Date: 18/1/98
Speaker: David Meiklejohn
Text: 1 Kings 17v1

Stepping Out in Faith

1 Kings 17v1

And Elijah the Tishbite, who was of the inhabitants of Gilead, said unto Ahab, As the LORD God of Israel liveth, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my word.

Introduction

Ahab was the most evil king yet. This is the first time we hear of Elijah; he was probably a young man. He knew God's word, he believed it, but putting it into practise took a great step of faith.

Just like that moment when you abseil for the first time. You're asked to lean out, rely on the rope. There's that moment of hesitancy, when you can either go ahead and take the step, or take the easy, safe route and not bother. If you can learn to take the steps of faith, you can take on the world.

Reasons

Why does God put us in the positions he does?

He wants us to wholly rely on him
He wants to build us up as his children
He promises to be a lamp to our feet, but never that he'll show our whole path ahead. Sometimes we have to trust that the next step is the right one.

Obstructions

Some things hamper us from taking the step:

Doubt - that God will help, he cares, he exists, we're taking the right step
Fear - of the unknown, being foolish, our own inability
Selfishness - we don't want to give up our own time, money, energy

Solutions

How can we defeat the doubt, fear and selfishness? How can we find the faith to take the step?

Belief
- Know your Bible - find out where God helped other people, like Elijah and Daniel
- Make that belief that God helps people personal to yourself. God will help you