Deuteronomy 6:10-12 (NIV)

10 When the LORD your God brings you into the land he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, to give you–a land with large, flourishing cities you did not build, 11 houses filled with all kinds of good things you did not provide, wells you did not dig, and vineyards and olive groves you did not plant–then when you eat and are satisfied, 12 be careful that you do not forget the LORD, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.

INTRODUCTION

• “Before I read the text for today I?d like to remind you of what we?ve uncovered so far in Elijah?s life” (Recap what has happened in the story with Elijah so far)
• Emphasize what has happened with Elijah?s visit to the widow (v7-16)
  • Elijah has gone to widow in Zarephath
  • The widow has witnessed the miraculous provision of God in the response to her obeying the word of the Lord through Elijah ? She and her son have been rescued from the brink of death!
  • The Jar of flour and the jug of oil was not used up!
  • Elijah stayed with the woman and her family for the remaining period of the drought.
• “Everything seems to be okay, food is plenty, things are good and then “bam!” tragedy hits! Let?s continue in our story with today?s text from 1 Kings 17:17-24″
• But before I read the text there?s this little story I?d like to share with you?
  

  ILLUSTRATION: A new kind of plane was on its first flight. It was full of reporters and journalists. A little while after takeoff, the captain?s voice was heard over the speakers. “Ladies and gentlemen, I?m delighted to be your pilot for this plane?s historic first flight. I can tell you the flight is going well. Nevertheless, I have to tell you about a minor inconvenience that has occurred . The passengers on the right side can, if they look out their window, see that the closest engine is slightly vibrating. That shouldn?t worry you, because this plane is equipped with four engines and we are flying along smoothly at an acceptable altitude. As long as you are looking out the right side, you might as well look at the other engine on that side. You will notice that it is glowing, or more precisely one should say, burning. That shouldn?t worry you either, since this plane is designed to fly with just two engines if necessary, and we are maintaining an acceptable altitude and speed. As long as we are looking out the plane, those of you on the left side shouldn’t worry if you look out your side of the plane and notice that one engine that is supposed to be there is missing. It fell off about ten minutes ago. Let me tell you that we are amazed that the plane is doing so well without it. However, I will call your attention to something a little more serious. Along the center aisle all the way down the plane a crack has appeared. Some of you are, I suppose, able to look through the crack and may even notice the waves of the Atlantic Ocean below. In fact, those of you with very good eyesight may be able to notice a small lifeboat that was thrown from the plane. Well, ladies and gentlemen, you will be happy to know that your captain is keeping an eye on the progress of the plane from that lifeboat below.

• Sometimes we find ourselves in situations very similar to that plane flight. Everything around us seems to be falling apart and the person in charge seems to be as remote as the captain in the raft on the ocean far below.
• Everyone faces tragedy and it usually catches us unawares. In today?s text, we?re going to learn the truth about tragedy, and crises in our life. You see, tragedy can either make you bitter or better – it can result in life or death ? it can kill us or it can grow us. The difference lies in what your perspective of the tragedy is, the difference lies in how you respond to the tragedy, ultimately the difference lies in what you choose as the outcome of the tragedy. Tragedy can turn you to mush, it can make you sour, it can make your world seem bleak, it can turn the things you like into things you hate, it can change your brightest days into the darkest nights, it can squash incredible potential into dismal failure, it can take a beautiful smile and turn it into a woeful frown, it can turn an angelic face into a prune face. Tragedy can do all these things but it doesn?t have to!! Nobody likes tragedy, nobody likes it when a crisis strikes, and nobody likes it when all of a sudden something bad happens. But the truth is ? and I don?t know if you?ve discovered or not ? but we cannot and will not go through life tragedy free! Tragedy for some of you may be?(start to describe different tragic incidences that occur in peoples lives) Not matter what the crisis, or tragedy is that you face in life you do have a choice in how you will respond and your response will determine the effect tragedy has on your life!! Let?s go to the Bible for our lesson shall we?
• Read 1 Kings 17:17-24

1 Kings 17:17-24 (NIV)

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.”

The crisis (vs. 17-24)

• The widow and her family (along with Elijah) were living in plenty amidst the dreadful drought around them and were enjoying the blessings and provision of God when?
• The widow?s son becomes ill and grew (gradually) worse and worse until he finally stopped breathing
  • Isn?t it odd that the widow only went to Elijah when her son died?

The widow?s response to the tragedy (vs. 18) (she complains ? choosing the path of bitterness)

• The widow goes to Elijah (with her son in her arms [suggesting that the boy is fairly young]) and complains.

In her complaint:

• She accuses Elijah of having something against her
• She acknowledges there is sin in her life.
• She assumes her son?s death is to remind her of her sin.

Three things are happening here in her response that result in becoming a bitter person?

• Looking for someone or something else to blame
• Beginning to blame yourself.
• Trying to explain why it happened.

Elijah?s response (v. 19-21) (takes the tragedy to God)

• Requests the widow to give him her son.
• He took her son (from her arms) up to the upper room (where Elijah was staying) and laid the boy onto his bed.
• Elijah first cried out to the Lord (vs 20)

• Acknowledged the Lord as His God.
• Asked God whether it was Him who brought this tragedy on the widow.
• “Poor Elijah must be getting a complex by now! Everywhere he goes tragedy seems to follow!”

• Then Elijah stretched himself out on the boy 3 times and CRIED out to the Lord “O Lord MY God, let this boys life return to him.

What are the lessons learned from here?

• Sometimes you have to give up in order to get up

• The widow had to give up her boy in order for God to do his work.
• Elijah had to give up the boy to God and His will.
• Stop trying to explain it, stop placing the blame on others and yourself but give up your crisis and your tragedy to God so that He can accomplish His work in spite of the tragedy!!
• Giving up does not mean quitting! I?m not saying that when a financial crisis hits that you quit your business. I?m not saying when you?re having marital problems that you quit your relationship. I?m not saying that when you lose a loved one you quit living and loving. I?m not saying that when you experience a miscarriage that you quit trying to have a baby. I?m not saying that when you are betrayed you quit trusting!!What I am saying is that when tragic things happen don?t complain, don?t gripe, don?t wallow in self-pity and despair, don?t blame others for what has happened, don?t try to explain what happened, don?t choose all those things but instead choose to give your tragedy over to God and say, ” O Lord my God I don?t understand it, I don?t comprehend it, I don?t like it, and I certainly didn?t want this to happen but I?m making the choice to give this tragedy over to you, I?m choosing to let go of the hurt, the pain, the sorrow, and the anguish it has caused me, this tragedy is going to make me better not bitter!!”
• Elijah didn?t wail and moan with the woman and become bitter about what happened to the boy. Elijah didn?t go off and start blaming himself and others for what happened. Elijah simply said, “Give the boy to me” and then gave the boy to God.
• If you don?t believe in God, In Jesus, in the Holy Spirit then whom are you going to give your tragedy to?

• You give up your tragedy to God through faith filled, persistent prayer that invites God to have the last say in your crisis.

• Elijah invited God to have the last say in this tragic circumstance and was persistent in his invitation.
• How often do you invite God to have the last say in the midst of your tragedies and crises?

What was God?s response?

The Lord?s Response (vs.22-23)

• The Lord heard Elijah?s cry
• NOTE: The Lord?s response hinged on Elijah?s reaction to the tragedy!!
• The boy?s life returned to him AND he lived.
  • Two miracles occurred here:

• He was resurrected from the dead
• His original sickness that had caused his death was healed!

• Elijah picked up the child and returned him to his mother.

• She was consoled and declared, “Now I know you are a man of God and that the word of the Lord from your mouth is the truth.”

What will be the Lord?s Response to your tragedy? I don?t know exactly what he will do in your case but I do know this?

• He will respond to your cry!

• His response will hinge on your reaction to your tragedy! Are you going to give it up to Him so that He can have the last word?

• He will return life to you and you will grow and minister to others!!

John 10:9-10 (NIV)

9 I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. He will come in and go out, and find pasture. 10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.

• Those who have made the choice of tragedy making them better are those who have learned to see things from an eternal perspective. They have grown through their tragedy and their life has become more fuller and richer. But that?s not all ? they now are able to be agents of God?s grace when someone else faces a crisis or tragedy and they can say like Elijah ? “Give it to me and we?ll give it to God!”

• God will be glorified by His response!

John 9:1-3 (NIV)

1 As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. 2 His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” 3 “Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus, “but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life.

John 9:24-25 (NIV)

24 A second time they summoned the man who had been blind. “Give glory to God,” they said. “We know this man is a sinner.” 25 He replied, “Whether he is a sinner or not, I don’t know. One thing I do know. I was blind but now I see!”

* The over-comer says?

“My marriage was failing, I was almost bankrupt, my loved one died of cancer, my wife got really sick, I lost my best friend, I failed my exam, my son ran away but I will not quit, I will not creep around in the depths of bitterness, I?m not blaming and I?m not explaining I simply give it over to God and trust Him and believe in Him and hope in Him, and persist in my prayers to Him and this tragedy will not make me bitter but make me better, it will not defeat me but instead complete me, because God will have the last say in my marriage, in my finances, in my health and the health of my loved ones, in my relationships, in my school, in my workplace, in my home, in my family ? I once was blind ? but NOW I SEE!” Give glory to the Lamb of God, and the Lord of Hosts for He is glorified in His response to our tragedies!!!

CONCLUSION

A daughter complained to her father about her life and how things were so hard for her. She did not know how she was going to make it and wanted to give up. She was tired of fighting and struggling. It seemed like every time one problem was solved a new one arose.

Her father, a chef, took her to the kitchen. He filled three pots with water and placed each on a high fire. Soon the pots came to a boil. In one he placed carrots, in the second he placed eggs, and the last he placed ground coffee beans. He let them sit and boil, without saying a word. The daughter impatiently waited, wondering what he was doing. In about 20 minutes he turned off the burners. He fished the carrots out and placed them in a bowl. He pulled the eggs out and placed them in a bowl. Then he ladled the coffee out and placed it in a bowl.

Turning to her he asked, “Darling, what do you see?”

“Carrots, eggs, and coffee,” she replied.

He brought her closer and asked her to feel the carrots. She did and noted that they were soft. He then asked her to take an egg and break it. After pulling off the shell, she observed the hard-boiled egg. Finally, he asked her to sip the coffee. She smiled as she tasted it and smelled its rich aroma.

She humbly asked, “What does it mean Father?”

He explained that each of them had faced the same adversity, boiling water, but each reacted differently. The carrot went in strong, hard, and unrelenting. But after being subjected to the boiling water, it softened and became weak.

The egg had been fragile. Its thin outer shell had protected its liquid interior. But after sitting through the boiling water, its insides became hardened.

The ground coffee beans were unique, however. After they were in the boiling water, they had changed the water.

“Which are you,” he asked his daughter? “When adversity knocks on your door, how do you respond? Are you a carrot, an egg, or a coffee bean?” (I received this in an email from a friend with no given source)

How about you? Are you the carrot that seems hard, but with pain and adversity do you wilt and become soft and lose your strength? Are you the egg, which starts off with a malleable heart? Were you a fluid spirit, but after a death, a breakup, a divorce, or a layoff, have you become hardened and stiff? Your shell looks the same, but are you bitter and tough with a stiff spirit and heart?

Or are you like the coffee bean? The bean changes the hot water, the thing that is bringing the pain. When the water gets the hottest, it just tastes better. If you are like the bean, when things are at their worst, you get better and make things better around you. How do you handle adversity? Are you a carrot, an egg, or a coffee bean?

Do you give your tragedy, your crisis, your trial over to God and surrender to what his last say will be? Do you give God the opportunity to make you better through tragedy. Do you receive the life that only He can bring?

The apostle Paul writes in his letter to the Corinthian church?

2 Corinthians 4:8-9 (NIV)

8 We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; 9 persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.

And near the end of the same letter?

2 Corinthians 12:9-10 (NIV)

9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. 10 That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

Today, I have no doubt that there are some of you who are sitting here who are bitter because of something tragic that has happened or is happening in your life ? maybe you are facing a crisis that seems like it will be the last straw ? the thing that is going to break you. Perhaps you?ve been blaming others, or blaming yourself. Maybe you?ve been trying to explain why this awful thing happened or looking for an explanation from someone else. Friends, if that is you this morning I want to tell you that you do have a choice. Yes the tragedy has hit, the crisis has exploded in your face but you DO HAVE A CHOICE in how you will respond. And I want to invite you this morning to choose better rather than bitter. Choose life rather than death. I invite you this morning to say, “O Lord my God, I give up this awful tragedy, this crisis to you ? I am no longer going play the blaming or explaining game, but I am going to give this crisis over to you and I want you to have the last say!” If that is you this morning will you raise your hand?

Deuteronomy 8:1-5 (NIV)

1 Be careful to follow every command I am giving you today, so that you may live and increase and may enter and possess the land that the LORD promised on oath to your forefathers. 2 Remember how the LORD your God led you all the way in the desert these forty years, to humble you and to test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands. 3 He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your fathers had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD. 4 Your clothes did not wear out and your feet did not swell during these forty years. 5 Know then in your heart that as a man disciplines his son, so the LORD your God disciplines you.

INTRODUCTION

1 Kings 17:2-6 (NIV)

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

Last week, in the introduction to Elijah, the desert prophet, we found this unknown man from Tishbe, Gilead, standing before the king of Israel and telling him that there would be no rain falling on Israel or dew in the next few years. If you read ahead a bit you?d learn that indeed there was no rain or dew for three and a half years!

Now we know that Elijah went before King Ahab in response to the calling of God on his life and in obedience to the message God wanted him to deliver before the King of Israel. Remember that Israel was a nation that had fallen away from God and was worshipping false gods and idols as the result of compromising to the influence of the wicked queen, Jezebel. Elijah was sickened spiritually by the depravity of the nation and he made Himself available to God for whatever God would choose to do through his life. So, Elijah walked up to the palace in Samaria, stood before the King and belted out these words recorded in verse 1.

Wouldn?t it have been easier if God simply killed Ahab and Jezebel and replaced them with a Godly king and queen? If I was advising Elijah on these matters that might be what I would have told him to pray for. I mean a drought is a painful thing, no rain for 3 ? years is bad! We?re talking about little children dying, disease running rampant, everyone would be affected in a terrible way. The drought wouldn?t just be Ahab and Jezebel?s problem ? it would?ve been everyone?s problem! “Now just hold on here a bit Elijah, surely that?s not what God told you to say? I mean, why should the good people suffer along with the evil?” Isn?t that a question that a lot of us ask when looking at the world? “Why does God let bad things happen to good people? Why doesn?t God take care of the evil that?s in the world?”

However, Elijah was faithful to what God directed Him to speak and pray for. What is remarkable is that what Elijah spoke would affect him too! Throughout history God has allowed evil to exist right along side good and worked out His purpose in spite of the existence of evil. In the midst of terrible circumstances God proves Himself most effectively to us here in the world. So even with Elijah ? God was preparing to prove Himself and ready him for a great work. But along the way there are a few surprises?

AN UNEXPECTED COMMAND “Leave here, turn eastward and hide” (v.3)

This makes me think of another occasion in the Bible where God told Abraham to take his only son to the mountain and sacrifice him…(relate story)?To say this was a surprise is a bit of an understatement!

In our text we see that Elijah goes in the boldness of the Lord and stands before the king with his proclamation of faith ? putting it all on the line for God ? and now God commands him to go hide!! Why?

Maybe for Elijah?s protection?Now, I realize that Elijah must be protected, I know that as the drought begins to get severe Ahab would begin to get irritated and would probably blame Elijah. In fact, if you read further in 1 Kings you find that Ahab sent his spies, his soldiers, his agents all over the known world looking for Elijah as the famine grew more and more severe. So yes, hiding Elijah would be good for his protection ? especially if God wanted to speak through Elijah again! But then again, God could surely protect Elijah without hiding him!! In fact, that would be a powerful way of displaying his power and might to the depraved nation ? but that was not the will of God for the moment?

Maybe so Elijah wouldn?t witness the devastation caused by the drought? and so be moved to intercede on behalf of the Israelites. Maybe God wanted to be sure that Elijah would follow through on the task set out for him.

One thing is for sure, however, that God desired to prepare Elijah for what was ahead and deepen His relationship with Elijah. For we find not only the surprising command of God to hide but also the place that God sent Elijah to hide in. A ravine is usually formed by the torrent of spring floods and this probably would have been the case with the Kerith Ravine. Kerith would most likely have referred to what scholars have said is a transient brook (or creek) that dries up during the summer. So the Kerith Ravine would have been this place that the water rushes through in the spring but dries up in the summer. Now wouldn?t that be a good place to go to with the knowledge of an oncoming drought?! Surely someplace along the wide, deep Jordan river would have been a better place? But therein lies another surprise in store for Elijah?

UNEXPECTED PROVISION “I have ordered the ravens to feed you” (v4)

Trials and tests of life are never announced ahead of time are they? Wouldn?t it be nice if God gave us a little forewarning before hard times hit? That way you could kind of brace yourself and get mentally prepared for it! I?m sure Elijah might have thought to himself, “You could have warned me that You would be sending me to hide before I went to King Ahab ? I would?ve sent supplies ahead to the Kerith Ravine and built a house?” But then God tells Elijah that he has made provision for him in the form of ravens bringing him food. Now I don?t know about you but I think that is an incredible test to depend on ravens for your food. Notice that at this point God didn?t tell Elijah what the ravens would be bringing him! How many of you have ever seen a raven picking away at road-kill while driving along the road? How many of you would like a raven as your chef? If I was in Elijah?s shoes at this point I would be saying, “Ok God, this is the thanks I get for obeying your command, ravens for chefs!!”

What is the point? The point is that God?s provision doesn?t always come in the form we would expect or like but nevertheless He still provides. Sometimes the provision God offers in the midst of testing or trial is in itself a test of dependence on Him!

Remember how God provided for the Israelites as they crossed the desert on their way to the promised land? Manna was the incredible miracle God performed morning after morning to lead the Israelites to that humbling place where they were dependent on Him. I?d like to highlight a couple of verses from the passage that was read this morning,

Deuteronomy 8:2-3 (NIV)

2 Remember how the LORD your God led you all the way in the desert these forty years, to humble you and to test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands. 3 He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your fathers had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD.

And isn?t that the same thing God is teaching Elijah here? Elijah was being tested in his obedience to turn and go East to the Kerith Ravine ? but he was also being taught the principle of living by the word of God. For it was at God?s command, at His word, that the ravens were providing food for Elijah!

The Word of the Lord always accompanies the Will of the Lord.

God was very specific on how He would provide for Elijah. Elijah was not to pick berries or hunt for his food, God told Elijah, you just stay put for now and I?ll take care of you. God was teaching Elijah to be more dependent on Him in preparation for the things that would follow. This was something Elijah could never learn outside of the Kerith Ravine experience.

Friends, you will never find God?s will for your life by looking to the world for answers ? the only way you will know God?s will is through His Word! Where was God?s perfect will for Elijah in this passage? It wasn?t at his home, it wasn?t in some comfortable hotel room, it was in obscurity in the midst of the wilderness at side of a brook that normally dries up in the summer. Elijah didn?t have a TV or a short-wave radio to keep him up to date on the latest happening in Samaria. We need to realize that Elijah had no one to fellowship with except God, all alone ? and this is God?s perfect will for Elijah! For there Elijah learned that God?s word always accompanies His will ? His will always accompanies His Word. Elijah learned to live by the Word of God so that the Will of God would be accomplished in his life.

God will lead us to places we don?t necessarily want to go sometimes ? or we?ll find ourselves in places that God has brought us to that we?d rather not be but it?s in the midst of those places that we can learn to live by His word so that His will can be accomplished in our lives. And friends, when you see and know the will of God working out in your life you begin to realize that there is no better place to be no matter where you are!!!

In all this was the more subtle surprise of God?s?

UNEXPECTED PROCEDURE (v.5-6)

There are too very important phrases attributed to Elijah in verse five, “?he did what the Lord had told him?” and he, “?stayed there.” The text is very plain in stating not only Elijah?s obedience in going where God told him to go but also his perseverance in staying there. Friend?s it is one thing to be obedient to the Word of God, it is yet another thing to persevere when it seems that obedience is getting you nowhere or accomplishing nothing or has no reward!

Many people will find themselves right in the middle of God?s will for their lives, which is out of their comfort zone and they don?t stay there, or they?ll try everything in their power to get out! These places are called the pruning places in life. This is where God takes our life and cuts away the parts of us that drain away spiritual life and produce nothing (or dead life).

John 15:2 (NIV)

2 He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.

God?s will for our life is that we be more fruitful. His procedure for doing this is taking the dead parts of us that are draining us of spiritual vitality and cutting them off so that the only thing left is productive spiritual life. But this is a painful place to be, where God prunes us, and many times we will leave this place too soon and don?t allow God to finish His work in our life. It?s so easy to go back to our places of comfort and our old way of living and turn away from God.

Deuteronomy 8:5 (NIV)

5 Know then in your heart that as a man disciplines his son, so the LORD your God disciplines you.

As the Israelites went through the desert on their way to the promised land there were many uncomfortable places that they found themselves in but instead of persevering they began to grumble about there current situation and said they?d rather go back to Egypt where they had been in bondage and slavery! Friends when God leads you to your Kerith Ravine, don?t grumble and complain but persevere and submit to God?s procedure ? for the results will be greater than you or I could ever imagine.

CONCLUSION

Even though it occupies only a few sentences in the first part of chapter 17 Elijah?s experience at the Kerith Ravine lasted at least two and most likely three years of his life. Imagine, three years living in the wilderness ? being fed everyday bread and meat from the beaks of ravens and scavenging for water in an ever dwindling creek! In fact, verse seven tells us that the Kerith eventually dried up! I?ll leave the significance of that for when I speak next week but let me re-emphasize the lessons we learn from Elijah?s hiding place.

Our circumstances are in God?s hands:

Remember that as a believer we are not in control of our lives! Our life is in the hands of God. The problems occur when we take control and become directors of our own destiny because this conflicts with what God wants to do in and through our lives. Now friends, this does not mean that you sit back and wait for things to happen ? all I am saying is that there first of all be a recognition that Christ is our life and that He is in control of what happens; and then there be a surrender to that control with every action we take, with every attitude we have, with every thought we process. Usually its as simple as listening to the voice of the Spirit of God speaking through your conscience.

We can trust that He will provide in the midst of those circumstances:

As we persevere in tests and trials what we already are in Christ spiritually begins to explode into our day to day lives.