What happens to you over time… It's not that you're not grateful and it's not
that you're rebellious. That's not why you run.
The reason you say, "I've had enough" is because you don't feel like you are enough. That's
why he ran. "I don't know what else to do. I called for the drought. I released the rain,
and nothing has changed. I'm done." When he said, "I'm done," he wasn't telling God,
"I don't want to do it anymore." He was saying, "I don't know what else to do."
He's done. "I can't carry this anymore.
I can't do it."
I'm not necessarily going to leave my house. I'm not necessarily going to leave my marriage
physically, but emotionally I'm going to withdraw 15 percent at a time, and you'll never even know
I was taking my heart out of it. One day at a time he went into the wilderness, running from
the disappointment. He wasn't running from Jezebel. He had the drop on Jezebel.
It's interesting to me that the most dangerous place he could have gone was away from the one
who was threatening him. He would have been safer to walk right up in Ahab's palace and say,
"Bring your wife out here. I want to tell her something." He would have been safer
to drop a diss track on Jezebel and tell her what. "You want some too.
#heyjezebel" I thought about writing a letter to Jezebel. "Hey, Jezebel, you can go to…"
Write down the word opposition.
Certain battles you expect to have to fight. I went on Twitter one time.
That enough should produce tears. I went on Twitter one time, and somebody said something.
It was crazy. Now, please. I don't mean this to be a depressing sermon. We're just talking today.
They said they hoped I had pancreatic cancer and died a slow, painful death. So I clicked on the
profile. I was like, "What kind of atheist is this?" Their handle had a Scripture verse in it.
What was weird about that is I expected to have to fight people who didn't know God…
Why are church people some of the meanest people around?
I expect to fight you if your jersey is a different color.
That's how the game goes. But you were supposed to be blocking for me.
Elijah wasn't scared of Jezebel. Let me tell you what broke his heart. Go to 1 Kings 19:10.
When God asked him a question… It's a very strategic question.
He said, "What are you doing here, Elijah?" By this time, Elijah has long passed through
Beersheba where he left his servant. Now the Enemy has him right where he wants him: in isolation.
The first thing the Devil will do when he wants to drop you is make sure he catches you alone.
The attack will not come here in the church. He's too stupid to show up and fight you here.
It will be when you leave here. It'll be about 3:26 when you go into a good carbohydrate coma.
That's when the thoughts come. That's when the fears come.
It's going to come tonight when you have nobody to talk to and nobody to message.
He leaves his servant and goes into the wilderness, and the thoughts come. He's having
this conversation with a God he can't see about an opponent he did not expect to have to fight.
"Here's why I ran. Here's why I want to quit. Here's why I dropped:
because I did my job. I was responsible. I'm disappointed because the Israelites…"
Notice how he has separated himself from the very people he was called to serve.
He's talking about them like they're a third party. He is an Israelite.
You know how you do. "Your kids…" She does that to me all the time. "You need to talk to your son." I
know it's not because he just mastered a new piece of piano music when she says it like that. "You'd
better talk to your son."
"You'd better talk to your people, God. You'd better talk to your children,
because I did my job, and I did my best." Sometimes I talk to God like that about y'all.
"God, you'd better show these people how good I'm preaching right now, because they don't understand
what it cost me to bring them this word. They're just looking at me real crazy. I did my job."
"They tore down your altars, rejected your covenants,
and tried to put your prophets to death, and now I'm the only one, and they're trying
to kill me too." Now you know they can't kill you or else you wouldn't have said they're trying,
but it's not Jezebel you're fighting. It's not really even the Israelites.
I expected to have to fight people. I expected to have to fight for a parking space. I expected
to have to fight against the corrupt world system. I expected that. What I didn't expect
was the inner me to be my greatest enemy. "I'm out. I'm done.
I could fight the false prophets. I could even deal with Jezebel, but I'm sick of this.
I'm sick of being like this. I'm sick of thinking like this. I'm sick of pretending like this.
I'm sick of telling everybody 'Fine' when I'm really frustrated. I'm done." And he drops.
I thought I might end the sermon here: in the drop zone. Do you know what's an interesting thing?
When Elijah tells God how he feels…
The Spirit of God is in this place right now, and he's about to put something
on a parachute and drop it right into your spirit. Let me tell you who he's speaking
to right now: the one who doesn't even want to hear it. Elijah said,
"I don't even want to be a mom anymore." The Bible says he went and hid in a cave.
We talk a lot about man caves, but how about mom caves?
"I'm sick of it. I am sick of all of these other moms. I'm sick of their fake Pinterest. I'm sick
of all of it. I am sick of this." Now maybe you don't need this message today. You could
either sit there judgmental or you could file it for Tuesday when you go into your own cave.
"I don't know what he's talking about." Your kid is 5. When they are 15, you will need this
message. Put it in your "favorites" on YouTube, because something will make you want to run.
God said, "Not so fast. The reason you have collapsed is not because of your situation;
it's because of your position." I've never dropped a parachute with a refrigerator
filled with concrete for target practice. I've never dropped a gift supply for somebody who
never received a pair of flip-flops or a pair of shorts for Christmas.
I never did that, but I found AirDrop on my iPhone.
Have you ever seen it? I don't use it much, but I have used it once or twice.
One thing I found out about AirDrop… I have something I want to give you from my phone
to your phone. Now we could do a couple of different things. I could text it to you,
but what fun would that be when I have AirDrop? I found this thing on my phone. It says "AirDrop."
I found out that if our phones are close enough and if we have a connection on Wi-Fi
and Bluetooth… Come on, I'm about to preach this technology until somebody comes out of
hiding. If I have something on my device and you need it on your device, if I can
get close enough to your device with my device, what's on my device can jump on your device.
If I have a connection, if I come out of the cave, if I get close to the one who created me,
close to the one who called me, if I stop running and return to the place of my… I have the drop!
God said, "I'm calling you closer. I'm calling you back.
This day is for reconnection. I didn't bring you here so you could sit under a broom bush and die."
This is the drop zone. Who is it for? Who is it for, Gaston? Who is it for UC? Who is
it for Blakeney? Who is it for? You're under the covers. You didn't even come to church.
God had to get this message to you through an app, but he's about to drop
something in your spirit to strengthen you. My brother said,
"They put out red flags in remote locations to let me know that this is the drop zone. They put out
a red flag, and we fly down close." See, that's the thing about God. He can't shout it to you.
He has to get down to that 300-foot level, really close, where you can't hide how you really feel.
Maybe we should do today what Elijah had to do to return to the calling and return to the
rain and return to the blessing of God. It doesn't require a change in feelings;
it's a change in focus. You got it? I'm preaching to y'all in the back.
I'm preaching to people who are too tired to stand up and say "Amen."
This is your mail. This is your package. This is your supply. God is trying to drop it.
God told Elijah in verse 15… It's so beautiful. He said, "Go back the way you came."
Change your position to receive the provision that is already waiting
in the place where you belong. I'm seated in heavenly places with Christ.
I'm seated in a divine position far above rulers, far above principalities.
So go back the way you came. Change your position. Go back to the place of your
opposition. That's where your opportunity is. Did you hear me? Your greatest opportunity
is in the place of your greatest opposition. If it were not hard,
it would not be worth fighting for. If it were not hard, it would not be worth surviving for.
Go back. Go back to the place of your responsibility. God told Elijah, "I already have
Elisha, son of Shaphat. He's your successor. He's waiting for your mantle. You weren't supposed to
do this alone to begin with, and the reason I let you run out of strength is so that you would be in
a place of surrender and dependence. You were not supposed to do this alone, so I had to let you run
all the way to the cave, all the way to the disappointment, so you could get this drop."