Have you ever just felt like giving up? Like you’re flailing and trying but going nowhere in life? Jesus said that those who endure until the end will be saved! Listen to this message about continuing until the end for encouragement and inspiration on your journey.

<p>Have you ever just felt like giving up? Like you’re flailing and trying but going nowhere in life? Jesus said that those who endure until the end will be saved! Listen to this message about continuing until the end for encouragement and inspiration on your journey.</p>

<p>Free sharing permitted under the Creative Commons <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/">BY-NC-ND 3.0 (US)</a> license.</p>

Dalton SDA Church

Chester Clark

The Swimmer

And Eric Musambani came to be known as Eric the Swimmer, or Eric the Eel.

He earned this title, this fame, and this worldwide renown by scoring the worst time ever recorded in the 100 meter freestyle.

You see, there was what they call wild card in the Olympics, which allowed that countries that were poor and didn't have a very well-established Olympic team might be able to still send their best to the Olympics.

The problem was that Eric had only learned to swim about 8 months before the Olympics.

And in the country of Equatorial Guinea, he did not have a pool to practice in.

He swam in a lake for his preparation during these 8 months after his initial learning to swim, the first time that he saw a 50 meter pool, Olympic size swimming pool, was when he arrived in Sydney for the Olympics.

Now, please don't do it now during church, but maybe sometime back at home you might want to look up on YouTube some of the videos of his performance.

In fact, immediately the television commentators were saying, well, I don't know if he can hold up that type of a rate.

The problem was not just that he was working so fast, but that he was more or less flailing through the water.

He kept his head up above the water, unlike most of the freestyle swimmers, which, you know, keep their head down and follow the lanes, the lines in the bottom of the pool.

And his leg movements were rather erratic and uncoordinated.

He made it down the first 50 meters of the pool and made a turnaround and started back down but as he started back the return 50 meters, his pace began to slow.

And then when he got about 30 meters, or 20 meters, I suppose, from the wall, the commentators started saying things like, is he going to make it?

1 said, it looks like he's going to have to stop and start holding on to the ropes pretty soon.

He was still splashing, but there was almost no forward motion as he made his way down the final stretch towards the finish line.

In the race of life, the pool is longer than you expect.

Maybe the water is deeper than you had anticipated.

Just 15, 20 meters from the finish line, but running out of steam, just flailing and splashing and not going anywhere.

In the lives of many Christians, in fact, I would say in the lives of all Christians, even great Christians, there are days of darkness and discouragement.

And I want to look today at the story of Elijah and what we can learn from his experience of discouragement, of that time when it seemed like he should be at the finish line and he wasn't.

You know the story of Elijah, we won't go through the Bible and all of the passages, 1st Kings chapter 18 tells about much of his story, how he marched into the king's palace and he announced that there would be neither dune or rain until he gave the word.

Now the Bible says that in James chapter 5 verse 17, the Bible says that Elijah was a man of like passions as we are.

He wasn't some superhuman superhero, he was a human being, You got that?

Sometimes we put the the prophets and the apostles on pedestals, don't we?

By the way, perhaps 1 of the most wonderful things of all is that Jesus himself was a human.

Oh, he was the Savior, he was the Redeemer, he was fully God.

Don't get me wrong, but Jesus was a human.

He also had like feelings and passions like we are.

He understands what it means to get discouraged sometimes.

He understands what it means to be seeming like he's not making any progress.

Just read about his interactions with the disciples.

If you want to learn about some discouraging experiences, as a teacher, when I read about Jesus and his trying to get the disciples in line, to walk in order and discipline, It's really discouraging.

I can only imagine what Jesus was going through.

But James 5.17 tells us that Elijah was a man of like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain.

You see, James gives us an insight into Elijah's story that 1 Kings doesn't tell us.

You know, you might think, well, of course, Elijah's a prophet, right?

He can walk into Ahab's palace, and he can announce that it's not gonna rain because God told him it wasn't going to rain.

According to James, what happened was, Elijah was so burdened by the situation in Israel, so desirous of seeing a revival and a reformation in his beloved country, so pained by the apostasy and the forgetfulness of God that was all around him, that Elijah began praying that it wouldn't rain.

Now listen, if I read James correctly, the Bible says in James that Elijah prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it didn't rain for 3 years.

Now, according to that passage, I would have to conclude that God didn't come down to Elijah and tell Elijah, you know what, Elijah, I want you to go tell King Ahab it's not gonna rain for 3 years.

Because listen, if that's what God told the prophet Elijah, he wouldn't have to pray earnestly that it wouldn't rain, would he?

Instead he is praying and by faith going and telling Ahab, it's not going to rain.

Every day that went by was not a drop of precipitation was a miracle from God.

Well, you might say, you know, that's not such a great miracle.

That part of the world has had droughts before.

But not only was he able to see his prayer answered that it wouldn't rain, as he flees to the Brook Careth and he's there beside that little river, little stream, and by the way, it's just a little stream.

I've been there in Jordan, the little brook by which Elijah was hiding, and it's not much of a little stream, as he's there by the brook, and ravens are feeding him.

If ravens are bringing you food to eat, I would consider that a miracle.

Every day, he is receiving divine affirmation from God for his ministry, for his mission.

And you remember that after the brook dried up, he didn't have any source of water anymore.

He goes to the little town to the widow of Zarephath.

And he's there and he finds his widow and they're out looking for sticks to make a fire.

And they don't have any food left except for a little oil and a little flour, enough to make 1 last meal for the widow and her son and then they were going to have to die.

By the way, the land that he fled into, God has a sense of humor, the land that he fled into was the home country of Jezebel, the 1 who was married to Ahab.

And while he is the most wanted in Israel, and Jezebel is cursing him for rebuking her religion, he's hiding under her father's nose.

In the widow of Zarephath-Solomon, the widow decided that she would follow Elijah's instructions to make the cake for him first.

Now I don't think it's because he was so, you know, so egocentric that he asked this.

I think he just wanted her to exercise faith.

And God is the rewarder of faith, isn't he?

And do you know that for the rest of the time that Elijah was staying there was always a little oil a little flour God provided for her needs much more abundantly than if she had just eaten that cake and had been over with a miracle every single day Wouldn't you like to have miracles every day?

Wouldn't that just be affirming to your faith?

Then you know the story how God sent Elijah back into the nation of Israel and there he ran into the king's assistant who was out looking, they were trying to find some water, some grass somewhere so that the herd of horses, the king's stable wouldn't all perish And he runs into them, they arrange this meeting on top of Mount Carmel with all of the nation of Israel, with the king, with the prophets of Baal and so forth.

And on top of Mount Carmel, you remember what happened?

400 prophets of Baal, with all of their dancing and singing and praying and calling upon Baal, the god of the weather, the god of the sky, and yet not, in no way were they able to have a fire start on their altar.

And Elijah has the altar of the Lord repaired, and on it he puts the wood and he puts the sacrifice and then he has all those precious barrels of water hauled up from the sea to the Mount Carmel and water that was valuable is being dumped over this sacrifice And it fills, it soaks the wood, it soaks the sacrifice, it fills down through the stones and it even fills the ditch that he had made by faith around the altar.

They dump all these barrels of water soaking the sacrifice.

Lest anyone should think that he by some sleight of hand has shed a spark, a flint struck a flint and started the fire on his own.

And he prays a simple prayer, simple prayer, oh God, hear your servant.

And fire comes down, it not only burns a sacrifice in the wood, it consumes the stones and it even burns up the water.

Water doesn't burn, last time I checked, but that water burned in answer to Elijah's prayer.

Would that be an affirmation of your faith?

Wow, what an amazing experience Elijah is going through.

Miracle after miracle, the miracle of no rain, the miracle of the ravens, the miracle of the flower and oil, the miracle of fire coming down from heaven, and that's not all.

As he continues, now that there's a turning to God, he continues and he begins to pray, and he prays.

Remember how he sent the servants 7 times to go look over the sea and see if there was a sign of rain.

And finally the servant came back and he said, well it's not much, but there is a little tiny cloud.

And before Ahab could even get his act together and his chariot harnessed and make his way back to the capital, it started to pour.

And it started to pour so hard that the horses couldn't even see the road.

And the prophet Elijah, the man of the day, he runs down in front of Ahab's chariot and he guides the horses into the city.

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The Swimmer

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