The things that we need to learn about the life of Elijah, and this is now the fourth part of it. First Kings chapter 17. First Kings chapter 17. Please all stand please, if you can, please all stand. And First Kings chapter 17 verses, 17 to 24, let's read this responsibly. I will read verse number 17, you respond verse number 18, and all the way to verse number 24, being the last verse, we will read that all together. Verse 17, the Bible says, and it came to pass, after these things, that the son of the woman, the mistress of the house, fell sick, and his sickness was so sore that there was no breath left in him. And he said unto her, give me thy son. And he took him out of her bosom and carried him up into a loft. where he abode and laid him upon his own bed. And he cried unto the Lord and said, O Lord, my God, I pray thee, let this child's soul come into him again. And Elijah took the child and brought him down out of the chamber into the house and delivered him unto his mother. And Elijah said, Thy son, leave it together, verse number 24. And the Lord said to Elijah, now pray this, my Lord, that our time in the land of God and the work of the Lord in the house is true. Our Father in heaven, bless your word this time, Lord. And once again, Lord, we thank you for your favor upon us. Thank you, Lord, for allowing us to come tonight. I pray that your Holy Spirit will begin to work and that our hearts are ready to receive your instruction and receive your principles, Lord, that we need to learn in our lives. Bless, Lord, your people once again. Thank you for your faithfulness to come even in this evening service. And bless all of us tonight in Jesus' name, I pray. Amen, please be seated. Now, as you follow this series that we had, we talked about Elijah and the situation there, or the woman when Elijah was first arrived to the place in Saripac and Elijah was asking for water and the woman, you know, trying to provide what Elijah would want to ask and then later on Elijah was asking for a morsel of bread or just a small amount of bread. And the woman disclosed to Elijah the problem, the problem that they are facing, and the situation was so severe. After one year of drought, there's no rain, there's no food around, there's little water, but there's no more flour, there's no more oil, and what have been left was those little amount of flour, little amount of oil. And the woman, Perhaps together with the family, grace the future and that the future would be so bad for them that they are thinking of dying because there's no more food around. And Elijah was asking, you know, the woman to do the, you know, bake that cake and give me first. Give me a little first. Do not eat anything from it. Give me first. And he encouraged the woman to just do it, and then give me first, and the Lord will provide the food that you need. And again, it happened, the woman believed in Elijah, and Elijah was so blessed in that part of the town, in Saripat, because the Lord performed that miracle, and the woman also, was saved from starvation and the family and they are there. And it seems like that is now the place or a new home for Elijah because there is this provision of God and the Lord so faithfully providing the needs, every single meal, every single day, the Lord has provided the need of the woman because the woman believed the word of Elijah. And again, they have now arrived to that, they're single, and it seems like the Lord has provided all their needs, and everything was now becoming so easy, and the life of the woman, all the troubles of the woman has now been solved. Were they really solved? Is it really the end of the story? No, no, because as you can see here, it's not really a good situation now, because this time, they have encountered this problem. We do not know what caused of this death. We do not know what happened to this child. And this child, the Bible says here, is very sick, so sore, and that there's no breath left in him. And in other words, this child now is dead. He is dead. And because of that, the problems now that the woman face is more than the previous one. So here you see both of these people here mentioned in this scenario, the woman and also Elijah, both of these people are believers. Elijah believe in God. The woman also believe in God. And both of them now, they live by faith because every single meal, when they finish their meal, there's none there. There's no more flour there. But come the next meal, the flour will arrive again. The flour will be there again for them to survive for the next meal. So again, these people here, they all live by faith. They have faith in God, and again, the problem, just like you and I, each one of us here tonight, we all believe in God, and be careful with that, because that is not the end of the story. All of us that believe in God will face the destiny. If you believe in God tonight, Brace yourself that it might be that the Lord will place us, will put us in a place of testing. And what will be your response when testing comes? Because here, both of this, Elijah and this woman, both of them, they believe in God. They're so glad that there was a miracle every single meal. They're so happy that they are provided. All the rest of the world are starving. Perhaps every single day, family after family, death visits the homes, all over the place, but not in the home. Because the Lord has been providing them every single meal. But they have faith in God, but there is this testing that comes their way. You see, if we are believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, We have to expect testing. I'm not saying that you pray for testing to come. In fact, we will ask the Lord, please, Lord, do not put me into testing. Do not put me into testing, because I do not know my faith. I might falter there. I might not be able to stand. Lord, please, do not put me in testing. That's our prayer. We don't want testing. Who wants to suffer? But in saying that, We don't want to suffer, but if suffering comes, if suffering comes, for the sake of the Lord Jesus Christ, we'll take it. We'll take it. The Lord Jesus Christ said, Father, take this cup from me. But not my will be done, but thine be done. In other words, what he's saying, Father, do not put me into this cup of suffering, but if you place me there, I will take it. The same thing with us. We don't want testing in our lives. We don't want sufferings in our lives. We don't like it. But if the Lord will place us there, by the grace of God, we will take it. Without grudging. Without resentment. Because we know that God, whatever God is doing, God is only doing it for good. For all things. You know? Work together for good. To them that love God. To them who are called according to his purpose. You see, by the way, we will give space for the baby. You know, the baby is very important in our service. Because if it's so quiet, I feel like people are sleeping. But if there's a baby around and the baby will start to cry, That's another, sorry. All right. Again, the testing comes, and it is not easy. This is not easy. But we know that the Lord is always in control in every situation in our lives. In Philippians chapter one, verse number 59, The Bible says here, for unto you, it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe in on him, but also to suffer for his sake. I tell you, the imagination of suffering, it's really bearable in our mind. No, we suffer for the Lord, that's okay. But when we come to the point of suffering, I think it might change. our minds might change. Why I say that? Because before, I was not afraid to die, I was not afraid to suffer. You know, if I suffer for the Lord, that's fine. And again, it's really fine, but the thing is, when you come to maybe to my part now in this phase of life, I have children, I have young children, You begin to think, Lord, I don't want to die. Why? Because you have that fear. What will happen to the children if you will die early? Before, when I was single, I didn't care. I didn't care. If I die, I entered the training in the fire department training for four months. I'm not scared at all. I don't fear anything. But when I have children of my own, then the whole thing changed. The same thing here, we have to understand that the Lord Jesus Christ, if you believe in him, we are called to brace ourselves for the coming suffering, perhaps, and that suffering can be because of our faith. There are a lot of people in the Bible that we can really see their sufferings and their testings, the testings of their faith, the Psalmist, the Apostles, the early believers, and we heard of the story about the Puritans, the people who believe in God and they were persecuted, the Baptists, the Anabaptists, and persecuted by the Calvinists. So all those people who stood for the Lord Jesus Christ They are persecuted in their faith. They really face that very, very difficult situation. And it is really sad that, you know, many of them died, and many of them also escaped death, and many fled and departed from the faith because of the testing. this whole matter of faith testing, the Lord wants us to see this so that we can see ourselves in here, what is our response in this kind of situation when this testing arrived, when these problems in our lives as believers in the Lord Jesus Christ arrived in our lives. There's several things that we need to learn this evening. If we are believers in the Lord, men and women, faithful believers of the Lord Jesus Christ, and imagine yourself, you are the one living in this town of Zarephath, and again, you have this situation around you, and then you have to expect, as God wants you to expect, the testing, And you live by faith, and while living by faith comes along this testing, difficult testing. And what is your response to this? Because whether you like it or not, our faith will be tested. Why? Because there is this trial of faith. This trial of faith in verse number 17, in our text, it's indicated there And notice here, this testing is unexpected. Although we are supposed to expect, but this problem comes unexpected. Notice again, verse number 17. It says, 1 Kings chapter 17, verse number 17. And it came to pass, after these things, that the son of the woman, the mistress of the house, And his sickness was so sore that there was no breath left in him. Unexpected. And again, it's not told there what caused the sickness, but perhaps, you know, people can get sick. And we expect that people can get sick, but never in our mind that people can die in their sickness. If we have family members that are sick, we hope that, you know, our sick members of the family can recover. And we expect them to recover. In fact, we expect everyone to recover. But here, this child, the sickness was so severe that the Bible tells us there that there's no more breath in him. He died because of that very severe sickness, and that sickness is unexpected, and it came in a very severe manner. The child not only just became ill, but eventually, the Bible tells us here in a sad way, that there's no more breath left in him. And this happened to a mother who had already bereaved of her husband. Now, the child was young. The child was still small. So therefore, it's not long time ago that she bereaved of her husband. That means the husband died not long time ago. So after the death of her husband, all her hopes of the future now in the life of her child, in the life of her son. But all of a sudden, the son died also. This woman, already bereaved of her husband, now lost also her son. And this is a kind of situation that we cannot understand. Now the woman is already saved, now the woman is already a believer in God, the woman is already a child of God, and now comes this chastening, and this chastening is so severe, very severe that we could not understand why this has happened. But I will tell you, these trials happen to this woman, and these trials happen for a purpose. There is a reason to this, there is a purpose, God, why he allowed this to happen to this woman. And again, the things happening to this woman did not come by chance. It's not by chance or random. This is, I believe, you know, if God is in full control of the situation, the Lord allowed this to happen to this woman despite of the woman being already down and very sad about the passing of her husband, and now this time the son has died also. In other words, the Lord knows it all. The Lord knows all this situation, and our God knows how to solve this problem. If the child did not recover, that would be very sad, but I believe the Lord has a purpose in that. And in 1 Kings chapter 12, verse 34, you will see here, in verse number 34 of this chapter, 1 Kings 12, verse 34, saying the Lord, you shall not go up or fight against your brethren, The children of Israel return every man to his house, for this thing is from me. They hearken, therefore, to the word of the Lord, and return to depart according to the word of the Lord. Sometimes, you know, there are things happening in our lives that really the Lord has a purpose to that, that is directly coming from the Lord, and the Lord allowed it, and all we need to do is just listen to what God has said. You have to understand that the Lord is working here, and if you are a believer of the Lord Jesus Christ, whatever happens in your life, the Lord is in control, and he wants to accomplish something, and maybe God has, you know, a purpose to that, and you just examine yourself. Look inside you. Think of what you have done. Why the Lord, you know, puts his heavy hands on you. Why the Lord is so heavy on you now? Is there anything that you have done? Is there something that you have done against the Lord? So you can ask yourself if there is something, problems that come to our life, happen to our life, because that is the purpose of God, for us to realize that we are, you know, doing something maybe against the Lord. 1 Peter chapter four, verse number 12. Take a look at this. 1 Peter chapter four. Verse number 12, it says here, beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial, which is to try you as though some strange thing happened unto you. Sometimes when problems will come, you will say, that's strange. Sometimes we don't understand. Then you examine yourself and you see, I cannot remember of anything I did that is wrong in the sight of God. You examine maybe your prayer life. You pray regularly and there's no evil thoughts in your mind. There's no evil thing that you have done. Everything's going well. Your family is doing well. You are honest in your work. You didn't do anything wrong and there's nothing that you can remember to cause the Lord to get angry at you and do all this punishment And then that's strange. When something wrong happens to our lives and you try to dig deep into your heart and you cannot find anything, where did you go wrong or something, things that you cannot understand, strange things. Some strange things happen to you. But again, Things can happen, bad things can happen to our lives in either two ways. Number one, it might be that we have done something wrong against the Lord. Secondly, it might be that the Lord, you know, is testing your faith. You have not done anything wrong and then you have this problem. Maybe because God wants to be magnified God wants to be glorified in your life, that even though you have not done something wrong, and still you put your faith in God, and that will glorify God. Because God has found someone that is so faithful, a person just like Job, a man with an upright heart, a man that eschewed evil. You know the word eschewed? Can we go there, Job chapter one? Job chapter one, is it verse number one? There was a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job. By the way, this is not Job. In the Bible, there are some words there that we don't pronounce in a natural way. This is Job, okay? And that man was perfect and upright and one that feared God and eschewed evils. Now what is true is stay away, you know? When he sees, you know, stay away. When he sees someone, his friends, drinking beer, off he goes. He does not want to stay near temptation. If he sees something, if he goes to that place, and he knows that he has a lot of temptation there, a lot of friends there, a lot of people there, that will just force him to do something wrong in his sight, wrong in the sight of God, he will not go there. That is a person that eschewed. And another verse in the Bible, in the New Testament, that says, abstain from all appearance of evil. Now, the word abstain from all appearance of evil is even more grave than someone that eschewed evil, because that Instruction of Apostle Paul is even just in the appearance of evil. Not evil yet, but there is the appearance of evil there. Appearance. But again, you see that Job is like this. But notice here what the Lord said about this person. This person was perfect and upright and one that feared God as is true evil. This is the kind of people that God wants. This is the kind of people that God wants to bless. People that is upright, people that really love God, whatever happens. And you know the story of Job, that he has ten children, seven sons, three daughters, and all of these children, all of these sons and daughters, they're the most beautiful in all the land. There's no other girl more beautiful than these three daughters of Job. And in all the land, there's no other boy more handsome than all these seven sons of Job. And in one day, casket number one, casket number two, casket number three, casket number four, and 10, 10 caskets there in the funeral. All in one day. All the children of Job gone, dead. And Job could not believe it. Maybe he examined himself. Of course, he would examine himself. Lord, did I do anything wrong in here? And that is really sad, I'll tell you. all the children gone, and he was so upright. He is escaping sin. He is escaping. Perhaps if he lives in a modern day, if television will just corrupt the minds of his children, no television in the home. If cell phone will corrupt the minds of the children, no cell phone for the children. That is how he, you know, he live his life. If the friends of his children can just corrupt their minds, he will not allow his children to go with those friends. That is how he eschewed evil. And Job is like that, where all of a sudden, children gone. He was so rich. He has thousands of oxen and camels and sheep. By the thousands, and all of those Property, gone in one day. And you know the story that Job was the subject of testing because God was so blessed of Job. The Lord was so blessed of Job. There's no one like him, the Bible says. There is none like him in the earth. There's no one like Job. There's only one Job that is so faithful to God. And there's no way Satan would be able to convince Job to fight against God, to curse God. There's no way, and God had proven it. And Satan challenged God. No, no. If you remove that, he loves his children. Look at that. His children have been parted, and Job was praying to God, and Job was offering offerings. Sin offering. You know what he's offered to the Lord? Sin offering. For what sin? The children's sin? Yes. What's the sin of the children? It might be that in their heart they cursed God. It might be that Joe was so, you know, he must be very certain that his children would never, ever in their lives curse God, or fight against God, or do against the will of God, that's Job. And it might be that my children, they look good because they're in the church. My children, they look good because they're involved in the ministry. My children, they look good and they look like spiritual. They look like they love God, but Job will not buy it. He will offer the sin that may be is in their heart. That is, I will tell you, I like that kind of attitude of Job. He loves his children very much. And Satan sees that, we'll see. And God allowed it. God allowed it. Job's children dead. And Satan did not succeed on that attempt. Then they took again, see? Have you seen my servant, Joe, that there is none like him in earth, and upright man? We'll see how God said that. I think verse number four, or even now, I think go down to number eight, or six, verse number six. Now, there was a day, When the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan came also upon them, and the Lord said unto Satan, whence comest thou? And they said, and answered the Lord, and said, from going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down it is. And the Lord said unto Satan, hast thou considered my servant Job? Well, God was so proud of Job. The Lord was so blessed of Job. Even though Job did not talk to God in person, even though Job did not see God like Moses saw God, or even Apostle Paul saw God, Job did not have that experience of God, but deep within his heart, he believed in God. He believed that there is a God in heaven that is righteous. He believed with all his heart. And he will just act according to that faith in God. And notice here, and he said, and the Lord said unto Zed, and hath not considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and upright man, one that feareth God, and is true with evil. Then Zed answered the Lord, and said, Doth Job fear God for naught? There is a reason why Job is like that. There is a reason. And he said, Has not thou made an hedge about him? For God, I mean, Satan knew that every faithful servant of God, every faithful man and woman of God, there is the hedge around. You know the hedge? We drove to Facatani and coming back, and we look at the hedges. Whoa, very tall hedges. It's like a plant tree. Upright, so high and tall. and it covered the whole plot. No one can go through the hedge. It's so difficult for animals or people to go through the hedge. You do not know sometimes what's inside the hedge. That is God's protection for every one of us, so loud the Lord. We have God's hedges. God protected us with the hedges. Satan understood it, but Satan knew it. Has not thou made an hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he hath on every side, that thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land? Because you protected him, that's why. He is blessed so much because you protected him. Now take away your protection, then he will curse you to your face. Didn't he? God said, okay. Go ahead, but do not touch his life. And then this happens, and then later on, another occasion of meeting there, and the Lord and Satan talk about Job again. And Job continued to be faithful to God despite of the death of his children, despite of the loss of his property, and he's left with nothing. He's left with nothing. Then Satan said later, because Satan's still not convinced, why Job would not curse God? And then God said to Satan again the same way. And Satan said to the Lord, skin for skin. Skin for skin. Everything that the man has, he will give it away to protect. you know, his body. Touch his body, and he will curse you to your face. Then God allowed Satan again. And Job, just misery, miserable situation after miserable situation. But again, it would affect him. I mean, his faith in God remained intact until such time that he was like spreading ashes on his body. A lot of boils grew all over his body and from the top of his crown to the sole of his feet, all boils, boils. Everywhere is boils. And then he was there found praying to the Lord. He was still found praying to God, and his wife found him praying to God, and his wife gave up. could not take it anymore. And his wife advised Job, Job, if I were you, you commit suicide and curse God and then commit suicide. Curse God and die. Then Job said to his wife, what? You speak as if, you know, like the most wicked woman speaks in this world. Would we only accept the good things from the Lord and we will reject the evil? The Bible says in all this, Job sinned not in his, cursed God in his heart. And there, the Lord was true, that there is really a person like that. There is really a person like that, that despite what circumstances, They have gone through in this life. They were still not alone. Job was one of a kind. And in fact, there is none like him. That's what the Bible says. There is none like him on earth. One that is upright, one that feared God, and is tuned to God. evil, but despite of the righteousness of Job, despite of his strength in his faith, despite of the love that he has for his family, the love that he has for his God, bad things can still happen. Bad things still happen. That is why we have to understand that this is strange. This is what the Bible says strange in 1 Peter 4, verse number 12. It said, Beloved, think if not strange concerning the fiery trials, which is to try you as though some strange things happened unto you. In 1 Peter chapter one, verse number seven. 1 Peter one, seven, it says here that the trial of your faith be much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire. might be found unto praise and honor and glory at the appearing of the Lord Jesus Christ. Brothers and sisters, whenever we put our faith in God, sometimes the Lord allows trials. Do not get discouraged of the trials. Do not get discouraged. Pray to the Lord that we will be spared from trials, but if trials come, embrace it as coming from the Lord. And when we do that, that when we do that, the Lord will be glorified in our life. That is the trial, you know, of fire, fiery trials, and it will just, you know, give glory to God when we pass the trial. The woman in 35 was like that. She's now, a believer in God. She has, she believes in the Lord God of Israel. She believes in the word of the man of God. And that Master Elijah encouraged her to put her faith in the Lord and she did. And the Lord performed a miracle and the food continued supply and And her faith grew and her faith, you know, strengthened. Now comes another level of trials and testing, the death of her child. And when the death of her child comes, her faith collapses. That is a problem. Now we are on fire for the Lord, we believe in God, we thank the Lord for all the blessings in our lives, and we can see the hands of God moving in us, and then all these good things are happening because of the grace of God, and then all of a sudden, bang. Problem. First, again, go back to 1 Kings chapter 17, verse number 18 this time. And she, the woman in Zarephath, said unto Elijah, what have I to do with thee, O thou man of God? Art thou come unto me to call my sins to remembrance and to slay my son? Now she is blaming Elijah. When her child died, the widow turned on Elijah and reproached him, and even blamed him for her son's death. Now, think for a moment. If that would happen to us, if there's someone in our church that I would be helping and helping and helping, all of a sudden something is wrong happening to the family, and now the family will blame me. Or if that will happen to Matthew in Warkworth, He will work for the Lord, and preach the gospel, and share the gospel, and people may be one to the Lord, and invite them to come to church, and then perhaps people would begin to be joyful in their service to God, and everything goes well and fine, and then miracles of God happen in their lives, and blessings will come, and all those testimonies of God's hand, For many months and many years and all of a sudden there's a problem that will arise. And when the problem comes, they will blame Matthew. Because this is what happened. Exactly what happened to Elijah. Elijah came to the rescue to this family. Elijah, wherever he goes, the Lord will provide him. If Elijah did not arrive to this woman's house, the whole household would be dead. Or starvation. Elijah came, and as if like the Savior now is the woman, of course, it is the Lord, you know, providing for the woman, and the woman providing for Elijah, but it is because of Elijah that this family has been provided. And now Elijah came in, helped, and set the financial situation there of this family, set it in order, and they now live a normal life. Food is provided, everything is taken care of. And now, death comes to this child, and the mother blamed Elijah. She blamed Elijah for the death of her son. You know what happened to this woman? Her faith in God collapses. It collapses. She was riding high, because of the miracles of God, and all of a sudden, bang, finish. You know what? This woman, for a short period, praise the Lord, it's only for the short period of time, she became bitter. She became, you know, skeptic, and she could not accept it, that her son died. And maybe her son died because of this pastor blaming me of my past sins. And all those things came out from the woman. Because that's what she said here. In verse number 18. What have I to do with thee, O thou man of God? Art thou come unto me to call my sin to remembrance and to slay my son? In other words, the whole purpose of the arrival of Elijah into the life of the woman is just to slay his son, her son. That's in their mind. That the whole purpose why Elijah arrived, because God will use Elijah to kill the child. You cannot really, you know, argue with a woman because she was in distress. And she nearly maybe got insane in here. Because she is now blaming her pastor. She is now blaming Elijah. She began to doubt in God. She became very bitter now. I believe Elijah could not open the Bible. The woman will not read the Bible. When maybe Elijah would ask for a pause, let's pause for a while and let's pray, I think the woman would not allow it. Without word, Elijah, the only thing that he could do is remove the child from the woman and then remove and take the child and seek the Lord apart from the, the woman should be awake because she will just, she will just, a distraction there of Elijah's prayer to God. So that's what happened. But I will tell you, my friend, what happened to this woman is very, very similar to so many occasions and many situations in the life of God's people. God's people often react in this kind of situation when the times of their trials come, when the times of their testing in their faith come. And then they begin to ask, They will just question things. Does God care? What have I to do? What have I done to deserve these things? Why I'm the only person that suffered this kind? Why all those people that did not have God, that they live as if there's no place of suffering for them? Why is this that we have faith in God, and those people that do not have God, they are so rich, and it seems like they have no problem with money. Why is this that we have faith in God, and those people that do not have God, they have a lot of houses in Oakland? We raise that kind of question. Why has this happened to me? Anyone can answer me, people will have this kind of question and asking, this kind of question, blaming God of what had happened to them. You see? But we can do this another thing here. When her faith was tested, she remembered her sin. You know when Elijah arrived? We do not know that she has sinned. No one knows. When everything went well, no one knows that she has sinned. No one knows. When Elijah arrived, praying to God, miracles performed, then food is, you know, on the table, every single meal, food is there. And the Lord has provided everything. Everything went well. And no one knows that this woman has a hidden sin. No one knows until this problem came. Again, we can work in our mind, maybe the Lord really, you know, the Lord has not forgotten the sin of this woman. And this woman thinks that, oh, I think I'm okay now with the Lord. I think, look at this, look at this, I think my sin, I don't really have to think about, I don't really have to reflect about that sin. I don't really have to think, you know, feeling guilty about that sin. I think the Lord understands it. We do not know. I'm just speculating what's in your mind because no one knows that this woman has, you know, secret sin in her life until this prophet comes. In other words, we can say here that, you know, when her faith was tested by God, then this woman remembered her sin. She remembered that sin. And again, it is a good thing, it is a good thing that God remembers her sin. I mean, the woman remembers her sin after the punishment of God in her life because God's chastening, my friend, sometimes God's chastening would cause us to search our hearts That's what happened. You know what? I remember. I drove from, it was Sunday. I think that was our first, first Sunday, or second Sunday. I don't know if Brother Bong could remember this. From Mount Willington. We are very new in New Zealand. You know, back in the Philippines, I was a member of the fire department, and we have this badge, like a police badge. We put that badge in our, do you have that thing in your wallet? We put this badge in our wallet. The badge, the shape is like a bronze. It's like a police badge. And then we drive in the Philippines, and then the SITOM or whatever it is that will apprehend us, and then when we begin to pull our, we open our wallet, show the badge, not really showing it, it's opening to show that we have badge. And then they will see, no sir, no sir, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go. When they see the badge, when we open our wallet and see the badge, they thought that we are, I know, from police department, and we, I tell you, it happened to me a lot of time, It saved, my budge saved me a lot of time. Then we arrived here, drove from Mount Willington for the second Sunday maybe, that was the second Sunday I was in Barong. That was hot, you know, hot day in November, coming to December, so it's a really warm day. Very clear road, Nielsen, is it George Street? Turn left to Nielsen, speak my way, and then when I look far ahead, whoa, there was this blink of light. Police car. Police car. I know, I know, I, you know, over speeding. That was very clear. I understand over speeding. And then I was pulled over. The police came and then said, why are you in a hurry? I'm going to church. That one up there is not always for you, eh? I'm okay. He was like, you know, mocking. He was mocking me, but it's okay. What's my over speeding? Yeah, yeah. How much? How much was that? 39. 79. Yeah, 79, the 50, 29. 29. I said, how much is that? $230. I'm looking at that bill, I said, this is all my penalty from the Philippines. All my penalties in the Philippines, I pay in New Zealand. We cannot escape here. We will pay our price. Then, yeah, and also in Australia, I said all my penalties in the Philippines I paid in Australia and New Zealand. You know, when we sin, when we are punished, we remember our sin? I remember my sins. And again, it's not, I believe, you know, those people, they're okay, the police people in the Philippines, But the Lord looking from above, the Lord is watching that is not right. All the rest of the people will pay and you will not pay. Okay. I will meet you somewhere in New Zealand. The Lord is marking my head. Every time I drive here, the Lord is watching my head. No, that is my son. I will teach him, you know, listen here. I understand that, I pay my price. We cannot run away from the Lord. And the woman here, after she was confronted with this problem, she remembered her sin. And it's a good thing, because we need to search our hearts. The sins that we have done, those things, there is penalty to those things. Oh, no one knows. No one sees. I thought that no one knows my sins in the Philippines about driving. Oh, I paid in the Philippines. I cannot pay all those penalties, but now I'm paying. You see, That is what God wants us to search our hearts, search, search and ask God for forgiveness. I have forgotten my sins there. I have forgotten my problems. I have forgotten my, my, my, you know, notoriety in the Philippines about driving. I have forgotten those. But the Lord has not forgotten it. When I really look at that bill, because, you know, sometimes we have $80, it's okay. When I look at the $230, and at that time, my house rent is only 190 a week, and now I'm paying 230 for the pipe. It's just so heavy to pay this. And I was keeping on looking at that and paying this $230. More than the payment of our rent. And I will tell you, I have forgotten to pay. And the next bill, it adds $50. It becomes $80. The moment I receive it, I pay it straight away. Instead of $280, I mean $230, I pay $280 because late payment. I really, I was mad at myself, why I did not make it really. I could have saved the 50. But really, we need to search. Search ourselves. Have you, do you have sin that you have forgotten now? If you have sin that you have forgotten now, as if things will go well, I will tell you, it will knock on your door sometimes. In Psalm 139, verse number 23. Psalm 139, verse number 23, search me, O God, and know my heart. Try me, and know my thoughts, and see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. Ask the Lord, Lord, forgive me, O God. Lord, I will not I will not repeat those sins. Forgive me, Lord. Do not let me pay, Lord, those sins that I have done. Ask the Lord, ask the Lord, because our God is a merciful God. Ask him in humility, ask him, he will forgive you. Lamentations, chapter three, verse number 40. You see, Lamentations 340, let us search and try our ways and turn again to the Lord. Let us search, search because the Lord, there is no sin that we have done that we will not pay for it. We will pay for those sins. No matter how long it might take, but again, we will pay for our sins. God allowed the trial to fall upon us and did also to this woman. The Lord allowed the trials to happen to this woman, and this woman now is paying the price, and she remembers her sin. She remembers her sin when the Lord allowed the death of her child. And this widow, in order that she might be purified as gold, And the Lord purified her by the process of refining. That is really sad, but she goes through the process of refining. There was that sin that lingers in her mind, or maybe had forgotten it for a while. And when God allowed the death of her child, she remembers the sin. And when she remembers the sin, that's the time that she came to the Lord and asked the Lord, Lord, forgive me. Lord, please don't take my child because of that sin. Lord, have mercy upon me. And I believe while Elijah was begging the Lord, I believe the woman also was begging the Lord. Forgiveness from God. While Elijah cried unto the Lord, right here also down below, the woman also remembers her sin And she just begged the Lord to forgive her of her sins. And the Lord hearkened and listened unto the prayer of the woman and unto the prayer of Elijah. In the Bible, you see that Elijah's prayer was heard. But I will tell you also, God considers the heart of the woman. And the woman also was heard by God. Because at the end of the day, Elijah was not gravely affected with that. Although he's affected, but the person really that gravely affected to the death of the child is the woman. So if the child will be alive again, the woman would benefit, not Elijah. Not so much of Elijah. So in other words, although the Bible does not say here... while Elijah was praying to God, and the Lord answered the prayers of Elijah, because also, perhaps, one consideration is the woman, the prayer of the woman. In other words, what I'm saying, brothers and sisters, when we sin against the Lord, we beg God for the forgiveness of that sin. And if your pastor will pray for you, then you also pray yourself. And then when the Lord, when the Lord look at us, and the Lord will forgive our sins because your pastor or someone else pray for you and you yourself who committed such sins, ask God for mercy and then I believe the Lord will just forgive us of our sins. Because that's what I see, that's what I see in this situation. Although the Bible was following Elijah, what he did and what he has done to the child He warmed up the child and his body and prayed to God. But the woman was not in the picture of the Bible, but I believe the woman was crying to God, begging God for mercy, begging God and asking for the forgiveness of her sins. And then the Lord heard both the prayer of the woman and also the prayer of Elijah and to give the child another life. You see, That was this process that the woman went through. She was purified like gold. That's what Job said in Job 33 verse 10, but he knoweth the way that I take. When he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold. When the Lord will try us, then after the trial, after the trial, when the trial will be done, then we will be shining, you know, for the glory of the Lord Jesus. The woman here at first was hysterical and resentful, but notice the reaction of Elijah is so different. Elijah's reaction was really a great blessing. Elijah did not buy those words, and you know, that's very insulting. The woman now began to insult the man of God because of what happened to her son, and it's because of you, because you came into our lives, and this is the problem now. Elijah didn't buy it, you know. The woman was just so sad. that it happened to her, so Elijah did not buy the rhetoric of this woman. Elijah understood the situation, and I believe his reaction is really a blessing. The reaction of Elijah was really a blessing to this woman. And Elijah there was, Elijah was thinking of, you know, do I have to leave this house here and leave these people alone? Why now I'm going to be blamed of what happened to them? Now the trials came, then this woman and her faith collapses, but we will see the operation of faith that happened to this woman. And this woman and Elijah, both of them believe in God, both of them, you know, experienced the Lord's miracle and blessing, but Elijah stood firm and strong in his faith, but the woman's faith collapses. Now, look at Elijah. Let's take a look at this man. Although he is deeply moved because of what has happened here, because of the situation of the whole scenario here, despite that the woman now puts her trust in the Lord, and despite the trust that she has in the Lord, she goes through this very, very difficult situation. But it's amazing that Elijah was so gentle. He was so gentle. I will tell you, we need, you know, as a man of God, as a woman of God, we need to have this gentle and calm assurance of the people around us. Me, as a pastor, I think I need this grace. I need the grace of God to be able to put position myself calmly and, you know, just be a blessing here Just be a person that will see the solution to the problem, not to add the problem. Because at an instance here, if I maybe come around and then the people will now blame me, okay, okay, I'm out of here. You find another master to help you, I'm out of here. It's not helping the problem. Elijah, after he was blamed of the things that he did not do, it was God. But because he was the man of God, then he was to be blamed. And he just kept calm and allowed that to be thrown at him. Wow, what a grace of God in his life. This is what the people need. We, as servants of God, we need to have this kind of, you know, resolve. We should be able to neutralize that provocation. If someone will try to provoke us to be angry at situation, then we have to seek the Lord. Because this is, Our ministry. And this is what we are. God places us in this ministry. And this ministry is, you know, propelled by love. Propelled by long-suffering. And that's what the Bible says in 1 Corinthians 13, verse number 4. Charity. The word charity is divine love. It is a love that's coming from heaven. That charity does not come from within us. We have our love for our parents and that is natural. And we have our love for our spouse, that is natural. We have our love towards our children, that is natural. We have our love towards the people around, the good people to be particular. But that is natural. But this divine love Peace, divine, coming from heaven. This is the love that we cannot have. This is the love that we cannot manufacture in our hearts. This is the love of God. That this love, you know, to give love to those people who are not lovable. To love even your enemies. Love your enemies, do good to them that hate you. Can you do that? No one can do that. It's impossible for us to do that. It's impossible if we do not have Christ. Do good to them that hate you and pray for them that despitefully use you and persecute you. Can we do that? Impossible. Now it's impossible for those who do not have Christ. But because we have Christ, then we can do that. We can love the unlovable. We can love our enemies. We can love those people who mock us. We can love those people who despitefully use us. That is the divine love. That is charity being spoken here by Paul. Charity, suffereth long, and is kind. Charity, envyeth not. Charity wanteth none itself, is not puffed up, doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil. This is the love of God. Even though people think evil on us, we don't think evil on them. That is divine. You see, this is now very much observable in the life of Elijah. He did not buy those words, those empty words, those words that will provoke him to anger. He doesn't need it at the moment. He needs God. So just went with the child upstairs and helped. Because he is there to help solve the situation. He is not there to add to the problem. Many Christians will try to help, and then at the end, the problem's getting worse. Many Christians would try to, you know, advise people, give counsel to people, only to find out that they themselves have the same problem. You remember that story of Pastor Babius? That there was this person who's about to jump in the bridge, and this guy tried to stop this person, hey, hey, hey, don't jump, don't jump! And then the person is really about to jump. Hey, don't jump. What's your problem? Let's talk around the problem. Don't jump. No, no. I have to finish it all. No one loves me. No one cares for me. So I have to finish it all. No, no. Let's talk. Let's talk. Come down and let's talk. And he was able to persuade the man. He came down. They sat side by side. And they talked. And later on, both of them jumped. You give counsel and you yourself has problems and even worse. You see, Elijah must be the one to solve this problem. And he knows who can solve this problem. There's no other one, not the woman, not the family, not even himself. He knows that it is God who can solve this problem. And he knows it, and he ran with the child and asked God to begin to solve the problem. And the Lord blessed him with his attitude. I will tell you, the attitude of Elijah is so important here. If you are a servant of God, your attitude is very important. Me, my attitude to the problem is so important. My attitude to the situation is so important. We need the grace of God. We need God in every step of the way. We need the Lord. We need him. We cannot do this job without him. You see, this kind of faith of Elijah, the faith of Elijah keeps calm when the blow falls. A trust in God when his purpose cannot be traced. When even Elijah could not understand why is this happening. Why is this happening? Lord, please, Lord, help this situation. Notice what Elijah did. When Elijah went away with a child into the upper loft, this is what he said. And he cried, verse number 20. First Kings 17, verse 20, and he cried unto the Lord and said, oh Lord, my God, why thou also brought evil upon the widow? He could not understand. Elijah, being the man of God himself, could not understand. But it's not about, you know, knowing the situation. He needs to have a solution to this problem. And he knows where to go and find a solution. He knows where the solution really belongs. Solution is with the Lord. So the Lord is the one that can help them and solve this problem. And he stretched himself upon the child three times and cried unto the Lord and said, oh Lord, my God, I pray thee, let this child's soul come into him again. He begged the Lord. He asked God, and because he prayed with fervent prayer, he was serious in his prayer, the Lord answered the prayer of Elijah. And again, this faith of Elijah, again, once relates to the trial to God. Elijah took the child, he went to his room, and got down before the Lord, and again, related the whole situation to the Lord. In verse number 19, verse number 20. Then again, what a great act of faith that was in Elijah's part. Because what he did really here is just of faith. Elijah was not a doctor. Elijah does not know, perhaps, you know, medical condition of the person. And this is what he did to heal this child in verse number 19. And he said here, and he said unto her, give me thy son. And he took him out of her bosom. and carried him up into a loft, where he abode, and laid him upon his own bed. And he cried unto the Lord, and said, O Lord, my God, hast thou also brought evil upon the widow with whom I sojourned, by slaying her son? You see, Elijah's faith led him to the throne of grace, and asking God that sits on the throne, and the God of grace, give Elijah what he asked for. And the Lord bless Elijah and the woman. You see, my friend, we have very much similar situation with this woman. We have very much similar situation perhaps with Elijah. But again, the Lord must be honored and must be glorified in the life of his people. When trials of faith Come, what is your response? When the faith of your loved ones, when the faith of your spouse, when the faith of your children, when the faith of your parents collapse, what is your response? I hope we see the response of Elijah because that's very crucial also for us. that despite of what happened to this world, we know that we have a God that is in control of all these things. And we can trust in the Lord, rather than us creating and adding to the problem. Put your trust in the Lord. Whatever happens, put your faith in God. Because people, they have weak faith. People have weak faith. This woman, she believes in God, But when problems come, she blames the son of Adam, the man of God. Because faith is weak. But praise God, Elijah had a strong faith. And this is written here because you and I may experience the same thing, situation. At least we know that whatever things happen to this world, You know, we have a God that is in control of the situation. And we can put our trust in the Lord and our faith in Him because He knows how to solve the problem. This is the problem really that in our eyes, in our mind, there's no more solution. There's no more solution to this problem. The child is dead already. There's no more solution. And Elijah is not a medically inclined person. He does not know medicine. There's no more hope here. It's dead, it's finished. But because Elijah believed that God would work a miraculous work in him. And he believed in God, and he got it. He got it. The Lord blessed Elijah, and the Lord blessed the woman, and the Lord was glorified. And that is what God wants to happen. despite of the severe situations in our lives, we must, at the end of the day, the Lord must be glorified. And we must put there and apply the operation of faith and understand and learn that God must be glorified in all things that happen to us. Let's bow and pray. Our Father in heaven, thank you, Lord, for speaking to us. to this life of the woman, Saripa, and Elijah, Lord, his faith, his resolve, the blessing, Lord, of Elijah. And help us, Lord, that, God forbid, we'll have situation. Please, Lord, fill us with your power. and enable us, Lord, to act according to your will. And help us, Lord, that we will be a people that will be the solutions to the problems, not the people that will add to the problems. Lord, I pray that you will raise a people in our church that will become a blessing to the people around us, and that your glory, Lord, will be magnified in our church. Bless your people once again, Lord. Thank you, Lord, for all the favors that you have given to us. We are so glad of God that we see in the scriptures how you work, because these things can be a warning to us, because these things can happen to anyone. and help us, Lord, that we'll be able to act according to your will. Bless your people once again. Thank you, Lord, for your goodness to us. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.