I Heard Something

Hallelujah.

Well listen, I'm glad to be in the house of the Lord today with you guys here at face church.

Come on, somebody make some noise.

But Jesus, we thank God for our lead pastor, Pastor Frank Santor and his beautiful wife, Pastor Lisa.

We hope that they're getting some R and R, but if you know Pastor Frank, we're getting emails and text messages here while we're on vacation, you know.

It just is what it is.

It is what it is.

But I'm glad to be here.

I want to send a shout out to all of our campuses.

We'll kid with Pastor Brandon.

I want to send a shout out to our online community.

And I want to send a big, big, big old shout out to every tribe church down in New York City.

Amen.

For those of you that may not know me, my name is Ronald, and I serve as the campus pastor of our New York campus, uh, called Every Tribe Church.

And I also serve as the worship pastor here.

And so I want to just celebrate our worship ministry, our worship team.

You guys are amazing.

Continue doing a phenomenal job.

All of our tech, Marshall, and Steam in the back, and Lisa, Pastor Tim, everybody that makes this thing happen.

I want to share a word with you that I believe is going to challenge you, it's going to charge you.

But most importantly, I want it to change you.

Because it's so easy.

I'm getting, I'm not in my 20s anymore.

You don't have to know what age I am, but I just know I'm not in my 20s anymore.

Um, but I'm finding out it's easier to fall into habits, whether they're bad or good.

You just get used to a certain a certain cadence of life.

And I want to I want to break that today for some of you.

And so if you have your Bibles, or if you need a Bible, raise your hand real high, and we'll get one to you.

Glory be to God.

Hallelujah.

And if you're using your iPad or your app, I tell ETC, make sure you open your Bible app first before you start making your declaration with your phone.

Alright.

So let's do this together.

Let's read our Bible declaration declaration together.

Ready, go.

This is my Bible.

It is my primary source of spiritual nourishment.

I will read it every day and become all God wants me to be.

My mind will be renewed, my life will be transformed.

I will become fully surrendered to Christ.

Therefore, I'll hide his word in my heart so I can be.

And if you believe that, say amen.

We're in the book of 1 Kings.

We're in the book of 1 Kings.

1 Kings 18 · chapter mention

Chapter 18.

We're gonna jump down to verse 41.

1 Kings 18 and 41.

And it reads this way Then Elijah said to Ahab, Go up, eat and drink.

For there is the sound of an abundance of rain.

So Ahab went up to eat and drink, and Elijah went up to the to the top of Carmel, and he bowed down on the ground and put his face toward his knees, and said to his servant, Go up now, look towards the sea.

So he went up and looked and said, There is nothing.

And seven times he said, Go again.

Then it came to pass the seventh time that he said, There is a cloud as small as a man's hand rising out of the sea.

So he said, Go up, say to Ahab, Prepare your chariot and go down before the rain stops you.

Now it happened in the meantime that the sky became black.

Somebody say, In the meantime.

In the meantime, the sky became black with clouds and wind, and there was a heavy rain.

So Ahab rode away and went to Jezreel.

I want to talk to you for a few moments from the subject.

I heard something.

I heard something.

Don't let what you see make you forget what you heard.

Let's pray.

So, Lord, we thank you and we honor you for your word.

That it will not, it cannot return void.

So, Lord, let the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be acceptable only in your sight.

For you are my strength and you are my redeemer.

In Jesus' name we pray.

Amen.

You may be seated if you can.

Church, there are moments in our lives when nothing around us seems to have changed.

But something inside of us has.

Have you ever had a moment like that where you woke up and something felt different?

Circumstances felt the same, but something inside of you felt different.

The bill is still sitting on the table.

Your diagnosis from the doctor hasn't changed.

The relationship that you're in is still complicated.

The door that you've been praying for God to open still remains closed.

The opportunity that you've been praying for hasn't revealed itself just yet.

The prayer hasn't been answered.

Nothing has changed, and yet, and still, something inside has.

You can't explain it, you can't prove it, you have no evidence, but somewhere deep inside, you had an expectation that didn't make sense according to the circumstance you find yourself in.

You see it, you sense it, but you know something is just different now.

And that's what makes faith such a powerful product of our walk with the Lord.

Because faith doesn't always begin with what we see.

Sometimes faith begins with what we hear.

Hebrews 11 says, now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

I love that word substance, because in this context, the Greek word for substance in this context means the underlying reality.

So let me say it like this: faith is the underlying reality of things hoped for, the evidence of things that I don't see yet.

Faith is what allows you to stand in the tension between what I see and what God said.

Because sometimes your eyes will see it's over, but God says, I'm not finished yet.

Sometimes your eyes will see nothing is happening, but God says, I'm still working.

Your eyes might say, There is no way this can happen, but God says, I am the way, the truth, and the light.

Your eyes might say, I don't see anything, but faith says, I heard something.

This is where we find our dear brother Elijah.

1 Kings chapter 18.

1 Kings 18 · chapter mention

Israel has been experiencing a devastating drought.

A drought that has lasted not a couple of days, not a couple of weeks, not even a couple of months.

This drought has lasted for three and a half years.

Three and a half years without any rain.

Three and a half years of dryness.

Three and a half years of uncertainty.

Three and a half years of waiting on God.

But here is the significant point that makes this drought different.

This isn't just a meteorological problem.

This just isn't, you know, a climate change.

Right?

This is a spiritual issue.

Israel has turned away from Yahweh and turned instead toward the false God Baal.

And Baal was understood by the surrounding culture as a storm and a fertility deity.

So God confronts Israel's idolatry by demonstrating that the God that they were currently trusting could not produce what only Yahweh controls.

And then Elijah shows up on Mount Carmel, he confronts the prophets of Baal.

They cry out, they shout, they perform all their rituals, they cut themselves, they do all the things, they do everything that they know to do, and nothing happens.

Because false gods can't answer real prayers.

But then the Bible says, Elijah prays, and the God of Israel answers.

He answers by fire, and the people fall on their faces and they declare, The Lord, he is God.

The Lord, he is God.

And this, my brothers and sisters, is the point.

The issue isn't simply God can send the rain.

The deeper question is, who is God to you?

Who is he really to you?

And in the text, God answers the question on Mount Carmel, Yahweh is God, and Baal is not.

And then something amazingly fascinating happens.

After God answers by fire, Elijah turns to Ahab and he says something that doesn't seem to make much sense.

In verse 41, he says, Get thee up, get something to eat, get something to drink, for there is a sound of an abundance of rain.

Now, now hold on.

I just explained to you the setting that they're in.

Three and a half years, and the earth is dry as a bone.

There's no water, there's no sign of a water.

But the reality of it is this is the evidence, not in what I see, but in what God said.

There is a sound.

I hear something.

Do me a favor, can you just touch yourself and say, I heard something?

I heard something.

Elijah isn't practicing positive thinking here.

He's not manifesting his preferred future.

He's not saying, if I say it enough times, maybe God will do it.

No, Elijah heard a word from the Lord.

And that, my brothers and sisters, is what faith is.

It is trusting God enough to stand on what he has revealed, even though I cannot see it yet.

Elijah isn't creating the promise.

Watch this, he's responding to it.

Are you with me?

And that's got to mean something for you because if you don't know what God has said, your circumstances will start telling you what to believe.

If you don't have a word that is anchoring you, every bad report becomes your next prophecy.

Every delay becomes your conclusion, every closed door becomes your identity, every disappointment becomes your theology.

But when you've heard from the Lord, you can stand in dry seasons without becoming a dry person.

You can be surrounded by uncertainty without becoming uncertain about who God is.

You can be in a drought without deciding that God has disappeared in your life.

Because your confidence isn't in the weather, in the weather.

Your confidence is in the one who controls the weather.

So the question isn't what are you seeing?

The question is, what did I hear?

Because what you see can change.

But God's character, his nature does not.

Your circumstances can shift, but God's word remains.

The report can change, but God never changes.

He's the same yesterday, today, and forevermore.

And Elijah is teaching us something that leads us into our first point.

Heaven speaks before earth changes.

Heaven speaks before earth changed.

In verse 41, he says, There is a sound of an abundance of rain.

Notice what Elijah doesn't say.

He doesn't say, I see rain.

He says, I hear rain.

Because sometimes God will let you hear something before you see something.

Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

Faith hears before it sees.

Faith doesn't pretend that the drought doesn't exist.

The drought was very real.

The ground was dry.

The nation was suffering.

The servant wasn't crazy when he said that there was nothing.

The circumstances was real, but the circumstances were not the final authority.

And that's a word for somebody.

You don't have to deny what you're facing in order to believe God.

Faith doesn't say there isn't a problem.

Faith says the problem isn't bigger than my God.

Faith doesn't say the door isn't closed.

Faith says the closed door doesn't mean God has stopped working.

Faith doesn't say I don't have enough.

Faith says God is still the source of my strength and the strength of my life.

Because your eyes can tell you what's happening, but only faith can tell you what God is capable of doing.

So some of you have allowed your circumstances to become louder than God's promises in your life.

You've been listening and rehearsing the report.

You've been listening to your fear.

You've been listening to your past.

You've been listening to the voice of disappointment, and you've forgotten what God promised you.

But don't let what you see make you forget what you heard.

Because God can speak a promise in a season that looks completely opposite of what he promised you.

Oh, you don't believe me.

Come here, come here, Abraham.

God told Abraham he would have a son while Abraham was getting old.

God told Joseph that he would rule while Joseph was sitting in prison.

God told David he would be king while Saul was still sitting on the throne.

God told Israel there would be rain while the ground was bone dry.

Heaven spoke before earth changed.

And if God has spoken, you don't need visible evidence to validate God's word.

You just need faith to stand on it.

Here for some of us is where faith becomes difficult because it's easy to believe God when you have or when you hear the promise.

It gets harder when you look around and nothing has changed.

Yeah, yeah.

Because eventually you start asking if God said it, then where is it?

And that's exactly where Elijah takes us next.

He's heard the sound, but now he has to deal with what his servant sees.

And the servant sees nothing.

But I want to speak to your situation really quickly.

Nothing doesn't mean never.

Nothing doesn't mean never.

If I was back home in New Orleans, I'd say nothing don't mean never.

I say it like that.

Nothing don't mean never.

And in verse 43, Elijah tells his servant, go up, look towards the sea.

The servant goes, he looks and comes back with a report.

Three words.

There is nothing.

Nothing.

And for many of us, that can be a dangerous word when you're waiting on God because sometimes nothing can make you question everything.

Nothing has changed, nothing has happened, nothing has opened, nothing has moved, nothing has gotten better.

Nothing, nothing.

And if you're not careful, you'll allow what hasn't happened yet to convince you that God will never do it.

Elijah says, go again.

Go again.

The servant goes again.

Nothing.

Okay, go again.

He comes back.

Nothing.

Go again.

Okay?

There's nothing.

He does this six times with a similar report.

Nothing.

And Elijah says, go again.

Why is Elijah so persistent and consistent with his command to go again?

It's because Elijah understands something.

Nothing doesn't mean never.

Just because you don't see evidence doesn't mean that God has abandoned you.

His promises are yes and amen.

There are things God is doing behind the scenes that you cannot see.

There are conversations happening that you do not know about.

There are doors being prepared that you have not reached yet.

There are things God is arranging that you don't have access to yet.

God doesn't have to show you what he's doing for him to be doing it.

God doesn't have to show you what he's doing to prove that he's doing it.

But you got to have faith.

Somebody needs to hear this word.

Go again.

Go again.

I know you've been praying.

Pray again.

I know you've tried before.

Try again.

I know you've been believing.

Believe again.

I know you were rejected, but go again.

I know you failed, but get back up and go again.

I know you've got discouragement, but go again.

Don't stop dreaming.

Dream again.

Don't stop praying.

Pray again.

Don't stop believing.

Believe again.

Because Galatians chapter 6 says, let us not be weary in well-doing.

Galatians 6 · chapter mention

For in due season we will reap if we faint not.

Notice if we faint not.

Can I tell somebody right now?

There is a harvest connected to perseverance.

The enemy wants you to stop at six, but what if your answer is attached to the seventh?

What if you're one prayer away?

What if you're one conversation away?

One act of obedience away, one more attempt away, one more season of faithfulness away.

Don't stop because you haven't seen it yet.

So the servant he goes six times.

Six times he comes back with the same report.

Nothing.

But Elijah doesn't change his word, neither does he change his mind.

And on the seventh time, something changes.

The servant looks again, and this time he sees something.

It's not big, it's not impressive, it isn't the full answer.

The Bible says it's a little cloud.

It qualifies the cloud.

He could have just said it's a cloud, but it's a little cloud.

And this is where some of us struggle with this.

Because when God finally gives us something, sometimes we complain because it's not everything.

But Elijah teaches us how to recognize the beginning of a breakthrough.

My third point is don't miss the miracle because it's small.

Don't miss the miracle because it's small.

Verse 44 in 1 Kings chapter 18 says, There arises a little cloud out of the sea, like a man's hand.

1 Kings 18 · chapter mention

A little cloud.

Somebody say a little cloud.

And that's it.

After all that waiting, a little cloud.

But Elijah understands something.

The cloud might not be the rain, but the cloud is evidence that the rain is coming.

Hallelujah.

And somebody needs to hear this word.

Don't despise small beginnings.

Sometimes we want God to show us the whole picture, but God gives us the first step.

You want the harvest, but God gives you a seed.

You want the finished product, but God gives you a beginning.

You want the breakthrough, and God gives us a little piece instead.

And because it's small, many of us may not say it out loud, but we internally say, Is this all?

It's not enough.

It might not be enough.

It might be everything.

But it could be just the evidence that God has started something in your life.

Because small doesn't mean insignificant.

Sometimes small is prophetic.

The little cloud was telling Elijah the atmosphere, glory to God, is starting to shift.

The drought is ending.

The heavens are moving.

The promise is approaching.

And some of you have a cloud in your life right now.

It doesn't look like much, but it's different from yesterday.

You have a little more peace.

Come on, somebody.

You got a little more strength.

You got a little more joy.

You've got a little more opportunity.

You got a little bit more of something.

There's a little cloud in your life.

I gotta encourage you today.

Don't overlook your cloud.

You got to thank God for the beginning.

You got to thank God for the little.

You got to thank God for the first step.

Thank God for the crack in the door.

Because sometimes the first sign of the miracle might not look like a miracle at all.

But Elijah doesn't just celebrate the cloud, he simply responds to it.

Because real faith isn't just excited about what God might do, faith prepares for what it believes God will do.

Elijah sees a little cloud.

And then he tells Ahab, get your chariot ready.

Why?

Because Elijah isn't waiting for the rain to convince him.

He's already been convinced by what he heard.

And this, my brothers and sisters, is the fourth point.

Dress for the rain before it starts.

Hallelujah.

Dress for the rain before it starts.

He tells Ahab, prepare your chariot and go down.

There still isn't rain.

But Elijah is preparing for the rain.

And that, my brothers and sisters, is what we call faith.

Because faith doesn't change what you believe, faith changes how you behave.

If you believe God is opening the door, you should be preparing to walk through it.

If you believe God is increasing your influence, you should prepare.

If you believe God is restoring your family, you should prepare your heart.

If you believe God is giving you a greater responsibility, you should develop your capacity.

If you believe God is calling you, you should stop disqualifying yourself.

If you believe God is sending the rain, you should prepare for it.

Hallelujah.

Hallelujah.

Because you can't keep asking God for something while living like you don't expect Him to answer.

Because faith has a posture, faith has a behavior.

Faith has a preparation attached to it.

Are you hearing me?

You can't pray for increase but prepare for limitation.

You can't pray for God to use you and refuse to walk in obedience.

You can't pray for God to increase you and refuse to be disciplined.

You can't pray for God to give you influence, but where you refuse character development.

You cannot pray for God to send the harvest and you refuse to cultivate the field.

Faith prepares us for what faith believes.

Maybe God hasn't sent the rain because he's getting you ready to carry what you've been asking for.

Maybe the delay isn't because God forgot about you.

Maybe the delay is because God is developing you.

Watch this, watch this, watch this.

Elijah heard something before he saw something.

He kept believing when there was nothing.

He recognized the little cloud.

He prepared for the rain.

But the story isn't over because the cloud isn't the destination.

The cloud is simply the confirmation.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

The promise isn't complete until the rain comes.

And there's a space that's occupying the middle between what God said and what I see.

And that word, my brothers and sisters, is called the waiting.

The waiting.

Which leads me to my fifth and final point.

Stay on the mountain until it rains.

Stay on the mountain until it rains.

The Bible says in verse 45, and it came to pass in the meanwhile that the heaven was black with clouds and wind.

And there was a great rain.

Look at the progression here.

We first we see nothing.

Then we see a little cloud.

And then we see black clouds.

And then we see when, and finally, we see and we experience a great rain.

First a promise came, then the evidence a little bit later, and then the manifestation after that.

And that is the tension of walking in faith.

You are living somewhere between God said it and I see it.

And even that space, my brothers and sisters, requires faith.

That's why the Bible says that without faith, it is impossible to please God.

And maybe that's where some of you are right now.

God promised something, but you're still waiting.

God spoke, but you haven't seen it yet.

God gave you direction, but the road still isn't clear.

God gave you a dream, but you don't know how it's going to happen.

God gave you a promise, but you're still in the drought, and you're asking, How long?

But I came to tell somebody.

Don't leave the mountain because you haven't seen the rain just yet.

Stay faithful.

Stay prayerful.

Stay obedient.

Stay expectant.

Stay positioned.

Because delay, you know this doesn't always mean denial.

And sometimes the greatest evidence of faith isn't shouting when the rain comes, it's standing when the sky is still clear.

I don't know who I'm talking to.

But you've been waiting and you've been praying and you've been wondering.

God, where are you?

And maybe you've been interpreting silence as absence.

But God sent me here to remind you he has not forgotten you.

You may not see what he's doing, but that doesn't mean he's not doing it.

You may not understand his timing, but that doesn't mean that it's not a purpose and what you're going through.

And I want you to understand this.

Your eyes are reporting the present, but your faith is responding to the promise.

Your eyes say nothing, but faith says nothing doesn't mean never.

Your eyes say it's small, but your faith says, Don't miss the middle because it's small.

Your eyes say it hasn't happened yet, but your faith says, I'm going to dress for the rain before it starts.

Your eyes say, I don't see it, but your faith says, I'm staying on the mountain until it rains.

Elijah stands on the mountain.

Three and a half years of drought.

The ground is dry, the sky is clear, the nation is exhausted.

There's no visible reason to celebrate.

But Elijah says, I heard something.

The servant says, I don't see anything.

Elijah says, Go again, nothing.

Go again, nothing.

Go again, nothing.

Six times, nothing.

But Elijah doesn't change his posture.

He doesn't change his prayer.

He doesn't change his expectation.

He doesn't change his word.

And on the seventh time, the servant comes back and says, I see a cloud.

It's a little, but Elijah says, Guess what?

That's enough for me.

Because Elijah understands I don't need to see the whole thing to know God has started something.

And I came to tell somebody, despite your cloud.

Somebody came in today, and your eyes have been telling you it's over, but I came to tell you, I heard something.

Your circumstances say nothing has changed, but I heard something.

Disappointment, hope come again, but I heard something.

Fear says, don't try it again, but I heard something.

Tell you says, stay down, but I heard something.

Tell you says don't go again, but I heard something.

And because I heard something, I can't let somebody know.

It comes by hearing.

And hearing the card, somebody say ahead something.

We are the conversation through Christ Jesus.

Somebody say ahead something.

Hallelujah! We have the head and not the tail.

Somebody say ahead something.

Somebody say a hurt something.

Can you hear it?

Can you hear it?

Can you hear it?

Can you hear it?

I heard something.

Face comes by hearing.

And hearing whatever.

I heard something.

I'm not leaving on my own understanding.

But in all my ways, I'll acknowledge him I heard something.

This is the day that the Lord has made.

I'm gonna make choice and be glad of it because I heard something.

Hallelujah! I heard something.

I heard something.

I heard something.

Hallelujah! And because I heard something, I'm believing again! Because I heard something, I'm praying again! Because I heard something, I'm worshipping again! Because I heard something, I'm preparing again! Because I heard something! God is still moving! Because I heard something! I'm giving back up again.

God hasn't given you the whole answer, but He gave you a cloud.

It might be small, and nobody understands why you're excited, but they don't know.

You know what the cloud means.

The atmosphere might be changing.

You know what the cloud means.

The drought is not permanent.

You know what the cloud means.

God has not forgotten you.

You know what the cloud means.

Something is starting to shift in your life because you know what the cloud means.

Hallelujah.

Tell yourself I heard something.

I heard something.

Here is the last dilemma that you got to wrestle with.

Some of us we hear something, but it's not the word.

We are listening to outdated revelation.

We're listening to outdated revelation.

God is saying, I'm ready to send the abundance of rain.

You're still looking in your closet at your past.

God says, I'm ready to do a new thing in you.

You're still holding on to guilt and condemnation of who you used to be.

And you've been carrying, watch this.

You've been carrying an old story in your right now season.

The problem with that is this when God gives you a word, the word is for what's to come.

And if you are telling yourself an outdated story, you can't see or hear by faith what God is about to do.

So I don't know who I'm talking to today, but you got to tell yourself a different story.

You've got to hear a different thing.

And the only way that you can hear a different thing, the Bible says, Thy word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against him.