"Get Faith or Die" by Marvin Lucas

“Get Faith or Die”

I Kings 16:29-34

29 In the thirty-eighth year of Asa king of Judah, Ahab son of Omri became king of Israel, and he reigned in Samaria over Israel twenty-two years. 30 Ahab son of Omri did more evil in the eyes of the LORD than any of those before him. 31 He not only considered it trivial to commit the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, but he also married Jezebel daughter of Ethbaal king of the Sidonians, and began to serve Baal and worship him. 32 He set up an altar for Baal in the temple of Baal that he built in Samaria. 33 Ahab also made an Asherah pole and did more to provoke the LORD, the God of Israel, to anger than did all the kings of Israel before him. 34 In Ahab's time, Hiel of Bethel rebuilt Jericho. He laid its foundations at the cost of his firstborn son Abiram, and he set up its gates at the cost of his youngest son Segub, in accordance with the word of the LORD spoken by Joshua son of Nun.

I Kings 17:1-24
1 Now Elijah the Tishbite, from Tishbe in Gilead, said to Ahab, "As the LORD, the God of Israel, lives, whom I serve, there will be neither dew nor rain in the next few years except at my word." 2 Then the word of the LORD came to Elijah: 3 "Leave here, turn eastward and hide in the Kerith Ravine, east of the Jordan. 4 You will drink from the brook, and I have ordered the ravens to feed you there." 5 So he did what the LORD had told him. He went to the Kerith Ravine, east of the Jordan, and stayed there. 6 The ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning and bread and meat in the evening, and he drank from the brook. 7 Some time later the brook dried up because there had been no rain in the land. 8 Then the word of the LORD came to him: 9 "Go at once to Zarephath of Sidon and stay there. I have commanded a widow in that place to supply you with food." 10 So he went to Zarephath. When he came to the town gate, a widow was there gathering sticks. He called to her and asked, "Would you bring me a little water in a jar so I may have a drink?" 11 As she was going to get it, he called, "And bring me, please, a piece of bread." 12 "As surely as the LORD your God lives," she replied, "I don't have any bread—only a handful of flour in a jar and a little oil in a jug. I am gathering a few sticks to take home and make a meal for myself and my son, that we may eat it and die." 13 Elijah said to her, "Don't be afraid. Go home and do as you have said. But first make a small cake of bread for me from what you have and bring it to me, and then make something for yourself and your son. 14 For this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: 'The jar of flour will not be used up and the jug of oil will not run dry until the day the LORD gives rain on the land.' " 15 She went away and did as Elijah had told her. So there was food every day for Elijah and for the woman and her family. 16 For the jar of flour was not used up and the jug of oil did not run dry, in keeping with the word of the LORD spoken by Elijah. 17 Some time later the son of the woman who owned the house became ill. He grew worse and worse, and finally stopped breathing. 18 She said to Elijah, "What do you have against me, man of God? Did you come to remind me of my sin and kill my son?" 19 "Give me your son," Elijah replied. He took him from her arms, carried him to the upper room where he was staying, and laid him on his bed. 20 Then he cried out to the LORD, "O LORD my God, have you brought tragedy also upon this widow I am staying with, by causing her son to die?" 21 Then he stretched himself out on the boy three times and cried to the LORD, "O LORD my God, let this boy's life return to him!" 22 The LORD heard Elijah's cry, and the boy's life returned to him, and he lived. 23 Elijah picked up the child and carried him down from the room into the house. He gave him to his mother and said, "Look, your son is alive!" 24 Then the woman said to Elijah, "Now I know that you are a man of God and that the word of the LORD from your mouth is the truth."
I Kings 18:3-4
3 and Ahab had summoned Obadiah, who was in charge of his palace. (Obadiah was a devout believer in the LORD. 4 While Jezebel was killing off the LORD's prophets, Obadiah had taken a hundred prophets and hidden them in two caves, fifty in each, and had supplied them with food and water.)

Notes: (verse 34) – Anyone who rebuilds Jericho, terrible things will happen to him (Joshua 6:26 At that time Joshua pronounced this solemn oath: "Cursed before the LORD is the man who undertakes to rebuild this city, Jericho: "At the cost of his firstborn son will he lay its foundations; at the cost of his youngest will he set up its gates.") He lost his first and second son. (Verse 4, Chapter 18) Jezebel did more evil than her husband, Ahab. (Verse 9, Chapter 17) God told Elijah to go into the pagan land that Jezebel came from.

Point #1: “Go or Die”

Notes: If Elijah stayed at the brook, the brook would’ve dried up & he’d have died. We get comfortable by the ravine, just surviving. God can bring in a drought to get us to move. Question: Who/What is my Sidon? Someone I’m afraid to comfort (such as family, friends, and co-workers)?

Point #2: “Give or Die”

Notes: (Chapter 17, Verse 2-16) Elijah told her basically to give everything she had to him & not to worry about herself or her son. God won’t give me more until I’m sacrificial. I need to be committed to and give to the church, my bible talk, and my relationships. Question: Am I committed to the church, bible talk, and my relationships?

Point #3: “Pray and Rise”

Notes: (Chapter 17:17-24) the widow’s faith was not pure. Things can get worse. Question: How pure is my faith? This is the first account of someone being raised from the dead in the Old Testament, but Elijah still believed God could do it. If I have no faith, I can get no miracles. Jesus couldn’t do any miracles in his home town because there was no faith.

Response: My wife made a great point on the flour and oil never running out. It doesn’t say that the jar was constantly and “magically” replenished. But it does say that they never ran out. They may have been blessed in such a way that others gave to them and met their needs. When my wife gave birth to our son, people were beating our door down to provide us with food. Our cabinets did not run dry despite me not having a job and my wife being on maternity leave. God met our needs. God provides in ways that we take for granted. It is a miracle very much the same as what verse 16 said. I also think it is important that I need to address my Sidon.

2 Corinthians 12:7 to keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me.

I look at the Sidon question with this verse in mind. Sometimes the thorn can be a thing that I am afraid of or a person. Who is it that I am afraid of? Well, there are a number that I don’t like to be around for an extensive period of time, but I wouldn’t say that I am afraid of them. There are some places that I absolutely do not want to be, and righteously so. The struggles are too much, temptations too much. I think I need to search out the question deeper. I would have to say that as far as commitment goes, I am definitely committed to the church. The bible talk part is convicting.

Pure (adj.):

1. Free from adulterants or impurities.


2. Free of foreign elements.


3. Containing nothing inappropriate or extraneous.


4. Complete; utter.


5. Having no faults; sinless.


6. Chaste; virgin.

So, with this definition, is my faith pure? Does it contain anything inappropriate, a fault or impurity? Or should I dare ask, do I have that mustard seed of faith? I don’t want to puff myself up and be prideful, but at the same time, I need to be honest at where I am at. I believe I have the mustard seed. Is my faith “big” enough to raise someone from the dead? Honestly, I don’t believe in myself enough to think that my faith can do that. I do think that my quiet times are building that faith. My love for God has grown so very much over the last few months, it’s truly unreal. I like messages like this to get my mind thinking, to show me where I am at and how I need to grow. Johnny Out.