.
One, four, seven.
In number one, four, seven.
Leaning on the everlasting arms.
In number one, four, seven.
One, four, seven.
In number one, four, seven.
One, four, seven.
In number one, four, seven.
In number two, zero, zero.
For he is a wonderful Savior to me.
He's a wonderful Savior to me.
I was lost in sin but Jesus did me.
He's a wonderful Savior to me.
The earth is always near to comfort you.
He's a wonderful Savior to me.
He forgives my sins because we ever do.
He's a wonderful Savior to me.
For he is a wonderful Savior to me.
He's a wonderful Savior to me.
I was lost in sin but Jesus did me.
He's a wonderful Savior to me.
The last bitter close-up of Jesus every day.
He's a wonderful Savior to me.
He there is his grace but twice he's gone blue.
He's a wonderful Savior to me.
For he is a wonderful Savior to me.
He's a wonderful Savior to me.
I was lost in sin but Jesus did me.
He's a wonderful Savior to me.
Amen.
Alright, good morning everybody.
Welcome to Verity Baptist Church.
Let us go through a couple of things in our announcements real quickly.
First, let's count up any salvation that we have to report.
Let's start with the back there.
Any salvations this past week?
Seven? Alright, two.
Alright, so nine salvations.
Nineteen, two.
Alright, so let me write this down.
Nine, twenty-one, anybody else?
One, alright.
How about in this section, anybody?
Any salvations?
Alright, well great job everybody.
We do have soul winning of course this afternoon at 2.15 p.m.
The only other things I want to make mention of is we do have choir practice later today after soul winning.
The Pampanga three year anniversary is this coming Saturday.
And so the plan is for the vehicles to leave at 7.30.
I'm going to send more information later on this week with more specific details to be prepared for that.
And also we do have a sign up sheet for the potential missions trip.
As I said, it's not a guarantee. We're trying to get a survey of people that might be interested.
One of the possible locations would be Baguio, probably around March.
But you can sign up for it and then change your mind because we'll get kind of a more specific later on
and try to get how many people there are going to be.
So if you just have any sort of interest, it's kind of like a survey, just write your name.
And we would provide the transportation there, but you would have to provide money for your lodging and your food.
So anyways, that's it for announcements. We'll have Brother Rafi lead us in another song.
Last night's upload live.
Oh,
Amen. For scripture reading, please open your Bibles to the book of First Kings.
First Kings chapter 19.
The other book of Judges. Ruth, First Second Samuel, First Kings chapter 19.
And as our custom, we will be reading the entire chapter.
First Kings chapter 19.
Please say Amen if you are there.
Amen.
Amen. First Kings chapter 19 verse 1.
And I have told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, and withal how he had slain all the prophets with a sword.
Then Jezebel sent a messenger into Elijah, saying,
So let the gods do to me, and more also, if I make not thy life as the life of one of them by tomorrow about this time.
And when he saw that, he arose and went for his life, and came to Beersheba, which belonged to Judah, and left his servant there.
But he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under the juniper tree.
And he requested for himself that he might die, and said,
It is enough now, O Lord, take away my life, for I am not better than my father's.
And as he lay and slept under a juniper tree, behold, then an angel touched him and said unto him, Arise and eat.
And he looked, and behold, there was a cake, bacon, and the coals, and a cruise of water at his head, and he did eat and drink, and laid him down again.
And the angel of the Lord came again the second time, and touched him and said, Arise and eat, because the journey is too great for thee.
And he arose and did eat and drink, and went in the strength of that meat forty days and forty nights unto Horeb, the mount of God.
And he came thither into a cave, and lodged there, and behold, the word of the Lord came to him,
and he said unto him, What doest thou here, Elijah?
And he said, I have been there jealous for the Lord God of hosts, for the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant,
thrown down thine altars, and slain thy prophets with a sword.
And I, even I, only am left, and they seek my life, and to take it away.
And he said, Go forth and stand upon the mount before the Lord.
And behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and break in pieces the rocks before the Lord.
But the Lord was not in the wind, and after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake,
and after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire, and after the fire a still, small voice.
And it was so, when Elijah heard it, that he wrapped his face in his mantle, and went out,
and stood in the entering inn of the cave, and behold, there came a voice unto him, and said, What doest thou here, Elijah?
And he said, I have been there jealous for the Lord God of hosts, for the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant,
thrown down thine altars, and slain thy prophets with a sword.
And I, even I, only am left, and they seek my life, and to take it away.
And the Lord said unto him, Go return on thy way to the wilderness of Damascus,
and when thou comest, anoint Hazael to be king over Assyria.
And Jehu the son of Nimshai, shall thou anoint to be king over Israel,
and Elisha the son of Shaphath of Abel-Meholah, shall thou anoint to be prophet in thy room.
And it shall come to pass, that him that escaped with the sword of Hazael shall Jehu slay,
and him that escaped with the sword of Jehu shall Elisha slay.
Yet I have left me seven thousand in Israel, all the knees which have not bowed unto Baal,
and every mouth which had not kissed him.
So he departed thence, and found Elisha the son of Shaphath,
who was flying with twelve yoke of oxen before him, and he with the twelve.
And Elijah passed by him, and cast his mantle upon him.
And he left the oxen, and ran after Elijah, and said,
Let me, I pray thee, kiss my father and my mother, and then I will follow thee.
And he said unto him, Go back again, for what have I done to thee?
And he returned back from him, and took a yoke of oxen, and slew them,
and bowled their flesh with instruments of the oxen, and gave them to the people, and they did eat.
Then he arose, and went after Elijah, and ministered unto him.
Blessed be God's word, let us pray.
Lord God in heaven, we thank you, Lord, for this day that you have given to us.
I pray that you would please bless us, Lord, this day,
with good weather, for our soul winning, and our fellowship later on.
I pray that you would bless the preaching, and the preaching of your word, Lord, this day.
We love you, in Jesus' name, we pray. Amen.
All right, we're here in 1 Kings 19, and as I mentioned during the announcements,
I decided to skip Ezra, I decided to preach something different.
We might pick up Ezra after our anniversary here, I'm not yet sure.
But we're here in 1 Kings 19, I want to look at Elijah here in the Bible.
The name of this sermon is Elijah's Downward Spiral.
Now, I don't know about you, but when I get to the section of Elijah in the Bible,
I get really excited, because Elijah's part of some of the great, great, great events,
I mean, everything from chapter 17, 18, 19, and then the way he ends in 2 Kings 2.
I mean, it's pretty cool. Elijah's one of the best characters in the Bible.
And if you're familiar with the stories, 1 Kings 18 is one of the most exciting chapters in the Bible.
And you've got Elijah that stands up against all the false prophets of Baal.
And you know what, when you read 1 Kings 18 after reading chapter 17,
it almost seems like Elijah's Superman.
It seems like nothing can stop him.
It seems like he's perfect and nothing could ever stop him at all.
Then you get to 1 Kings 19 and you see the humanity in Elijah,
and that he's no different than us.
He's a sinner saved by grace, just like you and me are as well.
And I want to show you in 1 Kings 19, Elijah's Downward Spiral.
Verse number 1, the Bible reads,
And Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done,
and with all how he had slain all the prophets with the sword.
Then Jezebel sent a messenger unto Elijah, saying,
So let the gods do to me, and more also,
if I make not thy life as the life of one of them by tomorrow about this time.
And the first thing we see in this chapter is that Elijah goes through difficulties.
Elijah goes through difficulties.
Go to 2 Timothy chapter 3.
Now the specific form of difficulty that Elijah goes through is persecution.
And we see another verse here in 2 Timothy chapter 3 that speaks about persecution.
And it says in 2 Timothy chapter 3 verse 10,
But thou hast fully known my doctrine, manner of life, purpose, faith, longsuffering, charity, patience,
persecutions, afflictions, which came unto me at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra.
So everywhere Paul went, whether it was Antioch, Iconium, and Lystra,
what persecutions I endured, but out of them all the Lord delivered me.
Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.
Look, I wish I could tell you that your life is going to be perfect,
that you would never experience any problems, but that's not reality.
The Bible says everyone that's going to be godly is going to suffer some persecution.
I mean, do you want to be godly? You're going to go through persecution.
That's what the Bible says.
Many people in this room would testify that, you know what,
a lot of their family doesn't really like to talk to them because of what you believe, right?
They're Catholic and you're not.
And they disagree with what you believe.
They disagree with what you stand for.
Maybe coworkers that disagree, they don't like this church or whatever.
And look, if you're going to be godly, you're going to suffer some persecution in your life.
There is no way to avoid that.
And it doesn't matter where you go, whether it's Antioch, whether it's Iconium, or Lystra.
It's not just you will be persecuted.
It's wherever you go living godly, you're going to be persecuted.
Go to Ecclesiastes 7.
Ecclesiastes 7.
Now, that is the specific difficulty that Elijah goes through.
But you know, that's not the only difficulty that you can go through in life.
If you're going to live godly, you will be persecuted.
But you know, it's not just persecution.
You will go through difficulties and storms of life and problems in your life.
One example is just having too many burdens.
Notice what it says in Ecclesiastes 7, verse 16.
The Bible reads,
Be not righteous over much, neither make thyself over wise.
Why shouldest thou destroy thyself?
You say, and this seems like a bit of a cryptic verse,
like what is the Bible saying, be not righteous over much?
What it's basically saying is don't put too many responsibilities upon yourself.
And the specific example is spiritual responsibilities.
Otherwise, you might end up destroying yourself.
The idea is you can only do so much as one person.
And if you try to do too many things, it could end up just being too much,
and the burdens become overwhelming, and then you destroy yourself.
Right?
Go to 1 Kings chapter 19.
Now, I can say this as a church leader, you know,
I'm always happy when people volunteer for various things
because there's a lot of stuff to do at a local church.
And one thing I've found is a lot of people that will love God
will take on a lot of responsibilities.
And what sometimes I'm guilty of,
and I think every pastor or church leader is guilty of,
is of course you give some people a lot of responsibilities,
and sometimes, honestly, it can be a bit overwhelming.
It can be too much.
Now, one thing we can all do to help on that is,
you know, volunteer.
Say, Brother Stuckey, I'm willing to help out if there's any area that I can help out.
Because if you have too many burdens and too many responsibilities,
sometimes it can get to be overwhelming.
Right?
You know, I don't have a goal in my life of just,
I've got to outdo every pastor or preacher that's out there.
I've got to make sure I read the Bible more than anybody else,
or memorize the Bible more than anyone else,
or go so many more than anybody else.
That is not something that I'm striving for.
I am sure there's plenty of preachers that read the Bible more than me,
that memorize more than me,
and you know what?
That's fine because I'm not competing with them.
I know what I am capable of doing,
and I know that if I try to do too much,
I'm going to destroy myself.
Right?
And everybody's aware of how much they can personally do.
And so the idea is, with difficulties,
they can come in different forms.
You can have health problems in your life.
You can have financial problems in your life.
I mean, every single person is going to go through various difficulties.
My difficulties might not be the same as yours,
but one thing I can guarantee is we're both going to go through difficulties.
All of us are going to go through difficulties in our life.
For Elijah, his difficulty is persecution.
Now, of course, if you read 1 Kings 18,
you think, this is nothing.
I mean, you stood up against every false prophet there was.
It's like you line them up,
and you win the battle against all these false prophets.
It's just one woman who's threatening your life.
But what you see from this is godly people
will sometimes be able to fight through difficulties,
and sometimes they won't.
And here's what I would say.
Elijah is a better person than I will probably ever be.
And not to be mean,
but Elijah's probably a better person than you're ever going to be.
And if Elijah was not always able to handle the difficulties of life,
none of us will always be able to handle the difficulties of life.
Which means that if somebody else is going through major difficulties and struggling,
there's no reason to look down on them,
because you know what?
All of us will from time to time.
We're not perfect.
We're sinners, and you know what?
It's hard sometimes when you're going through problems.
And in 1 Kings 19, notice what it says in verse 3.
And when he saw that, he arose and went for his life,
and came to Beersheba, which belongeth to Judah.
Now, Elijah's a man who fought through a lot of difficulties,
but here in verse 3, when he goes through this difficulty,
what we see is a departure.
He went for his life.
He departed.
He left because he was worried about his life.
I mean, he was at a moment where his faith was not as strong as it was before.
What this also kind of shows you is,
your faith can be very strong and overnight, very low,
from one end to the other.
Because in 1 Kings 18, right before this,
I mean, he's on fire.
Then right afterwards, he's at a low moment.
And he departs as a result of the difficulty.
Go to Luke chapter 22.
Luke 22.
You say, Brother Stuckey, that's just Elijah.
It's not just Elijah.
In fact, all the godly characters in the Bible,
you see the same sorts of things from them as well.
Here's an example with a man by the name of Peter.
Peter, one of the great characters in the Bible,
and it says here in Luke 22, verse 54,
this is when Jesus is basically, you know, being set up to be killed.
And it says in verse 54,
Then took they him and led him and brought him into the high priest's house.
And Peter followed afar off.
Now, it's referring to physically,
he was far off from Jesus.
But the application is very obvious
that spiritually, he's far away from Jesus at this moment.
Now, I would say this, that if you're going through a difficulty,
it's better to follow from afar off than just not follow at all.
But he's not as close to Jesus as he once was.
And then we see this in verse 55.
And when they had kindled a fire in the midst of the hall
and were set down together,
Peter sat down among them.
But a certain maid beheld him as he sat by the fire
and earnestly looked upon him and said,
This man was also with him,
and he denied him, saying,
Woman, I know him not.
This is the man that said he was willing to die for Christ.
This is a man who literally has already put his life on the line for Jesus Christ,
and then all of a sudden, he goes through this difficulty,
and he just gets worried, and he departs from Christ,
and then he denies knowing Jesus Christ.
Now, of course, when you read this story,
and when I read this story,
of course we would never do this.
Right?
Isn't that what we think?
I would have never denied Christ.
I mean, all of the apostles, except Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him, denied him.
Right?
It's just like if all of them are basically drifting away,
I think I would, too, if I was in that situation.
Right?
I mean, they're in that situation.
They're going through major difficulties,
and they all end up drifting away during that moment.
And look, if it could happen to Peter and the other ones out of the 12,
and then it could happen to Elijah,
it could happen to any one of us that when we go through some difficulties,
we're going to struggle.
We're not always going to stand firm.
There's going to be times where, you know what,
we depart a little bit.
It says in verse number 55,
And after a little while, another psalmist said,
Thou art also of them.
And Peter said, Man, I am not.
And about the space of one hour after,
another confidently affirmed, saying, Of a truth,
this fellow also was with him, for he is a Galilean.
And Peter said, Man, I know not what thou sayest.
And immediately while he had spake the cock crew,
and the Lord turned and looked upon Peter.
And Peter remembered the word of the Lord,
how he had said unto him before the cock crow,
Thou shalt deny me thrice.
And Peter went out and wept bitterly.
You can see that Peter loves the Lord Jesus Christ.
Right?
I mean, he weeps because he feels so bad
that he did exactly what he was told he was going to do
when he went through a little moment.
And look, all of us are going to have moments like this in our lives.
I've had times where, you know, I'm at my office, at work,
you know, at my old jobs that I've had before.
And you know what?
I don't stand firm on the things that I believe.
I allow people to, you know, I don't say anything,
or somebody makes a joke that's inappropriate or whatever.
And you know, I feel guilty because I should have said,
Hey, you know what?
Don't use the Lord's name in vain around me.
Right?
Or whatever the situation is.
We don't always handle things perfectly,
and neither does Elijah.
Neither does Peter.
Neither do any of them.
Elijah goes through a difficulty, and we see him depart.
Now go to 1 Kings 19, 1 Kings 19.
Now, here's the thing.
Difficulties are going to come.
You can't avoid them.
And in 1 Kings 19, we see that Elijah has a bit of a departure,
and you know, of course, we can stand firm through situations,
but the thing is, all of us are going to depart from time to time.
But the big problem in 1 Kings 19 is what you see after the departure.
Notice what it says in 1 Kings 19, verse 3.
And when he saw that, he arose and went for his life
and came to Beersheba, which belongeth to Judah,
and notice this, and left his servant there.
You see, Elijah goes through a difficulty,
and during that difficulty, this is a specific time where,
you know what, he doesn't stand firm through it,
and he departs.
But then the big problem is he detaches or isolates from other people.
Now, of course, this makes sense,
because the natural reaction from all of us
when we're going through problems is,
I just want to be alone.
Is that not true?
When you're going through problems,
when you're going through difficulties,
all of us, myself and all of us, sometimes are like,
man, I just want to be away from everybody right now.
We feel like that's going to make us feel so much better.
But here's the thing.
We don't have to just guess how things are going to turn out.
We can see what the Bible says.
And the Bible gives us wisdom on this situation.
And here's Elijah.
He goes through a difficulty, can't do anything about that.
He got persecuted for the cause of Christ.
He departs.
It's like, you know what, it's not the end of the world,
because all of us from time to time are going to be more zealous or less zealous.
It happens.
The big problem is when he leaves his servant there.
He detaches from other people.
He isolates himself.
This is the natural reaction of everybody
when they go through major problems.
And here's the thing.
When somebody walks into church,
they walk in with a smile upon their face.
Somebody says, how are you doing?
You know what?
The answer is always, I'm doing great.
I'm doing good.
Right?
You're never going to say, well, you have 20 minutes?
Can you sit down?
I've got to talk to you.
No, I mean, everyone's going to basically say
they're doing well.
The reality is at our church,
I believe we have 70 people here today,
there are people that are not doing well right now.
Now, I don't know specifically who it is
because you all have a smile on your face.
I can't tell when I look at people
whether they're doing well or not doing well.
The reality is all of us are going to have moments when we're not.
I've come to this church before,
put a smile on my face,
preached the sermon,
and I'm not really doing all that well.
Right?
All of us are going to have times
where we're just not doing the best,
and when we're in that moment,
the temptation in our flesh is to detach from other people.
Is that not true?
Point number one, we see the difficulties Elijah goes through.
Point number two, we see the departure.
He went for his life.
He went to save his life.
But point three, we see the detachment
as he leaves his servant there,
and he isolates from all people.
What do we see after that?
Verse four, we see depression.
After he detaches, it doesn't make things better.
It makes things far worse.
We see major depression that comes.
Verse four,
But he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness,
and came and sat down under a juniper tree,
and he requested for himself that he might die,
and said,
It is enough now, O Lord,
take away my life,
for I am not better than my father's.
Now, when I read this,
part of this is humorous to me
because in verse three,
he went for his life.
He went to save his life.
Then in verse four,
I want to die.
It's like you could have been martyred.
Right?
If you really thought you were going to die,
it's like instead of just let yourself be martyred.
Right?
I mean, he went to save his life
because he's worried.
And look, that's going to happen.
Of course,
God hath not given us the spirit of fear,
but don't we all fear from time to time?
All of us are going to from time to time.
And then he's fearful,
and of course we understand it.
We get it.
That would probably happen to all of us.
He's fearful.
He goes for his life,
but then all of a sudden,
he wants to die in verse four.
You say,
How did that take place?
Well, the reason why it took place
is because he left his servant there,
because he detached from everybody.
Look, your temptation
when you're going through major problems
is,
You know what?
I just want to be alone.
I just need time to gather my thoughts.
That is the worst thing for you to do
when you're going through problems.
Sometimes people have this idea that,
You know what?
Because of church,
that's why I have problems.
No, no, no.
You're going to have difficulties
no matter what.
Church can help you manage your problems.
It's not going to get rid of them
because we all have difficulties.
And actually,
not being in church
is going to make it worse for you.
It's not going to be better.
You say,
Well, how can you say that?
How do you know that?
Because thus sayeth the Lord
in 1 Kings 19.
When you leave your servant there,
when you detach,
it makes things worse.
It doesn't make things better.
Right?
Go to Genesis 2.
Genesis chapter 2.
The other thing that's interesting about Elijah
is he makes a statement,
For I am not better than my fathers.
And you can read over that
and not think about it.
And honestly,
I never really fully got it
until I heard Pastor Menes preach on it.
But he makes a statement where
he's implying,
I used to think
I was better than my fathers.
He's saying,
I used to think
I was better than Moses
and all of those other people.
He's being very truthful.
You say,
What exactly is he saying?
What he's saying is,
in 1 Kings 18,
when he was on the top of the world,
he felt like nothing could bring him down.
And I get it
because I would too.
Right?
I mean,
you're literally causing it
to rain on earth
and causing it not to rain on earth.
You stand up against
all the false prophets.
I would think,
Man, I can do anything.
And then all of a sudden,
1 Kings 19 comes,
and he realizes,
actually,
I'm not better than my fathers.
I'm just like
every single other person.
Be very careful
inside yourself
getting this lifted up idea
that,
You know what?
I could handle things better.
I would have never denied Christ.
I would have never had these problems.
I would have been able to stand fast.
It's like,
You know what?
All of us,
there hath no temptation taking you,
but such is as common to man.
And if it could happen to Elijah,
it could happen to me.
It could happen to you.
Right?
Elijah goes through a difficulty,
and he departs,
but the big problem he makes is,
then he detaches.
Look,
whenever you're in this situation,
and you're going through major problems,
don't detach from other people.
You need to be around godly people.
Otherwise,
what's going to take place afterwards?
Well,
detaching makes it worse in verse 4.
He ends up having major depression
in his life.
It doesn't make him feel
better.
Go to Genesis chapter 2.
Genesis 2.
Did you realize that we are designed
to be around other people?
You say,
Prove that to me.
Genesis 2, verse 18.
And the Lord God said,
It is not good that the man should be alone.
I will make him and help meet for him.
Now,
I mean,
you know what?
If you're like me,
in my natural flesh,
I'm not the most outgoing person.
You know,
I always,
when I was in college,
I was like,
hey, you know,
I'm going to get my career and have my job.
I'm going to work my job,
and then just basically go home
and just be away from everybody.
Right?
You know,
there's that dream,
that house on the top of the mountain
where there's no people.
It's so beautiful.
You get away from everybody.
I mean,
it's going to make things great.
I mean,
it looks awesome.
Right?
Well,
I mean,
this is literally what Adam has.
I mean,
there's no man,
there's no buildings that have been created.
I mean,
and yet God says it's not good for him to be alone.
We actually need to be around other people.
Right?
And you know,
I've been able to visit some nice places in my life,
some very beautiful places,
various vacation spots,
and you're around them,
and it's great,
but if you're away from people for too long,
you start actually missing being around other people.
Why?
God created you with the need to be around people.
Of course,
the primary application in Genesis 2 is marriage,
but in general,
it's just not good to be alone.
It's good to be around other people,
and if you're not,
it's going to cause you more problems.
We're designed to be around other people.
Go to 2 Corinthians 1.
2 Corinthians 1.
You know,
in America,
you know,
it's kind of changed recently,
but generally retirement age is kind of your mid 60s
is when people retire,
and you know,
most people in America,
you know,
they work their job 40, 50 hours a week,
and you know what?
They complain about it,
and they hate it every week.
I can't wait till I retire.
I can't wait till I'm done,
and years go by,
complaining, complaining, complaining.
This is reality for most people in the U.S.
Finally get to retirement,
and now they get to have this amazing life
of watching TV for 10 hours a day.
Now at their office,
they're around people all the time,
but now it's like they,
and you know what ends up taking place?
They end up being very depressed
because they're not around people,
and you know what?
The difference is,
when you have a church family,
you're around people on a regular basis, right,
but I've seen this so many times
as people get older,
and they're so depressed,
and it's just like,
you know,
you try to encourage them,
hey, you should have a hobby, right,
because what's going to end up taking place
is as you're not around people,
you end up finding yourself very depressed.
We're designed to be around people.
Now when you have the local church,
you know,
you're around our like-minded brethren,
and you know what?
You're around people.
When people get older,
if they don't have a church
that they're devoted to,
it's very sad because
it's like they don't have anything to do.
They don't know what to do.
They'll go to vacation here or there,
but it's like they're not happy,
and it's like you're like,
man, you need a church.
You need to be around people, right,
and we see that with Elijah
when he's not around people,
what takes place?
Well, he ends up having more depression.
Now I'm going to spend the last half of the sermon
giving you a conclusion
because I kind of quickly went through the points
with Elijah.
We see him go through difficulties.
As a result of difficulties,
he goes through a departure.
Then he detaches from other people.
Then he has major depression afterwards.
The question is,
you say, Brother Stuckey,
I'm not going through this right now,
but how can I help other people
that are going through these things?
Well, part of this answer
depends on what stage they're at
because difficulties are a lot different
than detachment, right?
So let's say that there's somebody
going through difficulties.
You know, your fellow brother
or sister in Christ,
they're going through the storms of life.
They're going through problems.
What can you do to help?
2 Corinthians 1,
the Bible says in verse 3,
Blessed be God,
even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
the Father of mercies,
and the God of all comfort.
The Bible says God is the God of all comfort.
Now, the best comforter you can have
through any situation is God.
You say, what do you mean, Brother Stuckey?
I mean, take it to the Lord in prayer.
I mean, I must tell Jesus
all of my trials.
I cannot bear these burdens alone.
These are not mere words that we sing.
Think about those words.
I mean, the hymns can really help you
through difficult times in your life.
You know, I can think of times
when I went through difficult times
and I would just go to YouTube
and just type in Christian hymns
and just listen to hymns and sing along
as I was going through a various burden,
and it helps you get through it.
Right?
You sing these songs,
or you take it to the Lord in prayer,
you pray to Him,
and you basically allow God
to take that burden from you.
Now, I'm not saying it's going to
completely remove your difficulties or problems
because we all go through them,
but it certainly can help
because God is the God of all comfort.
And then it says here in verse 4,
Who comforteth us in all our tribulation,
that we may be able to comfort them
which are in any trouble,
by the comfort wherewith we ourselves
are comforted of God.
See, the Bible says
we can comfort other people
by the comfort we receive from God.
You say, what are you saying?
Here's what I'm saying.
If somebody's going through a situation
and you've been through something very similar,
you can comfort them
in the way that you receive comfort from God.
You can help them through that trial.
Now, here's the thing.
You might not be able to relate
to what somebody's going through.
I mean, if somebody comes to you
through this trial in my life,
you know, I'm just trying to think of an example.
You know, I lost my job.
I got fired.
You know, as far as I can remember,
I haven't been fired from a job
if I said, hey, I know what you're going through.
It's like, well, I don't.
Right?
So that would be lying.
So you say, what can you do for that person?
Well, if you don't know what you're going through,
what you can say is, hey, you know what?
I'm praying for you.
Let me know if there's anything I can do to help.
Right?
I mean, if you can't fully relate,
that's understandable.
You're not always going to be able
to relate to the difficulties
other people are going through
because people go through different things.
What you can do is tell them
you're praying for them
and you're there if they need to talk to someone
or if they need anything.
But here's the thing.
If you've been through something very similar,
you can actually comfort
in the way that you receive comfort
during that situation.
Right?
I can think of various trials
I've been through in my life
and other people that were through something similar
helped me through that situation.
And the Bible says this here in verse 4.
You comfort as you have been comforted by God.
Verse 5.
For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us,
so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ.
So you think of the word consolation.
You console somebody through a difficulty
that they are going through.
Let's go to Matthew 11.
Matthew 11.
So what can you do
if somebody's going through the storms of life?
Well, you can tell people
that you're praying for them
and you're there for them
if they need anything.
And you can also actually pray for them
because sometimes we as Christians
have a tendency.
Somebody says,
Can you pray for something?
Yeah, I'll pray for you.
And then at the end of the day,
I say, Oh, I didn't pray for them.
It's like, Well, how do you fix that?
Well, just pray for them immediately.
Right?
At this moment, you just pray for them
so you make sure you don't forget it.
And if it's something major,
keep it as something to keep praying for
because I believe prayer works.
I don't believe it's just a vain thing that we do.
Prayer can actually work,
and we should pray for our fellow
brothers and sisters in Christ.
Now, at our church,
we do a monthly prayer list
where you're divided into a group,
and if somebody has major things
they want prayer for,
pray for them.
Right?
But let's say the stage is not difficulty.
Somebody's going through departure
or detachment or the inevitable depression
that takes place.
Now, you say, Well, what do you do
in those situations?
Well, Matthew 11, we get an idea of this.
We're going to look at several places
that give an answer,
but in our natural flesh,
you might think, Hey, you know what?
I'm going to rebuke them.
I'm going to tell them,
Get right with God.
Now, that might be what people think.
Right?
You know, at our church, you know,
people would label us as a hellfire
and brimstone preaching church.
I don't have a problem with that label
because I'm not afraid to preach
what the Bible says,
but it's not like when I leave the pulpit,
I talk to people, and they say,
Hey, Brother Sucky,
I'm struggling with listening
to this type of music.
Well, thus saith the Lord,
Get right with God.
Right?
That's not the proper way
to deal or talk with people,
and actually the Bible gives us
the wisdom on what do you do
when someone's actually going
through the storms of life.
What do you do when they're going
through this detachment or depression
or these major things in their life?
Well, Matthew 11 is one example.
Notice what it says in verse 4.
And this is after John the Baptist
has come to Jesus and said,
Are you the one,
or should we look for another?
Verse 4, Jesus answered and said unto them,
Go and show John again those things
which you do here and see.
The blind receive their sight,
and the lame walk.
The lepers are cleansed,
and the deaf hear.
The dead are raised up,
and the poor of the gospel
preach to them.
Now, John the Baptist
went through difficulties,
and quite honestly, in his specific case,
he did not depart or detach
by his own choice.
He was arrested.
But he happened to be in a situation
where he was detached from everybody,
and it wasn't his fault.
But the reality is,
whether it's something
that you chose to do
or whether or not
it was forced upon you,
the same thing results.
All of a sudden,
John the Baptist
starts questioning things.
Now, here's the thing.
Does Jesus say,
Say this to John.
How dare you question I'm the Savior?
Is that what he says?
Now he says,
just remind him of the great things
that have been done.
He exhorts him would be the word
that we give.
You say, what do you do
with someone in this situation
to try to help you exhort them?
That's what we see here
in Matthew 11.
Go in your Bible to John 21.
John 21.
Now, look, analogies
are not perfect,
and they can be taken
in different ways,
but I'm going to give you
an analogy to help you
understand what I'm saying.
We use the expression
someone's going through
the storms of life, right?
And all of us
go through storms of life sometimes.
If somebody's going through a storm
and they're trying to, like,
fight through that water,
they're trying to hold
their head above water,
they're drowning in that storm,
you know what they don't need?
They don't need you
to take your foot
and shove it on the top
of their head and make it harder
to get up out of the water.
You know what they need?
They need you
to give them your hand
and lift them out.
And look, I get it.
Analogies, someone can say,
oh, you're just like
Joel Osteen, right?
And maybe he did
give that analogy.
I don't know.
It's a good analogy, right?
It's like there's a time
and a place for everything.
What I'm saying is
someone going through
storms of life,
they're not intentionally
choosing to just commit sins.
They are just struggling.
They just need someone
because here's the thing.
When people are going
through the storms of life,
let's say that
they are departing a bit.
Let's say they aren't
reading their Bible now.
They already know
that they're not reading
their Bible.
They don't need you
to tell them that.
I mean, if they're not
going soul winning,
they already know that.
They don't need you
to tell them
they're not going soul winning,
and they're aware
that you know that.
And they're waiting for you
oftentimes to basically
condemn them so they
can basically go back.
What you need to do
is just be compassionate.
Be merciful.
Show them love.
Show them grace.
Realize that you also
in the future
are going to go through
the storms of life,
and you're not always
going to handle it the best.
And when you're in
those situations,
what do you want?
You want somebody
to lift you up.
Doesn't the Bible say
about, in Ecclesiastes,
two are better than one?
It gives analogies.
If one falls,
he's got his brother
to help him up,
but if you don't have
your brother to help you up,
then what are you going to do?
You're not going
to end up getting up.
Right?
Sometimes we need
our brother or sister
in Christ to try
to lift us up
through a difficult time
in our life.
And look, I'm being
completely sincere
that I've had times
where I just don't feel
like going soul winning,
and the reason why I do
is because other people
are going soul winning.
It's just what we do.
And it's like my brothers
and sisters in Christ
are helping lift me up.
They're helping me
through burdens.
Right?
All of us have
highs and lows.
It's reality.
John 21's another example,
and this is also
in the story of Peter
and also all of the apostles
after Jesus has
already been resurrected.
And notice what it says
in John 21.
After these things,
Jesus showed Himself
again to the disciples
of the Sea of Tiberius,
and on this wise
showed He Himself.
There were together
Simon Peter
and Thomas called Didymus
and Nathaniel of Canaan
Galilee,
and the sons of Zebedee
and two other of
His disciples.
Simon Peter saith unto them,
I go of fishing.
Now, is there anything
inherently wrong with fishing?
Well, obviously not.
Right?
I'm not a vegetarian.
I'm not really a fisherman,
but I'm certainly
not a vegetarian.
All right?
There's nothing wrong
with fishing.
The problem is in this story,
what it's showing is
Simon Peter's going back
to his old lifestyle.
He was called by God
to be full-time service
for God,
and he basically withdraws
from that,
and he basically
just gives it up.
Right?
Not that he's choosing
to commit wicked sins,
but he's choosing
to just fully depart
from the things
God has for him.
He says, I go of fishing.
They say unto him,
we also go with thee.
You know what this shows you
in verse 3?
The actions that you do
affect other people.
Now, I've preached this
before in the book of Hebrews
when it talks about
church attendance.
What's the number one reason
it gives there
to not forsake the assembly?
To exhort one another.
The number one reason
you should be in church
is not whether or not
you want to go to church.
It's because people at church
want you at church.
That's the reason why.
Because with the Bible,
teaches from cover to cover
is our lives are not
about ourselves.
And that's a tough
reality to get
because from a young age,
we're taught life
is about ourselves.
Right?
And the Bible teaches
the opposite.
I mean, Christ did not
come to be ministered onto.
He came to minister
and to give his life
ransom for many,
the Bible says.
Our lives are not about us,
but the reality is,
none of us
liveth to himself.
Meaning that as Peter
departs, what happens?
Other people do, too.
And the reality is,
the choices you make in life
will benefit people
for the better or the worse.
It's just reality.
It is what it is.
Then it says this.
They went forth
and entered into a ship
immediately,
and that night,
they caught nothing.
And what you see
here in verse three
is that, you know what?
God does not bless them
for the decision
that they made.
They caught nothing.
Then it says in verse four,
that they went forth
Then it says in verse four,
But when the morning
was now come,
Jesus stood on the shore,
but the disciples knew
not that it was Jesus.
Then Jesus saith unto them,
Children, have ye any meat?
They answered him, No.
And he said unto them,
Cast the net on the right
side of the ship,
and ye shall find.
They cast therefore,
and now they were not able
to draw it
for the multitude of fishes.
So they cast the net,
and they get
this great multitude.
You say,
What is the Bible
trying to teach?
Well, think about how
Jesus said,
Follow me,
and they don't realize
it's Jesus,
but they're going to realize
right after this moment,
they get reminded
of all the great things
that they've done
in their lives.
I mean, if you've been
at our church, you know,
for the last couple years,
you've been part
of soul-winning marathons.
We've done some great
things as a church.
I mean, just recently,
last week, you know,
the big soul-winning
marathon, I don't remember
how many salvations,
but a lot of salvations.
It's like, man,
some really mighty things.
I mean, catching
a multitude of fishes.
Lots of people saved.
I mean, people putting
in real labor in real time
and effort.
I think back to my life
being a part of exciting
events with other people
that, you know,
I got to catch some fish,
and as a group,
we caught a lot of fish.
Got a lot of people saved.
I mean, it's exciting.
And look, there's truly
nothing more exciting
in this world
than being a soul-winner.
There is nothing more exciting.
I mean, this great joy
you get when you see
somebody get saved.
You know what?
Being someone who's been
saved for 19 years now
at this point, of course,
I've had ups and downs,
and I've gone through times
where I'm going through a down
and I'm backsliding a little bit
as the wording we use,
and, you know,
I go out soul-winning,
you know, kind of out of duty,
but I don't really want to,
but I see somebody get saved,
and it's like you get
reminded of that joy.
It's like, man,
this is what life's all about,
and you feel foolish
when you got drawn away
with all these other things.
You know, I think of the song,
you know, I wonder,
have I done my best for Jesus?
I mean, every time we sing
that song, I'm thinking,
man, I feel guilty
every time we sing that song
because I feel like
I'm so far away
from what the standard
of what God wants,
but sometimes you drift away
and you get back into it
and then you see
those salvations
and the excitement
it brings to your life,
and you're like,
there's nothing
that compares to this,
and this is not just mere words.
This is reality.
There's nothing
that compares to it
in this world,
and they get reminded of this
when they catch
a multitude of fishes,
but what you don't see
in this story
is Jesus rebuking them.
I already rose again.
Why aren't you doing
what I said?
What's wrong with you?
You don't see that
in this story.
You know why?
Because they're struggling.
They're going through storms,
and they haven't
fully recovered,
and what you see
Jesus doing
is exhorting them
and reminding them
and trying to get them
back in the fight.
You say,
Brother Stuckey,
what do I do
to help someone
who's sliding back?
You exhort.
You encourage.
Now, our natural reaction
might be to rebuke,
and I'm not saying
there's never a time
for rebuke
in the Christian life
because sometimes,
you know,
Paul rebuked Peter.
I get that.
There are times,
but in general,
the best thing
you can do
is just give them
a hand,
encourage them,
and maybe wait it out
and wait to see them
get through.
They say,
Hey, I'm there
if you need anything,
and if they see you
be like that for a week,
then maybe all of a sudden,
it will really help them.
That's what we see
with the stories
of John the Baptist.
That's what we see
with the 12 apostles,
how Jesus handles them
in those situations.
Therefore,
that disciple whom Jesus
loves sayeth unto Peter,
It is the Lord.
Now, when Simon Peter
heard that it was the Lord,
he girded Fisher's coat
onto him,
for he was naked
and did cast himself
into the sea.
Now, I do want to say this
on a side point
because when I first
started reading the Bible,
I didn't understand
what the word naked
meant in the Bible.
I was like,
Is Peter not wearing
any clothes?
Right?
But the Bible does not say
that you have to be
completely no clothes
to be naked.
The Bible defines
from here to here
as your nakedness
on both sides.
You could maybe make
an argument
that he's shirtless,
but it's probably
he's wearing shorts
and he has part
of his body exposed.
Is that the biggest deal
in the world?
Well, no, but he feels
ashamed because, you know what,
when he was close to Christ,
he had really strong standards
and now he's slid back a bit
and then all of a sudden
he just jumps into the water.
Right?
He's trying to hide himself.
He's like,
Well, I mean,
you know,
Christ sees everything,
so it's like you're not
really hiding yourself,
but that's what he does.
Verse number 8,
And the other disciples
came in a little ship
for they were not far
from land,
but as it were 200 cubits
dragging the net
with fishes.
Jesus saith unto them,
Bring of the fish
which ye have now caught.
Simon Peter went up
and drew the net
to land full of great fishes
in 150 and three,
and for all there were
so many,
yet was not the net broken.
Jesus saith unto them,
Come and dine,
and none of the disciples
durst ask them,
Who art thou,
knowing that it was the Lord?
That's where you get
that song,
Come and Dine,
in our hymnal.
Go to 1 Kings 19.
1 Kings 19.
And you know what?
Perhaps this brought back
a lot of memories.
Perhaps they were thinking
about the great multitude
where basically they just
had a few fish.
You know the miracle
he does at least a couple
times, two times
specifically mentioned,
and he turns just a few
loaves of bread
and a few fish into like
food for thousands of people.
And maybe they're being
reminded that literally
Christ can create fish
out of nothing, right?
But it reminds them
back to this idea
of soul winning
and the joy found
in soul winning.
It's an exhortation
to be reminded.
You know, sometimes in life
we just need to be
reminded of things that
maybe we kind of forgot about.
That's how you help
someone who's in that
situation, but what do you do
if you find yourself
in this situation?
Now you say,
Brother Stuckey,
I'm not in this situation,
but you will be one day.
You're certainly going
to go through difficulties,
and you're not always
going to just stand firm
perfectly no matter what.
Sometimes you're going to
depart at least a little bit.
You know, if you were
to look at our lives
and think of like drawing
close to God is like
climbing a mountain
is an analogy in the Bible.
You're drawing night at God.
It's not like this
is your trajectory.
Just, you know, linear, right?
You got to use
the math analogy.
It's not a linear line.
It's not, I mean,
I don't know what you'd call it,
but it's something like
whoo, whoo, right?
And you're going
up and down, up and down,
and you're hopefully
slowly getting higher,
but it's not just like
every day, you know,
you're just pressing forward,
and every day you're
closer to God than you were
the day before.
That's not reality.
The reality is you go
through seasons where
you might go down,
and you got to pick
yourself back up,
and a just man falls seven times
and rises up again,
the Bible says.
All of us are going to have
times where we kind of go down.
We got to get back up.
We go down,
and this is why you need
preaching to remind you
of these things.
I mean, we already
know these things.
We know we should read
the Bible every day,
but it's true that you need
to be reminded of it,
and then it kind of just
gets you back into it,
and our lives are
not just linear,
but they're like,
you know, up and down,
up and down, up and down,
and hopefully you're
getting closer,
but there's going to be
a lot of difficulties
and low points along the way.
So what do you do
if you're in this situation?
Well, number one,
we see that you
spend time with God.
In 1 Kings 19,
the Bible teaches us
spend time with God
in this situation.
Verse 5,
and as he lay and slept
under a juniper tree,
behold, then an angel
touched him and said unto him,
Get right with God, Elijah.
Is that what the Bible says?
Once again,
you don't see a rebuke.
Elijah knows that he's
not as zealous as he was
in 1 Kings 18.
He doesn't need
to be reminded of it.
I mean, he's already
aware of it.
What does he say?
He says, Arise and eat.
Now, the physical application
is literally
arise and eat food.
What's the symbolic application?
Well, this is
our bread of life.
Right of esteem,
the words of God
more than my necessary food.
Symbolically speaking,
he's saying,
Hey, you know what?
You need to spend time
with God and his word.
If you're going
through problems in life,
the thing you need to do
is spend time with God.
Now, here's the thing.
When you go through problems
or you start to slide
back a little bit,
the last thing you want
to do is read the Bible.
But that's the first thing
you should do.
When you're not feeling
as spiritual,
you don't feel like
spending time with God,
but that's when
you need God.
You need to read God's word.
You need to rise and eat.
Right?
What am I saying?
I'm saying wake up
in the morning,
arise, and just say,
You know what?
I don't care about
what's going on
on social media.
I don't care
about all these problems.
I just need to spend
30 minutes just eating
the word of God.
I need to get the word
of God in my life
because I'm at
a down point right now.
I need to rise
and eat.
Verse six.
And he looked, and behold,
there was a cake,
bacon on the coals,
and a cruise of water
at his head.
And he did eat and drink
and laid him down again.
And the angel of the Lord
came again the second time
and touched him and said,
Arise and eat,
because the journey
is too great for thee.
About five years ago,
I preached a sermon
called Arise and Eat
at Verdi Baptist in Sacramento.
And I, of course,
used this story.
And what I talked about
was the level with which
you consume God's word
determines the level
of the journey
you can go on for God.
Meaning if you don't
read the Bible much,
you're not going to
accomplish that much for God.
The more you read God's word,
the more time you spend
with God,
the more you can do for God.
It's a direct relationship.
The more time
you read the Bible,
the more time you pray,
the more you memorize
the Bible,
the more you can accomplish.
And what he says to
Elijah is,
Elijah, you're a great man.
Your journey is too great
just to eat a little bit.
Now, look, all of us
should try to consume
God's word as much
as is possible,
but if you want to do
great things for God,
you better arise and eat.
You say, brother Stuckey,
I have a desire one day
to be a pastor.
You better arise up
every single day and eat.
You better spend some serious,
serious time with God.
I mean, it's not just,
and look, you know,
praise the Lord for everybody
who reads through the Bible
cover to cover
on a yearly basis.
And you know what,
I know people's schedules
are a little bit different.
You can be really busy,
but the bottom line is
if you're going to be
a preacher of the word of God,
you need to read the word
a lot.
Not just, well, you know,
10 minutes here,
miss a couple days,
20 minutes.
No, no, no, you need to
spend a lot of time
in God's word.
Then you say, brother Stuckey,
I don't have a desire
to be a pastor,
but do you have a desire
to go on a great
journey for God,
a desire to get
a lot of people saved,
a desire to serve God
your entire life,
a desire to do
great things for God?
You better arise and eat
and spend a lot of time
with God.
And he arose and did
eat and drink
and went in the strength
of that meat 40 days
and 40 nights
unto Horeb, the mount of God.
And he arises and eats,
and he can physically
do this journey.
The spiritual application is
you can spiritually
do great things for God
if you're spending
a lot of time with God.
Look, when you're
going through problems
like Elijah,
the angel kind of
reminds him,
hey, you know what,
now is not the time
to detach from God.
You need to read the word.
You need to spend
time in prayer.
You need to memorize
the Bible, and it will
remind you of those things
you already know, right?
But it's not just spend
time with God
that fixes Elijah
because Elijah has put
himself in basically
a permanent situation.
Remember, he left
his servant there
because nobody on their own
is going to serve
God zealously.
You must have people
around you.
You say, Brother Stuckey,
John the Baptist was one man
preaching in the wilderness.
Why did he have disciples
if he was one man?
Yeah, he's the one preaching
with other people.
Look, if I was preaching
to an empty crowd every week,
do you really think
I'd be going soul winning
every single Sunday?
There's no way.
You know why I go
soul winning every Sunday?
Because that's what we do.
And I've got my brothers
and sisters in Christ.
We do it as a group.
We encourage and
edify one another.
You're not going to
do it by yourself.
I mean, Elijah has put
himself in a situation
where he's away.
Well, there's a problem there.
And see, when you're going
through a difficult time,
what you need is to spend
time with God's people.
And we see that in the
same chapter, verse 19.
So he departed then,
verse 19, and found Elisha,
the son of Shaphath,
who was plowing with
12 yoke of oxen before him
and he with a 12.
And Elijah passed by him
and cast his mantle upon him.
And he left the oxen
and ran after Elijah
and said,
Let me, I pray thee,
kiss my father and my mother,
and then I will follow thee.
And he said unto him,
Go back again,
for what have I done to thee?
And he returned back from him
and took a yoke of oxen
and slew them
and boiled their flesh
with the instruments
of the oxen
and gave unto the people
and they did eat.
Then he arose
and went after Elijah
and ministered unto him.
And the rest of Elijah's
life here on earth,
you know, he is on fire
and zealous for God.
You say, what fixed that?
Well, he got back to just
spending time with God,
but he also was around
God's people.
You know what?
You can get the preaching
by just going to YouTube
and listening to the sermon.
But what you cannot get
is spending time
with God's people.
There are people that
travel a long distance
to come to this church.
And look, you know what?
I promise you,
everyone in that situation,
there's going to be a temptation
from time to time.
You know what?
I'll just listen online.
And of course, you know,
people get sick
and things come up.
I'm not saying that there's
never a time for that,
but here's the thing.
What you do not experience
by listening online
is fellowshiping with God's people,
spending time with God's people.
And Elijah is back
with God's people.
The rest of his life,
he's on fire for God.
Elijah went through
difficulties in life.
I wish I could stand up here
and tell you that,
you know what?
You're never going to
fight with God.
You're never going to
have any health problems.
You're never going to
have any problems with money.
Everything in your life
is going to be perfect.
Isn't that what
the health and wealth
preachers preach?
They preach that
because it sounds good.
I mean, I wish that were true.
I wish you could just
go with your life
and no problems,
no difficulties at all,
but that's not reality.
You're going to go
through difficulties,
and another reality
is every great person
in the Bible outside
of the Lord Jesus Christ
from time to time
departs when they go
through difficulties.
And what that tells me
is that all of us,
including myself,
will have times
where we depart a little bit.
And the temptation
in our flesh
during that time period
is then to detach
from everyone.
You just want to be alone.
I get it.
When I've been
through major difficulties,
I just want to be alone.
I just want to get away
and just get alone,
but that doesn't
fix your problems.
What you see in
1 Kings 19
is major depression
after the detachment
where he despairs
even of life.
Paul the Apostle
spoke about in
2 Corinthians how
the people that are
closest to God in the Bible,
how they despaired
even of life.
He's giving you
an honest statement
where it's like,
I didn't even know
if I wanted to go on anymore.
You say,
how do you get
through those moments?
You get through those moments
when you got
your brother in Christ
to say, hey,
let me help you out.
Got your sister in Christ
to say, hey,
let me help you out.
Realizing,
and you know what
you need is
Job's friends.
Right?
I mean,
there's the tactic.
We'll just,
you know,
rebuke,
I mean,
it's like the man
just lost 10 kids.
He lost everything.
And even if it
was his fault,
which it wasn't,
it's like,
why are you kicking
someone when they're down?
That's not
what people need.
They need a hand up.
So how can you help
your fellow brother
or sister in Christ?
You can try to
exhort them,
encourage,
and be long-suffering
and have compassion on them.
You say,
Brother Stuckey,
what do I do
when I go through
that situation?
Make sure you spend
time with God,
number one.
Arise and eat.
Read the Bible.
Pray.
Sing the hymns.
Make sure you spend
time with God's people.
Every Elijah
needs an Elisha.
Even if you're
the most zealous
and greatest Christian
in the world,
which I doubt
any of us are,
but if you are,
you know what,
you still need Elisha.
Elijah gave us
an honest perspective
when he said,
you know what,
I'm not better
than my fathers.
Basically, he said,
I can't do this alone.
I thought I was better,
but I'm just like Moses
who says,
hey, I don't even
want to live anymore.
Right?
All of us need
our like-minded brethren
to help us through
those difficult times.
Let's close
with a word of prayer.
Dear Heavenly Father,
thank you for allowing
us to be here today
and ask you to help us
to apply 1 Kings 19
to our lives,
help us to be able
to fight through
the storms of life
and help us to pray
for one another
and have compassion
in other people
that are going through
various problems, God.
I ask you to help
all of us,
including myself
in the future,
when we go through
these problems,
God, help us
to just rise back up
and stay in the fight
and realize that,
you know what,
it's gonna get better.
And I ask you
to help all of us
with this and ask you
to continue
to bless our church.
In Jesus' name,
we pray.
Amen.