Pastor Sean is out of town today, but I trust that you'll be back tonight at five o'clock. We'll be wrapping up the Gospel of Luke, and Pastor Jonathan will be leading us with the Ascension of Christ, and wrapping up that series. And so I trust that you will be back. We're gonna take a little break from the Gospel of John, but if you are visiting with us, please come back next week. Pastor Sean will be back, continuing our series in the Gospel of John. But this morning, we're gonna look at 1 Kings 19. 1 Kings 19, being troubled and discouraged. And I am preaching to myself this morning just as well as to you. And so please don't think that I have all this figured out. I don't. And I struggle with this just as many of you do as well today. And so read with me starting in verse 19. Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword. Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah saying, so may the gods do to me and more also if I do not make your life as the life of one of them by this time tomorrow. Then he was afraid, and he arose and ran for his life and came to Beersheba, which belongs to Judah, and left his servant there. But he, Elijah, himself, won a day's journey into the wilderness and came and sat down under a broom tree. And he asked that he might die, saying, it is enough now, Jehovah, Yahweh, take away my life, for I am no better than my fathers. And he lay down and slept under a broom tree. And behold, an angel touched him and said to him, arise and eat. And he looked, and behold, there was at his head a cake baked on hot stones and a jar of water. And he ate and drank and lay down again. And the angel of Yahweh came again a second time and touched him and said, Arise and eat, for the journey is too great for you. And he arose and ate and drank. and went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights to Horeb, the mount of God. Then he came to a cave and lodged in it. And behold, the word of Yahweh came to him, and he said to him, What are you doing here, Elijah? And he said, I have been very jealous for the Lord, the God of hosts. For the people of Israel have forsaken your covenant, throw down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword. And I, even I, only am left, and they seek my life to take it away.' And he said, Go out and stand on the mount before Yahweh. And behold, Yahweh passed by, and a great and strong wind tore the mountains and broke in pieces the rocks before Yahweh. But Yahweh was not Oh, but Yahweh was not in the wind. I'm sorry, I lost my place. And after the wind, an earthquake, but Yahweh was not in the earthquake. And after the earthquake, a fire, but Yahweh was not in the fire. And after the fire, the sound of a low whisper. And when Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his cloak and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. And behold, there came a voice to him and said, what are you doing here, Elijah? He said, I have been very jealous for Yahweh, the God of hosts, for the people of Israel have forsaken your covenant, throw down your altars, killed your prophets with the sword, and I, even I, only am left, and they seek my life to take it away. And Yahweh said to him, go, return on your way to the wilderness of Damascus. And when you arrive, you shall anoint Haziel to be king over Syria. And Jehu, the son of Nimshi, you shall anoint to be king over Israel. And Elisha, the son of Shaphat, of Abelmeholah, you shall anoint to be prophet in your place. And the one who escapes from the sword of Haziel shall Jehu put to death. And the one who escapes from the sword of Jehu shall Elisha put to death. Yet I will leave 7,000 in Israel, all the knees that have not bowed to Baal, and every mouth that has not kissed him." Let's pray this morning. Father, as we look into Your Word, I ask that You would speak to each of us. I know some struggle with this more than others, and yet I would dare say that all of us at some point in time struggle a little bit with being discouraged and troubled. And whatever degree that is, I ask that you would help the message this morning to be helpful and to be, to remind us of some truths from your Word. In Christ's name, amen. You may be seated. Last week, Pastor preached to us from John 14, and one of the first verse that he, that Spoke to us on was John 14 one, let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me. And some of the points that he made last week was the honesty of our Bibles. You know, he brought to our attention, you know, that the disciples were struggling. And it's not just the disciples. You know, as we read throughout our Bibles, many characters, many individuals throughout scripture struggled. And they were discouraged. They had times in their life where they were down, where they struggled with this. You know, they were, Pastor mentioned, they were the cluelessness of our Bible characters. And as, you know, as we look back at the apostles and the disciples, you know, he brought, you know, how many times did Jesus tell them what was going to happen to them? How many times were they reminded that He was going to the cross, that He wasn't here to establish an earthly kingdom yet? On and on, and yet they missed that. When we go back into the Old Testament, you know, and as we look at Elijah this morning, here's a man of God who had served him for 23 years and had seen God work time and time and time again. And we'll look at the miracles that Elijah did. We'll look at how God used him and yet he reaches a point in his life after this great victory and he gets a threat from a queen. And it drives him down a deep, dark hole. You know, I think we forget that he had some Scripture. Now, he doesn't, he didn't have it like we have it today. But he still had Scripture. You know, David had lived prior to Elijah and all the Psalms that David wrote. You know, as we read through the Psalms, we see David at moments of discouragement and moments where he is down and yet he is pouring his heart out to God and asking God for deliverance. And we can go back and read them. I'm sure Elijah had access to some of them as well. So that shouldn't have been new to him. And then Pastor also brought out the point that belief results with love for the person. When we believe, our heart changes and we love that person. In the Old Testament, we see those who believed in Yahweh obeyed Him, loved Him and obeyed Him. In the New Testament, those who believe in Christ love and obey Christ. And so it's kind of a little transition. You know, yes, we still love God. All right. But in the new covenant, it's a little more focused. We love Christ within the Godhead because we see more of what Christ has done for us and the sacrifice that He did in doing the will of the Father. But just as the disciples were troubled at some of what Christ told them and the events that were transpiring in their lives just as Elijah was troubled and depressed at this threat that Jezebel issued towards him. We too can get troubled. We too can get discouraged. What do we observe from this? if those that were the closest to Christ, the ones that lived with Him day in and day out, you know, they slept under the same roof, they ate the same bread, you know, they tore it and shared it with one another. They were family for three and a half years. You know, if they could reach a point where they were troubled, if Elijah, the great prophet that he was, could see all that God did through him and for him and in the nation and still become discouraged and react in ways that didn't really reflect their belief and their love for God or their love for Christ, then you know what? All of us can be faced with that same temptation. All of us are faced with doing the same as them. So where are we at in the big meta-narrative of Scripture? Just a little context here. The nation of Israel has been divided into two kingdoms now for about 60 years. Ahab is the sixth king of the northern kingdom. He rules for about 24 years. He is known as the most wicked king of Israel. So, you know, as you, and there are a lot of wicked ones, but Ahab kind of holds the, the, the certificate there for being the most wicked of them all. So where does Elijah fit into this? It's interesting, Elijah was the prophet to Israel just during the reign of King Ahab and Jezebel. And so really his focus was on the Northern Kingdom just that 24 years that Ahab was ruling. Other than Moses, most commentators would say that Elijah is the greatest Old Testament prophet. Now I know we could probably discuss that and, you know, Elisha, you know, got a double portion of the Spirit and did twice as many miracles and we could maybe argue that. But when, when we all boil it down and, and analyze all of it. You know, again, just from commentators, Bible scholars, they would all agree, or most all of them would agree that Elijah, we could probably say, other than Moses, was the greatest of the Old Testament prophets. And yet, we still see the struggles that Elijah has. So keep in mind, you know, Elijah is the prophet that prophesied a drought. He was the one that Ahab tried to kill for three and a half years. And yet God kept him hidden. He fed him by ravens. Then he took him into a town and, you know, Elijah, through the miracle of God, caused the widow's flower and oil not to run out. You know, he raised the widow's son back to life. You know, then when he finally, you know, God told him to go confront Ahab, you know, he goes out in the wilderness and meets one of the king's servants. And the servant, you know, is shocked to see him. And Elijah goes, go call your master and tell him to meet me here. And the, the, the servant goes, oh no, no, don't do that to me. He goes, I know what's going to happen. You know, I'm going to go tell Ahab you're here and then the spirit is going to, you know, make you vanish somewhere. And I'm going to come back and he's going to cut my head off. because you're not here." And Elijah said, no, I'll be here. I promise. You know, when you come back, I'll be here and we'll talk. But then he calls down fire on Mount Carmel. And this is right where we're at in this narrative. He's calling down fire on Mount Carmel. He prays for rain to end the drought and then outran Ahab's chariot. And then after this, he parts the Jordan River. He's taken up to heaven in a chariot of fire. So that's a pretty good resume, isn't it? I don't know anybody that's done any of that. So here's a great man of God. Here's a great prophet in Israel. As we compare Elijah and Christ, Elijah challenged the worship of Baal. Christ challenged the Pharisees and the Sadducees about their hypocrisy. And their need to repent and, and accept Him as, or believe in Him, accept Him as Messiah. Elijah performed miracles and raised that dead son of the widow. Christ performed miracles and raised Lazarus. Both Elijah and Christ had personal encounters with God the Father. Both of them were calling people to repent. Both of them fasted and prayed for 40 days and 40 nights. Both of them faced opposition and persecution. Both of them ascended to heaven. And yet, what is the glaring difference between them? Elijah became discouraged and gave up. When he was faced with this threat, when he was faced with the potential death, he caved. He gave up. He was done. And yet, what did Christ do? When Christ was tempted, when he was in the garden the night before his crucifixion knowing what was going to happen the next day, Yes, he prayed, Father, if it be your will, let this cup pass from me. But nevertheless, your will, not mine, be done. He was willing to go through death because it was the will of the Father. And so, yes, he was tempted. Yes, he was tempted. You know, he was tempted in all points like as we are, yet without sin. And he prayed for the strength to endure and to make it. And God gave him that strength and he was able to fulfill the mission that God gave him. And our encouragement today is that we can pray to God and we have the Holy Spirit that can empower us, that can help us through these struggles. And so, yes, Elijah, Elijah didn't respond well. And we don't either at times. But there's hope. We, we can, we can get to the point where we respond as we ought to. And when we don't, we can confess that. We can try again. You know, what was it? Where's Gene? Gene's not here. What was it? Pastor said last, you got, you military guys, when you fail a station, what is it you, they call it? A no-go. You know, when we fail these, what is it? It's a no-go and we have to repeat it. You know, when we fail, in essence, God's going to give us a no-go and we repeat until we succeed. Until we rely on Him, trust Him and get through it. So what are the three major components in this chapter? We have Jezebel's threat. We have Elijah's response and then we have God's intervention. So we'll look at each of them briefly this morning before we dismiss. So Jezebel's threat. In verse one and two, Jezebel sends a messenger to Elijah saying, so may the gods do to me more also if I do not make your life as the life of one of the prophets of Baal by this time tomorrow. So just prior to this, Elijah had killed 450 prophets of Baal. It was a high, I mean, that was a high moment for him. You know, here he was, you know, he, he slays all the prophets. We'll see in a little bit, you know, all the people cry out, Yahweh is God, Yahweh is God, we'll serve Him. You know, Elijah's probably on cloud nine thinking, wow, great revival. You know, all the prophets of Baal are gone. Ahab's going to see that God, Yahweh, is the, is the true God. And where's going to be revival in Israel? And then he goes back, tells Jezebel all that's happened. Jezebel's not convinced. She's not going to believe. And so she issues the decree. She issues the command that, or the threat, I won't say a command. She issues the threat that she's going to kill Elijah. Now, you know, it's interesting in scripture, we don't ever see where she really followed through with that. We don't see that it was actually a credible threat. But just throwing that out there, just putting that on Elijah caused him to fear. So how should we, how should Elijah have responded, how should we respond when we've done the right thing, when we know we're in the right, and yet we're threatened? Maybe not our lives, but maybe it's our job, maybe it's something in the workplace, HR, lots of different scenarios, our neighbors threatening us with legal action, different things. So how should we respond? Well, David, the psalmist, says, I've set the Lord always before me because He is at my right hand. I shall not be shaken. The psalmist realized, you know what, if I'm in the right, If I've done right, if my heart is right before God, then you know what? He's strong enough to carry me through. I don't need to be shaken. I don't need to be moved. I don't need to be troubled. I don't need to be discouraged. Because God can handle it. We look at the, in the New Testament, the amplified version, Paul speaking, and he says, but none of these things move me. Neither do I esteem my life dear to myself. If only I may finish my course with joy and the ministry which I have obtained from, which was entrusted to me by the Lord Jesus, faithfully to attest to the good news, the gospel of God's grace, God's unmerited favor, his spiritual blessing and mercy. So Paul says, you know, I'm not going to let these things move me. Well, what are these things? What's Paul referring to? Paul has a pretty good resume too. Paul was shipwrecked, Paul was beaten, Paul was in prison, Paul was persecuted, Paul was publicly humiliated, he was bitten by a snake, he was falsely accused. You know, he was criticized by people that had less knowledge and intelligence and education than him. He had physical infirmities that he struggled with, that he begged God to remove and yet God said my grace is sufficient for you. And Paul said so be it. Paul had doubts, he was doubted, he had disappointments with those with whom he worked, and his heart grieved for them. But Paul said, none of these things are gonna move me. None of these things are gonna distract me from the mission that God has given to me. There is only one thing that moved the apostle Paul, and that was preaching the gospel. and bringing it to the Gentiles. He said, I'm going to finish my course. I'm going to do it with joy. I'm not going to give up on the things that God has called me to do. What a great example for us as we look back. You know, was Paul perfect? No, he wasn't either. But Paul had that spirit of, you know what, God has saved me. God has given me a mission and I'm going to accomplish it. I'm going to keep working at it as long as I have breath. You know, Paul was the one who said, you know what, I'm really tired towards the end of his life. And he said, you know, it would be so much better for me if God just took me home. But he said, you know what, that wouldn't be best for you. Because I still have things that I can share with you. I still have things that God has given me that I can give to you. And he said, whether here or not, you know what, the gospel is going to continue. So Paul had that attitude, that spirit of, I'm going to keep preaching. I'm going to keep sharing. I'm going to keep doing what God has called me to do until the day he takes me home. I'm not going to ask him to take away my life. Elijah wasn't quite there and we don't know why. But Elijah was in a position where he got to where he just said, you know what, God, I'm done. I don't want to do this anymore." Where Paul said, you know what, I'm just going to keep doing it. It doesn't matter what they do to me. It doesn't matter what others do to me or how they respond to me, how they react to me, how they harm me. I'm just going to keep doing what God has called me to do. So when we're threatened, we need to remember what God has called us to do. We need to continue doing the work that He's given to us and then we trust Him to keep us safe. What was Elijah's response? And again, we're going to look at some negative things. You know, we, my dad taught us as kids growing up, he was like, it's great to learn from your own mistakes, but it's always better to learn from somebody else's. You know how true that is. You know, if we did something at school, we got in trouble for it. But, you know, he would always say, you know, like, did somebody else in the class do that before you? And if we ever said yes, then it was a greater punishment. Because it was, well, you should have learned from them. You know, if they did it and got in trouble, then you really should have known that that's not something you should have done. So as we look at Elijah's response today, we can see this and we can say, all right, this is how Elijah responded. This is what happened to him. I'm not going to make that same mistake. I'm not going to go down that same rabbit hole that Elijah did. So in verse three and four it says, then Elijah was afraid and he arose and he ran for his life. He comes to Beersheba, leaves his servant there. He goes another day into the wilderness. He sits down under a broom tree. And then three, he asked that he might die, saying, it is enough, O Lord, take away my life, for I am no better than my father's. So Elijah was afraid. Elijah ran away. He tried to run from what God had called him to do. We're going through the book of Jonah on Wednesday nights with Kyle. You know, same exact thing. You know, God gave Jonah a mission and Jonah was like, I don't want to do it. I'm going the other way. I'm going to run, I'm going to try and run from God. And then Elijah asked to die, very similar to Jonah. You know, Jonah said, throw me overboard. I'm going to, you know, I want to die. I don't, I'd rather die than go do what God told me to do. So considering all that had just happened in chapter 18, we read chapter 18, we read coming up to chapter 19, and to me, I just look at this, I read chapter 19 and I just say, this doesn't make any sense to me. You know, why would he respond like this, considering all that had just happened? You know, he had just challenged the 450 Baal prophets. He taunted them for eight hours. Go back and read chapter 18. It's hilarious. You know, as he's taunting them, you know, maybe your God's asleep. Maybe he's in the bathroom. Maybe, you know, he just goes on just poking and prodding them, you know, just really, and they're cutting themselves. They're doing all kinds of just unimaginable things to themselves, trying to get Baal's attention. And then he builds an altar, he digs a trench, he prepares his sacrifice. Then he dumps gallons and gallons and gallons of water all over it. And then he prays to God out loud so that all can hear him. And he says, God, if you are God, accept this sacrifice. And fire comes down, it didn't just, you know, it wasn't just a little burnt offering. I mean the fire comes down, it burns up the sacrifice, the rocks, the altar, everything. It's just like a big scorched spot in the earth now. And then all of Israel's crying out, Yahweh is God. So this great, mighty, miracle day in Elijah's life. And if that wasn't enough, you know, then God tells him, tell Ahab it's gonna rain. So then Elijah begins praying. You know, he sends his servant seven times, go look towards the sea, what do you see? You know, he prays some more. Back and forth, seven times they do this. Finally, the servant comes by and goes, there's like this little tiny cloud the size of a hand. And then Elijah just jumps up and he goes, we got to get out of here. You know, rain's coming. It's gonna be bad. So, he tells Ahab, you know, get back to Jezreel before the rain comes and you get stuck in your chariot. Then Elijah pulls up his cloak, tucks it in his belt, takes off running and he beats Eli, or beats Ahab back to Jezreel. All right, think about this, 18 miles and he outruns the chariot and a horse. All right, that, that, that in and of itself is a miracle. All right, Tom, you and Darren can't do that. All right, as many marathons as you run, as you've done. And yet, after all of this, Elijah's afraid, he runs away, and he wants to die. The psalmist says, be gracious to me, O God, for man tramples on me all day long, and attacker oppresses me. My enemies trample on me all day long, many attack me proudly. There's Jezebel. When I am afraid, I will put my trust in you. In God, whose word I praise, in God I trust. I shall not be afraid. What can flesh do to me?" You know, the psalmist got it right. He realized that, you know what, the only time that another person could do him harm was when God allows it. If I'm trusting in God, if my trust is in Him, if my heart is towards Him, and I am striving to give praise to Him for all that happens, then I also have to understand, and again, it's easy to say, it's more difficult to put into practice, but I have to understand, you know what, God, You are in control. I have to ask myself, is God sovereign or not? Does He know who I am? Does He care about me? Is He in control of my life or not? Rather than trying to run away from God, what we need to do when we are troubled, when we're discouraged, when we're tempted to be depressed, is run to God. Not away from Him. When we run away from Him, just as we've seen in Jonah. Every time he got farther down and down and down. You know, he got in the, you know, he was going down to Joppa. Then he went down in the bottom of the ship. Then he got thrown overboard, went down into the sea. Then he went down into the belly, the belly of the great fish. It was a continual progression of downwardness in his life. And the same's true for us. When we try to run from God, it's going to be a downward progression and a downward spiral. Again, the psalmist says, you know, where can I go from your spirit? We can't. God's there. You are there. You are there. Darkness is His light to you. We can't hide from God. We can't get away from Him. We have to guard our minds and not allow Satan to get that toehold. Our previous pastor, Jack, you ought to remember. You know, the previous pastor used to talk about, you know, a toehold. You know, if you ever went rock climbing. You know, you just got to get enough of your foot in the rock to, you know, get your weight to push to get up. It's just a little tiny bit. You know, and if you're good at that, you know, you have an incredible toe strength and finger strength and you can get your toe or finger in just the smallest cavity and use that to your advantage. And Satan does the same thing. If he can get that just a little bit, a little toehold, a little finger hold in our minds, it becomes a lot easier for him just to infiltrate us. And yes, it starts the downward path. And the more that we allow him to infiltrate our minds, the harder it is to dispel him. Now we know greater is He that's in us than he that's in the world. Yes, it can be done. But you know what? It's a whole lot easier if we confront it immediately and stop it before it begins. Or stop it right at the beginning. You know, as soon as you feel that discouragement come on, you need to draw the line in the sand and say, okay, that's it. You know, let me run to God. Let me go and we'll talk, look at this at the end. But you know, we have some things that we can do to try to help with that. Paul says in Philippians, you know, think on the things that are true and honorable and just and pure and lovely and commendable, excellent, worthy of praise. You know, when we begin to be confronted with doubt and we're troubled by things around us, let's go back to the things that are commendable to think about and refocus our minds. on different things. And Elijah's defense, you know, yes, you know, in his defense, what are some causes of major discouragement or depression? We won't spend a lot of time here because of time. But, you know, personalities. You know, some personalities are more prone to being discouraged or being depressed than others. You know, emotional highs. You know, for some, you know, the higher the, the higher the mountain, the lower the valley. You know, for other people, it's just kind of, you know, they're just kind of in the middle, you know, they don't really bounce up or down a whole lot, just little, little nothing, not much of anything. For other people, though, they have extreme highs and extreme lows. So, you have to learn yourself. You know, for many people failure is a means or a temptation to go through this idea of being discouraged and depressed. Others take it as a challenge to do better. So again, learning yourself. Fatigue. You know, most of us when we get tired, you know, it's a lot easier for us to become discouraged in something. And then when we try to do too much on our own, again, a lot of times that brings on that extra burden and realizing, you know, there's nobody to help, you know, I've got to do it all myself. And so that tends to guide or to lead into this direction of being discouraged or becoming depressed. So all of us can be tempted in these areas, maybe some more than others, but we need to be aware of them. We at least need to acknowledge, you know what, yes, there are things out there that can cause this or that can push us in this direction. So I need to be aware of them, I need to combat them. Then we see God's intervention. Elijah lays down and sleeps. The angel touches him and says, arise and eat. He eats, he drinks, he lays down again. The angel touches him, arise and eat. He gets up, he eats, he drinks some more. Then Yahweh comes to him and says, what are you doing here, Elijah? And Elijah gives his reasons. And he explains, he gives his complaint to God. And then, what does God say back? Go out and stand on the mount before Yahweh. And Yahweh passes by, and he had the strong wind, and then the earthquake, and then the fire, and Yahweh's not in any of those. And then there's that low whisper, that still small voice that speaks. And what does Elijah do? He wraps his face, he covers his face. And he goes out, and again, God asks him, what are you doing? This is the second time. God says, what are you doing, Elijah? Why are you here? A chance to repent, a chance to just confess. But Elijah doesn't do that. Elijah goes back to his original story and says the same thing all over again, almost word for word. And again, God listens, God hears him out. And then Yahweh says to him, he says, okay, just, you know, go back, you know, anoint Haziel, anoint Jehu, you know, anoint Elisha to do this. And then God kind of wraps it up and he says, you know what, in response to the fact that you said that you and you alone are the only one left that hasn't bowed to Baal, you know what, that's not really true, Elijah. I have 7,000 other people that haven't. You know, don't mingle too much in my business. You know, I'm still sovereign. I'm still in control. I still got it. You know, yes, I need you. Yes, yes, you've done a great thing. But don't get too big of a head here. So what did God do for Elijah? He gave him rest and food. He supported him in his time of trouble. And he gave him some new challenges as well. You know, the psalmist says, I lay down and slept. The Lord sustained me. And again, we come back to the idea that God is the sustainer of life. God gives life, God takes life. And we need to trust Him with our life. You know, in the New Covenant, we realize or we see that Christ is our rest. We rest in Him. You know, not in the sense that, you know, we sleep with Him. But He gives us that mental, that emotional, that rest, that hope of knowing, you know what, I am in Christ and He's in me. That He is in control. That He's guiding my life. The Holy Spirit's within me. And I have that restfulness of knowing that He's with me. Christ said in Matthew 11, he said, come to me all you who are weary and burdened, I will give you rest. Take my yoke. So it's not a free ride. You're still gonna work, right? You're still gonna bear the yoke. But he said, learn from me. You know, study the ministry of Christ, study the gospels, study the gospels. You know, study how Christ responded. And he says, learn from these things. He says, I'm gentle and humble in heart. You know, when God responded to Elijah, he was gentle, wasn't he, with him. You know, he didn't just beat him down and go, you're a loser, I can't believe you. No, he was gentle with him. He was trying to bring him back. He was trying to reinforce his calling. He says, my yoke is easy to bear, my load's not hard to carry, because he's in it with us. In Luke 12, you know, we're reminded that life is more than food, the body more than clothing. You know, that Christ, that God will take care of us in this. And then the support. God listened to Elijah's complaints, didn't he? He allowed him just pour his heart out. And you know what? God still will listen to our complaints today. You know, we can go to God. We can fall before the throne of God and just lay out our concerns, our complaints. We can, you know, say whatever we want to to Him. And God didn't rebuke Elijah for that. He was patient. He was sympathetic with him. But He didn't agree with him, did He? You know, there's the difference. You know, too often when people come and complain to us, what do we, oh yeah, I know, I feel your pain. No, God didn't do that. God didn't go, oh, I feel your pain, Elijah. Yeah, you know, you, you were great and you did this and that and the other, but you know, poor you, woe is you. No, he listened to him. He was sympathetic with them, but he, he drew that line and then he spoke truth and facts and tried to point him back to where he needed to be. Psalm 23 in the LSB, it says, Yahweh is my shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me, He leads me, He restores my, He guides me. His namesake, you are, your rod, your staff, you prepare, you have. What are you seeing in that? What observation do you make from that? It's all about God. It's not about us. God is the one that does all of those things. My job is to trust in Him. My job is to obey Him. My job is to follow Him. Paul tells Timothy, God didn't give us a spirit of fear, but of power and love and self-control. To the Philippians, the peace of God will guard your hearts and your minds. And then God gave Elijah some new challenges. All right, we see that also in the, in the New Testament, don't we? You know, they were, you know, Paul and Barnabas were working and they were ministering to a group and then the Holy Spirit came to them and said, you know what, it's time for you to move on. You know, I want you to move and go to Seleucia and then to Cyprus. You know, I have more work for you. Don't just stay, don't stay here. You know, it's time to move. You know, and then really just a couple chapters later, you know, after, you know, Paul and Barnabas are still working together and they wanted to go, you know, go do some other things. Barnabas wants to take John Mark. Paul says no. You know, there's a disagreement between them. They separate. So Barnabas takes Mark, goes one way. Paul takes Silas, they go a different way. And what happened? You know, we look at that and go, oh, that's really bad. You know, they disagreed. But, but now all of a sudden you have four people going out. You have two groups going out to take the gospel. You know, looking back at that, you know, I'm sure during that time there are, you know, the, the church is looking in going, oh yeah, there's a church split. You know, the, the apostles can't get along. But God used that to spread the Gospel even farther. You know, not every church splits bad. It's bad going through it. It's not fun going through it. But if another church is planted and the gospel is being preached and spread and more are coming to know Christ through it, then you know what? That's a good thing. So what encouragement do we get from the apostles? James says, count it joy when we are in trials, because the testing of our faith produces steadfastness, endurance, so that we can be perfect and complete. Paul says, don't be anxious about things. You just take them to God in prayer. Leave them with Him. Peter says, humble yourselves, cast your anxieties on Christ, because He does care for us. You know, and understand that even if nobody, even if it seems as if no one around you really cares, God does. God still cares. So how can we apply this to our lives to have victory? I got three minutes. Just very quickly. Always run to God, not away from Him. You're not going to go wrong if you run towards God. It doesn't have to be a sprint. Now, you know, the faster you get to him, probably the better it'll be. But at least start moving in that direction. Because I promise as you turn away from him, it gets a whole lot worse, faster than it does going towards him. Trust in scripture promises. You know what, know your Bible well enough for when you're struggling, you know, go, go to the Internet, go to a, you know, whatever you got to do. But get into the Word of God and find promises that deal with what you're struggling with. Years and years ago, we, a youth pastor that we had back in, when I say the 90s, used to, you know, talk about having trigger verses. You know, and that was, you know, memorize if you're struggling with, you know, temptation, then have a verse that triggers your mind about that. You know, if you're struggling with alcohol, have a verse or whatever it is. I was just picking stuff. But, you know, have something that, you know, gossip, have a verse that triggers that. You know, to get you back on the right track. You know, rest. You know, sometimes you just need to go to bed, physically, and sleep. Sometimes you need to rest in Christ. Sometimes you need to do both. You know, talk to God. Tell Him your complaints. You know, I talk to too many people and it's like, well, I don't want to complain to God. Well, OK, He wants to, yeah, He's the best one to complain to. You know, He's the only one that can do something about it if it's legit. But you know, realize, complain to Him, but then also listen for that still small voice. You have to set aside the distractions. And that doesn't mean you have to be in a, you know, hiding in your closet somewhere with your headphones on or whatever. No, it just means when the Word of God is taught or preached or proclaimed or you're reading it wherever it's at, make sure that all the distractions are set aside from your mind so that you can hear Him. He can speak to you in a still small voice right now. You know, even against my voice and other distractions in the auditorium, He can still speak to you now. Talk to other brothers and sisters in Christ. We're told in the New Testament to share our burdens with one another. Focus on something different. When you're discouraged, one of the best things that helps me, go to the hospital, make some hospital visits. Go to a nursing home and visit some folks that are in the nursing home. You know, when I was in college, I did nursing home ministry every Sunday. And it was amazing. You know, a lot of times I dread it. And I'm saying, oh, you got to go to the nursing homes. But man, you'd leave just feeling so exuberated. You know, going in and just realize, you know what, these people were really a blessing to me. What an encouragement they were. and then step out in faith. Sometimes, you know what, sometimes God does want us to change what we're doing. Start something new or change our focus a little bit. And so be willing to do that if that's where you feel like God is leading you and directing you. Let's pray this morning. Father, thank you Lord for your word. And thank you that we do see the honesty in it, that it's not just all the great and mighty miracles and wonderful things that everyone did, but you show us the feet of clay and the struggles that they had. Help us to learn from them. And even though often we still make similar mistakes, but help us not to go down as dark a hole as Elijah did. Help us to remind ourselves that the Holy Spirit would remind us of what we need to do when we begin down that path. May you encourage our hearts in your name, amen.