It's true that we are living, our beautiful heaven must be.
Our beautiful heaven must be.
We'll see, Lord, what a happy end for me.
What a pain and a rest for me.
Our beautiful heaven must be.
In heaven's happy horizon, oh, wish for us here to be.
God's eyes are ever-shining, our beautiful heaven must be.
Our beautiful heaven must be, must be,
see, Lord, what a happy end for me.
What a pain and a rest for me.
Our beautiful heaven must be.
You're born to find that I'm lonely,
and all the drink may be free.
Where tools of splendor are full of you.
Our beautiful heaven must be.
Our beautiful heaven must be, must be,
see, Lord, what a happy end for me.
Where faith and our castle may be.
Our beautiful heaven must be on the glass.
We may also see or see.
One day, well, every wind will see.
Sleep for us there, Lord, our story.
Our beautiful heaven must be.
Sleep, Lord, what a happy end for me.
Where faith and our castle may be.
Our beautiful heaven must be.
Amen.
Thank you, Heavenly Father God, for this day.
Thank you so much for this morning's service.
Thank you for this church.
Thank you for everyone who is here.
It would make it today, Father God.
I just pray and ask you to please bless this service
today in Jesus' mighty name.
Amen.
Thank you, brother.
Let's turn our head to the Son of 161.
Son of 161, our great Savior.
Jesus, Lord, I pray of mercy.
Jesus, Father of my soul.
Praise be to the Lord, my Savior.
He my Savior.
Jesus, Lord, I pray of mercy.
He's my Savior.
He my Savior.
Praise be to the Lord, my Savior.
Hallelujah, my friend.
Save me now, give me peace now.
He is my Savior.
Jesus, Lord, I pray of mercy.
Hallelujah, my Savior.
Jesus, Lord, I pray of mercy.
He my Savior.
Hallelujah, my Savior.
Save me now, give me peace now.
He is my Savior.
Jesus, Lord, I pray of mercy.
Hallelujah, my Savior.
He is my Savior.
He's my God.
Hallelujah, my Savior.
Hallelujah, my friend.
Save me now, give me peace now.
He is my Savior.
Jesus, Lord, I pray of mercy.
Hallelujah, my Savior.
He's my Father.
Hallelujah, my Savior.
Save me now, give me peace now.
He is my Savior.
Jesus, Lord, I pray of mercy.
Hallelujah, my Savior.
He is my God.
He is my Savior.
Hallelujah, my Savior.
Hallelujah, my friend.
Save me now, give me peace now.
He is my Savior.
The book of Acts will be in chapter number 24 this week.
Got a couple of notes below that regarding the church.
Don't forget the chili cook-off coming up.
Just not very far away at all.
So it's coming up quicker than you think.
So get those chilies ready.
I know there's, who's bringing a chili?
Who's planning on bringing one?
One, two, we know you are.
Yeah, we've established that on Thursday, right?
100%, okay.
So one, two, three, four.
All right, so we got, looks like we got enough coming in.
So I'm sure everyone will get fed.
But you don't have to bring a chili to come, obviously.
You got to bring a chili if you want to win, though.
So just bring those on out.
And you got the times there.
You got to have them in by six o'clock.
And then we'll have some sides as well.
Don't forget the missions conference coming up.
Wednesday, November 8th through Sunday the 12th.
That's, of course, up in Tempe.
Also below that, we had to push back the portraits
for the Tucson crew down here.
So it's a little bit more time, you know, to lose some weight.
Not that any of you have to do that.
I'm speaking to myself, right?
So you get a few more weeks to kind of get ready.
You know, get the teeth brightened
and trim a little more fat off, whatever you got to do.
Get the right outfit.
But we're going to push that back to the 26th
just because of some scheduling conflict there.
You know, Brother Ramon's doing all this
out of the goodness of his heart.
So this is going to be better for him and everything.
So we're just going to push that back.
But we're also going to try and fit in a group shot
that morning as well.
So we'll probably just do that right here.
But again, that's been pushed back to Sunday, November 26th.
So those photos will be taken after the morning service then.
Also on the back, you got a couple of small town
and reservation soul winning trips available.
Of course, Brother Ramon puts these on up in Tempe.
But anyone down here that would ever like to participate in that
is more than welcome to do so.
You always can speak to me for more details.
And we'll do everything within our power
to make it as comfortable and convenient for you.
And so if you want to go, just let me know.
And then also continue to pray for the expectant ladies
in our church.
We've got a couple other upcoming events.
The birthday donuts, the church picnic,
and another small town soul winning event.
That's going to do it for announcements.
We'll go ahead and sing one more song
before we get into the preaching this morning.
Some of them are 19.
There's a power.
Some of them are 19.
Who's all the guilty spirit?
All the guilty spirit?
Who's all the guilty spirit?
And to them that have no might and increase its strength, even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young man shall utterly fail.
Paul, excuse me, but they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength, and they shall mount up with wings, his egos.
They shall run and not be weary, and they shall walk and not faint.
So this morning, I want to focus really just on that phrase there in verse 31 where it says,
They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength.
And in this passage, of course, a very famous verse, we see that the use of this word, wait, that's really what I want to talk about.
Because, you know, typically this is interpreted, you know, in one way.
And I think there's nothing wrong with that.
The great thing about the Bible is that there's many, there's one interpretation yet many applications.
So we can get the primary application out of this, but we can also make other interpretations.
So when he's talking about those that wait upon the Lord here, obviously he's talking about more of a passive sense.
Those that are waiting upon the Lord in the sense that they're, you know, expecting something from God.
They're waiting for God to do something on their behalf.
And really that sense of the word fits in well with the book of Isaiah because this is a book of judgment.
This is a book where God is chasing his people, where destruction is coming.
People are being humbled and they're being forced to wait upon God for him to do something.
They can't deliver themselves, right? They're being run out.
And Isaiah in this chapter is reminding them of this, that although they are going to be made weak,
and although they are going to be wounded and they're going to be destroyed even,
that if they wait upon the Lord, that there is a hope for revival, that God will return unto them.
And, of course, he begins here in these last few verses and just reminding them of who it is with whom we have to do.
He says in verse 28, hast thou not known, hast thou not heard, the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary.
There is no weary in God. God is never going to get tired and faint.
You know, that's something that we experience. That's something that we go through.
You know, we live our lives. We work hard. We go through difficulties. We go through trials.
We often find ourselves weary. We even find ourselves fainting and feeling as though we have no strength, no ability to move forward.
But, you know, that's not something that God experiences. God is never weary. God is never fainting.
God is never wondering how he's going to make it through another day or another week or how he's going to get through some situation or trial.
That's not something that God experiences.
However, we also know that Jesus Christ came and he was tempted in all points like as we are, that he was touched with the feeling of infirmity.
So although that's not something God experiences, it is something that God has experienced in Jesus Christ.
He's familiar with that. The Bible says that often when you go through the Gospels, you'll see him wearied.
Remember when he sat with the woman at the well, he was wearied and he sat on the well.
So he knows what it's like to go through these things. However, the God of heaven, God in his full glorified form, is never wearied.
He's never going to be exhausted. He's never going to faint. He goes on and says there's no searching of his understanding.
You're never going to stump God. You're never going to get one over on the Lord.
And the point I'm trying to make is that God, because he is this inexhaustible source of power and wisdom and understanding, we have access to that.
That's what he says in verse 29. He giveth power to the faint. To them that have no might, he increases strength.
So it's not that God is just hoarding all this strength. It's not that he's hoarding all this wisdom, this understanding.
The Bible says that if we ask for wisdom, it shall be given us. God's not hoarding these things.
He wants to give these things to us. And that if we go in the power of the Lord, then we can be rest assured that we're not going to faint.
He goes on and says in verse 30, even the youth shall faint and be weary. The young men shall utterly fall.
But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. So where is the strength found? What's found in the Lord?
How do we get it from him? By waiting upon him. Now, the way the Bible is using this word wait here is very passive.
It's a waiting upon the Lord in the sense that we're just waiting upon God and we're waiting for God to move.
If you would, keep something in Isaiah. We'll come back a little bit later, but go to Psalm 37.
Psalm 37. That word wait is often used in that way throughout Scripture.
That there's this passivity to it where we're waiting for God to move and we're just waiting upon him.
It says in Psalm 123, verse 1, unto thee I lift up mine eyes, O that dwellest in the heavens.
Behold, as the eyes of the servant look unto the hand of their masters, as the eyes of a maiden of the hand of her mistress,
so our eyes wait upon the Lord until he shall have mercy upon us.
So again, this idea of waiting upon the Lord, meaning we're waiting for God to have mercy upon us.
We're waiting for him to do something on our behalf. Look at Psalm 37, verse 1.
He says, fret not thyself because of evildoers, neither be thou envious against the workers of iniquity.
For they shall soon be cut down like the grass, and whither is the green herb. Trust in the Lord and do good.
So thou shalt dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed.
Delight thyself also in the Lord, and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.
Commit thy way to the Lord, trust also in him, and he shall bring it to pass.
Look at verse 7. Rest in the Lord and wait patiently for him.
Fret not thyself because of him who prospereth in the way.
Verse 8. Cease from anger and forsake wrath.
So real quick, just look at all the different terms that are being used here to describe what it might mean to wait upon the Lord.
To not fret, to cease from doing something, to trust in God, to wait for him to work.
To delight thyself also in the Lord, to meditate upon his word and wait for God to work.
Commit thy way unto the Lord.
Resting in the Lord and waiting, ceasing from anger. These are all a passive thing that we're doing.
These are things that we're ceasing from doing.
These are things that would describe us waiting upon the Lord in a passive sense.
Go over to Psalm 39, just a few pages over.
He says in Psalm 59, because of his strength, I will wait upon thee, for God is my defense.
Often in life, there's nothing we can do. We are faint. We are weary. We are exhausted.
We have reached the end of our rope. There's no more that we can do.
We are forced to wait upon God. Sometimes we get in positions in life where we go through things in life where the answer isn't obvious.
And often we might not even have the strength and the fortitude to do what needs to be done.
We might be at our wits end. That's when we have to wait upon the Lord.
We have to wait for God to move. We have to wait for God to do something.
We say we've tried everything. We've done everything we can do. And now we just have to wait for God to move on our behalf.
So that's the sense of waiting upon the Lord, I believe, that Isaiah is using there in Isaiah chapter 40.
Look at there in Psalm 39. It says in verse 1, I said, I will take heed to my ways that I sin not with my tongue.
I will keep my mouth with the bridle while the wicked is before me. I was dumb with silence.
I held my peace even from good and my sorrow was stirred.
So he's saying I kept silence, right? I kept my mouth with the bridle. I was dumb with silence. I held my peace. I didn't say anything.
Verse 3, my heart was hot within me while I was musing the fire burned. Then I spake I with my tongue.
So he's describing a season that he went through where he was waiting upon God.
Sometimes there's just nobody else to talk to. There's nobody else that can give us any answer that we haven't already heard.
There's really nothing more to say. We just have to be quiet. We just have to hold our peace and just wait for God to move on our behalf.
Sometimes we're going to find ourselves in places like that in life.
And it might bother us, you know, we might want to do more. Look at verse 3. It says, my heart was hot within me while I was musing the fire burned.
Then spake I with my tongue. Look at verse 12. Notice what he spake. Hear my prayer, O Lord, and give here unto my cry.
So when he decided to speak, who's he speaking to? He's speaking to the Lord.
Sometimes there's only one person that you could talk to about what's going on in your life. It's God.
Obviously, we talk to other people. We get they sympathize with us. They help us. They offer us words of comfort and encouragement.
But what more can they do besides that? They can't intervene on our behalf.
They can't interject themselves and act on our behalf often. But God can.
You know, we might be at our wits end. And, you know, I all I can do is brew you another cup of coffee and say, well, here's a little pick me up.
I don't know what else to help you with. You know, I'll give you some some advice, some just general advice.
But, you know, if we take these things to God, these issues that we have and wait upon him, you know, God will give us strength.
God will give us wisdom and understanding. Look at verse 13.
He said, Oh, spare me that I may recover strength before I go hence and be no more.
And again, that's kind of in context with Isaiah Chapter 40 ties in that if we do wait upon God.
That God will give us strength. They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength.
And the psalmist here in Psalm 39 said he kept silence, that he held his mouth with a bridle,
that he kept his peace and that what was his prayer, that he would recover strength.
Now, here's the thing. Why would God give strength to somebody?
Why would God even answer that prayer? Why would God renew the strength of those that wait upon him?
It's so that they would serve him. If you look there, he says, Spare me that I may recover strength before I go hence and be no more.
You know, he wants to serve God with his life. Go back to Isaiah Chapter number 40.
Isaiah Chapter number 40. So just an introduction. The first thing I want to look at this morning is the way that the word weight is used there in Isaiah Chapter 40.
It's this passive waiting, waiting upon God to move upon our half, to renew our spirit, to renew our strength,
to give us the ability to continue on in the Christian life.
He says in Isaiah Chapter 40 again, we'll look at verse 28. He says, well, look at verse 29.
He giveth power to the faint and to them that have no might.
He increases strength. Even the youth shall faint and shall be weary and the young man shall utterly fall.
But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. Why is God going to give us strength this morning?
Why is God going to answer the prayers of those that wait upon him?
Why would he give strength and power to us? So that we could serve him, so that we could continue to serve God.
You know, if we're finding ourselves often in Christian life or just life in general, feeling powerless,
not having the understanding that we want, not having the wisdom that we need, not having the ability to just move forward.
It just seems like we're dragging ourselves through life like like life is just this uphill battle all the way.
Maybe it's because we haven't prioritized God in our life. Maybe, you know, we're even asking God, God help.
God give me strength. God give me wisdom. God give me power. But God's saying, for what?
What are you going to do with it? Are you going to serve me with that power?
Are you going to serve me with that strength? Or are we going to just use it for other things?
Well, you know what? God's probably not going to give it to us then.
And we're just going to have to continue to do things in our own strength and in our own power, in our own might.
And then, you know, that then we're going to. But then here's the thing.
If we do that, if we continue in our own strength, you know, we shall utterly fall.
We will walk and be weary. We will run. We will faint. We won't mount up with, you know, with wings as eagles.
Because we're relying on the strength of our own flesh. The arm of flesh shall fail you.
You know, we can't serve God in the flesh. We can't serve God in our lives by our own strength.
And sometimes we have to be brought to our wits end. Sometimes we have to be brought to the place in life
where we are just going to cast all our care upon Him because He does care for us.
He says in verse 31, again, they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength.
If you would go over to Numbers chapter number three. So again, this word wait in Isaiah chapter 40,
obviously in the context of Isaiah 40, it's talking about a passive waiting.
They're waiting to be renewed by God. They're waiting for God to act on their behalf.
But why would God give strength so that we could serve Him?
And that's another way in which the word wait is used, where it's this active waiting.
If you look at Numbers chapter three verse five, the Lord spake unto Moses saying,
bring the tribe of Levi near and present them before Aaron the priest that they may minister unto him.
And they shall keep his charge and they shall charge the charge of the whole congregation
before the tabernacle of the congregation to do the service of the tabernacle.
And they should keep all the instruments of the tabernacle of the congregation
and the charge of the children of Israel to do the service of the tabernacle.
So He's saying the Lord speak unto Moses telling him to bring near the tribe of Levi
so that they can do work to keep his charge, to do service, to keep the charge again
and do the service of the tabernacle. He says that repeatedly in these few verses here.
He goes on and says in verse nine, and thou shalt give the Levites unto Aaron and unto his sons.
They are wholly given unto him out of the children of Israel and thou shalt appoint Aaron and his sons
and they shall wait on their priest's office. So here the word wait is being used in another way, isn't it?
He's not saying they're going to wait on their priest's office like they're standing in the line of DMV or something.
They're waiting at that line to be in the priest's office. The waiting that they're doing is keeping the charge.
The waiting that they're doing is the service of the tabernacle. That's what it means to wait in this context.
So why is God going to give strength to those that wait upon the Lord so that they can go and then wait upon the Lord
if you get the two meanings of the word? Yes, wait. Yes, lay our hand upon our mouth if we've done foolishly.
Maybe we need to just humble ourselves on the mighty hand of God and wait upon Him and allow God to renew our strength.
But once we have that strength, once we've been renewed, then it's time to go wait upon the Lord
in the sense that we're going to serve Him. Do something with that strength.
Once God gives us that renewal, we need to use that for Him. God's going to give us that strength.
We will mount up with wings as eagles if we wait upon the Lord in order to serve Him.
If you would, go over to Acts chapter number 16 where you see another use of, you know, maybe not of this word but the sense of it.
The Bible says in 1 Chronicles 23, the Levites were numbered from 20 years old and above
because their office was to wait on the sons of Aaron for the service of the house of the Lord
in the courts and in the chambers, in the purifying of all holy things and the work of the service of the house of God.
So Isaiah 40, we wait upon the Lord, we have our strength renewed, but we do that so that we can then go and wait upon the Lord
just as the Levites waited upon God by doing the work of the service.
And I'm preaching this because, again, a lot of people today, they don't want to do the work.
They don't want to be in the service of God. They don't want to be like the Levites back here and actually have to show up at church and do the work.
Hear the preaching of the word of God and put it into practice in their lives.
And if that's us, if we're not inclining our hearts to do the work of God, then don't expect any strength from Him.
And we have this inexhaustible source of strength and wisdom and understanding in God and He will freely give it unto us.
God giveth liberally unto those that will ask Him. If we ask for the Holy Spirit, He will give it to us.
But we're not going to ask for that because we know that God gives that to us so that we can do the work.
If we're not going to do the work, then don't expect anything from God. Don't expect His help. Help you to do what?
Lord, help me to do nothing. He's like, you've got that covered. You don't need any help from me to do nothing.
But you do need help from God to serve Him. And I get it. We all have the flesh. We all do get weary.
We all, you know, the work of God is work. It's called the work of the ministry. The work of an evangelist.
And we can't just live the Christian life expecting it to be just one thrill after another.
The Christian life is work. And look, work will wear you down. Work will make you weary.
You know, work is hard. We need strength to do work.
You know, all of you that get up in the morning and go to work, whether it's at home or you go out and you punch a clock,
or whatever it is, you go out and earn a living, you know, you probably don't jump out of bed every morning
just eager to go and have some boss tell you what to do and to go sweat and break your back and be frustrated
and deal with customers and everything else that comes along with working.
But you do it, don't you? You get up and do it anyway because it's what needs to be done.
Well, you know, the work of God is no different. The ministry is no different.
I'm not saying there isn't ever going to be, it's not, it's like, oh, it should never be fun. It should never be exciting.
It is. But, you know, it's, we can't expect the Christian life to just be this high point,
just this constant, just thrill ride all the way to the end of our days. It's just, it's just not reality.
That's why we need to wait upon God so that we can get the strength that we need so that we can go and wait upon God by serving Him.
Look at Acts chapter 16 and verse 2. It says,
Then the twelve called the multitudes of the disciples unto them and said,
It is not reason that we should leave the word of God and serve tables.
Right? So there was a dispute among the Grecians, the widows, because they weren't being served. Right?
They weren't having their needs met, the widows. Okay? So there's this, they're complaining.
They're saying, do something about it. Well, the twelve apostles are saying,
Our job is to preach and study and deliver the word of God. Okay?
It doesn't make any sense for us to go and serve tables, quite literally. Right? To go from house to house and give people food and help them and care for them.
Now, what would you call somebody who serves tables?
You went to a restaurant. Right? I know you guys know this because you're Baptist.
A waiter, right? Why do you call him a waiter? Because he's just, you know, he's like the guy at the bus stop and just sitting there waiting.
No, he's a waiter serves. So you can see how this word is used even in our modern vernacular to mean somebody who serves, who works, someone who waits upon you.
To wait upon somebody hand and foot. So yeah, Isaiah chapter 40. Let's wait upon the Lord.
Let's have our strength renewed. Let's mount up with wings. Let's run and not be weary. Let's walk and not faint in service to God.
But let's use that strength to wait upon Him, hand and foot.
He said in verse three,
Sometimes in the Christian life, you just got to get down to business. You know, there's work to be done.
It's just, you know, just business. I don't know what else to call it. You know?
He's saying it's just work. Just go do work. Okay?
So a waiter is someone who serves, someone who is doing work.
Now, a great example of this, of this waiting upon God to have your strength renewed and then going and waiting upon God in service,
you know, I believe is the prophet Elijah in 1 Kings 18, if you want to go there.
If you remember, in 1 Kings 18 is where you have Elijah battling with the prophets of Baal,
where they set up the altar and the prophets of Baal cut themselves and cry under Baal.
And he doesn't answer because he's not real. And then Elijah prays a quick prayer and the fire comes down from heaven.
It licks up the water that was poured around the altar. We all know the story. And they slay the prophets of Baal.
And then it says in verse 41,
So what's he doing here? Well, he's praying.
You know, he just got done serving God and working for God. He's, you know, bringing Israel back.
He's bringing revival to the land of Israel. He's bringing them back from their idolatry.
And now he's praying. It's like he's renewing his strength, right? He's going up there and he's praying.
He's waiting upon God to do something.
He says in verse 43,
So he's saying, God's moving. He's been waiting. He's saying, I'm going to wait here.
I'm going to put I'm going to get down on the ground and put my face between my knees, which is, you know, descriptive of prayer.
And then he's sending his servants seven times back and forth.
It's this idea that he's waiting. Right. And then, of course, God's moving and he's telling Ahab, hey, get out of here.
And it came to pass, meanwhile, that the heaven was black with clouds and wind and there was a great rain and Ahab rode.
It went to Jezreel. Right. Now, Ahab, obviously, it says he rode.
OK, so he's a chariot of some sort or maybe he's on horseback, but he's he has some other means of transportation to get to Jezreel.
Right. He's he's he's getting there quickly. And look at verse 46, and it says,
And the hand of the Lord was on Elijah, and he girded up his loins and ran before Ahab to the entrance of Jezreel.
So Ahab is somebody that rode, while Elijah is one that ran. OK, now, obviously, this is a supernatural phenomenon.
This was like a miracle that that I don't think Elijah was, you know, some, you know, phenomenal, you know, some phenom track star or something.
This is obviously a miracle because he's literally outrunning a horse, maybe even a team of horses, maybe a couple of horses.
Right. That's what it says here. It says that he ran before Ahab to the entrance of Jezreel. He outpaced him on foot.
OK. So you can see how that kind of ties in with Isaiah Chapter 40.
He's somebody that waited upon the Lord. His strength was renewed and he ran and was not weary.
In fact, he's able to outrun Ahab. Right. He was given the strength.
Look at 1 Kings 19, verse 1. It says,
And more, also, if I may not thy life as of one of them by tomorrow at this time, say, I'm going to, you know, just like you killed my prophets, I'm going to kill you.
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 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 fathers.
So, again, this is a picture of the Christian life. He has this great victory.
I mean, it's a pretty exciting story when Elijah is calling down fire from heaven and then they're taking all the prophets of Baal and killing them.
It's exciting. Right. Very high point in his life. And then he goes up in the mountain and he's waiting upon God and he's outrunning Ahab to Jezreel.
But then he gets the message from Jezebel that she's going to kill him.
And you would think after all that, that he would be trusting in God that he would not be afraid.
But, you know, he has this low point.
It says when he saw that, verse 3, he arose and went for his life.
So he's afraid that she's going to be able to carry through on this threat.
And he came to Beersheba, which belonged to Judah, and left his servant there.
But he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness and he came and sat down under a juniper tree.
So when he's going in his own strength, how far does he get? A day's journey.
When he's afraid, when he's not trusting God, when he's worried about what's going to happen,
when he's at the end of his rope, whatever you want to call it, you know, he's only able to go the day's journey.
The same guy who just, you know, in the previous chapter outran a beast, outran, you know, a chariot, a horse, whatever it was that Ahab's riding on.
You know, he, just after receiving that death threat, is discouraged and now in his own strength is able to go only a day's journey.
You know, if we attempt to serve God in our lives, you know, we're going to encounter resistance.
We're going to have people that are going to try to stop us.
And if we doubt God and try to do things in our own strength, we're not going to get very far.
And we'll even despair. I mean, look at his attitude here in this.
He says, it is enough, oh Lord, at the end of verse four, we'll back up.
And he requested for himself that he might die.
It's like, Elijah, you just called down fire from heaven.
You just brought rain after that great drought.
You have such power and influence with God.
And, you know, some little old Jezebel makes one little threat and all of a sudden you want to commit suicide?
You want life to just end?
But, you know, people get discouraged, don't they?
You know, ministry can be a very discouraging thing.
You know, things don't go the way you want.
You have setbacks.
You might even receive literal death threats from other people.
You know, Elijah wasn't the last one to have that happen.
People might, you know, persecute you.
You might have a SWAT team send to your house.
Someone might throw a bomb in your building.
Who knows?
It can be discouraging.
You might even feel like, you know, it's enough.
Take away my life.
I'm not better than my fathers.
You know, who am I?
I can't serve God like these other men of God.
I can't serve God like these other people that came before me.
Who am I?
You know, why should I even be trying?
Why should I even do this?
And verse 5, it says,
And as he lay and slept under a juniper tree,
behold, then an angel touched him and said unto him,
Arise and eat.
So what's he doing there?
Well, it sounds like he's waiting.
He said, this is as far as I can go.
This is as far as I was able to make in my own strength.
I can't go any further.
I've walked today's journey.
I'm out of steam.
I don't have any more in me.
My tank is running on empty.
So he just lays down and he sleeps.
And that's when God comes to him,
when there's no more that he can do in the power of his own flesh.
And he told him, Arise and eat.
And he looked, and behold, there was a cake baking on the coals
with a cruise of water at his head.
And he did eat and drink and laid him down again.
So what's he doing?
More waiting.
Sometimes in life we have to wait,
and then you need to wait some more.
And then you need to wait some more.
And then when you're done waiting, wait some more.
You know, we have to have patience in life.
And that waiting, you know, that's when we're going to be renewed.
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.
He's saying the distance that's still ahead of you,
the distance that you must travel,
you can't do it in your flesh.
Elijah, you're not going to be able to make it to the end.
He said the distance is too great for thee.
The journey is too far for you to go on your own.
Eat what I'm giving you.
Drink what I'm giving you.
Take your rest.
Wait upon me because you can't make it to the end on your own.
You will not make it to the end of the Christian life
serving God in the power of your own flesh.
You won't do it.
If we're not waiting upon God, if we're not praying,
reading God's word, being faithful to church,
mark it down.
He will not complete the journey.
He will not, like Paul, be able to say,
I have kept the faith.
You will not, like Paul, be able to say,
I finished my course.
You won't be able to say that there is a crown laid up for you.
There is a reward for you.
We have to acknowledge that the same can be said to us,
of this angel, as was said to Elijah,
that the journey of the Christian life is too great for us.
It's too much.
We can't do it in the power of the flesh.
Ministries cannot be built in the power of the flesh.
Families cannot be built in the power of the flesh.
Marriages cannot be built in the power of the flesh.
Marriages cannot be kept together or made better in the power of the flesh.
It won't happen.
You need God.
You need to wait upon God.
We don't like to hear that.
We like the whole bit about being carried on eagles' wings.
We like having our strength renewed.
We like soaring like the eagle.
We like all that poetic description of Isaiah chapter 40,
but that whole waiting part is kind of like,
how long is that going to take?
How long do I have to wait?
Is it going to be more than 30 minutes?
Can I get a number?
In the story, Elijah waits and then he wakes up and he says,
okay, now wait some more.
Just lay there.
What do you want to do?
Well, lay there.
Wait.
And I'll feed you more.
This is in verse 8.
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.
So, he's somebody who was able to wait upon God at the low point in his life.
And God fed him and God took care of him.
And then he goes 40 days and 40 nights, meaning he didn't eat.
And what God gave him was his sustenance for that journey.
And if we're going to make it to the end of the Christian life, like Elijah, if we're
going to draw an eye to God, we're going to have to go in the strength of God's spirit,
not our own.
Go to 2 Corinthians chapter number 12.
2 Corinthians chapter number 12.
I'll begin reading in verse 7.
It says, unless I should be exalted above measure, through the abundance of revelations
there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan, to buffet me, lest
I should be exalted above measure.
For this thing I besought the Lord thrice that it might depart from me.
So, we don't know what this thorn in the flesh, what it is that was given to Paul.
People speculate about what it is, but we just don't really know.
But we do know it was the messenger of Satan to buffet him.
And the purpose was that he wouldn't be exalted above measure.
Because you have to remember, Paul was given this abundance of revelations he had.
There were things that he said it was not lawful for me to speak, that God actually
forbid him from revealing to others.
He says in verse 8, for this thing I besought the Lord thrice that it might depart from
me.
And he said unto me, my grace is sufficient, for my strength is made perfect in weakness.
I mean, that sounds exactly like the story of Elijah.
When he's at his lowest point, when he goes that day's journey into the wilderness and
says, that's all the further I can go, and sits down on the juniper tree and requests
for himself that he might die when he's at the weakest point in his life, that's
when God shows up to help him.
That's when God says, well, that's where my strength is made perfect.
When you stop relying on yourself and start trusting in the Lord, when you stop trying
to do everything in the power of your own flesh and start to wait upon God, that's
when our strength is renewed.
That's when we can go in the power of God those 40 days and 40 nights.
And Paul said, and it's, you know, he says, my strength is made perfect in weakness, right?
He said unto me, my grace is sufficient for thee, for my strength is made perfect in weakness.
And Paul, does it say that he complained about it, that he said, oh, well, you know, that
doesn't sound very fair.
Why can't I just, you know, have that up front?
No, he said, most gladly, therefore, I will, I will rather, will I rather glory in my infirmities
that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
He said, well, if that's the case, then let me suffer.
He said, if that's the case, then I'll glory in this infirmity.
I'll glory in the fact that I'm weak.
I'll glory in the fact that I'm just flesh.
I'll glory in the fact that there's no good thing in me.
He says, I'll just go ahead and glory in that, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
He said, if me being weak and me being frail and me being just flesh means that it takes
the power of God to work in my life, then so be it.
Verse 10, therefore, I take pleasure in infirmities and reproaches and necessities and persecutions
and distresses for Christ's sake, for when I am weak, then I am, am I strong?
And look, if we're at the end of our rope, if we just feel like there's no more that
we can do, you're in the perfect place for God to start to work.
Go to Galatians chapter number six, Galatians chapter number six.
Look, if we want strength from God, we have to use it for His service.
God didn't renew Elijah's strength and say, well, go wherever you want.
You know, here, go 40 days and 40 nights, wherever you want.
No, he went to Mount Orib, and if you know the story, that's where he heard the still small voice.
He used that strength to just draw even closer to God, to go do a work, to climb up a mountain
and get close to God.
The Bible says in Galatians chapter six, be not deceived, God is not mocked.
For whatsoever man soweth, that shall he also reap.
For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption.
But he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.
Look at verse nine, and let us not be weary in well-doing.
Doing well is a wearisome thing sometimes, isn't it?
And if you don't think so, I wonder how much well-doing you're really trying to do.
Anyone who's tried to get over sin in their life, anyone who's tried to mortify the members of this flesh,
anybody who's tried to live a Christian life in all pleasing, you know, in all godliness,
and to be pleasing unto God, they know that's not easy.
You know, all the backslidden Christians who aren't really concerned with pleasing God in their lives,
they say, well, this isn't so hard.
You know, I just show up to church, I sit there, you know, try to keep awake.
You know, I don't get it. Is it really that hard? I don't get what's so hard in the Christian life.
If you don't think it's hard, you're not doing it right.
Christian life is hard.
I don't understand, Paul. What do you mean it's weary? Let us not be weary in well-doing.
Because doing well is wearisome.
It's hard to resist temptation. It's hard to go against the flesh.
It's hard to take a stand against this world.
It's hard to continue to serve God every single day of our lives. It's work.
You know, and that's why we need to wait upon God.
You want to wait upon God? You want to serve God?
Well, then you need to wait upon God so that He can renew your strength.
Go to 2 Corinthians chapter number 4. 2 Corinthians chapter number 4.
Paul said in 2 Corinthians chapter number 4,
Therefore, seeing we have this ministry, as we receive mercy, we faint not.
He's saying we have this ministry, and we faint not. Why? Because we have received mercy.
Ministry and serving God is not something that can be done in the power of the flesh.
It can't be done in the flesh. Look at verse 2,
But we have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness,
nor handling the word of God deceitfully, but by manifestation of the truth,
commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God.
But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost.
We know this passage.
He said in verse 6,
For God, who commanded light to shine out of darkness, has shined in our hearts
to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
God wants to use us to shine the gospel in a dark world.
That's kind of what he's saying here in verse 6.
God, who commanded light to shine out of darkness.
Just like God said in the beginning,
Let there be light. God commanded that.
In the same way, he's commanding that that same light,
well not that literal light, but the light of the gospel,
the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ, would shine in our hearts
to give light unto the knowledge of the glory of God.
God wants us to be a light in this world.
He said that as a city set apart,
as a city set upon a hill, it can't be hid.
To not put our light under a bushel.
And let me tell you something, that's not easy.
It's not easy.
It's not easy to be that light that God has commanded us to be.
Right? You can't do it.
That's the ministry that we have received.
And it's only by his mercy that we faint not.
It's only by his mercy that we're able to renounce these things.
It's only by his mercy that we're going to be able to have
that same light shine in our hearts to give knowledge to the glory of God.
Look at verse 7.
We have this treasure in earthen vessels.
This glorious treasure of the gospel of Jesus Christ
has been given unto us.
And what are we?
Nothing.
We're weak. We're frail. We're sinful.
We are earthen vessels.
And the Bible says that God has chosen the weak things,
the base things of this world to confound the things that are mighty,
to confound those things that,
the powerful things of this world.
God has used us, earthen vessels.
To what purpose?
That the excellency of the power may be of God and not of us.
The reason why God has chosen that, us, earthen vessels,
is so that we can't do it in our strength.
You say, oh man, it's so hard to live the Christian life.
Yeah, it's supposed to be that way.
It's hard to serve God.
It's supposed to be that way.
If it were easy, everyone would do it.
If it were easy, everybody would be serving God.
But they don't because they don't.
But they don't because it is hard.
But because it's hard, God gets the glory for it.
Anything that is accomplished for God on his behalf,
you know, it goes, is a credit to God.
He's the one that gets the glory for it.
He said in verse 8, we are troubled on every side,
yet not distressed, we are perplexed, but not in despair,
persecuted, but not forsaken, cast down, but not destroyed.
I mean, who would sign up for that?
Who in their right mind would say, yeah, let me have something to do?
Yeah, let me have some of that.
Persecution, despair, sounds good to me.
Satan buffeting me.
Where, you know, where it's just, give me the pen.
Where do I sign?
Always bearing about in the body of the dying in the Lord Jesus
that the life of Jesus may be manifest also,
excuse me, may be manifest in our body.
Look at verse 16, he said, no, verse 15,
for all things are for your sakes.
Paul's saying, look, we do all these things, we're persecuted,
we go through all this for the sake of other people.
You know, why are you going to serve God?
Why would you wait upon God?
Why would you do that?
So that you would serve others.
And if, you know, we just treat the Christian life as, you know,
with this attitude of what can I get out of it?
You know, you're in it for the wrong reasons.
Because it sounds to me like what you get out of it is persecution.
What you get out of it is, you know, battling your flesh.
What you get out of it is just trials.
What you get out of it is a lot of hard things.
You know, that's what you get out of it.
Right? And I understand there's more, we do get other things out of it, folks.
I'm not trying to paint the Christian life like it's this drudgery that we just endure.
But at the same time, you know, there are a lot of negative things that come along with it.
There's a lot of trials and difficulties that come along with it. It's hard.
Why do we do it?
For the sake of other people.
For your sakes.
That the abundant grace might, through the thanksgiving of many,
redound to the glory of God.
For which cause we faint not.
Why don't we faint?
So that God can be glorified.
So that we can just keep serving God and keep glorifying God.
Though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed by day by day.
You know, Paul had the right attitude about this.
He said, we're doing all these things for your sake.
We're doing all these things for the glory of God.
That's why we don't faint.
That's why we wait upon God.
That's why our strength is renewed in the inward man.
Even though this flesh is just going to keep getting weaker and weaker and older and less effective,
yet the inward man is going to be renewed every single day.
So that's my message this morning.
It's just trying to encourage us to continue to serve God.
Even when it's hard, because serving God will be hard.
It's going to be difficult.
There's going to be seasons where you don't feel like it.
There's going to be times where the flesh is just going to tell you to give up.
When the world is going to just be calling you back.
When others around you are just going to be questioning why you're doing the things that you do.
And you're going to even maybe question yourself, why am I even doing this?
And if our motives aren't right, we're not going to be compelled to wait upon God.
A lot of people might just throw in the towel.
But what we need to do when we get in that position is wait upon the Lord.
And when God does renew our strength, understand that it's for another reason.
So that we might wait upon the Lord.
So that we might serve Him.
That's why God wants to strengthen us.
And the more sincere we are in our desire to serve God.
The more quickly and more abundantly God is going to bestow His grace and mercy upon us.
And renew us in the inward man.
Let's go ahead and close in a word of prayer.
Dear Lord, again thank you for your word.
Lord I pray that you would use something that was said this morning to edify your people Lord.
And Lord that you would help us Lord to be renewed in the inner man this week.
Lord that when we're tired.
When we're weary.
When we're worn.
Lord that we would seek your face.
And Lord understand that we need you in this life in order to serve you.
Lord that we can only do so much in our flesh.
And that we will fail if we attempt to do things in the flesh.
Lord that we must wait upon God.
Lord help us to do that.
And Lord help us to be renewed in the inward man.
We ask these things in Christ's name.
Amen.
Alright we'll go ahead.
Let's see one more psalm before we go.
We'll go ahead and listen to the psalm number 66.
The psalm number 66, Pat Calvary.
Number 66.
The psalm number 66, Pat Calvary.
The psalm number 66.