I CAN’T TAKE IT ANYMORE – THERE IS ALWAYS HOPE

Pastor Brian – I CAN’T TAKE IT ANYMORE – THERE IS ALWAYS HOPE

I pray that God, the source of hope, will fill you completely with joy and peace because you trust in him. Then you will overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit.

Romans 15:13

GUIDING TRUTH: Hope doesn’t come from my . Hope comes from my .

God doesn’t just give hope; He is the source of .

WHAT HOPE ISN’T

.

HOPE DEFINED: The confident expectation that God is and He is still .

Hope believes in the of God even when I can’t yet see the of God.

WHEN HOPE RUNS LOW

 When Ahab got home, he told Jezebel everything Elijah had done, including the way he had killed all the prophets of Baal. So Jezebel sent this message to Elijah: “May the gods strike me and even kill me if by this time tomorrow I have not killed you just as you killed them.” . He went to Beersheba, a town in Judah, and he left his servant there. Then he went on alone into the wilderness, traveling all day. He sat down under a solitary broom tree and prayed that he might die. “, Lord,” he said. “Take my life, for I am no better than my ancestors who have already died.”

1 Kings 19:1–4

REAL LIFE REALITY: Yesterday’s doesn’t make us from today’s battle.

Elijah didn’t stop believing , he’s struggling to believe there’s anything .

Hopelessness isn’t always believing , sometimes it’s struggling to believe .

WHAT WE DISCOVER ABOUT HOPE (case study on Elijah)

1. Our present don’t determine our

I have had enough, LORD,’ he said. ‘Take my life, for I am no better than my ancestors who have already died.’”

I Kings 19:4

Elijah’s pain was . Elijah’s conclusion was .

Hopelessness will try and convince us that how we feel right now is how our will .

TRUTH TO LIVE BY: Never make conclusions in temporary places.

Fix your thoughts on what is true…

Philippians 4:8

         2. God meets us in our WEAKNESS.

Then he lay down and slept under the broom tree. But as he was sleeping, an angel touched him and told him, “Get up and eat!” He looked around and there beside his head was some bread baked on hot stones and a jar of water! So he ate and drank and lay down again. Then the angel of the Lord came again and touched him and said, “Get up and eat some more, or the journey ahead will be too much for you.” So he got up and ate and drank, and the food gave him enough strength to travel forty days and forty nights to Mount Sinai, the mountain of God. There he came to a cave, where he spent the night.

I Kings 19:5-8

TRUTH TO LIVE BY: God doesn’t wait for us to UP before He .

Sometimes the most spiritual thing you can do is then take a .

         3. The CAVE doesn’t give us the whole PICTURE.

I am the only one left…

I Kings 19:10

The enemy wants our to become our .

Yet I will preserve 7,000 others in Israel who have never bowed down to Baal…

I Kings 19:18

What we see from the cave is not the whole .

TRUTH TO LIVE BY: Just because I can’t see God doesn’t mean God isn’t working.

         4. God’s voice CALLS us FORWARD.

Go out and stand before me on the mountain,” the Lord told him. And as Elijah stood there, the Lord passed by, and a mighty windstorm hit the mountain. It was such a terrible blast that the rocks were torn loose, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. And after the earthquake there was a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire there was the sound of a gentle whisper.

I Kings 19:11-12

Elijah knew God’s , but in that moment, he needed God’s .

Maybe the miracle you need isn’t God changing everything around you. Maybe you just need to God again.

God met Elijah the cave, but God didn’t call Elijah to in the cave.

COME OUT OF THE CAVE

Then the Lord told him, “Go back the same way you came, and travel to the wilderness of Damascus. When you arrive there, anoint Hazael to be king of Aram.

I Kings 19:15

Elijah says, “I’ve had enough.” God says, “I’m not yet!”