WEBVTT 00:00:06.320 --> 00:00:09.839 Hey, I'm Pastor Forrest, and welcome to the Multiple Curse Podcast. 00:00:10.240 --> 00:00:15.519 Each week we open the office word together to help you make and multiply good in your everyday life. 00:00:15.759 --> 00:00:18.960 We're so glad that you've taken the time to join us for this week's sermon. 00:00:19.120 --> 00:00:24.160 And if you haven't already, be sure to subscribe and follow us on social media so you never miss a message. 00:00:24.320 --> 00:00:27.120 Now, let's dive into this week's sermon. 00:00:30.800 --> 00:00:35.439 If God already knows everything, why do we need to ask him for things? 00:00:36.240 --> 00:00:40.719 Why do we try to hide from him at times? 00:00:40.960 --> 00:00:44.320 The title of my message today is Hide and Seek. 00:00:44.640 --> 00:00:52.399 And one of the joys of early fatherhood is getting to play fake hide and seek with my little girls. 00:00:52.640 --> 00:00:56.159 Now I call it fake hide and seek because they're terrible at it, okay? 00:00:56.719 --> 00:01:05.599 Like you have to go in the room and pretend like you can't see them, hiding right behind the curtain or hiding behind the chair. 00:01:05.760 --> 00:01:07.439 They think you can't see them. 00:01:07.680 --> 00:01:10.640 You have to go in and say, Where's Magnolia? 00:01:11.280 --> 00:01:12.480 Where's Zimber? 00:01:12.560 --> 00:01:15.760 Maybe you've done this with the kid or with the cousin or something. 00:01:16.640 --> 00:01:24.560 The one that's funniest to me is when they cover over their eyes, thinking that just because they can't see you, you can't see them. 00:01:30.879 --> 00:01:39.439 I wonder if that's how God feels when we try to forget all the things that he has done for us. 00:01:40.239 --> 00:01:42.239 Have spiritual amnesia. 00:01:43.280 --> 00:01:48.079 If God already knows everything, why do we need to ask him for things? 00:01:48.319 --> 00:01:51.040 And why the world do we try to hide from him? 00:01:51.280 --> 00:01:56.079 Why do we lack faith when things are going badly? 00:01:56.400 --> 00:02:02.480 How quickly we forget how good our God is and how he has our back. 00:02:03.040 --> 00:02:09.199 What I'm talking about is I'm talking about us having a true faith. 00:02:09.680 --> 00:02:11.120 A true faith. 00:02:11.439 --> 00:02:19.599 And not running from God, not hiding from God, not letting fears overtake us and rob us of faith. 00:02:19.919 --> 00:02:28.000 See, God doesn't want us to allow fear to grip us, or for fear to grip you and to pull you away from Him. 00:02:28.159 --> 00:02:30.960 Actually, God tells us to fear not. 00:02:31.759 --> 00:02:38.319 Three over 365 times in the scripture, one for every day of the year, we want to have faith over fear. 00:02:38.479 --> 00:02:39.919 Everybody say faith over fear. 00:02:44.319 --> 00:02:51.199 Where we're going today and where I'm starting today is in episode three of the story of Elijah. 00:02:51.360 --> 00:02:52.719 And so if you're new with us, welcome. 00:02:52.879 --> 00:02:53.520 Glad that you're here. 00:02:53.599 --> 00:02:56.479 Every Sunday is somebody's first time at Multiply. 00:02:56.560 --> 00:02:59.039 I'm Pastor Forrest, lead pastor here. 00:02:59.120 --> 00:03:00.000 I'm glad that you're here. 00:03:00.080 --> 00:03:14.240 I'd love for you to uh jump in to today's message, knowing that we're kind of at the climax and the resolution of Elijah's story, but go back online, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, listen to episode one and two of this series. 00:03:14.319 --> 00:03:17.360 But I'm going to catch you up just a little bit for where we are. 00:03:17.680 --> 00:03:33.199 God has called out his prophet Elijah, one of the most famous prophets in the Old Testament, and he's called him out at a time where the people of God have left their first love and have started to worship this false demonic God of Baal. 00:03:33.280 --> 00:03:42.719 There was a storm god that was from the people of the north who believed in this storm God that would bring rain and bring wealth and bring fertility. 00:03:42.879 --> 00:03:52.319 And so the people of God have begun to stop worshiping the one true God and begin to worship this false demonic idol. 00:03:52.400 --> 00:04:04.000 And God calls out Elijah to speak truth to power to the current evil king, who is the most evil in the line of evil kings at this time in a split kingdom of Judah and Israel. 00:04:04.080 --> 00:04:12.000 And he's married Jezebel, an evil queen, who has brought this Baal worship into Israel and into the people of God. 00:04:12.080 --> 00:04:21.839 And God raises up Elijah to proclaim judgment on God's people through there being a drought, being no rain. 00:04:22.160 --> 00:04:28.560 So Elijah proclaims that there will be no rain until he says that there will be rain. 00:04:28.879 --> 00:04:39.120 And Elijah has this mountaintop experience that we talked about last Sunday as there was this holy showdown when Elijah went head to head with the false prophets of Baal. 00:04:39.360 --> 00:04:44.240 And the false prophets tried to call fire down from heaven and nothing happened. 00:04:44.319 --> 00:04:56.399 And then Elijah called fire down from heaven and burn up a sacrifice, and the fire of God came down and consumed the sacrifice, and the prop prophets of Baal were killed. 00:04:56.560 --> 00:04:59.040 And Elijah has this mountaintop experience. 00:04:59.279 --> 00:05:04.800 And then he goes into and falls into a deep valley, and then he goes to the wrong mountain. 00:05:04.879 --> 00:05:09.600 And that's where we're picking up the story as Elijah prays for rain. 00:05:09.759 --> 00:05:16.959 We're going to end in the end of the chapter we ended last week, 1 Kings 18, and then go through the majority of 1 Kings chapter 19. 00:05:17.040 --> 00:05:24.959 So if you have your Bible, if you have your phone, I would love for you to pull up this passage, Kings, 1 Kings chapter 18, so you know where the story is. 00:05:25.040 --> 00:05:26.879 It's also going to be on the screen. 00:05:27.040 --> 00:05:27.920 Are y'all ready? 00:05:28.560 --> 00:05:29.120 Let's do it. 00:05:29.199 --> 00:05:29.759 Here we go. 00:05:30.000 --> 00:05:32.079 1 Kings 18, starting in verse 41. 00:05:32.240 --> 00:05:38.000 Then Elijah said to Ahab, Go get something to eat and drink, for I hear a mighty rainstorm coming. 00:05:38.240 --> 00:05:40.160 So Ahab went to eat and drink. 00:05:40.240 --> 00:05:46.000 But Elijah climbed to the top of Mount Carmel and bowed low to the ground and prayed with his face between his knees. 00:05:46.160 --> 00:05:48.879 Then he said to his servant, Go and look towards the sea. 00:05:49.040 --> 00:05:54.240 And the servant went and looked, and then returned to Elijah and said, I didn't see anything. 00:05:54.480 --> 00:06:06.480 Seven times Elijah told him to go and look, and finally the seventh time his servant told him, I saw a little cloud, about the size of a man's hand, rising from the sea. 00:06:06.639 --> 00:06:12.319 Then Elijah shouted, Hurry to Ahab and tell him, Climb into your chariot and go back home. 00:06:12.480 --> 00:06:15.279 If you don't hurry, the rain will stop you. 00:06:15.519 --> 00:06:16.639 Verse 45. 00:06:17.519 --> 00:06:25.439 And soon the sky was black with clouds, and heavy wind brought a terrific rainstorm, and Ahab left quickly for Jezreel. 00:06:25.680 --> 00:06:28.240 And then the Lord gave special strength to Elijah. 00:06:28.319 --> 00:06:35.040 He tucked his cloak into his belt and ran ahead of Ahab's chariot all the way to the entrance of Jezreel. 00:06:35.279 --> 00:06:38.319 Now there's a lot of buildup in this story. 00:06:38.560 --> 00:06:45.839 And episode 1, episode 2, now to episode 3, a ton of buildup that's leading to this moment of the rain coming. 00:06:46.160 --> 00:07:15.360 All of this faith that Elijah has used to see God bring provision to him with food and water in the wilderness, faith to see the son of a widow who was starving in this drought and famine, see the son that died be raised back to life, to call fire down from heaven, all this faith that's charged up. 00:07:15.839 --> 00:07:20.000 And then Elijah forgets his faith, which is so easy to do. 00:07:20.480 --> 00:07:50.240 Also, just a side note on this this is uh I think one of the I want a very obscure miracle that I really love and enjoy, that when Elijah tells Ahab that the rain is coming to ride back in his chariot, that God gives him this special strength of flash Gordon to tuck his cloak into his belt and run ahead of the chariot of Ahab with super speed. 00:07:50.959 --> 00:07:53.279 Uh I just think that's amazing. 00:07:53.839 --> 00:08:05.040 Elijah, then after all of these miracles have happened and all of this faith that he's poured out, he forgets his faith. 00:08:05.279 --> 00:08:18.079 And what I want to talk about over the course of the next few minutes is as we talk about what it means to have the spirit break out in our lives, to have an overflow of the spirit. 00:08:18.240 --> 00:08:31.199 There are things that we can do to stop the spirit from breaking out in and through our lives and building a wedge, a barrier to what God ultimately wants to do in and through your life. 00:08:31.439 --> 00:08:43.279 And we're gonna look at Elijah and see what he did to stop this move of God and how he forgot his faith and see how we should not repeat and do the same mistakes that he did. 00:08:43.360 --> 00:08:50.639 And so we want to I want to show you how to stop a spirit breakout in your life. 00:08:51.200 --> 00:08:53.600 So then we can do the opposite. 00:08:53.840 --> 00:08:57.039 1 Kings chapter 19 and verse 1. 00:08:57.279 --> 00:09:03.039 When Ahab got home, he told Jezebel everything Elijah had done, including the way that he had killed all the prophets of Baal. 00:09:03.120 --> 00:09:05.120 So Jezebel sent this message to Elijah. 00:09:10.480 --> 00:09:15.200 By this time tomorrow I have not killed you just as you killed them. 00:09:15.440 --> 00:09:17.440 Verse 3 Elijah was afraid. 00:09:17.600 --> 00:09:18.960 Everybody say afraid. 00:09:19.200 --> 00:09:22.559 Elijah was afraid and fled for his life. 00:09:22.720 --> 00:09:26.240 He went to Beersheba, a town in Judah, and left his servant there. 00:09:26.399 --> 00:09:34.639 Then he went on alone into the wilderness, traveling all day, and he sat down all under a solitary broom tree and prayed that he might die. 00:09:35.360 --> 00:09:37.919 I have had enough, Lord, he said. 00:09:43.279 --> 00:09:50.080 And then he laid down and slept under the broom tree, but as he was sleeping, an angel touched him and told him, Get up and eat. 00:09:50.879 --> 00:09:57.759 He looked around, and there beside his head was some bread baked on hot stones and a jar of water. 00:09:58.000 --> 00:10:00.159 And he ate and drank and lay down again. 00:10:00.399 --> 00:10:00.960 Verse 7. 00:10:01.039 --> 00:10:10.960 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. 00:10:11.759 --> 00:10:15.919 Elijah calls down the fire of God from heaven. 00:10:16.080 --> 00:10:25.039 He defeats the prophets of Baal, and then he gets one death threat on his life, and he completely spins out. 00:10:25.360 --> 00:10:33.759 He gets one bad DM from one hater, and all of a sudden he's completely in a tailspin. 00:10:34.799 --> 00:10:39.919 He's afraid, and he's running from the assignment that God has given to him. 00:10:40.080 --> 00:10:46.320 How quickly we can forget, and maybe for you, how quickly you can forget that God's got your back. 00:10:47.600 --> 00:10:50.559 So how do you stop the spirit from breaking out in your life? 00:10:50.720 --> 00:10:56.159 Well, the first thing you do is like Elijah, you crash out, you spin out, you spiral. 00:10:56.480 --> 00:11:00.559 See, in verse 3, we see that Elijah was afraid. 00:11:00.639 --> 00:11:03.759 He was gripped by fear and he crashed out. 00:11:03.840 --> 00:11:06.159 And fear does things to us. 00:11:06.480 --> 00:11:22.960 See, fear, it robs us, robs us of the purpose, of the plan, of the faith that God has for you, and it invites you and invites you into temptation to go and turn your heart to other things. 00:11:23.279 --> 00:11:27.440 Fear invites demonic influence into your life. 00:11:29.120 --> 00:11:36.480 When you are fearing whatever the current circumstance of your life, what's going on at work, what's happening, what somebody said about you. 00:11:40.559 --> 00:11:45.360 People say all the time that Christians are a bunch of hypocrites. 00:11:46.159 --> 00:11:55.679 But I think somebody who's outside of the church saying that about people who are inside of the church, I I say this. 00:11:56.240 --> 00:12:10.399 It's worse to be running from God and calling everybody else a hypocrite who's trying to walk with God because here's the thing it's difficult to be a Christian, it's hard and there's hardships, but it's a lot harder the way of the sinner. 00:12:10.799 --> 00:12:15.600 It's a lot harder to walk this life without faith in Christ. 00:12:15.759 --> 00:12:24.559 It's a lot harder to try to go through all the ups and downs and the hardships without having the power and the purpose that God has called you to. 00:12:24.720 --> 00:12:26.320 What I'm saying is this: listen to me. 00:12:26.559 --> 00:12:29.279 Fear makes you forget yesterday's rain. 00:12:30.159 --> 00:12:38.240 What God has done in you before, you have to get to the place where you say, I will refuse to let fear write my next story. 00:12:38.559 --> 00:12:40.799 I'm gonna follow in faith. 00:12:40.960 --> 00:12:44.080 And this is what this is the place that Elijah comes to. 00:12:44.240 --> 00:12:49.919 He sits down under this tree and he asks God that he might die. 00:12:51.120 --> 00:12:56.639 Now, I want to say something to this room because I imagine in a room like this, I uh this has to be said. 00:12:56.960 --> 00:13:08.559 If right now you're in this house and there are thoughts in your mind right now that you should give up, that you should kill yourself, that you should just end it. 00:13:08.799 --> 00:13:15.600 Can I tell you that is a lie from the pit of hell, that is a demonic influence over you right now? 00:13:15.759 --> 00:13:28.559 And I'm asking you to confess that and to speak that out to someone because fear has no grip on you, and there is no place for that kind of if you're having death wishes right now in your mind, that is a demonic spirit that's trying to take you out. 00:13:28.639 --> 00:13:33.120 And we're not gonna listen to the lies of the enemy who wants to steal, kill, and destroy. 00:13:33.360 --> 00:13:38.159 Young person in the room, killing yourself is not the right thing to do, it's not the right option. 00:13:38.399 --> 00:13:43.279 God loves you, He cares for you, you have a purpose, and you have a and He has a plan for your life. 00:13:43.440 --> 00:13:46.240 Tell somebody, speak it out. 00:13:46.879 --> 00:13:48.559 That's demonic. 00:13:49.679 --> 00:13:57.120 God then gives Elijah provision by way of food before he steps into his purpose. 00:13:57.200 --> 00:14:02.480 And I just have to say this sometimes the most spiritual thing you can do is sleep and take a nap and have some food, okay? 00:14:06.559 --> 00:14:10.399 You're feeling like that God's not with you, take a nap. 00:14:11.440 --> 00:14:13.679 Get some food, get some perspective. 00:14:14.159 --> 00:14:31.360 I'm gonna tell you something I haven't talked about publicly from the stage before, but back in 2022, in the beginning of 2022, when we were preparing to launch the church that March of 2022 in the movie theater and all the craziness of that time. 00:14:31.919 --> 00:14:40.960 That January, my wife Emily, she got sick and and just a freak sickness, um, lost 50% of her hearing. 00:14:42.480 --> 00:14:48.080 This illness uh attacked her auditory nerves and she lost her hearing. 00:14:48.159 --> 00:14:54.320 And and at that time, at the beginning of 2022, Emily was also pregnant with our daughter Magnolia. 00:14:55.200 --> 00:15:12.639 And the doctors told us this freak illness that she had could also affect the baby who was in her womb, and that Magnolia could either be deaf or partially deaf. 00:15:13.679 --> 00:15:21.600 And so Emily and I we began to pray and pray and pray together and believe in faith. 00:15:21.759 --> 00:15:30.000 And I remember as we would sing this song in a service, fears not my future, you are. 00:15:30.320 --> 00:15:31.440 Y'all know that song? 00:15:33.519 --> 00:15:46.639 And as we prayed together and said, Lord, whatever happens in this situation, you're good and we love you, and God, we we accept it, but we're asking for you to kill our baby. 00:15:47.679 --> 00:15:57.039 And so in the craziness of Magnolia's birth and the fact that I unexpectedly ended up delivering her, that's a whole nother story for another day. 00:15:58.799 --> 00:16:07.200 The nurse came into the room from her auditory test and said, her hearing is 100%. 00:16:08.399 --> 00:16:16.960 And Emily and I had some moment of worship in the hospital room being grateful for what God had done. 00:16:17.840 --> 00:16:21.679 Fears not your future, has no grip on you. 00:16:23.039 --> 00:16:34.879 When the trials come, when the hardship comes, lean into your faith in God, not spinning out like the world. 00:16:37.039 --> 00:16:44.720 In verse 8, the story continues. 00:16:47.200 --> 00:16:49.039 So he got up and ate and drank. 00:16:50.480 --> 00:16:56.639 And the food gave him enough strength to travel forty days and forty nights to Mount Sinai, the mountain of God. 00:16:57.600 --> 00:17:01.360 And there he came to a cave where he spent the night. 00:17:01.600 --> 00:17:07.279 But the Lord said to him, Watch this, what are you doing here, Elijah? 00:17:09.839 --> 00:17:14.880 Elijah replied, I have zealously served the Lord God Almighty. 00:17:15.119 --> 00:17:24.319 For the people of Israel have broken their covenant with you, torn down your altars, and killed every one of your prophets, and I'm the only one left. 00:17:24.640 --> 00:17:28.400 And now they are trying to kill me. 00:17:28.960 --> 00:17:30.880 Now there's a lot going on here. 00:17:31.599 --> 00:17:41.119 First and foremost, Elijah is supposed to be confronting Ahab and Jezebel up in the north. 00:17:41.680 --> 00:18:07.759 But what he's done is that he has run as about far south to Beersheba and into the wilderness, where the people of God were in the wilderness exile as they were coming out of Egypt and to Mount Sinai, where Moses met with God, and uh Elijah has run in the opposite direction of what God's calling him to. 00:18:07.839 --> 00:18:13.519 And that's why the Lord looks at him and says, What are you doing here, Elijah? 00:18:16.000 --> 00:18:28.720 See, it's easy for us to run to what we think or what we want to do instead of what God has said for you to do. 00:18:30.319 --> 00:18:31.680 It's easy. 00:18:32.160 --> 00:18:44.559 And maybe you're in this the space right now where instead of the faith and the purpose that God's called you to, you're spending your time explaining to God why you can't do what he's called you to do. 00:18:46.000 --> 00:18:52.880 Elijah runs in the opposite direction and he bails out on God's purpose for him. 00:18:53.839 --> 00:18:59.440 And what I don't want to see you do, and what can stop the spirit is if you also bail out. 00:19:00.400 --> 00:19:27.200 Now I know this is a story of a lot of people in our church that there was a time where something was said or something was done or somebody sinned against you or something happened in your life and it put a wedge between you and God, and you bailed out on God, you bailed out on church, maybe for years, decades, and thinking, you know, if I I can if I could just get back to the mountaintop, then I'd be okay. 00:19:27.440 --> 00:19:33.039 But who in here knows that our God is the God of the mountaintop, he's also the God of the valley. 00:19:33.680 --> 00:19:46.400 So what I don't want to see happen for anybody in this room is for you to repeat again, bailing out on God when the times are difficult and times are hard, and it feels like it it just doesn't make sense to follow God anymore. 00:19:46.559 --> 00:19:49.440 Can I tell you he loves you, he has a purpose and a plan for you? 00:19:49.599 --> 00:19:50.799 Do not bail out. 00:19:54.240 --> 00:19:58.319 Do not drop off, do not walk away. 00:19:59.279 --> 00:20:04.079 And I this feeling of like, well, I just if I could just get to the mountaintop again. 00:20:04.160 --> 00:20:20.640 And I I I know this kind of thing happens, and I see this thing happens where even like even in church, people, something rough or tough will be going on in a church, and you think, you know what, if I could just I just need to go to this other church, this other church is better, and there's there's a there's a mountaintop over there that I just need to get to. 00:20:20.720 --> 00:20:22.799 Can I tell you there's no perfect church? 00:20:24.160 --> 00:20:34.720 Obviously, there's legitimate reasons to move to leave a church and all that kind of thing, but oftentimes we end up saying, you know what, I just need to get to this next mountaintop instead of letting God walk with you through the valley. 00:20:35.599 --> 00:20:44.880 Elijah, he left his servant behind, he left his position, he left his purpose, and God is about to correct Elijah in a cave. 00:20:45.519 --> 00:20:46.880 Verse 11. 00:20:48.000 --> 00:20:51.279 Go out and stand before me on the mountain, the Lord told him. 00:20:51.519 --> 00:20:56.640 And as Elijah stood there, the Lord passed by, and a mighty windstorm hit the mountain. 00:20:56.799 --> 00:21:01.519 It was such a terrible blast that rocks were torn loose, but the Lord was not in the wind. 00:21:01.759 --> 00:21:06.000 After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. 00:21:06.160 --> 00:21:10.000 And after the earthquake there was a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. 00:21:10.160 --> 00:21:14.720 And after the fire there was a sound of a gentle whisper. 00:21:15.440 --> 00:21:21.119 When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his cloak and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. 00:21:21.200 --> 00:21:24.880 And the voice said, What are you doing here, Elijah? 00:21:25.359 --> 00:21:39.440 And he replied, I've zealously served the Lord God Almighty, but the people of Israel have broken their covenant to you, torn down your altars, killed every one of your prophets, and I'm the only one left. 00:21:39.680 --> 00:21:42.079 And now they're trying to kill me too. 00:21:43.440 --> 00:21:49.680 You know, oftentimes I find myself in life trying just to repeat my speech to God instead of listening to his word. 00:21:50.640 --> 00:21:59.359 Elijah wrote he repeats the exact same lies that he had said earlier and that he was believing. 00:22:00.160 --> 00:22:01.599 To God in justifications. 00:22:01.759 --> 00:22:02.319 Watch this. 00:22:02.559 --> 00:22:10.400 He said, The people of God have broken your covenant with you, even though after the fire fell from heaven, the people of God turned back to God. 00:22:10.960 --> 00:22:18.720 He said, They've torn down your altars, even though Elijah rebuilt the altar, just the one chapter before rebuilt the altar of God. 00:22:19.039 --> 00:22:22.240 He said, They've killed every one of your prophets, and I'm the only one left. 00:22:22.799 --> 00:22:24.240 Which is also not true. 00:22:24.400 --> 00:22:26.319 He's not the only one left. 00:22:26.559 --> 00:22:32.640 Here's the thing when your story is louder than God's, the whisper of God gets buried. 00:22:34.400 --> 00:22:41.920 And what you're doing is you're trying to drown out the voice of God in your life. 00:22:43.440 --> 00:22:44.400 You think, you know what? 00:22:44.480 --> 00:22:50.079 Well, I if I'm if I'm not feeling it, if I don't feel it, then God must not be in it. 00:22:50.160 --> 00:22:52.799 You know, it's not about your feelings, it's about faith. 00:22:54.400 --> 00:22:57.680 And God will meet you and He will correct you. 00:22:58.720 --> 00:23:04.640 He will meet you in that cave, He will correct your path so that you can hear from God. 00:23:05.039 --> 00:23:06.720 You want to hear God's voice? 00:23:06.960 --> 00:23:08.880 Open up this Bible and read it. 00:23:09.680 --> 00:23:18.880 If if if you are watching Netflix but you haven't read your Bible today, you're trying to drown out the voice of God in your life. 00:23:19.920 --> 00:23:42.799 If you're scrolling social media but you haven't read from God's word, you haven't taught to him in prayer, you haven't invited his voice into your life, you're actively trying to distract yourself and trying to drown out what God is so desperately wanting to have intimacy with you, to speak and to and to show you what his purposes are for you and to teach you what he wants you to do. 00:23:45.200 --> 00:23:48.240 God looks at Elijah and says, Why are you here? 00:23:49.279 --> 00:23:50.480 What are you doing here? 00:23:51.680 --> 00:23:54.480 Get back to the purpose that I've called you to. 00:23:54.960 --> 00:23:59.680 And then he corrects Elijah's lies and tells him that he's not the only one left. 00:23:59.839 --> 00:24:03.599 Actually, there's 7,000 people who are left with their hearts turned towards God. 00:24:03.680 --> 00:24:10.720 And he tells him to head back and to multiply his mantle by giving it to Elijah and to giving it to other leaders. 00:24:10.880 --> 00:24:17.759 And eventually his ministry concludes with him being taken up to heaven in this chariot of fire. 00:24:17.920 --> 00:24:19.359 He doesn't even die. 00:24:20.480 --> 00:24:24.640 He's taken up into heaven. 00:24:25.279 --> 00:24:32.400 Which brings us to this linchpin verse of faith that this whole series has hung on. 00:24:32.720 --> 00:24:33.759 Hebrews 11, 6. 00:24:33.920 --> 00:24:37.599 It is impossible to please God without faith. 00:24:39.440 --> 00:24:47.359 Anyone who wants to come to him must believe that God exists, that he rewards those who sincerely seek him. 00:24:47.519 --> 00:24:48.720 Everybody say, seek him. 00:24:50.559 --> 00:24:57.039 If God already knows everything, why do you have to ask him for things? 00:24:57.680 --> 00:25:12.319 Because he rewards those who seek him, who seek him with faith over fear, who seek God first, they come out of fear and out of hiding and seek after God. 00:25:12.559 --> 00:25:19.680 And this passage in in verse 6, it tells us that he rewards those who sincerely seek him. 00:25:21.039 --> 00:25:22.240 Seek after God. 00:25:24.720 --> 00:25:29.359 Don't do the things that will stop the Spirit breaking out in your life. 00:25:30.000 --> 00:25:30.960 Run after him. 00:25:31.200 --> 00:25:32.799 What did Jesus have to say about this? 00:25:32.960 --> 00:25:36.880 He said this in Matthew chapter 6, verse 30. 00:25:37.359 --> 00:25:45.119 He said, If God cares so wonderfully for wildflowers that are here today and thrown into the fire tomorrow, he will certainly care for you. 00:25:45.359 --> 00:25:46.960 Why do you have so little faith? 00:25:47.200 --> 00:25:49.759 So don't worry about these things saying, What will we eat? 00:25:49.839 --> 00:25:50.400 What will we drink? 00:25:50.480 --> 00:25:51.359 What will we wear? 00:25:51.519 --> 00:25:54.000 For these things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers. 00:25:54.079 --> 00:25:56.799 But your heavenly Father already knows all your needs. 00:25:56.960 --> 00:26:04.559 Seek the kingdom of God above all else and live righteously, and he will give you everything that you need. 00:26:04.720 --> 00:26:05.519 Verse 34. 00:26:05.599 --> 00:26:08.559 So don't worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. 00:26:08.640 --> 00:26:11.519 Today has trouble enough for today. 00:26:12.319 --> 00:26:15.759 Can I encourage you this week to spend an extra five minutes in prayer? 00:26:17.680 --> 00:26:23.519 Maybe that's the five minutes, maybe that's just doing five minutes of prayer, talking to the Lord. 00:26:23.759 --> 00:26:27.839 And ask him, Jesus, where where am I spiraling out right now? 00:26:28.000 --> 00:26:30.880 And where did I spiral out in the past? 00:26:31.680 --> 00:26:37.440 Where have I bailed out on you and what you sent me to do? 00:26:39.440 --> 00:26:43.839 What what are you saying right now? 00:26:44.160 --> 00:26:49.839 And what's my next obedient step that I need to take? 00:26:51.200 --> 00:26:59.440 Because what if instead of crashing out and bailing out and drowning out God's voice, what if you persevered? 00:27:00.160 --> 00:27:01.759 What if you pressed in? 00:27:02.079 --> 00:27:13.279 What if you walked in God's purpose for your life and you stepped out and in doing so see the spirit break out in your life? 00:27:13.759 --> 00:27:14.720 Step out. 00:27:15.680 --> 00:27:17.680 See the spirit break out. 00:27:20.160 --> 00:27:25.759 James, the half-brother of Jesus, puts a point on it in this. 00:27:26.880 --> 00:27:33.359 He says, confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. 00:27:33.599 --> 00:27:40.079 The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results. 00:27:40.400 --> 00:27:43.359 Elijah was a human as we are. 00:27:43.839 --> 00:27:51.680 And yet when he prayed earnestly that no rain would fall, none fell for three and a half years. 00:27:52.240 --> 00:27:56.799 Elijah was a human just like we are. 00:27:57.680 --> 00:27:59.680 And he earnestly prayed. 00:28:00.240 --> 00:28:02.079 He had great power in the Lord. 00:28:02.240 --> 00:28:08.799 And listen to me if God used a human like Elijah, he can use a human like you. 00:28:09.599 --> 00:28:20.319 We're not going to hide, we're not going to shrink back, we're going to seek God and his kingdom every single day. 00:28:20.799 --> 00:28:36.400 Well, this is so important, and to hear about the fact that the prayer of the righteous that's powerful and effective, if we confess our sins to our brothers and sisters, that we would be healed. 00:28:36.480 --> 00:28:42.400 It's because we're about to flow into this next series that I've been looking forward to for months called Teach Us to Pray. 00:28:42.880 --> 00:28:59.440 For our church, that we would be a praying church that believes that God wants to do miracles in the lives of those that are inside of these walls and outside of these walls, and that we would be people that are filled with faith, ready for God to pour out his spirit. 00:28:59.519 --> 00:29:04.240 And we've, if God would lose, use Elijah, just a human just like us. 00:29:05.599 --> 00:29:23.680 Can we have the faith that God will use us to help others to see what it means to truly seek the kingdom of heaven, the kingdom of God, and reap and receive the reward in return? 00:29:23.839 --> 00:29:24.960 Could you imagine, church? 00:29:25.039 --> 00:29:38.720 Could you imagine if our whole church would seek God first before running and hiding or running to sin or to somebody else's opinion? 00:29:39.039 --> 00:29:50.880 Could you imagine if we were a people, if you were a person who refused fear, who would walk in your purpose and return to the purpose that God's called you to and walk in his word? 00:29:51.200 --> 00:30:18.559 Because we're gonna carry the love of Jesus to a lost and dying and broken world that needs to be revived, and we're gonna trust Jesus to do it because it's his resurrection power for walking out of the grave that now we get to receive, and then we get to in his glorious power and riches, we get to be ones to tell others about it and for them to receive it too. 00:30:18.880 --> 00:30:26.400 The people in our lives, fear it does all kinds of things to us, and we need to leave it behind us. 00:30:27.680 --> 00:30:33.200 For men, something happens, you're afraid, you don't know what's next. 00:30:33.440 --> 00:30:42.720 A lot of times we as men we feel like we lost control, we get angry, we say, you know what, all that God stuff it doesn't work, I'm gonna do it my way. 00:30:43.759 --> 00:30:45.920 And run to the world. 00:30:46.799 --> 00:30:53.519 Maybe you're in that situation right now that you're running and entangled in some kind of sin, brothers. 00:30:53.759 --> 00:31:07.599 You're running to lust, you're running to work and to get your approval from your accomplishments or for gaining financial success. 00:31:09.920 --> 00:31:11.920 Can I tell you that it's not enough? 00:31:12.160 --> 00:31:14.079 None of that ever satisfies. 00:31:15.680 --> 00:31:30.640 Ladies, in fear, often so you feel so afraid and you feel like you're losing control, and you just try to try to hold on to whatever control you possibly can, and oftentimes that's to box God out and just to do things your own way. 00:31:31.440 --> 00:31:35.279 Will you return to the purpose that He has for you? 00:31:36.640 --> 00:31:38.480 Will you seek Him? 00:31:39.839 --> 00:32:08.480 And maybe you're in the room and you don't even have the Spirit of God inside of you to break out because you've never given your life to Jesus, you never received His salvation that He purchased for you on the cross in your place, so that you could be washed and cleansed and healed by receiving and believing that Christ is your Savior, that He's the Lord of all. 00:32:09.039 --> 00:32:11.200 Today is the day of your salvation. 00:32:11.359 --> 00:32:31.759 Today is the day for you to make the choice to receive Christ and to give your life over to Him and to seek His kingdom and to reap the reward and stop trying to do it on your own and live life just on your own terms, but for you to say, God, take over. 00:32:32.720 --> 00:32:38.000 Forgive me, walk with me, help me. 00:32:38.880 --> 00:32:41.680 We're so grateful you joined us for this week's message. 00:32:41.839 --> 00:32:45.200 At Multiply, we believe life was never meant to be lived alone. 00:32:45.359 --> 00:32:50.319 If today you made the decision to follow Jesus, we'd be honored to walk with you on this journey. 00:32:50.480 --> 00:32:53.599 Visit multiplyky.com to let us know. 00:32:53.759 --> 00:32:56.079 We love you and we'll see you again soon.