We backed into our Man Cave Mentoring class at the Mission by beginning at the end. Several guys have to leave early to take care of the Food Truck responsibilities. All of our lessons begin with the Truth of God's Word and hopefully end with directions on how to work out the Truth in our lives. Today we gave the application first and left it up to the departing guys to dive into the Truth on their own.
          Our Study Text today was 1 Kings 17 and the story of Elijah delivering God's news of a coming famine. He wasn't a very popular guy. Life wasn't easy for him or any of us. God has a plan to build our faith. We need to trust in His sovereignty and believe that what happens to us is designed to bring greater glory to Him.
          We told a story from Bob Goff's book, "Love Does." Here's a couple of quotes that hit our hearts hard.
"I used to want to fix people, but now I just want to be with them."
"I'm with you."
What we talked about was not judging people and loving the the way they are and let Love make any changes they might need. Whatever somebody is walking through, love them enough to say, "I'm with you."
          The outline of today's lesson is posted below. Please contact us with questions or thoughts you may have on this website or, [email protected] 716-830-8240.
          Thanks for your time. Go do something nice for somebody. Jesus loves you and so we.

Study Text: 1 Kings 17

Key Terms

Elijah or Eliah - "my God is Jehovah" or "Yah(u) is God"
Tishbite - “captivity”
Gilead - "rocky region" You could call that a hard place.
Ahab - “father’s brother” (uncle) His legacy - “Ahab son of Omri (pupil of Jehovah) did even more open evil before GOD than anyone yet—a new champion in evil! It wasn’t enough for him to copy the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat; no, he went all out, first by marrying Jezebel daughter of Ethbaal king of the Sidonians, and then by serving and worshiping the god Baal. He built a temple for Baal in Samaria, and then furnished it with an altar for Baal. Worse, he went on and built a shrine to the sacred whore Asherah. He made the GOD of Israel angrier than all the previous kings of Israel put together.”1 Kings 16:30-33 MSG 
Jezebel - pronounced, “e·zeh'·vel”, "Baal exalts" or "Baal is husband to" or "unchaste". Adjective - not chaste; not virtuous; not pure: You could say she was a dirty woman. an unchaste woman. characterized by sexual suggestiveness
Cherish  - a cutting; separation; a gorge, a torrent-bed or winter-stream.
Raven - unclean bird, scavengers who ate roadkill. Dirty birds!

Elijah was:

• One of the greatest of Prophets in one of the hardest of times.
• He delivered an uncomfortable message to earthly authority.
• He was a man of prayer. 

“Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much. Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain; and it did not rain on the land for three years and six months. And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth produced its fruit.” James 5:16-18 NKJV

1. Serves God and has to escape to save his life.
2. Goes alone to a creek and gets fed by unclean birds who eat unclean things. They ate dead things, roadkill was a dirty delicacy. It really wasn’t the dirty birds who fed Elijah, it was God. He’s our Provider - Jehovah Jireh - the Lord will provide.”
3. The creek dries up. 
4. God tells him to go to a poor widow whose plan is to cook her last meal and die with her son. Oh, how uplifting and encouraging!

Elijah followed God. - Elijah was in captivity in a hard place under a King who was more evil than any before him, who was married to a dirty woman who killed prophets. God takes him from this “good life ” and sends him to a creek that dries up, to be fed by dirty birds. He leaves that “good life” to go to a poor widow who’s collecting firewood to cook a last meal for her and her son. And then the boy dies - before Elijah brings him back to life. 
Moving from Truth to Application 

1. Word & Prayer - When you are in a dark and hard place; a lonely place. Take time out and stay in the Word. Search for Bible studies that focus on what you’re struggling with. Ask Christian brothers and sisters to pray with you and for you.
2. Don't Move - Refrain from making any major decisions while you’re in bondage to anxiety, depression or confusion. 
3. Love & Serve - Don’t worry about fixing yourself or anybody else. Take your feelings of inferiority, unworthiness and inadequacy and go serve somebody. Go love on somebody without trying to figure things out.
4. Plan - The only plan you have to have in your heart right now is a plan to love Jesus and others in greater ways everyday. The Holy Spirit will plant something in your heart. He will fertilize your thoughts as you mature in Him and you will reap a harvest in due season. Seasons change, opportunities come and go, but God will never leave you or forsake you.

          The blind man was born into physical darkness. All of us are born into spiritual darkness. Life is a battle in our minds as we struggle to live humble lives of minimal sin. Today we focused our sights on the story of a blind man in the ninth chapter of John in the Bible.
         The word "blind" is mentioned 14 times in 41 verses. I think Jesus wanted to make sure we knew that this guy really was blind. We start out in verse one by reading the words "And as Jesus passed by, he saw a man which was blind from his birth."
          Before we went any further, we took a step backwards to examine the last verse in chapter eight. "Then they took up stones to cast at him: but Jesus hid himself, and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by." His life was in danger, he was about to be stoned and he passed by and away frm trouble.
          Life as Jesus was not easy and yet he took time to notice a man in need as he passed by. We would do well to notice who we pass by in our daily travels. We would do well to pass by trouble. As the disciples were passing by, they noticed the man's condition. Instead of offering to help, they asked Jesus about the man's blindness. "Master, who did sin, this man or his parents that he was born blind?"
          Many folks think adversity is the result of sin. It can be, but most often it's a natural life struggle. Jesus makes a beautiful statement in answering their question. "Neither hath this man sinned or his parents, but that the works of God should be made manifest in him." What Jesus is saying is that this condition happened so that the glory of God could be revealed. Adversity is an opportunity to reveal God's glory.
          Sometimes we pass by people and make a judgment regarding their condition. It would be more of a "Jesus-like" thing to do by asking how we can help them. Jesus  spits on the ground, makes mud and puts it on the blind man's eyes. He then tells the blind man to go and wash in the Pool of Siloam (by interpretation, Sent.). I find that interesting because it seems to me like Jesus made the man's world darker.
           Faith-building is a step by step process. Jesus goes to the man, muddies him up and then tells a blind man to take a walk toward water. That may seem hard enough, but add in the fact that this was in a crowded city with many people who viewed this guy or his parents as sinners. Building our faith requires action in trying circumstances.
          After the man washes off his muddied eyes, he gains his physical sight. After we are washed in the water of the word, we gain (or regain) our spiritual sight. Our darkened (sinful) condition is muddied by the world of temptation around us. Jesus is standing at the door of our hearts and wants to put mud on our blind eyes. He was sent by the Father so that we would be sent in his name to share his love with a blind world.
          Have at it my friends, it's a joyful and rewarding struggle that will knock your socks off! Thanks for your time. Go do something nice for somebody whom you just might be passing by. Jesus loves you and so do we.