SPEAKER_00: Welcome to the City Life Church podcast.
SPEAKER_00: We hope it encourages you.
SPEAKER_00: If you'd like to learn more about City Life or our mission, connect with us online at CityLifesandiego.org.
SPEAKER_00: And while podcasts and Sunday mornings are helpful, they are no substitute for deeper personal relationships in the church.
SPEAKER_01: So we're going to be closing out our series in Elijah next week.
SPEAKER_01: I cannot wait for you to uh see the next series that we're going to be in.
SPEAKER_01: It's one of my favorites, which is kind of what I say most times, but um it really is one of my favorite texts in the Bible.
SPEAKER_01: Um so you'll get to see that in a couple weeks.
SPEAKER_01: Most of you know by now the reason that I love the prophet Elijah.
SPEAKER_01: Um I love him so much because God uses him, does huge miracles through him, and when things get tough, he just goes straight to where are you, God?
SPEAKER_01: And I'm not here to dog on Elijah, I'm here to celebrate that one of the greatest prophets of all time doubted.
SPEAKER_01: He was afraid, he was lonely, he was anxious.
SPEAKER_01: That's why I love the prophet Elijah.
SPEAKER_01: Friends, just because you struggle doesn't mean God can't use you.
SPEAKER_01: And just because God uses you doesn't mean you won't struggle.
SPEAKER_01: Now remember all that had happened.
SPEAKER_01: I'm sure you don't, so I'm gonna just take you through it real fast.
SPEAKER_01: Not all of you were here every single week.
SPEAKER_01: So let me just take you real quickly.
SPEAKER_01: Um, I have Isaiah written down here.
SPEAKER_01: Sorry, I get those mixed up all the time.
SPEAKER_01: I Isaiah, Elijah, it happens.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, did I say it at the first service?
SPEAKER_01: Did I say Isaiah?
SPEAKER_01: No?
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
SPEAKER_01: Elijah stood up to King Ahab and he had a terrible wife, Jezebel.
SPEAKER_01: They were both terrible, actually.
SPEAKER_01: And um, he directly challenged the fake god Baal and said that God would no longer bring rain upon the land for three years.
SPEAKER_01: Then God, in his sense of humor, sent Elijah to a place called Serapheth in Sidon.
SPEAKER_01: This is the home town of Jezebel, where he met a widow who was about to die, and God provided food for her and her son through the prophet Elijah.
SPEAKER_01: And then after they had eaten all this great food and everything was awesome, the son died.
SPEAKER_01: And Elijah started to lose hope.
SPEAKER_01: But then he prayed over the child, and God brought him back from the dead.
SPEAKER_01: So then Elijah had an epic showdown with the prophets of the fake God Baal.
SPEAKER_01: The fake prophets were trying to get Baal to accept their offering.
SPEAKER_01: So from early in the morning to late at night, they were screaming, Baal, answer our prayers.
SPEAKER_01: And they started to cut themselves from early into the evening.
SPEAKER_01: And um, if you'll remember that sermon, because it's very hard to forget, Elijah said basically, maybe he's predisposed, which is is is him saying, Maybe he's pooping, which I just love that he would be saying that.
SPEAKER_01: You know, it's like contextually we wouldn't have understood that, but when you look into the the the Greek uh, excuse me, the the Jewish idioms, likely he was saying, Maybe Baal is is indisposed in the bathroom, which I just think is so funny.
SPEAKER_01: And then after that, uh he he has his own turn, and so God rains down fire from heaven to consume God's offering, the one true God.
SPEAKER_01: Then Elijah prays for rain, and rain appears.
SPEAKER_01: So everything Elijah has done, God has listened to his prayers.
SPEAKER_01: Then after all that, Jezebel threatened to kill Elijah, and he bounced.
SPEAKER_01: And eventually he ended up under a broom tree, and God was just like checking in.
SPEAKER_01: Elijah was torn up, he was afraid, he was undone, and God probably knew that his blood sugar was low and that he needed a nap.
SPEAKER_01: God probably knew that he had worn out his adrenal gland, but God wasn't going to put that in the Bible because nobody would have understood it.
SPEAKER_01: So God gave him some food and some water and he said, Take a nap.
SPEAKER_01: Elijah woke up and God gave him some food and some water and said, Take a nap.
SPEAKER_01: God checked in again.
SPEAKER_01: God cared for his physical needs, God cared for his emotional needs and for his spiritual needs, and that is where our text picks up.
SPEAKER_01: Are you with me on 1 Kings 19?
SPEAKER_01: Let's hear from God's word.
SPEAKER_01: 1 Kings 19 9.
SPEAKER_01: Elijah entered a cave there and spent a night.
SPEAKER_01: Suddenly the word of the Lord came to him, and he said to him, What are you doing here, Elijah?
SPEAKER_01: He replied, I have been very zealous for the Lord, God of armies, but the Israelites have abandoned your covenant, torn down your altars, killed your prophets with the sword.
SPEAKER_01: I alone am left, and they are looking to take my life.
SPEAKER_01: Then he said, Go out and stand on the mountain in the Lord's presence.
SPEAKER_01: At that moment the Lord passed by.
SPEAKER_01: A great and mighty wind was tearing at the mountains and was shattering cliffs before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind.
SPEAKER_01: After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake.
SPEAKER_01: After the earthquake there was a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire.
SPEAKER_01: And after the fire there was a voice, a soft whisper.
SPEAKER_01: When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave.
SPEAKER_01: Now, before we go any further, I want you to remember this is an oral tradition.
SPEAKER_01: So a lot of times people will say things about when the Bible was was transcribed, when it was written.
SPEAKER_01: And you have to remember that like this was a people group who passed down these words and guarded them carefully.
SPEAKER_01: And so one of the things you'll see is you'll see repetition, almost like in a song.
SPEAKER_01: You know how you remember the chorus?
SPEAKER_01: It's repeated over and over again throughout the song.
SPEAKER_01: Here comes the chorus, okay?
SPEAKER_01: You may have heard it just a minute ago.
SPEAKER_01: It's verbatim, what he said earlier.
SPEAKER_01: Suddenly a voice came to him and said, What are you doing here, Elijah?
SPEAKER_01: I have been very zealous for the Lord God of armies, he replied.
SPEAKER_01: But the Israelites have abandoned your covenant, torn down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword.
SPEAKER_01: I alone am left, and they're looking for me to take my life.
SPEAKER_01: That's word for word what was already said in verse ten.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 15, then the Lord said to him, Go and return by way you came to the wilderness of Damascus.
SPEAKER_01: When you arrive, you are to anoint Hazael as king over Aram.
SPEAKER_01: You are to anoint Jehu, son of Nimshe, as king over Israel, and Elisha, son of Shaphat, from Abel Meloia, as prophet in your place.
SPEAKER_01: Then Jehu will put to death whoever escapes the sword of Hazael, and Elisha will put to death whoever escapes the sword of Jehu.
SPEAKER_01: That can be problematic, and we can talk about it another time, but we're not today.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 18, but I will leave seven thousand in Israel, every knee that has not bowed to Baal, and every mouth that has not kissed him.
SPEAKER_01: This is God's word, will you pray with me?
SPEAKER_01: Father, um, I think we like when you tell us exactly what to do.
SPEAKER_01: When you come like a loud rushing wind, just like you did in the book of Acts, chapter two, but I also recognize that you aren't always so flashy.
SPEAKER_01: Like that's not always your style.
SPEAKER_01: You often speak in low loving tones, probably because you sense our grief.
SPEAKER_01: Maybe because your real voice uh would make our heads explode, but maybe also because you're gentle and you are kind.
SPEAKER_01: Lord, you know I've had teachers and coaches yell at me for many things.
SPEAKER_01: Girlfriends and gang members, but I've never had you yell at me.
SPEAKER_01: And you know all my sins, my shortcomings, my lack of faith and failures.
SPEAKER_01: And still you are gentle and lowly.
SPEAKER_01: Come, Lord Jesus, bring peace to this community.
SPEAKER_01: Spread your love and justice to this world.
SPEAKER_01: Use our hands and feet whenever possible.
SPEAKER_01: Let us be obedient to your spirit and to your sweet, gentle voice.
SPEAKER_01: Teach us from your word this morning.
SPEAKER_01: May the words of my mouth and the thoughts of our heart be pleasing to you.
SPEAKER_01: We pray this all in Jesus' name, and all God's people said, Amen.
SPEAKER_01: Alright, so Elijah, you see, here is at the end of his rope yet again.
SPEAKER_01: He is hopeless, but he still trusted God in his suffering.
SPEAKER_01: But we know this.
SPEAKER_01: When fear is loud, God often whispers words of hope and resilience.
SPEAKER_01: And so today I'm going to give you three reminders when hope feels distant.
SPEAKER_01: Three reminders when hope feels distant.
SPEAKER_01: And my first is this trauma and fear can make us forget the mighty works of God, but they cannot erase truth.
SPEAKER_01: Trauma and fear can make us forget the mighty works of God, but they cannot erase truth.
SPEAKER_01: So it said suddenly a voice came to him and said, What are you doing here, Elijah?
SPEAKER_01: Verse 14.
SPEAKER_01: I've been very zealous for the Lord God of armies, he replied.
SPEAKER_01: But the Israelites have abandoned your covenant, torn down your altars, killed your prophets with the sword.
SPEAKER_01: I alone am left, and they're looking to take my life.
SPEAKER_01: Now see, Elijah knew that God had spared one hundred of his prophets in a cave.
SPEAKER_01: But he was in his feelings, wasn't he?
SPEAKER_01: Maybe we just thought these these prophets were bad prophets, but no, no, no.
SPEAKER_01: He was just in his feelings in this moment.
SPEAKER_01: In chapter 18, Elijah had just seen Israel fall down on their faces and said, The Lord is God.
SPEAKER_01: He is God.
SPEAKER_01: The Lord is God.
SPEAKER_01: Then 450 violent false prophets were destroyed on the mountaintop, where everyone saw God's fire fall from heaven.
SPEAKER_01: But then Elijah, after all those victories, he received that threat from the Queen.
SPEAKER_01: Now, isn't it weird how just like one thing can totally derail you?
SPEAKER_01: Have you you know what I'm saying?
SPEAKER_01: Like it's like a giant raft just needs one pin to bring it down for all the air to be left out.
SPEAKER_01: Like, you think restaurant owners ever look at Google and Yelp reviews?
SPEAKER_01: They do, we know they do, right?
SPEAKER_01: And you will have thousands of reviews that say best steak I've ever had, right?
SPEAKER_01: And then you there is one review, mean waiter, cold food, worst meal ever.
SPEAKER_01: And you can see, you can go check out that person.
SPEAKER_01: They will leave one-star reviews for everything, right?
SPEAKER_01: Like you see, this is a negative person filled with hate in their heart.
SPEAKER_01: This is not real.
SPEAKER_01: And yet, what review is gonna keep the chef up all night?
SPEAKER_01: What review will the chef focus on the most?
SPEAKER_01: It's that one out of the 1,000 and one.
SPEAKER_01: It's so easy to get derailed, it's so easy to listen to that one negative thing.
SPEAKER_01: Like everything is going well, and you make a mistake, or someone mistreats you.
SPEAKER_01: Suddenly we forget all the good that happened in that moment, everything that led up to that moment has disappeared.
SPEAKER_01: Now, in the same way, Elijah was only as confident as the last thing that happened to him.
SPEAKER_01: After all God had done, the wicked Queen Jezebel threatened him, and Elijah seemed to forget all that God had done for him.
SPEAKER_01: Now I feel, I feel Elijah here.
SPEAKER_01: Do you does anyone else feel him?
SPEAKER_01: Like, guys, if I give a good sermon and you guys are happy with me, I feel like a great pastor.
SPEAKER_01: If I give a bad sermon or someone leaves the church or attendance is down, or even just one of you is mad at me, man, I don't know why.
SPEAKER_01: Like suddenly I'm like, I'm the only one left.
SPEAKER_01: There is nobody who loves me anymore.
SPEAKER_01: Our church is in shambles, everything is going down the tubes, and it's like I'm not living in reality.
SPEAKER_01: Elijah wasn't either.
SPEAKER_01: Now, aren't we like that in parenting?
SPEAKER_01: Aren't we like that in academics?
SPEAKER_01: Aren't we like that in our jobs?
SPEAKER_01: Elijah saw only defeat in that moment.
SPEAKER_01: Now, if you lose your job, a lot of times you'll end up thinking you were always an awful employee.
SPEAKER_01: But it's not necessarily true, is it?
SPEAKER_01: If your relationship goes foul, uh goes south, you must have always been terrible in your relationships.
SPEAKER_01: If you are struggling in your faith for just a minute, you are worse than Jezebel in your mind.
SPEAKER_01: Now, those things aren't true, right?
SPEAKER_01: Like, yes, you are sinful, yes, you make mistakes, you and I have lots of room for improvement with the help of God's Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_01: But when we go back to God and we repent, we find forgiveness and we find patience.
SPEAKER_01: And so I tell you, don't allow trauma to tell you lies.
SPEAKER_01: I've once heard the Hadi Lewis describe trauma as an inability to understand a harmful event in the past, making it difficult to process future events.
SPEAKER_01: Let me say it again.
SPEAKER_01: An inability to understand a harmful event in the past, making it difficult to process future events.
SPEAKER_01: Now, it's like you've heard the term rose-colored glasses, right?
SPEAKER_01: Like you see things better than they are.
SPEAKER_01: But we we have the same thing.
SPEAKER_01: Like we we need to consider that we have trauma-colored glasses too, don't we?
SPEAKER_01: Like Elijah had his trauma glasses on.
SPEAKER_01: Like, have you ever seen those filters that people put on like Instagram or like TikTok where like you see a somebody's face and it totally changes them into like angry or sad or happy?
SPEAKER_01: Have you seen those filters?
SPEAKER_01: Um, I'm getting like no.
SPEAKER_01: Apparently the 9 a.m.
SPEAKER_01: people did, but you guys not so much.
SPEAKER_01: It's okay.
SPEAKER_01: It what they'll do a lot of times is they'll use those filters at like football games and they'll put them up on the big screen.
SPEAKER_01: And so uh if it's at like an Eagles game and they're playing against the Cowboys, what they'll do is they'll put every cowboy fan's face through a filter and it looks fake, you know, and they're like crying and they're they're weeping and stuff, which is funny because you usually don't need a filter for that.
SPEAKER_01: They usually are crying on their own already.
SPEAKER_01: Um, it's usually just real turt tears, but I was thinking maybe I would give you an example of one of these filters, okay?
SPEAKER_01: Um now when I tried to like put it into certain programs, they were like, sorry, you can't make someone this nice look bad, so I did it myself.
SPEAKER_01: So it may not be the perfect you know representation, but I was wondering, could we put up the first picture?
SPEAKER_01: Who's that?
SPEAKER_01: Mr.
SPEAKER_01: Rogers, yes.
SPEAKER_01: Like we were like all of us, like we were like raised by that dude, right?
SPEAKER_01: Like he was always there, he was always like changing his sweaters and his shoes, and like that was Mr.
SPEAKER_01: Rogers, like good dude.
SPEAKER_01: I did not know that he was a strong believer until much later, but he was showing me how to show kindness to people long before I was a believer.
SPEAKER_01: Loved Mr.
SPEAKER_01: Rogers.
SPEAKER_01: But the thing is, is like a lot of times someone good can approach you, but your trauma is like is helping you see things in a different way.
SPEAKER_01: And when you're looking through those trauma glasses, it's like they might look a little more like can I see the next one?
SPEAKER_01: There it is.
SPEAKER_01: See, I'm really good at this.
SPEAKER_01: I'm I'm a Photoshop extraordinaire.
SPEAKER_01: Um, just to bring the point home one more time, I got one more um beloved person.
SPEAKER_01: Do we know who this is?
SPEAKER_01: Betty White.
SPEAKER_01: Gosh, love Betty White.
SPEAKER_01: Um, but when we have our trauma, even if they're coming to us and they're funny and they're nice and they're sweet, they tend to look like uh yes, there you go.
SPEAKER_01: All right, let's take that down.
SPEAKER_01: No more nightmares for anybody.
SPEAKER_01: Um, but friends, I've seen this filter in our relationships, haven't you?
SPEAKER_01: Like, no matter how close you used to be to that person, you see everything through your hurt and your pain.
SPEAKER_01: And if they try to do something nice for us, we still will end up seeing the negative, right?
SPEAKER_01: Like all we feel is our trauma, our bitterness, our fear.
SPEAKER_01: It's like what we're looking through.
SPEAKER_01: It's our glasses.
SPEAKER_01: Now, rather than believing the best, we choose to believe the worst.
SPEAKER_01: Now, no person in this room is the terrible person that some think they are, and no person in this room is the perfect saint that some people think they are either.
SPEAKER_01: Now, let me let me let uh let me give you 1 Corinthians chapter 13.
SPEAKER_01: This is a text that's used in a lot of weddings, which is always funny to me because it's really about the church.
SPEAKER_01: Um, and I know that because it says it's about the church.
SPEAKER_01: And um 1 Corinthians 13 says this If I speak in human or angelic tongues but do not have love, I'm a noisy gum or clanging symbol.
SPEAKER_01: If I have the gift of prophecy and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith that I can move mountains but do not have love, I am nothing.
SPEAKER_01: If I give away all my possessions, and if I give over my body in order to boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.
SPEAKER_01: But now let me ask you guys this what is love?
SPEAKER_01: Baby, don't hurt me.
SPEAKER_01: Love is this.
SPEAKER_01: The same text tells us love is not self-seeking.
SPEAKER_01: That's love.
SPEAKER_01: Love believes all things, love hopes all things.
SPEAKER_01: So what the text here is saying, friends, is it is if you are gifted, if you are smart, if you can prophesy and have great faith, if you serve the poor, but you don't exhibit hope in your family, your friendships, or your church relationships, if you don't believe the best of your fellow believers, if you keep a record of wrongs about others in your church, the Bible says your prophecies, your prayers, your knowledge are hot, noisy garbage.
SPEAKER_01: A clinging symbol made out of a trash can lid.
SPEAKER_01: And before you feel condemnation, we are all doing this all the time.
SPEAKER_01: It's all of us, it's not you, it's all of us.
SPEAKER_01: But I tell you, don't allow trauma and fear lenses to cause you not to give someone the benefit of the doubt.
SPEAKER_01: When someone reaches out from the church to check in with you, it's probably not because they want to judge you, it's probably because they genuinely care about you and love you.
SPEAKER_01: You can trust people will do nice things for you because they love you and no other reason.
SPEAKER_01: But for some of us, when we have the wrong glasses on, people will do something nice for us and we will find a way to make it into a slight, won't we?
SPEAKER_01: We need to believe the best in each other.
SPEAKER_01: We need to see them through the lens of Jesus' love and forgiveness.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus who looked at his enemies and saw our sins against him as something to be rescued from rather than be punished for.
SPEAKER_01: This means when someone hurts you, I'm not talking about abuse, I'm not talking about abuse, we show them love because we've been forgiven.
SPEAKER_01: Now, next uh next week on Saturday, we have an event.
SPEAKER_01: It's called Known 360.
SPEAKER_01: It's gonna go from 9 a.m.
SPEAKER_01: to 4 p.m.
SPEAKER_01: at another church building in the neighborhood.
SPEAKER_01: And um, I want you to know that it's very helpful in helping us process our feelings.
SPEAKER_01: It's very helpful when uh somebody tells us their feelings and it helps us to learn how not to just try to fix everyone.
SPEAKER_01: Guys, you've brought your feelings to me.
SPEAKER_01: I've tried to fix you sometimes too.
SPEAKER_01: So I'm not I'm I'm still learning.
SPEAKER_01: I'm going to the conference to listen and learn.
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
SPEAKER_01: But I really hope you will consider signing up for this event.
SPEAKER_01: And I recognize it's your day off.
SPEAKER_01: I recognize this, or whatever.
SPEAKER_01: You have work later that day.
SPEAKER_01: But I I really want you to consider going.
SPEAKER_01: So I'm gonna put the link up.
SPEAKER_01: There it is.
SPEAKER_01: Um, I'll just let you know if you sign up for it right now, it's free.
SPEAKER_01: We're paying for it.
SPEAKER_01: Um, we're paying.
SPEAKER_01: And even uh some of the speakers are actually staying at my mom's house.
SPEAKER_01: Thanks, mom.
SPEAKER_01: Um, like we're we're paying to make this happen because we believe that your relationships will be better if you do this.
SPEAKER_01: And so you have the right right now to open your phone and uh go to that link and sign up to join us for this conference, and you can just do that while I'm preaching.
SPEAKER_01: I don't even care.
SPEAKER_01: I want you to go that bad.
SPEAKER_01: That's how much I believe you should go.
SPEAKER_01: Um so I really encourage you to do that.
SPEAKER_01: Um, or you could just like check your Instagram and pretend you're signing up.
SPEAKER_01: I'd be stoked.
SPEAKER_01: I wouldn't know any better.
SPEAKER_01: Um, continuing, Elijah had forgotten the goodness of God.
SPEAKER_01: He was up in his emotions, right?
SPEAKER_01: He was viewing everything through his past fears and his current fears.
SPEAKER_01: He felt alone and he had forgotten the people of Israel who had confessed faith in God.
SPEAKER_01: It just happened.
SPEAKER_01: Um, Indian scholar Havilah Dharamaj, he says this perhaps he, Elijah, considers that prophets hiding in caves from Jezebel are useless and not worthy of the title of prophet.
SPEAKER_01: If so, he forgets that he himself is now in a cave, having fled Jezebel.
SPEAKER_01: And yet God has mercy on Elijah, doesn't he?
SPEAKER_01: He had been through a lot.
SPEAKER_01: God encouraged him to nap and to eat, and then God spoke to him, but not in the way we might normally expect.
SPEAKER_01: This brings us to our second reminder when hope feels distant.
SPEAKER_01: God won't always compete with our noise.
SPEAKER_01: Verse eleven, then he said, Go out and stand on the mountain in the Lord's presence.
SPEAKER_01: At that moment the Lord passed by.
SPEAKER_01: A great and mighty wind was tearing at the mountains and was shattering cliffs before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind.
SPEAKER_01: After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake.
SPEAKER_01: After the earthquake there was a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire, and after the fire there was a voice, a soft whisper.
SPEAKER_01: When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his cloak and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave.
SPEAKER_01: Now it says he wrapped his face in his cloak, right?
SPEAKER_01: Like this is a sign of reverence.
SPEAKER_01: And every Bible scholar that I read wanted me to know that.
SPEAKER_01: Um, and I read a lot of Bible scholars.
SPEAKER_01: Um, but also, have you ever stood on a high mountaintop before?
SPEAKER_01: Has anyone in the room stood on a high mountaintop before?
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
SPEAKER_01: Um let me just you know remind everyone what that feels like.
SPEAKER_01: Like you try to take a picture or even better, a video, and it just you don't hear anything.
SPEAKER_01: All you hear is wind.
SPEAKER_01: You try and say something, you're like, I'm at the peak right here, and everyone hears.
SPEAKER_01: That's all you hear.
SPEAKER_01: Um it's loud and it's very windy at the top of mountains.
SPEAKER_01: There's no trees to break that wind up.
SPEAKER_01: You have high winds going on.
SPEAKER_01: And so I will just say very quickly that maybe, just maybe, uh he put that over his face because it was really windy.
SPEAKER_01: And also it was very smoky.
SPEAKER_01: There was an earthquake and there was a fire.
SPEAKER_01: So wind and smoke, of course, he's covering his face.
SPEAKER_01: Before we make this completely spiritual, let me be honest, I too would have wrapped up my face in the moment, whether I was a believer or not.
SPEAKER_01: But there is a chance.
SPEAKER_01: It was the filter that Elijah needed.
SPEAKER_01: Filtering out the noise of the wind, filtering out the earthquake and the fire.
SPEAKER_01: It may have enabled him to hear the Lord better.
SPEAKER_01: And sometimes we need that.
SPEAKER_01: For some of us, that might mean fasting from media is your filter.
SPEAKER_01: Fasting from food.
SPEAKER_01: It might mean we need to spend less time with people who discourage our faith.
SPEAKER_01: I'm not talking about non-believers, I'm talking about people who are actively against it.
SPEAKER_01: By the way, it doesn't mean less time with the church either, that's bananas.
SPEAKER_01: But the world is noisy.
SPEAKER_01: And for Elijah on the mountaintop, there was a lot of noise.
SPEAKER_01: You see it, right?
SPEAKER_01: But it wasn't God speaking in that noise.
SPEAKER_01: Elijah was exhausted, he was hated, and frankly, he was just worn out, wasn't he?
SPEAKER_01: But God knew how he needed to be spoken to.
SPEAKER_01: Gentle, lovingly, kindly.
SPEAKER_01: I think he tends to like lose his faith in the moment, and you expect this dad to be like, are we serious, man?
SPEAKER_01: I've done all this for you.
SPEAKER_01: Are you really like losing heart again after all this I've done for you?
SPEAKER_01: But he's not like these earthly dads that we've seen that get frustrated.
SPEAKER_01: And I've seen that earthly dad in the mirror, okay?
SPEAKER_01: But God is not like that.
SPEAKER_01: In Elijah's exhaustion, God comes to him how he can hear him.
SPEAKER_01: Our God is not just a God who absolutely hates our sin and how it destroys our relationships.
SPEAKER_01: He hates injustice, but he is also patient and kind.
SPEAKER_01: He is loving and gentle.
SPEAKER_01: And he often speaks tenderly to his children.
SPEAKER_01: I remember when I went to Kansas and I was really missing the ocean.
SPEAKER_01: And uh I would go in my backyard sometimes, and there would be a like kind of a gentle wind through the trees, and it would go in gusts, and I remember just closing my eyes and hearing the ocean and just feeling the quietness of the moment, of the gentle breeze, and like feeling like a kiss on my cheek from God, just reminding me that he was there in those depressed moments, and I was depressed.
SPEAKER_01: I felt his presence and the gentleness of the moment, not the anger.
SPEAKER_01: Now, while I love those gentle moments with the Lord, I'm sure you do too.
SPEAKER_01: Um, if you're anything like me, you want God to shout commands to you, right?
SPEAKER_01: Is there anyone else who like just like just tell me how it is?
SPEAKER_01: Just tell me what's up.
SPEAKER_01: God, should I date this man?
SPEAKER_01: Like we had somebody in the first service like, no.
SPEAKER_01: Um Wow, okay.
SPEAKER_01: Um, which stock should I buy?
SPEAKER_01: They said Bitcoin.
SPEAKER_01: Father, should I get a new job?
SPEAKER_01: We ask him these questions and we want we want like a thunderous answer.
SPEAKER_01: And and you may want him to talk from thunder and fire.
SPEAKER_01: Many seem to prefer to have some kind of fictional, loud god like Baal or Zeus.
SPEAKER_01: Zeus is dishonest.
SPEAKER_01: Zeus is selfish.
SPEAKER_01: Zeus sleeps around a lot.
SPEAKER_01: Actually, when I was in, I don't know what grade, I learned the word philandering from learning about Zeus.
SPEAKER_01: Um, but he often just comes down and says it.
SPEAKER_01: He just says what he's thinking, and he kills people.
SPEAKER_01: Also, the God Baal, who Yahweh had just destroyed on the mountaintop, was also famous for speaking in thunder and lightning bolts.
SPEAKER_01: There's no doubt in a thunderbolt, is there?
SPEAKER_01: But there's a couple problems with that.
SPEAKER_01: Couple problems.
SPEAKER_01: Number one, those are not real gods.
SPEAKER_01: Just gods created in our image for our preference.
SPEAKER_01: But our God is not a dog on a leash, is he?
SPEAKER_01: Our God is greater than our imagination.
SPEAKER_01: Our God is no genie in a bottle.
SPEAKER_01: Don't finish the song.
SPEAKER_01: But we love putting words in God's mouth, don't we?
SPEAKER_01: We love it.
SPEAKER_01: There's a moment in the Simpsons, I know, when Homer prays this blasphemous prayer.
SPEAKER_01: And it sounds funny, but I really think it's the way we approach God.
SPEAKER_01: So at that very moment, when Homer goes to pray, his wife Marge is trying to tell him something really important.
SPEAKER_01: But Homer was unwilling to listen to her.
SPEAKER_01: So I want you to listen to his blasphemous prayer.
SPEAKER_01: Some of you might know this by heart.
SPEAKER_01: Dear Lord, the gods have been good to me.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, I'm gonna stop you there.
SPEAKER_01: Uh a little messed up.
SPEAKER_01: And so I am thankful.
SPEAKER_01: For the first time in my life, everything is absolutely perfect the way it is.
SPEAKER_01: So here's the deal.
SPEAKER_01: You freeze everything as it is, and I won't ask you for anything more.
SPEAKER_01: If that is okay, please give me absolutely no sign.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, deal.
SPEAKER_01: In gratitude, I present you this offering of cookies and milk.
SPEAKER_01: If you want me to eat them for you, please give me absolutely no sign.
SPEAKER_01: Thy will be done.
SPEAKER_01: See, that's that's Homer's prayer.
SPEAKER_01: It's funny, but it's real.
SPEAKER_01: It's so like us, isn't it?
SPEAKER_01: Like the funny thing about that moment is that Homer's wife Marge was actually pregnant with their third child, and she was trying to tell him about it, and that it was going to change everything, but she kept gently trying to tell Homer.
SPEAKER_01: But he wasn't listening, and Homer wasn't actually praying to listen, was he?
SPEAKER_01: No, no, no.
SPEAKER_01: Homer was talking to a God of his own invention, unwilling to listen to the bride, unwilling to listen to God.
SPEAKER_01: He didn't listen for the still small voice of God, he didn't listen for his bride, he was listening for his desires and his stomach.
SPEAKER_01: Friends, let me say this.
SPEAKER_01: God often speaks gently.
SPEAKER_01: But when you hear from him, check with the people around you that you trust.
SPEAKER_01: Let them confirm truth.
SPEAKER_01: And if you want to act, and you want to ask believers, okay?
SPEAKER_01: Like, don't talk to people divorced three times for advice on marriage.
SPEAKER_01: You know, in the same way, don't go to people outside the church for advice on church things, and definitely, definitely, definitely don't go to social media.
SPEAKER_01: God won't often speak in fire to you.
SPEAKER_01: He will nudge you with his word and his church, but he's still gentle.
SPEAKER_01: Matthew 11, Jesus says, Come to me all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.
SPEAKER_01: Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, because I am lowly and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls, for my yoke is easy and my burden is light.
SPEAKER_01: If you want to be confident in God's voice, read his word.
SPEAKER_01: He's speaking to you, but it's gentle.
SPEAKER_01: And while Jesus is extremely powerful, he is described in Matthew 12 as one who will not break a bruised reed.
SPEAKER_01: He will not put out a smoldering wick.
SPEAKER_01: He's meek.
SPEAKER_01: That's power under control.
SPEAKER_01: Remember the Dodge Viper going 65 on the freeway.
SPEAKER_01: We all know that the Dodge Viper is faster than that, louder than that, the most awesome car on the planet.
SPEAKER_01: But but it doesn't have anything to prove.
SPEAKER_01: And that's kind of how God works, right?
SPEAKER_01: He's meek.
SPEAKER_01: Now, Nigerian pastor Musa Gatom, he once said the gentle, quiet voice shows that the Lord uses ordinary ways to speak.
SPEAKER_01: He does not always need to use powerful events to bring his words.
SPEAKER_01: But sometimes we want God to be ravenous, like a forest fire, right?
SPEAKER_01: Like we want worship to be this amazing moment where God speaks to us through the best bass player and a huge choir.
SPEAKER_01: Yet there are moments when in the soft and simple is where he tends to speak.
SPEAKER_01: He often does his best work in the soft, simple moments, in the ordinary moments.
SPEAKER_01: But we have to listen.
SPEAKER_01: When fear is loud, God often whispers words of hope and resilience.
SPEAKER_01: Christians cannot allow sin, stress, or skeptics to make us forget we are beloved children of the King and creator of the universe.
SPEAKER_01: When we surround ourselves with truth and community, the earth can shake.
SPEAKER_01: Our lives can feel like a dumpster fire, but our God remains constant.
SPEAKER_01: And that's what takes us to our final reminder when hope seems distant.
SPEAKER_01: When we run from God, he mercifully sends us home.
SPEAKER_01: Picking up in verse 15, the Lord said to him, Go and return the way you have come to the wilderness of Damascus.
SPEAKER_01: When you arrive, you are to anoint Hazael as king over Aram.
SPEAKER_01: You are to anoint Jehu, son of Nimshi, as king over Israel, and Elisha son of Shaphat, from Abel Meloa as prophet in your place.
SPEAKER_01: Then Jehu will put to death whoever escapes the sword of Hazael, and Elisha will put to death whoever escapes the sword of Jehu.
SPEAKER_01: But I will leave seven thousand in Israel, every knee that is not bowed to Baal, and every mouth that has not kissed him.
SPEAKER_01: Now, there are problematic things there.
SPEAKER_01: Killing, that's hard.
SPEAKER_01: Those are things that we do tackle a lot of times, but we're not going there today.
SPEAKER_01: God told Elijah to go back, to stop hiding, and he's saying, I'm gonna send you help.
SPEAKER_01: God knew Elijah's baggage when he had called him, and God still planned to use him.
SPEAKER_01: God knows your baggage too, friends.
SPEAKER_01: God knows your weaknesses, your illnesses, your struggles, your mental illnesses.
SPEAKER_01: He knows all of it and he still wants to use you.
SPEAKER_01: He knows your addiction and he still wants to use you.
SPEAKER_01: Elijah needed to stop living in fear and he needed to start remembering.
SPEAKER_01: And to prepare the next generation of leaders, including Elijah's own successor, who had the awesome name of Elisha.
SPEAKER_01: Now maybe Elijah wasn't as alone as he was feeling.
SPEAKER_01: Perhaps his feelings were shaping his reality more than he was allowing his present reality to shape his feelings.
SPEAKER_01: I once heard someone say, Your feelings are not, excuse me, your feelings are an indicator, but shouldn't be a dictator.
SPEAKER_01: Not going to use too much psycho pop stuff, but uh a little bit more.
SPEAKER_01: Feelings and emotions should be more like indicator lights, telling us what is going on under the hood, but they shouldn't be a GPS.
SPEAKER_01: I don't know who I stole that from, but it's absolutely stolen.
SPEAKER_01: Now, Elijah, like a lot of us, was up in his feelings in this moment, though, and he couldn't see truth for what it was, but God was sending him home.
SPEAKER_01: Now, Dr.
SPEAKER_01: Tony Evans says things were well under control.
SPEAKER_01: God's power had not diminished.
SPEAKER_01: In fact, Elijah didn't need to run and hide because God had more work for him to do.
SPEAKER_01: You see, God had been preparing him for this.
SPEAKER_01: He gave him the naps, he gave him the food, he got the rest he needed so he could be obedient and strong.
SPEAKER_01: Now, last week, Pastor Jonas said uh a really great quote, and I had to call him and make sure I got it right because it blessed me.
SPEAKER_01: And I'm gonna say it again.
SPEAKER_01: There is a difference between acknowledging the valley and building a house in the valley.
SPEAKER_01: There's a difference between acknowledging the valley and building a house in the valley.
SPEAKER_01: You notice that my sermons are like 75% recycled material.
SPEAKER_01: It's because someone else said it better.
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna use them and I'm gonna quote them.
SPEAKER_01: Friends, sin can cause us to feel alone.
SPEAKER_01: The devil wants you to feel alone.
SPEAKER_01: It makes you easier to attack, it causes us to hide, but you are not created to be alone.
SPEAKER_01: Pastor Chuck Swindall says, God has not designed us to live like hermits in a cave.
SPEAKER_01: He has designed us to live in friendship and fellowship and community with others.
SPEAKER_01: That's why the church, the body of Christ, is so very important.
SPEAKER_01: For it is there that we are drawn together in love and mutual encouragement.
SPEAKER_01: We're meant to be a part of one another's lives.
SPEAKER_01: Otherwise, we pull back, focusing on ourselves, thinking how hard we have it or how unfair others are.
SPEAKER_01: Another reason why I quote other people is because you guys would like to throw rocks at me if I said that.
SPEAKER_01: Moving on.
SPEAKER_01: Sorry.
SPEAKER_01: Sometimes a child doesn't know what's best for them.
SPEAKER_01: Do we agree on this?
SPEAKER_01: Kids don't always know what's best for them.
SPEAKER_01: Although I feel like as a kid, like six tubs of cookie dough were fine for me.
SPEAKER_01: But a lot of times a child will allow illness and trauma um to shape their life or their their the pe the relationships around them.
SPEAKER_01: They may mistake rebuke for dislike.
SPEAKER_01: Sometimes a child may confuse compassion for something worse.
SPEAKER_01: Now, um I have a child, and I won't say which one, so you you know, maybe you can guess, but I won't say.
SPEAKER_01: And um, this poor child would get sick sometimes.
SPEAKER_01: And you know, we have a lot of stomach problems in our family.
SPEAKER_01: It's just we just grew up that way.
SPEAKER_01: Ciliac, all these sorts of things.
SPEAKER_01: And um, well, let me show you this thing first.
SPEAKER_01: I don't know if you guys know what this is, um, but what this is, is um this is where we get our turkey from Costco in.
SPEAKER_01: It also holds like sewing materials, um, baseball cards, bugs, um, like spiders.
SPEAKER_01: Uh we put a lot of things in here, leftover food as well.
SPEAKER_01: Um, but it also in our family is when you have a stomachache, you grab this.
SPEAKER_01: If you're not feeling well, just grab it.
SPEAKER_01: It's alright, just put it next to you, you know.
SPEAKER_01: And one one of our younger children, or one of our children when they were younger, um, would get sick, and we would always like throw this underneath their face.
SPEAKER_01: You know, that was a thing that we would do to protect the floor.
SPEAKER_01: And it got to a point where they started to think this was making them sick.
SPEAKER_01: The floor was not protected, but it was so interesting because they started to associate something there to help them as something that was there to hurt them.
SPEAKER_01: And I think a lot of times when we have pain, we will misinterpret the source of the pain.
SPEAKER_01: In this way, my child saw this as the source of her pain.
SPEAKER_01: His or her pain.
SPEAKER_01: I managed to get through at the first service.
SPEAKER_01: What a bad dad.
SPEAKER_01: I apologize.
SPEAKER_01: I'll apologize personally later.
SPEAKER_01: Um, the source of his or her pain.
SPEAKER_01: But it's not.
SPEAKER_01: Um, sometimes we tend to look through the world through our trauma and we see it wrong.
SPEAKER_01: Maybe you've been like that.
SPEAKER_01: Maybe you've been mad at God for things that other people have done.
SPEAKER_01: Maybe you've been mad at God for things that the enemies of God have done in his name.
SPEAKER_01: Maybe you're just mad at everyone.
SPEAKER_01: Maybe you've never actually experienced a healthy home and you're mad at God for that.
SPEAKER_01: The good news is that our God is good and he loves you and has always loved you, and he's always had a plan for you.
SPEAKER_01: And we call it the gospel.
SPEAKER_01: And the gospel is this that while you were his enemy, while you were still in your sin, he sent his son Jesus to this earth to live a perfect life on your behalf, a pursuit of you, not because you were good, not because I was good, but because he loved us and he wanted to redeem us.
SPEAKER_01: So he died on the cross for our sins, but he rose again revealing that he was bigger than sin and death.
SPEAKER_01: Here's the beauty part.
SPEAKER_01: Now he gives us his Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_01: God lives in us and he's changing us from the inside out, making us more and more like him.
SPEAKER_01: And we're gonna get it wrong.
SPEAKER_01: But it was not because we were good, it's because he was.
SPEAKER_01: And it's not because you are an awesome prophet yet.
SPEAKER_01: It's because you are not an awesome prophet.
SPEAKER_01: But if you give your life to Jesus and you're baptized and you build a loving relationship with the church, which he calls his bride, he will change you slowly.
SPEAKER_01: Will you have days like Elijah?
SPEAKER_01: Yes, the good, the bad, and the ugly.
SPEAKER_01: But friends, we can trust that he won't abandon us, and that still small voice will always be with us.
SPEAKER_01: And so I encourage you today, have you gotten it wrong?
SPEAKER_01: Have you screwed up?
SPEAKER_01: It's okay.
SPEAKER_01: He has pursued you, he loves you.
SPEAKER_01: Everything you've done up to this moment, you might have gotten wrong, and he still pursues you and loves you, and it's okay.
SPEAKER_01: So we go to God, we say, I'm sorry, I messed up, I got things wrong, I maybe misinterpreted who you were looking through the lens of my trauma.
SPEAKER_01: But you're good, God.
SPEAKER_01: So I say this to you, City Life Church, and to our guests today.
SPEAKER_01: When fear is loud, God often whispers words of hope and resilience.
SPEAKER_01: I tell you to never trust the goggles of fear or trauma.
SPEAKER_01: Christians cannot allow sin or stress or skeptics to make us forget that we are beloved children of the King and Creator of the universe.
SPEAKER_01: When we surround ourselves with truth and community, the earth can shake, our lives can feel like a dumpster fire, but our God remains constant.
SPEAKER_01: Let's pray.