If I had backed up here or what was going on, and I'm just, I'm thankful for faithful members that was willing to make the trip to come out here and be with us. Got a fellow over here that's been visiting from Oklahoma, a family member of some of our church people. Uh, he left our church a week or so ago, heading to Shenandoah Valley, and he called me last night, or texted me last night, and he said, I'm going to see you in Monticello. I said, alright. Amen. So, the Lord brought him full circle, and here he is with us. So, um, like I said, thankful to be here, thankful for the brethren that I've got to meet that I didn't, um, hadn't met before. Um, but anyway, that's enough of the pleasantries. If you'll go ahead and turn your Bibles to 1 Kings chapter 19. You all have saw my coat. I wore a coat. But I'm taking it off. It is hot. 1 Kings chapter 19 tonight. I've been blessed by all the singing. So thankful for that. Thankful for the young ladies singing. Thankful for the young man up here playing the guitars. I haven't seen everybody over here singing while ago. It's been awesome. It's been a blessing. First Kings chapter 19 tonight, beginning in verse 1, it says, And Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, 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 a 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 a juniper tree. And he requested for himself that he might die, and said, is it 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 baking on the coals, and a crucible 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 into strength of that meat forty days and forty nights, into the horror of the mount of God. And he came to 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 very jealous for thee, for the Lord God of hosts, for the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thy lockers, and slain thy prophets with the sword. And I, even I, only am left, and they seek my life to take it away. And he said, go forth and stand upon the mountain before the Lord. And behold, the Lord passed by, and a great strong wind rent the mountains, and breaking pieces of 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 in of their cave, and behold, there came a voice unto him, and said, What doest thou hear, Elijah? And he said, I have been very jealous for the Lord God of hosts, because of the children of Israel. I have forsaken thy covenant, and throw down thine offers, and slain the prophets with the sword. And I, even I only, am left, and they seek my life, 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 Haziel to be the king over Syria. And Jehu, the son of Nimshi, shalt thou anoint to be the king over Israel. And Elisha, the son of Shaphat, of Abel, of Mahola, shalt thou anoint to be the prophet in thy room. And it shall come to pass that him that escapeth the sword of Haziel shall Jehu slay, and him that escapeth from the sword of Jehu shall Elisha slay. yet have left me 7,000 in Israel, all the knees which have not bowed unto Baal, and every mouth which hath not kissed him." I want us to think about tonight encouragement and the discouragement. Encouragement and the discouragement. Verse 15, he said, Go return on thy way to the wilderness of Damascus. Let's go to the Lord in prayer. Dear Lord, we come to you tonight So thankful and grateful to be able to be here tonight, to be here in your house to worship with our brothers and sisters in Christ. Lord, I'm so thankful, Lord, that you've allowed us to be a part of this thing of your service, Lord, as Brother Frank read there a while ago, Lord, that it's all because of you, Lord, that we're able to come out and we're able to worship. And we give you the glory and the praise tonight, Lord, and we're so thankful for the song service this evening, Lord. And now tonight, Lord, we pray for this message. Lord, I pray, Lord, that you just, you remove me completely from this message, that I'm only your vessel, Lord, to spew forth your words as you would have me go forth. And we know these words won't return unto you, Lord, and Lord, I pray that you stir in all the hearts this evening, even mine included tonight, Lord. Lord, help us tonight, Lord, as we hear from you and we hear what you have to say to us, Lord, and Lord, that we find the encouragement and the discouragement. And Lord, tonight, if there's someone here tonight, Lord, that's struggling with something or dealing with something, Lord, I pray that you help them, Lord, to see that you're there, to see that there's work still to be done, to see that there's a calling still there. And Lord, there's someone here tonight, Lord, that's lost, that doesn't know you as our Lord and Savior. Help them to see that you are the great Almighty, that you are the King of kings, and you are the Lord of lords. And they need to turn their life over to you before it's everlasting too late. Lord, I pray tonight for the remainder of this service. I thank you once again for everyone that's gathered here. And Lord, I pray that you just be with all the prayer requests that was mentioned earlier, and even those that this church knows of, and many others that wasn't even spoken of, Lord. You know each and every one of those. Tonight, we thank you, Lord. And we praise you, and I ask for forgiveness of my many sins and my many failures, Lord. In Jesus' name, we ask these things. Amen. So here we are. kind of in the middle of a story, if you will, about Elijah. I'm not going to turn over and we're not going to grab the whole story. We're not going to read the whole story. But many times when we think about Elijah, you know, we like to think about the big picture of Elijah. We want to think about Elijah being taken up in a whirlwind and, you know, that's an awesome story and that's an awesome thought. However, Elijah had trials along his way he had he had obstacles along his way he had things that he had to do that God had called him to do that he had to be obedient and he had to trust God and walk by faith and live by faith and follow through with those things before he could be taken up in that world. So I want us to kind of back up, we'll kind of back up to chapter 17, and we're not going to go back and read none of that, but this is for you to take home and read. But in chapter 17, we get introduced to this man named Elijah. During a time of drought, during a time where there hadn't been no dew or rain for so many years, and they was in famine, they was going through a whole lot of things, and we have to say and have to believe that they brought a lot of this stuff on themselves. for the sake of following after the false god bell, for following after other things, and going into idol worship, we have to think about they brought these things on themselves. And I'm sure we could think about this as our country tonight, as things that's going on in our world tonight, we bring a lot of things on ourselves. But we're introducing this man, Elijah, a man that was called of God, a man that was loved of God, loved enough that he didn't have to face death. However, he went through trials and tribulations. And I want us to think about those things, and I want us to think about different things that he endured. God had called him and sent him to go to the brook of Cherith. God taught him while he was there that he would take care of him. God promised him that he would take care of him, that he would give provisions for him there. What did Elijah do? Did Elijah just sit back and wait? No. Elijah gathered up and he went. And you know what God did? God provided the provisions. God took care of him while he was there. And then God called him again and said, now it's time for you to get up and it's time for you to go and find this widow woman. And so he goes to this widow woman and the widow woman says, I don't have enough to take care of me and my son, let alone take care of you too. And Elijah says, well, the Lord said you do. And the Lord's going to take care of us. So you know what happens? She makes him some bread. She gives him some water. The Lord provided. Then the little boy gets sick. The woman gets upset. Why are you here? Why did you come to my house? She did not understand, you know, why he was there, but she was like, are you here because of my sins? Are you here to convict me of my sins? Are you here to call out my sins? Am I gonna be punished because of my sins and my son's gonna die? Elijah says, let me see that son. Takes him up, goes up, prays for him. The little boy is healed, he's lifted up. The woman now realizes Hey, wait a minute. This man is a man of God. Hey, wait a minute. He's come here, and he's come here on faith, and he has faith in God, and he has trust in God, and God has provided. God has delivered. He has healed my son, and this is a man of God. So, you know, you can imagine how I'm just feeling right now. Hey, you know, I went to this brook where God sent me to go and I went there and there's, you know, he provided all these things for me and I went to this woman's house and I got fed, she got fed, we all got fed and the little boy got healed and here we go. I'm just, I'm living high on a hog. Things are going my way. Now you brethren that are pastors, that are preachers, that are called, you've had these moments. Things are going your way. I, you know, you get to preach in Revival, and it's, you know, it's awesome. You get to go to special services, and you preach all week long, and you can feel the spirit stirring, and you just, everybody's just, you know, making over you, because you're the resident preacher. You're the resident family. Everybody's making over you. You know, these people are something else. But then you get your rehab when you start home, and things begin to unravel. I know. I've talked to some of you tonight. And I'm in that same situation. Then we get over to chapter 18. God sends Elijah and Ahab to go get Obadiah. Obadiah feared the Lord. Ahab, on the other hand, he was falling out the veil. Oh, but I for fear of his sins, he didn't know what was going on. And, you know, he was listening to jazz bell. He was he was doing things that he shouldn't be doing. So, you know, everybody's starting to question, you know, what is who is this man? Where'd he come from? Why is he here? And lodges been sent by God to go and to rebuild them and to show them who God really is. He's a man of God. So we get to chapter 18 and we can see, we can look down to verse 18, chapter 18. And you can see there the calling that God had on Elijah. You can see what he was telling him to do. If you look down to verse 18, let's start in verse 17 if we want to. And it came to pass when Ahab saw Elijah that Ahab sent unto him, Art thou he that troubleth Israel? And he answered, I have not troubled Israel, but thou and my father's house, and that ye have forsaken the commandments of the Lord, and thou hast followed Baal. Now therefore send and gather to me all Israel unto Mount Carmel, and the prophets of Baal four hundred and fifty, and the prophets of the groves four hundred, which eat at Jezebel's table. So Ahab sent unto all the children of Israel, and gathered the prophets together unto Mount Carmel. He gathers them all around. He brings them all around. He's like, you all are worshiping Baal. I'm not going to read the rest of the story. You all are worshiping Baal. And these over here, we worship Israel. And we're going to have two bullocks come. And we're going to let you choose the bigger bullock, because there's more of you all. And you all need to make the choice and make the decision which one you all want. And he tells them to get that bullock. And he tells them to do everything there is to do, to lay the wood, to do everything they need to do. We don't like no fire in here. And he says, you all call upon your God. You all call upon your God, and if he brings fire down, then that's the God that we'll worship. And then when you get done doing your thing, we're going to come over here, and we're going to call upon our God, and if he brings fire down, that's the God we're going to worship. So they come over here, and they're like, we got this. So they get everything together, they get everything squared away. They call upon and bail their God. Elijah says, you might want to call a little bit louder. He ain't listening. So they call louder, don't they? And they call louder. Elijah goes over here and he tells them how to get everything ready. He tells them how to get everything prepared. He tells them to dig a ditch around it. He tells them to do all these things. And he calls upon his God. God Almighty. And when he calls upon his God, what happens? The fire came down. Amen. The fire came down just exactly how he had told them it would. And he says, verse 36, And it came to pass at the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice that Elijah the prophet came near and said, Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and of Israel, let it be known this day that thou art God in Israel, and that I am thy servant, and I have done all these things at thy word. Hear me, O Lord, hear me. that this people may know that thou art the Lord God, and thou hast turned their heart back again. Then the fire of the Lord fell, and consumed the burnt sacrifice, and the wood, and the stones, and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench. When all the people saw it, they fell on their faces, and they said, the Lord, he is the God, the Lord, he is the God. And Elijah said unto them, take the prophets of Baal. Let not one of them escape. And they took them. And Elijah brought them down to the brook Kidron and slew them there. You see what took place there? The real God showed. The real God showed who he was. The real God revealed himself who he was. What happened to that idol over there in Baal that he was worshiping? What happened there? Nothing. It didn't matter how hard they cried, it didn't matter how hard they worshipped, it didn't matter anything, that God was not going to do anything for them. But Elijah says, Lord God Almighty, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob, show who you are, prove to us who you are. And when that fire came down, not only did it come down and consume that sacrifice, but it licked up the water and everything that was there. That's how powerful God came down and revealed himself. Once again, Elijah's been able to minister to those people. Once again, he's been able to reveal who God is. Then we get to chapter 19. And Ahab goes and tells Jezebel all that Elijah had done. This man, Elijah, he came, and he showed us who the real God was, and we're not to worship Bell no more, and he done all these mighty acts and everything, and he is a man of God, and he called upon God, and God revealed himself who he is. That's the one we gotta worship. Jezebel gets angry. Sets out after Elijah, gonna kill Elijah. And here we are again. Elijah goes off to hide, goes off to get away. Then still a small voice comes along. Well, an angel comes along and tells him, rise and eat. Then an angel comes along again, arise and eat the second time. Because he knew that there was more work to be done. Because he knew there was more souls out there, if you will. There was more individuals out there. There was more work to be done than Elijah needed to do, so he needed to arise and eat. It wasn't time for him to soar up over the corner and say, oh, woe is me, and the Lord just take my life and go ahead and get me out of here. He had to button up, didn't he? He had to suit up. He had to gather up. There was more to do. Man, I'm not going to ask you tonight. How many times have you been in this situation? When things are going good and things seem to be, you know, just going the way that you think it should go, then all of a sudden oppositions arise. Maybe family arises. Maybe people arises. And all of a sudden you start feeling sorry for yourself and you say, Lord, who am I? Lord, why did you call me to this? Or why? You know, why? Why did I have to go do that? And why did I have to go say those things? Because now all of a sudden my life is in danger. Been there. Man, you've been there. Maybe some of you ladies have been there. So there he is hiding out in that cave. And the Lord appears to him, the Lord comes to him, and the Lord tells him, get up, get back on your road to Damascus. Get up and get back on your road to Damascus. That's our message tonight, folks. We got to get up and we got to get back to doing what we've been called to do. If you're a man of God tonight, if you're a pastor tonight, if you're a preacher, if you're a minister, whatever you are, you are called to preach and teach the gospel. I don't care how rough it gets, how bumpy the road gets, we're to continue on preaching and teaching the gospel. If you're not called of God to be a preacher or a pastor or anything like that, you're called to go and to teach and to preach the gospel. We're all called to go. We're all called to be ministers. We're all called to go out and witness. And I'm going to tell you, it gets hard. I'm going to tell you, it gets rough. I'm going to tell you, it gets lonely. But you're called to go. You're called to serve. Just as Brother Clint read in Romans chapter 12. We can't do none of those things without God going with us, without the Holy Spirit going with us. And so we've got to lean upon the Holy Spirit. We've got to lean upon God, and we've got to put our faith in Him. We've got to put our trust in Him that He's going to take care of us. I've been to many a places that He didn't think the provisions would be there, but God provided. Time and time again. You know, we as individuals, we get to the woe is me's. We get into the feelings starting for ourselves. But you know, just like Elijah, God showed up at the right time. Time and time again, God showed up at the right time. In your life, in my life, God shows up at the right time. And he puts us in places, he puts us in areas that we can't even imagine, can't even begin to dream of. God puts us there for a reason. Elijah, time and time and time again, you know, he was going from one place to another, to another, to another. God was in every one of those places. We've been placed in places, you know, we've been put in places time and time and time again and God is in every one of those places. And he shows up at the right time and he shows up every time. God shows us who he is every day. God was with Elijah and he proved to him who he was every day. You know, we, like I said, we want to think about Elijah. We want to go to the end of the story, and we want to think about him being taken up in the world. I'm a saved individual, and I hope that you're not a saved individual. And I know one day that I'm going to glory, and I know one day that the Lord's going to call me out of here, whether it's through death or wherever it is, and I know one day that I'll be there in eternity with my Lord and Savior. But I can't look at that part of it. I've got to look at the now. I've got to look at where I'm at now, and I've got to take this day by day, step by step. Each step of the way, we've got to go with the Lord, and we've got to let Him lead us, and we've got to let Him follow us. Turn with me to 1 Peter chapter 4. So Steve, I'm not going to drink all this water, so you'll have some tomorrow. If I don't have it. 1 Peter chapter 4. Hey, we gotta have fun, don't we? And it's good to have fun. It's good to have fun with our brothers and sisters in the Lord. 1 Peter chapter 4, verse 12. Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you. Hmm. How many of you all been through them fiery trials? Maybe you're going through that fiery trial. Maybe you're going through something. As though some strange thing happened unto you. But look at verse 13. If you highlight it in your Bible, if you circle it in your Bible, whatever you do in your Bible, if you can just remember that, but rejoice. But rejoice for as inasmuch as you are partakers of Christ's sufferings, that when his glory shall be revealed, you may be glad also with exceeding joy. If you be reproached for the sake of Christ, for the name of Christ, happy are ye, for the spirit of glory and of God rested upon you. On their part he is evil spoken of, but on your part he is glorified. This is where it hits home. But let none of you suffer as a murderer, as a thief, as an evildoer, as a busybody, in the eye of the other man's matters. Yet if any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God on this behalf. You see, we got to remove ourselves from sin. We got to remove ourselves from those acts of sin and dwelling in sin, and we must continue on in this calling that we're called, and we must suffer as a Christian. Your name means a whole lot tonight, folks. And if you're going in other things, if you're dabbling in other things, if you're introducing yourself to other things, then you're not following the way that God calls you to follow. We are to follow Him and to act as a Christian. Elijah had a following faith. He had a walking faith and he had to be obedient. When he got to where all that idol worship was going and all that worship of Baal and everything, Elijah had to remain strong. He had to remain strong and he had to remain faithful to his God. That in the end, his God would be glorified. He didn't give in to those that was doing other things. It was just like, well, you all do your own thing. Elijah stood up and he was like, wait a minute. My God is the God. He took a stand and he made a stand. He says, if any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God on this behalf. For the time has come that judgment must begin at the house of God. And if it first began with us, why shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God? And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear? Wherefore, let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls to Him in well-doing, as unto a faithful friend. You know, sometimes God's Word just puts it in black and white just as plain, don't it? Peter says it just as plain as anybody can say it. Let the judgment start right here at the house of God. When I look around tonight, that's where we're at. You, me, all of us. We're all here tonight. We're all part of this conference. We're all part of this work tonight. And God's in this tonight, and he's been here tonight, and he's revealed himself to us tonight. And I believe time and time and time again we face these oppositions. I believe time and time again we face discouragements. I believe time and time again God reveals himself to us. of who he is, and that we are to remain faithful. We're to be encouraged in our discouragements tonight, folks. We're to be encouraged in our discouragements. God taught Elijah to get up, get out of that cave, quickly apologize for yourself. I got this. Get back on the road to Damascus where you was headed. And I've got some kings to set in order, and I've got Elisha, and I've got to use you to get to Elisha. I've got all these things that's got to take place. So he said, it's time for you to get out of here, and let's go. You know, sometimes God don't exactly tell us the people we're going to encounter by name. He don't exactly tell us the individuals or the places that we might go. Then all of a sudden, we're here. All of a sudden, we're here. And you know how easy it is? Well, you just don't know what I'm in for this week. You just don't know how hard it was to get down here tonight. You just don't know how hard it's going to be to be back here tomorrow. How hard is it going to be to be back here Sunday? For my church people, I hope you're at Rolling Hills Sunday. But we can get discouraged. We can get disheartened. And we can get to the place that we say, woe is me. You know, I have to think about when God revealed himself there to Elijah there in that cave. And you know, you had the thunder and you had the wind and you had the lightnings and all those things. It says God wasn't in that, but God was in that still small voice. You know what that thundering and those lightnings and all those things was? That was God coming to the scene. That was how God showed up. He showed up to the scene, but then he spoke in that still small voice. Sometimes, folks, we need that shaking. Sometimes we need that waking up. Sometimes we need just to get grabbed a hold of and just shake and say, get up. There's still work to do. You know, when I think about that word Christian that Peter put out there, and I think about myself as a Christian, I think about myself as what is a Christian, one that believes in Jesus Christ, one that accepts Jesus Christ, that he died for me, that he rose again for me, and that he sets his right hand to God, and that one day he's coming back for me, and that I'm covered by the blood. I think about all that. But then I think about where I'm at in all that. My Bible tells me that by the grace of God, I am who I am. My Bible tells me that I'm only saved because of grace. Not of works, not of anything that I've ever done, but it's because of His grace. My Bible also tells me in Galatians that the life that I'll now live is not for me, but it's the Christ that lives in me. My Bible also tells me that I'm not to surrender myself, give, you know, do myself, give into myself, but I'm to surrender myself to the Lord. I'm to yield myself to God. Nowhere in there do I see myself. Nowhere in there do I see poor, pitiful Brother Taylor, or poor, pitiful any one of you all. What I see is God being glorified. What I see is his faith in God. What I see is his trust in God. What I see is his yielding to God. And what I see is the provisions that God provides along the way, time and time again. Even when that lady didn't think she had enough to feed her and her son, God provided for Elijah and he provided for that lady. Even when you think you don't have what you think you need or whatever, God provides along the way. You know, we all have our talents, we all have our skills, and we all have things that we can do for the Lord. And you know what that is. Every one of you, you know what you're good at. I can't imagine how it must have felt when Elijah was there in that cave and he felt sorry for himself and he just wanted to die. And God's showing up. God shows up at the right time, folks. And there's some of you all here tonight. God has showed up in your life and you know it. There's some of you here tonight that you're looking around and you're waiting on God and God's there. And maybe he just needed to walk up and smack you in the back of the head, but he's there. I want to tell y'all something. I'm not a singer. At all. But the Lord played a song on my heart. And I want y'all to sing it with me, because I want y'all to drown me out. Turn to page 369 in your books. Page 369 in your books, and we're going to sing it all together. This is how we're going to close this service out tonight. Isaiah 69. All the way my Savior leads me, what have I to ask to sign? Can I doubt His tender mercy? who through life has been my guide. Heavenly peace, divinest comfort, clear my faith in Him to dwell. For I know whatever befall me, Jesus doeth all things well. For I know of every body, Jesus doeth all things well. All the way my Savior leads me, cheers each winding path I tread. Gives me grace for every trial, feeds me with the living bread. Though my weary steps may falter, and my soul a curse may be, gushing from the rock before me, ♪ Oh, a spring of joy I see ♪ ♪ Gushing from the rock before me ♪ ♪ Oh, a spring of joy I see ♪ ♪ All the way my Savior leads me ♪ ♪ Oh, the fullness of His love ♪ Earthly rest to Thee is promised in Thy Father's house above. When my spirit closed in mortal, Waited twice to entertain. This my song through endless ages, Jesus led me all the way. This my song through endless ages, Jesus, lead me all the way. I thank you tonight, brothers and sisters. Dear Lord, we come to you tonight. Oh, Lord. I thank you tonight, and I praise you that you called me to be yours. And, Lord, may we be encouraged tonight in discouragement. May we be lifted up tonight, Lord. Lord, there's work to be done out there, and you know it. May we get back on that Damascus trail. May we put our heads down, may we put our feet on the ground, and may we just keep on keeping on. And know that in the end, when we're clothed and mortal, we can say, Jesus led me all the way. Lord, I pray tonight for everybody that's gathered here. Lord, you know the hearts of everybody tonight. help them to yield to you, help them to surrender to you. In Jesus name we ask these things. Amen. Brother Clarence. Let's all stand together.