Bent Oak Church

Paul Smith shares his personal testimony and explains how God has proved himself to be present even through challenging times. 

This week, we kick off our annual Immanuel series. We look at the promise in Isaiah that one day a virgin will give birth to a child and his name will be Immanuel. 

For several weeks we have been comparing the growth of a church with the growth of a tree. But trees are rarely alone. They grow in the surrounding of other trees—woods. It's easy to focus too much attention on our church and miss that God is working in churches across the street and around the world. God calls us to a perspective broader than ourselves.

The most visible life of a tree is its leaves. They are a sign of health and often the first to signal sickness. For a church, the most visible sign of life is how a community of believers cares for one another. As Jesus pointed out, "they will know you are my followers by the love you have for one another."

What is it that a church does when it meets together? In Acts 2, the church commits itself to teaching, fellowship, communion, and prayer. These have often been called the four marks of the church. We look at the importance of these marks and how they shape who we are as a church.

"They love Jesus but not the church." We've all heard it and sometimes felt it as well. But for thousands of years, the church continues to exist with its traditions, structures, and history. What's wrong and what's right with the church as an institution?

This week we look at our third value—worship. What does it mean for the church's primary purpose to be worship and how does this value impact everything else the church does?

Every church exists in a particular place with particular people. A church is not abstract and neither is the gospel. God's kingdom comes not just into church services but into office cubicles, bedrooms, and around dinner tables. But like a tree growing roots into the ground, the gospel often does its work slow but faithfully.

1 Kings ends with the final appearance of Ahab. He is determined to attack Syria and reclaim his land. Enlisting the king of Judah, things seem to be coming back together. Could Ahab have finally found his way, God's way? But soon enough, Ahab reveals his true self. He is doing everything he can to avoid the word of God and his prophets.

This week we continue with Ahab's story, but this time the story turns more personal. Ahab is frustrated by his inability to purchase a nearby vineyard. His frustrations reveal more of his character and the concluding prophetic word links his character with his idol worship. We become like what we worship.

Chapter 20 turns our attention to Ahab. He has been characterized by passivity and timidity, constantly tossed around by other's advice. That pattern continues into war, but through God's miraculous victory, Ahab appears to find new courage. But an unnamed prophet soon exposed his courage for the same underlining fear. The prophet shows us the character and source of true courage.

How could Elijah go from running in optimism to running in fear? Elijah became so frustrated that he abandoned Israel and prayed that God would end his life.  It's remarkable that the Bible offers us inside looks at the struggles of these remarkable Biblical heroes. Elijah was a man just like us. And God would not abandon him. Elijah would soon discover that he was not alone. He never was.

Elijah's showdown with the prophets of Baal is one of the most familiar stories from 1 Kings. But there is more to the story than we may have realized. Elijah's prayer was that Israel might recognize that God was changing the hearts of his people.

After three years of drought, Elijah was called back to Israel. But before his dramatic showdown with the prophets of Baal, Elijah meets Obadiah.  While Elijah had been faithful in obscurity, Obadiah was attempting a similar faithfulness in the halls of power. But Elijah's appearance creates a temptation for Obadiah, one he finally overcomes. 

Out of the long line of degenerating kings steps the prophet Elijah. His boldness makes him the target of Abab and one of the most important voices in Israel. But he is on the run. And God sends him to the most unlikely place for help. Elijah must be saved by a widow and her son. 

Chapters 15 and 16 are transitions between the stories of David, Solomon, and Reheboam and the coming stories of Elijah. The chapters seem to be summary statements about a line of Israel and Judah's kings. But upon a closer look, each king is evaluated by a single feature. It is not their achievements, wealth, or power. They are evaluated by their heart.

We've seen how Israel's kings continue to grasp for control. And we've seen how the more they attempt to maintain control the more God thwarts their attempts. But these kings live like we so often do. When their lives fall apart, they go on pretending everything is perfectly under control.

Just after learning of Israel's division into two kingdoms, we are given the strange story of the two prophets. It's a puzzle, a kind of parable. It suggests, that the Bible is not naive to the puzzle of our own situations. But there is always a discernible thread, the words of God.

Solomon had left his kingdom ready to collapse, and upon his death it did. How could the great kingdom of Israel be so deeply divided? Surprisingly, through the voice of a prophet, we discover that God is its cause. 

For ten chapters, Solomon has appeared to have success after success. But as his story continues, he becomes less the center of his own story. Though Solomon imagines he has everything under control, he is less in control than ever—and that is a good thing.

Solomon's wisdom expresses itself in not only wealth but also in the respect of foreign kings and queens. Even the Queen of Sheba would glorify Israel's God because of Solomon's success. But like so much of 1 Kings, the attention will prove more than Solomon can handle. 

Solomon had finally finished the temple. An in an event fitting for its achievement, Solomon dedicated the temple before all of Israel. Yet in his accomplishment, God continued to speak to Solomon. Each time he offered the same message—obey. 

The temple is one of the greatest achievements in Israel's history. And Solomon is remembered for his leadership in having completed it. Solomon appeared to be fulfilling all of Israel's greatest hopes. The temple was the new garden of Eden. But not all things are as they appear. 

Having established his kingdom and secured peace, Solomon turned his attention to doing something great for God. Solomon would build a temple for God. It's hard to imagine anything could be negative about a project that focused on the glory of God, but once again, there is more to this story. Solomon's project is a warning about the ways we lose God in the process of doing things for God...

Having received God's gift of wisdom, we jump to the conclusion that Solomon's administrative success must be the outcome of his blessing from God, but there are signs of more complex things beneath the surface. Success is not always an indicator of success.