:36,500
important than you think you
are.

416
00:27:37,600 –> 00:27:40,100
And I can actually take care of
this without you.

417
00:27:41,600 –> 00:27:45,300
The key thing.
That should amaze us.

418
00:27:46,700 –> 00:27:50,400
Is that God actually wants to
use us.

419
00:27:52,800 –> 00:27:58,100
It’s not that he has to.
But that he wants to. and so,

420
00:27:58,100 –> 00:28:04,300
when we find ourselves thinking,
If I don’t do the right thing

421
00:28:04,300 –> 00:28:06,900
here, if I don’t make the exact
right choice, it’s not going to

422
00:28:06,900 –> 00:28:09,700
work.
I think we’ve forgotten.

423
00:28:11,000 –> 00:28:13,300
That.
Yes, we plant and we water.

424
00:28:14,900 –> 00:28:18,700
But God gives the increase.
And oh man I mean can you feel

425
00:28:18,700 –> 00:28:23,700
the sense of relief in that?
I think there’s a major relief

426
00:28:23,800 –> 00:28:28,800
acknowledging.
God has his plan, God knows what

427
00:28:28,800 –> 00:28:33,200
he’s doing.
And so sometimes I think God

428
00:28:33,200 –> 00:28:37,000
will take us and like Elijah
he’ll just put us in the desert

429
00:28:37,000 –> 00:28:39,400
and say, you know, you got to
you got to understand this.

430
00:28:40,600 –> 00:28:44,300
I’m going to work out my plan.
Do you want to be a part of it?

431
00:28:44,900 –> 00:28:52,200
Because I’d like you to be so,
God is teaching Elijah with the

432
00:28:52,200 –> 00:28:53,800
Ravens.
Not only are they an unclean

433
00:28:53,800 –> 00:28:56,700
bird but there’s one other
passage at the time.

434
00:28:56,800 –> 00:28:59,400
That existed that mentioned
Ravens.

435
00:29:00,500 –> 00:29:03,600
It’s in the Book of Job.
Consider what it says.

436
00:29:04,700 –> 00:29:10,700
Job 3841 says who provides for
the Raven its prey when its

437
00:29:10,700 –> 00:29:14,100
young ones cry to God for help
and wanders about for lack of

438
00:29:14,100 –> 00:29:18,000
food.
Where was that food coming from

439
00:29:18,000 –> 00:29:22,100
that the Ravens head.
And that’s what God is showing

440
00:29:22,900 –> 00:29:25,200
Elijah.
I’ve got this.

441
00:29:26,200 –> 00:29:29,400
I’m taking care of you.
There’s a trout that you caused,

442
00:29:30,600 –> 00:29:35,700
but you’ll have water, you’ll
have food because I take care of

443
00:29:35,700 –> 00:29:43,400
the Ravens.
So as Elijah Waits The Brooke

444
00:29:43,700 –> 00:29:46,000
gets smaller and smaller and you
can just imagine again.

445
00:29:46,200 –> 00:29:48,500
Here’s somebody who likes to be
doing things.

446
00:29:48,900 –> 00:29:50,900
He calls down a drought because
he feels like things should be

447
00:29:50,900 –> 00:29:54,200
done and he’s sitting in a place
where he can do nothing.

448
00:29:55,000 –> 00:29:56,700
So there he is.
We don’t know how long he was

449
00:29:56,700 –> 00:29:58,700
there.
Maybe a year.

450
00:29:59,200 –> 00:30:01,900
I mean the drought lasted for
three and a half, right.

451
00:30:02,200 –> 00:30:05,700
The only two things he does is
he’s at the brook and he goes to

452
00:30:05,700 –> 00:30:08,500
the Widow’s house.
So somehow you know, you got to

453
00:30:08,500 –> 00:30:11,600
divide those two up amongst the
three and a half years so you

454
00:30:11,608 –> 00:30:13,800
could have been here for years,
right?

455
00:30:13,800 –> 00:30:16,400
Sitting there by himself talking
to birds.

456
00:30:17,600 –> 00:30:26,100
Okay. then the very next thing
that happens is the word of God

457
00:30:26,100 –> 00:30:29,300
comes to him.
And he’s told this.

458
00:30:30,900 –> 00:30:35,700
Now, you wonder and we’re not
told you wonder how would it

459
00:30:35,700 –> 00:30:39,800
have affected Elijah to be fed
by those unclean Birds?

460
00:30:40,000 –> 00:30:42,900
Would you have softened a little
bit but you have realized, you

461
00:30:42,900 –> 00:30:44,900
know, it’s not necessarily about
law.

462
00:30:47,100 –> 00:30:48,800
Well, God’s Gonna push him a
little further.

463
00:30:49,700 –> 00:30:54,300
He says, I’ll rise go to
Zarephath and I love this part

464
00:30:54,900 –> 00:30:59,600
which belongs to sidon Just to
make sure, you know, in case

465
00:30:59,600 –> 00:31:04,900
Elijah didn’t know that part.
So God says go to Zarephath.

466
00:31:06,100 –> 00:31:09,500
Which belongs to sidon.
Now he could have said go to

467
00:31:09,508 –> 00:31:13,100
Zarephath, but he specifically
tells them, oh, by the way,

468
00:31:13,400 –> 00:31:17,600
zidan or Zarephath is in zeidan.
Now, why would that have

469
00:31:17,600 –> 00:31:20,600
mattered?
Why would anybody care that?

470
00:31:20,600 –> 00:31:26,400
Zarephath in sidon.
The Hostile place.

471
00:31:27,000 –> 00:31:30,100
And that was where Jezebel was
from.

472
00:31:31,100 –> 00:31:34,400
So Jezebel was the one who
brought in the worship of Baal,

473
00:31:35,100 –> 00:31:37,900
right?
So now God is saying, okay,

474
00:31:37,900 –> 00:31:39,800
you’ve been here at this Brook
for years.

475
00:31:41,000 –> 00:31:43,200
Now, I have a new thing for you
to do.

476
00:31:43,800 –> 00:31:48,800
I want you to go hang out with
Jezebel’s friends, right?

477
00:31:49,100 –> 00:31:54,700
And you can just imagine Elijah
being like Are you talking about

478
00:31:54,700 –> 00:31:57,500
the Zarephath?
That’s you know, in sidon and

479
00:31:57,500 –> 00:32:02,200
gods like yeah Zarephath which
is in sidon, that one right.

480
00:32:02,200 –> 00:32:04,400
Go go to that Zarephath.
I don’t want you to get

481
00:32:04,400 –> 00:32:07,300
confused, go to the bad one.
Elijah.

482
00:32:08,300 –> 00:32:12,900
So here’s Elijah just thinking
you know, really Is this

483
00:32:12,900 –> 00:32:14,200
seriously?
What I’m supposed to do?

484
00:32:17,200 –> 00:32:23,800
It’s a 60-mile journey from
cherith to sidon so he would

485
00:32:23,800 –> 00:32:26,100
have had a long time to think
about this and I think it’s

486
00:32:26,100 –> 00:32:29,000
helpful to just consider what he
would have seen.

487
00:32:29,700 –> 00:32:35,800
Now we know that the drought Was
happening.

488
00:32:35,900 –> 00:32:42,000
Not just in Israel but also in
sidon because the Widow said she

489
00:32:42,000 –> 00:32:48,000
had no food, so can you imagine
what it would have been like as

490
00:32:48,000 –> 00:32:51,000
Elijah had been sheltered from
all of this, right?

491
00:32:51,400 –> 00:32:56,000
He had been out of Brooke
talking to nobody, but birds I

492
00:32:56,000 –> 00:32:59,400
know I’m really into this like
talking to birds think he was

493
00:32:59,400 –> 00:33:01,900
out of Brooke talking to nobody,
but birds he gets up and he

494
00:33:01,900 –> 00:33:05,600
leaves and can you imagine what
the shock would be like?

495
00:33:07,200 –> 00:33:10,100
As he begins to walk through and
seas.

496
00:33:11,700 –> 00:33:15,400
The devastation.
That happened.

497
00:33:16,700 –> 00:33:23,900
Because of him.
Can you imagine that as he’s

498
00:33:23,900 –> 00:33:27,200
walking down?
And he sees I don’t an empty

499
00:33:27,200 –> 00:33:33,500
house Another Empty House.
Another one skeletons, right?

500
00:33:33,800 –> 00:33:35,500
I mean, this is this is what it
would look like.

501
00:33:35,500 –> 00:33:42,900
This is a famine and then he
gets to another country. and he

502
00:33:42,900 –> 00:33:46,000
sees the same thing there and
that would have been kind of a

503
00:33:46,000 –> 00:33:53,200
weird experience I think because
As he goes.

504
00:33:54,800 –> 00:34:00,000
To this woman.
It’s fascinating.

505
00:34:02,000 –> 00:34:06,600
To realize what God is doing.
Want to ask you a question here.

506
00:34:08,300 –> 00:34:10,400
Godliness is not measured by
converts.

507
00:34:10,699 –> 00:34:13,400
That wasn’t a question.
Godliness is not measured by

508
00:34:13,400 –> 00:34:14,699
convert.
So K, right?

509
00:34:14,699 –> 00:34:18,000
We know that it’s not measured
by how many baptisms you know,

510
00:34:18,000 –> 00:34:19,699
we bring about or anything like
that.

511
00:34:19,900 –> 00:34:23,900
It’s God’s the One season who is
in control But I do think it’s

512
00:34:23,900 –> 00:34:26,900
helpful to ask this question at
this point.

513
00:34:28,000 –> 00:34:33,800
Who threw out Elijah’s life.
Learned the gospel because of

514
00:34:33,800 –> 00:34:36,000
him.
Any thoughts?

515
00:34:37,100 –> 00:34:38,800
Who learned the gospel because
of Elijah.

516
00:34:40,900 –> 00:34:42,699
It’s a really fascinating
answer, I think.

517
00:34:45,199 –> 00:34:47,900
It was this woman.
And her son.

518
00:34:49,400 –> 00:34:53,900
And that’s it. there were
absolutely as far as we know,

519
00:34:54,500 –> 00:34:58,100
they were absolutely no
conversions in the entire

520
00:34:58,100 –> 00:35:07,600
lifetime of Elijah except for to
gentiles I actually find that

521
00:35:07,600 –> 00:35:11,300
kind of Awesome.
Because you can see this

522
00:35:11,300 –> 00:35:16,700
overriding theme.
Elijah’s Big Goal was I’m going

523
00:35:16,700 –> 00:35:21,100
to convert the king I’m going to
convert the entire nation and

524
00:35:21,100 –> 00:35:24,800
God says No, Elijah, I’ll do
that.

525
00:35:26,200 –> 00:35:30,600
Actually.
I’m going to use you to convert

526
00:35:30,600 –> 00:35:34,100
somebody, you never would have
talked to before.

527
00:35:35,200 –> 00:35:37,200
I’m going to put you in a
situation that makes you

528
00:35:37,200 –> 00:35:41,000
incredibly uncomfortable.
I’m going to use you there.

529
00:35:42,900 –> 00:35:46,900
Elijah was a big man with Big
Dreams, big goals.

530
00:35:47,400 –> 00:35:51,200
And God says, I want you to be
content to fill a little space.

531
00:35:53,400 –> 00:35:56,900
She takes him to Zarephath.
And he has to learn.

532
00:35:57,000 –> 00:36:01,200
God was working with the unclean
Birds just like God is working

533
00:36:01,500 –> 00:36:03,700
with these people.
Now.

534
00:36:05,000 –> 00:36:08,400
This is very interesting because
I don’t think Elijah would have

535
00:36:08,400 –> 00:36:13,600
had a schema for this again.
We just read the story and we

536
00:36:13,600 –> 00:36:16,200
think oh yeah, he was sent to
sidon and I probably would have

537
00:36:16,200 –> 00:36:20,700
bothered him but I don’t think
we think about what a moral

538
00:36:20,700 –> 00:36:22,700
dilemma.
The whole thing would have cost

539
00:36:23,600 –> 00:36:29,200
because what did the law say
about gentiles?

540
00:36:31,200 –> 00:36:35,100
What kind of interaction where
you as a Jew supposed to have

541
00:36:35,100 –> 00:36:36,800
with Gentiles?
There were a couple of choices

542
00:36:36,800 –> 00:36:39,400
here.
Stay separate.

543
00:36:39,400 –> 00:36:40,700
So that’s one choice.
Right?

544
00:36:41,000 –> 00:36:43,100
Stay separate.
Which a lot of times meant you

545
00:36:43,100 –> 00:36:45,900
go in, and you kill them.
Okay.

546
00:36:46,100 –> 00:36:48,200
So that was one option with
Gentiles Peter.

547
00:36:51,200 –> 00:36:52,500
So, you wouldn’t have a meal
with them.

548
00:36:52,500 –> 00:36:54,100
That’s for sure.
Yep.

549
00:36:54,700 –> 00:36:56,500
See what you do?
That and Elijah’s been told to

550
00:36:56,500 –> 00:36:58,100
go live in her house.
Right.

551
00:36:58,900 –> 00:37:03,500
Have a lot of meals.
Yeah, you wouldn’t marry them.

552
00:37:04,400 –> 00:37:08,900
What about if a gentile wanted
to know about God?

553
00:37:09,000 –> 00:37:14,000
What would you do?
You go through a whole

554
00:37:14,000 –> 00:37:18,100
conversion process and they
would become Jewish.

555
00:37:19,100 –> 00:37:21,100
Right Said, the law is pretty
clear about that.

556
00:37:22,700 –> 00:37:27,800
So, check it out.
Exodus, 12 verse 49 says, there

557
00:37:27,800 –> 00:37:31,300
shall be one law for the native
and for the stranger who

558
00:37:31,300 –> 00:37:34,100
sojourns among you.
In other words, those who are

559
00:37:34,100 –> 00:37:38,000
Gentiles, who want to know more
about God, they have to follow

560
00:37:38,000 –> 00:37:41,800
the law.
Leviticus 16 29 says, the same

561
00:37:41,800 –> 00:37:44,500
thing, it will be a statute.
This is about the day of

562
00:37:44,508 –> 00:37:46,900
atonement.
It shall be a statute to you

563
00:37:46,900 –> 00:37:50,200
forever in that seventh month,
on the tenth day of the month

564
00:37:50,200 –> 00:37:52,900
you shall afflict yourselves and
shall do no work.

565
00:37:53,000 –> 00:37:55,900
Either the native or the
stranger who sojourns among you

566
00:37:56,000 –> 00:37:59,800
so over and over and over.
God says if there is a gentile

567
00:38:00,100 –> 00:38:03,400
who wants to know about me
that’s fine.

568
00:38:04,900 –> 00:38:08,900
But they have to follow the law.
So these are the choices you

569
00:38:08,900 –> 00:38:11,700
stay separate from the Gentiles
which a lot of times met you go

570
00:38:11,700 –> 00:38:13,400
in and you completely obliterate
them.

571
00:38:14,100 –> 00:38:18,200
Or if there’s ones who want to
know about God you’re looking at

572
00:38:18,200 –> 00:38:22,300
a re have or Ruth, right?
A complete process

573
00:38:22,500 –> 00:38:26,100
proselytization.
Yeah, there you go.

574
00:38:26,200 –> 00:38:30,600
Conversion complete conversion.
So that was the idea.

575
00:38:32,400 –> 00:38:35,800
Now, let me ask you this.
What did the law say?

576
00:38:37,100 –> 00:38:40,700
About when you went to live with
gentiles?

577
00:38:42,800 –> 00:38:47,200
Nothing.
Now, you’re Elijah.

578
00:38:49,200 –> 00:38:50,400
The law is very important to
you.

579
00:38:50,500 –> 00:38:52,900
You’ve called down a drought
because that is what the law

580
00:38:52,900 –> 00:38:57,700
said should happen, right?
Here you are for the last year,

581
00:38:57,700 –> 00:39:00,700
two years, whatever it is,
you’ve been eating food from

582
00:39:00,700 –> 00:39:05,300
unclean, birds food, which
itself was probably unclean or I

583
00:39:05,308 –> 00:39:08,400
don’t know, maybe you haven’t
touched that, I don’t know.

584
00:39:10,700 –> 00:39:15,500
And now God says, okay now you
can’t avoid it.

585
00:39:16,900 –> 00:39:25,300
Go live with this Gentile woman.
And by the way, There’s no

586
00:39:25,300 –> 00:39:28,400
provision for that in the law.
There’s nothing.

587
00:39:28,400 –> 00:39:29,600
The law will tell you to do
there.

588
00:39:30,000 –> 00:39:34,100
So here’s this fascinating, if
Elijah decided, you know what I

589
00:39:34,100 –> 00:39:38,400
want to go and see.
Let’s see.

590
00:39:38,400 –> 00:39:42,200
What does Scripture what kind of
advice to scripture give about

591
00:39:42,200 –> 00:39:51,000
this consider the possible
examples So possible examples,

592
00:39:51,800 –> 00:39:54,600
who else lived under the law are
who else under the law?

593
00:39:54,600 –> 00:39:57,500
Lived outside of the land.
Well David did.

594
00:39:58,400 –> 00:40:01,700
Now let’s think about David’s
experience outside of the land

595
00:40:01,700 –> 00:40:03,300
of Israel.
What do you think?

596
00:40:03,300 –> 00:40:06,900
Good bad.
And yeah, pretty bad, right?

597
00:40:06,900 –> 00:40:11,100
Like this is how he describes it
first Samuel 26, you see the end

598
00:40:11,100 –> 00:40:13,200
there.
David says, it was like I was

599
00:40:13,200 –> 00:40:15,400
being forced to go serve other
gods.

600
00:40:15,900 –> 00:40:18,000
Right?
What do you do with that?

601
00:40:18,000 –> 00:40:24,000
If you’re Elijah, here you are
thinking and I know that doesn’t

602
00:40:24,000 –> 00:40:26,900
sound too good, right?
That’s that’s not real awesome.

603
00:40:27,600 –> 00:40:30,800
Okay so you probably wouldn’t
have wanted to look to David.

604
00:40:31,100 –> 00:40:34,000
Well if you ask okay what about
before the law there were a

605
00:40:34,000 –> 00:40:36,400
handful of people Joseph or
Moses?

606
00:40:37,700 –> 00:40:39,700
Now, let me ask you about
Joseph.

607
00:40:40,300 –> 00:40:45,200
What was Joseph’s relationship
with Egypt?

608
00:40:46,900 –> 00:40:49,800
Yeah, it was kind of like an
interesting 50/50 kind of like

609
00:40:49,800 –> 00:40:53,400
hybrid thing, right?
We often call him Joseph but

610
00:40:53,400 –> 00:40:56,100
most people probably would have
called him do.

611
00:40:56,100 –> 00:41:01,100
You know his Egyptian name Zaf
naphtha, Nia right.

612
00:41:01,300 –> 00:41:04,700
So anyway, you know, if you ever
go on Jeopardy or something, you

613
00:41:04,700 –> 00:41:09,500
might need to know that.
So so that was that was Joseph’s

614
00:41:09,500 –> 00:41:12,300
Egyptian name and that was
probably what most people knew

615
00:41:12,300 –> 00:41:14,600
him.
As he had an Egyptian wife, he

616
00:41:14,600 –> 00:41:18,500
had an Egyptian family, right?
And his wife was, and it’s the

617
00:41:18,500 –> 00:41:22,200
daughter of an Egyptian priest.
So you can imagine Elijah being

618
00:41:22,200 –> 00:41:24,300
like yeah, okay.
Not gonna think about Joseph

619
00:41:24,300 –> 00:41:27,800
either, right?
Like he’s, he wasn’t, you know,

620
00:41:27,800 –> 00:41:31,400
hard line in the Enough.
So who else to think about?

621
00:41:31,400 –> 00:41:36,600
Well I think he probably found
some kind of solace in Moses,

622
00:41:37,500 –> 00:41:39,900
right?
So let’s think about, let’s just

623
00:41:39,900 –> 00:41:43,300
try and think like Elijah here.
If you’re Elijah, you could

624
00:41:43,300 –> 00:41:45,900
probably find a few
similarities.

625
00:41:46,800 –> 00:41:49,600
You could try and come up with
these and I don’t I’m going to

626
00:41:49,600 –> 00:41:52,200
say right off the bat.
I don’t think these were real

627
00:41:52,200 –> 00:41:54,000
legit.
I don’t think these are real

628
00:41:54,000 –> 00:41:57,200
good but I’m trying to trying to
like put myself in Elijah’s

629
00:41:57,200 –> 00:42:02,000
boots.
So the the idea here is this is

630
00:42:02,000 –> 00:42:03,800
perhaps how Elijah could have
thought.

631
00:42:04,800 –> 00:42:07,200
Elijah brought the drought to
save his people but was resented

632
00:42:07,200 –> 00:42:10,400
for it.
Moses tried to save his people

633
00:42:10,600 –> 00:42:14,700
but was also resented for it.
Maybe a parallel Elijah was just

634
00:42:14,700 –> 00:42:16,900
obeying God’s commands as he
felt.

635
00:42:17,100 –> 00:42:19,100
So was Moses.
He knew he was the deliverer.

636
00:42:19,900 –> 00:42:22,300
So Elijah had to flee to a
foreign Nation to hide from the

637
00:42:22,300 –> 00:42:26,200
King and sort of Moses.
You can see him kind of almost

638
00:42:26,200 –> 00:42:29,500
feeling like, you know, Moses
was a martyr and I am too kind

639
00:42:29,500 –> 00:42:32,000
of thing.
Okay.

640
00:42:32,100 –> 00:42:34,900
And in that foreign Nation, he
meets a woman and a sustained.

641
00:42:35,200 –> 00:42:37,400
Just like Moses, meet zipporah
and is sustained.

642
00:42:38,600 –> 00:42:44,900
Now we’re these parallels really
valid. you know, if somebody, if

643
00:42:44,900 –> 00:42:49,700
I heard somebody giving a Bible
class saying these are These are

644
00:42:49,700 –> 00:42:51,900
like good parallels.
I’d probably be like me.

645
00:42:51,900 –> 00:42:56,200
Not so much.
So maybe this was how Elijah was

646
00:42:56,200 –> 00:42:59,100
thinking, but where they
legitimate biblically, I don’t

647
00:42:59,100 –> 00:43:03,200
think so.
Because biblically, I think this

648
00:43:03,200 –> 00:43:07,200
is what we’re being told.
Elijah.

649
00:43:08,300 –> 00:43:10,400
Was not actually being
paralleled with Moses.

650
00:43:12,000 –> 00:43:13,900
I think he was being paralleled
with the Israelites.

651
00:43:14,900 –> 00:43:21,200
Think about this God says, I’ll
give you bread and meat that

652
00:43:21,200 –> 00:43:23,900
remind you of anyone.
Bread and me.

653
00:43:24,100 –> 00:43:27,700
And not only that, I’ll give you
water, right?

654
00:43:28,100 –> 00:43:33,800
And eventually that bread meat
and water will run dry and so

655
00:43:33,800 –> 00:43:35,900
you’ll have to go to a foreign
Nation to get it.

656
00:43:35,900 –> 00:43:39,200
Do you remember that in the
Exodus that the Israelites had

657
00:43:39,200 –> 00:43:42,900
to go to the foreign Nations and
say, can we purchase bread from

658
00:43:42,900 –> 00:43:45,800
you?
It’s very similar, kind of

659
00:43:45,800 –> 00:43:50,700
situation.
In fact, let’s just take a look.

660
00:43:52,900 –> 00:43:58,200
Exodus 16, 8, you get meat bread
in the evening in the morning.

661
00:43:58,200 –> 00:44:00,900
Same times by the way, as when
Elijah was given it.

662
00:44:02,700 –> 00:44:05,500
Psalm 78 20.
You have the water gushing out

663
00:44:05,500 –> 00:44:09,000
eventually God stops providing.
And so in Deuteronomy chapter 2,

664
00:44:09,000 –> 00:44:12,200
verses 1 to 6.
They get sustained by Foreign

665
00:44:12,200 –> 00:44:15,900
Nations just like Elijah with
the Widow at Zarephath.

666
00:44:16,200 –> 00:44:20,500
Sustained by a foreign Nation.
Here’s what I think is

667
00:44:20,500 –> 00:44:24,100
fascinating about this.
And I just story wasn’t the

668
00:44:24,107 –> 00:44:26,500
story of Moses, like you wanted
it to be.

669
00:44:27,800 –> 00:44:30,100
It was a lot less glorious than
that.

670
00:44:31,100 –> 00:44:34,600
It was the story of the people
who didn’t get it.

671
00:44:35,800 –> 00:44:40,200
Who complained and who
consistently said, God, you’ve

672
00:44:40,200 –> 00:44:41,800
let us out into the Wilderness
to die.

673
00:44:43,100 –> 00:44:48,200
Without recognizing.
That God was pushing them to the

674
00:44:48,200 –> 00:44:51,100
next step of belief to the next
step of belief.

675
00:44:52,100 –> 00:44:53,900
He was making them
uncomfortable.

676
00:44:55,200 –> 00:44:58,100
To teach them and that’s what
he’s doing with Elijah.

677
00:44:58,900 –> 00:45:02,400
And so in fact, as Elijah goes
to this Widow at Zarephath, I

678
00:45:02,408 –> 00:45:04,100
want to show you one final slide
here.

679
00:45:05,400 –> 00:45:07,500
As he goes to this Widow at
Zarephath.

680
00:45:09,800 –> 00:45:11,300
I’ll you know what?
I’ll show you this too just

681
00:45:11,300 –> 00:45:15,600
because it’s a fun picture.
Okay, that’s not actually

682
00:45:15,600 –> 00:45:17,700
relevant.
The idea is, you know, it’s to

683
00:45:17,700 –> 00:45:20,900
like flamingos because the
stories are the same too.

684
00:45:21,200 –> 00:45:23,900
Anyway.
Okay, so the situations are

685
00:45:23,900 –> 00:45:25,400
similar.
So let me let me show you,

686
00:45:25,400 –> 00:45:27,400
right?
You got Ravens and unclean bird,

687
00:45:27,500 –> 00:45:29,100
like the Widow who’s an unclean
bail.

688
00:45:29,100 –> 00:45:32,500
Worshiper Ravens are scavengers
and it just so happens that the

689
00:45:32,500 –> 00:45:36,700
Widow is gathering sticks.
Scavenging, when he finds her

690
00:45:37,600 –> 00:45:41,700
and eating, its food is against
the law, with the Ravens and

691
00:45:41,700 –> 00:45:44,300
eating the Widow’s food would
have been against the law.

692
00:45:44,700 –> 00:45:48,000
Same kind of thing.
And in fact, if we don’t, if you

693
00:45:48,008 –> 00:45:50,900
don’t feel like the parallel
strong enough, it’s interesting

694
00:45:51,100 –> 00:45:56,400
that God even quotes himself in
1st Kings 17.

695
00:45:56,700 –> 00:46:00,200
Exact same words in the Hebrew.
He says they’re about the brook

696
00:46:00,200 –> 00:46:02,700
in verse 4.
You will drink from the brook as

697
00:46:02,700 –> 00:46:04,300
I have commanded the Ravens to
feed you there.

698
00:46:05,400 –> 00:46:08,300
And he says, in 1st Kings 17 9
rise, go to Zarephath, which

699
00:46:08,300 –> 00:46:09,700
belongs to Satan and dwell
there.

700
00:46:10,000 –> 00:46:13,600
Behold I have commanded a widow
there to feed you.

701
00:46:13,700 –> 00:46:17,700
Same words.
And so God is taking Elijah and

702
00:46:17,700 –> 00:46:20,000
saying Elijah, did you learn the
lesson with the Ravens?

703
00:46:21,000 –> 00:46:25,400
Because now I’m going to put you
in the same situation, but

704
00:46:25,400 –> 00:46:28,600
there’s no escape from this one.
And you know what?

705
00:46:28,600 –> 00:46:30,700
We’re going to see and I think
this is awesome.

706
00:46:32,000 –> 00:46:34,600
The big lesson that Elijah has
to learn his compassion,

707
00:46:34,800 –> 00:46:38,100
compassion, compassion, and God
begins to teach it to him with

708
00:46:38,100 –> 00:46:42,300
the birds.
And yet, when Elijah sees the

709
00:46:42,300 –> 00:46:46,800
suffering that his drought has
brought about and when he sees

710
00:46:46,800 –> 00:46:51,800
the suffering of this woman, You
actually can tell.

711
00:46:52,900 –> 00:46:55,900
Elijah begins to be moved.
And as we’ll see in the next

712
00:46:55,900 –> 00:47:03,500
class, he actually purposefully
knowingly breaks, the law.

713
00:47:05,100 –> 00:47:09,100
For the sake of that woman and
it’s at that point that the

714
00:47:09,100 –> 00:47:13,400
widow woman turns around and
begins to worship God.