Standing Still

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Turn your Bible this morning to 1 Kings chapter 19.

1 Kings 19 · chapter mention

We're going to continue standing on the mountain.

Today's message is standing still.

And as you turn your Bibles there, I got a couple of uh things we want to celebrate.

Number one, my daughter Callie had her sweet 17th birthday this week.

Happy birthday.

My son Weston's not in here, but if you see somebody afterward looking for a basketball that's full of hair, he turns 11 on Tuesday.

And uh is anybody where's milt at?

Milt, there's milk.

Milk turned 91.

He said he didn't even need help getting up.

That's what he told me.

So praise the Lord.

And I think there was, I seen things, I think Sadaka had a birthday, and there were a few others.

Micah had a birthday party.

We had a lot of birthdays this past uh week, so happy birthday if I missed you.

Um hopefully I caught you on Facebook, but happy birthday to you all.

And uh men, Wednesday is Valentine's Day, okay?

This Wednesday.

This Wednesday.

All right, don't forget.

I'm just telling you, you're not gonna say the preacher didn't tell you.

My previous pastor got mad at me one time.

He said, Why didn't you tell me?

I'll never make that mistake again.

Darren said thank you.

So, 1 Kings chapter 19, we're gonna jump right in.

1 Kings 19 · chapter mention

Uh the first point this morning is this the sorrow of God's man.

Let's look at 19 verses 1 and 2.

And after Elijah outran Ahab down the hill, or Elijah outran Ahab, Ahab comes back and he finds Jezebel.

Chapter 19, verse 1.

And this is what it says.

And Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done.

Also how he had executed all the prophets with the sword.

Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah saying, So let the gods do to me.

And more also, if I do not make your life as the life of the one of them by tomorrow, about this time.

She says, You're dead.

Jezebel is heated.

She is ticked off.

Anybody heard the phrase, hell hath no fury like a woman that's been scorned?

Y'all ever got a lady real mad?

Well, this is what Elijah has done.

And uh she says, You got one day before I make you like them prophets that went down the stream.

So, you know, while I while I said something earlier to you, man, don't tick a lady off in fourth grade.

I had a little girlfriend and a best friend.

And uh these two got into it, and I was sitting there, I was an innocent bystander, I promise.

And I was watching.

He, I think she called him a name or vice versa.

There was some name calling.

She got up with a pencil, I promise.

And she stabbed him in the backside with it.

And they sent all three of us down to the office.

And let me tell you something.

I'm just in the office and I'm like, I'm trying to decide.

This was so cold-blooded.

I'm like, I don't know if I'm proud of her or if I'm scared of her.

Like, it's very confusing.

But I this is what I wish every one of you could go through in life.

I wish every one of you could have been in the principal's office at a Christian school in the 1980s, where the principal is both the principal and the pastor of the church.

And I'm sitting there, just an innocent bystander, and I'm getting my statements from the lead investigator, and I'm starting to feel the heat that's coming off of this, and uh, this is what you left the principal's office with.

If the principal was your pastor, you felt like this.

Either you left there getting saved, or you left feeling like you was going to hell.

Right?

I'm like, I'm just a witness of a crime, and I almost got baptized.

I'm like, listen, I'll do whatever y'all want.

Can I just go back to fractions?

And right?

And so, very confused.

But I remember, well, that girl got angry and she sure did.

She just stabbed him.

Well, I want you to read verse 3 and 4 with me and see how this angry woman's response after all that Elijah had been through and what he's seen, this one lady, look at what he says.

And when he saw that, he arose and ran for his life and went to Beersheba, which belongs to Judah, and left his servant there.

But he hid himself, but he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness and came and sat under a broom tree, and he prayed that he might die, and said, It is enough.

Now, Lord, take my life.

For I am no better than my father's.

Pray with me.

Father, we love you.

We thank you for your presence here this morning.

We thank you for the worship musically.

We thank you for the people.

Lord, united in that, we thank you, God, for your presence.

Now, I pray through your word that you would open our hearts up this morning to the exact thing that we need.

Lord, I pray that you would drown out all the other thoughts, all the other distractions, and just for a few moments, meet with us in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Letter A is this Elijah was physically depleted.

Verse 4, it said that he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness and came and sat down under a tree.

He prayed that he might die.

I want you to think about Elijah's points coming up to this.

There was a three and a half year drought.

Elijah was sent to the brook Kerith, where he was cut off.

Kerith meant he was away from people for possibly years of that drought.

We don't know the exact time frame.

And then he was sent from there to Zarephath, the smelting furnace, where he was going to have to be tested.

And we saw there the miracle of the never-ending jar and the son who died and brought back to life.

And then he goes on and he has to face Ahab and the prophets of Baal.

And he's up on this mountain, and we see the fire of God fall.

Then there's rain that comes, a 25-mile sprint, and now he's gone a day's journey because of this letter.

Spiritual highs can often be followed by physical lows.

Let's say that again.

Spiritual highs can often be followed by physical lows.

You see it all through scripture.

David was physically weary.

When he did not go out to battle, it says he was weary, so he stayed away from the battle.

He made a bad decision because he was tired, and it led to him cheating with Bathsheba and the death of a man.

He made a bad decision when he was physically depleted.

So I want to say to you a recommendation this morning: pay attention to your body.

Pay attention to nutrition and exercise.

1 Corinthians 6.19 says, What know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit?

That temple is supposed to be sacred.

Not many pastors today are going to be preaching on this type of stuff.

They don't like to hear it.

But I want to tell you, there's 10 million men today struggling with eating disorders.

Say, not men, not really, Pastor.

10 million men.

Okay, one of them is binge eating disorder, also known in the Bible as gluttony, greed or excess in eating.

And hear me, it's not a weight issue, but it's an unhealth issue.

Depletes your body.

Eating disorders are rampant.

One in ten women experience an issue with bulimia or anorexia, and it's all because they're believing a lie that the enemy puts in front of them.

They're lacking the understanding of their identity in Christ.

I used to take teenagers through this body types.

There's an endomorph, an ectomorph, and a mesomorph.

And when you look at body types, there's not a whole lot you can do about your body type.

For some people, you're never ever gonna look at like that person in the magazine, but you are the person God created you to look like.

And so own that.

But understand your identity in Christ.

Now, 1 Corinthians 9, 26 and 27, Paul said this: this is it's important.

He said, I discipline my body lest my preaching disqualify me.

I have discipline and training for my body unless what I'm saying should disqualify me.

It's important to take care of your temple.

Elijah was tired, hungry, and depleted.

Now hear me, don't leave here saying that's the only thing.

Even if you eat right, exercise, and sleep, there's times when you're just going to be physically tired and worn.

Satan at those times is looking for a moment of attack.

He's looking for weakness to attack.

So we have to stay in the word.

We stay in worship, but we do all we can not to be physically depleted.

That physical depletion led to letter B.

Elijah was mentally depressed.

It says, when he got under that broom tree, he prayed that he might die.

He said, It's enough, Lord.

Take my life.

Look at verse 10.

10 and 14 repeat.

God asked him this question: What are you doing?

Verse 10, he says, I've been very zealous for the Lord God of hosts, for the children of Israel, have forsaken your covenants, tore down your altars, and killed your prophets with a sword.

I alone am left.

They seek to take my life.

Elijah was depressed.

Elijah had prayed some great prayers up to this point.

And now he prays a prayer that's not in his top five.

He says, Lord, take my life.

I just want to die.

Aren't you glad Romans 8, 26 and 27 says the Holy Spirit makes intercession for us when we don't know what to pray?

He goes before the Father in heaven and on our behalf prays for us for God's will.

For all of Elijah's answers to prayer, his fervency, and remember, his laboring, his intensity in prayer.

He was, I mean, he was a prayer warrior, wanted to see it through.

I'm so glad God didn't answer this one his way.

Have you ever said something dumb when you were tired?

Husbands?

Look at his words, and actually he says, I've been very zealous.

That word zealous is the Hebrew word konaf, and it means from the redness of the face.

What are the things that make your face red?

Anger, stress, physical exertion.

And he says, I alone am left.

Now the first part was true.

Like he has been zealous.

He has been working hard, and he's sharing this to God, and then he says, I alone am left.

This was not true.

Elijah gets depressed, and I want you to know today, this church, depression is a liar.

Depression lies to you.

Its intention is to say things to you, to get in your head, and it says, No one cares for you.

It says, it's never gonna get better.

Depression says, you're never going to measure up.

It says, you're done.

You don't have anything else left, so give up.

And I want to remind you, Song of Solomon says, little foxes spoil the vine.

It's just a little thing that starts to spoil a thing, a little complaint, a little white lie, just a little gossip.

When I was in second grade, I went into the preacher's house and I went and used the bathroom.

I was done using the bathroom, and they were at the sink next to the water where you wash your hands were these beautiful little gumballs.

And I took just one little tiny gumball.

Just one little one.

And that little gumball filled my mouth full of soap.

It was just one little one.

It spoiled lunch.

Don't take the little blue ball and think it's gum.

Just a little thing.

There's a lyric I was listening to at the gym.

I got different playlists that pop up.

And I'd never heard this song before.

And I thought, I need to share.

I've listened to it a few times this week, and uh look at these words.

They're strong about someone who's down.

It says, I got some issues that I won't address.

I got some baggage that I ain't opened yet.

I got some traumas that I can't forget.

I got some phone calls I've been avoiding, some family members I don't really connect with, some things I said I wish I would have never let slip, some hurtful words that never should have left my lips, some bridges burned I'm not ready to rebuild yet.

Some insecurities I haven't dealt with.

Yes.

I'll be the first to admit that I'm a lonely soul, and the last to admit I need a hand to hold, losing hope, headed down a dangerous road.

I just can't imagine who I'd be if I were happy.

Depression comes in and it just lies and it seeks to deplete you.

And I want to tell you, church, today, candidly, if you're struggling with mental health, it used to be sort of a taboo thing to bring up, and I want to tell you the best thing you can do is look for mental health help.

Look for a professional.

If you need to talk after church, I've got a list of counselors that have helped some of our people.

If your life inspiring, mental health needs to be looked at.

And hear me, that's okay.

I want you to look at Matthew 26.

It's okay.

Life sometimes is hard.

You never hear through this passage God yell at Elijah or rebuke him for getting sad.

Matthew 26, verse 37 through 39.

Matthew 26:37–39

I wanted you to see this.

This is Jesus, and he took with him Peter and two sons of Zebedee, and he began to be sorrowful and deeply distressed.

Then he said to him, Look at these words, my soul is exceedingly sorrowful even to death.

Stay here and watch with me.

He went a little farther and fell on his face and prayed.

He said, Oh my father, if it's possible, let this cup pass from me, nevertheless.

Not as I will, but yours be done.

Jesus got depressed at the Garden of Gethsemane.

So if you if your mental health is struggling, let me tell you it's okay.

But don't stay that way.

That's what's not okay.

So how did Elijah get to this point where he believed the lie of a messenger instead of going to God?

Jezebel sent a nasty note.

I mean, she sent a nasty threat.

She sent a messenger.

I don't know if it was Facebook or what it was, but she sent out a messenger and it had a nasty note that said, You're about to die.

And it's interesting that Jezebel doesn't go get it done herself or send someone just to kill him.

Interesting.

It's like she wanted him to feel this pain of depression and go on the run.

She wanted to sap him, subdue him, scare him.

By the way, these tactics are wrapped and rewrapped today by the enemy.

He hopes that the lies that he suggests, we're always assuming why somebody is upset, are we not?

Instead of just asking, we spend a lot of time assuming about a situation, and we build up a whole deal about somebody else without ever talking to them.

And we assume all this stuff, and it gets in our head, and our mental health does become affected.

And we're believing all the while the lies of Satan.

I must have done something wrong.

I must not be good enough.

I must be, I must not, I must, I must.

And he hopes for you to be in despair and dejection, rendering you and your, because of your mind space up late at night with no sleep, he wants you to be useless for the kingdom of God.

1 Peter 5, 7 tells us about him.

He's like a roaring lion, our adversary, walking about, seeking whom he may devour.

He's looking for when you're tired, he's looking for when you're weak.

He's looking for a moment to attack.

Well, let's see what happens to Elijah number two this morning is the stilling of God's man.

The stilling of God's man.

You see, Elijah needed God to help him.

I thought about Elijah being such a good man of God, and this may be the one chink in the armor of this great man of God, it seems.

Momentarily, he dropped his guard.

He let fear drive his feet to the forest.

And instead of taking the matter to God in prayer like he had become so accustomed to doing, seems strange that he would do anything else.

In a moment, he became overwhelmed.

And I'm gonna tell you, it doesn't matter how godly you are.

In a moment, you can become overwhelmed.

Remember, Elijah was a mighty prophet.

Remember what he saw.

But he's just a man.

And now he's a tired, lonely, scared man.

Maybe you've heard this song by Zach Williams.

It's called Fear is a Liar.

It says, He will take your breath, stop you in your steps, he will rob your rest and steal your happiness.

Fear is a liar.

And 2 Timothy 1:7 says this to us, church: we have not been given to the spirit of fear, but of power and love and a sound mind.

2 Timothy 1:7

If we're stuck frozen in fear, that's not of God.

The mighty prophet is frozen in a lie, and he's afraid.

Well, let's look at what happens in verse 5 and 6.

It says, Then as he lay and slept under a broom tree, suddenly an angel touched him and said to him, Arise and eat.

Then he looked, and there by his head was a cake baked on coals and a jar of water.

So he ate and drank and lay down again.

Letter A is this rest is commanded.

I want to take you back to Deuteronomy chapter 5.

Deuteronomy 5 · chapter mention

It's important that you understand.

God never set out for Elijah to get in this place, and I want you to know, and I think part of the problem for us today falls in this.

Deuteronomy chapter 5, verse 12 through 14.

Deuteronomy 5:12–14

It says, observe the Sabbath day to keep it holy, as the Lord your God commanded you.

Six days shall you labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God.

In it, you should know no work.

If you look closely at my face on my chin, there is only white hairs that grow in my chin.

Thank you, Joe.

And that happened, I think, all in the same three months period.

I can point back to what happened.

I booked up our life in pursuit of seeing our children in the fullness of the sports heroes that they're going to become.

All in the same three months.

We had three kids in three different sports, and one of those three in two sports at the same time while we have jobs.

And I was doing uh, I was finishing uh a degree program at night, and I was thinking about this program.

Monday night we went on church visitation, Tuesday night we had practice, Wednesday night we had youth group, Thursday night we had practice, Friday night we had games, Saturday we had games, Sunday we had church rinse, recycle, repeat.

Hey honey, it's good to see you.

Let's go to sleep.

This was our life for those three months.

Worst three months I can remember, and I am to blame.

I led my family into that path.

I led my family into what I knew culture was gonna make great heroes, and we were gonna keep up with the Joneses, and our kids will be happy.

To what end, church?

Hear me.

To what end are we doing this?

This is a phenomenon in modern culture for kids and families.

Look at your schedules.

To what end?

How many sports heroes are we creating?

Well, they just won't have a good childhood if they don't have sports memories.

Do you have a good childhood memory that doesn't involve sports?

I got

Something.

What is the purpose?

Why are we so busy?

Verse 5 it says, He lay and slept and lay down again.

God is the God of the Sabbath.

Instituted once a week for a break.

Instituted for us.

I did an acronym once, teaching on rest.

You can write this down, I think it'd be helpful for you.

Letter R is for reflection.

To think about the week that was, to celebrate it, or to learn from it.

Reflection.

Letter E, the Sabbath, is to exalt God.

You want to get your heart back in tune, you want to get energy back to your life, exalt God.

Letter S is stilling yourself.

You need moments of still.

Listen, I understand we all get rest sometimes in different ways.

I get that.

But I'm promising you, for your physical being, you need some times where you're just still.

Even people here with the AD, HD, all that stuff where you say, I got there's times where you need to be still.

Letter T is together with family.

You need togetherness.

Togetherness with those you love.

Rest.

Matthew 11, 28 says, Come unto me all ye who are weak and heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

That word calm is diata, and it gets the force of an interjection.

Come, in the midst of things, come.

And it says, I'll give you rest, and that word rest is Anna Pow.

Anna is in the midst, pow to cease.

In the midst of your doings, cease.

Stop.

Sir, just stop.

Ma'am, just stop.

Rest.

He says, Come unto me and rest, because John 16, 33 is a promise.

In the world, you're going to have tribulation.

You're going to need rest.

We need Sabbath with God because in the world you have tribulation.

You've got deadlines.

You've got meetings.

You've got worry and exhaustion.

He says, Come in the midst of all those things.

Come.

You need an interjection.

Come.

And I'll walk with you right in the midst of it.

Doesn't say he's going to take everything away.

Yes, when you get back to work tomorrow, the work is still there.

I am sorry.

It's yet to ever do its own work.

It uses us to do it.

But right in the midst of that, it'll be like it ceased.

You know what Elijah didn't do?

He didn't do that.

He comes down, he gets this letter, and he doesn't go to God.

He doesn't find God.

He doesn't find that place of rest.

And there's a moment where he could have.

1 Corinthians 10, 31 says, There hath no temptation take you, but such is common to man, there will always be a way of escape.

There's a moment for us, and we've got to recognize those moments, he doesn't do it.

Elijah needed to come, he needed that anapal, that cease, but he ran.

He ran for his life, he ran from Jezebel, and in his running, he actually ran from God.

And his duty.

Running when you're tired just makes you tired.

Letter B is this refreshing is critical.

Look at verse 6 and 7.

Refreshing is critical.

Then he looked, and there by his head was a cake baked on coals and a jar of water.

So he ate and drank and lay down again.

And the angel of the Lord came back the second time and touched him.

He said, Arise and eat, because the journey is great for you.

If we hadn't learned anything through the whole study of Elijah, we should learn this.

Pray and eat.

Pray and eat.

Because again, he hits him with this.

I know you guys are like, here goes Pastor Rick again talking about eating.

But this here.

I'm just sharing the word.

He says, Arise and eat.

And he looks up.

Can you imagine?

You're taking a nap and you look up.

And there by his head is a cake baked on coals in a jar.

The angel did twice, he says, arise and eat.

This tells us an important spiritual principle that seconds are biblical.

He says, Arise and eat twice.

Okay?

That's what he tells him.

So when I get my second plate, don't judge me.

It says, suddenly an angel touched him and cake was by his head.

An angel touched him and cake was there.

There's the first entry in scripture of angel food cake.

It's right there.

That's what it says.

Somebody told me this is how we know the angel was a Baptist.

He figured cake would fix the problem.

Acts 2.42 says this church that they and they break bread and go from house to house.

If you hadn't been to a connect group, look, we got a lot of spiritual principles, but we don't miss the baking of bread and eating and breaking of it.

Okay?

When Elijah saw the cake in the jar, I thought about this.

Do you think it reminded him of the jar from the widow?

And the cake from the widow?

I think God allowed it as physical nourishment, but maybe even a spiritual refresher.

Do you remember when there was a jar that I was refilling every day and you'd come back and there was a jar full of more cake batter?

And he looked there and there was a cake in a jar.

Doesn't say anything, but I wonder if Elijah went, uh.

Okay, God.

You ever have those moments?

Okay, God, I see.

I see what you're doing here.

The point is, God cared for Elijah's physical needs, his sleep, his hunger, and his spirit.

And I want to tell you, there is a world that we live in that glorifies the lack of rest.

They say it's dog eat dog, you gotta go get yours.

You gotta rise to the top.

Don't ever rest.

Be diligent.

Just constant, constant, but don't have rest.

And God is showing to Elijah He needs to make a priority out of rest.

Every Friday, it's Heather and Mai's date day.

Every Friday.

And the only thing that can get in the way of date day is like the kids having something in school or you know, we just prioritize date day.

And I want to tell you, every Friday I look forward to it.

We go to every breakfast place known to man.

We've been all over Birmingham.

If you have a fresh new breakfast place, please see me.

Been to a mall.

We went to one place, I'm telling you, about 15 weeks in a row.

The hostess hugs us when we walk in.

Like, hey, they're back.

We go over, there's a server, they got our drinks on the table.

I feel like a local celebrity.

Hey, hey guys, we're back, we're back again.

Right?

But I so look forward to that refresher.

I love my time with my wife every Friday.

It is refreshing.

And then when we're done eating, we have to go to Costco for Heather's favorite thing: bulk food.

So, but I feel refreshed.

When I miss that, when she misses that, you'll see a little tension start bubbling in the house.

It's without fail.

It's like we need that rest in one another.

Interesting.

Look at verse 8 through 10.

Look what happens after he eats.

So he arose, ate, and drank, and he went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights as far as Horeb, the mountain of God.

And there he went into a cave and spent the night in that place.

And behold, the word of the Lord came to him, and he said to him, What are you doing here, Elijah?

Elijah said, I've been very zealous, for the Lord God of hosts, for the children of Israel have forsaken your covenant, tore down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword.

I alone am left, and they seek to take my life.

God asks great questions.

And God says to Elijah, What are you doing here, Elijah?

And I think this version of the question, because it's going to get asked again, is asked in tenderness.

Elijah, what is it that you're doing here?

Elijah took off on the run.

And he gets there, and God says, What are you doing?

It is at this point we understand that Elijah has believed the lie of depression.

He says, I'm just here by myself.

Look at what God says to him.

Read verse 11.

He said, Go out.

And here's our series title Stand on the Mountain before the Lord.

And behold, the Lord passed by.

And a great strong wind tore into the mountains and broke the rocks in pieces before the Lord.

But the Lord was not in the wind.

And after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake.

And after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire.

And after the fire, a still small voice.

He says, Stand on the mountain, Elijah.

And then God sends some things that Elijah would understand.

He sends some powerful things.

He sends a great strong wind.

It shatters rocks.

Nothing.

God's not there.

Then he sends an earthquake, and Elijah is standing there in the mountain with the earthquaking, and he's watching the hand of God.

I mean he's shaking, but the Lord, one in the quake.

Then he feels the radiant heat of something very familiar, fire.

He just saw at Carmel, the fire of God fall, and that resonates for him, but the Lord was not in the fire.

Where was the Lord?

It says he was in a low whisper.

Different versions describe this beautifully.

One version says, the Lord was in sheer silence.

The Lord was in a gentle whisper.

And the old King James Version, my favorite of this, it says he was in a still, small voice.

Now God can come in fire, God can come in wind, God can come in a quake, but he is gentle enough, hear me, church, to notice what you and I need and what Elijah needs.

And Elijah needed a still.

He needed a calm.

And so God came to Elijah in a still, in a whisper.

The Hebrew word for still, can't make this stuff up.

The mama.

God came in a word that means calm or like nurturing.

Can't make this up.

Have you ever tried to calm a baby?

And then you're just like, I gotta find the mama.

Just, where is the mother?

Literally, I'll hold any baby today.

One and a half seconds into crying, I'm like, where's the mother?

He came in a still.

I want to ask you a question about that.

Are you quiet enough to hear when God comes in a still?

You know, because God can come in major miracles, but God can come at your dining room table at morning time.

In a still.

And I hear from God on the balcony at the beach when nobody's awake.

In the still.

In the quiet.

Are you still enough?

Do you have moments that are still enough to hear God in the quiet?

Do you need to get still today, church?

He says, Come to me.

An interjection, come to me.

Well, point number three is this the standing of God's man.

Let's look at verse 15 through 18.

After he asked him the question, again, what are you doing here, Elijah?

And he said, I've been very zealous.

He goes through the same thing again, verse 15.

Then the Lord said to him, Go return on your way to the wilderness of Damascus.

And when you arrive, anoint Hezeel as king over Syria.

Also you shall anoint Jehu, the son of Nimshe, as king over Israel.

And Elisha, the son of, that's important, you might want to highlight that.

This is the entrance of Elijah into the story.

Son of Shaphat of Abel of Mahallah, you shall anoint as prophet in your place.

And so we see, letter A is this, a commission for continued ministry.

God asks the same question, I think, different tone.

So God comes in a still small voice, in a whisper.

He brings his presence to Elijah.

He already asked him, What are you doing here, Elijah?

Tenderly.

He brings his presence.

Elijah is still there, and he, I think this time he asked him with a little bit of sternness, what are you doing, Elijah?

Same question.

Elijah finishes telling God a second time, the same response.

And I love God's response to that.

He fixed it the first time.

His response to it this time, he's silent on the issue.

He doesn't play into it.

By the way, if you're pouting forever, it gets really boring if nobody's listening.

Right?

Like there's a point where God just does not hear it.

He'd give him all he needed to fill up the tank.

He said, Food, rest, 40 days, and I'm bringing my presence.

I'm going to rejuvenate you through worship.

And he says, What are you doing?

He gives him an encounter with the presence of God.

And then he says, he doesn't even play into everything.

Elijah says it again.

And God goes, Elijah, go return to work.

Get up and go return to work.

But in his commission to go and return to the ministry, he answers the future of this problem with what he says.

Look at what he tells him to do.

Commission for continued ministers.

He says, anoint two kings and a prophet.

Elijah, when he gets back to it, is to learn the art of delegation and discipleship.

His calling was not over, but God gets straight to fixing the issue, even though Elijah didn't ask for help.

All he wanted to do was whine the second time.

And God says, go, teach, and disciple.

God wasn't going to let Elijah quit.

He saw through that and how Elijah still had ministry left in him.

So instead of getting into what Elijah said, he just said, go return, and this is what you need to do.

This is the plan.

This is how you get anybody, any any parents here, you've taken this tactic with your kids when they're whining.

You just ignore it and you get them busy on another task.

You've seen how this works.

They're crying, crying, oh.

And you go, hey, come here, come look at this.

And like before you know it, they're into something.

They've totally forgotten the thing that had them just whining.

This is, listen, this is genius.

Do it.

Okay?

Do it with other people.

Do it with grown people.

I promise it works.

Like, just stop listening to the complaint.

Stop filling in about it and move on to something else.

And so he does that.

He told him to go and anoint kings and another prophet that would take his place.

Delegation is necessary.

Moses' father-in-law, we don't have time to go there, but in Exodus 18, 21 and 22, Moses' father-in-law says, This thing that you're doing, it's not good.

And he says, you need to appoint men and you need to teach them what to do, and you need help.

Jesus commanded the disciples in Matthew 18, go make disciples.

For good ministry to continue, you have to be a discipler and delegator, which brings rest.

It brings rest.

We can't take on the whole world on our own.

Okay?

Raise somebody up, build somebody up, pour into somebody.

Letter B is this.

Remember what Elijah said, I'm all alone.

It's just me.

All alone, God.

16, verse 16b, the second part to it, he says, and go to Elisha, the son of Shaphat.

Anoint him to be the prophet that's to come after you.

You need companionship, let her be for ministry.

Companionship.

Hear this, I'm gonna say it twice.

Every Elijah needs his Elisha, needs his Elijah.

Every Elijah needs his Elisha, needs his Elijah.

We need people that we're pouring into, and then as people that are mentoring, we need that mentee.

We need that, it revitalizes ministry, it revitalizes our use.

Elijah felt like he was all alone.

Well, from this point forward, we would see renewed zeal from Elijah.

He would minister from this point forward, and we would never see him get to a point like this again because he had a friend.

If you want to stay in church as a Christian, you need friends.

Some of you come in here week after week.

And I watch, you kind of skirt in, skirt out, and you're listening I love you, and I'm so glad that you're here.

But you're missing something greater.

Man, this couldn't get me by for a whole week.

I need more than just this.

You need friends in the ministry, you need friends for living.

If you want to be effective in a fight with sin, you need accountability and you need friendships that you can be honest with.

We talk about connect groups.

One of the bigger points of doing them is to bear one another's burdens.

We need people to pray with.

You know, you need, you probably need somebody in your life right now who will tell you, you need to be still.

This is a season for you of just being still.

If you want longevity in this living, you need friends.

Well, I came across a story about some friends I wanted to share with you, and we'll wrap up in a second.

Jim and Tom were friends who entered the World War I conflict together.

On going into that, they were inseparable.

They enlisted together, they trained together, they were shipped overseas together, they fought side by side.

Jim and Tom were always together.

In one particular attack, Tom was critically wounded in a field filled with barbed wire, and he was unable to crawl back to his foxhole.

The entire area had been under crossfire, and it was a suicidal mission to try to reach him.

Yet his friend Jim knew what was happening and decided he was going to do just that.

Before he could get out of his trench, his sergeant yanked him back and he ordered him, You will not go across that field.

It is too late.

You can't do Tom any good, and you're gonna get yourself killed.

A few minutes later, Sergeant had turned his back, and instantly Jim was gone after his friend.

A few moments had passed, and Jim staggered back.

He was shot going across that field, mortally wounded, but in his hands was Tom, who was now dead.

The sergeant began yelling, he was angry, tears filling his eyes.

He said, Why would you do that?

What a waste! Why didn't you listen to me?

He's dead now, and you're dying.

He said, It wasn't worth it, soldier, it wasn't worth it.

And with almost his last breath, Jim looked his sergeant in his eyes.

He said with a bright smile, Yes, it was, Sarge.

When I got him, the only thing he said was, I knew you'd come for me, Jim.

Proverbs 17, 17 says, A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity.

The Bible says, No greater love hath a man than this, than he'd lay down his life for his friends.

Some 2,000 years ago, that is exactly what Jesus Christ did for you and me.

He did it to cancel every sin, to cancel every stress and every disease.

And there's an old hymn that puts it this way.

Why should we tarry while Jesus is pleading?

Pleading for you and for me.

Come home.

Come home, ye who are weary, come home.

Softly and tenderly, Jesus is calling, calling for you and for me.

Jesus gave his life, church, that one day you and I could enter eternity, an eternity full of rest.

To be with him.

I want you to bow your heads and close your eyes this morning.

Church, I have a question that I want you to think on for this time of invitation.

Are you in need of stilling?

I want to ask everybody just for a moment.

Could we quiet as quiet as possible?

Could you bow your head?

And for a moment here, I'm gonna try to have complete silence.

And I want you just to breathe in and out.

Deep breath in.

Deep breath out.

Do it again.

Take a moment in silence.

If you're doing that and it literally feels like a burden is lifting, I want to tell you.

It's probably time for a still.

If you could be honest with me before we open this altar for invitation to say, Pastor, I need you to pray for me.

Psalms 46, 10 says, Be still and know that I am God.

I I know I need a still.

I know I'm in need, Pastor.

I'm raising my hand.

I just want you to be praying for me.

I see that.

I see that.

It's all over, church.

You've got good company.

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