Bible Text: 1 Kings 21:1-29 | Preacher: Pastor Joe Ricchuiti | Series: 1 Kings, Not For Sale

1.  It takes a tough-minded man or woman to be the person God expects us to be.  A person who won’t compromise or go soft on the things which are important to God: tough-minded about the Word of God, about our connection with the past and with the future, about sin (especially our thought life), about respecting other people, about fulfilling our God-given role in marriage, and

-tough-minded about our choices

2.  God, through Elijah, calls Ahab to account for his sin.  A day of reckoning always comes.  When we choose to make sin our master we will reap the destruction that sin causes.  For the believer that means loss of temporal fellowship with God (not our salvation which is secure), loss of the joy, peace and divine direction that are meant to enrich our lives.  In extreme cases it can mean loss of our physical lives (1 Corinthians 11:30).  For the unbeliever it means eternal separation from God.

3.  According to A Compact Guide to the Christian Life by K.C. Hinckley, temptation comes in three areas:  temptation to renounce Christ, when we forget that our position in Christ is secure and that our eternal life is secure; temptation to illicit desire (lust, greed, covetousness, gluttony, power, ambition) when try to fill our need for love and respect, for importance, and to fit in in those things rather than realizing that these needs are met by the Lord; temptation of frustrating circumstances ( to despair, give up, to be cynical, to get angry).