WEBVTT - God’s Got Your Back Part 2 0:00:00.360 --> 0:00:05.280 Hello evam, especially our West Coast family, we have an 0:00:05.320 --> 0:00:10.760 announcement for you, Elevation Nights twenty twenty two West Coast. 0:00:11.280 --> 0:00:15.040 Are you ready for this? October twenty fifth through November third, 0:00:15.160 --> 0:00:17.480 We're coming your way so exciting. You can get your 0:00:17.520 --> 0:00:21.240 tickets right now at Elevation Nights dot com. It's gonna 0:00:21.280 --> 0:00:26.480 be me Holly, Elevation Worship. It's gonna be amazing, unbelievable 0:00:26.520 --> 0:00:29.840 these nights. Don't want to miss So if you're in Glendale, Arizona, 0:00:30.000 --> 0:00:35.920 Las Vegas, Sacramento, California, Eugene, Oregon, Seattle, Oakland, California, San 0:00:35.960 --> 0:00:41.279 Diego and La or anywhere near those areas, we want 0:00:41.320 --> 0:00:44.360 to see you. Elevation Nights dot com. Don't miss it. 0:00:44.440 --> 0:00:48.600 Elevation Nights dot com. Get your tickets Elevation Nights dot com. 0:00:48.880 --> 0:00:52.600 See let's go to the message. It's time for me 0:00:52.680 --> 0:01:01.800 to preach the word of God. And you know what 0:01:01.880 --> 0:01:04.640 I want to do. I preached two weeks ago God's 0:01:04.800 --> 0:01:10.360 Got three people. Remember y'all act like it was two 0:01:10.480 --> 0:01:16.080 years ago. Two weeks ago I preached God's got your Back. 0:01:16.760 --> 0:01:20.080 I want to revisit that thought. This message is called 0:01:20.160 --> 0:01:24.880 God scot your back, Part two, and I want to 0:01:24.880 --> 0:01:26.839 give you description real quick and then we'll be seated. 0:01:26.880 --> 0:01:28.560 I want to share a story that I intended to 0:01:28.600 --> 0:01:31.199 get to the last time I preached, but I didn't 0:01:31.240 --> 0:01:33.280 quite get there. But I'm going to go back and 0:01:33.680 --> 0:01:37.720 revisit that today. Isaiah thirty, verse twenty one. What a 0:01:37.720 --> 0:01:40.720 beautiful promise the Lord says. Whether you turn to the 0:01:40.840 --> 0:01:44.960 right or to the left, your ears will hear a 0:01:45.080 --> 0:01:50.800 voice behind you. That's why I said God's got your back, 0:01:51.680 --> 0:01:53.880 because you can't always see what he's doing, but you 0:01:53.920 --> 0:01:59.680 can always believe that he is doing exceedingly abundantly above 0:01:59.720 --> 0:02:03.240 all that you ask or imagine, according to His power 0:02:03.280 --> 0:02:05.600 that works mightily on the inside of you. How many 0:02:05.640 --> 0:02:11.560 believes that shout us, say God's God, My say it, 0:02:11.680 --> 0:02:15.920 God's God. My fact, you will hear a voice behind 0:02:15.960 --> 0:02:20.480 you saying this is the way. Walk in it, Holy Spirit, 0:02:20.520 --> 0:02:23.200 have your way. As we preach and teach today, I 0:02:23.200 --> 0:02:25.840 asked that every heart would be open. I asked that 0:02:25.880 --> 0:02:28.919 every mind would be attentive. I asked that every devil 0:02:28.919 --> 0:02:31.160 would be put on notice. You have no place in 0:02:31.200 --> 0:02:33.600 the hearts of these people who belong to God today. 0:02:34.520 --> 0:02:39.120 So we evict you now, Satan, and we ask you 0:02:39.160 --> 0:02:44.480 to speak Lord Jesus in your name, we pray amen, 0:02:45.480 --> 0:02:56.480 you may be seated. Oh stay one second, Chris Brewmn. 0:02:57.960 --> 0:03:00.440 I got so mad at him the other day. We 0:03:00.440 --> 0:03:03.000 were talking about a song we wrote together, and I said, 0:03:03.040 --> 0:03:08.240 what's your memory of writing that song? He goes that 0:03:08.320 --> 0:03:13.080 we stayed really late. That's what you said. But that's 0:03:13.160 --> 0:03:16.639 all you said. That my entry, He said, I remember 0:03:17.520 --> 0:03:20.560 we stayed really late. No, but for me, it was 0:03:20.639 --> 0:03:24.240 just such a beautiful memory. I was like, that's all 0:03:24.320 --> 0:03:29.280 you remember. This was my best response. Well, no, in 0:03:29.280 --> 0:03:32.120 your defense, here's what he said. He's like, he's like, 0:03:33.160 --> 0:03:38.640 you remember everything really, and that's not true. I don't 0:03:38.680 --> 0:03:41.560 remember well, I remember everything. I just don't remember everything right. 0:03:43.120 --> 0:03:44.920 See my spare time, when I'm not preaching and teaching, 0:03:45.080 --> 0:03:49.960 I'm a movie editor. I make movies out of memories, 0:03:50.600 --> 0:03:55.280 clip them, sequence them, put new characters in, take certain 0:03:55.320 --> 0:03:58.040 people out. It was worse. It was worse than that, though, 0:03:58.080 --> 0:04:00.160 you didn't do the worst thing the other day. And 0:04:00.200 --> 0:04:02.080 I'm just picking on him because we've been friends since 0:04:02.120 --> 0:04:09.760 we were fifteen years old, so I can tick on him, like, 0:04:09.760 --> 0:04:11.520 don't be so mean. To this guy. You just read 0:04:11.560 --> 0:04:13.600 your scripture. You're over here hating on your worship leader, 0:04:13.840 --> 0:04:16.120 not hating on this is my guy. This is my guy. 0:04:16.360 --> 0:04:18.960 Trust me on that. But Graham the other day said 0:04:19.200 --> 0:04:23.000 you weren't even at my sixth grade graduation, and I was, 0:04:24.720 --> 0:04:28.520 and so Holly, thank God for her. She goes through 0:04:28.560 --> 0:04:34.880 her whole photo archive, finds the picture of me proof 0:04:34.920 --> 0:04:38.200 of parenting. She goes back through the photos room. Thank 0:04:38.200 --> 0:04:40.560 god she had it, because apparently now I need an 0:04:40.600 --> 0:04:43.800 official record keeper in my house for my kids to 0:04:43.839 --> 0:04:45.839 even believe that I was there for their milestones of 0:04:45.880 --> 0:04:49.160 their life. That's how they do you. That's how they 0:04:49.200 --> 0:04:52.440 do you. You go to this sixth grade graduation, which, 0:04:52.520 --> 0:05:00.360 let me just tell you, is exciting. I don't even 0:05:00.400 --> 0:05:01.839 put you in the movie, okay. I just wanted to 0:05:01.839 --> 0:05:05.719 point out that. So we're telling and it got me 0:05:05.760 --> 0:05:11.360 thinking about the stories that we tell, which of course 0:05:11.400 --> 0:05:16.000 took me to me and Chris's favorite musical, Hamilton by 0:05:16.040 --> 0:05:22.560 the Apostle Lynn Manuel Miranda, who wrote the song who Lives, 0:05:22.600 --> 0:05:26.599 Who Dies? Who tells your story? And I thought that 0:05:26.760 --> 0:05:32.000 was a profound question to ask, who tells your story? 0:05:32.160 --> 0:05:35.880 How did he turn the story of a Treasury secretary 0:05:35.960 --> 0:05:39.480 into something I would pay money to watch. How do 0:05:39.520 --> 0:05:45.080 you do that? He told the story in such a profound, enthralling, 0:05:45.760 --> 0:05:49.320 entertaining and heart wrenching way. And I have seen Hamilton 0:05:49.400 --> 0:05:55.240 now seven times, not on Disney, pluss in person. I 0:05:55.240 --> 0:05:57.520 have a whole line item in my budget called Hamilton. 0:05:57.880 --> 0:06:00.720 I love it. Saw my wife, saw them take people on, 0:06:00.839 --> 0:06:03.240 drag people, I convert people. I'm an evangelist for Hamilton. 0:06:05.960 --> 0:06:08.000 But he did a song who Lives Who Dies? Because 0:06:08.000 --> 0:06:10.440 he's telling the story of Alexander Hamilton, which we all 0:06:10.440 --> 0:06:14.039 heard in history class. Nobody paid to hear it. But 0:06:14.160 --> 0:06:18.159 he told the story in such a way that I've 0:06:18.200 --> 0:06:22.640 seen it seven times. I didn't repeat history class seven times, 0:06:23.400 --> 0:06:25.400 but I went to see how he told the same 0:06:25.520 --> 0:06:29.560 story seven times. And one of the songs he did 0:06:30.320 --> 0:06:37.560 said who lives? Who Dies? Who tells your story? I mean, 0:06:37.600 --> 0:06:39.880 I was telling Chris, I remember when this and that 0:06:39.960 --> 0:06:41.960 and with the song and this and that. He's like, 0:06:42.680 --> 0:06:44.880 I just remember. It was really late, and I'm sure 0:06:44.880 --> 0:06:46.520 he would have said more, but I cut him off, 0:06:46.560 --> 0:06:50.640 because see, I don't really like to set through long stories, 0:06:52.240 --> 0:06:54.920 especially if I've heard him before. And even when I'm 0:06:54.920 --> 0:06:56.680 telling a story, I'm scared to death that the other 0:06:56.720 --> 0:06:59.599 person has heard it. And we had a guest preacher 0:06:59.600 --> 0:07:03.200 here last week who was amazing. Did you love doctor 0:07:03.240 --> 0:07:06.920 Eui Smith? What a great preacher? And as I was 0:07:06.960 --> 0:07:10.360 sharing with him after the service and after he preached, 0:07:10.480 --> 0:07:12.880 we were getting to know each other and he was 0:07:12.920 --> 0:07:15.120 telling me a story about his life, and he was 0:07:15.160 --> 0:07:18.600 cutting it short. And his wife goes, tell him this part, 0:07:18.640 --> 0:07:20.480 and tell him that part, and tell him that part, 0:07:20.640 --> 0:07:22.720 and so he did, and it was all fascinating, interesting, 0:07:22.720 --> 0:07:24.960 but to him it was boring because he'd been telling 0:07:25.040 --> 0:07:27.680 that story for thirty years. Well then I went to 0:07:27.680 --> 0:07:29.240 tell him a story, and I told it in like 0:07:29.240 --> 0:07:32.920 two or three sentences in Holly, who has the ability 0:07:33.680 --> 0:07:37.360 to really tell good stories and doesn't mind taking her 0:07:37.440 --> 0:07:42.360 time in the process, goes, don't cut it short, tell 0:07:42.840 --> 0:07:46.880 him the whole story. This is a good one, she said. 0:07:47.640 --> 0:07:49.400 And every time I was skipped something, she put it 0:07:49.440 --> 0:07:51.520 back in, and she started putting it back in, and 0:07:51.560 --> 0:07:53.760 by the time we had sat there, our food was cold, 0:07:53.760 --> 0:07:58.240 but we knew each other. I want to tell you 0:07:58.280 --> 0:08:01.880 a story today that kind of ill straits. What Isaiah 0:08:01.920 --> 0:08:06.240 said where he said, your ears will hear a voice. 0:08:06.400 --> 0:08:09.720 Your ears will hear a voice behind you saying, watch this, 0:08:09.720 --> 0:08:14.320 this is the way walk in it. This, this a 0:08:14.360 --> 0:08:18.000 wonderful promise. The problem is the problem is this. Your 0:08:18.040 --> 0:08:21.000 ears will hear a voice behind you saying, this is 0:08:21.040 --> 0:08:24.440 the way walk in it. But that will not be 0:08:24.600 --> 0:08:29.120 the only voice you will hear. If that was the 0:08:29.160 --> 0:08:34.000 only voice I heard, I'd be said. If the only 0:08:34.080 --> 0:08:38.040 voice I heard was this is the way walk in it, 0:08:38.920 --> 0:08:43.440 I would be good to go. I could cut my 0:08:43.480 --> 0:08:47.719 sermon prep time in half because I just know this 0:08:47.760 --> 0:08:50.760 is the scripture. Half my time preparing the sermon is 0:08:50.760 --> 0:08:53.360 getting to the right scripture. If the only voice I 0:08:53.400 --> 0:08:57.240 heard was this is the way walk in it, well, 0:08:57.280 --> 0:08:58.920 just be honest with you. There's some staff I wouldn't 0:08:58.920 --> 0:09:02.800 have hired if the only voice I heard was the 0:09:02.880 --> 0:09:04.800 voice telling me what to do, how to do it, 0:09:04.840 --> 0:09:07.360 when to do it, why to do it. But we 0:09:07.559 --> 0:09:10.840 all know right that, as good as that sounds, your 0:09:10.880 --> 0:09:14.199 ears will hear a voice saying this the way walk 0:09:14.240 --> 0:09:19.440 in in that that is not the only voice. It's 0:09:19.480 --> 0:09:26.079 not even the loudest voice that you hear. Because maybe 0:09:26.080 --> 0:09:29.719 I should tell you a story maybe I should tell 0:09:29.760 --> 0:09:34.880 you a story from One Kings nineteen that will illustrate 0:09:35.480 --> 0:09:41.400 about the power of who tells your story, the voice. 0:09:41.480 --> 0:09:43.840 Like if this was English class, we talked about history, 0:09:43.840 --> 0:09:46.000 and us talk about English. If this were English class, 0:09:46.720 --> 0:09:49.360 this or English class, we would talk about the point 0:09:49.360 --> 0:09:52.240 of view, is it first person, second person, third person? 0:09:52.480 --> 0:09:57.000 We would talk about the narrator, the narrative voice. Now, 0:09:57.120 --> 0:09:59.600 if you go to First Kings, chapter nineteen, there is 0:09:59.640 --> 0:10:03.560 a well well known, well loved Bible story about the 0:10:03.600 --> 0:10:08.320 prophet Elijah, not the one that you like, Not the 0:10:08.559 --> 0:10:11.000 story you like, where he stands on Mount Carmel and 0:10:11.080 --> 0:10:13.840 calls down fire from heaven and says, if the Lord 0:10:13.920 --> 0:10:16.800 is God, follow him, If bail is God, follow him? 0:10:17.080 --> 0:10:20.079 How long will you halt between two opinions and call 0:10:20.240 --> 0:10:25.480 down fire from heaven? Not that story. This is a 0:10:25.600 --> 0:10:27.920 very different story. But I should share it with you 0:10:28.720 --> 0:10:31.360 because it's going to help you to see that not 0:10:31.480 --> 0:10:33.439 only do we hear the voice of God in our 0:10:33.440 --> 0:10:36.200 moments of decision and in those crucial transitions where we 0:10:36.240 --> 0:10:37.760 have to decide what to do and where to go 0:10:37.800 --> 0:10:40.320 and whether to quit, whether to stay, but there is 0:10:41.360 --> 0:10:44.440 another voice and a lot of times. It's not the 0:10:44.520 --> 0:10:47.760 absence of the voice of God that stops you from 0:10:47.800 --> 0:10:51.760 fulfilling your calling. It is the presence of other voices 0:10:53.080 --> 0:10:57.959 that you do not recognize as the enemy's voice until 0:10:58.000 --> 0:11:00.880 they lead you off of the path of God's purpose 0:11:00.960 --> 0:11:04.559 for your life. And that's exactly what happened to Elijah. 0:11:04.600 --> 0:11:10.160 Can I tell you the whole story. Your enthusiasm is discouraging. 0:11:11.440 --> 0:11:15.400 I'm gonna do it anyway. Now. Ahab told Jezebel everything 0:11:15.640 --> 0:11:20.040 Elijah had done. We'll come back to that, and how 0:11:20.320 --> 0:11:26.400 he had killed all the prophets with the sword. So Jezebel, 0:11:26.840 --> 0:11:32.520 after hearing how Elijah slaughtered her false prophets, sent a 0:11:32.640 --> 0:11:38.440 messenger to Elijah to say, may the Gods deal with me, 0:11:39.120 --> 0:11:42.800 be it ever so severely. If by this time tomorrow 0:11:43.000 --> 0:11:46.880 I do not make your life like that of one 0:11:46.920 --> 0:11:49.080 of them, I'm gonna kill you. If there are any 0:11:49.120 --> 0:11:51.880 police officers in the room at elevation, Valentine's stand up, 0:11:56.280 --> 0:12:00.960 all right, all right, thank you for your sir, stay standing. 0:12:01.040 --> 0:12:04.720 I got a question. I'm not an officer, I'm a preacher, 0:12:04.760 --> 0:12:07.640 So I got a question for you. If you are 0:12:07.760 --> 0:12:12.360 arresting somebody, do you send a messenger or do you 0:12:12.400 --> 0:12:17.040 send a bailiff? If you're arresting somebody, do you send 0:12:17.080 --> 0:12:20.199 a messenger to tell them now this time tomorrow, I'm 0:12:20.200 --> 0:12:22.439 gonna come back and get you, and I'm gonna put 0:12:22.440 --> 0:12:24.880 you on death row and I'm gonna kill you. Do 0:12:24.960 --> 0:12:28.920 you send a messenger or do you send handcuffs? Do 0:12:28.960 --> 0:12:30.840 you send a messenger or do you send back up? 0:12:31.040 --> 0:12:34.440 It goes to show me that Jezebel couldn't back up 0:12:34.880 --> 0:12:37.480 what she was threatening to Elijah that she was gonna do. 0:12:39.440 --> 0:12:41.080 I guess I didn't need you to answer that question. 0:12:41.120 --> 0:12:46.240 After all, Please be seated, right. So we see from 0:12:46.240 --> 0:12:49.960 the very beginning that this woman Jezebel wicked as she was, 0:12:50.720 --> 0:12:55.280 evil as she was, manipulative as she was, as angry 0:12:55.320 --> 0:12:58.840 as she was, as petty as she was, as much 0:12:58.880 --> 0:13:01.160 destruction as she has called. She had no power over 0:13:01.200 --> 0:13:08.360 God's servant. She had no power over God's prophet. She 0:13:08.440 --> 0:13:10.760 had no power to do what she said she would do. 0:13:10.880 --> 0:13:14.520 The only hope she had was to threaten him to 0:13:14.640 --> 0:13:18.080 the level that he would abandon the place that God 0:13:18.120 --> 0:13:22.360 had put him, because she knew, if he stays my 0:13:22.520 --> 0:13:27.160 God's camp, if he stays God is with him if 0:13:27.200 --> 0:13:29.480 he stays, you know, the enemy knows the same thing 0:13:29.520 --> 0:13:33.079 about you that if you ever plant your feet and decide, 0:13:33.200 --> 0:13:35.840 this is what God has called me to do, This 0:13:35.920 --> 0:13:38.240 is what I'm gonna do. This is what I'm made 0:13:38.240 --> 0:13:40.880 to do. This is what I'm created to do. This 0:13:40.920 --> 0:13:43.000 is what I'm called to do. This is why I 0:13:43.120 --> 0:13:46.120 came to earth. This is why I was born. This 0:13:46.200 --> 0:13:48.600 is why God gave me these gifts, This is why 0:13:48.640 --> 0:13:51.920 he gave me these experiences. This is what I'm here for. 0:13:52.240 --> 0:13:58.280 I'm gonna do it. No matter what Jezebel says about it. 0:14:00.000 --> 0:14:01.959 You've never made up your mind about that that you 0:14:02.000 --> 0:14:07.240 would be unstoppable knowing this. The enemy sends threats, intimidation insecurity. 0:14:07.840 --> 0:14:10.000 And maybe you're familiar with this story, but I want 0:14:10.000 --> 0:14:12.680 to tell you the story real quick. She said, by 0:14:12.720 --> 0:14:16.640 this time tomorrow, I'm gonna kill you. She can't do it. 0:14:17.040 --> 0:14:18.720 The proof that she can't do it is that she 0:14:18.760 --> 0:14:24.040 hadn't done it yet. I'm gonna say that again. The 0:14:24.120 --> 0:14:28.000 proof that the enemy can't do to you what he 0:14:28.120 --> 0:14:30.160 keeps freaking you out that he is going to do 0:14:30.240 --> 0:14:36.480 to you, is that if he could, he would have 0:14:37.400 --> 0:14:42.400 by now, whoop, whoop, thank you Jesus. So you mean 0:14:42.640 --> 0:14:45.640 so you mean so you mean he doesn't have any 0:14:45.800 --> 0:14:49.520 power over me, that my thought patterns don't give him. 0:14:49.760 --> 0:14:53.880 That's right. Now. Jezebel is a person in history. She's 0:14:53.920 --> 0:14:58.200 a Phoenician queen. She brought bail idols of bail and Astira, 0:14:59.120 --> 0:15:00.920 and she really hear in the nation away from God 0:15:00.920 --> 0:15:04.480 when she married Ahab. But look at verse three because 0:15:04.920 --> 0:15:07.400 it is not her threat that is the most significant 0:15:07.440 --> 0:15:13.800 part of this passage, and it's not Elijah's feelings. Because 0:15:13.880 --> 0:15:20.800 verse three says Elijah was afraid and ran for his life. 0:15:22.960 --> 0:15:25.640 The way that is worded gives the indication that he 0:15:25.760 --> 0:15:28.480 thought she actually could do what she said she would do. 0:15:29.360 --> 0:15:32.880 I don't believe that. I'll show you why. Now this 0:15:32.920 --> 0:15:34.720 is just the introduction. There's just something I want you 0:15:34.760 --> 0:15:36.680 to see before we get to the part of the 0:15:36.720 --> 0:15:40.200 passage that the Holy Spirit wants to illuminate for your understanding. Today, 0:15:40.920 --> 0:15:44.000 said when he came to Beersheba, you got the picture. 0:15:44.280 --> 0:15:46.880 He's had a great victory in the name of God. 0:15:47.480 --> 0:15:50.240 He prophesied a three year drought. It didn't rain for 0:15:50.280 --> 0:15:53.280 three years. He said, it's gonna rain. It did rain. 0:15:53.520 --> 0:15:56.200 After he called down fire from heaven and slaughtered all 0:15:56.200 --> 0:16:01.600 the false prophets, and he ran for his life. And 0:16:01.640 --> 0:16:04.200 then when he got to Beersheba and Judah, he left 0:16:04.240 --> 0:16:07.440 his servant there while he himself went a day's journey 0:16:07.480 --> 0:16:10.840 in the wilderness. He came to a broombush, sat down 0:16:11.040 --> 0:16:16.840 under it and prayed that he might die. I have 0:16:17.040 --> 0:16:22.040 had enough, Lord, he said, take my life. I'm no 0:16:22.200 --> 0:16:27.080 better than my ancestors. So it shows me that if 0:16:27.080 --> 0:16:30.800 he was asking God, who is all powerful, take my life, 0:16:30.840 --> 0:16:35.440 that he wasn't really running for his life, because if 0:16:35.480 --> 0:16:38.960 he wanted to die and he thought she could kill him, 0:16:39.400 --> 0:16:43.800 he would have just stayed. Maybe it would be more 0:16:43.800 --> 0:16:49.080 accurate to say that he was running from his life 0:16:50.360 --> 0:16:54.440 then to say that he was running for his life. 0:16:54.560 --> 0:16:59.080 And somebody knows exactly what I'm talking about, because you've 0:16:59.120 --> 0:17:03.560 been running from your life too. Not so much that 0:17:03.560 --> 0:17:05.560 God didn't give you victories, not so much that you 0:17:05.560 --> 0:17:07.240 don't believe He's with you, not so much that you 0:17:07.280 --> 0:17:09.560 can't point out times in your past where God came through. 0:17:10.640 --> 0:17:17.080 But it's just that hm weariness can lead to weakness 0:17:18.680 --> 0:17:26.520 if not interrupted by worship. Who are you? You talk 0:17:26.560 --> 0:17:28.440 to me all the time when I'm preaching. I've always 0:17:28.480 --> 0:17:30.840 wanted to meet you. I love you so much. I 0:17:30.920 --> 0:17:33.760 hear you on every sermon I have preached for the 0:17:33.880 --> 0:17:42.399 last seven years, and I love you for it. Thank you. 0:17:42.440 --> 0:17:45.359 Send her like five thousand dollars worth of flowers this 0:17:45.400 --> 0:17:50.200 week for me. I'm telling you because look, look, look 0:17:50.560 --> 0:17:53.800 the prophet said. The prophet said, take my life, Lord, 0:17:54.240 --> 0:17:57.719 I am no better than my ancestors. I'm gonna give 0:17:57.720 --> 0:17:59.640 you a contrast here, and you're gonna find yourself right 0:17:59.640 --> 0:18:01.800 in it, because you're like, not a prophet. I don't 0:18:01.840 --> 0:18:04.200 have anybody trying to kill me. I don't even know 0:18:04.240 --> 0:18:06.919 why I came out here today. This guy is telling 0:18:06.960 --> 0:18:10.320 me a story about an epic prophet, and I am 0:18:10.440 --> 0:18:13.159 just trying to get my kid back in school, and 0:18:13.280 --> 0:18:15.080 I am just trying to pay my rent and this 0:18:15.119 --> 0:18:18.480 doesn't relate to me at all. You're wrong, You're so wrong. 0:18:19.600 --> 0:18:22.679 This dynamic that I see in the story of Elijah's 0:18:22.760 --> 0:18:27.480 life encourages me that even the people with the greatest 0:18:27.600 --> 0:18:38.280 faith have to deal with the low moments. Don't let 0:18:38.359 --> 0:18:43.320 these Instagram Christians fool you. They only post the moments 0:18:43.359 --> 0:18:46.840 that they're proud of. But if I could follow them 0:18:46.840 --> 0:18:52.359 around with a camera just for three hours in the 0:18:52.440 --> 0:18:56.520 right situations, we would see them in this state as well. 0:18:57.000 --> 0:19:02.480 Aren't you grateful the Bible didn't take these parts because 0:19:02.520 --> 0:19:04.320 would have been easy for the Holy Spirit to be like, 0:19:04.600 --> 0:19:07.560 don't put that on Elijah. Makes him look bad. That's 0:19:07.600 --> 0:19:09.679 bad pr for the prophet. If we want the prophet 0:19:09.680 --> 0:19:11.000 to be in the Bible, he's got to be up 0:19:11.040 --> 0:19:12.600 there on the mountain. But you can't put him down 0:19:12.600 --> 0:19:14.920 there by the broombush. Look at this guy. This guy. 0:19:15.080 --> 0:19:16.880 You would edit this out of your story too. I'm 0:19:16.880 --> 0:19:18.720 telling you right now you would edit this out of 0:19:18.720 --> 0:19:22.600 your story if you were the editor. But see, the 0:19:22.640 --> 0:19:24.919 Bible cares enough about our little moments to tell us 0:19:25.359 --> 0:19:28.600 that Elijah praid he might die. I have had enough, 0:19:28.640 --> 0:19:31.879 Lord take my life. I'm no better than my ancestress. 0:19:31.920 --> 0:19:35.359 Then he lay down under the bush and fell asleep, 0:19:35.520 --> 0:19:42.800 and all at once an angel touched him and said, 0:19:43.760 --> 0:19:45.119 get read. It's about to be your favorite vers in 0:19:45.119 --> 0:19:49.920 the Bible. Get up and eat. I gave you a 0:19:50.000 --> 0:19:54.120 verse to shout over right there, get up and eat. 0:19:56.920 --> 0:20:02.480 I think I'm gonna memorize that one. You got to 0:20:02.560 --> 0:20:05.280 be by the life verses My life verses one King's 0:20:05.440 --> 0:20:10.800 nineteen verse five, Part B, Part B, Part B. That's 0:20:10.840 --> 0:20:14.719 a good part. Now look at it. He looked around, 0:20:14.880 --> 0:20:17.600 and okay, okay, okay, the holy spiritual of this there 0:20:18.760 --> 0:20:24.439 by his head. By his head was some bread baked 0:20:24.440 --> 0:20:30.199 over hot coals and a jar of water. Man, if 0:20:30.240 --> 0:20:32.240 I hadnt known running from God was this much fun, 0:20:32.240 --> 0:20:36.000 I'd have started sooner. God sends him a personal chef. 0:20:36.480 --> 0:20:41.560 Now the door dash a personal chef to the broom 0:20:41.600 --> 0:20:45.399 bush and said, there by his head with some bread 0:20:45.400 --> 0:20:47.639 baked over hot coals and a jar of water. And 0:20:47.680 --> 0:20:51.280 he ate and drank, and then lay down again. The 0:20:51.320 --> 0:20:53.639 Angel of the Lord came back a second time and 0:20:53.680 --> 0:20:55.600 touched him and said, get up and eat, for the 0:20:55.680 --> 0:20:57.720 journey is too much for you. So he got up, 0:20:57.920 --> 0:21:02.000 ate and drank. Strengthened by that food, he went back 0:21:02.000 --> 0:21:05.840 and did what God told him to do. Now he 0:21:05.920 --> 0:21:12.359 traveled forty days and forty nine until he reached horror 0:21:12.359 --> 0:21:14.840 of the Mountain of God. And there he went in 0:21:14.880 --> 0:21:19.120 a cave spent the night. So did you see it? 0:21:20.119 --> 0:21:24.000 How God had his back even while Elijah was running. 0:21:25.400 --> 0:21:30.400 Did you see it how God fed Elijah even when 0:21:30.400 --> 0:21:34.240 Elijah didn't have faith? Did you see it how God 0:21:34.320 --> 0:21:36.800 carried you through some dark seasons of your life where 0:21:36.840 --> 0:21:39.159 you denied that He even existed. Did you see it 0:21:43.560 --> 0:21:46.480 that He followed you right there into that hospital room. 0:21:46.600 --> 0:21:48.720 Did you see it that he followed you right there 0:21:48.720 --> 0:21:50.760 into that divorce court? Did you see it that he 0:21:50.840 --> 0:21:55.640 followed you right there to that broom bush. God's got 0:21:56.280 --> 0:21:59.639 your back. Spurgeon preached a sermon. He talked about the 0:21:59.720 --> 0:22:03.720 turn back. He talked about not God having his back 0:22:03.760 --> 0:22:06.080 to me, but me having my back to God. And 0:22:06.119 --> 0:22:08.880 how God will feed you even when you are being 0:22:08.960 --> 0:22:15.040 led by your feelings away from his will for your life. 0:22:16.280 --> 0:22:19.680 And there by his head was the provision of God 0:22:20.000 --> 0:22:28.080 right by his head. And yet it wasn't enough to 0:22:28.080 --> 0:22:32.720 turn him around. Because even though the angel dropped off 0:22:33.080 --> 0:22:41.680 the provision by his head, Jezebel was in his head. Yeah, 0:22:44.160 --> 0:22:49.399 the angel drops off the food by his head. Jezebel 0:22:50.640 --> 0:22:55.920 is in his head. Life, lesson, be very careful who 0:22:55.960 --> 0:23:05.119 you led in your head. How many people won't let 0:23:05.119 --> 0:23:07.399 people walk in your house unless they take their shoes off. 0:23:08.760 --> 0:23:10.880 So what in the world are you doing on Facebook 0:23:10.960 --> 0:23:20.439 letting people walk all through. I'm so sorry that was 0:23:20.560 --> 0:23:23.880 so confrontational. I'm just trying to help you to see 0:23:23.920 --> 0:23:28.520 the discrepancy that a lot of times we will protect 0:23:28.560 --> 0:23:33.600 everything more than we protect our headspace. Everything. Don't get 0:23:33.640 --> 0:23:36.600 in my car with don't get in my car with 0:23:36.640 --> 0:23:39.399 those dirts. You can't leave trash in my car, but 0:23:39.520 --> 0:23:46.040 I will go seek out trash on my phone and 0:23:46.119 --> 0:23:49.080 I can get a new car. But I only have 0:23:49.280 --> 0:23:54.240 so much headspace. I only have so much. I only 0:23:54.280 --> 0:23:56.720 have so much, and I need it for my family, 0:23:56.920 --> 0:23:58.880 and I need it for my church, and I need 0:23:58.920 --> 0:24:00.760 it for those who count on me, and I need 0:24:00.760 --> 0:24:03.480 it for my future. So no, you just can't walk 0:24:03.520 --> 0:24:07.560 through my mind with muddy shoes. I'm not being mean. 0:24:08.000 --> 0:24:19.080 I'm being strategic because I got a call on my life. 0:24:20.400 --> 0:24:23.200 And he went in a case and spent the night 0:24:23.480 --> 0:24:26.520 forty days away from the Northern Kingdom, where the wicked 0:24:26.600 --> 0:24:30.040 king Ahad was still reigning, even though Yahweh God had 0:24:30.080 --> 0:24:33.440 just sent a shower to prove his presence and revival 0:24:33.560 --> 0:24:36.120 was on the way. Ah But the enemy always wants 0:24:36.160 --> 0:24:38.600 to threaten you, to make you run at the time 0:24:38.640 --> 0:24:45.760 of revival. I never did anything important for God that 0:24:45.880 --> 0:24:49.719 the intimidation didn't increase right before I did it. I'm 0:24:49.760 --> 0:24:54.280 talking about breaking down, crying, freaking out, stomach sickness, all 0:24:54.359 --> 0:24:58.360 of it, just to try to get me to run 0:24:58.400 --> 0:25:03.840 from what God is doing. And he goes in a cave. 0:25:05.119 --> 0:25:08.440 How many times have you heard me preach about this cave, Holly, 0:25:09.000 --> 0:25:12.880 she said a few? How many times have you seen 0:25:12.920 --> 0:25:21.440 me go in that cave in my personal life? Yeah? Yeah, yeah, 0:25:21.440 --> 0:25:26.199 I know this cave well, because not so much the 0:25:26.240 --> 0:25:28.800 physical implications of the cave. You know, we call it 0:25:28.800 --> 0:25:31.760 a man cave, and that's supposed to be a good thing. 0:25:33.240 --> 0:25:37.520 But when a man goes in the cave, the cave 0:25:37.560 --> 0:25:46.480 of your own counsel, now the enemy has got you 0:25:46.560 --> 0:25:49.679 right where he wants. You know, as many times as 0:25:49.680 --> 0:25:52.440 I've preached about the cave, there's something that's even more 0:25:52.480 --> 0:25:57.320 important than where Elijah ended up in the cave. Because 0:25:57.320 --> 0:25:59.560 God called him out of the cave. But by the 0:25:59.600 --> 0:26:02.520 time he got there, the Bible says, you ever seen 0:26:02.520 --> 0:26:06.440 this before? In verse nine, it says, excuse me, verse eight, 0:26:07.240 --> 0:26:12.439 he traveled forty days and forty nine. Now, the last 0:26:12.560 --> 0:26:17.879 recorded conversation that he has had with God happened forty 0:26:17.960 --> 0:26:25.080 days ago. You cannot go forty days on the strength 0:26:25.880 --> 0:26:31.840 of your last conversation with God. You cannot go four 0:26:31.920 --> 0:26:38.080 days on the strength. You can't go four hours. You 0:26:38.160 --> 0:26:42.040 can't go four minutes. When I'm preaching. Let me tell 0:26:42.040 --> 0:26:47.440