July 14, 2025 • 25 mins
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Welcome to the Westside church’s special Monday Morning Coffee podcast with Mark Roberts. Mark is a disciple, a husband, father and grand dad, as well as a certified coffee geek, fan of CS Lewis’ writings and he loves his big red Jeep. He’s also the preacher for Westside church.
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Episode Transcript
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SPEAKER_00 (00:01):
Hello, and welcome to the Westside Church's special
Monday Morning Coffee podcast.
On this podcast, our preacher,Mark Roberts, will help you get
your week started right with alook back at yesterday's sermon
so that we can think through itfurther and better work the
(00:24):
applications into our dailylives.
Mark will then look forward intothis week's Bible reading so
that we can know what to expectand watch for.
And he may have some extra bonusthoughts from time to time.
So grab a cup of coffee as westart the week together on
Monday Morning Coffee with Mark.
SPEAKER_01 (00:52):
Good morning, good morning.
Welcome to the Monday MorningCoffee Podcast for Monday, July
the 14th.
I'm Mark, and I am holdingshockingly cold coffee.
Yes, there's a whole storybehind that.
It is Youth Lectures Week hereat Westside.
All kinds of great things arehappening.
I'm ready to talk a little bitmore about baptism out of
yesterday's sermon.
(01:13):
And yes, I am certainly ready tothink about daily Bible reading
with you.
In fact...
Oh, that is cold coffee.
I had a tooth extraction lastweek and I have to avoid things
that are hot.
And so I have turned to coldcoffee.
That is largely the fault of oneof our podcast listeners who's
always talking about iced coffeethat she has and she knows who
(01:36):
she is.
You are to blame.
I'm doing the best I can withcold coffee.
It is a struggle.
But whether your coffee is cold,hot, or Laodicean lukewarm, pour
that cup of coffee.
Let's get ready.
Let's get set.
Let's go.
Yesterday's sermon did focus onbaptism and why it's so
(01:58):
important, why it matters, whybeing buried with Christ dead in
the water is still something wewant to emphasize and teach on
and be certain people understandand, yes, obey.
And every now and then that willmeet some resistance, maybe out
of a passage like Acts 16 31,where the Philippian jailer says
to Paul and Silas, verse 30,sirs, what must I do to be
(02:20):
saved?
And they said, believe in theLord Jesus and you That's the
kind of passage where people tryto blunt the emphasis on baptism
and make faith-only salvationwork.
But can I ask this?
Why does it say, verse 32, andhe washed their wounds, and he
(02:47):
was baptized at once, he and allhis family.
Let's just ask this.
If baptism is not essential tosalvation, why is it the first
thing anyone in the NewTestament does when they come to
faith in Christ is be baptized?
Not later.
It's not treated as optional.
It's not scheduled for aceremony weeks later.
From the day of Pentecost inActs 2 to the Ethiopian eunuch
(03:11):
to Saul of Tarsus to this jailerin Philippi, as soon as someone
understands Jesus, they arebaptized immediately.
If baptism isn't essential, whyis it so urgent every single
time?
So the passage, Acts 16, thatpeople try to use to say you
(03:33):
don't need to be baptized justreminds us baptism matters.
And now, let's turn ourattention to daily Bible
reading.
(04:00):
It is Monday, and today beginsYouth Lectures Week, and in
fact, I have Narnia Club in myhouse today, so all kinds of
wonderful things are happeningthis week.
Love teaching C.S.
Lewis's Narnian Chronicles.
That's just a joy.
But our Bible reading before allof that gets going is in 1 Kings
chapter 17, and today we meetElijah the Tishbite.
(04:23):
One writer said, with the kingembracing Canaanite religion and
the queen aggressively promotingit, what chance did authentic
faith in Israel have ofsurviving.
In a wonderful, mysterious way,the Lord, however, had prepared
an Elijah to come to the kingdomfor such a time as this.
And Elijah is super important.
He has been called the mostimportant figure since Moses and
(04:46):
Samuel, and it is important toremember he meets Jesus on the
Mount of Transfiguration alongwith Moses.
Moses represents the law.
Elijah represents prophecy.
And We don't know anything abouthim.
We are not even certain whereTish is.
He is a Tishbite.
We don't know where Tish is.
But he is a dramaticallypowerful prophet.
(05:09):
And I should add here, the manymiracles done during both his
and Elisha's ministry justindicates how bad things were.
Because Miracles have a tendencyto cluster in the Bible during
times of great spiritual need.
And this is a time of greatdepravity.
And Elijah shows up and says,it's not going to rain.
(05:32):
Please be mindful.
It was so long before I realizedthis.
That this is not something thatElijah just plucked out of his
hat, just kind of an arbitrarything.
I just don't think it's going torain because I don't like mowing
my grass.
No, this is...
This is straight out of the bookof Deuteronomy.
Deuteronomy 11, verse 16.
Deuteronomy 28, verse 23.
There's also references inLeviticus that when God's people
(05:55):
don't do what's right, God wouldwithhold the reins.
So what Elijah does is show upand say, I'm praying that God
will do what God said he woulddo to bring these people back.
That's what Elijah is all about,and God takes care of him.
The operative phrasing inchapter 17 is, Word of the Lord,
(06:16):
or sometimes just the Word.
And if you underline that inyour Bible every time, you'll
see in this chapter that occursa lot.
The Brook Cherith, where Elijahgoes and is cared for by God, is
a brook that empties into theJordan, but its location is
uncertain.
And We need to think about this,verse 7, after a while the brook
dried up, that brook would begetting thinner every single day
(06:40):
and Elijah's faith would beseverely tested.
But God then moves him toZarephath.
And this is a key episode toshow God's interest in
non-Israelite people.
In fact, Jesus quotes out ofthis in Luke chapter 4 to say
there are times when there areno faithful folks in Israel, but
there will be some faithfulpeople outside of Israel.
(07:00):
It does not go well for Jesuswhen he reminds people of that
in Luke chapter 4.
It does seem, if you do thechronology, Luke 18 verse 1 and
so forth, that Elijah is hereabout two years.
Now, Zarephath is seven milessouth of Sidon, and it is a
Phoenician town.
And there is some irony in thatbecause Jezebel is Phoenician.
(07:22):
And so Elijah is fleeing thePhoenician queen, and he is
doing that in Phoenicia.
I guess she would never look forhim there.
And in verse 12, And just awonderful way of reassuring the
prophet.
She says, as the Lord your Godlives, and of course the word
Lord there is in small caps, andthat is the word Jehovah or
(07:44):
Yahweh, depending on how youwant to say that, and that would
indicate she has someunderstanding of the Israelites
and the God of the Israelites.
And that all goes really well,and they're eating, and God is
miraculously providing for them,and then her son dies.
Verse 18, What have you againstme, O man of God?
(08:05):
You have come to me to bring mysin to remembrance and to cause
the death of my son.
She certainly seems to be aspiritually minded person.
And this loss, of course, wouldbe intensified by the fact that
in Bible times, there's nosocial security network, there's
no retirement, and a womanwithout a son to take care of
her is a woman who will be inreal trouble.
She has no one to care for herin her old age.
(08:28):
And, of course, what we'd alllike to know is why Elijah
stretches himself upon thechild, verse 21 through times,
and we just don't know that.
We just don't know.
Sometimes miracles don't looklike anything that we would
expect, and maybe if we knewmore about how to do a miracle,
if we'd ever done one ourselves,we might understand this kind of
thing.
We just don't know.
And we'll just have to say, wejust don't know.
(08:48):
But the woman says, verse 24,Now I know you are a man of God,
and that the word of the Lord inyour mouth is truth.
So a Phoenician woman gets it,while the Phoenician queen
Jezebel doesn't, and while theIsraelites King doesn't either.
Our reading for Monday, 1 Kingschapter 17.
(09:10):
It is Tuesday.
It is Tuesday, and our readingis 1 Kings 18 verses 1 to 19.
The reading for Tuesday, 1 Kings18, 1 to 19, and Westsiders, we
will have Zoom this evening, andso I'll get ready to talk about
this reading a little further.
In 1 Kings 18, we get somereally powerful lessons about
the value of miracles.
(09:31):
I think all of us every now andthen have just wanted God to do
something really powerful andreally amazing and really,
really under undeniably visible.
Maybe the next time the atheistsare marching down the streets,
wouldn't it be cool if Godsuddenly levitated all of them?
That would be amazing, and wewould like to see the Lord
vindicated.
(09:52):
Sometimes we would like to seefaith in God vindicated, and
that's going to happen here in 1Kings 18.
There are times where God hasmade unmistakably clear His
presence and power.
I'm thinking about the 10plagues on Egypt, for example,
and in 1 Kings 18, there is noquestion who is God.
That is the real challenge of 1Kings the 18th chapter, and it
(10:16):
is set up in our meeting betweenElijah and Obadiah in our
reading today.
And as we advance in thischapter, just hold on to this
idea of God vindicating himself,because I think I would imagine
that will cause everybody toconvert.
Pay attention, and let's see ifthat will work out.
So After many days, verse 1, theword of the Lord came to Elijah
(10:40):
in the third year saying, goshow yourself to Ahab and I will
send rain upon the earth.
So we need to remember here thatno rain is a direct assault upon
Baal because he's the rain andfertility God.
But how can God send rain againwithout people thinking that
Baal did it?
Finally, Baal has relented.
Maybe all the offering we'vebeen doing to Baal finally
breaks through.
So there will need to be someteaching here and Obadiah is
(11:03):
going to be used by God to getthat teaching to Ahab.
Now Obadiah is not the prophetby name who is named Obadiah.
He's not that prophet, but he isa really good man who works for
a really evil boss in a reallybad place.
If you don't like your workconditions, Obadiah is your
character.
He is showing you that it ispossible to be faithful in a
(11:25):
really, really hard place.
And so Elijah meets Ahab.
And Elijah and Ahab cometogether, verse 17, and Ahab
says famously, is it you, youtroubler of Israel?
And Elijah answered, I have nottroubled Israel, but you have.
I love Elijah's courage and wewill see that just in huge
(11:46):
quantities in our reading as wejourney further in 1 Kings 18.
Now I will try to post somepictures today from Mount
Carmel.
Mount Carmel is not asnow-covered mountain.
This is not the Rocky Mountains.
It's not the Matterhorn inSwitzerland.
It's just a craggy, hilly areapeak and there's lots of places
(12:07):
there where a huge crowd couldgather and watch.
Lots of natural amphitheaters.
And I have been there.
Dean and I were there in 2023.
We were blessed to get to go toIsrael.
And I'm trying to post some ofour pictures of that.
You stand on the top of thislarge hill.
Hill is not enough.
Mountain is too much because itevokes, like I said, the Rocky
(12:29):
Mountains.
It's somewhere in between all ofthat.
But when you stand on the top ofthat thing, you can see where a
And you can even see the brookwhere the prophets of Baal are
taken at the end of the chapter.
Spoiler alert.
And they are brought down to thebrook Kishon and slaughtered
there.
You can see all of that.
And it is very emotional tostand there and to see that.
(12:52):
It is very, very powerful toknow this is the place where the
prophet of God set up thisamazing showdown to answer the
question, who is God, Jehovah orBaal?
And we'll read about that.
tomorrow.
Westsiders, don't forget, Zoomtonight at 7.
Everybody else, see you on thepodcast tomorrow.
(13:14):
Our reading for Tuesday, 1 Kings18, verse 1 to 19.
It is Wednesday.
It is Wednesday and Jerry Kingis with us tonight to talk
further about Gideon as wecontinue our summer series on
the judges.
But before that, we want to doour daily Bible reading.
1 Kings 18 verses 20 to 46 isthe reading for Wednesday.
(13:35):
1 Kings 18 verses 20 to 46.
Please notice in verse 21,Elijah says, how long will you
go limping between two differentopinions?
I expect that maybe, maybe youthink, I think that Israel has
wholly gone over to the worshipof Baal but the suggestion here
may be that they're trying toworship both Baal and Jehovah
(13:57):
that they are serving both askind of the pantheon of gods.
We're just expanding how manygods there are, and so Jehovah
has blessed us in some ways,brought us out of Egypt, but now
we're in the land of Baal, andBaal's the rain god, and we just
need to worship both ends ofthat.
And I think there's something tobe said for seeing that in verse
(14:18):
21.
By the way, in verse 27, whenElijah says, cry aloud for he is
a god, either he is musing or heis busy, some translations have,
or really believing himself, theESV has, properly rendering what
is most likely a euphemism therefor using the restroom.
And that was a euphemism rightthere, answering nature's call,
(14:42):
another euphemism.
But of course, that would bequite a slam on a god.
That doesn't seem like a verydignified thing for deity to be
doing.
And I think maybe Elijah's justrecognizing how so many people,
when they construct their owngods, just construct a god that
acts like a human and Elijah isputting it on them.
He is making them look asfoolish as they are.
(15:05):
The time of the eveningsacrifice comes then, verse 29,
that would be at about 3, but itwould take some time to prepare
all of this so you can easilyimagine that Elijah finally gets
underway as the shadows of theevening begin to lengthen.
In his quiet way.
beginning verse 30, wouldcontrast to the wild screaming
and pagan practices the peoplehad seen all day.
(15:26):
Amodes deeply moved to read thathe repaired the altar of the
Lord.
The word repaired there isliterally healed.
And although I don't think itshould be translated healed, it
is a great metaphor for what hashappened to the nation of Israel
and the fact that he takes 12stones is a clear announcement
(15:47):
that the divided kingdom is notGod's will.
And this ought not so to be.
And so then he says, verse 36, OLord God of Abraham, Isaac, and
Israel, let it be known thatthis day you are God in Israel.
That's what this is about.
That's the purpose of thismiracle.
And indeed, I think you couldmake a good argument that's the
purpose of all miracles, to makeGod known.
(16:10):
And God does make himself knownin an incredibly powerful way.
The result of that, verse 39, ismomentary conversion.
I want to emphasize that.
Momentary conversion.
The prophets of Baal areexecuted, and rain does come, 41
(16:31):
to 46.
But Jezebel will have none ofit, and the people don't
permanently turn to God.
We'll talk more about that in 1Kings 19 in tomorrow's reading.
Our reading for Wednesday is 1Kings 18, 20 to 46.
Welcome to Thursday and todaywe're talking about 1 Kings 19.
(16:54):
1 Kings 19, the entire chapter,is our reading for Thursday.
This is a difficult chapter.
I love Elijah and I respect hiscourage and fire so very, very
much and he really falls aparthere.
He just really falls apart.
It seems that Elijah expects anational revival which would
include, for example, turningJezebel out of office at bare
(17:17):
minimum and that doesn't happen.
Instead, she flexes And he justabsolutely bottoms out.
He just completely falls apart,and he runs away.
away.
He runs away.
Beersheba is about a hundredmiles south of Jezreel, verse 3,
(17:43):
and then Sinai is another 200miles further south.
He really gets out of Dodge.
And please take a look at verse5.
He lay down and slept under abroom tree, and behold, an angel
touched him and said to him,Arise and eat.
And if that's not proof that asnack and a nap will do you some
good, then I don't know whatwould be.
I do think as Elijah and theLord talk beginning in about
(18:06):
verse 9 down through about verse18 that you do get a sense of
pride in Elijah's words noticeverse 4 and verse 10 and verse
14 but that God cares for himtaking care of him those 40 days
verse 8 to bring him to Sinaibut as Elijah complains verse 10
almost rebuking God what's thematter with you Lord it seems
(18:29):
like the Lord needs to helpElijah come back to faith And so
finally, verse 13, a voice says,What are you doing here, Elijah?
It is a quiet voice.
It's not, verse 12, it's a lowwhisper.
It's not power.
It's not rumbly.
It's not that deep voice of Godthat we always assume God uses.
(18:52):
And it seems to say that Goddoes not always need the
extraordinary.
Elijah, you saw somethingincredible, but...
But I don't always have to usethat.
I can use people like you andlike the 7,000 who have not
bowed the knee.
Now you need to go back to workknowing that I am with you.
(19:13):
I have some things for you todo.
New King in Israel, verse 16,and Elisha, the son of Shaphat,
verse 16, will be the prophet inyour place.
New King in Syria, I jumped thatin verse 15, but it seems that
God is ready for Elisha to go towork.
work.
And so Elijah journeys to meetElisha.
(19:35):
I have to be careful here,beginning in verse 19.
And when he puts his cloak uponhim, Elisha knows he's been
called.
Well, that last phrase then inverse 20, go back again for what
have I done to you, is difficultto translate.
The words may emphasizepermission.
Go! Hey! What have I done toyou?
(19:56):
Or it may say, I'm not doinganything to prevent that, or
There may be a cautionary notethere.
Yes, you can go, but youremember, I put my cloak upon
you, and now you're going to bethe next great prophet in
Israel.
Our reading for Thursday, 1Kings 19.
(20:21):
Welcome to Friday.
Welcome to Friday.
Our youth lectures begin tonightat 7 with a half hour of
singing.
We have two wonderful speakerstonight, two speakers tomorrow
beginning at 1 and two speakerson Sunday along with breakout
sessions.
Our theme for the youth lecturesthis year is what is in your
backpack and we're challengingyoung people to think about what
(20:42):
they need to add to their lifeas they make this journey from
earth to heaven.
It will be a wonderful,wonderful weekend.
The men that have been selectedand asked to come.
are highly capable.
Tyler Sams, Phil Robertson,Caleb Churchill, Tim King,
Jonathan Golightly.
These are men who study theWord, live the Word, and are
(21:05):
ready to help young peopleunderstand the Word.
And I should add, it's a joy forme to get to be a part of the
lectures again.
I'll finish the lectures in the1040 on Sunday.
And I should say here, it's notjust about young people.
This event is widely attended,and there will be a ton of
adults here, parents and grandAnd I'll see you next time.
(21:38):
Everybody benefits from thepreaching of God's Word.
All of us are carrying abackpack, and all of us need to
add to that backpack what willhelp us, young or old, get to
heaven.
Before we arrive tonight at 7-4,the beginning of the lectures,
our 31st youth lectures, can youbelieve that, we'll do our daily
Bible reading in the Psalms.
(21:59):
This is Psalm 29, and it is oneof my favorite, favorite psalms.
This psalm has been called theseven thunderclaps of God.
It uses a powerful to emphasizethe amazing power of God.
And I have a note here.
This is the antidote.
Psalm 29 is the antidote tolittle godness.
And sometimes we just don'tthink enough of God.
(22:22):
We just don't give Him the powerand majesty that He deserves.
But 15 times we read the name ofGod here, Jehovah.
That's that Lord in small caps.
And that expression, the voiceof the Lord is repeated again
and again.
That's a thunder clap.
That's what that is.
David hears those thunder clapsand he sees the power of the
(22:44):
storm smashing the cedars ofLebanon, verse 5, like they are
toothpicks.
The cedars of Lebanon is whatSolomon built the temple out of.
They are huge, impressive trees.
And Syrian is Mount Hermon,verse 6.
That is a mighty mountain about10,000 feet tall and God makes
it shake and quake.
(23:05):
God flashes forth, verse 7, inflames That's lightning across
the sky.
Verse 10, God is not in nature.
(23:35):
God is not part of nature.
God is over the flood, over theflood, and over fake gods like
Baal who claim to control therain.
It is God who makes it rain.
It is God who brings the storm.
Love Psalm 29.
(23:57):
The reading for Friday is Psalm29.
And that closes the podcast forthe week.
I certainly do appreciate youlistening.
If the podcast is helping you,please tell others about it so
that it will help them as well.
Well, until next week when we'llopen our Bibles together again,
I'm Mark Roberts, and I want togo to heaven, and I want you to
(24:21):
come too.
I will see you on Monday with acup of coffee.
SPEAKER_00 (24:32):
Thanks for listening to the Westside Church of Christ
podcast, Monday Morning Coffeewith Mark.
For more information aboutWestside, you can connect with
us through our website,justchristians.com, and our
Facebook page.
Our music is from upbeat.io.
That's upbeat with two Ps,U-P-P-B-E-A-T, where creators
(24:56):
can get free music.
Please share our podcast withothers, and we look forward to
seeing you again, with a cup ofcoffee, of course, on next
Monday.
Hello, and welcome to the Westside Church's special
Monday Morning Coffee podcast.
On this podcast, our preacher,Mark Roberts, will help you get
your week started right with alook back at yesterday's sermon
so that we can think through itfurther and better work the
(00:24):
applications into our dailylives.
Mark will then look forward intothis week's Bible reading so
that we can know what to expectand watch for.
And he may have some extra bonusthoughts from time to time.
So grab a cup of coffee as westart the week together on
Monday Morning Coffee with Mark.
SPEAKER_01 (00:52):
Good morning, good morning.
Welcome to the Monday MorningCoffee Podcast for Monday, July
the 14th.
I'm Mark, and I am holdingshockingly cold coffee.
Yes, there's a whole storybehind that.
It is Youth Lectures Week hereat Westside.
All kinds of great things arehappening.
I'm ready to talk a little bitmore about baptism out of
yesterday's sermon.
(01:13):
And yes, I am certainly ready tothink about daily Bible reading
with you.
In fact...
Oh, that is cold coffee.
I had a tooth extraction lastweek and I have to avoid things
that are hot.
And so I have turned to coldcoffee.
That is largely the fault of oneof our podcast listeners who's
always talking about iced coffeethat she has and she knows who
(01:36):
she is.
You are to blame.
I'm doing the best I can withcold coffee.
It is a struggle.
But whether your coffee is cold,hot, or Laodicean lukewarm, pour
that cup of coffee.
Let's get ready.
Let's get set.
Let's go.
Yesterday's sermon did focus onbaptism and why it's so
(01:58):
important, why it matters, whybeing buried with Christ dead in
the water is still something wewant to emphasize and teach on
and be certain people understandand, yes, obey.
And every now and then that willmeet some resistance, maybe out
of a passage like Acts 16 31,where the Philippian jailer says
to Paul and Silas, verse 30,sirs, what must I do to be
(02:20):
saved?
And they said, believe in theLord Jesus and you That's the
kind of passage where people tryto blunt the emphasis on baptism
and make faith-only salvationwork.
But can I ask this?
Why does it say, verse 32, andhe washed their wounds, and he
(02:47):
was baptized at once, he and allhis family.
Let's just ask this.
If baptism is not essential tosalvation, why is it the first
thing anyone in the NewTestament does when they come to
faith in Christ is be baptized?
Not later.
It's not treated as optional.
It's not scheduled for aceremony weeks later.
From the day of Pentecost inActs 2 to the Ethiopian eunuch
(03:11):
to Saul of Tarsus to this jailerin Philippi, as soon as someone
understands Jesus, they arebaptized immediately.
If baptism isn't essential, whyis it so urgent every single
time?
So the passage, Acts 16, thatpeople try to use to say you
(03:33):
don't need to be baptized justreminds us baptism matters.
And now, let's turn ourattention to daily Bible
reading.
(04:00):
It is Monday, and today beginsYouth Lectures Week, and in
fact, I have Narnia Club in myhouse today, so all kinds of
wonderful things are happeningthis week.
Love teaching C.S.
Lewis's Narnian Chronicles.
That's just a joy.
But our Bible reading before allof that gets going is in 1 Kings
chapter 17, and today we meetElijah the Tishbite.
(04:23):
One writer said, with the kingembracing Canaanite religion and
the queen aggressively promotingit, what chance did authentic
faith in Israel have ofsurviving.
In a wonderful, mysterious way,the Lord, however, had prepared
an Elijah to come to the kingdomfor such a time as this.
And Elijah is super important.
He has been called the mostimportant figure since Moses and
(04:46):
Samuel, and it is important toremember he meets Jesus on the
Mount of Transfiguration alongwith Moses.
Moses represents the law.
Elijah represents prophecy.
And We don't know anything abouthim.
We are not even certain whereTish is.
He is a Tishbite.
We don't know where Tish is.
But he is a dramaticallypowerful prophet.
(05:09):
And I should add here, the manymiracles done during both his
and Elisha's ministry justindicates how bad things were.
Because Miracles have a tendencyto cluster in the Bible during
times of great spiritual need.
And this is a time of greatdepravity.
And Elijah shows up and says,it's not going to rain.
(05:32):
Please be mindful.
It was so long before I realizedthis.
That this is not something thatElijah just plucked out of his
hat, just kind of an arbitrarything.
I just don't think it's going torain because I don't like mowing
my grass.
No, this is...
This is straight out of the bookof Deuteronomy.
Deuteronomy 11, verse 16.
Deuteronomy 28, verse 23.
There's also references inLeviticus that when God's people
(05:55):
don't do what's right, God wouldwithhold the reins.
So what Elijah does is show upand say, I'm praying that God
will do what God said he woulddo to bring these people back.
That's what Elijah is all about,and God takes care of him.
The operative phrasing inchapter 17 is, Word of the Lord,
(06:16):
or sometimes just the Word.
And if you underline that inyour Bible every time, you'll
see in this chapter that occursa lot.
The Brook Cherith, where Elijahgoes and is cared for by God, is
a brook that empties into theJordan, but its location is
uncertain.
And We need to think about this,verse 7, after a while the brook
dried up, that brook would begetting thinner every single day
(06:40):
and Elijah's faith would beseverely tested.
But God then moves him toZarephath.
And this is a key episode toshow God's interest in
non-Israelite people.
In fact, Jesus quotes out ofthis in Luke chapter 4 to say
there are times when there areno faithful folks in Israel, but
there will be some faithfulpeople outside of Israel.
(07:00):
It does not go well for Jesuswhen he reminds people of that
in Luke chapter 4.
It does seem, if you do thechronology, Luke 18 verse 1 and
so forth, that Elijah is hereabout two years.
Now, Zarephath is seven milessouth of Sidon, and it is a
Phoenician town.
And there is some irony in thatbecause Jezebel is Phoenician.
(07:22):
And so Elijah is fleeing thePhoenician queen, and he is
doing that in Phoenicia.
I guess she would never look forhim there.
And in verse 12, And just awonderful way of reassuring the
prophet.
She says, as the Lord your Godlives, and of course the word
Lord there is in small caps, andthat is the word Jehovah or
(07:44):
Yahweh, depending on how youwant to say that, and that would
indicate she has someunderstanding of the Israelites
and the God of the Israelites.
And that all goes really well,and they're eating, and God is
miraculously providing for them,and then her son dies.
Verse 18, What have you againstme, O man of God?
(08:05):
You have come to me to bring mysin to remembrance and to cause
the death of my son.
She certainly seems to be aspiritually minded person.
And this loss, of course, wouldbe intensified by the fact that
in Bible times, there's nosocial security network, there's
no retirement, and a womanwithout a son to take care of
her is a woman who will be inreal trouble.
She has no one to care for herin her old age.
(08:28):
And, of course, what we'd alllike to know is why Elijah
stretches himself upon thechild, verse 21 through times,
and we just don't know that.
We just don't know.
Sometimes miracles don't looklike anything that we would
expect, and maybe if we knewmore about how to do a miracle,
if we'd ever done one ourselves,we might understand this kind of
thing.
We just don't know.
And we'll just have to say, wejust don't know.
(08:48):
But the woman says, verse 24,Now I know you are a man of God,
and that the word of the Lord inyour mouth is truth.
So a Phoenician woman gets it,while the Phoenician queen
Jezebel doesn't, and while theIsraelites King doesn't either.
Our reading for Monday, 1 Kingschapter 17.
(09:10):
It is Tuesday.
It is Tuesday, and our readingis 1 Kings 18 verses 1 to 19.
The reading for Tuesday, 1 Kings18, 1 to 19, and Westsiders, we
will have Zoom this evening, andso I'll get ready to talk about
this reading a little further.
In 1 Kings 18, we get somereally powerful lessons about
the value of miracles.
(09:31):
I think all of us every now andthen have just wanted God to do
something really powerful andreally amazing and really,
really under undeniably visible.
Maybe the next time the atheistsare marching down the streets,
wouldn't it be cool if Godsuddenly levitated all of them?
That would be amazing, and wewould like to see the Lord
vindicated.
(09:52):
Sometimes we would like to seefaith in God vindicated, and
that's going to happen here in 1Kings 18.
There are times where God hasmade unmistakably clear His
presence and power.
I'm thinking about the 10plagues on Egypt, for example,
and in 1 Kings 18, there is noquestion who is God.
That is the real challenge of 1Kings the 18th chapter, and it
(10:16):
is set up in our meeting betweenElijah and Obadiah in our
reading today.
And as we advance in thischapter, just hold on to this
idea of God vindicating himself,because I think I would imagine
that will cause everybody toconvert.
Pay attention, and let's see ifthat will work out.
So After many days, verse 1, theword of the Lord came to Elijah
(10:40):
in the third year saying, goshow yourself to Ahab and I will
send rain upon the earth.
So we need to remember here thatno rain is a direct assault upon
Baal because he's the rain andfertility God.
But how can God send rain againwithout people thinking that
Baal did it?
Finally, Baal has relented.
Maybe all the offering we'vebeen doing to Baal finally
breaks through.
So there will need to be someteaching here and Obadiah is
(11:03):
going to be used by God to getthat teaching to Ahab.
Now Obadiah is not the prophetby name who is named Obadiah.
He's not that prophet, but he isa really good man who works for
a really evil boss in a reallybad place.
If you don't like your workconditions, Obadiah is your
character.
He is showing you that it ispossible to be faithful in a
(11:25):
really, really hard place.
And so Elijah meets Ahab.
And Elijah and Ahab cometogether, verse 17, and Ahab
says famously, is it you, youtroubler of Israel?
And Elijah answered, I have nottroubled Israel, but you have.
I love Elijah's courage and wewill see that just in huge
(11:46):
quantities in our reading as wejourney further in 1 Kings 18.
Now I will try to post somepictures today from Mount
Carmel.
Mount Carmel is not asnow-covered mountain.
This is not the Rocky Mountains.
It's not the Matterhorn inSwitzerland.
It's just a craggy, hilly areapeak and there's lots of places
(12:07):
there where a huge crowd couldgather and watch.
Lots of natural amphitheaters.
And I have been there.
Dean and I were there in 2023.
We were blessed to get to go toIsrael.
And I'm trying to post some ofour pictures of that.
You stand on the top of thislarge hill.
Hill is not enough.
Mountain is too much because itevokes, like I said, the Rocky
(12:29):
Mountains.
It's somewhere in between all ofthat.
But when you stand on the top ofthat thing, you can see where a
And you can even see the brookwhere the prophets of Baal are
taken at the end of the chapter.
Spoiler alert.
And they are brought down to thebrook Kishon and slaughtered
there.
You can see all of that.
And it is very emotional tostand there and to see that.
(12:52):
It is very, very powerful toknow this is the place where the
prophet of God set up thisamazing showdown to answer the
question, who is God, Jehovah orBaal?
And we'll read about that.
tomorrow.
Westsiders, don't forget, Zoomtonight at 7.
Everybody else, see you on thepodcast tomorrow.
(13:14):
Our reading for Tuesday, 1 Kings18, verse 1 to 19.
It is Wednesday.
It is Wednesday and Jerry Kingis with us tonight to talk
further about Gideon as wecontinue our summer series on
the judges.
But before that, we want to doour daily Bible reading.
1 Kings 18 verses 20 to 46 isthe reading for Wednesday.
(13:35):
1 Kings 18 verses 20 to 46.
Please notice in verse 21,Elijah says, how long will you
go limping between two differentopinions?
I expect that maybe, maybe youthink, I think that Israel has
wholly gone over to the worshipof Baal but the suggestion here
may be that they're trying toworship both Baal and Jehovah
(13:57):
that they are serving both askind of the pantheon of gods.
We're just expanding how manygods there are, and so Jehovah
has blessed us in some ways,brought us out of Egypt, but now
we're in the land of Baal, andBaal's the rain god, and we just
need to worship both ends ofthat.
And I think there's something tobe said for seeing that in verse
(14:18):
21.
By the way, in verse 27, whenElijah says, cry aloud for he is
a god, either he is musing or heis busy, some translations have,
or really believing himself, theESV has, properly rendering what
is most likely a euphemism therefor using the restroom.
And that was a euphemism rightthere, answering nature's call,
(14:42):
another euphemism.
But of course, that would bequite a slam on a god.
That doesn't seem like a verydignified thing for deity to be
doing.
And I think maybe Elijah's justrecognizing how so many people,
when they construct their owngods, just construct a god that
acts like a human and Elijah isputting it on them.
He is making them look asfoolish as they are.
(15:05):
The time of the eveningsacrifice comes then, verse 29,
that would be at about 3, but itwould take some time to prepare
all of this so you can easilyimagine that Elijah finally gets
underway as the shadows of theevening begin to lengthen.
In his quiet way.
beginning verse 30, wouldcontrast to the wild screaming
and pagan practices the peoplehad seen all day.
(15:26):
Amodes deeply moved to read thathe repaired the altar of the
Lord.
The word repaired there isliterally healed.
And although I don't think itshould be translated healed, it
is a great metaphor for what hashappened to the nation of Israel
and the fact that he takes 12stones is a clear announcement
(15:47):
that the divided kingdom is notGod's will.
And this ought not so to be.
And so then he says, verse 36, OLord God of Abraham, Isaac, and
Israel, let it be known thatthis day you are God in Israel.
That's what this is about.
That's the purpose of thismiracle.
And indeed, I think you couldmake a good argument that's the
purpose of all miracles, to makeGod known.
(16:10):
And God does make himself knownin an incredibly powerful way.
The result of that, verse 39, ismomentary conversion.
I want to emphasize that.
Momentary conversion.
The prophets of Baal areexecuted, and rain does come, 41
(16:31):
to 46.
But Jezebel will have none ofit, and the people don't
permanently turn to God.
We'll talk more about that in 1Kings 19 in tomorrow's reading.
Our reading for Wednesday is 1Kings 18, 20 to 46.
Welcome to Thursday and todaywe're talking about 1 Kings 19.
(16:54):
1 Kings 19, the entire chapter,is our reading for Thursday.
This is a difficult chapter.
I love Elijah and I respect hiscourage and fire so very, very
much and he really falls aparthere.
He just really falls apart.
It seems that Elijah expects anational revival which would
include, for example, turningJezebel out of office at bare
(17:17):
minimum and that doesn't happen.
Instead, she flexes And he justabsolutely bottoms out.
He just completely falls apart,and he runs away.
away.
He runs away.
Beersheba is about a hundredmiles south of Jezreel, verse 3,
(17:43):
and then Sinai is another 200miles further south.
He really gets out of Dodge.
And please take a look at verse5.
He lay down and slept under abroom tree, and behold, an angel
touched him and said to him,Arise and eat.
And if that's not proof that asnack and a nap will do you some
good, then I don't know whatwould be.
I do think as Elijah and theLord talk beginning in about
(18:06):
verse 9 down through about verse18 that you do get a sense of
pride in Elijah's words noticeverse 4 and verse 10 and verse
14 but that God cares for himtaking care of him those 40 days
verse 8 to bring him to Sinaibut as Elijah complains verse 10
almost rebuking God what's thematter with you Lord it seems
(18:29):
like the Lord needs to helpElijah come back to faith And so
finally, verse 13, a voice says,What are you doing here, Elijah?
It is a quiet voice.
It's not, verse 12, it's a lowwhisper.
It's not power.
It's not rumbly.
It's not that deep voice of Godthat we always assume God uses.
(18:52):
And it seems to say that Goddoes not always need the
extraordinary.
Elijah, you saw somethingincredible, but...
But I don't always have to usethat.
I can use people like you andlike the 7,000 who have not
bowed the knee.
Now you need to go back to workknowing that I am with you.
(19:13):
I have some things for you todo.
New King in Israel, verse 16,and Elisha, the son of Shaphat,
verse 16, will be the prophet inyour place.
New King in Syria, I jumped thatin verse 15, but it seems that
God is ready for Elisha to go towork.
work.
And so Elijah journeys to meetElisha.
(19:35):
I have to be careful here,beginning in verse 19.
And when he puts his cloak uponhim, Elisha knows he's been
called.
Well, that last phrase then inverse 20, go back again for what
have I done to you, is difficultto translate.
The words may emphasizepermission.
Go! Hey! What have I done toyou?
(19:56):
Or it may say, I'm not doinganything to prevent that, or
There may be a cautionary notethere.
Yes, you can go, but youremember, I put my cloak upon
you, and now you're going to bethe next great prophet in
Israel.
Our reading for Thursday, 1Kings 19.
(20:21):
Welcome to Friday.
Welcome to Friday.
Our youth lectures begin tonightat 7 with a half hour of
singing.
We have two wonderful speakerstonight, two speakers tomorrow
beginning at 1 and two speakerson Sunday along with breakout
sessions.
Our theme for the youth lecturesthis year is what is in your
backpack and we're challengingyoung people to think about what
(20:42):
they need to add to their lifeas they make this journey from
earth to heaven.
It will be a wonderful,wonderful weekend.
The men that have been selectedand asked to come.
are highly capable.
Tyler Sams, Phil Robertson,Caleb Churchill, Tim King,
Jonathan Golightly.
These are men who study theWord, live the Word, and are
(21:05):
ready to help young peopleunderstand the Word.
And I should add, it's a joy forme to get to be a part of the
lectures again.
I'll finish the lectures in the1040 on Sunday.
And I should say here, it's notjust about young people.
This event is widely attended,and there will be a ton of
adults here, parents and grandAnd I'll see you next time.
(21:38):
Everybody benefits from thepreaching of God's Word.
All of us are carrying abackpack, and all of us need to
add to that backpack what willhelp us, young or old, get to
heaven.
Before we arrive tonight at 7-4,the beginning of the lectures,
our 31st youth lectures, can youbelieve that, we'll do our daily
Bible reading in the Psalms.
(21:59):
This is Psalm 29, and it is oneof my favorite, favorite psalms.
This psalm has been called theseven thunderclaps of God.
It uses a powerful to emphasizethe amazing power of God.
And I have a note here.
This is the antidote.
Psalm 29 is the antidote tolittle godness.
And sometimes we just don'tthink enough of God.
(22:22):
We just don't give Him the powerand majesty that He deserves.
But 15 times we read the name ofGod here, Jehovah.
That's that Lord in small caps.
And that expression, the voiceof the Lord is repeated again
and again.
That's a thunder clap.
That's what that is.
David hears those thunder clapsand he sees the power of the
(22:44):
storm smashing the cedars ofLebanon, verse 5, like they are
toothpicks.
The cedars of Lebanon is whatSolomon built the temple out of.
They are huge, impressive trees.
And Syrian is Mount Hermon,verse 6.
That is a mighty mountain about10,000 feet tall and God makes
it shake and quake.
(23:05):
God flashes forth, verse 7, inflames That's lightning across
the sky.
Verse 10, God is not in nature.
(23:35):
God is not part of nature.
God is over the flood, over theflood, and over fake gods like
Baal who claim to control therain.
It is God who makes it rain.
It is God who brings the storm.
Love Psalm 29.
(23:57):
The reading for Friday is Psalm29.
And that closes the podcast forthe week.
I certainly do appreciate youlistening.
If the podcast is helping you,please tell others about it so
that it will help them as well.
Well, until next week when we'llopen our Bibles together again,
I'm Mark Roberts, and I want togo to heaven, and I want you to
(24:21):
come too.
I will see you on Monday with acup of coffee.
SPEAKER_00 (24:32):
Thanks for listening to the Westside Church of Christ
podcast, Monday Morning Coffeewith Mark.
For more information aboutWestside, you can connect with
us through our website,justchristians.com, and our
Facebook page.
Our music is from upbeat.io.
That's upbeat with two Ps,U-P-P-B-E-A-T, where creators
(24:56):
can get free music.
Please share our podcast withothers, and we look forward to
seeing you again, with a cup ofcoffee, of course, on next
Monday.
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