You Are Not Alone

It's now time for Children's Church. If we got any little tykes, I don't think we do,

but sometimes I miss them. So if you're hiding somewhere, now is the time. For the rest of

you little tykes, we're going to hang out in here in Romans chapter 11. Romans chapter

Romans 11 · chapter mention Romans 11:3

11, verses 3 and 4. And we're actually going to look kind of at two sections of scripture

today and we're really not going to look at either of them in the context necessarily.

You can read Romans 9 through 11 this week if you'd like to if you want to get a little

more of the context about what's going on there. But there's one little part in Romans

Romans 11 · chapter mention

chapter 11 that's going to take us back to a story from 1 Kings chapter 18 and 19, which

1 Kings 18 · chapter mention

you guys have heard me preach probably ten times. I probably preach it at least once

a year. And we'll hit it today kind of along the same lines that I've preached it in the

past, but really focusing on one little part of this passage, which I will admit is somewhat

out of context, but I don't think it's irrelevant. And so we'll look at Romans chapter 11 and

Romans 11 · chapter mention

then we'll talk about 1 Kings 18 and 19. You can make a mark or a note of that and I encourage

you this week to go back and read the story. I won't go through it verse by verse just

for time's sake, but we will talk about it. But those are some good homework for you this

week, 1 Kings 18 and 19 and Romans 9, 10, and 11, so you can kind of understand the

context a little better. So Romans chapter 11 verses 3 and 4. This is Elijah speaking

Romans 11:3

here that it's referencing in this verse. Lord, they have killed your prophets and torn

down your altars. I am the only one left and they are trying to take my life. But what

was God's reply to him? I have left 7,000 men for myself who have not bowed down to

Baal. Let's pray. God, we come to you. We thank you for being good to us. We thank you

for the freedom we have in this country to come and to hear your word. And I pray, dear

Lord, that your Holy Spirit would be among us today. I pray that you would help us to

listen to your word. I pray that you would meet us where we are, dear Lord. There are

days that we feel like Elijah does in this story. And so I pray that as we look at this

story and see what happened and see how you responded and see how he responded, dear Lord,

that we can make some connections in our own life and that we can be strengthened in this.

So I pray, God, that you would keep me humble today. I pray that you would take away any

fear that I have, that you would let your words come into my mind and out of my mouth,

dear Lord, that today we hear from you because, God, there is no good words that I can say

unless they come from you. So, dear Lord, I pray that you'd help us to be free of our

worries and distractions today and that we know that there is nothing else that matters

more than your word and drawing closer to you today. So I pray that your Spirit would

work. And I ask these things in Jesus' name. Amen.

In Romans chapter 11 here, there is a brief reference to the story of Elijah when he took

Romans 11 · chapter mention

on the prophets of Baal. Now, Baal was a false god that some of the people had begun to worship.

Now, they certainly should have worshiped God, Yahweh, as he's often referred to in

the Old Testament. That's the God that we come to worship today. And they should have

been worshiping Yahweh. And God gave them lots of instructions through the years from

Exodus onwards. And they would hear those commands and instructions. And they would

say, God, we're going to do what you tell us to do. And much like you and I, when we

say that, it doesn't take long until we fail. And they had failed pretty greatly. There

were a lot of people that had begun to worship Baal. And Elijah was kind of a lone ranger.

There really weren't a lot of other prophets. There wasn't really anybody standing up for

the Lord there. And Elijah, this was going to be his calling. This is what the Lord wants

him to do, is to stand up against these false prophets, the prophets of Baal, and this false

god. And so, in 1 Kings chapter 18, we see Elijah do just that. Now, the scripture tells

1 Kings 18 · chapter mention

us that there are 450 of these false prophets. So here's this one man, Elijah, by himself.

And here are these 450 men. And Elijah challenges them. He says, here's what we're going to

do. We will determine today whose God is real and whose God is fake. He said, what I challenge

you to is let's both take us a bull and we'll get it all cut up. We'll get it the way it

needs to be. We'll get some wood laid out. We'll make a little bit of an altar here.

And you can call out to your God, and I will call out to my God. And whosoever God answers,

we'll know once and for all that that is the true God. And this seemed like a good idea

to them. They said, this is good. We can agree to these terms. And so, they both began to

prepare their animal for the sacrifice, and they got their wood ready. And Elijah said,

you guys go first. And so, these 450 prophets of Baal and all these people were gathered

around that were worshiping these false gods. Obviously, they want to see what's going to

happen. And Elijah said, we're going to get all of our stuff ready, and we're going to

call for our God. And whichever God comes down and sends fire from heaven and consumes

this altar we've made, we'll know that that's the true God. They say, sounds good to us.

Works for me. So, he says, y'all go first. They get everything ready. And they start,

oh, Baal, we call out to you. Come on and light our fire. We call out to you. And nothing

happened. And they kept going. And they kept going. Hour after hour. They kept going through

all this stuff and praying and all this hollering out. And Baal did not do a single thing. And

so, Elijah, having a little sense of humor, begins to mock them a little bit. He says,

well, just talk a little louder. Maybe he can't hear you. He might be out on the road

traveling. He might be asleep. He might be busy doing something else. Maybe he stepped

away for a while. Just keep on calling out. So, he's kind of poking fun out. Well, you

know that's probably got to get them a little upset. But they keep on, oh, Baal, we praise

you. Come on, hear our calls. Oh. And he don't listen. And so, they start dancing around.

They dancing around. They shaking their hands. They getting their knives and their spears.

And they start cutting themselves. Oh, Baal, listen to us. And blood's running down from

them. And for hours and hours and hours, they jump around and they scream like a bunch of

fools and nothing happens. Because there ain't no God that they're praying to. They praying

to nothing. Because there ain't no other God. There's one God. Well, evening comes and ain't

nothing happened. So, Elijah says, it's my turn now. So, Elijah, he dug him a little

trench around where he had his animal there and he had his wood. Everything was chopped

up and poured about, scripture says, approximately four gallons of water all over the top of

it. It was soaked and wet. And the water run down and filled a little trench around it.

And Elijah says, y'all watch this. And he calls to Yahweh. He calls to God. And as soon

as he does, guess what happens? Boom! This fire comes down and consumes everything. The

animal, the water, the wood, the rocks, everything there, it says, was consumed in an instant.

Now, all the people saw that. And then Elijah said, all these frost prophets need to be

killed. What a powerful story. What a wonderful story. It's one of my favorite stories in

all scripture. And then you flip the page. Now, Elijah has just experienced the power

of God. Could you imagine today that if you said, God, would you rain fire from heaven

to show me your power so that everyone can see that you are real and you exist and God

does that in an instant? Could you imagine what that feeling must feel like? Holy smokes.

Even if you trust God and know God could do it and believe God could do it, that would

probably be so... I'd be left standing still like, oh, wow. God has just shown up in a

powerful way because I called on him. God called me to serve. I was obedient to him

and I called out to God and God responded to me. Now, this would have been, I would

assume, a powerful moment in the life of Elijah. And you turn the page and, well, King Ahab's

wife Jezebel is not really happy with this. Not happy that these prophets of Baal had

been killed. Not happy with what Elijah had done. And so she sends word, I want Elijah

dead. I want him dead. Now, Elijah becomes afraid, which is pretty normal, I guess, when

somebody's trying to kill you. And after all that God has done, after he's seen the power

of God, he goes and he wants to give up. He goes and he's ready to give up and he lays

down under a tree and says, God, I just want to die. I just want to give up, God. Well,

God doesn't let him give up. God sends an angel and gives him some bread, gives him

some water, lets him rest up, ministers to him, and begins to speak to him. And he speaks

to him in a still, small voice. And Elijah says to him, and that's what we just saw in

Romans chapter 11, and we see it also in 1 Kings chapter 19, Elijah says to him, he says,

Romans 11 · chapter mention 1 Kings 19 · chapter mention

God, I've done everything you have asked, but I alone am left. I'm the only one. God,

I am alone and I am afraid. I am by myself. And God responds and we see God's response

in Romans chapter 11. He says, not so Elijah. There's a remnant. There's 7,000 more. You're

Romans 11 · chapter mention

not alone. There are other people other than you who want to stand up for me and who are

willing to stand beside me. Now here's where we're going to get a little out of the context

of what the passage says. Now I told you the story. We kind of understand what the story

says, but there was one part of that when I was reading through Romans this week, there

was one part of that when I read that verse that made me think, do we ever feel like Elijah?

Do we ever feel like we are alone? There are days in our life that we feel that we are

alone and maybe we have experienced the power of God in a mighty way like Elijah did, but

there are things in our life, there are days in our life that it is hard and that we feel

like we are alone and that nobody understands what we are going through and nobody can relate

to us and nobody can help us and we are ready to give up. Sometimes even when we sit in

a room like this full of people, we still feel alone, surrounded by people. There are

days in our life that we are not so unlike Elijah, that we feel alone. Maybe you felt

that way, maybe there are some in here today and you feel that way, maybe there are a couple,

maybe there are ten of us, maybe there are half of us that came in here today and there

is something you are going through in your life and for whatever reason you believe God,

you trust in God, you know that there are people here that love you, but there are days

that we just feel that we are alone. Well I want to tell you today that you are not

alone. God told his people as he was getting ready to lead them into the promised land,

he told them, I will never leave you or forsake you. God cares about you today. He cares about

you and sometimes we need to be reminded of that, sometimes it is hard for us to see God,

sometimes we are overwhelmed with the things that are going on around us in the same way

that Elijah was, his life was in jeopardy, he was overwhelmed by the threat, whatever

it may be there are things in our life that sometimes are so overwhelming to us that even

if we have just experienced the power of God and know the power of God, that in our feeling

of being alone that that kind of depresses us and draws us into our self and away from

the power of God and away from the people of God who love us and I think that that is

a great tactic of the enemy that he tries to make us feel alone, that he tries to make

us afraid, that he tries to make us believe that nobody else understands, that nobody

else will understand, that nobody else cares, that God himself doesn't care and I will tell

you today that that is a lie from the devil. He is a liar and he desires to steal your

joy and to steal your hope and so if you come into this building today and you feel alone,

I want to tell you today that you are not alone, that God has not left you. Oftentimes

when we feel alone we probably really don't feel like seeking out to God, it is kind of

weird at least in my life, maybe in yours too, I don't know but sometimes it seems as

though the times that I need to call out to the Lord the most, it is like there is something

there, it is like that is what I should be doing but I am so kind of caught up in myself

and I just feel so alone and I feel so depressed and I feel like God doesn't care and nobody

else cares and it seems like in those times it might be harder to pray to God but what

I find and maybe what you will find too is that this, is that the times that we are most

alone are the times that we need to seek God the most, that we need to seek brothers and

sisters in Christ. One of the best things we can do is read God's word when we feel

alone or when we feel afraid. There is a good passage in Psalm 25, Psalm 25 verse 16 and

Psalms 25:16

17 says this, it is a good prayer, maybe you say I don't know what to pray, well these

words might sound pretty good to you. Turn to me and be gracious to me for I am alone

and afflicted. Anybody ever felt like that before? Have you ever felt alone and afflicted?

Have you ever wanted the grace of God to be showered upon you? Then that is our prayer,

God be gracious to me because God I am in a mess. I feel alone, I am afflicted God and

I need your help and it goes on to say the distresses of my heart increase bring me out

of my sufferings. What a powerful simple couple of sentences that is. Maybe we need to make

a mark of that verse. Maybe we say I don't know the words to pray, maybe we can say the

same words that David said, God be gracious to me for I am alone and afflicted God in

my distress, I need you to deliver me. Don't let the devil get the best of you. Don't let

the devil convince you to fight your battles alone. First and foremost seek the Lord. Secondly,

seek other people. That is sometimes hard for us to do. It is hard for us to do because

maybe we say I don't want to tell anybody what I am going through, they are probably

not going to have anything good to tell me, I don't want to be a burden. Because here

is the thing, a lot of times when these things hit us the most, it is at night, right? It

gets dark, there is nobody else around, the TV is off, it gets quiet and then our brains

begin to work and then the stresses of our life begin to play into our head and we begin

to play out the situation and it always ends, the worst it possibly could, very seldom do

we lay there and say everything is great, tomorrow is going to be a good day, we lay

there and we say man I am alone and I am hopeless and I am afraid and this is never going to

get any better. And we feel like Elijah and we say I am just ready to give up. But sometimes

we just need to pick up the phone and we need to call a brother or sister and say look I

am having a tough night, could we talk for a second? Would you pray for me? It is a bad

feeling when you feel alone. Some of you may have felt it, I would venture to say maybe

that everybody has felt that. You feel alone, that is a bad feeling. But the cure often

times for feeling alone is feeling the presence of a friend, it is feeling the presence of

the Lord, it is seeking the word of the Lord and letting God speak to you through his word.

There is no shame in calling up a friend and saying look I am having a bad day, I am having

a bad night, I need a little help. Praise the Lord that God gives us community. That

is one of the greatest blessings that I think God gives us is he gives us one another. Yeah

we go straight to God, praise the Lord. We seek God, we know he is in control but he

gives us one another I believe as a community of brothers and sisters in Christ so that

we can be there for one another. And we need to make sure that we do that. There are a

lot of people in this world that feel alone, maybe you do not, maybe you are doing pretty

good, praise the Lord that is good, maybe you will one day, maybe you will not. But

I go see a lot of people and it happens a lot of times that when I go see older people

the story is the same. Usually they are shut up in a room or in their home and they get

very little company and often times they feel alone because the world has passed them by.

They used to live a life like you do. They used to get up and go to work, they used to

go on vacations, they used to get in the car and go wherever they wanted to go and do whatever

they wanted to do and there comes a point in your life and you will get there should

you live long enough that life is going to get hard. And one day you are going to be

in a room by yourself looking at four walls and is anybody going to come see you? Is anybody

going to care about you? Are you going to spend your years feeling alone and forgotten

and afraid and depressed? Is anybody going to come see you? Well let me ask you this

question, do you go see anybody? There is a lot of people out there that are alone,

do you go see anybody? I challenge you church this year, I challenge you to go see some

folks because a lot of us probably are at a point where we do not really know what it

is like to be alone in that way because we all come here today, we got in our car, we

drove today. But there is a lot of people in this world that may go days at a time,

weeks at a time, months at a time and do not see a soul and they are alone and afraid at

the end of their life. We need to go see those people. We come up with a lot of excuses why

we do not want to, I do not want to hear your excuses, they are not good enough. You say

well you do not even know what they are, no I do not, but they are not good enough, I

do not have time, wrong, that is a lie. You make time for whatever you want to do, every

one of us do, every one of us make time to do whatever we want to do. So do not tell

me you do not have time. Do not say well they would not come see me or they never come see

me, I am not going to see them, well who cares? Maybe they did not come see you, maybe they

are an old curmudgeon and they are not worthy of a visit, but you know what, I have seen

it, old curmudgeons get lonely, they feel alone, they feel afraid when life is drawing

to a close. Go see them anyway, because maybe one day you are going to be an old curmudgeon

and people are not going to want to come see you, but maybe they will. Do not say I cannot

go see them because they are not in good shape, I just cannot stand to see them like that.

No you have got to be tougher than that, you have got to be tougher than that. We cannot

say of our loved ones that are in their worst shape, that are alone and afraid and feel

abandoned, we cannot say, oh I just cannot bear to see them, it hurts me too much. Well

you do not think that it hurts them to lay there day after day and week after week and

no one pay them attention? You do not think that they are hurting? You do not think that

they are lonely? You say well their minds gone, they are not even going to remember

me, I do not even need to go see them. Wrong. Yeah people's minds, they decline, they deteriorate.

You might have the same conversation with some people a thousand times in the visits

you go see them. But you know what I believe? I am not a doctor, I am just some country

preacher. But here is what I think, I think that somewhere in there, there is probably

a part of them that knows what is going on. And they may not be able to tell you and show

you that they remember that you came five minutes before, but I think that there is

a part of them that in that moment that knows that you love them, that knows that you came

to see them, that they know that they are not alone. So there are days in our life that

we feel alone, that we need to call on the Lord, that we need to call on a friend and

praise God if we do that. Praise God and consider it a blessing if somebody in this church calls

you at two o'clock in the morning and says brother, sister, I am having a bad night.

Could you just talk to me for a moment? Could you just pray for me? I feel alone and afraid.

We should praise God if somebody would call us and need us in a time of feeling alone.

And we should not be too proud to allow the devil to attack us night after night in the

darkness and in the quiet when we feel alone. Because often times just hearing the voice

of a friend is enough to restore our souls. So there are days that we are those who are

alone and there are days that we feel like Elijah and we may say God, I alone am left.

And maybe in this story and in these passages we looked at today, God can remind us you

are not alone. There are thousands of other brothers and sisters in Christ that love me

and that love you. You are not alone in your struggles. You are not alone in your pain.

You are not alone in your suffering because I, the Lord your God, will never leave you

or forsake you. And may it be said of us, as children of God, that we would not leave

and forsake those whom we love. That we would not leave them alone and afraid. That we would

reach out to those who are lonely. That we would reach out when we need help and that

we would reach out to help others in their loneliness. You can throw your excuses out

the window today. They are not sufficient. There is a community of people who need you.

If you do not go visit people who aren't able to get out, then you need to start going to

visit people. You can pick one person a month. Start out simple. Pick one person that is

shut up that is not able to get out. It is probably somebody that already came to your

mind that you had not seen in six months and in two years and you asked me how so and so

doing. Well here is what I tell you. Next time you want to ask me how so and so doing

because I had not seen them in a while, go see them. Get in the car and go see them.

And I guarantee you, I guarantee you, they will be glad to see you. You know why? Because

nobody goes to see them. You know how you know that. Because I go see them and they

say nobody comes to see me. That is not a good thing. That is not a good thing that

there are family members and that there are church members that some of you have not seen

in years. And all they see are four walls. And very seldom get a call and very seldom

get a visit and they feel alone and afraid and many of them are at the end of their life

and they need the love of a friend. So pick somebody. Pray about it. Say God put somebody

in my path. Maybe somebody we have forgotten about. Even those old cranky curmudgeons that

aint done you right. They are alone and afraid to. And ask God to give you the courage to

go and to visit with them. You say I do not know what to say. You do not got to say nothing.

You say well that will be awkward. Well maybe it will be awkward but I guarantee you this.

They will not care. It aint about what you say. It is not about what you say. It is about

that you take the time and the effort to go. Do not just do it once. You go see them. You

check on them. You tell them you love them. Ask them if you can do anything for them.

You know it is something we take for granted. We can do stuff for ourselves. Most of us

in here can do everything we want to do. Anything we want to do. We get a little older. We kind

of slow down. But for the most part we can do what we want to do. Some people can. Ask

people how you can help them. Pray for them. Now I know I am a long way. I would probably

get a failing grade for this sermon and seminary because I am a long way from the context of

what these passages are talking about. But maybe not. The point is this. Or at least

this is what the Lord spoke to me. And that is there are days that we feel alone like

Elijah. And God reminds Elijah in this passage, you are not alone. If we take nothing else

from this today, let us remember that. You are not alone today. And maybe, just maybe,

God can use you to encourage somebody else with that same message. There are plenty of

people around here that feel alone. You say, I don't know who they are. Well come ask me.

I can tell you some people. I can tell you somebody to go visit. But you don't need me

to. You know people. You already know people. So we have got to do a better job. If we don't,

go check on those who are alone. We have got to do a better job. We have got to take the

encouragement we get from God's word in our life and take that encouragement to others.

Let's pray. God we come to you. We thank you for your good word. And I pray dear Lord that

you would help anyone in this place today that is coming here and they feel alone dear

Lord. There may be some sitting on the pews this morning that feel that way. Even right

now as I pray. God even right now surrounded by these brothers and sisters in Christ, they

just have a loneliness that they feel. And God I pray. I don't have any magic words to

tell them. I can only tell them God that you have not forgotten them. And I pray that they

would find hope in that today. That you have not abandoned them in their time of distress.

That you have not abandoned them in their pain and in their struggles. I pray God that

they would know that you are with them. To walk with them every step of the way. And

they may not always feel it. They may not feel it today God. But you are there. God

I pray that you would meet us in our loneliness. God sometimes those attacks are serious. Sometimes

they are serious God and they hit us at the worst times. And God it's just tough when

we go through those feelings of being alone. But I pray that we find comfort in you. And

I pray that we find comfort in one another dear Lord. I pray that as a church family

we would go stronger in sharing in our sufferings dear Lord. That we would call out to our brothers

and sisters in Christ to help us on the days that we feel alone. God I pray that you would

help us to be able to help others. Dear Lord there are a lot of people in this world that

feel alone. Many of which are stuck in a room somewhere in a nursing home or confined to

their home dear Lord with very little attention given to them. And in a world that they believe

it's forgotten them. And maybe God if we're honest a lot of times that's the case dear

Lord. But God let us be those that change that. That we can go to those dear Lord who

feel alone and let them know that they are not forgotten. That you are with them and

that there are people in this world that care about them. That just in the few moments we

can sit down and just talk with them and visit with them dear Lord. That they would experience

your love and your joy. That would give them that little bit of glimmer of hope dear Lord.

That little extra boost. So God I pray for those that feel alone today. Those that are

not here. Those that are struggling. I pray God that we would be a light to this world.

Dear Lord I thank you for these words. I thank you for this story of Elijah. Dear Lord maybe

some days come in our life that we feel kind of like him. We know you and we've seen your

power and we've experienced it. And maybe there's some in here today and they came in

here kind of with the same attitude of Elijah and just ready to give up dear Lord. They're

just tired and they're ready to give up and they just feel alone. But I pray God that

just as you met the needs of Elijah you restored him and you encouraged him to let him know

that he wasn't alone. God I pray that those who might have come into this place today

with that feeling would have that same experience. That you would restore them. That you meet

them where they are. That you give them some encouragement today and that you remind them

God that you are with them and that they are not alone. That there are brothers and sisters

in Christ in this room to care for them. And I ask these things in Jesus name. Amen.