(bright upbeat music)
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- Oh yes, stay right
there, I'll be right back.
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(bright upbeat music)
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Hey, welcome everybody to
Talking Donkey International
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and our new television
series, Country Wisdom.
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- Let's set the tone
for this new series of ours.
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It's found in Proverbs four,
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"let your eyes
look directly forward
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and your gaze be
straight before you.
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Ponder the path of your feet,
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and then all your
ways will be sure."
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- Join us now
for Country Wisdom.
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(bright upbeat music)
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- This whole
area is high desert.
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As you can see it's filled
with rocks, a lot of dust,
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Mesquite, Junipers,
but there's something else,
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that this whole area is full of,
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caves.
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They can go on for miles,
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they can be way
deeper than they look.
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And you know, I
can't help but think
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that as often as I've been down
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in some of these
caves in this area,
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I have been in a cave of a
different type, way too often.
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Because, periodically
due to circumstances
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of whatever my own fears,
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I have found myself retreating
into an emotional cave.
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A cave of
depression, of fear, of anxiety,
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where I am not really
functioning like I usually do,
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like I'm supposed to.
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And I've discovered though
that even when I have been deep
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and dark in a cave,
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the moment that I actually
turned my thoughts back to God,
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instead of just
inward into my own headspace,
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which can be a dark place.
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When I determined to
turn to God, he's right there.
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I mean, he'd been
there the whole time.
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I just wasn't seeing him
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because I was
looking inside so much,
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but I turned to Him
and every single time,
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no matter how deep a
cave I've dug for myself,
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he's been right there.
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- This is what's
so exciting, Janice,
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because he's the
God of the mountaintops,
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and he's also
the God in the caves.
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God is everywhere,
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God is always searching for us,
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and God always wants to help us.
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- Exactly.
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- I'm sure you're
aware of Abraham Lincoln,
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this amazing man
in the United States,
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but probably what
you didn't realize,
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are some of the things he said
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and the things he felt in life.
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I've got a little quote
I'm gonna share with you.
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Wow, what an unbelievable quote.
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Then I have another one
here I wanna share with you.
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Spurgeon, greatest
preacher maybe whoever lived.
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He wrote a book,
"Lectures to My Students",
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and in those lectures,
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he devoted an entire
chapter to depression.
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So listen,
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We must at
intervals be cast down.
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You see, I believe God
uses those times to lift us up
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to remind us He's God.
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You see,
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being a Christian doesn't mean
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you're always going to be happy,
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you're always
going to be joyous.
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There was a man
of God in the Bible.
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And he's so interesting to me
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because God doesn't sugar-coat
his people in the Bible.
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He lays it right out there.
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And one of those men
that had real troubles,
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what would I say, a real
cave experience, was Elijah.
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Elijah was a
tremendous man of God.
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During his time,
Ahab the king of Israel,
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was a nasty, evil,
ornery, vindictive man.
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And he was leading
quote, the children of Israel.
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God told Elijah, "I
want you to go tell that man,
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I'm withholding,
I'm closing up heaven.
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I'm shutting off the rain
so he knows who God really is."
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Because they were worshiping
Baal and all these other gods.
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Elijah marches
down to that castle.
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He goes right
in past the guards.
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Nobody dare
touch this man of God.
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He walks right up to Ahab,
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he puts his finger
right in his face and said,
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"look, there is a
real God of heaven.
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And you're going to know it,
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God is shutting off the rains."
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And he turned and he left.
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Now God
continued to feed this man
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as the rain
stopped in the country.
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There were no more rain
for three and a half years.
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God continued to feed
this man during that period.
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And let me tell you
if things got really bad,
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why the moss that was
once green and beautiful,
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there was nothing anymore.
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Ahab begins sending up
scouts and people, little creeks
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and things that there
were still anything left
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to find grass for the
horses and the donkeys
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and the various animals.
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God took care of his man.
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As we get toward the
end of this timeframe,
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God sent him to a
person outside of Israel.
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This woman who was a
sweet, sweet, kind woman,
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just her and her son
lost her husband sometime ago.
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The woman looked up at Elijah,
she'd been gathering sticks
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and he looked says,
"please bring me some water."
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She goes, she comes back,
she brings him a cup of water.
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And then he said, "bring
me a little something to eat,
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a little biscuit."
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"Please sir, I
only have enough meal
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and just a
little oil in the flask.
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We were going to eat
that ourselves and then die.
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That's all we had."
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He says, "you go
ahead, get that for me first."
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"Oh, real situation here,
my son do I trust this guy
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who I've never met?
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But he seems different, he
seems like I should trust him."
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Well, she does.
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And an amazing thing
is, this went on for month
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after month after month.
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And the oil
continued to stay in the flask
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and the meal continued to stay.
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It never ran out for
such a long, long time.
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And then one day, her son dies.
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She goes to this
man of God and she said,
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"did you just do all this?"
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She said, "just to
bring me to this point
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that my son is dead?"
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He takes the son, he goes
up into his upper chamber,
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he lays the son out,
he lays on top of him.
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He prays to God, "God
wake him up, heal him."
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He does this time,
after time, after time
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still he gets up nothing.
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And finally, all of a
sudden, the child coughs, gasps
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and he's fine.
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Takes the child
back to the mother.
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What an amazing story.
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But now God says,
"Elijah it's time.
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Go make yourself known to Ahab."
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You see, Ahab had
searched for a long, long time,
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couldn't find this man of God.
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Matter of fact,
it was a situation
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that every time
someone spotted him,
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this man of the king
would run back the king and say,
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"King I found him, I
found him, bring all the army."
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They get there,
he wasn't around.
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You see, God always told
him what was going to happen,
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and he would leave.
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And Ahab would be so
mad, he'd kill that man.
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Well, finally, God
says, "make yourself known."
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So one day he placed
himself exactly where he knows
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that this man of
Ahab is going to show up.
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And certainly he does show up.
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And this fellow was a
believer in the true God.
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He didn't wanna
follow what Ahab said.
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But he comes up to
Elijah and Elijah says,
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"hey, I want you to
go tell Ahab where I am."
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"Oh sir, huh, I can't do that,
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because as soon as I go
off and tell, you leave,
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you'll go someplace else.
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And when the army
gets here, you'll be gone
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and I'll be dead."
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Well, Elijah tells him,
"no, no, I will be here,
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I will be here."
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And so he runs off
to go and tell the King.
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(bright upbeat music)
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For three and a half years,
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this vengeful King had
looked for this man of God.
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And now he had him
right there in front him.
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He said, "you, you are
the troubler of Israel."
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Of course, Elijah
said, "no, no king,
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you have this all wrong.
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You were the one,
you and your people
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have gone down
the wrong path way.
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You wanna know who God is?
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I'll meet you on top of
that mountain later today
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and we will
discover and find out
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who the real God of heaven is.
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(bright upbeat music)
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On that fateful day, the
people came from everywhere.
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The word had gone out,
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that the man of God
was going to meet up
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on the mountain top here.
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What was going to happen?
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Well, people
came out just to know,
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and they wanted to know
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was there ever going
to be any rain again?
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Elijah on that day,
set down the parameters.
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He said, "look,
here's the situation,
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you people, you
need to understand this,
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if God be God, then serve
Him, if Baal then serve him.
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But choose you this
day, whom you will serve.
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It's just that simple,
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make a choice in
what you're going to do.
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Look, we're going to
bring up two bullocks.
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You build your altar,
however you want to your god,
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and you put your bullock on it.
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And I will
reconstruct the alter of God
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and put a bullock on it.
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And then the God who
answers by fire, he's God."
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All the people said, "okay."
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They were pretty quiet about it,
00:10:34.36\00:10:36.03
but I think there were some
okays throughout that audience.
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And so on that day
they brought the bullocks,
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they came together
00:10:42.64\00:10:44.17
and the priest began
fashioning their alter,
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whatever it was, and
they placed the bullock on it,
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and they began dancing.
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To give you a little idea
of the bedlam and the chaos
00:10:55.12\00:10:59.12
that were going
on during this time,
00:10:59.12\00:11:01.29
there were 850
prophets of this false god.
00:11:01.29\00:11:05.89
They are out there,
they're yelling and screaming
00:11:05.89\00:11:08.46
and hollering.
00:11:08.46\00:11:09.46
You know, God says, "be
still, and know that I'm God."
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He says, "relax, listen to
the still, small voice of God."
00:11:16.17\00:11:19.17
God is not the author of chaos,
00:11:19.17\00:11:21.01
God is not the
author of all the bedlam.
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And that's exactly what
these guys, picture 850 men,
00:11:24.95\00:11:28.98
they're out there, they're
yelling, they're screaming,
00:11:28.98\00:11:31.45
they're taking knives,
they're cutting themselves,
00:11:31.45\00:11:33.82
they're piercing themselves
00:11:33.82\00:11:35.82
until the blood
is running everywhere
00:11:35.82\00:11:37.69
and they're
shouting to their god.
00:11:37.69\00:11:40.06
It's kind of
interesting, that Elijah said,
00:11:41.30\00:11:44.20
"hey fellows, maybe you
should yell a little louder,
00:11:44.20\00:11:47.64
maybe, perhaps
your god is asleep.
00:11:47.64\00:11:50.51
Or maybe, you know, your
god's gone to the bathroom."
00:11:50.51\00:11:53.51
He just continues to
kind of jab a little bit
00:11:55.28\00:11:57.41
because he knows
there is no God there.
00:11:57.41\00:12:01.08
Well, they
continue, they continue,
00:12:02.12\00:12:03.52
they're doing this all
morning into afternoon,
00:12:03.52\00:12:06.69
still in the afternoon,
these guys are getting so tired.
00:12:06.69\00:12:10.06
They've gone on and on and on,
and they're just about dying,
00:12:10.06\00:12:13.96
they're so tired,
can't hardly stand.
00:12:13.96\00:12:16.23
And there's still no
fire coming down on the alter.
00:12:16.23\00:12:21.30
There is nothing
happening, not at all.
00:12:22.60\00:12:25.31
And about that time, Elijah
said, "okay, it's my turn."
00:12:25.31\00:12:29.34
And he goes to
prepare his altar.
00:12:29.34\00:12:31.58
You know scripture
says, "it was about the time
00:12:34.48\00:12:37.25
of the evening sacrifice."
00:12:37.25\00:12:39.59
Everything is in
God's timing, always,
00:12:39.59\00:12:41.96
always in God's timing.
00:12:41.96\00:12:43.26
And Elijah began
gathering up the stones,
00:12:44.53\00:12:48.10
to reconstruct the old
alter that had fallen down
00:12:48.10\00:12:51.90
from disrepair, disuse, because
the people no longer worship
00:12:51.90\00:12:55.44
the God of heaven.
00:12:55.44\00:12:56.27
He gathered 12 stones.
00:12:57.27\00:12:58.84
The 12 stones represented
the 12 tribes of Israel.
00:12:58.84\00:13:01.98
Now, we talk about
a sacrificial system
00:13:03.08\00:13:05.75
and sacrifice was not
something they just did
00:13:05.75\00:13:08.52
to appease a God.
00:13:08.52\00:13:09.85
No, no, a sacrifice
was to train the people
00:13:09.85\00:13:13.82
that one day Jesus Christ,
the God of the heavens himself
00:13:13.82\00:13:17.33
would come down and lay out
00:13:17.33\00:13:19.23
and be
sacrificed for the people.
00:13:19.23\00:13:21.70
That's the difference between
the god that they worshiped,
00:13:21.70\00:13:26.20
you know, cutting themselves
and doing all these things.
00:13:26.20\00:13:28.87
They wanted to
appease an angry god,
00:13:28.87\00:13:30.54
but that's not
the God of heaven.
00:13:30.54\00:13:33.34
The God of heaven, building
the altar, laying down upon it,
00:13:33.34\00:13:37.65
being sacrificed for
the good of all humanity.
00:13:37.65\00:13:41.38
That's who this God
is, that's who this God is,
00:13:41.38\00:13:44.19
that Elijah wanted to begin
pointing everybody back to.
00:13:44.19\00:13:47.29
So he gathered all the stones.
00:13:47.29\00:13:49.49
He prepared the sacrifice
just absolutely perfectly.
00:13:49.49\00:13:52.96
He sent men all the
way down to the ocean
00:13:54.30\00:13:56.20
to gather barrels of water.
00:13:56.20\00:13:57.80
While they were gathering
those barrels of water,
00:13:57.80\00:14:00.50
he dug a huge trench around
the altar, a great deep trench.
00:14:00.50\00:14:04.94
And these men brought
back a barrel of water,
00:14:04.94\00:14:06.91
they dumped it in the trench.
00:14:06.91\00:14:08.04
He said, "go a second time."
00:14:08.04\00:14:10.31
He brought another one
dumped in the second way.
00:14:10.31\00:14:12.31
He said, "go a third time."
00:14:12.31\00:14:13.62
They poured water
all over everything.
00:14:13.62\00:14:16.08
So everything was
just running drenched
00:14:16.08\00:14:18.62
and water everywhere.
00:14:18.62\00:14:20.19
And then he got down
on his knees and he said,
00:14:21.59\00:14:23.39
"God, so these
people know who you are.
00:14:23.39\00:14:27.46
I'm your man here, Lord,
00:14:27.46\00:14:29.33
and I prayed to you and ask
you Lord, please, please, Lord.
00:14:29.33\00:14:34.24
You answer this prayer."
00:14:35.04\00:14:36.40
Let me read to you
just a little piece here.
00:14:36.40\00:14:39.27
A little windy today, if
I can hold my Bible open.
00:14:39.27\00:14:41.84
His prayer was, "thou
art the God of Israel,
00:14:43.21\00:14:46.48
and that I am thy servant in
that I've done all these things
00:14:46.48\00:14:49.72
at thy word."
00:14:49.72\00:14:51.22
He wasn't doing this on
his own, it was God's word.
00:14:51.22\00:14:53.56
And this was found in
1st Kings 18:36 and 37, now,
00:14:53.56\00:14:58.39
"hear me O Lord, hear me
that this people may know
00:14:58.39\00:15:01.20
that thou art the Lord God.
00:15:01.20\00:15:02.60
And that thou has
turned their heart back again."
00:15:02.60\00:15:06.43
And then the fire
of the Lord, verse 38,
00:15:07.57\00:15:09.94
"the fire of the Lord fell,
and consumed the burnt offering,
00:15:09.94\00:15:13.91
consume the sacrifice, the
wood, the stones, and the dust,
00:15:13.91\00:15:18.95
and licked up the
water around the trench."
00:15:20.28\00:15:21.62
Even licked up the
water around the trench,
00:15:22.92\00:15:25.29
and the thousands
and thousands of people
00:15:25.29\00:15:27.36
who were standing around,
went down on their faces, said,
00:15:27.36\00:15:30.66
"truly, truly, this is
the God of the universe."
00:15:30.66\00:15:35.03
You see, it's so
easy to forget who God is.
00:15:35.03\00:15:39.90
As time goes on, we slowly
00:15:39.90\00:15:41.74
and
imperceptibly forget who He is.
00:15:41.74\00:15:44.34
If we don't see big
manifestations of God every day,
00:15:44.34\00:15:47.31
we just tend to
slowly but surely forget.
00:15:47.31\00:15:50.58
How do you get that back?
00:15:51.35\00:15:54.08
While you studied God's
word, you listen to God,
00:15:54.08\00:15:57.22
you follow the
stories of the Bible
00:15:57.22\00:15:59.62
and realize who the true God is.
00:15:59.62\00:16:02.26
And at that
moment, Elijah gets up
00:16:04.16\00:16:07.03
and tells all the people
to kill the prophets of Baal.
00:16:07.03\00:16:10.50
You can't have good and
evil existing in the same place.
00:16:10.50\00:16:13.80
And they kill
all those prophets.
00:16:13.80\00:16:15.20
And then he gets up
and he walks over to Ahab.
00:16:15.20\00:16:19.51
He says, "Ahab, I hear the
sound of an abundance of rain."
00:16:19.51\00:16:24.58
Ahab says, "I don't hear
anything, I don't see anything."
00:16:26.11\00:16:30.32
See, what can I say?
Elijah had the ears of faith.
00:16:31.85\00:16:35.79
(bright upbeat music)
00:16:36.76\00:16:40.00
But as the clamor and the
people begin to dissipate,
00:16:54.21\00:16:58.15
Elijah waited for that time
when he could be quiet and calm.
00:16:58.15\00:17:01.78
Now, after all the commotion,
00:17:01.78\00:17:04.59
he began praying
to God about the rain.
00:17:04.59\00:17:07.46
He sent his man, his servant
out to the edge of the cliff
00:17:07.46\00:17:10.13
to overlook the sea and
tell him if he saw anything
00:17:10.13\00:17:14.46
comes back, 'my Lord, nothing."
00:17:14.46\00:17:16.63
Sends him again and
again and again, seven times,
00:17:16.63\00:17:20.14
went seven times.
00:17:20.14\00:17:21.57
And finally, on that
seventh time, he came back.
00:17:21.57\00:17:23.84
"Lord, I, I see a small cloud,
the size of a man's hand."
00:17:23.84\00:17:28.18
Well, that was
good enough for Elijah.
00:17:28.18\00:17:30.15
He was a man of faith,
a powerful man of faith.
00:17:30.15\00:17:32.31
And he said, "okay."
00:17:32.31\00:17:34.52
And God gave him tremendous
energy at that moment,
00:17:34.52\00:17:38.52
he wanted to
catch up to King Ahab.
00:17:38.52\00:17:40.89
And matter of fact,
he ran down the mountain,
00:17:40.89\00:17:43.46
caught up to Ahab
and first 30 miles,
00:17:43.46\00:17:46.36
he ran in front of the chariot.
00:17:46.36\00:17:48.26
Can't even hardly
imagine it, but God's power,
00:17:49.60\00:17:52.03
we can do anything in life.
00:17:52.03\00:17:53.87
(bright upbeat music)
00:17:53.87\00:17:57.11
Hey Janice.
00:18:01.04\00:18:02.18
- Hey Jim, how'd it go up there?
00:18:02.18\00:18:03.95
- Oh it went really well.
00:18:03.95\00:18:05.38
We were able to tell a
lot of the story of Elijah,
00:18:05.38\00:18:08.08
right up to the point
00:18:09.68\00:18:11.52
where he's running ahead
of the chariot for 30 miles.
00:18:11.52\00:18:14.02
Now, apparently I
can't really tell,
00:18:14.02\00:18:16.06
but he stopped short
of getting to Jezebel,
00:18:16.06\00:18:18.86
apparently that
was a pretty good deal.
00:18:18.86\00:18:20.70
- (Janice laughing)
00:18:20.70\00:18:21.50
Good choice.
00:18:21.50\00:18:22.86
Oh, Ahab, her
husband, King goes (mumbles)
00:18:22.86\00:18:26.40
and I can just picture
him tail between his legs,
00:18:26.40\00:18:29.34
all defeated.
00:18:29.34\00:18:30.74
She goes, "hey,
how did things go?"
00:18:30.74\00:18:33.24
And he probably
started the sob story, of,
00:18:33.24\00:18:37.01
"you won't
believe what Elijah did,"
00:18:37.01\00:18:39.35
you know, "the fire thing down."
00:18:39.35\00:18:42.12
And he's just defeated,
he's curled up maybe in his bed,
00:18:42.12\00:18:46.29
calling for
something warm to drink.
00:18:46.29\00:18:48.19
And just, "I wanna
forget about the day."
00:18:48.19\00:18:50.83
And she is on the warpath.
00:18:50.83\00:18:53.09
When she heard that all
of her prophets were dead,
00:18:54.56\00:18:58.50
she was on the warpath.
00:18:58.50\00:19:01.34
Have you ever seen
a really angry woman?
00:19:01.34\00:19:04.04
- I don't know,
I'm not gonna say.
00:19:05.77\00:19:07.24
(Jim laughing)
00:19:07.24\00:19:08.34
- I won't ask,
but she was steamed,
00:19:08.34\00:19:09.91
where Ahab is all defeated,
00:19:11.35\00:19:14.08
she is out for blood.
00:19:14.08\00:19:16.08
In fact, she got a
messenger and she said,
00:19:16.08\00:19:18.15
"you go out and you find
that meddling little prophet,
00:19:18.15\00:19:21.99
and you tell him,
may the gods do to me
00:19:21.99\00:19:24.76
what you've done to my prophets,
if within the next day,
00:19:24.76\00:19:28.63
by this time
tomorrow, you're not dead."
00:19:28.63\00:19:32.70
And she meant it, she
had the resources for it.
00:19:32.70\00:19:36.24
I think Jezebel ran the kingdom,
00:19:36.24\00:19:38.14
because Ahab was fairly weak,
00:19:38.14\00:19:39.94
he would have
done anything she said.
00:19:39.94\00:19:42.24
She was giving orders,
'you get those soldiers,
00:19:42.24\00:19:44.58
you get and you find
him, and you kill him."
00:19:44.58\00:19:49.02
- And when he got that message,
00:19:49.02\00:19:50.52
that was a
turning point for him.
00:19:50.52\00:19:52.79
All of a
sudden, for some reason,
00:19:52.79\00:19:54.62
he focuses on that message.
00:19:54.62\00:19:56.56
He focuses on Jezebel,
00:19:56.56\00:19:58.76
he loses his focus
on God and he runs.
00:19:58.76\00:20:02.23
(bright upbeat music)
00:20:02.23\00:20:05.50
He's lost all reason,
he's running, he's running,
00:20:16.88\00:20:20.18
he's running.
00:20:20.18\00:20:21.32
And he doesn't stop to think
00:20:21.32\00:20:22.45
about all that
God had done for him.
00:20:22.45\00:20:25.02
And we pick up the
story in chapter 19
00:20:25.02\00:20:27.16
of 1st Kings
verse four, it said,
00:20:27.16\00:20:29.46
"he came and he sat
down under a juniper tree.
00:20:29.46\00:20:32.63
He was so tired, he was so beat,
00:20:33.76\00:20:36.36
he laid down and
he goes to sleep.
00:20:36.36\00:20:38.93
And he gets kind of
a tap on the shoulder.
00:20:38.93\00:20:41.60
He wakes up and
there's an angel there.
00:20:41.60\00:20:43.61
And the angel prepared a
cake, a little fire, a cake,
00:20:43.61\00:20:46.31
and some water for him,
00:20:46.31\00:20:47.54
"so drink, you've
got a long journey."
00:20:47.54\00:20:49.91
He eats, drinks,
goes back to sleep.
00:20:49.91\00:20:52.21
Later on, he wakes
up again, another tap,
00:20:53.45\00:20:55.65
the angel again,
prepared more food.
00:20:55.65\00:20:57.35
And he said, 'eat now."
00:20:57.35\00:20:58.89
He said, "you're
going to need your strength
00:20:58.89\00:21:00.32
for your journey."
00:21:00.32\00:21:01.26
I think God is so
amazing. He's so incredible.
00:21:02.82\00:21:05.83
He knew Elijah was
not doing his will.
00:21:05.83\00:21:08.40
He knew that he was not
supposed to be running away
00:21:08.40\00:21:11.70
from the fight away
from Ahab and Jezebel.
00:21:11.70\00:21:14.50
He was supposed to be standing
in for God and he's running.
00:21:14.50\00:21:17.94
But God feeds him,
God takes care of him.
00:21:17.94\00:21:21.38
We serve amazing God.
00:21:21.38\00:21:23.04
(bright upbeat music)
00:21:23.04\00:21:26.25
After an arduous
200 mile journey,
00:21:27.35\00:21:30.75
he finally
reached his destination.
00:21:30.75\00:21:32.49
What was that? It was a
cave in the side of a hill.
00:21:32.49\00:21:35.49
He wanted to
hide, he wanted to die.
00:21:35.49\00:21:38.23
(bright upbeat music)
00:21:38.23\00:21:41.43
He finally made it to the cave.
00:21:43.90\00:21:45.73
You know, in a cave,
00:21:45.73\00:21:47.24
the devil has all
kinds of things going on.
00:21:47.24\00:21:49.40
You get in your
own mind and the cave,
00:21:49.40\00:21:51.17
the devil has lots
of things going on.
00:21:51.17\00:21:52.67
It's like, you
know, you're alone.
00:21:52.67\00:21:55.48
You have no help, there's
nobody to help you anymore.
00:21:55.48\00:21:58.58
He throws the
darkness around you
00:21:58.58\00:22:00.42
and you're
surrounded by darkness.
00:22:00.42\00:22:02.65
There's no one to help
you, nobody to help you.
00:22:02.65\00:22:05.85
Well, no one cares.
00:22:05.85\00:22:07.99
These are the things
the devil throws at you,
00:22:07.99\00:22:09.89
when you allow yourself like
Elijah, to get caught in a cave
00:22:09.89\00:22:13.53
in this cave situation.
00:22:13.53\00:22:15.00
But God is always there.
00:22:15.00\00:22:17.93
God showed up and the word said,
00:22:17.93\00:22:19.40
"hey, what are you
doing here, Elijah?"
00:22:19.40\00:22:22.70
"Well, Lord, I did
all these great things."
00:22:22.70\00:22:25.54
Now he begins to pontificate
00:22:25.54\00:22:27.54
as if he's got all this
pride and all this self-worth.
00:22:27.54\00:22:31.18
When a few minutes ago,
00:22:31.18\00:22:32.58
he didn't think he was
worth anything anymore.
00:22:32.58\00:22:34.35
He begins spouting all these.
00:22:34.35\00:22:36.38
And then all of a
sudden, the Lord says,
00:22:36.38\00:22:37.49
"hey, wake up, pay
attention to this."
00:22:37.49\00:22:39.75
And, huge windstorm, but
God wasn't in the windstorm.
00:22:39.75\00:22:44.46
An earthquake shook everything.
00:22:45.49\00:22:47.40
Scared, he thought that the
rocks are going to fall on him,
00:22:47.40\00:22:49.40
but God wasn't
in the earthquake.
00:22:49.40\00:22:52.07
And then there's a mighty
fire, God was not in the fire.
00:22:52.07\00:22:56.44
And then there was the
still, small voice of God.
00:22:56.44\00:22:59.67
This whisper of God and
Elijah knew who that was.
00:22:59.67\00:23:03.88
He'd paid enough attention,
he stood up and he went out
00:23:03.88\00:23:06.85
to the mouth of the cave to
listen to what God had to say.
00:23:06.85\00:23:10.15
And again, the
Lord says, "hey, Elijah,
00:23:10.15\00:23:12.69
what are you doing here?"
00:23:12.69\00:23:14.19
And he, again, kind of
goes into this whole situation
00:23:15.69\00:23:17.59
about all the things he'd
done, and all the great things.
00:23:17.59\00:23:21.23
As he's saying how
great he is to God,
00:23:21.23\00:23:23.90
God says, "okay, it's
time to appoint your successor,
00:23:23.90\00:23:27.17
I want you to find Elisha
00:23:27.17\00:23:28.97
and make him
prophet in your step."
00:23:28.97\00:23:32.31
Wow Lord, okay.
00:23:32.31\00:23:33.71
He kind of thinks
about that one a little bit.
00:23:33.71\00:23:36.51
Continues these things on,
00:23:36.51\00:23:37.78
you see God does
some amazing things.
00:23:37.78\00:23:39.58
God provides for us,
in this case for Elijah,
00:23:39.58\00:23:43.05
when he was in the cave.
00:23:43.05\00:23:44.42
He provided rest for
him, get him healthy.
00:23:44.42\00:23:47.12
You know, we need
good food, we need rest,
00:23:47.12\00:23:49.26
if we're going to
hear the voice of God.
00:23:49.26\00:23:51.76
And there's many other
things God did here too.
00:23:51.76\00:23:53.66
He reminds him
that the work is God's.
00:23:53.66\00:23:56.70
And that God is always at work.
00:23:56.70\00:23:58.97
It's not our
work, it's God's work.
00:23:58.97\00:24:01.64
In this case, God used him
00:24:01.64\00:24:03.14
to perform the work
that God had ongoing.
00:24:03.14\00:24:05.84
And then the Lord also
gave him a fresh commission,
00:24:07.41\00:24:09.61
a new commission,
because he sit in this cave
00:24:09.61\00:24:10.95
and he's just
thinking, "my life is over,
00:24:10.95\00:24:13.31
I've done all these great
things, I've done everything,
00:24:13.31\00:24:15.08
but this is it, I'm done.
00:24:15.08\00:24:16.62
Just kill me Lord."
00:24:16.62\00:24:18.52
And the Lord gives
him a fresh commission.
00:24:18.52\00:24:20.22
He tells him to also go
appoint this other guy King,
00:24:20.22\00:24:23.66
and to do these various
things, so a new commission.
00:24:23.66\00:24:27.76
And then the biggest thing
is, we read through this story
00:24:27.76\00:24:32.80
and Elijah said, "you know,
God, I'm the only one left,
00:24:34.34\00:24:36.00
it's just me.
00:24:36.00\00:24:37.54
Oh, woe is me, I feel
so sorry for myself out
00:24:37.54\00:24:40.31
in this dark little cave."
00:24:40.31\00:24:42.14
God said, "hey, there
are 7,000 others in Israel
00:24:42.14\00:24:46.05
who have not bowed their
knee to Baal and other gods."
00:24:46.05\00:24:49.45
7,000, so many times we
can be tempted and think
00:24:49.45\00:24:53.79
we're the only one.
00:24:53.79\00:24:55.12
We're like, "God,
there's nobody else out here
00:24:55.12\00:24:57.73
that believes like I do.
00:24:57.73\00:24:59.56
There's nobody else out
here who fights for your honor.
00:24:59.56\00:25:02.23
There's nobody else
out here that does church
00:25:02.23\00:25:06.27
the way I do church."
00:25:06.27\00:25:07.77
Whatever it is, God says,
"hey, there are many others,
00:25:07.77\00:25:12.97
pay attention, listen to
me, I'm going to guide you,
00:25:14.48\00:25:16.95
and I'm going to direct you.
00:25:16.95\00:25:18.38
This is what needs
to happen in our lives,
00:25:19.51\00:25:22.02
is that we get out
of our cave situation.
00:25:22.02\00:25:24.89
We could quit feeling
sorry for ourselves and move on.
00:25:24.89\00:25:29.16
Move on to God,
00:25:29.16\00:25:30.86
move on to what he is
looking for in our lives.
00:25:30.86\00:25:34.93
Choose God this day.
00:25:34.93\00:25:36.30
Remember that's up on
the top of Mount Carmel says,
00:25:36.30\00:25:39.37
"who will you serve,
if God be God serve Him,
00:25:39.37\00:25:42.44
if Baal then serve him.
00:25:42.44\00:25:44.21
God had worked all these
mighty miracles in his life,
00:25:46.04\00:25:49.08
and all of a
sudden, he forgot God too.
00:25:49.08\00:25:51.75
It's easy to happen,
00:25:52.78\00:25:54.85
when we take our
eyes off of the creator,
00:25:54.85\00:25:57.79
God of the universe.
00:25:57.79\00:25:59.32
Today I urge you, don't
take your eyes off of God.
00:25:59.32\00:26:02.02
God is in pursuit of
you, know there's a old story
00:26:03.43\00:26:07.03
is called, poem, I
believe "The Hounds of Heaven".
00:26:07.03\00:26:10.27
God's seeks the hounds of
heaven upon us to follow us
00:26:10.27\00:26:13.50
to the dug our footsteps,
to call us back to Him.
00:26:13.50\00:26:17.17
Whatever's
going on in your life,
00:26:17.17\00:26:19.11
whatever cave you
maybe sitting in right now,
00:26:19.11\00:26:21.48
all the troubles and
the trials and think,
00:26:21.48\00:26:23.88
"God, this is it,
just kill me, I'm done."
00:26:23.88\00:26:27.62
No, no, no, God has a
lot more in store for you.
00:26:27.62\00:26:31.72
God had more for his prophet.
00:26:31.72\00:26:33.29
You see, at the
end of his journey,
00:26:33.29\00:26:35.79
a beautiful chariot,
God's chariot with angels,
00:26:37.19\00:26:40.80
came down and picked him up
00:26:40.80\00:26:43.23
and those chariots
headed right on up to heaven.
00:26:43.23\00:26:45.50
One of the only men in
all of Biblical history
00:26:45.50\00:26:48.57
that never tasted of death.
00:26:48.57\00:26:50.77
That's what God had
in store for his prophet.
00:26:50.77\00:26:53.41
What does God
have in store for you?
00:26:53.41\00:26:55.41
Oh, let me tell you, God
has a lot in store for you.
00:26:55.41\00:26:58.18
Choose God this day.
00:26:58.18\00:27:00.22
Wow, what a story, huh?
00:27:02.55\00:27:04.72
- And every word of it is true.
00:27:04.72\00:27:06.79
I needed to hear that
part, to remind myself,
00:27:06.79\00:27:09.99
because I've been where Elijah
found himself emotionally,
00:27:09.99\00:27:14.76
just spent.
00:27:14.76\00:27:16.30
Anyone can find
themselves where Elijah was,
00:27:17.67\00:27:21.00
where I've been.
00:27:21.00\00:27:22.94
And it's so comforting to know
that God doesn't wait for you
00:27:22.94\00:27:26.54
to climb back out of that pit,
00:27:26.54\00:27:28.51
come back up from that cave.
00:27:28.51\00:27:31.15
He comes to you, He's
with you even in that dark pit.
00:27:31.15\00:27:35.85
If you've ever
found yourself there,
00:27:35.85\00:27:38.35
if you're finding
yourself there right now,
00:27:38.35\00:27:41.39
we've got a little book
for you, "Overcoming the 3 D's:
00:27:41.39\00:27:45.03
Depression,
Discouragement and Despair"
00:27:45.03\00:27:48.43
for just a small
donation, this can be yours.
00:27:48.43\00:27:51.30
Simple steps to
getting out of that pit.
00:27:51.30\00:27:54.84
It's written by Jim Ayer
00:27:55.64\00:27:57.37
and you can find
00:27:57.37\00:28:00.98
- Thanks for joining
us for Country Wisdom.
00:28:05.08\00:28:07.65
- See you next time.
00:28:07.65\00:28:09.48
(bright upbeat music)
00:28:09.48\00:28:12.72