Elijah Week 2

Welcome to the North Iron Church Podcast.

Our mission is to take the gospel from the upper peninsula to the ends of the earth.

We pray this message will inspire and encourage you in your faith journey.

Enjoy our Elijah series, where we learn truths from the story of Elijah in 1st and 2nd Kings.

What a great blessing to partner with Care Clinic and other missions organizations like that to move God's kingdom forward.

I'm Aaron Lindholm, glad to be here with you this morning.

We are continuing our Elijah series that Pastor Mark kicked off last week.

We're gonna have a lot of fun continuing in this build-up, as you as you heard, if you were here uh last week or if you listened last week, towards an epic battle on Mount Carmel between Elijah and the prophets, or false prophets, I should say, of the false God Baal, and this whole series and Elijah's whole ministry in life is leading up to that point.

And today we're gonna talk about some of the troubles that Elijah faced and some of the troubles that you and I face.

Now, if you're like me and you were a teenager or a young adult or maybe just lived through the 90s at all and enjoyed country music, any Travis Tritt fans in here?

When you hear the word trouble, you probably hear T R O U B L E.

You know, anybody else?

Well, I don't miss much if it happens on the dance hall floor.

Mercy.

Look what just walked through that door.

Well, hey, good eldle, okay, I didn't.

I smell T R O U.

Anyway, okay, enough.

Enough holy foolishness, my my senior pastor used to say in the old days.

Let's let's actually get into this.

Travis Trid isn't the only person who talked about trouble.

Jesus talked about trouble as well.

In John chapter 16, Jesus actually promised that not only Elijah, but we would face troubles in this side of eternity.

John 16 · chapter mention

In this world, Jesus says, you will, not you might, but you will face trouble.

And the good news, I would say, today is most of the troubles that we face are ordinary.

I I would even maybe say minor or or routine or mundane parts of the oh, I'm sorry, yes, 1 Kings chapter 17.

1 Kings 17 · chapter mention

We're gonna be in here in a little bit.

Um there's a Bible, you can find today's notes on the on the app, or we'll have them on the screen.

But if you need a physical Bible, raise your hand and someone will hand one to you.

Thanks, guys, for remembering that.

I'm sorry.

But most of the troubles we face are are just kind of they're a result of our grandma, great, great, great, great, great, great, great grandma and grandpa Adam and Eve's fall in the garden and the curse and the and the ramifications of the curse of sin that came and and and just this side of eternity, life is not easy, it's full of troubles.

I don't need to tell you that, right?

You you wake up with aches and pains, you have difficult bosses and relational difficulties, and sometimes your car doesn't start, and on and on and on.

Those are just normal troubles that we face.

And I believe that that typically and usually God has given us tools and resources and a brain and a strong back or whatever the case may be to overcome those those troubles, and even though they're there, we can deal with them.

But sometimes, and this is kind of where we're going today, sometimes the troubles we face are dire.

And I I want to today talk about dire circumstances, and so I have a definition of what that word means, dire, because these are not just our normal or or regular troubles, these are our extra difficult adversity, urgent, dreadful, extremely serious circumstances that cause great fear, and they often indicate a desperate and a near hopeless state.

So today we're not here to define whether or not your circumstances dire or not.

I'll give you, I'll tell you a little story.

Since we're talking about the 90s, I was thinking about my 16-year-old self, and oftentimes when I walked out of the house as a 16-year-old, I would encounter a flat tire, whether on a three-wheeler or a car.

But because uh my my dad showed me how to deal with that, I would walk into the garage, get the compressor, air up that tire, and head off on my way.

But I didn't need his help.

One time, however, as a 16-year-old, I was given permission by my parents, yes, permission, to head off to Minneapolis to visit my buddy in Bible college.

And so I drove there.

We had a blast of a good time, if you can imagine.

And on my way home, the car broke down in about Ironwood or Besmer or Wakefield.

I don't even remember where it was exactly, so much so that I couldn't fix it.

This is pre-cell phone days.

I didn't know what to do, the car just wouldn't work, and I had to walk across to a diner or a gas station, call my dad for help because I was in a dire circumstance that I couldn't fix or face on my own.

I sat there and waited, he came and towed me home.

But I needed my dad's help because the situation was urgent and I was pretty much hopeless.

There was nothing I could do on my own.

So you kind of see the difference.

Dire circumstances are bigger than just regular old troubles and regular old problems that we face on this side of eternity.

And we all face dire circumstances from time to time.

I have never met anyone who has not had at least a dire circumstance here or there.

And unfortunately, this is true.

And if you've been around North Iron for any amount of time, sometimes we talk about these things uh in the context of storms.

Storms in dire circumstances are probably synonyms, and and if you're new, I'm sorry.

Welcome to Northiron.

But listen, if you're if you're not currently in a storm, you've just come out of a storm, or you're on your way into a storm, these dire circumstances are part of the human condition.

And and and today I think we learned some lessons from Elijah and the widow about what we can do in dire circumstances, the things that we're tempted by when we face dire circumstances, and some revelation of what God has for us and what we should look towards in terms of God's character and his presence and things like that when we're in those.

So that's kind of the setup for where we're going today.

1 Kings 17, verses 1 through 7, we're talking about Elijah's story and just a quick recap of where we've been to this point.

1 Kings 17:1–7

Elijah has been called by God as a prophet to go and confront wicked King Ahab and his evil queen Jezebel.

And when I say wicked and when I say evil, they they they had stepped up their game in terms of wickedness and leading the people astray, so much so that God sends Elijah to pronounce judgment upon the nation and their leadership in the form of no rain until I say so.

And because of that judgment of no rain, there was a famine across the land.

But Elijah becomes an enemy of the state with Ahab and Jezebel, and he has to flee into the wilderness.

In the wilderness, God provides for him by providing water in a brook that he camps by, miraculously and supernaturally providing provision from ravens who bring him food, and for a season of time everything is going fine.

But but then again, that that season ends, and Elijah goes into another dire circumstance because the brook dries up and the ravens stop bringing food, and God has to direct him to go and be provided for by a widow, coincidentally, in the hometown of evil Queen Jezebel, who we just talked about.

And that kind of brings us to our passage today, 1 Kings chapter 17, beginning in verses 8, and we'll take the story all the way through verse 24.

1 Kings 17 · chapter mention

I'm gonna summarize it for you.

I'd encourage you to read it uh later this week or when you get home today, but we're gonna take a few, a few verses later on and kind of talk about them more specifically.

But when Elijah leaves the brook and heads for the town of Zarepheth in the region of Sidon to find this widow, he comes across her picking up sticks.

I recently had the pleasure of picking up all the sticks in our front yard under the big white pine trees that fell from the endless winter we had.

Many, many loads.

So I was I was feeling for the widow as she was picking up sticks.

But she's actually picking up sticks because she's gonna go home and start a fire to bake their last meal.

Elijah comes on the scene, of course he's thirsty.

There's a famine in the land, nobody has water, and he says to this widow, please go get me a drink of water.

To which I'm thinking she's probably thinking, Well, where am I gonna find that?

You know, but she doesn't disagree.

And then he says as she turns to leave, and you know what?

While you're getting me a drink, also bake me a cake.

Give me some, give me some bread.

And that that kind of pushes her over the edge.

She turns back and she says, Listen, dude, I'm going home to make my last cake for me and my son.

We're gonna eat it and then we're gonna die.

It's like dire circumstance, it's really bad.

Elijah says, like any good pastor, well, make me one first, okay?

Because I'm hungry too.

But but seriously, he says, Make mine first and watch what God does, and he will provide.

And and honestly, miraculously, the widow agrees.

I I don't know if I was in her situation, if I if I would have agreed, but she agrees.

She makes Elijah the prophet some bread first, and supernaturally the little jar of oil that she had and the little bit of flour, probably in another little container, never run out all throughout the course of the rest of that famine period.

It's a supernatural miracle of provision.

And so they get through that dire circumstance, and like I promised, another one is right on the horizon.

Things seem to be going fine, but then out of seemingly out of nowhere, the widow's son dies.

He gets sick, scripture says, and actually dies.

And of course, as a grieving mother, she goes a little ballistic on Elijah, kind of accuses God of killing her son.

And so Elijah's trying to figure out what to do as a minister in this situation.

So he takes the boy from her, brings him into the house, and does a little kind of a what seems bizarre, maybe.

He he lays down and stretches himself out on the boy three times, cries out to the Lord, and guess what?

The Lord delivers them from that dire circumstance, raises the boy to life, and Elijah gives the boy back to his mother.

So that's that's 1 Kings 17, 8 through 24.

But I think we learn some things in this passage about dire circumstance based on how Elijah and the widow react and also how they don't react.

And so, three things I want to talk about with regard to what we are often tempted in or tempted towards or tempted by or tempted to in the midst of dire circumstance.

And maybe you're here this morning and you are right in the thick of a storm, right in the thick of a dire circumstance, and maybe you're feeling these things.

What does God's word say?

What can we what can we do to confront these temptations?

Or, like we said, maybe there's one on the horizon, and this will be good for you to lean back on in the future.

But the first thing that dire circumstance tempt us towards is that they they tempt us to question God's character.

I want to talk about questioning God for a little bit to make sure we're on the same page about what I'm talking about in terms of this kind of temptation.

In dire circumstances, as in life, often we have questions for God.

I'm guessing, even though scripture doesn't record this in the passage, that when God invited Elijah to go and confront Ahab and Jezebel, he probably was like, You sure?

You know, like they're evil, they don't like prophets, they kill prophets.

Are you sure?

You know, to his credit, Elijah never never accuses God of wrongdoing or never disobeys him.

But I'm wondering also, you know, when when God says, hey, go camp out by the brook and I'll send some ravens to bring you food, Elijah might have been like, is there not an easier way?

Like, is there not a is there not a McDonald's or a, you know, an I don't know, Uber Eats or something like that?

Hey, go to the widow who's also in a famine and she'll provide for you.

What?

Widows don't have anything as it is.

How is this lady gonna give me any?

You know, so I mean, all throughout this scripture, and even with the widow, we we we actually see her questioning all throughout this, you know, there's these kind of potential for honest questions of God.

Why God?

Why why why would you why would you do that?

Why would you invite me there?

Why why this?

Why that?

And I I know because you're like me, you've you've you've done that with God also.

Why is this happening, God?

Why why would you allow this?

And here's here's what I believe, and this is important for us to establish in terms of you know, kind of a proper doctrinal position on questioning God.

God is not offended or insecure about our honest questions.

And if you think of this like a parent or a grandparent uh with toddlers, we now have some some grandkids who are cute, but they can be annoying too, right?

Like, why, Papa, are there trees in the yard?

Well, because there was an acorn and then it grew.

Well, why did it grow?

Because of you know, photosynthesis and I don't know, all right?

God knows all the answers.

God has all the answers, but sometimes in our in our why reasoning and our why question, he chooses not to give us the answer, maybe because we wouldn't understand it, like a like with the toddler.

But also, I wonder if we've ever considered this.

Even if we knew the answer to the why, would it really change the circumstance?

Here's what I think we do when we ask God why.

We imply to him, God, if you would just tell me why this thing is happening, why this circumstance is happening, then I could take it from there.

We imply to God that we have a better way of dealing with or navigating the dire circumstance that we're in.

And when we clamor why against him, what we're probably actually saying is, I don't agree with what you're doing.

And honestly, even that's God can still handle that.

Here's where this becomes a problem when we're actually tempted to question his character, not question why the circumstances happening, not even say, Well, why me, God?

Again, you know, I'm broken down in ironwood, again, you know, I'm facing a difficult situation, again.

Not so much that, but when we question God in an accusatory fashion, why, God, have you lost control of the universe and allowed this to happen?

God hasn't lost control of anything.

Why, God, have you stopped loving me?

Obviously, you don't love me if this thing is going on around me.

God hasn't ever stopped loving us, never will stop loving us.

God, why aren't you good anymore like you used to be?

That's a that's an accusation against God's character that's non-biblical, untrue, and I would say crosses into even sin.

When we accuse God of wrongdoing, the God who never does anything wrong, dire circumstances have tempted us to step over into sin.

And they tempt us all.

Especially when circumstances are difficult, urgent, life-threatening, we don't know what to do, we don't know where the answers come from.

Oftentimes we just throw our hands up in the air and rail against God like He has done something wrong.

God never, ever does anything wrong.

He never, ever does anything late.

He never ever misses the mark, but these dire circumstances often cause us to question the widow kind of does this to the prophet, and ultimately, because the prophet is God's prophet, she's actually saying this against God in verse 18.

The widow says to Elijah, What do you have against me, man of God, that you came to remind me of my sin and kill my son?

God didn't God didn't kill the widow's son any more than he caused the evil, bad, dire circumstance that you and I face on an ongoing basis.

Does God allow these things?

Well, absolutely.

He's sovereign over the whole universe.

Whatever happens in the universe, God allows, but that doesn't mean he's sinned or done evil just because he allowed something.

I think about the story of Job.

If you're familiar with the story of Job, Job goes through all kinds of dire circumstances, and his wife and his friends and the people around him are tempting him and encouraging him even to curse God and die and accuse God of wrongdoing.

God has abandoned you.

But Job says something so amazing in the spite of all these circumstances that yes, God is allowing.

If you remember back in the beginning of the story, Satan comes into the throne room of heaven and says, Hey, have you thought about Job?

And God's like, Yeah, I love Job.

He's amazing.

Satan says, Well, give him to me and he'll turn his back on you in a heartbeat.

God doesn't do it, but he allows it.

And in the middle of all those circumstances, Job says, even if he kills me, yet I will hope in him.

King James says, Yea, though he slay me, yet I will hope in him.

What a great position to be in in dire circumstances.

Actually, I wrote it this way: the antidote, if you're in a dire circumstance and you're being quest tempted to question God's character, the antidote to questioning his character is deciding, yes, it's a decision, yes, it's a choice, to trust in his sovereignty, his love, his wisdom, his power, his goodness in spite of the circumstances.

It's okay to ask those honest why questions, they may or may not get answered, and even if they do, they may or may not satisfy the circumstances.

It's inappropriate for us to accuse God of wrongdoing.

It's our job as people of faith to decide to trust in Him, no matter what is going on.

Secondly, dire circumstances they tempt us to make poor choices or to force things or attempt to force things to happen.

I am the king, I'm the chief sinner, the king of forcing things to happen.

When I feel like they're not happening quickly enough, when I'm in the midst of a trial or a storm or a dire circumstance, so I'm gonna preach to my myself here for just a moment.

But imagine for a moment that you have no money in your checking account, so you decide to rob a party store.

For those of you watching online, that's like a 7-Eleven or a liquor store.

In the UP, we call them party stores, okay?

You know what I mean?

Like poor decision.

You know, you might force something to happen for a moment.

There's probably only$7.50 in the cash register anyway at the party store.

You know, but it's not gonna help long term.

It's it's it's what we sometimes are tempted to do, or or maybe you get a bad diagnosis at the hospital, or your kid gets a bad diagnosis, and until you get the right medicine, or somebody changes their mind, you decide to take hostage, the hospital, hold the doctor.

You know, like I think there's like a movie about that, right?

Maybe a Denzel movie.

It's just it's like a poor decision.

It's it's it's it's what we sometimes are tempted to do.

We force things.

I told you I'm I'm the king of this.

Um there there was a season where I guess my retirement wasn't progressing as fast as I thought it should.

Uh, I thought it was a dire circumstance, it wasn't.

So I bought a bunch of monkey NFTs to try to flip and double and you know force things to go faster.

Poor decision.

You know what?

I thought they were absolutely worthless, but today I was thinking to myself, well, actually, they're a good sermon anecdote, so at least something came out of them, you know what I mean?

But when we're in these difficult and dire circumstances, we we often want to take charge, take control, make something happen, force something, push the rope up the road, you know, that that never works.

And the antidote to forcing a poor decision in a dire circumstance, you're not gonna like this.

Patience and waiting on God.

And in Elijah's story, I think he does an amazing job of this.

We we don't see him forcing any issues, we don't see him taking things into his own hand, we don't see him trying to go down and and hunt for deer or partridge.

He just sits there and waits for the ravens to feed him when the brook dries up and God directs him to the widow.

He just goes, he he Elijah does a great job all throughout his life and ministry of being patient and waiting on God to direct, to provide, to show up with power.

And and we sh we can learn that lesson.

This is the antidote when we feel tempted in times of dire circumstance to force things or make a poor decision.

And the third thing that we're sometimes tempted in with regard to dire circumstances, and we do see this in our story, we're tempted to give up.

Maybe this is where you are this morning.

Maybe you feel very much like I am gonna go home from church, and if this thing hasn't changed, I'm done.

I'm throwing in the towel, I'm quitting, and I'm I'm giving up.

The the nature, the strong nature of dire circumstances, these remember are not just your average trouble.

They're serious.

Nobody's denying the serious thing that you're going through or the seriousness of and the bigness and the urgency of this thing you can't handle on your own.

I can't handle on my own.

Sometimes they get so big that we can't see anything else but just quitting and giving up.

And that's kind of where the widow is in the story in verse 12.

We'll look at that.

Surely as the Lord God lives, she's replying to Elijah's request for bread.

I don't have any bread.

I got a handful of flour, I got a little bit of oil, and I'm gathering up some sticks to make a meal for myself and a son so we can eat it and die.

Dire circumstances very much often can bring us to this point where we don't see a way out.

We don't see an answer, and we're ready to throw our hands up and quit and throw the towel in.

The antidote to giving up is getting up.

You probably don't know how, if you're in a dire circumstance right now, or if you can remember when you've been in one, you probably don't know what's gonna happen tomorrow or next week, or let alone next month.

Like I don't see a way out of this, but if you give up rather than get up, you take yourself out of God's opportunity to direct, provide, and and bring in his power too soon.

It's always too soon to quit.

Maybe you're here this morning and this is the word that you needed from the Lord.

Today is too soon to quit.

If you were thinking about quitting, if you were thinking about throwing in the towel today, don't do it.

Go home and see what tomorrow brings.

See what the Lord does.

Don't quit.

Get up.

And then tomorrow, get up again.

This is the secret to getting through anything hard.

It's the secret to eating an elephant, they say, although I've never tried that.

It's one day at a time, it's one bite at a time.

It's, you know, if you're a Navy SEAL and you've got six months of absolute hell in front of you, you don't think about how you're gonna finish two months from now.

You think of how you're going to finish the next 30-second evolution.

I'm gonna get through this, and then I'm gonna see what happens.

Then I'm gonna get through that.

You know what I mean?

Don't quit.

Get up, get up, get up, keep marching towards the thing that God puts in front of you.

This is what Elijah did.

He faces all kinds of dire circumstances, he faces all kinds of difficult situations.

He never quits, he keeps giving up, and he didn't let the widow quit either.

She wanted to just go home and die.

He could have probably said, All right, I'll go find another widow who's willing to bake me bread.

He said, Don't.

Don't do that.

Trust God, put him first and see what happens.

And that kind of brings us to the to the next point in our in our message this morning.

I think there's three things.

Pastors just seem to always need to have three things, right?

But there were three things we're tempted by.

There's also three things I think we can look for that God reveals in times of dire circumstance.

So I want to talk about looking for God in our dire circumstances, and three things specifically that I believe, especially in this passage and in our lives, we can count on Him to do when we're in a dire circumstance.

The first is that we need to look for God's direction.

We see this so clearly in our passage in Elijah's ministry.

God directs him first to Ahab and Jezebel.

I want you to go.

I want you to pronounce judgment upon them for their sins and the sins of the nation.

He directs Elijah specifically, even what to say.

Then after that, he directs him to the brook.

I want you to go to a brook.

You can drink out of it.

I'm going to feed you with the ravens.

God very specifically directs Elijah.

And then through Elijah, he directs the widow.

I want you to make me bread.

I want you to do this.

And God's direction is all over this passage.

And it reminds me that in dire circumstances, especially when we're in a place where we can't fix it on our own, where it's not just a small flat tire that God has given us the resources or the tools or the brains to fix or handle on our own and we need him, we need his direction.

How silly is it when we try to do things without God's direction when we can't take care of them in the first place?

So if you're in a dire circumstance this morning, look for God's direction.

And I'm sure someone here or someone online is saying, Pastor Aaron, I've prayed.

It's like the heavens are brass, right?

I get that.

I want to encourage you this way.

God still speaks in 2026.

If you're watching this in the future, it's 2026 right now, okay?

God hasn't changed.

God's word still speaks to us.

The preaching of his word still speaks to us.

God's people still speak to us.

If God can speak through a prophet or an angel or even a donkey, he can speak to us any way he wants to, anytime he wants to.

If he is not speaking to you, it's time to just sit and wait.

Wait for him to direct.

Wait for him to speak.

Something that drives me crazy about myself and about you know listening to people in a similar situation is we act like either God has spoken really quietly and quickly, I know God spoke, but I missed it.

God is a loving father.

If when when he wants to direct me, it's like, hey, I I've been saying this for three days.

Oh, yeah, Lord, yes, yes, I am hearing you.

I said it through Pastor Mark's sermon.

I said it through your small group.

I said it in your daily Bible reading.

Hear me, hear me, you know, like when God wants to direct, and he does direct, he will continue to speak and direct until we hear him.

He's not some kind of uh manipulative, evil, you know, weirdo who just like, you missed it, sorry, you're you're cooked.

That's not how God works, okay?

He speaks and he continues to speak, especially, especially when it's something that he wants done.

When it's when it's his will, when it's his direction, when it's his plan.

Of course he's gonna keep speaking to us until we hear him.

If you're not hearing him, one of two things is happening.

It's it's time to just wait, if you're in a dire circumstance, until he directs, because you don't want to get in front of him, you don't want to force things, you don't want to make a bad decision, just wait.

Or possibly maybe your circumstance isn't dire and it's just regular.

Sometimes I I hear people saying, Well, I haven't, you know, I have to decide which which college to go to or which job to take or which color pants to put on.

And I haven't heard from God.

I know I'm being silly, but it could be that your circumstance is not actually dire, and God just doesn't care.

He doesn't he doesn't care if you wear blue pants or yellow pants, he doesn't care if you go to northern or tech, he doesn't care, he probably cares that you stay in the UP and don't go to college downstate, but I'm just saying.

If your circumstance isn't dire, this is just kind of a a bonus here.

I think God trusts us to make some decisions with the wisdom he's given us, to pump up our own flat tire, so to speak, and move on down the road.

So if you're not hearing from him, it might be that he just really doesn't have an opinion on the matter, but if your circumstance is dire and you know it is, I don't need to define that, and you're not hearing, wait, look, seek, pray, intercede, get some other people praying with you, look for God's direction.

Secondly, look for his provision.

Another thing that we see all throughout our passage, God supernaturally provides.

When Elijah pronounces the famine and the no-rain, God provides a solution for him in the wilderness.

When that solution dries up, that and he goes, he he's on his way to another direction.

God provides a widow.

And when when you know, again and again, when the widow's oil and and flower seem to be running, God provides supernaturally an answer.

When the boy he provides, God provides, God provides, God provides.

Remember, sometimes we're tempted to accuse him of wrongdoing.

God, you're not providing for me.

God, you're not showing up here.

I need provision.

Don't you see what's going on?

Have you not looked at my checkbook, God?

He knows.

He knows, and he provides.

I have never seen, David says, the righteous forsaken or their seed begging bread.

Here's the trick.

It's not a trick, it's a truth, actually.

We learn this in our passage.

When does God provide for Elijah, the brook and the raven?

When does God provide for the widow and the bread and the flour and the oil?

After.

After the obedience.

After Elijah obeyed and spoke to Ahab and Jezebel, God provided a solution.

After the widow obeyed with the bread, God provided supernatural provision.

After we put God first, he provides again and again and again.

And if you don't believe me, take it from Solomon, the wisest person who ever lived.

Proverbs chapter 3, verses 9 and 10.

Proverbs 3:9

When we honor the Lord, this just means put him first.

Put him first in every area of our lives, put him first in our time, talents, and treasure.

That's what our wealth is.

We're wealthy in our time, we're wealthy in our talents, we're wealthy in our treasure.

When we put him first in these things, and when we bring him, when we give him the first fruits, not the leftovers, not the crumbs, not the okay, God, you can have this part of my life when I've done everything else I wanted to.

When we put him first, then, then, then he provides.

And he provides amazingly.

Overflowing barns, vats, whatever vats are, I think they're like big jugs filled with new wine.

You can look for God's provision if you're putting him first, if you're honoring him.

If you're not, if you haven't, and you're in a dire circumstance, you will continue to look for God's provision and you likely won't find it.

This is a truth of all through scripture.

This is a truth of God's universe.

But when you put him first, and if you are putting him first, you can count on it, you can take it to the bank.

He will provide supernaturally for your dire circumstance.

Thirdly, finally, look for God's resurrection power.

I feel it in the room today.

I hope you feel it wherever you're watching online.

His resurrection power.

The passage says this about Elijah raising the boy to life.

Verse 22, the Lord heard Elijah's cry.

And the boy's life returned to him.

He lived.

In your dire circumstance, because I know that you're like me, and this is this is common to all of us.

There is probably something that has been killed, destroyed, or has died.

Maybe it's physical death.

Maybe you lost someone or a family member recently.

Some of our friends at the law's campus lost someone in a tragic car accident this week.

Maybe physical death has happened.

Maybe it's a death of a relationship.

Maybe it's a death of a job.

You've lost your income.

Maybe it's a death of a, I don't know, it could be any anything that's caused your dire circumstance.

I'm here to proclaim that God's resurrection power is bigger than and can restore life even in the places where there has actually been death.

Whether physically, certainly he raised this boy to life, he raised Lazarus to life, he raised himself to life.

But but my experience more often is that he brings life and restores the season and the days and the times that the locus has eaten in many other ways.

We reference Job's story.

He doesn't bring Job's old children to life, he provides new children for him.

And in your dire circumstance, I believe that that life may not come exactly how you expect it, or exactly how you even are praying for it or want it.

And maybe the thing that has died will never return, but it doesn't stop Jesus from restoring life.

I know because your condition and your circumstances are like mine, that likely Jesus' promise has come true in your life at one point or the other, that the thief has come in.

Jesus tells us this in John 10.

The thief has come in.

He's killed, stolen from you, he's destroyed something, he's pounded you into the ground.

And you're feeling it today, you're in a dire circumstance.

Look what Jesus promises.

But I came so that you can have life, you can have it to the full.

That is not the end of your story.

Debbie and I experienced this firsthand.

If you don't know our story, I'll tell it to you very quickly.

We both experienced this very thing.

The thief killed and destroyed in Debbie's situation, her first husband passed away.

Very, very rapidly, he had mucosal melanoma within less than a year.

They had been married for decades.

Debbie found herself in a dire circumstance with physical death.

After 20 years of marriage, my first marriage ended in divorce.

I found myself in a season of relational death.

There were seasons of darkness, there were seasons of being tempted to question God.

Why?

What is going on here?

Why would you allow this?

Why this was never supposed to be me?

This wasn't the story.

This wasn't the plan.

Tempting to force things more me than Debbie.

I was on match.com and Christian Mingo and all the all the sites like a crazy person.

I probably asked a half a dozen ladies in church out if they would go on a date, and they all thought, you know, it's been it's been 48 minutes since your wife left you, do you?

You idiot.

I was trying to force things.

I told you I'm the king of it.

This is where we were.

And God began to direct us.

Pastor Mark said, Aaron, stop.

Just stand still and wait and come and work in the ministry and see, look around and see who else is working in the ministry, see what God does.

God began to direct Debbie's heart.

For for years she said, I'm not interested in getting remarried.

And then all of a sudden, God began to direct, began to stir her heart.

And then, lo and behold, he provided supernaturally.

We we got to meet each other and we have seen him.

Well, Debbie's former husband, Rudy, hasn't come back to life.

My first marriage wasn't restored.

God has restored life in full supernatural ways in our relationship, in our ministry, in our family.

And I'm not saying these things to rub salt in your wound if you're in a dire circumstance.

I'm saying that just like he did for Elijah, and just like he did for the widow, and just like he did for Debbie and me, he will do it for you.

He will bring resurrection power into your dire circumstance and restore life where the enemy has stolen.

I it's a it's not my promise, it's Jesus' promise.

We can overcome our dire circumstances through Christ, through Jesus, not in our own power.

We need to pick up the phone and call dad to pick us up in Ironwood.

We're in a dire circumstance.

In the beginning of the message this morning, remember I told you that Jesus promised us trouble.

That was a little bit of a half-truth.

He did, but that wasn't all of the verse.

John 16, 33.

Let's look at the whole thing.

Jesus said, I have told you these things so that in me, you're in a dire circumstance right now.

In Jesus, you can have peace.

Because I know in this world you will have trouble.

That's what I told you at the beginning.

Jesus says, But take heart.

I have overcome the world.

He will help you overcome your regular troubles.

He's given you a brain, he's given you hands and a back and wisdom and opportunities.

He expects you to use those and and and do what he's given you to do to overcome those.

And in your dire circumstances, when you can't do it on your own, he will come in and assist you with his resurrection power, with his supernatural provision, and with his direction, overcome your dire circumstance.

Just stand this morning.

Our band's gonna come and lead us in a closing song.

Antonogin Launced, your leaders are gonna come.

This morning, I want to invite you to move towards the presence of the Lord.

First of all, if you don't know Jesus, who promised to help you in your dire circumstances, you need a relationship with him.

You need to get right with him, you need to do business with him this morning so that he can help you.

You can't face your dire circumstance on your own.

You need Jesus.

Amen.

If you don't know him, find him.

His presence is here.

Come to this altar.

Get prayed with somebody.

Uh tell them that you don't know Jesus and you want to.

Tell them that you're far from Jesus and you want to resume your relationship.

Come and find Jesus.

Secondly, if you're in a dire circumstance, you are being tempted.

You're being tempted to accuse God of wrongdoing, or maybe you have been accusing him of wrongdoing.

You're being tempted to force issues on your own.

You're being tempted to give up.

Come into the presence of God, find a place to pray, find a place in your seat at the altar and repent of that temptation.

Say, God, I don't want to give in dire circumstances.

I want to see you, I want to hear your direction, I want to know and have your provision because I'm putting you first, and I need your resurrection power in my life.

This morning, it's available, it's here.

Move towards the Lord, and I believe it will be the answer to your dire circumstances.

Let's pray, Jesus.

We need you, we need you to restore what the enemy has taken from us.

We need you to direct us, we need you to provide for us, we need your resurrection power in our circumstances this morning.

Would you pour out your spirit, Lord, on all of our campuses?

Would you pour out your spirit on our hearts in our lives in our families in our situations in our circumstances?

Move us out of this valley season, move us out of this dire circumstance.

In the matchless and mighty name of Jesus.

Thank you for joining us for this message.

For past sermons, a giving link, and more.

Check out the footnotes below or visit our website at northeiron.church.

We hope to see you soon.