After the Fire

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Well the light came on.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Must mean something's working now, huh?

Pastor Dale Tunnell: The batteries weren't in there tight.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: That's twice.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: At least twice that we've had that problem with the batteries.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Ah, so my question was, uh

Pastor Dale Tunnell: do you always have good judgment?

Pastor Dale Tunnell: What?

Pastor Dale Tunnell: This week I read about a man who was very successful in life, and they asked him, How did you get so successful?

Pastor Dale Tunnell: And he said, The secret of my success is

Pastor Dale Tunnell: I have good judgment.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Where did you get such good judgment?

Pastor Dale Tunnell: They asked.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: And he said, from

Pastor Dale Tunnell: experience.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: And where did you get your experience from?

Pastor Dale Tunnell: And he says, from

Pastor Dale Tunnell: poor judgment

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Where did you get your wisdom from?

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Oh yeah, you said you don't always have good judgment.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: I'm gonna tell you, there's been a lot of times when I've had some very poor judgment.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: You don't believe me, you can just ask my wife and children.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: They probably have a long list

Pastor Dale Tunnell: of things, but I will not share those things with you today.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: But Scripture tells us, the scripture that we've

Pastor Dale Tunnell: we started at

Pastor Dale Tunnell: ,

Pastor Dale Tunnell: That's been a few weeks, hasn't it?

Pastor Dale Tunnell: The one we started at, though, was in James chapter 5.

James 5 · chapter mention

Pastor Dale Tunnell: James

Pastor Dale Tunnell: chapter 5, it said, Elijah was a man with a nature

Pastor Dale Tunnell: like

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Ours.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: That's a nature like like

Pastor Dale Tunnell: mine.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: A nature like yours.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: It says

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Elijah was a man with a nature like ours

Pastor Dale Tunnell: And he prayed earnestly

Pastor Dale Tunnell: that it would not rain.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Do you have a nature like that?

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Have you been praying that?

Pastor Dale Tunnell: You haven't been praying that prayer?

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Friends, we live in the days of Elijah, right?

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Maybe we need to be praying that prayer

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Something to to wake up our our

Pastor Dale Tunnell: our nation.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Something to

Pastor Dale Tunnell: wake up the world that we are living in.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: It says, Elijah

Pastor Dale Tunnell: has a nature like ours, but he prayed earnestly that it would not rain

Pastor Dale Tunnell: and it

Pastor Dale Tunnell: I knew I should have put it on the screen.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: That's right.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: And it did not

Pastor Dale Tunnell: rain

Pastor Dale Tunnell: for three and a half years.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: I mean, that's the

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Bible text that

Pastor Dale Tunnell: we got started with a few weeks ago.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Because we're looking at the life of Elijah.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: And we normally start with Elijah.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Or

Pastor Dale Tunnell: we probably start with Elijah when we're reading through

Pastor Dale Tunnell: the Old Testament.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: 1 Kings chapter 17, it just has

1 Kings 17 · chapter mention

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Elijah shows up

Pastor Dale Tunnell: in Ahab's palace.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: And he tells Ahab, it's not going to rain for years until I say so.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: And we're thinking, where did this man come from?

Pastor Dale Tunnell: How did he have the nerve, the audacity to go into Ahab's palace and say such a thing?

Pastor Dale Tunnell: What's going on?

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Who is this guy?

Pastor Dale Tunnell: We've been talking about Ahab.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: And he had a bold message.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: I mean, talking about Elijah, that he had a bold message for Ahab.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: We talked about Elijah when he he spent his time there at the

Pastor Dale Tunnell: brook cherith.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: We talked about him going from the brook cherith

Pastor Dale Tunnell: to to Zarephath.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Last week we were talking about him in

Pastor Dale Tunnell: chapter 18.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Oh

Pastor Dale Tunnell: do you remember him in chapter 18?

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Wasn't that a wonderful chapter

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Chapter eighteen, verse one, it said, And it came to pass after many days that the word

Pastor Dale Tunnell: of the Lord came to Elijah in the third year, saying, Go

Pastor Dale Tunnell: present yourself to Ahab, and I will send rain on the earth.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Oh, we saw last week the the beautiful event that took place.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: How

Pastor Dale Tunnell: how

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Elijah met Ahab and

Pastor Dale Tunnell: an

Pastor Dale Tunnell: and challenged Ahab

Pastor Dale Tunnell: and told Ahab to bring the prophets of Baal to to Mount Carmel.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: We saw what

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Elijah did last week at Mount Carmel, how he he he offered the prophets of Baal a

Pastor Dale Tunnell: an altar there and told them to

Pastor Dale Tunnell: They could sacrifice there and told them they could pray and and and call down fire from heaven from

Pastor Dale Tunnell: from Baal.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: The God of

Pastor Dale Tunnell: lightning, the God of rain, the God of

Pastor Dale Tunnell: productivity and produce.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: And they tried for hours.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: They prayed and prayed and danced

Pastor Dale Tunnell: and prayed.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: And then

Pastor Dale Tunnell: In the afternoon, Elijah's turn came, and he he rebuilt the altar of God, and he took water and poured it on the on the altar, on the sacrifice, and he knelt

Pastor Dale Tunnell: down and he prayed

Pastor Dale Tunnell: a simple prayer.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Oh, do you remember what happened?

Pastor Dale Tunnell: I love making that sound.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: And

Pastor Dale Tunnell: fire came down

Pastor Dale Tunnell: from heaven

Pastor Dale Tunnell: and consumed the sacrifice and consumed the the the wood and and consumed the the the stones

Pastor Dale Tunnell: and consumed the the water surrounding the the altar.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: And the people's heart was

Pastor Dale Tunnell: cut, and they said, Jehovah, he

Pastor Dale Tunnell: is God.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: And we shout, hallelujah!

Pastor Dale Tunnell: What a miracle has been wrought

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Revival has come.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: We

Pastor Dale Tunnell: last week we we read it

Pastor Dale Tunnell: it didn't stop there

Pastor Dale Tunnell: because Elijah went and he he took the prophets of Baal and he took the prophets of Baal and he took them down

Pastor Dale Tunnell: and he

Pastor Dale Tunnell: massacred all of them.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: It was as if God was

Pastor Dale Tunnell: opening the body of Israel, and if

Pastor Dale Tunnell: God was going to get rid of the cancer that was there, and he was going to eradicate it, and it was going to be gone.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: We're still in

Pastor Dale Tunnell: chapter 18.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Turn your Bibles

Pastor Dale Tunnell: this time.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: We're going down to to verse 41 because I didn't get there last week.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Chapter eighteen, let's see, verse forty-one

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Forty, yeah, the prophets of Baal are executed.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: 41 says, Then Elijah says to Ahab, Go and eat and drink, for there is the sound of abundance of rain.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Now, some of you know the story quite well.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: If you know the story quite well, you're you're you're okay to answer, okay?

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Or try and answer

Pastor Dale Tunnell: At this point in time, had

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Elijah heard the thunder roll?

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Had Elijah seen any

Pastor Dale Tunnell: lightning?

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Was

Pastor Dale Tunnell: there even a a a

Pastor Dale Tunnell: a hint of a cloud somewhere that rain was coming?

Pastor Dale Tunnell: But

Pastor Dale Tunnell: but but yet Elijah says the words.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: He he

Pastor Dale Tunnell: he says the words

Pastor Dale Tunnell: for

Pastor Dale Tunnell: there is the sound and above of an abundance of rain.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Where is Elijah hearing these things?

Pastor Dale Tunnell: In his head.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Is he hearing voices?

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Is he hearing sounds?

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Or is this the Elijah of faith?

Pastor Dale Tunnell: It's just a sound of faith that he hears.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Because

Pastor Dale Tunnell: in verse 1 there of that chapter, God had told him, I will send rain.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: And now

Pastor Dale Tunnell: God has acted and

Pastor Dale Tunnell: has sent the fire.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: God has consumed the

Pastor Dale Tunnell: sacrifice.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: The people's hearts have been converted.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Elijah knows what is going to happen next.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: And he tells Ahab, there is an abundance of rain that is coming.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: So Ahab went up to eat and drink.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Elijah went to the top of Carmel.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Then he bowed down to the ground and put his face

Pastor Dale Tunnell: toward

Pastor Dale Tunnell: between his knees, and said to the servant, Go

Pastor Dale Tunnell: and now

Pastor Dale Tunnell: look toward the sea.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: So he went and looked and said,

Pastor Dale Tunnell: There is nothing.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Elijah takes this this

Pastor Dale Tunnell: this position of prayer.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: He kneels

Pastor Dale Tunnell: down, he he puts his face to the ground

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Begging, God.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: God, you said it.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: I heard you say it.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Be faithful to what your word

Pastor Dale Tunnell: says.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Do you ever pray like that?

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Do you ever hold your Bible in your hand while you're praying?

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Said

Pastor Dale Tunnell: God, you said it right here.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: I'm expecting you to do something

Pastor Dale Tunnell: I

Pastor Dale Tunnell: expect

Pastor Dale Tunnell: something to happen

Pastor Dale Tunnell: because your word

Pastor Dale Tunnell: says

Pastor Dale Tunnell: something is going to happen

Pastor Dale Tunnell: That's what Elijah was doing.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: He sends his servant a second time.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Go and see if you see anything.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Third time, go and see if you see anything.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Fourth time, he gives up.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Not what your Bible says?

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Seven times.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: He is pleading with God.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: God, do something.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: And it came to pass that the seventh time he said, there's a cloud

Pastor Dale Tunnell: the small as a man's hand, rising out of the sea, and he said, Go

Pastor Dale Tunnell: and say to Ahab, Prepare your chariots, and go before the rain stops you

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Elijah

Pastor Dale Tunnell: had

Pastor Dale Tunnell: faith.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: And it happened in the meantime

Pastor Dale Tunnell: The sky became black

Pastor Dale Tunnell: with clouds and wind, and there was a heavy rain.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: So Ahab rode away

Pastor Dale Tunnell: and went to Jezreel.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: And the hand of the Lord came upon Elijah, and he girded up his

Pastor Dale Tunnell: his

Pastor Dale Tunnell: loins

Pastor Dale Tunnell: and ran ahead of Ahab

Pastor Dale Tunnell: to the

Pastor Dale Tunnell: entrance of Jezreel.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Oh I

Pastor Dale Tunnell: I wish

Pastor Dale Tunnell: we could see the movie

Pastor Dale Tunnell: I mean, I

Pastor Dale Tunnell: I would love to see the look on Elijah's face as he is

Pastor Dale Tunnell: is is running in front of the chariot.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Now

Pastor Dale Tunnell: You

Pastor Dale Tunnell: picture it the way I

Pastor Dale Tunnell: often picture it.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: They're on this smooth road

Pastor Dale Tunnell: With the chariot and the horse pulling the chariot

Pastor Dale Tunnell: and and he

Pastor Dale Tunnell: I'm just gonna tell you

Pastor Dale Tunnell: it's not a smooth road.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: It

Pastor Dale Tunnell: it's

Pastor Dale Tunnell: well, to call it a road, you you would be using

Pastor Dale Tunnell: the word correctly

Pastor Dale Tunnell: But you and I may not call it a road today.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: It may have been a a a path.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: A path that the chariot went on.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: You begin to wonder how fast

Pastor Dale Tunnell: the Elijah

Pastor Dale Tunnell: had to run.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Well, if he had run too fast, you know what would have happened in the chariot.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Have you ever tried to stand up

Pastor Dale Tunnell: on the smooth subway

Pastor Dale Tunnell: or on the smooth trains that we have today?

Pastor Dale Tunnell: On a bus that's riding on nice

Pastor Dale Tunnell: roads with good shock absorbers.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: You ever tried to stand up on the bus?

Pastor Dale Tunnell: I'm gonna tell you, Ahab would have had a more difficult time.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: On the chariot, but I can see Elijah

Pastor Dale Tunnell: What

Pastor Dale Tunnell: 's it say there?

Pastor Dale Tunnell: The the the spirit came upon him, he girded up his loins, and he ran ahead of Ahab to the entrance of Jezreel.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: I can see him with a smile

Pastor Dale Tunnell: on his

Pastor Dale Tunnell: face.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: It has

Pastor Dale Tunnell: been

Pastor Dale Tunnell: a day.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Oh, what a glorious day.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: I mean, you talk about a mountaintop experience.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Elijah has had a mountaintop experience.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: You know, sometimes you you you go off to uh a retreat someplace.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: You

Pastor Dale Tunnell: you go to a prayer retreat or you go to the uh a retreat up in in

Pastor Dale Tunnell: What's the camp called?

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Yap

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Yappupine?

Pastor Dale Tunnell: You you go up there for a

Pastor Dale Tunnell: retreat,

Pastor Dale Tunnell: a conference is there for camp meeting.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: And and your

Pastor Dale Tunnell: drive back down the hill.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Oh, that was good.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: That was really

Pastor Dale Tunnell: good

Pastor Dale Tunnell: I mean, you

Pastor Dale Tunnell: you're smiling, you're talking about the speakers you heard, you're talking about how

Pastor Dale Tunnell: God has

Pastor Dale Tunnell: touched you, you're talking about the wonderful music that you had.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: M

Pastor Dale Tunnell: my

Pastor Dale Tunnell: guess is all of that's going through Elijah's mind.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: And he gets back down to Jezreel.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Now

Pastor Dale Tunnell: that's fifteen

Pastor Dale Tunnell: to twenty miles, depending on where

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Carmel

Pastor Dale Tunnell: that he started the run.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: So it's it's

Pastor Dale Tunnell: it's a ways.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: It's

Pastor Dale Tunnell: it's not a short distance.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: And my guess is

Pastor Dale Tunnell: by the time he got down to

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Jezreel, he was

Pastor Dale Tunnell: exhausted.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: and

Pastor Dale Tunnell: probably just curled up just outside the door there.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: The guards may have let Ahab in because it was after dark

Pastor Dale Tunnell: and

Pastor Dale Tunnell: But they recognized the king's chariot.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: They heard his voice.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: They led him in.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: But

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Elijah just said, I'm sleeping here.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: I am

Pastor Dale Tunnell: tired.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Put his coat up over his head and just

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Ahab

Pastor Dale Tunnell: was

Pastor Dale Tunnell: was still

Pastor Dale Tunnell: He hadn't used up all his energy.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Chapter 19, verse 1, it says, And Ahab told Jezebel

Pastor Dale Tunnell: all that Elijah had done, also

Pastor Dale Tunnell: how he had executed all the prophets with the sword.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: I

Pastor Dale Tunnell: I

Pastor Dale Tunnell: I can

Pastor Dale Tunnell: I can picture that.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: I've been with my father when when when Dad and I had uh

Pastor Dale Tunnell: went to a retreat

Pastor Dale Tunnell: and and we come home and and we get into the house

Pastor Dale Tunnell: And my dad sits down and he begins to tell my mom

Pastor Dale Tunnell: blow by blow by blow by blow

Pastor Dale Tunnell: everything that we did, however long the conference was, three, four, five days, he has to tell her before he can sleep at night.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: It's almost like he needs to to

Pastor Dale Tunnell: to get this out.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: He needs to make sure mom

Pastor Dale Tunnell: has an understanding of what occurred.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: And so I can picture Ahab doing this.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: And I can see

Pastor Dale Tunnell: while Ahab is telling this to

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Jezebel

Pastor Dale Tunnell: as he is replaying everything, Jezebel

Pastor Dale Tunnell: is getting angrier and angrier and angrier.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: And when he gets to the place where Elijah has killed the prophets of Baal, he

Pastor Dale Tunnell: she

Pastor Dale Tunnell: sends word to Elijah

Pastor Dale Tunnell: and tells him, This is going to happen to you.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Jezebel

Pastor Dale Tunnell: 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 one of them by tomorrow

Pastor Dale Tunnell: about this time.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: And we read that text and we smile

Pastor Dale Tunnell: because we know Elijah.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Do you know Elijah by now?

Pastor Dale Tunnell: What do you know about Elijah?

Pastor Dale Tunnell: What's the number one thing he likes to do?

Pastor Dale Tunnell: I haven't been doing a very good job as a teacher, have I?

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Come on, what's the number one thing he

Pastor Dale Tunnell: likes to do?

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Pray.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: That's what started all this thing at the beginning.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: That's what he's been doing throughout everything.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: And so the next verse says, and Elijah got down on his knees and he prayed, Lord, you have been with me while I was at the brook.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: You were with me when the wanted posters were all over the place.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: You were with me during the three and a half years, and I know that you're going to be with me at this time.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Is that what verse three says?

Pastor Dale Tunnell: That's not what your verse 3 says?

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Well, I'm just gonna tell you that's what your verse 3 should say

Pastor Dale Tunnell: But verse 3

Pastor Dale Tunnell: doesn't say that.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: It says, And when he saw that, he arose and ran

Pastor Dale Tunnell: for his life and went to Beersheba.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Which belongs to Judah and left his

Pastor Dale Tunnell: servant there.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Do you ever have bad judgment?

Pastor Dale Tunnell: You are not alone.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: I'm just going to tell you,

Pastor Dale Tunnell: this man of God, at this point in time, he had had a

Pastor Dale Tunnell: mountaintop experience with the Lord.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: But he had used up all his energy and

Pastor Dale Tunnell: and something happened.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: He did not go to his his

Pastor Dale Tunnell: his

Pastor Dale Tunnell: number one thing that he did really well.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: He didn't use it.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: He didn't stop and pray.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: He just took off

Pastor Dale Tunnell: because he was scared.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: The wanted posters are still up.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: And he high-tailed it out of Israel and he went south to Judah.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Now that was about where Beersheba was.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: It was about a hundred miles away.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: So

Pastor Dale Tunnell: they were trying to

Pastor Dale Tunnell: put some distance between him and Jezebel.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: And then it says

Pastor Dale Tunnell: he he left his servant there.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: And he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness and came and sat down under a broom tree, and he prayed that he might die.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: He said, It

Pastor Dale Tunnell: is enough

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Now

Pastor Dale Tunnell: God, take my life, for I am no better than my father's.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: He runs a distance.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: He is fleeing.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: He leaves his servant.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: He goes a further distance.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Friends, this is often what happens

Pastor Dale Tunnell: when

Pastor Dale Tunnell: we have mountaintop experiences.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Satan

Pastor Dale Tunnell: attacks.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: And people become discouraged, and they isolate themselves.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Elijah

Pastor Dale Tunnell: is having about

Pastor Dale Tunnell: discouragement, if you want to go so far, depression

Pastor Dale Tunnell: at this point in time.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: He has

Pastor Dale Tunnell: lost

Pastor Dale Tunnell: that intimacy, that intimate connection that he had with God

Pastor Dale Tunnell: This

Pastor Dale Tunnell: man of prayer

Pastor Dale Tunnell: was

Pastor Dale Tunnell: not now

Pastor Dale Tunnell: processing things through prayer.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Have you ever been there

Pastor Dale Tunnell: You

Pastor Dale Tunnell: get to the place where you're discouraged.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: You get to the place where you're a little bit

Pastor Dale Tunnell: people

Pastor Dale Tunnell: send you a note or

Pastor Dale Tunnell: say something to you.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: They give you a

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Bible promise.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: And

Pastor Dale Tunnell: you're thinking in your mind, yeah, that's not for me.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: That may work for somebody else, but that doesn't work for me.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: You think you're not worthy for that?

Pastor Dale Tunnell: I'm too small to be noticed by God.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: I'm just going to run.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Want to share with you

Pastor Dale Tunnell: prophets and kings, page 160.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: It says, Elijah should not have fled from his post of duty.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: He should have met the threat of Jezebel

Pastor Dale Tunnell: with an appeal for protection

Pastor Dale Tunnell: to the one who had commissioned him

Pastor Dale Tunnell: to vindicate the honor of Jehovah.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: He should have told the messenger that the God in whom he trusted would protect him

Pastor Dale Tunnell: against the hatred of the queen.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Only a few hours had passed since he had witnessed of a wonderful manifestation of divine power

Pastor Dale Tunnell: that should have given him assurance that he was not to be forsaken.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: And that was pretty remarkable.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Had he remained where he was, had

Pastor Dale Tunnell: he made God his

Pastor Dale Tunnell: refuge and strength, standing steadfast for the truth

Pastor Dale Tunnell: He

Pastor Dale Tunnell: would have been

Pastor Dale Tunnell: shielded from

Pastor Dale Tunnell: harm.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: The Lord would have given him another

Pastor Dale Tunnell: signal

Pastor Dale Tunnell: victory

Pastor Dale Tunnell: by sending his judgments on Jezebel, and the impression made on the king and the people

Pastor Dale Tunnell: would have brought a great

Pastor Dale Tunnell: reformation.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: He thought he had seen the best of the best.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: He thought that the the

Pastor Dale Tunnell: signs were over.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: He thought that it was done.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: And God had yet another plan.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: He said, This is going to be another scene.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Had he known what God's will was?

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Had he stopped and prayed

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Do we always make God our refuge?

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Charles Spurgeon says

Pastor Dale Tunnell: this about Elijah.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Says, Elijah failed

Pastor Dale Tunnell: at the very

Pastor Dale Tunnell: point in which

Pastor Dale Tunnell: he was

Pastor Dale Tunnell: the strongest.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Elijah failed at the very point in which he was the strongest.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: And that seems to be where

Pastor Dale Tunnell: most

Pastor Dale Tunnell: people

Pastor Dale Tunnell: fall.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: The wisest man in the world was who?

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Solomon

Pastor Dale Tunnell: He used his wisdom

Pastor Dale Tunnell: so much

Pastor Dale Tunnell: so that

Pastor Dale Tunnell: it got him in trouble.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: The meekest man, Moses, proves himself to be

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Angry, Job

Pastor Dale Tunnell: and his patience

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Elijah.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: The man of prayer.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: See, you've heard it said, or maybe you've heard it said, that oftentimes our strengths turn into weaknesses.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: How can that possibly be?

Pastor Dale Tunnell: We have wisdom, and yet it becomes our source of pride.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: We are good with money

Pastor Dale Tunnell: and we get greedy.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: We are a spiritual person

Pastor Dale Tunnell: And suddenly we are not very careful with our judgment.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: We become pious and self-righteous.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Sometimes the blessings God

Pastor Dale Tunnell: gives to us becomes

Pastor Dale Tunnell: an idol

Pastor Dale Tunnell: for us.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Us.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: And we begin to worship the blessing that God has given to us

Pastor Dale Tunnell: instead of worshiping the Creator

Pastor Dale Tunnell: God

Pastor Dale Tunnell: that gave us the blessing

Pastor Dale Tunnell: In our story, it looked like Elijah had done everything right.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: But in verse 4 it tells us

Pastor Dale Tunnell: he goes that day's journey into the wilderness

Pastor Dale Tunnell: and comes down under the the broom tree and he prayed.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: It is enough

Pastor Dale Tunnell: now, Lord.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Take

Pastor Dale Tunnell: my

Pastor Dale Tunnell: life, for I am no better than my father's

Pastor Dale Tunnell: I've had enough.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: I'm done.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: I've completed it.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: I don't want to do this anymore.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Please

Pastor Dale Tunnell: put

Pastor Dale Tunnell: me out of my misery now.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Take my life.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Continuing in Prophets and Kings, page one hundred and

Pastor Dale Tunnell: sixty-two.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: It says, Into the experience of all.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: There comes times of keen disappointment

Pastor Dale Tunnell: and utter discouragement.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: I'm gonna read that sentence again.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: It says, into

Pastor Dale Tunnell: the experience of all

Pastor Dale Tunnell: I'm underlining that word.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Into the experience of all, there

Pastor Dale Tunnell: come

Pastor Dale Tunnell: times of keen disappointment.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: And discouragement.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Days when sorrow is the portion.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: It's hard to believe that God is still the kind benefactor of his earthborn children.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: days when troubles

Pastor Dale Tunnell: harass the soul

Pastor Dale Tunnell: till

Pastor Dale Tunnell: death seems preferable to life.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Have you ever been there?

Pastor Dale Tunnell: It

Pastor Dale Tunnell: says that Elijah

Pastor Dale Tunnell: was a man like us.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: I mean sometimes we we we want to to

Pastor Dale Tunnell: we take people like Elijah and we put him up on a pedestal like this and we we hold him up

Pastor Dale Tunnell: But there are times that we think, why in the world does the Bible add that story?

Pastor Dale Tunnell: I mean, there are lots of things.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: We've asked questions that the Bible doesn't tell us, give us answers to.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: And we say, why aren't those details written down?

Pastor Dale Tunnell: I'd like to know.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: This is one of those details I wish they had.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: I mean, it taints our picture of Elijah.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: We have a tainted picture of Abraham.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: We have a tainted picture of Moses.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: We have a tainted picture of

Pastor Dale Tunnell: King David.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: We have a tainted picture of Solomon

Pastor Dale Tunnell: because it adds some of those less

Pastor Dale Tunnell: than lovely details.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: We have some of those character flaws that are displayed before the world

Pastor Dale Tunnell: when we would like

Pastor Dale Tunnell: for

Pastor Dale Tunnell: the people we put on pedestals

Pastor Dale Tunnell: to

Pastor Dale Tunnell: To

Pastor Dale Tunnell: show their holiness, their godliness, to portray it in all its beauty

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Sister White

Pastor Dale Tunnell: says that this is the experience

Pastor Dale Tunnell: of all.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Now some people say, oh

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Christians, that that they they don't get

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Discouraged.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Christians,

Pastor Dale Tunnell: they don't experience doubt.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: But Ellen White says

Pastor Dale Tunnell: this is the experience

Pastor Dale Tunnell: of all.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: The days will come when

Pastor Dale Tunnell: it's hard to believe.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: We don't have to

Pastor Dale Tunnell: stop

Pastor Dale Tunnell: believing.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: It's hard to believe

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Do you

Pastor Dale Tunnell: think Moses

Pastor Dale Tunnell: understood?

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Moses

Pastor Dale Tunnell: wrote, he says, I am not able to bear all these people alone

Pastor Dale Tunnell: because the burden is too heavy for me.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Please

Pastor Dale Tunnell: kill me here and now.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Hero

Pastor Dale Tunnell: of

Pastor Dale Tunnell: faith, Moses, and he he seems to understand

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Job

Pastor Dale Tunnell: chapter

Pastor Dale Tunnell: chapter three, verse three, says, May the day perish on which I was born.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Chapter six he says, I might have my request that God would grant me the thing I longed for, that it would please God to

Pastor Dale Tunnell: To crush me.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Chapter 7.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: My soul chooses

Pastor Dale Tunnell: strangling and death

Pastor Dale Tunnell: rather than my body.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: I loathe my life

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Sabbath

Pastor Dale Tunnell: school lesson.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: About

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Paul.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Well, Paul says in 2 Corinthians

Pastor Dale Tunnell: 1, verse 8, he says, We were burdened beyond measure, above strength.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: So that we despise

Pastor Dale Tunnell: despaired even of life.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Prophets

Pastor Dale Tunnell: in Kings continues, it says, It is then that many lose their hold on God and are brought into the slavery of doubt and the bondage of unbelief.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: If these things can come to our our heroes of faith, if they can come to

Pastor Dale Tunnell: to

Pastor Dale Tunnell: to

Pastor Dale Tunnell: the people that we put on the best

Pastor Dale Tunnell: pedestal.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Could it come to us?

Pastor Dale Tunnell: And what are we going to do about it?

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Prophets and Kings, page one

Pastor Dale Tunnell: sixty-two, continues.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: It says, Could we at such time

Pastor Dale Tunnell: discern

Pastor Dale Tunnell: with spiritual insight

Pastor Dale Tunnell: the meaning of God's providence?

Pastor Dale Tunnell: We should see

Pastor Dale Tunnell: angels.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: seeking to save

Pastor Dale Tunnell: us.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Oh, sometimes I pray, Lord, open my eyes that I might see the angels.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Who are they trying to save us from?

Pastor Dale Tunnell: I mean, I know who they are in my case.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: They're trying to save us from ourselves.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: I mean,

Pastor Dale Tunnell: in Elijah's case, this

Pastor Dale Tunnell: negative self-talk that had

Pastor Dale Tunnell: gotten into his head, the woe is me

Pastor Dale Tunnell: attitude, the

Pastor Dale Tunnell: I'm worthless.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: No one cares about me.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: I'm the only one.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: When God talked to

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Moses, Numbers

Pastor Dale Tunnell: 11.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: He told Moses, gather around you 70 men, the elders of Israel.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Bring them to the tabernacle of meeting, that they may stand there

Pastor Dale Tunnell: with you.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Moses, you're not alone.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Moses,

Pastor Dale Tunnell: I'm going to bring you help.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: He says, God says,

Pastor Dale Tunnell: And I will take the spirit that is upon you, and I will pour the spirits upon them, and they shall bear the burden of the people with you, that you may not have to bear it alone.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: God

Pastor Dale Tunnell: was

Pastor Dale Tunnell: going to find him help.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: God was going to find him

Pastor Dale Tunnell: support.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: With Job, Job wrote later: He said, Though he slay me, yet will I trust him.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Job

Pastor Dale Tunnell: was

Pastor Dale Tunnell: what

Pastor Dale Tunnell: was it was

Pastor Dale Tunnell: processing thing.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: The angels were were

Pastor Dale Tunnell: were helping Job

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Paul was processing things.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Paul gets to the place and says

Pastor Dale Tunnell: where God says to him, My grace is sufficient for you.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: For

Pastor Dale Tunnell: my strength, God says, is made perfect in

Pastor Dale Tunnell: weakness.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Oh, friends, if you are discouraged

Pastor Dale Tunnell: If you are are are are wrought with agony, if you think that you are alone, that's the time where God

Pastor Dale Tunnell: can really

Pastor Dale Tunnell: use

Pastor Dale Tunnell: you.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: When we realize our

Pastor Dale Tunnell: nothingless, when we realize

Pastor Dale Tunnell: we have nothing to offer God

Pastor Dale Tunnell: But we cry out to him, then

Pastor Dale Tunnell: God can

Pastor Dale Tunnell: can

Pastor Dale Tunnell: can

Pastor Dale Tunnell: use us

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Paul finally wrote, he says,

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Therefore, most gladly I would rather boast in my infirmity

Pastor Dale Tunnell: infirmities.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities and reproach

Pastor Dale Tunnell: and needs and persecutions and distress

Pastor Dale Tunnell: for Christ's sake, for when I am weak, then

Pastor Dale Tunnell: I

Pastor Dale Tunnell: am

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Strong.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Ministering angels.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Would you like a ministering angel to come to you

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Verse 5 here says, Then

Pastor Dale Tunnell: as he lay

Pastor Dale Tunnell: and slept

Pastor Dale Tunnell: under the broom tree

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Suddenly

Pastor Dale Tunnell: an angel touched him and said to him, Arise

Pastor Dale Tunnell: and

Pastor Dale Tunnell: eat.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Then he looked, and there by his head was a cake baked on coals and a jar of water, so he ate and drank.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: And God

Pastor Dale Tunnell: said to him, Get up

Pastor Dale Tunnell: and get

Pastor Dale Tunnell: back to business.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: What are you doing in this place?

Pastor Dale Tunnell: You know

Pastor Dale Tunnell: this is not the plan.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: You know this is not why I called you.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: We're not through yet.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: We have a lot to do still.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Is that what God did?

Pastor Dale Tunnell: No, it says

Pastor Dale Tunnell: and he lay down again.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: And then it says, and the angel of the Lord came back the second time.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: and touched him and said, okay, you've slept twice now.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Now

Pastor Dale Tunnell: get about your business.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Is that what happened?

Pastor Dale Tunnell: You've read the story.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Is that what happened?

Pastor Dale Tunnell: What happens?

Pastor Dale Tunnell: It says

Pastor Dale Tunnell: the angel of the Lord did what?

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Woke him

Pastor Dale Tunnell: up and

Pastor Dale Tunnell: fed him again.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Oh.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Oh, you you look at this, the angel of the Lord there it says.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: You know, that phrase is used in other parts of the Old Testament.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: With

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Hagar, it says

Pastor Dale Tunnell: the angel of the Lord came to Hagar, and with the angel of the Lord came to to to Moses, and the angel of the Lord came to to to Joshua, and in those inst

Pastor Dale Tunnell: It's as if

Pastor Dale Tunnell: the angel of the Lord

Pastor Dale Tunnell: is, dare we say it, Jesus?

Pastor Dale Tunnell: The pre-incarnate Christ.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Oh

Pastor Dale Tunnell: man, just just imagine that

Pastor Dale Tunnell: the pre-incarnate Christ

Pastor Dale Tunnell: coming down to

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Elijah

Pastor Dale Tunnell: and

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Ordering room service for him.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Yeah, my verse doesn't say that either.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Preparing a meal for him

Pastor Dale Tunnell: You wonder if if that was brought from the heavenly bakery, or if it was

Pastor Dale Tunnell: made there

Pastor Dale Tunnell: beside Elijah?

Pastor Dale Tunnell: There's so many details I'd still like to know.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: God

Pastor Dale Tunnell: loved

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Elijah.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Whether that was Jesus Christ that came there

Pastor Dale Tunnell: to

Pastor Dale Tunnell: to Elijah

Pastor Dale Tunnell: or one of the angels that came and and and and and woke up Elijah.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: I mean it's just a beautiful picture

Pastor Dale Tunnell: where

Pastor Dale Tunnell: where God shows that he loves him, where God shows that he cares for for him

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Where God shows that He is

Pastor Dale Tunnell: He is taking care of Him.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: What a beautiful picture.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Ah, let's see.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: And it says that Elijah

Pastor Dale Tunnell: arose, ate, and drank, and he went in the strength of that food

Pastor Dale Tunnell: forty

Pastor Dale Tunnell: days and forty

Pastor Dale Tunnell: nights as far as Horeb, the mountain of God.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Now oftentimes we read this

Pastor Dale Tunnell: this

Pastor Dale Tunnell: pretty quickly

Pastor Dale Tunnell: And I will confess I have read it pretty quickly.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: This week I was studying again

Pastor Dale Tunnell: and

Pastor Dale Tunnell: and

Pastor Dale Tunnell: reading some comments about it and I

Pastor Dale Tunnell: I read one that

Pastor Dale Tunnell: that said, do you realize how far

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Beersheba

Pastor Dale Tunnell: and Sinai is?

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Roughly two

Pastor Dale Tunnell: hundred miles.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Elijah gets up

Pastor Dale Tunnell: And

Pastor Dale Tunnell: he travels

Pastor Dale Tunnell: 200 miles.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Now we say, wow, he travels 200 miles.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: How long does it take him?

Pastor Dale Tunnell: You read the text.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: How long does it take him?

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Forty days.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: You do the math.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: 40 days.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: 200 miles.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: That's

Pastor Dale Tunnell: That's

Pastor Dale Tunnell: a Sabbath

Pastor Dale Tunnell: afternoon's walk on each day.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: He's not in a hurry to get anywhere.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: I mean if

Pastor Dale Tunnell: if you were were

Pastor Dale Tunnell: going

Pastor Dale Tunnell: someplace, you you

Pastor Dale Tunnell: you'd at least get in ten.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: If you were motivated a little bit, you you'd get in somewhere between 15 and 20.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: You could cut those days down significantly.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: But it's almost as if God says to Elijah, let's take

Pastor Dale Tunnell: 40 days here

Pastor Dale Tunnell: And let's go back

Pastor Dale Tunnell: to Sinai.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: And I will walk with you, and I will talk with you

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Oh

Pastor Dale Tunnell: man, can you imagine the communion that Elijah could have had with God

Pastor Dale Tunnell: on that 40-day walk?

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Friends, I'm going to tell you if you're in the valley of discouragement, if you have bouts

Pastor Dale Tunnell: of depression, just

Pastor Dale Tunnell: just

Pastor Dale Tunnell: I I don't want to oversimplify things.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: I understand how how

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Deep depression can get.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: But I'm gonna tell you, God let Elijah eat

Pastor Dale Tunnell: right, God let Elijah

Pastor Dale Tunnell: sleep.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: God made sure he got some some good food, but God also

Pastor Dale Tunnell: said, take 40 days and spend it with me.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Friends, there's a lot of books out there that talk about 40 days of spending time with God.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: I'm gonna tell you, if you spend 40 days with God, getting the right exercise, resting.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Oh, can you think about what life would be like?

Pastor Dale Tunnell: That journey

Pastor Dale Tunnell: as he goes from from from Judah

Pastor Dale Tunnell: there

Pastor Dale Tunnell: as he goes back to to Mount Horeb

Pastor Dale Tunnell: or

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Mount Sinai.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: As he gets up to the cave there.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: When he gets up there, he's in a very different place

Pastor Dale Tunnell: than he was there in Judah.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: And I'm not talking about just

Pastor Dale Tunnell: a very different place

Pastor Dale Tunnell: from

Pastor Dale Tunnell: there to

Pastor Dale Tunnell: here.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: I'm talking about he was in a very different place

Pastor Dale Tunnell: I mean

Pastor Dale Tunnell: surely the the the conversation that he had had with God, things had had changed.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: I mean when I I picture this, I picture that that Elijah is there on the Mount Sinai and that he's there in the cave and he is

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Remembering that this

Pastor Dale Tunnell: could have been the cave where God

Pastor Dale Tunnell: gave Moses

Pastor Dale Tunnell: the Ten

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Commandments.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: This

Pastor Dale Tunnell: could be the place

Pastor Dale Tunnell: where Moses

Pastor Dale Tunnell: spent 40 days on the mountain.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Yeah, I had some more comments I was gonna say there, but I'll just skip that.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: We'll go on to verse nine.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: And there

Pastor Dale Tunnell: he went into the cave

Pastor Dale Tunnell: and spent the night in that place.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: And behold, the word of the Lord came to him, and he said to him,

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Elijah, what

Pastor Dale Tunnell: are you doing here?

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Yeah, I wish I could hear God's voice say that.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: I wonder what the tone would be like.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Elijah, what are you doing here?

Pastor Dale Tunnell: You know this wasn't part of the plan.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: This

Pastor Dale Tunnell: wasn't the way we had things mapped out.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: What are you doing?

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Do you hear God's voice like that?

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Elijah, what are you doing here?

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Elijah says, I have been very zealous for the Lord of hosts, for the children of Israel

Pastor Dale Tunnell: have forsaken your covenant, torn down your altars, and killed your prophets

Pastor Dale Tunnell: with

Pastor Dale Tunnell: the sword.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: I alone am left

Pastor Dale Tunnell: and they seek to take my life.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Yeah, I know what you're saying in your head.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Liar, liar.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Elijah, come on.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: You

Pastor Dale Tunnell: were told there were a hundred prophets of God that have

Pastor Dale Tunnell: been hidden.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: How can those words even come out of your mouth, Elijah?

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Oh, the patience of God.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Are you glad God is patient?

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Is he this patient with you?

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Because I'm going to tell you, he's this patient with me.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: I mean, I

Pastor Dale Tunnell: I I

Pastor Dale Tunnell: have experienced poor judgment.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Not just in

Pastor Dale Tunnell: personal life, not just in

Pastor Dale Tunnell: family experiences, but in my walk with the Lord, I've experienced poor judgment.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: There's been times that I was

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Angry

Pastor Dale Tunnell: at

Pastor Dale Tunnell: God.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: I mean

Pastor Dale Tunnell: my devotional life for two years at one point, it was not a happy devotional life.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: I went through the process, but every prayer was like, God, you don't know what you're doing right now.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: I don't know what you're doing right now.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: We're not on the same page, God.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Oh, God is patient.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: God

Pastor Dale Tunnell: is patient

Pastor Dale Tunnell: He loves us.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: He loves me.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: He loved Elijah

Pastor Dale Tunnell: He said to Elijah, Go out and

Pastor Dale Tunnell: verse eleven, go out and and and stand on the mountain before the Lord.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: And behold the Lord

Pastor Dale Tunnell: pass

Pastor Dale Tunnell: by, and a great and

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Strong wind tore into the mountains

Pastor Dale Tunnell: and broke the rocks in pieces before the Lord.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: But the Lord was not in the wind.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: And after the wind

Pastor Dale Tunnell: and

Pastor Dale Tunnell: an earthquake.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: But the Lord was not in the earthquake, and after the earthquake

Pastor Dale Tunnell: a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire, and after the fire

Pastor Dale Tunnell: a still

Pastor Dale Tunnell: small voice.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: I mean, can you imagine

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Elijah going out

Pastor Dale Tunnell: to the edge of the cave there and

Pastor Dale Tunnell: the wind begins to blow?

Pastor Dale Tunnell: As the wind begins to blow and

Pastor Dale Tunnell: the limbs are flying around and things, Elijah kind of retreats into the cave a little bit, and suddenly the ground begins to shake.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: He's afraid for his life.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: He doesn't know what's going to happen.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Is it safer on the outside or is it safer inside the cave?

Pastor Dale Tunnell: He's hiding.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: And then the fire starts.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Where do you go when there's a fire?

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Yeah, a cave is not the best place, is it?

Pastor Dale Tunnell: But that's the only thing he has right now that that

Pastor Dale Tunnell: that place of safety

Pastor Dale Tunnell: And then the voice starts, and Elijah heard it.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: And it says

Pastor Dale Tunnell: he wrapped his face in his mantle, and he goes out, and he stood at the entrance of the cave.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: And suddenly a voice came to him and said, What are you doing here, Elijah?

Pastor Dale Tunnell: I mean, can you hear God saying that?

Pastor Dale Tunnell: What are you doing here, Elijah?

Pastor Dale Tunnell: I mean, I

Pastor Dale Tunnell: I can hear it almost as if God

Pastor Dale Tunnell: is smiling.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: And Elijah says the same thing.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: He says, I have been very zealous for the Lord God of hosts, because the children of Israel have forsaken your covenant, torn down your altars, and killed your

Pastor Dale Tunnell: your

Pastor Dale Tunnell: prophets with the sword and I alone am left

Pastor Dale Tunnell: and they seek to take my life.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: The patience of God, he replies, Go, return

Pastor Dale Tunnell: to your way in the wilderness.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Of Damascus, and when you arrive, anoint Hazael as king over Syria.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Anoint

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Jehu, the son of Nimna, as king over Israel

Pastor Dale Tunnell: And Elisha, the son of Joshpath, and Abel Mohelah, you shall anoint as prophet in your place.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: It shall be that whoever escapes the sword of Hazel

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Jehu will kill, and whoever escapes the sword of Jehu

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Elisha will kill.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Yet I have received

Pastor Dale Tunnell: reserved, yet I have reserved

Pastor Dale Tunnell: seven thousand in Israel, all

Pastor Dale Tunnell: whose knees have not bowed to Baal.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Yeah, Amen

Pastor Dale Tunnell: is right.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: And every

Pastor Dale Tunnell: mouth that has not kissed him

Pastor Dale Tunnell: God is trying to tell Elijah, you've still got work to do.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: We we're still on a mission.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Yes, the the plans

Pastor Dale Tunnell: d

Pastor Dale Tunnell: diverted.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Yes, there there's not going to be as great a reformation as as could have been if you had stayed there, but there's still work to do.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Return

Pastor Dale Tunnell: to Israel

Pastor Dale Tunnell: and go about

Pastor Dale Tunnell: my business.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: And

Pastor Dale Tunnell: you

Pastor Dale Tunnell: are

Pastor Dale Tunnell: not

Pastor Dale Tunnell: alone

Pastor Dale Tunnell: What does Elijah

Pastor Dale Tunnell: do?

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Verse 19.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: So he departed.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: What is our response

Pastor Dale Tunnell: when

Pastor Dale Tunnell: God says

Pastor Dale Tunnell: the mission is not finished?

Pastor Dale Tunnell: We

Pastor Dale Tunnell: are not through yet.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: There is still more to do.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Do we respond

Pastor Dale Tunnell: like Elijah?

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Do we surrender ourselves completely to God?

Pastor Dale Tunnell: I

Pastor Dale Tunnell: pray that we will learn these lessons from Elijah.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Our closing hymn today.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Hymn number three hundred and thirty-one.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Oh

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Jesus, I have

Pastor Dale Tunnell: promised.

Pastor Dale Tunnell: Let's stand as we sing.