A Call to Stand: Lessons from Elijah's Trials

Well, praise the Lord for that song. Amen. Well, good evening. Good

to be with you tonight. Most of you know me. I'm Noah. I'm the

children's pastor here. Most of y' all know me my whole life,

which that's awesome. And it's been a pleasure to be able to serve

you guys here at my home church. I think it's just a really

unique thing how there's many people in this room that have ministered

to me my whole life, and now I get to minister back to them. And

I think it's a very cool experience. And by the way, you guys

are still ministering to me as I'm ministering to you. And it's

just a blessing to be here tonight with you. If you have your

bibles, turn to First Kings, chapter 19 and hold your place there.

1 Kings 19 · chapter mention

We're going to jump back to chapter 18 to get a little bit of

context, but our main text tonight will be in chapter 19 of

First Kings. To set the stage here, if you don't, if you're not

familiar with this passage, this is the passage of the fire coming

down on Mount Carmel when Elijah challenges the prophets of

baal. And it's such a great victory. And we'll see that here

in a moment of how great of a victory it is during a time of really

a heavy darkness on Israel. And you'll see how far the people

have come that there's lots of them that have turned to worshiping

baal, but also worshiping God at the same time. And it's just kind

of how in Revelation chapter 3, Just God describes as very lukewarm

Revelation 3 · chapter mention

and just. It's more gross that they're just in this in between,

this in between status, right, of worshiping BAAL and worshiping

God at the same time. And, and Elijah kind of challenges this. And

we'll see here in a moment. Let's just go ahead and read in verse

number. Let's look at verse number one of chapter 18 of First

Kings. It says, and it came to pass after many days that the word

of the Lord came to Elijah in the third year, saying, go show thyself

unto Ahab, and I will send rain upon the earth. And Elijah went

to show himself unto Ahab, and there was a sore famine in Samaria.

So this, these two verses really set the scene here, right?

And we know that there's a famine in the land. And God's been

saying here, I'm about to bring land or about to bring rain

back to the land. And this is what you gotta do first Elijah, go

see Ahab. And this is gonna kinda get the ball rolling here,

right? Jump now to verse number 17. It says, and it came to

pass when Ahab saw Elijah, that Ahab said unto him, art thou

he that troubleth Israel? And he answered, I have not troubled

Israel, but they thou and thy father's house in that ye have forsaken

the commandments of the Lord and thou hast followed Balaam. Now

therefore send and gather to me all Israel unto Mount Carmel,

and the prophets of Baal 450 and the prophets of the Groves 400,

which eat at Jezebel's table. So Ahab sent unto all the children

of Israel and gathered the prophets together unto unto Mount

Carmel. So we're about to see here this challenge, right? If this

is, if you kind of look into this text, if this does not remind

you of what has happened to our nation the past, I don't know,

20 years, this constant back and forth battle between, oh no,

you're the problem with the nation, oh no, you're the problem

with America right now. And it's just this constant bickering

back and forth. And now we see, we can see the parallel here,

that it's. Now Christians are really starting to challenge this

idea and putting it to the test. And we see here in verse number,

verse number 29. Let's jump down here to verse number 29. It

says, and Elijah said unto the prophets of Baal, choose you one

bullock for yourselves, and dress it for ye are many. And call

on the name of your gods, but put no fire under. And they took

the bullock which was given them, and they dressed it and called

the name of BAAL from morning even until noon, saying, oh, baal,

hear us. But there was no voice, nor any, I'm sorry, nor nor

any that answered. And they leaped upon the altar which was made.

And that didn't work either. Look at verse number 27. It came

to pass at noon that Elijah mocked them and said, cry aloud,

for he is a God. Either he is talking or he is pursuing, or he

is in a journey or peradventure, he's. He sleepeth,

it must be awake. And they cried aloud and cut themselves after

their manner with knives and lancets till the blood gushed out

upon them. And it came to pass when midday was past, and they prophesied

until the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice that there

was neither voice nor any to answer, nor any that regarded. Now

let's jump down real fast to verse number, verse number 36. Real

fast. And it came to pass at the time of the offering of evening

time of the offering of eating sacrifice, that Elijah the prophet

came near and said, lord God of Abraham, Isaac and of Israel,

let it be known this day that thou art God in Israel and that I

am thy servant and that I have done all these things at thy word.

Hear me, O Lord. Hear me that this. That this people may know that

thou art the Lord God and that thou has turned their heart back

again. Then the fire of the Lord fell and consumed the burnt

sacrifice and the wood and the stones and the dust and licked up

the water that was in the trench. And when all the people saw

it, they fell on their faces and they said, the Lord he is the

God. The Lord he is the God. And Elijah said unto them, take the

prophets of baal, Let not one of them escape. And they took them.

And Elijah brought them down to the brook, Kishon, and slew them

there. Now jump now to verse number 45. And it came to pass in

the meanwhile that the heaven was black with clouds and wind and

there was a great rain. And Ahab rode and went to Jezreel. And

the hand of the Lord was on Elijah. And he. And he girded up

his loins and ran before Ahab and to the entrance of Jezreel. Now,

just to kind of. This is just kind of introduction because our

main. Pat. Our main texture is in chapter 19. But I wanted you all

to see this because we see such a great victory that Elijah

has in his life, in his ministry right here. This is probably

one of the biggest victories you could ever find in the Bible.

If you really go back and look at the passage, Elijah made this

impossible, for this to be some sort of magic trick, this to

be some sort of illusion. They poured several barrels onto the altar,

and it was soaked full of water. And that trench that was.

That they dug around, it was even full of water, just to show

how much water had been poured onto this altar. And the fire that

God sent down from heaven came down and it just. Just engulfed that

whole altar. Nothing was left. Even the dust around it was taken

up. And everyone in Israel then knew that. That God was the

true God of Israel. This great victory that you see. And then you

kind of read in the passage that Elijah basically says, all right,

Ahab, go tell Jezebel about what just happened. Because rain's

coming, and it's gonna be a lot of rain, so it may slow you down,

so you better get going. Right? Of course, the rain comes

and Then Elijah kind of runs after Ahab and he's expecting Jezebel

to be surrendering at this point, right? He thinks that this,

this is. This is the turning point of Israel. It is time to for

revival in Israel. The people are on board with me now. And Jezebel

is about to go down, right? We see here in verse number 19 how things

happen a little bit differently. Look at chapter 19,

verse number one. And Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had

done, and with all 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 when he saw that he

arose and went for his life and came to Beersheba, which belongeth

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, O Lord, take my life, for I am not better than

my father's. Let's pray real fast. Lord, I want to thank you again

for allowing me to preach tonight, Lord, to my home church.

It's just such a great honor and privilege, Lord. I know that

you've laid this message on my heart tonight, Lord, and I know this

is the one you want me to preach. Lord, I pray that you'd hide

me behind your cross and that you'd speak through me and that it

would be the words that you wanted to say and not the words that

I want to say. Lord, we love you, Lord. In Jesus name I pray.

Amen. Going to public school growing up, I'll kind of give you

a little context there. Going. I started out in homeschool, and

I was homeschooled up till about third grade. And then we had

our first kind of trial run, first little trial run of the academy

in fourth grade. So I went to Heritage Christian Academy when it

first started in fourth through fifth grade. And then the

academy had to shut down. We just weren't ready for it yet. And

then in sixth through ninth grade, I actually went to public

school before I went back to Heritage Christian Academy, of course,

graduated from here as well. But that time of being in public

school was a very detrimental time to my life because this was

the time of my life where I started to slowly become a man. I,

you know, I started maturing physically and mentally. This is

the time that I started to get involved with the youth department

and get more involved with the church. And I remember going to public

school and I went to Boyd public school system out there in

Boyd. I lived out there during the time at time. And I remember

feeling like I was the only Christian there. Now that was not

true. It wasn't. There were several other Christians that were

there that went to school with me. They may have not been of the

same. The same color or banner, I should say, maybe not quite

a Baptist or something like that, but they were a Christian,

right? I do believe that they were a saved individual, but. So

there were some differences there. But I really did feel like

I was the only one that strived to live right. And it really

waned on me. And I felt so alone that I kind of started giving

up on it. And I regret to say that I did not live a Christian life

like I wish I did, especially during my junior high years. I did

not live the life that I wish I would have lived. I was not the

witness that I was supposed to be. And my classmates, some of their

names still ring in my head of going, man, what would have happened

if I told them about Jesus? And I never did. And that regret

has always lived there. But I draw attention to I felt so alone

that I felt like I had to fit in, or I felt so alone that I almost

felt like an outcast. Have you ever felt like an outcast at this

time in our nation in regards to the. The terrible things that

have just happened in the past few weeks, and specifically what

happened last week with the assassination of Charlie Kirk, a

great Christian man, by the way, Christians are now faced with

a choice. Those choices are to run and hide or to stand and shine

brighter. Right now, Christians cannot help but feel alone

at times like this. Some may even get discouraged and some begin

to fill up with fear. However, there are still many Christians in

this nation that are choosing to stand. And in times of persecution

and loneliness, what choice are you making? Tonight I would like

to bring up the three lessons of the alone Christians. And we will

see here in chapter 19 of the lesson that Elijah is about to learn.

Here, let's jump down to verse number nine of chapter 19. It says,

and he came thither unto a cave and lodged there. And behold,

the word of the Lord came to him. And he said unto him, what doest

thou here, Elijah? And he said, I have been very jealous. For

the Lord God of hosts, for the children of Israel have forsaken

thy covenants, thrown down thine altars, and slain thy prophets

with the sword And I, even I only am left. And they seek my life

to take it away. The first lesson I'd like us to see is lesson

one. Recognize the power of God. Recognize the power of God.

Look at this in verse number 11. It's. This is what the Bible

says, right? And he said, go forth, this is God speaking. And

stand upon the mount before the Lord. And behold, the Lord passed

by. And a great 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 an earthquake. But the Lord was not in the earthquake.

Verse number 12. And after the earthquake, a fire. But the Lord

was not in the fire. And after the fire a still small voice. And

it was so when Elijah heard it that he wrapped his face in his mantle

and went out and stood in the entering in of the cave. And behold,

there came a voice unto him and said, what doest thou here, Elijah?

The power of God is unmeasurable. You look throughout

the entire Bible and it's just story after story. And this isn't

just fairy tales. This is actual history of the power of God

being displayed time after time after time. Again, just a few

things that I think, I think of in Genesis chapter 6, verses 6

Genesis 6:6–8

through 8. I can think of the flood in Exodus 7, I can think of

the 10 plagues, Exodus 7 through 11. I can think of the parting

of the Red Sea that's found in Exodus 14. Just now we just read

the fire from heaven. I think of the virgin birth. I think of the.

The miracles of Jesus. I think of the miracle of his resurrection.

I think of Peter being set free from prison. I think of Paul

escaping death time and time after again. And throughout the whole

word of God we can just see the power and the power and the power

of God showing once again, once again to remind his people that

he's still in control and he's still on the throne. Why does God

do these things? It's to show us how great he really is. There's

nothing that can match it. There's no rival. God has is in this

passage was showing Elijah once again his great power. Elijah

just witnessed this great victory. He saw the fire from heaven

come down and engulf that altar. And he slain the 450 prophets

of Baal by his own sword. And he sees this great victory in his

life. And then you finally see he's come to this point now where

now he's cowering in a cave because now he's fearful of his life.

Even after seeing the power of God. God was once again, he was trying

to get the attention of Elijah. You know what happened? I

see right here at the beginning of chapter 19, Elijah got

his eyes off the Lord and started looking at himself and started

thinking pity upon himself because they were seeking his life.

He was in a place of discouragement and loneliness. But

may I just remind you tonight we could sit here and point the figure

back at Elijah. But can I just remind you, he is human. And I probably

would do the same exact thing right here. After the display of

power, God speaks to Elijah in this still, small voice. You know,

God shows all his power. He sends this wind that's able to just

destroy mountains. He sends this mighty earthquake. It's probably

so intense. It's so. It's so. It's so almost unfathomable that

Elijah's now probably. He's fled back into the cave. It seems

like then this great fire comes, and it's just kind of out

of nowhere. And then all of a sudden, it all just stops. And then

God speaks to him. The still, small voice. God understood what

Elijah was feeling at the moment. Not necessarily that he was

excusing it, but God's being sensitive to Elijah right here. He's

saying, elijah, I know that you are getting discouraged and you

feel lonely, but we're about to see right here that God's about

to ask Elijah one more time, what are you doing here? Are you

not my servant? Are my powers not good enough for you? It's kind

of what he's showing Elijah right here. The Lord was trying to

set Elijah back on his feet, saying, hey, it's okay. I got you.

If I can control the wind, if I can control the earthquakes, if

I can control fire and still speak to you in that still small

voice that just touches your heart, and you can still do this.

Elijah, get back up on your feet. He gave him time to rest. You

can see right here in this verses six through eight. You'll

see that Elijah actually took some time to rest, and the Lord allowed

him to do that. And may I just remind you, Christians do need a

time of rest. Don't ever think that Christians don't need time of

rest. He gave him time to process the situation. God comes

to Elijah. He's asking, Elijah, hey, Elijah, what's going

on? Why are you here? Why are you cowering this cave? And Elijah

is, of course, he's lonely. He's distraught right now. And he's

given Elijah time to process what Elijah just asked from him a

few verses earlier, saying that God Just kill me now, because

I'm done, right? I'm done with doing all this. It was a false victory.

I. I don't care if I solve the fire on the mountain. I'm just done.

I give up. I don't wanna do this more. I don't wanna live here

anymore. And God's going back to Elijah saying, okay, I'm gonna

let you process your emotions for a second. I'm gonna show you

my power, and then I'm gonna come back to you again and we're

gonna talk about this. He's about to give Elijah a choice. God

wants your attention tonight. His word, the word of God is designed

to get our attention and show us the victory that God has already

given us. If you are waiting or looking for some great sign in

the sky for God to give you, to move in your place, you are looking

in the wrong place. What you are truly looking for is what is

found in between these leather bindings. And it's not the pages.

It's not the paper, it's. It's not the ink, but it's the very words

of God that you need in your life right now. That's what you're

searching for. He is giving you the decision. You have a decision

tonight. He is giving you a decision. He is speaking to you in

a still, small voice. And here's the question. Are you listening?

You know, the times where I find it's maybe tough to hear from

God. And I feel like, man, the Lord's not really speaking to me

like I thought he would. He's not really. I don't feel like he's

leading me right now. I don't know what's going on. I have to remind

myself that I shouldn't be looking for some weird miracle in

the sky. I don't need some message written in the clouds. I

don't need a certain writing on the wall, a physical writing on

the wall. I need to go back to the word of God and search the scriptures

of. Of what God wants from me. Lesson one. We must recognize the

power of God in lesson two. We must recognize the decision in chapter

19. I'm going to call. I'm going to call you to the attention

of verse number four one more time. 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, O Lord, take away my life, for I am not better

than my fathers. Let me remind you, Elijah just saw the victory

on the Mount Carmel, right? We just looked at that. We kind of skipped

through it a little bit. I just wanted to set that stage for

you a little bit. But we just saw this amazing victory that God

brought to Elijah's life. And. And he has now come to the point

where he's like, you know, I'm just done. And how often do we sit

here and do the same thing? How often do we do we wake up in

the morning, we look in the mirror and just say, oh, Lord, I'm

just done with life like this. I don't know what you're trying to

do. I don't know what you want from me, but Lord, I don't care anymore.

I'm done. Elijah truly did feel alone. Look at verse number

14. Remember, God asks Him a second time. This is the second time

God asked him, what doest thou here, Elijah? Verse number 14. And

he said, I have been very jealous for the Lord God of hosts,

because the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown

down thine altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword. And,

and I, even I only am left, and they seek my life to take it

away. And the Lord said unto him, go, return on thy way to the

wilderness of Damascus. And when thou comest, anoint Hazael to

be king over Syria. And Jehu the son of Nimshi, shalt thou anoint

to be king over Israel. And Elisha the son of Shaphat, of Abel,

Meholah, shalt thou anoint to be prophet in thy room. And it shall

come to pass that him that escapeth the sword of Hazael shall

Jehu slay. And him that escapeth from the sword of Jehu shall

Elisha slay. We're going to pause right there for a moment. Elijah

made the choice. God asked him the first time, and he recognized

that. Elijah's probably a little emotional at this point. And

God's going to give him a second chance here. God's saying,

all right, Elijah, are you sure this is what you want? What

are you doing here? I'm giving you a second chance to answer this.

And you know what Elijah said? He stuck to it and said, nope, I

told you before God, I'm done. How often has God come to us, the

third, fourth or fifth time and asked us, when are you gonna

start serving me? When are you gonna go back to serving me? Are

you done throwing the pity party or are you still wanna lie

here in your self pity? And how often do we look at God in the

face and say, say, nope. I'm still done. God, it's not worth it

anymore. Elijah chose to give up. After all the victories, after

witnessing the great wonders of God, after being given a second

chance, he chose defeat. God is giving you a decision. Here are

the two decisions that God has given you. You can either live and

stand for him. And guess what that brings. That brings blessing.

We'll see that here in a moment. Protection. Reward. But here's

your second choice. You can deny and run from him. And guess

what? Here's what you get from this. You can avoid persecution.

You get to live your life the way you want to live It Sounds pretty

good. But guess what? You'll wind up feeling all alone. Look around

you tonight. Look at our nation right now. Look at everything

that's transpiring in the world right now. It's time to decide

what you're going to do. The time is up for being lukewarm Christians.

The time is now to take a stand for what you believe and to

speak out against the evil that's against you. It's time to

stand and speak against the sin that is plaguing not just our

nation, but our world tonight. I'm not saying go out and pick fights,

but I am saying you. You should know what you believe, and

you should be willing to give an answer to everyone that asks a

question. And even I'm preaching to myself tonight. So,

lesson one. We see that we must recognize God's power in lesson

two. We must recognize the decision that must be made. But here's

the third lesson. We must recognize the plan that God has.

Let's look back in verse number 19 or, sorry, chapter 19.

And verse number 18, it says, yet I have left me 7,000 Israel.

This is God speaking. All the knees which have not bowed unto BAAL,

and every mouth hath not kissed him. So he departed thence

and found. So this is Elijah. See, 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 of. And Elijah passed by him

and cast his mantle upon him. And he left the oxen and ran after

Elijah and said, let me, I pray thee, kiss my Father and 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 forth

from him, and took a yoke of oxen and slew them and boiled their

flesh with the instruments of of the oxen and gave unto the people,

and they did eat. Then he arose and went after Elijah and ministered

unto him. You see, God was not done with Elijah. Elijah may have

been done, but God wasn't done with Elijah. God still had a plan,

as you can see. After Elijah gave the answer, God said, okay,

if that's your decision, Elijah, I've got a couple more tasks

for you to do. I want you to go down, and I want you to anoint

Hazael to be the king, right, of Syria. And I want you to go down,

and I want you to go to Jehu, and I want you to anoint him to be

king over Israel. And then I want you to go to Elisha, and Elisha

is going to take your place, Elijah. And guess what? No one's

going to escape the sword of Hazael, Jehu, or Elisha. That's what

God says. If they escape Hazael, they will not escape Jehu.

And they escape Jehu, they won't escape Elisha. You know why?

Because that was God's plan. That's God saying, they're not going

to escape me. But, Elijah, I have this one thing for you. There

are still 7,000 knees in Israel that have not bowed the knee

to baal. And you're telling me right now, Elijah, that you're the

only one left, when I have three other people that are about

to take a place of leadership that you're supposed to be fulfilling

right now. And they're gonna take your place because you're the

only one saying that you're the only one left. And how often

do we look at our own lives and we say, God, I'm the only one

left. If I'm the only one left, I'm done. I don't want to do

this anymore. I don't want to be a Christian anymore. I just want

to live my life the way I want to live it. I want you to get out

of my life, God. Because I'm done. I'm done with all the defeats.

I'm done with all. All the verses. I'm done with the word of

God. I'm done with all the hymns. I'm done with church. I'm

done with all this. Because it seems like I'm the only one that's

left, and it's not making a difference. How often do we say that

to God? God is not done with you. He has a plan for you. I don't

care if you're 10 years old. I don't care if you're 15, if you're

25, if you're 30, if you're 130 years old. I don't care. God

still has a plan for your life. If you still draw breath here

tonight as a Christian, God still has a plan and a purpose for

your life. He's not done with you. He still has a remnant on this

earth. Even in the darkest parts of this earth, there is still

revival breaking out in the Philippines. There's still underground

Christians over there in China. There's still missionaries

going to the Middle East. Are you sure we're the only ones left?

Are we the only ones that can sit here and have the right to say

it's all doom and gloom? As my friend, persecution hasn't come yet.

We haven't seen half of it. And guess what? If you are done,

it's okay. God still has the next generation in mind. I get the

privilege of preaching to your kiddos every single Sunday and saying

good morning to them every single Sunday. And I love hearing

from them. I love hearing about their. What's going on in their

life. A lot of them are telling me about their baseball games

or their volleyball games or their soccer games, and I love hearing

about it. By the way, do not tell your kids any secrets, because

they'll probably tell them to me. Okay? I just want to let you

know. But I look at each and every one of those children and I

say, lord, just let me have. Just let me influence them just a

little bit that they would stay and that after I'm gone, there's

still someone here preaching the word of God. I'm not trying to

draw attention to myself. I'm not a great preacher. I'm not one

at all. But God has a plan for the next generation. And the way

I look at it, as we can set them up for failure, we can set them

up for even more success. And Elijah right here is giving the opportunity.

He does spend a little bit of time with Elisha. But if Elijah didn't

tell say to God that he was done, there's a good chance that

Elijah probably could have done more. He could have done it

alongside Elisha. And Elisha's going to see a lot more victories

in his life than Elijah never did. I'm going to have you turn with

me with a moment to Matthew, chapter five. Matthew, chapter five.

I didn't mark it down, so let me get there, too. Matthew, chapter

five. Look at verse number one. And seeing the multitudes, this

is Jesus. He went up into a mountain. And when he was set, his

disciples came unto him. And they opened his mouth and Sorry.

And he opened his mouth and taught them saying, blessed are the

poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are

they that mourn, for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the

meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are they which

do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be

filled. Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Blessed are

the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God.

Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness sake,

for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are ye when men shall

revile you, persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against

you falsely for my sake. Rejoice and be exceeding glad, for

great is your reward in heaven for so persecuted they, the prophets

which were before you. You say, brother Noah, how do I not feel

so alone? How do I take a stand for the glory of God? How do

I give the answers? How do I live the life that I'm supposed to

live, that I don't fall into this trap that Elijah fell into and

give up on everything? The answer is Christ. Look to Christ.

We just read here, they call this the Beatitudes. This is basically

God's welcome letter to the Christian life. If you want a welcome

letter to the Christian life, here it is. You will be blessed if

you are poor in spirit, recognizing that you have a need

for spiritual food. Blessed are they that mourn. It's okay to

mourn. You're going to be comforted. Blessed are the meek.

That's humility. Blessed are those who stay humble because they

shall inherit more than what their humility might show. Blessed

are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they

shall be filled. I mean, it just goes on and on. And what Jesus

trying to get across is saying what the world tells you to do. I.

I am telling you to do the exact opposite. And guess what? If

you do these things, blessing is on your life. And Jesus says right

here in the last couple of verses, he says, you will be persecuted.

It will happen. You'll be made fun of. You'll be looked at. In a

weird way, as we saw last week, someone was killed for taking

a stand for conservative beliefs and for Christian beliefs.

Christ is not done with you. Christ has the power. Christ should

be your decision, but he gives you that decision to make. And Christ

has and always will be the plan. You are not alone. The Lord

is with you. And he promised that. I think it's been long enough

that many Christians in our nation have just sat on the sidelines

and said, I'm good with where I'm at. In fact, I tried the whole

living for God thing. This just didn't work out for me. I'm

done. How many victories does God have to bring your life for you

to recognize that he's not done with you? This lost world needs

to see the Christians stand up. Right now. Especially in this

time in our nation, they need to see the Christians stand. So let

me ask you, what will you decide? I'm not trying to make put

myself on a pedestal. That is not my heart at all. In fact, I would

say, do not look at me. I'm the worst example to look at. What

I am calling you to do is I'm calling you to stand with God as

he will stand with you. And that if you look at the victories

that God has brought in your very life, why would you quit? There

still is. There's still a church in Haslett, Texas that I hope

will still stand for the word of God. We haven't seen persecution

yet. But let me ask you this. When it does come, and it will, what

decision will you be making? With every head bowed, every eyes

closed, as the musicians get ready to do the invitation, I wonder

tonight if anyone's in here who has not accepted Jesus Christ

as their personal savior. Maybe they don't have that comfort

because they have never accepted Christ. Maybe that's you

and I that feel so alone because you have not accepted Jesus

Christ as your personal savior. He died on the cross for

your sins so that you could live a life that's worth the living,

a life that's more abundant living. And that you could spend

an eternity with him when you pass on or when he calls you home.

I wonder tonight if there's hearts that are full of loneliness

because they just. All they see is the defeat. But if they just

take a step back and look at what God is trying to do in our world

today and they will see that revival is right around the corner.

And it starts with me. My prayer is that tonight you make that

decision to stand with God and that you won't look at him in the

face and say, I'm done. But you say, God, I'm still right here

with you. Keep using me. Let's pray. Lord, we thank you again for

this sermon. Lord. Lord, this is a message I've wanted to preach

for quite some time now. And you laid it on my heart last night.

Lord. Lord, I pray that I said every word that you'd want me to

say, God, that I did not speak. No. A day's message, Lord.

I spoke your message, Lord. Lord, I pray if there's any heart

that's in here tonight that just needs to go to the altar and

needs to get something right with you, I pray that they'd get

that settled tonight, Lord. Whether that's salvation or some

other issue, Lord, whether they just want to praise you for

who you are. God. Lord, we love you. In Jesus name I pray. Amen.