SPEAKER_00: I want to talk to you today about what to do when fear makes you want to run.
SPEAKER_00: What do we do when fear makes us want to run?
SPEAKER_00: We're back in the land of blue.
SPEAKER_00: We're doing a blue Christmas this year, and we're going through this land in each message where we're going to explore part of the land of blue.
SPEAKER_00: Last weekend we were we went went to the gate of honesty.
SPEAKER_00: That's the best way to enter the land of blue.
SPEAKER_00: Today we're going to be in the shadowy forest of feelings.
SPEAKER_00: Anyone know what it's like when your your feelings, your emotions just get all out of whack?
SPEAKER_00: When you're you're you're jumping to shadows, where you feel like, I don't know what's up and what's down anymore.
SPEAKER_00: If you've ever been overcome with your own feelings, I think you're going to enjoy today's message.
SPEAKER_00: The whole idea behind the land of blue is that we all face anxieties, we all face fears, we all face depression even.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus doesn't call us failures for that.
SPEAKER_00: He walks us through that to make us stronger, to make us more helpful to others, and to know his heart a whole lot better.
SPEAKER_00: So if fears ever made you want to quit, you're in the right church today.
SPEAKER_00: You tuned into the right place today.
SPEAKER_00: We're going to learn from maybe one of the best people to learn from, and that is Elijah.
SPEAKER_00: Anybody know about the Old Testament prophet Elijah?
SPEAKER_00: He was kind of, honestly, guys, he was, it's wrong to say he was a drama queen, but dude, he was just, he was a lot.
SPEAKER_00: Okay?
SPEAKER_00: Like he he knew how to like have a little show.
SPEAKER_00: That's what he knew how to do.
SPEAKER_00: He was very thunderous with his proclamations.
SPEAKER_00: He was the one who uh said, There's not gonna be any rain for three years.
SPEAKER_00: He prayed to the Lord, and that there's a drought in the land of Israel.
SPEAKER_00: The passage we're gonna study today, in the previous passage, here's what's happened.
SPEAKER_00: There was a showdown of sorts between the prophets of Baal and Elijah, just the one prophet of the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Now, the prophets of Baal are criminal prophets, okay?
SPEAKER_00: So it's you're not allowed to be a prophet of another God in the land of Israel.
SPEAKER_00: It's legal according to the law.
SPEAKER_00: But here they are, and the whole nation's really turned its back on God.
SPEAKER_00: There's a wicked king and queen installed.
SPEAKER_00: And Elijah, he's sent by the Lord to just say, All right, that's enough.
SPEAKER_00: You know, prophets of Baal, let's see what you got.
SPEAKER_00: Let's see if you can do anything.
SPEAKER_00: Why don't you call on your God like all day?
SPEAKER_00: Why don't you rant and rave?
SPEAKER_00: Why don't you cut yourselves?
SPEAKER_00: Why don't you see if he can show up and do anything to show all the people that he's really the God?
SPEAKER_00: And of course, these dudes do it all day long, and this they're not a god doesn't show up.
SPEAKER_00: Elijah then, listen to what he does, because it's it's kind of important to understand just how hard this was.
SPEAKER_00: Um, he builds an altar, he slaughters the sacrifice, then he gets all kinds of water and pours it all over the sacrifices, the altar, so that it's it's real wet.
SPEAKER_00: So the idea that God might light a fire, it's gonna be hard to do, but it isn't hard to do for God because then fire comes from heaven.
SPEAKER_00: It's like, yep, that's the true God.
SPEAKER_00: And then he goes about putting to capital punishment all the prophets of Baal.
SPEAKER_00: This is a long day.
SPEAKER_00: Bro is tired, okay?
SPEAKER_00: Well, after that, you'd think he's he's so like thunderous, he's so ready to put on a show for everybody.
SPEAKER_00: It was kind of a show.
SPEAKER_00: If you read 1 Kings 18, it's like a show.
SPEAKER_00: Then the queen hears about it and she says, I'm gonna kill you.
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna come get you and gonna kill you.
SPEAKER_00: Now there's a little bit of irony, I want you to notice as we study the passage.
SPEAKER_00: Elijah was just used by God to like lay the beat down on the opponents.
SPEAKER_00: Like God is so powerful.
SPEAKER_00: Elijah really has nothing to worry about, and yet he's so overcome, he's so overtired, he gets scared.
SPEAKER_00: Let's pick it up in verse one.
SPEAKER_00: When Ahab got home, that was the wicked king, he told Jezebel, the wicked queen, everything Elijah had done, including the way he had killed all the prophets of Baal.
SPEAKER_00: So Jezebel sent this message to Eliza, May God strike me and even kill me, if by this time tomorrow I have not killed you just as you killed them.
SPEAKER_00: And in this state of mind that Elijah is in, he freaks out.
SPEAKER_00: Elijah was afraid and fled for his life.
SPEAKER_00: He went to Beersheba, a town in Judah, and left his servant there.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, so what's happening here?
SPEAKER_00: Elijah has a little protege and he goes to drop him off at Beersheba.
SPEAKER_00: There's two things that we might notice.
SPEAKER_00: One is Elijah wants to get this other younger prophet safe.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, he's like, this chick might come kill me.
SPEAKER_00: Let's just bring you home.
SPEAKER_00: Let's make sure that you're not in the line of fire.
SPEAKER_00: But also, he's going it alone.
SPEAKER_00: He's gonna start to isolate.
SPEAKER_00: Anyone know what isolating is like when you're overcome with emotion, when you're discouraged, when you're depressed, you're like, I'm just gonna come off alone on my own.
SPEAKER_00: A little bit.
SPEAKER_00: That is what Elijah is doing.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 4.
SPEAKER_00: Then he went on alone.
SPEAKER_00: Somebody say alone.
SPEAKER_00: He went on alone into the wilderness, traveling all day.
SPEAKER_00: He sat down under a solitary broom tree and prayed that he might die.
SPEAKER_00: Now listen to this.
SPEAKER_00: I've had enough, Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Anybody ever said I had enough, Lord?
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, this is what I love about the Bible, this is really how it goes sometimes.
SPEAKER_00: Like that's what that's what we say.
SPEAKER_00: I've had enough, Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Take my life, for I'm no better than my ancestors who already died.
SPEAKER_00: He's like, my ancestors were compromisers, so nothing they did mattered in the kingdom of Israel.
SPEAKER_00: And now, even though I was not a compromiser, it's like nothing happened.
SPEAKER_00: See, Elijah had expectations that as a result of his action, geez, maybe there'd just be a national revival.
SPEAKER_00: Like maybe the king and queen would come down there be like, We were wrong.
SPEAKER_00: Yahweh is the real God, but that's not what happened.
SPEAKER_00: That's what he's like, what the heck?
SPEAKER_00: I guess it's useless.
SPEAKER_00: It's useless to follow God.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, help us to hear our own voices in this message.
SPEAKER_00: It's useless to follow God.
SPEAKER_00: What's the point?
SPEAKER_00: He's learning a lesson that we all need to learn.
SPEAKER_00: Spiritual crashes often follow spiritual high points.
SPEAKER_00: He has a lot of spiritual exertion.
SPEAKER_00: And like many of us, after we're so what'll happen is people come to church, they'll come for a little while and they're like, wow, I'm just on fire.
SPEAKER_00: Like God's really moving me.
SPEAKER_00: And I just want to live, give him an affectionate warning.
SPEAKER_00: Hey, that's awesome.
SPEAKER_00: Just watch out.
SPEAKER_00: Because you've got a spiritual enemy that's going to come around the corner and he's going to try to tempt you.
SPEAKER_00: He's going to try to discourage you, and he's going to try to tell you, that didn't mean anything.
SPEAKER_00: What are you doing?
SPEAKER_00: You're not this.
SPEAKER_00: Why don't you get out of here?
SPEAKER_00: Why don't you go back to what you used to do?
SPEAKER_00: There's often the enemy comes to pull the rug out from us right as we're making progress.
SPEAKER_00: So what did Elijah do?
SPEAKER_00: He lay down and slept under the broom tree, but as he was sleeping, an angel touched him and told him, Get up and eat.
SPEAKER_00: He looked around, and there besides his head was some baked bread, hot stones, and a jar of water.
SPEAKER_00: So he ate and drank and lay down again.
SPEAKER_00: Then the angel of the Lord came again and touched him and said, Get up and eat some more, or the journey ahead will be too much for you.
SPEAKER_00: So he got up and ate and drank, and the food gave him enough strength to travel forty days and forty nights, another miracle to Mount Sinai, the mountain of God.
SPEAKER_00: Let's notice a couple things.
SPEAKER_00: Um God did not ask him to go here.
SPEAKER_00: It might be wise to okay, okay, the queen says she's going to try to kill you.
SPEAKER_00: So maybe hide out somewhere, maybe, maybe rest and recoup.
SPEAKER_00: But he did not tell you to go back to Mount Sinai.
SPEAKER_00: Remember what Mount Sinai was?
SPEAKER_00: That was the place where the Israelit first came with Moses.
SPEAKER_00: Moses went up on the mountain and he got the commandments of God.
SPEAKER_00: And so scholars debate why Elijah exactly is going back here.
SPEAKER_00: It might be some think it's to turn in his resignation, so to speak.
SPEAKER_00: He's like, forget this, I'm gonna go back to the front office, God, turn in my resignation.
SPEAKER_00: I'm done with this thing.
SPEAKER_00: Others think he was hoping God would kind of restart the whole program with him, like he did with Moses long ago.
SPEAKER_00: Whatever reason he went back there for, he came to a cave, verse 9.
SPEAKER_00: There he came to a cave where he spent the night.
SPEAKER_00: But the Lord said to him, What are you doing here, Elijah?
SPEAKER_00: This isn't what I asked you to do.
SPEAKER_00: I didn't ask you to come out here.
SPEAKER_00: Elijah replied, now he's got this one rehearsed, okay?
SPEAKER_00: He's had he's a lot of time to travel.
SPEAKER_00: It was 150 miles to Beersheba, then another 150 miles back to Mount Sinai.
SPEAKER_00: So he's had a lot of time to think and practice, but it hasn't calmed them down.
SPEAKER_00: You ever you ever just getting such a tissue that you're just getting worked up and worked up and you're practicing what you're gonna say to them?
SPEAKER_00: And you're like, oh, and so Elijah's just kept going, man.
SPEAKER_00: He's ready.
SPEAKER_00: So he's he's like, Lord, I have zealously served the Lord God Almighty, but the people of Israel, they've broken their covenant with you, torn down your altars, killed every one of your prophets.
SPEAKER_00: I alone am left.
SPEAKER_00: Now they're trying to kill me too.
SPEAKER_00: I'm positive, he's doing what we talked about last week and he's lamenting, like he's being real with God.
SPEAKER_00: He's saying, This is what is up, Lord, this is how I feel.
SPEAKER_00: He's not holding back, he's not censoring anything, and he believes God can handle it, and God can handle it.
SPEAKER_00: So God says, Go out and stand before me on the mountain, the Lord told him.
SPEAKER_00: As Elijah stood there, the Lord passed by.
SPEAKER_00: Now, on this very same mountain, the Lord passed by Moses years ago.
SPEAKER_00: He passed by and showed him his glory.
SPEAKER_00: He showed Moses a little a little miniature of his glory, of how good he is, of how loving he is, of how gracious he is, of how powerful he is.
SPEAKER_00: He passed him by.
SPEAKER_00: And now the Lord is doing something similar with Elijah here.
SPEAKER_00: But let's read it.
SPEAKER_00: As he stood there, the Lord passed by, and a mighty windstorm hit the mountain.
SPEAKER_00: It was such a terrible blast that the rocks were torn loose, but the Lord was not in the wind.
SPEAKER_00: After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake.
SPEAKER_00: And after the earthquake, there was a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire.
SPEAKER_00: And after the fire, there was a sound of a gentle whisper.
SPEAKER_00: I want you to notice how gentle the Lord is with Elijah, even though he's freaking out a little bit.
SPEAKER_00: He passes them by, but the text says, but God was not in that particular manifestation.
SPEAKER_00: He wasn't in the fire, he wasn't in the earthquake.
SPEAKER_00: There's a worldview, you you you might not have heard this term, but you probably know what this is about.
SPEAKER_00: It's pantheism.
SPEAKER_00: It is the idea that God is kind of like the universe everywhere.
SPEAKER_00: So everything is God.
SPEAKER_00: So like the waves are God, the tree is God, the chair is God, like everything is God.
SPEAKER_00: The problem is if you get down on your knees and you start to worship that tree, if you say, I worship you God, right in front of that tree, my friends, that tree is not God.
SPEAKER_00: That's something he did, that's something he made.
SPEAKER_00: We learn a lot about God from the trees and the oceans, how big God is and how complex he is and how inventive he is.
SPEAKER_00: We learn a lot about that, but those things are not God.
SPEAKER_00: God is a person outside of his creation.
SPEAKER_00: And so God is showing Moses, look at all this powerful stuff that I do.
SPEAKER_00: Or sorry, Elijah, Elijah, look at all this powerful stuff I do.
SPEAKER_00: Elijah, you know about the power because that seems to be your MO, man.
SPEAKER_00: You're loud, and here comes God, fire from heaven.
SPEAKER_00: You know about that.
SPEAKER_00: And yet he made Elijah where, but God himself wasn't in that thing.
SPEAKER_00: That was a thing God did, just like God made the tree, but God is not the tree, and God did not, he's not, he's not in that thing.
SPEAKER_00: It's just the thing that he does.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 13, when Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his cloak and he went out and stood at the entrance of the cave.
SPEAKER_00: And the voice said, Again, what are you doing here, Elijah?
SPEAKER_00: And I love it, man.
SPEAKER_00: He just he punches right back, just again.
SPEAKER_00: I've zealously served the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Says the exact same thing.
SPEAKER_00: Zealously served the Lord God Almighty.
SPEAKER_00: He's just stewing on this thing, yo.
SPEAKER_00: He's like, Yeah, well, God, I'm in, yeah, okay, okay.
SPEAKER_00: But I'm gonna run right back in.
SPEAKER_00: I'm the only one, I'm the guy.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, now they're trying to kill me too.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 15.
SPEAKER_00: Then the Lord told him, Go back the same way you came and travel to the wilderness of Damascus.
SPEAKER_00: When you arrive there, anoint Hazael, the king of Aram, then anoint Jehu, grandson of Nimshi, and to be the king of Israel, and anoint Elisha, son of Shaphat, from the town of Ebel Mundalah.
SPEAKER_00: No, that's not it.
SPEAKER_00: Malalaha.
SPEAKER_00: It doesn't matter.
SPEAKER_00: To replace you as my prophet.
SPEAKER_00: Anyone who escapes, I'm not going there anytime soon.
SPEAKER_00: Anyone who escapes from Azale will be killed by Jehu, and those who escape Jehu will be killed by Elisha.
SPEAKER_00: Even here, he's being gentle with Elijah.
SPEAKER_00: He's saying, Buddy, I know you're discouraged, but your discouragement doesn't lead to disqualification.
SPEAKER_00: It hasn't canceled your call.
SPEAKER_00: But then he brings up one thing.
SPEAKER_00: Before Elijah goes, he says, verse 18, yet I will preserve 7,000 others in Israel who have not, who have never bowed down to Baal or kissed him.
SPEAKER_00: He says, Well, I need to correct something.
SPEAKER_00: Let's I've been gentle to you, I've fed you, I've I've gone with you, even though I didn't even ask you to come here.
SPEAKER_00: But now that I've re-established you and re-you know, set you up to go, let's just have a conversation.
SPEAKER_00: You're not entirely right about some of the things that you're saying.
SPEAKER_00: Do you think I really made this whole plan dependent on you?
SPEAKER_00: You're just like one guy.
SPEAKER_00: I'm doing stuff all over that you can't see, that you don't know about, because I'm God and I know the plan.
SPEAKER_00: But he doesn't shame him.
SPEAKER_00: He doesn't say, idiot.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: No, he doesn't shame him for having emotions.
SPEAKER_00: He just corrects him and says, Yeah, well, here's what's gonna happen.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 19.
SPEAKER_00: So Elijah went and found Elisha, the son of Shaphat, plowing a field, and that's a whole another story.
SPEAKER_00: We have all probably been places where we were so overcome, so tired of it, so anxious, so overwhelmed, that fear's voice came and said, Maybe you just ought to get out of here.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe you just ought to be done.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe they don't appreciate you.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe you're the only one.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe you're the one working around here.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe you're the only adult in the room.
SPEAKER_00: These people don't appreciate you.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe you should get out of here.
SPEAKER_00: Elijah survived the shadowy forest of feelings.
SPEAKER_00: And it's a shadowy place, our feelings.
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes it's a shadowy place.
SPEAKER_00: And we're jumping at these shadows.
SPEAKER_00: And he survived it.
SPEAKER_00: He's gonna help us know how.
SPEAKER_00: Here's number one fill your physical and emotional tanks, receiving rest and recuperation as a gift from God.
SPEAKER_00: Receiving rest and recuperation as gifts from God.
SPEAKER_00: Notice how gentle and sustaining and patient God is with Elijah.
SPEAKER_00: So he's like running the other way, and the angel comes and gives him food.
SPEAKER_00: He says, Here's some food, take a nap.
SPEAKER_00: Get up, here's some food, take a nap.
SPEAKER_00: Like he's real sweet about the whole thing.
SPEAKER_00: Now, Elijah rightly did.
SPEAKER_00: He he got physical, at least physical restoration, but he wasn't receiving it necessarily as a grace and a mercy from God.
SPEAKER_00: Could it be that sometimes the Lord might say to us, you're going too long, you're in the shadow force of shadowy force of feelings, you're going too long without my loving replenishment.
SPEAKER_00: Even if you're pigging out, man, even if you're chowing down, even if you're taking super long naps, yeah, but you're not connecting it to the person of God.
SPEAKER_00: Psalm 104, 14, 15 says this.
SPEAKER_00: He brings forth food from the earth and wine, listen to this, to gladden the heart of man, oil to make his face shine, and check it, and bread to strengthen man's heart.
SPEAKER_00: God gives us food.
SPEAKER_00: It's not just to like keep the system running, it's not just to give you calories.
SPEAKER_00: God gives you and I food.
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes we've been through the ringer, man.
SPEAKER_00: He says, Here, why don't you sit down?
SPEAKER_00: Why don't you have some food and receive it from God because he wants to strengthen your heart.
SPEAKER_00: He wants you to come back to life a little bit.
SPEAKER_00: He wants you to enjoy it as a gift from him.
SPEAKER_00: So I'm just saying this holiday, man.
SPEAKER_00: Look, you can sit down.
SPEAKER_00: You'll be like, God wants me to enjoy this.
SPEAKER_00: This is worship right now, as long as you receive it from God as He wants to strengthen your heart.
SPEAKER_00: Now, here's something that doesn't really work.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, so this is my phone.
SPEAKER_00: Now, when this gets low, here's what here's what doesn't really work.
SPEAKER_00: When I say, hey man, I know you've been through a hard time lately.
SPEAKER_00: And um, I know it's been really tough.
SPEAKER_00: And listen, God's gonna work everything together for good.
SPEAKER_00: You just hang on, man.
SPEAKER_00: Look, this is gonna pay off in heaven.
SPEAKER_00: Just just keep it up, little buddy.
SPEAKER_00: You just keep going.
SPEAKER_00: I can say that, but that doesn't do anything.
SPEAKER_00: What does it need?
SPEAKER_00: It needs to be plugged in.
SPEAKER_00: It needs more power.
SPEAKER_00: And sometimes, you know, some of the martyrs of us around here were like, oh, it's so hard, but I'm just gonna keep on keeping on for Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: And the Lord's like, why don't you just plug in?
SPEAKER_00: Why don't you take a nap, open the fridge?
SPEAKER_00: All right, why don't you eat something before you go have that very difficult conversation?
SPEAKER_00: Why don't you just understand your body is an apparatus that God made to need rest and food?
SPEAKER_00: Many of you know LeBron James, do you know that he's a ginormous advocate for sleep?
SPEAKER_00: During on season, sleep for him is maintenance.
SPEAKER_00: It's like seven and eight hours a night at least, because he knows, look, I can't be shabby out there, I can't be tired.
SPEAKER_00: And so if he needs, if he knows to give his very best, he needs seven or eight hours of sleep.
SPEAKER_00: Probably all of us could say, Well, you know, I'm not playing basketball, but I've got a lot of important stuff to do.
SPEAKER_00: And I'm gonna take the time to, instead of like sleep is ideal, I'd be nice.
SPEAKER_00: No, sleep is intentional.
SPEAKER_00: Sleep is I gotta arrange life in such a way that I I can just, teenagers, I don't know if you know this, you can just decide to go to bed.
SPEAKER_00: You don't even have to just wait till you're tired.
SPEAKER_00: You can just like think it through.
SPEAKER_00: I'm just gonna go bed here.
SPEAKER_00: I'll sleep in on the front end.
SPEAKER_00: You can totally do that.
SPEAKER_00: But here's what I want us to take away.
SPEAKER_00: God doesn't look at Elijah at any moment and say, Explain yourself.
SPEAKER_00: He says, Sleep.
SPEAKER_00: Eat.
SPEAKER_00: I'm with you.
SPEAKER_00: I am with you.
SPEAKER_00: Here's number two: bring your version of your disappointments to God.
SPEAKER_00: Bring your version of your disappointments to God.
SPEAKER_00: I've had enough, Lord, take my life.
SPEAKER_00: He's got honest lament, which is good.
SPEAKER_00: He's thinking rightly about that.
SPEAKER_00: The problem is he then has, in the midst of his lament, he has unchallenged assumptions.
SPEAKER_00: He's drawing conclusions that aren't necessarily true, but we're not sure that he knows they're not true.
SPEAKER_00: So if you ever like witnessed a traumatic event, you might have had to go down to the police station and like file a report.
SPEAKER_00: He had to give a statement.
SPEAKER_00: Like, here's what I saw, here's what happened.
SPEAKER_00: Now the police know you're not necessarily gonna get every detail right.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe your emotions were influenced, maybe you had a certain point of view that you didn't really see it exactly the way other people saw it.
SPEAKER_00: They all have different details, but it doesn't really matter because you came down and you gave your statement.
SPEAKER_00: God knows that you and I aren't gonna get all the details of all of our problems right before we complain to him, before we lament to him.
SPEAKER_00: So we can approach and not worry, God, do I get any details right?
SPEAKER_00: No, you don't.
SPEAKER_00: But after we do that, God still wants to, after he's like held us and we've lamented, God comes to the point, he's like, yeah.
SPEAKER_00: But also let's set the record straight.
SPEAKER_00: Let's just make sure we're we're operating on what's true and not just your feelings fumbles.
SPEAKER_00: There's some feelings fumbles that Elijah went through there.
SPEAKER_00: I don't know if you saw them.
SPEAKER_00: The first was bragging.
SPEAKER_00: It's like, I'm zealous for the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Did you hear that?
SPEAKER_00: I'm the one.
SPEAKER_00: I care more than everybody else.
SPEAKER_00: I care about this church more than anybody else.
SPEAKER_00: I care about the people, I care about the family more than anyone else.
SPEAKER_00: Comparison?
SPEAKER_00: He's comparison, he compares himself to the other Israelites.
SPEAKER_00: God, they're the ones, you know, killing your prophets.
SPEAKER_00: I'm the one who's on your side over.
SPEAKER_00: confidence in his own knowledge, I alone him left.
SPEAKER_00: Bro, that's not even a little bit true.
SPEAKER_00: But we can draw conclusions and think I'm just my perspective is right here, but it's not necessarily right here.
SPEAKER_00: Self-pity and then ultimately accusation toward the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Well God, why did you even show up then?
SPEAKER_00: Like I did all this stuff on Mount Carmel.
SPEAKER_00: I went after these prophets of Baal.
SPEAKER_00: Why didn't you fix the nation?
SPEAKER_00: I thought you were gonna caught cause that king and queen to get on their knees and repent.
SPEAKER_00: But part of the lesson for us is you can be emotionally honest but still factually wrong.
SPEAKER_00: And that's okay.
SPEAKER_00: We just got to own I might be factually wrong.
SPEAKER_00: It's great that I can be emotionally honest.
SPEAKER_00: And so in our prayer time as we're lamenting before the Lord we say stuff like you know Jesus would you check my math though because I'm saying all this is how I see it but the likelihood that I'm 100% right, I mean, does that ever happen?
SPEAKER_00: Are you ever 100% right?
SPEAKER_00: You should ask the people around you if that's true.
SPEAKER_00: Don't ask you.
SPEAKER_00: Ask the people around you.
SPEAKER_00: And you can ask the people around you hey would you check my math here's you you say to your friend, you say to your spouse, hey let me just give you my rant to God.
SPEAKER_00: Here's what I'm saying to God.
SPEAKER_00: Would you just correct anything that seems not really true about that.
SPEAKER_00: We can ask questions like what conclusion am I drawing that God has not actually said where might exhaustion be shaping how I'm seeing this difficulty number three to get out of the shadowy forest of feelings number three seek to understand who God is not just what he does.
SPEAKER_00: Elijah knows God is powerful God is holy he lives that like he understands the part of God that is loud and in charge like he gets that you better obey like that's what he's telling the the prophets of Baal but his mind is also filled with chaos his his emotions his feelings are causing him to miss some other things about God.
SPEAKER_00: See knowing what God can do is different than trusting who God is one of the first descriptors I probably like absorbed as a kid of what my dad was I'm sure my mom said something like your dad is the strongest.
SPEAKER_00: And so I was like good to know that's helpful information.
SPEAKER_00: My dad is the strongest.
SPEAKER_00: Well then when I was 14 I was mowing the lawn and I wasn't looking the right way and I stuck my foot under the lawn mower and the blade went right through my toe, my big toe.
SPEAKER_00: Think of a lot of hot dog that's like crookedly cut cut long ways.
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
SPEAKER_00: I was like oh no and the neighbor drew me drove me to my parents weren't home so the neighbor drove me to the hospital and my dad met me there and they're just about to like sew up my my toe and the doc's like this is gonna hurt and so my dad says all right grab my hand and I want you to squeeze as hard as you can as much as it hurts you squeeze my hand and I did that and I learned some things about my dad that day that have stuck with me to this moment.
SPEAKER_00: It's true that he really is strong like there's no way I was gonna outs I was going to squeeze so hard that his hand would hurt.
SPEAKER_00: But he was also present and compassionate and very involved in my trial that's who he is I saw his heart more than just understanding that he's strong as when we're in difficult strange forests God is with us in those and he doesn't just want us to know what he can do.
SPEAKER_00: And that means sometimes the answer is not just God get me out of this or answer the prayer it's like God who are you show me who you're trying to be to me so I can know you because maybe that's more important.
SPEAKER_00: So you know many of you know I was I was sick for a long time I knew before I was sick that God heals.
SPEAKER_00: I already believed that but what I didn't know was that he would be a nursemaid to me personally every day while I'm laying in that bed and can't get up that he would be there with me.
SPEAKER_00: He would just be his presence filling me just saying I got you I got you we're good we're good hanging there I knew Jesus forgives people but it wasn't until I knew no Jesus forgives me personally for all the dumb stuff that I've done and he'll never bring it up again and he wants me to enjoy his forgiveness.
SPEAKER_00: That's a different thing to know about Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Some of you you know that God opens doors but maybe what you need to know is that God will never abandon you.
SPEAKER_00: You know that God helps me manage my life but maybe one of the lessons you need to know in this season or a season coming up is even when you're completely a mess and not managing your life at all, God is with you and he's not displeased because you can't manage things perfectly some of us know you know God wants holiness in your marriage but maybe what we need to know is but God also sees the pain in my marriage sometimes and he has compassion and empathy for me in it.
SPEAKER_00: Or maybe we're like Elijah we know that God loves the truth but we need to know better and God loves tenderness which is the thing that Elijah needed to learn in this season.
SPEAKER_00: This whole time he's been he's been showing Elijah Elijah you're really great at like the call down fire thing but have you seen how gentle I was with you out in the wilderness when I'm feeding you and giving you rest and not even bringing up the fact that you're not really doing what I want you to do.
SPEAKER_00: Are you seeing how gentle I am you saw the earthquake and you saw the fire but did you see how gentle I was when I just came and I was in the gentle whisper because I am gentle he's showing himself to Elijah and saying you get this part but you don't get these parts and many of us when we're in the shadowy forest of feeling what we feel is that God is distant.
SPEAKER_00: But what is true is that he is close and careful and kind even when he corrects us that's who your God is let's do one more surviving the shadowy forest of feeling here's number four return to the mission without all your questions answered.
SPEAKER_00: Lord says go back the same way you came now the Lord has just gifted to Elijah He's given him future purpose he's like here's some things I need you to do.
SPEAKER_00: He's given him a partner I want you to go get Elisha and make him your next little protege and he's given him the truth he says Elijah it's not true that you're the only one there's a lot of others I'm doing plenty of stuff without you do you think I would make the entire plan dependent on you what he doesn't give Elijah is emotional clarity before he says go.
SPEAKER_00: He doesn't give that he says no I just want you to obey do the next thing I've shown you and you might not feel like everything's buttoned up and you might not feel like everything's resolved.
SPEAKER_00: Even so I want you to go for any of you who've ever experienced like a need to get physical therapy like maybe there's you got wounded some way and you needed to go in and get physical therapy for a while I've just I've had to do that a couple times in my life.
SPEAKER_00: And what I found is there comes a point where okay we're working on this but then I'm instructed now you need to go back out into the real world and it still might hurt a little bit but I need you to practice moving your arm the right way because that's actually how you're going to heal the rest of the way you've healed a little bit but the rest of your healing is out actually doing it.
SPEAKER_00: Is it possible that for some of us we can get so emotionally overwhelmed and overcome and we have a time with God that's similar to Elijah's like we tell him all of our stuff and he's trying to show us a piece of his heart and he's like okay that's good you're good let's go there's people out there because here's here's the deal there's people out there who are also in the land of blue and we can orbit our pain again and again and again or we can see oh there's people out there that need my help there's people out there that could benefit from me just carrying and that gets my mind off myself and gets my mind into them.
SPEAKER_00: So that means even though you don't feel necessarily like returning to work because there was a difficult situation there.
SPEAKER_00: Nevertheless the Lord says beckons you no I want to use you there.
SPEAKER_00: So keep going even though it's hard that may mean you're you're tempted to give up on dating and you're like oh man this last guy dude he was like his his brain was like a pound of lead maybe it was but the Lord's like don't give up keep going you keep being faithful with what what I've shown you maybe he's asking you you keep showing your integrity and don't insist that everybody else do so as well you just do it.
SPEAKER_00: You just be the change that you want to see in everybody else return there even though it's hard even though you feel persecuted why because God in this moment he's steadying us and then sending us back out into other people's land of blue.
SPEAKER_00: So here's a question Who are you going to invite to Christmas Eve?
SPEAKER_00: Because there's people right now that are in the land of blue and everything we do for Christmas Eve, dude it is all about Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: And this year we're talking about Jesus meeting us right in the middle of our blue right in the middle of our sadness and depression and confusion he's gonna meet us there.
SPEAKER_00: I want you to do me a favor right now take out your cell phone just take it out I'll bet you there's somebody listed in your phone somewhere that you know they're going through a tough time and I bet if you can't think of them, I'll bet you over the next couple days Jesus will bring to mind somebody there dude it's not a great time for them right now.
SPEAKER_00: I want to challenge you to in the next two days so by Tuesday send them a picture of this little car.
SPEAKER_00: There's one probably somewhere near you on the on the seats.
SPEAKER_00: If you're online you can just send them the link to the website but send this to them and say hey I was just thinking about you my church is doing this thing about Jesus and I, you know Jesus really helping people that are sad and you just came to mind and I just wanted to include you so if you want to go with me I'm going or I'm watching online at 5 or 7 p.m on Christmas Eve I want to invite you to watch with me.
SPEAKER_00: There's people who are painfully lost in the shadowy forest of feelings and you might be the extension to help them back to a place of sight, of brightness, of lack of shadow because they touched Jesus Christ in a meaningful way for the very first time I want to bow our heads in prayer but if you are going to accept the challenge to by Tuesday ask somebody else to come to maybe you're from out of town and you go to a different church, okay?
SPEAKER_00: Invite them to that church wherever you know they're gonna hear the gospel of Jesus Christ let's bow our heads and I want to ask you to hold up your phone if you're saying yes Lord I will.
SPEAKER_00: Father in Jesus' name we pray right now we thank you that you meet us in the land of blue and we know there's a lot of other people that are in pain and many in more pain than us.
SPEAKER_00: Over the next two days God would you bring to our mind who is it that we can be an extension of the kindness and the gentleness of Jesus bring them to our mind give us the courage to text them call them whatever it is in Jesus' name amen.
SPEAKER_00: All right folks that's all the time we have but thank you so much for listening to this sermon.
SPEAKER_00: If you got a lot out of this feel free to share this with somebody who might need it.
SPEAKER_00: Also there's a ton more content on our website on our YouTube channel on our Instagram channel on our TikTok channel feel free to check all that kind of a thing out.
SPEAKER_00: Also if you're interested in leadership type stuff go ahead and check out another podcast or any other blogs or videos or anything over at Bibleleadership.com and whatever else you do make sure that you believe God for something big today