Death By Echo (Run It Back)

Right now, as I open God's Word to you, there are thousands and thousands online that we call our eFam joining us all around the world. This message will go all over the world and touch lives. Can we make our eFam feel welcome today in all of our campuses? Come on, every Elevation Church physical location. If there's not a physical location near you, there's a chance that we're going to be visiting you soon. We have two tours coming up. Aren't y'all about to hit the road? Elevation Rhythm is coming to a town near you. Maybe. Are you excited about it, excited to get out and sing with the people? Get a wide shot. Let them see who's coming. I won't be there, but Nate, you'll be there. Otis, you'll be there. Nick, you'll be there. It's going to be amazing. Go and check that out. An incredible night of worship. Josh, are you going? It's going to be an amazing time of worship. You can get all of the details somewhere. I thought there was a website up there, but there's not. Just type all of that into ChadGPT and follow the directions. Buy the ticket, and we'll see you there. Also, Elevation Knights is coming up. Let's thank God for Elevation Knights. I will be there. I have to get the dates out. October 9-October 18. You can go to elevationknights.com, Kansas City, Missouri, Memphis, Tennessee, Birmingham, Alabama, San Antonio, Texas, Lubbock, Texas, Dallas, Texas, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, and Houston, Texas. The Lord has been speaking to us through this series. Would you not agree? I Know That Voice. Today I want to share with you another installment in this series. I went home and told Holly that was my last sermon in the I Know That Voice series. The Lord said, Are you sure? It would be impossible for me to do a series called I Know That Voice and not stop by this passage of Scripture in 1 Kings 19. This Scripture has brought me immense comfort in times of my life where I felt heavy. It has brought me clarity when I felt crazy. It has brought me endurance when I felt weary. I want to share it with you today as a personal word. I'm going to preach it just like the Lord gave it to me. I actually packed two folders when I left the house today. One was the safe sermon, and then one was the sermon where I really need the Holy Spirit to help me get it right, and I'm going to preach the second one. I believe I'll hear from you a few weeks or months from now about what God speaks today. So, tune your heart and turn over to 1 Kings 19.

I'm going to read a little bit longer Scripture than I normally would, but it's worth it. 1 Kings 19, verse 1. Now Ahab told Jezebel everything Elijah had done and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword. So Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah to say, "'May the gods deal with me, be it ever so severely, if by this time tomorrow I do not make your life like that of one of them.'" Elijah was afraid and ran for his life. When he came to Beersheba in Judah, he left his servant there while he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness. He came to a broom bush, sat down under it, and prayed that he might die. "'I've had enough, Lord,' he said. "'Take my life. I am no better than my ancestors.' Then he lay down under the bush and fell asleep. All at once an angel touched him and said, "'Get up and eat.'" I think I might want to make that my life verse right there. I want the Lord to tell me that. Get up and eat ice cream and pizza and tacos and burritos. I want him to cancel out the calories too, because he's God. He can do anything. Wouldn't it be cool if God just touched you and said, "'Eat,' and then touched the food and made it good for you?" Come on. If God just gave the briars the nutritional value of broccoli, God can do stuff like that. But I am amazed how Elijah was running away from God, and God fed him anyway. Because haven't there been seasons in your life where you knew you were doing the wrong thing? Haven't there been seasons in your life where you knew you were off track, but God kept providing for you anyway and kept making ways for you? How many have one of those anyway testimonies? Even when I went the wrong way, he fed me anyway. He kept me anyway. He blessed me anyway. He brought me anyway. So he ate and drank and then lay down again. Verse 6 says, There were by his head some bread baked over hot coals in a jar of water, and he ate and drank and then lay down again. The angel of the Lord came back a second time and touched him and said, Get up and eat, for the journey is too much for you. So he got up and ate and drank. Strengthened by that food, he traveled forty days and forty nights until he reached Horeb, the mountain of God. There he went into a cave and spent the night. The word of the Lord came to him, What are you doing here, Elijah? He replied, I have been very zealous for the Lord God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected

your covenant. They've torn down your altars, and they have put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too. The Lord said, Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by. Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks. God sent a wind to get Elijah back. But the Lord was not in the wind. He sent the wind, but he was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. After the fire came a gentle whisper. When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave. Then a voice said to him, What are you doing here, Elijah? He replied, I have been very zealous for the Lord God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, torn down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too. The Lord said to him, Go back the way you came, and go to the desert of Damascus. When you get there, anoint Hazael king over Aram. Also anoint Jehu son of Nimshi king over Israel, and anoint Elisha son of Shaphat from Abel-mehola to succeed you as prophet. Jehu will put to death any who escape the sword of Hazael, and Elisha will put to death any who escape the sword of Jehu. Yet I reserve seven thousand in Israel, all whose knees have not bowed down to Baal, and whose mouths have not kissed him. So Elijah went from there and found Elisha son of Shaphat. He was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen, and he himself was driving the twelfth pair. Elijah went up to him and threw his cloak around him. Thus a new beginning. This is the word of the Lord. I have a strange subject today, but I want to talk to you for a few moments about a very particular way the Enemy wants to steal, kill, and destroy in your life. I want to talk to you about death by echo. Don't worry. This sermon has a happy ending. Father, I thank you in the name of Jesus for what you spoke to me. Now speak it to them. May it echo across this place. In Jesus' name I pray, and everybody said together, Amen. Clap your hands if you love the Lord and receive his word today. You may be seated. Now, Elijah, in this passage I just read you, may come across to you as somebody who is emotionally imbalanced, and perhaps he is. He may come across to you as somebody who is ungrateful and perhaps temporarily his view of what God has done… has been blocked by what he's going through. But I think that's a good thing. One of the things

that people ask me often after I preach… It's my least favorite thing to be asked, but it's my favorite thing to answer. Here's what they'll ask sometimes. They'll go… I'll preach. You pour your heart out. You preach. They go, Hey, so how did you feel about that? It's kind of awkward, because when they ask it, it kind of feels like maybe I should feel different about it than how I do feel, because I felt like it was all right until you asked me, How did I feel about it? It's kind of like, Have you ever gone out the house, and then you came back home, and your wife saw you for the first time, and she's like, Is that what you wore today? And it's like, Well, yeah, but this is too late to do anything about it. This is it. This is what I wore. What I preached is what I preached. How I feel is how I feel. How do I feel about it? I don't know. How should I feel about it? How did you feel about it? Did you feel like it blessed you? It's just an awkward question to ask. Besides it being an awkward question to answer, it's complicated. If I really answered you, the truth is that I always feel like I failed at some level, because I'm trying to speak for God, who is perfect, and I'm me who is not. How did I feel? Like I fell short of my goal. You are always going to feel that way when you're speaking for God, unless you're a narcissist. The truth of the matter is, when someone is asking me, How did you feel about that? I'm already replaying the message in my brain the way I meant to say it. You don't know how I meant to say it. You only know how I said it. So perhaps you thought I hit the mark, but in my mind it was a mess. Last week was one of those weeks. I preached my whole sermon called What If I Got It Wrong. The message was about how the Enemy can beat you up with regret and just cause you to doubt everything down to the core of your faith in Christ. I meant to say before I left the stage that the better question isn't what if I got it wrong but what if God got it right. Somehow, no matter how many times I wrote that down in my notes, when I finished my message, I left the stage and did not say that part. To me, that was not the cherry on top of the sundae. That was the sundae. That was the ice cream. That was the dish. That was the whole thing I wanted you to hear, but somehow I forgot to say it. I went home, and Holly was in tears. She was like, "'That was amazing. That really touched me.'" I was like, "'No, it was terrible.'" She's like, "'What do you mean it was terrible?' It touched me." How was it touching to her and terrible to me? Because I'm replaying the part I didn't say in my mind. The part you replay has a lot to do

with what you feel. Have you ever replayed the wrong thing in your mind over and over again? Have you ever said something so dumb and then went back and thought about it for days and days and days? Like, why did I say that to them? I really said that to them. I don't know if you're trying to pick up a girl. I don't know if you're trying to do a business deal. I don't know if you're just introducing yourself to someone, and then you walk away, and you're like, "'Why did I say that?' Then you get the chance to see them again and apologize, and you've worked up your entire apology speech for what you said, and you go to say, "'I'm sorry I said that. I can't believe I said that to you.'" They'll say, "'I don't remember that. Really? I have been tormenting myself over something that wasn't even important enough for you to put in your files. You mean I just said that and beat myself up and you completely forgot about it?' I remember one Christmas, I was taking out the trash, and it had all of these packing peanuts in it. The trash can was full of packing peanuts, and the wind was blowing." Well, I think you know where this is going. I pulled the trash can out to the street, and the wind blows the packing peanuts every which way. Now remember, I've just preached, like, 50 Christmas services, however many we did at the time. I think it was more like 12 that I preached live, and we had 50 across all of our locations. But I was tired, and Graham was sitting in the car, and I was dragging out the trash, but I forgot temporarily that Graham was sitting in the car, and I also forgot temporarily that I was saved, and I forgot temporarily that there are certain words you shouldn't say when you're saved and your kid is sitting in the car. I just started letting stuff fly, and it was flying faster than the packing peanuts. It's all flying around the yard. I just preached Christmas, and Jesus' birthday has just finished. here I am cussing at an inanimate object all around the yard. I got in the car, and my biggest thought was, like, what am I going to tell my kid? I start to spiral, because I'm like, I know where this ends. This ends with he's in therapy. This ends with he's a drug addict. He's sitting on somebody's couch at some point in the future saying, there was this one Christmas, and my dad preached, and he took out the trash, and my dad is trash, and that's the reason I'm here today. But, you know, after 10 minutes of driving and figuring out what I wanted to say to him, I said, I'm sorry about that. He said, sorry about what? I said, sorry about what I said while I was out there. He said, I didn't hear what you said. I said, that's right.

That's right. Here I am tormented about something he didn't even hear. Did you know the Enemy can torment you with something that isn't even true? He can make you play out scenarios in your mind. I'm telling you, the Enemy is very strategic. If you read 1 Kings 19 and you know a little bit about who Elijah is, you are surprised to see him running, because he got a death threat from Jezebel. When he says, Lord, take my life, I'm no better than my ancestors, because Jezebel, who was the queen, said, I'm going to kill you. In fact, in verse 2, she says this exactly. May the gods deal with me, be it ever so severely, if by this time tomorrow I do not make your life like that of one of them. Elijah has just won a great victory on Mount Carmel. He has just prophesied, and the heavens gave rain. No sooner does the rain come than the news of his victory reaches the ears of Ahab, and no sooner does it reach the ears of Ahab until he tells Jezebel. Jezebel was really running the kingdom. Jezebel was really moving Ahab like a puppet. One preacher said the last decision Ahab ever made was, I do, and I've seen some marriages like that. Jezebel says, Let me handle him. May the gods deal with me, be it ever so severely, if I don't kill this guy who killed my prophets. When Elijah called down fire from God and had the 450 prophets of Baal slaughtered and the 400 prophets of Asherah slaughtered on the mountain and said, If the Lord is God, follow him, how long will ye halt between two opinions? If the Lord is God, how long are you going to go back and forth? Fire came from heaven and licked up what remaining water there was after three years of drought in the trenches, and God proved his presence by fire. Elijah went up on a mountain, put his head between his knees, sent his servant to check seven times. He said, I hear the sound of the abundance of rain. I can't prove it, but I hear it. I can't point to it, but I know it. I can't show it to you, but God is showing it to me. Tell Ahab, Hitch up your chariots before the rains stop you. Elijah outran Ahab all the way back down the mountain. No sooner can he get down the mountain and the rain released from heaven and the revival begin in the religious climate of Israel… No sooner can he get down the mountain. No sooner can he celebrate the victory. No sooner can he move forward into the next assignment God has until he receives a threat from Jezebel. We know her threat is empty. May the gods deal with me. What gods, Jezebel? Somebody say, What gods? You mean the same ones who you called on on the mountain

when God sent fire? I feel that word for somebody. Say, What gods? You know how the Enemy tries to threaten you and intimidate you? What gods? There's only one God, so her threat is empty. If she could have, she would have. If 850 false prophets didn't stop him, what is one person going to do? What gods? Somebody say, What gods? Where, O death, is now thy sting? Where, O grave, is your victory? Death has been swallowed up in victory. What gods? Her threat is empty, but so is Elijah. He's empty, and he says, I've had enough, Lord. Her threat is empty, but so is he. Now, when people ask you, How do you feel after you minister? The truth is you're thankful. But you're all so empty. You're all so tired. Any new parents in the room? May I talk to you for a moment? How do you feel as a new parent? You have to answer that very carefully, because you're so thankful. Right? Right? I hope so. Too late now. No refunds. No instruction manual either, and no sleep schedule. So you say, I'm thankful, but I'm exhausted. Now I like to make up words to explain to people how I feel. When people ask me how I feel before I preach, I say, I'm anxious and I'm excited. I'm angcited. I made that up myself. I'm angcited. You ever felt angcited about something? So I made up a new word to describe how you feel when God uses you. It goes like this.

I'm thanksausted. Use that this week. How are you doing? You're so blessed. You've got this new job. I'm thankful, but I'm exhausted. I'm going to keep preaching until I find somebody who will be real with me. I am grateful, but I'm kind of grumpy too. I'm kind of grumpy because I haven't gotten quite as much sleep as I used to get. I'm thanksausted. I came up on this mountain, and God did a great work, but I came back down, and no sooner did I see the rain than I felt the resistance. Come on. No sooner could I praise God for the victory until another problem came along. So I'm grateful lifting one hand, but I'm having to fight with the other one, because God did something awesome with one of my kids, but the other one is wearing me out. Have you ever had winning and worn out happening at the same time? Come on. How do you feel? How do you feel about the good things God is doing in your life? How do you feel about being married? Any newlyweds in the house? How do you feel about that? It's amazing, and it's crazy. What's crazy is I brought my crazy into the marriage, and their crazy was already filling up every room in the house, and I'm happy to be with them, but the fact of the matter is they already had so much baggage when I came into the house, I can't find a place to unpack mine. Now I have to ask somebody else, what do you want to watch? Now I have to orient my schedule, and you can smile and you can say you're blessed,

and I know you are blessed, and I'm blessed too, but blessing doesn't cancel pressure. At the same time I'm blessed, there's pressure coming up behind the blessing, so I'm experiencing blessing and I'm experiencing pressure. I call that blessure. I have a lot of blessure in my life right now. Come on. Bear with me. Be patient with me. I have blessure in my… I'm not asking God to take the responsibilities away. It's not that I'm not thankful. I'm just exhausted. I'm thank-zosted. How's that for an honest testimony? I praise the Lord for what he gave me, and I'm about to collapse, because he gave it to me. My praise report just turned into my prayer request. I couldn't get used to the rain before I had a threat coming up on my back. He makes a statement. Now get ready for this, because this is where I want to teach you. Verse 3. He says, I have had enough, Lord. Say it. I've had enough. I've had enough. In other words, I'm done with this. It is impossible to overstate the severity of Elijah's psychological confusion, bewilderment. We see in James 5.17 a summary of Elijah's faith that says Elijah was a human being, even as we are. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain.

That's when he walked into Ahab's court like a stab of lightning in the midnight eastern sky. Elijah the Tishbite from Tishbe in Gilead walked in and said, No rain till I say so. He prayed, and God shut off the rain. He prayed, and it didn't rain for three and a half years. Again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its crops. Then James moves on to talk about something else, but go back to verse 18. It says he prayed again. He prayed, and it didn't rain. He prayed, and it did rain. But it does not mention this prayer in verse 4 chapter 19 where he came to a broom bush sat down under it and prayed that he might die and James doesn't put that part in Because it didn't fit that particular illustration But let's take talk about the prayers that you prayed That you can't pray in public You're telling God I can't do this anymore That's essentially what he's saying, right? I've had enough not remember. This has a happy ending Elijah doesn't die say it Elijah doesn't die. I just want to let the air out of that real quick because it feels very tense in here. So Elijah Doesn't die say it again Elijah doesn't die. Not only does he not die by the threat of Jezebel, but he never dies When it came time for Elijah To be taken up to heaven the Lord sent a whirlwind So is it possible that the thing that you are the most freaked out about is? never Even going to happen. That's a good place for a praise right there I'm gonna just go ahead and tell you what to do Praise God cause

Elijah didn't die. He didn't die at the hand of Jezebel. He didn't die from his own depression Elijah didn't die. In fact, my little sermon only has three points today. You ready one. He didn't really pray Number two God came anyway Number three, he didn't stay That's the whole sermon if you need to meet somebody for lunch you're dismissed But I came to tell you number one. He didn't really pray Number two God came anyway, and number three. He didn't stay Write all of those in the comments, please. I want to see it on YouTube number one. He didn't really pray number two God came anyway, and number three he didn't stay This is the word of the Lord today that that Elijah prayed That he would die. That is not really a prayer a real prayer is when you tell God stop the rain a Real prayer is when you tell God now make it rain a Real prayer is not just you complaining a Real prayer is when you move from complaint To supplication a Real prayer is when you go from saying how it is To asking God to make it different turn in your Bible to Philippians chapter 4 Let me teach you the Word of God today children Elijah knew how to pray But he hit something in his life where he forgot to do what he knew how to do When you hit enough pressure in your life when you hit enough pain in your life You forget to do the thing that you knew how to do and you stop doing the thing that got you where you were and You stop praising God like you used to praise God the Apostle Paul says in Philippians chapter 4 verse 6 Do not be anxious about anything but in every situation Jezebel every situation bankruptcy every situation addiction every situation the pain in your body every Situation something that you can't talk about every situation by prayer and petition with Thanksgiving Present your request to God and the peace of God which transcends all

Understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus But when Elijah got down from that mountain He dropped his guard because he was empty and when you are empty you have to get Intentional because if you don't fill that space the enemy will Look what he said Look what he said in the text. He said verse 6 present your requests to God request I Thought I was praying one time and I don't know how this works. Okay. I know the series is called I know that voice. I don't know if the Lord spoke this or just wisdom told me this But after I finished going through everything that I felt It was as if the Lord said would you like to talk to me about it now? But I thought I was But it was as if the Lord said to me you have been thinking for 10 minutes But you haven't made a request yet Philippians 4 says, in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. So, I was just giving God reasons that I felt the way I felt. I was just processing the regret, and the Lord said, "'You have not truly prayed to me, recognizing the power I have to step into your situation, until you come out of listing the reasons that you feel like you feel and ask me to do something about it.'" So, have you made a request yet? Because Elijah's only request was, "'Kill me.'" That's not really a prayer, is it? That's an escape. He runs to a place called the cave. Not just any cave. This is the same cave, horrible mountain of God, where Moses hid in the cleft of the rock for the glory of the Lord to pass by. But the problem… I'm going to show you this. I'm going to demonstrate now. The problem is that Moses went into this cave, and it took him 40 days in the wrong direction away from the place where God had called him. So, the cave that Elijah went to was a 40-day journey away, like 90 miles away from the place God had called him to. Remember, God sent the rain, and he ran. So, God answered the thing he prayed for, and he ran and stopped praying. This is what pressure will do to you. Pressure will let God send the blessing into your life but cause you to run from the thing

that God sent you so that now you find yourself pushing away relationships that you asked God to send you. You're running from the wrong thing. When you are empty like Elijah was empty… He was not only physically empty from running all the way past Ahab's chariots, but he was spiritually empty because he had carried the burden and the faith of an entire nation alone through three years of drought. Come on. Don't act like you've never felt a pity party for yourself. Why is nobody taking care of me? Why is nobody meeting my needs? Why is nobody cooking for me? Why is nobody cleaning for me? All the way away from… Let's let this represent his post. He's walking away, and he is not praying. Even after God feeds him, he does not pray. He knew how to pray. He knew how to call on God. He knew how to intercede for people. He knew how to intercede for himself, and he walks away. I have to imagine that with every day he went toward the cave, he was replaying what Jezebel said. "'I'm going to kill you.'" Now watch this. He's replaying the wrong thing, because what he should have been replaying was when God sent down fire to prove that he is God and that Baal is not. He's replaying… Why would you replay what Jezebel said when you know her threat is empty? Because when you are empty, the Enemy feels real and your victories feel invisible. When you are empty, you begin to forget your victories, and you fixate on your Enemy. Now all you can see is what's against you, and now all you can see is what you're up under, and now all you can see is what you lost, and now all you can see is what you fear, and now all you can see is what you don't want, and now all you can see is what if it doesn't happen, and now all you can see is all of the people who let you down, and with every step… Remember, he's replaying it, and Jezebel's threat is empty unless you let it echo. If she said it once, I'm going to kill you, and Elijah prayed like he knew how to pray… God, do you hear that? Then step aside, because God has something for Jezebel, because God hasn't moved from his throne. Is my mic on? I said God has something for diabetes. God has something for this cancer. God has something. If you… Just have to replay something. Replay the ravens. Remember Elijah was by the brook called Jareth in the Kareth ravine, and there was no food and no water in the land, but God sent ravens to feed his revivalists in a time of famine. So if you're going to replay something, run back the ravens.

This I recall to my mind, therefore I have hope. It was God's mercies that I wasn't consumed, because his compassions fail not. They're new every morning. Every morning I had bread, and every evening I had something to drink, because I remember those ravens God sent. If you don't remember the ravens, remember the resurrection. Because Elijah was staying at a woman's house, and her little boy died, and Elijah stretched out his body over that boy and breathed into that boy, and that boy that was dead got up and started walking around. If you just have to replay something, replay the resurrection, and remember that nothing is dead until God is done with it. Nothing is over until God says so. Dry bones hear the word of the Lord. I mean, if you just have to run it back, run back the time he fed you. Run back the time he led you. Run back the time he didn't come through. Run back the ones who put their arm around you. High-five seven people and say, Run it back. Run it back. Run it back. Run it back right. Run it back right. Run it back right. You've been replaying the wrong things, haven't you? You've been replaying stuff the Devil can't even bring up against you, because it's nailed to the cross. My sin. Oh, the bliss. I've got to stop. Let me illustrate.

Come on. Come on! Run it back. Run it back. Run it back. Run it back. That's what he should have told Jezebel. She said, I'm going to kill you. Elijah should have said, Let's run it back. Meet me on the mountain. I know a name that never fails! I know a God who cannot lie! I got him! Woo! I'm changing my title. Put it on YouTube. Call it Run It Back. Run it back. Run it back. Run it back. Run it back. He's been good to you. Run it back. He's more than enough. Run it back. Jehovah Jireh always provides. Run it back. You're not alone. We have to talk about the cave, because all he had to do was run it back. That's all he had to do.

But instead, he turned his back on the blessing God gave him, because the pressure he was under was too great, and he didn't really pray. He went into a cave. I'm going to go to the cave metaphorically now, just as an illustration, and say, Why do you do this? Are you performing? I'm not performing, but I am trying to give a picture that will help you know what's really killing your faith, what may be killing your relationships, what may be killing your marriage. It's not death by Jezebel. It's death by echo, because with every step you take away from what God called you to do… You go to the cave. Now, the cave is the place where you feel safe. It makes you feel safe, but it actually makes you more anxious. Why does this addiction that makes me feel safe only make me more anxious and make me more crazy? It's because it's a cave. He went to the cave, far away from where he should be, with his back to what God had for him and what God had just done. I want the Holy Spirit to help me right now, because he has a conversation with God in that cave. Verse 9 says, there he went into a cave and… spent the night. It feels awkward having my back turned to you like this when I know my job is to preach to you, but isn't that exactly what Elijah did? Isn't that exactly what we do? We turn our backs on the thing God gave us, the responsibility God gave us, even the blessings. We will turn our back on a blessing because of the pressure. I have had enough. Now I have to face you for one moment to tell you this.

If he said, I have had enough, and he meant it in a positive sense, I would get it. Everywhere I've gone you've provided. I've had enough. When I was by the brook, I had enough. When I was on the mountain, I had enough. There was enough provision. There was enough power. Now he's like, I'm not enough, and I've had enough, and he goes in the cave. Without over-dramatizing it, there's something I want to show you. It says he went into the cave and spent the night. The Word of the Lord came to him. This is verse 9, please, on the screens. What are you doing here, Elijah? Isn't that crazy that he didn't really pray in the cave, but the Lord came? You remember my three points? He didn't really pray, and God came. I want you to thank God for the times you didn't even really pray, but he came. Come on. You can do better than that. The times where you said, Die, and God said, Live. The times where you said, No, but God's Yes was bigger. The times where you thought, What if I got it wrong, but God said, What if I got it right? See, I had to get it in, because I missed it last week, but I got it in. You hear that, Devil? I ran it back, and I got it in. Now leave me alone. I'm in this cave. The Lord asked a question. Watch this. You always want God to give you answers.

What if he wants to give you better questions? You need a better question. What are you doing here, Elijah, you who have seen miracles, you who have called fire, you who have prayed for rain, you who have been sustained? What are you doing here, 90 miles away? What are you doing here in this jacked-up, toxic relationship just to get somebody to pretend like they love you when you know they're not loyal to you? What are you doing here in these destructive patterns that promise you safety but only make you ashamed, and the shame leads to the same behavior? What are you doing in this cave? You know how to pray, and God came and said, What are you doing here? He replied. Do you see that in verse 10? Is it on the screen? He replied. Say, Yes, Teacher, if it's on the screen. He replied, I have been very zealous for the Lord God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, torn down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too. Then the Lord does a little display. I know I got my back to you. I know it's awkward, but this is what he did. He turned his back to his blessing because he was caving in under the pressure. The Lord put on a little show for him. He sent a wind, and he sent a fire, and he sent an earthquake because he was running back what he did when he appeared to Moses. This was an echo of when God appeared to Moses, but God is doing it differently this time because the Lord doesn't speak in any of that. He speaks in verse 12, a whisper, a whisper, a whisper, and when Elijah heard it, he pulled

his cloak over his face and went and stood at the mouth of the cave. Did you know that the cave has a mouth? Did you know that when you go in your cave, the cave talks back? Did you know when you go in the cave and you run away from God and you run away from community and you run away from the right things and you run toward the wrong things… Did you know when you replay the wrong things and the regrets and the rejection… Did you know that when you talk to the cave, the cave will talk back and you'll think, "'I'm crazy.'" You're not crazy. You're just in a cave, and the cave is making you feel crazy, and now you're starting to think crazy and you're starting to act crazy because you've been in this cave, because you stopped praying. But God came, and when God came he thought it was going to be big and spectacular, but really it was intimate and it was special. Yet the Bible says when the voice asked him the second time, "'What are you doing here, Elijah?' he replied, according to what he replayed." So, listen to what the first word he says. He's in the cave. He's all alone. He's disappointed. He's under pressure. Listen. You can tell why he's depressed by the way he starts his speech. God says, "'What are you doing here, Elijah? I have more for you than this. Why did you turn your back to what I blessed you with? Why are you running from the right thing? Why are you not trusting me anymore?' He says, "'I.'" Do you see that? When you're in a cave, the sound bounces around. So, he starts off his speech. He says, "'I.'" See, that's never going to get you out of the cave, because when you start with, "'I have had enough,' and "'I don't have what it takes,' and "'I, I, I.'" See how it's still in the cave? See how it's still in the room? Now I can hear the whisper. "'I.'" Can't you hear it in our marriages? "'I.'" Guess I'll do the dishes again. "'I.'" We'll just do it so nobody else is going to do it, so I'll just do it. "'I am so tired of this. I don't have what it takes. I.'" I hear Gideon in a winepress saying, "'I am the smallest and the weakest.'" I hear Moses at the burning bush saying, "'I am not good at speaking.'" I hear all of the people who have come before us, and I hear Elijah in the cave saying, "'I.'" But I hear God in verse 15 turn to the prophet who is empty and

speak in the cave which is empty, and the voice of the Lord speaks into an empty cave in verse 15, and God says, "'Go, go, go, because I've got something ahead of you that is bigger than anything that's behind you.'" Give God a shout of praise that he didn't pray, but God came, and because God came he didn't stay. Shout, "'I'm coming out of this cave! I'm coming out of this cave! I'm coming out of this misery! I'm coming out of this straitjacket! I'm coming out of this book! I'm coming out of this depression! I'm coming out of this cycle! I'm coming out of this curse! I'm coming out of this cave.'" Because I know how to pray. I'm not starting this prayer with "'I. I.' You, you, you have brought me this far, God, and you, you, you are able to keep me from falling, and you, you, you are going to get the glory from my life. It's about you, you, you. It's not about me, me, me. I don't care what they, they, they say. I'm coming out of this cave. I'm coming out of this cave. God has been too good for me to stay in this cave. I am coming out of this cave." As a matter of fact, I just remembered another cave that was loaned to somebody by a man named Joseph of Arimathea, and they laid him in the cave for three days. You say, "'Wait a minute, Pastor. It wasn't a cave. It was a grave.'" No, it wasn't a grave, because he didn't stay there. He did not stay, and I came to announce, "'This cave is not my grave. No, no, no. I'm coming out. I'm coming out with my hands up. I'm coming out with my heart broken, but I'm coming out, because God came.'" If you say, "'I, I, I,' it's going to die. Die, die, but it won't be death by Jezebel. It will be death by echo, because the regret can only paralyze you if you keep replaying it. Write this down. It's not the threat that kills me. It's the way I let it echo, echo, echo. It's the way you keep replaying your shame rather than realizing that he paid for it. I said he paid for it. I said he paid for it. So hold on, devil. Watch this.

You want to put me in a cave of shame? Let's run it back. Let's run it back. What happened after he came down off the cross? What happened after he went down in the cave? You say, it's a grave. Why do you keep saying cave? Because it's empty. For the empty people in the room today who have felt just like Elijah… Maybe you don't say, I want to die, but maybe you say, I can't live like this anymore. It's too much pressure, man. I'm blessed. Don't get me wrong. I'm thankful. I appreciate everything God has done for me, but I'm thankful I'm exhausted. I don't have a word for it. I have had enough. Remember, even though he didn't really pray, not like he was supposed to pray, God came anyway. This is your day that God has heard you in the cave. He's heard the way the thoughts keep rattling around in your head. He knows how you can't expunge yourself of it. He knows how you can't eliminate the fear. He knows how you can't get rid of the things. He knows that you are still trapped in the trauma of what happened to you, and so he came. He said, Let's go, because Elisha, the successor of Elijah, was already in the field, but he's not in this cave. You have to come back to the place where you know God called you to be and live the life God wants to enable you to live.

When they say, How do you feel about it? You can say, It's complicated. I got one voice telling me, Die, die, die, but I heard a whisper that said, Live, live, live. I'm choosing to live by the whisper. Would you stand to your feet? Would you stand all over this room right now and with your heads bowed and eyes closed? I want you to be honest with me. When I say three, I want you to shoot your hand if you've been in the cave, eye, eye, eye. They, they, they, but he, he, he, you hear that whisper that's him? You feel that heart beating in your chest that's him? He's not done with you yet. He can't be. Jezebel can't kill you. Jezebel can't. The grave couldn't hold him. What can hold you here? If it's been you and you need me to pray for you today, because you got a cave you need to come out of, I want you to be bold and shoot your hand up and hold it up. I'm praying for you. One, two, three. Hold it up. Hold it up. Keep it up. Keep it up. Repeat after me. Repeat after me. I'm coming out of this. Father, in the name of Jesus, I declare that where your spirit is, there is freedom.

For these who have lifted their hands and you are asking, what are you doing here today to them? God, I pray that they would realize that that question is prophetic. What are they doing here? They're here because you have something for them. They are here because you are not done with them. They are here because you came to get them out of the cave. That's why. That's why you woke me up at 3 a.m. to come and get them out of the cave. I believe it, God. I believe somebody is coming out today. Somebody is coming out of something they thought was going to kill them, but it is not going to kill them. It will not be the end of them. there. So, we lift our hands and we lift our eyes, and we declare that just as Jezebel has an echo, so does heaven. The echo of heaven is holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty. Thank you, Jesus. The echo of heaven is worthy, worthy, worthy, is the Lamb of God. The echo of heaven is hallelujah. Somebody say hallelujah. Come on, with your hands lifted up and a heart filled with praise. You know how to praise. You just stop praising, but praise him right now. When I say hallelujah, you say lujah. Hallelujah to the man on the middle cross, the one who didn't owe the debt, but he paid it off, the one who rolled away the stone, the one who came out of the cave on the third day. If he rolled the stone away and if he got up, I'm getting up too. I'm coming out of this cave. I'm coming out of this. I'm coming out better. I'm coming out healed. I'm coming out whole. I'm coming out blessed. I'm coming out with the praise. Fill the place with praise.