[0:00] I have to do one song, and then I know if I say testimonies, you guys are going to take the rest of the time that I need. So, 1 Kings chapter 19. One more time. Well, actually, we might wind up there again next week.
[0:16] These first four verses, anyway. 1 Kings chapter 19, beginning at verse 1. And Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, and withal how he had slain all the prophets with a sword.
[0:33] Then Jezebel sent a messenger unto Elijah, saying, So let the gods do to me, and more also, if I make not thy life as the life of one of them by tomorrow about this time.
[0:47] And when he saw that, he rose, and went for his life, and came to Beersheba. Which belongeth to Judah, and left his servant there. But he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a juniper tree.
[1:04] And he requested for himself that he might die, and said, It is enough. Now, O Lord, take away my life, for I am not better than my fathers.
[1:15] Let's have a word of prayer. Father, I pray tonight that you would help us as we finish up this section, talking about Elijah, and this battle he had with depression, and discouragement.
[1:28] And Lord, we've all been there at different times. We know the kinds of things that he may be facing. Lord, we pray that you would help us to learn how to handle it, how to trust you.
[1:40] Lord, how to know that you have us in the palm of your hand. And Lord, I pray that you would just bless tonight as we continue talking about Elijah, and the falling of the mighty.
[1:52] But Lord, we know that it's going to be a time when he's going to come back to the forefront, and be used of you again. So Lord, just thank you for that knowledge. And we will continue to be used for your honor, and for your glory.
[2:06] We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. So we read that. We look at Elijah. We've looked at Elijah running, where he took off and went because he was scared of what Jezebel had said.
[2:18] And so he's running for his life. Then we looked at the fact that he was retiring. When he got that extra day's journey, remember she said, if you're not like this by tomorrow, well, he's taken off.
[2:30] He's gone into Judah. And then he went another day's journey into the wilderness without his servant. So hopefully nobody could find him. So he did that.
[2:42] He retired under a juniper tree. He's just sitting there, just kind of feeling sorry for himself. Just kind of, God, why me? We've all been there probably at times.
[2:55] God, why me? Tonight, we're going to watch how he rationalizes why he's in this position. We're going to get to the point where he's out of this and everything.
[3:05] That will be next week. But he's rationalizing all the things. And did you notice what he said there in verse 4? He said at the end of it, for I am not better than my fathers.
[3:19] Question. Who told him he was better in the first place? He did. Exactly. He's been thinking, I'm something special.
[3:29] I mean, first time ever in the scriptures, someone was raised from the dead. When he raised that young man at the widow's house. Fire comes down from heaven.
[3:42] Consumes an altar. Burns everything up. Then he winds up with the 450 prophets of Baal being slain. He's telling himself. He's believing his own press.
[3:54] You know, he's out there and he's like, wow, I'm something special. Yeah. So I'm going there. So. God had used him in a great way.
[4:09] But just like Ahab. Remember back then in verse 1? What did Ahab say? He said, Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done.
[4:21] Well, Elijah didn't do anything other than listen to God. God did all the work. God did all the things that needed to be done. But Ahab's going, Elijah did this and Elijah did that and Elijah.
[4:34] And Elijah's kind of like, yeah, he's right. I did do all that, didn't I? We need to be so very careful about that. See. He probably he probably had dreams of leading the whole nation back to God.
[4:49] And he kind of did. You know, after the thing there in Mount Carmel, what did the people say? The Lord, he is God. The Lord, he is God. They got it right. There wasn't anything necessarily special about Elijah.
[5:00] It was the Lord, he's God. But Elijah did all these different things at the Lord's bidding. And now he's got a problem. And what's his problem?
[5:14] It's one that happens to almost everybody. Pride. He has pride in the things that he's done. He's guilty of believing the things that are said about him when he knows good and well it was God that did them all.
[5:32] You know. He. And when he. Things turn around and Jezebel makes these claims about she's going to get him. He just kind of goes into a pit of despair.
[5:44] Wait a minute. Everybody else loves me. Everybody else. Why. Why. Are they going after me? You know. We all face this problem from time to time. You know.
[5:55] We go through times of thinking things are going right and things are going. And then all of a sudden we hit bottom. And. We convince ourselves. About how bad things are.
[6:07] When in truth. Things are seldom as bad as we think they are. Because God is with us. And God is working. We'll talk more about that. As we get toward the end of this tonight.
[6:18] When you consider. The ministry. That Elijah had. All the things that he was able to do. Now he comes down with two.
[6:30] Basically two different problems. He's got the problem of pride. But what causes that pride? What's. What's the. The factors that seem to be. Contributing to that. First of all.
[6:41] He's physically. Physically. Exhausted. He's physically. Exhausted. You think of all the things that he has been. Doing. Think of after.
[6:52] Mount Carmel. Fire comes down. The rain's going to come. Remember one of the things that talks about. He actually beat Ahab. To Jezreel.
[7:04] And Ahab was in a chariot. Elijah was running. He beats him there. And then he hears about all the stuff. That Jezebel wants to do to him. And he takes off.
[7:16] And goes. Leaves Israel. Goes down into Judah. Beersheba is 125 miles. From Jezreel. And then he goes another day's journey.
[7:26] From there. And the guys had all of these things. All these ups and downs. And everything going on. All this emotion. All this adrenaline. All these things happening. He's exhausted.
[7:39] Matter of fact. What did God allow him to do? Look at verse 5 with me. Verse 5 says. And as he lay and slept under the juniper tree. Behold.
[7:49] Then an angel touched him. And said unto him. Arise and eat. And he looked. And behold. There was a cake. Bacon on the coals. And a cruise of water at his head.
[8:00] And he did eat and drink. And laid him down again. And the angel of the Lord came again a second time. And touched him. And said. Arise and eat. Because the journey is too great for thee.
[8:12] God allowed him to sleep. To get some rest. Get some food. Don't have him do anything. Other than sleep and eat.
[8:24] Sounds good to me. I don't know about the rest of you. But. Remember I told you. Last week. One of the pastors I heard one time. Said the most spiritual thing you can do. Is take a nap. And here's what.
[8:35] Here's the case. Elijah's been going. And going. And going. And going. And going. And now it's like. Okay. Stop. Take a break. Get some rest. Get some food into you.
[8:47] How important is that? Well let me show you. Hold your finger there in 1 Kings. And go with me over to Mark. The book of Mark. Chapter 2. Mark chapter 2.
[9:03] And look at verse 27. Mark 2. 27. And he said unto them. The Sabbath was made for man.
[9:16] And not man. For the Sabbath. Those are Jesus words. The Sabbath was made for man. What is the Sabbath? Day of rest. Day of worship.
[9:27] And a day of rest. He says the Sabbath was made for man. Man needs to take a break. Man needs to get some rest. Look over at chapter 6.
[9:38] chapter 6 verse 31. There of Mark. Mark chapter 6. And verse 31.
[9:49] And he said unto them. Come ye yourselves apart into a desert place. And rest a while. For there were coming.
[10:00] Many coming and going. And they had no leisure. So much as to eat. He says we need to get away from here. We need to take a break. You need to be able to get some rest. You need to be able to eat.
[10:12] It was so busy. They couldn't even rest with the people coming and going. They couldn't even get their lunch in. You ever been there? So busy you can't get your lunch in?
[10:24] Yeah. Lots of people have, haven't they? A lot of us have done that. So if there come time and you get a chance to take a vacation. Take it. Go.
[10:34] Jared's back there going, yeah, yeah, yeah. If you can do that. Take a vacation. Take the time to get some rest. You know, God did not plan for us to be on the go all the time.
[10:46] See, and especially today. Today. Today. We're going, going, going. And if we're not going, going, going. We get a cell phone in one hand and a daily planner in the other hand.
[11:01] Making plans to do other things. Does somebody have something? I was looking at, because the journey is too great for me. Can you imagine our lives if we have Jesus in it?
[11:15] Yeah. Yeah. It would be tough. It would be hard. So. So he's physically exhausted. Second thing.
[11:26] He's emotionally spent. Emotionally spent. You know. Ministry can drain people.
[11:37] Especially if you're doing it over and over and over. Constantly working on things. And constantly dealing with people. And dealing with situations. Dealing all these. It can. And he's been doing that.
[11:48] Since we started this study. Think of all the things that Elijah has been involved with. There was a Greek saying. And he goes. You will break the bow.
[12:00] If you keep it always bent. You will break the bow. If you keep it always bent. Get that pressure on that bow constantly. It's going to eventually break.
[12:13] It's not meant to have that pressure on it all the time. As once in a while. You're supposed to just kind of take it. Even unstring it. Take the pressure off of it. Same with a violin bow.
[12:24] Same with a violin bow. Yeah. You ever watch violinists. You know. They have their bow. They're playing. When they get done. They'll turn. That thing on the end of it. Is to release those. The tension off that.
[12:39] Cat gut. Whatever. It's made out of. Horse hair. Cat gut. Whatever. So. You know. You have to take the pressure off. You know.
[12:52] We have a tendency. To run on adrenaline. You ever watch those extreme sports things on TV. I know. It's people who.
[13:02] You know. People who jump out of a perfectly good airplane. You know. People. Who. Go up on mountains. Start an avalanche.
[13:13] And then try to out ski it. You know. I just. There's some things people do. And you just go. What is wrong with them? But they just love the adrenaline rush.
[13:23] That they get out of these things. The challenge of it. And sometimes. We do that. And we need to take breaks sometimes. And just know that. You know what. I need to get rid of the stress.
[13:34] I need to get rid of the pressure. I need to let my body readjust. If you keep yourself in that constant state of adrenaline. You're going to hurt your body. It's going to cause you problems. So.
[13:45] Elijah. Is not alone in these feelings. Elijah hasn't faced all this. Just by himself. Others have too. I won't take time to go there.
[13:57] Because we're already running out of time. But. Moses. Write down numbers 11. 10 to 17. Moses remember.
[14:10] Was having to face all the different things. About the people of Israel. And they were constantly coming to him. With all kinds of things. And in this particular case.
[14:21] They were complaining about the food. And the water. And all the other things. And. God told Moses. Find 70 people. 70 men. That can help you.
[14:33] 70 men who can take. Some of the pressure off of you. Whereas they can have. People coming to them. And taking. Telling them the problems. And things. And they can solve it. And if it's really.
[14:44] Something bad. And they can't handle. Then they can come to you. But let them handle it. Now. Jonah. You remember Jonah. All the things that he went through. And finally.
[14:55] You know. He did all the things. He was supposed to do. And. God. Spared. Nineveh. And Jonah. Wasn't happy about it. The fact that God spared them. Because.
[15:06] You know. Apparently. They had something to do with his family. And dying. People in his family. The Assyrians. Assyrians did. And. He's upset. About a gourd. Dying.
[15:19] Why. You know. It was giving me shade. It was helping me. From the sun. It was doing. And he's upset. Jonah. Chapter 4. Verses 8 and 9. Talks about. His.
[15:31] Being coming depressed. Discouraged. Over this. This gourd dying. You know. Sometimes. We have things in our life.
[15:41] That would come into our life. And we're kind of like. God. Why. Why this. Why that. Why the other thing. We have to make sure. That we understand.
[15:52] That God. Is there. All. The time. See. We're leaving him. In a bad place. Today. As I did last week. Let me read you. Verse 8.
[16:04] And he arose. And did eat. And drink. This is back in 1 Kings. Chapter 19. Verse 8. And he arose. And did eat. And drink. And went. In the strength. Of that meat.
[16:15] Forty days. And forty nights. Under horror. Of the mount of God. When he took time. To get some rest. When he took time. To get the nourishment. That he needed.
[16:26] It says. God. Had him ready. So he could go. For the next 40 days. Think about that. When we're. Rested. When we're well nourished.
[16:36] When we're ready. We can do great things. For God. We can go into God's strength. God will help us. The one thing. Things to notice about. This situation. With. Elijah.
[16:47] Elijah. Elijah. Elijah. Has not been forsaken. By God. You see that. Because of the meat. And the sleep. And everything. And the angel. Is doing this.
[16:58] God is making sure. He's taken care of. He's in a bad spot. He is exhausted. But he is. Being taken care of. By God. Second thing. God still has a plan.
[17:09] For him. Has a plan. For his healing. Has a plan. For future ministry. He's got more. To do. But he had to have some rest. Before he could do it. And the third thing.
[17:23] God wanted to bring Elijah. Out of this valley of depression. He needs to have rest. He needs to have food. So that he can get his mind. Back to working. The way that it should.
[17:35] And so God. Has taken care of. All of those needs for him. Making sure that he can do. What God wants him to do. See. We tend to forget. About the rest.
[17:46] What does God say. In Matthew 11. 28. Come unto me. All ye that labor. And are heavy laden. And I will give you. Rest. I will give you.
[17:58] Rest. Take the time. To rest. When is offered to you. Hebrews 13. 5. I will never leave thee. Nor forsake thee. God is always going to be there.
[18:10] 1 Peter 5. 7. Casting all your care. Upon him. For he cares for you. God. Knows what you're going through. God knows what you're facing.
[18:21] He is ready to be there to help. Yes. Another one. I can't think of the reference. So. Rest in the Lord. Wait patiently. I think it's probably in Psalm 37.
[18:33] I think. Psalm 37. Rest in the Lord. You know. There are people who think. You know. You shouldn't be depressed. You should not be discouraged. You should not. You know. You're a Christian. Why would you do this?
[18:44] You know. Snap out of it. Come on. What's the matter with you? No. There are times in our life. I mean. Here's. Here's Elijah. He's one of the great prophets of God.
[18:58] He's one of the ones. When we're on top of. The Mount Transfiguration. Who's up there? Moses and Elijah. Doesn't it seem.
[19:10] A fellow of heaven. That if there is a great victory. If God does a great thing. Through someone. That they. Commit. Mm-hmm. Because the devil comes in.
[19:22] Or wants to attack. Because of the great things that happen. He wants to attack. And try to take some of the. That's the word I want. Yeah.
[19:35] Something like that. Something out of it. You know. Huh? You have a wind out of your sails. There you go. That works. He wants to take the wind out of the sails. Yeah. And God's saying. You know what?
[19:46] Just relax. Get some rest. It's okay to do that. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know.
[19:56] Even though I love you messages. You do anything. You really need yourself. What do you think? We went over to Thompson Island. We thought. We need to get a little break. So we went to Thompson Island.
[20:08] Parked. Rolled down the windows. Put our seats back. We got to sleep. After an hour break. Yep. Yep. Yep. Yep. Yep. Yep. Sometime.
[20:19] I will. We do shortly. But. Right now. Right now is not the time. We've all talked about it. Yeah. Yeah. Right now is not the time though.
[20:30] I know. So. It will come. So anyway. Get some rest. Let God work. And we do God's work. We're out there.
[20:41] We're trying to do what God wants us to do. Great. Keep doing it. But when there comes along an opportunity to get some rest. Take it. Don't. Don't. Okay.
[20:52] When there's an opportunity. Now is not the time. So. All right. How do I do that? All right. Yes Margaret. Thank you.