You Are Not Alone (In Progress)

I want to extend my many thanks to the Scotland County Ministerial Alliance for allowing me the opportunity to share the Word with you all on this evening. For indeed, their is a Word from the Lord. God bless Pastor Gibson and to all the others on this call with us, truly I thank God for your leadership and commitment to the Body of Christ. Lets get to the Word.

Read: 1 Kings 19:13-18

1 Kings 19:13–18 KJV 1900

13 And it was so, when Elijah heard it, that he wrapped his face in his mantle, and went out, and stood in the entering in of the cave. And, behold, there came a voice unto him, and said, What doest thou here, Elijah? 14 And he said, I have been very jealous for the Lord God of hosts: because the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thine altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword; and I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away. 15 And the Lord said unto him, Go, return on thy way to the wilderness of Damascus: and when thou comest, anoint Hazael to be king over Syria: 16 And Jehu the son of Nimshi shalt thou anoint to be king over Israel: and Elisha the son of Shaphat of Abel-meholah shalt thou anoint to be prophet in thy room. 17 And it shall come to pass, that him that escapeth the sword of Hazael shall Jehu slay: and him that escapeth from the sword of Jehu shall Elisha slay. 18 Yet I have left me seven thousand in Israel, all the knees which have not bowed unto Baal, and every mouth which hath not kissed him.

Subject & Prayer

Introduction

Each day for the better part of 350 days, many of us have gotten up for our daily commute only to be stopped in the living room.

Whether you were social distancing, under a curfew, were on quarantine, had COVID, or you were living in fear many of us have spent more time in seclusion than ever before.

I know I have found myself feeling alone despite both my wife and I being at home.

In the midst of everything going on, it can be easy to feel like you are living your life alone. Because we cultivate a strict image on social media and Television and Movies are often not representative of the real lives that we live… we each are living in an echo chamber of our own thoughts. And in that kind of environment your thoughts can become an echo chamber.

This is especially true of the preacher, the pastor, the leader....who is often so used to do EVERYTHING for everybody when you have nothing to do it feels like NOBODY is doing anything.

But I want to let you know that you are not alone.

1 Kings 19:13-18

We see here in 1 Kings that the prophet Elijah is in a space of quarantine.

He has secluded himself off from the rest of the world in fear that he will be persecuted and possibly killed by the very powers he had just came against

He called upon the fires of the Lord which devoured all of Jezebel’s priests and he had even at one point called upon fire to devour the armies of the King of Northern Israel

He had proven the lack of power both within Jezebel and within the God’s that the King of Israel had bowed down to..

He had shown God to be mighty and powerful

Isn’t funny how we as preachers, ministers, pastors, and leaders can find ourselves able to slay the biggest giants, climb the highest peaks, forde the widest streams and yet.... we reach a point in our ministry where we are ready to give up and we flee from OUR OWN Problems when we stood strong against those of other people.

You were strong enough to pray that God healed the mother at your Church.... but when you lose your own mother or the mother of your kids you find yourself to be paralyzed by fear and uncertainty.

You were strong enough to stand up for your family to prevent violence, prejudice, or malcontent befalling them from political figures, rampant bosses, or bad teachers… but when your own boss called you out of your name you found yourself unable to fight or say anything because you were tired of fighting.

I want to talk to the preachers who have been struggling, not just with the pandemic, not just with joblessness, not just with failed ministry, but I want to talk to some people who have been through the struggle who have been through the tests and now its not just the hard stuff that gets you but its the easy stuff.

Stuff you have done before.

Stuff you have faced before

Stuff you are familiar with.

Stuff that ANY OTHER DAY

ANY OTHER TIME

ANY OTHER MOMENT

You could deal with it but you have just had one too many rough days and now you are standing on the edge of the bed waiting to hear a Word from God… .

So let this be your Word on tonight.

YOU ARE NOT ALONE.

Here in our text, we see that the Prophet Elijah is alone in a cave…

He has fled from Jezebel’s wrath because he does not want to die

And in that moment when he was ready to give up… God makes an appearance but he does not come in the same way.

Nor does he come, even in the way to which Elijah is accustomed.

God comes to Elijah not in the fire… not in the Earthquake… not in the wind…

But God comes to Elijah in a still small voice.

Can wants to use the small things in your life to build you up

Stop waiting on God to do everything big because you may just miss his voice.

But God inquires of Elijah, who then explains his situation

He feels alone

He feels neglected

He feels abused

He feels like he is all by himself

But God comes to Elijah and he gives him a punch list

Some items to do.

He asks him to anoint kings

And he asks him to anoint a next generation

You have enough left

You have enough left not just to survive

But you shall birth royalty from your anointing

And then you shall give birth to a new generation

Conclusion

YOU ARE NOT ALONE