When Your Expectations Turn to Ashes

[0:00] Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass We'll be right back.

[1:00] We'll be right back.

[1:30] We'll be right back.

[2:00] We looked at Joseph and how God had given him this dream, and it appeared as though that dream was never going to come to pass, and yet God was faithful. Last week, we looked at Jonah, and one of the things I love about Faith Family is you preach a heavy, hard sermon, and people come and thank you for it.

[2:20] Like that means a lot to me. The Jonah message was tough. It was, we dealt with when your view of God turns to ashes. And when you begin to realize that maybe God is more than you thought he is, that can be a very difficult and unsettling thing.

[2:35] Well, tonight we're going to look at the story of Elijah, one of my favorite stories in the Old Testament. And we're going to look at when your expectations turn to ashes. And a very, very familiar, well, part of it is very familiar.

[2:49] It's something that you can't go to Sunday school as a kid for three weeks in a row without hearing this story or the first half of it. But most of your Sunday schools didn't tell you about the second half.

[3:01] And so we're going to look at that tonight here at 1 Kings 19. Y'all ready to go? Let's do it. If you're able to stand, please do so as we honor the reading of God's word.

[3:12] 1 Kings chapter 19, verse 1. Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword.

[3:24] And then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah saying, So may the gods do to me and more also, if I do not make your life as the life of one of them by this time tomorrow.

[3:36] And then he was afraid. And he rose and he ran for his life. And he came to Beersheba, which belongs to Judah, and left his servant there.

[3:49] But he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness and came and sat down under a broom tree. And he asked that he might die. Saying, It's enough now, O Lord.

[4:03] Take away my life, for I am no better than my fathers. And he lay down and he slept under a broom tree. And behold, an angel touched him and said to him, Arise and eat.

[4:17] And he looked and behold, there was at his head a cake baked on hot stones and a jar of water. And he ate and drank and lay down again.

[4:28] And the angel of the Lord came again a second time and touched him and said, Arise and eat, for the journey is too great for you. And he arose and ate and drank and went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights to Horeb, the mount of God.

[4:47] This is God's word. Pray with me and pray for me as we ask God to talk to us tonight from his word. So, Lord, here we are. Please talk to us.

[4:59] These messages have been so relevant because we relate to so many of the stories of these men and women in the Bible. And no doubt, tonight, there will be a lot for us to learn from and I hope be encouraged by.

[5:15] Just help us now to listen as the Spirit of God speaks to us. I'm convinced that you've brought everybody here because there's something you want to say to them.

[5:26] And so, Lord, just use my mouth. Use the preparation that I have done in this message to speak to your people in a powerful way.

[5:37] All to the glory of Jesus and Jesus alone. And God's people said. Amen. Amen. You can be seated. Don Cash was 55 years old from Sandy, Utah.

[5:51] He loved adventure. He was kind of one of those guys, some of you know them, that loves to live life to the fullest. Don was setting out to do what he called the Seven Summit Dream.

[6:05] That is, he wanted to climb all the highest peaks on every continent. As of 2019, he still had two left to go.

[6:17] And so, he decided that he was going to take what was called a Seven Summits Sabbatical. Say that seven times fast, right? He was going to take five months off work to finish the last two summits.

[6:33] In spring of 2019, Don set his focus on climbing Mount Everest. On the day he started the climb, it was very crowded on the mountain, but that didn't stop him from a 12-hour push to get to the top of the summit.

[6:49] Once he reached the top, he was overwhelmed with the experience, overwhelmed with the view. He was just taken back. In fact, he sent a message from the top of the summit to his son Tanner that read this, quote, I feel so blessed to be on the mountain that I've read about for the last 40 years.

[7:12] I am excited to look to the next chapter of my life once I return. Close quote. But he would never return.

[7:27] Unfortunately, that was the last message that Don would ever send. As Don was ascending back down the mountain, he collapsed.

[7:37] Those that were with him thought that he went into cardiac arrest. They tried giving him oxygen and CPR. They took him down to a lower part of the mountain, but their efforts to revive him were unsuccessful.

[7:50] He would die on that mountain. Don. And I want you to think about that for just a moment. What I mean is this. Don literally went from the highest of highs.

[8:06] He had reached the summit. He had fulfilled his dreams. He had experienced something that was absolutely amazing. And then literally just a few moments later, he would experience the lowest of lows.

[8:24] Lifeless. On the side of a mountain. Now listen, I have great respect for Don and his adventurous spirit, but as I read about his story, I thought, you know what?

[8:35] That is very true in life as well. Here's what I mean. Sometimes life takes you from the highest of highs to the lowest of lows.

[8:49] Amen? And sometimes it can happen in just a few moments. Like one minute, you're on top of the mountain and everything is fantastic. Everything is amazing. And the very next moment, you are just struggling to hang on.

[9:02] And you've experienced this in numerous ways. You started your own business and it was booming and life was good and things were going fine. Then the economy turns and before you knew it, you're barely staying afloat.

[9:16] You met the woman of your dreams and you thought everything was going fine and then she said, we need to talk. You felt as healthy as you ever had felt before.

[9:28] Things were going great until you got that medical report. You just spent the other evening out laughing together and having a great time and then literally just a few days later, he was gone.

[9:45] There's something about life that takes us at times from the highest of highs to the lowest of lows. What I'm going to call in this message is that life has a tendency to take us from the Alps to the ashes.

[9:59] And sometimes that can be in just a matter of a few moments. Martin Lloyd-Jones, the great preacher, said this, sometimes the greatest blessings are followed by the heaviest burdens.

[10:14] Think about that. Sometimes the greatest blessings are often followed by the heaviest burdens. And that is exactly what happens in the prophet Elijah's life.

[10:28] It's exactly, he goes from the highest of highs to the lowest of lows. As we come to 1 Kings 18-19, the man who's on the throne is King Ahab.

[10:39] Ahab is the king of Israel. He's the seventh king of the northern kingdom. You remember that when Solomon died, the kingdom split. And you've got the northern kingdom Israel, and you've got the southern kingdom Judah.

[10:53] Well, Ahab is the seventh king in the northern kingdom of Israel. And I tried to find some pictures, like authentic pictures of Ahab online, and all I could find were pictures like this, and this, and then there was this.

[11:10] You got a little bit of that one? And then this. It's like those were literally like all the pictures of Ahab, like he's a really happy fellow, right? And you would be too if you were married to his wife, a woman by the name of Jezebel.

[11:26] I think that is an authentic picture of Jezebel. How many of you have ever heard the name Jezebel? Show of hands. How many of you are named Jezebel? That's what I thought, okay, like two of you, okay.

[11:37] How many of you have ever been called a Jezebel? Not a good thing. I mean, isn't it something to be said that here, all these many years later, from 1 Kings 19, Jezebel is still a name.

[11:50] Nobody wants to be named and nobody wants to be called. That's because Jezebel was an evil woman. She was the daughter of an Assyrian king.

[12:01] And Ahab, the seventh king of northern kingdom Israel, marries her, not because he loves her, but he marries her because it's a political move.

[12:12] Assyria is growing and they're mighty and Ahab knows, I gotta keep Assyria on my good side. And so he marries Jezebel and while that may have been a good political move, it was a spiritual disaster because with this Assyrian woman came her Assyrian gods, Baal or Baal and Asherah.

[12:38] These were the god and goddess of fertility, success. If you want your crops to grow, if you want to be productive and abundant, well, all of this comes from Baal, from Asherah.

[12:53] And so she brings these Canaanite gods into Israel. It becomes the official religion of Israel. Think about this. This is the people of God.

[13:05] This is the covenant people of God. The people that are to worship Yahweh and have no other gods before me. And now the official religion of Israel is Baal worship.

[13:17] So God brings judgment upon his own people in the worst possible form in this time and that is a famine. There's nothing worse than a famine when you're in agrarian culture.

[13:31] I mean, all of your life depends on what you're able to produce and get out of the ground. And so God has brought this judgment of famine upon his people because they have turned their hearts to the god of Baal.

[13:44] And there's a pastor living in the northern kingdom. His name is Elijah. He is the prophet of God, called of God, to the people of God. And he continues repeatedly to call the people of God and King Ahab back to Yahweh worship.

[14:00] But it does no good. It's like beating your head against the wall. They won't listen. They continue to worship Baal. And so Elijah calls for a contest.

[14:13] It is time for a showdown. Mono e mono. God versus false God. Let's find out who the real God is. You know this story.

[14:23] It's one of the famous Old Testament stories. Again, anybody that ever went to Sunday school for three weeks have heard this story. Watch what happens. 1 Kings 18, verse 18.

[14:35] Elijah calls for this contest and says, He answered, I've not troubled Israel, but you have, and your father's house, because you have abandoned the commandments of the Lord and followed the Baals.

[14:47] Now therefore send and gather all Israel to me at Mount Carmel. And 450 prophets of Baal and 400 prophets of Asherah who eat at Jezebel's table.

[14:59] And Ahab sent to all the people of Israel and gathered the prophets together at Mount Carmel. And Elijah came near to all the people and said, How long will you limp between two different opinions?

[15:11] If the Lord is God, follow him. If Baal, follow him. And all the people did not answer him a word.

[15:24] So Elijah calls for this contest. Enough is enough! With all this Baal worship, it's time to have a contest. Let's see who the real God is.

[15:34] I mean, do you want to worship a false God? Do you want to devote your worship to that which isn't there? So let's settle this. Even though the odds are 850 to 1.

[15:48] How do you like those odds? But here's something you need to know. And if you've zoned out, zoned back in. Alright? I want you to notice this on the screen. Here it is. It doesn't matter how many people you have on your side.

[16:02] It only matters that God is on your side. That's a lesson taught throughout Scripture. It doesn't matter that you have 850 prophets against one if the one has Yahweh.

[16:17] And that's what Elijah is about to show through his life. Prepare the sacrifice. A slaughtered bull. Bring it. We're going to put it on the altar. And what we're going to do is you're going to call down fire from heaven.

[16:31] And whichever God is the true God will bring fire from heaven and consume the sacrifice. Elijah, being the gentleman that he is, says, you go first.

[16:41] the stage is yours. And the 850 prophets of Baal and Asherah begin to cry out and call all morning long. You remember the story for Baal and Asherah to respond and to bring fire down from heaven and its crickets.

[17:00] They wait and nothing happens. And they keep crying out louder and louder and nothing happens. And the day keeps getting longer and longer and they're just waiting and waiting.

[17:12] And while they're waiting, Elijah does his best Conor McGregor impersonation and starts trash talking. I love this. Look at verse 27. At noon, Elijah, God, thank you for putting this in the Bible.

[17:27] Elijah mocked them saying, cry aloud, for he is a god. Right? I mean, Baal's a god, right? Either he's musing, that is meditating, or relieving himself.

[17:42] That's awesome! Maybe your god is in the bathroom. Or he's on a journey. Or perhaps he's asleep and must be awakened.

[17:53] Be honest. Don't you love that that is in the Bible? Right? I've told you there is the spiritual gift of sarcasm and that is a proof verse right there.

[18:03] I mean, what's up with your god? Why isn't he coming through for you? And of course, that just taunts them all the more. They start cutting themselves. They get louder and louder.

[18:14] And still, nothing happens. Well, just like in the devil went down to Georgia, now Elijah picks up his fiddle and it's time for him to play.

[18:27] And he takes the sacrifice, puts it on the altar, but this time he's like, no, no, no, no, no. We're going to make sure there is no doubt whatsoever. You know how we've been in a famine? You know how we don't have a lot of water?

[18:39] I want you to take four jars of water three different times and pour it on this sacrifice. And then he calls out to Yahweh for fire to come down.

[18:55] Verse, chapter 18, verse 38. The fire of the Lord fell and consumed the burnt offering and the wood and the stones and the dust and licked up the water that was in the trench.

[19:08] And when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces and said, Yahweh, He is God. Yahweh, He is God. I mean, Elijah just starts going crazy.

[19:21] It's like, this is the most incredible thing. He's doing the bull dance, filling the flow. like, this is such a wonderful time because Team Yahweh has won. And God has shown Himself to be the one true and living God among His people.

[19:39] Revival has come to the northern kingdom of Israel. I mean, you talk about a mountaintop experience. I mean, literally and spiritually.

[19:52] They're literally on a mountain, Mount Carmel, and this is literally a mountaintop experience. It's like, can you imagine if you, if you were given the opportunity to go back to biblical stories, would this not be one you'd go back to and just say, I just want to watch.

[20:07] First, I want to see the smack talk. Okay? Then I just want to watch God do what God does and demonstrate His glory. Mountaintop.

[20:20] Spiritual high. And now the part they didn't teach you in Sunday school. In fact, this is the part of the story that I'm going to be honest with you, I relate to more than I do 1 Kings 18.

[20:34] Because I don't know about you, but I don't spend most of my life on the mountaintop. Anybody with me? Okay. Six of us know what that's like.

[20:44] The rest of you are always in a good mood. Alright? So, I'm thankful for those mountaintop experiences, but that is not where life is lived all the time. Here's what happens next.

[20:57] Verse 46 of chapter 18. It's the last verse of chapter 18. The power of the Lord came to Elijah and he tucked his cloak into his belt and he ran ahead to Ahab all the way to Jezreel, that is the capital.

[21:10] And so, Elijah takes off like Forrest Gump right after this happened. And he is gone. Run, Forrest, run. He cannot wait. In fact, the text says he bypasses Ahab to get back to the capital city.

[21:22] He is so excited. Why? Because he's thinking Yahweh worship is going to return to the people of God. Ahab is finally going to come to his senses. Woohoo! Jezebel is going to be thrown out that wicked woman.

[21:35] You can just feel the excitement that Elijah has because of what God is now going to do among his people. And instead, he experiences this.

[21:48] Verse 1 of chapter 19. Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, how he had killed all the prophets with the sword.

[22:01] Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah saying, May the gods do to me and more also if I do not make your life like that of one of them by this time tomorrow.

[22:20] three things I would note here that Elijah realizes in this moment. And it's going to send him as we're about to see into the ashes.

[22:34] He is about to go into a very dark place. Why? Number one, listen, he realizes they're going to keep worshiping Baal. Two, he realizes that Ahab is still a coward and is still listening and being influenced to Jezebel.

[22:55] And three, Elijah is now a marked man. He is now to be afraid for his life.

[23:07] And it's as though, listen, it's as though Mount Carmel didn't happen. King Ahab, were you not there?

[23:18] did you not see what just took place? Listen, come here, come here. And Elijah goes from the Alps to the ashes.

[23:34] From a real mountaintop experience with God to one of the lowest places he could possibly be. Look at verse three of chapter 19.

[23:44] Then he was afraid and he arose and ran for his life and came to Beersheba which belongs to Judah.

[23:55] That's southern kingdom. And left his servant there. But he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness and came and sat down under a broom tree and asked that he might die.

[24:10] Does that remind you of anybody from last week? Saying, it's enough! Yahweh, take my life for I am no better than my fathers.

[24:22] There is so much packed into those two verses in terms of what Elijah is going through compared to what he just experienced in chapter 18. First, he's afraid and running for his life.

[24:37] This man is terrified. He's looking over both shoulders all the time and he can't get out of there fast enough. Number two, he goes to Beersheba which as I mentioned is Judah.

[24:50] That is, he leaves his own country. Get this. Lord help me. Elijah is a prophet of God called to the people of God called specifically to the northern kingdom.

[25:02] That is, he is leaving the call of God. God did not call him to the southern kingdom. God called him to the northern kingdom but he is leaving the northern kingdom.

[25:13] Thirdly, he's quitting the ministry. You say, where do you get that from? It says, and he left his servant there. Prophets were given a servant that would go with them on their journey as they would go from place to place and speak on behalf of God.

[25:31] So when he leaves his servant he is essentially saying, I'm done with this. I'm leaving the very people that God has called me to and I'm leaving the very person that God has given me by my side.

[25:43] I'm done! I don't want to do this anymore. When it comes to the ministry, God, I'm out, but it's not even fully dark yet because the fourth is he enters into the wilderness.

[26:01] Now we think wilderness, we think of like thick forest and stuff like that. the wilderness would have been a barren place in the ancient Near East. He is going into a place of despair and darkness and lastly he wants to die.

[26:19] Now he will not take his own life but he will ask the Lord to do it for him. Is anybody having whiplash tonight? From where Elijah just was a few verses ago to where he is now?

[26:34] He's gone from the Alps to the ashes. He is in total despair. Now there's a part of me that wants to ask come on Elijah wake up buddy come on why are you responding this way?

[26:48] I mean don't you realize what you just experienced in chapter 18? I mean wouldn't you just say hey get up run back into Jezreel and you tell that evil woman Jezebel just what she needs to be told.

[27:01] Right? If God is for you who can be against you? And we want to just kind of say why would a man of God be in such a dark place? Don't you have faith?

[27:14] faith? And I'm just going to tell you that if that's you here at Faith Family you will never be judged for your fighting the darkness because I have walked with the Lord long enough to know that this does not mean he is lacking faith.

[27:37] The reality is in our spiritual lives we often will go from the Alps to the ashes. Just let this man hurt.

[27:54] What are some things that brought him to the ashes? What are some of the things that led him to despair? Well there's a few and I don't think any of them will be relevant to you and so I apologize in advance that this will have no application in your life but just go to sleep for 10 minutes and then you can come back around.

[28:14] Here's the first thing that will have no application whatsoever to your life and it's this difficult people. Nobody here deals with any of them right?

[28:26] One of the things that brought Elijah to the ashes was the fact that he was called to do ministry under the leadership of Ahab and Jezebel. He was called to do ministry in one of the most difficult times in the northern kingdom.

[28:43] I mean let's be honest wouldn't life be better if there were a fewer num-nums in the world? Amen? That may be the most applicable point I make tonight right?

[28:54] I thought about this how is it that there are 7.9 billion people in the world and it only takes one to ruin my day? I don't like the odds there. I mean if it only takes one you would think if there's 7.9 billion that it should at least take like maybe 30 to make me have a bad day but no sometimes it only takes one person to take you from the Alps to the ashes.

[29:21] Amen? You been there? Some of you that's the ex-spouse the grumpy neighbor the annoying co-worker the email that got sent the threat that got made the criticism that never seems to stop the hurt that they caused in fact this is why little insight to the ministry this is the number one reason pastors leave the ministry is they just get tired of the criticism difficult people can take us from the Alps to the ashes in about .02 seconds it did for Elijah second is physical I would add even emotional and spiritual exhaustion Elijah here has engaged in a serious battle of spiritual warfare are you kidding me?

[30:12] like what a battle of spiritual warfare then he runs over a hundred miles like Forrest Gump he hasn't eaten or slept in days in other words when Elijah gets to 1 Kings 19 he is as some of you are empty he is totally empty he is spiritually empty he is physically empty Martin Lloyd Jones again writes the following this is such a good quote please listen in quote you cannot isolate the spiritual from the physical for we are body mind and spirit the greatest and best Christians when they are physically weak are more prone to an attack of spiritual depression than at any other time close quote that is exactly right some of you in this moment are in the ashes I hope you're listening because you're not taking proper care of yourself you work too much you sleep too little you don't eat right you're stressed out all the time and that is why you can have a mountain of a day on

[31:29] Wednesday and be in the ashes on Thursday because you're on empty I'm going to say more on that in just a moment we'll come to it shortly thirdly is loneliness loneliness what is it that led Elijah into the ashes he is alone look at what he says on two different occasions the first one here is 1 Kings 18 22 1 Kings 18 22 then Elijah said to them I even I only am left a prophet of the Lord but Baal's prophets are 450 men he says a similar thing in 1 Kings 19 verse 10 look at it he said I have been very zealous for the Lord the Lord God of host that is of almighty for the people of Israel have rejected your covenant thrown down your altars and killed your prophets with the sword I even

[32:30] I only am left and they seek my life to take it away have you ever felt like Elijah feels that you're the only one like you're outnumbered like the odds are stacked against you that nobody else in your family is a Christian that nobody at work supports your faith that sometimes sometimes sometimes you come home from a mountain of a day to be overwhelmed and bombarded by the loneliness of home loneliness has a way of sending you in .02 seconds into the ashes because you feel like no one else really understands see I told you this wasn't going to be relevant to you at all maybe you're gleaning something he says with heavy sarcasm difficult people physical and spiritual exhaustion loneliness number four personal failure personal failure look at what he says in verse four he says at the very end when he asked the

[33:46] Lord to take his life then he says for I am no better than my fathers do you hear what he's saying Elijah here feels like he's failed as a prophet I mean and it was the prophet's job to direct the people of God in the ways of God and so Elijah really feels here like he has failed God God I have not been an effective prophet I have not done what you've called me to effectively I mean look at all that I tried to do and it wasn't enough and some of you would say oh but Elijah don't don't don't be so unfair right you you can't be responsible for what Ahab does you can't be responsible for him being influenced by Jezebel right yeah except how many of you parents whose children have gone wayward have still felt like a failure you didn't make the decision for them they made the decision on their own you did the best that you could to raise them but they still went off track and you couldn't help but feel like you failed that's how

[35:05] Elijah feels God I did everything I knew to do and they're still worshiping Baal I'm no better than my fathers last lastly and maybe the most or the biggest one of all is unmet expectations unmet expectations I think Elijah was certain I think he was convinced after what happened on Mount Carmel that the nation is going to repent and he believed the time was now and when he got back and he encountered Ahab and Jezebel and realized that no they were going to continue to worship Baal he was totally devastated he was disappointed in Ahab disappointed in the people of Israel disappointed probably even in God because what he expected to happen and what actually happened were different has that ever happened to you you were certain the counseling would fix the marriage

[36:08] I just knew that sermon would change their life you knew them they trust Jesus you were certain the church would grow you just knew that particular political candidate would win you knew that God was going to heal your spouse and it didn't happen and because your expectations were not met you went from the Alps to the ashes in about .02 seconds anybody here tonight just like yep this is the part of the story that I relate to the most not the mountaintop yeah maybe we've had a few mountaintops here and there and just those amazing moments and I'm all for the mountaintop but I don't know about you but I find myself far more in the ashes dealing with difficult people and trying to manage expectations and trying to balance work and rest and not feeling lonely in the ministry and all of these things are where we live every day amen but the encouragement that I want to give you in this message tonight and quite honestly it's the encouragement that's throughout this series is this everybody if you've zoned out right back here look right here okay even though the view is not very pleasant look right here alright

[37:34] God meets you in the ashes God meets you in the ashes he meets Elijah in the ashes look at what happens here in verse 11 chapter 19 verse 11 and he said go out and stand on the mount before the Lord and behold the Lord passed by and a great and strong wind tore the mountain and broke into pieces the rocks before the Lord and the Lord was not in the wind and after the wind an earthquake but the Lord was not in the earthquake and after the earthquake a fire but the Lord was not in the fire and after the fire the sound of a low whisper if you've got the King James version it's a still small voice and when Elijah heard it he wrapped his face in his cloak and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave and behold there came a voice to him and said what are you doing here

[38:35] Elijah Elijah here in the ashes is going to have a divine encounter with God God is going to send an angel a messenger that's going to meet Elijah here in the ashes guess where he is going to start so here is what God does just a few more moments and I'm almost done but guess where he starts I love this like this will preach because this goes against I think our default position in church a lot and it's this God doesn't start are you listening I'm going to wait till you listen all right God doesn't start with telling Elijah get in a Bible and all God's people said amen glory to God for cake you say what's the point here's the point God feeds him God feeds him here's my point and it's a very big point and

[39:39] I'm speaking into us faith family and for me as well oftentimes when people are depressed or in despair or they're fighting the ashes we assume it's a spiritual problem and we start writing through our checklist well have you prayed in faith confessed all sin invited the Holy Spirit claimed the promises pled the blood rebuked the devil counted your blessings and named them one by one Elijah is a physical man with a physical nature that lives in a physical world some of you don't take me out of context here some of you may not like this but let me say it sometimes the way God meets you in the ashes is not through prayer and Bible study but a good meal a walk by the water a little extra sleep and some great country music I added the country music part it's fine I added that here's my point and it's going to sound weird but it's where God starts with Elijah sometimes what you don't need to do is pray you need to go to sleep because you're exhausted and you're empty and that physical reality is impacting your spiritual reality and

[40:57] God meets you by feeding you here's a good meal and a nap and that's where we're going to start and of course I am pro prayer amen but we're not going to be the kind of people that assumes every problem is a spiritual problem it may be a spiritual problem that's affected by something else so God I love this God is the God who bakes cakes it's like in Jonah God appoints a great fish and then he appoints a worm to kill a plant that provided him shade and here he's baking Elijah a cake I mean how great is our God amen I'm going to send an angel and you're going to make him a cake give him some water while you're at it he feeds him number two God touches him God touches him again this is all through the messenger the angel and that is

[41:58] Elijah is not only a physical person he's also a relational person and a lot of his problem as we've already seen is many cases he is the only one but what God is doing here through this messenger is saying this Elijah you may feel alone but you are not alone you feel alone but you're not alone because the same God that was with you on the mountain is right here with you in the ashes and he touches him physically touches him to connect with him and remind him that no matter how lonely life gets you don't ever walk alone God never forsakes his people even when clearly his people have forsaken him and so God meets him in the ashes and he bakes him a cake feeds him it wasn't that kind of cake anyways touches him relationally connects with him thirdly

[43:06] God speaks to him we just read those verses God takes Elijah to Mount Orib and if you're not familiar with that name or that title it's another name or title of Mount Sinai that ought to ring a bell in fact God takes Elijah to a cleft in this mountain and that should be becoming more and more familiar if you know the book of Exodus!

[43:38] He can't see his face and live here for Elijah he comes in that still small voice that whisper and he speaks to him God ministers to us in the ashes he feeds him he touches him he speaks to him and here's the last thing he calls him he calls him remember I've already pointed out the things in the text where Elijah has quit the ministry do you remember the two main ones number one he left what the northern he left his servant right that's right he leaves his servant behind the northern kingdom he is now in Judah and so God comes to him at a time when

[44:40] Elijah is convinced it's over have you ever been there I've been there my ministry is done it's over it's finished and in verse 15 God gives Elijah a new assignment and read it there he sends him out for a different assignment and a different ministry as if to say Elijah you don't get to say when your ministry is over I say when your ministry is over you may feel like you're done I'm telling you we're just getting started I've got a new work for you to do I'm not finished with you Elijah and he meets God God meets Elijah in the ashes and tells him here is your assignment here is what

[45:44] I've called you to do I hope you're encouraged tonight by this story of Elijah it is so unbelievably relevant of a man who experiences the mountaintop experience of God and the very next moment he finds himself in the ashes in total despair the reality is faith family is that life has a way of taking us from the alps to the ashes it may be difficult people it may be physical exhaustion it may be loneliness it may be unmet expectations but whatever it is we can be one moment on the mountain and in the valley the next but I would close by encouraging you with this that no one knows that experience more than our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ Jesus' ministry was full of mountaintop moments the amazing miracles the teaching that left people astonished and a view like you wouldn't believe for if you've seen me you've seen the father it doesn't get any more mountaintop than that but

[46:58] Jesus' ministry did not end on a mountain it ended on a hill called Calvary and no one in history has gone from the Alps to the ashes like Jesus but I need you to hear this he didn't stay there and neither will you Jesus can and Jesus will just like Elijah resurrect you from the ashes and all God's people said amen pray with me Lord thank you for this message unbelievably relevant how something in 1 Kings 19 that happened back in the northern kingdom of

[48:05] Israel can speak directly into our daily life the names have changed and some of the details may have changed but the experience is still the same how often in life we go from the Alps to the ashes!

[48:24] one moment to dealing with that difficult person the difficult co-worker those expectations that we just keep waiting on and we find ourselves if we're not careful like Elijah somewhere in the wilderness just ready to quit thank you that you love us so much that you never forsake us you never abandon us you will you will come and bake us a cake and you will come and touch us and you will come and speak to us and you will redirect us you will not leave your people and we thank you for that so there are people here tonight there are people that will watch this sermon online and they're in the ashes and I pray how I pray that you would meet them there as I know that you will and encourage them through this message tonight in Jesus name that we pray amen