I'M WITH YOU - MAN CAVE AT THE MISSION

          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.

UNCLEAN WITH A PURPOSE

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.

YWAP IS BIG ON MENTORING & COMMUNITY SERVICE! YWAP empowers people in Christ to become collaborators in a community effort to create a better world for children and their families. Investing in youth is a preemptive strike against sexual abuse, drug addiction and human trafficking. We appreciate your prayers and support. For more information about YWAP programs, to volunteer or become a guest speaker, please call us at: 716-830-8240 or email, [email protected].