1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:13,360 Welcome to Walk in the Truth podcast. 2 00:00:13,360 --> 00:00:18,720 This season of messages takes us through some of the great comeback stories in the Bible. 3 00:00:18,720 --> 00:00:23,820 Pastor John Metter of Cross City Church will show us how God can take any situation in 4 00:00:23,820 --> 00:00:27,800 any life and bring hope and victory out of hardship. 5 00:00:27,800 --> 00:00:33,960 These messages will inspire you to trust God in your own challenging seasons. 6 00:00:33,960 --> 00:00:38,520 So glad you're with us this morning and today if you have your Bibles, turn to 1 Kings chapter 7 00:00:38,520 --> 00:00:41,000 19 verse 1, 1 Kings chapter 19. 8 00:00:41,000 --> 00:00:45,920 The title of the message today is Out of Darkness, Light. 9 00:00:45,920 --> 00:00:50,040 And today we want to walk with you through what it means to come out of a time of darkness, 10 00:00:50,040 --> 00:00:55,320 a time of depression, discouragement, whatever it might be that constitutes the darkness 11 00:00:55,320 --> 00:01:02,240 in your life to the light that God has for you no matter how difficult your challenge 12 00:01:02,240 --> 00:01:06,240 has been or how difficult your struggle has been, God has light for you. 13 00:01:06,240 --> 00:01:10,760 Today is a very serious moment as we talk about a very serious subject in 1 Kings chapter 14 00:01:10,760 --> 00:01:11,760 19. 15 00:01:11,760 --> 00:01:16,040 Now, when we read this passage in just a few moments, we'll be reading about the character 16 00:01:16,040 --> 00:01:21,080 named Elijah, a great prophet of God in the Old Testament who actually had an incredible 17 00:01:21,080 --> 00:01:24,360 experience that brought him from darkness to light. 18 00:01:24,360 --> 00:01:28,960 We'll talk about how he got there and how he got out and how God rescued him. 19 00:01:28,960 --> 00:01:33,560 But it's a very personal message for me because seven years into my marriage, my wife and 20 00:01:33,560 --> 00:01:38,520 I, Kim, experienced what we would call the dark night of the soul. 21 00:01:38,520 --> 00:01:39,840 That's a phrase that we later learned. 22 00:01:39,840 --> 00:01:43,760 We didn't really know what to call it at the time, but by any other definition, it would 23 00:01:43,760 --> 00:01:48,000 have been great discouragement, great depression was happening in her life. 24 00:01:48,000 --> 00:01:52,600 And of course, I share all this with Kim's permission because she wants this story to 25 00:01:52,600 --> 00:01:53,600 be told. 26 00:01:53,600 --> 00:01:58,040 It's not just a story of darkness and difficulty, but it's a story of victory as well because 27 00:01:58,040 --> 00:02:03,400 this story really, really ends well, just like Elijah's story ends well. 28 00:02:03,400 --> 00:02:04,620 But we were in our 20s. 29 00:02:04,620 --> 00:02:06,280 This was some 35 plus years ago. 30 00:02:06,280 --> 00:02:10,600 We were in our 20s and I was pastoring a church in Oklahoma. 31 00:02:10,600 --> 00:02:13,400 We had two children and one more on the way. 32 00:02:13,400 --> 00:02:17,720 And I can remember coming back from work in the afternoon and opening the front door. 33 00:02:17,720 --> 00:02:22,740 There was a stairway as you opened the front door immediately on the inside. 34 00:02:22,740 --> 00:02:28,400 And I can remember coming home and seeing her seated on those stairs, crying, weeping, 35 00:02:28,400 --> 00:02:32,920 and not really being able to tell me why she was crying, not really being able to say this 36 00:02:32,920 --> 00:02:35,760 is what caused it or that's what caused it. 37 00:02:35,760 --> 00:02:41,060 But as we began to talk during that period of time, she expressed that she had feelings 38 00:02:41,060 --> 00:02:44,460 of isolation and worthlessness. 39 00:02:44,460 --> 00:02:47,280 She felt like she was a failure in so many different ways. 40 00:02:47,280 --> 00:02:55,640 She even felt a mental impulse that told her to run away and even at times a suicidal thought 41 00:02:55,640 --> 00:03:00,080 would come into her mind that was compelling in so many different ways. 42 00:03:00,080 --> 00:03:01,280 And we knew of no counselors. 43 00:03:01,280 --> 00:03:05,540 I didn't really have any training in knowing exactly how to deal with that. 44 00:03:05,540 --> 00:03:06,540 We were young. 45 00:03:06,540 --> 00:03:08,480 We had no one we knew that could help us with this. 46 00:03:08,480 --> 00:03:13,760 We were unprepared in almost every way a person can be unprepared to deal with that kind of 47 00:03:13,760 --> 00:03:14,760 emotional trauma. 48 00:03:14,760 --> 00:03:15,760 And it was perplexing. 49 00:03:15,760 --> 00:03:20,920 It was perplexing because we had a great relationship with each other. 50 00:03:20,920 --> 00:03:21,920 We were young in marriage. 51 00:03:21,920 --> 00:03:25,680 We had already made it through the first seven years of our marriage, which we call the seven 52 00:03:25,680 --> 00:03:29,280 years of tribulation in another story. 53 00:03:29,280 --> 00:03:30,360 We're on the other side of that. 54 00:03:30,360 --> 00:03:33,040 We were doing pretty well. 55 00:03:33,040 --> 00:03:35,240 Tim comes from an incredible family background. 56 00:03:35,240 --> 00:03:38,400 She's the most vibrant young woman I've ever met in my life. 57 00:03:38,400 --> 00:03:43,200 In college I saw her in her spiritual walk and thought, wow, how did you know so much 58 00:03:43,200 --> 00:03:46,920 about the Lord at such a young age in life? 59 00:03:46,920 --> 00:03:48,960 And she's still that way. 60 00:03:48,960 --> 00:03:50,280 So we had stable family. 61 00:03:50,280 --> 00:03:51,640 We had friends all around us. 62 00:03:51,640 --> 00:03:54,280 Nothing was going on at church that was wrong. 63 00:03:54,280 --> 00:03:56,960 Nothing was going on in home necessarily that was wrong. 64 00:03:56,960 --> 00:04:03,040 And yet we were grappling with that depression and we had no idea how our story would end. 65 00:04:03,040 --> 00:04:05,480 We didn't know what the future held. 66 00:04:05,480 --> 00:04:10,040 So often it's true when we tell stories about moving from darkness to light, there's a two-word 67 00:04:10,040 --> 00:04:15,680 phrase we use often because it's true and it's the word, but God. 68 00:04:15,680 --> 00:04:16,960 And I love that phrase. 69 00:04:16,960 --> 00:04:21,080 And the reason I identify so well with a phrase like that is because there have been a lot 70 00:04:21,080 --> 00:04:25,080 of moments in my life that I had to say, but God. 71 00:04:25,080 --> 00:04:28,280 But God had a word, but God had a plan, but God had a way. 72 00:04:28,280 --> 00:04:32,640 And this was one of those stories where we saw God come in amazing ways. 73 00:04:32,640 --> 00:04:36,400 I still remember us without knowing really any other thing that we could do, getting 74 00:04:36,400 --> 00:04:41,400 down on our knees in front of this old family couch that we had in that first home we had 75 00:04:41,400 --> 00:04:45,520 in Oklahoma and just pouring our heart out to God. 76 00:04:45,520 --> 00:04:54,040 And as we poured our heart out to Him, He began to bring us slowly encouragement, isolated 77 00:04:54,040 --> 00:04:59,960 incidences that we could only say God spoke through them, and characters in the scripture 78 00:04:59,960 --> 00:05:01,800 that God would speak to us through. 79 00:05:01,800 --> 00:05:06,000 And Elijah is one of those characters that over that period of time began to intersect 80 00:05:06,000 --> 00:05:07,480 with our life in such a big way. 81 00:05:07,480 --> 00:05:12,720 And that's why I associate so much about what we've gone through with the life of Elijah. 82 00:05:12,720 --> 00:05:16,760 So we're gonna pick up the story of Elijah's life in chapter 19. 83 00:05:16,760 --> 00:05:20,600 That chapter 18 is really the pinnacle of his ministry. 84 00:05:20,600 --> 00:05:25,240 Many of you have heard about Mount Carmel where Elijah called down fire from heaven in this 85 00:05:25,240 --> 00:05:31,200 huge confrontation with all these false prophets of veil, and he the one man representing the 86 00:05:31,200 --> 00:05:33,560 God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. 87 00:05:33,560 --> 00:05:37,120 So there he is on Mount Carmel and he gets this incredible victory that we'll talk about 88 00:05:37,120 --> 00:05:38,720 in just a few moments. 89 00:05:38,720 --> 00:05:45,760 And after that great mountaintop victory, chapter 19 is the next day and the next few 90 00:05:45,760 --> 00:05:50,000 hours of his life, and we would call that the valley period of his life. 91 00:05:50,000 --> 00:05:54,320 First Kings chapter 19, we'll stand together as I read just four verses here and then we'll 92 00:05:54,320 --> 00:06:00,880 cover many other verses in chapter 19 in just a few moments. 93 00:06:00,880 --> 00:06:07,280 Now Ahab told Jezebel, Ahab's the king, all that Elijah had done and how he had killed 94 00:06:07,280 --> 00:06:09,840 all the prophets with the sword. 95 00:06:09,840 --> 00:06:15,760 Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah saying, so may the gods do to me and even more if 96 00:06:15,760 --> 00:06:19,960 I do not make your life as the life of one of them by tomorrow at this time. 97 00:06:19,960 --> 00:06:24,920 In other words, it's a death threat from a woman, a queen who can carry this out. 98 00:06:24,920 --> 00:06:30,080 And he was afraid and arose and ran for his life and came to Beersheba, which belongs 99 00:06:30,080 --> 00:06:33,680 to Judah and left his servant there. 100 00:06:33,680 --> 00:06:37,760 But he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness and came down and sat under a juniper 101 00:06:37,760 --> 00:06:42,560 tree and he requested for himself that he might die. 102 00:06:42,560 --> 00:06:49,800 And he said, it is enough now, O Lord, take my life for I am not better than my father's. 103 00:06:49,800 --> 00:06:51,160 We'll stop there. 104 00:06:51,160 --> 00:06:56,800 Father, we want to thank you for amazing crystal clear examples in the scripture like this 105 00:06:56,800 --> 00:07:02,120 man Elijah that show us what it means to walk through darkness and yet show us what it means 106 00:07:02,120 --> 00:07:04,640 to see light on the other side of that. 107 00:07:04,640 --> 00:07:09,760 And Lord, we desperately need the encouragement of knowing that there is light on the other 108 00:07:09,760 --> 00:07:11,400 side of difficult times. 109 00:07:11,400 --> 00:07:16,160 And I pray today that you will speak in a supernatural way for each of us in this room, 110 00:07:16,160 --> 00:07:18,400 especially those walking through darkness. 111 00:07:18,400 --> 00:07:24,240 We ask all this in Jesus name we pray and all God's people said, amen. 112 00:07:24,240 --> 00:07:29,040 Please be seated if you would. 113 00:07:29,040 --> 00:07:32,000 Elijah is one of my sequel heroes in the Bible. 114 00:07:32,000 --> 00:07:35,760 I mean, this guy was incredible in so many different ways. 115 00:07:35,760 --> 00:07:40,160 Obviously a prophet from God, he was a man that spoke for God. 116 00:07:40,160 --> 00:07:46,200 In fact, the phrase most often associated with the man Elijah is at the word of the 117 00:07:46,200 --> 00:07:47,440 Lord, quote unquote. 118 00:07:47,440 --> 00:07:52,760 In other words, just about everything Elijah did, he proceeded by saying at the word of 119 00:07:52,760 --> 00:07:53,760 the Lord. 120 00:07:53,760 --> 00:07:57,760 He would prophesy and then afterwards he would sometimes say at the word of the Lord. 121 00:07:57,760 --> 00:08:03,080 Now that was the job of a prophet obviously, but Elijah was known for that phrase over 122 00:08:03,080 --> 00:08:07,400 and over throughout all his earthly ministry. 123 00:08:07,400 --> 00:08:11,000 He was a biblical hero because he was a compassionate prophet too. 124 00:08:11,000 --> 00:08:15,360 Not all the prophets in the Bible seem to be very compassionate at all, but Elijah performed 125 00:08:15,360 --> 00:08:19,000 many miracles including raising the little girl from the dead. 126 00:08:19,000 --> 00:08:26,000 Many of those miracles like that show a compassionate side from this giant prophet of God in the 127 00:08:26,000 --> 00:08:27,000 Old Testament. 128 00:08:27,000 --> 00:08:30,760 He's also this heroic, bold confronter on Mount Carmel. 129 00:08:30,760 --> 00:08:37,360 If you've ever been to Mount Carmel, it is a mountaintop looking off into the valley 130 00:08:37,360 --> 00:08:40,520 that extends all the way to Megiddo. 131 00:08:40,520 --> 00:08:45,640 Really it's the first part of the valley of Armageddon and where the great battle someday 132 00:08:45,640 --> 00:08:46,640 will be fought. 133 00:08:46,640 --> 00:08:51,600 But it's a massive, massive scale mountain, massive valley and you feel very small up 134 00:08:51,600 --> 00:08:57,240 on that mountaintop and I can just imagine Elijah confronting 850 prophets of Baal. 135 00:08:57,240 --> 00:09:03,240 They did their best to make their gods try to show up, but of course they never did. 136 00:09:03,240 --> 00:09:07,240 Elijah took the altar and the wood on the altar, made it wet, called down fire from 137 00:09:07,240 --> 00:09:11,600 the God of heaven and of course fire came down and consumed the altar. 138 00:09:11,600 --> 00:09:14,240 It was an amazing moment, but it wasn't just that. 139 00:09:14,240 --> 00:09:19,760 He also took all 850 prophets and took them down to the Brook Kishon, probably hundreds 140 00:09:19,760 --> 00:09:24,520 of yards down from the mountainside and slew them at the Brook Kishon. 141 00:09:24,520 --> 00:09:31,360 Now that is the picture of a pretty remarkable, supernaturally enabled prophet. 142 00:09:31,360 --> 00:09:37,080 You can think through any of the ethical complications of him slaying those false prophets, but that's 143 00:09:37,080 --> 00:09:38,600 exactly what he did. 144 00:09:38,600 --> 00:09:41,880 And it angered Ahab and Jezebel. 145 00:09:41,880 --> 00:09:49,640 He's this great prophet, compassionate, bold, and he's also a great prophet in that he heard 146 00:09:49,640 --> 00:09:51,280 from God and spoke for God. 147 00:09:51,280 --> 00:09:55,840 In fact, the Bible says in James chapter 5 that he was a man of like nature as we are 148 00:09:55,840 --> 00:10:00,040 and yet when he prayed for it not to rain for three and a half years on the earth, it 149 00:10:00,040 --> 00:10:03,840 did not rain for three and a half years and then at the word of the Lord he was told to 150 00:10:03,840 --> 00:10:07,760 pray for rain again and the rain came after three and a half years. 151 00:10:07,760 --> 00:10:10,880 That's a pretty strong prayer life if you haven't thought through that. 152 00:10:10,880 --> 00:10:12,280 Pretty strong prayer life. 153 00:10:12,280 --> 00:10:13,400 Everything he did was at the word of the Lord. 154 00:10:13,400 --> 00:10:14,600 A man of God. 155 00:10:14,600 --> 00:10:16,180 He's a man on the mountaintop. 156 00:10:16,180 --> 00:10:19,520 He's a man that knew the Lord. 157 00:10:19,520 --> 00:10:23,300 And you have to ask the question, he's got it all together, right? 158 00:10:23,300 --> 00:10:27,400 And the answer would be no, he doesn't have it all together because he moves from that 159 00:10:27,400 --> 00:10:31,520 mountaintop experience into that valley. 160 00:10:31,520 --> 00:10:33,740 Nobody's bulletproof. 161 00:10:33,740 --> 00:10:37,080 Nobody can live through life without being hurt and harmed and nobody can live through 162 00:10:37,080 --> 00:10:41,720 life without going through some dark times and some difficult times, some discouraging 163 00:10:41,720 --> 00:10:47,600 times and yet often some times that are absolutely filled with depression. 164 00:10:47,600 --> 00:10:50,600 That's just what life is. 165 00:10:50,600 --> 00:10:54,880 And we all have emotions and we usually have emotions in a really healthy range and sometimes 166 00:10:54,880 --> 00:10:59,920 they get blown way out of proportion and we're in that same kind of spot where he is. 167 00:10:59,920 --> 00:11:04,200 And when you look at the life of Elijah you can learn a great deal about how to handle 168 00:11:04,200 --> 00:11:07,760 those exhilarating times and how to handle those difficult times. 169 00:11:07,760 --> 00:11:14,040 In fact, his life will inform us about how he got in the valley and then what he did 170 00:11:14,040 --> 00:11:17,080 in the valley and how God brought him out of the valley. 171 00:11:17,080 --> 00:11:21,640 Now that's how I want to break this message down today to you as we walk through the first 172 00:11:21,640 --> 00:11:25,160 four verses and then later on the rest of chapter 19. 173 00:11:25,160 --> 00:11:31,760 But first of all I want you to see that Elijah's experience teaches us to, number one, understand 174 00:11:31,760 --> 00:11:32,760 the battle of darkness. 175 00:11:32,760 --> 00:11:35,960 And I'll spend a good bit of time on this. 176 00:11:35,960 --> 00:11:40,920 As you read those first four verses you can see where he's going and as you detail through 177 00:11:40,920 --> 00:11:45,640 the story you can see he's running a gauntlet, what I call a gauntlet. 178 00:11:45,640 --> 00:11:48,080 Anybody know what the word gauntlet means? 179 00:11:48,080 --> 00:11:49,520 Raise your hand if you know what a gauntlet is. 180 00:11:49,520 --> 00:11:51,200 Not a lot of us in the room know that. 181 00:11:51,200 --> 00:11:55,040 My high school football coach told me what a gauntlet was. 182 00:11:55,040 --> 00:11:57,120 He had this football drill called the gauntlet. 183 00:11:57,120 --> 00:12:01,040 If you didn't do well in your football game on Friday night he would put certain players 184 00:12:01,040 --> 00:12:02,560 on the gauntlet. 185 00:12:02,560 --> 00:12:06,440 That means that you're at the goal line and you have to run to the other goal line but 186 00:12:06,440 --> 00:12:12,600 he would also place at 10 yard intervals the strongest tacklers on the team, usually one, 187 00:12:12,600 --> 00:12:15,840 maybe two tacklers on each 10 yard line sequence. 188 00:12:15,840 --> 00:12:19,960 And you would have to run all through those guys in order to get to the other end of the 189 00:12:19,960 --> 00:12:25,120 goal as punishment, this was punitive, punishment for not doing really well at the previous 190 00:12:25,120 --> 00:12:26,200 football game. 191 00:12:26,200 --> 00:12:30,520 You only wanted to have to do that once in your lifetime. 192 00:12:30,520 --> 00:12:35,040 And I had to do it several times that season. 193 00:12:35,040 --> 00:12:40,280 So you'd run 10 yards and make a little progress and then two guys would tackle you and knock 194 00:12:40,280 --> 00:12:42,000 you to the ground and you had to get up and do it again. 195 00:12:42,000 --> 00:12:44,400 When you do that 10 times you are worn out. 196 00:12:44,400 --> 00:12:51,440 Now the word gauntlet is not a phrase that usually is used for something that easy. 197 00:12:51,440 --> 00:12:53,640 It's usually something far more difficult. 198 00:12:53,640 --> 00:12:57,280 A gauntlet literally means a brutal punishment or a trial. 199 00:12:57,280 --> 00:12:58,880 It's severe, it's painful. 200 00:12:58,880 --> 00:13:02,320 It's nearly unsurvivable. 201 00:13:02,320 --> 00:13:07,760 And I call what Elijah went through a gauntlet in life. 202 00:13:07,760 --> 00:13:15,020 He was hit in at least six different areas, in areas that nearly took him out. 203 00:13:15,020 --> 00:13:20,080 This great man of God beaten back and forth by these six things that are pointed out very 204 00:13:20,080 --> 00:13:23,400 clearly in scripture and let me give them to you today. 205 00:13:23,400 --> 00:13:30,000 Number one, emptiness in his life, emptiness in his life. 206 00:13:30,000 --> 00:13:36,400 Verse one of chapter 19 tells us that he's just come off the mountain top experiences 207 00:13:36,400 --> 00:13:39,520 and having given all he's now on the downside of the mountain. 208 00:13:39,520 --> 00:13:47,080 Even the conversation between Ahab and Jezebel focus on all Elijah had done. 209 00:13:47,080 --> 00:13:48,080 That's in verse one. 210 00:13:48,080 --> 00:13:52,960 And if you begin to look at all Elijah had done it's really incredible, really amazing 211 00:13:52,960 --> 00:13:58,480 how he had such incredible strength to do what he did, such incredible faith to call 212 00:13:58,480 --> 00:14:03,960 out to God the way he did and to trust God for that great victory, that fire coming down 213 00:14:03,960 --> 00:14:04,960 from heaven. 214 00:14:04,960 --> 00:14:10,400 And now he's the talk of the nation because of that, but he doesn't know what's next. 215 00:14:10,400 --> 00:14:15,360 He's completed this huge victory, this huge task that God gave him and he's had a pause 216 00:14:15,360 --> 00:14:17,800 in his life and it's really a time to be wary. 217 00:14:17,800 --> 00:14:22,460 Most of us would say who have been through dark times, the most interesting thing and 218 00:14:22,460 --> 00:14:28,800 probably the most frightening thing about dark times is they often come after high times, 219 00:14:28,800 --> 00:14:31,720 bright times, times where you have great victory. 220 00:14:31,720 --> 00:14:36,080 Man, when you've had great victory you need to be wary of what the next day holds. 221 00:14:36,080 --> 00:14:37,880 You just never know. 222 00:14:37,880 --> 00:14:42,360 Because if you're still in that celebrating mode you may not be ready for the opposition 223 00:14:42,360 --> 00:14:45,320 that you face the very next day. 224 00:14:45,320 --> 00:14:50,520 And this is a time where he's experiencing a variety of emotions. 225 00:14:50,520 --> 00:14:55,240 He's thrilled that God worked in a supernatural way, but he's very aware that Ahab and Jezebel 226 00:14:55,240 --> 00:14:56,640 are still there. 227 00:14:56,640 --> 00:15:01,760 As we read later on, he's very aware also that he's one man and there are so many, so 228 00:15:01,760 --> 00:15:03,760 many people against him. 229 00:15:03,760 --> 00:15:07,360 There is a man that's facing some emptiness. 230 00:15:07,360 --> 00:15:08,360 He doesn't know what's next. 231 00:15:08,360 --> 00:15:10,320 If this doesn't do it, what will? 232 00:15:10,320 --> 00:15:14,960 I mean, if you call down fire from heaven and God sends it and 850 prophets of Baal 233 00:15:14,960 --> 00:15:20,760 are slaughtered at the brook by your hand and that's not enough, well, what is enough? 234 00:15:20,760 --> 00:15:23,440 So he's in that place of emptiness. 235 00:15:23,440 --> 00:15:27,000 Now I'm going to make a kind of a transition to our lives. 236 00:15:27,000 --> 00:15:32,200 We are given purpose, called to purpose, and when we don't have purpose darkness is the 237 00:15:32,200 --> 00:15:35,360 only destination we're moving for. 238 00:15:35,360 --> 00:15:39,080 And yet we have incredible purpose that God has for us. 239 00:15:39,080 --> 00:15:41,040 He calls us. 240 00:15:41,040 --> 00:15:42,900 He saves us. 241 00:15:42,900 --> 00:15:49,020 He's got a mission for us to be on and we have to know those things to stay on track. 242 00:15:49,020 --> 00:15:51,120 So first of all, there's emptiness in his life. 243 00:15:51,120 --> 00:15:53,000 Number two, opposition. 244 00:15:53,000 --> 00:15:54,160 We've already alluded to that. 245 00:15:54,160 --> 00:15:57,560 The Bible says that Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah. 246 00:15:57,560 --> 00:16:02,240 Now you would think that this great victory of Mount Carmel will silence Jezebel, but 247 00:16:02,240 --> 00:16:04,880 she's a raging bulldog of a woman. 248 00:16:04,880 --> 00:16:09,280 Anybody that knows anything about Jezebel knows that she's used to getting her way and 249 00:16:09,280 --> 00:16:11,360 that she's going to try to do it again. 250 00:16:11,360 --> 00:16:14,800 She's wicked, wicked, wicked in every way. 251 00:16:14,800 --> 00:16:17,340 That's why none of you name your daughters Jezebel. 252 00:16:17,340 --> 00:16:21,880 There's a reason for that. 253 00:16:21,880 --> 00:16:29,680 And if anybody did, see me after the service. 254 00:16:29,680 --> 00:16:32,440 Spiritual war is happening too. 255 00:16:32,440 --> 00:16:37,880 Not only is this physical confrontation taking place, but spiritual war is happening. 256 00:16:37,880 --> 00:16:42,840 The forces of darkness are not glad about Elijah's prophetic victory on Mount Carmel, 257 00:16:42,840 --> 00:16:46,800 which has really begun to turn the hearts of Israel back to God. 258 00:16:46,800 --> 00:16:51,520 After all, how can the typical Israelite not want to worship God when God sends down fire 259 00:16:51,520 --> 00:16:56,000 from heaven through his prophet and accomplishes all that was accomplished on Mount Carmel? 260 00:16:56,000 --> 00:16:58,280 Now the people are ready for revival. 261 00:16:58,280 --> 00:17:02,440 Now they want to come back to God because God has showed up in a big way. 262 00:17:02,440 --> 00:17:08,680 So spiritual war is going on, those that would hold back the people from worshiping God have 263 00:17:08,680 --> 00:17:11,840 now been activated. 264 00:17:11,840 --> 00:17:19,360 So Elijah has been obedient, the enemy is defeated, Satan is angry, there's opposition. 265 00:17:19,360 --> 00:17:23,940 That's true of any walk, spiritually speaking, in the Christian life as well. 266 00:17:23,940 --> 00:17:26,880 You obey God, you follow God, you do what God wants you to do. 267 00:17:26,880 --> 00:17:31,120 There's going to be spiritual opposition as sure as you're on this planet and Satan is 268 00:17:31,120 --> 00:17:32,120 still alive. 269 00:17:32,120 --> 00:17:33,120 There's going to be opposition. 270 00:17:33,120 --> 00:17:37,080 Thirdly, there was fearfulness. 271 00:17:37,080 --> 00:17:42,400 The Bible says in verse 3, and he was afraid and arose and ran for his life. 272 00:17:42,400 --> 00:17:47,960 Literally, the distance between where he started and where he ended was 100 miles. 273 00:17:47,960 --> 00:17:52,280 Now today that's called an ultra marathoner. 274 00:17:52,280 --> 00:17:58,920 So Elijah, which did not train for the ultra marathon, ran for 100 miles, doing his best 275 00:17:58,920 --> 00:18:01,960 to get away from Jezebel. 276 00:18:01,960 --> 00:18:05,080 I want you to just imagine what's going on for just a moment. 277 00:18:05,080 --> 00:18:10,680 In fact, my first thought when I first read this passage years ago was, what? 278 00:18:10,680 --> 00:18:16,000 Why would a man that was not afraid of 850 false prophets of Baal on the mountain, not 279 00:18:16,000 --> 00:18:20,920 afraid to take the sword against all those gods, why would he be afraid to run from one 280 00:18:20,920 --> 00:18:21,920 woman? 281 00:18:21,920 --> 00:18:25,000 And I confess I don't have the answer to that. 282 00:18:25,000 --> 00:18:29,480 It's perplexing that he would do what he was doing, but maybe he forgot who was on his 283 00:18:29,480 --> 00:18:35,520 side and he was only seeing he was not on his side. 284 00:18:35,520 --> 00:18:39,400 After all, the God who gives us victory on the mountaintop is the same God that gives 285 00:18:39,400 --> 00:18:41,120 us victory in the valley, right? 286 00:18:41,120 --> 00:18:44,080 He's the same God. 287 00:18:44,080 --> 00:18:46,000 He wasn't thinking along those lines. 288 00:18:46,000 --> 00:18:50,880 As a matter of fact, fear got the best of Elijah at that moment, and I can't imagine 289 00:18:50,880 --> 00:18:54,480 anything else that would make him run 100 miles, and fear gets the best of us, and we 290 00:18:54,480 --> 00:18:58,320 do unimaginable things because we're afraid. 291 00:18:58,320 --> 00:19:02,440 And we're worried, we're filled with anxiety, we're paralyzed in our thinking. 292 00:19:02,440 --> 00:19:08,360 And this man is frozen into one thought, Jezebel is coming and I am running, and nobody's even 293 00:19:08,360 --> 00:19:09,360 there yet. 294 00:19:09,360 --> 00:19:11,360 He's just running even though the threat's been made. 295 00:19:11,360 --> 00:19:12,360 She's not there. 296 00:19:12,360 --> 00:19:14,000 He is fearful, fearful. 297 00:19:14,000 --> 00:19:18,080 Number four, there's loneliness. 298 00:19:18,080 --> 00:19:21,720 The Bible says in verse three, and he left his servant there. 299 00:19:21,720 --> 00:19:24,680 Bad move. 300 00:19:24,680 --> 00:19:29,280 All Elijah has left is the echo chamber of his fearful mind. 301 00:19:29,280 --> 00:19:34,760 There's no encouragement, there's no counsel, there's no other perspective, there's no objective 302 00:19:34,760 --> 00:19:35,760 opinion. 303 00:19:35,760 --> 00:19:41,680 Let me just say, as we talk about this gauntlet that leads us down to darkness, at times like 304 00:19:41,680 --> 00:19:45,400 this, we need people to correct our way of thinking. 305 00:19:45,400 --> 00:19:51,000 We need somebody else to speak into our mind and speaking to our life and our thought life. 306 00:19:51,000 --> 00:19:55,480 Don't create loneliness for yourself when you really need somebody else around you. 307 00:19:55,480 --> 00:20:00,720 The Bible says it's not good for man to be alone, and that's not just a marital context. 308 00:20:00,720 --> 00:20:06,360 It's not good for any of us to be totally alone, especially when we're in darkness. 309 00:20:06,360 --> 00:20:08,760 We need our people. 310 00:20:08,760 --> 00:20:14,280 I love the Old Testament because it marks for us all that God did in the sense of the 311 00:20:14,280 --> 00:20:15,280 children of Israel. 312 00:20:15,280 --> 00:20:19,360 And if you were a follower of God in the Old Testament era, Old Testament time, you were 313 00:20:19,360 --> 00:20:24,640 in Israelite, you were part of the Hebrew people, you were part of the children of God, 314 00:20:24,640 --> 00:20:26,840 and He was your Father and you were His child. 315 00:20:26,840 --> 00:20:31,080 And if you come to faith in Jesus Christ in this New Testament era, God is your Father 316 00:20:31,080 --> 00:20:32,480 and we are your people. 317 00:20:32,480 --> 00:20:33,920 The Church of Jesus is your people. 318 00:20:33,920 --> 00:20:38,400 We are part of the family of God, we're part of the army of God, we're part of the body 319 00:20:38,400 --> 00:20:39,400 of Christ. 320 00:20:39,400 --> 00:20:40,400 We're your people. 321 00:20:40,400 --> 00:20:46,440 And yet so often today, those who descend into darkness do it by themselves without 322 00:20:46,440 --> 00:20:51,160 their people speaking into their lives and the godly counsel that others can give you 323 00:20:51,160 --> 00:20:55,560 and the encouragement and the objective viewpoint that other people can give you. 324 00:20:55,560 --> 00:20:58,720 Look for your people. 325 00:20:58,720 --> 00:21:05,720 And also as a God follower, look for the people that need you to be in their lives. 326 00:21:05,720 --> 00:21:09,720 Look around for those that are withdrawing. 327 00:21:09,720 --> 00:21:12,400 Find out why they're running into the wilderness. 328 00:21:12,400 --> 00:21:13,400 Are they hiding? 329 00:21:13,400 --> 00:21:14,400 Are they hurting? 330 00:21:14,400 --> 00:21:15,560 Are they running? 331 00:21:15,560 --> 00:21:18,400 Find out by running after them. 332 00:21:18,400 --> 00:21:19,400 Call them. 333 00:21:19,400 --> 00:21:21,040 Shoot them a text. 334 00:21:21,040 --> 00:21:23,560 Run into them conveniently. 335 00:21:23,560 --> 00:21:26,600 And have a conversation with them and say, are you doing all right? 336 00:21:26,600 --> 00:21:27,600 How is your life? 337 00:21:27,600 --> 00:21:28,760 How is your heart? 338 00:21:28,760 --> 00:21:29,760 How is your thinking? 339 00:21:29,760 --> 00:21:33,440 He was filled with loneliness. 340 00:21:33,440 --> 00:21:35,760 The next thing we see is that He is weary. 341 00:21:35,760 --> 00:21:40,480 He is feeling the weariness of His whole exertion. 342 00:21:40,480 --> 00:21:44,600 The Bible says He went another day's journey into the wilderness, so He's run 100 miles 343 00:21:44,600 --> 00:21:50,880 one day and then He runs another distance into the wilderness, a day's journey. 344 00:21:50,880 --> 00:21:54,040 He doesn't have benefit of any animals that we know about. 345 00:21:54,040 --> 00:21:55,720 Uber has not been invented yet. 346 00:21:55,720 --> 00:21:57,640 He's just running. 347 00:21:57,640 --> 00:21:58,640 He's exhausted. 348 00:21:58,640 --> 00:22:02,320 He's got no way to replenish His energy. 349 00:22:02,320 --> 00:22:03,320 He's hungry. 350 00:22:03,320 --> 00:22:04,320 He's angry. 351 00:22:04,320 --> 00:22:08,560 And I would just say to you today, these five things that I've already named are serving 352 00:22:08,560 --> 00:22:13,360 as a warning for us if you are descending into darkness, if you struggle with depression, 353 00:22:13,360 --> 00:22:18,400 if you see things around you in a dark way and you struggle with thinking clearly, don't 354 00:22:18,400 --> 00:22:22,440 go to these places by yourself. 355 00:22:22,440 --> 00:22:24,720 Don't do it. 356 00:22:24,720 --> 00:22:30,200 These are the downward steps that He took into darkness. 357 00:22:30,200 --> 00:22:35,000 And we have this life lived out in just four verses to help us know this is how He got 358 00:22:35,000 --> 00:22:38,480 to the bottom because verse four says, I'm ready to give up God. 359 00:22:38,480 --> 00:22:39,680 Well, how did He get there? 360 00:22:39,680 --> 00:22:45,040 Well, we've just seen those four or five ways already. 361 00:22:45,040 --> 00:22:51,080 All the things He did so far lead to hopelessness, which is number six. 362 00:22:51,080 --> 00:22:55,800 He says in verse four, it is enough now, oh Lord, take my life. 363 00:22:55,800 --> 00:23:01,240 That's a very spiritual way of saying I give up. 364 00:23:01,240 --> 00:23:02,240 I give up. 365 00:23:02,240 --> 00:23:07,880 And I can tell you that when you walk into darkness, at some point you have to confess, 366 00:23:07,880 --> 00:23:14,560 I'm empty, I'm fearful, I'm lonely, I don't know what the answers are, but I need you, 367 00:23:14,560 --> 00:23:15,560 God. 368 00:23:15,560 --> 00:23:20,320 Now, Elijah is physically incapacitated, but he's also mentally and spiritually wasted. 369 00:23:20,320 --> 00:23:21,680 He's thinking his life is over. 370 00:23:21,680 --> 00:23:26,720 He's comparing himself to his father's and he's thinking radical and permanent thoughts 371 00:23:26,720 --> 00:23:28,920 about a very temporary problem. 372 00:23:28,920 --> 00:23:34,080 My wife and I were talking about this the other day and she was reading a book and in 373 00:23:34,080 --> 00:23:40,080 the book there's a line that says, your life is not negative, but your thinking is. 374 00:23:40,080 --> 00:23:42,760 And I apply that to Elijah. 375 00:23:42,760 --> 00:23:46,360 His life was not negative, but his thinking was. 376 00:23:46,360 --> 00:23:51,400 In fact, when we look back at the life of Elijah, man, it's mountaintop all the way. 377 00:23:51,400 --> 00:23:54,520 I mean, you don't raise people from the dead. 378 00:23:54,520 --> 00:23:57,840 You don't speak a word from God so powerfully. 379 00:23:57,840 --> 00:24:01,400 You don't have victory on Mount Carmel without getting a really big reputation. 380 00:24:01,400 --> 00:24:06,720 Elijah here, except for this one moment, it's not that his life is negative, it's his thinking 381 00:24:06,720 --> 00:24:11,080 that's negative at this moment and it brings him almost to the end. 382 00:24:11,080 --> 00:24:15,760 So here he is and he's talking to God. 383 00:24:15,760 --> 00:24:21,120 Now to his credit, he is speaking these words to God, not himself. 384 00:24:21,120 --> 00:24:25,480 It is enough now, oh Lord, take my life. 385 00:24:25,480 --> 00:24:32,560 It's different from saying, I will take my life. 386 00:24:32,560 --> 00:24:38,600 When you feel that dark, that far away from God, and you're saying words like that, you 387 00:24:38,600 --> 00:24:39,600 say them to God. 388 00:24:39,600 --> 00:24:43,000 Lord, if you want me to be gone, you take my life. 389 00:24:43,000 --> 00:24:46,480 But don't say, I will take my life. 390 00:24:46,480 --> 00:24:48,800 He's speaking to God, but he's in great pain. 391 00:24:48,800 --> 00:24:53,660 See, as Lewis said this, mental pain is less dramatic than physical pain, but it's more 392 00:24:53,660 --> 00:24:56,520 common and it's harder to bear. 393 00:24:56,520 --> 00:24:58,560 And that's absolutely true. 394 00:24:58,560 --> 00:25:02,640 Nobody knows on the outside that you're going through mental pain the way they might if 395 00:25:02,640 --> 00:25:04,640 you're going through physical pain. 396 00:25:04,640 --> 00:25:07,040 It's private, but it's prevalent. 397 00:25:07,040 --> 00:25:08,320 It's there. 398 00:25:08,320 --> 00:25:09,440 You know what it looks like. 399 00:25:09,440 --> 00:25:10,960 You know what it feels like. 400 00:25:10,960 --> 00:25:15,760 And it happens at every strata of the Christian life or life in general. 401 00:25:15,760 --> 00:25:24,160 A few years ago, Jared Wilson was very prominent on social media because of his outstanding 402 00:25:24,160 --> 00:25:26,920 ministry to people that were walking through darkness. 403 00:25:26,920 --> 00:25:29,320 He was a pastor of Harvest Fellowship in Tennessee. 404 00:25:29,320 --> 00:25:30,320 He was an author. 405 00:25:30,320 --> 00:25:31,320 He was only 30 years old. 406 00:25:31,320 --> 00:25:35,560 He was married, had two kids, and he had dealt with depression for so long that he had begun 407 00:25:35,560 --> 00:25:37,700 to figure it out just a bit. 408 00:25:37,700 --> 00:25:42,920 And he had a podcast called Anchor of Hope, which was a chat line and a podcast for those 409 00:25:42,920 --> 00:25:43,920 that struggled. 410 00:25:43,920 --> 00:25:49,920 And in some of the last words that he ever uttered, he said this on social media, loving 411 00:25:49,920 --> 00:25:53,200 Jesus doesn't always cure suicidal thoughts. 412 00:25:53,200 --> 00:25:55,000 It doesn't always cure depression. 413 00:25:55,000 --> 00:25:58,960 Loving Jesus doesn't always cure PTSD. 414 00:25:58,960 --> 00:26:03,340 Loving Jesus does not always cure anxiety, but that doesn't mean that Jesus doesn't 415 00:26:03,340 --> 00:26:06,000 offer us companionship and comfort. 416 00:26:06,000 --> 00:26:07,540 Doesn't mean that he's not there. 417 00:26:07,540 --> 00:26:10,760 He always provides what we need. 418 00:26:10,760 --> 00:26:13,560 And he knew this in his mind. 419 00:26:13,560 --> 00:26:18,880 And yet still, he ended his life. 420 00:26:18,880 --> 00:26:22,600 And many people would call him a spiritual champion. 421 00:26:22,600 --> 00:26:28,000 Suicide is the 10th leading cause of death in America, and it's declining. 422 00:26:28,000 --> 00:26:33,680 The top five reasons for suicide are given to be number one, relational problems. 423 00:26:33,680 --> 00:26:36,680 Number two, a crisis that surrounds us. 424 00:26:36,680 --> 00:26:38,480 Number three, substance abuse. 425 00:26:38,480 --> 00:26:40,100 Number four, physical health. 426 00:26:40,100 --> 00:26:43,720 And number five, job financial problems are looming. 427 00:26:43,720 --> 00:26:47,800 Now that's an old study. 428 00:26:47,800 --> 00:26:52,280 Recently I did some updating of my statistics with depression and found some pretty amazing 429 00:26:52,280 --> 00:26:56,800 stats I'm gonna share with you. 430 00:26:56,800 --> 00:27:02,540 When it comes to depression and social media and the pandemic, in recent studies, all studies 431 00:27:02,540 --> 00:27:09,680 show a dramatic increase in depressive symptoms due to social media. 432 00:27:09,680 --> 00:27:16,360 Listen to this, suicide rates of the ages 10 to 24 year olds increased by 57% from 2007 433 00:27:16,360 --> 00:27:22,360 to 2017, which was the predominant years of social media growth, particularly social media 434 00:27:22,360 --> 00:27:27,480 that was in video form like TikTok videos and so forth. 435 00:27:27,480 --> 00:27:36,400 Adult depressive symptoms increased from 8.5% in 2018 to 32% in more recent years after 436 00:27:36,400 --> 00:27:37,400 the pandemic. 437 00:27:37,400 --> 00:27:41,880 So you've got two big things going on in people's lives today. 438 00:27:41,880 --> 00:27:43,200 Number one, social media. 439 00:27:43,200 --> 00:27:44,400 Number two, the pandemic. 440 00:27:44,400 --> 00:27:48,220 Both of them contribute to isolation. 441 00:27:48,220 --> 00:27:52,800 We don't have people speaking into our lives, at least not healthy voices. 442 00:27:52,800 --> 00:27:55,920 We're not around people who can see that we're hurting. 443 00:27:55,920 --> 00:27:59,360 We don't have anything sometimes to pull us out of those dark moments. 444 00:27:59,360 --> 00:28:06,160 One of the most recent surveys I read said that in 2023, the number of people reporting 445 00:28:06,160 --> 00:28:10,680 anxiety or repressive disorders are continuing to skyrocket. 446 00:28:10,680 --> 00:28:16,080 32% of all adults report some anxiety or depressive disorder. 447 00:28:16,080 --> 00:28:20,160 It's highest among the 18 to 24 year old age group. 448 00:28:20,160 --> 00:28:24,960 Those that are most immersed in social media, it's 49.9%. 449 00:28:24,960 --> 00:28:27,480 Between 25 and 49, it's 38%. 450 00:28:27,480 --> 00:28:30,080 Between 50 and 64, it's 29%. 451 00:28:30,080 --> 00:28:35,440 65 and plus 20%. 452 00:28:35,440 --> 00:28:43,520 The COVID pandemic affected 50% of the population and they said it was the worst pandemic ever. 453 00:28:43,520 --> 00:28:47,840 And yet those are the same rates that anxiety and depressive disorders are happening in 454 00:28:47,840 --> 00:28:54,240 people between 18 and 24 years of age today by latest studies. 455 00:28:54,240 --> 00:28:55,760 Wow. 456 00:28:55,760 --> 00:28:58,200 We live in a messed up world. 457 00:28:58,200 --> 00:29:03,280 We live in a world that is increasingly isolated and increasingly doesn't know how to corrupt 458 00:29:03,280 --> 00:29:08,440 thinking that was put in their minds by who knows what. 459 00:29:08,440 --> 00:29:10,640 It's a problem. 460 00:29:10,640 --> 00:29:14,280 And yet we have this Old Testament biblical character that walked through some of the 461 00:29:14,280 --> 00:29:17,080 same kinds of things that people are going through today. 462 00:29:17,080 --> 00:29:21,680 Now this message is not a campaign against social media necessarily, although I hope 463 00:29:21,680 --> 00:29:25,120 it opens eyes to some of these things. 464 00:29:25,120 --> 00:29:30,680 But this is a message that deals with how God works in our lives when things get dark. 465 00:29:30,680 --> 00:29:33,520 So the first thing is be aware of the darkness. 466 00:29:33,520 --> 00:29:36,280 Number two, look for messengers of hope and light. 467 00:29:36,280 --> 00:29:40,220 The Bible says he laid down and slept under a juniper tree and behold there was an angel 468 00:29:40,220 --> 00:29:44,040 touching him and he said to him, arise and eat. 469 00:29:44,040 --> 00:29:45,080 Messengers of hope and light. 470 00:29:45,080 --> 00:29:48,640 Now he was a day's journey into the wilderness. 471 00:29:48,640 --> 00:29:51,800 He left his servant a day's journey away. 472 00:29:51,800 --> 00:29:57,520 He's all by himself and yet God sends somebody to be with him and that somebody is an angel. 473 00:29:57,520 --> 00:30:02,680 And all of a sudden there's food and water and the Bible says he eats and he drinks and 474 00:30:02,680 --> 00:30:05,760 then he rests and then he gets up and eats and drinks again. 475 00:30:05,760 --> 00:30:11,080 I mean there's some significant things happening here in this interaction. 476 00:30:11,080 --> 00:30:13,720 And I want you just to think about it with me for just a moment. 477 00:30:13,720 --> 00:30:16,960 The presence of an angel is simple but profound. 478 00:30:16,960 --> 00:30:23,020 And intervention is happening that helps Elijah get physically ready to move from hopelessness 479 00:30:23,020 --> 00:30:24,020 to God. 480 00:30:24,020 --> 00:30:28,800 It doesn't solve all of his problems but it starts to solve some of them and it's instructional 481 00:30:28,800 --> 00:30:29,800 for us. 482 00:30:29,800 --> 00:30:32,600 And here's what the instruction is. 483 00:30:32,600 --> 00:30:40,340 There is something we can do in the darkness that will help us out of the darkness. 484 00:30:40,340 --> 00:30:45,640 The detailed instructions in verses five and six are pretty clear as you read through that. 485 00:30:45,640 --> 00:30:48,360 Here's what the angel gave them in verse six. 486 00:30:48,360 --> 00:30:52,360 He looked and behold there was at his head a bread cake baked on hot stones and a jar 487 00:30:52,360 --> 00:30:53,360 of water. 488 00:30:53,360 --> 00:30:57,720 He drank and lay down again, touched him a second time, arise eat because the journey 489 00:30:57,720 --> 00:30:58,720 is too great for you. 490 00:30:58,720 --> 00:31:02,800 He rose and ate and drank and went on the strength of that food for 40 days and 40 nights 491 00:31:02,800 --> 00:31:04,280 to herb the mountain of God. 492 00:31:04,280 --> 00:31:09,560 He's got incredible things happening but among them are taking care of him physically. 493 00:31:09,560 --> 00:31:11,680 He needed to rest. 494 00:31:11,680 --> 00:31:13,840 He needed to be with someone. 495 00:31:13,840 --> 00:31:16,120 He needed to eat. 496 00:31:16,120 --> 00:31:19,960 And I don't want to oversimplify this message or this problem. 497 00:31:19,960 --> 00:31:23,200 There is some supernatural things happening here. 498 00:31:23,200 --> 00:31:27,480 If this is an angel God sent him, Elijah is found in the wilderness. 499 00:31:27,480 --> 00:31:33,440 He does run for 40 days on that food and God is unwilling to leave him alone. 500 00:31:33,440 --> 00:31:37,760 Even if no person comes, God sends this angel there and that's significant. 501 00:31:37,760 --> 00:31:42,200 I noticed several things in the scripture and several people who have been in the wilderness 502 00:31:42,200 --> 00:31:45,560 that God sent an angel to be with them. 503 00:31:45,560 --> 00:31:52,720 God can send to us anyone he wants to but we can also seek rest and seek out others 504 00:31:52,720 --> 00:31:56,440 and eat and drink. 505 00:31:56,440 --> 00:32:00,160 And we also need to be wary when we're in that place of desperation. 506 00:32:00,160 --> 00:32:07,040 A wise mentor told me one time there are things that I should do when I am hungry or tired 507 00:32:07,040 --> 00:32:12,840 or worried or lonely but they shouldn't be decision making and I shouldn't make significant 508 00:32:12,840 --> 00:32:16,920 statements about my future when I'm in that place. 509 00:32:16,920 --> 00:32:20,360 He actually used the word hot as an acrostic and I share it with you today. 510 00:32:20,360 --> 00:32:24,960 When you are hungry, when you are angry, when you are lonely, when you are tired, halt, 511 00:32:24,960 --> 00:32:27,960 stop and rest. 512 00:32:27,960 --> 00:32:30,000 Seek counsel. 513 00:32:30,000 --> 00:32:32,960 Sometimes I just need to do that. 514 00:32:32,960 --> 00:32:39,160 Jordan Peterson he was and has been a great psychologist and counselor but has since come 515 00:32:39,160 --> 00:32:43,720 to Christ it's been quite amazing to watch him talk about the gospels these days. 516 00:32:43,720 --> 00:32:49,800 He shares of counseling a brilliant young woman who was struggling with psychotic behavior, 517 00:32:49,800 --> 00:32:52,000 anxiety disorders and so forth. 518 00:32:52,000 --> 00:32:56,600 She sought him out as a counselor and he began to analyze her life and then he said this, 519 00:32:56,600 --> 00:33:00,040 he said that you should establish a routine and stick with it. 520 00:33:00,040 --> 00:33:02,600 Go to bed and get up at regular times every day. 521 00:33:02,600 --> 00:33:07,320 Eat something when you wake up otherwise you dysregulate your circadian or your 24 hour 522 00:33:07,320 --> 00:33:09,720 rhythms and they regulate your moods. 523 00:33:09,720 --> 00:33:11,620 She took his advice in doing that. 524 00:33:11,620 --> 00:33:17,320 Her anxious thoughts were cured and she moved on in life simply from some things that she 525 00:33:17,320 --> 00:33:18,320 could do. 526 00:33:18,320 --> 00:33:23,200 I'm not saying all you have to do is rest and eat and drink but you need to do that 527 00:33:23,200 --> 00:33:24,800 to take care of your body. 528 00:33:24,800 --> 00:33:31,360 You need to get in a routine where you can have margins in your life. 529 00:33:31,360 --> 00:33:37,720 Seek rest, seek refreshment, seek community. 530 00:33:37,720 --> 00:33:44,600 But above all these things the most important thing that happened to Elijah was he met with 531 00:33:44,600 --> 00:33:47,120 God. 532 00:33:47,120 --> 00:33:49,800 Seek to meet with God. 533 00:33:49,800 --> 00:33:54,480 Now most all the significant encounters in the Bible have three different parts to them. 534 00:33:54,480 --> 00:33:56,760 First of all the personal part that's our dilemma. 535 00:33:56,760 --> 00:34:02,120 Secondly, what everybody else is doing in the picture and thirdly what God says and 536 00:34:02,120 --> 00:34:05,360 having a God moment in your life. 537 00:34:05,360 --> 00:34:10,180 All the other things I've said today are very important but this is the most important one. 538 00:34:10,180 --> 00:34:12,960 Because it's when Elijah meets with God that everything else changes. 539 00:34:12,960 --> 00:34:15,680 Now I know what you're thinking, you're thinking, but that's Elijah. 540 00:34:15,680 --> 00:34:19,160 Now that's thousands of years ago. 541 00:34:19,160 --> 00:34:22,640 God doesn't still meet with people today and you'd be wrong. 542 00:34:22,640 --> 00:34:25,880 It's that wrong kind of thinking you need to correct. 543 00:34:25,880 --> 00:34:29,120 God meets with people today who seek him. 544 00:34:29,120 --> 00:34:31,560 Otherwise he's not a promise keeping God. 545 00:34:31,560 --> 00:34:36,000 Because all through the Bible God makes these promises that he's there when you call out 546 00:34:36,000 --> 00:34:37,000 for him. 547 00:34:37,000 --> 00:34:40,840 Let me just remind you, Psalm 14-2, the Lord has looked down from heaven upon the sons 548 00:34:40,840 --> 00:34:46,000 of men to see if there are any who understand who seek after God. 549 00:34:46,000 --> 00:34:48,920 He's waiting, he's watching. 550 00:34:48,920 --> 00:34:54,240 Pretending to wisdom in the book of Proverbs, I love those who love me and those who seek 551 00:34:54,240 --> 00:34:56,600 me find me. 552 00:34:56,600 --> 00:35:03,680 Hebrews chapter 11 verse 6, and without faith it's impossible, please God, for he who comes 553 00:35:03,680 --> 00:35:09,480 to God must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of those who seek him. 554 00:35:09,480 --> 00:35:12,720 Come in faith, come asking. 555 00:35:12,720 --> 00:35:14,480 God is there if you're seeking him. 556 00:35:14,480 --> 00:35:17,320 That's why salvation is such an important thing in our life. 557 00:35:17,320 --> 00:35:22,200 We come to God by faith knowing we can do nothing about our future eternity, knowing 558 00:35:22,200 --> 00:35:23,880 that we have to trust him for that. 559 00:35:23,880 --> 00:35:29,280 And when we put our trust and faith in Jesus Christ, he forgives us, promises us eternal 560 00:35:29,280 --> 00:35:34,120 life, comes to dwell inside of our lives by faith and we have something we could never 561 00:35:34,120 --> 00:35:36,920 get on our own. 562 00:35:36,920 --> 00:35:40,760 And we realize man, he really does love me, if he's willing to wipe out all my sins, he's 563 00:35:40,760 --> 00:35:45,560 willing to make for me a place in heaven, he's willing to love me like God the Father loves 564 00:35:45,560 --> 00:35:50,960 and only God the Father can love, he must be trustworthy and we learn that and then 565 00:35:50,960 --> 00:35:55,440 we're called to walk by that same kind of faith in our Christian life. 566 00:35:55,440 --> 00:36:00,840 Just as you've received Christ Jesus the Lord, so also walk in him. 567 00:36:00,840 --> 00:36:04,560 So God is there if you're seeking him. 568 00:36:04,560 --> 00:36:11,360 I'll tell you the one right thing that I know Kim and I did those 37 years ago is to seek 569 00:36:11,360 --> 00:36:12,360 God. 570 00:36:12,360 --> 00:36:19,040 Get on our knees, on that couch and pray and ask God to meet us and ask God to speak to 571 00:36:19,040 --> 00:36:20,040 us. 572 00:36:20,040 --> 00:36:23,240 Seek to meet with God. 573 00:36:23,240 --> 00:36:25,400 Now when you meet with God there are some things that you need to know. 574 00:36:25,400 --> 00:36:28,560 First of all, God ask hard questions. 575 00:36:28,560 --> 00:36:33,440 I love the fact that in this conversation with God, God ask hard questions. 576 00:36:33,440 --> 00:36:37,600 In verse 9 God says, what are you doing here Elijah? 577 00:36:37,600 --> 00:36:38,600 God ask hard questions. 578 00:36:38,600 --> 00:36:43,480 Now this question that God is asking Elijah reminds me of when my dad found me where I 579 00:36:43,480 --> 00:36:47,320 shouldn't be and he said, what are you doing here? 580 00:36:47,320 --> 00:36:53,520 I mean he loved me but he was making the point, you're in the wrong place at the wrong time. 581 00:36:53,520 --> 00:36:55,080 What are you doing here? 582 00:36:55,080 --> 00:36:56,680 I mean you just got off the mountain top right? 583 00:36:56,680 --> 00:36:58,120 Didn't we just have a big victory together? 584 00:36:58,120 --> 00:36:59,800 Didn't I help you with that? 585 00:36:59,800 --> 00:37:01,800 What are you doing here? 586 00:37:01,800 --> 00:37:05,080 All the way in this wilderness, what are you doing here? 587 00:37:05,080 --> 00:37:07,120 You know God ask a lot of questions of a lot of people. 588 00:37:07,120 --> 00:37:10,840 In the Garden of Eden he said to Adam and Eve, where are you? 589 00:37:10,840 --> 00:37:11,840 Or what have you done? 590 00:37:11,840 --> 00:37:16,200 I said, Job, he asked him 60 questions. 591 00:37:16,200 --> 00:37:17,200 Sixty questions. 592 00:37:17,200 --> 00:37:19,400 How would you like to be interrogated by God like that? 593 00:37:19,400 --> 00:37:20,400 Sixty questions. 594 00:37:20,400 --> 00:37:24,320 And one of them was, where were you when I was created? 595 00:37:24,320 --> 00:37:25,840 You're trying to tell me how to do my job. 596 00:37:25,840 --> 00:37:29,720 I'm the one that spoke and the waves come this far and no further because I tell them 597 00:37:29,720 --> 00:37:32,760 to come that far. 598 00:37:32,760 --> 00:37:40,200 God asks questions that make us think and those questions make us stop panicking and 599 00:37:40,200 --> 00:37:44,800 stop evaluating from our perspective. 600 00:37:44,800 --> 00:37:49,120 It takes us off sometimes the emotional mood swings we're on and forces us to look for 601 00:37:49,120 --> 00:37:52,280 logical factual answers to God's questions. 602 00:37:52,280 --> 00:37:53,880 What are you doing here? 603 00:37:53,880 --> 00:37:58,940 And Elijah begins to answer him with this perspective of, you know, there's nobody else 604 00:37:58,940 --> 00:37:59,940 out there. 605 00:37:59,940 --> 00:38:00,940 I'm the only one. 606 00:38:00,940 --> 00:38:04,360 You know, I'm the only one that serves you. 607 00:38:04,360 --> 00:38:13,280 I'm not as good as my father's and you know, Jezebel is going to hurt me, man. 608 00:38:13,280 --> 00:38:16,680 And then God adjusts our perspectives. 609 00:38:16,680 --> 00:38:17,680 Look at verse 11. 610 00:38:17,680 --> 00:38:22,400 He said, Go forth and stand on the mountain before the Lord and behold the Lord was passing 611 00:38:22,400 --> 00:38:27,680 by and a great and strong wind was rending the mountains and breaking in pieces the rocks 612 00:38:27,680 --> 00:38:31,600 before the Lord but the Lord was not in the wind and after the wind and earthquake but 613 00:38:31,600 --> 00:38:34,960 the Lord was not in the earthquake after the earthquake of fire but the Lord was not in 614 00:38:34,960 --> 00:38:39,800 the fire and after the fire the sound of a gentle blowing. 615 00:38:39,800 --> 00:38:45,080 It just kind of helps remind us that God is not always where we think he is but he will 616 00:38:45,080 --> 00:38:47,520 at some point speak. 617 00:38:47,520 --> 00:38:51,240 When Elijah heard this gentle blowing, he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out 618 00:38:51,240 --> 00:38:55,760 and stood into the entrance of the cave and behold a voice came to him and said again, 619 00:38:55,760 --> 00:38:59,360 what are you doing there Elijah? 620 00:38:59,360 --> 00:39:02,480 He said, I've been very zealous for the Lord the God of hosts for the sons of Israel have 621 00:39:02,480 --> 00:39:07,160 forsaken your covenant torn down your authors killed your prophets with a sword and I alone 622 00:39:07,160 --> 00:39:11,840 am left and they seek my life to take it away. 623 00:39:11,840 --> 00:39:14,040 He's got self pity. 624 00:39:14,040 --> 00:39:16,200 He's got self piety. 625 00:39:16,200 --> 00:39:20,120 He's the only spiritual one on the planet. 626 00:39:20,120 --> 00:39:23,520 He thinks the whole world is against him. 627 00:39:23,520 --> 00:39:28,800 And what God does is array God's power in front of him array God's glorious power and 628 00:39:28,800 --> 00:39:32,560 remind him that he has a word for him. 629 00:39:32,560 --> 00:39:37,360 It's a profound display of perspective. 630 00:39:37,360 --> 00:39:42,160 Again I'm not trying to minimize all this but the situation that Elijah is in is not 631 00:39:42,160 --> 00:39:44,340 as bad as he thought it was. 632 00:39:44,340 --> 00:39:45,440 God has not deserted him. 633 00:39:45,440 --> 00:39:48,520 Jezebel is not as powerful as he thinks. 634 00:39:48,520 --> 00:39:52,900 The God who is on the mountain is the same God who's in the valley. 635 00:39:52,900 --> 00:39:57,900 We don't have to view our circumstances as circumstances that we have to fix by our own 636 00:39:57,900 --> 00:40:02,960 ability and it's actually a key to changing our thought life instead of our present thoughts 637 00:40:02,960 --> 00:40:11,440 we should say well maybe God has a solution and a plan that I haven't considered yet. 638 00:40:11,440 --> 00:40:15,600 What if he sees something that I can't see? 639 00:40:15,600 --> 00:40:20,600 Maybe we should think like that instead of I'm the only one who's going to kill me God 640 00:40:20,600 --> 00:40:23,200 you can't do anything about it. 641 00:40:23,200 --> 00:40:26,040 It's a change of perspective. 642 00:40:26,040 --> 00:40:28,600 His ways really are higher than ours. 643 00:40:28,600 --> 00:40:33,680 And then finally God gives us next steps. 644 00:40:33,680 --> 00:40:34,800 God gives us next steps. 645 00:40:34,800 --> 00:40:40,800 You know if you're really sensitive then this might be a little brutal. 646 00:40:40,800 --> 00:40:48,520 God does not say to Elijah there now Elijah I know it's hard. 647 00:40:48,520 --> 00:40:50,720 I know it's tough. 648 00:40:50,720 --> 00:40:52,120 I know she's a mean woman. 649 00:40:52,120 --> 00:40:53,120 I know. 650 00:40:53,120 --> 00:40:58,120 He doesn't say that. 651 00:40:58,120 --> 00:41:02,060 He says go return on your way to the wilderness of Damascus and when you have arrived you 652 00:41:02,060 --> 00:41:06,640 shall anoint Haziel king over Aram. 653 00:41:06,640 --> 00:41:11,520 He says the same thing in verse 16 and Jehu the son of Nimshi anoint as king over Israel 654 00:41:11,520 --> 00:41:15,800 and Elijah the son of Shaphat you shall anoint as prophet in your place. 655 00:41:15,800 --> 00:41:20,560 As shall come about the one who escaped from the sword of Haziel Jehu shall put to death 656 00:41:20,560 --> 00:41:26,880 and the one who escaped from the sword of Jehu Elijah shall put to death. 657 00:41:26,880 --> 00:41:32,200 I remember we had a lot of questions when we were walking through the time of darkness 658 00:41:32,200 --> 00:41:33,880 but one of those questions was why? 659 00:41:33,880 --> 00:41:34,960 Why do I feel this way? 660 00:41:34,960 --> 00:41:37,080 Why is it like this? 661 00:41:37,080 --> 00:41:39,280 Or will anything ever change? 662 00:41:39,280 --> 00:41:43,920 But the best question we ask is what are we supposed to do? 663 00:41:43,920 --> 00:41:45,920 God doesn't always answer the why questions. 664 00:41:45,920 --> 00:41:46,920 I've learned that in life. 665 00:41:46,920 --> 00:41:47,920 It's taken a while to learn that. 666 00:41:47,920 --> 00:41:51,840 I've asked why an awful lot and don't get that answer very much from God but God always 667 00:41:51,840 --> 00:41:56,800 answers questions that sound like what now? 668 00:41:56,800 --> 00:41:57,800 You tell me what to do. 669 00:41:57,800 --> 00:42:01,800 Now I'll do that because I want to obey. 670 00:42:01,800 --> 00:42:08,600 And I know Elijah had questions but God literally just says get up and go back to work. 671 00:42:08,600 --> 00:42:10,320 Nothing's changed. 672 00:42:10,320 --> 00:42:15,000 You're just afraid and now you're worn out. 673 00:42:15,000 --> 00:42:16,640 Everything you've done, you've done to yourself. 674 00:42:16,640 --> 00:42:18,120 I have a purpose for you. 675 00:42:18,120 --> 00:42:19,200 Let's go. 676 00:42:19,200 --> 00:42:25,520 And often that means the simplicity of just obeying God from something in the scripture 677 00:42:25,520 --> 00:42:27,640 that he's told you to do. 678 00:42:27,640 --> 00:42:32,080 Sometimes that just means to get up and fulfill your responsibilities which in this case was 679 00:42:32,080 --> 00:42:35,480 Elijah's role as a prophet. 680 00:42:35,480 --> 00:42:41,360 But in any case, God did not necessarily remove Elijah's mental confusion but told him to 681 00:42:41,360 --> 00:42:45,240 act in faith. 682 00:42:45,240 --> 00:42:49,840 Because actions, doing the right thing can sometimes move us out of a languishing, troublesome 683 00:42:49,840 --> 00:42:55,480 moments and move us into a place where we're actually doing what God told us to do and 684 00:42:55,480 --> 00:42:58,200 it's a much better place to be no matter what. 685 00:42:58,200 --> 00:43:00,280 Act your way into obedience. 686 00:43:00,280 --> 00:43:04,720 Don't feel your way into obedience because if you try to feel your way into obedience 687 00:43:04,720 --> 00:43:07,640 you'll never arrive there. 688 00:43:07,640 --> 00:43:12,560 Never arrive there. 689 00:43:12,560 --> 00:43:16,400 As you get to the end of the chapter you'll notice that as Elijah moved forward God did 690 00:43:16,400 --> 00:43:20,320 everything Elijah had hoped for. 691 00:43:20,320 --> 00:43:23,840 Everything he wanted to happen, God did. 692 00:43:23,840 --> 00:43:28,760 There was victory, there was revival, there was a host of faithful worshipers and God 693 00:43:28,760 --> 00:43:31,040 delivered him from his most paralyzing fear. 694 00:43:31,040 --> 00:43:33,840 I have to say this before I get to the end of this. 695 00:43:33,840 --> 00:43:38,480 That is usually the thing we're afraid of the most never happens to us. 696 00:43:38,480 --> 00:43:41,920 That's very often the case. 697 00:43:41,920 --> 00:43:46,280 Now think with me, what was Elijah's greatest fear? 698 00:43:46,280 --> 00:43:47,880 Dying at the hands of Jezebel. 699 00:43:47,880 --> 00:43:51,320 Do you remember how Elijah died? 700 00:43:51,320 --> 00:43:54,200 I preach this message so often you have to know the answer to this. 701 00:43:54,200 --> 00:43:56,760 Elijah didn't die. 702 00:43:56,760 --> 00:43:57,760 Elijah never died. 703 00:43:57,760 --> 00:44:01,040 He was caught up in a whirlwind into heaven. 704 00:44:01,040 --> 00:44:07,280 And on the Mount of Transfiguration he was identified as Elijah and Moses standing next 705 00:44:07,280 --> 00:44:10,040 to the glorified Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration. 706 00:44:10,040 --> 00:44:14,320 In fact he shows up in the book of Revelation as one of the two witnesses walking in the 707 00:44:14,320 --> 00:44:17,360 streets during the tribulation period. 708 00:44:17,360 --> 00:44:19,280 Elijah didn't have anything to worry about at all. 709 00:44:19,280 --> 00:44:28,280 It was Jezebel that needed to be worried. 710 00:44:28,280 --> 00:44:32,440 Sometimes we're just so afraid of so many things. 711 00:44:32,440 --> 00:44:37,160 The picture is so different from what we really think it is. 712 00:44:37,160 --> 00:44:39,600 And to circle back around to the story of Kim and I. 713 00:44:39,600 --> 00:44:45,040 Kim and I experienced a great comeback over depression in the months following those big 714 00:44:45,040 --> 00:44:46,040 battles. 715 00:44:46,040 --> 00:44:47,800 And it doesn't mean the battle is over. 716 00:44:47,800 --> 00:44:48,800 The war is over. 717 00:44:48,800 --> 00:44:53,320 It simply means that things began to make more sense. 718 00:44:53,320 --> 00:44:58,160 And the battle began to be managed at the thought level. 719 00:44:58,160 --> 00:45:03,600 Where we learned to take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ. 720 00:45:03,600 --> 00:45:08,040 As long as you're on this planet the war is not going to be over. 721 00:45:08,040 --> 00:45:11,640 It's only over when Christ comes back and takes us home. 722 00:45:11,640 --> 00:45:14,680 You're going to be in battle all the days that you're on the planet. 723 00:45:14,680 --> 00:45:15,840 Some of us will battle this. 724 00:45:15,840 --> 00:45:16,840 Some of us will battle that. 725 00:45:16,840 --> 00:45:21,360 But the bottom line is we have to take every thought captive and walk by the truth and 726 00:45:21,360 --> 00:45:24,160 not by any other thing. 727 00:45:24,160 --> 00:45:27,280 We always have to be on guard. 728 00:45:27,280 --> 00:45:30,360 But we're on the winning side of those battles every single day. 729 00:45:30,360 --> 00:45:34,400 Kim and I are and you can be on the winning side of those battles every single day. 730 00:45:34,400 --> 00:45:37,400 And I'm grateful to God. 731 00:45:37,400 --> 00:45:39,880 We're grateful. 732 00:45:39,880 --> 00:45:41,120 There's a verse I want to end with today. 733 00:45:41,120 --> 00:45:44,800 It's in Psalm 23. 734 00:45:44,800 --> 00:45:47,720 And most of us know the 23rd Psalm but there's a verse in there, verse 4. 735 00:45:47,720 --> 00:45:53,040 Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil. 736 00:45:53,040 --> 00:45:55,040 For you are with me. 737 00:45:55,040 --> 00:45:59,640 A lot of us walking through the valley today, it might be the valley of the shadow of death, 738 00:45:59,640 --> 00:46:03,560 it might be the valley of discouragement and depression. 739 00:46:03,560 --> 00:46:08,800 God promises to be with us as we walk through that valley and he will be. 740 00:46:08,800 --> 00:46:09,800 Just a moment, we're going to close. 741 00:46:09,800 --> 00:46:10,800 I'll close with a prayer. 742 00:46:10,800 --> 00:46:15,240 We have decision stations that are available for people that want to stop by and talk and 743 00:46:15,240 --> 00:46:17,800 visit and we're happy to pray with you. 744 00:46:17,800 --> 00:46:19,240 We would love to pray with you today. 745 00:46:19,240 --> 00:46:23,440 It might be that you've never taken the step of putting your faith and trust in Jesus as 746 00:46:23,440 --> 00:46:24,840 Lord and Savior. 747 00:46:24,840 --> 00:46:28,120 That's your first walk of faith, your first step of faith. 748 00:46:28,120 --> 00:46:31,920 It's really difficult for you to trust God through dark times if you haven't trusted 749 00:46:31,920 --> 00:46:36,000 him for your eternal security, for your salvation. 750 00:46:36,000 --> 00:46:40,480 So the very first step you take is taking the step to put your faith and trust in Christ 751 00:46:40,480 --> 00:46:44,760 who loves you so much that he died on the cross to pay for our sins. 752 00:46:44,760 --> 00:46:46,360 And he gives you this gift of eternal life. 753 00:46:46,360 --> 00:46:47,960 He comes to dwell inside of your life. 754 00:46:47,960 --> 00:46:49,600 Make that your first decision. 755 00:46:49,600 --> 00:46:53,920 If you haven't made that decision, go quickly to the decision station and say, I need to 756 00:46:53,920 --> 00:46:58,360 make that decision today and we'll help you do that. 757 00:46:58,360 --> 00:47:01,640 You may want to stop by there and say, you know, I've already made that decision, but 758 00:47:01,640 --> 00:47:04,760 I need prayer and we'll pray with you. 759 00:47:04,760 --> 00:47:06,040 That's invitation number one. 760 00:47:06,040 --> 00:47:09,600 Number two, I would love to invite you if you're a guest to our guest reception center 761 00:47:09,600 --> 00:47:12,280 right outside the center exit door across the hallway. 762 00:47:12,280 --> 00:47:14,960 I'll be there, love to visit with you. 763 00:47:14,960 --> 00:47:18,960 Just tell you a little bit about our church and invite you back, of course. 764 00:47:18,960 --> 00:47:21,500 And thirdly, I invite you to invite others to come. 765 00:47:21,500 --> 00:47:26,480 Next week we're looking at the life of David and how he came back from immorality. 766 00:47:26,480 --> 00:47:30,280 You remember the famous David Bathsheba story. 767 00:47:30,280 --> 00:47:34,960 And next week we're going to look at that and how God brought David back from immorality. 768 00:47:34,960 --> 00:47:37,880 Let's stand together in prayer. 769 00:47:37,880 --> 00:47:44,800 Father, thank you so much that you give us your words, which apply so clearly to our 770 00:47:44,800 --> 00:47:46,480 lives in so many different ways. 771 00:47:46,480 --> 00:47:53,000 Today I thank you that Elijah lives out his life in such a way that helps us out of darkness. 772 00:47:53,000 --> 00:47:59,520 Father, my prayer today is that we would find some things to hold onto today, either by 773 00:47:59,520 --> 00:48:07,280 warning as to how he got into that dark period or in way of instruction about how he got 774 00:48:07,280 --> 00:48:08,280 out. 775 00:48:08,280 --> 00:48:13,920 But Lord, in all that, that you would meet with us in our moment of greatest need. 776 00:48:13,920 --> 00:48:17,240 Today in this room there are those who need to trust you for salvation, others who need 777 00:48:17,240 --> 00:48:19,640 to trust you with their everyday life. 778 00:48:19,640 --> 00:48:24,560 But Father, thank you that you're always faithful and that in the end our testimony will be 779 00:48:24,560 --> 00:48:28,760 God walked with me all the way through this. 780 00:48:28,760 --> 00:48:29,760 Thank you Father. 781 00:48:29,760 --> 00:48:30,760 We ask this in Jesus' name. 782 00:48:30,760 --> 00:48:44,760 Amen.