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All right first Kings chapter 19, this is probably I think it's the last chapter that we're gonna see just kind of dedicated to Elijah and is in Just completely dedicated to him next chapters we'll be getting into back with a hab and Ben hadad the king of Syria and they're fighting and going back and forth and stuff like that, but um Let's let's dive right in here. So if you remember last week chapter 18 was that that great story of our Elijah Set up this challenge basically to determine who is God and they had the you know all the the prophets of Baal came and and they had they had their offering and they had to just see if if bail would would Answer by fire and consume their offering for him and then of course, obviously nothing happened. They were cutting themselves They're jumping up and down. They're yelling out They're doing all their all their things and and it didn't work because bail is a false God and then Elijah got up there prepared the evening sacrifice and Of course, you know dumped all the water over it did everything he did and then at the end of that he you know Commanded that he's just like hey, you know take these prophets now because the people all saw like the well the Lord He is the God right the Lord. He is the God that's what they said and he said, you know Take these prophets and and kill him and he killed him by the by the brook kydron, I believe so that's where we left off there and then oh and then of course he prayed for the rain right because there had been that that Great drought and he prayed and God sent the rain and then he ran Back and went ahead of Ahab. So here we're picking up now in chapter 19 and Ahab now tells his wife he goes and tells Jezebel all that Elijah had done verse 1 and with all how he had slain all the prophets with the sword Then Jezebel sent a messenger unto Elijah saying so let the gods do to me and more also if I make not thy life as the life of one of them by tomorrow about this time And we see here you notice how it's kind of interesting this that how Ahab He was there when all this stuff happened and he didn't do anything to stop it, right? He didn't do anything to stop the prophets of Baal being murdered but then he goes home and tells his wife about his wife gets really angry and he's like She and you can see how she's kind of running the show here But you know Ahab's not the one in charge at his home by any means and she sends a messenger to Elijah Saying that basically you're you know, you're gonna be killed just like those prophets were killed and he gets this threat so Right after this great victory, right? I mean it seems like all the people are behind him now finally and and he has this great victory and then he destroys his prophets of Baal and Now he's getting his life threatened so verse number three says and when he saw that He arose and went for his life and came to Beersheba which belonged to Judah and left his servant there, but he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness and came and sat down under a juniper tree and he Requested for himself that he might die and said it is enough now. Oh Lord take away my life For I am not better than my father's and we see here and this is something this is a really important point and kind of A theme for this chapter of what happens to Elijah and just he goes into this depression He has this great victory, right? I mean he's he's being steadfast. He's standing for God. He's doing all this stuff He's got everyone against them seemingly I mean he continues to say like I'm the only one standing for you Lord, right and he's the one doing this But he has this awesome event where where God answers I mean hears them and everybody sees it, you know, and and the people there where he's like, you know You got to make a decision. What are you gonna do? You know people and everyone was just quiet about it until God answers by fire and then everyone's like well the Lord Yeah, he's the God and they're all jumping on the Elijah bandwagon with serving the Lord, right? I mean, that's what it seems like That's what that's what happens here to the point to where he's able to command for the the prophets of Baal That in in just prior to that event I'm sure had a lot of clout they had a lot of esteem among the people being these prophets Right that that now we're saying we'll have him killed and I was like, yeah, let's have him killed You know, no one did anything to prevent it. No one did anything against Elijah. He was there under the power of God I mean, it's literally this huge victory Now we have to be careful in our own lives when you have great victories when you have great triumphs when everything is going good I mean just so I was talking about, you know They've got these over a thousand souls being saved and Malawi and go ahead and all these people whatever it is That's doing good. You're doing a great work for God and you're just getting his victory watch out for the attack Because that seems to be that we don't want to get too caught up in this and then get so brought so far down low Because of persecution because an attack comes, you know Elijah just goes from this extreme of having his great victory now to be in to the point to where he wants to die And we see a little bit in his heart here. And and one of the things I want to point out is How he isolates himself? As soon as he gets his bad news, he starts to run he flees for his life Now, I don't think he had to worry for his life, but he did it, you know, I mean he ran away which whatever I'm not gonna condemn him for running for running away Obviously, he should be just be doing what the Lord tells him to do But I mean he's if he's trying to be a little bit wise and just go I'll say well I'm not gonna hang out here anymore. He goes to Judah, but once he gets to You know, it's a beer Sheba Technically in Judah once he gets a beer Sheba He leaves he could have just hung out there, but he leaves his servant there So the guy that's been with them this whole time he's been serving him and then he goes out into the wilderness He just goes off by himself And I'll tell you what when and you get a desire whether you're it's following a great victory or not When you get this this persecution or you go through a low point, you know Hopefully it's not someone trying to kill you like I was with Elijah But whatever whatever the circumstances whatever the persecution the last thing you want to do is just go and isolate yourself That is not a good choice to do and just and just kind of Hole up and not let anyone be around you because that's going to continue your your Depression, you know their state of mind. It's a lot harder to get out of that state that frame of mind all by yourself then if you have other people there to help encourage you and edify you and build you back up again, but see Elijah got to this place in his mind where he just felt completely alone He thought there's nobody that's with me There's no one that understands me and he had gotten to this point even before the whole thing happened with the you know with offering up the Sacrifices and there's a lot of things to learn from this chapter because dealing with depression and dealing with being down like this at the point Where you want to die is? common, I mean it's more common and I think that people realize a lot of people go through this type of event in their life and they just feel really depressed and sad and Unfortunately What happens which it's almost like a natural tendency people want to break off and just be by themselves But over and over and over again, you see that's not gonna help at all You need to have support from other people. You need other people around see Elijah leaves his servant there and He went off by himself. So it says he went off into the wilderness Sat down under a tree and he's just God Just kill me now And you could see you tell the proceeds because he just had this great victory saying, you know what? I'm not even better than my father's God. Just just just kill me just end it now You know, basically, he's just chalking up like I'm a I'm a failure My life's good for nothing anymore and Depression and isolation Do not go ahead. I mean unfortunately they do go hand in hand But these this is it's a it's a bad formula for if you want to try to fix The state of mind and being depressed you don't want to go off and isolate yourself Now he told his servant to stay behind and he did so there's a lot like I said There's a lot of things that we're gonna learn from this chapter one is if you are feeling Depressed if you're feeling really down if you think you know, whatever is going on in your life You don't you you need to remember that the solution is not going to be to go off and isolate yourself That is not gonna help at all We need to remember that we're not alone. I'm gonna get to that a little bit, but Elijah wasn't alone He felt very alone. God tells him that there were seven thousand. They haven't bowed the knee to bail He tells him that and he also just had those other people he heard from Obadiah Right what things he had done now? He wasn't the best ex you know, the best shining example of a Christian, but he knew that he was he he worshipped the Lord And he was doing some things, you know to on his own in his own way to help out And he did kind of put his neck out there a little bit trying to save these other prophets So, I mean instead of Elijah taking a little bit more comfort in that Like he could have he could have realized. Well, I'm not it's not all by myself You know Obadiah definitely had a shortcoming we went over that before of what he should have done But now taking it from the other perspective when Elijah's get into this depressed state of just thinking like man I don't know. I can't deal with this stuff. He went through a lot. No doubt He had a lot of stress and a lot of a lot of turmoil. I mean he was out in hiding for a long time He's out by the brook. He's got Ravens feeding him. He goes into this poor widow woman's house. That's that's also feeding them They've got nothing but God's providing for him, right but still Difficult situations, right? I mean, it's not he had the faith and praise God for that But we could look at that and and kind of think that he's a superhuman and we got to realize he's still I mean He imagined is going through that day in and day out. It's gonna get to you a little bit I mean just naturally it's gonna get to you We'd like to think that you're impervious to any outside it factors and in hunger or anything else that's going on And and and to think that I don't care if nobody likes me but that stuff will wear down on you after a while and It happens and we need to remember that and yeah be strong yeah, be the example be a rock be solid but be wise in the sense that Okay, I don't want to just go off and isolate myself just to show how strong I am or whatever because if you're starting to Get depressed that's not gonna help you and that didn't help Elijah going off by himself He left that servant there now from the servants perspective, too He told the servant to stay behind and he did he did you know, he's there helping him ministering to him but sometimes when people tell you they're fine, they're really not and There are going to be times and it may be a little bit harder to discern you need to use some discernment this but there's gonna be sometimes when it's not it's best not to leave people all alone and we get a good contrast with this servant and What Elisha does now, it's keep your finger here in turn if you would just a few pages to the right the second Kings chapter 2 We're gonna see because Elijah calls Elisha then to be his servant and minister to him It's interesting how his current servant we don't know anything about him except for really this one verse That he said he left his servant there. He had a servant. He had a servant with him that was traveling with him and What you're gonna find in the Bible is that all of the great leaders were servants at one time and They they led they followed someone else Joshua was the servant that to Moses and he ministered to Moses and helped Moses up until the point when it was time for him To take over the reins and then become that great leader. We see Elisha was Elijah's servant He ministered unto Elijah he did whatever was Elijah needed and was humble and took direction and did whatever he needed to do until finally Elijah was taken to heaven now Elisha stepped in his place and Continued to lead and do the do the work of the Lord and you're gonna see those aren't the only two examples There's many others like that of people who are being humble they're in a servant's position before they become a leader and those are always the best leaders that are the most humble and take take the And are able to just be a servant a minister Second Kings chapter 2 look at verse number 2. The Bible says in Elijah said unto Elisha Terry here, I pray thee for the Lord hath sent me to Bethel So now he's telling Elijah saying look you just wait here. This is his servant again a similar situation but in this situation Elijah is going off because He's gonna God's gonna take him to heaven by a whirlwind and Elijah knew this and other people knew this And he's telling Elisha Elisha just stay right here. Just stay here. I'm gonna go off by myself. I Think Elijah had that about him that is kind of an attitude of just being you know Just being able to do everything on his own, right? And we got to be careful. It's not a bad attitude to have We got to be careful that you don't get too prideful and I'm not saying Elijah was a proud man But he didn't seem to want to have helpers with him very much He seemed to be a loner and just kind of wanting to do everything on his own But Look at what Elisha says it says and Elisha said unto him as the Lord liveth and as thy soul liveth I will not leave thee so they went down to Bethel and this happened like three times. He said, okay Well, we're here you did God's calling me over here. Just stay here. Just just hang back here Elisha would not leave he said no, I'm I am your your servant. I'm your minister. I'm gonna stay at your side Whatever it is that God has for you. I'm gonna be there with you and That's the type of servant that Elisha was as opposed to this other servant that when Elijah said you just stay here I'm going off in the wilderness by myself Right after someone searches for the life. She should have been like no I'm coming with you And we need to take that to heart there's a lot of people and there's people that we even know people in this church that don't want to accept help from people and sometimes we need to be able to Recognize boundaries but at the same time provide help when people really need help and be there for them and strengthen them during their Low points so that they're not just completely isolating themselves and getting to a point to where they just want to die And so I just said out loud. He's saying Lord just kill me. Just take my life God didn't want Elijah to die He Could have killed him but he said no He had a lot more there's a lot more work than Elijah still does in his life after this There's still more things that God uses him for But this is the point that he got to and it's a very serious way to go back if you go to 1st Kings chapter 19 And we're gonna see some other indication some other things that happen when people get this depressed one They want to isolate themselves. They want to be away from everybody else Look at verse number five it says and as he lay and Slept under a juniper tree behold that an angel touched him and said unto him arise and eat And he looked and behold there was a cake bacon on the coals and a cruise of water at his head and he did eat And drink and laid him down again When people get depressed especially when you want to you know, get to the point we ready to die They Oftentimes sleep a lot Don't want to do anything get real depressed You don't want to do anything and I'm motivated to do anything and we see here Elijah's doing that very thing He's sleeping under the tree and he's to the point now where he's not even like wanting to take care of himself as far as eating goes I Mean this angel the Lord comes like hey, here's some food and some water, you know, you know drink this he wakes up Okay, sees the food. It's all there for him. So he eats it and then he goes back to sleep again This Is some wisdom that we don't want to overlook in the Bible These are signs of things that we need to be watching out for with our loved ones okay, when people start to have bad things going on and they start to sleep all the time and want to isolate themselves and not Really taking care of themselves. They need help Elijah needs help Elijah needs someone to help bring him up and edify him and and and Stir him up and get him to realize that he has a lot more value than he thinks he has That he is better than his father's That he is doing a great work for God that he is doing things that really matter and it's just that wicked witch Jezebel that's against him because she works for Satan and it's not that everybody's against him He's doing a great work and it's you can't let the one person get to you Whoever that is that's that's that's bringing you down to that paint that place whatever it is. Everyone's gonna have different situations But he needs someone to help him through that Job got to the place where he needed people that job wanted to die, too Understandably so with everything that he lost and everything he went through But it's just another example of someone that needed and what did his friends do instead of helping him and encouraging him and and and you Know being empathetic towards him They're saying oh what sin did you do job? What did you know you must have done something really bad for God to come down on you like this That's not what a friend needs when they're going through the worst time of their life of you telling them, you know Fess up man. What did you do? Cuz God doesn't knew this the people are righteous, you know, it's like yeah, but Satan does So we see here we see Elijah Going off. Well as far as the the other servant the other the other Example that comes to mind, you know, Elisha was this good servant that wouldn't leave Elijah. No, I'm gonna be with you I'm gonna be there think about Ruth right Naomi Lost her husband. She lost her sons All that was left was her daughter-in-law and she told him hey stay here. This is your land. I'm gonna go back But what did Ruth say she said no, I'm gonna stay with you I'm gonna be with you I'm gonna help you I'm gonna worry. Oh, I'm gonna help provide for you because you lost everything and She did the right thing and in sacrifice thought of others that seemed others better than themselves and helped Naomi out Naomi could have gotten extremely depressed as being off by her own everyone being dead in her family But Ruth was faithful and stuck with her and Helped her out and work to bring home some food and really took care of her Those are the examples the Elisha's and the roots that we need to look to as examples of who we should be When people are going through these hard times and how we need to think above ourselves Say no, this person needs needs me right now. This person needs some help Especially when you got other things going on in your life. I Mean we don't know exactly how old she was but from the sounds of it Ruth wasn't that old She was definitely young enough to have found another man started alive You know married kids whatever right and doing that whole thing and she just said no, I'm gonna I'm gonna help you out She sacrificed of herself to help someone else out Elijah was in need of a servant here that was gonna be there and help him a friend Not just a servant but a friend someone who's gonna stick with them a Lot of people we all need friends, I don't care who you are and We need to never also underestimate the importance of coming to church There's a lot of people that will Watch Church online and sometimes they'll feel like they have this connection With that church, right? So they're isolated, but they're watching and they're thinking like oh, yeah You know You feel this kind of a false connection of like as if you're really there Because of the technology and watching the videos and stuff, but think about this It's not real because you're not actually here But what if everyone had that attitude of just like well, I'm just I'm not gonna come in. I'm just gonna watch at home I'm just gonna sit at home today and just and just watch what if everyone decided to do that and I'm here With nobody else in this auditorium because everyone decides. Well, I'm just gonna watch church from home Do you think that's gonna be edifying for me? I Mean you feel like oh, yeah, it's like I'm there, you know, everything's going on Well, what about other people, you know when you're not here and this is why as of right now Unless I change my mind is I don't think I will we're never gonna stream our entire service ever. I Don't want people to get comfortable with the fact of just thinking that like just substituting online church for actually being here Because the important it's so important to be in church for many reasons Many reasons and it's not just about me. Okay, it's about you every time there's people missing here I'm wondering how are they doing? I hope everything's okay. Where are they at? You know the every single time someone comes in and people who don't even come really regularly That's encouraging And I'm sure it's not just for me other people are like, hey, how you doing? You know how things going? It's always an encouragement for the entire church when you are here you individually I'm speaking to every single one of you here tonight It is an encouragement for everybody else when you are here you matter to everyone in this church Definitely to me Can't speak for everybody individually But I know for me every single person in this church matters to me And when you're here, it matters to me and it encourages me and it helps me out a lot And I try to be here for you As much as I can to help you out and that's what church is About that's what this church is about this congregation. We care about you and want you To be edified as Much as we are individually just by being here and coming and having the fellowship and not being isolated But being a part and around other people that will be able that that hey, they're like-minded We believe in the Lord too because when you're off by yourself You might feel like Elijah and think I'm the only one left everyone around me is nuts They all think and is repent of your sins or crazy charismatic stuff or or why I could lose myself, whatever all this stuff I feel like I'm the only one that believes it's this way You feel isolated And it really wears on you that's why people are moving across the country to go to churches because they feel like I'm all alone and for good reason because They at least recognize this is important. I Need to get plugged in to a good church There's a lot of value to that I don't want to end up like Elijah did here wanting just to die And We ought not to we all we ought to I mean obviously try to stay Be try to stay focused but get yourself around people make some good friends to Come to church and get to know other people get to make friends with people in church That you can have people there to help you out and to be there for you It makes a big difference but here we see finally with this example of Elijah That even if there was no one else that that Elijah Elijah didn't have a good friend He didn't have anyone at this point in his life that was able to kind of help him out God loved them God was there for him God sent an angel to help him out And God loves you too And we need to remember that and not think that that You know, you're all alone because even if every other man woman fails you God will never fail you He's always there And this is the good example that we had with Elijah so he's let's let's go back into this chapter here chapter 19 verse So he's told to rise and eat he gets up eats In verse 6 and then in verse 7 it says in the angel of the Lord came again The second time and touched him and said arise and eat because the journey is too great for these. So now he's being told You've got a journey ahead of you. You need to get strengthened. So get up and eat. We've got we've got some more food for you and You're gonna you're gonna go on this journey your journey is not over yet. I Know you feel like it is but there's more more work for you to do Verse 8 and he arose and did eat and drink and went in the strength of that meat 40 days and 40 nights unto Horeb the mount of God now Even at this low point God still he gives them what he needs and we need to recognize this too He gives him what he needs. He doesn't give him everything. He wants necessarily because think about it. He just had two meals And he's like, well, it's a long journey Imagine going somewhere for like that's gonna take you 40 days and 40 nights to get to your destination By walking or what, you know, whatever means that he did I don't think he even wrote an animal but I mean we don't know that for sure doesn't say but for I mean just By car Okay for 40 days you had two meals God gave him enough But that's what he had and what he needed to get to that point. I've never gone 40 days and 49 without eating Never once I don't want to With you. I don't want to do a fast like that That's got to be extremely difficult and challenging But you know what God gave him what he needed even when he was really sad and depressed he didn't just like Say, okay Elijah here. I'm gonna give you all this phony stuff That's gonna make you happy for a short period of time all this money and wealth and whatever Because people who try to satisfy or combat their depression with physical things Just montaneo monetary stuff money goods how it's all empty and you're gonna find out that it's empty it's not really going to solve the problem and Yes, it's more difficult going through the hard journey Elijah went through this difficult journey and in the end we're gonna see he meets God He has a conversation with God at the end of this journey the journey I guarantee look It's it's one verse you can read over that so fast 40 days and 49. It's okay. Yeah, let's keep going 40 days and 40 nights on a journey Having just had those two meals and and and feeling like he wants to die and now okay I got to trudge through this but he comes out so much stronger at the end and and really gets what he needs and Not some some shallow or vain solution to his problem and anyone who's dealing with Depression or hard times you're gonna have to go through a journey and it's not going to be easy. It's going to be difficult But you don't want to just grab at the it the easy way out or the thing that's just going to give you temporary happiness you need to get through that journey in Order to come out better in the end and to get what's best for you Sometimes you know, usually oftentimes what what's best for people is not it's not the easy thing to do It's gonna be the hard time but knowing that ahead having that in your in your mind and knowing okay I'm gonna go through this. It's not gonna be easy. It might be really difficult It might be as difficult as going 40 days and 49 without any food and going on this long journey But at the end it's gonna be worth it You need to keep that mindset to get through to the end and work through the problems that you're having What's really interesting here though is it calls Mount Horb is his destination place? And I thought this was pretty cool because I did some research into this and I didn't realize prior to studying for this sermon how significant horrib is Turn if you keep your finger here to if you would access chapter 3 and What's also seems to be it's pretty fascinating to me how God has Specific places in the Bible that just come up over and over and over again. I mean there there are definitely Places that God is is His presence is known more than in others and it's just like the same place over and over and over again Horb is one of those places It's called the Mount of God in this chapter because of another event that happened earlier with Moses in Exodus chapter 3 verse 1 The Bible reads now Moses kept the flock of Jethro his father-in-law the priests of Midian and he led the flock to the backside of the desert and came to the mountain of God and even to horrib and the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush and he looked and Behold the bush burned with fire and the bush was not consumed and Moses said I will now turn aside and see this great sight Why the bush is not burned and of course it goes on and on and this is the burning bush This is where God appears under Moses as his burning bush, and he has a conversation with God at Mount Horb It's Also the place where Moses received the Ten Commandments So remember he got the burning he talks to God and the burning bush he goes back into Egypt as to be this great deliverer of his people and then After they come back out of Egypt and he's leading him through the wilderness and anything when God gives him the Ten Commandments Guess where he goes back to? The horrible dude turn if you were to Deuteronomy chapter 4 Deuteronomy chapter 4 Deuteronomy chapter 4 verse 10. I just want you to see this here Deuteronomy 4 10 Especially the day that thou stoodest before the Lord thy God in horrib When the Lord said unto me gather me the people together and I will make them hear my words That they may learn to fear me all the days that they shall live upon the earth and that they may teach their children Deuteronomy 4 11 and ye came near and stood under the mountain and The mountain burned with fire unto the midst of heaven with darkness clouds and thick darkness and the Lord spake unto you Out of the midst of the fire. He heard the voice of the words, but saw no similitude only he heard a voice and He declared unto you His covenant Which he commanded you to perform even Ten Commandments and he wrote them upon two tables of stone and the Lord Commanded me at that time to teach you statutes and judgments that you might do them in the land whether you go over to possess It take ye therefore good heat unto yourselves for ye saw no manner of similitude on the day that the Lord Spake unto you in horrib out of the midst of the fire so we see again God speaking to Moses out of the fire in Mount in the mountain at horrib and From this because this is in Deuteronomy 4 in Exodus 19 is another is a parallel passage with Deuteronomy with Deuteronomy But basically X is in Deuteronomy Deuteronomy is a second giving of the law So in Exodus we see the law given Deuteronomy is the is the second time it kind of goes through a lot of the same stuff That Mount horrib is also known as Mount Sinai so you just think about in your mind all the significance of Mount Sinai and all the events that happened in And I'll just you don't have to turn there you could turn back to 1st Kings 19 if you'd like but in Exodus 19 right before the Ten Commandments are given in verse 16 the Bible says and it came to pass on the third day in the morning that there were thunders and Lightnings and a thick cloud upon the mount and the voice of the trumpet exceeding loud so that all the people that was in the Camp trembled and Moses brought forth the people out of the camp to meet with God and they stood at the nether part of the mount And Mount Sinai was all together on smoke because the Lord descended upon it in fire and the smoke there of ascended as the Smoke of a furnace and the whole mountain quaked greatly and you could read on and on in chapters 19 and 20 That is when he receives the Ten Commandments. It's in the same place So that is saying he's at Mount Sinai and in these other places it's talking about horrib now Mount Sinai might be like The actual name of the mountain and horrib the the name of the region doesn't matter. It's the same place So it's the same mountain It's talking about the mountain of God. Why is it called the mountain of God because God appeared to Moses Multiple times he appeared to him in that burning bush at the same mount that he received the Ten Commandments at the same mount now That Elijah is being told to go to to meet with God where God is going to speak to him there Places in the Bible carry significance and to me it's extremely interesting to see how God appears in specific places We see with the with the at the Mount of Olives who I believe that's where Jesus Christ is going to come back when he returns and and sets up his kingdom that is that as you saw him leaving they said your social you see him return and Because places have so much significance and in this, you know events happen over and over again in particular places you know, it's another one of those things where I think that's exactly where it's going to happen and And For whatever reason I don't know all the reasons why God picks certain places to do things, but he does and to me It's just kind of interesting to see that little Connection there Horrib and Mount Sinai. So remember that when you do your regular reading Keep that in mind because I'm sure you'll probably learn something more as a result And like I said, this is something that just got connected for me. So whatever further truth there is to learning from that I'm still gonna be studying that out. But um, I wanted to point that out because it's pretty interesting So let's go back to first Kings chapter 19 Verse number nine Bible says and he came there there unto a cave and lodged there and behold the word of the Lord came to him and He said unto him What doest thou hear? Elijah and I Don't know to me. This is just I don't think it's just semantics but says the word of the Lord came to him and He said unto him who is he the word of the Lord? The word of the Lord said unto him what doest thou hear Elijah? I think that's a meeting of Jesus There in the Old Testament here with Elijah She says what are you doing here verse number 10 and he said I have been very jealous For the Lord God of hosts now again that word jealousy. I might go into this very much. Jealous is not a bad thing This this society and the way that it's defined now is a little bit different but jealousy is not a bad thing He Was jealous for the Lord God of hosts Why was he jealous for the Lord God hosts because people are going off and worshiping all these other gods They said you're the true God I'm jealous because there's people just defiling your name and and going after false gods and everything else You're the one that deserves all the worship Lord. So I'm jealous for you The same way that a jealous husband doesn't want anyone else looking at wife because he belongs to you I don't want I don't want everyone else, you know Looking on the same way that I do there's someone that that belongs to me, right? You're jealous over your wife or your husband Well, God is jealous over his people bottles of God of the jealous God and Elijah's jealous for his God saying they shouldn't be going to whoring around with other gods a term that the Bible used frequently when people are going Whoring after their idols and their false gods they need to stay true to the one true God So that's why he's jealous but he keeps on rear verse number 10 and and he said I've been very jealous for the Lord God of hosts for the children of Israel forsaken thy covenant thrown down nine altars and slain thy prophets with the sword and I even I only am left look at this and they Seek my life to take it away. So again, he says I'm the only one left remember he still even he's depressed He was just wanting to die, but he goes on this long journey What are you doing here Elijah? Well I'm jealous for you, but Everyone's forsaken your covenant. They've thrown down your altars, you know, they killed the prophets and I'm just the only one left But it's just like He didn't even give it any time after that great event to see who was gonna be with him You know, yeah all those things had happened But he just had that great victory right? And the last thing I want you to notice there is that that where he says they seek my life No, Jezebel was seeking his life Not they it wasn't the children of Israel were after Elijah They were on his side After that whole event. I mean they said the Lord's the God, right? We have no evidence from Scripture that we can see of anyone else going. I mean Ahab didn't even go after him He listened to him. Okay. Well, I'm going home. You told you he killed the prophets. I'm not gonna do anything about it He told me to go home because the rains coming. Okay, I'll go home we were you know, like he Just went along and did whatever. Yeah. Yeah wasn't after him. It was Jezebel that was after him So he had built up in his mind Something that wasn't really accurate he was feeling the whole world coming down against him But his purse he was perceiving things wrong And again, this is another problem when when we get into this this depression we start thinking about things and we overanalyze and we and we and we kind of start conflating things and think things are too big and and and starts perceiving problems that aren't really there aren't really as bad as you think they are and We need to remember that again with this depression because he was you know, he's goes back to just saying well Everything's going wrong. Your authors reveal. Everyone's against you. Nobody's serving you God and and they seek my life I mean everybody's after me now That's the point he got to but that wasn't really accurate I Said it's a lot of those things that happened, but and things were turning they're starting to go in the right direction because of that great event because a miracle that happened with the With the altar and it was one person One person got to him it was the straw that broke the camel's back I think for Elijah But we need to try to the best that we can not get sucked into this perception and remember that You know one Even if they were seeking his life God's with him and he's been with them the whole time and God's proved himself to him And you know, he should be able to have that faith But also to look at it from a standpoint be like and try to to come to his senses and say yeah, you know There actually is a lot of good going on right now and I did hear from some people and you know And there's there's there's more going forward. So Again, everybody can I you know, I was the press at one point in my life when I was younger I was in my right before I got saved. Actually. I went through a really really bad bout of Having those types of things I know what it's like to feel like the whole world's against you and not find any meaning and stuff and and you know to deal with that type of thing, but You know as individuals try to keep this story in mind to keep your outlook balance and correct and looking at things without Inflating them more than they need to be and then as others that have people going through a situation We need to remember all this stuff too and that the outward appearance of someone. Oh I'm fine No, everything's good And those comments might not actually be the truth and they're you know, they actually need a little bit more help. So Very good examples that you know of this type of mindset that we could learn from this now One last thing I wanted to say about that I don't know. It'll come to me in a minute let's keep reading here verse number 11 and he said go forth and stand upon the mount before the Lord and behold the Lord passed by in a great and strong wind rent the mountains and Break in pieces the rocks before the Lord but the Lord was not in the wind and after the wind and earthquake But the Lord was not in the earthquake and after the earthquake a fire But the Lord was not in the fire and after the fire is still small voice I What's interesting about this is the what I've heard people say I in the past I've got so one thing you talk to people and everyone's got their own, you know unique experiences life experiences things like that and Especially when it comes to their their own experience with God I've actually had people tell me that they heard God speak to them And I was like, well, what do you mean? Cuz I usually like to say like well, it's God audibly speaking to you And I've had a few people say yeah, and it was a still small voice I've had it was more than once I've had more than one people say and and and they're getting it from this passage right here right and oftentimes what they mean is they think that they're they're thinking things in their head and They're making it be like this still small voice I think some people want so bad to hear from God that they'll they'll just think that it must be God's speaking to me when you're having thoughts but What's interesting is that of the people that have told me they've heard this still small voice No one's ever mentioned the earthquakes or the wind or The the fire right the light. Yo, I mean is this great event that happens because when God is speaking to Elijah here That's what happens when God's presence actually comes to where Elijah is and When God's presence is felt anywhere It's never done in Just like a whisper right just the still small voice God's presence is always known people are always you know this great light shining from heaven when Jesus was talking to the Apostle Paul in the way right to Damascus and Everyone else fell down is dead because there's this thunderings and lightnings and stuff and he's that you know Elijah sinning here and it says behold the Lord passed by in a great strong wind rent the mountains That means the mountains started breaking because the wind is rushing So hard and so fast that the mountains are literally starting to break It says a break in pieces the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind and after when an earthquake Right. I mean the whole earth is shaking at the presence of the Lord And it says the Lord was not in the earthquake and after the earthquake a fire God is powerful and when his present when he has his presence there his presence is known without a doubt This is the Lord talking to you So and I don't think anyone here will but don't be deceived by the people who try to tell you oh, yeah God was speaking to me Audibly and I heard his voice. I actually kind of worry about people who say they're hearing voices because God has revealed his word unto man and Has completed that he's successfully given us his word now in times past if someone was saying that you test the words, right? Because God did on him. He audibly spoke with Elijah right here It happened but people want to make them Like the like Elijah, right and This was actually the last the thing that I wanted to bring up about the depression and about having this this frame of mind And it's extremely important. Actually. I'm glad I didn't forget as People have this this mentality of wanting to be really important and Everybody, you know so many so many non-believers say well, why doesn't God show me? That he's real I Can't tell you how many times people say well, well, I want to see evidence I want to see proof I want something to happen in my life that God is showing me that he's real and It's an interesting Outlook but As much as we know that we are important God's eyes according to scripture And we know that all the hairs of our heads are numbered and we are extremely important We have a lot of value to God He never promises to make himself just known to everyone and that he's just gonna do whatever you say That you need in order to believe from him just like when the people were mocking you say Well, you know what if you come down from that cross right now, I'll believe you It's the same type of an attitude people just I just need you to show me something and then I'll believe you But you know what the people have that attitude They probably won't believe because if Jesus came down from that cross They still wouldn't believe I Guarantee you that those people who are saying you come down from that cross and will believe you didn't believe when he rose again from The dead they didn't believe when the tomb was empty So it doesn't matter just like the in in Luke with the the rich man and Lazarus The rich man's in hell saying, you know Look send Lazarus back to my household and tell my brothers like I don't want them coming to this place of torment He says he got Moses and the prophets let him hear them that was Abraham's response He says no, but if someone came back from the dead now, listen, he said if they're not gonna hear the prophets They're not gonna believe though one comes back from the dead That's what he said And it's unfortunate. There's a lot of people out there. They have this mindset of just thinking why need to see something God needs to make himself known in this particular way that I'm defining right now or else. I'm not gonna believe in him And the way this ties in with the depression is is that is this is the And it's slightly different but still important When you start to catch yourself getting into these depressed states of mind The number one reason for that and the problem for that is that you're focused on yourself That's the problem you start focusing on yourself and on all your problems and all the things that aren't going right in your life And all the things I don't have and how horrible everything is for me and it turns into me me me me where I start Getting really sad really depressed and it gets even worse and worse and worse Elijah even in this video Everyone's against me. No one's working the Lord everything. Why is everything going bevery now? They want to kill me me me me me me The solution is The solution to that is so simple start thinking about other people When people in church start having depression thoughts I just you know what come out soul winning with me Don't go out by yourself come out soul winning with me We'll have some fellowship We'll get some people saved. You're gonna see when you start focusing on their problems Helping them out leading an unbeliever to Christ and Changing their fate and their eternity of being damned to hell forever going getting saved and going to heaven You know what? That's gonna put you in a better mood You're gonna stop thinking about all of your own problems and how depressed you are when you start focusing on other people And that's only one example. It doesn't even have to just be sewing sewing I think is the best thing to do but you can go out and start going to Nursing homes start going to places where people are really down and out Why don't you start visiting people in other areas and seeing how can I be a blessing to someone else? That will help get you out of your depression way more than any drug is gonna do for you way more than even just talking So I was gonna do help other people and think about them You'll stop focusing on your own problems so much and you will feel way better and the depression will go away It works I Guarantee you that will work It's the wrong mindset and then we saw that with Elijah thinking, you know, he started almost not making things up but Building it up to be more than it was And he went through a lot. Don't get me wrong You know, I don't want to you know, just just downplay everything that Elijah went through because he went through a lot But every individual that starts getting depressed goes, you know, at least in their mind they're going through a lot There's pretty serious stuff. And again, I'm not gonna downplay what happens in your personal life Because I'm sure it's important but get the right focus back Focusing on other people's is you the more you focus on yourself the more you're gonna find problems I Mean you're gonna realize I'm not perfect. I got those other things going on what you know, don't focus on yourself Let's keep reading here verse number 13 first Kings 19, we're almost done and it was so when Elijah heard it that he wrapped his face and his mantle and went out and stood in the entering of the cave and behold there came a voice unto him and said What doest thou hear Elijah and he said I have been very jealous for the Lord God of hosts because the children of Israel have forsaken that covenant thrown down nine altars and slain thy prophets with the sword and I even I only am left and they seek My life to take it away. So He's asked twice, you know, and it's the same exact answer both times So he's asked the first time and he gives an answer and he says, okay go stand upon the mount Before the Lord and he doesn't go all the way up upon the mount. He goes out to the entering into the cave After all after God come, you know passes by So then he just goes out to entering into the cave And then the voice comes again and says, you know, what are you doing here? And he gives the same exact answer and then verse 15 It says in the Lord said unto him go return on thy way to the wilderness of Damascus and when thou comest anoint Hazeel to be king over Syria and Jehu the son of Nimshai shalt thou anoint to be king over Israel and Elijah the son of Shaphat of Abel mahala Shalt thou anoint to be prophet in thy room So God's basically telling Elijah here, you know, don't worry Because a lot of things he's worried about You know is that there's people after him to kill him everything else then don't worry because a habs no longer gonna be the king You're gonna know it this person King over Syria your point this person King over Israel and then you're gonna point Elijah to be In your place basically in your room he's gonna be a prophet he's gonna be the next prophet that I have and But he's also telling them he's got more work for him to do these are things I want you to do it Elijah Right, you don't have to worry. I'm with you, but I've got more work for you to do And again, this could help them to focus on doing the work God has for him as of focusing on the problems He's having God saying look go out and do this Now The other the last interesting thing though is what and I Hadn't noticed this before either. I thought about it during my studies for the sermon He didn't complete all of his tasks All he did was was find Elisha And I think he was most concerned just about finding the prophet that was going to come after him more than what happened with the Kings and The reason why I say that he didn't complete his task is because Elisha is the one that anoints Jehu King and That's found in 2nd Kings chapter 9 You turn there if you'd like I'm gonna read it for you 2nd Kings chapter 9 verse 1 says and Elisha the prophet called one of the children of the prophets and said unto him gird up thy loins and take this box of oil and thine Hand and go to Ramoth Gilead and when thou comest thither look out there Jehu the son of Jehoshaphat the son of Nimshai and go in and make him arise up from among his brethren and Carry him to an inner chamber Then take the box of oil and pour it on his head and say thus saith the Lord I have anointed thee King over Israel Then open the door and flee and tarry not Elisha sent to have that done Elijah didn't Same thing with Hazeel Elisha has Jehu anointed and he also tells his ale that he'll be king His ale was sent from Ben Hey dad when Ben Hey dad was sick and he says go see the Prophet and see if I'm gonna recover from this and He goes to Elisha and Elisha tells him and that's where he gets kind of sad He's saying like what what's the big deal? And he says I know what you're gonna do and His ale is like what do you think thy servant's a dog? And he's like, I know what you're gonna do and you're gonna be king So Elisha was the one that tells his ale he's gonna be king. Elisha is the one that anoints Jehu to be king Elijah didn't do it It's almost like he was kind of giving up now he wasn't done there's still a couple more things he still calls fire down from heaven and the people that you know, again, he's sitting down on top of a mountain and And the king sends for him He's called fire down from heaven upon him and God answers him and then call and sends a fire down But I mean from this point forward, it's not the same Elijah that we've seen in these other stories So Still I mean obviously an awesome man of God. I love Elijah. I think I think he did so many wonderful things Thank God it got God loved him enough. He took him to heaven. He didn't even die took him to heaven a whirlwind I mean, that's that's the way that he took him just like Enoch. I mean God God loved Elijah for sure But it makes me wonder though how history might have played out differently had those men been anointed earlier if Elijah would have done it Don't know No way of knowing but we know that after this is when Ahab kills Naboth Naboth didn't do anything wrong. I wonder if if had Elijah anointed Jehu Maybe Ahab would have died sooner and And not killed Naboth don't know. I mean who knows right? It's all it's all conjecture at this point Who knows how anything would have played out? But definitely could have would have had definitely would have had an impact on the history and the way things played out had he Done what the Lord? Had for him to do see God's gonna make things happen one way or another He used Elisha then instead of Elijah to do what he wanted to have done But Elijah missed out on that Last finishing up here verse number 17 and it shall come to pass That him that escapeth the sword of Hazeel shall Jehu slay and him that escapeth from the sword of Jehu shall Elisha slay and I think that's kind of interesting too because Elisha is a prophet and God just saying you know what? Anyone who his ale doesn't kill? Jehu is gonna kill as far as doing the the work of the Lord of just people who need to die the wicked people and he said and Whoever Jehu misses Elisha is gonna do it Elisha is gonna take care of it and just a little bit and we have gone over this many times before how Men of God are painted in the world compared to in the Bible Big difference there. Let's keep reading verse number 18 yet. I have left me 7,000 in Israel all the knees which have not bowed unto Baal and every mouth which hath not kissed him It's always important to remember that we're not alone and God is telling this to Elijah for the mirrored fact that he knows that Elijah is Depressed and he's telling him look Elijah There's still 7,000 men that have not bowed the knee to Baal They're there. You're not alone. It's not just you so get up and do this work Because there are more people with you than you even realize and and he tells them this to get strength from that knowledge just from knowing that and When you're you know when you're at home, you know, I went over all that stuff before this is I kind of jumped ahead But this is one of the reasons why coming to church is so important Knowing that you're not alone Knowing that there's there's other people out there. Let's finish up here verse number 19. We'll finish off the chapter so he departed thence and found Elisha the son of Shaphat who was plowing with 12 yoke of oxen before him and he with the 12th and Elijah passed by him and cast his mantle upon him. So he does go out and find Elisha. That's what he's doing here and Elisha This is a whole sermon in of itself, which I don't have time to preach tonight because we're going already way over time but Look at how hard of a worker Elisha was He's plowing with 12 oxen and he's with the 12 like he's in there literally like with the oxen doing the work He's using his strength along with the strength of the oxen to push and do this work And this is someone who God has ordained and commanded that he's gonna be the prophet. He sees what a hard worker he is God's looking for hard workers You wanna do great things for God be a hard worker in your personal life Even if it's not, you know, like whatever it is that you're doing be a hard worker When you're at your job be a hard worker be diligent. Don't be lazy Be Diligent of things, you know if you're responsible in that which is least You know God will give you the greater riches. God will will will use you to do greater things We know there's nothing greater than serving God in general I mean just with whatever we're doing Those are the best things we could be doing and God will commit more to your trust when he sees hey He's being responsible and being a hard worker and things that don't even really matter that much This is the guy that I want to be doing the things that really matter. I Mean your your employer should see the same thing You're a hard worker at the smallest tasks at the job that no one likes to do that the jobs that everyone grumbles about and complains About but you're doing them and you're doing them diligent. You're doing a hard worker. I guess what you're gonna get promoted Simple as that verse number 20 and he left the oxen and ran after Elijah look at his zeal I mean he led right away. He passes the mantle to him. He's like, oh man, it's Elijah Runs out to him just leaves the oxen there and said let me I prayed he kissed my father my mother and then I will Follow thee and he said unto him go back again for what have I done to thee and he returned back from him now Look at this because this is where Elisha basically just kind of ended up burning his bridges and just saying I'm going all-in and serving the Lord because it says he took a yoke of oxen that You know, he was he was plowing with his yoke with with this oxen with it's with the 12 He takes a yoke. He takes two of them. He slew him and says he boiled their flesh with the instruments of the oxen So those very instruments the tools he was using the plow and everything else. He just burned that up All for this this meal, you know give that to the to the people of his mother's father Let them eat and he rose went after Elijah and look at this as and ministered unto him Elisha is a great man of God He got a double portion of Elijah spirit and you read all the stories that Elisha did but you know where he started out He started off ministering He started off being the servant to Elijah Being in his shadow being his helper a lot of things going on in this chapter I think the number one thing though we see is the depression of Elijah and and how we could Use, you know, look at all the details. Look at all the signs look at all the symptoms Learn how to deal with that and how to help other people going through these same problems. It's so important It's so important. I mean so many bad things happen when people get too far down this the the downward progression of being depressed in their mind and There's so much more you could be doing in life than than being depressed and then the number one thing take away from this When you ever have that experience that we're all susceptible to it If you go through these problems start thinking about other people Do do something to be a benefit to other people. There is no greater good than that I mean you're gonna there's no better feeling and joy you're gonna feel than doing something for others and just thinking about other people more That's gonna help you out Spot rides have a word of prayer dear Heavenly Father Lord We thank you so much for all the wisdom that we could find in your word dear Lord We pray for your guidance and instruction God I pray that that whether or not there are people here that that are struggling with being depressed your Lord I pray to please just help them and comfort them dear God for provide comfort through your Holy Spirit First and foremost dear Lord help us to remember and to know that you're always there for us And that you will always be there for us. We don't always understand the journeys that we do go through and The trials that we have and and even if sometimes it may seem like you're not there dear Lord we could have confidence and faith that you really are and that that whatever it is that we might be going through will will Ultimately and end up being for our benefit dear God and we pray that you would please just lead us and guide us Help us to identify other people who might be having problems and struggling that we can be a great help unto them and that we Can lift some spirits dear Lord and and be a source of edification for others that we can all be joined together and knit together as a church family here and And that you can just use us to do mighty things to bring honor and glory into your name in Jesus name we pray Amen