A God Like No Other

JD Greer, every other false religion. Every other false God favors rewards the insiders loves and accepts you because you keep the rules of the true God reaches out for the outsiders was truth be told, were all outsiders and were all desperately in need of God's great grace God sees the outsider seeking the outsider in the story he still sees the outsiders today.

I'm your host Molly minutes.

Think of people from the Old Testament as primitive and backward worshiping little stone statues.

There were golden images and while you may not find too many statues being worshiped today. Rest assured that idol worship is still going strong. In fact, we might be worshiping a false God even when we think were worshiping the God of the Bible said today. Pastor JD explained how we can tally your worshiping the true God created figment of our imagination part of our series, something better in Pastor JD titled this message a God like no other.

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If you recall God pick a fight with evil King Ahab and his pet dog bail by declaring that it wasn't going to rain until Elijah said it was going to rain you should bail specialized to be in the rainmaker so Elijah basically it's all up in his territory and says you're not the rainmaker. God is the rainmaker and it's not going to rain until God says is going to rain is going to do it through just say that there may well God puts Elijah brought told you that Elijah stories go back and forth between the big picture of what God will do Elijah seems down like Google maps is right on into into the small picture what God is doing. Elijah's heart director, Elijah declares that God sends him to little secret. Brooke called Sheriff where God is gonna give him water for the secret Brooke since is not a rain and he's going to feed him to a fleet of Courier ravens are given beef jerky in the morning the night and that's always going is going to eat well. After a while the brook dries up and so then God says to Elijah, to provide for you through a window that you're going to meet in MM in the region of siding outside and if you recall, was outside of Israel, and it was where Jezebel was from its her hometown, and it's also the place were bail. That's like his home territory.

Do you think for a minute about how scary this is for Elijah is a wanted man. At this point Ahab said fine until you wanted man is to walk on foot through the wilderness to the right to the hometown of his primary enemy scary job is pet ravens had to fallen off. Everything is going wrong for him and what I told you so, what God is doing is God is is is making him weak so he can learn to depend on him because that's what he needs to have in order to experience the power of God is a big take away from last week.

Independence is the objective and weakness becomes an advantage will remember that his dependence on God is the objective of what God really wants from you as you once you be fully dependent on him.

Their weaknesses become an advantage because those are places that you more naturally begin to depend on God. That's what God is been doing. I explained some of you, but that is what God is been doing to you.

You suffered a setback recently in your in your job, or maybe a setback in your in your health is something that cannot avoidance a, and you're like I don't understand what is this crippled my ability to be able to do what I think I need to do maybe feel powerless in your parenting for the first time you looking your counsel to do. Maybe you feel powerless in your marriage maybe your single and any feel powerless to be able to obtain a relationship that you really want to have tried everything I just feel like nothing's really worked. You know and and and and I don't want to do. Maybe you feel unsuccessful in your ministry.

I'm not been there many many many times these things are divinely ordained to teach you to depend on God to make you weak so that you can be strong, not in yourself but in him is then the power of God is able to really display itself through you and you become somebody that's not someone who simply displays your strings that everybody is impressed with you become somebody who is full of the power and grace of God which other people can benefit from another big decision you gotta make what you want from life.

You want to go through life showing how awesome you are demonstrating everybody so they can look up to you and admire you, or do you want to be a source of healing and helping grace. The people so that your glory in your weaknesses because those are places you can point people to the power and grace of God that is been so beneficial to you so that you pick up this week as God continues to take Elijah to school preparing him for this epic battle. You have next week. First Kings 18 on top of Mount caramel all stories are leading to the top of that mountain as he prepared them for that battle. Serpico first 10 Burger King 70 when Elijah finally after hundred miles got to the gate of the cities whether there gathering sticks is what God told him would be there and he asked her.

Would you please bring me a little water in a cup as she was going to get it, he called her and said hey bring me a bite of bread to which she said I swear by the Lord your God that I don't have a single piece of bread in my house.

I have only a handful of flour left and a jar little cooking oil. The bottom of my job. I was just gathering a few sticks to cook this very last meal, and then my son and I will die, but Elijah said to her, don't not do not be afraid. Go ahead and do just what you said but make me a little bread first then use what's left to prepare a meal for yourself and for your son is Elijah jerk is up at seven ears like a hungry but make something for me for now there's there's more evident out numbers 14 for this is what the Lord God of Israel says there will always be flour and olive oil left in your containers until the time the Lord sends rain the crossroad in so she did as Elijah said, and she Elijah and her family continue to eat for many days, there was always enough flour and olive oil left in the containers. Just as the Lord had promised through Elijah right be in. Lesson learned. I was an awesome lesson God can provide for you anywhere, even in bales hometown you can provide rain, it's little cloud, a blessing goes above the head of Elijah bail cannot even provide for the people in his hometown in here God is taking care of us is one little ray of cloud of blessing that just follows Elijah everywhere he goes on. That's an important lesson to learn. Essentially what what Elijah has learned is what David said in Psalm 23. Yay though I walk to the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil for you are with me your rod and your staff they comfort me.

You prepare a table for me in the presence of mine enemies you anoint my head with oil my cup runs over. Surely goodness and mercy follow me all the days of my life and I will now see God forever. That's a great lesson learned how to. There I would move on to the next subject. But that's not what happens. Verse 17. Sometime later the woman son became sick, he grew worse and worse and finally he died.

Then she said to Elijah old man of God, what have you done to me.

Have you come here to point out my sins and kill my son Elijah replied give me your son and he took the child's body from her arms carried him up the stairs to the room where he was staying and laid the body on his bed and Elijah cried out to the Lord, O Lord my God, why have you brought tragedy on this widow who is open your home to me, causing her son to die and stretched himself out over the child three times and cried out to the Lord, O Lord my God, please let this child's life returned him. The Lord heard Elijah's prayer in the life of the child returned and he revived and Elijah brought him down from the upper room and gave him to his mother, look, he said your son is alive and the woman told Elijah. Now I know for sure that you are a man of God and that truly the Lord speaks through you for things that you're going to see in the story about the true God things that make if you will, the Christian God different from every other God is ever been concocted in the minds of man every dog before things number one.

The true God is a God of the outsider, the true God is a God of the outsider known issue?

Do you not think that there were a lot of widows in Israel. There a lot of faithful widows in Israel during that time it was in Israel, God's people in his hometown. Why did God send Elijah to a Gentile widow outside of the region of Israel that you're the first servant Jesus and the priest was is about attribute for you with percentages of every trust was on this passage it. See Luke chapter 4 is where this is recorded in the ritzy but in truth I tell you, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heavens were shut up three years and six months of the great famine came over all the land and Elijah was sent to. None of them, but only to Sarah fathom the landside into a woman who was a widow. The famine genes that affected everybody in Israel but the only one that Elijah was sent to rescue, was a pagan widowed woman in bales hometown, and that truth may be Israelite leaders who are listening to Jesus first sermon so mad to try to kill them on the spot that I was think back to my first sermon about reactions I got there I was 17 years old I preached my first sermon of Medicaid on our first time him back to me how proud they were of me. My parents took me out for ice cream that was my first sermon Jesus first sermon and try to throw off a cliff and it was because of this message.

This first point I'm making to you is what caused them to be so angry to want to kill him. God is a God of the outsider. You see, every other religion focuses on God rewarding the insider God blesses you and rewards you if you keep the rules. This woman was an outsider in just about every possible way was she not just a Gentile, which makes her a racial outsider.

She is a pagan, which makes her a religious outsider. She's a woman makes her a in those days a gender outsider.

She is a widow with mixer and economic outsider.

This is the one that God sent Elijah to save this pack think a significant other way significant effigies is negative for sermon this past Christmas.

I'll point out to you that that there are some interesting things in Jesus's genealogy genealogy. If you recall, I told you would like a resume in those days if you were to be the ruler of a region you publisher genealogy and what you're trying to show is that you have a lot of great rulers in your past so that you know that awesome this is in your blood. And so I told you that when things in those days and published their genealogy on that we notice for historical fact.

We publisher genealogy omits people in his bloodline that were shady or embarrassing.

So Jesus was interesting about his genealogy in Matthew one is not only does it did not skip over the people that are embarrassing. It only seems to celebrate.

That is a lot of women in Jesus's genealogy, which, again, no offense. In those days that was considered totally insignificant. You never put a woman in your genealogy and not just women.

By the way, not just faithful good what it was like women with a shady past father Abraham is mentioned right alongside Gentile prostitutes because in Christ there equals and that's because the basis of their acceptance before God is not on the righteous living on God's miraculous grace and not apply to father Abraham answered Gentile prostitutes like red and God includes their names in the line that leads to Christ, you can be sure that your lot, your name can be included in the line that leads from Christ.

That means no matter who you are what you done there is room in his family for you. You feel like an outcast. You're not became for you. You thought your worthless or not, he purchased it with his blood, which is the universe is most valuable possession.

If you feel like an outsider. Listen that's actually an advantage because maybe you understand that a lot of people have trouble understanding and that is that God doesn't come for people in the inside because there is nobody in the inside. All fall short of the glory of God.

If you are in a place where you realize that there's nothing about you that makes you acceptable to God. That's when you're in a place where you can feast on the richness of God's grace.

If dependence is the objective and weaknesses in the manage dependence on God's grace is your hope of salvation and realizing that you're morally weak becomes your advantage every other false religion.

Every other false God favors rewards the insiders he loves and accepts you because you keep the rules, but the true God reaches out for the outsiders. His truth be told, were all outsiders and were all desperately in need of God's great grace that would Jesus preach this a try to kill them because they wanted a God that rewarded them for how good they were. Jesus had a different message God seeks the outsider, seeking the outsider in the story he still sees the outsider today.

Jesus was the friend of sinners. He hung out with prostitutes eat with tax collectors and he embrace lovers and that's still where you're going to find him pursuing people today and for some of you he's pursuing you, by the way, if you know God, listen. That means that you become a friend of the outsider. If you've ever really understood the gospel. I mean if you grew up in church, easy principal prayer – he is in your heart.

I mean, if you've actually been embraced by the gospel. One of the things that always becomes true of your life as you become somebody that is characterized by reaching for those on the outside not somebody just hangs out with about say people.

Here's a gotcha question for you.

I have a master this before but if God today right now answered in one fell swoop. Every prayer you prayed last week suggest all of how many new people would be in the kingdom this week is God in one fell swoop. Answer every prayer you prayed last week how many people will be meeting next week how many people are you engaged with on the outside. If I were to say right now.

Plot your phone and tell me how many numbers of on Christian people on the outside that you contact right after the service and say hey come meet you for coffee so I told you about something. How many people would that be in your phone is your life characterizes somebody who reaches to those in the outside both here at our church helping reach out to those outside of our normal so-called normal circles. The refugee the recovering prisoner the homeless about manual insight here okay from varnish point preach a fortune cookie but is limited us this woman came to know God, because a weirdo entered her life there enough is weird. Elijah shows ugly hay in her younger what you maybe somebody that's weird. Some of you who are Christians listeners of the fortunately Bart have been recently engaged by weirdo. I know this is my bio… It's awkward again and I was sure what we have this relationship and try to drop my back on your church okay.

Once I suggested to you that you made a brush that off quite so quickly because there might be something divine in its God revealed himself to this woman through a weirdo reached out to somebody should have reached out to insureds of compassion and she can understand why, but that was the vehicle that God used to display himself to her through some church. My challenge for you is this be that weirdo.

That's a cool summer point out ever come up with in my life I that weirdo be that weirdo. Then the word of the Lord came to him, arise get a 05, which belongs to Sidon, and dwell there, behold, I've commanded a widow there to feed you dwell there.

That's good.

Weird. That's good. Weird. And I want you to be that weirdo that characterize or reach out to people have nothing really in common with you because that's is what gospel people do be that weird and I'm not talking about creepy Christian weird. Do you feel like you put a bumper sticker in your car like in case after this call be unmanned or the door when face with all the prana Christian fish eat, not for sure you haven't 12 cats named after the 12 apostles, you start a coffee shop called Hebrews.

I'm not talking about any that's not right.

That's just goofy eight summit is bad goofy bad weird. I'm told that you being weird because they're like I don't understand why we had this relationship. I don't know why you're showing us that interested me kind of weird that weirdness is the vehicle that God uses to display his grace of the outsider number two the true God is a God who sometimes contradicts and confuses us the true God is God sometimes contradicts and confuses us this woman son dies and she had no why she's a goddess because my sins you kill my son because my sins she was a prophet of God. Elijah Elijah the prophet. He's a theologian. He is a seminary graduate what's his response will explain you all the snow you know we are because God says God I don't say why this gets done here. Can you help here. Notice what they don't do blame God for accusing God woman acknowledges she's a sinner and Sadat has every right to do a got to do. They don't day. Elijah doesn't give her a pat answer and say what here's here's the easy answer for why this happens you turns out, from our perspective, we realized had nothing to do with our sin. It had to do with a battle that was going on between God and Baylor. God is going to glorify himself, Elijah doesn't promise her that she'll just have faith shall never again have a pain in her life. Now they just go to God asking God for help. Appealing to his mercy. They have what I call a humble faith, a humble faith humble.

They recognize that God often does things that they don't understand faith never sees believe in the goodness of God, even when their questions are being answered a lot of people attempt to have faith, listen to this would all be humble and it will never work ever.

I know from experience, here's what I mean that in order for you really believe God has to pretty much do exactly what you think you should.

And God doesn't do that when you lose your faith or about this. I know a lot of people do in order to obey God's laws.

They pretty much have to agree with that's what you got sections of God's laws you want on my mommy my God didn't yeah I got a section of what God teaches about this or that, subject you something humbly but harshly. If your God, that you say things that offend you do things that confuse you and sometimes enrage you. I would suggest you probably don't know the real God at all. The additional projection of your own imagination. Stepford value those only Stepford wives made some dancing but you guys in the movie really sick of how difficult their wives are and so they come over these robots who they look like women but will do exactly what they want them to do.

And so it's awesome for a while but the end it's very unsatisfying because they're not actually relationship with another person there just in a relationship with a projection of themselves. Tim Keller says that many people have what we would call a Stepford God and that it's not a real God who sometimes contradicts and confuses you, it simply a projection of what you want and you don't know the real God.

You know projection of your own imagination. Write this down a God who always conforms to your mind is usually a projection of your mind.

A God who always conforms.

Your mind is usually just a projection of your mind to elicit your arrogance and is one of the ways that I know that I know that God is the true God is because of how many unanswered questions I have made this out.

If I am been a God, he would always reward the righteous.

He would always take care of the people that I like but God the God that I see in the Bible is confusing.

He's constantly doing things that many are what why would you say that why would you do that I don't get that humble faith willingness to live with unanswered questions, yet competent in God's goodness even in the midst of his questions to see going on with Elijah and this woman is not like your faith is not like your face. Some people when they suffer, they assume the guy just dug care Summit will begin to rage against God. God how other people turn got into some kind of Jeannie, but always healing always blasts field to show enough faith not works awesome until another you show up in my office have been one of his churches, knowing I did everything right. I made a claim that appraisal and I confess ever known sandbank on the van for the answer still not as you never had humble faith, faith is a willingness to live with unanswered questions that you cease never, never seems to believe in the goodness of God.

This is in this humble faith is a miracle you were in each and always agrees with you or do you believe contradicts and even confuses you, takes humble faith you're listening to Summit life with pastor Arthur and theologian JD Greer in this series we seeing how God revealed himself to Elisha and how as Elijah's view of got expanded learn to trust God more. Similarly, the mission of Summit life. You dive deeper into the gospel deeply said Jeannie can you tell us how they study something better, something greater will help us grow and remarkable how 3000 years later after Elijah and Elisha the issues that we deal with haven't changed them.

What we did and something better something greater was showed you how the industries of these two very important prophet.

Some would say the most important prophets of the Old Testament of these two prophets not only prefigure Jesus show you how to make a difference in this generation put together in a part study that would take you deeper into the lot. Honestly Molly, I don't know of anything similar to this because these are prophets that while they show up all the times and in the New Testament.

You just don't hear that much teaching about bringing one of the reasons also excited about having a series Aaron Summit life is because I think it'll quite a lot of our listeners with a couple people they've heard their names on the never really understood the secrets of spiritual power that are stored. This eight part study will take deeper into their ministries show you how to think about what you learn from them how it changes how you deal with the people around you.

How you think about God and I think about yourself, you can get it today by going to JD Greer.com alleging it connected our ministry in and it's a resource that just allows us to say thank you for doing got really really changes our mission and our whole direction in my you really start to understand God's heart, you'll have a new passion to reach the lost with the life-changing truth of the gospel. That's our mission at Senate line and we left for you to be a part of what God's doing through this ministry. When you donate today you are reaching people around the world centered to show our gratitude in your copy at the new bed I pastor Katie something better something greater study analyzing airline send request your copy today when you donate $25 or more, 866339238665 24th. It's easier you can get online. JD Greer.com I'm only minutes. Glad to have you with us today. Be sure to listen tomorrow and we continue our study and Elisha Friday on my JD Greer ministry