Good evening, everyone. Good evening. It's a privilege to to be with you all today. Some of you look familiar. I don't know what I wanted to share with you. So when they asked for sermon titles, I just put something together last minute and I was like, Hey, the fire of failure. Hey, that's awesome. So I submitted that and I'm like, man, what am I gonna talk about afterwards? Because we're all afraid of failure, are we not? That's one thing that really is part of the human experience. We are afraid of failure. And I don't know why some of you are here on this campus, maybe some of you're on this cab campus to, to find a wife. They call, they used to call this southern matrimonial college. Some of you are trying to get into Loma Linda. Some of you're trying to get away from Adventism altogether. Some of you're trying to find a rich husband, some of you're trying to find a poor husband, but good looking, you, I don't know why you're here, but whatever the motive is, we are afraid of failing in that endeavor. And so I guess I appeal to that, that fear, and I want to at least maybe look at some passages in scripture, especially when it comes to revival in the shore of Elijah. Please open to First Kings. And tonight we are gonna read the whole book of First Kings. Is that okay? They told me I have until midnight until, for this message today. No, I, I won't do that to you. I won't do that to you now, but I would like to think, pick up some themes and it will require, require some, some Bible reading today. Is that okay with you all? Before we certainly ask that you bow your heads. We're gonna have one more prayer today before we start. Father in heaven. Lord, I, I ask for your help, Lord, as I was listening to the song, he leadeth me, Lord, I really ask that to be my prayer. Lord, lead me. I'm a bit scatterbrained. I don't really know what I'm doing on this campus, but I I, I'm privileged for this time. And I, Lord, I I sincerely ask for help. Lord, use these notes before me and use the weirdness of my mind and the medium of this, of the, of what Paul calls the, the, the foolishness of preaching. And just to really make this chapel time worth it for these brothers and sisters who have carved out this time. Lord, I know they're getting chapel credit or worship credit, or whatever credit they're supposed to get on this campus, but Lord, we want this to be credit accounted for us in heaven. And so, Lord, we just ask that you make this time really worthwhile. It's my sincere prayer in humble prayer in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Amen. How many of you ever seen, and please don't raise your hands, a drunk person walk around. And I, I don't think you'll see a lot of drunk people on this campus. I was part of Public Campus Ministries for about 15 years and being on Michigan State University, which is like number two party school in North America, there was a lot of drunk people on Friday night. So it's this weird juxtaposition that's like, holy time for ravenous, we're all going to worship and there's these drunk people going to, like, it's, it is weird and drunk people are totally not aware of the situation. And in my sanctified side, I'm like, you know, you rebuke, you beaver being drunk on the holy day of God. But the other side of like, this is hilarious because because they're drunk and they're not aware. Yeah. And, and I know it shouldn't be, but I know, you know, you, you all have friends who are on this campus and they have other extracurricular activities that are unbiblical. And they are, they have these moments of, of, of a lack of sobriety. Yes. Can I say that on this campus? Is that, is that legit? Let me almost start off with this quote by my Malcolm Mug Ridge. I love this quote because Rabbi Zacharia quotes it all the time, and he's one of my favorite speakers. Quote, please, please listen, please listen. If God is dead, someone is going to have to take his place. It will be megalomania or Erotomania to drive her power or for to drive a pleasure. They clench fist or the Fallas Hitler or Hugh Hefner. In, in this, in the society that we live in, in the vacuum of spirituality, in the vacuum of godliness, in the vacuum of morality, in the vacuum of God, if you take God out, something has to fill that vacuum and something will. And what Malcolm Mugger says, there's two things that will fill it. It's either one, the lust for power or two, the lust for sex. Yeah. And, and, and it's just inevitable. And, and you see this in society, early 19 hundreds, Germany manifested the lust for power in conquering all, most of the nations of, of, of Europe in the late 19 hundreds. You see in the 1990s. Yo, how many of you were alive in the 1990s to meet you canto? Okay. How many of you born after 2000? Okay. We haven't entered that age yet. Okay, good. That's my fear. You know, like I was Born in 2015. I'm like, what do you, People were born in 2015, anyway, late 1990s. You see the United States is the country that espouses pleasure. Yes. And we are still, we're living in this culture today where now power and pleasure are all mixed up together. And I'm not gonna get into politics, but we have presidential identities who manifest both of these things. Is that fair to say? And I'm not saying that cause I like him. I'm not saying cause I dislike him. I'm just saying it cause that that is what it is. Yes. And I'll, I'll, I'll say it. I mean, I, I, I came to the wrong chapel. I'm supposed to be here at Chapel Thatcher Chapel. I came to Thatcher South and I was like, can someone please tell me where the chapel is? And they're like, oh, you go to the wrong one. And I was, I was, as I was walking around there, people were, were there. They're watching Game of Thrones in the lobby. Yeah. Game of Thrones is, you, you know what a Game of Thrones is. Okay. I know, I know. You shouldn't be watching that on, on Southern ca. Amen. Amen. Okay. But, but what is that? That is a story Wikipedia told me that is a struggle for power. And then there's a lot of, lot of of bad stuff between males and females on screen there too. And it's like number one on the entertainment, whatever charts there are. Yes. And so what happens is on campus, the same thing happens. If you take God out, you have this ambition or this strive for accomplishments to become SA president. You have se is that a real thing here? Okay. Okay. Okay. SA president or like, to get, to become a doctor and to get like a lot of money, become a lawyer and to like, you know, sue everyone or to become like a nurse practitioner because nurse practitioner is better than being a nurse, which is better being than a nursing assistant, which is better than being a dental hygienist, which is better than, anyway, Chrissy's hierarchies that we make in our societies. And we just try to, we wanna up the other. And if we don't have that, we're just out there looking for pleasure, looking for our next high, looking for our next whatever. Or it doesn't even have to be bad drugs. It can just be addiction to stupid YouTube videos. I just gotta watch another cat video. I just gotta write that video. Yes or no. So we have, in this, we point the finger at all these druggies and all the violence and whatnot, but we're addicted to similar things, but not to that degree. Does that make sense? And so within this vacuum, you either have power or pleasure, or you have the Holy Spirit. Does that make sense? And that's the kind of the premise of of of premise, not promise. The premise of of, of today, of today. It was when I was in high school, I went to a Roman Catholic high school. I was not a Roman Catholic. I was a Seventh Day Adventist. And I want to, to take my SATs. You have STTs here or is this an act T area? Actt. Oh, it's, it's ice. Okay. Anyway, there's so something called SATs out there that the whole, that the other half of the United States uses. And I went, and instead of going on on Saturday was all the testing I went on Sunday. You know what I'm talking about? Yeah. And so I went on Sunday and then it was at this Jewish school that was an hour away. So we had to drive and, and what, and, and I went there. And when I went there, there was no one in the parking lot. I'm like, did I get the right day? I thought this was Sunday, this isn't okay. I, and I went into the, I opened the school door and it was open. There was no one in there. And it was, I was supposed to go to room, you know, 1 0 1 or whatever it was. So I walk and I was walking down the halls, it's super, super quiet. And I'm thinking, what's going on? And you know what popped in my mind? I was like, I must be early to the testing time. And I'm just, man, I got this, I got all this time to, to, to prepare and to pray and to ask the Lord for a perfect score so they can go to Harvard Medical School and all, and all these things. And as I'm walking through that corridor, you ever have, this is this, it's the scariest feeling in the world. And I pass a classroom and I see it was full of people and they're hovering over some, some, some piece of paper and they're filling out whatever. I'm like, wow, that just must be another test that they're taking. Oh, I don't know. I'm early for my test. They're probably here for another test. I gotta keep going to my room. And as I pop into my room, I was expecting it to be empty. But at lo and behold, it's totally full of students. And they're already, they're filling out stuff and I'm like, you know, you ever have that feeling like your stomach gets inverted and then the blood just, you know, you fear blood coming out. I'm like, and I start shaking, you know, and I shake when I preach and I shake when I get out, I'm, when I get nervous. Yeah. And I'm like, am I early? And then the proctor or the, the, the person, is that what they call it? Proctor? They said, you're late name. My, my name is not late. What, what? I'm almost so confused. And, and, and he was like, what's your name, son? I'm like, Kim, is that your first name or last name? I'm like, that's my, that is my last name. Okay, what's your first name? Justin? Because it's a million Kims in every, you know what I if you know about Crane. And so I'm like, and then it's like, you're late, you're late one hour. I'm like, no, I'm not. I'm here on time. It's eight o'clock sun. It's nine o'clock, didn't you? Daylight savings time. And I'm like, oh yeah, I was at an a y program the Saturday before. And then we, we came home really late and I totally forgot about it. And so this is a Y's fault. It's aist youth programming. That's, that's it's fault. And I was totally in my own world. And this is, this is, this is, this is an a story that we live sometimes and, and this is, this is all of us. We next semester is popping up. I gotta choose my classes, I gotta get my 4.0 gpa. I gotta get my, my financial aid, FAFSA foreman, I gotta do this. And we just live life plugging along and we're totally clueless to the larger reality. And what happens is, just like me, like I'm, the reality is I'm late, but I'm thinking, am I early? I see another class full of people and they're studying for the one, or they're taking their test. I'm like, oh, that must be another test that they're taking. And I'm just not clicking with your reality. Is this making sense at the whole time? I'm not drunk, I'm not high, I'm not addicted to to bad stuff. I'm just normal of me. This is what the Bible says about being sober, about being what? Everyone be sober, be vigilant, vigilant, vigilant. It's a promise. It's a, your enemy, your adversary, Satan walk of the bow as a seeking whom he may devour. And sometimes we think of that as like this external thing. That external thing is out. And that's true. Yeah. Satan's out to get you. But sometimes Satan doesn't even need to get you because we're already in a state of st It's making sense. Like some of you here, like, oh, I'm just go, oh, well, The fire of failure, I'll get worship credits, scorer. I'm just go sit there. Okay, sit, sit. I'm gonna go home and make vineyard. And you spend four years of doing that. And then you go to grad school and call an Adventist grad school. And you do four more years of that. And then you live your life in that state of being. Tonight, I wanna suggest to you that the environment that you're in may fail you. And when it fails you, it's not the environment's fault. It's your fault making sense? Yes. Now, I'm not saying drop out of Southern right now and, and go on top of some mountain in the middle of, you know, and, and become Israel. I'm not saying that. What I'm saying is let's space sober to the realities. Please open your Bibles to one kings chapter three, one Kings chapter three. What chapter did I say? Chapter three. Are you there? Amen. If you're there, you say amen. Amen. Verse three, are you there? Amen. Amen. Okay, chapter three, verse three. The Bible says, Solomon, love the Lord walking in the statutes of who. Okay, we're gonna read a lot of, a lot of Bible verses, but it's all gonna be within first kings. Okay? So, so don't, don't freak out if you don't know your Bibles. You should know your Bibles. Verse 14. If you walk in all my ways to keep my statutes and my commandments as the Father David did walk, so then I will lengthen thy the thy days. Chapter nine, verse four, chapter nine, verse four. Verse four. If thou walk before me, as David thy father walked, integrity of heart and end uprightness to do according to all that I've commanded the and will keep my statues of my in these verses, who is the common character that you find David, David in, in, in the Korean culture? I'm, I'm, I'm of Korean descent. There there is, there's some slang. I'm gonna teach you some slang to there there's a thing word called . Repeat it after me. Don't do there. That's couldn't speak the Korean language. Not Ah, ah. . Now, for those who are Korean, like that ain't Korean. It is, it's just your two Americanized. The reality is a shortened version of Okay. For those of you Korean, what does I, what did I, what did I say? Are you, are there Koreans here? Are you, are you Korean? Oh, God bless you. Very. Oh, you're pointing your finger to another entity who does not want to be recognized as Korean. Oh, you're Korean. Okay. Okay. What is translate for us? My mom's friend's son. Okay. It is this, it is a cultural phenomenon that, that there is a, my mother has a friend and she has a son. How many of you have someone like that? That, that, that your, your parents often refer to that person, okay? And they're constantly comparing you to this person for your entire life. Okay? And so what happens is, in Korean culture, they're so tired of hearing this person. They actually made a moniker, a name for this person. And I grew up with an in my life, they went to the same church that I went to. And every Sabbath we come back home, you're like, Hey, you know what, so-and-so did he applied to Harvard and he got it. Thank you for that information. You know what, so-and-so did he applied for some Olympic da da da. And he got it. Thank you for that information. You know what, so-and-so did you want so and so, you know what I'm talking about? And it's the standard that ev that for the rest of your life, you are now held to that standard. Yeah. And so my, my objective in life is like, well, do you know what so-and-so did he smoke a cigarette and got caught for it? Now spread that amongst your, your, your mother, you know, information circles. And it's like, ah, you know, in the book of First Kings, the apex of first kings comes in chapter 16, but in order to get to chapter 16, it takes 15 chapters to set it up. Yeah. Yes. Yeah. Now in our modern context, we're like, oh my goodness, this is so long. Like I know this is, and then I know some of you're like, oh, it's a Bible story. I like David, I like Solomon. All of that stuff is just an introductory, a passage to chapter 16. Yes. Now, some of you're like, well, I wanna get to chapter. No, we're not gonna get to chapter 16. That's tomorrow. It's when everyone tomorrow. So come tomorrow. Tomorrow come tomorrow. Today the 16 chapter or the 15 chapter introduction. Okay. So in this chapter, all these kings are coming up, this king. And he walked into ways of, and then this guy came and he was successful because he loved the Lord with all his heart, liked the king. And David, David. David. David. David. David was the dude. Okay. I went to a Catholic high school where sports was really big. And then we went, we made the state finals every single year. And every year, like I was, I remember I was meeting, I was a freshman and we went, we made it to the, the state finals in football. And there was this dude, and here you have this person who's huge, and he was like a, he was a football player. And I, I don't know any of the positions. He was like a, a line backer. Yes. Is that like a big crucial role? Yes, that's a protector. Oh, okay. That's not him then. Well, it's not the quarterback. Anyway. He was some, some dude, some position that was so crucial to the game that he won. It. Does it making sense? Yes. Okay. If I don't know anything about football. And so he was like, he were in the newspaper, he was in the tv. He was like in the New York Times. He was in the New York Times. The New York Times. I mean, it was like in the last page of like the last section of like those, my, but he was in the newspaper. And so I was like a freshman. I'm like, and when, and in the freshman year he was introduced and we'd liked a school, we'd like to introduce so-and-so, like, he brought us to da da da. And I was like, ho. Like he would walk around and the glory would follow him everywhere he went. And I was like, this is awesome. Every, every quarterback or every linebacker, whatever, whatever football player. From that point on my sophomore year, my junior year, my senior year, we were always comparing that position to that guy. He was of golden status. But you know what happened my senior year, we didn't make it the state finals. You know why? Because one dude, for whatever sports, for whatever reason, he, he, he totally messed up. And I wish I knew the sports, what he, what he actually did. But he totally messed up and we didn't make it the finals from, from that point on, I was told, because I'd graduated from that point on that he was the guy who blew it from Pope John to 23rd regional high school. And then everyone hated him. And so that from that point on, every football player was compared to the guy that I, the the glory guy or the guy that fumbled the ball. Does it make sense now? It takes 15 chapters. The Bible does the same thing. The same thing. Go to J first Kings 12. First Kings 12 verse 28, verse 28, chapter 12 verse 28. Okay? Here is one, one of the first kings of, of the northern kingdom. This, this is King Jerone, where upon the king took council. And he ma and he made too calves of gold. And he said unto them, it is too much for you to go to Jerusalem, behold by god's to Israel, which brought me out of the land of Egypt. This is what's, what's happening. Yeah. Yeah. Israel had split. Yeah. You had the northern kingdom and the southern kingdom. Yes or no? Yes. You know what I'm talking about? Yeah. But northern, the southern kingdom was, was kind of a little bit more good. And then the northern kingdom was like really bad. Okay? Now, the first king Jbo, he comes out and he says, the, the place of worship is in Jerusalem. Where is Jerusalem In the north or the south? South, south. So in times of worship, all the northern dudes have to go where? So if all the northern dudes have to go south, the king of the north is like, what Uhuh that's not cool because all my dudes are going south. Yeah. So what he does, he does this, this, this guy named J verse 28. He makes two calves of what, okay, where, where do we get illusions of that calves of gold? We, we found out where Exodus awesome. And he said to them, you know what, it's too much for you to go to Jerusalem. Now he's saying up, even though he is going south because, cause it's a mountain that goes up. The obt behold that God's who, Israel, who brought the out of the land of Egypt, this is an illusion back to Exodus. Yeah. He's like, this is historical precedent. Hey, I made two calves of gold. Now verse 29, he said, one in Bethel and the other he put in Dan. Now Bethel was on the border right before crossing into the south. So he made a little rest stop. And he said, instead of going all the way down south, just stay here and worship in Bethel. And he created another worship center in Dan, which is totally at the north. So people up here who live in Alaska don't have to go all the way down to Texas to worship. Does that make sense? He just creates a little worship center in Juno. Is that the capital? Yeah. Okay. Or Anchorage or wherever. Wherever. Wherever. Okay. So that's, that's what he does. Verse 30. And this thing became a what? A sin. Okay, I'm reading from King James, whatever version you have for the people went to worship before the one and even to Dan. And he made a house of high places and made priests of the lowest of the people which were not of the sons of Levi. Erum ordained a feast in the eighth month of the 15th day of the month, like into the feast that is in Judah. And he offered upon the altar, and so he did in Bethel, sacrificing unto the calves that he had made, and he placed in Bethel the priest of the highest place of which he, which he had made. So he offered upon the altar, which he had made in Bethel the 15th eighth of the eighth month, even in the month, which he had devised of his own heart and ordained the feast unto the children of Israel, meaning offered upon the altar and burnt incense. Okay? So what this guy did is he royally messed up. Yeah. He creates his own priesthood. He creates his own feast days, he creates his own worship structure. He does his own religion and he creates his high places. Okay? Now we're all college students here. Yeah. Amen. Amen. Okay, so freshman, raise your hands. Mercy. Okay, sophomores, raise your hands. Juniors, seniors, super seniors. Miscellaneous. Okay, high places bail, worship. You know, I always wonder what bail worship was. Ba worship was an old Pagan version, and won't, I won't go into too much detail, but it was based on male and female entities. Yeah. We still have versions of it today. We have Mother Earth and then you have Sky Father or the, you know, the bearded guy with the, the thunder. You know, not old Zeus is one manifestation of that. Okay? Now, pagan worship is based in sexuality between the male and the female figures having extracurricular activities. And that what caused about, in an agricultural society, the most important thing for the earth is to receive rain. Yeah. And so, just like you have male, female biological interactions, the the agricultural world is seen in those, those terms. And so what you have is Sky Father and you have Mother Earth. Yeah. And mother earth ha gives birth to corn and apples and agriculture. But her, in order for her to, to give birth to, to fruit, she needs to receive seed. Is this making sense to one order? Okay. Now, in their way, their mind of thinking seed had to come from the father, and it was in the form of rain. Does it make sense? So as much as as many times as male and female, gods and goddess have extracurricular activities, more agricultural produce comes out and people are happy. Does that make sense? Okay. Now, if it doesn't rain, what is the cause of that? They're mad at each other. They're, they're Okay. That is the rated G version. The rated, our version is some entity needs some Viagra to help out. Okay. Does that make sense? And it is based in sexuality. I'm not being course on purpose. That is the, the mindset. And so what happened? They have these high places. You read these high places in the, in the Bible. Yeah. High places where they go on top of these high places. It's not very high anyway. And then they would say, Hey, sky, God. Like, hey, let's, we can do rain dances. And these rain dances are not like, oh, these were actually very, very disgusting, profane, just all sorts of gross stuff with women, men, animals, blood and all sorts of stuff. And they'd say, and then they have these temples there, and these temples were, were, were had open ceilings. And they'd say, sky, God, look at this. And they do all of this stuff. May you be whatever. And, and excited when you see this and cause it to rain. This is making sense. Okay, so what? Just, it's not like, Hey, I have these two golden cows. Can you now all worship it? That's not bail, worship, bail, worship is this, it's a very sophisticated system that uses sensuality. It's just power is all sorts of perversion and it combines it into a religion. This is making sense, okay? This is what Jbo instituted in Israel. He royally messed up. Okay, keep going. Verse 15, chapter 15, verse 25, chapter 15, verse 25. You guys still with me? Okay, we're about Paul, we're not halfway there. Okay? One Kings 1525, the Bible says Naab, the son of who j son of Jerone, began to reign in Israel in the second year of Asa, king of Judah and reigned over Israel. How many years? Two years. And he did evil in the side of the Lord and he walked in the way of his who in his sin, where he made Israel to sin. Number king. Number two, did he mess up? Was he like j Bowen or was he like David Gerald, Gerald Boham. Okay, king number three, first Kings 1527 Basha, the son of , the house of Ishk conspired against him. Basha smed him in Gibeon, which belonged to the Philistines. Verse 30, because of the sins of Jrb in which he sinned, which he made Israel to sin. And by his provocation, wherewith, he provoked the Lord God of Lord of God, Lord God of Israel to anger. Okay? Was he good King or bad King? You understand? Every single time it's a bad king. The Bible doesn't say he was bad. He actually mentions who he was like in his, in the previous kings. Okay? Does it make sense? Okay, verse 16, verse seven 16, verse seven. Also by the hand of prophet Jhu, the son of Hanani came the word of the Lord against Bosch, against his house. For even for all the evil that he did in the side of the Lord, in provoking him to anger with the work of his hands in being like the house of who? Because he killed him. Okay? King number four was Eli. He was the son of Basha and he also failed. King number five is found in first Kings 16, 19, 16, 19. This a zimri verse 19 says, for all for his sins, which he sinned in doing the side, doing evil on the side of the Lord in walking in the way of who? J Baum. And in his sin, which he did to make Israel sin. Let's, do you wanna be the No. Do you want to be known as the one, the one who made Israel to sin? Yeah. I wouldn't wanna be known that you do you want to have that on a, on a brick somewhere, on some, some building in southern campus. You know, like Justin Kim donated to Southern University, the one who made adventism to sin. You know that? I don't want that. Okay. Okay. Ary verses the sixth 1, 16 25. 1625. The Bible says, aary brought evil in the eyes of the Lord and get this. Okay, now some of you're getting bored, but this is, this is, we we're picking up here, verse 25. The Bible says something a little bit different about ary. Verse 25, Ary brought evil in the eyes of the Lord and did what worse. Now if he did worse, it's predicated we need to read the history of the kings before to see did they do bad? Yes. Now, this dude ary did what? Worse. Worse than who? Than the guy before him? No, all the dudes before him. He did worse. Yes. Keep going. Verse 26, he walked in the way of who? Son of . And in his sin wherewith, he made Israel to sin. Tovo provoke the Lord God of Israel to anger with their vanities. Okay, now this ary guy was really, really bad. Now let's get to verse verse 30 here. Okay? And Ahab, the son of ary, did evil in the sight of the Lord above all that were before him. Okay? Was O Omar really bad? Yes. Now, Ahab was worse than before. All those guys is is making sense. We're getting into what? Climax year. This is a, for those of your musicians, it's a, it's a what? Cro. Oh, you are all musicians. It came to bass first, 31 verse 31, as if it had been a light thing for him to walk in the sins of Je Baum, the son of the bot that he took to wife Jezebel, the daughter of Al King of the Ians, and went and served who? And worshiped who? So now the previous kings, they brought in this worship, but they still were God. But in comes Ahab, and he marries the priestess daughter. Now the priests were ones in charge of all the high place stuff, all the sexual weird perversions and deviations. And he marries one of the priestess daughters, priest's daughters. Verse 32, he reared up an altar for bail in the house of bail, which he built in Samaria. Verse 33, Ahab made a grove and Ahab did more to provoke the Lord God of Israel to anger than all the kings of Israel that were before him. Period. That one sentence is why we have a 16 chapter introduction. Does it make sense? Like if I just said, dude, Ahab was so bad, you don't, you don't know how bad you have to go through all the kings of how bad they were. And then Ahab did more to provoke the Lord than all of those guys combined making sense. Verse 34, In his days, did he let he the, the, the Lyte Bill Jericho, when he laid the foundation thereof in a aam, his firstborn, and set up the gates thereof in his youngest son, sago, according to the word of Lord, which he spanked by Joshua, the son of noon. This, this verse is really weird, but it's thrown in there. And the reason why it's thrown in there is this, there was this ancient promise that whoever had built the, the city of Jerich Hogan would receive a curse. And everyone abided by that promise, by that word of God if they will. But in this day, the kings could care less. And then this, this verse is thrown in there saying they didn't even care about the curse of God. They just built it up anyway, making sense. This is where we come to the apex of chap of chapter 17 verse one. What's the first word of chapter of, of verse one? And, And then King James, it says, and and then you King James. What does it say? And oh, it says, and there, okay. And don't discount that and that and is connecting the story of Elijah to this context, is it making sense? Like we all like the story of Elijah. Like we all Well, we wanna be Elijahs when we grow up. We wanna be, you know, gonna Mount Carmel. We sing the songs in the days of it, Elijah, you know, we wanna be Elijah. Yeah? Yes or no? Yes, yes. But the story doesn't start off saying, Elijah, the Bible says what? And Elijah, meaning Elijah has a context which he arises from Elijah did not come up in chapter one or chapter five or chapter 15. He does not come up in the, of David or Solomon or even Jer Bowen. He doesn't even come up in the times of ary. He comes out on the stage specifically at the time of Ahab. That's making sense. Elijah was, was a nobody, he was just hidden. Maybe he was just a, a freshman at Southern Adventist University. No one knew who he was until Ahab came on the scene. And when Ahab came on the scene, and Elijah pops up the story tonight, the message tonight is, is a very simple one. What's the context that you serve the Lord in? What is the, what are the times that we're living? I'm not talking about, these are the last days. These are, these are the last days, don't get me wrong, but that's come become a Adventist cliche. Yeah, we're not, we're not talking about that. I'm talking about what is the context? What is the flow of history that we're in? I'm not saying let's retreat away from society. We need to be engaged in the stream of society. Donald Trump is our president. Whether you like him or you're not, what is your role as one of God's people in the time of when this king, this president, this emperor is around? What is your role? Elijah had no mission in the times before Ahab, but it was when Ahab came about, that's when Elijah popped up Chapter 17 verse one. Elijah the, the what? Who are the Tish bites? We have no idea insignificant people. Elijah the Tish bite. Who was of the inhabitants of Gilead? What's so special about the inhabit Gilead? Nothing. There's some passage about some cows being from Gilead, but outside of that, and he said unto Ahab, as the Lord God of Israel, liveth before whom I stand, there shall be no do nor what these years, but according to my word. And the word of the Lord came unto him saying in verse five, go to that. He say, so he went and it did according to the word of the Lord. And here's the only thing that demarcates Elijah at this point, tomorrow, we're gonna get a lot more deeper into this, But he follows the word of God at this point. No one else was following the word of God. According to Malachi four, in the last days before Jesus comes, Elijah will come again. Yeah, some people think when John the Baptist came to prepare Jesus first coming, that that prophecy was fulfilled, it was pro, it was partially fulfilled, but it will be ultimately fulfilled when Elijah comes again the second time before Jesus is second coming. And you know what? When Elijah comes, he comes in time of Ahab. When Jezebel and Ahab are married, three and a half years of no reign. And Elijah has a mission to fulfill. This is the mission and the call of Seventh Day Adventists. This is what GY C'S trying to do. You know, we started Gyc 15 years ago. Oh no, 16, 16 years ago. We thought Jesus would've been here by 2010. I'm not date Sunday, I'm just saying general, generally speaking around that time. But here, we're living in 2017, like in 2017, we should have flying cars and the Jetsons should be alive. You don't know who the Jetsons are, do you? Yes. Yes. Do you? Okay. Okay. I'm so out of touch with this generation. What is the context that we serve the Lord in? If you don't know, if you don't know that context, you're just gonna go to class. Do you have class tomorrow? You're just gonna go to class tomorrow? You, you don't know why you're going to class. You're gonna be dating your girlfriend. You don't know why you're dating your girlfriend. You're just gonna be going to every Gyc event. They're looking for your future husband. You don't know why you're looking for that future husband. You're gonna be paying back your student loans. You don't know why you're paying your student loans. You want to be a doctor so bad, but you have no idea why you want to be a doctor tonight. It's a very simple, simple, simple, simple, simple message. Number one, do you wanna see the environment that the world is in today? What I mean by that is, I'm not saying we gotta go back online and read every page of the New York Times to see what or our po I'm not saying that. I'm saying through the eyes of God, are we living in the time of Ahab or ary or zimri or whoever? Number two, how many of you want to be the one that comes out like Elijah and be like, and Elijah, Justin, the New Jersey, it from the inhabitants of Queens. I have no significance to my name whatsoever, but I want to be the one that's found to be faithful when God calls me at that time. Amen. Tonight's Message is very simple. Do you want to know the context where you're coming from? Do you wanna know the reason that you're here on this campus? Do you wanna know the reason why G y C got started? G Y C star got in a vacuum. You know, there was a day before, before audio verse was around, I grew up in an Adventist church where I did not know who Ellen White was until I was 16 years old. I had no idea about Daniel in Revelation. I went to a Roman Catholics friend's house and I, and he is like, what are you, I'm a Seventh Day Adventist. A seventh day Adventurist, no, a Seventh Day Adventist. What do you believe? And you know what I said? We are exactly like the Catholics, but we go to church on Saturday and he said, oh, my grandmother goes to mass on Saturday. Yeah, we are exactly like your grandmother. Oh, hey, that's really cool. I had no idea why I was a Seventh Day Adventist. I was going to school. I had no idea why I was trying to get a bachelor's degree. Why are you guys gonna get a bachelor's degree? Why are you guys going to debt 30,000 to $50,000 a year and spending the next 20 years based on the, the latest statistics to, to pay back the government or whoever the, the entities be for that? Why are you doing that? Are you doing that just because that's what we've been doing for the last 5,000 years? Why are you a pre-med major? Why are you here in Thatcher Hall tonight? Why? And if you don't know you are in a state of drunkenness, do you want to see the environment that you live in today? Do you want to be an agent that the Lord uses? Do you want to be a follower of the word of God here tonight? If you do simple show up tomorrow. Amen. Amen. Amen. Tomorrow Elijah shows up and he says, as the Lord liveth before whom I stand, there shall no do nor reign these whatever years later. James says, three and a half years. And then he disappears and he goes to a river and he hangs out with a single mom and he runs away from, from the Mrs. President. We're gonna see why God causes Elijahs to go through the, the things that he did. Amen. Amen. I know you guys have to go and I don't know, I don't know what time I'm supposed to finish, but I don't wanna spend just, just one minute, one minute. What did I say? One minute. That does not mean an hour. You can do that in your dorms later on wherever you live. But in one minute, when ask, pour out your hearts to Lord and say, Lord, slap me on the face. Give me a reality check. It may be some of you, you do have, you do have to, to, to drop out a southern. That may be God's will for you. For some of you, it's, you need to graduate from Southern. You've been here for nine years and you need to graduate. It's the Lord's will for you to finish. For some of you, it's to break up with your boyfriend's girlfriends. For some of you, it's to get with that girl for for, I mean, get married now, No. For some of you it should be change your majors. For some of you, you need to be pastors. Some of you, you need to be, you need to be doctors. Some of you, you need to get away from pre-med. Get away from the theology department as fast as possible, but you can't live in this stupor and what the reality of the world today, ask for that waking up experience. Amen. One minute starting now. Father in heaven, Lord, we thank you for the silence of this chapel, Lord, the minute we end this worship time, so many other things are, are waiting for us out there. Deadlines, classes, concerns, phone calls, broadcast, TV shows, whatnot, text messages, that beeping thing that's going on right now, Lord, Lord, my prayer is for myself and for every person in this room, grant us the gift of sobriety help us to wake up. That doesn't mean for us to become alarmist. That doesn't mean to, to, to freak out, Lord. Lord, that's, that's not, I don't think that's what you're calling us to. Lord, help us to see this world the way that you see it. Grant us your eyes in, Lord, call us. May the word of the Lord come unto us and help us this stand up. Whether that means in our classrooms, our dormitories, in our relationships, in our friends, our family members in society, Or Lord, maybe just in our, the private recesses of our mind, this world will fail. Lord, you have prophesied over and over Lord may be not trust in the systems of this world. But Lord, may they just be external artifacts that are just tools to accomplish your larger will at hand. So Father, I ask that you bless each sister in this room and each brother in this room, grant us the gift of sobriety, seriousness, and help us to get back to the word and to hear your, your voice. Keep each one safe. Grant them Lord really great grades, really in favor with their professors for the time that they have sacrificed this evening. And may they come back tomorrow and let's see what your, you have in store for us In your, in your word, we pray. Jesus name. Amen. 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When Kings Fail

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