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1Kings 19:9-14 And he came thither unto a cave, and lodged there; and, behold, the word of the LORD came to him, and he said unto him, What doest thou here, Elijah? And he said, I have been very jealous for the LORD God of hosts: for 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. And he said, Go forth, and stand upon the mount before the LORD. And, behold, the LORD passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake 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 a still small voice. 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? 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.
 

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Elijah just finished proving to all Israel that GOD WAS GOD.

• The showdown between all the prophets of Baal and Elijah would prove whose God was the true God.
• Fire came from the sky at Elijah’s simple prayer after hours upon hours of futile praying of the prophets of Baal.
• RECENT EVENTS
• Elijah just recently saw God destroy the sacrifice licking up the very stones of the altar!
• God was proved to be God.
• But Jezebel stood unchanged.
• She vowed to kill him.
• Elijah felt defeated and useless.
• Ineffective ministry.
• Ran to the wilderness.

1Kin 19:4 But he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a juniper tree: and he requested for himself that he might die; and said, It is enough; now, O LORD, take away my life; for I am not better than my fathers.

Wilderness is desolation

• Elijah's honour smashed.
• Nothing convinced Israel to return to God.
• So he removed his mantle.

Slept under a juniper tree

• An angel touched him
• "Arise and eat"
• A cake cooked with coals and cruse of water
• He slept again and again
• The angel touched him again and told him to eat
• The food would give him strength to journey 40 days and nights to Horeb.
• At Horeb God dealt with him!!!

Then Elijah had hundreds of prophets of Baal slain, and Jezebel heard of it.

• She set out to kill this prophet, and he ran.
• After all that glory and work and NOTHING WAS ACCOMPLISHED.
• He walked a day and wound up at a Juniper tree.
• He prayed to die.
• An angel touched him and gave two meals and that food empowered him for forty days and nights.
• He went straight to HOREB just where MOSES was used by God to give the TEN COMMANDMENTS and the law.

It was like Moses’ experiences were being repeated in Elijah.

• Back to the place where Israel got hold of God.
• Elijah wants to get hold of God and plead with him about everything.
• At the place where the God of Israel showed his glory and power and might.

Elijah fasted 40 days and nights and entered a cave

• Just like MOSES who fasted forty days and forty nights at Sinai.
• God spoke to him, asking why he was there.
• He told God all people were backslidden and they sought to kill him.
• He said he was the only one serving God.
• God told him to get out of the cave and stand before God.

1 Kings 19:11 KJV  And he said, Go forth, and stand upon the mount before the LORD. And, behold, the LORD passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake 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:


God then passed by and a strong wind cracked the mountain's rocks, before the Lord.

• This was precisely where God told Elijah to stand.
• In the very place he was to go to, a wind smashed rocks all around.
• "Before the LORD"
• Elijah was to stand before the Lord.

Then an earthquake shook the mountain like a baby's rattle.

• Then a fire blasted the region, burning up every organic piece of material
• All before the Lord.

But God was not in any of these things.

• FINALLY a still small voice spoke
• When Elijah heard that voice he wrapped his mantle around his face and walked out of the cave.
• And God asked Him the same thing he did before.
• WHY ARE YOU HERE?
• And Elijah answered him the same way he answered God the first time.

Elijah's mantle had been off at this time.

• That is why he wrapped himself in it.
• This means something.
• Removing the mantle signified quitting the job

40 days of mental torment

• Trial.
• Forty days always comes before ministry.
• Forty years before a move of God.

Crisis came after Elijah's 40 days

• Before the move of God.

PATTERN

• 40 THEN crisis THEN move of God

Crisis determines your place in the move of God.

• JESUS' crisis - forty days fasting followed by temptation
• Then ministry

Spies searched Canaan 40 days and crisis was report of giants.

• Enter land and get victory of be defeated and be cursed to die in wilderness.

Noah 40 days in storm

Genesis 8:6-7 KJV  And it came to pass at the end of forty days, that Noah opened the window of the ark which he had made:  (7)  And he sent forth a raven, which went forth to and fro, until the waters were dried up from off the earth.

Crisis when sent raven and dove

• Raven is bad report. - FLESH
• Dove is good report. - SPIRIT

FALL OR get hold of God in crisis?

• Crisis sees if we really have what it takes.
• Our minds know what to do, but crisis sees if we have what it takes to do what we must do.
• It determines if we have more than just knowledge of what to do, but faith and confidence in God and a heart and character.
• Crisis brings out the real HEART OF A PERSON.

Israel was bound in Egypt.

• God sent them out for 40 years to experience the goal - Canaan
• Another Crisis was Jordan River.

GOD ASKED ELIJAH "WHY ARE YOU HERE?"

• Will you enter into God's will or doubt and fail?
• WHY ARE YOU HERE?
• Has all the preparation been wasted?

Israel came to conquer Canaan.

• Noah came to enter a new world.

AND ELIJAH'S GREATEST MINISTRY WAS YET TO COME!

God ignored Elijah the first time.

ELIJAH CRIED IN DEFEAT AND FUTILITY.

• God passes by and WIND, FIRE and QUAKE - but God was not in them.
• The SAME THINGS ATOP SINAI WHEN MOSES WAS GIVEN LAW.

STAND ON THE MOUNT.

1 Kings 19:11 KJV  And he said, Go forth, and stand upon the mount before the LORD. And, behold, the LORD passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake 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:

Exodus 19:20 KJV  And the LORD came down upon mount Sinai, on the top of the mount: and the LORD called Moses up to the top of the mount; and Moses went up.

LORD PASSED BY.

Exodus 33:21-23 KJV  And the LORD said, Behold, there is a place by me, and thou shalt stand upon a rock:  (22)  And it shall come to pass, while my glory passeth by, that I will put thee in a clift of the rock, and will cover thee with my hand while I pass by:  (23)  And I will take away mine hand, and thou shalt see my back parts: but my face shall not be seen.

Exodus 19:16 KJV  And it came to pass on the third day in the morning, that there were thunders and lightnings, and a thick cloud upon the mount, and the voice of the trumpet exceeding loud; so that all the people that was in the camp trembled.

Then God in still small voice.

Zechariah 4:6 KJV  Then he answered and spake unto me, saying, This is the word of the LORD unto Zerubbabel, saying, Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the LORD of hosts.

1 Kings 19:12-18 KJV  And after the earthquake a fire; but the LORD was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice.  (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 Abelmeholah 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.

After all destruction, God still spoke.

• More work to be done
• Elijah put mantle back on.
• Ministry not over yet.
• Elijah was not only one left
• 7000 others.
• Elijah, Minister some more.

WHEN YOU CANNOT SEE ANYTHING THAT IS POSITIVE, BEHIND THE SCENES GOD HAS SEVEN THOUSAND WHO’VE NOT BOWED THEIR KNEES TO BAAL.

TRUST THAT WHEN YOU CANNOT SEE HOPE, THERE IS STILL HOPE.

GO RETURN...

God ignored his excuse.

• The temptation came before the voice
• Wind, fire and quake before the good.

Elijah must have smiled and said, "I GET IT, GOD."

• Troubles come and go but that does not mean I should get discouraged.
• God ignored his complaint and said go on and minister some more!!!
• Precisely where God told Elijah to stand, devastation occurred.
• Just as God wanted Elijah in Israel where devastation seemed to be prevalent.
• God was telling Elijah to get back in that place and minister anyway.
• Telling him to stand where the devastation occurred symbolized that.
  

BACK IN THE SADDLE AGAIN!

• GOD SAYS IT WAS not your fault Israel did not turn to me
• Go on, Son!!

God said, Elijah, come here

• And then right where God wanted Him a storm occurred…
• God lets them come to test us.
• See if we will stand.

God could have told Elijah to anoint kings in the cave, but did not.

• At the cave entrance.
• There God would instruct.
• DAMAGE OCCURRED THERE.
• DO NOT FEAR THESE THINGS, ELIJAH.
• DO NOT FEAR JEZEBEL.
• God is not in temptations but He allows them to come to test us.

GO MAN. GREATER THINGS AWAIT YOU.

GOD WILL DEAL WITH THE TROUBLERS and Israel will be dealt with.

Look what Elijah did after this.

1 Kings 21:17-25 KJV  And the word of the LORD came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying,  (18)  Arise, go down to meet Ahab king of Israel, which is in Samaria: behold, he is in the vineyard of Naboth, whither he is gone down to possess it.  (19)  And thou shalt speak unto him, saying, Thus saith the LORD, Hast thou killed, and also taken possession? And thou shalt speak unto him, saying, Thus saith the LORD, In the place where dogs licked the blood of Naboth shall dogs lick thy blood, even thine.  (20)  And Ahab said to Elijah, Hast thou found me, O mine enemy? And he answered, I have found thee: because thou hast sold thyself to work evil in the sight of the LORD.  (21)  Behold, I will bring evil upon thee, and will take away thy posterity, and will cut off from Ahab him that pisseth against the wall, and him that is shut up and left in Israel,  (22)  And will make thine house like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and like the house of Baasha the son of Ahijah, for the provocation wherewith thou hast provoked me to anger, and made Israel to sin.  (23)  And of Jezebel also spake the LORD, saying, The dogs shall eat Jezebel by the wall of Jezreel.  (24)  Him that dieth of Ahab in the city the dogs shall eat; and him that dieth in the field shall the fowls of the air eat.  (25)  But there was none like unto Ahab, which did sell himself to work wickedness in the sight of the LORD, whom Jezebel his wife stirred up.