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Elijah Part 5: Do Your Part. · Growing Together in the Gospel

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_01: Following his great victory over the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel, Elijah received a death threat from Queen Jezebel, who was furious that her prophets had been killed.
• 0:09
  SPEAKER_01: Despite his recent triumph, Elijah was seized by fear and fled for his life southward through Judah to Beersheba, leaving his servant there before venturing alone into the wilderness.
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_01: Utterly exhausted and broken in spirit, he sat beneath the broom tree and prayed for death, telling God, It's enough.
• 0:28
  SPEAKER_01: He felt he had failed, that his ministry was worthless, and he was no better than those who'd come before him.
• 0:35
  SPEAKER_01: He then fell into a deep sleep.
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_01: But rather than rebuking him, God responded with remarkable gentleness.
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_01: An angel appeared twice, touching Elijah and simply urging him to eat.
• 0:48
  SPEAKER_01: Each time, Elijah found freshly baked bread and water beside him.
• 0:52
  SPEAKER_01: There was no lecture, no disappointment, just quiet, practical care for a man at the end of his reign.
• 0:59
  SPEAKER_01: The second visit came with added encouragement.
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_01: The journey is too great for you, acknowledging the weight of what lay ahead.
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_01: Let's see what Dean has for us today.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_00: We're back in the book of Elijah.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_00: We're back in his story.
• 1:15
  SPEAKER_00: We had the grand um showdown between Elijah and the prophets of Baal a couple of weeks ago.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_00: That moment where he finally confronts them and they are exposed.
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_00: God wins the day.
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_00: He shows that he is the one true God.
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_00: He brings down the fire from heaven to burn up the soaking wet altar and to establish he is the one true God.
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_00: The prophets of Baal have been stopped.
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_00: The rain has now fallen.
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_00: Finally, the land is nourished and refreshed.
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_00: Elijah, he has this prayer, he prays to God, and finally the rain falls.
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_00: Seven times you have to go check, and then there's a little cloud, the size of a man's fist.
• 1:49
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know if that means it was that big or whether you could hold your hand up and it would cover the cloud.
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_00: But the idea that something small suddenly comes and grows and the rain falls.
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_00: A bit like we had this week, where suddenly there's nothing and then the massive downpour.
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_00: You're like, Where did that come from?
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_00: But the land is now nourished and flooded.
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_00: Should be rejoicing, should be celebrating, but our Bibles are honest.
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_00: And they treat their heroes with real clarity.
• 2:13
  SPEAKER_00: And so we're surprised when the next story takes a sudden turn and goes in a different direction.
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_00: I'll just read you it from 1 Kings chapter 19 before we reflect on it together.
• 2:21
  SPEAKER_00: I'll read from verse 1 to 9.
• 2:23
  SPEAKER_00: It says, Now Ahab told Jezebel, Ahab the king, told Jezebel, remember she's the his wife, the prophets of Asherah, she's in charge of them.
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_00: She told Jezebel everything Elijah had done and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword.
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_00: So Jezebel sent a message to Elijah to say, May the gods deal with me, be it ever so severely, if by this time tomorrow I do not make your life like that of one of them.
• 2:47
  SPEAKER_00: Elijah was afraid and ran for his life.
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_00: When he came to Beersheba in Judah, he left his servant there, while he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness.
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_00: He came to a broom bush, sat down under it, and prayed that he might die.
• 3:01
  SPEAKER_00: I've had enough, Lord, he said, Take my life.
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_00: I am no better than my ancestors.
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_00: Then he lay down under the bush and fell asleep.
• 3:09
  SPEAKER_00: All at once an angel touched him and said, Get up and eat.
• 3:13
  SPEAKER_00: He looked around, and there by his head was some bread baked over hot coals and a jar of water.
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_00: He ate and drank, and then lay down again.
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_00: The angel of the Lord came back a second time and touched him and said, Get up and eat, for the journey is too much for you.
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_00: So he got up and ate and drank.
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_00: Strengthened by that food, he travelled forty days and forty nights until he reached Horeb, the mountain of God.
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_00: There he went into a cave and spent the night.
• 3:41
  SPEAKER_00: Just so we're aware of what's going on in the background, if you remember, Elijah had set out a challenge to 850 prophets, 450 from Baal and 400 from Asherah.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_00: But in the story, only the prophets of Baal turn up.
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_00: The prophets of Asherah, who are under Jezebel, haven't arrived.
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_00: And so we don't know what's happened to them, whether they were afraid, whether they didn't want to come, or what it was, but they haven't come.
• 4:01
  SPEAKER_00: And so the story here starts with Ahab going back to Jezebel.
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_00: Whether Ahab had a change of heart or a renewing of his mind, but he's obviously seen the rainfall.
• 4:09
  SPEAKER_00: He's obviously seen that God is the one true God, Yahweh is the one true God, and he goes and tells Jezebel.
• 4:15
  SPEAKER_00: Now, Jezebel hasn't seen any of this, she's only heard the report.
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_00: And her heart clearly hasn't been changed.
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_00: Because her response is, he's a dead man.
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_00: If this is what he's done, then we still have it, we still have something we can do.
• 4:29
  SPEAKER_00: We can end his life.
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_00: And so Elijah, who's just spent a few years on the run from Jezebel, on the run hiding in different places, being hidden by God, trying to keep safe, having been brought out into the open, having obeyed God and done what he said and seen the fire fall, now he's back in the exact same situation he's been all these years.
• 4:49
  SPEAKER_00: After all this success, after this grand moment, this wonderful display of God's power, now he finds himself in a situation where nothing has changed.
• 5:00
  SPEAKER_00: I thought big things were going to happen.
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_00: I thought everything was going to be different.
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_00: I thought the rain falling and the grass coming, God's blessing nourishing the land.
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_00: I thought that would change everything.
• 5:11
  SPEAKER_00: But the problem is that it hasn't.
• 5:16
  SPEAKER_00: Idols are tough to kill.
• 5:19
  SPEAKER_00: Idols are tough to get rid of, and even here they come back with a vengeance.
• 5:24
  SPEAKER_00: And when he sees this, he's afraid.
• 5:26
  SPEAKER_00: And so he runs.
• 5:28
  SPEAKER_00: He goes and he hides and he prays, God, I want to die.
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_00: I want to die.
• 5:33
  SPEAKER_00: Take my life.
• 5:34
  SPEAKER_00: I'm no better than my ancestors.
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_00: I couldn't do what you asked me to do.
• 5:38
  SPEAKER_00: I thought I could make a difference.
• 5:39
  SPEAKER_00: I thought it would change everything.
• 5:41
  SPEAKER_00: I know many have come before and they've tried to turn this country around.
• 5:45
  SPEAKER_00: They tried to bring hearts back to God, and all of them have failed.
• 5:48
  SPEAKER_00: And I thought, I thought this was the moment.
• 5:51
  SPEAKER_00: I thought finally there was a breakthrough.
• 5:53
  SPEAKER_00: I thought finally people were going to come back.
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_00: They were going to see who God was.
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_00: They were going to have their hearts captured.
• 5:58
  SPEAKER_00: They would see the rain.
• 5:59
  SPEAKER_00: They would give thanks for his blessing.
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_00: They would be turned around.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_00: Righteousness, holiness would return, and we would be God's light in this dark world.
• 6:08
  SPEAKER_00: But it didn't work.
• 6:10
  SPEAKER_00: It hasn't worked.
• 6:11
  SPEAKER_00: I did it all and it wasn't enough.
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_00: Have you ever hit a wall?
• 6:17
  SPEAKER_00: Have you ever hit a point in your life where you think I've gone this far and I can go no further?
• 6:23
  SPEAKER_00: Just tired, soul weary, exhausted, beyond a vacation, beyond a holiday, beyond a day off that that kind of thing can't fix it.
• 6:32
  SPEAKER_00: You've done everything that you were meant to do.
• 6:34
  SPEAKER_00: You've shown up, you've served, you've parented, you've prayed, you've pastored, you've led, you've cared, you've given up so much.
• 6:41
  SPEAKER_00: You've stood your ground, you've confronted things that are wrong, you've helped people walk into freedom.
• 6:46
  SPEAKER_00: But then there is something else.
• 6:49
  SPEAKER_00: Another crisis, another need, another email, another appointment, another burden.
• 6:54
  SPEAKER_00: Have you ever noticed how much good you do, there is always more to do?
• 6:58
  SPEAKER_00: No matter how much evil you've overcome, there is still more that appears.
• 7:02
  SPEAKER_00: No matter how much you fix or address or solve, it's never quite finished.
• 7:06
  SPEAKER_00: It's the problem with parenting, I found.
• 7:09
  SPEAKER_00: You get up and you get these wonderful children, and they're gorgeous and lovely, and you dress them and you guide them and you feed them and you transport them and you read to them and you listen to them and you play with them and you clean up after them, and that's all great.
• 7:21
  SPEAKER_00: The only problem is you've got to do it all again tomorrow.
• 7:25
  SPEAKER_00: And then you've got to do it the day after that.
• 7:27
  SPEAKER_00: And again, and again, and again.
• 7:29
  SPEAKER_00: It's the problem with people.
• 7:30
  SPEAKER_00: I've said this to many people.
• 7:31
  SPEAKER_00: Church would be really easy if it wasn't for the people.
• 7:34
  SPEAKER_00: Getting on with others is wonderful when it's just me.
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_00: It's it's it's there's always a problem.
• 7:38
  SPEAKER_00: There's an illness, there's a sickness, there's and it just keeps coming.
• 7:42
  SPEAKER_00: Things keep going wrong, things keep happening, and eventually something inside you, perhaps not in church, but in relationships or work, you say, I cannot keep this up.
• 7:51
  SPEAKER_00: I can't keep going.
• 7:52
  SPEAKER_00: And that's where we find Elijah in 1 Kings 19.
• 7:55
  SPEAKER_00: He's just won the most dramatic victories in scripture, he's called down fire from heaven, he's exposed the prophets, he's ended the three-year drought.
• 8:03
  SPEAKER_00: Here is Elijah at the height of success in his ministry, and yet he's ready to give up.
• 8:09
  SPEAKER_00: What?
• 8:10
  SPEAKER_00: After this success, then you're ready to give up?
• 8:13
  SPEAKER_00: You've been hidden, drinking from a brook, being fed by ravens and a widow for all these years, and now you want to give up.
• 8:21
  SPEAKER_00: But you can sort of understand his perspective.
• 8:24
  SPEAKER_00: God, I did I thought everything would change.
• 8:27
  SPEAKER_00: Three years of preparation, that wasn't easy, that was hard.
• 8:31
  SPEAKER_00: Standing up boldly in front of 450 prophets of Baal as they danced and cut themselves and shouted and screamed, and then for me to quietly pray and to see you work, that took great courage.
• 8:44
  SPEAKER_00: To obey you, God, was hard, and I thought, I thought I would see some fruit from it, and maybe I saw a bit, but now my life is still on the line.
• 8:53
  SPEAKER_00: The prophets of Asherah are still out there causing trouble.
• 8:56
  SPEAKER_00: I did A, B, and C, and I expected D, E, and F to follow, but they haven't.
• 9:03
  SPEAKER_00: I did two plus two and expected four, but I ended up with minus three.
• 9:07
  SPEAKER_00: I tried, I listened, I hoped, I trusted, but it wasn't enough.
• 9:11
  SPEAKER_00: The situation hasn't been resolved.
• 9:14
  SPEAKER_00: And maybe we find ourselves at times in that place.
• 9:17
  SPEAKER_00: I did everything I thought I was supposed to do, and I didn't see what I thought I was meant to see.
• 9:24
  SPEAKER_00: The situation didn't fix itself, even though I was faithful.
• 9:28
  SPEAKER_00: The child didn't come back, even though I prayed and was a good parent.
• 9:34
  SPEAKER_00: The oil in the story of the widow, the oil did run out.
• 9:37
  SPEAKER_00: I couldn't keep up.
• 9:39
  SPEAKER_00: And it wasn't that I was doing bad things, that's another sermon.
• 9:42
  SPEAKER_00: It wasn't that I was doing wrong things, I was doing the right thing, and still it hasn't worked.
• 9:48
  SPEAKER_00: I was doing what I was supposed to do and still it didn't fix everything.
• 9:52
  SPEAKER_00: And that perhaps is a despair worse than when I've done the wrong thing and now I have regret.
• 9:57
  SPEAKER_00: This is a despair of I did the right thing and it didn't work out the way I thought it was meant to.
• 10:03
  SPEAKER_00: So Elijah says, Well, I'm no better than anyone else then.
• 10:06
  SPEAKER_00: No, no, I'm just the same as everyone else.
• 10:08
  SPEAKER_00: They all tried and failed.
• 10:10
  SPEAKER_00: I have tried and failed, and so I give up.
• 10:13
  SPEAKER_00: What we're gonna see here is how God so lovingly and gently deals with Elijah.
• 10:18
  SPEAKER_00: The first thing he does in verse 5 is that he comes to him in the form of an angel, a messenger.
• 10:23
  SPEAKER_00: We're gonna look at that a bit more next week, who that is and and what that's about.
• 10:27
  SPEAKER_00: But he comes, it says the angel touched him and said, Get up and eat.
• 10:30
  SPEAKER_00: And he looked around, and there by his head was some bread baked over hot coals, a jar of water.
• 10:36
  SPEAKER_00: He ate and drank, and then lay down again.
• 10:39
  SPEAKER_00: The angel comes and touches him, gives him bread over hot stones, gives him water, tells him to rest.
• 10:46
  SPEAKER_00: And we're gonna see changes his mindset.
• 10:48
  SPEAKER_00: This if we were gonna focus on this, and we won't focus on it fully, but here is basically all self-care and all wellness advice summed up in a few passages.
• 10:58
  SPEAKER_00: All the advice that you will get if you go to doctors, if you're struggling with things, if there's stress or burdens or all these things that we wrestle with in our culture.
• 11:06
  SPEAKER_00: Here is summed up God's prescription and it matches very much modern-day medicine.
• 11:11
  SPEAKER_00: How's your diet?
• 11:12
  SPEAKER_00: Need some nutrition, need something to eat, you build your strength up, you need connection.
• 11:17
  SPEAKER_00: He touches him personally, lets him know he's not alone, that there is someone with him.
• 11:24
  SPEAKER_00: Tells him, eat and then get some sleep, get some rest, refresh yourself.
• 11:30
  SPEAKER_00: You've just had a nap, what you need now is another nap.
• 11:34
  SPEAKER_00: And in this, if you this is wonderful because it shows God's wisdom and how he made us.
• 11:40
  SPEAKER_00: This is care for the whole person.
• 11:42
  SPEAKER_00: When God sees us burdened, he doesn't touch and go, these kids, they just can't, they haven't got the stamina that they used to.
• 11:49
  SPEAKER_00: We are not robots.
• 11:51
  SPEAKER_00: God treats us as beings that he made in his image and he cares for us in that vein.
• 11:56
  SPEAKER_00: And your bodies, your emotions, your nervous system, all of it matters.
• 11:59
  SPEAKER_00: And God, first before he says anything or does anything, he tends to Elijah in his physical condition.
• 12:05
  SPEAKER_00: We are not robots.
• 12:08
  SPEAKER_00: It sounds obvious, but since the Industrial Revolution and the invention of clocks, I have a clock up there ticking away, timing how long I'm speaking for, but but we have been robotized.
• 12:17
  SPEAKER_00: That's why, but but we we are we have been made into robots.
• 12:20
  SPEAKER_00: We have a schedule and a time, and and we need to be more efficient, and we are reduced into numbers and facts and data, and we're fueled by caffeine, and we're rested with alcohol, and we're defined by our output.
• 12:30
  SPEAKER_00: We are treated like robots and we operate like robots, and we wonder why we get burnt out after operating in this way.
• 12:37
  SPEAKER_00: Truth is, we need rest, we need food, we need connection, we need space to breathe, and God doesn't roll his eyes at that, he meets us there.
• 12:48
  SPEAKER_00: Some of the best advice you can give someone is go take a nap.
• 12:52
  SPEAKER_00: Jesus took naps, so if you take a nap, you're being more Christ-like.
• 12:56
  SPEAKER_00: That's your job this afternoon.
• 12:57
  SPEAKER_00: Go and take a nap.
• 12:59
  SPEAKER_00: You just need rest.
• 13:00
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, you don't take one now, but after the service, go take a nap.
• 13:06
  SPEAKER_00: Because there are so many things that I think that you go, I just need guidance, and I need advice, and I need wisdom, I need input, and I need I need guide, I need all this stuff, I need a word from God, I need Him to speak.
• 13:16
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe you just need some sleep.
• 13:18
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe you just need rest.
• 13:20
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe you need to remind yourself that the world doesn't rotate around.
• 13:23
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, sleep is such an odd thing.
• 13:25
  SPEAKER_00: It's it's you have a whole period in your day that you know nothing about.
• 13:29
  SPEAKER_00: You are you don't know what's going on, you can't see anything, the world keeps spinning, it keeps happening every day.
• 13:34
  SPEAKER_00: You have a reminder you are not in control, you are completely disconnected and cut off, and everything is okay.
• 13:42
  SPEAKER_00: You rest because God made you to rest, and in his top ten commands, he puts in there rest because this is really important, and yet we've somehow we've even turned that into something we have to do.
• 13:52
  SPEAKER_00: So have a day off becomes you must have a day off.
• 13:55
  SPEAKER_00: Rather than what a wonderful thing our God says, have a day off.
• 13:59
  SPEAKER_00: Enjoy a day off.
• 14:00
  SPEAKER_00: And it must be one of the greatest tactics of the enemy to turn have a day off into you better not have any fun.
• 14:07
  SPEAKER_00: Turn it into a burden, turn a rest into a burden and then destroy us.
• 14:11
  SPEAKER_00: Don't burn them out by tempting them to do bad things, they won't fall for it.
• 14:14
  SPEAKER_00: Burn them out by making them do so many good things that they're worn out.
• 14:18
  SPEAKER_00: Burn them out by never having a day off by constantly doing and doing, because then they all become so tired that they'll turn away from God, exhausted, and never realize that his burden is light and his yoke is easy.
• 14:30
  SPEAKER_00: We need rest, we need refreshing.
• 14:33
  SPEAKER_00: Somewhere we turned our hearts to the fact that we are machines and we are not.
• 14:38
  SPEAKER_00: We are made for this.
• 14:40
  SPEAKER_00: And all these things are true, and I think we see this in our culture the the increase in mental struggles and resilience and all these things that we're difficult.
• 14:49
  SPEAKER_00: The world has got louder and faster and noisier, and we've forgotten that we are built as beings who need rest.
• 14:55
  SPEAKER_00: And so, this passage, we've got a wellness course that we can run, and they focus on this passage as a guideline to what God and how God treats us, He meets us, and He gives us connection and He nourishes us physically, He rests us in Him.
• 15:09
  SPEAKER_00: But what we have to realize is that that isn't actually enough.
• 15:14
  SPEAKER_00: There's a danger because we're more aware of these things and these patterns of thought and these struggles that people have, but there's a danger in the pendulum swing, and that's we think that that's all that we need.
• 15:25
  SPEAKER_00: And that we need it because that's part of us, but it's not all that we need.
• 15:28
  SPEAKER_00: We can't stay there because otherwise we get this survival mindset where we hunker down and we close off and we we never invite anything.
• 15:35
  SPEAKER_00: We're meant to be rested so that we can go out and do.
• 15:39
  SPEAKER_00: We're meant to be refreshed so that we can give out.
• 15:41
  SPEAKER_00: We aren't meant to be refreshed so that we stay in this box where all we need is a drip feed constantly nourishing us.
• 15:47
  SPEAKER_00: We might need that for a time, but the idea is that we would be built up and healthy, that we could go out and not just be surviving, but be thriving, be overflowing with what God has poured into us.
• 15:58
  SPEAKER_00: And so we need something else.
• 16:00
  SPEAKER_00: And I find it in the next passage where first of all he touches him, gives him food, water, tells him to rest.
• 16:06
  SPEAKER_00: And then it says in verse 7 the angel of the Lord came back a second time and touched him and said, Get up and eat.
• 16:11
  SPEAKER_00: And here's the line for us today.
• 16:13
  SPEAKER_00: For the journey is too much for you.
• 16:17
  SPEAKER_00: The journey is too much for you.
• 16:20
  SPEAKER_00: I'll find it in a minute.
• 16:21
  SPEAKER_00: Can we get there?
• 16:22
  SPEAKER_00: So we've all done all this.
• 16:23
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 16:25
  SPEAKER_00: The journey is too much for you.
• 16:29
  SPEAKER_00: There we go.
• 16:30
  SPEAKER_00: Put on Paul.
• 16:31
  SPEAKER_00: The journey is too much for you.
• 16:32
  SPEAKER_00: So you could go and you could get rest and refreshed, and perhaps you need that.
• 16:36
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not going to dismiss it, I'm not playing that down.
• 16:38
  SPEAKER_00: That sometimes is necessary, in fact, it's always necessary.
• 16:41
  SPEAKER_00: That care for ourselves, that provision for us physically.
• 16:44
  SPEAKER_00: But the angel comes back and says, the journey is too much for you.
• 16:49
  SPEAKER_00: This is true of Elijah and his physical strength, but it's true of his whole life and our whole life.
• 16:54
  SPEAKER_00: The journey in this world is too much for us.
• 16:58
  SPEAKER_00: The journey that we have to make through this world of struggle and suffering, of brokenness, of sin is too much for us.
• 17:06
  SPEAKER_00: The journey of enduring through illness after illness is too much for us.
• 17:11
  SPEAKER_00: The journey of following God in obedience, of choosing the right thing over and over, it's too much for us.
• 17:18
  SPEAKER_00: The journey of finding healing in Him is too much for us.
• 17:22
  SPEAKER_00: The journey of leadership of any sort of responsibility is too much for us.
• 17:26
  SPEAKER_00: The journey of loving your enemies when they do not return that love is too much for us.
• 17:32
  SPEAKER_00: The journey of showing up day after day and being faithful is too much for us.
• 17:38
  SPEAKER_00: And here's where we've got it wrong.
• 17:41
  SPEAKER_00: We thought that we could manage.
• 17:43
  SPEAKER_00: If I just get enough rest, if I just get refreshed, if I just get built back up or get things sorted, then I will be able to cope.
• 17:50
  SPEAKER_00: And this is a reminder that you do need all those things, but you will never be able to cope because this world is too much for us.
• 18:00
  SPEAKER_00: It's too much for any one of us.
• 18:03
  SPEAKER_00: We step out and eventually we will get burnt.
• 18:05
  SPEAKER_00: And this is what Elijah hasn't quite learnt yet.
• 18:08
  SPEAKER_00: Elijah was called to be a prophet, but only a prophet.
• 18:13
  SPEAKER_00: He was never meant to be the savior.
• 18:17
  SPEAKER_00: Elijah, the angel, was saying to him, You're just a prophet.
• 18:21
  SPEAKER_00: I didn't ask you to save Israel.
• 18:24
  SPEAKER_00: I didn't ask you to destroy everything.
• 18:26
  SPEAKER_00: I didn't ask you to overcome every enemy.
• 18:28
  SPEAKER_00: I asked you to do what I told you to do.
• 18:30
  SPEAKER_00: And now you're despairing of life because you thought you were meant to save everyone.
• 18:34
  SPEAKER_00: You thought you were meant to bring down every prophet.
• 18:37
  SPEAKER_00: You thought you were meant to expose every idol.
• 18:39
  SPEAKER_00: No, no, no.
• 18:39
  SPEAKER_00: I only asked you to do this part.
• 18:42
  SPEAKER_00: The journey is too much for you.
• 18:44
  SPEAKER_00: I've given you what you need to do.
• 18:47
  SPEAKER_00: You are not the savior.
• 18:49
  SPEAKER_00: And this mindset, this is the shift that we need to get, as well as all the physical care and all that stuff that we need.
• 18:55
  SPEAKER_00: We need this mindset shift that we are stewards but not saviors.
• 19:01
  SPEAKER_00: You are a steward of your family.
• 19:04
  SPEAKER_00: You are not their savior.
• 19:06
  SPEAKER_00: And I know I'll be speaking to husbands, wives, and parents who despair over children and situations of those who've run amok or gone astray or have turned away or have said no to God and your heart breaks over it, and perhaps you weep over it and you've prayed about it and you call out to God and you carry it like a burden.
• 19:24
  SPEAKER_00: And today is the reminder you are a steward of that family.
• 19:28
  SPEAKER_00: To love them, to be an example to them, to care for them, but you were never meant to be their savior.
• 19:34
  SPEAKER_00: That's too much for you.
• 19:36
  SPEAKER_00: That was never on your shoulders.
• 19:38
  SPEAKER_00: It's too much for you.
• 19:39
  SPEAKER_00: Your calling is to be, if you're a parent, your calling is to be a parent, to love and nurture and guide and be an example.
• 19:47
  SPEAKER_00: You were never meant to be their savior.
• 19:48
  SPEAKER_00: That's too much for you.
• 19:50
  SPEAKER_00: For some of you, it will be a ministry.
• 19:52
  SPEAKER_00: Something that you do and it's a good thing, a glorious thing, but it's become a burden, something that's weighing you down, and you think it's all on me, and I have to hold this together.
• 20:00
  SPEAKER_00: And if I don't, then this person's gonna be disappointed and they're gonna be let down.
• 20:03
  SPEAKER_00: No, no, no.
• 20:04
  SPEAKER_00: You are a steward of what God has given you to do, but you are not their saviour.
• 20:09
  SPEAKER_00: That's too much for you.
• 20:10
  SPEAKER_00: That was never meant to be part of your role.
• 20:12
  SPEAKER_00: You do what I've given you to do, but no more than that.
• 20:16
  SPEAKER_00: You are stewards.
• 20:17
  SPEAKER_00: A steward means I hold it just enough that I'm taking responsibility, but not so tightly that it requires my strength to keep it going.
• 20:25
  SPEAKER_00: I just hold it lightly enough that it won't fall out of my hand, but I'm not crushing it by trying to hold it on and force it to do what I want it to do.
• 20:34
  SPEAKER_00: I'm a steward of it.
• 20:36
  SPEAKER_00: The burden is not on me.
• 20:38
  SPEAKER_00: I am not the savior.
• 20:40
  SPEAKER_00: And Elijah perhaps has got this mindset.
• 20:43
  SPEAKER_00: I was meant to save all of Israel, and yet Jezebel's still there, the prophets of Asherah are still working, and God comes and says, Elijah, the journey's too much for you.
• 20:54
  SPEAKER_00: The journey that you're on, but the journey that you think you're meant to be doing, you're not meant to save all of Israel.
• 20:58
  SPEAKER_00: He's gonna go on later and says, Actually, I've got 7,000 more.
• 21:02
  SPEAKER_00: I've got back up.
• 21:03
  SPEAKER_00: I know you because Elijah thinks he's on his own.
• 21:05
  SPEAKER_00: I'm the only one left, and imagine that burden.
• 21:07
  SPEAKER_00: I'm the only one who can do this, I'm the only one for God.
• 21:10
  SPEAKER_00: It's all on me.
• 21:11
  SPEAKER_00: If I don't do this, who will?
• 21:12
  SPEAKER_00: When God goes, No, it's too much for you.
• 21:14
  SPEAKER_00: But don't worry, I've got 7,000 more in the pipeline.
• 21:17
  SPEAKER_00: I've got 7,000 more who can easily take your place.
• 21:20
  SPEAKER_00: You are not expensive, you are not, um, you are not required.
• 21:24
  SPEAKER_00: You're wanted, but you're not required.
• 21:27
  SPEAKER_00: And that's such a freeing place to be.
• 21:29
  SPEAKER_00: God, I this doesn't depend on me.
• 21:31
  SPEAKER_00: You just want me to join with you.
• 21:33
  SPEAKER_00: None of this depends.
• 21:34
  SPEAKER_00: The burden is not on me.
• 21:36
  SPEAKER_00: Your delight is in me, but your burden is not in me.
• 21:39
  SPEAKER_00: I am free to do what you've called me to do and to leave you to be the savior because that's who you are.
• 21:48
  SPEAKER_00: See, you don't just need a nap, you need rescue.
• 21:51
  SPEAKER_00: And for rescue, you need a savior.
• 21:53
  SPEAKER_00: You don't just need time off, you need resurrection, and resurrection is beyond you.
• 21:57
  SPEAKER_00: You don't just need new priorities, you need something worth giving.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_00: In your life for a kingdom not of your own.
• 22:03
  SPEAKER_00: You don't need safety, you need a savior.
• 22:05
  SPEAKER_00: You need something that you cannot provide.
• 22:07
  SPEAKER_00: And yet, when we take that burden on us, we try and provide what only God can provide, and it is crushing.
• 22:13
  SPEAKER_00: The burden of trying to be God is too much for you.
• 22:17
  SPEAKER_00: That journey is too much for you.
• 22:20
  SPEAKER_00: And so Elijah is reminded you can't do this by yourself.
• 22:25
  SPEAKER_00: It's too much for you.
• 22:26
  SPEAKER_00: The journey is too much, and we need to be reminded.
• 22:29
  SPEAKER_00: All that God has given us to do, all that we want to see, all that we would say is right, and it's his will and it's what he desires, that's fine.
• 22:36
  SPEAKER_00: But it's not your burden to bring it about.
• 22:39
  SPEAKER_00: It's too much for you.
• 22:40
  SPEAKER_00: The delight is that God will do it.
• 22:43
  SPEAKER_00: I was reminded, as I mentioned at the start, I just scribbled a note because I realized this is the story of Pentecost.
• 22:49
  SPEAKER_00: You're going to go out, disciples, and make disciples of all nations, calling all of them.
• 22:53
  SPEAKER_00: But wait, wait, wait, wait, wait.
• 22:54
  SPEAKER_00: Before we don't get it too excited, because you'll think it all depends on you.
• 22:58
  SPEAKER_00: So before you do any of that, wait.
• 23:00
  SPEAKER_00: And when you wait, you will receive power from on high.
• 23:04
  SPEAKER_00: Because it's too much for you.
• 23:06
  SPEAKER_00: It'll be too much to do by yourself, but you'll receive one who will equip you to do this work.
• 23:11
  SPEAKER_00: You will receive power as a church.
• 23:13
  SPEAKER_00: We are reminded today the things we want to see, the hearts we want to win, the lives we want to see transformed, the healing we want to see spread, the salvation we want to see come, it's too much for you.
• 23:25
  SPEAKER_00: What you need is a savior who can equip you to do it.
• 23:29
  SPEAKER_00: Doesn't mean we don't have a responsibility, but we do not have that burden.
• 23:32
  SPEAKER_00: We are stewards who work as we are called to work, but then trust Him to do what He wants to do.
• 23:39
  SPEAKER_00: Elijah needs someone greater.
• 23:43
  SPEAKER_00: He gets bread and he gets connection and he gets refreshed and he gets rest, but we need one who will go into the wilderness without bread and will face temptation and stand firm.
• 23:55
  SPEAKER_00: There's a story like that in the Gospels of a man who goes into the wilderness like Elijah, but bread isn't provided.
• 24:01
  SPEAKER_00: The angels don't come and feed him.
• 24:04
  SPEAKER_00: They come and they encourage him and they minister him, but he doesn't get bread.
• 24:07
  SPEAKER_00: He could turn stones into bread, but he doesn't even do that.
• 24:10
  SPEAKER_00: He endures without the bread because the journey isn't too much for him.
• 24:15
  SPEAKER_00: He is able.
• 24:16
  SPEAKER_00: He faced down his enemies.
• 24:18
  SPEAKER_00: He was threatened by powers and that he overcame them by sacrificing himself.
• 24:23
  SPEAKER_00: He didn't fear for his life, but he gave his life and he didn't break.
• 24:26
  SPEAKER_00: He finished his work, even though he was overwhelmed and exhausted.
• 24:30
  SPEAKER_00: He finished the work that he had to do.
• 24:32
  SPEAKER_00: He didn't just have a connection with God, he was the connection with God.
• 24:36
  SPEAKER_00: The word made flesh, the door, the gate, the way to God.
• 24:40
  SPEAKER_00: He didn't hide in a cave, but he did go into a tomb.
• 24:43
  SPEAKER_00: But he didn't stay there.
• 24:44
  SPEAKER_00: He walked out.
• 24:46
  SPEAKER_00: Elijah needs a savior, and Jesus is the greater Elijah.
• 24:50
  SPEAKER_00: He's the one who doesn't need to be sustained because he's the sustainer.
• 24:54
  SPEAKER_00: He's the one who doesn't just defeat evil, he destroys it once and for all.
• 24:58
  SPEAKER_00: He doesn't just hand out bread, he is the bread of life.
• 25:02
  SPEAKER_00: You need a Jesus, a savior.
• 25:04
  SPEAKER_00: We need more than rest and recovery.
• 25:07
  SPEAKER_00: As good as those things are, please don't hear me diminishing them.
• 25:10
  SPEAKER_00: As good as refreshment, and you need to reorganize and prioritize and get good nutrition and eight hours' sleep and all these other things.
• 25:16
  SPEAKER_00: You need these things.
• 25:18
  SPEAKER_00: But you do need Jesus as well.
• 25:20
  SPEAKER_00: You do need a saviour.
• 25:22
  SPEAKER_00: You do need to realize, and when we call on Jesus as Savior, we're not just saying he is Lord.
• 25:27
  SPEAKER_00: There's a little footnote under that that you don't often see, but it says he is Lord and I am not.
• 25:34
  SPEAKER_00: And that's the bit we often forget.
• 25:36
  SPEAKER_00: If he is Lord, then I am not.
• 25:39
  SPEAKER_00: If he is in control, then I'm not in control.
• 25:42
  SPEAKER_00: If he is able, it's acknowledging I am unable.
• 25:46
  SPEAKER_00: If he is going to do it, then I don't need to do it.
• 25:49
  SPEAKER_00: If he carries the burden, then I don't need to carry the burden.
• 25:53
  SPEAKER_00: And it's that second part that even as followers of Jesus, we forget.
• 25:57
  SPEAKER_00: We say we trust God, but I'm gonna try and help him as much as I can, because he needs a bit of help.
• 26:03
  SPEAKER_00: I know that he can, but he needs a bit of a bit of me in there as well, because he's not pulling his weight.
• 26:09
  SPEAKER_00: And Elijah here is a reminder.
• 26:11
  SPEAKER_00: No, he will do it.
• 26:13
  SPEAKER_00: You do not have the power.
• 26:14
  SPEAKER_00: The journey is too much for you.
• 26:16
  SPEAKER_00: Even if you did everything you were meant to do, it can't all depend on you.
• 26:21
  SPEAKER_00: There are others who will carry it with you.
• 26:24
  SPEAKER_00: Perhaps in this stage of life, you're thinking, well, I need to do this.
• 26:27
  SPEAKER_00: I need to convince them, I need to win them, I need to share with them, I need to, I need to, I need to.
• 26:32
  SPEAKER_00: And maybe God today says, you know what, I've got 7,000 more who could easily take your place.
• 26:37
  SPEAKER_00: Stop thinking so much of yourself.
• 26:40
  SPEAKER_00: Stop thinking that you are the linchpin on which all my plans rest.
• 26:44
  SPEAKER_00: Stop that I wouldn't ever do that.
• 26:45
  SPEAKER_00: I wouldn't ever make you the thing that determines one way or the other.
• 26:49
  SPEAKER_00: You're not strong enough for that.
• 26:52
  SPEAKER_00: I am the linchpin.
• 26:53
  SPEAKER_00: I'm the cornerstone.
• 26:55
  SPEAKER_00: I'm the one on whom it depends.
• 27:00
  SPEAKER_00: When we're saying yes to Jesus, we are we are swapping roles.
• 27:05
  SPEAKER_00: I am not saviour, he is saviour.
• 27:07
  SPEAKER_00: And when you say yes to him, it's really trying to make that that's my final choice.
• 27:11
  SPEAKER_00: I've decided.
• 27:12
  SPEAKER_00: It's my last swap.
• 27:14
  SPEAKER_00: He's my last decision, he's my last choice, he is king, and I am not.
• 27:18
  SPEAKER_00: And I don't want to swap back.
• 27:20
  SPEAKER_00: I don't want to try and take that back.
• 27:21
  SPEAKER_00: I don't want to become him again.
• 27:24
  SPEAKER_00: No, Elijah, you need to learn.
• 27:26
  SPEAKER_00: It's always been too much for you.
• 27:28
  SPEAKER_00: Even at your greatest, even as you stood on that mountain, it was always too much for you.
• 27:32
  SPEAKER_00: It wasn't you who saved anyone.
• 27:34
  SPEAKER_00: It wasn't you who brought down the fire.
• 27:36
  SPEAKER_00: It wasn't you who exposed the prophets of Baal.
• 27:39
  SPEAKER_00: It wasn't you who turned hearts, it was all me.
• 27:42
  SPEAKER_00: You were just along for the ride.
• 27:44
  SPEAKER_00: And in there there is a freedom and a joy.
• 27:48
  SPEAKER_00: Today we are invited to come to the one who has enough, who is enough, who is the saviour so that we don't have to be.
• 27:56
  SPEAKER_00: The one who said, Come to me, if you're weary and burdened, if there is a weight on you that you shouldn't have, if there is something that you're carrying, if you did everything you were meant to do and it didn't work out, and you're wondering why that's a burden you were never meant to carry.
• 28:12
  SPEAKER_00: Come to me and I will give you rest.
• 28:16
  SPEAKER_00: I will give you bread to strengthen you.
• 28:19
  SPEAKER_00: I will not just fix you up and send you off, I will walk with you every step.
• 28:24
  SPEAKER_00: I won't just restore you, I will redeem you and bring you to myself.
• 28:28
  SPEAKER_00: The journey is too much for you, but it isn't too much for him.
• 28:33
  SPEAKER_00: It isn't too much for Jesus.
• 28:35
  SPEAKER_00: And so we come to him.
• 28:37
  SPEAKER_00: Not when we're strong or we've got it figured out, or not when we're fully rested and refreshed, we come weary and we come empty, we come as we are, and we're reminded as we do that we may be overwhelmed, but we're not outnumbered.
• 28:51
  SPEAKER_00: You and Jesus is enough.
• 28:54
  SPEAKER_00: You and him is enough.
• 28:57
  SPEAKER_00: And I don't know where that lands, maybe it is as parents.
• 29:00
  SPEAKER_00: I know I know the pressure of our ours aren't at an age yet where they they can rebel very easily.
• 29:04
  SPEAKER_00: They still I can still pick them up and take them where they need to go and do what they need to do.
• 29:08
  SPEAKER_00: But I know there's a time coming when there will be a no that I can do nothing about.
• 29:13
  SPEAKER_00: And I know some of you are in that place and have been through that place, and that's a burden on your heart.
• 29:18
  SPEAKER_00: And today I want to lift that burden.
• 29:20
  SPEAKER_00: You were called to be a parent, not their saviour.
• 29:23
  SPEAKER_00: There is a delight in that role that you can take.
• 29:27
  SPEAKER_00: You still pray, you still long.
• 29:29
  SPEAKER_00: It doesn't remove that longing and that cry of your heart, but perhaps it just lifts that burden from you.
• 29:35
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe it's something different, perhaps it is a ministry, or something that you've taken on, perhaps it's something that God put on your heart, this burden, a burden for revival, or for a certain group of people, or or whatever it is.
• 29:46
  SPEAKER_00: I know we've got people here who have this longing for the teenagers and young people in our town.
• 29:50
  SPEAKER_00: There are some of you who have this concern for the elderly, those who are facing the end of their life.
• 29:55
  SPEAKER_00: That's wonderful things, but don't take the burden that it's yours to save them.
• 29:59
  SPEAKER_00: That burden is what God will use, but it will be used so that you can be you.
• 30:03
  SPEAKER_00: You're just a prophet, Elijah.
• 30:06
  SPEAKER_00: You're just a parent, you're just a friend, you're just a companion, you're just a carer, but don't think that that's diminishing.
• 30:14
  SPEAKER_00: That's saying, This is what I've called you to do.
• 30:16
  SPEAKER_00: And I will use that by my spirit, I will use that to do what you cannot do.
• 30:23
  SPEAKER_00: I will use the words that you speak and the way that you act, I will use that to save them.
• 30:28
  SPEAKER_00: But you are not the saviour.
• 30:30
  SPEAKER_00: You're just the vessel.
• 30:33
  SPEAKER_02: We hope that you've enjoyed listening to Dean's thoughts today.
• 30:36
  SPEAKER_02: If anything that he has said has challenged you or raised questions that you'd like answers to, please don't hesitate to contact us and ask for a chat.
• 30:44
  SPEAKER_02: You can find our details on our website, which is leovc.co.uk, as well as on the information that we have posted for this podcast.
• 30:54
  SPEAKER_02: Alternatively, if you live in our area, you are very welcome to join us on Sunday morning at 10 30 to Horgons First Hand.
• 31:01
  SPEAKER_02: We'd love to see you there.