You were created for relationship with God. Through daily prayer and listening to His voice, you can experience the love and guidance He has for you.
I want you to know that no matter what you're going through, everybody out there, God still speaks. And he speaks in the middle of the storm. And so for some of you, just spoke to you maybe for the first time in the middle of your story. He loves you. So let's talk about practically about how he speaks.
And through this, this is gonna teach you, especially through this series, God still speaks. It's gonna teach you over the next few weeks how to hear him practically in the day in and day out. Let's go to 1 Kings-19. So if you have your Bibles, you could flip with me. We also have all of the the notes on our app and or if you're if you clicked on the church online platform, then you should be able to see the notes right there beside you.
So let's just let's get to it. Let's go through it. So first Kings, give me a second, chapter 19, and we're gonna start in verse let me see if I'm in the right spot. *1 Kings-19* and verse 3. Actually, I'm in second Kings.
Some of you did that too. Don't lie. Alright. Here we go. You guys ready?
*1 Kings-19* in verse 3. Here we go. Bible says, Elijah was afraid and ran for his life. Now let's just stop at that sentence right there. Who is this Elijah character?
Elijah is a character. He's he's not just a character. He was a a real person that lived approximately 2800 years ago. And Elijah did some amazing things. Elijah, preached the gospel.
Right? He went around, he proclaiming **God's word**. Elijah did a lot of amazing miracles you can read about through in Kings. He called down fire from heaven. The bible says, Elijah prayed that it wouldn't rain and God heard his prayer, shut the heavens, and it didn't rain for 3 years.
And it didn't rain until Elijah prayed again that it would rain. Right? And that what in in this the context of this, Elijah just prayed that. So 3 years before Elijah prayed it wouldn't rain and it stopped raining. And then Elijah prayed, like, just before he said he was afraid.
He prayed that it would rain and it started raining. Let's look at James just so you can see that in scripture with me. But in James-5:17, it says, Elijah was a human being even as we are. Some versions say he was a man just like us. So, you know, a lot of times we think of Elijah as this superhuman like, oh my gosh, you know, nobody could be like this.
But the bible says he was a person just like us. That means that the things that Elijah did, the way that he communicated to God, and the way that God heard him and responded is how he can hear you and respond to you when you pray. That's amazing. Elijah was just like us. And then it says, he prayed earnestly that it would not rain and it did not rain on the land for 3 and a half years.
I was wrong. I said 3, 3 and a half. Again, he prayed and the heavens gave rain and the earth produced crops. I don't know about you. That's pretty amazing.
So now we get back to 1 Kings-19:3 and it says, Elijah's afraid. Why is he afraid? Because after he's had this mountaintop experience with God, this queen of the of the land says, hey, I'm I'm out to kill you. I'm gonna put you to death. If that's the last thing I do, Elijah, I'm killing you.
And Elijah was afraid. Now, I want you to know something. Even this powerful man of God was afraid. And many of us are in the same boat right now. The stock market crashing, maybe some of us have lost a lot of money because of that.
Maybe some of you maybe you're sick, maybe maybe you have cancer, maybe maybe some of you that are watching got the coronavirus, maybe some of you just don't know what's going on, maybe some of you have fear of the future and the unknown and you're sitting in fear. You don't know how your family's gonna fare because of this. Maybe some of you are afraid like Elijah was. Well, Elijah's like us. Let's see what happened.
Oh, and before we do, I have to tell you this. And trust me, this is gonna be encouraging even though it didn't seem like it at first. But in Romans-14:23, the Bible says, anything that does not come from *faith* is sin, and fear is not from faith. So fear then is sin. In 1 John-4, the Bible says, God is love.
And then it says, there is no *fear* in love. So there's no fear in God. And you're perfectly loved by him, so we don't have to fear. Right? So Elijah is is afraid.
He's sitting in sin. How many of you, maybe you've been following Jesus for a long time, and you had this mountaintop experience, and then you go out and the next thing that happens is you you fall into sin. You're like, oh, man. All of this is canceled out. I don't understand what's no.
That is not the case. I I spoke about on a video that I did just a few days before. If you didn't catch it, go to our Facebook page and and look at it. But the disciples, right after Jesus was crucified, just a couple of days later, they're sitting in *fear* for afraid of the Jewish leaders. Right?
They're sitting in fear. What are they doing? They're sitting in sin. And what was Jesus' response to that? To the disciples sitting in sin.
*John-20. Go look it up. Jesus didn't respond like, hey, I can't believe that you're sitting in sin*. I can't believe that you should confess and repent and feel sorry. You terrible people.
He didn't respond that way. Jesus came into the middle of them. He came and stood in the middle of their sin and said, "peace be with you". Peace. And that's what Jesus is telling you today.
He's coming to where you are in the middle of your situation, in the middle of your mess, in the middle of your stress, your worry, your doubt, your your fear, and he's saying peace be with you. Let's look and see how God responded to Elijah. Elijah was afraid and ran for his life. When he came to Beersheba in Judah, he left his servant there. And while he himself went on a day's journey journey into the wilderness, he came to a broom brush, sat under it, and prayed that he might die.
He said, I've had enough Lord. Take my life. I'm better. I'm no better than my ancestors. Then he laid down in the brush and fell asleep.
Some of you have been right there. And maybe you're there right now. Stuff is going on so much. You're just like, I'm just done. I am done with life.
I'm ready just to end it all. Don't don't let your past failures think that your future is a failure. Jesus loves you and Jesus has an amazing future plan for you. And in the middle of your fear, in the middle of your wanting to die, God is going to respond just to you just like he did to Elijah. Watch what he did.
All at once an angel touched him and said, I can't believe you're afraid. I can't believe this. You should just go ahead and go die. That's not what the angel said. No.
It says, all at once an angel touched him and said, get up and eat. Elijah looked around and thereby his head was some baked bread over hot coals and a jar of water. He ate and drank and lay down again. In the middle of his sin, which is his fear is sin, right? Because it's not faith in the middle of his sin, in the middle of his wanting to die.
God sent an angel and provided nourishment for him. And Elijah didn't even see it. Elijah ate, was nourished, didn't say thank you, God. He didn't do any of that. He just laid right back down, probably still feeling sorry for himself.
And how many times do we do the same thing? In the middle of our mess, God provides something amazing, but we're so focused on our mess and we're so focused on the circumstance and so focused on what we're afraid of that we can't be thankful for what God's put right in front of us. I want you to know God is providing for you in the middle of this mess. He loves you and he cares for you. You can be thankful.
Thank you God that I'm alive right now. Thank you God that you're here. Thank you that you're with me, that you love me, and you're reaching out to me with this message showing me that you love me. Thank you, God. Right?
Well, Elijah, he responded in the way that he did. What did God do? Did God smite him then? No. Right after Elijah laid down again, verse 7 it says, the angel of the Lord came back a second time and touched him and said, get up and eat for the journey is too much for you.
So he got up and ate and drank Strengthened by that food, he traveled 40 days and 40 nights until he reached Horeb, the mountain of God. There, he went to the cave and spent the night. I want you to know that God has an amazing plan for you, and the plan is too much for you to do without him. You can't move forward with his amazing plan that that is designed for you to do with him and him empowering you without feasting on what he wants to give you. And the bible says his word is our food.
So maybe you've been feeling weak spiritually or maybe you've been feeling like you haven't been hearing him when you know you're a child of God because you haven't been getting in his word, you haven't been feasting, you haven't been getting in community with other believers and help letting them encourage encourage you, I I would encourage you to do that because, man, his word is our food. Hearing his word, hearing him speak to us whether that's through people, through the bible, through prayer, through other believers, through through preachers, his word is our food and it will nourish us. He will nourish us through that to be able to carry out things that we are too weak to do alone. It's important. So the angel went to him, encouraged him, strengthened him like that.
And then here's what God said. In verse 9, he went to a cave, spent the night, and the word of the Lord came to him and said, what are you doing, Elijah? Verse 10, he replied, I have been very zealous for the lord god almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, torn down your altars, and put your prophets to death with a sword. I am the only 1 that left and now they are trying to kill me too.
God spoke to Elijah. What are you doing? And Elijah's focus was I. Elijah complained. And I don't know about you, but a lot of times I'm a habitual complainer.
Like, I see God doing stuff. I see him giving me exactly what I need in the moment. Maybe it seems like it's way too much for me. But I I instead of knowing that his holy like, the Holy Spirit through his word, through through him him in me, living through me, empower me to do immeasurably more than I could ask, think, or imagine. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.
A lot of times, I just complain about the the mountain in front of me and about the failures behind me and about how everybody else failed me in the moment. No. Let's put our eyes on Jesus and know that he's with us, he's helping us, and he has an amazing plan for us, and and he's gonna give us everything that we need for the journey that he's called us to. If we would only stay keep our eyes on him and stay faithful to take the next step. And that's you.
Keep your eyes on Jesus and stay faithful to take the next step. A lot of times we get overwhelmed by this big thing that's in front of us, and and I I I was encouraged by my dad back in the day when I was going through college. I was a submarine a submariner. I had to go through nuclear power school, and it was intense. It was it was like getting a master's of mathematics, a master's in physics, a master's in chemical engineering, a master's in mechanical engineering, and and all the other nuclear engineering all in 6 months.
It was overwhelming, And my dad would encourage me like the little alligator game that you take your kids and they bop the alligator on the head, comes up, bop, bop. He said, just hit the next alligator. The next 1, like whatever the next test is, whatever the next thing you need to study, just do that first and focus on 1 thing at a time. For you, what is the last thing God challenged you to do? What the next big thing in your life that you need to get done?
And what little thing can you get done now? Bop that in the head with the power that the Holy Spirit's given you. You can do it. God is with you. Amen?
Okay. I I digress. I got let's let's get back to this. So now, verse 11. *1 Kings-19* verse 11.
The Lord said, go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord for the Lord is about to pass by. God is gonna show him. God was gonna show him himself. And a lot of times, we're in the middle of our sin or in the in the middle of our fear, in the middle of our unbelief. We need God to show us himself so we can see him clearly.
And then what happened? Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind, there was an earthquake, fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a "gentle whisper". When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and he went out and stood at the mouth mouth of the cave.
And then the voice said to him, what are you doing here, Elijah? So first, there was this big, awe shaking what was it? What was it first? A wind. Big, awe shaking wind.
And then a fire and then an earthquake. And I think a lot of times in our lives, in our relationship with God, trying to hear his voice, we hear these testimonies of how God maybe raised the dead or God healed this person or God gave this person a word or this miraculous thing happened. And and we look in our life and we don't see anything happening like that. Maybe we or we've forgotten when it when it did happen. And we think, man, I I can't hear God like this guy does and I can't hear God like that guy does.
No, no. Stop looking for the big wind and the big earthquake and the big fire. Can God speak in those miraculous ways? Yes. And I love it when he does.
And yet, the way that he speaks usually is in the gentle, quiet whisper. The still, small voice many people talk about. That's how he normally speaks. And so what if we got used to hearing the still, small voice no matter what the storm was going around us? Because I think a lot of times, because we're looking for those things, we miss him speaking and what he's saying to us in the moment.
And then a lot of times, you know, when storms like this come, we we we look to hear God's voice in the midst of the storm. When if we would have gotten used to hearing his voice in the still small moments, in the in the mundane of life, getting along with God and and and and saying, praying, teach me to hear your voice. Getting along, getting in his word, teach me to know you. If we would have gotten used to hearing him in the still small times of life, then we could hear him when the storms come. So I would encourage you, right, to take time to get away from all of the craziness.
Maybe maybe you have a lot of craziness in your mind. You like, the voices in your head are are way too loud. Ask God to silence the voices. Right? And get alone with God.
Let him deal with each 1 of those voices until you're able to be at peace because he is your peace and hear him in the still small voice so that when the storms come out here, you can be at peace in here because you let God deal with the depths of your heart. I mean, that's important, and God wants to do that. And if you don't know how to do that, find a Christian brother or sister that you trust and let them walk you through those things. We can help you with that. Reach out to us.
We wanna pray for you. We want to walk you through those things. See, not only that and what we everything that we just said, but God spoke to him. Elijah responded the same way. But then after that, in verses 15 through 19, and you can go read it later.
But God gave him some very, very practical advice. Some like, hey, I want you to do this specific thing in this specific circumstance. Right? And a lot of times we think God just speaks in the big general. No.
We can hear him in the practical and the mundane, and he can give us advice on exactly what next step to take. And maybe you're wondering, well, how to how do I how do I hear God like that? How do I know his voice in such a way that I know what decision to make with my business? And I know what, you know, what thing to say to my wife and and how to serve my kids in this way, and I know what schools to go to? How do I hear him like that?
For you to get that answer, I wanna give you some homework. See, we're in a series called God Still Speaks, and we're gonna talk about how God speaks in the practical like that, how he you can hear his voice for the little things, but we're not gonna do it today. Yeah. I was baiting you for that. I want you to come back next week when we do our livestream, and and I'm gonna go through exactly how to hear God in the little things like that.
It's important, but the homework, it will help you. I want you to maybe with your wife, with your kids, bring some of your friends over and go to 2 Corinthians-1. And I want you just with them, go through the first 9 or 10 verses. Ask God to speak and go through the first 9 or 10 verses. That will help you in the midst of whatever you're going through right now, in the midst of your trial.
And then to learn how he speaks in the little things, I want you to do the same thing with your friends or with your family or with both. Go to *1 Corinthians-2* and ask God to speak to you. And then read through that. Study it. Meditate on it.
Think about Ask what other people think. Ask God what he's saying. He's gonna speak to you. And I can't wait to get to preach a message next week about how God speaks, not just in the storms like we talk about tonight today or this morning, but also how God speaks in the day in and day out, the daily decisions, how we can have a conversational daily relationship with him. So right now, before we end this stream, I wanna pray for you.
See, God, he's our healer. **Jesus Christ** paid the price for you to be healed. Jesus Christ, the bible says the chastisement of our peace was set upon him. That means means when when those those thorns were set on his on his head, on Jesus' head, he was taking all of the mental anguish and the mental torment that you go through on the day in and day out so that you could have peace in your mind. You could experience supernatural peace.
The depression, the anxiety, all of that. No. He loves you and he cares for you. Some of you have pain and and sickness in your body right now. I'm gonna pray for you and I'm gonna believe and know and stand on this word that God's gonna heal you.
So once you just as I as I pray, if if you're listening, put your hand on wherever you're sick, if it's if it's heart issues, if it's cancer, or if it's just a as as little as a sprained ankle, put your hand on that and just believe and receive by faith what God's gonna do. And I believe God's gonna touch you. And then maybe you gave your life to Jesus. Just just just just lift your hands like this right now. It just means I I surrender.
And as I pray, just receive his goodness and know that he's with you. You ready? Here we go. Let's pray. Father, I just thank you, Lord, that you're here.
Lord, I thank you that you're in the room with me, but you're also in the room with everyone that's watching this. Holy Spirit, I just ask you just to fill them up with your presence. Let them sense your goodness. Let them sense your love. Holy Spirit, baptize them in power.
Lord God, so that they have the power to be a witness. We just invite you right now where they are. Lord, that all of the timidity, all of the timidness, I'm too scared to share my testimony, I'm too scared to ask my neighbors to know you, all of timidity would be gone in the name of Jesus because they've been filled with your power and your boldness to be a witness in Jesus' name. Lord God, I pray that you would give them gifts and and just the ability to love people in ways that they never even imagined and never even dreamed of. And for those of the them that are sick right now, in the name of Jesus, we know that yours by your stripes, we have been healed and we are healed.
So in the name of Jesus, be healed. In the name of Jesus, cancer dry up and go away. Arthritis, I command you to go right now. Blind eyes, be healed in Jesus' name. If you're lame, get up and walk in the name of Jesus.
If you have pain in your knees, begin to stretch out your knees. I believe God is healing your knees. God is healing your heart. God is healing flu viruses. Go away.
Corona, in the name of Jesus, leave. God loves you. And those of you struggling with depression, be free. The Bible says the joy of the Lord is your strength. He is your joy.
Rest in him. He is your peace. Thank you, father, for loving us. Thank you for your goodness. Thank you that that you're here.
And just just begin. If God touched your body or just know by faith that he did, it's gonna continue to get better. If it didn't instantly, it will continue to get better. Just begin to thank God for what he did. Thank you, Jesus.
Thank you that you're here. And then if if there was a miracle that happened, would you would you just comment and say, hey, god healed me. If there if there's something instantly happened, test it. Don't fake it till you make it. If the pain actually went away, why don't you just just type in and and share, hey, this is what god did.
Thank you so much. Jesus healed my knee or Jesus healed my this. What sharing your testimony of what Jesus has done is gonna strengthen and encourage others. Amen? Okay.
I'm done, guys. So thank you for tuning in. Make sure make sure to to share this. We're gonna post it on Facebook and post it on YouTube. Make sure to share it with your friends.
If it encouraged you, then for sure it will encourage them. God God still speaks and he wants to speak to them too. And then also, right now media, take advantage of that. Look in your emails for for the right now media link. And if you haven't given us your email, if you don't get our weekly email, then then please give us your email.
Okay? And I can't wait. I can't wait to connect with you guys. Oh, and last but not least, we're working on groups. We're working on doing virtual groups and and and different home groups so that you can meet and have community together.
It's so important. I encourage you to go to our website and sign up for a group. We'll connect you with the right group, and and we're learning on how to do virtual groups. We're thinking about through Zoom, that kind of thing. So make sure to to sign up for that.
I can't wait to see you again. God bless and see you soon.
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