Speaker 1: Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick.
Speaker 2: I'm the pastor of Elevation Church and this is our podcast.
Speaker 2: I wanted to thank you for joining us today.
Speaker 1: Hope this inspires you. Hope it builds your faith. Hope
Speaker 1: it gives your perspective to see God is moving in
Speaker 1: your life. Enjoy the message.
Speaker 2: Well, let's go to the scriptures now, First Kings, chapter nineteen,
Speaker 2: verse two through five contains my assignment. Hey, let's do
Speaker 2: this in the Message translation of the Bible.
Speaker 1: I think it's very vivid.
Speaker 2: How Eugene Peterson translated this passage. How many are excited
Speaker 2: that there is a cloud heavy with blessing hanging over
Speaker 2: your life. We rejoice today for the reign of God's
Speaker 2: presence in our life and the promise of things to come.
Speaker 2: And so we're standing on the foundation of his faithfulness,
Speaker 2: and we are declaring that He is with us in
Speaker 2: every season of our lives.
Speaker 1: Amen.
Speaker 2: And so as we declare that we want to go
Speaker 2: right here to First Kings nineteen, I am switching translations
Speaker 2: on my Youth version Bible app Thank you Pastor Craig
Speaker 2: Grosschell and Bobby Gruenwald and Life Church for creating this
Speaker 2: wonderful application where I can stall while I tell it
Speaker 2: I will update later and read as follows.
Speaker 1: Let's go to verse three one Kings nineteen eight. No,
Speaker 1: it didn't work. Hang on a second. Don't need to
Speaker 1: fix this app, Pastor Craig. Now the app is fine.
Speaker 1: It's a user error. Okay, here we go. You're ready,
Speaker 1: say I'm ready. Ask your neighbor.
Speaker 3: Are you ready?
Speaker 1: Tell him?
Speaker 3: I'm ready?
Speaker 1: Now compliment them on something they're wearing. Your neighbor? All right?
Speaker 1: Where to God? Where to God? Coming up on the screen.
Speaker 2: When Elijah saw how things were, he ran for dear life.
Speaker 1: To Beersheba, far south of Judah. Huh, a lot must
Speaker 1: be talking about Jonah.
Speaker 2: I know Elijah's not going to run, especially with revival
Speaker 2: breaking out in the nation, But no, he did.
Speaker 1: He did.
Speaker 2: Strong faith doesn't preclude weak moments. Weak moments don't preclude
Speaker 2: strong faith. Sometimes the two have to walk side by side,
Speaker 2: and he is running Forrest Gump has nothing on this profit.
Speaker 1: Running. Like we talked about last week, he's running from
Speaker 1: the rain. Now.
Speaker 2: His faith released the rain, and just as the nation
Speaker 2: is coming out of a drought, he's entering into one.
Speaker 1: It's not the kind you can see.
Speaker 2: It's not that he's having to sell stuff on eBay
Speaker 2: to pay the light bill.
Speaker 1: It's not that kind of drought anymore.
Speaker 2: It is that inner wilderness that many of us live in,
Speaker 2: and nobody can see it. And since they can see it,
Speaker 2: they sometimes can't encourage us in it, because we're dealing
Speaker 2: with it all alone. And Elijah is not just going
Speaker 2: around the corner because he just received the death threat
Speaker 2: from Jezebel, who he knows good and well can't kill
Speaker 2: him because he just destroyed all of her prophets and
Speaker 2: the gods that she swears by on a mountain called Karmel.
Speaker 1: But the one who had the faith to.
Speaker 2: Climb to Mount Carmel is now starting to cave. His
Speaker 2: faith is starting to cave, his courage, his emotional resolve
Speaker 2: is starting to implode. And it says that not only
Speaker 2: did he run, but he left his young servant there
Speaker 2: in Beersheba, and then he went on into the desert
Speaker 2: another day's journey. He came to a lone broombush and
Speaker 2: collapsed in its shade, wanting in the worst way, to
Speaker 2: be done with it all, to just die. For some reason,
Speaker 2: this seemed like an appropriate Mother's Day scripture to me,
Speaker 2: you have to forgive me.
Speaker 1: I have a bleak view of parenthood. But listen what
Speaker 1: he said.
Speaker 2: Doesn't this sound like something a mom would say at
Speaker 2: some point? This? God, Oh, y'all are going to be
Speaker 2: like that today, Like you're always baking brownies, your kids
Speaker 2: always leave with matching socks. Get out of my face,
Speaker 2: because sometimes you hit a place, come on a place
Speaker 2: where you have had enough, and your kids know and
Speaker 2: they hie.
Speaker 1: It's like we have pushed the woman too far. Amen.
Speaker 2: So it's actually it's actually a very serious scripture. I'm
Speaker 2: just trying to bring some hopefully a little bit of
Speaker 2: a lift to it as we get into it today.
Speaker 1: But he has come to this place called enough enough.
Speaker 1: I've had enough. Listen how bad it is take my life.
Speaker 1: I'm ready to join my ancestors in the grave.
Speaker 2: Exhausted, he fell asleep under the lone broom bush, and
Speaker 2: suddenly an angel shook him awake. I'm gonna try to
Speaker 2: do that today, okay, and said, get up and eat.
Speaker 2: I want to minister to you for a few moments
Speaker 2: on this very special Mother's Day at Elevation Church.
Speaker 1: And my subject is the drop zone. The drop zone.
Speaker 2: Father, bless your word, open hearts to hear it in Jesus' name. Amen,
Speaker 2: touch somebody and say God's trying to hook you up,
Speaker 2: and then take a seat please. Where I first heard
Speaker 2: this term drop zone was from my brother serves in
Speaker 2: the United States Air Force.
Speaker 1: Oh you can clap for that.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 2: It takes a lot of pressure off of me because
Speaker 2: I want my mom to be proud of her children,
Speaker 2: and she only has two, and so if I screw
Speaker 2: it up, she can always say, but I have a
Speaker 2: son in the Air Force and so, you know, so
Speaker 2: that's kind of cool.
Speaker 1: I never really understood what he did.
Speaker 2: He's been in the Air Force for like fifteen years
Speaker 2: or so like that, and he tries to explain what
Speaker 2: he does. I know it has something to do with
Speaker 2: an airplane called the one. Yeah, and he drops stuff
Speaker 2: and he was telling me about it one day.
Speaker 1: It's not that I don't care about what he does.
Speaker 2: It's just that sometimes I don't understand what he's trying
Speaker 2: to tell me because he's bad at communication. And he
Speaker 2: was telling me one thing that they did, which again
Speaker 2: it's kind of I don't know. It makes me feel
Speaker 2: like maybe what I do isn't that important? Because he
Speaker 2: was telling me about this one mission and he got
Speaker 2: my attention. He was saying that they they dropped for
Speaker 2: Operation Christmas Drop.
Speaker 1: They flew out and went to like the.
Speaker 2: Remotest part of the Earth or something like that, the
Speaker 2: Micronesian Islands.
Speaker 1: Did I say that correctly? Is that what it's called?
Speaker 1: I don't know.
Speaker 2: Let's pretend like it is altogether, okay, since none of
Speaker 2: us know, we'll be collectively ignorant. And he said they
Speaker 2: just drop stuff for people who would have never received
Speaker 2: anything for Christmas otherwise.
Speaker 1: And I was like, man, that's cool, you did that.
Speaker 1: He's like, yeah, he's explained it to me.
Speaker 2: He said they had to get down really low, like
Speaker 2: I think he said three hundred feet, which I didn't
Speaker 2: even know you could go down that low unless you
Speaker 2: were landing.
Speaker 1: But I don't know anything, so what do I know?
Speaker 2: And he said they have to first find it, and
Speaker 2: he said we had to find the drop zone.
Speaker 1: Now, when he said drop zone.
Speaker 2: My mind went to preaching, because again, I'd never done
Speaker 2: anything that cool in my life. I mean, he told
Speaker 2: me he's dropped humv's off of the airplane. As he's
Speaker 2: a crew member on that plane, the C one thirty.
Speaker 2: He said that they have dropped refrigerators with concrete for
Speaker 2: target practice, big heavy refrigerators off the but I've never.
Speaker 1: Done anything like that in my life.
Speaker 2: So he's telling me about all these air drops and
Speaker 2: I'm like, well, yeah, well, well I drop wisdom.
Speaker 1: So what you drop boats? I drop truth bombs. Amen.
Speaker 3: I'm proud of me, momb mo.
Speaker 1: And he's telling me all these things. So I'm thinking,
Speaker 1: with my preacher's mind, I'm like a.
Speaker 2: Drop zone that The term just got my attention, and
Speaker 2: I was thinking about that in a preacherly way. I
Speaker 2: was thinking about that as it relates to God's provision.
Speaker 1: In our life.
Speaker 2: And you know, isn't it cool how sometimes God will
Speaker 2: get you what you need where you are. That's how
Speaker 2: I was thinking about it, because Yeah, for me, I
Speaker 2: feel like the Word of God is what I live
Speaker 2: off of him.
Speaker 1: And it is amazing to me how many.
Speaker 2: Times in my life, even when I have felt so
Speaker 2: remote from God. I know you've never been distant from God.
Speaker 2: You stay close to Him through daily de voe and prayer, meditation, fasting,
Speaker 2: and living a righteous life. But sometimes, like me and Elijah,
Speaker 2: like these kinds of people.
Speaker 1: We run to the Micronesian.
Speaker 2: Islands spiritually speaking, now, and how does God find us? Like,
Speaker 2: how does he locate us? And I know he's God
Speaker 2: and He's everywhere, And I was thinking about all of
Speaker 2: the ways that God provided for Elijah. Just got me
Speaker 2: kind of grateful today, because if you will be honest,
Speaker 2: you will admit that there were times that God provided
Speaker 2: for you when you are not.
Speaker 1: Even looking for Him to parachute into your situation.
Speaker 2: I mean, that's the honest truth. That's the honest truth.
Speaker 2: That is the honest truth. And the passage got my
Speaker 2: attention in First Kings because on the surface, I would
Speaker 2: assume that if Elijah is supposed to be prophesying in
Speaker 2: a certain place and he leaves that place, that well,
Speaker 2: I always heard where God guides, he provides, and that
Speaker 2: has been the case for Elijah up until this point.
Speaker 2: He was guided by God to Ahab, where he declared
Speaker 2: a drought over the land of Israel, and God directed him,
Speaker 2: or you could say guided him to the Carrith Bravine.
Speaker 2: Look this up in your Bible. You're gonna take any
Speaker 2: notes or not. You're gonna sit there looking all pretty
Speaker 2: Mother's Day all right, this is one king seventeen. God said,
Speaker 2: I have some birds that I have directed to drop
Speaker 2: off the supplies that you need so you can live
Speaker 2: through the famine. Because even though the land is subject
Speaker 2: to famine, I will not allow my children to go without.
Speaker 2: I will provide for you in the worst situations. I
Speaker 2: will provide for you. Maybe not through who you expected
Speaker 2: me to provide through, but I will provide. That's my name, Jehovah.
Speaker 2: Jiro looked up and see it. Here comes the truth,
Speaker 2: not somebody's. I got the draw, and no matter what
Speaker 2: happens around me, I can always be confident in the
Speaker 2: spirit of God, which is my supply.
Speaker 1: I got to draw.
Speaker 2: So then when the birds got done dropping off food
Speaker 2: for Elijah, then there was this woman and she was
Speaker 2: about to drop dead of hunger, and because there had
Speaker 2: not been a drop of rain in the land, because
Speaker 2: Elijah called for a drought, and yet God sent the
Speaker 2: prophet to drop off something for her. But she didn't
Speaker 2: know that because she was about to drop.
Speaker 1: And so you got this exchange happening.
Speaker 2: Like Carlinz one time in New York City. He just
Speaker 2: stopped by this weird place in the middle of the
Speaker 2: city and picked up something somebody had left for him.
Speaker 1: And I said, what was that all about? Man?
Speaker 2: Was that legal what you just did? He said, yes,
Speaker 2: our drop spot. I grew up in Monk's corner. We
Speaker 2: didn't have drop spots in Monk's corner. But he told
Speaker 2: me there are certain places in the city where He
Speaker 2: has arranged that, where is hidden, where you don't know
Speaker 2: unless you know. But and God has those places. But
Speaker 2: that's not really what I want to preach about today,
Speaker 2: or intend to preach about today. I want to use
Speaker 2: it in a little different sense. I want to talk
Speaker 2: about that other kind of drop. And I hope you'll
Speaker 2: go here with me, because you know, church people like
Speaker 2: to come into church in a state of delusion and denial.
Speaker 2: And sometimes when you get to this point, everybody looks
Speaker 2: like you're talking about somebody that they knew once in
Speaker 2: fifth grade. And look at how it happened for Elijah.
Speaker 2: He came to a loan broombush and collapsed.
Speaker 3: He dropped.
Speaker 2: What could drop a man of God who is so
Speaker 2: great that he dropped eight hundred.
Speaker 1: And fifty false prophets? I'm Mount Carmon, What could.
Speaker 2: Drop a prophet so powerful?
Speaker 1: In word?
Speaker 2: And indeed that when he said not a drop until
Speaker 2: I say so, it didn't reign for three years. You
Speaker 2: can't even control your kitchen sync that well. And he
Speaker 2: drops collapses. The traditional interpretation is that he was afraid. Now,
Speaker 2: certain English translations of the Bible do read that way.
Speaker 2: But it's an interesting thing, you know, how we tend
Speaker 2: to overgeneralize. He just up and left his wife, slept
Speaker 2: with this other girl twenty five. I guess it was
Speaker 2: a midlife crisis, But that's just an overgeneralization of something
Speaker 2: that was probably accumulating for a long time. The truth is,
Speaker 2: you have no idea why he really ran. You don't
Speaker 2: know what happened in his childhood. You don't know how
Speaker 2: well he was doing to even make it through the
Speaker 2: first twenty years of marriage. So all you see is
Speaker 2: he drops, and when they go to chronicle Elijah's life,
Speaker 2: to me, it's unfortunate that all we get is Elijah
Speaker 2: was afraid and ran for his life and collapsed in
Speaker 2: the shade.
Speaker 1: Because there was a whole lot more going on than that.
Speaker 2: I mean, what about all of those days that he
Speaker 2: survived the drought, living as a refugee on the run,
Speaker 2: Not because he disobeyed God. That's one thing. But because
Speaker 2: he obeyed God. We heard a lot about the consequences
Speaker 2: of disobedience, But sometimes obedience has consequences as well. Sometimes
Speaker 2: following God will lead you straight into a famine, as
Speaker 2: was the case for Elijah. So it caused me to
Speaker 2: go back a little bit and just study why he
Speaker 2: really dropped. I discovered four factors that I want to
Speaker 2: share with you, and which one is for you. You'll
Speaker 2: know it because I have a clear assignment today to
Speaker 2: drop this.
Speaker 1: Word on somebody who is starting to cave in your faith.
Speaker 1: Maybe you already have.
Speaker 2: Maybe the whole thing of you being here at church
Speaker 2: is external internally.
Speaker 1: Can I drop this? Can I drop it like this?
Speaker 1: Like it's the word of God.
Speaker 2: So the first thing I thought about was Elijah's disappointment.
Speaker 2: Usually when we talk about disappointment, we talk about the
Speaker 2: disappointment of defeat.
Speaker 1: We would expect Elijah to run.
Speaker 2: Of course, if he had stood up on Mount Carmel
Speaker 2: called fire from heaven and God said not today, buddy,
Speaker 2: we would have expected for Elijah to drop. It's intuitive
Speaker 2: that he would collapse and that his faith would cave,
Speaker 2: and that his courage would go away. If he had
Speaker 2: stood up in front of the nation and declared war
Speaker 2: on the false prophets of bail and when they called
Speaker 2: on Bill showed up, did a dance and make rain,
Speaker 2: you would run. Then you would run if you were
Speaker 2: taunting false gods and they turned out.
Speaker 1: To be true. I mean, you would run.
Speaker 2: And sometimes we assume that the only disappointed people in
Speaker 2: the world are the ones who don't have much.
Speaker 1: Money or didn't get a husband.
Speaker 2: But some of the most disappointed people in the church
Speaker 2: are not single.
Speaker 3: They cannot not.
Speaker 1: In affirmation with this part of my sermon.
Speaker 2: But some of the most disappointed people in this church
Speaker 2: are not the ones who are waiting.
Speaker 1: It's the ones who are waking up next to something.
Speaker 1: There's a Bible story where.
Speaker 2: Jacob was trying to marry one woman and he woke
Speaker 2: up next to another, and you know a lot of
Speaker 2: marriages feel like that. He woke up the next morning
Speaker 2: and was like, who are you now?
Speaker 1: I want to go on record and say this. I
Speaker 1: love my kids. Now that we got that out of
Speaker 1: the way, I was not prepared to be a parent.
Speaker 1: I had a good mom, good dad, a great mom,
Speaker 1: and then a good dad hey Man and that's not
Speaker 1: what I mean by it. I mean, just like.
Speaker 2: I think, I just had real, realistic expectations, honestly, unlike Holly.
Speaker 2: Now again, for the record, Holly is a much better
Speaker 2: parent than I.
Speaker 1: Will ever be, as well as a much better human
Speaker 1: being than I will ever be.
Speaker 2: She is better at every single aspect of parenting than
Speaker 2: I could ever hope to be.
Speaker 1: Not that we've gotten that out.
Speaker 2: Of the way, there's one way in which I was
Speaker 2: prepared for parenting that Holly wasn't. I don't know where
Speaker 2: she got her blueprint for what a baby was going
Speaker 2: to be like. But when Elijah was born, yes, you son,
Speaker 2: not that you were a disappointment. You have exceeded our
Speaker 2: every expectation thus far. But you know, Holly had this
Speaker 2: one year period because he was a little fussy, little fussy,
Speaker 2: and she had this one year period of like.
Speaker 1: Of trying to reconcile.
Speaker 2: The reality of a baby with the imagination of a baby,
Speaker 2: the reality of motherhood.
Speaker 1: I see couples fighting right now while I'm preaching. I
Speaker 1: just see all kinds.
Speaker 2: Of trouble because the advantage I had over Holly was
Speaker 2: I expected it to suck. I told I was like
Speaker 2: This is exactly why I told you that we should
Speaker 2: wait seventy years and then have a baby like Abraham
Speaker 2: and Sarah in their old age, and really trust God
Speaker 2: a survivor. We should have done this later, because I
Speaker 2: knew that the moment we did this, we would no
Speaker 2: longer have a life. What were you expecting.
Speaker 1: Just having fun?
Speaker 2: It's an interesting question, is who drew your blueprint? What
Speaker 2: I think we see with Elijah in One Kings chapter
Speaker 2: nineteen is someone who expected the rain and not the resistance,
Speaker 2: who expected that when the drought was over, that the
Speaker 2: battle would be over as well. But then he found
Speaker 2: out something that you have to learn in life is
Speaker 2: that more blessings create more battles. More blessings create more battles.
Speaker 2: Do you remember when the church was praying this for
Speaker 2: the churchy people got enlarged my territory. Yeah, that's more
Speaker 2: grass to cut and property taxes to pay. It all
Speaker 2: gets bigger, all of it. And so for me, I
Speaker 2: was like, what did you expect? That's what happened to
Speaker 2: John the Baptist. Now, Jesus was sending a message to
Speaker 2: John the Baptist, and he was comparing John the Baptist
Speaker 2: to Elijah the Prophet. One thing they both had in
Speaker 2: common is that they had a blueprint of what the
Speaker 2: Kingdom of God would look like that did not match
Speaker 2: the reality of what it looked like once God started
Speaker 2: establishing it in his way. So John the Baptist has
Speaker 2: preached his way into prison. Jesus is moving forward in
Speaker 2: the purpose of God. John sends a messenger to ask him,
Speaker 2: are you the one or should we expect another? Is
Speaker 2: this how it's going to be? Is this really what
Speaker 2: serving God feels like? Is this what it really means
Speaker 2: to be a Christian? Is this how it's gonna be
Speaker 2: for the rest.
Speaker 3: Of my life?
Speaker 2: Am I gonna have to struggle like this forever? Am
Speaker 2: I gonna have to hurt like this forever? Is it
Speaker 2: really gonna be this hard? And look what Jesus said?
Speaker 2: Go tell John this is Matthew eleven. Go tell John
Speaker 2: Matthew eleven. The blind see the lame walk lepers are
Speaker 2: cleansed to death. Here the dead or raised, the wretched
Speaker 2: of the earth will learn that God is on their side.
Speaker 2: That's good, right, It depends on your perspective. John wasn't
Speaker 2: expecting all of that when he preached.
Speaker 1: He preached, the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand. Repent.
Speaker 1: I woke you up, didn't I?
Speaker 2: You weren't expecting that blots have on the mic? And
Speaker 2: WA's what Jesus said, because John was expecting judgment, and
Speaker 2: Jesus came and brought mercy. His blueprint of the Kingdom
Speaker 2: of God is now he's separating the chaff from the
Speaker 2: whakness on the winnowing floor, and he's about to burn.
Speaker 1: You all up. And Jesus said, be heal. What were
Speaker 1: you expecting?
Speaker 2: That's what Jesus asked, What were you expecting? Is this
Speaker 2: what you were expecting? Then count yourself most blessed. Disappointments
Speaker 2: and expectations are correlated in such a way that if
Speaker 2: you expect.
Speaker 1: The wrong thing.
Speaker 2: A lot of the times that we're disappointed, it's because
Speaker 2: we went in delusional.
Speaker 1: And how could we not? How could we not when
Speaker 1: we watch movies all.
Speaker 2: The time that end at the wedding, that end.
Speaker 3: With the kiss and show us.
Speaker 1: Nothing of the conflict.
Speaker 2: How can a teenager grow up with a healthy view
Speaker 2: of sexuality when the blueprint of sexuality is we tear
Speaker 2: each other's clothes off the first night, and that's passion.
Speaker 2: When that's not passion. What that's called is hormonal realities
Speaker 2: that need to be brought in subjection, or you will
Speaker 2: find yourself.
Speaker 1: I don't feel like preaching on Mothers Day. God, They're
Speaker 1: just gonna look at me.
Speaker 2: But I was talking about disappointment, and for Elijah, now
Speaker 2: there is the reconciliation between how he thought it would
Speaker 2: be and how it was. You got to imagine that
Speaker 2: for three years, while he's running in the drought and
Speaker 2: waiting for God to give him the word to release
Speaker 2: the rain, that he's imagining that when the rain finally comes,
Speaker 2: the nation will turn back to God.
Speaker 1: When the rain finally comes, then they will repent.
Speaker 2: When it is finally proven to be true that you
Speaker 2: are God, then the nation's hearts will be turned back
Speaker 2: to you. Remember, Elijah's goal was never really rain, It
Speaker 2: was repentance.
Speaker 1: And when the rain came and.
Speaker 2: The first drop fell with it fell the hope that
Speaker 2: maybe now the nation will turn back to God. So
Speaker 2: when Jezebel, who was running the nation, when Jezebel, who
Speaker 2: had promoted the worship of false gods, sent word to Elijah,
Speaker 2: I'm going to kill you. I believe his greatest fear
Speaker 2: was not that he would die, but that nothing would change.
Speaker 1: That's when it gets hard.
Speaker 2: It's not hard to sacrifice when you see the significance
Speaker 2: of it. What's difficult is when you gave it all
Speaker 2: you had and nobody said thank you. That's the disappointment
Speaker 2: is when you raised your children right. I did not
Speaker 2: raise them to act this way. How am I down
Speaker 2: here at this school again?
Speaker 3: Who taught them this? It wasn't me.
Speaker 2: See, it's not the dysfunction, because if I hadn't raised
Speaker 2: them right, I wouldn't be disappointed. It's the fact that
Speaker 2: I did everything I can good to show about an act.
Speaker 2: And here we are, and Elijah said, it's enough.
Speaker 1: I'm done. I'm out. I can't You can have them,
Speaker 1: you can have them.
Speaker 2: I don't want this responsibility anymore. Oh, the responsibility that
Speaker 2: used to feel like a privilege.
Speaker 1: That's my second word.
Speaker 2: I keep waiting for him to put it up on
Speaker 2: the screen, but they're a little bit behind. There's a word, responsibility.
Speaker 2: He said, I don't want this anymore. I don't want
Speaker 2: this anymore. I'm tired of being unique. I'm tired of
Speaker 2: being different. I'm tired of fighting against the culture and
Speaker 2: trying to raise my kids in a godly way when
Speaker 2: all it does is make them hate me.
Speaker 1: I'm sick of this.
Speaker 2: Oh I'm going to preach to the three real people,
Speaker 2: not the little angelic Christians who came in here like
Speaker 2: Seraphim floating above the trouble. I'm talking about the people
Speaker 2: that know that the blessing of God gets heavy sometimes.
Speaker 2: Hey hey, hey, the parents that never complain about being
Speaker 2: parents aren't.
Speaker 1: Doing it right. They gave up.
Speaker 2: It's only the one who gave it all that they
Speaker 2: had that can really know how much it costs. So
Speaker 2: I'm just going to break this down because I've never
Speaker 2: been a mother, so I can't talk about it like
Speaker 2: I want to talk about it. But I have been
Speaker 2: a preacher, and it is a privilege to preach God's word.
Speaker 2: Don't clap for that, you don't need to. It's a privilege. Oh,
Speaker 2: it's a privilege. It's a great privilege. And I'm sure
Speaker 2: Elijah felt that way too. You know, I can't find
Speaker 2: in the whole Scripture of Elijah, because I've been studying
Speaker 2: him now for years, probably Bible character I've preached the
Speaker 2: most sermons, I can't find one time that God gets
Speaker 2: mad at him, and here he is writing a suicide
Speaker 2: note when he should be celebrating.
Speaker 1: And what does God do? Because you have this idea.
Speaker 2: That if you really told God and got honest with
Speaker 2: God about how things were, that he would strike you down.
Speaker 2: According to this story, when prophets run from God and
Speaker 2: have the honesty to open up and say, here's where
Speaker 2: I am and here's how I feel, he puts Crispy
Speaker 2: Kream donuts beside their head. Can I fix the scripture
Speaker 2: like I want to fix it for others day?
Speaker 1: What do you want?
Speaker 2: Cream filled original glaze?
Speaker 1: Now I want you to notice this.
Speaker 2: Up until this point, God has provided for Elijah everywhere
Speaker 2: that God has sent Elijah. But now Elijah's going somewhere
Speaker 2: that God didn't send him.
Speaker 3: And he still provides. Can we take twenty.
Speaker 2: Three seconds and praise God for the provision we did
Speaker 2: not earn, for the mercy we did not deserve. Yeah,
Speaker 2: that kind of grace, that kind.
Speaker 1: Of God.
Speaker 2: Micronesian Island mercy. I said it wrong, didn't I?
Speaker 1: I don't care. God knows what I'm trying to say,
Speaker 1: and so do you.
Speaker 2: I'm trying to say that he collapsed and they're at
Speaker 2: the place of his fainting and the shade of the
Speaker 2: broom tree, which he never should have seen away from
Speaker 2: his post.
Speaker 1: There he wakes and finds bread beside.
Speaker 2: Him, so that he can continue the journey. Being a
Speaker 2: preacher as a privilege. But I'd be lying to say
Speaker 2: that there are not times. Oh man, how much should
Speaker 2: I tell him? Lord? I tell them too much. They
Speaker 2: won't respect me anymore. I don't tell them enough. They
Speaker 2: won't relate with me. I don't know what to if
Speaker 2: I preach too hard, they think I don't love them,
Speaker 2: but I don't preach hard enough. They won't have any
Speaker 2: change in their life because it all just be sugarcoated nonsense.
Speaker 2: The difference between me and you is you don't know
Speaker 2: what I meant to say when I get up here. Wow,
Speaker 2: you don't have the blueprint. So people will say that
Speaker 2: was a great sermon. And meanwhile, I'm I'm I'm.
Speaker 1: Telling God to take my life. I mean, I don't
Speaker 1: want to die, but I don't want to preach the
Speaker 1: eleven thirty either. Yeah, somewhere between those two. Because now,
Speaker 1: because I.
Speaker 2: Don't love it, please don't hear me. Oh so iron
Speaker 2: to be a fastor so hard as a sorry where
Speaker 2: you're a phrase where you fais.
Speaker 1: I'm not saying I don't appreciate it.
Speaker 2: That's what I used to think. It used to make
Speaker 2: me feel bad because I would feel like the fact
Speaker 2: that that I didn't want to do it anymore was
Speaker 2: because I didn't appreciate the opportunity to do it. Okay,
Speaker 2: we're gonna we're gonna break down this.
Speaker 1: Wall for a minute.
Speaker 2: Where y'all are looking at me like I'm the only one.
Speaker 2: How many parents have ever had a fantasy of just leaving,
Speaker 2: just just I mean, just out, Just fix your own
Speaker 2: easy mac, pop your own pop tars, how about it?
Speaker 3: No, no no map.
Speaker 2: See, y'all ain't got no kids. That's why you're not
Speaker 2: standing up. You had never been a preacher. That's why
Speaker 2: you can't relate. That's why I make Holly. I usually
Speaker 2: make a preat on Mother's Day. She said, if you
Speaker 2: do that to me this year, I'm gonna make you
Speaker 2: a stay home with the kids for a win.
Speaker 3: I said, O, Preaze, it.
Speaker 2: Costs you to carry something, It costs you to wear
Speaker 2: a mantle, It costs you to stay in Raso's kids.
Speaker 3: It costs you to stay.
Speaker 1: In the rain.
Speaker 2: But what happens to you over time. It's not that
Speaker 2: you're not grateful, and it's not that you're rebellious. That's
Speaker 2: not why you run. That's not why you run. The
Speaker 2: reason you say I've had enough is because you don't
Speaker 2: feel like you are.
Speaker 1: No, that's why he ran. I don't know what else
Speaker 1: to do.
Speaker 2: I called for the drought, I released the rain, and
Speaker 2: nothing's changed.
Speaker 1: I'm done.
Speaker 2: When he said I'm done, he wasn't telling God, I
Speaker 2: don't want to do it anymore.
Speaker 1: He was saying, I don't know what else to do.
Speaker 2: Let me draw.
Speaker 1: He's done.
Speaker 2: I can't carry this anymore. I can't do it. So
Speaker 2: I'm not necessarily gonna leave my house. I'm not necessarily
Speaker 2: gonna leave my marriage physically, but emotionally, I'm gonna withdraw
Speaker 2: fifteen percent of the time.
Speaker 1: And you'll never even know. I was taking my heart out.
Speaker 2: Of him one day at a time.
Speaker 1: He went into.
Speaker 2: The wilderness running from the disappointment.
Speaker 1: He wasn't running from Jezebel bro He had to drop
Speaker 1: on Jezebel.
Speaker 2: And it's interesting to me that the most dangerous place
Speaker 2: that he could have gone was away from the one.
Speaker 1: Who was threatening him.
Speaker 2: He would have been safer to walk right up in
Speaker 2: Ahab's palace and say, bring your wife out here.
Speaker 1: I want to tell her something. He would have been.
Speaker 2: Safer to drop a disc track on Jezebel and tell
Speaker 2: her what you want. Some to hashtag hey Jezebel. I
Speaker 2: thought about writing a letter to Jezebel. Hey Jezebel, you can.
Speaker 1: Go to.
Speaker 2: Write down the word opposition because certain battles you expect
Speaker 2: to have to fight. I went on Twitter one time
Speaker 2: that enough should produce tears. I went on Twitter one time.
Speaker 2: Now somebody said something. It was crazy. Now, please, I
Speaker 2: don't mean this to be a depressing sermon. We were
Speaker 2: just talking today, all right. They said they hoped that
Speaker 2: I had pancreatic cancer and died a slow, painful death.
Speaker 2: So I clicked on the profile. I was like, what
Speaker 2: kind of atheist is this? Their handle had a Scripture
Speaker 2: verse in it. What was weird about that is I
Speaker 2: expected to have to fight people who.
Speaker 1: Didn't know God. What I didn't mix?
Speaker 2: Why aren't church people some of the meanest people around.
Speaker 2: I expect to fight you if you're jer see, it's
Speaker 2: a different color. That's how the game goes, but you
Speaker 2: were supposed to be blocking for me.
Speaker 3: Elijah wasn't scared of jess about.
Speaker 2: Let me tell you what broke his heart? Can I
Speaker 2: show you this? Go to verse ten. I think it's
Speaker 2: nineteen first Kings, nineteen ten. When God asked him a question.
Speaker 2: It's a very strategic question. He said, what are you
Speaker 2: doing here? Elijah? By this time, Elijah has long passed
Speaker 2: through Beersheba where he left his servant. Now the enemy's
Speaker 2: got him right where he wants him, in isolation, because
Speaker 2: the first thing that the devil will do when he
Speaker 2: wants to drop you is make sure he catches you alone.
Speaker 1: The attack will not come here in the church.
Speaker 2: He's too stupid to show up and fight you here.
Speaker 2: It will be when you leave here. It'll be about
Speaker 2: three twenty six, when you go into a good carbohydrate comma.
Speaker 2: That's when the thoughts come. That's when the fears come.
Speaker 2: It's gonna come tonight, when you got nobody to talk
Speaker 2: to and nobody to message. And he leads his servant
Speaker 2: and he goes into the wilderness, and the thoughts come,
Speaker 2: and he's having this conversation with a god that he
Speaker 2: can't see about an opponent that he did not expect
Speaker 2: to have to fight. Here's why I ran, Here's why
Speaker 2: I want to quit. Here's why I dropped because I
Speaker 2: did my job.
Speaker 1: I was responsible, and.
Speaker 2: I'm disappointed because the Israelites. Notice how he has separated
Speaker 2: himself from the very people that he was called to serve.
Speaker 1: He is, He's talking about him like they're a third party.
Speaker 2: He is an Israelite. Okay, the Israelites. You know how
Speaker 2: you do your kids. She does that to me all
Speaker 2: the time. You need to talk to your son. I
Speaker 2: know it's not because he just mastering a new piece
Speaker 2: of piano music when she says it like that, better
Speaker 2: talk to your son. You better talk to your people. God,
Speaker 2: you better talk to your children.
Speaker 1: Because I did my job, and I did my best.
Speaker 2: Sometimes I talk to God like that about y'all. God,
Speaker 2: you better show these people how good I'm preaching right now,
Speaker 2: because they don't understand what it costs me to bring
Speaker 2: them this word. And there just looking at me real crazy.
Speaker 2: I did my job, but they they they tore down
Speaker 2: your altars, rejected your covenants, and try to put your
Speaker 2: prophets to death. And now I'm the only one and
Speaker 2: they're trying to kill me too. Now you know that
Speaker 2: they can't kill you, or else you wouldn't have said
Speaker 2: they're trying. But it's not Jezebel you're fighting. It's not
Speaker 2: even really the Israelites. I expected to have to fight people.
Speaker 2: I expected to have to fight for a parking space.
Speaker 2: I expected to have to fight against the corrupt world system.
Speaker 1: I expected that. What I didn't expect what's the enemy.
Speaker 2: To be my greatest enemy.
Speaker 1: I'm out, I'm done.
Speaker 2: I could fight the false prophet, I could even deal
Speaker 2: with Jezebel. But I'm sick of this. I'm sick of
Speaker 2: being like this. I'm sick of thinking like this. I'm
Speaker 2: sick of pretending like this. I'm sick of telling everybody
Speaker 2: fine when I'm.
Speaker 3: Really frustrated.
Speaker 1: Done and he drops I thought I might in the
Speaker 1: sermon here in the drop zone.
Speaker 2: You know, it's an interesting thing, is that when Elijah
Speaker 2: tells God how he feels, the spirit of God is
Speaker 2: in this place right now, and he's about to put
Speaker 2: something on a parachute and drop it right into your spirit.
Speaker 2: Let me tell you who he's speaking to right now,
Speaker 2: the one who doesn't even want to hear it.
Speaker 1: The one who doesn't even want to hear it.
Speaker 2: Elijah said, I don't even want to be a mom anymore.
Speaker 2: You know Bible, he went, he went and hit in
Speaker 2: a cave. We talk a lot about man caves, but
Speaker 2: how about mom caves. Wow, I'm sick of it. I
Speaker 2: am sick of all these other moms. I'm sick of
Speaker 2: their fake pinteresque.
Speaker 1: I'm sick.
Speaker 2: I'm sick of all of it. I'm sick. I am
Speaker 2: sick of this. Now, maybe you don't need this message today.
Speaker 2: You can either sit there judgmental, or you could file
Speaker 2: it for Tuesday.
Speaker 1: When you go into your own cave. I don't know
Speaker 1: what he's talking about.
Speaker 2: Your kid is five, When they are fifteen, you will
Speaker 2: need this message. Put it on your favorites on YouTube,
Speaker 2: because something will make you want to run. Help me
Speaker 2: preach left section of Balentine Spiritual Session.
Speaker 1: Elijah said about.
Speaker 2: Gus said, not so fast, because the reason that you
Speaker 2: have collapsed is not because of your situation.
Speaker 1: It's because of your position. Position.
Speaker 2: I never dropped a parachute with a refrigerator filled with
Speaker 2: concrete for target practice. I never dropped the gift supply
Speaker 2: for somebody who never received a pair of flo flops
Speaker 2: or a pair of shorts for Christmas. I never did that.
Speaker 2: But I found on my iPhone. I found air drop.
Speaker 2: I found air drop. Have you ever seen it? I
Speaker 2: don't use it much, but I have used it once
Speaker 2: or twice. And one thing I found out about airdrop.
Speaker 1: Is when do you have an iPhone? Stacey? You got
Speaker 1: an iPhone? Now? Now I don't need your phone. I
Speaker 1: want mine.
Speaker 2: And I got something I want to give you from
Speaker 2: my phone to your phone. Now we could do a
Speaker 2: couple different things. One thing we could do, I could
Speaker 2: text it to you. But what fun would that be?
Speaker 2: When I have air drops? Somebody shall drop it Because
Speaker 2: I found this thing on my phone, it says air drop.
Speaker 2: I found out that if our phones are close enough,
Speaker 2: and if we have a connection on Wi Fi and Bluetobe,
Speaker 2: come on, I'm about to preach this technology until somebody
Speaker 2: comes out of hiding. If I got something on my
Speaker 2: device and you need it on your device, if I
Speaker 2: can get close enough to your device with my device,
Speaker 2: what's on my device could sup on your device. If
Speaker 2: I got a connection, if I come out of the cave,
Speaker 2: if I get close to the one who created me
Speaker 2: close to the one who called me. If I stop
Speaker 2: running and return to the place of mile.
Speaker 4: Side, I got the dup.
Speaker 3: God said, I'm calling you closer. I'm calling you back.
Speaker 3: This day is for reconnection.
Speaker 2: I didn't bring you here so you could sit under
Speaker 2: a broom bush and die.
Speaker 3: This is the drop zone.
Speaker 2: Who is it for?
Speaker 1: Who is it for?
Speaker 2: Who is a form? Who is a form? Who is
Speaker 2: it fore? Gaston?
Speaker 3: Who is it for?
Speaker 2: You? See?
Speaker 1: Who is it for?
Speaker 3: Blakeney? Who is it for?
Speaker 1: You're under the covers. You didn't even come to church.
Speaker 3: God, I had to get this message to you through
Speaker 3: and half. But He's about to drop.
Speaker 4: Drops in your spirit to stringthen you.
Speaker 1: My brother said, they put out red flags.
Speaker 2: They put out red flags in remote locations to let
Speaker 2: me know that this is the drop zone. They put
Speaker 2: out a red flag and we fly down close. See
Speaker 2: that's the thing about God. He can't shout it to you.
Speaker 2: He has to get down to that three hundred foot level,
Speaker 2: real close, where you can't hide how you really feel.
Speaker 1: And maybe we should do today what Elijah had to do.
Speaker 2: To return to the calling and return to the rain
Speaker 2: and return to the blessing of God. Look, look, It
Speaker 2: doesn't require a change in feelings. It's a change in focus.
Speaker 1: You got it. I'm preaching to y'all in the back.
Speaker 2: I'm preaching to people who are too tired to stand
Speaker 2: up and.
Speaker 3: Say, Amen, this is your mail.
Speaker 2: This is your package, this is your supply.
Speaker 3: God's trying to drop it.
Speaker 2: And God told Elijah verse fifteen.
Speaker 1: Is so beautiful, He said, go back the way. You
Speaker 1: can change your position.
Speaker 2: To receive the provision that is already waiting in the
Speaker 2: place where you belong. Because I'm seated in heavenly places
Speaker 2: with Christ, I said, I've seated in a divine position,
Speaker 2: far above rulers, far above principalities. Who am I preacher to.
Speaker 2: I'm looking in the camera. I need to know where
Speaker 2: to drop it.
Speaker 1: So go back the way you came. Change your position.
Speaker 2: Go back to the place of your opposition.
Speaker 1: That's where your opportunity is. Did you hear me.
Speaker 2: Your greatest opportunity is in the place of your greatest opposition.
Speaker 2: If it were not hard, it would not be worth
Speaker 2: fighting for. If it were not hard, it would not
Speaker 2: be worth surviving for.
Speaker 5: Go back, go back, go back to the place of
Speaker 5: your responsibility. I've already got God told Elijah, I've already
Speaker 5: got Elijah, son of Shafat.
Speaker 2: He's your successor. He's waiting for your mantle. You weren't
Speaker 2: supposed to do this alone to again with, And the
Speaker 2: reason that I let you run out of strength is
Speaker 2: so that you would be in a place of surrender
Speaker 2: and dependence. You were not supposed to do this alone,
Speaker 2: so I had to let you run.
Speaker 1: All the way to the cave, all.
Speaker 2: The way to the disappointment, so you could get this drop.
Speaker 2: Have you been fighting lately? Have you been fighting yourself?
Speaker 2: Stand up and raise your red flag. If this message
Speaker 2: was for you. If you don't need it, sit there
Speaker 2: and receive it. But if you need it, raise your
Speaker 2: red flag. Until I realized that the same God who
Speaker 2: had birds dropping food for Elijah at the karth Ravine,
Speaker 2: the same God who had supply of oil and food
Speaker 2: for Elijah at the widow house inside in the same
Speaker 2: God who had provision waiting for Elijah in the form
Speaker 2: of wood on Mount Carmel.
Speaker 1: And fire from heaven. That same God, this is what
Speaker 1: I got.
Speaker 2: The same place where the enemy is fighting you the most,
Speaker 2: It's the same place where God's supply will be the
Speaker 2: greatest Lift your hands.
Speaker 1: This is the drop zone. Lift your hands. This is
Speaker 1: the drop zone.
Speaker 3: You are not going.
Speaker 1: To get it until you admit how much you need it.
Speaker 2: Brother, I thank you for the word you gave me today.
Speaker 2: I believe that it is the power of God for
Speaker 2: the salvation of those who believe. I believe that you
Speaker 2: want to change our blueprint of what a blessing looks like,
Speaker 2: to see that it is not always in the places
Speaker 2: of our greatest joy and the feelings of elation, but
Speaker 2: sometimes when we are exhausted and have had enough.
Speaker 1: That your provision is released.
Speaker 2: Lift those hands until your arms hurt, Lift those hands
Speaker 2: until your shoulders are sore.
Speaker 1: Thank you for joining us.
Speaker 2: Special thanks to those of you who give generously to
Speaker 2: this ministry. Is because of you that this ministry is possible.
Speaker 2: You can click the link in the description to give
Speaker 2: now or visit Elevationchurch dot org slash podcast for more
Speaker 2: information and if you enjoyed the podcast, you can subscribe.
Speaker 1: You can share it with your friends.
Speaker 2: You can click the share button, take a screenshot and
Speaker 2: share it on your social stories and tag us at
Speaker 2: Elevation Church.
Speaker 1: Thanks again for listening. God bless you