Sermon Outline

1. God where are you?
2. Elijah’s Test of Faith (1Ki 17:7
   1. A victim of his own prayer.
   2. God’s intervention (1Ki 17:8)
   3. A call to outside the expected (1Ki 17:9, Luke 4:25-26)
      1. To the Crucible
      2. To a Widow
3. The widow’s test of Faith
   1. A Demanding Prophet
      1. Be inconvenienced for me (1Ki 17:10)
      2. Give me your food (1Ki 17:11)
   2. A Faith-filled and true response (1Ki 17:12)
      1. I have nothing
      2. “As the LORD your God lives…”
         1. First, she knows and uses the Covenant name of God, LORD, YHWH.
         2. Second, she recognizes a prophet of God, a worshipper of God. “your God”
         3. Third, she declares that YHWH Lives, that He is alive
         4. Fourth, she recognizes that it is her sin.
      3. The Crucible of Obedience (1Ki 17:13-14)
         1. She is asked to believe something that has never been seen.
         2. She is asked to sacrifice her last meal.
         3. She is asked to trust that God will in fact miraculously provide for her.
4.  Application
   1. First, are you ready for the tests which will serve to grow your faith and cause you to trust God even more? (James 1:2-4)
   2. Second, did you notice that the growth of faith occurs in the context of radical Hospitality being given?
   3. Third, did you notice how Elijah’s demand opened the way to learn about another’s suffering and then to provide a means to minister to that suffering need? (Isa 58:10-12, Eph 2:10)