Sunday Worship - 1.10.21 AM

[Music] [Applause] [Applause] [Applause] [Applause] [Music] so [Applause] good morning so good to see each of you out this morning i'm going to ask that you would stand for opening prayer and i'm going to ask brother ralph thompson if you would open us with a word of prayer please father we thank you this morning for your love and care for us for the privilege we have to be in that house to join with each other and song and praise for all that you've done and also to be able to hear from your word we pray this morning that as we're gathered here together that your spirit will be upon with us and upon us and be with the speaker of the yard we pray in jesus name amen amen you may be seated we're going to start off this morning with psalm 133 just a chorus says i love you lord and i lift my voice to worship you i love him this morning i've just been thinking over the last couple days how good he's been to me you know i don't deserve any of the goodness of god but i'm so thankful that he loves me and he cares for me and i love him this morning because he first loved me psalm number 133 and then we're going to go right across the page to psalm 134 i trust you've come to worship him this morning he's worthy of our praise let's sing it together [Music] is [Music] [Applause] me [Music] [Music] is my voice take joy [Music] [Applause] [Music] i think we need to do it one more time [Music] 10 [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] my [Music] my [Music] [Applause] now [Music] [Music] [Music] is [Music] [Music] is i will [Music] [Applause] my dreams [Music] glory [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] my [Music] my jesus [Music] praise god i love him this morning praise god praise god we're going to sing a song that's not in your hymnal but we've sang several times here it says in christ alone my hope is found i was looking through here just for some lines that stuck out to me and i'm just going to be honest that all the words were amazing and i'm not going to read the whole song before we sing it so i just encourage you think about the words that you're singing this morning our hope is in him praise god he's a firm foundation i'm so thankful that we can trust him i'm thankful to know that i'm his and he's mine praise god will you stand with me as we sing sing this song together in christ alone my hope is [Music] when fears are still [Music] fullness [Music] jesus died [Music] i live there in the ground [Music] [Music] is [Music] [Music] jesus [Music] [Music] no fear in death [Music] jesus [Music] or i said my face [Music] for me i cannot see my [Music] my faith [Music] oh [Music] [Music] see my face still holds unto the cries praise god thank you for your singing we do want to go to the lord in prayer and i thank god this morning that my faith is in him amen hallelujah he's worthy of all praise and glory this morning let's continue to remember the physical needs that we've been praying for if you continue to remember my wife's parents sister witt's parents let's continue to pray for sister grebel sister logan's brother kevin amy manz is sister plymon's granddaughter if you remember naomi cook and caleb kaufman two young people that have cancer but i'm praying and believing and trusting god to give him a divine touch and raise him up for his honor and for his glory let's continue to pray for steve crosby alice frost thank god for the touch that he's been giving to sister mindy we rejoice and give the lord praise and honor for that this morning let us continue to pray for her janet the bold and sister whitmer as well continue to pray for amy hopkins she had a fall and had some bruising i haven't heard anything since then but let's pray for her and then also you have any news on brother grimmie and i have him on my list here but i have not heard anything he's better okay thank the lord for that let's continue to pray for him though and then also lois mclean she had been sick so let's remember her in prayer and then peggy's neighbor bob patterson and then brother day's mother of course there's physical needs i'm sure each and every one of us here this morning my uplifted hand has someone that is close to heart that needs god so let's be praying for the spiritual needs and then the missions the lord will continue to undertake their at the live stream requests that come in let's continue to pray for the leach family and the ziggler leach family in a passing of brother a reverend robert leach and then also uh the walker dowler family and the passing of reverend b.j walker and then there's also a request for shayna johnson's parents excuse me and it's remembered them in prayer i'm going to ask brother plymouth reverend plymouth if you would lead us to the throne of grace this morning and that would come to our god in this church born out and touched the spirit of the lord god put it out with him father today you know exactly what the needs are in the lord god always all the odds always request all the need to lord god after divine health divine presence lord pray thou and servant father this morning with your divine grace love and mercy lord god and ask you to come to the lord god and have thy precious way feed every heavenly heart every spiritual need yes this way and we are certainly giving you all the praise for that amen you may be seated go ahead and singing these songs man i wonder what i wonder what grandpa's experiencing up in heaven this morning everything that he lived for and preached about his entire life and he's getting to experience that on a sunday morning i would love to know love to get a picture into heaven this morning and see him shouting around heaven and uh getting to now experience everything he lives for but something during his funeral so many people had obviously so many nice things to say but one of his neighbors that lived next to him for i think almost 50 years if i remember correctly many may not know but back behind my grandfather's house he had what he called his prayer path and he literally had walked back and forth to the woods so much down the same path that he had worn a path in there where he prayed every day and his neighbor was speaking during the funeral and said i got to experience something that many others didn't and he said you know my grandpa had a certain way of preaching a certain inflection in his voice when he preached and he said what most people don't know is that his prayer voice was the exact same as his preaching voice and he said what i mean by that is he said everything that he was with that he was preaching about everything that he was saying was things that he was getting while he was there in prayer and he was just saying that you know everything he preached was also what he lived and whenever i heard that whenever whenever that man said that my the lord spoke to me and i just thought you know what i want my church voice to be the same as my at work voice and i want the way that i live on sunday to be the same way that i live on monday and i don't want to be a person that you know just puts on a show for certain times or you know for him when he was preaching at ihc that that's just who he was that was the that was the experience that he had in his life and i want to live my life that way you know that song said from life's first try to final breath jesus commands my destiny and that's the way i want to live my life i don't want to just be a sunday christian i don't want to just be a christian when things are going well and when you have enough money in the bank and the kids are healthy and happy i want whenever things seem to be going wrong i mean the world seems to be in turmoil i want that to be the time when my when my experience with the lord comes out and chose to be real and chose to be genuine i just i thank the lord for the legacy that's been handed down to me uh for getting to go through this past week you know it's never a good thing to have to lose a loved one but man it was it was almost hard to be sad it was almost hard to be sad to realize that that he's now where he he lived for 88 years he that's where he wanted to be and now he's there and i want to go meet him someday i've got other loved ones there that i want to go meet i want to live my life in such a way that i would be pleasing to the lord and i'm glad to be in church anyone else about four months ago and i knew it was divinely inspired i knew that bob was sick right away but he loved the lord it was amazing to be able to be with bob and talk to him about the lord and and share those moments he found out he had stage four cancer the saturday before he went into hospice and um sunday we had the service in his room there and it was so amazing he raised his hand to the music and he just left the service and the service was about john 3 16 agape love and um that was so important to him and um it wasn't long you know so after that bob died on tuesday but i took some pictures he was so excited he just raised his hand he just wanted to go home and it was just such a beautiful fashion i thank god for how he connects people and it doesn't matter how old you are he's always there he's always connecting people and i was it was a blessing to me to be there with him through all this and i want to thank everybody for your prayers and i just thank the lord because he's always there who knows what you need when you need it and who you need with all my heart anyone else all right we're gonna go ahead and change the order of the service at this time we're gonna do the announcements before we get into those how many of you noticed something different when you came into the sanctuary today all right can you raise them high please how many of you noticed something different okay so about 50 percent of the people so what happened was that matt digging's father and their brothers went ahead and painted the sanctuary the hallway and the foyer and it looks fantastic and so i want to say thank you to triple d painting llc uh they did a fantastic job and uh was it just the yeah i think it was just the hallway the foyer and the sanctuary but they did a fantastic job so i want to say thank you to them they did a fantastic job also i just want to thank really quickly uh brother and not brother and sister wit brother witt and zack witt were here for hours yesterday installing our new security system cameras so that they can see you better and uh they did a fantastic job and daniel and i had the privilege of crawling around in the attic running wire and i say privilege because and i mean that sincerely because i was in bed and asleep by 10 30 last night which if you know me uh i promise you it's probably been years since that has happened so i am feeling fantastic this morning so thank you daniel for helping out with that as well i never gets the recognition he deserves also thank you to nolan thank you to nolan he installed a new camera for the live stream and then also another ptz on the other side so thank you brother nolan taylor for that and then thank you to brother hilagos for coming late last night and making sure the church was and span we really appreciate that all right first announcement i have prayer cl prayer time and prayer club prayer time and kids club is this evening at 5 30 before the service so please if you're at all able to make it we would love to have you for that and then uh the last announcement that i have that will be up here is mission service is going to be this coming wednesday january the 13th at 7 pm brother andrew street a missionary to india from efm will be coming and speaking for us this coming wednesday evening now this event i do not have we don't have and i do apologize for that i should have let joya know sister taylor excuse me uh february the 26th so each and every january we do a youth event where we go play laser tag from midnight to 6am this year we're not doing that we're doing something different february the 26th it is a friday evening from 7 p.m to midnight so it's not midnight to 6 a.m okay i'm really excited about this all right february 26th that's a friday evening we have rented out a fif we have the privilege of renting out a 50 000 square foot facility it's an indoor trampoline park uh there's dodge ball basketball all that other fun stuff there's even jousting of some sorts where you get to hit people we're going to make sure we pray and have devotions beforehand though because we want to do it in this in the spirit of love so don't forget about that i was made aware this past week the importance of saying of what i say when i'm at the at the pulpit here because uh as it turns out brother jerry davis texted me and told me that after i spoke his wife went out and bought tillamook ice cream and that his wallet did not thank me for it because it is it is rather expensive but i'm sure your palate thanked you because it is good stuff all right at this time we would like to acknowledge those of you who read your bible through last year in the year 2020 so once i read your name off if you would please stand we would like and wait until every name has been called and then we also have some that are on the live stream as well so you can stand in your house if you would like to but we're going to mention your names as well terry hopkins sister becky glick gary fish helen day tom whitmer kirsten boardman brent boardman caitlin thompson seth fish ernest plemmons yeah please go ahead and stand if i call your name please stand up brother ernest plemmons sister evelyn plemmons john besino jeremy hopkins janella thompson sheila herrod roger russell betty russell sarah barker jim byram john whitaker brent stetler jim day chris day david g i'm hoping that's david okay yes david gilbert john french norma french carol hartsock harold lauer elaine lauer bill champion tayleen miller in wall excuse me washington indiana i believe that is sister isabel rondell cathy manz john mark forcy thank you rusty rondell becky whitmer pastor forsey sister pastor forsey now is there anyone that we missed please stand now because we we typically miss people every year yes sister peggy bertram if you told me i sincerely apologize i think you may have i i have it on my phone all right i think it's entirely appropriate to go ahead and give a hand to these people who have finished their bible through in a year you may be seated like pastor forsey has said before it is a uh tremendous accomplishment and uh he is gonna he's gonna mention something later on this later so i won't steal his thunder but uh if you if you do if you do read it through again this year uh we encourage you to do so but you know i'll just let him tell you more about that next time he's up here all right at this time brother carrie sister denise stetler and jerusha welbom will be singing for us after which we are privileged to have brother brian line from kokomo indiana here with us to minister lord bless them as they sing and then brother brian line as he preaches this morning [Music] well we had this song prepared to sing i think i think it was in march of last year and uh you know some of our schedule got a little messed up with church and so we never really got around to doing it and uh we felt like that's what we should do this morning and so uh this just says i know the peace speaker we read how jesus calmed the storms and he still calm storms today i'm thankful that even when he may choose not to calm our storm just right when we want him to he's able to calm us while we're in the storm he speaks peace and he's the peace speaker i'm glad that i know him by name [Music] it was such a lovely day [Music] and the sun was shining bright [Music] a gentle breeze was blowing my way not a storm cloud inside then suddenly without a warning a storm surrounded my and here's the reason [Music] i know him by name [Music] he controls the wind when he says peace glad i know the peace speaker yes i know him my name there's never been another man with the power of this friend by simply saying peace be still he can calm the strongest wind and that's why i never worry when storm clouds come my way i know that he is near to drive away my fear and i can smile i know the [Music] know peace peace speaker he controls the winds when he says peace [Music] [Applause] yes i know him by name [Music] peace wonderful peace when he says peace [Music] i'm glad i know the peace speaker yes i know him by name [Music] yes i know him my name peace peace peace [Music] peace [Music] when he says peace [Music] the i'm [Music] peace peace um well good morning it's good to be in the house of the lord this morning it's good to be with many many friends lifetime friends some of them are here this morning i looked over and i think brother and sister hilagos have been set in that same place for 70 years at least they were here when i was here and uh appreciate them it was them the glicks and my wife and i and craig and joy and some of us all set on that same side for many years i remember that way back then but it is good to be here good to see brother foresee here i have just had him on my heart praying for him daily whispering his name throughout the day and so glad that god has touched him and so glad to be for him to be here this morning praise god one objection brother john that you read when you were going through that list you mentioned um tom whitmer and i don't even think he could read so i don't know how he got that i'm just teasing i don't know where tom is but he's been another friend for many many many years amen i'm a nice brother willbaum if you'll just stand and pray for the remainder of this service and for the word i do pray i want to testify until god's here appreciate his presence glad i know the peace speaker that we're singing ryan that's right glad he's here to help us in our problems of life we have sin in our life or whatever we have this morning glad he's the answer yes father we come to you this morning we thank you for your presence we're glad that we can have peace in our heart yes with all the turmoil everything that's going on right now we're glad that we could have we could have peace in our heart we pray today that you would settle down against one of us that are here you know our own needs we need you lord we need you more than we even know we need to our country need you we need you here and we ask that you would come and visit us today that we could sense your presence right in these cues today that we would go away be better and drawn up closer to you and we'll give you the praise in jesus name amen let's open up our bibles to first kings chapter 19. first kings chapter 19 start reading the verse 1. a very very familiar story in our in the bible one of my favorites first kings chapter 19 and ahab told jezebel all that elijah had done and with all how he had slain all the prophets with the sword then jezebel sent a messenger unto elijah saying so let the gods do to me and more also if i make not thy life as the life of one of them by tomorrow about this time and when he saw that when elijah saw that he arose and went for his life and came to bear sheba which belongeth to judah and left his servant there but he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness and came and sat down under a juniper tree and he requested for himself that he would might die and said it is enough now o lord take away my life for i am not better than my father's and as he lay and slept under a juniper tree behold then an angel touched him and said unto him arise and eat and he looked and behold there was a cake baked on the coals and a cruise of water at his head and he did eat and drink and laid him down again and the angel of the lord came again the second time and touched him and said arise and eat because the journey is too great for thee and he arose and did eat and drink and went in the strength of that meet forty days and forty nights unto horeb the mount of god and he came thither unto a cave i wanna remember that where he's at now a cave and lodged there and behold the word of the lord came to him and said unto him what doest thou hear elijah and he said i have been very jealous for the lord god of hosts for the children of israel have forsaken thy covenants covenant thrown down thine altars and slain thy prophets with the sword and i even i only am left and they seek my life to take it away and god said go forth and stand upon the mount before the lord and behold the lord passed by and a great and strong wind rent the mountains and break in the pieces the rocks before the lord but the lord was not in the wind and after the wind and earthquake but the lord was not in the earthquake and after the earthquake a fire but the lord was not in the fire and after the fire a still small voice you'll want to remember that and it was so when elijah heard it when he heard the voice of god that he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood in the entering of the cave and behold there came a voice unto him and said what doest thou hear elijah i want us to turn also to one more verse in proverbs proverbs chapter 12. proverbs chapter 12 verse 25 proverbs chapter 12 verse 25 heaviness in the heart of man maketh its stoop but a good word maketh it glad now in my new king james version if you allow me to do that this is the uh what it says in the new king james version anxiety in the heart of man causes depression but a good word makes it glad now i was driving back from a little revival on i-70 just a couple months ago i i've preached this message obviously before and i saw on the sign a big old scientist said these very words anxiety in the heart of man causes depression but a good word makes it glad i want to talk to us this morning about coming out of the cave i want to look at this verse that we read in proverbs and correlate it with the life or the circumstance that we read of elijah anxiety solomon says can cause depression anxiety can be a serious reality i was looking at these young people and they probably have had their own times of anxiety but when you serve the lord a little longer and you live a little longer although i'm a lot younger than a whole lot of you anxiety can be a serious reality it doesn't matter if you're a christian or not we use the word today stress i'm stressed out i'm just stressed to the max the definition of anxiety is distress or uneasiness of mind caused by fear or danger or misfortune the disciples showed many times they showed a lot of anxiety many times the disciples showed a little anxiety when they were in a fierce storm and they went to wake up jesus and said master don't you care that we perish i am sure that one point or another in our lives we have all faced anxiety in our lives maybe even maybe even feeling like the disciples did at that moment that god wasn't concerned about the situation they were in the devil is a mastermind at trying to convince us that god is not concerned even though jesus said if i care about a sparrow how much more do i care about you the devil still has his ways to try to convince us that god is not concerned about us in our lives i can't go in the detail of the story because i don't have time but just a couple weeks ago my one of my nieces darren's daughter her dog got lost sierra she loves animals make a long story short darren was out looking for the dog and he there's a six or seven mile radius he a guy come and ask him he said what do what are you what are you doing out here he said well we're looking for our dog and the guy said well i'll take your name and number and if i happen to see it i'll call you within just a couple days out of all that that trial and that dog had ran away that dog came and laid down in the backyard of that very man that took darren's name and number god cares about dogs he cares about little girls when he prays when they pray for the dog god is concerned but the devil is a mastermind of trying to convince us that god doesn't care about our needs or where we're at anxiety can cause and lead into depression what is depression a state of sadness gloom dejection a condition of general emotional dejection and withdrawal and that is exactly where we find the great prophet of elijah his anxiety and his life led him to depression the scripture tells us in james chapter 5 verse 17 that that elijah was a was a man subject to like passion as we are i love it when scripture says that because a great man of god was just human just like we are and in his anxiety his anxiety led him to a state of depression and we find him running for his life withdrawing from everyone sitting under a juniper tree throwing a pity party telling god he's ready to die we humans we're a bunch of whiners and i'm embarrassed to say how many times i have whined to god i'm embarrassed to say how many times i've throwed a pity party anybody else throwing a pity party with me i'm embarrassed to say how many times that i have whined to god and said lord what is going on why how but every time god has been so patient with me and god loves us so much he's so patient with us humans when we're so we whine so much well that's where we find elijah telling god he's done he's ready to die he says in verse 4 it is a mouth now o lord take away my life for i am not better than my father's elijah was a depressed man he had faced a lot of anxiety he had faced a lot of stress elijah the very man of god had a lot upon his shoulders had a lot of things going on in his life a lot of pressure a lot of stress concerned about the condition of the people of god and the people of israel they were backsliding they were turning to uh the baal worship he's seeing his friends and family and loved ones turning away from god and turning into bell worship that alone creates a lot of burdens and anxiety having to show up i was about ready to use a future president's name but i won't having to show up to king to the king's palace and face wicked king ahab and jezebel seems like elijah was carrying a lot of weight upon his shoulders everyone seemingly was against him he was getting the blame for three years of famine elijah was the one who god called upon and said elijah go out and prophesy and say there's not going to be any there's not going to be any rain for three three years no dew nothing and so elijah had to go out and do that pronounce that anybody that thinks that ministers just love to pronounce judgment and preach hard messages sometimes a true minister of the gospel it's hard when he has to do that he walks away with his tail tucked between his legs he walks away thinking all right what did i do wrong did i say it too harsh did i did i do it just say it too tough that's hard on ministers when you do that right brother foresee it's not easy that's hard we ministers are human too it's difficult when we've got to preach it close and offend some people make some people mad and preach the truth it's difficult sometimes and elijah had to go out and preach a tough message and tell everybody it's not going to rain for three years no do can you imagine three years of no dew or rain everything was dead everything was dried up farmers had lost their entire livestock no one was growing any food animals were dying people were starving to death remember the widow at zarephath the willow woman her and her son were prepared to eat their last men die guess whose fault that was elijah's he was getting the blame no one was blaming the wickedness of the hour the man of god was getting the blame remember the words that ahab said to elijah he looked at elijah and said art thou he that troubles israel elijah was the troublemaker all this strain was causing elijah a lot of anxiety you know we christians that are standing up for righteousness in the this day we're going to be the troublemakers we're the troublemakers we're we're the haters all this strain was called elijah a lot of anxiety yes he had the great victory on mount carmel but here again he was the only man standing in front of thousands and thousands of people all by himself standing against thousands of baal worshipers fire did come out of heaven and 450 prophets of baal were killed but it says that elijah killed him now if i had to kill 450 people in one day that'd be a long day and the bible says elijah slew 450 prophets now that that would create a little stress in my life but instead of that day turning into a great dick victory for the people of israel and elijah it turned out for a warrant for elijah's arrest you know sometimes when we think that things look they're look like they're just gonna turn out wonderful now they're we're getting to a good part of this message so hold on you know sometimes when we think that things are just going to turn out wonderful and we're going to see great victories accomplished and everywhere you look great things are happening and you're all excited about the future and the rug just gets pulled out from underneath of you and everything falls apart and covet hits and we're saying what in the world just happened sometimes things backfire the devil gets mad people get mad when you stand for what is right and you think it's going to make a difference only to find out you lose friends over it or your family's upset things don't always turn out wonderful like we thought and jezebel ordered the death of elijah and elijah ran for his life and we find elijah in these scriptures as we read we find him completely depressed he had been carrying the weight of the nation upon his shoulders the bell worship the famine mount carmel event anxiety led him to depression and we find elijah in the cave and in verse 9 he says he says in verse 10 he said i and he said i have been very jealous for the lord god of hosts for the children of israel have forsaken thy covenants thrown down thine altars and slain thy prophets with the sword and i even i only am left and they seek my life to take it away elijah was wiped out he was done he wasn't just done he was d-o-n-e you know you can be done but when you say i am d-o-n-e that means you are done he was tired of the battle he was tired of the fight he was wore out he was whooped elijah couldn't see any reason to keep on going he had been standing strong for all these years and seemingly it has not paid off he had fought the battle he had prayed he had preached he had done all this work all these efforts and simulator hadn't paid off and he was done and in his depression he felt like he was all alone and no one stood with them you know he's not the only guy you're not the only guy paul says in second timothy chapter 4 verse 16 he says at my first defense no man stood with me but all men forsook me except for the lord listen to all the stresses that paul went through we don't have time to read all of it but after he goes through a list of dangers and perils that he went through and all the difficulties this is what he says in second corinthians chapter 11 verses 27 through 28 28 he said in weariness and painfulness and watchings often and hunger and thirst and fastings often in cold and nakedness going through all this and then paul says besides those things which are without which comes to me daily the burdens that i go through and then he says the care of all the churches he's gone through a lot too he said i've been through all this and i'm dealing with all kinds of burdens and i'm i'm caring for all the churches pray for your pastor he cares carries a lot of burdens cares for you anxiety led elijah to depression elijah was a depressed man of god now we'll put a period there we'll stop that's enough negativity right now for the second part of verse of the proverbs anxiety in the heart of man causes depression but a good word makes it glad elijah was about to have a visitor from the only one who knew where he was god came to call elijah out of the cave do you know the lord knows exactly where you are this morning he knows exactly where i am he knows exactly every burden and problem and difficulty and stress that you're going through in your life and he comes to us knock i'm here and maybe god is calling some of us out of the cave of depression today maybe he's calling you out of the cave of worry or the cave of doubt or the cave of discouragement or maybe the cave of lethargy god knew exactly where elijah was you say how do i know that because god says to elijah elijah what are you doing here god knew where here was for elijah he was in the cave he was depressed caused by anxiety he knew his anxiety he knew the frame of mind that elijah had he knew that what he had been going through he knew he was depressed and god didn't need gps to find him he knew exactly where he was and god knows where here is for us today he knows what you have been going through he knows if you have had a lot of situations in your life that have caused anxiety he knows the mental and emotional battles and the spiritual battles that you're facing in your life he knows that i have a quote from oswar chambers it is just beautiful i have to read it he said isn't it piercing to realize that god not only knows where we live but also knows the gutters that we crawl into pity parties and he will hunt us down as fast as a flash of lightning no human being knows human beings as well as god does he knows where we crawl he knows where we're at god shows up where elijah was not angry with elijah he was there to give elijah some good words some good words to make his heart glad again god's good at that anxiety in the heart of man causes depression but a good word makes it glad and god was there to help elijah out of the cave and he wants to help us out of the cave let's look at quickly god's visit with elijah god tells him in verse 11 go forth get out of the cave elijah it's not doing you any good in this cave go stand on the mountain before the lord and the lord passed by and there was a great strong wind that blew against the mountain and break the rocks into pieces but the lord wasn't in the wind then an earthquake but the lord wasn't in the earthquake then fire but the lord wasn't in the fire but after the fire there was a still small voice what was the still small voice it was god coming to give elijah some good words what was happening elijah was getting ready to hear some good words from the lord first peter chapter 1 verse 24 says the word of the lord endures forever and i'm just here to tell you that god's word is good to us was there to let elijah know that he was not d-o-n-e with him when we're done god's never done many times we reach that point where we are done but guess what god's work is never never never done god still needed elijah and he still needs you he needs all of us and he doesn't need us in the cave because we're not getting anything done in the cave god needs us to get out of the cave the one place that god did not need elijah to stay in was the cave because he wasn't accomplishing anything in there and neither are we it's okay to get in the cave we all get there but you just can't stay because god needs you and he needs us i think of the words of jesus to peter in matthew chapter 16 8 verse 18 when he looked at peter and said peter thou art peter and upon this rock i will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it the lord has always chosen to use us he needs us god has always chosen to use his people for his work the lord has always chosen to use his followers his disciples to help build his church and in this dark hour god needs us to continue to help build his church and that's not going to happen if you and i just stay in the cave throwing a pity party fearful and running from jezebel i love the conversation between god and elijah because in verse 14 as we already read elijah as you have and i have gave god his sob story what's your sob story this morning well god gave elijah gave god his sob story and god didn't say oh you poor little thing i didn't know you were having all those problems you should have told me before i mean i was completely clueless god knew all about what elijah was going through god didn't tell elijah that all god i love it when god has conversation it's not just with elijah but many times goddess men have come whiners because we are come to god and said god this and this and this and god just doesn't even bring up that subject he just drops it right there puts a period on it and all god said to elijah when he got done was go get out what are you doing go god says to elijah in verse 15 go go forth and the lord said unto him go return on thy way god said go god said go go god immediately gave elijah a to-do list because although elijah thought he was done god was not done with him god had a list of things for him to do husbands like when you go home and your wife has a list by the way god's not done with you either he has a to-do list for you every one of us he's got a to-do list and the best thing you can do if you're in this in the cave is start doing things for god you want to be content in your life you want to feel joy you want to feel like you're being used you want to feel useful you want to feel content just start doing something for god just start doing something for god and all of a sudden your life will feel like it's something when you start doing something for god this is what god says to elijah i want you to go anoint hazel to be king over syria anoint jehu to be king over israel and go anoint elijah to take elisha to take your place and this is the best part you know god doesn't miss a thing i love it god wasn't going to let elijah get away with his doom and gloom because when he got done telling elijah what he wanted him to do this is what he says in verse 17. he said by the way and it should come to pass that him that escapeth the sword of hazel shall jehu slay and him that escape it from the sword of jehu shall elijah slay and by the way i've left me seven thousand in israel that have not bowed the need to baal god was giving him some good words he was there to let elijah know that in spite of the wickedness of the nation he was still in control he he's got this he was there to let elijah know that he still had a plan jehu jesus elisha god was still going to do his work he was there also to let elijah know that in fact he wasn't the only one in the world serving god he said i've got seven thousand that have not bailed have not bowed to baal now seven thousand is a little better than one because elijah said i'm it i'm it but god said by the way he slid that good word in by the way elijah i've got seven thousand buddy that have not bowed to bail a good word from the lord makes the heart glad so what happened it says in verse 19 so elijah got up and departed he got out of the cave and he got busy for the lord all because he heard the voice of god the voice of the lord giving him a good word you know i don't know where you are this morning and i don't know your frame of mind i don't know if you've been dealing with a lot of anxiety that has led you to depression but just maybe someone needs to hear the quiet voice of god and hear some good words from the lord in order to make your heart glad again to reassure you that he's not done with you that you're not alone that in spite of your circumstances he has a plan and this is what i hear the lord say just as he called elijah out of the cave i hear jesus saying these words come unto me all you that labor and they're heavy-laden and i will give you rest let me take your yoke i'll take your yoke take my yoke upon you and learn of me for i am meek and lowly in the heart and you shall find rest in yourselves i near i hear another word that jesus says he says neither do i condemn thee go and send no more there might be somebody here this morning there might be somebody online that you've been battling with a sin situation in your life and you can't conquer it and you feel absolutely full of guilt and you cannot get over it you cannot get peace in your life this is what jesus said i forgive you i don't condemn you let's get victory over this neither do i condemn you go and sin no more i hear him saying words fear thou not for i am with thee be not dismayed for i am thy god i will strengthen thee yeah i will help thee yeah i will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness i hear him say for i know the plans i have for you declares the lord plans to prosper you and not harm you plans to give you hope and a future i hear jesus saying let not your heart be troubled i hear the words of hebrews chapter 13 verse 5 that says i will never leave thee nor forsake thee i hear him saying in john chapter 6 37 all that the father giveth me shall come to me and him that cometh to me i will no wise cast out god's arms are open amen these are some good words that can help us out of anxiety and depression psalms 34 verse 18 the lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart and save as such as a contrite spirit psalms 51 17 the sacrifices of god are of a broken spirit a broken and a contrite heart o god thou wilt not despise these are just a few words i don't have time brother john said what do you notice different when you came in i'm sorry i didn't notice the new paint walls but i noticed the clock was gone that's the first thing when you sit on the platform you always look at the clock you eye it freaking keep an eye on it it's gone whoever painted forgot to hang the clock back up i don't have time to listen to all this list all the great wonderful promises but this is what peter says whereby are given unto us exceeding and great and precious promises that means in my terminology that in this word of god there are bunches and bunches and bunches of promises to us that god is on our side that god wants to help us that god wants to help us out of the cave that god has a plan that he wants to do something with our lives if we'll just let him if you are full of anxiety that's causing depression listen to the great voice of god his girl his words will make you glad and he'll call you out of the cave i have a rather a long conclusion that i'm going to skip but i'm going to ask this to stand i wonder if sister connie would come maybe to the organ or somebody wonder if there'd be anybody to say brother line god's just speaking to me and i just feel like i need to come seek him this morning god's talking to me and i want to just come seek his face this morning it's really pretty early it's only 11 42. your meal won't be burnt quite yet we just bow our heads anybody just feel like god has spoken to you and you just feel like you just need to seek him maybe the beginning of this year god is just calling you you feel them tugging on your heart amen praise god praise god [Music] [Music] amen where is god anybody real quick amen praise the lord god's calling you out of the cave maybe you need to come [Music] maybe a new commitment whatever it may be if god's speaking to you i wouldn't have a clue what it might be but if you have a need this morning god wants to meet your need praise god [Music] praise god [Music] amen praise the lord amen praise god [Music] amen praise god amen praise god amen praise the lord praise his name amen praise god praise god amen praise god amen thank you for being here today amen anybody else real quick amen once come praise god once come anybody else just step out real quick amen praise god praise the lord amen praise god once kept the altar open just maybe for you i don't want to pull along maybe it's for you maybe god's knocking at your heart's door amen maybe you have a need praise god praise the lord praise god amen amen praise the lord amen [Music] crazy [Music] [Music] brother lion has presented a powerful truth this morning i was thinking as i was standing back to the conversation that i had with a good brother yesterday and the statement was made as we were talking sometimes the altar becomes a stigma for us we're afraid of what people are going to say all they've sinned they've backslid they've lost out but as we was reminded this morning friends we can love god and yet we're trapped in a cave where the enemy wants us to be and that cave doesn't necessarily have to be in a reference of of sin it can be of fear as brother lyon so happily pointed out this morning anxiety fear of what someone's going to think or someone's going to say and this morning as has already been stated one has come he's given an opportunity but i feel to be good as to hillary's plays through this song one more time for you ask yourself are you allowing the enemy to keep you trapped in the cave and when i say keep you trapped i'm not referring like brother lion said necessarily that it's sin but it may be depression it may be discouragement it may be doubt it may be fear it may be whatever it is that the enemy is holding you in there because he doesn't want you to fulfill what god is wanting you to allow him to fulfill in your life so with head bowed and eyes closed i ask you one more time listen to the holy spirit he's been faithful i pray for brother line i pray god give him the message we need and i'm going to tell you i believe with all of my heart this morning the message that was presented is a message that we need to hear as a church what's holding you back god's speaking this morning he's speaking to you in this was he's reminded in a still small voice he's saying let me set you free how about it this morning do you know you need to come pray and yet the problem that's keeping you from coming forward it's because the enemy's saying what are they going to think what are they going to say from this altar is not our enemy it's our friend it's a place where we meet with god it's a place where we can open up to him it's a place where we can say lord i need to hear from you i need that touch how about it one more has come [Music] god's been faithful this morning thank you brother lion for minding the holy spirit thank you to these that have come this morning for minding god i'm asking if those of you that are able we have a gentleman over here and a lady over here if you could come and let's gather round and pray i understand you may not be able to kneel but we do have some front pews here that you're able to sit at if you would we need something to come together with these and let's pray if you must leave we ask you to do so quietly reverently please do not do your visiting inside the sanctuary we're dealing doing business with god you can visit out in the foyer but uh if you must leave we understand nesca do so quietly reverently otherwise you may be seated and let's just lift our voices up on behalf of these needs this morning [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] yes [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] first situations [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] so [Music] [Applause] is [Music] see [Music] [Applause] [Music] is [Music] is [Music] is [Music] i trust [Music] he's [Music] is [Music] is [Music] so [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] thank the lord for his faithfulness this morning amen thank god for leading brother line you know not always does all the business get dealt with at the altar sometimes the lord works throughout the day so i would encourage you throughout this day today that you just mind the holy spirit keep your ear open to what it is he has to say to you amen thank god for the victories i'm assuming everything okay they're just talking he's got victory there i'm asking if you're able if every heart is clear is every heart clear all right let's stand together if you would if you're able you're not trying to rush anybody anything they're welcome to talk as much but brother brent boardman would you dismiss this in prayer please foreign um so so so you

Channel: Noblesville Pilgrim Holiness Church

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Length: 104min 31sec (6271 seconds)

Published: Sun Jan 10 2021