Death By Echo (Run It Back)

0:05Speaker 1:Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick. I'm the pastor of Elevation Church and this is our podcast. Be sure to subscribe so we can get you these new sermons every week. I hope you're blessed today. Right now as I open God's Word to you. There are thousands and thousands online that we call our e FM, joining us all around the world. This message will go all over the world and touch lives. Can we make our EFM feel welcome today and all of our campuses come on every Elevation Church physical location. If there's not a physical location near you, there's a chance that we're going to be visiting you soon.

0:45Speaker 1:We've got two tours coming up. Aren't y'all about to hit the road. Elevation Rhythm is coming to a town near you. Maybe maybe you excited about it, Excited to get out and sing with the people. Get a wide shot, let them see who's coming. I won't be there, but Nate you'll be there, Otis you'll be there. Nick, you'll be there. It's going to be amazing. Go and check that out. An incredible night of worship. Josh, you're going It's going to be an amazing time of worship. And you can get all of the details somewhere. I thought there was a website up there, but there's not. Just type all of that into Chad GPT and follow the directions and buy the ticket and we'll see you there. Also, Elevation Nights is coming up. Let's thank God for Elevation Nights. Now.

1:38Speaker 1:I will be there. They gotta get the dates out. Yeah, October ninth through October eighteenth, and you can go to Elevation Nights dot com. Kansas City, Missouri, Memphis, Tennessee, Birmingham, Alabama, San Antonio, Texas, Lubbock, Texas, Texas, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, and Houston, Texas. Come on shout like you're from Texas. Today. The Lord has been speaking to us through this series. Would you not agree? I Know That Voice? And today I want to share with you another installment in this series. I went home and told Holly that was my last sermon in that I Know That Voice series, And the Lord said, are you sure? Because it would be impossible for me to do a series called I Know That Voice and not stop by this passage of scripture. In One Kings nineteen, the scripture has brought me, I minse comfort in times of my life where I felt heavy. It's brought me clarity when I felt crazy, it brought me endurance when I felt weary. And I want to share it to you today, with you today as a personal word, and I'm going to preach it just like the Lord gave it to me. I actually packed two folders when I

3:08Speaker 1:left the house today. One was the safe sermon and then one was the sermon where I really need the Holy Spirit to help me get it right. And I'm going to preach the second one because I believe I'll hear from you a few weeks or months from now about what God speaks today. So tune your heart and turn over to First Kings nineteen. I'm going to read a little bit longer scripture than I normally would, but it's worth it. One Kings, chapter nineteen, Verse one. Now Ahab told Jezebel everything Elijah had done and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword. So Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah to say, may the Gods deal with me, be it ever so severely, if by this time tomorrow I do not make your life like that of one of them. Elijah was afraid, ran for his life. When he came to Beersheba and Judah, he left his servant there while he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness. He came to a broom bush, sat down under it, and prayed that he might die.

4:29Speaker 1:I've had enough, Lord, he said, take my life. I am no better than my ancestors. Then he lay down under the bush and fell asleep. All at once an angel touched him and said, get up and eat. Man. I think I might want to make that my life verse right there. I want the Lord to tell me that get up and eat ice cream and pizza, yeah, tacos, burritos, And I want them to cancel ot the calories too. Because he God, he can do anything. Wouldn't be cool if God just touched you and said eating and touched the food and made it good for you. Come on, if God just gave the briars the nutritional value of broccoli.

5:09Speaker 1:God can do stuff like that. But I am amazed how Elijah was running away from God and God fed him anyway. Because hadn't there been seasons in your life where you knew you were doing the wrong thing? Come over to this side. Haven't decides about to get struck by lightning, and it's not even raining outside. For lyon, Haven't there been seasons in your life where you knew you were off track, but God kept providing for you anyway, and kept making waste for you. And how many have one of those anyway testimonies? Yeah, even when I went the wrong way, he fed me anyway, He kept me anyway, He blessed me anyway, He brought me anyway. So he ate and drank and then laid down again. Now verse success.

6:00Speaker 1:There were by his head some bread baked over hot coals in a jar of water, and he ate and drank and then laid down again. The Angel of the Lord came back a second time and touched him and said, get up and eat, for the journey is too much for you. So he got up and ate and drank. Strengthened by that food, he traveled forty days and forty nights until he reached Horeb, the Mountain of God. There he went into a cave and spent the night, and the word of the Lord came to him. What are you doing here, Elijah? He replied, I have been very zealous for the Lord God Almighty the Israelites have rejected your covenant. They've torn down your altars, and they have put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me. To the Lord said, go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the life, for the Lord is about to pass by. Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks.

7:08Speaker 1:God sent a wind to get Elijah back, but the Lord was not in the wind. He sent the wind, but he was not in the wind. After the wind, there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. And after the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave. Then a voice said to him, what are you doing here, Elijah? He replied, I have been very zealous for the Lord, God Almighty.

7:54Speaker 1:The Israelites have rejected your covenant, torn down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left and now they are trying to kill me. Two. The Lord said to him, go back the way you came, and go to the desert of Damascus. When you get there, anoint Hazel king over Aram. Also annoyed Jayhu's son of Nimshi, king over Israel, and anoint Elisha, son of Shaefat from Abel Mahola, to succeed you as prophet. Jayhu will put to death any who escaped the sword of Hazel, and Elishah will put to death any who escaped the sword of Jehu. Yet I reserve seven thousand in Israel, all whose knees have not bowed down to bail, and whose mouths have not kissed him last verse. So Elijah went from there and found Elisha's son of sae Fat. He was plowing with twelve yokov oxen, and he himself was driving the twelfth peer.

9:03Speaker 1:Elijah went up to him and threw his cloak around him. Thus a new beginning. This is the word of the Lord. I have a strange subject today, but I want to talk to you for a few moments about a very particular way that the enemy wants to steal, kill and destroy in your life. I want to talk to you about death by echo, echo, death by echo, and don't worry. This sermon has a happy ending. Father. I thank you in the name of Jesus for what you spoke to me.

9:39Speaker 1:Now speak it to them. May it echo across this place in Jesus's name, I pray, and everybody said together, Amen, clap your hands. If you love the Lord and receive his word today, you may deceived.

9:57Speaker 2:Now, Elijah, in this passage that I just read, you may come across to you as somebody who is emotionally imbalanced, and perhaps he is.

10:12Speaker 1:He may come across to you as somebody who is ungrateful, and perhaps temporarily his view of what God has done has been blocked by what he's going through. But I think that's a good thing. One of the things that people ask me often after I preach, and it's honestly my favorite thing to uh, well, it's my least favorite thing to be asked, but it's my favorite thing to answer, okay, because here's what they'll last. Sometimes they'll go, I'll preach, you know, you pour your heart out, you preach it a go, hey, so how'd you feel about that? And it's kind of awkward because when they ask it. It kind of feels like maybe I should feel different about it than how I do feel because I felt like it was all right until you asked me how did I feel about it? It's kind of like have you ever gone out the house and then you came back home and your wife saw you for the first time and she's like, is that what you wore today? And it's like, well, yeah, but this is too late to do anything about it. This is it, This is what I wore. What I preached is what I preached. How I feel is how I feel. How do I feel

11:16Speaker 1:about it? I don't know how should I feel about it? How did you feel about it? Did you feel like it blessed you? That? It's just an awkward question to ask, And besides it being an awkward question to answer is complicated because if I really answered you, the truth is that I always feel like, watch this, I failed at some level because I'm trying to speak for God, who is perfect, and I'm me, who is not. So how did I feel like I fell short of my goal?

11:46Speaker 1:And you are always going to feel that way when you're speaking for God, unless you're a narcissist. And so the truth of the matter is when someone is asking me, how did you feel about that, I'm already re playing the message in my brain the way that I meant to say it, and you don't know how I meant to say it. You only know how I said it. So perhaps you thought that I hit the mark, but in my mind it was a mess. Last week was one of those weeks I preached my whole sermon called what If I Got It Wrong? The message was about how the enemy can beat you up with regret and just cause you to doubt everything down to the core of your faith in Christ. And I meant to say before I left the stage that the better question isn't what if I got it wrong, but what if God got it right? And somehow, no matter how many times I wrote that down in my notes, when I finished my message, I left the stage and did not say that part. And to me, that was not the cherry on top of the sunday. That was the Sunday, that was the ice cream, that was the dish. That was the whole thing that I wanted you to hear, But somehow I forgot to say it. So I went home

13:05Speaker 1:and Holly was in tears, and she was like, that was amazing. That really touched me. And I was like, no, it's terrible, and she's like, what do you mean? It was terrible? It touched me? And how was it touching to her? And terrible to me? Because I'm replaying the part I didn't say in my mind, and the part that you replay has a lot to do with what you feel. Have you ever replayed the wrong thing in your mind over and over again? Have you ever said something so dumb and then went back and thought about it for days and days and days, like why did I say that to them? Really? Like I really said that to them. I don't know if you're trying to pick up a girl. I don't know, if you're trying to do a business deal. I don't know if you're just introducing yourself to someone. And then you walk away and you're like why did I say that? And then you get the chance to see them again and apologize, and you've worked up your entire apology speech for what you said, and you go to say, I'm sorry that I said that. I can't believe I said that to you, And then I say, I don't remember that. Really, I have been tormenting myself over something that wasn't even important

14:14Speaker 1:enough for you to put in your files. You mean I just said that and beat myself up, and you completely forgot about it. I remember when Christmas, I was taking out the trash and it had all these packing peanuts in it, and the trash can was full of packing peanuts and the wind was blowing. Well, I think you know where this is going. I pulled the trash can out to the street and the wind blows the packing peanuts every which way. Now, remember, I've just preached like fifty Christmas services, however many we did at the time, I think it was more like twelve that I preached live, and we had fifty across all of our locations. But I was tired, and Graham was sitting in the car and I was dragging out the trash. But I forgot temper rarely that Graham was sitting in the car. And I also forgot temporarily that I was saved. And I forgot temporarily that there are certain words that you shouldn't say when you're saved and your kid is sitting in the car, And I just started letting stuff fly, and it was flying faster than the packing peanuts and it's all flying around the yard and I just preached Christmas

15:17Speaker 1:and it's Jesus' birthday has just finished, and here I am cussing it in him and objects all around the yard. And I got in the car. My biggest thought was like, what am I going to tell my kid? And I start the spiral because I'm like, I know where this ends. This ends with he's in therapy, This ends with he's a drug addict. It all goes he's sitting on somebody's couch at some point in the future saying there was this one Christmas and my dad preached and he took out the trash, and my dad is trash and that's the reason I'm here today. But you know, after ten minutes of driving and figuring out what I wanted to say to him, I said, I'm sorry about that. He said sorry about what I said, Sorry about what I said While I was out there, He said, I didn't hear what you said. I said, that's right, that's right.

16:11Speaker 1:And here I am tormented about something that he didn't even hear. Did know that the enemy can torment you with something that isn't even true. He can make you play out scenarios in your mind. I'm telling you the enemy is very strategic, because if you read First King's nineteen and you know a little bit about who Elijah is, you are surprised to see him running because he got a death threat from Jezebel. And when he says, Lord take my life, I'm no better than my ancestors, because Jezebel, who was the queen, said I'm going to kill you.

16:54Speaker 1:In fact, in verse two, she says, this exactly made the gods deal with me. Be it ever so severely, if by this time tomorrow, I do not make your life like that of one of them. Elijah has just won a great victory on Mount Carmel. He has just prophesied, and the heavens gave rain. And no sooner does the rain come than the news of his victory reaches the ears of Ahab. And no sooner does it reach the ears of Ahab until he tells Jezebel Jezebel was really running the kingdom. Jezebel was really moving Ahab like a puppet.

17:29Speaker 1:One preacher said, the last decision Ahab ever made was I do And I've seen some marriages like that. I've seen some marriages like that. So Jezebel says, let me handle him. Made the gods deal with me, be it ever so severely if I don't kill this guy who killed my prophets. When Elijah called down fire from God and had the four hundred and fifty prophets of Bale slaughtered and the four hundred prophets of Asherah slaughtered on the mountain, and said, if the Lord is God, follow him?

17:58Speaker 1:How long we ye halt between two opinions? If the Lord is God, how long are you going to go back and forth? And fire came from heaven and licked up what remaining water there was after three years of drought in the trenches, and God proved his presence by fire. Elijah went up on a mountain, put his head between his knees, sent his servant to check seven times, said I hear the sound of the abundance of rain. I can't prove it, but I hear it. I can't point to it, but I know it. I can't show it to you, but God is showing it to me. Tell Ahab, hitch up your chariots before the rain stop you. And Elijah outran Ahab all the way back down the mountain.

18:37Speaker 1:No sooner can he get down the mountain and the rain released from heaven and the revival begin in the religious climate of Israel. No sooner can he get down the mountain. No sooner can he celebrate the victory. No sooner can he move forward into the next assignment that God has Until he receives a threat from Jezebel. And we know that her threat is empty. May the gods deal with me? What God's Jezebel? Somebody say, what gods? You mean? The same ones who you called on on the mountain when God sent fire? I feel that word for Somebody say, what God's You know how the enemy tries to threaten you and intimidate you? What Gods? There's only one God? So her threat is empty because if she could have, she would have. Because if eight hundred and fifty false prophets didn't stop him, what is one person going to do? What gods? Somebody say, what God's Where old death is now thy thing? Where old grave is your victory? Death has been swallowed up in victory?

19:55Speaker 1:What God's? Her threat is empty? Her threat is empty, But so is Elijah. He's empty, And he says, I've had enough for her. Threat is empty, but so is he. Now. When people ask you how do you feel after you minister, the truth is you're thankful, but you're all so empty. You're also tired. Any new parents in the room, may I talk to you for a moment? How do you feel as a new parent? You gotta answer that very carefully because you're so thankful right right? Oh, so too late now no refunds, no instruction manual either, and no sleep schedule. So you say, I'm thankful, but I'm exhausted. Now.

20:59Speaker 1:I like to make up word to explain to people how I feel. When people ask me how I feel before I preach, I say I'm anxious and I'm excited. I'm a excited. I made that up myself. I'm excited. You ever felt anxcited about something? So I made up a new word to describe how you feel when God uses you. It goes like this, I'm exhausted use that this week? How you doing? You're so blessed You've got this new job. I'm thankful, but I'm exhausted. I'm gonna keep preaching till I find somebody who will be real with me. I am grateful, but I'm kind of grumpy too.

21:39Speaker 1:And I'm kind of grumpy because I haven't gotten quite as much sleep as I used to get. I'm exhausted. I came up on this mountain and God did a great work, but I came back down, and no sooner did I see the rain than I felt the resistance come on. No sooner could I praise God for the victory until another problem came along. And so I'm grateful lifting one hand, but I'm having to fight with the other one because God did something awesome with one of my kids, but the other one is wearing me out.

22:14Speaker 1:Have you ever had winning and worn out happening at the same time? Come on, how you feel? How do you feel about the good things God is doing in your life? How do you feel about being married? Any newly weeds in the house? How do you feel about that? Oh, it's amazing, it's amazing, and it's crazy. Because what's crazy is I brought my crazy into the marriage, and they're crazy. Was already filling up every room in the house. And I'm happy to be with them. But the fact of the matter is they already had so much baggage when I came into the house. I can't find a place to unpack mine. Now I got to ask somebody else, what do you want to watch? Now? I've got to orient my skin. And you can smile and you can say you're blessed, and I know you are blessed, and I'm blessed too. But blessing doesn't cancel pressure. So at the same time I'm blessed, there's pressure coming up behind the blessing. So I'm experiencing blessing and I'm experiencing pressure.

23:20Speaker 1:I call that blessure. I got a lot of blesser in my life right now. Come on, bear with me, be patient with me. I got blessure in mine. I'm not asking God to take the responsibilities away. It's not that I'm not thankful. I'm just exhausted. I'm exhausted. How's that for an honest testimony. I praise the Lord for what he gave me, and I'm about to collapse because he gave it to me. My prayer, my praise report just turned into my prayer request. I couldn't get used to the rain before I had a threat coming up on my Okay, and he makes a statement, I get ready for this because it's I want to teach you.

23:58Speaker 1:Verse three, he says, I have had e enough. Lord say it. I've had enough. I've had enough. In other words, I'm done with this. It is impossible to overstate the severity of Elijah's psychological confusion. Bewilderment. I mean, we see in James, let me show you this James five seventeen, a summary of Elijah's faith that says Elijah was a human being even as we are. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain. That's when he walked into Ahab's court, like a stab of lightning in the midnight eastern sky.

24:45Speaker 1:Elijah the tispike from Tishpee in Gilead and walked in and said, no rain till I say so. And he prayed, and God shut off the rain. He prayed and it didn't rain for three and a half years. Again, he and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its crops. And then James moves on to talk about something else, but go back to verse eighteen. It says he prayed again, he prayed and it didn't rain. He prayed and it did rain, But it does not mention this prayer in verse four, Chapter nineteen where he came to a broombush, sat down under it and prayed that he might die.

25:35Speaker 1:And James doesn't put that part in because it didn't fit that particular illustration. But let's talk about the prayers that you prayed that you can't pray in public, where you're telling God, I can't do this anymore. That's essentially what he's saying, right, I've had enough. Not remember this has a happy ending. Elijah does die. Say it. Elijah doesn't die. I just want to let the air out of that real quick, because it feels very tense in here. So Elijah doesn't die. Say it again, Elijah doesn't die.

26:15Speaker 1:Not only does he not die by the threat of Jezebel, but he never dies. When it came time for Elijah to be taken up to Heaven, the Lord sin a whirlwin. So is it possible that the thing that you are the most freaked out about is never even going to happen. That's a good place for a praise right there. I'm gonna just go ahead and tell you what to do. Praise God because Elijah didn't die. He didn't die at the hand of Jezebel. He didn't die from his own depression.

26:54Speaker 1:Elijah didn't die. In fact, my little sermon only has three points today. You ready, One he didn't really pray. Number two, God came anyway. Number three he didn't stay. That's the whole sermon. If you need to meet somebody for lunch, you're dismissed. But I came to tell you. Number one he didn't really pray. Number two, God came anyway. And number three he didn't stay. Write all of those in the comments, please, I want to see it on YouTube. Number one he didn't really pray. Number two, God came anyway, and number three he didn't stay. This is the word of the Lord today. That Elijah prayed that he would die.

27:48Speaker 1:That is not really a prayer. A real prayer is when you tell God, stop the rain. A real prayer is when you tell God, now make it rain. A real prayer is not just you complaining. A real prayer is when you move from complaint to supplication. A real prayer is when you go from saying how it is to asking God to make it different. Turn in your Bible to Philippians, chapter four, Let me teach you the word of God today. Children. Elijah knew how to pray, but he hits something in his life where he forgot to do what he knew how to do. When you hit enough pressure in your life, when you hit enough pain in your life, you forget to do the thing that you knew how to do, and you stop doing the thing that got you where you were, and you stop praising God like you used to praise God. The apostle Paul says in Philippians Chapter four, verse six, do not be anxious about anything. But in every situation, Jezebel, every situation, bankruptcy, every situation, addiction, every situation and pain in your body, every situation something that you can't talk about, every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your

29:11Speaker 1:requests to God, and the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. But when Elijah got down from that mountain, he dropped his guard because he was empty. And when you are empty, you have to get intentional, because if you don't fill that space, the enemy will Look what he's said, Look what he said in the text. He said, verse six, present your requests to God. Request. I thought I was praying one time. And I don't know how this works. Okay, I know the series is called I know that voice. I don't know if the Lord spoke this or just wisdom told me this. But after I finished going through everything that I felt, it was as if the Lord said, would you like to talk to me about it now? But I thought I was, But it was as if the Lord said to me, you have been thinking for ten minutes, but you haven't made a request yet. And Philippians for six says, in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.

30:32Speaker 1:So I was just giving God reasons that I felt the way I felt. I was just processing the regret. And the Lord said, you have not truly prayed to me, recognizing the power that I have to step in to your situation until you come out of listing the reasons that you feel like you feel and ask me to do something about it. So have you made a request yet? Because Elijah's only request was kill me. That's not really a prayer, is it. That's an escape? And he runs to a place called the Cave. Not just any cave, this is the same cave, horror mountain of God, where Moses had hidden the cleft of the rock for the glory of the Lord to pass by. But the problem I'm going to show you, this, I'm going to demonstrate now, is that Moses went into this cave, and it took him forty days in the wrong direction away from the place where God had called him. So the cave that Elijah went to was a forty day journey away, like ninety miles away from the place that God had called him to remember, God sent the rain, and he ran, so God answered the thing that he prayed for, and he ran and stopped praying. This is what pressure will

32:10Speaker 1:do to you. Pressure will let God send the blessing into your life, but cause you to run from the thing that God sent you, so that now you find yourself pushing away relationships that you asked God to send you. You're running from the wrong thing. You are running from the wrong thing when you are empt when you are empty, like Elijah was empty. He was not only physically empty from running all the way past Ahabs chariots, but he was spiritually empty because he had carried the burden in the faith of an entire nation alone through three years of drought. Come on don't act like you've never felt a pity party for yourself that Why is nobody taking care of me? Why is nobody meeting my needs? Why is nobody cooking for me? Why is nobody cleaning for me?

33:02Speaker 1:And all the way away from let's let this represent his post. He's walking away and he is not praying, even after God feeds him, he does not pray. He knew how to pray, he knew how to call on God, he knew how to intercede for people, he knew how to intercede for himself. And he and he walks away, and I gotta imagine that with every day he went toward the cave, he was replaying what Jezebel said. I'm gonna kill you. I'm gonna kill you. I'm gonna kill you.

33:34Speaker 1:Now watch this. He's replaying the wrong thing, because what he should have been replaying was when God sent down fire to prove that he is God and that Bail is not. He's replaying why would you replay what Jezebel said when you know her threat is empty? Because when when you are empty, the enemy feels real and your victories feel invisible. When you are empty, you beg to you begin to forget your victories. This is what I want to say. When you're empty, you forget your victories and you fixate on your enemy. And now all you can see is what's against you. And now all you can see is what you're up under. And now all you can see is what you lost. And now all you can see is what you fear. And now all you can see is what you don't want. And now all you can see is what if it doesn't happen.

34:31Speaker 1:And now all you can see is all the people who let you down. And with every step, remember he's replaying it. He's replaying it, he's replaying it. And Jezebel's threat is empty unless you let it echo. If she said it once, I'm gonna kill you. And Elijah prayed like he knew how to pray. God, you hear that, and then step aside, because God's got something for Jezebel, because God hasn't moved from his throne. Is my mic gone. I said, God's got something for diabetes. God's got something for this cancer. God's got something. God's got something. So so if you just got to replace something, replay the ravens.

35:25Speaker 1:Remember Elijah was by the brook called Cherif in the Kara Ravine, and there was no food and no water in the land. But God sent ravens to feed his revivalists in a time of famine. So if you're gonna replace something, run back the ravens. This I recall to my mind. Therefore I have hope it was God's mercies that I wasn't consumed, because his compassions fail not They're new. Every morning, and every morning I had bread, and every evening I had something to drink. I remember those ravens, God sid And if you don't remember the ravens, remember the resurrection. Because Elijah was staying in a woman's house and her little boy died, and Elijah stretched out his body over that boy and breathed into that boy, and that boy that was dead got up and started walking around.

36:19Speaker 1:If you just gotta replace something, replay the resurrection, and remember that nothing is dead till God is gone with it. Nothing is over till God says so Ron pons here in the word of the Lord. I mean, if you just gotta run it back, run back the time that he fed you, Run back the time that he led you. Run back the time that he did come through. Run back. The ones who put their arm around, who tot five to seven? People say, run it back, run it back, run it back, run it back right, run it back right, running back right. You've been replaying the wrong things, hadn't you.

37:03Speaker 1:You've been replaying stuff that the devil can't even bring up against you because it's nailed to the cross my sin, all the bliss. I gotta stop. Let me illustrate. Run it back, running back, run it back. That's what he should have told JESSEP. Bell. She said, I'm gonna kill you. Elijah should have said, let's run it back. Meet me on the mountain. I know a name that's never failed.

37:35Speaker 3:I know a god who can't lock hone yet us whoa.

37:43Speaker 1:I'm changing my title. When you put it on YouTube, call it running back, run it back, run it back, run it back, running back. He's been good to you.

37:54Speaker 4:Run it back.

37:55Speaker 3:He's more than enough.

37:56Speaker 1:Run it back. Jehovah Jyro, always provide running back.

38:00Speaker 4:You're not a loving.

38:13Speaker 1:Again. We got to talk about the cave because all he had to do was run it back. That's all he had to do, But instead he turned his back on the blessing God. Gave him because the pressure he was under was too gray, and he didn't really pray. He didn't really pray. He went into a cave. I'm going to go to the cave metaphorically now, just as an illustration. He said, why do you do this? Are you performing? I'm not perform but I am trying to give a picture that will help you know what's really killing your faith, what may be killing your relationships, what may be killing your marriage. Is not death by Jezebel, It's death by echo, because with every step you take away from what God called you to do, and you go to the cave. Now, the cave is the place where you feel safe. It makes you feel safe, but it actually makes you more anxious. Why does this addiction that makes me feel safe only make me more anxious and make me more crazy. It is because it's a cave.

39:50Speaker 1:It's a cave. And he went to the cave far away from where he should be, with his back to what God had for him and what God had just done. And I want the Holy Spirit to help me right now because he has a conversation with God in that cave. Verse number nine says, there he went into a cave and spent the night. It feels awkward having my back turned to you like this when I know my job is to preach to you. But isn't that exactly what Elijah did? Isn't that exactly what we do? We turn our backs on the thing that God gave us, the responsibility God gave us, even the blessings. We will turn our back on a blessing because of the pressure. I have had enough. Now. I got to face you for one moment to tell you this. If he said I have had enough, and he meant it in a pause of sense, I would get it. Everywhere I've gone, You've provided.

41:04Speaker 1:I've had enough. When I was by the brook, I had enough. When I was on the mountain, I had enough. There was enough provision, there was enough power. But now he's like, I'm not enough and I've had enough, and he goes in the cave. Without over dramatizing it, there's something I want to show you because it says that he went into the cave and spent the night, and the word of the Lord came to him. This is verse nine. Please on the screens. What are you doing here? Elijah?

41:47Speaker 1:Isn't that crazy that he didn't really pray in the cave. But the Lord came. You remember my three points? He didn't really pray, and God came. I want to thank God for the times you didn't even really pray, but he came, Come on, you can do better than that. You can do better than that. The times where you said die and God said live. The times where you said no, but God's yes was bigger. The times where you thought, what if I got it wrong? But God said, what if I got it right? See? I had to get it in because I missed it last week. But I got it in. You hear that devil? I ran it back and I got it in. Now let me alone in this, Kenny, I'm in this cave. And the Lord asked a question. Watch this. You always want God to give you answers. What if He wants to give you better questions? You need a better question. What are you doing here, Elijah? You who have seen miracles, you who have called fire, you who have prayed for rain, you who have been sustained, What are you doing here ninety miles away? What are you doing here in this jacked up toxic relationship just to get somebody to pretend like they love you when you know they're not loyal

43:03Speaker 1:to you. What are you doing here in these destructive patterns that promise you safety but only make you a shame and the shame leads to the same behavior.

43:11Speaker 5:What are you doing in this cave? And you know how to pray? And God came and said, what are you doing here? And he replied, do you see that in verse ten? Is it on the screen? He replied, say yes, teacher, If it's on the screen, yes, teacher.

43:31Speaker 1:He replied, I have been very zealous for the Lord God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, torn down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too. And then the Lord does a little display. I know, I got my back to you. I know it's awkward, but this is what he did. He turned his back to his blessing because he was caving in under the pressure. You've been caving in under the pressure. The Lord put on a little show for him.

44:06Speaker 1:He sent he sent a wind, and he sent a fire, and he sent an earthquake because he was running back what he did when he appeared to Moses. This was an echo of when God appeared to Moses. But God's doing it different this time, because the Lord doesn't speak in any of that. He speaks in verse twelve, a whisper, a whisper, a whisper. And when Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went and stood at the mouth of the cave. Did you know that the cave has a mouth? Did you know that when you go in your cave, the cave talks back. Did you know when you go in the cave and you run away from God, and you run away from community, and you run away from the right things, and you run toward the wrong things. Did you know when you replay the wrong things and the regrets and the rejection.

45:04Speaker 1:Did you know that when you talk to the cave, the cave will talk back. And you think I'm crazy. You're not crazy. You're just in a cave and the cave is making you feel crazy. And now you're starting to think crazy and you're starting to act crazy because you've been in this cave because you stop praying. But God came, and God came. When God came, he thought it was going to be big and spectacular, but really it was intimate and it was special. And yet the Bible says, when the voice asked him the second time, what are you doing here, Elijah? He replied, he replied, according to what he replayed. And so listen what the first word? He says? Put verse fourteen up on the screen.

45:53Speaker 1:He's in the cave. He's all alone, he's disappointed, he's under pressure. And listen, you can tell why he's depressed by the way he starts his speech. God says, what are you doing here, elijahve more for you this? Why'd you turn your back to what I blessed you with? Why are you running from the right thing? Why are you not trusting me anymore? Put the verse up on the screen. He says, I ay, do you see that? Because when you're in a cave, the sound bounces around. See.

46:25Speaker 1:So so he starts off his speech. He says, I go and see. That's never gonna get you out of the cave, because when you start with I have had enough and I don't have what it takes. And I I I I see I was filling the case. See how's feeling the real spill? And now I can't hear a whisky whisky.

46:49Speaker 4:Whisky, because I can't you hear.

46:59Speaker 1:It in our marriages. I guess I'll do the dishes again. I ah, we'll just do it, so nobody else is gonna do it, so I'll just do it. I ah, I'm so tired of this eyes. I don't have what it takes. I I hear Gideon in a wine breast saying, I am the smallest, in the weakest. I hear Moses at the Burnham Bush saying I am not good as speaking. I hear all of the people who have come before us. And I hear Elijah in the cave saying I but I hear God in verse fifteen turned to the prophet who is empty, and speak in the cave which is empty.

47:37Speaker 1:And the voice of the Lord speaks into an empty.

47:40Speaker 6:Cave in verse fifteen, and God says, go, go, go, because I've got something ahead of you that is bigger than.

47:51Speaker 1:Anything that's behind you. You've got a shout of praise that he didn't pray. But God came. And because God came, he didn't stay.

48:07Speaker 3:Somebody shall I'm coming out.

48:08Speaker 7:Of this cave. I'm coming out of this cave. I'm coming out of this misery. I'm coming out of this straight second. I'm coming out of this book. I'm coming out of this suppression. I'm coming out of this cycle. I'm coming out of this part. I'm coming out of this cave.

48:30Speaker 1:Because I know how to pray. See, so I'm not starting this prayer with I. I I I'm gonna say you, you, you have brought me this far God, and you, you, you are able to keep me from falling. And you, you, you are gonna get the glory from my life. It's about you, you, you.

48:54Speaker 5:It's not about me, me, me.

48:58Speaker 1:I don't care what they they, they say, I'm coming out of this cave. I'm coming out of this cave. God's been too good for me to stay in this cave. I am coming out of this cave. As a matter of fact, I just remembered another cave, another cave that was loaned to somebody by a man named Joseph of Arimafia. And they laid him in the cave for three days. And you say, wait a minute, pastor, it wasn't a cave. It was a grave. No, it wasn't a grave because he didn't stay there. He did not stay.

49:42Speaker 3:And I came doing now this cave is not my grave. No, no, no, I'm coming out. I'm coming out with my hands up.

49:52Speaker 1:I'm coming out with my heart broken. But I'm coming out because God can. Because God can.

50:13Speaker 8:And if you stay an eye I I.

50:18Speaker 1:It's gonna die. Die, die. But it won't be death by Jessebel. It will be death by echo echo, because the regret can only paralyze you if you keep replaying it. Write this down. It's not the threat that kills me. It's the way I let it echo echo, echo. It's the way you keep replaying your shame rather than realizing that he paid for it. I said he paid for it. I said he paid for it.

51:08Speaker 9:So hold on, devil, watch this. You want to put me in a cave of shame. Let's run it back. Let's run it back. What happened after he came down off the cross? What happened after he went down in the cave. You say it's a grave. Why do you keep saying cave because it's empty? Yes, because it's empty.

51:37Speaker 1:For the empty people in the room today who have felt just like Elijah. Maybe you don't say I want to die, but maybe you say I can't live like this anymore. There's too much pressure, man. And I'm blessed. Don't get me wrong, I'm thankful. I appreciate everything God's done for me. But i'm thankful, I'm exhausted. I don't have a word for it. I have had enough. Remember, even though he didn't really pray, not like he was supposed to pray, God came anyway, and this is your day that God has heard you in the cave, cave, cave.

52:13Speaker 1:He's heard the way the thoughts keep rattling around in your head. He knows how you can't expunge yourself of it. He knows how you can't eliminate the fear. He knows how you can't get rid of the things. He knows that you are still trapped in the trauma of what happened to you.

52:26Speaker 9:And so he came, came, and he said, let's go.

52:33Speaker 1:Because Elisha, the successor of Elijah, was already in the field, but he's not in this cave. So you got to come back to the place where you know God called you to be and live the life that God wants to enable you to live. And when they say how do you feel about it? You could say it's complicated, it's complicated because I got one voice telling me die, Die Die.

53:07Speaker 8:But I heard a whisper that said live, Live, Live, and I'm choosing to live by the whisper.

53:24Speaker 1:Would you stand for your feet? Would you stand all over this room right now and with your head spowled and eyes closed. Somebody be honest with me when I say three, I want you to shoot your hand. If you've been in the cave, okay, okay, I I they they they, But he he, You're that whisper, that's him.

53:52Speaker 8:You feel that heart beating in your chest as him.

53:55Speaker 1:You're not done with you yet. He can't be jesse Jessepel can't kill you. Jessepel can't The grave couldn't hold him. What can hold you here? If it's been you and you need me to pray for you today because you've got a cave you need to come out of. I want you to be bold and shoot your hand up and hold it up. I'm praying for you. One, two, three, Hold it up, Hold it up, Keep it up, keep it up. Repeat after me. I'm coming out of this Father, in the name of Jesus, I declare that where your spirit is there is freedom for these who have lifted their hands, and you are asking what are you doing here today? To them? God, I pray that they would realize that that question is prophetic. What are they doing here?

54:55Speaker 1:They're here because you have something for them. They are here because you are not done with They are here because you came to get them out the cave. That's why. That's why you woke me up at three am to come and get them out the cave. I believe it, God, I believe somebody is coming out today. Somebody is coming out today. Somebody is coming out of something that they thought was gonna kill him. But it is not going to kill them. It will not be the end of them.

55:22Speaker 1:So we lift our hands and we lift our eyes, and we declare that just as Jezebel has an echo, so does Heaven. The echo of Heaven is holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God, Almighty, Thank you Jesus. The echo of Heaven is worthy, worthy, Worthy is the Lamb of God. The echo of Heaven is hallelujah. Somebody say hallelujah. Come on, with your hands lifted up and a heart filled with praise. You know how to praise. You just stop praising, but praise them right now. When I say Halley, you say lujah, Holley. Somebody say Hollylujah, Hallylujah to the man on the middle cross, the one who didn't know the dead but he paid it off, the one who rolled away the stone, the one who came out of the cave on the third day, and if he rolled the stone away, and if he.

56:23Speaker 3:Got up, getting up too.

56:26Speaker 1:I'm coming out of this cave. I'm coming out of this.

56:30Speaker 7:I'm coming out better.

56:31Speaker 1:I'm coming out here.

56:33Speaker 4:I'm coming out.

56:33Speaker 3:Hole, I'm coming out bless, I'm coming out.

56:37Speaker 1:I'm coming out.

56:38Speaker 7:I'm coming out with a.

56:39Speaker 3:Phrase with a phrase, no the place with praise. Hey.

56:46Speaker 1:I hope you enjoyed the podcast, and if you did, make sure to share it and subscribe so we can get you all of these new messages as soon as they're available. I also want to take a moment and thank all of you who are a part of Elevation. Whether you support us financially, or serve with us, or just share these messages, it's because of you that we're able to reach people all around the world. And if you want more information on how to be a part of Elevation, click the link in the description. Thanks again for listening, make sure to leave a review, share the message and subscribe. God bless you.