Let the Lord Be Gentle

And before we pray, we do want to welcome all of you here this morning and those online. Welcome and we just, Lord, we ask that you'd bless our time as we worship you in song and study your word together, Lord. Move in this place while your Holy Spirit, Lord. As all that's going on around us is going on around us, Lord, help us be focused on you, Lord. We give you praise and thanks and just bless our time.

Amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now was blind, but now I see. T'was grace that taught my heart. And grace, my fear, how precious is that grace. The hours, Billy, my chains are gone.

Ransom has ransomed my sin.

There'll be a change one day. You'll come again.

May we just worship you from our hearts, Lord. Not necessarily that we feel all jazzed or whatever. We may feel jazzed, we may not. But, Lord, we can. By faith, worship you this morning, because you're God and you love us. Oh, such sinners we are. Thank you for saving us.

Potter, I'm the canvas and the clay. I'm the canvas and the clay. I'm the canvas and the clay. Father, we thank you that to us clay, we're at the potter's, Lord, and care. And so, may we just remember that we're but clay. And, oh, mold us and make us, Lord. And we know the trials and those things we go through will be used. And, oh, mold us and make us to come to the finished product when we come to you in glory, Lord.

We thank you, Jesus.

Refuge in the storm.

Omniscient, all-present God, all-knowing God, and omnipresent God. We can trust you in every area of our life. You deserve all of our praise.

We give you praise, Lord. We thank you. And so, Father, as our service continues, as Juan will be sharing the message this morning, anointing by the power of your Holy Spirit, Lord. Move in our hearts, Lord. Give us ears to hear. Hearts to perceive and receive. And willingness to give it to you, Lord, and obey. Because you love us. You first loved us. We love you, Lord.

We thank you. In Jesus' name, amen. Let's have a little fellowship time.

Okay. Oh, yay. Okay. It works. Good morning, everyone. Welcome to Calvary Chapel, Arc City. Glad to see you all here bright and early in the morning. Real quick. Before we start, make sure to take your cellular devices, set them to stun or vibrate, whichever is easiest for you. And let's get prepared to dive into the Word. We've got a special guest speaker this morning, Pastor Ryan and...

Oh, can you hear me? Okay. Well, I was getting feedback. I wasn't going to go up any higher. Pastor Ryan and a bunch of the leaders, leadership team, are on their way to Tucson, Arizona for the Pastors and Leaders Conference in Tucson. So keep them in prayer, if you will.

Bulletins. Pull out your bulletins. I forgot about that.

Weekly. Everything's still on track, as far as I can tell. Prayer tonight. Oh, that's tonight? Okay. For the intercessory prayer? All righty. That happens at 6 o'clock. Thank you, Robbie. And then what's happening now, the church directory. Today is the last day for pictures. If you haven't had your picture taken and you want to be in the... Booklet, please stay after first service or second service, and they will take your picture

and get you in the directory. And basically, if you've been here once, you're a visitor. If you've been here twice, you're now a member. So if you're a member, please join us so that we know who you are when we're walking down the hall and say, I know that guy or I know that girl. Get your picture taken, get you in the directory, and that way we can walk down the hall with

a book saying, okay, now you are Bob. Right? So please. If you want to... Take part in that. It's not a must. Kid check is coming soon as well. As you see that, Sandra and I... This has been in the works for a while. So just for those that have children, there aren't many here that do, but that's coming soon, and the QR code will help you get that set up on your cellular device.

The FLS banquet April 2nd will be... And I'm sure the church usually buys a couple of tables if you're interested in going to that. Go ahead and talk to Pastor Ryan and let him know that you're interested, and there may be a seat available for you there. April 2nd, we have a fellowship event. Not totally sure what is going to happen, but it's going to be a time where all of us

can just gather together and fellowship. I'm assuming there'll be games, there'll be worship, there'll be prayer, many things available to us to do throughout that evening. But we'll give you more information. The time arrives. Okay, moving right along. Met this guy, gosh, what was it, eight years ago? Are we that old? Six years ago, something like that. Six years ago, Vacation Bible School, and this real energetic group from Wichita came

down to help, and their youth pastor was with them. There were a couple of you that were youth pastors. And it was such a blessing to us old people that we're trying to round up all of these young people as old people. As old people, you resemble that remark. And it was great to have the youth help shepherd the youth, and was really taken by this young man that brought them down and fed into them.

And he's continuing to feed into them, and it's an awesome, awesome thing. And they continue to come down and help with the VVS. They come down to do work services for us every now and again, and come and do and clean up and paint. And things like that. So, without further ado, I'm going to introduce Juan Juarez from Wichita, Calvary Chapel, Wichita. That's our speaker today.

Yep. Glenn is much nicer to me when I don't call him and ask for 100 shirts in one week. But, no, ironically, Pastor Ryan and everyone is heading to Tucson. That's actually where I was born. I was three when we moved to Kansas, and that's when we moved to Calvary Chapel. And I've kind of been there since. And so, it's been interesting and been really cool just to see the growth.

And as Glenn said, over the years, just getting to come down. I do want to thank you guys. It really is a blessing to us and our group. They're always more fun than they probably should have, you know, painting things and being around. And we still talk about the egg rolls.

It's a requirement. It's a requirement in order for us to come. But, no, thank you guys for, you know, housing us and all of that. A couple other things about me a little bit before we get started. The joke that my senior pastor and I usually make is that I like to live life fast. Not like in a weird way, but my wife and I are coming on six years of being married in

June, and I graduated high school seven years ago. So. So, we got married directly out. My daughter, my oldest daughter is four, and my youngest is just about to turn two. And her name is Nora, without the H, so you can keep the two apart. But, yeah, the Lord's just been kind of crazy in our lives, just working through the youth and through our marriage and life and ministry.

And so, yeah, it's just a blessing to be able to drive. To drive down and spend a Sunday morning with you. If you have your Bible, we'll be in 1 Kings chapter 19. If you need a Bible, I imagine that there are some somewhere, and that Glenn can take care of that. But, we actually, we just recently finished teaching through 1 and 2 Kings with the youth. And this was, honestly, it's a story that's kind of stuck with me.

I looked at my old notes, and it was a year ago, like two weeks. A week, or a year and two weeks ago, that we were here in high school. And it's something that continues to really just speak to me. Because we're going to pick up Elijah in a very interesting place. He, honestly, he's struggling. And I feel like a broken record, but 2022 has started a little weird for us.

It's been 2020, 2021, 2022. You know? It seems like it's just this season of a lot of questions, and a lot of just things that are uncomfortable, and we don't know, you know, what's going to happen, and the stuff going on in Ukraine, and just for us at our home church, COVID popped back up real thick, and everyone was getting COVID. And it's kind of just been a weird season.

And so, I love when the Lord uses the lives of His people to encourage us as we find ourselves in similar places. And so, I'm going to bring us up to speed just a little bit, since we're jumping in the middle of His life. But we will be in chapter 19 here in one second. But Father, again, as we come before You, Lord, we just ask that as we look to Your Word, that You would encourage us.

Lord, no matter how we walked in this morning, Father, if we are excited to be here, if we're just glad that we got up, Lord, if we're hurting this morning, Father, we just ask that You would be here, that You would comfort us, and that You would open our eyes to see what You have for us in Your Word. We give this time to You, and it's in Your name that we pray. Amen. So, if you looked at chapter 17, 17 is when the Lord speaks to Elijah and tells him to pray for the rain to cease.

And we know that that period of time lasts three and a half years. We actually see that in James mentioned as he's encouraging, you know, the prayer, you know, the prayer of a righteous man avails much. And he goes back to, you know, think of Elijah being a man just as we are. The Lord, you know, asked him to pray, and he prayed, and the rain ceased for three and a half years.

And so, it's kind of weird, like, why does that happen? If you look at what's going on in Israel at that time, it is probably the darkest or pretty close to one of the darkest times for them with Ahab being their king. Um, Ahab and Jezebel are much more Bonnie and Clyde than Chip and Joanna Gaines for any, you know, um, HGTV people. But, uh, this is, this is not a power couple.

This is, there's a lot of bad things going on. Uh, Ahab is, is not only just encouraging the idolatry and really just actively running away from God and instead of serving Him as the children of Israel should. Uh, and his wife is not any better. And really, you watch their dynamic, and, and Jezebel's kind of worse. And, and Ahab, you, you watch him kind of just roll over, just allowing her to, to do

whatever she wants. And, and it's just a dark time. And so, the Lord uses Elijah at, at this moment to pray for the rain to stop, really to force Israel to stop and look to Him. Because with that rain comes a drought, and with the drought comes a pretty, there's, there's a famine. It, it's, it's rough. And, and the people start resenting Elijah and, and Ahab's trying to find him and kill

him. Uh, Jezebel seeks out all of those other prophets and, and those who are following the Lord, hoping that, uh, you know, ridding the world of them fixes their issue with their drought as she looks to her false gods. And so, it leads us actually to one of the, the greatest showdowns, I think, in the Bible of Elijah and the prophets of Baal on Mount Sinai. Mount Carmel.

And so, they, they meet each other and, and he says, look, let's decide this thing once and for all. You know, who is truly God? And so, he, he tells them to, to, to build an altar and to bring a bull and you guys can sacrifice it on the altar and pray to your God that, that the rain would come, that He would end this famine. If, if He really is, uh, you know, your God and, and He cares about you, then He should hear you, right?

And so, they, they... They cut up the bull, they lay it on the altar, and they begin praying, which turns to yelling, which turns to them cutting themselves and dancing about, in which Elijah then, uh, uh, starts kind of trash-talking them a little bit. And maybe he's busy, you know, being like a god and stuff, and he just can't hear you. Or maybe he's on a journey.

Or maybe he's in the restroom and he's busy right now and he just can't come and help you. And so, they, they just... They really make a fool of themselves, uh, doing whatever they're doing, trying, and, and nothing happens. And so then, at the time that was correct, the time of the evening sacrifice, Elijah rebuilds the altar, uh, there's the twelve stones, you know, there's, there's a ton of symbolism, uh, of, of God's people and the way that this should be.

He then drenches the altar and the sacrifice three times, and then digs a moat around that and fills that with water, just to make sure that there is no way that Elijah is going to die. That this thing really should ever catch on fire. To prove that when the Lord meets him, that it really is the Lord doing it, and it's not Elijah. And so he prays, and fire descends from heaven, consuming the entirety of the altar, and the water, and the moat, and the people of Israel who have gathered to watch the showdown, you know, rejoice, and wow, like, he truly is God.

The God of Israel. It's not Baal. And so, Elijah tells them to, to take the prophets of Baal, it's a couple hundred, and, and to kill them, and to return to the Lord. And then, directly after that, Elijah prays that the rain would come again, and it does. And then we get this, I want to read it real quick, it's the end of, uh, end of 18. It's kind of an interesting little fact, and, and we're building this because this should

be the time where Elijah, it's the, the interview after the game. Right? We won the national championship, we won the Super Bowl, we, we had great victory, and, and Elijah, who do you want to thank? And, you know, my mom, and all the people that have brought me here, and, you know, Elijah's the MVP, and, and it seems like this should be such a great victory for the Lord, what he's done, and what he's done through Elijah.

And if you look at 18, just real quick, above verse 46, after he prays that the rain would come again, it starts raining, and he sends Ahab back to Jezreel. 46, then. Says, then the hand of the Lord came upon Elijah, and he girded up his loins and ran ahead of Ahab to the entrance of Jezreel. And it's like a 14-mile run that the Lord supernaturally gives him the ability to outrun a chariot so that he beats him to Jezreel before Ahab even gets there.

And so it's, it's a pretty phenomenal story, right? This should be amazing. And yet, when we find ourselves looking at verse 1, Elijah's not excited. And how does he get to the point? So let's look. Verse 1 of chapter 19. And Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, and how he had executed all the prophets with the sword. Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying,

So let the gods do to me, and more also, if I do not make your life as the life of one of them by tomorrow about this time. And when he saw that, he arose and ran for his life, and went to Beersheba, which belongs to Judah, and left his servants. But he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a broom tree. And he prayed that he might die, and said, It is enough.

Now, Lord, take my life, for I am no better than my father's. So this seems pretty confusing, right? He had just a string of ultimate victories. The Lord has met him with power. The Lord has made himself known. The people even are maybe starting to recognize that Ahab, and Jezebel are terrible leaders, that they're leading them to gods that have no power. But yet, the God of Israel, Yahweh, has shown himself to be true.

He's supernaturally gifted to run past a chariot and get there. And at the first sign of resistance, he then flees, which if you go maps and stuff, which is not always my greatest gig, but he flees as far south as humanly possible, being northern kingdom, southern kingdom, into Judah, right? As far south as possible, and then leaves his servants there, and journeys an entire day, even deeper, into the wilderness, further away from everyone. So as physically far as possible as he can be, to make sure that he's not caught.

And then he finds himself in a place where he says, Lord, I'm done. I don't want to do this anymore. Kill me. And it seems like, man, what is going on? And I've done youth ministry. I've done youth ministry for seven years now, and part of me looks at this as middle school boy syndrome. You know, like, the girl doesn't like me, and my life is just over, and I don't know what's going to happen,

or I missed it, you know. Middle school boys are weird. I'm sorry if you have one. If you were one, let's just admit it's a rough time for us. But it seems like he's being really emotional. It seems like, how can you forget what God has just done? He's done some of this. He's done some of this. He's done some of this. The greatest feats of miracles through Elijah's life, and yet now he's at a point where he wants to quit?

He's at a point where he's depressed enough that, Lord, take me out of the game. I don't even want to be on the earth anymore. But something hit me when I was looking at it, and I think that, honestly, I can find myself in the same place. I wonder if Elijah thought that the Lord was going to use this moment for revival. And when it didn't happen, he didn't know what to do anymore.

Because if you think about it, like, everything's been bad, and Elijah's been continuing, that the Lord will meet him. And the people have seen there's this great victory. I wonder if Elijah expected everything to change in that moment. That maybe either the people were going to overthrow Ahab, and we want a new king. We need to have a king that's following the Lord.

Or maybe... He's expecting Ahab, like, you know, because God can do anything. Maybe Ahab gets saved, and Israel's back on track. You know, this should be the moment of hope. And yet, he's met with resistance. He's met with a hit out on his life, fleeing for his life. And so, I have a little bit more grace for him in that moment. Because I can think about the times where it can be frustrating.

Or confusing when God doesn't move the way that we want him to, or the way that we thought he was going to. Because I think there's a good chance that Elijah thought God was doing one thing. And when he didn't, then he started questioning everything. Like, maybe I got this all wrong. Or maybe I'm just not the guy anymore. It's also, he's tired. He feels pretty alone.

There's not anyone else around. And we know that he feels alone, because he's going to tell us in the next couple of verses. And, Lord, I can't keep doing this anymore. You know, like, I'm trying. And literally, no one cares. And, in fact, they hate me, and they hate you. And so, Lord, I just don't want to do this anymore. So, it's interesting, because we find him in this place.

And if I'm honest, 2020, I'm not that far from this place. Lord, why? Why are we here? What are we supposed to do? You know, government. And pestilence. And everything that's going on. You know, the world is careening faster and faster away from you, it feels like. I'm blessed to be able to go every week to East High, which is the largest high school in Wichita.

It's like 2,300 students or something crazy. Which is bigger than the hometown I grew up in. I went to high school with 250 kids. So, their graduating classes are bigger than mine. I went to the entire high school. But you walk around, and you just see a lot of pain, a lot of not caring, a lot of just, you know, good being called evil, and evil being called good.

And so, I think that all of us, there's times where we look at Lord, like, why? Like, why do we have to keep doing this? Can't you just take me home? Can't we just be done? I thought maybe this was going to fix it, but this didn't. And where's the new revival? Where is this? And so, I... I was challenged to slow down and look at what's going on. And honestly, how does the Lord respond?

Because part of me was expecting the Lord to be like, come on, Elijah. We've been through way too much for you to do this. Pick yourself up. Quit being a crybaby. Get back in the game. You know, I played sports a lot of my life. So, it's the time where, yeah, you tried to take three-pointer from half court with 20 seconds left on the shot clock. What are you doing?

Get back in the game. And quit whining about it, or you're going to run after practice, you know? Like, I'm expecting the Lord to be a little bit more forceful. But yet, it's interesting, because how does he handle it? Verse 5. Then, as he lay, Elijah, and slept under a broom tree, suddenly an angel touched him and said to him, Arise and eat. Then he looked, and there by his head was a cake baked on coals and a jar of water.

And so, he ate and he drank and he lay down again. And the angel of the Lord came back a second time and touched him and said, Arise and eat, because the journey is too great for you. So, he arose and ate and drank. And he went in the strength of that food for 40 days and 40 nights, as far as Mount Horeb, the mountain of God. And there, he went into a cave and spent the night in the place.

And behold, the word of the Lord came to him and said to him, Elijah, or what are you doing here, Elijah? So, we're going to pause there. And so, it's pretty interesting, because instead of being rebuked, the Lord, actually sends an angel, lets him take his depression nap, gives him a snack, wakes him up, puts him back to sleep, gives him another snack, which means the Lord likes snacks, which I'm good with. I'm okay with that, you know, building theology from this.

But, no, it's interesting, because the Lord takes care of his physical needs. Because the thing that I think I forgot about is that Elijah's got to be exhausted. I mean, doing a Sunday morning service, in at eight, servant prayer, first service, second service, teaching the youth, you know, sometimes leading worship, whatever, like I find myself in. By two o'clock on Sunday, I'm ready for a nap, I need a snack, you know, it's just a long day.

And I'm not fleeing for my life, I'm not praying over an intense battle going on before me as the Lord, you know, reveals himself. And so, I think there's just a decent amount of fatigue for Elijah, and the Lord knows that and takes care of him. The other thing that's kind of cool is, like, what was the food that was made? Like, is this manna? Like, is this, you know, if you think about when Jesus restores Peter, they find him making breakfast on the shore.

So, yeah, it's just kind of cool, seeing how the Lord takes care of his people. Obviously, it is supernatural, because he then takes a 40-day journey with that sustenance. And it also points to Elijah's heart, because the Lord meets him, feeds him, and then he goes 40 days of a journey. So, it's not like he's quit in the process, like, all right, I've had my snack, but I don't want to do this anymore, Lord.

He's trying to figure out what's going on. And where does he take him? This part's kind of interesting. Mount Horeb, mountain of the Lord, right, which would also be known as Sinai. So, he takes him back to where the Lord has spoken to his people and reminded him of his power and who he is. And so, obviously, God is doing something. And then he asks him, As if he didn't know the answer, but he lets Elijah respond anyways.

So, verse 10, he said, So, we see one of the reasons why Elijah is here is he quite literally thinks he is completely alone. The rest of the world hates the Lord. There is no one on his side. And he's tired. And so, the Lord's response is interesting. Because, again, he doesn't say, get over it, Elijah. There's got to be more. Like, stop being a baby. I fed you.

We walked here. Like, look at the fancy place that we're at. Like, this is cool. Like, I'm doing this on purpose so that you're here. But instead, verse 11, he said, Go out and stand on the mountain before the Lord. And behold, the Lord passed by. And a great and strong wind tore into the mountain. And broke the rock into pieces. And broke the rock into pieces before the Lord.

But 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 a fire, a still, small voice. And so, it was when Elijah heard it that he wrapped his face in his mantle. And went and stood in the entrance of the cave. And suddenly, a voice came to him and said,

What are you doing here, Elijah? And so, after Elijah says, I'm all alone. The Lord takes him out and reveals himself. And I feel like that's a great thing. I feel like there's an earth, wind, and fire joke here that I just don't know. Elijah is a shining star. Which I also should get credit for. I looked it up. That was 20 years before I was born. So, just saying.

It's interesting. Oh, sorry. It's interesting because if you think about Elijah's ministry, God has shown up in great power a lot. But how does he reveal himself right now when Elijah is doubting the Lord? Or doubting what he's doing? Or doubting what he's doing? Or doubting what he's doing? Or doubting what he's doing? Or doubting what he's doing? Or doubting what he's doing?

Or doubting what God is doing? He reveals himself in the stillness. In the small voice. To remind Elijah that he's there all the time. That he's not just with Elijah when fire's raining down from heaven. That he's not just with Elijah when he's being picked up and run at crazy speeds, faster than chariots, miles. He's not just with Elijah when he's feeding him something supernatural

and making him walk a 40-day journey. and making him walk a 40-day journey. He's always there in the stillness. Reminding him that he is in his glory and his power as well. But he's with Elijah in the stillness. And then he asks again, why are you here? And this is where I'm young. Texts always carry, like you gotta read in tone. You know, like if someone's texting you,

like making sure that you don't accidentally read in the wrong tone. Because it's the K-O-K-O-K-A-Y. If my wife texts me either of those, they mean different things. Because they each carry their own tone. K is I'm in trouble. O-K is I'm about to be in trouble. And O-K-A-Y is we're good. But it's easy to reread because Elijah's response seems exactly the same.

Because verse 14, he said, I have been very zealous for the Lord God of hosts because of my sin. Because the children of Israel have forsaken your covenant, torn down your altars, killed your prophets with the sword. I alone am left and they seek to take my life. And so it's easy to read the same tone in. But I really do think in looking that there's a difference in Elijah's heart.

As he says the same words because his circumstances haven't changed. But it seems like his heart has changed. Because how he responds when the Lord answers the second time. Because the first time it was I'm alone. I think the second time is, okay, I'm still alone. I don't know what's going on. But like, this is still my circumstance. But what are you going to do?

And so the Lord's response, verse 15, the Lord said to him, go and return on your way to the wilderness of Damascus. And when you arrive, anoint Hazael as king over Syria. And you shall anoint Jehu, the son of Nimshi, as king over Syria. And you shall anoint Jehu, as king over Israel. And Elisha, the son of Shaphat, of Abel-Meholah, you shall anoint as prophet in your place.

And it shall be that whoever escapes the sword of Hazael, Jehu will kill. And whoever escapes the sword of Jehu, Elisha will kill. Yet I have reserved 7,000 in Israel whose knees have not bowed to Baal and every mouth that has not kissed him. And that's where the story ends. Because if you look at verse 19, Elisha leaves for Damascus. Or Elisha leaves from there

to go find Elisha. So that's why I think the tone of his response has changed. Because this is it. This seems to be enough for Elisha. Why? Kind of cool. What has the Lord done? He's given him an exact answer. Because in crisis, when we're running and when we don't know what's going on, hearing the Lord say, this is the next thing that I want you to do, focus on this,

is very helpful. And so he gives him, this is exactly what I want you to do. He gives him a friend in ministry. Go find Elisha. Like you feel like you are alone right now, that you are the only one in Israel that is seeking after me. I'm going to actually give you a friend to do ministry alongside of, someone to pour into, someone that will support you. And he will take your ministry.

This isn't forever. I think that's pretty cool too, is that continue running the race. Your time will come when I do bring you home because you have done everything that I have for you, but continue for now. But I'm going to give you someone to do alongside with. He also reminds him of his justice, that he sees what's going on. He tells them, hey, all of these people,

they will be judged ultimately, not by you, some by Jehu, you know, but at the end of the day, the Lord will judge the sin and that he's not blind to what's going on. And he also reminds him that not only will I give you a friend, but there are way more people out there that still love me. You just haven't met them yet. So the really cool thing is we skipped it.

But the messenger that Elijah talks to, to set up the meeting with Ahab on Mount Carmel, is actually the same, same guy who has hid 100 prophets in caves. Where's Elijah? In a cave. So there are quite literally 100 other people hiding from Jezebel because they have followed the Lord and they're also in caves. So not only is he saying, hey, I'm all alone. There's no one else like me.

The Lord is saying, yes, there is, almost to a T, that there really are people out there. And so trust me and continue. And that's where it ends. And if you follow, then it's Elisha gets called into ministry, which is really cool because as he does it, Elijah walks over and throws his cloak on him. There's mantle calling him to be a prophet with him as well.

And Elisha eats his backup plan. He's out like plowing with the oxen and he takes the yoke that he has and makes a fire and then takes the oxen that he was plowing with and makes a feast for all of his friends and family saying, hey, God's calling me to, a new season of life. So he literally has nothing to go back to, which is kind of cool. Fun fact, didn't need that, but it's one of my favorites.

But that's it. And Elisha, Elijah, Elijah seems content with the answer and he continues his ministry. But if we think about it, what was his problem? Ultimately, it tracks back to he took his eyes off the Lord. He let the present circumstances, the stress of life, the imminent danger, he let that be bigger than the Lord. Because Elijah's been saved a whole bunch of times.

People wanted to kill him a lot of times in his ministry up until this point. It's not the first time that something crazy's happened. And I think if Elijah had been able to keep his eyes fixed on the Lord, he would have known, you know what? The Lord will deal with it. In some way. Because the Lord always has for him. But he took his eyes off. And so, you know, teaching through it

with youth, you know, a year ago, that was very much more myself. Like, I need to pay attention to what the Lord has done for Elijah. Because he does a couple things. The first thing really was he brings him to a place that Elijah can hear from him. He removes him not from the wilderness, that he ran to, but takes him to a very specific and unique place. He brings him to Mount Sinai

to have the conversation so that he will be listening to the Lord without any other distraction. And if I think about the times that I find myself not being able to trust or not knowing what's going to happen, a lot of times I do need to retreat and find a place, you know, whether it's just I've got two kids, so, you know, not having toddlers running around, you know, screaming, climbing, all the crazy things that they do, you know, to have some peace, to just sit with the Lord. The second thing is, is he fulfills his physical needs, which seems like a very small thing. But if I think about, there are a lot of Wednesdays, because I'm full-time on staff, and so we're there at nine in the morning, we go home at like 9, 9.30 at night.

It's a long day. There's a lot of Wednesdays I forget to eat lunch, which seems like it's not a big thing. Except by the time they get to 7 or 6.30, sorry, we changed our service time. By the time I get to 6.30, I've got a headache. I can't focus. Like, it's hard to teach. It's hard to love well. And so one of the things that the Lord reminded me, even in, there are small things

that we need to make sure that we take care of, because it helps me set myself up to love other people well. Because if I'm focused on, you know, I'm starving or I've got a migraine because, you know, I'm low on protein or I haven't, you know, taken care of the whatever. You know, I forgot to pick up my kids. Oh no, like, you know, like we have to take care of some of the basic, basic things because it helps us do our ministry better.

And so the Lord knows that and he makes sure that he gets a nap. Like, we need you rested. If I stayed up till, you know, six o'clock in the morning and was like, oh no, I got to get on the road. Like, this would not be a good experience for all of us. So neglecting our physical needs is not wise. And the Lord knows, that and meets him in his physical needs.

I need to remember just as the Lord spoke to Elijah that the Lord is in the stillness. He's in the still small voice, which means he's there always. So he's not just when, you know, we need to have a hard conversation that we cry out to him and he meets us with his power. You know, he's there all the time. He's not just there when, you know, you need to lead

a set of worship or you need to teach a children's church class or you need to, you know, whatever ministry the Lord has given you. He's not just there when it's go time. He's there all the time. And I need to remind myself of that and spend the time with him and listen. I'm reminded that when I don't know what's going on, I can ask specifically and the Lord will give

a specific answer. Lord, what do you want me to do next? Because that's what he gives Elijah. This is what I want you to do next. Like the world looks like it's collapsing. I'm still in control. Here's the next thing. It's funny. It's an unpopular quote because it comes from Derek Carr, quarterback of the Raiders. Sorry, Chiefs Nation. But he's a solid believer

and one of the things that he talked about is his mentor reminded him it's not actually that good. It's complicated. Like the Lord is, there's a lot there and God will speak to us in amazing ways. But really, simply put, wake up every morning and ask the Lord, what do you want me to do today? And if you wake up every single morning and you ask the Lord, what do you want me to do today?

And you do that thing, the Lord will bring you where you're supposed to be. And so, you know, he was just talking about being in the NFL. It's a weird life. And so his practice was, Lord, what do you want from me today? And so, you know, and to walk in that. That's kind of how the Lord speaks to Elijah. This is what I want you to do now. And then after he does that,

this is the next thing, to not get ahead of ourselves. The other thing that we learn from Elijah and the Lord's dealing with him is we need to walk out a lot of those answers in community. Part of why Elijah is running away is be, he actually leaves his servant. He leaves his servant and then journeys another day. We have to do this together in fellowship. And that's why we do church.

You know, that's why we don't just have a relationship with Jesus and our Bible at home and leave it at that. Community is very important because God speaks through each other. You know, it keeps us accountable. It's harder for me to be called out, you know, when I don't even realize what I'm doing, if I'm all alone. You know, for those of you who are married,

a lot of times it's your spouse that the Lord uses. And hey, what's going on? I haven't really thought about it. I'm not super introspective as a person. It's harder for me to get there. Like, I have to work at thinking, like, all right, what's going on? And so my wife's good at reminding me to stop and assess, like, what is going on in my heart? Like, why am I reacting?

You know, why am I nervous today? Or why am I frustrated today? Oh, there is something there that I need to. So the Lord uses community. He uses each other to speak to us a lot of times and to encourage us. And so he gives him Elisha. You need to do this. You need to continue doing this really hard ministry with someone so that you can support each other. And he reminds him

that ultimately there's hope. That there are other people out there. You're not the only one. That I am still in control. I'm not ignoring the sin. It's not passing by and I'm not seeing it. I know what's happening, but I'm doing something different. And, and, and, and, and, and, it's in his timing. Because judgment for that sin does come. It's just not right there.

And that's something that I think is, is hard to remember sometimes right now. You know, driving down and gas has changed 50 cents in a week. You know, and like, is the Lord still in control? But he is. It's actually really cool. We have a, we have a missionary that our senior pastor has been friends with for a lot of years that is, was in the Ukraine. And they were in line

at the border fleeing into, into Poland. And he was just talking about the ministry that was happening in the line. It was 17 kilometers long when they joined it, which is like 10 and a half miles. And he was like, pray that our gas is still gas. Like, it's cold and there's no gas stations around. So we got what we got. In which my senior pastor was like, yeah,

the Lord likes oil. You know, you know, replenishing itself for as long as you need, which is actually an Elijah thing. But anyways, the Lord is still in control and the Lord's doing some really cool stuff. You know, but if, if I don't stop and look to him, I can look at turmoil and think, oh, God's done. He's not paying attention anymore. And so therefore I am as well.

But that's not true. And one of the other things looking back on it, we see a lot of the Lord's character in this story. You know, we see that, that the Lord is not confused that we're human, which I think I forget sometimes, you know, like he knows that Elijah is, is just a person and, and he's gentle with him because he's being a little bit of a knucklehead, but he's patient and he's gracious and he's kind to him. You know, we see him being extremely gentle and that's not always the first place that I go, you know, but it's, it's his kindness that leads us to repentance.

It's not his strong will. It's not his, it's not his iron fist that, that calls us to repentance. It's his, it's his kindness. It's his gentleness because the Lord is not out to break Elijah for doing the wrong thing. The Lord is out to meet Elijah in his pain, in his struggle, in his doubt and to remind him of who he is, to encourage him, to build him up, to then continue

to send him out and to meet him. You know, we see that, that the Lord is in all things, the fire, the wind, the earthquake in the stillness. And I think the thing that's really cool is he knows what's best for us because he treats Elijah in the exact way that he needs to. It is exactly what he needs to be brought to a specific place, to be fed, to be able to hear what the Lord has, to remind him that he's there and then he gives, he gives him very specific instructions on what to do next.

He gives him a friend that he knew that he needed and he reminds him that there's hope. You know, I, if I'm the Lord, I don't handle Elijah this way. There's a reason why I'm not the Lord.

And if, if I'm, if I'm Elijah in the moment, the Lord doesn't do the exact same thing. I've never outrun a chariot. You know, the Lord's never taken, well, the Lord's taken me to a mountain once and spoken to me. But, it's not always that the Lord does the exact same thing for every person because every person is a little bit different. And he knows exactly

what I need because a shepherd knows his flock. He knows his sheep.

And so, no matter where we find ourselves this morning, you know, whether we're, we're very much in Elijah's place and, and Lord, I'm, I want to be done and I don't know what to do. Or, or maybe we're not. You know, hopefully we've, we've found some encouragement in God's character. You know, maybe, maybe we are reminded that, that hey, you know what? We might need

to leave here and we might need to go sit and be quiet with the Lord. We might be reminded that hey, before I leave here, I need an Elijah in my life. I need to talk to someone. I need to pray with someone. I need to make sure that I'm doing this together. I encourage you, you know, grab someone and pray with them before you leave. We're the body together. You know,

Wichita, Arc City, Tucson, wherever we find ourselves, Ukraine, around the world. The Lord is, is, is using all of us and calling us all together and maybe we just need to remember, be reminded that the Lord's gentle because that's probably where I mess up the biggest. I don't let the Lord be who he is because I don't feel like I deserve the Lord to be gentle. You know, I don't feel like I, I, that I should be allowed to, to be dealt with gently.

You know, expect like, ah, I need to get in trouble for that one, you know, or I don't want to return and hear what he has to say because I'm afraid of what he's going to have to say. You know, but that's who God is. And, and gentleness doesn't mean that there isn't correction. He corrects him on his path and we see lots of correction by the Lord, but it's always loving and it's always specific to what they need because he knows who he's correcting.

I think that's one of the things that being a parent, um, that the Lord has completely shifted the way that I view him because I think about even just my two daughters very different from each other.

But if he's a good father, he knows how to love me. You know, my, my, my two-year-old sometimes just gets stuck. Like, she starts crying and then she doesn't know why she's crying and she doesn't want you to touch her. She'll throw herself on the ground. It's just like, it is overload in the brain. And, um, the thing that the Lord's been, that really impressed

on my heart was to just sit with her. And so we'll, we'll go, we'll go in her room and we just kind of sit there and she does her thing and eventually she'll cycle down and then she'll come and sit in my lap and then we can have a conversation. It's a little bit different than the way I was raised. My dad and I have a great relationship, um, but that was not something that he would have done.

It's not like the way that he rolled, you know? It would have been like, go figure it out, come back, you know? Um, and, and that, and that's not to say that, that he was a bad father, um, at all. Um, but the thing that the Lord impressed upon me is she needs you to just be there and then he said, this is also how I deal with you. There's a lot of times where you're stuck

and I'm gonna sit here and I'll wait and then we'll continue to have this conversation and that's what he does with Elijah. Like, literally, you know, he, he actually is like running. He's gotta be crying. It's not written in. He's gotta be crying. Um, and the Lord sits with him and he waits until he's ready and then he speaks to him exactly how he needs. So let the Lord

be gentle to you.

Father, as we continue to worship you,

Lord, as we, as we continue our day, remind us of who you are.

Lord, maybe there's something you're trying to speak to us that we're not hearing because we won't be still. Lord, maybe there's something that we know that you want to do but we're afraid. Lord, maybe we are abiding and we are as close to you as we've ever been. Lord, meet us in exactly what we need. Remind us of who you are.

Remind us of your love. Lord, strengthen us to continue the fight. To continue seeking after you. That you would get the glory and not us. You unravel me with a melody. You surround me with a song of deliverance from my enemies till all my fears are gone. I'm no longer a slave to fear the child of God. I'm no longer to fear I've been born again your family.

God flows through.

God bless y'all. Have a great week.