Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thank you so much for Lake Point.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
I thank you for the work that you are not
only doing through their church, but the work you're doing
in them.
Speaker 1 (00:06):
In us.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
Lord, thank you that as the family of God, we
can know that you are not bound by space, You're
not bound by time.
Speaker 1 (00:14):
You don't have to be in one building.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
Father, You can be with each of us equally right now,
in this moment, wherever we are.
Speaker 1 (00:21):
So would you take this one message, would you divide.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
It up, multiply it several thousand different ways, so that
every single one of us right now will hear the
voice of God in Jesus' name.
Speaker 1 (00:33):
Amen.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
So here in Dallas where I am, there is a
little half marathon that takes place once a year. It
takes place around the holiday time frame, so it's in
December and it's called appropriately so the Hot Chocolate Run.
Speaker 1 (00:50):
The Hot Chocolate Run is just fun. You know.
Speaker 2 (00:52):
Folks come with Christmas lights around their hair or on
their heads, and they've gotten light up shoes.
Speaker 1 (00:57):
You know, it's fun. It's in the dark.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
Whether you do a mile or three miles or I
think there's a five mile track as well. The run
goes through an area of town known as the Design District.
When you get to the end of your run, you
get a bunch of sweets, hot chocolate being one of those.
So I enjoyed doing this for several years along with
my sister and her children.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
We bring out all our kids and we do the
run together.
Speaker 2 (01:18):
We walk it or run it. Either way, we just
have a good time. One of the things that that
I most remember about this run is that it took
place in an area of Dallas called the Design District.
Now I have known about the Design District my entire life.
I've born and raised here in the city, and so
I have seen a huge billboard off of one of
the major freeways in Dallas, Highway thirty five, and that
(01:41):
freeway says or that billboard says Design District. So I've
known that that is where the designers are. It's for
people who are artists or craftsmen, interior designers and decorators.
Speaker 1 (01:52):
People who are artisans.
Speaker 2 (01:53):
They've got cute little shops down there, and I've seen
it and known about it from afar.
Speaker 1 (01:57):
I've even known people.
Speaker 2 (01:58):
That have worked there in people who the regular rhythms
of their life are in the Design District. But I'm
always just on Highway thirty five headed from one side
of town, racing past to the other side of town.
So the run, the Hot Chocolate Run, was the very
first time that I ever went through it. And when
I went through it by foot, walking through, jogging through,
(02:20):
interacting with others, and enjoying myself through it, I saw
some details about Dallas I'd.
Speaker 1 (02:25):
Never seen before. There were some cute.
Speaker 2 (02:26):
Little shops and restaurants that I took note of, places
that I made note of their address so that I
could come back later and really engage and see what
they had inside their stores. Man, I really grew a
greater appreciation for the design district, not when I saw
it from Afar, but when I had to go through it.
Speaker 1 (02:46):
Right now.
Speaker 2 (02:47):
God is allowing many of us to go through it,
didn't he We've been through some stuff, not only individually.
We're going through some stuff in whole communities. Whole churches
are going through some stuff, nations, the globe is going
through some stuff. But I've found that it is not
until I go through something that I actually see nuances
(03:08):
about God, about his character, about my relationship with Him.
It's actually not until I go through something that I
discover more completely his promises and not only seeing them
outworked in other people's life, but where I come to
actually expect His truths to be applicable in my own life.
It's when I go through something that I actually develop
(03:28):
character and have some frame of reference for what it
means to have endurance and a life of faith. It's
when I go through something that I become better acquainted
with the Holy Spirit. Now he's not just a theoretical being,
but now I recognize the fruit of God's Spirit effervescent
in my life. I see the patience, outwork, the self discipline,
(03:49):
the kindness. I learn what it's like to walk in
the rhythms of grace. I don't know all that from
a billboard, just experiencing God far away, seeing his name,
and maybe experiencing religious activity far away. I don't get
to know God intimately. I don't get to have a
friendship with him like that the man. When we go
(04:09):
through stuff all of a sudden, there is a friendship
that that develops with God that carries us over the
long haul. So if today meets you at a time
where you're going through some stuff, would you know that
this is an opportunity for you to have your eyes,
your spiritual eyes wide open to learn and to see,
(04:30):
and to engage in every opportunity to get to know.
Speaker 1 (04:33):
God in a way you otherwise would not have opportunity.
Speaker 2 (04:36):
This is one of the main things that drew me
to a study of Elijah. Elijah is really the premier
prophet of the Old Testament. His story sort of begins
in the Book of First Kings. If you had your
Bible and you want to turn there with me, you can,
you know, if you actually still use a Bible with
paper pages like I do, or your iPhone, your iPad,
(04:57):
any manner of eyeingness will get you to First Ki
Because in this particular book of the Bible we get
to see Elijah emerge onto the sea. Now, this is
a guy who really has some highlights in his life
that we all recognize, just like the heroes of Scripture
that we really admire, you know, like Moses and the
whole Red Sea business, or like Joshua and the walls
(05:17):
of Jericho coming tumbling down. The highlights that we remember
in regards to Gideon or Jonah, all of these heroes
of the Scripture, Esther and Ruth, we remember the highlights
for Elijah, the Mount Carmels of their experience. And what
I've discovered is that when I'm reading in the pages
of Scripture and admiring folks whose faith is worthy to
(05:39):
be admired and to be gleaned from, what I've noticed
is that oftentimes it's the Mount Carmels that dazzle us.
It's the flashy display of God's glory, the unforgettable, big
stage experience of God's presence and power, that it really
does draw us to people, and oftentimes it will blind
us to what they went through to get there. It
(06:00):
will blind us to the things that they had to navigate,
the roads they had to walk down, the journey that
they went on with God to get.
Speaker 1 (06:08):
Them to the place where.
Speaker 2 (06:09):
In Elijah's example, he will stand flat footed on Mount
Carmel just a couple of chapters after he is first introduced,
and he will say to his own countrymen and to
those that were supposed to be in covenant relationship with Yahweh,
he will look at them squarely in their eyes and
unapologetically challenge them. He's gonna say, make a decision, choose
(06:29):
who you're gonna follow. Stop having one foot over here
in the world of idolatry and another foot over here
in the worship of Yahweh.
Speaker 1 (06:37):
If you're going to be loyal to him, then be
loyal to him and him alone.
Speaker 2 (06:41):
And he will stand flat footed in the face of
those who are worshiping idols, those who are antagonistic to
the One True God, and he will challenge them, and
he says, build your sacrifice, and I'm gonna build mine,
and then we're both gonna pray. And the God who
answers by fire, he's the one who is God.
Speaker 1 (06:59):
What kind of courage and boldness do.
Speaker 2 (07:02):
You have to have to be the only one willing
to stand up in the midst of hundreds and even
thousands of people surrounding you and be unapologetic and unashamed
about what you believe. I don't know if you notice
or not, but we're living in a day in a
time now more than ever that it's going to take
a lot of courage and boldness to be unapologetic and
(07:24):
unshifting and unwavering and what we believe as followers.
Speaker 1 (07:27):
Of Jesus Christ.
Speaker 2 (07:29):
And when Elijah was committed to Yahweh, even in the
face of so much adversity, fire fell from heaven God's
presence and power was seen in.
Speaker 1 (07:39):
An unforgettable way.
Speaker 2 (07:42):
So when we think about Elijah most of the time,
that's what we think about that.
Speaker 1 (07:45):
I don't want to talk to you about Mount Carmel.
I want to talk to you.
Speaker 2 (07:49):
About what Elijah went through before he ever got there, because.
Speaker 1 (07:53):
That's how his character was built.
Speaker 2 (07:56):
That's how he garnered the kind of faith that could
allow him to stay and on Mount Carmel. That's how
he developed the kind of prayer life that garnered the
attention in the favor of God, that the sheer, discipline
and consistency of praying a believing God of trusting.
Speaker 1 (08:13):
He went through some stuff to.
Speaker 2 (08:14):
Develop that kind of relationship with the Lord, and it
all begins in First Kings chapter seventeen, after he has
shown up on the scene and appeared to the king
of the land to declare the judgment the drought that
was coming to the nation of Israel.
Speaker 1 (08:29):
First Kings Chapter seventeen, verse.
Speaker 2 (08:31):
Two says the word of the Lord came to Elijah, saying,
go away from here. Now turn eastward, hide yourself by
the brook Cherith, which is east of the Jordan. Stop
right there. Sometimes the journey that God takes us through.
It begins in the place of separation, not in public,
(08:55):
but in private.
Speaker 1 (08:56):
Here is Elijah, who is arguably.
Speaker 2 (08:59):
The the most important figure in history at this moment.
Speaker 1 (09:03):
Without him, the.
Speaker 2 (09:04):
Worship of Yahweh is going to fizzle, and it's going
to die underneath the legislation of an evil king and
his wife Jezebel, who have now legislated the worship of idolatry.
Without this lone voice calling people back to the worship
of God, that.
Speaker 1 (09:21):
It could completely be lost.
Speaker 2 (09:23):
He is arguably the most important person in regards to
the agenda of Yahweh.
Speaker 1 (09:28):
In this moment.
Speaker 2 (09:29):
And God speaks to him and said, where I need
you is not in public. Where I need you is
not in what you would consider to be the place
of most significance and notoriety. I need to relocate you
and resituate you to a private place, to an unexpected
place where I can develop you. I need to separate you, Elijah,
(09:50):
from the place of power. And so he says, I'm
going to prepare you by separating you. I'm going to
prepare you by taking you to a little loan brook
where you he won't be found. And for about eighteen months.
Scholars say he is separated to this lone little brook
of water, where he sits alone with God. And the
(10:11):
development that we often need for God to do things
in us requires a separation, It requires a severing, a
walking away from certain things. Here we find Elijah sheltered
in place for eighteen months, quarantined for eighteen months, just
him alone with God. Some of us lost our cool
(10:33):
aughter about eighteen days of this shelter in place business
right where here we find him for a year and
a half, separated away from the habits, the patterns, the
experiences that would have been the normal of his life.
He is separated and shut aside at Cherith, and there
he has an opportunity to experience God in a way
(10:55):
he would otherwise not have.
Speaker 1 (10:57):
Now here's what's interesting.
Speaker 2 (11:00):
The root word that is used in Scripture to derive
the name of this brook, which is Cherrieth or it
is often pronounced kireeth, depending upon how you're pronouncing it.
Speaker 1 (11:10):
The original word is a verb. That verb. I want
to tell you what it means.
Speaker 2 (11:14):
It actually means to sever, It means to eliminate.
Speaker 1 (11:20):
Listen, it means to cut off a part of the body.
Speaker 2 (11:25):
Think about how violent that sounds even gruesome at least painful.
He's calling Elijah to walk away, knowing that the severing
is actually going to be painful. And sometimes when God
calls us away to himself, it feels painful.
Speaker 1 (11:44):
For many of us.
Speaker 2 (11:45):
This separation from the normal rhythm of our life that
we've been required to All of us undergo in some
form of fashion. The pulling away from the daily routine,
the pulling away from relationships and not being able to
see people face to as we once did, the pulling
away from the normal rhythm of our everyday life.
Speaker 1 (12:04):
It is felt like severing. For many of us.
Speaker 2 (12:07):
It's felt painful because we were used to gaining our
sense of significance or acceptance or approval in that particular way,
and now, because of realities that many times are outside
of our control, God has caused us to have to
sever our relationship to certain things. Sometimes going to the
brook that God is calling you to requires a separation
(12:28):
that feels like cutting off a part of the body.
We're a relationship we are severed from feels so difficult
to pull ourselves away. But if you will yield to
the separation, if you will honor God's conviction in your life.
Because see, sometimes it's not that God mandates it, it's
just a whisper of the Holy Spirit that says, separate yourself.
(12:52):
Come away from here for just a little while. Those habits,
those patterns, those relationships, those places where you have rooted
your significance, those ambitions, those goals.
Speaker 1 (13:06):
Come away from here.
Speaker 2 (13:07):
And in separating yourself, you will find that there are
some things that are going to happen at this book
Charit that you would miss out on if you didn't
come away and obey and surrender to this particular season
that I have called you to. Elijah's journey to Mount
Carmel begins in private. It begins separated from all of
(13:29):
the things that he has once known. How is God
calling you to separate yourself? Clearly, there are some things
that all of us have been mandated to shake, some
habits and patterns and routines and busyness, some relationships that
have had to go. As the world starts to open
up again. The question is are you going to just
(13:52):
go right back to normal or will we take the
opportunity to seek God and ask him how was he
calling us to maintain some of these distances? Some of
these separations so that we can remain consecrated and set
apart unto him, God says to Elijah, and he says,
to many of.
Speaker 1 (14:12):
Us, separate yourself.
Speaker 2 (14:13):
It's here at this brook that I'm going to prepare
you for the mount carminals that are coming. That original
word that I told you about. That verb is also
found in Genesis fifteen. The reason why I want you
to know this is because it's one of the most
vibrant and beautiful times that it's used in the Old Testament,
and it was used in regards to Abraham, ancient Abraham
(14:35):
and his relationship to Yahweh.
Speaker 1 (14:37):
That verb that needs to cut or sever hang.
Speaker 2 (14:39):
With me here because I want you to see how
it's used here. It shows us how God shows up
in our lives when we are willing to yield to
the separation. In Genesis chapter fifteen, Abraham is saying to God, listen,
you've promised me so many things. You said that my
descendants are going to be as numerous as the stars
that are in the sky. And he says, how will
(15:00):
I know that what you've promised me will come to pass?
How am I going to die? And God speaks to
Abraham in a language he'll understand. He says, I'm going
to cut a covenant with you. Back in the ancient world,
when two people or two nations would make an agreement
with each other, they would cut a covenant.
Speaker 1 (15:17):
That's what they would.
Speaker 2 (15:17):
Call it, not just making a covenant or making an agreement.
They would call it the cutting of a covenant. The
reason why is because they would sacrifice an animal to
seal the covenant. And what they would do kind of gruesome,
really gruesome, really is take this animal. They would dismember,
they would sever the parts of the animal, and they
would lay the pieces out strategically on the floor. And
(15:39):
then one of the parties that was making the promise
that was going to have to follow through on the agreement.
That party would then walk between the pieces of the
severed animal, and as they walked through, they were basically saying,
may my life be is the life of this animal
if I don't make good on this covenant that we
are cutting one with the other. Well, in Genesis fifteen,
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God says Abraham, I'm gonna make a covenant with you
so you'll know I am who I say I am,
and that I'll do everything that I say that I
will do. He says to Abraham, get the animal, prepare
the animal, and Abraham does that. He lays the animal out,
and then, in one of the most beautiful Theophanes that
is a god sighting in all the Old Testament, he
(16:21):
says that a deep sleep falls over Abraham. God causes
this human to fall asleep, so that it will be
not by works, but only by grace. And while Abraham
is asleep, the scripture says that God himself shows up
and he moves between the pieces, sealing the covenant with Abraham.
(16:41):
Do you see that Abraham is the one that did
the separating, the severing, the violent, gruesome cutting. But in
doing it, God showed up and he moved in the pieces.
If you and I will yield to the separation it,
we'll sever the things God's asking us to sever walk
(17:02):
away from the things God's asking us to walk away from.
If we will trust him with the separation, he will
come down and move within the pieces.
Speaker 1 (17:10):
We'll experience him in a way we've never experienced him before.
We'll see him in a way we'll never see we've
never seen him before.
Speaker 2 (17:18):
If we, like Elijah, will come away to the brook cherit,
we will discover new aspects.
Speaker 1 (17:24):
Of God that we've never experienced before.
Speaker 2 (17:28):
Elijah's about to see that happen, and so are you,
and so am I. Because it says that when Elijah
goes to the brook cherit, God says to him verse four,
it shall be that you shall drink from this brook.
Now let me tell you why this is important. Because
you remember, there's a famine in the land. The drought
is going to cause a famine, and for three years
(17:49):
people are going to be doing everything that they can
to find water to be able to sustain them. And
in this aggregarian society, agrarian society rather, they were going
to need to be able to staying their livestock. It
was their livelihood. Without rain, the harvest would not grow.
And amidst all of this judgment and amidst all of
this drought and famine, God says to his servant, if
(18:12):
you separate yourself, you need to know that in the
place of separation, I have already made plans to sustain you.
Do you know why you want to yield to the separation?
Do you know why, even though it feels hard to
sever that relationship, you ain't got no business being in
or severing that that interest in, that ambition or that
(18:33):
endeavor that you know is the wrong road that you've
been walking down. The reason why you do it is
because in the place of separation, God has already made.
Speaker 1 (18:41):
Plans to sustain you. He has already made plans to
make sure that even if everybody else is thirsty in
that place, you will know what it's like to be
sustained by the hands of your great God.
Speaker 2 (18:54):
And you're gonna need that because listen, Mount Carmel is coming.
It's coming for you, and it's coming for me, where
we're going to be called to a position where we're
surrounded by people, but actually we're all alone because we're
the only ones that are willing to stand for righteousness
in the midst of the darkness. You're going to have
a need to have a track record of what it's
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like to be sustained by the hands of God, so
that you can have confidence when you're on the Mount
Carmel of your experience. God says to Elijah, I got
you already made plans to sustain you. He has already
made plans to make sure that even if everybody else
is thirsty in that place, you will know what it's
like to be sustained by the hands of your great God.
(19:37):
And you're going to need that because listen, Mount Carmel
is coming. It's coming for you and it's coming for me.
Where we're going to be called to a position where
we're surrounded by people, but actually we're all alone because
we're the only ones that are willing to stand for
righteousness in the midst of the darkness.
Speaker 1 (19:55):
You're going to have a need to have a track
record of what.
Speaker 2 (19:57):
It's like to be sustained by the hands of God
so that you can have confidence when you're on the
Mount Carmel of your experience, God says to Elijah, I
got you back.
Speaker 1 (20:07):
I've already made plans to sustain you.
Speaker 2 (20:10):
So yeah, you might be a little bit lonely in
the place of separation, but it's when you're lonely you
see what it's like to have God as your friend.
It's when you are tired that He becomes your strength.
It's when you are hungry that you experience the bread
of life. It's when you are insecure you discover what
(20:30):
it's like for Him to sustain you as your security.
When you are empty, you realize what it's like for
him to fill you up.
Speaker 1 (20:40):
You learn what.
Speaker 2 (20:41):
It's like to trust in the sustaining power of your
great God. He becomes your provision and your provision alone.
And in this increasingly post Christian culture, you're going to
have to have some backbone that draws on the power
and the strength and the sustaining power of your God.
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He teaches you that in the place of separation. He
assures you of that, in the place of separation, not
only do you want to go ahead and go to
the brook where He will sustain you, but even more
than that, God says to human verse four, I have
commanded the ravens to provide for you there in the
(21:22):
place of separation. He says, Now everybody else is going
to be scavenging.
Speaker 1 (21:26):
For food, but not you.
Speaker 2 (21:28):
Elijah, if you will, if you will trust me and
entrust yourself to the place that I have called you
to severed away from things, and it makes you particularly uncomfortable,
because you're away from habits and patterns and peoples and
perceptions of what you thought your ministry and life would
look like. Elijah, if you will separate yourself, not only
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will I sustain you there, but I'm.
Speaker 1 (21:52):
Going to do something more than that.
Speaker 2 (21:53):
I'm going to flat out surprise you with how I'm
going to bring bread and meet to you in the morning,
he says, and bread and.
Speaker 1 (22:01):
Meat to you in the evening.
Speaker 2 (22:03):
I'm going to make sure that not only is your
thirst quench but I'm going to make sure that you
are thoroughly nourished with everything that you need to be
able to keep you strong even while you're in the
place of separation. So he says, I've commanded ravens to
bring meat to you, bring bread to you, and to
take care of you. Now, let me tell you why
(22:24):
this is so surprising, Because he said, a raven could
have been any old kind of bird. You know, a
dove would have made more sense. You remember, back when
Noah was wondering whether or not the floods had receded.
He sent out birds several times. The doves returned, but
when he sent out the ravens, the ravens didn't come back.
(22:45):
Because ravens don't come back. Ravens are restless. They're unsettled
species of animals. And not only that, they're ravenous. That's
where we get the term from. They're greedy. Birds they
will literally take prey out of an unsuspecting bird's mouth.
Speaker 1 (23:01):
Another bird that.
Speaker 2 (23:02):
Will literally steal food from others because they are ravenous
and will eat anything at any time, any place, anywhere.
So what makes y'allways sustaining power so surprising and so
miraculous is that he didn't use any old kind of
bird where maybe someone could explain this miracle away. But
(23:22):
he used the most unsuspecting, unreasonable, surprising species of bird
to make this point that when you and I will
yield to the place of separation, not only will he
sustain us there, but y'all, he's going to surprise you there.
He's going to bring in resources to take care of you,
from means and from resources that you never even considered,
(23:45):
You never even thought possible. When you were praying that prayer,
asking God for that miracle, asking him for a solution,
for a remedy for the difficulty that you're having in
your parenting or raising your children, or in your marriage,
or on your job, or in that classroom or that
court room, or that struggle that you're having in your
own health.
Speaker 1 (24:04):
You never even prayed a prayer.
Speaker 2 (24:06):
Like that because you had no way of knowing that
God could do something so unbelievably miraculous as that.
Speaker 1 (24:14):
But in the place of separation, not only does He
sustain you, but he starts surprising you. He starts showing
you Ephesians three, twenty and twenty one. Now unto him
who is able to do.
Speaker 2 (24:27):
Exceedingly, abundantly above and beyond anything that he can ask,
that you can ask, or that I could ask or
think to him, be the glory in Christ, Jesus and
in the Church.
Speaker 1 (24:38):
He surprises you.
Speaker 2 (24:41):
You're going to need to know what it's like to
be surprised by God, to have some things that were
so unthinkable happened in your life that now you have
a track record with God.
Speaker 1 (24:50):
You've got some history with God. You've written down.
Speaker 2 (24:53):
A couple of things that you saw God do that
you could tell your children about and your children's children
about about the time God just plain old, flat out
surprised you did something for you in a way that
you never even considered.
Speaker 1 (25:08):
You need some history with your God.
Speaker 2 (25:11):
That history comes in the place of separation, where you
watch God sustain you and where you watch God surprise.
But not only that, we find out a couple of
chapters later that for these eighteen months that Elijah is
tapped away at the brook, we find out that King
(25:32):
a Haveb has sent.
Speaker 1 (25:33):
A search party all throughout Israel. He's been looking for him.
Speaker 2 (25:37):
He's so mad at this prophet for pronouncing this judgment
that he set out a search party, searching the kingdom
every which way that he can to find Elijah and
hopefully put him to debt him thinking that Elijah's life
was specifically connected to the to the drought, and to
the famine, so he thinks, if I kill him, then
this judgment will be over.
Speaker 1 (25:57):
But what can only be.
Speaker 2 (25:58):
Described as a super natural hedge of protection is over Elijah,
so that he is so tucked away in the place
of separation that he doesn't even realize that while he
is there, not only is he being sustained, and not
only is he being surprised, but he is being shielded
from dangers he does not even know exists.
Speaker 1 (26:19):
It's not until three years later that he'll meet a.
Speaker 2 (26:23):
Guy named Obadiah who will tell him the king has
been looking for you for three solid years. Sometimes we
don't even know until hindsight, when we look back, that
we recognize God was protecting us from dangers we didn't
even know existed, that we realize the prayers that he
didn't answer in the way we wanted.
Speaker 1 (26:43):
That we realized that when.
Speaker 2 (26:44):
We didn't come out of that place of obscurity as
quickly as we would have preferred to.
Speaker 1 (26:48):
Actually, the reason why.
Speaker 2 (26:50):
He left us there is because if he let us
out too soon, there would have been a has we
would have run into.
Speaker 1 (26:56):
And so he protects us.
Speaker 2 (26:57):
He shields us, He puts a supernatural covering over us,
so that we are protected and shielded in the place
of separation.
Speaker 1 (27:06):
I want to encourage you that if you feel like
you are.
Speaker 2 (27:12):
Ready to come out from the brook chair, it's ready
to get away, ready to be further exposed, ready for
this anonymity or obscurity to go away, so that you
can come out into the full expression of what you
feel like your ministry is supposed to look like, or the.
Speaker 1 (27:29):
Revenue your business is supposed.
Speaker 2 (27:31):
To yield, or the way that your family dynamic is
supposed to look if everything in your mind is supposed
to look different than it does right now. But because
of this pandemic, or because of the unrest that we've seen,
or just because of the dynamics you're facing in your
own life.
Speaker 1 (27:47):
You can clearly see that the Holy Spirit is still
calling you.
Speaker 2 (27:51):
To this place of either mandated separation or just the
clear conviction of the Holy Spirit to separate you unto
himself or a specific reason. Remain there until he releases you,
because it's in that place.
Speaker 1 (28:05):
He's going to surprise you in a way you will
never forget.
Speaker 2 (28:09):
It's in that place that you are going to be
able to eat from his hand and drink from the
water that He provides for you there. And it's in
that place that in hindsight, you will look back and
realize your God was protecting you.
Speaker 1 (28:23):
All of them be encouraged.
Speaker 2 (28:27):
Let's pray, Lord Jesus, I thank you for Elijah's example.
I thank you, Father for the opportunity that we have
to know that you are preparing us even right now
for the Mount Cardinals yet to come. Help us not
to devalue the significance of this part of our journey,
but help us to honor you with every single day,
(28:49):
every single piece, every single opportunity that we have to
see you more clearly and.
Speaker 1 (28:54):
To experience you more fully. In Jesus' name,
Thank you so much for Lake Point.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
I thank you for the work that you are not
only doing through their church, but the work you're doing
in them.
Speaker 1 (00:06):
In us.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
Lord, thank you that as the family of God, we
can know that you are not bound by space, You're
not bound by time.
Speaker 1 (00:14):
You don't have to be in one building.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
Father, You can be with each of us equally right now,
in this moment, wherever we are.
Speaker 1 (00:21):
So would you take this one message, would you divide.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
It up, multiply it several thousand different ways, so that
every single one of us right now will hear the
voice of God in Jesus' name.
Speaker 1 (00:33):
Amen.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
So here in Dallas where I am, there is a
little half marathon that takes place once a year. It
takes place around the holiday time frame, so it's in
December and it's called appropriately so the Hot Chocolate Run.
Speaker 1 (00:50):
The Hot Chocolate Run is just fun. You know.
Speaker 2 (00:52):
Folks come with Christmas lights around their hair or on
their heads, and they've gotten light up shoes.
Speaker 1 (00:57):
You know, it's fun. It's in the dark.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
Whether you do a mile or three miles or I
think there's a five mile track as well. The run
goes through an area of town known as the Design District.
When you get to the end of your run, you
get a bunch of sweets, hot chocolate being one of those.
So I enjoyed doing this for several years along with
my sister and her children.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
We bring out all our kids and we do the
run together.
Speaker 2 (01:18):
We walk it or run it. Either way, we just
have a good time. One of the things that that
I most remember about this run is that it took
place in an area of Dallas called the Design District.
Now I have known about the Design District my entire life.
I've born and raised here in the city, and so
I have seen a huge billboard off of one of
the major freeways in Dallas, Highway thirty five, and that
(01:41):
freeway says or that billboard says Design District. So I've
known that that is where the designers are. It's for
people who are artists or craftsmen, interior designers and decorators.
Speaker 1 (01:52):
People who are artisans.
Speaker 2 (01:53):
They've got cute little shops down there, and I've seen
it and known about it from afar.
Speaker 1 (01:57):
I've even known people.
Speaker 2 (01:58):
That have worked there in people who the regular rhythms
of their life are in the Design District. But I'm
always just on Highway thirty five headed from one side
of town, racing past to the other side of town.
So the run, the Hot Chocolate Run, was the very
first time that I ever went through it. And when
I went through it by foot, walking through, jogging through,
(02:20):
interacting with others, and enjoying myself through it, I saw
some details about Dallas I'd.
Speaker 1 (02:25):
Never seen before. There were some cute.
Speaker 2 (02:26):
Little shops and restaurants that I took note of, places
that I made note of their address so that I
could come back later and really engage and see what
they had inside their stores. Man, I really grew a
greater appreciation for the design district, not when I saw
it from Afar, but when I had to go through it.
Speaker 1 (02:46):
Right now.
Speaker 2 (02:47):
God is allowing many of us to go through it,
didn't he We've been through some stuff, not only individually.
We're going through some stuff in whole communities. Whole churches
are going through some stuff, nations, the globe is going
through some stuff. But I've found that it is not
until I go through something that I actually see nuances
(03:08):
about God, about his character, about my relationship with Him.
It's actually not until I go through something that I
discover more completely his promises and not only seeing them
outworked in other people's life, but where I come to
actually expect His truths to be applicable in my own life.
It's when I go through something that I actually develop
(03:28):
character and have some frame of reference for what it
means to have endurance and a life of faith. It's
when I go through something that I become better acquainted
with the Holy Spirit. Now he's not just a theoretical being,
but now I recognize the fruit of God's Spirit effervescent
in my life. I see the patience, outwork, the self discipline,
(03:49):
the kindness. I learn what it's like to walk in
the rhythms of grace. I don't know all that from
a billboard, just experiencing God far away, seeing his name,
and maybe experiencing religious activity far away. I don't get
to know God intimately. I don't get to have a
friendship with him like that the man. When we go
(04:09):
through stuff all of a sudden, there is a friendship
that that develops with God that carries us over the
long haul. So if today meets you at a time
where you're going through some stuff, would you know that
this is an opportunity for you to have your eyes,
your spiritual eyes wide open to learn and to see,
(04:30):
and to engage in every opportunity to get to know.
Speaker 1 (04:33):
God in a way you otherwise would not have opportunity.
Speaker 2 (04:36):
This is one of the main things that drew me
to a study of Elijah. Elijah is really the premier
prophet of the Old Testament. His story sort of begins
in the Book of First Kings. If you had your
Bible and you want to turn there with me, you can,
you know, if you actually still use a Bible with
paper pages like I do, or your iPhone, your iPad,
(04:57):
any manner of eyeingness will get you to First Ki
Because in this particular book of the Bible we get
to see Elijah emerge onto the sea. Now, this is
a guy who really has some highlights in his life
that we all recognize, just like the heroes of Scripture
that we really admire, you know, like Moses and the
whole Red Sea business, or like Joshua and the walls
(05:17):
of Jericho coming tumbling down. The highlights that we remember
in regards to Gideon or Jonah, all of these heroes
of the Scripture, Esther and Ruth, we remember the highlights
for Elijah, the Mount Carmels of their experience. And what
I've discovered is that when I'm reading in the pages
of Scripture and admiring folks whose faith is worthy to
(05:39):
be admired and to be gleaned from, what I've noticed
is that oftentimes it's the Mount Carmels that dazzle us.
It's the flashy display of God's glory, the unforgettable, big
stage experience of God's presence and power, that it really
does draw us to people, and oftentimes it will blind
us to what they went through to get there. It
(06:00):
will blind us to the things that they had to navigate,
the roads they had to walk down, the journey that
they went on with God to get.
Speaker 1 (06:08):
Them to the place where.
Speaker 2 (06:09):
In Elijah's example, he will stand flat footed on Mount
Carmel just a couple of chapters after he is first introduced,
and he will say to his own countrymen and to
those that were supposed to be in covenant relationship with Yahweh,
he will look at them squarely in their eyes and
unapologetically challenge them. He's gonna say, make a decision, choose
(06:29):
who you're gonna follow. Stop having one foot over here
in the world of idolatry and another foot over here
in the worship of Yahweh.
Speaker 1 (06:37):
If you're going to be loyal to him, then be
loyal to him and him alone.
Speaker 2 (06:41):
And he will stand flat footed in the face of
those who are worshiping idols, those who are antagonistic to
the One True God, and he will challenge them, and
he says, build your sacrifice, and I'm gonna build mine,
and then we're both gonna pray. And the God who
answers by fire, he's the one who is God.
Speaker 1 (06:59):
What kind of courage and boldness do.
Speaker 2 (07:02):
You have to have to be the only one willing
to stand up in the midst of hundreds and even
thousands of people surrounding you and be unapologetic and unashamed
about what you believe. I don't know if you notice
or not, but we're living in a day in a
time now more than ever that it's going to take
a lot of courage and boldness to be unapologetic and
(07:24):
unshifting and unwavering and what we believe as followers.
Speaker 1 (07:27):
Of Jesus Christ.
Speaker 2 (07:29):
And when Elijah was committed to Yahweh, even in the
face of so much adversity, fire fell from heaven God's
presence and power was seen in.
Speaker 1 (07:39):
An unforgettable way.
Speaker 2 (07:42):
So when we think about Elijah most of the time,
that's what we think about that.
Speaker 1 (07:45):
I don't want to talk to you about Mount Carmel.
I want to talk to you.
Speaker 2 (07:49):
About what Elijah went through before he ever got there, because.
Speaker 1 (07:53):
That's how his character was built.
Speaker 2 (07:56):
That's how he garnered the kind of faith that could
allow him to stay and on Mount Carmel. That's how
he developed the kind of prayer life that garnered the
attention in the favor of God, that the sheer, discipline
and consistency of praying a believing God of trusting.
Speaker 1 (08:13):
He went through some stuff to.
Speaker 2 (08:14):
Develop that kind of relationship with the Lord, and it
all begins in First Kings chapter seventeen, after he has
shown up on the scene and appeared to the king
of the land to declare the judgment the drought that
was coming to the nation of Israel.
Speaker 1 (08:29):
First Kings Chapter seventeen, verse.
Speaker 2 (08:31):
Two says the word of the Lord came to Elijah, saying,
go away from here. Now turn eastward, hide yourself by
the brook Cherith, which is east of the Jordan. Stop
right there. Sometimes the journey that God takes us through.
It begins in the place of separation, not in public,
(08:55):
but in private.
Speaker 1 (08:56):
Here is Elijah, who is arguably.
Speaker 2 (08:59):
The the most important figure in history at this moment.
Speaker 1 (09:03):
Without him, the.
Speaker 2 (09:04):
Worship of Yahweh is going to fizzle, and it's going
to die underneath the legislation of an evil king and
his wife Jezebel, who have now legislated the worship of idolatry.
Without this lone voice calling people back to the worship
of God, that.
Speaker 1 (09:21):
It could completely be lost.
Speaker 2 (09:23):
He is arguably the most important person in regards to
the agenda of Yahweh.
Speaker 1 (09:28):
In this moment.
Speaker 2 (09:29):
And God speaks to him and said, where I need
you is not in public. Where I need you is
not in what you would consider to be the place
of most significance and notoriety. I need to relocate you
and resituate you to a private place, to an unexpected
place where I can develop you. I need to separate you, Elijah,
(09:50):
from the place of power. And so he says, I'm
going to prepare you by separating you. I'm going to
prepare you by taking you to a little loan brook
where you he won't be found. And for about eighteen months.
Scholars say he is separated to this lone little brook
of water, where he sits alone with God. And the
(10:11):
development that we often need for God to do things
in us requires a separation, It requires a severing, a
walking away from certain things. Here we find Elijah sheltered
in place for eighteen months, quarantined for eighteen months, just
him alone with God. Some of us lost our cool
(10:33):
aughter about eighteen days of this shelter in place business
right where here we find him for a year and
a half, separated away from the habits, the patterns, the
experiences that would have been the normal of his life.
He is separated and shut aside at Cherith, and there
he has an opportunity to experience God in a way
(10:55):
he would otherwise not have.
Speaker 1 (10:57):
Now here's what's interesting.
Speaker 2 (11:00):
The root word that is used in Scripture to derive
the name of this brook, which is Cherrieth or it
is often pronounced kireeth, depending upon how you're pronouncing it.
Speaker 1 (11:10):
The original word is a verb. That verb. I want
to tell you what it means.
Speaker 2 (11:14):
It actually means to sever, It means to eliminate.
Speaker 1 (11:20):
Listen, it means to cut off a part of the body.
Speaker 2 (11:25):
Think about how violent that sounds even gruesome at least painful.
He's calling Elijah to walk away, knowing that the severing
is actually going to be painful. And sometimes when God
calls us away to himself, it feels painful.
Speaker 1 (11:44):
For many of us.
Speaker 2 (11:45):
This separation from the normal rhythm of our life that
we've been required to All of us undergo in some
form of fashion. The pulling away from the daily routine,
the pulling away from relationships and not being able to
see people face to as we once did, the pulling
away from the normal rhythm of our everyday life.
Speaker 1 (12:04):
It is felt like severing. For many of us.
Speaker 2 (12:07):
It's felt painful because we were used to gaining our
sense of significance or acceptance or approval in that particular way,
and now, because of realities that many times are outside
of our control, God has caused us to have to
sever our relationship to certain things. Sometimes going to the
brook that God is calling you to requires a separation
(12:28):
that feels like cutting off a part of the body.
We're a relationship we are severed from feels so difficult
to pull ourselves away. But if you will yield to
the separation, if you will honor God's conviction in your life.
Because see, sometimes it's not that God mandates it, it's
just a whisper of the Holy Spirit that says, separate yourself.
(12:52):
Come away from here for just a little while. Those habits,
those patterns, those relationships, those places where you have rooted
your significance, those ambitions, those goals.
Speaker 1 (13:06):
Come away from here.
Speaker 2 (13:07):
And in separating yourself, you will find that there are
some things that are going to happen at this book
Charit that you would miss out on if you didn't
come away and obey and surrender to this particular season
that I have called you to. Elijah's journey to Mount
Carmel begins in private. It begins separated from all of
(13:29):
the things that he has once known. How is God
calling you to separate yourself? Clearly, there are some things
that all of us have been mandated to shake, some
habits and patterns and routines and busyness, some relationships that
have had to go. As the world starts to open
up again. The question is are you going to just
(13:52):
go right back to normal or will we take the
opportunity to seek God and ask him how was he
calling us to maintain some of these distances? Some of
these separations so that we can remain consecrated and set
apart unto him, God says to Elijah, and he says,
to many of.
Speaker 1 (14:12):
Us, separate yourself.
Speaker 2 (14:13):
It's here at this brook that I'm going to prepare
you for the mount carminals that are coming. That original
word that I told you about. That verb is also
found in Genesis fifteen. The reason why I want you
to know this is because it's one of the most
vibrant and beautiful times that it's used in the Old Testament,
and it was used in regards to Abraham, ancient Abraham
(14:35):
and his relationship to Yahweh.
Speaker 1 (14:37):
That verb that needs to cut or sever hang.
Speaker 2 (14:39):
With me here because I want you to see how
it's used here. It shows us how God shows up
in our lives when we are willing to yield to
the separation. In Genesis chapter fifteen, Abraham is saying to God, listen,
you've promised me so many things. You said that my
descendants are going to be as numerous as the stars
that are in the sky. And he says, how will
(15:00):
I know that what you've promised me will come to pass?
How am I going to die? And God speaks to
Abraham in a language he'll understand. He says, I'm going
to cut a covenant with you. Back in the ancient world,
when two people or two nations would make an agreement
with each other, they would cut a covenant.
Speaker 1 (15:17):
That's what they would.
Speaker 2 (15:17):
Call it, not just making a covenant or making an agreement.
They would call it the cutting of a covenant. The
reason why is because they would sacrifice an animal to
seal the covenant. And what they would do kind of gruesome,
really gruesome, really is take this animal. They would dismember,
they would sever the parts of the animal, and they
would lay the pieces out strategically on the floor. And
(15:39):
then one of the parties that was making the promise
that was going to have to follow through on the agreement.
That party would then walk between the pieces of the
severed animal, and as they walked through, they were basically saying,
may my life be is the life of this animal
if I don't make good on this covenant that we
are cutting one with the other. Well, in Genesis fifteen,
(16:01):
God says Abraham, I'm gonna make a covenant with you
so you'll know I am who I say I am,
and that I'll do everything that I say that I
will do. He says to Abraham, get the animal, prepare
the animal, and Abraham does that. He lays the animal out,
and then, in one of the most beautiful Theophanes that
is a god sighting in all the Old Testament, he
(16:21):
says that a deep sleep falls over Abraham. God causes
this human to fall asleep, so that it will be
not by works, but only by grace. And while Abraham
is asleep, the scripture says that God himself shows up
and he moves between the pieces, sealing the covenant with Abraham.
(16:41):
Do you see that Abraham is the one that did
the separating, the severing, the violent, gruesome cutting. But in
doing it, God showed up and he moved in the pieces.
If you and I will yield to the separation it,
we'll sever the things God's asking us to sever walk
(17:02):
away from the things God's asking us to walk away from.
If we will trust him with the separation, he will
come down and move within the pieces.
Speaker 1 (17:10):
We'll experience him in a way we've never experienced him before.
We'll see him in a way we'll never see we've
never seen him before.
Speaker 2 (17:18):
If we, like Elijah, will come away to the brook cherit,
we will discover new aspects.
Speaker 1 (17:24):
Of God that we've never experienced before.
Speaker 2 (17:28):
Elijah's about to see that happen, and so are you,
and so am I. Because it says that when Elijah
goes to the brook cherit, God says to him verse four,
it shall be that you shall drink from this brook.
Now let me tell you why this is important. Because
you remember, there's a famine in the land. The drought
is going to cause a famine, and for three years
(17:49):
people are going to be doing everything that they can
to find water to be able to sustain them. And
in this aggregarian society, agrarian society rather, they were going
to need to be able to staying their livestock. It
was their livelihood. Without rain, the harvest would not grow.
And amidst all of this judgment and amidst all of
this drought and famine, God says to his servant, if
(18:12):
you separate yourself, you need to know that in the
place of separation, I have already made plans to sustain you.
Do you know why you want to yield to the separation?
Do you know why, even though it feels hard to
sever that relationship, you ain't got no business being in
or severing that that interest in, that ambition or that
(18:33):
endeavor that you know is the wrong road that you've
been walking down. The reason why you do it is
because in the place of separation, God has already made.
Speaker 1 (18:41):
Plans to sustain you. He has already made plans to
make sure that even if everybody else is thirsty in
that place, you will know what it's like to be
sustained by the hands of your great God.
Speaker 2 (18:54):
And you're gonna need that because listen, Mount Carmel is coming.
It's coming for you, and it's coming for me, where
we're going to be called to a position where we're
surrounded by people, but actually we're all alone because we're
the only ones that are willing to stand for righteousness
in the midst of the darkness. You're going to have
a need to have a track record of what it's
(19:14):
like to be sustained by the hands of God, so
that you can have confidence when you're on the Mount
Carmel of your experience. God says to Elijah, I got
you already made plans to sustain you. He has already
made plans to make sure that even if everybody else
is thirsty in that place, you will know what it's
like to be sustained by the hands of your great God.
(19:37):
And you're going to need that because listen, Mount Carmel
is coming. It's coming for you and it's coming for me.
Where we're going to be called to a position where
we're surrounded by people, but actually we're all alone because
we're the only ones that are willing to stand for
righteousness in the midst of the darkness.
Speaker 1 (19:55):
You're going to have a need to have a track
record of what.
Speaker 2 (19:57):
It's like to be sustained by the hands of God
so that you can have confidence when you're on the
Mount Carmel of your experience, God says to Elijah, I
got you back.
Speaker 1 (20:07):
I've already made plans to sustain you.
Speaker 2 (20:10):
So yeah, you might be a little bit lonely in
the place of separation, but it's when you're lonely you
see what it's like to have God as your friend.
It's when you are tired that He becomes your strength.
It's when you are hungry that you experience the bread
of life. It's when you are insecure you discover what
(20:30):
it's like for Him to sustain you as your security.
When you are empty, you realize what it's like for
him to fill you up.
Speaker 1 (20:40):
You learn what.
Speaker 2 (20:41):
It's like to trust in the sustaining power of your
great God. He becomes your provision and your provision alone.
And in this increasingly post Christian culture, you're going to
have to have some backbone that draws on the power
and the strength and the sustaining power of your God.
(21:01):
He teaches you that in the place of separation. He
assures you of that, in the place of separation, not
only do you want to go ahead and go to
the brook where He will sustain you, but even more
than that, God says to human verse four, I have
commanded the ravens to provide for you there in the
(21:22):
place of separation. He says, Now everybody else is going
to be scavenging.
Speaker 1 (21:26):
For food, but not you.
Speaker 2 (21:28):
Elijah, if you will, if you will trust me and
entrust yourself to the place that I have called you
to severed away from things, and it makes you particularly uncomfortable,
because you're away from habits and patterns and peoples and
perceptions of what you thought your ministry and life would
look like. Elijah, if you will separate yourself, not only
(21:50):
will I sustain you there, but I'm.
Speaker 1 (21:52):
Going to do something more than that.
Speaker 2 (21:53):
I'm going to flat out surprise you with how I'm
going to bring bread and meet to you in the morning,
he says, and bread and.
Speaker 1 (22:01):
Meat to you in the evening.
Speaker 2 (22:03):
I'm going to make sure that not only is your
thirst quench but I'm going to make sure that you
are thoroughly nourished with everything that you need to be
able to keep you strong even while you're in the
place of separation. So he says, I've commanded ravens to
bring meat to you, bring bread to you, and to
take care of you. Now, let me tell you why
(22:24):
this is so surprising, Because he said, a raven could
have been any old kind of bird. You know, a
dove would have made more sense. You remember, back when
Noah was wondering whether or not the floods had receded.
He sent out birds several times. The doves returned, but
when he sent out the ravens, the ravens didn't come back.
(22:45):
Because ravens don't come back. Ravens are restless. They're unsettled
species of animals. And not only that, they're ravenous. That's
where we get the term from. They're greedy. Birds they
will literally take prey out of an unsuspecting bird's mouth.
Speaker 1 (23:01):
Another bird that.
Speaker 2 (23:02):
Will literally steal food from others because they are ravenous
and will eat anything at any time, any place, anywhere.
So what makes y'allways sustaining power so surprising and so
miraculous is that he didn't use any old kind of
bird where maybe someone could explain this miracle away. But
(23:22):
he used the most unsuspecting, unreasonable, surprising species of bird
to make this point that when you and I will
yield to the place of separation, not only will he
sustain us there, but y'all, he's going to surprise you there.
He's going to bring in resources to take care of you,
from means and from resources that you never even considered,
(23:45):
You never even thought possible. When you were praying that prayer,
asking God for that miracle, asking him for a solution,
for a remedy for the difficulty that you're having in
your parenting or raising your children, or in your marriage,
or on your job, or in that classroom or that
court room, or that struggle that you're having in your
own health.
Speaker 1 (24:04):
You never even prayed a prayer.
Speaker 2 (24:06):
Like that because you had no way of knowing that
God could do something so unbelievably miraculous as that.
Speaker 1 (24:14):
But in the place of separation, not only does He
sustain you, but he starts surprising you. He starts showing
you Ephesians three, twenty and twenty one. Now unto him
who is able to do.
Speaker 2 (24:27):
Exceedingly, abundantly above and beyond anything that he can ask,
that you can ask, or that I could ask or
think to him, be the glory in Christ, Jesus and
in the Church.
Speaker 1 (24:38):
He surprises you.
Speaker 2 (24:41):
You're going to need to know what it's like to
be surprised by God, to have some things that were
so unthinkable happened in your life that now you have
a track record with God.
Speaker 1 (24:50):
You've got some history with God. You've written down.
Speaker 2 (24:53):
A couple of things that you saw God do that
you could tell your children about and your children's children
about about the time God just plain old, flat out
surprised you did something for you in a way that
you never even considered.
Speaker 1 (25:08):
You need some history with your God.
Speaker 2 (25:11):
That history comes in the place of separation, where you
watch God sustain you and where you watch God surprise.
But not only that, we find out a couple of
chapters later that for these eighteen months that Elijah is
tapped away at the brook, we find out that King
(25:32):
a Haveb has sent.
Speaker 1 (25:33):
A search party all throughout Israel. He's been looking for him.
Speaker 2 (25:37):
He's so mad at this prophet for pronouncing this judgment
that he set out a search party, searching the kingdom
every which way that he can to find Elijah and
hopefully put him to debt him thinking that Elijah's life
was specifically connected to the to the drought, and to
the famine, so he thinks, if I kill him, then
this judgment will be over.
Speaker 1 (25:57):
But what can only be.
Speaker 2 (25:58):
Described as a super natural hedge of protection is over Elijah,
so that he is so tucked away in the place
of separation that he doesn't even realize that while he
is there, not only is he being sustained, and not
only is he being surprised, but he is being shielded
from dangers he does not even know exists.
Speaker 1 (26:19):
It's not until three years later that he'll meet a.
Speaker 2 (26:23):
Guy named Obadiah who will tell him the king has
been looking for you for three solid years. Sometimes we
don't even know until hindsight, when we look back, that
we recognize God was protecting us from dangers we didn't
even know existed, that we realize the prayers that he
didn't answer in the way we wanted.
Speaker 1 (26:43):
That we realized that when.
Speaker 2 (26:44):
We didn't come out of that place of obscurity as
quickly as we would have preferred to.
Speaker 1 (26:48):
Actually, the reason why.
Speaker 2 (26:50):
He left us there is because if he let us
out too soon, there would have been a has we
would have run into.
Speaker 1 (26:56):
And so he protects us.
Speaker 2 (26:57):
He shields us, He puts a supernatural covering over us,
so that we are protected and shielded in the place
of separation.
Speaker 1 (27:06):
I want to encourage you that if you feel like
you are.
Speaker 2 (27:12):
Ready to come out from the brook chair, it's ready
to get away, ready to be further exposed, ready for
this anonymity or obscurity to go away, so that you
can come out into the full expression of what you
feel like your ministry is supposed to look like, or the.
Speaker 1 (27:29):
Revenue your business is supposed.
Speaker 2 (27:31):
To yield, or the way that your family dynamic is
supposed to look if everything in your mind is supposed
to look different than it does right now. But because
of this pandemic, or because of the unrest that we've seen,
or just because of the dynamics you're facing in your
own life.
Speaker 1 (27:47):
You can clearly see that the Holy Spirit is still
calling you.
Speaker 2 (27:51):
To this place of either mandated separation or just the
clear conviction of the Holy Spirit to separate you unto
himself or a specific reason. Remain there until he releases you,
because it's in that place.
Speaker 1 (28:05):
He's going to surprise you in a way you will
never forget.
Speaker 2 (28:09):
It's in that place that you are going to be
able to eat from his hand and drink from the
water that He provides for you there. And it's in
that place that in hindsight, you will look back and
realize your God was protecting you.
Speaker 1 (28:23):
All of them be encouraged.
Speaker 2 (28:27):
Let's pray, Lord Jesus, I thank you for Elijah's example.
I thank you, Father for the opportunity that we have
to know that you are preparing us even right now
for the Mount Cardinals yet to come. Help us not
to devalue the significance of this part of our journey,
but help us to honor you with every single day,
(28:49):
every single piece, every single opportunity that we have to
see you more clearly and.
Speaker 1 (28:54):
To experience you more fully. In Jesus' name,
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