He is not in the noise

1 Kings 18:17 ESV

When Ahab saw Elijah, Ahab said to him, “Is it you, you troubler of Israel?”

1 Kings 18:17–19 ESV

When Ahab saw Elijah, Ahab said to him, “Is it you, you troubler of Israel?” And he answered, “I have not troubled Israel, but you have, and your father’s house, because you have abandoned the commandments of the Lord and followed the Baals. Now therefore send and gather all Israel to me at Mount Carmel, and the 450 prophets of Baal and the 400 prophets of Asherah, who eat at Jezebel’s table.”

1 Kings 19:1–20 ESV

Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword. Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, “So may the gods do to me and more also, if I do not make your life as the life of one of them by this time tomorrow.” Then he was afraid, and he arose and ran for his life and came to Beersheba, which belongs to Judah, and left his servant there. But he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness and came and sat down under a broom tree. And he asked that he might die, saying, “It is enough; now, O Lord, take away my life, for I am no better than my fathers.” And he lay down and slept under a broom tree. And behold, an angel touched him and said to him, “Arise and eat.” And he looked, and behold, there was at his head a cake baked on hot stones and a jar of water. And he ate and drank and lay down again. And the angel of the Lord came again a second time and touched him and said, “Arise and eat, for the journey is too great for you.” And he arose and ate and drank, and went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights to Horeb, the mount of God. There he came to a cave and lodged in it. And behold, the word of the Lord came to him, and he said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” He said, “I have been very jealous for the Lord, the God of hosts. For the people of Israel have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword, and I, even I only, am left, and they seek my life, to take it away.” And he said, “Go out and stand on the mount before the Lord.” And behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind tore the mountains and broke in pieces the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. And after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. And after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire the sound of a low whisper. And when Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his cloak and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. And behold, there came a voice to him and said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” He said, “I have been very jealous for the Lord, the God of hosts. For the people of Israel have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword, and I, even I only, am left, and they seek my life, to take it away.” And the Lord said to him, “Go, return on your way to the wilderness of Damascus. And when you arrive, you shall anoint Hazael to be king over Syria. And Jehu the son of Nimshi you shall anoint to be king over Israel, and Elisha the son of Shaphat of Abel-meholah you shall anoint to be prophet in your place. And the one who escapes from the sword of Hazael shall Jehu put to death, and the one who escapes from the sword of Jehu shall Elisha put to death. Yet I will leave seven thousand in Israel, all the knees that have not bowed to Baal, and every mouth that has not kissed him.” So he departed from there and found Elisha the son of Shaphat, who was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen in front of him, and he was with the twelfth. Elijah passed by him and cast his cloak upon him. And he left the oxen and ran after Elijah and said, “Let me kiss my father and my mother, and then I will follow you.” And he said to him, “Go back again, for what have I done to you?”

1 kings 18:17-19

1 Kings 19:1–20 ESV

Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword. Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, “So may the gods do to me and more also, if I do not make your life as the life of one of them by this time tomorrow.” Then he was afraid, and he arose and ran for his life and came to Beersheba, which belongs to Judah, and left his servant there. But he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness and came and sat down under a broom tree. And he asked that he might die, saying, “It is enough; now, O Lord, take away my life, for I am no better than my fathers.” And he lay down and slept under a broom tree. And behold, an angel touched him and said to him, “Arise and eat.” And he looked, and behold, there was at his head a cake baked on hot stones and a jar of water. And he ate and drank and lay down again. And the angel of the Lord came again a second time and touched him and said, “Arise and eat, for the journey is too great for you.” And he arose and ate and drank, and went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights to Horeb, the mount of God. There he came to a cave and lodged in it. And behold, the word of the Lord came to him, and he said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” He said, “I have been very jealous for the Lord, the God of hosts. For the people of Israel have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword, and I, even I only, am left, and they seek my life, to take it away.” And he said, “Go out and stand on the mount before the Lord.” And behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind tore the mountains and broke in pieces the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. And after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. And after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire the sound of a low whisper. And when Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his cloak and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. And behold, there came a voice to him and said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” He said, “I have been very jealous for the Lord, the God of hosts. For the people of Israel have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword, and I, even I only, am left, and they seek my life, to take it away.” And the Lord said to him, “Go, return on your way to the wilderness of Damascus. And when you arrive, you shall anoint Hazael to be king over Syria. And Jehu the son of Nimshi you shall anoint to be king over Israel, and Elisha the son of Shaphat of Abel-meholah you shall anoint to be prophet in your place. And the one who escapes from the sword of Hazael shall Jehu put to death, and the one who escapes from the sword of Jehu shall Elisha put to death. Yet I will leave seven thousand in Israel, all the knees that have not bowed to Baal, and every mouth that has not kissed him.” So he departed from there and found Elisha the son of Shaphat, who was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen in front of him, and he was with the twelfth. Elijah passed by him and cast his cloak upon him. And he left the oxen and ran after Elijah and said, “Let me kiss my father and my mother, and then I will follow you.” And he said to him, “Go back again, for what have I done to you?”

“Father help me to preach and deliver this as you would want delivered.”

In this story we see that Elijah is on a mission

it is one of the most dramatic stories

he is on an assignment

He is on assignment to displace and destroy the prophets of baal

At least that is what we think

however it is the fact that Elijah is on a mission, an assignment that not many even understand

see the mission that Elijah is on is way beyond many’s comprehension

Eljahs assignment was beyond mans comprehension and understanding

on a side note, let me throw something out there

because a lot of you out there believe that if it doesn’t make sense that it’s not God

well that is not true, see many of you are going to be out on assignments in which you do not understand

you are going to be put on assignment that you don’t think that you can do

and see the thing is that He only gives you a little tiny part of that assignment

See you have to understand that if he gives us the full vision all at once, we will either be to scared to continue

or like most of us we will want to put in our two cents because we believe that our way is better and that we can help God get to the bottom line easier.

See what you have to understand is that people understand to the level of their capacity

So not everyone is going to believe and understand what you are doing or going to do.

So stop thinking that everyone must agree with your vision

not everyone is going to agree in your vision or your assignment and that is easily that

you have to understand that God has called many of you to do unusual things

God has called you to do things that are not normal

And the way that I know that is that this year in itself has been hurinduos

this year has been one in which has been worse than the last

this year you have just thought about throwing in the towel

this year you have besically been through hell and back, and then back again

Believe me, i get it

this has been one year of tremendous turmoil and we have definately been through hell and back

But smile,

see God is going to use everything that you have been through to lead you successfully into your future

see what you have to understand is that if God has bought you through it, then he is going to use it.

ha

thats a shouting point right there

so here you have Elijah, and his true assignment was to confront the spirit of jezebel

see you have to understand that something unusual is happening in the spirit realm and the that confrontational spirit is coming upon his people

see you are called to confront somethings in your life and stop entertaining some of the things that you have in your life

see Elijah was called to confront the spirit of Jezebel

And if you know anything about the spirit of Jezebel,

jezebel is a spirit that you have to confront

jezebel must be eradicated and is not one that you can bind

The problem is that to many of us are to busy looking the other way because we don’t like confrontation and we don’t want to look that demon face to face

But what you need to know is that God is a confrontational God

don’t believe me

read your bible

its all over the place

And if you know anything about the spirit of the prophet,

that spirit is confrontational

they hate sin

so if you know anything about this story you understand that Elijah was anointed to be confrontive

to be confrontational

to confront and stand up for all that was not for his king

And in this story you run into the spirit of witchcraft,

And the way the spirit of witchcraft works is that spirit roams around thinking, “I am going to do whatever i want to do, and no one is going to stop me.”

And that is exactly what Jezebel thought

But I am here to tell you that that confrontational spirit is coming upon his people today

they are going to stand up for the word and for the truth

they are going to stand for righteousness

There is one thing that i have to tell you though

and that is that as you stand for these things,

you have to realize one thing

and that is that you are not going to confront these demons on their home turf

And if anything, Elijah understood that,

he understood that he would not stand a chance if he didn’t have home the home field advantage

one thing that jezebel didn’t understand all all

the advantage of the home field advantage

See when i was a kid there was a thing where you never went into another persons territory to start a fight.

you just didn’t do that

there was to much going against you at that point

But the advantage to that was take whomever you was about to fight to your turf

see when gangs started a gang turf they always made sure that it was in familiar territory

See when you are not on your own turf you enter into unfamiliarity

and what unfamiliarity will lead one to is confusion

Story about the spiritualist camp last year that came to Clinton

See Elijah was wise and he didn’t take Jezebel on in her own turf

See was smart and he fought her on his

now follow me here because this will make sense as I get closer to my message

Now see, here you have to understand something

you have to understand your position in the kingdom

here you have to undertsand somehting

and the position of the prophets of baal understood their position

regardless of position, it was a position of witchcraft, can we all agree on that

And see Elijah understood his position

he understood where he stood in the kingdom of heaven

And it is in 18:27 that Elijah began to mock and taunt Ahabs sorcerers

see Elijah was like, maybe your god is sleeping, or maybe he’s busy

See Elijah knew who he was and he knew where his authority steemed from

Elijah knew who he was

he knew that God was with him, and that the power that resides in him comes from the Lord

see Elijah knew who he was

Now follow me here

I promise that I am going somewhere

And then in , it says that the 70 returned saying, even the demons were subject to us in your name

See, when you know who you are the aspect of it all is boundless

1 Kings 18:18–19 ESV

And he answered, “I have not troubled Israel, but you have, and your father’s house, because you have abandoned the commandments of the Lord and followed the Baals. Now therefore send and gather all Israel to me at Mount Carmel, and the 450 prophets of Baal and the 400 prophets of Asherah, who eat at Jezebel’s table.”

1 kings 18:

see the prophets of baal were 450 and elijah was the only one left

now in the natural those are some unbeatable odds

Something that even as a cop I wouldn’t want to face

But see Elijah knew who he was and the power that resided in and through him

And through fire he eradicated 450 men

And at this point Jezebel was scared

she didn’t want what happened to continue

I mean one man just defeated 450 men

And Jezebel was on a consistent track record of disposing and defeating the Lords prophets

And in 19 Jezebel sends a messenger,

she didn’t go on her own.

And she has this messenger threaten Elijah

the messenger says to Elijah, I am going to kill you

1 kings 19:2 She sent a message to Elijah: "May the gods strike me dead if by this time tomorrow I don't do the same thing to you that you did to the prophets."

And Elijah runs away

he let fear envelope his whole entire body and he forgot who he was

See this is where I get to my message,

its two parts so pay attention

See the way that the enemy attacks is through the mind

and through this attack the spirit of fear creeps up in your mind and you begin to think the worst

See this man had just prophecied and killed 450 men

this man just had fire fall from down from heaven

but here we have him running to a cave

and he didn’t run to the cave for a break

But he ran in fear

English Standard Version Chapter 19

Then he was afraid, and he arose and ran for his life and came to Beersheba, which belongs to Judah, and left his servant there.

4 But he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness and came and sat down under a broom tree. And he asked that he might die, saying, “It is enough; now, O LORD, take away my life, for I am no better than my fathers.”

5 And he lay down and slept under a broom tree. And behold, an angel touched him and said to him, “Arise and eat.”

6 And he looked, and behold, there was at his head a cake baked on hot stones and a jar of water. And he ate and drank and lay down again.

7 And the angel of the LORD came again a second time and touched him and said, “Arise and eat, for the journey is too great for you.”

8 And he arose and ate and drank, and went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights to Horeb, the mount of God.

The LORD Speaks to Elijah

9 There he came to a cave and lodged in it. And behold, the word of the LORD came to him, and he said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”

10 He said, “I have been very jealous for the LORD, the God of hosts. For the people of Israel have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword, and I, even I only, am left, and they seek my life, to take it away.”

11 And he said, “Go out and stand on the mount before the LORD.” And behold, the LORD passed by, and a great and strong wind tore the mountains and broke in pieces the rocks before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind. And after the wind an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake.

12 And after the earthquake a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire. And after the fire the sound of a low whisper.

See first Elijah was so down traughten at the thought of the threat that first he asked God to let him die

i mean this man that just prophecied for 24 hours and defeated the prophets of baal single handedly was having suicidal thoughts

See one thing that Jezebel wanted to happen is that he wanted Elijah to be bipolar so he didn’t know if he was coming or going

See this man that had just spent time in the Lord

prophecied in the Lords name

And defeated an army in the name of the Lord

he was now having second though

And he had seen some tremendous acts of God take place

see the one thing that the enemy will try to do is make you bipolar

he will make you act one way and think another

My life as a prophet as an example

The enemy knows that if he can get your mind that he can keep you from moving forward.

1 Kings 19:11–12 ESV

And he said, “Go out and stand on the mount before the Lord.” And behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind tore the mountains and broke in pieces the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. And after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. And after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire the sound of a low whisper.

1 Kings 1911:And he said, “Go out and stand on the mount before the LORD.” And behold, the LORD passed by, and a great and strong wind tore the mountains and broke in pieces the rocks before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind. And after the wind an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake.

And this is the second point of my message

12 And after the earthquake a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire. And after the fire the sound of a low whisper.

See Elijah didn’t run to get away from things

but he ran in fear

and that is what the enemy wants from here

And at this point Elijah ran to get away from the chaos

see one thing that you have to understand is that God is not in the noise

See So many of us are use to hearing God throughout the chaos of things,

but in this case God was trying to get Elijah alone

see what you are going to have to do is get use to hear him in the silence

For it is the whisper in which we hear Gods voice

During your prayer time,

During your worship time,

And sometimes we just need to sit there without any noise.

Because it is in the whisper that we hear God’s voice

The problem is that some of us are afraid of sitting in the silence

Some of us are not familiar with hearing his voice

We are use to hearing his voice in the chaos

matter of fact many of us like the chaos and the noise around us

But God is tryin to get you to hear his voice in the silence

See God led Elijah to a cave to get him refocused

He wanted Elijah to hear his voice without the chaos going on around him

See it is in the whisper in which the most intimacy takes place

see some of you need to stop allowing just anyone from getting into your intimate space

see because it is in the whisper that people have to learn over and whisper in your ear so you can hear

see people whisper because they only want you to hear what they say

What they have to say is intimate and personal

ie. like when my wife whispers stuff in my ear and she doesn’t want the kids to hear

or when she whispers sweet nothings in my ear

see some of you need to stop letting people that you don’t sleep with from whispering in your ear

So understand that God is not in the noise

see in the chaos you can’t focus

but in the whisper you can focus

in the whisper you can be intimate

and that is where God is trying to get each and everyone of you.

So understand that the intimacy of God is in the whisper

Numbers 6:24–26 ESV

The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.