1 Kings chapter 19, we're going to start in verse
9 this morning. I preach from 1 Kings 18 and
19 a lot. If you guys make notes in your Bible
of what date I preach a sermon on, you've probably
got a lot of dots by this particular passage.
It's a passage that I have to turn to a lot.
And maybe that's an indictment on me. Maybe that
just speaks to my weakness. But nevertheless,
I find myself having to turn to this a lot. And
maybe it's good for you too. I don't know. Maybe
you don't struggle in the same way as I do. But
it's a good passage. And you've probably heard
me preach it ten times. And if I'm here for a
little bit longer, you probably will hear me
preach it some more. 1 Kings chapter 19, we'll
start in verse 9, but before we do, let's pray
and we'll get started. God, we come to you today
and we still got a little sadness in our hearts,
but dear Lord, we just thank you for being good
to us, for blessing us with a good pianist for
all these years. We thank you for our heart of
service and dedication, and we just thank you
that we got to worship today with her. One more
time, and we thank you for these words. I pray
that you just free us of all the distractions
and the worries and the stresses and the pains
of this world, and that in these moments, dear
Lord, that you just would help the world to become
silent to us, that we would be able to listen
to you and to hear from you, dear Lord, that,
God, there's a lot of noise in our life, but
I pray that in the midst of the noise that we
do not, miss you, dear Lord, that in the many
mighty and powerful ways in which we see you
work, that we don't forget to stop and listen
to you, dear Lord. So I pray, God, that your
Holy Spirit would be with us today, that you
would help me to preach and teach in a way that
brings glory and honor to you. And I ask these
things in Jesus' name. Amen. I'll give you a
little backdrop of what's kind of leading up
to this story. Good story. I would encourage
you to read it if you've never read this story
of Elijah. He's going up against all these false
prophets of Baal. There's 450 of them, and they're
worshiping this false god. And Elijah, the prophet
of God, challenges them and says, Look, one of
our gods is the real God, and we've got to figure
out who this is. And so he challenges them both
to make an altar. to put a sacrifice on that
altar, and they're both to pray to their God
and see which God responds. Now, the prophets
of Baal, they hoot and holler and dance around
and all kind of stuff, and nothing happens. Of
course, their God's not a real God, and so there's
no surprise that there's no response there. Elijah
is not surprised by that, and he kind of pokes
at him and prods at him and says, oh, you know,
maybe you need to holler out a little louder.
Maybe your God's asleep. the god of these false
prophets doesn't answer and of course elijah
calls on the lord the only god and and his altar
is lit up with flames and and uh it's a miraculous
thing and the false prophets are killed and elijah
just saw this awesome and and mighty thing that
the lord had done but but right after that we
flip the page and we see that elijah is running
for his life because King Ahab and Queen Jezebel
have sent word that they want Elijah to die.
They want him dead. Now Elijah is a mighty prophet
of God. We see Elijah mentioned in the New Testament.
We see that he's pretty important. He's pretty
prominent. And Elijah had just experienced this
great work of God. He was a man of God. And now
things have gotten really tough. And so he goes
on the run. He flees for his life. He runs into
the wilderness, and he sits under a tree, and
he says, God, take my life. He says, God, I'm
ready to just give up. I'm ready to die. I'm
ready to be done. It's too hard. I'm just tired
of it. And maybe some of us can relate to that
feeling. Elijah felt alone. He felt afraid. We
see both of those words applied to Elijah throughout
this passage, throughout this story. And even
though he'd experienced the greatness of God
in a mighty way, in a super powerful way, even
Elijah, the great prophet of God, found himself
ready to give up, ready to leave this world.
And God didn't grant his request. And maybe if
we're honest, maybe that's been our request,
some of us from time to time. Maybe there's been
things in our life that have been so hard and
so painful that maybe our request has just been,
God, I'm ready. Would you just take me, dear
Lord? I don't want the struggle. I don't want
the pain. God, I've lived for you and life is
still hard or this thing I'm going through is
so tough. Lord, would you just take me from this
world? And people pray that prayer. Maybe some
of us have prayed that prayer. But God didn't
grant that request. He wasn't quite through with
Elijah yet. And instead of taking him out of
this world, he ministered to Elijah. He sent
some food and some water to him, and he told
him to rest up. And that happened a couple of
times that the Lord provided what Elijah needed.
It was said to Elijah, you need to eat, you need
to drink, and you need to be ready for the journey
that's ahead of you. Elijah went on this pretty
long journey and he ended up at this mountain
and he was hanging out in a cave. And that's
what we see in the passage today. In 1 Kings
chapter 19, verse 9, it says, He entered a cave
there and spent the night. Then the word of the
Lord came to him and he said to him, What are
you doing here, Elijah? He replied, I've been
very zealous for the Lord God of hosts. But the
Israelites have abandoned your covenant, torn
down your altars, and killed your prophets with
the sword. I alone am left, and they are looking
to take my life. Then he said, Go out and stand
on the mountain in the Lord's presence. At that
moment, the Lord passed by. A great and mighty
wind was tearing at the mountains and was shattering
cliffs before the Lord. But the Lord was not
in the wind. And after the wind there was an
earthquake. But the Lord was not in the earthquake.
After the earthquake there was a fire. But the
Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire
there was a voice. A soft. Some of your translations
there will say a still, small voice. Now Elijah
knew of the Lord. He had experienced the power
of the Lord. He was a faithful servant of the
Lord. But here in his deepest hour of just conflict
and pain, The Lord speaks to him and says, what
are you doing here, Elijah? And Elijah says,
God, I can't do it anymore. I'm alone. I alone
am left. Your people have turned against you.
My life is in jeopardy. And then after Elijah
makes this statement, we see God express himself
in some powerful ways, in a powerful wind that
rocks the cliffs. And an earthquake that shakes
everything. And a fire in whatever form that
took and what it looked like. I don't know what
that would have looked like. But we see God in
all of these mighty ways working. And we see
that all throughout the Old Testament. We see
God do some pretty dramatic things. I mean, the
parting of the Red Sea and just ground opening
up and swallowing people who had been disobedient
to the Lord. we see some pretty incredible, powerful
ways in which God shows his awesomeness throughout
the scripture. And I believe God still acts in
those ways today. I believe God is still just
as powerful today. I believe that we see the
power and the awe of God today in our world.
And sometimes through events that we encounter
are really, really... hard things in our life
that shake us up. I think still today the Lord,
He makes a little racket sometimes in our life.
He does things to show us His power and to shake
us up and to grab our attention so that we see
that God is still there. He's still in control.
He's still paying attention. And sometimes He's
maybe not happy with us. And I think we still
see the power of God today. But what's beautiful
about this passage is that Even though we see
the power of God here before Elijah, how does
it say that the Lord spoke to Elijah? In a still,
small voice. In a soft whisper. Have you ever
talked in a conversation with somebody that doesn't
talk very loud? It's hard to hear them. When
somebody's speaking lowly, to be able to hear
them, you really have to Listen intently. Maybe
that's part of the reason why the Lord spoke
to Elijah in this way. I don't know. He could
have done something dramatic before Elijah and
spoken a loud and booming voice as sometimes
he does in the Old Testament. But maybe he spoke
in a still, small voice so that Elijah would
really pay attention and listen to what the Lord
had to say. What about you and I? Do we listen
to what the Lord has to say to us? You know,
if you take the same letters that are in the
word listen and you scramble them all around,
they also spell the word silent. And sometimes
to be able to hear the Lord speak, we need to
sit in the silence. That's hard for us to do
in this day and age. Man, it's hard to sit in
silence. We have such a short attention span.
We've always got music playing or earbuds in
our ear or a phone in our pocket that's vibrating
or ringing. And there's a lot of noise in our
world today. There's Wi -Fi airwaves going through
the air and phone airwaves and satellites all
around. And it's just noise. And I believe that
that's a great tactic that the devil uses today.
To keep us from hearing from God. It's not to
say that we don't see God work in mighty ways
some ways. That gets people's attention in this
world. But maybe today the Lord wants to speak
to you. Maybe he's been trying to get your attention
for the last few weeks or few months or few years.
And maybe today the Lord is speaking to you in
a still small voice. And the reason you haven't
heard him. It's because you haven't stopped to
listen. Maybe today you're like Elijah and you're
on the run. Maybe today you are depressed and
you are sad and you are afraid and you feel alone
and you don't know why God doesn't hear you and
you've called out to him. But I want to tell
you today, God has heard you. But maybe, just
maybe, we've been too busy to hear God. Do you
ever take a moment to just unplug? Do you ever
take a moment to turn the TV off, to turn the
radio off? Do you ever take a moment, perhaps
just to take a walk in nature? What a beautiful
place to hear from the Lord, to go out and see
creation, to get away from the hustle and the
bustle, to take your phone out of your pocket,
and to just go and just to sit in silence. And
that is a hard thing to do. You probably have
to pray about that a lot. Because, man, you go
and you try to sit in silence, and that lasts
all of about seven seconds. And then you're thinking
about, I've got to do this thing at work. I've
got to do this thing at church. I've got to do
this thing. I've got this thing going on with
my family. I feel bad. I mean, I'm hungry. Man,
I want a snack. I should have ate breakfast this
morning. I mean, you're going to have a million
things. The moment you start to sit in silence,
there are going to be so many things that are
going to compete for your attention. And you
may have to pray a lot. You may have to pray
a lot because even if there's silence around
you, your mind still is probably full of a lot
of noise. And so it may just take us taking a
moment. We may just have to take a moment. And
you say, you have preached this exact sermon
five times. I probably have. But I keep going
back to it because I'm so weak that I have to
be reminded to take a moment. And I think maybe
there are some others that do. I don't know.
I know life is busy. I know for some of you it's
way busier than it is for me. I know a lot of
you got a lot on your plate. And it's hard when
you're raising kids and you got responsibilities
at work and you got sickness in your family and
you got life and it's just hard. And sometimes
we just, I think, need to be like Elijah and
just call out to the Lord and say, okay, God,
I don't know if I can keep going any further.
But it's so beautiful that the Lord does not
make Elijah go further without taking care of
him. Before even this whole experience, he provides
what he needs to strengthen him for the journey
that's ahead of him. I don't know what journey's
ahead of you. You don't know what journey's ahead
of you. None of us know what tomorrow holds.
But whatever it is, I can promise you this. You
can't make the next step in that journey if you
don't have the power of the Lord. Life is hard.
It's hard. And it's really hard when you don't
have God. There's a lot of people that say, oh,
yeah, but you need God. That's just a crutch.
Okay, well, maybe He is. What's your crutch?
We all need hope in something. We all need someone
to hold us up. God is the one that I choose to
hold me up because God is the only one who can.
And some of you know that firsthand. Some of
you say, man, I've tried everything else to lift
me up and to hold me up and to strengthen me,
and it fails me every time. And some of you still
need to learn that today, that there is nothing
else that can hold you up. But there is a rock
that is Jesus Christ that can hold us up, that
will not crumble if we would just seek him today.
And so maybe the Lord wants to speak to you today.
Maybe He wants to speak some grace and some love
and some peace into your life. Now I'm not saying
the Lord's going to speak to you in an audible
voice. He may. I don't know. I know people that
would say that God has spoken to them and I believe
them. I've never heard God speak to me in an
audible voice. But I believe that we can hear
God speak. And I think we know when the Spirit
of God is among us. I think we know when God
is working on us. But sometimes I think we don't
hear God. Because we won't stop and listen to
Him. Psalm 46 .10 says, Be still and know that
I am God. Some of your translations may say something
like, Stop your fighting. And know that I am
God. Whatever it is that's going on in your life.
Maybe there's conflict and there's fighting and
there's feuding. Maybe it's sickness. Maybe it's
just stress. Whatever the struggle is that keeps
us going. That keeps us on our toes. That keeps
us anxious. Maybe today is a good day for you
to just simply be still. To seek the Lord. Maybe
today you're Elijah. And you say, I don't want
to go another step. I don't know if I can. You
can with the help of the Lord. So I encourage
you today. I encourage you this week. Would you
take a minute to sit in the silence? Would you
take a minute to sit in God's word? Would you
take a minute just to listen? to what god has
to say now i'll warn you we don't always like
what god has to say because sometimes we say
okay god i'm really struggling right now i need
some help with this or some help with that god
help me and sometimes we open our heart up to
god and god begins to reveal things to us that
are there and we kind of know they're there but
we we don't want to admit it and as god begins
to speak sometimes he begins to speak to things
in our life that that we'd rather not hear, but
I'm going to tell you what is the most beautiful
thing when we listen to God and He works in our
life and there's stuff in our heart that shouldn't
be there and we just give it to Him. It's a beautiful
thing. So today I encourage you. Take a moment.
Sit in silence. Listen to the Lord. Let Him do
a work. In your life. I can tell you that the
Lord wants to do a work in your life. Because
he sent his son Jesus Christ to die on a cross
so that you could be forgiven. So that you would
have an opportunity for peace. That peace only
comes through Jesus who was crucified and resurrected.
That is the source of our hope and our peace
today. And so when we call out to the Lord today.
We can know that he hears us. But do we hear
him? And maybe today he's speaking. Maybe he
wants to speak to you through his word. Maybe
you've already heard him speaking and you just
haven't been listening. Well, today's a good
day to sit and to listen to the Lord and to seek
the peace and the hope that comes through Jesus
Christ. Let's pray. God, we come to you today.
We thank you for your... Your good word. And
maybe there are some in this room or some listening
online that they feel like Elijah today, dear
Lord. Maybe their journey has been tough and
maybe they know you and they've experienced you.
Maybe they've seen your mighty works. But maybe
today they just need to hear from you in some
way, dear Lord. I pray that you would help us
to take a moment out of our life. and maybe in
the days to come that we would just carve out
a little time that we would be still and know
that you are God, dear Lord, that we have to
be mindful of that. We have to perhaps remind
ourselves of your goodness and your mercy and
your grace and your strength because we do get
busy, dear Lord. Life is hard. But I pray, God,
that these scriptures today would be a reminder
to us. Just to take a minute to praise you, to
rejoice in you, dear Lord, to thank you for who
you are. God, I pray that if there are some that
don't know Jesus Christ today, if they've been
looking for peace and hope, they might have been
looking all over this world for it. I pray today
through these words that they would find it.
That today that they would just take a moment
to say, I'm tired of running. I'm tired, dear
Lord. And God, just as you provided for Elijah,
I pray that in their heart and soul today that
you would just meet their need, God. That you
would give them the strength and the sustenance
they need spiritually just to be filled, God.
I pray, dear Lord, that you would help us to
be able to hear you clearly. That you would block
out all the junk. We all got it. But don't let
the enemy... Mess with our mind and mess with
our heart right now. Just let us take a moment,
dear Lord, in these last few minutes to seek
you and to hear from you. In Jesus' name I pray
it. Amen.