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Newington Three Angels Church

Eric Walsh

Facing Fear

All right, so our scripture reading, it was read so well by Donnie, is 1 John 4 and verse 18.

"'There is no fear in love, "'but perfect love casts out fear, "'because fear hath torment.

"'He that fears is not made perfect in love.

Our message this Sabbath is entitled, Facing Your Fears.

Father God, we thank you for this opportunity to study your word.

Lord, I ask once again that you just make me a nail on the wall, a rusty, sorry nail, Lord.

Upon that nail, Lord, I ask that you hang a portrait of Jesus Christ.

Let Eric Walsh not be seen or heard, Lord.

Instead, let us hear a word from the throne room of grace.

This is our prayer in Jesus's precious and holy name.

When we left off a month ago, last time I spoke, Elijah had just called fire down from heaven.

The prophets of Baal had been slaughtered, and he and Ahab ran as the sound of rain drew close.

At that time, Elijah was riding on a spiritual high.

You know that feeling after that week of prayer when you've recommitted your life to Christ and you think God is now going to make everything easy and simple.

That experience you have when you've been in the church a long time and assume that calamity is beyond your reach.

Elijah, as he is running with Ahab, the spirit of prophecy tells us, he believes that because of the miracle that has been worked and the destruction of the prophets of Baal that not just Ahab, but also his wife Jezebel would come to know God, Elijah expected a great reformation in Israel because of what happened on Mount Carmel.

He was expecting everything to shift after years of idolatry and rebellion.

Elijah thought his work was done and that he would finally be able to move on and Israel would be preserved.

In the book of 1 Kings 19 and verse 1, the Bible says, and Ahab told Jezebel.

And Ahab told, you know, you could just read past this and miss the significance.

And what I mean by that is, he didn't go back to Jezebel and say, Elijah has done a great thing, we are going to have reformation.

He goes back and like a tattletale, he goes and whines to Jezebel about what is done.

The scripture says, and Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done and with all how he had slain all the prophets with the sword.

Now to tell you who was the boss in this house, verse 2 says Jezebel sent a messenger unto Elijah.

Now remember, Ahab and Elijah had just been together not that long ago.

Ahab didn't say anything negative to Elijah, but when Jezebel finds out, she sends a messenger to Elijah, who at this point has his guard down, thinking the whole kingdom is about to change.

So let the gods do to me and more also, if I make not thy life as the life of 1 of them, speaking of the prophets of Baal, as the life of 1 of them by tomorrow about this time.

Excuse my street colloquialism, but Jezebel was gangster.

She was ready to kill Elijah, and she was not afraid to actually tell him she was coming for him.

In fact, she gives him less than 24 hours to live.

When Elijah gets the message in verse 3, the Bible says he arose and went for his life.

He believed Jezebel more than the promises of God.

When Elijah hears that she has put a basically a bounty on his head that she is coming to kill him, Elijah does not wait to figure out what's going on.

Bible says he came to Beersheba, which belonged to Judah.

He was so scared that when he gets to Beersheba, he leaves his servant there.

Elijah had the mentality that if she's coming, maybe she'd get to the servant and they'd mess with the servant and leave him alone.

It's like they say, when I went to the mountains in California and at 1 of our Adventist camps, and they have these signs about the bears, and showed a picture how the bear rips the car top open.

And I took all these kids from the inner city, and they saw that everybody was scared to death.

And 1 kid said, listen, if the bear comes, I don't have to be fast.

And verse 4, but he himself, look at this church, He went a day's journey.

The time that she gave him for his life, Elijah does not stop moving.

He goes a day's journey into the wilderness.

The Bible says that he comes to a juniper tree, he sits down under it, and he stops there.

Now, the interesting thing about the juniper tree is that it's not a very tall tree.

So if you sleep under a juniper tree, you can sleep without the worry in the wilderness that the snakes are gonna get you.

Elijah's my kind of guy, because I don't like snakes either.

But the Bible says that he requested for himself that he might what?

This is 1 of the most unique statements in the scripture that someone, a prophet who had just worked the miracle of calling fire from heaven, fire that didn't just burn up what was on the altar, it burnt up the stone.

The Bible says it lapped up the water in the trench around the altar.

This kind of Holy Ghost supernatural power had been witnessed by Elijah not much more than a day earlier, yet now he prays to God that he would die.

Now, oh Lord, take away my life, for I am not better than my father's.

1 of the biggest mistakes we make as Christians, as people in general, but as Christians, is that we compare ourselves with others.

As Elijah sat under this juniper tree, all alone, He started to look back on his ministry and he said, it's enough.

He says, because I'm not better than my father's.

He thought he could do what others could not do.

But he was alone before he was actually alone.

He had made up in his mind that he was so unique, so different, that his problems were so special compared to everyone else's, that Elijah was alone before he was alone.

In fact, this is what he says in 1 Kings 18.22, then said Elijah unto the people, I, even I only remain a prophet of the Lord.

He had made up in his mind that he was alone.

He thought he was the only 1 still standing for God.

And because of this, he became isolated, not in terms of geography or population.

When you think you have to stand up against the world all by yourself, when you do not realize that as a Christian you are part of a family of people who are fighting the good fight of faith and working for the uplift of the kingdom of the living God, when you begin to think you're all alone and no 1 feels what you feel.

As the old Negro spiritual says, Elijah sat there and he sang, "'Nobody knows the trouble I've seen.'" I've been at a place in my life when this was literally my favorite Bible passage.

Times had gotten so rough for me that I would read it and I'd say, Lord, if Elijah was okay to say this, then Lord, I'm saying it.

If you, if, I'm not suicidal, but if you want me to just, if you want to take me, Lord, I'm ready to go.

And 1 of the things that happens, and I've had several times in my life when I've been low, but 1 thing that happens is that the devil begins to play with your mind.

Emotionally, he tries to lead you where he wants you.

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Facing Fear

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