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I'm just not going to quit on him, ever.
And you need to make that decision in your mind.
And just already have that predetermined, I'm not going to quit.
Even when you feel like you're going to want to, well I'm never going to want to quit because I'll just never feel like quitting.
Oh okay, you're better than Elijah.
So if you don't want to quit, here's the next tip, when you want to quit.
Because here's the thing, in the Christian life it's not just going to be zero to sixty all the way to heaven.
It's not just a straight line, it's just a rocket ship of joy and peace and love all the way to heaven.
It's a bumpy road through life.
People ask, how's it going? And often I'll say, it's steady by jerks.
This is life. Two steps forward, one step back.
That's really the Christian life, a lot of times.
There's seasons of that, I'm not saying it's always like that, but don't get this idea that it's just smooth sailing.
It's not going to be.
And there's probably going to be times where you slow down, there might even be times where you stop in the Christian life, where you just kind of are idling.
And you might be tempted to quit. You take that detour and get off and just say, I'm going to go do something else.
You know, in that instance, the best thing you can do is just at least stay pointed in the right direction.
At least stay pointed in the right direction. Stay on track even if you're not moving at the speed you want to move.
Maybe you're not, you know, we're here to run that race with patience that has been set before us.
That's a long race life. It's measured in decades.
And it's not a sprint. It's not a dash to the finish line.
And there's probably going to be some times where we're just kind of dragging ourselves hands and knees.
Maybe even slowing down to the point where we're almost stopping.
What we don't want to do is just kind of roll off into the center of the track and just lay there and look up at the sky.
I'm done. Just go, just leave the track completely.
You know what? Stay on the track and just keep pointing in the right direction.
And whatever progress you can make, that's what you do. And you know what? Things will get better.
Because as I said, if they can't get any worse, that's all they can do is get better.
And that's what we see here in the story. If you look at verse 8, it says, of course, this is after he eats and drinks and rests.
And he arose and did eat and drink and went in the strength of that meat forty days and forty nights unto Orib, the mount of God.
Of course, this is where God met with Moses.
So you see, where was Elijah headed when he went off into the wilderness?
You know, I don't know that this is necessarily the case. Maybe he was just going just randomly out into the wilderness.
But, you know, whenever I've read this story, I've always just kind of read it with the assumption that that was always his intended.
That was always the place that he was trying to get to, was Orib.
That's where he was headed. And he's just kind of on this journey and he finds this juniper tree and he just spares of his own life and just kind of throws up his hands.
You know, at least he's pointed in the right direction. He just needs to take a minute and just, you know, recuperate.
Gather strength and pick himself back up.
You don't want to be these people that just, you know, if you start to, if you start to, you know, think about other things, you start getting pointed in the other direction.
You know, and that temptation to quit comes, that trial comes, it's going to be a lot easier to just kind of go in that direction.
And just throw in the towel.
You think about a guy like Demas. Paul said of Demas in 2 Timothy chapter 4, Demas hath forsaken me.
I mean, how would you like that? Demas was somebody who served faithfully alongside the apostle Paul.
And this is what I'm saying, like, you know, that's why none of us in this room should ever think we're above quitting on God.
Because you've got a guy like Demas who's with the apostle Paul.
I mean, I can see you quitting on me.
I can see you saying, I've had enough of that deacon. I've had enough of that guy.
Because I'm no apostle Paul.
But I mean, quitting on the apostle Paul, man, that's, to me, whenever I read that, I'm just like, man, the guy just didn't see what he had.
And he certainly probably didn't think that his name was going to go down in history for, you know, millions and millions and millions of people to read his name and read it, Demas hath forsaken me.
I believe he's a saved guy.
You know, but I bet it's going to be a short line in heaven to meet him.
You know, everyone's going to want to go meet Elijah.
I mean, Elijah wanted to quit, but he didn't.
There's going to be a lot of other lines that are a lot longer.
That line to meet Demas is probably going to be pretty short, if there's one at all.
You say, well, what caused him to quit?
Because it says that he hath forsaken me, what, having loved this present world.
See, Demas was with Paul, and Paul, he's there, he's going through the same afflictions, he's going through the same trials.
He, you know, maybe not to the degree that's Paul there, but he's getting some of that residual effect.
He's collateral damage.
He's going through his own things.
And you know what, he ended up quitting.
Was it because his affliction was just above that of Paul's?
I doubt it.
No, it was just as uncommon, you know, he had to quit because it was just, it really was too much.
Anybody would have quit if you went through what Demas went through.
No, the reason why Demas quit is because he wasn't pointed in the right direction.
His heart was already turned aside after this present world.
Yeah, he was serving Paul, but the whole time he's looking over here and thinking, boy, it'd be nice to go do that.
Boy, if I hadn't had, you know, I'd be nice, I could spend my Sundays a lot, a lot better ways.
You know, and it's just loving this present world.
Maybe it wasn't even necessarily sinful things.
You know, I could be at home gardening right now.
I could be growing some veggies.
Is there anything wrong with that?
No.
But when it takes you out of serving Christ, then it's an issue.
You know, I could be working on my golf swing right now.
I could be down at the tennis courts, I mean, that's what people do.
I could be riding my bike up Mount Lemmon.
We don't want you in this church anyway. I'm just kidding. I'm just kidding.
I don't understand it.
But look, people like Demas, they quit not because the pressure's too much, it's because they're pointed and they've already been pointed in the wrong direction.
So when things really get hard, they do quit.
I mean, everyone's going to be tempted to quit.
Everyone's going to feel like quitting.
I mean, Jesus said, if it'd be possible, let this cut pass for me.
But not you, because you're better than Jesus.
You're better than Elijah who said he wasn't better than his fathers and despaired of his own life.
No, we're all going to be tempted.
What's going to keep us from quitting is, one, an attitude of I'm not going to quit, and two, of making sure you're pointed and already pointed in the right direction.
And not already thinking about what you would do if you quit, how you could spend your time if you quit,
how you would spend your money if you could quit, all the other things that you could get involved with,
all the other things, sinful or not, that you could do if you didn't have the accountability that you have at the church,
if you didn't have people looking out for you and wondering about you, all those things.
If you're already thinking about all those things that you can do, you're already pointed in the wrong direction,
you know what, it's just a matter of time until someone says of you, so-and-so has forsaken us.
And why? Because they've loved this present world.
I'm sure there's people that have come through the doors of this church already.
The reason why they're not here right now is not because the pressure's too much.
Look, we haven't even gone through anything in this church directly.
We haven't suffered any persecution.
I'm sure we will one day.
And you say, well, why are these people not here anymore? Why do they quit?
You know, hopefully they're going to another church. I don't know.
But would it really surprise you if it's because they just thought of a better way to spend their Sunday afternoons?
They just thought of a better way to spend that tithe money or whatever?
You know, people quit for very carnal reasons.
When you're quitting because you love the world, you're quitting for carnal reasons.
Not that there's a spiritual reason to ever quit on God, but, you know, that's what it is.
I want to make it a quick one, and it's probably already too late for that.
The other point I want to make, when you want to quit, first of all, don't.
Just don't quit. Make up your mind today, I'm not going to quit.
No matter how bad it gets, how hard it is.
So when it gets bad and when it gets hard, you say, well, I've already made that decision.
The devil comes and says, hey, you know, this is your chance.
There's a big controversy, there's a split in the church, there's persecution, you could slip out.
You could go out with the rest of them and, you know what, you wouldn't stick out like a sore thumb.
People probably forget your name in a few months.
So what was their name? Who were they?
So you need to determine now, well, I'm not going to quit when that happens.
But that's not enough, you know, you've got to make sure that your heart's right, that you're pointing the right direction.
So that when it gets hard, when the Christian life, you know, you're kind of just putting one foot in front of the other,
you're just keeping your eye on the prize, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith.
And when you want to quit, you know, don't, stay pointing the right direction.
And my last point is this, draw an eye to God.
Because, you know, everybody needs a break now and then, don't they?
Sometimes in the Christian life, you need to slow down.
If you're going to be in this thing for the long haul, you can't just, you know, go full tilt, nonstop, red line all the way.
You have to, you know, you have to pace yourself.
You know, every now and then you need a break. I mean, think about literal long haul truckers.
Don't they need a break now and then? They can't just go from, you know, Chicago to LA in one, you know, just one sitting.
They have to pull over and rest for so many hours. You know, think about the Christian life that way.
Sometimes you have to pull over and just, you know, you're still on course, the GPS coordinates haven't changed, you're still dialed in.
But, you know, sometimes you just need to stop and get that shower, right?
You need to just refresh yourself. You've got to take a load off, catch your breath.
And that's what you see in the story.
You know, I believe when Elijah set out that he's saying, you know what, I'm just going to go to the gym.
I'm just going to go get, I'm going to draw a night of God.
And along the way, you know, he gets a break.
He finds that juniper tree. He's probably got some shade.
It's cooling off. And it says in verse 5, and as he lay in and slept under a juniper tree, I mean, he's laying down and he's falling asleep.
It's like, why are you sleeping? You're the prophet of Elijah. Aren't you supposed to be out there just shaking your finger in Jezebel's face and tearing it up?
Why don't you go call down some more fire?
Even a man like Elijah, a man of like passions, like as we are, had to stop, get some shade, and get some rest.
He lay and he slept under a juniper tree, and behold, then an angel touched him and said unto him, arise and eat.
And you know, it's interesting, you know, obviously this angel is a messenger from God. This is the Lord through the angel is kind of nourishing Elijah.
And it says in verse 6, 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.
So he says, all right, I'll eat and drink and I'll take a rest.
But, you know, notice that God's attitude wasn't, pfft, you loser.
You know, God's attitude isn't, you're so weak, Elijah. What are you doing under this juniper tree? Are you afraid to die? Are you afraid Jezebel is going to get you a bit scared?
God's not mocking him. God's not, you know, taking it out of him. God's not coming down on him. God's not, you know, beating him up over this.
God's actually very patient and understanding and saying, hey, you know what, take, take, go ahead and take a nap.
And he wakes him up and says, hey, I made you some food. Here's some water. And then he wakes and lets him go back to sleep.
And then he wakes him up again and says, all right, eat and drink, now let's get going. Now let's go get to Mount Orib and we'll talk there. We'll meet there.
But right now you need to just rest, refresh yourself. You know, everyone needs a break now and then. That's how you're going to make it for the long haul in the Christian life.
You know, maybe, maybe you need to just slow that. Maybe you need to go down to that one soul winning time. Maybe you need to scale it back a little bit.
Maybe if it's getting to be too much, maybe you need to, you know, not try to do so much sometimes. Not be, as the Bible says, righteous over, you know, righteous over much.
And just say, hey, I'm just going to slow it down a little bit. And you know what? That doesn't mean you stay that way. You could pick it up later.
I mean, obviously, eventually he gets up and goes 40 days and 40 nights, the strength of that meat.
Everyone needs a break now and then. They need to draw a night of God. Even Jesus, you know, took the disciples aside into a desert place to take a break from the ministry every now and then.
And again, it's a break from the labor of the Lord, not from the Lord himself. This isn't him quitting. This is him just taking a break.
Not him quitting on God, him just kind of taking a break from the ministry and the work that he's doing.
You know, he can't just be calling down fire from heaven every single day.
You know, he needs to just get a break because, you know, and that's okay because God's attitude is that he's okay with that. He's nourishing him.
You know, God isn't just this merciless slave driver just trying to work us to the bone and get everything out of us he can all the way to heaven.
It's important to get that because some people get it in their head that they're that way. They think that's the way God is.
You know, they'll go on mission trips and be like, no recreation, eight hours of soul winning, twelve hours of soul winning.
And if you want a break, you're carnal. You're probably not even saved.
And, you know, there's been more than a few people that have had this attitude over the years.
But, you know, that's not God's attitude. God knows he'll get more out of you in the long run if when you need that break, you go ahead and take it.
And you know what? He'll even nourish you. He'll even go ahead and help you with, he'll give you some of that bread and water right here.
And he'll remind you why you're in this. You know, because again, it's not taking, it's not quitting. It's not taking a break from God.
You know, maybe, maybe what we need to do is just instead of going out and into that, on that soul winning time or on that mission trip, maybe we just need to stay home and just read our Bible for an extra 30 minutes or something.
Get in the Psalms. Maybe that, maybe in the evening for, you know, before we go to bed, we got to just go through the Psalms or something. Let God nourish us.
Get into the water and the word right here. Get the bread of life out. You know, and close our eyes and meditate upon that and pray about that and, you know, God will refresh us.
And then we can, you know, in time get up and go in the strength of this meat. So yeah, sometimes there's seasons where we need to slow down and focus on what's important and take a breather.
Because God's going to get more out of us in the long run that way than just working us into the dirt and working us, you know, our fingers to the bone.
The Bible says, you know, he giveth his beloved sleep. Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him. I mean, he looks at me and takes pity upon them.
I mean, like a father does his children. You know, when we do things with our young kids, you know, we don't go on a hike or something and they start saying my feet hurts. Like, well, suck it up. You're four now.
Life is pain, son. Get used to it. Another three miles. And some people get this attitude with their own kids sometimes. It's ridiculous.
I'm just going to teach them character. All you're going to teach them is you're a jerk. You know, and God's not that way. God looks at his children and when he sees them, you know, they fear him. They want to serve him.
But something, you know, they're going through something. They have some trials, some affliction. Things don't turn out the way they hoped they turned out. And they're just kind of depressed and they're down and they have heaviness and sorrow.
God looks at them and says, it's going to be all right. Why don't you just sit down for a minute, have some food, have some water, catch your breath, and then when you're ready, we'll pick it back up.
I mean, we all know Psalm 23, right? He maketh me to lie down in green pastures. Right? He reads me by the still waters. He restoreth my soul.
You know, God gives us rest. That's what I see in the story. That's what I see with Elijah. Great man of God who did great things, but even he had to take some time when things got hard to just recuperate.
Or he was just going to burn out. Or he was just going to quit. And he was ready to just throw in the towel.
So, you know, those are my points. When you want to quit, first of all, don't. Don't. But if, you know, that's easier said than done. In order to help, you know, go ahead and make the decision you're not going to quit and just stay pointed in that right direction.
And then when you need it, draw an eye to God. You know what? And we have the promise to James. And he will draw an eye to you.
I mean, isn't that what we see? He's trying to get to Oreb. He's trying to get to God. And he just kind of wears out in the way.
And God sees, oh, you're trying to, you're getting away from that. You want to get to Oreb. You want to come speak with me. You want to come meet with the Lord. God meets him halfway.
He's drawing an eye to God. God draws an eye to him. And he takes a break. You know, he takes a rest. But, you know, in the closing, just remember rest isn't retirement.
That's not what I'm saying tonight. Some people might hear this like, well, I'm going to take like a five-year sabbatical from soul winning. That's not what I'm preaching.
Maybe slow down or whatever if you're burning out or whatever area it is. You know, that's just a real convenient example.
Notice it closes there in verse 7. An 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, but he didn't lay down again. You know, so that first one wasn't a carb crash. It was just him getting some more rest.
He eats and drinks and then what? And then he went in the strength of that meat forty days. He got back in the fight. He got back in the journey.
So rest, yes. Take a break, yes. Retirement, no. Quitting, no. But how are you not going to quit? By determining beforehand that you're not going to.
Even when you have, you know, opportunity to come out looking good or whatever and stay pointing the right direction. Don't get drawn aside. Don't let your heart start to already be in the world.
Because look, where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. You know, and the rest of you will catch up to your heart. Eventually.
If you're already out, your heart's already out in the world and the opportunity to quit comes. You know, you're grown up now. You're your own man.
And now you can go out and live on your own and do whatever. You can, you know, and look, every child has to eventually make the decision for themselves whether or not they're going to serve God.
Whether or not they're going to keep going to church, reading their Bibles and doing the things of God because they want to and not just because mom and dad are making them.
But look, if your heart is already in the world, when that time comes, you're probably going to pull a demus. So stay pointed in the right direction.
And don't be afraid to take a break. To draw an eye to God. We need that. We need that. Every now and then just slow down and make sure we're seeking first the kingdom of God and His righteousness.
And then all these other things will be added unto us. That we're making sure that we're getting the bread, the water, the rest, the prayer, the meditation.
Those are the things that are going to give us the strength to really stay in the fight and not fall out. Even when we feel like it. When we're like in Elijah where we're saying, take my life, I'd rather die to keep doing this.
What kept him in it? God nourishing him. God taking care of him. When he took that season of rest. That's what you need to do if you don't want to quit.
When you feel like quitting. When you want to quit, these are the things that you need to do. Let's go ahead and pray.
Dear Lord, again, thank you for this great example of Elijah. There's so many lessons from his life that we can learn. Not just about the bold and great things he did, the preaching and the miracles.
But also, Lord, you show us that he truly is a man of like passions. Like as we are. Like he was a man that even despaired of his own life.
And Lord, help us to understand that none of us is above feeling that way. And thank you for the fact that he didn't quit, Lord.
And that he serves today as a great example of how to stay in the fight and to stay in the battle and continue to do great things for God all the way to the end of our lives.
I pray that it would be the desire of everyone in this room tonight to serve God with all their strength, their soul, their heart, their mind, and all their days.
We ask these things in Christ's name. Amen.
Alright, we'll go ahead and sing one more song before we go.
Amen. Let's turn our hands to the song of the 100 and 91.
So, the 100 and 91, in my heart, it brings us together.
I'll sing from the ground up.
There ever was a sweet and melody.
Tis of elderly and bad.
In my heart, it brings us together.
In my soul, it brings us together.
In my heart, it brings us together.
In my soul, it brings us together.
I love the Christ who died on that tree.
He washed my sins away.
He woke within my heart a melody.
And now it's there to stay.
In my heart, it brings us together.
In my soul, it brings us together.
In my heart, it brings us together.
In my soul, it brings us together.
I love the Christ who died on that tree.
In the angels, they'll sing.
To me, a song with glorious harmony.
With the voice of heaven's will.
In my heart, it brings us together.
In my soul, it brings us together.
In my heart, it brings us together.
In my soul, it brings us together.