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1 Kings 19 (Part 2) Bible Study (The Lord Speaks to Elijah/Call of Elisha) | Pastor Daniel Batarseh · Bible Study with Pr. Daniel Batarseh | Verse by Verse Series | Maranatha Bible Church - Chicago

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  Well, with all of that being said, it's such a joy to see you
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  here tonight. Meet me in the precious,
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  glorious Word of God in the book of First Kings, chapter 19.
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  Last week, the object of our study was a dejected, downcast
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  prophet of God by the name of Elijah, and he will continue to
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  be the focus of our study tonight.
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  But what was really the frame of our study was considering the
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  factors that caused Elijah to experience and undergo spiritual
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  depression. Not that these things are the
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  only things that can cause us to be driven into despair, but they
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  are pretty significant contributors to it.
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  And there were four things that we received from Elijah's story.
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  And I want to ask you, because it's good to repeat these things
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  and recall these things so that they can be embedded in our
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  memory and in our hearts. Don't answer all four, but let's
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  cover all four. Can you tell me one of the four
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  things? And another person will mention
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  another one, the four things that Elijah experienced that
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  caused him to abandon his post as a prophet and to wander into
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  the wilderness. I'm genuinely asking.
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  This isn't rhetorical. He number one, he lost sight of
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  who God was and instead he he looked at Jezebel and heard
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  Jezebel and then that caused them to obviously crumble.
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  Yes, he lost sight of who God was.
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  Unlike Moses who did not fear the anger of the king because he
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  endured as seeing him who is invisible.
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  What a contrast yes #2 he was what OK, yes, so he was
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  discouraged. That was, you could say a sub
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  point. He was pessimistic.
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  Remember we that was the Third Point that he always looked at
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  the negative at least in this moment.
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  He looked at what wasn't happening.
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  He looked at the worst outcome instead of considering what God
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  had done. And if you have a tendency of
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  being pessimistic, you also will know a frequent cycles of
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  discouragement that can really debilitate you.
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  Yes, that's the Third Point. We have two more huge one that
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  we often don't consider concerning Elijah's testimony of
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  this low point of his life. He separated from community.
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  And how did he do that in his case?
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  How did he separate yourself from community?
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  Who did he leave behind when he ran away?
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  His servant. His servant.
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  He left his servant behind. The Spirit included that for a
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  reason. What we're going to discover
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  today is that God's going to bring somebody new in Elijah's
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  life. OK, one more very good.
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  There was neglect, neglect of the needs of the body and, and
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  this is talking about sheer exhaustion, him ignoring the
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  basic necessities that would keep anybody going.
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  And that was something that we also agreed in terms of
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  overlooking what can cause us to be confused and foggy in our
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  minds and foiled in many cases with our faith.
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  So that's what we looked at. But what we have to also
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  consider is where we ended is that God dealt with that final
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  cause, the one that dealt with Elijah's body, did he not?
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  And he did so by personally attending to this man's needs,
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  by coming with some sort of room service almost.
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  He grants him nutrition, hydration, and patiently allows
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  him to sleep with his weary head in that wilderness.
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  But that is not the extent of this mercy that we enjoyed last
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  Friday. God is going to continue to
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  overflow in His mercies toward His servant by positioning him
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  in a way in which he's going to receive more relief so that he
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  can know a more complete restoration.
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  Because dealing with the needs of the body is not enough.
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  So you have some people who overemphasize what we need to do
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  with this flesh and they neglect the spiritual.
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  And you have others who are so consumed with the spiritual that
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  they neglect the fact that they are a body.
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  And this is the vehicle that carries the spiritual activities
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  and experiences that we ought to have.
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  So now the Lord is going to deal with those first three issues
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  that have not been touched on yet in the rest of this chapter.
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  And this is important for us to consider because it's going to
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  show God's heart. It's going to show God's heart
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  for this man and wanting to see him be as efficient as possible,
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  as healed as possible, as restored as possible.
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  And it's all going to begin here in verse 8.
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  Let's look at verse 8 together. And he arose and ate and drank
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  and went in the strength of that food, 40 days and 40 nights to
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  Horeb, the mount of God. There he came to a cave and
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  lodged in it. And behold, the word of the Lord
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  came to him, and he said to him, What are you doing here, Elijah?
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  He said, I have been very jealous for the Lord, the God of
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  hosts, for the people of Israel have forsaken your covenant,
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  thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the
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  sword. And I even I only am left, and
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  they seek my life to take it away.
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  And he said, Go out, and stand on the mount before the Lord.
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  And behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind tore
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  the mountains, and broke in pieces the rocks before the
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  Lord. But the Lord was not in the
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  wind. And after the wind and
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  earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake.
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  And after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the
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  fire, and after the fire the sound of a low whisper.
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  Lord, we believe this is Your word, and we believe that we
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  cannot unpack and know the fullness of it, lest You help us
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  by the Spirit. We invoke the Spirit to come to
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  our aid now and to help us receive all that You have
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  intended to say through this portion of Scripture.
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  We pray these things in the precious name of the
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  intercessor, the great high priest, the one who is fighting
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  for us every day. Amen and Amen.
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  Verse 8, this is in connection to the fact that Elijah received
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  a couple of meals from the Angel of the Lord, and we're told the
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  effect of that food, it was able to energize him for 40 days and
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  40 nights. And we can consider the
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  supernatural ingredients of this, We can look into how that
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  is, but I don't want us to be too focused on what this food
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  was more than I want to connect what this food did in terms of
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  his journey, the length of his journey, and the location of his
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  journey. So we see here that it was 40
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  days and 40 nights that he was able to walk into a certain
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  direction, the Mount of God, the Mount of Orb.
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  Now, if you are a student of the Hebrew Scriptures, then those
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  two components should ring a bell. 40 in a wilderness, 40
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  days or just the number 40 and mount of God, namely Horeb.
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  What should come to mind? Moses, Just Moses, The
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  Israelites. Give me give me more specific.
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  What about them? You're saying Moses and Hebrews?
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  That's a lot of things. What specifically what other
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  journeys does this connect to, at least thematically?
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  The Exodus. Thank you.
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  The Exodus, how Horeb was the destination immediately after
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  the Exodus being delivered from Egypt, but not just that, the
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  same mount of God was the place where the people arrived after
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  40 years of wandering in the wilderness because of their
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  disobedience and unbelief. And so this, this is supposed
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  to, yes, call to remembrance a different journey, one that was
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  monumental to the history of this people.
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  And it makes you wonder if that crossed Elijah's mind as he was
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  walking on his feet for 40 days and 40 nights towards the same
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  place in which God manifested his power and his glory.
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  And whether or not it did, we should believe that this was the
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  intent providentially of this journey and the location.
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  What was Elijah's problem at this point?
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  We mentioned that he lost sight of who God was.
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  He lost sight of who God was and even in this, could it be that
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  the Lord in his Providence is leading his servant to retrace,
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  retrace the steps of the Lord That as Elijah's walking day and
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  night for this duration of time, going to where everything really
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  started for the people in terms of their covenant with the Lord.
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  That the same God who delivered Israel from slavery, the same
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  God who was able to faithfully bring a very stubborn people
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  into the promised land is the same God who Elijah is serving
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  today. In other words, it's as though
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  Elijah is walking down memory lane and he's supposed to recall
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  God has dealt with this stiff necked people at one time and
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  God came out victorious. This is the same God whom I
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  serve. You would hope that's where
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  Elijah would arrive and his thinking and in his belief.
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  And to even add to this theme, what happened during those 40
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  years in terms of the people's sustenance?
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  Were they taken care of by God? Did they receive daily food and
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  drink? Yeah, God took care of them
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  supernaturally, just like Elijah was being taken care of for 40
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  days and 40 nights. So I'm convinced that this is
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  what providentially the Lord is trying to awaken Elijah to.
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  But on the negative side here is Elijah reflecting the
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  unbelieving people of Israel by wandering in the wilderness for
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  this duration of time as well. So yes, God is the God of Israel
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  who is able to bring a very vacillating people to where He
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  wanted him to go. But Elijah also is mirroring the
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  weak faith of the people of Israel now individually
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  wandering in the wilderness. And we now continue to read that
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  as he arrives to this location, he makes his home in a cave in a
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  murky hole, and it took him 40 days and 40 nights to get there.
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  If you actually look at a map of this time, it shouldn't have
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  taken that long. But on a practical note, isn't
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  it amazing? I mean, think about 40 days.
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  Imagine some of us don't enjoy walking for 40 minutes, 40 days
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  and 40 nights. And when he comes to this place,
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  the Lord is going to counsel him.
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  You know what this duration of time also tells us?
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  It tells us something about the heart of God.
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  God is very patient and restoring us.
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  He's very patient and reeling us back in and instructing us and
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  teaching us and chiseling us and cleansing us.
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  And this is also a reminder that things don't turn over so
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  quickly for us either that we are slow to get it.
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  And if you think it was slow in these four, it's only Elijah's
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  not going to get it, even in this conversation with God.
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  So he comes and the Lord asked him this very penetrating
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  question, but I believe it was done so gently.
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  He asked them, what are you doing here, Elijah?
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  Whenever God asks a question, I am 100% convinced it's not
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  because he lacks an answer. And you should be convinced of
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  that as well. The question was meant for
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  Elijah to arrive to an answer that he has not gotten yet.
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  And so he says, what are you doing here Elijah?
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  Implying what? That Elijah was not supposed to
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  be where he was? What are you doing here?
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  And the Lord wanted his servant to realize that for himself.
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  So you see Elijah's fear and you know these other underlying
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  failures encourage him to abandon his duty as a messenger
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  of God. The hand of the Lord came upon
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  Elijah so he can be driven to Jezreel and he was not meant to
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  leave. Their revival technically just
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  broke out. You would think that a people
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  have been revived, need further instruction and guidance,
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  certainly because of one moment coupled with many other issues
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  that caused that one moment to be bigger than what it was
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  supposed to be. Elijah left a people who needed
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  him and now he's wallowing in self pity.
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  What are you doing here, Elijah? What are you doing here, Elijah?
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  And you know what? It would do us all good from
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  time to time to pause and ask ourselves that question and
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  maybe ask somebody that you love that question.
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  One of my favorite reflections and challenging verses for
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  myself at least. You're more than welcome to use
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  it for your own walk. About where I am in my walk with
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  the Lord is the last verse of Psalm 73.
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  I've mentioned this to you before.
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  I think it's a question that you and I can ask every week.
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  This is what Asaph says about himself and Psalm 73, verse 28.
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  But for me it is good to be where he didn't say it's good
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  for me to be in the temple, He didn't say it's good for me to
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  be around believers. Those are all wonderful things
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  he said. But for me it is good to be near
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  God. You know, that implies you can
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  believe in God and not be near him.
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  Did Elijah love the Lord? He loved the Lord, he loved the
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  Lord. He's about to answer in a moment
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  saying, I've been very jealous for the Lord, the God of hosts.
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  But even men of such caliber, Asaph, who wrote this Psalm was
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  a worship leader in the temple. By the way, hey, worship team or
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  praise team, you know, it's possible to sing and not be near
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  God. It's possible for me to preach
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  and not be near God. Just because you have a position
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  or a gift does not automatically promise close fellowship with
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  the Lord. What are you doing here, Elijah?
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  From time to time, pause and ask yourself, am I near God?
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  And if I'm not near God, you know yourself better than
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  anyone. Why am I not near God?
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  Because that's what God wants to get to with Elijah.
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  What are you doing here? Let's let's unpack what brought
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  you to this point. Because you're not supposed to
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  be here. So now why am I not?
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  Why am I not? Why am I finding myself sipping
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  from other cisterns more than the well of life?
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  Why am I getting more comfortable warming myself
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  around worldly charcoal fires like Peter did on the night of
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  Christ's betrayal? Why, why, why am I here?
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  Why? Why do I find myself at one
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  point this, what I'm watching would have been repulsive and
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  offensive. Now I'm enjoying why?
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  Why am I distancing myself where at one point you couldn't
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  convince me otherwise to not go to the House of God on the
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  Lord's day? But why am I more and more now
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  inclined and getting comfortable and even finding excuses to not
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  go? Why?
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  What am I doing here? And I hope you have friends and
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  I hope you have leaders in your life that are willing from time
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  to time to ask that question when it's necessary.
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  What are you doing? Why are you doing what you're
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  doing? Hey, you want to know God?
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  Here's God. This is the mind of God.
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  To ask this question is sanctifying, and it's very safe.
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  And he's not going to just ask it once.
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  So he asks him, what are you doing here, Elijah?
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  And here's the answer. I've been very jealous for the
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  Lord, the God of hosts, for the people of Israel have forsaken
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  your covenant, thrown down your altars and killed your prophets
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  with the sword. And I even I only am left and
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  they seek my life to take it away.
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  So in his confession about his condition, notice that Elijah
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  admits his love for the Lord says I've been very not just
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  jealous, very jealous for the Lord, the God of hosts.
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  So this admission does not showcase that Elijah was weak in
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  terms of how he felt about the Lord, necessarily about his
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  conviction about who God is and what he's deserved.
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  But what it does reveal is that there was this appointment in
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  his love for the Lord. It's possible to really love the
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  Lord, give everything to serve the Lord, and no disappointment
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  in that. And that's certainly true for
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  this man of God. And what's really the gist of
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  it? He felt as though his efforts
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  and his stance availed to nothing.
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  Because he says what? I've been jealous and the people
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  have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars.
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  And guess what? They want to kill me.
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  They want to kill me. And listen, although you and I
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  can appreciate a line just honestly here and applaud him
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  for spilling out his soul. What he's saying is that
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  entirely true? Is it?
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  What are some things that are not true?
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  I just response to the Lord's question.
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  Yes, I'm the only servant of God in all of Israel.
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  You know, sometimes it feels like that when you serve God,
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  but that's not true. He's about to discover that's
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  not the case at all. What else?
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  There's one one other thing, the.
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  People didn't seem to destroy him.
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  That's right. So he exaggerates the enmity
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  that he was supposedly experiencing.
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  It was Ahab, mainly Jezebel, who called for his death.
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  But notice how he explains it. It says here for the people of
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  Israel, I have forsaken your covenant, thrown on your altars
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  and killed your prophets. And I even I only am left for
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  they and they seek my life. Who's the they, the people of
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  Israel? Was that the case?
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  The people of Israel weren't seeking for his life.
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  This one. Person you know one of the
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  common outcomes this is so important to to grab a hold of.
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  One of the most common outcomes of entertaining despondency and
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  a downcast spirit is that it has a way of convincingly
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  exaggerating the disappointments that wounded you to begin with
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  you. You hear it all the time and
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  perhaps you don't even realize it.
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  So you have a family who's been hurt by the church or church
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  that they were involved with, served with, served in, and
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  because of that hurt, what happens all churches now.
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  Are. Problems not to be trusted.
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  You have one sour experience with a Christian or a few
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  Christians. All Christians are like this and
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  so many other examples. How disappointment when it
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  simmers has a tendency for us to exaggerate the problem.
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  And if it's not challenged by people in your life who love you
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  enough to say that's not the case of the bride of Christ,
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  that's not the case of how ministry is.
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  That's not the case of how leaders in the church are like.
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  Yes, it might be true of some, but that's not the case.
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  As a general description or experience, that's not the case.
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  And with that, if you don't have God's objective truth and
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  standard and commands, and it'll be and promises and warnings
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  ever before you, then you will be a victim of this kind of
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  thinking. And it will be even more
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  paralyzing the more you stay there.
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  So we see that with this man of God.
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  It's amazing how the Bible unravels the way we think in
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  these stories and what's possible for us in those
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  seasons. So we see here that the Lord is
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  going to counsel him and the Lord is going to unpack
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  something for him. And how is he going to do that?
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  Elijah doesn't entirely answer the question.
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  He just kind of talks about why he is feeling the way he's
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  feeling. But look what the Lord patiently
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  does in verse 11. And he said, go out and stand on
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  the mount before the Lord and behold, the Lord passed by.
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  Reread verse 11 with me the first part and tell me if it
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  sounds familiar. And he said, go out and stand on
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  the mount before the Lord. Stand before the Lord.
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  That's what he's asking Elijah to do.
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  Elijah, come out and stand before the Lord.
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  By the way, just an interesting, I'm just going to throw this at
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  you and I'm going to come right back.
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  OK? Can I do that?
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  All right, Look again at verse nine.
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  There he came to a cave and lodged in it.
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  And behold, the word of the Lord came to him.
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  And he said to him, I just think that's interesting.
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  OK, I'm coming back now. So now you come here to verse 11
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  and he said, go out and stand on the mount before the Lord and
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  behold, the Lord passed by. Do you remember how Elijah was
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  introduced to us in our study of this man of God?
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  Go back to first Kings 17 verse one.
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  Now Elijah, the Tishbite of Tishbi and Gilead said to Ahab,
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  as the Lord, the God of Israel lives before whom I stand.
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  There shall be neither dew nor reign these years except by my
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  word. Look at first Kings 18 verse 15.
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  And Elijah said, as the Lord of hosts lives before whom I stand,
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  I will surely show myself to him today.
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  Elijah love to say that. Elijah love to publicly confess
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  I stand before the Lord. I am constantly and readily
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  available for whatever he asked me to do.
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  I live before his face. I stand before the Lord.
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  I stand before the Lord and now it's as though in this very low
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  point of his life, the Lord is graciously leading back to that
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  place that he walked away from verse 11 again, look at it.
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  And he said, go out and stand on the mountain before the Lord.
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  Elijah, I want you to rediscover that inner posture that you
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  deserted. I want you to stand before the
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  Lord again. And the aim of him now standing,
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  yes, physically before the Lord, but this was to get his
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  spiritual legs up once more, is that he would remain there.
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  Not just visit that place, but stay there like he was in
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  chapter 17 and chapter 18. I want you to park there, not to
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  hide in a cave, not to hang out under a broom tree.
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  I want you to remain before me. And he's going to do it by
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  providing a spectacular manifestation of himself.
• 24:17
  And you and I read it well. He's going to whiz through with
• 24:22
  supernaturally amplified wind and he's going to split the
• 24:27
  earth with an earthquake and he's going to create flames that
• 24:32
  make no sense apart from God lighting out on fire.
• 24:37
  But. Often times people misunderstand
• 24:39
  why the Lord's doing this. One can make the case that
• 24:44
  Elijah needs a fresh revelation of the majesty of God, right?
• 24:47
  He lost sight of who God was. So God's.
• 24:49
  OK, let me just give you a quick panorama of what I'm able to do.
• 24:52
  I'm sovereign over all nature, whether it's wind, earth, fire,
• 24:56
  anything, rain. You just saw that I can control
• 24:58
  all things, I can summon all things.
• 25:00
  Everything is a subject to me that could be part of it, that
• 25:04
  could be a perk to this moment. But notice again what the Lord
• 25:08
  says in His word about each of these things being displayed
• 25:11
  before Elijah, whether it was the wind or the earthquake or
• 25:17
  the fire, different elements. What do they all have in common
• 25:20
  according to these verses? What are we told repeatedly?
• 25:27
  The Lord wasn't in it. The Lord wasn't in the wind.
• 25:30
  The Lord wasn't in the earthquake.
• 25:32
  The Lord wasn't in the fire. And strangely, we're told in the
• 25:37
  ESV that there was the sound of a low whisper.
• 25:45
  And Elijah, with his spiritual sensitivity at that time,
• 25:48
  realized that's where the Lord is.
• 25:51
  And so in reverence he covers his face and he goes to the
• 25:54
  mouth of that cave to meet with the Lord.
• 25:59
  Why did the Lord do this? You have to remember again what
• 26:04
  Elijah's problem was. God is providing a very precise
• 26:07
  prescription to the malady of his soul.
• 26:11
  You know what Elijah felt that his preaching, that his praying,
• 26:15
  that his protest were unsuccessful, all in vain.
• 26:22
  I mean, you got to kind of have to sympathize with him if you
• 26:27
  with the instrument God used to see fire come down from heaven
• 26:30
  and subsequently rain come down from heaven in the name of the
• 26:34
  true and living God. And the response of that is the
• 26:37
  queen wanting to kill you. I'm certain Elijah felt what
• 26:44
  else can we do here? What else can be done?
• 26:47
  This is a lost cause. That's why he's like, it's
• 26:49
  enough. Lord, take me.
• 26:51
  There's nothing else that can be done.
• 26:52
  What other performance, what other exhibition can be made for
• 26:57
  the stubborn people, namely the leadership, to realize that
• 26:59
  their own fault and that they need to repent?
• 27:02
  You know, some preachers feel that way after they thought they
• 27:04
  preached. A good sermon doesn't even come
• 27:06
  close to what Elijah did. This man saw God do so much and
• 27:12
  he thought that it would produce so much and it didn't.
• 27:16
  What does the Lord do now in response to this?
• 27:19
  He comes in supernatural, glorious, stunning, manifest
• 27:26
  power, but each time it shows up, we're told the Lord wasn't
• 27:29
  in it, the Lord wasn't in it, the Lord wasn't in it.
• 27:34
  And then this whisper comes like there's nothing.
• 27:37
  There's nothing impressive about a whisper, is there?
• 27:41
  Whisper. I believe what the Lord is doing
• 27:44
  here is He's going to teach Elijah that God's ways are not
• 27:48
  limited. More specifically, there are
• 27:51
  times when he can, like on Mount Carmel, do the unusual, do the
• 27:56
  spectacular, and perform the extraordinary.
• 28:00
  He can. He did it on Mount Carmel again.
• 28:02
  But that's not always the case. That's not always the way He
• 28:07
  moves to stir the hearts of people because as you see here,
• 28:13
  the same Lord who sent fire from heaven, he doesn't do it again.
• 28:17
  He doesn't come in the mighty wind.
• 28:18
  He doesn't come in the earthquake.
• 28:19
  He doesn't come in any other way apart from Him speaking softly,
• 28:28
  gently, personally. You know what's so remarkable
• 28:34
  about this? If you look at the sequence of
• 28:36
  things, when it came to the wind, Elijah didn't move.
• 28:42
  When it came to the earthquake, Elijah didn't move.
• 28:45
  When it came to the fire, Elijah didn't budget.
• 28:48
  But read with me again. Look at verse 12 and after the
• 28:51
  earthquake of fire. But the Lord was on the fire.
• 28:53
  And after the fire, the sound of a low whisper.
• 28:56
  And when Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his cloak
• 29:01
  and went out and stood at the entrance of The Cave.
• 29:06
  It was that small, small voice that pulled Elijah out to meet
• 29:12
  with the Lord. What an incredible illustration
• 29:18
  of how God works. Listen, if you're a genuine
• 29:23
  servant of God, serving the Lord in any capacity.
• 29:27
  Especially if. You're in a place of leadership
• 29:29
  and public ministry. You will know the temptation.
• 29:33
  You will know the discouragement.
• 29:35
  You will know the lies that will try to persuade you that unless
• 29:39
  what you do is big. Is.
• 29:44
  Impressive is out of the ordinary.
• 29:47
  Surprising, compelling. Riveting.
• 29:52
  It won't be effective. Again, let me remind you that in
• 29:57
  comparison to the wind, fire, and earthquake, a whisper is
• 30:00
  nothing. But the whisper worked.
• 30:04
  The whisper was the thing that brought Elijah closer to the
• 30:06
  Lord. Here's the point.
• 30:09
  God can use this. The.
• 30:12
  Incredible stages. He can use large number of
• 30:15
  things and mountainous resources.
• 30:18
  You know what this teaches us? No matter what it is, whether
• 30:20
  it's a Mount Carmel or a Mount Horeb, God has to be in it.
• 30:27
  God has to be in it. So if he wants to move with
• 30:32
  fire, let him move with fire being shot down from heaven as
• 30:34
  long as he's behind it. But if he wants to move in a
• 30:38
  very informal Friday night Bible study, there's nothing really.
• 30:42
  We're grateful for this building, but it's not really
• 30:44
  impressive in terms of other edifices, is it Our instrument?
• 30:50
  Top notch. My Bible cover is getting ripped
• 30:57
  up. Does God need that stuff to
• 31:01
  touch the heart of those? Who need a?
• 31:04
  Touch. No, you need God behind it, and
• 31:09
  that's what we see here. God was behind that low whisper.
• 31:12
  He wasn't behind those other things.
• 31:14
  So don't automatically equate lavish, big, large, impressive,
• 31:19
  worldwide, international. Don't.
• 31:23
  Automatically equate that with God being behind it.
• 31:25
  Can God be behind it? Yes, because you have other
• 31:27
  people who are so skeptical they they have a skewed evaluation of
• 31:32
  things. If it's big and if it's large
• 31:34
  and if it's impactful, it can't be of God.
• 31:35
  It has to be compromised somehow.
• 31:37
  You're equally wrong. The ultimate thing you and I
• 31:40
  have to determine is, is God behind it?
• 31:43
  And in this case, he was behind a small whisper.
• 31:50
  So you don't have a giant personality.
• 31:53
  You don't have an impressive vocabulary.
• 31:57
  I know of preachers who fumble and stumble with their words,
• 32:02
  who don't have incredible grasp on deep philosophical ideas.
• 32:07
  But you know what? They do have the Spirit of God
• 32:09
  behind them. And when they got up and they
• 32:12
  speak, you might not find them at these grand conferences, but
• 32:16
  men, the presence of God shows up when they do.
• 32:21
  I'll take that over any other empty thing that might be
• 32:27
  impressive to the flesh. The lesson here is Elijah.
• 32:34
  You think that what I did in Mount Carmel was all that I can
• 32:38
  do. And you think that unless it's
• 32:41
  visible and mighty and large, nothing else can work?
• 32:46
  Elijah, I reeled you to myself with a whisper.
• 32:54
  What an encouraging thing to know in here.
• 32:58
  And so he's drawn out to the Lord.
• 32:59
  And look at verse 13. And when Elijah heard it, he
• 33:03
  wrapped his face in his cloak. You know what that is?
• 33:05
  Reverence, reverence and went out and stood at the entrance of
• 33:10
  The Cave and behold, there came a voice to him and said, what
• 33:14
  are you doing here, Elijah? You want revelation in the
• 33:19
  Bible? Ask the Bible questions, have a
• 33:22
  conversation with the Bible. You know, you know what my
• 33:23
  question was, Lord, why did you ask the question again?
• 33:27
  You already asked them a few verses before.
• 33:31
  Here's what it tells me that he wasn't satisfied with Elijah's
• 33:34
  answer. So yes, again, he unburdened his
• 33:38
  soul before the law, but it, it really didn't explain why he was
• 33:42
  where he was. It didn't explain why he
• 33:43
  abandoned his duty. So what are you doing here,
• 33:48
  Elijah? Now you would think after the
• 33:52
  wind and the earthquake and the fire and the gentle whisper that
• 33:57
  Elijah would be advanced in his thinking a little bit.
• 34:01
  He would have put some pieces together, especially with his
• 34:04
  recent 40 day, 40 night journey to Mount Horeb.
• 34:06
  Something must have stood together something right.
• 34:10
  What are you doing here Elijah? And here's how he answers in
• 34:13
  verse 14. And he said, I've been very
• 34:15
  jealous for the Lord, the God of hosts for the people of Israel
• 34:18
  have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars and
• 34:21
  killed your prophets with the sword.
• 34:22
  And I even I only am left and they seek my life to take it
• 34:25
  away. Like copy paste of what he said
• 34:28
  earlier. Let me.
• 34:34
  Reinforce the truth that I opened up with.
• 34:37
  You know what this tells me? It tells me something from God's
• 34:39
  vantage point, and it tells me something from the human
• 34:41
  standpoint, from God's vantage point.
• 34:44
  As the counselor in the setting. It reminds you and I that we
• 34:50
  have to be patient with how people arrive to the truth.
• 34:54
  We used to be patient. God is patient.
• 34:59
  You and I do not have the ability to manifest supernatural
• 35:02
  strength and natural phenomena like God did.
• 35:06
  And yet, even though God did do that, His servant still didn't
• 35:09
  get it and he's still dealing gently with him.
• 35:14
  There are times where rebuke is necessary.
• 35:17
  Every person is a different case.
• 35:19
  In this case, Elijah is not operating in the same way like
• 35:23
  let's say Jonah, where God had to be a little bit more
• 35:27
  aggressive with Jonah, right? He had to let him drown in the
• 35:30
  ocean and let a whale or a big fish swallow him.
• 35:34
  And then even after all was said and done, he had to let a plant
• 35:37
  grow, give him shade, and then take that plant away from like
• 35:40
  he, he had to bruise Jonah a little bit more because Jonah's
• 35:44
  heart was different than Elijah. Elijah was very jealous for the
• 35:47
  Lord. He, he's just broke in there.
• 35:49
  Here Jonah was annoying. Jonah didn't want God to extend
• 35:56
  mercy. Here's Elijah seeing God extend
• 35:59
  mercy and he's just heart stricken because the people
• 36:01
  didn't receive it. So God knows exactly how to deal
• 36:05
  with each of his servants. And here he's extremely patient.
• 36:09
  And at times you have to be two. You have to be two.
• 36:15
  Is there any wonder why Paul told Timothy preach the word in
• 36:19
  season, out of season? And in that same instruction, he
• 36:21
  says with complete patience. Do you know why he said that?
• 36:26
  Because when you preach the Word regularly, people aren't going
• 36:29
  to get it right away. When it does, praise the Lord.
• 36:33
  And if it doesn't, be patient. Be patient.
• 36:36
  Be. Patient with your spouse.
• 36:39
  You've had many conversations, I'm sure about it.
• 36:41
  And they're, they're genuine in their hearts and wanting to
• 36:44
  arrive there. Be patient.
• 36:45
  Be patient with your children. They're not rebellious, yes, but
• 36:48
  they're not getting it as quickly as you would like.
• 36:50
  Be patient. And so we see here that the Lord
• 36:53
  is patient, but let's look at it from Elijah standpoint.
• 36:56
  He's not getting it. He's not getting it.
• 37:01
  Again, we're slow to learn often times, especially when our
• 37:08
  emotions are involved and trying to understand and register and
• 37:13
  arrive to the right place. And so I'm just encouraged that
• 37:16
  Elijah is, is a man with a nature like ours.
• 37:19
  And I'm so glad that the Lord left this part in His word, but
• 37:24
  how is the Lord going to deal with this now?
• 37:26
  You asked the same question. You got the same answer the
• 37:29
  first time you revealed to Elijah.
• 37:31
  Elijah, I work in many ways. I work in ways that are very
• 37:34
  obvious and I work in ways that are very hidden.
• 37:37
  So don't limit to what your past experience was and realize that
• 37:43
  I am doing a thing that is beyond what you even perceive.
• 37:48
  But then he comes and now he says, OK, let's see if
• 37:50
  anything's changed. Nothing's changed, nothing's
• 37:52
  changed. He's still wallowing in his self
• 37:55
  pity. He's still contemplating staying
• 37:58
  in this cave and not returning to his post.
• 38:00
  So what does the Lord do? This is fascinating, fascinating
• 38:05
  to me. Notice what he does here in
• 38:09
  verse 15. And the Lord said to him, Go,
• 38:13
  return on your way to the wilderness of Damascus, and when
• 38:17
  you arrive, you shall anoint Hazel to be king over Syria, and
• 38:24
  Jehu the son of Nimshi, you shall anoint to be king over
• 38:26
  Israel. And Elijah the son of Shafat of
• 38:31
  Abel Mihola, you shall anoint to be prophet in your place.
• 38:35
  So he asked the question, he gets the same answer.
• 38:37
  And what's the remedy? Now?
• 38:40
  Get to work. Get to work, Elijah.
• 38:46
  And that's enough. I included that last part, but
• 38:53
  that's essentially what's happening here, Elijah.
• 38:57
  Before this time, you know what his problem was?
• 38:59
  He worked himself to the bone and he needed a couple of meals
• 39:04
  and a couple of good naps before he can continue.
• 39:08
  But that's all been dealt with now.
• 39:10
  His body's replenished. He's refueled.
• 39:13
  So what's the issue now that if he remains in a state of
• 39:16
  inactivity, he will continue to introspect to the point where he
• 39:21
  will torture himself and perhaps never return to ministry again?
• 39:27
  You know what sometimes the solution is to overcoming
• 39:30
  spiritual depression, a downcast spirit, dejection,
• 39:33
  discouragement, taking your eyes off of yourself and placing them
• 39:37
  on others who have needs. That's some good counseling.
• 39:42
  That's some good counseling. There are times where is you
• 39:45
  need a break, you're running on fumes, you're going to destroy
• 39:48
  yourself, you're going to destroy your marriage, you're
• 39:50
  going to destroy your church. So you need to step away.
• 39:53
  This is not practical for long term longevity.
• 39:56
  It's not going to happen. And there are other times where
• 39:58
  it's OK. You need to stop reflecting on
• 40:01
  this. You need to stop grieving.
• 40:03
  You need to stop being disappointed.
• 40:04
  There is a great field of opportunity that awaits you to
• 40:08
  participate in. So get up and go.
• 40:11
  You think that God did this in isolation?
• 40:13
  No, he doesn't. Go to first Samuel chapter 16,
• 40:16
  verse one. You'll remember this when we
• 40:18
  studied the prophet Samuel. Look at verse one.
• 40:23
  This is after Samuel new disappointment with another
• 40:27
  king, not Ahab. Tell me who the king Samuel had
• 40:30
  to deal with for many years. Saul.
• 40:33
  Was he the most impressive king? No, Saul stressed me out when I
• 40:40
  was studying. Saul can imagine how much he
• 40:43
  stressed out Samuel. But this is after he said you're
• 40:47
  done. You're no longer to be king.
• 40:49
  And what's so terrifying about Saul's story is that he had the
• 40:52
  throne for years after, but he lost the anointing.
• 40:58
  He lost God's favor and enablement and his near presence
• 41:04
  that I find out to be one of the scariest realities in the Old
• 41:08
  Testament story of how God deals with people, that he let Saul
• 41:13
  keep his throne and his palace, but he removed his spirit from
• 41:18
  him. I'm not interested in preaching
• 41:22
  if that's going to be for me, not interest.
• 41:24
  I don't care about the pulpit. I don't if the Lord removes
• 41:26
  himself. Why do you care to sing?
• 41:31
  Why do you care to do anything for the Lord unless you have His
• 41:33
  backing? Saul was left to himself and
• 41:39
  Samuel is broken. Look at this, he was grieving
• 41:41
  apparently in verse one of chapter 16, the Lord said to
• 41:44
  Samuel, how long will you grieve over Saul since I have rejected
• 41:50
  him from being king over Israel? Fill your horn with oil and go.
• 41:54
  I will send you to Jesse the Bethlehemite, for I have
• 41:56
  provided for myself a king among his sons.
• 41:59
  There's a time where mourning has to stop, whether it's the
• 42:03
  there is a time for grieving, but there there has to be an
• 42:06
  expiration date on it, whether that morning is caused by a
• 42:10
  legitimate loss or from disappointment.
• 42:13
  There are some people who never return to the local church
• 42:16
  because they've been hurt by the local church.
• 42:18
  There are people who never serve in ministry again because
• 42:20
  they've been burned in ministry. That's not the will of God.
• 42:25
  And in this case, we see that he was grieving over Saul.
• 42:28
  And the Lord says, OK, the solution is for you to get out
• 42:31
  of your room now, Samuel, and get your feet going because I
• 42:36
  still have a purpose for you. And my program on the earth
• 42:39
  hasn't ceased with one man who was unfaithful.
• 42:43
  Get up, go. There's no different with
• 42:46
  Elijah. There's a time where counseling
• 42:52
  has to close and a new pattern in life has to be rediscovered
• 42:59
  or an old pattern that was abandoned.
• 43:02
  So he tells him it's time to go. And and here's what's so
• 43:05
  encouraging, because what he's going to tell him in the
• 43:07
  remaining verses is what's going to give him the strength to be
• 43:11
  able to return to where he he was.
• 43:14
  Here's the first thing. Come back to First Kings 19.
• 43:16
  We already read it, but perhaps you didn't notice it.
• 43:19
  He tells him to return to the wilderness of Damascus.
• 43:24
  And when you arrive, he says you shall do three things.
• 43:26
  The first thing was anoint the king over Syria.
• 43:32
  Syria, Gentile or connected to Israel?
• 43:37
  Gentile. What is this supposed to say,
• 43:41
  Elijah? I have a work to do among the
• 43:43
  Gentiles. And.
• 43:46
  I want you to play a part in that.
• 43:49
  What's? The next thing he tells him to
• 43:51
  do, verse 16 and Jehu the son of Nimshi, you shall anoint to be
• 43:54
  king overnight. Judah over Israel, the northern
• 43:57
  tribes, the northern Kingdom. What's that supposed to mean,
• 44:01
  Elijah? Not only do I have a work to do
• 44:03
  among the Gentiles and you have a, a part to play in, but I have
• 44:06
  a work to do among that apostate, rebellious, idolatrous
• 44:09
  people that you were originally frustrated with Israel.
• 44:15
  Not only that, because I also want you to anoint the final
• 44:17
  person named Elijah, Elijah. And what you're going to do with
• 44:22
  Elijah is that you're going to signal him out, and you are
• 44:26
  going to set him apart as a prophet.
• 44:28
  Who's going to succeed you? You felt like you were the only
• 44:32
  prophet around. I'm telling you that I already
• 44:34
  have one prepared. Who's going to take your place?
• 44:38
  So even. Among the specific lane of His
• 44:41
  service to the Lord, there was something to do.
• 44:45
  You know what will encourage you to revisit serving the Lord if
• 44:49
  you have been on a hiatus or been on a pause, and keep you in
• 44:55
  that place of serving the Lord? It's realizing how much the Lord
• 44:59
  is doing, how much is out there in a harvest, how many
• 45:03
  opportunities await you and I. He tells Elijah, the Gentiles,
• 45:08
  Israel, and even among the prophets.
• 45:10
  I have things to do and I'm inviting you to it.
• 45:13
  I'm inviting you to it. The Lord looks with those
• 45:18
  blazing eyes to and fro throughout the whole earth to
• 45:22
  see whose heart is blameless towards and for what purpose,
• 45:25
  that He might show strong support to that person.
• 45:31
  The Lord is always looking for those who are willing to serve
• 45:34
  Him in any capacity. That should.
• 45:37
  Excite you. That should excite you.
• 45:40
  But that's not the only thing. Elijah is not just going to
• 45:46
  learn that there are people to Commission and bless and
• 45:49
  disciple. Look at verse 17 and the one and
• 45:53
  the one who escapes from the sword of Hazel shall Jehu put to
• 45:58
  death. And the one who escapes from the
• 46:00
  sword of Jehu shall Elijah put to death.
• 46:04
  Why is he telling him this? Elijah was fearful and
• 46:09
  disappointed for the obvious reason, and one that wasn't so
• 46:12
  obvious was the fact that you had the wicked who were able to
• 46:16
  continue to prosper despite the rejection of the truth.
• 46:20
  Despite all that God had done, you still had evil people
• 46:23
  remaining in their state of evil.
• 46:26
  You know what the Lord is telling Elijah to encourage him
• 46:28
  to revisit that place of service and to endure in that place of
• 46:31
  service. Elijah, there is a day where I
• 46:35
  will deal with all the evil. Yes, in the world and even what
• 46:40
  you experience. There's some people who get so
• 46:42
  knocked out, the wind knocked out of them because of people
• 46:47
  treating them the way they were treated as servants of God.
• 46:52
  Elijah was a true genuine prophet, a man of God.
• 46:55
  And, and how was he handled with absolute disdain.
• 47:00
  And he was crushed by that. And the Lord wants to remind
• 47:02
  him, I'm going to call every person into account, Elijah.
• 47:07
  There's not one person in what they've done who's going to
• 47:08
  escape my wrath. And I have also put into
• 47:11
  consideration everything that somebody has done to you,
• 47:14
  whether good or bad. Let that encourage you, knowing
• 47:20
  that every slanderous word, every maybe physical threat, no
• 47:25
  matter what has come your way that might have caused you to
• 47:28
  reconsider honoring the Lord Jesus with your life.
• 47:32
  God is going to vindicate you. He's going to vindicate you.
• 47:37
  He will stand for you. Though your whole life people
• 47:40
  are believing lies about you. Shouldn't that comfort you?
• 47:44
  It must comfort you. And Elijah had a fresh
• 47:48
  revelation of the justice of God.
• 47:50
  Ahab and Jezebel, we're not going to get the final word.
• 47:55
  Elijah, you do what I've called you to do.
• 47:56
  I will take care of the things that you have no control of and
• 47:59
  you have no right to interfere with.
• 48:02
  I will put an end to this apostasy and you will be
• 48:05
  vindicated because you are my messenger and you have
• 48:08
  proclaimed my message faithfully.
• 48:11
  Is that the only thing that encourages this man of God is
• 48:13
  not the only thing that God gives this man so that he can
• 48:15
  revisit that place of service and remain in that place of
• 48:17
  service. No read verse 18 yet.
• 48:22
  I will leave 7000 in Israel all the knees that have not bowed to
• 48:30
  bow, and every mouth that has not kissed them.
• 48:34
  So first. He said, look, there's a lot of
• 48:36
  work to do, Elijah, and it's time to get to work.
• 48:41
  It's time to put your hands to the plow again and keep your
• 48:43
  eyes off of yourself and on others who need you.
• 48:45
  That's important. Secondly, realize that I will
• 48:49
  make all things right. So whether it's external
• 48:53
  persecution or internal turmoil and you are caught in the
• 48:56
  crossfires or you are the bullseye mark of those who
• 49:00
  profess me but don't really belong to me, I'm going to make
• 49:03
  everything right. Don't let those things cause you
• 49:06
  to reconsider serving me. And lastly, Elijah, I always
• 49:10
  have a remnant. You know what causes a lot of
• 49:15
  people to not want to continue within?
• 49:17
  Their boldness and their courage and their holiness and their
• 49:19
  commitments to ministry when you see other people not doing that.
• 49:26
  So here you are faithfully serving week after week after
• 49:28
  week, and you're looking at others and they're fumbling and
• 49:32
  they're flirting with the world. And here you are.
• 49:37
  Wherever church you're part of. I pray that you're part of a
• 49:39
  church that proclaims the truth, but you're proclaiming the
• 49:41
  truth. Your elders are leading
• 49:43
  according to the Bible. But what do you realize around
• 49:45
  you that the churches that are growing and thriving and getting
• 49:47
  all the attention are the ones who are compromising.
• 49:50
  And if you're not careful, over time, when you feel as though
• 49:53
  you're the only one doing it, it can mess with your head.
• 50:01
  And what the Lord tells this man of God is something that is
• 50:04
  universal. You might feel like you're
• 50:07
  alone, but you're never alone. I always have a set apart
• 50:11
  people. They may not be large. 7
• 50:13
  thousand among, who knows, Conservatively hundreds of
• 50:18
  thousands in the millions. Very likely 7000 isn't much, but
• 50:24
  it's still a remnant. And that's something that you
• 50:30
  would have to always remember. God is not just working in your
• 50:34
  life. God is not just working in your
• 50:36
  local church. God is doing work across the
• 50:39
  globe. And you're part of that, yes,
• 50:44
  but realize that there are others who are enduring what
• 50:46
  you're enduring, suffering what you're suffering, and being
• 50:48
  faithful as you are seeking to be faithful.
• 50:51
  And from time to time, you know what the Lord will do.
• 50:53
  He'll allow you to cross paths with other people who are part
• 50:57
  of that remnant. And that's what God's going to
• 50:59
  do for this man. He's going to allow him to meet
• 51:02
  one of those 7000. His name is Elijah.
• 51:06
  His name is Elijah. And I just love how the Lord
• 51:09
  prescribes this need. One of the things that we talked
• 51:12
  about how Elijah, Elijah rather abandoned himself from
• 51:16
  community. And what does God do to to
• 51:18
  rescue him? He brings not just a successor.
• 51:21
  Listen, if God was just concerned about replacing Elijah
• 51:23
  when he would go into heaven, he would have just called Elijah
• 51:28
  himself, right? OK, Elijah's gone.
• 51:32
  Let me speak now to Elijah. It's your turn.
• 51:34
  He doesn't do that. He connects Elijah.
• 51:38
  With. Elijah and he allows Elijah to
• 51:42
  disciple Elijah, not just disciple but be blessed by
• 51:45
  Elijah, develop a friendship with Elijah.
• 51:49
  That's a gift from the Lord. If you feel like you are among
• 51:53
  those who who you just want to love the Lord Jesus, you just
• 51:57
  really want to obey him, that's what you want your existence to
• 51:59
  be about. But you look at others and
• 52:00
  they're just giving lip service or they're weak or they're
• 52:03
  worldly and you're like, am IA minority here?
• 52:07
  Am I, am I not reading this right?
• 52:09
  Whatever the train of thought may be, realize that God in his
• 52:12
  great mercy can provide someone else in your life and all you
• 52:18
  need. Yes, you can.
• 52:19
  You need a local church, but even one person in your life can
• 52:23
  be enough to keep you going, to keep you going.
• 52:28
  But notice here that the same truth that we're being told
• 52:32
  concerning this remnant is how the apostle Paul uses it in a
• 52:36
  very unique way concerning how it relates to us in the new
• 52:39
  covenant. Does anybody know where this
• 52:41
  passage is found in the New Testament Romans?
• 52:48
  That's right. Extra point, if you know the
• 52:50
  chapter Romans, but we're in Romans and I hear pages flipping
• 53:03
  to Romans. That's OK, I'll wait.
• 53:09
  I won't wait too long. Who said it?
• 53:12
  What did you say? Romans 11, You want to see how
• 53:16
  the Holy Spirit uses this exact passage that we've been studying
• 53:19
  this past hour or so? Go to Romans 11 in the first
• 53:22
  four or five verses and let's see it as we close Romans 11/1
• 53:28
  to five, Paul writes. I ask then, has God rejected his
• 53:37
  people? In this.
• 53:39
  Context Who are his people? Israel.
• 53:44
  Are we reading the Old Testament or the New Testament?
• 53:49
  His people, Israel, are his people.
• 53:53
  Wow. I asked that.
• 53:56
  Has God rejected his people? By no means.
• 54:01
  For I myself am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, a member
• 54:06
  of the tribe of Benjamin. You can't spiritualize that.
• 54:11
  OK, I've heard some people try to spiritualize Israel in the
• 54:16
  New Testament, but you're going to have some disagreements with
• 54:19
  Paul because he qualifies what he means by being an Israelite.
• 54:25
  He's not talking about being a spiritual Israelite.
• 54:27
  He's talking about being an ethnic, real descendant of this
• 54:31
  people group. Please pay.
• 54:33
  Attention, we're living in an age where this is debated.
• 54:39
  First two, God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew.
• 54:47
  Do you not know what the Scripture says of Elijah, How he
• 54:50
  appeals to God? Look at this against Israel.
• 54:54
  That's how fed up Elijah was. According to this New Testament
• 54:57
  commentary, He's appealing to God against Israel.
• 55:01
  I'm done with these people. Verse 3, Lord.
• 55:04
  And he quotes the same passage that we studied today.
• 55:06
  They have killed your prophets, they have demolished your
• 55:09
  altars, and I alone am left, and they seek my life.
• 55:12
  But what is God's reply to Him? I have kept for myself 7000 men
• 55:19
  who have not bowed the knee to bail.
• 55:22
  Verse five is so important. What's the application of it?
• 55:25
  So too, at the present time, there is a remnant chosen by
• 55:30
  grace. If you pluck out verse five, you
• 55:35
  can make it say a lot of things. But if you honor the context,
• 55:38
  then you know exactly what Paul is trying to educate the people
• 55:42
  in Rome about. He says, listen, I know there's
• 55:46
  some confusion about the state of Israel and the people of
• 55:49
  Israel related to where they stand with God because as a
• 55:54
  nation, did they receive the Messiah or reject the Messiah?
• 55:57
  They've rejected the Messiah. They've rejected the Messiah.
• 56:01
  And so the confusion is around what is God going to do with
• 56:05
  this people group? Now, Yeah, we heard that Christ
• 56:09
  and we believe that truth that he introduced and inaugurated a
• 56:12
  new covenant. But where does Israel fit in
• 56:14
  this whole thing? And Paul assures them God hasn't
• 56:18
  rejected his people. God has made some promises to
• 56:22
  Israel that transcend and bleed into the new covenant.
• 56:27
  The new covenant didn't nullify certain promises that God gave
• 56:31
  to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and their seed.
• 56:36
  And he says, can I tell you one of the proofs of that?
• 56:39
  Can I tell you remind you one of the evidence as to why God is
• 56:41
  not finished with the people of Israel, not spiritual Israel,
• 56:45
  the ethnic people of Israel? There is always been a remnant
• 56:50
  of believing Jews. In.
• 56:53
  Every generation since the inception of the church, there
• 56:56
  has always been a people who have believed on the Messiah,
• 57:01
  Jesus Christ of Nazareth. And there will always be a
• 57:06
  believing community of Jewish people until it culminates to a
• 57:11
  a national revival where the entire nation will acknowledge
• 57:16
  that this Jesus Christ from Nazareth is the Messiah for the
• 57:21
  Jewish people. That's found in Romans 1125,
• 57:24
  that when the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled, then all
• 57:27
  Israel shall be saved. You have to do brutal gymnastics
• 57:32
  to Romans 11 to say that Paul is speaking about a spiritual
• 57:36
  Israel and that the church is the spiritual Israel.
• 57:40
  You have to do very crafty origami with the Bible to get to
• 57:43
  that conclusion because he qualifies in the beginning.
• 57:47
  And if you honor the context and everything really makes sense of
• 57:50
  Romans 11. In fact, let me ruffle some more
• 57:54
  theological feathers. Romans 9:10 and 11:00 is all
• 57:59
  about Israel. It's not just Roman 11.
• 58:02
  So when you look at 9:10 and 11:00, that's his.
• 58:05
  That's his essay within a larger essay, which is really the
• 58:09
  theological treatise of the book of Romans, where he's making a
• 58:12
  case about God's election, his choosing of the people of
• 58:18
  Israel. And it concludes in this
• 58:21
  chapter. And from a personal perspective,
• 58:26
  you you can imagine, yes, this is obviously and ultimately
• 58:28
  inspired by the Holy Spirit. But Paul relates to Elijah, I
• 58:32
  believe, as a minister, as an apostle, as a messenger of this
• 58:37
  new covenant. You can see the parallel, right?
• 58:39
  You have this man of God, Paul, who is dealing with a stubborn
• 58:44
  people who have rejected God. And you have a remnant of Jewish
• 58:48
  people who believe, while the rest, like Elijah's case, are
• 58:51
  not believing. And so you can see how Paul is
• 58:56
  confiding in Elijah. But the difference between Paul
• 58:59
  and Elijah is this Elijah succumbed to the disappointment
• 59:03
  of the people around him not believing.
• 59:04
  Paul didn't, Paul didn't and I believe the reason why Paul then
• 59:10
  at least one reason why he didn't come to the point where
• 59:12
  he he said, you know, I don't. I stayed in Arabia three years,
• 59:16
  I might go back and stay for a longer while is because he
• 59:20
  understood this truth about a remnant, something that Elijah
• 59:24
  need to learn. Paul learned in his case in the
• 59:26
  new covenant, there is always God's not done with Israel,
• 59:30
  God's not done. He's not finished.
• 59:34
  He's going to prove himself to be faithful.
• 59:35
  He's going to prove himself to be true.
• 59:37
  He's going to prove himself to be a promise keeper and the
• 59:40
  Savior of this. He's going to do it.
• 59:43
  That energizes him to continue forth, that Energizer to keep
• 59:46
  preaching and praying and believing.
• 59:50
  So you see, when you understand these truths as well, which we
• 59:54
  can summarize in this, Jesus Christ will be victorious.
• 1:00:00
  You want to keep going? Yeah, I know.
• 1:00:03
  I know it looks bleak out there. I know we would want to see
• 1:00:06
  more, but in the end, it's it's all going to come back to
• 1:00:10
  Christ. It's all you're on.
• 1:00:12
  You're already one in Christ. And all he's asking of you, my
• 1:00:16
  beloved brother and sister, all he's asking of you in this time,
• 1:00:19
  with whatever time left you have on the earth is just be
• 1:00:22
  faithful. Don't give up.
• 1:00:25
  They'll throw in the towel. Don't walk away.
• 1:00:28
  There's so much to be done. God will.
• 1:00:31
  Vindicate His church, and He'll vindicate you personally.
• 1:00:33
  And there's always a remnant. So let's end with these final
• 1:00:37
  verses of First Kings 19. Verse. 19 Of FIRST Kings. 19 So
• 1:00:45
  he departed from there, and found Elijah the son of Shafat,
• 1:00:49
  who was plowing with 12 yoke of oxen in front of him, and he was
• 1:00:53
  with the 12th. Elijah passed by him and cast
• 1:00:57
  his cloak upon him and he left the oxen and ran after Elijah
• 1:01:00
  and said, let me kiss my father and my mother and then I will
• 1:01:02
  follow you. I love Elijah's response.
• 1:01:06
  And he said to him, go back again for what have I done to
• 1:01:08
  you? There's a lot of debate about
• 1:01:11
  what that means. I think a major reason for why
• 1:01:14
  he says he what he says is, look, I'm just the messenger
• 1:01:17
  here. This is between you and God.
• 1:01:19
  God is the one who's calling you.
• 1:01:21
  So you figure that out with the Lord, go back again, for what
• 1:01:24
  have I done to you? And he returned from following
• 1:01:26
  him, and took the yoke of oxen, and sacrificed them, and boiled
• 1:01:29
  their flesh with the yokes of the oxen, and gave it to the
• 1:01:32
  people, and they ate. Then he arose and went after
• 1:01:35
  Elijah and assisted him. What a breath of fresh air after
• 1:01:41
  so much disappointment in Elijah's life.
• 1:01:43
  And even in our study when you had a people who were
• 1:01:46
  vacillating between two opinions.
• 1:01:48
  And yeah, though they did show some sign of repentance.
• 1:01:51
  Who knows how long that really lasted.
• 1:01:53
  And you have Ahab and Jezebel who just stone heartedly just
• 1:01:56
  rejected all that God did before them.
• 1:01:59
  You have this man who when he received the call of God,
• 1:02:01
  listen, he was a successful businessman, 12 oxen.
• 1:02:05
  That's some that's some pretty good stuff.
• 1:02:08
  When he realized that God had called him to be a prophet.
• 1:02:11
  He has a goodbye party. He burns everything away and he
• 1:02:14
  says, I'm not coming back to this.
• 1:02:15
  There's no turning back. And what does he do?
• 1:02:18
  You would think that this is a demotion because the last verse
• 1:02:20
  here says that. Then he arose and went after
• 1:02:22
  Elijah and assisted him. I'd rather kiss my business
• 1:02:25
  goodbye if it means that God's called me to this kind of a
• 1:02:28
  ministry where, as we learn later on, he washes the hands of
• 1:02:31
  Elijah. That's what he that's what he
• 1:02:33
  goes down to that kind of a level where he will assist
• 1:02:36
  Elijah. He doesn't become a prophet
• 1:02:37
  right away. He becomes an assistant.
• 1:02:40
  But because he knew it was God's call, he says that's greater joy
• 1:02:42
  to me than any business, any money, any promotion, any
• 1:02:45
  expansion. I'll do it.
• 1:02:47
  I'll do it. And we are soon coming to the
• 1:02:51
  story of Elijah. Here's how we're closing.
• 1:02:53
  Look how many chapters we have left in First Kings.
• 1:02:55
  Flip your pages and notice where it ends.
• 1:03:00
  Isn't that scary? We're almost done.
• 1:03:04
  We're almost done. And so we're ending our session
• 1:03:07
  tonight with many thoughts that have come our way.
• 1:03:10
  But let's conclude with this thought.
• 1:03:12
  Lord, keep me faithful. Keep.
• 1:03:16
  Me faithful, and if you are drained for whatever reason
• 1:03:20
  tonight, I pray that the truth that you heard would animate you
• 1:03:24
  more, but I pray that you would have enough faith to speak to
• 1:03:27
  the Lord even now and say, Lord, please, I want to serve you.
• 1:03:32
  And whatever you call me to serve you in, I want you to help
• 1:03:35
  me remember that you will vindicate my 'cause I want you
• 1:03:38
  to remind me always that I'm not in this alone, that there is a
• 1:03:42
  people here and there's a people elsewhere that love you and
• 1:03:45
  serve you. And though they may not be the
• 1:03:46
  majority, God, help me believe that these relationships will be
• 1:03:50
  enough for me to live another day to serve you with my whole
• 1:03:54
  heart. Thank you, Lord Jesus, for the
• 1:03:57
  blessed word of God. We ask you, oh God, with great
• 1:04:00
  Thanksgiving and gratitude, to chain these golden threads of
• 1:04:06
  truth around our hearts. And we do ask, O Lord, that you
• 1:04:11
  would help us not just survive in our service, but thrive with
• 1:04:17
  joy and strength and a contagious spirit.
• 1:04:21
  So even for those who have been faithfully serving you, but they
• 1:04:24
  feel as though they are losing energy and desire.
• 1:04:27
  Let that change tonight. Please, Lord, let that change
• 1:04:32
  tonight. Let us know the vigor of the
• 1:04:34
  Apostle Paul and let us, oh Lord, realize that what you've
• 1:04:38
  started you can complete and finish in US.
• 1:04:40
  Lord, we ask that that would be true.
• 1:04:43
  We love you, Lord, we adore you. And we ask that you would do
• 1:04:46
  what no man can do, revive our hearts and keep them alive in
• 1:04:50
  Jesus name. Amen.
• 1:04:52
  Amen. Yes, priest team.
• 1:05:01
  Thank you. I've seen a lot of people start
• 1:05:14
  and they didn't live past the decade of serving the Lord where
• 1:05:20
  they can't be found. It's.
• 1:05:24
  Easy to start a race, and God describes this faith as a race.
• 1:05:30
  How are you? Running.
• 1:05:32
  Are you losing steam? Are you looking left?
• 1:05:37
  Are you looking right? I hope to preach a message on
• 1:05:41
  this one day, one of the strangest commands that Jesus
• 1:05:45
  gives in all of the New Testament.
• 1:05:47
  It's something that I'm convinced most Christians have
• 1:05:49
  never done, or maybe have done once.
• 1:05:55
  Jesus commanded. Remember Lot's wife.
• 1:06:03
  Is that a suggestion? No, that's actually a command.
• 1:06:06
  Remember Lot's wife. Think about Lot's wife.
• 1:06:11
  There's so much to unpack with that, but I remember stumbling
• 1:06:13
  upon that truth recently and meditating.
• 1:06:16
  Lot's wife, Jesus said remember her.
• 1:06:21
  Her ultimate crime was that she looked back when she wasn't
• 1:06:24
  supposed to. So I want to admonish you
• 1:06:28
  tonight, you can only know strength to keep running if you
• 1:06:33
  stay abiding in the vine. Stand.
• 1:06:39
  With me, please. And let's ask the Lord to help
• 1:06:41
  us keep running this race.