SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: You can be seated in the presence of the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: So today we're going to talk Bible.
SPEAKER_00: We're going to talk Bible.
SPEAKER_00: So I want to share with you a piece of history that is in the love letter.
SPEAKER_00: What's the love letter, y'all?
SPEAKER_00: The Bible.
SPEAKER_00: It is a love letter that our Father has left behind for us.
SPEAKER_00: And I want to talk about a piece of history that is in there.
SPEAKER_00: And so today is going to be a little bit different.
SPEAKER_00: Because, fun fact that back in the day when people would go to the temple, they would praise and they would worship, yes.
SPEAKER_00: But one of the key things that they would do is that they would listen to the word of God.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: And even when Jesus walked on the earth and he went to the temple, they sat and listened to him and he would pull up the scroll and he would sit there and just read.
SPEAKER_00: And so today you're going to hear me read the word of God.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: It's going to be just a little bit different, but this is just the way God has placed it in my heart.
SPEAKER_00: So if you don't, you're not used to reading your word, you might be bored.
SPEAKER_00: But if you're used to reading your word, you're going to get fed today.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: And so, like I said, even Jesus read a portion of Isaiah.
SPEAKER_00: Y'all remember that?
SPEAKER_00: And he he was he was bringing it to remind the people that that what what that was that that had been written was here today.
SPEAKER_00: And so we know that everything that was written was written for a reason and a purpose.
SPEAKER_00: Could you imagine all the events that happened back in the day?
SPEAKER_00: Think about your daily life.
SPEAKER_00: Every single thing that happens to you.
SPEAKER_00: And somebody's writing a book about you, they can't possibly put everything in there.
SPEAKER_00: But for whatever reason, these stories and this in history made it to the Bible.
SPEAKER_00: And these are the stories that God wanted for us to go back and look at and say, look at what I did.
SPEAKER_00: If I did it, then I can do it now.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: And so today I want to embrace this type of format.
SPEAKER_00: And I want to talk about a story, uh, or I'm I'm not gonna call it a story because a story most times are just fairy tales, but this is not a fairy tale.
SPEAKER_00: This is a piece of history of a man that actually existed and walked the grounds, right?
SPEAKER_00: And it was a time where the people of God had forgotten about how who God was, they had rejected him completely, they had forgotten him from generation after generation.
SPEAKER_00: They'd have forgotten of who God was.
SPEAKER_00: And this man in this time, because he was one of the only, one of the few who still believed in God, who still worshiped God, felt like he was alone.
SPEAKER_00: How many times are we the only ones in our own circle that worship God?
SPEAKER_00: And we feel alone.
SPEAKER_00: If I had seven hands, I would I would lift them up right now.
SPEAKER_00: Because so many times I feel alone in this walk.
SPEAKER_00: And we're gonna talk about this man today.
SPEAKER_00: However, this man chose to listen to God, and this man chose that regardless of the path he had to take, whether he was alone or not, he was gonna walk that path because he trusted God.
SPEAKER_00: And the man that I'm referring to is Elijah.
SPEAKER_00: So I want you to bring up your fancy uh Bibles, your scroll Bibles.
SPEAKER_00: I love my scroll Bible.
SPEAKER_00: Or if you got a paperback, flip through the pages, and I want you to go with me to 1 Kings 17, and we're gonna read a lot in Kings.
SPEAKER_00: We're gonna sit here for a little while.
SPEAKER_00: Alright, so I'm gonna give you a minute to look for your word.
SPEAKER_00: When you have it, say amen.
SPEAKER_00: So I'm gonna talk about the word and then I'm gonna pause in between of what God has been giving me through this word.
SPEAKER_00: So it says, 1 Kings 17.
SPEAKER_00: Now Elijah, the Tishbite from Tishbe in Galilee, Gal Gilead, Gilead, Gilead.
SPEAKER_00: Let's think, let's go with Gilead, said to Ahab, pause.
SPEAKER_00: Who was Ahab?
SPEAKER_00: Ahab was a king.
SPEAKER_00: He was a really, really, really evil king.
SPEAKER_00: We'll get back to Ahab in a minute.
SPEAKER_00: He says, as the Lord, the God of Israel, lives, whom I serve, there will be neither dew nor rain in the next few years, except at my word.
SPEAKER_00: Okay?
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna read that one more time.
SPEAKER_00: As the Lord, so he's saying, I'm speaking on behalf of the Lord, the God of Israel.
SPEAKER_00: He knew that this people in Israel did not believe in God.
SPEAKER_00: But God, they were already God's chosen people.
SPEAKER_00: You are already God's chosen people, whether you want to believe it or not, whether you're over here fancying something else, you're still the people of God.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: And so he refers to them as who they are, the people of God.
SPEAKER_00: He says, As the Lord the God of Israel lives, whom I serve.
SPEAKER_00: So he's telling them that's the God, that that's who I'm repping right now.
SPEAKER_00: There will be neither dew nor rain in the next few years, except at my word.
SPEAKER_00: So what is he saying here?
SPEAKER_00: Elijah was telling the people that there was about to be a drought.
SPEAKER_00: Could you imagine that you have this evil king?
SPEAKER_00: I told you who Abraham was.
SPEAKER_00: He was an evil king, and God chooses you to tell the king that there's about to be a drought.
SPEAKER_00: And it's not gonna rain until I say so.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: That's exactly what's going on.
SPEAKER_00: It says, no rain, not even dew.
SPEAKER_00: That means not even.
SPEAKER_00: Do you know what dew is?
SPEAKER_00: That's the film on top of the leaves early in the morning, those little sprinkles of water, nothing.
SPEAKER_00: Like there would be nothingness, family.
SPEAKER_00: Not even a tiny bit of water would come down on the earth.
SPEAKER_00: And so this was a big deal for these people.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Because the drought meant that there would be a famine.
SPEAKER_00: So they could have taken it like your God just cursed us.
SPEAKER_00: You just told us we're about to die, right?
SPEAKER_00: So you can imagine that Elijah was not the best kid in the black around those times, right?
SPEAKER_00: Like nobody liked them.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: That meant that the lands that they lived on would no longer produce fruit.
SPEAKER_00: That meant that the cattle that they fed off and that they worked their lands would no longer be sustained, right?
SPEAKER_00: Until he said that rain will come.
SPEAKER_00: So then let's keep moving.
SPEAKER_00: He goes in verse 2.
SPEAKER_00: Then the word of the Lord came to Elijah.
SPEAKER_00: Leave here, turn eastward and hide.
SPEAKER_00: Somebody say hide, hide in the Kareeth ravine east of the Jordan.
SPEAKER_00: You will drink from the brook, and I have, yes, and I have directed the raven to supply you with food there.
SPEAKER_00: And so he did what the Lord had told him.
SPEAKER_00: So first God tells him, Deliver this bad news to the evil king that could possibly kill you.
SPEAKER_00: Then he says, Drop that bomb and then flee.
SPEAKER_00: Drop that bond and now it's time for you to go hide.
SPEAKER_00: So if God told you to hide, there's a reason God is telling you to hide, right?
SPEAKER_00: So think about that.
SPEAKER_00: If God is telling you to say something and you say he's like, go hide.
SPEAKER_00: You're like, ooh, oh my God.
SPEAKER_00: Like, what is about to happen?
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: So this was Elijah's life, y'all.
SPEAKER_00: Like this was his real situation.
SPEAKER_00: Again, the Bible says he did what the Lord told him to do.
SPEAKER_00: That means that he obeyed whatever God told him to do.
SPEAKER_00: He walked in obedience.
SPEAKER_00: And how hard is it for us to walk in obedience when it's a tough situation?
SPEAKER_00: When God is telling you to say something or do something or uh plant something, and you're like, ooh, I don't know about that.
SPEAKER_00: That sounds hard, but you do it anyway.
SPEAKER_00: It's hard, it's real hard to walk in obedience.
SPEAKER_00: Now, the act of obedience from Elijah says a lot of how he believed in God.
SPEAKER_00: This man again said there was no rain, and now he's being told to go to a specific place.
SPEAKER_00: Now let's talk about that place.
SPEAKER_00: First, God tells him to hide.
SPEAKER_00: Where does he tell him to hide?
SPEAKER_00: He tells him to hide in Kareth Vavine.
SPEAKER_00: So the Hebrew word for Kareth comes from the root word meaning cut off.
SPEAKER_00: It means to be cut down, it means to be separated.
SPEAKER_00: So you are going to hide in a separated place where I have told you, and you're gonna remain there.
SPEAKER_00: So now I'm hiding, now I'm being separated, now I'm being cut out.
SPEAKER_00: In other words, God is setting up a place for Elijah to be cut off from the rest of the world.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: This was a time where Elijah needed to be separated from everyone.
SPEAKER_00: God was purposely placing him in a lonely place.
SPEAKER_00: If you can imagine, and I regret not putting the images, but if you can imagine just a desert with nothing but caves and holes in the wall.
SPEAKER_00: So if you can imagine Arizona, something like that, right?
SPEAKER_00: And God is telling you that right there, go to the Keith, Keith Ravine, and go to the brook.
SPEAKER_00: There's gonna be a brook there, right?
SPEAKER_00: But that place is a lonely place.
SPEAKER_00: Follow me, I'm going somewhere.
SPEAKER_00: He's no longer around the prophets that he's used to being with.
SPEAKER_00: That means he's no longer in ministry right now.
SPEAKER_00: He had to be separated from the ministry that he had been walking in.
SPEAKER_00: He had no friends, he had no neighbors, his cousin and them wasn't around.
SPEAKER_00: It's nobody there.
SPEAKER_00: It's just you and God.
SPEAKER_00: He was being isolated and separated from human support entirely.
SPEAKER_00: But guess what?
SPEAKER_00: He was also separating him from distractions.
SPEAKER_00: Many, many, many times we like to be around people because it distracts us from an issue, a problem.
SPEAKER_00: We call somebody, whatever it is, I'm guilty, family.
SPEAKER_00: I'm guilty.
SPEAKER_00: You know how many times I've called a friend, I called a lifeline, and I'm boohooing on the phone with them, and then I hang up, and God reminds me that I should have gone to him first.
SPEAKER_00: It's so hard to eat that.
SPEAKER_00: Because it's like, but I'm right here.
SPEAKER_00: But why could have you spoke to them, but you ain't speak to me?
SPEAKER_00: And it's easy because we're human.
SPEAKER_00: We're human and we can see that person, we can hear that person, we can feel that person.
SPEAKER_00: But what about when you can't feel God, when you can't see God, when you can't, it's me, God is almost like mute, and you're like, God, where are you?
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: So it's easy to do that.
SPEAKER_00: But God was intentionally telling this man to separate himself.
SPEAKER_00: So could you imagine the feeling of loneliness when he's just like, I just spoke a word.
SPEAKER_00: And I know you were with me because I heard you say it, I delivered it, I obeyed, but now I'm over here.
SPEAKER_00: That could have felt like a punishment.
SPEAKER_00: That could have felt like, what did I do wrong?
SPEAKER_00: I thought I was good.
SPEAKER_00: How many of us think that we're doing the right thing, and all of a sudden we feel like God shunned us?
SPEAKER_00: We feel like we're isolated, like God, you're not even talking no more.
SPEAKER_00: I'm by myself.
SPEAKER_00: Like, what is good with that?
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: And and the walk gets hard.
SPEAKER_00: We feel that we're forgotten.
SPEAKER_00: Could you imagine him nowhere?
SPEAKER_00: There's nobody, y'all, in the dark.
SPEAKER_00: You just in the dark, and you're like, oh, I'm just forgotten at this point, right?
SPEAKER_00: Could you imagine that after a while?
SPEAKER_00: And the Bible doesn't say that.
SPEAKER_00: Let me just say that out there.
SPEAKER_00: The Bible doesn't say that, but could you imagine probably the doubt that Elijah may have faced?
SPEAKER_00: He must have felt doubtful.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Because he's human, and when God don't talk to me, I'll be like, what did I do?
SPEAKER_00: I'm doubting myself, I'm down in my walk, I'm down if I'm saved.
SPEAKER_00: I'm like, Holy Spirit, where are you?
SPEAKER_00: You inside of me, but I don't feel you, right?
SPEAKER_00: We doubt.
SPEAKER_00: But he continued to serve, but there was a reason that he was there alone.
SPEAKER_00: The Lord, the Lord, from this hiding place, he says, verse 4, you will drink from the brook, and I have directed the ravens, these are birds, to supply you with food there.
SPEAKER_00: So that meant that not only was Elijah being in this cave all by himself, through this process of separation, he now needed to learn the lesson of trusting God, literally with his own survival.
SPEAKER_00: He cannot leave the cave, he cannot go get no water, he cannot get food.
SPEAKER_00: God tells him, I'm gonna send the water to you, I'm going to send the meat to you, I'm going to send the bread to you, right?
SPEAKER_00: And so this is a process that Elijah is going through that he's alone, he's isolated, and he's fully depending on the ravens and the brook for water, excuse me, for food and water.
SPEAKER_00: And it is a process that he has to go through daily, every single day.
SPEAKER_00: I'm I'm I'm going hard here, guys, because I need you to understand the the situation and the and this process that this man had to be going through.
SPEAKER_00: The God that will provide and sustain him daily, the Bible says that the ravens would come and they would bring them bread in the morning and meat, and they would bring him bread and meat in the afternoon.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: So, and then he had to drink from a brook.
SPEAKER_00: So, what's a brook?
SPEAKER_00: A brook is a small, narrow stream that flows from the ravine, but this water depends on rain.
SPEAKER_00: It just doesn't come from like nowhere.
SPEAKER_00: It depends on rain.
SPEAKER_00: The rain that he just told his peoples back there that is not coming.
SPEAKER_00: And I can't even open my mouth and say let it rain because you haven't told me to say let it rain.
SPEAKER_00: So I know this is you.
SPEAKER_00: I know in the back of my head, eventually this brook is gonna dry out.
SPEAKER_00: But God is telling him to drink from that brook.
SPEAKER_00: Elijah already knew, again, there was no rain, but he believed in God.
SPEAKER_00: And so now I have to hide and depend on the stream and depend on it when I know it's gonna run out.
SPEAKER_00: Like, just think about it.
SPEAKER_00: And while you're thinking about it, I want you to think about what is the brook in your life.
SPEAKER_00: What is the brook in your life that perhaps it was something that was there for a season, or you didn't even know it was there for a season, but you depended on that, right?
SPEAKER_00: You depended on that brook, you depended on the brook that may have been your job, right?
SPEAKER_00: Our jobs can be our brook, our spouse can be our brook, our homes can be our brook, our children can be your brook.
SPEAKER_00: The very thing that helps you hold your entire sanity together may be your brook.
SPEAKER_00: The very thing that sustains you day by day and helps you feel secure could be your brook.
SPEAKER_00: The very thing that you depend on to make you feel okay may be your brook.
SPEAKER_00: But in this situation, this brook would eventually run dry.
SPEAKER_00: And many times in our life we have a brook and we depend on that brook.
SPEAKER_00: But what happens when that brook runs dry?
SPEAKER_00: Do we stop trusting God that God said, depend on the brook that I will give you from this brook some water to drink?
SPEAKER_00: We forget.
SPEAKER_00: We forget and we hold on to things as if it's ours.
SPEAKER_00: Nothing is ours.
SPEAKER_00: All good things come from the Lord, right?
SPEAKER_00: So you may have something now in your hand that may not be there tomorrow, but you have to trust and believe that it's okay.
SPEAKER_00: Because it was a brick to begin with.
SPEAKER_00: A brick is in seasons, family.
SPEAKER_00: It's not there to sustain you forever, it's there in seasons.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: And God provides these bricks in our lives, and even these brooks will run dry.
SPEAKER_00: And at one point and another, we're going to feel alone again.
SPEAKER_00: We're going to find that thing that helps us stay afloat, whether it's that friend that helped us go through it, that husband, that wife, whatever it is, but at some point that thing is going to be taken away.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: So follow me.
SPEAKER_00: In verse 5 and 6, again, like I said, the ravens did come.
SPEAKER_00: They did feed him, they did bring him meat, they did bring him food, the water did come.
SPEAKER_00: But then it says in verse 7, sometime later, that could have been months later, years later, time.
SPEAKER_00: Some time had passed.
SPEAKER_00: Sometime, but you know when you in the dark, that time drags.
SPEAKER_00: You could be sitting in the dark and it just drags.
SPEAKER_00: It could be 10 minutes.
SPEAKER_00: You ever sit 10 minutes in silence and just try to just sit there in silence with no entertainment, no instant gratifications in your face, just sitting?
SPEAKER_00: And you think you've been there for half an hour at least, and you look up and it's seven minutes later and you're like, What?
SPEAKER_00: I've been here for a minute.
SPEAKER_00: But sometime later, the book dried up because there had been no rain in the land.
SPEAKER_00: Then the Lord, excuse me.
SPEAKER_00: Then the word of the Lord came to him, and he says, Go at once to Serapath in the region of Sedan and stay there.
SPEAKER_00: I have directed a widow there to supply you with food.
SPEAKER_00: That's not okay.
SPEAKER_00: Because if you know your word, back in the day, widows ain't have much.
SPEAKER_00: Women depended on their husbands and in their families, right, to sustain them.
SPEAKER_00: And if you were widowed, you were kind of like had less then.
SPEAKER_00: Let's just say it like that, right?
SPEAKER_00: So, first you tell me to say some bad news to these evil people, then you put me away, and I'm in a hidden place, and um, you're sustaining me.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you for the provision.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you for giving me everything that I need, but now you're telling me to leave here.
SPEAKER_00: The brook has run dry, and now you're sending me to a widow?
SPEAKER_00: Like that's no better.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: So he Elijah goes again, coming out of that separate place, coming out of that hiding place.
SPEAKER_00: He goes and he finds this widow.
SPEAKER_00: 10.
SPEAKER_00: So he went to Serapath, where he came to the town gate, and a widow was there gathering sticks.
SPEAKER_00: He stepped into the town gates, and he found this widow.
SPEAKER_00: He's not searching everywhere, he's not, oh my God, where is he?
SPEAKER_00: No, the Bible says that at the gate of the town the widow was there gathering her sticks.
SPEAKER_00: He called her and asked, Would you bring me a little water in a jar so that I may drink?
SPEAKER_00: As she was going to get it, he said, And bring me, please, a piece of bread.
SPEAKER_00: As surely as the Lord God lives, she replied, I don't have any bread, only a handful of flour in a jar and a little oil, excuse me, a little olive oil in a jug.
SPEAKER_00: I am gathering a few sticks to take home, check this out, and make a meal for myself and my son that we may eat and die.
SPEAKER_00: She was ready to die.
SPEAKER_00: She was just like, this is all I got left.
SPEAKER_00: I got this little bit of flour and this little bit of oil, and we're about to eat, and then we're gonna die.
SPEAKER_00: So think about the circumstances of this widow that God done sent you to, and you're like, oh great.
SPEAKER_00: You just guate mala to guate peol.
SPEAKER_00: It's like from bad to worse.
SPEAKER_00: It's like, all right, but again, he trusted God, he went and found that widow.
SPEAKER_00: 13.
SPEAKER_00: Elijah said to her, Don't be afraid, go home and do as you have said.
SPEAKER_00: But first, make a small loaf of bread for me from what you have and bring it to me, and then make something for yourself and your son.
SPEAKER_00: For this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says the jug of flour will not be used up, and the jug of oil will not run dry until the day the Lord sends rain on the land.
SPEAKER_00: What is that telling us?
SPEAKER_00: That her land is being affected too.
SPEAKER_00: She's in the middle of this famine, too.
SPEAKER_00: She doesn't have anything either.
SPEAKER_00: Everybody's going through it.
SPEAKER_00: Again, God is using Elijah to tell this widow to trust him.
SPEAKER_00: He's going through his own struggles, but he's encouraging this widow to trust him and give him the little bit that she has left.
SPEAKER_00: Have you ever been in that situation where you just Going through it.
SPEAKER_00: You just going through it, and don't nobody know that you're going through it.
SPEAKER_00: Nobody even asks how you going through it.
SPEAKER_00: Everybody's thinking you're good, and you just got you just scraped yourself off the floor last night.
SPEAKER_00: But you come to church with a smile on your face, hallelujah, praise the Lord, and somebody comes and dumps something on you, and you're just like, God, I'm drowning.
SPEAKER_00: How do I reply?
SPEAKER_00: How do I say something?
SPEAKER_00: What do I say?
SPEAKER_00: And God just gives you a word because you forget about yourself and you're like, you know what?
SPEAKER_00: My brother needs me.
SPEAKER_00: My sister needs me.
SPEAKER_00: I need to give an encouraging word to this person who clearly is in need.
SPEAKER_00: And they don't even know that I need, right?
SPEAKER_00: Because the widow ain't know what Elijah had just gone through.
SPEAKER_00: The widow didn't know.
SPEAKER_00: You're in the same boat as I am.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: But this is what the Bible says.
SPEAKER_00: This is what the widow did.
SPEAKER_00: 15.
SPEAKER_00: She went away and did as Elijah told her to do, basically.
SPEAKER_00: So there was food every day for Elijah and the woman and her family.
SPEAKER_00: So think about that.
SPEAKER_00: She only had a little bit of oil and a little bit of flour to make bread for her and her kid, and they were gonna die.
SPEAKER_00: Like that was that was her that was her perspective.
SPEAKER_00: We ain't got nothing.
SPEAKER_00: But because she trusted the word of the Lord that Elijah had spoken to her, it says that there was food every day for Elijah and the woman and her family.
SPEAKER_00: So there was other people there, other than the kid, that she was gonna go back and feed.
SPEAKER_00: For the flower of, excuse me, for the jar of flour was not used up and the jug of oil did not run dry, and keeping the word of the Lord spoken by Elijah.
SPEAKER_00: We're gonna stay in the word.
SPEAKER_00: Sometime later, the son of the woman who owns the house became ill.
SPEAKER_00: The same little boy that was gonna die before, I'm assuming, right?
SPEAKER_00: He became sick.
SPEAKER_00: And he grew worse and worse and finally stopped breathing.
SPEAKER_00: When you stop breathing, what that mean?
SPEAKER_00: You done.
SPEAKER_00: So it says that he stopped breathing.
SPEAKER_00: And this widow says, She goes, she says to Elijah, What do you have against me, man of God?
SPEAKER_00: She questions him.
SPEAKER_00: Did you come to remind me of my sin and kill my son?
SPEAKER_00: First, you want to take his bread and water.
SPEAKER_00: We give you what we have.
SPEAKER_00: You God continues to supply.
SPEAKER_00: I see that, but now he's about to die.
SPEAKER_00: And it all started when you got here.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: So imagine, just imagine Elijah's mental at that point.
SPEAKER_00: Like he done been through hell and high water.
SPEAKER_00: God, you sent me here for this widow.
SPEAKER_00: You said this widow about to help me.
SPEAKER_00: She helps me, but now her son is gonna die.
SPEAKER_00: He says, Give me your son, Elijah replies.
SPEAKER_00: We're on 19.
SPEAKER_00: He took him from her arms, carried him to the upper room where he was staying, and laid him on his bed.
SPEAKER_00: Then he cried out to the Lord, Lord my God, have you brought tragedy even?
SPEAKER_00: That's not even for me, even on this widow, I am staying with by causing her son to die.
SPEAKER_00: So Elijah's being like, Really?
SPEAKER_00: Like, really, God?
SPEAKER_00: This really about to happen.
SPEAKER_00: You brought me all this way to this woman telling me you was gonna feed me.
SPEAKER_00: I'm trusting you, and now her kid is about to die.
SPEAKER_00: And she's blaming B, by the way.
SPEAKER_00: So he questions God.
SPEAKER_00: You see how I'm telling you the story for a reason because this man is starting to reach his breaking point.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: He's believing God, just like we believe God, but it just keeps getting a little worse and a little worse and a little worse.
SPEAKER_00: And after a while, we're like, really?
SPEAKER_00: Where are you?
SPEAKER_00: I serve you, Father.
SPEAKER_00: I love you.
SPEAKER_00: You know that I'm going through it.
SPEAKER_00: I talk to you, I read my word, I pray.
SPEAKER_00: And the Bible never said that God left him, right?
SPEAKER_00: But that's how he felt.
SPEAKER_00: That's how he felt.
SPEAKER_00: That's how we all feel when we're going through something.
SPEAKER_00: So he questions God, right?
SPEAKER_00: And now he's feeling like he's in the thick of it right now.
SPEAKER_00: Like you ever just been in the thick of it?
SPEAKER_00: You're just like, I'm over it.
SPEAKER_00: I'm over it.
SPEAKER_00: I was there two weeks ago, y'all.
SPEAKER_00: I was over it.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, boo-hoo, crying.
SPEAKER_00: I can't do this anymore.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Because I was so focused on my circumstance, and I was so zeroed in on the circumstance and how hard it had been that I started questioning God.
SPEAKER_00: Not that he wasn't there, but I did say, Lord, where are you?
SPEAKER_00: Even though I knew that the Holy Spirit lived on the inside, even though I preach the word of God, even though I pray, even though I read his word, even though I try to live a faithful life, I questioned it because it got hard.
SPEAKER_00: So his faith started to wither.
SPEAKER_00: His faith started to shake.
SPEAKER_00: But even though his faith was shaky, Elijah just didn't sit there and take it.
SPEAKER_00: He moved on, he moved forward in faith, in the little bit that he had left.
SPEAKER_00: Because that's all we need, y'all, is a little bit.
SPEAKER_00: We only need a little bit.
SPEAKER_00: It says 21.
SPEAKER_00: Then he stretched his himself out on the boy three times.
SPEAKER_00: So imagine the boy, he lays his body over the boy.
SPEAKER_00: Like that's not weird, right?
SPEAKER_00: And he cries out to the Lord, Lord my God, let this boy's life return to him.
SPEAKER_00: I think I question everything, y'all.
SPEAKER_00: Why three times?
SPEAKER_00: What if Elijah would have done it one time and he would have been like, You're not listening?
SPEAKER_00: Let me do it again.
SPEAKER_00: Father God, please lift this little boy up.
SPEAKER_00: He's still not breathing.
SPEAKER_00: God, you ain't even coming.
SPEAKER_00: This boy is dead.
SPEAKER_00: But then he decides to do it a third time.
SPEAKER_00: And it's that nudge that the Holy Spirit starts giving you.
SPEAKER_00: Nope, do it again.
SPEAKER_00: Call them again.
SPEAKER_00: Apologize again.
SPEAKER_00: Accept that again.
SPEAKER_00: Eat that again.
SPEAKER_00: Humble yourself again.
SPEAKER_00: If God tells you to do it, do it.
SPEAKER_00: You remember the king that he had to throw himself in the river seven times?
SPEAKER_00: Seven times.
SPEAKER_00: How many of us are gonna do it seven times?
SPEAKER_00: How many of us are gonna put up with it seven times?
SPEAKER_00: Some of us, some of us is one and done.
SPEAKER_00: You do me wrong one time, and that's it.
SPEAKER_00: But that's not that's not the character of God.
SPEAKER_00: He forgives us every day, he gives us a new mercy every day.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: Let's continue.
SPEAKER_00: 22.
SPEAKER_00: I told y'all we were gonna read his Bible today, y'all.
SPEAKER_00: Say with me.
SPEAKER_00: The Lord heard Elijah's cry, and the boy's life returned to him, and he lived.
SPEAKER_00: Elijah picked up the child and carried him down from the room into the house.
SPEAKER_00: He gave him to his mother and said, Look, your son is alive.
SPEAKER_00: And then, is that then?
SPEAKER_00: And then the woman said to Elijah, Now I know that you are a man of God and that the word of the Lord from your mouth is the truth.
SPEAKER_00: We're gonna part there real quick.
SPEAKER_00: Because when I read this, I'm like, so wait a minute.
SPEAKER_00: You trusted him the first time.
SPEAKER_00: It's almost like when you open the door to somebody, right?
SPEAKER_00: And you'd be like, Okay, you seem to be the man of God.
SPEAKER_00: You seem to be the woman of God, right?
SPEAKER_00: I see you're flourishing, I see your ministry is growing.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, great.
SPEAKER_00: And then we don't even realize that the people that are around us start doubting who we are for whatever reason, right?
SPEAKER_00: Things got a little shaky in our life, they're like, mm.
SPEAKER_00: We slipped up once or twice.
SPEAKER_00: I don't know about you.
SPEAKER_00: Come on, y'all.
SPEAKER_00: Am I talking to real people?
SPEAKER_00: That's facts.
SPEAKER_00: We get a little shaky.
SPEAKER_00: Let us slip up real quick.
SPEAKER_00: Whoa.
SPEAKER_00: And they already looking at us sideways because people are watching.
SPEAKER_00: The people are watching all the time.
SPEAKER_00: We may not believe it, we may not see it, we may not notice, but people are watching.
SPEAKER_00: And so this statement shows that even the widow had her doubts when she was helping Elijah.
SPEAKER_00: Because it's not until this kid comes back to life that she says, Now I know that you're a man of God.
SPEAKER_00: How many times has it happened to me so many times?
SPEAKER_00: Oh, now I know that you serve God because I ate something somebody told me in this in the 7-Eleven, and I would have busted them aside ahead at any other time.
SPEAKER_00: And the family members are like, Oh, look at Jocelyn, she served God for real, because she's crazy.
SPEAKER_00: She would have been crazy at another time.
SPEAKER_00: Now you believe that I serve God.
SPEAKER_00: You know what I'm saying?
SPEAKER_00: Like, that's ever happened to you.
SPEAKER_00: Now I know that you serve God, right?
SPEAKER_00: And so, and the crazy part is that it the worst part doesn't even stop.
SPEAKER_00: It don't even stop there, y'all.
SPEAKER_00: It just continues.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: In the very next chapter, that's when Elijah is really over it.
SPEAKER_00: Like he is just done.
SPEAKER_00: Because it says, 18, after a long time, in the third year.
SPEAKER_00: Imagine being in that same season for three years.
SPEAKER_00: I've been in seasons for five years now.
SPEAKER_00: Praise God, hallelujah.
unknown: God help me.
SPEAKER_00: Woo! He's so good to me every day.
SPEAKER_00: It don't even matter, y'all.
SPEAKER_00: But listen, I gotta be real.
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes these seasons be lasting a long, long, long, long time.
SPEAKER_00: And you be like, God, but when?
SPEAKER_00: God, but why?
SPEAKER_00: Don't I serve you?
SPEAKER_00: Then I just help this person, then I just sow a seed, then I just praise you.
SPEAKER_00: Wasn't I just snotting those in my car?
SPEAKER_00: Lord, what else do you want?
SPEAKER_00: When?
SPEAKER_00: But that season is there.
SPEAKER_00: And you wake up and it's still there.
SPEAKER_00: And two years later it's still there.
SPEAKER_00: And three years later it's still there.
SPEAKER_00: For me, five years later it's still there.
SPEAKER_00: And I'm just waiting.
SPEAKER_00: I'm just waiting.
SPEAKER_00: And so after a long time in the third year, the word of the Lord came to Elijah.
SPEAKER_00: And this is what God says: Go and present yourself to Ahab.
SPEAKER_00: Who's Ahab?
SPEAKER_00: The Bad King.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: And he will send rain on the lands.
SPEAKER_00: So Elijah went to present himself to Ahab.
SPEAKER_00: So there's a whole chapter about how it all went down.
SPEAKER_00: But I'm not going to read because we'll be here till four.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: So I'm going to fast forward some things for you and tell you what really happened here.
SPEAKER_00: So Ahab is the evil king, like I said.
SPEAKER_00: The fact the Bible says back in chapter 16, uh, it says that Ahab did more evil in the eye of the Lord than any of those before him.
SPEAKER_00: So he's super evil.
SPEAKER_00: Sin did not matter to Ahab.
SPEAKER_00: He considered it trivial.
SPEAKER_00: You know how back in the day we would just do things just because, just wild out just because, just say things just because, just act out just because, because it was whatever.
SPEAKER_00: There was no fear of sin.
SPEAKER_00: There was none of that, right?
SPEAKER_00: So this is Ahab.
SPEAKER_00: And as if that was not a big deal, Ahab was married to Jezebel.
SPEAKER_00: And he began to serve a false God and worship this God by the name of Baal.
SPEAKER_00: Some people say, Baal, let's go with Baal.
SPEAKER_00: Is English.
SPEAKER_00: And they believed that this God that they served was it.
SPEAKER_00: So them and all the other people.
SPEAKER_00: And the king for a really, really, really long time had been hunting down Elijah.
SPEAKER_00: Because remember in the beginning, he's the one that tells, uh, excuse me, Elijah tells Ahab, the very same king, that there's gonna be no water, there's gonna be no rain.
SPEAKER_00: So he now, but then he flees and he hides, right?
SPEAKER_00: So now Ahab is like, where's this guy?
SPEAKER_00: Where's this character that said that?
SPEAKER_00: Where's the guy that cursed our lands?
SPEAKER_00: We're gonna continue to pray to Baal.
SPEAKER_00: Who does he think he is?
SPEAKER_00: Off with your head, right?
SPEAKER_00: He's looking for him to kill him, which is why God told him to hide, right?
SPEAKER_00: And so he goes off, he hides, and throughout this time, his wife, who's even eviler, if that's a word, than um, than Ahab, she is on a mission to kill all of the prophets of the land.
SPEAKER_00: All of God's prophets, though.
SPEAKER_00: She's looking to kill all of God's prophets, and he's the main one she's looking for.
SPEAKER_00: And now God is telling her, telling uh telling Elijah, go to him, present yourself to him.
SPEAKER_00: So he's like, You're done, you're done hiding, right?
SPEAKER_00: You're done hiding.
SPEAKER_00: So the king has a right-hand man.
SPEAKER_00: This right-hand man, Obadiah, serves God.
SPEAKER_00: And what Ahab doesn't know is that Albadia has been uh rescuing God's people, rescuing the prophets and hiding them in caves.
SPEAKER_00: He had a hundred people hiding in caves, 50 in each cave, unbeknown, unbeknownst to his king.
SPEAKER_00: And so the king goes with his right-hand man, he goes, Okay, we're gonna split up and we're gonna look for these people.
SPEAKER_00: We're gonna look for this prophet, we gotta find Elijah.
SPEAKER_00: So they go out, they look look for him, and all of a sudden, Obadiah bumps into Elijah, and he says, I'm here to present myself to the king.
SPEAKER_00: And Obadiah is like, yo, you want me to die?
SPEAKER_00: He's like, Tell your king that I'm here, I'm here to present myself.
SPEAKER_00: And he's like, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah.
SPEAKER_00: He don't even know all the stuff that I'm doing.
SPEAKER_00: Like, he don't even know that I serve God.
SPEAKER_00: Because how many of y'all, I'm gonna say me, because I ain't never done a praise of God, but how many of us like shy away from saying that we serve God when we're around certain people?
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: In the beginning, not anymore, because we all saved, sacrificed, and holy go fill.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: But in the beginning, you're like, I don't know if I'm gonna say that right, my friend.
SPEAKER_00: I don't know, right?
SPEAKER_00: They're gonna think I'm corny.
SPEAKER_00: But so Obadiah is hiding this, but he's not hiding this because he thinks he's corny, he's hiding this because his whole life depends on it.
SPEAKER_00: He's about to die if his king realizes that you've been saving all these prophets, right?
SPEAKER_00: And keeping them and feeding them, right?
SPEAKER_00: And so he says, You want me to do it?
SPEAKER_00: I don't want to do it because everybody that said they saw you and then they didn't find you, the king has killed.
SPEAKER_00: So you don't do you hate me that much?
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: So then he goes, Tell them anyway, and trust in the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: I'm paraphrasing.
SPEAKER_00: You can read the whole story, it's a good chapter.
SPEAKER_00: So this is what Obadiah says.
SPEAKER_00: Oh, excuse me.
SPEAKER_00: So then Obadiah says all that.
SPEAKER_00: Then he finally meets the king.
SPEAKER_00: He meets up with the king, and the king, this is what the king says in 1 Kings 18, 18, right?
SPEAKER_00: Obadiah confronts him and he tells him something along the lines like, Oh, you're the one that's giving me all this trouble, right?
SPEAKER_00: And he goes, I have not made trouble for Israel.
SPEAKER_00: Elijah replied, but you and your father's family have.
SPEAKER_00: So you and your mom and your dad and all your generations and all your peoples, it's on you.
SPEAKER_00: You're the one that caused all the trouble, not me.
SPEAKER_00: You have abandoned the Lord's commands and followed the Baals.
SPEAKER_00: So at this point, Elijah is straight up in danger.
SPEAKER_00: Like he's about to get killed.
SPEAKER_00: He's in front of the king that has been looking for him for years, three years have passed, at least that we know of, right?
SPEAKER_00: And he's telling the king, it's not my fault, it's your fault, you and your dad, right?
SPEAKER_00: And so he starts telling them to gather all the prophets.
SPEAKER_00: Because guess what?
SPEAKER_00: Baal had prophets too.
SPEAKER_00: Think about that.
SPEAKER_00: There, the Bible doesn't just talk about God's prophets, he talks about false prophets, and there were at least 400 false prophets that the Bible talks about in this particular section of the Bible.
SPEAKER_00: And he says, Get all your peoples, go get a calf.
SPEAKER_00: We're gonna get a bull, actually.
SPEAKER_00: He goes, Go get a bull.
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna go get a bull.
SPEAKER_00: We're gonna do altars, and I want you to sing and dance and praise to your Baal, to your God, and if he sends down fire, we're gonna know that your God is the right God.
SPEAKER_00: And I'm gonna do the same thing, and I'm gonna praise God, and I'm gonna do my singing that song and dance in front of God.
SPEAKER_00: And then if he brings down fire, then we'll know that my God is the right God, right?
SPEAKER_00: So now he's challenging the king that's finna kill him.
SPEAKER_00: That's bravery, right?
SPEAKER_00: So they go together.
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna cut the story short.
SPEAKER_00: They all get together, they dance, they sing.
SPEAKER_00: This is 400 people, y'all, that is praising this God Baal, and they are breaking night to the point that Elijah's like, ha! Scream louder.
SPEAKER_00: He literally tells them, shout louder.
SPEAKER_00: Baal never comes.
SPEAKER_00: And then he's like, Okay, my turn.
SPEAKER_00: And he goes on to the Lord and he says, Lord, if you are the real God, show these people that you are the real God, bring fire down.
SPEAKER_00: So God, woof, the fire comes down, consumes the whole bull.
SPEAKER_00: The Bible says that he even filled it with water, and all the water was vanished.
SPEAKER_00: So clearly, now the people are seeing that the God that this Elijah is talking about is the real God.
SPEAKER_00: I'm going somewhere with this.
SPEAKER_00: God has been showing Elijah all along that he's God.
SPEAKER_00: He showed him when he kept them hidden and he thought it was a lonely place.
SPEAKER_00: But he was really hiding him, he was really separating him.
SPEAKER_00: Then he feeds him through a brook that he's holding on to, but he was sustaining him, providing for him.
SPEAKER_00: Then he guides him to the widow and he's like, oh my God, this is no better.
SPEAKER_00: But he still trusts him and he goes through that process.
SPEAKER_00: Then he goes to the king and he tells him that you and your daddy is your fault that we're in this boat, right?
SPEAKER_00: It's your fault that why the rain isn't coming.
SPEAKER_00: It's not, I'm not the troublemaker.
SPEAKER_00: And now he's basically putting God on on showcase.
SPEAKER_00: Like, watch my God.
SPEAKER_00: Just watch my God real quick.
SPEAKER_00: And God shows up.
SPEAKER_00: So God showed up in every single situation, right?
SPEAKER_00: There's a reason why I'm saying this.
SPEAKER_00: After all this, there comes a time.
SPEAKER_00: Can you go to the next slide?
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
SPEAKER_00: There uh, I lost myself on my thing.
SPEAKER_00: There comes a time where Arab, Ahab, goes to his wife Jerem, uh Jezebel, and says, guess what happened?
SPEAKER_00: And she tells him all the whole gamut that just happened with the bulls and how God came sending fire down for their God but not our God.
SPEAKER_00: So now she is livid.
SPEAKER_00: So now she's like, We're gonna kill him.
SPEAKER_00: Look for him right now, because we're gonna kill him.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: And the Bible says that Elijah was afraid and ran for his life.
SPEAKER_00: That means that that's not the end of the verse.
SPEAKER_00: There's more to go, but this is where I want to focus on.
SPEAKER_00: Elijah was afraid and ran for his life.
SPEAKER_00: So he's super scared, y'all.
SPEAKER_00: He's scared that what's about to go down is not about to be good.
SPEAKER_00: And after all that he has been through, he's at that point again, like, really, God, you about to let this happen to me.
SPEAKER_00: Next slide, because I can't find where I am, but I know what I'm gonna talk about.
SPEAKER_00: And then he says, While he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness, he came to a broom bush.
SPEAKER_00: He sat down under it and prayed that he might die.
SPEAKER_00: Like he didn't even want to live anymore, y'all.
SPEAKER_00: Like this is pure depression had now settled into Elijah.
SPEAKER_00: He's over it.
SPEAKER_00: He doesn't want to go through everything that he's going through.
SPEAKER_00: He says, I have had enough, Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Take my life.
SPEAKER_00: I am no better than my ancestors.
SPEAKER_00: And then he laid down under the bush and fell asleep.
SPEAKER_00: That's equivalent to when we sad and we upset and we depressed, and we go to our room and we turn off the lights, and we just under the covers and we just cry and we just feel like we want to die.
SPEAKER_00: We just sit there, we just lay there.
SPEAKER_00: I am guilty of that.
SPEAKER_00: I would just lay there and soak in it.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: And after all.
SPEAKER_00: This had happened.
SPEAKER_00: He's like, Lord, what's good?
SPEAKER_00: Like, I'm done.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, I found where I was at.
SPEAKER_00: Sorry about that, family.
SPEAKER_00: So he runs and he's afraid for his life.
SPEAKER_00: He was tired.
SPEAKER_00: Just like you and I are tired sometimes.
SPEAKER_00: Elijah got tired.
SPEAKER_00: I done told you the whole story that he had gone through.
SPEAKER_00: I told you all the gamut that he had gone through.
SPEAKER_00: And it came a point that even though he saw God's hand throughout his life, he got tired.
SPEAKER_00: He got tired and he had enough of the hard times.
SPEAKER_00: He had enough of the trials.
SPEAKER_00: He had enough of the tribulations.
SPEAKER_00: He had enough of what God has said to him.
SPEAKER_00: That separation hurt.
SPEAKER_00: That isolation from his friends and his family and his ministry, that hurt.
SPEAKER_00: That uncertainty in life, that hurt.
SPEAKER_00: That loneliness in life, that hurt.
SPEAKER_00: That fill in the blank, whatever you're going through, that hurts.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: And so how many times we find ourselves in that season and we are put through the ringer and we're just tired.
SPEAKER_00: We're just tired.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: We're tired of the back and forth.
SPEAKER_00: We're tired of the praying.
SPEAKER_00: We're tired of the trusting God.
SPEAKER_00: We're tired of things popping up.
SPEAKER_00: We're tired of trying over and over again.
SPEAKER_00: This walk just tires us out.
SPEAKER_00: And when the job isn't right and our body starts breaking down because of the stress, our marriage is in shambles.
SPEAKER_00: Um, you're trying to be a disciple with God, but you're feeling frail in it.
SPEAKER_00: Your strength is just withering away, and you're just like, bro, I'm tired.
SPEAKER_00: I've felt that.
SPEAKER_00: But guess what?
SPEAKER_00: After he says that he has enough and he falls asleep, it says that at once, verse 6 shout out to Angel who's keeping up with me, man.
SPEAKER_00: Shout out to Angel.
SPEAKER_00: At once, an angel touched him and said, Get up and eat.
SPEAKER_00: He looked around, and there by his head, some bread baked over hot coils and a jar of water.
SPEAKER_00: He ate and drank and lay back down again.
SPEAKER_00: How many of us do that?
SPEAKER_00: Gotta be like, get up, get up.
SPEAKER_00: You got this.
SPEAKER_00: Go.
SPEAKER_00: You come to Sunday services, like, woo, that was on fire.
SPEAKER_00: I'm up.
SPEAKER_00: But then you go back home and you see the circumstance again and you lay back down.
SPEAKER_00: And you're like, oof, Lord, I can't do this.
SPEAKER_00: I'm so tired.
SPEAKER_00: That happens to us, family.
SPEAKER_00: And then the angel of the Lord comes back a second time and he touches him and says, Get up, for the journey is too much for you.
SPEAKER_00: Who do you think told that angel that that journey was too much for Elijah?
SPEAKER_00: He ain't know that on his own.
SPEAKER_00: God already knows that it's too much for you.
SPEAKER_00: God already knows that you're tired.
SPEAKER_00: God already knows that you're carrying too much.
SPEAKER_00: But he's telling you to get up.
SPEAKER_00: Get up and eat.
SPEAKER_00: Nourish yourself.
SPEAKER_00: What are we nourishing ourselves with?
SPEAKER_00: With the word of God, with the water that gives us living life.
SPEAKER_00: That's what he's telling us to get up and eat.
SPEAKER_00: Excuse me.
SPEAKER_00: So he got up and he drank.
SPEAKER_00: And it says that strength came, or excuse me, strengthened by that food, he traveled 40 days and 40 nights until he reached Rohab, the mountain.
SPEAKER_00: And there he went into the cave and spent the night.
SPEAKER_00: So now he goes in hiding again.
SPEAKER_00: Not only does he go through all this, now he got 40 days and 40 nights to travel through this mess.
SPEAKER_00: Like it ain't over.
SPEAKER_00: He's tired, he wants to give up, he's depressed, and you just chugging away.
SPEAKER_00: You just chugging away, you just chugging away.
SPEAKER_00: And you're like, What is it gonna be over?
SPEAKER_00: 40 more days and 40 more nights.
SPEAKER_00: Let's keep going.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: That's this is the life of Elijah, y'all.
SPEAKER_00: And he replied, The word of the Lord came to him, and he goes, What are you doing here, Elijah?
SPEAKER_00: This is God talking to Elijah.
SPEAKER_00: What are you doing here?
SPEAKER_00: He replied, I have been very zealous for the God for the Lord God Almighty.
SPEAKER_00: The Israelites have rejected your covenant, tore down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword.
SPEAKER_00: I am the only one left.
SPEAKER_00: And now they are trying to kill me too.
SPEAKER_00: I've been there.
SPEAKER_00: God, I'm the only one here.
SPEAKER_00: I'm the only one still serving.
SPEAKER_00: I'm the only one still holding on.
SPEAKER_00: I'm over it.
SPEAKER_00: I'm tired.
SPEAKER_00: I want to die.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: But look at what the Lord says.
SPEAKER_00: The Lord says, go out.
SPEAKER_00: Get up.
SPEAKER_00: Come on.
SPEAKER_00: Let's go.
SPEAKER_00: Because God knows.
SPEAKER_00: He goes, go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: For the Lord is about to pass by.
SPEAKER_00: So Elijah could have just chilled there inside of his depression, or he could continue to be obedient.
SPEAKER_00: Because that's what we're called to be, family.
SPEAKER_00: We're called to be obedient.
SPEAKER_00: We got to obey whether we like it or not.
SPEAKER_00: And then it says, Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: But the Lord was not in the wind.
SPEAKER_00: So Elijah's literally seeing things fall apart around him.
SPEAKER_00: When God tells you to continue to go, and you still see things falling apart.
SPEAKER_00: You still feel the boulders falling on your back, and you're like, God, but you're not even here.
SPEAKER_00: You're not in this.
SPEAKER_00: It says, but the Lord was not in the wind.
SPEAKER_00: After the winds, there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake.
SPEAKER_00: So you know when your life is falling apart and you feel like your world is literally falling off under your feet.
SPEAKER_00: But where's God?
SPEAKER_00: God was not in the earthquake.
SPEAKER_00: And after the earthquake came, after the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire.
SPEAKER_00: So you know when you're going through the fire and you're burning up and you don't even know that God is allowing this process in your life to purify you, to make you brand new, to transform you into something else, to the point that now he can shine you up through that fire and he can see his own reflection in you.
SPEAKER_00: But we are so caught up in the situation.
SPEAKER_00: I feel like I'm preaching to myself.
SPEAKER_00: We're so caught up in the situation that we're like, Lord, you're not even in this fire with me.
SPEAKER_00: But then the word says, And after the fire came a gentle whisper.
SPEAKER_00: When Elijah heard it, tell somebody, he heard it.
SPEAKER_00: He heard it.
SPEAKER_00: He pulled his cloak and over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave.
SPEAKER_00: All this transpired.
SPEAKER_00: God had not been done with Elijah.
SPEAKER_00: God had allowed for Elijah to go through all this process to the point that Elijah was completely tired.
SPEAKER_00: He was focused on everything that he was seeing, everything that's falling apart in front of him.
SPEAKER_00: And he's like, You're not in any of this.
SPEAKER_00: But because he trusted in God, he heard a whisper.
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes, family, we focus on the rocks, on the boulders that are falling in our life.
SPEAKER_00: We focus on the earthquakes that are that are that our worlds are being shaken, regardless of the situation.
SPEAKER_00: We're focused on the fire that we're going through.
SPEAKER_00: But if we focus too much in that, it will become so loud that we're not gonna be able to hear when God does speak in a soft whisper.
SPEAKER_00: Because that's just how God is.
SPEAKER_00: God is not always gonna speak in the earthquake, He's not always gonna come swooping down like a superhero when I got you.
SPEAKER_00: No, he's gonna allow us to go through those things, and it's for a reason.
SPEAKER_00: But then there's a whisper, and our ear has to be in tune with the Holy Spirit to hear that whisper and to understand, like, oh, okay, you are still with me.
SPEAKER_00: This is for a reason, this is per purpose.
SPEAKER_00: I could look back and I see all the times.
SPEAKER_00: I told you the whole story of Elijah, all the times and all the hard things that Elijah was put through, right?
SPEAKER_00: But he was with him, he was with him in the chaos, he was with him in all of that.
SPEAKER_00: But in that quiet moment where you see God, where you know that he's still there, where you know that although you feel like you're not enough, God shows up.
SPEAKER_00: God shows up.
SPEAKER_00: So, and again, after that, it's not in the is not in the thing, but it's in the word.
SPEAKER_00: God asks them again, what are you doing here?
SPEAKER_00: Have you ever felt God tell you, why are you slumped down like that?
SPEAKER_00: What are you doing here?
SPEAKER_00: Get up and eat.
SPEAKER_00: God is telling you today, get up and eat.
SPEAKER_00: Why are you there?
SPEAKER_00: What are you doing there?
SPEAKER_00: God had not forgotten about Elijah, just like he didn't forget about you, he didn't forget about me, although it feels like that.
SPEAKER_00: God already had a plan that Elijah didn't see, and if you continue to read, he tells him that he had separated 7,000 Israelis of whose knees had not bowed down to Baal, nor had their mouth kissed him, which means Elijah is thinking, I am all alone, I don't have nobody, God.
SPEAKER_00: And God is like, that's what you think.
SPEAKER_00: You don't see the plan that's ahead.
SPEAKER_00: You don't see that there are 7,000 people waiting for you to support you, to embrace you.
SPEAKER_00: And that's just how God is.
SPEAKER_00: So you may not know it, you may not feel it, but you got to get up and eat.
SPEAKER_00: He sees that the journey is too much.
SPEAKER_00: He sees that you continue, but the mission isn't over.
SPEAKER_00: The mission wasn't over for Elijah, and the mission isn't over for you.
SPEAKER_00: So even though that you're tired, I want to say this and I'm closing.
SPEAKER_00: In James 1, verse 12, it says, Blessed is the one who perseveres under the trial, because having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him.
SPEAKER_00: So, real quick, what does bless mean?
SPEAKER_00: Blessed means to be truly happy, blessed means to be flourishing, blessed means to be in a state of mind or well-being because of God's ways.
SPEAKER_00: The Greek word is makarios, meaning fortunate, spiritual, spiritually prosperous and deeply filled, even when going through difficult times.
SPEAKER_00: So it means to be deeply filled, even when going through the perseverance.
SPEAKER_00: And so that takes us to perseverance.
SPEAKER_00: Excuse me, uh, that pushes us to persevere.
SPEAKER_00: Perseverance means to move forward, to push through, to not give up, to keep going, to keep doing the right thing.
SPEAKER_00: And how do we create or build perseverance?
SPEAKER_00: Again, the word Romans is not up there, Daniel.
SPEAKER_00: Romans 5, 3, 4 says suffering produces perseverance.
SPEAKER_00: So we gotta go through it, and only when we go through it is how we'll learn to persevere.
SPEAKER_00: It is part of this walk, it is part of this walk.
SPEAKER_00: So, what is he saying?
SPEAKER_00: That we are blessed, deeply fulfilled, carried by God to push through, to not give up, to stay faithful to God.
SPEAKER_00: And having stood that test, we will.
SPEAKER_00: It doesn't say maybe, it doesn't say might, it says you will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love Him.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: And even times that it gets hard, God remember, family, that life is a vapor.
SPEAKER_00: Life is a vapor.
SPEAKER_00: I'm not making this up.
SPEAKER_00: Look it up, it's in the word.
SPEAKER_00: It says life is a vapor.
SPEAKER_00: It's a temporary space that we occupy.
SPEAKER_00: We're not gonna be here forever.
SPEAKER_00: So we can't get caught up on the in the what we see in the the now because it's gonna be over.
SPEAKER_00: Like Pastor Lou shared earlier, and Pastor Les says all the time we are spirits going through a human experience.
SPEAKER_00: We're not humans going through a spiritual experience.
SPEAKER_00: That's how it feels, because we're here, we live in our bodies, but we're really a spirit going through a human experience.
SPEAKER_00: So it's temporary.
SPEAKER_00: We're gonna go through it.
SPEAKER_00: We're gonna, we're gonna, we're gonna, one day it's all gonna be over.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: And now every time that I fall into those situations, I remind myself of Peter.
SPEAKER_00: When Peter says, Lord, to whom shall we go?
SPEAKER_00: You're the one that has the word of life.
SPEAKER_00: Where are we gonna go for real?
SPEAKER_00: Who's gonna make it better?
SPEAKER_00: Think about that.
SPEAKER_00: Who is possibly gonna make it better?
SPEAKER_00: So, yeah, it might be hard.
SPEAKER_00: Yes, I get it.
SPEAKER_00: I get that you're tired.
SPEAKER_00: I'm tired, right?
SPEAKER_00: But Galatians 6 9 says, let us not become weary, let us not become tired in doing good, for at the proper time, at the proper time, we will reap a harvest if we don't give up.
SPEAKER_00: And that's the crown that's waiting for us, family.
SPEAKER_00: If we don't give up, we're gonna have that crown on our head.
SPEAKER_00: If we don't give up, we're gonna see the Father.
SPEAKER_00: If we don't give up, he's going to say, Well done, my good and faithful servant.
SPEAKER_00: But we can't give up.
SPEAKER_00: It don't matter how tired we are.
SPEAKER_00: We can't give up.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: That's the word of the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: I know that was not.