So if you mark the book of 1 Kings chapter 19, let's go back to the book of Isaiah, let's read if we can. The 46th chapter, and let's skip down to the fourth verse. Now this is not just age appropriate, so let me disclose that. But I want to ask you something today, and our title this morning will be that God sustains. If there's anybody that can understand that God has sustained them in their life, it are those that have lived longer than others. But from the youngest to the greatest today, I think the very testimony, the very power of God is the same for all of us, and God sustains us. Let me read if I can in the book of Isaiah 46 and verse four. Even to your old age, I am he and even to the lower hair will I carry you. In other words, when your hair turns gray, I will carry you. I have made and I will bear. Even I will carry and deliver you. I want you to listen to the last part. He said, you've gotten to a point in time in your life, he said, I can sustain you and bring you out. Let's go back to the book of 1 Kings for just a minute. Book of 1 Kings chapter 19 and let's skip down to the 4th verse. Elijah, we see here that Elijah the great prophet had been busy with fleeing from Jezebel and in the 19th chapter beginning in the 4th verse, But he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness. Now, I want you to get in your mind for a minute, a person that's tired, a person that's ready to throw in the towel, a person that thinks, God, have you truly sustained me in a time of need? Now, obviously, when the tank is full and our cars are running and we have no doubt we're in a good place in our life, what happens when maybe things are less in our life? Do we still believe when things are less, do we still believe that God will sustain us? And the answer is yes, I do believe that God is going to sustain us. But he went a day's journey, listen to what he did. And he went into the wilderness and he came and he sat down under a juniper tree. I have to confess something to you. There's been a lot of times I have found myself in life just wanting to go and sit under the juniper tree and just say, God, can I quit now? God, are you really gonna give me what I need? Are you gonna sustain me? Can we stop or can we change gears or can we do something else? Listen to what he did. He went and he sat under the juniper tree. And he requested for himself that he might die. And he said, it is enough now, O Lord, take away my life, for I am not better than my father's. And he lay and slept on the juniper tree. Behold, then an angel touched him and said unto him, arise, Aren't you glad today that when you get to a point in your life that you say, God, I need, I have a need in my life. And there was a great sleep that began to happen. He said, begin to awaken, to eat this cake. Let's read if we will, the rest of that. And he looked and behold, there was a cake baked on the coals and a cruise of water at his head. And he did eat and drink and laid him down again. The angel of the Lord came again a second time and touched him and said, arise and eat, because the journey is too great for thee. And he did rose, and he did eat and drink. And he went in the strength of that meat 40 days and 40 nights, and to Oreb, the mount of God. So again, I'm gonna start reading there this morning, but I want you to see that sometimes we think that weakness means that something is wrong in our life. But the truth is, is that Elijah the prophet got to a point and a place in his life, he said, God, I am weak and I need strength. I admit to you this morning, there was a lot of times I thought, Lord, may I just come in and read these scriptures? And may your children just stop and begin to testify of the many times in their life when they wanted to stop and give up and surrender, but you provided for them. How many of you today have a testimony that God has sustained you? You're looking at one. I wish I could just tell you, and I don't say I wish, but I'm not gonna tell you it was just one time in my life that God took care of me, but folks, God has taken care of me over and over and over again. Even when I didn't know it, even when I didn't recognize it, God was sustaining and providing for me. Listen to what we read here is that there was a soul that had grown weary. Now the juniper tree that we read about here in the fourth verse. It's not just the fact that it was a juniper tree is where the magic is, but these were places that a lot of times that you would read in the scripture that they would go to because it was in a wilderness. Now, I want you to understand, this is not about going into a busy place or the chaos of everyday life. It's about getting away and getting along with God. Can I tell you something that I strongly, strongly encourage? Stop life. Get away from the chaos and get alone with God. For many of us, we may think that it's bad for Elijah to get to a place and he said, Lord, I am finished. He said, I am ready just for my life to be over with so I don't have to keep going on. Lord, just take me out of this world. You know, for me, that's been sometimes my prayer, Lord, can I just lay down the burdens of this life and we go on to a greater place? But God instead will sustain us and provide what we need. But notice what happened, that this weary soul began to go to a place of solitude. A time when he was feeling overwhelmed. I'm not going to ask you today if you ever felt like, Lord, how can I do this? Or I feel overwhelmed. But he said he keep going forward. And God was going to provide what it is that he needed. You know, sometimes I believe that in our race of life, Paul talked about how that we're running a race and how that we get tired and we get weary, but we've got to finish the race. Folks, just because you get tired doesn't mean it's time to quit. There are people out there, there are souls that need to hear the gospel. There's a life that we need to live. And I assure you today that no matter how great your needs are, God can sustain you. I was fed somewhat through the week as I was even thinking about the Sunday school lesson that God provides when he fed the multitudes. I began to read those and I began to go through the scriptures that God began to lay on my heart here with Elijah. And I thought, Lord, how true it is that if we would just give you a little bit, that you can feed us to the point that we are full. Today I'm asking you, have you come to the Lord's table and are you ready to eat of what God has given you? Are you ready to rejoice in what God has done for you? Sometimes we feel like that God, we've come to a place and we can't go no more. We're tired. We can't do no more, but God will provide for you. That's what I want to tell people in the world today is that God will give you strength for the journey that you're on. But I wish today that I could stand before you as that perfect example of one that we've never wanted to quit, or that we've never gotten tired, or I never had to push myself to do the things for God that we should do. But I wanna tell you something, folks. Sometimes we get to that point, we wanna get out in the wilderness, and we need to say, God, I'm just tired now, Lord. I need strength for the journey. And you know what I love about God is, He knows our needs. You know, Jesus, when He was on this earth, He went through the things that you and I went through. He got hungry. He got tired. He got weary. Why? Because He took on a human flesh. There's something that every one of us here have this morning. We all have a human flesh about us. And that human flesh has needs and the human flesh has desires. The human flesh has things that hinder, but also things that God desires to use. But listen to what he did. He said he went before God and he requested for himself. He inquired of God. He said, God, how much longer do I have to go? At what point can we say that we're finished? You know what? If you actually read about and you study and you think about what it means to surrender. What do you think, if you were to give a definition this morning of surrender, what do you think it means to surrender? Surrender just simply just means coming to a place that you give up on what you can do. But can I tell you something I believe in today? That when we get to a point and a place of surrender in our life, God can take over folks. Don't fight against God. Instead, it's about going along with God. But you know, I want you to think about these things this morning about how did we get tired and then all of a sudden that we need strength in our life. Folks, there is a world filled full of people out there today that don't truly understand about a close relationship with God. They think it's foolish. They think it's crazy that we experience the things that we do. Let me turn over if I can for just a minute to the 137th division of the book of Psalms for just a minute. Now I want you to turn over to Psalms chapter 137 for just a moment. And the Israelites have been taking captivity. Now I want you to get into this bold for just a minute. One, in Psalms 137, you're taken away from your family. Now, if you love your family, I wanna tell you something. If you're taken away from your family, what's gonna happen to you after a while? You're gonna get, it's gonna get weaker and weaker and weaker. Emotionally and psychologically and all these things will get weaker and weaker and weaker. Psalms 137, listen to what happened. They had been taken captivity and they were under the Babylonian control, you might say. And they were taken away from their place that they worship God. They were taken away from their families. And then all of a sudden the Babylonians come up to them and said, hey, I know you're not around your family. I know you're not in a place that you worship God. Why don't you sing us a song? It's slanderous is what it is. And you know what the truth is, is that sometimes the world comes along and they separate us from the people that we love. And you know what, folks? I thank God for my family. Let me say that. I thank God for my family. But you know what else I'm thankful for today? I'm thankful for the family of God. Be careful because sometimes Babylon wants to pull us away from our family, not our natural families only, but our spiritual families. They were pulled away from those that they loved. They were taken away from a place that they could worship. And not only were they removed from their family, not only were they removed from a place that they could worship God, they were brought into a place and then in probably one of the most slanderous ways, they were said, why don't you sing that song of joy now? It's almost like you're weak and you're tired and you're going through this mental exhaust and emotionally drained. And then somebody comes along and says, why don't you sing me a song? Notice what we read in Psalm 137. By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept when we remembered Zion. Here comes the mockery along. He said, we're in a place, we're in a desolate place, we're in a hurting place, and we say, God, we need a song in our life. So we hanged our hearts upon the willows amidst thereof. For there, they that carried us away captive required of us a song. Could you imagine what it's like being taken away from your family, away from your place of worship, and then somebody want to say, do you have a song? What many people today need to understand is that folks, when you get away from the family of God, that their song is not the way it should. I thank God for my family. I thank God for my church family. I thank God for a place that we can come together and worship. What about you? A place that we can hear God's word. A place that we can sing about the songs of Zion. We can sing about the praises of God. We can worship Him. We can praise Him without fear and favor of men. We can simply serve God. Let me ask you this, what happens if that's ever removed in your life? Heaven forbid if it's ever a time in our life we walk away from it, but if it's ever taken away, what would it be like? Listen to what happened. They got to a place that is something that seemed absolutely impossible to them, and in that third verse they said, why don't you sing us a song? You mean in your brokenness, in your isolation, In your abandon of where you were, he said, can you sing us a song? What they thought was, if you're taken away from your family, you're taking away the place that God has brought you, he said, then your song has been taken away. You know what else I think tonight, folks, is that no matter what it is that we are removed from in life, is that there is a song that rests inside of us. What kind of song do you have this morning? What is your song about? We listen to, and don't leave here saying that preachers are against secular music. Not against secular music. We listen to a lot of secular music and we can relate to it. But you know what, folks? How often do we relate to the Psalms, which is a song that talks about God. I'm thankful that no matter what it is that we endure, that your strength provided for us. And that's what he said in the book of Isaiah. He said, I will be there for you. I will deliver you. I will take care of you. God is going to do these things. But in the midst of our weariness, in the midst of our needs that we have in life, God is able to provide what we need. Let's read if we can. I want to go back to the book of 1 Kings chapter 19. And I want to look at that fifth verse for just a minute. We have the fifth and the sixth. And as he lay and slept under a juniper tree, behold, then an angel touched him and said unto him, Now, when you read the word touched, I really wanna look at that for just a few seconds. If you and I are in a crowd of people and we start bumping shoulders, it's not intentional. It's what we would call an accidental bumping. This touch here is not an accidental that the angel just, oh, I'm sorry, you were under a tree. I didn't mean to trip over you there. Folks, it was an intentional touching of one that was in need. I'm gonna tell you something that's going on right now. When God is touching your heart, it is not by accident. It is an intentional touch from God. How many of you this morning have a testimony about a time in your life, and I say time, let's make it plural, about times in your life when God intentionally touched you at a time in your life and God began to speak? Glory, hallelujah, our church is on the field with testimonies of times in our life when God intentionally touched us. Listen to what happened, he said, and he said, then the angel touched him, not being rough or rugged, but intentionally touched, and began to meet his needs. And he said, arise and eat. And he looked. So in other words, if God's gonna provide, do you see what God has provided? I'm gonna be partial for just a minute. I don't want you to imply to anybody that there's only one place, but can I tell you something? Look to your left and look to your right, look in front, look behind. We are surrounded with people that believe in the touch of God. Can I tell you something? When you walk out the doors and you go to many places, they talk about the touch of God, folks. People merely think that it's religion. But folks, I believe in a touch of the hand of God in the lives of people. We're surrounded with people and we're blessed to have people in our life that have experienced and know about the touch of God. But may those that have never experienced that, may they experience the touch of God. But listen to what he said. He said, I want you to see this. He said, arise and eat. And he looked. And he said, and behold, there was a cake broken, a bacon in the coals and the crucible water at his head. Now he goes to sleep. Cake wasn't there. He gets a touch from the angel and he wakes up and then all of a sudden the cake is there. Now we can probably look at this a lot of different ways. I don't know if that was just came up while he was asleep. I don't know that if it was there, he just couldn't see it. But aren't you glad today that when the angel comes, that we can see things that we could never see before. In other words, the touch of God begins to happen. And notice what he said here, that he said, he began to rise and he even looked and behold, there was a cake, bacon on the coast and a crucible of water at his head. So God today is providing what it is that we stand in need of and God is able to provide what it is that you and I are in need of today. I want to turn back for just a minute to the book of Genesis. Chapter 22, if you'll bear with me for a little while. Genesis chapter 22, Jehovah Jireh. Let me go ahead and just say that to you today because that means in the Hebrew language, God provides. This morning when we talk about God sustains us, He sustains us by providing for us. Genesis chapter 22, and notice what happens in the 13th verse. Let me back up to the 7th verse. And Isaac spake unto Abraham and said, my father. And he said, here am I and my son. And he said, behold the fire and the wood. But there's a question, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering? Skip down now to the 13th verse. And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked and behold, excuse me, behold behind him a ram caught in the thicket by his horns. Do you think that it was at this place in time that we're reading about Abraham told God, he said, God, we're about to go up the mountain and you better have something on the other side. Do you know what? The rail that was caught, the rail gives us an idea that this was an adult animal. Not something that was born about 30 minutes or an hour earlier as they begin their hike. Folks, long before they ever went up that mountain, there was an animal that was born and that was being raised to be a sacrifice for Abraham and for Isaac. Now if you would have told me that it was an animal that a parent abandoned and that the blood was shed for them, this is not. This was an adult animal that reached a point in its life that God, before Abraham and Isaac would need what it is, that God was already working on the other side. Can I tell you something that's happening in your life without you even knowing it? God is working on the other side. Without you even knowing it, there's a ram, there's a sacrifice that you're gonna need in your life. And without you knowing it, God's already providing. Can I tell you something today? We know this. God, through the sacrifice of His Son, Jesus Christ, we know that He was a lamb that was slain from the foundation of the world. But can I tell you something else today? Not only is God providing us a Savior, He provides us with people and places in our life. God works on the other side. Read, if you will, it says, and Abraham lifted up his eyes. He had to trust in God's provision, didn't he? He said in the beginning there, he said, he said back in that seventh verse that he said, behold the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering? Eighth verse said, Abraham said, my God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering. So they went both of them together. He had to trust in what God was going to provide. But when we read about Jehovah Jireth, it means that God provides. Not only was God, let me ask you this. What if that ram would have went up and get caught in a thicket about, I don't know, three weeks earlier and he would have died of hunger? It wouldn't have been a living sacrifice at that point, would it? They would have just gone to a ram that was already dead in a thicket and died of hunger and didn't have anything to eat. You know what else I believe about God providing? I believe God provides things at the exact time it's needed. right on time. What if Abraham and Isaac would have took off up the mountain and God would have said, had the ram in the thicket, and they would have said, well, God hasn't provided, and they, let's just say they were at the bottom of the mountain, the ram was up there, they had to be there, God had to provide. Isn't it amazing? They could not see what was going on the other side, but God was bringing them together. None of us had a clue that we were all gonna be together like this this morning, did we? But yet God did what? He brought us all together, He's working on one side, he's working on another. But then they had to realize is that God was gonna provide in his timing, in his ways. And I believe that if you'll even see about Abraham, that he believed that even if God was gonna see fit, you can read in the book of Hebrews chapter 11, it's about the, I don't know, 17th or 18th verse, it says this. He believed that even if he had to offer up Isaac, his son, and he was gonna take his life, he believed that God was gonna raise him from the dead. He believed in that. He believed in God and that God would provide. Folks, God sustains us with promises that we know that he can provide what we need in our life. And Jehovah Jireth just simply means that God provides. If we read in that 14th verse. And Abraham called the name of the place Jehovah Jireth. And it is said to this day in the mount of the Lord, it shall be seen. The word seen means provided. In the very beginning I said that God is going to sustain us and provides us. And the truth is that God is going to do that. And you and I today that as we go before God and we commune with God and we talk to God, we can do it with confidence that God hears us, He knows us and He's going to provide for us. For in the book of 1 Kings chapter 19, let's go down to the 7th verse that we've read to you. 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 he did eat and drink and he went in the strength of that meat 40 days and 40 nights. In other words, there was something that he didn't have, God gave it to him and he was able to go. I wanna tell you something I believe about God this morning. I believe today that God's able to give me and you exactly what we need to face today, to face tomorrow, and Tuesday, and Wednesday, and Thursday, and Friday, and Saturday, all the days of our life, folks. God's able to provide what we need. But I believe it's brought up Sunday school. Not only does God have to provide it, we gotta be willing to take what it is that God has given us. You know what I find amazing about Elijah on this journey? Elijah just got to a point, he just said, God, can we just skip this part of the trip and just let this be the end? I'm tired and I really don't want to do this anymore. God did not remove him from the journey. He gave him what he needed to be able to complete it. This morning I want to tell you just a brutal, honest truth. I wish I could look at every one of you and say, you don't have to go down the journey of death. I wish I could look at every human being and say, you do not have to worry about the journey of death. But you know what? I would be alive for the Bible says, it's appointed to man once to die and after this the judgment. But you know what I do believe? That God has provided what we need when that journey happens. It is beautifully laid out in the 23rd Psalm. "'The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. "'He maketh me lie down in the green pastures, "'he leadeth me beside the still waters.'" And he talks about how that even in the most darkest of hours of death, he found peace because the presence of God was with him. Folks, don't come before God this morning thinking we're gonna be removed from the journey, asking God to help us along with the journey. and that God can give us what it is that we stand in need of and God can do exactly what we stand in need of. Or Matthew chapter six, when we talk about the strength that God provides for us in the model prayer that we reach about when Jesus is teaching about prayer in Matthew chapter six, when things are at their worst, listen to what we read about here in the 11th verse. Give us this day our daily bread. I want to ask a poll question today. How many of you think that God is stingy? Folks, God's not stingy. I want to tell you the convictions of the preacher here. Folks, God is not stingy. He will give you abundantly, not what you want, but what he is able to provide. For he said, give us this day our daily bread. Sometimes today we feel like or we forget about how good God has given us and He gives us what we need every single day. Can I ask you something? What did God give you yesterday? Can I ask you another question? What did God provide for you on Friday? Can I ask you another question? What did God provide for you on Thursday? What about another question? What about Wednesday? What about this past Tuesday? What about the past Monday, last Sunday? What has God provided for you in your life? I had a very profound question I remember reading about a good while ago. It said, if you had everything today that you thank God that you experienced yesterday, what would you have? If you had today, everything that you thank God for yesterday, what would you have? Folks, sometimes we realize how blessed we are when we start counting our blessings that God has bestowed provided, a sacrifice, a living sacrifice in Jesus Christ. But do you know what? God has provided us with so many things. You know what God given me? A good place to sleep last night. I don't mind telling you that. I slept very comfortably in a bed last night. This morning I sat down at the table and I ate a meal. I had a food that was in front of me. I got in a vehicle and I drove to church this morning. I was able to, all these things, the amenities that we have in life, God has blessed us with so many things. You and I today, we take for granted daily bread, but if you ever wanna understand what hunger is like, don't imagine what it's like here in our country of how much food that we throw away, for we do, we dispose of a lot of food. I wanna tell you something, if you wanna know what hunger's like, go to a place where the people do not know from one day to the next what or if they're going to eat. You begin to desire it more, but you become grateful for what you have. Folks, has God blessed us so much that we've become blind to what he's given us? Or are we thankful for all the things that have been bestowed upon us? And Jesus said that we would pray, give us this day our daily bread. I wanna close in just a minute. I'm glad today to know that God's not too busy. Sometimes you go to a bakery, well, I've sold out for the day, but we'll be open back again tomorrow. We'll have a whole fresh loaf, folks. You know what I've learned about God? If you need Him at two o'clock in the morning, you know what? He's there. You need God at two o'clock in the afternoon, you know what? God's there. You need Him at one in the morning, 12 in the afternoon, whatever you need God, He's there. God is able to provide for you and for me. And that's why Elijah got to a place. He said, God, I'm tired. But he said, God said, no, we're not going to stop here. He said, I'm going to provide what it is you need. So I want to go back and read to you in the book of Isaiah, and I'm going to close with this. Isaiah teaches us in the 46th chapter of Isaiah. And in the fourth verse, and even to your old age, I am he. In other words, all you need in life. And even to the gray hairs, he said, I will carry you. I have made and I will bear. Even I will carry and deliver you. I'm reminded this morning of an old poem, and I'm not real good with literature, so my apologies, but it's The Footprints in the Sand, basically where one was complaining, God, when I look back, I only saw one set of footsteps, and I thought you abandoned me. He said, no, it was then that I was carrying you. Folks, this morning I want to tell you something. There's times in our life when you feel like God's abandoned you. You get out under the juniper tree and you think, God, here I am. And you know what he does? God will carry you along the way. And that's what that fourth verse is teaching us. He said, I have made and I will bear, even I will carry and deliver you. I will give you what you need. We shall endure. for this is a true statement, folks. We as God's people are a victorious people as long as we lean on him. Are you here this morning and you're worried about dying and leaving this world without knowing where you're gonna spend eternity? What a wonderful thing God has provided, Jehovah Jireth, he has provided what you need, but are you gonna seek after him? God bless you this morning is my prayer. That's my heart this morning.