Encouragement that Calms Fears - Tony Evans Sermon on Elijah

what depression discouragement despair often brings is distorted information Elijah is by himself depression gets worse if there's nobody in your life to change your thinking see if you feeling sorry for yourself and you're talking to yourself that's a bad conversation for yourself you already feeling sorry and there's nobody to talk to but you about you regarding you to tell you what you ought to do and you aren't in a place to even hear you correctly then your discussion with yourself is helping yourself to become worse off about you so God then enters the picture and tells him Nadja tell me how you feel stop talking to yourself delete you talk to yourself you will get depressed or suicidal start talking to me okay now I'm gonna show you the wind in the rain and all that stuff y'all talk to me cuz you talking to you it's killing you kill you stop talking you to you and y'all talk to me daughter's name for you he's got a person for you he has himself for you he gave me lies you all three of those to give him a supernatural experience to lift him out of his depression and one of the reasons that the church exists is to have people available in your life when you are down who can embrace you minister to you lift you up and he can use you to do the same thing for somebody else because when we are depressed we need another perspective that doesn't deny the reality of how we feel but what it does it does let you live [Music] as we continue with the study of the life of Elijah we want to look at now another kind of supernatural miracle he needed this was not a miracle that had to do with money and houses and land that has this was a miracle that had to do with his need to be lifted out of his depression depression is discouragement on steroids its discouragement that now has produced and ongoing a level of gloom an ongoing level of emotional pain and when discouragement becomes depression depression unresolved becomes despair and when depression becomes despair that ongoing discouragement that has led to depression which now results in despair produces a sense of hopelessness that's our situation with Elijah he's going to find himself where many of us have often found ourselves in a black hole he's going to find themselves looking for a light at the end of the tunnel only to discover it's the light of an oncoming train because his whole world is going to be turned upside down in a day when we come to chapter 19 we find out what led to this emergency shift in his emotions you see he had an expectation because when we finished chapter 18 he had told a.m. cheer up laugh party eat and drink cause this go rain and a I have got in the chariot and made his way home he lies you beat him home by running a I've had a controlling wife he had a woman who was telling him what to do he had a controlling wife and his wife had taken over when it was Elijah's anticipation that a hab was going to turn things around he was married to he was married to a lady named Jezebel and Jezebel was running Isha Jezebel was calling his shot and just about was telling him Elijah you're a dead man Jezebel is an evil threat that comes your way it is something or someone who threatens your well-being because she threatened by Tamar this time you're gonna be dead so any threat in your life that comes you away that produces discouragement depression despair or even as we're going to see in a moment a desire to die is a Jezebel in your life it's something or someone who threatens the stability of your mental well-being so when a boss threatens you that he's going to fire you and it's not a legitimate reason he's become Jezebel when there's a person who threatens you or your stability they are in fact being adjustable in your life they are operating as the new lord over your emotions and the reason why they can operate as lord over your emotions is because their threat gets into your head and when their threat gets into your thought your thought affects your feelings you see we are made up of three parts we're made up of body our physical being we're made up of soul psychology is soul the study of the soul so we're made up of a personhood and then we're made up spiritually what you have to understand is all three of these are interconnected and interrelated so as you'll see in a moment if you feel bad physically it affects how you're gonna think psychologically which may affect also how you function spiritually well if you're down spiritually that may affect your ability to function physically or your ability to be able to reason psychologically or if you're off psychologically it can make you want to go to bed physically it make you not want to deal with something spiritually because all three are interconnected and all three affect the other two so it is understanding how these three connect with each other and all three in this story that you will understand how to deal with that which controls the mind now let's understand tenth emotions a part of the soul how the soul relates to the thought so that you can understand how to find God's work in that which discourages you emotionally if your mind is wrong your emotions are going to be wrong if your mind is right your emotions are going to be right that's why I change in your mind will always change how you feel he is now living under a threat Jezebel the evil one has threatened his well-being and his life and he's trying to figure out now how is he going to face this and this is overnight his whole life has changed because somebody has gotten into his head so what he does is he goes on another day's journey the man and run 15 miles now he's going to go on a whole nother day's journey he sits on the juniper-tree verse 4 and he requests for himself that he might die it is enough now O Lord take my life for I am NOT better than my father's he wants to die 24 hours after the biggest miracle he's seen this is a fast slippery slope okay watch this now elijah is not a carnal christian elijah is not an unspiritual person he's been called a man of God we get saw the hand of the Lord was on him so guess what it's possible for spiritual people to get depressed so you can be spiritual and be down you can be spiritual and be emotionally struggling through something so don't automatically feel that your discouragement is due to your carnality now if you are carnal and if you are spiritual then it could very well be related to that but it's not automatically related to that specifically in the life of someone who is pursuing God so he's ready to give up he's ready to throw in the and when he's ready to throw in the towel he lays down because he's so tired under a juniper tree which is only a tree big enough for one person to lay under it and there was an angel touching him and said arrive eat verse five he looked up and behold there at his head a bread cake baked on hot stones a jar of water so that he ate and drank and lay down again when did the angel show up the angel only showed up after Elijah had had an honest conversation with God you see he told God I want to die he told God I'm not good as my father's he told God I have nothing left he told God I'm done and God sent an angel but he still what's the real thing because he knows what you're going through the scripture says he knows we were flesh so Elijah comes and he bares his soul to God could look when you're ready to die ain't no time to be cute when you when you solo you want to throw in the towel it's not the time to play Church that's not the time to just go through religious activity he gets wrong with God second thing I want you to notice is how God had rested the first need he dressed was his physical need because one of the causes of discouragement depression in this prayer is physical if you hungry James says you don't need just a prayer meeting you need somebody to make you a ham sandwich when you're hungry because there is a physical reality going on so it is quite legitimate to examine whether there are physical causes to your emotional struggles and to have those physical causes addressed now God addressed it supernaturally because he sent an angel but let me tell you about angels Hebrews chapter 1 verse 14 says that every believer has been assigned an angel every Christian has an angel so God has an angel and he knows now the problem with angels is they're invisible because their spirit beings and their supernatural in nature because they're heavenly beings and so the job of an angel is your personal post-office carrier whose job it is to deliver whatever God wants delivered to you that's what your angels job is and every believer has one but notice the angel doesn't come until the communication takes place between Elijah and his God so God needs on his communication because he says Elijah is of a like nature so he react he he deals with the reality of exhaustion physically emotionally spiritually and so does everybody else but that's also the opportunity that the devil looks for to take advantage of even in the case of Jesus and Jesus didn't have a spiritual problem but after he had fasted 40 days and 40 nights in the wilderness it says the devil came to tempt him why he was tired and he was hungry and he was weak so being tired hungry and weak gave the devil the opportunity he had to try to get to the most spiritual person who's ever lived so you know if the devil is gonna attack Jesus who couldn't sin and didn't sin and he already knows our propensity to sin that you are perfect bait for him to enter your thought in order to get to the caboose of your emotions in order to send you or downa in your life but you got an angel with your name on it whose job it is to deliver the supernatural to you so the angel of the Lord comes in verse 7 a second time he's touched with the name by an angel arrived eat because your journey is too great for you now watch this so he lets him rest before he lets him continue so he arose in ate and drank and went in the strength of the food forty days and forty nights to Horeb the mountain of God when you are depressed many times the last place you want to go is to the mountain of God the mountain of God means to go in God's presence that's the last place you want to go but that's the first place God wants you to run to he wants you to run to his presence and bring your depression with you bring your discouragement with you he'll give you enough to get to the mountain to get to his presence so he calls him into his presence that gets really interesting now there are a number of issues going on here he asked him then it came to a cave lodged there verse nine and behold the word of the Lord came him and said what are you doing here Elijah now God doesn't have to ask why you here because he doesn't know because he knows why you here he knows that you've been frustrated in fact he just fed you but he asked him why are you here the reason God asked him why are you here is not for God to get information the reason he asked why you here is for him to fully express what he's dealing with so what are you dealing with Elijah and here's what Elijah says Elijah said I have been very zealous for the Lord for the God of hosts for the son of his sons of Israel have forsaken your covenant torn down your altars killed your prophets with the sword and I alone am left and they seek my life to take it away okay so let's discuss discuss why he's here why are you in this situation why are you so depressed okay you asked me God i'ma tell you I committed myself to you I dedicated myself to you all the month people are unspiritual they didn't keep your covenants they were worshipping those idols and I'm he has adopted a victim's mentality a victims mentality is a mindset that you adopt because of negative circumstances that says I'm where I am because everybody else is where they are I'm here by myself cuz none of them are agreeing with you and that's put me out here by myself and you got me out here by myself that's a victim's mentality now you can be a victim but you are to never adopt a victim's mentality where everybody else is responsible for where you are a victim's mentality is because of them I'm here and as long as you have that kind of mentality you'll always be there you may be a victim but you are to never adopt the victims mentality because then that allows you to put off being responsible to make the change you should make because they're not making the change they should make he was just victorious with these people he was just victorious with them making a renewed commitment but because he was psychologically damaged he developed a victims mentality now please don't misunderstand me you may be a victim it may be unfair it may not be right it may not it may be evil so you may be a victim but that's different than adopting the mindset of a victim and to many of us socially and economically and in this case spiritually have become victims of the devil if it wasn't for the devil I wouldn't be here well guess what he ain't changing okay if it wasn't for them sinners I wouldn't be stuck here they not change if it wasn't for this situation I would be here okay that may be true but they may never change so what are you going to do so come tell me why are you here but don't expect me to just pat you on the back and feel sorry for you because the thing that brought you here may never change and many of us block the supernatural because we become comfortable as victims men of many of us have gotten stuck in our station in life this is a racial issues the social issue is the class issue and in this case most importantly it's a spiritual issue Elijah was wrong he says I'm a victim and I'm all by myself ok so God says go forth and stand on the mountain before the Lord and behold the Lord passed by it was a great wind rending the mountain and breaking it into pieces the rocks before the Lord but the Lord was not in the wind there was an earthquake but the law was not in the earthquake verse 12 he said there was a fire but the Lord was not in the fire but after the fire the sound of a gentle blowing when he lied you heard it he rapped his face in the mantle and went out and stood in the entrance of the cave and behold a voice came them and said what are you doing here Elijah he said in verse 14 he says it again I'm very jealous for the Lord but the people that was taking you I alone him left they seek to take my life so guess what God does you find at the end of verse 3 it says he left his servant behind so Elijah is by himself because depression gets worse if there's nobody in your life to change your thinking see if you're feeling sorry for yourself and you're talking to yourself that's a bad conversation for yourself you already feeling sorry and there's nobody to talk to but you about you regarding you to tell you what you ought to do and you aren't in a place to even hear you correctly and what you are telling you is only related to how you feel then your discussion with yourself is helping yourself to become worse off about you so god then it is the picture and tells him Elisha tell me how you feel stop talking to yourself cuz when you talk to yourself you were getting depressed you were suicidal start talking to me okay now I'm gonna show you to win in the rain and all that stuff now talk to me I don't know no lies you don't talk to yourself cuz you and you aren't getting together with you real good God has to clarify verse 18 yet I will leave 7000 and Israel all the needs that have not bowed to bail and every mouth that has not kissed him now what's his complaint I'm the only one God says there's 7000 folk like you out there it's just you are so psychologically bit right now all you see is you I got seven thousand people you don't even know about who have the same faith same commitment same loyalty that you have so you are wanting to die off of misinformation you don't have the right information and so what did God's presence and his counseling session do give him new data and then God closes by doing one other thing for him and it's a very important thing in verses 19 through 21 he runs into a man named Elijah at the end of verse 19 says and Elijah passed over to him and through his mantle on him he left the oxen and ran after Elijah Elijah does and please let me kiss my father and my mother then I will follow you and he said to him go back again for what have I done to you so he returned from following him took the pair of oxen sack sacrificed them balled their flesh with the implements of oxen and gave it to the people and they ate then he arose and followed Eli and minister to him because sometime when you discourage you need somebody with flesh and blood sometimes talking to God is the spirit out days real but he's a spirit out there so guess what God did God gave him a friend God gots a look i'ma bring somebody in your life who is going to minister to you because right now your ministry has been depleted and your get up and go is not there so guess what now that I have been counseling with you and you brought me into the equation of your victims mentality I got somebody I have already set up to bring into your life to minister to encourage to lift you up and to bring you out of your depression God has an angel for you he's got a person for you he has himself for you he gave me lies you all three of those to give him a supernatural experience to lift him out of his depression and one of the reasons that the church exists is to have people available in your life when you are down who can embrace you minister to you lift you up and he can use you to do the same thing for somebody else because when we are depressed we need another perspective that doesn't deny the reality of how we feel but what it does is that live let you live there some of us are being destroyed by Satan you need somebody who can whisper about the power of God in your life somebody is being intimidated by Jezebel and you need to know from somebody who can see outside of you that greater is He that is in you than Jezebel who is threatening you you need to be lifted out of your discouragement - honestly with God through taking care of yourself physically in order to get the rest you need or the help you need and have somebody in your life who loves you enough and God enough to hook the two together when that takes place you may still get discouraged but God will lift you out of it because even godly people have to struggle with discouragement there's a lot in our world that can produce fear that unhealthy emotion where circumstances controlled what we think and how we react some of God's choices servants like Elijah got afraid because they were being threatened their well-being is threatened sometimes our physical well-being is threatened our circumstances our economics a mental re thrashing and reasoning can all create this sense of dread in our circumstances it's during this time that you need I need we need to take our fear to God since he doesn't give us the spirit of fear and ask him to provide something or someone to change the trajectory of our emotions God has a million ways of intervening in our fears to give us an encouraging word perhaps it's a sermon that you hear a song that is sung I know during some of my dark days at the loss of my wife I got some songs said to me that encouraged me in the insecurity of the moon god has a million ways of doing it just invited to do it so that fear does not dominate now you can't always control fear coming but that's a long way from having fear and you don't want to fear the rule so invite God to do something through some means to let you know he is in the midst of your insecurity and fear and can change it to dancing [Music] [Music] the Tony Evans Study Bible the what u.s. filled with devotionals articles questions and answers and so much more dr. Evans brings a perspective no other author ever has to the Word of God with his unique voice and powerful insights featuring inspirational articles videos and more dr. Evans explains God's Word in a fresh relevant way get yours today [Music] you you

Channel: Tony Evans

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Length: 27min 40sec (1660 seconds)

Published: Wed May 27 2020