Welcome this morning. If you're joining us on Livestream. Thank you for joining us today.
Let's start with this. Do you want to leave the same way you
came?
Maybe. Today'S a real
opportunity, I believe, for
you to leave in a different way than what you came.
And it's really up to you to open your heart and open
your spirit to what the Holy Spirit wants to do today. And
so I'm believing that the Lord wants to set some people free.
And the minute I say that, some of you go, oh, well, that does not
pertain to me. Well, I would maybe submit that some. Of us are
probably locked up in. Some caves this morning that we don't know anything about. And
the Holy Spirit's going to minister to us through the message today.
And. And I believe that he wants to do something. So let's not make this
just, you know, a mundane Sunday.
Why don't we actually believe in the. Holy Spirit of God
and his ability to infiltrate our hearts and do something mighty today?
Amen. Amen. Amen. Well, before we get started with that,
let me give two quick announcements. Number one, we have something called
Open Tables that we're doing every second
Sunday. And some of you have been a part of this. And essentially, if
there's one thing I know about churchgoing folks, it's we like to eat lunch after
church. And so the question is, why not do that
with somebody else? Why not build a community and do that with people
around you? So on the app, you can sign up for Open Tables.
There's just a variety of restaurants around town, and there's groups that are gonna
be meeting at those restaurants, and you can sit down and meet with them and
eat with them and get to. Know them a little bit better. So we encourage
you. How many have been a part of Open Tables before? Raise your
hand. Okay. Oh, lots of you. Okay, so you're familiar with this. So go
and eat with people and. Get to know somebody
from Spring House. And then the second thing is,
guys, you don't want to miss this. If you are an entrepreneur, business owner. On
Tuesday morning, Josh McLeod's going to. Bring fire
because of the Holy Spirit inside that man. For the business collective at
8am free breakfast. Come and be a part of it. If you
are a business owner, manager, entrepreneur, that is for you.
Business collective Tuesday, 8 o'. Clock. Does that sound good? All right, here
we go. We are in part two of Faith Over Fear.
And last week, there were so many of you who shared
testimonies of God's faithfulness. Anybody still have their lighters?
You know, I had the whole bucket of lighters left over. And I thought, we
need more faith in this church, like 70 or 80 more lighters.
And I thought we'd give them out to the kids at vbs, so that would
be great.
And tell them, go light up your home in the Lord. Of course,
we're talking about Elijah in First Kings 17
through 19. And last week we went up through faith
and we talked about how Elijah was met by God
through the feeding through ravens and how he met a
widow and the Lord provided for him food there, and he
helped raise her child from the dead. And then after
that, we saw Elijah be used to. To
encounter the most evil king in Israel. And.
And then, of course, we. We saw Elijah, or we read about Elijah
calling down fire from heaven and God answering that prayer. What
faith it must have taken to call fire down to
a wet trench in the Lord. To lick that trench up with fire,
man. God is so, so faithful. We also learned last week
that without fire it is, what, Impossible to
please God. It's impossible to please God without faith. I
want you to think about that for a second. I want
to be a pleaser of Jesus.
I want to please the Lord God Almighty, and I can't do it
without faith. And so today I believe that our
faith is going to be challenged and stretched in a different way,
because a lot of times we have faith to believe that he'll provide for this
or he'll heal this, or all this. But I believe that today
God wants us to stretch our faith internally with some of the things that
we may be contending with. So if you'll stand with me this morning, we're going
to read two brief scriptures that are not from First Kings, but they
are connected to the direction we're going today. So if
you will read this as. If
your soul is on fire for the Lord Jesus. Here we go. Let's read it.
There you go. I knew that was coming. Thank you, Connie.
Here we go. God has not given us a spirit of
fear, but of power and of love and of a
sound mind. It is for freedom that
Christ has set us free. Stand firm then.
And do not let yourselves be burdened again by
yoke of slavery. Father, thank you for your word. I thank you for its
truth. I pray, Lord, that you would transform our lives today in Jesus
name. And everybody said, amen. High five someone you don't like on the way
down
and then sign up to go to lunch with them next week.
If you know me at all you know that I have a strong aversion towards
spiders. I do not like spiders. Anybody relate.
Spiders just kind of creep me out. And, you know, several years
ago, I was preparing a message on fear. And
ironically. Well, not ironically. Every Saturday I would come and I would tread
this carpet back and forth. I'd be praying for you. I'd be praying for the
message. Asking the Lord to share with me what he
would want me to share with you. And I got over here in this section.
This is where the youth used to sit. I got over here, this youth section.
As I'm walking, all of a sudden, out of nowhere, this spider plops down off
the ceiling in front of my face. Can I just tell you, I was glad
I was the only one in the room at that moment. Because my
reaction would have gotten some definite responses from. From a
crowd. But boy, let me tell you, after my scream, I moved this way and
I started treading carpet. Only about halfway. I just started
going back and forth. Now, isn't it silly to think, man, this spider, that
was. You know. And of course, we always make it larger than it really was,
right? When we tell the story. It was like a dime size or a nickel,
you know. And so anyway, so this small spider, and it's on the ground.
And I'm like. I start to laugh at myself. Because I'm
only going to right here. Cause there's a spider over there. And I thought to
think, kevin, you. Are so much bigger than this spider.
Like, there is not a reason for you not to go to this half of
the room. This half of the room needs the anointing as well. So I need
to come over here and pray as well. So I get over here and of
course, the Lord illuminates the spider on the ground. And I. Forgive me.
I crushed. Breathed its last that day.
And I took a picture of it. Cause I wanted to show the car congregation.
But, you know, I didn't take the picture from up here. I got real close
to the spider. You know why? Because I wanted y' all to see how big
it was, you know. But it was really that big. Hey, there's a saying
that goes like this. It says, you need to face your fears. Have you ever
heard that? You need to face your fears. And I don't know. I don't know.
I'm still chewing on this. But I don't know that that's biblical.
Because when somebody says, go face your fears, it solicits the idea that on your
own strength, you need to go face your Fears. I think instead of going after
and facing our fears, we need to face God and allow
God to do what. He'S going to do in and through us. So
today, we're talking about fear. We're talking about
fear. Now, sometimes when we talk about fear, we can kind of
check out, because when we think of fear, we think of that moment like when
the spider falls and you jump, okay. And that type of thing.
There's different levels of fear. And may I suggest that some.
Some of us have actually ordered the. Steps of our lives based on.
Fueled by fear. Fueled by fear. And
so today we're going to continue the story of
Elijah. Like I said last week, it starts with a man named Ahab. Ahab is
the evilest king, most evil king in all of Israel. He's married to a
lady named Jezebel. And Jezebel is man. She is a warrior.
She is a force to be reckoned with. She is out to kill you if
you get in her way. She's strong and mighty. And
Ahab, I believe, was an insecure, insecure king. I think that's probably why he was
the most evil king, because I think. He just did what everybody told him to
do. And he pouts. He pouts. And when he
pouts, Jezebel comes to his rescue
and will make things happen for him. And then God raises up in the middle
of 1st Kings 17, he raises up this guy named Elijah. And Elijah means the
Lord is my God. Would you say that the Lord is my God?
Say it again. The Lord is my God. Oh, that. Would
that be, like, our names that I could say? Kevin, the Lord
is my God. Tina, the Lord is my God.
What would it be like that we would actually have that anthem about our name?
When somebody spoke about us, they knew the Lord God, the
true living God, is their God. And so he raises up Elijah
seemingly out of nowhere, though we believe. I believe he's got a story that
we. That we don't know about, because I believe the Lord was maturing him
and getting him ready for that appointed moment. But he's raised
up for such a time as this. And God takes him through these things and
builds his faith. Builds his faith. We stood with Elijah on
Mount Carmel. He prayed boldly, and he poured
water on that altar. And God answered with fire.
The people fell on their faces and declared, the Lord, he
is God. It was a defining moment of
faith, boldness, and power. The power of God fully
on display. Display. But today, just one chapter
later, we find Elijah is hiding in a
cave. Exhausted
Discouraged, afraid,
and alone. Have you ever felt exhausted,
discouraged, afraid,
or alone? What happened here?
In one moment, you're calling down fire. From
heaven, and the next moment you're running for your life
and hiding in a cave.
Now, we like to look at that story. And like I told you a few.
Weeks ago, sometimes I look at characters. In Scripture and I read the story. And
I go, how foolish is that, man? How weak of a person. But,
man, if I'm honest with you, Kevin is one
that will call down. Fire and in the next moment, be hiding in a
cave. Be hiding in a cave.
I wonder how many people here are. Hiding in caves this morning.
And so, after the fire comes down,
God is going to address this issue of no rain. Okay?
Jack. Come here, buddy.
All right. Now, the last person did this broke my sign. But I want you
to hop over on stage and don't break the sign on your way up, okay?
All right. Can you sit down here
and. No, put your legs over. No, back up. Okay. Put your head between your
knees. Okay. And put your hands on your head and stay right
there. Okay.
Elijah said to Ahab, go eat and drink, for there is
a sound of heavy rain. Just like insecure Ahab. He just
does what he's told to do. Ahab went off and eat and drink. And
Elijah climbed to the top of Mount Carmel, bent down to the ground and put
his face between his knees. Now, I don't know
about you, but this does not look like a position. Of faith to me.
This posture does not look like a faith posture
to me. The word of God continues. Go and look toward the sea, he
told his servant. And he went up and looked. There's nothing there. He
said seven times. Elijah said, go back,
go back, go back.
I wonder what it would look like. If we would have the faith to believe,
to go back one more time.
You see, Elijah was going to give this. He had already given the
word. He told Ahab, hey, hitch your chariots. There's a
sound of rain coming. The boldness of faith
gave him the Holy Spirit. The God of the universe gave
him the boldness to say, there's rain coming, but there was no cloud in the
sky. You see, he had just called fire
from heaven. He just called fire from heaven. And now
he's in a position where it seems that God is causing
him. To wait on the answer.
Can I tell you that sometimes God does not answer
immediately, but he's going to answer
time. There are times in our life where he
will cause us to wait on him until
he's ready to move for the appointed time. Can you
imagine if Elijah had only sent his servant back three or four
times? And some of us will throw in
the towel on time number four or time number five. And
God's saying, I need you to come back to me one more time. I need
you to come back one more time. What is your one more time
thing this morning? What is that thing that you just
wanted to throw in the towel and give up on? Is your head between your
knees not believing the Lord that he's going to do it? I believe that
Elijah began to have a moment where
he was going, Lord, are you actually going to answer this prayer? Are you actually
going to do what you say you're going to do? And on the seventh time,
it says that a cloud the size of the. Fist shows up
and God answers the prayer. What would it look
like if we. Went back once more, guys? I lose
my keys all the time. Anybody can relate. I lose
my keys all the time. And I will go and look for my keys, and
I will go look in the spot that they should be in, and I'll be
fretting and I'll be upset. And then Shari will say to me, did you pray
about it? No, I didn't pray about it.
And then I pray about it, and I go back once more
to the spot that I thought they were in. And guess what's sitting right there?
The keys. I wonder. I wonder if you have
a once. More in your spirit this morning. I wonder if you have
given up so much that you've thrown in the towel and you just conceded the
race. But God is saying, come back once more. Come back once
more and see what I might do. Now, as fun as it is
to watch you do this, the whole service, I'm going to let you get down
now. Thank you. Give him a hand.
Here's the point. The move of God yesterday lays the foundation for faith
action today. The move of God yesterday lays the
foundation for faith action today. This is why it's so important for us to
tell our stories, people, to write them down.
Can I confess to you this morning that I am ashamed at how little
faith I often have in certain situations after having
been around and part of such an amazing move of God.
The move of God yesterday sets a foundation and is
a springboard for your faith action today.
Remembering what God has done, how he's been faithful. When
you're sitting there, when Elijah is sitting there, sitting there, and God has given him
the promise of rain, it doesn't mean God's promises
are null and void. God's promises are yes and amen. And so
he's got this promise of rain. And God has answered at the
ravens. He's answered with the widow. He's answered on the. On the mountain. He's done
all of these things. And God is going to answer Elijah
this time, too. And can I tell you, he's going to answer you as well.
We have to remember. We have to remember that he
healed that person, that he brought the prodigal home. We have to
remember what he's done in our lives. We have to remember because we're so fickle
and we forget. But it is a bolster of faith.
To hear testimonies of God's supernatural move in our lives.
And when he moves and when we share those stories, it enables,
it renders us, it puts us in a place where we can say, man, maybe
I can have that type of faith for what I'm needing God to do
now. For what I'm needing God to do now. Revelation
tells us that they overcame by what? The blood of the and
the Word. Of the Word of the testimony. Our
testimony doesn't mean squat without the blood of Christ. We
need the blood of Christ. And then there's power in the
testimony. There's power in the Word. There's power
in your story. Share your story. We've started to do a
moment every service where we tell stories. Is that just because we. We don't have
enough to do? No, it's because I want people's faith to be bolstered and we
sing about this great, glorious God. There's nothing better than to come in and get
our mind off of the distraction we walked in here with and say, let me
tell you what God did for me. And now let's go praise Him. Now let's
go to the King and praise him. Guys, we gotta tell the story. We gotta
tell the story. So Jezebel hears what happens on
Mount. Carmel and sends a message.
And the message is, Elijah, I love you. You're great.
You're wonderful. She says, I'm going to kill you.
I'm going to kill you. By this time tomorrow, you're dead. I'm going to kill
you. And Elijah
responds with this, says, Elijah was afraid
and ran for his life. Would you say that Elijah
was afraid and ran for his life? Guys, this doesn't make sense.
Why would Elijah run for his life?
You just saw God move. You know his
promises are yes and amen. You just listened to that podcast on
faith. You just went to church on that Sunday and heard the pastor preach. You
just prayed for somebody and they got healed. You just saw the
supernatural move of God. You just witnessed the move of God, and you
were just telling somebody else to believe by faith.
Yet you end up running for your. Life the minute you
come up against something hard. Can I tell you, there is
nothing that you will come up against that your God is
not bigger than and stronger than. There is nothing that you are
contending with that your great glorious God won't meet you in
the middle and fight valiant for you. More are you
surrounded by right, Lord, than your
enemies. He has you. He will carry you.
He is faithful and just to supply. Your needs,
to be with you.
To give you the victory. By this tomorrow, you're going to
be dead. And Elijah runs. He runs into the
wilderness, collapses under a broom bush, and says this.
And I wonder if we've said this before. I've had enough, Lord.
Take my life. I am no better than my
ancestors. Now, I know that
Elijah is about. To have this moment with the Lord on the mountain, but I
believe that this is the moment where he woke up and realized,
I've made a mistake. Because he says I'm
no better than my ancestors. Why would he say that?
He's saying that to say, you've done all of this
stuff through me. But here I am running for my life,
not trusting your word. Take my life. Take
me home. Is there
anybody in this room who has gotten to that point?
Lord, the fight's too tough. I'm ready to throw in the
towel. I'm sick and tired
of contending with the same old, same old God. Just take
me out.
And if we're honest with ourselves, there would be a large percentage of people. In
this room who have prayed that prayer, who have thought that
thought. And somebody may be in this room this morning carrying that
weight and hiding behind a smile that you walked in with.
I've had enough, Lord.
I've had enough.
I like roller coasters. Anybody like a good roller coaster?
Took my family, my extended family, to a theme park
a while back and. Took my niece, Brooklyn. She's back there
in the back. She's much older now. She's so happy I'm telling this story.
And I really wanted to go on the roller coaster,
but, you know, you had to be a certain height to go on the roller
coaster. And she was scared. And she's like, is it scary? Is it
gonna. Like, are we gonna. And I was like, no, it's gonna be fine. You're
gonna be Absolutely fine. Going on this roller coaster. And so we
took her on this roller coaster. Now she is the small one there
beside her dad. Now, in case you can't see her face, this is
her holding on for dear
life because she believed her
crazy uncle Kevin when he said, this is gonna be fine.
Here's my point. Fear doesn't need a lot of evidence. It just needs a small
voice with the right lie.
Fear does not need a lot of evidence. It just needs a small voice with
the right lie. And can I tell you, some of. You have built your life
around this lie. You've built
your camp, your house, your actions, your family,
your relationships, your decisions. Around a small
lie. You have allowed the enemy to come into your
life and say something that is completely opposite than God's
truth, God's word.
And God is saying, I want to. Speak truth into that situation
this morning. I want to speak truth
into that lie that you've bought into. But God, I've so bought into this lie
that I'm so far deep, there's no coming back. Can
I tell you that's a lie. From the enemy, too?
The mighty arm of the Lord is never, never too short to
save. And he can save you today. He
can save you today. In other words, you can leave here. Not the
same way you came. You can leave here
not the same way you came.
When fear wins, we forget what God has just proved to us.
We run from the very places where we saw his glory fall.
Listen, Elijah is physically, emotionally, and
spiritually done. But notice what
God does. See, we have made up in our. Mind when we get to places,
when. We bought into the lie, when we. When we're in shame, when our heads
are between our legs, we have made up in our mind that this great big
God is out to smite us and punish us for not having the faith that
we need to render cause. Because when we're in this place and we're
depleted, when we're in our flesh, that also is symptomatic
because there's sin attached to it. Because we will soothe. We will go after things
to make us feel better. And so we've got this whole realm of sin. And
we. And we make up in our mind that this God is out with a
big fly swatter just to swat us.
But that's not what God does. Here to Elijah,
the man of God. Whom he's chosen to use, it says
that he didn't correct him. He didn't
rebuke him. It says he sent an angel with food,
water, and Rest. He says this
get up and eat. For the journey is too much for
you. It's not a rebuke, it's a reminder.
You're not finished yet, Elijah.
And can I tell you this morning, you're not finished yet, Sam.
You're not finished yet, J.D. you're not
finished yet. You're not finished yet.
Some of us are expecting God to. Scold us in our weakness, but instead he
meets us with mercy.
Before God speaks to your fear, he. Will minister to your need. Do you ever
notice if you read. The Gospels, do you ever notice that. Jesus
always took care of the physical. Needs of people before he ministered to them
spiritually? If you read the Gospels, you look at Jesus and he's all
about touching them physically, blind seeing and
supplying their needs. He's always moving in them physically before he
ministers to them spiritually. And guys, can I tell you, this is a little side
note, but we probably could take a beat from Jesus in this because it's so
much easier for me to send a text sitting on my couch where I'm comfortable
than it is to get up and go do something to encourage somebody who needs
me present. Might we be
a people who put our faith in action by
not just encouraging people? Listen, there's nothing wrong with a good text
message. I send text message scriptures all the time. I call people and do scripture
all the time. When the Lord's telling me to do. That, I think that's a
good thing. There's power in the Word.
But if you're sitting there and the person is hungry, I can quote
scripture at them all day long. If I got a loaf of bread in my
hand and I'm not feeding them the loaf of bread,
maybe that person just needs you to come sit with them. Maybe
that person needs needs to go hang out with somebody. Maybe there's, there's a ton
of things. But may we be people who put our faith in action.
And guys most. Of the time, at least from my experience, and this might not
be yours, but my experience is it is rarely convenient.
It's rarely convenient when the Lord has me to go encourage somebody
or to be a raven to somebody like he was to Elijah.
It's rarely works well with my schedule. It rarely is
convenient. But man,
the blessing of the sacrifice. The Word tells us obedience is better than sacrifice.
The blessing of being obedient and sacrificing my time.
Oh my goodness. I really see the work of the Holy Spirit.
Before God speaks to your fear, he. Ministers to your need.
Elijah travels 40 days to Mount Horeb and finds a cave.
And the Lord says this, and I. Want to read it. This is the
portion that we're familiar. With in the cave. The word of the Lord came to
him, and he says this. What are you doing here, Elijah?
He replied, I've been very zealous for the Lord God
Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your
covenant, torn down your altars, and put your
prophets to death with the sword. I am the only
one left. Bull.
When we get isolated and alone and we throw our tantrums,
I'm the only one. This only happens to me,
right? I'm the only one here. This is
just me. Have you ever. Anybody got little kids throw a temper
tantrum, and it's like the problem's this big, but boy, their fit is
this huge, right?
Careful, we can get that way with the Lord real fast.
The Lord said, go out and stand. On the mountain
in the presence of. The Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.
It says, then a great powerful wind tore through the mountains and tore apart.
And shattered the rocks before the Lord. But the Lord was not in the wind.
Say that the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind,
there was an earthquake. But the Lord was not in the earthquake. Say it.
The Lord was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake came a fire.
But the Lord was not in the fire. Say it. The Lord was not in
the fire. And after the fire came a
gentle whisper. When Elijah heard it,
he pulled his cloak over his face and went
out and stood at the mouth of the cave. Then
a voice said to him, what are you doing here,
Elijah? Now, I want
us to notice the. Sequence of events here, because when I. Used to just gloss
over the story. Really quickly, I missed something very important.
When the fire fell and the wind. Came and the earthquake
happened, where was Elijah?
He wasn't at the mouth of the cave. The Lord told him to go to
the mouth of the cave, but he was not at the mouth of the. Cave
at that point. He was inside the cave when the
fire fell. When the earthquake happened and the wind happened, it wasn't
until he heard the whisper of the Lord that he moved.
Guys, can I tell you some of the largest mistakes we make is we try
to move in the middle of the chaos. We try to make our moves and
we try to fix things. When things, big things are happening, we're looking to
see the earth shatter around us. And that's when we want to fix her. We
want to see a move of God. And God is saying, be still and. Know
that I'm God. He's saying, be still and wait for my whisper in
the midst of the chaos surrounding your life.
But sometimes we move. The Lord was not in the wind. He was not in
the earthquake or the fire.
He didn't move during the chaos. He waited for the whisper.
And even though God had told him. To step out, Elijah didn't move
through the shaking around him.
God is holding Elijah steady. And God is holding you
steady as well. He's holding you steady.
God was saying to Elijah, I'm not in the noise.
I'm not in the chaos. I'm in the whisper.
We don't step out when things get loud. We step out when God speaks.
And that's a fundamental truth that we. Need to own church.
Even if it looks like we're. So here's the thing. He just called down fire
from heaven. It would make sense to me. I see fire. That must be the
Lord. But you got to know his voice in order
to know and delineate whether it is the Lord. Because let me tell you, the
world's got some schemes that can make things look a whole lot
like God that are not God. But if you know his voice,
then you can say, that's the Lord. But it
looks like. It looks like the T shirt looks like. It looks like it's
decorated like the Lord. It sounds like the Lord. If
you don't know his voice. If you don't know his
voice, you. Might be running your life off of something that's carnal, something that's of
the. World, something that looks like the packaging. But doesn't have any type of gift
inside. We need to know his
voice. We need to know his voice.
But guys, we're so distracted.
In order to know his voice, we have to stop and
slow down and listen.
Well, I listened for 30 seconds yesterday,
last week. I don't know about you, but when. I get into
my listening time, I think I was talking to Joshua about this a few weeks
ago. Get in my listening time. I'll go to the park sometimes. I'll walk that
mile. I'll get in my listening time. Do you know I have to walk. Before
I start listening? Because my brain, for the first time, I've shut myself
down enough. And my brain's like. It's catch up time. And so everything
floods to the front of my mind that I've been thinking about and worrying about.
And then before I can get to a place where I actually quiet my spirit
down and listen, I've actually got to walk that whole Mile. And then I can
start listening.
So maybe when you're doing your devotional time and you're like, man, I read four
pages, but I have no idea. What I just read because my mind's going so
fast. Anybody. You might need to increase your time. In your word,
get you a moment. To write down all those thoughts and get them out, get
them out, get out. And here's the crazy thing about the Lord. You get out
all those thoughts that are in there. He might minister to you about all that
stuff you've been holding onto in your mind right in that moment.
Something. Think about. Sometimes we want God to
silence our. Fears, but instead he gently redirects us
to what's true. Jezebel isn't the point.
God is. God is the point.
So he asks, what are you doing here, Elijah? What are you doing
here? And here's what we want, guys. We want God to fix the
fear. But instead he fixes our focus.
How many times have I prayed, God. Remove this situation from
my life. Remove this person from my life. I'm sick of feeling this way.
Remove this thing, remove this obstacle. And God just continues to put that
thing right here. Just right here, Just right here. And you know what he's saying?
Get your eyes off the obstacle and. Start looking at me. If you start
looking at me, then I will give you what you need to overcome the
obstacle. But God just. He's just not
in the business of. Making it disappear all the time. Can
he do it? Sure. Rarely does he do it in my life. And
here's the point. Whenever I trust him and focus on him and get
the tools I need to overcome the obstacle, he's teaching Kevin. To become more
like Jesus. And, guys,
I'm a far cry from looking like Jesus. I
need him. I need him to minister to me.
Jezebel's threat wasn't worth addressing. Do you notice that
God never addresses Jezebel? That's the
reason he's in the cave. That's what driven. And God didn't say a thing. You
know what we want God to say? Well, I'm going to take care of that
Jezebel. I'm going to make sure. I'm going to. I'm going to be after her.
You don't have to worry about that Jezebel. I'm going to surround her. God doesn't
mention Jezebel one time.
Because Jezebel's threat wasn't worth addressing. Because she
doesn't hold Elijah's future. God does. And the thing that
you fear doesn't hold your future. God does.
God has a plan for your life. God has a plan to address
the thing that is holding you captive.
So what is it that drives out the fear in our life? This is what
the Word says. There is no fear in love.
Perfect love drives out fear.
Perfect love drives out all fear.
Fear isolates. Fear lies.
Fear convinces you that you're the only. One that feels this way. But what
does God say? He says, you're not the only one. Elijah,
what are you doing here? And that's the question I have for you guys
today. What are you doing here? Tina,
what are you doing here? Joshua, what are you doing here? Merlin.
Jeremy. Arwin, what are you doing? Taylor, what are you doing in this
cave? Ronnie, what are you doing in this cave? Dana,
what are you. What are you doing in this cave? Griffin,
God's saying, I want to set you free.
But you know what you did in the cave? You bought some curtains. You got
yourself a bed. You started painting the walls.
You started to make that cave so comfortable, it's
easier just to stay put. But God's saying,
I've got something so supernaturally wonderful on the outside of
this cave that far supersedes a little shabby check
you created for yourself in that cave. Are
you willing to come out? Why are you in
this head space? This despair, this isolation?
The question of where are you, Elijah. Is not one of
geography. It's one of perspective. Why
are you here in this state. Of mind while I'm still on the throne?
Why are you in this cave when you've already seen my fire and know
what I can do? Why are you afraid of Jezebel when I am Yahweh,
you do not have to be afraid.
And so some of us are sitting in a cave of
discouragement this morning. In the cave of pride, in
a cave of lust, in a cave of. Shame, in a cave of
comparison, in a cave of control, in a cave of
bitterness, in a cave of unbelief cave.
And a whole litany more of caves. That I haven't mentioned. We're sitting in them.
And we can leave here today and. Go right back
into that same cave and cook some breakfast tomorrow morning
and live there. Or we can truly, by faith,
experience. The supernatural move of God.
It's your choice. It's your choice.
God has not wavered. God doesn't change
like the shifting wind we do. He doesn't change. He's the same
God yesterday, today, and forever and
forevermore. With those who are going to minister to elements, please
come Forward this morning. We're going
to close the service. A little different today.
Have you ever been in a moment. Of silence and it's uncomfortable?
No. Yes. Okay.
Allow yourself to get uncomfortable this morning
because we're not going to have ambient music to let your mind drift away.
We're going to come and take the Lord's table. Guys, why
do we do the table every week? We go to the table every week
because we are to remember what God
has done. And so this morning, as we go to the table,
I believe that the God of the universe has a whisper. For you in
this room. And so we're going to take the body and the blood,
and I want you to go back to your seat, and I'm going to ask
you to do something for me. I'm going to ask James to scoot over so
I can get this chair. First, I'm going to ask you to take your chair
if you can. If you can't, it's fine. I want you to make it an
altar space. And I want us to just
spend a few moments and see if we might hear the
whisper of an almighty God.
And don't be surprised if that whisper says something like,
why are you here, Belle?
Why are you in this cave? Scotty,
why is your cell phone on in the middle of service?
So I'm going to pray, and you're going to be released. After a few
moments of silence and us hearing his voice, I've asked the team to do a
very special song, and I'm going to come back and wrap things up. Father,
thank you for today. Thank you for the greatest gift you ever gave us. Your
son, Jesus. Holy Spirit, I'm boldly asking
right now that you would whisper to us in this
moment, in Jesus name, you're released to take
communion.
My daughter Hadassah had a splinter when she
was 6 or 7. And
I got her, and she was crying
real hard. She was scared. She was
upset because she was
hurting. And I picked her up and I
put her on the counter, and I looked at her
swelling eyeballs and said, hey, listen,
if you'll let me pull this splinter out, the pain will go
away. She didn't want to. She
was screaming and crying. I tell you
what, I grabbed her hand and I pulled that
splinter out. And can I tell you, the moment I pulled that
splinter out, the pain went away.
Have you ever seen somebody cry and then they turn to laughter, but the tears
are still there because she felt kind of silly,
I think, for crying so much after the pain had
begun. So the next morning, I'm driving to. School,
and I said, see, Hadassah,
the pain can go away. All you needed to do is trust Daddy.
And she replied, daddy, I trust you.
Except for when it hurts.
Sometimes we trust this God
with everything that feels good,
but not when it hurts.
I believe that some of us have been living in some
caves, and it's not going to feel
good to come out in your mind, get out of that
cave. But I believe that if you'll take a faith
step and step out of the cave this morning,
the freedom that you will experience in the Lord will
pale to anything that you've experienced in your
life in this season.
I know that you guys want to have a strong leader in your
pastor this week. This week.
I am weak. I'm not a strong leader
right now. My cave
is not just one cave. My cave has corridors and hallways and
rooms.
I'm dealing right now. I'm hurt and disappointed
relationally. Right now. I am
discouraged in my body right now, physically,
I have questions that continuously are going
unanswered. And, guys, I just. The Lord keeps saying, what are
you doing here, Kevin? You've seen me move.
And so, I don't know, maybe the message is just for me this morning. Guys,
and I'm sorry to confess to you. I
am vulnerable and I am weak,
and I need this God to do something in my life.
I don't want to be in the cave anymore.
So I've asked the team to do this song,
and we talked about, without faith, it's impossible to please him.
And so I'm taking a faith step. In front of all of you people,
and I'm just going to kneel before the Lord here at the opening of. This
cave, this altar space, and I just
want to be set free. If you want
to join me, you can. You don't have to. The
team's gonna do this song.
Psalm 46 says this.
God is our refuge and our strength. A very
present and well proved help in trouble.
Therefore we will not fear. Though the earth should change,
though the mountains be shaken and slip into the heart of the seas,
Though its waters roar and foam, Though its mountains tremble at its
roaring. There is a river whose streams make.
Glad the city of God, the holy
dwelling places of the most high. God is in the
midst of her. She. She will not be moved. God
will help her. In the morning when it dawns, the. Nations
make uproars and kingdoms totter, and we're moved.
But he raises his voice and the earth melted. The Lord
of hosts, he is with us. The God of
Jacob is our stronghold.
Would you guys stand and let me give you a blessing Today,
may we be a people who have the faith to listen to his whispers.
In Jesus name, amen.