Is It Because There Is No God in Israel

In one paragraph

Martin Murphy, one of the church's elders and the Awana leader, brought the message on Memorial Day weekend. He walked through the opening chapter of 2 Kings, focusing on King Ahaziah and his encounter with the prophet Elijah. The thread running through the whole sermon was a simple question: when you are in crisis, where do you turn? Martin opened with some historical grounding so the story would...

Read together

1. 1 Kings 16:30-33 read aloud to describe Ahab's evil reign and worship of Baal and Asherah
2. 1 Kings 22:51-53 read aloud to introduce Ahaziah as king and describe his evil ways following his parents
3. 2 Kings 1:1-17 primary text read aloud, the story of Ahaziah consulting Beelzebub and Elijah's repeated message of judgment
4. Micah 6:8 quoted to connect the third captain's humility before Elijah to doing justice, loving kindness, and walking humbly
5. Colossians 3 referenced to call listeners to set their minds on things above and put on the things of God

Talk about it

1. Martin talked about Ahaziah acting the way he was trained, shaped by the household of Ahab and Jezebel. How have the people who raised you shaped the way you respond to God, for better or worse?
2. The messengers heard Elijah's message and turned around without even reaching Ekron. When has someone or something interrupted a direction you were heading and caused you to turn back?
3. The third captain took a completely different approach from the first two. He knelt and asked for his life to be precious in the prophet's sight. What does that kind of humility before God actually look like in everyday life?
4. Martin asked how many times we have to hear the same message from God before we finally receive it. Is there a message you feel like God has been repeating to you, and what has kept you from acting on it?
5. Martin's closing challenge was about where we go when we are in crisis. He named eating, escaping, recreating, or turning to something other than God. Where do you tend to go first, and what would it look like to go to God instead?