Latest / Calvary Church with Ed Taylor Podcast / #20250824 - God Cares- 1 Kings 19
Transcript
- 0:05Welcome to the study of God's Word recorded live at Calvary
- 0:08Church in Aurora, Co. To learn more about the many
- 0:12resources available through Abounding Grace Media or to tune
- 0:15into our live stream services, visit us online at Calvary Co
- 0:20dot Church or download our free Calvary Church app.
- 0:24Now let's open our Bibles and study God's Word.
- 0:30All right, so first Kings 19, but before going into that,
- 0:36actually, I'm going to share a little story with you.
- 0:38I'm not really an emotional guy. Like I'm not super like wear my
- 0:43emotions on my sleeve. I'm one of those guys, like when
- 0:46I'm upset, I get quiet, which is just as obvious as someone who
- 0:50doesn't get quiet with their emotions.
- 0:52And you know, sometimes with sports, you know, I'm a pretty
- 0:55competitive guy. So like emotion comes out in
- 0:57sports. If you guys are looking for
- 1:00something to do on a Tuesday night, I'm a part of a rec
- 1:02volleyball league, which you are welcome to come and watch.
- 1:05Me and my wife dominate the Aurora Sports Center, so we're
- 1:09actually at the Central Rec Radiational, you know, whatever
- 1:12building over there. So if you want to come watch us
- 1:14when we're eight, one right now. So I'm pretty proud of that.
- 1:16You'll see my emotions on the court.
- 1:18I share that because what I'm about to share is going to out
- 1:20me and my emotions. And I just want you guys have
- 1:22grace and mercy on this story and pray for my wife, please.
- 1:26So you may know if you've lived in Colorado, we've had some hot
- 1:31days this summer. We've had some days that have
- 1:34hit 999897. One of those days was a
- 1:38Wednesday a few weeks ago, maybe even close to two months ago,
- 1:41And we were here Wednesday, finished service Wednesday
- 1:44night. We're getting home around 9:10
- 1:46o'clock, whatever it was. And in our house, I've been
- 1:49married for a year, so I can say in my house is how it's done.
- 1:52We've been married for a year and a few months.
- 1:54We like to keep the thermostat between the degrees of 68 and
- 1:5870. OK, so that's where it's at.
- 2:00It could be for some of you. Last night I got some flak.
- 2:02That's too cold. It's just how our house, my
- 2:05house, is going to be set. When you have your degree and
- 2:09temperature at that level, when you walk in from your garage
- 2:12into your house, you can usually feel the chill wind hit your
- 2:16face. This Wednesday night, after a
- 2:18long time at church, we finally get home.
- 2:21I open the door. There is no change in
- 2:22temperature from the garage to the home.
- 2:25And I realized that there's something wrong with the house.
- 2:28I am not feeling the rest, the relaxation and the welcome home
- 2:32feeling I usually get when I open that door.
- 2:35So I go outside and you know, I'm keeping a very calm
- 2:38composure. I go outside, I check the
- 2:40breaker, I go outside, check the air conditioning, the fans not
- 2:43turning red flag. Wondering why, what's going on?
- 2:46Come inside, I tell my wife, wife, we have a great
- 2:51opportunity in front of us tonight.
- 2:53We get to learn and grow together.
- 2:54We get to experience this and allow the Lord to lead us
- 2:57through what we're about to feel tonight.
- 3:00And it was great. It was a great emotional, you
- 3:03know, I was strong, confident, you know, no emotion.
- 3:06It was it was amazing until I laid in bed and sweat was
- 3:11dripping down my face because it was 88° in our house at 9:30 at
- 3:15night and I didn't say anything. I kept it.
- 3:17I was just, I just need to fall asleep and everything will be
- 3:20fine when I wake up. Everything was not fine when we
- 3:23woke up. The air conditioning was still
- 3:24broken. The HVAC guy was supposed to
- 3:26come that day later that day the next morning.
- 3:28So being the leader of the home I was, I was like, let's go.
- 3:32We're going to go to the gym. It's our day off.
- 3:35We're going to go workout, do that thing, but we're going to
- 3:37jump into the cold plunge pool and I want you to come with me
- 3:41wife so that you are freezing cold as we head back to the
- 3:43house. And so she did so you can be
- 3:46praying for her. She did it.
- 3:47She was it was amazing. We get back in the car and I was
- 3:49like, you know what, in order to prep for what we're about to
- 3:52experience walking back to the house because she didn't know
- 3:54the HVAC guy wasn't going to be there till 7:30 that day.
- 3:57So we had a whole day in front of us, a day off spending in our
- 3:59home. We get in the car, I turn off
- 4:03the air conditioning, I raise up the windows.
- 4:05It's about 92° at about 10:00 AM.
- 4:08And she's like, what are you doing?
- 4:09And it's because sweat is starting to fall down our face.
- 4:12I was like, I'm prepping us for what the rest of the day is
- 4:14going to feel like. And she's like, what she's she
- 4:18lowered it, I raised it back up, I locked it.
- 4:20She can't put it back down. Like this is good for us.
- 4:24Let's just pray for my wife where you're into it.
- 4:27So we get to the home and it's still broken, It's still really
- 4:30hot, and we're going about our day.
- 4:34I told her, hey, you can't use the stove.
- 4:35Like, please don't heat up things.
- 4:37It's going to heat the house even more.
- 4:38It's 86° right now and it's slowly climbing outside.
- 4:42And she said, OK, OK, you know, we won't, we'll use leftovers,
- 4:45whatever. About an hour into it, I just
- 4:48lose it. I was like, this is the worst
- 4:49day. It's so hot, I can't do it.
- 4:52And like, my emotions just get the best of me.
- 4:54And I share all of this, not to just out, but it's just
- 4:57circumstances tend to pile up. And eventually we get to a point
- 5:00where we break. And you know, I can hold a line
- 5:02for a while, but eventually I get to the place where my
- 5:05emotions overtake my mind. And your emotions can do that
- 5:09quite often. You can have expectations.
- 5:11You can have things set in, in motion in your mind.
- 5:14You can have like, I will make it through this point.
- 5:16And thankfully, I am married to a very gracious and merciful
- 5:20wife. And we endured that day.
- 5:21It was great. We had a lot of fun.
- 5:22We sweat together and it was just hot in the house and it
- 5:25was, it was miserable. And you know, some of you, some
- 5:29of you understand because you're like, Yep, I understand that.
- 5:32I like the way things are in my life.
- 5:34Some of you don't understand you.
- 5:35I've been without AC for 10 years.
- 5:36I applaud you. That is an amazing, glorious
- 5:39feat. But for me in my life, like
- 5:41there's certain things and I'm sure in your own life that you
- 5:43have certain expectations. I like things this way.
- 5:47I expect things to be this way. I've set up my life in a way so
- 5:50that it is this way because I like my comforts.
- 5:53I like what things are, where things are at.
- 5:56I have an expectation on how I like to live my life.
- 5:59You know, I workout to stay healthy.
- 6:01So when you get sick, it's really, it's really a hard thing
- 6:03for you getting sick. I just, sometimes you just
- 6:05ignore it. I'm not even sick.
- 6:06I'm going to keep pushing through.
- 6:08For some of you, I've really invested in this relationship so
- 6:11that it would be really healthy. And so that would be good.
- 6:13So when there's a fight or when there's a breakdown, it really
- 6:15effects you. It hurts you.
- 6:17When you have a prayer answered and you're you're praying about
- 6:20the next thing. You're like, Lord, please, will
- 6:22you please set it up in this way.
- 6:24You're really hopeful. Then when the Lord doesn't come
- 6:26through, at least it doesn't feel like he's coming through.
- 6:28You're really depressed or you're angry or you're confused.
- 6:32For Elijah, we're going to look in this passage in First Kings
- 6:3519 where he comes to this place where things do not end up the
- 6:39way he thought and it causes him to go into a place of great
- 6:43distress. His emotions overwhelm him.
- 6:47The situation wasn't how he pictured it or how he viewed it
- 6:51or what he desired from it. And I know I use a silly example
- 6:54about air conditioning. It really wasn't that big of a
- 6:56deal. Like air conditioning is not
- 6:57that big of a deal. There's much more serious things
- 7:00that we can talk about in our lives that are bigger deals that
- 7:04we really cry out to the Lord. Lord, where are you?
- 7:06What are you doing? Why are you so distant from me
- 7:09like that psalmist? Where have you gone?
- 7:11Why have you hidden your face from me?
- 7:12Why are you letting enemies prevail over me?
- 7:15I represent you. Lord, where are you?
- 7:18And for Elijah, we're going to see three things, and I want you
- 7:21to hold on to it. There's three things that I want
- 7:23you to leave from this message. It's these three things.
- 7:26God cared for Elijah, and He's cared for you and me.
- 7:30God cares for Elijah, as we're going to see in First Kings 19,
- 7:33and he cares for you and me. And God will continue to care
- 7:37for Elijah even after this chapter, just like he's going to
- 7:40continue to care for you and I as we go forward into the
- 7:43future. And just like the message says,
- 7:45really simply, God cares. So if you would pick up with me
- 7:49in First Kings chapter 19, we're going to read the first 4
- 7:52verses. And it says in Ahab who was king
- 7:58at the time, told Jezebel who was his wife, all that Elijah
- 8:01had done. Also how he had executed all the
- 8:04prophets with a sword. Then Jezebel sent a messenger to
- 8:07Elijah saying so let the gods do to me and more also if I do not
- 8:10make your life as the life of one of them by tomorrow about
- 8:14this time. And when he saw that, he arose
- 8:16Speaking of Elijah and ran for his life and went to Beersheba,
- 8:19which belongs to Judah, and left his servant there.
- 8:22But he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness and
- 8:25came and sat down under a broom tree, and he prayed that he
- 8:28might die and said it is enough now, Lord, take my life, for I
- 8:32am no better than my father's. And we're going to pause there.
- 8:36I think it's important, especially in messages where
- 8:38it's topical like this. I need to give context.
- 8:40I need to give you guys some general context.
- 8:42And then we'll also jump into some specific context for Elijah
- 8:45At this point. Elijah was a prophet of God,
- 8:47which meant he was God's mouthpiece to the people of
- 8:49Israel. Many of you are familiar and
- 8:52some of you may not be, but there was a time where Israel
- 8:54was led just by the Lord and prophets the voice of a prophet.
- 8:58But at one point they came to a place where they wanted a king
- 9:01to be like all the other nations around them.
- 9:02So the Lord said OK, you can raise up a king for yourself.
- 9:05He allowed Samuel, the prophet at the time to anoint Saul as
- 9:09king. Saul was known as having wasted
- 9:11potential. He could have been so much more
- 9:13of a because of some fleshly desires and some sins that he
- 9:16committed towards the Lord. The Lord removed the Kingdom
- 9:18from his bloodline and gave it to a young man by the name of
- 9:21David, shepherd boy. That David would then become
- 9:24king. He would be a great king.
- 9:25He would have some really highs beating Goliath and some really
- 9:28lows committing adultery with Bathsheba.
- 9:31But from David, it would then go on to his son King Solomon, who
- 9:35would be the wisest man to ever live.
- 9:37He would take Israel to the height of its glory, of wealth
- 9:41and resources. It would be known among the
- 9:43nations of how amazing Israel was because of King Solomon.
- 9:47However, after King Solomon dies, the nation is split into
- 9:50two. There's a northern king of
- 9:51Israel and a southern Kingdom of Judah, and he both have their
- 9:54own kings and their lineages and most of them, there's a couple
- 9:59bright spots, but most of those kings were wicked and terrible.
- 10:03During this time, the Lord would raise up different prophets.
- 10:06He would raise up prophets like Nathan.
- 10:08He would raise up prophets like Samuel.
- 10:10He would raise up prophets like Elijah and Elijah.
- 10:12And today we're going to be focusing on Elijah and Elijah's
- 10:15ministry to the king of Israel at this time, which was King
- 10:19Ahab and his wife. Queen Jezebel, was a hard one.
- 10:21It was challenging. It was so challenging that
- 10:23Elijah prayed that there would be a drought, there would be no
- 10:26rain in Israel to help Israel realize that they're not
- 10:29following after the Lord. And that drought would go on for
- 10:323 1/2 years. It would continue this battle
- 10:35between the false God that Queen Jezebel was financing with the
- 10:38kingdom's funds. She was financing the prophets
- 10:41of Baal. There's about 400 of them.
- 10:44And she would continue pushing this false religion, this false
- 10:48God, this false idolatry to the people of Israel.
- 10:51And King Ahab was allowing it and also supporting it as well.
- 10:54They were both two of the worst king, really king and queen that
- 10:58to ever rule in Israel at this time.
- 11:01And Elijah finally came to a point where he openly challenged
- 11:05these false prophets. He openly challenged them in in
- 11:07chapter 18. We're actually going to read it.
- 11:09And he calls them out to come to Mount Carmel.
- 11:12And at Mount Carmel, they meet on the top of this mountain and
- 11:16he allows the false prophets of all, all the 400 of them to cry
- 11:21out. And they were mutilating their
- 11:23bodies in the way that they're trying to get their God to
- 11:25respond, to burn the sacrifice. And their God didn't respond so
- 11:31much so. And his confidence, Elijah would
- 11:33say, is your God gone? Is he busy?
- 11:35If you translate that, it's like, is he going to the
- 11:37restroom? Is, you know, he's mocking the
- 11:40prophets of all and then he has this prayer and actually let's
- 11:43read it before I just self explain it, but it's chapter 18
- 11:47verses 36. We're going to read 36 through
- 11:4846. But he has this prayer that the
- 11:51Lord would show up in a way that would cause the people of Israel
- 11:54to recognize God's greatness and turn back their hearts.
- 11:59Then it says in chapter 18 of First Kings, starting in verse
- 12:0136, it says, and it came to pass at the time of the offering of
- 12:06the evening sacrifice. So they've been there all day,
- 12:09that Elijah the prophet came near and said, Lord God of
- 12:12Abraham, Isaac and Israel, let it be known this day that you
- 12:15are God in Israel and I am your servant, and that I've done all
- 12:19these things at your word. Hear me, O Lord, hear me, that
- 12:23this people may know that you are the Lord God and that you
- 12:26have turned their hearts back to you again.
- 12:30Then in verse 38, the fire of the Lord fell and consumed the
- 12:33burnt sacrifice and the wood and the stones and the dust, and it
- 12:37licked up the water that was in the trench.
- 12:39Side note, Elijah around the altar of God built a trench and
- 12:44filled it with water not once, not twice, but three times.
- 12:46He drenched this altar with water.
- 12:48Now when you think about it in the context, again, context is
- 12:51important. 3 1/2 years of a drought, water was scarce.
- 12:55Water was valuable, water was important.
- 12:57It was a resource that was hard to get and yet here Elijah in
- 13:01his confidence is filling up this trench and as we see the
- 13:04fire of the Lord came and licked up the water that was in the
- 13:07trench. So just an amazing awe inspiring
- 13:09moment that's happening in verse 38 and in verse 39 says now when
- 13:12all the people saw it, they fell on their faces and they said the
- 13:15Lord he is God, the Lord he is God.
- 13:18And Elijah said to them, seize the prophets of all, do not let
- 13:21one of them escape, so they seize them.
- 13:22And Elijah brought them down to the brook of Kishon and executed
- 13:25them there. And the drought ends.
- 13:27In verse 41 it says. Then Elijah said, Ahab, go up,
- 13:30eat and drink, for there is a sound of abundance of rain.
- 13:33So Ahab went up to eat and drink.
- 13:35And Elijah went up to the top of Carmel.
- 13:37Then he bowed down on the ground and put his face between his
- 13:39knees. And he said to his servant, go
- 13:41up, now, look toward the sea. So he went up and looked, and he
- 13:44said, there's nothing. And seven times he said, go
- 13:48again. So go again, go again, go again,
- 13:51go again, go again, go again, go again.
- 13:54If you're the servant, you're like, what is wrong with Elijah
- 13:57at this moment? You know, he's sitting down with
- 13:59his head between his knees and he's just keep telling you to go
- 14:02and look at nothing. But it's the seventh time it
- 14:05says in verse 44. Then it came to pass the 7th
- 14:07time that he said there is, and this is the servant.
- 14:11There's a cloud as small as a man's hand rising out of the
- 14:14sea. And there's an exclamation
- 14:15point. So I don't actually read it with
- 14:16the right emphasis, but there's a cloud as small as a man's hand
- 14:19rising up out of the sea. You can imagine how excited he
- 14:22was to finally see on the 7th time that there was something
- 14:26happening. And so he said, Go up and say to
- 14:28Ahab, prepare your chariot, and go down before the rain stops
- 14:31you. Now it happened in the meantime
- 14:33that the sky became black with clouds and wind, and there was a
- 14:36heavy rain. So Ahab rode away and went to
- 14:39Jezreel. Then the hand of the Lord came
- 14:40upon Elijah, and he gird up his loins and ran ahead of Ahab to
- 14:45the entrance of Jezreel. 3 things happened in this passage
- 14:51that are pretty exciting. The first we've already touched
- 14:55on the fire of the Lord coming down and consuming that altar.
- 14:59You see that there is a radical move from the people to then
- 15:03exalt God as Yahweh, which when you see the Lord in all caps it
- 15:07means Yahweh. Yahweh is God, Yahweh is God a a
- 15:10proclamation of who the true God is because of what they just
- 15:13experienced and saw. You see the drought after 3 1/2
- 15:16years ending, you see that it wasn't just a trickle of rain,
- 15:20it wasn't just a drizzle. It was truly a rainstorm to the
- 15:25point where Elijah tells his servant to go tell King Ahab,
- 15:28hey, you need to get going or you're going to get stuck
- 15:30because of the floods that are coming.
- 15:32It gives us a really strong description where the sky was
- 15:36black and the winds were strong. Like this wasn't just a normal
- 15:39rain, this was a torrential storm that was coming to end
- 15:42this drought. The Lord showed up in 2 mighty
- 15:45ways. And then the last one's kind of
- 15:46a cool one, but it says that Elijah girded up his loins or
- 15:49like he pulled his robe up and he outran and King Ahab and his
- 15:53chariot to Jezreel. Like there was a super speed
- 15:56aspect here that Elijah got to experience, which I don't know.
- 15:59One of those would have gotten me to be like, whoa, the Lord
- 16:02answered my prayer. Like the droughts ending with
- 16:04this amazing storm, or whoa, I just saw a pillar of fire
- 16:07completely consume this altar after I prayed for it.
- 16:10Or whoa, I am faster than a man in a chariot.
- 16:13Like any of those would have been pretty cool.
- 16:14And I think if we got to experience those things, we
- 16:17wouldn't be quick to forget. However, moments later we get to
- 16:21chapter 19 and we already read it.
- 16:23Those first 4 verses, something changed to where Elijah hears
- 16:27this message from the messenger of Jezebel, Queen Jezebel.
- 16:32And he runs for his life and he's afraid for his life.
- 16:35He's in so much despair and so filled with anxiety and fear
- 16:39that he actually asked the Lord, will you please take my life?
- 16:42I'm done. And so you have to ask yourself,
- 16:45how do you get from this moment by moment by moment watching the
- 16:50faithfulness of God take place in your life to I am now running
- 16:54for my life and asking the Lord to take it.
- 16:58And I'm just here to tell you that I'm thankful those are in
- 17:00Scripture for us because if it can happen to the prophet
- 17:03Elijah, that it can happen to you and I, it can happen to you
- 17:07and I as believers in the Lord, where we forget the faithfulness
- 17:11of God. We forget his mighty acts in our
- 17:14lives. We forget what he's done.
- 17:16Whether you know, I've never seen a pillar of fire.
- 17:18Yeah, but you got saved. I mean, you've seen the Lord
- 17:22work in your life. You have salvation.
- 17:24You're going to heaven. For those of you have a
- 17:26testimony of 1 where he saved you out of something, you have a
- 17:29strong word to look back and say, you know what?
- 17:31There was a moment God was faithful in my life.
- 17:33It's when he saved me. For those of you who've been
- 17:35walking with the Lord for a long time, maybe you got saved as a
- 17:38child. You have another testimony.
- 17:39The Lord's been faithful to me for a long time.
- 17:42He rescued me when I was younger, and He's kept me from
- 17:44so much that could have damaged my life and the life around and
- 17:47those whose lives are around me. Just that simplicity of the
- 17:52Lord's been faithful in your life, that's something you can
- 17:54hold on to. But I also know that there's
- 17:55some pretty amazing testimonies in this room where God has done
- 17:58some amazing things in your life.
- 18:01He's redeemed relationships. He's answered prayers in ways
- 18:04that you never expected. He's cleared up confusion that
- 18:07is saved and rescued you from a lot of hurt, a lot of pain.
- 18:12He has helped you heal in ways that you never thought would be
- 18:16able to take place in your life. You know, the doctor said, no,
- 18:19this is never going to happen. And yet the Lord healed you and
- 18:22it's been a testimony in your life.
- 18:24There are times that come upon us.
- 18:28There are trials, there are situations, there are broken
- 18:30expectations that hit us hard like it hits Elijah here where
- 18:35you are now overwhelmed with anxiety, you're overwhelmed with
- 18:38fear. You're, you're overwhelmed with
- 18:39what's next and you're in a place where you're like, Lord,
- 18:43I'm just done and I want to quit.
- 18:46I'm done and I'm ready to, to move on.
- 18:49Or will you have mercy on me and just end it all?
- 18:52I'm here to tell you that it's, it's always too soon to quit.
- 18:57It's always too soon to quit, whether it's something that
- 19:00you're contemplating in the heaviness of your life right now
- 19:02and you're just like, I'm done. I'm just here to tell you, the
- 19:05Lord's not done with you. He has great plans for your
- 19:08life, just like he's going to show he has great plans for
- 19:10Elijah's life. But I'm sharing this because you
- 19:13may not be in the space where you're like, well, you know,
- 19:15this doesn't actually necessarily apply to me right
- 19:17now. I'm glad.
- 19:18I'm, I'm super thankful. You may be in a series of life
- 19:22where you are experiencing the pillar of fire, you're
- 19:24experiencing the end of the drought, you're experiencing the
- 19:26Super speed and you're just like, man, this is amazing.
- 19:29I want you to remember these moments.
- 19:31I want you to write them down. I want you to take hold of God's
- 19:33faithfulness in your life because you're going to need it.
- 19:35You're going to need to be able to reflect on the times that God
- 19:38has cared for you. If that's you, I am so happy for
- 19:41you. If you're on the other side of
- 19:43things where you just got through a really hard season
- 19:46because of how the Lord has cared for you, as we're going to
- 19:48see in in chapter 19 of First Kings, then you already know the
- 19:52direction that this study is going and you already know how
- 19:55the Lord has rescued you and how he's going to rescue Elijah.
- 19:58Then there's some of you who are in the midst of it right now
- 20:00where there was something that happened this week.
- 20:02You got a phone call, You got a text, you got a.
- 20:04A relationship stirring up something you got news at work,
- 20:09you got some type of health crisis that came up you
- 20:12something has happened to where it is slowly taking your eyes
- 20:15off of the Lord and what he's done for you.
- 20:17And I'm here to remind you that even in this moment, the Lord is
- 20:20ready and willing and is actually caring for you even
- 20:25though it seems so far off. And we're going to see that for
- 20:28for Elijah here as he's processing these same emotions.
- 20:31But in verse 4, there's a couple of things I want to point out.
- 20:33One, the devil hates you. I know it's hard to hear, but
- 20:36the devil hates you. John 1010 tells us that the
- 20:39devil is looking to steal, kill and destroy your life.
- 20:43He's looking to steal the joy. He's looking to rob you of rest.
- 20:46He's looking to make sure that your life and your witness is
- 20:49destroyed. And Jezebel was an agent of the
- 20:52devil. At this moment, this threat that
- 20:55comes from Queen Jezebel through her messenger to Elijah, was
- 20:58here to scare him, was here to make sure he was overwhelmed
- 21:03with his feelings, to make sure that he was put in a place where
- 21:06he was limited in his ability. Imagine this was enough for him
- 21:10to have these three things happen to him.
- 21:12And then in a moment of hearing that this queen was not moved,
- 21:16bring him to a place of breaking.
- 21:17You're like, well, how does this happen?
- 21:19I have a feeling the scripture doesn't tell us, but I have a
- 21:22feeling that the Lord is revealing to us that Elijah had
- 21:25Great Expectations like many of us do.
- 21:28He had Great Expectations of how the Lord was going to work in
- 21:31this situation. I think that he thought when
- 21:34Ahab was there to witness everything first hand that he
- 21:37was going to go back to his wife and he was going to proclaim
- 21:41that Yahweh is God. How could you ignore what God
- 21:44has done? That doesn't happen.
- 21:47You see that Ahab describes it to his wife, Queen Jezebel in
- 21:49his first 4 verses. Look what Elijah has done.
- 21:53Elijah has killed all of your prophets, not God, not that
- 21:57there's this great revival, not that the people change their
- 22:00minds, but look at what Elijah did.
- 22:02He makes Elijah the point of her anger and her fury.
- 22:06There's no conversion. I think Elijah thought that when
- 22:10the people were chanting Yahweh is God, Yahweh is God.
- 22:13He thought that this was going to start a revival that would
- 22:15change the nation. Yet it doesn't do anything.
- 22:20It only lasts for that moment. It only lasts for that day
- 22:24because the people of Israel still chose to follow the false
- 22:27idolatry of all. And that's heavy for a prophet
- 22:31who just spent all day, who spent his whole life trying to
- 22:33bring the people back to the love of the Lord, trying to
- 22:36bring the people back to focusing on the God who loves
- 22:39them so dearly and so greatly. And for him he broke.
- 22:44It didn't go the way he thought it was going to go.
- 22:46His expectations were not met. And instead of this great
- 22:50revival happening, he gets a death threat.
- 22:53Instead of them coming to their knees and saying we repent, you
- 22:56were so right. Look what the Lord has done.
- 22:58He gets a death threat completely opposite of what I'm
- 23:02sure he was expecting, what he was praying for.
- 23:06And for you and I, it's important to keep that in mind.
- 23:08Our expectations won't always be met.
- 23:09But I also think of that person that you're just praying for,
- 23:12like I'm just praying that they would get saved.
- 23:14I'm just praying that one day the Lord will capture their
- 23:16heart. Like you've had the hard
- 23:17conversations, you've had the hard phone calls.
- 23:19You've even thought of all the scenarios and examples you can
- 23:22think of and you presented to them.
- 23:23You've taken out to coffee. You've you've shown that you are
- 23:26a believer of believers when they're treating you like trash.
- 23:29You're still loving them like Jesus would.
- 23:31And you're like, this was the moment they're going to get
- 23:33saved. And then you get a call from
- 23:35them and it's just like, no, they're still not saved.
- 23:38It just breaks your heart. You know, prayer for prodigal is
- 23:41coming up in September, on Friday on I believe it's
- 23:44September 5th. You may need to be there to just
- 23:48cry out those expectations to the Lord.
- 23:50Just pray again for that person that still refuses to follow
- 23:54after the Lord. Elijah's in the spot where his
- 23:57emotions are now overtaking what he knows to be true.
- 24:00His emotions are overtaking what he's witnessed to be true and if
- 24:05it can happen to the prophet Elijah, it can happen to us.
- 24:08It's important to remember when these things are happening, what
- 24:11God is doing. This is what God's doing.
- 24:13Pick up with me in verse five, first five of chapter 19, it
- 24:17says then as he lay and slept under a broom tree, suddenly an
- 24:25Angel touched him and said him arise and eat.
- 24:29Then he looked, and thereby his head was a cake baked on coals
- 24:32in a jar of water. So he ate and drank and lay down
- 24:34again. And the Angel of the Lord came
- 24:37back the second time and touched him, and said, Arise and eat,
- 24:40because the journey is too great for you.
- 24:42So he rose and ate and drank, and he went in the strength of
- 24:45that food for 40 days and 40 nights, as far as Horeb, the
- 24:49mountain of God. And there he went into a cave,
- 24:52and spent the night in that place.
- 24:53And behold, the word of the Lord came to him, and he said to him,
- 24:56What are you doing here, Elijah? So he said in verse 10, I've
- 25:01been very zealous for the Lord, God of hosts, for the children
- 25:04of Israel. Forsaken your covenant.
- 25:05They've torn down your altars, and they killed your prophets
- 25:08with the sword. I alone am left, and they seek
- 25:12to take my life. We see that Elijah gets to this
- 25:16broom tree. He's running, he's afraid.
- 25:19It's now been a couple of days since this event on the mountain
- 25:23has taken place. I want to put this perspective
- 25:25in this picture in your mind because it's really important.
- 25:30The whole day on Mount Carmel, the whole day of him
- 25:33representing the Lord would have been a long and tiring day.
- 25:36It says that if you didn't catch it in verse, I think it was 38,
- 25:39that or verse 36 at the time of the evening sacrifice.
- 25:43So by the time he's ready to start his sacrifice to the Lord
- 25:46and have his moment with the people of Israel, it's been a
- 25:48whole day. We're coming towards the end of
- 25:50the day for Elijah. Not only that, emotionally he's
- 25:53a wreck. Emotionally he is feeling things
- 25:56because of this messenger from Jezebel.
- 25:58Not only that he is tired, he's weary, so he's physically tired,
- 26:01he's mentally messed up and he's confused in his head.
- 26:05He's he's trying to process and contemplate all of these failed
- 26:08expectations. What just happened, the amazing
- 26:10works of God. But why is this to all these
- 26:12questions. And then emotionally, you can
- 26:14just imagine where he's at being physically tired, being mentally
- 26:17worn out, emotionally, he's just not there.
- 26:21And so he needs time to rest practically.
- 26:24I just want to keep His mind, like the Lord cares for your
- 26:26physical well-being and your mental well-being as much as He
- 26:30cares for your spiritual well-being.
- 26:32The Lord really does care for you in all facets of your life.
- 26:36Sometimes it feels like, you know, I don't really know.
- 26:38Like I know the Lord wants me to read His word and He's going to
- 26:40speak to me, but the Lord also wants to just practically feed
- 26:43you and take care of you. And that's what He does for
- 26:46Elijah. We don't know how it gets there
- 26:48except that the Angel of the Lord has hot food and water
- 26:51ready for him. But we know it gets there
- 26:53because the Lord wanted to be there so that He could help
- 26:56Elijah get replenished physically and not just from
- 27:01rest, but also from food. And then also mentally.
- 27:03It just helps you. And some pastors use this, and
- 27:06I'm going to say it, but I'm not going to help you focus on it.
- 27:08But sometimes all you need is a nap and a snack and the lawyer
- 27:10will take care of everything else.
- 27:13It's true. You know, some of you just need
- 27:15to take a nap and have a little bit to eat before you make
- 27:18really hard decisions, before you go into something
- 27:22emotionally or exhausted. And that's just a good practical
- 27:25thing to keep in the back of your mind.
- 27:27You need to take care of yourselves.
- 27:29Not only that, the Lord wants you to take care of yourselves.
- 27:32And not only that, the Lord will take care of you.
- 27:35You're like, well, what's the significance of this baked coal
- 27:37and water that's coolly fed him? The significance is the Lord
- 27:40went out of his way to miraculously provide hot food
- 27:43and a jar of water for a man who's running in the wilderness.
- 27:47So if he can do it for Elijah, guess what?
- 27:48He can do it for you. But it's also important
- 27:51practically to know that when your mind and your emotions are
- 27:54at a high and your body's at a low physically, it's important
- 27:58to take care of the things you can before making these
- 28:01decisions when your emotions are everywhere.
- 28:04The Lord does that not once, but twice.
- 28:06For Elijah, he does that the second time.
- 28:09It's like super food. It's food that's going to last
- 28:12him 40 days and 40 nights on this journey to the mountain of
- 28:14God where the Lord's going to meet him.
- 28:17Before that, the Lord asked a specific question.
- 28:20Elijah, what are you doing here? And I think he asked this
- 28:24question for two reasons. One, it was to slow Elijah down,
- 28:28help him mentally to think things through separate from his
- 28:31emotions and to get it out of him.
- 28:34The Lord want to have a conversation with Elijah, and
- 28:37sometimes we need to take that step back and slow down and
- 28:40process what's going on in our lives.
- 28:42And vocally, you need to pray through it with the Lord.
- 28:45You need to share with the Lord your perspective of your
- 28:48situation. And we read that we could be
- 28:50really hard on Elijah. We can say, you know, Elijah,
- 28:54come on, like, did you not just see what the Lord did?
- 28:56Like, that is not what's happening in your life.
- 28:58Come on, man, look at chapter 18.
- 29:01But man, for Elijah, like you can't really blame the guy.
- 29:05He's in, he's living in it. And just like the Lord doesn't
- 29:08blame you for living through the things that you're experiencing
- 29:11on a daily basis for the season of the trial that you're going
- 29:14through. You don't see condemnation from
- 29:16the Lord in this moment. You see, the Lord allowing
- 29:19Elijah to work through this openly having a conversation
- 29:23with God. He asked a question and he
- 29:25honestly answered. I'm running for my life because
- 29:28the history of your people is that they don't care about you
- 29:30and that they've murdered everyone else before me.
- 29:33And here I am the last one. So you know who they want to
- 29:35kill? They want to kill me.
- 29:37That's where I'm at, Lord. And the Lord, I just want to let
- 29:41you know, can handle your emotions.
- 29:43He can handle how you're processing your life in this
- 29:45moment. He can handle even if it's
- 29:48incorrectly processing it, or it's one sided or it's a biased
- 29:52perspective. God can handle where you're at
- 29:55even in your darkest of times, but you need to give Him the
- 29:59answer that He's looking for. You're like, well, what is that?
- 30:02It's just a response. The Lord wants you to be able to
- 30:05answer His question of what are you doing?
- 30:08Where are you at? Are you processing things with
- 30:10Him or are you doing it alone? You can imagine that Elijah
- 30:14being alone right now, his isolation, if he chose not to
- 30:18commune with the Lord, if he chose not to answer the Lord, he
- 30:21was just talking to himself. And I don't know about you, but
- 30:23when we're in hard places, talking to ourselves, we are not
- 30:26the best conversationalist with ourselves in our own mind.
- 30:29Seems that things might be bad, but then they get a lot worse
- 30:32when we it's just us processing it alone, when it's just us
- 30:36trying to figure out a way to fix it.
- 30:38But when you allow the Lord to come into the situation, when
- 30:41you seek the Lord and you desire to have a conversation with the
- 30:44Lord, when you're at least willing to answer the question,
- 30:47processing it out loud with the Lord, it gives God an
- 30:50opportunity to help and answer. And for Elijah, I think he got
- 30:54to this point where he was willing to answer this question
- 30:56because he realized God was feeding him practically.
- 31:00I just want to encourage you when we're in these moments,
- 31:02when we're in where our emotions are everywhere at the at the
- 31:05moment, our mental space or our mental capacity is at its limit
- 31:10to stop, pause, and realize that the Lord is still caring for
- 31:13you. Even in this hardest time.
- 31:15He's still physically taking care of you.
- 31:16He's still providing for you. He's still giving you a roof
- 31:19over your head. He's still helping you process
- 31:22these emotions in this mental state that you might be in and
- 31:26he's healing and he's building and he's working and he's
- 31:29getting you to a place where he's going to be able to
- 31:31minister to you just like he's about to minister to Elijah.
- 31:35The second time he feeds him, he says, hey, this is for your long
- 31:37journey. You're going to go 40 days, 40
- 31:39ninths. It's going to sustain you all
- 31:40the all the way there till you hit the mountain of God.
- 31:43And so for Elijah, he takes it and pick up with me in verse 11.
- 31:49He says in verse 11. Then he said, go out, stand on
- 31:53the mountain before the Lord. And behold, the Lord passed by,
- 31:57and a great and strong wind tore into the mountains and broke the
- 32:00rocks and pieces before the Lord.
- 32:02But the Lord was not in the wind.
- 32:03And after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not
- 32:05in the earthquake. And after the earthquake of
- 32:08fire, but the Lord was not in the fire.
- 32:10And after the fire, a still small voice.
- 32:14And this is taking place at the mountain of God.
- 32:15This is taking place in Hora. Would you quickly turn with me
- 32:18to Isaiah chapter 40? Isaiah chapter 40?
- 32:21If this is not a verse that you have marked down in your Bible,
- 32:24it's one that I recommend that you not only mark in your Bible,
- 32:27but also memorize might be the verse that you need to, excuse
- 32:30me, memorize for this week, for these moments.
- 32:33Because again, like I said, you may not be in the midst of the
- 32:35hardship right now like Elijah is.
- 32:37But I will tell you, and I'm going to be honest with you,
- 32:40there will be times in your life where you feel abandoned by God,
- 32:43where you feel left out from what God's doing.
- 32:45You don't understand what's happening and Isaiah 40 is just
- 32:49a good promise to hold back in the back of your mind and and
- 32:52remind yourself of when you're in this place of despair and
- 32:57distress. Pick up with me in in verse 29,
- 33:0240, verse 29, it says he gives power Speaking of the Lord to
- 33:05the weak and to those who have no mind.
- 33:08He increases strength. That's one that you can hold on
- 33:12to. That's a characteristic of God.
- 33:14That means it applied when it was written, and it applies
- 33:16today. He gives power to the weak, and
- 33:21to those who have no might He increases strength.
- 33:24If you want more encouragement, you just keep on reading.
- 33:25But 29 is a great verse. But verse 30, it says even the
- 33:28youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly
- 33:32fall. But those who wait on the Lord
- 33:34shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings
- 33:37like eagles. They shall run and not be weary.
- 33:40They shall walk and not faint. It's those verses.
- 33:45It's that memorization that comes alive in these moments of
- 33:50feeling overwhelmed and really like Elijah in a cave alone,
- 33:55isolated. It's those verses and those
- 33:57characteristics of God, which they're all throughout the
- 33:59Bible, which is why we encourage you to read your Bible and pray
- 34:02every day because it gives you an opportunity to define those
- 34:05verses that define God's character that will help you
- 34:09process these moments in these situations through the lens of
- 34:12what's true. And for Elijah, he just had a
- 34:16moment where he's at this mountain of God and he sees an
- 34:19earthquake and then he sees wind powerful enough to break rocks.
- 34:22And then he sees fire and the Lord calls him out to the
- 34:25opening of the mountain. And, and then he, he hears a
- 34:28still small voice that comes up and what's happening here.
- 34:34And I think what happens in our lives that the Lord reminds us
- 34:37of his power, like he's reminding Elijah, He's reminding
- 34:40of him, reminding him of what he has in his control.
- 34:43He can bring an earthquake. He can bring a strong wind, a
- 34:46strong wind, one that is tearing rocks apart.
- 34:49I've never personally witnessed a wind like that, but I'm sure
- 34:52it was pretty awe inspiring. It was a good reminder to Elijah
- 34:56of the power of God. He's showing him a fire, and not
- 34:58just one at a time, but consecutively.
- 35:01These things are happening at the entrance of this cave, an
- 35:05awe inspiring moment. Elijah is now being reminded of
- 35:08these things, of the power of God in his life.
- 35:10And for you and I, we may not have the earthquake or the fire
- 35:13or the wind. You may, but you may not.
- 35:15What you have is the word of God.
- 35:16What you have are messages of the teaching of God reminding
- 35:20you of the characteristics of God, reminding you of the power
- 35:22that he holds, bringing you back into a place of like, OK, I'm
- 35:25resetting. I understand because of what
- 35:27I've been taught, what I've been told, what I've been discipled.
- 35:30And those things start coming back to the front of your mind.
- 35:32Why? Because you are now well rested.
- 35:34You're well fed and you're in a place where you're able to
- 35:36receive from the Lord. And you know what you're ready
- 35:39to receive from the Lord, The Lord's power and His might.
- 35:43Elijah at this point is now able to see and recognize the power
- 35:46of God. He's slowing down, His mind is
- 35:49slowing down, his emotions are calming down, and he's
- 35:53recognizing the power of God through the earthquake, the
- 35:56fire, and the wind. He comes at his entrance to The
- 35:59Cave, but look how he comes in verse 13.
- 36:03He said, So it was when Elijah heard it that he wrapped his
- 36:08face in his mantle and went out and stood in the entrance of The
- 36:10Cave. Suddenly a voice came to him and
- 36:13said, what are you doing here Elijah?
- 36:17He said, I have been very zealous for the Lord God of
- 36:20hosts because the children of Israel have forsaken your
- 36:23covenant. They've torn down your altars
- 36:25and killed your prophets with the sword.
- 36:28I am left, I alone, him left and they seek to take my life.
- 36:36The key here that I want you to to recognize is that Elijah,
- 36:39after seeing the power of God reminded comes in a a place of
- 36:42humility with him wrapping his head with his mantle.
- 36:46He's recognizing that he cannot even show God his presence.
- 36:50So he's wrapping himself in a in an act of humility coming before
- 36:53the Lord to receive from the Lord.
- 36:57And this is different from the first time because he, again,
- 36:59he's well rested, he's been well fed, taken care of physically,
- 37:03mentally. You can tell that Elijah is
- 37:05coming down from this emotional and distressful high to the
- 37:09point where he recognizes this is the Lord speaking.
- 37:11And he comes in a place of humility.
- 37:13Because if you haven't noticed, it's really hard to receive from
- 37:15the Lord if you're walking in pride, if you continue to refuse
- 37:21to recognize the power of the Lord in your life, if you
- 37:24continue to refuse the food that the Lord is providing to you, we
- 37:28continue to refuse the truth that the Lord is providing to
- 37:31you through his word. Because in this time and, and in
- 37:35the time of The Cave, in this time of distress, we do have
- 37:37choices to make. We could have easily been like
- 37:41Elijah where we received the things that the Lord is
- 37:43providing for us through his word, through prayer, through
- 37:46fellowship, or we could have rejected it.
- 37:50Imagine if Elijah saw the hot food in the water and said, I
- 37:52don't want anything to do with that.
- 37:54I'm going to die anyways. I was like, OK, but then he
- 37:58provides him the the Super food for the 40 days and 40.
- 38:00I don't want anything to do with that.
- 38:01I'm going to die on this journey, OK.
- 38:05This pride could have been in Elijah's life to where he was
- 38:08rejecting the things that the Lord was trying to provide for
- 38:10him during his time of distress. But we don't see that.
- 38:13We see him receiving it in desperation, receiving it,
- 38:16putting him in a place where he was willing to eat the food that
- 38:19the Lord was providing. He was willing to see if this
- 38:21food was really going to sustain him for 40 days and 40 nights on
- 38:24this long journey. And I'm here to tell you and
- 38:26encourage you. And it's even an encouragement
- 38:27to myself when I get to these places where I don't see the
- 38:30Lord acting or the expectations are not where I thought they
- 38:33would be and and they're failing or the relationship or the the
- 38:36phone call or the text message or the work related issue,
- 38:38whatever it is in your life. When I get to that place where I
- 38:41just don't see where it's going to go and I don't see how it's
- 38:44it's going to end. And the Lord says, hey, but I
- 38:47want you to know my character. Hey, I want you to be a part of
- 38:51that prayer meeting. I want you to be in that place
- 38:54where you can receive through the worship of song with other
- 38:58believers. You're like, no, Lord, I don't
- 39:00want anything to do with that. I'm so done.
- 39:03You put yourself in a really hard place for Elijah.
- 39:06He could have done that, but he didn't.
- 39:09And what we see is that through God caring for him, through the
- 39:11situation, for him receiving that care from the Lord, he ends
- 39:14up at this moment where he's able to recognize he needs to
- 39:18cover his head with his mantle. He needs to come in this posture
- 39:22of humility towards the Lord. His pride has been broken and
- 39:26he's recognizing now, and this is a serious moment, God is
- 39:30powerful and God is here and I need to come before him.
- 39:33Now. His answer doesn't change.
- 39:36So we see that he's still wrestling, he's still holding on
- 39:39to his understanding of the situation.
- 39:41And we don't see God rebuke him. We don't see God come in this
- 39:46next few verses and say, you know what, Elijah, how dare you
- 39:49still, after all of this and you still reject.
- 39:52We don't see that. And I want to encourage you that
- 39:54even in your time of humility, coming before the Lord and
- 39:57saying, you know what, Lord? OK, Like I'm ready to hear from
- 39:59you. And he asked you the same
- 40:00question, OK, where you at? And mentally you're in the same
- 40:02space still like, well, Lord, like this didn't work out.
- 40:05I don't understand what's going on.
- 40:07The Lord's like, how dare you after all of it?
- 40:09No, he's just like, hey, this is what's next.
- 40:12So pick up with me in the next verse.
- 40:14In verse 15 says, Then the Lord said to him, This is after
- 40:18Elijah's response, Go and return on your way to the wilderness of
- 40:22Damascus, and when you arrive, anoint Hazel as king over Syria.
- 40:26Also you shall anoint Jehu the son of Nimshi as king over
- 40:30Israel, and Elisha the son of Shaifat of Abel Mahullah.
- 40:35You shall anoint as the prophet in your place, and it shall be
- 40:38that whoever escapes the sword of Hazel Jehu will kill, and
- 40:41whoever escapes the sort of Jehu Elijah will kill.
- 40:45Yet I have reserved 7000 in Israel.
- 40:48All whose knees have not bowed to all in every mouth that has
- 40:53not kissed him. The Lord's answer is pretty
- 40:59amazing. There's a couple of things I
- 41:01want to point out. One, the Lord says, OK, I need
- 41:03you to go and do the next thing. I need you to be obedient Now I
- 41:07understand this is what you're processing.
- 41:09I understand this is how you see it, but I need you to go and do
- 41:11these things. And when he does these things,
- 41:14what it shows him is actually an answer to his mental state.
- 41:19It's actually an answer to his questions, an answer to what
- 41:22he's feeling. He says go anoint these two
- 41:25minutes kings, one over Syria, one over Israel.
- 41:29What the Lord is relaying to Elijah is that the injustice
- 41:32that you're feeling, the pain and the fear and the distress
- 41:37that you're feeling because of King Ahab and Queen Jezebel,
- 41:40guess what? They're going to be replaced.
- 41:42You're anointing those who are going to bring justice with the
- 41:46sword. I will act on your behalf.
- 41:49Judgement is coming. Justice is coming.
- 41:52That is what you're going to be doing when you anoint them.
- 41:54And guess what? When they can't finish the job,
- 41:57I'm going to also have you now your successor.
- 41:59Who will finish the job, Elijah. And for Elijah, even hearing
- 42:03that that he was going to have a successor is really encouraging
- 42:06to Elijah because you know what that does?
- 42:08It validates his ministry. He was obedient enough.
- 42:12He obeyed the Lord long enough. He did what the Lord had called
- 42:15him to do, so much so that it was worthy enough for it to be
- 42:17carried on by someone else. His work mattered.
- 42:22His witness mattered. What he was doing for the Lord
- 42:25mattered. It didn't end on Mount Carmel.
- 42:28It was going to continue in the life of Elijah.
- 42:32And for us, it's important to realize that even in our own
- 42:34lives, your witness matters. Your walk with the Lord matters.
- 42:38The seeds that you're planting by how you live your life and
- 42:40how you're responding to people when they come after you or when
- 42:43they attack you, How you hold your cool instead of letting
- 42:47your flesh out. Those things and those moments
- 42:49matter because the Lord's going to use them to build up.
- 42:52You might be the one planting the seed and someone else's,
- 42:54then caretaking it while the Lord is watering that fruit,
- 42:59future fruit. But sometimes when we're in this
- 43:01death of despair, we feel like our whole life has been wasted.
- 43:05Like, why did I ever choose to follow the Lord if it's just
- 43:07going to be as hard as it it was going to be when if I'm not
- 43:09following after the Lord, like I don't understand.
- 43:11And we get into these, these depressive ruts, if you want to
- 43:15call it that, these moments where we're just at a loss and
- 43:20the Lord's like, hey, I'm still with you.
- 43:22I have a plan for your life. I have a plan for the witness.
- 43:26You're carrying my name with every conversation.
- 43:28You're carrying my name with every reaction.
- 43:30You're carrying my name with every text message, every phone
- 43:32call, every moment of despair. You're carrying my name with
- 43:36you. And if you hold on, I'm going to
- 43:39use it for more fruit. And for Elijah to be told that
- 43:43he was going to anoint his successor would have bought
- 43:45brought great encouragement to him because what he thought was
- 43:49a failure of Mount Carmel, because no one really repented,
- 43:53no one really converted. The Lord said, no, I have
- 43:56someone that's going to carry on the work that you started.
- 44:00I'm going to continue on the things that you've done.
- 44:03Well, you don't see a rebuke from the Lord.
- 44:06You don't see him getting mad at Elijah for being in the place
- 44:10that he's at. He just tells Elijah to get up,
- 44:12go and be obedient. And in those obedient actions,
- 44:16it was an answer to everything that he was struggling with
- 44:18mentally, everything that he was struggling with emotionally.
- 44:22And to top it all off, he says at the end, he says, and there's
- 44:257000 others just like you that have not bowed their knee, that
- 44:30have not kissed the hand of all, that are honoring me with their
- 44:35lips in their lives. You're not alone.
- 44:39But the Lord, I don't think he would have, and I don't think he
- 44:42did this earlier on on purpose. I don't think Elijah was in a
- 44:47place to receive this kind of instruction all the way up in
- 44:50verse one or two or three or four or five.
- 44:53But there was a process that it took time.
- 44:55It took 40 days, 40 nights. It was almost a month and 1/2
- 44:57that this has been going on to where finally the Lord gives him
- 45:00an eye opening perspective of what's really taking place.
- 45:05He's giving him commands to be obedient to said as he follows
- 45:09through everything he was worried about is being taken
- 45:11care of through his obedience for you and I.
- 45:15That is so important to remember in the moments where you're in
- 45:18The Cave wondering what's next, the Lord will give you what's
- 45:21next. And it's important that you walk
- 45:23in obedience to what's next. Because as you do, you're going
- 45:26to find out that the Lord had it all along planned for you to be
- 45:30able to walk in this grace that He was taking care of everything
- 45:33the whole time. He's going to validate the
- 45:36ministry that you had. He's going to validate you as
- 45:38your walk with the Lord the the struggles that you have been
- 45:41fighting through. Again, this is separate.
- 45:43This isn't sinful struggles. You know, I want to make that
- 45:46clear. It's not struggles that you've
- 45:47caused upon yourself because of your own sin.
- 45:50This is you obeying the Lord and it just not working out the way
- 45:52you thought it was going to work out because that happens too.
- 45:57Like I heard from the Lord, it was so good, was so clear in the
- 45:59word and I did that thing that he called me to.
- 46:02And then it just doesn't end up the way you thought.
- 46:04And now you're just like, what in the world done if you're
- 46:06wrong? Like you're questioning
- 46:07everything. And then the enemy comes in with
- 46:08his Jezebels and he comes in with all these other
- 46:11distractions and the Lord just slows us down.
- 46:14He reminds us that we're he's caring for us for you.
- 46:17It might be physically, might be emotionally, might be mentally,
- 46:20and all along it's spiritual. The Lord is allowing us to go
- 46:24through these spiritual battles that are very real.
- 46:26We know about them in Ephesians talks about how there's a battle
- 46:30every day as a believer for your life, for your soul, for your
- 46:34witness, and the Lord says, hey, if you can hang in there with
- 46:37me, I'm going to carry you all the way through for Elijah.
- 46:40If we were to finish the chapter, we're going to have
- 46:42time today. But if you were to read on,
- 46:43you're going to see he does anoint.
- 46:45He does follow through. He does put the mantle, his
- 46:49mantle on Elijah and Elijah takes up that next call and
- 46:54continues on the ministry, actually double s his ministry
- 46:57as the word says. Elijah asks for a double
- 46:59anointing. He does double the amount of
- 47:02miracles that Elijah does. The Lord had a plan for all of
- 47:05this all along. And I want to remind you that
- 47:09God cares for you. He's cared for you in the past.
- 47:12He cares for you today, and He's going to continue to care for
- 47:15you as you go forward in Him. But allow Him to reset your
- 47:20soul. Allow Him to reset your life.
- 47:23Receive the blessings that He has through the Word.
- 47:26Receive the encouragement from other believers.
- 47:28Receive those moments where you need to be in fellowship to get
- 47:31out of that cave so that when He gives you the next steps, you're
- 47:35ready to obey. Because the Lord understands
- 47:37your emotions. He understands your feelings.
- 47:40He understands the situation that brought you to that place.
- 47:44He's not here to condemn you, but He's here to get you out of
- 47:46it. He's here to move you on.
- 47:48He's here to care for you and reset you and prep you for
- 47:51what's next. Because He does have a plan,
- 47:54even if you can't see it. The Lord loves us.
- 47:56Amen. Let's pray.
- 47:58Lord, we just thank you for your word.
- 47:59And I thank you God that you are so raw and real with us through
- 48:04Scripture. Lord, I thank you that Elijah,
- 48:07even though he experienced it, Lord, I thank you he went
- 48:09through it. I thank you, Lord, that you
- 48:11allowed us to see first hand what a prophet of God had to go
- 48:14through in this time. Lord, I thank you that you've
- 48:17given it to us so that we can be encouraged.
- 48:20Lord, knowing that you are a God who cared and you're a God who
- 48:23still cares and you're a God who's going to continue to care
- 48:26because it's your character. Lord, I thank you that you are
- 48:30the God who strengthens the weak.
- 48:32Lord, I thank you that you're a God who has the plan.
- 48:38I thank you, Lord, that you protect us.
- 48:41You may be here tonight or this morning and you may be thinking
- 48:49like this doesn't really apply to me.
- 48:51This doesn't really make sense to me.
- 48:54And the reason it doesn't is because you actually don't have
- 48:56a walk with the Lord. You don't have a relationship
- 48:59with God and everything you heard today is good.
- 49:02But the most important thing is that you have a relationship
- 49:04with a God who loves you because you will face the same thing,
- 49:09but you won't have God's help and care and concern.
- 49:10And that's you today. If you came in this room and
- 49:13you're like, I just don't have a relationship with the Lord, I
- 49:15want to give you an opportunity to receive the Lord as your Lord
- 49:18and Savior. Say he can do the same thing for
- 49:20you as he's done for Elijah and he's done for so many of us in
- 49:23this room. Be the God who loves us, cares
- 49:26for us, walks with us, encourages us, gets us through
- 49:29those cave moments. And that's you.
- 49:31I would just like you to stand so I can see you.
- 49:34And I want to lead you in a prayer, and it's a prayer of
- 49:36repentance. You're just telling the Lord
- 49:38like, I recognize that I don't have a relationship with you and
- 49:40I need one. I recognize that because of my
- 49:44sin, my mistakes, they've separated me from a perfect God
- 49:48who loves me. And I want forgiveness.
- 49:54I see you standing in men. We're going to have people come
- 49:56up to you. I don't want you to be nervous,
- 49:58but it's a pastor or a leader that's going to help walk you
- 50:00through it because we don't want you to go through this alone.
- 50:02We want to walk through this with you.
- 50:04But you're just in this room. You're like, man, you know,
- 50:06First things first, I need a relationship with the Lord.
- 50:10And you may be watching online also.
- 50:12You may be listening live on Grace FM.
- 50:14This is for you too. You don't have to stand in your
- 50:16car. You can pull over and pray, but
- 50:19this prayer is a simple one. It's just asking, God, will you
- 50:21forgive me? Will you forgive me for the sins
- 50:25that have separated? I believe that you're the God
- 50:28who can rescue me. I believe you're the God who
- 50:29died for me. I believe you're the God who
- 50:32rose again three days later to show me how much you love me.
- 50:37It's a simple prayer. You can pray like this.
- 50:38Dear Lord, I recognize that I'm a Sinner.
- 50:44I've made mistakes. Those sins have separated me
- 50:49from you, a perfect God, and I ask that you would forgive me.
- 50:56Lord, I repent. I turn away from those things
- 51:01that have separated me from you. I ask God that you would help me
- 51:07not only say no today, but for the rest of my days.
- 51:11To those sins. I believe that you lived, that
- 51:17you died, and that you rose again three days later to rescue
- 51:22me. I ask God that you would fill me
- 51:26up with the help of your Holy Spirit to live out the rest of
- 51:31my days for you. I love you, thank you in Jesus
- 51:39name, Amen. We pray that you've been
- 51:43encouraged by this Bible study delivered live from the
- 51:45sanctuary of Calvary Church for prayer.
- 51:48Call us at 87730 grace that's 877-304-7223.
- 51:57To listen to this message in its integrity or to join us for our
- 52:00live stream services, visit us online at Calvary Co dot Church
- 52:06or download our free Calvary Church app.
- 52:09Be blessed as you worship Jesus this week.