The Sound Of Abundance Of Rain

 

1 Kings 18:1-2,41-46

And it came to pass after many days, that the word of the LORD came to Elijah in the third year, saying, Go, shew thyself unto Ahab; and I will send rain upon the earth. 2 And Elijah went to shew himself unto Ahab. And there was a sore famine in Samaria.

41 And Elijah said unto Ahab, Get thee up, eat and drink; for there is a sound of abundance of rain.  42 So Ahab went up to eat and to drink. And Elijah went up to the top of Carmel; and he cast himself down upon the earth, and put his face between his knees, 43 And said to his servant, Go up now, look toward the sea. And he went up, and looked, and said, There is nothing. And he said, Go again seven times. 44 And it came to pass at the seventh time, that he said, Behold, there ariseth a little cloud out of the sea, like a man’s hand. And he said, Go up, say unto Ahab, Prepare thy chariot, and get thee down, that the rain stop thee not.  45 And it came to pass in the mean while, that the heaven was black with clouds and wind, and there was a great rain. And Ahab rode, and went to Jezreel. 46 And the hand of the LORD was on Elijah; and he girded up his loins, and ran before Ahab to the entrance of Jezreel.

[i]

 

Elijah had a vision after 3 ½ years of drought.

Elijah’s vision called for an abundance of rain.

That vision was given directly by God.

Now, the interesting thing is that immediately after God spoke to Elijah, the Bible states that there was sore famine in the land.

·        What a paradox! God steps into famine and promises flood!

God has a way of stepping into the bleakest situation and promising victory!

In fact, it’s in those times that God chooses to work the most often, because when God brings flood out of drought, or feast out of famine, everyone around knows it was God!

·        It was to Gideon that God said: Judges 7:2 The people that are with thee are too many for me to give the Midianites into their hands, lest Israel vaunt themselves against me, saying, Mine own hand hath saved me. [ii]

·        It was Jairus’ daughter that Jesus allowed to die, so he could raise her from the dead.

God delights in working where man can’t work!

God delights in bringing answers to situations that stump men!

God delights in doing what man says can’t be done!

He said, My glory I won’t share with another!

God specializes in doing the impossible!

Matthew 19:26

26 But Jesus beheld them, and said unto them, With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible. [iii]

I.)                INTERESTINGLY ENOUGH, MANY TIMES THAT GOD SPEAKS INCREASE AND MULTIPLICATION TO US, THE TIME THAT WE’RE IN IS ONE OF LOSS AND BARRENNESS.

·        This is where faith comes in.

·        This is where the promise of God will be tested the most in our lives.

1.)  God spoke to Abram and gave him a great promise between Bethel and Ai, and then immediately there was a famine.

2.)  Joseph was given a dream by God, and then immediately thrown into a pit, and sold into slavery.

3.)  David was anointed King of Israel, but then sent back to the pastures to tend his sheep.

4.)  The widow woman was promised increase by Elijah when she was preparing to die!

5.)  God promised that he would bring a living, breathing army back to life while Ezekiel was staring at their dry bones scattered across the valley floor!

6.)  Jesus was baptized to fulfill every bit of the law, and then immediately led into the wilderness.

God’s promise is always followed by God’s proving ground.

·        It’s easy to trust God in time of surplus, but can you trust him in time of barrenness?

·        It’s easy to trust God in time of feast, but can you trust him in time of famine?

·        It’s easy to trust God when the economy is good, and overtime is plentiful, but can you trust him when you’re laid off?

·        It’s easy to trust God for great revival when the music’s playing and the church is full, and hopping, but can I still trust him when people are leaving?

The greatest test of our faith comes when God says I will, and we look around but He hasn’t!

But, just because He hasn’t yet doesn’t mean He’s not going to!

 

But, in every case, no matter how long it took, God’s promise always came to pass!

 

2 Peter 3:9

9 The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. [iv]

Psalm 126:5-6

5 They that sow in tears shall reap in joy.  6 He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him.

[v]

Sometimes when we can’t see it, we think it never will happen.

We think that God has forgotten His word, and His promise.

But, that’s where faith comes in.

·        God’s promise always requires a step of faith!

·        Faith is not sight, faith is acting on something you cannot see!

In fact, the very definition of faith is found in

Hebrews 11:1

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.  [vi]

Hebrews 11:1

 Faith means being sure of the things we hope for and knowing that something is real even if we do not see it.

(NCV)[vii]

Faith is simply disregarding my current circumstances and believing God for what He promised me, no matter how wild it might seem!

Faith is:

·        Abraham, as Romans 4:19 19 And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead, when he was about an hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sara’s womb:

Faith is simply not giving up on the promise of God, even if it takes 3 ½ years to fulfill!

Or in Joseph’s case, 13 years.

Or in Abraham’s case, 25 years.

Faith is simply realizing that I may not see it, I may not feel it, I can’t touch it yet, but God said it, and I believe it!

And, not only do I believe, but I’ll act on it even when others think I’m crazy.

Because God said it, I’ll do it!

I may be like Peter when Jesus told him to throw his nets out again, I may not believe anything will happen, but …………. “Nevertheless, at THY WORD, Lord, I will!”

II.)              NOW, LET’S GET BACK TO ELIJAH.

Elijah’s vision called for an abundance of rain. Not a sprinkle, not a heavy dew, not a quick shower. But, an abundance!

But, immediately after the vision was given, the servant saw nothing.

Now, let me bring out three things about this story that I believe apply to Apostolic Tabernacle today.

1.)  There had been a drought for 3 ½ years already.

The first obstacle that the man of God had to overcome to instill faith in his servant and everyone around him was the obstacle of history.

·        “It’s not rained in years, what makes you think it will rain now?

·        This is the way it’s always been, what makes you think things will change?

·        We are accustomed to famine, don’t try to make us think we can feast now!

·        The way it’s always been is the way it always will be!

·        We’ve had plenty of people thru the years tell us they thought it was going to rain, and nothing happened. Don’t get our hopes up!

Whenever God desires to move in a group of people who have been used to things being a certain way, He has to overcome that mindset that things can never change!

Somehow we have to be able to believe that God can do more for us than He’s ever done before!

God can’t do anything in the midst of people who won’t believe!

And, often it’s in the church that HE can’t work! In the midst of the people He loves, the ones he desires to bless, many times He encounters the most resistance!

It was in His own hometown that the Bible says: Matthew 13:58

58 And he did not many mighty works there because of their unbelief.

[viii]

Because the things HE did had never been done before, the people who had watched Him grow up said, “Nope, sorry, too much of a stretch to believe that this carpenter’s son can heal the sick, raise the dead, open the blind eyes.”

But, once the curse of history has been broken, then God can bring abundance!

Genesis 23:19

19 And after this, Abraham buried Sarah his wife in the cave of the field of Machpelah before Mamre: the same is Hebron in the land of Canaan. [ix]

Genesis 24:1

And Abraham was old, and well stricken in age: and the LORD had blessed Abraham in all things.  [x]

Genesis 25:1-2

Then again Abraham took a wife, and her name was Keturah. 2 And she bare him Zimran, and Jokshan, and Medan, and Midian, and Ishbak, and Shuah. [xi]

Abraham said, “Hey, I know I’m old, but I was old back then and God blessed me with a son, and if He did it then, He can do it again, and again, and again, and again, and again!

Once the curse of history has been broken, then God can send abundance!

2.)  Even after the promise came from God, for the first six times that the servant went to look, there was absolutely nothing on the horizon.

This is when it’s hard to believe.

You’ve been in a drought, and a guy comes along, gives you a fresh hope, a new glimpse of glory.

A preacher comes and preaches a message and builds your faith and says, “Things don’t have to be like they’ve always been! Rain’s on the way!”

And you get up the next day, full of faith, full of expectation, eagerly rushing to the kitchen window to witness the deluge, and there you see again, just like every day for the last 3 1/2 years, cloudless skies, bright sunshine, hard baked ground, no crops, dust swirls twisting along the brown tundra that you used to call a yard!

And, your faith plummets again, even lower this time, because you’ve had your hopes so high that maybe today will finally be the day that things change for good!

·        And, just as the Bible says that AFTER the promise there was a sore famine in the land, AFTER the promise that God makes you and I there may be famine in our lives!

I came back from Because of the Times with a promise of abundance, of doubling, of financial relief, and then entered the most horrible period of barrenness I’ve experienced in a long time!

There were times when I said, This is never going to happen! Things aren’t really going to change, it was just me getting my hopes up!

I keep going back to the pulpit night after night, scanning the horizon, waiting for the rains of revival, and I don’t see them!

But, tonight, and I can’t explain why, but tonight, I think I see something!

 It’s not all that big, it’s pretty small, about the size of a man’s hand, but sure enough I see a cloud!

 

But, I’ll tell you the next thing, I’m stepping out on faith again and where other’s see smallness, I see abundance!

3.)  Third, when the cloud so small it was likened to a man’s hand appeared, it excited Elijah so much he said, this is it! Abundance!

Others saw smallness, but Elijah looked at a small thing and saw abundance!

AV – multitude 62, noise 4, tumult 4, abundance 3, many 3, store 2, company 1, multiplied 1, riches 1, rumbling 1, sounding 1; 83

1)  (Qal) murmur, roar, crowd, abundance, tumult, sound

1a) sound, murmur, rush, roar

1b) tumult, confusion

1c)  crowd, multitude

1d) great number, abundance

1e)      abundance, wealth[xii]

4.)

·        We have a hard time looking at tiny things and thinking abundance!

·        But small things quickly become big things when God is in them!

Zechariah 4:10

10 For who hath despised the day of small things?

·        God promised Abraham seed as the sands of the sea, and the stars of the sky, but He started with one baby boy!

 

·        Jesus fed 5000 people on a hillside one day, but He started with 2 fish and 5 loaves of bread!

 

·        God created this vast universe and all that is in it in 6 days, but He started on the first day simply creating night and day from nothingness.

 

Things that look small through the eyes of the natural become huge when you look thru the eyes of the spirit!

CONCLUSION

I wonder if anyone tonight in this place is starting to hear what I’m hearing?

IS there anyone who will go just one more time to the horizon and look for the promise?

I know you’ve been six times already, but this time’s different – I HEAR THE SOUND OF ABUNDANCE OF RAIN!