00:00 When Doing Right Hurts

00:32 Disillusionment and Elijah

02:48 Mount Carmel Showdown

04:43 Jezebel Threatens Elijah

08:06 Expect Opposition in Faith

09:59 The World Flesh Devil at Work

14:35 Resilience Under Fire

19:21 God Feeds and Restores

22:28 Real Needs Not Felt

23:34 Philippians and Your Needs

24:53 Contentment in Need

26:35 Real Needs vs Felt

28:44 Body and Soul Care

32:10 Spiritual Priority First

33:54 God in the Whisper

40:45 Not Alone and Reframed

41:45 Limited Perspective Trust

47:04 Gospel Confidence Closing

Probably one of the greatest challenges of your Christian life will

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be when you're doing everything right.

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At least as you understand it.

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You're doing what God asks you to do.

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You're serving, you're doing the right

things with your wife and your marriage.

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You're working hard at your job.

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And yet still, even after those things,

you find that things are not going right.

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Uh, the consequences to

your actions don't a add up.

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Uh, you would think that A plus B equals

C, but when you're putting in the good

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inputs, the outputs that you're getting

aren't matching to what you're expecting.

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This concept is is often

referred to as disillusionment.

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You approach the life that God has given

you trying to be faithful, doing all the

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things you're serving, you're, you're

loving, you're pouring yourself out.

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Maybe you're giving and you're sacrificing

your time and energy, and your reasonable

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expectation is, well, God said he's

gonna bless me when I do these things.

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God will bless me and God's

gonna take care of me.

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And that's not an entirely

unbiblical thought.

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The problem is, is that oftentimes

when we do those things.

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We can still walk away feeling

a lot like one of the characters

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that we're gonna study today.

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We can feel a lot like Elijah, who though

he did all the right things, at least

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as we understand it, he still walks

away saying, God, what are you doing?

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In fact, things are so bad for

this guy that at one point what

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we're gonna look at this morning,

he asks God to take his life.

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He's disillusioned by what he thought God

was gonna do and what God actually did.

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So what we're gonna look at today is

how to wrestle with this as men, uh,

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what we should expect in terms of how

God interacts with us, but also what

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it looks like to respond rightly.

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And the reason I chose Elijah, because

Elijah actually doesn't respond well at

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this particular juncture in his life.

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He responds.

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The opposite of how we should respond,

but I want you to see this because even

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in his failure, God meets him there and

dusts him off and sends him forward.

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It's a really cool

experience, uh, that he has.

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But I want to give you some

tools and equip you to help you,

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uh, have faith under pressure.

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I want you to know, uh, what

to do when you're doing good

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for God, but things get worse.

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Or when you've been serving faithfully,

but you still feel drained and

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unable to serve God any longer.

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When you feel discouraged, how

do you deal with that pressure?

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And what I want to help you see is that

often what's happening here is your

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faith crumbles under pressure because

you believe something wrong about God.

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You have a wrong story about how

God works, and this is where the

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rubber meets the road for us.

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In our minds, we can so easily turn God

into a formula where we expect him to do

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certain things based on what we put in.

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And again, that's not entirely unbiblical,

but there are exceptions to the rule, and

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that's what we're gonna look at today.

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Turn your Bible to One Kings Chapter 19.

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We're gonna look at this whole

section where Elijah runs away.

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Instead of running to the

problem, he runs away from him.

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I think a lot of us can.

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Really relate to this

feeling in chapter 18.

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Uh, the chapter just before this,

you might recall, Elijah meets.

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Uh, the false prophets of

Baal on Mar Mount Carmel.

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He does this, uh, as a result of God's

call to him to say, I want you to gather

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together all the prophets, and I want you

to make a demonstration of my power and

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authority over the false gods of Israel.

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Now, at this point in Israel's history,

there's two kingdoms that make up the

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whole Israel's divided into the northern

kingdom and the southern kingdom.

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The northern Kingdom is currently

under the reign of King Ahab

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and his malicious wife, Jezebel.

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She might be worse than he is.

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He's a weak leader.

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She's a strong, a strong womanly

type, but she's also quite evil.

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That's the northern kingdom.

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The southern kingdom is ruled

by Jeh, Phat, and the southern

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kingdom makes up Judah and Simeon.

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It's a smaller part of the whole,

but that's God's promised kingdom

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that he's going to sustain.

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The Northern Kingdom has been bad from

the very beginning, from the getup.

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And what we're gonna see here is in

chapter 18, uh, Elijah meets Ahab's

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prophets, or more specifically

Jezebel's prophets on Mount Carmel.

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And he says, let's do

a demonstration here.

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You guys call your God to act

and call down fire from heaven,

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and I'll call my God to act and

I'll call down fire from Heaven.

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And the God that responds is

the one who's the true God.

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Well, surprise, surprise.

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BA's, God's Baal does nothing.

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Uh, and so you see this mockery, uh,

Elijah calls and out and says, oh,

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maybe your God's using the bathroom

and maybe something else is going on.

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Maybe he needs to be awoken.

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They go through their whole situation, but

Elijah says, God, show them your power.

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God sends down fire, licks up the flames,

and showcases his power and strength.

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That fire is an important motif.

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We're gonna come back to that in a second.

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After that demonstration, the people

say, the Lord, Yahweh, he is God.

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The Lord is gone.

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And then Elijah says, take all

of those prophets, the prophets

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of Baal and slaughter them.

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And that's exactly what the people do.

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Immediately after this episode, we get to

our passage here, first Kings Chapter 19.

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I want you to notice how it starts here.

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Remember, king Ahab is the

king of the Northern Kingdom.

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Ahab, king Ahab tells Jezebel,

it's like a son going to his mom

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saying, oh mom, look at what he did.

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Ahab tells Jezebel all that

Elijah had done and how he killed

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all the prophets with a sword.

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Now this is, by the way, this is violent,

but this is a remarkably good situation.

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God does not tolerate false prophets.

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And so this is a right judge, uh,

right, and just judgment of God.

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And we see here this is a

highlight of Elijah's life.

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It's a difficult one.

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No doubt.

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But this is a highlight.

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He tells Jezebel what Elijah

has done, and then in verse two,

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Jezebel sends a messenger to Elijah

and she, she swears in oath saying,

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so may the Gods do to me and more

also, if I do not make your life as

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a life of one of those prophets that

you killed by this time tomorrow.

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Jezebel swears by the gods that

were just disproven in chapter 18.

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In chapter 18, the Gods that

Jezebel serves were humiliated.

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But in chapter 19, she swears by

those same gods and says, Elijah, I

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saw what you did through my husband.

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I'm gonna kill you.

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You killed my people.

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I'm going after you.

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This woman threatens him and

to, to your shock and surprise.

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I hope you see here in verse three.

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Then Elijah was afraid and he

arose and ran for his life.

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This bold prophet suddenly cowers

under the fierce threats of a woman

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whose Gods were previously humiliated.

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What's happening here?

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Elijah's afraid.

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He arose and ran for his life,

and then he came to Beersheba.

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Uh, Beersheba is the southern most

border, not of the northern kingdom,

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but of the southern kingdoms.

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He is far south as he can go.

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It would be like you running to Tijuana

and then saying, all right, I'm gonna go

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even further still, or going to San Diego.

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You stop in San Diego, you

drop off your kids and say, I'm

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going to tj, don't follow me.

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Stay here.

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I'll be back at some point.

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Well, that's what he does.

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He goes to San Diego Beersheba, and

then he goes even further south and

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goes to, to tj, uh, in the wilderness

and leaves his servant there.

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So he's fleeing as far as he can go.

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He's afraid.

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It's flights not fights.

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Uh, this bold servant

of God suddenly changes.

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And I wanna show you something

that's especially important here.

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I want you to see how his faith responds

to this impetus this, uh, situation.

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And what it is at first is, is fleeing.

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At first he fought, he fought

the, the prophets of bail.

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But it, secondly, he flees.

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Something's happening,

something's shifted in him.

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And I wanna suggest to you

that what's happening is that

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Elijah's expectations of what God.

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Should have done were violated.

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Elijah expected something to happen

after Mount Carmel that didn't happen.

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And consequently he says,

oh no, everything I thought

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about God must be wrong.

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I've got a skedaddle.

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Let me make a one quick observation here.

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The very reason Elijah's

experiencing what he experiences

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is because he's doing God's will.

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The threats and the violence

should not be new to him.

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They should be an expected part of

what it looks like to follow God.

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So let's just start with number one here.

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As you do good before God, one of the

things that you should expect from God is

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that there will be increasing opposition.

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And I should say it's not from God.

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It's natural.

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It's part of being with God.

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There will be opposition.

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So expect increasing opposition

when doing increasing.

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Good.

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As you relate to God and you

do more good on his behalf

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you start reading your Bible.

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You start going to church more frequently.

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You attend a men's Bible study

skipping out your normal sleep.

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In day on, on a Saturday.

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You start serving.

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You show up early on a Sunday.

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You stay late after the service.

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All these things you

should expect opposition.

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This is not an anomaly.

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This is normal Christian life.

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This is normative.

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And it's because Elijah's doing

great good that he's greatly opposed.

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If Elijah had not called out the prophets

of Baal, well, Jezebel would have no

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need to threaten him, but it's because he

did good that the threat comes his way.

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Really what's happening here is so

clearly it, it clearly, it happens

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in our Christian life all the time.

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When you sit down to watch Hulu or

Netflix and maybe you're, you finish

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watching Beast Game season two, where

he is given out insane amounts of money.

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You never feel resistance to do that.

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No one's ever saying to you, oh, maybe

some people are, but no one's ever

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saying, you should feel guilty that you're

sitting here on the couch watching Beast

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Games or watching Hulu or what have you.

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There's so little resistance

to doing things like that.

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There's little spiritual opposition

to you to sit, sit down and just

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hang out, uh, watching Bluey with

the kids or watching the Super Bowl.

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All these low or no power mode activities

are not spiritually opposition to you.

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What is opposed is when you do

anything good for God's sake, when

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you begin to say, I don't wanna

just sit here on the sidelines.

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I wanna do good for God's sake, I

should expect there will be opposition.

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And there's at least three that

were always working against you.

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And you know these ones, right?

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You have the world.

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The world does not create a system

where it's easy to be a Christian.

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The world creates structures that

make it abnormal to be a Christian.

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And so the opposition that you'll feel

is things like when you're watching

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Netflix or Hulu or Apple tv, you'll

notice that there are themes and there

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are depictions that are offensive to you.

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They're sinful things.

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There are things that God says are evil

and you should hate, and when you see

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them, you should feel at least a tension

or conscience to say, this is not right.

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The world does not cater

to the Christian worldview.

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It works to the contrary.

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That's part of what the world does,

and that should not be an ex, uh,

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that should not be news to us.

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We, that should be an expectation.

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The world wants to normalize sin.

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So you have the first enemy of the world,

the second one, you have the flesh.

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Your flesh, even though it is redeemed

by God, it is still subject to

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sinful tendencies, and that will be

the case for the rest of your life.

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Your flesh makes it desirable to sin.

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Your flesh will capitalize on

opportunities to see something evil

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and sinful and say, oh, there's

something in there that draws me to it.

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And then finally, you have a devil

that makes it attractive to sin.

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There is a enemy that works

against you and me all the time

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to oppose your good desires.

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So let's just say you say in

your heart, I wanna wake up

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early and start reading my Bible.

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You should expect the world, the flesh,

and the devil to work against you.

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You'll see, oh man, that TV

show that I was watching.

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Now I'm hooked.

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And that little, that little wheel

that says it's gonna automatically

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play next episode, let me just click

that so I can watch the next episode.

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And now suddenly you've been up three

hours later than you expected because

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you, you started watching this show

that got you hooked your flesh.

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When you wake up early, we'll

say, but we need more sleep.

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I'd like to sleep in a little

longer, if you don't mind.

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And of course, the devil says, wouldn't

it just be awesome to just lay here

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because you don't need to read your Bible.

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You already, what are the

genealogy gonna teach you anyway?

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The world, the flesh and the devil

constantly operate against you.

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You should expect increasing

opposition when doing increasing.

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Good.

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We understand Elijah's Elijah's response.

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Elijah expected God to do

something in Mount Carmel that he

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didn't do, and so now he flees.

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The temptation for all of us

will always be, I want to flee.

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When things get hard, I'm

going to just drop out.

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It's easier not to fight and

that's always gonna be true.

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But expecting opposition means

being prepared to push through it.

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Let me just give you a

small illustration here.

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The fish that goes downstream

doesn't have to work at it.

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He just goes with the current.

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It's when that fish turns around

and decides to go upstream.

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That very active, turning around

and going upstream is what produces

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the opposition that he feels.

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In a similar fashion, you are a Christian

who's not going downstream with the world.

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You are trying to go upstream

against the current of the

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world, the flesh and the devil.

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And that automatically invites you into a

whole realm where life is harder and this

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is what it is to be a follower of Christ.

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This is what it looks like to be

faithful expecting oppositions means

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that you're preparing to push through it.

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Um, uh, suppose you signed

up for an adventure club.

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You sign up for Adventure Club and, and

you, you finally decide I'm gonna step up.

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But then something happens on Wednesday

nights, you begin to realize that man

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work is really picking up on Wednesdays.

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And so you're busier than

you've been in a long time.

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And then you so start suddenly

having these health issues.

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Your back's starting to hurt and you

know, you, you got outta bed one day

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and your neck hurts for some reason.

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You don't understand what's going on.

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So now you're, you're trying to show

up to Adventure Club and you got this

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crick in your neck and you're tired

because you've had a long day at work.

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And then you notice that your

spouse has been a little more

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irritable with you than normal.

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And you're kind of wondering,

well, what's happening here?

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I'm doing all the right things.

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And then you find yourself at a loss

of saying, Lord, I'm doing, I'm doing

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what I thought you wanted me to do,

and yet, life is harder for me now.

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What's going on?

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A world, the flesh and the devil

constantly at work against you.

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The opposition should be expected.

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I expect the devil to

go after your marriages.

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I expect the devil to go

after your relationships.

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I expect your flesh to be suspicious

of your brothers and your wives.

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I expect your flesh to be irritated with

your kids when you had a long day of work.

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And then you go to serve afterward,

and then you go home and you're like,

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oh, kick the dog and you hit the cat.

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You're mad because you've had a long day.

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Your flesh, the world, and the devil

all conspiring to work against you.

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When you do good, you need to expect that

there's going to be increasing opposition.

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God does not promise to take it away.

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In fact, to the contrary, Jesus

promises that it will be hard, and

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that's a feature and not a bug.

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You're going upstream that's

gonna cost you something.

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When committing to do

good for Christ's sake.

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You need to expect your

commitment to be tested.

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When Elijah stood there

on the mountain after they

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slaughtered the prophets of Baal.

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I, I suspect he was thinking, great.

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We're about to experience

revival in Israel.

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Things are gonna change.

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God's gonna do great things.

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And yet that didn't happen.

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At least not, not immediately,

and not the way he thought he ran

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because he was threatened by Jezebel.

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And yet what we're gonna see is

that the Lord sends him back.

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Your temptation to flee

might feel similar.

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I'd rather leave and go

to tj, start a new life.

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Then have to face what I'm facing here.

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But one of the things that we have

to be okay with gentlemen is that

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we let the Lord tell us when we're

done, not our emotions, not our flesh.

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In fact, pastor Peter is gonna preach,

I think this weekend, one Peter four 12.

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Peter says, beloved, do not be surprised.

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Brothers, do not be surprised at

the fiery trial when it comes upon

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you to test you as though something

strange were happening to you.

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Christians are not cynics.

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We're not jaded.

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People who are saying life is awful and

hard, but we, we are not surprised when

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there's difficulty in opposition to our

faith, to our love for the Lord, to our,

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our service, to our wives and our kids.

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We're not surprised at the fiery trial.

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This is part of what it is to serve the

Lord and our job is to say, Lord, I'm

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committed to you even when things don't

go my way, and perhaps especially so

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God wants us to learn to be resilient.

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But he's not ignorant of our nature.

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And this is what's so beautiful here.

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I love what we're about to see.

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This is probably one of the coolest

parts of the book of First Kings,

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and there's lots of cool parts, but

God's not ignorant of our nature.

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Psalm 1 0 3, verse 14

says, he knows our frame.

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He remembers that we are dust,

and I want you to see how God

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cares for Elijah, Elijah fleas.

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He's doing the wrong thing, he's

going the wrong direction, but I

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want you to see how God pursues him.

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Starting at verse four, one Kings 19.

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Go to verse four with me.

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We just saw that he's on the run.

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He's gone south, and then he

went further south, verse four.

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He himself, Elijah, went a day's

journey into the wilderness and came

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and sat down under a broom tree and

he asked the Lord that he might die.

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Saying It is enough now.

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Oh Lord, take away my life.

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Now let's just camp on that

for just a brief second here.

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I don't know if you've ever felt a desire

to leave this life, but if you have,

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I want you to see Scripture doesn't

endorse it, but it does recognize it.

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You might have such a hard time even

after serving the Lord in great ways.

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You might feel so low and so down that you

might like Elijah, say, Lord, I'm done.

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Stick a fork in me.

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Get me outta here.

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I'm tired of this.

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I'm tired of fighting.

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I'm tired of working.

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I'm tired of running.

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I'm tired of the threats.

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And so Elijah with other Godly men,

felt such deep despair that he was

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willing to say, Lord, just take me.

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He's not alone.

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Moses, his predecessor, also asked

the Lord, please just take my

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life Job after being one of the

most righteous men of his time.

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He's afflicted by the devil.

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God allows him to suffer and

then he asks the Lord, Lord, I

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wish is better than I not live.

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I wish I were dead.

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Jeremiah also wanted to die.

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Jonah, a prophet of God, not

the best prophet, but a prophet

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of God also wanted to die.

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It's not a good place to be, and

I'm not saying that this is okay.

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None of us wants to stay

there, but you're not alone.

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The Lord can redeem your situation.

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Even at the moments of your deepest

and darkest despair, my encouragement

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to you is not to stay there to invite

other men into this, especially.

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Of course you're gonna go to the

Lord, but don't do this alone.

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Elijah wants to die.

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He's run.

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He's on the lamb.

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He runs away.

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He says, it is enough now,

Lord, take away my life for

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I'm no better than my father's.

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Now that little phrase tells us

something about his thinking,

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I'm no better than my father's.

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I wonder if.

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He might have thought himself better

than his ancestors prior to this moment.

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He, he's making a comparison.

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I'm no better than my father's,

which tells me he's, in his

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mind, he's reasoning out.

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I thought I would have

different circumstances.

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I thought I might be more successful.

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And yet he's dealing with the

fact that he's now disillusioned

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by what ended up being something

contrary to what he was hoping for.

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Maybe he was building his identity

off of his ministry success.

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You know, I'm faithful when I,

like the Lord fed me with ravens.

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Uh, good Lord has clearly

shown his power through Elijah.

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And maybe he got used to that

thinking, this is the way

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God's always going to treat me.

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I'm always going to live in the

sunshine and never in the darkness.

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And yet God directly

confronts those expectations.

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And verse five.

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Verse five, he laid down and

slept under a broom tree.

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God does to Elijah What?

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What parents do to their fussy

toddlers take a nap and eat some food.

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It's exactly what happens here.

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Look at, look.

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Look what he does here.

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He slept under a broom tree.

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And behold, an angel touched him

and said to him, arise and eat.

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Notice there's no correction in this.

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This is just God using an

angelic messenger to feed him

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a rise and eat and behold.

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There was at his head a

cake baked on hot stones.

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That sounds really good.

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A cake baked on hot stones

and a jar of water, and he ate

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and drank and laid down again.

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This guy is exhausted.

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He sleeps.

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He gets up only to eat.

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He goes back to bed, verse seven, and

the angel of the Lord came again a second

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time and touched him and said, arise and

eat for the journey Is too great for you.

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Now remember, his journey

is away from the Lord.

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At this point.

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He's running away from the ministry

post God and given him, and yet God

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is graciously supplying his need.

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He feeds him twice.

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He lets him sleep, and then the angel

says, I need you to eat one more time

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because the the journey that you're

going to take Now, you might be running

425

from the Lord, but I'm gonna use this

journey to teach you something buddy.

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So he's running from the Lord and the

angel says, I want to eat some more.

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And then verse eight.

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He arose and ate and drank,

and then notice this.

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He went in the strength of that

food for 40 days and 40 nights

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to Horri the Mount of God.

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Mount Horri is also probably Mount Sinai.

432

That's a safe bet.

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Mount Sinai, if you're familiar,

is the mountain where God

434

revealed himself to Moses.

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To give them the, the law.

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And so we see a lot of parallels

between Elijah and Moses.

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In fact, this is, you know, the

same Elijah and the same Moses

438

who are gonna meet Jesus on a,

on the Mount of Transfiguration.

439

Remember, Moses and Elijah visit

Jesus and they both collectively

440

represent the law and the prophets.

441

So there's a lot of parallels

between Moses and Elijah here.

442

But I want you to see that how

God treats him is fascinating.

443

God personally feeds.

444

Personally feeds Elijah.

445

Uh, in chapter 17, Elijah experienced

God's provision by sending ravens.

446

But here God sends a messenger to say,

I'm, I'm going to feed you myself.

447

Where'd the food come from?

448

I don't know.

449

God made it.

450

And here God tops him off.

451

But notice he feeds him.

452

He gives him rest.

453

And then he says, I want you to fast for

40 days, which is exactly what happens.

454

He tops him off and then sends him 40

days and 40 nights into the wilderness.

455

Now just think 40 wilderness.

456

Mount Sinai, is this

sounding familiar at all?

457

There should be some connections

that are being connected in your

458

brain that draw the parallel between

Elijah and Moses who led the people

459

of Israel through the wilderness

when they were being tested by God.

460

Moses is on the lamb away from the

ministry post God gave him, and now he's

461

on the lamb, and God's gonna send him

through the wilderness to test him and

462

to meet him, and this is fascinating.

463

I love the way that God responds to him.

464

Now what we see here is God does

a few things that we need to see,

465

but let me just put it like this

under a point number two here.

466

We should expect God to meet our real

needs and not our felt needs, our

467

real needs and not our felt needs.

468

Uh, it seems like Elijah expected God

to meet certain needs, that he had

469

expectations about God provoking, revival,

and doing all sorts of things, but God

470

instead says, hold on, slow down, Elijah.

471

I'm gonna meet your needs in a way that

you don't even expect me to do this.

472

Have you ever seen those cups or

those memes that say, I, I'm sorry

473

for what I said when I was hungry or

when I was hungry or when I was tired.

474

I understand the sentiment.

475

When our flesh is weak, we,

we get a lot more irritable.

476

And so it's fascinating to me that

here, the first thing God does

477

is meet Elijah's physical means.

478

A lot of us would, would do

well to see how God does this

479

and to do this for ourselves.

480

Uh, sleep and food and taking care

of your body is not unspiritual.

481

In fact, we see the opposite.

482

This is the first thing God

does to minister to Elijah.

483

It's very spiritual to care for

the body that God has given you.

484

But I want us to notice the gap between

our felt needs and our real needs.

485

And for that, I'm gonna take

you outta First Kings for just

486

a moment before we go back.

487

Turn to Philippians chapter four.

488

We're gonna take a brief look

at the Apostle Paul and notice

489

what he says about needs.

490

This is so critical.

491

This unlocked something for

me as I study for this, and I

492

think it'll be helpful to you.

493

Philippians chapter four at verse 19.

494

We need to think carefully about how

God wants us to think about our needs

495

so that we can have a right expectation.

496

My thesis here is that our faith

will often struggle because we have

497

wrong expectations, sub biblical

or even unbiblical expectations.

498

And part of this then is how

God deals with our needs.

499

Let's take a look at

Philippians four, verse 19.

500

This is worth memorizing here.

501

Paul says to the Philippian Church, after

thanking them for their gift, he says,

502

my God will supply every need of yours.

503

According to his riches

in glory in Christ Jesus.

504

Wow.

505

Talk about a blank check.

506

My God will give you

every need that you have.

507

He will supply your

needs every which need.

508

Every need.

509

How is he gonna do that?

510

Well, according to his riches in glory

in Christ Jesus, that is a blank check.

511

And for most Christians, I

think we see that and we say,

512

man, that is so encouraging.

513

The Lord's gonna provide.

514

And indeed he does, and he will.

515

So important.

516

Staying in chapter four though, I want

you to scoop back just a few verses.

517

We'll go back to verse 11,

Philippians four, verse 11.

518

Paul says, as he thanks them for the gift

that they sent to him, the Philippian

519

church blessed him with some resources.

520

He's thanking them for this, and

then he says in verse 11, not that

521

I'm speaking of being in need.

522

Keep an eye on that word there

for I have learned in whatever

523

situation I am to be content.

524

And then he describes the

situations that he's been in.

525

Verse 12, I know how to be brought

low, isn't been in a low situation

526

and I know how to about in any

and every circumstance, I have

527

learned the secret of facing plenty.

528

And look at this hunger, abundance,

and here's our word, need.

529

I can do all things through him who

strengthens me Well, which is it Paul?

530

Does he supply every need or should

we expect to have moments of need?

531

Should we call on God to fulfill his

promise, to supply every need of ours

532

according to his riches in Christ Jesus?

533

Or should we, like Paul,

expect to be naked and hungry?

534

Hunger's a need, isn't it?

535

It's a physical.

536

If I don't eat, I die.

537

And yet Paul says, here, I know how to

be in both areas and I'm gonna be okay.

538

I, he says here in verse 11, I, I'm

not speaking of being in need guys.

539

I have no needs.

540

I'm well provided for.

541

And yet he's also saying, I've

also know what it is to be naked.

542

I know how to have a lot, I know

how to have a little, how do we

543

put these two things together?

544

And I think the important part for you

to see here is that God meets your needs

545

through both abundance and deprivation.

546

Because your needs are often not the

temporal ones that we're focused on.

547

The needs are the permanent and the

spiritual ones that God cares more about.

548

This is not to say that he doesn't want

you to care for your physical body.

549

Obviously he does.

550

But our greatest need is faithfulness

to Christ and life and in death.

551

Our greatest need is to trust that

God knows our needs and will meet

552

them as he sees fits, and that will

mean as you see here in Paul seasons

553

of deprivation, where your belt

has to be tightened a notch or two.

554

Or where you're having to make cuts

that you didn't expect to make or where

555

you're having to sacrifice sleep that

you weren't expecting to sacrifice.

556

There are seasons where this is the case.

557

Paul makes it clear, and yet he

says, even in those seasons, it

558

is possible and even expected that

God will meet your real needs.

559

God will be faithful and your hard

marriage, God will meet your real need,

560

which is not necessarily peace in the

marriage, although you might pursue that.

561

The need is that you

learn Christ's patience.

562

That you learn how to love

someone who makes it hard to love

563

God will meet your real needs.

564

Your felt needs are helpful

indicators, but they can't be the

565

thing that governs your responses.

566

God will sometimes hold, rather,

God will sometimes withhold lesser

567

needs to meet your greater needs.

568

We're not often good at.

569

Ranking these in our minds, which

is why we have to let God lead us in

570

this and be willing to say, God, I,

I'm trying, I'm, I'm trying to save.

571

I'm trying to serve my wife.

572

I'm trying to serve my church,

and I, I'm struggling with

573

some of my needs not being met.

574

Lord, is this a season where you're

wanting me to learn how to be

575

content even when you withhold this?

576

Or do I need to change the circumstance?

577

Both are a possibility, but I just need to

expose you to the fact that God might want

578

you there in that season of deprivation.

579

It's very possible.

580

Okay.

581

Philippians four is a really

helpful place for us to camp.

582

I, I would love to spend more time

here, but I'd love for you to just

583

study Paul's life and put these

pieces together for yourselves.

584

Let's give you a little hint of it,

but let's turn back to One Kings

585

19 as we look at the facts and just

make two quick observations here.

586

God met physical needs

first, rest, and food.

587

And I wanna point out to your

attention here, something you

588

know, you are a body and a soul.

589

You are both of these things in

one, and because of that, it is not

590

unspiritual to care for your body and you

should, you should care for your body.

591

Both of these things are important to God.

592

We're not we're not the kind of people

who think that only your soul matters.

593

We do believe that you should take

care of your physical body, and

594

that means trusting that God wants

you to use food to care for it.

595

In fact, Jesus asks you to pray

in the Sermon on the Mount.

596

Give us this day our daily bread.

597

Give us this day our daily bread.

598

God provides sleep.

599

Uh, in Psalm 1 27, 2, it says that

he gives to his beloved sleep.

600

God makes it easier for us to fight

when we are physically replenished.

601

In fact, do you remember what Jesus says

in the garden, uh, as his disciples fall

602

asleep at his hour of greatest need?

603

What does he say?

604

The flesh is weak.

605

Spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.

606

Sometimes we shoot ourselves in the

foot by weakening our flesh over

607

and over again through patterns and

habits that don't serve our body.

608

God feeds and sleeps.

609

Elijah, before he says anything to him,

before he addresses the issue, he just

610

says, I need you to take a nap, buddy.

611

Sometimes the most spiritual thing you can

do is taking a nap and eating a good meal.

612

No amens on that.

613

Yeah.

614

Okay.

615

I said amen to my heart.

616

I was all about that.

617

I don't need an excuse to take

a nap, but that one helped.

618

Some people focus on one thing to

the exclusion of the other, and I

619

know that's a danger for a lot of

us, but I just need you to see being

620

a physical being means that we have

to take care of our physical bodies.

621

If you don't do that, you end up

being sick, which will not help you

622

as you seek to love your spouse.

623

Uh, if you eat poor food on a

regular basis, it's not gonna

624

help you endure ministry.

625

It's not gonna add to your energy.

626

It's not gonna give you

the ability to serve in, in

627

moments where people need you.

628

I remember I was telling my kids, look,

I, I, I exercised so I could be helpful

629

to the church and my, my greatest hero

story of all time, I know I should, you're

630

never supposed to share hero stories.

631

Uh, but I showed this,

shared this with my kids.

632

'cause this was such a great example.

633

I was serving in Leisure World,

which is now called Laguna Woods.

634

Laguna Woods.

635

Thank you.

636

Pastor Peach and I were doing

ministry before we came here, and

637

I came early to set up and do my

thing, and I saw a man on the floor.

638

And I saw another older gentleman,

two of these older gentlemen were

639

struggling to, to help each other out.

640

The one older gentleman was trying

to push the other guy up, and the

641

other guy was just not making it.

642

So I walked over there,

I said, can I help?

643

And the other guy said, yeah, he fell.

644

And so I said, great.

645

I got this.

646

So I stood behind the guy,

I put my arms underneath his

647

armpits and I just did squat.

648

It was so cool.

649

It was the only time I've ever

been able to use that in a

650

really practical situation.

651

But I put my arms underneath

that, pulled them right up.

652

It was a piece of cake.

653

He was very thankful and

I thought, man, that's.

654

That's why I exercise.

655

That's it.

656

That was it.

657

I mean, obviously I use it now because

we're setting up and tearing down all the

658

time, but I exercised so I could do that.

659

And then I, I, I rode my bike before I

came because I wanna have a fresh mind.

660

That's all I did.

661

I just rode the bike and I wanted to

think about how I can best serve you guys.

662

God wants you to use your physical body

to serve the church, to serve your family,

663

to serve your employer, to serve the

people that God has given you, and the

664

more physical, physically fit you're able.

665

To be the more capable you're able to be.

666

Of course there's a, there's a way to

emphasize that in a, in an unhelpful way.

667

So God met physical needs first.

668

Second, God prioritized spiritual needs.

669

Ultimately, I need you to see that too.

670

God pr, God met the physical needs first,

but he prioritized the spiritual needs.

671

That gets the emphasis, and this

is where I need you to land.

672

Uh, I can't give you a

percentage, like, Hey, 60%.

673

Spiritual, 40% physical, but I can show

you this is what God prioritized and all

674

we have to do is look at the fact that God

makes him fast for 40 days and 40 nights.

675

He ate and he slept and he says, by

the way, I hope you enjoyed that meal.

676

'cause you're now not gonna eat for 40.

677

You're gonna be on a, on a, on a, an

elimination diet for the next 40 days.

678

He does this in order to

help Elijah commune with God.

679

And that's actually what fasting

is supposed to help us do.

680

Fasting, withholding yourself from

food allows us to connect with God

681

in ways that we otherwise would

not, and so he makes him fast.

682

I also wanted to show, I wanna

show you First Corinthians

683

chapter five, verse five.

684

Just write that down.

685

First Corinthians five, verse five.

686

Paul says to the church at Corinth, I want

you to send this man outta the church.

687

And here's what he says, you are

to deliver this man to Satan for

688

the destruction of the flesh.

689

Why?

690

So that his spirit may be

saved in the day of the Lord.

691

Do you see how God prioritizes?

692

The spirit over the flesh.

693

So if there is gonna be one to

suffer, let it be your flesh.

694

If there is gonna be one to

sacrifice, let it be your flesh.

695

But ordinarily, as a regular pattern of

your life, God does want you to care for

696

your physical body while still focusing

and prioritizing your spiritual needs.

697

What Elijah needed was

a reframed view of God.

698

That was his expectation.

699

The expectation should be, I need

to expect God to meet my real

700

needs and not just my felt needs.

701

In this last section, and man, this is so

rich, we're not gonna have all the time

702

that I want to discuss it, but I want to

take you through the last section where

703

God now meets Elijah face to face, as it

were to deal with his issue, and we'll see

704

how God reframes Elijah's expectations.

705

This is awesome.

706

Okay, verse nine.

707

I'm gonna read it all the way through

with minimal commentary and we'll, we'll

708

make our third and final point here.

709

Then Elijah came to a cave and lodged

in it, and behold the word of the

710

Lord came to him and said to him,

what are you doing here, Elijah?

711

Just notice that this is a subtle

and gentle way for God to tell Elijah

712

you're not in the right place, but he

doesn't do it by pointing his finger,

713

said, Elijah, stop being an idiot.

714

Get back to work.

715

He starts with the question,

what are you doing here, Elijah?

716

What an incredible God.

717

How gracious is he?

718

Verse 10.

719

Notice how Elijah responds.

720

Pay close attention.

721

He says, I've been very

jealous for the Lord.

722

The God of hosts for e for the people

of Israel have forsaken your covenant.

723

They've thrown down your altars.

724

They've killed your

prophets with the sword.

725

And I even, I, only I alone him left,

and they seek my life to take it away.

726

Okay, keep that one fixed in your mind.

727

Notice his response.

728

I'm alone.

729

I'm, I'm the only prophet of God.

730

Left.

731

If you have time later, chapter

18 in verse seven, actually

732

starting at chapter 18 verse three.

733

Obadiah is the household

manager for King Ahab.

734

He's the one who meets Elijah and

says, guys, Elijah, I've got 50 guys,

735

50 prophets that I have protected and

hidden, or a hundred actually, but in

736

fifties, I protected and hidden these

guys, they're faithful to Yahweh.

737

He had this meeting with Obediah,

and yet Elijah seems to have

738

forgotten that conversation entirely.

739

I'm alone.

740

Verse 11.

741

God said to Elijah, go out and

stand on the mount before the Lord.

742

This is also critical because

I don't think Elijah responds.

743

He doesn't do this, at

least not immediately.

744

Here's what the Lord says.

745

Here's what.

746

Here's what the Bible says here.

747

And behold, the Lord passed by and a great

and strong wind tore the mountains in

748

broken pieces, the rocks before the Lord.

749

But the Lord was not in the wind.

750

And after the wind, an earthquake, but

the Lord was not in the earthquake.

751

And after the earthquake of fire,

remember the fire motif, God stands down.

752

Fire from heaven.

753

There's a fire.

754

But the Lord was not in the fire.

755

And after the fire, the sound of a

low whisper notice here, and when

756

Elijah heard it, he wrapped his

face in his cloak and went out and

757

stood at the entrance of the cave.

758

I just need to pause real quick here.

759

All this spectacular events that God

showcases to Elijah, these are ways

760

that Elijah would've been familiar.

761

God operates in spectacular ways.

762

Elijah has seen this, and yes,

the Bible repeatedly says the

763

Lord was not in these things.

764

It's only until you get this still

small voice, the low whisper, a thin

765

silence that finally Elijah recognizes,

okay, that's where the Lord is.

766

But notice that Elijah wraps his face.

767

Is this, this might seem to you

at least at first glance, oh, he's

768

being humble, he's being pious.

769

He doesn't want to

behold the glory of God.

770

He doesn't want to, uh, look at

something he should not look at.

771

But I would su suggest to you

that what's happening here is

772

actually Elijah, avoiding the Lord.

773

Hiding your face from somebody is

not a positive thing in scripture.

774

In fact, several passages ask the Lord,

please don't hide your face from me.

775

Moses, you might think hides his face too.

776

But not when he is with the Lord.

777

Moses hides his face when after he

meets the Lord, so that the people don't

778

see the glory fading from his noggin.

779

But when he is with the Lord,

he's with the Lord face to face.

780

Paul says later on, we all with unveiled

face, behold the glory of the Lord are

781

being transformed into the same image

from one degree of glory to another.

782

I don't think this is a good

thing I see in Elijah resistance.

783

I don't wanna see what you're showing me.

784

God.

785

And that would explain to me why he

doesn't exit the cave until after the

786

Lord puts on this firework show for him.

787

I think Elijah is still very much in

a resistance and rebellious state.

788

The still small voice, this is

the crescendo of the whole thing.

789

Chapter 19 really wants us to

see this still small voice.

790

What, what is God showing us?

791

Why is God not in the wind,

the earthquake and the fire?

792

And I, I wanna suggest to you

that what God is showing us

793

here is that he's not a formula.

794

And God doesn't operate according to a

fixed calculation where he says, I always

795

do A, B, C, and D when you expect me to.

796

We can talk about God's promises,

especially those where he

797

promises to meet our needs.

798

But God is not a formula.

799

He's a person.

800

He acts according to his personhood.

801

And I wonder if you've ever expected

God to act in your life in a certain

802

way, like He's gonna save this person,

he's gonna do this thing or that thing.

803

Not that he's unwilling.

804

But I wonder if you might miss the

ordinary ways that God works, the

805

ordinary the quiets, the unobtrusive ways.

806

There's a million things that God

is doing and we're, we're really

807

never all that aware of all of them,

but we can understand how people

808

would see God in this spectacular.

809

But I think God is showing

Elijah, I don't need spectacular.

810

I can work in thin silence.

811

I can work through a donkey, I can work

through a normal everyday conversation.

812

I can work in things that you're

not expecting the ordinary,

813

everyday, and the quiet.

814

Let us not be like Elijah and miss that.

815

God works in the ordinary ways.

816

Elijah approaches.

817

God hides his face.

818

And then notice notice here in

819

verse 14.

820

Yeah, actually the, the last part of

verse 13, notice again what God does.

821

He asks Elijah the same question.

822

There came a voice to him and said,

what are you doing here, Elijah?

823

Now, God's not stupid.

824

He's asking a question that's the same

question, and what do you think God

825

would expect after the display of his

glory, his majesty, and the thin voice?

826

What do you think God's

expecting after this?

827

Hopefully a different answer.

828

Notice Elijah's response.

829

What are you doing here, Elijah?

830

He said, and you could just read verse

10 because it's the same exact thing.

831

I've been very jealous for the

Lord that the God of hosts for the

832

people of Israel have forsaken your

covenant, throw down your altars, and

833

killed your prophets with the sword.

834

And I even, I only am left and

they seek my life to take it away.

835

Same response.

836

And yet the Lord still.

837

Still does not smite him.

838

He doesn't slap him.

839

He doesn't throw him off

of the, the mountain face.

840

He just, he stays with him.

841

Verse 16, the Lord said to him, go return

on your way to the wilderness of Damascus.

842

And when you arrive, you shall

anoint zeel to be king over Syria.

843

And Je who?

844

The son, the son of Nims, she you

shall anoint to be king over Israel.

845

Uh, and Elisha, your predecessor.

846

Uh, your successor, rather, the son

of she of Abel, Mela, you shall anoint

847

to be prophet in your place and the

one who escapes from the sword of hael

848

shall jehu put to death and the one

who escapes from the sword of Jehu,

849

shall Eisha put to death verse 18.

850

Yet I will leave 7,000 in Israel.

851

All the knees that I have that have not

bound to bail in every mount that has not

852

kissed him, he ends by saying two things.

853

Elijah, I've got work

for you to do, buddy.

854

I need you to go back.

855

And then two, by the

way, you're not alone.

856

There are still 7,000.

857

God meets Elijah's real needs by

saying, buddy, let me reframe the way

858

that you're seeing this whole thing.

859

And even this, God is gracious.

860

I, I just see God's grace

written all over this point.

861

Number three here, I need you

to expect your perspective

862

to be limited and incomplete.

863

God sees it the way it is.

864

Elijah does not, he does

this for us all the time.

865

If our eyes are open, you need to

recognize that anytime something

866

doesn't make sense to you, things

that God says or does, you have to

867

remember your perspective is limited

and incomplete because you're a

868

man, because you're a creature.

869

If you're going to endure in your

faith, you need to be strengthened

870

by biblical expectations, and your

biblical expectation is, I don't

871

know everything and what I do

know, I barely know what I know.

872

What I know about the Bible and

about God makes me feel I need to

873

know a lot more that drives me.

874

I don't know everything.

875

I wanna know more, but I'll never

have the knowledge that God has.

876

No matter if I study every day

for the rest of my life, I will

877

still be limited and incomplete.

878

That's all of us.

879

We're all by default,

limited and incomplete.

880

You're limited by time, space, knowledge,

and wisdom, and you're incomplete.

881

You'll only ever see

a part of the picture.

882

How part of the picture will you see?

883

Uh, uh, uh, there's a tweet

years ago from John Piper.

884

I'm just gonna read to you.

885

Here's what he said.

886

God is always doing 10,000

things in your life, and you

887

may be aware of three of them.

888

And of course, this, this is not a, this

is not a formula, but I treat it that way.

889

If there are 8.3

890

billion people on the planet

and God is doing 10,000

891

things in each of their lives.

892

That would be 83 trillion things.

893

God is controlling 83, 80

3 trillion things at once.

894

And to put that in perspective, if

you tried to count to 83 trillion

895

at one number per second without

stopping to eat, sleep, drink, or

896

anything else, it would take you 2.6

897

million years to count to that number.

898

We're talking about absurd

numerical data here.

899

And I think the point is that

God is doing all of that at once.

900

He's not forgetting somebody.

901

He's doing 10,000 things in each

of our lives all at the same time.

902

All with complete awareness of who we are.

903

And we're only aware of

a few things at the best.

904

Psalm 1 0 3 says the word we're

to count up our blessings, to

905

be aware of what God is doing.

906

And so often we're just not.

907

You need to expect your perspective

to be limited and incomplete.

908

Like Elijah, we get disillusioned.

909

We get discouraged if we're only

focusing on what's in front of us.

910

God, if you really love my family, if

you really love me, if you really, if you

911

really cared, wouldn't you, A, B, C, and

D, fill in the blank of all the things

912

that you want God to do in your life.

913

Those things may not be bad.

914

I suspect that what

Elijah wanted was not bad.

915

He wanted God's glory in Israel,

but he wanted it on his timetable.

916

I want it when I want it.

917

God, aren't you gonna do it now?

918

Why won't you do what I want right now?

919

Expect your perspective to

be limited and incomplete.

920

I think another mistake that Elijah

makes is that he looks at all that

921

God is doing from his own perspective.

922

Now, granted he's a major player in

biblical history, but how easy would

923

it be to look at your own life and

say, well, God, you clearly need me.

924

So you're gonna use me to accomplish

your purposes, and maybe God's saying,

925

look, I'm gonna use you for a season,

but I'm gonna sideline you when you

926

think you ought to be center stage.

927

I'm gonna, I'm, I'm not gonna give you

the spotlight for your whole life, Elijah.

928

In fact, one of your jobs, Elijah,

is when you go back, I'm gonna

929

make you a point of successor.

930

We need to expect God to do things

that will defy our expectations.

931

They'll confuse us.

932

God will do, and say things

to us that will cause us to be

933

flummoxed at what he's doing.

934

And that's part of the point.

935

You're not gonna know.

936

God's ways are inscrutable and they're

good Biblical expectation we should

937

have is that we can trust him in those

things You see, God's gonna force you.

938

He's gonna force you to trust him.

939

This is your expectation.

940

When you're interacting with the

living God, the God who made heaven

941

and earth, he will force you to trust

him because your mind, no matter how

942

smart you are, will never be able to

fully comprehend all that he's doing.

943

He will force you to trust him.

944

Interesting.

945

In the New Testament, the man who is

called the new Elijah, John the Baptist,

946

also came to a moment with God where

he said to Jesus, are you the one who

947

is to come or shall we expect another?

948

Now, you might remember,

John says this from prison.

949

He has to send his it, his entourage

and say, Hey, go talk to Jesus

950

and say, are you really the guy?

951

Jesus ends that short conversation

with them, with Blessed is the

952

one who is not offended by me.

953

Have you been offended by God?

954

Has he defied your expectations

as he let you down?

955

Blessed is the one who's

not offended by me.

956

You need to place your focus on

who God is and what he's done.

957

You see, Elijah was bold as long as his

mind was centered on God, but not when he

958

began to focus his attention upon himself.

959

That's j Adams in the

Christian Counselor's manual.

960

Well, God, what's your plan?

961

Whatcha gonna do what?

962

What are you doing?

963

Show me.

964

Just, if you just told me what the

plan was, God, I would trust you.

965

That's false.

966

That's false.

967

We, we never will.

968

We're never happy with that.

969

But here's what we do have.

970

You should write this one down.

971

Romans 8 31 and 32.

972

Paul talks about a life of suffering

of persecution, and he says, what

973

then shall we say to these things?

974

If God is for us, who can be against us?

975

He who did not spare his own son, but gave

him up for us all, how will he not also

976

with him graciously give us all things?

977

If God has given you Jesus,

his son, you can trust him with

978

everything else below that.

979

That is the most expensive

thing he could possibly give.

980

Will he not withhold anything from you?

981

Of course not.

982

He will not withhold what you really need.

983

Sometimes we forget that the

Gospel, as Tim Keller said, is

984

not just the ABCs of Christianity

but the A two Zs of Christianity.

985

When your heart begins to grow, faint

and doubtful, you need to remember

986

what God has done for you in Christ.

987

Elijah didn't have this.

988

And I feel for Elijah, 'cause I probably

would be in the same spot, but I can say,

989

I can think about what Christ has done

on my behalf and say, I can trust you.

990

If I can trust you to give

me Christ to die from my sin.

991

I can trust you with everything

else that I'm concerned about.

992

And my expectations are gonna

be held with an open hand.

993

I don't need to know the whole plan.

994

If I know the planner, if I can trust

the planner, I can just say, God, you

995

be God and I'll follow you wherever

you lead, even when, and especially

996

when it defies what I expect you to do.

997

Gentlemen, you're not

alone in the struggle.

998

And there's so much more

to say about Elijah.

999

But what I want you to see

here is that our job is to

00:48:31,905 --> 00:48:33,465

cultivate biblical expectations.

00:48:33,885 --> 00:48:37,605

It's when we have, uh, biblical

expectations that our faith can endure.

00:48:38,055 --> 00:48:42,075

Those expectations are open-handed,

trust and responsiveness to the Lord.

00:48:42,885 --> 00:48:45,435

When you have your dark seasons,

your moments of loneliness and

00:48:45,435 --> 00:48:48,285

doubt and frustration, know that

people have gone before you and

00:48:48,285 --> 00:48:49,395

God has carried them through that.

00:48:49,815 --> 00:48:52,425

My encouragement to you is take it to

the Lord and take it to your brothers.

00:48:52,815 --> 00:48:54,345

Trust that God will get you through it.

00:48:54,990 --> 00:48:58,020

Don't lose heart, don't lose hope,

because God is the one who sustains you.

00:48:58,050 --> 00:49:00,060

He upholds you with his

righteous right hand.

00:49:01,140 --> 00:49:05,070

Because Christ is rejected, because

he was condemned on the cross.

00:49:05,130 --> 00:49:06,180

You'll never be rejected.

00:49:07,260 --> 00:49:09,720

The things that you experience

are not God saying no to you.

00:49:09,960 --> 00:49:10,590

I don't like you.

00:49:10,590 --> 00:49:11,340

You're not my son.

00:49:11,430 --> 00:49:13,620

It's God shaping you and growing you.

00:49:13,830 --> 00:49:14,970

Your greatest need is christlikeness.

00:49:16,440 --> 00:49:17,190

God's purposes.

00:49:17,190 --> 00:49:19,440

Therefore, cannot be thwarted

and will not be thwarted.

00:49:19,620 --> 00:49:20,400

We can trust him.

00:49:21,240 --> 00:49:22,230

That's why we should be resolved.

00:49:22,560 --> 00:49:22,980

Let's pray.

00:49:23,130 --> 00:49:25,680

God, help us this morning as we

now go to our small groups to learn

00:49:25,890 --> 00:49:27,480

about how to put this into practice.

00:49:27,540 --> 00:49:31,170

Give us boldness to talk openly,

give us vulnerability, give us trust.

00:49:31,410 --> 00:49:34,470

Let us cultivate relationships that

help us to know you better, to love

00:49:34,470 --> 00:49:38,880

you more faithfully, and to know how to

navigate life when things let us down.

00:49:39,420 --> 00:49:42,030

And if we're honest, Lord, when

you let us down, when you don't do

00:49:42,030 --> 00:49:43,740

things according to our expectations.

00:49:44,310 --> 00:49:49,200

Help us to still navigate with trust, with

confidence, even when those moments arise.

00:49:49,290 --> 00:49:51,210

Give us great conversations

in our small groups.

00:49:51,210 --> 00:49:52,980

We ask in Jesus name, amen.