WEBVTT 00:00.000 --> 00:27.320 way to encourage you because we're just bound to be discouraged in life. Why? We're not 00:27.320 --> 00:34.080 perfect. And we have ourselves, our own intellect, our own drive, our own knowledge isn't good 00:34.080 --> 00:44.240 enough to do the job. I'd like to have us turn to 1 Kings chapter 19 and let's begin there. 00:44.240 --> 00:51.080 And I'll be dancing to and fro in the chapters. But I'd like to talk about Elijah. Elijah was 00:51.080 --> 00:57.960 one of the greatest of God's great, great prophets, marvelous man of God, a man of great 00:57.960 --> 01:03.880 strength, and he got discouraged. And so I think by studying this man's life, we are better off. 01:03.880 --> 01:12.920 1 Kings 18 verse 46, it says, the hand of the Lord was on Elijah. Now you know people who God 01:12.920 --> 01:19.680 seems to be working with, just seems like they're just special. And you just wonder, well, they 01:19.680 --> 01:24.960 ever tire, or they ever quit, will they ever back down? No. No, I don't think they ever will, 01:24.960 --> 01:30.160 because God's hand is on them. Well, how come it's not on me? Because I don't have enough lead in my 01:30.160 --> 01:36.240 pencil sometimes. How about you? Sometimes I get tired. Sometimes I get grouchy like an old bear. 01:36.240 --> 01:44.400 And what about me? How come? How come? How come? And I asked that question a lot of times as I 01:44.480 --> 01:50.320 talk to people, you know, man, you don't have a problem. Did you know 40,000 people starve to death 01:50.320 --> 01:57.040 today? That's a problem, isn't it? But hey, our problems are still real. They're still real, 01:57.040 --> 02:04.000 aren't they? They're still important because God didn't want you to live a downer life and expect 02:04.000 --> 02:10.080 you to look forward to an upper life, which is in heaven. It's for both lives, the one to come and 02:10.080 --> 02:15.200 the one that is now. And he proved it as he went through the scriptures here. So just quickly, 02:15.200 --> 02:21.840 let's just go together. 1 Kings 17, verse 14, this shows that here's a woman starving to death, 02:21.840 --> 02:29.520 and she asks for the prophet, the prophet comes, and he feeds that family from two little vessels, 02:29.520 --> 02:37.760 one a little crucifix of oil, and the other a little sack of grain. And as long he said, 02:37.760 --> 02:46.240 as you stay with me and care for me, God's prophet, I will see that the bag is never empty 02:46.240 --> 02:53.120 and the little bowl of oil is never dry. And so help me. What a wonderful, miraculous marriage. 02:53.120 --> 02:58.800 You see, that's a small thing, but if you're dying of starvation, that's a wonderful thing. I love 02:58.800 --> 03:05.600 that. I look to pork chops. I look to the next meal. I'm concerned about that. You know, Jesus 03:05.680 --> 03:10.720 may come soon. I don't know. But in the meantime, I hope there's taters and gravy on the plate, 03:10.720 --> 03:16.320 don't you? It's a real thing. And when I look at a little child, I want them to have their little 03:16.320 --> 03:21.600 tummies full too, because I don't ever want to see a little swollen bell in the child. Do you? I hope 03:21.600 --> 03:26.480 I never have to see such a thing. And so much of the world is dealing with that today. And then in 03:26.480 --> 03:35.040 verse 23 of 1st King 17, the little boy dies. What a sad thing. A little baby dies. And so 03:35.760 --> 03:43.440 God allows him with the power of his spirit to heal that little boy and bring him back to life. 03:43.440 --> 03:52.240 Now that's power. That's power undreamed of. And I tell you, there's no fission, process, or atomic 03:52.320 --> 03:58.320 bomb that has a thousandth part of the power that could bring a dead one back to life. What a 03:58.320 --> 04:04.640 wonderful and miraculous thing that was. And then 1st Kings 18, verse 22, there were 450 priests of 04:04.640 --> 04:12.720 Baal. And he defeats every one of them. And he taunts their pagan god, Lord Moloch. And he puts that 04:12.720 --> 04:22.160 God down and laughs, is your God asleep? And he causes those great priests to be killed. Because 04:22.160 --> 04:28.960 they had desecrated the authority of God's prophet and God's people and God's kingdom. What a powerful 04:28.960 --> 04:36.320 man he was. In verse 41, he prays that the king of Samaria, because he had opposed God's people, 04:36.320 --> 04:41.280 that he not have reign in his land for three years. And as long as he prays, they don't have it. And 04:41.360 --> 04:47.920 when he says, okay, you're behaving yourself, I'm going to restore your land. And so I'm going to pray 04:47.920 --> 04:55.680 that the rains come. And wow, they came. And hey, where's our Elijah today? Man, I looked across the 04:55.680 --> 05:00.800 other day and well, Sally and the bunch gathered there across the river just Thursday night. And here 05:00.800 --> 05:05.600 was a fire again. And we didn't think there was anything left to burn over there. You know, our 05:05.600 --> 05:12.400 green country's turning black in some places too. Where's Elijah that'll say, hey, God, spare our land? 05:12.400 --> 05:18.640 Is he trying to teach us or tell us something? And that great powerful man caused the land to be 05:18.640 --> 05:28.320 restored to become green again. In 2 Kings chapter one, verse 10, he destroys two units, 50s of soldiers, 05:28.320 --> 05:34.800 that is 100 soldiers, he destroys as they come to defile God's prophet and to hurl him down in the 05:34.800 --> 05:41.920 name of Jezebel. Ah, Jezebel. Wow, if you have enemies like that, you're no minor man, are you? 05:42.560 --> 05:48.080 Five foot two with eyes of blue and hatred in her heart. But I tell you, as she opposed God and 05:48.080 --> 05:54.240 she opposed God's prophet, what aft is to her on the second story window? Remember, she's thrown 05:54.240 --> 05:58.640 out dead into the streets and the dog leave nothing but the soul of her feet. So much 05:59.280 --> 06:08.960 for those who oppose God's prophets, be careful, be aware that God will not be mocked and neither 06:08.960 --> 06:15.760 will his men and women, neither will his small children be mocked. Oh, what a powerful passage 06:15.760 --> 06:22.880 that is. But did he, did he, did he really get discouraged? Why should he did that big spasmole 06:22.880 --> 06:27.680 with all this power and this strength and this authority to call down fire and lightning and 06:27.760 --> 06:32.960 thunder and all these other things? He gets discouraged and goes to a cave and sulk. Now, 06:32.960 --> 06:38.400 I have a little cave up above my house and when I want to throw a little tantrum, I can go up 06:38.400 --> 06:46.000 there under the waterfall and just sulk. And I haven't heard of voices. What are you doing here, 06:46.000 --> 06:53.680 Fat Albert? Well, a voice hasn't come down from heaven to me yet, but you know, maybe he'll get 06:53.680 --> 06:58.960 me moving sometime because hiding in the cave isn't where he wants God's boys and girls, is it? 06:58.960 --> 07:05.280 He wants them to stand out front and to stand out tall and to tell it like it is odd, Jezebel, 07:05.280 --> 07:10.880 you'll not win anything. You know, he takes his mantle and he lays it on the shoulder of the new 07:10.880 --> 07:17.520 one coming over. He is a mentor to a young prophet of great promise and of great power and authority 07:17.520 --> 07:24.400 and his name was Elisha and he lays his mantle on him. So to speak, I pass my authority, 07:24.400 --> 07:30.320 I pass my work on to you. And that's a difficult thing it is. We see our children rise and grow 07:30.320 --> 07:34.960 stronger. It's so hard to let loose of them and we just have to realize now when they're reached 07:34.960 --> 07:38.720 this stage right here and they look down on you and pat your bald head and say, 07:38.720 --> 07:44.400 oh, Papa, it was so good to come to your house. You just have to say, well, honey, 07:45.280 --> 07:52.720 we've passed on, Mom and I, the cloak, the mantle of our family name and honor. And we have given 07:52.720 --> 07:58.000 you the knowledge of Jesus. Now go and conquer the world and that's the hard thing to do. Folks 07:58.000 --> 08:03.280 with little bitty guys, you're involved with tiny problems, but wait till they get to be teeny 08:03.280 --> 08:10.400 boppers and the problems involve big cars and all kinds of other problems that aren't just 08:10.400 --> 08:15.600 kissy, kissy and it'll be better. It won't work that way. You better do a good job while they're 08:15.600 --> 08:22.640 young. That's very important to do that. Well, great enemies. Yeah, we have great enemies. 08:22.640 --> 08:28.960 And sometimes we're a little scared, but I want you to know this, that he that is with us is much 08:28.960 --> 08:36.640 greater than he that is in the world. And we've had sermons on that, but we do have a power and 08:36.640 --> 08:43.280 authority, don't we? And that power isn't dead and that power isn't gone yet. You know, verse nine, 08:44.160 --> 08:49.120 reading in First Kings chapter 19, and he came thither into a cave and lodged there, 08:49.120 --> 08:55.200 and behold, the word of the Lord came to him and he said unto him, what are you doing here, Elijah? 08:56.640 --> 09:02.000 Man, I wouldn't want to hear that. Fat Albert, what are you sulking under the waterfall for? 09:02.960 --> 09:12.720 I wasn't appointed to this committee. That's no Jezebel. Jezebel could kill you and remove your 09:12.720 --> 09:22.320 lips with an army of 20,000 men. Some of her forebears stacked skulls in a pyramid that was 09:22.320 --> 09:31.040 at the base 200 feet by 200 feet. These were guys that didn't mind removing your lips. He had real 09:31.120 --> 09:37.280 problems. I don't have that kind of problem, but it still affects me. We're that way, aren't we? 09:37.280 --> 09:44.800 Because we're human in nature. And so he says, what are you doing here, Elijah? Well, look in verse 10 09:44.800 --> 09:54.640 of First Kings chapter 19, I've done all your work. They have forsaken thy covenant the church 09:54.640 --> 10:01.520 has, the covenanted people. They have thrown down thy altars and slain thy prophets with the sword, 10:01.520 --> 10:15.360 and I even only, I am left. Well, the histrionics aren't real, but that's what he was doing, 10:15.360 --> 10:20.000 wasn't it? This great and powerful man of God was whining that everybody that heard the message 10:20.000 --> 10:26.160 didn't behave themselves and do what the preacher said. My goodness, that's one of the shocks of 10:26.160 --> 10:33.120 being a preacher. It's one of the discouragements of being a preacher. Don't you know that? Nobody's 10:33.120 --> 10:40.320 afraid of Satan. They're afraid of God's people. Will they attend to the Word of God or not? Will 10:40.320 --> 10:47.280 they be blessed? Will they use this as a way of life or not? That's what really hurts somebody 10:47.280 --> 10:52.800 who loves the Lord and deans to preach, you know? Luther said there are two things. Martin Luther 10:52.800 --> 11:00.000 said there are two things that we do alone. Two things that we do alone. One is that we each 11:00.000 --> 11:07.280 must come to a time when we die alone. You can't share that with anybody. You can't give that 11:08.400 --> 11:15.040 to anybody. You can't buy that from anybody. That is one thing that we face, God Almighty 11:16.000 --> 11:21.920 alone. And I've been in several homes where they said, well, preacher, why don't you talk to the 11:21.920 --> 11:26.480 Mrs. back there? You know, she kind of takes charge of God around here. She's kind of charged a 11:26.480 --> 11:35.600 religion around the house here. Well, what an awful thing. I wonder, I wonder, will he say, well, 11:35.600 --> 11:41.440 this woman that Thou gave me, she didn't tell me, will that be sufficient? I don't think so. 11:41.440 --> 11:48.800 No, I don't think so. And the other thing, he said, we must each believe of our own, 11:49.680 --> 11:55.440 believe alone. You cannot give someone your belief. You know, Paul said that one time, didn't he? He 11:55.440 --> 12:00.960 said, if I could die for them, I would. I love God's people. He said, if I could die for them, 12:00.960 --> 12:07.920 I would, but I can't. For each woman, each man, each child is responsible to the Father in heaven. 12:07.920 --> 12:13.920 And he said, not an awesome thing. We ultimately must all stand before the judgment seat of God 12:13.920 --> 12:19.680 with nobody standing beside us. It's not a group thing at all. And I believe that Martin Luther 12:19.680 --> 12:25.440 was right in that circumstance. Lonely decisions that have to be made. And so look at verse 11. 12:25.440 --> 12:29.680 Verse 11 to 12 makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up. And of course, that's not too much 12:29.680 --> 12:36.560 hair to stand up. It's not visible. But I'll tell you what, this is an awesome God we deal with here. 12:36.560 --> 12:45.760 Verse 11 to 12. And he said, go forth, you little wimp, paraphrase, stand upon the mount before God. 12:45.760 --> 12:50.800 And behold, the Lord passed by in a great and a strong wind, rent the mountains and break in 12:50.800 --> 12:56.000 pieces the rocks before the Lord. But the Lord was not in that wind. And after the wind and 12:56.000 --> 13:00.240 earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. And after the earthquake, a fire, but the Lord was 13:00.240 --> 13:11.120 not in the fire. And after the fire, still small voice. Isn't that cool? I haven't read any analysis 13:11.120 --> 13:18.160 that really satisfies me about this. And I looked three or four. But I'll tell you what, it is 13:18.160 --> 13:23.280 obvious here that God works several ways, doesn't he? Now, if you want to get my attention, you'll 13:23.280 --> 13:30.080 hit me right between the eyes with a hearsuit fist. And I'll blink and I'll respond. Others of 13:30.080 --> 13:36.720 you may respond to a beautiful music, or a sunset, or a quiet word out of the Bible, or maybe a 13:36.720 --> 13:43.520 simple prayer, or an example of an inspired, an inspiring love one. That may be what it is. 13:43.520 --> 13:49.920 You know, this is the first reference to the Casper wind in the Bible. This really is. And 13:49.920 --> 13:57.120 you'll find there that he says the wind broke in pieces the rock. And that's the first allusion 13:57.120 --> 14:02.400 to the Casper wind. Even the Bible knew that that would come to pass. Here's a piece of jade, 14:02.400 --> 14:06.880 Nephrites, toughest rock in the world, tough as a diamond fellow. Have you been reading your own 14:06.880 --> 14:15.200 books? Yes, yes, diamonds are harder, but not too fracturing. They're soft. This has no, 14:15.200 --> 14:21.840 this has concoital fracture, has no preferential, whereas diamond has octahedral 001 cleavage. 14:21.840 --> 14:25.760 And therefore a diamond would wear away a long time before this piece of jade would. And you know 14:25.760 --> 14:30.640 what the wind has done to this? It has wind polished it. Now this is a beautiful piece of 14:30.640 --> 14:35.760 exquisite jade out here on the sweet water, best jade on the face of the earth. And this tough 14:35.760 --> 14:42.080 enduring rock has been polished by the almighty hand and wind of God. So you don't tell me that 14:42.080 --> 14:48.320 the Bible just deals with allegories all the time, but this is reality, isn't it? So I'd like to have 14:48.320 --> 14:53.280 you all look at this. If someone please take good care of it, because I'd cry if it wasn't home 14:53.280 --> 15:02.400 tomorrow night, I'd be lonesome without it. That's a wind-polished ventifact. It's a, it's a nullifact. 15:02.400 --> 15:08.960 It is not a dry canter or a schwag canter or a fumph canter. It has no facet on it, but it has 15:08.960 --> 15:14.960 still been polished by the wind of God. Right out here on the old sweet water. How many years? 15:14.960 --> 15:20.880 Heavens knows. I don't know how long, but thousands of years, God has put the kibosh on that hard 15:20.880 --> 15:26.880 rock. He's done it before. He's still doing it. Can't he do it again? Indeed, he really can. 15:27.760 --> 15:37.600 Wow. Wow. Man alive. That's power, isn't it? Well, I love that 11 and 12 because a still small voice. 15:38.240 --> 15:42.320 And I think God has been speaking to us by still small voices, but I don't know how long he's going 15:42.320 --> 15:48.640 to keep doing that. He may start using a louder voice. That is his privilege, isn't it? Well, 15:49.600 --> 15:56.560 when this great man dies, he is translated. He goes up into heaven in a whirlwind with 15:56.560 --> 16:03.440 fiery chariots and fiery horses. What a way to live this, leave this veil of tears. God's special 16:03.440 --> 16:10.560 man goes home and he leaves the mantle of his authority to the new prophet coming on so that 16:10.560 --> 16:21.280 God's business is forever renewed, ever continuing and ever going on. You know, in verse 14 of Second 16:21.280 --> 16:33.760 Kings 2, we read this. Where is the Lord God of Elijah? Where is the Lord God of Elijah? So he's 16:33.760 --> 16:43.920 still here, isn't he? That's your cue there, big buddy. Where is the God of Elijah? Is he still 16:43.920 --> 16:51.520 around? Yes, he is. Is God still working through his people, his prophets, his ministers, his teachers, 16:51.520 --> 16:58.400 his Bible school teachers, his revivalists, his neighborly witnesses? Sure he is. God's power 16:58.480 --> 17:10.400 still rampant and still going to town. You know, I believe that God's hand is closer to us and 17:10.400 --> 17:15.520 God's spirit is closer to us now than in the time of Elijah because Jesus said, when I leave you, 17:15.520 --> 17:22.320 I'll send the spirit just like myself and he'll be here right up here reasoning with you, talking 17:22.320 --> 17:30.240 with you, praying with you, intervening and interceding for you. I know this much that the 17:30.240 --> 17:40.880 God who spoke to us by wind and by fire and a shaking earth and a terrible storms, that God 17:40.880 --> 17:47.840 is still alive and well and still speak to us in noises loud and strong or in the still small voice 17:48.800 --> 17:56.240 of God. I think that many of us are searching for God's wisdom in this book alone. You want to 17:56.240 --> 18:02.080 help your children. This is the best thing to know. This is the best document in raising children. 18:02.080 --> 18:08.320 You want to live with someone for 50, 60 or 70 years. This is the best advice in doing that. I 18:08.320 --> 18:13.440 believe this is that still small voice that reaches in with us and as we know and as we study and as 18:13.520 --> 18:19.360 we place that word in our mind and heart, then we begin to live together as God would want us to 18:19.360 --> 18:28.720 live and not snooty psychiatrists. We don't need that. We need the word of God, Hebrews 1 versus 18:28.720 --> 18:38.880 1 and 2, God who at sundry time and divers manners, spoken to the fathers by the prophets, but has 18:38.960 --> 18:46.800 spoken now unto us by the Son. He is now spoken to us by the Son. We have something better than 18:46.800 --> 18:50.800 the ancient prophets, something better even though we have Elijah, we know what happened, 18:50.800 --> 18:55.040 we know why he preached, we know what happened, we have the benefit of that, but we also have 18:55.040 --> 19:00.320 our Redeemer, the Lord Jesus Christ, which wasn't just real in the Old Testament, believe you me, 19:00.320 --> 19:06.720 not by a long shot, it wasn't. Jesus said in John 18, verse 20, I spoke openly to the world. 19:07.440 --> 19:12.400 He said, I spoke to you in the synagogues, I spoke to you in the temple, but now listen to what he says. 19:14.080 --> 19:23.520 He says, I have said nothing to you in secret. This is no secret. This is the most thoroughly 19:23.520 --> 19:27.600 documented book on the face of the earth, at least 27,000 separate manuscripts have been 19:27.600 --> 19:36.160 involved, over 40 authors, over a period of 2,200 years, and it's the most thoroughly known and 19:36.160 --> 19:41.920 understand document on the face of the earth, and he says, I've not done it by secret, it isn't it 19:41.920 --> 19:49.200 true? I don't know, Chuck, it's about a billion Bibles that the Gideons have given just the Russians 19:49.200 --> 19:54.960 alone. That's no secret to them anymore. Granted, now there's still a lot of Bibles that need to 19:55.040 --> 20:01.040 keep going. But you know what? Just ignorance of the word of God and the mind of God, it can't be 20:01.040 --> 20:08.400 tolerated at least by God's people, can it? Boy, I think of that. And you know, the word means the 20:08.400 --> 20:14.400 law goes, doesn't it? Logical, the logical one, the personification of intellect. And so God calls 20:14.400 --> 20:21.040 those with a good mind to know his mind, to know his spirit, to know his plans. You know, we have 20:21.040 --> 20:33.440 a couple of young men with us today, Brian Wing and Brother Keith, is he here? Okay, I can't see. 20:34.000 --> 20:40.320 Okay, they've been doing something, they've been doing a, searching for a very practical way to 20:40.320 --> 20:48.080 use the word of God to become better family men, to become better fathers, teachers of their children, 20:48.080 --> 20:53.120 and we'd like to just spend a few minutes and share with you how practical the word of God is 20:53.120 --> 21:04.480 and how it can be applied in a way that will help you and your children and your loved ones. 21:18.960 --> 21:23.440 Okay, one of the first things we did, we want to share with you today, we had our marriage 21:23.440 --> 21:30.320 retreat the middle of June, and it was down at Guernsey State Park, we had 38 people total, 21:30.320 --> 21:36.960 we had 21 adults and 17 kids, and what we were striving to do is just try and have some fun and 21:38.320 --> 21:42.640 get couples together, we got to witness to each other, we got to give our own testimonies of how 21:42.640 --> 21:48.160 we met, communication skills and so forth, of what our marriage was and what my desire was, 21:48.160 --> 21:52.880 is I love my wife very much, but do I love her the way that God designed for us, the way that, 21:52.880 --> 21:58.640 you know, I'd rather have my marriage be successful in God's eyes than look successful to the world. 22:00.560 --> 22:05.600 We had a great time. Charles and Deborah Beard are guest speakers. 22:06.000 --> 22:23.040 Just want to encourage those that didn't come this year, we'll be doing this again next year, 22:23.040 --> 22:25.760 try and make this an annual thing, this was our tryout deal, 22:27.440 --> 22:30.960 see we had some fun on the boat and when the boat decided to run, 22:31.680 --> 22:39.520 had some fun on the boat, jet skis, had a good time, fellowship, recreation and food, lots of food, 22:39.520 --> 22:45.600 for those of you missed out, we had a lot of food there, too much food, we could have had another 22:45.600 --> 22:53.040 hundred people there and still had food, but it was real encouraging to us, you get to know your 22:53.040 --> 22:59.520 family, brothers and sisters, a lot better this way, I always know each other here, but you just 22:59.520 --> 23:05.440 don't get close like when you spend a weekend together like this and it's real encouraging to 23:05.440 --> 23:11.120 be together like this and have a lot of fun camping out and eating together and had some 23:11.120 --> 23:16.480 classes together with Charles and Deborah Beard, like Brian said, they came over from Platt Valley 23:16.480 --> 23:22.560 for us and led us in some classes and all I could say in this morning earlier that 23:23.200 --> 23:28.400 whether you've been married a month or 50, 60 years, there's a crafty man out there 23:29.840 --> 23:36.160 called Satan and he's always working on our marriages and if we can spend one weekend 23:36.160 --> 23:44.240 to, you know, building them up with each other, it's a lot brighter situation for us in the end. 23:44.240 --> 23:53.920 Yeah, it doesn't matter if, you know, I wouldn't recommend a marriage retreat if you're having 23:53.920 --> 23:56.800 serious problems with your marriage, you don't necessarily have to have problems to go to a 23:56.800 --> 24:01.200 marriage retreat, we did it mainly to strengthen the one that you have and like Rick said, you know, 24:01.200 --> 24:05.360 it doesn't matter if you've been married for 50 years, you can go and you can encourage younger 24:05.360 --> 24:09.920 couples of what you've done right and what you've done wrong and it really builds a lot of closer 24:09.920 --> 24:13.920 relationships with people in your church that you can rely on and be accountable to 24:15.280 --> 24:19.280 with your relationship with your spouse and your family and your kids and so we're definitely 24:19.280 --> 24:22.880 going to do another one next year. I'd encourage you if you didn't make it this year to try and 24:22.880 --> 24:28.960 make plans to do it next year because it was really a lot of fun. There are some things we 24:30.080 --> 24:35.760 we're going to redo and some things we'll try and fix but for the most part for the first 24:35.760 --> 24:41.600 time we had a lot of fun, it was very successful and I was very encouraged by how the turnout was 24:41.600 --> 24:47.360 and what happened and the experiences. I said I built a lot of closer relationships with people 24:47.360 --> 24:51.840 that have even been coming to the church for a long time but until you get off and you can start 24:51.840 --> 24:57.120 witnessing and share some personal experiences about your life and your spouse and along with 24:57.120 --> 25:02.080 some friends and family, you know, it's just hard to build those relationships just seeing each other 25:02.080 --> 25:10.160 once a week or what have you. I'd also like to thank Amber and Ashley who took the kids for us 25:10.160 --> 25:15.280 while we had our meetings. They had a lot of kids and I'm sure that was hectic on their side but 25:15.840 --> 25:21.520 I want to thank them and and Tom and Tammy for taking all these pictures. They did a good job 25:21.520 --> 25:28.080 of taking pictures of all the fun we had and and just encourage you guys to make plans for this next 25:28.080 --> 25:30.080 year. 25:39.040 --> 25:47.440 Rick Keese and Brian Wing love the Lord. They are seeking in their way to encourage their family 25:48.320 --> 25:55.440 the Bible way and so this is why I love the church. You know we need each other and we need this 25:56.000 --> 25:59.920 symbiosis which we have rich living together that we might each one 26:00.640 --> 26:06.480 multiply and gather around. We not only have the word of God but we have prayer and the power and 26:06.480 --> 26:11.360 the authority of prayer and great numbers of prayers are better than single prayers aren't they? 26:11.360 --> 26:17.520 Hey all of us together can work a great work. Let me conclude with this. Where is the Lord God of 26:17.520 --> 26:24.080 Elijah? He's still there man. He is still there. He is still alive and well and if you're discouraged 26:24.080 --> 26:32.000 today there are answers to those problems. Is the power gone of Elijah? No that power is still here. 26:32.000 --> 26:37.440 We have the entire mind of God in the Old and the New Testament and how successful that is 26:38.080 --> 26:42.960 for living. If you will turn to Acts one beginning in verse eight there's just a couple of concluding 26:42.960 --> 26:52.800 verses. He said but you shall receive power when you receive the Spirit and it is come upon you 26:53.440 --> 27:01.520 for you shall be witnesses of those things you have heard in Jerusalem and in Judea and in Sumeria 27:01.520 --> 27:08.800 and to the uttermost parts of the world and so the church has reached out from this small precious 27:08.800 --> 27:15.520 circle all around the world to deliver that and then in that book of Acts the story of power is so 27:15.520 --> 27:22.960 beautiful so magnificent I I'm overwhelmed sometimes for in verse nine he said when he had spoken 27:22.960 --> 27:28.880 these things well they beheld he was taken up and a cloud received him out of their sight. 27:29.440 --> 27:36.000 Do you remember how Elijah left in this veil of tears? There was a great whirlwind of clouds and a 27:36.000 --> 27:44.400 fiery chariot and fiery horses and Jesus ascends up into heaven in a fiery cloud. I just think 27:44.400 --> 27:49.760 how like Elijah he was how important he was as a prophet he was not only king 27:51.280 --> 28:00.640 but he was not only priest he was also prophet for he told of things to come and they all were 28:00.640 --> 28:07.040 fulfilled in Acts 242 that power continues and they continued said fastly in the apostles 28:07.040 --> 28:12.720 doctrine the fellowship the breaking of bread and prayers and that's what you did today all of us 28:12.720 --> 28:19.120 participated in those at least four essential elements of worship service we have done those 28:19.120 --> 28:23.760 things that God wants us to do and there's a power and God's people gathering together 28:23.760 --> 28:29.840 and doing those precious things you remembered his body and his blood until he comes again 28:29.840 --> 28:38.560 how precious that promise is but you know that's not all of it is it? Verse 43 says this 28:38.560 --> 28:45.200 and fear came upon every soul and many wonders and signs were done by the apostles they did those 28:45.200 --> 28:51.360 powers of the prophets of the Old Testament they lived that life of success and glory were they ever 28:51.360 --> 28:57.920 discouraged and certainly they were and they perished oftentimes for preaching the gospel 28:57.920 --> 29:05.440 but they never quit they were never discouraged I tell you giants of the faith did get discouraged 29:05.440 --> 29:11.680 giants of the faith today still get discouraged does it stop them does it put it down never never 29:11.680 --> 29:18.880 never never will we be put down they went on to win as we shall go on to win and the God of Elijah 29:18.880 --> 29:26.560 is still here stick your chest out be proud the God of Elijah is still with you and still with me 29:26.560 --> 29:35.280 today I think that God has spoken pretty much to us in a small quiet voice I look to the future 29:35.760 --> 29:42.080 as he will not be treating America that way from here on after 9 11 he sees treating us 29:43.120 --> 29:51.520 with kid gloves and we realize in America that we are not inviolate that we stand liable 29:52.640 --> 30:01.520 that we can be victims of unseemly circumstances that we're not the master of entirely of our own 30:01.520 --> 30:09.520 destiny but we all must survive in this veil of tears and I believe his is the best plan 30:10.160 --> 30:16.880 of survivor you know as I saw those two dark towers stumble as Pat was talking about communion 30:17.520 --> 30:25.120 hey things are different now aren't they and did he speak to us from fire and thunder 30:26.000 --> 30:32.080 and a mighty wind of hot flames and then afterward in the smoke and quiet ash 30:32.880 --> 30:42.720 was there a feeling like we got to change this world we got to get right with our heavenly father 30:44.000 --> 30:52.080 easy times are over with I'll tell you as a geologist that earthquakes are on a geometric 30:52.080 --> 30:58.560 increase why I don't know but I believe God's triggering a new geological epic he's done it 30:59.120 --> 31:06.880 17 times why shouldn't he do it again oh unbelievers how frail of intellect sometimes we are the 31:06.880 --> 31:14.720 earth has changed since time began and he can do it at any will any moment he may do it again 31:15.440 --> 31:22.720 so the god of thunder god of fire god of earthquakes and the god of a still small voice 31:23.440 --> 31:29.760 is still calling you today have we reached a point in America where he now will get our attention 31:30.560 --> 31:37.040 you know if a little boy gets in the candy dish too many times there's one way to get his attention 31:37.040 --> 31:46.960 isn't there whoop and you have his attention is he doing that to you and to me is there a 31:46.960 --> 31:55.120 still small voice as you set their thing you know what I need a church home I need this one called 31:55.120 --> 32:04.400 Jesus I need a Lord bigger than myself and I really believe that America is crying out 32:04.480 --> 32:08.880 for that very thing today as we stand and sing we offer you the opportunity 32:13.200 --> 32:20.960 become part of the fellowship to make a confession of faith to be baptized for the 32:20.960 --> 32:27.600 remission of sins to look forward together with your fellow man to the heaven that's sure to come 32:27.600 --> 32:38.800 would you come 32:57.600 --> 32:58.800 you