Latest / End-Time Revival Ministries, USA / Episode 68 - Never Alone

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Episode 68 - Never Alone · End-Time Revival Ministries, USA

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The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. He makes me to
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lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside the still waters. He
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restores my soul. And yea, though I go through the valley of the
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shadow of death, I fear no evil. Why because God is with me.
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Father. We thank you for your comforting power. We thank you for
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your peace, the rest that we have in you, the joy, the
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hope of glory, the hope of salvation. Lord, bless now your word.
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Let it rest ruling abide within the heart of some one. To day,
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Lord, that eyes may be open ears a tune to hear what the
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spirit will say to the church. God be magnified today in Jesus name we
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bring if thanks for all things. Amen and Amen. All right, God,
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bless you again. We welcome you once more. Amen to this another
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edition of End Time Revival Ministries US, a broadcast and podcast. I am
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your host, Pastor al Zacharyan. Today. Amen, we are amen,
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going to amen. Hopefully speak this word of encouragement. Amen to the hearts
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of the people of God. Amen. We are we are here to amen
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to help one another along this journey. Amen. In part of our amen
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responsibility as Amen. Ministers of the Word of God is to encourage Amen,
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the people of God. And today we want you to amen. Rests assured
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in this word that comes from the Lord. You are never alone, never
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Amen, never alone. We get to that in just a moment. But
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first and foremost again, we thank each and every one of you for your
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prayers and your support for the work of this ministry. And by the way,
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I've seldom make this announcement pertaining to giving, and those of you who
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would like to give Amen to Amen support the work of this Amen ministry,
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you can do so by way of check on money money order and you can
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mail it directly to Post Office Box one eight two Morrow, Georgia, three
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zero two six zero again post Office box one eight to Morrow, Georgia,
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three zero two six zero, and please it is made payable to e t
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R m U s A. That is for End Time Revival Minute Stry's USA.
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We are a nonprofit organization and all donations AMEN are for the work of
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the ministry, primarily for the radio air time and also for our podcast expenses
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as well. So any donations you give one hundred percent goes to AMEN the
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work of this ministry. So we thank you in advance. For those of
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you who would like to send a donation by way of mail or you can
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cash app. If you have cash App, you can cash app directly to
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Dollar sign E t r M USA. That again is Dollar sign Et r
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M USA Again, End Time Revival Ministrys USA. If you would like to
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amen help us in the work of this ministry. We thank God for these
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almost Oh my goodness, I think it's eighteen years now that we have been
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a man here on the radio and podcasting now for a couple of years,
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a man by way of podcasts. So if you listen by radio, you
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can hear this broadcast each and every Sunday from the studios of Love A sixty
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Sunday evening Love eight sixty Am on the radio dial. Also, the podcasts
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USA Podcast, and you will see it available again many different outlets, and
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we certainly pray that you will not only become a subscriber, but please share
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it with someone else. Amen. So we thank God for again all of
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you, for your prayers and your support for this ministry. All right to
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the Word of the Lord and the Bible. It reminds us by the way
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in the Romans chapter fifteen, verse numb before, that whatever things were written
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before were written for our learning, that we, through the patience and comfort
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of the scriptures, might have hope. So today we're going to take a
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look at an experience in the life of one of the great prophets of the
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Old Testament, who was an ordinary man. The Bible tells us subjected to
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a man the same kinds of feelings and emotions that we are all subjected to
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having in this life. And the man is the great prophet Elijah, a
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man who was sent by God to the wicked king Ahab to announce to him
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that there will be a severe drought in the land because of their wickedness.
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The idol god Bail, a man was being credited with being a god of
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reign and a fertility, and the foreign wife of Ahab, Jezebel, was
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instrumental in causing the people of God to engage in idol worship. Now,
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Elijah's name means the Lord is God, and he is a man there to
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confront. He is sent there to confront a man the evil of idolatry,
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a man that it turned the hearts of the people away from the true and
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the living God. You know the very first commandment a man that the Lord
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gave to Moses a man, is thou shalt have no other gods before me.
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Amen, thou shalt have no other gods before me. So turning your
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bibles, if you have your bibles, turn in your bibles with me to
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First Kings, the Book of First Kings, chapter number nineteen. Amen,
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chapter number nineteen. And we're going to read a man from these verses and
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see what a man we can learn in the life. Amen, from the
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life of this great prophet Elijah. Amen. Verse number one, First Kings,
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chapter nineteen. And Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, also
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how he had executed all the prophets with the sword. Amen. All right,
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before we continue, I want to for those of you who may not
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know a man. Maybe you are new to the faith, or perhaps you
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have not read or been exercised in the Old Testament and may not be familiar
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with this story or these characters. So we have three individuals named here in
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the very first verse of First Kings, Chapter nineteen, Ahab, Jezebel,
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and Elijah. Ahab of course is the king, He's the king over Israel.
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Jezebel is his wife. She is the wife of Ahab, coming to
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him by way of a foreign a man a nation, a man forbidden by
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God as far as matrimony. But yet, of course, in his disobedience,
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Ahab married this foreign woman, a man who was a worshiper of foreign
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God's chiefly bail b a a l And he comes to his wife man.
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And you should, certainly, if you're not familiar, please read this amen
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history of this Ahab and his wife Jezebel, and of all of the treachery
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that they were involved in. But nevertheless, in this particular instance, and
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I'm going to give you the background of this particular story, Ahab tells Jezebel.
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He comes back to his wife Jezebel, and tells her of all of
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the things that Elijah had done. And so that's what we're going to look
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back just a moment before we get down into the amen meet of the message.
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Here, what had Elijah done the Bible tells us here in executing all
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of the prophets with the sword. Now what prophets is it that the Bible
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is referring to. Well, for this we need to go back a man
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into chapter number eighteen a man chapter number eighteen of the Book of First Kings.
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The previous chapter eighteen tells us of this particular instance of this particular showdown,
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if you will, that happened a man at Mount Carmel. And God
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had sent Elijah a man after the end of the three and a half year
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period of no rain or do on the earth, a man to a man
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appear before Ahab, present himself back to Ahab to let him know that there
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will now be rain on the earth. But prior to a man, the
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Lord sending the rain on the earth a man, there was a showdown,
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if you will, at Mount Carmel, and Elijah challenged Ahab to go get
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all of the prophets of bail. It was four hundred and fifty of them.
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A man to come to this mountain and gather all of the people of
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Israel to come to this mountain, the mountain of God, a man to
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a man, see who is God. Remember Elijah's name means the Lord is
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God a man. And so there was a challenge issued a man to the
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prophets of Bail, a man, and and to to to show a man
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who is God, the God who answers by fire a man. And so
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the Bible says Elijah made the challenge the God who answers by fire, let
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him be God. And so a man the prophets of Bail they went first
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a man, and they were to build an altar a man, and put
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a sacrifice there. There were two bulls that were gathered. One was given
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to Elijah, the other was given to the prophets of Bail. And they
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built their altar, and they a man prepared the sacrifice and put it on
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the altar. And then they begin to call upon their god, Bail.
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And the Bible tells us they called, and they called, and they called,
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and they called all in the late morning, the afternoon, and on
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toward on, going on toward the evening, even cutting themselves amen with blood
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gushing out of them a man calling on the God of bail. Of course,
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that could not answer them, because there is no God but God Aven.
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God alone is God. And all of these gods that were made with
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hands are simply gods and figs, figments of man's imaginations. And the Bible
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says when people worship in idolatry, they are really worshiping demons a man.
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And so this idol god Bail, a man, who had been credited with
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being the God of reign and the god of a man fertility, could not
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answer because he has no existence, he has no power, he has no
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life. He cannot hear, he cannot speak, he cannot see, he
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cannot walk, he cannot move, he cannot act, because he doesn't exist
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a man. And so in the showdown these prophets, a man a man
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could not produce a man because their God could not produce an Elijah then called
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the people a man and had them a man to come around to a man.
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And this is why we have to have faith and confidence in God.
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And Elijah did a man. He had faith, and he had confidence and
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the true in the living God, that he would hear from heaven and that
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he would a man answer by fire. The Bible tells us by the way
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that our God is a consuming fire. And so Elijah had the altar of
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God built a man, and then on top of that a man. After
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preparing the sacrifice and placing it on the altar, he had the people to
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pour water all over the altar, to soak it down, to pourd ounce,
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put some more, poor, dounce more. That's it's quite ominous here
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that you have this, this situation where there's a lack of rain, where
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there has men no water, and there's a drought in the land, and
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yet they are pouring water on a man the altar. And yet when this
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is done, a man Elijah in the in the in the eyes of the
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people, in the eyes of Ahab, and the eyes of all of these
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false prophets, demonstrates a man that God is God and that he will answer
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by fire, even though a man the sacrifice and the altar has been saturated
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with water. And so the Bible tells us Elijah pray to the Lord a
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man, and of course God answered by fire, and the fire of God
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fell from heaven. A man dried up, soaked up, a man of
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the wood of the altar itself, a man, the sacrifice everything a man.
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Everything was consumed a man by the fire of God that fell from heaven,
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a man. And so the people saw in that very moment who the
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true and the living God is. And so at that time a man,
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Ahab, a man, and and all the people witnessing the power of God
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a man. Elijah, a man. In this moment had every one of
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those wicked and false prophets of bail A man put to death, a man
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by the sword, a man. They had brought evil, a man upon
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the land, a man in wickedness, a man and soul. In that
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moment, a man. They were consumed, and they were put to death,
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a man. And so this is what Ahab went back to report to
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his wife. Now this man is the king, he's the king. But
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yet he goes back to his wife, a man, to report to her
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a man, what Elijah had done in executing all the prophets. And these
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were her prophets. By the way she brought in, she ushered in a
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man. All of this idolatry. They ate at Jezebel's table. The Bible
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tells us these four hundred and fifty prophets of bail, a man and by
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the way, in case I don't make mention of it earlier, the Bible
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lets us know that Jezebel had slain, had killed a man, all of
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the prophets of God, a man. So this is in essence or retribution
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a man, God paying retribution a man. The blood of his prophets had
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been slain by this wicked woman, a man. And so now God has
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a man paid retribution, a man upon the head of this wickedness, a
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man. So Jezebel now gets word of Elijah, a man doing a man
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these a man exploits. And she is Amen. She is angry, she
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is upset. And the Bible tells us in First King, chapter nineteen.
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Now we go to verse number two. When Jezebel heard these words, amen,
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she got the report from her husband. The Bible says, Jezebel sent
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a messenger to Elijah, saying, so let the gods do to me.
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And more also, if I do not make your life as the life of
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one of them by tomorrow about this time. Wow. So now a man.
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When she gets the word a man of what Elijah a man had done
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to all of her prophets of bail, Amen, she now sends a messenger
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to Elijah to let him know that the gods will do to me. And
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more Also, if I do not make your life, Elijah, as the
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life of one of these prophets by tomorrow about this time, Elijah, I'm
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gonna kill you. I'm gonna kill you. You kill my prophets. I'm
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gonna kill you. Now, what an ominous sounding threat? This is Aman?
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What gods? By the way, what gods were she again referring to
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that actually had the power or the wherewithal to do anything to her. Now
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listen what she says again, So let the gods do to me. And
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more Also, if I do not make your life as the life of one
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of them by tomorrow about this gods is she referring to Amen, if she
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is unable to accomplish what she has uttered with her lips, These conjured up
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by man's imaginations, gods made of wood, made of stone, They do
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not exist, and they are of no threat to her life at all.
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Now she doesn't know that. In her you know, in her blindness,
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Amen, in her wickedness, in her idolatry, she doesn't realize, she
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doesn't understand that these gods that she worship have no power at all, amen,
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so she can make all of these ominous threats. And by the way,
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of course, those of you who already know the story, these gods
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did not do anything to her one day later, twenty four hours later,
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or whatever, because they have no power to do anything to her, and
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nothing happened to her of them. But of course, again, those of
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you who are Bible readers, you know the end of this woman. But
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anyway, this threat that she makes to Elijah, a man, to kill
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him, was a very real threat to him a man, a man,
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and a very real fear of that threat becoming a reality a man, and
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it caused fear and and and and a sense of anxiety a man to overwhelm
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this great prophet in this moment, I'll call it a moment of weakness a
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man. And the Bible tells us, not get to that in just a
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minute. And when he saw that, look at verse number three. When
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he saw that, the Bible says, Elijah arose and ran for his life.
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And he went to Berthsheba, which belongs to Judah. And then the
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Bible tells us he left his servant there, but he himself went a day's
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journey into the wilderness, came and sat down under a broom tree, and
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the Bible tells us there he prayed. Now what is his prayer? Listen
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what the Bible tells us he prayed. He prayed that he might die.
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Now let me tell you something. Listen now, listen, listen, listen.
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Listen to those of you, a man who who who who who don't
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believe in God answering prayer, and and and and their prayers that we pray
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that God doesn't answer. Now, first and foremost, let me just say
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this, God answers all prayer. God answers all prayer. Amen, He
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will answer in the affirmative everything that is according to his will. The Bible
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says, when we pray according to his will, he hears us. If
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it's not according to his will, however, he does still answer. But
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in this particular case, as we see Elijah, the man of God,
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the prophet of God, who prayed, the Bible says that there would be
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no reign. Amen. By the space of three years and six months.
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This man prays to God that he would die, that the Lord would just
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take his life, take him on out of here. And what does God
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say to him? What is God's response to the prayer, brother, no,
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No, the Bible and tell us, he answered Elijah. But he
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the answer to the prayer is no, because God did not take his life.
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And of course, again, those of you who know the rest of
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the story concerning Elijah, he never died. He was one of two individuals
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who were raptured up to heaven and never saw death. But he prayed at
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this moment that God would take his life. It is enough, Lord,
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I've had enough of this foolishness. How many times have we been there?
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Oh? I had enough. I'm sick of this. I'm tired of these
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trials. I'm tired of these persecutions. I'm tired of the enemy harassing me.
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I'm tired of being in the dungeon, being tramped on, uh,
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trampled on, being forsaken, being oh so down. I'm tired. I'm
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tired. I'm tired of the sickness. I'm tired of the afflictions. Elijah
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said, it is enough, It is enough, now, Lord, take
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my life, for I am no better than my father's. Amen. This
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man prayed, He prayed that he might die. Amen. And God said
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no, no, no, And his in his prayer by the way.
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His no, this no for Elijah was a resounding no. It wasn't a
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no, not yet because again he never saw death. Amen. So God,
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God, God, listen, listen, listen. God understands where we
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are. And this is where Elijah is at this moment of I call it
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again, moment of weakness. Amen. He wants to die. He wants
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to die. I'm sure he doesn't want to die at the hand of the
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hand of Jezebel. But he says, Lord, why don't you just take
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my life running from this woman Jezebel? Amen, the threat that she made
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to his life, the Bible says in verse number five. Then as he
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lay and slept under a broom tree, suddenly an angel, God dispatches an
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angel from heaven Amen to be with him. Amen. The Bible says.
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An angel touched him and said to him, arise and eat. The Bible
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says, then he looked, and there by his head was a cake baked
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on coals, and a jar of water. So he ate and drank and
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lay down again. And perhaps Elijah may have thought that he was dreaming.
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Maybe he perhaps thought that he Amen was dead even and carried away in a
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vision. That's just me surmising. The Bible says, he lay down again.
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So he went to sleep again, And the Bible says, and an
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angel of the Lord came back the second time, touched him and said,
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arise and eat, because the journey is too great for you. So he
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arose and ate and drank. And the Bible tells us, Oh, see,
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this is why we need the manner that comes from heaven. This is
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why we need the bread of heaven. This is why we need the water
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of life, the living water, the Bible says. He ate and drank.
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And he went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights
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as far as Horreb, the mountain of God. Amen, this is why
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we again we need. We need the substance a man. The God provides,
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Amen, the meat a man, As Jesus said, My meat is
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to do the will of him that sent me. Amen the food. Amen,
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and listen. God blesses us and gives us the substance that we need
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for our natural bodies. And he understands all of that a man. But
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God will a man and strengthen you, a man, with the manner that
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comes from heaven. He will strengthen you with the water of life. As
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a matter of fact, the Bible tells us that he said, Jesus said
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these were I will be in you a well of water, bringing up to
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everlasting life. He said to the woman of Samaria, if you knew the
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gift of God, a man, and who it was that is conversing with
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you, you would ask of him and he would give you living water.
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We need the living water a man, Jesus himself, the bread of life,
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the water of life, the fountain of life. We need him in
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us every single day. And this is what Elijah got. A man,
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just as the people of God, a man in the wilderness, a man
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every day, a man angel's food. The Bible called it bread from heaven.
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A man. God gave them water out of the rock. And that
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rock, the Bible tells us, was Christ himself, a man. So
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you know you need to keep your reliance a man on God, a man
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who can supply and will supply all of your need according to his riches and
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glory by Christ Jesus. Okay, So the Bible tells us that after the
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Bible says he ate, he went in the strength of that food amen for
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forty days and forty nights, and there the Bible says, in verse number
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nine, he went into a cave and spent the night in that place.
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And now he's asleep in a cave. And the Bible tells us while he's
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there in the cave at the Mountain of God, the Bible says, the
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word of the Lord came to Elijah, and the Bible tells us he said
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to Elijah, what are you doing here? Elijah, why are you here?
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What are you doing here? In Elijah's response, verse number ten,
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listen what the Bible tells us, Elijah responds to the Lord. He says,
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I have been very zealous for the Lord, God of Hosts. You
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know my name is Elijah, and it means the Lord is God. And
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I have been very zealous for you, Lord, for the children of Israel.
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They have forsaken your covenant. They have torn down your altars, they
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have killed your prophets with the sword. I alone am left, and they
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seek to take my life. Oh, Oh, Jesus, help us,
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All, Lord, help us, All help us, All help us,
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All Lord Jesus, help us. All there would listen, we are all
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going to have these times. Amen. This man has just come from a
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man a victorious showdown at Moultcarmel. Amen, a victorious showdown at Moulcarmel,
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where he defeated a man. All of the prophets of bail showed to the
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people, showed to Ahab that God is God. God responded God, a
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man was with him. God did not forsake him. God demonstrated that he
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was God. God answered his prayer right there in the midst of the people,
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sending the fire of God from heaven, consuming the sacrifice, licking up
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all of the water that was in the trenches a man, again demonstrating that
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he is God. God a man was with him. And now Elijah feels
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like that God has forsaken him. He says, I alone am left.
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I'm the only one. I'm the only one God, I'm the only one
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preaching the truth. I'm the only one proclaiming liberty. I'm the only one
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standing in the gap. It's just me. It's just me. No,
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it's not just you. Oh, thank you Jesus. You're not alone.
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But listen, listen again. This is this is this is this is.
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This is Elijah's moment. Amen, This is Elijah's moment. Amen. And
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he wanted he wanted to die. Amen, God dispatched, and they see
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God will never leave us. You are not alone, y'all. No,
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I don't care where you are. I don't care what circumstance. I don't
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care what a situation you may find yourself. You, as a child of
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God, you are never alone. Never you can be by yourself, but
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you are never alone never. Amen. This is but but this is what
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Elijah felt a man. This is what he was feeling in the moment a
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man, and what he was going through in this his fear, in his
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anxiety, fleeing for his life. I'm the only one left. All of
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your other prophets have been killed with the sword. Your covenant has been forsaken,
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Your altars have been torn down. All of the churches have shut down,
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have closed their doors. The people of God have evaporated from the congregation.
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I'm the only one left. I'm the only one proclaiming that Jesus is
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the Way, the truth, and everybody else is gone over to idolatry into
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other religions. I'm the only one. No, no, no, no,
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I am alone, Mence the great prophet of God, Elijah. What
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what was Elijah doing there in that place? What was he doing. There
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was this a place that the Lord sent him to? Was this a place
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where the Lord had instructed him to go? Remember when the famine first started,
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Amen, when the Lord shut up to heaven and there was no reign,
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the Lord sent Elijah, and he instructed him a man to go,
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a man to this brook, and he would be sustained that by a raven
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and and and he would drink from the brook a man. And God sent
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him later on to Zararepith Amen, to a Sardonian woman. Uh, they're
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a widow woman, by the way. And the Lord sent him there to
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sustains Are we are we? Are we walking? Are we going? Are
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we in the place? Amen? Where God a man desires for us,
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instructure for us to be. Amen. See when we get into ourselves,
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when we get into our emotions, when we get into our feelings. Amen.
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When when we forsake the promises of God and don't believe God, and
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and and and have these moments and this is again, this is nobody,
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nobody is exempt from this. Amen. The great Prophet Elijah has this moment
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of despair where he feels like I'm the only one left, I'm all alone,
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And so he runs for his life. Now he's at a place where
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he's hiding out, a man in fear of his life. Amen, was
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this a place? Was this the place for the great prophet of God who
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had just had a showdown facing one against four fifty one versus four hundred and
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fifty false prophets of bail one with God is with the majority. What are
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you doing here, Elijah? Why are you running away from this threat?
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Why are you fleeing from this woman, this one woman who has placed a
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bounty on your head? Have I forsaken you? Elijah? Am I night
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with you? Am I not for you? Oh? What did Paul say?
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Again Roman's chapter number eight. If God be for us, who can
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be against us? No weapon formed against the people of God can prosper.
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Now, listen, I'm not at all trying to dismiss the fact that God
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allows, God permits at times, and we know this throughout the scriptures.
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Amen, there are times when God does permit the enemy to kill, to
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slay, to take the life of those who belonged to him. So this
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was a very real threat. Jezebel had already slain many of the prophets of
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God, the people of God. This was a very real threat that Elijah
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was facing. I'm not minimizing it in any way, Amen. But God
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had not forsaken Elijah, and he had not forsaken even those who had been
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martyred for his Amen name, for worshiping him, for refusing to bow to
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take the knee to the image of Bail. God is always with us,
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whether in life or death, whether I live or die, Amen, God
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is still with us. God is saying, have I not shown myself to
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be God? Did I not just shut up the heavens, allowed no rain,
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no do on the ground for forty two months, three and a half
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years. Did I not just do that, Elijah? It was an answer
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to your prayer to show that God is God and Bail is not the God
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of rain. Remember when Solomon prayed at the dedication of the Temple, and
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God answered his prayer, said, if I shut up heaven that there be
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no rain, or if I send the locusts or pestilence. He said,
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if my people, who are what called by my neighborhood humble themselves and pray,
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turn from their wicked ways and seek my face, I will hear from
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heaven. I will forgive their sins and I will heal the land. Elijah,
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What are you doing here? Why are you here? Did I not
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protect you and sustain you all those three and a half years of the drought?
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Did I not keep you hidden from the mercenaries, from the bounty hunters,
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from the men of Ahab who were deployed trying to find your whereabouts doing
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those three and a half years? This? This, this, by the
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way, let me take you very quickly to first king. Just turned back
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just a little bit to chapter number eighteen, and let me pick it up
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in version one, because I want you to see this, Amen, how
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God is our protection. God is your protection. And no matter what man
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can bring up against you, no matter how much you may be outnumbered.
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Amen, if God is your shield, if God is your protection, Amen,
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man can do nothing to you. He can only do to you what
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God allows. Satan understood that even with Job. You know the story.
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Amen, He wanted at job all those years. But he said, Lord,
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you've put a had your protection around and I can't get to him.
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God has a you know, God has a mean. Matter of fact,
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he is the Bible says Psalm forty six, our fortress, He is our
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ark of safety. We abide under the shadow of the wings of the Almighty
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God is your refuge and strength. He is your protection. Look at first
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King Chapter eighteen. The Bible says, it came to pass after many days.
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This is at the end of the drought, when the Lord is about
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to send the rain upon the earth. He comes back to Elijah. At
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the end of these three and a half years, the word of the Lord,
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the Bible says, came to Elijah and the third year, saying,
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go present yourself to Ahab, and I will send rain on the earth.
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So Elijah went to present himself to Ahab, and there was a severe famine
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in Samaria. Samaria is the capital city of Israel, the nation of Israel,
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the northern tribes of Northern Kingdom, where Ahab was the king. Ahab
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had called Obadiah, who was in charge of his house. Now, the
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Bible tells us Obadiah feared the Lord greatly. For so it was while Jezebel
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massacred. There you see it, she had massacred. She had killed the
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props of the Lord. Obadiah had taken one hundred prophets and hidden them fifty
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to a cave, and had fed them with bread and water. See,
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God had somebody, and he always has something. Elijah didn't know this,
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amen, But Obadiah, the Bible tells us God has somebody in every even
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in that wicked palace where Ahab and Jezebel row, God had his man Obadiah.
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There God had Obadiah, who feared the Lord, a man to preserve
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the life, a man of the lives, or other of one hundred prophets
41:42
of the Lord. And so the Bible tells us verse number five. And
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Ahab had said to Obadiah, go into the land, to all the springs
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of water and to all the brooks. Perhaps we may find grass to keep
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the horses and muse alive, so that we will not have to kill in
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elive stock. So they divided the land between them to explore it. Ahab
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went one way by himself, Obadiah went another way. And as Obadiah was
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on his way, the Bible says, suddenly Elijah met him and said,
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is that you? And he said, rather, the Bible says Obadiah,
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of course he recognized Elijah fell on his face and said, is that you,
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my Lord Elijah? And he answered him, it is I. Go
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tell your master. In other words Gold, report back to Ahab that Elijah
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is here. Elijah is here. God tell Ahab, I'm here. I
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watch this. Obadiah replies to Elijah and said, how have I sinned?
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That you are delivering your servant into the hand of Ahab and he's gonna kill
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me. Now, what does Obadiah mean by that? What he means is
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that verse number ten, he says, as the Lord your God lives,
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there is listen to this. There is no nation or kingdom where my master
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he's talking about Ahab where Ahab has not sent someone to hunt for you,
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to look for you. Elijah, you are the most wanted man. You
43:23
are the villain of villains. You are the top ten, and there nobody
43:30
else. You are the top ten most wanted. Your face is on every
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post office. Your face is plastered everywhere. They're looking for you. Ahab
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has sent mercenaries, bounty hunters all over the place. In no nation or
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kingdom. There is no nation or kingdom anywhere where Ahab has not sent somebody
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look looking for you, Elijah. And now you want me to go back
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to Ahab and tell him that you are here. Because when they went to
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these places, Elijah, they came back and said he's not there. And
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Ahab took an oath from the kingdoms, from the nations that they could not
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find you. And now you want me to go back to Ahab and tell
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him you here. Now, as soon as I do that, Elijah,
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the spirit of the Lord, this is what he obadizing. The Spirit of
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Lord's gonna carry you away. And then Elijah, yeah, we're gonna be
44:44
looking for you, and and and Ahab is gonna kill me. So what
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is what? What is what is what? What? What's the point here?
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All those three and a half years, Ahab had mercenaries if you will,
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bounty hunters, if you will, people, army, navy, marine,
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police, FBI, GBI, whatever you want to call it, looking
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for Elijah. And they could not find him. Why because God was his
45:20
refuge, God was his fortress. God was his protection. God had him
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covered under the shadow of his wings. And they could not find him.
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They could not locate him. They God can make God can even make you
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invisible to the enemy if you so desires. Amen. And so all these
45:44
years God had protected Elijah, three and a half years, and now all
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of a sudden, the wife of this man Jezebel issues a bounty for the
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head of Elijah, and he runs and hides in fear of his life.
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Listen, please understand again, I'm not absolutely not beating up on this great
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man at all. But no one is exempt from their feelings and from their
46:20
emotions. Now, some of us have the ability to mask them better.
46:24
Some of us have the ability to suppress our emotions, our feelings and moments
46:31
that may call for a reaction or call for us to respond with an outwardly
46:37
display of what is going on in the inside. Some of us have that
46:39
ability. Some people can control their emotions and feelings better and react in a
46:50
way a man that may be presentable at that time. And some people have
46:57
been trained even to exercise restraints and to exhibit calmness in moments of crisis.
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But no matter how much training, no matter how much practice, no matter
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how much discipline, no matter how much patience a person may have, there
47:17
is a breaking point. There can come a moment or a season, or
47:24
a weakness, a break, a chink if you will, in the armor
47:32
that can manifest itself in due course. This is what happened with Elijah.
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But he needed not fear the threat of this wicked, idolatrous heathen woman who
47:47
did not possess the power of life and death in her bloody hands. Again,
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he had his moment of weakness and fear for his life. But the
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Lord, his God, did not leave him in that season of despair.
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God did not. He never leaves us, He never forsakes us. As
48:13
a matter of fact, the Lord came to where he was. It was
48:19
almost like that moment of Adam, Adam lost, Adam lost, Adam?
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Where are you? What have you done? What have you done? What
48:28
have why are you? Why? So Elijah, why are you here?
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What are you doing here? God would come to you in those moments.
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See, he's he's always He's always present. Oh thank you Jesus Amen,
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So the Lord says to him, and in verse number of fifteen a goal.
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Return on your way to the wilderness of Damascus. And when you arrive,
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watch this what the Lord says. When you get there, go back,
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and when you arrive, I want you to anoint Haziel as king over
49:13
Syria. Also, oh, watch this, you shall anoint Jehu the son
49:21
of Nimshi, as king over Israel. Uh oh wait a minute, uh
49:30
oh wait a minute. Who is the king of Israel. Ahab, you
49:43
know what this means. See, you gotta understand what's happening here. God
49:46
doesn't have to tell you every God doesn't have to tell you everything he's gonna
49:51
do. He doesn't have to explain every event, give you a day by
49:53
day, play by play, an instance of every single thing in every single
50:00
event, every single moment of time that's going to transpire. He just gives
50:05
you his word, He gives you his promises, and that's all you need
50:08
to rest on it. He tells Elijah, he gives him these instructions to
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go anoint Jehu the son of Nimshi as king over Israel. What does this
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mean? Obviously, it means that Ahab is about to be dethroned, that
50:30
God is about to take care of the enemy. Anoint Jehu, the son
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of Nimshi as king over Israel. Elijah, you don't have to fear for
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your life. I got a mission for it. I'm not done with you.
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Listen. No man can kill you, no man can hurt you,
50:54
no man can harm you. No one can do anything first and foremost again
51:00
to you unless God allows it. And you cannot even die until God is
51:09
finished with you, your work, your mission, everything that He has decreed
51:19
to accomplish in you. You can't even die until it's finished. Elijah,
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what are you doing here? What are you doing here? You're not alone,
51:31
You're not the only one. I've got this. Go go back,
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anoint Haziel as king over Syria. Anoint Jehu the son of Nepshi, as
51:45
king over Israel. And I'm still not finished. I want you to anoint
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Elisha the son of she Fat of abel Meholah as prophet in your place.
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It shall be. This is what the Bible says. This is what God
52:06
is speaking. These are the words of the Lord. I got this,
52:10
Elijah, I got it. I'm in control. I'm sovereign. I reign.
52:16
I rule in the kingdom of men. Life and death is in my
52:22
hands. I kill, I make alive, and no one can deliver out
52:29
of my hands. Elijah, I am the God of all flesh, all
52:32
souls belong to me. It shall be Verse seventeen that whoever escapes the sword
52:43
of Hazel, Jehu will kill, and whoever escapes the sword of Jehu Elishah
52:50
will kill. Yet, and here, Elijah, is a word of comfort
52:57
for your soul. Because you did not know. I'm gonna make this known
53:00
to you yet, Elijah, in response to your complaint, in response to
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your loneliness being the only one, no one left, I'm all alone.
53:19
Yet, Elijah, I have reserved. The Lord says I have reason.
53:23
I have reserved. God is Oh thanked Jesus, Oh. We need to
53:30
start believing the report of the Lord. I have reserved seven thousand in Israel,
53:36
all who's knees have not bowed to bail, and every mouth that has
53:40
not kissed him, I have reserved to myself, Elijah, seven thousand.
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This is one of those most comforting aspects of God's affirmative action for his people.
54:00
God never leaves us, God never mistakes us. We're never alone in
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our sickness, in our good health, in much material gain or if we
54:07
have little, when we're happy, when we're sad or sorrowful, when we're
54:12
on the high mountain tops, or even when we go through the lowest of
54:15
valleys. We are never alone. This is where the people of God rest,
54:21
This is where we can find our rests. It is in Him and
54:23
in his manifold promises that we can be affirmed and have the confidence of our
54:29
future. Despite what our present circumstances may be, and no matter how difficult
54:35
or distressing life situations may be for any of us, we can always rest
54:37
assured that we are never alone. We're never alone in our circumstances, our
54:44
feelings, or even in our emotions. We have not a high priests that
54:46
cannot be touched. The body says, we're the feeling of our infervities.
54:50
But in like manner, in the same way and the same things that we
54:52
go through. Jesus went through all of these things with us. Before us.
55:00
We may be forsaken by man, but the Lord would never leave us.
55:02
He will never forsake us. Yea, though we go through the valley
55:06
of the shadow of death itself, he says, I am with you.
55:09
The apostle Paul, who had been forsaken by many, wrote these words of
55:15
affirmation and Second Corinthians. Second Corinthians, Chapter four, verses eighty nine.
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We are hard pressed on every side, yet not crushed. We are perplexed,
55:23
but not in despair, persecuted but not forsaken, struck down but not
55:28
destroyed. Because Emmanuel God with us is with us. He said, I
55:36
would never leave you. I would never forsake you, people of God.
55:40
We are never alone. God, help us today, help your people open
55:47
our eyes and ears, our understanding, comfort, our hearts. Speak to
55:51
your people wherever they are today, wherever they are today, in their emotions
55:55
and their feelings, and their circumstances, in their situations. God, you
56:00
are there, ever present, never leaving, never forsaking your own. We
56:07
thank you, We bless your name. We give you glory on and praise
56:09
in all things in Jesus name. A man and a man