THE NEW EWE

"What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he loses one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after the one which is lost, until he finds it? And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, 'Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost!'"

Luke 15:4-6

October 26, 2022

LIFE IN THE FOLD

For the past few weeks I have been teaching on Wednesday nights about Elijah. I began in 1 Kings chapter 17 and we have been going through each chapter, which has been very interesting.

One thing that I've noticed is how many times God showed up big in King Ahab's life, to try and draw the king's heart to Him. It is so obvious that God desired to have King Ahab's heart and actively pursued him. Ahab was witness to some astounding miracles!

First of all, Ahab married Jezebel, who was the daughter of the king of Sidon. She worshipped idols and enticed Ahab to begin to worship Baal. Scripture says that Ahab did more to provoke the anger of the Lord than any of the other kings of Israel before him. Yet God still continued to give Ahab many opportunities to acknowledge Him as Lord.

In 1 Kings chapter 18 we read about the contest on Mount Carmel between the prophets of Baal and Elijah. Baal's prophets built their sacrificial alter and tried all day long to get Baal to send fire to consume their sacrifice, to no avail.

Elijah built his altar and placed the sacrifice on top, had the people to pour water on the entire thing three times. Then he prayed to the true God. Immediately the fire of the Lord came down from heaven and burned up the young bull, the wood, the stones, and even licked up all the water that was in the trench.

When the people of Israel saw it, they fell face down on the ground and cried out, "The Lord -- he is God! Yes the Lord is God!"

King Ahab was there to witness God doing this. He heard the people of Israel declare that the Lord is God. He saw that Baal was unable to send fire to consume the other sacrifice; but saw the true God send down fire in answer to Elijah's prayer.

In addition to that, God had sent a famine to Israel that had lasted for 3-1/2 years, that had been spoken to him by the prophet Elijah. After God sent the fire from heaven to consume the sacrifice, Elijah had gone upon the mountain to pray for rain. When the rain came, Elijah came off the mountain and outran Ahab's chariot back to the city gates. Yet his response was not one of repentance or acknowledgement of God; but it was to go tell Jezebel that Elijah had killed the false prophets. She then threatened to have Elijah killed.

Later, the king of Aram was going to attack Israel. God sent a prophet to King Ahab to tell him, "Do you see all these enemy forces? Today I (God) will hand them all over to you. Then you will know that I am the Lord." And God miraculously gave Israel the victory over Aram that day.

In the spring, Aram came against Israel again. Scripture says that Israel looked like two little flocks of goats in comparison to the vast Aramian forces that filled the countryside.

God sent a prophet to tell Ahab, "This is what the Lord says: I will defeat this vast army for you. Then you will know that I am the Lord."

Once again the Israelite army miraculously defeated the Aramian army. Yet Ahab's response was to make a treaty with the Aram king, instead of destroying him as God had commanded. So God sent Ahab a message saying because you have done this, you will now have to die in his place and your people will die instead of his people.

There was only one time that Ahab humbled himself before the Lord. He wanted Naboth's vineyard so that he could plant a vegetable garden. Naboth refused to sell it, so the king got mad and went home to sulk and pout and refused to eat. So Jezebel set Naboth up to be falsely accused and stoned. After he was dead, she told Ahab, "Naboth is dead, so now you can have your vineyard."

Ahab ran down to claim the vineyard as his own, but God sent Elijah to meet him there. God spoke through Elijah to tell Ahab that since he had done that, disaster was coming to him and his family and they would be destroyed. Jezebel would also die and dogs would eat her body.

When Ahab heard Elijah's message from the Lord, he tore his clothing, dressed in burlap, and fasted. He even slept in burlap and went about in great mourning.

God told Elijah, "Do you see how Ahab has humbled himself before Me? Because he has done this, I will not do what I promised during his lifetime, but it will happen to his sons and his house (dynasty) will be destroyed."

Yet Ahab didn't stay humbled before God. Three years of peace passed, then Ahab decided that he wanted to go to battle with Aram to take back a town that had been captured by the enemy. Even though God sends another prophet to tell Ahab that he will be killed if he goes into battle, he still chooses to go.

He sets Jehoshaphat, who was king of Judah, up to try and get him killed in his place. Ahab told Jehoshaphat to dress in his royal robes as they went to battle, but he would disguise himself so no one would recognize him.

You can't hide from God! King Jehoshaphat was saved, yet an Aramean soldier randomly shot an arrow at the Israelite troops and hit Ahab between the joints of his armor. The battle raged all day and the king sat propped up in his chariot, but died at sunset.

God loves the people that He created -- all people. It doesn't matter how evil or wicked they may be, He will pursue them in order to try and get them to acknowledge that He is indeed God.

In fact 2 Peter 3:9 says, "The Lord isn't really being slow about His promise, as some people think. No, He is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to be destroyed (or perish), but wants everyone to repent."

In Luke 15:3-7, Jesus tells the parable of the lost sheep. If a man has one hundred sheep and one of them get lost, he will leave the ninety-nine and go search until he finds the one that is lost. When he finds it, he will joyfully carry it home on his shoulders. He will call his friends and neighbors together saying, "Rejoice with me because I have found my lost sheep." Jesus goes on to say, "In the same way, there is more joy in heaven over one lost sinner who repents and returns to God than over ninety-nine others who are righteous and haven't strayed away."

Each of us is given the opportunity to repent and acknowledge that the Lord is God. God is merciful and will pursue each and every person, to try and get their attention and bring them to the safety of His fold. He did that over and over again with Ahab. Ahab had that one moment of humbling himself before God, but then as time went on, he started feeling secure and that nothing bad was going to happen to him. So he went back to his old way of living and his failure to listen to God's prophet and obey him led to his death.

We must each choose whether or not we will repent and fully commit ourselves to God. God loves us all so very much and desires to have a relationship with each and every one of us. But the choice on whether we accept or reject Him is ours. The consequences of that decision are eternal, so we need to take it serious.

JON'S PERSPECTIVE:

There have been many times when I have seen someone in need of some help. Sometimes it's at work; sometimes with family or friends. I usually offer to help, or suggest something that would make their job easier. Sometimes they accept. More often, they don't.

Honestly, if I try to help someone, and they ignore me, I back off and let them fail. Especially if they act like my advice is stupid or my cautions are just being negative. Unfortunately, many of the times they ignore my cautions or advice and fail, they claim I never offered it in the first place. I really should record everything I say.

It is pretty rare that I'll try to help in the same way more than once. If I do, it means I really, really want them to succeed. But I also know the more I try, sometimes the more stubborn they get and more strongly they want to ignore me.

God really, really wants us to succeed. And He knows when we will be open to listening or when we will get even more stubborn.

ON THE MENEWE:

Beef Stroganoff

Place stew meat in crockpot. Sprinkle au jus gravy mix over the top, then place the stick of butter on top of the meat. Cook on low for 6 hours or on high for 4 hours; until meat is tender.

Note: If you don't have stew meat, you can use round steak and cut into chunks.

After meat is cooked, add a can of cream of mushroom soup and either the water or beef broth; stir.

Cube up the cream cheese and stir in. If you use sour cream, instead, wait until later to add.

Add in the mushrooms. Cook an additional 20-30 minutes.

Add in egg noodles; approximately 2/3 to 3/4 of the bag (the entire bag is generally too much). Stir so the noodles are covered with the gravy mixture, to prevent them from drying out.

Cook for an additional 15-20 minutes, until noodles are tender.

If using sour cream, add in at this time.

Sprinkle grated parmesan cheese over the top to serve, if desired.

Note: You can also add a splash of Worcestershire when you add in the mushroom soup, which I often do. You can also stir in parmesan cheese to the mixture at the same time that you add in the sour cream, or at the end before serving.

THIS, THAT AND THE OTHER:

Growing up, my parents always made my sisters and me wear dresses. My older sisters didn't mind, because most of the other girls at school mostly wore dresses, too. By the time my sister, who is just older than me in age, and myself got to be teenagers, girls mostly all wore jeans to school. I was almost always the only girl who ever had a dress on, so always felt like an oddball. It wasn't for religious reasons that my parents did this, but because my grandparents lived nearby and it was so that they didn't have to argue with my grandma.

When I was a senior, my biology class took a field trip to a local cave, which is open to the public. This past weekend when my sister and I drove past it, I mentioned going there with my class. I think we got bonus points if we went on the field trip, and I probably needed the extra points. I'm sure I wore a dress and pantyhose on that field trip! We could walk through the cave, but still..... I'm so thankful that I no longer have to wear dresses and pantyhose every day!!

THOUGHT TO PONDER:

When you are relying on your own strength, it's fear.

When you are relying on God's strength, it's reverence. -Heidi Gray McGill

OUR HEARTFELT THANKS TO YOU:

We love you!

Loretta & Jon

http://www.graysheep.org